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Avitus - Avitus: Avitus is a Devastator Marine and a Sergeant of the Blood Ravens Space Marine Chapter who has served in both the 3rd and 4th Companies. He fought in the Kronus Campaign, the First Aurelian Crusade and the Second Aurelian Crusade under Captain Davian Thule and the Force Commander Aramus.Avitus grew up in a small settlement on the Jungle World of Typhon Primaris. Among the Astartes of the Blood Ravens' 4th Company he was known as a hard man who despised weakness and Traitors. He was also known to have an extreme dislike for the Imperial Guard due to his experiences with them as a child and his hostile relationship with several of their regiments during prior campaigns. |
Avitus - Early History: During his childhood, before becoming a Space Marine, Avitus' primitive settlement on Typhon Primaris was subjected to the cruelty of a corrupt Imperial Guard regiment. The settlement was extorted to near-starvation by unofficial taxes and penalties. This is believed to be one of the first causes of his well-known hate for the Imperial Guard. |
Avitus - The Kronus Campaign: During the Kronus Campaign, Avitus fought against the 1st Kronus Liberators at Victory Bay. During the fierce fighting, he lost two squad mates to those he believed were Traitors to the Emperor. This bloody fighting ingrained in him the attitude that all Guardsmen are Traitors and weaklings. |
Avitus - The Aurelian Crusades: Sergeant Avitus fought in both the First and Second Aurelian Crusades, leading the 9th Devastator Squad. During the First Aurelian Crusade he once again served under Captain Davian Thule, and later, Force Commander Aramus, and helped them defend the Sub-sector Aurelia from an encroaching Tyranid splinter Hive Fleet. During the Second Aurelian Crusade, while still serving under Aramus, Avitus helped defend the sub-sector from an incursion by a large warband of Black Legion Chaos Space Marines. |
Avitus - Canon and Possible Betrayal: In Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising, Avitus is a possible traitor, along with Martellus and all the other members of the Blood Ravens squad under the command of Force Commander Aramus. If he is revealed as the traitor, he is slain by Sergeant Tarkus. Dawn of War II - Retribution also hints that he was the canonical traitor, as Sergeant Tarkus takes a vow of silence and explains he took the vow primarily because he had killed a friend from Kronus during the Second Aurelian Crusade. Tarkus reveals this when he breaks his oath aboard the Space Hulk Judgement of Carrion. Since only Davian Thule and Avitus fought along with Tarkus on Kronus, and Davian Thule can not be corrupted, it is likely that Avitus was the canon traitor among the Blood Ravens. |
Avitus - Personality: Avitus was a dour and cruel warrior who held no mercy or compassion for the unaugmented masses of the Imperium following the campaign for Kronus and the deadly battle the Blood Ravens fought against the stubborn Imperial Guard there. |
Avitus - Wargear: Power ArmourMark IVc Heavy BolterFrag GrenadesKrak Grenades |
Avitus - Optional Wargear: Plasma CannonMissile LauncherLascannon |
Axe-Rake - Axe-Rake: An Axe-Rake is a heavily reinforced chainaxe with a grappling barb. |
Axe-Rake - Ashen Circle: Well-known users of this weapon include a specialist unit within the Word Bearers Legion, known as the Ashen Circle.This vicious blade was used to drag down victims, and topple graven idols and false icons for the Word Bearers' pyres during the Emperor's Great Crusade.On the battlefield, the Ashen Circle's task was deemed no less important than other combat duties by their Legion; for they sought out those things which gave the foe the heart and courage to fight: false idols, profane totems, charismatic leaders, priests, battle flags and champions.These they singled out, dragged down with the hook-blades of their Axe-Rakes and destroyed with brutal fervour, often making plunging attacks far in advance of their own lines in order to do so, with no thought as to their own survival. |
Axe-Rake - Vervunhive: Axe-Rakes were also used in the 41st Millennium by the workers of Vervunhive on the world of Verghast during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade.The workers of Vervunhive wielded Axe-Rakes as weapons against the invaders of their hive city from the neighbouring, Chaos-corrupted hive of Ferrozoica. |
Axe-Rake - Sources: The Horus Heresy Book Two - Massacre (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 257Necropolis (Novel) by Dan Abnett |
Axe of Dismemberment - Axe of Dismemberment: An Axe of Dismemberment is a powerful, 8-foot-long battleaxe forged with the power of the Warp. It is a potent melee weapon used by the Heretic Astartes and is particularly favoured by the Chaos Space Marines dedicated to the service of Khorne known as the Masters of Executions. |
Azariah Kyras - Azariah Kyras: Azariah Kyras was the former Chapter Master and Chief Librarian of the Blood Ravens Chapter of Space Marines. Kyras was tragically corrupted by Chaos following his confrontation with the Greater Daemon of Nurgle, known as Ulkair.Five hundred standard years after his disappearance, he inexplicably returned to his Chapter and seized command of the 5th Company. His experiences within the Warp tragically corrupted the Space Marines, such that upon his return he became intently focused on spreading that corruption to his battle-brothers.Over the centuries that followed Azariah Kyras hid his corruption while spreading his taint through the Chapter.Kyras eventually openly declared his loyalty as a servant to the Ruinous Powers and was granted ascension as a Daemon Prince.Kyras was slain and replaced by a strike team of Loyalist Blood Ravens led by the noble Gabriel Angelos, commander of the Blood Ravens' 3rd Company, after the Blood Ravens successfully cleansed the Aurelian Sub-sector of the Korianis Sector of the taint of Chaos with the aid of the Inquisition and the forces of the Astra Militarum during the Second Aurelian Crusade. |
Azariah Kyras - Before Aurelian Crusade: Azariah Kyras has an unusually mysterious and dark past for a Chapter Master of an Adeptus Astartes Chapter. Early in the 41st Millennium, almost 1,000 standard years before the present, the world of Aurelia in the Aurelian Sub-sector of the Korianis Sector was swallowed by a vast Warp Storm.Before the storm swallowed the planet within the Immaterium, it had been pushed out of its standard orbit and much of its population had died as a result of the sudden frigid environmental changes. Then-Epistolary Azariah Kyras was a Librarian of the Blood Ravens Chapter who served alongside his master Moriah, the Chapter Master and Chief Librarian of the Blood Ravens.Just before Aurelia was swallowed by the Warp, a Greater Daemon of Nurgle named Ulkair, a Great Unclean One, had manifested on the world and had slain Moriah. Weakened by Moriah, Ulkair was vulnerable enough to allow Kyras to imprison the immensely powerful Daemon.Then the Warp captured the world and Azariah Kyras along with it. While the hideous Warpspawn was overcome, Epistolary Kyras was thought lost to the Warp. His death was entered into the Chapter's records, along with commendations for bravery.Five Terran centuries later, the 5th Company of the Blood Ravens had taken serious losses from the groups of Tyranids and Daemons that infested a space hulk known as the Judgment of Carrion they had been tasked to explore.Azariah Kyras suddenly appeared amidst his fellow Blood Ravens on the hulk and used his abilities to aid Apothecary Galan, the remaining ranking officer in the company, in defending the surviving battle-brothers from the hulk's hideous inhabitants. The remains of the 5th Company, despite Kyras' aid, were still trapped on the space hulk, unable to get back to their Thunderhawks and escape.At the same time, Galan found himself haunted by a malignant daemonic presence that Kyras identified as Ulkair, the Greater Daemon that the Blood Ravens had suffered terrible losses imprisoning and which had caused Kyras to be lost in the Warp for centuries.Kyras, corrupted by Chaos during his long imprisonment in the Warp with Ulkair, sought to corrupt his fellow battle-brothers by enhancing their despair and playing on their fears.To gain the escape of the remains of the 5th Company from the Judgment of Carrion, Kyras entered into a pact with Ulkair in which in return for the Blood Ravens' escape from the Space Hulk, Galan was willingly possessed by a Daemon.After the remains of the 5th Company escaped from the Judgment of Carrion, both Kyras and Galan were hailed as heroes of the Chapter and Kyras was welcomed back into the fold as a lost battle-brother.Over the centuries that followed Azariah Kyras hid his corruption while spreading his taint through the Chapter. Those who fell under his sway became hosts for Daemons allied with the -- supposedly dead -- Greater Daemon Ulkair. In surprisingly short order, Kyras assumed the title of Chapter Master, taking command of the Blood Ravens and corrupting many of the other Space Marines.At the same time, he forged alliances with other Daemons and foul servants of Chaos. Gabriel Angelos -- captain of the 3rd Company -- was the only member of the Chapter's command elements to view Kyras' return with mistrust. Despite his misgiving, Kyras rose quickly back through the ranks of the Blood Ravens due to his great experience and eventually became both the Blood Ravens' Chapter Master and their Chief Librarian, holding both positions simultaneously.Kyras' strongest ally amongst the Blood Ravens, the Apothecary Galan, became the Chapter Honour Guard's Apothecary. Gabriel quietly and suspiciously investigated the Chapter Master at every opportunity, and would ultimately expose the Chapter Master as a Heretic and Traitor, when he confirmed links between the fallen battle-brother and the Traitor Legions.However, the truth was discovered too late. By the time Captain Angelos was prepared to reveal his findings to the Chapter, a large number of its Space Marines were already corrupted.Instead, Kyras declared Gabriel a traitor and initiated a vicious hunt for the Captain and his forces. A bloody civil war ensued, one that would engulf the entire Aurelian sub-sector at its peak. |
Azariah Kyras - Second Aurelian Crusade: It was the invasion of the Aurelian Sub-sector by a warband of the Black Legion that finally revealed Azariah Kyras' true allegiance to Chaos. Blood Ravens of the 4th Company tracked down and boarded the Judgment of Carrion to learn the truth of Kyras' and the 5th Company's escape from the space hulk.The Blood Ravens gained evidence of the pact made by Kyras and Galan with the Greater Daemon Ulkair. Kyras himself was not present in the Aurelian Sub-sector during the Chapter's crusade against the elements of the Black Legion.Instead, he sent Apollo Diomedes, the captain of the Blood Ravens' Honour Guard, to order the Blood Raven forces in the sub-sector to withdraw from all contact with the Chaos Space Marines.Yet, the Blood Ravens officer who served as the Chapter's Force Commander in the Aurelian Crusade turned against Apothecary Galan, who confessed to his own corruption by Chaos as well as Kyras' true allegiance.But Galan explained that Captain Diomedes was untainted, though much of the Honour Guard did serve the Ruinous Powers and Ulkair in particular. The Force Commander and Captain Angelos disobeyed their corrupted Chapter Master's orders and remained in Aurelia to defeat the Black Legion and end the threat of Ulkair. |
Azariah Kyras - Defeat: With the defeat of the Great Unclean One on Aurelia, the Force Commander and Captain Gabriel Angelos went renegade, determined to bring down Azariah Kyras and the other Chaos-corrupted Blood Ravens, no matter the cost.Openly declaring his loyalty to Chaos, Kyras ascended to Daemon Princedom of Khorne by offering all the souls in the Sub-sector Aurelia via the Exterminatus.However, Kyras' ascension was far from complete, allowing a strike team of Blood Ravens, led by Gabriel Angelos and including Apollo Diomedes, Cyrus, Tarkus, and Martellus, to destroy the towers of offering and, thus, weaken Kyras enough to harm him. After a long and difficult battle, Kyras was stunned long enough for an orbital bombardment to occur.The Daemon was slain and its plan was thwarted, but at a great cost to the Blood Ravens. Most of Angelos' forces were slain during the battle and Angelos himself was viciously struck down by Kyras.His broken body was repaired with extensive bionic augmentations and he ascended to become the Blood Ravens' Chapter Master after a bloody purge. Following the purge, many of the Chapter's unusual practices would continue to be re-examined.The Chapter now must exhibit great care as they recruit new members to replace those who betrayed the Imperium, lest other factions push for their dissolution at this time of weakness. |
Azrael - Azrael: Azrael is the current, and some would say the greatest, supreme grand master of the Dark Angels Space Marine Chapter in the 41st Millennium. In this role, he is not only their military commander but the protector of their honour and the shield of their souls. Azrael also carries the honorific Chapter title of "Keeper of the Truth."Azrael recently made the decision to cross the Rubicon Primaris and undergo the painful transformation to become a Primaris Space Marine.Following in the mighty footsteps of the gene-father of the Dark Angels, the Primarch Lion El'Jonson, Azrael understands full well the tremendous heritage and duty of his station as the commander of what remains of the Emperor's Ist Legion.He alone is privy to the darkest secrets of the Chapter, and it is his honour to lead the quest for the Dark Angels' redemption.Grim of demeanour, possessed of deep conviction and unwavering purpose, Azrael is the epitome to which the Dark Angels aspire.Yet never does Azrael lose sight of the Dark Angels' secret agenda -- even in the midst of a life-or-death battle, the Chapter's hunt for the Fallen Angels always continues. This hidden agenda is always at the forefront of Azrael's keen mind, even as he plans the next battle or reviews the next sector to be brought under surveillance.In this, he guides not only his Chapter, but all the Unforgiven. That all the Dark Angels Successor Chapters follow Azrael's directives on many matters is more than mere deference towards a founding Chapter, and implies a unity of purpose that frequently crosses the line of one of the most important tenets of the Codex Astartes -- that there be no reformation of the ancient Space Marine Legions.Although stern, reclusive and troubled are words that have defined the leaders of the Dark Angels since the days of the Horus Heresy, the weight of the Chapter's secrets has only grown heavier with time, and the burden borne by the current supreme grand master in particular is unlike that carried by any of his predecessors.Azrael must contend with a galaxy deeply changed by the events surrounding the birth of the Cicatrix Maledictum, and only he knows that it is one that the Arch-traitor Luther not just survived to see, but now gravely threatens with his recent escape from his former prison deep within The Rock.It is to the recapture of Luther -- and all the Fallen -- that Azrael now extends the full scope of his powers.Yet even Azrael is ignorant of his Chapter's final secret. Deep within The Rock, in a chamber known only to the Emperor Himself, the Lion is fully healed and ready to awaken when the Imperium needs him most... |
Azrael - A Determined Novitiate: Dark Angels forswear all past life and allegiances, forgetting the worlds of their birth, forsaking all kinship and former friendships to become warriors of the Chapter. Through long rituals and inculcation into the traditions and teachings of the Dark Angels, each takes on the mantle of a righteous soldier of the Emperor and remembers little of his origins.The same is true of Supreme Grand Master Azrael; if he recalls anything of his childhood, he tells nothing. Yet in the vaults of The Rock, there exist ancient records of recruitment, guarded by the Chaplains and kept safe by vigil and lock.Here, even the beginnings of a lord of the Chapter as great as Azrael can be found. Though the Chaplains discourage idle rumour and gossip, tales circulate amongst the battle-brethren of the circumstances that brought their commander to the Dark Angels.Azrael's beginnings are a mystery, although rumours persist that he was inducted into the Chapter from the tribes of wild headhunters who called the icy Feral World of Kimmeria home, but he shows none of his forebears' predilection for anti-social tendencies.Before reaching even thirteen Terran years old, he was marked for greatness. The trophy stakes outside the lodge of his family held two dozen heads taken by the young fighter in raids and battles, and leadership of the clan was certain when he grew older.The Emperor's servants had other plans for the youth that would become Azrael, for Kimmeria is a recruiting world of the Dark Angels, and on one of their visits to the planet, the Chaplains were drawn to the boy. Along with a handful of other promising candidates, he was taken by the Chapter, body and soul tested near to breaking point.Alone amongst those recruited at that time, he passed these tests, meaning that there are no others amongst the Chapter who share any deeper knowledge of his lowly origins. Whatever the truth of his background, he foreswore it, as do all new inductees into the Dark Angels.Once inducted as a novitiate into the 10th Company, the youthful Azrael performed above expectation. As his body was crafted into that of a noble warrior of the Adeptus Astartes, so too was his mind honed.It was not the physical deeds of the young Scout Marine that drew attention, though they were as considerable as any Dark Angel, but his surety of purpose and dedication to the teachings of the Chapter.On Daenyth Secundus, that mettle was tested gravely. Elements of the 10th, 6th and 3rd Companies were fighting Aeldari pirates that had been preying upon the people of Daenyth Secundus for many solar decades. Against such swift-moving, elusive foes, the Scouts were essential in locating the enemy.One night, two solar weeks into a frustrating campaign that had seen the Aeldari avoid open battle, the Scouts located an active Warp Gate -- an Aeldari portal to one of the alien ships hiding in orbit. The Sergeants were ready to communicate their discovery to the Force Commander when a small group of pirates emerged.Caught unawares, the Aeldari were swiftly slain. It was Azrael that realised that the Aeldari would soon miss their reconnaissance party and urged the Sergeants to lead an attack back through the portal before it was closed.Swayed by the Scout's conviction and recognising the logic of his plan, the Sergeants acceded to his impassioned request. Passing through the portal, the Scouts found themselves aboard a xenos pirate ship above the world. They wreaked havoc in the heart of the enemy starship, managing to disable its engines so that a Dark Angels rapid strike vessel could bring it to battle.Before the ship was destroyed, the Scouts were saved by a daring Thunderhawk extraction. On returning to the Chapter, Azrael was awarded his first laurel of victory -- one of only six individuals in ten thousand Terran years to have earned such honour before becoming full battle-brothers.By the time Azrael took his titled name and ascended to the ranks of the battle-brothers, it was thought he would join the Chaplaincy, such was his knowledge of, and aptitude for, the lore of the Dark Angels. However, the course of his life was to take a different turn. |
Azrael - Knight of Caliban: Many are the great deeds performed by every Space Marine, and Azrael was no exception following his rise to the Battle Companies of the Dark Angels. Amongst warriors that will fight fearlessly and tirelessly for the cause, capable of feats that would make them heroes amongst the ranks of normal men, it takes a particular kind of Space Marine to earn even higher respect and recognition.For Azrael, this turning point came during the Scouring of Truan IX. On a night-shrouded world on the edge of the Truan System, the 3rd Company responded to the disappearance of an Adeptus Mechanicus outpost. At first, they encountered no foe amongst the abandoned hab-domes and mine workings, and they discovered no sign of what had happened to more than five hundred thousand Tech-priests and colonists; there were no corpses and no evidence of battle.Unperturbed, the 3rd Company ventured into the depths. There, in caverns deep beneath the surface, they discovered the remnants of the inhabitants, their decaying remains scattered where they had fallen, Tech Adepts and miners locked together in mortal combat with themselves and each other.What had driven them to fall upon each other like wild animals made itself known as the Space Marines soon came under a powerful psychic attack. From the heart of the world, a corrupting siren song permeated the minds of the Dark Angels, demanding obedience and sacrifice, filling the warriors with a rampant paranoia.Their souls hardened to such intrusion, the Space Marines did not fall immediately under the spell as had the weak-minded colonists, but the assault was not without consequence. Discipline was failing, and arguments between the battle-brothers sparked confrontations and sporadic bouts of violence as the company continued to explore.Their commander, Master Batheus, led his squad at the front, delving ahead into the ancient tunnels the mines had unearthed, leaving behind the rest of his command. Twelve solar hours later all contact was lost. After two Terran days, during which the rest of the company came to the verge of open rebellion and internecine fighting, Azrael disobeyed Batheus' last command to evacuate if he did not return, instead gathering about himself such sergeants and battle-brothers as seemed least affected by the psychic malaise.They followed Batheus into the catacombs. They found the corpses of the Command Squad, broken and battered by Chainsword and bolt. Coming under the scrutiny of the foul creature that resided in the depths, Azrael's ad-hoc command suffered the full force of the psychic assault.Pushing through the waves of demented paranoia that assailed him, Azrael left his companions behind and continued on alone, chanting hymnals and battle-prayers to harden his resolve.In a temple-like chamber, he came across the siren-beast -- a bloated Warp entity trapped half in the real universe and half in the immaterial. Holding true to his faith in the Lion and the Emperor, determined that his loyalty was to no other, Azrael confronted the Warp creature.While it lashed at the Space Marine with ethereal tentacles, every touch from the writhing appendages sending a burning psychic pain through him for his disobedience, Azrael slashed and blasted at the creature's material form. Yet no matter how many cuts he made with his combat blade or how deep were the wounds gouged by his Bolter, the Warp-spawn could not be slain.Fighting through the agony of real wounds and psychic assault, Azrael realised that the creature's Warp-self had to be banished. With a handful of Melta Bombs taken from the corpses of the Command Squad, Azrael fought his way from one side of the ancient temple to the other, withstanding the tormenting lashes while he placed the explosives.There was no way to escape the temple and still detonate the charges, so Azrael resigned himself to his death and brought the temple down upon himself and his foe. With the warding stones destroyed, the monster was wrenched back into the Warp with a last howl of rage, leaving Azrael alone inside his self-made tomb.Azrael believed his sacrifice to be mortal, but after three solar days, the survivors of the company dug him free. Returning to the Tower of Angels, the warriors of the 3rd Company demanded, with due respect and humility, that Azrael be recognised for his efforts. In honour of his mental resolve, he was directly inducted into the Deathwing Knights of the 1st Company. |
Azrael - A Natural Commander: Recognising Azrael's swift decision-making and hardiness of spirit during the Truan IX incident, the upper echelons of the Dark Angels paid close attention to the warrior's conduct and performance. His battle-prowess was undoubted, but to be inducted into the Inner Circle requires more than skill with blade and bolter.During his tenure with the Deathwing, Azrael continued to fight at the forefront of any engagement and, within a few Terran years, attained the rank of Knight Master. No longer destined for the calling of the Chaplain, Azrael was the natural choice to take command of the 3rd Company when Master Razekiel, Batheus' successor, fell in battle against an Ork Warlord; in fact, the warriors of the 3rd Company courteously and respectfully petitioned for the return of their favoured brother.Many successful campaigns followed, including the defeat of the techno-recidivists of Faze V, the slaying of Gorbaz Ironmaw, who had slain Azrael's predecessor, and the overthrowing of the rebellious Nothurnis Monarchy.Within the chambers of the Inner Circle, Azrael's prowess was no less impressive. It was he who always spoke first to support the hunt for the Fallen, keen to restore the Chapter's honour and prove the Dark Angels' loyalty to the Emperor.His tempered argument and sound counsel found welcoming ears, and many of the other masters, some of them solar decades his senior, looked to him as an exemplar of the greatest traditions of Caliban.Azrael continued to distinguish himself, eventually becoming the grand master of the Deathwing in 917.M41. From there, he famously led the assault that slew the Daemon-possessed planetary governor of Sephlagm, claiming vengeance for the Imperium before the order for Exterminatus removed the befouled planet from the heavens.Naberius was the supreme grand master of the Dark Angels before Azrael. He personally led an ambush and was slain by Heretic Astartes during the Rhamiel Betrayal, whilst in pursuit of the infamous Fallen Angel Cypher in 939.M41.Azrael led the Deathwing to recover his body and was subsequently named as his successor. Since that time, Azrael has distinguished himself, and his Chapter, with countless victories. |
Azrael - Supreme Grand Master: The supreme grand master of the Dark Angels secretly chooses his successor from the Inner Circle of the Chapter. When the old incumbent dies, his choice is ceremonially presented with the panoply associated with the rank of supreme grand master.He is presented with the Chapter's two most venerated relics as symbols of his office -- the Lion Helm (a potent artefact that was previously worn by the Dark Angels' Primarch Lion El'Jonson) and the Sword of Secrets, the foremost of the fabled Heavenfall Blades, which were created from a meteorite that struck The Rock, the Dark Angels' mobile fortress-monastery, after the Horus Heresy.This venerable weapon was so finely crafted that its razor-sharp edge has not chipped or lost its keenness since it was forged long millennia ago. Azrael also took up the Lion's Wrath, a Combi-plasma said to have been constructed by the Techno-magus Prestor the Unchallenged in the days following the fall of Caliban. Finally, he donned The Protector, a finely crafted suit of Artificer Armour inlaid with the symbols of his new rank.Most sacred of all, the Chapter Banners are given into the new supreme grand master's care, to be borne in battle by a battle-brother personally selected by him. All of these artefacts are potent icons for the Dark Angels, each having been passed down through the ages from one incumbent to the next, a weighty reminder to the supreme grand master and to all under his command of the heritage and duty of the Dark Angels Chapter.Not only leading the Chapter in battle, commanding one of the mightiest fighting forces in the Imperium, Commander Azrael must also orchestrate the hunts for the Fallen Angels and guard the Chapter's most precious secrets. It is said that as the holder of this august rank, Azrael is party to the most terrible of truths, known only to him and to those who have preceded him as supreme grand master.Granted the honorific title of "Keeper of the Truth," Azrael is the sole guardian of the Chapter charged with keeping the terrible secrets locked away within the dark chambers kilometres beneath The Rock where only the mysterious Watchers in the Dark dare to tread.Following in the footsteps of every prospective supreme grand master before him, on the day of his appointment, Azrael was accompanied by high-ranking members of the Inner Circle into ever deeper levels of The Rock, the Keeper of the Keys unlocking each adamantium door until the domed Chamber of Passageways was reached.From out of the shadows came the mysterious Watchers in the Dark, and presented Azrael with the Lion Helm and the Sword of Secrets. With these legendary icons of the Chapter, Azrael was led down long hallways until, at last, he came to the Arch of Truth.Alone, the supreme grand master entered, and faced an unspoken test to determine his resolve and suitability for the role. Many fall at this final hurdle, failing to secure the approval of the Watchers in the Dark, but Azrael -- as he has done so many times in his life -- endured and emerged triumphant, and was presented as supreme grand master to the gathered Dark Angels brethren above.Amidst many vows and hymnals, the honorific title of Keeper of the Truth was bestowed, and the new supreme grand master donned the Lion Helm and lifted high the Sword of Secrets as he received the silent salute of his entire Chapter.Azrael also now sits at the head of the Chapter's Inner Circle, master over even the Grand Masters of the Dark Angels' Unforgiven Successor Chapters by ancient tradition stretching back to the time of the Second Founding.As supreme grand master, Azrael alone was privy to the greatest secret of all -- for at the very heart of The Rock lay a cell, shielded by metre upon metre of adamantium armour and inscribed with the most potent runes of warding.Within this cell, kept alive for ten millennia inside a stasis field, languished the broken man who was once Luther.During rare moments of lucidity, the link twixt Luther and the Warp was strong, enabling the Dark Angels to use him as an oracle of sorts. Each supreme grand master in his turn tried to extract from the Arch-heretic a confession of his sins committed against the Lion, to make him repent, but even Azrael was not able to penetrate Luther's madness.Luther just continued to rant and rave, claiming that he had no need of repentance or confession, for one day Lion El'Jonson would return and absolve him of his sins. He claimed that this day was close at hand, and the Lion was already near. |
Azrael - Tuchulcha Engine: In the final days of the 41st Millennium, Cypher turned himself in to Azrael and not only informed him that The Rock held the time-altering Tuchulcha engine, but that both Astelan and the Nurglite Chaos Lord Typhus were seeking similar devices.After the intervention of the Watchers in the Dark, Azrael agreed to work with the infamous Fallen Angel and they eventually gathered all 3 similar engines, creating a Warp rift over the remains of Caliban that stretched into the distant past in the hopes of averting the destruction of the Dark Angels' ancient homeworld.However as the Fallen attempted to enter the portal and potentially change history, and in the wake of pleas from Ezekiel that it would be disastrous to change history, Azrael reluctantly ordered Tuchulcha to prevent anyone from entering the rift, and scatter them instead across time and space.However Azrael was not precise about which moment in time to which he wanted the engine to scatter the Fallen, and so ALL of the Fallen, including those present on Caliban ten thousand standard years before at the end of the Horus Heresy, were scattered through time and space as well. This led to the horrific realisation on the supreme grand master's part that he himself was responsible for the original scattering of the Fallen across the galaxy after the destruction of Caliban. |
Azrael - Luther's Escape: After the birth of the Great Rift following the 13th Black Crusade and the Fall of Cadia, The Rock was caught within the Imperium Nihilus, the galactic north that is wholly cut off from the Emperor's Astronomican after the onset of the Blackness.But even as the isolation of the Noctis Aeterna passed, The Rock was invaded. A Daemon army led by the Fallen Daemon Prince Marbas penetrated the formidable Void Shields that surrounded the Dark Angels' asteroid base. Fighting took place along the docks, within the grand halls, and even in the labyrinthine sub-levels and dungeons that burrowed deep into The Rock.As the conflict reached its climactic point, the invaders disappeared with the same suddenness with which they had manifested, having ultimately achieved little beyond mindless slaughter and destruction...or so it is believed by the Dark Angels. There was one, however, who knew otherwise.In the deepest dungeon, a secret prisoner known only to the supreme grand master of the Dark Angels -- Luther -- was set free. Azrael suspected the entire battle had been merely a diversion so that nefarious agents of the Fallen could accomplish their true task -- yet it is a theory that he must keep to himself, for none else must know of Luther's imprisonment...and his escape. |
Azrael - Indomitus Crusade and the Primaris Marines: In the wake of the recent catastrophic events following the birth of the Great Rift, Azrael decided to convene an emergency council of the Unforgiven's other supreme grand masters, several of whom were still nearby following the Darkmor Massacre.The Dark Angels' Librarians succeeded in piercing the veil of the Great Rift and sending out a scattered astropathic summons -- though several died to achieve the feat -- and soon every loyal son of the Lion was preparing to embark on a perilous journey to The Rock.Not all found their way to that last fragment of their ancestral home. Entire Successor Chapters became lost in the Warp, while others found themselves bogged down in one of the galaxy's many raging conflicts.It was when Azrael finally decided he could wait no longer for the remaining successors to arrive that he was informed of a new fleet transitioning into orbit around The Rock; it was not a waylaid Chapter of the Unforgiven that it bore, however, but the resurrected lord commander of the Imperium.Azrael, his forces depleted and his Chapter's stronghold battered, feared the worst -- that the newly returned primarch of the Ultramarines, Roboute Guilliman, knew the truth of the Dark Angels' hidden past, and brought judgement with him.Debating whether to order the withdrawal of the assembled Unforgiven Chapters, or to make a stand and take up arms against the primarch's delegation, at last the supreme grand master decided upon neither, allowing Guilliman's fleets to dock without incident.It soon became clear that the lord commander and the remaining ships of the Indomitus Crusade fleet came not to deliver censure, but much needed reinforcements.From the depths of Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl's vast freighter-hulk marched Primaris Space Marines, created from the purest genetic material ever taken from Lion El'Jonson. Rank upon rank of them entered The Rock clad in new variants of Mark X Power Armour painted in the colours of the Dark Angels and their successors.At a brief war council, Guilliman outlined the threats facing the Imperium and his plans to continue the Indomitus Crusade. He also spoke of the updated Codex Astartes, and how his brother El'Jonson's descendants had earned the right to maintain their specialised wings and unique order of battle, as long as they continued to serve the Emperor well. So did Azrael and the other supreme grand masters kneel before Guilliman, and pledge their Chapters to the new Imperium. |
Azrael - Primaris Marines and the Inner Circle: In the Era Indomitus the Dark Angels have accepted the new Primaris Space Marines out of necessity, but the Inner Circle remained skeptical of their presence since they have not gone through the strict rituals and tests of loyalty required of the Firstborn of the Chapter.The Inner Circle thus began a debate the Primaris Marines' worthiness to join their ranks. At the height of the debate Azrael staked his own prestige and entire authority on the Primaris Marine Apharan of the Deathwing, stating he was confident Apharan would pass a series of trials. Azrael personally oversaw Alpharan's trials, and in the aftermath there could be no doubt of the Primaris' worthiness to join the ranks of the Inner Circle. |
Azrael - Crossing the Rubicon Primaris: The supreme grand master himself would later undergo the brutally painful procedure and cross the Rubicon Primaris to transform himself into a Primaris Space Marine.Though Azrael is still healing from the wounds incurred by this transformation, he is now leading the Dark Angels against the forces of Abaddon the Despoiler and the Daemon of Chaos Undivided Vashtorr in their plot to destroy the Imperium, which has caught the Chapter in its jaws. |
Azrael - The Precipice of Duty: The secret crusade of the Dark Angels and their successors to hunt down the Fallen has had its consequences. More than ever, the Dark Angels must operate in the twilight between duty to the Imperium and their self-imposed quest to rid the Chapter of shame.Despite the travails and turmoil this has brought to his battle-brothers, Azrael faces the task undaunted. He knows that a greater honour waits to be seized if the Dark Angels can expunge the Fallen from existence, and he holds this higher truth to be more important than anything else the Chapter might accomplish, for the Dark Angels free of shame will become an even more potent weapon for the Emperor. Only through force of will and strong leadership can Azrael steer the hard path to final absolution.On the one hand, if ever the Dark Angels totally forget their oaths of allegiance and their pledges of duty, their quest will be in vain. On the other hand, to relent now, when the Emperor's enemies have never numbered so many nor the threats to the Imperium been so grave, is to court a disaster that would see the Dark Angels destroyed.The burden of the awful truth sits upon the shoulders of all the Inner Circle, but none bear it so heavily nor with such dignity as Azrael. He alone sees the light that will bring redemption and leads a course towards it.Only the supreme grand master -- only Azrael -- does not hesitate at the precipice of damnation, but strides boldly along its edge, confident that his honour is sound and his goal noble.If the hunt for the Fallen can ever be successful, if the Dark Angels can ever overcome a shame ten thousand years old, Azrael will see it done. |
Azrael - Wargear: Lion Helm - The Lion Helm is an ancient artefact, taking the form of an angelic-winged helmet said to have been worn by the Dark Angels Primarch Lion El'Jonson himself during the bygone days of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy over ten thousand standard years ago. It is now the primary badge of office of the current supreme grand master of the Dark Angels. As with all heirlooms connected to the mighty Primarch of the Dark Angels, it is attended by the Watchers in the Dark. The helm generates a powerful force field that has protected the supreme grand master since the days when the Dark Angels were still a Space Marine Legion. To don that winged helmet is to take up the mantle of the Lion and lead the Dark Angels to victory, or die in the attempt.Sword of Secrets - A master-crafted Power Sword of formidable potency created soon after the disappearance of Lion El'Jonson. It is the mightiest of the so-called Heavenfall Blades, the swords cut from a block of jet-black obsidian that struck The Rock whilst in orbit around the Feral World of Al Baradad. The blade of the Sword of Secrets is so incredibly well-crafted that it has not chipped nor lost its razor-sharp edge over its many millennia of bloody use. Only the supreme grand master knows that it is also the only device that allows access to the deepest known dungeon in The Rock. Fitting the blade into a cleft in the wall unlocks the iron gate leading to a dark tunnel and the rune-protected cell in which the Arch-Heretic Luther is imprisoned.The Protector - The Protector is a finely crafted suit of Artificer Armour that has been faithfully maintained by the Chapter's master craftsmen over the long millennia, and is said to provide even more protection and durability than the usual protection of standard Power Armour. The Protector is inlaid with the sombre symbols of the Dark Angels. Its exact age is unknown, but the Protector has been considered a Chapter Relic since the early years of the 37th Millennium, when it is recorded in Chapter records that it saved Brother Methias, Master of the 5th Company, from a close-range Battle Cannon shot during the storming of the Traitor stronghold on the moons of Secclucious VII. Since those days, this suit of armour regularly turns up in the Master of the Armoury's log, where it is praised for its exceptional ability to shrug off the most lethal of blows.Lion's Wrath - Lion's Wrath is a master-crafted Combi-weapon, combining a bolter with a Plasma Gun. Supreme Grand Master Azrael is the relic weapon's current bearer. This legendary weapon was made by Technomagos Prestor the Unchallenged in the days following the Fall of Caliban in the early 31st Millennium. Upon his elevation, Azrael added his name to the list of Dark Angels heroes that have borne it into battle down through the ages.Frag GrenadesKrak Grenades |
Azrael - Canon Conflict: In the 6th Edition Codex: Dark Angels, pg. 18, it says Azrael became supreme grand master in 939.M41, after the Chapter's previous supreme grand master, Naberius, died.Yet in Imperial Armour Volume Five - The Siege of Vraks - Part One, pp. 54-58, it refers to Azrael as the supreme grand master of the Dark Angels multiple times, but Azrael was present at the Siege of Vraks in 821.M41, which is 118 standard years before he was supposedly promoted to supreme grand master according to the 6th Edition codex.The conflict was resolved by the revelation in the audio book Trials of Azrael that there had been a previous supreme grand master of the Dark Angels named Azrael who had commanded the Chapter during the Siege of Vraks. This was revealed to the current supreme grand master by Khârn the Betrayer during the Pandorax Campaign when Azrael was trapped on the lower decks of the Imperial battleship Revenge by an assault by the forces of Chaos and found himself hunted by the Khornate Chaos Lord. |
Azrael - Sources: Codex: Dark Angels (3rd Edition), pg. 18Codex: Dark Angels (4th Edition), pg. 46Codex: Dark Angels (6th Edition), pp. 52-53Codex: Dark Angels (8th Edition), pp. 23, 26, 76Codex: Angels of Death (2nd Edition), pp. 13, 41, 62, 78-79Imperial Armour Volume Five - The Siege of Vraks - Part One, pp. 54–58Warhammer 40,000: Index Astartes - Azrael (Digital Edition), pp. 3-4, 6-10, 12-17, 24-32Index Astartes I, "The Unforgiven: The Dark Angels Space Marine Chapter", pg. 21Index Astartes III, "The Eye of the Storm: Space Marine Chapters fighting in the Eye of Terror", pg. 67Unforgiven (Novel) by Gav ThorpeAzrael Revealed – Unwrapping A Chapter Master Cloaked in SecretsTrials of Azrael (Audio Book) by C.Z. Dunn |
Baal - Baal: BaalBlood AngelsChapterAdeptus AstartesSegmentum UltimaDesert WorldmutantsHowever its two moons, Baal Prime and Baal Secundus, support notable Human settlements and were once "paradises for mortal men" though now they are classified as savage Feral Worlds by the Imperium.Little is known about the past circumstances of these two moons, but at some time in the distant past, probably during the Age of Technology or the Age of Strife, a cataclysmic conflict arose and led to the widespread use of both viral and nuclear weapons of mass destruction, destroying the ecosystems of both satellites and contaminating their biospheres with intense radioactive fallout, chemical pollution and deadly biological agents.The mighty fortress-monastery of the Blood Angels, the Arx Angelicum, was built on the desert surface of the world of Baal proper, and since the time of Sanguinius, the Blood Angels have continued to recruit from among the tribes of the people known as "the Blood" on Baal Secundus and the tribes of Baal Prime, where a Human colony was reestablished shortly after the time of the Horus Heresy. |
Baal - History: The Blood Angels have been shaped not only by the personality and deeds of their Primarch Sanguinius, but also by the nature of their Chapter homeworld. Few worlds in the entire Imperium could have as devastating an impact on the Human soul as Baal and its inhabited moons: Baal Prime and Baal Secundus.In ancient days Baal and its moons all had Earth-like atmospheres. Baal itself was always a world of rust-red deserts much like Mars but its moons were paradises for mortal men, where their people lived in harmony with nature and pursued lives of ease and freedom.The people of Baal became exceptional artisans, and spent their time creating mighty monuments, carving the mountains themselves into statues of their rulers and their gods. They even ventured onto the surface of desolate Baal itself, leaving colonies and breathtaking edifices in their wake.No one knows exactly what happened to change this idyllic state of affairs. All that is certain is that during the fearful events that marked the downfall of interstellar Human society and the end of the Age of Technology, the moons of Baal suffered terribly in a civil conflict that was most likely between them.Ancient weapons of terrifying potency were unleashed. Cities became plains of smouldering glass. Lush grasslands became polluted deserts. Seas became poisoned lakes of toxic sludge. The people of Baal died in their millions and it looked as if Humanity might become extinct in the Baal System.But somehow people survived. They clung precariously to life on the edges of the radioactive deserts. They became scavengers, picking through the scattered bones of their own once-great civilisation. In the dark time that followed the collapse of all order, some became worse than scavengers, and in their desperation turned to cannibalism.Over the course of the following centuries, the accumulated chemical and radioactive toxins that built up in the survivors' bodies led them to devolve into mutants, shambling parodies of the noble men their forefathers had once been. There were some who held on to their Humanity and preserved a semblance of sane behaviour, but these were the embattled few amongst a new and savage culture that evolved amid the ruins of the old. The only social unit left was the tribe.For Human and mutant cannibal alike, the only folk they could rely upon were their own kin. The people of the Baal System became nomads, shifting from place to place, picking the ruins of their lost civilisation clean, warring to preserve the spoils they had gathered. The tribes fought constant wars, webs of alliances shifting intermittently as each tribe strove for supremacy and survival. Extinction awaited the slow and the weak. Where once the moons of Baal had been near-paradise for Mankind, now they were living hells.For the few surviving Humans, existence was a constant struggle. They wandered the surface in ramshackle vehicles, desperately hoping that their patched-together radiation suits would save them, praying that they would never hear the hideous tell-tale clicking of their rad-counters, a sound that meant death was imminent. For a time it seemed that Humanity was doomed and soon there would only be an endless desert ruled over by the feuding mutant tribes. Then, out of the star-strewn darkness of the heavens, came a sign of hope. |
Baal - Coming of Sanguinius: It happened that after the Emperor of Mankind created the Primarchs on Terra at the end of the Age of Strife, the gestating transhuman infants were stolen from the chamber in which they lay in the Emperor's laboartories deep beneath the Himalazian (Himalayan) Mountains. The Forces of Chaos made off with the infants still in their gestation capsules and carried them through the Warp. Unable to destroy the Primarchs because of the powerful arcane protections laid on them by the Emperor, the daemonic powers nonetheless did their best to alter and mould the Emperor's work to their own evil ends. Thus it was that even the best of the Emperor's creations became corrupted at the outset.The gestation pod that housed the infant Sanguinius came to rest upon the surface of the moon of Baal called Baal Secundus, at the place now known as Angel's Fall. The infant Primarch was found by one of the wandering tribes of Humans who called themselves the Folk of Pure Blood, or simply "the Blood." The young Sanguinius' life almost came to an end then and there, for the touch of Chaos had changed him. Tiny vestigial wings, like those of an angel, emerged from his back. Many wanted to kill the child as a mutant, while others wanted to absolve the boy, for in all other ways he was as perfect a child as had ever been seen. Eventually innate Human compassion for the young prevailed and the child was spared.The infant Sanguinius was a prodigy -- he grew quickly and learned everything his adoptive parents could teach him. After three solar weeks Sanguinius was as large as a child of three Terran years. It is said that at this age he slew a giant fire scorpion with no weapon other than his bare hands, and that he never once showed fear at the colossal beast's attack. As Sanguinius grew, his wings also grew, changing from tiny vestigial things into mighty pinions that could bear him aloft upon the desert air. By the time he was a standard year old, he looked and acted like a man in his youthful prime.He could walk without a rad-suit in the most poisonous of Baal Secundus' deserts, and could shatter massive boulders with a single blow of his outstretched hand. In the use of all weapons he soon excelled his teachers. When a wandering band of mutants surprised the tribe, Sanguinius slew them all, although they numbered over a hundred. This was the first time the members of the Blood had ever seen him truly angry, for he felt his comrades' lives were in danger. When the blood-rage overtook him, Sanguinius was indeed terrible to behold -- his mighty Primarch powers awoke to fullness and a nimbus of light played about his head.Sanguinius distinguished himself in the fateful days and years that followed. He soon rose to leadership of the Blood, and under his guidance they rolled back the mutant tide. For a time Mankind had a respite on the moon of Baal Secundus. Sanguinius was worshipped as a god by his followers who felt that he could once again create a paradise in that dreadful land. It was shortly thereafter that fate intervened once more.The Emperor had been questing across the galaxy in search of His lost children and His incredible psychic powers led Him to Baal. His shuttle landed at the Conclave of the Blood, and he walked straight to Sanguinius' abode. Some amongst the Primarchs are said to have fought against the Emperor when first they met but this was not the case with Sanguinius. He immediately recognised the Emperor for who He was and bent his knee before the Master of Mankind. The Emperor raised him up and looked upon his people and saw that they were fair and noble. The best of their warriors He offered to raise up into Space Marines. The others were to be honourably left behind to defend Mankind's birthright upon Baal Secundus.The Emperor had performed the complex operation that would extract the gene-seed from Sanguinius' genetic code before he had been lost and implanted it into the warriors of the IX Legion of the Space Marines, the soon to be named Blood Angels Legion. Thus were the Blood Angels and their Primarch finally made whole. They joined the Emperor's fleet to participate in the Great Crusade.Later during the Horus Heresy, Baal became a central Loyalist hub in the Ultima Segmentum under the control of Warden Arkhad, who governed the world while Sanguinius and the rest of the IX Legion were deployed for the Signus Campaign. Many members of the Shattered Legions took refuge on Baal after the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V.Through the long millennia to come, after the tragedy of the Heresy and all that followed, life on Baal and its moons changed little, marked mostly by the trials among the people of the Blood for the right to become an aspirant of the Blood Angels. |
Baal - Devastation of Baal: Early in the first days of the 42nd Millennium, after sacrificing the Shieldworlds of the Cryptus System to fend off the xenos' earliest advance on the Baal System, the planet of Baal itself came under intense attack by Hive Fleet Leviathan. The Tyranid Hive Fleet was of such mass, even after its considerable losses, that it blotted the stars from the skies. Lord Commander Dante bolstered the formidable defences of the Blood Angels' homeworld and its moons like never before. Not one to await attack, he also sent forth scores of preemptive strike forces to delay, mislead, and whittle down the living armada. Hundreds of splinter fleets were thus defeated. Dante's call, beseeching the Blood Angels' successors, the to send immediate aid to their parent Chapter, did not go unheeded. The Flesh Tearers were the first to arrive, and ultimately all the Successor Chapters save the Lamenters answered the call. Even the Knights of Blood, who had been declared Excommunicate Traitoris by the High Lords of Terra, arrived to bolster the defences. It was still not enough.Learning at an exponential rate, Hive Fleet Leviathan could not be thwarted by the same strategy twice. Advancing steadily, their superior numbers cleared the entire surrounding sector of life before the xenos made planetfall upon Baal and her twin moons. The first nineteen waves, each larger than the last, were driven off at great loss to the Blood Angels and their successor allies, the Sanguinary Brotherhood. Five Chapter Masters fell in that bitter fighting, three in the Battle at the Dome of Angels alone. The Tyranids began the process of absorbing all biomass from Baal and its moons, absorbing even the radiation-poisoned deserts of Baal Secundus. With their defences in ruin and Baal's moons stripped and broken, the remaining Space Marines retreated back to the rubble of the Blood Angels' sprawling fortress-monastery, the Arx Angelicum. There, they prepared for a last stand as the next wave swept downwards. Doom, it seemed, had at last come to the Sons of Sanguinius.It was then that the Great Rift cracked open the galaxy in the wake of the fall of Cadia to the 13th Black Crusade, and the withered Baal System was blasted by the aetheric storms. Although no further attack waves came from the Leviathan Hive Fleet, not a single Imperial defender remained alive upon the last moon, Baal Prime. On Baal itself there were already enough Tyranids there to destroy the Imperial troops many times over. Even with no chance of victory, Commander Dante led his troops, each fighting retreat seemingly more hopeless than the last. As the final perimeter was broken, the stars reappeared. Looking skywards, the Tyranids on the surface of Baal sought contact with their Hive Fleet, but it was gone, replaced by a newly arrived Imperial fleet. Like an angel of vengeance came Roboute Guilliman and his Indomitus Crusade. After many more battles, Baal was finally cleared of the xenos threat. A great rebuilding of both world and Chapter was undertaken, for the Blood Angels and their successors among the Sanguinary Brotherhood were sorely needed elsewhere in the beleaguered Imperium. What became of the Leviathan is a mystery, although a clue was found upon the now-barren moon of Baal Prime. Xenos skulls were piled impossibly high in the much-reviled, eight-pillared symbol of one of the Blood Angels' most terrible and ancient nemeses: the Bloodthirster Ka'Bandha and his army of Khornate daemons. These blasphemous sigils wereIn the wake of the Leviathan's defeat, the Blood Angels began to rebuild. Their gene-seed stocks were recalled from exile, taking their rightful place beneath the rising arches of the restored Arx Angelicum. The several thousand grizzled aspirants who survived the siege were all inducted into the Chapter, and those that endured were funnelled into the outsized Scout Companies authorised by Commander Dante for his Chapter and their successors. The ranks were further bolstered by a huge influx of Primaris Space Marines, unfrozen from the vaults of the Ark Mechanicus Zar-Quaesitoror and produced upon Baal itself using the newly installed mechanisms brought by Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl. With Commander Dante declared Regent of the entire Imperium Nihilus by Roboute Guilliman, the Blood Angels and their successors were soon ready to rejoin the war for the Emperor's realm. It is well that they are, for the fight has become more desperate than ever before. |
Baal - Notable Locations: The deserts of Baal have a few known geographic locations, including the following:Arx Angelicum - The Arx Angelicum is the fortress-monastery of the Blood Angels located upon Baal.Bloodwise MountsDemitian BadlandsGolden Sarcophagus - The tomb of the Primarch Sanguinius. The Golden Sarcophagus is a large, spherical structure on Baal that is slightly translucent with golden light emanating from it. This sarcophagus is where Sanguinius was laid to rest after his death at the hands of the Arch-traitor Horus during the Siege of Terra. During the attack on the Blood Angels' fortress-monastery by the rabid Astartes mutants known as the Bloodfiends, the Blood Angels and their Successor Chapters such as the Flesh Tearers, Blood Drinkers, Blood Swords, and Angels Sanguine, stood together to defend the Holy Sepulchre, which housed the Golden Sarcophagus. As the fight became dire, the largest and most formidable of the Bloodfiends made its way through the ranks of Space Marines, even eluding Chapter Masters Dante and Gabriel Seth to reach the sarcophagus. After throwing aside the last line of defence, including Chaplain Argastes and Chief Librarian Mephiston, this "Alpha" Bloodfiend faced Sergeant Rafen in single combat. The Bloodfiend seemed unstoppable even after Rafen stabbed his Combat Knife into its heart, but Mephiston tossed his Force Sword, Vitarus, to Rafen. Even though Rafen was unable to infuse the blade with psychic powers, it was still a formidable physical weapon. Rafen used it to pierce the Alpha Bloodfiend's secondary heart, bringing it down within a hand's reach of despoiling the sarcophagus.Ruberica (Heart of Baal) - Also known as the "Heart of Baal," Ruberica is a deep underground cavern and a place considered sacred by the people of the planet. The cavern is lined with tall, hexagonal pillars of pure bloodstone and it is a place of great psychic resonance. The cavern seems to have a mind or intelligence of its own, and is known to repair itself when damaged through some unknown means.Skyfall - Skyfall is a planetoid-sized Ultrus-scale starport, orbital fleet dock, shipyard and defensive void station of the Blood Angels Chapter that is located within the Baal System in orbit of Baal. Its surface is etched with a star map of the Imperium. The statue of an angel twenty miles tall, with a sword another seven miles long held aloft above its head, stands atop the starport. Skyfall is under the command of the Blood Angels' eighth captain, who is known as the "Lord of Skyfall," and it has undergone a number of major renovations during the Era Indomitus. This was done to both repair the immense damage caused by the Tyranid invasion of the Baal System during the Devastation of Baal, and to transform Skyfall into a hub for starships based in and transiting through the star system. Commander Dante intends for the Baal System to become the capital of the Imperium Nihilus since he was named as the regent of the Dark Imperium by Roboute Guilliman. Skyfall now reflects that new role for the Blood Angels, as the starport has been transformed so that thousands of orbital jetties now project from it. These allow Skyfall to service a massive number of starships simultaneously and also serve as the base of operations for the Blood Angels' newly-raised Fleet Nihilus armada. Thousands of Adeptus Mechanicus Tech-priests drawn from numerous Forge Worlds of the Dark Imperium populate it. Their primary purpose is to repair and refuel the starships docked there. Skyfall also possesses the capacity to construct new Imperial warships, activity that is also overseen by the Mechanicus' Tech-adepts. The Blood Angels' own battle barge Baal's Fury was among the vessels constructed in the orbital docks of Skyfall.Verdis ElysiaWaste of Enod |
Baal - Baal Prime: First and smallest of the moons of Baal, a Human colony was established on Baal Prime, also sometimes called Baal Primus, after the Horus Heresy and it is also in the 41st Millennium inhabited by several tribes of feral Humans worthy and genetically pure enough for the Blood Angels to recruit from them.It is unknown if any of these people survived the Devastation of Baal, though the moon was believed to have been rendered utterly sterile following the assault of the Tyranids.It was on Baal Prime that the Bloodthirster Ka'Bandha left his blasphemous eight-pillared sigil composed of Tyranid skulls, though this was quickly destroyed by an orbital bombardment from the Blood Angels fleet following the end of the battle. |
Baal - Baal Secundus: Baal Secundus, known as "Baalfora" in the local dialect of the people of the Blood, was once a paradise world in ancient times, and its surface is still marked by the scattered ruins of that long-lost, technologically advanced Human civilisation.Its environment badly scarred by the apocalyptic wars that consumed Baal Secundus, the moon's ecosystems are now heavily polluted, marked particularly by zones of intense, ionizing radiation and nuclear fallout. Travel in these regions of the moon without access to some form of protection such as radiation suits, is lethal to Human life.But some lifeforms have adapted to the harsh, radioactive desert environment, and now present a source of constant threat to the feral Human tribes. Even worse are the cannibalistic mutant tribes, descended from those Humans whose genomes were corrupted by exposure to the moon's radiation and remaining biological weapons.These mutants long outnumbered the pure strain people of the Blood until Sanguinius made war upon them and dramatically reduced their numbers, practically to extinction. It is unknown how much of a threat, if at all, they remain to the people of the Blood in the 41st Millennium.Baal Secundus' primary settlement is still Angel's Fall, where Sanguinius' gestation capsule was first discovered over 10,000 Terran years ago and the only point on the moon's surface where the Blood Angels still interact regularly with its people.To ascertain who is worthy to join the ranks of the Blood Angels, the adolescents of the feral tribes of Baal Secundus who would be Blood Angels aspirants take part in violent games and tournaments, battling against the harsh landscape and their peers.Baal Secundus has a large population (compared to the other worlds in the system) of feral scavenger tribes who have to compete with vicious predators such as the infamous fire scorpions. Needless to say, men from these tribes make for formidable Space Marine aspirants. It is unknown how many of these people survived the Devastation of Baal. |
Baal - Flora and Fauna: Baal Secundus is marked by a number of deadly animals and plants who have adapted to the moon's harsh climate and unique environmental hazards.Among the most dangerous of these are the Baalite fire scorpions, huge creatures twice the height of a man, which carried virulent, acidic toxins that could burn through flesh in a solar second. Among the other dangerous fauna mentioned by name were blood eagles, a trap-clams and catch spiders.A carnivorous plant-like organism, called "thurstwater" by the people of the Blood, has adapted to latch onto its prey and drain its cells of every drop of water, dehydrating it to death faster than it can escape. |
Baal - Notable Locations: Baal Secundus, despite being little more than an irradiated Desert World, had a surprisingly varied geography.Angel's Fall - As already mentioned, Angel's Fall, sited near the cliff where Sanguinius' gestation capsule had first been discovered by the people of the Blood, still served as the moon's primary settlement and the place where all trials to join the Blood Angels were carried out. A great statue of Sanguinius now oversees these proceedings.Angel's LeapKemrenderMount Seraph - A natural amphitheatre had been carved into the mountain known as Mount Seraph to serve as a meeting place for the tribes.The Necklase - The Necklase is a great rift that stretches all around the surface of the moon that was created by the fall of a massive military orbital void station during the days of the ancient civil war between Baal Prime and Baal Secundus that destroyed the advanced Baalite civilisation of both moons.Fellholme - Fellholme is a place that has been carved out from the ruins of the Necklase where a true history of the ancient conflict between Baal Prime and Baal Secundus can still be found.Sell Town- Sell Town is a local trading settlement used by the Baalite tribes to carry out rudimentary trade and commerce, much of it in artefacts scavenged from the Baalite ruins.The Great Salt Waste - The Great Salt Waste is the harshest stretch of desert on Baal Secundus and is the remains of what was once likely an ancient sea. |
Baal - Inhabitants: The indigenous peoples of Baal Prime and Baal Secundus suffered greatly from the aftermath of the ancient conflict that scored both moons and they gradually became degenerate, mutated and sickly, the survivors banding together into semi-nomadic tribes. These tribespeople appear to have maintained some advanced technology as mention is made of rad-counters, rad-suits (self-evidently advanced technological equipment to protect from the effects of radiation), vehicular transport and advanced weaponry.Many of the tribes turned to cannibalism and became even further corrupted by the radiation, biological agents and other toxins endemic to their environment, but at least one tribe maintained a noble and enlightened outlook; known as the "Ones of Pure Blood," often contracted simply to "the Blood." A colony of these people was later established on Baal Prime after the Horus Heresy to extend their reach and increase the Blood Angels' recruitment pool. They lived a nomadic, tribal existence similar to that of their counterparts on Baal Secundus. |
Baal - Blood Angels Recruitment: Since the time of Sanguinius, the Blood Angels have recruited from among the greatest tribes of the Blood on Baal Secundus and Baal Prime, where a colony was established shortly after the time of the Horus Heresy.Youths from the Blood take part in great games and tournaments, facing many hazards as they race across the desert, to fight and do battle against one another. These contests are usually held only once per generation at Angel's Fall, where a mighty statue of Sanguinius now observes the proceedings.Traditionally, the Time of Challenge is announced by heralds who visit each tribe in great "flying chariots." Contestants must make their way to the settlement of Angel's Fall across the rad-deserts of Baal Secundus, a process that in and of itself weeds out the weakest, for the hazards of the Baalite desert are many, and it takes a youth of extraordinary skill and courage to even reach the Place of Challenge.Once there they must vie for the fifty or so places that are available. Those who succeed are taken up in "Sky Chariots" (i.e. Thunderhawks); those who fail are left behind either to guard the place of testing or to make their way back to their own tribes as they choose.Those youths who are accepted as aspirants are taken to the Blood Angels' fortress-monastery, the Arx Angelicum, on Baal itself. There they see great wonders and look for the first time on the unmasked faces of their future battle-brothers, and possibly note with some consternation their sharp eye-teeth and sleekly beautiful features.It has to be said that the recruits are far from handsome at this stage. Most of the aspirants bear the marks of their hard lives, for it is all but impossible for an ordinary man to dwell on the barren moons of Baal and not feel the terrible kiss of the ambient radiation. Many are marked by stigmata, most are short and stunted, their growth stifled by malnutrition and the constant hunger. Many more will be marked by rad-lesions and incipient carcinoma.All the aspirants are left to observe vigil in the great Chapel of the Chapter and then they will drink from the Red Grail brought to them by one of the Blood Angels' Sanguinary Priests. They are told that they partake of the blood of their primarch and they drink. Slumber soon overtakes them and the aspirants are borne by Chapter servitors to the Apothecarion where the gene-seed of Sanguinius will be implanted in their unconscious bodies.From the Apothecarion the aspirants will be taken to the Hall of Sarcophagi and each will be placed within a mighty golden sarcophagus. Life support nodes are attached to them and for the next Terran year they will be fed intravenously with a mixture of nutrients and the Blood of Sanguinius while the newly implanted gene-seed organs do their metabolic work, sculpting and reshaping the young men's metabolisms and anatomy.Many aspirants die at this stage, their bodies unable to cope with the strain of the cellular and hormonal changes that now overtake them. Those who live will grow swift and true, echoing the rapid physical growth of their primarch. They will put on muscle mass and acquire the extra internal organs that mark a true Space Marine.At this time too they will have many strange dreams, for the gene-seed of the Angel carries within it many of the memories of Sanguinius. Thus will the essence of their Primarch begin to permeate the souls of his chosen warriors. Ever afterwards, when sleeping, and sometimes when awake, these dreams will return to haunt the future Blood Angels.When the aspirants emerge from their sarcophagi they are forever changed. They will be tall, strong and superhumanly powerful. Their restructured bodies and features will have taken on a beauty that echoes that of their angelic forebear. Their senses will be keener, their muscles will be stronger than tempered steel. They will be ready to begin their training as Space Marine Neophytes and enter the Chapter's Scout Companies. |
Baal Predator - Baal Predator: The Baal Pattern Predator, better known simply as the Baal Predator, is a specialised variant of the standard Space Marine Predator Destructor main battle tank. The Baal Predator is used only by the Blood Angels Chapter and their Successor Chapters and is named after the Blood Angels Chapter homeworld of Baal.This variant of the standard Predator replaces the vehicle's Autocannon with twin-linked Assault Cannons. The Baal Predator is also faster and more maneuverable than the standard Predator variant. The Baal Predator's Standard Template Construct (STC) design was not approved by the Adeptus Mechanicus, and thus its use by Space Marine Chapters that are not the Blood Angels or their Successor Chapters is limited.The vast majority of these vehicles in service with the Adeptus Astartes are not true Baal Predators but standard Predators equipped with twin-linked Assault Cannons, and lacking all other features of the Baal Pattern. |
Baal Predator - History: The Standard Template Construct (STC) designs for the Baal Pattern Predator were discovered by the Blood Angels Space Marine Legion at the start of the Great Crusade in the late 30th Millennium. The designs were found on the planet of Atium III amidst the ruins of the Arch-Heretek Lord de Ladt's fortress.After the Astartes of the IX Legion stormed into the fortress and defeated the Heretek's forces, they found the Baal Predator's STC designs within his inner sanctum. The Blood Angels never handed the designs over to the Adeptus Mechanicus as Imperial law required and instead returned with them to their homeworld of Baal, where the originals remain to this day.The designs are stored alongside the Chapter's relics, and are protected from enemies and Imperial allies alike. This act has caused great friction between the Blood Angels and the Adeptus Mechanicus, which claims that this variant and its STC template were never officially sanctified in the eyes of the Machine God.The Blood Angels only allow the knowledge of the Baal Predator's design to be used by their Successor Chapters, who also protect this knowledge from falling into the hands of others. |
Baal Predator - Armament: The Baal Predator is the variant Predator pattern that differs the most from the standard pattern. The Baal Predator can be equipped with either twin-linked Assault Cannons or a Flamestorm Cannon, which is a massive, vehicle-sized Flamer weapon. Unlike other Predator variants, the Baal Predator is able to equip Heavy Flamers and Multi-Meltas on the vehicle's sponson-mounts. The Baal Pattern is also faster and more maneuverable than any other Rhino chassis-based vehicle in use by the Adeptus Astartes.The Blood Angels have also reverse-engineered these features into their other vehicles. Due to the designs for the Baal Predator being kept secret, there may be other differences between this pattern and standard pattern Predators.The Baal Predator, like all other Predator patterns, can also be outfitted with a Dozer Blade, Extra Armour Plating, a Hunter-Killer Missile Launcher, improved communications equipment, a Pintle-mounted Storm Bolter, a Searchlight, and Smoke Launchers. |
Baal Predator - Known Users of the Baal Pattern Predator: Blood Angels Space Marine Chapter - The Baal Predator is used almost exclusively by the Blood Angels Space Marine Chapter and their Successor Chapters and any that are in use by other Chapters outside the lineage of Sanguinius are more than likely just standard Predators equipped with Twin-linked Assault Cannons.Blood Angels Successor Chapters, including the:Angels EncarmineAngels SanguineAngels VermillionBlood DrinkersBlood LegionBlood SwordsExsanguinatorsFlesh EatersFlesh TearersKnights SanguineLamentersRed WingsSons of BaalTemplars of Blood |
Baal Predator - Adeptus Mechanicus Technical Specifications: Baal Pattern PredatorVehicle Name:Baal PredatorMain Armament:Turret-mounted Twin-linked Assault CannonsForge World of Origin:BaalSecondary Armament:Sponson-mounted Heavy FlamersKnown Patterns:I - VITraverse:360 degreesCrew:1 Driver, 1 GunnerElevation:-15 to 28 degreesPowerplant:Quad Mark II Adaptable Thermic Combustor ReactorMain Ammunition:1,200 RoundsWeight:44 TonnesSecondary Ammunition:20 ShotsLength:6.6 metresArmour:Width:6.0 metres with sponsonsHeight:4.4 metresSuperstructure:65 millimetresGround Clearance:0.44 metresHull:55 millimetresMax Speed On-Road:68 kilometres per hourGun Mantlet:65 millimetresMax Speed Off-Road:50 kilometres per hourVehicle Designation:0120-766-0724-PH 120Transport Capacity:N/AFiring Ports:N/AAccess Points:N/ATurret:65 millimetres |
Baal Predator - Also See: Blood AngelsImperial Vehicles |
Baal Predator - Sources: Codex: Blood Angels (3rd Edition), pg. 13Codex: Blood Angels (4th Edition), pg. 11Codex Blood Angels (5th Edition), pg. 36Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 112, 166Imperial Armour Volume Two - Space Marines and Forces of the Inquisition, pp. 45-48Imperial Armour Volume Nine - The Badab War - Part One, pg. 113 |
Bad Moons - Bad Moons: The Bad Moons are a powerful and very wealthy Ork "klan." The Bad Moons are the richest of all the Ork klanz. This is because their teeth grow faster than anyone else's, meaning that even the lowliest Bad Moon Ork has a steady supply of the standard form of Ork wealth.This is not regarded as an unfair advantage, as any Ork who is big and ferocious enough can simply smash the teeth out of a Bad Moons' head.In fact, many Ork Warbosses like to keep a mob of Bad Moons around for just this purpose, their toothy gobs a ready supply of extra teef. It is often not a terrible deal for the Bad Moons either, as any Ork tough enough to beat their teeth out of them is usually one worth following into a fight. The Bad Moons essentially fulfill the role of a merchant caste in what passes for Ork society, and have a reputation for showing off.They are always continuously buying, selling, swapping, and conning to get teeth. The highest-ranking amongst them wear garishly decorated war banners on their backs and the richest openly flaunt their wealth by wearing necklaces of Ork teeth. These Orks prefer a posh and refined lifestyle, at least by Ork standards.Instead of rushing in to melee combat immediately like many of their brethren, they sometimes hang well back, firing their deadly Snazzguns into the fray while their mobs of Gretchin slaves wade into the enemy ranks to do the dirty work, with tooth and claw and Choppa. |
Bad Moons - History: The wealthiest and most ostentatious of the Ork klanz, the Bad Moons are idle, venal Orks with a reputation for showing off and using their wealth and status like a club to bludgeon other, less fortunate Orks into line.The Orkish economy, such as it is, is based on "teef," which are literally Ork teeth, harvested from living and dead Orks. An Ork's teeth constantly grow, and those that are lost are quickly replaced, which means a nearly endless, if slowly produced, supply of currency.In such an economy, the Orks whose teeth grow the quickest are the wealthiest, and the teeth of the Bad Moons grow the fastest of all.Bad Moons are loud-mouthed, tight-fisted braggarts who spend their teef on only the finest things, from Shootas and Choppas to fancy clothes. In camp as well as in battle, they swagger about in the best armour that teef can buy, festooned in shiny bits of precious metals, gems, and other precious items of value.Some Runtherdz reckon that it must have been the Bad Moons that came up with the whole concept of Ork teef being used to buy things, when the klan figured out how quick their teeth grow. Of course there are other Runtherdz who say it is the other way round, and when teef became Ork currency the Bad Moons made their teeth grow quicker so they would have the most. In either case, Orks seldom dwell on such things for long, as knocking out teeth is far more interesting than talking about them.Bad Moons make excellent merchants and money lenders. They know the value of any item at a glance, and with a quick study of an individual, they can discern exactly how much that individual is willing to pay for something. Always eager to acquire new luxuries, haggling Bad Moons are a fixture in any Ork gathering where goods and services are being exchanged.All this wealth means that Bad Moons have an ostentatious reputation, and their vehicles are festooned with gaudy decoration and gold plating, as is the majority of their wargear. As gold is considered practically worthless by most Orks, being too soft to make good weapons or vehicles, they are more than happy to trade it away to Bad Moons for the more valuable teef.Bad Moons love gold more than any other metal, and will commonly have a couple of glinting teeth in their avaricious grins. If there is a downside to their wealth, it is the fact that while they have access to more teef and better loot than the average Ork, it is also incredibly easy to separate them from said wealth.All it takes is a bigger, tougher Ork to come along and smash a Bad Moons' teeth out of his head to make a serious dent in their cash flow. This is seen as right, proper, and fair by all Orks, even Bad Moons, as the violent "might makes right, biggest is best" part of Orkish society balances out the otherwise constantly expanding wealth available to Bad Moons.Bad Moons mobs are always well-equipped, at least by Ork standards. Their Nobz often sport flashy back banners and massive, kustomised weapons, and are followed by entourages of scurrying Grot servants loaded down with ammunition and chests of teef.Some of this ornamentation is simply to show other Orks just what a big deal the Bad Moons are. This could include huge, coloured totems above their wagons bearing grinning Ork faces, or teetering statues of Gork or Mork built from precious metals and stones all mashed together (they're more valuable that way).Warbosses and Nobz of the Bad Moons klan are well-known as aficionados of kustom Battlewagons, which are huge, heavily-armed, flashy vehicles designed to carry an entire mob along with all of its Gretchin, Snotlings, Squigs, and any other gubbins they can squeeze in.The wealthiest, most well-heeled Bad Moons become Flash Gits. Though they are not unique to this klan, many Bad Moons aspire to such Orky opulence, and these Orks possess more teef than sense and are absolutely addicted to loud, flashy, highly-customised weapons.Strutting around with expensive Snazzguns and Kustom Shootas, Flash Gits tend to have a "style over substance" mindset that appeals to the greedy Bad Moons. While all Flash Gits are known to be arrogant, conniving, treacherous scum with a decidedly mercenary and "un-Orky" mindset, those from the Bad Moons klan are considered the worst of all.A mob of Bad Moon Nobz on foot will bristle with personalised Kombi-weapons and gold-plated Deffgunz, sauntering into battle with firepower enough to slaughter whole platoons of the enemy. These heavily-armed braggards think it is a blast to wipe out an enemy unit just as a rival Ork klan is about to engage them in melee.Another aspect of the wealthy Bad Moon klan are their pretensions to knowledge (such as it is understood among the Orks). Basically, the Bad Moons have a reputation for knowing things most Orks see no practical use for.This klan also tends to have a lot of Weirdboyz, who use their wealth to dress flamboyantly. Unfortunately for them, they often end up being dragged off to battle and used against the enemy like any other weapon. |
Bad Moons - Notable Campaigns: A New Weapon (979.M41) - Nazdreg, a Bad Moons Warlord noted for his wealth and flair, bullies his Meks into performing ever more progressive and bizarre experiments. Despite some nasty "setbacks" ranging from spontaneous combustion to sporadic gravity reversal, Nazdreg's Meks perfect their Tellyporta designs. The Warlord barters his new technology with Ghazghkull in exchange for an alliance.A Hundred, Hundred Teef (987.M41) - WAAAGH! Ozdakka rampages through the Helshrike Systems, millions of Orks led by the legendary Bad Moon Boss of Bosses Ozdakka. Such is the utter destruction wrought by the WAAAGH!, entire worlds being smashed to scrap and dragged off into the stars by the unstoppable Orks, that the Adeptus Terra dispatches a Vindicare Assassin to take out Ozdakka and his most powerful Nobz. Brutally effective, the nameless assassin stalks the battlefields of Helshrike, sniping Orks from the shadows and taking a terrible toll on Ozdakka's bosses. In a fit of rage, the Warboss offers a hundred, hundred teef –- more than most Orks can comprehend -- for the head of the unseen killer. As word spreads of the bounty, even more Orks flock to Ozdakka's banner and his WAAAGH! swells until it is even larger than ever. However, the Warboss does not live to enjoy the destruction he has wrought upon the Helshrike Sector, as the assassin's final shot takes Ozdakka's head from his shoulders before the Imperial agent is overwhelmed by a mob of Bad Moons intent on claiming the immense prize. |
Bad Moons - Notable Bad Moons: Badrukk - Kaptin Badrukk is the greatest Freebooter of his age, a monstrous, roaring Ork privateer bedecked in barbarous finery. Badrukk's Flash Gitz carry enough firepower into battle to level a well-defended hab-block, and the Kaptin totes the most fearsome firearm of the lot. Badrukk and his villainous crew are legends among their own cutthroat subculture, thundering through space in their oversized Kill Kroozer Da Blacktoof, and they have fought at the side of every major Warboss worth following in recent history. Wherever the Kaptin and his ladz make planetfall, misery and destruction are sure to follow, for Badrukk's Flash Gitz are superlative reavers who live to commit murder and cause mayhem, stealing everything they can get their klawz on. Years ago, Badrukk was chased out of the Bad Moons klan on charges of having too many teef for his own good. From the day of his exile, Badrukk's accomplishments have far outstripped those of his fellow Freebooter kaptins.Big Mek Mogrok - An infamous Big Mek of the Split-Grin Bad Moons tribe, it was Mogrok who first convinced Grukk to look beyond conquering one planet, and to launch his Red WAAAGH! into the stars. Big Mek Mogrok was a know-it-all git through and through. He was the kind of Ork who would rather build a giant war engine covered in Dakkaguns than run towards the foe pell-mell, getting shot to bits in the normal Greenskin manner. Though he has often been accused of "not being one of da Boyz," Mogrok is so good at creating big, impressive war machines that not even Grukk himself was dumb enough to refuse him a place in the upper echelons of the tribe. Though none of the would-be Ork Warlords of the WAAAGH! liked to admit it, Mogrok had been the power behind the throne for quite some time. Always close at hand, Mogrok made sure Grukk was attacking the best worlds and keeping the tribes in line. Filled with all kinds of technological inspiration, Mogrok always seems to have another trick in his bag of scrap, often pulling something out at the last minute to turn the tide in favour of Grukk and his Boyz. When, during the Battle of Bonewash, Grukk's Skullcrackers were ambushed by rebel Grots of the Red-toe Tribe it was Mogrok's Shokktraktor truck that sucked up the diminutive warriors and sprayed them across the desert like green and red confetti.Gashrakk Da Flash - Gashrakk da Flash was once first mate to none other than Kaptin Badrukk, the famous Ork pirate. According to rumour, even Badrukk had gotten sick of Gashrakk's swaggering pretension and so had forced him off his ship. Heading off on his own, Gashrakk had massed a small fleet of Kroozers and was haunting the Sanctus Sub-sector when Grukk Face-rippa left the primitive world of Eyrok to launch his Red WAAAGH!. Seeing an opportunity to increase his wealth, and to have a good fight too, Gashrakk "happened" to cross paths with the Goff Warboss and offered his services. Ripe for some rough leadership after Grukk staved in the skull of their last boss, the Split-Grin tribe quickly fell into line behind Gashrakk. In the time-honoured tradition of the Bad Moons klan, to gain leadership of the Split-Grins he bribed most of its Nobz with the best guns and Choppas teef could buy. Those who did not fall into line soon found themselves the targets of their former comrades' new arsenal. Gashrakk has an unusual compulsion to own the shiniest, newest wargear he can get his hands on, and keeps his Grot hordes busy in a never-ending cycle of polishing, scrubbing and repainting. His lads like to boast their boss never fires the same gun twice. Most of the time, they're right -– Gashrakk has a crew of Gretchin who carry a selection of his Kustom Shootas to war so he never has to worry about repeating himself. Despite –- or perhaps because of -– his obsessive need to show off, Gashrakk is a serious force to be reckoned with. The Bad Moon's every act is thought out in advance. Battle plans are carefully prepared to ensure maximum showyness. Indeed, it is not unheard of for Gashrakk to refuse to commit his forces to a fight unless he knows he's on to a winner. This has been known to cause grumbles of resentment amongst Gashrakk's ladz, but the boss keeps his warband in line by showering them with loot.Nazdreg Ug Urdgrub - Nazdreg Ug Urdgrub is a large and cunning Ork Warlord of the Bad Moons klan. His personal Space Hulk crashlanded on the doomed world of Medusa V in 999.M41 and he and his Ork WAAAGH! participated in the great battle known in Imperial records as the Fall of Medusa V campaign. Even though the battle on Medusa V ultimately led to another defeat for his Orks, Nazdreg and many of his Boyz managed to get off the planet alive. After learning that the Imperial forces had damaged his Space Hulk beyond any hope of repair, Nazdreg came up with a (by Orkish standards) truly brilliant escape plan. Nazdred is an exception amongst the brutish Orks, and demonstrates a measure of both intelligence and patience, as he speaks excellent Imperial Low Gothic and understands the "carrot and stick" approach of rewards and punishments to boost the productivity of his hapless human and Gretchin slaves.Nekkruncha - Nekkruncha was the Ork Warboss who lead his Bad Moonz Greenskins in an assault on the Imperial Knight World of Tarnis. He found himself a good fight that he hoped would create a WAAAGH!, ending up in a three-way battle with a warband of Chaos Cultists dedicated to the Blood God Khorne and the Space Marines of the Dark Angels Chapter under the command of Master Tigraine and the lone Freeblade Vortigan, last survivor of House Drakkus.Ozdakka - Ozdakka, the legendary Bad Moon Boss of Bosses, led a large WAAAGH! on a rampage through the Helshrike System in 987.M41. In response, the Adeptus Terra dispatched an Imperial assassin to take out the troublesome Warboss. The assassin constantly harried Ozdakka, killing his Nobz one by one. Frustrated, in exasperation, Ozdakka offered an outrageous sum of "hundred, hundred teef" as a bounty for the assassin's head. Unfortunately, he doesn't live to enjoy the chaos and destruction his WAAAGH! spread throughout the Helshrike Sector, as the assassin executed Ozdakka with a well-placed head shot. |
Bad Moons - Split-Grin Bad Moons: All Bad Moons Orks have a well-deserved reputation for being as proud of their loot as of their prowess in battle. The Split-Grin tribe are among the worst of their kind, and have amassed piles of teef in recent years.Following the trail of destruction sown by Grukk and the Red WAAAGH!, Gashrakk da Flash and his Split-Grins rivalled Grukk's own tribe in size and status. For Terran years the Split-Grin Bad Moons scraped out an existence on Eyrok skirmishing with their rivals, the Goffs of the Skullcracker tribe. Their Warboss, Skagfing, was content to lead his Boyz in the brawl with the Goffs and make some teef in the process, trading with Freebooterz for shiny stuff.The big guns of the klan kept the Skullcrackers in check, and Skagfing liked to make jokes about poor old Krugg the "Tyrant" who couldn't afford a good Shoota. The Split-Grin tribe might not have been huge, but they had the best loot, and the biggest guns to keep other Orks from getting their hands on it.This all changed when Grukk met Mogrok and decided to take control of all Eyrok's Orks. Skagfing had only recently heard about his rival's death when Grukk and his lads smashed their way into the Bad Moons camp, the Goff Warlord sacrificing loads of Boyz as he charged to in pin Skagfing down, stand on his chest, and messily rip his face from his skull.In a single bloody blow, the Split-Grins were absorbed into the Skullcrackers and Grukk took control of the tribe. In Skagfing's place a bunch of Nobz tried to bully their way to the top, but none of them could match the raw aggression and prodigious size of Grukk.Fragmented and leaderless, the Split-Grin tribe became inferior to the Skullcrackers. Grukk used the tribe for its massive guns and kustom weapons, draining their stockpiles to build up his warband. The Split-Grin tribe also gave Grukk access to the Sanctus Reach Sub-sector's Freebooterz, giving the Ork Warboss a way off Eyrok and out into the void.Of course, Freebooterz' tastes are just as extravagant as Bad Moons, and so as soon as Grukk's warband took to the stars, the fortunes of the Split-Grins changed again. Drawn to Grukk Face-rippa's Red WAAAGH! by riches untold, Gashrakk took over as Warboss of the Split-Grin tribe. |
Bad Moons - Bad Moons Tactics: Bad Moons are more likely to engage their foes at range than most other Orks, punctuating their raucous cackling with the fire of their long-ranged weapons.Bad Moons prefer to kill with their extravagant and deafening guns. Therefore, Bad Moons often have many Flash Gitz, who set up across the battlefield before the fighting starts in earnest and lay waste to anyone who comes into their fire lanes.Bad Moons are usually capable melee combatants, but prefer to fight at range. As such, if they find themselves too close to use their guns effectively, Bad Moons sometimes reposition themselves to other convenient positions where they can continue firing their guns unimpeded. |
Bad Moons - Klan Beliefs: The Bad Moons are notoriously avaricious and greedy and care about nothing except the acquisition of wealth.They will even go so far to attain wealth by engaging in highly secret deals with other alien races to gain access to technology and wargear unavailable to other Orks.They also love to spend their teeth on food, which means many Bad Moons are a bit stout around the belt. |
Bad Moons - Klan Colours: The Bad Moons favour flashy and gaudy colours in their liveries, usually golden yellow and black for their wargear, taking a snarling moon on a field of black flames as their klan emblem.Their armour and wargear is painted with gaudy patterns in the klan colours, with a heavy emphasis on yellow, gold, and red, and they have more jewellery and piercings than the greenskins of any other Ork klan.If something looks valuable, a Bad Moon will find a way to wear it, stick it through his body or bolt it onto the side of his vehicle, preferably somewhere that every other Ork can clearly see it.However, it is only a fool who underestimates the raw strength of the Ork underneath the ostentation. A Bad Moons Warboss is just as happy to use a shiny boss-pole to smash skulls in as he is to use it to boast of his wealth. |
Bad Moons - Klan Icon: The Bad Moons klan sigil is a snarling yellow crescent moon over a black sunburst on a yellow banner. Their banners are often chased with black and white check, embroidered with threads of gold, and encrusted with glittery, shiny bitz. |
Bad Moons - Sources: Codex: Orks (2nd Edition), pg. 23Codex: Orks (4th Edition), pg. 14Codex: Orks (7th Edition), pp. 29, 39-40, 56, 62, 68, 72-76, 83, 85Only War: Enemies of the Imperium (RPG), pp. 60-61Red Waaagh! Campaign Supplement (7th Edition), pp. 57, 63-64, 66, 80-87White Dwarf 349 (UK), Preview & "Da Boyz Are Back In Town" & "Clan Loyalties," by Phil Kelly, pp. 3, 18, 32White Dwarf 290 (UK), "Chapter Approved: Ork Clanz"Warhammer 4000: Freeblade (Video Game) |
Badab Primaris - Badab Primaris: Badab Primaris, officially listed within Imperial astrocartographic databases as Badab II, is a Dead World that was located in the Badab Sector of the Segmentum Ultima and that was once a thriving Hive World before the terrible conflict known as the Badab War scoured it of all life. In 718.M41, a failed coup attempt against Badab's ruling Dominar led to an abortive civil war, and the Astral Claws Space Marine Chapter stepped in and brutally crushed the conflict. Chapter Master Lufgt Huron personally took matters into his own hands and swiftly reimposed order. Assuming the mantle of Planetary Governor, Huron styled himself the "Tyrant of Badab," and laid claim to the inhabited worlds in proximity to the Badab System as his Chapter's feudal demesne.Huron then sent a request to the Adeptus Administratum that the Maelstrom Zone be allowed to stop providing its tithe of resources to the Imperium so that he could refocus those resources on the Maelstrom Warders' efforts to cleanse the Maelstrom of Renegades and Heretics. This request was denied and met instead with increased quota demands. Huron then unilaterally withheld Badab Primaris' planetary tithe to the Imperium and blocked the passage of Imperial trade through his realms. This was intended to protest the Imperium's failure to provide him and his Astartes allies with sufficient resources to police the Maelstrom.Refusing to carry out the Astral Claws' primary role as the defenders of the Imperial worlds within the Maelstrom Zone, the Tyrant diverted the industrial resources and manpower of the Badab Sector that he was no longer providing to the Imperium to directly supplement the Badab Sector's defences as well as to augment the Maelstrom Zone's fleet detachment and to better fortify the key worlds of the sector under his control. The Tyrant ordered the demolition of the ancient citadel of the ruling Dominars of Badab Primaris and instead erected the legendary "Palace of Thorns" to his own specifications and design.The political conflict between the Administratum's right to claim the Imperial Tithe and the ancient right of Adeptus Astartes Chapter Masters to defend the Imperium by any means necessary came to be known as the "Badab Schism" and would last for more than a Terran century and a half. Ultimately, the schism would culminate in the internecine conflict known as the Badab War, a civil war fought between the Astartes Chapters of the Maelstrom Warders who sought to secede from the Imperium and those Loyalist Chapters that moved to maintain Imperial unity. After over a dozen standard years of brutal warfare in the Maelstrom Zone, the Loyalists' final assault on Badab Primaris commenced in early 913.M41 and resulted in the defeat of the Astral Claws.Lufgt Huron fell mortally wounded during the final assault on the Palace of Thorns when he and his elite bodyguard were attacked by a contingent of Star Phantoms Astartes, although his body was borne away by his closest followers and he would return to plague the Imperium once more as the piratical Chaos Lord Huron Blackheart. Taking matters into their own hands during the final assault, the savage Carcharodons Chapter sabotaged the ancient atomic and geo-thermal reactors which powered the hive cities of Badab Primaris and fed its planetary defence batteries with energy. The cascading destruction of the subterranean reactor cores deep beneath Badab's hives took its toll. Tectonic shocks and volcanic eruptions destroyed the surface of the planet, and the majority of the planet's population was exterminated by the blasts and the resulting radioactive fallout within only a few solar days. |
Badab Primaris - History: Imperial colonial settlements were first established on the temperate world of Badab Primaris in the late 38th Millennium and the world soon became a thriving hub of industrialisation and trade within the region, filling the Imperium's coffers. In 718.M41, a failed coup on the Hive World against the ruling Dominar led to an abortive civil war. The Astral Claws stepped in and brutally crushed the conflict. In the aftermath, the elements behind the coup were brought forth to Lufgt Huron for judgement.Mindful of the lesson concerning the destruction of the nearby world of Cygnax after a similar planetary rebellion had spun out of control, the Chapter Master personally reimposed order once more. This time the Astral Claws executed much of the planet's ruling class as well as those they perceived as morally recidivist. Taking upon himself the mantle of Planetary Governor, Lufgt Huron styled himself the "Tyrant of Badab" and claimed the inhabited worlds of the Badab System as his Chapter's new Imperial fief. In his subsequent pronouncement declaring his assumption of rule, he echoed the precedent set by the creation of the sovereign Realm of Ultramar under the control of the Ultramarines and the Maelstrom Warders' own charter.The nearby star systems were purged wholesale of their ruling elites and in the solar decades after Huron assumed control of Badab Primaris, a number of Astral Claws "watch bastions" were established on inhabited planets throughout the sector. The Tyrant's chosen servants and political allies were placed in positions of power, and the entire Badab Sector was transformed into a pocket empire commanded by the Astral Claws. By 790.M41 the defence of the Badab Sector was stronger than at any point in its history and this new security allowed the Maelstrom Zone's worlds to reach levels of industrial production never before achieved.Huron then sent a request to the Adeptus Administratum that the Maelstrom Zone be allowed to stop providing its tithe of resources to the Imperium so that he could refocus those resources on the Maelstrom Warders' efforts to cleanse the Maelstrom of Renegades and Heretics. This request was denied and met instead with increased quota demands. Huron then unilaterally withheld Badab Primaris' planetary tithe to the Imperium and blocked the passage of Imperial trade through his realms. This was intended to protest the Imperium's failure to provide him and his Astartes allies with sufficient resources to police the Maelstrom.Refusing to carry out the Astral Claws' primary role as the defenders of the Imperial worlds within the Maelstrom Zone, the Tyrant diverted the industrial resources and manpower of the Badab Sector that he was no longer providing to the Imperium to directly supplement the Badab Sector's defences as well as to augment the Maelstrom Zone's fleet detachment and to better fortify the key worlds of the sector under his control. These space-based defences encircling the outer and inner spheres of the Badab Sector came to be known as the "Ring of Steel." The Tyrant ordered the demolition of the ancient citadel of the ruling Dominars of Badab Primaris and instead erected the legendary "Palace of Thorns" to his own specifications and design. The political conflict between the Administratum's right to claim the Imperial Tithe and the ancient right of Adeptus Astartes Chapter Masters to defend the Imperium by any means necessary came to be known as the "Badab Schism" and would last for more than a Terran century and a half.In 911.M41, Huron publicly proclaimed throughout the Badab Sector that the Astral Claws and their subjects had seceded from the Imperium of Man and that he and his followers swore to fight to their last breath to maintain their freedom. Huron ordered all signs and symbols of Imperial authority, culture and religion destroyed on every world of his demesne in an orgy of iconoclasm. Mass executions on Badab Primaris of Ecclesiarchy clerics and Administratum functionaries (most of whom had remained largely ignorant of the true cause and nature of the schism) lasted for many solar weeks without pause.In the Tyrant's spite and fury, great Imperial basilica were toppled, while Imperial clergy and Adepts were slaughtered on every world where his forces held the reins of power. The Astral Claws' wrath grew more arbitrary and brutal as their increasing paranoia and the murderous rages to which Lugft Huron was becoming prone took a toll on those unfortunate innocents caught within the Tyrant's realm. On Badab Primaris, any mortal who dared to look directly into the face of one of the Astral Claws Astartes could be punished by blinding and similar draconian laws soon proliferated. After an assassin tried to take the life of Huron within his own command chamber and was slain by the Tyrant himself, non-Astartes were banned entirely from the precincts of the Palace of Thorns upon pain of death, and thousands of civilians were killed in groundless reprisals by the Astral Claws' Retaliator Squads. |
Badab Primaris - The Fall of Badab Primaris: By early 913.M41 the Badab Sector was firmly under Loyalist control as the Badab War reached its climax and Badab Primaris soon found itself under siege. The final battle of the Badab War took place at the Palace of Thorns, Huron's seat of power, where the Loyalist Star Phantoms spearheaded the assault. As the edifice was almost impregnable to ground assault, the Star Phantoms instead attacked the Palace of Thorns via Drop Pods and Thunderhawk gunships, under the cover of a colossal orbital bombardment. A bitter struggle soon erupted between the remaining Astral Claws and the Star Phantoms as they vied for control of the palace while the battle fleet in orbit above Badab Primaris continued to trade punishing volleys of fire with the defensive guns of Huron's stronghold.Assigned by Lord High Commander Carab Culln of the Red Scorpions the task of attacking the planet's infrastructure and preventing an organised defence from taking root, the Carcharodons took matters into their own hands to bring about the end of the Tyrant's reign and devised their own plan for doing so. They despatched strike teams deep into the sub-surface caverns deep beneath Badab Primaris' hive cities. There the savage Astartes sabotaged the extensive subterranean network of ancient atomic and geo-thermal reactors which powered the hives and fed Badab Primaris' hungry planetary defence batteries with energy.Across Badab Primaris the power failed or suddenly spiked, which added to the chaos of the final assault, while the hives began to quake and the once soaring towers of Badab toppled like felled trees. As the reactors began to detonate, they ripped apart Badab's continental landmasses, triggering massive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, hurling millions of tonnes of radioactive fallout and debris into the atmosphere.Meanwhile, the Star Phantoms gradually began to press forwards to the Secessionists' inner defence line. While fighting their way through the sewer network beneath the Palace of Thorns the Star Phantoms finally reached the defence batteries that powered Badab Primaris's formidable defences. The Star Phantoms destroyed the power generators that supplied the defence grid, finally silencing the big guns so that a full-scale Loyalist ground assault could commence.As the battle swung against the Secessionists for the final time, Captain Zhrukal Androcles of the Star Phantoms' 9th Devastator Reserve Company ambushed Lufgt Huron and his elite bodyguard as the Secessionists struggled to fight their way to their landing craft to effect their escape. The swift and bloody battle that followed wiped out the entire Star Phantoms detachment, but not before the dying Androcles managed to unleash a Melta-blast at point blank range into the Tyrant of Badab, dealing him a mortal blow, although his body was borne away by his closest followers and he would return to plague the Imperium once more as the piratical Chaos Lord Huron Blackheart, the master of the warband of vicious Chaos Space Marines called the Red Corsairs.Beneath the hives of Badab Primaris, the cascading destruction of the subterranean reactor cores took their toll. Tectonic shocks and volcanic eruptions increased at an exponential rate and entire hive city sectors collapsed into gaping maws that opened in the ground beneath them to be replaced by seas of churning lava. The Loyalist campaign of purgation and conquest on Badab quickly devolved into an anarchic retreat and many Astartes were caught in the path of destruction. In the anarchy and ruin that followed the fall of the hive cities, the air was filled with toxic ash and fallout, and the majority of the planet's population are estimated to have been exterminated within only a few solar days.Confusion reigned in the wreckage-strewn Badab System as both Loyalists and Secessionist starships were fired upon. It was later determined that at least one small Warp-capable privateer vessel managed to escape the Badab System into the Warp. Later intelligence reports suggest that less than two hundred Astral Claws survivors were on board, led by their Master of the Forge Armenneus Valthex and carrying with them their master's broken yet still living body. The Badab War was over, but the Emperor's judgement upon treacherous Badab had been delivered. Badab Primaris was nothing more than a ruined, radioactive cinder and effectively became a Dead World, haunted only by the dead and the memory of its lost Tyrant. |
Badab Primaris - Departmento Cartographicae Planetary Database: The estimated population of Badab Primaris in 913.M41 was 5.17 billion human Imperial citizens; the planet is currently uninhabitable by unprotected organic life.Tithe Grade: None (Formerly Exactis Extremis).Climate/Geography/Biosphere: Arid/Desolate; much of the surface of Badab Primaris is currently covered in millions of tonnes of radioactive fallout and debris, processed slag debris and ruined hive cities and industrial plants; the toxicity is now extreme, and the lethal average exposure time for a baseline human physiology is 1-3 solar weeks.Governmental Type: None. Formerly an Imperial Commander with the title of "Dominar" as hereditary ruler drawn from the leading industrial clan families until the failed coup in 781.M41, when the Astral Claws brutally suppressed the uprisings, executing much of the planet's ruling class as well as purging those they perceived as morally recidivist. Lufgt Huron then took on the dual role of Chapter Master and Planetary Governor.Planetary Governor: None. Formerly Lufgt Huron, Tyrant of Badab and Chapter Master of the Astral Claws.Adepta Presence: None. Formerly a moderate presence of all Imperial Adepta.Military: None. Formerly the Astral Claws Chapter and its human Auxilia known as the Tyrant's Legion who were equivalent to a second-tier Astra Militarum army; additional Household Troops of various industrial ruling clans equivalent in quality to irregular planetary militia. Before the final assault of the Loyalists upon the world in 912.M41, Badab Primaris was protected by the High Guard orbital station, a modified Inviolate-class Star Fortress that once served as the Astral Claws' Chapter fortress-monastery before they assumed rule over Badab Primaris after 781.M41. The Star Fortress was destroyed by the Loyalists' attack. |
Badab Sector - Badab Sector: The Badab Sector is a region of space located within the Maelstrom Zone, along the Eastern Fringe of the Segmentum Ultima. This sector of space was the site of one of the most insidious and dangerous internecine conflicts to wrack the Imperium of Man in recent history, known as the Badab War (ca. 901-913.M41).With the difficulty of travelling through the region, this area of space became a haven to xenos, pirates, Heretics and Renegades. Within the Maelstrom is a region of lawless wilderness containing an estimated 20+ Ork empires, numerous Hrud infestations, and countless Human pirate strongholds.It is also now home to the infamous Huron Blackheart and his piratical Renegade Space Marine warband known as the Red Corsairs as well as a large contingent of Word Bearers Chaos Space Marines and their Chaos Cultists allies who fled there in the 31st Millennium in the wake of the Battle of Calth during the Horus Heresy.This region of space was first explored during the Great Crusade by the Emperor of Mankind and His vast military forces. But it was not until the 38th and 39th Millennia that the Imperium slowly established several important Imperial outposts within the Maelstrom Zone.These outposts rose to prominence as flickering beacons of influence and strength within the region. The three vital star systems that formed the links in a distant chain that allowed the resources of the Maelstrom Zone to flow into the coffers of the more established sectors beyond were the star systems of Cygnax, Sagan and Badab. |
Badab Sector - History: The Badab Sector is located in the Maelstrom Zone, on the Eastern Fringe of the Ultima Segmentum, and represents a portion of the considerable territories conquered by the Imperium during the 38th and 39th Millenniums.A few of the major events in the Imperium of Man’s history have also been included to establish a wider context for a consideration of events in the Badab Sector:Great Crusade (Late 30th - Early 31st Millennium) - The Emperor of Mankind's Great Crusade seeks to reunite all of the human-settled colony worlds in the galaxy under the rule of the newborn Imperium of Man. During the Great Crusade, the armies of the Emperor of Mankind attempted to penetrate the Maelstrom and cleanse it of the evils that lurked within. The wealth of the Maelstrom has drawn Mankind to the Zone time and again despite its manifold hazards and difficulties, and indeed there is ready evidence of humanity's presence in the region as far back as the Dark Age of Technology. The Maelstrom Zone has also drawn humanity's enemies as well in their countless number and diverse loathsome forms. Hundreds of warships and thousands of troops were lost in the early campaigns during the Great Crusade era, and with the rest of the galaxy to reconquer, the Emperor declared the region Purgatus.Horus Heresy (Early 31st Millennium) - The Warmaster Horus, Primarch of the Sons of Horus Space Marine Legion, is corrupted by Chaos and his own ambition and rebels against his father, the Emperor. He successfully recruits half of the Space Marine Legions, large parts of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Imperial Army into the service of Chaos and unleashes a deadly 7-year-long galactic civil war that kills hundreds of billions. Horus is slain by the Emperor at the conclusion of the Battle of Terra. Mortally wounded himself in the confrontation, the Emperor is interred within the Golden Throne. The present Age of the Imperium begins. In the years following the Horus Heresy, Primarch Roboute Guilliman of the Ultramarines Space Marine Legion decided that the inhabitants of the Maelstrom were too great a threat to the stability of the fledgling Imperium to ignore, and ordered the surrounding regions reinforced in an effort to contain any attacks that may originate from within.Colonisation of Badab (38th and 39th Millennium) - Slowly, during the 38th and 39th millennia, several important Imperial outposts within the Maelstrom Zone rose to prominence as flickering beacons of influence and strength within the region. This handful of vital worlds formed the links in a distant chain that allowed the resources of the Maelstrom Zone to flow from its hazardous depths into the coffers of more established sectors beyond the stellar arm. The Badab Sector was one of the three most important links in this chain, which also included Cygnax and Sagan, each an isolated Imperial civilisation in this anarchic sea. This path of commerce came increasingly under threat as the situation in the Maelstrom became ever more volatile.Death of Cygnax (577.M41) - With the fall of Cygnax, one of the lynchpin worlds within this volatile region, Imperial control of the northern Maelstrom Zone swiftly crumbled. Without this key world, taken with other losses over the previous few centuries, vital military supply chains stretching as far as Bakka and Terra itself were threatened, forcing the Adeptus Terra to act.The Warders of the Maelstrom (587.M41) - Forced to act, the High Lords of Terra pronounced an Edict Imperialis in response to these dire predations, ordering several Space Marine Chapters to permanently base themselves in the Maelstrom Zone in order to protect the Imperium's interests and pacify the region. In recognition of their past glorious service to the Imperium, the Astral Claws Chapter was given the high honour of the senior role in commanding the newly formed Maelstrom Warders. This force was to include the fleet-based Lamenters and Charnel Guard Chapters to patrol the outer regions, and also incorporated the Mantis Warriors who were based in the nearby Endymion Cluster. The wealth of the Maelstrom Zone once again flows into the coffers of the Imperium.Battle of Hellsiris (715.M41) - After a series of Ork raids originating within the Maelstrom struck deep into the Badab Sector, the Chapter Master of the Astral Claws, Rovik Blake, went against his own doctrine, and pursued the Orks back into the Maelstrom itself at the head of a large strike force. Although the Astral Claws slayed thousands of greenskins and destroyed much of the Ork's base, their Chapter's battle barge was badly damaged and their Chapter Master slain, forcing the Astral Claws to retreat. Lufgt Huron, Captain of the Astral Claws' 3rd Company was appointed Chapter Master by the popular acclaim of his peers in 715.M41.Tyrant of Badab (718.M41) - After a failed coup on the Hive World of Badab Primaris led to an abortive civil war, the Astral Claws stepped in and brutally crushed the conflict. In the aftermath, the elements behind the coup were brought forth to Lufgt Huron for judgement. Mindful of the lesson of Cygnax, the Chapter Master personally took matters into his own hands, swiftly reimposing order once more. This time he employed the Astral Claws much more brutally as they executed much of the planet's ruling class as well as purging those they perceived as morally recidivist. Taking upon himself the mantle of planetary ruler, Lufgt Huron stylised himself the 'Tyrant of Badab', claiming the inhabited worlds in proximity to the hospitable region of the void around the Badab System as his Chapter's fiefdom. In his subsequent pronouncement, he echoed the example and precedents of the sovereign realm of Ultramar and the Warder's charter. The nearby system was soon purged wholesale of the ruling elites and in the decades afterward, a number of Astral Claws 'watch bastions' were established. The Tyrant's chosen servants and political allies were placed in positions of power, turning the Badab Sector into a pocket empire, commanded by the Astral Claws.Badab Schism (748.M41-900.M41) - Huron sent a request to the Adeptus Administratum that the Maelstrom Zone be allowed to stop providing its tithe of resources to the Imperium so that he could refocus those resources on the Maelstrom Warders' efforts to cleanse the Maelstrom of Renegades and Heretics. This request was denied and met instead with increased quota demands. Huron then unilaterally withheld Badab Primaris' planetary tithe to the Imperium and blocked the passage of Imperial trade through his realms. This was intended to protest the Imperium's failure to provide him and his Astartes allies with sufficient resources to police the Maelstrom. Refusing to carry out the Astral Claws' primary role as the defenders of the Imperial worlds within the Maelstrom Zone, the Tyrant diverted the industrial resources and manpower of the Badab Sector that he was no longer providing to the Imperium to directly supplement the Badab Sector's defences as well as to augment the Maelstrom Zone's fleet detachment and to better fortify the key worlds of the sector under his control. The Tyrant ordered the demolition of the ancient citadel of the ruling Dominars of Badab Primaris and instead erected the legendary "Palace of Thorns" to his own specifications and design. The political conflict between the Administratum's right to claim the Imperial tithe and the ancient right of Adeptus Astartes Chapter Masters to defend the Imperium by any means necessary came to be known as the Badab Schism and would last for more than a century and a half. Ultimately, the schism would culminate in the internecine conflict known as the Badab War, a civil war fought between the Chapters of the Maelstrom Warders who sought to secede from the Imperium and those Loyalist Chapters that moved to maintain Imperial unity.Destruction of Imperial Tithe Fleet VX542-11 (901.M41) - With preliminary judgements into the Badal Schism in the Segmentum Courts Temporal weighing in the Administratum's favour, an Imperial investigation fleet including representatives of the Adeptus Mechanicus Bioligis Inviglia and the Administratum Lords of the Karthago Sector, is to Badab to demand the delivery of the Badab tithe and Chapter's gene-seed requirements. The investigation fleet is fired on and destroyed as it attempts to force its way through the Badab System's 'Ring of Steel' and press its demands. Claim and counter-claim ensues in the aftermath as to how this tragic destruction had occurred. Karthan Sector Governor Tanit Koenig calls for the arrest and trial of Huron for treachery against the Imperium.Karthan Retaliation (902.M41-903.M41) - The Karthan Imperial Commanders take it on themselves to send two further punitive expeditions into the Maelstrom Zone under the auspices of Imperial Authority, both fleets are lost in unknown circumstances with intervention by the Astral Claws and their allies gravely suspected.Maelstrom Succession (903.M41) - To answer the continuing threats to the control of his domain, Lufgt Huron issued the infamous 'Articles of Just Secession', which were also signed and ratified by the masters of the Lamenters and Mantis Warriors Chapters. These documents were designed to formally sever the Maelstrom Zone's direct tithes to its neighbouring sectors. As the situation devolved further the Karthans threatened all out war, but lacked the means to do so alone. Instead the petitioned aid to mount an attack from the Departmento Munitorum and the Segmentum Naval sub-command at Ryza, but were flatly refused and informed that the matter was an 'internal dispute.' Met with denials, the Karthago Sector itself drafted increasingly large numbers of troops into its planetary defence regiments. To further their goals, the Karthan Satrap sent several direct and open appeals to several Space Marine Chapters with whom they had past dealings with. The Satrap had quickly realised that only other Space Marines could truly hope to contest other Space Marines in open battle. The Fire Hawks Chapter was the first to respond to their cause.Badab War Begins (904.M41) - A vessel belonging to the Fire Hawks Space Marine Chapter is captured by the Mantis Warriors, which worsens the conflict. Matters swiftly escalate and the Fire Hawks, aided by the Karthan fleet then launch a series of of probing attacks on the Feudal World of Iblis, and while they are so occupied, the Administratum-controlled system of Safan and its orbital fleet anchorage is invaded and captured by the Astral Claws and Lamenters amid a great slaughter.Eye of the High Lords (905.M41) - With five different Space Marine Chapters embroiled in open warfare with various naval detachments, local defence armies and the sectarian forces of various adepta now involved in the greatest conflict since the Fourth Quadrant Rebellion, the Imperium's high authorities finally act, despatching a triumvirate of Imperial legates under the Seal of the High Lords to pronounce judgment over the ongoing strife in the Maelstrom Zone under orders to leave no stone unturned.Judgment of the High Lords (905.M41) - The resolution of the Badab Secession crisis is pronounced by the Terran Legates to be a matter of the Imperium's security rather than a civil conflict between local factions. They issue a demand for the unconditional ceasefire of all parties and the surrender of the Secessionists which is immediately rejected by Huron. As a result, orders are issued by the Terran Legates for the arrest pending trial of the Chapter Masters of the Secessionist Chapters and the seizure pending judgement of their worlds, goods and chattels.Condemnation of the Astral Claws (908.M41) - In the face of wanton heresy and deceit, and invoking full emergency authority, the prosecuting Inquisitor Legate Jarndyce Frain condemns the Astral Claws as Excommunicate Traitoris under sentence of death, and also places their allies as under official suspicion of heresy and treasonous contravention of Imperial High Law, although no immediate evidence exists that they too have strayed so far from the path. This fact fundamentally alters the nature of the conflict itself, and a pall of secrecy descends over the true conduct of the war.The Tyrant Stands Alone (911.M41) - The Tyrant announces in a recorded message that is relayed throughout the warzone that the Astral Claws and their subjects within the Badab Sector are no longer part of the Imperium of Man. Within Huron's remaining domains, all signs and symbols of Imperial authority, culture and creed are cast down in a firestorm of iconoclasm, and the mass extinction on Badab Primaris of clerics and functionaries are said to last for weeks without pause.Siege of Badab Begins (913.M41) - With the remaining Astral Claws forced back at last to the hugely fortified Badab system and their allied Chapters surrendered or battered into submission, the war enters its final phase. A concerted attack by the Loyalist fleet, elements of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Red Scorpions, Star Phantoms, Carcharodons, Exorcists and Sons of Medusa breaks through the Badab system's formidable 'Ring of Steel,' assaulting its star forts and outer bastions in order to silence the legendary 'Big Guns' of the Badab system. Once the system is invested, a blockade on the outer system is mounted to prevent any attempt at escape, and further assault units including battle Titans of the Legio Crucius and the forces of the Ordo Hereticus are brought up in preparation for the attack on Badab Primaris itself.Final Assault (913.M41) - With Badab surrounded and under heavy bombardment from orbit, the final assault begins. Lufgt Huron eventually fell during the final assault for the Palace of Thorns, Huron's seat of power on the world of Badab Primaris, although whether he survived or was truly slain remained shrouded in mystery, as his body was borne away by his closest followers. Only a contingent of about two to three hundred of the renegade Astral Claws, now devotees of Chaos Undivided, managed to fight their way through the Exorcists Chapter's blockade and escaped into deep space, taking refuge in the hellish realm known as the Maelstrom, joining the horde of aliens, renegades and heretics that made the Maelstrom their lair.Death of Badab Primaris (913.M41) - Assigned by Lord High Commander Carab Culln the task of attacking the planet's infrastructure and preventing an organised defence from taking root, the Carcharodons took matters into their own hands to bring about the end of the Tyrant's reign and devised their own plan for doing so. They despatched strike teams deep into the sub-surface caverns deep beneath Badab Primaris' hive cities. There the savage Astartes sabotaged the extensive subterranean network of ancient atomic and geo-thermal reactors which powered the hives and fed Badab Primaris' hungry planetary defence batteries with energy. Across Badab Primaris the power failed or suddenly spiked, which added to the chaos of the final assault, while the hives began to quake and the once soaring towers of Badab toppled like felled trees. As the reactors began to detonate, they ripped apart Badab's continental landmasses, triggering massive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, hurling millions of tonnes of radioactive fallout and debris into the atmosphere. In the anarchy and ruin that followed the fall of the hive cities, the majority of the planet's population are exterminated within a few standard days.Star Phantoms' Prize (913.M41) - In recognition for their efforts, the badly mauled Star Phantoms Chapter were given the reward of dominion over the once proud Badab Sector along with the task of policing its survivors. This reward was somewhat of a hollow one, as the Star Phantoms Chapter had been reduced to under a third of its former strength by the fighting, and its new domains were little more than a kingdom of ashes. The Star Phantoms bring down their crippled battle barge Memento Mori on the surface of the ice moon of Jahga in the Archaea system to serve as the core of their new Fortress-Monastery and slowly began to rebuild. |
Badab Sector - Notable Systems and Worlds: Archaea SystemArchaea IV - Agri-WorldJahga - Ice World - Current Space Marine Chapter Homeworld of the Star PhantomsBadab SystemBadab I (Pyrantius) - Molten WorldBadab II (Badab Primaris) - Dead World/Former Hive World - Home to the Fortress-Monastery of the Renegade Astral Claws (Destroyed ca. 913.M41)Badab III: Rigeal -Dead World - High Anchorage/Imperial Navy BaseBadab IV: Badab Secundus - Dead World that served as a Tithe StoreBadab V (Laimius) - Gas GiantBadab VI (Sigma) - Fortress Station/Astropathic RelayDecaballus SystemDecaballus V - Frontier WorldEschunna SystenEschunna XII - Proto-Hive WorldHattusa SystemHattusa II - Waste WorldIsin SystemIsin IV - Civilised WorldPireaus SystemPiraeus II - Settled moonPiraeus V - Industrial Hive WorldPiraeus VII - Settled moon |
Badab System - Badab System: The Badab System is an Imperial star system of the Badab Sector that lies within the Maelstrom Zone of the Segmentum Ultima. With the difficulty of traveling through the region, this area of space has become a haven to pirates, Heretics and Renegades. The Maelstrom Zone is a region of lawless wilderness containing an estimated 20+ Ork empires, numerous Hrud infestations, and countless human pirate strongholds.The Badab System was the heart of the demesne created within the Maelstrom Zone by Lufgt Huron, the Renegade Chapter Master of the Astral Claws Space Marines who bore the infamous title of the Tyrant of Badab. The Badab System served as the heart of Huron's rebellion against the Imperium during the terrible conflict known as the Badab War.Its primary world, Badab Primaris, was finally conquered by the forces of the Loyalist Space Marines in 912.M41 at the cost of all life on that once-thriving Hive World. The fall of Badab Primaris finally brought the terrible internecine conflict to its close. |
Badab System - Planets of the Badab System: Badab I (Pyrantis) - Pyrantis is a Molten World with a surface temperature so high that even solid rock will liquefy. Landing is impossible. Pyrantis is inimical to human life and possesses no population.Badab II (Badab Primaris) - Badab Primaris is now a Dead World that was once a thriving Hive World that was home to 5.17 billion people and served as the capital planet of the Badab Sector before the terrible conflict known as the Badab War scoured it of all life. It served as the throne world of Lufgt Huron, the Tyrant of Badab, and was home to his infamous Palace of Thorns as well as the fortress-monastery of Huron's Astral Claws Chapter of Space Marines. Much of the surface of Badab Primaris is currently covered in millions of tonnes of radioactive fallout, processed slag debris and the extensive ruins of depopulated hive cities and industrial plants. The toxicity of its atmosphere is deadly and inimical to all life. Before the final assault of the Loyalist Astartes upon the world in 912.M41, Badab Primaris was protected by the High Guard orbital station, a modified Inviolate-class Star Fortress that once served as the Astral Claws' Chapter base before they assumed rule over Badab Primaris after 782.M41. The Star Fortress was destroyed by the Loyalists' attack.Badab III (Rigeal) - Rigeal is a Dead World with a Class 7 corrosive atmosphere that is inimical to human life. Rigeal is circled by several Orbital Fleet Anchorage Stations and a Tertiary-class Orbital Ship Yard Facility. Its estimated population is 3.1 million, all of whom are concentrated in the orbital habitats.Badab IV (Badab Secundus) - Badab Secundus is a Dead World that was formerly life-sustaining, but its biosphere was irreparably damaged. Still, Badab Secundus is home to a population of 1.1 billion people who live in sub-hive scale sealed habitation domes. This population is on the hostile world to maintain the System Tithe Store Facility where the Badab System stockpiles all the resources required to meet the Imperial tithe and an Imperial Penitentiary Station located on the Badab IV-B moon. The planet's population is also engaged in extracting strategically valuable fissile materials from the world's crustBadab V (Lamius) - Lamius is a gas giant with a liquid metallic core and a hydrogen-helium atmosphere. There is limited scale exospheric gas mining operations ongoing in its upper atmosphere to gather the valuable isotope of helium-3 used as fuel in plasma generators despite the volatile continent-sized storms that often scar its surface.Badab VI (Sigma) - Sigma is a Dead World that was a formerly industrialised and heavily settled Imperial planet until the 39th Millennium when a catastrophic orbital shift occurred which caused the world's entire atmosphere to freeze. The entire surface of the planet is now covered in permafrost, making it uninhabitable. However, Sigma was orbited by a modified Ramilies-class Star Fortress known as Sentinel-Sigma that served as the Badab System's primary astropathic relay and which oversaw the defences of the Ring of Steel. It is unknown if the Star Fortress is still in operation.Badab VII - Small terrestrial planet used as a graveyard for wrecked starships and other cast-off machinery. No sustainable life.Ring of Steel - The Badab System was encircled by an integrated globular pattern defence cordon named by Lufgt Huron the "Ring of Steel" which was centred on the orbit of the world of Sigma. The Ring of Steel was an in-depth defensive frontier comprised of 5 tiers of space defences. From the outer portion of the ring to its innermost reaches, these defences consisted of defence gun platforms, clusters of drift mines, auto-locational Eyrine Pattern Assassin Mines, plasma web casters and shrapnel fields intended to passively damage incoming enemy starships. The Ring of Steel was broken in 912.M41 by the assault of the Loyalists, though their spaceborne forces suffered heavy casualties in ships and men as the Tyrant of Badab had intended. |
Badab War - Badab War: The Badab War, fought between 901.M41 and 913.M41 primarily in the Badab Sector and Endymion Cluster of the Segmentum Ultima, was one of the most insidious and dangerous internecine conflicts to wrack the Imperium of Man in recent history, made all the more lamentable because the unthinkable had occurred.As a result of a conflicting nexus of honour, treachery, politics and greed, several Space Marine Chapters turned Renegade against the Imperium and bloodshed and outright civil war ensued -- a war which turned entire armies of the Imperium's most powerful warriors against each other and in doing so swept millions to their deaths in its turbulence.Such was all the result of the treachery and hubris of the former Chapter Master Lufgt Huron of the Astral Claws Chapter, the self-styled and infamous "Tyrant of Badab." The carnage wrought amongst the stars of the Maelstrom Zone during this conflict was such that it rocked the faith and order of untold Imperial worlds never touched directly by its violence, and caused loyal subjects to look upon their Adeptus Astartes protectors with fear. Such were the dire sins and hidden truths that lay behind the war, that a pall of secrecy and lies descended about the conflict even as it was fought.The rebellion was eventually put down by the forces of the Inquisition and those Astartes Chapters who remained steadfast in their duty to the Emperor of Mankind, but its instigators, the Astral Claws, wholly given over to Chaos in the course of the conflict, turned Renegade and its survivors become the infamous piratical band of Chaos Space Marines known as the Red Corsairs.The Red Corsairs are led by the treacherous Chaos Lord named Huron Blackheart, a vicious Champion of Chaos Undivided who is now nearly unrecognisable as the once-noble Lufgt Huron.Blackheart and the Red Corsairs currently dominate a large Chaos empire within the Warp rift known as the Maelstrom in the Eastern Fringes of the galaxy. There Blackheart plots his vengeance upon the Imperium and prepares to build a new empire dedicated to the Ruinous Powers that will bring the demesne of the Traitor Legions within the Eye of Terror to shame. |
Badab War - The Maelstrom Zone: Situated along the Eastern Fringe in the Segmentum Ultima, the region of the galaxy now known as the Maelstrom Zone was first explored during the Great Crusade of the 31st Millennium. Second in size and extent only to the Eye of Terror, the Maelstrom is a vast Warp rift that scars both the physical universe and the fabric of the Immaterium beyond.The Maelstrom covers an area many hundreds of light years across, and its presence in space is marked by a vast, slowly turning gyre comprised of nebulae, dust and stellar material in which countless stars and worlds have long been lost to the Empyrean.During the Great Crusade, the vast armies of the Emperor of Mankind attempted to penetrate the Maelstrom and cleanse it of the evils that lurked within. The wealth of the worlds bordering the Maelstrom has drawn Mankind to the Maelstrom Zone time and again despite its manifold hazards and difficulties, and indeed there is ready evidence of Humanity's presence in the region as far back as the Age of Technology.The Maelstrom Zone has also drawn Humanity's enemies as well in their countless number and diverse loathsome forms. Hundreds of warships and thousands of troops were lost in the early campaigns during the Great Crusade era, and with the rest of the galaxy to reconquer, the Emperor declared the region Purgatus.In the years following the Horus Heresy, Primarch Roboute Guilliman of the Ultramarines Space Marine Legion decided that the inhabitants of the Maelstrom were too great a threat to the shaky stability of the recovering Imperium to ignore, and ordered the surrounding regions reinforced in an effort to contain any attacks that might originate from within.Over time, the Imperium slowly established several important Imperial outposts within the Maelstrom Zone during the 38th and 39th Millennia. These outposts rose to prominence as flickering beacons of Human influence and strength within the region. The three vital star systems that formed the links in a distant chain that allowed the resources of the Maelstrom Zone to flow into the coffers of the more established Imperial sectors beyond were the star systems of Cygnax, Sagan and Badab. As the situation in the Maelstrom became ever more volatile, this path of Imperial commerce came increasingly under threat.By the middle of the 41st Millennium, the heavily militarised Hive World of Cygnax located in the star system of the same name was the most populated planet in the northern Maelstrom Zone. Having long been a lynchpin of Imperial control of the region, Cygnax was a key strategic world, forming a bulwark against aggressors and serving as a safe port for Imperial merchant and naval vessels.In the year 557.M41 disaster struck, when, with the suddenness of an onrushing storm, Cygnax succumbed to corruption from within and attack from without. The planet rapidly fell into bloody civil war between its Imperial garrison and Death Cult nihilists, backed by the intervention of the dread Chaos Space Marine warband known as The Reborn. Despite the intervention of the Mantis Warriors Chapter, which itself had made a home in the nearby Endymion Cluster Sub-sector, the death toll rose exponentially into the millions.The Death Cultists managed to gain access to part of the Cygnaxian missile defence network, and in a suicidal rage unleashed a rain of atomic and plasma warheads upon the doomed world, shattering its hive cities and disrupting the planet's orbit for several standard years. The resulting permanent nuclear winter, radioactive fallout and tectonic upheavals annihilated all life on Cygnax.With the fall of this key world, Imperial control of the northern Maelstrom Zone swiftly crumbled. Without Cygnax, along with other Imperial losses suffered in the region over the previous few centuries, vital military supply chains stretching as far as Bakka and Terra itself were threatened, forcing the Adeptus Terra to act. |
Badab War - Maelstrom Warders (587.M41-715.M41): In 587.M41, the High Lords of Terra pronounced an Edict Imperialis in response to these dire predations, ordering several Space Marine Chapters to permanently base themselves in the Maelstrom Zone in order to protect the Imperium's interests and pacify the region. In recognition of their past glorious service to the Imperium, the Astral Claws Chapter was given the high honour of the senior role in commanding the newly formed Maelstrom Warders.This force was to include the fleet-based Lamenters and Charnel Guard Chapters to patrol the outer regions, and also incorporated the Mantis Warriors who were based in the nearby Endymion Cluster. Once this force was put in place, the Astral Claws took over an orbital battle station in the strategically vital Badab System, which became their fortress-monastery and base of operations.After their establishment, a detachment of an Imperial Navy squadron were permanently assigned to the region to conduct search and destroy and convoy protection duties. This naval detachment quickly stabilised the surrounding areas and purged the inner zone of heretical and xenos elements that had plagued them. Soon the wealth of the Maelstrom Zone once again began to flow into the coffers of the Imperium.The greatest operation during these times occurred during the Scourge Campaign from 640.M41-651.M41, in which the Astral Claws and their allies conducted a series of major combat operations, striking deep into the heart of the Maelstrom in an attempt to take the battle to the foe. Initially the Space Marines were successful, until the abrupt withdrawal of the Charnel Guard Chapter. The Adeptus Terra severed the Chapter's ties to the Maelstrom Warders, dispatching them to the Thanatos Crusade into the Veiled Region.This sudden loss effectively ended the campaign. The Astral Claws subsequently petitioned for a replacement Chapter to be reassigned but were denied. Less than two solar decades later, the Maelstrom Warders suffered a series of setbacks and a high number of casualties amongst some of their allies, causing a rift in relations between the wider Imperium and the Warders during this period. Soon the Warders became hard pressed by an upsurge of daemonic incursions and corsair attacks, pushing them into an increasingly defensive posture and suspending all operations near the Maelstrom itself.Once again, disaster struck, as a series of Ork raids originating within the Maelstrom struck deep into the Badab Sector during the Battle of Hellsiris. The Astral Claws' Chapter Master Rovik Blake went against his own doctrine and pursued the Orks back into the Maelstrom itself. Having led the Astral Claws for the last two standard centuries, he fell in single combat with the Ork Warboss Vorg Manburna, forcing the Astral Claws to retreat.On return to the Badab System, the captain of the Astral Claws 3rd Company, Lufgt Huron, was appointed as Chapter Master by popular acclaim of his peers in 715.M41. He became the youngest warrior in the Chapter's history to attain this esteemed rank.Imperial historians now point out that such a man of flawed character should never have been allowed to rise to the command of a Space Marine Chapter. But Lufgt Huron had already proven to be an exceptional warrior as well as a skilled tactician and charismatic leader. He quickly reorganised the Chapter's strategic deployments and established a policy of expanding his Chapter's fleet which had been badly depleted, including within its ranks captured corsair vessels in aggressive raids.He also established the questionable scorched-planet policy against their enemies and increased his Chapter's stockpile of Exterminatus-class weapons. This resulted in several fringe worlds that harboured renegade ships in the past being turned into lifeless husks. |
Badab War - Rise of a Tyrant (718.M41): In 718.M1, a failed coup attempt on the Hive World of Badab Primaris led to an abortive civil war, and the Astral Claws stepped in and brutally crushed the conflict. In the aftermath, the elements behind the coup were brought forth to Lufgt Huron for judgement. Mindful of the lesson of Cygnax, the Chapter Master personally took matters into his own hands, swiftly reimposing order once more. This time he employed the Astral Claws much more brutally as they executed much of the planet's ruling class as well as purging those they perceived as morally recidivist.Taking upon himself the mantle of planetary ruler, Lufgt Huron stylised himself the "Tyrant of Badab," claiming the inhabited worlds in proximity to the hospitable region of the void around the Badab System as his Chapter's fiefdom. In his subsequent pronouncement, he echoed the example and precedents of the sovereign realm of Ultramar and the Maelstrom Warders' charter.The nearby system was soon purged wholesale of the ruling elites and in the solar decades afterward, a number of Astral Claws "watch bastions" were established. The Tyrant's chosen servants and political allies were placed in positions of power, turning the Badab Sector into a pocket empire, commanded by the Astral Claws.To further cement his power, in a massive reorganisation of the uneven and often isolationist native Planetary Defence Forces in the region into what would become known as the "Tyrant's Legion." Following a unified command structure these forces now followed a standard dictated by Huron. The Astral Claws assigned detachments to further train the Tyrant's Legion in order to purge them of weak elements.Soon the Tyrant's Legion proved their worth as they repulsed numerous corsair raids, freeing the Astral Claws from their defensive stance. The Chapter was able to conduct a series of lightning raids into outlying areas to harass and destroy Heretic and xenos-controlled areas. With the increase of Huron's tally of victories, and the curtailing of corsair activity and the increase of production never before reached, the fame of the Astral Claws "Tyrant" grew beyond the Maelstrom Zone.Spurred by this success, Huron had his servants delivered a formal and lengthy petition to Terra, making a detailed case for completely subduing the Maelstrom and the surrounding area, which would greatly benefit the Imperium in the long term.In order to achieve this, Huron advocated the deployment of several more Space Marine Chapters to the Maelstrom Warders' ranks, suggesting that a new Founding might even be warranted to meet the needs of his plan. Unfortunately, Huron's petition was dismissed without full hearing on the grounds that the military requirements of the Imperium were better met elsewhere. |
Badab War - Astral Claws Falter: During the mid-700s.M41, the Astral Claws submission of required gene-seed tithes to the Magos Inviglia of the Adeptus Mechanicus became infrequent and incomplete. Although initially a cause for concern, such matters were not uncommon, particularly those Space Marine Chapters deployed to border areas or on crusade, simply because the Chapter itself might have a temporary need to retain the gene-seed itself to sustain battlefield losses.But as the omission persisted, this signaled to the Mechanicus that there was some darker motive at work. This would later prove to be true with the Astral Claws, as evidence indicated that this first great sin against the established traditions of the Adeptus Astartes would arguably result in the Chapter's fall into heresy.Repeatedly denied the reinforcements he had requested to aid him and the Maelstrom Warders in carrying out their tasks, in his arrogance and pride, the Tyrant of Badab sought to expand his forces into a force equal to a Space Marine Legion of old. Further covert investigation would later uncover that the Astral Claws' Apothecarion was conducting heretical experiments in rapid gene-seed zygote cultivation. Though largely unsuccessful, the Astral Claws eventually stood at around an estimated 3,500 battle-brothers strong, a direct violation of the proscriptions laid out in the Codex Astartes.In 729.M41, Lufgt Huron's servants delivered a formal document of petition to the High Lords of Terra making a detailed case for complete purging and subduing the Maelstrom and the surrounding area. In order to achieve this, the document set out the case for a massively augmented deployment of Space Marines to the Maelstrom Warders. Huron's petition was, once again, dismissed without a full hearing on the grounds that the Imperium's needs were better met elsewhere. |
Badab War - Badab Schism (748.M41-900.M41): After further requests to redistribute resources from the Maelstrom Zone were denied and met with increased quota demands from the Administratum, in protest, Huron withheld Badab Primaris' planetary tithe to the Administratum and further blocked the passage of trade through his realms in protest over the adepta's failure to provide him and his allies sufficient resources to police the Maelstrom. Refusing the Astral Claws' role as defenders of the Maelstrom Zone, the Tyrant of Badab soon diverted the industrial resources and manpower to directly supplement the Badab Sector's defences as well as augmenting the Maelstrom fleet detachment and fortification of key worlds under his command.These space-based defences encircling the outer and inner spheres of the Badab Sector came to be known as the "Ring of Steel." On Badab Primaris, the Tyrant ordered the demolition of the ancient citadel of the ruling dominars and instead erected the legendary, hugely fortified "Palace of Thorns" to his own specifications and design.The clashing entitlement of the Administratum's Imperial tithe and the ancient rights of Adeptus Astartes commanders to defend the Imperium by any means necessary swiftly came to be known as the "Badab Schism" and would last for more than a standard century and a half, during which the Astral Claws and the Maelstrom Warders would continue to carry on military operations as usual, against a volatile backdrop of worsening tensions with the Administratum and segmentum authorities.The sudden loss of the lifeblood of industry and commerce was keenly felt by the Karthago Sector. For more than eleven standard centuries the Karthan Lords and planetary governors had held the charter to distribute the industrial output of the Maelstrom Zone and guard its passage from the Administratum-controlled supply fortress on Sagan III, and then to the western Segmentum Ultima and beyond. Isolated by vast distances, the Karthan had long grown fat and decadent, protected by the blood and toil of the more strife-torn realms. |
Badab War - War on the Horizon (780.M41-900.M41): Freed from their inglorious garrison duty, the Astral Claws intervened in the aftermath of the infamous Fourth Quadrant Rebellion, which had troubled the Imperium for many solar decades. Gathering in a mixed taskforce comprising of various companies from the Astral Claws, Fire Hawks, White Scars, and Celestian Guard Chapters, backed by Death Korps of Krieg and Kol-Sec Astra Militarum regiments and the Titans from the Legio Venator, Lufgt Huron was elected battle leader by common consent.Under his inspired command, the taskforce ruthlessly eradicated the heavily fortified Lycanthos System of Traitor and Chaos forces in under a standard year. However, Stibor Lazaerek, Chapter Master of the Fire Hawks, continued to harbour a grudge over the fact that Huron was given overall command despite his seniority as a Chapter Master. This grudge would fester over the coming years until finally it would bear the fruit of bitterness.In 821.M41, a heavy Ork raiding force from the Maelstrom was intercepted and destroyed in a series of battles in the Khirab Sector in the Endymion Cluster by a combined force of the Maelstrom Warders. During the battle, Lufgt Huron slew Rakka, the Ork Warboss, in single combat and was hailed as a hero of the people of Endymion.In 869.M41, at the instigation of their Chapter Master, the Black Templars declared a Crusade of Wrath into the Maelstrom, assaulting it from the eastward approach. Meanwhile the Astral Claws, Lamenters and Mantis Warriors launched their own assaults from the southern and north-eastern approaches. Thanks in no small part to Huron's brilliant strategic planning as well as the mettle of the Maelstrom Warders and the Black Templars, they achieved a stunning victory against 23 alien or Heretic stronghold worlds.Unfortunately, wider events intervened, once again putting a premature end to the Astral Claws' plans, as the Black Templars were called away to aid the beleaguered Realm of Ultramar in the wake of the First Tyrannic War. Having already suffered substantial losses in the campaign, the Maelstrom Warder Chapters were forced to withdraw from the Maelstrom, much to Huron's fury.During this time Lufgt Huron was uncharacteristically taciturn and withdrawn on his return from the Maelstrom, either locking himself away in the Chapter's archives for solar days on end and refusing to see anyone, or keeping long silent vigils alone in the fortress-monastery's Panopticon-Solar, gazing unblinkingly for hours at holospheres that depicted the Maelstrom Zone.Some observers say that it was during this time that Lufgt Huron became corrupted and fell from grace. Denied the goals he had spent a lifetime fighting for, he had been denied his glory as it was snatched from his hands at the last by those he should call master, finally unhinged him, or maybe he had given in to hubris and false pride. Some of the Tyrant's detractors have even gone so far as to suggest that during the Crusade of Wrath, whilst deep within the nightmare realm of the Maelstrom, something vile or Warp-tainted promises had wormed their way into his heart.Matters worsened once again, not only within the Maelstrom Zone but the wider Imperium as well, as the threat of Hive Fleet Behemoth left the defences of the Segmentum Ultima in disarray, and wars and rumours of wars as far as the Eye of Terror and the Ghoul Stars threatened to erupt, as well as galaxy-wide revolts and other strange phenomena.Soon crisis followed crisis, and in the dying years of the 800s.M41, Lufgt Huron saw the Maelstrom Zone slipping from his grasp and all the victories the Maelstrom Warders had gained began to crumble, and so in an attempt to tighten his grip, he remained unaware that elsewhere events were moving against him. It would not be long before the brooding Tyrant of Badab would spark into violence, and the Imperium would once again shed the blood of its own. |
Badab War - Destruction of the Tithe Fleet (901.M41): With preliminary judgements into the Badab System in the Segmentum Courts Temporal weighing in the Administratum's favour, an Imperial investigation fleet, including representatives of the Adeptus Mechanicus Biologis Inviglia and the Administratum lords of the Karthago Sector, was sent to Badab to demand the delivery of the Badab tithe and the Chapter's gene-seed requirements.In circumstances that cannot be fully confirmed or explained, the investigation fleet was fired upon and destroyed in its entirety as it attempted to force its way through the Badab System's so-called "Ring of Steel" in order to press its demands. No ship survived and more than 20,000 servants of the Imperium were lost.Soon claim and counter-claim ensued in the aftermath as to how this tragedy occurred, and Lufgt Huron, delivering his own dominion's report on the Badab matter to the segmentum authorities, adamantly insisted that the fleet was fired upon only after refusing to give away to the just authority of the system's masters. Within the Karthago Sector, outrage at the incident quickly became widespread, and soon such trade links that had remained between the Maelstrom Zone and the Karthago Sector were abruptly severed or subject to the harshest scrutiny.The Karthan Sector Governor Tanit Koenig moved to heavily censure the Astral Claws Chapter, along with calls for the arrest and trial of Huron for such treachery against the Imperium. With the weight of suffering and bloodshed elsewhere, the tangle of claim and counter claim fell on deaf ears. In addition, Lufgt Huron was the lawful master of a realm permanently on a war footing; a bulwark against the xenos and Chaos, and on the most basic level authorised to defend those domains.Without hard evidence, a charge of willful and premeditated homicide against the Imperium's servants would be almost impossible to prove in this case. Over the next three standard years the Karthan Imperial commanders took it upon themselves to send two further punitive expeditions into the Maelstrom Zone but both fleets were lost in unconfirmed circumstances, supposedly never reaching the Badab System. The intervention of the Astral Claws and their allies was suspected.Unable to enforce their will decisively, the increasingly desperate Karthan lords, near bankrupted by this stage, attempted to circumvent Badab itself, taking the far longer and more perilous route in order to access the lost tithes directly to make up their shortfall. By 903.M41 the agents of the Karthan Imperial commanders began to spread propaganda in both the Segmentum Assizes and the Senatorium Imperialis to any that would listen.As the local sector Administratum continued to press the High Lords of Terra to intervene directly, the Maelstrom Warders proceeded to arm themselves for war and conducted sweeps of the Maelstrom Zone in force, while they simultaneously continued to augment their defences within the Badab Sector itself. |
Badab War - Maelstrom Secession (903.M41): To answer the continuing threats to the control of his domain, Lufgt Huron issued the infamous "Articles of Just Secession," which were also signed and ratified by the masters of the Lamenters and Mantis Warriors Chapters. These documents were designed to formally sever the Maelstrom Zone's direct tithes to its neighbouring sectors. In support of their cause, the document cited both the Imperial edict that founded the Maelstrom Warders and the ancient rights and titles of the Adeptus Astartes' prerogative in their defence, precedents that both weighed heavily in their favour.These articles also called for a full investigation into the Karthago Sector, asserted the historic and lawful sovereignty of the Space Marine Chapters involved from outside interference by the lower adepta and stated again their willingness to defend the Maelstrom Zone from any who would threaten it.As the situation devolved further the Karthans threatened all-out war, but lacked the means to do so alone. Instead they petitioned aid to mount an attack from the Departmento Munitorum and the segmentum naval sub-command at Ryza, but were flatly refused and informed that the matter was an "internal dispute."Met with denials, the Karthago Sector itself drafted increasingly large numbers of troops into its Planetary Defence Forces' regiments. To further their goals, the Karthan satrap sent several direct and open appeals to several Space Marine Chapters with whom they had past dealings with. The satrap had quickly realised that only other Space Marines could truly hope to contest their fellow transhuman Astartes in open battle. The Fire Hawks Chapter was the first to respond to their cause. |
Badab War - Breaking of the Storm (904.M41): At the direct request of the Karthago Sector's ruling satrap, elements of the Fire Hawks Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes were sent to investigate the disappearance of Karthan shipping in the areas to the galactic south of the Golgothan Wastes, which bordered the northern reaches of the Maelstrom Zone.In the past, the Fire Hawks Chapter had used the vast orbital dockyards of the Karthan capital world of Sidon Ultra for resupply. The volatile and bellicose nature of the Fire Hawks Chapter was widely known, and it is likely that this also figured in the Karthan satrap's reasoning in making her request. This monumental arrogance and folly would soon prove disastrous.Conducting search and destroy operations in the Golgothan Wastes, Knight-Commander Stibor Lazaerek acquiesced to dispatching several starships into the northern Maelstrom Zone. One such vessel, the Red Harbinger, entered the Endymion Cluster in 904.M41. This ancient region of space was under the stewardship of the Mantis Warriors Chapter, one of the Astartes Chapters that belonged to the alliance of the Maelstrom Warders.When the Red Harbinger entered the Galen System, they were intercepted and surrounded by Mantis Warriors vessels. Ever fierce and proud, they were goaded by the Fire Hawks' refusal to allow them to board and threats of reprisal and opened fire, crippling the lone cruiser.With this single act, the full-scale conflict between Space Marine Chapters that was to follow was ignited. The Mantis Warriors boarded and captured the Red Harbinger, but the engagement was brutal to the extreme as both sides took heavy casualties. Less than 20 Fire Hawks were captured alive, and none surrendered, but their struggles brought time for an astropathic message to be dispatched to their Chapter warning of their fate and who they had fought.Upon learning of the fate of the Red Harbinger, Chapter Master Lazaerek and his entire Fire Hawks Chapter became incensed and withdrew their forces from the operations already under way. The entire Chapter fleet deployed with the utmost haste to the Maelstrom Zone.Soon matters escalated upon the arrival of the Fire Hawks as they were met at Galen by a taskforce consisting of both Mantis Warriors and Astral Claws warships. In a tense standoff, the captives were eventually returned and both sides traded threats. The Fire Hawks finally withdrew to await the arrival of their full forces, and especially their massive mobile star-fortress, the Raptorus Rex.The Fire Hawks Chapter fleet rendezvoused in the Sagan System, and aided by their Karthan allies, soon launched a series of probing attacks and reconnaissance missions towards the Badab Sector and the Endymion Cluster, but by doing so, escalated tensions to the point that the situation was rapidly proving untenable. Having prepared for war for many standard years, the Tyrant of Badab and his allies were battle-hardened and had the advantage of being intimately familiar with the territory of the Maelstrom Zone.The Mantis Warriors proved to be impossible to pin down due to the superlative guerrilla tactics that they employed. Using the Karthans to distract the Astral Claws forces in the Badab Sector, the Fire Hawks struck the Agri-world of Iblis at the edge of the Endymion Cluster, attacking civilian targets and burning great swathes of crops and land in order to antagonise the Mantis Warriors into fighting them in open battle.Unfortunately, this type of attack had been anticipated and planned for by the Secessionists. As the Mantis Warriors pinned the Fire Hawks in place on Iblis with their hit-and-run tactics, the Secessionist fleet was able to draw their forces away from Sagan. A combined force of the Astral Claws and Lamenters Chapters soon descended upon the Sagan System and decisively overwhelmed the Planetary Defence Forces and Karthan troops.Badly mauled, the stranded Fire Hawks and Karthan mortal troops found themselves cut off from supply and behind enemy lines. This forced the Fire Hawks to withdraw from the Iblis System, as they raked the surface of the planet one final time and successfully punched through the Secessionist blockade that was attempting to pin them in. The Fire Hawks' Raptorus Rex claimed the life of the Secessionist Maelstrom Squadron's only Mars-class Battlecruiser, Sacred Tetrarch, in the process when the warship's mighty Nova Cannon proved unable to prevail against the formidable star-fortress.A lull descended upon the region following these tumultuous events as the Secessionists consolidated their gains and the Karthans retreated in disarray. Soon the Fire Hawks, heavily outnumbered and outgunned, were forced into a long period of retreat to the Maelstrom Zone's fringes which lasted until late 904.M41, when the Marines Errant Chapter answered the call of the Fire Hawks for reinforcement.This Chapter diverted a sizable force of six companies and a fleet of support vessels in order to aid their brother Astartes, although their precise motivations for doing so remain obscured. But soon the star-faring Chapter quickly became bogged down protecting Imperial shipping along the Pale Stars region and the outlying Maelstrom Zone's colonies as the Secessionists renewed their offensive. The Marines Errant split their forces in an effort to guard the convoys in transit from the increasingly frequent Secessionist raids and attacks.Matters soon became more complicated when the Marines Errant were caught between the Fire Hawks' desire to destroy Lufgt Huron's forces at any cost, and the growing need to protect Imperial shipping and the outlying Karthago Sector's colonies from the marauding Secessionist forces.This difficulty was further complicated by a conflict of interest due to the ancient ties of loyalty and blood the Marines Errant had forged with the Lamenters Chapter, which they had fought beside as recently as the Corinth Crusade, but now faced as enemies. This led to incidents where the Marines Errant failed to try to do more than drive off the Lamenters' forces during raids, and in which both parties gave quarter to the other, raising the mutual ire of their respective allies.Towards the year's end, matters worsened as an ever greater number of star systems were drawn into the rapidly escalating war. The Fire Hawks and their Karthan allies continued to suffer heavy losses in battle. Soon a dozen worlds had fallen in short order to Secessionist control, succumbing to direct Secessionist assault or by diplomatic submission to prevent a slaughter of civilians.By the end of 904.M41, worse developments for the Karthans and their allies appeared in the form of the notoriously grim and independent Executioners Chapter. News had reached the Marines Errant that the Executioners had announced their intention to support the Secessionist cause, in payment of an ancient blood oath given by their Chapter to the Astral Claws. The Executioners sent their mighty warship Night Hag with a full augmented company of Astartes to aid the Secessionists.Desperate, Karthan Satrap Tanit Koenig was forced to take drastic action as her own tithes and supplications to the procurator-generals of the Adeptus Terra were long overdue. Nearly bankrupted by their sector's losses in the war, and with their fleet anchorage at Sagan III now in the hands of the Secessionists, the Karthan Imperial Commanders mounted a final attempt to harvest the resources needed to meet their own Imperial Tithes from the nearby worlds of Vyaniah and Khymara before the Secessionists could claim these worlds as their own.Unfortunately the Secessionists' intelligence network had already ascertained every detail of this supposedly secret convoy, and laid a carefully prepared trap, allowing the Karthan convoy to take on the vast amount of wealth awaiting them at Vyaniah before they were attacked as they were preparing to transit into the Warp. The Secessionist forces, comprised mainly of elements from both the Astral Claws and Lamenters Chapter fleets, were led by Lufgt Huron himself.The Karthan convoy was encircled and then taken one vessel at a time in a series of ferocious ship-to-ship boarding actions. Over two dozen vessels were taken as Secessionist prizes for almost no losses sustained by the attacking forces. Only through the brilliant leadership of Lieutenant Commander Anton Narvaez was the Marines Errant capital ship Star Jackal able to escape the Tyrant of Badab's cunning trap, fighting its way clear whilst sustaining heavy damage.By a twist of fate, the damage sustained in this battle caused the Star Jackal and its brilliant commander to fall behind in the Marines Errant's pursuit of the Mantis Warriors to the world of Bellerophon's Fall. It would be there that many of the Chapter's commanders and senior officers were to die.The Astral Claws fought the Fire Hawks back to the edge of the Golgothan Wastes, focusing all their attentions on eliminating the Chapter altogether. The Astral Claws succeeded in inflicting further serious casualties on the Chapter, which could no longer be considered an effective fighting force. To make matters worse for the Imperial Loyalists, the Marines Errant Chapter was drawn towards the industrial moon of Bellerophon's Fall by the Mantis Warriors.The two Chapters engaged in fierce combat, but the Mantis Warriors managed to isolate and entrap the Marines Errant 1st and 3rd Companies in the Rust Zones, destroying much of their command structure in a series of murderous surgical strikes. The Marines Errant were decimated and forced to retreat in disarray. After the deadly battle, it fell to Lieutenant Commander Narvaez to mount a rescue mission, in which he succeeded in saving the besieged survivors in a daring counter-raid.In the aftermath of this tragedy, it would also fall to Narvaez to take the reins of leadership as the Marines Errant Chapter's last surviving senior officer in the war. Anton Narvaez would later somehow manage to reform the Marines Errant contingent into an effective fighting force once more, although they returned as a mere shadow of their former strength. Facing bitter recrimination in light of this tragedy, the alliance between the Fire Hawks and the Marines Errant all but collapsed.The Secessionist forces would continue to make major advances throughout the rest of the year almost unopposed. The Maelstrom Zone now belonged almost wholly to Lufgt Huron, the Tyrant of Badab. |
Badab War - Eye of the High Lords (905.M41): With five different Chapters of Space Marines now embroiled in open warfare, with a sixth en route, along with various naval detachments, local defence armies and the sectarian forces of various adepta now involved in what was rapidly accelerating to become the greatest conflict of its kind since the infamous Fourth Quadrant Rebellion, the Imperium's high authorities finally acted.A triumvirate of Imperial legates were despatched under the Seal of the High Lords of Terra to pronounce judgment over the ongoing strife in the Maelstrom Zone under orders to leave no stone unturned. Inquisition investigation swiftly uncovered a damning chain of evidence concerning Lufgt Huron's activities and those of the Astral Claws. Multiple charges were laid against the Tyrant of Badab, ranging from their scarcity of returned gene-seed tithes, to "Legion-building," to damning evidence of the Astral Claws' direct involvement in attacks on Imperial shipping.The Terran legates quickly pronounced that the Badab Secession to be a matter of the Imperium's security rather than a civil conflict. They issued an immediate demand for the unconditional ceasefire of all parties and the surrender of the Secessionists.Lufgt Huron immediately rejected their demands. As a result, the Terran legates issued orders for the immediate arrest pending trial of all the Chapter Masters of the Secessionist Chapters and the seizure pending judgment of their homeworlds, goods, records and chattels by whatever force was deemed necessary. The Imperium was now officially turned against the Tyrant of Badab and all who stood with him.As for the Karthans, their own role in contributing to and worsening the unfolding events of the Secession smacked at best of gross arrogance, but more likely wanton ambition and misrule. Legatine investigations carried out at Sidon Ultra, capital of the Karthago Sector, confirmed these suspicions. They found the Imperial Commander and Karthan Sector Governor, Satrap Tanit Koenig, culpable for provoking the war, and she and the worlds she commanded were brutally punished.Tanit Koenig and her ruling clique were subsequently executed, and the Karthans were made to pay for their transgressions, with the entire 14 billion strong population of Sidon Ultra committed to indentured servitude for six generations in payment of their outstanding debt.Full-scale Administratum rectification audits and Adeptus Arbites Moral Enforcement pogroms soon began moving outwards across the Karthago Sector as tithe costs and reparations to the Adeptus Terra were extracted forcibly from the Karthan worlds, a process that is still ongoing to the present day. The armed cross-sector conflict and its causes however remain unresolved and the war continued unabated. |
Badab War - Loyalists Gather (905.M41): A major deployment of Space Marine forces was brought into the war at the Inquisitor-Legate Jarndyce Frain's request to enforce their authority. The Red Scorpions Chapter formed the greatest part of the Loyalist Space Marine force, backed by Battle Companies drawn from the Salamanders, Raptors, Fire Angels and the surviving members of the Fire Hawks and Marines Errant Chapters.These latter Chapters were ordered to stand down from independent operations and submit to the High Lords of Terra's authority. Though Inquisitor Frain had theoretical command of the forces prosecuting the Legatine Mission's orders on behalf of the High Lords, the overall tactical command of the unified Loyalist Space Marine forces fell to Lord High-Commander Verant Ortys of the Red Scorpions as magister militum; a "first amongst equals" with the commanders of the other Space Marine contingents.Given the inherent dangers in dealing with conflicts between Space Marine Chapters and their relative autonomy from direct Imperial control, Inquisitor-Legate Frain had little choice but to go along with the decision of the gathered Space Marine commanders. Yet he obviously would have preferred a commander from a more "tractable" Chapter, as the Red Scorpions were famously independent-minded and an occasionally fractious Chapter in their own right.Lord Commander Ortys' first command was to deploy his own Red Scorpions along with the bulk of the Battlefleet Solar warships to conduct a series of offensive strikes and feints into the Secessionist-controlled regions to gauge their resistance. This resulted in the heaviest naval engagement of the war to date, at the indecisive Battle of Silent Reach in early 906.M41, when cruiser squadrons of the Maelstrom and Lamenters fleets clashed with Segmentum Solar and Red Scorpions warships in the barren void between the Galen and Grief star systems.This engagement proved inconclusive with both sides suffering damage but few losses of any major warships by both sides. The only serious loss sustained was by the Maelstrom Fleet's flagship, the Overlord-class Battlecruiser Gauntlet of Wrath. The Secessionist fleet broke off from the engagement into the Warp soon afterwards, leaving the Loyalists to claim a tentative victory. A dozen such engagements occurred in a short space of time during this period.The Loyalists quickly succeeded in checking and containing the Secessionist advance in the early part of 906.M41, especially with the addition of the remaining Marines Errant and Fire Hawks forces after they were cleared of heretical or seditious intent.In pursuing this strategy across a broad front, hoping to reveal a weakness in the Secessionist defences, the Loyalists soon discovered, quite remarkably, that no such weaknesses were apparent. Thus, the Loyalists were forced to change their strategy. |
Badab War - Firebombing of Sacristan (905.M41): Before they submitted to the legate's will, the Fire Hawks had one last act of bloody vengeance to carry out, which has since been entered into the Imperial history of the war as the infamous "Firebombing of Sacristan."In what is widely regarded as a strategically wasteful and vainglorious assault, the bitter Lazaerek used his surviving Chapter fleet led by the Raptorus Rex to conduct a retaliatory orbital assault on the frontier planet of Sacristan, a sovereign world on the edge of the Endymion Cluster.Over a period of several solar days and nights the Fire Hawks Chapter fleet systematically laid waste to the planet's few cities, slaughtering their inhabitants before they finally withdrew from the system leaving the planet aflame, wiping out more than 90% of its population. |
Badab War - Vyaniah Raids (906.M41): Lord Commander Ortys' next viable target of opportunity presented itself in the form of the Vyaniah System. Vyaniah was an important world and served as the gatehouse along one of the secondary Warp routes around the rim of the Maelstrom. Furthermore, its defences and garrison were weaker than the heavily reinforced Sagan System.There were further intelligence reports indicating that the Secessionist-occupied world was awash in civil unrest which might be stirred up into open revolt by a Loyalist attack. While the Fire Hawks and the newly arrived Raptors Chapter conducted patrol and escort operations, the Red Scorpions, Marines Errant and Novamarines conducted a three-pronged raid on the Vyaniah System, with the target of damaging its production capacity and orbital transshipping platforms. This would effectively weaken the Secessionists' grip on the system.Confronting the reformed and reorganized Badab Sector Human auxilia of the Tyrant's Legion in open warfare for the first time, the Loyalist Space Marines had greatly underestimated them, and as a result their strike groups were largely prevented from achieving many of their goals in the first raid. Only four orbital platforms were taken out of action and though they managed to damage Vyaniah's manufactory complexes, production was not significantly affected.Data intercepted from the Vyaniah command vox-network however revealed the price of the Tyrant's Legion's resistance, with the Loyalists inflicting a greater than 178:1 kill ratio. In 906.M41, the Red Scorpion forces conducted the last of the Vyaniah raids which proved particularly bloody for the Tyrant's Legion. The Red Scorpions invaded the Caelian industrial hive city with the specific goal of inflicting mass casualties on the Human defenders and picking off their Astral Claws masters when they were found within their ranks.Despite the attacks the Secessionists maintained control of Vyaniah, and shortly afterwards further ill-news came to the Loyalists, informing them that several military convoys from the rear supply lines from the Karthago Sector had been attacked and scattered by an unknown warship that later proved to be the Night Hag of the Executioners Chapter. They also received more disturbing news in regards to the fate of the Fortress World of Surngraad, deep within the Maelstrom Zone.Refusing to bend their knee to the Tyrant of Badab, this fiercely independent world had held out against the Secessionist fleet, but Surngraad had partly succumbed due to treachery from within, and Huron's forces now controlled the northern citadels. Remaining too deep within enemy territory to mount an effective relief operation, the prospects for the ancient Fortress World falling to Secessionist control proved to be a grim prospect for the Loyalists for a future siege. |
Badab War - Betrayal at Grief (906.M41): After the Vyaniah campaign there was a brief lull in the constant fighting, an impasse that was unexpectedly broken by the Secessionists with a remarkable proposal. Personally sending his emissaries to the Loyalists, Lufgt Huron offered a temporary ceasefire and honourable parlay with the magister millitum in order to avoid further bloodshed between the two parties.Despite the Inquisitor Legate's strong objections, Lord High Commander Ortys agreed to the meeting, trusting Huron's word as a fellow Chapter Master to maintain the truce. Ortys had also equally promised to show his intention to remain iron in his resolve to carry out the judgment of the High Lords of Terra.The parlay was arranged to take place on an abandoned way-station in the orbit around the gas giant Shedim in the outer reaches of the uninhabited Grief System. Reconstructed from damaged and recovered records, what occurred next remains a point of contention and stubborn enigma to the present day. The void station was located on an asteroid mass, abandoned some centuries before due to solar flare activity. Each party consisted of their respective leaders and their chosen honour guard, which was deposited on the asteroid by Thunderhawk.Upon the opening of negotiations, it was readily apparent that it quickly devolved into an acrimonious and volatile atmosphere. Lufgt Huron, who was in an imperious mood, commenced by ranting against the Maelstrom Warders' supposed contravention of Imperial law. He also went into a ranting diatribe against his enemies and their perceived enormities and insults.Master Sartaq of the Mantis Warriors was also present with Huron's party, who swiftly accused the Fire Hawks Chapter of perpetrating wanton crimes of genocide. For his part, Lord High Commander Verant Ortys stood firm, reiterating the Legatine write of authority and the unassailable right of summons. Soon an adjournment was called for, as the talks became heated, and both parties withdrew to separate compartments on the void station to confer with their fellows. Matters of record regarding the following incident becomes muddled and contradictory.Loyalist communications to their strike cruisers was suddenly cut off as three unknown vessels attacked from concealed positions deep within the thick atmosphere of the gas giant Shedim. These attackers assaulted the asteroid base before either Loyalist or Secessionist vessels could respond, raking the way-station with a devastating salvo of weapons fire before boarding with a raiding party comprised of Heretics, mutants and other Renegades.In the ensuing melee, the Loyalist delegation, including Lord Commander Ortys was killed, and several members of Huron's party including Chapter Master Sartaq of the Mantis Warriors were also slain. During the three-way space battle around the way-station, the Red Scorpions' Chief Librarian Sevrin Loth valiantly launched a counter-attack and recovered his fallen Chapter Master's remains, the Red Scorpions clashing with both the raiders and Huron's Astral Claws before both sides broke free from the disintegrating asteroid base to avoid certain death.Sevrin Loth had saved the honour of his Chapter against all odds and in doing so wrote an enduring legend for himself despite the bitter blow the Red Scorpions had suffered. During the resultant chaos, the Tyrant of Badab had somehow made his escape early on, and what hand he had in the deaths of Lord Commander Ortys or even Chapter Master Sartaq cannot be confirmed.In the aftermath this incident, which became to be referred to as "The Betrayal at Grief," many within the Loyalist ranks blamed Huron's perfidy for the attack, claiming it as rank treachery, while the Secessionists lay the blame at the feet of the Inquisition as a plot to assassinate the Tyrant of Badab by covert means.Inquisitor-Legate Jarndyce Frain concluded that the incident may have been due to the possible intervention of third parties of malefic design who wished to benefit from the continuation of the war as the whole region descended into bloodshed and anarchy. Frain also didn't rule out the possibility that the plot was carried out by Lufgt Huron himself, in order to assassinate his erstwhile ally Chapter Master Sartaq of the Mantis Warriors. Ortys' death merely served to seal the assassination in a shroud of doubt for friend and foe alike.Evidence from that tie had been the uncovering of growing disquiet among the Mantis Warriors in their support for the Secessionist cause. Committed as they were to protecting their fellow Maelstrom Warders from outside aggression and defending their sacred independence and rights of the Adeptus Astartes, they still saw the direct judgment of the High Lords of Terra as something not to be disregarded. Rumours concerning the rule of the Astral Claws within their own domains had begun to circulate and had been the cause of disquiet for some time.Sartaq's death more than likely served to ensure the Mantis Warriors' resolve, particularly if it could be laid at the feet of an enemy Chapter. So much the better if that enemy would blame the Mantis Warriors for the death of their own. Now that the possibility of rapprochement between the two opposing sides had been effectively destroyed, the war soon escalated even further with no quarter given by the Red Scorpions or Astral Claws. Soon secrets would be uncovered that would lend the cause of the Secessionists an even darker hue. |
Badab War - A New Leader (906.M41): With the death of Red Scorpions Chapter Master and Loyalist Magister Militum Verant Ortys, the strategic initiative was temporarily delivered into the hands of the Secessionists, and raids against Imperial shipping increased. For a time the Loyalists were sorely pressed to hold what little ground they had taken in the Maelstrom Zone.The Pale Stars were all but entirely cut off and heavy Space Marine escort forces were required in order to maintain access to the worlds of Galen and Khygmara. The situation was finally eased with the arrival of contingents of the Howling Griffons, Novamarines, and later the Sons of Medusa Chapters, and the appointment of Carab Culln, the new lord high commander of the Red Scorpions as the new magister millitum of the Loyalist forces.As his Chapter defined such things, Culln had grown forthright, proud and above all fiercely loyal to the Red Scorpions during his illustrious career. For this reason Culln was viewed as the natural successor of Lord High Commander Verant Ortys. During the Badab War his transition to the position of lord high commander and magister militum after the death of Ortys on the world of Grief at the hands of the Renegade Astral Claws was greeted with wide acclaim by his battle-brothers and most importantly blessed by the Chapter's Chief Librarian Sevrin Loth, who oversaw the change of command and quelled any dissent.Culln's ascension had been contested primarily by the Fire Hawks Chapter Master, Stibor Lazaerek, who demanded that he instead should be granted overall command of the Loyalist forces in the conflict as magister militum due to his seniority and long, honourable service to the Imperium.As Ortys' successor, Culln was entitled to step into the mantle of his predecessor as magister militum and overall commander of the Loyalist forces, but this was by no means guaranteed. With the principal support of the Raptors and Salamanders Chapters, as well as his own impassioned pleas in the Loyalists' war council that he had the right of vengeance and the proven mettle required to see the war to its end, Culln secured the support of the Fire Angels and Novamarines for his command.Both the Sons of Medusa and the Marines Errant Chapters then agreed to his selection for reasons of their own. Despite some continued minor dissent, Carab Culln was acclaimed as the second magister militum of the Imperial Crusade to retake the Maelstrom Zone from the Secessionists.Culln quickly took control of the situation and brought forward plans to convert the old way-station on the largely abandoned Mining World of Hallows Point into the first primary Loyalist base and staging point in the Maelstrom Zone proper. With starships and materials moved into the system with great dispatch, "Vengeance Station" as it became known was fully operational in under a standard year.The Loyalists retook the offensive initiative even before Vengeance Station was completed. Soon a renewed phase of aggressive operations was ready to take place, with the Red Scorpions Chapter particularly eager for battle. However, their eagerness was tempered by their new master and the wise counsel of Chief Librarian Sevrin Loth, who promised their battle-brothers a bloody but carefully considered retribution. |
Badab War - Loyalist Redeployment (906.M41): By the close of 906.M41, dozens of separate void actions had already been fought by Red Scorpions detachments, ranging from defending convoys to raiding outposts and intercepting Secessionist shipping alongside the Raptors, turning the tide against Lufgt Huron's raiders for the first time.At the same time the Loyalists were bolstered by fresh forces from the Novamarines and Sons of Medusa Chapters, who immediately carried out probing attacks into the region of the Endymion Cluster and against the edges of the Sagan System, maintaining pressure on the Secessionists and keeping their forces pinned down.During this new campaign the Loyalists garrisoned the barren Khymara System and established several outposts and listening stations in order to conduct sustained operations in the contested Gargathea System. |
Badab War - Gargathea III (906.M41): Gargathea III was a Feral World of poisonous fens and corrosive jungles. This heavily contested world soon turned into a savage battleground as the Raptors, Salamanders and Fire Angels Chapters clashed against the Astral Claws and Mantis Warriors amid the tangled and often lethal vegetation.The war on Gargathea swiftly developed into a series of hit-and-run engagements of ambush and counterattack. The battle lines on Gargathea remained non-linear, save for a few scattered landmarks of half-overrun Explorator bases and old smugglers' outposts.The outcome of such vicious fighting was uncertain and a high amount of casualties were sustained on both sides. Gargathea remained a contested world of vital strategic importance due to the planet being one of the few life-sustaining worlds in the region. The Secessionist forces were finally displaced from the planet at the end of 907.M41 and the system reclaimed for the Loyalists. |
Badab War - Loyalist Reinforcement (907.M41): With the arrival of fresh reinforcements to replace them in the order of battle, the Marines Errant first took up reserve duty for the remainder of 906.M41 before they finally withdrew entirely from the Badab War early in 907.M41 with some acrimony attached to their departure.The Fire Hawks Chapter, who grew increasingly embittered, were forcibly retired to the rearguard for a time by the newly appointed magister millitum -- Lord High Commander Carab Culln -- in order to avoid further trouble in the ranks of the Loyalist forces. This redeployment of the Fire Hawks was proved particularly effective as the presence of the mighty Raptorus Rex at Hallows Point ensured the security of the Loyalists' facility while under construction.The presence of the mobile star-fortress soon proved vital when Hallows Point was raided in late 906.M41 by Secessionist vessels led by a trio of Lamenters Chapter strike cruisers. The attack was repulsed without major damage to the half-finished base and anchorage as the concentrated firepower of both the Raptorus Rex and the Red Scorpions battle barge Sword of Ordon proved a decisive factor.The scales began to tip in the Loyalists' favour as further reinforcements arrived almost solar month by solar month, with missives from the Adeptus Terra informing them that other Space Marine Chapters were en route. Lord High Commander Culln knew that he must press his advantage soon or risk the war devolving into a slow battle of attrition that would bleed his forces dry. The first move forwards would be the relief of the Fortress World of Surngraad that stubbornly held out against the Secessionist aggression by their heroic self-sacrifice and single bloody-minded faith in the God-Emperor.The Raptors and Salamanders Chapters were assigned the task of intervention by sending a select strike force dispatched on a long-range incursion mission behind the Secessionists' lines. The Raptors covertly landed a strong force of battle-brothers in field-modified armour over three hundred kilometres away from their chosen target. Shunning heavy gear and vehicles in favour of reduced visibility to auspex and thermal detectors, the Raptors war party launched a lightning assault under the cover of a blinding gale and succeeded in breaching the fortress walls of the main orbital defence complex with Melta Bombs, gaining entrance.They then successfully sabotaged the base's weapon silos despite taking heavy casualties from a bitterly contested counter-attack by the Astral Claws. With the way open, the two Chapters' battle barges bombarded the planet from the upper atmosphere, smashing the Secessionist-held positions into surrender, and liberating Surngraad.The liberation of Surngraad marked a turning point in the war, as the Loyalists began to drive a potential wedge down the middle of the Secessionist worlds. But before they could take advantage of this new gain, dire news came from the Howling Griffons stationed at Khymara of a deadly new threat. |
Badab War - Huron's Sins Uncovered (907.M41): Inquisitorial interrogation of an Astral Claws Apothecary captured during the battle for Surngraad's polar fortress revealed to the general shock of the interrogators that the prisoner was not in fact an Astral Claw by origin at all, but was in fact a former member of the Tiger Claws, a Chapter long thought lost.The Astral Claws' hubris resulted in their Chapter secretly absorbing the remnants of their long-lost Successor Chapter into their ranks and ultimately led to Lufgt Huron's dreams of expanding his Chapter into a force with the strength of one of the Space Marine Legions of antiquity, in order to pacify the Maelstrom permanently and crush Mankind's enemies.Some Imperial scholars contend that when the last remaining Tiger Claws survivors were taken into the Astral Claws midst, these once-loyal brothers grasped a poisonous viper to their hearts, thus causing them to eventually fall from grace.Further dire and extreme interrogative methods were then unleashed in utter secrecy as a planned series of stalk-and-capture raids were engaged upon by covert Astartes and Inquisition forces operating within the Maelstrom Zone. Evidence was quickly amassed of an unforeseen and terrible heresy that had been pursued by the Astral Claws and Lufgt Huron for more than a standard century.The Tyrant of Badab had ordered the withholding of his Chapter's gene-seed tithes to the Magos Invigila, not to replenish the Chapter's own losses, but at first in order to help save the remnants of the decimated ranks of their near-extinct kin, the Tiger Claws Chapter, which had sought sanctuary with them in secret.Lufgt Huron and his fellows hid them within the Astral Claws' own ranks. He then further compounded this sin by seeking to expand his own forces far past the levels mandated by the Codex Astartes. For at least a hundred standard years before the outbreak of the conflict, the Astral Claws secretly attempted to transform their Chapter slowly into a force equal to a Space Marine Legion of old.In his monumental arrogance and pride, Huron sought at first not to rebel against the Imperium, but to prove his case by scourging the Maelstrom clean, and establishing a new realm carved out for Mankind in the name of the Emperor.To outside scrutiny, the Tyrant of Badab placed Astral Claws detachments within the Tyrant's Legion's ranks before the outbreak of the war as trainers -- tasked with the purging and improvement of the mediocre and often corrupt PDF armies of the Badab Sector. But in reality, the Legion's Astartes tribunes were in all cases passed off as the force's commanders. This perfidy succeeded in concealing the true numbers of the Tyrant's growing Chapter from prying eyes and enabled the Astral Claws to disperse these hidden forces all across Huron's domain, hidden within the Tyrant's Legion.The perfidy of the Tyrant of Badab and the Astral Claws rapidly became apparent when the Badab War engulfed the Maelstrom Zone, as did the identity of the true commanders of the Tyrant's Legion who willingly followed their master without falter, taking up arms against any who would challenge the Tyrant's domains.Further covert investigation uncovered that the Astral Claws Apothecaries had also been conducting heretical experiments in rapid gene-seed zygote cultivation and while largely unsuccessful, thanks to the use of its un-tithed gene-seed, the Astral Claws Chapter stood at around an estimated 3,500 battle-brothers strong. |
Badab War - The Axe Falls at Khymara (907.M41): A disastrous defeat for the Loyalist forces in early 907.M41 would mark the bloodiest year of the conflict, for the bulk of the Executioners Chapter had arrived in force in the Maelstrom Zone, and immediately conducted an immediate surprise attack at Khymara.They succeeded in destroying the Loyalist outposts, listening stations and the vital astropathic relay complex on the night moons of the Khymara System in one stroke. The Howling Griffons Chapter's forces garrisoning the Khymara System were outnumbered and overwhelmed, suffering greatly as their bastions and stations fell one after the other despite their tenacious defence.The Howling Griffons were systematically destroyed by the relentless onslaught of the Executioners from an unseen quarter. As the Howling Griffons' positions were being overrun and decimated on the airless dust moon, it fell to Dreadnought Confessor Armand Titus to rally the beleaguered forces of his Chapter. Unafraid of the firestorm around him, with implacable zeal the venerable Chaplain Dreadnought led the desperate counterattack which bought his Chapter the chance to regroup and mount an effective fighting defence at the cost of his long life.After the Executioners had finally withdrawn from the battlefield, the surviving Howling Griffons found that their foe had honoured Titus' glorious sacrifice by laying out the wreck of his sarcophagus within a ring of broken weapons, placing one of their own shattered standards in the lifeless grasp of the fallen war machine. The death of the revered Dreadnought Confessor Titus struck a hammer-blow to the Howling Griffons' morale.With the Khymara System's defence platforms and listening stations destroyed, the Executioners had achieved their primary objective. They could have pressed their advantage and utterly destroyed the Howling Griffons' outpost but instead withdrew suddenly from the system, leaving the Howling Griffons garrison with more than 70 percent casualties.This development provoked much consternation from Lufgt Huron, but mindful of the dangerous temperament of the Executioners' commander, the High Chaplain Thulsa Kane, he was known to have stopped short of issuing any formal reprimand to them, and instead welcomed them into the battle for the Secessionist cause.Despite the grievous losses dealt to them, the remainder of the Howling Griffons taskforce continued to doggedly fight on, refusing to shirk away from their responsibilities to the Loyalist cause until formally relieved from the war in 909.M41. |
Badab War - Enemies Unlooked For (Mid-907.M41): Taking advantage of the anarchy that reigned within the Maelstrom Zone, it was unsurprising that attacks from unaligned raiding forces and xenos species based within the turbulence expanse of the Maelstrom dramatically increased, reaching a new height during 907.M41. The Secessionists suffered the worst at the hands of these non-aligned forces during the Badab War. A large Ork corsair fleet spilled forth from the Calah System, assaulting Secessionist supply convoys between the Endymion Cluster and the Badab Sector, and ultimately assaulted the Mantis Warriors at Endymion itself.A large force of over 20,000 Greenskin Boyz proceeded to slaughter the planet's meager garrison, forcing the Mantis Warriors forces to pull back to defend Endymion and meet the Orks in a rapid moving land battle on the dust plains of Oarella, less they lose the world.As serious as the Ork attack against the cluster was, there was far worse implications of the growing threat of the Daemon-tainted corsair-cults based on the blighted world of Magog. Their increase in power had actually driven forth the recently defeated Orks. This forced the Secessionists to launch a direct assault on the hellish world, which despite a prior Exterminatus campaign had long remained a thorn in the Maelstrom Warders' side.Corien Sumatris, one of Lufgt Huron's most seasoned battle-captains, commanded an Astral Claws battle barge and conducted the attack on Magog. A force of two companies of the Chapter and a strong force of hand-picked Astral Claws and Lamenters Terminators successfully cut off the threat while it was still forming.The Tyrant of Badab knew well they could ill-afford the risk of fighting a war on two fronts if they continued to allow the dire threat on Magog to continue to grow. Though a costly diversion that caused a high number of fatalities, the Secessionists were able to reinforce their flank just as a new enemy entered the conflict. |
Badab War - Wrath of the Minotaurs (907.M41): The powerful fleet-based Chapter of dark renown, the Minotaurs, arrived in full strength in the Maelstrom Zone in mid-907.M41. They announced their presence in the war by launching a full Chapter-scale assault on the Secessionist-controlled mining facilities on Kyro, wiping out the 46,000 strong Tyrant's Legion garrison and rendering the mine-works unusable.Afterwards, the Minotaurs sent a starship with a representative and officially presented themselves to the Loyalist council of war. Their master, the darkly famed Asterion Moloc, remained with his Chapter to raid through the Pale Stars region in order to decimate rather than conquer a pre-planned list of resource production within the region in order to starve the Secessionist war effort.While the Minotaurs Chapter ceded overall strategic authority to the war council of the Loyalist Chapters already engaged in the conflict, they deliberately stayed largely aloof and distant from its general chain of command, distancing themselves from the other Chapters as was their wont and deferring to the Legate Inquisitor's authority more often than that of the Lord High Commander Carab Culln or his advisors.This distance was shown in their standing representative to the war council -- the gaunt, brooding and taciturn Chaplain Ivanus Enkomi, whose red-rimmed eyes observed all, although he barely spoke a word during the gatherings. The Minotaurs' Chapter Master Asterion Moloc never put in a personal appearance at these councils, and the only evidence that he served during the Badab conflict at all came from pict-footage recovered from battle scans and fearful stories spread by the few Secessionist survivors of the Minotaurs' brutal attacks.The Minotaurs had come in answer to the direct summons from the acting Legate Inquisitor for more Space Marines to join the Loyalist cause against the Secessionist Chapters. Though the arrival of this savage Chapter was cautiously welcomed by the Loyalists, they undoubtedly couldn't deny the considerable strength that would be added to the Imperium's cause. The conflict was in its fourth standard year of open warfare, and the Minotaurs committed their entire strength to the war; ten companies and eleven capital ships of various types.While the Chapter coordinated their efforts with the Loyalist command, they operated largely independent throughout the conflict, striking targets as they saw fit. The Minotaurs attacked indiscriminately, assaulting not only the thirty-plus Secessionist-controlled minor worlds and void stations, but also overlooked independent minor outposts.Operating largely independently in the southern Maelstrom Zone, the Minotaurs proceeded to strike targets amid the Pale Stars and Dene Stellar Drift border regions. The viciousness of the Chapter's reputation for leaving no survivors among those that resisted them quickly grew, and remained uncontested until the arrival of the even more savage Carcharodons Chapter.Only the warships and strike forces of the Executioners seemed able to halt the Minotaurs' progress within the region, the two Chapters seemingly relishing the battle between them as a kind of bloody sport. For the remainder of the year, the Minotaurs gained several important victories for the Loyalist cause, destroying the Tyrant's Legion force on Crows Word and Larsa, and forced the Astral Claws to withdraw or risk having their worlds isolated and ravaged one-by-one. Within one third of a standard year of the Minotaurs' arrival in the region, the direct and collateral damage caused by their forces reduced the Human population of the Pale Stars alone by more than 20 percent.The power of this Chapter quickly proved a decisive weight in the Loyalists' favour regardless of its brutal methods. By the end of 907.M41, the Secessionist forces had begun to be pushed back from several key star systems and suffered severe losses. In the northern-central Maelstrom Zone, the battle for Galen between the Astral Claws and a joint force of Salamanders and Fire Angels eventually resulted in the Loyalists successfully taking the system.To further add to the Secessionists' dreadful losses, was the loss of the world of Vyaniah, which finally fell after a massive joint assault by the Minotaurs and Red Scorpions Chapters. Lufgt Huron had all but abandoned the world and the sizable Tyrant's Legion garrison stationed there to their fate. As the Angels of Death fell amongst the beleaguered defenders, their end was swift and brutal, and by dawn Vyaniah was in Loyalist hands as the Tyrant's Legion was put to the sword. |
Badab War - Scouring of Cygnax (908.M41-910.M41): In early 908.M41, Inquisitorial agents had acquired evidence of a plot between the Astral Claws and Renegade Heretek scavengers from the Golgothan Wastes. They had devised a plan to acquire recovered buried weapons stores on the Dead World of Cygnax. The Sons of Medusa taskforce, backed by a newly arrived company from the Exorcists Chapter, were given this task.Given the chief role in this task, the Sons of Medusa led the determined and brutal campaign to scour out the Tyrant of Badab's forces, the conduct of which caused some discord between the two Chapters, with accusations that the Sons of Medusa were more interested in pursuing their own mysterious agenda instead of hunting down the enemy as expeditiously as possible.The Exorcists soon withdrew and redeployed their forces for the forthcoming assault on the Sagan System, leaving the Sons of Medusa to eliminate the Cynax threat as they saw fit. |
Badab War - Second Battle of Sagan (908.M41): The Second Battle of Sagan was a major planetary assault undertaken in 908.M41 that drove the Secessionists from their fortresses in the Sagan Sub-sector. The assault was carried out by the largest combined Loyalist force fielded to that point during the Badab War. This offensive utilised the massed strength of the Fire Angels, Red Scorpions and Exorcists Chapters supported by assault-specialised forces drawn from the Salamanders, Raptors and Novamarines.The Secessionists chose to mount a defence at any cost rather than giving up the strategically vital Sagan System. The fighting proved to be bloody and costly in the extreme. In a desperate attempt to either drive the Loyalists from the surface of Sagan III or render the planet unusable to them, the Astral Claws resorted to the use of viral weapons that slew tens of thousands of the world's population. This use of weapons of mass destruction ultimately destroyed a sizable component of the Secessionists' own battle line.The Fire Angels deployed their full Chapter strength and bore the brunt of the Loyalist casualties, valiantly sacrificing themselves in order to contain the Astral Claws' desperate final attempts to drive their foes from the world through the utilisation of suicide attacks. This campaign resulted in the highest death toll of any single engagement of the war to this point in the conflict as well as the loss of several key Secessionist warships in a vain counter-attack on the system.The successful Loyalist invasion of the Sagan System proved to be a major turning point of the war. After the system fell under Loyalist control it became the primary Imperial base in the Maelstrom Zone, affording the Loyalist offensive greater access to the primary stable Warp routes into the region while denying those routes to the enemy.Shortly after the end of the campaign, Sagan III was used as a supply point in order to fully relieve and reinforce the world of Surngraad and support the start of the Endymion Suppression Campaign. This Loyalist advance effectively forced the remaining Mantis Warriors forces into a purely defensive posture, isolating them from the Badab Sector and their Secessionist allies.After the Second Battle of Sagan, the Maelstrom Zone was effectively split into two regions -- the Endymion Cluster and the still heavily defended Badab Sector itself. From this point onwards in the conflict, the Secessionists were only able to conduct commerce raids and targeted strikes which were carried out by the vessels of the Executioners and Lamenters Chapter fleets.Beyond the difficulties posed to the Imperium by the ongoing Badab War, the safety of the Ultima Segmentum was also threatened at this time by massive Ork incursions after multiple WAAAGH!s erupted across the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy. With the Secessionists having been judged sufficiently contained after the victory at Sagan III, the Loyalists redeployed the Chapters that had suffered battlefield attrition to some degree to deal with the Greenskin threat.This redeployment included the forces of the Novamarines, Raptors and Howling Griffons Chapters. They were withdrawn one-by-one from the conflict in managed stages as part of a major Imperium-wide strategic redeployment along with a number of warships of the Imperial Navy's Segmentum Solar reserve forces which had been deployed in support of the Loyalist cause. |
Badab War - Destruction of the Lamenters (908.M41): Inquisitor-Legate Jarndyce Frain provided the Loyalists with a mass of data about the Lamenters' movements and deployments which was used to identify a pattern. By 908.M41, the Lamenters Chapter had already suffered significant losses through attrition, but they were still a formidable force to be reckoned with, and a plan was put into action to isolate them from the Tyrant's cause and take them out of the war.Using the intelligence acquired by Frain's insidious spy network, the Loyalists quickly discerned that the Lamenters were being used as an ablative shield by the Tyrant of Badab to guard his southern flank and contest the Loyalist domination of the Pale Stars, while he kept the bulk of the Astral Claws in reserve near Badab itself.The losses incurred by the fleet-based Chapter had been due to their continuous deployment defending the southern Badab Sector as well as serving escort duty to many Secessionist supply convoys. The Minotaurs Chapter gathered in strength awaiting the opportunity to strike where they would be most effective, until finally the opportunity came, when the location of the Lamenters' Chapter barque Mater Lacrimarum was discovered in orbit over the Feral World of Optera taking on supplies.The Minotaurs immediately dispatched a rapid strike force to attack the vessel and succeeded in catching it and crippling its main drives, preventing it from fleeing the system. The Lamenters were forced to defend their Chapter barque at all costs, as it contained both their recovering battle casualties as well as their precious resource of gene-seed. With the continued attacks upon the barque, the majority of the Lamenters' fleet was drawn back to the Optera System.Once there, the Minotaurs laid bloody siege for 17 solar hours of brutal ship-to-ship fighting. Though the Minotaurs suffered heavy casualties, they eventually overpowered the Lamenters by virtue of their brutality and sheer weight of numbers. Their forces shattered, the few remaining Lamenters were forced to surrender rather than risk the annihilation of their precious barque. The majority of their fleet was left ruined or drifting in the void.The Minotaurs claimed salvage rights to the crippled Lamenters fleet and the wargear of the fallen to replace their own serious losses. The surviving Lamenters were incarcerated on a prison hulk orbiting the nightside of Sagan II amid rumours of their growing insanity in confinement.Only 311 Lamenters battle-brothers survived to be interned on the prison hulk orbiting Sagan II for the rest of the war. Less than 100 (estimated) Lamenters were deployed elsewhere during the fighting that still remained. The Chapter's severe losses effectively removed them from the Secessionist order of battle. The loss of the Lamenters from the Secessionist cause was a great strength they could ill afford to lose. |
Badab War - Angstrom Incident (908.M41): The Loyalists intervened in matters unfolding on the world of Angstrom in 908.M41, in what would become one of the most remarkable operations of the Badab War. The sovereign and autonomous Adeptus Mechanicus domain of Angstrom in the eastern Maelstrom Zone had remained neutral throughout the conflict, rejecting diplomatic missions and threats from both sides to join them in their cause. The world's magi felt that there was no cause for them to interfere in what they perceived as an "internal dispute" between rival Imperial factions.Angstrom continued their operations as usual, which included a long-standing agreement to render up a "bounty" of advanced weapons and refined ores to be collected by the Imperium's representatives on a 3-yearly cycle from the edge of their planetary system. The magi pointedly didn't care from which of the Imperium's servants retrieved the bounty, only that they carried out their part of the arrangement without fault. In the past this arrangement had provided the Maelstrom Warders with a vital resource and the Tyrant of Badab's servants continued to be in the perfect position to collect it.The Red Scorpions and Salamanders jointly conducted a secret plan of attack, deploying a small elite force to sabotage and prevent the Secessionists from claiming the "bounty" of the independent Forge World of Angstrom. In the confusion and destruction that followed, the Angstrom Mechanicus, incensed by the outbreak of hostilities within their domain, assaulted both sides and drove them away from the system, granting the Loyalists a major strategic victory, but did however stir the notoriously bellicose Mechanicus of Angstrom into taking a greater interest in the war.They sent their warships and ground forces in retaliatory raids against Galen and Ibis, until the Terran legates intervened and brokered a peace, guaranteeing the fickle Angstrom Mechanicus restitutions. Remaining cautious, Lord High Commander Carab Culln took precautionary measures and dispatched the Fire Hawks Chapter and the Raptorous Rex alongside a pursuit force, composed of a mixture of Loyalist Chapters, to conduct a blockade of the outer system's approaches for the duration of the war. |
Badab War - Loyalist Domination (909.M41): By 909.M41, the Imperial Loyalists had effective command of the Maelstrom Zone's major Warp-routes, enabling them to rapidly move their forces across the region and subjugate many rebel worlds and outposts. The Angstrom Incident's aftermath effectively cut the Tyrant of Badab's sphere of influence in half and contained the secession, dividing the Secessionists between the Endymion Cluster and the Badab Sector itself. Only the unpredictable forces of the Executioners Chapter offered a significant threat to the Loyalists' control outside the Secessionist enclaves.From this point onwards, the Secessionists (greatly reduced in fighting strength and warships), were effectively hemmed in around a handful of heavily defended star clusters, and relegated to conducting scattered raiding operations and fighting a series of close defensive sieges. By the end of 909.M41, whispers had reached Imperial intelligence operatives of the Tyrant's increasing violence and paranoia, and of the further tightening of his murderous stranglehold on those worlds he still controlled.The Mantis Warriors were reduced to fighting a guerrilla resistance against an ongoing Loyalist suppression campaign comprising combined elements from the Fire Angels and Sons of Medusa Chapters. Sporadic and oft times bloody engagements were also fought in the Tranquility, Iblis and Sigard Systems. The Loyalist forces suffered a severe defeat when the Fire Angels strike cruiser Polaris Rising was raided by the Mantis Warriors under the leadership of their prophetic Master Librarian Ahazra Redth. They succeeded in damaging their main plasma reactors and weapons bays before withdrawing their forces, leaving them at the mercy of two Ork Kill Kroozers.The Fire Angels fought a resolute last stand against the vile Greenskins, disabling one of the Kill-Kroozers before they were boarded by the remaining Ork vessel. As the Orks swarmed the decks of the Fire Angels' vessel, the Mantis Warriors fell in ambush upon the badly mauled Ork forces from their flank and annihilated them. The remaining 37 surviving Fire Angels were marooned on Sigard VI under the care of their surviving Apothecary and his med-servitors, while their battered vessel was taken by the Mantis Warriors as their prize.The barbarous Executioners Chapter continued to prove to be the scourge of Loyalist patrols and supply convoys, as well as destroying numerous outposts and listening stations. Some 43 merchantmen and 11 warships had been either seized or destroyed. They also committed themselves to several heavy raids as far as Bellerophon's Fall and Kyro. Their heaviest actions fell against the savage Minotaurs Chapter in the southern Maelstrom Zone, such as the bloody tank duel fought on the airless moon of Uzeal in the Crow's World System.The location of the Executioners' base of operations continued to elude the Loyalists, allowing the Executioners to raid almost at will, giving battle against the Red Scorpions and Minotaurs Chapters, harrying Loyalist shipping and stymieing attempts to consolidate Loyalist gains. At the close of 909.M41, the Maelstrom Secession had largely been contained, but the war itself was far from over.The Loyalists knew that the next phase of the campaign would be particularly brutal. It would be a time of ruthless planetary purges, scorched earth campaigns and apocalyptic sieges. The Loyalists needed time to prepare for such a campaign and fresh reinforcements if a victory was to be swiftly achieved, but Lord High Commander Carab Culln, the magister militum of the Adeptus Astartes forces and his advisors knew they could not afford to wait too long before they went on the offensive, for every day gave the Secessionists further opportunity to entrench and perhaps make good their own losses. Culln knew he simply could not afford to allow a general of Lufgt Huron's calibre too long to rebuild, plan and prepare. |
Badab War - Subjugation of Galen (910.M41): The beginning of the year 910.M41 proved to be a final deathly calm before the oncoming storm which would inevitably see the Badab War brought to its terrible conclusion. Many of the Chapters on the Loyalist side had suffered substantial losses and now would be replaced by other Space Marine Chapters of even darker renown. The Maelstrom Zone would soon be visited by slaughter unlike anything it had known in its long and turbulent history.For six long standard years the isolated Galen System had been a prize that had been battled over repeatedly, changing hands between Loyalist and Secessionist forces several times. Most significantly the Galen System had been the site of a major battle between the Fire Hawks Chapter and a mixed Secessionist assault force which had incurred heavy losses on both sides, a battle which had seen Galen II's life supporting domes laid waste, leading to mass refugee immigration to its neighbour, the Frontier World of Galen VI.Under the direct command of the Magister Militum Carab Culln, the Loyalist forces diverted to impose order on Galen VI, crushing any hope of future resistance utterly. Accompanied by an Ordo Hereticus detachment under Inquisitor Kramner, one of Inquisitor-Legate Jarndyce Frain's personal aides, the only stipulation was that the planet was to remain habitable with a sufficient core of the population and infrastructure left alive and intact to service the needs of the Imperium's war effort.Plans to retake the world were calculated accordingly, under the direction of the Sons of Medusa Chapter's "Iron Thane" Vaylund Cal, the theatre commander. The Sons of Medusa launched an orbital bombardment of predetermined landing zones on the outskirts of the Old City. They then claimed three company-strength landing zones on the edge of Galen VI's Old City, encircling it and destroying all resistance.Over the course of three solar days and nights the industrious Sons of Medusa landed supplies and additional Astartes and began the task of fabricating new fortifications and bastions. On the dawning of the fourth day, an unnatural fear and dread had descended upon the several million surviving inhabitants. This fear was a calculated weapon oft employed by the Sons of Medusa. Without warning the Chapter launched a large armoured assault composed of Rhinos, Razorbacks, Land Raiders and hulking Dreadnoughts, while Land Speeders took to the skies.Alongside the green livery of the emerald-armoured spectres of death was the crimson colours of the Inquisition's Chimeras and Repressors. From their vehicle's laud hailers the Inquisition demanded the surrender of all of Galen VI's population for immediate judgement. Some of the population hurled themselves suicidally at the embodiment of the Emperor's wrath only to be ruthlessly cut down by the Sons of Medusa, while other cowered in their hastily-prepared defensive positions or attempted to flee the city.Those that attempted to do so were ruthlessly cut down by the patrolling Land Speeders and Vulture gunships. Those that offered serious resistance within the city were isolated and destroyed. Only those that offered no resistance were spared, ignored by the Sons of Medusa as they had been so ordered. These survivors wept openly, joyful only to be taken by the Inquisition's troops for processing and judgement in the Holy Ordos' assize-bastions located in the Imperial landing zones.The Old City was firmly in the hands of the Imperials within 56 solar hours of the commencement of the Sons of Medusa's attack. News of the massacre soon spread across Galen VI, and a shroud of terror descended upon the planet. Before long, millions of natives and refugees alike surrendered, even though to do so was believed to be a death sentence at the hands of the Inquisition, rather than live in fear of what was to come.The ruins of Old City were re-purposed and rebuilt as an internment and processing centre to handle Galen VI's population. Overall, the Galan campaign was considered a success, although much of the population of Old City had been slain. The total death toll was considered light compared to that of a lengthy, planet-wide campaign of attrition. Amazingly, the Ordo Hereticus was merciful, indenturing the majority of the planet's population into a lifetime of penal servitude to pay for their crimes and transgressions against the Emperor.As a result, the Departmento Munitorum raised a number of fresh Penal Legions from the most hardened elements found on the world, while the rest of the population was set to toil on Galen VI itself or deported elsewhere within the Maelstrom Zone to aid the rebuilding effort. The Sons of Medusa departed Galen VI shortly thereafter, leaving the planet as a veritable prison world whose population would pay for their crimes against the Imperium for generations. |
Badab War - Blood in the Dark Waters (910.M41): Arriving without warning in 910.M41 an unidentified, fire-blackened Space Marine strike cruiser identified itself with ancient, though still valid, Imperial authorisation protocols. It was the Levitus Vex, and its coming heralded the arrival of a force whose name was to become synonymous with bloodshed and the darkest acts of the Badab War.The unidentified Space Marine force had come to offer its aid to the Loyalist cause against the Secessionists, claiming to have come in answer to a summons from Terra itself. They identified their Chapter as the Carcharodons Astra, using the ancient High Gothic form of their name, also known as the Carcharodons (or the "Space Sharks" in Low Gothic), and formally requested the Loyalists' acceptance and permission to enter the war zone and draw blood.Upon their arrival, the Carcharodons' Force Commander Tyberos presented the Inquisitor Legate in charge of prosecuting the Badab conflict with Notices Patent provided to the Chapter affirming the rights and titles issued to it by several High Lords of Terra and Inquisitors now long dead. Tyberos even submitted himself for psychic probing and gene-sampling.The Inquisitor Legate vouched for the Carcharodons. Lord High Commander Carab Culln of the Red Scorpions, the magister militant or supreme commander of all the Loyalist forces, accepted the Carcharodons into his line of battle, although he was still wary of their loyalties and their deviations from the Codex Astartes during their long voyage beyond Imperial space.The Carcharodons' reappearance, as if predators drawn by blood, when the Badab War was to enter its most deadly stage seemed to many a suspect one at best. |
Badab War - Tranquility Campaign (910.M41): By 910.M41, the strength of the Mantis Warriors had been greatly diminished, but Carab Culln recognised the folly of leaving them undefeated at his flank as the Loyalists turned their full force to the invasion of the Badab Sector. The Adeptus Astartes magister militum had already considered a change in his deployments in order to mount a renewed offensive against the Endymion Cluster, but with the arrival of the Carcharodons, the lord high commander of the Red Scorpions had been offered an unexpected asset to deploy, and so he let loose their savage ferocity against the Mantis Warriors and the unsuspecting worlds of their domain.The fleet of the Carcharodons broke out of Warp directly above the Sigard System on the galactic plane, perilously close to Sigard's swollen and violent sun, masking their presence with its solar flares. Split up into dozens of striking forces, the grey-clad Space Marines let the Sigard System have the first taste of their wrath and fury as they proceeded to devastate the numerous belt-colonies, ship-clans and asteroid citadels.The Carcharodons proceeded to devastate the entirety of the system, destroying in mere solar days and weeks what had taken millennia to build and had withstood the ravages of xenos and corsairs alike. In the aftermath of this brutal campaign, an Imperial Naval scout vessel reported the entire system littered with wreckage, their vox channels full of discordant ghostly vox signals of dead and dying ships. It was also noted that the Carcharodons had deliberately plundered and scavenged, both in terms of gear, resources and indeed Human life.It has been the conclusion of several authorities since that the choice of Sigard, with its wealth of void-colonies and infrastructure, had been the Carcharodons' first target not simply because it had long connections with the Mantis Warriors, but because after the Carcharodons' unknown voyage from the outer darkness they had need of its bounty to replenish themselves in readiness for their part in the war.The Carcharodons continue to systematically annihilate planets in the cluster known to have harboured the Mantis Warriors, forcing this Secessionist Chapter to stop using their hit-and-run tactics against the Loyalists, and mass their forces in defence of these worlds. This strategy spared the Carcharodons from having to pursue them across the Endymion Cluster to places where their foes held the advantage of support and local knowledge.First the Carcharodons ravaged the Feudal World of Iblis, smashing its infrastructure and putting its rulers to the sword, then they attacked the planet's scattered settlements and nomadic crawler-caravans by night, leaving bloody wreckage in their wake. They proceeded to turn Iblis into a wasteland inhabited only by shell-shocked survivors.The savage Chapter then moved on and attacked the blighted industrial world of Endymion Prime itself, where a small Fire Angels force already held command of a decrepit, manufactoria complex against Mantis Warriors-led insurgents. The Carcharodons launched an orbital assault, oblivious to the Fire Angels' disposition, into the contested battle, hundreds of grey Drop Pods dropping to the soot-caked planet amid a great slaughter.Honour-bound to defend this world, the Mantis Warriors were forced to respond, coming to Endymion Prime's aid with increasing numbers of their Chapter to curb the savagery of the Carcharodons' assault. Though the Mantis Warriors matched the Carcharodons with their own fierce martial skill, they were too few, and could not turn the tide of the assault. Led by their Chief Librarian Ahazra Redth, the Mantis Warriors refused to retreat and died in the defence of the planet, just as the Carcharodons' leader Tyberos had predicted.The Carcharodons continued to employ this pattern on the worlds of C'sthal and Largitor, and then the twin inhabited worlds of the Tranquility System themselves. Each battle forced the Mantis Warriors to come to the aid of the beleaguered worlds, destroying the Mantis Warriors' ability to affect the war. Now worn down and scattered, the Chapter had ceased to exist as an effective fighting force but at a great price.In the aftermath of the Tranquility campaign, the Fire Angels, having suffered heavy casualties, sought permission to withdraw from the conflict. This was in no small part due to the increasing anger of the Fire Angels against the Carcharodons, with whom they had repeatedly been at odds during the Tranquility campaign and whose savage methods they held in utter contempt. Appalled by the actions of their allies, the Fire Angels withdrew their remaining contingents from the war with honour and returned to their homeworld to rebuild their sorely damaged Chapter.With the threat of the Endymion Cluster neutralised, the Carcharodons redeployed, splitting their fleets to patrol the Loyalists' rear echelons and relieve the Minotaurs and Red Scorpions to consolidate ahead of the expected invasion of the Badab Sector. Unfortunately for the ravaged people of the Endymion Cluster, this would not be the only time when calamity was visited upon their doomed worlds, for the Carcharodons would yet return in later years to enact a final act of savagery against them. |
Badab War - Corcyran Massacre (910.M41): This is considered by some as a "lost tale" of the Badab War whose true facts will never be known. The event that became known in Imperial records as the Corcyran Massacre was discovered by an Imperial Navy patrol in 910.M41. The wreckage of a smugglers' base was discovered in the dust wastes of the forlorn world of Corcyra II. Within the base was a nightmarish scene of carnage and destruction rarely witnessed before by men.A bloody battle had been fought between two sub-company-sized forces of Space Marines from the Executioners and the Carcharodons Chapters. These two Chapters, both infamous for their savagery and unyielding stances towards their foes, had fought each other to mutual annihilation. The base around them was ripped apart, its former inhabitants now mouldering into dust.Many of the bodies of both sides showed signs of having fought on despite suffering horrendous wounds, severed limbs and massive trauma that should have felled even an Astartes, and several were found locked in deathly, gore-splattered embraces, striking at their foes with their last ebbing strength. It is not known which Chapter's last warrior survived to the end to claim a bitter victory. Neither Chapter has acknowledged any survivors of the massacre living to tell of what happened at Corcyra II. |
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