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Tyrant's Gate - Tyrant's Gate: Tyrant's Gate is a world dedicated to many forms of corruption and heresy located in the Imperium Nihilus in either the Segmentum Obscurus or the Segmentum Ultima.In the Era Indomitus Tyrant's Gate serves as a major naval base for the piratical Chaos Space Marines called the Red Corsairs and other Chaos forces under the command of the Chaos Lord Huron Blackheart, the former Tyrant of Badab. |
Tyrant's Gate - History: The naval power of the Red Corsairs Heretic Astartes under the command of their Chaos Lord Huron Blackheart has grown to the point that he is capable of threatening entire Imperial sub-sectors and defeating even large Navis Imperialis flotillas in open void warfare.With the opening of the Great Rift in the Era Indomitus, the Warp rift of the Maelstrom where the Red Corsairs long made their lair has become but a part of a far larger empyric anomaly and Blackheart and his raiders have become expert at negotiating the greatly expanded fringe regions between the Immaterium and realspace.Blackheart has established numerous secret staging bases throughout these liminal zones, and at least one significant base deep within the Imperium Nihilus.Known as Tyrant's Gate, this world seethes with corruption and heresy of many different kinds. Every vice imaginable can be found within its dense, towering cities. Circling the planet like a dark crown are dozens of orbital docks, weapon shops and defence batteries, all under te authority of Blackheart, while in the Immaterium a sorcerous Warp anchorage allows the largest voidships to translate to and from the world's orbit swiftly. |
Tyrant's Legion - Tyrant's Legion: The Tyrant's Legion was the Human Planetary Defence Force auxilia that Lufgt Huron, the rogue Chapter Master of the Renegade Astral Claws Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes, reforged under his command to his own specification when he first assumed the mantle of the "Tyrant of Badab" in 718.M41.The Tyrant's Legion were a highly effective force, allowing the Secessionist cause to defend the Maelstrom Zone territory to which they had laid claim, and provided the Tyrant of Badab with what was effectively a shadowy parallel to the Astra Militarum, loyal only to Huron and the Astral Claws who to the Human conscripts in its ranks were no less than living gods touched by the Emperor.As the Badab War raged (901.M41-912.M41), the role of the Tyrant's Legion proved vital, enabling the Secessionists to hold ground, a task for which Space Marines were generally unsuited in temperament, not to mention number. But as mere mortal men and women forced to take the battlefield against the the transhuman warriors of the Adeptus Astartes, they were to pay a heavy price for their loyalties; their lives spent in the tens of thousands before the war's end in a cause both lost and damned. |
Tyrant's Legion - History: In 718.M41, a failed coup on the Hive World of Badab Primaris led to an abortive civil war, and the Astral Claws Chapter of Space Marines stepped in and brutally crushed the conflict. In the aftermath, the elements behind the coup were brought forth to Chapter Master Lufgt Huron for judgement. Mindful of the lesson of the world of Cygnax within the Maelstrom Zone which had been undone by civil disorder, the Chapter Master personally took matters into his own hands, swiftly reimposing order once more. This time he employed the Astral Claws much more brutally as they executed much of the planet's ruling class as well as purging those they perceived as morally recidivist. Taking upon himself the mantle of planetary ruler, Lufgt Huron stylised himself the "Tyrant of Badab," illegally claiming the inhabited worlds in proximity to the hospitable region of the void around the Badab System as his Chapter's fiefdom.Within solar decades of first assuming the mantle of the "Tyrant," Lufgt Huron began to reorganise and re-forge the Planetary Defence Forces of the systems under his command to his own specifications. This Human auxilia of conscripted mortal men and women would come to be known as the "Tyrant's Legion." Huron's concept of the Tyrant's Legion was far from an original one, but had more in common with the armies of Terra during the bygone era of the Great Crusade. It was a throwback to the days of using a combined force of Human conscripts and soldiers like the ancient Imperial Army directly commanded by and tactically integrated with contingents of Space Marines.Though these ad hoc formations are quite common during the present era in wartime, particularly during lengthy Imperial Crusades or in isolated warzones bereft of help, the Tyrant sought to formalise this arrangement. By doing so, Lufgt Huron willingly broke a long-standing tenet that had been largely upheld for millennia since the dark days of the Horus Heresy. This tenet had been enshrined to prevent any one Space Marine commander from wielding absolute power in the Imperium's affairs again.The Tyrant's Legion served two specific strategic purposes, the first of which was territorial occupation and defence. This would enable the Legion's Human auxilia to garrison and impose command on the often perilous and far-flung worlds of the Maelstrom Zone, and the Tyrant's Legion would allow a force directly under Huron's control to be in place on every world under the sovereignty of the Tyrant.Most importantly, this force was wholly loyal to Huron alone. They were neither as fractured or near-sighted as the scattered network of unequal planetary defence armies that had existed previously on the Maelstrom Zone's Imperial worlds, and were not beholden to the whims of faceless autocrats who could countermand or redeploy a standing Astra Militarum regiment on a whim. Secondly, the Tyrant's Legion also served at first to hide Huron's true intentions for the expansion of his Chapter.Repeatedly denied the reinforcements he had requested to aid him and the other Chapters of the Maelstrom Warders in carrying out their tasks, in his arrogance and pride, the Tyrant sought to expand his forces into a force equal to a full Space Marine Legion of old. To outside scrutiny, the Tyrant placed Astral Claws detachments within the Tyrant's Legion's ranks before the outbreak of the war as trainers -- tasked with the purging and improvement of the mediocre and often corrupt PDF armies of the Badab Sector.But in reality, the Legion's Space Marine "tribunes" were in all cases passed off as the force's commanders. This perfidy succeeded in hiding the true numbers of the Tyrant's growing Chapter numbers from prying eyes and enabled the Astral Claws to disperse these hidden forces all across Huron's domain, hidden within the Tyrant's Legion. The perfidy of the Tyrant and the Astral Claws rapidly became apparent when the Badab War engulfed the Maelstrom Zone, as did the identity of the true commanders of the Tyrant's Legion who willingly followed their master without falter, taking up arms against any who would challenge the Tyrant's domains. |
Tyrant's Legion - Tyrant's Legion Organisation: Organisationally and in terms of wargear, the Tyrant's Legion was based fundamentally on the existing pattern of Planetary Defence Coda approved by the Departmento Munitorum and largely standardised across the Imperium, the Coda itself a strong echo of the established structures and strictures of the Astra Militarum.These forces were referred to as "Defence Auxilia," abiding by ancient local custom on Badab, and were traditionally formed around a core of professional troops drawn from the household armsmen of Badab's ruling elites supplemented in times of crisis by conscript militia from the general population. The following is a list of forces found within a typical Tyrant's Legion Defence Auxilia unit:Legion Auxilia Command Detachment - Drawn from the military aristocracy and civil powers of the worlds of the Maelstrom Zone, the Human Auxilia's tactical command and the day-to-day administration was left in the hands of the prefect commanders and "tribunes" (the latter being the traditional title given to the colonels of the local Badab Sector defence forces). Although they lacked the erudition in warfare and strategic schooling of true Astra Militarum officers, they were both valiant and proud, accustomed to leading their troops from the front and fighting at the thick of the fray. Thanks to their connections and rank they were better equipped than most of the Legion, although in the eyes of their Space Marine masters they were no more than overseers, hardly less disposable than the mortal conscripts they commanded.Legion Auxilia - Conscripts drafted from among the able-bodied men and women of the worlds at the heart of the Tyrant's domain. They were subjected to perfunctory military training and heavily indoctrinated, believing without question that it was they who fought for the Emperor, not against His forces. All that was required of them was that they could stand their ground and obey without question, and failure to do either often proved fatal. The Tyrant's Human auxiliaries were trained to follow the orders of their prefects without question, and the slightest infraction of discipline was punishable by death. Although their wargear was patterned after the Astra Militarum, it was often substandard or reclaimed from the dead, although this mattered little when faced with the might of the Loyalist Space Marines.Auxilia Armsmen Cadre - The Auxilia Armsmen Cadre was a core of professional troops within the conscripted Legion Auxilia. Most of these troops came from the standing private armies of the sector nobility who were forced to contribute to the Secessionist cause or face destruction, along with Commercia Enforcer cadres, mercenary companies and Maelstrom fleet Armsmen. Although as the war dragged on, underhive criminal gangs and worse were also drafted on pain of death. |
Tyrant's Legion - Legion Space Marines: The Astral Claws Space Marines represented both the hidden power and ultimate masters of the Tyrant's Legion forces. Huron's ultimate aim with the creation of the Legion was to supplement the fighting power of the Astral Claws Chapter.Huron devoted roughly a third of his Astartes to deployment in the Legion, while the rest continued to fight as the components of a regular Space Marine Chapter. The deployment of individual Space Marines was often fluid between the two. The following is a list of Astral Claws forces often employed within the ranks of the Tyrant's Legion:Legion Centurions - The Centurions were Veteran Astral Claws chosen to both command and if need be punish the Human auxilia of the Tyrant's Legion. They were selected for their might of arms and utter devotion to Huron's cause. They were objects of religious awe and genuine terror by those they commanded, and also served as the eyes and ears of the Tyrant across his fledgling pocket empire.Corpse-Takers - Appearing only in the final days of the Badab War, the Apothecary Vivisectors, or "Corpse Takers" to give them the fearful nickname they were known by the Human auxilia of the Tyrant's Legion, were specially-tasked Apothecaries who specialised in harvesting gene-seed from fallen Space Marines -- from both friend and enemy alike. In the case of the enemy, this occurred regardless of whether their subject was living or dead. With this gene-seed, Huron intended to secure the Astral Claws' continued increase in numbers and eventual victory. When this final betrayal of their fellow Astartes by the Astral Claws was revealed, it proved to be one blasphemy too many and guaranteed the bitter hatred and enmity of any Loyalist Astartes the Astral Claws fought in open battle. It also ensured that no prisoners were taken on either side.Legion Retaliator Squads - Retaliator Squads were special units of Astartes created to exert the Astral Claws' control directly where needed, and they were drawn initially from the Astral Claws Reserve Assault Company which had long specialised in close-quarters assaults and space-borne boarding actions. Retaliator Squads were given leave to sow terror and enforce loyalty amongst the Chapter's mortal auxilia by bloody example. With the advent of the Tyrant's Legion, these Retaliator Squads were expanded, forming a feared spearhead strike force, freeing the Chapter's assault reserve to fulfill its tactical duties in the wider conflict.Legion Space Marine Cohort - These specialty units were drawn from the expanding Chapter who hid its illegally increasing numbers amongst the sector's Human defence corps in the guise of training and field command. Huron deployed and organised these cohorts along the lines of the Space Marine Legions of old, with reconquering the Maelstrom Zone in the name of the Emperor as his long-term goal. Even after that dream was to wither and he was to set himself and his Chapter against the Imperium, the cohort deployments persisted as the brutal and irresistible killing hand of the Tyrant's Legion forces.Retaliators - The Retaliators were hand-picked Space Marine assault troops, selected for their brutality and unquestioning obedience to Huron. They served as line breakers in battle and as the bloody hand of the Tyrant's will inside his own realm, conducting punitive extermination missions against political "dissidents" when needed.Legion Iron Hunter Squads - Having a long tradition of maintaining highly adept Space Marine Biker units in its Battle Companies stretching back for millennia, Huron employed rapidly moving Astartes Bike Squadrons known as "Iron Hunters." They were utilised principally in harrowing and running down a broken or scattered foe, and to counter-assault against flanking attacks or breakthroughs by numerically superior enemies in the field. As the secret expansion of the Chapter got underway, Huron increased the number of Iron Hunter Squads at his disposal, deploying them to the Tyrant's Legion in sizable numbers and providing the Legion's often unwieldy mortal ranks with a hard-hitting and rapid-moving strike force. |
Tyrant's Legion - Irregular Forces: Renegade Marauder Squads - One unthinkable act employed by the cunning political operator and master strategist Lufgt Huron was to employ his enemies against themselves, garnering agents and mercenaries among the marauders and Renegades of the outer Maelstrom Zone, some of which came to obey him through greed and fear. Viewed by the Tyrant as no more than dispensable pawns to be ultimately disposed of, he conceded they had their uses, and particularly in the Badab War's later stages when the Tyrant's forces were running out of allies and options, they were co-opted into service in battle. |
Tyrant's Legion - Tyrant's Legion Training and Wargear: The innovation instituted into the Tyrant's Legion by Lufgt Huron was to raise the temporary forces of the ruling Badab Sector nobility's household armsmen to permanent activity, and instill in them a bloody-handed regime of discipline where simple obedience to orders was favoured over any other military merit. Although most lacked the wider training or skill of frontline Imperial Guardsmen (particularly in the latter stages of the Badab War, where conscripts received little or no training prior to being sent into combat), they were given basic psycho-indoctrination to ensure their loyalty, and they fought and died well enough to serve the Tyrant's purposes. Although in a war where they faced the might of the Space Marine forces arrayed against them, it would ultimately be the Angels of Death who decided matters.The Legion Auxilia were relatively well provided for in small arms and munitions, as well as basic artillery and tank designs, although they lacked anything like the full breadth and scope of weapons and machine available to the Astra Militarum, what they did possess however they were often able to field in abundance. The equipping of the auxilia forces was dependant on two factors: what could be locally produced in the manufactoria of the Badab Sector and prioritisation of resources amongst the Secessionist cause. The Human auxilia suffered because of the hubris and disregard of their masters; to the Astral Claws the lives of their mortal Auxilia were eminently disposable.As such, more valuable and resource-intensive technology was denied to them as a matter of course as being considered wasteful, and as a result, such wargear as plasma weaponry and lascannons were mostly reserved for the Astartes forces. The only exceptions to this being the Tyrant's Legion's officer class and their retainers (who often had to rely on family connections to supply them) and heavy armour. |
Tyrant's Legion - Tyrant's Legion Combat Doctrine: During the early years of the Badab War, the integration of the Astral Claws into the Tyrant's Legion helped to serve as a force multiplier for the Astral Claws, who used them aggressively as an ablative shield to preserve their Astartes forces and soak up enemy firepower, while in defence the Tyrant's Legion bitterly resisted the Loyalist forces arrayed against them, able to blunt even the murderous force of Space Marine assaults on occasion.This integration of Astartes and allied Human auxilia forces often took their foes by surprise. |
Tyrant-class Cruiser - Tyrant-class Cruiser: The Imperial Tyrant-class Cruiser is the most common of a series of Imperial Navy warships designed around the principle of superfired plasma weaponry by the famous Adeptus Mechanicus Artisan-Magos Hyus N'dai near the end of the 38th Millennium.Its superfired plasma batteries were capable of launching a boosted salvo of fire much farther than comparable Cruiser weaponry while still delivering virtually the same weight of fire at close quarters, a technique that had eluded ship designers since the secrets of building very long-ranged weaponry had been lost after the Dark Age of Technology. Thanks in large part to this advanced weaponry, the Tyrant-class became popular amongst the major Imperial shipyards in the 39th Millennium.Unfortunately, even when combined with their torpedo launchers, the Tyrant 's long-range firepower proved to lack the power needed to make it a serious threat to anything larger than an Escort. This led to two of the Tyrants that had been assigned to Battlefleet Gothic, the Zealous and Dominion, eventually being upgraded with weaponry salvaged from destroyed Chaos starships to provide them with the firepower equivalent of a Battlecruiser and transforming them into deadly opponents at long range. |
Tyrant-class Cruiser - Notable Tyrant-class Cruisers: Dominion - The Dominion is a Tyrant-class Cruiser that fought in the Gothic War and had its short-range weaponry replaced with captured Chaos long-range weapons batteries. Unlike the Zealous, it retains its original torpedo launchers.Euphrates - Originally appointed to Battlefleet Dimmamar, the Euphrates was a squadron leader of Cruisers during the battle for the Knight World of Fabris Callivant against an invasion by Greenskins. Upon being boarded by the Orks, the Euphrates requested aid from the Hospitallers Chapter's Battle Barge Shield of the God-Emperor. The Hospitallers' reaction was to destroy the Euphrates with a focused broadside. This was a mercy-killing intended to spare the crew a bloody death at the hands of the xenos.Incendrius - The Incendrius fought and earned renown during the Gothic War.Lord Sylvanus - The Lord Sylvanus is another Tyrant-class Cruiser that fought and earned renown during the Gothic War.Inviolate Conqueror - The Inviolate Conqueror was a vessel of the Indomitus Crusade's Fleet Quintus. It may have been misidentified as a Battleship or its class was misstated. It was commanded by Fleetmaster Prasorius. Its battle honours were recorded on a fifty-foot-high brass-and-stone tablet mounted to aft of the primary bridge bulkhead doors.Zealous - The Zealous fought during the Gothic War and was refitted with captured long-range Chaos weaponry part way through that conflict, making it a potent long-range threat. Its ability to deal damage at extreme long range was further enhanced by the replacement of its torpedo launchers with a Nova Cannon. |
Tyrant-class Cruiser - Dimensions : Hull - 5 kilometres long, .8 kilometres abeam at fins.Class - Tyrant-class Cruiser.Mass - 27.2 megatons.Crew - 90,000 crew, Approximately.Acceleration - 2.4 gravities maximum sustainable acceleration |
Tyrant Guard - Tyrant Guard: The Tyrant Guard (Tyranicus scutatus) is a Tyranid bioform whose main purpose is to serve as a living shield for other, more important Tyranid organisms, particularly the Hive Tyrant. These creatures have an incredible resistance to injury and are only dimly aware of pain, shrugging off wounds that would blow a man apart. They are all but impervious to small arms fire, and should heavy weaponry be brought to bear, several salvoes are required to fell even one of these beasts.Blind and ultimately controlled by the Tyranid synapse-creatures they protect, these half-sentient but ferocious bioforms appear to have been bio-engineered specifically to counter anti-Tyranid tactical doctrines. It is also believed that Space Marine DNA was incorporated into the creation of the first Tyrant Guards by the Hive Fleet Norn-Queens, explaining this bioform's extreme resilience in combat. This would also suggest that the Tyrant Guard possess a portion of the genetic material of the Emperor of Mankind.Should their charge be slain, the Tyrant Guard will go berserk, lashing out and tearing at the enemy with brutal ferocity and savage abandon. A Tyrant Guard's rampage is not guided by grief, nor a sense of neglected duty, for such things are alien concepts to the Tyranids. Rather, a Tyrant Guard's reaction is pure instinct and part of the coldly calculated strategy of the Hive Mind. Hive Tyrants are vital to the Tyranid onslaught, and if the enemy finds a way to bring such a beast down, the Hive Mind does not want knowledge of how the feat was accomplished to survive the battle and be passed on to a future foe. |
Tyrant Guard - Role: Warriors who attempt to slay a Tyranid leader-beast are confronted with a wall of chitin-armoured bodies that bristles with huge, scything blades and crushing claws. There is no way past this deadly obstacle, and those who approach are clubbed to death or hacked apart, their ruptured bodies joining the moat of gore that surrounds the xenos shield wall. Not a single one of these organisms moves to chase a fleeing enemy; they stand immovable, ignoring the storms of fire that ricochet from their thick hides.Tyrant Guard are the ultimate bodyguards; it is the entire purpose of their creation. They are driven by a bestial consciousness that knows little save for a ferocious loyalty to the Hive Tyrant they protect. Bodyguards from other species defend a charge out of a feeling of duty, suppressing their own survival instincts to do so -- a fundamental conflict that slows reaction times.Tyrant Guard suffer no such limitations, for they are near-mindless beasts engineered for but a single task. Their instincts tend not towards self-preservation, but to the defence of the Hive Tyrant to which they are bonded. Should the Hive Tyrant come under attack, its Tyrant Guard hurl themselves into the path of incoming fire without thought or concern, sheltering their master with their own bodies until the threat is ended or death takes them.These organisms are blind, possessing no discernible means of seeing the enemy. However, eyes are not necessary for these bodyguards, for when they are guarding a Hive Tyrant they become extensions of their master's own body. The synaptic control of their ward provides the rudimentary direction these creatures need, alerting them to nearby threats and arranging them to best fend off any enemy assault. Furthermore, eyes would present a weak and vulnerable target for a canny foe to attack. Such a weakness would only expose a chink in the Tyrant Guard's otherwise impenetrable armour, compromising the role for which it was created. |
Tyrant Guard - Unit Composition: 3-6 Tyrant Guards |
Tyrant Guard - Wargear: Rending ClawsScything TalonsCrushing Claws (As replacement for Scything Talons)Lash Whip and Bonesword (As replacement for Scything Talons) |
Tyrant Guard - Source: Codex: Tyranids (8th Edition), pg. 64Codex: Tyranids (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), pg. 46 |
Tyrant of Blueflame - Tyrant of Blueflame: The Tyrant of Blueflame was a Lord of Change who led the conquest and occupation of the Cardinal World of Ophelia VII. After the 13th Black Crusade and the fall of Cadia in 999.M41, Ophelia VII was caught within the newly-formed Great Rift that divided the galaxy in twain and the Cardinal World was exposed to invasion from daemons. The planet was enslaved by the Greater Daemon known as the Tyrant of Blueflame, a Lord of Change in service to Tzeentch.Ophelia VII was freed from the clutches of Chaos by the resurrected Primarch Roboute Guilliman's Indomitus Crusade and the forces of the Black Templars Chapter. However the Tyrant himself escaped Imperial justice. |
Tyrant Siege Terminator - Tyrant Siege Terminator: Tyrant Siege Terminator squads were an elite formation exclusively utilised by the Iron Warriors Space Marine Legion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras of the 30th and early 31st Millennia. The vanguard of any Iron Warriors siege breakers formation, these warriors were clad in thick Cataphractii Pattern Terminator Armour and armed with deadly carapace-mounted Cyclone Missile Launchers.These implacable warriors were fortress-breakers of unparalleled skill. The bleak spectacle of these Astartes wading through storms of lasfire and shell, stoically smashing apart any obstacle before them with Chainfist and krak blast, became synonymous with Primarch Perturabo's wrath unleashed.Recruited from amongst the most battle-hardened Iron Warriors, Tyrant Siege Terminators were expected to brave the most ferocious enemy fire without regard for their own survival -- even more so than others of their grim brotherhood, they understood the mathematics of war and were ever ready to make a sacrifice in blood to secure victory.Most often these Veteran warriors were found among the ranks of the Stor-Bezashk, the elite siege masters of the IVth Legion, and deployed to other Grand Battalions as needed to support siege and assault actions. Tyrant Siege Terminators were often at the forefront of the most cataclysmic battles of the Great Crusade.This formation of Terminators was considered the inspiration for the Fulmentarus Terminator heavy support formation used by the Ultramarines Legion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras. |
Tyrant Siege Terminator - Unit Composition: 4-9 Tyrant Terminators1 Tyrant Siege Master |
Tyrant Siege Terminator - Wargear: Cataphractii Pattern Terminator ArmourCyclone Missile LauncherPower FistCombi-BolterOmni-Scope (Siege Master Only) |
Tyrant Siege Terminator - Optional Wargear: ChainfistCombi-Weapon (Any Type) (Siege Master Only) |
Tyrant Siege Terminator - Dedicated Transport: Land Raider Proteus or Land Raider PhobosSpartan Assault Tank |
Tyrant Siege Terminator - Sources: The Horus Heresy - Book Three: Extermination (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 252Forge World Online Webstore - Tyrant Siege Terminators |
Tyrant Star - Tyrant Star: The Tyrant Star, also known as Komus and the Hereticus Tenebrae, is an uncategorised stellar anomaly found in the Calixis Sector of the Segmentum Obscurus. Komus appears as a black dwarf star whose arrival in the sky of a world is seen as an imminent herald of catastrophe, while the existence of the Tyrant Star is itself part of a wider prophecy called the Propheticum Hereticus Tenebrae that is of great interest to the Imperial Inquisition.Unravelling this prophecy and the role of the Tyrant Star may be crucial to preventing a cataclysm that will consume not only the worlds of the Calixis Sector but perhaps the entire Imperium of Man. |
Tyrant Star - History: The so-called Tyrant Star resists easy interpretation but certain key facts are evident. Komus is described in a doom-laden vision which speaks in apocalyptic terms of a "darkness" that will engulf the worlds of Mankind and ultimately devour all of Human civilisation. The engulfing darkness will be preceded by signs and portents, so-called "herald events," that will gradually transmute Human minds and make them ready to embrace the darkness. Many believe this to be an obvious allusion to a rising of Chaos and the Warp, though this explanation is far from universally agreed. There are many considerable threats in the galaxy to the Imperium and the Human race.The prophecy could as much apply to the Tyranids (some Imperial scholars note a repeated use of the word "devour" in the prophecy text) or the Aeldari as to the Warp. However, given the Warp's manifest ability to uncreate and mutate physical reality, much weight is given to this idea by the Tyrantine Cabal of the Calixis Sector's Calixian Conclave. The actual text of the prophecy is secured in the archives of the Cabal's Bastion Serpentis headquarters on Scintilla's moon of Lachesis, and Lord Inquisitor Anton Zerbe who chairs the Tyrantine Cabal, only allows a very favoured few to examine the complete transcript.In speaking of the herald events, the Propheticum Hereticus Tenebrae, as the manuscript is called, makes many references to "Komus" or the "Tyrant Star." Komus is said to be the harbinger, a portent of the encroaching darkness. It is said to be a "black sun" or a "halo of black flame." This preternatural harbinger is represented by an unholy rune, best described as a clawed bird's foot. The rune has resisted specific translation and no previous occurrence of it has yet been found. Zerbe believes it can be no coincidence that the Calixis Sector is fraught with a curious, recurring phenomena: that of the "Spectral Sun." From time to time -- no specific interval period has been identified -- a monstrous "black sun" matching the prophetic descriptions of the Hereticus Tenebrae has mysteriously appeared in various locations throughout the sector.No two appearances have been quite the same but the pattern of visitation is usually this: with little warning, a ghostly star apparently emitting black flames and esoteric, unknown forms of radiation, spontaneously materialises in a planetary system, shines malevolently for a few solar days, and then, just as mysteriously, vanishes without trace. The visitation is accompanied by psychic disturbance, geological upheaval and sociological problems on inhabited worlds, including mass rioting and unrest. Most often, the Spectral Sun actually eclipses a star system's natural star, as if possessing it, causing consternation and panic on the orbiting worlds as their sun goes black.However, the Spectral Sun has also on occasion appeared less directly -- a strangely bright star at night, a phantom corona around a moon -- before disappearing. No Imperial astronomer of the Adeptus Mechanicus has successfully explained the eerie phenomenon. It belies Human science and has thus far evaded close investigation. Its visitations cannot be predicted.The Tyrantine Cabal believes that the Spectral Sun phenomenon is the Tyrant Star, Komus, as it so closely matches various descriptions in the prophecy. Some suggest the Tyrant Star is the ghost image of some stellar body in the Immaterium, shining through the worn fabric of material space. Others say it is a mirror image, a Warpspace star that is partially translating into realspace, trying to find a way through. Yet others claim that the Tyrant Star is an artificial body, driven by xenos engines and technological mechanisms Mankind cannot comprehend.Whatever the truth, the phenomenon is a fact. It has manifested eighteen times in the Calixis Sector during the last standard century (8th Century of the 41st Millennium). Every single visitation has caused public unrest and geological instability. Where the Tyrant Star appears, earthquakes and volcanic upsurges follow. A world will experience a violent period of upset and political revolution prior to its appearance. Many more psykers than usual will be born or become active. Mutation will occur more often.These things will usually take place in the two or three solar months leading up to a manifestation. Signs and portents will be widespread: these generally are a matter of birthmarks, odd runic sigils appearing upon walls without explanation and the rise of fanatical religious cults. Some sources also describe premonitory half-sightings, fleeting glimpses of the black-flamed sun in mirrors, pools, puddles or even on the surface of wine or water in drinking vessels.Mass panic and insanity precede a visitation of the Tyrant Star. No one has been able to explain how it appears and covers a solar system's natural star with its noxious black smoke. Sometimes, disorder and civil unrest lead to nothing and, for all the portents and cues, the Tyrant Star never actually appears, though this may be because it has manifested in a way that is hard to detect. On at least two recorded occasions, the Tyrant Star has appeared merely as a distant star above a world, no larger than a morning star, instead of eclipsing the local sun.The Tyrantine Cabal believes it is a vital part of its work to trace and investigate these visitations, and to actually be on site to witness a manifestation. Inquisitor Lord Zerbe hopes that important data may be gathered during a genuine sighting. In the Calixis Sector at large, the visitations are a matter of myth and rumour. The Inquisition has carefully suppressed any official confirmation of the phenomenon.As a consequence of its long history in the Calixis Sector, the Tyrant Star appears throughout the heraldry and decoration of structures commissioned by the Haarlock dynasty of Rogue Traders. The Haarlocks have an unclear yet potent connection to the Tyrant Star, and their family members made use of its energies within their complex devices and heretical living weapons. Erasmus Haarlock has the strongest known connection to the Tyrant Star, and is imprisoned within its depths, awaiting release through the manipulation of ancient structures on the world of Dusk. |
Tyrant Star - Inquisitor Density in Calixis: Inquisitors are empowered to go wherever they want in the prosecution of their duties. An Inquisitor might travel from one end of the Imperium to the other, and indeed beyond its borders, in the course of a long career. Yet, it has been noted by many, that the Calixis Sector attracts the agents of the Inquisition, and somehow enthralls them, almost as an insect trapped in amber.In an entire galaxy seething with conspiracy and torn apart by war, many have asked why the Calixis Sector should attract and hold the attention of so many Inquisitors, and why it has claimed the lives of countless of their number. Perhaps the answer lies in the Hereticus Tenabrae, the prophecy that foresees the extinction of Humanity, its crucible the Calixis Sector. Certainly, the Calixis Sector breeds Chaos Cults and heresies at an alarming rate, and many within the Ordos Calixis believe that the dread Tyrant Star must surely be responsible. Perhaps the truth will never be known until it is too late, and the galaxy burns. |
Tyrant Star - Trivia: In Greek mythology, Comus or Komos is the god of festivity, revels and nocturnal dalliances. He is a son and a cup-bearer of the god of wine Dionysus. Comus represents anarchy and chaos. His mythology first became prevalent in the later period of Classical antiquity. During his festivals in Ancient Greece, men and women exchanged clothes to symbolise the anarchy he brought.He was often depicted as a young man on the point of unconsciousness from drink. He had a wreath of flowers on his head and carried a torch that was in the process of being dropped. Unlike the purely carnal wilderness god Pan or the purely intoxicated Dionysus, Comus was a god of excess. |
Tyrantine Cabal - Tyrantine Cabal: The Tyrantine Cabal is an organisation within the Calixian Conclave of the Inquisition in the Calixis Sector which was commissioned many standard years ago in response to the dread prophecy of the Tyrant Star. Its members are known as Tyrantites or Spectarians (or more dismissively as "Star Gazers"), for they are charged with investigating apparitions of the spectral sun and the influence of the baleful Tyrant Star. The Tyrantine Cabal is based at the Bastion Serpentis, a bleak fortress of age-polished black stone jutting from the surface of Scintilla's moon Lachesis. The Bastion is typical of the Inquisition waystations and local fortresses peppered across the Calixis Sector. The Spectarians were granted sole discretionary use of the Bastion Serpentis at the inception of their cabal. Lord Sector Hax, Chief Astropath Xiao and a few others know of its existence, and those who do not are kept away from the moon by dire warnings about geological instability. Lord Inquisitor Anton Zerbe can normally be found at the Bastion and it is there, in its grand audience chamber, that he holds the semi-regular meetings with all the Cabal's Inquisitors, at which they report on their activities and share information. These gatherings are as much a venue for making allies and enemies as they are a forum for exchanging intelligence on the sector's various threats and power groups.As the threat of the Tyrant Star is felt across the Calixis Sector, the membership of the Cabal is not formally fixed. Some Inquisitors, those listed here, have stayed in the Calixis Sector for some time and accept Zerbe's authority (although they do not all obey him by any means). Other Inquisitors might join on a temporary basis, especially if an investigation elsewhere brings them to the Calixis Sector in matters intersecting the Hereticus Tenebrae prophecy, while some simply come to lend their support while they tap the expertise of the Cabal's most experienced Inquisitors. The individuals listed here are confirmed Spectarians, but Inquisitors join and leave all the time, with Zerbe's blessing. |
Tyrantine Cabal - History: The birth of this shadowy brotherhood is rumoured to have occurred several solar decades ago when Lord Inquisitor Dagon Caidin granted leave to then-Inquisitor Zerbe to form a special conclave within the Calixian Conclave following new understandings of the revelations of the Propheticum Hereticus Tenebrae. The formation of such an organisation was deeply unpopular amongst many in the broader Calixian Conclave who saw Zerbe raising his own base of power in the Bastion Serpentis, and feared that the inner circle of the Cabal might begin to subvert the Ordos Calixis to one man's blind obsession.Zerbe, however, had trusted the full import of the prophecy to only his closest and most trusted peers, among them the ferociously intelligent and well-respected Inquisitor Cassilda Cognos. It was her voice that swayed Lord Inquisitor Caidin to their cause. It was also she who conceived the plan to form the Tenebrae Collegium, reasoning that while the effort of all the Ordos was needed to unravel the Tyrant Star's mystery, the Cabal's inner circle would need to find their own core of allies and servants -- even amongst the vassals of their obstinate comrades if needs be -- to carry out their work and ward off utter disaster.So was born the Tenebrae Collegium, a brotherhood of higher purpose, and into it Cognos poured all her skill and brilliance, although she was herself only to survive just long enough to see the first wave of agents "graduate." The Tenebrae Collegium endures as a memorial both lasting and terrible to her vision. |
Tyrantine Cabal - The Shadow Agents: It is said Cassilda Cognos once quipped in a rare moment of levity that the Collegium "took outstanding dissemblers and accomplished liars and then began their work." Certainly, the results of the Collegium's conditioning do produce agents more than capable of moving through the Imperium in a carefully woven fog of falsity and misdirection. Using tiny gestures, key words and cadences, two agents can communicate vital information in the presence of others who remain none the wiser. Furthermore, using psychic and mental conditioning, a graduate of the Collegium can close his mind to all but the most destructive psychic probing, concealing his deepest secrets around a labyrinth of half truths and falsity to confuse, making them not only extraordinarily proficient spies and agents, but near-impregnable living vaults for the secrets of the Cabal.The ultimate purpose of these Tyrantine agents is to firstly hold the Cabal above all other masters, to pursue knowledge of the Tyrant Star and to keep that knowledge safe from all outside the Cabal's jealous circle. In most cases, these goals coincide with the agent's duties as Acolytes of the Ordos Calixis. However, where their true loyalties have come into conflict with the Imperial Adepta or even immediate superiors outside of the Cabal, this has led to cold and brutal conflict with those the agent would ordinarily call their lords, comrades, or even friends. So far, the Cabal has managed to keep all such "difficulties" from wider knowledge. The time may come, though, when the fate of all is at stake and they will have to act no matter what the cost. Perhaps a civil war will erupt within the Ordos Calixis as a result. This is a nightmare, however, that this secret empire, this order within an order, must bear, for their own fearful secrets are as nothing to the dangers of the Hereticus Tenebrae, and some must be sacrificed lest its truth devour us all. |
Tyrantine Cabal - Notable Inquisitors of the Tyrantine Cabal: Anton Zerbe, Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus - Anton Zerbe is the commissioned leader of the Tyrantine Cabal, a position he was granted by Lord Inquisitor Caidin himself. He does not take his duties lightly, as he believes the black doctrine of the Tyrant Star to be very real indeed. He rarely leaves the Bastion Serpentis, and chairs the frequent meetings of the cabal's Inquisitors. Zerbe once roamed the Imperium seeking out corruption and incompetence amongst the Adepta but he is now dedicated to his role. Zerbe is never seen without his impassive golden mask and magnificent gilded armour, and he seems perfectly at home on the throne of the Bastion's audience chamber. He is not an easily approachable man and always remains distant from those around him. Zerbe is even-handed to a fault, refusing in all cases to support one Inquisitor over another, no matter how grave an accusation might have been brought. His principal motivation is preventing strife within the Tyrantine Cabal, so that the group can do its holy work. He believes that if any one Inquisitorial faction within the Tyrantine Cabal was to prevail, the sector -- the Imperium itself even -- would be doomed. If the Recongregators got what they wanted, the cabal would devolve into anarchy. If the Xanthites prevailed, Chaos would corrupt the work. Even the Amalathians, if they succeeded in their aims, would drag the cabal into a miserable malaise. Zerbe's objective is to prevent any one of these factions overcoming the others in the Calixis Sector, so that the Hereticus Tenebrae might be averted. Nothing else matters. He will even go as far as to recruit Acolytes of his own to foil one of his Inquisitors' plans. In addition to his political skills, Zerbe is a powerful psyker, although this fact is not generally known within the cabal. Zerbe keeps his psychic talents in reserve should he be forced to vanquish a particularly dangerous foe personally.Herrod, Inquisitor-Legate of the Tyrantine Cabal - Inquisitor Herrod is a cybernetically-resurrected monster who serves as part of the secret inner circle of the Tyrantine Cabal. Herrod was once a handsome, energetic and brilliant Inquisitor who was held in high esteem by his peers. This vibrant and dashing Herrod is long dead, and most within the Holy Ordos think that he perished utterly at the hands of the Vile Savants. In truth, however, Herrod lives: through the patronage of hidden masters within the Adeptus Mechanicus, what little of him that remained was given the blessing of a resurrection to a second life of metal, pistons and gears. A hunched figure swathed in a black cloak and hood, Herrod retains no flesh and only the thinnest semblance of humanity. His face is a death mask of yellow flesh pulled over steel and brass, while his voice is a nightmare patchwork of phonic sounds gathered from recordings of the Inquisitor's voice before he died for the first time.Rykehuss, Witch Finder of the Ordo Hereticus - Rykehuss is the terror of witches, a man for whom everyone is guilty of something and the only punishment is death. To him the Calixis Sector is a cesspit where witches breed like flies and the honest, pious Imperial citizens are besieged by sin on all sides. Rykehuss' bouts of volcanic anger and impassioned sermonising are well known at the Bastion Serpentis, and he constantly exhorts his fellow Inquisitors to descend on all the sinners to purify them with righteous flame or condemn them to damnation. Rykehuss wears ornate, heavily customised armour gifted to him by the Adeptus Mechanicus after he sought out a witch cult on a Forge World in a nearby sector, and he is an expert with a veritable armoury of weapons. The Witch Finder's methods are simple. He descends on a particular city, sees depravity everywhere and immediately sets up a Court of Ordeals where pious citizens bring accused neighbours and family members to be tried. When Rykehuss hears of a particularly foul heresy being perpetrated somewhere nearby, he gathers all the torch-wielding backup he can and marches there, trusting in his martial skill to help him put the sinners to death personally. Some who witness Rykehuss' terrors consider him a hero, others a butcher, and both are right. Many innocents have died at Rykehuss' hands but so have many rogue psykers and cultists. Rykehuss, however, is not as crude a man as his methods would suggest. He knows that he cannot kill all the sinners, but his bombastic and terrifying style ensures that Imperial citizens are constantly reminded that there are threats in their midst and bigger threats waiting to punish them for their weaknesses. Innocent deaths, while regrettable, are a small price to pay for Rykehuss to spread the fear that helps suppress the activities of witches—and in any case, the Emperor sorts them all out in the end. Rykehuss is obsessed with the notion that it is the widespread activity of witches in the sector that is bringing on the doom of the Hereticus Tenebrae.Ahmazzi, Daemonhunter of the Ordo Malleus - Ahmazzi is the Spectarians' sole Ordo Malleus Inquisitor. He is a grizzled and ancient veteran, close on three hundred standard years old, whose career has taken him from Titan to the very edges of the Imperium, hunting down daemons and the corrupt humans who summon them. Now all but decrepit, he has come to the Calixis Sector to, as he puts it, "bask in the radiance of the Tyrant Star and learn its secrets." A long career has left Ahmazzi intensely cynical and pessimistic. He has come to believe that the Emperor is dead, Chaos cannot be stopped and the human race is doomed. The Imperium, Ahmazzi believes, is a grotesque symptom of the fact that the human race is currently living through its inevitable and drawn-out extinction. He has dabbled with Radicalism in his career, even being declared Excommunicate by Puritan colleagues for seeking out daemonic knowledge but no one in the Tyrantine Cabal other than Zerbe knows this. Ahmazzi has no friends and does not particularly care what people think of him, angrily refusing to tell any stories of his astonishing daemonhunting career, although an Acolyte who displays great courage in the face of a daemonic foe might win Ahmazzi's grudging respect. Ahmazzi was a martially-minded Inquisitor in his prime and secretly would love nothing better than to mount up on his mobile war pulpit, don his armour and take up his Daemonhammer to ride into battle once more against a horde of daemonic foes. He believes that the Tyrant Star may be the harbinger of Man's inevitable doom and he wants to be at ground zero to witness the great day when it happens.Astrid Skane, Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus - A formidable woman, Inquisitor Astrid Skane exudes the rough authority of a seasoned Arbitrator officer. Tough and resourceful, she is one of the most active of the Tyrantine Cabal's Inquisitors, happy to get her hands dirty rooting out corruption. Skane is a striking woman with a stern, strong face who wears her hair regulation short. She habitually dresses much as she did when she served as an Arbitrator on Scintilla, in a black uniform and body armour, and is rarely seen without her Shock Maul and Shotgun. Skane respects those who respect her, treats her more skilled Acolytes as equals and has little time for pomp and appearances. Skane follows the Recongregators' creed, which states that the Imperium must be reformed radically to reduce the suffering of its people and that the Inquisition is the only body with the authority and skill to reform it. Skane believes that the Imperium's woes are caused by corruption among its ruling classes. She developed a particular hatred for corrupt nobles whilst serving as an Arbitrator and has carried that through to her work as an Inquisitor. Her operations, therefore, target corruption among the Imperial nobility and the Adepta, including the Adeptus Arbites she once served. She dreams of a future where the Imperium is turned upside-down and justice is the rule rather than the exception, but she realises that she will not live to see it. She fights for what justice she can and hopes that others will follow her to carry on the battle. Skane is convinced that the Tyrant Star can only be appearing due to some form of summons. She believes there is a powerful Chaos Cult at work in the sector, employing sorcery to call the Tyrant Star down on Mankind. That is a cult she would very much like to personally root out.Van Vuygens, Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos - Rarely seen at the Bastion Serpentis, Van Vuygens represents the Ordo Xenos in the Calixian Conclave. He is a quietly spoken man who is more of a scholar than a warrior and, though he can certainly look after himself if required, he sees more value in dissecting and studying xenos than exterminating them. Slender, bespectacled and dressed in an archivist's robes, Van Vuygens does not cut as imposing a figure as some of the Tyrantine Cabal's more dramatic characters, but he has the intellect and strength of will to delve into the mindset of the xenos and still retain his humanity. He leaves the human and daemonic threats to the other Inquisitors, focusing instead on helping provide the Imperium with its chief weapon against the alien: an understanding of what the aliens want and what they will do to get it. Though Van Vuygens seeks knowledge about aliens, he does not trust them and would never fraternise with them. He has not studied a single alien species that does not pose some threat towards the human race. A disciple of the legendary Inquisitor Kryptmann himself, Van Vuygens is in the Calixis Sector to watch for the signs of a Tyranid Hive Fleet invasion from beyond the edge of charted space. Kryptmann has theorised that the earlier Tyranid invasions of Imperial space have been testing the Imperium's defences and that the next invasion will come from an unexpected quarter. Van Vuygens has seen nothing that proves that a Tyranid invasion is impending but there are certainly plenty of other signs of alien influence among the worlds of the Calixis Sector, from ancient cyclopean ruins to disturbing similarities between the mythological cycles of primitive worlds. Van Vuygens is currently piecing together a picture of the alien civilisation that once inhabited the very edge of the Calixis Sector's space and he does not like what he sees. He, naturally, subscribes to the view that the Tyrant Star is a matter of xenos origin and has grave fears that it is linked with the dreaded Tyranids.Globus Vaarak, Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus - Severely wounded as an Interrogator while boarding a pirate ship, Globus Vaarak's body is broken, scarred and bloated. Both his legs were amputated and he moves by means of a robust mechanical vehicle with mechanical legs and an in-built life-support system. His face is horribly burned and pockmarked, with tubes running from his nostrils and mouth to help him breathe. One arm was also lost and has been replaced with an obvious bionic limb. Vaarak's clothing is a ribbed black bodyglove that barely holds in his enormous girth and which incorporates cooling and regulating devices to keep him alive. Vaarak is an Amalathian who believes that the Imperium, as grim a place as it is, must survive in its current state if the human race is to continue existing. He therefore seeks out sedition and rebellion in the Calixis Sector, trying to maintain the careful balance of its power groups. Given that he cannot operate in the guise of a normal citizen or Adept, Vaarak must conduct most investigations through his Acolytes, of whom he has several teams. His methods are subtle and moderate compared to some of the Tyrantine Cabal's other Inquisitors, for he would prefer that the Inquisition's hand was not obvious, and encourages his Acolytes to avoid open conflict and violence as much as possible. Vaarak has a bleak and self-deprecating sense of humour and is an excellent judge of character. Many of the Conclave's next generation of Inquisitors will come from among Vaarak's Interrogators if he remains in favour. He has joined the Spectarians because the Tyrant Star represents a truly destabilising threat to Imperial society.Lady Olianthe Rathbone - Lady Olianthe Rathbone claims membership of none of the three great Ordos of the Inquisition. She originated among the Calixis Sector's nobility and still favours magnificent ballgowns and elaborate wigs, which would not look out of place in the ballroom of some Planetary Governor's palace. Beneath the finery, her piercing, ice-cold grey eyes betray a keen and ruthless intelligence. Some say she was originally an Interrogator in the employ of Lord Inquisitor Zerbe but there is never any obvious familiarity shown between them. Lady Olianthe is very difficult to know and impossible to befriend, and manages to suggest that everyone around her is her inferior without actually stating it out loud. Secretly a deep-seated Radical, Lady Olianthe is an Istvaanian and believes that for the Imperium to become stronger, it must be exposed to war and catastrophe. The Calixis Sector, to her way of thinking, is bloated and irredeemable, and desperately needs a major cataclysm to weed out its weak and corrupt citizens. While she is not averse to combatting particularly horrible threats like Chaos Cultists or the mutants she personally despises, Lady Olianthe is also constantly on the lookout for ways to manipulate the power structures of the Calixis Sector towards strife. She intends to do this by subtly coaxing the sector's leading noble houses towards conflict or rebellion. She is willing to pursue this agenda personally, treating her Acolytes as little more than intelligence gatherers who have no idea of her destructive ambitions. The Tyrant Star would be a wonderful tool for her purposes.Soldevan, Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus - A handsome man with skin the colour of ebony and a taste in imposing military dress uniforms that only enhance his air of strength and authority. Soldevan was originally an Interrogator in the employ of Witch Finder Rykehuss but never believed in his master's extreme methods, and quickly broke with Rykehuss after attaining the Inquisitorial Seal. Soldevan believes that knowledge, not wanton destruction, is the key to protecting humanity from the threats it faces. Soldevan's beliefs run deeper than he would ever admit. He believes that the Warp is an immense source of power and that an Inquisitor is a man of sufficient intelligence and willpower to harness it. Soldevan wants to open up a pathway to the Warp and seek out the consciousnesses that dwell there hoping to bargain with them for the power he needs to combat the enemies of Mankind. Soldevan has got quite close to his goal and has several forbidden tomes in his possession that, with the right sacrifices and rituals, will summon forth powerful daemons for him to negotiate with. He is always seeking more knowledge or artefacts of the Warp, either captured during the Tyrantine Cabal's operations or purchased at extortionate prices from unscrupulous dealers in forbidden relics. Somewhere during this process Soldevan has lost his sanity and replaced it with absolute conviction that the Warp holds the secrets of humanity's survival. He believes that the Tyrant Star represents a vital conduit to secrets of the Warp.Vownus Kaede, Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus - Inquisitor Vownus Kaede is a noted scholar, philosopher and an optimist. He is also a skilled swordsman, irreverent scoundrel and a self-righteous reprobate. Named after the rogue hero of Catuldynus' epic verse allegory The Once-Pure Hive, Kaede has spent most of his life living up to his namesake's legacy. Originating somewhere, "East of Sol and West of Macragge," Kaede signed on with a Free Captain at a young age and has never looked back. The details of his elevation to Inquisitor status are hazy and change every time he tells the story. The only point that remains consistent is that he was once a member of the Ordo Xenos, before finding his true calling as a Witch Hunter. Regardless of his chequered past, Inquisitor Kaede has been a respected member of the Tyrantine Cabal for over a solar decade. Though he is nominally of Puritan leanings, Kaede is a skilled psyker who fanatically believes in the psychic future of the human race and is willing to casually commit almost any atrocity in order to safeguard it. He and the martially-inclined Acolyte bands he employs spend a great deal of time travelling between Calixis' sub-sectors chasing down rumours of hidden witches. Kaede absolutely detests Rykehuss' methods and takes a great deal of pleasure in spiriting promising young psykers out from under the Witch Finder's pogroms. Inquisitor Kaede appears exactly the way Imperium citizens picture a Witch Hunter. From his wide-brimmed hat, to his Inferno Pistol, to the ancient short-bladed Force Sword named Slight Jest that he bears at his side, there is no mistaking his appearance and what it implies, which is exactly what Kaede wishes. To Kaede, the Tyrant Star prophecy is a delicious mystery to be unlocked.Al-Subaai, Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos - Al-Subaai was recently elevated to Inquisitor status after serving as an Interrogator in the service of Inquisitor Van Vuygens. While Van Vuygens combs the very edge of Imperial space for alien civilisations, Al-Subaai's role is to search for alien influence in the populated worlds of the sector. Probably the youngest Inquisitor in the Tyrantine Cabal, Al-Subaai is deeply pious, and he looks it, usually attending gatherings in a monastic habit worn over sturdy, practical Carapace Armour. Al-Subaai believes that everything in the galaxy is connected and that the various intelligent alien species and their depredations are part of a larger web of hostility generated by the galaxy. The galaxy, Al-Subaai believes, is reacting to human occupation like a body reacting to a disease. To him, aliens (as well as all creatures of the Warp) are symptoms of the galaxy's enmity towards Mankind. Al-Subaai therefore advocates the destruction of all aliens, especially those who influence humans. He considers his remit to cover not only alien-influenced cults and corruption, but also the trafficking in alien creatures and their technology. Anyone dealing with aliens or their artefacts is an enemy of humanity and nothing gives Al-Subaai greater satisfaction than to hunt them down and subject them to whatever punishment the Tyrantine Cabal decrees. To Al-Subaai, the Propheticum Hereticus Tenebrae is the handiwork of alien manipulation. |
Tyrus - Tyrus: Tyrus is a Witch Hunter Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus and a staunch follower of the Monodominant philosophy of the Inquisition -- a bombastic man whose bloody purges have left thousands of Heretics dead in his wake.Suspicious of all psykers, even those supposedly cleared by the Inquisition, it is Tyrus' creed to hunt down and exterminate every witch, mutant and warlock in the galaxy (including alien psykers).If, along the way, this means eradicating those who would seek to protect such abhorrent creatures, then so be it. Tyrus is also perhaps one of the most active Inquisitors with regards to internal policing of the Inquisition, ferociously hunting down those whom he deems Heretics within the ranks of his own organisation. |
Tyrus - History: The young Tyrus was orphaned when he was a mere six summers old when daemons came to his homeworld of Loressa, an isolated Agri-World in the Segmentum Obscurus. Acting insidiously through an adolescent girl, whose miraculous powers of healing had cured many people from Tyrus' village, the Daemon Prince Kholoth the Excoriator spread a plague of mutation across Loressa. This weakened the fabric of reality enough for him to force his way from the Immaterium into the girl's unprotected mind.In its new guise, the daemon destroyed Tyrus' village and began the slaughter of its inhabitants in an orgy of mutilation. Tyrus was dragged from his home into the village's main square, where the inhabitants' corpses lay in a heaped pile.Over the next few solar hours, Kholoth tortured Tyrus, taking an eye and slicing off an ear, that he might still hear his own screams and witness the destruction of his own flesh. As the leering young girl explained precisely what horrors she would next visit upon his body, Tyrus despaired and prepared for death. Only the timely intervention of Witch Hunter Covonis, who had tracked the daemon to Loressa via the Emperor's Tarot, saved Tyrus' life.The Tarot has guided the servants of the Emperor for ten millennia and, though the significance of its readings are often obscure to the point of becoming meaningless, its holy instruction is said to be imbued with the Emperor's own will.Such indeed seems to have been the case as Covonis, clad in a massive suit of elaborately tooled armour, intricately carved with decorative scrollwork and fluting, materialised with four, grey-armoured angels of destruction in the village square.The daemon girl paused in her gruesome handiwork, and turned to face the Witch Hunter, a hiss of recognition escaping her possessed lips. Through a red haze, Tyrus saw the mighty figure of Covonis and his armoured brethren do battle with the daemon girl.Three of the angels of death were cut down with bolts of blue fire, before Covonis swung his blessed sword in a glittering arc and beheaded the shrieking daemon. Whirlwinds of daemonic energy howled around the combatants as the creature was banished back to the hell from whence it came, and Tyrus watched as one of the angels burned the corpse in the cleansing fire of its weapons.Tyrus, almost blinded by pain and blood loss, staggered to the edge of the blaze, his skin blistering in the infernal heat, and spat his hatred into the flames. He cursed the daemon's name and, as an armoured gauntlet settled on his shoulder, he looked up into the stern features of Covonis and knew that there was only one path open to him now. Tyrus became Covonis' apprentice and Acolyte and journeyed back to the orbiting starship from which Covonis and the Grey Knights (as Tyrus would later know them) had teleported.He assimilated the wonders of advanced technology and the ways of the Witch Hunter with a zeal only the truly dedicated can muster. He was gifted with cybernetic replacements for his missing eye and ear, and Covonis instructed him in the path of the Witch Hunter, the tools and methods at their disposal and, lastly, the heresy of the daemonic. Never before had Covonis known an Acolyte to master the Rites of Detestation so quickly, or one whose pious devotion matched his own.As the Terran years of intense training passed, Tyrus grew to manhood with his hatred of daemons and those who would consort with such creatures growing stronger with each passing day. He mastered weapons, martial skills and the rites by which the daemon could be vanquished. Such was his strength of devotion to the immortal God-Emperor that his word alone could stay the hand of a daemonic creature and cause it to reel in pain at his fiery zeal and faith.Many base and repulsive creatures of the Warp were destroyed by Tyrus and his master, until a fateful battle during a royal audience on the world of Epsilon Regalis. The Emperor's Tarot had led Covonis and Tyrus to the palaces of Regalis' great and mighty in search of deviancy. The monarchy of Epsilon Regalis protested their innocence, but Covonis was adamant; they would face the Trial of Holy Seal.Into the palms of each member of the royal family, Covonis placed a featureless wax tablet and heated an Inquisitorial seal. When the seal glowed with heat, Covonis explained, he would press it into the wax upon each of their palms.Those whose flesh was burned would know the full wrath of the Inquisition, while those whose skin remained unblemished would have their innocence displayed for all to see. As Covonis pressed the seal into the first outstretched hand, the features of the king's daughter split apart into the leering face of a daemon. Worse, it was a daemon Covonis knew; Kholoth the Excoriator.In an instant the daemon was free and dealt a mortal blow to the venerable Witch Hunter. As he fell, the last vestiges of humanity were cast from the faces of the captives and the daemons were free. Tyrus quickly swept up Covonis' Power Knife and set about himself with terrible fury and righteous anger, his heart burning with vengeance. The lesser thrall daemons in Kholoth's service were no match for Tyrus, and at last he and Kholoth stood face to face, the sole figures left standing in the gore-spattered audience chamber.The two enemies fought a duel that had been five solar decades in the making, and almost killed the Witch Hunter's apprentice. Bellowing words of holy purity that the daemon is forbidden to withstand, Tyrus fought with the strength of the Emperor.The bitter foes traded blows, each grievous enough to fell a lesser being. Sheer force of will kept Tyrus standing and, as he grappled with the daemon, sermons of piety and devotion spilling from his lips, he punched Covonis' weapon through the daemon's chest, dragging out its still-beating heart, and crushed it in his gauntleted fist.The daemon grinned as it died, spouting blasphemous oaths that promised the Witch Hunter that they would meet again and that it had already watched him die a thousand times. Suspecting the corruption of the royal family extended to the planet's population, Tyrus launched a bloody purge of the surrounding cities that saw tens of thousands burned at the stake to ensure the purity of Epsilon Regalis.Tyrus took his master's suit of Artificer Armour as his own and repaired the damage which the daemon had wrought on its holy fabric. Covonis' masters elevated Tyrus to the status of Witch Hunter and granted him the full remit of an Imperial Inquisitor. If his experiences with Covonis had taught him anything, it was that there was only room for one species in the galaxy and that was Humanity.His purges of aliens, Heretics and warlocks have become famous even amongst other Puritan Inquisitors. A fierce Monodominant, Tyrus' quest to exterminate heresy, witchcraft and alien influence has carried him from one side of the galaxy to the other, his rousing orations fanning the flames of zeal and faith on every planet he purges. After the Gland War on Dantis III against the Tyranids, Tyrus recruited Sergeant Stone as an Acolyte, an Astra Militarum Veteran who was one of only three survivors of a bionically altered company of the Lostok 23rd. Stone's aggressiveness and devotion to duty made him an ideal member of Tyrus' retinue.During the Treachery of Hanuchek, Tyrus joined forces with Devotee Malicant, a disciple of the Redemptionist faith spawned on Necromunda, who led his fanatical army on a holy crusade. The battle to destroy Hanuchek all but annihilated Malicant's followers and, at its conclusion, the Redemptionist gladly accompanied Tyrus in his purges.In pursuit of the (in his eyes) Heretic Inquisitor Lichtenstein, Tyrus journeyed to the world of Karis Cephalon, where he recruited the Security Enforcer Barbaretta. Her help in investigating the mutant uprisings, which Tyrus believed might have been sponsored by Emissary Fabian, was invaluable, and she has proven to be a worthy addition to the Witch Hunter's retinue of Acolytes.Tyrus continues to pursue the unholy, purge the unclean and smite the unworthy. It is his sacred task to bring the fire of the Emperor to those who need it most and destroy those who would see its light dimmed. Tyrus' reliance on methods first used thousands of Terran years ago is reassuring to many people, who see the guilt or innocence of his subjects determined by the will of the Emperor Himself. |
Tyrus - Trials and Ordeals: Tyrus is a great believer in many of the more arcane and religious trials and ordeals employed to judge the guilt or innocence of those he investigates. One of the more popular of these is the Trial by Balance, in which a droplet of the accused person's blood is placed on a set of finely-tuned scales opposite the same amount of water blessed by a member of the Ecclesiarchy. If the blood proves to be heavier, it is believed that this is because it is weighed down by the guilt of the donor's crimes and they are condemned.The Ordeal of the Blade is another, which Tyrus most famously employed on the Sarcaphon of Gladrinus VI. A heavy, razor-sharp sword is gripped in the fists of the potential Heretic, which they must hold above their head while the Inquisitor lists the accusations levelled against them in order of severity.If they can complete this feat without dropping the blade or its keen edge drawing blood, they have proved their innocence of the charges. If blood is spilt or the sword slips, the last spoken accusation and those remaining to be levelled are true. Miraculously, Sarcaphon Hydrupasta successfully endured the Ordeal for three and a half solar hours while Tyrus listed nearly 1,000 charges against him.There are many other types of trial and ordeal. In Trial by Holy Seal, the accused has a wax tablet placed upon their outstretched palm and a hot seal is applied to it. If the skin beneath the wax is burnt this is an indication of guilt. If it is unharmed this is an indication of the Emperor's blessing.Other times, Tyrus has ordered those he is investigating to drink a jug of blessed water. If the accused cannot do so without choking or gagging, they are presumed guilty, having been unable to imbibe the holiness of the Emperor.Tyrus has also been known to use the Imperial Tarot, a divination process believed to be guided by the Emperor Himself, to determine innocence or guilt literally on the turn of a card. Many are comforted by Tyrus' use of such traditional methods and his staunch belief that it is the God-Emperor who makes these judgements, not himself. |
Tyrus - Acolyte Retinue: Devotee Malicant - Malicant's ancestors were from the home of the Redemptionist movement, the Hive World of Necromunda. Centuries ago they left their world on a Redemptionist crusade, finally founding a Temple of the Redemption on Ghastri IV. Brought up from birth to believe in the strict observances of the Redemption, raised by the fiery priests and zealots of the order in the Temple, Malicant is a ferociously devout individual. It is no surprise then that he caught the eye of Witch Hunter Tyrus when Malicant's crusade joined forces with the Inquisitor during the Treachery of Hanuchek. Since then, he has accompanied Tyrus across the galaxy, always spurred on by the Inquisitor's rousing speeches.Security Enforcer Barbaretta - Barbaretta was a Sergeant with the Karis Cephalon Special Security Agents until she was assigned to work with Witch Hunter Tyrus during an investigation of Karis Cephalon's mutant slave labour trade. Loyal and headstrong, Barbaretta has an unbending faith in the Imperium and the Inquisition. Many times she has used her skills to track down and capture an enemy wanted for interrogation, and is perfectly able to carry out the brutal questioning herself.Sergeant Stone - When the Forge World of Dantis III was invaded by Tyranids, Astra Militarum regiments from the nearby world of Lostok were drafted to combat the menace. The surface of Dantis III was heavily polluted and the infestation of deadly Tyranid organisms made fighting outside the factory-complexes almost impossible. A few companies of the Lostok 23rd were cybernetically modified by the Tech-priests to fight in this hellish warzone, incorporating many organs and drug-secreting glands that enabled them to survive unprotected, as well as boosting their combat abilities and aggressiveness. Only three of these so-called "Gland Warriors" are believed to have survived the conflict, and Sergeant Stone was one of them. After the successful defence of Dantis III, Sergeant Stone was amongst those taken by the Inquisition for debriefing and study, later ending up in the retinue of Inquisitor Tyrus. |
Tyrus - Wargear: Artificer ArmourPower FistPower KnifeBolt Pistol with Inferno shellsBionic Eye with range finder and bio-scannerBionic Ear |
Tzaangor - Tzaangor: A Tzaangor is a type of Abhuman mutant, known as a Beastman, that serves the Chaos God Tzeentch. True to the Changer of the Ways, the Beastmen of Tzeentch are spectacularly variable -- bright of colouration and sharp of intellect.Their beaks clack as they chant blasphemous refrains in the Dark Tongue, gimlet eyes glowing in their aquiline skulls. Their hunger for knowledge stems from a desire for power, and even in battle they look to transcend their base existences by seeking out arcane artefacts and priceless sorcerous texts.In serving sorcerer masters, usually of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion, they may earn the chance to elevate themselves above their earthly stations, but in truth such occasions are rare, for a streak of cruelty lurks within the warlike soul of every Tzaangor.When given the opportunity, they will take their ire out on those who oppose them in inventive displays of blade-work -- or, when they put aside their artistic pretensions for the gratification of raw brutality, a gory display of violence. |
Tzaangor - History: The origins of Tzaangors are as varied as their appearance. They arise where Tzeentch wills it, and are brought into being by his blessed transmutations. Some are the product of grim experiments performed on the slaves taken to the Planet of the Sorcerers.Others are shaped from the crews of damaged starships caught in Warp Storms, their bodies transmuted through exposure to pure empyric power.Perhaps most horrific are the Tzaangors born to human mothers on worlds enshrouded by the Cicatrix Maledictum. Whole generations of these creatures burst quickly into nightmarish existence, whereupon they ravenously devour the defenders of their home planet. |
Tzaangor - Role: The blasphemous chanting of massed Tzaangors rises to a crescendo as they draw close to their prey. Multi-hued tongues flap within aquiline beaks, eagerly lapping up the taste of fear and confusion. Iridescent eyes glow with inhuman savagery, and the cruelly twisted horns that sprout from each Tzaangor's skull clatter together as they vie to be first into the fray. With jagged blades they hack their victims apart before trampling the dying beneath clawed feet.Tzaangors are the mutated bearers of Tzeentch's blessings, unnatural abominations who serve as shock troops for the Thousand Sons thrallbands. Their bodies, though hideously malformed by the warping power of the Architect of Fate, are ideally suited to warfare.Long limbs flex with corded muscle, and thorny quill-like protrusions grow across their chests and shoulders. Most Tzaangors resemble some sort of amalgam of man, beast and bird, although some are even more aberrant in shape, with heads that are split down the middle or bodies rent with fluctuating clefts.Tzaangors are driven by Warp-infused compulsion to seek out knowledge in all its forms, and to slaughter those who stand in the way of their pursuits. Alongside these predatory instincts exists a level of cunning and intelligence belied by their monstrous form. Tzaangors are more than capable of formulating complex battle plans, communicating amongst their ranks through harsh trills and staccato clicks.Working together in flocks, they can run ruin through an unsuspecting populace or entrenched enemy line. Each Tzaangor is motivated by a personal desire to accumulate arcane knowledge, and it is their belief that through the pursuit of such knowledge they may receive even more of Tzeentch's blessings.To enact their butchery, some Tzaangors wield massive blades wrought from metal or bone, while others use buzzing chainswords and crude autopistols. Often, a member of a flock will carry a daemonically mawed instrument, the piercing blasts of which stir other nearby Tzaangors into a bestial frenzy. The most savage member of a flock is known as a Twistbray, and they usually bear on their body the most warping gifts of their creator-god. |
Tzaangor - Tzaangor Warherd: Where the Astartes of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion pledged their souls to Tzeentch or were manipulated into his service, fighting alongside them are those who are born of the Great Shaper's hideous will. These creatures are a fusion of bestial ferocity, avian agility and human cunning, and by raw instinct they sow the seeds of mutation throughout the galaxy.In battle, Tzaangors will often form a fighting formation, known as a Tzaangor warherd. Led by an Exalted Sorcerer, when this formidable bestial formation charges into battle, the air fills with a cawing, hooting cacophony. Cantrips spark from gnarled talons and weapons are discharged through sheer exuberance.These Beastmen have served their Sorcerer master tirelessly; some have even fallen to a cursed spawn-change in the process, becoming bestial in mind as well as in body. But their reward is finally here.Tzaangor warherds are given the spoils of the corpse-harvest -- cadavers to make into grotesque puppets, body parts for the stewing of vile witches' brews, and sparkling jewels with which to adorn their jutting horns and feathered anatomies. Avarice glints in every eye as the warherd's proud strut accelerates into a loping run, then a howling, shrieking sprint -- those in their path will be torn apart and worn as bloody trophies by day's end. |
Tzaangor - Tzaangor Enlightened: Tzaangors whose hunt for knowledge has caught the eye of their god may be bestowed one of Tzeentch's blessings. Often this results in the creature devolving into an even more grotesque abomination -- a Chaos Spawn. However, the lucky few engorged with such Warp power are elevated above their twisted brethren, physically, mentally and spiritually. They exist in a state of constant communion with Tzeentch, and through him they see the shifting strands of fate converge and separate.The Tzaangors view the Enlightened as paragons of warfare, and the destiny towards which they all must progress. Enlightened soar above the battlefield on Discs of Tzeentch, riding the streams of fate as a raptor would ride thermals. Even the Sorcerers of the Thousand Sons respect these creatures, for their savagery is seen as one of Tzeentch's many esoteric tools.Constantly aware of the flow of causality, Enlightened can see where and when their strikes will cause the most damage. The divining spears some carry are tuned to predetermined victims, emitting humming reverberations that grow louder as they near their targets.Other Enlightened wield Fatecaster Greatbows, strung with ectoplasmic cords that send ensorcelled arrows on deadly paths. Lastly, some carry Chainswords and Autopistols used in their past lives as human Heretics, for these were the tools by which they first achieved glory before Tzeentch. |
Tzaangor - Tzaangor Shamans: Tzaangor Shamans are the most exalted of their mutated kind. They are oracles and prophets, and they preach to their ilk atop flying Discs of Tzeentch. Their psychic mastery is born not of endless study, but of singular devotion to their god, and is unleashed upon their foes amidst ritual chants in the fathomless language of the Tzaangors.It is with the Shamans that the Sorcerers of the Thousand Sons make their fell pacts, though these Sorcerers are ever wary of the deals they make; the Shamans serve the fickle will of Tzeentch above all else.On the Planet of the Sorcerers, Shamans lead herds of their kin on long pilgrimages across the constantly shifting Warp-wastes. These mass migrations follow lines of power that wind across the planet's crust, converging at sites where the roiling aetheric energy is at its thickest.At these sites, they raise great flux-cairns -- megaliths inscribed with glyphs and runes, and shaped in symbols sacred to Tzeentch -- which serve as repositories for the arcane knowledge stolen and despoiled by the Tzaangor tribes. The Shamans use these to channel Tzeentch's power throughout realspace by erecting duplicate monoliths in the jungles and barrens of other worlds.The longer each simulacra remains in place, the more its warping influence bleeds into the planet on which it stands, transforming the world and preparing it for a full-scale invasion. |
Tzaangor - Tzaangors: 10-29 Tzaangors1 Twistbray |
Tzaangor - Tzaangor Enlightened: 2-8 Enlightened1 Aviarch |
Tzaangor - Tzaangor Warherd Composition: 1 Exalted Sorcerer3 Units of Tzaangors (30-90)0-6 Units (0-180) of Tzaangors or Chaos Spawn |
Tzaangor - Tzaangors: 2 Tzaangor BladesAutopistol and Chainsword (As replacement for Tzaangor Blades) |
Tzaangor - Tzaangor Shaman: Force StaveDisc of Tzeentch |
Tzaangor - Tzaangor Enlightened: Divining SpearDisc of TzeentchAutopistol and Chainsword (As replacement for Divining Spear)Fatecaster Greatbow |
Tzaangor - Sources: Codex Heretic Astartes - Thousand Sons (8th Edition), pp. 42-43, 73, 75, 78War Zone: Fenris - Wrath of Magnus (7th Edition), pp. 144, 150 |
Tzeentch - Tzeentch: Tzeentch, also known as the "Changer of Ways," the "Lord of Change," "Lord of Sorcery," the "Lord of Entropy," the "Great Conspirator," the "Weaver of Destinies," and the "Architect of Fate," among many other names and titles, is the Chaos God of change, evolution, mutation, intrigue, ambition, knowledge, sorcery, destiny, lies and trickery. Tzeentch is especially empowered by the desire for change and ambition for advancement among mortals.Tzeentch's true power is sorcery, and as all sorcery flows from the font of the Immaterium, so too is Tzeentch the master of that twisted, chaotic medium of psychic energy. Tzeentch embodies mortals' tendency towards mutability and change, the drive to evolve and manipulate. This spirit is present in the essence of every living creature from the first division of cells in the womb to the ultimate craving for survival.It is in the hearts of those with the strongest desire to prevail that Tzeentch whispers his insidious promise; offering a means of life eternal to those unwilling to accept death and oblivion as inevitable.It is also Tzeentch who weaves the threads that connect every action, plot and subtle intrigue in a galaxy-wide game of manipulation and subterfuge. At the end of each of these threads lies the ensnared soul of a Human puppet; those of Tzeentch's mortal servants and agents who believe they serve the Lord of Sorcery in mutually beneficial pacts.The truth is that Tzeentch's every action is planned with its ultimate goal as his own establishment as the pre-eminent Chaos power in the Realm of Chaos, the ultimate victor in the Great Game. Of course, the very nature of the Lord of Entropy is such that, were he to attain this triumph, he would still strive for turmoil and change. In many ways, Tzeentch is both the best and least understood of the Dark Gods.He is the god of fate, plots, and schemes, as well as the god that exemplifies the ever-changing nature of the Warp. However, Tzeentch does not plot towards some end (at least none that can be comprehended); he schemes simply to scheme. He is constantly building, even as his devices unravel under their own complexity. At the same time, he is the god of knowledge and comprehension, and his devotees may be those who seek a deeper understanding of an often enigmatic universe.Tzeentch is known by a hundred thousand titles across the galaxy, amongst them the "Weaver of Destinies," the "Great Conspirator," and the "Architect of Fate." In his mind, he listens to the hopes and desires for change of every sentient being from every planet in the universe. He watches over the plans of his playthings as they unfold into history, toying with fate and fortune; both for his own entertainment and to further his unfathomable schemes.Tzeentch feeds upon and is empowered by the mortal emotions of need and desire for change that is an essential part of all life in the universe. All people dream of prosperity, freedom from injustice and a better tomorrow. These dreams are not just the preserve of the impoverished or the powerless -- even Imperial planetary governors and Imperial Navy battlefleet admirals dream of further riches, or perhaps even an end to their responsibilities to the Emperor.All these dreams and desires create a powerful impetus for change, and the ambitions of nations create a force that can challenge history. Tzeentch is the embodiment of that force within the Immaterium. He was the second of the Chaos Gods to come to full sentience within the Warp, sometime during Old Earth's European medieval period in the 2nd Millennium. His birth marked the maturation of Human nations and politics, with all of their implicit intrigues and double-dealings.Tzeentch is not content to merely observe the fulfillment and disappointment brought by the passage of time. He has his own plans -- schemes that are so complex and closely woven that they touch the lives of every living thing, whether they realise it or not. The Chaos God's masterly comprehension of time, history and intrigue allows his ploys to intertwine seamlessly, forming a web of causality that spans the stars.Tzeentch is aware of the visions and plans of all mortals in the galaxy. He takes great delight in the plotting and politicking of others and favours the cunning over the strong. When the inner voice in a person's head speaks, when the desperate whisper their prayers into the night, it is the Architect of Fate that listens.He perceives every event and intention, and from this information, his mighty mind can work out how each will influence the future. The intertwining latticework of probability, hope and change is Tzeentch's meat and drink -- without it he would eventually fade away.Perhaps the Architect of Fate has plans to overthrow the other Chaos Gods, or to extend his dominion over all the mortal realms. Perhaps not even Tzeentch himself can say for sure. Whatever his ultimate goal, he seeks to achieve it by manipulating the individual lives of Humans and xenos alike.By offering the power of knowledge and sorcery, he can recruit influential Chaos warlords and magi to his cause, affecting the lives of many more at a single stroke. However, few of Tzeentch's plans are ever simple; some span aeons with their complexity, whilst many appear contradictory to others, or even against his own interests. Only Tzeentch can see the threads of potential futures weaving through time like tangled skeins of multicoloured cords; cords which themselves are made of decision, happenstance and fluke.Tzeentch is the undisputed master of sorcery in the universe. Sorcery is one of the most potent agents of change, and those who use it are amongst the most ambitious and hungry for power. The raw psychic energy that empowers the psykers of the mortal realm is the actual fabric of the Realm of Chaos, the same fabric that makes up the Ruinous Powers, their Daemon servants and the shadow-selves of mortal consciousness that flicker in the Warp and that Humanity calls souls.The use of psychic power, or "magic" as it can rightly be called, is held as the ultimate expression of faith among Tzeentch's followers, who have much to gain from his patronage. Though it will likely cost them their immortal souls, they will at least have boundless power to show for it while they live; this is in stark contrast to the poor wretched psykers of the Imperium of Man, who are corralled by the Inquisition's Black Ships and brought to Terra where many of them feed the dying Emperor's boundless hunger for psychic energy to power the Astronomican.In Tzeentch's eyes, mortal creatures are immeasurably steeped in ambiguity, yet they somehow wage their personal wars completely unaware of the countless contradictions in their souls. Tzeentch cannot help but dabble in the mortal realm; some amongst the Inquisition believe that the Great Conspirator is responsible for the exponential increases of psychic ability in the Human species in recent millennia.His own need to manipulate and control, and his desire to increase his own power in the Warp, mean Tzeentch is eternally playing the Great Game waged amongst his brother Chaos Gods. The Architect of Fate is not above sullying his clawed hands with the bloody business of war, though he much prefers to win his battles through guile and sorcery than brute force. Consumed by his own ineffable thoughts, Tzeentch binds the galaxy in the weave of his complex schemes just as a spider binds a fly.Though his schemes can take Terran millennia to unfold, when they come to fruition, it is usually reality itself that pays the price. While one mortal lies to another, while envy and ambition survive among Humans and aliens, Tzeentch will work his magic as the puppet master of the universe, working towards the day when his final great work will be revealed.Tzeentch exerts his influence in the mortal realm through subtle manipulation and devious ploys. The victims of his corruption are sorcerers drawn by the promise of forbidden knowledge; scholars who seek knowledge at all costs; politicians lured by the power knowledge provides to outmanoeuvre their opponents.Tzeentch's sacred number is nine, his colours are typically seen as blue and gold but an ever-changing rainbow of colour is appropriate as well, thus giving the name to the Lord of Change's Daemonic armies, the Scintillating Legions.Quick Answers What is the significance of the Tzeentch symbol in the Warhammer universe? The Tzeentch symbol, or Mark of Tzeentch, in the Warhammer universe is a significant emblem granted to the most loyal followers of Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways. It endows them with strong psychic powers and is either physically inscribed on their body or imprinted on their soul. The mark sparkles like a gateway to the Warp, compelling its bearers to uncover hidden secrets for their Dark God. The Tzeentch Chaos Marines are among the most devoted followers who bear this mark. Provided by: Fandom What role do the Tzeentch chaos marines play in the Warhammer 40k storyline? In the Warhammer 40k narrative, Tzeentch Chaos Marines, part of the Traitor Legions and Renegade warbands, aim to overthrow the Emperor of Mankind and take over the Imperium of Man for Chaos. They embody the corrupted Astartes' new allegiance, fighting for power, pleasure, wealth, and mayhem, which were once forbidden to them as the Emperor's ascetic servants and Mankind's selfless guardians. Provided by: Fandom How does the Tzeentch army 40k compare to other armies in the game? The Warhammer 40k Tzeentch army consists of formidable Chaos Sorcerers and warriors. Tzeentch, unlike Khorne, utilizes sorcery and psychic strength, making it a unique force. Its followers, capable of inducing significant change, contribute to Tzeentch's numerous plots and strategies. Provided by: Fandom What is the meaning behind Tzeentch's title as the 'Changer of Ways'? Tzeentch, the 'Changer of Ways', represents the mortal desires for evolution, improvement, and progress. His title signifies his profound understanding of destiny, history, and intrigue. As the master of destiny, he holds the hopes and plans of all mortals and nations. He symbolizes optimism and the readiness to change, but also corrupts human aspirations and ambitions. Provided by: Fandom How does Tzeentch interact with the Sisters of Battle in the Warhammer universe? In the Warhammer universe, Tzeentch and the Sisters of Battle, particularly the Auric Eagle Cadre, engage in a conflict at the capital's astropathic chori-spyre. The Sisters, equipped with boltguns, fend off Tzeentch's Daemons who assault with Warpfire and polymorphic light beams. These attacks fail against the psychic null zones enveloping each warrior. Tzeentch, recognized for his sway over other Ruinous Powers and his role in forming alliances among them, could have planned this encounter as part of his elaborate plots. Provided by: Fandom{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","name":"Tzeentch","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the significance of the Tzeentch symbol in the Warhammer universe?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The Tzeentch symbol, or Mark of Tzeentch, in the Warhammer universe is a significant emblem granted to the most loyal followers of Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways. It endows them with strong psychic powers and is either physically inscribed on their body or imprinted on their soul. The mark sparkles like a gateway to the Warp, compelling its bearers to uncover hidden secrets for their Dark God. The Tzeentch Chaos Marines are among the most devoted followers who bear this mark."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What role do the Tzeentch chaos marines play in the Warhammer 40k storyline?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"In the Warhammer 40k narrative, Tzeentch Chaos Marines, part of the Traitor Legions and Renegade warbands, aim to overthrow the Emperor of Mankind and take over the Imperium of Man for Chaos. They embody the corrupted Astartes' new allegiance, fighting for power, pleasure, wealth, and mayhem, which were once forbidden to them as the Emperor's ascetic servants and Mankind's selfless guardians."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How does the Tzeentch army 40k compare to other armies in the game?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The Warhammer 40k Tzeentch army consists of formidable Chaos Sorcerers and warriors. Tzeentch, unlike Khorne, utilizes sorcery and psychic strength, making it a unique force. Its followers, capable of inducing significant change, contribute to Tzeentch's numerous plots and strategies."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the meaning behind Tzeentch's title as the 'Changer of Ways'?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Tzeentch, the 'Changer of Ways', represents the mortal desires for evolution, improvement, and progress. His title signifies his profound understanding of destiny, history, and intrigue. As the master of destiny, he holds the hopes and plans of all mortals and nations. He symbolizes optimism and the readiness to change, but also corrupts human aspirations and ambitions."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How does Tzeentch interact with the Sisters of Battle in the Warhammer universe?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"In the Warhammer universe, Tzeentch and the Sisters of Battle, particularly the Auric Eagle Cadre, engage in a conflict at the capital's astropathic chori-spyre. The Sisters, equipped with boltguns, fend off Tzeentch's Daemons who assault with Warpfire and polymorphic light beams. These attacks fail against the psychic null zones enveloping each warrior. Tzeentch, recognized for his sway over other Ruinous Powers and his role in forming alliances among them, could have planned this encounter as part of his elaborate plots."}}]} |
Tzeentch - Changer of the Ways: The psychic entity or sentient force in the Immaterium known as Tzeentch is perhaps the most enigmatic of the so-called Chaos Gods or Ruinous Powers. Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways, embodies mortals' desires for evolution, improvement, innovation, and progress as well as their dreams of wealth, prosperity, and a better tomorrow.While many perceive these motivations as healthy, wholesome, and perhaps even necessary to mortal existence, Tzeentch, the Great Conspirator, works to corrupt the aspirations and ambitions of Humanity and xenos alike, and to leverage these hopes and dreams for his own nefarious ends.The other Dark Gods tend to act upon mortal society more directly: Khorne with bloodshed and slaughter, Nurgle with disease and decay, and Slaanesh with the allure of ecstasy and decadence. However, Tzeentch and his servants -- Human, xenos, and Daemon -- scheme and conspire quietly and stealthily to guide and influence the machinations of mortal society.The Changer of Ways favours subtle weapons: flattering words, enticing temptations, healthy ambitions stoked to traitorous or immoral ends, and above all, schemes within endless schemes. Many a politician, scholar, military officer, or other mortal leader has begun a promising career, altruistic project, or worthwhile intellectual investigation only to find themselves, perhaps prompted by a seemingly well-intentioned colleague who secretly served the Great Conspirator, making moral compromises, moving up the hierarchy at the expense of others, or taking ethically questionable shortcuts.Even with the best of intentions, or perhaps because of them, these people are vulnerable to the machinations of Tzeentch, who conspires to turn such individuals into cogs in his infernal machine, fuelled by endless schemes, lies, plots, and deceits. |
Tzeentch - Manifestation: While the other Dark Gods adopt relatively fixed forms much of the time, Tzeentch manifests in a multitude of guises. Tzeentch is often referred to as a "he," with the masculine gender, though in fact, like all the entities composed of psychic energy called the Chaos Gods, it in fact has no gender.The firmament surrounding Tzeentch is heavy with magic; it weaves like liquid smoke about its head, forming subtle and interwoven patterns. Forms of places and people appear in the smoke as Tzeentch contemplates their fate. Those who appear there will inevitably find their minds, bodies or destinies mutating into strange new forms, for none can come to Tzeentch's attention and remain unchanged.Nonetheless, over the aeons, certain traits have emerged in Tzeentch's appearance, its associated iconography, the material presence of the god's Daemonic followers, and the nightmares Tzeentch's visage implants in the minds of those who witness it.Such descriptions often reveal Tzeentch as a thin, lanky sorcerer, either male or female, in robes that continually change colour. Tzeentch's head hangs low, beneath its shoulders, so that head and body are one and its arms are long and spindly. From above Tzeentch's burning eyes spring two sweeping horns, the spiralling extremities of which crackle with arcane fire.Some descriptions posit that Tzeentch's Daemonic skin is covered in faces and mouths that shift, slide, emerge, and are subsumed back into the unnatural flesh, crawling with constant change. They whisper secrets dark and terrible, leering at and mocking onlookers. As Tzeentch speaks, these faces repeat its words with subtle but important differences or provide a commentary that throws doubt upon the statements uttered by the entity's primary or natural mouth.Some of the Ordo Malleus' Daemonhunters, however, realise that these perceived consistencies, like so many things associated with the Great Deceiver, may constitute a ruse of one kind or another. After all, consistency is often part and parcel of the most convincing lies and confidence schemes.Although many have described Tzeentch in this way, others have portrayed the Dark God as multi-coloured smoke, crackling energy of an unknown type that burns or mutates the objects it touches, faces in mist, a writhing mass of fleshy protoplasm, and burning Dark Tongue runes that hang in space and sear the very air -- sometimes all within the same observation.Others show malformed birds, fish, or perverse hybridised versions of the two that swim through the air and fly through the sea. Indeed, birds and fish figure heavily in descriptions of Tzeentch, in the god's iconography, and in the shapes taken by many of its Daemonic and mutated mortal followers.For instance, Tzeentch's most powerful servants, the Greater Daemons known as the Lords of Change, resemble giant humanoid birds; its Screamers and the Discs that carry Tzeentch's Champions to battle often appear as flying aquatic manta rays, tirelessly hunting through both the Great Ocean of the Empyrean and the air of realspace like the legendary carcharodons of primordial Terra.Other commentators have suggested that Tzeentch, the Great Mutator, has no fixed shape at all. Tzeentch's tangible form, when it chooses to manifest physically, is a mass of constantly shifting flesh. Thus, the constantly fluctuating material body of the Changer of Ways resembles many of its creations, such as the god's Daemons and its domain in the Realm of Chaos itself, which similarly have no stable form.Still others have posited that Tzeentch's physical forms are simply images that mortal minds create to try to perceive and understand something far more abstract, an agent of pure change, mutation, and flux. Such a form is more akin to metaphor than reality, and perhaps suits this Ruinous Power to a greater degree than eyes of flesh or metal could possibly capture.If some truth lies in this line of reasoning, then perhaps mortal minds have come to associate Tzeentch with birds and fish, creatures of air and water, respectively, because both of these animals inhabit fluid environments. Wind, tide, waves, temperature, turbidity, and bodies in motion constantly reshape the air and water in which these organisms live, making them fitting symbols for the Changer of Ways.As with much concerning the Great Changer, however, in the end all is conjecture and supposition, for attempting to know the true form of the Master of Mutation is to embrace madness.As any description of Tzeentch will be inaccurate and prone to the manipulations of the Great Deceiver, it follows that the most accurate descriptions of the Changer of Ways will acknowledge their inherent imprecision. Any attempt to fix this Dark God in words, images, or ideas, no matter for what purpose, scholarly, tactical, self-serving, or unholy, will fail.Even if mortal minds could possibly perceive, comprehend, and communicate the true nature of Tzeentch at one moment, that nature would change the next, rendering the previous understanding obsolete.As such, whether one's goal is to remain loyal to the Emperor of Mankind, to serve the purpose of a xenos species, or to explore the ways of Chaos for reasons scholarly or dark, one may best be served by considering the Architect of Fate only at the periphery of one's mind's eye, for even those who knowingly sail upon the Shifting Breeze of Tzeentch can never see the true face of the Chaos God who wears a Thousand Masks. |
Tzeentch - Sacred Number 9: An excerpt from the works of the Chaos Sorcerer Ahriman explains much about the significance of Tzeentch's sacred number. Ahriman writes, "Nine is the number most sacred to the Changer of Ways. It is only upon tracing the ninth sigil that the runes of a change-scroll begin to glow, morphing into their true nature."There are nine distinct rites an acolyte must master before he can unlock the secrets that will permit him to pierce the veil, a process that will allow a worthy aspirant to draw upon the boundless energies of the Immaterium. To remain unbroken, a summoning symbol must contain nine sequential rings -- each perfectly executed in a nine-fold process. Nine are the chants of the Kairic cultists, and for casting, a coven of nine is by far the most powerful of groupings."Yet it is not the mortal rites alone that obey the Great Sorcerer's enneadic rules. The number nine can be found woven throughout the unfathomable and ever-changing structures of the Architect of Fate's own realm within the Warp. The Lords of Change, the greatest servants of Tzeentch and commanders of his convocations, are ordered within nine levels of trust."All seek their master's favour, and those in ascendancy rule the nine fractal fortresses. Beneath each of those most exalted are nine hundred and ninety-nine legions, each divided into nine hosts. It is said that when Daemons are slain, their immortal spirit appears within the Impossible Fortress, arriving before their maker from one of the ever-shifting nine gates -- there to be either reformed or reabsorbed by the will of Tzeentch." |
Tzeentch - Cult of Tzeentch: Tzeentch is one of the four major Chaos Gods, and his areas of influence include sorcery, scheming, change, ambition and knowledge. He is known by many names: the "Changer of Ways," the "Great Schemer," the "Father of Lies and Deception," the "Great Mutator," the "Master of Fortune," the "Great Conspirator," the "Architect of Fate," the "Great Eagle," the "Shifting Breeze," the "Master of Fate," "Tchar," "Shunch," "Chen," and countless other titles and names from the millions of dialects and languages spoken throughout the galaxy.For every name by which the Master of Deceit is known, he has a thousand guises and plots. Everything related to the master of change shifts, mutates, evolves, and transmogrifies. One can go mad, and many have, trying to study even the smallest threads of the Great Schemer and to perform the impossible: to describe him and to fix him to one shape, one form, one motive, one truth. Perhaps the best way to characterise Tzeentch is not to describe him at all, as over time, he differs from himself more than he does any other being.Tzeentch, like his endless schemes, constantly shifts, morphs, and transforms. Tzeentch is, without question, the most disturbing and least comprehensible of all the Chaos Gods to mortals.Plotters and schemers find themselves drawn to Tzeentch, especially those who crave psychic or sorcerous power to achieve their goals. Politicians and leaders, magisters and Chaos Cultists, all find themselves drawn along the convoluted paths of fate, using Tzeentch to achieve their dreams and aspirations, though ultimately all are led to play their part in Tzeentch's own eternal schemes.No mortal can fully comprehend the full nature of the intricately-woven, multi-layered plots of Tzeentch and to attempt to do so can only lead to insanity. Yet in reality Tzeentch has no grand plan, no ultimate goal to fulfill.For Tzeentch the mere act of plotting and entwining the brief fates of mortals is purpose enough. There is no end to his scheming for he desires no end to the creation of change. Tzeentch can never achieve any ultimate aim for to do so would be the end of ambition, the end of change, and thus the end of the Lord of Destiny.Many are the followers of Tzeentch. Some willingly and knowingly follow the Architect of Fate. Others, deceived by the Father of Lies and his servants, believe themselves to be advancing their own agendas, while, in actuality, they blindly serve the Changer of Ways. Many rogues, Renegades, Heretics and Chaos Space Marines also serve Tzeentch.The reach of the Architect of Fate is long, stretching across the galaxy with special attention to regions such as the Eye of Terror, the Malestrom, the Great Rift and the Screaming Vortex where the Warp and reality become one. He is the Master of the Thousand and One Plots, each more intricate and devious than the next, and none save for Tzeentch himself can possibly imagine, let alone fathom, them all. Such is the Changer of Ways, and such is his control over the foolish efforts of all mortals.While not as numerous or as obvious as the followers of Khorne, Tzeentch nevertheless has a strong and firm hold on the hands and minds of mortals. In fact, many more mortals serve him than are aware of it, his scheming and many names often obscuring the true force behind events. Mortal worshippers of Tzeentch tend to be sorcerers, psykers, scholars and other educated elites who desire greater knowledge and power.Some of these worshippers become very powerful sorcerers, but Tzeentch has a tendency to mutate his followers, and the highest levels of power are said to be difficult for his mortal followers to reach, as they frequently find themselves mutated into the mindless beasts called Chaos Spawn before they can unlock the most potent mysteries offered by the Lord of Change.Those who do attain great power in the service of Tzeentch, however, are extremely powerful foes, mighty Chaos Sorcerers as well as great warriors. Additionally, while Khorne detests and forbids sorcery, intrigue and subtlety in all its forms, Tzeentch has no such qualms about using and manipulating brutish might when it strikes his fancy.As such, while Khorne has no sorcerer or psyker followers, Tzeentch assembles armies of warriors from all walks of life; anyone who inflicts or incurs great change, in themselves or their surroundings, is likely to fall under the gaze of the Lord of Change. |
Tzeentch - Sorcerers and Psykers: Those who study arcane lore, employ psychic powers, practice the art of sorcery, or otherwise tamper with the power of the Empyrean, with or without Imperial sanction, are among Tzeentch's favourite targets for temptation and eventual corruption.Imperial scholars have determined that the incidence of the psyker mutation among the Human population increases with each generation. It therefore follows that the risk Tzeentch poses to Humanity has increased commensurately. As such, organisations such as the Inquisition, the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, the Adeptus Astronomica, and the Scholastia Psykana must remain forever vigilant and prosecute any trace of the influence of Chaos with extreme prejudice.Many checks and restraints exist to prevent the influence of Warp entities on the minds of Imperial psykers, but any security system and the individuals who maintain it are fallible, capable of errors in judgement, and themselves subject to temptations and dark influences.Even with these safeguards in place, Imperial commissars operate under strict orders to execute Sanctioned Psykers at the first sign of possession or Daemonic influence. |
Tzeentch - Tzeentchian Corruption: Tzeentch is the Changer of Ways, the Chaos God of change, sorcery and intrigue who perhaps most directly embodies the heart of what Chaos itself represents as a universal force. Fewer individuals and Chaos Cults fall to the temptations offered by Tzeentch than to the other Ruinous Powers, as the immediate benefits the Lord of Sorcery offers are less tangible and immediate than the sensory pleasures of Slaanesh, the diseased and disfigured immortality of Nurgle or the bloodthirsty strength of Khorne.Instead, the worship of Tzeentch appeals most to those who value knowledge, especially secret, forbidden knowledge and the power that it brings. Of course, the individuals most likely to be tempted into the service of Tzeentch are psykers, who already possess the secret and feared ability to tap the limitless power of the Warp to reshape reality.Tzeentch offers psykers the knowledge required to achieve unlimited heights of psychic ability through the practice of the powerful arcane psychic techniques known to the Imperium of Man as "sorcery" that can only be learned from interaction and communication with the dark powers of the Immaterium.For many, the forbidden knowledge Tzeentch offers is just too tempting to pass up and before they know it, they have been ensnared within the Grand Schemer's tangled webs and find themselves as just another unwitting pawn in his Chaos plots.No less a personage than the Primarch Magnus the Red found it impossible to steer clear of Tzeentch's temptations as his overwhelming desire to protect his Thousand Sons Legion's precious knowledge of the Warp and sorcery ultimately led him into the embrace of the Changer of Ways.Even non-psykers can find themselves pawns in Tzeentch's endless games of intrigue when they discover that if they make use of the heretical knowledge offered by the Chaos God, just this once, they can perhaps better their station in life or that of their loved ones.Imperial nobles and politicians are often drawn into Tzeentch's web through the edge over their rivals he offers in the form of knowledge and the power it can provide.Yet the lower classes also provide fertile ground for the Lord of Sorcery. In a society that is as difficult and repressive as that of the Imperium, it can be all too easy to give in to the blandishments of a charismatic heretical preacher who promises salvation and prosperity if one will just agree to follow a particular path towards "enlightenment."It is in just this way that countless Tzeentchian Chaos Cults are begun across the galaxy. Many normally pious and good-hearted subjects of the Emperor, tired of the mindless, back-breaking labour and elite disdain that dominates life on so many Imperial worlds, are easily swayed to join various "mystery cults." These cults slowly draw these folk ever tighter into a web of Tzeentchian corruption until, too late, they discover they have become the corrupt servants of Chaos.While Tzeentchian corruption is the least common form of Chaos perversion found across the Imperium, it is also the most feared by the Inquisition, for its adherents are the most powerful of Chaos servants and the best at concealing both themselves and their complex schemes from the light of the Emperor. |
Tzeentch - Tzeentch and the Thousand Sons: The Thousand Sons Traitor Legion of Heretic Astartes serves Tzeentch exclusively. They were once the XVth Legion of Space Marines founded on Terra, created in the late 30th Millennium to reclaim the stars for Humanity after the horrors of the Age of Strife. For some time, they fought with distinction and were nearly indistinguishable from the other Space Marine Legions. Shortly into the Great Crusade, however, the Thousand Sons began to change.Many manifested psychic abilities; others underwent a "flesh change" and developed rapid and uncontrolled physical mutations. Mutated battle-brothers were placed in stasis to await an eventual cure, and the ranks of the Thousand Sons grew thin. Leaders of the Imperium became concerned and many argued that the Legion should be disbanded and all traces of its existence removed from Imperial history.The Great Crusade wore on and the forces of the Emperor eventually reached the planet Prospero, where they discovered Magnus the Red, the cyclopean primarch of the Thousand Sons. Once introduced to the XVth Legion created from his genome, Magnus acted swiftly to save his progeny, almost all of whom had succumbed to the flesh change. Through some unknown and possibly arcane process of sorcery gained through interaction with the entities of the Warp, a bargain that cost him one of his eyes, Magnus stabilised the Thousand Sons' gene-seed, but by then, the numbers of the Thousand Sons were small indeed.Under Magnus' guidance, the Thousands Sons rebuilt their Legion, recruited new battle-brothers from the population of Prospero, and reorganised themselves. They developed the most powerful Librarians of that era of Imperial history as well as unconventional tactics that involved sorcery and diplomatic trickery.This ended with the Council of Nikaea and the Emperor's decree to abolish the use of sorcery and other psychic powers in the Imperium and amongst the Space Marine Legions, as well as the tragic and terrible events that led the Thousand Sons to turn their back on the Imperium forever.At the start of the Horus Heresy in the early 31st Millennium, Magnus the Red tried to warn the Emperor of Horus' treachery by using sorcery to reach across the vast interstellar distances between the Thousand Sons' homeworld of Prospero and Terra, but the Emperor rejected the sorcerous warning as a deception perpetrated by Chaos against his beloved son Horus.He sent Leman Russ, the Space Wolves Legion's primarch, along with his Legion and elements of the Sisters of Silence and the Legio Custodes to bring Magnus back to Terra for trial for violation of the Council of Nikaea's proscription on the use of sorcery, but Russ' orders were maliciously modified by Horus to get the Space Wolves to attack the Thousand Sons outright instead and force them to turn to Chaos to save themselves.Russ attacked and ultimately, the XVth Legion's homeworld burned during the terrible campaign remembered as the Fall of Prospero. Some of the Thousand Sons, including Magnus the Red, managed to escape with the help of their new patron, Tzeentch, and sided with Horus against the Emperor to seek vengeance for all that had been lost on Prospero.They became Traitor Marines and fought alongside the Warmaster Horus and his forces in the failed attempt to overthrow the Emperor and His servants. Now and forever aligned with the Changer of Ways, the Thousand Sons use their powers to pursue knowledge and glory for themselves and their patron god.After embracing Tzeentch, the Thousand Sons continued to develop their combat doctrine of guile and trickery, and they continued to favour ranged weapons and sorcery over close combat. They changed their Legions' colours from crimson to blue and gold, the favoured colours of the Changer of Ways, and added elaborate headdresses to their helmets.The flesh change, which had been held in check by Magnus' intervention, began to take hold once again due to their exposure to the power of the Warp within the Eye of Terror where they had taken refuge on the Daemon World known as Sortiarius, the Planet of the Sorcerers, and many of the Thousand Sons experienced radical mutations. The machinations of Ahriman, the Chief Librarian of the Thousand Sons and Magnus' second-in-command, led to the horrific spell known as the Rubric of Ahriman, which permanently solved the issue, though not in the way the sorcerer had expected.Ahriman's horrifying Rubric did prevent further mutations in those of his brethren possessed of psychic abilities and adept at sorcery, but forever changed his other, non-psychic brothers into dust, their souls forever encased in their ensorcelled suits of power armour, transforming them into undead Rubric Marines.The Thousand Sons who did possess psychic powers found these abilities greatly enhanced and now lead their phantom battle-brothers into war against the Imperium of Man and the Corpse Emperor they believe betrayed them so long ago.Upon learning of the failure of the Rubric, Magnus in his rage banished Ahriman from the Planet of the Sorcerers. This was the first of many schisms that split the Thousand Sons, divisions that eventually caused estrangement from their own primarch.As a result of this internal strife, the Thousand Sons effectively no longer function as a true Legion. Instead, they fight as isolated warbands and individual warriors. Some serve Tzeentch devoutly, others begrudgingly, and others as mindless conduits for the devastating sorcerous power of the Warp. |
Tzeentch - Rivalry: Typically, the Changer of Ways stands in direct opposition to Nurgle, the Plague Lord, just as Khorne, the god of war and wrath, most fervently opposes Slaanesh, the prince of decadence and depravity.Where Nurgle represents Chaos as a force of stagnation and dissolution, Tzeentch embodies Chaos as a force for change and development. Where Nurgle promotes and feeds off of despair and decay, Tzeentch promotes and is empowered by hope, potential and progress. Where Nurgle fosters deterioration and ruin, Tzeentch fosters germination and development.To many students of the Ruinous Powers, the (however speculative) ideological descriptions of the Changer of Ways make better sense when juxtaposed against those of Nurgle, Tzeentch's seeming antithesis amongst the Dark Gods. On innumerable occasions Tzeentch's intricate plots have been foiled by Nurgle's malign influence, and the two Chaos Gods' Daemonic and mortal servants clash as often with each other as with their mutual enemies in the Imperium and among the xenos species.Despite Tzeentch's intense rivalry with Grandfather Nurgle, he is nonetheless the Chaos God with the most influence over the other major Ruinous Powers. At times, the Chaos Gods must unite and act in concert if their individual plans are to reach fruition, as they did against the Emperor at the time of the Horus Heresy, and it is always Tzeentch who brokers these rare alliances of Chaos Undivided.However, Tzeentch never acts out of altruism, and it can be guaranteed that every time he moves to unite the powers of Chaos he does so ultimately with his own unfathomable goals in mind. |
Tzeentch - Realm of the Sorcerer: Just as Tzeentch manifests and appears in many different guises, many of them fluid and shifting, so too, the domain of the Changer of Ways within the Realm of Chaos -- the Realm of the Sorcerer -- constantly adapts to its master's whims, desires, moods, and, of course, the demands of his Thousand and One Plots. Observers Human, xenos, and Daemon perceive and interpret this territory in a wide variety of ways.In fact, some scholars and a few of the more coherent first-hand witnesses who have survived contact with Tzeentch's realm have suggested that neither mortal nor Daemon, save perhaps the most powerful Lords of Change, can grasp the true nature of Tzeentch's shifting realm. Most who visit the domain of the Great Mutator quickly go mad; those of exceptionally strong mind and strong will can perhaps interpret but one facet of the often crystalline landscape that, like Tzeentch himself, has an infinite number of faces.Many commentators suggest that the mortal mind can only perceive this world of Warp energy wrought into something resembling solid form through symbols or metaphors, images created by the mind of the iron-willed in an attempt to make sense of pure Chaos and constant change.In fact, many commentators rely on paradoxical metaphors even to describe the process of perceiving Tzeentch's realm itself: sculpting with fog, describing a dream as it occurs, singing silently, painting with mist, and the like. The Great Ocean of the Warp is a sea of madness and insanity, and Tzeentch's realm is the concentrated essence of such things given form.In spite of the constantly changing nature of the domain of the Architect of Fate and the limited capacity of the mortal mind to perceive and comprehend it, certain common views have emerged from the extant descriptions of Tzeentch's realm. Some observers claim that an enormous crystalline labyrinth dominates the landscape, a luminescent plane shimmering like a polished, mottled opal. Passages in this maze appear, dissolve, merge, split, and change direction seemingly at random.Only the Lords of Change, Tzeentch's Greater Daemons, and those with the trenchant insights of the irrevocably mad can hope to understand the design of Tzeentch's deranged maze and to navigate its corridors. No Daemons are needed to act as sentinels in Tzeentch's realm; the labyrinth itself provides sufficient protection against anyone rash and foolhardy enough to attempt an assault on the Great Schemer.Those who gaze into the crystalline substance that composes this maze may see more than light reflected and refracted in the fluctuating facets of the shining surfaces. They may catch glimpses of fears, miseries, and hopes made visually manifest; dreams and nightmares; histories real and imagined; potential futures; images of torment, ecstasy, and despair; and abstract thoughts made momentarily concrete as pictures in the crystals.One visionary reported seeing various images of his children at different points in their lives, all of them moments of despair, sorrow, and desperation. Another recounted her experiences in Tzeentch's realm as one of exultation and ecstasy as she witnessed reflected representations of what she took to be her possible futures, each more joyful and successful than the last.Yet another claimed to observe nightmare imagery in the mirrored surface of the labyrinth: Daemons rending flesh from friends and loved ones, the destruction of his home by dark sorcerers wielding Warpfire, and worst of all, the transformation of his own body into a tentacled, writhing mass. When this last traveller was finally able to tear his gaze away from the hellish visions, he discovered that solar days had passed and that his body had indeed changed into the hideous Chaos Spawn he had seen in his vision.Imperial records show that all three of these individuals met with tragic ends: suicide, insanity, and execution at the hands of the Inquisition, respectively. In one sense, these survivors of Tzeentch's realm were fortunate, as it is rumoured that most who travel through the maze of the Raven God wander it eternally as miserable, insane shells of their former selves, forever tormented by ghastly visions, regrets over their mistakes and missed opportunities, and the hopes for a tomorrow that they will never realise.While the passage of time in the Warp fluctuates and does not correspond to its regular, linear flow in the normal four-dimensional space-time of the Materium, the inconsistency of time's progression is even more pronounced in Tzeentch's realm.As the anecdote above suggests, in what seems like a few solar minutes spent gazing into the depths of the crystals of Tzeentch's labyrinthine realm, solar days or even standard years can pass. Two individuals might enter Tzeentch's realm in the same instant in time; one might exit moments later and report that years had passed, whereas the other could spend centuries of real time in Tzeentch's realm but swear that he had been gone only minutes.In addition, other peculiarities in individuals' subjective perceptions of time occur within Tzeentch's realm itself. A single footstep may seem to take solar hours to complete. What seems like a few seconds spent admiring the beautiful refraction of light on the crystalline structure of the maze can take Terran days.Many visitors "momentarily" transfixed by some curiosity in Tzeentch's realm have died of dehydration or starvation. Others can spend years wandering the insane corridors of Tzeentch's maze without drinking, eating, or resting -- their metabolism apparently slowed by Chaos influences.Legends tell of an entity known as the "Guardian of the Maze" that inhabits the Crystalline Labyrinth. Though its name implies that it serves as the protector of Tzeentch's realm, it is said to function more as a gatekeeper and observer. Rumours tell of a path through Tzeentch's realm that, in theory, anyone, mortal or Daemon, may follow to discover infinite knowledge.To follow this path, the inquisitive pilgrim must travel through nine gates. These portals, three times the height of a man, appear as golden arches wreathed in the blue and pink Warpfire of Tzeentch. Such is the power of the Guardian of the Maze, or perhaps it is the bizarre temporal nature of Tzeentch's twisting realm itself, that the Guardian manifests as a giant disembodied mouth hovering above all nine gates simultaneously.At each gate, the mouth ponderously speaks, asking those seekers of knowledge one of the nine hundred and ninety-nine Riddles of Tzaratxoth. Those who answer the riddles correctly may pass through the gates and continue along the path to ultimate enlightenment. Those who fail to answer correctly are doomed to wander the labyrinth for all eternity wracked with insanity and regret over the infinite knowledge that might have been theirs.Legend tells of one being -- the only one in all history, who answered all nine of the questions correctly. Strangely, many versions of the story posit that this individual appeared in the guise of a young girl who was accompanied by a small black dog.Factions within the Ordo Malleus wage vicious scholarly battles over the hidden significance of this tale, or if the tale actually happened, or was yet another metaphorical wisp of smoke from the Master of Lies. |
Tzeentch - The Impossible Fortress: Tzeentch's sanctum sanctorum, the Impossible Fortress, is said to lie at the centre of the crystalline maze, if indeed geographical descriptors such as "centre" apply with any accuracy to this inconstant realm. Some consider this as more akin to a central belief or conceit that might drive a series of thoughts than an actual location, as nothing of this area has physicality as mortals would comprehend it.While this ætheric edifice is in constant flux, many have described it as a crystalline castle composed of the same sort of material as the labyrinth that surrounds it. Imbalanced spires spontaneously emerge from the ever-shifting foundation of the Impossible Fortress, as do towers of blue and pink flame and searing Warpfire.Gates, doors, and portals slowly open, as if yawning with the ennui of ages, only to slam shut like mouths of terrible beasts and then disappear. Mortals shackled by the psychological manacles forged by a lifetime of habit and enculturation in the material realm cannot fathom the perverse design of Tzeentch's home.Indeed, as the name of this fastness implies, even the most visionary and heretical designers of the material realm could not draft plans for the maddening architecture of the Impossible Fortress. Few Daemons, save the most powerful Lords of Change, can navigate its corridors, but as these creations are intelligent distillations of the madness that makes up Tzeentch's realm, they thrive all the same.Deep inside the Impossible Fortress, according to some profane accounts, lies Tzeentch's fabled Hidden Library. This infinite collection of tomes, scrolls, and parchments of every kind contains every scrap of knowledge and thought ever recorded in Creation; stories written and unwritten; histories true and alternate; and accounts of futures potential, actual, and imagined.Many of the volumes are so weighty with knowledge that they gain a sentience of a kind and spend centuries chattering to passersby, arguing with one another, rewriting themselves, and then reorganising their placement accordingly. Magical chains of Warpflame help to protect the books and bind them in place.Horrors serve as grotesque librarians and work tirelessly to re-shelve the works, catalogue the collection, and maintain what passes for order in the Impossible Fortress, though as the concept itself is anathema to the Great Mutator, no mortal could possibly fathom such a design.As with so many things associated with the Changer of Ways, few things are always as they seem. Although the Crystal Labyrinth, the Impossible Fortress, and the Hidden Library often appear (or at least are often perceived) as delineated above, by no means are these descriptions consistent with every narrative provided by those unfortunate mortal souls who have visited Tzeentch's domain.Bock Sammaelle, dubbed the "Lunatic Scrivener of Hamclov Prime" by the hive city princes who acted as his patrons, claimed to have travelled to and returned from Tzeentch's realm in the early 41st Millennium. Sammaelle attested that he saw nothing but a bleak hill on which a single, leafless tree stood.Daylasse Dial, the Heretic illuminator of Phalan 10 who was later executed for heresy, described Tzeentch's realm as a barren, desert landscape populated by deformed, headless humanoids that continually split and reformed into new bodies.Other witnesses have described a realm of pulsating and constantly morphing protoplasm, towers of fungus and mould, continents of sentient vegetation and vines without finite length, and vast landscapes of nothing but barren stone and ash. It is likely that Tzeentch's realm is all of these things and many more.Others have suggested that observers interpret Tzeentch's realm subjectively, filtering their perception of structured Warp energy through their own psychological expectations and experiences. It may be most probable that Tzeentch himself determines how each mortal or Daemonic individual perceives his realm to suit the needs, whims, and conspiracies of the Master of Lies. |
Tzeentch - Tzeentchian Daemons: Like all the Dark Gods, Tzeentch has a vast number of minions of a variety of types at his command, ranging from the Daemons created as condensations of his own will to the mortals who serve his whim, whether they know it or not. All are mere puppets to be manipulated by the Architect of Fate, and few, if any, even consider the nature of the strings controlling their actions.Tzeentch's Daemons vary greatly from one type to another in terms of their appearance, their morphology, their level of intellect and autonomy, and their function in their master's schemes. Arguably, there is greater diversity in the creatures of Tzeentch than in the Warp creatures of the other Ruinous Powers. However, the Daemons of Tzeentch do have certain features in common.For one, Daemons are creatures of the Sea of Souls that can normally only exist for short periods of time in realspace under certain strict conditions, as the material realm is not their natural element. Some initiating incident usually occurs for the Daemons to broach the barrier between the soft, shifting realms of the Immaterium and the hard-edged, definite four-dimensional geometries of realspace.They may be summoned into the material plane by a sorcerer or Chaos Cultist conducting an ancient, forbidden ritual, or perhaps when a psyker loses control, enabling the Daemon to tear its way into reality through the psyker's body, or some calamitous sorcerous or psychic event occurs to weaken the barrier.In spite of the instability of their presence in the Materium, Daemons can be remarkably resilient to most forms of physical damage; poisons and disease do no harm to these creatures of the Warp though many Force Weapons, holy relics, and psychic attacks can harm them with comparative ease due to their psychic component and resonance within the Empyrean. |
Tzeentch - Lesser Daemons: Burning Chariot of Tzeentch - Burning Chariots of Tzeentch are Daemonic constructs in the service of Tzeentch. Consisting of ornate Discs of Tzeentch pulled by Screamers, a Burning Chariot blazes through the heavens of the mortal world and is often mistaken for a comet by mortal observers, a sight that is interpreted as in ancient times as an omen of terrible days to come.Herald of Tzeentch - Less powerful than the Lords of Change and Daemon Princes but ranked above Lesser Daemons like Screamers and Horrors, Tzeentch's Daemonic Heralds are the field officers that lead his troops to battle. Some Heralds are indistinguishable from the lesser creatures they command, and some scholars of the Ordo Malleus feel that many are nothing more than especially powerful Horrors. Most tend to be lanky, multi-limbed creatures whose physical form is in constant flux. Most can manipulate Warp energy and cast spells. When Tzeentch's Daemonic hosts march to war, his Heralds often function as squad leaders and organise the fiery, morphing mass of his Daemons into a devastating onslaught.Disc of Tzeentch - Discs of Tzeentch are disc-like melds of psychic energy, metallic construct, and Lesser Daemon, and are often used as transports for mortal Champions of Tzeentch. They are capable of lashing out upon nearby foes with short-ranged lightning blasts or magically manifesting powerful tentacles for attacking. They are known as Changebringers if they are ridden by a Flamer.Flamer of Tzeentch - Flamers of Tzeentch are slightly more powerful Lesser Daemons, with numerous gaping maws that produce the searing flames which give these Daemons their unsubtle name. They frequently fight alongside Horrors; like Horrors, they are able to unleash magical blasts of energy upon their foes.Horror - Horrors are the most prolific Lesser Daemon of Tzeentch, an ever-shifting mass of flesh, limbs, and flame-spewing orifices. Horrors are capable of unleashing potent psychic powers upon their foes.Screamer - Screamers are manta ray-like Daemonic beasts that swoop down on foes and cut them apart with their sharp tusks, but prefer to emit an unholy scream that damages and terrifies most mortals. |
Tzeentch - Greater Daemons: Lord of Change - Lords of Change are the most powerful Greater Daemons of Tzeentch, typically taking the form of a large, bird-like winged Daemon of vast intellect and potent sorcerous power. They are described as winged bipedal creatures with snake-like necks and avian heads. The creatures' bodies, especially their wings, are usually multi-colored and they are capable of shooting powerful blasts of Warp lightning and Chaos fire. However, the true danger of the Lords of Change is not their potent combat abilities, but the endless schemes they weave to entrap, manipulate and corrupt mortals of every intelligent species and culture.Daemon Prince of Tzeentch - A Daemon Prince of Tzeentch is a former mortal or Heretic Astartes servant of Tzeentch who has accomplished so much for the Lord of Change that he or she has been transformed into an immortal Daemon Prince. For a sorcerer of the Thousand Sons Legion, the apotheosis of their service to the Grand Conspirator is to gain immortality as a Daemon Prince. The last fragment of their mortal soul -- already warped by centuries of sadistic manipulation done unto others -- is plunged into swirling darkness, never to return. Their flesh is riven with Chaos energy, their body growing to enormous proportions to accommodate a massive surge of raw empyric matter. Muscles bulge along elongated limbs, and hands twist into many-taloned claws that drip with magic. Much of their armour and weaponry is absorbed into their new form. The Tzeentchian runes and icons bedecking their wargear become embedded in sinew, where they pulsate with bestial vigour. |
Tzeentch - Notable Daemons of Tzeentch: Like the other Chaos Gods, the Changer of Ways can rely upon many powerful Daemons to lead his hosts into battle or advance his schemes in the material realm. Some of the greatest are listed here.Ghargatuloth, the Prince of a Thousand Faces - Ghargatuloth is one of the Greater Daemons of Tzeentch, an entity that has been known by myriad names in the material realm, including the "Prince of a Thousand Faces", the "Forger of Hells", the "Whisperer in the Darkness", the "God of the Last Hunt", and the "Seventy-Seventh Masque". Countless atrocities have been committed in his name, for Ghargatuloth's true lifeblood is knowledge, the true vector of all change in the universe. With each foul deed accomplished, with every man killed, with every secret gleamed or divulged, Ghargatuloth learns more and thus becomes more powerful. The first time Ghargatuloth revealed his hand, he was a mere child in the eyes of his overlord and still it took the sacrifice of no less than three Grand Masters of the Grey Knights Chapter and three hundred of their brethren to banish Ghargatuloth from the material realm. Ten thousand standard years later, on the eve of the 13th Black Crusade of Abaddon the Despoiler, the plans spun by Ghargatuloth bore fruit and the Prince of a Thousand Faces was reborn on the almost forgotten world of Volcanis Ultor in the Segmentum Solar, far to the galactic south of the Imperium of Man's main line of defence around the Cadian Gate. Fortunately for Mankind, Ghargatuloth was confronted by the heroic Justicar Alaric who succeeded in banishing him for the second time. Nevertheless, Ghargatuloth still remains a threat, and although the Emperor's Tarot indicates that his banishment is to last for the next 1,000 standard years, who truly knows what dark plans Ghargatuloth hatches from beyond the veil?Kairos Fateweaver - Kairo Fateweaver, also known simply as Fateweaver and the "Oracle of Tzeentch," is a two-headed Lord of Change, a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch. Fateweaver is the mightiest of the Lords of Change that serve Tzeentch and is blessed with access to all of his knowledge concerning the nature of fate and destiny. Fateweaver has gained infallible knowledge of both the past and the future, but cannot see what will occur in the present. As with all the gifts of Chaos, however, there is always a catch. One of Kairos' two heads will always answer with the truth. Unfortunately, the other head simultaneously responds with a contradictory answer, the falsehood being as believable as the truth.Magnus the Red, the Crimson King, the Red Cyclops - Magnus the Red is the Daemon Primarch of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion who fell to the service of Tzeentch during the Battle of Prospero at the start of the Horus Heresy. He is among the most powerful of the Lord of Change's servants in the 41st Millennium and has become fully active once more leading his forces into battle in the Era Indomitus and relocating the Planet of the Sorcerers from the Eye of Terror to a location adjacent to that of the husk of ancient Prospero.The Blue Scribes of Tzeentch - The Blue Scribes are two Blue Horrors, named P'tarix and Xirat'p, who have been tasked by Tzeentch to learn every spell in existence, for in each spell lies a lost fragment of Tzeentch that he wishes to reclaim to ensure his ultimate dominance in the Great Game with the other Chaos Gods as well as dominion over all of Creation. The Blue Scribes ride their Disc of Tzeentch through the realms of mortal and Daemon, binding the lost fragments of their god in parchment and ink. Tzeentch bestowed the extra intelligence of the Scribes with safeguards against betrayal; P'tarix can transcribe the syllables of magic spells into profane Chaos runes and glyphs, but cannot read his own writings. Xirat'p can read his brother's scrawls, but cannot understand them. Because of this, Xirat'p is able to cast spells by reading from P'tarix's writings, but cannot predict which spell he is going to cast; thus, the Blue Scribes create havoc in combat as they unleash a barrage of random psychic effects on any who threaten them.The Changeling - The Changeling is a Daemon that personifies the part of Tzeentch's psyche that is the meddler, the deceiver, the trickster. He can take the form of other beings, from the tiniest of insects to the most massive of Greater Daemons. None, save perhaps Tzeentch himself, know the Changeling's true form, for he goes cowled and cloaked when in his own shape -- perhaps even the Changeling himself has forgotten it. Not only can the Changeling mirror the form of another, he can adopt mannerisms and personalities in so flawless a fashion that even the Dark Gods can be deceived. In all of Creation there is only one entity that the Changeling cannot duplicate: the Great God Tzeentch himself. The Grand Schemer will not suffer any being to steal his identity, even for a moment. |
Tzeentch - Scintillating Legions: The air fills with kaleidoscopic bursts of magical energy as the convocations of the Great Conspirator's Daemon armies -- the Scintillating Legions -- materialise for battle. To mortal eyes, the different Daemonic legions of Tzeentch are impossible to distinguish, each one as bizarre as the next, yet there is method within the madness -- although none save the Architect of Fate himself could truly comprehend it.While Tzeentch prefers to further his ends through sorcery or schemes, there will often be no better alternative than force to achieve his goals. Thus are Tzeentch's Daemon legions deployed, armies unlike anything seen in realspace.These convocations go to war in a capering, bounding, spell-wielding carnival of violence, obliterating foes with hellfire and change-magics. Unlike the militant cohorts of Khorne or the cyclical forces that serve Nurgle, Tzeentch's legions are often in flux, shifting composition or altering tactics to better serve their master.Each Scintillating Legion is commanded by one of Tzeentch's Greater Daemons, a Lord of Change, each utterly dedicated to their master's cause. A Lord of Change is granted great independence to operate, and with the help of their advisers and champions, they will command a legion suited to their own proclivities.Those that love to bask in the glow of destruction might head a Conflagration Legion -- a force centred around formations of Flamers, capable of wielding the most powerful of Warp-flames.Others favour the Legions Anarchus, which are far less predictable in composition and specialise in sudden and wholly unexpected incursions.Those Greater Daemons of Tzeentch who are masters of duplicity will lead one of the Veiled Legions; the most mysterious of Tzeentch's forces, these surface rarely and are almost never brought to battle, and slip off unseen after their plan's culmination.Each of Tzeentch's Daemonic legions is divided into nine hosts, and these are directed in battle by Daemon Princes and Heralds such as Changecasters, Fluxmasters and Fateskimmers. The leaders of the hosts compete to attract more praise from the Lord of Change that commands them, and even between the legions, there is no end to the machinations as rival Lords of Change plot against one another and sabotage each other's plans. It is another game within the Great Game, and one beloved most by the Great Schemer himself, who frequently weighs the tributes paid to him and proclaims his judgement.Thus do the sigils of each Daemon legion dance across the Pyramid of Yrch deep in the Crystal Labyrinth, blazing into a new order of countenance. It is a hierarchy that moves often, but the nine most favoured Daemonic legions are each granted control of one of the Fractal Fortresses that tower over the Crystal Labyrinth, an honour all Tzeentch's servants desire to attain. |
Törg - Törg: Törg is a Kin World and a Mining World of the Greater Thurian League of the Leagues of Votann located in the galactic core. It is an outlying world in that Kin league's space and many Terran years of deep-core tectonic mining have left Törg riven by great chasms.It is now a hostile mass of jagged stone, exposed magma veins, convulsing super-volcanoes and toxic fumes, which the Greater Thurian League's harvester fortresses traverse as they mine Törg's mineral wealth. |
Törg - History: In the Era Indomitus the world was invaded by Chaos Space Marines belonging to the warbands of the Khornate World Eaters and the Nurglites called The Purge during the Battle of Örgvayr. These Heretic Astartes arrived in a small flotilla of voidships and overran the Greater Thurian League void docks that orbited Törg, before then assaulting the Kin harvester fortresses on the world itself.The miners of the Greater Thurian League's Cthonian Mining Guild were now trapped in their harvester fortresses. A plea for aid was sent out to the Greater Thurian League even as the Chaos Space Marines attacked. The Kin of Törg's plea was answered by Kâhl Ûthar the Destined and several Oathbands dispatched by his own home Kindred of Vôrtun to defeat the Chaos invaders.Despite assaults by the Heretic Astartes, these Oathbands were able to rescue both the miners and much of their valuable harvested raw materials. Ûthar slew the World Eaters Chaos Lord Hakatar in single combat with the Blade of the Ancestors. |
Uber Aemos - Uber Aemos: Uber Aemos was a human male Savant and Throne Agent in the Radical Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn's retinue until his death as a result of his successful containment of the Daemonhost Cherubael. Aemos was Eisenhorn's longest-serving agent and had also served Eisenhorn's own mentor, the Inquisitor Hapshant.A Savant like Aemos was an Inquisitorial investigator whose brain had been cybernetically augmented with increased mental processing power, data storage and memory recall abilities. A Savant's special talents were used to help an Inquisitor with various tasks related to an investigation that required a rapid utilisation of useful information, such as calculating various mathematical probabilities, communicating in rare languages and dialects with indigenous populations and translating ancient texts. |
Uber Aemos - History: Aemos' considerable knowledge and enhanced intellectual abilities were the result of a meme-virus he had contracted at the age of 42 standard years. Aemos became a data-addict, compelled to absorb any and all information, no matter how trivial. His augmented mind could sift patterns and draw remarkable correlations from great masses of seemingly unconnected information with astonishing speed and accuracy.Aemos was already old by the time he entered the service of Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn. His body had several cybernetic implants and prosthetics. He was noticeable for his oversized augmetic eyewear and the bald pate that his augmetic implants compelled him to shave. Aemos was known for his characteristic and obsessive use of the phrase "most perturbatory" when puzzled.Aemos' death came during the Pontius Glaw Affair, after he temporarily trapped the Daemon Prince Cherubael within his own body until a more permanent Daemonhost could be found. Aemos had performed his greatest feat of intellect -- translating the writing found on the world of Promody about the history of Ghül. The problems he encountered during the translation led him to use a cursed daemonic book belonging to Eisenhorn, the Malus Codicium, to aid in the work. Eisenhorn used this book to summon Daemonhosts and create psychic thralls. The Daemonhost Cherubael communicated with Aemos through the Malus Codicium, promising him the information he wanted in exchange for his own release from being trapped within an unwilling Daemonhost.At this time, Eisenhorn and Aemos were travelling on the Essene, a ship belonging to the Rogue Trader Maxilla, which was unexpectedly boarded by Grandmaster Leonid Osma and Inquisitor Heldane, two members of the Inquisition accompanied by Inquisitorial Storm Troopers who were intent on capturing the Radical Inquisitor and his agents, as well as taking control of Cherubael. In desperation, Aemos summoned Cherubael and forced the daemon's soul to possess an Astropath serving on the Essene by using the knowledge he had memorised from the Malus Codicium.Cherubael went on a rampage that easily despatched the Storm Troopers, nearly slew Heldane and severely damaged the Essene until Aemos could temporarily contain the unwilling daemon inside his own body, a physical and mental struggle that badly damaged the old Savant's frail form. Eisenhorn, wounded in the boarding of the Essene by his pursuers, created a more suitable host for the Daemon Prince from the dead body of his old friend Godwin Fischig.This reprieve came too late for Aemos and whilst accelerating away from the doomed Essene on a shuttle with Eisenhorn, he unfortunately succumbed to the physical damage done whilst containing Cherubael and died. His last words were "most perturbatory." |
Ukûlak's Kindred - Ukûlak's Kindred: Ukûlak's Kindred is a Kindred of the Trans-Hyperian Alliance of the Leagues of Votann. Ukûlak's Kindred have chosen to honour their league's exploratory traditions by having every last one of their Kin serve at least a Terran decade as Hernkyn during their early years. |
Ulfar - Ulfar: Ulfar was a Space Marine, a Lone Wolf of the Space Wolves Chapter and a native of the Death World of Fenris who would eventually join the retinue of the Rogue Trader of House von Valancius while serving in the Koronus Expanse.The enemies of the Imperium are countless and terrifying, but among its defenders there are those who know no fear. Those from whose souls the very capability to sense terror has long been etched away by the sacred gene-seed of a primarch, exhausting trials, sophisticated hypno-training, solar decades of rigorous drills, and unshakable devotion to the Emperor. Clad in ceramite and adamantium power armour, armed with the finest weapons of Humanity, they march proudly, their massive, genetically-enhanced transhuman bodies driven by the blood of the Emperor Himself. The Space Marines keep their vigil.The culture, customs, and appearance of the Space Marines vary from Chapter to Chapter. Some brotherhoods are few and little known, others are innumerable and trace their history back to the time of the Great Crusade. But few can compete in glory with the Space Wolves -- the furious and proud sons of Primarch Leman Russ, bloodthirsty hunters from the frozen Death World of Fenris. Just as their ancestors sailed drekkars into the harsh Worldsea of Fenris to slay krakens and sea dragons, so today they voyage out into the Sea of Stars to make battle against the vile and blasphemous enemies of the Allfather.Wrathful Ulfar stepped on the hunting path many solar decades ago, and ever since, a trail of blood has followed in his wake. With triumphant howl, he thunders into every fight without fear -- for there is no fear of death for one whose saga will be forever sung with reverence by their brothers in the Hall of the Great Wolf. His violent temper and youthful craving for fame and boasting has not simmered with standard years of campaigns. His loud laughter instills awe in the hearts of ordinary mortals, and his stern roar wrings horror from his enemies. His memory is as strong as the jaws of a wolf, holding the saga of each battle-brother and his every deed.But now his brothers are lost. The proud Space Wolves of his pack (squad) have not returned from the hunt, and it is not known whether they are alive or feasting with the Allfather in his Hall. But Ulfar will find out, for such is he -- unstoppable, stubborn, driven by instinct. If needed, he will sweep across the Koronus Expanse like a bloody blizzard, but he will find his pack. The void will tremble in fright, hearing his mighty battle cry, and will return to the stubborn Ulfar his kin! |
Ulfar - History: What is there to say about a member of the Adeptus Astartes' Vlka Fenryka, the scions of Fenris and sons of the primarch Leman Russ?They are the noble savage personified, feral warriors hailing from among the highest echelon of a Death World where culture and pride blend together into an unidentifiable slurry that goes down as a treat with the Canis Helix that initiates the transformation of a young, mortal Fenrisian into an immortal Space Marine. Then they ascend into the stars where they hunt down the enemies of Mankind.With bolter and blade, they carve through their prey with the ferocity of a feral animal and work towards the Allfather's dream of a secure and unite Humanity. Each foe slain, each campaign waged, and each victory claimed is another deed to add to the ever-growing saga of the Space Wolves Chapter and each battle-brother who propels them into glory.And Ulfar, young and brash, remembers each verse from every saga attributed to his brothers. He sings of his brothers' deeds, of the Chapter's storied history and his own growing tale with the staccato of bolters and symphony of heavy ceramite boots beating against the floor. All while fertilising the soil of whatever world he has sailed out into amid the Sea of Stars with the corpses of his enemies.But his songs have gone silent and his demeanour, once wolfish, has darkened under the inauspicious quiet. The battle-brothers of his pack (squad) have vanished from the Koronus Expanse, those he had hunted with, during their pursuit of the wretched raiders who had skulked about the Expanse's shadowed reaches. He knows not whether they have gone to the Allfather's Hall or lie between the stars, under siege or held hostage by unfeeling creatures of the dark.So long as Ulfar yet breathes, he will not stop until their fate is confirmed -- whether he sings their dirge atop the crushed bones of those who slew them or has them join in lauding their lengthened sagas is yet to be determined. What is known, however, is that a great storm has come to sweep through the Koronus Expanse. And only time will tell what shall transpire under its heavy snows.When pitted against the worst of Mankind's foes, even the Emperor's angels of death with their transhuman might and indelible power armour might find themselves hard-pressed to attain victory. But they fight on regardless, heedless of the odds bearing down upon them. And at times, their unwavering determination manages to shatter the spines of whoever stands against them.Other times, their refusal to kowtow to their enemies lands them where Ulfar recently found himself -- held within the slave holds of one of Commorragh's Haemonculi. But only those who have resigned themselves to failure will never find a way to break their bonds.With the arrival in the Dark City of the Webway of a true scion of the Imperium, the Rogue Trader of House von Valancius, the fortunes of this caged Lone Wolf finally seem to be turning around. Together, they may just be able to bring the fight to the sadistic Drukhari and break out of their shared confinement. Although it won't be so easy, not if their wretched gaolers have anything to say about it. Yet only time will tell if this relationship, this alliance, is one of convenience or something more.There are no words that can provide an apt image of what it is like to behold a member of the Emperor's angels of death engage another in whatever particular flavour of death their Chapter delighted in. Whereas the Astra Militarum treats fighting as only a soldier could, a bloody gravitas that pulls others into the muck, and the Sisters of Battle march to war as a procession of the faithful to worship, the Adeptus Astartes have long since turned murder into an art form. Each Chapter finds new and brutal ways to fill the horrors of warfare with a macabre beauty.For the Space Wolves, this often means falling victim to the Curse of the Wulfen, in which the savage, bestial anger of their genetic inheritance from the Wolf King is released without quarter upon the foes of the Emperor and His people. |
Ulfar - Personality: In service to the Emperor and the defence of Mankind, all worldly desire and vestiges of Humanity are discarded in favor of the transhuman might of the Adeptus Astartes. Space Marines are Humanity's foremost bulwark against fear. But this also means they have shed any chance of finding a life outside of war, outside of endless bloodshed alongside their battle-brothers. And this, too, means they have forsworn themselves from the niceties of amorous intimacy and the pursuit of love and family that makes life in the Impium somewhat bearable for its repressed masses.Ulfar is no exception to this rule, even though he hails from the wily and anti-authoritarian culture of the Space Wolves, and thus will respond to no such romantic advances.Of the innumerable warriors made to bear arms under the Imperial banner, it is the Adeptus Astartes who are perhaps among the most staunch devotees of the Emperor and His many institutions. While they maintain a notable political independence from the other arms of the Imperium, including the Inquisition, they believe in Him and adhere to what His will would have Mankind do as set in the Great Crusade. Some Chapters adhere to the Emperor's perceived will even more so than normal, and the Space Wolves, Ulfar's Chapter, are among the most loyal to the Emperor's vision.Because of this, Ulfar would be considered a staunch Puritan as the Inquisition defines such things. |
Ulfar - Wargear: Mark VIII Errant Power ArmourBoltgunAstartes Combat KnifePlasma PistolFrost AxeFenrisian WolfskinFenrisian Wolf Pelt CloakFrag GrenadesKrak Grenades |
Ulkair - Ulkair: Ulkair is an incredibly powerful Great Unclean One, a Greater Daemon of the Plague God Nurgle. Ulkair manifested on the world of Aurelia in the 40th Millennium when a Warp storm engulfed that planet, but he was defeated by the Blood Ravens Space Marine and Librarian named Azariah Kyras.But Aurelia was consumed by the Warp storm and over the course of their mutual imprisonment Ulkair corrupted Kyras to Chaos, ultimately returning him to realspace to reunite with his Chapter and begin the process of corrupting the Blood Ravens to the service of the Ruinous Powers and heralding the return of Ulkair himself.Ulkair's plans were ultimately disrupted only through the heroism of Captain Gabriel Angelos and his fellow Blood Ravens Loyalists. |
Ulkair - Siege of Terra: Ulkair was one of the Great Unclean Ones of Nurgle who participated in the forces of Chaos' assault upon the Imperial Palace in the Horus Heresy during the climactic battle of the Siege of Terra. |
Ulkair - Second Aurelian Crusade: The Greater Daemon known as Ulkair has been a blight upon Mankind since ancient times. During the 40th Millennium, the Imperial world of Aurelia, located in the Sub-sector Aurelia of the Korianis Sector, was engulfed in a prodigious Warp storm. The resulting turbulence pushed the planet out of its natural orbit, causing its environment to plunge into an unnatural and unexpected Ice Age. The world became entirely engulfed in ice as the temperatures plummeted, turning Aurelia into a frozen planetary wasteland referred to by Imperial astrocartographers as an Ice World.Much of its population died as a result of the sudden frigid environmental changes. Azariah Kyras was a Librarian of the Blood Ravens Chapter serving alongside his master Moriah, the Chief Librarian of the Blood Ravens. When Ulkair manifested on the doomed planet during the Warp storm, he was confronted by Moriah, who managed to wound the Greater Daemon before dying from his own mortal wounds. Kyras proved luckier and managed to defeat Ulkair, imprisoning the immensely powerful Daemon on the frozen planet. Then the Warp took the frozen world and Azariah Kyras along with it.Ulkair remained trapped within his prison for over 1,000 standard years until the Black Legion Chaos Space Marines invaded Sub-sector Aurelia in the 41st Millennium, led by their thrice-damned leader the Chaos Lord Eliphas the Inheritor, a former Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers who had been restored to life by the Chaos Gods to gain his vengeance upon the Blood Ravens. The Black Legion was intent on releasing Ulkair from his imprisonment so that he could pursue his wrath upon the people of the sub-sector.Elsewhere in the Aurelian Sub-sector that they were responsible for protecting, the 5th Company of the Blood Ravens Chapter found themselves tasked with the dangerous mission of exploring and clearing an infested space hulk known as the Judgment of Carrion. The 5th Company took serious losses from the groups of Tyranids and Daemons that infested the space hulk. Azariah Kyras suddenly appeared amidst his fellow Blood Ravens on the hulk and used his psychic abilities to aid Apothecary Galan, the remaining ranking officer in the company, in defending the surviving battle-brothers from the hulk's hideous inhabitants. The remains of the 5th Company, despite Kyras' aid, were still trapped on the space hulk, and unable to get back to their Thunderhawk gunships and escape.At the same time, Galan found himself haunted by a malignant Daemonic presence that Kyras identified as Ulkair, the Greater Daemon that the Blood Ravens had suffered terrible losses imprisoning a thousand standard years before, and which had caused Kyras to be lost in the Warp for centuries.Unbeknownst to his battle-brothers, Kyras had been corrupted by Chaos during his long imprisonment in the Warp with the Greater Daemon. He sought to corrupt his fellow Blood Ravens by enhancing their despair and playing on their fears. To gain the escape of the 5th Company from the Judgment of Carrion, Kyras entered into a pact with Ulkair in which in return for the Blood Ravens' escape from the space hulk, Galan agreed to be possessed by a Daemon. When the 5th Company escaped, both Kyras and Galan were hailed as heroes of the Chapter and Kyras was welcomed back into the fold as a lost battle-brother. Only Captain Gabriel Angelos of the 3rd Company proved suspicious of the circumstances of Kyras' miraculous return to the Chapter, a suspicion that would ultimately prove correct.Solar decades later, when the Black Legion invaded Sub-sector Aurelia during the events of the Second Aurelian Crusade, Eliphas and his minions captured several Blood Ravens Space Marines and then sacrificed them to the Chaos Gods, in order to free Ulkair form his infernal prison. The arcane ritual freed the Greater Daemon as well as restoring Aurelia to realspace, enabling the Daemon lord to manifest within the disease-ridden body of a Plague Marine which served as his Daemonhost.Once Ulkair successfully freed himself from his imprisonment, the newly returned Ice World of Aurelia was torn asunder. However, Ulkair did not yet have the strength after his long imprisonment to leave the world and needed to feast on more Blood Raven souls to regain his strength. In the meantime, a Blood Ravens strike force led by Force Commander Aramus was tasked with the difficult mission of defeating the Greater Daemon of Nurgle before it launched itself across the sub-sector, threatening the existence of all the worlds used by the Blood Ravens to recruit the Chapter's aspirants.Aramus formed an alliance with Captain Gabriel Angelos and his 3rd Company warriors in order to successfully achieve their objectives. But first the Blood Ravens had to face the vile Chaos Lord Eliphas and his Traitor Marine minions. They clashed upon the world of Aurelia at the ruins of Keep Selenon, the ancient, abandoned fortress-monastery of the Blood Ravens.It was there that Aramus fought the Inheritor in single combat. Eliphas exhibited potent psychic powers and unmatched savagery against the hated servants of the "Corpse Emperor." The favour of the wretched Chaos Lord with the Dark Gods was such that he was able to call upon the personal blessings of all the Chaos Gods in the form of Chaos Undivided to aid him in battle. Despite his formidable might, the Blood Ravens overcame Eliphas, but before he could be slain he escaped their wrath by fleeing into the Warp.After Force Commander Aramus managed to fight his way through the remaining forces of Chaos on Aurelia, he eventually confronted the Great Unclean One itself. After a long and hard-fought battle, Ulkair was once again defeated and imprisoned as Aurelia was cast back into the Empyrean, but remarked to the Blood Ravens that his prison was now inadequate and weakened, and that he would soon rise again to utterly destroy the Blood Ravens. The Adeptus Astartes also had to deal with the new reality that their Chief Librarian and Chapter Master, Azariah Kyras, was a Traitor to the Imperium and a servant of Chaos.By the time of the events of the Third Aurelian Crusade, Ulkair had managed to corrupt at least one Astra Militarum regiment standing watch on Aurelia in the wake of its return to realspace during the Second Aurelian Crusade who became his servants and worshippers. Lord Eliphas returned to Aurelia and slaughtered these Traitoris Militarum before recruiting Ulkair into his own forces to assault the Sub-sector Aurelia once more. Ulkair was pleased at the prospect of vengeance upon the Blood Ravens who had defeated him a solar decade previously. |
Ullanor Crusade - Ullanor Crusade: The Ullanor Crusade was a vast Imperial assault on the Ork Empire of the Greenskin Overlord Urrlak Urg during the Great Crusade of the late 30th Millennium in ca. 000.M30. Ullanor Prime, the capital world of this empire, and the site of the final assault, lay in the Ullanor System of the galaxy's Ullanor Sector.The Crusade included the deployment of 100,000 Space Marines, 8,000,000 Imperial Army troops, and six hundred Imperial starships of the Imperialis Armada and their support personnel. The Ullanor Crusade marked the high point of the Great Crusade's vast effort to reunite the scattered colony worlds of humanity.The Orks of Ullanor represented the largest concentration of Orks ever defeated by the military forces of the Imperium of Man before the War of the Beast fought in the mid-32nd Millennium and the Third War for Armageddon in the late 41st Millennium.Following the defeat of the Orks of Ullanor, the Emperor of Mankind returned to Terra to begin work on His great, secret project to open up the Aeldari Webway for humanity's use. In His place to command the vast forces of the Great Crusade He left the Primarch Horus.Horus was raised to the rank of Imperial Warmaster and given command authority over all of his fellow Primarchs and every Expeditionary Fleet of the Great Crusade.But the Primarchs never came to terms with the Emperor's absence. Their hurt feelings over his seeming abandonment of the Great Crusade to pursue a secret project whose purpose he chose not to reveal to his genetic sons laid the seeds of corruption that would ultimately blossom into the Horus Heresy. |
Ullanor Crusade - Battle of Ullanor: The Ullanor Sector was ruled over by the Ork Overlord Urrlak Urg from the world of the same name. The central foundation of his empire was a dozen planets, originally inhabited by humans, which had been conquered and enslaved by the Orks.Horus, a strategic genius even among the Primarchs, employed the use of his now-famous "Speartip" tactic to destroy the Ork Empire by removing its head so that the body would collapse under its own weight.The White Scars and Ultramarines Space Marine Legions, supported by the Excertus Imperialis and other forces such as the Legio Titanicus of the Mechanicum, attacked the outer planets of the Ullanor System. This offensive was a decoy to draw the majority of the Orks forces away from Ullanor Prime, though it proved quite effective.Many of the Orks' starships rushed to prevent the attacks on the outer planets of their home system, leaving the central planet dangerously vulnerable and exposed to the waiting main body of the Imperial forces, led by the Astartes of the Luna Wolves Legion. The Luna Wolves Legion fleet headed straight for this central world and more specifically for Urlakk's fortress-palace, the very heart of his empire.The main attack force dedicated to capturing the capital planet of the Ullanor System consisted of the entire Luna Wolves Legion, over 2 million Imperial Army soldiers, and one hundred Titans of the Collegia Titanica, all drawn from the infamous Legio Mortis. All of these forces were later joined by the human slaves liberated from the Orks' labour camps by the invading Imperial troops.This force was led overall by the Emperor Himself; though Imperial records do not indicate what role He played in this action. Little is known regarding the actual makeup of the defending Ork forces. However, they outnumbered the Imperial troops by a 5-to-1 ratio.Ignoring the Greenskin masses, Horus and his Legion struck directly at the Overlord and his command coterie of Ork Nobz and Ogryns, intending to leave the enemy headless and without direction. The attack took place by Drop Pod, with heavy gunships deploying Imperial armoured vehicles to the battle zone. This force attacked the perimeter defences of the Ork fortress-palace.Horus then teleported to the base of Urrlak's great central keep, the Tower of Ullanor, accompanied by all of the Terminators from the elite 1st Company of the Luna Wolves. Whilst most of the Terminators held off the Greenskin horde, which was rushing back to the tower to defend its master, Horus fought his way up to the pinnacle of that great edifice, accompanied by only the 10 Terminators who were the members of the Justaerin Squad of First Captain Ezekyle Abaddon.At the summit of the Tower of Ullanor was a vast throne chamber where Horus found the Ork Overlord surrounded by 40 of his biggest Nobz. Horus immediately stormed into battle, utilising the twin Lightning Claws of his Power Armour to rip apart the enemy in close combat. The Terminators were unwilling to fire into this melee, lest they hit their beloved Primarch. The Terminators therefore immediately fell upon the Orks with their own close-combat weapons.Eventually, Horus hacked his way through the Overlord's bodyguard, until he came face-to-face with Urrlak, a truly gargantuan Ork Warlord. Despite the fact that Urrlak was an immense, towering, green-skinned brute, Horus managed to cripple the Ork leader in the following duel. Horus held aloft the Ork Overlord above his head and carried him to the battlements of the Tower of Ullanor.Horus threw the screaming, bloody form of the Ork Overlord down to the ground, ending the reign of Urrlak Urg with a green-ichored splat. When Horus returned to the throne chamber he found all the Luna Wolves Terminators and Orks dead...apart from one. The sole survivor was none other than the gore-drenched Captain of the 1st Company, Ezekyle Abaddon. He was surrounded by a great pile of broken Ork bodies.With the death of their leader, the Ork forces surrounding the fortress-palace collapsed into infighting as was their wont. The battle for Ullanor Prime soon became a massacre, as the remaining Orks found themselves trapped between the two forces of the Luna Wolves, including the remaining Luna Wolves Terminators at the base of the great central Tower of Ullanor and those who had breached the perimeter walls of the tower complex. The Luna Wolves slaughtered the Orks in the fortress-palace complex to the last Greenskin.The remainder of the Ork worlds in the Ullanor Sector were subdued by the forces of the Great Crusade and returned to Imperial rule within a Terran year of the death of Urrlak, as his Ork empire completely fragmented when its troops learned of their master's death. The various Nobz immediately declared themselves the new Warlords of the empire and fought each other for control, allowing the Imperial forces to carry out a simple divide and conquer strategy.With Urrlak's termination, the nascent Ork empire self-destructed, and the xenos that were not hounded into the mud of Ullanor's vast battlegrounds by the Legiones Astartes were hunted down across hundreds of star systems, all the way to Chondax, the Kayvas Belt and beyond. |
Ullanor Crusade - Triumph of Ullanor: With the greatest victory of the Imperium to that date sealed in blood and iron, the call to an Imperial triumph was sounded, to recognise this highpoint of the Great Crusade and to honour all the warriors of the Ullanor Crusade, mortals and Astartes alike, for their extraordinary valour and service to humanity's cause. By the Emperor's command, Ullanor was remade as a trophy world, designated Mundus Tropaeum on all galactic maps and records of the Imperial Tithe.It would be a site of glory and spectacle to cement not only this single conquest over the forces ranged against Mankind, but a greater symbol of the Great Crusade itself. For two hundred Terran years the Emperor's mighty endeavour had moved across the face of the galaxy to bring unity and illumination to the lost daughter-worlds of Old Earth. It had pushed back the night, reforged old links between human civilisations, battled alien threats -- and with regret, it had often punished those who refused to return to the Imperial fold.A change was coming, though, a change that found its fulcrum on Ullanor. None who walked upon that world knew that the echo of that Triumph would sound for solar decades, for Terran centuries, for millennia. The glory of this triumphant spectacle as so many of the Imperium's scattered military forces gathered in one place for the first time in centuries was to remain in the mind of every Astartes as the high-point of the great endeavour that they had been engaged upon. It would prove to be a bright memory to recall in the dark days of the Horus Heresy after Astartes had turned against Astartes and Primarch against Primarch.To prepare the world for the Triumph of Ullanor, geoformer platoons from the Mechanicum brought world engines and mobile stone-burners to cut a massive swath across the broken landscape left in the battle's wake. Orkish dead were buried by the millions within their savage ruins, interred beneath transplanted rocks and the heads of crushed mountains. The Mechanicum eradicated every last remaining trace of the enemy and paved over them with a giant boulevard, a parade stage as wide as the footprint of some entire Imperial cities.They built a highway and allowed only one structure to stand besides the great platform -- an ornamental pavilion of black marble and heavy granite that had been built piecemeal on Terra and then shipped across the void by special envoy. Marker posts decorated with the skulls of Ork commanders paced out the length of the road, and behind them great bowls of smokeless Promethium burned brightly, endlessly lighting the highway with their blue-white fire.When the Mechanicum had finished their work, the honoured came to pay homage to the battle won, the Great Crusade's ideal of human unity and the Emperor who was father to all Mankind. The Imperial Army and the Titan Legions bracketed the gathering. Human troops were ranked in uncountable numbers, their host so wide they became a sea of battle armour and dress uniforms. Every common man and woman who stood on Ullanor Prime's soil that day had been selected for their valour and conduct, and until the day they died each would have the singular honour of wearing the onyx-and-gold Ullanor Triumph Bar upon their uniforms.The award was forged from Bolter shells recovered from the field and melted down. Ranged around them, the great war machines of the Legio Titanica towered towards a sky cut to ribbons by the contrails of a thousand aerospace fighters; and above those, high over the thin white cirrus clouds of Ullanor Prime's day, Imperial warships moved as slow as they dared through the upper atmosphere, washes of interface heat rolling off their Void Shields as they showed their flanks in a gesture of renewed fealty.A full fourteen of the eighteen active duty Space Marine Legions stood represented at the Ullanor Triumph, and with them came nine beings of superhuman power and majesty. Nine gods and angels made flesh, the Primarchs of the greatest armies ever created by human hands.Mortarion, the reaper of men and master of the Death Guard, cowled and lethal in aspect, matched by the warrior-guardians of his Deathshroud honour guard. The Phoenician, Fulgrim, resplendent in his finery and handsome in aspect, lit by the reflection of gold and platinum. Magnus the Red, the Crimson King of the Thousand Sons, the lord of the unknown, his soul as much a mystery to the common world as the workings of the Warp and the ghosts within it. Lorgar Aurelian, the quiet and brooding zealot of the Word Bearers who burned with such intensity and buried it all deep in his heart, saying little and standing watchful, already long a Traitor to the Emperor's cause.His polar opposite was Angron of the World Eaters, the gladiator-lord and son of grief, never able to settle or moderate his seething, endless fury, always on the verge of outburst and violence. Rogal Dorn, the stalwart man of stone, the Imperial Fist with his unswerving manner and unbreakable focus, the one who would always obey, would always be ready for duty. Jaghatai Khan, his fur-trimmed robes and ornate armour detailed with a thousand narratives of the White Scars Legion, his every step across the land a challenge to the galaxy.Then Sanguinius of the Blood Angels, flanked by the gold-armoured honour detail of the Sanguinary Guard, his mighty wings folded back across his battle-plate, his face turned to the sky to welcome the impossible, majestic sight before him. Then, finally, came Horus of the Luna Wolves, the Hero of Ullanor, liberator and first among equals. Horus, who was to be given the new honour of an Imperial title above and beyond any that had been bestowed before; a title, it could be said, that would forever carry the echo of his name.After declaring Horus as Imperial Warmaster and the new supreme commander of the Great Crusade, the Emperor to the shock of those assembled announced his own intention to return to Terra to pursue a secret project intended to benefit all Mankind. He would not say more, and his announcement immediately drew great concern among the Primarchs -- and not a little bit of resentment.It was this resentment, combined with each Primarchs' own flaws and hidden jealousies, that the Chaos Gods would use to worm their way into the hearts of nine of their number, turning them in time against the Emperor and unleashing a civil war that would scar the galaxy for millennia. The Triumph of Ullanor represented the high point of the Emperor's dream to reunite Mankind -- and also the beginning of its end. |
Ullanor Crusade - Aftermath: Following victory in the Ullanor Crusade, the Imperium believed that the Ork race had been forever broken and would never again present a credible threat to humanity. Though scattered groups of Orks would periodically attack the Imperial frontier, they were regarded as little more than troublesome pests for over a thousand years following the end of the Horus Heresy.This complacency would be shown for the arrogance it was when the War of the Beast brought the Orks to Terra itself and decimated the Imperium's entire military when that conflict began in 544.M32. The great Ork Warlord known as The Beast would establish his new Ork empire on Ullanor Prime once more, creating the most technologically and culturally sophisticated Greenskin civilisation ever encountered in the galaxy before or since.Several high-ranking Orks of the The Beast's WAAAGH! later incorporated pieces of the Luna Wolves' Mark II Crusade Pattern Power Armour scavenged from the prior Ullanor Prime battlefield into their own, both for protection and as marks of their elite status. |
Ullanor Crusade - Trivia: The Triumph of Ullanor resembles the great triumph Julius Caesar held in Rome following his successful consolidation of power in 49 B.C. as the Roman Republic's dictator-for-life, following the defeat of all his rivals for power. Like Caesar's triumph, the Triumph of Ullanor represented the peak of the Emperor's power and glory shortly before the catastrophe of the Horus Heresy beset his empire and destroyed his vision of a better future for Mankind. |
Ullanor Prime - Ullanor Prime: Ullanor PrimeUllanor SectorgalaxyOrksOrk empiresImperium of ManThe first of these Greenskin empires based on Ullanor Prime was approximately twelve star systems in size and was ruled by the Overlord Urrlak Urg at the end of the 30th Millennium. It was defeated by a massive Imperial force led by the Primarch Horus Lupercal and his Luna Wolves Legion in ca. 000.M30 during what was known as the Ullanor Crusade and marked the greatest triumph of the wider Great Crusade.Following it, a great Imperial celebration known as the Triumph of Ullanor was held where the Emperor granted Horus the rank of Warmaster. The Master of Mankind also shocked the assembled Primarchs and their Astartes when He announced His own retirement from the campaigns of the Great Crusade so that He could return to Terra and began a secret project to open up the Webway for the use of Humanity.This event marked both the high watermark of the Great Crusade and the beginning of the tensions between the Emperor and the Primarchs that would help to bring on the Horus Heresy.The second great Ork Empire to arise on Ullanor Prime initiated what was known as the War of the Beast in the 32nd Millennium from 544-546.M32. Under the rule of The Beast, the Orks established the most technologically and culturally sophisticated civilization they had ever created on Ullanor Prime and sought vengeance against the Imperium of Man for their defeat during the Ullanor Crusade.In the course of the conflict, the Greenskin forces threatened Terra itself multiple times until following three separate Imperial invasions the Emperor's servants finally succeeded in cleansing the world of its Ork population for a final time.In the wake of the War of the Beast, the Adeptus Mechanicus sought to scavenge the remains of the Orks' highly advanced technologies from the battered planet in violation of Imperial restrictions on the use of xenos technology. To do so, they used the Orks' "subspace" teleportation technology to teleport Ullanor Prime to a new star system on the edge of the Segmentum Solar and then reported that the world had actually been destroyed to the Senatorum Imperialis.The Mechanicus proceeded to strip the planet bare and then leave it open for later Imperial colonisation to further hide their subterfuge. Centuries later, Ullanor Prime was unwittingly colonised by Humanity and given a new name, a name that would find its own place in history before long -- Armageddon. |
Ullanor Prime - Ullanor Crusade: The story of this world harkens back some ten millennia, to the closing years of the Great Crusade in ca. 000.M30, during the great campaign known as the Ullanor Crusade.A vast Imperial assault was launched against Ullanor Prime, the seat of the Ork Empire of the Overlord Urrlak Urg, the largest such Greenskin empire ever encountered in Mankind's history to that time. The Crusade included the deployment of 100,000 Astartes from the Luna Wolves, White Scars and Ultramarines Legions, 8,000,000 Imperial Army troops, 100 Titans of the Legio Mortis and 600 starships of the Imperialis Armada and their support personnel. The Ullanor Crusade marked the high point of the Great Crusade's vast effort to reunite the scattered colony worlds of Humanity under the rule of the Emperor in the wake of the Age of Strife. Led by the superlative strategic mind of the Luna Wolves Legion's commander, the Primarch Horus Lupercal, the massive Ork Overlord was defeated and the Greenskin forces scattered.Following this monumental victory, a great Imperial triumph, remembered as the Triumph of Ullanor, was held for the participating forces. It was there that the Emperor of Mankind announced that He would no longer be leading the Great Crusade and intended to return to Terra. In His place to command the vast forces of Mankind he left the Primarch Horus. Horus was granted the newly-created rank of Imperial Warmaster and assumed command authority over all of his fellow Primarchs and every Expeditionary Fleet of the Great Crusade, sowing the seeds of dissension, pride and wounded feelings that would eventually fester and erupt into all-out civil war during the Horus Heresy. |
Ullanor Prime - War of the Beast: Nearly 1,500 standard years later, in 544.M32, a massive Ork WAAAGH! led by a mysterious Warlord known only as The Beast rampaged across the Imperium, growing in size until it became the greatest Greenskin invasion that the galaxy had known to that date, eclipsing even the one defeated by Horus upon Ullanor Prime at the height of the Great Crusade. The Beast centred his empire upon the long-forgotten world of Ullanor Prime, which by that time had become heavily urbanised by the industrious Greenskins, who covered nearly the entire planet in surprisingly well-organised settlements. The seat of The Beast's empire was the Ork capital city of Gorkogrod, built within a massive temple-Gargant on the exact location where the Emperor and the Primarchs had gathered during the Triumph of Ullanor over a millennia earlier. It was The Beast's intent to use Ullanor Prime as the template to perfect the Ork's Attack Moon concept. Converting the entire planet into a mobile battlestation capable of teleporting itself through the multidimensional realm known only as "subspace," The Beast intended to use Ullanor Prime to destroy Terra itself, eliminating the home of the species that had long been the greatest enemy of the Greenskins.After the world of Ullanor Prime was identified as the original home of The Beast and his massive WAAAGH!, Vulkan, the immortal Perpetual and long-missing primarch of the Salamanders Legion, led the First Invasion of Ullanor. Together, the Astartes Chapters of Rogal Dorn's lineage who comprised the Terra defence initiative known as the "Last Wall" invaded The Beast's capital world, focusing upon the capital city of Gorkogrod. At the battle's conclusion, Vulkan charged into The Beast's massive temple-Gargant, intent on facing the Ork Warlord alone. During their confrontation, Vulkan destroyed the temple-Gargant in a massive explosion, which seemed to obliterate both Vulkan and The Beast. This shattered the cohesion of The Beast's Greenskins, whose resistance collapsed in the wake of the defeat of their powerful Warlord. However, unknown to the Imperial forces, the Greenskin presence secretly endured on Ullanor Prime.A Second Invasion of Ullanor was eventually launched by the Imperium which included several battered Adeptus Astartes Chapters, the newly created Deathwatch, several Astra Militarum regiments, Frateris Templar, Skitarii and Legio Cybernetica cohorts, several Imperial Knight Houses, Inquisitorial Storm Troopers, a small cohort of the Sisters of Silence and a Warlord and Warhound Titan. During the second attack on the city of Gorkogrod, an elite assassination force comprised of several Astartes and other supporting Imperial forces discovered that there were in fact six "Beasts" -- each a "Prime-Ork," a Beast in their own right, and a commander of their own Greenskin "Legion," in mockery of the Emperor and His Primarchs and the ancient Space Marine Legions. When Koorland, the Lord Commander of the Imperium and the sole surviving member of the original Imperial Fists Chapter was killed, the Imperial forces were forced to flee with their fallen commander's body and withdraw from Ullanor.Not long after this defeat, Maximus Thane, the Chapter Master of the Fists Exemplar, led the final desperate Imperial campaign of the War of the Beast during the Third Invasion of Ullanor. The Imperial forces unleashed redirected asteroids as weapons of mass destruction to devastate the Ork-held planet. With the help of the Sisters of Silence and a captured Ork Weirdboy, the null effect of the anti-psyker Silent Sisters joined with the Weirdboy's powers and created a reverse-WAAAGH! effect that utterly devastated the Greenskin hordes of The Beast. During this final confrontation, The Beast was slain.After the War of the Beast concluded, Maximus Thane assumed command over the Imperial Fists. He was elected the new Lord Commander of the Imperium by the Senatorum Imperialis and ordered the Adeptus Mechanicus to enact an Exterminatus upon Ullanor Prime to erase its memory from history and prevent a new Beast from ever arising. However, the Adeptus Mechanicus was reluctant to carry out the order, as its Tech-priests knew that Ullanor was rich with unclaimed alien technology that had nearly brought the Imperium to its knees.For the servants of the Machine God, the acquisition of knowledge superseded all other considerations. Coveting Ullanor Prime and its xenos secrets for himself, Fabricator-General Kubik instead acted in direct contravention of the Lord Commander's orders. By reverse-engineering Ork "telyporta" technology that had been used to move the Ork Attack Moons through "subspace" during the recent conflict, the Adeptus Mechanicus was able to secretly teleport the entire world of Ullanor Prime through the Warp to a new location on the edge of the Segmentum Solar. The uninhabited star system where Ullanor was moved had already been marked for colonisation by the Imperium.The Fabricator-General reported back to the High Lords of Terra that the Ork World had been cast into the heart of the nearest blue supergiant star -- Ullanor was no more. The Fabricator-General then set out to have Ullanor Prime stripped to its core of useful xenos technology. No trace of the Orkish presence upon the world would be left to reveal the truth of the Mechanicus' deception if the planet was later explored or settled by the Imperium.Within only a few standard centuries, the world once known as Ullanor became a prime location for Human settlement due to its virgin status and strategic location in the Segmentum Solar. Once colonised, Ullanor eventually came to be known by a new name, one that would echo down the millennia and become a pivotal point of contention between the Greenskin races and Mankind -- Armageddon. |
Ulrik the Slayer - Ulrik the Slayer: Ulrik the Slayer, also known as "Grandfather Lupus" and the "Guardian of the Sons of Russ," is the Wolf High Priest of the Space Wolves Space Marine Chapter and is the oldest of all the Space Wolves other than the Chapter's Dreadnoughts.His great mane is white as the slopes of the continent of Asaheim on the Space Wolves' Chapter homeworld of Fenris. Ulrik is older even than the mighty Logan Grimnar, the Great Wolf of the Chapter, who has fought in the name of the Emperor for over 700 Terran years. |
Ulrik the Slayer - History: In his long career Ulrik has fought in countless battles, winning honour for his Chapter again and again. It was during the First War for Armageddon that Ulrik first won renown fighting in the Wolf Guard of the Wolf Lord Kruger's Great Company. Kruger and his warriors stormed into invading companies of World Eaters, meeting the bloodthirsty Traitor Marines with equal fury, for the fruit of betrayal is terrible wrath.Kruger himself was cut down and, though Ulrik had lost his own blade in the desperate close-quarter battle, he leapt to defend his dying Wolf Lord, killing three hulking World Eater Khornate Berserkers who had laid Kruger low in the bloody melee. Ulrik fought like a man possessed -- the spirit of the Thunderwolf was strong in him that day, inspiring his battle-brothers and even earning the unusual accolade of a grim salute from Angron, the Daemon Primarch of the World Eaters himself.The Imperium eventually emerged victorious. The intervention of an entire brotherhood of Grey Knights ultimately led to Angron's defeat, and denied Ulrik the opportunity to earn a glorious death. His deeds in that terrible battle nonetheless earned Ulrik the accolade "the Slayer," which he has borne from that day forth, and was elected by his fellow Wolf Guard as Kruger's replacement at the head of the Great Company.He declined the honour, which was all but unheard of, instead preferring to fight alongside his fellow Space Wolves rather than lead them. Ulrik chose to become a Wolf Priest instead, and in the long years since his investiture he has earned perhaps his greatest accolades by selecting and training many of the Chapter's greatest warriors.Before a standard century had passed, it had become obvious that Ulrik's true genius was in the selection and training of new recruits. He was a veteran of so many wars that his tactical and martial knowledge was invaluable, and his natural charisma made him an excellent mentor.In recent years, however, Ulrik has become ever more aggressive on the battlefield, swearing great oaths to cut down the most deadly of enemies in the name of the Emperor without a care for his own safety. His combination of near-unmatched experience and natural ferocity makes Ulrik a truly deadly warrior, and those who fight alongside him are buoyed up by his natural charisma and excellent mentoring ability.In 989.M41, after more than 350 Terran years, Ulrik the Slayer avenged the aspirants lost to the Drukhari Haemonculi coven, the Hex, after Erik Morkai's Wolf Scouts tracked the elusive coven to their latest "living art" gallery. Khaeghris Xhakt, the Haemonculus Ancient who masterminded the atrocities so long ago, was betrayed by an ambitious underling, who left his ghoulish overseer to face Ulrik alone. Xhakt's head soon adorned a spike in the Trophy Hall of The Fang.It is Ulrik's sacred duty as a Wolf Priest to recruit and train new aspirants for the Space Wolves Chapter. In his time, Ulrik has chosen and trained a great many of the Chapter's luminaries and greatest heroes. In fact, Ulrik is the only living Space Wolf who remembers the Great Wolf Logan Grimnar as a young, impetuous Blood Claw, full of fury and future promise.Ulrik witnessed this youth marked by the spirit of Leman Russ rise to glory, and accompanied him during many of his greatest exploits, forging a friendship bound by chains of honor and loyalty stronger than tempered steel. Indeed, Ulrik is the only Space Wolf who still addresses the Great Wolf by his first name.Ulrik embodies the sacred duty of the Space Wolves to protect the innocent from the monstrous enemies of the Imperium of Man. The indomitable Wolf Priest leads his charges in a great solemn oath to hunt and kill fearsome xenos monsters and the mighty warlords of Chaos wherever he finds them. |
Ulrik the Slayer - Wargear: Artificer Armour - When he goes to war, Ulrik the Slayer is a terrifying foe indeed, resplendent in his Artificer black battle-plate, he leads his brethren from the front, his grim example spurring other Space Wolves to action. Painstakingly cared for and customised for each esteemed bearer, artificer armour is the rarest form of power armour. The technology and superdense materials used to construct these suits is unparalleled inside the Imperium. Each one is a masterwork of Artificer ingenuity and (outside of Techmarines labouring towards creating their own) is awarded only to true Chapter heroes.Wolf Helm of Russ - As high priest of his order, Ulrik has been gifted with the sacred Wolf Helm of Russ, said to have been crafted by the Emperor's personal Artificers and given to Leman Russ at the time of the Space Wolves Legion's Founding. This is both a potent symbol of the Chapter's honour and an arcane artefact that instills fear in those under his gaze.Crozius Arcanum - These winged, wolf skull-topped weapons are used as both a melee weapon and the primary badge of office of a Wolf Priest, and are fundamentally identical to the same weapons carried by the Chaplains of other Chapters. These heavy mauls are wreathed in crackling gravitic disruption fields, and more importantly serve as a symbol of the bearer's status as a spiritual guardian of his battle-brothers.Plasma PistolFrag GrenadesKrak GrenadesHealing BalmsWolf Amulet - The Wolf Priests bear potent amulets that protect both body and soul from the mortal blows and baleful energies alike. These amulets contain a potent force field generator capable of turning aside mighty blows and ravening energies. These amulets are fundamentally similar to the standard Rosarius worn by Chaplains in other Chapters and high-ranking members of the Ecclesiarchy.Fang of Morkai - As much as they are the spiritual guardians of the Space Wolves, Wolf Priests also maintain the physical well-being and genetic legacy of their brethren, and require tools necessary for that vital role. Unlike the Apothecaries of other Chapters, Wolf Priests do not carry complex Narthecium arrays, but prefer instead to bear an assortment of potions, balms and herbal cures and a vicious-looking, complex, multi-bladed device known as the Fang of Morkai, which allows the extraction of a dying Space Wolf's Progenoid Glands so that his essence may live on to fight once again in a new host. The Fang of Morkai functions exactly like a Reductor. The presence of a Wolf Priest in battle will fortify those Space Wolves nearby as he leads them forth to slay his chosen foes, for the Space Wolves known that the Wolf Priests will carry the worthy beyond the gates of Morkai, that they might fight the enemies of the Allfather forever more. |
Ulrik the Slayer - Canon Conflict: Ulrik the Slayer is said to be the Space Wolves' oldest Wolf Priest, and mentor to many of their greatest heroes. Ulrik has had a hand in training both Ragnar Blackmane and (allegedly) Logan Grimnar; however the chronology of the Warhammer 40,000 universe actually makes this impossible with regards to Grimnar, not least because Grimnar reached the position of Great Wolf (leader of the Space Wolves Chapter) before Ulrik was even promoted to Wolf Priest.This could be explained by the mention of a different Ulric (spelled differently from that of Ulrik the Slayer), though so far Games Workshop has not cleared up the discrepancy. |
Ulrik the Slayer - Sources: Codex: Space Wolves (2nd Edition), pp. 34, 39, 48, 76-77Codex: Space Wolves (3rd Edtion), pg. 29Codex Space Wolves (5th Edition), pp. 23, 50Codex: Space Wolves (7th Edition), pp. 44, 46-47, 68, 122-124Companies of Fenris - Space Wolves Painting Guide (6th Edition), pg. 52Index Astartes II, "Wolves of Fenris - The Space Wolves Space Marine Chapter" & "For the Emperor - Space Marine Chaplains"White Dwarf 156 (US), "The Space Wolves", pp. 8-25White Dwarf 157 (US), "Space Wolf Army List: Space Marines Space Wolves", pp. 2-21White Dwarf 158 (US), "Ragnar Blackmane, Njal Storm Caller & Ulrik The Slayer in Space Marine: Space Wolves", pp. 9-13White Dwarf 208 (US), "Faith and Vengeance: Space Marine Chaplain Background and Tactics", pp. 78-86White Dwarf 227 (US), "Chapter Approved", pp. 73-80Sons of Fenris (Novel) by Lee LighterCurse of the Wulfen (Novella) by David Annandale |
Ulthanesh - Ulthanesh: Ulthanesh, also known as Ulthanash, is a folk hero of Aeldari Mythology, a key figure in the tale of Eldanesh, considered the greatest mortal hero of the Aeldari race. Originally a member of the House of Eldanesh, which was comprised of the first members of the Aeldari species created by their gods, Ulthanesh aided Eldanesh in the completion of the tasks that marked the key moments in the Aeldari's early mythic history.The two heroes eventually had a falling out and became rivals, with Ulthanash gathering a band of followers to himself who founded the House of Ulthanesh. Descendants of Ulthanesh amongst the population of the Asuryani Craftworlds today are said to still belong to the House of Ulthanesh and are called "Ulthanar." They have a longstanding rivalry with those Aeldari who are descended from Eldanesh, the "Eldanar." |
Ulthanesh - History: The Tragedy of Eldanesh and Ulthanesh is one of the longest and oldest tales amongst the Aeldari. Due to the complexity of the Aeldari Lexicon, and the extreme reluctance of the Aeldari to speak of their past (or even speak at all) to those they consider "lesser" races, it has never been fully translated into Imperial Gothic. The following text is but an interpretative synopsis of the tale.Legends say that in the first days of the galaxy, the ruler of the Aeldari pantheon of gods, Asuryan, granted Eldanesh and the other Aeldari the gift of life. The mightiest of the Aeldari gods breathed life into the bodies of all future Aeldari, and was satisfied, but his creations were not. Eldanesh saw the emptiness of the void where only the Aeldari lived, and despaired. Seeing his sadness, the goddess of fertility, Isha, shed a tear for Eldanesh and let it drop upon the material world. It is said by the Aeldari that all other life in the galaxy sprang from Isha's tear, and that the Aeldari rejoiced, for they were no longer alone.However, new life across the galaxy also meant new threats for the Aeldari race, and they were forced to fend for themselves. Eldanesh rallied his people around him, becoming the first Lord of the Aeldari, and faced the armies of beings known as the Hresh-selain in the Aeldari Lexicon. After many ferocious but inconclusive battles, Eldanesh allied with Ulthanesh, the second-greatest warrior of the Aeldari and the mighty lord of his own noble house, and together the two Aeldari heroes and their people were victorious over the Hresh-selain.Later, the two collaborated again to fight off the living nightmares known as the Autochtinii. However, their mortal valour proved insufficient, and they only managed to prevail with the help of Kaela Mensha Khaine. It is unclear whether the Aeldari heroes beseeched the help of their God of War and Strife, or if Khaine readily came to the help of his brother Asuryan's creations, but his alliance with the mortal heroes would have terrible consequences.By accepting the help of Khaela Mensha Khaine, Eldanesh and Ulthanesh had become the first of what would only much later be recognised by the Aeldari of the Craftworlds as Exarchs. Strife had become second nature to them, and soon, Eldanesh's relationship with Ulthanesh became strained. Ulthanesh's ambition and Eldanesh's will always were at odds, but they found themselves unable to reconcile, and Eldanesh ultimately banished his friend into the desert.Meditating for a long time over the wrongs of the universe and the dishonour visited upon him by Eldanesh, Ulthanesh attempted to recentre his being and find in himself the strength to accept the situation. Yet Kaela Mensha Khaine would not be denied his spoils of conflict: cutting off one of his fingers, the God of War and Strife shaped it in the form of a scorpion and sent it to sting Ulthanesh, knowing that if Ulthanesh died during his exile, the Aeldari would soon know civil war.Unexpectedly, Ulthanesh survived, and Khaine's plans were almost brought low. But the near-death experience made Ulthanesh realise that he did not need the help of Eldanesh, nor his protection. Returning to his people, he founded the separate House of Ulthanesh and to Khaine's great delight, heralded the age of division for the Aeldari.Embittered by what he saw as his friend's betrayal, Eldanesh retreated into his role as protector of the Aeldari, and with Khaine still at his side, continued to vanquish their foes. Drunk on the power the mortal granted him through his many victories, Khaine met with Eldanesh in person and promised him not only many more great victories but lordship over all mortal life if only he would abandon the service of Asuryan and swear an oath of loyalty to the God of War and Strife.Horrified by what he was becoming, and caring more for a peaceful future for his people than an eternity of slaughter, Eldanesh refused Khaine's offer. Enraged that his careful plan for total dominion was falling apart, Khaine struck Eldanesh down with Anaris, one of the divine Swords of Vaul forged by the Aeldari smith god, in a single, fell stroke. This direct intervention of a god in mortal affairs, in direct contradiction of Asuryan's edicts, started a terrible period for the Aeldari Gods known as the War in Heaven.Ironically, the Houses of Eldanesh and Ulthanesh would unite once more to fight Khaine during this conflict, denying the God of War and Strife total dominion over the galaxy and the Aeldari people. The houses would remain united until the Fall of the Aeldari many Terran millennia later, when the ancient rivalry was sparked anew aboard the Craftworlds of the Asuryani.As mentioned, this is but one of the interpretations of what Imperial savants managed to learn of the Aeldari's mythic past. However, the Aeldari Lexicon is so full of nuances and seeming contradictions that this interpretation is but one among many possible variants.In other versions of the tale, for instance, it is told that Eldanesh challenged Khaine to win the freedom of Vaul, the God of Smiths, and that his death at the hands of Khaine ended the War in Heaven instead of starting it. The only event that occurs in all the known versions of the legend, and hence the only parcel taken at face value by Imperial savants, is Eldanesh's death at the hands of Khaine, and Asuryan's condemnation of that act, cursing Khaine's hand to forever more drip with the blood of his mortal victim as a constant reminder of his fell act. It is from that act that Khaine's full name is derived, for the Aeldari term-title Kaela Mensha is translated as "Red Handed" or "Bloody Handed" in Imperial Gothic. |
Ulthwé - Ulthwé: UlthwéUlthanash ShelwéUlthanashAeldari LexiconAsuryanicraftworldsFall of the AeldariIt is whispered by those of other craftworlds that the Asuryani of Ulthwé have been damned and tainted by their world-ship's proximity to the eastern rim of the Eye of Terror in the Segmentum Obscurus, exaggerating their psychic potential.This is also why these Asuryani are sometimes called "the Damned." But the people of Ulthwé know instead that they are a bulwark between the survival of their species and utter destruction.Ulthwé has long sought to covertly intervene in the affairs of the other intelligent species of the galaxy, particularly Humanity, in an attempt to alter events to favour the continued survival of the Aeldari race and defeat the threat posed by Chaos.These efforts have been led for over ten thousand Terran years by Ulthwé's High Farseer Eldrad Ulthran.Since the rise of the Ynnari in the wake of the Great Rift's birth, Ulthran has become a staunch ally of Yvraine, the high priestess of Ynnead. He believes that the god of the dead and his Ynnari servants may offer the only path to salvation for the Aeldari and the rest of the galaxy.This craftworld's world-rune, "The Eye of Isha," symbolises the sorrow of Isha, the fertility goddess from whom the Aeldari believe they descend.Isha, it is said, wept bitterly when Asuryan, the king of the Aeldari gods, ordered her separation from her mortal children. Vaul forged her tears into glittering Spirit Stones so that her grief might not be in vain.Today, the warriors of Ulthwé bear this symbol as their sigil, a poignant reminder of the godhood they lost long ago. |
Ulthwé - History: During the Fall of the Aeldari, the event that marked the birth of the Dark Prince Slaanesh, Ulthwé was caught in the pull of the Eye of Terror. Here it has remained for many Terran millennia, trapped, where the Immaterium intersects with realspace. It is a breeding ground for Chaos and a gateway into the Warp.Due to this baleful proximity to the Eye, Ulthwé must be on constant high alert in case of attacks by the forces of Chaos. Constant risk and warfare has hardened this craftworld's citizens to hardship. Due to the lack of Aspect Warriors on the craftworld, Ulthwé maintains a standing militia known as the Black Guardians, who are highly skilled and better-trained than the standard Guardians of other craftworlds.Craftworld Ulthwé is home to many of the most powerful psykers in the galaxy. The Aeldari of Ulthwé cast themselves as sentinels, keeping an endless vigil over this dread gulf. There, elite cadres of Farseers keep watch for the many and varied guises of Chaos, for Ulthwé's many talented mystics can foresee future events with a greater precision than those of other craftworlds.This foresight has allowed them both to preserve their line and thwart their eternal enemies, the forces of the Great Enemy, She Who Thirsts. Ulthwé uses such future-knowledge often to the detriment of other intelligent races, always acting to preserve the Aeldari, whatever the cost.Due to the craftworld's close proximity to the Eye, Ulthwé maintains a larger number of Warlocks, though others believe it is because their location causes exaggerated psychic powers in the Ulthwé population that results in the emergence of more Warlocks.Whatever the reason, many Warlocks, Seers and other psychic warriors follow the Ulthwé armies to battle and their psychic skills are even more advanced than those found on other craftworlds of the Asuryani, as they are able to see the skeins of fate further and farther ahead in time and with greater precision.One of the more famous and integral aspects of the Ulthwé craftworld is its Seer Council. Led by Eldrad Ulthran, the council both overtly and secretly interferes with other species in an attempt to steer fate in their favour. This has no doubt allowed the Ulthwé craftworld to survive so long in such a perilous position.At the behest of the council, the craftworld's warriors are often sent into apparently unrelated battles that will ultimately concern Ulthwé itself. It is largely through these seemingly arbitrary conflicts that have earned the Aeldari their reputation for random and capricious behaviour.The Farseers of Ulthwé know well that stopping the fall of a single stone can sometimes prevent an avalanche, and they manipulate fate itself in order to avert disaster. After all, the Seers of Ulthwé would rather see a hundred thousand Humans perish than a single Aeldari life slip away.Through its interference with other races, Ulthwé is supposedly responsible for several devastating events in the Imperium of Man, including the Second War for Armageddon, the Sanapan Scouring, the Mortis Annihilation and the Third Coming of Orian. Yet they have also made powerful allies within the Imperium, such as the ancient and wealthy House Belisarius of Terra, one of the families of the Navis Nobilite, having saved this house of Navigators' fortune and honour in times long past.The House of Belisarius then forged the Pact of Anwyn with the Aeldari of Ulthwé, agreeing to repay their debt seven times by coming to the aid of Ulthwé whenever it is requested. In the 10,000 Terran years since the Pact was forged, the House of Belisarius has been called to repay five of the seven debts.Because of Ulthwé's heavy reliance on Seers and Warlocks in its forces, the craftworld finds itself lacking in Aspect Warriors. The Path of the Seer is long and treacherous, leaving little time for an Aeldari to focus upon the Path of the Warrior.To compensate, it maintains a highly-trained standing army known as the Black Guardians named for the colour of their armour, who are dedicated to rapidly responding to the many attacks from the Eye of Terror. They are feared throughout the region around the Eye of Terror, both as saviours and dreaded foes.To perceive a force of Ulthwé Guardians as weak would be a grave mistake, for their Seers and Warlocks guide them even upon the battlefield. Thanks to this force, Ulthwé has survived millennia of constant attacks by the forces of Chaos. Though the battle-psykers of Ulthwé are potent, they cannot win battles on their own. It is for this reason that Ulthwé maintains such a large standing army of Guardians.The most powerful of these psykers is Eldrad Ulthran, the de facto leader of the craftworld. The Seers of Ulthwé are said to be much more capable than those of other craftworlds and can see far into the future to shape the destiny of their craftworld based on their insights.The Seers may predict catastrophe and steer Ulthwé away from it, or determine the best course of action regardless of the cost to other races. Such foresight can lead the people of Ulthwé to perform actions which seem selfish and erratic in the eyes of Men and other races, but to the Seers of Ulthwé it is clear that such actions must be performed for the good of the craftworld.Though results may not directly arise from such action, it will indirectly influence Ulthwé's fate perhaps far into the future. |
Ulthwé - Era Indomitus: The scryers of Ulthwé were masters of foresight, and had read disaster in the stars long before the coming of the Great Rift, or the Dathedian as the Aeldari knew it. Even with all their artifice, these arch-manipulators were unable to allay the doom that was unfolding before them -- only to mitigate its true and terrible potential.Priding themselves on their subtlety, the Ulthwé Aeldari tipped the scales of conflict where they could, aiding the "lesser races" against the forces of Chaos in a hundred different war zones across the Segmentum Obscurus. It was their High Farseer Eldrad Ulthran who was ultimately behind the amassing of the Crystal Seers and the events on the crystal moon of Coheria during the Battle of Port Demesnus in 999.M41 that saw the Aeldari god of the dead Ynnead partially awaken from his slumber.For millennia the Seer Council of Ulthwé had masterminded the defence of the Eye of Terror and its surrounding planets, holding back the tide of Chaos until Abaddon's alliance of Chaos forces in the 13th Black Crusade saw it finally torn apart.But perhaps their greatest coup was ensuring Yvraine and the Ynnari reached the Shrine of Hera in the Ultramarines' fortress-monastery upon Macragge -- first by a grand ritual that saw her borne across time and space from Craftworld Biel-Tan following the Battle of Biel-Tan, and then by force of arms when the Black Legion attempted to stop them.In this they allowed Yvraine to wrench the Primarch Roboute Guilliman back from the brink of death. Upon Macragge during the Ultramar Campaign, the Daughter of Shades used Ynnead's power to give the Primarch a new lease of life, combining Aeldari insight with Adeptus Mechanicus artifice to sustain the Primarch indefinitely.That act saw the Imperium of Man redefined in a new era. With the Primarch given Aeldari aid enough to reach the Imperial Palace upon Terra during the Terran Crusade, and governance of Humanity's realm taken over by the one soul with mental strength and logistical skill enough to hold it together, Humanity was given the wherewithal to hold back the tide of Chaos -- for a time, at least.Though they had done so by methods so indirect that none suspected their intervention, the Seers of Ulthwé had created a Human shield against the scourge of Chaos so broad and so strong it had borne the weight of a hundred invasions and still not shattered.Yet even the finest bulwark will fall apart under the relentless tide, and even Ulthwé was not infallible.The scryers of Ulthwé sifted the visions that entered their minds when they let their consciousnesses drift along the landscape of the future, picking out those fault lines where a concerted attack could shatter their plans.Some of those Imperial planets they watched over were corrupt, their Human masters looking after only their own interests as their cities and people burned around them.On these, the Ulthwéans resorted to that most desperate of all courses of action -- direct intervention. Planetary Governors and their councillors who were too corrupt or slow-witted to stop their people from falling to Chaos were attacked by Black Guardian warhosts and stealthy Aspect Warrior forces who slew the leaders of each failing enterprise.In this, the craftworld ensured its targets' replacement, usually with more competent individuals inspired to proactivity by the shocking demise of their predecessors.The Imperial worlds that Ulthwé attacked found themselves ruled capably once more, each planet a stronger link in a chain that would hold back the tide of Chaos for a little longer. |
Ulthwé - Notable Events: The Pride of the Phoenix (ca. M31) - Farseer Eldrad Ulthran of Craftworld Ulthwé contrives a meeting with Fulgrim, the Primarch of the Emperor's Children Space Marine Legion, to warn him of the tendrils of Chaos that are corrupting the Legiones Astartes in the days before the Battle of Istvaan III. Despite the fact they could have changed the fate of the galaxy, the Aeldari's warnings fall on deaf ears as Fulgrim is already in the grip of Slaanesh. As the Horus Heresy unfolds, the Dark Gods turn a full half of the ancient Space Marine Legions to their cause. Chaos runs rampant and the galaxy burns.The War in the Webway (514.M38) - The Aeldari of Ulthwé and the Drukhari Jade Knife Kabal of Commorragh battle for dominance within the shattered spars of the Webway. With the death toll spiralling into the thousands on either side, an uneasy truce is agreed upon -- despite their mutual loathing, both sides know well that Aeldari lives are too valuable to waste in such numbers.Maedrax Stirs (783.M41) - Eldrad Ulthran foresees a fleet of Imperial Explorators unwittingly awakening the Necron Tomb World of Maedrax. Before the night is out, the Aeldari have moved through hidden star-portals to Maedrax and destroyed the Imperial ships in a series of pinpoint strikes. The Aeldari make planetfall in force and purge the Necron presence before it can fully awaken, but they do not escape unscathed. A nearby Battle Barge of the Blood Angels Chapter, dispatched to avenge the disappearance of the Explorator fleet, intercepts the Ulthwé warhost as it fights its way out of the system and takes a deadly toll. Worse still, the Necron presence in the Maedrax System proves far more widespread than even the Aeldari believed. An entire dynasty awakes across the system, world by haunted world.The Pyre of Killiak's Bane (838.M41) - Imperial xenologists begin to plunder the buried artefacts of the Aeldari Maiden Kiliak, triggering a devastating response from the nearby Asuryani craftworlds of Ulthwé and Biel-Tan. After a confirmed sighting of the Phoenix Lord Jain Zar and over a hundred of her Howling Banshees disciples, the Imperial interlopers are killed to the last person, incinerated, and their ashes scattered to the wind.The Roar of the Beast (941.M41) - In the act of preventing a WAAAGH! that would have strayed into the path of Craftworld Idharae, the Aeldari of Ulthwé raise the Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Thraka to prominence. The self-styled prophet of the Ork gods unites his barbaric followers against the industrial Hive World of Armageddon. Word of the unbridled destruction caused by WAAAGH! Ghazghkull spills out until every Ork within ten light years is spoiling for a "proppa fight," inspiring a dozen other WAAAGH!s which bleed into one another until they capsize a huge swathe of the Imperium.The End Times (991.M41) - The Aeldari mystic Kysaduras the Anchorite proclaims the End Times to have begun. After lengthy meditation alongside Eldrad Ulthran of Ulthwé, he preaches to the high seers that the Aeldari's only hope of survival lies with Ynnead, the Aeldari god of the dead, whose name is only ever spoken in whispers.Sanctity Breached (998.M41) - Furious battle erupts in the twilight realm of the Webway as Chaos Space Marines of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion fight their way to within sight of the Black Library. Their leader, the master Chaos Sorcerer Ahriman, is thwarted by a powerful force of Aeldari Harlequins and allies from both Craftworld Ulthwé and Craftworld Lugganath. Several major arteries of the webway are choked with the dead before the warrior-psykers of the Thousand Sons are driven from the secret paths by a concerted attack. The breach caused by the rampaging Chaos Sorcerers is runically sealed but, as a result, a section of the Webway is lost forever.The Sign Beyond the Grave (999.M41) - In the Hidden Chamber of Ulthanash Shelwé, High Farseer Eldrad Ulthran allows his spirit to flow amongst the departed souls of his people that haunt Ulthwé's Infinity Circuit. Under the susurration of countless billions of voices he hears a swelling pulse, like a deep and distant psychic heartbeat. It gives him hope and sets in motion a chain of events that will see the Aeldari species shaken to its core.The Prophecies of the Seer (999.M41) - Kysaduras the Anchorite, sequestered in his wraithbone cell, prophesises the awakening of Ynnead, the Aeldari god of the dead. His words are riddles and half-truths, and the Seer Council of Ulthwé debate their implications until a single thread of terrible potential is winnowed from the rest. Only one amongst them has the nerve to follow it. Finding common cause with the Harlequins of the Masque of the Midnight Sorrow, Eldrad Ulthran enlists the troupe of the Death Jester Inriam's Spectre into an ingenious and near-blasphemous series of heists.The Theft of the Crystal Seers (999.M41) - A new rendition of the events of the Fall of the Aeldari becomes fashionable amongst the performing Harlequins of the Laughing God and tours the craftworlds one after another. It is unlike the traditional cycle, which ends with Slaanesh and Cegorach locked in a duel without end. This latest performance has an epilogue that hints at another being joining the cast and eventually overcoming She Who Thirsts. These theatrical portrayals are not the only illusions brought to the Masque of the Midnight Sorrow's audiences. After the masque departs the day following the performance, one of the glinting statues from that craftworld's Dome of Crystal Seers is missing, though few are skilled enough to pierce the veil of illusion left in its place.Battle of Port Demesnus (999.M41) - On the Imperial planet of Port Demesnus, the forces of Saim-Hann and Ulthwé strike from long-hidden valleys and subterranean arbours, bypassing the cordons that make the planet an Imperial Navy stronghold. As the Aeldari fall upon the population, the Imperium reinforces the planet's defenders a dozen times over. Only the canny Watch Captain Artemis of the Deathwatch spots the ruse for what it is -- a distraction to allow Eldrad Ulthran and his forces to make use of the planet's crystalline moon of Coheria for their own arcane purposes. Upon Coheria, the stolen crystal seers of the craftworlds are arranged in a ritual formation, each providing a hyperspatial link to the world-ship from which it was taken -- or rather to its Infinity Circuit. The rite nears completion, and the departed souls of the Aeldari craftworlds are channelled across realspace to inhabit not Spirit Stones, but the psycho-reactive crystalline grains of sand that cover the moon Coheria. With so many dead souls flaring in such close proximity, the deity Ynnead is roused by their blazing beacon of ghostlight, and for a moment it seems that the god of the dead may become a reality far before the prophesised time. It is then that the Deathwatch under Captain Artemis attacked, slaying Inriam's Spectre and driving Eldrad Ulthran's ritual wild moments before its completion. The Aeldari are forced to abandon their work and flee with the ritual only partially completed.The Justice of Seers (999.M41) - In the wake of the Battle of Biel-Tan and the emergence of the Yncarne, the Seers of Ulthwé open a portal from their Dome of Crystal Seers to its equivalent upon Biel-Tan, destroying the precious and irreplaceable souls of several deceased Farseers within the Ulthwé Infinity Circuit to do so. The sacrifice is deemed necessary to ensure the Ynnari are rescued from becalmed Biel-Tan before the strife they have sown sees the craftworld consumed in the fires of civil war between those who accept Ynnead's message and those enraged by the damage the Ynnari have done to their home. They are called to account by Ulthwé's Seer Council, as is Eldrad Ulthran, for his arrogance in co-opting the psyches of generations of dead Aeldari is beyond countenance. Emissaries from Craftworld Altansar speak in the Ynnari's defence, revealing that Ynnead's nascent consciousness had a hand in allowing the Altansari to survive their craftworld's millennia-long ordeal in the Eye of Terror. The trial becomes ever more heated as courtly negotiations turn to veiled threats, then to open hostility and even psychic attack. Only the intervention of no less a Seer than Kysaduras the Anchorite, unseen for generations, prevents the council from kinstrife of the worst kind. The Ynnari and their Ulthwéan allies, accompanied by the Altansari, are allowed to leave on the proviso that they venture into the Eye of Terror in search of the legendary Croneswords of Morai-Heg, never to return.The Might of Chaos (999.M41) - Abaddon the Despoiler, Warmaster of Chaos, launches the greatest invasion of realspace ever seen, known as the 13th Black Crusade. The Seer Council of Ulthwé has waited long for this moment, and leads the Asuryani craftworlds in a united war effort to contain the Chaos armies flooding from the Eye of Terror. The Aeldari cause horrific damage to the Chaos Space Marine Traitor Legions on dozens of worlds, suffering untenable casualties in their turn as the minions of the Great Enemy fight back. Unfortunately for the Aeldari and the Imperium alike, the psychic stink of war is so all-pervading that Abaddon's daemonic allies are able to manifest in their billions. They are quick to join the slaughter, and the death toll rises ever higher.Battle of Ulthwé (Unknown Date.M42) - Following the creation of the Great Rift, Craftworld Ulthwé dispatched nearly all of its forces across the galaxy in an attempt to stem the tide of Chaos. In a dangerous move, every warhost of Ulthwé is sent out across the galaxy, leaving the craftworld with few defences. The Seer Council states that need necessitates such daring, as the threads of fate must be twisted in many places simultaneously to avoid greater doom. Several of Ulthwé's warhosts cross the Great Rift to enter the darkened galactic north of the Imperium Nihilus. Upon the Ice World of Rimenok they aid the beleaguered Imperial forces led by the Space Wolves and Dark Angels. The Ulthwé forces provide a distraction, allowing the humans to safely withdraw. Other warhosts aid the T'au Farsight Enclaves on Vior'los and the Grey Knights upon the cursed moon of Tcharla. Each action by the armies of Ulthwé preserves allies needed for future battles against Chaos. But the forces of Chaos took advantage of Ulthwé's generosity. Daemonic forces invaded the largely defenceless Ulthwé, breaching the craftworld's surface to alight within the Dome of Crystal Portents. There, they are met in battle by the exiled Farseer Eldrad Ulthran and his faithful followers, along with warriors of the Ynnari and Harlequins. Despite the presence of Kairos Fateweaver and a sextet coven of Keepers of Secrets, the Aeldari swiftly banish their foes.Adonis Palace Massacre (Unknown Date.M42) - In the Era Indomitus, the forces of Craftworld Ulthwé sometimes directly intervened on Imperial worlds to remove corrupt administrators and other forces that could negatively impact Humanity's fight against the Archenemy. But the culling of Imperial incompetents was not a plan without cost in Aeldari lives. Merciless indeed were the methods of Ulthwé's Seer Council, for they prized speed and efficacy over slow and often fruitless diplomacy. This was especially true on the planet Cadmas Tertius, site of the Adonis Palace Massacre. The first the Adonites knew of the Asuryani attack was the sudden appearance of a squadron of Hemlock Wraithfighters, escorted by Crimson Hunters from the Shrine of the Shrieking Squall.Descending from a shimmering, psychically formed cloud, the black Hemlocks threaded their way through a hail of anti-aircraft fire. In places they lost precious psyker-pilots to the sheer weight of fire, but the remainder bombarded the spiretips of the ruling hive cities with waves of crippling despair so intense they caused mass suicides within. The strike stopped a ritual of summoning performed by the narcissistic rulers of the planet -- a grand spell of profane luxury intended to bring Slaaneshi daemons into reality. In doing so, the assault prevented a split in realspace that would have seen Cadmas Tertius infested by warpspawn, and later condemned to Exterminatus at the decree of the Emperor's Inquisition. The planet's demise had been averted just in time, but those Aeldari emissaries who were sent to point this out to the new Imperial rulership were sent away at gunpoint. Instead of being welcomed as saviours, the black-clad Ulthwéans were called murderers and accused of grand regicide. Tempers flared, and harsh words exchanged. Though the Aeldari left, the matter was far from over. The Adonites' replacements proved untainted by Chaos, though they were now hell-bent on taking revenge against the Aeldari. Under a false flag of parley, Adonis' naval complement approached the Asuryani who were still monitoring them in-system. Hugely outnumbered, several Ulthwéan starships were blasted apart before the rest could slip into the darkness of the void, cursing the short-sighted nature of the Humans they had given valuable Aeldari lives to save. |
Ulthwé - Ulthwé Military Forces: Due to Ulthwé's close proximity to the Eye of Terror, this craftworld boasts far more psykers than others. Consequently, it has few Aspect Warriors, instead relying heavily upon its standing army of citizen troops, the Black Guardians. These fearless soldiers hold back the advance of the Chaos hordes in a hundred different locations, striking with serpentine swiftness from hidden webway portals across Segmentum Obscurus.Supporting these troops will be assortments of vehicles and elite units armed and equipped with advanced Aeldari technology. Ulthwé also employs large number of psykers on the battlefield, sometimes in the form of a Seer Council consisting of multiple Farseers and Warlock bodyguards.The Seer Council or Seers will use their potent psychic powers to destroy the minds of their enemies, shape the battle's course to their favour, and perform other tasks to ensure their victory. However, every time a Seer or Warlock delves into the Warp to harness its power to their favour, they risk their own minds. Many have been lost to the terrors of the Warp.Ulthwé armies may strike fast and hard in the form of an Ulthwé Strike Force, a highly mobile entity of Ulthwé's power in which units utilise Jetbikes and other fast vehicles, which enables the force to strike quickly and decisively through Webway gates and vanish as quickly as they appeared.The sight of an Ulthwé force is a brooding, dark image, filled with the air of mourning and suffering. The primary colour of Ulthwé's military forces, troops and vehicles alike, is an ominous black. This is often contrasted with spotted colours and patterns of bone white, golden yellow and dark red. |
Ulthwé - Notable Locations: Calmainoc - This is the name given to a great space dock that is not strictly located within the craftworld, but rather to a Webway portal that is hardwired into the structure of Ulthwé itself. The portal is indistinguishable from the main doors, though the actual harbour could be located anywhere in the galaxy or even beyond it. The only certainty is the fact that the way in and out of Calmainoc is through Craftworld Ulthwé.Ghreivan's Gate - Ghreivan's Gate is a circular frame that is decorated with several runes that stretch across several dimensions. This gate is actually a Webway portal and one among hundreds that exist in the craftworld. These serve as access points to Webway routes that were designed by the original architects of Ulthwé in order to allow its inhabitants access to distant locations in a matter of moments. |
Ulthwé - Notable Ulthwé Aeldari: Eldrad Ulthran - High Farseer Eldrad Ulthran is the mightiest and most ancient Farseer of the Ulthwé craftworld. He is perhaps the most gifted psyker ever born amongst the Aeldari, his incredible foresight having saved many thousands of Aeldari lives. Among Eldrad's accomplishments are supposedly: igniting the Second War for Armageddon so as to spare the precious lives of 10,000 Aeldari, initiating the Sanapan Scouring, the Mortis Annihilation and the Third Coming of Orian, as well as warning the Emperor of Horus' treachery and the Aeldari of Iyanden of the coming of the Tyranids. He created and carried into battle the Staff of Ulthamar, and his resilience and power has been a rallying point for the declining Aeldari race. Eldrad was instrumental in bringing about the partial awakening of the god of the dead Ynnead which led to the formation of the Ynnari. Banished from Ulthwé by its Seer Council for making such decisions for the whole Aeldari species without their input, he has become a staunch ally of Yvraine and the Ynnari. He believes that the full awakening of Ynnead offers the only true hope for his species' survival. Eldrad is always willing to ally with the Imperium, but sees Humanity as a shield that can protect the Aeldari from destruction until they can find a way to destroy Slaanesh on their own. He has no compunction about sending millions of Humans to their deaths if it will save far more precious Aeldari lives.Taldeer - Farseer Taldeer was the leader of an Aeldari strike force that was sent to Lorn V in anticipation of an impending Necron attack. She and her strike force saved Imperial Guard General Sturnn and his men on two different occasions, without them knowing until much later. When General Sturnn returned the favor by shielding the Aeldari from a huge Ork WAAAGH!, the two races formed a temporary (and uneasy) alliance to further their own goals. Farseer Taldeer later on led a strike force to destroy the Necrons that had arisen on Kronus, that the forces of the Tau were trying, but failing, to keep at bay. Farseer Taldeer's presence on Kronus attracted the attention of the Imperial General Lukas Alexander, who was tasked with chasing down Taldeer after her manipulation of the Imperial Guard on Lorn V.Caerys - Farseer Caerys was the leader of the Aeldari forces in the Kaurava System. She is allegedly the successor of Farseer Taldeer. The Aeldari are based in a site sacred to them, on Kaurava III, where they destroyed a manifestation of the C'tan god, the Deceiver, while defeating local Necron forces. Of the warring factions in the Kaurava System, the Dark Eldar Archon Tahril considered Lord Firaeveus Carron and Farseer Caerys to be the least foolish of the other commanders.Idranel - Farseer Idranel foresaw a large Tyranid swam heading on a path that would lead it towards Ulthwé. In order to combat this threat, the Aeldari would divert the hive fleet towards the worlds of the Sub-sector Aurelia. But as the Blood Ravens Space Marine Chapter watched over this sector, Idranel's forces came into conflict with the Adeptus Astartes. Idranel was ultimately slain on the world of Meridian by Blood Ravens' Sergeant Tarkus. With her death, the Imperial forces believed that Aeldari activity on the planet would cease.Auric Stormcloud - Farseer Auric Stormcloud led a quest to stop the Harbinger of Slaanesh, the Daemon Prince Shaha Gaathon, from attempting to possess the Rogue Trader Janus Darke and using his body to reclaim a powerful relic and bring ruin to the Eldar race. Auric was accompanied by his personal bodyguard and relative Athenys. Compelling the Navigator Simon Beliarius of House Belisarius to act for him under the Pact of Anwyn, Auric passed through the Eye of Terror with Darke to the Crone World of Belial IV to retrieve the ancient and potent artefact known as the Deathsword. This powerful weapon was said to echo the power of Khaela Mensha Khaine, as the Aeldari managed to forge it from the engines of awesome power beneath the Temple-Palace of Asuryan -- a captured echo of the death of the universe given form. Ten millennia earlier, before the Fall, this sword was used to strike down the Daemon Prince Gaathon. The sword was then placed within the Temple-Palace for safekeeping. This relic remained trapped on Belial IV in the Temple-Palace of Asuryan in the southern continent of Astayan, in the city of Zytheraa, for ten millennia. When Auric finally found the blade he fought, and was ultimately slain, by the Daemon Prince, but not before his soul took residence in the Soul Stones he had placed in the Rogue Trader's forehead before arriving to Belial IV, under the auspices that they would protect Darke from daemonic possession. During the ensuing fight with Gaathon, Auric's own Soul Stones were destroyed, and so, he moved on to the one in Janus's head and took control of his body. Using the Deathsword, he struck down the Daemon Prince, destroying its mortal form. He then departed with the ancient blade, as he foresaw the need to utilise it in the future, and departed to Ulthwé for some unfinished business while still controlling his now human body. His ultimate fate is unknown.Kauerith - In 858.M41, Farseer Kauerith led an Aeldari strike force in an assault on the Shrine World of Dimmamar, the birth world of Sebastian Thor. Adepta Sororitas Seraphim Superior Amelda of the Order of the Bloody Rose immediately retaliates, leading her squad of Seraphim in a daring attack to slay the Farseer. The Seraphim's pistols blast a bloody path through a score of black-clad Aeldari before the Sisters are engulfed in a hurricane of psychic lighting. Though many of her companions fall, Amelda refuses to yield and defiantly advances through the eldritch storm, slaying the Aeldari Farseer with a single bolt round to the head. |
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