The Last Chancers: Difference between revisions

* [[Covered With Scars]] -- Kage is described as being covered in scars, most obviously a large one on his face (the result of being near a Tryanid spore mine detonation) but also numerous other ones on his torso and limbs. He admits that he would hardly have been winning any beauty pagents even before all of these, and he seems not to particularly care.

* [[Denied Food As Punishment]] -- Kage uses this as a "stick" as part of training others. He likes it as a teaching technique because it is "short and sharp", getting seriousness across quickly without doing more serious damage to trainees or interrupting their other schedueled training.

* [[Designer Babies]] -- {{spoiler|Loron and Lorii were the product of a cabal of Tech Priests [[Playing With Syringes]] over centuries to create "perfected" soldiers via splincing the genes of Lord Commander Solar Macharius into altered fetuses. Grown in [[Uterine Replicator|Uterine Replicators]], subject to [[Neural Implanting]] of combat doctrine, five-hundred heathy babies were created, out of fifty-thousand attempts. Those were organized into five companies, all of which were annilated save for Loron and Lorii, making them the [[Last of His Kind|Last Of Their Kind]]. This is why calling either of them "freak" hits their [[Berserk Button]].}}

* [[Dying As Yourself]] -- {{spoiler|Kage, now almost completely lost to [[Demonic Possession]], is allowed to reassert control over his own body when [[Anti-Magic|Oahebs]] gets close to him. Seeing his own hands already mutated into [[Femme Fatalons]], his team mates about to be executed, and the knowledge that even if he were to get out alive he would no longer be himself, grants him an epiphany. He finally embraces the [[Martyrdom Culture]] of the Imperium, and the concept of self-sacrifice for survival. He grabs Von Strab and throws the two off them off a cliff together, bringing his story with the 13th Penal Legion to a close.}}

* [[I Did What I Had to Do]] -- Inqusitor Oriel's justification for {{spoiler|bringing a genestealer ([[Sealed Evil in A Can|sealed in a stasis chamber]]) to Coritanorum}}.

* [[Implacable Man]] -- Colonel Schaeffer has a reputation for being unkillable. It is not so much that he is [[Made of Iron]] as it is that he just never seems to get hit, and there is hardly ever even a scratch in his uniform after a big fight, and he will fearlessly lead troops on a suicide mission with every expectation that he will succeed. Described by Kage as "Unflappable, unlovable, and unkillable." In all his life, he has never failed to see a mission through. {{spoiler|Kage is taken by surprise to find the Colonel [[An Arm and A Leg|lost an arm]] while fighting in Coritanorum, and then even more surprised to see him again later with [[Unexplained Recovery|his arm whole and functioning]].}} This only serves to reinforce the Colonel's reputation.

* [[In the Hood]] -- While posing as part of a diplimatic deligation, Kage is disguised as an Administratum scribe, wearing a scribe's traditional heavy hooded robe. He is given this disguise primarily because it is the one that best hides the [[Covered With Scars|many scars covering his body]] which would otherwise hint his history as a soldier.

* [[The Medic]] -- Pieter Stroniberg was a field surgeon who became addicted to a homemade chemical mix of stimmulants and painkillers. It affected his job performance, losing five times the ususal number of patients. He eventually began [[Dr. Feelgood|giving out his chemical cocktail]] to other soldiers in exhange for money and favors, resulting in his eventual imprisonment. [[Nailed to The Wagon|He has been detoxed]], but suffers from long-term symptoms of withdrawl. Considered a trustee for good behavior, he has acted as a prison surgeon for over a year. Has [[Twitchy Eye|a nervous tick in his eye]] and [[The Insomniac|cannot sleep more than four hours a night]]. Nicknamed "Stitcher".

* [[Plot-Driven Breakdown]] -- A stasis chamber in which [[Sealed Evil in A Can|a very dangerous xenos is being kept]] for future study seems to have opened at a very inoppertune time, at a very inoppertune place, in a room that happened to have an [[Air Vent Passageway|air vent]] leading to the rest of the very large facility. This kicks of the plot of ''13th Legion''.

* [[Remember the New Guy]] -- The Tau were introduced into the 40K setting after the first book in this trilogy was written, and feature heavily in the second book. [[Lampshade Hanging|Kage had never heard of them before]]. Somewhat justified in that Kage is from one the underclass of a hive city, and like most Imperial citizens, is kept in relative ignorance of the extent of the galaxy, especially specific knowledge of xenos.

* [[The Reveal]] -- While camped inside a disused oil pipeline, some of the Last Chancers are discussing the Colonel. The Colonel himself, [[Instant Waking Skills|seemlying asleep moments ago]], decides to lay a few things on the table regarding [[Shrouded in Myth|the rumors about himself]]. He removes his left glove. {{spoiler|Underneath is a completely normal human hand. He explains that he was fixed up after he [[An Arm and A Leg|Lost An Arm]] in the [[Storming the Castle|battle of Coritanorum]] thanks to the [[Machine Worship|Adeptus Mechanius]] cloning and regrowing him a new one. It was painful, but he had worse when they once had to [[Normally I Would Be Dead Now|regrow his spine after he got crushed by a tank]]. Even his trademark [[Blue Eyes]] are not his original ones, having been taken from a condemned criminal. Through this perpetual biological repair he has lived for over three centuries, and as long as he continues to bring victory to the Imperium he will continue to recieve such treatments. He considers this to be a blessing and a sign of the [[God-Emperor]]'s favor, as he has never failed in any mission.}}

* [[Stripped to The Bone]] -- {{spoiler|Tau battlesuit anti-theft devices put [[Shock and Awe|an electrical current]] thought the head of an unauthorized pilot sufficient to char anyone sitting in the pilot seat to ash. The ash remains on the skeleton until something distrubs it, leaving bones behind.}}

* [[Throw Down the Bomblet]] -- Oynas Trost, a man who [[The Nondescript|looks completely average and unremarkable]], except for his [[Dull Eyes of Unhappiness|dead, emotionless eyes]]. Agent of the [[Career Killers|Officio Sabatorum]], and has the highest bodycount of anyone in the 13th Penal Legion, which is saying something. Made a mistake that ended poisoning three Imperial admirals and their families, which is why he is in the Last Chancers. Used to operating on his own, he [[Talk to The Fist|Talks to Kage's Fist]] often as Kage tries to instill a little team discipline in him. Nicknamed "Demolition Man".

* [[Vague Age]] -- Kage is uncertain of his exact age, given that his early life was spent in an underhive with no seasons to count, warp travel confuses relative and objective time, and the fact that he is given no calender to track such things. Scribe Spooge, who has access to some more exact figures, places Kage's age at somewhere below thirty Terran standard years, though Kage has [[Wise Beyond Their Years|seen more battlefields and combat than most soldiers twice his age]], and [[Covered With Scars|has the scars to prove it]].