The Helldivers

Formed early during the Age of Strife, the Helldivers were an elite orbital drop shock troop regiment that utilized cloning, cryosleep and mysterious pre-tech to create expendable frontline troops to hold off the myriad of threats that emerged to threaten humankind during the Age of Strife.

Though now a defunct organization made obsolete by the fractured nature of human civilization, the abundance of spiritual successor regiments in the various militaries across the galaxy has solidified the effectiveness of this legendary group.

Composition

Manpower

At one point the Helldivers numbered roughly three million separate individuals at the height of their strike capability. However, due to the infeasiblity of maintaining such a large force without a centralized government system to fund it, the legendary regiment is no more.

Equipment

The Helldivers made use of a multitude of different equipment ranging from the mundane to the fantastical. Even to this day old surplus battlecruisers and armaments are kept functioning by private collectors.

Tactics

As orbital drop troops the Helldivers were specialized for planetary assaults against heavily fortified positions. One key aspect of the tactics employed was the consideration that all members involved in the mission were expendable. Each member of the regiment was cloned several times, with the clones being artificially aged and placed in cryogenic suspension. Each clone was then quantumly entangled with the metaphysical impression of the original Helldiver, meaning that if the Diver perished in the mission, their "essence" would leap to the next clone in their lineage, allowing for all of the Diver's abilities and experience to be retained.

Training

The Helldivers were trained to be the equal of any special forces operative before their first drop. However the ability to perish, resurrect and learn from their mistakes raised the average Helldiver from special forces to one man armies over the course of their service.

Logistics

Upkeep

At its height the Helldiver Corps required almost 70% of the economic output of the central human government. When contact with Earth was lost, the Corps began to slowly decline till it eventually dissolved shortly after the end of the Age of Strife.

Recruitment

Any human was allowed to join the Helldivers though few could endure the training and were washed out. As a strictly volunteer regiment the entrance trails were brutal, gruelling affairs that were used to weed out those unfit for service.

History

Through their entire history the Helldivers fought against any and all forces set on invading human space. The full list of campaigns and battles would be too numerous to detail every victory and defeat but below are the most definitive.

1st Battle of Phi Delta - An alien race of insectile beings dubbed "The Xilliax" (pronounced Shill-ee-ax) invades human space at the Phi Delta System. They immediately seize and fortify the habitable desert planet in the system and begin reproducing. Helldivers are dispatched and deployed and encounter heavy resistance. Surface is reclaimed but burrowed warrens still house millions of combat organisms.

Siege of Annaxis - The foundry planet Annaxis is hijacked by the overseer A.I. installed in the central processing hub. Billions of warbots are put into production and proceed to exterminate all sentient life in the system. The next 110 years are spent in a grinding battle of attrition pushing the automatons back to the planet surface.

2nd Battle of Phi Delta - Known among the Helldivers as the Hellmires, the second battle of Phi Delta occurred nearly 60 years after the initial invasion of the system. Named for the extensive fighting that occurred in the region famed for its sulphur swamps, the battle ran for over three years and resulted in a casualty toll in the high hundreds of thousands for the Helldivers but the Xilliax were expelled from the system.

Type

Spaceborne

Founding

4 Post-Scream (2712C.E)

Dissolution

384 Post-Scream (3092C.E)

Overall training Level

Elite

Assumed Veterancy

Veteran