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Velk'Han - The Way of War: The Velk'Han Sept exists outside of the mainstream of the T'au Empire, and is in many ways a semi-autonomous, self-sufficient colony.When the undertaking was first mooted in the T'au Empire's ruling Council of the Highest there was a degree of opposition to the venture, with the most senior of the Earth Caste arguing that maintaining and supporting a new Sept so far outside of the empire's conventional spheres of expansion would put a huge drain on resources and require significant assets to be diverted from other fronts.The debate was ultimately carried by a combination of Fire Caste belligerence and Water Caste ambition. The warrior caste argued that only by aggressive expansion into new regions of the galaxy would the Human and other empires see both the might, and the right of the T'au way.The caste of envoys and traders saw the benefits of contact with so many worlds not ruled by the Imperium, declaring that this new region would be brought within the Greater Good for the benefit of all.What the Imperium had abandoned, the allied castes promised, the T'au would claim for their own, and in a single stroke uncounted billions of loyal servants would be brought within the unified T'au Empire.Despite the bold words, all knew that the establishment of the new Sept would be a bold undertaking, and once agreed, the Council of the Highest focused all of its attentions on the effort. A mighty war fleet was mustered, consisting of forces drawn from all of the existing Septs and all of the castes.This fleet was instructed to cross the void and establish a bridgehead on the coreward marches of the Jericho Reach, where it would consolidate and establish itself as a self-sufficient entity.While the other Septs would still contribute towards the ongoing war effort, the Velk'Han Sept was expected to be able to raise its own forces within as short a time as possible, so as not to place a drain on the empire.The first few Terran years of the undertaking went more or less entirely in the favour of the T'au, with the fleet well able to coerce those Human worlds that refused to join the T'au into doing so. Tsua'Malor was established as the Sept's principal world, and soon two dozen star systems had fallen under its control.T'au expeditionary forces ranged far and wide, probing towards the heart of the Reach and bringing the truth of the Greater Good to ever more worlds.Even when outlying, newly-contacted worlds refused to join the empire, the Water Caste envoys worked hard to sow the seeds of the T'au's doctrine within the hearts and minds of the peoples of the Reach, ready to be reaped at some point in the future as the Sept expanded.Sadly for the T'au, that next phase of expansion never occurred, for the Imperium discovered the Jericho-Maw Warp Gate at the heart of the Well of Night and launched the Achilus Crusade to expel the T'au from the Jericho Reach.Imperial forces flooded through the gate in a vengeful storm, descending on the worlds claimed by the T'au and those they had established relations with and purging any who had truck with the alien empire.In those first, desperate days the only thing that saved the Sept from complete collapse was the actions of the Imperium against the peoples of its former realm.Almost every Human world the crusade came upon refused to re-submit to the Emperor's rule, and the Imperium was forced to fight a war of reconquest against its own people before it could turn its full attentions towards the T'au.Velk'Han used this brief period of respite to undertake a massive program of arms manufacture and recruitment, and was bolstered by additional forces despatched from the distant core worlds of the T'au Empire. The newly constituted T'au force pushed forwards once more, plunging into the warzone the Imperium calls the Greyhell Front.And then, Hive Fleet Dagon appeared. The T'au had only limited experience fighting the Tyranids, and were fortunate indeed to avoid the worst of the ravenous aliens' attentions. In the short term, the T'au have benefited from the arrival of Hive Fleet Dagon, though their worlds are far from untouched.T'au spies report that Tyranid forces are putting increasing pressure on the worlds of the Canis Salient, and soon Lord Commander Sebiascor Ebongrave, commander of the Imperial forces in that region, will be forced to withdraw forces committed against the T'au in order to defend his own worlds.The T'au see this turn of events as a repeat of the final days of the Defence of the Damocles Gulf, in which an Imperial Crusade was forced to withdraw from its over-extended assault on the T'au Empire in order to commit every available resource to opposing Hive Fleet Behemoth. |
Velk'Han - The Achilus Crusade: The T'au Empire does not seek out war in the same way as the Imperium of Man, nor does it possess the mindless aggression of so many of the other xenos races encountered by the Achilus Crusade.For the T'au, war is always a measured response to a situation, an exact application of force designed to yield the most advantageous outcome. If the T'au can complete their objectives without the need for conflict, then they will often choose this path, preserving the lives of their warriors and their resources.When war is unavoidable, or is the most expedient way to expand or protect the empire, then the T'au will not shy away from it. Even though they did not seek it in the first place, like all their undertakings, T'au warfare is carefully considered and meticulously planned.Unlike the blunt force that the Imperium applies to military engagements, or even the reckless hate and attrition tactics of such species as the Tyranids or Orks, the T'au will only fight where and when they need to, either to break a foe or destroy his command and logistic support. As every Fire Caste general knows, wars are not won by simply dying for what you believe in.Within the confines of the Jericho Reach, the Velk'han Sept T'au are similar to the rest of their kin in their approach to war. The Mal'caor Shi, the commanding military of the Velk'han Sept, takes the precepts of careful planning and tactical warfare very seriously, perhaps even more so given their distance from the First Phase Worlds of the empire and consequently their reduced access to significant resupply or reinforcement.Outnumbered many times over by the seemingly endless regiments of the Astra Militarum and the supporting crusade forces, the Mal'caor Shi fights a constant battle of attack and manoeuvre to preserve its forces in the field and across the Greyhell Front.The arrival of elements of Hive Fleet Dagon has further complicated matters causing "spot fires" to spring up around the Sept and forcing them to divert cadres originally destined to oppose the Humans. The only small consolation is that the Tyranids seem to be tying up Imperial forces as well in their indiscriminate attacks.Among the greater conflicts taking place between the T'au and the Imperium, the Mal'caor Shi is also aware of the Deathwatch's involvement in the sector. At first little distinction was made between the heavy Human shock troops known as the Adeptus Astartes and the Deathwatch's black-armoured Kill-teams.Recently though, T'au strategists of the Sept have begun tracking their movements and observing their tactics as a separate entity, with the goal of developing tactics unique to dealing with them. |
Velk'Han - Fluid Warfare: The T'au see no wisdom in holding ground simply for the sake of protecting a stretch of dirt or the battered ruins of a city or town. Instead T'au warfare is based around the concept of attack and manoeuvre, and often a T'au Hunter Cadre will completely retreat from an area if it means preserving their strength for a decisive counterattack later.More than one Imperial commander has said that trying to bring a T'au to battle when he doesn't want to is like trying to grasp at smoke or chase shadows. This is largely due to the fact that the T'au always set up their defences, or plan their attacks, with solid tactical retreat plans in place.Experienced Shas'O will often have multiple rally points, escape routes and contingency plans in place for their force. Thus if they find themselves in an untenable situation, they can order a calm and ordered withdrawal with quick-moving units like Crisis Battlesuits or infiltrated ones like Stealthsuits harassing the enemy and covering the retreat.T'au armies are often completely mechanised, with ample Devilfish transports for the warriors, allowing them to outpace most enemies. |
Velk'Han - T'au Technological Superiority: While the Imperium boasts a practically limitless supply of troops to hurl into battle, the T'au's resources are far more modest. This, combined with the value they place on their own troops' lives (even their alien auxiliaries), means that the T'au will try to ensure their soldiers have the best armour, weapons and vehicles they can produce.In addition, any given task will be performed by a machine (such as a Gun Drone) if possible, rather than place a T'au life at undue risk.To this end, the T'au have developed an abundance of technology, many examples of which are among the most advanced forms encountered by the Imperium. Compared to the relatively poor equipment of the average Imperial Guardsman, each T'au has at his disposal advanced armour, potent infantry weapons and mechanised support.T'au Fire Warriors are rarely encountered alone and on foot, and usually have their own dedicated armoured transport to protect them, as well as support from vehicles like Hammerhead or Sky Ray gunships and swarms of drones with a variety of weapon systems.A greater ratio of technology to troops also means that even the lowliest Fire Warrior La'Rua can call in close air support or the aid of Crisis Battlesuit Teams. |
Velk'Han - Alien Auxiliaries: The T'au make extensive use of alien auxiliaries such as Kroot and Vespid mercenaries, numerous minor xenos species and even the Humans called Gue'vesa. These auxiliary troops are vital to the Velk'han Sept's war effort in the Jericho Reach, as the T'au alone could not hope to hold the borders of their empire against the Imperial advance.As often as not, Deathwatch Kill-teams deployed against the T'au will be facing their allies, and may never come into contact with the grey-skinned aliens at all. This becomes more prevalent for operations on the Imperial edges of the Greyhell Front, where the T'au employ large numbers of their auxiliaries as a buffer between their Sept and the Humans.While most of the auxiliaries a Kill-team will encounter will be thoroughly indoctrinated into the philosophies of the Greater Good, some may not be so committed to the T'au cause.This can be especially true among the Human regiments under T'au command or among some of the aliens indigenous to the Jericho Reach, which are simply fighting for their homeworlds and have little love of either the T'au Empire or the Imperium. |
Velk'Han - Notable Sept Worlds: Ag'Ni - Originally seen by the T'au Empire as a world perfectly suited to settlement, this was not to be the case. Ag'Ni is home to aggressive microbial life forms that are devoted to repelling any and all off-world presence, as was the case with the unfortunate T'au colonists. The Earth Caste has now devoted their technology and time to terraforming Ag'Ni for a chance at a more hospitable environment. In the meantime, Fire Caste commanders have used Ag'Ni as a testing ground for powerful experimental weapons.Amenophis IVEa - Ea is a sort of "T'au Pleasure World" used by the Ethereal Caste as a place of meditation, retirement, and relaxation. The planet is composed of tiny islands fixed atop a vividly colored violet sea. When the T'au discovered that mankind had never set foot on this paradise, they quickly colonised it.Highlock IV - High gravity and plains of ice and snow have produced a hairy, large race of Abhumans not too dissimilar from the massive Ogryns. The population of Highlock IV have since been used by the T'au Fire Caste as skilled, dedicated shock troops known as the Highlock Freemen who are often used to break open entrenched enemy infantry formations.Innana - Desirable minerals and ores are beneath the surface of this coveted, Human-settled world. Upon being encountered by the growing T'au Empire, the native Humans were offered two choices: to serve as a labour force in their homeworld's new mines or be transferred off-world to other areas of the Velk'Han Sept. The Humans agreed to leave Innana, and the planet's resources are being used by the T'au to repel the Imperial presence on the Greyhell Front.Iphigenia - Seven billion Humans have made their home on Iphingenia, living in relatively advanced, Iron Age barbaric tribes. The tribes are somewhat feudal in structure, each led by a tribal king, who are in turn ruled by a high king. However, this high king pays fealty to the T'au who are referred to as the "Grey Kings." Every so often, the high king sends the most technologically adept of the population to the T'au living in orbit on void stations as a sort of tithe. The T'au reeducate them, and these Humans are eventually assigned to Earth and Air Caste work teams.Jaya - Naturally abundant in resources, Humans had colonised this planet many standard millennia ago forming a culturally and technologically advanced society. The "Jayans" had gone through the Jericho Reach's "Age of Shadow" with little incident, but their homeworld was seen by the T'au as a perfect planet for colonisation. The initial diplomacy went well, but Jaya's Humans ultimately resisted the attempt at incorporation in the T'au Empire with war once they realised the T'au wished to annex their world. Six solar months after the outbreak of hostilities, the T'au had more or less subdued the Humans and integrated them as reluctant Gue'vesa allies. Solar decades later after more or less stable T'au rule, Hive Fleet Dagon encroached upon the Velk'han Sept and made their way to Jaya. Infection by the hive fleet's Genestealer outriders among isolated pockets of Humans did occur, but the T'au were luckily able to "rec-code" them to prevent mental and genetic corruption.Justertii - Justertii is a barren world found within the portion of the Jericho Reach under T'au control. Lying in the otherwise starless depths trailing the Black Reef, Justertii represents an undiscovered enigma. Once an Aeldari "Maiden World" -- a planet seeded long ago by the Aeldari for future settlement -- Justertii is now a desolate waste studded with the blasted remains of Aeldari wraithbone structures. None can tell what fate befell the world and caused it to become a rogue far from whatever star must have birthed it. To date, both Imperial and T'au scouts have logged the existence of the world, yet it appears to be subject to some unfathomable process that causes it to vanish from the void and to reappear elsewhere.Krrk'tikit - Initially dismissed as a barren, featureless rock by T'au observers, the Vespid would beg to disagree. Upon traversing underground, the insectoid aliens discovered massive, crystal-filled caves. After this discovery, the T'au were more or less happy to give this world to their allies. The Vespid proceeded to build massive hives beneath the featureless surface of the planet.Tsua'Malor - The capital world of the Velk'han Sept and a source of pride for the Earth Caste, Tsua'Malor is the headquarters of the Mal'caor Shi. Originally Tsua'Malor was settled by Humans, but the Earth Caste has since transformed it into a "shining example of civilisation and enlightenment."Va'Jiya - A Feral World covered in jungles, swamps, and dark forests, Va'Jiya has a peculiar ecosystem. Va'Jiya's plant life rapidly blooms and grows during the day, but quickly rots and deteriorates after nightfall. A Human population present on the world long ago collapsed into tribal warfare in which the now-primitive tribes ceaselessly raid each other.Vallia - Vallia is an uninhabitable Death World sharing a peculiar ecosystem with its "sister planet" Va'Jiya. However, in the case of Vallia, every plant, animal, and microbial life form is connected by a massive, hostile gestalt intelligence utterly devoted to preventing alien, off-world colonisation.Zurcon - The Humans who long ago settled the Civilised World of Zurcon were once held in high regard by the Imperium of Man. Zurcon weathered the the Jericho Reach's Age of Shadow mostly intact, but became a prime target of the T'au Empire's drive for conquest after its expansion into the Jericho Reach. Infiltration of the world's Human ruling class by Gue'vesa agents has succeeded and now the T'au direct Zurcon's elite to unknowingly wage war against their former masters in the Achilus Crusade. |
Velocity Tracker - Velocity Tracker: A Velocity Tracker is an advanced T'au sensor suite that consists of sophisticated motion detecting and heat seeking sensor systems designed to track the movements of airborne targets such as aircraft.With a Velocity Tracker system, the bearer can accurately bring his weapons to bear on otherwise hard-to-hit high-flying targets before blowing them out of the sky.A Velocity Tracker is a Support System available to most forms of T'au Battlesuit, although certain T'au skimmers such as the Skyray also make use of vehicle-mounted versions. |
Venatari Custodian - Venatari Custodian: A Venatari Custodian, also known as a Custodian Venatari, is a warrior of the Adeptus Custodes who has been tasked with serving as part of an airborne assault force of Custodians through the use of a sophisticated pattern of winged Jump Pack called "Auramite Pinions." |
Venatari Custodian - Role: Vaunted as a high honour among the Legio Custodes dating back to the time of the Great Crusade, the role of Custodian Venatari is reserved for a scant few -- those with the skill to serve as specialists in hunting direct threats to the Emperor amidst the sprawl of the Imperial Palace's walls and its spire-tops.While Custodes Shield Companies patrol the vast hallways and cavernous rooms of the Imperial Palace on Terra, the Venatari are elevated above, making their domain among the rooftops and spires, overseeing and assessing the threat of all who enter or leave.Their predatory instincts have earned the Venatari the nickname of "the Emperor's Hunting Eagles," standing as immobile and vigilant as the birds of prey of Old Earth atop the mountain peaks before swooping into a killing dive.Veterans of the Custodes' "Blood Games" in which they test each other to penetrate the Imperial Palace's defences, their ranks contain those with the proven skill to master the rare, sophisticated flight system and archeotech weapons they wield. |
Venatari Custodian - Unit Composition: 3-10 Venatari Custodians (Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras)3-6 Venatari Custodians (41st Millennium) |
Venatari Custodian - Wargear: Custodian ArmourRefraction Field (Horus Heresy era only)Auramite Pinions - A form of winged Jump Pack used only by the warriors of the Adeptus Custodes.Archeotech Kinetic Destroyer - Kinetic Destroyers are master-crafted Archaeotech Pistols used only by the Venatari Custodians.Tarsus Buckler - The Tarsus Buckler is a small auramite shield used to protect a Venatari Custodian while in combat.MisericordiaVenatari Lance (Replacement for Kinetic Destroyer and Tarsus Buckler) - A Venatari Lance is a two-handed Power Weapon wielded by the Venatari Custodians that also contains a single-barrel archeotech repeater for ranged combat.Melta Bombs (Horus Heresy era only)Plasma Grenades (Horus Heresy era only)Krak Grenades (Horus Heresy era only) |
Venatari Lance - Venatari Lance: A Venatari Lance is a two-handed Power Weapon wielded by the elite Venatari Custodians of the Adeptus Custodes that also contains a single-barrel archeotech ballistic repeater known as a "Kinetic Destroyer" that is identical to an Archaeotech Pistol for ranged combat.The Venatari Lance incorporates a lever-action example of the archaeotech Kinetic Destroyer. This ingenious design, borrowed from the ancient Enri Compendium gifted to Constantin Valdor by the Emperor of Mankind, allows the Kinetic Destroyer to be fired stably in quick succession without significant additional recoil.The lance allows the Venatari Custodian to maintain their keen marksmanship while moving against the enemies of the Emperor both at a great height and at great speeds. |
Vendetta - Vendetta: The Vendetta is a heavy gunship of the Imperial Navy's Aeronautica Imperialis and is a more heavily-armed variant of the Valkyrie airborne assault carrier primarily used as a tank-buster in support of the ground troops of the Astra Militarum.The Vendetta is a Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft and is primarily used as a transport for airborne combat regiments such as Imperial Tempestus Scion Squads and soldiers of the Elysian Drop Troops Militarum Regimentum.The Vendetta's armament is designed to more effectively combat enemy armoured units and provide ground-based fire support than the standard pattern Valkyrie. The Vendetta is used as heavy air support for Imperial ground forces, as the aircraft is capable of staying on-station once its troops have been dropped to provide heavy air support against enemy armour. |
Vendetta - Armament: The Vendetta is heavily armed with anti-armour weapons, including two sets of Twin-linked Lascannons on its wings and one set of Twin-linked Lascannons located near the cockpit. The aircraft also possesses two door-mounted Heavy Bolters to be used for covering fire when dropping off its precious cargo of Imperial troops.The Vendetta can replace the wing-mounted Twin-linked Lascannons for two Hellfury Missiles. The aircraft can also be equipped with two sponson-mounted Heavy Bolters for added firepower.The Vendetta can be enhanced with ejector seats, Extra Armour Plating for the cockpit, a Searchlight, flare or chaff launchers, infra-red targeting systems, and illumination flares. Despite the impressive firepower of the Vendetta, it lacks the flexibility of the Vulture Gunship, which is often chosen over the Vendetta for deep-range attacks and urban assault missions. |
Vendetta - Known Users of the Vendetta: Imperial Navy - All Attack Craft in the Imperium fall under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Navy's Aeronautica Imperialis, but are provided to the Imperial Guard on an as-needed basis. All Vendettas are flown by experienced Imperial Navy pilots and crews.Astra Militarum - The Imperial Guard are the main users of the Vendetta. The Imperial Navy provides Vendettas to Guard regiments when they are needed. |
Vendetta - Adeptus Mechanicus Technical Specifications: Vendetta Heavy Assault GunshipTypeHeavy Assault GunshipOperational Ceiling13,000 MetresVehicle NameVendettaMax Speed1100 kilometres per hourForge World of OriginMars, Voss, Artemia, Estaban VIIRange2000 kilometres in-atmosphereKnown PatternsUnknownMain Armament1 Hull-Mounted Twin-linked Lascannons, 2 Wing-mounted Twin-linked LascannonsCrew1 Pilot, 1 Navigator, 2 Door GunnersSecondary Armament2 Door-mounted Heavy BoltersPowerplant2 F75-MV Afterburning Vector-TurbofansMain AmmunitionUnknownWeight13.0 Tonnes EmptySecondary Ammunition1000 RoundsLength18.5 MetresArmourWingspan16.9 MetresSuperstructure75 millimetresHeight4.8 MetresHull75 millimetres |
Vendetta - Sources: Codex: Astra Militarum (6th Edition), "Valkyries & Vendetta Gunships," "Fast Attack-Vendetta Squadron"Codex: Imperial Guard (5th Edition), pg. 56, 101Imperial Armour Apocalypse II, pg. 24Imperial Armour Volume One - Imperial Guard (Second Edition), pg. 260Death From the Skies (6th Edition), pp. 58, 69 |
Vendetta - Also See: ValkyrieVultureImperial Guard Vehicles |
Venenum Temple - Venenum Temple: The Venenum Temple is one of the temples of the Officio Assassinorum. Venenum Assassins are trained exclusively in the use of exotic poisons and subtlety in carrying out their mission requirements.Clade Venenum's stock-in-trade during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy was employing operatives who were the galaxy's finest tox-artisans.Through their clade's apprenticeship they learned to manufacture killing philtres from the most base of components, which allowed them to terminate their targets and leave no metabolic trace of the toxin. |
Venenum Temple - History: Like the other temples of the Officio Assassinorum, the Venenum Temple was originally the Venenum Clade, created some time during the Great Crusade in the late 30th Millennium.The clade was created at the behest of Malcador the Sigillite, the Regent of Terra, who was secretly the Grand Master of Assassins, and the Venenum Clade's first Director Primus, who was known only as Siress Venenum.The Venenum Clade was established in a secret location on Terra at the direction of the Grand Master of Assassins and was tasked like all of the other Assassin clades with killing those who opposed the formation of the Imperium of Man and the will of the Emperor of Mankind.The Venenum Temple is located in a secret complex known as the Orchard, comprised of an ancient house that was thousands of years old. This house was surrounded by a verdant tropical jungle that contained thousands of specimens of flora and fauna used to concoct the various exotic poisons used by Venemum operatives.During the Horus Heresy, the Assassin Clades were given the monumental task of assassinating the Primarch Horus. Each clade threw their most gifted students into a proverbial meat-grinder, sending them in blind and half-prepared. Every strike against Horus was broken, and he shrugged off these attempted assassinations without notice.In all the history of the Council of Assassins, there had never been a target whose retirement required more than one mission to prosecute. The Horus problem eventually claimed 8 Officio Assassinorum operatives across all 6 of the primary clades. The Sigillite demanded a solution to rid the Imperium of the Emperor's turbulent and wayward son.The veil of secrecy preserved all that the Officio Assassinorum were. Its operatives continued to work in the shadows of the Imperium, at the margins of the Emperor's knowledge, and for good reason. They served Him in deeds that He must never know of, in order to maintain His noble purity.The deployment of an Assassin was a delicate matter and never one taken lightly. In this period, some clades had fielded two or three operatives in a single mission when the circumstances were most extreme, but then always from the same clade, and always after much deliberation.With the approval of the Grand Master of Assassins, the founders of each clade devised an audacious plan to provide members to the secret Imperial Execution Force, an elite unit hand-picked for the task, that contained Assassins from all 6 prime clades of the Officio Assassinorum to try and eliminate Horus upon the world of Dagonet.Deploying six Assassins at once, one from every prime clade, was unheard of. The Emperor would never sanction such an action. But Malcador reasoned that the Arch-traitor had displayed no such qualms about violating the so-called "rules" of war. He had bombed his sworn brethren during the Isstvan III Atrocity, his own warriors, into obliteration.No action was beyond the pale for him. Unfortunately, the mission to Dagonet ultimately failed, much to Mankind's ill fortune.Another notable operation that occurred within the Venemum Temple's history was the Morisha Incident. Dispatched in 563.M37, Urhua Thereaux was tasked with the assassination of the Renegade Imperial Planetary Governor Yawell of the planet Morisha on the Eastern Fringe.During transit, Thereaux's starship was caught in a Warp rift, holding the vessel in temporal stasis for some 698 standard years. Not knowing that this had occurred, Thereaux proceeded to her target, only to find Yawell long since dead and replaced by an anti-Imperial democratic committee, consisting of some 1,000 members.Faced with such an extreme task, Thereaux only succeeded in killing the committee members after spending three days poisoning all the chairs in the council's auditorium before a meeting of the full committee. |
Venenum Temple - Notable Venenum Assassins: Siress Venenmum - The founder and first Director Primus of the Venenum Clade, Siress Venenum was the namesake of the Venenum Temple. She was the foremost toxic-artisan and master of poisons of her age. She, along with the other founders of the various Assassin Temples, was present on Mount Vengeance. They swore a pact in the shadow of the Great Crusade, an oath that breathed life into the creation of the Officio Assassinorum. The newly created clades hunted down the enemies of the Emperor through stealth and subterfuge, establishing the fact that there was no safe place to hide in the galaxy from the Emperor's justice.Tobeld - Tobeld was a prominent pupil of Siress Venenum and the premier Assassin within the Venenum Clade during the Great Crusade and the opening days of the Horus Heresy. As such, Tobeld was assigned only targets of the highest priority. He was notable for being the last known Assassin to carry out a solo assassination mission against the Arch-Traitor Horus Lupercal. Out of a total of 8 different Assassins from all 6 prime clades, Tobeld had managed to get the closest to his target before failing his mission. This resulted in the desperate gambit by the Council of Assassins to gather an Execution Force, the likes of which had not been seen since the gathering of the Assassin Clade founders on Mount Vengeance, in an attempt to assassinate Horus upon the world of Dagonet.Jenniker Soalm - Jenniker Soalm, born Jenniker Kell, was a Venenum Assassin during the Great Crusade and opening days of the Horus Heresy. She was a secluse of the Clade Venenum ranked at Epsilon-dan, the senior-most rank of her order. She was dispatched with the first ever Imperial Execution Force composed of Imperial Assassins from every clade, who were attempting to assassinate the Traitor Primarch Horus upon the world of Dagonet. Ultimately, their assassination attempt failed and all the Assassins were slain by the Traitors.Urhua Theraux - Venenum Assassin famously renowned after the Morisha Incident. Dispatched in 563.M37 to assassinate the renegade Planetary Governor Yawell, ruler of the planet Morisha on the Eastern Fringe. During transit, the assassin's starship was caught in a Warp rift, holding the vessel in a temporal stasis for some six hundred and ninety-eight years. Not knowing that a Warp time dilatation had occurred, Theraux proceeded to her destination, only to find her original target long dead, and replaced by an anti-Imperial democratic committee, consisting of some 1,000 members. Undaunted, Urhua Theraux only succeeded in killing the entire committee members after spending three whole days poisoning all the chairs in the council's auditorium, before a meeting of the full committee.Echo Malensis - Now a Lord Assassin of her temple, she was so deft in the use of psychopoison that she was able to time her target's death to the second of her return to the Venenum temple's debriefing chambers. |
Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought - Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought: A Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought of the Custodian Guard is a revered relic of the Imperium of Man's golden age. Each houses a fallen hero of the Adeptus Custodes, a warrior broken in body but not in mind who has opted to fight to his last breath. Interred within the cold, dark confines of a cybernetic life-support sarcophagus, the Custodian becomes a god of war, able to stride unharmed through hails of fire and crush the Master of Mankind's foes with their hydraulic might.Articulated in the manner of a human warrior, the Contemptor fights with a deceptive dexterity for its size -- onward it pushes, its heavy weapon system laying down a swathe of deadly fire. At close quarters, sweeps of its Dreadnought-sized Power Fist crush infantry to paste and tear their war engines apart to leave naught but wreckage behind. |
Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought - Role: Bellowing a Vox-amplified war cry, the Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought storms into the enemy with merciless fury. Heavy fire spits from its gun arm -- either blasts of melta energy that reduce tanks to molten ruin or screaming hails of shells from the spinning barrels of its Kheres Pattern Assault Cannon. The Dreadnought's other arm ends in a fist like a wrecking ball, a gilded gauntlet that can tear the turret from a battle tank or splinter every bone in a body with a single punch. Wielding these weapons with a matchless skill characteristic of the Adeptus Custodes, the Contemptor blazes a trail of death and destruction through its enemies, tearing the heart from those who would stand against the Emperor and sending the terrified survivors fleeing in terror.Each Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought is an ancient war engine, a relic that incorporates wonders of technology that the Imperium can no longer replicate. Its auramite armour plates are expertly crafted and maintained. Its limbs are articulated by fibre-bundles and servo-motors that afford it immense strength. Its weapons are perfectly calibrated, while its hull is sheathed in the crackling energies of an atomantic shield that can dispel laser blasts and artillery shells amidst bright flares of energy. Auto-repair protocols allow the Dreadnought to shrug off crippling battle damage, while motive shrines and auto-sanctified backup systems stand ready to take the strain should the Contemptor undergo serious combat trauma. Yet for all this arcane technology, the most important component of the Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought is the living warrior interred in the sarcophagus at its heart.Though the physiology of the Custodians is remarkably durable, still there are wounds so severe that even they cannot survive them. When faced with certain death, a Custodian may choose to be preserved within a Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought so that he can continue to fight for the Emperor. There should be no mistaking that this is the act of a martyr, for life within a Dreadnought sarcophagus -- even one as advanced as the Venerable Contemptor -- is a twilight existence at best. The pilot is shorn of all unnecessary flesh, rendered down to little more than a sack of organs and brain matter sustained within an armaglass amniotic tank. They are then permanently fused with the life-support systems of the Dreadnought. Its powerful limbs become theirs to operate. Its complex sensoria become their eyes and ears, its Vox emitter their mouth. In return, they face an eternity cut off from the outside world, bound to mechanical systems that can never truly replicate the feel of sunlight upon their skin, or the satisfying crunch of their blade through an enemy's flesh.Despite this, there are tales of unharmed Custodians volunteering to pilot Contemptors whose previous occupants were slain in battle. Those soon to depart as Eyes of the Emperor, those who feel they have dishonoured themselves, even warriors who simply will not turn aside from what they perceive as their duty; all, it is said, have given their flesh willingly so that the Contemptor Dreadnoughts of the Custodes continue to stride to war. |
Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought - Notable Venerable Contemptor Dreadnoughts: Sagittaras (Sagittarus Malacque) - Sagittarus was one of the first thirty Custodians created by the hand of the Emperor of Mankind and served alongside his liege as His personal Honour Guard during the Unification Wars. Choleric and wild, he was the first Custodian to be wounded unto death, and interred within the sarcophagus of the Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought as a part of the Legio Custodes Moritoi caste. It is not known if Sagittaras is still serving with the Adeptus Custodes in the 41st Millennium.Hasturius Calaxor - A notable Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought who served within the ranks of the Adeptus Custodes for millennia. When he was still living, Hasturius Calaxor originally served in the ancient Legio Custodes, and came to prominence at the defence of the Imperial Palace during the Battle of Terra. He held the Enlightener's Stair single-handedly against the turncoat soldiers of the 9th Terran Wardens. It was he who also rallied the Gospodor Heavy Infantry with his inspiring examples of bravery, and led them to retake the Dome of the Architects from Dortha Kol's Sons of Horus Legionaries, drive Kol's warriors to destruction and fell the Traitor Warhound Titan Warp Jackal as well. These heroics saw Calaxor promoted to the rank of Shield-Captain, after which he led three further highly successful counteroffensives before the siege's end. He went on to earn himself many more names in the centuries that followed. After long years of faithful service, he finally fell in battle on the Dead World of Palathrix, his sheer force of will keeping him alive long enough to be interred within a Dreadnought sarcophagus. He became Venerable Ancient Calaxor, and assumed a new role within the Ten Thousand as a living war engine and strategic advisor.Darian - A notable Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought who served with the Fury of Terra Shield Host, which was led personally by Captain-General Trajann Valoris and fought against the Heretic Astartes assault on the Imperial world of Elysia following the formation of the Great Rift.Eratorius - Eratorius was a notable Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought who served with the Fury of Terra Shield Host, Second Shield Company (Vanguard Detachment), which was led by Shield-Captain Steale, and fought against the Heretic Astartes assault on the world of Elysia following the formation of the Great Rift.Euramedes - A notable Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought who often served with the Gilded Talons Shield Company commanded by Shield-Captain Archturus Paliades following the formation of the Great Rift.Talorian - A notable Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought who often served with the Gilded Talons Shield Company commanded by Shield-Captain Archturus Paliades following the formation of the Great Rift.Uriaxes - A notable Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought who fell atop the walls of the Emperor's Imperial Palace during the War of the Beast in the mid-32nd Millennium. Though he was broken in body, he still wished to continue to fight for the Master of Mankind. He has continued to fight on through the millennia, during several notable events in Imperial history. He fought against the Dark Mechanicus on Ghosaris during the Moirae Schism as well as against the Blood Cults of Tsydon. Uriaxes still actively serves, fighting in various campaigns throughout the galaxy following the formation of the Great Rift, in an attempt to repay the debt he owes the Master of Mankind. |
Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought - Wargear: Combi-BolterMulti-MeltaDreadnought Close Combat Weapon |
Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought - Optional Wargear: A Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought can replace its Multi-Melta with the following:Kheres Pattern Assault Cannon |
Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought - Sources: Codex: Adeptus Custodes (8th Edition), pp. 42, 52-53, 66Games Workshop Online Store - Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought |
Venerable Dreadnought - Venerable Dreadnought: A Venerable Dreadnought is a variant of the standard Imperial Castraferrum Pattern Dreadnought combat walker used by the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes whose occupant is regarded as one of the oldest and wisest Space Marines still in service to the Imperium of Man.Dreadnoughts are cybernetic combat walkers that house the mortal remains of a fallen Space Marine hero so that he may continue fighting for the Emperor of Mankind and his Chapter even after his body has been fatally crippled.Venerable Dreadnoughts have fought in thousands of battles over the course of many centuries or even millennia. These Dreadnoughts are the veterans of wars and battles now considered myth and legend by the younger Astartes of their Chapters.Venerable Dreadnoughts have gained vast amounts of knowledge and insight into the ways of war in the course of their long lifetimes. These ancient warriors have fought for the Emperor for so long that they have become almost impervious to damage, and can only truly be stopped by the complete and total destruction of their armoured sarcophagus.The vast amount of knowledge and experience earned by Venerable Dreadnoughts places them in high regard amongst the other warriors of their Chapter. From the lowliest Initiate to the Chapter Master, all will eventually seek out the advice of one of these Ancients.A Dreadnought's raw power is made all the more deadly because it is wielded with all the grim resolve of the mortally wounded Veteran in its core. The memories of the ancient heroes who pilot them can extend back to the Founding of their Chapter and its earliest history.Venerable Dreadnoughts are amongst the oldest war machines fighting on the battlefields of the 41st Millennium. Thus they are revered by other Space Marines, not just as potent warriors of legend, but also as ageless forebears and living embodiments of battles fought long ago.Venerable Dreadnoughts are keepers of tradition and custodians of knowledge who lend wisdom to strategy as they do fury to the battlefield. Only for key battles or in direst need are the most ancient of a Chapter's Dreadnoughts awoken, for they are death given form, and not to be roused lightly. |
Venerable Dreadnought - Armament: Venerable Dreadnoughts are typically armed in much the same way as are other Dreadnoughts, with a Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon and a long-range weapons arm.The most common close-combat weapons found on Venerable Dreadnoughts are a bladed version of the Dreadnought Powerfist sometimes referred to as a Dreadnought Power Claw, and these weapons are most common on Dreadnoughts of any type that utilise the older Mark IV Castraferrum Dreadnought chassis.There are rarer patterns of Dreadnought Powerfists that take the shape of a four-fingered human hand, and rarer ones still that feature the use of a full five fingers. These types of Powerfists allow Dreadnoughts the use of an opposable thumb, allowing a greater degree of manual dexterity when picking up objects or enemies.Venerable Dreadnoughts can take any of the long-range weapons used by other Dreadnoughts, such as an Assault Cannon, twin-linked Lascannons, a Storm Bolter, a Heavy Bolter, or an Autocannon, along with weapons such as a Plasma Cannon, a Heavy Flamer, an Inferno Cannon, a Flamestorm Cannon, a Multi-Melta, or a Missile Launchers.Venerable Dreadnoughts can also be armed with weaponry that is unique to certain Chapters, such as the Psycannons, Nemesis Doomfists, and Nemesis Doomglaives of the Grey Knights, the Bloodfists and Blood Talons of the Blood Angels, and the Dreadfire Fists used by some Dreadnoughts of the Salamanders Chapter.Much like all Dreadnoughts, Venerable Dreadnought close-combat weapons are usually outfitted with either built-in weaponry or weapons that are attached to the underside of the walker's chassis, which usually include either a Storm Bolter or a Heavy Flamer.Venerable Dreadnoughts can also be outfitted with Extra Armour Plating, usually in the form of ostentatious icons of gold that depict the entombed warrior's tales of glorious battles and past victories.Venerable Dreadnoughts can also be equipped with both searchlights and smoke launchers and any other upgrades that may be unique to their respective Chapters. |
Venerable Dreadnought - Unit Composition: 1-3 Venerable Dreadnoughts |
Venerable Dreadnought - Wargear: A standard Venerable Dreadnought is armed and equipped with:Multi-MeltaDreadnought Close Combat Weapon with built-in Storm BolterSmoke LaunchersSearchlightAny Venerable Dreadnought may replace its Multi-Melta with any of these options:A second Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon with a built-in Storm Bolter (This is not a standard loadout as it removes the Dreadnought's ability to engage targets at range.)Heavy Plasma CannonAssault CannonTwin-linked AutocannonsTwin-linked Heavy BoltersTwin-linked LascannonsTwin-linked Heavy FlamersAny Venerable Dreadnought may replace its Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon with built-in Storm Bolter with any of these options:Missile LauncherTwin-linked AutocannonsAny Venerable Dreadnought may replace the built-in Storm Bolter from their Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon(s) with this option:Heavy FlamerVenerable Dreadnoughts may also have vehicle equipment such as:Extra Armour Plating |
Venerable Dreadnought - Formations: Deathwing Redemption Force - The Deathwing Redemption Force formation used by the Dark Angels Chapter consists of one Company Master, Interrogator-Chaplain, or Librarian, two to five Deathwing Terminator Squads, one Deathwing Command Squad, one Deathwing Knight Squad, and a single Deathwing Venerable Dreadnought. Though they fight to defend Humanity, the brethren of the Dark Angels' Inner Circle know that their hunt for the Fallen Angels must always be foremost in their thoughts. The Deathwing Redemption Force stands ready to strike en masse at their command -- a weapon meant to crush the strength of the Fallen Angels and their followers with a single thunderous blow. It is a measure of how seriously the capture of the Fallen is taken by the Dark Angels that the Deathwing Redemption Force has might enough to swing the course of an entire war; when not actively on the hunt, it is the Chapter's ultimate weapon against the most terrible of enemy threats. When the fate of whole worlds hangs in the balance, these warriors deploy with sudden, devastating force to destroy their foes utterly. |
Venerable Dreadnought - Variants: Chaplain Dreadnought - Chaplain Dreadnoughts are variants of both the standard Imperial Dreadnought combat walker and its Venerable counterpart. A Chaplain Dreadnought houses the broken remains of an Adeptus Astartes Chaplain. A Chaplain is a specialist Space Marine officer who serves as one of the appointed spiritual leaders of a Space Marine Chapter. Chaplains are the warrior-priests who minister to the spiritual well-being of their fellow Battle-Brothers, instilling in them the values and beliefs of the Chapter and promoting the veneration, or in rarer cases, the actual worship of the Emperor of Mankind. When a Chaplain falls in battle and is damaged beyond repair, he may be placed in a Dreadnought, as Chaplains offer their Battle-Brothers unparalleled morale benefits and peace of mind. A Chaplain afforded the honour being interred within a Dreadnought becomes a highly respected living shrine to the glory of their Chapter. Chaplain Dreadnoughts are treated the same by their Battle-Brothers as any other Venerable Dreadnought, and since many Astartes Chaplains are some of the best warriors a Chapter has to offer they are able to provide the same amount of knowledge and insight as other Venerable Dreadnoughts.Furioso Dreadnought - The original Furioso Dreadnoughts of the Blood Angels Chapter and their many Successor Chapters are all considered Venerable Dreadnoughts in their own right as many of these warriors saw combat during the Horus Heresy. While many of the Furioso Dreadnoughts found in these Chapters are much younger than those Ancients who served beside the Blood Angels Primarch Sanguinius himself, they are still considered Venerable Dreadnoughts as only the oldest and most experienced Dreadnoughts of these Chapters are armed with Furioso Pattern weapons. The only exception to this rule are those Dreadnoughts that become part of a Chapter's Death Company . These Death Company Dreadnoughts are always armed with either Bloodfists or Blood Talons, so that they can cause as much damage as possible during combat, but also to prevent them from using long-ranged weaponry while under the influence of the Black Rage, which would make it very likely that they would assault friend as well as foe while in the throes of their madness. Furioso Librarian Dreadnoughts are also considered Venerable Dreadnoughts. |
Venerable Dreadnought - Known Venerable Dreadnoughts: Aega - Aega is a Venerable Dreadnought of the Ultramarines Chapter.Astramael - Astramael is a Venerable Furioso Dreadnought of the Blood Angels Chapter. Astramael personally led all 41 of the Chapter's Dreadnoughts in the defence of the Chapter's homeworld of Baal during the Battle of Iron, which marked the end of the Invasion of Baal by the Ork WAAAGH! of the Big Skorcha in 789.M41.Bannus - Bannus was a high-ranking member of the Iron Hands Chapter. Having since become entombed in the armoured chassis of a Venerable Dreadnought, he has become a Clan Leader of Clan Kaargul and has a place on the Chapter's Clan Council.Barkus - Barkus was a Venerable Dreadnought of the Ultramarines Space Marine Chapter. Barkus sacrificed himself during the Ork invasion of Espandor in the late 41st Millennium so that the rest of the Ultramarines forces could safely retreat.Bjorn the Fell-Handed - Bjorn the Fell-Handed of the Space Wolves Chapter is the oldest living Space Marine in the Imperium of Man at over 10,000 standard years old, Bjorn fought during both the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. Bjorn is now entombed within the armoured sarcophagus of a Mark V Dreadnought chassis. After the Horus Heresy, before Bjorn was placed into a Dreadnought, the Space Wolve's Primarch, Leman Russ, departed for the Eye of Terror along with the entire 13th Company in search of a way to heal the Emperor of Mankind and restore his physical body from its mortally wounded states. Leman Russ left Bjorn behind to lead the Chapter, which left him harbouring intense feelings of rejection and bitterness to this very day.Daenyathos - Daenyathos of the Soul Drinkers Chapter is a Venerable Mark IV Dreadnought. Before Daenyathos was entombed within the armoured sarcophagus of a Dreadnought he was considered a Philosopher-Soldier, and he penned the Catechisms Martial, the standard text which inspired all Soul Drinkers. Unfortunately, Daenyathos would become corrupted by Chaos and eventually lead the Soul Drinkers into damnation. Daenyathos was destroyed in the late 41st Millennium by Sarpedon, the final Chapter Master and Chief Librarian of the Soul Drinkers. Sarpedon and the final two survivors of the nearly extinct Soul Drinkers Chapter ultimately disappeared into the Warp after saving the Imperial Fists' massive mobile fortress-monastery Phalanx from a daemonic incursion, dragging the barely living remains of Daenyathos with them.Daggan - Daggan was a Space Marine Venerable Dreadnought as well as the Chapter Master of the Blood Swords Chapter. Unlike most Dreadnoughts, Daggan still retained a good memory of what he was before his internment within his cybernetic coffin and served effectively as Chapter Master. He died on Baal while defending the sarcophagus of Sanguinius against Fabius Bile's mutants.Damos - Damos is a Venerable Dreadnought of the Angels Porphyr Chapter who has served for more than 3,000 standard years. Damos was the former commander of the Chapter's 9th Company, and under his command the 9th was considered a model of the Devastator doctrine. Unfortunately, during the Scouring of Hume, a surprise air attack on his position at Hill 236 caught Damos out in the open as he moved about the position's bunkers. Enemy Marauder Bombers bombarded his position for several hours. Eventually Damos' body was recovered by the Chapter after the battle but was declared shattered beyond the skill of the Chapter's Apothecaries to repair. Damos' body was placed in stasis and transferred to the Chapter's fortress-monastery where it was laid to rest in the armoured sarcophagus of a Dreadnought.Davian Thule - Davian Thule is the former Captain of the Blood Ravens' 4th Company. Thule was mortally wounded while fighting against the Tyranids on the planet of Typhon Primaris and placed in the armoured sarcophagus of a Dreadnought. He would later be lauded as a Venerable Dreadnought for his service to his Chapter.Enosh - Enosh is a Venerable Dreadnought of the Blood Angels Chapter. It is known that Enosh is part of the Chapter's Death Company as a Death Company Dreadnought.Ephesios - Ephesios is a Venerable Dreadnought of the Minotaurs Chapter.Kleitor - Kleitor was the former Captain of the Astral Claws' 5th Company prior to his internment into a Mark IV Dreadnought chassis. It is unknown if Kleitor survived the Badab War, when his Chapter turned against the Imperium.Kraai - Kraai is a Venerable Dreadnought of the Raven Guard Chapter, who has served his brethren for over 4,000 standard years.Laskho - Laskho is a Venerable Dreadnought of the Executioners Chapter.Moriar the Chosen - Morleo Moriar, also known as Moriar the Chosen, is a former Captain of the Blood Angels' 4th Company. Moriar fell in combat on the fields of Clamorga, yet so great were his deeds that he was honoured by being entombed in a Furioso Dreadnought. When Moriar awoke from his slumber, he almost immediately fell to the Black Rage. However, Moriar survived the insanity brought on by the curse and now fights alongside the Blood Angels as a Death Company Dreadnought known as Moriar the Chosen.Murderfang the Curseborn - The metal-skinned monster of the Curseborn Prophecy must once have had a name, for it resembles a Space Wolves Dreadnought. Yet the identity of the once-noble hero within its sarcophagus is long lost, consumed by the bestial thing that now leers from its facade. Named Murderfang by the Space Wolves, it is a force of complete destruction. In times of great need, the beast-machine is released from its glacial prison deep within The Fang and set upon the foe where it will claw and stomp until nothing is left but ruin.Nalr - Nalr is a Chaplain Dreadnought of the Red Scorpions Chapter, who fought alongside his Chapter during the Siege of Vraks.Orias - Orias is a former Grand Master of the secret Grey Knights Chapter. Orias fell in combat battling the Daemon Prince Herperitus. While he was being treated to by the Chapter's Chief Apothecary, the entire Chapter assembled to await his death with all ten of the Grey Knight's Brother-Captains watching over him until his soul would join with the Emperor. Orias's shattered body remained unmoving for three days and nights and it appeared as if he had died, but in the end the Grand Master simply gave a single nod of his head. The Brother-Captains debated and ultimately agreed that Orias had signalled his permission to be placed within an Aegis Dreadnought with his remaining strength. The simple nod was consent for his continued service which led to him being placed in a sarcophagus upon which the ritual of internment began.Aeneas - Aeneas is a former Grand Master of the Grey Knights Space Marine Chapter. Aeneas led the Chapter for 55 standard years during the 37th Millennium, until being mortally wounded in combat against Ahriman the Arch-Sorcerer.Pawel - Pawel is a Mark IV Venerable Dreadnought of the Red Scorpions Chapter who fought alongside his Chapter during the Siege of Vraks.Rzasa - Rzasa is a Venerable Dreadnought of the Red Scorpions Chapter.Rylanor - Rylanor was a Venerable Dreadnought and hero of the Emperor's Children Legion during the Great Crusade. He served as the III Legion's "Ancient of Rites," and had been mortally wounded battling the Aeldari in the late 30th Millennium, solar decades before the outbreak of the Horus Heresy. Following his wounding, Rylanor was interred within the adamantium shell of a Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought. Rylanor was part of the Primarch Fulgrim's Honour Guard by tradition, though he was increasingly troubled by the direction the III Legion moved in after the assault on the xenos world of Laeran. At the last minute, he traded places for the combat drop onto Istvaan III with Captain Saul Tarvitz of the 10th Company, who was supposed to go instead as one of the Emperor's Children Loyalists marked for betrayal and death. Betrayed unto his own death by the duplicitous actions of the Warmaster Horus, Rylanor rallied the surviving Loyalist Emperor's Children and fought against the Traitors during the Battle of Istvaan III. He survived the battle, and spent the next ten thousand Terran years planning to gain vengeance upon the man he truly blamed for the great betrayal -- his own Primarch, Fulgrim. Though Rylanor's attempt upon the Daemon Primarch's life ultimately failed and finally ended his own long life, it would leave a grim mark upon Fulgrim's soul forever after.Secarssa - Secarssa, also known as the Bow of Ma'dan, was a Venerable Hellfire Dreadnought of the Mantis Warriors Chapter who was destroyed in combat during the Siege of Endymon Prime at the time of the Badab War.Sokhar Bray'arth Ashmantle - Sokhar Bray'arth Ashmantle, also known simply as Bray'arth Ashmantle, is a Venerable Ironclad Dreadnought of the Salamanders Chapter. Sokhar is the current occupant of the so-called Iron Dragon -- a unique Dreadnought chassis, possessing uncommonly heavy armour and built with a one-of-a-kind enhanced reactor system which incorporates thermic generation technologies that are no longer fully understood. It is believed that this particular Dreadnought served as the first prototype of what would later become the Ironclad Pattern of Dreadnought. The Iron Dragon itself has seen many dark and terrible wars in its time, as the echoes and horrors of the ages weigh heavily upon it, its Machine Spirit brooding with unquenchable violence. This particular Dreadnought was said to have been forged by the hands of the Salamanders Primarch Vulkan himself at the time of the Great Crusade, for the fallen first Lord Commander of the XVIII Legion, Cassian Vaughn. Such was the honour and esteem in which Vulkan held this warrior, he undertook to fashion for him the Dracos Revenant, a unique Dreadnought sarcophagus of unsurpassed sophistication and resilience. Now known as the Cassian Dracos, the Fallen Master fought with unmatched fury during the Drop Site Massacre of Istvaan V. Unfortunately, he fell at the hands of the Traitors, but his Dreadnought chassis was later recovered by the Salamanders, and would later stride into battle with a new occupant.Sybra - Sybra was a former Venerable Dreadnought in service to the Exorcists Chapter. Sybra heroically sacrificed himself during the Aschen War in order to weaken the Daemon Prince known as the Horned God enough for the Chapter Librarian Malachite to banish the creature back to the Warp.Targas - Targas is a Venerable Dreadnought of the Executioners Chapter.Titus - Titus was a Venerable Chaplain Dreadnought of the Howling Griffons Chapter. Titus fought alongside his Chapter during the Badab War where he was destroyed by the forces of the Executioners Chapter. The Howling Griffons found that the Executioners had honoured the Venerable Chaplain Dreadnought's sacrifice by laying the wreck of his sarcophagus in a ring of broken weapons, and placing one of their own shattered standards in the warmachine's lifeless grasp. |
Venerable Dreadnought - Adeptus Mechanicus Technical Specifications: Venerable Dreadnought Mark VVehicle Name:Venerable Dreadnought Mark VMain Armament:Unknown (Varies)Forge World of Origin:Chapter ArmourySecondary Armament:Unknown (Varies)Known Patterns:UnknownTraverse:360 degreesCrew:1 Implanted OperatorElevation:-90 to 90 degreesPowerplant:Thermic ReactorMain Ammunition:Unknown (Varies)Weight:12 Tonnes (approx.)Secondary Ammunition:Unknown (varies)Length:2.2 metresArmour:Width:3.4 metresHeight:3.7 metresSuperstructure:Unknown (Varies)Ground Clearance:N/AHull:Unknown (Varies)Max Speed On-Road:10 kilometres per hour (approx.)Gun Mantlet:N/AMax Speed Off-Road:5 kilometres per hour (approx.)Vehicle Designation:UnknownTransport Capacity:N/AFiring Ports:N/AAccess Points:N/ATurret:N/AVenerable Dreadnought Mark IVVehicle Name:Venerable Dreadnought Mark IVMain Armament:Unknown (Varies)Forge World of Origin:Chapter ArmourySecondary Armament:Unknown (Varies)Known Patterns:Unknown (Varies)Traverse:360 degreesCrew:1 Implanted OperatorElevation:-90 to 90 degreesPowerplant:Thermic ReactorMain Ammunition:Unknown (Varies)Weight:11 Tonnes (approx.)Secondary Ammunition:Unknown (varies)Length:2.2 metresArmour:Width:3.4 metresHeight:3.7 metresSuperstructure:Unknown (Varies)Ground Clearance:N/AHull:Unknown (Varies)Max Speed On-Road:8 kilometres per hour (approx.)Gun Mantlet:N/AMax Speed Off-Road:5 kilometres per hour (approx.)Vehicle Designation:UnknownTransport Capacity:N/AFiring Ports:N/AAccess Points:N/ATurret:N/A |
Venerable Dreadnought - Sources: Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines (8th Edition), pp. 82, 165Codex: Space Marines (8th Edition), pp. 81, 136Codex: Black Templars (4th Edition), pp. 17, 35Codex: Blood Angels (5th Edition), pg. 29Codex Adeptus Astartes - Dark Angels (8th Edition), pp. 52, 101Codex Adeptus Astartes - Dark Angels (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), "Venerable Dreadnought", "Deathwing", "Venerable Dreadnought (Datasheet)", "Deathwing Redepmtion Force (Formation)"Codex: Dark Angels (6th Edition), pp. 43, 76, 99Codex: Dark Angels (4th Edition), pp. 30, 65, 82Codex: Grey Knights (5th Edition), pp. 35, 71, 88Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines (8th Edition), pp. 82, 165Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), "Dreadnoughts", "Dreadnoughts (Datasheet)"Codex: Space Marines (6th Edition), pp. 91, 171Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition), pp. 65, 119, 137Codex: Space Marines (4rd Edition), pg. 32Codex: Space Wolves (5th Edition), pp. 48-49, 83, 87Codex: Space Wolves (3rd Edition), pp. 7, 18, 24Codex: Ultramarines (2nd Edition), pg. 54Imperial Armour Volume Two - Space Marines and Forces of the Inquisition, pp. 141, 215Imperial Armour Volume Six - The Siege of Vraks - Part Two, pp. 128-129, 132Imperial Armour Volume Seven - The Siege of Vraks - Part Three, pp. 4, 73Imperial Armour Volume Eight - Raid On Kastorel-Novem, pp. 57, 105Imperial Armour Volume Nine - The Badab War - Part One, pp. 64-65, 134, 158-159Imperial Armour Volume Ten - The Badab War - Part Two, pp. 26, 42, 126, 172-172, 208Imperial Armour Apocalypse, pg. 33Imperial Armour Apocalypse (2nd Edition), pg. 34The Horus Heresy - Book Two: Massacre (Imperial Armour), pp. 117-118, 252Sons of the Emperor (Anthology), "The Ancient Awaits" by Graham McNeill, pp. 133-149Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 157, 169-170Warhammer 40,000 Rule Book (6th Edition), pp. 245, 249White Dwarf 262 (UK), pp. 64-71Dawn of War II (PC Game)Defenders of Ultramar (Graphic Novel) by Graham McNeill, Kevin Hopgood, and Tony ParkerPhalanx (Novel) by Ben CounterGames Workshop Online Catalogue - Space Marine Venerable DreadnoughtForge World - MK IV Venerable DreadnoughtForge World - Black Templars Venerable DreadnoughtForge World - Chaplain Venerable DreadnoughtForge World - Dark Angels Venerable DreadnoughtForge World - Raven Gaurd Venerable DreadnoughtForge World - Red Scorpions MK IV Venerable DreadnoughtForge World - Salamanders Venerable Dreadnought Bray'arth AshmantleForge World - Space Wolves Venerable DreadnoughtForge World - Ultramarines Venerable Dreadnought |
Venerable Land Raider - Venerable Land Raider: The Venerable Land Raider is a variant of the standard Land Raider used by the Adeptus Custodes, the valiant bodyguards of the Emperor Himself, which are the most ancient and honoured of these tanks. Many can trace their history all the way back to the earliest days of the Imperium of Man.These Land Raiders rolled forwards amidst the earth-shaking armoured spearheads of the Legiones Astartes deployed during the Great Crusade. They ground alien oppressors beneath their treads as they fought to liberate Humanity from the horrors of Old Night, and turned their guns mercilessly upon the Traitor Legions once their betrayal was revealed.For ten thousand Terran years these noble war engines have fought for the Imperium, and each has built a legend every bit as magnificent as those possessed by the greatest Imperial champions. |
Venerable Land Raider - Role: The Land Raider is arguably the most powerful and versatile battle tank available to Imperial forces in the late 41st Millennium. Possessed of a fearsome array of weapons, hyper-durable adamantium armour, and the transport capacity to bear a full squad of heavily equipped warriors into battle, the Land Raider can function as both war engine and assault transport with equal ease. A single Land Raider can turn a desperate battle in the Imperium's favour -- a massed spearhead of them can win a war.For all this, Land Raiders are in comparatively short supply. Few Forge Worlds still possess the secrets of their creation, and even those that do must sink enormous resource and time into the making of each one. Land Raiders have bellicose and complex Machine Spirits (artificial intelligences) that take time to tame, and for the material cost of but one of these tanks it is possible to churn out a hundred lesser vehicles. Every Land Raider is thus venerated as a priceless relic, entrusted only to the most elite forces of the Imperium and deployed when victory is absolutely vital. It is considered a near-irredeemable sin to allow such a vehicle to be destroyed, and entire campaigns have been fought to recover Land Raiders lost upon the field of battle.Venerable Land Raiders possess Magos-class Machine Spirits, noble and aggressive entities that can independently aim and fire the tank's guns and coordinate its auto-repair rituals when circumstances require it. Stories exist of these dauntless war engines fighting on even after their Custodian crews were slain, wreaking bloody revenge for their deaths.These vehicles are the primary ground transport of the Adeptus Custodes, a statement of how unstoppable and elite the Ten Thousand truly are. Tracks churning, guns thundering, Venerable Land Raiders ferry their passengers into the heart of battle, then support them with unparalleled armoured might once they disembark. In extreme circumstances these amazing war engines have even been teleported directly onto the battlefield, their hulls warded against the empyric corruption that is a common side effect of travelling through the Warp, their passage assured through use of an ancient Godstrike Pattern teleportarium. This tactic has won many victories for the Adeptus Custodes; it is a rare enemy indeed that can survive the sudden appearance of a Land Raider full of demigods in the middle of their battle lines. |
Venerable Land Raider - Armament: Twin-linked Heavy Bolter2 Twin-linked LascannonsHunter-Killer Missile Launcher (Optional addition)Storm Bolter (Optional addition)Smoke LaunchersMagos-class Machine Spirit (Artificial Intelligence) |
Venerable Land Raider - Notable Venerable Land Raiders: Glory to the Throne - This potent war engine saw its very first battle in the defence of the Imperial Palace at the culmination of the Horus Heresy during the Battle of Terra. Though severely damaged during that apocalyptic conflict, Glory to the Throne has remained with the Adeptus Custodes ever since, repaired time and again, and blooded on battlefields beyond count. |
Venerable Land Raider - Adeptus Mechanicus Technical Specifications: The specifications of the Venerable Land Raider have not been made public by the magi of the Adeptus Mechanicus. |
Venerators - Venerators: VeneratorsSpace MarineChapterFoundingImperial5th Black CrusadeAbaddon the DespoilerOn Tarinth, the Despoiler lured the Warhawks and Venerators Chapters into the ruins of Kasyr Lutein where he trapped them between the daemonic hordes of Khorne and the forces of the Black Legion. In a bitter last stand, both Loyalist Chapters were utterly destroyed, their skulls taken by the ancient Daemon Prince Doombreed, whose existence preceded that of the Imperium itself, to be mounted upon the mighty Skull Throne of the Blood God. |
Venerators - Notable Campaigns: 5th Black Crusade (723.M36) - The 5th Black Crusade included among its many atrocities the scouring of the Elysia Sector, culminating in the destruction of the ancient Imperial city of Kasyr Lutien. Abaddon the Despoiler purposefully fomented invasions on a dozen worlds within the sector, entrusting the destruction of cities, shrines and temples to his warlords while using his fleet to keep the Imperial Navy engaged in deep void skirmishes. It was Abaddon's intention to create a sector-wide conflict that would provoke a massive response from the Imperium and draw in Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes. His plans set in motion, Abaddon led the bulk of his Black Legion to the city of Kasyr Lutien on the world of Tarinth, burning the great city to the ground and enslaving its people. When the Warhawks and Venerators Space Marines arrived on Tarinth in Chapter strength, they made an immediate assault upon Kasyr Lutien. At the same moment, Abaddon ordered the mass sacrifice of ten million citizens. Their blood funnelled via the city's great canals into a vast lake of gore. Above the lake, the Warp opened up and Doombreed, greatest of all Khorne's Daemon Princes, stepped into reality and howled in triumph. Abaddon had made a dark pact with Doombreed, promising it the skulls of an entire Chapter of Space Marines in return for its service. With thousands of Bloodletters pouring forth from the lake of blood, Doombreed waded into the ranks of the Warhawks and Venerators. The Black Legion then sprang their own trap, and from prepared positions across the city, they opened fire on the Loyalists, blocking their retreat. Though they fought without fear or respite, both Chapters fell that day, their warriors mutilated by the daemonic host and their gene-seed forever lost to the Imperium. |
Venerators - Chapter Colours: The Venerators' Chapter colours are not listed in current Imperial records. |
Venerators - Chapter Badge: The Venerators' Chapter badge is not listed in current Imperial records. |
Venerators of Osiron - Venerators of Osiron: The Venerators of Osiron is a Loyalist Space Marine Chapter of unknown Founding and origin. Almost nothing is known about this Chapter in Imperial records. |
Venerators of Osiron - Chapter History: The Venerators of Osiron were created at some point after the Second Founding. In 2455.757.M40 they were one of the twenty Chapters contacted by the Adeptus Ministorum envoy Balthazar van Heppel, who wanted to write a report on the Space Marines' religious beliefs for the Ecclesiarch. |
Venerators of Osiron - Chapter Colours: The Venerators of Osiron primarily wear white Power Armour. This includes the Aquila or Imperialis on the chest guard, as well as the helm, shoulder plate trim, arms, legs and greaves. The power pack, shoulder plate inset, torso and groin are blue. The white squad specialty symbol -- Tactical, Devastator, Assault or Veteran -- is located on the right shoulder plate. A black Roman numeral is stenciled in the centre of the squad specialty symbol, indicating squad number. The iconography of the left knee guard indicates company number in accordance with the Codex Astartes. |
Venerators of Osiron - Chapter Badge: The Venerators of Osiron's Chapter badge is a white double-headed battle-axe, with two white lightning bolts striking forth from both sides, centred on a field of blue. |
Vengeance-class Grand Cruiser - Vengeance-class Grand Cruiser: The Vengeance-class Grand Cruiser straddles the line between earlier and later Imperial warship design. The ship can be seen with the beginnings of the characteristic armoured prow, although as yet the extra armour of later vessels has not been added. Today, the Vengeance remains part of the Imperial Navy's fleet reserve, regarded by most admirals as an old warhorse, past its best days.Vengeances have also been identified as part of the Traitor warfleets, dating back to the mass mutiny that split the Imperial fleet in half during the Horus Heresy. Since then, Imperial warship design has slowly evolved, but within the Warp, where time does not follow a linear path, ships can survive untold millennia as if it were only yesterday. Within the Eye of Terror, ships which actually fought in the great battles of the Great Crusade and the Heresy still exist.The active Vengeance-class Grand Cruisers that are part of the Segmentum Obscurus's Battlefleet Obscurus are generally deployed in squadrons whose ongoing mission is to patrol and defend the star systems lying around the Eye of Terror in a constant vigil against Chaos incursions. Other Vengeances are scattered across the Imperial fleet reserves throughout Segmentum Obscurus and Segmentum Pacificus as second-line units, replacement squadrons, and mothballed as war reserves.Several patrolling squadrons of Vengeances have, whilst engaged in routine duties, strayed into the Eye itself, either lured there in pursuit of Heretic raiders or caught in a sudden and unpredictable flare or expansion of the unpredictable Warp rift. Such patrols are never seen again, although reports of Vengeance-class Grand Cruisers supporting Renegade raids and even Black Crusades have been on the increase. |
Vengeance-class Grand Cruiser - Vengeance-class Variants: Avenger-class Grand Cruiser - The Avenger is a variant of the Vengeance designed as a line-breaker for earlier fleet tactics. Squadrons were intended to deploy shielded by escorts, then accelerate into the heart of an enemy fleet and exchange barrages at point-blank range. Though it had powerful weapons batteries that allowed it to out-shoot most opponents at close range, causing heavy damage, Avenger squadrons would usually take heavy damage.Exorcist-class Grand Cruiser - The Exorcist is a variant of the Vengeance design that was originally developed as a long-range patrol vessel, capable of self-sufficiency for long periods of time away from fleet support as long as it was accompanied by two or three squadrons of escort vessels.Executor-class Grand Cruiser - The Executor is a variant of the Vengeance-class Grand Cruiser no longer used by the Imperial Navy, except in the reserve fleets of the Segmentum Obscurus' battlefleet. As this particular class dwindled due to attrition, one of the last remaining squadrons of Executor-class vessels disappeared into the Eye of Terror while defending the Cadian Gate from a raiding Chaos Fleet. Five Terran centuries later these vessels reemerged into Imperial space as a part of a Chaos flotilla. |
Vengeance Launcher - Vengeance Launcher: The Vengeance Launcher is an Imperial multi-chambered rocket battery which saturates a target area with fragmenting anti-personnel warheads.Designed for close-range ground attack, this weapon allows the Adeptus Astartes Storm Eagle assault gunship to both clear a landing zone in a hostile area and continue to provide direct fire support once it has delivered its deadly cargo of Space Marines. |
Vengeful Spirit - Vengeful Spirit: The Vengeful Spirit is an ancient Gloriana-class Battleship, adapted to a variant of the Scylla Pattern, that served as the flagship of the Warmaster Horus and the XVI Legion.The Vengeful Spirit formed the core of the Luna Wolves (later called the Sons of Horus) Legion's campaigns during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy.It was upon the Vengeful Spirit that the final conflict between Horus and the Emperor of Mankind played out in the final hours of the Heresy's climactic Siege of Terra which would leave Horus dead and the Emperor mortally wounded, forever after interred within the life-support mechanisms of the Golden Throne.After the end of the Horus Heresy, the Vengeful Spirit, its structure altered by long exposure to the Warp, eventually became the flagship of Horus' successor as the Warmaster of Chaos, Abaddon the Despoiler. It is currently the most powerful capital ship of the Black Legion's Black Fleet. |
Vengeful Spirit - History: In the early days of the galaxy-spanning campaign known as the Great Crusade, the Emperor and the only one of his sons to have been recovered, the Primarch Horus, forged the initial expansion of the newborn Imperium of Man.The Emperor of Mankind still walked among humanity, and vast Legions of Space Marines sallied forth to take possession of the galaxy, subduing all that stood before them and exterminating any xenos encountered to make way for humanity's Manifest Destiny to rule the galaxy.When the ancient Mechanicum first swore their fealty to the Emperor as their Omnissiah following the Treaty of Mars, many wondrous and terrible creations did the adepts of Mars construct to reunite all the disparate peoples of Mankind into one unified Imperium.Among these vessels was a new kind of warship, one of unbelievably vast dimensions equipped with all the firepower of a battleship but capable of transporting and delivering vast numbers of men and materiel directly to the battlefield.This new type of warship served as the chariots that carried forth the Emperor and His primarchs to conquer the galaxy. Designated a "battle barge," no other starship type came to be as feared and respected as these, and just their arrival would often result in the quick surrender of a contested star system.A heavy ingot of fashioned iron, the Vengeful Spirit radiated quiet power. Even from a distance one could see hundreds of gun turrets and the slender rods of massive accelerator cannons that were twice the length of most Imperial battleships themselves. The prow of Horus' flagship displayed a massive golden ring which bisected a slim ellipse. This was the eye of the Warmaster himself, unblinking and open to see all that transpired.From the Vengeful Spirit's Strategium, and later the Lupercal's Court, a throne room centred upon the voidship's massive command deck, Horus would coordinate the military and diplomatic efforts of the 63rd Expeditionary Fleet of the Great Crusade, and countless thousands of Imperial personnel from a multitude of Imperial organisations who lived and worked on board.Additionally, because the vessel was so old, one of the first warships built for the Imperium by the Mechanicus of Mars following the alliance between the newborn Imperium of Man and the Priesthood of Mars in the late 30th Millennium, the core of the ship was a rotting, empty labyrinth of filth and vermin.It was there, in the bowels of the Vengeful Spirit, that the Chaos-tainted Word Bearers First Chaplain Erebus schemed to corrupt Horus to Chaos on the command of his new masters within the Immaterium. Erebus hid the Chaos-tainted blade known as the Kinebrach Anathame that would be used to mortally wound Horus on the feral moon of the world of Davin within this area of the warship after he stole the weapon from the Hall of Devices museum on the Interex world of Xenobia.The core of the Vengeful Spirit is also where Erebus would eventually hold the ritualistic ceremonies of dark worship and human sacrifices that were required for Horus to communicate with the Ruinous Powers of the Warp he later called allies.Over time, and especially after the Isstvan III Atrocity, the Venegeful Spirit became less of a warship and more of a temple to the Dark Gods of Chaos whom Horus came to revere in his quest for domination over the Imperium of Man.The Sons of Horus took part in many of the campaigns of the Horus Heresy, from the betrayal at the Drop Site Massacre of Isstvan V right through to the Siege of Terra. It was in the all-consuming fires of the Horus Heresy that battle barges first proved themselves as both the bane and saviour of Mankind.Countless worlds were reduced to rubble and seas of radioactive glass under the withering fire of its many rows of weapon batteries, and countless numbers of these vessels were lost defending Loyalist worlds against the host of the Betrayer's warfleets.In fact, it was aboard the Vengeful Spirit, the flagship of Horus throughout the conflict, that the final climactic battle of wills took place between the Emperor and his once favoured son who have become the most foul Arch-traitor in Mankind's history.Though the Emperor was mortally wounded, Horus was slain, and this one act spelled defeat for the forces of Chaos as the battle for Terra was won and Humanity's once-bright future was shattered beyond repair.Following the death of Horus and the defeat of the Traitor Legions in the Great Scouring, the Vengeful Spirit fell under the control of the Sons of Horus' First Captain Ezekyle Abaddon. Somehow, the vessel had become embedded under the former Aeldari world of Asa'ciaral deep within the Eye of Terror.With the Sons of Horus in disarray after the fall of their fortress on the world of Maleum during the Legion Wars, an expedition led by Falkus Kibre, Iskandar Khayon, and other Heretic Astartes eventually managed to find both Abaddon and the Vengeful Spirit. Convinced to command the XVI Legion once again, Abaddon used the vessel to crush the Emperor's Children Legion and their clone of Horus on the Daemon World of Harmony.Following the Battle of Harmony, Abaddon resumed command of the Sons of Horus as the new Warmaster of Chaos and Chaos Lord of the renamed Black Legion.The Vengeful Spirit became the flagship and heart of the Black Legion's fleet, the so-called Black Fleet, a role it continues to fulfill to this day. The Vengeful Spirit is known to have appeared in realspace and conducted operations during the 10th, 12th, and 13th Black Crusades.Nearly all of the other titanic warships of the Gloriana-class were lost or destroyed during and immediately after the Horus Heresy and subsequent reorganisation of the remaining Loyalist Space Marine Legions during the Second Founding into the many Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes.Few of those vessels are still confirmed to exist among the Heretic Astartes, such as the Harbinger of Doom of the Black Legion or the Conqueror of the World Eaters, though others may still ply the unassailable reaches of the Maelstrom and the Eye of Terror.Though exceedingly rare, these vessels still rightfully command deep respect and fear. |
Vengeful Spirit - Sources: Battlefleet Gothic 2010 Compendium, pp. 111-112Black Legion - A Codex: Chaos Space Marines Supplement (6th Edition), "The Conflict of Helica", pp. 39-40Horus Heresy: Collected Visions (Art Book)False Gods (Novel) by Graham McNeillGalaxy In Flames (Novel) by Ben CounterHorus Rising (Novel) by Dan AbnettVengeful Spirit (Novel) by Graham McNeillSoul Hunter (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-BowdenThe Talon of Horus (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-BowdenThe 13th Black Crusade (Background Book)Battlefleet Gothic Armada II (PC Game) (Gallery images) |
Vengeful Spirit (Novel) - Vengeful Spirit (Novel): Vengeful Spirit is the twenty-ninth volume in the Horus Heresy series of novels. |
Vengeful Spirit (Novel) - Synopsis: On the planet of Molech, the Titan Legions go to war against the armies of Horus.Once the favoured son of the Emperor of Mankind, the name of Horus has become a curse to the loyal defenders of the Imperium, and a rallying call to the traitor forces tearing across the galaxy. While their allies wage war on a thousand different fronts, the XVIth Legion descend upon the Knight World of Molech – home to House Devine and their feudal levies, and a principal seat of Imperial military power. Just what could have drawn Horus to attack such a strongly defended planet, and what might he be willing to sacrifice to fulfill his own dark destiny? |
Vengor Launcher - Vengor Launcher: A Vengor Launcher is an extremely powerful, long-range, anti-infantry missile launcher employed by the Primaris Space Marine sergeant of a Desolation Squad of the Adeptus Astartes. The single missile fired by a Vengor Launcher can reach extremely long ranges and its explosive blast radius is such that it is capable of wiping out whole squads of enemy infantry before they ever come into view.Desolation Marines also all pack a little something extra under the barrel of their rocket launchers. The belt-fed Castellan Launcher can saturate the sky with guided bomblets that rain down on the enemy wherever they hide. It is the perfect weapon for flushing out cowardly targets -- and it fires separately from a Desolation Marine's main rockets, allowing them to pick and choose their targets. |
Venkrous - Venkrous: VenkrousDaemon WorldHadex AnomalyJericho Reach |
Venkrous - History: Once a lush and beautiful Agri-world, Venkrous was the primary producer of most large grains for the Imperium's ancient Jericho Sector. Now twisted and warped by the rotting touch of Nurgle, Venkrous produces plants that are used to create vile poisons and hallucinogenic drugs.Wanting to create a planet more to his liking, the Plague Father pushed the land masses together until they created three continents where once there were nine.The next step was to move the clouds out of the way so that all could look upon the glory of this creation. The clouds were moved towards the poles and turned a shade of pink so as not to distract the eye from the crowning achievement.The seas themselves, once a beautiful shade of blue, now run green with pus. Any wildlife that survived the change found itself mutated into strange new forms that spread the unholy plague to every corner of the planet.The Human population of the planet was hit hardest of all. Those that staunchly refused Grandfather Nurgle's pestilent embrace were the lucky ones. They were merely executed, while those that quickly turned their worship to the Great Diseased One found themselves rewarded with a form of leprosy.Their limbs would quickly atrophy and die off over a period of seven solar days, but on the eighth day, the limbs that were lost would begin to grow back. The cycle repeats for eight solar months out of the year, but in the ninth month, the regeneration does not stop at simply regrowing the lost limbs.During that month, the limbs become bloated and grotesque mockeries of what they once were, until the last day of the month when they mercifully explode, spreading the plague amongst any who have not been gifted with it. |
Venom - Venom: The Venom is a small Drukhari skimmer that is the fastest and most agile aircraft in the Dark Eldar fleet. It is also used sometimes by Eldar Corsairs and Harlequins, both of whom may spend time in Commorragh and gain access to Drukhari technology.The raids of the Dark Eldar rely above all else on the advantages of surprise and sheer speed. As a result, all Dark Eldar skimmers are extraordinarily fast and highly manoeuvrable in-atmosphere. The most agile of all Drukhari transports is known as the Venom, an arrowhead-shaped skimmer that carries an elite group of Dark Eldar warriors into battle.Rather than present one obvious target, Dark Eldar strike forces attack in waves, with a veritable horde of their skimmer craft pouring out of the Webway portals they open in the tortured skies of targeted worlds. Although many of these Dark Eldar craft can still be intercepted by enemy antiaircraft fire, even a highly disciplined battery will prove unable to stop all of the craft in the black swarm that falls upon it. Additionally, it is always the largest and most populous of transports that draws the attention of well-drilled enemy soldiers.Thus, the most devious Dark Eldar ride to battle upon aircraft no larger than the Vypers used by their Craftworld counterparts, or the sky-chariots once so ubiquitous in the skies of the planets ruled by the lost Aeldari Empire. Speed is always of paramount importance to the Dark Eldar -- should even one Venom penetrate enemy air defences it can be enough to prove the doom of the opposition, as its lethal passengers do their bloody work.Though the Venom's booster engines and the anti-gravitic emitters implanted within its ribbing are similar to that found on other Dark Eldar skimmercraft, the transport is so agile and sensitive to the commands of its pilot that it can juke through a hail of incoming fire, its holographic Flickerfield confounding enemy snipers and Auspexes. A skilled Venom pilot can even manoeuvre his craft into those segments of the Webway designed only for the passage of a single individual at a time. It is for this reason that Venoms are very popular with Commorrite hunters and those Dark Eldar nobles of the Dark City's upper spires who enjoy running down their enemies as a form of vile sport. |
Venom - Wargear: Despite its small size, the Venom can carry a small squad of up to 5 hand-picked elite warriors who have been trained to enter combat as a coordinated unit. Though most Drukhari Archons and elite warriors prefer to lead their Kabalite Warriors into battle from aboard a larger Raider personalised to their specific tastes, this does not sit well with those especially arrogant Comorrites who do not wish to consort with mere footsoldiers.Sometimes Venoms are used to transport only a single warrior to battle in unusual style. This is usually those Dark Eldar nobles so convinced of their own superiority that they believe they do not need bodyguards -- or those so paranoid that they fear them. Those amongst the forces of the Imperium who have seen the Dark Eldar in combat know that a single one of these malicious xenos warriors is sometimes all it takes--the true toxin delivered by a Venom is its passengers, not its weapons. However, the skimmer carries the following weapons:Twin-linked Splinter RifleSplinter CannonHolographic Flickerfield (for defensive purposes) |
Venom Blade - Venom Blade: The Venom Blade is a favoured melee weapon of the ancient Drukhari nobility and was considered their hallmark. There are vast numbers of all kinds of poisoned weapons like vambrace blades, knives, daggers, swords, scimitars, whips and more, some of incredibly exotic design unimagined by humans.These venom weapons each are host to thousands of micropores that constantly exude a distilled elixir of hypertoxins -- one of the most toxic substances in the galaxy -- that make the blade extremely lethal to any foe with just the slightest scratch. |
Venom Sphere - Venom Sphere: A Venom Sphere was a specialised assault grenade utilised only by the Alpha Legion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras of the late 30th and early 31st Millennia.This deadly weapons upgrade replaced the more commonplace anti-personnel Frag Grenades employed by the other Space Marine Legions for advanced variants which contained toxin-impregnated crystalline splinters that have been darkly claimed to be based on xenos technology. It is unknown if these weapons are still deployed by the Alpha Legion in the late 41st Millennium. |
Venom Thorns - Venom Thorns: The Venom Thorns are a Renegade Space Marine Chapter of unknown Founding that is a Successor Chapter of the Imperial Fists.Nothing much is known about this Chapter, other than at the end of their crusade in the Eastern Fringes the surviving Space Marines of the Venom Thorns settled the world of Xanatar unsanctioned, refusing to give this world back to Imperial forces as was required.The Imperium responded by sending the Imperial Fists Reclusiarch Belisar to the world in 599.M41 to try and reason with the Chapter's chosen representative that the world was not theirs to take without Imperial permission. When diplomacy proved futile, Belisar proceeded to kill every Venom Thorn Astartes on Xanatar. |
Venom Thorns - History: In the sixth century of the 41st Millennium, the Venom Thorns Chapter led an Imperial Crusade to conquer many worlds of the Eastern Fringe for the Imperium. After the crusade, the Venom Thorns saw fit to settle the world of Xanatar, the first they had conquered in the Emperor's name, as their new Chapter homeworld, though the Imperium had made no formal grant of the world to the Chapter.This unauthorised action provoked the incredulous hostility of the other Imperial military forces who participated in the crusade, yet the Venom Thorns' actions were answered in 599.M41 in the form of a single Imperial Fists' Reclusiarch by the name of Belisar, who came to parley with the surviving Venom Thorns and make them reconsider their settlement of the conquered world.Tek'Shal, a Veteran sergeant of the Venom Thorns was the one who received the Reclusiarch. Belisar tried to persuade Tek'Shal to leave the planet temporarily, vowing that the Imperial Fists would make sure that there would be no repercussions.Yet Tek'Shal would not listen, and furthermore, he had revealed to Belisar that he and his Chapter were planning to take not only Xanatar as their new homeworld, but the whole sub-sector in the name of all the lost battle-brothers of their Chapter that had fallen while trying to conquer the sub-sector.Tek'Shal made it clear to Belisar that the Venom Thorns would rule the sub-sector just like the Ultramarines ruled over Ultramar.After an argument, Belisar understood that the Venom Thorns left him no choice. Taking out a single bolt from his ammunition pouch, he held it up so Tek'Shal could see it. It was intricately inscribed, and among the scrollwork were the High Gothic letters "IRIXA," which stood for Imperator Rex In Xanatar Aeternam, or "The Emperor Reigns on Xanatar for All Time."The bolt represented a simple truth -- lowly as the world of Xanatar was, it was the Emperor's, and not the Venom Thorns'. The bleakest rock was His, and it was the Adeptus Astartes' duty to keep it His.Utilising 100 such bolts specially forged for his grim task, Belisar first killed Tek'Shal and then proceeded to kill the remaining Venom Thorns that were on Xanatar.It is unknown whether the Venom Thorns were driven to extinction by Belisar. All that the records reveal is that Belisar left the planet alive, with one remaining bolt. A statue of honour was later built to commemorate Belisar aboard the Imperial Fists' mobile fortress-monastery Phalanx. |
Venom Thorns - Notable Venom Thorns: Tek'Shal (KIA) - Tek'Shal was a Veteran sergeant of the Venom Thorns. He had fought Belisar during the Imperial Fists tournament known as the Feast of Blades, in which he went on to win. Tek'Shal was the one who spoke with the Imperial Fists Reclusiarch Belisar regarding the future of Xanatar and the Venom Thorns. He made it clear to Belisar that the Venom Thorns would not leave Xanatar, moreover, they would also take over the whole sub-sector and rule it as its undisputed masters. Belisar tried to warn Tek'Shal that there would be retaliation by the Imperium, but pride sank too deep in Tek'Shal's heart and he refused to acknowledge the consequences. Only when it was too late to turn back from their course of action did Tek'Shal realise that Belisar was the one designated to bring the retribution of the Emperor upon the Venom Thorns. With a last desperate attempt, Tek'Shal tried to persuade Belisar that he should not kill a fellow Astartes, but all was for naught, as it ended in blood for Tek'Shal and the other Space Marines of the Venom Thorns Chapter. |
Venom Thorns - Chapter Colours: The Venom Thorns' Chapter colours are not listed in current Imperial records. |
Venom Thorns - Chapter Badge: The Venom Thorns' Chapter Badge is a golden fist gripping a hammer. |
Venomcrawler - Venomcrawler: A Venomcrawler is a Daemon Engine of Chaos deployed by the warbands of the Heretic Astartes, particularly those of the daemon-possessed Chaos Space Marines known as Daemonkin. |
Venomcrawler - Role: Pounding forwards upon bladed limbs come the horrors known as Venomcrawlers. Grotesque amalgams of metal, flesh and daemonic entities, these monstrosities hiss and snarl as they scuttle towards their prey. Fleshy tongues flap from snarling maws and Soulflayer tendrils lash back and forth, all tasting the air for the scent of their enemies' fear.Upon locking onto their target the Venomcrawlers emit an earsplitting screech. Pent-up Warp energy is channelled into their Excruciator Cannons, coalescing into hails of solid shot that rip through entire ranks of armoured foes with ease.With their guns still screaming the Daemon Engines close ground on their victims, using their eviscerating claws to prise open vehicles and skewer those within. Soulflayer tendrils thrash frantically, mangling bodies and flensing them of their essence. As the Venomcrawlers continue to butcher, their fanged mouths gape ever wider, drawing the souls of those slain into their vast mechanical abdomens.Like other Daemon Engines, most Venomcrawlers are created by the Warpsmiths of the Dark Mechanicum, but their daemonic spirits can also be drawn into reality by Masters of Possession. Their spider-like frames are wrought in unhallowed forge halls and profane flesh-factories, and through heretical ritual parasitic entities are drawn forth from the Warp to infest these horrifying machines.During such a ritual, the strongest daemon presence is bound to the structure of the Venomcrawler in a state of inseparable symbiosis, while lesser entities are simply devoured. As more daemons are absorbed, its metallic form distends hideously to accommodate them, creating a reservoir of empyric energy within its swollen body.Upon completion, Venomcrawlers continue to haunt the cavernous halls of the creators' factories, burrowing into and nesting within the warp-drenched superstructures. From there they wait for the telltale scent of other daemonic entities that have been summoned into realspace by Warpsmiths or Masters of Possession.Should these empyric beings somehow escape the binding rituals or burst from their hosts, the Venomcrawlers emerge to hunt them down, devouring them whole and storing the raging spirits within their bulbous bodies. It is this daemonic energy that powers the Venomcrawlers' formidable weaponry, and when such wayward entities are in short supply the war machines will turn to other sources of sustenance, consuming Daemonkin, Chaos Sorcerers or Heretic Astartes to remain well fed.Venomcrawlers are uniquely valued both off and on the battlefield. Not only can their repositories of stored Warp energy be siphoned in order to create fresh Daemon Engines, but they can be used in the thick of combat to weaken the fabric of reality. Masters of Possession are particularly adept at drawing upon this reservoir to lure the daemonic servants of the Chaos Gods into existence. At battle's end these daemons are hastily consumed by the Venomcrawler, their essences used to replenish its depleted Warp stores. |
Venomcrawler - Wargear: Excruciator CannonEviscerating clawsSoulflayer tendrils |
Venomthrope - Venomthrope: The Tyranid Venomthrope serves as a living chemical weapon dispenser for the swarms of the Tyranid hive fleets. The Venomthrope's whip-like tentacles drip with a multitude of alien poisons. Indeed, so potent are these toxins that it is believed that a Venomthrope's very touch means certain death.Under a Venomthrope's heavy carapace is a network of bulging, gas-filled bladders that emit yellowish spore clouds. These clouds are lethal to non-Tyranid organisms and dense enough to obscure nearby Tyranid organisms. These numerous gas-filled bladders (also the source of the toxic cloud that fills the air around it) allows the Venomthrope to move along by using its tentacle-like hooked tendrils to drag its lighter-than-air body across any surface.These same tendrils are also used to snare enemies and drag them into its poison cloud, where it holds them fast until their feeble struggles cease and it can devour them at its leisure. Not as powerful a combatant as a Tyranid Warrior or Ravener, the Venomthrope relies mostly on its poisons to do its work, expecting only mild resistance from its prey once it gets close enough to envelope them with its cloud or touch them with its deadly tendrils.Venomthropes are not just toxic to non-Tyranid life forms, but also to any environment they enter. Over time their miasma of toxic spores infects the ground and air of a world unlucky enough to feel its venomous touch, rendering it hostile to even its own indigenous species. The Hive Mind uses this aspect of the Venomthrope by gathering them together in large numbers and unleashing them on a region to gradually poison it, making it harder for non-Tyranid life forms to continue to resist.Venomthropes can be especially deadly in enclosed areas or underground, where their toxins can fill ventilation systems and foul air scrubbers, making the corridors and chambers of a fortress or spacecraft deadly to its garrison or crew. In efforts to combat these tactics, the Adeptus Mechanicus has tried repeatedly to study the Venonthrope and develop either more sure methods of protecting troops against its venoms or to discover an antidote to them.So far no successes have had any lasting effects on the Imperium’s efforts against these creatures, and as soon as a new method or antidote is found to counter the Venomthrope, it seems the creature quickly adapts and overcomes it.A Venomthrope's feeding instincts means that it can operate quite effectively even while beyond the range of the Hive Mind, drifting into formations of enemy troops and spreading its deadly toxins or lashing out at exposed warriors.In battle, Venomthropes are therefore often found on the flanks of the swarm, or exploiting gaps to get at rear-echelon troops where their toxic presence can cause as much havoc as possible and they can force troops to abandon defensive positions before they become caught up in its toxic vapors.As a general rule, the only sure way to deal with such an attack is a quick response from heavy weapons and a sustained blast of fire to tear the creature apart before it can get too close. However, even after its death the Venomthrope still leaves a toxic corpse which can be almost as deadly as this Tyranid biomorph was in life. |
Venomthrope - Sources: Deathwatch - Mark of the Xenos (RPG), pg. 51 |
Ventrillia - Ventrillia: Ventrillia is a wealthy Mining World on the edge of Imperial space in the Eastern Fringe. It is the homeworld of the Ventrillian Nobles Militarum Regimentum of the Astra Militarum.On the wealthy jewel world of Ventrillia those that withstand the subterranean coming-of-age ritual known as the "Trial of the Lava Lakes" enjoy a wealth that is more than sufficient to buy their way out of service in the Astra Militarum a dozen times over. But Ventrillia has a proud military culture, with a history of duelling that stretches back to pre-Imperial times, and few Ventrillian Nobles would risk the dishonour of giving up their commissions.Ventrillia's rarest gemstones are of great value to the Adeptus Mechanicus, both for manufacturing and research purposes. To secure a steady supply of these jewels, the Tech-priests ensure that Ventrillia and its regiments are always supplied with an abundance of super-heavy tanks. |
Ventrillian Nobles - Ventrillian Nobles: The Ventrillian Nobles are a Militarum Regimentum of the Astra Militarum. On the wealthy jewel world of Ventrillia in the Eastern Fringe, those that withstand the subterranean coming-of-age ritual known as the "Trial of the Lava Lakes" enjoy a wealth that is more than sufficient to buy their way out of the Astra Militarum a dozen times over. But Ventrillia has a proud military culture, with a history of duelling that stretches back to pre-Imperial times, and few Ventrillian Nobles would risk the dishonour of giving up their commissions.Instead, they "donate" their wealth to Departmento Munitorum officials and Rogue Traders in exchange for assignments and passage to war zones rich in adventure and glory, rather than simply being fed to the Imperial meat grinder. When the Nobles go to war they do so armed not only with a Lasgun and bayonet, but also an ancestral duelling sword, quickblade or heavy two-handed Zweihander.Ventrillia's rarest gemstones are of great value to the Adeptus Mechanicus, both for manufacturing and research purposes. To secure a steady supply of these jewels, the Tech-priests ensure that Ventrillia and its regiments are always supplied with an abundance of super-heavy tanks. |
Ventrillian Nobles - Notable Ventrilian Nobles Regiments: 86th Ventrillian Nobles, "Carmine Eagles" - One of the better known regiments of the Ventrillian Nobles. |
Ventrillian Nobles - Sources: Codex: Astra Militarum (8th Edition), pp. 17, 28 |
Veracity - Veracity: Veracity, also called the Sword of Oblivion, was a unique Execution Blade wielded by the leader of the Sisters of Silence. Fashioned in the manner of a highly ornate two-handed Execution Blade of her Order, the Veracity is in fact the pattern from which all others of its kind were said to have been made, and stands as the symbol of the Knight-Commander of the Silent Sisters.This mighty weapon was once wielded by the Emperor Himself, before He made a gift of it to Knight-Commander Jenetia Krole during the time of the Great Crusade in the 30th Millennium. The sword's true mystery lies in the substance of the blade itself, for it can cut almost anything without evidence of any kind of power field or disruption generator, its origins an enigma to all save perhaps the Emperor. |
Veren - Veren: Veren is a Feral World under the protection of the T'au Empire's Velk'Han Sept located in the Achilus Crusade's Greyhell Front in the Jericho Reach.For reasons that Imperial forces cannot ascertain, the T'au are very interested in keeping the Imperium from conquering Veren. The planet, a world of glassy black mountains and shallow oceans teeming with corals and algal blooms, is of little obvious strategic value.Stable Warp-routes from the vicinity of Veren end at the Black Reef, so the planet would be of no use for staging an attack on Tsua'Malor. Nevertheless, the expeditionary force sent to scout the world was immediately opposed by T'au Hunter Cadres attacking in force.Lord Commander Sebiascor Ebongrave is convinced that something lies on Veren the T'au want to defend, and that sending so many T'au to defend it indicates its importance.Ebongrave has ordered Veren to be captured and held, but the T'au seem to know the planet very well and use the air-filled coral tunnels beneath its shallow seas to move around Veren with impunity.The battles through Veren's tunnels and in its mountain passes are vicious and at close-quarters, and the T'au suffer greater losses here than anywhere else in the Canis Salient.Some in Ebongrave's command believe that the T'au activity on Veren is a huge feint, intended to draw Astra Militarum regiments away from worlds that are truly important, and that the T'au will either leave and force the Imperial Guard to tie up troops garrisoning the world, or draw in more and more until they can wipe them out in some huge T'au-engineered cataclysm.Such views are near-heretical to Ebongrave's ears, and the war on Veren continues. |
Verghast - Verghast: Verghast is an Imperial Hive World in the Sabbat Worlds Sector that became a crucial point of contention in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade in 761.M41 when Chaos corrupted the people of the hive city of Ferrozoica.These Chaos Cultists, numbering some 13,000,000 people, almost the entire population of the hive, in turn attacked their old rivals, the nearby loyal hive cities of Vannick and Vervunhive.Vervunhive, despite having a larger population, could field military forces numbering only about 500,000 troops to meet the Zoican forces.So its leaders sent out an astropathic plea to the Astra Militarum for forces to defend itself and to the Northern Collective hive cities of Verghast for Planetary Defence Forces (PDF) to hold the line against the vicious horde of Zoican Chaos Cultists, heavy armour and mutants.During the resulting battle, Vervunhive was all but destroyed by the forces of Chaos' assault. The hive city was essentially abandoned in the wake of the attacks.The surviving citizens of Vervunhive found refuge in the hive cities of the Northern Collective, established new, smaller settlements in the region where Vervunhive once stood or joined the regiments of the Imperial Guard engaged in the Imperial Crusade to retake the Sabbat Worlds Sector.Many former Vervunhive citizens who had defended the city as part of its irregular Scratch Companies later joined the famed Tanith First and Only Regiment of the Imperial Guard which had participated in the defence of the city as part of the Act of Consolation declared by Warmaster Macaroth of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade.This edict allowed civilians to join Imperial Guard Regiments if they wished without going through the normal recruitment process. |
Verghast - Battle of Vervunhive: After receiving Vervunhive's request for assistance in facing the Zoican assault, the Imperial Crusade in the Sabbat Worlds Sector dispatched the Tanith First and Only Regiment of the Imperial Guard to aid the hive city's defense, as it was not known at the time that the Zoican forces were servants of the Ruinous Powers.The Tanith First and Only took up defensive positions on the southern side of the hive, manning the walls alongside the Vervunhive Scratch Companies and paying particular attention to the city's main access points, including the Veyveyr Rail Gate and a heavily-polluted area outside the city's defensive walls called the Spoil.Early in the deployment, the Tanith Regiment witnessed the massive explosive flashes of the thermonuclear detonations that the Zoicans unleashed against Vannick hive, which reduced the massive hive city to a radioactive scrap pile. Vervunhive was protected from artillery bombardment by a powerful void shield which was projected over the top of the hive, but the garrison was under constant assault by Zoican soldiers in heavy infantry armour and a powerful force of Zoican main battle tanks.However, the corrupted High Master Salvadore Sondar of Vervunhive, following orders from the Chaos Warlord, the Heritor Asphodel, who was the commander of the Zoican forces, deliberately lowered the void shield at a crucial moment to allow the Zoicans to unleash a full bombardment.Much of the hive city was destroyed in the devastating barrage until a desperate strike force led by Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt, the commander of the Tanith First and Only, managed to infiltrate the High Master's quarters and bring the void shield back online.Gaunt then led another strike force composed of the Vervunhive irregular Scratch Companies, the Tanith First and Only and the troops of the Volpone Bluebloods into the massive armoured assault crawler that served as the Heritor Asphodel's mobile headquarters and destroyed it, after Colonel-Commissar Gaunt engaged and killed the Chaos warlord in single combat. With their leader dead, the Zoican forces soon became disoriented and their assault was turned back.Shortly after this victory, Warmaster Macaroth, the Lord Commander leading the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, ordered massive reinforcements to be sent to the planet once the Imperial Guard forces there reported the sheer strength of the forces of Chaos present there.The new forces sent to Verghast included 6,000,000 Imperial Guardsmen, 500,000 main battle tanks, 3 companies from both the Iron Snakes and Imperial Fists Space Marine Chapters and 2 Titan Legions. This overwhelming show of Imperial force proved adequate to exterminating every last remaining Zoican cultist on the planet and Verghast was declared free of Chaotic taint.The Warmaster next issued an edict known as the Act of Consolation which provided Imperial support for the construction of new hive cities to replace Vanickhive and the ruins of Vervunhive which also allowed the civilians of Verghast to join Imperial Guard regiments without going through the standard tithing process if they desired.Many of the survivors of Vervunhive who had served in the Scratch Companies alongside the Tanith First and Only willingly joined that regiment. |
Verian-Holms Delacre - Verian-Holms Delacre: Verian-Holms Delacre is the former planetary governor of the Frontier World of Kaggeran which lies within the Achilus Crusade's Canis Salient in the Jericho Reach.For the heretical crime of xenophilia, he was removed from office but secretly spirited away by the Ordo Xenos -- instead of being executed -- to serve the Deathwatch in their hunt for the "The Guiding Hand" conspiracy of pro-T'au sympathisers in the Reach. |
Verian-Holms Delacre - History: Governor DeLacre was originally spirited out from the quarantined worlds on the orders of Inquisitor Vils Andarion. The formerly-prosperous Frontier World of Kaggeran was sliding into xenos heresy long before the Achilus Crusade arrived, and it seems the bloody war in the Canis Salient proved too great a temptation for DeLacre.Under his corrupt regime, weapons and supplies were funneled to both sides of the conflict, DeLacre pocketing profits from stalwart crusaders and secessionist revolutionaries alike.Such crimes would be worthy of a public and grisly death as a lesson to others, and Inquisitor Andarion had gathered evidence to make it so. However, as events transpired, Lord Commander Sebiascor Ebongrave's blockade came into place and prevented Inquisitor Andarion moving in time to stop the whole Kaggeran System slipping into anarchy.The Inquisitor decided DeLacre could now serve a more useful purpose alive, revealing the extent of his contacts on Kaggeran, than dead at the hands of Ebongrave's Astra Militarum purity platoons. More importantly, Arman had come to believe that the web of intrigue stretched further, with the nearby systems of Argoth and Rheelas also implicated.To forestall any argument, Andarion staged a fake execution for the benefit of Lord Commander Ebongrave before transporting the distressed but very much alive DeLacre to the Deathwatch's Watch Fortress Erioch.A prisoner like DeLacre would normally be kept in the watch fortress' Inquisitorial Tower of Brass, but Inquisitor Andarion petitioned for the xenophile governor to be imprisoned with the other alien scum in the Xenos Bestiarium so that he could ponder his choices in allegiance.The corrupt governor of Kaggeran is still alive because he represents the only solid link the Ordo Xenos has found to "The Guiding Hand," a wide-ranging conspiracy of secret T'au supporters among the Imperium's elite in the Jericho Reach.DeLacre is being slowly and carefully wrung dry for every scrap of information he can give. Some of the names emerging are highly disturbing to see and the Officio Assassinorum has already been alerted.Inquisitor Andarion's decision to keep DeLacre locked up in the Xenos Bestiarium may in fact be motivated by a lack of trust in his Inquisitorial colleagues and their retinues. |
Veritas Ferrum - Veritas Ferrum: The Veritas Ferrum is a Daemonship that once belonged to the Iron Hands Legion and took part in the Second Battle of Davin during the Horus Heresy. |
Veritas Ferrum - History: The Veritas Ferrum was originally a Strike Cruiser of the Iron Hands Legion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras. The Veritas Ferrum took part in the battle for the orbital space above Isstvan V during the Drop Site Massacre.Commanded by Captain Durun Atticus of the Iron Hands' 111th Clan-Company, the Veritas Ferrum was part of the second wave of Iron Hands vessels to arrive at Isstvan V, having been too damaged by the Emperor's Children ambush in the Callinedes System to join their Primarch Ferrus Manus in the first wave of assault.After its translation from the Warp above Isstvan V it was immediately attacked by the Traitor Legions' fleets. In the massacre that followed most of the second wave of Iron Hands vessels were destroyed, with the Veritas Ferrum taking fire as its crew desperately tried to escape after receiving word that their primarch had been slain in the battle on the world's surface.As the Veritas Ferrum made its escape, it suddenly received a vox hail from two Thunderhawks bearing survivors from Isstvan V's surface and, after being convinced by Sergeant Khi'dem of the Salamanders 139th Company, moved to recover them. While coming under continuous fire the Veritas Ferrum recovered the survivors, which cost the Iron Hands more lives in lost crewmen than the ones they had just saved, before finally making an emergency jump into the Warp as the Traitors' ships closed in.The Veritas Ferrum later traveled to the Death World of Pythos as part of the Shattered Legions' expedition there under the command of Captain Atticus. At Pythos, the Veritas Ferrum along with the Legionaries on the damned world were claimed by the daemon Madail. Following Madail's capture of the ship, the daemon transformed the Veritas Ferrum into a corrupted daemonic monstrosity, a true Daemonship.The vessel became far larger than it originally was and grew seemingly organic features such as jaws, tentacles, and eyes. The damned warship became the center of Madail's fleet as he terrorised worlds across the galaxy.During the Second Battle of Davin with a combined Imperial fleet of Ultramarines, Dark Angels and Blood Angels led by the Primarchs Roboute Guilliman, Lion El'Jonson and Sanguinius, respectively, the Veritas Ferrum materialised above that cursed world as the flagship of a fleet of other Daemonships, laying waste to the Loyalist armada and destroying the Ultramarines' acting flagship Samothrace.When Davin was destroyed by Cyclonic Torpedoes, the physical anchor keeping the fleet in the Materium died with it, and the Veritas Ferrum and its daemonic escorts vanished back into the Warp. |
Veritas Ferrum (Audio Drama) - Veritas Ferrum (Audio Drama): Veritas Ferrum is the eleventh audio drama for the Horus Heresy Series that was not originally released as part of an anthology or other release. Veritas Ferrum was published online in December 2012 as part of the Black Library's Advent Calendar 2012, on the 24th day. The audio drama was later republished in prose format as part of the Legacies of Betrayal main series anthology novel. This audio drama, along with several others were also released as part of the Echoes of Ruin audio anthology. |
Veritas Ferrum (Audio Drama) - Official Synopsis: When Horus' treachery was declared, the Iron Hands Primarch Ferrus Manus sped to the Isstvan System with his elite forces to confront the Traitors...and fell into their trap, losing the battle and his life. The X Legion warship Veritas Ferrum arrives in the Isstvan System as part of the second wave of Imperial forces. Battered by the foes and forced to retreat, the crew must make a difficult choice when survivors of the Drop Site Massacre ask for aid. Has the nascent war already started to claim the humanity of those involved? |
Veritus Sub-sector - Veritus Sub-sector: The Veritus Sub-sector is a region of Imperial space located in the Segmentum Solar.The Veritus Sub-sector is replete with Imperial worlds and navigable Warp routes.It was seen as a stronghold of the Ecclesiarchy, a vibrant symbol of the Imperial Creed's galaxy-spanning influence and power, which ruled from the Shrine World of Benediction in the sub-sector's Talledus System.The sub-sector was ruled by Cardinal Morst Bolifax, who was based on Benediction.The Veritus Sub-sector came under assault from the forces of Chaos led by the Dark Apostle Kor Phaeron of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion during the Talledus War of the Era Indomitus. |
Veritus Sub-sector - Notable Star Systems: Talledus SystemKeyfire SystemRantharos SystemPavia SystemOddreon SystemLeonus System |
Vermilion Level (Short Story) - Vermilion Level (Short Story): Vermilion Level is the second stand-alone short story in the Gaunt's Ghosts series of novels by Dan Abnett. Vermilion Level was first published in the Black Library's Inferno! magazine, in issue 30. The story was later adapted into the novel First and Only and later re-published as a stand-alone e-book. |
Vermilion Level (Short Story) - Synopsis: As Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and his men -- the Tanith First-and-Only -- travel to a new war zone, Gaunt is drawn in to a mysterious conspiracy that could imperil the lives of all his men. Can he decipher the Vermilion level message that will reveal the truth before all is lost? |
Vertus Praetor - Vertus Praetor: A Vertus Praetor is a member of the Adeptus Custodes, the bodyguard of the Emperor of Mankind, who specialises in fast attack actions, swooping into battle alongside the other members of their squadron astride their powerful Dawneagle Pattern Jetbikes.Veteran warriors who have seen battle on a hundred worlds, these Custodians know the true value of speed: not simply to bring the enemy to battle, but to direct their might precisely where and when it is needed most. Wherever they see their comrades hardest pressed, there the Vertus Praetors strike like golden lightning to bolster them. |
Vertus Praetor - Role: These airborne warriors act as the eyes and ears of their Shield Companies, soaring over the battlefield and voxing word of the enemy's movements. Their auto-senses are optimised for this task, boasting suites of data-augurs, optical auspicators and multi-spectral motion-oracles that allow them to detect and track even hidden foes. With a squadron of sharp-eyed Vertus Praetors circling overhead, a Shield-Captain can rest assured the enemy stands little chance of catching him unawares.Each Vertus Praetor is a master combatant who has already honed his superhuman skills amongst the ranks of the Custodian Guard. They are expert marksmen, able to place perfect kill shots even while screaming at breakneck pace through tangled ruins or dense forests. Their close-quarters prowess is no less exceptional; a Vertus Praetor can open the throat of a heavily armoured foe in a single pass. They can analyse even the most chaotic conflict in a heartbeat, reacting with incredible speed to evade obstacles and run down their foes, processing battlefield developments with breathtaking rapidity.The exceptional skill of the Vertus Praetors is augmented by their superlative wargear. As well as being protected by auramite Custodian Armour, these warriors wield enormous Interceptor Lances. Taller end-to-end than an Ogryn, and perfectly weighted, these fearsome weapons boast adamantium blades wreathed in disruptor fields. Vertus Praetors are masters of hit-and-run strikes, driving their lances clean through their precisely chosen targets before ripping them clear again as they speed past. The result is as devastatingly effective as it is explosively gory.The greatest assets at the Vertus Praetors' disposal, however, are their mounts. The Dawneagle Jetbike is an incredible vehicle, a Great Crusade-era relic wrought in auramite and adamantium. These bikes are almost as large as light fighter craft and -- while they are still grav-skimmers -- can deliver a near supersonic turn of speed. Their hulls are phenomenally durable, allowing their riders to slam through walls and enemy warriors without being unseated, and they react pugnaciously to the slightest touch of the controls, able to jink effortlessly through incoming fire. When armed with Hurricane Bolters, the Dawneagle can plough bloody furrows through enemy hordes. However, it is when equipped with Salvo Launchers that Vertus Praetors truly come into their own as lightning-fast tank hunters. They scream across the battlefield, rapidly outflanking and encircling the heaviest enemy vehicles before annihilating them with strafing runs of Melta Missiles. Even enemy aircraft are not safe, for by combining their fire the Vertus Praetors are able to weave airborne webs of flakk blasts into which hurtling enemy aircraft slam with terminal results. |
Vertus Praetor - Unit Composition: 3-10 Vertus Praetors |
Vertus Praetor - Wargear: Custodian ArmourInterceptor LanceDawneagle Pattern JetbikeMisericordiaHurricane Bolter (Standard armament of Dawneagle Jetbike)Salvo Launcher (Optional replacement for Dawneagle Jetbike Hurricane Bolter)Melta MissileFlakkburst Missiles |
Vervunhive - Vervunhive: Vervunhive was a hive city of the Imperial Hive World of Verghast in the Sabbat Worlds Sector. It was destroyed during its internecine war with another Verghastite Hive City, Ferrozoica, which became a part of the much larger conflict known as the Sabbat Worlds Crusade after Ferrozoica's population was entirely corrupted by Chaos. Vervunhive's last hive governor was the High Master Salvadore Sondar. The famed Tanith First and Only Astra Militarum regiment participated in the liberation of Vervunhive from the Forces of Chaos, led by Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt. |
Vervunhive - Battle of Vervunhive: Verghast was a major producer of materiel for the Imperial Crusade underway in the Sabbat Worlds Sector, and it was drawn into that Crusade directly when it was attacked during an attempt to conquer the world by the Forces of Chaos in the sector. At first, the people of Vervunhive thought they were under assault by the rival hive of Ferrozoica in a replay of the "Trade War" that had scarred relations between the two Verghastian hive cities 90 standard years earlier. However, when Commissar Kowle led a Vervunhive armoured division out to meet the forces of "Zoica" it became clear that this was no conventional assault; the Zoican army massed in the millions, as its entire population had been corrupted by Chaos and transformed into fanatical Chaos Cultists. In comparison, Vervunhive could muster about 500,000 Planetary Defence Force troopers out of a population of over 40,000,000 people. What made the force imbalance even more frightening was that the hive city Ferrozoica was approximately only two-thirds the size of Vervunhive. The Ruinous Powers had sunk their fangs deep into every man, woman and child in Ferrozoica.After receiving Vervunhive's request for assistance in facing the Zoican assault, the Imperial Crusade in the Sabbat Worlds Sector dispatched the Tanith First and Only Regiment of the Imperial Guard to aid the hive city's defense, as it was not known at the time that the Zoican forces were servants of the Ruinous Powers. The Tanith First and Only took up defensive positions on the southern side of the hive, manning the walls alongside the Vervunhive Scratch Companies and paying particular attention to the city's main access points, including the Verveyr Rail Gate and a heavily-polluted area outside the city's defensive walls called the Spoil. Early in the deployment, the Tanith Regiment witnessed the massive explosive flashes of the thermonuclear detonations that the Zoicans unleashed against Vannick Hive, which reduced the massive Hive City to a radioactive scrap pile. Vervunhive was protected from artillery bombardment by a powerful Void Shield that was projected over the top of the hive from a pylon in the dead center of its spired structure, but the garrison was under constant assault by Zoican soldiers in heavy infantry armour and a powerful force of Zoican main battle tanks.However, the corrupted High Master Salvadore Sondar of Vervunhive, following orders from the Chaos Warlord, the Heritor Asphodel, who was the commander of the Zoican forces, deliberately lowered the Void Shield at a crucial moment to allow the Zoicans to unleash a full bombardment. Much of the hive city was destroyed in the devastating barrage until a desperate strike force led by Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt, the commander of the Tanith First and Only, managed to infiltrate the High Master's quarters and bring the void shield back online. Gaunt then led another strike force composed of the Vervunhive irregular Scratch Companies, the Tanith First and Only and troops of the Volpone Bluebloods into the massive armoured assault crawler that served as the Heritor Asphodel's mobile headquarters and destroyed it, after Colonel-Commissar Gaunt engaged and killed the Chaos Warlord in single combat. With their leader dead, the Zoican forces soon became disoriented and their assault was turned back.Shortly after this victory, Warmaster Macaroth, the Lord Commander leading the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, ordered massive reinforcements to be sent to the planet once the Imperial Guard forces there reported the sheer strength of the Forces of Chaos present there. The new forces sent to Verghast included 6,000,000 Imperial Guardsmen, 500,000 main battle tanks, 3 companies from both the Iron Snakes and Imperial Fists Space Marine Chapters and 2 Titan Legions. This overwhelming show of Imperial force proved adequate to exterminating every last remaining Zoican cultist on the planet and Verghast was declared free of Chaotic taint. The Warmaster next issued an edict known as the Act of Consolation which provided Imperial support for the construction of new hive cities to replace Vannick Hive and the ruins of Vervunhive which also allowed the civilians of Verghast to join Imperial Guard Regiments without going through the standard tithing process if they desired. Many of the survivors of Vervunhive who had served in the Scratch Companies alongside the Tanith First and Only willingly joined that regiment. |
Vervunhive - Urban Geography: Vervunhive's geography included outer habitation sectors and manufactorums running along the River Hass to the north, with two bridges leading inside the main hive city, one a rail line, the other a road for vehicular traffic. At the center of the hive was the Main Spine, which was surrounded by more habitation sectors, the Commercia District that served as the hive's main marketplace and the city's defensive Void Shield Pylon in the very heart of the city. To the west was the Hass West Fort, which was manned by Vervun Planetary Defence Force troops. Farther west lay the city's landing field, and then more habitat sectors right outside the hive city's main walls. To the southeast lay the Croe Gate. Northeast lay the fortress that defended the Ontabi Gate. To the south, the Hieronymo Sondar Gate opened up into the Square of Marshals, which lay adjacent to House Anko's chemical plant. The Veyveyr Gate, also to the south, lay near the Vervun ore works and the city's Imperial Basilica, a place of worship dedicated to the Imperial Creed. Various mining districts lay outside the southern gates, with the Spoil and the mudflats to the southeast, well past Vervunhive's walls. The hive city was bustling and busy throughout most of a Verghastite day, with many of its citizens working in the great manufactorums or serving the needs of the city's ruling noble houses. |
Vervunhive - Government: Nine houses of nobility had long collectively ruled Vervunhive. These noble families included, but may not have been limited to, the Houses Sondar, Chass, Anko, Yetch, Croe and Jehnik. The succession in a house follows the rule of agnatic primogeniture, meaning the oldest male inherits. This person is also that house's candidate for the election of hive governor. Nobles representing each of these houses regularly meet in the hive city's Hall of Legislature in the Main Spire to discuss hive business. Hololithic plates served as a form of public address system throughout the hive city and displayed holograms that relayed that day's essential political and economic news to the hive's citizens.Vervunhive was a place heavily dependent on intercity, interplanetary and interstellar trade for survival. The Commercia District was where most of these deals were arranged by the noble houses who completely controlled the hive city's economy, and they indulged in interhouse trading within the hive city's borders, forged deals with the other hive cities on Verghast and even arranged for deliveries of Vervun goods to other Imperial markets off-world. |
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