The release of Unlocked and Loaded brought a new face to the Mourningstar. Commissar Darinda Dukane has assumed command of the Moebian 53rd regiment - the famed Steelheads. These stalwart troops have been deployed to Tertium at the behest of the Planetary Governor, Lord Margrave, who is disturbed by the perceived lack of progress made by the Inquisition.
[h2]But what is a Commissar of the Astra Militarum?[/h2]
The Commissars of the Officio Prefectus are fearsome, iron-fisted authoritarians who keep the wheels of the Astra Militarum in motion. To the masses of Humanity, most of whom recognise the black greatcoat, peaked cap and polished boots of a Commissar from hab-block propaganda frescoes or grainy recruitment vids, these inflexible men and women are Imperial authority made manifest. Their amorphous remit is to ensure that all do their duty in the Emperor’s name, and the high rank and wide-ranging powers of these Departmento Munitorum agents give them leeway to enforce discipline at all levels. Should discipline and morale falter, should orders fail to be obeyed in anything less than exemplary and immediate fashion, it is these ruthless men and women in black who take whatever steps necessary to restore order –
no matter the cost.
[h2]A Commanding Presence[/h2]
Commissars rarely assume direct command of a regiment and the circumstances by which Commissar Dukane came to head up the 53rd remain shrouded in mystery - or are at least snarled up in the processes of the Imperium’s infamous bureaucracy. However, it is plain that she enjoys the full confidence of the sectors lord militant, and has swiftly moved to assume immediate control of the Atoman warzone, masterminding aggressive deployments by the 53rd and rallying the winnowed survivors of the Moebian 21st - until now, the only official Astra Militarum presence in Tertium.
[h2]Uneasy Allies[/h2]
With initial drop zones secured, Dukane has taken station on the Mourningstar and even now casts a suspicious eye over Grendyl’s warband, whose motives and masters she clearly does not trust. Nonetheless, she is too practical not to recognise the necessity of allies and has assigned the finest drill sergeants of the 53rd to tutor the rejects in proper weapons drill. Expendable allies they might be, but every heretic the members of the warband eliminates is one less heretic to stand in her path.
But not everything is going Dukane’s way. Tertium’s insidious cult refuses to let this upstart newcomer foil their long-held plans. Even as the 53rd secures new ground the heretics prepare to strike a humbling blow, presenting Sergeant-Major Morrow with an opportunity to prove the warband’s worth…
