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Vigilus - The Greater Omnissian Hoist: The Greater Omnissian Hoist was a true marvel of the Adeptus Mechanicus' genius. Via this immense pulley, the Tech-priests captured and processed ice-clad asteroids for their elemental bounty.Reaching up from the Stygian Spires -- the tallest hive city in Megaborealis by some margin -- was a vast construction known as the Greater Omnissian Hoist. This edifice was testament to the incredible willpower and vision of the Magi of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and was famed across the sector for putting into practice a hypothesis that had intrigued Tech-priests for millennia.The Hoist and its supporting structures rose so high that the tip was invisible to the naked eye. They linked the Stygian Spires with the wheel-shaped space station of Sacrus Tora Hawking in geosynchronous orbit high above. It did this via a complex system of microfibre carbon chains and duraplas capillaries.Partially telescopic and modular, these were created on an industrial scale by the workshops of Megaborealis' primary hive city and hauled into the stratosphere by a succession of low orbit tugs.Across the span of an entire Terran century, the carbon chains were extended and reinforced until they not only reached Sacrus Tora Hawking, but passed through its specially constructed engine mills and back down to the planet's surface again. These chains were counterweighted with sections of the original space station in order to pull up replacement components from the hive below, the interstitial point of the Median Sacrus Way-station ensuring that each winchnode passed on in safety.That was the first freight transaction made between the hivesprawl and the space station above it, but it opened thedoor for the tens of thousands of other exchanges that happened after. For its part, Megaborealis sent up manpower,food, repair parts and other necessities. In return, Sacrus Tora Hawking shipped down asteroids clad in thick layers of ice, a vital source of water for the planet.The asteroids harvested by Sacrus Tora Hawking were native to a great band of space debris known as the Octiline Belt. Early auguries determined that the rocks drifting in that band were clad in ice water, and almost immediately a plan for the capture and exploitation of this resource was put into place -- the thirsting citizens of Megaborealis cared little where their water came from.The plan to harness the Octiline Belt's seemingly endless bounty was so ambitious, and of such immense scale, that only one with the processing power of an Arch-Magos could dare to attempt it. But, with the help of his most trusted colleagues, Fabricator Vosch oversaw the Hoist program from beginning to end, adapting and installing banks of tractor beam cannons that could lock onto the asteroids within reach and slowly draw them into the space station's armature talons.From that day, the transit of ice from orbit to the processing factories of the Stygian Spires -- where the meltwater was "refined" with the addition of sacred oils and blessed lubricants -- became a miracle so commonplace it was rarely considered worthy of mention.
Vigilus - Mortwald Hivesprawl: Mortwald was the primary source of food growth and harvest on the planet Vigilus, as well as a centre for rejuvenat processing -- but for all the life it gave, its guns promised death to those who approached unauthorised.The fabulous wealth of Mortwald's ruling aristocracy was largely due to its rejuvenat clinics and the system-famedadepts that worked within them. The bio-regressive procedures and neo-nascent surgeries conducted there were so advanced that so-called "immortality pilgrimages" were once common practice.The privileged inhabitants of the Vigilus System worlds under Astravigila's light would make the long journey to Vigilus, and though it cost them Terran years to do so, they would leave looking solar decades or even centuries younger. There were rejuvenat clinics that dared to claim that they could lift the soul as well as the body, and in doing so honour an age-old tradition set down by the Master of Mankind Himself.They maintained that the planet had the Emperor's blessing, and that evidence of His miraculous beneficence could be found in the tranquillity of the bio-domes. This same serenity could be conferred upon a visitor's soul -- for the right fee, of course.The opening of the Great Rift quickly put an end to safe space travel in the region, all but eradicating this once-lucrative industry.
Vigilus - Forests: The majority of Mortwald's land was given over to the cultivation of hyperflora -- massive swathes of cactus and other succulents that formed oxygen-generating forests. These were force-grown on an industrial scale to counteract the huge amounts of gaseous by-product that Vigilus' industry churned into the planet's air.The oxygenating effects of the Eastern Cactus Forests, the Ageless Weald, the Viridian Forests and the Emerald Strain did initially give the planet enough clean air for its ever-expanding population to survive.Unfortunately, the atmosphere-scrubbing effects of Mortwald's forests were soon surpassed by the rampant pollutionproduced by the hivesprawls; not only did the other metropolises grow larger, but the northern third of Mortwald itself was taken over by a sprawling cityscape much in the manner of its neighbours.
Vigilus - Djodrolev Hivestar: Djodrolev Hivesta was the largest hive city in the Mortwald Hivesprawl and its administrative capital in the north of the region.
Vigilus - Electros Hive: Electros Hive was the second largest hive city of the Mortwald Hivesprawl.
Vigilus - Enclaves: The rich and influential inhabitants of Mortwald lived in secluded enclaves far from the northern capital of Djodrolev Hivestar and its smaller but no less overcrowded sibling, Electros Hive.The domain of the rich and the indolent, these enclaves consisted of specially commissioned bio-domes, their interiors verdant oases of sanctity filled with trickling waterfalls, glittering lakes and sculptures of dynastic aristocrats past and present. They were called a paradise, and rightly so. The domes appeared quite different from the outside, dotted with brutal-looking gun-nests and sentry crenellations constantly manned against aerial attack.No expense was spared to keep the biodomes safe, for these complexes were ruled over by Grand Castellan Deinos Agamemnus, brother of Governor Lucienne Agamemnus IX, and he had grown accustomed to a life of unalloyed luxury.The Castellan was a famed Imperial history enthusiast who collected devastating archeotech weapons like they were trinkets, and spoke at length on the subject whenever possible. It is said that his personal collection boasted no fewer than six Deathstrike Missiles.
Vigilus - Deinos Trench Network: Due in part to the suspicion that Deinos Agamemnus held for the Adeptus Mechanicus, Mortwald's perimeter wasprotected not only by bastion-class force fields, but by a network of squat bastions, trenches and aegis lines. The Deinos Trench Network in the continent's northeastern reaches was a superlative example, an overlapping labyrinth of raised revetments, gun emplacements and rockcrete roads lined with sentry towers some hundreds of feettall.Over time, that trench network was expanded to cover the vast majority of the eastern border of Mortwald, joining with the Tzeller Line in the south to protect the region's most valued holdings.
Vigilus - Tzeller Line: The Tzeller Line was a southern defensive line that joined with the Deinos Trench Network.
Vigilus - New Vitae Docks: It was through the New Vitae Docks that the continent's wealthy visitors came and went.
Vigilus - Paradisiac Domesprawl: The Paradisiac Domesprawl was the enclave where the most high-end rejuvenat treatments took place for the wealthy of Morwald.
Vigilus - Rejuvenus Strongport: Rejuvenus Strongport was where the lesser nobility enjoyed having a few years stripped from them by more affordable treatments.
Vigilus - Biosanctic Fleshplants: Those whose bodies were beyond recovery, should they receive permission from Grand Castellan Deinos Agamemnus himself, were allowed to visit the Biosanctic Fleshplants. It was said that extreme methods of rejuvenation, such as the suturing of old heads to fresh young bodies, were not beyond the abilities of the complex's biomagi and elite anatomagisters.
Vigilus - Oteck Hivesprawl: The source of water for billions of Vigilus' citizens, Oteck Hivesprawl was best known for its five vast reservoirs, which were to become hotly contested during the war. An insidious Genestealer Cult uprising from beneath and five Ork Scrap Cities in proximity saw Oteck assailed from without as well as within.Like the other hivesprawls on Vigilus, Oteck was made up of hab-blocks and manufactoria that rose only a few dozen storeys above ground level, but spread out over enormous distances. Limiting the height of buildings helped them to avoid suffering catastrophic collapse when the inevitable tectonic upheaval caused by the mining operations in Megaborealis hit the continent.Though there was a significant Imperial military presence in Oteck, the vast macro-districts were run by the Adeptus Arbites, who kept the labouring classes in check.
Vigilus - The Hollows: Water supply in Oteck was regulated through the Hollows -- five enormous reservoirs, more like inland seas than conventional containment sites. These gathered water from deep under the planet's crust via an elaborate system of pumps, capillary banks and pipe-ways, and were topped up with regular infusions from the island-like precipitation sites of Tzardonica, Luthvren Isle and the Lenkotz Chain.Networks of macro-ducts pumped Oteck's water to the furthest extents of the continent, and even beyond. In return they brought back polluted water, industrial run-off and reclaimed biomass to be recycled into potable fluids.Much of the purer water Oteck conveyed to its prime clients was transported via convoy under armed guard -- it was not unheard of for Astra Militarum Hellhounds and Devil Dogs to carry two tanks of purewater alongside those filled with volatile fuel in their rear quarters.As well as ensuring safe delivery, this tacitly meant that the crew of the armoured convoy would not die of dehydration on the long journey from one continent to another.The five reservoirs of Oteck were known as the Greigan, Mysandren, Trevig, Ostaveer and Agamemnus Hollows. This last was named for the world's ruling dynasty, and was maintained as a back-up water source in case Hyperia's ownstore should be compromised.
Vigilus - Aquadine III Processor Districts: The Aquadine III Processor Districts linked, processed and distributed the water drawn from the Hollows.
Vigilus - Hives Dagda and Pneumos: The Hollows were overseen by Hive Dagda in the south. Dagda shared a fierce rivalry with Hive Pneumos, which bothgenerated the immense pressure needed to force the water supplies across the planet.
Vigilus - Ellerophosus Hivebelt: To the southwest of the Hollows was the Ellerophosus Hivebelt, a cluster of medium-sized hivecities that were classed as one vast conurbation.
Vigilus - Solor, the Sentinel Hive: To the far south of the Hollows was Solor, the Sentinel Hive, which kept watch over the waste-grounds and shanties at the point closest to the freezing wilderness of Kaelac's Bane.
Vigilus - Hive Zontanus and the Sumphall Districts: Hive Zontanus and the Sumphall Districts were also overtaken by Oteck's sprawl, which reached all the way to the Siltid River in the north.
Vigilus - Turingsbane Datahives: Perhaps the most coveted sites in all of Oteck -- aside from the reservoirs -- were the Turingsbane Datahives, whose foundations pre-dated Imperial settlement upon the planet. It was said that buried in their lower levels were rich troves of data so dense and meaningful they would make a Tech-magos weep.The Agamemnus Dynasty knew well how much the Adeptus Mechanicus coveted the ancient data contained in the catacombs of Turingsbane, and the Planetary Governor used access to these data vaults as a bargaining chip with which to manipulate her Adeptus Mechanicus rivals on the Council of Cogs.Part of the Pact of Fire and Steel made between the planetary government and the Mechanicus stated that the Tech-priests of Megaborealis could never access the archives unaccompanied, though evidence suggests that the magi eventually found a way to remotely access the data without permission.
Vigilus - Dirkden Hivesprawl: Dirkden Hivesprawl, characterised by its rudimentary cityscape, was a troubled metropolis indeed. It was abandoned by Vigilus' elite, and was home to as many subterranean, half-feral outcasts as it was productive civilians.Dirkden long ago reached a threshold in its expansion, after which it was all but abandoned by the Agamemnus Dynasty.Unbeknownst to all but the Cult of the Pauper Princes, however, this discarded cityscape did indeed supply something to its fellows -- the mutating xenos genetic pattern known as the "Genestealer's Kiss."From Glaive Point in the north to the Rescalid Underworks at the southernmost tip, the hivesprawl was shot through with subterranean levels. These had become so liberally infested with Genestealer Cultists by the end of the War of Beasts that if a census had somehow been taken, it would have revealed far more in thrall to Grandsire Wurm than to the Emperor of Mankind.
Vigilus - Ashenid Non-Hive: Dirkden's tallest and proudest structure was Ashenid Non-Hive, a half-finished skeleton of a hive city that, although teeming with life, was open to the stars. Its construction was never finished, for the architects that built it -- now lost in the annals of history -- changed tack halfway through, and began to build downwards into the naturallyoccurring cave networks beneath.
Vigilus - Hyperia-Dirkden Fortwall: Dirkden was joined to the southernmost reaches of its parent hivesprawl by the massive Hyperia-Dirkden Fortwall, a vast double row of crenellated defences with a rockcrete macrohighway running between them.Mortwald was similarly linked to its neighbour by the Mortwald-Oteck Fortwall, and the Dontoria- Megaborealis Line connected the two northernmost continents to facilitate trade and transit. The original plans for these links between the hivesprawls were put into place by Deinos Agamemnus shortly before his fourth rejuvenation.Growing ever more irate at the toll the native hazards of Vigilus were taking upon his endeavours, and determining that his losses in export convoys were unsustainable, he leant on the Aquilarian Council to provide a more stable means of transit. It was hoped that by allowing the faithful of Hyperia to flood along the highway to Dirkden they would raise the hivesprawl to new heights of productivity -- and one day, should all go well, build outwards to merge the two into a single hivesprawl that would empower Hyperia all the more.Instead, the macrohighway seemed only to drain the capital of Vigilus of its manpower and resources -- and in return, infect the Cape of Lost Causes in Hyperia with the gene-tainted xenos cult that plagued the subterranean levels of so many of Dirkden's districts.Still, the Fortwall itself stood strong throughout the War of Beasts, even with the rampaging Orks that marauded around the wastelands occasionally mounting raids against it.
Vigilus - Dontoria Hivesprawl: Dontoria was critically overpopulated, even amongst its fellow hivesprawls. So densely packed were its districts that it had access to incredible manpower -- though when the Genestealer infection broke out in the populace, it could not be stopped.Dontoria passed the standard metropolitan population density recommended by the Administratum in 943 previo VCM.M41. Over a thousand Terran years later, it continued to pack more citizens into its earthquake-ravaged slums.The endless manufactoria and fabrication shanties that surrounded its numerous hive cities were so steeped in pollution their outer walls were blackened and flaking, and their insides were a sickly yellow reminiscent of a lifelong lho-stick addict's fingers.Hacking coughs and expectorant splutters were common there; the lands of Mesha's Delta, Smog Field and the Great Choke were swathed in a dense blanket of vile pollution that damaged the lungs of those without respirator augmetics.
Vigilus - Lake Dontor: This false continent's sole source of water, the inland sea known as Lake Dontor, was polluted to the point that no life could exist within it and it sickened any who dared drink from it. That did not stop floating shanty towns being built upon it.So desperate was the population to find living space that much of the lake was covered in walkways, rowing boats, decommissioned barges, flora batteries and sump haulers, all bound together in a latticework teeming with shouting merchants, hustling traders, merciless opportunists, tattooed thugs and smogwater urchins.The scrap-built shanties of Tzimitria, Stump and Vostoyev Subsprawls were far from wealthy in the conventional sense, but as with many desperate populations, they were rich in faith. The Ministorum found it easy to sway the swathes of smoke-stained workers, so desperate for hope as the Great Rift glowered above, to the fervent worship of the Emperor at the exclusion of all else.Their daily task was to make the autosanctioned relics and holy weaponry with which the Ecclesiarchy waged itsWars of Faith, and the strongest of their holy gangers often went on to lead new lives in the Vigilant Guard.
Vigilus - Dontorian Subsprawls: Grodholev, Pravdus, and Hallordwight were older; these subsprawls were considered to be the original foundation of Dontoria and hence were more heavily tithed.The extreme north of the continent, optimistically named New Horizon, was slowly encroaching on the Vigilant wilderness in order to provide more living space.Similarly, Missionary Point to the south was extending towards Mortwald.Lord Tharenst, the Hive Marshal of Mesha's Delta, wished to link his province with the northernmost point of Mortwald, but his entreaties and proposals were met only with contempt, until the outbreak of war on Vigilus relegated them to the status of a distant dream.
Vigilus - Storvahl: Situated near the equator, Storvhal generated an incredible amount of energy from its volcano chains and geothermal chasms. It was home to countless worshippers of the Machine God, but still darker cults operated in the shadows.The volcanic land of Storvhal was relatively small, but of exceptional value to the planet's infrastructure. Deliberately sited on a convergence of fault lines, it was originally founded as an annex by the Adeptus Mechanicus after the Pact of Fire and Steel was signed.It produced the planet's main source of power, its volcanic farms and geothermal generator arrays harnessing the energy created by the continent's frequently erupting volcanoes.Fabricator Vosch claimed to have adapted, overseen and optimised the technology used in the farms himself -- basing his works upon the holy foundation of a Standard Template Construct database, of course.
Vigilus - Volcanoes: Rather than suffering from the seismic upheaval caused by the drilling in Megaborealis to the north, Storvhal reaped the benefits of each tectonic shift and volcanic eruption in great measure.Though hundreds of its workers, magma-Servitors and Skitarii patrolmen died with each geo-spasm, its energy yield spiked massively as the volcanoes from the Phaestos Mound in the south to the Omnissiah's Tread in the north erupted. Fabricator Vosch considered the exchange more than worth it.
Vigilus - Storvahl Hives: If the storage levels of Vulcanid Geohive, Hive Magmathermid and Phaestos Mound filled their enormous capacitorsand generatorum caches to excess, the overflow of energy was sent along the Voschian Canals, and from there into a subterranean network of cables and macrofibres to Megaborealis.If that continent's needs were already met, the excess power instead went to the hivesprawls that bid the highest to receive it.
Vigilus - Pyroclast Dictricts: Being a place of fire and fury, Storvhal inspired a lot of religious subcultures. Some of the cults burgeoning in the Pyroclast Districts believed the volcanic eruptions of their homeland to be the Emperor's work, and that their sacrifice was necessary to appease the volcanoes. Others saw the abuse of their Adeptus Mechanicus overlords for what it was, and sought recompense.The resultant unrest and civil ire was capitalised on by rogue elements working against the Imperium. Because of theinhuman toll on life, the agents that worked in secret in Storvhal found it easy to seed fire-cults, rebel sectsand pyromaniacs throughout the slave populace.Some preached the notion that the fires of the volcanoes could be altered to transform the faithful into divine beings, a phoenix-like apotheosis from ashes to glory. Worse still, the underground demagogue known as Vannadan the Firebrand was able to garner power -- not in the name of emancipation, but Chaos.
Vigilus - Kaelac's Bane: Kaelac's Bane was a frozen southern polar wasteland of permafrost, icebergs and glaciers. It was home only to ice-miners, arctic beasts, and secrets hidden deep in the snow.Kaelac's Bane was of little use as a dwelling place -- the last testimony of the famed Vigilant pioneer Jonst Kaelac is proof enough of that.It was, however, invaluable as a source of the pure water known as aqua glacius, and the continent's glaciers were mined extensively by Adeptus Mechanicus clades optimised to endure sub-zero temperatures.
Vigilus - The Craters: In the vast, continent-spanning mining operations that covered the sunward side of Kaelac's Bane, huge las-cutter engines sliced off perfect cuboids of ice from glacier fronts and the edges of the continent's craters. The Venstran and Heliostrike Impact Craters yielded the most bounty, harbouring the Glacia Betus and Glacia Omicroid macro-quarries, respectively.Each day, mining Servitors, quarrymen and hook-handed ice-crawler drones crossed each glacial face of these enormous impact craters. As they did so, they hammered in pins and prepared las-nets that, although low powered, were able to melt their way through even icy rock in time.Each cyborg worker was noospherically linked to his fellows, and they operated in complete synchronicity, as if in some choreographed dance perfected by endless repetition.From these sites, giant slabs and monoliths of ice were cargo freighted to Mortwald, Hyperia and other areas that could afford them.
Vigilus - Quixotine Loop: It was not only water that was harvested from Kaelac's Bane, for in places the permafrost hid strata of valuable minerals and ores. Here too the Adeptus Mechanicus delved deep. The icy and featureless tracts of land protected by the force field web known as the Quixotine Loop were said to be rich in esoteric stone, and were mined extensively. Over time, the islands devolved to little more than landscapes of deadly ice crevasses.These mining operations were risky indeed. As well as the logistical challenges of the punishing cold, the great white apex predators that prowled the region were as stealthy as they were violent. The truck-sized ice-stalker mantis was particularly fierce, frequently dragging ice-workers away to be devoured in their lairs, and the near-invisible whiteworm was a horrible threat that swarmed toward sources of heat and burrowed into the flesh of those too slow or preoccupied to evade it.Even then there were worse predators snatching people from the snowstorms. Though no official Imperial sources existed to define their nature, rumours abounded, and the fact that so many glacier miners went missing was enough to cause grave productivity concerns in the upper echelons of the mining clades.
Vigilus - Webway Portal: Though only the highest-placed adepts and leaders on Vigilus had an inkling of its existence, there was an ancient Aeldari Webway gate situated in the west of Kaelac's Bane. It had existed there for tens of thousands of Terran years. Shrouded by permanent blizzards that were whipped up by the empyric energies howling from within, it divulged its secrets only to those who could survive the barrier of intense cold that surrounded it like a moat.Leading to the Labyrinth Dimension, it was an ingress point that the Drukhari used to attack Kaelac's Bane, Oteck and Dirkden on swift and deadly raids.When the Deathwatch made a foray across the Dearthland Permafrost, they declared a region of some eighteen hundred square miles Quarantine Cryofernus -- centred on the arcing structures of the xenos portal. No Imperial presence strayed within that cordon, with the exception of the black-armoured Space Marines themselves, and they reported their findings to none save the Chapter Masters of the Vigilus Senate.Even the Deathwatch, however, did not realise that an entirely different breed of enemy would emergefrom that Webway gate within the standard year.
Vigilus - Ork Scrap Cities: The Ork settlements and junkyards that sprang up in the planet's wilderness were known to all as "Scrap Cities." From these came tides of barbaric xenos and an endless parade of war engines.In the year 1.192 post VCM.M41, a vast agglomeration of Ork voidships -- each of which had uncharacteristically massive and powerful engines -- ploughed through the hastily assembled Imperial cordon sent to blockade it and made straight for the surface of Vigilus. Most of the ships aimed not for the metropolises of the hivesprawls, but for the regions of wilderness between them that would act as ideal staging posts for the invasion.The vector of the Ork invasion was straightforward enough -- most of their spacecraft simply bulled their way through the stratosphere, pulling up over the last few Terran miles and angling their landing so they did not dash themselves to pieces on the wasteland dunes. It was a haphazard invasion tactic, that much was sure, but it worked.Some Greenskin ships came apart in fiery arcs of destruction, spinning end-over-end as they flung burning scrap metal in all directions. The shock waves from these crashes rolled out across the deserts, battering far-flung monitoring stations and hammering refinery pipelines with each landing. Huge dust clouds were kicked up into the skies like atomic blasts, turning the air hazy for solar days.The survivors were numerous enough to shrug off their early losses and repurpose virtually all of the scrap metal provided by their unfortunate comrades, using it to build immense, if ramshackle, fortresses.Some ships, protected by powerful energy shields, made the landing all but intact. Their force-field generators were intact too -- projecting a kind of matterphobic dome known as a "bubble field." Adapted to protect the scrap fortresses, they remained functional throughout the War of Beasts, repelling many of the Imperial sorties sent against them.These shields, like the fortifications they guarded, were testament to the strange, innate genius of the Ork Mekaniaks that built them.Speedlord Krooldakka and his warlords were savvy enough to realise that to attack the cityscapes head-on from orbit would invite a vast amount of flak and defence laser fire -- and that even if they somehow made a safe landing amongst the dizzying hive spires, arches and statues of the cityscapes, they would almost certainly be surrounded and picked apart before they could muster a cogent invasion force.Some of the Ork war leaders simply intuited that to invade via the wastelands would lend them a better chance of victory. Others wanted a chance to race their favourite wagons around their new home for a while before getting really stuck in -- after Terran years of being cooped up in the confines of a spacecraft, the scouring winds and open terrain of the Vigilant desert were a welcome prospect.The first wave of invaders, upon finding they could not get past the Bastion force field networks, built shanty-styleencampments around their crash-landed voidships. They set to work conquering the landscapes around them, attacking Imperial convoys wherever they tried to cross the wastes. As these running battles gathered pace, the resultant flotilla of Ork vehicles became known as the SPEEDWAAAGH!.
Vigilus - Western Scrap City Cluster: The largest part of the original Ork armada came down in the same region of Vigilus' wastelands, to the north of Oteck Hivesprawl. This area came to be known as the Western Scrap City Cluster. With capital-class spacecraft at the centre of each collection of Ork vehicles, they formed four Scrap Cities, the largest of which was Krooldakka's ownstronghold, Fort Dakka.The other three were the domains of powerful Ork leaders whose mutual rivalry saw their power bases flourish quickly. These became the hub of a primitive yet profitable economy of scrap metal, fuel and engine parts.The westernmost Scrap City was Tanka Spill. Characterised by vast slicks of black petrochemical fluids that spreadout from ruptured fuel-haulers and cargo hulks, this city was the province of the Mekboss known as Big Tanka.To the north was Runthive, a township of Squig-infested wrecks and Grot scrap merchants under the purview of the noted Snakebites Warboss Ogrokk Bitespider.To the south was Drogzot's Crater, where the Deathskulls hoardboss Drogzot and his Bad Moons customers piledsalvage ever higher in an attempt to fill the vast impact crater to the lip with scrap metal.Fort Dakka was the easternmost city, a vast scrap metropolis that bristled with every gun and artillery piece Krooldakka and his Meks could get their oil-stained hands on.
Vigilus - Other Scrap Cities: Out in the Aquaphobian Wastes was the Goffs base of Skumtown, a clattering mass of bone-dry structures that rattled against one another in the hot wasteland winds.To the north of Storvhal was Da Wheel Hub, which famously offered a drive-by upgrade service to those Speed Freeks patient enough to stop there.Nearby was Rakkuk's Mekmaze, into which many an aspiring racer drove his wagon, only to find himself walking back out with little more than a steering column, a small money-bag of teef and a confused expression.To the far south of Oteck Hivesprawl was Mekstop City, the premiere site for vehicle customisation. Its Gargantconstruction fields were home to the legendary Drokk and his Rivet Krew.To the east of Hyperia lay Hurrikane Rekk, an early settlement that was all but abandoned when the storm of the Vhulian Swirl expanded to ravage its rusted buildings and shanties.
Vigilus - Neo-vellum: Vigilus' only moon, Neo-vellum, was an orb of white rock and swirling green gas storms. It was a stronghold of the Administratum -- that bureaucratic branch of the Imperium dealing with the coordination, analysis, assessment and deployment of information.Neo-vellum was a nerve centre of data for the Vigilus System, theoretically independent of the disparate Imperial factions on the planet, whose own agendas and bias might lead them to restrict or manipulate communications from the wider Imperium for their own purposes.Amongst the moon's acid swamps and emerald gas storms were built massive, hermetically sealed scriptorums that churned out logistical analyses at a slow but steady rate. Each was a messagecentre and an informational waystation, their legions of bent-backed auto quill scribes and lexicographers literally chained to their desks, allowed to slumber for a few scant solar hours per cycle beneath their wooden workstations before getting back to their tasks.Together, these stain-fingered troglodytes processed hundreds of thousands of data-slates, parchscrolls and data cylinders with every new day. Only a tiny proportion of these reached their intended recipients, but this wasof little consequence to the senior scribes -- provided the ink flowed, they cared not how or why.The normal protocol for despatching the message-scrolls produced by Neo-vellum's scriptorums was to encase them in ablative packets fitted with grav-chutes before firing them at the planet via hyper-pneumatic tubes. Each metal-cased scroll was launched on a route devised by the complex, cog-driven machine known as the Datasaint, a wonder of ancient technology that calculated the trajectory of the missive against the rotation and orbits of the moon and planet in order to target the recipient's exact position at the optimal time.Despite its fastidious computations, the Datasaint was so antiquated that its systems were corroded by millennia of entropy. As such, many of the messages sent out from Neo-vellum were wildly off-course and never reached their targets. Grav-chutes also frequently failed to deploy.More than one accident was caused by a stray message tube falling from the sky at great speed. In one famous case, the message was so on target and travelling at such a velocity that it killed the intended recipient instantly. The message tube itself was also destroyed on impact, and all record of its existence was swiftly eradicated by the Administratum -- but the tale lives on nonetheless.Neo-vellum was left alone entirely by the Ork invasion of Vigilus. Perhaps this was because the invaders sought richer pickings on the planet below, perhaps because the moon was simply on the other side of the planet at the time the Ork WAAAGH! hit home. Yet the satellite was not untouched by the scourge of the xenos.Hidden amongst the datastacks and grimoire nests of the Administratum's holdings, a secret cult thrived -- and in the attics of the monastic hab-blocks, strange creatures skittered from pools of darkness to slash apart those who dared to venture into their lair.The Cult of the Pauper Princes made it a priority to settle an infestation upon Neo-vellum shortly after establishing itself within the hivesprawl of Megaborealis. Ensrod Ghaul, the Primus of the brood sent to conquer the scriptorum moon, stowed away with a pair of dormant Purestrain Genestealers in the capacitor hold of the electro-freighter Zealous Blurt before the ship left for Neo-vellum on a routine resupply mission.Using a combination of forgery, charisma and murderous determination, he smuggled one container into the Scriptorum Primus district of Neo-vellum, and the other into the Stormwrack Citadel. As a result, two minor gene-sects propagated through the downtrodden ranks of Neo-vellum's workers.After the narrow escape of the quillslave Ghorrod from a xenos attack, and an anonymous message sent to the Inquisition, the Purestrain Genestealers themselves were hunted down and burned out by an Ordo Xenos purge, but their dark legacy remained on the moon.
Vigilus - The Choralium: Neo-vellum also had a well-maintained astropathic presence for those times when a message was of such high priority that psychic communion had to be attempted. The Lunar Choir, as it was known, was a body of powerful Astropathswith many Terran centuries of experience between them; before the coming of the Great Rift it was said they were able to send visions of startling clarity across the stars.After the Cicatrix Maledictum ripped open, the sending and receiving of psychic missives became more fraught with peril than ever before. The operatives of the Choralium, the torus-shaped building from which the moon's talented psykers sent their telepathic missives into the void, suffered dozens of seizures, fits and episodes of insanity in the solar months following the rift’s appearance.Worse still, the complex was plagued by terrible manifestations of supernatural phenomena. This saw the Choralium all but shut down, and astropathic communiqués attempted only in extremis -- the psykers knew well the dangers of opening their minds to the Warp in such tumultuous times.
Vigilus - The Wastes: The wastes of Vigilus were vast, an endless desert punctuated by the hivesprawls that slowly encroached upon it. They were arid and dusty, broken up by gullies and chasms, and populated only by hardy survivors.The wastes of Vigilus were anathema to life. They were not poisonous, nor acidic -- they were simply empty of allbut the remains of those who foolishly tried to conquer them. The landscape was almost entirely devoid of greenery,for the water table was so low that the ground was infertile and dusty, incapable of producing anything but the hardiest vegetation.There was little liquid to be found, other than the occasional river of lava vomited from some new seismic upheaval, and the odd stagnant mud hole. With nothing to bind the earth together, the landscape was a gigantic dustbowl, its substrate whipped up into the air with each passing landstorm to create great cyclones of grit that raged uncontrollably across the wilderness.Despite the hostility of the region, there were areas where life found a way to eke out an existence. Some of the impact craters that scarred the planet's surface acted as bluffs, gathering a little moisture in their shadowed lees and allowing a rudimentary ecosystem to gain some purchase. In the same way a coral reef gives undersea fauna a chance to cling to an otherwise featureless sea bed, these features allowed the hardiest of species to stubbornly hang on to life.The mounds and chasms around Storvhal became home to a colony of Ambulls; these claw-armed, subterranean giantspreyed on isolated groups of travellers, hunting with their sonic and thermal senses. They learned to avoid thetrundling tracks of Weapon Servitors and the lock-step thump of the metal-legged Skitarii, instead tunnelling up from below to scissor apart fleshier creatures that were usually meatier and less dangerous. Some amongst the Adeptus Mechanicus propagated the belief that the Ambulls were a manifestation of the universe's displeasure at those that relied on flesh rather than metal.The terrestine molerats that infested the northern reaches of the planet could grow to the size of locomotive carriages on a diet of giant sandroaches -- the only other species that could thrive in the irradiated wastes to the west of Dredger's Abyss. Existing in great hives of several hundred individuals, these hideous, hairless moles honeycombed the giant ridged impact sites known as the Kenser Crater Network between Dontoria and Megaborealis.They occasionally ambushed those forced to go on foot across the wastes -- for them, human flesh was a delicacy -- though it is worth noting that they did not trouble any of the convoys that happened to carry individuals bearing the mutated Genestealer DNA of the Pauper Princes.
Vigilus - Vhulian Swirl: The Vhulian Swirl was perhaps the most dangerous of all Vigilus' geographic features. A vast storm of dust and sharp, shredding particles, it birthed cyclones and hurricanes that continually ravaged the wastelands beyond.To the east of Hyperia, there was a dust storm so immense that when seen from space it dominated a full quarter of the planet's surface. Near its centre it was so violent that the tiny stones, dust and sedimentary particulate couldstrip the skin from a man's body. Over time, the storm would abrade layers of subcutaneous fat, muscle, tendon and, eventually, bone. Ultimately, there would be nothing left of the unfortunate victim.The citizens of Vigilus, and their shadowy Genestealer-infected counterparts the Pauper Princes, knew well to fear the Swirl, and so avoided it at all costs, never straying past the Perimeter Extremis as defined millennia ago by the Astra Cartographica that founded the planet.Even the Ork invaders gave it a wide berth, for at times the Swirl raged so hard it could tip over their gunwagons and lift their light buggies clean into the air, only to dash them to pieces on the hard earth when its fury abated once more.Smaller storms emanated from the Vhulian Swirl, cyclones and tornadoes bursting into the wastes along their own seemingly random trajectories. Carried by the hot winds that gusted from fault lines, they were flung eastwards by the pyroclastic blasts of Storvhal. These errant storms primarily scoured the unpopulated side of the planet, and were largely responsible for that part of Vigilus never being settled.Freak weather patterns would cause them to occasionally veer towards the hivesprawls, but the Bastion force fields, while active, dissipated them before they could do serious harm. Travellers who strayed outside the force fields risked having one of these gritty, choking hurricanes bear down on them out of nowhere.Even if it should not strip them bare, such a storm could foul an engine or cause an anti-grav vehicle to crash in amatter of solar minutes.
Vigilus - Dismal Waste: The barren side of Vigilus, known as the Dismal Waste, was commonly thought to include little of worth, and its duststorms were even more deadly than those thrown up over the deserts between the hivesprawls. However, the slow expansion of Megaborealis pushed fingers of industrial sprawl into the Dismal Waste as the Adeptus Mechanicus continued to quest for the bounty beneath the planet's surface.Dontoria likewise expanded, being vastly overpopulated, though those who lived on the barren side were often beset by toxic cyclones.
Vigilus - Fauna: For the most part, Vigilus' environment was so arid and riven by the toxic pollution of its hivesprawls that it had few ecosystems remaining. Lush vegetation could still be found in the Mortwald Hivesprawl, but otherwise the rest of the world was largely barren of flora.Yet Vigilus' difficult environment was still home to a number of species of fauna, some native to the world, others alien imports brought by interstellar trade and commerce.Among these were the colony of Ambulls who had taken up residence around the hivesprawl of Storvahl.Giant eusocial, hairless mammals known as terrestine molerats that grew to the size of the locomotive carriages that carried passengers across the wastes existed in large hives of several hundred animals in the northern reaches of Vigilus in the Kenser Crater Network between the Dontoria and Megaborealis hivesprawls.A common insectoid of Vigilus was the giant sandroach, one of the few species that could survive the high levels of radiation present in the wastes to the west of Dredger's Abyss. They were the favoured prey of the terrestine molerats.Large apex predators were also found on the glaciers of the southern polar region known as Kaelac's Bane. The tundra was home to the truck-sized insectoids known as ice-stalker mantises who were both carnivorous and fierce, responsible for killing many of the human workers who sought to harvest the ice of the region.The whiteworm was a feared parasite of the region whose swarms moved towards sources of heat like sleeping workers to burrow into their flesh.
Vigilus - Dating System: The chronology of Vigilus, as denoted in records of the War of Beasts, uses as its anchor point the opening of the Great Rift above the planet. This was an event of such incredible magnitude it rewired the planet's temporal logic altogether, much as it did a thousand other war zones across the Imperium.The first element of Vigilus' timestamp is the annual designator. It starts with the number of Terran years either before or after the rift opened, and then a number of chronosegments within that year as the second element. Imperial solar days are broken down into chronosegments of eight solar hours. After this is a third element -- either "previo" if the events occurred before the opening of the Great Rift, or "post" if after it. This third element is sometimes denoted as a minus sign or a plus sign.The fourth element of the Vigilus timestamp is the system's designator initials; in essence, the initialsof the star system to which it refers. For Vigilus, this is VCM which stands for "Vigilus Cicatrix Maledictum."For its neighbouring planet, Omis-Prion, the designator initials would be OPCM.By way of a full example, if the time of an event in the Vigilus System was three solar days (nine chronosegments) before the opening of the Great Rift, the timestamp would be "0.9 previo VCM.M41," also expressed simply as "0.9 previo" or "0.9–."This translates as "0 years and 9 chronosegments (three solar days) previous to the Vigilus System's first instance of the Cicatrix Maledictum in the 41st Millennium AD."If it was one Terran year and eight solar hours after, the timestamp would be "1.1 post VCM.M41," also expressed as "1.1 post" or "1.1+."
Vigilus - Creation of the Nachmund Gauntlet: Noctilith stone, also called blackstone, had a peculiar property that, to those who understood the nature of the cosmos, made it more valuable than any other resource in the galaxy.Blackstone was Warp-resonant, and could be charged either to attract or repel empyric power.The spear-like deposits in Vigilus' crust had been polarised to repel Warp energy by some ancient xenos technology. It was these that were holding back the Great Rift around Vigilus -- and indeed, by creating a channel of anti-Chaos force between the Imperium Nihilus and the Imperium Sanctus, forming the Nachmund Gauntlet itself.The planet of Sangua Terra had the exact same spears of blackstone in its crust, held in a strange black suspension that meant they always pointed towards Vigilus.The anti-empyric field that thrummed between these spears kept the Nachmund Gauntlet open.If Abaddon the Despoiler succeeded in destroying that esoteric resource, the Warp Storms around the Nachmund Gauntlet would close in, and the corridor of safe passage would be subsumed completely, leaving the Imperium Nihilus to the mercies of the forces of Chaos.It was for this reason that the Despoiler and his Black Legion were so determined to seize or destroy Vigilus and its counterpart on the other side of the gauntlet during the early years of the Era Indomitus.
Vigilus System - Vigilus System: The Vigilus System is a star system centred on the star Astravigilia that lies in the Nachmund Sub-sector of the Nachmund Sector in the Segmentum Obscurus. It lies on the Imperium Nihilus side of the Nachmund Gauntlet, the only confirmed navigable passage through the Great Rift.Because of its strategic position, the system has come under assault from multiple factions, and its major inhabited planet, the Imperial Sentinel World of Vigilus, became the primary war zone of the great conflict waged during the early Era Indomitus remembered as the War of Beasts.The Great Rift lies directly on the edge of the Vigilus System to coreward, and the highly eccentric orbit of its outer asteroid girdle actually passed through the great Warp rift for some time after its formation.
Vigilus System - Notable Worlds: The following worlds are listed in the order they circle the system's primary star Astravigilia, from nearest to furthest.Geotrope XII (Mining World) - Geotrope XII is the world that circles closest to the Astravigilia star and serves as a Mining World for the system.Falsehood (Death World) - Falsehood has been designated a Death World by the Imperium.Vigilus (Hive World/Sentinel World) - Vigilus is the primary settled world of the system, and was the heart of the conflict that raged for control over it by multiple factions that became known as the War of Beasts.Neo-Vellum (Moon) - Neo-Vellum is the moon of Vigilus. It is entirely controlled by an outpost of the Adeptus Administratum.Omis-Prion - The fourth world of the Vigilus System is considered off-limits by the Imperium due to some form of connection to an unknown xenos species.Nemendghast (Industrial World) - Nemendghast was a former Imperial Industrial World that had lain in the outer reaches of the Vigilus System as part of an asteroid girdle. After the birth of the Great Rift, the world was swallowed by that vast Warp rift during its course along its highly elliptical orbit and was conquered by the forces of the Black Legion. It was swiftly transformed into a Hell-Forge for the forces of Abaddon the Despoiler, who used it to create Daemon Engines to supplement the Despoiler's assault upon the Sentinel World of Vigilus during the War of Beasts.Hearthlack (Moon) - Hearthlack was a small planetoid that orbited around Nemendghast as its only satellite.
Vile Savants - Vile Savants: The Vile Savants are horrific Daemonic manifestations of the diseases that have claimed mortal lives in direct service to the Chaos God Nurgle. They are clad in the putrescent remains of the flesh such victims once wore, and are avatars of plague and destruction. They appear as figures wearing sealed containment suits that are slick with filth and beaded with moisture like sweat on fevered skin. Inside, there is nothing but putrefied liquid flesh and writhing vermin, held together by the sagging structure of the suit and the energy of the Warp.The Daemonic forces that motivate them drive their stumbling, boneless limbs on with macabre and implacable purpose. A palpable aura of utter horror and rotting miasma surrounds them, and to simply be unfortunate enough to witness these awful things is terrifying. Worse still is to hear their buzzing voices inside one's head or become the subjects of their experimentations in the death of flesh.
Vile Savants - History: The Vile Savants are a Warp-spawned disease made flesh, sent to wrack worlds with suffering and drag them into festering ruin. There are no followers to their cause, no fanatics, and no deluded fools worshipping a false god, only the restless dead claimed by their plagues marching to the will of the Daemon. Legend among the worshipers of the Ruinous Powers has it that they were born of an unholy union of contagions unleashed Terran centuries ago in a forgotten war.It said that in the distant past a great Imperial hospital voidship was sent to tend the outbreaks of sickness and plague occurring as a result of the constant wars around the Eye of Terror. However, as well as alms and healers, it secretly carried another deadly cargo, an arsenal of dreadful weapons -- biological agents, necrotic poisons, and alien fevers collected from a hundred worlds.Legend has it that this great ark of salvation, whose name has been lost to myth, suffered a breach in its Geller Field while traversing the Warp close to the Eye of Terror. In the moments that followed, the powers of the Warp shattered the protective stasis of the deathly vault and sank into the viral samples aboard, filling them with unholy life and psychic consciousness. The horrors that were unleashed quickly overwhelmed most onboard and sent a thousand screaming souls into oblivion.The medicae personnel trapped aboard faced a far darker fate indeed, as a Daemon virus possessed them and made them its own flesh. With this, the Vile Savants were born, embodiments of unfeeling, indiscriminate death unleashed by the Warp to wage a silent, implacable war against all life.The Savants themselves are hideous to behold, reeking and defiled bio-containment suits filled with bubbling rot that stumble on, boneless and implacable, silent as death itself. These foul entities are possessed of the skills and knowledge of their long-dead occupants coupled with a malign Warp-intelligence and the occult might of the Daemons of rot and pestilence. They are consumed by hatred for all that live and breathe and have the most horrific means of enacting their war of annihilation.The contagion that animates them is their dark harbinger, spilling out through the Warp and infecting a single individual whose despair and morbidity attracts it from worlds away. From there, it spreads as a plague, the infection running rampant and preparing the way for the Vile Savants to emerge, wreaking their vengeance and showering Mankind with the gifts bestowed on them by Nurgle, the Lord of Decay.
Vile Savants - Daemon Plague: The Vile Savants are Daemonic entities who require no scheming mortal agents. They do not plot or foster nests of Chaos Cultists, nor do they answer a sorcerer's summons when called (unless it suits their purpose). While other cults may spread like a disease, the Vile Savants are literally a Warp-spawned, supernatural contagion. They spread and multiply through the flesh of reality just as mortal viruses spread from organ to organ, choking its host with sickness until it fails and collapses. The Vile Savants have a single and consuming desire: spread their contagion and kill until nothing is left alive. These horrors cannot be bargained with, reasoned with, placated, or diverted from this task.The Ordo Malleus believes that this most unholy contagion is the design and will of the Ruinous Power called the Lord of Decay, known to some as Nurgle, Father of Plagues and Bringer of Despair. As pure Warp entities, the Vile Savants serve to embody several types of Daemonic contagions that are categorised by the Ordo Malleus as the Fydae Strain of the Zombie Plague (named after the area of the Calixis Sector where they were first encountered).The Vile Savants themselves are little more than murderous vessels, avatars of these hell-sent plagues. Each stage of a Fydae outbreak cycle escalates the amount of death and horror until it has reached such a weight of destruction that the barriers between realspace and the Warp can be breached, the dead walk, and the Vile Savants come to claim their master's prize.
Vile Savants - The Restless Dead: Outbreaks of various strains of Zombie Plague or incidents where the dead have been known to rise as a result of a Warp-spawned rift, fell-technology, or necromantic witchery have been known to the Imperium for millennia but are thankfully comparably rare. In recent solar decades, however, the sectors and worlds of the Segmentum Obscurus have seen a marked upturn in such incidents linked to disease cults and the ancient Archenemy.The involvement of the Warp entities known as Vile Savants in the outbreak of these awful plagues is likewise a new development and a dangerous one. They bring a malign intelligence to these events, making them far harder to combat or contain. The Inquisition's Ordos Segmentum Tabernacle believes that the Vile Savants are responsible for various outbreaks of plague and the massacre of settlements, voidships, and cities across the Segmentum Obscurus occurring in the Calixis, Mandragora, Medusan, and Ixaniad Sectors.Of particular concern to the Calixian Conclave of the Inquisition is that in the last 50 standard years there have been five confirmed contacts with what has been named the Fydae Strain (after the Sutter's Rock outbreak) of the Zombie Plague in the Calixis Sector.
Vile Savants - Inquisitorial Threat Briefing: The Vile Savants and the Fydae Strain contagion are a threat not simply because of the destruction that they cause, but because the Inquisition fears it is geared to some greater dark design. It is the considered opinion of the Inquisitorial Calixian Conclave that it is only thanks to the gift of the Emperor's providence and the valiant actions of His servants that there has not already been far greater loss of life at their hands in the sector.All of the Inquisition's ordos must be ever-watchful for the reappearance of this threat and take whatever action is needed to confound and destroy them wherever and whenever they are encountered. It is also the duty, particularly of the Ordo Malleus, to further pursue these terrible creatures and learn of their nature and limitations so that they may be more effectively countered in the future, as the threat posed by the Vile Savants is not only severe but perhaps eternal. They are truly the disease that walks, always searching for a time and place to surface, whose only goal is suffering and death.
Vile Savants - Carrionates and Warp Zombies: Although far from the most common of the Inquisition's foes, the walking dead have long been known as a blasphemous foe of the Imperium, dating back to the Great Crusade. Animated at the behest of fell sorcery or creations of the darkest of the psyker's arts, such creatures can make for powerful and loyal servants. Forbidden science can also bring a twitching carcass to a semblance of hungry life.
Vile Savants - Fydae Strain Zombie Plague: Exposure and Chance of Infection:Skin or tissue contact with the body of the infected: 5%Skin or tissue contact with infected blood or internal body tissue from the infected: 30%Bite or wound from infected individual: 50%Ingestion of heavily contaminated material (i.e. water where plague dead have lain): 50%Deep wounding by an infected individual (i.e. a wound from a bite or mauling): 75%Incubation Time: Varies between 10 solar minutes and five solar days.Effects: If the victim is infected, they are racked by an intense fever and green marks blossom on their flesh, which quickly withers and sloughs away. The victim also begins to vomit foul blood. These symptoms last for approximately a solar hour. After an hour, the victim is gripped by violent spasms and dies in agony, but may later return as a Plague Zombie. During this time, medical intervention cannot save the victim but exorcism might as the pathogen is actually an infiltration of the physical body by Warp energies, though this will likely leave the victim in a precarious state.
Vile Savants - Pathology of Corruption: Like any disease, the contagion of the Vile Savants follows a particular pathology and path of infection.
Vile Savants - First Stage: The Occult Infection of Subject Zero: The cascade of events that culminate in the arrival of the Vile Savants begins with the infection of a single person. How this first infection occurs is not known for certain, as the ways of the Chaos Gods are fickle, but the Ordo Malleus believes it may be some deep and dark lesion within a person's soul that calls out to the contagion and it responds to that call.If true, it would be a dark and macabre despair of such singular depth and malice that it resonates in the Immaterium and calls the living disease like a moth to a flame. While the exact means of infection are confined to theory, the Inquisition has had several confirmed cases from which to establish how the contagion progresses once it has infected its first victim.At first, the only sign is a period of intense fever and terrible nightmarish visions that passes in a matter of solar hours and leaves the host apparently in perfect health. As healthy as the person seems, their soul is now lost and they have become a fever that walks and a vessel for unholy disaster in the shape of the Fydae Strain of the Zombie Plague. Utterly infectious and yet outwardly healthy, the host ignorantly goes about their life, not knowing that the contagion inside them is tainting all they come in contact with.Thus, the carrier spreads the contagion with a thoroughness that could never be achieved by obviously sick individuals. It is with this subtlety that the Plague Lord Nurgle shows his genius and his beneficence. This first subject will never be touched by any disease or sickness ever again, but will infect and doom all they meet and so is destined to stand at the centre of a storm of pestilence and see all they care for dissolve and decay. In the terminology of the Ordo Malleus and its allied Ordo Sepulturum, this blighted individual and most damned of souls is named "Subject Zero."
Vile Savants - Second Stage: The Colonisation and Spread of Contagion: Once Subject Zero has unwittingly begun to spread the contagion, as time progresses, so will the spread of the supernatural plague at an ever-accelerating rate. Unlike mundane diseases, the arcane contagion spread by Subject Zero can take solar weeks or only solar hours to claim its first lives, dependent on its fickle, Daemonic nature.It is as if the disease itself is patient and willing to wait to spread to as much of the populace of a locale as possible before it begins the next fatal stage of its life cycle. However, if tempted by a particularly choice group of victims (such as medicae personnel) or the threat of discovery, it will suddenly erupt with full force. Its hunger to kill may drive it to full outbreak sooner rather than later as the Daemon will not be denied its feast.Once the disease begins to manifest fully, it presents as a wild and vicious mixture of symptoms ranging from bloody flux, vomiting, and murderous fever, blooming strange green marks on the skin and the rapid necrotising of flesh, all finally resulting in a spasm-wracked death usually within solar hours of the disease's first symptoms manifesting.Once the first lives have been claimed, matters accelerate and worsen rapidly. Hundreds, even thousands may die within solar hours, causing mass panic and civil disorder and straining any authority's ability to cope to the breaking point.
Vile Savants - Third Stage: The Walking Dead: In this stage, the disease does not simply attack the bodies of the infected but moves to overwhelm the few threads that keep Humanity together in the plague's aftermath or may contest its decaying dominion. Rising from their graves and animated by the residual Warp energies remaining in their corpses, the plague dead walk in search of the living, the Daemonic plague driving their corpses like the many cells of a single vile organism.The walking dead fall on the living, hunting them down implacably, and each person they kill rises to join them in turn. As the walking dead multiply, wild terror and anarchy is the natural consequence unless the Inquisition, the Imperial military, or some other powerful force can step in. Short of total cleansing with fire and faith, there is now little that can be done to avert the next stage of the cycle, save contain it with brute force and merciless purpose.
Vile Savants - Fourth Stage: Cometh the Vile Savants: Once the dead have risen in great numbers, the hour of their masters' arrival has come. At the centre of the outbreak, in a silent, dark place bathed in death and despair, reality falls apart to the buzzing of flies. The Vile Savants step through from the Realm of Chaos into reality, and in their wake come the Daemons of the Lord of Decay. The number of Vile Savants that appear is dependent on the extent of the contagion's spread.If a great city is consumed by the contagion and the walking dead numbers are legion, dozens of Vile Savants may come, while the death throes of a small settlement may bring a single Savant to perform its final rites. As manifestations of the contagion itself, the Vile Savants can command the throng of walking dead, wield diseased powers of the Warp, and consume life like a hungry cloud of locusts. With a deliberate will at the centre, the walking dead begin to destroy any remaining resistance and a disaster becomes a horrifying war.
Vile Savants - The Fifth Stage: Disintegration and Proliferation: The final stage of the contagion's cycle occurs only if the Vile Savants are victorious and have brought their targets to ruin. With death and decay holding limitless dominion, the walking dead begin to collapse, their flesh putrefies, and the air is filled by the buzzing of bloated corpse flies. In this perfect garden of decay, the Vile Savants move about, harvesting the outpouring of death and decay and sampling the changing contagions born by the outbreak.Not all are killed, however, as a few people are allowed to survive and the Vile Savants do not seek them out -- for Nurgle needs life and flesh upon which to work his wondrous diseases and requires witnesses to bear testament to his all-consuming power. Finally, the Vile Savants step back through the hell that made them and wait until the next outbreak, wherever and whenever it may be.
Vilnus - Vilnus: Vilnus is a watch master of the Deathwatch Chapter who is the watch commander of the watch fortress at Haltmoat in the Segmentum Obscurus.
Vilnus - History: When the watch fortress of Haltmoat began receiving numerous reports of voidships disappearing near the Tiamet System, Watch Commander Vilnus sent a kill-team, led by Watch Sergeant Gjunheim, to investigate the system held by Hive Fleet Tiamet. Though the kill-team was able to infiltrate the system they soon met with disaster and were killed on the Jungle World of Ziaphoria. The kill-team's ship returned to the watch fortress, but it bore a final vox transmission by Gjunheim that warned of a nightmare biomechanical structure built by the Tyranids that they had discovered.The watch sergeant reported that it spanned an entire continent on Ziaphoria and when the Astartes approached it, the structure pulsed and sent out a tsunami of psychic energy. This pulse caused the death of the kill-team's Librarian froma cerebral hemorhage, which alerted the hive fleet to their presence. The kill-team was subsequently torn apart by the Tyranids.Once Vilnus finished the message, he transmitted it to the Ordo Xenos and it eventually reached the ears of the excommunicated Inquisitor Fidus Kryptman. The former Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos travelled to Watch Fortress Haltmoat and Vilnus agreed to meet with him. As they talked, Kryptman shared his own grim theories regarding the purpose of the unknown Tyranid structure on Ziaphoria and Hive Fleet Tiamet, and together the two began to formulate a plan to utterly obliterate whatever the Hive Mind was planning.
Vils Andarion - Vils Andarion: Vils Andarion is an Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos and one of several luminaries drawn to Watch Fortress Erioch in the Jericho Reach since the Jericho-Maw Warp Gate opened. His primary interest is in the gate itself but the dangers in the Well of Night have driven him to Erioch to pursue his investigations.Here he can at least study data gathered about the Warp Gate in its dormant state throughout the Jericho Reach's Age of Shadow. Andarion keeps a substantial retinue of adepts, savants and servitors at the Tower of Brass, the Inquisitorial headquarters of the watch fortress, for this very purpose. They work night and day seeking after some elusive piece of data Andarion apparently needs.Inquisitor Andarion has also expressed a keen interest in xenos legends throughout the Jericho Reach, the older and more obscure the better. He has made several expeditions to Jove's Descent and Karlack following in the footsteps of Inquisitor Zaer Vincent.Andarion's interest in the local myths of a city beneath the sea brought him to Karlack prior to Vincent's disappearance and the two co-operated in the investigation for a time. Andarion has resolved not to let the matter of Inquisitor Vincent's disappearance drop until Vincent, or more likely his slayer, is found.Of note is that Andarion has a theory that the Warp Gate and several of the older xenos sites scattered around the Jericho Reach are somehow interconnected.He needs to take readings and analyze data at points scattered all over the Reach to prove or disprove his theory. If he is right, the opening of the Warp Gate portends some truly dire events at those sites in the future.
Vincent Morrow - Vincent Morrow: Vincent Morrow is a senior Acolyte of the Inquisition and a former sergeant major of the Astra Militarum who served with the Armageddon Steel Legion. Morrow now serves Inquisitor Grendyl of the Ordo Hereticus as the primary trainer of new Acolytes inducted into their warband, colloquially called "Rejects" since so many are now recruited from former Imperial prisoners and other ne'er-do-wells. Morrow and the warband are currently engaged in cleansing Hive Tertium, the capital hive city of the Moebian world of Atoma Prime, of the Nurglish corruption caused by the Admonition Chaos Cult and their allies among the Moebian 6th Regiment, a Traitoris Militarum regiment.Morrow serves as the de facto commander of the former Astra Militarum units and all other infantry forces within the warband of Inquisitor Grendyl. Morrow also handles the introductory training of the recent influx of new Acolytes who are used to replenish the warband's diminishing numbers. As many of these recruits are former Imperial prisoners and other lowborn members of Imperial society such as the criminal classes, Morrow and the other senior Acolytes of Grendyl's warband often refer to them as "Rejects."Morrow and Commodore Alice Hallowette, the purser of the requisitioned Rogue Trader frigate Mourningstar under the command of Shipmistress Emora Brahms, often butt heads over proper procedure. Morrow is keen to maintain the Astra Militarum's core rules and regulations and some semblance of military discipline among the Rejects, many of whom have never before served in an organised military force. Yet, the Mourningstar is Hallowette's home and place of business. She is always keen to remind Morrow of this, whether it be through petty acts of annoyance or casual insubordination. She has made clear on more than one occasion that she is not a member of the Inquisition and the only orders she will obey are those of Shipmistress Brahms.
Vincent Morrow - History: How Vincent Morrow joined Grendyl's retinue of Acolytes is unknown, as well as his how long he has served with the Inquisitor's warband aboard the Mourningstar. Morrow is a grizzled veteran sergeant major of the Astra Militarum with first-hand experiences fighting Heretics on the front lines and within the urban nightmares that are hive cities.However, Morrow was originally a member of the Armageddon Steel Legion and fought at the battle for Hades Hive during the Second War for Armageddon in 941-943.M41. Morrow still wears the iconic uniform of the Armageddon Steel Legion. One explanation as to how Morrow is still alive and vital so long after the Second War for Armageddon ended, is that his Golgotha-class transport ship was stranded in the Warp for some time, where time flows differently than in realspace.One rumour about the sergeant-major that carries an air of credibility is that he was planetside during the Xanatros Purgation. This military action saw three regiments of the Mordian Iron Guard wiped out and an unspecified number of space marine casualties before the world and the Imperial defenders fell to a Genestealer Cult infestation. This is suspected to be after Morrow was recruited as an acolyte to Inquisitor Grendyl.Inquisitor Grendyl recruited additional veterans of that conflict and the Third War for Armageddon from across the Hive World of Armageddon, such as participants in the defence of Hive Helsreach. It is unknown how many veterans of the wars against the Orks on Armageddon make up Grendyl's warband.It is a source of some sport in Grendyl's warband for the Acolytes to tell increasingly tall tales about Morrow's mysterious past. Some of the rumours flying around about the sergeant-major include that he is secretly the keeper of a sacred relic of Macragge given to him by High Chaplain Ortan Cassius of the Ultramarines, that he fought during the Badab War against Huron Blackheart, that he was implanted with mind shackle scarabs by Necrons on Morrigar, and that he was the unnamed soldier who fired the Plasma Pistol shot that killed the unique Carnifex "Old One Eye" on Calth during the First Tyrannic War against Hive Fleet Behemoth in Ultramar.
Vinculus Crusade - Vinculus Crusade: The Vinculus Crusade was a Crusade of the Black Templars Space Marine Chapter declared against the Chaotic assassin cult warriors who had plagued the Peleregon Cluster in 833.M41. Black Templars Astartes under the command of High Marshal Ludoldus consented to fight alongside the warriors of Inquisitor Vinculus of the Ordo Hereticus. The Inquisitor, accompanied by a detachment of Adepta Sororitas from the Order of the Bloody Rose, had traced the origins of a network of Chaos Cult assassins to Peleregon IV, a hellish, mountainous world of shifting tectonic plates marred by constantly-flowing rivers of molten lava. The initial Imperial landings were met with little opposition, and eventually, the Black Templars -- including a young Neophyte named Helbrecht -- and the Adepta Sororitas pushed the cult's warriors back to the seat of a continent-spanning volcano. Ludoldus immediately assaulted the fiery mountain stronghold, his Sword Brethren capturing the main gate and holding it long enough for Imperial forces to breach the cult's defences. As the Black Templars and Adepta Sororitas stormed the huge, pillared interior of the volcano, Inquisitor Vinculus faced the cult's leader and slew him with his daemonblade, though he took a grievous wound in return.This proved to be his undoing as the nascent daemonic presence that had been building within the cult leader was forced to manifest and, in a blaze of dark red light, it possessed the weakened Inquisitor. A massive daemon of Khorne took the Inquisitor's flesh for its own and turned upon his erstwhile allies, slaughtering Imperial warriors by the dozen. High Marshal Ludoldus, the Emperor's Champion Ulricus and Canoness Jasmine faced the daemon in what came to be known within the annals of the Black Templars as the Battle of Fire and Blood. Though sorely pressed, these heroes fought with great strength and indomitable faith, but it seemed as though the daemon would prove the stronger. In desperation, Ludoldus hurled a Holy Orb of Antioch, a bomb infused with volatile holy oils and high explosives, into the central chasm of lava. The resultant explosion tore the chasms apart and a massive earthquake shook the mountain to its core as rocks and pillars crashed down into the fiery pit. The daemon-possessed Inquisitor fell to his doom in the lava and the remaining Imperial warriors sought to escape the collapsing volcano before being buried forever with their foes. Thunderhawk gunships braved the fiery deluge to pick up the surviving Battle-Sisters and Black Templars and though many gunships were subsequently lost in the blinding clouds of ash and superheated rock, the majority were able to escape.
Vinculus Crusade - Outcome: To ensure no trace of the daemon and its cult remained, Ludoldus ordered Peleregon IV bombarded from orbit until the massive forces unleashed tore the planet's crust apart and buried it beneath an ocean of seething magma.
Vinculus Crusade - Other Notes: Castellan Draco also first rose to prominence as part of Marshal Ludoldus' Sword Brethren during the bitter Vinculus Crusade, in which he stood his ground with help from other Sword Brethren against waves of blood cultists and other daemonic forms. He was badly wounded after the battle and his body was reconstructed with bionics. He was awarded the rank of Castellan and was given a relic suit of the Chapter's finest Power Armour for his valour. Draco was further recognised when he was presented with the former Inquisitor's blade as a mark of gratitude from the Ordo Hereticus.
Vindicare Temple - Vindicare Temple: The Vindicare Temple is one of the temples of the Officio Assassinorum. The motto of the temple in High Gothic is Exitus Acta Probat, "the Outcome Justifies the Deed."Vindicare operatives are the most skilled snipers and marksmen in the Imperium of Man and are usually directed to assassinate targets who are believed to have been possessed by daemonic entities or to have been corrupted by the Ruinous Powers of Chaos.
Vindicare Temple - History: Like the other temples of the Officio Assassinorum, the Vindicare Temple was originally the Vindicare Clade, created sometime during the Great Crusade in the late 30th Millennium at the behest of Malcador the Sigillite, the Regent of Terra, who was secretly the Grand Master of Assassins and Assassinorum's first Director Primus, known to the Vindicare Assassins only as "Sire Vindicare."The Vindicare 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.During the Horus Heresy it provided members to the secret Execution Force that contained six Assassins from all six Clades of the Officio Assassinorum to try and eliminate the Warmaster Horus. This mission ultimately failed, much to Mankind's ill fortune.In one celebrated but ultimately classified engagement, a massed Asuryani assault in the Lammas Campaign was halted by a lone Vindicare Assassin hiding in a ruined tower. The Asuryani advance in the face of this tower was stalled by a hail of deadly sniper fire which slew Exarchs, Warlocks, and support weapon crews in quick succession.Eventually, the Craftworld Aeldari called in their scouts to clear the tower, but when they entered the ruin they found the Assassin long gone but the tower full of grenade-laden traps that offered yet more death.
Vindicare Temple - Operative Tactics: The most prominent feature of the Vindicare Temple of the Officio Assassinorum is that it trains its subjects to near-perfection in the art of marksmanship; they aim to kill the Emperor's worst enemies with a single bullet.In addition to the art of sniping, Vindicare Assassins are also trained in stealth and evasion techniques in order that they may get into the most advantageous position from which to take their shot and to successfully elude capture and disappear once their target is eliminated.The necessity for these skills is determined by the fact that a kill can only be made from the best position. Indeed, Vindicare Assassins have been known to occupy a position for solar days, or even weeks, before taking their shot.The Vindicare are often employed in eliminating individuals for the Imperium who are suspected of harboring daemonic entities. The hope is that they can eliminate the host before the Daemon is able to manifest itself on the material plane.Characters of great charisma, many false prophets and false messiahs among them, have fallen to the Vindicare's bullet, most commonly whilst they are preaching their false beliefs to their followers and spreading heresy against the Imperium.Upon this swift, brutal, and yet simple death, the erstwhile followers of such a Heretic soon become disheartened and afraid. Countless heresies against the Imperium have been prevented with a single, well-aimed shot where legions of men would have failed.
Vindicare Temple - Exitus Rifle and Pistol: The signature weapon of the Vindicare Temple, this rifle is amongst the finest examples of Imperial weaponsmithing. Hand-crafted by a magos-artisan of the Adeptus Mechanicus, each Exitus Rifle is part of a matched set—both pistol and rifle customised to the specifications of the individual Assassin.Perfectly-balanced, individually-crafted, an Exitus Rifle will never jam, never overheat, never fail or falter. The Exitus weapons contain sophisticated Machine Spirits that are sleek and murderous, an echo of the Assassin who wields the weapon, and in its owner's capable hands their rifle has sealed the demise of countless Heretics.The Exitus weapons utilise ammunition constructed from special heavy-gravity alloys to penetrate nearly all forms of known protection. With the phenomenal killing power to punch through ceramite plate, the Exitus Rifle can drop a Chaos Space Marine with a single well-placed shot. All Exitus weapons incorporate a silencer and a selector switch. The Exitus rifle has a built-in telescopic sight.Vindicare Assassins are also issued a high-powered weapon known as an Exitus Pistol for close-quarters work, if necessary. The Exitus Pistol is a masterpiece of craftsmanship, a weapon as elegant as it is deadly.Unlike the larger rifle, the Exitus Pistol is mainly considered a backup weapon for a Vindicare Assassin, primarily used in those rare circumstances where the Assassin is discovered, cornered, or in need of rapid-fire capability.Under those circumstances, the Exitus Pistol performs admirably, and more than a few Vindicare Assassins owe their lives to this weapon. An Exitus Pistol has the power to punch a grown man through an armaplas wall. The recoil from an Exitus Pistol is such that only a Vindicare's enhanced musculature allows them to fire the weapon one-handed.Of course a Vindicare has no problem doing so, their accuracy and rate of fire so great that they can empty the weapon's magazine, every shot a kill, before their victims' guns have even cleared their holsters. The Exitus Pistol has a built-in silencer and is among the highest quality weapons crafted by the artificers of the Imperium of Man.
Vindicare Temple - Exitus Ammunition: Vindicare Assassins carry a variety of specialist ammunition. All Exitus ammunition (including all special rounds) contain miniaturised Cogitator targeting-spirits (guidance computers) that make them nearly impossible to avoid.Exitus rounds can also be programmed to self-destruct. The rounds are disintegrated, consumed as if destroyed by a virus, and leave no trace behind.Vindicare Assassins are normally issued special ammunition when sent on an assignment. These unusual rounds are very rare, and each is extremely difficult and time-consuming to craft.Therefore, the Assassin is usually given a single round of each type. Occasionally, other special rounds (such as the Hyphosphus Incendiaries) are issued in their place. The ammunition described below may only be utilised by the Exitus Rifle and the Exitus Pistol:Shield-Breaker Round - A Shield-Breaker Round is used by Vindicare Assassins for bypassing a high-value target personal energy shielding, such as a Conversion Field. The round overloads personal force-fields, and similar barriers with massive bursts of energy. The Shield-Breaker is specially-treated with a psychically-charged imprint, and contains a complex circuit of anti-phase technology that is little understood even by the Tech-priests of the Mechanicus. The Shield-Breaker is employed against a variety of targets such as the protective Warp fields generated by a Tyranid Zoanthrope, an Eldar Warlock's Rune Armour and the psychic shields often employed by powerful psykers.Hellfire Round- The Hellfire Round has devastating effects on organic matter, specifically the Tyranids. The core and tip of the standard Exitus round are replaced with a vial of virulent mutagenic bio-acid toxins. Thousands of armour-piercing micro-needles inject the target with this acid upon impact and the needles pierce the victim's flesh, pumping the acid into the target, eating away flesh and metal alike with horrific speed.Turbo-penetrator Round - The Turbo-penetrator Round is a hypervelocity, Adamantine-jacketed bullet surrounding a special magno-sealed flux needle. The round uses a two-stage charge to punch a diamond-hard secondary round through the thickest armour. These special rounds are renowned for their ability to pierce nearly any armour, and the hypervelocity round wreaks havoc upon any target, often by the secondary effects of its phasing passage through the target's molecular structure.
Vindicare Temple - Vindicare Stealth Suit: This item of Vindicare wargear appears as a matte-black bodyglove, specially fitted for the individual Assassin. The Vindicare Temple has a long-standing pact with the Adeptus Mechanicus to craft these exquisite suits, each one combining Cameleoline-laced materials with a complex version of "synskin" to allow its wearer to blend in with his environment.This material bonds with the Assassin's body, enhancing his reflexes and protecting him from poisons, gases, and other hazards of the battlefield.Each suit is supple and silent, allowing the Assassin to move with perfect freedom whilst still retaining its protective and chameleon qualities.It should be noted that the wargear of a Vindicare Assassin is often gene-coded to that individual and no other, and that it would take a great deal of effort to adjust the gene-coding for another user.
Vindicare Temple - Vindicare Spy Mask: Issued to Imperial Assassins of the Vindicare Temple, this item's systems are incredibly advanced and sophisticated. It is said that the design for the Spy Mask is little-understood even by the Tech-priests of Mars.Internally moulded to the contours of a Vindicare operative's facial features, each spy mask interfaces directly with the operative's cerebellum via neural jacks located at each temple. Thus integrated, the spy mask's sensorium suite and predictive augurs exload data straight into the Vindicare's mind.Trajectories, atmospherics, thermal imaging, psychic spoor, all are superimposed directly onto an operative's field of vision. The mask allows the Vindicare to see through dense smoke, driving snow, and can even identify likely weak points in their victim's defences, based upon intel inloads and probability scripture.This avalanche of information would disorient even a Veteran Space Marine, but thanks to a Vindicare's mental augmetics, they can process it all with ease.The Spy Mask also contains cartridges of concentrated food and water for extended operations, and a multi-channel communications sensor (both vox and pict) for monitoring enemy communications.The mask includes a built-in auspex scanner and readout, advanced, high-quality magnoculars, a good-quality photo-visor (making the wearer immune to the blinding effects of Photon Flash Grenades), Pict-recorder, Re-breather for hostile environments, and Vox-caster.Like their stealth suit, a Vindicare Spy Mask is also gene-coded so that it can only be activated by a specific Assassin.
Vindicare Temple - Notable Vindicare Assassins: Sire Vindicare - The founder and first Director Primus of his clade, Sire Vindicare was the namesake and founder of the Vindicare Temple. He was the foremost sniper-assassin of his age. He, along with the other founders of the various Assassin clades that would become the Assassin Temples, was present on Mount Vengeance. With his fellows he 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.Eristede Kell - The traitor Eristede Kell was a Vindicare Assassin operating during the later stage of the Great Crusade and opening days of the Horus Heresy. He was an Assassin-at-Marque of Clade Vindicare who was ranked an Epsilon-dan, the senior-most rank within his order, which led him to be selected by his superiors to join the very first Imperial Execution Force composed of Imperial Assassins from every clade. Reunited with his biological sister, Assassin Jenniker Soalm of Clade Venenum, the Execution Force was sent to the world of Dagonet, where Imperial intelligence placed the Archtraitor Horus Lupercal. It would be the first time that the agents of the Officio Assassinorum would target a Primarch. As appointed leader of the Execution Force, Kell divised a plan to kill the Warmaster, but ultimately, their assassination attempt failed as an unforeseeable enemy, in the form of a highly adaptive Horusite assassin, clashed with the Execution Force, causing the death of the other members of the team. As sole survivor, Eristede Kell still took the shot at his designated target, only to find out that Horus had desisted and send one of his captains, Luc Sedirae in his stead. The assassination of Horus' envoy unleashed the fury of the Sons of Horus which bloodily descended on Dagonet. For a long time, Eristede Kell was believed slain in these punitive actions of the XVIth Legion, but he survived. As failure could not be tolerated, Kell resolved himself to take drastic measures: he commandeered a ship and intended to ram it right into the Vengeful Spirit’s bridge, where he suspected the Arch-Traitor lurked. As defensive fire proved too heavy, Kell resolved to take an escape pod and infiltrate the mighty vessel himself to accomplish his mission. However, by a dark twist of fate, Kell's saviour-pod landed right into a nest of unknown xenos-fauna that had manifested in the abandoned parts of the Vengeful Spirit since it had been purposely corrupted by Chaos. Escaping with his life and weapons, but not unscathed, Kell sought a hideout with a clear line of sight to his target. The envenomed bites of the xenos-serpents that had attacked him, somehow granted him a vision -- the precise, if future location of Horus. All he had to do, was remain where he was, prepare and wait. Kell waited for a number of years for the perfect shot, but in the meantime, the poison ravaged his body, slowly turning the assassin insane. It is unknown how long Kell was able to hide in the bowels of the Vengeful Spirit, but he was still in position when a second assassination attempt, led by the agents of Malcador the Sigilite, the famed Knight-Errants, was spoiled. Still fighting against the poison within him, or more likely, increasingly becoming corrupted by the power of Chaos, Kell resolved to change tactics -- instead of waiting for the Warmaster's arrival, he would draw his target to him. Murdering the only ally he had found on the ship and carving Horus' name in his former friend's flesh, Kell sent a bloody message to the Warmaster, who personally investigated the matter. Yet finally confronted with his target, Kell did take the shot but Horus saw him and snatched the round out of the air. He then confronted Kell, offering him the chance to use his Exitus Pistol to kill him. Kell fired his entire magazine, but as Horus shielded his face with his massive armored gauntlet, he was unable to kill him. Unable to assassinate Horus, and due to his inner doubts and the corrupting power of Chaos, Kell was instead turned by the Warmaster to serve the Traitors' cause. After he was corrupted, he was later sent to Terra to assassinate the first Imperial Saint, Euphrati Keeler, by order of the Warmaster. He was joined by the Alpha Legion operative known as Haln. He tracked the elusive saint to the Lectitio Divinitatus pilgrim sanctuary of Salvaguardia, located in the land of Afrik, in the outskirts of the Wasted Ranges, where he proceeded to slaughter the entire enclave with his unnatural Warp-based weapon, gifted to him by the Warmaster. Kell then tortured any survivors for information with his knife. Eventually, the pair of traitor assassins received information from an informant, which indicated that Keeler was aboard the massive Hesperides orbital plate. But they were not the only ones seeking Keeler, the Knight-Errant, Nathaniel Garro, was also looking for the living saint. Finding the location of their hidden church, Haln infiltrated the pilgrim flock as one of their own, while Kell took up a sniper's position. Unable to maintain his facade any longer, Haln broke his cover and attempted to stab Keeler when she finally made her appearance, but was bifurcated by the great sword Libertas, when Garro threw his weapon at the would-be assassin, foiling his plans. Kell fired upon the pilgrims, slaughtering many of them, before Garro finally joined the battle and fought the former Imperial assassin in close-combat. During the fight that ensued, Garro sliced off Kell's warp-cursed gun hand, and then destroyed the daemon that writhed helplessly on the ground. Before finally slaying Kell, Garro named Eristede Kell traitor, and ordered the failed assassin to stand and answer for his crimes. Incredulously, Kell replied that he was not the only traitor -- they all were in the end. They were all betrayed and then the betrayer. Kell accused Garro that he was no different than him. Garro angrily replied that he did not swear fealty to the first primarch and turn against his father, the Emperor. But Kell retorted, that Garro had turned against his own father, the Primarch Mortarion, and therefore, was a traitor in his own way. Fed up with the assassin's argument, Garro took Libertas and impaled Kell through his heart, freeing him from whatever devil's bargain he had made with the Warmaster.Dejedris Garamach - Dejedris Garamach was a Vindicare Assassin who successfully carried out a kill order given to his Temple to take out the predatory Dark Eldar pilot known as the Skyknife in 243.M39. Knowing that to enter Commorragh would be to court almost certain failure, Garamach determined the site of a previous sighting of the Skyknife's Razorwing Jetfighter. He mounts his vigil in the eye socket of the Threndian Colossus, subsisting on moss and the raw flesh of the birds that use the statue as its nest whilst never taking his eyes from the sky. Six years later, his vigil is rewarded when the Skyknife appears from midair in a flash of azure light. Within a half-second of its appearance Garamach puts a turbo-penetrator round into the cockpit, killing the pilot instantly.Morias Skult - In 924.M40, 2nd Class Assassin Skult was dispatched to the Roxanzand System to eliminate the threat of the Ork Warlord Urgak "the Unstoppable" who was uniting the disparate Ork tribes of the northern continent of the world of Roxanzand into a mighty Ork WAAAGH!.The Orks conducted a massive military build-up unabated, and most worringly, were in the process of constructing a mighty Gargant. Skult deployed without detection as a lone operative via a standard one-man Drop Pod and infiltrated the Ork camp. After killing five Ork sentries, their bodies were disposed of with hyphosphus quick-burning incendiaries. Skult then proceeded to insert himself into the near-completed Gargant. Planting high-charge, low-mass explosives throughout the various vulnerable points on the structure of the Gargant, he then extricated himself and took up a position at the top of a nearby cliff where he held a commanding view of the encampment. The next morning, Skult assassinated Urgak with a single head-shot from his Exitus Rifle. He then proceeded to fire upon the Gargant, igniting the carefully placed explosives, which caused a chain-reaction. The Gargant exploded spectacularly and Skult made good his escape. The Assassin then made his way back to his Drop Pod and was picked up. Despite this tremendous display of skill at infiltration and accuracy, Skult's mission was declared only 86% successful, for the damage dealt to the Gargant was not total enough to prevent reconstruction. However, the death of the Warlord and the delay in rebuilding the destroyed Gargant caused a slow down in the Ork's war efforts, allowing time for Imperial Navy vessels to arrive and bombard the site from orbit, effectively eliminating the Greenskin threat. Later in his career, he was part of an Imperial strike team of Officio Assassinorum operatives sent to the strife-ridden Imperial world of Opis to eliminate the rogue assassin Legienstrasse, formerly of the defunct Maerorus Temple. Though he attempted to kill her on several occasions, he ultimately failed in achieving his objective. While attempting to kill the rogue assassin one final time from an Imperial Fists Thunderhawk gunship, Legienstrasse leapt upon one of the flyer's wings and badly damaged it, causing the gunship to crash and kill everyone aboard.Tarim - Tarim is an assassin of the Vindicare Temple who played an instrumental role during the events on the planet Drex. He helped Inquisitor Gerhart to suppress a Chaos Cult that followed Daemons, first, by thwarting their attempt to assassinate the Inquisitor during his public proselytizing to the planet's masses, and secondly, by killing the failed killer, the heretic known as St'phen Tylr. Tarim had a habit of tattooing the names of all his victims on his left forearm to mark his kills.Viktor Zhau - Viktor Zhau was an assassin of the Vindicare Temple who was known for his skill and composure. He was selected to lead the Execution Force that was sent to the world of Achyllan Prime, located close to the Cadian Sector, during the Thirteenth Black Crusade in 999.M41, in order the halt the invasion of a large Chaos force of the infamous Crimson Slaughter Chaos Warband led by the Sorcerer Severin Drask. The Sorcerer was intent on sacrificing its suns with the Temple of Shades in order to create a Warp Rift that would endanger Terra itself. During this mission, the assassins were successful in assassinating Drask, but unfortunately for Zhau, he would be killed shortly thereafter, torn apart by both cultists and Crimson Slaughter Chaos Space Marines. The Temple of Shades soon collapsed thereafter, and the planet was left devastated.
Vindicare Temple - Dawn of War: In the real-time strategy games for the PC Dawn of War - Winter Assault and Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, the Vindicare Assassin (simply called the Assassin in the game) is the Imperial Guard's only infiltrator unit, armed with a high-powered Sniper Rifle.Imperial Guard commanders can temporarily double the range and damage of the Vindicare's sniper rifle by ordering the unit to activate the rifle's Assassination Scope for a limited time (as prolonged use of the scope causes the rifle to overheat).
Vindicare Temple - Sources: Assassinorum Executioner Force: Rulebook (7th Edition), pp. 24-25Codex: Assassins (3rd Edition), pg. 4Codex: Assassins (2nd Edition), pp. 9-11Dark Heresy: Ascension (RPG), pp. 49, 139, 147-148, 155Dataslate: Officio Assassinorum, pg. 38Nemesis (Novel) by James SwallowSeventh Retribution (Novel) by Ben CounterGarro: Vow of Faith (Novella) by James SwallowWar Without End (Anthology), "Gunsight" by James SwallowAssassinorum: Executioner Force (Novel) by Joe ParrinoDivine Will (Short Story) by Andy Smillie
Vindicator - Vindicator: The Vindicator is an Imperial siege tank based on the Rhino chassis used by many Space Marine Chapters that boasts the most powerful weapon of its type in the Adeptus Astartes' standard armoury, the Demolisher Cannon. It is highly valued and can only be issued to company officers whose units have been tasked with a specific tactical requirement.Though short-ranged, the Vindicator's Demolisher Cannon is capable of destroying enemy armour and fortifications in a single shot. The vehicle is an essential part of any armoured spearhead that the Space Marines unleash. There is little that can stand before a Vindicator's pulverising fury. It is a rare Space Marine tank assault that does not employ a Vindicator in its vanguard.The Vindicator is usually deployed during battles that take place in cities or other dense terrain, such as jungles, where the Demolisher Cannon's lack of range does not affect its performance. Much like the Rhino and Predator tanks, the Vindicator is one of the oldest vehicle types still in use by the Imperium.Space Marine battle tanks are not permanently attached to any one company. Instead they form a vehicle pool, and individual tanks are available for deployment to Space Marine commanders as required.Upon its creation, a Space Marine battle tank is assigned a name that reflects its role as a protector of the Chapter's brethren. From that point onwards, the vehicle is as much a part of the Chapter as the Space Marines themselves, and over the years its many deeds and victories will be celebrated as greatly as the Chapter's flesh and blood heroes.
Vindicator - History: As with the Predator, the less-than-complete records of this vehicle's history state that it was first deployed during the Age of Technology. The reason for the Vindicator's design was the high casualties taken by many Human military forces during combat in dense forests and the concrete jungles of urban areas.Some document fragments found in the Librarius Omnis on Mars have indicated that a certain General Vindictus requested the design of a vehicle from the Forge World of Mars with a high calibre weapon that could shatter heavily protected targets with highly angled weapons fire, and at the same time was still mobile enough to keep up with advancing troops.The chassis of the Rhino was used as the foundation for the first Vindicators, with its front refitted with a high calibre weapon and reinforced with thicker armour plating. With this, the transport ability of the Rhino chassis is forfeited for ammunition stowage and a larger engine.These upgrades lowered the top speed of the vehicle, but were necessary for the large cannon to be fitted. More armour plating was added to the top hull to protect the tank from elevated attacks.The Vindicator's use was recommended by the Primarch Roboute Guilliman for Space Marine Chapters in the Codex Astartes. As such, all Codex-compliant Chapters make use of the vehicle when engaged in armoured assaults of particularly difficult targets.
Vindicator - Service Record: The hardy Vindicator is built almost exclusively for urban battles where enemies are concealed within reinforced positions, such as large buildings, sewers, etc. The Demolisher Cannon of the Vindicator is used to destroy strong points in the enemy troops' line, take away snipers and smash through thick walls for the Astartes to enter certain buildings.The Dozer Blade or Siege Shield, on the other hand, is used to bulldoze through smaller obstacles in the rough terrain. Gathered in large numbers, Vindicators can unleash massive amounts of damage to any building, if they do not end up demolishing it outright into rubble.The Vindicator carries a fairly large Demolisher Cannon, which launches rocket-assisted shells towards the target at high angles, producing ground-shattering strikes.
Vindicator - Construction: The Vindicator has a very adaptable chassis, compatible with most standard weapons and engines in other Space Marine vehicles. They are produced in Chapter Forges alongside Rhinos. The construction process of a Vindicator includes checking the omens and supplicating the vehicle's Machine Spirit to protect it from proving cranky on the battlefield.While the armour plating is being added, the Demolisher Cannon is blessed by Tech-priests. Each Vindicator takes a very long time to be converted from the Rhino chassis.They are the treasures of their Chapters, with each usually retaining a dozen in its Armoury.
Vindicator - Known Formations: The following is a list of known Adeptus Astartes formations that include the Vindicator:Hammer of Caliban - The Hammer of Caliban formation is a formation used by the Dark Angels Chapter and consists of one Techmarine, one Land Raider Phobos, Land Raider Crusader or Land Raider Redeemer and one Predator, Whirlwind or Vindicator tank squadron. Only the mightiest of foes are worthy of the death dealt by the Hammer of Caliban formation. Named for the beast-slaying weapons once wielded by the knights of The Order, this formation concentrates the fury of The Rock's Armoury into a single, mighty hammerblow. Comprising multiple squadrons of heavily armoured battle tanks under the auspices of the Chapter's finest Techmarines, the Hammer of Caliban is most often deployed when the enemy have multiple monstrous beasts or war engines in the field. Like the knights of their ancient homeworld, the tank-crews of the Hammer of Caliban ride their armoured steeds to war, charging down their massive prey and blasting them apart with the fire of their heavy weapons.
Vindicator - Armament: The Vindicator is armed with a hull-mounted, forwards-firing Demolisher Cannon. This large weapon fires massive, rocket-propelled high-explosive shells that are capable of inflicting great amounts of damage against enemy structures. Several Demolisher Cannon shells fired from this tank are usually more than enough to bring down most buildings.The Vindicator is often used during urban battles, or battles fought in dense terrain such as jungles and forests, so that the weapon's relatively short-range will not affect its performance. The Vindicator is not equipped with any other weapons, but can be equipped with a pintle-mounted Storm Bolter. Due to the size of the Demolisher Cannon and its automatic ammunition loader and storage magazine, there is only room for two crew members, meaning that with a pintle-mounted weapon equipped, either another crew member will be added or one of the existing crew will have to interrupt his previous duty to man the weapon.The Vindicator is usually equipped with an overly large and thick Dozer Blade known as a Siege Shield, which protects the tank from enemy fire and also allows it to push rubble and debris out of the way so other units can advance.The Vindicator can also be outfitted with several enhancements such as extra armour plating for more protection, a Dozer Blade if the Vindicator is not equipped with a Siege Shield already, a Searchlight, a Hunter-Killer Missile Launcher, and Smoke Launchers.During the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy, it was possible for the Vindicator to be armed with a Laser Destroyer Array instead of a Demolisher Cannon. The vehicle could also be equipped with an auxiliary drive system, armoured ceramite plating, and a Machine Spirit, along with a variety of pintle-mounted weapons, including Combi-Bolters or other Combi-weapons, a Havoc Missile Launcher, and either a single Heavy Flamer, or a Heavy Bolter.It is unknown if these are still viable weapon load-out options in the late 41st Millennium.
Vindicator - Unit Composition: 1-3 Vindicator Siege Tanks
Vindicator - Wargear: A standard Vindicator is armed and equipped with:Demolisher CannonSearchlightSmoke LaunchersA Vindicator may take one of the following pintle-mounted weapons:Storm BolterVindicators may also have a variety of vehicle equipment such as:Siege Shield or a Dozer BladeExtra Armour PlatingHunter-Killer Missile LauncherArmoured Ceramite Plating
Vindicator - Legion Deimos Pattern Vindicator: The Deimos Pattern is an early type of Vindicator used by the Space Marine Legions during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy, although many are still operational in the service of Space Marine Chapters in the 41st Millennium.A powerful assault tank, the Deimos Vindicator's principal armament is a heavy-calibre Demolisher Cannon capable of shattering fortifications and breaching the armour plates of tanks with equal ease.It is invaluable in urban warfare as it can blast and shunt its way through barricades and obstacles, enabling troops following behind free passage through streets that might have otherwise swiftly degenerated into kill zones.
Vindicator - Vindicator Laser Destroyer: Tearing through the armour plating of enemy vehicles, the Vindicator Laser Destroyer array was a potent weapon of destruction.First retrofitted into the heavily armoured Deimos Pattern Vindicator chassis during the dark days of the Horus Heresy, several Space Marine Legions took to fielding this variant as a mainline battle tank, proving itself on many occasions as an able tank hunter.After millennia of brutal warfare across the galaxy, it is still in favour within the Adeptus Astartes, the Vindicator Laser Destructor continuing to bring retribution to the enemies of Mankind.
Vindicator - Chaos Vindicator: The Vindicator has been in use by Imperial forces since the Great Crusade, and it has hardly changed since those turbulent days so long ago. The Space Marine Legions that sided with the corrupted Warmaster and primarch of the Luna Wolves, Horus Lupercal, used their Vindicators against the Loyalist forces of the Emperor during the Horus Heresy.The Traitor Legions deployed hundreds of Vindicators during their Siege of Terra at the end of the Heresy, where the vehicle's extreme firepower overwhelmed the extensive Imperial fortifications and helped the Traitors get ever closer to the Imperial Palace.After the Horus Heresy ended in a pyrrhic victory for the Emperor's Loyalists, the Traitors fled into the Eye of Terror, and luckily the number of Vindicators they still have in their possession is quite low in the late 41st Millennium, due to the Traitor Legions' inability to easily replace their losses. The only Traitor Legion that still commands a large number of Vindicators is the Iron Warriors Legion and their various warbands.The Iron Warriors maintain enough to field them in entire squadrons. The Iron Warriors, masters of siegecraft and heavy munitions, are infamous for fielding entire "linebreaker squadrons" of Vindicators emblazoned with Chaos symbols and adorned with the defaced statuary of Imperial cities that have fallen to their assaults.When such tank formations combine their fire, it is as though the gods have spoken, and even a fully-garrisoned Fortress of Redemption or Proteus-class battle bunker can be reduced to bloodstained rubble in a single catastrophic salvo.There are rumours of Vindicators that have become corrupted and infected with the power of the Warp, making them all but unstoppable on the battlefield. These Vindicators have nearly impenetrable armour adorned with chains, talismans, and cursed, glowing Chaotic sigils that are driven by no living creature but animated by the possessing spirit of a Daemon.The Vindicators under the control of Chaos Space Marine warbands are usually armed with either pintle-mounted twin-linked Bolters (Combi-Bolters) or other Combi-Weapons. Vindicators in use by Chaos and Renegade warbands that have recently betrayed the Imperium, or recently captured Imperial Vindicators, may be armed instead with a Storm Bolter or even a Hunter-Killer Missile Launcher. They can also be armed with a Havoc Missile Launcher, an ancient weapon system that has long fallen out of use in the Imperium.Chaos Vindicators can also be equipped with Siege Shields, Destroyer Blades, Dirge Casters, Extra Armour Plating, unholy Chaos Icons or Marks, or Warpflame Gargoyles. They may also be possessed by a Daemon, or be bestowed with other "gifts" from the Chaos Gods.Though it is based on the hull of the Rhino personnel carrier, the Vindicator gives all of its interior troop space over to carrying the ammunition for its Demolisher Cannon, a siege weapon so large that it occupies much of the area where the transport deck would be located, and as such cannot transport any passengers.While it lacks the range of a standard Battle Cannon, the Demolisher is far more potent and can breach a bunker or blast apart a tank with a single shell. Usually protected by an enormous metal siege shield that juts out from its front, the Chaos Vindicator can barge its way into position even under intense enemy fire, grinding towards the walls of a fortified stronghold until its devastating armament comes into range.
Vindicator - Notable Users of the Vindicator: Adeptus Astartes - The Space Marines of the Adeptus Astartes are the primary users of the Vindicator, and it is used by every known Chapter. The Space Marines use the Vindicator during urban, jungle, and heavy arboreal battles where its main weapon can destroy enemy infantry hiding in cover.Black Templars Chapter - The Black Templars used Vindicators during the Barbarus Incursion.Rampagers Chapter - The Rampagers used Vindicators during the defence of the planet Mackan against hostile forces.Raptors Chapter - The Raptors used Vindicators during the Taros Campaign against the T'au.Salamanders Chapter - The Salamanders used Vindicators during the Third War for Armageddon against the Orks, and also during the Badab War.Scythes of the Emperor Chapter - The Scythes of the Emperor used Vindicators during the Defence of Miral Prime against the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Kraken.Space Wolves Chapter - The Space Wolves used Vindicators during the Magdelon Confrontation.Storm Giants Chapter - The Storm Giants used Vindicators during the Second Lastrati Punitive Campaign.Legiones Astartes - The Vindicator was used during the Great Crusade and later the Horus Heresy by all or most of the original 18 Space Marine Legions. It is known that the vehicle was deployed regualy by the Iron Warriors, Ultramarines, and Imperial Fists, the vehicle was also modified to be used as a main battle tank by Legions such as the Sons of Horus and the Iron Hands.Heretic Astartes - The Traitor Legions of Chaos Space Marines that defected to the service of Chaos during the Horus Heresy and Renegade Astartes newly arrived at their allegiance to the Ruinous Powers use the Vindicator in the same way as Loyalist Astartes; namely as a heavy support vehicle during urban and dense terrain battles.
Vindicator - Notable Engagements: The Siege of Vraks - The Dark Angels, Red Scorpions, and Angels of Absolution used Vindicators during the Siege of Vraks against the Traitor forces. The Chaos Space Marine warbands of the Berserkers of Skallathrax and the Skulltakers also used Vindicators against the Loyalist forces during the Siege of Vraks.The Badab War - The Exorcists Space Marine Chapter and several other Space Marine Chapters used Vindicators during the Badab War against the Secessionist forces of the Tyrant of Badab and his Renegade Astral Claws.
Vindicator - Adeptus Mechanicus Technical Specifications: Vindicator Siege TankVehicle Name:VindicatorMain Armament:Hull-mounted Demolisher CannonForge World of Origin:LuciusSecondary Armament:N/AKnown Patterns:II - XXVITraverse:2 degreesCrew:1 Driver, 1 GunnerElevation:0 to 45 degreesPowerplant:Quad Mark II Adaptable Thermic Combustor ReactorMain Ammunition:18 RoundsWeight:42 TonnesSecondary Ammunition:N/ALength:7.5 metresArmour:Width:4.5 metresHeight:3.6 metresSuperstructure:60 millimetresGround Clearance:0.44 metresHull:60 millimetresMax Speed On-Road:64 kilometres per hourGun Mantlet:55 millimetresMax Speed Off-Road:48 kilometres per hourVehicle Designation:0120-766-0833-VI054Transport Capacity:N/AFiring Ports:N/AAccess Points:N/ATurret:N/A
Vindicator - Also See: Imperial Vehicles
Vindicator - Sources: Codex Titanicus, pg. 23Codex: Space Marines (3rd Edition), pg. 14Codex: Space Marines (4th Edition), pg. 38Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition), pg. 80Codex: Space Marines (6th Edition), pp. 100-101, 176Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), "Battle Tanks", "Vindicators"Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines (8th Edition), pp. 88-89, 177Codex: Space Marines (8th Edition) (Revised Codex), pp. 84, 155Codex: Chaos Space Marines (4th Edition), pp. 43, 101Codex: Chaos Space Marines (6th Edition), pp. 54-55, 103Codex: Black Templars (4th Edition), pg. 41Codex: Blood Angels (5th Edition), pg. 35Codex: Dark Angels (4th Edition), pg. 33Codex: Dark Angels (6th Edition), pp. 39, 103Codex Adeptus Astartes - Dark Angels (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), "Battle Tanks", "Vindicators (Datasheet)", "The Hammer of Caliban (Formation)"Codex Adeptus Astartes - Dark Angels (8th Edition), pp. 58-59, 119Codex Heretic Astartes - Chaos Space Marines (8th Edition), pp. 71, 146Codex: Space Wolves (5th Edition), pg. 43Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), pg. 158Imperial Armour Volume Two - Space Marines and Forces of the Inquisition, pp. 67-76Imperial Armour Volume Three - The Taros Campaign, pg. 54Imperial Armour Volume Five - The Siege of Vraks - Part One, pp. 64, 146Imperial Armour Volume Six - The Siege of Vraks - Part Two, pp. 82, 87, 128, 176-178Imperial Armour Volume Seven - The Siege of Vraks - Part Three, pp. 59, 94Imperial Armour Volume Nine - The Badab War - Part One, pg. 62Imperial Armour Volume Ten - The Badab War - Part Two, pp. 26, 158-164, 205The Horus Heresy - Book One: Betrayal by Alan Bligh, pg. 221Forge World Webstore - Legion Deimos Pattern VindicatorForge World Webstor - Deimos Vindicator Laser Destroyer
Vindicators - Vindicators: VindicatorsSpace MarineChapterFoundingUltramarines
Vindicators - Chapter History: Little is known of the origins of this Successor Chapter of the Ultramarines, save that it was created at some time after the Second Founding. Together with the Crimson Consuls, the Nova Legion and the Marines Mordant, the Chapter shared the responsibility for guarding the rimward frontiers of the Maelstrom Zone -- as the doomed Maelstrom Warders had done with the coreward sectors before the Badab War.The Vindicators were destroyed alongside their fellow Chapters in a coordinated and harrowing assault launched by Alpha Legion warbands -- amongst them, the Redacted -- led by the Chaos Lord Quetzel Carthach, "the Angelbane."
Vindicators - Chapter Colours: The Vindicators' Chapter colours are not listed in current Imperial records.
Vindicators - Chapter Badge: The Vindicators' Chapter badge is not listed in current Imperial records.
Vindictor Flamer - Vindictor Flamer: A Vindictor Flamer, also called a Zealot's Vindictor, is a two-handed Imperial melee weapon that combines a chainsword with a flamer. It is a favorite weapon used by those preachers of the Adeptus Ministorum who go into battle against the enemies of the Emperor alongside the various military forces of the Imperium, including the Adepta Sororitas, the Astra Militarum, the Inquisition and various Rogue Traders.
Violators - Violators: The Violators are a warband of Chaos Space Marines that are dedicated to the Chaos God Slaanesh, the Prince of Pleasure.The mutated bodies of these warriors are treated as personal temples to the Prince of Chaos, whom it is said looks very favourably upon these Heretic Astartes. Because of this, warriors of the Violators almost never willingly remove their power armour, for they consider it to be sacrilegious. A Violators warrior will only do so in the presence of those whom they truly believe are worthy -- those who fully embody Slaanesh's ideals of pleasure and perfection. The Violators have also been known to reveal themselves before a worthy adversary before combat commences.Often the Violators' bodies are surgically altered so that their physical sensations are heightened unimaginably by changes made to their neural architecture. The Violators have also been known to use electrical pulses produced by implanted electrodes to further stimulate the parts of the brain that produce pleasure.