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Urdesh - Horus Heresy: With the outbreak of the galaxy-wide civil war known as the Horus Heresy, the Imperium was sundered, with many of the Forge Worlds of these sectors declaring for the Traitor cause at the behest of the treacherous fabricator-general of Mars, Kelbor-Hal, while others remained loyal to Terra or in some cases sought to remain aloof from the conflict as much as possible.Strife and tentative conflict between these once-aligned worlds erupted finally into full-scale war in 010.M31, which pitched the Mars-aligned Dark Mechanicum Forge Worlds of Urdesh, Incunabula, Valia-Maximal and Kalibrax against the forces of the Loyalist Forge Worlds Graia, Arl'yeth and Atar-Median, while Arachnis and Jerulas Station both fell into the anarchy of civil war.The resulting conflict, later known as the "Cataclysm of Iron," saw the forge lords, their armies and allied Titan Legions and Knight Households turn on each other in protracted warfare, with scores of Human-inhabited worlds in the region suffering as they became the battlegrounds upon which the combatants fought.Urdesh was reclaimed by the Loyalist forces during the campaign known as the "Censure of Urdesh," its Legio Damicium Traitor Titan Legion destroyed. As censure for their crimes against the Imperium, the largest forge cities of Urdesh were laid waste by massed Titan fire, its knowledge banks purged of any technology the Loyalist Mechanicum deemed Urdesh unworthy of.Soon, the battered industry of the Forge World was turned towards supplying Loyalist forces, operated by fresh numbers of displaced tech-priests now part of the newly-formed Adeptus Mechanicus.By order of the Regent of Terra, Malcador the Sigillite, the Mars-based Legio Ignatum was left to stand guard over Urdesh and its holdings and given authority to punish any who dared rise once more against the Emperor.Following the death of the Warmaster Horus at the Siege of Terra, the Loyalist forces fell upon the fleeing Traitor Legions and their Dark Mechanicum allies from the Throneworld.Those who now ruled in the Emperor's name had neither the ability nor the desire to prevent a war of reciprocity. Thus began the time known in the histories of the Imperium as the Great Scouring.Many of those Forge Worlds that had colluded with the Traitors were brutally scoured of Hereteks and those who had made truck with the Ruinous Powers, and suffered the ignominious fate of Exterminatus, while others were brought back into the Imperial fold and eventually granted the Emperor's forgiveness.Urdesh was one such world, which did not share the fate of some of its more unfortunate allies. Since that time, Urdesh has proven to be a productive and loyal vassal Forge World of the Imperium.
Urdesh - Sabbat Worlds Crusade: Urdesh does not appear again in the annals of Imperial history until the Sabbat Worlds Crusade (755-778.M41). This Imperial Crusade was one of the largest and most significant Imperial military operations undertaken in recent history and ultimately ended in the reconquest of the sector by the armed forces of the Imperium of Man. During the Crusade, Urdesh mass-produced arms, equipment and vehicles for the Imperial forces.Unfortunately, midway through the crusade in 765.M41, following the defeat and subsequent retreat of the Archenemy from the world of Balhaut, some Imperial worlds were "visited" or "seeded" by fleeing enemy elements seeking hideaways or bolt-holes, or new opportunities to rebuild footholds. Urdesh was one of the more significant planets among the Sabbat Worlds to suffer this fate.Urdesh had resisted the predatory attacks of the Ruinous Powers for many Terran years, but finally succumbed to mass assault in the post-Balhaut period, 766-767.M41. As a consequence, many of its stockpiled weapons and armoured war machines fell into enemy hands, and were then used against Astra Militarum regiments during the course of the campaign.This was a grievous blow to the forces of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, as the advancing armies of Chaos were now able to fully equip themselves with several deadly patterns of Urdeshi weapons and vehicles which were turned on Imperial troops.However, the Imperial forces were ultimately able to launch a fierce counteroffensive aimed at the nearby world of Phantine, which also liberated Urdesh in the first few solar months of 772.M41, and prevented the Forces of Chaos from performing a flanking manoeuvre that was aimed at the weak underbelly of the Imperial Crusade.
Urdesh - Military Forces: Urdesh has a proud tradition of founding excellent Astra Militarum regiments, units noted for their shock troop and assault capabilities, and famous for their black and white "puzzle camo" battle-dress. This includes the Urdesh 4th (Light), 6th and 10th Regiments, and the famous 7th Urdeshi Storm-troop.
Urdesh - Manufactoria Capabilities: Urdesh is responsible for producing numerous patterns of weapons and vehicles for the military forces of the Imperium throughout the Sabbat Worlds.This includes the famously potent U90 Autogun, as well as light and heavy armoured vehicles, many of which were utilised by Chaos forces, including the Blood Pact and later, the Sons of Sek.Urdeshi armour patterns that were to become ubiquitous among the forces of the Archenemy included the STeG 4 light armoured car, N20 and N22 Pattern half-tracks, Usurper Pattern self-propelled guns, AT70 Reaver Pattern battle tanks and the monstrous AT83 Brigand Pattern super-heavy tanks.
Uriah Jacobus - Uriah Jacobus: Uriah Jacobus, called the "Protector of the Faith," was an Adeptus Ministorum Missionary who travelled among the star systems to the galactic west of Bakka in the Segmentum Tempestus converting many worlds to faith in the God-Emperor before his death from disease.
Uriah Jacobus - History: By the age of fifty standard years, Jacobus had introduced fifteen new worlds to the Imperial Creed, a remarkable achievement considering the scarcity of inhabited planets in the region. He achieved even greater recognition on the half-frozen world of Solstice.After spending three Terran years learning about the inhabitants of the world, whose technology and society had reached a feudal stage, Jacobus started to introduce the doctrines of the Ecclesiarchy into the beliefs of the natives' own rather disorganised religion.When meeting the king of one particular realm, Jacobus was disturbed to see an idol of the kingdom's god -- a four-armed god of death. Guessing a Genestealer Cult to be involved, Jacobus returned to more friendly kingdoms and persuaded their rulers to ally with each other to attack the xenos-worshipping ruler.As suspected, when Jacobus arrived with a mass of crossbowmen and armoured cavalry at his back, his army was attacked by a horde of Genestealers. Although many of the horrific creatures were felled by a storm of quarrels, the Genestealers started tearing apart the infantry with ease.Jacobus split his knights into two forces. One he left as a reserve while he led the other on a flank march that struck at the rear of the Genestealer Cult.Smashing his way through a screen of Human Brood Brothers, the knights attacked the heart of the cult. The Patriarch was finally slain, though a mound of bodies lay heaped around its corpse, and the Magus was spitted on a lance.The cult was momentarily confused by the loss of its leaders. Seeing the inaction of their foes, the rest of the knights attacked, sweeping away the disorientated aliens in one glorious charge.After the Battle of Solstice, Jacobus became a legendary figure, able to call on the Emperor's aid to thwart whatever odds opposed him. He converted another six worlds to the Emperor's worship before he finally died of a lung-destroying virus on the Death World of Gorang.
Uriah Jacobus - Wargear: ShotgunChainswordKrak GrenadesFrag GrenadesCarapace ArmourRosariusLitanies of FaithBanner of Sanctity - The Banner of Sanctity was woven by the daughters of King Ellesan of Solstice from the finest threads. Foes who see the banner are filled with awe and dread. Friendly troops following the banner will fight their utmost for the honour of the Emperor.
Uriah Olathaire - Uriah Olathaire: Uriah Olathaire was a Human priest of the Church of the Lightning Stone who lived on Terra at the time of the Unification Wars in the late 30th Millennium. He is the man Imperial history refers to when it is said that, "The Emperor cast the last stone of the last church upon the body of the last of the Terran priests after engaging and besting the resident unbeliever in a match of ideas, wit and dogma."The truth of the matter is slightly different, for while Olathaire did meet with the Emperor of Mankind in person, and was overwhelmed by His depth of knowledge and experience, he chose to die with his church of his own volition after issuing the prophetic warning to the Emperor that His subjects would start to see Him as a god if He deprived them of the benefits of religion and succeeded in His plans to conquer the galaxy.
Uriah Olathaire - History: Uriah Olathaire was born on ancient Terra in the 30th Millennium shortly before the start of the Unification Wars. The youngest son of wealthy parents, he spent his youth drinking and rebelling against authority, especially that of the Emperor whose forces had begun to assume control over ever-larger portions of Terra.After a difficult encounter with a squad of Thunder Warriors who whipped his dislike of the Imperium into hatred, Olathaire made for the town of Avelroi, where the local governor had rebelled against the Emperor, and participated in the Battle of Gaduare, where the rebels were slaughtered almost to the last man by a small force of Thunder Warriors. Wounded, Olathaire fled, and received what he believed was a vision of God Himself, who healed him and told him: "Why do you deny me? Accept me and you will know that I am the only truth and the only way."The shaken and broken Olathaire then returned home, only to discover that his family had been murdered by Scandian raiders and their holdings plundered while he was away. Remembering his vision, he entered the Church of the Lightning Stone, and started a new life as a priest, one of preaching kindness and offering assistance to any who came into his sanctuary.This he did daily for almost forty standard years as the Unification Wars slowly came to their conclusion, and the atheistic creed of the Imperial Truth favoured by the Emperor spread across Terra, and fewer and fewer faithful came to Olathaire's church.Such it was that one day, a strange, noble but warlike man garbed in plain clothes, escorted by a group of Thunder Warriors, arrived at the church just before midnight's sermon. Introducing himself only as "Revelation," the stranger said he wanted to speak with Olathaire and understand what kept him chained to faith in the light of the advances of science and reason.Unbeknownst to Olathaire, the man was actually the Emperor Himself, veiled by a psychic illusion to appear as a normal Human. However, the Master of Mankind had been so long removed from normal Humanity that Olathaire immediately sensed that something was amiss about this visitor, although he could not understand what.Despite this initial misgiving, Olathaire graciously invited his visitor inside, and led him to his church's most treasured possession, a masterfully painted mural fresco by the noted artist Isandula Verona depicting mythic events from Terra's past and future. Ironically enough, one of the scenes was a stylised depiction of the fight between the Emperor and an entity later called the "Dragon of Mars" that may have been the C'tan known as the Void Dragon that had occurred many standard millennia earlier in what was once known as ancient Libya.Uriah used the fresco's splendour as a proof of divinity, stating that the artist had been touched by the divine to bring into being such grandness. Revelation was moved by the fresco's beauty, but bluntly countered Olathaire's argument by stating that while Isandula Verona had certainly been a woman of incredible vision and talent, what had moved her was money and not the power of God.Refusing to be daunted by Revelation's lack of faith, Olathaire led him to his quarters where they could continue their discussion more easily, sharing a bottle of wine. Revelation confirmed that Olathaire's church was the last one on Terra, and that he had been tasked by a decree of the Emperor to destroy it, but he offered no violence, and once again reiterated that he wanted to understand Humanity's need for faith first.Uriah then attempted to explain how faith appeared from unexplainable facts as a reassuring explanation of the course of events in a Human life, citing the history of his own Church of the Lightning Stone: it had been founded by a man who was blind, deaf and mute but recovered the use of his eyes and ears after lightning struck the stone he was sheltering under during a thunderstorm.To thank God for this miracle, the man had founded the faith, and many visitors came to the stone to pray in hope for a cure for their own ills. Yet Revelation was unconvinced, and explained that there was a scientific cause to the miracle: the "holy man" who had founded the Church of the Lightning Stone had probably been mentally addled instead of physically impaired, and the shock of the lightning strike had altered his neurochemistry, repairing his brain's damaged state.Revelation then bluntly stated that the founder of the Church of the Lightning Stone might have believed that he had been the recipient of a miracle, but that believing something does not make it true or real.
Uriah Olathaire - Faiths of the Past: Irritated by Revelation's attitude rather than his words, Olathaire then stated that he, too, had received a spiritual vision in his youth. Revelation once again warned that belief did not equate with reality, but told Olathaire to explain himself nevertheless.Olathaire explained that he had been at the Battle of Gaduare. When Revelation said that the rebellion at Gaduare against the forces of the Emperor had been a pointless waste, Olathaire answered by saying that Revelation was too young to know what had happened at Gaduare.Revelation looked up with sadness, and they locked eyes again, and again Olathaire felt that strangeness, and no longer doubted that when Revelation spoke of Gaduare, he spoke of events about which he possessed personal knowledge, despite his youthful appearance. Even more shaken, Olathaire then explained how in his youth he had been a rebel, and had fought and almost died at Gaduare. He told of how he had been wounded, had witnessed God and been healed, and how this had given him a valuable purpose in an otherwise wasted life.Again, Revelation was doubtful. He began to speak of the Human religions of old, and how they had so often been used as an excuse to justify cruelty. Olathaire retorted that they had also been the cause of much good, but Revelation stated with finality that the evil done by Human religion far outstripped the good, citing examples from old and recent religions built on terror, repression, crusades and Human sacrifice to keep whole populations in check and in chains.An unbelieving Olathaire then pointed to himself, saying he had done nothing else than spread kindness since he became a priest, giving comfort to the living and easing the passing of the dying, basing his life on the message of tolerance contained in the holy scriptures of his religion.Revelation praised him for these actions, but told Olathaire he had lived according to his own interpretation of the content of the text, for if taken at face value, the sacred text of the Church of the Lightning Stone was a bloodthirsty call to spiritual superiority and warmongering rather than a book promoting peace and tolerance.Revelation further compounded his condemnation of religion by citing examples of the times in history when prominent Humans had interpreted holy texts to better their own position and abuse their fellow Human beings, rather than bring prosperity to their community.
Uriah Olathaire - Revelations: Finally angered by his guest's behaviour, Olathaire bade him leave, and went to continue his interrupted midnight prayer. The Emperor then simply dropped His psychic veil of disguise, and an astonished Olathaire recognised the face he had seen in his vision of God on the killing fields of Gaduare.The Emperor simply bade the priest to follow, for while He was still baffled by Humanity's eternal desire for faith, He had been impressed by Uriah Olathaire's intelligence and assertiveness, and would gladly offer the man a place in His new world despite the fact that he had been a priest for the best part of his life.Gazing around dazedly as he was guided outside the church and the Thunder Warriors opened fire upon it with their fire lances and grenades, Olathaire at first felt a keen sense of despair, stemming from having lived a lie all of his life. But then he reconsidered, thinking of all the good he had done and brought to his parishioners. His own personal idea of God might have been false, but the good it had brought was still tangible and very real. His despair made place for a familiar sense of accomplishment, and he listened to his august visitor, who spoke of His grand vision for Mankind, and offered Olathaire a place in it.For the last time, Uriah Olathaire gazed into the eyes of the Emperor and looked deep into the core of a being who had lived for long millennia, witnessed countless wonders and horrors and was possessed of an unfathomable sum of knowledge.Olathaire saw both the limitless compassion and the ruthless core of violence of a being who ultimately no longer was even remotely Human, if He ever had been. A being who truly believed that His absolute vision of the future was just and right, no matter the slaughter or bloodshed its fulfillment might require. A being for whom the ends truly justified the means.Olathaire realised that the Emperor simply could not comprehend the Human need for faith, for He had never encountered a question He could not answer. Bereft of the need for the reassurances only faith could bring to mortal men and women, the Emperor found it a wasteful and extremely dangerous distraction, and Uriah Olathaire was at a loss as how to explain the comfort it brought to mere Human beings.Understanding that he could never follow such a being or become part of this new atheistic Imperium, Uriah Olathaire bade the Emperor the best and commended His intentions as seeking a better future for Mankind, but warned Him that His subjects might come to see Him as a god if He deprived them of religion. The Emperor nodded sadly, recognising Olathaire's choice and ordered His Thunder Warriors to not interfere when the priest turned and walked back into the burning sanctuary.The Emperor and His army remained throughout the night as the ancient building collapsed upon itself. A thunderstorm extinguished the flames after dawn and the Emperor and his warriors moved on, leaving the last church on Humanity's homeworld a smouldering ruin, and the last priest a charred corpse.
Uriah Olathaire - Personality: A deeply devout and faithful man, Uriah Olathaire had been shaped by the events of his wasted youth into a kind and caring priest. Intelligent and open-minded, he was able to discuss with the Emperor without sounding too dogmatic or intolerant. He attempted to explain Humanity's need for religious faith to the Master of Mankind, but proved unsuccessful.During this momentous discussion, Olathaire was deeply troubled by the apparent duality of his august visitor, not understanding how a man could be so wise and possessed of so much knowledge at one time, and yet so blunt and intolerant as to sound like the most uninformed anti-religious bigot on the other.It was only in the end that Olathaire came to understand that the Emperor simply could not comprehend the Human need for faith, for He had never encountered a question He could not answer. Bereft of the need for the reassurances only faith could bring to mortal men and women, the Emperor found it a wasteful and extremely dangerous distraction, and Uriah Olathaire was at a loss as how to explain the comfort it brought to ordinary Human beings.Ironically, his last warning to the Emperor would prove prophetic, for the Emperor would mere centuries later become His Imperium's living god as the Imperial Truth was replaced in time by the Imperial Creed.
Urian Vendraig - Urian Vendraig: Urian Vendraig was the second Grandmaster of the Ist Legion of the Legiones Astartes who commanded the Legion during the early days of the Great Crusade. He was killed in action on the Fortress World of Karkasarn when he disobeyed the orders of Primarch Roboute Guilliman in a foolish hunt for glory that resulted in his death and that of numerous warriors of his Legion in an atomic explosion.
Urian Vendraig - History: Vendraig was a originally a Terran-born Legionary who joined the Ist Legion following the end of the Unification Wars and took part in the Great Crusade. Vendraig would rise to become a captain of the 14th Company of the Legion's 8th Chapter and earned an enviable record of grand victories to his name.Following the death of Grandmaster Hector Thrane during the campaign against the xenos of Canis-Balo, to the surprise of all, Vendraig was nominated by Malcador the Sigillite to be Thrane's successor, after the upper echelons of the Legion among the Council of Masters and the preceptors on Gramarye could not agree on who should become the next Grandmaster. The Sigillite's reasons for doing so were simple: Vendraig was a captain who was not enmeshed within any of the Legion's numerous factions and groups. Not bound to the allegiance of any of one of these sub-factions, Vendraig would be accepted by the Legion's upper echelons as a viable compromise candidate.Malcador's insights were soon proven correct, as the Ist Legion's Council of Masters voted unanimously for Vendraig to succeed Thrane as the new Grandmaster. Following his elevation, Vendraig was tasked with unifying a divided Legion and returning them to service in the Great Crusade. A warrior first and foremost, Vendraig saw the value of having the Ist Legion serving for a time on the fringes of the Great Crusade. To help the Legion take their rightful place as one of the preeminent Legions in the glories of the Great Crusade, Vendraig allowed a small contingent of carefully-selected Remembrancers to join his entourage. Having limited access to the Legion's archives, they personally bore witness to the Ist Legion's ascension and helped to boost The First's reputation across the Imperium.Vendraig next sought a foe that would unite The First together in their hatred. The opportunity to do so soon came when word arrived of the discovery of the deadly xenos species known as the Rangda on the far rim of the Great Crusade. Considered a growing threat to the Imperium, Vendraig brought the entirety of the Ist Legion to the Advex-Mors System and immediately launched a purgation campaign. The following battle cost the lives of 5,000 Legionaries. Despite the high tally of lives spent to eradicate the upstart xenos, the Rangda were defeated and the Imperium was once again reminded of the Ist Legion's might.However, the Grandmaster's hunger for glory caused Vendraig to lead his Legion in reckless actions that earned them great renown and victories, but also eventually led to the Grandmaster's own downfall. The Ist Legion joined the efforts of the Ultramarines Legion to bring the Fortress World of Karkasarn into Imperial Compliance, which had so far resisted all efforts by Primarch Roboute Guilliman and his gene-sons. Utilising a patient strategy that would bring inevitable victory while minimising losses suffered by the Imperial forces, Guilliman had expected Vendraig and The First to follow his orders.However, the Grandmaster vehemently refused. Seeing a chance to snatch a victory from the Ultramarines and humble Guilliman, the Ist Legion launched an assault upon the recalcitrant planet. In the subsequent battle, a force of 10,000 Legionaries breached the world's defences at the costs of hundreds of lives. The First's reckless advance into the inner workings of Karkasarn forced Guilliman's hand. He ordered the Ultramarines to follow the Ist Legion, but they did so methodically while securing objectives along the way. This led the Ultramarines to suffer only minimal losses, while The First suffered grievously.When Vendraig was about to secure victory by claiming a citadel that lay at the centre of the world, the overlords of Karkasarn detonated an atomic weapon that had lain beneath the citadel. The Grandmaster and numerous warriors of the Ist Legion died in the subsequent explosion. Vendraig had indeed succeeded in uniting his Legion in hate, though this was only achieved through his death and his Legion's ignominious victory. In the wake of Vendraig's death, the Legion would be governed collectively by the Council of Masters on Gramarye until Primarch Lion El'Jonson was rediscovered by the Emperor on Caliban and took command of the Legion he would rename the "Dark Angels" as its rightful new Grandmaster.
Uriel Ventris - Uriel Ventris: Uriel Ventris is the young captain of the 4th Company of the Ultramarines Chapter of Space Marines.Captain Uriel Ventris was born in the subterranean cities of the Imperial Civilised World of Calth in the Realm of Ultramar and chose to become an Ultramarines aspirant when he came of age to participate in the Chapter's trials. He succeeded in his quest and became an Ultramarines neophyte and then earned his way into the ranks of the Ultramarines' officer corps through his bravery and devotion to the ideals of the Ultramarines primarch, Roboute Guilliman.However, some of his battle-brothers, like Sergeant Learchus, questioned Uriel's commitment to the Codex Astartes because his friend, mentor, and predecessor Captain Idaeus, though a hero of the Chapter, was known to break the Codex 's teachings regularly.Uriel's distant ancestor, Lucian Ventris, had been a hero of the Chapter and was a Terminator in the 1st Company who was killed during the defence of Macragge from the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Behemoth in the Battle of Macragge.Ventris went on to become a hero of the Chapter himself, playing a role in most of the major conflicts to consume the Ultramarines in the final years of the 41st Millennium, including a leading part during the Invasion of Ultramar in 999.M41 by the Daemon Prince M'kar the Reborn, the Warsmith Honsou and their army of Iron Warriors Heretic Astartes and other Chaos Space Marine warbands called the Bloodborn.In the wake of the birth of the Great Rift and the dawn of the Era Indomitus, Ventris was sent to return the resurrected Primarch Roboute Guilliman to Macragge to defeat Mortarion and his Death Guard during the Plague Wars.Ventris continues to command the 4th Company and has now crossed the Rubicon Primaris like his Chapter Master Marneus Calgar to become a Primaris Space Marine.
Uriel Ventris - Early Years: Uriel Ventris became captain of the 4th Company of the Ultramarines Chapter when its former captain, Idaeus, sacrificed himself during the Battle of Thracia in a desperate last-ditch attempt to stop a Night Lords Chaos Space Marine offensive.Despite his initial disquiet at Idaeus' unorthodox methods, Ventris saw merit in them, and in time would become just as unconventional as his mentor.
Uriel Ventris - Pavonis: Uriel's first mission was to Pavonis, a deeply troubled Imperial industrial world on the Eastern Fringes of the Imperium of Man. He was tasked with escorting an Adept of the Administratum, Ario Barzano, who was later revealed to be an Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos in disguise, and ensuring his safety as the Adept attempted to restore order to an increasingly troubled and incompetent planetary government led by Governor Mykola Shonai. The troubles came from both Humans and xenos alike.The Church of Ancient Ways, a secret and heretical organisation, had plagued the planet by planting bombs in the world's manufactoria. In addition, a series of raids by the Drukhari had been on-going for six Terran years. Ventris successfully handled both problems, defeating a civil insurrection by disgruntled Pavonis nobles and crushing the Dark Eldar and their Human collaborator in the tomb of the C'tan known as the Nightbringer. Unfortunately for all the intelligent races of the galaxy, the Nightbringer escaped into the cosmos.
Uriel Ventris - Tarsis Ultra: Ventris' next task was the defence of Tarsis Ultra, a world threatened by a splinter of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Leviathan. In order to boost the strength of this system, Captain Ventris secured the aid of a Space Marine company from the Mortifactors, a Successor Chapter of the Ultramarines that was formed during the Second Founding.Despite the best efforts of the Ultramarines, the Mortifactors and Inquisitor Kryptman of the Ordo Xenos, the outlying worlds of the system were lost and Tarsis Ultra itself almost overrun by the Tyranid swarms. Only the destruction of the Hive Fleet's controlling Norn-Queen at the hands of Ventris and a Deathwatch Kill-team saved the planet from destruction. But in destroying the Norn-Queen, Ventris had deserted his men, and upon returning to Macragge, a furious Sergeant Learchus reported this breach of the Codex Astartes to the Chapter's leaders.
Uriel Ventris - Medrengard: Captain Ventris was spared the expected execution for his breach of Ultramarine doctrine and instead given a Death Oath by Marneus Calgar: he and his faithful companion, Sergeant Pasanius Lysane, were to seek out "a place of dark iron" where twisted reflections of the Space Marines were being wrought. Shortly after departing Macragge, Ventris' starship was attacked by Warp entities directed by a Daemon imprisoned inside a Daemon Engine called the Omphalos Daemonium. This Daemon Engine resembled a huge, grotesque steam locomotive, which could travel between the Warp and realspace.The two Space Marines were seized and taken deep within the Eye of Terror to Medrengard, the Daemon World that was the home of the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion. The pair soon linked up with a band of Renegade Space Marines and two surviving former Imperial Guardsmen, who were escaped slaves of the Iron Warriors. The group became a self-styled guerrilla band, engaging in hit-and-run attacks against the Iron Warriors. Ventris, Pasanius and the band of guerrillas were eventually captured by Warsmith Honsou of the Iron Warriors, and after defying him, Ventris was "implanted" in the womb of a Daemonculaba, a genetically-modified woman whose womb had been amplified with Imperial Fists gene-seed the Iron Warriors had stolen during the 13th Black Crusade from the world of Hydra Cordatus and which was intended to turn normal adolescents into new Chaos Space Marines.This twisted technology was a mechanism intended to accelerate the development of new Traitor Marines in the laboratories under Honsou's fortress. These new Heretic Astartes were intended to refill the ranks of the Iron Warriors Legion, which had been unable to replace its losses over the 10 standard millennia since the Horus Heresy. The Daemonculaba were also the mutated creatures that Uriel and Pasanius had been tasked with destroying in the first place. At the same time, Honsou was under siege by rival Iron Warriors Warsmiths for refusing to hand over their share of the untainted Imperial Fists gene-stock taken after the invasion of an Imperial facility on Hydra Cordatus.As the fighting raged, Ventris and Pasanius managed to get free and succeeded in destroying Honsou's labs and his fortress, although in order for this to happen they had to release a captive Khornate Daemon Prince. The Daemon Prince proceeded to annihilate the rival Daemon it had previously imprisoned in the Omphalos Daemonium, destroyed Honsou's fortress and minions, and attacked Honsou's rivals, driving them away. Later, Uriel, Pasanius, and a group of the so-called Unfleshed, who were the mutant rejects of the Iron Warriors' experiments to make new Space Marines using the Daemonculaba, escaped from the Eye of Terror on the Omphalos Daemonium, which had reverted to a normal starship.
Uriel Ventris - Salinas: However, the former Daemon Engine brought them through the Warp to a troubled world called Salinas, and more specifically to a forbidden zone on that world's surface that reeked of death. Ventris and Pasanius were then confronted by the veteran Astra Militarum regiment that ruled the planet as a gift of conquest, led by Leto Barbaden, the suspicious and ruthless planetary governor and the regiment's ex-commander.The Astartes requested help in reaching Macragge, but their astropathic transmission was intercepted by the Grey Knights, who were monitoring Salinas for other reasons. A squad of them arrived on the planet, arrested Ventris and Pasanius, and after grueling physical, mental and spiritual trials declared them untainted by their exposure to Chaos during the events on Medrengard. In the meantime, it was revealed that a powerful psyker had likely brought the Omphalos Daemonium to Salinas in order to use the freed Unfleshed as an instrument of revenge against the governor and his former regiment. This was vengeance for the regiment's murder of tens of thousands of civilians, including the entire population of a town that was the birthplace of many of the leaders of a small-scale guerrilla campaign that now operated on Salinas.The campaign itself had been caused by the brutality and heavy-handedness of the Imperial Governor. This ravished town was the forbidden zone the Ultramarines had first found themselves in when they arrived on Salinas. After being possessed by the psyker, the Unfleshed went on a killing rampage, but they were eventually killed by Uriel, Pasanius, and the Grey Knights, who after appeasing the vengeful psyker and exacting justice on the overthrown Governor Barbaden, subsequently returned the Ultramarines to Macragge.
Uriel Ventris - Return to Pavonis: Having successfully completed their Death Oath, Uriel and Pasanius were welcomed back to Macragge, the homeworld of their Chapter, but were subjected to interrogation and tests by the Ultramarines' Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius to ensure they had not been tainted by their time on the Daemon World of Medrengard. After both Uriel and Pasanius were deemed free of Chaos taint, Uriel was reinstated as captain of the Ultramarines 4th Company and given the opportunity to prove himself in the eyes of those who still doubted him by returning to the world of Pavonis and defending it from T'au invaders.The T'au had taken advantage of economic turmoil on Pavonis to offer diplomatic overtures to the planet's rulers with the intention of incorporating Pavonis into the T'au Empire, launching a full-scale invasion when their offers were rebuffed. After tense fighting over key cities pivotal to control of the planet, the T'au invasion was ultimately thwarted when Uriel and the entirety of the Ultramarines 4th Company assaulted the T'au command centre and overcame the Ethereal commanding the T'au forces. Uriel pointed out that even if the T'au succeeded in conquering Pavonis, their forces would be insufficient to hold it against an inevitable Imperial counterattack.Uriel delivered an ultimatum to the T'au; either their forces withdrew unharmed, or he would have the 4th Company Strike Cruiser Vae Victus unleash an Exterminatus action on Pavonis to deny the planet to the T'au. Realising Ventris' threats were not empty, the T'au reluctantly retreated.Pasanius was not so fortunate, as he was demoted in rank and forced into one hundred solar days of isolation from the Chapter. This harsh treatment was a punishment for hiding the unusual regenerative abilities of his bionic arm, which he had gotten after the C'tan called the Nightbringer had scythed off his biological arm during the earlier Ultramarines mission to Pavonis. Apparently because of this contact with the C'tan, the bionic arm had become infused with the Necron's living metal, the substance called necrodermis. After one hundred days he was reinstated as a Battle-Brother of the 4th Company and rejoined his captain.
Uriel Ventris - Invasion of Ultramar: In the meantime, the Iron Warriors Warsmith Honsou was consumed by hate for Ventris and the Ultramarines following the events on Medrengard and the destruction of his Chaos Space Marine incubation experiments. He hatched a plan to annihilate the Ultramarines, and especially Uriel Ventris. As bait, he used a virus stolen from the stocks of the Adeptus Mechanicus to turn Tarsis Ultra, the world the Ultramarines had vowed to protect, into a Dead World. He had assembled a large invasion force, which apart from his Iron Warrior warband, included Chaos Cultists, Traitor Marines and Traitoris Militarum, Drukhari pirates, Kroot and other alien and Human mercenaries, a Dark Mechanicum force led by the Heretek Magos Cycerin, and a multitude of criminals, psychopaths and killers.Honsou managed to find and board a star fort hidden for the previous 60 Terran years in the depths of uncharted space in the Ultramar sub-sector, guarded by an Ultramarines contingent. He slaughtered the star fort's Ultramarines garrison and then freed the powerful Daemon Prince M'kar secretly held captive within the fort. The Daemon, who had once been the Word Bearers Dark Apostle named Maloq Kartho who had originally attacked Ultramar during the Horus Heresy, had been imprisoned by Marneus Calgar, the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, with the help of the Inquisition.M'kar hated the Ultramarines Chapter and the Imperium of Man with a passion. Aligning with Warsmith Honsou, the Daemon Prince possessed a desecrated Ultramarine Dreadnought shell so that he could interact with the material universe, turned the star fort into a Chaos abomination linked directly to the Warp, and called forth a huge Daemon army to join in attacking the worlds of the Realm of Ultramar in early 999.M41, unleashing the campaign known as the Invasion of Ultramar.Honsou had managed to acquire a clone of Uriel Ventris, known as "The Newborn", who had been created from the genetic material left behind while Uriel was in the womb of the Daemonculaba on Medrengard. The Newborn was a psychic as well as physical clone of Uriel. As such, he had fragments of Uriel's knowledge and memories, including the defence protocols of Ultramar, which Honsou first used to attack the star fort, and then the entire Realm of Ultramar.The whole Chapter rose in defence of the realm, aided by an Adeptus Mechanicus contingent under Magos Locard, the warband of the system-based Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Suzaku, a squad of Raven Guard Space Marines, the mobilised Ultramaran Planetary Defense Force regiments, and many civilians. The war expanded to encompass several Ultramar worlds, at least one of which was destroyed.Finally, Uriel confronted the Newborn and Honsou, on Calth, his planet of birth. Honsou had gone there at the request of M'kar, to the Tomb of Ventanus (an ancient Ultramarine hero of the 4th Company dating back to the Horus Heresy known as "the Savior of Calth") to destroy Ventanus' sarcophagus and his wargear. Uriel killed the Newborn using a blade that he had recovered from Ventanus' ancient wargear in the Tomb, and in the battle that followed Honsou's more numerous force was defeated thanks to the sudden appearance of spectral guardian-warriors.Honsou, faced with capture or death, detonated the explosives the Iron Warriors had previously placed around the Tomb, collapsing the grand edifice of the Tomb on top of himself and his opponents. Uriel and some of his fellow warriors survived and headed to Talassar, an Ultramaran world where M'kar and his Daemon army were close to overrunning Chapter Master Calgar and his dwindling forces. Uriel and other friendly reinforcements arrived in the midst of the final, climactic battle for the world. Ventris tossed the powerful anti-Daemonic Blade of Ventanus to Calgar as the Chapter Master was duelling with M'kar, and Calgar used it to completely annihilate the Daemon Prince.With the Daemon army and Honsou's forces defeated in all the theatres of the war, the Imperial forces proceeded to engage in mopping-up operations, and within six solar months, the Realm of Ultramar was declared free of the touch of Chaos. Ominously, while the ruins of the Tomb of Ventanus were searched thoroughly, the body of Warsmith Honsou was never recovered.
Uriel Ventris - Era Indomitus: During the Ultramar Campaign of the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41, Ventris and the 4th Company were operating in defence of Ultramar like the rest of the Chapter but were not present on Macragge itself during the campaign that led to the resurrection of the Primarch Roboute Guilliman at the hands of Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl and the Aeldari faction called the Ynnari.In the aftermath of that campaign, following the departure of Guilliman for Terra during the Terran Crusade, Ultramar came under a renewed assault by the servants of the Plague God Nurgle that was led by the Daemon Primarch Mortarion and his Death Guard Traitor Legion, a conflict known as the Plague Wars.As the Chaos assault worsened and the Loyalist defenders of Ultramar found themselves slowly losing ground, Ultramarines Chapter Master Marneus Calgar despatched Ventris to find the primarch, now the ruling lord commander of the Imperium, and seek his help in safeguarding their common home.After Guilliman had left Macragge behind, a visibly aged and scarred Ventris finally caught up with the primarch in the aftermath of the Battle of Raukos, the final battle of the Indomitus Crusade, aboard his flagship, the Macragge's Honour. Ventris informed Guilliman of his brother Mortarion's assault upon Ultramar, and that the realm was likely soon to fall to the warriors of the Plague Lord if no outside help was forthcoming.Upon receiving this dire news, Guilliman decided to bring the Indomitus Crusade to an official end and personally led reinforcements back to Ultramar to face his traitorous brother. Ventris accompanied his primarch back to Ultramar and commanded the 4th Company in the Spear of Espandor counterattack that was to finally bring the Plague Wars to an end.Ventris crossed the Rubicon Primaris to become a Primaris Marine and led the 4th Company against Necrons on Sycorax during the Indomitus Crusade.
Uriel Ventris - Personality: Uriel Ventris is a flexible military commander who due to the efforts of his mentor, Captain Idaeus, learned to think outside the confines of the Codex Astartes, the masterpiece of Roboute Guilliman and the manual of war that most Space Marine Chapters base their tactics, strategy and organisation upon.Ventris appears to be a tenacious and honourable Space Marine who genuinely cares about the well-being of the average Imperial citizen. A notable example of this can be found when he saved Pavul, a member of the Erebus Defence Legion, during the Battle of Tarsis Ultra, from a swarm of attacking Hormagaunts after he had previously had his life saved from a rampaging Carnifex by this particular Imperial soldierVentris also struck up friendships with members of the 44th Lavrentian Hussars (particularly their commander, Colonel Nathaniel Winterborne) and the Pavonis Planetary Defence Force during their efforts to repulse a T'au invasion of the planet.
Uriel Ventris - Wargear: During his conflict with the Iron Warriors, Uriel Ventris was shot in the head by a bolter round fired by his Chaos-corrupted clone, the Newborn, which led to the loss of his right eye. It was later replaced by an augmetic eye created by Magos Biologis Vianco Locard.The bionic replacement's only difference with Ventris' organic eye was that it was metallic blue, rather than storm cloud grey. The bionic eye offered Ventris access to a wide variety of new visual spectra, heightened spatial awareness, a more efficient targetting mechanism for his weapons that could interface with his power armour's auto-senses, and visual image capture and storage capabilities.
Uriel Ventris - Notes: The sight of the Blade of Ventanus terrified M'kar, who called it the Shard of Erebus. It is not known whether this blade is one of the eight athames split from the Kinebrach Anathame, the sentient xenos weapon First Chaplain Erebus of the Word Bearers had stolen and then utilised in the plot to poison Horus, eventually turning him into an agent of Chaos.It is likely, however, that it was the same athame that Remus Ventanus had taken from the Word Bearers officer Hol Beloth during the Battle of Calth, though it could also have been the dagger Ventanus had taken from one of the other Word Bearers officers to bear an athame, Morpal Cxir, and used to banish the Daemon Samus.
Uriel Ventris - Canon Conflict: According to the chronology presented in the 5th Edition Codex: Space Marines, pg. 40, Uriel Ventris succeeded Idaeus as Captain of the 4th Company in 010.999.M41. The Tarsis Ultra campaign in this same chronology was fought in 540.997.M41, two Terran years earlier, while Idaeus was in command of the 4th Company.However, in the novel Warriors of Ultramar, Ventris was already in command of the 4th Company on Tarsis Ultra after having succeeded Idaeus. This two-year discrepancy in when Ventris took command of the 4th Company has not yet been resolved.
Urien Rakarth - Urien Rakarth: Urien Rakarth is a Drukhari and the Master Haemonculus of the Prophets of Flesh coven. A depraved genius in the fields of bodily manipulation and anatomical sculpture, Rakarth's skill as a fleshcrafter is legendary.Though he once enjoyed a senior position in the intrigues that bind Commorragh, he has transcended squabbles over power and prestige entirely. Now, only the most grandiose transmogrifications of Commorrite society pique his interest -- those that allow him to revel in the depravity of his twisted imagination.From the lowliest menial to the highest lord, there is not a soul in the Dark City that does not know the name Urien Rakarth. He is a dark legend, to some a figure of virtual folklore, to others a grim and monstrous fact.Infamous for his perverse carnivals of pain, the ancient Haemonculus is feted amongst the Dark City's upper echelons as a truly gifted artist of agonies. Yet the black well of Urien Rakarth's evil desires is dug far deeper than anyone knows.
Urien Rakarth - History: Urien's wizened body has long lost the ability to regain the glory of a recently-fed Drukhari, for he is indeterminably ancient and has been alive since the time before the Fall of the Aeldari.Over the ineffable span of his existence, Urien has died to bolt, flame, blade, bullet, toxin, hard vacuum and more grisly fates besides. Each time he dies, Urien's remains are used to slowly grow another iteration of the master haemonculus, for he is the progenitor of the Haemonculi's regeneration process and each of his surgically altered bones holds the key to a dark resurrection.Rakarth has crossed the veil so many times that he savours death like a fine wine, revelling in the peaks of agony and the transcendent knowledge that comes with each new demise.In recent centuries, however, something seems to have been corrupted in the regeneration process -- either accidentally or by Urien's own design -- and Urien's latest incarnations have each borne a vestigial part of the one before. So it is that Urien is now a truly horrific sight, his compound spines sprouting from his back in ghastly profusion and his leering face tied onto his skull with cords of leathery flesh.Rakarth boasts many sets of limbs -- some stripped, silvered and re-strung as fully functional appendages; some atrophied and disturbing, pushing out of his many-spined sump to beckon weakly at those nearby. So profoundly have these constant regenerations affected Urien's metabolism that his artificially toughened flesh is able to reknit and heal at an incredible rate. Rakarth welcomes all forms of injury, especially upon the battlefield, for it forces him to adapt his body to accommodate the wound.Most Haemonculi are to some degree political creatures, at least within the ranks of their own coven. It is not in the nature of the Drukhari to be content with their lot, and normally the more powerful a Commorrite becomes, the more elaborate the plots and intrigues that surround him. Not so Urien Rakarth, who long ago left behind such petty squabbles.For long centuries now Rakarth has been a dark force of nature, so steeped in the Haemonculus' arts that some believe him to be practically a demi-god of torment. This is not to say that Rakarth overlooks those rare fools who attempt to work against his interests. Rather, their horrific fates are sealed so suddenly that it seems as though they were indeed struck down by some vengeful -- and revoltingly creative -- deity.Despite the panoply of cruel artefacts that Urien possesses, the true weapons of this demented fiend are the repugnant creations that shamble out from his flesh-pens -- a menagerie of horrors that strains the sanity of all who behold it.Blood-spattered Wracks and towering Grotesques stalk between living sculptures that moan and stagger as rapacious haemovores writhe in the gore beneath. At the head of this gruesome procession comes Rakarth himself, theatrically conducting the carnage about him like a ringmaster at some hellish circus.Rakarth often deigns to enter realspace accompanied by a coven, Kabal or Wych Cult. To set his creations loose upon the field of battle is to display his masterpieces to the galaxy at large, and every true artist needs an audience. Urien feels nothing but a faint tinge of amusement at such squabbling, yet the constant queue of ready catspaws serves him well.In recent years, Rakarth has demanded the aid of Kabal and cult alike to gather an ever-growing tide of living victims from the material dimension. His allies are too caught up in their own machinations to question whether the Master Haemonculus has a deeper purpose; they simply assume that Rakarth requires this living ocean of tribute to sustain his experiments.Their ignorance suits Urien's purposes well, for it would not do to have his deeds examined too closely by the upper echelons of Commorrite society.In 999.M41 due to the instability of Khaine's Gate, Rakarth worked with Asdrubael Vect, the supreme overlord of Commorragh, to create a pocket dimension to store slaves and raw materials. This was intended as fodder for Commorragh to prey upon should a cataclysmic dysjunction occur and the daemons of the Warp invade the Dark City.
Urien Rakarth - Asdrubael Vect's Funeral: Few spectacles are as extreme as the gnashing, thrashing carnival of pain Rakarth unleashes upon his prey, and competition is extremely fierce for the honour of the Master Haemonculus' presence.For this reason, Commorragh was abuzz when the Sculptor of Torments announced he would display his craft openly at the wake of Asdrubael Vect. Archons from every corner of the Dark City came to view the grim spectacle, little knowing it was they who would become the subjects of Urien's latest masterpiece.Vect had been slain during the dysjunction that had occurred on the Night of Revelations, when Yvraine was chosen as the prophet of the partially awakened god of the dead Ynnead.Following the death of Vect, a funeral by the Harlequins of the Masque of the Veiled Path was organised and attended by many of the Archons of the Dark City who had been both allies and rivals of Vect. However, at the crescendo of the service, the Archons were massacred by the Harlequins in a bloody spectacle.Their blood was used to resurrect Vect, who was reborn with a perfect body imbued with a new "dark power." After the massacre, Rakarth and his Prophets of Flesh coven resurrected many of the dead.All who had remained faithful to Vect were resurrected back to their full health, but his foes were reborn as grotesque abominations and twisted monstrosities enslaved to Vect's will. They were to become immortal mockeries of their former selves, living embodiments of the fate of all those who dared to cross the supreme overlord of Commorragh -- and testaments to the skill of Urien Rakarth in the art of agony.
Urien Rakarth - Carnivals of Pain: When a horde of Rakarth's creations descends upon their chosen target, the main attractions travel in specially modified Raiders, chained down with heavy manacles or trapped inside barbed cages. They will attack in the dead of night, or from the midst of some spectacular natural phenomenon -- whatever Urien judges will lend his show the most gravitas and display his exhibits in their best light.His audience skim low amid the slaughter, watching with ghoulish avidity from the decks of sleek pleasure-skiffs as truly appalling torments are inflicted on the chosen prey.To view such high art is a rare privilege for any Commorrite, and even those Archons who have gone beyond the hope of rejuvenation will leave the carnival of pain with the healthy sheen of one centuries younger. Indeed, among those who consider Rakarth to be a deity-in-waiting -- perhaps even one of the Dark Muses reborn -- the apparently miraculous properties of his displays only serve to provide more proof.Yet in the Dark City, nothing comes for free. Though the Master Haemonculus has no interest in such tawdry concepts as fiscal remuneration, the Drukhari who attend his displays must pay a price nonetheless.From some, Rakarth will ask a simple favour, a marker to be called in at some point in the future when it suits him best. These individuals are held to their bargain by the secret implantation of parasitic slit-worms. These vile little horrors lay dormant in the host until such time as the Master Haemonculus comes to collect.Should the indebted attempt to wriggle out of their deal, the last thing they will ever feel is a sudden, peristaltic surge of motion throughout their body. Seconds later, the slit worms burst from every pore, exsanguinating their victim before expiring themselves amid a cacophony of horrific squeals.From others, the price for attending the carnival of pain is more straightforward, if no less unpleasant. Perhaps they will be asked to donate a patch of their own skin, or a portion of their memories.Perhaps more will be required, an eye, perhaps a limb, even a name. The least fortunate may be taken altogether, their destiny to be transformed into the next exhibit that Rakarth wishes to display.Yet even the threat of so terrible a fate does nothing to dissuade Rakarth's audiences, for this thrill of personal danger does more to entice than it does to dissuade.Whatever the eventual fate of those who attend a carnival of pain, the spectacle they will first enjoy justifies almost any price. As Rakarth's horrors burst from their restraints, a waking nightmare descends upon the foe. Local defenders and panicked citizens are torn limb from limb, messily devoured, or dragged from their hiding places to take unwilling roles in the madman's pageant that has engulfed their homes.As the pace of the carnage increases, rolling tidal waves of terror and agony engulf coven forces and onlookers alike, sending the Drukhari into ecstasies so potent that their effect surpasses even the gladiatorial displays of the Wych Cults.While these horrifying spectacles are undeniably impressive, there are those who theorise that Rakarth's blood-soaked exhibitions are but a means to an end. Rumours in the Dark City persist of his vast riches being put to strange, clandestine uses, and of shield-shrouded Venoms despatched on secret missions while his audience's eyes are fixed elsewhere.Indeed, if the Master Haemonculus is in fact working toward some greater end than art for its own sake, he has so far kept the secret well.
Urien Rakarth - Wargear: Like all Haemonculi, Urien has an undying enthusiasm for crafting symphonies of pain. He carries a variety of strange weapons to war, including a gauntlet that can inject his own highly mutagenic ichor into his foes and a blade that can kill with the slightest scratch.Rather than covering his amorphous body in bulky armour, he simply abstracts it further by using a clone field to project multiple overlapping hololight images of himself onto the battlefield. Thus obscured, he is able to avoid his enemies' attacks, allowing him to concentrate on harvesting choice subjects for use in his torturous experiments.To aid in the harvest Urien carries the Casket of Flensing -- an impossibly intricate puzzle-box that, when opened, unleashes a swarm of bound, evil spirits upon his victims. The souls rip the flesh from the heads of their prey with needle-like fangs, before tearing skulls from spinal columns and carrying them back to Urien with the stillconscious brains left writhing inside.Rakarth is almost always accompanied into battle by the worm-like alien haemovores which writhe beneath him like demented pets.But the true weapons of this demented fiend are the sanity-blasting horrors that he creates in the darkness of his laboratories.
Urienz - Urienz: Urienz was a General of the Astra Militarum who fought under both Warmasters Slaydo and Macaroth during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade.
Urienz - History: A decade into the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, Warmaster Slaydo met his death in mortal combat with the Forces of Chaos on the world of Balhaut in 765.M41. Before dying, Slaydo passed on command of the Crusade to a junior officer of some renown, Marshal Macaroth. Considered one of the few blind spots of the new Warmaster, Macaroth had a tendency to put his faith in a cadre of newly minted officers. He fully expected those junior officers that had been fast-tracked into command to display the same innovative and innate abilities to command that he possessed. During the Crusade's thrust into the Cabal Systems, these new Imperial commanders made several gross miscalculations. General Urienz proved to be the exception as he helped the Crusade achieve a string of successful victories within the Newfound Trailing and Khan Groups.One of Urienz's most celebrated victories occurred on Nyzon II in 768.M41 when he faced the Chaotic forces under the command of the Magister Rusheck Vakkim. Urienz's forces were conducting a line of advance towards Alpha Madrigo when his attached Imperial Navy reconnaissance squadrons identified Magister Vakkim's fleet riding at high anchor above Nyzon II. Urienz immediately ordered his fleet to engage the Chaotic warships, taking the Magister unaware. The orbital battle swiftly turned into a bloody ship-to-ship boarding action. General Urienz personally led the boarding action of Vakkim's own warship, the Crown of Thorns, and proceeded to heroically capture Vakkim. The Magister later escaped Imperial captivity through some unknown means which has never been fully explained. Vakkim and nine of his G'uttkhra managed fled to the planet's surface, but were hunted down by an Imperial Kill-team two days later. Led by Urienz's brilliant protege, Commander Lang Mowzer, the Vakkim and his subordinates were eventually cornered at Penetor Hive and exterminated during a vicious fire-fight.As the Imperial Crusade pushed further into the Cabal Systems, Warmaster Macaroth overextended the reach of his forces, making himself vulnerable on three sides. The new Archon of the Forces of Chaos in the sector, Urlock Gaur, sought to exploit this vulnerability to the fullest, and led a series of counter-strikes against the forces of the Crusade. Macaroth quickly redeployed elements of his spinward flank, in a last-ditch effort to reopen the Crusade's supply lines. General Urienz was placed in command of the Crusade's 4th Army to achieve this objective. His primary target was the world of Ariadne and its solid fuel reserves. Between 771.M41 and the middle of 772.M41, Urienz conducted several improvised and often desperate operations to secure this target world and help keep the Crusade alive.
Urkrathos - Urkrathos: Urkrathos, also sometimes called Urkanthos, was a Chaos Lord of the Black Legion of Chaos Space Marines, master of the Hounds of Abaddon warband and the Lord Ravager of the Chosen of Abaddon, as well as the admiral of the Despoiler's Black Fleet.Ironically, Urkrathos, who had become a Daemon Prince after greatly pleasing his patron, the Blood God Khorne, was temporarily slain during the 13th Black Crusade on Cadia itself.He fell just before Cadia's destruction at the siege of Kasr Kraf combatting Saint Celestine and her two Geminae Superia, the Living Saint's protectors, the former Adepta Sororitas Canonesses Eleanor and Genevieve of the Order of Our Martyred Lady.Urkrathos had previously killed both in combat before their resurrection by the power of the Living Saint to serve as her eternal honour guard.After his death, Urkrathos was replaced as the Lord Ravager among the Chosen of Abaddon and the Lord of the Hounds of Abaddon warband by Threxos Hellbreed.
Urkrathos - History: Within the ranks of the Black Legion are those who are bloody-handed servants of Khorne. Though not a single unified warband within the Black Legion, they are collectively known as the Hounds of Abaddon. Urkrathos, the former Lord Ravager and commander of the Legion's Black Fleet, claimed all followers of Khorne within the Legion as his own and directed them according to the will of Abaddon the Despoiler, the Warmaster of Chaos and master of the Black Legion.During the final stage of the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41, Urkrathos, preferring his alternate moniker Urkanthos, achieved Daemonhood and became a Daemon Prince after pleasing Khorne with the mass slaughter and loss of life caused by the destruction of three great Imperial warships in the Cadian Gate.The ascension of Urkanthos to daemonhood came as the Black Fleet approached Cadia for its second assault upon the world. Surging in towards the Fortress World, Urkanthos had faced a trio of enemy battleships whose captains had determined that -- if they could not defeat the oncoming Chaos horde -- they would at least slay the ﬂagship of its ﬂeetmaster.Through guile, ferocity and unmatched skill did Urkanthos captain his craft to victory over all three Imperial warships, blasting two to ruin before obliterating the final craft as it turned to ﬂee.Such a mighty tally of blood and skulls pleased Khorne greatly, and bought Urkanthos the reward of immortality that he had long sought. So did the master of the Hounds of Abaddon become more fearsome than ever before.Once the Black Fleet arrived in orbit of Cadia, Urkanthos was given the honour of leading the Chaos assault upon the Fortress World's strongest knot of defenders -- led by Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed himself -- at Kasr Kraf.But, just as it seemed Urkanthos and legions of Daemons and Chaos Space Marines would at last carry the day in the name of the Despoiler and the Dark Gods, the Living Saint Celestine appeared swathed in flame above the bloody Cadian battlefields of Kasr Kraf.But she did not come alone, for she brought with her some five companies of Adepta Sororitas of the Order of Our Martyred Lady, thought lost in the Warp some fourteen hundred standard years before. Her radiant light had served as a beacon through the Empyrean, drawing the wounded vessel into the path of another Imperial craft and binding the two until realspace claimed them both once more.With the battle-sisters' arrival, the battle for Cadia shifted for a time in the Imperial defenders' favour. Celestine immediately engaged Urkanthos near the Cadian fortresses' Egressium Gate, with two canonesses of the Order of Our Martyred Lady he had already slain earlier during the battle for Kasr Kraf.Celestine had used her power and their extraordinary faith in the Emperor of Mankind to bring them back to life to serve as her eternal honour guard. These were Genevieve and Eleanor, the Living Saint's Geminae Superia.Urkanthos lurched through the Egressium Gate, his wings scattering the ashen remains of what had once been men. The Despoiler's will had been done. Cadia would soon die, and Urkanthos had no desire to die with it. It was time to depart and claim his reward."Die, abomination!"An Imperial Guardsman ran headlong towards the Daemon Prince, bayonet lowered. Urkanthos eviscerated the mortal with a single savage swipe. Licking blood from his talons, he let the body fall upon the remains of the black-clad prayer-witches who'd sought to bar his ingress.Slaughter still raged across the muster field of the kasr, the tempo and scent of it somehow different. Urkanthos longed to join it, even though to do so was to risk annihilation beneath the Blackstone's gaze.In a swoop of wings, Celestine landed before Urkanthos, her armour glittering in the golden light of her halo. At last, the Daemon Prince recognised the altered stench -- the battlefield stank of her faith, her certainty."The corpse-bride," he growled.The angel raised her sword, the point steady as a rock. "Your hour is done, beast."Urkanthos laughed, the sound of it a rough peal of thunder. "It has only just begun. You are nothing. The echo of a false god. I will break you in half and set your skull upon Khorne's throne."Agony wracked the Daemon Prince, a white heat searing the veins of his chest. Through slitted eyes, he saw the corpse-bride regarding him, unmoving. The pain passed. As ever, Urkanthos felt the stronger for it. Another trial endured."I am the Scourgemaster of the Black Fleet, the Right Hand of the Despoiler. You cannot match me alone."Urkanthos pressed a taloned hand to the site of the faded agony. Something was wrong. The sword in his ﬂesh -- the prayer-witch's sword -- had gone. He spun around. Two prayer-witches stared back, their faces alive with light, their golden armour as radiant as a sun. Urkanthos, who never forgot those he slew, knew their faces.The twins he'd killed upon the threshold of the Egressium Gate. His seething ichor dripped from the leftmost's blade. The blade so lately trapped in his ﬂesh. The first glimmer of uncertainty trickled into the Daemon Prince's bartered soul."I am not alone," said Celestine. "And your hour is done."With a roar, Urkanthos swept back his wings, and pounced.Together, the Living Saint and her reborn warriors slew the over-confident servant of the Dark Gods. When they threw the Daemon Prince's broken body from the walls of Kasr Kraf, it helped to demoralise the Despoiler's forces, routing them and buying the Imperials of Cadia some needed breathing space between constant Chaos assaults.Though Urkanthos failed on Cadia and was banished back to the Realm of Chaos by his death in realspace, as a Daemon Prince, he was now an immortal being. The only certainty was that sooner or later, Urkanthos would be back to vex the servants of the Corpse Emperor...
Urlakk Urruk - Urlakk Urruk: Urlakk Urruk was an Ork warboss who fought against the Imperium during the Great Crusade in the late 30th Millennium. He was originally one of the warbosses subordinate to the Warlord Urlakk Urg who ruled the great Ork empire centred on Ullanor Prime in the Segmentum Solar.After the forces of the Space Marine Legions under the command of Horus Lupercal shattered Urg's forces during the Ullanor Crusade in 000.M30, Urruk fled with his Greenskins to the Chondax System. There he established his own Ork empire which he ruled as its titular "overlord" until it was destroyed by the White Scars Legion during the Chondax Campaign at the time of the outbreak of the Horus Heresy between 000.M30 and 007.M31.
Urlock Gaur - Urlock Gaur: Urlock Gaur was the Gaur of the Blood Pact and the Archon or Overlord of the forces of Chaos within the Sabbat Worlds Sector following the death of his predecessor Archon Nadzybar in 765.M41 during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade at the hands of the Imperial Warmaster Slaydo.
Urlock Gaur - History: The Imperial Sabbat Worlds Crusade had achieved a decisive victory on the world of Balhaut and was ready to move forward with their plans to push into the Cabal Systems in 770.M41. Unfortunately, the rise of this new Chaotic Overlord coincided with the Crusade's advance into this volatile region of space. Initially, the Imperial forces had achieved several victories in 770.M41, but by 771.M41 the entire Imperial offensive into the Cabal Systems came to a halt as the Crusade encountered not only stiff resistance, but hostile counter-strikes from Chaotic forces. Despite the death of their leader, and the dynastic infighting that followed, it was inevitable that the Chaotic host would eventually select a new Archon from amongst the Paters and Magisters surviving the carnage on Balhaut. At Balhaut, the Crusade had destroyed Nadzybar, who had been the Archon of the Chaos host. Broken in retreat, the archenemy forces had been riven by a succession struggle as Chaos factions warred to elect a new Archon. Evidently, this internecine warfare between the tribal septs and clans may have contributed greatly to the lack of unified resistance encountered by the Crusade as it advanced into the Cabal Systems. Many worlds encountered by the Crusade were discovered to be littered with the aftermath of great battles in which no Imperial had taken part.Many of the notorious warlords of the Chaotic forces known as Magisters had been in contention to become the new Archon, including Nokad the Blighted, Sholen Skara, Qux of the Eyeless, Heritor Asphodel, and Enok Innokenti. Rumour had it that more of the Chaotic forces troops were killed in an internecine war of succession than had been lost to the Crusade armada. Of all the contenders, Nokad had the charisma, Asphodel the temperament, and Qux the sheer weight of loyal servants. But Anakwanar Sek should have been the obvious choice. No other Magister was quite so brilliant a battlefield tactician. Sek’s command of tactics and his capacity to inspire his troops was peerless. But Urlock Gaur ("Gaur" being his rank as Master of the Blood Pact), an obscure warlord from the fringes of the Sabbat Worlds, became the new Archon, simply because he possessed the one thing that all the other Magisters lacked, even Sek. The other Magisters commanded vast legions of zealous cultists and insane Chaos worshippers. But Urlock Gaur commanded a refined, trained and disciplined military host known as the Blood Pact. They were sworn to him, utterly loyal, their bodies ritually scarred by the serrated edges of Gaur’s own armour. They had discipline, armour, tactical ability and great combat skill. They were, in fact, an army, not a gibbering host of fanatics like most of the other Chaos warbands in the Sabbat Worlds. The Blood Pact's troops could meet with and defeat the Imperial Guard on its own terms.As Archon, Gaur injected a new motivation into the Archenemy's forces. Gifted in the application of military strategy, Gaur was able to centralise his tactics and properly orchestrate his forces' efforts against the encroaching Crusade forces. The new Archon proved to be a formidable opponent, as he was robust and savage, and unimaginatively brutal in his tactics and approach to warfare. The impetus of Archon Gaur's strength was the Blood Pact, whose tactical methodology was ultimately modelled on that of the Imperial Guard itself. Myths spoke of the rise of the Blood Pact order on an outworld called Ghourra or Gaurra in the Sanguiniary Worlds on the edge of the disputed Sabbat territories many thousands of Terran years before. The dynastic, tribal society of Ghourra was ruled by a feudal overlord, or Gaur (alternatively referred to as a "Ghour" or "Gour"). The Gaur was surrounded by an elite cadre of warrior-priests, who conducted the ritual observances while the Gaur made bloody tributes to his daemon-god. This warrior priesthood evolved over time into the Gaur's personal bodyguard, practising its martial skills as strictly and diligently as it had conducted its necromantic rites. As the Gaur's strength grew, so too did his influence, which soon spread to neighbouring worlds. It was this elite force which spearheaded his conquering armies in the Sabbat Worlds Sector. It soon became a mark of respect for a warrior to be "bloody pacted" to the ruling Gaur. The ranks of the Gaur's elite personal guard soon swelled with recruits from Ghourra's vassal worlds, becoming an army in its own right. In this way was the Blood Pact originally spawned.The first notice of Urlock Gaur by Imperial forces came when he led a series of lightning raids along the coreward fringe of the Khan Group in the middle of 771.M41. Within the Cabal System itself, more strenuous resistance was encountered from the Archenemy defenders, along with the first reports of the emerging forces of the Blood Pact. A more profound Chaotic attack took place less than a month later. The Imperial forces initially believed that the forces of the enemy were being led by a particularly militant Magister, but it soon became painfully clear that they were dealing with someone who was far more dangerous and deadly. This unidentified leader had the ability to call upon vast reserves of Archenemy troops, and mobilise other, potent Magisters under his command. There was no doubt by 772.M41 that Urlock Gaur was the new Archon of the Forces of Chaos in the Sabbat Worlds. Within a drastically short period, three key dangers had manifested, haunting Macaroth's carefully laid plans: a new Archon had risen to unify the enemy, he had mounted a wounding counter-strike against the Crusade battlefleet's flank, and that overstretched flank was now woefully exposed. Macaroth's overreaching push had left the Sabbat Worlds Crusade painfully vulnerable on three sides, which the new Archon attempted to exploit to the fullest.Warmaster Macaroth quickly redeployed a significant portion of his own troops to protect his force's vulnerable flanks in a last ditch effort to reopen Imperial supply lines. Between the end of 771.M41 and the middle part of 772.M41, Imperial commanders conducted multiple desperate, ad hoc operations to secure a myriad of target worlds in an effort to keep the Crusade from grinding to a halt. Only at the world of Ariadne did any of these attempts fail. As these worlds were reconquered, Macaroth attempted to renew his forward thrust into the Cabal Systems. The Archon had withdrawn into the Carcaradon Cluster to the Fortress World of Morlond to mass his forces for a large-scale counter-attack. The Warmaster wanted to desperately break past Morlond to confront Gaur directly but knew that he was still obligated to defend the Cabal Salient. The Archon left his most capable Magisters in charge of his forces to continue prosecuting their attack on the Crusade's coreward flank. These vile lieutenants included the likes of Anakwanar Sek, Shebol Red-Hand and Enok Innokenti.Urlock Gaur would go on to stubbornly resist the Imperial Crusade's push into the Cabal Systems, proving to be a constant thorn in Macaroth's side. The campaign on the world of Herodor was an important turning point for the fortunes of the Crusade. Herodor was of no great tactical significance, yet one of Archon Gaur's lieutenants, the Magister Enok Innokenti, chose to lead the assault there personally, perhaps in an effort to prevent the miracle that was to occur. Herodor's only claim to fame was that it was one of the "Holy Worlds" originally visited by Saint Sabbat during her original Crusade to claim the region for the Emperor millennia earlier.Commanded by Lord General Lugo, an Imperial Guard force supported by the local troops of the Herodor Planetary Defence Force occupied the sacred balneary shrine and religious centre of the principle city of Civitas Beati in order to defend it from attack. Information in regards to what occurred during the attack remains unclear with the exception of the early stages of the assault. A young raven-haired woman emerged from the Imperial citizenry claiming to be the reincarnation of Saint Sabbat. The validity of this claim was called into question by Lugo's later detractors as some claimed she was merely an actress selected to play the part by Lugo in order to boost Imperial morale. Whatever her mysterious origins, this unidentified girl took on the mantle of the saint, and for all intents and purposes became the beloved Saint Sabbat to the people and defenders of Herodor.Exhibiting powers and abilities beyond the ken of average mortals, this Living Saint inspired the Imperial forces, stirring their resolve with her holy presence. The beloved Saint Sabbat had been reborn on Herodor close to the end of 773.M41, to the eternal glory of the Emperor of Mankind. Some suggest that through some arcane means, Innokenti had foreseen this and may have attempted to prevent it from occurring with his assault upon the world.The Imperial forces rallied around the Living Saint, engaging Innokenti's foul host at the Civitas Beati. A vicious battle ensued as the Saint and her army routed the Archenemy forces and slew the wicked Magister. This coincided with the Warmaster Macaroth's own victory in late 773.M41 which had led to the Imperial capture of Morlond. This enabled Macaroth to deploy part of his forces in support of the Khan Group's beleaguered second front. Had Innokenti not been halted by the fight on Herodor, his advance would have most likely pushed forwards and eventually have finished the job of fatally decapitating the Sabbat Worlds Crusade's line of advance. The timing of the victory on Herodor could not have been more perfect.The forces of the Archenemy faltered following this loss, their morale shattered and their spirit broken. The Magisters had ultimately failed as the calamitous effect of their defeats spoiled their carefully strategised manoeuvre. Soon the news of the rebirth of Saint Sabbat spread amongst the ranks of the Crusade, inspiring their impetus to drive forwards and defeat the remainder of the Archon's minions. Only the forces of Magister Sek managed to maintain any type of solid cohesion in the face of these Imperial victories. The newly established Second Front soon began its thrust to protect the vulnerable flanks of the Crusade's advance. As of 775.M41, an Imperial victory within the Sabbat Worlds Sector appeared to be inevitable.
Ursarax - Ursarax: The Ursarax (pl. Ursaraxii), or Ursarax Cohort, also sometimes designated Ursurax, are a variation of the far more common Thallax cybernetic troops of the Mechanicum's Ordo Reductor, although they fulfill a very different role on the battlefield as close combat assault specialists.Both Thallaxii and Ursaraxii are no simple Battle-Automata or mind-wiped Servitors but true cybernetic Skitarii who maintain their sense of human initiative and personality, their bodies thoroughly augmented by the bionic crafts of the Mechanicum forge-wrights. Although developed only during the second half of the Great Crusade, the Ursarax design was quickly ratified by the Martian Mechanicum and by the time of the Horus Heresy, many Forge World Taghmata forces outside the Ordo Reductor used the design.
Ursarax - History: The development of the Ursaraxii can be traced back to a single individual, Magos Explorator Enabrin Falkan who developed the Ursarax Pattern for the need of his own independent Explorator Fleet. Many of his peers initially deemed the Ursaraxii to be nothing more than field-modified versions of the Thallaxii, and while it is true that the Ursaraxii are more the fruit of pre-existing Imperial technology, the Ursarax design also incorporates many of Falkan's own discoveries in the domain of Volkite Weapons and generator output calibration. Admittingly, the first Ursarax were created with materials and patterns taken directly from the Ordo Reductor (much to its displeasure) and transformed into formidable new killing engines by the work of Falkan and his acolytes.Like the Thallax, the Ursarax uses the body of a cybernetically-augmented human as its chassis. Both require the subject to survive the extremely painful implantation procedures of the Lorica Thallax, a heavily mechanised suit of armoured limbs and life support systems not unlike the Power Armour worn by the members of the Adeptus Astartes. The main difference between the Thallax and the Ursarax are their battlefields role: while the Thallax are designated as line or shock troops, the Ursarax are heavy, rapid-moving, close-quarter specialists, line-breakers whose speed and resilience make for excellent combatants in the close quarters of Zone Mortalis fights.Thanks to the conversion of human candidates, the Ursarax maintain their consciousness, which means that they are able to learn and evolve and gain experience as every veteran would do. This provides them with superior tactical abilities and instincts most of the common classes of Battle-Automata lack. The Ursarax also benefit from enhanced neural anasthesia dispensers, which render the Ursarax inure to pain as long as their orders have not been fulfilled. In case of success, these dispensers will also allow the Ursarax to forget the pain of his transformation for a few short solar hours. Following Falkan's mysterious disappearance, his warring acolytes dispersed to many different masters, taking the secrets of the Ursarax's creation with them.
Ursarax - Wargear: Lorica Thallax - The Lorica Thallax is a type of Power Armour worn by the Thallax and Ursarax troops of the Mechanicum. Unlike their counterparts among the Legiones Astartes, it was permanently surgically bonded to the body of the wearer. It uses mechanical armatures to replace the primary limbs, and a compact Plasma Reactor core to generate power for the Thallax's weaponry. The armour is fused directly to the spinal cord and nervous system of the wearer, which marks them out as a warrior of the Mechanicum while simultaneously serving as a symbol of their eternal servitude to the Machine God.Jump PackPair of Lightning ClawsVolkite Incinerator - Located within the chest of each Ursarax, a Volkite Incinerator is a powerful thermal beam-weapon that allows the Ursarax to engage an enemy at short-range. Ursarax Cohorts frequently use their Volkite Incinerators to thin enemy ranks before engaging them at close quarters. The Volkite beam loses much of its power over distance, which has lead the Ursarax to develop a particularly gruesome way to use their ranged weapon in the thick of close-quarter fighting. Once within striking distance, the Ursarax grabs the foe with his powerful claws or embraces it, drawing the victim nearer to his chest-unit before firing his Incinerator at point-blank range. Close-in, the confined ray is particularly devastating and powerful enough to melt even through Power Armour and Tactical Dreadnought Armour. Of more lightly armoured targets, nothing but ashes remain, thus coining the Volkite Incinerator's name.Frag GrenadesPower Fists (Optional replacement for Lightning Claws)
Ursarax - Sources: The Horus Heresy - Book One: Betrayal (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 240The Horus Heresy - Book Three: Extermination (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 225https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-EU/Ursarax-Cohort-FW
Ursarkar E. Creed - Ursarkar E. Creed: Ursarkar E. Creed was the 50-year-old Astra Militarum lord general, Lord Castellan and supreme commander of all Imperial military forces assigned to his homeworld of Cadia, as well as the Imperial Commander and Governor Primus of that crucial Fortress World, and the regimental commander of the 8th Cadian, "the Lord Castellan's Own." Creed is known to be a tactical genius who saved his world from falling to the forces of Chaos again and again before it met its final fate against overwhelming numbers.Creed most recently led the Imperial forces in the final, futile defence of Cadia from the massive invasion unleashed on the Fortress World by Chaos during Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41.Creed is currently considered missing in action and presumed dead following the Fall of Cadia to the Archenemy and the retreat of the Imperial survivors to other worlds in the Cadian System and the Cadian Gate region such as New Cadia.In truth, while overseeing the evacuation of the last Imperial transports from Cadia in what Creed believed would be his final act, he was "rescued" by the Necron Overlord Trazyn the Infinite and captured within one of the Necron's Tesseract Labyrinths to be added to his collection of historically important persons and artefacts. That Labyrinth is now stored on Trazyn's Tomb World of Solemnace -- with Creed still trapped within.In the wake of his disappearance, Creed's daughter, Ursula J. Creed, also a lord general of the Astra Militarum, rose to replace him as the Lord Castellan of Cadia and the leader of the Cadian Shock Troops regiments that remained scattered across the galaxy. Over her broad shoulders, the new Lord Castellan wears what some assume to be a recreation of her father's greatcoat, for surely it perished with him.Ursula, however, knows it to be no fake. Appearing in her sealed chambers solar months after the loss of her father, dried blood and the smell of Cadia's final hours saturating the heavy fabric, it fired an obsessive hope in her that somehow, somewhere, her father yet lived.
Ursarkar E. Creed - History: Ursarkar E. Creed was discovered as a young, orphaned boy in the burning ruins of Kasr Gallan by soldiers of the 8th Cadian Regiment following the horrors of a Chaos attack upon Cadia. Clutching only a service pistol and a tattered copy of "De Gloria Macharius," that hard-eyed boy refused to speak of the atrocities he had witnessed at the time, and even now almost never speaks of it.However the horrors he had witnessed had not dimmed his faith in the Emperor of Mankind and had also honed him into a vicious and determined fighter. The 8th Cadian Regiment was impressed by this resolute and tough child and he was then raised by members of the regiment, where he learned all the arts of war from an early age. He quickly became an excellent soldier and was drafted into the Cadian "Whiteshields" corps, a dedicated and often suicidal youth force that supplemented the Cadian Planetary Defence Forces.From a young age, Creed excelled as both soldier and tactician, rising swiftly through the Whiteshields' ranks to earn a command of his own. This is where he met Jarran Kell, and the two quickly formed a life-long bond of friendship. This stocky and intense young warrior possessed an intuitive grasp of strategy and was a natural leader. From squad-level decisions to exercises with vast regiments of military might, Creed displayed a genius that some whispered echoed that of Macharius himself.Blistering assaults, devious traps and impenetrable defences were Creed's trademarks, and within three solar decades the ragged orphan boy had earned acclaim as Cadia's greatest living commander. Only the strict structure of rank and privilege that governs the militarised society of Cadia now held Creed's meteoric career in check.By the end of the five-year-long Drussite Crusade, Creed had become a captain of the Cadian Shock Troops and Kell was his Colour Sergeant. Soon reaching the rank of Lord General, in action after action he proved himself a nearly flawless tactician and strategist.After not only resisting but utterly destroying an Asuryani attack on the world of Aurent in 992.M41, Creed became the most successful living Cadian commander of his time, and the only thing preventing his rank from further progression into the rarefied heights of the Imperial military was his humble (or rather, unknown) birth.In 999.M41, Creed was raised to the rank of Lord Castellan after a successful plot to assassinate the Cadian Governor Primus, Marus Porelska, and much of his High Command was carried out at the Battle of Tyrok Fields during the early stages of the 13th Black Crusade by the traitorous Volscani Cataphract regiments of the Astra Militarum.Creed rallied the survivors and gathered together a force strong enough to utterly defeat the Traitors and rescue the body of the governor from desecration. But the damage had been done. The governor primus was dead, his body decapitated, while Governor Secundus Karwyn, his lieutenant and successor, was feared lost as well. The assault had been at least partially successful in decapitating the Cadian leadership.Cadia had always had two planetary governors, a Governor Primus and a Governor Secundus, so that if one was slain in an assault by the Archenemy, the other could continue to rule with no loss of continuity. But of the survivors among Cadia's leadership, none were willing or capable enough to take up the burden. At the same time, they had little use for Creed, whose outsider status seemed to preclude him from assuming the mantle of leadership.It was then that Commissar Aldrad, the Officio Prefectus' agent in the 8th Cadian, stepped forth to nominate Creed to serve as the new Cadian governor primus for his valiant efforts to turn back the Traitors and unite the demoralised Cadian forces in this time of terrible trial. The Warmaster Ryse accepted the nomination and offered Creed the office of the governor primus, but Creed refused.Instead, he demanded to be named Cadia's Lord Castellan, a special rank only granted in times of emergency which granted him full command of all Planetary Defence Forces and Astra Militarum troops on the planet for life or until the crisis had passed. The Warmaster agreed, and Creed immediately set about preparing Cadia to meet the terrible onslaught of the forces of Chaos to come.Creed was almost never seen without his Colour Sergeant, and perhaps only true friend, Jarran Kell, a deeply devout man who wore the Medallion Crimson, which is only awarded to Imperial Guardsmen who suffer horrific injuries yet have lost neither their faith in the Emperor nor the will to fight on.Creed was later named the "newly-instated Governor Primus" of Cadia, meaning that sometime after the start of the 13th Black Crusade he was also officially named the Imperial planetary governor or Protector of Cadia by the High Lords of Terra.Creed and Jarran Kell fought to the end on Cadia when the Despoiler's legions finally made planetfall in late 999.M41. The pair made their last stand togther on the Elysion Fields before Abaddon himself. The Great Traitor, determined to crush Cadia's last resistance, led the Chaos Terminators of the Bringers of Despair against Creed's command formation. As the Black Legion warriors tore the Imperial defenders to shreds, Kell pushed the Lord Castellan aboard a Valkyrie and bade it take off.Abaddon then raised the bolt-riddled sergeant up by the throat. Knowing he had saved his friend and master for the last time, Kell used the last of his strength to hawk a gobbet of bloody phlegm at his captor before hissing Creed's now-famous mantra -- "Cadia stands." With a clawed hand, the Despoiler crushed Kell's spine, and the sergeant breathed his last.Whether Kell's final act of defiance was in vain or not is uncertain. Creed continued to lead the Cadian defence up until the moment the planet was destroyed. Cadia fell that day, but as to the final fate of the Lord Castellan, none in the Imperium can yet say.
Ursarkar E. Creed - Wargear: As befits a senior officer of the Cadian military, Creed is outfitted with a sturdy set of Carapace Armour equipped with a Refractor Field emitter, ensuring he is well-protected from the attentions of the enemy. Over this armour, Creed wears his trademark high-collared greatcoat and is rarely seen without one of his favoured cigars.Although his lofty rank as Lord Castellan of Cadia requires that he more often than not participate in battle from behind tactical arrays and hololith screens, on those occasions where he takes the field, many a Traitor to the Imperium has felt the deadly kiss of his twin master-crafted Hellpistols and ceremonial power sword.However, Creed's greatest weapon is his mind. He had a natural genius for commanding men and women, whether in a single platoon or as an entire army, and his tactical genius is of a kind not seen in the Imperium for generations, on par with the legendary leaders of history like Lord Solar Macharius and the ancient primarchs.His masterful ability to organise and lead the often blunt weapon that is the Astra Militarum has time and time again surprised and put to rout the enemies of Mankind.
Ursarkar E. Creed - Jarran Kell: Creed's best friend was Sergeant Jarran Kell, whom he met when both served as Cadian Whiteshields. The brooding, silent youth that was Creed and the garrulous, expansive soldier formed an unlikely friendship that has lasted for a lifetime. Where Creed was silent and calculating, Kell was roaring and booming as only a Colour Sergeant of the Imperial Guard could be.He was a trusted companion who recognised early on that Creed was Cadia's only chance to survive the dark days ahead as the 13th Black Crusade prepared to break upon its shores. Kell had made it his life's work to keep Creed from harm and had the scars and wounds to show for this determination. Kell was rarely away from Creed's side, where his loud, booming voice drowned out the cries of the enemy and made sure that the Lord Castellan's every order could be heard and acted upon.Wherever Creed went, so too walked the bullish figure of Colour Sergeant Jarran Kell. Friends for solar decades, Kell risked his life to preserve that of his oldest comrade on numerous occasions. His Vox-amplified voice rolled along the Imperial lines, ensuring the Lord Castellan's orders were followed to the letter.Where Creed was silent and calculating, Kell was roaring and scathing, as only a Colour Sergeant can be. He was a fearsome fighter and Creed's right hand -- a trusted companion who long ago recognised that Cadia's best hope for survival was to follow the word of Creed. As such, keeping Creed alive became Kell's life work.Jarran Kell served primarily as Creed's bodyguard, and was accordingly equipped with a set of sturdy Carapace Armour, a massive Power Fist, and a Power Sword which he wielded with tremendous skill. His indomitable will had allowed him to ignore the consequences of horrible wounds long enough to interpose himself before and kill any being foolish enough to attempt striking at Creed. As mentioned, Kell also had the honour of bearing "The Castellan's Own" Regimental Banner, holding it high and defending the standard with the same intensity with which he defended his friend. Lastly, Kell bore on his back a Vox-caster outfitted with an external amplifier, which he used to hurl a never-ending stream of orders, encouragements and profanities to any Guardsmen around, ensuring that Creed's commands were effectively carried out.During the 13th Black Crusade, Abaddon the Despoiler teleported directly into the heart of Creed's command center and slaughtered almost all who were present. Kell was barely able to evacuate Creed onto a waiting Valkyrie gunship but was unable to board himself. He was killed by Abaddon moments later, his last words, "Cadia stands!"
Ursarkar E. Creed - Jarran Kell's Wargear: LaspistolPower FistPower Sword
Ursarkar E. Creed - Game Notes: The rules for Ursarkar E. Creed and Jarran Kell require that they be fielded together, and Kell doubles as a regimental standard bearer.The rules for Creed portray him at a point between the battle against the Volscani regiments and the full outbreak of hostilities during the 13th Black Crusade.
Ursarkar E. Creed - Trivia: The appearance and personality of Ursarkar E. Creed are based loosely on the famous World War II-era British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov, the American General George S. Patton, and the Roman Consul Gaius Julius Caesar.
Ursula J. Creed - Ursula J. Creed: Ursula J. Creed is a lord general of the Astra Militarum and the current Lord Castellan of Cadia, the recognized leader of the surviving Cadian Shock Troops regiments and the daughter of Ursarkar E. Creed, the former Lord Castellan of Cadia missing in action since the Fall of Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade.The Lord Castellan of Cadia is a forbidding and implacable strategist and a symbol of the enduring indomitability of Cadia's armies, even in the wake of the loss of their homeworld to the forces of Chaos. Ursula Creed's superior generalship, forged over long standard years of warfare, has seen her lead numerous Imperial armies to victory against the enemies that now threaten to extinguish Humanity's flame from the galaxy.
Ursula J. Creed - History: Though lost Cadia's remaining valiant regiments of the Cadian Shock Troops are spread wide across the galaxy in the Era Indomitus, some constants remain to anchor its soldiers amidst their far-flung wars. The declamation of "Cadia Stands!" is one. A Creed as Lord Castellan of Cadia is another. Ursula J. Creed is her father's daughter in many respects. A hardened general of the Astra Militarum, physically imposing, Creed survived the fall of her homeworld like millions of her fellows and now stands as a symbol of Cadia's survival, exemplifying her people's unbowed spirit.Ursula's rise to senior command was not the meteoric ascent of Ursarkar E. Creed, but it was grindingly unstoppable. She restlessly demanded swift redeployment in the wake of victory after victory, forging her own legend as a strategist of incredible intuition and ruthless determination.Over her broad shoulders, the new Lord Castellan wears what some assume to be a recreation of her father's greatcoat, for surely it perished with him. Ursula, however, knows it to be no fake. Appearing in her sealed chambers solar months after the loss of her father, dried blood and the smell of Cadia's final hours saturating the heavy fabric, it fired an obsessive hope in her that somehow, somewhere, her father yet lived.
Ursula J. Creed - Wargear: Carapace ArmourRefractor FieldDuty and Vengeance - These archeotech pistols are the Lord Castellan's primary weapons.Power Sword
Ursulia - Ursulia: Ursulia was a Daemon World and a former Exodite Maiden World of the Aeldari that had been placed under the protection of the Craftworld Biel-Tan, to which it was connected through the winding corridors of the Labyrinth Dimension of the Webway.This connection was exploited by the Daemonic minions of Slaanesh and Khorne, who sought to use the planet to launch an invasion of Biel-Tan in an attempt to prevent Yvraine and her Ynnari from returning home to that Craftworld and beginning their quest to fully awaken Ynnead, the Aeldari God of the Dead.In the closing days of the 41st Millennium, as Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade gathered its forces in earnest, the growing tumult in the Warp lead to a growing surge of Warp Storms throughout the galaxy, but particularly in the Ultima Segmentum.Ursulia was consumed by one of these Warp rifts, Warp Storm Balamet, which allowed the Daemons of Khorne and Slaanesh, led by the Bloodthirster Skarbrand and the Daemonette Herald of Slaanesh known as the Masque of Slaanesh, to rally the forces of their respective Chaos Gods there.Ursulia was used as the base for the invasion of Biel-Tan in 999.M41, and its Webway portal became the unexpected point of egress for the servants of the Dark Gods. The portal was eventually sealed by an assault from Biel-Tan aided by Yvraine and her Ynnari allies.
Ursulia - History: The Aeldari of Craftworld Biel-Tan had watched over the hidden world of Ursulia for millennia, and in doing so had repelled Ork invasions, Hrud infestations, Imperial conquests and Drukhari raids.Against the raw power and sudden onset of a Chaos tempest, however, there was little they could do. Warp Storm Balamet had ﬂared into baleful existence so swiftly that even the Aeldari could not counter it.The Masque of Slaanesh was poised to use Ursulia to achieve the unthinkable and unleash a Daemonic invasion of the most militant of all the Aeldari craftworlds. Though it had cost her much to attain it, she had masterminded a full-scale Daemonic invasion of Ursulia.Her intent was not to conquer the planet, but to use it as a staging post. Should she muster force enough to break through the Webway portal present on the world known as the Obsidian Gate, she would reach Biel-Tan before Yvraine, not only claiming a rich bounty of Aeldari souls but also capturing or devouring the single greatest threat to Slaanesh's continued existence.The Daemon Herald had taken great pains to arrange the conquest to come, and ensure that it had a semblance of focus -- no mean feat, considering the rival forces involved. The Masque had marshalled not only her own great promenade of excess -- a gathering of Daemonettes, Seekers, charioteers and half-mortal Hellﬂayers -- but also seduced a grand battalion of Khornate Daemons into fighting for the same cause when she so enraged their master, the Bloodthirster Skarbrand, that he proceeded to pursue her without thought.The rivalries between the Chaos Gods had raged across reality and the Warp for time immemorial. Though the brothers in darkness were each locked in their Great Game, and though they sought the same destructive ends more often than not, they were such bitter rivals that they held an open contempt for each other.This ire often boiled over into outright war. Slaanesh, the Master of Excess, was considered a self-indulgent, preening impostor by the Blood God Khorne. Conversely, Slaanesh saw the Blood God as an unimaginative boor with all the grace of a starving hound. Their Daemon minions harboured much the same attitudes, for in essence a daemon is but a psychic fragment of its Chaos God patron made manifest.The Masque of Slaanesh was nothing if not persuasive, however, and her repertoire went far beyond the pleasures of the ﬂesh. She knew well how to exploit the compulsions of others, for she was obsession given form. The strongest souls were often the easiest to fool -- hubris and overconfidence was the downfall of champions and wise men alike. The daemon lords of Khorne were prideful indeed. It was that ﬂaw that the Masque sought to play upon, thereby binding them to her cause.With the powers of Chaos ascendant and Warp tempests raging across the breadth of Mankind's realm, daemons found moving from the Warp to the storm-wracked domains of realspace easier than ever -- especially for one as adroit as the Masque. Still, there was no way she had the strength to break open the Runes of Warding that sealed the portal to Biel-Tan. She knew of but one daemon strong enough to break the arcane defences -- Skarbrand the Exiled One, the most terrible Bloodthirster of them all. Even then his power might not suffce.Skarbrand was a Greater Daemon whose arrogance was so immense that he sought to slay his own parent deity in single combat. He was hurled across reality as a result, broken in body and mind. All that was left of Skarbrand was rage, raw and all-consuming. Seeing in the infamous daemon an instrument of pure brute force, the Masque had sought the Bloodthirster out, dancing her way through the Realm of Chaos to speak to him face to disfgured face.At first, Skarbrand sought to cut the Masque to pieces with his twin axes, Slaughter and Carnage. However, the Daemonette swayed and dodged from the Bloodthirster's blows with such sublime passivity that Skarbrand stopped viewing her as a martial opponent and instead saw her as more of an inconvenience, just as a rampaging stallion might see a gadﬂy upon its ﬂank. When he had all but lost interest, the Masque told her foe of her own exile, for she had been banished by her god just as Skarbrand had been banished by his. This won the raging Daemon's ear, for a time.She spoke to him of a great wager, a contest between the Daemon hosts of Slaanesh and those of Khorne. The competition would be held upon the world of Ursulia -- whosoever claimed the most Aeldari lives in the name of their patron before nightfall would be proved the most powerful in the service of their respective gods.The Daemon Herald's words were expertly delivered. Her beguilements were clever enough to stoke Skarbrand's eternal rage, but not to trigger a killing spree -- not yet, at least. The Greater Daemon spat, snarled and roared with contempt, for the disciples of Khorne do not idly ignore a challenge to their strength. With her greater plans set in motion, the Masque smiled from ear to ear, waltzing away to amass her followers even as the mighty Bloodthirster stomped off on his own warpath.Within a solar week of that incongruous pact, the Daemon hosts of the Masque and Skarbrand trod the peaty loam of Ursulia's twisted forests. Their Warp-born followers numbered in the hundreds of thousands, for word of the wager had brought a great many daemonic champions together, each determined to outclass their god's rivals with impressive acts of slaughter.As the Daemons burst from within the eye of Ursulia's fiercest psychic storm, the invasion had begun in earnest. The Exodites defending their world had used every weapon, trick and trap at their disposal, unleashing hordes of roaring megasaurs and mounting mass cavalry charges that saw whole households of Dragon Knights charge into echelons of Daemonic foot soldiers.Theirs was a noble act of defance, but ultimately it was doomed. The invading host outnumbered them twice over, and with the Masque and Skarbrand at the fore, the Exodite defenders were overwhelmed in a matter of solar days. Ursulia became a full-fledged Daemon World.
Ursulia - Environment: Once, the planet Ursulia was a spectacular utopia of lush vegetation and glittering waters. Ursulia, named after a famously beautiful Aeldari maiden of myth, was a small but verdant world, legendary in Aeldari society for its majestic thornwoods and towering arbor cities.It had been fashioned as a true paradise by the ancient Aeldari, but it had been twisted beyond recognition. Since the breaking of new Warp storms across the coreward sectors of the Ultima Segmentum in the last solar months of the 41st Millennium, it has been transmuted into a nightmarish vision.Its forests have become wildernesses of sentient plant life dripping with mindpoison, jagged fungi that belch hallucinogenic gas, and mutant saurian beasts covered in eyes and mouths from snout to tail.Psychic storms still ravaged the ruined Aeldari settlements of the planet, bringing with them sudden squalls of ectoplasmic rain, winds that screamed with banshee rage, and crackling empyric lightning. These phenomena leave utter devastation in their wake from which there can be no recovery. They taint not only the planet's landscape, but its spirit as well.To descend through the silver cloud banks of Ursulia's skies was to feel a great sadness of the soul. Roiling Warp Storms had lashed its surface in the last few Terran months of 999.M41, appearing from nowhere like a seismic eruption upon an unseen fault line. Ursulia's glorious waterfalls had been turned to swathes of crimson glass, and its rolling dales reduced to skull-strewn wastelands.Amongst the planet's valleys was a moss-strewn henge known as the Obsidian Gate. This former Webway route was permanently closed many thousands of Terran years ago as a precautionary measure against invasion, for it led straight to Biel-Tan.The decision to seal it had since been vindicated a dozen times over, for gentle Ursulia had known many wars over the millennia. Yet it was theoretically possible that the route could be re-opened by arcane force -- like that brought to bear by the servants of the Dark Gods.
Ursus Claw - Ursus Claw: An Ursus Claw was a harpoon-like weapon that could be used both in starship combat and by Warhound Scout Titans. The weapon originated with the World Eaters Legion, which originally developed it for use in starship combat by the XIIth Legion's flagship , the Gloriana-class Battleship Conqueror, during the Great Crusade.In battle, the Conqueror often employed a crude but unique weapon later called the "Ursus Claw" which enabled the massive vessel to get within close proximity of an enemy voidship in order to board it. From ridged battlements and armoured ports along the warship's hull, a tide of what looked like spears would burst out into the void. Each of these lances was the size of a smaller escort ship in its own right. Up to a dozen could be fired, either separately at multiple targets, or all at once, at much larger vessels.These massive lances would then puncture home into the hulls of enemy vessels. Once impaled, the immense spears became active, locking to their prey's ravaged insides with magnetic strength. But while they were effective against regular foes, alien vessels like those employed by the Aeldari were forged from synthetics beyond mere metal.Sometimes these vessels would manage to slide free, dragging their impaled carcasses away from the Imperial warship, but their cores would be holed right through and opened to space. They would prove to be the lucky ones. The other enemy vessels that were still impaled would shake, as they were dragged off course, stalling in the void. Their engines would burn in silent heat, but each of them would remain anchored in place.The spears driven through their bodies were more than mere projectiles, they were lances launched to cripple. They were harpoons fired to claim prey. With malicious slowness, the Conqueror would then recall its spears. The lances would begin to ratchet back towards the vessel that fired them, dragged home on massive chains one link at a time. Only the World Eaters had the audacity to deploy something so barbarous, so primitive on such a scale. And only the World Eaters were able to make such crude weaponry into something so efficient.Link by link, the Conqueror would drag the impaled enemy vessels closer, its massive engines straining against their stagnant thrust. Other enemy starships would often break away, finding it increasingly difficult to fire upon the Imperial warship, now using their own allied ships as barriers to protect itself. The Primarch Angron would then give the order to release the elite World Eater assault companies known as the Devourers upon their doomed enemies.Boarding parties would be spat from the Conqueror's hull, crossing the short distance in the blink of an eye and disgorging World Eaters warriors into the bowels of the impaled enemy ships. The Conqueror would then fully retract the Ursus Claws that failed to strike.
Ursus Claw - Titan-Grade Ursus Claw: Smaller-scale versions of these Ursus Claws would be created to arm the Warhound-class Titans of the Legio Audax that supported the XIIth Legion and for the World Eaters' assault Dreadnoughts.As the Shadow Crusade raged across Ultramar during the Horus Heresy, the princeps of the Legio Audax adapted this idea from their World Eaters allies and turned it into a weapon for their favoured Warhound Scout Titans. Ursus Claws allowed them to engage larger enemy god-engines and bring them low.This tactic proved so effective that other Legios, Traitor and Loyalist alike, began equipping their Warhounds with this weapon.
Ursus Claw - Sources: Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Loyalist Legios (Specialty Game), pg. 169Warhammer Community - Ready the Ursus ClawsImperial Armour - The Horus Heresy: Book One - Betrayal, pg. 96Butcher's Nails (Audio Drama) by Aaron Dembski-BowdenBetrayer (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-BowdenLegacies of Betrayal (Anthology) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Nick Kyme, Graham McNeill, Chris Wraight, John French, Guy Haley, David Annandale, Gav Thorpe, and Anthony Reynolds, "Heart of the Conqueror" (Short Story) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, pp. 385-391
Urthak Skullripper - Urthak Skullripper: Urthak Skullripper is a Chaos Lord of the World Eaters Legion who led his warband of Chaos Space Marines through Warp Storm Örgvayr to invade Greater Thurian League space in the galactic core after the formation of the Great Rift in what became known as the Battle of Örgvayr.Joining with the forces of his fellow World Eater Chaos Lord Hakatar and the Nurglite Heretic Astartes of The Purge, Urthak's forces assaulted the Kin World of Törg, trapping the Kin Cthonian Guild miners there within their besieged harvester fortresses. A rescue force of Oathbands belonging to the Thurian Kindred of Vôrtun arrived at Törg under the overall command of Kâhl Ûthar the Destined and succeeded in driving off the Chaos forces long enough for the Kin to rescue their miners and a significant amount of the valuable resources they had mined from the volcanic world.However, during the battle, Urthak succeeded in leading a massed teleport assault of Chaos Terminators that slew the Grimnyr Khôhn and her bodyguards. In response, the surviving Cthonians and many of the Hearthkyn who fought on Törg have since formed the Grudgeband of Khôhn -- they will be avenged upon Urthak Skullripper or die trying.
Urvû's Kindred - Urvû's Kindred: Urvû's Kindred is a Kindred of the Leagues of Votann.The hold ship of Urvû's Kindred was the place where the Trans-Hyperian Alliance's relic of the CORV Duas was created during the years of the Longest March. These robotic CORV COG units contain shards of psychoactive crystal recovered from a scintillating anomaly of the galactic core. Like escorts around a capital ship, the CORV Duas employ their psycho-amplified resilience to shield their companion Grimnyr from harm. At the same time, the empyric resonance generated by their presence magnifies the fortitude of the Grimnyr's barrier-tech, helping them to ward off harmful enemy manifestations.
Urwin Sire - Urwin Sire: Urwin Sire is one of the most senior servants of Lord Militant Solomon Tetrarchus, the commander of the Achilus Crusade intent on retaking the Jericho Reach. He is a counsellor who has served his master faithfully for many Terran years.Sire is an adept of the Adeptus Terra, and blessed to be born on Humanity's homeworld.
Urwin Sire - History: Sire first entered the service of the Emperor in an obscure division of the Adeptus Administratum tasked with performing diplomatic missions to recalcitrant Imperial Commanders, performing the combined duties of ambassador, messenger and executioner.Many of these missions ended in violence, as uncompromising planetary governors refused to accede to one or both of the only two obligations they have to the Imperium -- the rendering of tithes and the purging of latent psykers. However, Sire's success rate was notably higher than many of his peers thanks to his ability to reason with even the most obstinate of opponents.Sire rose to the notice of his masters during the wars of the Delgado Succession, when his tireless work stopped three entire systems from joining the nascent, self-proclaimed Delgado Hegemony.Though the wars raged for another solar decade, it is commonly held that they would have dragged on for at least a century were it not for Sire's intervention, and many millions more would have died.Four solar decades into his career, Sire was assigned to the Margin Crusade on the borders of the Calixis Sector, and having assembled a substantial staff, set out upon a specially commissioned naval sprint hauler.Four solar months later, Sire was assuming office as Plenipotentiary-Designate to Lord Militant Solomon Tetrarchus, not in the Margin Crusade in the Calixis Sector, but the Achilus Crusade in the Jericho Reach. As a senior adept, Sire was informed of the truth of the crusade and made aware of the dire necessity to hold the Well of Night against the foes of the Imperium due to the discovery of the Jericho-Maw Warp Gate.With the coming of Hive Fleet Dagon to the Jericho Reach, Sire's skills have been in high demand. Tetrarchus has utilised Sire in two main capacities.Sire has performed dozens of missions to worlds in the Reach that have thus far refused to join the Imperium, delivering the message that if they do not do so now, they will be left to defend themselves against the oncoming xenos storm.The second type of mission has been to the T'au, where, on Tetrarchus' orders, he has secured a number of concessions conducive to both sides of the wars of the crusade's Canis Salient. Sire's greatest rival, however, has proved not to be a rebel planetary leader or sly alien diplomat, but the commander of the Imperial forces in the Canis Salient.Lord Commander Sebiascor Ebongrave holds many paranoid beliefs about those both below and above him in the chain of command, and some of them, including the fact that Tetrarchus has sponsored contact with the T'au behind his back, are in fact true.Sire's mission is a dangerous one, for the agents of Lord Commander Ebongrave are ever-vigilant for signs of what he deems as treachery, and will go to any lengths to ensure his dominance of the Canis Salient is total.In temperament, Urwin Sire is a patient man, his genial wit masking a razor sharp intellect. He is especially skilled at presenting the impression of empathy -- it has been said of Sire that he can, if needed, convince a rebel governor to walk willingly into the excoriation chambers of the Ordo Hereticus, convinced that they will receive a fair hearing thanks to his interjections.This is not to say that Sire is duplicitous or disloyal, merely that he is utterly devoted to his mission and extremely skilled in his calling. Sire never overtly carries weapons, relying instead on the employment of seconded Astra Militarum troops should a show of strength be required.He does, however, wear a number of Jokaero Digital Weapons, and has used them to bring unsuccessful negotiations to a close on a number of occasions.
User:Montonius - User:Montonius: Hi I'm Montonius, currently Lead Administrator/Bureaucrat of the Warhammer 40k Wiki (since May 2010).I review all edits made to the wiki and am the primary assurer of quality control and Keeper of the Canon.Let me know how I can help you make the Warhammer 40k Wiki the primary source for all your questions about the Warhammer 40,000 universe on the Internet.If you have any problems, I will do my best to resolve them.
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User:Montonius - Lead Administrator: The position of Lead Administrator (officially known as Bureaucrat in wikia.com's hierarchy) is granted to that Associate Administrator who is most committed to the Warhammer 40k Wiki's current vision of absolute quality and has consistently shown this dedication through many pages of quality edits and the addition of whole blocks of new knowledge to the wiki.While technically granted no more privileges than any other Administrator save for a double vote when choosing a new Associate Administrator, the Lead Administrator does formally grant Administrator privileges to other users and can also make them Bureaucrats, whose status cannot be revoked save by themselves.The Lead Administrator is chosen for both an expansive knowledge of how to manipulate the wiki framework and an encyclopedic familiarity with the Warhammer 40,000 universe.The Lead Administrator represents the wiki to all other outside individuals and organisations and ultimately does his best to try and elucidate a clear vision for the wiki so that other Administrators and editors can know where best to invest their efforts.When there is a conflict in policy or decisions about the wiki's welfare between Administrators, the Lead Administrator will make the decision by fiat if there is no clear Administrator consensus.In the event of the retirement of the Lead Administrator, he will nominate his successor from among the existing Associate Administrators, who will then be selected by a majority vote of his fellows.Currently, the Warhammer 40k Wiki's Lead Administrator is Montonius, who is also the founder of this new version of the wiki.Administratorship is only granted to those editors who have proven that they are committed to upholding the admittedly extremely high standards of the wiki for content, spelling and grammar and have proven this commitment by making literally thousands of edits across many months before being selected.Additionally, unlike on many other wikis, Administrators possess full authority to remove or change articles for content or because the wiki's content standards have been violated.An Associate Administrator's word is expected to be followed by other editors on the Warhammer 40k Wiki, and the Lead Administrator is the final judge in cases where there is not a clear preference for a particular policy or change of policy among the other Administrators and the community of editors at large.This change has been made from the standard wiki policy to ensure that our unusually high standards for articles can be met with a consistency and a quickness that is hard to achieve using the typical, less hierarchical method of wiki governance that currently dominates.An Administrator is...here to oversee the project to prevent vandalism, abuse or straying from the goals and guidelines intended to one day make the Warhammer 40k Wiki the most definitive and well-written source of information on the Warhammer 40,000 universe on the Internet.extremely enthusiastic about the project, its overarching goals and wants to see it succeed. 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User:Montonius/Sandbox - User:Montonius/Sandbox: The War of Beasts was a conflict fought in the early years of the Era Indomitus soon after the opening of the Great Rift. The campaign was fought between the Imperium of Man and several other major factions of the Milky Way galaxy for control of the Imperial Hive World of Vigilus in the Vigilus System of the Segmentum Obscurus.Vigilus represented the terminus of a key route through the Great Rift into the Imperium Nihilus. As a result, Vigilus had become a heavily contested strategic location and the source of conflict between several of the different starfaring species and factions of the galaxy in the Era Indomitus.After the start of the conflict, Vigilus was designated a War World and a Sentinel World by the Imperium.Xenos forces including Genestealer Cults, Orks, the Drukhari and the Craftworld Aeldari all launched assaults on the world. Even worse, the Black Legion Chaos Lord Haarken Worldclaimer, a Raptor, was sent to claim Vigilus for Chaos in the name of Abaddon the Despoiler.The planet Vigilus had always been famed as a strategic linchpin of the Segmentum Obscurus. When the Great Rift opened, its status escalated from important to indispensable. So vital was Vigilus to the Imperium that when a teeming WAAAGH! of Orks burst from the Great Rift, the system's defenders responded with terrific force.The Astra Militarum and Adepta Sororitas forces already stationed on Vigilus contained the Ork invasion and kept it from wrecking the densely populated hivesprawls, while several Space Marine Chapters sent reinforcements from the Stygius Sector and beyond. The latter waves were led by none other than Marneus Augustus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, and with him came some of the finest minds in the Adeptus Astartes.These counter-assaults pulled Vigilus back from the brink. The psychic apocalypse of the Great Rift had disabled the planet's defences and made it vulnerable, allowing the Orks to raid from the wastelands, barging through each defence perimeter to wage war in the city sprawls. In conjunction, a great uprising of Genestealer Cultists was triggered, revealing an infestation that had festered upon Vigilus for hundreds of Terran years.As the various starfaring races of the galaxy desperately tried to prosper in the horror-filled reality of the Imperium Nihilus, millions of eyes turned towards Vigilus. Were it to fall, so would the hopes of all trapped in the Dark Imperium. With the Cadian Gate broken to the west and War Zone Stygius raging to the east, Vigilus was wide open to invasion by the forces of Chaos.Vigilus' Imperial defenders soon stood on the brink of total collapse without further aid.
User:Montonius/Sandbox - Prelude to Conflict: With the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum and the passing of the Noctis Aeterna in the early years of the 42nd Millennium according to the old Imperial Calendar, Vigilus found itself in that dark region of space known as the Imperium Nihilus, upon the threshold of the Nachmund Gauntlet. As one of the two relatively stable paths between the half of the Imperium that contained Holy Terra, known as the Imperium Sanctus, and the farflung Imperium Nihilus on the other side of the Great Rift, the Nachmund Gauntlet was of immense valueto Mankind.It allowed the Imperium to continue the movement of its forces across the interstellar gulf of the Great Rift, and also to maintain a line of astropathic communication -- albeit an unstable and dangerous one -- with the worlds stranded in the Dark Imperium. Should the Imperium ever truly be divided it would likely fall apart entirely. Hence the importance of Vigilus; it acted as a vital beachhead that kept the Imperium Nihilus under a semblance of Terra's control.None truly knew how or why the Great Rift formed -- but the fight to gain passage across it quickly became intense. Vigilus had always boasted a vast amount of manpower, and had inherited a great number of Imperial Guard regiments since the clearing of the Cadian Gate -- an event the Adeptus Ministorum referred to as the "Pre-tempestine Exodus" -- but it soon became evident that the threats facing the planet would test its defenders to their limit.The world was traditionally ruled over by a loose confederation of elders and nobles called the Aquilarian Council, known to the Adeptus Mechanicus as the "Council of Cogs." The fact that the different delegates could not even agree on a name demonstrates how divided they were; the palatial areas of Saint's Haven were riven by political wars for solar decades. Only the spectre of complete annihilation saw Vigilus' rulers united.At the onset of the xenos invasion, Vigilus' vast and contiguous landmasses were broken only by a series of fortified reservoirs. The dust-bowl wastelands between each city-sprawl were analogous to oceans, and just as difficult to cross. They were not only arid and barren, but also hydrophagic -- in places the chemical composition of their dust dunes was so saline it could desiccate bare flesh in a matter of solar hours.In theory, simply wearing enough protective clothing could have assuaged this. Unfortunately, the dust storms and twisters that were spun out from the giant tempest in the east -- known as the "Vhulian Swirl" -- caused thisdesiccant to creep into every chink of a traveller's armour and clothes. The dunes were hence populated only by tough-skinned or shell-armoured predators that preyed upon the unwary.The planet's rare areas of productive land were highly sought after, but rampant industrialisation saw most of them developed into urban metropolises called "hivesprawls." These were so large they formed entire continents.The world was formally ruled by its Planetary Governor, Lucienne Agamemnus IX. The Agamemnus Dynasty had overseen the planet's affairs from the spires of the capital hive city, Saint's Haven, for Terran millennia. Yet the planet was famous for being a stronghold of the Adeptus Mechanicus.Vigilus' relative proximity to War Zone Stygius, where the Stygius Sector had been invaded by the Chaos forces loyal to the Chaos God Tzeentch, saw it serve as a way-station for incoming Imperial forces, including the Space Wolves and various Skitarii Legions. Its placement in the cosmos alone made it a valuable asset, but its most important export also made it vital for the Imperial war machine.Vigilus was once one amongst a hundred Imperial worlds in the Segmentum Obscurus considered important primarily for the war materiel and manpower it exported. The planet's principal export was its exceptional defensive technology.The Adeptus Mechanicus of Vigilus were blessed with the Standard Template Construct design for psy-tech force fields, and were sanctioned by Mars to put them into production. As well as being shipped out to aid the defences of countless other worlds, these Bastion-class force fields were installed around the perimeter of every Vigilite hivesprawl "continent" as part of a treaty that had been agreed between the Tech-priests and the Agamemnus Dynasty.Until the opening of the Great Rift and the xenos invasions that followed, these defences kept the planet's industry and populace safe from outside invasion. In exchange, the Adeptus Mechanicus were largely left to their own devices on the forge continent of Megaborealis -- one of the "false continent" cityscapes that covered Vigilus' crust -- but as time went on this proved a high price.Much of Megaborealis was given over to the unearthing of a strange black mineral called blackstone that ran like veins through its crust, which the Tech-priests obtained through vast and destructive mining operations. For the most part, these excavations were powered by energy produced in the volatile volcanic region of Storvhal to the south.The deep drilling of the Adeptus Mechanicus' bore-hives caused such violent earthquakes across the planet that many a hive city was toppled, many a ruler's statue cast down, and the water table disrupted to the point that potable water became extremely scarce. Still, the Machine Cult of the Forge World of Stygies VIII delved ever deeper in their search to unravel the mysteries of the universe -- no matter their provenance, or cost.Meanwhile, the gradual but undeniable influence of the Ministorum was to see the Agamemnus Dynasty slowly infiltrated by agents of the Ecclesiarchy. None could gainsay their encroachment, for to challenge them was to challenge faith in the Emperor Himself. The Ministorum Priests installed amongst the local Vigilant Guard Astra Militarum regiments worked ceaselessly to indoctrinate their charges until they too became dogmatic soldiers of faith.As the solar decades slid by, the inner districts of Hyperia Hivesprawl, Vigilus' capital continent, echoed to the march of ever more Adepta Sororitas and their pious Vigilant Guard allies, until some said the Planetary Governor was ruler in name only. Vigilus was becoming host to several distinct Imperial power bases, all determined to pursue their own agendas no matter the cost.The planet's disparate continents came into conflict over resource monopolies many times, but outright war was always avoided due to the efforts of the Aquilarian Council. Unfortunately, as resources were sequestered in ever moreblatant power grabs, the grievances of the Aquilarian Council escalated from bickering and infighting to sabre-rattling and threats of violence that saw the planet brought to the brink of deadly civil war.Then, under the malignant light of the Great Rift that broke across the galaxy, Vigilus and the other planets orbiting its star Astravigila entered a new phase of their tempestuous existence.
User:Montonius/Sandbox - The Great Rift: Before the onset of the conflict known as the War of Beasts, Vigilus witnessed a cataclysm so great it allbut split the galaxy in half. The Cicatrix Maledictum ripped from the Eye of Terror in the galactic northwest to the Hadex Anomaly in the southeast. Aside from a few corridors, the rift was all but impassable.When the skies split around Vigilus, many feared the planet would be consumed forever. Instead, as the swirling nebulae dissipated, it seemed that Vigilus had held the Cicatrix Maledictum at bay. The planet's strange aegis linked it with the Knight World of Dharrovar and the distant planet of Sangua Terra to form the corridor known as the Nachmund Gauntlet.Whether it was faith, the Emperor's will, a fluke of quantum entanglement or some other phenomenon that kept this rift passage open, none knew. But the route from the reaches of the still-functional Imperium to the desperate realms of the Imperium Nihilus remained stable. Vigilus became more vital than ever, and not only to the Imperium. Traitor generals and xenos masterminds looked upon it with covetous eyes, and hatched secret plans to conquer it.Drukhari raids struck from the arctic Webway portal located in the southern polar region of Kaelac's Bane, whilst Craftworld Saim-Hann sent emissaries to warn of a doom to come.A dark new era dawned across Vigilus' desert wastes and overpopulated hive cities. With the sky rent in twain by a Warp rift that bled purple light into the heavens, and civil unrest reaching new heights, draconian laws were put into place by the planet's governing bodies.It was forbidden to look at the night sky on those rare occasions it could be glimpsed through the thick banks of cloud that choked the stratosphere, and a strict curfew was imposed that ensured all citizens would be indoors by nightfall -- or flogged for a full solar hour.The repression that resulted saw many civilians look to new cults and underground orders for succour. Ironically, it was this heavy-handed lawmaking that sowed the seeds of anarchy. With the Warp rift of the Cicatrix Maledictum scarring the Vigilus sky, the doom that many had feared would consume the planet from outside instead began to take its toll from within.Though the worlds of the Vigilus System had not been entirely cut off from the rest of the Imperium, it became ever more obvious that a new and darker phase of existence for its people had dawned. The Great Rift was visible only as a purple blur during the daylight, but at night the immensity of the Cicatrix Maledictum glowered across the sky, its curling extremities and swollen central mass seeming to form screaming mouths and deformed faces when glanced at out of the corner of the eye. It stole sleep and distorted rational thought, even affecting the chronoslates and data-webs of the Adeptus Mechanicus with its anarchic emanations.On Vigilus, the Great Rift became particularly prominent at night, and hence curfews were put in place across all of Vigilus' hive cities. In every hivesprawl it was forbidden to be outside after sunset, lest the Cicatrix Maledictum take that person's attention for so long they become infected by its strangeness and rendered susceptible to psychic phenomena.Even with these precautions, the shape of the Great Rift -- a serpentine mass with the channel of the Nachmund Gauntlet across it -- began to appear in the daubings of madmen and the idle scrawlings of those who thought themselves to be concentrating on something else. More disturbing still, it appeared in natural phenomena as well.After-images of the rift manifested behind the eyes of those who had looked upon it too long, but unlike those caused by strong natural light, they did not fade.Parents looked in horror as they found birthmarks on infants born directly under the night sky when the rift glowered bright, each red weal broken by a thin white line of unblemished skin. Mildew growths and water stains on the walls and ceilings of the Hollows water purification plants formed in shapes that were uncannily similar, if not identical, to the rift in the sky above.The purge-squads of the Ecclesiarchy, operating out of Saint's Haven, tracked down such phenomena with cold efficiency and zealous verve. But soon even they found themselves growing desperate, for as standard years went by, these phenomena became more pronounced. Where the planet's earthquakes rent the land, chasms would fall open in shapes that echoed that of the Great Rift, complete with thin land bridges that corresponded to the position of the Nachmund Gauntlet.To one extent or another, every citizen of Vigilus soon found themselves harrowed by dark dreams and recurring nightmares. The sleep deprivation and foul tempers that resulted spilled over into a hundred new conflicts every day, from small skirmishes and beatings in alleyways to industrial strikes, organised uprisings and spates of assassinations that scoured the upper spires. It was in this state that the world met the first invasion of xenos that would mark the start of the greater conflict remembered as the "War of Beasts."
User:Montonius/Sandbox - The SPEEDWAAAGH!: When the Ork invasion came to Vigilus it was sudden, and its scale caught the Imperial defenders off-guard. At first contained, it would soon bring to light unseen threats that had lingered on the Hive World for many Terran years.By the end of the 41st Millennium, political and social tensions on Vigilus had risen. The Adeptus Mechanicus triggered ever more frequent earthquakes in its constant hunt for blackstone ore, while a power struggle had developed between the Planetary Governor's ruling dynasty and the Adeptus Ministorum. The struggle eventually escalated into outright if covert violence between their chosen agents.It was then that the Great Rift appeared like a wound in the sky, and from its depths hurtled a fleet of ramshackle Ork spacecraft into the Vigilus System.The rift had obfuscated the foresight of the world's Sanctioned Psyker seers, and so there was little warning of the Ork invasion's approach. Its fleet punched though Vigilus's naval cordon with overwhelming force, then crash-lsaned its ships in the great deserts that existed between the hivesprawl "continents."Those that survived, protected from destruction by bubble-like force fields, formed ready-made fortresses, which became the heart of the so-called "Scrap Cities" from which the Orks would attack the hivesprawls. What they lacked in organisation and structural integrity they made up for in sheer mass and firepower.For solar days the Vigilant wastelands echoed to the hammering of metal, the thudding of rivet guns, the guttural commands of Ork Mekaniaks and the throaty roar of smoke-spewing engines. Vehicle by vehicle, then swarm by swarm, a hundred mechanised invasion forces emerged at great pace from the dust-bowls. The SPEEDWAAAGH! had begun, and at their head rode the Speedlord Supreme, Krooldakka.The Orks were stymied, at first, by the Bastion-class force fields that surrounded each hivesprawl. The invaders were forced to content themselves with raiding the convoys and armoured regiments that braved the wastes and deserts, either to escort dignitaries or move materiel from one continent to another.Some Orks took to racing one another around the planet, even skirting the edge of the vast and constant dust storm known as the "Vhulian Swirl."When the Great Rift grew to split the galaxy entire and the Noctis Aeterna dawned, cutting the Imperium Nihilus off from the light of the Astronomican, the baleful emanations of the rift's Warp Storms washed across Vigilus. The eddies of psychic disruption caused a plague of nightmares to intensify in the populace, but worse still, collapsed all of the psy-tech force fields that kept the Orks from attacking Vigilus' cities.If the Orks had been a rational, right-thinking race, it may have taken them solar days to capitalise upon the lack of force fields. But with their Speed Freek outriders constantly daring one another torun through the perilous energies -- or at least get as close as possible -- it was less than a solar hour before word spread that the Imperial defences were down.When the Orks got wise to this they wasted no time, and poured into the outskirts of each city in tremendous numbers. The Adeptus Mechanicus, Astra Militarum and Orders Militant of the Adepta Sororitas that defended the hivesprawls' borders found themselves engaged on all fronts, and within days they were fighting desperately to slow the Orks' momentum.Even the bio-dome hivesprawl of Mortwald, protected by a network of traditional trenches and bunkers as well as force fields, suffered invasion -- as the Ork attack intensified, Mortwald's succulent and heavily curated forests and expensive rejuvenat treatment complexes were ransacked in several districts.
User:Montonius/Sandbox - The Uprising of the Pauper Princes: The seeding of a Genestealer Cult on the world of Vigilus had begun long before the War of Beasts. With the firstsuccessful invasions of the Orks, the cult burst forth in a tumultuous eruption, its members falling uponnot only the citizens they had planned to eventually usurp, but the other xenos invaders that sought to deny the cult its prize.In the Vigilant year 210.33 previo VCM.M41, a clutch of Purestrain Genestealers had been sent out from the planet of Chancer's Vale by the Genestealer Cult known as the Pauper Princes. Only one managed to make it to Vigilus, but one was always enough.Secreting itself in the seismic caverns beneath Megaborealis, it began to spread its insidious genetic curse and the creed that supported it across the planet. Over the ensuing years, it grew larger and more powerful as it became the dominant father of brood cycle after brood cycle, and ultimately the Genestealer Patriarch known as "Grandsire Wurm" by its millions of Broodmind members.Two Terran centuries later, when the Greenskins descended upon Vigilus, they triggered -- completely unwittingly-- a premature general uprising of the Genestealer Cultists who had long been hidden among the populace. Just as possessive of the planet as were its Imperial authorities, and a good deal less divided, they refused to see their long years of subterfuge and infiltration wasted amidst the anarchy of an Ork onslaught.They staged insurrections within every hivesprawl on Vigilus and, thanks to the psychic coordination of Grandsire Wurm and his Nexos strategists through the Broodmind, they rose with eerie synchronicity to enact ambushes and cunning strategies across the planet. Nowhere was this more evident than in the Dirkden Hivesprawl.Dirkden was under-resourced and underdeveloped. Here, the Pauper Princes had gained such a foothold that in some sub-districts their faithful actually outnumbered the genetically pure non-believers. Moreover, the cult had infested the ranks of Dirkden's Astra Militarum defence regiments, the Vigilant Guard, at nearly all levels, from the grunts to its local commanders.Acting upon secrets pried from the minds of Mechanicus Magi compromised by the Genestealer's Kiss, the cult leaders gained access to alpha-level data psalms and scriptoral mnemonics that enabled them to temporarily shut down Dirkden's Bastion-class force fields.The shields had wreathed Vigilus' hivesprawls for many centuries. Had such a failure occurred during more normal times it would have been immediate cause for suspicion and investigation. However, with the baleful influence of the Great Rift playing havoc with a;; the Adeptus Mechanicus' psychic energy-based shield technologies, it was a simple matter for cult-corrupted officers of the Vigilant Guard to convince their fellows that the shut-down was caused by a technical glitch.Panic ensued, just as the cultists had known it would. The Orks of the SPEEDWAAAGH! were quick to respond to Dirkden's weakness, and dust-trails choked the horizon as the xenos invaders grew near.It was those same cultist agents who contrived to order elements of the Vigilant Guard's 86th, 94th and 313th Regiments out into the dusty wastes beyond the shield-line. Each platoon was handpicked for the duty of defending the hivesprawl, their officers given stern assurances that they would be drawn back within the walls as soon as the Magi had placated the truculent Machine Spirits.Some four thousand soldiers marched into the wastes from Glaive Point to the Rescalid Underworks. They faced an onrushing horde of over fifteen thousand Orks, but took solace in the knowledge that they would only have to hold until the Bastion-class shields were reactivated.It was then that the cult's undercover agents in Dirkden staged their uprising. Outnumbering the remaining Loyalists ten-to-one, they seized control of the sprawl's military assets. Then, as their dismayed former comrades realised the scale of their betrayal, the Pauper Princes raised the force field again, stranding Dirkden's Vigilant Guardon the wrong side of it. The Orks fell upon their horrified victims, who now had no line of retreat. The slaughter was brief and horrific.Not all of those remaining within the sprawl were xenos-corrupted. Sensing their peril even if they did not fully understand it, thousands of genetically pure industrial labourers, dust-miners and menials gathered their families and meagre possessions before fleeing over the Hyperia-Dirkden Fortwall.Yet this, too, worked in the favour of the Pauper Princes' uprising. Swathing themselves in rags, or donning theworkers' coveralls, hundreds of cultists mingled into the refugee tide. Thus was their curse carried to the southern reaches of the Hyperia hivesprawl.At Oteck Hivesprawl, too, the Pauper Princes struck hard. If Dirkden had been chosen for its comparative weakness, Oteck was selected instead for its strategic importance. Its vast reservoirs of water, known locally as the "Hollows," were one of arid Vigilus' primary water sources. On such a dry and barren world, this made each reservoir as valuable as a lake of liquid adamantium.The battle to control Oteck was far more bitter than that in Dirkden. Still, thanks to their frightening levels of preparedness and the utter fanaticism of their Brood Brothers and Genestealer hybrids, the Pauper Princes were able to seize control of Greigan Hollow and start corrupting the drinking water of billions with their insidious genetic taint.In the early days of the conflict, Vigilus' ruling Aquilarian Council had watched pict-thief relays of the Orks being hurled back by their psy-tech force fields with a sense of confident superiority. Now they received reports of a new force rising. To their consternation, the messages told of a threat coming from within, rather than without.The scattered missives detailing subterranean uprisings were at first attributed to malcontents, criminals and opportunists raking advantage of the Ork assault to make trouble. The prevailing opinion was that the perpetrators would soon be put down by the local precincts of the Adeptus Arbites or, failing that, the companies of Astra Militarum despatched to destroy such rebellions before they could gain too much ground. These forces of the Emperor's law and order were sent to deal with uprisings and demagoguery wherever they were reported. Then the Hyperian leaders and their ilk went back to focusing on how best to capitalise on the industry of war.But the after-action reports that made it back from those violent suppressions revealed signs of something far worse than mere civilian unrest caused by the demands of wartime. Strange sigils had been spotted on many walls and archways, depicting a curled and spined creature that some called a "wyrm-form." There were rumours of sinister four-armed creatures scuttling in the darkness of the underhives, and the word "xenos" was being whispered more and more amongst the common folk.It was enough to cause those who held power to shore up their defences -- it was always their instinct to look to their own safety above all other concerns. The Ministorum ensured those Imperial armed forces over whom they held the most sway -- the resident Orders Militant of the Adepta Sororitas and the ever-faithful Vigilant Guard -- stayed close at hand within its own territory of Saint's Haven, even though the nearest xenos sighting was some hundreds of kilometres away.The Adeptus Mechanicus withdrew many of its glacier claimants and aqua-prospectors from the arctic region of Kaelac'sBane at Vigilus' south pole, though a skeleton crew remained to quarry for water.As the industry of Vigilus broke down under the strain of the rebellion and invasion, the frequency of the convoys that were crossing the wastelands on export missions or trade delegations to the other hivesprawls slowed to a crawl. To make matters worse, the Speed Freeks that used those desolate reaches as their hunting grounds were merciless.The leadership of Vigilus launched tentative counterattacks, but prioritised their own safety, putting aside all political and commercial alliances and pacts between the hivesprawls in favour of simple self-preservation.
User:Montonius/Sandbox - Collapse of Vigilus Command: The first Space Marines to make planetfall on Vigilus were the Iron Hands and their Successor Chapter,the Brazen Claws. Their intent was to drive back the Orks assaulting the hivesprawls, but they soon foundthemselves fighting for their lives against an unexpected foe.The Iron Hands and their allies in Battlegroup Gauntlet translated into the Vigilus System without interception. They had calculated their approach through the beleaguered star systems of the Imperium Nihilus with great care; it is a testament to their metamathic skill and attention to detail that they arrived on target despite the massive disruption the Great Rift had caused to the star systems nearby.The vast mechanical cathedrums of the Iron Hands fleet burst into realspace in an eddying cloud of stardust. Within solar minutes of translation from the Empyrean, they had targeting solutions for each of the Ork vessels that still hung in orbit between them and the planet.Those were few and far between, for the vast majority of xenos had made haste planetside, leaving little behind to guard their rear. The Orks had, in all likelihood, assumed their conquest would be over quickly, but the Bastion-class force fields had frustrated them. Now, they were over-committed and their prey had been able to summon reinforcements. It was an elementary mistake, and one for which the leader of the Iron Council and de facto Chapter Master of the Iron Hands, the Iron Father Kardan Stronos, resolved to make the Orks pay dearly.The Battle Barges and Strike Cruisers of the Space Marine fleet quickly made orbit above each of the major hivesprawls, the Adeptus Astartes within filling the Drop Pod launch bays before hurtling through the atmosphere towards the battles below.Many more were to descend to the planet via Thunderhawk or bulk lander. They made for the most war-torn areas, usually around the fringes of each metropolitan zone, where the Orks were attacking in force. But in many of these areas they encountered no Ork presence whatsoever. In the Megaborealis hivesprawl, they found themselves beset by a different breed of xenos altogether.Since the uprising of the Pauper Princes, the planet's defenders had found themselves actually fighting two wars. The Aquilarian Council had despatched what resources it could spare from Hyperia, hoping to swiftly restore order within Megaborealis -- where a hive spire had been toppled by long-range fire and fallen across the force field border, making a bridge into the hive's interior for opportunist Ork attacks.Meanwhile, Adeptus Arbites and Adepta Sororitas patrols that ventured into territory claimed by the Genestealer Cult were swiftly ambushed. Those in transports were stranded amongst a maze of tank traps and barbed wire choked with the corpses of those who had gone before.On three separate occasions Astra Militarum armoured columns, bullying their way through the rubble of the streets with Dozer Blades and spadeshovels, took alternative routes when the going got too tough. They toppled into sink-holes and hidden subterranean chasms as the ground gave way beneath their cumulative weight. Those that managed to survive the fall were hunted by the horrible, half-glimpsed mutants that haunted the lower levels.Refugee convoys made for zones as yet untouched by the Ork assault, thinking themselves safe. Much of Vigilus' air support was focused on the movements of the Greenskin tribes, and confining them where necessary with punitive strafing runs. The Ork Speed Freek formations were easily discerned, for they left long trails of dust in thewastelands -- many were heading straight for the landing sites of the incoming Space Marine drop forces, where the fighting was fiercest.By avoiding these tell-tale trails, Imperial strike forces were able to evacuate high-level personnel from those areas of the hive city where law and order still reigned. However, the Genestealer presence was much harder to identify, and attempting to perform relief and evacuation operations in regions infested by the xenos insurgents was akin to diving head first into a nest of vipers.In the space of only a few solar days, the dual threat of Ork and Genestealer Cult had torn apart the Vigilus command structure.By this time, a taskforce of Space Wolves under the command of the Wolf Guard Haldor Icepelt had arrived on Vigilus several solar months after the Iron Hands and set about cleansing Oteck Hivesprawl of xenos infestation. The Space Wolves rarely communicated with the Iron Hands, and like the rest of the Space Marines did not even bother to send representatives to speak with Vigilus' increasingly ineffective ruling council.
User:Montonius/Sandbox - Battle of Megaborealis: The mid-western fringe of the hivesprawl "continent" of Megaborealis came under siege within solar hours of the Bastion force fields going down through the Pauper Princes' treachery. Its westernmost point, known as the Seeping Delta due to the rivers of industrial runoff that had burned across its reaches, became a killing ground.There were few built-up areas here, for the ground itself had been poisoned. Though the hyper-acidic soil was of little consequence to the metal-legged Skitarii and tough-skinned Orks that fought over it, the quagmiresand sudden subsidence meant that vehicles could swiftly get bogged down or vanish without trace. The death tollspiralled into the millions as both forces poured ever more infantry into the fight.With the pragmatism of one who has long forgotten notions such as honour, Fabricator Vosch of Megaborealis ordered the Seeping Delta set alight. Just as the Orks mustered an overwhelming force against the city’s defenders, six hundred Flamer-armed Kataphron Breachers trundled into place and set the entire Delta aflame.The Fabricator had ordered refined promethium to be funnelled into the area, so the entire landmass was consumed in liquid flame as if a match had been dropped into a petrochemical spill. The Orks were consumed by the fire, turning into flailing, living torches in their tens of thousands.The Skitarii burned with them -- all save the Ruststalkers equipped with anti-incendiary ablative armour for the subsequent clean-up operation. These specialised, stilt-legged killers were tasked with running down any Orks that survived and preventing their leaders from escaping into the city. It was a victory for the Imperium, but it was won at an insanely high cost.The hivesprawl of Megaborealis, largely ruled by the Adeptus Mechanicus sect of Stygies VIII, was unlike any other on Vigilus. Punctured, wounded, torn up and left as a landscape of chasms, pits and sink-holes, its tumbled hive cities provided a million places to hide.Though the entire continent of Megaborealis felt the sting of war at times, during the early stages of the conflict the fighting was thickest around Bore-hive Scelerus. Situated to the south of that ravaged sprawl, the hive city provided over half of the energy that kept Megaborealis' countless manufactoria running, for it had been built atop a massive thermal stack that yielded endless geothermic power. In many ways it was the key to power --both literal and figurative -- in the sprawl.When the Orks first attacked Vigilus the lord of Hive Scelerus, the Tech-priest Dominus Ipluvius XIV, spent over eighty solar nights with his internal Cogitators running hot as he attempted to categorise the war in the wastelands. During this time he also gazed in awe at the giant cosmic aberration that was appearing in the night sky, doing his level best to rationalise what was happening to his planet.Content that his holdings were well-defended by the force field network on the ground, Ipluvius XIV coordinated a flak net of Onager Dunecrawlers to destroy the Ork aircraft that sought to hurtle over the defences. Though the fringes of the false continent were being bombarded -- and in places, demolished -- by the artillery of the Ork strongholds in the wastes, he contented himself that Megaborealis' key installations were safe. He went back to his studies of the Great Rift.When the backlash of the Warp cataclysm bathed Vigilus in its strange energies, the disruption to the Bastion-class force field networks was quickly discovered by the roving Ork Kommandos probing the frontier for weak points. A terrible storm of dust and pollution was raised by the esoteric forces roiling across Megaborealis, and the Orks were quick to capitalise.The Speed Freeks in the wastes scrambled from their camps and hurtled towards Megaborealis without a second thought, their headlong charge obscured by the tempest of pollution and dust that rolled across its borders.With speed and recklessness as their prime weapons, the Orks made exceptional progress through the hivesprawl, for its defenders could not bring their big guns to bear in time. Bursting through the outskirts came smoke-belchingswarms of Ork vehicles, so ramshackle and careless in their construction it sickened the faithful of the Machine God just to look upon them. Across the refineries of Kraxxon, the slag fields and the south reaches of Grisport, they proved nigh impossible to stop.Upon realising the full extent of their predicament, Ipluvius XIV froze, caught in a mental feedback loop that robbed his Skitarii and Cult Mechanicus troops of any directions other than squad-level leadership. Perhaps his Cogitator mechanisms had been damaged by the Great Rift, perhaps he had been a victim of some midnight hypnosis at the hands of an agent of the Pauper Princes, perhaps he was simply paralyzed by fear.Whatever the reason, his forces found themselves without orders and unsupported by the Imperial Knights that stood ready to defend the hive city, and the god-machines of the Legio Ferroxus that languished dormant in Scelerus' war hangars.The hivesprawl's defenders fought the sudden Ork assault as best they could, but in a hundred places andmore they were overwhelmed. When the Genestealer Cultists of Megaborealis rose up, their day of ascension triggered prematurely by the Ork invasion, Hive Scelerus' defences swiftly came apart. All the perfectly calculated kill zones and flak solutions put in place against invasion from without were rendered obsolete by the attack from within.The gene-sect of the Writhing Wyrm -- a sub-faction of the Pauper Princes under the command of Slygaxx the Prophet-- aimed to immediately orchestrate the most devastating assault they could. They had captured a [[VortexMissile]] at great cost in lives from the Mechanicus, and now took that terrible payload deep into the hivesprawl's heart, using stolen access codes and the torn-out eyeballs and severed fingers of slain authority figures to confound each hangar's biomantic checkpoints.The Vortex Missile was detonated beneath the slumbering Warlord-class Titan Dominus Rex. The megatonnage of its explosion was so potent it set off a string of detonations that destroyed not only the Rex but also triggered a chain reaction that spread to all the Titans alongside it. At a stroke, the most powerful Mechanicus assets in the entire hivesprawl were destroyed.Only when Archmagos Dominus Nesium Caldrike seized the malfunctioning Ipluvius XIV, had him placed in cryostorage and took his place, did the Adeptus Mechanicus manage to put together something approaching a coordinated war effort. Caldrike proved a canny and decisive war leader. Uniting his efforts with Clan Company Kaargul of the Iron Hands, recently despatched by Kardan Stronos to reinforce Megaborealis, he stopped the insurgencies of the Genestealer Cultists from attaining critical momentum, forcing the war into a grinding stalemate where every city district and manufactorum was the site of bitter fighting.The growth of the Ork Scrap Cities in the wastelands soon prompted a major Imperial counterattack. Many Imperial commanders of Vigilus saw the Ork junk forts blighting the horizon as a call to arms. They mustered their mechanised regiments and artillery, sending them out into the wastes with the express intention of hammering the Orks into the sand before they could consolidate their positions.After the Orks had made planetfall, Astra Militarum armoured columns rolled out of city gates across the planet to the blare of fanfare klaxons and the cheers of the citizenry. Into the wastes they went, so numerous that the dust kicked up by their passage could be seen from low orbit. Valkyries and Vendetta gunships hurtled overhead, their holds packed with veteran soldiers and elite Tempestus Scions eager to take the fight to the foe.Some of the armoured convoys, sent on missions of reconnoitre or resupply, made it to their destination with minimal damage. The Padrillus Pan'te fuel column allowed the Storvhal hivesprawl near Megaborealis to reinforce Fort Kaphinus with vital war materiel mere solar hours before it was assailed by Ork Kommandos.The Valkyrie squadron known as the Winged Grail carried several demolition squads through a network of Ork flakka-dakka wagons, braving intense fire to land near the Killa-Kan factory of Runthive -- and before dawn that site was reduced to smoking scrap.The Aquario Column reached Dontoria Hivesprawl virtually intact, its water tankers holed by Ork bullets but plugged up once more with the fingers of the many conscripts sent to guard it, until the steel of each cylinder could hardly be seen for human bodies. A great many of their fellow convoys, however, did not return.Already the Ork speedsters were scouring the wastes, driving pell-mell in search of things to kill. Here and there an Ambull colony or sandrat nest was riddled with bullets for target practice, but the nascent WAAAGH! was yet to get truly stuck in. Beady red eyes scanned the horizon for signs of life, barked commands directed outriders ever further, and green, pointed ears pricked up for the tell-tale crump and boom of distant battle.At the sight of the blocky silhouettes of Chimeras and Leman Russ battle tanks on the horizon, a great whooping shout went up from each Speed Freek mob, and the Orks closed in from all sides. The resultant desert warfare was typified by the shriek of heavy lasfire, the ping of bullets ricocheting from reinforced armour, and the thunder of detonating Battle Cannon shells.Huge losses mounted on both sides. At first the convoys of the Imperial Guard reaped a heavy toll, blasting dozens of Ork contraptions into scrap with each passing solar minute, for in long-range engagements their artillery and ordnance gave them a definite edge over the ramshackle vehicles of the Orks.But the Imperial forces could not kill them all, and in announcing their presence in so spectacular a fashion, they had sealed their fate. Attracted by the signs of actual battle from kilometres around, the Ork Speed Freeks swarmed ever thicker.At first a few isolated warbikers and buggies got through the cordon of gunfire with cunning and reckless abandon, only to be cut down by volleys of lasfire and sheets of flame. But every time a squadron was occupied in killing one target, another got closer, and at breakneck pace. Before too long the Orks had reached close quarters, where their heedless fury could truly make its mark -- and once that tipping point had been reached, there was no coming back for the beleaguered humans.Elsewhere, a singular incident remembered as the Battle of Mourning Gorge typified much of the conflict of this period in the war. On the southern outskirts of Megaborealis, the 121st Goliath Armoured Battle Group was destroyed by the actions of a single maniacal Ork.Fragbad Squigbiter intended to watch the SPEEDWAAAGH! race through the kilometres-deep Mourning Gorge from a commanding vantage point. He and his mob scaled the cliff edge ahead of time, only to see an Astra Militarum blockade move to the end of the canyon and a Vigilite artillery company take position on the precipice.As the SPEEDWAAAGH! drove headlong into the trap, Squigbiter hurled so many Stikkbombs at the nearest Imperial artillery piece -- a Deathstrike Missile Launcher -- that the cliff itself gave way, toppling the giant warhead into the valley below.The resultant explosion annihilated the Imperial blockade and much of the SPEEDWAAAGH! warband before the rest bullied its way through the flames, completing the Greenskins' encirclement of the nearby Storvhal hivesprawl and cutting off a vital supply route for the forces of the Imperium.
User:Montonius/Sandbox - The Gellerpox Comes to Dontoria: Dontoria Hivesprawl was the largest of all Vigilus' inhabited regions. It was noted for one thing above all else -- its overpopulation. As a result, when one of Mankind's darkest and most ancient enemies decided to make Dontoria its playground, the consequences were devastating.The bustle and mayhem of Dontoria's streets was bewildering, even before the coming of the Cicatrix Maledictum. The black market barons and czars in control of that hivesprawl knew well enough that building tall was a waste of resources. Unlike many of their peers, who were too hidebound, unimaginative or afraid of bucking the rules to stop building upward, they had instead opted to spread as wide as possible -- even if that meant narrowing the streets to the point that entire regions became one vast contiguous hab-block.As a result of this land grab, the buildings were packed in close together, every available space capitalised upon so much so that people had to rub shoulders and share humid air if they wished to proceed above ground. To enter the subterranean levels brought its own risks. Down there, power cuts were common, and those stranded in the darkness did not always come back out.Such a rich, teeming source of human life attracted predators and other baleful influences, just as shoals of vexenkrill attract the leviathans of the ocean deeps. The Drukhari operating from the secret Webway portal found in the southern arctic region of Kaelac's Bane had taken to using the chaos to raid the hivesprawl more than once, taking a rich haul of slaves back to their base.The Cult of the Pauper Princes, seeing in the sprawl a great many converts-to-be, spread from Megaborealis to infest its lower levels and began the slow, insidious life cycle of their Patriarch all over again. But the false continent's doom was to come from another source entirely.In the year 2.230 post VCM.M41, Dontoria's principal spaceport -- Litmus Dock -- received reports of an unknown vessel inbound. It was a pattern of vessel that even the Tech-adepts seconded from Megaborealis considered ancient, encrusted with the filth of millennia and some manner of strange caulk that made its shape seem as much organic as mechanical. A rain of filth drizzled from its hatchways and airlocks as it came down, its crew ignoring the increasingly insistent calls for its animus codes.When the dock's garrison opened fire upon the vessel with their Icarus Autocannon emplacements, some manner of shield repelled the shots. Even Lascannons proved unable to pierce the unaccountably strong barrier. The ship docked, by now surrounded by Arbitrators and garrison troops. Its hatches clunked open, and stumbling outcame a crowd of distended, bloated mutants -- the ambulatory corpses known as Gellerpox Infected.Their assault on the garrison was easily put down by disciplined lasfire, but that which followed was all but impervious -- a detachment of Death Guard. Their bulbous and horned silhouettes identified them as the same Heretic Astartes that had assailed Ultramar not long before. A fierce close-range firefight broke out, but the Death Guard shrugged off all but the most direinjuries. They used the Infected as fleshy shields, quickly going toground via the underway dry docks of Litmus' lower levels.With coordination at an all-time low due to the effects of the Noctis Aeterna and the myriad other threats upon Vigilus, the hunt for the invaders was not reinforced. No armed force was keen on rooting out entrenched Heretic Astartes, but many of the elite Imperial Guardsmen and those Arbitrators with a keen sense of duty braced themselves and went into the depths. Most found nothing. Others found painful death.When Tempestor Naiod ordered the lower levels firebombed within a two-kilometre radius, the Imperial forces considered the matter closed. Naiod withdrew his 98th Lamdic Oxen Tempestus Scions from the operation, and the hunt slowly ground to a halt. Only when a strange plague started to manifest across the district did it become clear that the scions of Nurgle had been diligent indeed.Sickness and disease in Dontoria was commonplace, a natural by-product of having such a high population density. By and large the hivesprawl had become inured to it; even when hundreds of thousands of lives were claimed by affluenza, dry lung or red smog fever. However, rumours of a strange supernatural plague were emanating from the districts around Litmus Dock, a disease that melded flesh with metal to form hideous blends of man, machine and daemonic anatomy.With each solar day the reports became more prevalent until the entire area was on the verge of panic. Only the Rogue Trader Delarique du Languille, operating out of Litmus' highest spire on her quest to chart the Nachmund Gauntlet, recognised the disease for what it was -- the Gellerpox. It was a sickness contracted on long journeys through the Immaterium where the voidship's Geller Field had glitched long enough for baleful Warp energies to enter the vessel, and it mingled the paranormal maladies of the Plague God Nurgle with the flesh and metal cybernetic hybridisation so common to the ranks of the Imperium -- especially those of the Adeptus Mechanicus.Du Languille theorised that the disease had been deliberately carried to the hivesprawl by the Death Guard, who then released it amongst the population before going to ground. It spread like wildfire. The citizenry were soon up in arms, burning the infected wherever they were uncovered -- but in doing so, driving the rest into hiding. In the slums and shanty towns of Dontoria's Pravdus and Grodholev Subsprawls, the infected creatures known as Twisted Lords rose to prominence, each the monarch of his own ever-growing band of Gellerpox mutants and nightmarish, hulking terrors.The streets thronged with giant vermin, twisted beyond biological limits into monstrosities, gutters were thick with sludge-grubs, and eyestinger swarms flitted through the skies in search of fresh prey. The blessings of Father Nurgle were well and truly upon Dontoria, and it would take a herculean effort to banish them.Using her own ship and high Imperial status to travel from Litmus Dock to Saint's Haven, du Languille requested extensive quarantine measures from the ruling Aquilarian Council -- though privately, she feared her revelation was already too late.
User:Montonius/Sandbox - The Adeptus Astartes Come: With the Noctis Aeterna stealing away the guiding light of the Astronomican, most Space Marine forces had arrived on Vigilus piecemeal, or not at all. Those that made planetfall hit home with punitive force.The elements of the Adeptus Astartes that reached Vigilus first had already been en route from the Stygius System when the Great Rift suddenly appeared. They had therefore made it to the system with but a single Warp translation. This had been fraught and unusually violent, but in comparison to the suffering endured by the other Space Marine Chapters that later headed for Vigilus, it was a relatively short ordeal to endure. The true odyssey was undertaken by those Chapters that would come to the world later.The first Space Marines to make landfall were far from numerous -- small but potent strike forces that were less than Chapter strength even had then been counted together as a single military unit. They were engaged in battle within seconds of setting foot upon the planet, for it is in the nature of Space Marines to attack from above with speed and surety.In the Hyperia hivesprawl, the Brazen Claws set about slaughtering the Ork menace in as efficient and mercilessa fashion as possible, hoping to stem the tide of Greenskins that encroached upon the richest of the false continents -- and its seat of governance.Hyperia Hivesprawl, long defended by the Vigilant Guard and the Adepta Sororitas Order of Our Martyred Lady, had succeeded in holding the Orks at bay for over a Terran year by the time the Brazen Claws arrived. Using the vaststructures of each building as ready-made keeps and conceding the ground floors to the Ork menace when necessary, theallied forces used stairwells, alleyways and crypt entrances as choke points to hold back the green tide.Yet their orders from Vigilus' Aquilarian Council were explicit, and oft repeated -- they were to defend, to hold their position in case of any surprise assault or assassination attempt that might threaten their highborn masters.Because of this, they were robbed of the ability to counterattack -- to land a killing blow upon the reeling foe. As it was, even when beaten soundly, the Greenskins regrouped and always came back for more within a matter of solar days. It was only when the striking red-and-blue heraldry of the Brazen Claws appeared in the streets that Orks were trapped, caught between the hammer of the Space Marine armoured assault on the outskirts and the anvil of the Imperial troops in the city proper. From that point on, the south of Hyperia Hivesprawl remained under Imperial control.The Iron Hands took the fight to Megaborealis, recognising the macro-structures of their Adeptus Mechanicus allies.The Space Wolves concentrated their attacks upon Oteck Hivesprawl, for they had received word of a xenos infestation there that would test their hunting skills.The strike forces hit hard, but so disparate were their attacks they failed to make any global impact -- indeed, for instance, the Space Wolves hardly communicated at all with Kardan Stronos, the leader of the Iron Hands contingent, and did not coordinate their assault in any real way.After briefly communicating their intent to the Planetary Governor's council, a process that in itself provedfrustrating and counter-intuitive, none of the Space Marine Chapters thereafter sent representatives to the war councils of Saint's Haven. Astartes were made to fight, and to kill, and spending hours in debate with Imperial bureaucrats was not their way. Instead they focused their efforts on communicating with their Chapter brothers, no matter how distant they might be.As they made their way from the Vigilus System's Mandeville Point to orbit the planet itself, the ships ofthe Space Wolves, Iron Hands and Brazen Claws had passed several worlds that appeared to be underheavy Chaos attack.The Librarians of the respective strike forces sent psychic missives as best they could to their Chapter Masters, hoping more reinforcements would be sent in time.No mental communion could be attempted without risking dire consequences now that the Great Rift split the Imperium, rendering even the most stable astropathic duct volatile. Even a planet-to-planet communiqués could cause a sender's mind to be rent apart. Nonetheless, all knew that the situation was dire, and the notion of duty was so thoroughly ingrained in the Adeptus Astartes that not one Librarian shirked from the task of communicating with their Chapter to call for reinforcements.From the relative sanctity of the Terran side of the rift, the so-called Imperium Sanctus, word spread of Vigilus' plight and newfound strategic importance in the wake of the Great Rift's birth, and fleets were mustered from a dozen Chapter homeworlds to head out for the mouth of the Nachmund Gauntlet.In the dead of night, whilst en route to Vanantis IX, Marneus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines had been visited by a vision of his old friend Varro Tigurius. He was glad to see that ghostly apparition, at first, for he knew that this was not simply some insubstantial dream -- the Ultramarines' Chief Librarian was reaching out psychically to him in his astral form, and evidently he had a message of great import to convey.The projected image of Tigurius pressed his spectral index fingers against Calgar's temples. In that momentthe terrible knowledge gleaned by the Chief Librarian was imparted,a collage of mental images and powerful symbolism that seared itself into Calgar's mind.That link might have driven a lesser man to madness, but despite the recent ordeal of his surgical enhancement to Primaris Space Marine status, an agonising process known as crossing the Rubicon Primaris, Calgar withstood the mental blitz, parsing and compartmentalising the flood of images almost as fast as they entered his mind.The high council of Macragge had need of him as their sword and shield in the Imperium Nihilus; the Ultramarines Primarch Roboute Guilliman himself had ordered that Vigilus could not be allowed to fall. Then the image of Tigurius faded, tears of blood streaking his cheeks, and was gone. But the deed was done, and soon a new host of angels took flight.Marneus Calgar was well known across the Imperium as a strategic genius, a true successor to his gene-father, Roboute Guilliman. Guided by the advice of his mentor, Ortan Cassius, the Chapter Master defended the empire ofUltramar from countless foes. It was Calgar's strategic acumen that broke Hive Fleet Behemoth as it ventured hungrily across the Eastern Fringe, defended the Imperium against Heretic Astartes, and devastated theNecrons of Damnos. Much of this he achieved in close collaboration with his old friend, Varro Tigurius.In the years before the opening of the Great Rift, Calgar had found his Chief Librarian to be distant, haunted even, prone to staring into nothingness for solar minutes at a time unless spoken to directly. Some said he had glimpsed the true vastness of the void beyond the known limits of the galaxy. Others maintained that in psychically duelling the synapse creatures of the Tyranid species, and even prying into the minds of their fallen, he had touched the Hive Mind, and it had left an indelible mark on his soul.Perhaps it was that latter connection that had alerted Tigurius to the swarming dangers of the Genestealer Cultboiling up from beneath Vigilus' crust; perhaps it was his greater perspective of the shape of the galaxy, and its fate should he fail, that gave him the insight he imparted to his Chapter Master. The Chief Librarian did not say, and never would.Though the Ultramarines had a long and harrowing journey to reach Vigilus, Lord Calgar arrived to lead a full four companies into battle. He aimed to command the fight on every level, from the calculations of the strategic long game to the brutal onslaught of adrenalin-pounding melee.After recovering from Tigurius' strange psychic visitation, Marneus Calgar hastened to gather a relief force of every Adeptus Astartes asset he could requisition, convince or command to his side. Though all forces were already engaged in the active protection of the Imperium and the destruction of its foes, Calgar's sharp analytical mind allowed him to pare off resources from stable fronts wherever possible, repurpose war fleets that had become stranded or misplaced, and enlist several new Primaris Space Marine Chapters from the ongoing Indomitus Crusade. He had ordered his captains and fellow Chapter Masters to brief their Navigators as to what was at stake, and made haste for the Vigilus System.To make the necessary Warp jumps in time to reach the planet before it fell would have been next to impossible were it not for the astropathic link Tigurius had forged with Calgar. Surrounded by his finest Librarian disciples in the depths of the Fortress of Hera, the Ultramarines' fortress-monastery on Macragge,, the Chief Librarian mentally guided the Ultramarines fleet -- and by extension their allies -- through the madness of the Imperium Nihilus.Doing so had a terrible cost. Several Epistolaries died clawing out their own eyes, slowly consumed from the inside by the empyric ritual, just as the psykers that fuel the Astronomican are consumed by the Emperor's psychic might.Others were executed point blank by their attendant Chaplains when the telltale signs of daemonic corruptionappeared upon their bodies. Tigurius himself withered and burned under the strain, but did not falter. He collapsed, at the end, his mortal form aged by solar decades -- but only after Calgar's relief fleet had made translation into realspace and established an orbit around Vigilus.The Ultramarines armada had not reached Vigilus without suffering heavy casualties. Several Battle Barges and Strike Cruisers, each with a storied history of its own, had fallen in battle en route or been swallowed by the roiling tides of a Warp vortex. The admirals, commodores and captains of the remaining voidships gritted their teeth, squared their jaws and kept going.When the Astartes armada finally neared the Vigilus System, Calgar despatched Vanguard Space Marine strike forces to the system's other besieged planets, while his main force pressed on through the remnants of the Ork flotilla to Vigilus itself.Calgar issued communiqués to the Space Marines already on the planet below, though he did not inform the Vigilite Planetary Governor of his approach -- there was no time for diplomatic formality, and he did not wish to become embroiled in protocol and politicking. He had but one thing on his mind: swiftly and efficiently restoring order to Vigilus.The skies blazed as the Space Marines launched their planetstrike, tight formations of Drop Pods hurtling down to the critical locations Calgar had identified. In every false hivesprawl continent the Adeptus Astartes united their efforts with the local military forces, restoring hope with their sheer presence and beginning the long work of stitching the tattered patchwork of Vigilus' defences into a coherent whole.The Lord Macragge himself made straight for the tallest and grandest building of Saint's Haven, for he knew the Planetary Governor would be there in state. Whilst his Battle-Brothers fortified the palace, at times having to pacify its defenders, Calgar made haste to the chambers of the Aquilarian Council.When Calgar flung open the doors to the sumptuous, richly appointed debating hall of the Council of Cogs and demanded an explanation for the war effort thus far, he found evidence not of glory, but of rot and corruption. Ostensibly, the council was a collection of Vigilus' finest, the planet's great and good -- but all Calgar saw was a room full of feckless incompetents. As soon as the initial shock of such an Imperial luminary arriving in the flesh wore off, the council devolved into its usual backbiting, sniping and blame-slinging.Pointing a finger of accusation at the members of the council he believed to be traitors to the war effort, Calgar bade his shieldbrothers round up and remove those he found wanting. One of these malcontents, roughly seized, was exposed to have purplish, knobbled skin under his collar, well-concealed by greasepaint but stark when revealed. Another Genestealer cultist was uncovered soon after, coming to the aid of his fellow with a knife drawn from the flesh of his forearm.It was then that the council hall erupted into a cacophony. The resultant explosion of violence was swift, terminal and definite. Bolters boomed, Space Marine blades flashed red, cultists were executed, council members were bound in chains and exiled, and within the solar hour a new form of planetary governance was declared by the order of Marneus Calgar.At the head of this new order was Calgar himself, grim but purposeful. He had suspected that the Genestealer Cult uprising might have reached the highest echelons of Vigilite society, and he had no intention of allowing such a thing to ever happen again. His fellow Adeptus Astartes commanders took their places with a collection of genetically untainted, hand-picked advisors from what remained of the Aquilarian Council. The corruption of Saint's Havenhad finally been excised, and a new body of governance -- called the Vigilus Senate -- installed in its place. Coherence and comptence would now direct the war effort. Without it, Vigilus would not survive what was to come.
User:Montonius/Sandbox - Battle for the Oteck Hivesprawl: The Genestealer Cult of the Pauper Princes, having spread their influence throughout Vigilus for generations, hadinveigled themselves into the water processing industry found in the Oteck Hivesprawl. So well hidden were they, sodeeply embedded, that only the Space Wolves had senses sharp enough to hunt them down.The Space Wolves' Task Force Icepelt, drawn from the Blackmanes Great Company and under the command of the Primaris Astartes Battle Leader Haldor Icepelt, had been amongst the first wave of the Adeptus Astartes to answer Vigilus' distress calls, making planetfall only a few solar months after the Iron Hands and their Successors. Upon reaching the planet, the Fenrisians swiftly observed that the scarcity of water on Vigilus made it a critical resource, and that any who wished to conquer the planet would attempt to gain a monopoly upon its existing sources.They sent word to the Aquilarian Council that the rest of the Blackmanes Great Company was inbound, and then made haste to the great reservoirs of Oteck Hivesprawl, known as the Hollows. There they set about rooting out the insidious foes beneath the streets, determined not to let the planet's water supply fall into enemy hands.During the fierce early battles against the uprisings in the streets -- waged alongside the 14th Vigilant Guard"Mourning Stars" artillery regiment -- the Space Wolves believed they had found their true quarry lurking beneath the cityscape around Greigan Hollow. The Mourning Stars shelled the whole region, which had been deemed infested beyond recovery, before the Space Wolves charged in.In return, the cult triggered demolition charges that toppled buildings on their foes and then sent out waves of hulking, mutated assailants. Close behind came skittering Genestealers to tear apart those who dared trespass onthe cult's domain. The Space Wolves were trapped, and many of their number were slain, but they were not yet defeated.Fighting their way through the alien hordes with blade, tooth and fist, Haldor Icepelt's hunters ventured deep underneath Greigan Hollow even as the hive city above seethed in open war. Expert trackers, their senses were so preternaturally sharp they could detect the scent of the xenos leaders amongst the subterranean reek of mould, wetrock, stale urine, hyperchlorin and rotten animal carcasses.The oddly mingled scent implied a riot of out-of-control biologies -- they were tracking the Claw of the Thirsting Wyrm, a splinter gene-sect of the Pauper Princes that boasted some of the most disturbing lifeforms on the planet.Using Fenrisian fieldcraft, the Space Wolves tracked the alien hybrids through a dank labyrinth of pipes and passageways that would have confounded even other Space Marines. They had to negotiate many traps and false trails in the under-tunnels of Greigan Hollow, and fight their way past countless broods and Neophyte Hybrid assailants.Their ferocity and firepower saw them through even when the bullets were flying thick. In the depths of the infestation's heartland, they were attacked by the gene-sect's Acolyte Iconward, Gilgas Vendella, and his swollen Abominant war leader, Bregg, but even they could not stop the Space Wolves' headlong assault.The Genestealer Cult excelled at ambush, and they knew every inch of their home territory; they had spread far beneath the hivesprawl using subterfuge and disguise, working out of sight and out of mind to ensure their lairs were as defensible as possible. As Haldor and his kinband progressed, they found themselves hard-pressed once more, gradually worn down by traps, deadfalls and ambushes.A long, gruelling hunt with a fierce battle at its conclusion is a way of life upon Fenris, and the Thirsting Wyrm soon found to their cost that the sons of Russ do not tire easily. As he fought through the main purification plant of Greigan Hollow, Haldor detoured to unite with a towering Redemptor Dreadnought -- Asger the Frozen. The cybernetic war machine's piston-driven strength let him smash a path through rockcrete walls and wrench foot-thick pipes aside whenever the strike force's path was barred.Learning of a vast amount of rigged explosives planted in caches throughout the hive city above, Haldor resolved to turn this would-be booby trap to his advantage. He sent word over the company Vox to his brothers in the Blackmanes Great Company in the wider war zone, telling them to sniff out any caches of explosives they couldfind and prime them to detonate at a set time.His plan was to trigger a simultaneous detonation above the main macro-duct and collapse a vast chunk of the city into the substrata below. He calculated that this would stop the flow of polluted water through the undergroundpipes to the other hivesprawls. Even if Oteck could not be saved, there was some hope for the other Vigilite metropolises' survival.The cultists of the Thirsting Wyrm had spread throughout the Oteck reservoirs' infrastructure, and had been spiking the waters with chemicals and foul elixirs. Some of these were brewed from their own xenos-tainted blood -- solutions that rendered the populace more susceptible to the psychic hypnosis and mental suggestion of their masters -- whilst others were corrupted by the corpses of those who had died in the cult's service.Successive generations of the gene-sect polluted the water still further until it had a faint purplish hue at times, or a wan yellow at others. Then, at the beginning of the uprising in 1.823 post VCM.M41, hundreds of pipe-worker teams and filtration crews had revealed themselves as mutant hybrid cultists. Those traitors had swiftly seized the artillery emplacements and flak batteries around each reservoir, killing those still loyal to the Emperor before taking over the water purification plants one by one. For all their cunning, however, they met their match in the Space Wolves of Ragnar Blackmane's Great Company.The cult boiled from the shadows in ever greater numbers, and still the Space Wolves refused to give up. In the ensuing battles the cult troops were cut apart by power axe, piston-driven claw and hypersteel knife, or else blasted to steaming cadavers by tight volleys of mass-reactive shells.Under the direction of Gilgas Vendella, the Thirsting Wyrm fell back in a series of deliberate retreats to lure theSpace Wolves into a killing field where the long-hidden explosives could be brought to bear -- but in doing so, they conceded the ground that Haldor sought to demolish.It was Haldor himself that set off the last in a circular chain of demolition caches that ringed the city in fire, shaking that district of the metropolis to its core. A half-mile wide section of Greigan Hollow collapsed into the under-levels below -- and in doing so blocked off the macro-duct polluting the reservoirs. The remnants of the district were reclaimed by Imperial troops soon afterwards.That saga-worthy deed was not in vain, for it stopped much of the xenos corruption in Vigilus' veins from flowing any further. A subsequent cleanse-and-purge operation launched by the Deathwatch deemed the water too polluted to recover. Two of the five Hollows of Vigilus -- Greigan and Agamemnus -- were pronounced Condemnatus, and the others were put under vigil extremis. The planet's precious water resources remained in dire peril.
User:Montonius/Sandbox - The Saim-Hann Vendetta: The Aeldari of Craftworld Saim-Hann had divined that Vigilus was of paramount importance in the battleagainst the Great Enemy. During the first phase of the War of Beasts, they sent some of their fiercest clan warriors to tip the scales of fate against the nascent Chaos uprising that was also gathering pace on the planet in the midst of all its other difficulties.The governing Seer Council of Saim-Hann, at the insistence of Farseer Anvirr Keltoc, petitioned the clan chieftains to head through the Webway towards Vigilus. The Aeldari were hard-pressed as always defending their own territory from Chaos incursion, but nonetheless sent a small force into the Labyrinth Dimension, for they knew the Farseer would not send them on such an errand unless it would further the Craftworld's own agenda. At the head of the Webway force was the Autarch Rhyloor of Clan Moirec. Alongside him was his close relative, the Spiritseer Qelanaris.Farseer Keltoc had determined through his psychic auguries that the critical point of Vigilus' fate could be shifted by the assassination of a single individual -- Vannadan the Firebrand. Originally of Storvhal stock, this demagogue had roused the populace of that volcanic region of Vigilus, converting them to the worship of a fiery god that he alone knew was Tzeentch, the Changer of the Ways.With the seeds of rebellion sown in the fertile ground of Storvhal, he had moved on the poorer districts of Hyperia, seeking to convert the people there to his Chaos creed. Should he be allowed to succeed, Farseer Keltoc had foreseen that an industrial magma eruption would be triggered in Storvhal, causing a chain reaction that would stretch to the Martyr's Pyre district of the planetary capital at Saint's Haven. This would kill many of the hivesprawl's leaders, and destroy the planet's ruling council.The Aeldari force emerged from the Webway gate in the west of the southern polar region of Kaelac's Bane, the spirit divinations of Qelanaris enabling them to avoid the Drukhari that also made use of that gate and raided from the blizzards. Making haste upon sleek Jetbikes or riding within Wave Serpent transports, the Aeldari sped through the clouds towards their target.They found Vannadan preaching his rhetoric exactly where Keltoc had said he would be. Eschewing coordination with Imperial forces, their killing strike was swift -- after a brief and bloody battle, Vannadan's lacerated body was pitched into the street.But the flashing blurs of Saim-Hann's Jetbikes had not gone unnoticed, and the Aeldari's sudden appearance in Hyperia had been reported to what was then still the Aquilarian Council. The planet's rulers, upon hearing that a force of Aeldari was engaged in the slaughter of citizens, assumed them to be the same breed as the Drukhari that had been reported raiding the Oteck and Dirkden Hivesprawls.The council sent orders for a retributive strike, and within solar minutes an airborne team of Militarum Tempestus special forces descended from the skies. Dropping into the fray on Grav-Chutes, the 47th AntrellLions surrounded the Aeldari even as the xenos killed the last of Vannadan's tainted rebels. Qelanaris attempted a parley, explaining that they had excised a canker at the heart of the humans' realm.His words were met with a barrage of firepower. Autarch Rhyloor was gunned down, and most of the Windriders of his kinband were slain alongside him in that first bloody act. Qelanaris and the survivors withdrew, vowing a bloody revenge.Qelanaris made haste for the Kaelac's Bane Webway gate, taking the Spirit Stones of his slain comrades with him. Upon returning to Saim-Hann he used all his arts as a Spiritseer to install the souls of his kindred in wraithbone Ghost Warrior shells. He did not seek the sanction of the Seer Council for his vengeance, and did not heed the warnings of the other Saim-Hann clans. He and his kindred would have their vengeance, even if it meant raising the dead to do so.Several Terran years later, when Qelanaris returned to Vigilus in the third phase of the war, he sought revenge not only against the thuggish Imperial infantry that had gunned his people down, but the commanders that had orchestrated the strike. He did not know that by this point the Aquilarian Council had been replaced with the far more competent Vigilus Senate.Moving fast, the strike force of the Aeldari living and dead brought their vendetta against the seat of governance itself -- the Aquilarian Palace. There Qelanaris was to meet his match against the Ultramarines of Marneus Calgar.One of Calgar's first acts as the new ruler of Vigilus had been to reorder its military command structure. This decision was not taken lightly, but with undeniable evidence of the Genestealer Cult that infested the planet having reached its highest echelons, the act was clearly necessary. The doors of the Senate Hall were locked, and those dignitaries Calgar had allowed to remain were ordered to tell all they knew of the war effort upon Vigilus thus far.With a united front established, the first step on the road to eventual victory was knowledge and communication. The members of the Vigilus Senate found it easy to speak openly in the presence of the Lord Macragge, and progress was swiftly made.The reorganisation of the Imperial war machine on the planet was by no means confined to its commanders. In order to keep the new Vigilus Senate focused on the demands of the wider war, Calgar gathered an elite band of Ultramarines chosen from across the Battle Companies at his disposal, their duty to bar the path of any who would try for a decapitating strike upon what was now essentially the Imperial High Command.This force Calgar called the "Extremis Guard," led by Lieutenant Eothrus -- a rising Primaris Astartes hero who had already proven himself in the long and baleful wars fought by the Ultramarines after the opening of the Great Rift against Mortarion's Death Guard.Eothrus was one of the finest minds in the Ultramarines 2nd Company, and had a statesman's political wisdom that echoed that of the Ultramarines Primarch himself. The appointment proved wise; within solar days of the Extremis Guard's formation, they engaged, stalled and ultimately saw off an Aeldari attack that could have crippled the entire Vigilus command structure.When Lieutenant Eothrus and his Extremis Guard moved to intercept the Aeldari that had slaughtered the Antrell Lions at the eastern gates of the Aquilarian Palace, he became embroiled in a battle of distractions, feints and false flights. Whilst the bulk of his force took on the jetbikers that moved like lightning through the plazas and gatehouses of the palace, he moved to cut off any thrust aimed for the palace's most vital chambers. It was an insightful move, and sure enough, Eothrus found Qelanaris making for the Senate Hall.Eothrus approached with the intention of forming a truce, perhaps even an alliance. He had heard from the Space Wolves Battle Leader Haldor Icepelt, who had fought alongside the red-armoured Aeldari in the Stygius war zone, that the warrior codes of Saim-Hann were honourable. That day, however, Qelanaris' code was only one of revenge.A bitter struggle broke out, Aeldari slain by plasma and Bolter fire even as the Primaris Marines were torn apart by Wraithcannon fire. The Saim-Hann warband pushed through the Ultramarines cordon, pinning them with a storm ofshurikens and blasting at the doors of the Senate Hall. They were within striking distance of their goal when the doors opened of their own accord -- and a quartet of Space Marine Chapter Masters stormed out, their Honour Guards close behind. Qelanaris was forced to flee for his life, robbed of his final revenge.
User:Montonius/Sandbox - Drukhari Incursions: The Drukhari of Commorragh are much-feared murderous raiders that appear from nowhere to snatch away the unwary. On Vigilus they emerged from a hidden Webway portal located in the southern polar region of Kaelac's Bane, the frequency of their raids increasing massively when the Noctis Aeterna fell across the planet.The so-called "Dark Eldar" were a constant thorn in the side of the Imperium, and with the coming of the Noctis Aeterna, that thorn proved to be a poisoned one. Their raiding tactics, thriving upon anarchy, fear andconfusion, meant they found the worlds of the Imperium Nihilus very much to their taste.With the communications that linked one Imperial force to another disrupted to the point of falling apart completely, the Drukhari were able to lance deep into Imperial territory and escape back out again before retribution could be brought against them. The Imperial war machine, already cumbersome and sluggish in comparison to the lightning raiders of the Drukhari, were disrupted further by Vox-ghosts that confused and obfuscated orders.When the Drukhari raiders used their mastery of technology to lace these already-fraught communiques with thescreams of those they had abducted, disorder and panic broke out even amongst the veteran regiments of the Astra Militarum.The opening stages of the War of Beasts saw the warriors of the Drukhari Kabals strike hard and fast at the cryo-geologist miner groups that sought to syphon water from the Glacia Betus and Glacia Omicroid macroquarries in Kaelac's Bane. What had started as occasional predation escalated into large scale war, and within a few solar months of the Great Rift's appearance in the skies of Vigilus half of Kaelac's Bane was denuded of all life save that of theDrukhari.From there they spread their invasions across the west of Dirkden and deep into the south of Oteck hivesprawl, their raids growing bolder and more devastating with every passing solar week. Yet as horrific as these raids were, the true toll the Drukhari would take upon the Imperial war effort of Vigilus would only come to light later in the war.
Ussax - Ussax: Ussax, called "the Blight-master," is a veteran Heretic Astartes of the Death Guard Traitor Legion, and known as one of the Daemon Primarch Mortarion's inner circle of Death Guard Sorcerers.He is well known to the Ordo Malleus and to the Grey Knights, having been responsible for countless millions of deaths throughout the millennia.The Blight-master also bears the Mark of Nurgle, taking the form of numerous lesion-runes etched all over the sloughing flesh of his body. And at all times, Ussax is surrounded by a thick, black cloud of bloated flies, hampering any efforts to attack him from long range.
Ussax - History: Ussax is held to be one of the most darkly gifted concoctors of blights, afflictions and plagues serving the Death Guard Legion, and his recent appearance in the warzones of the Jericho Reach, attended by a cadre of Plague Marines, is a cause for much concern amongst those with knowledge of what he is capable of.According to recent findings presented to the Watch Fortress Erioch's Chamber of Vigilance, Blight-master Ussax has been present in the Reach for around three Terran years, travelling from one warzone to the next.At each battlefield, he gathers up a grim and unspeakable harvest from the dead and the dying, before returning to some as yet undiscovered fastness to concoct his latest ague.This he then unleashes upon the next battlefield he attends, once more harvesting the bodies of the victims. Thus, so it is feared, the Blight-master is in some blasphemous manner refining his plagues, using the raging conflicts of the Jericho Reach as some vile breeding ground for new, Warp-borne epidemics.
Utorian Denash - Utorian Denash: Utorian Denash is a Deathwatch Chapter watch master who is the current watch commander of the Fort Pykman watch fortress in the Ghoul Stars of the Imperium Nihilus. Denash is a hard-like Puritan who claims his constant vigilance against the Imperium's xenos foes shall never end.
Uttam Luna Hesh Udar - Uttam Luna Hesh Udar: Uttam Luna Hesh Udar was a Custodian of the Legio Custodes during the Great Crusade and early Horus Heresy eras in the 30th and early 31st Millennia. Fighting on the frontlines of the Great Crusade, Uttam was sorely wounded while deployed against the Orks. He soon found his physical reaction times were no longer optimal and he was forced to retire from the frontlines.He was then charged with a solemn duty as lead gaoler of the high security prison of Khangba Marwu, better known as "The Vault." Uttam was later killed during the performance of his duties when a group of prisoners -- all Astartes of the Traitor Legions -- managed to initiate a desperate escape.
Uttam Luna Hesh Udar - History: During the Horus Heresy, Udar was the lead gaoler of the subterranean high security prison built to detain those individuals deemed hostile to the Emperor and isolated from the world above. Built beneath the Himalazian peak known as Rakaposhi, only the most senior Custodians bothered to use its original name, Khangba Marwu, and for those condemned to its cells, who would never again see the light of day, it had an altogether more prosaic name. They knew it simply as "The Vault." Udar was removed from the fighting ranks of the Legio Custodes after being exposed to an Ork bacteriological pathogen, whose aftereffects greatly reduced his reflexive response times to a level below the minimum required for frontline service amongst the Custodians.A proud man, Udar took his removal from active duty hard, but eventually adapted and took to his new role as a gaoler at The Vault with the same determination and attention to detail that had seen him come the closest to the full infiltration of the Imperial Palace in the Blood Games until his peer Amon Tauromachian bested him. During his tenure, Udar was charged with watching the last remnants of the Outcast Dead -- a small group of Astartes warriors drawn from the Traitor Legions who were the last of the Crusader Host, an honour guard of Space Marines comprised of representatives from each of the 18 Space Marine Legions that served on a rotational basis within the Imperial City outside the Imperial Palace on Terra. Udar was slain when the Outcast Dead engineered a successful escape attempt. Udar was killed as he confronted one of the berserker World Eaters Astartes in close combat. The berserker in question, Sergeant Tagore, ripped out a section of Udar's spine through his chest, just as he had promised the gaoler he would during his confinement.
Uzas - Uzas: Uzas was a Khornate Berserker and the former Sergeant of 4th Claw of the Night Lords Traitor Legion. He would eventually join 1st Claw and serve under the leadership of Talos Valcoran on the Strike Cruiser Covenant of Blood, which was captained by the Possessed Chaos Space Marine known as "The Exalted". He was despised by his comrades in 1st Claw for his mindless slaughter of crew slaves and undisciplined nature in combat. Talos was subjected to the manipulations of his immediate superior, as well as those of the powerful Chaos Lord Abaddon the Despoiler, which placed him and his warriors in mortal danger time and again.
Uzas - History: Like his comrades Talos and Xarl, Uzas was raised in the poor and crime-stricken heart of Nostramo. He would join the Night Lords Legion during the latter portion of the Great Crusade and would later take part in the epic final battle of the Horus Heresy during the Battle of Terra. At one point he reached the rank of Sergeant for the 4th Claw of the 10th Company, however, the destruction of his squad would lead to him being transferred to the 1st Claw as a standard tactical marine.
Uzas - Falling to Chaos: Once a proud and honourable fighter, by the end of the 41st Millennium, Uzas had fallen deeply into the clutches of Khorne, becoming a Khornate Berzeker in both practice and mind. He was the only member of 1st Claw to ever outwardly show his service to any of the Chaos Gods, though he was not alone in his interests. He would become despised by his comrades in 1st Claw who saw Uzas as a liability and loose cannon for his undisciplined nature in combat and his often mindless slaughter of crew slaves aboard the Covenant of Blood and later the Echo of Damnation. His long "fall" into becoming a Khorne Berzerker was an irritant and a source of constant grief and annoyance to Talos, who remembered Uzas' glory years of the past. Despite Uzas' more bloodthirsty tendencies always bubbling at the surface, at times, his psyche would temporarily reach temporary states of lucidity, which provided him moments of clarity and wisdom.
Uzas - Death: After Uzas slew the Night Lord Tor Xal of 3rd Claw, the murdered Legionary's comrades attempted to exact their revenge by murdering Uzas in turn. This eventually led Talos in a bloody confrontation against his fellow Night Lords to defend his former friend. During one of his very temporary moments of clarity, Uzas came to the realisation that Cyrion, a fellow comrade of 1st Claw and close friend of Talos, was actually responsible for committing many of the murders aboard the Echo of Damnation for which Uzas was accused of committing. To make matters worse, Cyrion had been deliberately framing Uzas to cover up for his own murderous acts.When Uzas later confronted Cyrion on Tsagualsa about the latter's own penchant for preying upon mortal crewm slaves, Cyrion attacked his accuser, which in turn, enraged Uzas into attacking him. Thinking was just another case of Uzas having one of his bouts of bloodlust, Talos was tricked into aiding Cyrion and killing the blood-maddened Night Lord. Unable to speak due to his grievous wound he sustained, he was unable to thank Talos before he died. Wounded, Cyrion lied to Talos about the reason why Uzas had attacked him, and later died shortly thereafter, taking this secret to the grave.
Uzas - Personality: As his allegiance to the Chaos God Khorne would suggest, Uzas was a violent and uncontrollable individual who quickly won the hatred of those who fought at his side. Uzas did however show a strong loyalty to his legion and, sometimes, his squad throughout his corruption. He also showed moments of his former intelligence, letting loose a verse of wisdom in between his spouts of rage and confusion.
Uzas - Wargear: Artificer Armour - Uzas' battle-plate was an amalgamation of scavenged pieces won in battle or taken from the bodies of fallen brothers of the Night Lords Legion.Chainaxe - Uzas' chainaxe was taken from the corpse of Sar Zell, the former Devastator Marine for 1st Claw, who died during Tsagualsa's fall, when he was killed by the Ultramarines.BolterLegion Gladius
Uzas - Trivia: Užas means terror or horror in Serbian and Croatian.
Va'Jiya - Va'Jiya: Va'Jiya is a world of deep, dark forests and fetid swamps, and due to its extremely slow rate of rotation its day/night cycle is several standard months in length.An unusual eco-system has developed around this cycle, in which the forests undergo rapid growth during the long "day," followed by an equally rapid decomposition period during the "night." As the sun slowly rises once more, new shoots sprout forth from the sludge and amidst the skeletons of dead trees and the cycle begins anew.The dark stinking forests of Va'Jiya are populated by numerous tribes of savage Humans, the descendants of some long-forgotten colony mission that evidently failed. The tribes have developed into separate, highly individual groups that wage a continuous and bitter war against one another.The tribal warriors are hyper-violent in their methods, and every aspect of their culture is centred upon death and war, from their primitive religion to the construction of their fortified settlements.Advanced technology has long since vanished from Va'Jiya, although some barely recognisable vestiges of failed artefacts are still to be found in use as improvised weaponry.Va'Jiyan society has developed a means of controlling its unregulated psyker population, an order called the "Red Lodge" existing apart from the tribes, fulfilling a similar role to that of the League of Black Ships in the Imperium.The hooded envoys of the Red Lodge visit each settlement at least once in every three day/night cycles and demand that any children who have developed the "Sign" be handed over to them. Where these latent psykers are taken or what their fate might be is not known.The T'au discovered Va'Jiya and its primitive Human population several solar decades ago, but the Water Caste has been unsuccessful in its attempts to initiate any sort of negotiation with the tribes. Every attempt at peaceful contact has been met with violence, and the T'au are currently considering exactly what should be done about the situation.As a life-sustaining world Va'Jiya has an intrinsic value to the T'au Empire, yet it does not appear to harbour especially desirable or abundant natural resources.Very brief studies of the world's unusual flora have turned up some interesting findings however, and so the Earth Caste has petitioned for more expeditionary missions to be undertaken.The T'au have considered unleashing a large force of Kroot against the tribes in an effort to suppress the savage natives or at least push them back to within a contained area.The matter is further complicated by the need to keep the Imperium from discovering the tribes of Va'Jiya, for the T'au fear that the hyper-violent natives might be all too willing to rejoin their kin and to fight against the T'au Empire and the Greater Good.
Vaedrian Shenol - Vaedrian Shenol: Vaedrian Shenol is a watch master of the Deathwatch Chapter who serves as the watch commander of Watcher Keep, a watch fortress that lies on the border between the Segmentum Pacificus and Segmentum Tempestus.In the wake of the Great Rift's creation in the Era Indomitus, Shenol has seen an increase in the number of xenophiles within the Imperium. These are Humans who feel that since xenos are also threatened by the forces of Chaos, the Imperium should fight alongside them against their shared foe.The watch master considers these people to be Heretics who would foolishly have Humanity put its trust in inhuman monsters that would gladly betray Mankind at the first chance. Shenol has declared that there can be no tolerance, no compromise, and no peace with aliens -- only war and the Imperium's endless purgation of the xenos threat.
Vagabond-class Merchant Trader - Vagabond-class Merchant Trader: A Vagabond-class Merchant Trader is a common, relatively small merchant voidship employed in interstellar commerce by the merchant fleets of the Imperium. A common sight throughout the Calixis Sector and much of the rest of the galaxy, Vagabonds are small, multi-purpose merchant vessels able to transport a wide variety of cargos and even passengers. Popular amongst the poorer Chartist Captains, these ships are unassuming but reliable, and have even been known to mount small broadsides and prow weapons batteries for limited defence.The Imperium swarms with transport vessels. Millions of these civilian voidcraft plough the space lanes, ferrying pilgrims, ore, fuel, foodstuffs, weapons, materiel, machine parts and luxury goods to untold billions of eager consumers across the galaxy.
Vagabond-class Merchant Trader - Dimensions: Hull: TransportClass: Vagabond-class Merchant TraderDimensions: 2 kilometres long, approximately 0.4 kilometres abeamMass: 8 megatonnes approximatelyCrew: 18,000 crew approximatelyAcceleration: 2.1 gravities maximum sustainable acceleration
Vakillar U'riss - Vakillar U'riss: Vakillar U'riss, the "Mistress of the Theatre of Pain," is a Drukhari Haemonculus and a lead member of the Conclave of Tears.Also called "the Excrutiatress" across a dozen and more sectors along the Eastern Fringe, she is a being of whom bloody folktales have been told for several thousand Terran years.Indeed, the Excrutiatress is not merely a mistress of slaughter and desecration of the flesh, but an artist; her atrocities are pinnacles of twisted achievement and each one drives her on to greater heights.She has even twisted her body into a horror of the utmost artistry, each wicked curve or venomous barb optimised for both bloody efficiency and elegant terror.Worse still, her body is her living canvas, dynamic and ever-shifting as she changes and enhances herself to suit her present needs.On her person, she carries countless samples, specimens, and sundries stored in crystal-glass microphials, including a collection of eyes harvested from species across the galaxy.
Vakillar U'riss - History: U'riss is a Haemonculus, one of the caste of flesh-crafters and torturer-surgeons the Drukhari of Commorragh rely upon to shape their forms into ever more extreme parodies of life and to renew them should death come before they will it.U'riss takes great delight in her work, which she undertakes for any Kabal willing and able to pay her unearthly price. Frequently, that price is yet more flesh for her infernal theatre of pain, wherein she creates the most spectacular tableau vivants ever witnessed in the Dark City.These gristly spectacles sometimes number many hundreds of participants, though only the most ennui-wracked of Drukhari would ever willingly offer themselves to perform the hideous scenes U'riss delights in reconstructing.It is said that Drukhari nobles come from all over the Dark City to bear witness to a newly revealed piece, it being the height of fashion and privilege to do so before the actors start to rot even as they struggle in vain to hold their impossible poses.Despite her unspeakable obsession with crafting such theatrical excess, U'riss is known by the inner circle of the Inquisition's Dead Cabal to be a member of the Conclave of Tears.Exactly what the Haemonculus seeks to attain by association with this mysterious Aeldari group is not known, but certainly it must offer her some advantage or prize she could not otherwise attain for herself.The Drukhari are, after all, the most selfish of a species known for their limitless self-interest, and so it seems unlikely in the extreme that she is acting out of altruism.While it might seem unusual that a Drukhari should become embroiled in the activities of the Conclave of Tears at all, it makes a certain sense that should such a thing come about, it would be a Haemonculus that represents the denizens of the Dark City in this ancient coalition.U'riss and her peers generally exist outside of the eternal and lethal power struggles of the Kabals, selling their services to those most willing to meet their exorbitant prices.The Haemonculi move in circles other Drukhari would flounder in, having the ear of the very highest ranked of nobles, some even of Asdrubael Vect, the supreme overlord of Commorragh.Though U'riss would think twice before attempting to manipulate Vect, there are a great many lesser nobles willing to act upon whatever shreds of counsel she might offer.The Excrutiatress is therefore able to wield great influence, and at her word overwhelming raids into realspace can be launched and thousands upon thousands of bloodthirsty murderers unleashed upon the galaxy.It is not only large realspace raids that are undertaken upon the Excrutiatress' command, for most of her activities are far smaller and more subtle, in keeping with the modus operandi of the Conclave of Tears. Accompanied by a small force of Wracks and Grotesques, U'riss has trod numerous forbidden places in the outer Jericho Reach.She maintains an uneasy alliance with the Black Prince Ebahn Lauma and on occasion the two have pooled their resources to act in concert. The Haemonculus is said to barely speak with Erandel Voidsinger, the Farseer of Kaelor, though the two maintain a cold civility in council when the Conclave of Tears meets.
Vakrah Jal - Vakrah Jal: The Vakrah Jal, also known as the Chapter of Consecrated Iron, was a chapter of the Word Bearers Legion whose member Chaos Space Marines were recruited from the survivors of the companies of the XVIIth Legion that were devastated on the killing fields of Isstvan V during the Drop Site Massacre.Argel Tal, the Crimson Lord of the elite Possessed Chaos Space Marines known as the Gal Vorbak, gathered hundreds of leaderless Word Bearers warriors and gave them unity from ruination.Forsaking his oaths to the annihilated Chapter of the Serrated Sun he had once called his own, Chapter Master Argel Tal gained permission to raise a new chapter for the XVIIth Legion, the Vakrah Jal, in its stead. Like the Gal Vorbak before it, the Vakrah Jal was composed of many Heretic Astartes who chose to become one of the Possessed.
Vakrah Jal - History: The Emperor of Mankind initially tolerated the deep religious belief of His son Lorgar, the primarch of the Word Bearers Legion, that he was the one, true god of Mankind, but as the Great Crusade reached its height in the late 30th Millennium, the Emperor found Himself increasingly frustrated with the slow pace with which Lorgar conquered and then brought worlds into Imperial Compliance for the Imperium.When the Word Bearers were formally reprimanded by the Emperor upon the world of Khur, their faith was shaken to its very core. Khur had been a world dear to the Word Bearers, who considered its capital, Monarchia, the "perfect city" because of the intense religious devotion of its citizens and the sheer number of cathedrals and monuments dedicated to the worship of the Emperor as a god.But the Emperor had ordered Roboute Guilliman and his Ultramarines Legion to raze it. Feeling betrayed by the Emperor, Lorgar led his Word Bearers in search of those gods of the so-called "Old Faith" once worshipped on his homeworld of Colchis in ancient days who not only accepted the zealous worship of Mankind, but demanded it.Lorgar ordered his XVIIth Legion to find these gods, and so the Word Bearers undertook a sacred journey to the Eye of Terror to make communion with these entities in what became known as the Pilgrimage of Lorgar. Thus were the seeds of the Horus Heresy first sown amongst the Word Bearers.

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