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Warriors Tempest - Chapter Badge: The Warriors Tempest's Chapter badge is a large white skull centred above a circular symbol comprised of a white, open-faced roundel with six lightning bolts emanating from it, centred upon a field of midnight blue. |
Wars of Apostasy - Wars of Apostasy: This page details the original Terran Crusade led by the Black Templars Chapter during the Reign of Blood of the 36th Millennium; for the Terran Crusade of Primarch Roboute Guilliman in 999.M41 after his resurrection on Macragge, see Terran Crusade.The Wars of Apostasy, also known as the original Terran Crusade, was a series of battles and military campaigns fought against the forces of the Renegade High Lord of Terra Goge Vandire during the Age of Apostasy's Reign of Blood in the fourth century of the 36th Millennium by the Emperor of Mankind's Loyalists.During this tumultuous period, the Black Templars had concerned themselves little with the affairs of the Imperium, but when Crusade fleets returned to the Segmentum Solar and discovered that their Chapter keeps had been destroyed by orbital bombardments, the full extent of Vandire's treachery became apparent.Enraged by what they discovered of Vandire's perversion of the Emperor's will, in 378.M36 the Black Templars Chapter's High Marshal Sigenandus declared an Imperial Crusade to be launched against Vandire on Terra. The Black Templars, together with their progenitors the Imperial Fists, the Soul Drinkers, the zealous Fire Hawks and elements of the Martian Tech-Guard, took the fight to Terra itself and laid siege to Vandire's Ecclesiarchal Palace.For solar months the armies of the reforming Imperial preacher Sebastian Thor, the Space Marines and their allies laid siege to the Ecclesiarchal Palace without managing to breach its formidable defences. Eventually, a forlorn hope led by the Emperor's Champion Navarre of the Black Templars led a daring last ditch assault.At the height of the fighting, the Chapter Banner Bearer fell, and all eyes watched as the Black Templars Chapter Standard began to slowly sink to the ground, but Navarre swept the banner up and carried it through the breach in the palace's walls, inspiring his brothers to fight all the harder.After the battle, Chapter Master Lazerian of the Imperial Fists honoured Navarre with the title of "Captain of the Banner" in recognition of his exemplary bravery and courage.With the outer walls breached, the loyal warriors of the Emperor carried the fighting into the inner precincts of the Ecclesiarchal Palace, a violation of Terra's surface by an armed force that had not happened since the dark days of the Horus Heresy when the Imperial Fists and Blood Angels Legions had stoically held the Traitors at bay.The situation was now reversed, but despite the prowess of the Space Marines and their allies the overall fighting was brutal and ugly. The fighting only came to an end when a Centurion of the Companions of the Emperor's personal bodyguard -- the Adeptus Custodes -- made the rare decision to leave the Imperial Palace and intervene in the conflict.He brought Alicia Dominica, the leader of the militant sisterhood known as the Brides of the Emperor who served as Goge Vandire's own fervently loyal protectors, through ancient and secret passageways known only to the Custodes.The Centurion, Dominica and her bodyguard of five female warriors (Arabella, Katherine, Lucia, Mina, and Silvana) moved through these ancient byways from the Ecclesiarchal Palace to the Imperial Palace. Once beyond the Eternity Gate and within the Inner Palace, Dominica and her retinue was granted an audience before the Golden Throne itself.The Brides of the Emperor was a militant sect of warrior-nuns that Goge Vandire had enlisted as his strong arm, equipped with holy bolters and cleansing flamers, and armored in sanctified power armour the Brides were a formidable force to be reckoned with, but it was their faith from which they drew their true power. No one knows what transpired within the Emperor's Throne Room, but when Dominica emerged she and a cadre of her most trusted companions marched straight to Vandire's audience chamber, denouncing him as a Heretic and a Traitor.Dominica then drew her Power Sword and cleaved his head from his shoulders, ending the Wars of Apostasy and Vandire's Reign of Blood in one fell swoop. Sebastian Thor became the newly appointed Ecclesiarch, and the renamed Daughters of the Emperor became the Militant Orders of the Adepta Sororitas, the military arm of the Ecclesiarchy and the Chamber Militant of the newborn Ordo Hereticus, the arm of the Inquisition tasked with preventing another member of the Imperial elite from ever again turning the organs of the Imperium against the will of the Emperor.The victorious Space Marines departed, their mission complete. It is unknown, however, whether the Black Templars rebuilt their Chapter keeps within the Sol System, or whether they moved on immediately. |
Warscaper Drone - Warscaper Drone: A Warscaper Drone (Kor'vesa in the T'au Lexicon) is a type of T'au Drone (small, sleek, disc-shaped, semi-sentient machines) sometimes employed alongside T'au Farsight Enclave forces in major engagements.As rare drones of Commander Farsight's own invention, Warscaper Drones were developed to aid Commander Farsight once he mastered the art of turning a planet's environment against his foes on the oxide planet of Arkunahsa.Never passing up an opportunity to use a world's topography and climate against the enemy, a Warscaper Drone's role is to augment its owner's own Battlesuit systems with detailed scans of the local environment, allowing him to easily draw the enemy into dangerous locations without putting himself in harm’s way.The exhaustive cartographic information that it provides can also be used by the Drone's owner to allow him and his squad to more effectively navigate through the same dangerous terrain without coming to harm, as well as easily outflank enemy forces through hidden routes and paths.Warscaper Drones consist of an advanced processor unit, which individually has only a basic intelligence (approximately equal to that of a small animal such as a pterasquirrel), and moves about by way of a small anti-gravitic generator and a smaller and much modified version of a T'au Jetpack. This allows the Warscaper Drone to hover over the ground and skim over most obstacles. As they hover over landscapes, rotating back and forth, their sensor vane constantly transmits vital information about their surroundings.So deeply do the T'au believe in the Greater Good, that even their drones are programmed with self-preservation protocols. In the face of what the the Drone's artificial intelligence deems to be hopeless odds, a drone will attempt to escape rather than stand and fight.While in certain extreme circumstances drones might be deployed on high-risk missions likely to lead to their destruction or purposefully moved to block enemy advances on units of Fire Warriors, the T'au do not consider drones to be disposable units and the Drone artificial intelligence will analyse every possibility in order to ensure its own survival. |
Warscaper Drone - Ordo Xenos Departmento Analyticus Technical Specifications: The technical specifications for this T'au unit have not been obtained or released by the Ordo Xenos. |
Warscythe - Warscythe: A Warscythe is an energy-bladed battle stave commonly found in the armouries of Necron royals. The Warscythe has served as a traditional weapon of the Necron nobility and their elite bodyguards for many thousands of Terran years. A Warscythe is made from the same living metal as that which makes up all Necron bodies and vehicles, Necrodermis, and is fitted with a Phase Blade, whose edge is out of phase with the normal space-time continuum and thus can slip effortlessly through even the heaviest forms of armour. Because of the partially incorporeal nature of these blades, a Warscythe is capable of passing through defensive energy shields, such as those emitted by an Iron Halo, that would normally deflect almost any other form of attack. The entropic power field that also flickers about a Warscythe blade can disrupt almost any material known to man, leaving the victim’s underlying structure -- be it organic or inorganic -- vulnerable to the weapon’s cleaving impact.However, a Warscythe is incredibly heavy and cumbersome. In the hands of a lesser creature, it would be of little threat; but when wielded by the tireless mechanical musculature of a Necron, it is a most formidable weapon that greatly augments the strength of the user. When combined with a Necron's prodigious strength, there is very little such a blade cannot penetrate.A Warscythe is easily capable of slicing through infantry and heavy vehicle armour alike. It is common for a well-directed Warscythe to be able to cut the barrel from a Leman Russ Tank's Battle Cannon or carve a hole in the side of a bunker. Warscythes are most commonly found wielded by Necron Overlords and Necron Lords, along with their Lychguard protectors. Warscythes are also the favoured armament of Necron Destroyer Lords who relish the feeling of decapitating enemies as they glide by on their anti-gravitic skimmer chassis.Like all Necron weaponry, the Warscythe is an expression of a science far beyond Mankind’s grasp. Nevertheless, there is nothing mystical or psychic about its function, as there is with some Eldar technology. It is composed of similar elements as the ubiquitous Power Weapons, though they are far more advanced and reliable. While there is no shortage of captured Necron weaponry within the Adeptus Mechanicus’ stasis vaults -- indeed, there is some suggestion that some such prizes have lain there for many thousands of standard years -- almost every attempt the Tech-priests have made to reverse-engineer the technology has ended in abject failure.A curious side effect of a Warscythe’s power field is to render the weapon almost impossible to destroy. This is because the blade's power field grows in strength and magnitude to match whatever force is brought to bear upon it. There are several well-documented instances in the Imperium of Warscythes surviving direct hits from Lascannons, and even from Turbo-lasers, with little harm to show for it. Unfortunately, this protection does not extend to the wielder, and it is quite common for a Warscythe to survive a battle when its master does not. |
Warscythe - Symbolism: There are two distinct classes of Warscythe. The first and most common is wielded exclusively by the Lychguard -- the incorruptible protectors of the Necron nobility. Their Warscythes are the most basic expressions of the artisan’s craft, with little effort given to aesthetic refinement or customisation. In a Lychguard’s hands, a Warscythe is little more than a brutal instrument of battle.By contrast, the regal Warscythes wielded by the Necron nobility, such as Necron Lords, Nemesors, Thantars and Phaerons -- are as much sceptres of rule as they are implements of battle. Seldom are any two Warscythes wielded by Necron nobility exactly alike. Pride is a powerful emotion in those Necrons still capable of feeling it, and to possess weaponry identical to that of a rival would be interpreted as weakness, or possibly as an insult. If two regal Warscythes are identical, it is always through deliberate choice, whether this be as a mark of an alliance of brothers, or of dynastic houses declaring plainly the common cause between the wielders.Regal Warscythes are masterpieces of workmanship, loving recreations of weapons long-lost to the entropic forces of the universe. Should such a weapon be forsaken upon the field of battle, or worse, stolen, then its owner will often go to great and violent lengths to recover it. Worlds have been laid waste and planetary systems brought under siege in this cause. Some Ordo Xenos Inquisitors point to this behaviour as an element of commonality between Mankind and Necron, for the Imperium’s forces often enter battle in order to recover an important relic, though this is untrue. Whereas the theft of an Imperial relic would provoke cultural outrage, the theft of a Warscythe is the theft of a personal possession whose thievery provokes a very personal ire. This is because a Necron Lord’s Warscythe is a tangible connection to the life he once knew; for those who desire to someday return to the flesh, it is a symbol of hope that such can be achieved.Regardless of the wielder’s rank, a Warscythe’s blade and power core always blazes with the heraldic colour of his dynasty. Power signature colours are often shared by different dynasties. This is a throwback to the days before the Necrontyr's biotransference, and shows the state of alliance between the various dynasties of that time. Inevitably, the War in Heaven and the tumultuous aeons that followed have done much to shatter the alliances of old. The power signatures are now, therefore, more misleading than useful. A Phaeron could, of course, order the power signature of his forces changed at any time, but many present configurations have been established for so long that, for most Necron nobles, the notion of altering them is just as unthinkable as ordering that their dynastic glyphs be defaced. To Necrons, tradition is everything. Indeed, it can be argued that tradition is all that is left to them. |
Warscythe - Notable Warscythes: Voidreaper - Legend has it that on the day the C'tan Aza’gorod the Nightbringer was sundered into shards, the Warscythe that would later become known as Voidreaper appeared in the armoury of the Nekthyst Dynasty’s crownworld. Its blade is a sliver of the void; when swung, it cuts through more than just mere physical forms. Its victims drop to the ground as husks, their souls torn from their bodies like tattered shrouds before dissipating with final screams of horror. |
Warsinger - Warsinger: A Warsinger was a type of Renegade Human psyker warrior once indigenous to the former Imperial Civilised World of Istvaan III. The Warsingers as a sect were dedicated to the service of the Chaos God Slaanesh.One of the more dangerous local sects, the Warsingers could emit sonic screams, blasts of damaging sound waves and take flight through the use of strange relic-technology.These abilities were the result of mutational "gifts" provided by the power of their Chaos patron. |
Warsinger - History: The Warsingers were instrumental in the corruption of the Istvaan System and its people by Slaanesh. They spread this corruption to the world's new Planetary Governor, Vardus Praal, after the Imperial conquest of their world.The Slaanesh-worshipping population of Istvaan III were used as sacrificial pawns in the Warmaster Horus' scheme to amass those forces loyal to his intended rebellion against the Emperor of Mankind without suspicion, and also rid his own Sons of Horus Legion and those Space Marine Legions of his closest allied Primarchs of those within their ranks whose loyalties to his cause were suspect. As such, when word came to the Warmaster of Vardus Praal's rebellion against the Emperor, he ordered the Imperial campaign that would be remembered as the Istvaan III Atrocity.Within only solar hours of the start of the Imperial campaign, the rebellion was in tatters. Vardus and most of the Warsingers were slain with all of the Imperial invasion force's objectives secured and tens of thousands of the enemy dead in the wake of the assault.The Loyalist Astartes proved victorious, but were betrayed when a cascade of terrible Life-eater Virus Bombs fell upon the smouldering planet, launched by the Warmaster's orbiting fleet. This doomed both rebels and Astartes alike to an agonising death.When the Life-eater virus was unleashed upon the world, the Warsingers tried to comfort their people, but were quickly slain by its effects. |
Warsmith - Warsmith: Warsmith was an honorary rank held by the senior Space Marine Captains who commanded the Grand Battalions of the Iron Warriors Legion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras in the late-30th and early 31st Millennia.After the Horus Heresy, the title would later be used by the Chaos Lords who commanded each of the Iron Warriors' myriad warbands of Heretic Astartes.At the time of the Horus Heresy, the IVth Legion had an added layer of organisation known as a "Grand Battalion," which contained several units called "Grand Companies" and was commanded by an officer with the rank of Warsmith.The rank was granted for exceptional skill and valour in directing the IVth Legion's campaigns, and made its bearer the commanding officer of several of the Iron Warriors' companies, which were combined into the larger unit known as a "Grand Battalion."During the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V there were at least twelve Grand Battalions in the IVth Legion, although with the widespread deployment of many Iron Warriors garrison forces in that era, it is impossible to be sure of the exact size of the Legion.The Iron Warriors Traitor Legion of the late 41st Millennium is organised into a number of large warbands still known as Grand Companies, each commanded by a Chaos Lord who bears the title of Warsmith.Originally, each Grand Company would have been similar in size and organisation, totaling approximately a thousand Space Marines, but now they vary in size enormously after ten millennia of battle and losses.The Warsmiths themselves are all extremely gifted in combat engineering, many maintaining a large contingent of slave-mechanicians to perform the more menial work. It is uncertain how many Grand Companies there are at any given time in the present era. |
Warsmith - History: During the Great Crusade era, within the Iron Warriors Legion, the Primarch Perturabo's word was law. To him there was never any differences between Terran and Olympian Astartes within the IVth Legion; all were his Iron Warriors, grist for the bloody mill of war.Although for many solar decades the IVth Legion had been rigidly dogmatic in its adherence to the patterns set out for the nascent Legion at the start of the Great Crusade, Perturabo's intervention was to write significant and far-ranging changes upon his Legion, but not one that by any means changed it beyond all recognition from what had gone before.It is clear that Perturabo saw his Legion not as a collective of individual members but as a cohesive and unified whole. An army whose task was to overwhelm their foes by the most efficient and direct methods possible, destroy that enemy's ability to resist and, where needed, to exterminate them utterly.More perhaps than any Primarch save Angron, it has been said that no Primarch regarded his own Legionaries with so little respect as Perturabo; to him they were a resource to be spent to achieve victory, a resource which did have undeniable value, but a resource to be expended never-the-less.While honourifics and commendations in general meant little to the Iron Warriors at an individual level, technological skill and the ability to wage warfare in the manner which Perturabo favoured was recognised and rewarded. This was most evident in the rank of Warsmith within the Legion.In Perturabo's Legion, the title of Warsmith grew to largely replace that of Praetor and Lord Commander which were common in the other Legions, and it carried with it much of the role of a traditional Olympian warlord as well as an embodiment of the Iron Warriors' strategic doctrines.A Warsmith was -- as perhaps the title implies -- required to fashion and mould a battlefield to their will, not simply to excel at fighting or indeed leading those who fought. They were expected to have a complete mastery of logistics, siegecraft, ordnance and the cerebral comprehension of war; from planning campaigns of planetary conquest to the rapid calculation of tactical fire zones in a shattered urban ruin.Unlike those of the lower ranks who fought at their command, a Warsmith was an individual in whose hands a battle rested, and the success or failure of the forces under their command was theirs to carry, to the good or ill of their own fate -- Perturabo being renowned as unforgiving of failure.This system made the Warsmiths a grim, self-possessed, often paranoid and highly independent class of savant-warlords within the IVth Legion. It winnowed the weak and the ill-fortuned from their number and left those who remained as the most adept, ruthless and intelligent the Iron Warriors Legion had to offer.The ranks of the Warsmiths, which fluctuated in number and seniority between them, was not clearly defined, leading to rivalries and feuds between them. The majority of Warsmiths commanded Grand Battalions of their own, making up the core of the Legion's strategic command structure, while others had command of specific strategic formations such as the Stor-Bezashk, important garrison posts and splinter expeditionary fleets, or held satrapies of Armoury Worlds and other detached commands.Three Warsmiths, granted particular favour by Perturabo, were exalted to a further rank, that of Triarch. These three senior Warsmiths formed the Trident, who nominally served as their Primarch's council of advisors, but more commonly served to convey his will and direct orders to those below them. Such proximity to the IV Legion's increasingly dark-hearted master, in particularly in later years, is reputed to have held many dangers of its own. |
Warsmith - Notable Warsmiths: Warsmith Kydomor Forrix, "The Breaker" (KIA) - Forrix, known as "The Breaker," was an Iron Warriors Warsmith, First Captain of the 1st Grand Battalion and a member of Perturabo's inner circle of advisors known as the Trident. He was a formidable warrior and Imperial hero during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. It was Warsmith Forrix's primary responsibility for planning the Iron Warriors' attack on the marooned Imperial Fists' Retribution Fleet during the Battle of Phall. At the conclusion of the Horus Heresy, it would be Forrix who led the retreat of the Iron Warriors Legion following their disastrous defeat at the Battle of Terra. Ten millennia later, Forrix had become disillusioned and jaded from the constant fighting of the Long War and was deemed an unworthy successor to the Iron Warrior Chaos Lord Barban Falk, "The Warsmith". Forrix met his ultimate fate while fighting in the 13th Black Crusade during the siege of Hydra Cordatus, where he was killed by an Imperial Warhound-class Titan.Warsmith Berrosus (KIA) - Berrosus was an Iron Warriors Warsmith of the 2nd Grand Battalion. During the Battle of Phall he had the misfortune of bringing ill-favoured news to Perturabo, whose volatile moods had steadily worsened since the slaughters of Istvaan V. He had hoped his position as a Warsmith would keep him from harm, but it was to be a fool's hope, for Perturabo's rages fell on high kings and holy fools alike. On the orders of his Primarch, Berossus was eventually encased within the shell of a Chaos Dreadnought to be tormented across the centuries. In the late 41st Millennium, on the Daemon World of Medrengard, Berrosus and his fellow Warsmith Toramino were angered over Warsmith Honsou's refusal to share the Imperial Fists gene-seed that was stolen from Hydra Cordatus during the 13th Black Crusade, and so declared war against him. The aggressive Berrosus had his Grand Company lay siege to Honsou's citadel, and though losses proved high (one thousand Astartes) he succeeded in breaching the citadel's walls. Facing Honsou in close-combat, Berrosus nearly killed him with a siege drill. Unfortunately, victory was torn from his grasp when Honsou's life was saved by his daemonic life-ward Onyx, who managed to breech Berrosus' Dreadnought carapace. Honsou then reached inside the Dreadnought shell and ripped out its Mind Impulse Unit and pulped Berrosus' head before all to see. Berrosus' warband then defected to the service of Honsou shortly thereafter.Warsmith Barabas Dantioch - Warsmith Barabas Dantioch once commanded the 51st Expeditionary Fleet of the Iron Warriors Legion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras. He was the favoured son of Perturabo due to his supreme tactical acumen and skill at building formidable fortifications. He had been laid low during a massive Hrud infestation on the world of Gholghis. Dantioch had been left prematurely aged and crippled by the attack of the xenos. After the incident, he chose to wear no helmet, for his face and skull were enclosed within an iron mask he had crafted. The faceplate was a work of brutal beauty, an interpretation of the IVth Legion’s own badge, the very same iron mask symbol that adorned his shoulder. It was whispered that Dantioch had worn the mask immediately after he pulled it glowing from the forge, the better to hammer it into shape around his shaven skull. He then plunged head and iron mask alike into ice water, fixing the beaten metal in place forever around his equally grim features. Dantioch left the 51st Expeditionary Fleet to garrison the world of Lesser Damantyne, becoming the planner and architect of the superbly fortified Schadenhold fortress. After the triple disasters of Gholghis, Stratopolae and Krak Fiorina, the name of Dantioch and his legacy was utterly expunged; his name a byword for failure on an epic scale. During the many months the small Iron Warriors detachment had garrisoned the planet, they heard disturbing rumours of the galaxy being conquered by the forces of the Warmaster Horus. Dantioch suspected that the bulk of the IVth Legion had willingly joined the Warmaster's cause. When Warsmith Krendl arrived at Lesser Damantyne with the 51st Expeditionary Fleet, he came to the Schadenhold with new orders for the Iron Warriors garrison. They were ordered by their Primarch to prepare for the Traitors' offensive against Terra. Lesser Damantyne would be used as a resupply point for Horus' forces. Dantioch refused to acquiesce to his Primarch's orders for the Iron Warriors on Lesser Damantyne remained Loyalists and would not share in their traitorous brethren's damnation. Krendl vowed to destroy Dantioch's beloved fortress in the name of Horus. Dantioch commanded his meagre forces against the entire might of the 51st Expeditionary Fleet and the 14th Grand Company of the Iron Warriors for 366 standard days, until the Traitors deployed an Imperator-class Titan to destroy the Schadenhold. Just before the fortress fell, Dantioch and the surviving Loyalist Iron Warriors teleported aboard the Traitor's flagship and commandeered it. Dantioch then set course towards Terra with the aim of helping to fortify and defend the Emperor'sImperial Palace against the forces of the Traitor Legions. Dantioch's ultimate fate remains unrecorded in Imperial records at this time. Dantioch eventually entered the employ of Roboute Guilliman, who employed the Warsmith to decipher the secrets of the Pharos beacon of Sotha.Warsmith Kroeger (KIA) - Kroeger was an Iron Warriors Warsmith of the 23rd Grand Battalion and a member of Perturabo's inner circle of advisors known as the Trident during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. Originally, he served as a simple line warrior; a plain-speaking, bloody-handed brawler who excelled at assault actions. During the campaign against the Cadmean Citadel upon the Imperial Fists-controlled world of Hydra Cordatus, by the direct command of his Warsmith, he spearheaded an ill-advised assault against the formidable fortress. He was the lone survivor of the disastrous assault and was grievously wounded by the superior numbers of Imperial Fists Legionaries, and was only saved by the timely intervention of Perturabo and his Iron Circle of robotic praetorians. Recognising the warrior's raw talent and lack of ambition for glory's sake, Perturabo made Kroeger the new Warsmith of the 23rd Grand Battalion and a member of his inner circle of advisors known as the Trident. Ten millennia later, Kroeger would meet his ultimate fate, once again, upon the world of Hydra Crodatus during the 13th Black Crusade. By this time, Kroeger had given into his violent tendencies and had become a borderline berserker, though he was unlike the blood-crazed fiends of the World Eaters, as he seemed able to control his fury. He was killed during this campaign; his own power armour (possessed by a Lesser Daemon) decided to "bond" with a new owner, a former Imperial Guard captain named Larana Utorian, who was Kroeger's personal slave. She donned her former master's armour and became fully possessed by the Daemonic entity and subsequently killed Kroeger.Warsmith Harkor (KIA) - Harkor was a former Iron Warriors Warsmith of the 23rd Grand Battalion and a member of Perturabo's inner circle of advisors known as the Trident during the Great Crusade and the opening days of the Horus Heresy. Warsmith Harkor was an Olympian of the old ways, a warrior who knew the value of occasionally strengthening the mettle of his subordinates by plunging them into the fire and beating them upon the anvil of war. During the campaign against the Iron Warriors' hated rivals upon the Imperial Fists-controlled world of Hydra Cordatus during the Horus Heresy, Harkor overstepped his authority and ordered an escalade against his Primarch's orders. Though the Iron Warriors were victorious, Perturabo was furious with Harkor. Since Istvaan V, Perturabo had become a giant of terrible rages and spontaneous violence, and Harkor had gambled that his humbling of Dorn's sons would quench that molten anger. He was wrong, as the Primarch formally rebuked him for countermanding his direct orders and devising stratagems of his own. Perturabo disapproved of having his warriors' lives wasted while Harkor watched from the relative safety of a gun battery. The Lord of Iron stripped the former Triarch of his armour and all rank. He was made a simple line warrior of the fighting ranks within the 23rd Grand Battalion. A lone surviving warrior of Harkor's ill-advised assault named Kroeger was chosen by the Primarch to become the new Warsmith of the 23rd Grand Battalion and the third blade of his Trident. Following this series of events, however, Harkor managed to convince the newly promoted Warsmith Kroeger to promote him to his personal lieutenant and adviser. Later, in a fit of rage, Harkor was brutally killed by Warsmith Kroeger, ending his brief re-entry into the spotlight.Warsmith Soltarn Vull Bronn, "The Stonewrought" - Vull Bronn, known as "The Stonewrought," was a warrior of the 45th Grand Battalion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy, whose understanding of stone was such that some whispered it spoke to him, confiding its secrets and opening up its geological wonders to the touch of his entrenching tool. Perturabo, ever quick to recognise raw talent, favoured Vull Bronn as an adviser, despite the inferiority of his rank next to the three exalted Warsmiths of the Trident who normally attended upon him.Warmsith Barban Falk, "The Warsmith" - Barban Falk was a Warsmith of the Iron Warriors 235th Grand Battalion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy and later became a member of Perturabo's inner circle of advisors known as the Trident. During the Horus Heresy, Falk and his fellow Iron Warriors undertook a mutual quest with their brother Legion, the Emperor's Children, into the Eye of Terror to discover the lost Chaos artefact known as the Angel Exterminatus. Upon the Eldar Crone World of Amon ny-shak Kaelis, Falk was contacted by a mysterious daemonic entity which enabled him to utilise the Warp entity's formidable power to command the Iron Warriors under his command. After escaping from the Eldar world, he no longer referred to himself as Barban Falk, and forever after was known simply as "The Warsmith." Millennia later in 999.M41, The Warsmith, now a formidable Chaos Lord, led a large Iron Warriors warband during the 13th Black Crusade to the Imperial world of Hydra Cordatus. The lone Imperial citadel they assaulted secretly housed a large cryo-storage unit containing samples of the Imperial Fists Chapter's gene-seed. The Warsmith, having greatly pleased the Chaos Gods through his victory, was granted his final apotheosis into a daemon and departed for the Eye of Terror. Before his final ascension as a new Daemon Prince, he gave command of his warband to his chosen champion Honsou, who would take the stolen Imperial Fists gene-seed back to the Iron Warriors' Daemon World of Medrengard within the Eye. After the Forces of Chaos withdrew from Hydra Cordatus, they bombarded the remains of the citadel to dust, leaving only a single survivor to bring word of the disaster to the Imperium.Warsmith Honsou, "The Half-Breed"- Honsou, known as the "Half-Breed," was the leading Iron Warriors Warsmith at the end of the 41st Millennium. He first came to prominence during the Iron Warriors' assault on the Adeptus Mechanicus fortress on the world of Hydra Cordatus that housed a large cryo-storage unit containing samples of the Imperial Fists Chapter's gene-seed. At this point, Honsou was the captain of one-third of Barban Falk´s Grand Company. Honsou had managed to claw his way to that position despite heavy prejudice from other Iron Warriors for being a "half-breed"; when he had first been transformed into a Chaos Space Marine in the years after the Horus Heresy, Honsou's gene-seed had been "tainted" through the use of captured genetic material from the hated Imperial Fists, the Iron Warriors' most hated and ancient foe. Despite his fellows' prejudice, his abilities and tenaciousness helped him succeed in capturing the gene-seed held in stasis on Hydra Cordatus. With this victory, Honsou's Warsmith successfully ascended to daemonhood and appointed Honsou (the only surviving captain) as his successor. The newly appointed Warsmith Honsou returned to the Iron Warriors' Daemon World of Medrengard in triumph but snubbed two of his fellow Warsmiths when he decided to renege on their agreed upon promise of sharing the gene-seed captured at Hydra Cordatus so that all the Iron Warriors Grand Companies could create new Astartes. This decision lead to a civil war within the Iron Warriors' ranks. The two rival Warsmiths and their Grand Companies laid siege to Honsou's citadel of Khalan-Ghol and eventually breached it. Honsou was nearly killed by the Warsmith Berrosus but was saved by his life-ward and killed the Dreadnought Warsmith. Yet, the war continued and eventually most of Honsou's forces had been smashed by other Warsmiths seeking to claim the unspoiled gene-seed and their armies in their internecine warring that spread across Medrengard. Honsou eventually found himself within the Maelstrom on the world of New Badab during the Skull Harvest, an annual event hosted by the despicable Chaos Lord Huron Blackheart. Rival Chaos Lords brought their warbands to New Badab and fought one another during the Skull Harvest. When a Chaos Lord was slain in the Harvest, the victor acquired their opponent's warband. Honsou took the opportunity to take part in the Harvest. Eventually he emerged on top as the victor, and his army of Chaos Space Marines swelled into the tens of thousands. With his army assembled, Honsou was finally ready to unleash his audacious plan for revenge against Captain Uriel Ventris and the hated Ultramarines by completely destroying the Realm of Ultramar. He would enact this plan with the help of the Daemon Prince M'kar the Reborn, who had once been Maloq Kartho, a Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion during the Horus Heresy. But ultimately, Honsou's plans to invade Ultramar were thwarted and the Iron Warriors were routed back to Medrengard while M'kar was banished to the Warp.Warsmith Andraaz (KIA) - Warsmith Andraaz was an Iron Warriors Warsmith of the 3rd Grand Company. Following the Traitor Legions' flight to the Eye of Terror at the end of the Horus Heresy, he eventually rose in favour to command the Fortress World of Castellax, a former Imperial Mining World, whose population was enslaved in order to provide manual labour to produce materials for the Daemon World of Medrengard. Generations of slaves were born and died in the hellish conditions during their enforced enslavement to produce the necessary supplies that were sent as tithes to the Iron Warriors' homeworld within the Eye. The centuries-long rule of the planet was maintained by only a small garrison commanded by Warsmith Andraaz who oversaw the Janissaries and Mamelukes -- mortal slave soldiers that were utilised to enforce Medrengard's will upon the slave labourers. However, the Iron Warriors' iron grip upon the planet was lost sometime in the 41st Millennium when it was invaded by Ork Warboss Biglug and his WAAAGH!. This invasion came to be known as the Siege of Castellax. When defeat seemed imminent, Warsmith Andraaz instructed his chief Dark Mechanicum Tech-priest Oriax to prepare to use a device known as the Daemonculum to teleport him directly into the path of Biglug, in order to grant him an honourable and memorable death in combat. However, unknown to the Warsmith, the Tech-priest harboured bitter feelings towards Andraaz, and conspiring to free both himself and his dark inventions from the iron grip of the Traitor Marines, he sabotaged the teleportion process. This resulted in the Warsmith's entire retinue of personal Chaos Terminator bodyguards being lost in transit while the Warsmith's own Terminator Armour mysteriously malfunctioned, shutting itself down during his showdown with Biglug. This occurred when a binary pulse was emitted from a piece of equipment that the Warboss used against Andraaz. Ironically, it was a piece of equipment given to him by Oriax. Rendered helpless, Andraaz suffered an inglorious and undignified death at the hands of the Ork Warboss.Warsmith Kolvax (KIA) - Kolvax was the commander of a Grand Company based in the mighty fortress known as the Ironblood Citadel on Medrengard, a superb fortification that was the epitome of the Iron Warriors' ingenuity and engineering genius. The Ironblood Citadel was said to rival Perturabo's own citadel on Medrengard in its sheer impregnable glory. Kolvax and his warband were based on the ancient Fortress World of Forgefane during the invasion of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Leviathan. Kolvax was slain by a Trygon that he had arrogantly boasted that he would defeat in single combat. Instead, he was swallowed whole by the beast.Warsmith Baldarun - Baldurun is a Warsmith of a Grand Battery of the Iron Warriors. An outcast from the Iron Warriors since his defeat at the Fortress of Ventemar, Baldarun has been seeking the means to rebuild his standing. When the Forces of Chaos overran Makenna VII, he used the share of the spoils to build up the strength of his Grand Battery. With so many machines under his command, he would eventually return to Medregard to crush those that mocked him. Abrial Shard, an infamous Chaos renegade across a dozen sectors, swore an oath of brotherhood with Warsmith Baldarun long ago on a Daemon World at the heart of the Eye of Terror. Baldarun called upon his old ally to bolster his forces upon Makenna VII, and Abrial sent a detachment of his own personal elite, known as Abrial's Claw, on the condition that Baldarun relinquished the secrets of his beloved technovirus to Shard's men. Whether they survived to return the secret to their master was another matter.Warsmith Madrydon Drados - The most prolific of the Iron Warriors individuals that are present in the Screaming Vortex. Warsmith Madrydon Drados who, along with his brutal Shatter Corps, seeks to destroy the Imperium's many fortifications and fortresses throughout the nearby sectors. He believes that without such fortifications the Imperium will quickly topple beneath its own weight and laid open to the numerous marauders and forces of chaos that surround it. To Drados, such bastions are personal affronts to his own abilities that serve only to sustain the power of the decadent and corrupt weaklings who cower behind them. In addition to the numerous warriors beneath his command, Madrydon's warband also possesses a great many powerful war machines recently liberated from the nearby Spinward Front. These once noble machines now skitter and stomp beside the Warsmith's armies as blasphemous siege constructs or terrifying Daemon Engines, their pristine forms twisted beyond recognition thanks to the efforts of Warpsmith Gracix.Warsmith Ferrous Ironclaw - Ferrous Ironclaw is a Warsmith of the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion. He is known to be a dedicated believer in the Traitor Legions' Long War and utterly loyal to his Daemon Primarch Perturabo. Sometime during the 41st Millennium, Ironclaw and his Grand Company besieged the Imperial world of Bellum Colonia. However, just as victory was within his grasp, a large force of Imperial Fists Space Marines descended upon the beleaguered planet to fight against the Forces of Chaos. Rather than worrying about this turn of events, and the fact that these Imperial reinforcements were both formidable and had proved problematic, Ironclaw rejoiced at the prospect of once again meting out his righteous anger against his most hated enemies in glorious battle.Warsmith Koros - Koros is a Warsmith of the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion and is said to be a veteran of one thousand and one sieges. As such he is a master of attacking and defending every manner of citadel. He is also a veteran of the terrible ancient campaign known as the Iron Cage, and one of the Daemon Primarch Perturabo’s lieutenants, having proved himself worthy of command of one of the Iron Bastions on Medrengard, the Daemon World which is home to his Legion. Koros was dispatched to the Jericho Reach in order to oversee the fortification of numerous worlds near the Hadex Anomaly, and to lend his assistance to the Forces of Chaos in the planning of a grand counterstrike against the forces of the Imperium. What price the various factions opposing the Imperium have agreed to pay in return for the Iron Warriors’ aid is not known, but it must certainly be high. Warsmith Koros is known to be in league with the corrupted Dark Mechanicum of the Heretic Forge World of Samech, who have equipped him and his forces with numerous items of tech-heresy, some of which was undoubtedly constructed according to his own specifications. It is now suspected by several within the Watch Fortress Erioch's Chamber of Vigilance that Warsmith Koros and the Dark Mechanicum of Samech have entered into an unholy alliance, the only result of which can be the creation of a new generation of previously unseen and abominably powerful weaponry. Armed with the twisted fruits of such a dark union, the servants of the Ruinous Powers might finally be able to break the deadlock that has befallen the Acheros Salient of the Achilus Crusade, and begin to push the lapdogs of the Corpse Emperor back to the Well of Night, finally expelling them from the Jericho Reach.Warsmith Shon'tu - Shon'tu was an infamous Warsmith of the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion and later Chaos Lord of the Iron Warriors warband called the Sons of the Forge. He continually plagued the veteran First Captain Darnath Lysander of the Imperial Fists Chapter over many centuries. Shon'tu was present during the Siege of Terra and like most within the Iron Warriors, has swore an eternal hatred for their bitter rivals, the Imperial Fists. It was in 585.M40 that the Imperial Fists 2nd Company, under the command of the newly promoted Captain Lysander, deployed to break the Siege of Haddrake Tor, a planet in the merciless grasp of Warsmith Shon'tu. Having secured the high ground, Lysander's strike force set up teleport homers to summon the Terminators of the 1st Company into the thick of the fighting. However, things went awry and many of the Terminators materialised over deep chasms, or else in solid rock, including Kleitus, Captain of the 1st Company. Before dying of his grievous wounds, he thrust his Thunder Hammer, the Fist of Dorn, into Lysander's hands, and bade him seek vengeance through victory. This Lysander did, leading the survivors of the 1st Company alongside his own to shatter the Iron Warriors stronghold. Shon'tu fled from the planet in defeat, but he had left a mystery in his wake. Survivors spoke of how the Warsmith had concerned himself little with the despoliation of their world, and had instead buried himself in a search through its millennia-old archives. Unfortunately, there was no way to know what Shon'tu had been searching for, as he had destroyed the archives before making his escape. As the 40th Millennium drew to a close, the Strike Cruiser Shield of Valour was lost the to the Warp. All hands, Lysander amongst them, were lost alongside, with slender hope for their return. Cast far off course by the whimsy of the Warp, they were flung forward through the centuries and far across the galaxy. When the Shield of Valour finally emerged into realspace, it did so in the fading years of the 41st Millennium and in the orbit of Malodrax -– an Iron Warriors fortress on the Eye of Terror's fringe. Swiftly disabled by the world’s formidable defences, the Strike Cruiser was boarded, and a handful of survivors -– Lysander amongst them -– taken as prisoners. Lysandor's captor was none other than Warmsith Shon'tu, who brutally tortured the stalwart Imperial Fist over many solar weeks. Though burdened by grievous harms, the captain tore free of his bondage scant weeks after his capture. Bereft of arms and armour, he wrought a storm of destruction on Malodrax's capital, seized control of a shuttle, and escaped with two of his Battle-Brothers. Lysander swore eternal vengeance upon the hated Warsmith. Reinstated as Captain of the 1st Company, Lysander's first act of command was to lead the Imperial Fists to Maldorax in 966.M41, to scour the Iron Warriors from the planet. But once again, Shon'tu eluded Lysander's grasp and made good his escape. Next, in 969.M41, Lysander led three companies to liberate the planet of Taladorn from the Sons of the Forge and his old nemesis, Warsmith Shon'tu. The captain proved too proud to accept aid from the Ultramarines and Blood Angels, and his actions lead to unnecessary casualties for the Imperial Fists. Captain Vogen was killed, and his 3rd Company badly ravaged before Captain Cato Sicarius' Ultramarines overrode Lysander's objections and intervened. Taladorn was freed, but Warsmith Shon'tu escaped once again. In 971.M41, learning that Shon'tu had been responsible for an earlier Tyranid incursion and the Ork predations on the Magor Rift, Chapter Master Hagan ordered the Phalanx to Malodrax to end the Warsmith's threat once and for all. While most of the Chapter assailed Shon'tu's planetside strongholds, Captain Tor Garadon of the Imperial Fists 3rd Company, alongside Cato Sicarius' Ultramarines and Erasmus Tycho's Blood Angels, conducted a boarding action of the recently reclaimed leviathan war barque Tamunash. Together, the boarding parties managed to destroy enough critical systems for Phalanx to gain the upper hand. As the Tamunash began to break apart, Garadon was defeated by Shon'tu, but Lysander teleported aboard Tamunash's command deck and gravely wounded the Warsmith. The Space Marines escaped by Thunderhawk gunship, and the dying Tamunash vanished into the Warp, taking Shon'tu with it.Warsmith Toramino - Toramino was a Warsmith of the Iron Warriors and the leader of the Stor-Bezashk, the IV Legion's masters of ordnance and siege breaking during the era of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. By the 41st Millennium, he had become one of the Iron Warriors' most powerful surviving Warsmiths. He was the ruler of an ancient and mighty fortress on the Iron Warriors' daemonic homeworld of Medrengard. When the Warsmith Honsou was successful in obtaining a large stock of gene-seed from the hated Imperial Fists on the world of Hydra Cordatus, Toramino and his Grand Company wanted their promised share of the precious genetic material required to swell their numbers. When Honsou reneged on the deal and kept all of the gene-seed for his own Grand Company, Toramino declared war against his wayward comrade. Toramino and his fellow Warsmith Berrosus brought their armies to lay siege to Honsous's fortress of Khalan-Ghol. Toramino allowed the more aggressive Berrosus and his Grand Company to take the brunt of the fighting. Berrosus' army breached the walls of Khalan-Ghol and the Chaos Dreadnought Warsmith nearly succeeded in killing Honsou. But Honsou's daemonic life-ward breeched Berrosus' Dreadnought carapace and Honsou proceeded to slay Berrosus' vulnerable organic components. Toramino then decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and fled for his life. But civil war continued to engulf Medrengard.Warsmith Khr Vhalen - Warsmith of the Iron Warriors 77th Grand Battalion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy, Khr Vhalen was a name of relative obscurity before the events of the Great Betrayal was to thrust upon him the mantle of greatness. He was neither Terran nor Olympian by birth, having been recruited as an adolescent from the formerly xenos-enslaved world of Meru at the edge of the Yetzirah Abyss. Initiated into the 77th Grand Battalion, he fought his way up through its ranks by dint of excellence and sheer bloody will to survive, gaining the epithet of "Shatterblade" after fighting through a nine-hour battle with the broken remains of a Xenarch sabre impaled through his chest. The 77th, like a number of Iron Warriors detachments dispersed across the Imperium and all but forgotten, had become almost completely self-sustaining by the end of the Great Crusade, and when the Horus Heresy came, he and his forces were utterly ignorant of their Legion's betrayal of the Emperor. At the First Battle of Paramar, he and his Legionaries would take bitter pride in their stubborn loyalty to the Great Crusade as brother turned against brother.Warsmith Zhorisch - Zhorisch is an ancient master of scientific and technical pursuits as well as a cunning practitioner of the art and science of siege warfare. Warsmith Zhorisch was a member of the original Iron Warriors Legion raised up by Perturabo, and he was initially a pre-cursor of the modern Techmarine, a highly trained fighting engineer. Born and raised on the Iron Warriors’ homeworld of Olympia, young Zhorisch was chosen for Iron Warriors Legion service and sent for training on Mars. While never outstanding as either a warrior or Enginseer, during the Great Crusade he proved himself competent enough and showed a dogged perseverance and real gift for leadership. He served with distinction, rose through the ranks, and was wholly dedicated to his beloved Primarch. As the IV Legion slowly fell into bitterness and treason, he gleefully followed his leaders into rebellion against the Emperor. Zhorisch saw action at many of the bloodiest battles during the Horus Heresy. He patched up IV Legion heavy armour after the Drop Site Massacre, and smashed Loyalist fortifications on Yarant and Vanaheim. He fought the Imperial Fists in the killing trenches of the Iron Cage with distinction, proving to be a persistent and implacable foe. Over the millennia following the Horus Heresy, he rose in power with guile and cunning, eventually reaching the rank of Warsmith and leading his own Chaos Space Marine warband. As a Warsmith, he developed his well-known lust for hidden knowledge, leading many a campaign of terror against unsuspecting Imperial worlds in pursuit of secrets both academic and technological. When he was given the chance to take the Obsidian Forge at Imbru, located in the Jericho Reach, and loot what he believed to be a treasure trove of Imperial secrets, he immediately accepted the task. In the aftermath of his invasion, he found all that he was looking for and more. Not only did he have the entirety of an Imperial forge to sift through, but it was a forge with a curious secret, one of the ancient Chaos xenos artefacts known as the Javar Gates. Now, after centuries of study and experimentation, the Javar Gate has come to life, much to the delight of the Warsmith. |
Warsphere - Warsphere: A Warsphere is a powerful Kroot starship, the last vestige of the ancient power and surprising scientific advancement of the Kroot civilisation prior to its move away from advanced technology. A Warsphere is effectively a flying town comprising a central section connecting the sphere that serves to house the main Warp-Engine and manoeuvring thrusters.While the Warsphere's drives and thrusters are very reliable, they also possess poor power output. This means that Warspheres are extremely slow when moving through realspace, though they are sufficiently powerful to enable planetary landings, an unusual feature for a voidship this large.Once on the surface of a world, the thrusters are often fired once more to bury the Warsphere, presumably to enable it to revert to its role as a traditional Kroot town. Warspheres are fairly rare and so will only be deployed in the case that the Kroot are getting a substantial payment or bonus from their employer, whether this be their traditional allies the T'au or another employer who has contracted for their mercenary services.To travel at faster-than-light speeds across interstellar distances, the Kroot make use of Warp-Drives, unlike the T'au who have not mastered the technology, though how Kroot Warp-Drives function remain a mystery to the T'au, since the Kroot have no Navigators to make passage through the Empyrean safe and reliable.Instead, the Kroot appear to have a natural affinity for navigating towards inhabitable planets, almost as if they were possessed of a sixth sense, though they are not known to be a psychic species.The Warsphere is a gigantic structure -- easily the length of a battleship: each encompasses a volume greater than many space stations. Their axial Plasma Drive alone is larger than that of many other warships, blazing with the might of several suns to move the massive bulk of the Warsphere through space.While slow and ponderous, extensive and powerful manoeuvring thrusters allow them to change facing more easily than most voidships. Despite the name, Warspheres are more than warships. Each is the home for many Kroot Kindred families, each long separated from their distant home system and not wishing to see their new one destroyed. When they do need to fight though, they are dangerous opponents. Each ship is covered with macrobatteries and can launch numerous assault craft loaded with fierce Kroot Carnivore squads.Boarding or ramming a Warsphere is unadvisable due to the sheer numbers of the furious defenders as well. Larger ones often carry many valuables though and are sometimes the target of massed pirate fleets.Unlike many voidships of comparable size, Warspheres are capable of planetary landing, an especially useful ability to aid in repairs or escape an enemy. This is truly a fearsome sight as the enormous mass of the vessel slowly eclipses the local sun as it rides the great fusion flames of its drive to the ground. The powerful drive engines tear apart mountains of earth as it settles, with the numerous thrusters blasting the terrain as to cocoon the vessel. Once dirtside, the ship acts as a local base of operations and often helps establish a new Kroot colony.When ready, they lift off back into the void, literally an earth-shaking event that those left behind will speak of for generations to come.In combat, Warspheres are somewhat unconcerned with manoeuvring, expecting that most other starships can outrun them.Warspheres primarily fight defensively unless trying to break through a blockade to invade a planet, and usually flee if in any serious danger of being overwhelmed. |
Warsphere - In the Koronus Expanse: Kroot Warspheres are an uncommon sight in the Koronus Expanse of the Segmentum Obscurus, but there are several that travel through the space lanes. Warspheres are dangerous opponents, simply because they are incredibly tough and have a large number of guns. However, due to the Kroot's mercenary nature, dealing with one may be easier (and more profitable) than fighting it.Likewise, the Kroot do not often hire themselves to take on spaceborne foes, preferring planetary invasions or boarding actions where their talents are not wasted. |
Warsphere - Notable Warspheres: Vawk Karaow |
Warsphere - Dimensions: Hull: battleshipClass: Unique; xenos voidcraftDimensions: Approximately 9 kilometres in diameterMass: Approximately 47 megatonnesCrew: Approximately 300,000+ Kroot |
Watch fortress - Watch fortress: A watch fortress is a fortified Imperial installation that serves as a fortress, archive, garrison, command station and training facility to support the operations of Deathwatch Chapter kill-teams in a particular region of the galaxy.A watch fortress differs from a watch station in that while watch fortresses are large complexes and relatively rare, watch stations are far more numerous and smaller, less potent Deathwatch facilities. A watch commander, who usually holds the rank of watch master, is placed in command of the fortress and is the absolute master of all of the kill-teams located there.Such places can take a great many forms; some are mighty deep space void stations and star forts, while others are imposing, fortified keeps maintained on a planet's surface. Some are impenetrable installations many kilometres below ground, while others still are hollowed-out asteroids bristling with weaponry and protected from prying eyes by arcane cloaking systems. |
Watch fortress - Role: The watch commander of a watch fortress often coordinates the monitoring of a hundred different threats to his region of space; or his attentions might be focused exclusively on one single, overriding concern towards which all of his efforts are turned and which the watch fortress was built to confront.The watch commander is assisted in his duties by a cadre of specialists, some of whom are Adeptus Astartes, such as Techmarines, Apothecaries and the likes, while many more are the equivalent of Chapter serfs. Some are specialists seconded from the staff of one or more Inquisitors, while the greatest number are mono-task servitors.Amongst the most important members of the watch fortress' staff are the astropaths, several of whom are always present in any fortress. At all times, at least one astropath is locked in an armoured saviour-chamber (sometimes referred to as the "ebon coffin") with its own life-support system, which is isolated from that of the fortress.In the event of the facility being overrun, it is intended that this astropath will survive long enough to transmit an astrotelepathic message to the nearest Inquisitorial bastion or Space Marine homeworld.Getting such a message out is far more important than the astropath's survival of course, and many have committed suicide rather than fall into enemy hands, once reasonably certain their message has been received.That being said, one astropath in the service of the Inquisition is known to have survived for six solar months within his saviour-chamber, while hideous Drugh slithered around the fortress and rasped ineffectually at the chamber's armoured hatch. By the time the fortress was retaken, the poor soul was quite insane, and put out of his misery soon after.The number of kill-teams stationed in any given watch fortress varies enormously. Some are home to only a handful of battle-brothers, while others host several dozen kill-teams.Despite the small number of Astartes warriors stationed on even the largest watch fortress, it would be suicide for an enemy to attempt an attack on one, even if its location could be determined.Each bristles with weaponry, much of it controlled by hard-wired servitors or fired remotely by the watch commander's staff. Some are even said to be protected by great cannons and banks of missiles controlled by autonomous Machine Spirits (artificial intelligences).At the heart of each fortress is to be found a sealed vault, containing the most sensitive and valuable of assets. It is said that some of these vaults are encased within stasis fields; that time stands still within and even the most ancient and crumbling parchments can be preserved.Other vaults are said to be encased within quantum-displacement fields, so that they are not actually located in the watch fortress at all, but exist out of phase with it and the rest of realspace so that even should the fortress be destroyed the contents at its heart will survive.Exactly what is kept within these vaults depends upon the mission of the fortress and the threats it guards against. Some contain vast libraries of forbidden texts, knowledge so terrible they may only be consulted when the very fate of Humanity itself hangs in the balance.Alien artefacts of unknown or devastating potency might also be sealed within the vault, affording the scholars of the Ordo Xenos the opportunity to study them whilst they are kept out of the hands of those who would use them for the detriment of Mankind.Some watch fortresses even maintain a stock of the most exotic of weapons, which are kept safe in the vault and only brought forth in the most dire of situations.Here are found the warheads of the Cyclonic Torpedoes used to enact Exterminatus upon a world. Some weapons are unique and so potentially devastating they may never be disturbed, the singular relics of the Dark Age of Technology.This includes such artefacts as the anti-baryon detonator held in a watch fortress at the heart of the Ghoul Stars, and the super-massive "starbane" vortex cascade generator secreted within the eon-locked Ormand Repository near the Ring of Fire. Aside from these sealed stocks of weaponry, each fortress contains vast stores of more conventional arms and ammunition.Sufficient stores to last for Terran centuries without re-supply are held in the watch fortresses, as well as all of the heavy equipment normally utilised by the Space Marines such as artillery and vehicles. Many of the weapons are venerated relics, crafted by long-dead master-artisans whose names have become legendary amongst the Space Marines.The larger of the watch fortresses are home to all manner of training facilities. In vast domes, unique environments can be recreated in which the battle-brothers can perfect their battle drill and rehearse their missions.Some of these domes have been stocked with alien life forms, such as Death World flora and fauna, in order to create the most realistic training conditions possible. It has even been known for captured aliens to be set loose in the training domes, to be hunted down by the kill-teams in deadly, live-fire mission simulation exercises.Although no resource is spared the kill-teams, it is usual that each battle-brother lives an austere existence in the watch fortress. It is common for each to maintain a personal shrine, at which he undertakes the devotions and rites particular to his own parent Chapter.A battle-brother seconded from the Ultramarines Chapter, for example, might maintain a simple chapel dedicated to Primarch Roboute Guilliman, while one drawn from the Mortifactors Chapter might keep vigil before the flensed skulls of a hundred slain enemies.When not engaged upon a mission or a training exercise, and not meditating at his own chapel, the Space Marine may rest in a cell which is seldom more than a bare, stone-walled chamber. Space Marines require little sleep however, and most of the their time is spent either in battle, or preparing for it.In addition to the watch commander, watch captains, and the kill-teams, a great many, though not all, watch fortresses are host to an Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos. It is the role of this individual to communicate the strategies of the Inquisition and to coordinate them with the missions of the Deathwatch.The Inquisitor is more of an ambassador than an overseer, and has no direct control over the watch commander or his Astartes. Rather, he provides a link between the two organisations, ensuring that the ancient pact between the two bodies remains in place, for the defence of all Humanity. |
Watch fortress - Notable Watch Fortresses: Balefortress - Located in the Thresnia Sector, the Balefortress is perhaps the last Imperial bulwark left that can stop WAAAGH! Nakkaslash from capsizing the sector.Castilos Nullifact (Fort Nullifact) - This watch fortress is located in the northern Segmentum Ultima where its Astartes watch for the rise of the long-slumbering Necron dynasties. Forces from this watch fortress once assaulted a seemingly undefended Jokaero star-frame, only to be met by a fleet's worth of firepower. During the Era Indomitus, far-ranging patrols from Castilos Nullifact found evidence of a mobile Genestealer Cult travelling between fringe worlds aboard a fleet of voidships and posing as Rogue Traders. They set off on the trail of the so-called Bringers of Enraptured Joy, and fought several battles against the monstrously corrupted settlements the xenos-worshippers had seeded in their wake.Damaroth - The Damaroth is a watch fortress that takes the form of a vast artificial ring constructed around a glowing moon. It is the centre of Deathwatch operations in the Centaurus Arm of the Segmentum Ultima. The artificial structure was not built by Human hands, and in fact predates the Imperium. No trace of the beings that made it has been found. One of six identical structures set among the star-studded darkness of the void, each ring was appropriated by the Deathwatch and its Ordo Xenos allies as a watch fortress and the centre of Deathwatch operations in the Centaurus Arm. Inside, the Damaroth holds ship hangars the equivalent of the Imperial Navy Segmentum Fortress at Kar Duniash, housing voidships ranging from Cobra-class destroyers to Overlord-class battlecruisers and training facilities emulating multiple combat scenarios against several alien races. Housing almost a hundred Deathwatch Space Marines of varying rank and specialisation, Damaroth launches a hundred knives against the darkness. And yet, it still may not prove enough.Doombreak - Doombreak is a watch fortress located on the border between the Segmentum Solar and Segmentum Tempestus.Eye of Damocles - The Eye of Damocles is a vast watch fortress that monitors the borders between Imperial space and that of the usurper T'au Empire in the Damocles Gulf of the Eastern Fringe. Its kill-teams specialise in vertical assault. Dominatus Kill-teams will often strike from Corvus Blackstars to turn one-sided firefights into bloody melees.Eye of Octos - The Eye of Octos is a watch fortress that is located within the Ultima Segmentum's Octarius Sector and it lies close to the Ork Empire of Octarius. In the Era Indomitus, a splinter of Hive Fleet Leviathan broke off from the on-going Octarius War and invaded the nearby Pankallis Sub-sector. Pankallis' Imperial worlds called for aid and the Eye of Octos' current watch commander, Akrep Xie, led the fortress' forces there to aid them.Fort Ajax - After a string of punitive strikes from Craftworld Biel-Tan against the Garravissima Sub-sector proved impossible to stop, the Deathwatch of Fort Ajax gave up the chase. Taking every Flamer weapon they could muster, they instead descended to the Maiden World of Yddylia at the height of summer and -- in conjunction with a firestorm barrage -- set swathes of the world aflame. The Exodites of the planet fought hard to repel them, but the Deathwatch stayed one step ahead. Drawn by the psychic distress calls of their backwater kindred, Biel-Tan appeared in the night sky. Within a solar week, the Autarch of Biel-Tan was killed by a Kraken Bolt to the head.Fort Excalibris - This watch fortress is located in the Segmentum Obscurus. In the 41st Millennium, its kill-teams were stretched to the breaking point as they dealt with multiple ongoing xenos threats. This included the Drukhari redoubling their attacks around the Crucible of Tales, the push of the Necrons of Icnarus towards the Gothic Sector, and the Hrud infestations discovered throughout the Kuypax Reach. Fort Excalibris was home to Watch Captain Barradan, who served as its watch commander, one of the few Primaris Space Marines to have risen to that rank in the Era Indomitus. He has already distinguished himself in many battles with xenos forces. Barradan is one of the few Primaris Space Marines to have risen to that rank so far in the Era Indomitus. He has already distinguished himself in many battles with xenos forces. Such promotions have proved strategically beneficial, for with their intrinsic understanding of Primaris infantry forces and Repulsor tanks, these watch captains have helped to fully integrate these weapons into the Deathwatch's arsenal. Since the birth of the Great Rift at the start of the Era Indomitus, however, the influx of new Space Marines seconded to the Deathwatch from the Imperium Nihilus has all but stopped at Talasa Prime and the other major watch fortresses in the Imperium Sanctus. Rumours suggest the watch fortresses of Praefex Venatoris and Fort Excalibris now share the primary responsibility for training those Deathwatch members that are active in the blighted realm of the Dark Imperium.Fort Nexus - Fort Nexus is a watch fortress located in the Ultima Segmentum.Fort Obsidus - This watch fortress is located in the Segmentum Solar. It is currently commanded by Watch Master Astoren Korr. Following the admittance of Primaris Marines into the Deathwatch in the Era Indomitus, he has proven especially adept in the deployment of Repulsor battle tanks. This skill has led to the defeat of the Speed Kults of WAAAGH! Wazdakka, as well as several other recent Ork attacks.Fortress Omega - Fortress Omega, also called Fort Omega, or just "Omega," is a watch fortress that was assaulted by Aeldari Corsairs in the 32nd Millennium who sought a rune-carved Aeldari artefact called the "Doomsday Sphere" kept within the fortress' null chamber. The corsairs found only Venator Kill-teams within the fortress, who promptly ambushed the aliens. Hundreds of the xenos raiders died before the last of the corsairs reached the chamber. The sphere did not actually exist; it was in fact a myth spread by Human mercenaries working for Black Shields to lure the xenos into the open.Fort Prescience - In the 32nd Millennium, this watch fortress in the Segmentum Tempestus saved the worlds of the Shantoria System when its kill-teams destroyed a band of Harlequins whose trickery and raids nearly caused the system to erupt in a civil war. Millennia later, the fortress has found particular success in its battle against Hive Fleet Leviathan by combining Primaris Marine Reivers from the Raven Guard, Hawk Lords and Lamenters Chapters into a single force and using them as dedicated synapse-beast hunters.Fort Pykman - Fort Pykman is located in the Ghoul Stars, northeast of the Segmentum Ultima beyond the Eastern Fringe in the Imperium Nihilus. The Ghoul Stars harbour many hidden threats to Humanity, from the emergent Barghesi to the awakening Necron dynasties. The kill-teams of Fort Pykman favour Malleus tactics; they stand ready to demolish ancient sites should there be even a flicker of suspicion they are linked to Tomb Worlds or alien world nests. The current watch commander of Fort Pykman is Watch Master Utorian Denash. Danash claims his constant vigilance against the Imperium's xenos foes shall never end.Fort Starshield - Fort Starshield was a Deathwatch starfort that was located in the Kadus Sector and was commanded by Watch Master Valesnus in the aftermath of the Great Rift's creation in the Era Indomitus. However, the starfort was destroyed by the Ork WAAAGH! of Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka in the Era Indomitus, whose Greenskin hordes also killed all of the Deathwatch Astartes who dwelt within it.Fort Volossia - The Deathwatch forces stationed on Fort Volossia were overrun by the undying legions of the Necron Overlord Zhanatar.Furor Shield - This watch fortress oversees the Octarius Sector, and its Astartes are ready to stand against whoever prevails in the Octarius War between the Orks of the sector's Ork Empire of Octarius and the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Leviathan.Haltmoat - This watch fortress in the Segmentum Obscurus is currently commanded by Watch Commander Vilnus. When the watch fortress began receiving numerous reports of voidships disappearing near the Tiamet System, 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, 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.Keep Extremis - Keep Extremis is a watch fortress located in the Segmentum Obscurus. To the galactic north of Fenris, Hrud overran the Shrine World of Damhal. Drawn to the rich veins of crystallised time in the world's many stasis-crypts, the chronophagic xenos wreaked havoc. Those regiments of Mordian Iron Guard deployed to fight them become wizened ancients within solar hours, and even a strike force of the Sons of Medusa was lost, overwhelmed by the xenos' entropic projections. Two full Deathwatch Watch Companies from the watch fortress Keep Extremis joined the fight. They were accompanied by a mighty spearhead of no less than eight Deathwatch Dreadnoughts. It was these ancients who lead the final strike upon the Hrud world warren, enduring the creatures' parasitic temporal aura long enough to slaughter their leaders and collapse their tunnels. Recovered from the field of victory, the Dreadnoughts were found to be rusted, inert, silent. Inside their sarcophagi, their biological remains were gone, reduced to nothing but dust by the time stolen from them by the Hrud.Indomitus Point - Indomitus Point is a watch fortress located in the Segmentum Ultima. In the Era Indomitus, in the wake of the Ultimaris Decree providing the Primaris Marines to the Deathwatch, many watch captains prefer to field Hellblasters as Roboute Guilliman intended, lacing small squads of them in amongst more varied kill-teams to provide reliable close-range fire support. Indeed, the watch fortresses of Doombreak, Furor Shield and Indomitus Point have taken to using Hellblasters much like lighter, more manoeuvrable Devastator Squads in order to deal with the hulking Tyranid and Greenskin monstrosities they face.Mortguard - Mortguard is a watch fortress that is located in the northern Ultima Segmentum in the Imperium Nihilus. Its Watch Companies are commanded by Watch Master Agathon. The Deathwatch forces of Morthguard were major participants in the Chalnath Expanse Campaign that was a four-sided conflict that erupted in the Chalnath Expanse in the Era Indomitus between the forces of the Imperium, the T'au Empire's Fifth Sphere Expansion, various Genestealer Cults and an Ork WAAAGH!.Null Breach - Null Breach is a watch fortress located in the Segmentum Solar. Its kill-teams have assaulted the Ork World of Calverna several times. During one of these incursions, Watch Captain Daxis was killed when he was crushed by a rampaging Squiggoth. He was avenged when the Intercessor Lyone, who single-handily killed the massive creature with pinpoint fire. Lyone had made quite the reputation for himself while fighting the Orks, and avenging Daxis' death earned the Primaris Marine his predecessor's rank of watch captain. Even before his ascent, Lyone had become fearfully known to the Orks as "Da Black Butcha," while his own battle-brothers began to call him "Orksbane." Lyone has excelled in the role of watch captain since earning the rank.Onyx Patrol - The Onyx Patrol is a mobile watch fortress of the Deathwatch. Essentially a fleet of Adeptus Astartes warships, hence the name, the Onyx Patrol constantly searches for nomadic Aeldari craftworlds. It most frequently operates in the Segmentum Solar. Since its inception, Craftworld Aeldari sightings in the core sectors of the Imperium have become much more rare.Praefex Venatoris - This watch fortress keeps watch over a string of Webway portals used by the Drukhari in the Segmentum Obscurus. Its Astartes are always on high alert, seeking to save the Human worlds of Syracia Thrive from alien piracy and enslavement. Since the birth of the Great Rift at the start of the Era Indomitus, however, the influx of new Space Marines seconded to the Deathwatch from the Imperium Nihilus has all but stopped at Talasa Prime and the other major watch fortresses in the Imperium Sanctus. Rumours suggest the watch fortresses of Praefex Venatoris and Fort Excalibris now share the primary responsibility for training those Deathwatch members that are active in the blighted realm of the Dark Imperium.Ramugan - The watch fortress called Ramugan is close to an Inquisition sub-station which is also known as Ramugan. Both are located near the Eye of Terror in the Segmentum Obscurus.Sentinel IX - Sentinel IX was the watch fortress from which the Iron Hands Deathwatch brother Ennox Sorrlock operated. Sorrlock is a merciless, pragmatic killing machine known for his cold, calculating logic. He suffered horrific wounds to his flesh after a Drukhari attack, and his right eye and left leg have been replaced by bionic replacements. Ennox Sorrlock took part in the purging of a Genestealer Cult on Ghosar Quintus in the 41st Millennium as part of Kill-team Cassius under the command of Chaplain Ortan Cassius that marked the first confirmed Imperial interaction with that Tyranid menace.Talasa Prime - Talasa Prime is an Imperial Fortress World on the Eastern Fringes of the Ultima Segmentum in the Realm of Ultramar controlled by the Inquisition's Ordo Xenos. Talasa Prime is home to a large Inquisitorial fortress most notable for housing the watch fortress that essentially serves as the headquarters of the Deathwatch. Talasa Prime, the archetypal training world for the Deathwatch, maintains an Aquila pattern watch fortress in addition to dozens of attendant watch stations. It has a wide variety of kill-teams, each tested against those xenos races that would encroach upon Ultramar's borders. Overall command of the watch fortress as watch commander is entrusted to Watch Master Mordelai, a humourless and extremely efficient proponent of the Malleus war doctrine, who has the long-standing trust of Chapter Master Marneus Calgar of the Ultramarines himself. Like most watch fortresses, Talasa Prime maintains five Watch Companies, numbered Primus to Quintus, comprised of four kill-teams of varying types each. It was at Talasa Prime that the Deathwatch, under the direction of Mordelai, first integrated the Primaris Space Marines into its kill-teams, by creating the first Fortis Kill-teams. Later, Mordelai refined his ideas, and also created the Primaris Indomitor and Spectrus Kill-teams to better make use of the single-armament squads used by Primaris Marine forces. Since the birth of the Great Rift at the start of the Era Indomitus, however, the influx of new Space Marines seconded to the Deathwatch from the Imperium Nihilus has all but stopped. Rumours suggest the watch fortresses of Praefex Venatoris and Fort Excalibris now share the responsibility for training those Deathwatch members that are active in the blighted realm of the Dark Imperium.Watch Fortress Erioch - Watch Fortress Erioch is a massive Ramilies-class starfort that serves as the headquarters for the Deathwatch operating in the Jericho Reach. It is constructed around an ancient and enigmatic vault of secrets known as the Omega Vault.Watcher Keep - Watcher Keep is a primary watch fortress located on the border between the Segmentum Pacificus and Segmentum Tempestus. It is currently commanded by Watch Master Vaedrian Shenol. In the wake of the Great Rift's creation, Shenol has seen an increase in the number of xenophiles within the Imperium. These are Humans who feel that since xenos are also threatened by the forces of Chaos, the Imperium should fight alongside them against their shared foe. The watch master considers these people to be Heretics who would foolishly have Humanity put its trust in inhuman monsters that would gladly betray Mankind at the first chance. Shenol has declared that there can be no tolerance, no compromise, and no peace with aliens -- only war and the Imperium's endless purgation of the xenos threat.Zarabek - Zarabek was a watch fortress that was also the location of the last stand of the Muhlari, a xenos species exterminated by the Deathwatch in a series of actions culminating in the Purgation of Zarabek. The Deathwatch burnt Zarabek clean, slaying the Muhlari's den mothers and destroying their sacellum of knowledge. Crushing all their data crystals, mixing them with the powdered ash of their people and firing them into the heart of a star, the Muhlari were consigned forever to the Book of Extinctions. Zarabek is now the domain of Watch Captain Ska Mordentodt, a Deathwatch Black Shield of an unknown parent Chapter, who launches his kill-teams against Hrud migrations, Necron Tomb Worlds, Xenarch raids, Malgreth sightings and Genestealer infestations. Zarabek proved to be both strong and well-hidden, a perfect location for a new watch fortress, so it was cleansed of its xenos taint and taken over by the Deathwatch. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Watch Fortress Erioch: Watch Fortress Erioch is a notable watch fortress of the xenos-hunting Space Marines of the Deathwatch Chapter based within the Erioch System of the Jericho Reach of the Segmentum Ultima. Within Erioch the Deathwatch's kill-teams train and prepare for coming missions.Watch Fortress Erioch combines the functions of a command centre, keep, archive, garrison and more. The watch commander often coordinates the monitoring of a hundred different threats; or his attentions might be focused exclusively on one single, overriding concern towards which all of his and his battle-brothers' efforts are turned.The commander is assisted in his duties by a cadre of specialists, some of whom are Astartes, such as Techmarines, Apothecaries and the like, while many more are normal Humans who are the equivalent of Chapter serfs who have been assigned to the Deathwatch by the Inquisition's Ordo Xenos.Erioch is also home to all manner of Astartes training facilities. In vast domes, unique environments can be recreated in which the battle-brothers can perfect their battle drill and rehearse their missions. Some of these domes have been stocked with life forms, such as Death World flora and fauna, in order to create the most realistic training conditions possible. It has even been known for captured aliens to be set loose in the training domes, to be hunted down by the kill-teams in deadly mission simulation exercises.At the heart of Watch Fortress Erioch is to be found a sealed vault, known as the "Omega Vault," which contains the most sensitive and valuable of assets available to the Inquisition in the Jericho Reach -- and perhaps the galaxy. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - History: The empty, echoing halls of Watch Fortress Erioch hold many secrets even beyond the ultimate enigma of the Omega Vault at its core. It has been noted that the very fortress itself defies logical explanation.It is a millennia-old edifice situated in a place where no Forge Master or architect-savant of the Imperium could have travelled and where no materials for its construction could possibly exist. The explanation to this first mystery is deceptively simple, but reveals deeper layers of conspiracy lurking beneath the surface.Naval-minded Inquisition agents on their brief sojourns at Erioch have postulated that the star fortress must have been brought there in some great and secret undertaking in the past. They point to subtle points of architecture still visible beneath Terran centuries of accumulated restructuring that are reminiscent of a mighty Ramilies-class Starfort. Such an edifice could be moved through Warpspace they insist, meaning that if they are correct, Watch Fortress Erioch could -- potentially -- be moved again.The Imperium's scant supply of gigantic semi-mobile void stations like the Ramilies are vital to the Navis Imperialis as forward fleet bases. Each one is capable of shortening campaigns by solar decades through its deployment. That such a rare and precious commodity should have been risked in transport all the way to the distant Jericho Reach and then left essentially unused speaks volumes as to the perceived value of the location -- and of the overpowering reach of those who caused the fortress to be established there. Surely locked away within this ancient fortress can be found knowledge of the most heinous alien lifeforms Humanity has ever encountered.Watch Fortress Erioch is a vast void bastion that lies in the outer reaches of the Erioch System in the untamed void between the Canis and Acheros Salients of the Jericho Reach. It is situated in a stellar dead zone populated by only a handful of failing, ancient stars -- of which Erioch itself is one.A brutal mass of armoured basilica, domes, and spires, the watch fortress bristles with enough armament to rival a sizable battlegroup of Imperial warships, largely concealing the fact that underneath the Imperial ceramite and firepower, it is built on a ruined alien artefact that was old when Terra's star was first forming.Within it is a vast maze of echoing, dust-carpeted corridors that wander past silent chapels and armoured vaults sealed with adamantium doors. Beneath war-tattered banners of glories past, the battle-brothers of the Deathwatch in residence move between their cells, practice ranges, armouries and briefing theatres like spectres in a dead city, their numbers swallowed by the vast and labyrinthine nature of the fortress.Within the watch fortress, the Deathwatch gathers to rearm, train, and report. From within its confines, kill-teams are despatched on missions to every corner of the Jericho Reach, and sometimes beyond. The fortress contains vast command cathedrals where watch captains come to discuss strategy, developments within their assigned vigils, and consult with the Inquisitor of the Chamber and the Master of Vigilance.Alongside the towering Adeptus Astartes scurry the far more numerous servitors and hooded, mind-wiped Chapter serfs that keep the watch fortress alive and functioning. These lobotomised or oath-bonded servants crew the watch fortress' weaponry, and serve under the eyes of the Forge Master in the maintenance of its Machine Spirits, their pasts shorn from them by mental conditioning. They remember nothing of their history, and know no life beyond the fortress and the demands of their duty.The watch fortress could hold an entire Chapter of Adeptus Astartes with ease, but its records show that there are rarely more than a few score Deathwatch Space Marines garrisoning it at any time. Even during the grim events of the Council of the Ascension in 756.M41, no more than two hundred battle-brothers were gathered within the fortress.As a matter of course, most of the Deathwatch Space Marines within the Jericho Reach only spend brief periods in the watch fortress before leaving again to fulfil their missions or to garrison other watch stations within the Reach. Indeed, some never see the fortress during their service in the region.Instead, they spend their time on one bloody battlefield after another, or as the lone warden in watch stations far from their battle-brothers. The only exception are the guardians of the Chamber of Vigilance; a ten-strong squad of Deathwatch Keepers. Joining them is a position of great honour, and only battle-brothers who have performed a feat of exemplary courage and dedication during their Long Vigil are considered for service amongst these guardians.Aside from the Deathwatch and their servants -- including cloisters of Navigators and astropaths permanently sworn to their service -- Watch Fortress Erioch occasionally hosts members of the Inquisition and their attendant cadre of Throne Agents, Acolytes, and other minions.Most of these Inquisitors come to consult with the Chamber of Vigilance, to examine some xenos article recovered by the Deathwatch, or to make a request for aid in person. In the long millennia, many Inquisitors have passed through the watch fortress. Some stay for extended periods, others barely a few solar hours.Some leave artefacts within one of the fortress' vaults, sealed to all but them, or those to which they entrust the cipher, key or secret of its opening. Some vaults have remained sealed in this way for Terran millennia; the horrors or secrets within shut away even from the Deathwatch itself.Despite the power of the Inquisition and the ancient and honoured role of the Inquisitor of the Chamber within the fortress' hierarchy, the sole and final authority of the watch fortress, and thereby all the Deathwatch Marines in the Jericho Reach, is the Master of Vigilance, the position of watch commander held by the most senior watch captain in the Jericho Reach.Others that have thought to act otherwise, including certain members of the Inquisition, have paid for this mistake with their lives. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Masters and Servants: Captain Mordigael of the Blood Angels Chapter is the current watch commander of Watch Fortress Erioch and, by extension, the Master of the Vigil. Aiding him in the governing of the Chamber of Vigilance are any recognised Ordo Xenos Inquisitors stationed in the Jericho Reach, one of which will take on the mantle of the Inquisitor of the Chamber so that the Inquisition might have a voice to call for aid from the Deathwatch in the region.Given the nature of the Inquisition and the secretive nature of Inquisitors themselves, this group is always in flux, their numbers expanding and retracting as the members of the group are always changing. Typically, it will never be more than a handful at any one time, and always balanced out by Mordigael and his favoured watch captains so that the ratio of Astartes to members of the Ordo Xenos remains more or less equal. Depending on the nature of the issues to be dealt with by the Chamber of Vigilance, other advisors my be allowed to give specific council, though this is uncommon.Because the Deathwatch of the Jericho Reach operates within the same areas of influence as the Ordo Xenos and the forces of the Achilus Crusade, the Chamber of Vigilance and its meetings can be coloured by politics as much as war councils, as would be the case if the Deathwatch operated like one of the more traditional Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes.While the Master of the Vigil and his officers are interested in the concerns of the Deathwatch, they cannot remain completely deaf to the presence of the Inquisition -- usually more specifically the desires of a single Inquisitor operating within the Jericho Reach. Equally, though the vast majority of the Achilus Crusade remains ignorant of the Deathwatch's operations in the region, its Lord Militant, Solomon Tetrarchus, does not, and he has been known, on occasion, to try and request its aid.Often, the personal politics of the Inquisitor will be reflected in the choosing of the Inquisitor of the Chamber and this can become a place where rival Inquisitors make their presence known, all of which contributes to another challenge the Chamber of Vigilance must overcome.Deathwatch Veterans add another dimension to these proceedings, having earned the right and respect to speak for themselves even in the presence of the Master of the Vigil. Deathwatch Veterans are also wiser in the ways of the crusade and of the Jericho Reach, often having knowledge of the Inquisitors that might influence the Chamber of Vigilance.It is the nature of the Inquisition that nothing is as it seems, and the same honours and right that will allow a veteran kill-team a voice in the Chamber of Vigilance will sometimes mean that kill-team must deal more closely with individual Inquisitors or even, in rare instances, agents of the Lord Militant of the crusade.Many Inquisitors, of all the ordos, do not announce their presence to the Deathwatch when they come to the Jericho Reach, following their own personal missions out of sight and reach of the Achilus Crusade forces. These same Inquisitors, however, will call upon aid from the Deathwatch when it suits their purposes and when they need the kind of firepower and skill that only an Adeptus Astartes kill-team can provide.It is here that the reputation of a veteran kill-team might precede them and the Inquisitor might even choose to contact the kill-team directly (especially if the battle-brothers and the Inquisitor have had dealings before), asking them for aid without any formal declaration to the Erioch Chamber of Vigilance.Though it stands in stark contrast to the way most Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes operate, the individual bravado shown by such Inquisitors often earns the respect of Deathwatch Veterans. Experienced watch captains also accept that Inquisitors work in this way, and much of their agendas do not reach the formal meetings of the Chamber of Vigilance, especially in the case of time-sensitive missions or missions of opportunity.Ultimately, though, it remains the remit of the Deathwatch whether or not to come to the aid of an Inquisitor, however they call for it. However, since the objectives of the Deathwatch and the objectives of many Ordo Xenos Inquisitors within the Jericho Reach are intertwined, it often serves the Deathwatch well to send a kill-team, using the knowledge and skills of the Inquisitor to vanquish a common foe. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Places of Training and Devotion: Within Watch Fortress Erioch are many places in which the battle-brothers of the Deathwatch may hone their skills and temper their spirits. There are huge ranges housed in vast chambers where live-fire exercises and marksmanship drills can be performed in environments ranging from tangled ruins to liquid-filled tunnels or the chill of hard vacuum.Alongside these are hundreds of smaller melee and exercise chambers where new skills with blade, fist, and body can be passed from battle-brother to battle-brother. Numerous clusters of armoured fighting cages (said to have been introduced by a watch captain originating with the Imperial Fists) exist where battle-brothers can test their skill of arms against each other.There are also libraries filled with tactical treatises, past mission logs and spiritual texts for the edification of a battle-brother's mental faculties. For those Space Marines who are psychically-gifted Deathwatch Librarians, there are specialised warded and shielded chantries for a psyker to sharpen his own unique gifts in the Emperor's service.In addition to these places that hone a warrior's body and mind, there are sanctuaries in which Space Marines can armour their soul. These scattered sanctums are often centred on the tombs of fallen Deathwatch battle-brothers and are reached by a long and tangled journey into the fortresses' depths.Amid the silent waft of incense, the Deathwatch meditate on their duty and observe the traditions of their home Chapter. Many of these small devotional shrines hold banners and relics given as a mark of honour by Chapters whose brethren have died as part of the Deathwatch.It is said that the marks of over a hundred Chapters can be found in the sanctuaries of Watch Fortress Erioch, including the liveries and icons of Chapters forgotten and destroyed over the long millennia. Each shrine is venerated by any member of that Chapter that comes to the fortress. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Living Quarters: The Adeptus Astartes aboard Watch Fortress Erioch are housed in sparse single cells. By the traditions of the watch fortress, each is bare and unadorned. The walls in each cell are formed of unrendered stone or unpolished metal, containing no more than a stone plinth to lie on, and housings for the storage of a battle-brother's personal weaponry, devotional items, and other wargear.These simple quarters are the same regardless of whether the Space Marine is a standard Deathwatch Veteran battle-brother or an honoured watch captain (however, some particularly individual Space Marines flout this tradition by displaying trophies, keepsakes, or other reminders of their home Chapter).By the same traditions, battle-brothers arriving at the watch fortress are grouped together in cells next to battle-brothers already in residence with no division by rank or fighting formation. Likewise, the taking of food and drink is traditionally done together in one of the refectories, with the battle-brothers sitting on stone benches beside iron-topped tables beneath the light of devotional candles.Though the watch fortress is ultimately the domain of the Astartes of the Deathwatch, other men and women live and serve within it. Chapter serfs and other important functionaries, such as the fortress' astropathic choir, are housed in enclaves well-removed from the battle-brothers of the Deathwatch and sealed away from ready access to the deep places of the fortress and its many vaults.The Inquisitor of the Chamber who serves with the Chamber of Vigilance traditionally keeps residence in the Tower of Brass, which juts into the vacuum from the upper hull of the watch fortress like a blade tip projecting from the back of a skewered foe.This tower, while part of the fortress, is left alone by the Deathwatch out of courtesy, unless duty or suspicion call them there. Within this vast edifice, the Inquisitor of the Chamber houses their personal staff and entourage of Acolytes. It is, in effect, their personal domain to maintain as they wish.Other Inquisitors who come to the watch fortress are often made personal guests by the Inquisitor of the Chamber and housed within the Tower of Brass. Some, however, are either not given the honour of such an invitation, or prefer to keep their own company, and are housed in one of the fortress' many sets of state rooms which lie empty until needed. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Tools of War: The Armouries of the watch fortress are located deep beneath its armoured hull, secured behind the thickest blast doors and internal layers of Void Shielding of the kind more commonly used to protect Battle Titans. This is the realm of metal and actinic light, of the beat of hammers and the fire of forges that arm and armour the Emperor's angels of death.Made up of workshops, magazines and armouries, these are the domains of the Techmarines who serve in the Deathwatch, and all fall under the ultimate authority of the Forge Master of the watch fortress.Chainswords, Power Axes, bolters, Drop Pods, tanks, Thunderfire Cannons, and all of the tools of the Adeptus Astartes are held here; their war-like Machine Spirits soothed by the buzz of servitors and the touch of sacred oils until they are needed. There also are billions of rounds, charges, and cylinders of ammunition from the simplest Laspack to the massive grav-stabilised macro-shells fired by the fortress' main batteries.In the deepest reaches of the Armouries, curled in waiting sleep, are the venerated Ancients of the Deathwatch. Those who have been grievously injured in serving with the Deathwatch may, with the blessing of his parent Chapter, be granted the honour of being installed in the cyborganic web of an armoured sarcophagus so that in times of great need they may once again serve alongside their battle-brothers as a Deathwatch Dreadnought.There are believed to be three such ancient Deathwatch Dreadnoughts currently dormant within the armouries of Watch Fortress Erioch, though they have not been awakened to war in over a Terran century. Only the Forge Master knows the truth of their number and state.Many of the most exotic and potent weapons of the fortress, however, are held within sealed vaults deep within the watch fortress, accessible only to those who bear the secret of their opening. Some vaults only open to members of a particular Chapter or those who bear the gene-seed of a particular primarch, being gifted or left in trust by one of that Chapter's number. Others only open to particular members of the Inquisition or Adeptus Mechanicus.Most secret of all are the terrible devices kept in the outer catacombs of the Omega Vault, the great sealed chamber at the heart of Watch Fortress Erioch. Such weapons include Vortex Torrent Imploder Charges, dread canisters of the Life-eater virus, and the imprisoned Nightmare Childe. These weapons are only yielded one at a time and by the will of the systems that lie at the centre of the Omega Vault's many chambers, watching and waiting for the future. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Defences and Void Docks: The exterior of Watch Fortress Erioch bristles with weaponry. Its sides are studded with the maws of Macrocannons, missile clusters, Thunderhawk launch bays, and Plasma Mortars, while the spires that rise from its surface are serrated with hundreds of Defence Laser cupolas.The watch fortress has firepower enough to vaporise a battleship in a single volley or to shatter a small moon should the need arise from any quarter. Beyond these fearsome weapons, separate defence platforms spin in thruster-corrected orbits, each armed with deadly Lance batteries and torpedo launchers.Additionally, patrols of Defence Monitors roam in the cold void, cutting secret paths through deadly minefields; heavily armed and armoured voidcraft that together are capable of matching the firepower of a capital ship.Watch Fortress Erioch also has extensive void docks in which a dozen Imperial Navy capital ships or Adeptus Astartes battle barges could be docked and resupplied at the same time. However, most vessels that come to the watch fortress are smaller voidships such as the Deathwatch's Rapid Strike Vessels or the occasional voidship bearing a visiting dignitary.Both defences and docks are crewed by legions of Combat Servitors and ratings that are supervised by Human Chapter serfs who are oath-bonded to serve the Deathwatch all their lives. In a crisis, overall command of the watch fortress and its defences is taken by the Master of the Vigil as its presiding castellan. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Chamber of Vigilance: The Chamber of Vigilance is the war council of the Deathwatch in the Jericho Reach. Established by a tradition whose origin is now long forgotten, the primary purpose of the Chamber of Vigilance is to discuss the import of developments in the Jericho Reach and to decide on how the Deathwatch should respond.The reasons for a gathering of the Chamber of Vigilance are many and diverse. Usually, such gatherings are connected to new intelligence on a threat to the Reach, or in response to battlefield reports from Deathwatch Astartes in the field. In recent solar decades, however, the periodic opening of a new portion of the Omega Vault has also caused the Chamber of Vigilance to be gathered with increasing frequency.The Chamber of Vigilance takes its name from the central chamber of Watch Fortress Erioch's primary command level. The Chamber of Vigilance is circular and over two hundred paces wide. Its ceiling is a great dome, in the centre of which is set a circle of armoured crystal that glows in the reflected light of the Erioch System's dying sun.When a gathering is called, braziers burn incense wood in seven niches around the chamber's edge, and Servo-skulls, yellow with age, circle to record every detail of what transpires before them. The floor is black stone inlaid with symbols and words of the Codex Astartes worked in adamantium. The sigil of the Deathwatch rests at the chamber's centre beneath the pale light of the void cast down from the fading star of Erioch's light.There are no chairs in the Chamber of Vigilance; all who gather here stand as a sign that the duty of their Long Watch is unending and without respite. Embedded in the floor and ceiling are null field generators and vox baffles, as well as hololith projectors and sound generators for when information must be displayed to a gathering.The membership of the Chamber of Vigilance is not fixed. The Chamber consists of all senior members of the Deathwatch present at the time of the gathering, plus any members of the Inquisition present at the fortress who may be invited (their presence being at the Master of the Vigil's discretion), or any other servants of the Imperium whose voice and knowledge is important to the Chamber's deliberations.Although the membership of the Chamber of Vigilance shifts and changes, there are two positions that are permanent by tradition: the Master of the Vigil and the Inquisitor of the Chamber. Both must be present in order for a gathering to be called. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - The Master of the Vigil: The Master of the Vigil is a senior member of the Deathwatch stationed at Watch Fortress Erioch, meaning that he is usually, though not always, the watch commander or the ranking watch captain. The bearer of this honour is oath-bound to act as the final arbitrator of decisions made by the Chamber of Vigilance, and also to rule and maintain the watch fortress, watch stations, and the other domains of the Deathwatch within the Jericho Reach.The title of Master of the Vigil is conferred on a battle-brother only by a gathering of the Chamber of Vigilance and confirmed by the missive of the High Lords of Terra. This honour is traditionally borne by an individual for a score of Terran years before it passes to another, unless a time of great crisis or war makes such a shift in leadership unwise for its duration.The Master of the Vigil remains within Watch Fortress Erioch for the duration of his duty, with certain exceptions made under critical circumstances. The Master of the Vigil's only mark of rank is the bearing of a singular heraldic pauldron on his armour, the design being of a gauntleted hand grasping a snarling serpent by its throat. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Inquisitor of the Chamber: The Inquisitor of the Chamber is a member of the Inquisition who, by ancient tradition, represents the interests of the Holy Ordos within the Chamber of Vigilance. This Inquisitor almost always hails from the ranks of the Ordo Xenos, although there have been exceptions made in the past.The Inquisitor of the Chamber is a position of honour and a symbol of the ties between the Deathwatch and the Inquisition in the Jericho Reach. The position and title of Inquisitor of the Chamber is bestowed on an Inquisitor by a conclave of their peers, and remains theirs until they die, choose to relinquish the position, or another is sent to take their place.Part emissary, intermediary, facilitator, and watcher of the watchers, Inquisitors of the Chamber are often chosen for their diplomatic and political skill. Many are also great warriors or scholars of extraordinary erudition. Most have found, however, that being able to speak warrior-to-warrior is often an advantage when dealing with the Deathwatch. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Hall of Glory: The swearing of the Apocryphon Oath, the solemn undertaking by which a battle-brother of the Adeptus Astartes joins the Deathwatch to stand a single vigil of the Long Watch, is a simple affair, but one steeped in tradition.Those supplicants who are judged worthy of assuming their Long Vigil make their Apocryphon Oath and are then led into the Hall of Glory. This vast chamber deep inside Watch Fortress Erioch resembles a cathedral nave, two kilometres in length, a hundred metres wide and half a kilometre high.Its barrel-vaulted ceiling is lost in a smog of incense through which vat-grown cyber-cherubs dart and caper while below, stooped, robed attendants bonded to the watch fortress for countless generations shuffle to and fro in their endless maintenance duties.Countless ragged, battle-scarred banners line the nave, some all but transparent with age and dating back to the earliest days of the Deathwatch's mission. In solemn procession, the battle-brother is led the length of the nave of the Hall of Glory, passing by hundreds of niches set into the walls at every level, from floor to distant ceiling.Eventually, the group halts before an empty niche, and the battle-brother undergoes the transformation into a member of the Deathwatch. With great reverence, the attendants remove his left shoulder plate and the armour of that arm, and it is set upon a stand in the niche. Sometimes, the niche is set into the wall high overhead, in which case the attendants pass the armour to the cyber-cherubs, who bear it aloft on their behalf and place it in the proper position.Next, the attendants bring forth the silvered left arm and shoulder armour of the Deathwatch, and affix it with great care. Lastly, the battle-brother's armour is painted black, the colours of his own Chapter obscured until such time as his Apocryphon Oath is discharged and his Vigil is completed.The battle-brother's armour remains in the Hall of Glory so long as he is standing his Vigil, and often long after. Upon completion of his Vigil, the items of armour are restored to him in a ceremony every bit as solemn as the first.However, the Hall contains far more items than there are battle-brothers serving in the Jericho Reach. Should a battle-brother fall whilst serving the Long Watch, his Chapter is informed, yet his armour remains in the Hall of Glory until such time as that Chapter despatches another to retrieve it.Some never call for the return of the armour, preferring to honour the brother's sacrifice by leaving his armour in its place of glory. Sometimes, the Chapter in question passes from the knowledge of the Imperium. There are said to be items of armour held within the niches of the Hall of Glory belonging to Chapters not heard of in millennia, including such otherwise unheard-of names as the Carcharodons and the Flame Falcons.None can say if any of these items will ever be reclaimed, though from time to time a Black Shield might present himself at the watch fortress, serve a Vigil, and before he departs claim one such set of ancient relics.In addition to the depositing of items of armour, the Hall of Glory maintains a permanent record of each battle-brother who has served a Vigil at Watch Station Erioch. The incense-laden silence of the vast chamber is disturbed only by the cold, echoing ring of chisel on stone as the names of those who serve are carved into the very walls.This task is carried out by a body of specially-grown cyber-cherubs, a hammer grafted onto one arm and a chisel to the other, in place of hands. Any and every inch of free space in the entire hall is used to record the names and the Chapters of those Astartes who serve, creating a mesh of spidery High Gothic type covering every single surface.In recent centuries, these arcane masons have started to utilise the space overhead, carving the names, origins, and deeds of the heroes of the watch fortress into the stone vaults. Of course, most of this text is obscured by the fine fog of incense that gathers under the ceiling, but it matters not, for the names shall endure as long as Watch Fortress Erioch stands vigil over the Jericho Reach. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Outer Wards: The Outer Wards separate the landing cradles and void docks studding the fortress' walls from its interior reaches. The battle-brothers hold that no enemy of the Long Watch has willingly broached these wards, either entering or leaving, in more than two thousand standard years.Some supplicants never pass the wards even on legitimate business lest they become lost in the constantly moving labyrinth. Madness and death await the unworthy, it is said, for only true servants of the Emperor may find a straight path through the Outer Wards. The wards themselves take the form of great moving mazes made of interlocking cog teeth and gear splines.The wards are built on a titanic scale -- a hallway might be the space between teeth on a two-hundred-metre-wide cog, while a bridge over vast gulfs may be the slow-rotating spline of a half-kilometre connecting rod. In some areas gravity is defined by the different components of the maze such that walls might become floors and floors become ceilings within the turn of a corner.Negotiating the wards for the first time takes a good deal of self-discipline and swift thinking as the constantly-changing environment threatens to trap and crush the indecisive. The mere sight of relentlessly narrowing spaces and widening gaps in the wards is apt to induce gibbering panic. The distress this causes in the minds of ordinary Humans is but a fraction of that felt by most xenos.They find the wards a place of unthinkable terror, a man-made hell of grinding iron and fanged steel. The effect is so marked and so universal that it has been speculated that unseen factors are at work, a latent psychic marker generated by the fortress itself or a mnemonic dread generated by the grinding wards that leaves normal Humans and Space Marines untouched.Others maintain that xenos will inevitably be repelled by the boundary of an edifice so utterly dedicated to their ruination and that the wards are themselves only the visible parts of a gigantic mechanism that lies beneath the outermost skin of the fortress, possibly the Omega Vault itself. If such theories hold true the function of the wards as a labyrinth is entirely coincidental to their presence. What purpose this titanic artefact might serve, or whether it is only the remnant of some monumental unfinished project, has never been adequately answered. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Xenos Bestiarium: In the watch fortress' infamous Xenos Bestiarium, captive aliens roar and scream defiance at their pitiless examiners. Their inhuman blasphemies avail them naught as they are relentlessly tested and categorised by the Apothecaria in hundreds of holding cells and examination rooms.From here the most dangerous xenos might be released into the fortress' extensive Hunting Grounds for the Deathwatch to hone their skills against. Discovering effective weapons and techniques to use against the alien menace is ever at the forefront of the Bestiarium's works; study of the alien itself is only undertaken as a byproduct of the quest for a better understanding of how to destroy it.The Xenos Bestiarium occupies the lower thirteen levels of the northern quadrant of the fortress. The areas still in use are stark, brightly-lit corridors studded with observation windows of metre-thick crystal that look into the various cells.By contrast, the many disused sections of the Bestiarium are forlorn, dimly-lit expanses of stained rockcrete cluttered with debris. Here and there shattered observation windows gape, blindly hinting at the violence unleashed by their occupants, while blackened walls recall the righteous fury of the burning promethium unleashed to quell them.The Bestiarium has probably played host to hundreds of thousands of aliens over the millennia. Examples of xenos apprehended anywhere in the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy may be sent here for study and dissection on the order of the Ordo Xenos.Individual Inquisitors sometimes take advantage of the unparalleled knowledge to be found in the Bestiarium in pursuit of their own investigations, whether to arm themselves against a known foe or to trace an elusive xenotype.The fortress-bonded staff of Adeptus Mechanicus Logis and Lexmechanics sift, catalogue and cross-index each examination and every observation with exhausting exactitude. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Holding Cells: The main body of the Bestiarium comprises holding cells subdivided in spectrum-based threat gradations running from ultraviolet to infrared. Xenos requiring complex or specialist environments are most commonly held in stasis shells until required. In many cases, the stasis shells kill as many as they preserve but both living and dead xenos are exhibited without distinction in the Bestiarium.In some cases it has proved difficult to determine whether some aliens are truly alive or dead in the first place. The Bestiarium holds many strange and exotic xenos, from sentiences that exist only in a certain colour range of light, to beings that live their lives in reverse, or ones endlessly transmuting themselves into new and ever-more disturbing forms.Each is thoroughly studied, annotated and categorised so that it can be better destroyed in the future. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Examination Chambers: Different rooms appointed for the examination and dissection of aliens are studded throughout the Xenos Bestiarium. Some take the form of small auditoriums with stepped benches suitable for an audience; others feature unbreakable crystal cages with remotely-controlled manipulators for dealing with xenos prone to noxious effluvia.Most are gloomy, low-ceilinged places reminiscent of an ancient, medieval torture chamber with stained examination blocks and restraints speckled with the patina of rust. Here Servo-skulls and slow-ticking cogitators record every scalpel cut, amputation and injection made in the quest for knowledge.Toxins and viral agents are tested, pain thresholds measured, vital organs and nerve centres located and categorised for lethality of attack. Even the most fearsome alien predator has a weak point somewhere and in the examination chambers that weak point will be revealed. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Zone Magenta: A number of T'au caste members are being held prisoner in Zone Magenta for behavioural studies by the Ordo Xenos. Most of the T'au prisoners have been seized from small colonies cleansed by the Deathwatch but a few are from T'au starships intercepted in transit. A single Ethereal Caste member is being held separately in great secrecy.How the T'au interact without their ruling caste is of equally great interest to both the Deathwatch and the Ordo Xenos. The battle-brothers recognise the strong social structure of the T'au as a long-term threat. Some feel the rigid caste system holds the key to the T'au's undoing.Should the aliens be as reliant as they appear to be on the Ethereal Caste to smooth out the endless quarreling and rivalry between the castes, a targeted assassination campaign could be of great value in the future.A complex experiment has recently been set in motion by Inquisitor Adrielle Quist utilising a handful of Fire Caste warriors taken from the Forest World of Baraban. The Fire Caste T'au were afflicted by the so-called "Dream of Unity" by ancient xeno-tech traps on that world. This singular delusion has caused them to believe that anyone they encounter is a trusted member of the T'au Empire.Inquisitor Quist has taken full advantage of this to convince the Fire Warriors of her status as an important Gue'la liaison -- a Human who has chosen to betray the Imperium to serve the Greater Good.Quist has convinced the Fire Warriors that the other T'au prisoners held at Erioch are dissidents that refuse to accept that there is now peace between the T'au Empire and the Imperium.Apparently she plans to find out how quickly and heavily the Fire Caste will resort to outright oppression to enforce their point of view. Such cat-and-mouse games have drawn criticism from some of the Deathwatch battle-brothers, but most have kept their silence thus far. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Zone Violet: Hive Fleet Dagon Vanguard: Zone Violet is locked under maximum security. Gun Servitors are stationed in every hallway and kill-teams are kept on stand-by in a state of constant readiness. The xenos sealed within these cells could potentially compromise the entire fortress were they to breach containment.Tyranid vanguard organisms lurk here, nightmarish monsters taken at the most fantastic risk from the forefront of the splinter hive fleet now designated Hive Fleet Dagon. Tracing the original gene strain of an invading Tyranid hive fleet has proven invaluable in previous campaigns. It provides a way to track the vagaries of the rapidly-mutating hive genus and find new vulnerabilities.The Deathwatch relentlessly hunt down vanguard organisms like Genestealers and Lictors where they can, as these creatures are the ones most likely to carry the Tyranids' core genetic code. Capturing Tyranids is challenging work for even the most experienced battle-brothers, and such operations have cost many Astartes lives. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Catacombs: The Catacombs run throughout the lower reaches of the fortress, twisting runs of low, narrow tunnels that were perhaps once used for ducting and maintenance. Over the centuries they have been gradually converted into repositories for accumulated xenos lore.Here great tomes of dusty learning lie beside vivisected specimens and forbidden bestiaries, all sealed by eternal guards of adamantium and wards of stasis against the dark day when such foes might rise again.Over the centuries many Inquisitors have added their own burdens of dread knowledge to the musty passages beneath the fortress, leaving xenos artefacts and soul-shrivelling texts that they have decreed must be ever hidden from the gaze of man.Deathwatch Keepers bar access to the catacombs to anyone lacking permission from the Master of the Vigil, though such is rarely denied to a petitioner who can cite clear reasons. The catacombs represent a great storehouse of knowledge about the enemies of Mankind, but finding any specific information amongst the teetering data stacks can be a challenge.Stories persist of escaped xenos from the Bestiarium inhabiting the catacombs, but any member of the Deathwatch can dispel that myth. It is true there have been a few unfortunate incidents in the past, including a nasty bore-worm outbreak and a Quozikian hatchling or two, but escapees from the Bestiarium never get as far as the catacombs.Unfortunately it does seem that certain xenos artefacts and alien young can be hard to tell apart sometimes. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Quarantine Zones: Certain areas of the Catacombs have been declared as Quarantine Zones. Here the xenos taint is so powerful that only an armoured battle-brother may enter, and even then at some risk. Some of the Quarantine Zones are bathed in unknown radiation or subject to unpredictable temporal effects due to unstable xenos artefacts.Others are infected by alien organisms so virulent that they cannot be truly destroyed, only contained. It is rumored that some of the Quarantine Zones actually contain alien dimensional gate technology of one kind or another -- Aeldari Webway portals or smaller examples of the Jericho-Maw Warp Gate.If so, these locations would create a dire threat to the fortress' security in the wrong hands and must be heavily protected. On this matter, as with many other secrets of the fortress, the Deathwatch battle-brothers remain tight-lipped. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Great Ossuaries: The Great Ossuaries are a staggering testimonial to the Vigil of the Deathwatch onboard Watch Fortress Erioch. The high-arched, oval tunnels that make up the majority of the Ossuaries are lined on walls, floors and ceilings with the countless polished bones, teeth and claws of slain aliens.Some fragments may be inscribed with details of a xenos type or who slew it and when, but most lie bare and unadorned in mute witness to the passing of their owners. Looping corridors connect a handful of larger sepulchres that display the bones of truly gargantuan monstrosities too big to fit elsewhere.Other macabre decorations can be found in these places too, chandeliers made of alien skulls and spines hang beside fluted pillars of chitin and bone. Tattered sheets of xenos hide hang like banners beside intricate mosaics of calcified shell. Centuries of accumulated slaughter have covered many kilometres of corridor already and the work is ever-expanding.Any battle-brother is free to contribute to the Ossuaries and this practice becomes a source of great rivalry for some battle-brothers while drawing scorn from others in equal measure. The Master of the Vigil has final say in such matters and some take a dim view of such self-glorification. In the past, Masters have closed the Ossuaries for lengthy periods to curb the hubris they felt was being promoted by excessive trophy-hunting.Nonetheless, if questioned, long-serving battle-brothers will recall places where the corridors were once much wider before the passing years brought their own drifts of xenos bones to clothe the walls. Most Space Marines of the Deathwatch find the Great Ossuaries to be a deeply spiritual, even meditative place. Here they may stand amongst the works of the brothers that came before them and rejoice in their triumph over the alien.New arrivals to the fortress will commonly be invited to tour the Ossuaries to gain some silent measure of the enormity of the task the Deathwatch performs and their part in the Long Vigil. Ordinary Humans visited with this honour tend to find a trip through the Ossuaries a strangely oppressive, frightening experience for all its dark wonder.Space Marines know no fear, but the bonded mortal serfs of the fortress avoid going into the Ossuaries at all if they can. Cleaning and maintenance is undertaken by mono-task Servitors shuffling along pre-set routines. The dusty husks of failed Servitors lie undisturbed in some halls, victims of a subtle jinxing effect that seems to persist despite the unguents and imprecations of the fortress' Tech-priests.Perhaps it is no wonder that the Ossuaries are rumoured to be cursed by unquiet alien spirits. Millions must rest in the corridors and sepulchres of the Great Ossuaries, perhaps billions, unified in death. Entire alien species obliterated by the Deathwatch at the command of the Ordo Xenos line the walls, and are ground beneath the armoured boots of their slayers where they line the floors.Those touched with psychic awareness report that the Ossuaries hold a miasma of pain and impotent rage, its bone-ribbed corridors echoing with a psychic babble of alien pleas, curses and prayers in forgotten tongues. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Hunting Grounds: The Hunting Grounds have gradually grown to fill multiple levels of the fortress, forming an ever-more-important part of the Deathwatch training and devotion facilities at Erioch. Their construction was first begun some four Terran centuries ago at the instigation of Watch Captain Prascus.Prascus had perceived a certain lack of readiness in kill-teams being sent into the field because they lacked sufficient opportunity to train together in varied environments. By the nature of its work a kill-team might find itself fighting in scorching deserts one day and reeking jungles the next.Equally they might have crushing gravity, hard vacuum, toxic atmospheres or a thousand other exotic environmental challenges to overcome with little preparation. The transitions were sometimes difficult for newly arrived battle-brothers working together for the first time, and clearly it incurred unnecessary difficulties and even casualties.It was a tricky matter to address among proud warriors of a dozen different backgrounds, each feeling they bore the honour of their own Chapter on their shoulders. Some Watch Captains would have tackled the issue head-on and called upon the battle-brothers to remember their duty and their oaths to strive harder, but Prascus knew that such a course could sow the seeds of later acrimony.So Prascus decided it would impugn no one's honour for a lack of preparedness if he instead chose to celebrate the hunting traditions of some of his battle-brothers. He had a number of large cargo bays converted into facsimiles of rugged planetary environments and took to leading hunts through them against dangerous xenos released from the Bestiarium.Thus, under the guise of sport and honour, Prascus trained his teams to hunt together with practiced zeal through frozen hells, fiery deserts and high waters equally well.Long after Prascus' tenure as Watch Captain had passed, the Hunting Grounds remained in operation, falling into disuse for a few solar decades at a time before being reopened again. Later Watch Commanders of the fortress have expanded the grounds further, sometimes with sections mimicking the environments of their own homeworlds or, increasingly, depicting worlds from the Jericho Reach.Master of the Vigil Jarrax of the Black Templars ordered gigantic sealed vessels to be built so that the battle-brothers could practice their arts under every conceivable trial of the void. The towering vaults he created can be configured using the fortress' technology to mimic any environment from the vacuum of the void to the crushing pressure of a gas giant.Watch Captain Madsen caused several vessels to be modified by having ship corridors and xenos labyrinths painstakingly recreated for the exercise of kill-team close assault tactics. Jarrax's Eyrie, a 3,800-metre-high vertical vessel, has so far been kept empty for the exercise of zero-G and terminal velocity combat techniques.Within the last standard century the Hunting Grounds have become fully integrated into Deathwatch training dogma at Watch Fortress Erioch and expanded even further. Vast halls have been re-configured into exact replicas of the native environments of selected xenos species.Here Deathwatch battle-brothers stalk nightmarish aliens beneath holographic skies to learn of their tricks and traps in their native realms. In such places the battle-brothers can truly hone their skills as they await the call to battle. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Inquisitorial Enclave: Watch Fortress Erioch holds a sizeable and well-established Inquisitorial Enclave centred around the jutting, blade-like spire called the Tower of Brass. The archaic palatial suites to be found there have seen little use over the millennia of the Long Watch save for the residence of the Inquisitor of the Chamber and occasional visits from other members of the Ordo Xenos going about their work.As with so many other places in the fortress, the Inquisitorial Enclave seems almost too expansive and well-appointed for its current use. It seems as if the true purpose of the place is either long past or yet to come, and its current occupants merely the latest caretakers in a long and dusty line stretching back into lost antiquity.The permanent residence of the Inquisitor of the Chamber fills barely a fifth of the tower, centred as it is about an ancient cogitator memory core believed to hold details of Ordo Xenos activities in the Jericho Reach pre-dating the ancient Jericho Sector's Age of Shadow.As with her predecessors, the current Inquisitor of the Chamber, Hezika Carmillus, spends much of her free time picking through the old reports when not involved in more pressing matters. All too often clues to current events can be found mouldering in matters rooted in the past.The vaulted doors into the Tower of Brass have remained unchanged over the millennia, inscribed with the catechism of hate: The Mark of the Xenos. However, the guard stationed outside them changes as the title Inquisitor of the Chamber changes bearers.The size and nature of an Inquisitor's sentry force is indicative of the resident of the gleaming edifice. In keeping with her violent and martial nature, Carmillus herself keeps no guard at all: a message that she can face any threat on her own.Carmillus generally prefers to keep her retinue small and her acolytes in the field with them only returning to the fortress to report and rearm before returning to the fray. A considerable body of Inquisition serfs and retainers maintains the tower itself in an effort to make it habitable, but their earnest efforts are dwarfed by the sheer enormity of the task.The patina of age has crept over everything in the tower down the long ages, lending the place a haunting air of faded grandeur. The servants have to content themselves with keeping certain suites or chambers heated and lit as befits Human needs while hurrying through the cold, empty hallways left in between.Recently the opening of the Warp Gate between the Jericho Reach and the Calixis Sector has brought a great many more visitors to the lonely fortress than it has seen in centuries. Now the Inquisitorial Enclave and the Tower of Brass have become the most populous area of the whole fortress.Between the comings and goings of Inquisitors and their retinues, the Servitors, the slaves, the hostages and the prisoners of the Ordo Xenos, the vast halls of the Tower of Brass can appear almost bustling, filled with light and the sound of Human voices. This is an illusion, however, as once outside the immediate confines of the Inquisitorial Enclave the oppressive silence and crushing enormity of the fortress reassert themselves once more.In the Tower of Brass the increasing focus on Erioch has caused friction amongst the Inquisitors themselves. Such powerful and dynamic individuals as Inquisitors are apt to clash over matters of priority or probity, and now Watch Fortress Erioch plays host to some individuals with surprisingly bitter rivalries.In shadowy corridors and darkened halls of the Inquisitorial Enclave many whispered meetings are held to advance or frustrate different political agendas. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Shrine of Saint Aret the Lethecant: Hidden in a forgotten vestibule deep within the bowels of the fortress there lies an incongruous edifice. A beautiful Imperial Cult shrine can be found there, decked out in the full, rich panoply beloved of the Adeptus Ministorum.Intricate stained glass windows tower over an octagonal dais of gold-veined white marble at the centre of the shrine. A heroically-proportioned statue of an Imperial warrior carved from alabaster occupies the centre of the dais and its incredible antiquity can be only be guessed at.The High Gothic psalms graven into the walls of the shrine give no hint of whom it was built to honour. Time has blurred the details of the once-masterful carving, its face and one upraised arm have been obliterated by some past violence and yet it retains a haunting air of nobility and purpose.Over the past few solar decades, those arriving at Erioch from the Calixis Sector have come to associate the shrine with Saint Aret the Lethecant, sovereign guardian of that which should not be remembered. A scattering of purged data-slates and cracked library crystals can sometimes be found left as offerings to the saint to call on his assistance in expunging memories of the past.The longer-serving battle-brothers on the fortress know that the shrine long pre-dates the beatification of Saint Aret by the Ecclesiarchy. It is thought it most likely portrays a hero of the Ecclesiarchy long-forgotten by his fellow priests but still honoured by the Deathwatch for his works at their side. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Omega Vault: The Omega Vault is a sealed series of ancient engines, catacombs, and chambers that sits at the heart of Watch Fortress Erioch. The Omega Vault has been part of the watch fortress since it was established in the Jericho Reach, though what it contains at its centre remains unknown to any now living.The vault itself is a broadly cylindrical portion of the watch fortress that spans many levels running through its core. There is only one entrance into the Omega Vault; a single door forty paces high. The door is sealed and armoured by layered Void Shields and adamantine plating as thick as an Imperial warship's prow.Engraved upon it are the symbols of the Deathwatch and the elder Terran rune "Omega," surrounding an image of the Emperor strangling a coiling serpent. Above these great doors are words in High Gothic that read, "And The Last Fortress Is Truth." Each battle-brother freshly stationed at the watch fortress is brought before these words to take his Oath of Vigil.No living being can open the doors of the Vault; they open themselves at the command of mysterious ancient devices at the heart of the Vault itself. Those who have been inside pass along corridors and down spiralling stairs lined with catacomb subvaults, each barred with its own blast door and surrounded with dust-dry parchment fragments and archaic marks etched in silver.Through each door awaits a secret of the Omega Vault held in an armoured chamber, each protected by powerful automated defences and locks of unfathomable complexity. The Omega Vault is known to yield up a portion of its cryptic artefacts and information in direct response to events unfolding within the Jericho Reach.There is also evidence that the central data-reservoir of Watch Fortress Erioch is bound to something deep within the Omega Vault. The Vault has, on occasion, responded to new information sent in from watch stations or operational reports from Deathwatch missions by revealing a portion of what was placed within it many millennia ago.However, this process remains fraught with mystery, particularly as to whether the Vault's actions are based entirely on a pre-ordained sequence or are at least partly reactive in nature. Perhaps most tellingly, there are numerous events of great import that have transpired in the Jericho Reach and failed to trigger any response from the Vault.Most recently, for example, there was the incursion of the Tyranid threat into the Orpheus Salient of the Achilus Crusade. So far, this event has drawn no response from the Vault, although specific dangers since, caused by the Tyranids, have triggered activity within the Omega Vault. It is an enigma that continues to trouble the thoughts of Deathwatch Space Marines and Inquisitors alike.Only one chamber has ever been discovered and unlocked each time the Omega Vault has opened itself. Once whatever waits in the open chamber has been removed, the Vault seals itself again, sounding a sonorous bell to warn of its closure and of the fatal consequences that follow should anyone tarry overlong.In the past, the Vault has provided tomes of archaic lore, strange fragments of alien devices, ancient weapons forged in times long gone, world-slaying virus canisters, enigmatic star charts, and bizarre xenological specimens. On one occasion, its gift was an ancient Astropath held in a stasis field. When awoken, the Astropath sent one brief astropathic message and spoke two words before expiring from extreme old age, his final duty discharged.At the centre of the Omega Vault lies another, inner vault: a secret of secrets, bound with scores of locking mechanisms which have slowly opened themselves, one-by-one, down the centuries. The Chamber of Vigilance believes that sealed within this chamber is the final truth and, perhaps, the last weapon the Deathwatch will have need for in the Jericho Reach.What plan or pattern ordained in the ancient past may have necessitated the construction of the Omega Vault -- and what hands constructed it -- remains a mystery many have pondered. Further riddles are posed by the seemingly precognitive abilities and resources required to create such a Vault.What is without doubt is that the creators of the Omega Vault were Human, a truth evident not only from the elements of its design, but a further significant detail.Contained within the Vault's air is an appallingly powerful synthetic pathogen that is entirely inert outside the Omega Vault's walls. This pathogen is an ancient and un-replicable biological weapon, utterly lethal to all kinds of life save one: Mankind.What is certain is that the Chamber of Vigilance has a duty to protect the Omega Vault and to use and follow what information it yields in the Imperium's defence as they judge fit. It is a duty they have had to discharge with greater frequency in the solar decades since the Jericho Reach's Jericho-Maw Warp Gate opened and the beginning of the Achilus Crusade in 777.M41. Now, only a handful of locks remain closed on the innermost vault. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Command: Mordigael, Watch Commander and Master of the Vigil - Watch Commander Mordigael is a quick and decisive commander of men with a natural charisma bound to a terrifying skill in battle. A Blood Angel by origin, Mordigael is a paragon of the qualities and traditions of his Chapter. His features are sharp and handsome, as if cut from the pale stone statue of an Imperial Saint, while his eyes burn with almost feverish intensity. He delights in the perfection of all his undertakings, from practice in the martial disciplines to the contemplation on the future implications of all things of note that bear on his sacred duty. For over five Terran centuries, Mordigael has served his Emperor and his Chapter; on three occasions, he has taken up the duty of serving in the Deathwatch. One of these past terms of service was in the Jericho Reach itself. Mordigael's current Vigil has lasted over five solar decades, and has seen him achieve the honour of being named Master of the Vigil a little more than a decade ago. During this time, Mordigael has seen things change within the Jericho Reach; the implications of the opening of the Warp Gate to the Calixis Sector have affected everything. The launching of the Achilus Crusade concerns him greatly, as he sees the possibility of a greater disaster being created from a war prosecuted through ignorance and arrogance. He sees the encroaching threat of the Tyranids in much the same light, quite apart from the terrible danger they represent in themselves. On more than one occasion, the Master of the Vigil has had to remind Lord Militant Solomon Tetrarchus that the Deathwatch is not beholden to the needs of his crusade.Axineton, Deathwatch Epistolary - Epistolary Axineton is a Librarian of the White Consuls Chapter who has only recently come to serve in the Jericho Reach. Lean-featured, dark-haired, and possessing a grimly superior demeanour, Axineton is caustic and blunt to his peers. Never does he allow a flaw that he perceives in another to rest unmentioned, nor a failing go unpunished, and his manner has created a reputation for sneering arrogance and pedantry among some of his battle-brothers. Despite this, he is a warrior of unquestionable ability and a psyker of great power; a power that he can wield with the subtlety of a torturer's razor or the brute force of an executioner's axe. As a past veteran of war against the Tyranid menace, he has already provided valuable insight for his peers. Axineton has been fascinated by the secret nature of the Deathwatch's mission in the Jericho Reach since learning of it, and his hungry mind has devoured all he can of the lore and history of the Omega Vault. He is a constant, but often silent, presence during gatherings of the Chamber of Vigilance, sometimes speaking only to condemn.Harl Greyweaver, Deathwatch Forge Master - This Space Wolves Iron Priest has been the Forge Master of Watch Fortress Erioch since his predecessor answered a summons to serve the Achilus Crusade a solar decade ago. While the influence of Greyweaver's time in the unorthodox halls of the Deathwatch shows in his Servoharness and other small deviations from the traditions of the Isles of Iron on Fenris, he is not as vigorous an adherent to the teachings of Mars as many of the Deathwatch Techmarines who serve under him might wish. The Iron Priest has adorned most of the fortress' major workshops with icons of the Iron Wolf, and rivers of molten metal flow through his domain deep in the heart of Watch Fortress Erioch. He is notoriously intolerant of other Chapters' brands of tech-craft, but his efficacy in conjuring the tools of war is so great that no one has yet been able to oust him. His fervent hatred of alien technology puts him at frequent odds with the Crucible Resolviate and Inquisitor Quist. Every piece of xenotech adopted into the Deathwatch arsenal since his arrival has been done so only grudgingly. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Watch Captains: Marius Avincus, Deathwatch Watch Captain - Captain Avincus of the Ultramarines Chapter hails from a noble family on the world of Prandium in the Realm of Ultramar. He was recruited alongside his twin brother Gnaeus into the Ultramarines, where the twins served together for centuries. After more than three hundred standard years in service to the Ultramarines, the brothers faced a horror the likes of which none could imagine -- the Tyranids attacked Prandium. Gnaeus was slain, crushed by a Carnifex. Avincus was furious at what the Tyranids had done, and he was given the opportunity to strike back against them during the Battle of Macragge, where he fought valiantly amongst the Astartes of the 3rd Company, seeing many of his battle-brothers slain during the brutal tunnel fighting. He was amongst those survivors who were chosen to join the 1st Company as one of Chaplain Ortan Cassius' Tyrannic War Veterans. Twelve Terran years later, he was nominated for service with the Deathwatch, and he gladly swore the Apocryphon Oath in order to share his experiences with those outside the Ultramarines, to give them a fighting chance should the Tyranids return.Tarran Cearr, Watch Captain - Tarran Cearr is an Astartes of the Storm Wardens Chapter and a Watch Captain currently serving the Long Watch with the Deathwatch at Watch Fortress Erioch in the Jericho Reach. Cearr is an outgoing man whose brand of camaraderie involves a scathing wit that spares no one, and he has challenged nearly every battle-brother on Erioch to a friendly duel at least once. The exception to his good nature is Watch Captain Servais. The two have clashed time and again on matters of strategy, philosophy, and personality. The diametric opposition of their approaches to combat has been a wedge between the two ever since the Raven Guard warrior arrived in the Jericho Reach. While Tarran serves the mission of the Deathwatch with utmost gravity, he sees no reason not to use the assignment to further the interests of the Storm Wardens during his term of service. Despite the Inquisitorial sanction, he possesses a burning drive to discover the truth behind the Nemesis Incident. He believes that it holds the key to the return of the Storm Wardens' original 1st Company. No one has read the Liber Tempest more than Tarran; he is always keen to volunteer himself and those under his command for any mission that might involve the Warp entities known as Enslavers and he frequently probes Ordo Xenos representatives for any information they might have on the topic.Brand Mac Lir, Watch Captain - Brand Mac Lir hailed originally from the Storm Wardens Chapter where he won fame during the Cleansing of Vigil. His experiences fighting the foul Slaugth kindled a desire in him to join the Deathwatch. His keen fervour and veteran tactical skills saw quick promotion for Brand -- by his third deployment, he led a kill-team, and was elected Watch Captain on his ninth Vigil. Brand can be a cautious leader at times because he is always wary of the tricks and traps of the enemy, but once battle is joined he is as ferocious and direct as any Space Marine. Brand's Sacris Claymore Morwenna has reaped a tremendous toll of alien blood and ichor in deadly hand-to-hand combat.Prascus, Watch Captain - Captain Prascus of the Ultramarines Chapter is best remembered for building the first hunting grounds on Watch Fortress Erioch four hundred standard years ago. He became renowned for his skills in the selection and deployment of kill-teams and is fondly remembered by the venerable Battle-Brother Arius Hyzeron. Arius can tell many tales of how Prascus' teams somehow always balanced their members to create a dynamism that proved nigh unstoppable. Current Watch Commanders still use the term "Prascus Pair" to refer to a team of two Deathwatch battle-brothers who operate well together despite their differences.Ramiel, Watch Captain - Captain Ramiel of the Dark Angels Chapter is currently serving the Long Vigil with the Deathwatch. Though he first volunteered for the duty, in truth, he had a hidden agenda in doing so, although his passion for smiting xenos was truly remarkable. Over a number of solar decades, Ramiel has pursued a Fallen who had presumably joined the Deathwatch under the guise of a Black Shield. For decades thereafter, Ramiel has spent years secretly investigating Watch Fortress Erioch's Deathwatch Chaplain Titus Strome, a former Black Shield of unknown provenance. Unable to confront Strome directly, he arranged for his gene-seed to be tested. However, before the matter could be resolved, Ramiel was called upon to lead a kill-team on a special mission. Ramiel and his team disappeared after they were sent to re-establish contact with Watch Station Midael. No trace of them has been found since. Midael remains out of contact with the Deathwatch to this day and the secrets it might hold are still shrouded.Andar Scarion, Watch Captain - Andar Scarion is a member of the Astral Claws Space Marine Chapter who was seconded to the Jericho Reach to serve in the Deathwatch. His arrival was the cause of much controversy due to his Chapter's questionable actions in the solar decades before the outbreak of the Badab War. Nevertheless, Scarion was allowed to commence his Vigil with the Deathwatch and served for over five decades with honour, achieving the rank of Watch Captain. Like his Chapter Master Lufgt Huron, Scarion is a proud and ruthless warrior with a keen grasp of strategy and military politics, and has proven himself to be a valuable asset in liaising with the Achilus Crusade's officers. He expects the kill-teams under his command to perform to the most exacting of standards and does not tolerate laxity, weakness or failure. As is common to many of his Chapter, Scarion regards non-Astartes mortals with a mixture of scorn and pity, holding that the Astartes ideal is fundamentally superior to the frailty of the common run of Humanity. He masks this arrogance well when political goals require it, but discards the façade when amongst other Astartes, seeing little issue with collateral damage amongst Human allies whom he regards as inherently expendable.Servais, Watch Captain - Servais of the Raven Guard Chapter has been a part of the Deathwatch less than a Terran year. A master sniper and infiltrator, he and the kill-teams under his auspices are frequently called on to perform or consult in targeted assassinations. His quiet, calculating mannerisms have isolated him from some of his battle-brothers, although he has never refused training to anyone who sought it from him. Servais speaks quietly, and prefers to analyze and evaluate before striking. Tarran Cearr's dislike of his tactics is entirely reciprocated, and the sniper constantly seeks to prove that forethought triumphs over frenzy. Servais can be difficult to get to know, but is intensely loyal to Watch Commander Mordigael, and indeed anyone -- Space Marine or not -- that makes the effort to pierce his withdrawn exterior.Kail Vibius, Watch Captain - Kail Vibius is a Marines Errant battle-brother who serves as a Watch Captain of the Deathwatch. Vibius has a burning desire for vengeance against xenos, which has marked him out even amongst the alien-hunters of the Deathwatch. During the Corinth Crusade, Vibius and a squad of his fellow Marines Errant were captured by the vile Drukhari and taken into the Webway to the dark realm of Commorragh. Surviving the cruel treatment at the hands of his xenos captors, Vibius bided his time until he was able to seize the opportunity to escape, leading a slave revolt against his surprised masters. Eventually the Space Marines fought their way to freedom and returned to the Imperium. Vibius was nominated for the honour of representing his Chapter in the Deathwatch, and rose swiftly through the ranks until he led his own kill-team. When his former commander, Captain Bron of the Dark Sons Chapter, was mortally wounded, he recommended Vibius be promoted to the rank of Watch Captain in his stead, a role he has held ever since. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Specialists: Attalus Fellhand, Deathwatch Champion - Attalus Fellhand is another recent arrival to Watch Fortress Erioch in the Jericho Reach. Attalus has won renown as a great slayer of Orks amongst his battle-brothers in the Space Wolves Chapter -- a tremendous accolade in a Chapter so well-known for its fierce love of hand-to-hand combat. He has been sent from the Space Wolves Great Company currently serving in the Orpheus Salient to learn the ways of Tyranid fighting at Watch Fortress Erioch so that he can return and teach them to his battle-brothers. In truth, Attalus makes a poor student and a worse teacher, a fact he is painfully aware of and deeply worried about. Attalus covers his fear of failure with brash antagonism, much preferring to work out his frustrations in duels or challenges. He has gained a reputation for impulsiveness and disorderly conduct that has strained the nerves of the Chamber of Vigilance more than once. Unsurprisingly, Deathwatch Forge Master Harl Greyweaver is vociferous in support of his Chapter brother. Greyweaver insists that the "young-pup," as he calls him, will shape up with time. Watch Commander Mordigael has struck a balance by assigning Attalus just about any Deathwatch mission involving even a scent of Tyranids. It is hoped that Attalus will be more successful at learning by doing in the company of Deathwatch Veteran battle-brothers knowledgeable in the ways of the Tyranid. As a side effect, the policy serves to keep the troublesome Attalus away from the fortress for lengthy periods of time.Goremann the Elder, Deathwatch Dreadnought - Goremann is a celebrated Veteran of the Crimson Fists Chapter who served honourably in the Deathwatch on fifteen occasions prior to his installation into a Dreadnought body. Goremann's craft and cunning as an Ork fighter were legendary and it is said that at the Battle of Urkano Rift even the Orks chanted Goremann's name to honour him after he slew their Warboss in single combat. During Goremann's last Vigil five standard centuries ago (ca. 300.M41), he suffered mortal wounds and at his request the Deathwatch petitioned the Crimson Fists for his remains to be kept at Watch Fortress Erioch in the Jericho Reach. Now he rests in the cyborganic web of an armoured sarcophagus so that in time of need he can fight alongside his battle-brothers once more. Goremann's favoured Dreadnought armour is the war machine called Furiuosa Rex which is outfitted with twin Power Fists and underslung Flamers. In battle, Goremann's devastating charge can level a horde of lesser foes, crushing them beneath a terrifying avalanche of adamantium fists and steel limbs. Thankfully, such heavyweight support is seldom required in the field and Goremann's experience more often serves the Deathwatch in tactical analyses and threat assessments. In truth, the old warrior chafes at such mundane work and will seize on any opportunity to see action one more time.Arius Hyzeron, Deathwatch Keeper - Arius Hyzeron, a Veteran of the Ultramarines, has been on Watch Station Erioch longer than any other battle-brother. He has served as one of the ten Guardians of the Chamber of Vigilance for over two Terran centuries. Although no one is left who can confirm or deny it, it is said that Sergeant Varthion himself recommended Arius to his current post for his role in the famous defence of the Jericho Reach Warp Gate. This places Arius in the Jericho Reach over four hundred standard years ago. He has seen the arrival of many new alien threats since that time. Arius is gifted with his Chapter's charisma, and has forged bonds with many people on Erioch over his years there -- even the stubborn Forge Master Greyweaver. He has an easy smile, although his face is marred by a triumvirate of parallel scars that cross over his augmetic left eye. He is also a repository of speculation and past tales of the Omega Vault. This makes him of great interest to Epistolary Axineton.Septimus, Deathwatch Apothecary - Septimus is an Apothecary of the Angels of Absolution Chapter who is currently seconded to the Deathwatch. He has sworn to travel the void on secret missions without hope of help or succour from his Chapter. He arrived at Watch Fortress Erioch in the Jericho Reach on the heels of the Achilus Crusade in the entourage of Rogue Trader Diaz Lian, although it is unclear whether he came aboard a starship that traversed the Warp Gate from the Calixis Sector or was already present in the Jericho Reach. Though Septimus originated with the Angels of Absolution, he has not stood shoulder-to-shoulder with his battle-brothers in many Terran years. He is a highly skilled Apothecary with experience with a wide variety of gene-seed through his duties within the Deathwatch. He is known to be unusual amongst his battle-brothers for he is carefree and charismatic, even partial to the occasional joke. He is always willing to don his battle-plate and enter battle to assist his brothers, although his seemingly-friendly offer may hide a secret agenda of its own. What mission brought Septimus across the stars to Watch Fortress Erioch remains unknown. Upon his arrival he expected to find Watch Captain Ramiel at Erioch and in his absence he has remained to investigate the Captain's disappearance at Watch Station Midael.Titus Strome, Deathwatch Chaplain - Titus Strome embodies everything Watch Fortress Erioch stands for: unrelenting duty, unshakeable faith and an abiding hatred of all things alien. Like the fortress itself, Strome also has many secrets. Strome first came to Erioch as a Black Shield, his past history and Chapter expunged. From the outset, he made his every moment serve his duty to the Deathwatch, throwing himself into a cycle of training, fasting and prayer that caused some battle-brothers to question his sanity. Strome's readiness was truly tested in his very first deployment when his kill-team was caught in a xenos Heretek ambush on Meniscus. Battle-Brother Zarkus, the team-leader, was killed outright and every other member seriously wounded in the opening salvoes of the engagement. Despite his injuries, Strome protected the survivors by making a ferocious single-handed counterattack that destroyed the Hereteks' weapon-nest and scattered its crew. After extraction, Strome's armour was found to have sustained over two hundred impact hits during the battle, fully a third of which had pierced the Ceramite and drawn blood. Even Space Marines are not immortal, and their gene-enhanced metabolisms can only survive so much harm. The Apothecaries did not expect Strome to live through such injuries and the Deathwatch Chaplain was called to give final unction. It was at this time, according to Strome, that his path became clear to him. The quiet strength and unwavering sense of righteousness of the Chaplain kindled within him a lust for life that returned him from the brink of death. Slowly, painfully, Strome recovered from his injuries and pushed against the limits of his endurance. As soon as he became fit for duty, Strome sought apprenticeship with the Chaplains and was accepted as an Acolyte. For many years Strome served under different Chaplains, being in effect reduced to a mere Novice learning catechisms and legends of the Long Vigil. He applied himself to every trial with fervour, winning the approval of every one of his masters before he was finally inducted into their ranks. When seen without the silvered death mask of a Chaplain, Strome's face is thin and aesthetic, his eyes lighting with fanatic fervour whenever talk turns to xenos. Despite his cadaverous appearance, Strome is a masterful close-combat fighter capable of trading blows with an Ork Warboss or overthrowing a Carnifex -- just two of the feats to be found in his long list of battle honours.Mac Zi Ven, Deathwatch Techmarine - Mac Zi Ven is a Techmarine of the Storm Wardens Space Marine Chapter and a devotee of the Cult Mechanicus who has shown the touch of a true master in the arts of technomancy. His humble beginnings amongst the warrior tribes of Sacris led him to view technology as truly touched with divinity. In the ranks of the Storm Wardens it soon became clear that Mac Zi was gifted and he was quickly raised to the rank of Techmarine. Some of his battle-brothers mutter that Mac Zi shows more respect to the Red Priests of Mars than to his own Chapter, but Mac Zi's contributions of finely-crafted weapons and armour win him many friends. Mac Zi volunteered for the Deathwatch to satisfy his growing hunger for knowledge. Now in the foundries and catacombs of Watch Fortress Erioch he has access to a vast repository of data about both Human and alien devices. He secretly views xeno-tech as only another tool for glorifying the Omnissiah, believing that any science can be turned to Mankind's service once it is properly understood. Mac Zi has come to despise Harl Greyweaver for the old Iron Priest's disrespect of the Machine God and narrow-mindedness. If Greyweaver should somehow lose his position as Forge Master of Erioch, Mac Zi would be ready and willing to take his place.Vigilant, Deathwatch Chaplain - The Deathwatch Black Shield known as Brother Vigilant arrived in the final hours of 812.M41 to Watch Fortress Erioch aboard a badly damaged Inquisitorial courier vessel belonging to an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor who had departed only a solar month before on some urgent, unknown mission. The Inquisitor was nowhere to be found and the crew had died from void exposure or radiation sickness within a solar week of departure, leaving only a single clue as to what had brought the vessel to Erioch. A stasis-crypt was found within the courier's hold, containing a single Space Marine in a Sus-an Membrane-induced coma, clad in battle-scarred black warplate and clutching a Crozius Arcanum that had seen much use. Upon the nameless battle-brother's awakening, Watch Commander Mordigael gathered the Chamber of Vigilance at the newcomer's urgent request, to hear his case. Three solar days passed, as he explained himself and put his fate at the mercy of the Master of the Vigil. Whatever was said is sealed by agreement of the Master of the Vigil and the Inquisitor of the Chamber, never to be spoken of again, and the bearer of this news was granted leave to swear the Apocryphon Oath and begin a Vigil without end, taking the name Brother Vigilant in place of his own. However, instead of taking to the field immediately, Brother Vigilant spent three standard years in intense study, learning the many rites and rituals of the Deathwatch, before he emerged to do battle with the Emperor's enemies, bearing once again the scarred and war-worn Crozius Arcanum he arrived with, having taken up the mantle of a Deathwatch Chaplain. At present, Brother Vigilant operates from Watch Station Andronicus, departing frequently with itinerant kill-teams venturing deeper into space contested by the T'au.Zadkiel, Deathwatch Epistolary - Epistolary Zadkiel is a powerful and honoured Librarian of the Dark Angels Chapter, seconded to the Deathwatch and a prominent leader in the Acheros Salient. His potent psychic abilities have banished daemons without number, and his Force Staff has reaped a bloody tally against the Heretic hordes of the Cellebos Warzone. Known to possess an aloof and proud mien, Zadkiel is rarely forthcoming about his past, but there are a few facts known to his battle-brothers in the Deathwatch. As a young Lexicanium, Zadkiel studied under the Dark Angels' Grand Master of Librarians, no less a personage than Ezekiel himself. Zadkiel proved himself under his tutor's strict training, and swiftly ascended the ranks of the Librarium. In time, Zadkiel earned the right to be examined by Ezekiel for induction into the mysterious Inner Circle of the Dark Angels. Ezekiel despatched his former student to fight alongside the elite 1st Company of the Dark Angels, the Deathwing, for a number of years. Zadkiel once more excelled, honing his own battle skills and developing a talent not unlike that of his teacher -- an ability to read the tides of war and predict the flow of strategy with uncanny precision. Once Zadkiel even crossed blades with the enigmatic Fallen Angel called Cypher during the Battle of Screams, an encounter that left the Librarian with a bionic eye and a bitter heart. Zadkiel's accomplishments during one notable campaign earned him a special honour, as the Grand Master of the Deathwing (1st) Company granted Zadkiel the right to bear Deathwing heraldry upon his armour from that moment forward. The Librarian regularly assists kill-teams with strategic and tactical planning for missions in the Acheros Salient of the Jericho Reach, and Zadkiel has led a number of assaults upon key Heretic Astartes warband leaders in the Blood Trinity region. Zadkiel regularly meets with Space Marines seconded to the Deathwatch from the Unforgiven Successor Chapters of the Dark Angels, and he has built a rapport with many of these Space Marines who are so far from their familiar surroundings. |
Watch Fortress Erioch - Inquisitors: Inquisitor Hezika Carmillus, Inquisitor of the Chamber - Hezika Carmillus of the Ordo Xenos has served the Holy Ordos for over three standard centuries. In that time, she has led pogroms that have scoured xenos infestations from a dozen worlds, condemned and executed Lord Commanders and admirals, broken influential and traitorous Rogue Traders, and denounced Radicalism amongst her own kind. Tall and blade-thin, she wears exoskeletal enhanced armour at all times and keeps a court of diverse and deadly warriors, collected from dozens of worlds, at her beck and call as Acolytes and Throne Agents. Her voice is silken honey at one moment and unyielding steel the next as she desires. She will not, under any circumstances, allow herself to be perceived as anything other than what she is: a warrior-scholar in the service of the Emperor of Mankind. She is undaunted by the transhuman killers whose company her duty now bids her keep, and she will brook no challenges to her authority, in particular by other Inquisitors, although she is ever-conscious of its limitations. Inquisitor Carmillus has been the Inquisitor of the Chamber and mistress of the Tower of Brass for sixteen Terran years and has executed her sworn tasks with precise dedication and utter ruthlessness. While possessing a warlike temperament, she is also highly intelligent and subtle. These traits make her an ideal emissary to the domain of the Deathwatch and well-equipped to deal with its Adeptus Astartes masters. She has voiced the opinion in the Chamber of Vigilance that, although she is in favour of the Achilus Crusade to reclaim the Jericho Reach, a contingency plan should be drawn up to destroy the Jericho-Maw Warp Gate to the Calixis Sector should the crusade suffer catastrophic failure. She believes that the Warp Gate represents a vast threat if it is no longer under the Imperium's direct control. Much of her other motivations, however, remain a tightly-held secret.Inquisitor Adrielle Quist - Adrielle Quist was first noted by Inquisitor Carmillus for her prodigious telepathic abilities. Her sharp, investigative mind distinguished her from her fellow Acolytes, and during her time as an Interrogator she was one of a select few brought to the Tower of Brass when her mistress became Inquisitor of the Chamber at Watch Fortress Erioch. Five short standard years ago, Quist earned her own Inquisitorial Rosette, and she remains Carmillus' primary hand in the field. Quist has a deep fascination with alien technology that she keeps tightly concealed. She is all too aware that many around her would brand her a Radical or Traitor for her desire to see the Imperium match the technological advancement of alien species like the T'au. She is secretly one of the Crucible Resolviate's principal sources of xenos artefacts. The fresh Inquisitor would like greatly to find Deathwatch warriors who share her open mind about the path to Humanity's continued advancement, as it would make procuring items of advanced alien technology from their missions far less laborious. |
Watch Pack - Watch Pack: A Watch Pack was a specialist formation utilised exclusively by the Space Wolves Legion during the opening days of the Horus Heresy that was intended to guard against betrayal of the Emperor by the primarchs.Even as the VIth Legion brought sanction to Prospero and sought to eliminate Magnus the Red for his violation of the Edicts of Nikaea, a handful of Space Wolves packs were despatched elsewhere by their primarch Leman Russ, under the direct authority of Malcador the Sigillite, the acting Regent of Terra, speeding through the Warp on the Imperium's fastest voidships.This plan sought to place a force of the Space Wolves, the Emperor's most trusted executioners, within striking distance of each remaining primarch, ideally in a place of trust attached to their Legion. The orders given to these strike forces were simple -- if their charge took action against the Imperium or the Great Crusade in violation of their oath of loyalty, then the watchers were to eliminate them by any and all means possible.This was an explicit order for the death of any given primarch, as judged necessary by the VIth Legion officer in charge of the watch force, a contingency that if made common knowledge would likely lead to no small amount of dissent and as such, its full scope and detail remained secret.The full and complete rosters of these so-called "Watch Packs" have remained sealed within the restricted archive-vaults beneath the Imperial Palace and as such any judgement on the effectiveness of this initiative is rendered moot. Some observers have noted that these forces often appeared to be little more than squad strength deployments, but this seems a futile gesture in the face of a primarch's fury, not to mention the assembled force of his Legion.Such an understated response to the threat level presented by their targets is unlike the standard operating practices of the Space Wolves, and other sources speculate that the small Watch Packs were only the tip of the spear aimed at each of the primarchs, with additional forces remaining within striking distance.However, any debate regarding Malcador's and Russ' attempts to enforce the primarchs' loyalty in the wake of Magnus the Red's violation of the edicts of the Council of Nikaea after his intrusion upon the psychic wards of the Imperial Webway Project is made largely inconsequential by the obvious failure of the plan.Instituted on the very threshold of the Horus Heresy, while Horus' own plans for rebellion were already well-established, many of the Watch Packs failed to even reach their targets before the civil war was underway. Those who did rendezvous with the Legions they were assigned to were plainly unable to complete the missions assigned to them, for not one of the Traitor primarchs is known to have been so much as injured by Leman Russ' hand-picked executioners.Indeed, those who arrived at the courts of the various loyal primarchs, such as the warriors assigned to Sanguinius, appear to have aided the Traitor cause more than their own by spreading discord and suspicion among the ranks of the Loyalist Legions. |
Watch Pack - Officers: Watch Pack Leader Kargir - Kargir was the sergeant of the 19th Squad of Tolv (the 12th Great Company), then later of the Howl of the Hearthworld, the most Veteran squad of Tolv. Kargir was a remnant of a forgotten age, the last of the first generation of Fenrisians to have become a squad-commander and he fought hard to remain so. When Leman Russ selected Kargir's squad to serve as a Watch Pack, to act as bodyguards and watchers over Rogal Dorn, the primarch of the Imperial Fists Legion, Kargir voiced his discontent with this decision but dared not disobey an order from his own primarch. Kargir would die alongside his squad during the Siege of Terra, aiding in the defence of the Arjuna Bastion.Watch Pack Leader Theodore Strong-grin - Theodore served as Einherjar Champion of the Nine Eastern Tribes, formerly of Tra (the 3rd Great Company). His Watch Pack was returning to Fenris from a campaign when they received orders to divert and rendezvous with the Night Lords fleet. While some packs were hand-picked for their assignment it is possible Pack Theodore was chosen for the simple expedience of their location. If so, it was such ill-fate that sent the pack to their certain deaths. After arriving aboard the Night Lords capital ship Nightfall, the Space Wolves were ordered to depart their shuttle Rauha with no weapons. They met with a large delegation of Night Lords, led by the dark Primarch Konrad Curze. Instead of complying with the Watch Pack's Emperor-given mandate, the Watch Pack were treacherously set upon by the Traitor Marines, who dragged them down by the weight of their numbers and slew them with blades and fists. Watch Pack Leader Theodore was kept alive after his packmates were slain, his body cut and tortured by the Night Haunter and sent back to the Sol System, barely alive, aboard their shuttle as a message to Malcador the Sigillite and the Loyalists. Theodore was recovered by the Knight-Errant Ison, who chose to do everything in his power to keep Theodore alive and restore his body without internment in a Dreadnought sarcophagus.Watch Pack Leader Helik Redknife - Despatched to the Blood Angels fleet to keep watch on Primarch Sanguinius for signs of treachery or deviancy following the Council of Nikaea, Captain Redknife and his command linked up with the Blood Angels just before the Signus Campaign. During the final epic battle on Signus Prime while fighting against a vast horde of Daemons, Redknife and his command were inadvertently slain by the berserker warriors of Blood Angels Captain Nassir Amit and his warriors of the 5th Company when they fell into the depths of the Red Thirst and set upon Redknife and his Space Wolves, slaughtering all of them. Following the battle, Amit submitted himself to First Captain Raldoron for punishment. He revealed what had occurred to the Space Wolves, but Azkaellon, the commander of the Sanguinary Guard, revealed to Amit that he had already lied to their primarch about how the Space Wolves had died. Enraged, Amit nearly came to blows with the Sanguinary Guard commander, but Azkaellon explained that if their lord knew the truth, he would blame himself for what had happened. He would then tell his brother, the Wolf King, the truth. This would risk the bonds between their two Legions at a time when unity in the Imperium was sorely needed.Watch Pack Leader Faffnr Bludbroder - Hailing from Sesc (the 6th Great Company), Pack Master Bludbroder was despatched to the Realm of Ultramar to observe the Ultramarines Primarch Roboute Guilliman, under the orders of Malcador the Sigillite himself, in the wake of the events of the First Battle of Prospero. Departing on the zeta-class courier ship Waning Crescent, Bludbroder and his Watch Pack successfully arrived at Macragge, but by that time the Horus Heresy had erupted into a massive galaxy-wide conflict. Following the Battle of Calth and the Word Bearers Legion's maleficent summoning of the massive Warp storm known as the Ruinstorm, the Realms of Ultramar were cut off from the rest of the Imperium. Unable to firmly establish whether or not the Emperor of Mankind still lived, or if Terra and the Imperium of Man had fallen to the Traitors, Guilliman instituted the ultimate contingency plan -- to create a second Imperium in order to ensure the survival of the Emperor's dream of a united Mankind, known as the Imperium Secundus. The XIIIth Legion had discovered the means to help navigate their voidships through the Warp without the beacon of the Astronomican through the use of recently discovered xenos-technology known as the Pharos on the world of Sotha. The artificial psychic light from the beacon on Sotha guided many vessels, both civilian and Legiones Astartes, to the Realms of Ultramar. Following the Thramas Crusade, the Dark Angels Legion was one such Imperial military force to arrive. During the welcome parade for the Ist Legion, led by Primarch Lion El'Jonson in the van, the primarch was confronted by Bludbroder, who demanded that the Lion honour the ritual duel that had become standard operating procedure between the Dark Angels and Space Wolves Legions, since the emergence of a rivalry between the two Legions' primarchs during the Dulan Campaign. Bludbroder attempted to strike the Lion with his Frost Axe, and very nearly succeeded in landing his strike, but was soundly defeated by the Lion. Later on, it was Bludbroder and his pack who protected Guillman's adopted Human mother, Tarasha Euten, and battled the psychotic Night Lords primarch Konrad Curze when he was let loose upon Macragge. Though Bludbroder was grievously wounded by Curze, he managed to survive. After recovering from his wounds, Bludbroder was later seen keeping vigil over both the Lion and Guilliman as they discussed how best to run Curze to ground and capture him.Watch Pack Rathvin - Rathvin served as captain of Tra (the 3rd Great Company). His Watch Pack was sent to locate Horus and seek his counsel. However, news of Horus' treachery reached Rathvin before his Watch Pack came close to the Isstvan System. Watch Pack Rathvin fought alongside some Iron Hands until a summons from Leman Russ brought them to the Rosario System in order to retrieve an artefact of the Space Wolves Legion -- an axe -- where Rathvin met Primarch Corvus Corax and his Raven Guard Legion. After that, Rathvin and his pack went to Yarant III and reunited with their Legion.Watch Pack Leader Arvan Woundweaver - With the treachery of four primarchs confirmed at the beginning of the dark days known as the Horus Heresy, Leman Russ and Malcador the Sigilite decided to despatch several squads of "honour guards" of the fiercest warriors the Space Wolves could offer to ensure the remaining primarchs' loyalties. Arvan Woundweaver was one of those tasked with this mission, he and his pack were charged by the Wolf King to join the XIXth Legion and watch over Corvus Corax; however, Woundweaver and his pack could not locate the stealthy primarch for five long standard years. The VIth Legion had established a series of well-hidden and well-defended outposts in several dead star systems that were being used as armouries and it was during one of their resupply stops that the enemy reared its ugly head in the form of a cruiser of the Heretic Sons of Horus, the Warmaster Horus' own Traitor scum. With three members of his squad choosing this ill-fated moment to fall prey to the Curse of the Wulfen, Woundweaver had no other choice than to put them down and seclude himself in the outpost's central keep. Sending his abandoned voidship on an automated course as a bottle into a fathomless ocean, the seven remaining Space Wolves entrenched themselves in the station's keep and battled the Sons of Horus who had landed their own troops. Fortunately for Woundweaver, his drifting ship was discovered a few solar weeks later by the Fearless, a Raven Guard light cruiser commanded by Lieutenant Navar Hef of the Raptors contingent. Arvan Woundweaver's saga was abruptly cut short when the plan he had devised to slay the besieging Sons of Horus backfired. He and his squad are believed to have become locked down in combat and thus unable to evacuate the compound before its Plasma Reactor went critical and vaporised the Traitors and Space Wolves alike.Watch Pack Leader Torbjorn - Torbjorn formerly served as the Wolf Guard Company Champion of For (the 4th Great Company). He was later assigned to lead a Watch Pack to the Alpha Legion and stand as wardens or executioners over Alpharius. However, after making contact with the XXth Legion's fleet, the Space Wolves were betrayed. When they met with the "primarch," who in actuality was an Alpha Legion officer who was standing-in for his primarch as a proxy, Torbjorn suspected the other Legion's treacherous intent and stuck down the warrior he believed to be Alpharius. With their treachery revealed, Torbjorn and his pack were later hunted down and slain by the traitorous Alpha Legion. Formerly a Wolf Guard of For, Brother Torbjorn served as Watch Pack Torbjorn's sergeant and leader when he went to the Golan System to watch over the Alpha Legion Primarch Alpharius. When they were betrayed by the treacherous Traitor legionaries, only Torbjorn and two of his pack brothers managed to fight clear of the ambush. They managed to steal an Alpha Legion shuttle and flee, only to discover a pair of Alpha Legion operatives aboard the stolen vessel had sabotaged it, bringing the shuttle down over the Ocean World of Pelago. The sinking shuttle was discovered by a fisherman, his cousin and his mentor. Investigating, they discovered the corpses of two Space Wolves and one Alpha Legion Legionaries. Awakening, the formerly unconscious Torbjorn helped the Human fishermen onto their boat and sailed clear in time just as the shuttle sunk beneath the water. Torbjorn revealed his identity, his mission and subsequent betrayal that led to him ending up on the far-flung Ocean World. Though initially frightened at the prospect of the Alpha Legion coming to their world, Torbjorn allayed the mortals' fears and told the fishermen that he had sent a signal for reinforcements. As they headed towards the nearest land, they witnessed the Space Wolves' ship, Hunter's Moon, landing upon a beach. Elated that his Legion had received his distress beacon, Torbjorn's temporary elation turned to horror as he saw Alpha Legion Legionaries disembarking from the Space Wolves' vessel. The fisherman's cousin, mentor and Torbjorn were shot dead on the spot, with only the fisherman surviving the encounter. |
Watch Pack - Pack Bludbroder: Watch Pack Brother Gudson Allfreyer - Member of the Watch Pack of Faffnr Bludbroder.Watch Pack Brother Shockeye Ffyn - Member of the Watch Pack of Faffnr Bludbroder. Brother Ffyn was killed fighting Konrad Kurze in the Residency of Macragge Civitas on Macragge.Watch Pack Brother Biter Herek - Member of the Watch Pack of Faffnr Bludbroder.Watch Pack Brother Kuro Jjordrovk - Member of the Watch Pack of Faffnr Bludbroder.Watch Pack Brother Nido Knifeson - Member of the Watch Pack of Faffnr Bludbroder.Watch Pack Brother Malmur Longreach - Member of the Watch Pack of Faffnr Bludbroder.Watch Pack Brother Mads Loreson - Member of the Watch Pack of Faffnr Bludbroder.Watch Pack Brother Salick the Braided - Member of the Watch Pack of Faffnr Bludbroder.Watch Pack Brother Bo Soren the Axe - Member of the Watch Pack of Faffnr Bludbroder.Watch Pack Brother Valdin - Member of Captain Redknife's command during the ill-fated Signus Campaign. He was slain by blood-mad Captain Nassir Amit and the warriors of his 5th Company when they had fallen into the throes of the dreaded Red Thirst. |
Watch Pack - Pack Kargir: Watch Pack Brother Vaegr Echo of Three Heroes - Named after the ancestors of the Vakreyr tribe. Vaegr was a member of Pack Kargir.Watch Pack Brother Ordun Kin to the Night - A killer in the shadows, brother Ordun served with Pack Kargir.Watch Pack Brother Brandwyn Storm's Son - Born on a longship in the middle of a raging storm, such a birth is an extremely ill-omen on Fenris. To counter the ill-luck of his birth shamanistic rune-tears were tattooed onto Brandwyn’s face, curling from the corners of his eyes. Member of Pack Kargir.Watch Pack Brother Herek Iron Song - Possessing an augmetic lower jaw and metal teeth, Herek gained these injuries through an incautious head butting of a helmeted foe. Member of Pack Kargir.Watch Pack Brother Rykath No Foes Remain - A stern and soft spoken member of Pack Kargir brother Rykath fought with a painstakingly maintained chain-axe. |
Watch Pack - Pack Redknife: Caster of Runes Jonor Stiel - A Rune Priest that served under Watch Leader Redknife's command, he took part in the ill-fated Signus Campaign, having been been assigned to watch over the Blood Angels Primarch Sanguinius. During the height of the epic Battle of Signus Prime, the Blood Angels were struck by the throes of the dreaded genetic curse that would come to be known as the Red Thirst. Jonor Stiel, along with the rest of his pack, were killed by Captain Nassir Amit and his ferocious warriors of the 5th Company, who were enthralled to the Red Thirst, and could not distinguish friend from foe. |
Watch Pack - Pack Strong-grin: Watch Pack Brother Rutvald Yevi - White of hair but keen of eye brother Rutvald served with the Watch Pack of Theodore Strong-grin assigned to watch the Night Lords. Realizing what was about to happen brother Rutvald rushed towards Kurze, smashing his way past the wall of Night Lords armour in an attempt to get to the traitor Primarch. He made it to within five meters before he was dragged down and slain.Watch Pack Brother Hraidisson - The youngest member of Pack Theodore Strong-grin. Brother Hraidisson was the second of his pack-brothers to die to the Night Lords treachery, his armor torn off and his body pummeled and kicked into a pile of meat and bone fragments.Watch Pack Brother Annek - A veteran of almost two hundred wars, brother Annek was the first of Pack Theodore to be slain by the Night Lords.Watch Pack Anders Drackenvolk - The third member of Pack Theodore to fall to the Night Lords. Brother Anders disobeyed the order of his Pack Leader to leave all weapons aboard their shuttle, choosing to conceal a Combat Blade beneath his furs. This foresight and stubbornness allowed him to slay three attackers before they were able to land blows against him but faced with such odds his success could not last. |
Watch Pack - Pack Torbjorn: Watch Pack Brother Egil Formerly a Wolf Guard of For (4th Great Company), Brother Egil served with the Watch Pack of Torbjorn and was slain in the Golan System by the Alpha Legion traitors.Watch Pack Brother Engal - Formerly a Wolf Guard of For, Brother Engal served with the Watch Pack of Torbjorn and was slain in the Golan System by the Alpha Legion traitors.Watch Pack Brother Grimnir - Formerly a Wolf Guard of For, Brother Grimnir served with the Watch Pack of Torbjorn and was slain in the Golan system by the Alpha Legion traitors.Watch Pack Brother Gunir - Formerly a Wolf Guard of For, Brother Gunir served with the Watch Pack of Torbjorn and was slain in the Golan System by the Alpha Legion traitors.Watch Pack Brother Hengist - Formerly a Wolf Guard of For, Brother Hengist served with the Watch Pack of Torbjorn and was slain in the Golan System by the Alpha Legion traitors.Watch Pack Brother Holdar - Formerly a Wolf Guard of For, Brother Holdar served with the Watch Pack of Torbjorn and was slain in the Golan System by the Alpha Legion traitors.Watch Pack Brother Salagrim - Formerly a Wolf Guard of For, Brother Salagrim served with the Watch Pack of Torbjorn and was slain in the Golan System by the Alpha Legion traitors. |
Watch station - Watch station: A watch station is an Imperial military facility used by the Space Marines of the Deathwatch Chapter.A watch station differs from a watch fortress in that while watch fortresses are large, relatively rare complexes with a wide range of facilities, watch stations are far more numerous, smaller and less potent Deathwatch outposts.The watch stations are fortified outposts used by the Deathwatch throughout the galaxy. There are many watch stations scattered across the worlds, moons, and cold void of the Jericho Reach for instance, and no two watch stations are quite the same. Some take the form of single-blocked, armoured bastions from which eagle-headed gargoyles glare out at the silent expanses of Dead Worlds. Others are complexes of forbidding towers strung through the peaks of lunar mountain ranges, while yet others are small, jagged void stations that watch from the blackness of space, bristling with auspex arrays and seer-webs. No matter their location, all watch stations exist to serve the Deathwatch as bases of operation, and as an ever-vigilant gaze on the Deathwatch's assigned sector of the galaxy.Each station is fitted with highly advanced sensors that constantly gather information about the area around them. These sensors gaze far into space, scour the air for communications of all types, and even skim the Warp with powerful witch-sight augurs. All the information gathered by a watch station is stored in data reservoirs in the heart of the station. When any Deathwatch Space Marine leaves a watch station, it is his duty to take a copy of the information gathered by that station and return it to one of the main watch fortresses for entry into its records. Small, high-speed, Warp-capable vessels known as "Dark Hunters" are designed to slip unseen through the stars while they make their rounds, harvesting each watch station's valuable data.Thus, the Deathwatch sees much that passes in the Jericho Reach and other regions of the galaxy that eludes most others. All watch stations house weapons and materiel caches to some extent; arms that can be accessed by any Deathwatch kill-team that needs them. Many also have extensive medical, analysis, and armoury facilities that any Deathwatch kill-team that needs them can avail themselves of, although to gain the full extent of their use, the specialised skills of an Apothecary or a Techmarine are required.Most watch stations are not physically manned by battle-brothers, except for when they function as a base of operations in the field. Many watch stations can go for solar decades without a battle-brother crossing their threshold.During the normal course of events, watch stations are maintained, operated, and if need be, defended by the finest automated systems the Machine Cult can provide. If a watch station is attacked, its protection can sustain it from all but the most determined and powerful assault. If breached, it will self-destruct, annihilating itself utterly, leaving nothing of its secrets for the enemy. A watch station's greatest defences, however, are the secrecy, remoteness and concealment of its existence. |
Watch station - Role: While Deathwatch watch fortresses are relatively scarce across the galaxy, there are far more of the smaller facilities known as watch stations. These are often no larger than a small escort ship, and some are little more than a rockcrete bunker situated upon a lonely mountain top.Watch stations are located so as to provide watch against a specific threat, or to guard a particular location. They may have been placed centuries ago, perhaps on the word of a mystic's prophecy or an especially auspicious reading of the Emperor's Tarot, or it may be that a great enemy was defeated at that location and its possible return is being guarded against.As with the watch fortresses, watch stations can take many forms. A great many are silent sentinels in orbit around a world, while others are lonely towers standing guard over a long-dead battlefield.Watch stations provide facilities for little more than a single kill-team and the battle-brothers are rarely stationed on one for any great length of time; the resources of the Deathwatch are too scarce for every such station to be permanently staffed.Instead, watch stations may be used as a staging point should a threat become apparent, and to this end they are always stocked with vast reserves of ammunition, arms and equipment.While they are not always manned by battle-brothers, many watch stations are home to a skeleton crew of sensor-techs and watch-serfs. These live out their entire lives performing their duty, ever watchful for the threat of the alien and ready to call upon their Astartes masters should such an event occur.Many of these serfs have lived and died and never met a battle-brother, yet all are indoctrinated and conditioned into their duty, and their watch never tires.A great many watch stations are not crewed by Humans at all, but are controlled by Machine Spirits (artificial intelligences). It is only by the blessings of the very highest acolytes of the Machine God that this is possible, for such devices that can be entrusted are rare indeed.Orbiting many a Dead World might be found, by one who knows to look, a silent mechanical picket, its glass eyes scrutinising the surface far below, its transmitters trained upon distant relay stations. The primary task of any watch station is to gather information and to pass this back to the nearest watch fortress.The nature of the information may be detailed activity logs compiled by watch-serfs, or at the other extreme, it may be the constant chatter of raw machine language beamed in a never-ending transmission across the void.The most important watch stations are attended by an astropath, but others rely instead on regular visits for their reports to be collected.In many cases, it is not a sudden and disturbing report of alien activity that draws the attention of the Deathwatch, but the absence of any report at all. Standard Deathwatch doctrine dictates that any unexpected silence must be investigated immediately, and a Kill-team dispatched to forestall possible alien attack. |
Watch station - Notable Watch Stations: Watch Station Andronicus - A watch station in the Canis Salient of the Achilus Crusade.Watch Station Arkhas - Watch Station Arkhas is a void station that sits hidden within the gas clouds that wreathe Arkhas VII, the Arkhas System's outermost planet in the Jericho Reach. There, it remains in constant vigil over the worlds now claimed by the Achilus Crusade's Orpheus Salient.Watch Station BelariusWatch Station Bellom - A watch station in the Canis Salient of the Achilus Crusade.Watch Station Castiel - A watch station in the Orpheus Salient of the Achilus Crusade.Watch Station Credence - A watch station in the Canis Salient of the Achilus Crusade.Watch Station Elkin - Watch Station Elkin is unmanned, its purpose to intercept local communications to analyse signals from nearby star systems for alien threats.Watch Station Hlesan Secundus - A watch station in the Acheros Salient of the Achilus Crusade.Watch Station Hestus - A watch station in the Canis Salient of the Achilus Crusade.Watch Station Iobel - A watch station in the Acheros Salient of the Achilus Crusade.Iron FortressWatch Station Midael - A watch station in the Acheros Salient of the Achilus Crusade. Watch Station Midael was ultimately lost to the expansion of the Warp rift known as the Hadex Anomaly.Watch Station Oertha - Watch Station Oertha is a watch station in the Canis Salient of the Achilus Crusade that is currently being used as a headquarters for the Imperial and Deathwatch forces contesting a T'au attempt to take the world of Oetha upon which the station stands.Watch Station Phaedas - Watch Station Phaedas is a largely automated, mobile watch station deployed in the Jericho Reach. It is essentially a Warp-capable void station, its structures constructed into a small asteroid. Watch Station Phaedas is a relic of ages past. Not a true watch station in the conventional sense, Phaedas is an archaeotech voidcraft that bears no resemblance to any form of starship or void station within Imperial records. If the Adeptus Mechanicus know of Phaedas' provenance, they are not forthcoming about it. Phaedas is largely automated, its myriad machine spirits (artificial intelligences) demonstrating sophistication that rivals those of the most ancient and revered of Titans. The vessel -- if it can be defined as such -- seems to operate based on incredibly complex logic paths, turning augur data into plotted courses, even able to travel short distances through the Warp without a Navigator.Picket's Watch - Picket's Watch is a watch station and starfort located close to the Damocles Gulf in the Eastern Fringe. Its forces are held in the fortress of Westkeep and are currently led by Watch Commander Jotunn. Though the Imperium's records do not detail the identity of the "Picket" that the fortress was named after, there is evidence that it was originally constructed in the Age of Strife and was discovered by the Imperium during the Great Crusade. At that time, the Imperial Fists Legion claimed ownership of the star fortress and built the fortress of Westkeep there atop the ancient ruins. The VII Legion used the fortress as an outpost to stand guard over the Damocles Gulf, but their reasons for doing so at that time have been lost to the ages. For millennia afterwards, the fortress was maintained only by servitors until the rise of the T'au Empire. The T'au's expansion soon led them into conflict with the Imperium and the outpost found itself on the front lines of the battles between the rival stellar empires. This led the Deathwatch to lay claim to the station, and they proceeded to heavily modify Westkeep's defences and weaponry. Despite these additions, Picket's Watch's chief defence remains the secrecy of its location. The fortress is readily capable of sustaining no more than three Kill-teams at a time. Nonetheless, it is the current base of operations for the Second Chamber of Watch Fortress Talasa Prime. Three Astartes Strike Cruisers are known to operate out of Picket's Watch. These include the Nemesis, Robidoux and Troilus.Watch Station Resgulus - A watch station in the Acheros Salient of the Achilus Crusade.Watch Station Skapula - A watch station in the Canis Salient of the Achilus Crusade.Watch Station Tryphon - A watch station in the Orpheus Salient of the Achilus Crusade.Watch Station Xyston - Watch Station Xyston lies near the Calaphrax Cluster and is charged with ensuring the darkness within that blighted realm does not escape to infest the Imperium. Among its personnel are the Astartes of Kill-team Agathon commanded Veteran Sergeant Dienekas Agathon of the Imperial Fists, and comprised of the Space Wolves Wolf Guard Rurik Warsong, the Flesh Tearers Sanguinary Priest Izraefel, the Celestial Lions Codicier Kaelar, and the Ultramarines Assault Marine Tiberius. |
Watch Station Andronicus - Watch Station Andronicus: Watch Station Andronicus is a watch station of the Deathwatch. It is an oddity in that some knowledge of it exists beyond the warriors and vassals of the Deathwatch. Located within the Jericho Reach, it lies situated upon a barren and distant rocky world that orbits the cold and feeble star of the Andronicus System.Upon this airless, worthless world, two structures exist that watch the void for threats to the Imperium. The first and most ancient is an outpost of the Adeptus Mechanicus, claimed long ago by the wiles of the Inquisition to spy upon the many enemies of Humanity.The second is a watch station of the Deathwatch, its armouries containing powerful weapons and its archives holding a wealth of lore on the many xenos threats to Mankind. |
Watch Station Andronicus - History: In the earliest days of the Imperium, the Adeptus Mechanicus extended their reach across the nascent Jericho Sector, claiming worlds beyond the gaze or interest of the newly ascended lords who ruled it.They were destined to serve as hidden research cloisters and other facilities too valuable for outsiders to know of, concealed from the attentions of those not devoted to the Machine God and Omnissiah.The eighth planet of the Andronicus System was one such world, a worthless ball of rock located in a system difficult to reach for any but the most skilled Navigator.The rare phenomena that surround the system within the Warp made it ideal for long-range observation, and the Priesthood of Mars constructed upon it an observatory, referred to as the "Mirador," to seek paths through the Warp to further the Quest for Knowledge.In 813.M36, as the Jericho Sector fell into anarchy and was consumed by Warp Storms, the Adeptus Mechanicus congregation on Andronicus Octus made contact with agents of the Inquisition, seeking to broker a pact to ensure the Mirador's safety even amidst the anarchy of a collapsing sector.Dubbed the Carthenis Dictum after the ruling magos of the facility, this agreement passed the control and protection of Andronicus Octus to the Inquisition, who in turn placed it under the stewardship of Watch Fortress Erioch's Master of the Vigil.In the solar decades that followed, the Deathwatch set about constructing a facility of their own on Andronicus Octus, while Techmarines delved deep into the arcane lore of the Adeptus Mechanicus to learn the secrets of the Mirador.In time, Watch Station Andronicus was completed and deemed fit for purpose, and a Keeper stationed there to guard over it and the secrets secured deep within stasis vaults and librarium archives.Since its completion, the watch station has seen a great many Kill-teams operate from it, employing the Mirador to seek out targets and respond to them swiftly and decisively.A staff of several hundred Tech-priests and lay-mechanics serve the operational and maintenance requirements of the Mirador, aided by a dozen astropaths who communicate the observatory's findings and project their divinatory powers over great distances.With the coming of the Achilus Crusade, servants of the Inquisition once more returned to the Mirador, adding teams of Acolytes and Throne Agents to the personnel stationed on Andronicus Octus, while scores of serfs loyal to the Deathwatch serve the Watch Station's Keeper.At present, the gaze of the Mirador is turned upon the distant Orpheus Salient, attempting to pierce the shrouding effects of the Shadow in the Warp of Hive Fleet Dagon, but so far to no avail.However, this focus upon the Great Devourer gave the Deathwatch unprecedented forewarning of the Tyranid incursions into the Canis Salient, allowing the Imperium to act against the encroaching menace. |
Watch Station Andronicus - Operations: Technically two linked facilities, Watch Station Andronicus can serve as both a well-stocked base of operations for a Kill-team, and a readily available source of missions.The Mirador serves as a vital intelligence asset for the Inquisition and the Deathwatch alike, providing both organisations with the means to perceive distant worlds and disturbances in the Warp and find pathways through it that are unknown to others.The most common mission involving Watch Station Andronicus is information-gathering. The Mirador is an exceptionally powerful asset, one of the best tools for this purpose the Deathwatch has, and arguably one of the reasons for their ability to respond swiftly, often pre-emptively, to threats across the Jericho Reach.The amount of information that reaches the augurs of the Mirador is colossal, and little of it can be properly interpreted and verified, requiring the intervention of Kill-teams and Acolyte cells to investigate many of the leads the facility produces.Some of these missions are fruitless, while others have been monumentally successful, allowing the Imperium to intervene and halt potentially catastrophic events.Often, merely learning of an impending threat isn't sufficient, and these information-gathering missions merely serve as reconnaissance for more decisive actions. Such informed assaults have proven invaluable over the centuries, halting dozens of xenos incursions before they could truly begin.On rare occasions, information gathered by the Mirador unlocks sections of the Omega Vault at Watch Fortress Erioch, spurring the Deathwatch into action to discover the meaning of each new revelation, and often drawing them into unexpected conflicts across the Jericho Reach.Watch Station Andronicus is a large and well supplied outpost, containing a vast range of armaments and resources useful to a Kill-team, and able to support several Kill-teams simultaneously if the situation demands it.A limited supply of Astartes vehicle assets are stored and reverently maintained within the depths of the watch station, as are a collection of relics and powerful archaeotech devices stored within stasis vaults accessible only by the express consent of Andronicus' Keeper, presently an Imperial Fists Techmarine by the name of Vandar Illych.By the standards of the Jericho Reach's watch stations, Andronicus is frequently visited by a wide range of personnel, many of whom linger for a protracted period of time, often to gather intelligence from the Mirador, or to study in the archives of Andronicus' librarium. |
Watch Station Andronicus - Armouries of Andronicus: Watch Station Andronicus has an extremely large and well maintained armoury, supported by dozens of artisan-serfs and arming Servitors to ensure that the Kill-teams operating from Andronicus are well-equipped in wargear maintained with the utmost reverence.Andronicus' armoury contains an ample supply of all items worthy only of those made famous by their deeds, and a handful of extremely valuable and revered items sealed behind stasis fields and retrieved only upon permission from the watch station's Keeper.Each of these items is a precious relic of the Deathwatch or another Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes, and each is utterly unique. They include the Andronican Cowl, the Serpent's Bite, and Throneforged. |
Watch Station Andronicus - Andronican Cowl: Constructed from similar technology to the Mirador, the Andronican Cowl is a powerful tool for a sufficiently skilled Librarian.This cowl's technology is fundamentally the same as that of a Psychic Hood, but capable of far more accurately detecting changes to the flows and tides of the Immaterium.A perceptive Librarian can turn that precision to his advantage, discerning the actions of enemy psykers and moving to halt them. |
Watch Station Andronicus - Serpent's Bite: Notable more for the number of lives it has taken than for the warriors who have carried it, the ancient needle rifle known as Serpent's Bite has been a favoured tool for assassination missions performed by Kill-teams in the Jericho Reach for thousands of Terran years.Designed to fire mono-edged adamantium darts loaded with the most deadly Death World toxins, the Serpent's Bite is a far more powerful weapon than a conventional needle rifle, capable of slaying more resilient or more heavily armoured foes. |
Watch Station Andronicus - Throneforged: Perhaps the most ancient and spiritually significant of relics to be found within the Jericho Reach, Throneforged is a master-crafted Bolter of the venerable Phobos Pattern, constructed and sanctified within the forge-cities of Mars and issued to Battle-Brother Temoth Ulrecht of the Imperial Fists Legion in the earliest days of the Great Crusade, before the Primarchs had been found.This much and more is known to Deathwatch artificers, for the weapon is micro-engraved with the saga of its history, preserved in ceramite and meticulously restored from archived transcripts each time the weapon has seen damage.Every shot brings devastation, a sense of righteous fury upon the Traitor Legions. Such is its revered nature that, for a fellow Space Marine to look upon it is to remind them of the fellowship and brotherhood of the Adeptus Astartes. |
Watch Station Arkhas - Watch Station Arkhas: Watch Station Arkhas is a Deathwatch watch station that takes the form of a circular void station that sits hidden within the gas clouds that wreathe Arkhas VII, the Arkhas System's outermost planet. There, it remains in constant vigil over the worlds now claimed by the Achilus Crusade's Orpheus Salient in the Jericho Reach.The watch station is only crewed by a handful of Tech-priests, a pair of mortal Deathwatch serfs, and a single astropath.The Arkhas System is located deep into the frontier territories claimed by the Orpheus Salient, within a region dubbed the "Tuam Transitional Nexus," a point where three distinct stable routes within the Warp intersect, named for the Navigator who discovered it.The system itself contains many worlds, none of which are inhabited, though two -- Arkhas III and Arkhas IV -- both possess the capacity to support Human colonisation.As a result, the Imperial Navy regards the Arkhas System as being a vital strategic location for the movement of troops, fleets and resources. However, unbeknownst to even the most senior officers within the Achilus Crusade, the Arkhas System was claimed long ago by the Deathwatch for exactly that reason.Located upon several swift and stable routes through the Warp, Watch Station Arkhas has been a hub for Deathwatch movements along the rimward edge of the Jericho Reach for thousands of standard years, and even amidst the onslaught of the Tyranids and the Shadow in the Warp they bring, the Tuam Transitional Nexus provides comparatively swift and reliable travel. As a result, many missions within the Orpheus Salient begin at Watch Station Arkhas.Arkhas' armoury is surprisingly large and well-stocked, considering the watch station's small size, and while a number of the rarest items are absent from its stores, everything else is in plentiful supply.The powerful augur arrays allow a considerable amount of information to flow through and from the watch station, and the astropath Emil Varras' skill at prophecy can provide information leading to other worlds and other threats.His continued efforts to pierce the Shadow in the Warp may prove invaluable to the operations of the Deathwatch, the Achilus Crusade and the Imperium as a whole, if they bear fruit. |
Watch Station Arkhas - History: Set in place thousands of Terran years before the Achilus Crusade began, tens of thousands of personnel have manned Watch Station Arkhas since its founding, each and every one adhering to the duty given them by their Adeptus Astartes masters -- be ever vigilant.Appearing roughly like a pinwheel of black iron, Arkhas is concealed by cunning design and arcane technology, which has allowed it to remain unnoticed for its long watch over the rimward edge of the Jericho Reach.The station is equipped with some of the most accurate and sensitive augur arrays the Adeptus Mechanicus can provide, under ancient compacts dating back to the Apocryphon Conclave, and is said to have been constructed above Mars itself.Since its founding, Arkhas has been a rallying point for numerous Kill-teams, but few have stayed within the station for more than a few solar hours before departing, either headed towards a vital mission, or returning from one before heading back to Watch Fortress Erioch.Each time, they have departed bearing a precious crystalline datacoil, containing the watch station's augury logs and transcripts of the astropath's auto-séances, to be analysed at length by the Lexmechanics and Librarians stationed at Erioch.In recent years, Watch Station Arkhas has been overseen by Loquator-Majore Emil Varras, a skilled and experienced astropath, oath-bound to Deathwatch service for more than two solar decades.Strong-willed enough to endure the burn-out that plagues many of his kind, Varras is nonetheless entirely blind and deaf and his flesh numb from the mind-searing effects of the Soul-Binding, his senses deteriorating over the years as his psychic powers have increased.A quiet, proud man, Varras has a particular talent for prophecy, his psychic senses keen even if his mortal ones are almost entirely gone. He turned this talent to gaze upon the furthest edge of the Jericho Reach, unsettled by the portents and omens that dominated his visions.Varras' visions were lamentably accurate, foretelling a great and hungry darkness beyond the rimward edge of the Reach, which descended to cloud his sight at the end of 812.M41.Defiant of the Shadow in the Warp, Varras has persisted in attempting to cast his psychic gaze upon the void and attempts to send a new message out to any who can hear it.What little can be discerned from his attempts, he records as he has done for many years, upon a crystalline data-coil to be passed into the care of any Kill-team that sets foot aboard Watch Station Arkhas.Amidst this, however, has come a new complication. The last few solar months have brought increasing numbers of vessels to the Arkhas System, as Imperial Navy patrols have withdrawn from the ferocity of the Tyranid advance and regrouped in the otherwise lifeless system.Composed primarily of elements from Battlefleet Daedalus under General Javier Casterlix and Commodore Ektor Cavanno, the forces gathered in the Arkhas System are oblivious to the Deathwatch, and muster for a renewed offensive against the Tyranids as soon as contact can be made with Hethgard to direct their assault. |
Watch Station Arkhas - Arkhas's Vaults: Watch Station Arkhas has served the Deathwatch within the Jericho Reach for a long time, and in that time, many heroes have passed within its doors, and more than a few have left some sign of their passage within the station's armoury.A few of these items are described below, and are considered relics of the Adeptus Astartes in every way. Thus, they can only be requisitioned from within Watch Station Arkhas. |
Watch Station Arkhas - Forgeheart: Borne into battle by Re'kem of the Salamanders, a Deathwatch Battle-Brother who served his vigil within the Jericho Reach a Terran century ago, the master-crafted Meltagun known as Forgeheart was crafted by his own hands within Erioch's central armoury, and is renowned for the swiftness with which it sears through flesh, bone and steel. |
Watch Station Arkhas - Hallowed Razor: The master-crafted Power Axe Hallowed Razor was the personal weapon of Champion Heydrich, who served six vigils with the Deathwatch, two of them within the Jericho Reach.When he fell in battle, his blade was borne to Arkhas' vaults by his Battle-Brothers, where it has lain ever since. |
Watch Station Arkhas - Omnissiah's Gaze: The work of Forgemaster Gharran, the famed Omnissiah's Gaze is an auspex of unmatched awareness, its Machine Spirit (artificial intelligence) able to perceive more clearly than any other device of its kind.Indeed, it can detect objects and phenomena up to 100 metres away, instead of the usual 50 metres, and can penetrate walls up to a metre thick. |
Watch Station Cressid - Watch Station Cressid: Watch Station Cressid is one of the Jericho Reach's Dead Stations, a series of watch stations that have gone mostly dormant save for the eternal vigilance of its machine spirits (artificial intelligences). |
Watch Station Cressid - History: Nearing the last years of the 41st Millennium, the watch station on Cressid came under attack by a group of Chaos Renegades, who believed they had discovered a treasure trove of powerful artefacts.With the aid of the automated defences of the station, a single Deathwatch battle-brother on patrol beat back the attackers, though the structure sustained a great deal of damage. The battle-brother repaired the damage before leaving the station to continue his vigil.The repairs performed on the station did not address all of the damage as previously believed. The Renegades' attack did substantially more damage than anyone could have discovered with standard auguries and analysis.The Chaos forces left behind a Warp-entity on Cressid, a being of pure malice and hatred that wormed its way into the station's pathways and data core. The station now possesses a malign intelligence that guides its sensors and readings, searching the surrounding areas for something that only it knows.To date, the information gathered by the station has been manipulated and altered by the daemon and all information relayed to the Deathwatch has been scrubbed of anything of value. To the Imperium, Watch Station Cressid continues to monitor a Dead World and its surrounding environments with little of value detected.Should a Kill-team arrive on Cressid to utilise the station, they would find a common watch station with nothing out of the ordinary at first glance.However, if any length of time were spent inside its walls, the daemon's bloodthirsty nature would take hold and subject any within to a hall of horrors. |
Watch Station CX3119 - Watch Station CX3119: Watch Station CX3119 is a watch station of the Deathwatch located in the Jericho Reach. |
Watch Station CX3119 - History: Watch Station CX3119 was established to study the Hadex Anomaly nearly 800 solar years ago in the early years of the 41st Millennium. Due to the reported fluctuation of the anomaly, this watch station was initially created to be mobile, that it might remain ever on the periphery of the Warp rift.In addition to the usual banks of archeotech sensors, this station also sported powerful Warp augurs to warn of any dangerous expansions of the anomaly that may place the structure at risk.Sadly, these devices did not provide enough notice when the Hadex Anomaly expanded to nearly half again its size, sucking the station into the Immaterium and cutting it off from the Deathwatch.At the time, the station was unmanned, and while the Imperium was loathe to lose a valuable monitoring tool, it considered the station gone and classified it as destroyed. One can imagine the consternation and surprise of all within the Deathwatch when Watch Station CX3119 reappeared in 815.M41.The station's reappearance has provoked great debate amongst Watch Fortress Erioch's Chamber of Vigilance and the Inquisition. The structure's new location is many light years from where it originally vanished, creating additional speculation on the nature of the anomaly.Many wish to investigate the station to see what details the station's sensors have recorded during its time within. While the matter is debated, an elaborate system of quarantine beacons has been put in place warning all voidships to keep a wide berth away from the area.While the Chamber of Vigilance continues to argue over how to proceed with the watch station, unbeknownst to them, one man has already set foot on board the station. Master of the Forge Xerill discovered the station while travelling onboard a Deathwatch vessel to enact repairs on another watch station.His consuming desire for knowledge of the unknown led him into the bowels of the station and whatever lurked within. He has since returned to his post and so far, he has spoken to no one about finding the station or what waited within. |
Watch Station Iobel - Watch Station Iobel: Watch Station Iobel is a watch station of the Deathwatch located in the Jericho Reach.Watch Station Iobel is less of a watch station and more of a fortress than most of its ilk, located deep in the storm-wracked mountain range of the world of Iobel II.Its winding halls are carved out of the very mountain itself, and its facilities are large enough to house and train multiple Deathwatch Kill-teams simultaneously.Iobel has acted as the primary launch point for all Deathwatch operations into the Hadex Anomaly, and contains various ancient devices for monitoring and observing the movements of xenos in and around the Warp rift.With its new status as the primary watch station for all operations around the Hadex Anomaly, it is highly likely that a Kill-team operation within the Achilus Crusade's Acheros Salient would be stationed at Iobel at some point.Due to its recent additions, its size, and its close proximity to Watch Fortress Erioch, Iobel contains an extensive armoury as well as many large Space Marine vehicles to which other watch stations do not have access.This wide access to supplies is a great boon to Kill-teams, but it doesn't come without its difficulties. Because of the number of Kill-teams operating out of the watch station, a Battle-Brother may find the wargear he wants has already been requisitioned by a different Kill-team. |
Watch Station Iobel - History: For the long millennia of the Jericho Reach's "Age of Shadow," Watch Station Iobel was no more than a lonely tower perched atop a storm-wracked mountain range.The dark halls were all but empty save for a few serfs and Servitors and the two Battle-Brothers whose task it was to stay ever vigilant for the rise of whatever unknown threat the desolate planet posed.The watch station originally housed no equipment for monitoring the rest of the star system it inhabited. From what the Deathwatch could ascertain, its original purpose was to watch over the valleys far below the mountain on which it stands.A grand network of pict-feeds had been assembled and maintained across the surrounding area of the planet, though the images they transmit back to the watch station are commonly blurry and distorted from the massive electrical interference within the planet's atmosphere.There was little evidence as to why the architects of the watch station desired the barren valleys to be observed. Year after year the pict feeds would return nothing but grey, static images of a barren landscape.Fanciful tales were passed down amongst the serfs, tales of mechanical horrors that stalked the valleys during the worst of the storms. But this was always dismissed as nothing more than the superstitious legends of mortals.However, there are some Battle-Brothers amongst those who have served at Watch Station Iobel that believe the tales of the serfs. Scattered through the archives are different grainy picts, saved from the feeds, that depict looming silhouettes of mechanical spiders, a faint green glow emanating from lines on their bodies through the distortion in the storm.Each time one of these picts was taken, the Battle-Brothers would leave to investigate after the storm subsided, but would find no evidence that any such being ever existed. This has led to the watch station getting a strong reputation for ghost stories and tall tales.Since the Achilus Crusade came to the Jericho Reach, Watch Station Iobel has seen a radical transformation. As the Hadex Anomaly expands, it has begun to consume the star systems around it. One such lost world housed Watch Station Midael, the closest Deathwatch outpost to the anomaly.With the loss of Midael, Iobel became the closest, and it began housing all Kill-teams operating in the area. This increase in traffic was far larger than the small tower could possibly house, and as more and more Kill-teams passed through, it became a necessity to expand the watch station.Techmarines and serfs under the supervision of Harl Greyweaver began construction to enlarge the watch station, hollowing out the very mountain it stood on. Intricate networks of passages were carved out, a giant hanger was created, and ancient equipment was shipped in.Within the course of a solar decade, the watch station transformed from a lonely tower to a veritable Space Marine fortress-monastery. Now, the hallways of Watch Station Iobel bustle with activity.Banks of cogitators process information on xenos activity in and around the Hadex Anomaly, Kill-teams prep for missions, and Ordo Xenos Inquisitors commonly make use of all the facility has to offer.With the explosion of activity within Watch Station Iobel, its original purpose has been pushed to the background, all but forgotten.The network of picters and cogitators continues to monitor the valleys, but all its fuzzy data is stored away and forgotten. But as the Deathwatch focuses on the Anomaly, something has begun to awaken deep beneath the planet's surface. |
Watch Station Midael - Watch Station Midael: Watch Station Midael was a watch station of the Deathwatch located in the Jericho Reach.Watch Station Midael was ultimately lost to the expansion of the Warp rift known as the Hadex Anomaly when it consumed the world of Midael itself. Since that incident, all communication with the watch station has been lost. |
Watch Station Midael - History: Watch Station Midael sits on a Dead World of the same name shrouded in metallic grey dust that lies close to the spinward extent of the Chaos-held Charon Worlds. The watch station takes the form of a single armoured tower that rises from a spur of rock above one of the world's dust plateaus.Watch Fortress Erioch has not received word from this station in over three solar decades. In truth, it is a dead and lifeless place, inhabited by a lone Deathwatch Battle-Brother, cut off from the outside by the spreading baleful influence of the Charon Stars.For more than thirty Terran years, he has waited for others of the Deathwatch to come and relieve him, standing guard over the thing that is held in the deepest chamber of the tower. Slowly, the watch station's servitors have failed and died, and the tower's systems have become corrupted and atrophied.Every few years, enemy forces come again to claim it. So far, however, they have failed to defeat the lone brother of the Deathwatch who waits within.Outside the tower, the screaming wind howls and the bloody light of the Hadex Anomaly flares ever larger in the cold skies.In 175.M41, the Deathwatch Rapid Strike Cruiser Instance of Fire was attacked by an unknown warship of an archaic Imperial design, and forced to flee before the vastly overmatching vessel. Guided by infernal power, the warship pursued the Deathwatch vessel to Midael and caught the Instance of Fire and disabled it in a brief exchange of fire.Escaping to the watch station on Midael's surface, the fifteen surviving Battle-Brothers make Death Oaths and prepare their last defence in the armoured tower of the watch station. They held out for seventeen solar days against a company-strength force of Chaos Space Marines clad in red armour emblazoned with the marks of the Dark Gods.When a relief force reached Midael, it was too late; they found the watch station despoiled but repairable. The bodies and armour of the fifteen defenders were never found. |
Watch Station Oertha - Watch Station Oertha: Watch Station Oertha is a Deathwatch watch station located in the Jericho Reach.Watch Station Oertha is a bastion under siege, situated on a semi-arid world within one of the primary warzones of the Achilus Crusade's Canis Salient. The forces of the T'au expansion effort believe the planet of Oertha possesses vast resources of fuel and primary materiel.Oertha has been a prime candidate for exploitation and colonisation by the T'au Empire forces in the Reach for some time. The world's largely uninhabited status has led the T'au to lay claim to the planet; a claim that is disputed by the watch station and the Imperial forces within it.Watch Station Oertha is a sprawling and heavily fortified compound that stands concealed in the maze-like ravines of the equatorial Berrick Mountains of Oertha. In a rare instance of overt and ongoing cooperation between the Achilus Crusade's forces and the Deathwatch, Watch Station Oertha has now become the keystone of the Imperial efforts to deny the planet to the T'au.Twenty Deathwatch Battle-Brothers, under Watch Codicier Kurita, and fifty allied Astartes of the Storm Wardens Chapter have garrisoned the watch station, using it as a base from which to launch a campaign of devastating raids against the T'au.So far, these raids have made it all but impossible for the T'au to expand on the planet. As matters stand now, both sides are awaiting reinforcements, and only time will ultimately determine the fate of Oertha. |
Watch Station Phaedas - Watch Station Phaedas: Watch Station Phaedas is a largely automated, mobile watch station of the Deathwatch deployed in the Jericho Reach. It is essentially a Warp-capable void station, its structures constructed into a small asteroid.Watch Station Phaedas is a relic of ages past. Not a true watch station in the conventional sense, Phaedas is an archaeotech voidcraft that bears no resemblance to any form of starship or void station within Imperial records. If the Adeptus Mechanicus know of Phaedas' provenance, they are not forthcoming about it.Phaedas is largely automated, its myriad machine spirits (artificial intelligences) demonstrating sophistication that rivals those of the most ancient and revered of Titans.The vessel -- if it can be defined as such -- seems to operate based on incredibly complex logic paths, turning augur data into plotted courses, even able to travel short distances through the Warp without a Navigator.Phaedas is comparatively small for an object capable of self-sustained travel through the Warp -- massing far less than the smallest Warp-going craft in service to the Imperial Navy or Adeptus Astartes.The watch station has space only to support ten Astartes, but contains a modest armoury and a supply vault sufficient for standard years of travel without requiring replenishment.It is also equipped with a launch bay loaded with a single Stormraven Gunship and a Drop Pod bay equipped with a single Drop Pod, either of which is enough to deploy the Kill-team occupying it from orbit swiftly and with precision.Its small size and cunning design allow it to avoid all but the most careful of observers, making it extremely effective at conveying its Kill-team while remaining unnoticed. |
Watch Station Phaedas - History: Though the true origin of Watch Station Phaedas has been lost to the millennia, many Techmarines amongst the Deathwatch, Harl Greyweaver included, believe it has ties to Watch Fortress Erioch and the Omega Vault.There have been multiple recorded instances of the watch station dramatically changing course at almost the exact same time Techmarines aboard Watch Fortress Erioch recorded an Omega Vault event.This seeming link between the two mysterious stations has led to not only a full acceptance of Phaedas within the Deathwatch, but an almost permanent garrison in its cramped halls.Throughout recorded history, the watch station has travelled to all corners of the Jericho Reach. It has been present at some of the most major xenos events, and mysteriously it usually arrives prior to any signs that an incident is going to occur.Kill-teams operating on board are practised in reading the movements of the station, and deducing when it has reached is destination. However, it is impossible to truly figure out the intentions of the arcane banks of cogitators driving the station, and Battle-Brothers act with extreme caution when using it for operations.In 805.M41, Phaedas made a strange move that puzzled even Battle-Brothers who had served aboard it for solar decades. After astropathic messages regarding the conquest of Eleusis reached Watch Fortress Erioch the watch station radically changed course.Almost leaving behind the Kill-team that was operating out of it, Phaedas left the coreward edge of the Reach where it had been operating for solar months and began travelling at great speed until it reached Jove's Decent near the rimward edge. There it stopped, much to the bewilderment of the Kill-team stationed onboard, and waited for almost a solar decade.Most assumed its archaeotech cogitators had finally given out, its machine spirit faded from millennia of tireless travel. But as the Shadow in the Warp descended upon the systems of the Orpheus Salient, Watch Station Phaedas sprung back to life.It is now a tool of utmost importance to the Deathwatch in the Reach, as it continues to move around the salient in spite of the Shadow in the Warp blocking all astropathic communication. It is currently the only way for Kill-teams to get a jump on the Tyranid swarm of Hive Fleet Dagon as it devours the salient. |
Watch Station Phaedas - Structure: Despite moving around the Reach as readily as a starship, Watch Station Phaedas more closely resembles an ancient void station, built into a small asteroid.Clearly of Human origin, this archaeotech structure has no evidence of engines, or any normal voidship structures. How it manages to move through the void has remained a mystery to all who have used it over the millennia.The majority of Phaedas' internal structure is devoted to its essential systems, all of which run with an efficiency that disturbs the servants of the Machine God greatly, requiring little in the way of maintenance rites or mortal intervention.The only parts of the watch station that are readily accessible to its crew are at the fore -- the Kill-team's cells, the armoury, the launch and Drop Pod bays, and the strategium.This strategium, a tiny chamber compared to its like aboard the starships of the Astartes, serves much the same purpose as a starship's bridge or a void station's command centre, allowing the crew to interact with Phaedas' systems and direct it. |
Watch Station Skapula - Watch Station Skapula: Watch Station Skapula is a Deathwatch space station, abandoned long ago, that orbits the barren world of Skapula in T'au space in the Jericho Reach. While deactivated, the station is protected by automated defences that are still operational in spite of the time the watch station has spent empty.The T'au are interested in the station, believing it to have some religious purpose that could be significant to understanding the Gue'la mindset.Human Gue'vesa pioneers led by Earth Caste archaeologists have tried to examine and enter the watch station, but the automated defences have held them off in spite of spirited attempts to understand and deactivate them.Skapula could prove a hugely valuable asset for the Imperium. It possesses highly advanced technology and is even capable of short Warp jumps, making it extremely useful as a jumping-off point for Deathwatch operations against the T'au's Velk'Han Sept.A mission to capture the station from the T'au and reactivate it is surely on the Deathwatch's agenda for operations in the Jericho Reach.However, during the last years of the 41st Millennium, the T'au have been losing warriors planet-side. What has happened to these missing Fire Warriors and Pathfinders is unknown, but the number of missing has been steadily increasing.The commanders of the T'au forces have kept this quiet, only conferring on the matter with the Ethereal in charge of the expedition.Almost all of the warriors that have vanished disappeared in remote locations while alone or separated from their comrades. All T'au patrols have been advised to be especially vigilant while conducting operations and to look for any suspicious activity.The sensors of the watch station have detected intense seismic activity along the equatorial band of Skapula. These geological fluctuations include massive bursts of radiation that flare to life and vanish completely after only twenty-to-thirty solar seconds.There have been no T'au in the vicinity of these readings. Master of the Forge Xerill of the Dead Cabal is on record for wanting to investigate the matter further, but the planet must first be reclaimed. |
Watch Station Tryphon - Watch Station Tryphon: Watch Station Tryphon is a Deathwatch watch station located in the heart of the Orpheus Salient of the Jericho Reach.It has somehow been able to get an occasional astropathic message through the Shadow in the Warp created by the presence of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Dagon in the salient.It is currently unknown how the station is able to achieve this feat. Some of the more Puritanical members of the Ordo Xenos feel that this is the Emperor's will being manifested through the astropaths on station.More Radical Inquisitors feel that the Deathwatch have captured a piece of xenos technology and are keen to acquire this for themselves.Where the truth actually lies is unknown, as the Deathwatch are too busy fighting off the Tyranids to offer up an explanation, and the Inquisition is hesitant to order a full-scale investigation into the watch station while it remains as one of the only means of contact with the Orpheus Salient. |
Watcher Keep - Watcher Keep: Watcher Keep is a primary watch fortress of the Deathwatch Chapter located on the border between the Segmentum Pacificus and Segmentum Tempestus. It is currently commanded by Watch Master Vaedrian Shenol.In the wake of the Great Rift's creation in the Era Indomitus, Shenol has seen an increase in the number of xenophiles within the Imperium. These are Humans who feel that since xenos are also threatened by the forces of Chaos, the Imperium should fight alongside them against their shared foe.The watch master considers these people to be Heretics who would foolishly have Humanity put its trust in inhuman monsters that would gladly betray Mankind at the first chance. Shenol has declared that there can be no tolerance, no compromise, and no peace with aliens -- only war and the Imperium's endless purgation of the xenos threat. |
Watcher Keep - Service of Demetrian Titus: Following the Liberation of Graia, Captain Demetrian Titus, commander of the Ultramarines' 2nd Company, had been imprisoned by Inquisitor Thrax on suspicion of heresy for his unaccountable failure to be affected by Warp sorcery during that campaign. After a standard century of captivity by the Inquisition, Thrax led an operation against the traitorous Grey Slayers Chapter, who had become corrupted by the insidious machinations of the Dark Gods. Leading a large retinue of Grey Knights upon the corrupted Chapter's homeworld, they began to purge the Heretic Astartes in earnest.However, during the conflict, Thrax was possessed by a Daemon, and in turn, was killed by his retinue of Grey Knights. In the wake of Thrax's death, forces drawn from the Red Hunters Chapter were dispatched to investigate and secure the Inquisitor's holdings. In a remote Inquisitorial watch station far to the galactic south, a Red Hunters kill-team discovered almost a score of Space Marine interrogation subjects locked in stasis cells, preserved from the passage of time. Titus' story could have come to an end there, had the Inquisitor responsible for overseeing the seizure of Thrax's materials felt inclined to conceal the shame of her fellow Inquisitor. Instead, Titus, and several other warriors of various Chapters who had attracted Thrax's attention, were conveyed to the Deathwatch watch fortress of Watcher Keep to be evaluated.After being found free of Chaos taint or disloyalty, Titus would eventually enter the service of Watcher Keep as a Deathwatch Black Shield, his former identity unknown to those he fought alongside. Having received no word from his brethren since his incarceration, he came to believe he had somehow brought shame upon his name and that of his beloved Ultramarines and determined that he was not worthy to bear the Chapter's name. Overcome with shock and grief at his discommendation, Titus had all of his former Chapter's heraldry purged from his battle-plate and assumed a self-imposed exile as an outcast Black Shield.If he could serve the Imperium and his Emperor as an alien-hunting battle-brother of the Deathwatch until death claimed him, he would do so gladly, having no more desire for personal glory than he did at the start of his life as a Space Marine. Assuming the name "Nullus," Titus honourably served alongside his fellow battle-brothers in the Deathwatch for many standard years. During this point in time, unbeknownst to Titus, the Ultramarines' primarch Roboute Guilliman had been resurrected on Macragge during the Ultramar Campaign of the 13th Black Crusade, and now once again served as lord commander of the Imperium and Imperial Regent.Guilliman led his newly declared Indomitus Crusade against the various enemies of Humanity, as the galaxy had literally been split in two by the opening of the Great Rift at the start of the Era Indomitus, a galaxy-spanning Warp rift formed in the wake of the destruction of the Fortress World of Cadia at the hands of the Warmaster of Chaos, Abaddon the Despoiler. However, this crusade left many worlds weakened after committing large numbers of troops to the war effort, leaving them more vulnerable to invasion.During this time, the Fourth Tyrannic War began in the Segmentum Pacificus, as swarms of Tyranids, ravenous extragalactic aliens that threatened to consume all life in the Milky Way, invaded the already-beleaguered strongholds of Humanity in the galactic west.Titus, as "Nullus," deployed as part of the Deathwatch's Kill-team Kasaeran, deploying to the Recidious System via Corvus Blackstar. During their mission to the Recidious System, Nullus and his squad were tasked with reinforcing the Astra Militarum forces based there on the world of Kadaku, who were already weakened by the toll taken by the Indomitus Crusade muster across the Imperium Sanctus.The kill-team's gunship was brought down by swarming flocks of winged Tyranid bioforms, forcing the warriors to engage with the insectoid aliens on the planet's surface. Here, Titus was gravely wounded by a monstrous Tyranid Carnifex. As life bled from his torn body, his Deathwatch battle-brothers lying slain around him, he prepared to commend his soul to the Emperor. It was then that Titus was reunited with the warriors of Ultramar, as an Ultramarines strike force arrived to relieve the Deathwatch at Kadaku.Varro Tigurius, Chief Librarian of the Ultramarines, detected the soul-sign of the warrior once known as Demetrian Titus in the local Immaterium as their strike craft traversed the Warp. Even as the Tyranids' Shadow in the Warp began to cloud Tigurious' witch-sight like cataracts, the Chief Librarian recognised he who had once been the captain of the Ultramarines 2nd Company.As fate would have it, Tigurius travelled aboard the Righteous Fury, the same vessel that had borne Titus and Trajan before him to battle many times, and it was this mighty voidcraft of the Chapter that broke from the Warp at the edge of the Recidious System. There, the strike cruiser prepared its Thunderhawk gunships to deploy to the planet where the broken form of the Black Shield known to his comrades as Nullus lay dying.The Ultramarines 1st Company arrived on the planet to reinforce the Deathwatch forces, bringing none other than First Captain Severus Agemman and Chief Librarian Tigurius. The Ultramarines fought valiantly, their weapon blasts wreaking devastation upon the Tyranid bioforms with the carefully born discipline of experienced Tyranid hunters, holding back the tide. They arrived too late to save Kadaku from falling to the Great Devourer but the Deathwatch warriors of Watcher Keep were able to recover their dead and wounded and fall back into the Ultramarines' gunships. All except the ravaged Black Shield Nullus, who Tigurius ordered returned to the Apothecarion bays aboard the Righteous Fury.Titus' wounds were grave, and it was decreed that he would undergo the "Calgarian Rites," the Ultramarines' name for the Rubicon Primaris, in order to have even a chance of surviving. Titus withstood the procedures necessary to become a Primaris Space Marine as stoically as he had endured any of Inquisitor Thrax's interrogations and was remade stronger than he had ever been. When he awoke, he was surprised to find himself honoured with the rank of lieutenant under the command of Captain Sevastus Acheran of the 2nd Company -- a warrior who had only recently left the Scout Marine reserve when Titus was taken from the Ultramarines alm,ost a standard century before. Once more Titus resolved to do as was bid of him by his Chapter, and serve under a warrior who held the titles he had once held.There were those amongst the Ultramarines who were apprehensive about Titus' return to the Chapter. Chief Librarian Tigurius, however, had performed his own examination of the former captain and found him to harbour no taint, before psychically communing with Chapter Master Marneus Calgar who authorised Titus' immediate reinstatement. Their word was as adamantine, and Titus was officially welcomed back into the warrior brotherhood of his gene-sire. Lieutenant Demetrian Titus, once and once more of the Ultramarines 2nd Company, would bring the wrath of his Chapter to the foes of the Imperium anew. |
Watchers in Death (Novel) - Watchers in Death (Novel): Watchers in Death is the ninth volume in The Beast Arises series of novels. |
Watchers in Death (Novel) - Synopsis: The attempt to hunt down and kill the Orks' leader has ended in catastrophe. The Imperium is reeling from the loss of so many beloved heroes, and the military forces of Mankind have been reduced to tatters. Koorland now knows that brute force is not the answer -- but how else can the Orks be fought? In a radical move, he creates small, mixed Chapter units of Adeptus Astartes -- compact teams that will hit the enemy hard and fast, and with deadly accuracy. With armour painted the black of mourning, the new strike teams become known as the Deathwatch. But will this be enough to tip the balance, or does the Imperium need to discover other new means to defeat the Orks? |
Watchers in the Dark - Watchers in the Dark: The Watchers in the Dark are a strange species of humanoid creatures of small stature native to the lost world of Caliban who inhabit The Rock, the mobile fortress-monastery of the Dark Angels Space Marine Chapter.They are often utilised by the Chapter and its Unforgiven Successor Chapters as favoured servants. They possess a unique and powerful psychic talent which enables them to protect themselves from most forms of attack. Although they may accompany their Human masters onto the battlefield, they never take an active part in combat themselves. These hooded attendants tend to cluster around the highest-ranking warriors of the Chapter, often forming eerie processions behind them during their archaic rites, or bearing ancient artefacts into battle at their side.None can say for certain what manner of creature lies beneath the robes of these strange figures, but whatever they are they never speak a word. Their presence is solemnly accepted, if never acknowledged, by the Dark Angels; they simply linger, like some omnipresent manifestation of guilt clad in cowled monastic robes.The Watchers are able to access areas of The Rock that even the Dark Angels themselves cannot. They come and go as they please, and from their first days as novitiates all Dark Angels are warned not to interfere with or obstruct the Watchers in any way. Cautionary tales persist, whispered by Scout brothers, of those who ignored these warnings and soon disappeared, never to be seen again.The air of mystique and menace that surrounds these strange beings is only heightened by their propensity to haunt the winding passages and dusty scroll-chambers of The Rock's Librarius, though what strange business they have there is a mystery to all. |
Watchers in the Dark - History: The nature of the creature under the robes of a Watcher in the Dark is unknown to even the battle-brothers of the Dark Angels. Perhaps the Watchers are simply vat-grown servitor-constructs of an unusual size and form. Perhaps they are some manner of hitherto unknown xenos creature who were native to the Dark Angels' lost homeworld of Caliban. Perhaps they are something more sinister, a corporeal manifestation of the Unforgiven's collective guilt.During the Great Crusade era, a young Knight of The Order by the name of Zahariel, who would later go on to become a Librarian of the Dark Angels Legion, first encountered these mysterious creatures while undertaking a Beast Quest. He recognised these entities as the Watchers in the Dark, creatures who had existed in the ancient legends of Caliban for as long as anyone could remember, living in the darkest regions of the wild hinterlands of Caliban's vast forests.These humanoid entities warned the young knight to cease in the pursuit of his goals. Undeterred, Zahariel continued to undertake his quest. The Watchers in the Dark appeared to oppose Chaos and the powers of the Warp and seemed, on some level, to be attempting to limit or contain the power of Caliban's Warp-tainted Great Beasts.According to the sentient artefact known as the Ouroboros that was discovered on Caliban during the Horus Heresy, the Watchers at some point had become its "jailer."It is said that the Watchers in the Dark are the heralds of troubled times ahead. They appeared before Lion El'Jonson's discovery by the Emperor on Caliban and just before the eventual betrayal of the Dark Angels Legion by the Dark Angels left behind on Caliban by the Ist Legion who became the Fallen Angels. As conflict erupted during the Horus Heresy between the Fallen Angels garrisoning Caliban, the Watchers in the Dark sided with the Lord Cypher rather than Zahariel and Merir Astelan.During the Fall of Caliban, the great conflagration between the Arch-heretic Luther and Primarch Lion El'Jonson that caused the destruction of the Dark Angels' homeworld, the Watchers in the Dark carried away the mortally-wounded primarch, as the Fallen were swept up in a great vortex and cast into the Warp and scattered throughout time and space.Since that time, the Watchers in the Dark now haunt the lower levels of The Rock. These silent figures have been seen bearing the Dark Angels battle-brothers' weapons into combat and seem near-immune to all acts of violence or use of psychic powers. Any battle-brother of the Dark Angels or the other Unforgiven Chapters who gains the honour of being accompanied by one of these strange beings is incredibly fortunate and is clearly destined for great things.Deep within the bowels of The Rock, known only to the Watchers in the Dark and the Emperor Himself, lies the final and greatest secret of the Dark Angels. Hidden inside a secluded chamber at the heart of what was once the planet of Caliban, unreachable by all save the cryptic Watchers in the Dark, the mighty primarch Lion El'Jonson lay slumbering in a coma, his wounds long-healed, waiting for the time when he will be needed once again, when the clarion call of battle sounds for the final time to defend the Imperium of Man against its enemies.That time came in the Era Indomitus, when the Lion awoke from his millennia-long slumber and was guided by the Watchers in the Dark to travel through the Warp into the Imperium Nihilus where he sought to protect the Imperial worlds trapped behind the Great Rift from the incursions of the forces of Chaos and xenos. |
Watchers in the Dark - Wargear: Perfidious Relic of the Unforgiven - Borne by the mysterious Watchers in the Dark, these are ancient relics of the Ist Legion that have been recaptured by the Deathwing and sometimes carried into battle by the wraith-like figures. The exact nature or function of most of these revered relics is unknown, for they are as mysterious as the cowled figures that bear them. What is known is their effect on the battlefield, for their presence alone dampens the power of enemy psykers and fills the Dark Angels' opponents with feelings of dread. |
Watchguards - Watchguards: The Watchguards is a Loyalist Chapter of Space Marines of unknown Founding and origin which fought to defend the Fortress World of Cadia during the climax of the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41. Little else is currently known about it in Imperial records. |
Watchguards - Notable Campaigns: 13th Black Crusade (999.M41) - The Watchguards deployed a full six companies of the Chapter to aid the counterattack against the Forces of Chaos from the Loyalist holdout of Kasr Trunch during the final battles of Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade just before the fall of Cadia. |
Watchguards - Chapter Colours: The Watchguards' Chapter colours are currently unrecorded in Imperial records. |
Watchguards - Chapter Badge: The Watchguards' Chapter badge is currently unrecorded in Imperial records. |
Water Caste - Water Caste: The Water Caste of the T'au is made up of merchants, diplomats, and administrators. They are responsible for maintaining effective interaction between the castes, as well as communicating with and supervising the integration of alien species into the T'au Empire.The T'au use the titular prefix of por to designate someone of the Water Caste.The Water Caste are consummate diplomats, manipulators and fences, able to procure a rare Plasma Weapon for a handful of Kroot toenail clippings or talk a drug-crazed mutant into quiet subservience before convincing it to savagely assault its former master.Members of the Water Caste tend to be taller and more slender than other T'au, and their features are softer and more expressive. Water Caste T'au will frequently adopt the mannerisms and other cultural habits of the intelligent species they deal with, although this is often done to promote communication with these other species.Water Caste members are bureaucrats, politicians, negotiators and administrators. They are the merchants and diplomats of the T'au Empire, moving in and around the other castes to ensure that T'au society functions smoothly, always in the service of the Greater Good.A specialised group of Water Caste members known as the Kar'tyr, or "hunters of justice" in the T'au Lexicon, act as the empire's criminal investigators. They are empowered by the Ethereal Caste with broad powers of investigation and are allowed to use whatever resources are available to conclude their investigations, including the use of military assets like Fire Warriors. They have the legal right to detain any citizen of the T'au Empire for questioning in the course of their investigations.Water Caste members often accompany T'au expeditionary forces to negotiate safe conduct through alien star systems and smooth the passage of T'au merchants and colonists.Servants of the Imperium should be aware that these T'au are exceptionally skilled at manipulating weak-willed individuals and every remark addressed to a member of the Water Caste must be carefully considered and phrased to prevent any sensitive information from being divulged. |
Water Caste - History: The T'au Empire is expanding at an incredible rate, the entire species working together to secure their continued success, and they believe their destiny is to spread their influence across the stars.But it was not always this way. The T'au race was once consumed by a bitter civil war that all but destroyed them. When the species was young, the four castes of the T'au developed as separate branches of the same species.The Air Caste dwelt in the lofty mountain ranges of T'au, the species' home planet, using their membranous patagia to soar aloft on thermals.The Earth Caste constructed dwellings and settlements on the plains, exhibiting a natural flair for creation and the application of science.The Fire Caste, aggressive and hot-blooded, simply took by force what they could not otherwise obtain.But most advanced of all were those T'au who realised long before the T'au race began to tear itself apart that it would profit most of all from unity.They worked hard to ensure that what one tribe could not produce, another could supply, and specialised as traders, arbitrators and negotiators between the tribes.They were the Water Caste, but their philosophy was ahead of its time, and great strife was to befall the T'au race before their true value became clear.It was the Ethereal Caste that pioneered the notion of the Greater Good, that it was honourable and right for a T'au to put his self-interests and even survival aside for the betterment of the species as a whole.Needless to say, being so effortlessly surpassed in their own field forced the Water Caste to swallow a considerable amount of pride, especially as the harmony the Ethereals preached had been the Water Caste's manifesto from the beginning (albeit for less altruistic motives).Although the head councils of the Water Caste knew they could only benefit from the status quo imposed by the Ethereals, it took rather longer for them to learn to revere the Ethereals than the rest of their species.In the present day, they are as much a part of the harmony of the T'au as any other caste. |
Water Caste - Notable Water Caste Members: Por'la Vior'la Kais'uam - Por'la Vior'la Kais'uam is a T'au envoy of the Water Caste. Por'la Vior'la Kais'uam, like many of his species, has an ambition and drive far above his current station. Although elements of his name roughly translate as "skilful mediator" and "Water Caste bureaucrat," Por'la has the fiery temperament and outgoing nature typical to those from the T'au Sept world of Vior'la. Though young by T'au standards, Por'la is extremely well-travelled, having fled the T'au Sept worlds and crossed vast tracts of space to the distant Imperial world of Karis Cephalon. The reasons behind this self-imposed odyssey hail back to one of the most important and bloody eras in T'au history -- the Damocles Gulf Crusade.Por'O' Dal'yth Kais Twi Lui'tan - Known as the "Golden Ambassador," Kais Twi Lui'tan was considered the greatest envoy and diplomat in the history of the Water Caste. In 896.M40 he led a mass exploration across space to seek out new intelligent alien species to assimilate into the T'au Empire. He proved highly successful and integrated the Thraxians, Greet, and Formosians into the empire. The few who rejected his overtures to join with the Greater Good included the Hrud and the Arachens.Por'ui Fi'rios Kau'kartyr - Kau'kartyr was a Water Caste Kar'tyr or criminal investigator, assigned to the orbital shipyard of Suu'suamyth in the Nem'yar Atoll. He was assigned by the space station's governing council to assist Gue'vesa'vres Kalice Arkady in putting an end to a spate of sabotage that had recently assaulted the shipyard. With the aid of his Gue'vesa partner the two determined that the sabotage was being carried out by a Genestealer Cult comprised of several different species, including Humans and the insectoid Vespid, after infected Vespid Brood Brothers had brought their Genestealer Patriarch secretly aboard the shipyard. With the aid of Fire Warriors and several XV25 Stealthsuits, the cult was destroyed. |
Water Caste - Wargear: T'au Water Caste diplomats and merchants are often accompanied on their missions by T'au Escort Drones. In addition, a member of the T'au Water Caste may carry one of the following items of personal equipment or wargear.Apocalypse Grenade - The gizmo that the Water Caste envoy has had tucked away under his robes is an "Apocalypse Grenade," an immensely powerful explosive device capable of levelling an entire city block. Or at least that's what he tells the hostiles closing on him.Holographic Projector Device (HPD) - A Water Caste envoy can carry a device that is capable of projecting a sophisticated hologram, using a refined version of the technology employed in the T'au XV15 Stealthsuits. Designed specifically for the Water Caste, it can project holograms of others (such as the T'au's employer) or even the T'au himself to distract and befuddle his enemies. Many lucrative deals have been clinched in this way with the envoy hidden safely nearby in case things don't work out. There are two patterns of HPD: the Messenger Pattern and Phimera Pattern. A Messenger Pattern HPD plays a prerecorded message. In the heat of battle, it is advantageous for the T'au to use this function to project an image of a fearsome warrior charging forward, thereby distracting his foe. A Chimera Pattern HPD projects the image of the Water Caste envoy himself and can be used to disorient or trick enemies into striking the holographic envoy rather than the T'au himself.Man-portable Disruption Pod - Some T'au vehicles are equipped with Disruption Pods -- sophisticated scrambler devices that blur and contort the outline of their hull, making it more difficult for enemy weapons to draw a bead on them. A T'au Water Caste envoy can carry a small, man-portable version of the Disruption Pod, distorting the image of the envoy and making it extremely difficult to draw a bead on him.Alpha-Category EMP Device - T'au electro-magnetic pulse technology is used mainly by the Fire Caste to disable enemy armour. However, such powerful surges of energy can be used to disable all manner of machines from the humble blast door to the mighty Land Raider, and Alpha-Category EMP devices, although extremely rare, are said to be able to shut down anything up to an entire hab-block's power supply for a short time. This would include Power Armour, bionics, and any personal weapon that incorporates electronic components, such as all Power Weapons, Laser Weapons and Plasma Weapons.Polyglot Hedron - A Polyglot Hedron is the signature linguistic device of the Water Caste that instantly translates and transmits whatever the envoy says in the native tongue of the person or people he's dealing with. This invariably has a positive effect on any deals the Water Caste T'au intends to close. The T'au only needs to sub-vocalise the words he is forming for the Hedron to pick up and broadcast them, so the net result is that it seems the T'au is chatting away fluently in the language of those he is facing. Alternatively, he can speak out loud in Imperial Gothic so that his companions can understand what he is saying even as the gizmo translates his words into the requisite alien tongue. Even when the T'au is speaking to an individual whose first language is Imperial Gothic, the Polyglot Hedron picks up the appropriate dialect, and broadcasts the envoy's speech in that pattern.Archeotech - This arcane gizmo is an item of indeterminate function but immense value, a relic of the glorious Age of Technology unearthed from the deepest strata of the underhives that the T'au has managed to swindle out of some unfortunate Human prospector. Up till now, the Water Caste envoy has been unaware of its function, and has not attempted to use it, preferring to let the Earth Caste give it a thorough examination. However, in the heat of battle, sometimes the element of choice is removed. The device may have a number of different effects, including simply playing beautiful music which provides no advantage in combat, projects a powerful force field that springs into place around the T'au, surrounding him in a blue sphere of crackling light, acts a stable anti-gravitic propulsion unit that allows the T'au to move through the air and away from battle at will, is a personal teleportation unit, acts as a powerful directed energy weapon like a Multi-Laser, or unleashes an unstable gravimetric effect on the local region of space-time like a Graviton Gun. |
Wave Serpent - Wave Serpent: The Wave Serpent is an anti-gravitic, armoured personnel carrier based on the same design as the Falcon. It is the standard armoured infantry transport vehicle of the Craftworld Aeldari.Armed with twin-linked shuriken catapults and another set of twin-linked heavy weapons, usually Bright Lances, the Wave Serpent is capable of carrying up to ten Asuryani warriors to the battlefield in the expanded passenger compartment. |
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