Regiments of Meri-Kata

The Regiments of Meri-Kata are a number of regiments in the Imperial Army drawn from the world of Meri-Kata in the Ghoul Stars.

Background
Even as a few strategists and military planners began to declare the end of the Great Crusade was within sight, the Imperial war machine continued to expand its strength. This growth was a combination of the growing numbers of famed forces who were there when the Emperor declared the Great Crusade standing side-by-side by last minute additions from newly-Compliant worlds.

One such latecomer army to join the Great Crusade were the regiments of the Meri-Kata system. The Meri-Kata system existed deep on the Eastern Fringe, it's discovery only possible thanks to the recently invented beacons which reflected a fraction of the Astronomicon's light. Although it is unknown how our ancestors were able to colonize so far from the homeworld, a detachment of Iron Bears discovered a robust and martial branch of humanity. The Meri-Katans had been isolated since the onset of Long Night, but their isolation had protected them from its worst ravages. Unfortunately, several centuries before the coming of the Imperium, civil war exploded across the system. With two evenly matched sides, the Meri-Katans had remained at war all of the way up until their discovery.

The war came to a quick cease-fire as both sides investigated the newcomers. Displaying a deep suspicion of the Halcyon Wardens, Captain Griogair was only able to avoid combat through a thorough weapons demonstration that cowed the Meri-Katans aggressive urges. Given their peaceful transition into the Imperium, the new Imperial governor worked quickly to integrate the Meri-Katans' armed forces into the Imperial Army. Less than three years after initial contact, the Meri-Katans' sent their first regiments to the Macragge muster point.

The worlds had been reduced to the Iron Age during Old Night and had only recently worked themselves back to the Steel Age. As such, they were on the cusp of automatic weapons and accurate personal arms when the Imperium arrived in system. Therefore, their military tactics were based primarily on large blocks of infantry out-maneuvering each other or slugging against each other on a battle line. While the martial technology of the Imperium suggested such age-old tactics were obsolete, the Meri-Katans' military command could not simply abandon tactics that had been ingrained into them since birth.

Thus, when the Administratum demanded the tithe for the Imperial Army, the Meri-Katans sent bodies, bodies, and more bodies. Five million Meri-Katans who now bore the double-headed eagle of the Imperium moved to Macragge. The average Meri-Katan had traded his inaccurate, single-shot stubber for modern lasgun, tripling their lethality several-fold. The process of arming each of these soldiers was the primary delay before the regiments could be considered 'combat-capable', requiring several years of assembling and shipping the new weapons to the remote Meri-Kata system. Even then, the time was actually half of what was originally predicted, thanks in no small part to a number of private Meri-Katan investors and the previous Meri-Katan government funding additional shipments with their own money, eager to test out the new weapon technology and display the supremacy of the Meri-Katan soldier.

The other massive change to the Meri-Katan infantry was the inclusion of body armour. Despite their wholesale enthusiasm for the adoption of the reliable lasgun, the Meri-Katans nearly reacted violently to the idea of increasing their physical protection under the belief that it compromised 'fighting spirit' and 'courage'. Long had the Meri-Katan military enshrined the indomitable fighting will into their soldiers as demonstrated for standing fast with no other protection than simple cloth to avert bullets. Additionally, the Meri-Katans attached great sentimentality and weight to their 'handsome' uniforms. Yet, the Meri-Katans were loathed to simply ignore progress and received repeated warnings of just how virulent the enemies of Mankind could be.

In the end, a compromise was brokered. Roughly half of the enlisted ranks would adopt the standard pattern flak armour and uniform and 'test' them in open warfare for two campaigns. All such uniforms were to display Meri-Katan 'proper colors' as their only modification. The other half of the enlisted would continue wearing the traditional Meri-Katan uniform, but one that incorporated flak armour in some manner, whether the armour was placed over the uniform, sewn into the uniform, or be limited to a few pieces of minor armour such as knee or elbow pads. Officers were given the choice of either or to not include any flak armour if they so chose. The few penal regiments and any other soldier found to be guilty of 'dishonourable conduct' were not given the option for any flak armour.

It was intended that they would continue the war effort to claim the entirety of the Eastern Fringe under the domain of the Imperium. Fate would waylay these original intentions. The Meri-Katan infantry would instead face an opponent that no Imperial Army veteran could have prepared them for: the Traitor Astartes.

Regimental Wargear
Outside of infantry, the Meri-Katans had little to offer to the Imperial Army. All artillery units were simply too obsolete to merit deployment outside the new PDF regiments. The difficulties of ensuring adequate logistical support prevented any of the Meri-Katans' cavalry units from leaving the system as well, except for the few wealthy officers who were willing to spend their personal money on their units. There would be enough effort to see several cavalry battalions travel to Macragge, but these would be rare among the countless infantry units that would form the bulk of the tithe. Properly equipped (in most cases) for war, the first Meri-Katan regiments took to the void on troop transports that were requisitioned from elsewhere.