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Thulsa Kane - Thulsa Kane: Thulsa Kane, also known as "Old Night," is the current high chaplain and reclusiarch of the Executioners Space Marine Chapter. He also carries the titles of "high mortiurge" (supreme judge) and "lord speaker of the dead" -- the Executioners officer responsible for recording the deeds of his battle-brothers in battle.During the Badab War, Thulsa Kane carried the command of the Executioners Chapter in the Secessionist cause, charged with the blood debt they owed to the Astral Claws Chapter of old.It was Kane that declared that debt of honour's breach by Lufgt Huron and led the Executioners Chapter's murderous rampage against his former allies.
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Thulsa Kane - History: The one-eyed Thulsa Kane is the current high chaplain of the Executioners, a role of singular importance within the Chapter which also carries with it the titles of high mortiurge and lord speaker of the dead, which makes Kane responsible for recording the deeds of the Executioners Space Marines in battle.He is renowned as much for his scornful and macabre wit as his skill as a warrior, and is known (not unaffectionately) by his battle-brothers as "Old Night" (as well as a variety of other less savoury names), and there are many that would rather face the wrath of a daemon than catch the brunt of the high chaplain's ire.Possessing a mind as keen as a power sword and a grim wisdom that encompasses the breadth of his bellicose Chapter's long history and its many secrets, this ancient warrior has long since lost count of just how many heads he has taken from his enemies in his long service to the Emperor.
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Thulsa Kane - The Battle of Carrion Deep: One of Kane's most notable actions occurred in 899.M41, when responding to a series of frantic astropathic distress calls from several Imperial deep-range outposts, the forces of the Executioners' 2nd Company, led by Lord High Chaplain Thulsa Kane, found themselves in a desperate struggle against an awakened threat stirring in the Dead Worlds near the Veiled Region on the edge of the Segmentum Tempestus.Upon investigation the Executioners discovered nothing but a trail of shattered ruins and empty bastions where Imperial watchposts should have been. The 2nd Company was ambushed in the wreckage of the frontier base on the Dead World of Carrion Deep. Surrounded and outnumbered by metallic foes that wouldn't die, it was only by the dauntless leadership and wise cunning of High Chaplain Kane that they were able to survive.Leading the 2nd Company in a furious counterassault, the Executioners came to grips with their foes, taking advantage of the inherent speed and ferocity only possessed by an Astartes. Kane himself sought and confronted the enemy leader, and after a titanic clash of arms, the battle left Kane's Crozius Arcanum broken and his right eye withered in his skull, though he struck the metallic creature down.Though his battle-brothers wanted to fight on to the bitter end, the high chaplain's will prevailed. Less than a third of the Executioners' force succeeded in breaking out of the deadly trap of their undying foes.This is one of the first confirmed and detailed Imperial battle reports against the ancient alien menace later identified by the Ordo Xenos as the Necrons.
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Thulsa Kane - The Badab War: The Executioners Chapter was one of four Astartes Chapters that rebelled against the authority of the Imperium during the Badab War. Their involvement in Lufgt Huron's cause was the result of the unique consequence of a blood debt the Chapter owed the Astral Claws from more than a millennium before.By 904.M41 the Executioners had fully joined the rebellion on the side of the Astral Claws and the Secessionists. The Executioners force, under the direct command of High Chaplain Kane, was fully engaged in the Badab War by early 907.M41.The Executioners steadfastly refused to operate under the direct control of the Tyrant of Badab, operating only as allies and never subordinates. By 909.M41, this resulted in much ire within the ranks of the Secessionists. The Chapter had a tendency to leave survivors of their attacks behind once their military objectives were met, even allowing the surrender of defeated foes with honour.This incensed Lugft Huron to no end. Because of the Executioners' perceived lack of resolve, the Tyrant of Badab instituted the policy of having his forces shadow theirs "to do what must be done" and to keep the Executioners as distant from his own machinations and actions as possible. But as the war worsened for the Secessionists, Huron was forced to rely heavily on the Executioners to contest the Maelstrom Zone.This would prove disastrous and result in the Executioners turning on the Astral Claws after the events surrounding the surrender of the Salamanders Chapter's Battle Barge Pyre of Glory when the Astra Claws massacred a force of Salamanders Astartes who had already surrendered.The Chapter became a rogue element, conducting their own private war with their former allies until they negotiated a surrender to the Loyalist forces and a withdrawal from the war zone in 911.M41.Of all those that were caught up in the Secessionists' cause, the Executioners Chapter emerged from the conflict the least scathed and the least tainted. They had fought honourably and had lived and died by their oaths.The Executioners were granted the Emperor's forgiveness when the High Lords of Terra determined that they had mistakenly sided with the Traitors as the result of a deception, though they remained subject to undertaking a hundred-year-long Penitent Crusade to atone for the Loyalist blood spilled and were forbidden from recruiting new initiates during that time, much like their fellow penitents, the Mantis Warriors and the Lamenters.
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Thulsa Kane - Wargear: The Ænigmata Ferrum - This sacred tome contains the accumulated battle-wisdom and ancient secrets of the Executioners Chapter culled from many thousands of Terran years of chronicles. A copy of the Aenigmata Ferrum is carried into battle and further added to by every high mortiurge of the Chapter.Grehdalin's Bones - A relic of the Chapter, this Artificer Armour was created from the nigh-indestructible skeletal remains of an ancient xenos beast that once slaughtered an entire colony world's population one-by-one. Slain by one of the greatest of the Chapter's high chaplains in an epic struggle, the armour is said to both shield the flesh of the Chaplain who wears it, as well as remind them constantly of the high standards they are expected to set for the rest of the Chapter.Lifetaker - The Lifetaker is a massive black-bladed Power Axe of archaic design, carried by successive Chapter Masters of the Executioners and given to Thulsa Kane to signify his leadership of the Executioners during the dark days of the Badab War.Plasma PistolRosariusFrag GrenadesKrak Grenades
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Thunder's Word - Thunder's Word: The Thunder's Word is a modified Gladius-class Frigate that has served the Deathwatch in the Jericho Reach for over two standard millennia. It is whispered that it was built in the orbital docks above Mars itself under the direct supervision of the Arch-Fabricator Castilus.Compact, heavily armed, and swift beyond anything that might be expected of its class, this warship can only deploy a relative handful of Battle-Brothers into action owing to the internal space given over to its massed batteries and powerful engines.Commanded by the venerable Battle-Brother Pellas, the Thunder's Word has been used in some of the most dangerous operations undertaken by the Deathwatch in the Jericho Reach.Its list of battle honours has become legendary: over three score of raider and xenos ship-kills to its name. Its most lauded mission remains the daring raid in which it slipped past the Chaos fleets above Samech to recover the records from the lost watch station known as the Slaughterhouse.It was also the Thunder's Word that first glimpsed the bio-ships off the moons of Freya and warned of Hive Fleet Dagon's advance through the rimward systems of the Reach.The Thunder's Word remains one of Watch Fortress Erioch's Master of Vigil's favoured instruments should a Deathwatch Kill-team need to be deployed deep inside enemy-held territory.
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Thunder Barons - Thunder Barons: The Thunder Barons are a Renegade Chapter of Chaos Space Marines of unknown origin. Formerly a Loyalist Chapter of Astartes, they eventually spat on their oaths to the Emperor of Mankind and instead swore their allegiance to the Chaos Gods, and to the Blood God Khorne in particular. Since their fall to Chaos, the Thunder Barons have become obsessed with looking for amulets and artefacts of arcane power that will enhance their abilities in combat -- and provide more victims for the Blood God's pleasure.
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Thunder Barons - Notable Campaigns: Cholercaust Blood Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - The Thunder Barons joined the massive Khornate force known as the Cholercaust which followed the path of the Keeler Comet and brought war and ruin to the worlds in its path. The Cholercaust Blood Crusade was finally stopped by a small coalition of Imperial forces on the Cemetery World of Certus-Minor. The Thunder Barons and other Traitor Marines took to the field under the command of Lord Umbragg of the World Eaters and participated in the final attack on Obsequa City. The Cholercaust suffered a total defeat and all in its ranks were slain, including the Thunder Barons. It is unknown if the entire Renegade Chapter took part in the Blood Crusade, and whether or not Thunder Baron remnants still exist elsewhere.
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Thunder Barons - Chapter Colours: The Thunder Barons' Chapter colours are not currently recorded in Imperial records.
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Thunder Barons - Chapter Badge: The Thunder Barons' Chapter badge is not currently recorded in Imperial records.
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Thunder Hammer - Thunder Hammer: A Thunder Hammer is a melee Power Weapon often employed by Loyalist Space Marines of the Imperium of Man and by some Chaos Space Marines as well. Thunder Hammers are primarily used by Astartes encased in Terminator Armour when they serve as melee-focused Assault Terminators, though they have also been wielded by those in regular power armour with access to the relevant Armoury. Patterns of Thunder Hammer also exist that can be wielded by unaugmented Humans such as Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus and members of the Adeptus Ministorum.This large warhammer incorporates an energy field emitter within its head that activates only when the hammer strikes its target. This allows the weapon to store a tremendous amount of energy and release it only at the moment of impact, producing a terrific blast of energy and concussive force like the crack of thunder, from which the name of the weapon originates.Many battle-brothers balance the clumsy nature of attempting to parry with a Thunder Hammer by pairing it with a Storm Shield which is surrounded by a glowing blue field of protective energy which emits crackling lightning when the Space Marine parries the blow. The Astartes of the Storm Wardens Chapter are said to be so fond of this combination that some practice a combat style developed specifically around it. The pairing of these two weapons are said to produce the awesome noise of thunder and lightning when used in melee combat.
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Thunder Hammer - Thunder Hammer Variants: Astartes Thunder Hammer - An Astartes Thunder Hammer is a massive Power Weapon in the form of a great warhammer utilised by the Space Marines. The furious energy blast released when these weapons strike their target creates waves of booming, concussive force as loud as thunder. Enemies that survive the pulverising blow are likely to be incapacitated by the shockwave that follows.Lathe Pattern Thunder Hammer - The Lathe Pattern Thunder Hammer is a huge warhammer that features an oversized head. Like standard Thunder Hammers, these weapons store energy and then release it in a violent explosion upon impact. The tremendous concussive force released is equivalent to a concentrated grenade explosion, strong enough to punch holes in vehicles and knock those nearby to the ground. Though extremely cumbersome to wield, Lathe Pattern Thunder Hammers are often used by Adeptus Ministorum priests to both smite the wicked and invigorate the faithful. A Lathe Pattern Thunder Hammer is lighter than most other Imperial variants, and is intended for use by unaugmented humans.Daemonhammer - Commonly wielded by Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus, a Daemonhammer is a large, two-handed warhammer crafted from rare ores and composite materials from humanity’s ancient and more technologically advanced past. The haft of a Daemonhammer is covered in hexagramic sigils and seals of warding, while its head is emblazoned with the burning sigil of the Inquisition, from which emanates a crackling power field. Daemonhammers are extremely rare in the Imperium, and their use is granted only to the most trusted and respected Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus and sometimes to various Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes who have defeated a particularly potent Greater Daemon in combat.Nemesis Daemon Hammer - Developed by the Ordo Malleus as the final word in daemonic destruction, the Nemesis Daemon Hammer combines the crushing impact of a more traditional Thunder Hammer with the psychic power of destruction. Few can survive the impact of a Nemesis Daemon Hammer wielded by a psyker in service to the Emperor. Nemesis Daemon Hammers are extraordinarily rare in the Imperium, but they are usually found in the hands of Ordo Malleus Inquisitors and the Space Marines of the Grey Knights Chapter.
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Thunder Hammer - Notable Thunder Hammers: Fist of Dorn - The Fist of Dorn is a legendary Thunder Hammer traditionally wielded by the Captain of the Imperial Fists Chapter's elite 1st Company. This ancient and revered Chapter relic is currently wielded by the Chapter hero Captain Darnath Lysander. He received the mighty weapon from his predecessor in command of the 1st Company, Captain Kleitus, during the Siege of Haddrake Tor, after Kleitus suffered an unfortunate teleporter accident, materialising into solid rock. This occurred even with the advent of teleport homers placed by Lysander and his 2nd Company, but the teleport signal was distorted by the eldritch powers caused by the dark rituals performed by Chaos Cultists. Before dying, Kleitus passed on the mighty weapon to Lysander to be its new caretaker.Foehammer - Foehammer is a rune-etched Thunder Hammer and is a considered a revered Chapter relic of the Space Wolves Chapter. This mighty weapon is currently wielded by the Wolf Guard Arjac Rockfist, the personal Champion of the Great Wolf Logan Grimnar. When this weapon leaves Arjac's massive fist, its inbuilt teleporter ensures it will quickly return to his gauntlet ready to be used again.Hammer of Baal - The Hammer of Baal is a master-crafted Thunder Hammer that is a relic of the Blood Angels Chapter. It hums with barely restrained power. Forged millennia ago by master artisans, the Hammer of Baal is one of the most exquisite relics of the Chapter and is currently wielded by Captain Karlaen. Karlaen was entrusted with its care by Commander Dante upon his ascension to the rank of Captain of the Chapter's Veteran 1st Company.Stormbearer - Stormbearer is the Thunder Hammer wielded by Chapter Master Tu'Shan of the Salamanders Chapter. According to Chapter legend, it is made from the same material as that used to create Thunderhead, the Thunder Hammer of Primarch Vulkan. In truth, no one now alive knows who made it, but it is the favoured weapon of Tu'Shan, who as a master smith possesses a vast armoury of hammers, swords, and spears.
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Thunder Hammer - Heavy Thunder Hammer: The Heavy Thunder Hammer is the largest man-portable Thunder Hammer that is used by the Adeptus Astartes of the Deathwatch Chapter -- a giant, crushing tool of destruction so heavy even a Space Marine cannot use it one-handed.Swathed by a powerful disruption field, the Heavy Thunder Hammer is capable not only of cracking open a Tyranid Carnifex's exoskeleton, but also of smashing through its midsection to break the creature in two.
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Thunder Warriors - Thunder Warriors: The Thunder Warriors, also sometimes referred to in ancient records as the Thunder Legion and the Thunder Regiments, and known in High Gothic as the Legiones Cataegis, were the 20 regiments or legions of genetically-engineered, superhuman warriors of Terra created by the design of the Emperor of Mankind through alchemical augmentation, somatic gene-sculpting and muscle-grafting techniques. Their purpose was to unite the homeworld of Humanity beneath the Emperor's rule during the Unification Wars on Terra in the late 29th and 30th Millenniums.They were the first gene-enhanced warriors created by the Emperor and served as the precursors to the present-day Space Marines, though they were created from adult male supporters of the Emperor rather than adolescents.The Thunder Warriors' legions were commanded by genetically-identical Cataegis warriors of particular skill, intellect and mental stability, who each held the rank of "primarch." Each legion was particularly focused on a particular tactical or strategic specialty similar to the later, more perfected pattern seen among the Legiones Astartes.Wrought to be living weapons, the Thunder Warriors were known to be physically stronger, more savage, more resilient and more potent in combat than the later Astartes, though they were not as long-lived and suffered from often dangerous mental instability and early metabolic collapse when their bodies began to reject their augmentations.Imperial chronicles hold that the last of the legendary Thunder Warriors died heroically during the final battle of the Unification Wars at Mount Arrarat in 669.M30 that reunified Terra beneath the single rule of the Emperor and forged the government that would become the Imperium of Man.The truth of the matter was far different, for the Thunder Warriors' fate was bound up in the terrible price that the Emperor proved willing to pay to secure a better future for Mankind.
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Thunder Warriors - Age of Strife: During the turbulent era known as the Age of Strife or "Old Night" on Terra, the Sol System and the other nearby star systems that had been colonised by Humanity during the Age of Technology were effectively cut off from interstellar travel or astropathic communication with each other.This was due to the massive Warp Storms that swept the galaxy as the Immaterium was roiled by the millennia-long gestation of the Chaos God Slaanesh and the turbulence that marked the decay of the Aeldari Empire before The Fall.During the five millennia of anarchy, fear and violence that marked this period, Old Earth's once unified planetary government had completely broken down and been divided into dozens of warring techno-barbarian nations. Continuous warfare raged across the surface of Terra for two and a half thousand years, beginning in the late 27th Millennium.Little remained of the once sophisticated civilisation of Old Earth's glorious past as techno-barbarian warlords and their gene-enhanced warrior-hordes continuously fought over the planet, which became little more than a massive battleground for their apocalyptic wars of attrition over the course of the millennia.It was during this dark time that the Emperor of Mankind developed the first genetically-engineered warriors to serve in His armies. These were the proto-Astartes, who were created like the later generations of true Space Marines from advanced genetic engineering techniques, though these were not as efficient as what was used later to create the Space Marines. Nor was the technology involved as advanced or the geneticists as entirely willing, for some were captives the Emperor had taken during the Unification Wars.The Emperor wrought these proto-Astartes to be faster, stronger and more powerful than any of the feral barbarian gene-sept warriors that claimed fealty over the various techno-barbarian nation-states of Old Earth. These warriors were a gestalt mix of unprecedented superhuman physical power, gene-programmed resistance to environmental and even psychic attack, a warlike spirit and the Emperor's own strategic genius.The twenty Thunder Regiments were an army unlike any that had come before them, and the forces of the powerful tyrants of Old Earth had nothing to match them. These genetically-enhanced soldiers were created to drag their world back from the anarchy into which it had fallen.It was against this backdrop that the mysterious saviour who would become known only as the Emperor revealed Himself -- the raptor's head and lightning banner marching proudly before the unstoppable armies of His Thunder Warriors.
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Thunder Warriors - Unification Wars: Emerging from anonymous obscurity in the late 29th Millennium, the Emperor took a direct and public hand in the future of Humanity for the first time in its history, conquering the various warring factions of Mankind's homeworld and establishing his direct rule over Terra during the Unification Wars.The Emperor accepted the deaths of the many innocents that resulted from this conquest with great remorse in order to achieve the greater good of unifying Humanity and protecting it from the manifest predations of the Warp and the more vicious xenos of the galaxy. Unimaginably large, full-scale battles during the Unification campaign would last for weeks on end, with body counts in the millions that sundered mountains and split entire continents.Future Imperial scholars would later dismiss these victories as lurid hyperbole, refusing to believe that such clashes of arms could possibly have been fought, but indeed they were.The Imperial historical chronicles tell of the last battle of the Unification Wars, known as the Battle of Mount Ararat, which was fought in the Kingdom of Urartu in 669.M30. During this final battle the remaining Thunder Warriors were slain to a man. The chronicles recorded that the famed Thunder Warrior Arik Taranis, known as the "Lightning Bearer," raised the Banner of Lightning at the final declaration of Unity which established the rule of the Emperor of Mankind over the entirety of Terra before dying of his wounds. It was a measure of the Thunder Warriors' heroic sacrifice that they had all died to win the last and greatest victory for the Emperor.Unfortunately, this heroic version of events was completely false. The Thunder Warriors had not died to a man during the final battle of the Unification Wars. They had been brutally culled from existence by the Emperor's own servants on His orders. The Thunder Warriors had been destroyed by their own creator, a secret skillfully concealed from the people of the Imperium for more than 10,000 Terran years.
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Thunder Warriors - The Culling: To carry out His plans for Humanity, the Emperor accepted that He would have to take certain actions that were essentially immoral in order to achieve the greater good of Mankind.In the years to come, the Emperor needed the people of Terra to unite behind a single, dominant leader in order to begin the future re-conquest of the galaxy during the Great Crusade He intended to unleash next.To create His legend, and unite all of Mankind behind His rule as an enlightened and invincible leader, the official record had to reflect that the Emperor had largely won the war and reunified Terra single-handedly.Additionally, the Thunder Warriors were not like the Astartes who would follow them; they had been created solely for war and were not well-suited to any other activities. Once peace came to Terra, the Thunder Warriors would inevitably pose a risk to the new state's stability through their very existence and the flaws that had resulted in much mental instability and early deaths due to metabolic collapse among their ranks.The Thunder Warriors had been enhanced as mature, adult men and their bodies often rebelled against the genetic changes only a few short Terran decades after the transformation. All this meant that the Thunder Warriors could not be allowed to survive the conflict they had been created to fight.At first the Emperor simply did not replace their numbers as they fell to battle or insanity, but then decided to take more active measures. According to Arik Taranis, the final culling of the Thunder Warriors took place following the victory of the last battle of Unity, and was carried out by the Legio Custodes, the only soldiers in the Imperial armies capable of defeating the Thunder Legions.In truth, the Emperor had been right to be worried about His creations. Another source claims that even before the Unification Wars had ended, the Thunder Warriors at last realised that their creator had cursed them with short lifespans as a result of their imperfect genetic augmentations, and turned upon Him for what they saw as His betrayal.It was a cadre of several hundred Custodians, even then believed to have been led by the legendary Constantin Valdor, and accompanied by several thousand prototype Astartes of the I Legion of the newborn Space Marines, that stood in the Emperor's defence, carrying out a merciless culling of the obsolete and rebellious gene-soldiers.Though some Thunder Warriors successfully escaped the cull, however it happened, the vast majority of those who survived the Unification Wars died at the hands of their own allies.Individually or in small groups -- like the self-stylised Dait'Tar Thunder Warriors present during the Cerberus Insurrection of the early Great Crusade period -- some Thunder Warriors would survive, living mostly anonymous and miserable lives amongst the population of Terra, all honours of the past forsaken, always fearful of being discovered.Fortunately for these survivors, the Imperium, believing the Thunder Warriors all dead, never truly sought to hunt them down, as all efforts were by then concentrated on the progress of the Great Crusade.
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Thunder Warriors - Survivor Fates: In the final years of the Unification Wars, a group of at least two dozen surviving Thunder Warriors under the command of the former Legiones Cataegis IV Legion Primarch Ushotan, took part in the Imperial Palace Coup unleashed by Grand Provost Marshal Uwoma Kandawire in an attempt to hold Captain-General Constantin Valdor of the Legio Custodes to account for the secret destruction of the Thunder Warriors. The surviving Thunder Warriors participated in the attempted coup to seek revenge against the Legio Custodes for their betrayal and to find an honourable death in battle rather than simply waiting for insanity or metabolic failure to claim them. The rebels were all massacred by the deployment of the Space Marines in their very first openly-recognised engagement, while Ushotan was slain in personal combat by Valdor. Bands of Thunder Warriors continued to exist in hiding however, with some escaping off-world. These were later hunted down and destroyed by the I Legion of the Legiones Astartes, the future Dark Angels.Solar decades later, in the early years of the Great Crusade, a small group of surviving Thunder Warriors calling themselves the Dait'Tar were among the renegades who had initiated the Cerberus Insurrection. The Emperor despatched the XII Legion, the War Hounds, later known as the World Eaters, to quell the uprising and punish the rebellion. Despite their physical decline, and being severely outnumbered by one of the most physically powerful of the Space Marine Legions, the Thunder Warriors managed to slaughter four to five times their number of Astartes. Despite their efforts, the insurrection was still put down after several solar hours of intense, close-quarters fighting at which the XII Legion excelled.At least one Thunder Warrior survived to the time of the Horus Heresy in the early 31st Millennium. This was the famed Thunder Warrior hero of the Battle of Mount Ararat, Arik Taranis, who had taken many names in the interim, including Babu Dhakal. Taranis had learned some of the techniques the Emperor had used to create him and then tried to make use of them himself to create a new army of Thunder Warriors under his command. He suspected that the Emperor had deliberately engineered his kind with a limited lifespan, though he personally hoped it was simply a defect in the genetic-engineering protocols; Thunder Warriors that did not die in battle suffered from cellular degeneration, metabolic collapse or mental instability, and often had relatively short lifespans. Eventually, after another Thunder Warrior, Ghota, encountered a group of Traitor Marines known as the Outcast Dead and slew one of its members, Taranis was able to cure the genetic instability of the Thunder Warriors using , though not before suffering considerable degeneration himself.Four Thunder Warriors who survived the cull served as gladiators in the depths of the arena known as "The Maw," near the slums of the Outer Palace region of the Imperial Palace known as the Swathe, for despite their ongoing physical deterioration they were still mighty warriors. They had been kept alive by Tarrigata, a former astropath, who served as their master and helped keep them alive through transplanting their organs with those of deceased Thunder Warriors. One of their number, Kabe, eventually died after being incapacitated in a gladiator battle against a Chrono Gladiator, before being ceremonially executed by a fellow Thunder Warrior.Another, Gairok, became mentally unstable and was slain when he attacked one of the other Thunder Warriors. The third of the group, Vezulah Vult, died fighting a Demonically-possessed Alpha Legion Heretic Astartes, after being blinded by the Legionary's acidic spit and then eviscerated. The of the Thunder Warrior gladiators, Dahren Heruk, was given an honourable death by a Custodian after he defeated the possessed legionary and saved the Custodian's life.It is possible that the World Eaters Space Marine and later Blackshield Endryd Haar was a Thunder Warrior or another kind of pre-Astartes genetically-augmented supersoldier who was successfully transformed into a Space Marine. He was far larger, stronger, and quicker than other Space Marines; furthermore, he was extremely brutal and mentally somewhat unstable despite lacking the cranial implants of the Butcher's Nails. Malcador the Sigillite singled him out as a special case. Haar himself confirmed that he had fought alongside the Emperor in the Unification Wars and called the Dait'Tar "brothers."
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Thunder Warriors - Organisation: Like the later Legiones Astartes who would replace them as the Emperor's elite, genetically-augmented, transhuman warriors, the Thunder Warriors were organised into twenty large units known as "legions," each commanded by a general known as a "primarch." However, unlike the later primarchs of the Space Marines, Thunder Warrior primarchs were not physically or mentally different from the warriors they led. Instead they were simply superlative warriors and tacticians who were promoted to the position by the Emperor due to their skill in battle and at commanding their fellows.The Thunder Warriors' legions seem to have been built around tactical roles and specialties identical to those of the later Space Marine Legions. For instance, the IV Legion of the Legiones Cataegis was known as the "Iron Lords" and specialised in sieges, just like the IV Legion of the Space Marines known as the Iron Warriors.
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Thunder Warriors - Abilities: The Thunder Warriors were massive supersoldiers, greater in height and girth than even most Firstborn Space Marines. Despite the physical, mental and metabolic deterioration that was their eventual fate, the few Thunder Warriors that secretly survived the end of the Unification Wars were easily more than a match for an Astartes, and had even outperformed some Custodians of the Legio Custodes during certain combat engagements. Even Thunder Warriors who had suffered from solar decades of physical and metabolic decline were still capable of successfully combating multiple Astartes at once.Thunder Warriors were created to be highly resistant to psychic attacks, perhaps because they constantly faced Chaos-corrupted opponents who wielded sorcery during the campaigns of the Unification Wars in the late Age of Strife. Any attempts at unleashing a mental attack upon a Thunder Warrior caused severe pain to the attacking psyker.Thunder Warriors had tremendous upper body strength that was considered to be unequaled by the Emperor's other genetically-augmented supersoldiers, which when coupled with the enhancements provided by their early Mark I Thunder Power Armour made them virtually unbeatable in close, melee combat. The leg strength of even a physically deteriorated Thunder Warrior was still enough to allow one to kick completely through the torso of a normal Human.In addition to their incredible physical strength, the Thunder Warriors' skeletal system had been augmented to be thicker than that of an Astartes. A Thunder Warrior was thus capable of shattering the skull of an Astartes with a simple headbutt. The Thunder Warriors' reflexes were also greatly enhanced, which allowed one to actually dodge a shot from a Plasma Gun while already engaged in a close-quarters melee with two other Astartes.Yet, for all these incredible physical and martial abilities, the Thunder Warriors' genetic template was notoriously unstable and they were prone to fits of uncontrollable bloodlust and mental instability, including hallucinations. Short-lived and rife with mental and physical health issues, Thunder Warriors were known to suffer from sudden, unexpected death outside of combat or, more dangerously, to stop following their superiors' orders while in the heat of battle.Unlike the Legiones Astartes who replaced them, they were deeply emotional and relished in the power and savagery they felt during combat. Their full Human emotions were not altered, lessened or expunged from them as they were in Space Marines and Custodians, and they were known in the Imperial Army and among the Legio Custodes for their often dry humour.
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Thunder Warriors - Flaws: Despite their many early victories in the Unification Wars, the Thunder Warriors were far from perfect. Some were mentally unstable, others suffered catastrophic biological and metabolic failure unpredictably after a span of standard years, their own superhuman physiques turning against them in the end.It seems obvious in retrospect that the Emperor knew early on that the nascent Imperium needed a more permanent and stable force of gene-enhanced warriors, so even while the Thunder Warriors waged war in the Emperor's name, He gathered about Him a team of savants and gene-wrights, some willing and others as captives taken from his foes, and constructed new genetics laboratories deep in the vast dungeons of his Terran fortress in the Himalazian (Himalayan) Mountains. This team became known as the Imperial Biotechnical Division.The labour there went on for solar decades in absolute secrecy and resulted in the creation of the primarchs and many other wonders of the Emperor's arcane and unmatched gene-craft, known and unknown. Yet the foremost of these creations were the twenty Space Marine Legions, the Legiones Astartes of legend.Into their creation went all the secret history and genetic lore of the Age of Strife, hard wisdom gained through the success and failure of the Thunder Warriors who were the Space Marines' prototypes and the fruits of the Emperor's own inimitable genius.The first among the Space Marines were hand-picked men from the Emperor's personal, mortal bodyguard. These volunteers were subjected to surgical, genetic and psychological modification. With rigorous training and appropriate mental conditioning they became not only immensely strong and tough, but iron-willed and disciplined, an unstoppable force whose loyalty to the Emperor was unflinching.Quickly the process was refined and systematised, and the numbers of the new genetically-enhanced warriors, at first armed and armoured as the Thunder Warriors had been, grew swiftly. They were organised into twenty distinct regiments numbering at first no more than a few hundred warriors each, much like the superhuman soldiers they were to replace.Although it remained a dire secret at the time, it is now widely believed that this division was more than a merely administrative one, as each regiment contained variant "gene-seed" encoding drawn from a different primogenitor primarch.This often manifested its influence in subtle and unexpected ways, not least of all in influencing and altering the psychological character of the genetically enhanced warrior. With the Astartes regiments expanding rapidly into legions with the intake of new blood from the areas of Terra that had already joined cause with the Emperor, the new warriors quickly eclipsed and replaced the mighty but far less disciplined and unstable Thunder Warriors. With the Space Marines at the forefront of Imperial efforts, victory followed victory in quick succession.Though the Thunder Warriors were superior in every physical aspect of their creation to the later Space Marines, they suffered from one flaw the later Astartes would not -- their lifespans were extremely short. The Thunder Warriors were not created to live beyond the achievement of Unity.This was a genetic flaw that may have been deliberately written into their DNA during their creation to assure that when their usefulness was at an end, these warriors would cease to exist so that they might be replaced by the more balanced transhuman warriors of the Legiones Astartes. The Thunder Warriors were created to be a broadsword rather than a scalpel like the Astartes who would come after them.Unlike most Space Marines, the Thunder Warriors were cold-blooded, ruthless killers who enjoyed the savagery and feeling of power they experienced during combat and possessed talents for nothing other than war. In many ways they represented the worst aspects of Humanity's nature rather than its best. As the Unification Wars drew to a close, the Emperor knew that He would still need the superior skills of gene-modified warriors in order to carry on His "Great Crusade" and conquer the galaxy.It was for this reason that He had moved to craft the genetically-engineered warriors who were truly superior in every way to average Humans -- morally, spiritually and intellectually as well as physically. These perfections of the transhuman warrior template would become the first true Space Marines of the Legiones Astartes. The Thunder Warriors were discarded as imperfect tools that had served their purpose.The present-day members of the Adeptus Astartes are not the ancient Thunder Warriors' equals in the realm of pure combat. Yet, though the Thunder Warriors were stronger, hardier and more resilient than the later Astartes, their genetic legacy was never meant to last beyond the achievement of Terra's Unity.The proto-Astartes were a means to an end, the conquest of a single world, whilst their genetic successors were intended to travel to the stars and conquer a galaxy. The Space Marines were also to serve as living embodiments of all that Humanity could hope to achieve.It is the great tragedy of the Imperium that while the Space Marines were created to represent the pinnacle of Human development, they ultimately proved as susceptible to the basic flaws of Mankind as any other mortal.
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Thunder Warriors - Mark I Thunder Power Armour: The first pattern of power armour created for the Thunder Warriors and the first true Space Marines was the Mark I Thunder Power Armour, though the name was later assigned by the ancient Mechanicum after the fact and at the time of its use the suit was simply called "power armour."It was developed from the powered combat armour worn by the techno-barbarians that plagued Terra near the end of the Age of Strife. It was used during the Emperor's Unification Wars campaigns to retake and reunite Terra before the Great Crusade.It was by no means unique to the first Space Marines -- in fact, the techno-barbarian warriors the Emperor fought during the conquest of Terra wore it too, and the Emperor's early forces of genetically-enhanced Thunder Warriors were wearing it even before the first true Space Marines were created.However, because it was designed with fighting in a terrestrial environment in mind, it was not fully enclosed, with no means to support the wearer in a vacuum.Only the upper body was powered, due in part to the fact that during the Emperor's conquest of Terra, ranged weapons were difficult to make due to technological constraints, and so a warrior's upper-body strength was his most important asset.It takes its name from the thunder bolt and lightning symbol called the Raptor Imperialis that the Emperor used during the Unification Wars on Terra before He adopted the double-headed eagle known as the Imperial Aquila during the Great Crusade.That emblem gave the suit its most common present-day name -- Thunder Armour. This early armour was produced on a completely local basis. There was no standard design, individual suits varied heavily and their exact designs were often a matter of personal taste.The main part of the armour was the massive powered torso which enclosed the chest and arms. Coiled energy cables beneath the armour plating transmitted energy from the power pack on the back to the arms, greatly increasing the warrior's physical strength.The legs of this mark of armour were not powered at all, but enclosed in tough padded breaches, though simple steel plates were sometimes also used. Although uncommon, the best-equipped warriors sometimes wore armoured greaves and armoured boots.However, this ancient suit of power armour was noticeably noisier than later models, perhaps due to the unpowered legs, making stealth operations nearly impossible in it.
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Thunder Warriors - Ranged Weapons: In their earliest days before Imperial science developed ceramite power armour, the Thunder Warriors wore simple metal armor attached with leather strapping and wielded Lasrifles. Later, the Thunder Warriors were armed with an archaic, but large and powerful pattern of what became the standard Astartes bolter.
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Thunder Warriors - Notable Thunder Warriors: Arik Taranis, the "Lightning Bearer" - Arik Taranis was a Thunder Warrior whose name was famous throughout the Imperium and could awe even a modern Astartes with its historic resonance. There is not a Space Marine amongst the entirety of the Adeptus Astartes that does not know the name of Arik Taranis; the historic battles he helped to win, the foes he slew and the great honours he earned fighting in the Emperor's legions during the Unification Wars. Arik Taranis was history wrought into living form: the Victor of Gaduaré, the Last Rider, the Butcher of Scandia, the Throne-slayer -- these and a hundred other battle-honours earned by this warrior were scattered throughout the histories written about the foundation of the Imperium. All these tales culminated in the end of Taranis' life atop a once-flooded mountain during the final battle of the Unification Wars. Taranis was given the title "Lightning Bearer" in the aftermath of the Battle of Mount Ararat in the Kingdom of Urartu. The Imperial chronicles record that he died, succumbing to the damage caused by his wounds once he fulfilled the singular honour of raising the Emperor's Banner of Lightning at the final declaration of planetary Unity for Terra. Taranis and his Battle-Brothers had all been slain in this final battle of the great conflict, dying to win the last and greatest victory for the Emperor and establish his new Imperium of Man. The truth, however, was very different, for Arik Taranis survived the Battle of Mount Ararat, and also knew that the Emperor had founded his Imperium by betraying the men who had fought so ferociously for him. Amazingly, Taranis bore no ill-will towards his creator for his monstrous betrayal, for he understood better than anyone that the Thunder Warriors were merely a means to an end. He and all his kind had been cast aside by the Emperor in favour of the Legiones Astartes gene-template for the good of Humanity. Arik Taranis was one of only a very small number of Thunder Warriors who managed to escape the cull. Yet Taranis had learned what he could from his creator in the years of the Unification Wars, and came to master much of the ancient science of genetics that the Emperor had used to create the Thunder Warriors. Unfortunately, Taranis did not possess enough knowledge to halt his own deterioration, but just enough to desperately cling to life as a crime lord in Terra's Petitioner's City long enough to one day play a final role in the history of the Imperium during the Horus Heresy.Ghota - Ghota was a Thunder Warrior who served during the Unification Wars and also somehow managed to survive the Cull alongside his former commander, Arik Taranis. Ghota continued to faithfully serve as Arik Taranis' lieutenant after he had taken over the Petitioner's City on Terra and become the feared crimelord known as Babu Dhakal. Ghota enforced the will of his master and the Dhakal Clan crime syndicate upon the Petitioner's City. Despite coming across as being somewhat of a simpleton and unintelligent, Ghota was fully aware of his and his brother's failing physical condition and understood what was needed of him to achieve prolonged life like his genetic successors, the Astartes. Ghota normally carried a huge Thunder Hammer into battle, and was more than a match for most Space Marines in one-on-one combat.Skand - Skand was the first Thunder Warrior to fall in battle during the Unification Wars. His name was etched into the shrine of The Comet.Dahren Heruk - Heruk was one of the few Thunder Warriors to survive into the era of the Horus Heresy. He was a veteran of the Unification Wars campaigns for Arat, Hy Brasil, Urhs, and Albia. Heruk had banded together with several other survivors of the Thunder Legion to fight in illegal gladiatorial combats in the Outer Palace region of the Imperial Palace complex on Terra. Heruk intervened during the Solar War when Alpha Legion Heretic Astartes infiltrators and their allied Chaos Cultists were attempting to carry out acts of subversion to prepare the throneworld for the coming invasion of Horus and the Siege of Terra. Heruk discovered a Possessed Alpha Legionary leading a group of eight cultists in a sacrificial ritual in the catacombs beneath the Outer Palace. Heruk aided one of the Legio Custodes in killing the group, though he was mortally wounded in the combat and asked the Custodian, Tagiomalchian, an Ephroi, to grant him an "Honoured Death," which he received. Heruk suffered, like many of the surviving Thunder Warriors of this period, from constantly reliving his past moments of military glory during the Unification Wars. These visions began to occur at all times, interfering with the Thunder Warriors' ability to differentiate reality from memory.Kabe - Kabe was one of the few Thunder Warriors to survive into the era of the Horus Heresy. He had banded together with several other survivors of the Thunder Legion to fight in illegal gladiatorial combats in the Outer Palace region of the Imperial Palace complex on Terra. Kabe had fought in many of the battles of the Unification Wars, including against the Kievan Rus at the Sibir ice plain at Urhs, against the Hoth Grendal clans at Albia, and at the siege of Abyssna. However, he proved unable to defeat a chrono-gladiator and was mortally wounded. His opponent was slain by another Thunder Warrior, Dahren Heruk, who jumped down into the gladiatorial pit and gave Kabe an "Honoured Death" by stabbing him in the heart.Gairok - Gairok was one of the few Thunder Warriors to survive into the era of the Horus Heresy. He had banded together with several other survivors of the Thunder Legion to fight in illegal gladiatorial combats in the Outer Palace region of the Imperial Palace complex on Terra. Gairok eventually succumbed to the madness claiming all the Thunder Warriors in which he was unable to distinguish between the present and the memories of his past in battle. He was killed in a bar in a run-down portion of the Outer Palace known as "the Swathe" by Dahren Heruk after he became lost in one of his memories and began to slay all of the other patrons, and could not be roused back to the present.Vezulah Vult - Vult was one of the few Thunder Warriors to survive into the era of the Horus Heresy. He had banded together with several other survivors of the Thunder Legion to fight in illegal gladiatorial combats in the Outer Palace region of the Imperial Palace complex on Terra. Gairok had fought at the battle at Abyssna during the Unification Wars, where he had ordered his unit of Thunder Warriors to charge into the fray and take the northern tower of the enemy's fortifications alongside the Legio Custodes. Vult was attacked in the catacombs beneath the Swathe in the Outer Palace district by a Possessed Alpha Legion infiltrator and his cell of Chaos Cultists. He was tracked down by his partner and former comrade in the Thunder Legion Dahren Heruk who thought that he had also succumbed to the madness of the aging Thunder Warriors when he attacked and mortally wounded Tarrigata, the blind old man who had owned the Thunder Warriors gladiatorial lutus. When Heruk found him, Vult was already dying and made clear in his final moments that he had not fallen prey to the madness after all -- the real culprits were the servants of Chaos.Ushotan - Ushotan was the primarch or commander of the IV Legion of Thunder Warriors, who were known as the "Iron Lords" and were specialists in siege warfare. He had been chosen for the position due to his superlative command skills and was genetically no different from his fellow warriors. Despite the biological and psychologiacal instabilities that all the Thunder Warriors displayed, Ushotan was considered a superlative combatant and general by most within the Imperium's military, gaining the respect of even the likes of Captain-General Constantin Valdor of the Legio Custodes. He displayed the savagery and dark humour typical of many of the Thunder Warriors, most notably during the Battle of Maulland Sen. After the massacre and what Ushotan and his brethren viewed as the betrayal of the Thunder Warriors at Mount Ararat, he and other survivors of the Thunder Legion went into hiding. They later emerged to aid Grand Provost Marshal Uwoma Kandawire during the Imperial Palace Coup near the end of the Unification Wars out of a desire for revenge against the Emperor and in the hope of being granted an honorable death in battle rather than from their own rapid metabolic decline or growing insanity. During the coup, Ushotan personally battled Constantin Valdor of the Legio Custodes and for a time managed to hold his own against the Chief Custodian. However, in the end Ushotan was struck down by the preternatural skills of Valdor. Yet, as he lay dying, Ushotan remarked that he pitied the captain-general, for while Ushotan had lived only a short life, he nonetheless had lived as a true Human, had truly lived, even if only for a short time, while Valdor was devoid of all emotions or Human desires save for his need to carry out his duty since he had been genetically-engineered almost since birth. Valdor fully agreed with Ushotan's assessment before executing him to end the dying warrior's agony.
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Thunderbolt - Thunderbolt: The Thunderbolt heavy fighter is one of the two main fighter aircraft patterns used by the Imperial Navy, the other of which is the Lightning air superiority fighter.The Thunderbolt is the mainstay weapon system of Imperial Navy's Aeronautica Imperialis fighter wings and is a rugged, well-armed and armoured heavy fighter with all-around capabilities, a good maximum speed and above-average maneuverability, powerful nose-mounted weapons and hard points located on the wings for missile or bomb load-outs.It is an aircraft that is well-liked by those who fly and service it and it has served the cause of the Emperor for many centuries.The Thunderbolt's primary combat role is as an air superiority fighter. It seeks out and engages enemy aircraft in dogfights or hunts enemy bombers to establish air superiority.The Thunderbolt's greatest strength is its versatility, since it has good performance as a high-altitude escort fighter while it is also serviceable in the roles of a low-altitude fighter-bomber, night fighter or even as a reconnaissance aircraft when necessary.
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Thunderbolt - History: A heavy fighter combining devastating strike potential with a high degree of speed and manoeuvrability, the Thunderbolt formed the bulk of the Imperialis Armada's intra-atmosphere fighter aircraft during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras of the 30th and early 31st Millennium.The Thunderbolt was a true workhorse, with a rugged and reliable design, beloved of its crews and feared by its enemies. The Thunderbolt's versatile array of armaments enabled it to tackle all manner of missions, making it ideal for dominating the skies of alien worlds as the Solar Auxilia landed, and supporting them in battle as they advanced.The Thunderbolt could fulfill a range of missions, from hunting tanks and ground strikes, yet its main role was that of an air-superiority fighter, engaging enemy craft in dogfights or hunting down enemy bombers.Its most famous characteristic, however, was sheer resilience and it was not unusual for a Thunderbolt to land riddled with damage that would have downed a lesser craft.
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Thunderbolt - Characteristics: Whilst the Lightning air superiority fighter is faster than the Thunderbolt, with a better climb and dive rate, it is also a great deal less well-armoured, less versatile in the same range of situations as the Thunderbolt and far more finicky, demanding a great deal of attention from its maintenance crews.Like the Lightning, the Thunderbolt is equipped with a Promethium-fueled rocket engine, maneuvering thrusters and an ablative ventral surface that provides it with a limited trans-atmospheric operations capability. However, this capability was provided only for transportation and deployment from an Imperial Navy starship into a planetary atmosphere and was not intended for space combat, which means the Thunderbolt is not a true starfighter, a role normally filled by the Fury space superiority fighter.The rocket engine and thrusters allows a Thunderbolt to deploy from an Imperial Navy starship in low planetary orbit into an atmosphere and can then be used at the end of combat operations to allow a Thunderbolt to return to its mothership after using its twin air-guzzling turbofan engines to reach its maximum operational altitude.Because of this operational capacity in a vacuum, all Thunderbolt pilots are required to wear full, vacuum-sealed flight suits and helmets. The fighter's rocket engine is also used to allow the Thunderbolt to make extremely rapid launch rail take-offs from its mothership or a ground base. Once airborne using the rocket, the Thunderbolt engages its turbofans.Imperial Navy fighter wings can possess a wide variability in the number of aircraft or starfighters they contain. They normally consist of between 10-20 aircraft or starfighters although some are much larger.Each Imperial fighter wing, in addition to its numeric designator, also takes a name that is usually that of a real or mythological flying creature. There are thousands of fighter wings in service on the Imperial Navy's myriad starships, space stations and ground bases in use by the various sector and Segmentum battlefleets all across the galaxy.
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Thunderbolt - Armament: The Thunderbolt's main armament is carried in its blunt nose with the gun barrels protruding, and consists of two sets of twin-linked Autocannons that are fire-linked together, with two on each side, and a set of twin-linked Lascannons on its forward dorsal area.Compared with the Lightning's single Autocannon and two Lascannons, the Thunderbolt is obviously capable of a much higher total rate-of-fire and a much greater volume-of-fire, resulting in the Thunderbolt being capable of inflicting substantially more damage than its smaller and lighter counterpart.The Lascannons are primarily used in the fighter's ground attack role to punch through the heavy armour of enemy vehicles, whilst the Autocannons are the kinetic weapons of choice for strafing enemy infantry formations and dog-fighting.The heavy fighter can also carry six tactical bombs, four air-to-surface Hellstrike Missiles or six air-to-air Skystrike missiles on its external wing-mounted hardpoints, without sacrificing the use of any of its main weapons, whereas the lighter Lightning fighter must sacrifice a weapon to carry external hardpoints, usually its single Autocannon.A Thunderbolt already has an unusually long operational range for a heavy fighter, but when the situation or mission parameters call for it, a Thunderbolt can be outfitted with external Promethium fuel drop tanks for increased range.
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Thunderbolt - Design Features: The Thunderbolt has a heavy, rectangular fuselage rather than a more streamlined tubular body, which is flanked by a thrust tunnel containing a large, turbofan jet engine on either side of the aircraft. The wings are mounted on the thrust tunnels and very slightly forward-swept.The angular cockpit is set about halfway down the fighter, with the remaining back half dominated by the tail section, complete with two tail-planes and a single tail-fin. The whole of the Thunderbolt is armoured with 45 mm of ceramite armour plate.Being a larger and heavier airframe than the Lightning, the Thunderbolt is slower and less maneuverable. However, it is considerably more durable, capable of taking damage that would destroy a Lightning outright. The Thunderbolt also has greater range, thanks to its more powerful engines and larger fuel tanks.
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Thunderbolt - Role: Thunderbolts are most commonly used in an air superiority role, where they intercept enemy aircraft and engage in dogfights with them. Thunderbolts are especially effective against enemy bombers as the Thunderbolt's large weapons array can punch through bombers' usually heavy armour, and Thunderbolt armour can withstand -- to a degree -- the withering fire of bombers' multiple turret guns better than its counterpart Lightning fighter.Because of its versatility, the Thunderbolt is also deployed as close air support for Astra Militarum or even Space Marine units.The Thunderbolt can attack enemy armour or infantry on the ground using Hellstrike Missiles, its Lascannons for penetrating the armour of enemy vehicles and its Autocannons for strafing enemy infantry positions.
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Thunderbolt - Notable Variants: Kestrel-class Interceptor - The Kestral-class Interceptor is a void-capable version of the Thunderbolt heavy fighter, and was used by Battlefleet Demeter against the Black Legion's incursion into the Pandorax System. This variant eschews the Thunderbolt's standard Autocannon armament in lieu of additional energy cells for its Lascannons. In order to operate in the void of space, the flyer is not propelled by regular combustion turbofan jet engines, which would be useless in vacuum, but instead a power cell-fueled powerplant, whose output can also be directed to supercharge its weapons. Whilst being a void-capable vessel, it still retains some features of its forebear out of respect for the Omnissiah and the fighter's Machine Spirit, chief amongst them being an ejector seat with built-in parachute, a tail rudder, and the hydraulic wing flaps that are only needed for atmospheric flight.Cypra Mundi Pattern Thunderbolt - The Cypra Mundi Pattern is the name given to the basic and most widespread template of the Thunderbolt in use by the Imperial Navy's Aeronautica Imperialis.
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Thunderbolt - Notable Thunderbolt Wings: 83rd Imperial Navy Fighter Wing, Eagle Squadron - Served on the Desert World of Quatara-Prime and during the Taros Campaign.386th Imperial Navy Fighter Wing, Falcon Squadron - Served during the Taros Campaign.409th Imperial Navy Fighter Wing, Raptor Squadron - Served on Enothis during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade.490th Imperial Navy Fighter Wing, Wyvern Squadron - Served during the Third War for Armageddon.672nd Imperial Navy Fighter Wing, Dragon Squadron - Served in the campaign to recover Rynn's World from the Orks of WAAAGH! Snagrod; commanded by the famous Imperial ace Flight Commander Richter Dagor-Jani.717th Imperial Navy Fighter Wing - Served during the Siege of Vraks.789th Imperial Navy Fighter Wing - Served on Enothis during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade.1002nd Imperial Navy Fighter Wing - Served during the Taros Campaign.1019th Imperial Navy Fighter Wing - Served during the infamous "Black Week" on Typha IV against the Tau.1303rd Imperial Navy Fighter Wing, Serpent Squadron - Served on the Ocean World of Tyrama Secundus.1922nd Imperial Navy Fighter Wing - Served during the Raid on Kastorel-Novem.3659th Imperial Navy Fighter Wing, Harrier Squadron - Fought against the Eldar on the world of Lammas.5th Khulan Imperial Navy Fighter Wing - Served during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade.XX Phantine Air Corps, "Umbra" Flight - Although they theoretically belong to the Imperial Guard, the Phantine Air Corps are often called upon to fight alongside Imperial Navy wings. Umbra Flight abandoned its Lightning fighters for the heavier Thunderbolt shortly before their deployment to Enothis.101st Imperial Navy Pacificus Elite Wing - The lauded "Apostles" are the elite fighter squadrons of the Imperial Navy. The 101st Apostles served during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade and distinguished itself on the world of Enothis.Betalis III Planetary Defence Forces - Served during the defence of Betalis III against the Eldar of Craftworld Mymeara.
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Thunderbolt - Adeptus Mechanicus Technical Specifications: Thunderbolt Heavy FighterTypeHeavy Fighter AircraftOperational Ceiling39,000 Metres w/ Jet EnginesVehicle NameThunderboltMax Speed2,200 kilometres per hourForge World of OriginCypra MundiRange12,000 kilometres in atmosphereKnown PatternsI - XXIMain ArmamentNose-mounted Twin-linked Lascannons, 2 nose-mounted Twin-linked AutocannonsCrew1 PilotSecondary Armament4 Hellstrike Missiles, 4 BombsPowerplant2 F122v Afterburning TurbofansMain Ammunition30 Shot From Battery PacksWeight14 Tonnes EmptySecondary Ammunition400 RoundsLength14.2 MetresArmourWingspan16.06 MetresSuperstructure45 millimetresHeight3.5 Metres w/ Landing Gear DownHull45 millimetres
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Thunderbolt - Sources: Apocalypse (4th Edition), pg. 126Imperial Armour Volume One - Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy, pp. 223-228Imperial Armour Volume One - Imperial Guard (Second Edition), pg. 266Imperial Armour Volume Three - The Taros Campaign, pg. 92Imperial Armour Volume Six - The Siege of Vraks - Part Two, pg.71Imperial Armour Volume Eight - The Raid on Kastorel-Novem, pg. 46Imperial Armour Volume Eleven - The Doom of Mymeara, pg. 105Imperial Armour Volume Twelve - The Fall of Orpheus, pp. 25, 206, 208-209Imperial Armour Aeronautica, pp. 9-11, 76-84Aeronautica Imperialis (Rulebook), pp. 6, 9, 12, 20Tactica Aeronauica, pg. 28The Horus Heresy - Book Four: Conquest by Alan Bligh, pg. 275The Sabbat Worlds Crusade (Background Book), pp. 27, 82Double Eagle (Novel) by Dan AbnettPandorax (Novel), by C.Z.Dunn
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Thunderbolt - Also See: LightningImperial Guard Vehicles
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Thundercoil Harpoon - Thundercoil Harpoon: The Thundercoil Harpoon is one of the primary armaments of the Dominus-class Knight Valiant, which is a super-heavy Imperial Knight specialised for close combat. The Thundercoil Harpoon is a rather unusual weapon: it is a huge spear of adamantium fitted with pneumatic grapnels and attached by thick chains to an electrothaumic generator, allowing it to be fired then reeled back in time and again.Not only does its impaling mass gouge massive wounds in larger targets while crushing smaller victims outright, but once the harpoon has hit home, the Noble pilot can trigger their generator and send a massive electrical charge through the chain. Arcing electrogheists leap from the harpoon, cooking monstrous beasts from the inside out and overloading the circuitry and power supplies of enemy war engines.
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Thunderer Siege Tank - Thunderer Siege Tank: The Thunderer Siege Tank is a close-range infantry support vehicle used by the Astra Militarum that was developed to replace lost Leman Russ Demolisher tanks by using the unused chassis of Destroyer Tank Hunter tanks.While not as effective as the Leman Russ Demolisher due to its lack of secondary weaponry, the Thunderer has found its role in providing potent infantry support at close ranges against fixed targets and for limited times because of its inability to store large amounts of ammunition.The Thunder Siege Tank is produced at Forge Worlds that cannot manufacture the Heavy Laser Destroyer weapon needed for the Destroyer Tank Hunter. As the Thunderer Siege Tank is a replacement vehicle, it is not included in any known Imperial unit's official order of battle.
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Thunderer Siege Tank - History: The Thunderer was developed as a field conversion sometime during the 38th Millennium by a Departmento Munitorum field workshop as a replacement for lost Leman Russ Demolisher tanks. Using a Destroyer Tank Hunter chassis and a spare Demolisher Cannon, the field workshop was able to quickly replace lost Leman Russ Demolisher tanks.Due to the advanced technology used in the Destroyer Tank Hunters' Heavy Laser Destroyer being very difficult to repair and costly to manufacture, there are many unused Destroyer Tank Hunter chassis that can be retrofitted with a Demolisher Cannon. After stripping out the Laser Destroyer and its capacitors and batteries and installing the Demolisher Cannon there is only room for 18 rounds, and thus the tank cannot operate for long periods of time.
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Thunderer Siege Tank - Armament: The Thunderer Siege Tank is armed with a single forward-firing Demolisher Cannon and no other weapons. The Thunderer has extra armour added to its dorsal surface due to its need for protection from enemies who have fortified themselves within tall buildings during urban combat.The Thunderer can be upgraded with a Pintle-Mounted Heavy Stubber or a Pintle-Mounted Storm Bolter, camo-netting, Extra Armour Plating, a Hunter-Killer Missile Launcher, improved communications equipment, a minesweeper, rough terrain modifications, Searchlights, track guards, and Smoke Launchers.Another unnamed variant of the Thunderer is known to exist, which instead of a Demolisher Cannon is equipped with a Battle Cannon or a Vanquisher Cannon, and is used by armoured regiments when they lack an adequate number of functioning Leman Russ tanks.
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Thunderer Siege Tank - Notable Users of the Thunderer Siege Tank: 8th Pardus Armoured Regiment8th Necromundan RegimentArmageddon Steel Legion18th Catachan Jungle Fighters Regiment21st Death Korps of Krieg Panzer Division, "Death's Head"21st Palladius Armoured Regiment4th Vastadt Independent Tank Regiment - Took part in the 2nd Saint Saen CrusadeSkitarii Mars Regiments17th Tallarn Armoured Regiment179th Death Korps of Krieg - The 179th Death Korps of Krieg Regiment made extensive use of the Thunderer Siege Tank during the Siege of Vraks.
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Thunderer Siege Tank - Adeptus Mechanicus Technical Specifications: Vehicle Name:ThundererMain Armament:Demolisher CannonForge World of Origin:Field ConversionSecondary Armament:N/AKnown Patterns:I - IITraverse:5 degreesCrew:1 Commander, 1 Driver, 1 GunnerElevation:-3 to 12 degreesPowerplant:HL230 v12 Multi-FuelMain Ammunition:18 RoundsWeight:52 TonnesSecondary Ammunition:N/ALength:7.08 metresArmour:Width:4.86 metresHeight:3.40 metresSuperstructure:200 millimetresGround Clearance:.45 metresHull:150 millimetresMax Speed On-Road:32 kilometres per hourGun Mantlet:150 millimetersMax Speed Off-Road:22 kilometres per hourVehicle Designation:0427-941-2020-LR01Transport Capacity:N/AFiring Ports:N/AAccess Points:N/ATurret:N/A
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Thunderer Siege Tank - Sources: Imperial Armour, pp. 8-9, 38Imperial Armour Volume One - Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy, pp. 73-78Imperial Armour Volume One - Imperial Guard (Second Edition), pp. 57-62, 267Imperial Armour Volume Five - The Siege of Vraks - Part OneImperial Armour Volume Twelve - The Fall of Orpheus, pp. 166-202Gaunt's Ghosts Omnibus: The Saint (Novel) by Dan Abnett, pg. 57
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Thunderer Siege Tank - Also See: Imperial Guard VehiclesImperial Vehicles
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Thunderfire Cannon - Thunderfire Cannon: The Thunderfire Cannon is a colossal, quad-barrelled artillery gun designed to excel in a static point defence role for the Adeptus Astartes. Each is capable of firing and reloading at a punishing rate, unleashing salvo after salvo of high explosive shells, pounding the enemy into oblivion. Only the brave or the foolish dare advance forwards in the face of such overwhelming firepower.Space Marines task forces strike hard and fast, and a unit that cannot maintain a rapid advance swiftly becomes a liability. For this reason, most of their support weapons are mounted on vehicle chassis that can keep pace with the rest of the force, as can be seen with the Vindicator and Whirlwind, but the Thunderfire Cannons are the one exception to the rule.Mounted on rugged track units, Thunderfire Cannons can traverse almost any terrain to reach the optimum firing position. Though they can move under their own power, they are normally deployed from Thunderhawk gunships or by Drop Pod, brought in when Space Marine forces need to crack a foe's strongpoint position or halt a sudden enemy breakthrough in its tracks.Those enemies that get too close will soon be engulfed in a wave of explosions that never seems to cease. Each Thunderfire Cannon is tended to by a single Techmarine Gunner who uses his bulky Servo-harness to reload the artillery piece whilst calculating optimal firing trajectories.The Techmarine manning a Thunderfire Cannon can set its shells to detonate in a variety of different ways, depending on the tactical situation.Surface detonations are employed against numerous enemies in comparatively clear terrain, airburst shells are used to scour a foe from cover, and the Techmarine can even program the shells to burrow deep into the ground before detonating; though the force of the blast from such Tremor Shells is greatly reduced, the resulting shockwave is sufficient to leave the foe sprawling, making them easy prey for his brother Space Marines.
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Thunderfire Cannon - Unit Composition: 1-3 Thunderfire Cannons with 1 Techmarine Gunner per cannon
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Thunderfire Cannon - Wargear: A standard Thunderfire Cannon is armed and equipped with:Thunderfire CannonA Thunderfire Cannon's Techmarine gunner is armed and equipped with:Bolt PistolFrag GrenadesKrak GrenadesServo-Harness with a built-in Plasma Cutter, Flamer and two Servo-Arms
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Thunderfire Cannon - Adeptus Mechanicus Technical Specifications: The full technical specifications of the Thunderfire Cannon have not yet been made public by the Adeptus Mechanicus.
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Thunderfire Cannon - Trivia: The Thunderfire Cannon is similar in appearance to the Astartes Quad Launcher found on the Achilles-Alpha Pattern Land Raider and the Rapier Carrier that were once used by the Space Marine Legions during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy.
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Thunderfire Cannon - Sources: Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines (8th Edition), pp. 85, 174Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), "Thunderfire Cannons"Codex: Space Marines (8th Edition) (Revised Codex), pp. 67, 152Codex: Space Marines (6th Edition), pp. 93, 175Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition), pg. 73
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Thunderhawk - Thunderhawk: The Thunderhawk gunship is used by the Adeptus Astartes as their primary means of deploying forces for ground combat as well as their primary source of air support. The Thunderhawk gunship is often considered the lynchpin of any Space Marine Chapter, as it is able to fulfill many combat roles.The Thunderhawk is fully capable of functioning as an orbital drop ship, a heavy ground attack gunship, or as a bomber. The aircraft is able to quickly carry Space Marine forces from orbiting starships down into the midst of a battle, while at the same time providing supporting fire against enemy ground or air targets.Even though the Thunderhawk is a large vehicle, it is controlled with a relatively small crew, which includes the Techmarine pilot, co-pilot, gunner, and navigator.
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Thunderhawk - History: The Thunderhawk gunship was first developed for service in the Legiones Astartes during the later days of the Emperor's Great Crusade in the final century of the 30th Millennium. The Thunderhawk was designed to bridge the gap in size and capacity between the smaller Legion craft such as the Storm Eagle and the larger, much more costly Stormbird and Argo Drop Ships.Early on, the Thunderhawk was not popular with some of the Space Marine Legions, as they had grown attached to their Stormbirds and their ability to transport more units into battle than the smaller and more compact Thunderhawk, yet by the outbreak of the Horus Heresy the Thunderhawk had proved itself a worthy addition to any Legion's fleet, and was mass-produced to meet the on-going demands of the war. Eventually the Thunderhawk was widely used by all 18 of the Legiones Astartes during the Horus Heresy.The craft was produced in such numbers that after the war ended and the Loyalist Legions were broken down into smaller Chapters many of the newly formed Chapters would find themselves with many Thunderhawks, and only a few if any of the larger craft. As a testament to the craft's design, and how easy they are to produce, the Thunderhawk has far outlived the Stormbird and Argo Drop Ships in usefulness and is still the main assault-craft used by both the Loyalist Astartes of the Imperium and the Traitor Legions of Chaos after nearly 10,000 standard years.
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Thunderhawk - Construction: The Thunderhawk gunship is amongst the most advanced and technologically sophisticated machines in use by the Imperium. Each and every Thunderhawk is packed with advanced targeting, sensory, communication, avionics, and navigational equipment, all of which is protected by its thick hull.The armour used in the construction of the Thunderhawk is the same as that used in the creation of the Land Raider. This special armour plating is comprised of a composite of ablative ceramite, absorption and dissipation materials, thermoplas fibre mesh, titanium rolled plates, and an adamantium inner hull all layered together to provide excellent shielding against heat, during orbital entry and exits and from energy-based weaponry.This armour has given the Thunderhawk a reputation as a very robust aircraft, and it is capable of taking large amounts of damage while still remaining in the air. The aircraft is capable of smashing its way past enemy interceptor craft and anti-air fire and safely landing its cargo of Astartes behind enemy lines, or deploying them into the midst of the foe.The Thunderhawk's internal systems are just as robust as its outer protective armour; the vehicle's primary narrow-band, long-range communications vox transmitter is situated on top of the aircraft's fuselage and is controlled by the vehicle's navigator and co-pilot. This system, along with its sensor array and electronic countermeasures, is capable of jamming enemy sensors and tracking equipment, making it difficult for enemy aircraft to lock-on to the aircraft.The Thunderhawk's navigational equipment, which allows the craft to easily find its landing coordinates and safely reach its destination whether it is in space or on a planet's surface, is also capable of relaying data to other Space Marine forces. If a Thunderhawk is ever shot down during combat, the vehicle will activate its emergency locator beacon, which will start broadcasting its position to the rest of the Space Marine forces, allowing the quick rescue of any survivors, and the recovery of the aircraft itself.The Thunderhawk is equipped with traditional flare launchers that are located on the lower rear section of the aircraft's fuselage, allowing it to have a better chance of evading enemy heat-seeking air-to-air weaponry.The Thunderhawk features many unusual features: one such is its two "attack wings". These small wings are located above the craft's main pair of larger wings. These attack wings are locked down to the main wings during normal flight, but during an attack run the wings are released and while they are unlocked they are able to provide the aircraft with additional directional stability, making the Thunderhawk a very stable strike platform for the accurate engagement of enemy ground forces from the air.
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Thunderhawk - Engines: While in atmosphere the Thunderhawk is powered by triple RX-92-00 Mars Pattern engines, each of which combines a rocket engine with afterburning, air-breathing turbofans. These engines are mounted on the rear fuselage of the aircraft, and under both of its main wings. These engines allow the aircraft to reach atmospheric speeds of upwards of 2,000 kilometres per hour, depending on planetary conditions such as gravity and air pressure.The Thunderhawk is capable of flying in-atmosphere faster than the Imperial Navy's Marauder Bomber, yet is not as fast as a true interceptor such as the Thunderbolt or Lightning fighters. While the Thunderhawk is in space, its three engines are used as rocket boosters, with the air-breathing turbofan components of the engines isolated from the rest while the hydrogen fuel used by the aircraft's on-board fusion reactor is pumped into the combustion chamber, where it burns to create a highly pressurised, high-velocity stream of gases. These gases flow through the engine's shaped exhaust nozzle, and the forces generated by the gases leaving the engine is able to rapidly propel the craft forwards.The Thunderhawk also features several retro exhaust nozzles that are positioned around the aircraft's hull, and these are used to vent of some of the gases from the engines and to control the aircraft's movements while it is in zero-gravity.
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Thunderhawk - Machine Spirit: The Thunderhawk's many electronic systems are governed by the aircraft's M33 "Cygnus"-class Machine Spirit (onboard computer), which has a cognition speed of 40,000 co/sec and a maximum contemplation capacity of 10,000 kilobrains.The machine also contains aetheric feeding coils, alembic shielding arrays, pseudo-synaptic relays, and phlogiston feed coils. This powerful Machine Spirit is a highly revered item, and is comparable to that used in a Reaver-class Titan.
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Thunderhawk - Transport Capacity: The Thunderhawk may be smaller than the Stormbird it was designed to replace, yet it is still capable of transporting a great deal of cargo. The Thunderhawk can carry up to 30 power armoured Space Marines, or 15 Space Marines in Terminator Armour, as Terminator Armour takes up nearly twice as much space as the normal patterns of Power Armour.The craft can also carry vehicles, such as a single Dreadnought, which takes the place of 5 normal Space Marines, or a single Assault Bike squadron, where each Assault Bike takes up the room usually used for 3 Space Marines. The craft can also take Attack Bikes into combat, where each Attack Bike takes up as much room as 4 Space Marines.When the Thunderhawk lands it opens the forward ramp located under the aircraft's cockpit, allowing all those aboard to deploy under the covering fire of the vehicle's forward-mounted twin-linked Heavy Bolters. The aircraft also has two smaller doors located on its sides, which allow infantry to exit in more peaceful circumstances.
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Thunderhawk - Armament: The Thunderhawk gunship is capable of carrying a fearsome array of weaponry depending on which type of mission it has been tasked for and is able to undertake a wide array of battlefield roles. The basic armament of the Thunderhawk gunship is that of 4 twin-linked Heavy Bolters located near the front of the craft's fuselage and under the aircraft's main wings, 2 Lascannons located under the wings, and a dorsal-mounted Battle Cannon known as a Thunderhawk Cannon.The aircraft can also be outfitted with up to 6 Hellstrike Missiles, and 6 triple bomb pylons, for a total of 18 bombs. The aircraft can replace its dorsal-mounted Thunderhawk Cannon with a Turbo-Laser Destructor for extra firepower. The craft is also capable of carrying large guided bombs with various warheads, which are used during bombing missions.The Thunderhawk can be outfitted with an armoured cockpit and illumination flares. During the later decades of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy eras in the late 30th and early 31st Millennia, the Thunderhawk gunship could also be outfitted with a Flare Shield. Flare Shields were similar to present-day Imperial Void Shield technology, but were effective on a smaller scale. It is unknown if this technology is still in use in parts of the Imperium in the late 41st Millennium or if it has been lost over the millennia like so much else from that era.During these ancient times it was also common practise to equip Thunderhawks with an additional layer of ceramite plating, for added protection against enemy fire. The Thunderhawk's weapon systems are able to be swapped out to better suit whatever combat role it has been given. The basic armament of the Thunderhawk (as described above) is usually used for standard Astartes troop insertion missions. There are several other standard mission loadout packages the Thunderhawk can be outfitted with, including the following:
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Thunderhawk - Troop Insertion Mission: 1 dorsal-mounted Thunderhawk Cannon, or Turbo-Laser Destructor2 wing-mounted Lascannons2 front fuselage-mounted twin-linked Heavy Bolters2 wing-mounted twin-linked Heavy Bolters
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Thunderhawk - Close Air Support Mission: 1 dorsal-mounted Thunderhawk Cannon, or Turbo-Laser Destructor2 wing-mounted Lascannons2 front fuselage-mounted twin-linked Heavy Bolters2 wing-mounted twin-linked Heavy Bolters6 wing-mounted Hellstrike Missiles
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Thunderhawk - Saturation Bombing Mission: 1 dorsal-mounted Thunderhawk Cannon, or Turbo-Laser Destructor2 wing-mounted Lascannons2 front fuselage-mounted twin-linked Heavy Bolters2 wing-mounted twin-linked Heavy Bolters18 wing-mounted bombs, including several incendiary bombs
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Thunderhawk - Long-Range Bombing Mission: 1 dorsal-mounted Thunderhawk Cannon, or Turbo-Laser Destructor2 wing-mounted Lascannons2 front fuselage-mounted twin-linked Heavy Bolters2 wing-mounted external auxiliary fuel tanks4 wing-mounted large guided bombs, delayed fuse2 wing-mounted large guided bombs, Melta warheads
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Thunderhawk - Naval Intercept Mission: 1 dorsal-mounted Thunderhawk Cannon, or Turbo-Laser Destructor2 wing-mounted Lascannons2 front fuselage-mounted twin-linked Heavy Bolters6 wing-mounted large guided bombs, Plasma warheads2 wing-mounted large guided bombs, Melta warheads
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Thunderhawk - Unit Composition: 1 Thunderhawk gunship (41st Millennium Only)1 Legion Thunderhawk gunship (31st Millennium Only)
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Thunderhawk - Wargear: A standard Thunderhawk gunship is armed and equipped with:Thunderhawk Cannon4 twin-linked Heavy Bolters2 LascannonsHeavy Cluster Bombs (Pylon-mounted)Machine Spirit (artificial intelligence)Void-hardened Hull - Once the Thunderhawk went into mass production to replace the lost stockpiles of the larger multi-role Stormbird, it was quickly realised that a more heavily-armoured version was required for the rigours of prolonged void operations. Thunderhawks and Thunderhawk Transporters outfitted with Void-hardened Hulls have increased protection from enemy fire, particularly around their flanks, and are capable of long-duration exoatmospheric operations.A Thunderhawk gunship may replace its hull-mounted Thunderhawk Cannon with the following:Turbo-Laser DestructorA Thunderhawk gunship of the Grey Knights Chapter may replace its sponson-mounted twin-linked Heavy Bolters with any of the following:Four twin-linked PsycannonsA Thunderhawk gunship may replace its pylon-mounted Heavy Cluster Bombs with the following:Hellstrike Battery (Hellstrike Missiles)
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Thunderhawk - Horus Heresy Wargear: During the late Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras the Thunderhawk gunships of the Legiones Astartes featured different weapon loadout options than those of the 41st Millennium.A standard Legion Thunderhawk gunship is armed and equipped with:Thunderhawk Cannon4 twin-linked Heavy Bolters2 Lascannons6 Hellstrike MissilesArmoured Ceramite PlatingMachine Spirit (artificial intelligence)A Legion Thunderhawk gunship may replace its hull-mounted Thunderhawk Cannon with any of the following:Turbo-Laser DestructorA Legion Thunderhawk gunship may replace all six of its Hellstrike Missiles with the following:Up to 6 Heavy Cluster BombsA Legion Thunderhawk gunship may take the following vehicle equipment:Chaff LauncherIllum FlaresArmoured CockpitFlare ShieldRamjet Diffraction GridVoid-hardened Hull - Once the Thunderhawk went into mass production to replace the lost stockpiles of the larger, multi-role Stormbird, it was quickly realised that a more heavily-constructed version was required for the rigours of prolonged void operations. Thunderhawks and Thunderhawk Transporters outfitted with Void-hardened Hulls have increased protection from enemy fire, particularly around their flanks, and are capable of long-duration exoatmospheric operations.
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Thunderhawk - Variants: The Thunderhawk gunship has a small number of notable variants:Thunderhawk Transporter - The Thunderhawk Transporter is a logistical support variant of the Thunderhawk. The Thunderhawk Transporter is used to quickly transport a Chapter's vehicles from their orbiting Battle Barges or Strike Cruisers to a planet's surface. The Thunderhawk Transporter is not designed for battle and is only armed with two sets of wing-mounted twin-linked Heavy Bolters for self-defense. The Thunderhawk Transporter is similar in appearance to the standard Thunderhawk with the exception of the missing dorsal-mounted heavy weapon and the addition of an extra engine mount. Additionally, the aircraft's 4 engines are mounted on its wings as opposed to having one mounted on the rear fuselage. The aircraft's troop compartment is removed and replaced with a set of large magnetic clamps to hold on to its cargo of vehicles. The Thunderhawk Transporter is capable of carrying up to two Rhino-sized vehicles or a single Land Raider-sized vehicle. The aircraft also sports a powerful winch which allows it to recover Drop Pods from the field.Grey Knights Thunderhawk gunship - Thunderhawks used by the Grey Knights Chapter of Space Marines differ from the standard pattern Thunderhawk. The Grey Knights Thunderhawk's armour, like most of the Grey Knights' vehicles, makes use of psycho-reactive armour plating as well as the psychically-active Aegis system, which provides the aircraft with extra protection from daemonic and Warp-based weaponry. The aircraft's standard Heavy Bolters are often replaced with devastating Psycannons and the vehicle's Hellstrike Missiles are replaced with Mindstrike Missiles. These changes allow the Grey Knights to be more effective in combat against Chaos Daemons and Renegade psykers and Chaos Sorcerers.Chaos Thunderhawk gunship - Thunderhawks are also used by the Traitor Legions and Renegade Space Marine Chapters. Chaos Thunderhawks are similar to their Imperial counterpart in nearly every way. However, Thunderhawks used by the Traitor Legions are usually twisted and disfigured by their time spent in the Eye of Terror, where they are affected by the tides of the Warp. Chaos Thunderhawks are also usually customised by their Chaos Space Marine owners and covered in blasphemous Chaotic iconography. Many Thunderhawks in service to the Traitor Legions also have their Machine Spirits (Artificial Intelligence) replaced by a possessing daemon. The Thunderhawks used by Chaos Space Marines are used to transport their ground troops and vehicles to a planet's surface and back into orbit to a waiting mothership. It is unknown if Chaos Thunderhawks are armed with different types of weapons or attachments from those available to their Loyalist counterparts.
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Thunderhawk - Known Users of the Thunderhawk Gunship: All Loyalist Space Marine ChaptersAll Chaos Space Marine Traitor Legions and warbandsAll Renegade Space Marine Chapters and warbands
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Thunderhawk - Notable Known Thunderhawk Gunships: Gladius - The Gladius is the personal Thunderhawk of the Ultramarines 2nd Company's Captain Cato Sicarius.Xiphos - The Xiphos is a famed Thunderhawk gunship of the Ultramarines Chapter.Pilum - The Pilum is a well-known Thunderhawk gunship of the Ultramarines Chapter.Harald IV - The Harald IV is a well-known Thunderhawk gunship of the Ultramarines Chapter.Stormwalker - The Stormwalker is a Thunderhawk gunship of the Fire Angels Chapter.Sunderer - The Sunderer is a Thunderhawk gunship of the Raptors Chapter.Khorma - The Khorma was a Thunderhawk gunship of the White Scars Legion during the time of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy.Perfection's Flight - The Perfection's Flight was a Thunderhawk gunship of the Emperor's Children Legion during the time of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy.Lance of Jove - The Lance of Jove was a Thunderhawk gunship of the Ultramarines Chapter that was deployed onto the planet Graia.Talon Alpha - The Talon Alpha was a Thunderhawk gunship of the Blood Ravens Chapter that was deployed during the second Aurelian Crusade.
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Thunderhawk - Notable Users: Avenging Sons - The Avenging Sons Space Marine Chapter deployed 5 Thunderhawks during the Taros Campaign against the T'au.Raptors – The Raptors Space Marine Chapter deployed 8 Thunderhawks during the Taros Campaign against the Tau, and several during the Badab War against the Secessionist forces.Red Scorpions – The Red Scorpions Space Marine Chapter deployed 3 Thunderhawks to the planet Beta Anphelion IV to combat escaped Tyranids, and they deployed several during the Siege of Vraks and during the Badab War.Dark Angels – The Dark Angels Space Marine Chapter deployed 16 Thunderhawks during the Siege of Vraks against the Traitor Forces of Apostate Cardinal-Astra Xaphan, and several during the Relief of Rael's World, and many more during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy.Grey Knights – The Grey Knights Space Marine Chapter deployed several Thunderhawks during the Siege of Vraks to combat the daemonic forces unleashed upon the planet by the Forces of Chaos.Angels of Absolution – The Angels of Absolution Space Marine Chapter deployed several Thunderhawks to Vraks Prime during the Siege of Vraks.Raven Guard – The Raven Guard Space Marine Chapter deployed several Thunderhawks during the Imperial raid on the Ork-held world of Kastorel-Novem, and many more during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy.Fire Angels – The Fire Angels Space Marine Chapter deployed several Thunderhawks during the Badab War to combat the Secessionist Forces of the Tyrant of Badab, Lufgt Huron.Star Phantoms – The Star Phantoms Space Marine Chapter deployed several Thunderhawks during the Badab War.Salamanders – The Salamanders Space Marine Chapter deployed 7 Thunderhawks during the Badab War, and many more during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy.Minotaurs – The Minotaurs Space Marine Chapter deployed 2 Thunderhawks during the Badab War.Space Wolves – The Space Wolves Space Marine Chapter deployed several Thunderhawks during the defense of the Imperial Mining World of Betalis III against the Eldar of Craftworld Mymeara, and many more during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy.Blood Ravens – The Blood Ravens Space Marine Chapter deployed several Thunderhawks during the Tartarus Campaign, the Dark Crusade, the Kaurava Campaign, and three Aurelian Crusades.Ultramarines – The Ultramarines Space Marine Chapter deployed several Thunderhawks during the Devastation of Boros, the Damnos Campaign, the Joran Retaliation Force, and many more during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy.Dark Hands – The Dark Hands Space Marine Chapter deployed several Thunderhawks during the Chinchare Hrud Infestation.Black Templars – The Black Templars Space Marine Chapter deployed several Thunderhawks during the Third War for Armageddon against the Orks and during their many Crusades.White Scars –The White Scars Space Marine Chapter deployed five Thunderhawks on the planet of Cernis IV and another nine on the world of Quintus during Kor'sarro Khan's Hunt for Voldorius.
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Thunderhawk - Notable Conflicts: Thunderhawk gunships have been widely used during numerous Imperial military campaigns and crusades wherever the Adeptus Astartes are deployed, including:Great CrusadeHorus HeresyThird War for ArmageddonAchilus CrusadeAssault on Black ReachHunt for VoldoriusDamocles Gulf CrusadeBattle of The FangSiege of VraksBadab WarAurelian CrusadesDark CrusadeKaurava CampaignMacharian Crusade
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Thunderhawk - Adeptus Mechanicus Technical Specifications: Thunderhawk GunshipTypeOrbital DropshipOperational CeilingN/AVehicle NameThunderhawk GunshipMax Speed2,000 kilometres per hour (approx.)World of OriginMarsRange28,000 kilometres in atmosphereKnown PatternsI - XXIMain Armament1x dorsal-mounted Thunderhawk Cannon, 1x wing-mounted twin-linked LascannonsCrew1 Pilot, 1 Gunner, 1 Co-pilot, 1 NavigatorSecondary Armament2x front fuselage-mounted twin-linked Heavy Bolters, 2x wing-mounted twin-linked Heavy BoltersPowerplant3 x RX-92-00 Combination Rocket / Air-Breathing Afterburning TurbofansMain Ammunition28 Rounds / UnlimitedWeight121.0 TonnesSecondary Ammunition2,400 RoundsLength26.6 MetresArmourWingspan26.65 MetresSuperstructure55 millimetresHeight9.8 MetresHull65 millimetresVehicle Designation:5463-028-7108-TH 007Transport Capacity30 Space Marines or 15 Terminator Marines or 1 Dreadnought or 1 Assault or Attack Bike squadron
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Thunderhawk - Sources: Imperial Armour Index: Forces of the Adeptus Astartes (8th Edition), pp. 38, 51Imperial Armour Volume Two - Space Marines and Forces of the Inquisition, pp. 154-172, 210-214Imperial Armour Volume Two, Second Edition - War Machines of the Adeptus Astartes, pp. 25, 121-129, 217-219Imperial Armour Volume Three - The Taros Campaign, pp. 22, 31, 33, 54, 150-151Imperial Armour Volume Four - The Anphelion Project, pp. 66, 123Imperial Armour Volume Five - The Siege of Vraks - Part One, pp. 62, 145, 147Imperial Armour Volume Six - The Siege of Vraks - Part Two, pg. 128Imperial Armour Volume Seven - The Siege of Vraks - Part Three, pp. 57, 80-81Imperial Armour Volume Eight - The Raid on Kastorel-Novem, pp. 13, 54, 58Imperial Armour Volume Nine - The Badab War - Part One, pp. 5, 97, 105Imperial Armour Volume Ten - The Badab War - Part Two, pp. 26-27, 54, 165-167Imperial Armour Volume Eleven - The Doom of Mymeara, pg. 124Imperial Armour Volume Twelve - The Fall of Orpheus, pp. 157-159The Horus Heresy: Book One - Betrayal (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 15, 24-25, 226, 233The Horus Heresy - Book Three: Extermination (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 148-149, 182, 276-277The Horus Heresy - Book Seven: Inferno (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 21The Horus Heresy: Legiones Astartes - Age of Darkness Army List pg. 89Imperial Armour Aeronautica, pp. 34-35Imperial Armour Apocalypse II, pg. 36Imperial Armour Update 2003, pp. 4-5Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition), pg. 37The Horus Heresy: Collected Visions, pp. 378, 408Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 126, 163-164Space Marine (Video Game)Dawn of War PC Game SeriesUltramarines Series (Novels)Horus Heresy Series (Novels)Angel Exterminatus (Novel) by Graham McNeill, pp. 53, 371, 397The Hunt for Voldorius (Novel) by Andy HoareThe Night Lords Series (Novels) by Aaron Dembski-BowdenSoul HunterBlood ReaverVoid StalkerForge World Webstore - Thunderhawk Gunship
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Thunderhawk Cannon - Thunderhawk Cannon: The Thunderhawk Cannon is a powerful, oversized, ballistic Battle Cannon that is mounted atop the Adeptus Astartes Thunderhawk gunship. It is larger than the Battle Cannon variant used by the Leman Russ Tank and is intended to be fired at the most vulnerable portions of an enemy position as the Thunderhawk provides air support to Space Marines already on the ground or clear a landing zone of hostile activity before the Thunderhawk deploys its contingent of Astartes.
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Thunderhawk Transporter - Thunderhawk Transporter: The Thunderhawk Transporter is a logistical variant of the standard Thunderhawk gunship used by the Adeptus Astartes to carry Space Marine vehicles into combat zones. The Thunderhawk Transporter, while lacking the firepower of the standard Thunderhawk, is no less important to an Astartes Chapter.The Thunderhawk Transporter can quickly load up to two Rhino sized vehicles of any type, or a single Land Raider sized vehicle, also of any type, from an orbiting Strike Cruiser or Battle Barge and bring those vehicles down safely to a planetary surface. The aircraft can also transport infantry, as long as they are inside of the vehicles before they are picked up.The Thunderhawk Transporter's armament and battlefield role are not the only differences from the standard Thunderhawk gunship. The Transporter variant is equipped with four powerful RX-92-00 combined rocket/air-breathing turbofan engines mounted on its four wings, whereas the standard Thunderhawk only has three, with one mounted on the aircraft's rear fuselage.The biggest difference between the two variants is the complete removal of the standard Thunderhawk aircraft's cargo bay, so that the vehicles to be carried can be safely pulled up under the aircraft for transport. The vehicles are held in place by four robotic arms with large magnetic clamps on their ends. These arms magnetically grip the vehicles and pull them up under the aircraft's main fuselage, where they are protected from the worst of both enemy fire and the heat generated from entering or exiting a planet's atmosphere.The four sets of arms are mounted on a rail system that allows them to be placed in the best possible place to safely and securely pick up a vehicle. When not in use the magnetic arms fold up and retract so as not to be damaged. The Thunderhawk Transporter's powerful engines and magnetic arms allow the aircraft to swoop in and drop off its precious cargo and then quickly resume flight.Other than vehicles, the Thunderhawk Transporter is also capable of ferrying large supply pods which can carry ammunition, fuel, or other important supplies for Space Marine forces operating planetside. During planetary assaults undertaken by the Space Marines these aircraft fly non-stop missions from orbit to the surface, ferrying vehicles and supplies to the forces on the ground from the Astartes' naval assets.
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Thunderhawk Transporter - Armament: The Thunderhawk Transporter is a logistics vehicle, and is armed only with weapons required for self-defence purposes. The Thunderhawk Transporter forgoes many of the standard Thunderhawk gunship's weapons due to their weight and power consumption, which the Transporter needs to efficiently carry its cargoes. The aircraft is only armed with four sets of twin-linked Heavy Bolters. Two sets are present on the end of each of its rear-most wings and two sets are located on the aircraft's forward wings. These weapons help keep the Transporter safe as it loads or unloads its cargo.The aircraft can also be equipped with up to six Hellstrike Missiles, giving it the ability to clear its landing zone of enemy armour. The Transporter can also be outfitted with an armoured cockpit to protect its crew, illumination flares that allow it to light up its landing area in when in darkness or when it is obscured, and a chaff or flare launcher that can be used as a countermeasure against enemy aircraft and enemy heat-seeking ordnance.During the later decades of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy in the late 30th and early 31st Millennia, the Thunderhawk Transporter could also be outfitted with a Flare Shield. Flare Shields were similar to Imperial Void Shield technology, but were effective on a smaller scale. It is unknown if this technology is still in use in parts of the Imperium or if it has been lost over the millennia like so much of the archeotech from that era.Like the Thunderhawk gunship, the Thunderhawk Transporter is also equipped with a powerful Machine Spirit that governs over the aircraft's many electronic systems.
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Thunderhawk Transporter - Unit Composition: 1 Thunderhawk Transporter (41st Millennium Only)1 Legion Thunderhawk Transporter (31st Millennium Only)
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Thunderhawk Transporter - Wargear: A standard Thunderhawk Transporter is armed and equipped with:4 twin-linked Heavy BoltersHellstrike Battery (Hellstrike Missiles)Armoured Ceramite PlatingMachine Spirit (Artificial Intelligence)Void-hardened Hull - Once the Thunderhawk went into mass production to replace the lost stockpiles of the larger multi-role Stormbird, it was quickly realised that a more heavily-conscructed version was required for the rigours of prolonged void operations. Thunderhawks and Thunderhawk Transporters outfitted with Void-hardened Hulls have increased protection from enemy fire, particularly around their flanks.
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Thunderhawk Transporter - Horus Heresy Wargear: During the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras the Thunderhawk Transporters of the Legiones Astartes featured different weapon loadout options than those of the 41st Millennium.A standard Legion Thunderhawk Transporter is armed and equipped with:4 twin-linked Heavy BoltersArmoured Ceramite PlatingMachine SpiritA Legion Thunderhawk Transporter may take the following additional weaponry:Up to 6 Hellstrike MissilesA Legion Thunderhawk Transporter may take the following vehicle equipment:Chaff LauncherIllum FlaresArmoured CockpitFlare ShieldRamjet Diffraction GridVoid-hardened Hull - - Once the Thunderhawk went into mass production to replace the lost stockpiles of the larger multi-role Stormbird, it was quickly realised that a more heavily-constructed version was required for the rigours of prolonged void operations. Thunderhawks and Thunderhawk Transporters outfitted with Void-hardened Hulls have increased protection from enemy fire, particularly around their flanks.
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Thunderhawk Transporter - Known Users of the Thunderhawk Transporter: All Loyalist Space Marine ChaptersAll Renegade Space Marine Chapters and warbands make use of the Thunderhawk Transporter.All of the Traitor Legions make use of their remaining Thunderhawk Transporters.
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Thunderhawk Transporter - Notable Users: Angels of Absolution – The Angels of Absolution Chapter deployed several Thunderhawk Transporters to Vraks Prime during the Siege of Vraks.Avenging Sons - The Avenging Sons Chapter deployed 3 Thunderhawk Transporters during the Taros Campaign against the Tau.Dark Angels – The Dark Angels Chapter deployed 22 Thunderhawk Transporters during the Siege of Vraks against the Traitor Forces of Apostate Cardinal-Astra Xaphan.Mantis Warriors – The Mantis Warriors Chapter deployed several Thunderhawk Transporters during the Badab War.Minotaurs – The Minotaurs Chapter deployed 4 Thunderhawk Transporters during the Badab War.Raptors – The Raptors Chapter deployed 12 Thunderhawk Transporters during the Taros Campaign against the Tau, and several during the Badab War against the Secessionist forces.Raven Guard – The Raven Guard Chapter deployed several Thunderhawks during the Imperial raid on the Ork-held world of Kastorel-Novem.Red Scorpions – The Red Scorpions Chapter deployed 3 Thunderhawk Transporters to the planet Beta Anphelion IV to combat escaped Tyranids, and they also deployed several during the Siege of Vraks and the Badab War.Salamanders – The Salamanders Chapter deployed 4 Thunderhawk Transporters during the Badab War.
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Thunderhawk Transporter - Notable Thunderhawk Transporters: Maledictor Audax - The Maledictor Audax is a Thunderhawk Transporter of the Mantis Warriors Chapter that participated in many of the battles of the Badab War.
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Thunderhawk Transporter - Adeptus Mechanicus Technical Specifications: Thunderhawk TransporterTypeOrbital TransporterOperational CeilingN/AVehicle NameThunderhawk TransporterMax Speed2,000 kilometres per hour (approx.)World of OriginMarsRange28,000 kilometres in atmosphereKnown PatternsI - XIMain Armament4 wing-mounted twin-linked Heavy BoltersCrew1 Pilot, 1 Co-pilotSecondary ArmamentN/APowerplant4 x RX-92-00 Combination Rocket / Air-Breathing Afterburning TurbofansMain Ammunition2,200 RoundsWeight105.0 TonnesSecondary AmmunitionN/ALength28.8 MetresArmourWingspan26.65 MetresSuperstructure45 millimetresHeight8.6 MetresHull45 millimetresVehicle Designation:5463-028-7108-TH 011Transport Capacity2 Rhino type vehicles, 1 Land Raider type vehicle or 1 Spartan Assault Tank type vehicle
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Thunderhawk Transporter - Also See: Imperial Vehicles
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Thunderhawk Transporter - Sources: Imperial Armour Index: Forces of the Adeptus Astartes (8th Edition), pg. 39Imperial Armour Volume Two - Space Marines and Forces of the Inquisition, pp. 154-172Imperial Armour Volume Three - The Taros Campaign, pp. 44, 54, 122, 247-250Imperial Armour Volume Four - The Anphelion Project, pg. 123Imperial Armour Volume Five - The Siege of Vraks - Part One, pp. 63, 147Imperial Armour Volume Six - The Siege of Vraks - Part Two, pg. 128Imperial Armour Volume Seven - The Siege of Vraks - Part Three, pg. 95Imperial Armour Volume Eight - The Raid on Kastorel-Novem, pp. 13, 81Imperial Armour Volume Ten - The Badab War - Part Two, pp. 26, 27, 72, 165-167The Horus Heresy: Book One - Betrayal (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 8, 15, 227, 234, 240The Horus Heresy: Legiones Astartes - Age of Darkness Army List pg. 88Imperial Armour Aeronautica, p. 36Imperial Armour Apocalypse, p. 28Imperial Armour Apocalypse (2nd Edition), p. 23Imperial Armour Update 2006, p. 12
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Thunderstrike - Thunderstrike: The Thunderstrike Assault Gun, usually simply called a Thunderstrike, was a heavy, mobile artillery piece preferentially deployed by the Iron Warriors Space Marine Legion during the battles of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy.A Thunderstrike was the preferred artillery piece of the Iron Warriors' elite Stor-Bezashk siege units.
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Thunderstrike Gauntlet - Thunderstrike Gauntlet: The Thunderstrike Gauntlet is a massive Power Fist that is used as a melee weapon by the combat walkers of the Questor Imperialis, the Imperial Knights, and by the Renegade Knights of the Questor Traitoris. A super-charged Power Weapon, the Thunderstrike Gauntlet crackles with a barely contained nimbus of energy that by merely clenching the fist can cause shock-waves to emanate outwards and sparks of incandescent fury and sizzling arcs of energy.When used against a foe in close combat, it releases a deafening thunderclap that can crumple protective armour and completely pulverise its target. When the Thunderstrike Gauntlet is swung by the Knight the sheer forces delivered by the blow can send towering monsters or vehicles flying into nearby infantry or other vehicles, crushing them to dust. Knights armed with a Thunderstrike Gauntlet are capable of defeating monstrous xenos in a single strike, and have been known to smash into the legs of enemy Titans, toppling them into broken ruin.
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Thunderstrike Gauntlet - Variants: Due to the sheer diversity of Knight Worlds and Forge Worlds in the Imperium there exist a multitude of minor variants of the Thunderstrike Gauntlet, each different from the last in a number of distinct ways. The known variants include:Thunderstrike Gauntlet with Lightning Claws - A rare variant of the Thunderstrike Gauntlet, this version is similar to an Astartes Lightning Claw and features three adamantium blades that protrude from just above the knuckles of the fist, each sheathed in a powerful disruption field. These weapons are capable of causing even more damage to the enemy than the standard pattern.
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Thunderstrike Gauntlet - Sources: Codex: Imperial Knights (7th Edition), pp. 16, 21, 24, 29-30, 115Warhammer 40,000: Index - Chaos (8th Edition), pg. 109Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade (Video Game)
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Thuyela - Thuyela: Thuyela was an Aeldari Craftworld of unrecorded but probably minor size that survived the Fall of the Aeldari and was encountered by the 40th Expeditionary Fleet of the Great Crusade at an unknown date in the late 30th Millennium, in an area of the galaxy simply designated as Kobolt space. It was utterly destroyed by the Space Wolves Space Marine Legion.
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Thuyela - History: During the Great Crusade in the late 30th Millennium, the 40th Expeditionary Fleet encountered a race of unusually humanoid xenos in Kobolt space who were lethal and proud, and had no interest in human affairs. The xenos' base of operations was a great transparent vessel that sparkled as if it was made of glass, and so was nicknamed by them as "Scintilla City." It was in actuality an Aeldari Craftworld, and was called Thuyela in the Aeldari Lexicon.True to their capricious nature, the Aeldari of Thuyela attacked the 40th Expeditionary Fleet without apparent reason or explanation, and managed to fight the Imperial fleet to a standstill. Fleet commanders called for the help of the Space Marines. An unrecorded number or Great Company of Space Wolves Astartes answered the call and quickly overcame the xenos.As "Scintilla City" shattered around them, the desperate Aeldari realised that all would be lost if they continued to fight, and the xenos attempted to plead for terms. Imperial commanders involved in the action might have been content to naively negotiate a surrender, but the Space Wolves were not. Thuyela was sacked and its people slaughtered by the Space Wolves.It was so completely destroyed that there was nothing left for the Imperial forces to recover or plunder. The fate of Thuyela's survivors, if any, is not recorded in Imperial records.The senior mortal commanders of the 40th Expeditionary Fleet were so horrified by the incident that they were left with a disinclination to call upon the ferocity of the Space Wolves again, until they were forced to do so in the assault upon the Olamic Quietude homeworld not long after.
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Tiber Achilus - Tiber Achilus: Tiber Achilus was a general officer of the Astra Militarum and the original Lord Militant, Warmaster and namesake of the Achilus Crusade to retake the Jericho Reach for the Imperium of Man.Much of what has come to pass during the Imperium's great crusade into the Jericho Reach can be laid at the feet of one man: Tiber Achilus.During its planning and early years, the Lord Militant was the catalyst of nearly every move the Imperium's forces made within the lost sector, even influencing the decisions and actions of those only nominally under his control such as the Inquisition, the Ecclesiarchy, the various Space Marine Chapters, and the Deathwatch.Imperial scholars and historians have often used an ancient adage when talking of the Achilus Crusade, "If you know the man, you will know the mission." The truth of this wisdom can be seen in every fortified world and every glorious victory and every ignominious defeat which mark his nine standard years in command of the Imperium's bid to reclaim the Reach.Those that dig deeper into the man that was Tiber Achilus, however, have found more questions than answers and some disturbing and damning coincidences.
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Tiber Achilus - Origins: The story of Tiber Achilus began thousands of light years from the Jericho Reach and many years before the Imperium's discovery of the Warp Gate that connected the Calixis Sector to the Reach. Born in the Ixaniad Sector on the Hive World of Lordrium, Achilus was a product of a long and noble line of generals and commanders which had served the Ixaniad Sector's lords for centuries.The lexographers of Lordrium however record his birth year as laced with prophecy and portent. It was written that on the day of his birth there was an unanticipated convergence of Lordrium's seven moons and a rolling eclipse that lasted for almost a solar week over the hive city in which he lived.Other signs included sightings of strange visitors to the hive: thin graceful men dressed in robes who never showed their faces and vanished when approached. Strange ships were spotted in orbit, appearing only on the edge of sensor sweeps and disappearing before their existence could be confirmed.These peculiar events however were not associated with the then-infant Achilus, as despite his high birth he was but one of a dozen sons of the Achilus line and merely another spire brat in the eyes of the nobles of Lordrium. As he grew to adulthood, Tiber Achilus began to distinguish himself from his brothers and sisters and live up to the grand legacy of his name.A masterful swordsman and canny tactician, he excelled in the ranks of the Lordrium officer cadre as a cadet, earning a bloody reputation as a duellist even before his second naming day.While his siblings largely succumbed to the vices of nobility and the decadence of their highborn lifestyle, Tiber became even more driven to succeed with each passing year, as if he knew somehow there was a task for which he had been born and which only he could complete.His first taste of combat came during the Redgarvi Ashlander Riots on Lordrium, as a twenty year old officer of the 38th Hive Korlo Planetary Defence Force regiment. As in his previous endeavours, he made a name for himself quickly, securing the hive's central lifters in a series of bloody battles and brutal holding actions against the Redgarvi hordes.For his courage and his skill he was awarded both the Lordrium Silver Shield and a place in the Sector Lord's own personal regiment, the Ixaniad Purebloods.It was over the next forty Terran years in the service of the Purebloods that Tiber Achilus would earn sector-wide reputation, even becoming a known commander in the nearby Scarus and Calixis Sectors for his role in the fringe campaign.These were the years in which he faced the bloodthirsty Khrave, the Sons of the Bleeding Shadow and the Ylarian Collective in the depths of the Halo Stars and on the edge of the Ixaniad Sector.A rising star of the Astra Militarum and stalwart ally of the Imperial Navy, Achilus travelled extensively and made many contacts with the noble houses and prominent Imperial organisations of the region. It was said by those that met the man that he had an air about him, a natural charisma or presence that seemed to call out to those around him and put them at ease.Such was this strange effect he had on both allies and enemies that in the many years he served in the Purebloods, not one of his peers had anything bad to say about him, nor did he seem to make any political foes at all. This feat was remarkable among the Imperial military structure and practically unique among his kind.It was during this period of ascension that one of the more unusual incidents surrounding Achilus occurred. It was while he was campaigning in the Formorian Sector against the Khrave and their allies, cleansing the cursed Sydratie Seven Systems. After defeating a Khrave vanguard fleet around the world of Taryo he made planet-fall with a battalion of Purebloods to clear out any xenos which had escaped the fighting and landed on the world.An uncharted planet, Taryo was a labyrinth of frozen canyons and ice tunnels which forced Achilus to divide his landing party into platoons to find the surviving xenos.After hours of searching, Achilus and the men with him became lost, stumbling into an ancient ruin of strange but familiar architecture. Almost immediately Aeldari pathfinders attacked them and their platoon was cut down in a matter of minutes leaving only Achilus and a few of his troops alive.A secret report from one of these survivors (gathered years later by the Ordo Xenos) recounts what happened next. Apparently even as the leader of the pathfinders loomed over the wounded Achilus to finish him, she seemed to pause, looking closer at the general before turning to her warriors and motioning for them to retreat.Why this occurred was never documented and Achilus never spoke of it, however the eye witnesses swear that when the alien looked at Achilus it seemed to recognise him.
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Tiber Achilus - First Lord Militant of the Crusade: To lead an Imperial Crusade, a commander must have more than just experience, charisma and favour. In such an undertaking it is not enough for a man to be the greatest in his field or the most idolised among his peers, he must have something more.When the Warp Gate to the Jericho Reach was discovered and the first whispers of crusade began to permeate among the upper echelons of the Imperium, Achilus found himself drawn to the cause, struck by the righteousness of conquering the Jericho Reach and bringing its worlds back into the light of the God-Emperor.It was as if this was the moment of greatness he had been waiting for, and typical of his confidence and drive, he wasted no time in rallying support and gathering together allies to make his dream a reality.Here history turns up yet more anomalies and curiosities, as even though Achilus was a man of power and influence, even he should have had a long struggle to win the hearts and minds of three sectors as well as the favour of the High Lords of Terra to mandate his claim to lead the crusade.Typically such a political viper's nest could take Terran years to resolve as families and military commanders circled and skirmished to gain the power to make a petition to the High Lords. In the case of Tiber Achilus it took only solar months.Rivals changed their allegiance when they learnt of his intent, while stubborn holdouts came round to his way of thinking. At the time it was seen as the great charisma and connections Achilus must have had and seemed to speak of his ability to hold together the many factions which would make up a crusade and thus favour him for the job.A closer look however revealed more than just the persuasive tongue of a much loved commander, but in some cases complete shifts in stance or personality for particular opponents. Even the brief spate of assassinations (typical of many a significant ascension within the Imperium) seemed as much for show as to aid Tiber Achilus.For better or worse however in those first months following the formation of the crusade, Tiber Achilus was named Lord Militant and the crusade had begun.Tiber Achilus was only to lead the crusade for nine short standard years, and oversee just the very beginning of its push into the Reach. In that time he proved an able commander and a strong presence for the Imperial forces, holding together the at times fragmented organisations and officers under his control.
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Tiber Achilus - Into the Breach: It was to take several Terran years to gather the needed men and resources for the crusade, and in that time Achilus spent much of his waking hours with his tacticians pouring over the data gathered by the Explorator fleets and advanced scouts.The large region beyond the gate (dubbed the Well of Night due to its lack of worlds or stars) worried him, and he set upon making his first priority finding a suitable world on the edge of the Well in which to set up a permanent Imperial presence within the Reach.Studying the charts of the region around the Warp Gate, Achilus settled on a number of possible life-sustaining worlds that would suit his purposes. Most prominent among them were Karlack, Calisi, Alphos and Spite.Though Calisi and Alphos were closer to the Warp Gate than either Karlack or Spite, Achilus ended up discounting them, even though they would make excellent outposts and strong points. They were too poor in resources to support the kind of production he wanted to eventually put out.Spite was seemingly ideal, however Imperial spies who had visited the world reported that is was tainted by xenos sympathizers and its weak governing council already considering treaty with the approaching T'au Empire.Thus, Achilus chose Karlack, a world still nominally loyal to the Imperium which could be quickly subdued and exploited, and which in turn could be turned into a factory to fuel the crusade.Another concern for Achilus was the nature of the Imperial force he would be commanding, comprising troops and commanders from nearly every arm of the Imperial war machine and coming from scores of worlds and several sectors, sometimes with bitter rivalries.Literally legions of diplomats and liaison officers worked ceaselessly to ensure that those commanders and units with grudges remained in different warzones. Troop ships and camps were often designated for regiments from specific sectors and systems, so that they would not mix with those they either hated or those that were too foreign to be trusted.All of this petty military and planetary rivalry however paled in comparison when measured against the problems Achilus faced when dealing with the Deathwatch, Inquisition, and Ministorum. Loosely under his command, each of these Imperial organisations had their own agendas and ideas as to the role they would play in the coming crusade.The Ministorum, primarily concerned with the bringing of Imperial worlds back into the fold of the Imperial Creed, made extensive demands on Achilus for control over strategic placement of their forces and the right to be the first to land on heathen worlds or deal with heathen governments.In the case of the Inquisition and the Deathwatch, the Warmaster held a pivotal advantage; a secret source amongst the High Lords of Terra had given him much information about the activities of both in the region. Achilus knew full well they held secrets about the Reach which could prove vital to the success of his campaign -- the Deathwatch especially as they maintained a presence in the region and had done so for centuries.Try as he might though, Achilus could not exert any direct power over the Deathwatch's Astartes or force them to pass on their secret knowledge.In a relatively short amount of time Achilus had mustered a mighty armada of vessels and troops and embarked through the Warp Gate and into the Jericho Reach -- its was the eve of the Feast of the Emperor's Ascension in 777.M41.Aboard his flagship the Proclamation of Wrath, Achilus made a pronouncement to his staff officers which was recorded by his war-scribes for the official crusade annuals:"There can be nothing so great as what we do this day and though I may not live to see the completion of this mighty task, I can stand before the God-Emperor when I die and say I was here when it began."Unknown to Achilus, his words would ring more true than he might have suspected. Like a righteous tide, the ships of the crusade spread out from the Warp Gate and set out for the worlds of Calisi, Alphos, Hethgard, Pyrathas, Spite, and Karlack.This was the first phase of the crusade, and part of Achilus' initial plan to take the worlds outlying the Warp Gate and fortify them, creating an impregnable bastion with which to launch further assaults into the sector and with which to protect the Warp Gate itself.Calisi and Alphos fell quickly, within the first year and without great loss to the crusade (the greatest disaster of the Alphos campaign was when the Mars-class Battlecruiser Spirit of Penance incinerated almost an entire regiment of the Terrax Guard due to an error by her captain).Almost immediately, second wave forces moved through the Warp Gate and began the rapid fortification of the worlds, turning what were once minor colonies into towering edifices of plasteel and ferrocrete bristling with Macrocannon and lance turrets.Hethgard and Pyrathas took longer, both due to distance and a greater resistance by their populations. Hethgard especially posed a problem for the crusaders, and though many of its nations and minor city states were welcoming of the Imperium (or at least not foolish enough to oppose it), some resisted or tried to subvert the crusaders.Achilus expressly forbade excessive planetary bombardment as the mines were too valuable, and so it fell to the Astra Militarum to root the enemy out themselves.Though it was not known at the time, agents of the Stigmartus had infiltrated Hethgard and stirred up some of its population against the crusade, turning mines into underground fortress temples and people into slaves of the Dark Gods.Hethgard was eventually subdued, though not before thousands of guardsmen had lost their lives, hacked to death in the dark depths of its mines.In contrast to the other setbacks, Karlack proved a perfect choice for the crusade to create its headquarters and the simple farmers and peasants of that green world welcomed Achilus with open arms. Almost immediately the Lord Militant began to fortify and in a few short Terran years much of the world's forests and farmland had been stripped bare, replaced with hive-like munitoriums and factories or mustering grounds for troops.Everywhere great winches topped deep mines working endlessly as they harvested the world's untapped mineral riches. In orbit, the Adeptus Mechanicus performed an incredible feat of engineering as they built a shipyard from space hulks and second-line vessels. This feat was so large that it could be seen from the planet by the naked eye, glinting in the sky.While Achilus fortified Karlack, his troops were fighting for their lives on Spite. In one of the first great treacheries of the crusade, the people of Spite turned on the crusaders after welcoming them into their cities under banners of treaty.In the great Mirrored Palace, the emissaries of the crusade were cut down in a brutal ambush while all across the landing zones Imperial Guard regiments found themselves suddenly under attack. The rebels of Spite (and their T'au masters) however had badly underestimated the will and strength of the forces arrayed against them.The Imperium's reprisals were swift and brutal. Even before the sun had set on the first day, the Deathwatch (represented by less than half a dozen Kill-teams) had slain the entire high ranking civilian and military command of Spite, including a number of T'au envoys. Within a solar week, the world was in the hands of the Imperium, and though civil unrest would continue for several standard years, the crusaders could now settle in and begin to fortify.Thus with the securing of the key worlds of Karlack, Calisi, Alphos, Hethgard, Pyrathas, and Spite, Achilus had in the space of less than five years secured a foothold within the Jericho Reach. He had created a defensive line which would become known by the Imperium and her enemies alike as the Iron Collar.
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Tiber Achilus - Against the T'au: Entrenched and well supplied, Tiber Achilus now turned his attentions to what he perceived as the first major threat to Imperial dominion with the sector: the T'au.His scouts had already gathered vast amounts of data on the T'au Empire's presence within the Jericho Reach, and even before the crusade was formed it was believed that they would likely be the most significant and well organised opposition any Imperial force would have to face.These initial intelligence reports, as well as what little the Deathwatch were willing to pass on, seemed to paint a picture of a stable and expanding interstellar power with control over a significant number of both Human and xenos worlds.The crusade's experiences with Spite and the sedition of its population was also a factor and certainly for Achilus sealed in his mind the notion that these aliens were his primary adversary.It may have also been because Achilus considered xenos the most significant of all the Imperium’s foes, more insidious and cunning than the Heretic or rebel and more numerous than the daemon or mortal servant of the Warp.This was a special hatred no doubt seared into his personality after decades of fighting Orks, Khrave, and Aeldari raiders among the Halo Stars and its bordering sectors.Whatever the motivation, the result was the same. The Lord Militant chose to make his first and most direct attacks against the T'au, pushing into the southern regions of the Reach to vanquish what he considered his primary foe.Mustering around Karlack and Spite, Achilus marshalled four battle groups, containing the bulk of his ships of the line and roughly half of his front line regiments, drawn largely from the Calixian levies. In the vanguard of each battle group, Achilus placed his shock troops and several companies from the Chapters of Adeptus Astartes operating in the Reach.Rheelas, Argoth, Kaggeran, and Wrath were the targets of these battle groups. Achilus hoped that with overwhelming numbers and by striking all four worlds simultaneously he would triumph over any T'au defenders or T'au sympathisers present, capturing the worlds and their systems in short order.Largely unknown to the crusaders, however, was that the worlds they aimed to assault existed outside the T'au military cordon, and the Velk'Han Sept Fire Caste had already decided to pull back from the advancing Imperials.In their wake, the T'au left behind stealth teams with the dual purposes of confounding the enemy as well as gathering data on his strength and tactics.The assaults on Rheelas, Argoth, and Kaggeran (which would later become collectively known as the "Quarantined Worlds") were swift and decisive. On the Mining World of Rheelas only minor skirmishes marred what otherwise would have been the triumphant return of the Imperium.Within hours of the fleet darkening Rheelas' sky, Adeptus Astartes had taken the Granite Spire of Rhee and placed the world's governor and his staff under their 'protection'. It was a similar story on Argoth and Kaggeran, a few rebels making feeble stands against regiments of guardsmen and planetary leaders quickly bowing to Imperial rule.This was of course according to the plans of the Water Caste, who in the days before the invasion had cautioned patience in their Human allies and a promise that the T'au would return to take their world into the fold of the empire.As a result, Achilus wasted little time setting up garrisons on all three worlds, but moved the bulk of his troops to more pressing warzones. Achilus' failure to completely pacify the quarantined worlds would come back to haunt the crusade long after the Lord Militant's demise.For the moment, however, Rheelas, Argoth and Kaggeran had been taken. It seemed to the commanders that they have overestimated the strength of the T'au so close to the Well of Night, which in turn led to them blundering into an expertly timed counter-attack on the world of Wrath.Wrath was the furthest of the four objective worlds and the only place where the T'au chose to make a stand, largely to test the capabilities of the crusaders. Using auspex bafflers and echo-sentries scattered along the edges of the system, the T'au Tal'Sha Cadre was able to move its fleet in behind the Imperial assault forces undetected.As the crusaders unloaded their vessels from low orbit the T'au attacked, targeting the vulnerable transport ships and strafing the drops as they fell into orbit. In the opening hours of the attack, thousands of guardsmen and millions of tonnes of materiel were lost before they even touched the ground, vaporised or incinerated in their grav-harnesses and cargo cradles.Only the timely intervention of Strike Cruisers from the Dark Sons Chapter managed to stop it becoming a complete massacre and allowed enough troops to land and overwhelm the T'au defensive positions on the planet's surface.In the face of the Space Marine assault, the T'au Tal'Sha Cadre pulled back toward the Black Reef. The T'au forces disengaged smoothly and abandoned the world in the space of mere solar hours, as their commanders had always intended.This was a kind of warfare that at first baffled the Imperial crusaders, and they could not understand how the T'au could so easily give ground or abandon whole worlds. It was, however, the T'au tactical and strategic flexibility which would make them so dangerous.Veteran commanders quickly learned that T'au retreats were usually only preludes to counterattacks, often made once the Imperium had advanced and over-extended its lines.Many commanders urged Achilus to press the T'au, and argued that if they could so easily snatch worlds from the xenos they should make an assault on the T'au core worlds themselves.In fact at the time the T'au were still reacting to the arrival of the crusade and their forces were scattered across the sector (many committed to holding off Stigmartus attacks from those worlds facing the Hadex Anomaly).Thus a decisive and aggressive thrust through their lines might have been successful and prevented much of the carnage which was to follow. Achilus however was mindful of not overextending supply lines and leaving vulnerable worlds in his wake, and so he gave the order to hold, reorganise, and fortify.While his commanders grumbled, the more hot-headed among them considered the "old man" far too cautious, though they could not deny that so far the crusade had been incredibly successful, and it seemed that there was nothing that could halt its progress.Of course these first years were a time that would later become known by the commanders as the "false dawn," a time when the true extent of the Imperium's enemies were still unknown and the true battle for the Reach had not yet begun.
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Tiber Achilus - The First Failures: When the first Imperial scouts had passed through the Warp Gate they found a sector of scattered rebel and alien worlds, but they failed to find any pattern or coordination between them. What they did not discover, and what Achilus was soon to encounter, was the Stigmartus, a sector-spanning cabal of Chaos worshippers.The Stigmartus had dominated the worlds around the Hadex Anomaly and beyond for centuries, soaking entire systems in an endless orgy of blood and depravity. Initially the crusaders thought they faced minor rebels and scattered cults, such as those encountered during the pacification of Hethgard.However as the crusading forces made their first forays into what was once the core of the old Cellebos Sub-sector, they met with organised and powerful resistance.Even as their forces fortified against the T'au and pressed forward into the wild zones of the rimward reaches, the Stigmartus was moving, gathering its forces and making prayers to its dark gods for victory over the servants of the False Emperor.At this time, it was only some members of the Inquisition and the Deathwatch (given their long presence in the Reach) that were fully aware of the extent to which the Stigmartus commanded these core sector worlds, and the staggering amount of resources at their command. It was however a reality which the crusade was soon to face.
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Tiber Achilus - Lost in the Warp: Achilus' death was to prove as interesting and unusual as his life, shrouded in mystery and strange circumstance. It was in the year 786.M41, during a routine voyage from Alphos to Karlack that the Lord Militant's vessel the Proclamation of Wrath was lost to the Warp.While the Warp is always a dangerous place, and no journey through it can ever be said to be completely safe, Achilus and his vessel were lost on a trip that should have taken solar days at most and on a Warp route as established and stable as any within the sector.Stranger still is that of the twelve vessels within his fleet that day only the Wrath was lost; all the others arrived at Karlack completely unharmed.Reports from the other captains and their Navigators are varied as to what happened to the Wrath, some saying it was swallowed by a sudden vortex in the Warp, others that its Geller Field must have failed, allowing the horrors of the Warp to consume it.There were even some reports that Achilus and his vessel had translated from the Warp to realspace, disappearing somewhere into the deep void between worlds. Whatever the truth, the Wrath utterly vanished and Achilus was considered lost.Unwilling to accept such an explanation for the death of the Lord Militant, many agencies and individuals sought answers, not least among them the Inquisition. A secret inquest led by Inquisitor Kya Tellemain of the Ordo Malleus spent the next few years examining logs and hunting down leads.At first Tellemain was convinced that the disappearance of Achilus had been the work of the Stigmartus and the Dark Gods, an elaborate plot to rob the Imperium of one of its greatest leaders. She even discovered fragments of evidence which seemed to point her in the direction she hoped the investigation would lead.Unfortunately such leads always came to nought, and she only ever found more rumours and lies the deeper she dug. The most disturbing of these however, and the one which haunted her entire investigation, was the discovery that the Aeldari assassin Syndilian Shanyr had been sighted on Alphos only hours after the departure of the Lord Militant.Never able to undeniably confirm the sighting or establish why he had been there (the alien left no clues and made no attacks if he had in fact been present) Tellemain could only wonder what role the pathfinder might have had in Achilus' death, and why?Eventually pressure from the new Lord Militant along with the pressing concerns of the crusade put an end to Tellemain's investigation. The official histories recorded that Achilus and his vessel had been lost due to a Geller Field failure; a chance accident which could not have been foreseen.Strangely however Tellemain herself disappeared not long after the investigation was closed, vanishing on a mission deep within the Orpheus Salient. Rumours within the Inquisition speculate that she was silenced for what she knew about the old Lord Militant's death.Whether this is true or not, the day she vanished her Acolytes across the Reach went into hiding, as if they knew they too would soon be hunted for what they had learned.
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Tiber Achilus - Achilus' Legacy: Tiber Achilus' death has been in many ways only the beginning of his role within the crusade that bears his name. In addition to lending his name to the Imperium's grand undertaking, his memory has become a corner stone of the morale and dedication to duty for many of the crusaders.It has even become a tradition among many of the high ranking officers of both the Astra Militarum and Imperial Navy to take vows before Achilus' Cenotaph on Karlack before accepting their posts, pledging their loyalty to the crusade before the tomb of its father.Ostensibly Solomon Tetrarchus seems to embrace this form of honour afforded his predecessor, though in reality he has little control over the ritual or the strong popularity it has garnered in the ranks.In the Imperial Guard, troops favour those officers who have made their pledges at the Cenotaph of Achilus, the regiments responding well to those who have sought out the "Old Man's" favour before embarking on their combat missions. The Imperial Navy is little different, most captains feeling more secure knowing a man with the blessing of Achilus leads them.
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Tiber Achilus - Children of Achilus: In addition to his lingering presence within the minds of the crusade commanders, rumours also persist that Achilus has left behind another more sinister legacy. It is whispered that there exists a cult led by his most loyal officers, men and women deposed by Tetrarchus during the Council of Ashes and who still oppose the new Lord Militant's control of the crusade.Known as the Children of Achilus, it is said that they hold positions throughout the fleets and armies of the crusade, sometimes directly under the control of a veteran of the Council of Ashes, sometimes with no apparent connection to this old guard though loyal nevertheless.Not traitors to the Imperium (at least in their own eyes) the Children of Achilus work in subtle ways to undermine the strength of Tetrarchus within the sector, fouling up logistics, slowing down troop transfers and even passing on false or flawed intelligence to make the new Lord Militant look like a fool or incompetent.The Ordo Hereticus made investigations into these rumours of a disgruntled officer cult within the crusade, though to date their efforts have turned up nothing. This either indicates that the rumours are indeed just rumours, or possibly that the infiltration of the Children of Achilus goes far deeper than even the Inquisition could have suspected.Always willing to favour the more paranoid response, several Inquisitors have chosen the latter and maintain open investigations into the Children. However, in a sector rife with alien sedition and true heresy, most can only spare a few low-ranking Acolytes for such a frivolous endeavour.Thus far their actions have potentially cost thousands of lives, but in the chaos of a full blown Imperial Crusade such military blunders regularly occur and draw little attention.It is said that the Children of Achilus are escalating their operations and are currently planning something momentous to lay at Tetrarchus' door, something even he will not be able to ignore.
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Tiger Claws - Tiger Claws: The Tiger Claws was a former Loyalist Space Marine Chapter descended from the Astral Claws Chapter. Declared lost in 280.M40 and effectively a dead Chapter, a lone Astartes strike cruiser of the Tiger Claws reappeared in 680.M41 after having been trapped in the Warp and subjected to severe time distortion.Their homeworld having been rendered lifeless and their Chapter an all-but-forgotten legend, the acting Chapter Master of the Tiger Claws travelled to Terra to petition for the release of the Chapter's gene-seed in an effort to rebuild the lost Chapter.But the Tiger Claws' envoy subsequently disappeared without trace while awaiting the Senatorum Imperialis' answer to the Chapter's request and their suit was thus summarily dismissed.It was discovered in 908.M41 that during the conflict known as the Badab War the Astral Claws Chapter Master Lufgt Huron had deliberately withheld his Chapter's gene-seed from the Adeptus Mechanicus' regular gene-tithe in order to help save its kin in the Tiger Claws Chapter, the last remnants of which had secretly sought sanctuary with the Astral Claws while awaiting the outcome of their request to the High Lords of Terra. Huron and his fellows hid these surviving Astartes within the Astral Claws' own ranks, providing them with new identities and ranks.Only 200 Astral Claws ultimately survived the final Imperial assault upon their homeworld of Badab Primaris during the Badab War in 912.M41, and these Astartes, all corrupted by Chaos, fled with the maimed body of their leader into the Maelstrom, where they founded a new Renegade Space Marine warband known as the Red Corsairs.The Red Corsairs proceeded to carve out their own Renegade empire within this hellish realm. It is possible that some of these corrupted Astral Claw brethren were in fact Tiger Claws, and these Astartes now survive amongst the Red Corsairs.
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