Brunok

Biodata

Power Progression

Background

Before serving Sith, Brunok had survived countless battles and become both an adjutant and the undisputed commander of a battered, improvised force. He regarded his continued survival as proof of his ability, but the exceptional strength of every veteran in the newly arrived 101st Regiment unsettled him 4.

Appearance

• Build: Enormously muscular, with particularly powerful shoulders and arms; his bulk alone helps intimidate two visiting nobles 4 22 28.
• Uniform: Wears the army’s improvised black clothing. Ana’s promethium-based dye stains the skin beneath his cuffs 11.
• Battlefield condition: Appears with bandages wrapped over his black uniform during the desert campaign 16.
• Later armor: Acquires carapace armor and continues wearing it after joining the Black Watch 31 45.

Personality

Brunok is foul-mouthed, impatient, and initially confident enough to challenge Sith bluntly. He privately calls Ana a “half-baked amateur,” despite the danger of disrespecting the Adeptus Mechanicus. The 101st’s veterans quickly curb his behavior, and witnessing Sith’s slaughter of the rebels turns his insolence into deference 4 5.

He takes considerable pride in the regiment’s achievements. After its first major victory over the Orks, he presents the favorable casualty figures with open satisfaction and growing respect for Sith. Nevertheless, he repeatedly asks for rest or time to eat when the soldiers approach exhaustion 15 16.

His concern for civilians is inconsistent. He initially considers feeding noncombatants wasteful and later proposes diverting their rations to soldiers, but he also despises nobles who abandon commoners while demanding elite escorts and the removal of badly needed supplies. During the water crisis, he orders lethal measures against rioting refugees among whom Genestealers have infiltrated 7 11 28 31.

Abilities & Skills

Battlefield Command

• Directs soldiers under fire, including barricading a supply-depot gate with corpses and building materials 6.
• Organizes an orderly withdrawal to the tower summit, ordering impassable routes demolished when they cannot be closed 27.
• Commands defenders against Chaos Astartes while Sith is away at the water purification station 35.

Heavy-Weapon Combat

• Uses sustained machine-gun fire to cover withdrawals through rebel-held passages 22 23.
• Adopts a bolt machine gun captured from rebel positions 13.
• Can shoulder a heavy bolter, though doing so visibly strains him; Sith’s ability to carry an autocannon still astonishes him 32.
• Continues firing during the Chaos assault until his machine-gun barrel glows red 35.

Logistics and Military Administration

• Tracks recruitment, equipment, ammunition, provisions, and casualties for Sith 8 14 15 20 24.
• Reports the arrival of more than four thousand recruits at the supply depot and, later, nearly seventy thousand deserters and isolated Imperial troops 8 20.
• Identifies critical supply problems, including food shortages, destroyed transport aircraft, hoarded water, and the loss of the route to Hyperia 20 24 31 36.

Equipment

• Machine gun: His recurring weapon, carried from his first appearance through the march toward Hyperia. He remains attached to it even when ammunition is exhausted 4 5 40.
• Twin axes: Temporarily replaces his empty firearm before the assault on the supply depot 5.
• Bolt machine gun / heavy bolter: Obtains a bolt machine gun while stripping rebel positions and later carries a heavy bolter during the attack on the nobles’ fortress 13 32.
• Pistol: Worn at his waist during the nobles’ audience with Sith 28.
• Motorcycle: Used to travel with communications personnel and deliver battlefield reports during the desert campaign 14 16.
• Communications headset: Receives Ana’s signal authorizing the retreat to the tower summit 27.
• Carapace armor: Worn during the refugee unrest and the Black Watch’s boarding deployment 31 45.

Relationships

• Sith — Commanding officer. Brunok progresses from openly questioning him to respectful obedience, while still cautiously advocating for exhausted soldiers. He remains Sith’s adjutant through the Black Watch’s deployment 4 5 15 16 45.
• Ana — Fellow member of Sith’s command group. Brunok privately doubts her competence but relies on her technical work and communications; he also brings her unusual starch-production method to Sith’s attention 4 24 27.
• 101st Regiment veterans — Initially intimidate him for disrespecting Sith. He later commands and fights alongside them in repeated defensive and rearguard actions 4 22 27.
• Black Skull — Enemy Chaos commander whom Brunok deliberately insults. When the provocation succeeds, Brunok retreats to his gun position; the ensuing Astartes charge visibly frightens him 37.
• Spire nobles — Objects of his disgust for hoarding supplies and seeking privileged evacuation. He blocks two nobles from pressing their demands and later helps eliminate the fortress’s private soldiers 28 32.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Hive City Breakthrough and Supply Depot

Brunok’s troops join the 101st outside the Hive City gate and are caught in the rebel mass assault when it opens. He survives the battle, reports that food has been exhausted for over a day, and exchanges his empty machine gun for twin axes before the advance into the city 4 5.

At the captured supply depot, he secures the gate while Sith and Ana reach the warehouse. He subsequently oversees re-equipment and recruitment, briefs Sith on the enormous rebel presence, and warns that the exposed exit is covered by heavy weapons 6 7 8.

Recruitment and the Desert Campaign

At the spire, Brunok helps support Sith’s rapid expansion while reporting inadequate uniforms and rations. During the expedition into rebel positions, he realizes that the supposedly sleeping rebels are deliberately allowing the Imperial force to leave, then participates in taking their weapons and ammunition 11 13.

During the Ork campaign, he handles supply and casualty reports and repeatedly warns of approaching reinforcements. Wounded and exhausted himself, he asks Sith to give the soldiers rest or at least time to eat, but the pursuing Orks force the column onward 14 15 16.

Retreat to the Spire

After reporting that reinforcements have restored the army to roughly one hundred thousand troops, Brunok joins the advance toward the Hive City. Inside, he and the veterans cover the retreat through passages obstructed by the nobles’ false access commands 20 21 22 23.

Following the capture of the spire, he assesses its equipment and food stocks. Later, while Sith’s team operates below, Brunok commands the defense against the increasingly frenzied Genestealers. Ana’s transmission prompts him to withdraw to the summit and seal or demolish the approaches 24 27.

Water Crisis and Chaos Assault

Brunok reports the refugee riots and reveals that the nobles have taken the clean-water reserves into their fortress. After Sith and Daviro breach it, he leads soldiers in rooting out and executing the remaining private troops while Ana removes the water 31 32.

He subsequently directs the summit’s defense against Chaos Astartes, whose losses astonish their commander. During the ensuing standoff, his insults provoke Black Skull into preparing another attack 35 37.

Hyperia and the Black Watch

Brunok survives the Hive City’s destruction and the subsequent fighting across the devastated battlefield. Sith finds him slumped among corpses, clutching his machine gun, and orders him to gather the survivors for the march toward Hyperia 39 40.

As a member of the newly formed Black Watch, Brunok accompanies Sith into a shipboard assault during Calgar’s duel with Abaddon. When Sith stops the troops from following Daviro into a suicidal charge, Brunok initially fails to understand the order to seize an enemy boarding craft and escape to an Imperial warship 45.

Notable Quotes

“With that kind of power... you could mount it on a Knight as its main cannon...” 4

“My lord, at least give the soldiers five minutes to eat...” 16

“If we can't close them, then blow them all down!” 27