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Ynnari - Ynnari: The Ynnari, also known as "the Reborn," are a kindred or religious sect of the Aeldari species comprised of members drawn from all of its other major kindreds, including the Asuryani, Aeldari Corsairs, Exodites, the Drukhari and the Harlequins.Under the leadership of the prophet Yvraine, the "Daughter of Shades," the Ynnari seek to fully awaken the Aeldari god of the dead Ynnead, who they believe can defeat Slaanesh and restore the Aeldari species' unity and its lost glory.They aim to achieve this in a ritual that would not require the sacrifice of the entire Aeldari species, using a method known as the "Seventh Path" or the "Seventh Way."This path requires the possession of all five of the legendary Croneswords of the Aeldari Crone Goddess Morai-Heg, the mistress of fate.According to the legends, if the Croneswords of Morai-Heg are placed in the right hands, they will give their wielders dominion over life and death.Yvraine, the Emissary of Ynnead, believes that when all five Croneswords are brought together they will act as a physical conduit for Ynnead, focussing enough power to fully awaken her god and destroy She Who Thirsts forever, restoring the ancient Aeldari's ability to reincarnate freely upon death from the Immaterium.However, with the revelation that the Keeper of Secrets Shalaxi Hellbane discovered the fifth Cronesword on Belial IV before the Battle of Iyanden and has secreted it away in the Palace of Slaanesh in the Realm of Chaos, the promise of the Seventh Path now seems all-but-impossible to achieve.With their combined might the Ynnari have become a new force in the galaxy, and have been instrumental in several of the events that brought about the Era Indomitus of the Age of the Imperium, including the resurrection of the Primarch Roboute Guilliman.There has always been an obscure school of thought in Aeldari society that states when every member of their species has died the souls that have been saved from Slaanesh's curse will form a gestalt entity, awakening a new god in the Immaterium with the power to defeat She Who Thirsts forever.Some amongst the Seers and scholars in Aeldari society claim that time of ending, the Rhana Dandra, is nigh, but that not all Aeldari must die to escape Slaanesh's clutches -- there is a new hope against the darkness.Foremost amongst these are the Seers of Ulthwé, whose psychic machinations led to a premature awakening for the Aeldari god of the dead.Soon after Ynnead was first roused from slumbering potentiality, a fraction of his will and power was imparted to Yvraine, the Daughter of Shades. An exile from Biel-Tan after following the Asuryani Paths of the Warrior and the Witch, Yvraine had walked every corner of Aeldari society -- she had become an Outcast, then a Corsair commander, and finally, after a costly mutiny, fallen from grace entirely to become exiled from even the most roguish of Aeldari subcultures.She eked out a new existence from the haunted streets of Commorragh, fighting tooth and nail to become part of the Wych Cults -- such was her skill as a warrior that she rose to the rank of Succubus. It was in the white-hot crucible of arena conflict she crossed the threshold of death and found herself infused with the energies of Ynnead.That was the crux point of fate that saw the birth of a new Aeldari creed -- in one mind-blasting moment Yvraine became a conduit for deathly psychic energies, invested with the ability to pass on her esoteric skills to those who joined her new and macabre doctrine.With the aid of the mysterious Drukhari swordsman known as the Visarch, Yvraine cut her way free from the daemonic infestation that rocked Commorragh soon after her ascension. She made her way back to the craftworld of her birth, ripping free one of the fabled Croneswords from the wraithbone skeleton of Biel-Tan -- and in the process, fracturing the world-ship into skeletal shards of its former glory.The shattering of Biel-Tan's Infinity Circuit unleashed a vast explosion of psychic energies that caused Warp vortices to spiral into being around the stricken craftworld, but also gave a focal point for the Aeldari god of the dead to manifest his Avatar in realspace.So was born the Yncarne, a being both beautiful and terrible, whose mastery over deathly energies were the supernatural powers of Ynnead himself.Since that fateful day, the Triumvirate of Ynnead -- Yvraine, the Visarch and the Yncarne -- has spread word of the nascent god's ascension to the mightiest of craftworlds, the far-flung fleets of the Aeldari Corsairs, the dark corners of Commorragh, and even the Exodite worlds.A great many Aeldari, hailing from every sub-faction and allegiance save the most conservative and entrenched, have joined their cause. No abstract philosophy is this, for the effects of their new deity can be seen manifesting around them -- the Reborn can draw upon the souls within the Spirit Stones they wear to bolster their own abilities, can siphon the power of those slain nearby to invigorate their attacks, and turn their foes to ashes with the strange weapons and psychic powers they wield.They have learned the secrets of the dead, bringing them closer to their ancestors and the lost glories of their fallen empire.Tragically, many Aeldari see the Ynnari as corrupted by the very daemonic forces they seek to thwart. Others believe they are already dead inside.And perhaps they are right. Though the Reborn seek to reforge Aeldari society in Ynnead's name and restore the glory of the ancient Aeldari species, their arrogant coercion of the metaphysical power that is the hallmark of their people has alienated as many factions as it has united.Worse still, the real danger they pose to the Dark Gods has seen the forces of Chaos -- and especially those of Slaanesh -- rise up like a tsunami of devilry to consume the worlds before them.Conflict and destruction erupts in the Ynnari's wake, and wherever they go, one thing stands out as a stark truth above all. As well as bringing hope, the Reborn bring death -- and in great measure.

Ynnari - A New Hope: Amidst the twilight years of their people, the Aeldari had found a new hope -- something that could potentially stave off their doom altogether. In this, the leaders of the Ynnari saw a chance to unify their long-scattered species as one, healing old wounds and beginning a new era of progress.The Aeldari had witnessed tumultuous change at the tail end of the 41st Millennium of the Imperial Calendar. Being a people blessed with psychic abilities and genuine precognitive power, the promise of cataclysm did not go unheralded. As ever, the Aeldari sought to turn the twists of fate to their own ends -- the High Farseer Eldrad Ulthran of Ulthwé more than any other.Over the last few hundred Terran years of his immense lifespan, Ulthran had detected a confluence of soul energy whenever he had cast his mind into the afterlife of his craftworld's Infinity Circuit. The lingering essences of the dead were blending together into a slow but discernible psychic heartbeat, like that of some impossibly huge giant slumbering in the endless depths of the Aeldari soul.It was the nascent essence of a god of the dead, Ynnead. In that great potentiality, Eldrad Ulthran saw hope.It was the Pathfinders of Alaitoc, led by Illic Nightspear, who brought word to Ulthwé of the strange crystal moon of Coheria, which orbited the Imperial War World of Port Demesnus.The white sands of the moon, glinting like snowdrifts in the stellar light, were formed of a mildly psychoactive crystal, shards of precious stone ground to powder by the erosion of the aeons. Though none alive knew it, Coheria had been on the edge of the ancient Aeldari Empire at the time of Slaanesh's birth, and was saturated in psychic residue.Shortly after the nature of that moon became clear, Ulthran set in motion a cascade of events that would shape the galaxy.The High Farseer projected his consciousness across the stars, enlisting the aid of a Harlequin troupe from the Masque of the Midnight Sorrow.Led by the Death Jester known as Inriam's Spectre, the Harlequins were foremost amongst those Aeldari who believed that Chaos could be defeated and that Ynnead could one day help their species transcend their ancient doom.

Ynnari - Battle of Port Demesnus: Together, the High Farseer and his Harlequin allies enacted a great ritual upon Coheria that saw a crystal conduit established between all of the Asuryani craftworlds and the psychically-resonant crystal sands that covered much of that moon.His plan was nothing less than to channel the foremost souls of the Aeldari Infinity Circuits into the same place at the same time -- in doing so awakening Ynnead long before the natural point of his birth into consciousness within the Immaterium.This was an act fraught with peril, for it would plunge all the craftworlds into darkness -- and feasibly lead to their spiritual destruction. Yet it also held the potential to see the Aeldari species, living and dead, united for one glorious moment that could see Slaanesh slain forever, and its power usurped, taken for the good of the Aeldari people rather than their downfall.In Ulthran's eyes, it was a gamble well worth taking.The consequences of that great risk -- remembered in Imperial archives as the Battle of Port Demesnus -- were profound. The moon Coheria was under Imperial control, though it was considered minor and near worthless compared to the planet it orbited, Port Demesnus.The Aeldari of Ulthwé launched a fierce assault upon Port Demesnus, orchestrated by Ulthran as a distraction to draw attention from his true agenda. It summoned an Imperial response -- predictably, the Imperium marshalled every asset it could spare from the system to rush to the defence of its primary holdings.But there was one whose hunter's instinct was strong enough to detect the feint.Watch Captain Artemis of the Deathwatch, a specialist in the art of xenos hunting, took his Kill-team to Coheria and there engaged Eldrad Ulthran at the critical point of his grand ritual.Just as the moon's crystalline sands were thrumming with the psychic energy of countless Aeldari spirits, blood was spilt on both sides, and Ulthran's Harlequin allies were cut down.When Inriam's Spectre was held at gunpoint, he asked his captor, Captain Artemis, if he could put aside his hatred in order to deal a deathblow to a far greater mutual foe -- the Chaos God Slaanesh. The only answer was a bolt to the head.The ritual, so close to completion, went haywire. The psychic emanations intended to awaken Ynnead echoed out into the void, but they were unfocused, for Ulthran had been forced to fight for his life against the Deathwatch in order to escape Coheria at all.The great gamble had failed, but for one aspect -- a tiny mote of Ynnead's divine consciousness that arced through space, eventually coming to land within the Dark City of Commorragh.

Ynnari - The Daughter of Shades: In the Drukhari arena known as the Crucibael, a grand clash was occurring between the famed Lelith Hesperax and the Succubus Yvraine. So far had her fame spread that as well as rich corsairs and outcasts, even a troupe of Harlequins was amongst the crowd.Some had touted Yvraine as skilled enough to face even Lelith Hesperax in personal combat. This claim was usually a death sentence for even the most skilled warriors, for Hesperax was so immensely gifted in the art of combat that those who faced her usually died in seconds.Yet there was something special about this fashionable new challenger. It was in the white heat of arena conflict that Yvraine crossed the threshold of death and found herself infused with the energies of Ynnead.That night, Yvraine had fought fellow Wyches and Hellions, even Incubi. She had used every ounce of her skill to defeat a captive Tyranid Hive Tyrant bred from the strains of Hive Fleets Kraken and Leviathan that were taken from the planet Valedor.After turning its attendant guard-beasts to dust with deft thrusts of her huskblade, she disintegrated the giant leader-beast in single combat. At the fight's climax, she duelled Lelith Hesperax herself, but found herself outclassed and was mortallywounded for her trouble, left as unworthy prey to die slowly of her injuries.But it was the subsequent clash with a stick-thin, elegant priestess of Morai-Heg that was to seal her fate.The new opponent's body was bound up in a complex net of black silk, the icon of the long-dead Crone Goddess Morai-Heg emblazoned upon her forehead. Yvraine had seen that ceremonial garb before, in the statue gardens of her native Biel-Tan.Her new challenger wore the raiment of an ancient priestess from before the Aeldari Empire had fallen.The needle of the crone priestess darted out, and for a few seconds, Yvraine was forced onto the defensive. It was as if she was being assailed by the rapiers of two master fencers at once. On any other night, Yvraine could have beaten the priestess without breaking a sweat.But she had been sorely wounded by Lelith Hesperax. Dismay took hold as she felt her strength draining away, her every blow weaker than the last.It was at this point in time that the culmination of Eldrad Ulthran's failed ritual of awakening sent a mote of deathly power screaming across reality. As small as a meteorite splinter but with impossible potential, its searing arc brought it straight to the Crucibael.Burning across Commorragh like a shooting star, the mote of Ynnead's consciousness slammed into Yvraine just as she found herself crossing the threshold between life and death -- for there, the awakening god Ynnead could reach her and imbue her with his divine power.Perhaps it was because she was at that instant beyond the boundary of death that she attracted Ynnead's gaze. Perhaps it was because she had walked so many paths, thereby living a life reminiscent of the lost ancestors of her people, those Aeldari whose souls reincarnated naturally into new bodies upon their death in the days before She Who Thirsts waited within the Immaterium to swallow them whole.Whatever the reason, the experience of becoming god-touched was transcendental. Though it granted her only a sliver of the nascent deity's deathly potential, Yvraine held more power in that moment than any other Aeldari alive. She had become the first, and most potent, of the Ynnari.That crux point of fate saw the crowd gathered in the arena suddenly blasted by a tsunami of deathly power emanating from Yvraine herself. In one mind-shattering moment Yvraine became a conduit for deathly psychic energies, invested with the ability to manipulate spirit energy and pass on her esoteric skills to those who joined her cause.It was the genesis of a new power in the galaxy, the birth of its high priestess, and the inception of a macabre Aeldari religion that thousands of souls have subscribed to since that day.Yvraine's transformation was a boulder hurled into a stagnant pond. With the mysterious figure known as the Visarch fighting his way to her side, she cut her way through the anarchy of the rioting Crucibael crowd. The destructive ripples of that event flowed outwards, causing the metaphysical quake of a Warp dysjunction across Commorragh.During the resultant daemonic invasion as a breach appeared in the Webway corridors containing the Dark City, Yvraine escaped Commorragh, leaving utter disaster behind her -- for the coming of her apotheosis had seen the half-reality of the Dark City torn wide open, and daemon creatures had slunk through in its wake.The Ynnari's flight through the Webway led Yvraine to Exodite worlds, several Aeldari craftworlds and even a Crone World in the Eye of Terror. In each location, she left dissent and schism behind her. Nowhere was the effect of her actions more clear than on Craftworld Biel-Tan, where she raised a new manner of being, the Yncarne, the Avatar of Ynnead.To many Asuryani, Yvraine was a herald of disaster, but none sought to snuff out her flame as much as Asdrubael Vect, the Supreme Overlord of Commorragh, whose carefully maintained status quo she had so thoroughly shattered.Asdrubael Vect's agents were sent to end her disruption for good, including a mercenary force headed by Drazhar, the Master of Blades.But to others Yvraine represented hope, and thousands of Aeldari joined the cause of the Ynnari, amongst them the Phoenix Lord Jain Zar. The skeins of fate crossed and crossed again, until not even the most skilled Farseers could determine the optimum path through the maze of causality. The future was shrouded, and all the more disturbing for it.

Ynnari - Era of the Dathedian: The events at the close of the 41st Millennium saw the galaxy all but split in half by the celestial cataclysm the Aeldari call the Dathedian.It brought with it a rise in aetheric phenomena -- and being part of a psychic race, the Ynnari were profoundly affected.The Cicatrix Maledictum, that great tear across the fabric of space and time, has further divided the Aeldari people. After the birth of the Great Rift, the Asuryani sent out psychic communiques to every one of their craftworlds, taking stock of the sheer scale of the disaster that had befallenthem.Two of their number did not respond, their psychic traces dwindling with every passing night. Though to an empire as large as the Imperium of Man this would have been considered acceptable losses, for it counts a million worlds and more in its number, for the Aeldari it was a cost so high it wrenched at the heart.To lose two entire craftworlds was a bitter pill indeed. Perhaps one day they would return, just as Craftworld Altansar was drawn from the gullet of the Warp by the odyssey of the Phoenix Lord Maugan Ra. But for now, those craftworlds were gone. Whether their spirits enriched the growing gestalt of Ynnead, none save the Whispering God himself know.Far from uniting the survivors against the common enemy of Chaos as Yvraine had hoped, the rift between the space-going nations of the Aeldari grew all the wider. Their scattered craftworlds are not Warp-capable, for the Aeldari would never risk their souls by willingly braving the hellish dimension of the Empyrean.To do so would be tantamount to suicide, for it would court the hellish attention of Slaanesh, "She Who Thirsts," that entity which prizes Aeldari souls over all others. Neither can the Asuryani craftworlds traverse the Webway, that alien labyrinth dimension between the Warp and realspace through which smaller Aeldari voidcraft traverse the galaxy's hidden paths.Even the smallest of the Asuryani craftworlds is the size of a minor moon, and there are few if any Webway gates large enough to accommodate them. The Harlequins still use secret ways within the Webway for the Aeldari to slide through the vast reaches of space in relative safety, and those who have converted to the Ynnari cause guide Yvraine and her growing congregation through the labyrinth dimension whenever they can.But the coming of these ruinous times have rendered even the quietest space lanes fraught with peril. The Aeldari have become a people truly divided, and in so being, court a new fall.In the cultural hearts of the Aeldari Empire, the wound of the Great Rift -- or the Dathedian in the Aeldari Lexicon -- festered and ran deep.No civilisation of the galaxy could look upon a night sky mauled by the energies of Chaos and not feel affected by it. To a species as sensitive to psychic phenomena as the Aeldari, the scar in the heavens was a constant dull ache in the mind, a reminder of all they had lost.Perhaps it would never have existed at all were it not for the formation of the Eye of Terror, born from the sickening cataclysm of Slaanesh's birth. That stark reminder of their darkest hour gnawed at the mind, making Yvraine's claims of another god yet to be born -- though this time as a saviour -- ring hollow.Across the galaxy, nightmares of guilt and doubt wracked the Aeldari. Even the callous and self-serving Drukhari were affected, forced to admit their way of life was under dire threat. A new era of war began as the turmoil within was turned into merciless strikes against ancient enemies, new foes, and former allies.Much of the blame for the new disaster was put at the door of the mysterious death cult known as the Ynnari, especially upon Biel-Tan. There, the populace had been divided between fervent support for Yvraine and the outright condemnation that followed her visitation -- coinciding, as it did, with the daemonic invasion and subsequent fracture of the craftworld's Infinity Circuit during the Battle of Biel-Tan.Yet the new era brought hope, too -- a new strand of fate that some believed would lead to the Aeldari rising to greatness once more. The being that Yvraine summoned from within Biel-Tan's broken wraithbone skeleton was an Avatar, of a sort -- and for an Avatar to exist, a god had to have risen in power in the Warp for it to incarnate.The entity known as the Yncarne was proof that the Whispering God was real, and hence that he could perhaps save their souls from She Who Thirsts once and for all.

Ynnari - Drukhari Assault: After the Ynnari's desperate resurrection of Prince Yriel turned defeat into victory during the Battle of Iyanden, they made haste to Macragge, there to bolster Humanity's shield against the scourge of Chaos by bringing the Primarch Roboute Guilliman back from the brink of death. From there, they later defended a clutch of worlds from the scourge of Chaos, but always they were on the lookout for more Aeldari sympathetic to their cause.On Saim-Hann, the Ynnari's high priestess Yvraine found no small number of converts. The Saim-Hann world-ship had been sorely pressed since the opening of the Great Rift. At the height of the Khornate Blood Crusade, it had sent five entire clans to hold back the gore-maddened Red Tide on Upsilon, securing a fraught victory before disappearing to leave the planet's Human survivors shaken and confused behind them.At the same time the craftworld's fleet had fought void battles against Imperial Navy warships and elements of Abaddon the Despoiler's vast armada of the 13th Black Crusade.At first Yvraine's call to arms on behalf of the god of the dead Ynnead was seen as the last thing the seers and chieftain of the craftworld needed. It risked a schism dividing their clans, for tempers on Saim-Hann had always run hot.A council was convened at the Speaking Place, a tribal hub in the midst of one of the craftworld's wilderness zones.Beneath the shimmering vault of a colossal bio-dome they talked of ancestors, spirits, and futures yet to be. For a while, they found accord around the ever-burning fires of that place.Then the skies shimmered above the conflagration, and a Drukhari strike force burst from a Webway gate long forgotten. Their intent was to slay Yvraine with a swift decapitating strike, ending her threat to Supreme Overlord Asdrubael Vect's power over the people of Commorragh.The Drukhari's blades did not find their mark, for none other than the Phoenix Lord Jain Zar appeared to meet them in battle. The peace talks turned to fierce battle in moments, and the Ynnari were forced to flee before the people of Saim-Hann could be brought into the fold.

Ynnari - The Hunter Unleashed: In the wake of the Ynnari's emergence, ripples of causality, confusion and desperate hope that spread throughout Aeldari society caused waves of raw emotion to be reflected in the Realm of Chaos.Slaanesh, attuned like no other to the echoes of the Aeldari soul, peered through hooded eyes at the shifting destiny of that ancient race, and began to plan anew to protect its existence.Though all the Aeldari loathed and feared Slaanesh, the god they knew as She Who Thirsts had a deep and unbreakable spiritual connection with the Aeldari, and it longed for their souls upon their death. So it was that the rise of the Ynnari did not escape Slaanesh's notice. The god of the dead they worshipped, and the lack of vitality it represented, was anathema to Slaanesh.Here was a newly rising, morbid god that could steal the delicious soul-fodder of the Aeldari from Slaanesh once and for all.This potential had already been proven beyond a doubt upon Biel-Tan, where the daemonic invasion and subsequent shattering of the craftworld's Infinity Circuit had not yielded the feast of sweetmeats Slaanesh had hoped for, but a dry, dusty feeling of absence. Instead of empowering the Dark Prince, all that bountiful soul energy had been given form as the Yncarne, Avatar of the Whispering God.Upon the Crone World of Belial IV, that same morbid entity had banished a coven of Keepers of Secrets with an ancient Cronesword. Even the high priestess of this slumbering god had committed soul-theft, a crime that no true god could endure. Yvraine had become a walking mausoleum,harbouring hundreds of those spirits Slaanesh craved so deeply.The Dark Prince desired to devour her and the Yncarne more than any other prey.There was opportunity for Slaanesh in the twisting tides of fate. Many Asuryani -- and even self-serving Drukhari -- had converted to the cause of Ynnead. In embracing Ynnead, they were casting aside the shields of self-denial that had served them so well for so long. It was true that should every one of the Aeldari give themselves to Ynnead, the Whispering God would awaken, and Slaanesh's power be broken.But should Yvraine and the Yncarne be hunted down and slain, Ynnead's tenuous existence would fade into allegory. The Aeldari that had stepped away from theirprecious paths would not reach the afterlife of Ynnead at all upon their deaths -- but instead topple from their tightropes of self-disciplineto plummet into the waiting maw of Slaanesh.There was one creature in Slaanesh's employ that specialised in the killing of demigods and avatars. That being was Shalaxi Helbane, the Monarch of the Hunt. Banished from living memory some six hundred years ago by the daemon hunters of the Grey Knights, Shalaxi had languished for centuries in the vast and sprawling Palace of Punishments.Now, with the atonement for that past failure at an end, it was time for the Greater Daemon to rise once more, enter realspace and slay the prophets ofYnnead. In doing so, Helbane would earn the favour of the Dark Prince once more.After gathering many old allies -- amongst them the vengeful daemonic symbiote Syll'Esske and a coterie of Slaaneshi Heralds -- Helbane entered the Webway, three dozen Fiends trilling in delirious joy behind the war party. The hunt was on.With Shalaxi's synaesthetic ability to blend a supernatural array of senses, Yvraine's soul-trail was soon picked out. Shalaxi's loping stride accelerated into a headlong sprint -- one that did not slow over time, nor halt for rest, for when the will of their patron is behind them, daemons do not tire. Dark dreams began to haunt Yvraine's nights.It was upon the Dead World of Threccia that Helbane launched its first vicious attempt upon the Aeldari prophet's life. Yvraine was travelling in the company of a warhost of Biel-Tan, braving a dash along a chain of Webway gates that leapfrogged in quick succession across the executed planets of the Cursoai Reach. Helbane's ambush struck with blistering speed, just as the Aeldari host was exiting one such wraithbone portal into a rocky valley of lifeless dust and wind-scoured statues.Two spearheads of Slaaneshi daemons swept down from the high passes above the valley, one encircling the rear of the Biel-Tan while the other swept around to their fore. Seeker Chariots rattled headlong into the Asuryani, their assault so swift that even the whip-quick craftworlders could not respond in time. Blood and spinning limbs flew as the sleek war engines drove deep into the Biel-Tan formation.The narrow Webway routes the Asuryani followed had prevented them from fielding anti-grav transports. They were thus forced to cut their way out of the ambush on foot. To these faithful Ynnari, Yvraine's life was paramount; as Helbane cut an unstoppable red path towards the prophet, the host's Farseer divided his forces. Screaming their dirgesong, a spearhead of Howling Banshees joined Yvraine in performing a dance of lashing blades that slit a neat hole in the daemonic ranks and allowed them to dash up the valley towards the next Webway portal.At the same time, the main strength of the Biel-Tan host hurled themselves at the Slaaneshi daemons. It was a suicidal attack, and Helbane ripped its way through the Aeldari at a ferocious rate. Yet their very deaths empowered Yvraine even as they proved the devotion of the Ynnari to their cause.Lent impossible speed by the dead souls flowing into her mortal vessel, Yvraine outstripped even the Slaaneshi daemons, escaping into the Webway and leaving Helbane raging in her wake. It had been a desperately near thing, but the prophet of Ynnead had escaped her hunter, at least for a time.But Helbane would not be denied its quarry forever.

Ynnari - Psychic Awakening: Since the Great Rift split the galaxy, the psychic powers that all Aeldari possess to some degree have burgeoned in different ways. It is generally accepted amongst the Farseers of the craftworlds that this is a direct result of the Dathedian introducing a vast bleed of psychic energy into the galaxy.Of all the Aeldari, the craftworlders are most in tune with matters psychic. Without the Asuryani Path system -- that cultural process by which an Aeldari focuses his or her mind upon a single pursuit or skill to avoid the temptation of all others -- the Asuryani might have found this flare of psychic activity disturbing, and possibly even disastrous.Yet the discipline of the Path was developed precisely to turn the Aeldari mind into a fortress against such unfettered activity. Of all the sentient species in the galaxy, the Asuryani could be said to have ridden out the swell of psychic energy the best -- indeed their entire culture was built around methods of discipline, guardianship, and self-denial in case they let their worst excesses rise from within to eclipse their sanity once more.Those Aeldari who trod the Path of the Witch found their prophetic glimpses escalating into full and potent visions, magnifying their ability to parse the skeins of future fates and react accordingly.On every craftworld their Runes of Warding burned out at a daunting rate, the protective symbols being used up almost as fast as they could be regrown from psycho-reactive material, but for now at least, the psychic threat posed by their daemonic nemeses was held at bay.With this new influx of psychic energy came other new abilities, and many Aeldari subcultures found themselves able to draw on power from within. Even those who traditionally honed the use of the physical over the mental found their talents blossoming when they brought the two into balance.The Ynnari were no exception -- wherever the psychic energies of death gathered thick, the converts to Ynnead's cause could literally breathe them in, harnessing that invisible power released upon death to empower them so they fought with blurring speed and incredible dexterity even for one of the Aeldari species.After this Psychic Awakening began, the Ynnari's efforts against Chaos intensified. Yvraine gathered a great many allies to herself but soon found herself beset by new foes in the wake of the Great Rift's birth, most notably the Supreme Overlord Asdrubael Vect of Commorragh and the Keeper of Secrets Shalaxi Helbane, chosen by Slaanesh itself to hunt down the prophet of Ynnead.Helbane has managed to move the last of the fabled Croneswords into the Palace of Slaanesh in the Realm of Chaos. These relics are said to be necessary to defeat Slaanesh without the need to sacrifice the whole of the Aeldari people in the Rhana Dandra.Rather than despair at her apparently hopeless situation, Yvraine decided to find another path to defeat Slaanesh.

Ynnari - Notable Events: The rise, fall, and rise again of the Ynnari has changed the course of galactic history -- not just for the Aeldari, but for those they count amongst their uneasy allies in the Imperium of Man.With the stars riven by the Great Rift, it will take every iota of their foresight and skill to keep the fates of the mortal races of the galaxy from disaster.The Sign Beyond the Grave (999.M41) - In the Hidden Chamber of Ulthanash Shelwé, High Farseer Eldrad Ulthran allows his spirit to flow amongst the departed souls of his people that haunt his craftworld of Ulthwé's Infinity Circuit. Under the susurration of countless billions of voices he hears a swelling pulse, like a deep and distant psychic heartbeat. It gives him hope and sets in motion a chain of events that will see the Aeldari species shaken to its core.The Prophecies of the Seer (999.M41) - Kysaduras the Anchorite, sequestered in his wraithbone cell, prophesises the awakening of Ynnead, the Aeldari god of the dead. His words are riddles and half-truths, and the Seer Council of Ulthwé debate their implications until a single thread of terrible potential is winnowed from the rest. Only one amongst them has the nerve to follow it. Finding common cause with the Harlequins of the Masque of the Midnight Sorrow, Eldrad Ulthran enlists the troupe of the Death Jester Inriam's Spectre into an ingenious and near-blasphemous series of heists.The Theft of the Crystal Seers (999.M41) - A new rendition of the events of the Fall of the Aeldari becomes fashionable amongst the performing Harlequins of the Laughing God and tours the craftworlds one after another. It is unlike the traditional cycle, which ends with Slaanesh and Cegorach locked in a duel without end. This latest performance has an epilogue that hints at another being joining the cast and eventually overcoming She Who Thirsts. These theatrical portrayals are not the only illusions brought to the Masque of the Midnight Sorrow's audiences. After the masque departs the day following the performance, one of the glinting statues from that craftworld's Dome of Crystal Seers is missing, though few are skilled enough to pierce the veil of illusion left in its place.Battle of Port Demesnus (999.M41) - On the Imperial planet of Port Demesnus, the forces of Saim-Hann and Ulthwé strike from long-hidden valleys and subterranean arbours, bypassing the cordons that make the planet an Imperial Navy stronghold. As the Aeldari fall upon the population, the Imperium reinforces the planet's defenders a dozen times over. Only the canny Watch Captain Artemis of the Deathwatch spots the ruse for what it is -- a distraction to allow Eldrad Ulthran and his forces to make use of the planet's crystalline moon of Coheria for their own arcane purposes. Upon Coheria, the stolen crystal seers of the craftworlds are arranged in a ritual formation, each providing a hyperspatial link to the world-ship from which it was taken -- or rather to its Infinity Circuit. The rite nears completion, and the departed souls of the Aeldari craftworlds are channelled across realspace to inhabit not Spirit Stones, but the psycho-reactive crystalline grains of sand that cover the moon Coheria. With so many dead souls flaring in such close proximity, the deity Ynnead is roused by their blazing beacon of ghostlight, and for a moment it seems that the god of the dead may become a reality far before the prophesised time. It is then that the Deathwatch under Captain Artemis attacked, slaying Inriam's Spectre and driving Eldrad Ulthran's ritual wild moments before its completion. The Aeldari are forced to abandon their work and flee with the ritual only partially completed.Night of Revelations (999.M41) - That sliver of true consciousness the Aeldari have succeeded in waking from Ynnead burns across the void towards Commorragh, where a duel of champions is taking place. In the gladiatorial arena of the Crucibael, Yvraine is struck by the mote of Ynnead's consciousness that transforms her into the high priestess of a new Aeldari religion.Flight from Commorragh (999.M41) - Approached by the mysterious Drukhari swordsman called the Visarch and agreeing to a temporary alliance, Yvraine and her Bloodbrides flee from the anarchy of the arena to the mercenary quarter of Commorragh known as Sec Maegra. There she finds many of her old allies, from corsair princes to disfigured Wyches, and organises her escape from the Dark City with the aid of these first Ynnari. Boarding the Corsair vessel Lanathrialle, which was operating out of Sec Maegra, Yvraine calls in every favour she can to ensure her old Aeldari Corsair crews buy her time. As the lesser craft duel the shard-ships peeling out of the nearby docks on Supreme Overlord of Commorragh Asdrubael Vect's orders, Yvraine makes for the arterial Webway portal above the port. Her flagship, though far too large to pass through the portal, rams its prow -- bridge and all -- into the Webway gate. As the ship burns and the Kabalite craft pick it apart like bloodsharks attacking a stricken leviathan, Yvraine cuts her way free of the prow on the other side of the portal and takes her coterie deep into the Webway's labyrinth dimension on foot.A Deadly Dance (999.M41) - Yvraine finds herself under attack in the Webway. It is not Vect's agents that hunt her this time, but the pallid Slaaneshi daemonic horrors known as Daemonettes. The Herald of the Dark Prince known as the Masque of Slaanesh has been informed of Yvraine's rise and launches a hypnotic attack on the gathered Ynnari, forcing them to join a grisly dance with the Daemonettes and the corpses of those Drukhari hunters they have already killed. They are spellbound, and their doom looks certain until a strike force of Harlequins come to her aid -- that same troupe that watched her fight in the arena. As a Solitaire duels the Masque, the Ynnari shake off the dire spell and renew their attack. The daemons are banished and the voyage renewed.The Tempest Breaks (999.M41) - The divinations of the Seer Council of Biel-Tan, precipitated by the Masque of the Midnight Sorrow, lead the forces of Biel-Tan to the once-beautiful world of Ursulia, an Exodite Maiden World ravaged by Warp Storms and transformed into a Daemon World. There, the daemons of Slaanesh intended to breach an ancient Webway portal called the Obsidian Gate that led to Biel-Tan itself. A temporary alliance between the Masque of Slaanesh and the Greater Daemon of Khorne known as Skarbrand saw the hosts of Slaanesh and Khorne fight the Swordwind of Biel-Tan amongst a raging daemonstorm. At the battle's height, the portal that led to Biel-Tan was smashed open by Skarbrand's axe, allowing the Masque to pass through to reach the world-ship beyond. Descending from the Webway portal at the stern of Biel-Tan to drift down like a pearl diver heading for the sea bed, the Masque made it to the surface of the craftworld. From there she polluted Biel-Tan's Infinity Circuit with Slaaneshi daemons in such number that the innate defences of that wraithbone megastructure were hard-pressed to cope. Slowly, the Biel-Tan Infinity Circuit became corrupted as it was possessed by the very daemonic forces it was devised to help the Asuryani within it escape.Battle of Biel-Tan (999.M41) - Even as the Biel-Tani fought with every ounce of their skill to quarantine and cleanse their home of the daemon infestation, the Ynnari passed through the Webway to join forces with them. Yvraine, under attack from a horde of Daemonettes, breathed out a cold grey mist that dissolved them amongst a horrible keening scream. The parlay between Ynnari and the Biel-Tani was strained, for there were those that wore the armour of the hated Drukhari amongst them. The presence of the Phoenix Lord Jain Zar, who spoke out on Yvraine's behalf, bought enough time for the high priestess of Ynnead to perform a ritual of her own.The Incarnation of Ynnead (999.M41) - Yvraine plunged her hand into the psychoplastic wraithbone skeleton of the Biel-Tan world-ship as if it offered no more resistance than water. When she drew it back out, she held high the second of the Croneswords that had been buried in the craftworld's spine for many Terran millennia. The Biel-Tani Infinity Circuit, already wracked with pain, began to shatter, and the backlash of deathly psychic energies formed a vortex of terrifying power. From that vortex emerged the Yncarne, Avatar of the Aeldari god of the dead. Its coalescence had a terrible price, however -- though Biel-Tan's Infinity Circuit was cleansed of daemons by Ynnead's power, the craftworld began to physically break apart. Worse still, roiling storms of psychic energy boiled through the void, joining with the empyrric dissonance of several other cataclysmic events such as the destruction of Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade to form a large section of the Great Rift. Biel-Tan is saved though it will need solar decades to recover, but the galaxy itself has paid the price.The Justice of Seers (999.M41) - The Seers of Ulthwé open a portal from their Dome of Crystal Seers to its equivalent upon Biel-Tan, destroying the precious and irreplaceable souls of several deceased Farseers within the Ulthwé Infinity Circuit to do so. The sacrifice is deemed necessary to ensure the Ynnari are rescued from becalmed Biel-Tan before the strife they have sown sees the craftworld consumed in the fires of civil war between those who accept Ynnead's message and those enraged by the damage the Ynnari have done to their home. They are called to account by Ulthwé's Seer Council, as is Eldrad Ulthran, for his arrogance in co-opting the psyches of generations of dead Aeldari is beyond countenance. Emissaries from Craftworld Altansar speak in the Ynnari's defence, revealing that Ynnead's nascent consciousness had a hand in allowing them to survive their craftworld's millennia-long ordeal in the Eye of Terror. The trial becomes ever more heated as courtly negotiations turn to veiled threats, then to open hostility and even psychic attack. Only the intervention of no less a Seer than Kysaduras the Anchorite, unseen for generations, prevents the council from kinstrife of the worst kind. The Ynnari and their Ulthwéan allies, accompanied by the Altansari, are allowed to leave on the proviso that they venture into the Eye of Terror, never to return.Exile Within the Eye (999.M41) - Following a rumour regarding the location of the last Croneswords, the Ynnari take their crusade through the perils of the Eye of Terror to the Crone World of Belial IV. Its once-luxurious Aeldari cities have been long toppled by the powers of Chaos, for the world was at the heart of the Aeldari Empire at the time of the Fall of the Aeldari. To venture there is to risk the worst doom of all under the claws of Slaanesh, but Yvraine believes it is worth the potential cost -- legend states that should all five Croneswords be united, Ynnead's power will be bolstered beyond measure. Though many of Yvraine's Reborn are slain en route to the world, and then, after planetfall, still more at the hands of the daemons that prowl that ruined hellscape, it is the Drukhari covenite forces of the Haemonculi that see her quest grind to a halt. Sent by Asdrubael Vect and his allies in Commorragh to eke out a terrible revenge upon Yvraine for the daemonic dysjunction that befell the Dark City after the Night of Revelations, they use all manner of vile technologies to attack the Ynnari. The carnage draws a Slaaneshi Soul Hunt to their location. A three-way battle breaks out in which Yvraine and her faithful throng are trapped and suffering -- but the key to their victory is close at hand, for one of the fabled Croneswords was indeed buried nearby. When the Yncarne manifests from the deathly energies of the battle, it rises from the tortured ground holding that deadly blade and turns the tide against the daemons and the Drukhari alike. However, unknown to the Ynnari the fifth and final Cronesword was no longer present on Belial IV. Slaanesh freed its Keeper of Secrets Shalaxi Hellbane from the Palace of Punishments in the Realm of Chaos and ordered it to prevent the awakening of Ynnead and foil the plans of the Ynnari. The daemon travelled to Belial IV and stole the fifth Cronesword before the Ynnari could claim it, placing it far from the reach of the servants of Ynnead in the Palace of Slaanesh.Rescue by Iyanden (999.M41) - A Wraithknight-led delegation from Craftworld Iyanden reinforced the Ynnari before the Slaaneshi horde could once more close the noose on the Ynnari. The Iyanden had read the runes of fate, divining that a critical moment of galactic history would occur upon Belial IV. Well-versed in the hidden ways of the Crone Worlds from their Spirit Stone harvests within the Eye of Terror, they lead the Ynnari through a hidden Webway portal to the battle-scarred world-ship of Iyanden.Battle of Iyanden (999.M41) - The forces of Chaos attacked from the newborn Great Rift all across the galaxy, and Craftworld Iyanden was no exception. Even as Yvraine was held as an "honoured guest" -- in effect a prisoner -- by the rightfully cautious leaders of Iyanden, the craftworld is assailed by a Nurglite Plague Fleet. From her sumptuous cell, Yvraine sends a psychic summons to a nearby Aeldari Corsair fleet she had once commanded, and within a matter of solar days it joined the battle. Together with the Royal Armada of Iyanden and the Eldritch Raiders under the command of Prince Yriel, the fleet prevented the Nurglite ships from reaching the craftworld. The famous Corsair-turned-Autarch leads a boarding action into the depths of the Nurglite flagship, a Daemon Engine of colossal size known to the Aeldari as the Spawn of Oghanothir. He plunged the Spear of Twilight into the heart of that rotting hulk, killing the daemonic creature within it that empowered the horrid vessel, but paid for it with his life, smashed to ruin by a blow from the Daemon Prince Gara'gugul'gor.Death and Resurrection of Yriel (999.M41) - Prince Yriel's body was recovered and brought back to Iyanden, there to be lain in state. However, the corpse is infested with a virulent daemonic disease that could potentially lie low the entire population of the craftworld. Fortunately, the Spiritseer Iyanna Arienal allowed Yvraine into Yriel's mausoleum. There, she burned out the arcane plague with the psychic energies of death before claiming Yriel's Spear of Twilight -- in actuality the fourth of the Croneswords she sought -- and resurrecting the prince with the power of rebirth. Iyanden's course through history was altered forever by that fell time. Its Farseers cast their runes, but now the dwindling threads of potential that had seemed to throttle their future unravelled into a dozen different futures and more.Uneasy Alliance (999.M41) - A council of elders gathers in the aftermath of Yriel's resurrection. Together they discuss the new doom that faces the galaxy. After long debate they come to the conclusion that only by giving the teeming masses of Humanity a fighting chance to hurl back the forces of the Ruinous Powers can they avert a doom that would see the Aeldari species suffer and die. The Ynnari, now bolstered by a large contingent from Iyanden, brave the shattered spars of the Webway once more. After a fraught journey where they are forced to face the legendary Ahzek Ahriman and his Thousand Sons Rubric Marines in battle during the so-called "War in the Labyrinth," they reach the ice moon of Klaisus in the Cadia System, that frozen orb which has appeared large in the divinations of their Seers. There they rendezvous with the surviving Imperial forces who have fled the fall of Cadia to Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade under the command of Saint Celestine, Inquisitor Katarinya Greyfax and Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl. A pact is struck, and together the uneasy allies head for Macragge, the capital world of the Realm of Ultramar, there to resurrect a demigod that can lead Humanity in its darkest hour.Ultramar Campaign and the Resurrection of Roboute Guilliman (999.M41) - In the Ultramarines Chapter's Fortress of Hera upon Macragge, Yvraine kills the Primarch Roboute Guilliman, who has sat enthroned within a stasis field on the brink of death for over 10,000 Terran years. In doing so, she finally dispels the shadow of his brother Fulgrim's poisonous betrayal at the Battle of Thessala during the Great Scouring, only to then resurrect him by channelling Ynnead's power into his fallen form. Belisarius Cawl aids in this endeavour by housing the resurrected Primarch's body within the technological marvel called the Armour of Fate. Though Yvraine has failed to unite the Aeldari species beneath the banner of Ynnead as she had hoped, with the resurrection of Guilliman, she binds the race of Mankind together at a critical moment that gives a new hope to the galaxy at large. After aiding their new Imperial allies in cleansing the Realm of Ultramar of the Chaos taint, the Ynnari withdraw into the Webway to continue to pursue their quest to recover the remaining Cronesword and unite all the Aeldari factions in the war against Chaos.United for Iyanden (Unknown Date.M42) - In the starless gloom of the Noctis Aeterna, Craftworld Iyanden is once more invaded. Hoping to replicate the Masque of Slaanesh's success on Biel-Tan, the Slaaneshi Keeper of Secrets N'Kisha uses the Warp rift's power to breach the craftworld. The daemons are repelled at the last, however, as Aeldari reinforcements arrive from all corners of the Webway, including Drukhari, Ynnari, Harlequins and warhosts from every major Asuryani craftworld.Battle of Ulthwé (Unknown Date.M42) - Following the creation of the Great Rift, Craftworld Ulthwé dispatched nearly all of its forces across the galaxy in an attempt to stem the tide of Chaos. In a dangerous move, every warhost of Ulthwé is sent out across the galaxy, leaving the craftworld with few defences. The Seer Council states that need necessitates such daring, as the threads of fate must be twisted in many places simultaneously to avoid greater doom. Several of Ulthwé's warhosts cross the Great Rift to enter the darkened galactic north of the Imperium Nihilus. Upon the Ice World of Rimenok they aid the beleaguered Imperial forces led by the Space Wolves and Dark Angels. The Ulthwé forces provide a distraction, allowing the humans to safely withdraw. Other warhosts aid the T'au Farsight Enclaves on Vior'los and the Grey Knights upon the cursed moon of Tcharla. Each action by the armies of Ulthwé preserves allies needed for future battles against Chaos. But the forces of Chaos took advantage of Ulthwé's generosity. Daemonic forces invaded the largely defenceless Ulthwé, breaching the craftworld's surface to alight within the Dome of Crystal Portents. There, they are met in battle by the exiled Farseer Eldrad Ulthran and his faithful followers, along with warriors of the Ynnari and Harlequins. Despite the presence of Kairos Fateweaver and a sextet coven of Keepers of Secrets, the Aeldari swiftly banish their foes.Drukhari Civil War (Unknown Date.M42) - Though always beset by violence and strife, the Drukhari realm of Commorragh has become particularly volatile since the Great Dysjunction that arose following the formation of the Great Rift. Seeking to counter the Ynnari influence that had arisen in the Dark City, Supreme Overlord Asdrubael Vect has begun manipulating many assets within Commorragh, seeking to eliminate Yvraine and her sect without being seen as openly murdering the Prophets of Ynnead. As such, Commorragh has erupted into internecine violence as various Kabals are attacking pro-Ynnari factions without even realising Vect is behind their acts. One such example is the Kabal of the Lords of the Iron Thorn eliminating the Kabal of Poisoned Hope. Vect also used third party brokers to put bounties on Yvraine's and her follower's heads, creating expeditions of assassins and bounty hunters in Commorragh tasked with hunting down Ynnari in the Dark City and across the galaxy. In truth, Vect needed little to push the city towards constant strife as the Drukhari rarely required much cause to murder one another. While Vect managed to destroy many of the pro-Ynnari factions within Commorragh, entire sub-realms of the Dark City nonetheless fell under Ynnari control. These were soon fortified against attack and became separate enclaves of the Webway in their own right.Drazhar Strikes at Yvraine (Unknown Date.M42) - Determined to eliminate the growing threat of the Ynnari to his own control over the Drukhari of Commorragh, through third-party brokers Asdrubael Vect offered impossibly rich rewards for Yvraine's severed head, and so spurred dozens of hunting parties and feral Drukhari and other xenos mercenaries to take up the prophet of Ynnead's trail. Perhaps the deadliest such hunting party was led by Drazhar, Master of Blades. By following Yvraine to the sacred debating fires of Craftworld Saim-Hann and striking from a hidden Webway portal, Drazhar got his blade a hand's breadth from the high priestess' neck. The kill strike was parried at the last moment by the Phoenix Lord Jain Zar herself. The running battle that followed saw Asuryani, Ynnari and Drukhari clash in a series of engagements that took them to the ancient ruins of the Aeldari Empire and beyond. Skilled as she was, Jain Zar could not overcome Drazhar in combat, for where she was a leader as well as a warrior, Drazhar was devoted to bladesmanship alone. But Jain Zar had pledged her power to the Ynnari, and with Ynnead's grace upon her, she fought with uncanny speed and skill to defend Yvraine. It appeared that even a mastermind such as Vect, allied with a near-mythical warrior such as Drazhar, could not engineer Yvraine's death. The Whispering God had use for his high priestess still, and he would not be denied.The Ghodri Falsehood (Unknown Date.M42) - There were other attempts by the supreme overlord of Commorragh to strike at Yvraine. Many of the Haemonculi that made their lair in the lower regions of Commorragh were old allies of Asdrubael Vect's. They were so steeped in the history of the Dark City, so influential in their control of the Drukhari's sham immortality, that they sought to maintain the status quo from which they had profited for so many Terran centuries. The coven of the Prophets of Flesh, those who studied under the demented flesh-sculptor Urien Rakarth, had devised a new punishment -- to take a transgressor and reshape them, melding their mortal clay until they looked, walked and even smelt like a Human being. All Drukhari found this horrifying, for to them a Human form was ungainly and ape-like, a cruel mockery of a biped in comparison to the lithe and alabaster-skinned Aeldari anatomy. This was a horrific punishment for a people so vain and haughty as the Drukhari, and those subjected to the treatment cried out that they would do anything at all to have it reversed. In these "false Humans," Vect saw opportunity -- one so twisted and sadistic that Urien Rakarth agreed to orchestrate it on his behalf. On the slabcrete Imperial planet of Ghodri Sekmet, Yvraine preached the Ynnari creed to a hidden gathering of Alaitoc Pathfinders high in the peaks. The Aeldari did not expect any of the dull-witted Humans who infested the rest of the planet to uncover the location of their eyrie, and Yvraine was speaking with such passion and fervour that all eyes were on her. Hence when the Imperial military announced their presence with a well-organised Astra Militarum pincer assault, the Aeldari found their line of retreat cut off by artillery fire. The Ynnari and Alaitoci fell back to the Webway portal by which they had made planetfall upon Ghodri Sekmet -- only to find a strike force of Drukhari mercenary elites bursting through. Caught between the hammer of the Drukhari assault and the anvil of the Astra Militarum -- amongst whose ranks were Vect's false Humans, who had engineered the attack -- the Ynnari were decimated. Only the manifestation of the Yncarne, summoned to battle by so much Aeldari death in one place, allowed Yvraine and the rest of the command structure of the Ynnari to break through and make their escape into the Webway.Battle of Iathglas (Unknown Date.M42) - On the Maiden World of Iathglas, Yvraine convened a council between the major Asuryani craftworlds, alongside representatives from the Harlequins, many Exodite worlds, three renowned Aeldari Corsair fleets and even the Drukhari. The assembled Aeldari fall to arguing before a common threat -- a Chaos incursion -- unites them. On the sixth solar hour of its sixth day of the sixth week of Yvraine's arrival, a daemonic incursion erupted as Shalaxi Hellbane burst forth to take the prophet of Ynnead's head. The Slaaneshi daemons massacred all at the Equatorial Faneway and made their way towards Yvraine. Though previously at odds with one another, all the Aeldari on Iathglas answered the call and battled the forces of Slaanesh. Drukhari Wyches and the Harlequins drove north while Asuryani grav-tanks darted towards the south. They slammed headlong into packs of surprised daemons as the orbiting Corsair fleet unleashed a vicious orbital bombardment. The daemons' numbers were great, however, and they delighted in agony and risk as much as they thrilled at bloodshed and victory; undeterred, Helbane's vastly swollen hunting party fought back. Vicious gunfights, running skirmishes and lightning-fast duels erupted all along the tree line around the clearing. Hellbane was eventually able to corner Yvraine, who was protected by Jain Zar, Lelith Hesperax, the Visarch, and a Solitaire. During the fight that ensued the Yncarne was able to manifest but even the Avatar of the god of the dead could not swiftly defeat Helbane. Hellbane was ultimately defeated, but revealed that its presence on Iathglas was only a glamour or illusion solid enough to give good sport, test the Aeldari's combat abilities and little else. Just before its glamour vanished, Hellbane gloated before the assembled Aeldari that Slaanesh considered the Ynnari little more than playthings in its great game, and promised to one day slay Yvraine. Yet, even though the combined forces of the Aeldari had proven triumphant over such a potent Chaos assault, and despite being presented with such a practical example of how an alliance between all of their people's factions would be to their benefit, they parted ways no closer to reaching an accord.

Ynnari - Abilities: Members of the Ynnari carry the Spirit Stones of deceased Asuryani, whose souls they use to bolster their psychic powers.Ynnari who are faithful to Ynnead are also able to siphon the psychic energy released by recent death to invigorate and empower themselves.Those Ynnari who truly devote themselves to the worship of the god of the dead are able to communicate with the souls of the Spirit Stones they possess and can also draw upon those deceased Aeldari's skills, memories and experiences to aid them in battle.Sometimes the Ynnari are surrounded by the souls of the dead Aeldari who have been absorbed by Ynnead. Their hissing whispers unnerve and distract nearby foes.

Ynnari - Organisation: There are two known sub-factions within the Ynnari. The first is the "Aeldari Bladehost," who fight directly under the command of Yvraine.The "Soulbound Vanguard" are those warriors who choose to fight under the leadership of the Visarch.

Ynnari - Notable Ynnari: Yvraine - Yvraine, the Daughter of Shades, is the chosen prophet of Ynnead, a member of the Triumvirate of Ynnead and the spiritual and temporal leader of the Ynnari. She commands the formation known as the Aeldari Bladehost in combat. Yvraine wields Kha-vir, the Sword of Sorrows and one of the Croneswords.Yncarne - The Yncarne is the Avatar of Ynnead in realspace and a member of the Triumvirate of Ynnead. The Yncarne wields Vilith-zhar, the Sword of Souls, the largest and most powerful of the Croneswords.The Visarch - The Visarch is a former Incubus of the Drukhari, a member of the Triumvirate of Ynnead and the chosen guardian of Yvraine. He leads the formation known as the Soulbound Vanguard into battle. The Visarch wields the Cronesword Asu-var, the Sword of Silent Screams, which was recovered from within the Infinity Circuit of Biel-Tan.Prince Yriel and the Eldritch Raiders - Prince Yriel is the Autarch of Craftworld Iyanden who was resurrected by the power of Ynnead following the Battle of Iyanden. He and his old band of Aeldari Corsairs, the Eldritch Raiders, joined the Ynnari cause thereafter. Yriel wields the Spear of Twilight, which is actually one of the Croneswords in a slightly altered form.Eldrad Ulthran - Eldrad Ulthran is the High Farseer of Craftworld Ulthwé and one of the longest-lived and most powerful Aeldari psykers who has ever existed. It was he who set in motion the events that led to the partial awakening of Ynnead and the birth of the Ynnari. Who views the Ynnari's cause as the only chance remainign for the Aeldari species to avoid extinction.Lelith Hesperax and the Cult of Strife - Lelith Hesperax, the greatest of the Wyches of Commorragh, has joined her Wych Cult to the service of the Ynnari. Whether this is because she truly believes that Ynnead offers a way for the Drukhari to give up their sadistic ways, or due to an ulterior motive of her own, remains to be seen.Ellaria Moonspeaker - Ellaria Moonspeaker was part of an Ynnari strike force that was attacked by the Emperor's Children Heretic Astartes and an allied band of Slaaneshi daemons. She was slain by a Daemonette.Kysaduras the Anchorite - It was the visions of the Seer and mystic Kysaduras that helped lead Eldrad Ulthran to partially awaken Ynnead. The Anchorite joined the Ynnari in their quest but met his end during the War in the Labyrinth where the Chaos Sorcerer Ahriman transformed him into a wooden statue.Lathriel - Lathriel is a Farseer of Biel-Tan and twin to the Autarch Meliniel.Meliniel - Meliniel is an Autarch of Biel-Tan and the twin brother of the Farseer Lathriel.Masque of the Midnight Sorrow - This masque is a troupe of Harlequin that associate closely with the Drukhari and seek to combat the dangers of Chaos.Shrine of the Coiled Blade - The Shrine of the Coiled Blade is an Incubus shrine composed of Incubi mercenaries drawn from Commorragh. The shrine was originally based in the Dark City until the Visarch killed its Klaivex and claimed the shrine's warriors for his own. They have since followed the Visarch and joined the cause of the Ynnari.Phoenix Lords - The Phoenix Lords of the Asuryani, led by Jain Zar, came to the aid of the Ynnari, including Karandras, Fuegan, Baharroth, Maugan Ra, and Asurmen.Sylandri Veilwalker - Sylandri Veilwalker is a mysterious Harlequin Shadowseer of the Masque of the Veiled Path. She has intervened multiple times in Imperial history to serve the interests of the Laughing God Cegorach. During the 13th Black Crusade, Veilwalker appeared before the Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl, directing him to a world devastated during the 4th Black Crusade to recover an ancient artefact. It later was revealed that Veilwalker was working with Eldrad Ulthran and the Ynnari, and helped guide the surviving Imperial defenders of Cadia from the ice moon of Klaisus into the passageways of the Webway on their way to Ultramar during the Ultramar Campaign. She later reappeared during the Terran Crusade alongside Cypher and his Fallen Angels to free the resurrected Roboute Guilliman from Chaos forces aboard a Blackstone Fortress in the Maelstrom. Veilwalker provided crucial aid to the Imperial forces in the battle against Magnus the Red that followed, sealing the Webway portal on Luna after Guilliman forced the Daemon Primarch back through it. Afterwards, Veilwalker and her Harlequins vanished.Brotherhood of Death JestersThe bulk of the Ynnari have been recruited from Craftworlds Biel-Tan, Ulthwé, Iyanden, Altansar, the various Aeldari Corsair warbands, and Drukhari Commorragh.

Ynnari - Ynnari Fleet: Ynnead's Dream (Battleship, unknown class) - The Aeldari battleship Ynnead's Dream serves as the flagship of the Ynnari and the mobile headquarters for Yvraine and the rest of the Triumvirate of Ynnead.

Ynnead - Ynnead: Ynnead (pronounced: INN-ee-ad), sometimes called the "Whispering God," is the Aeldari god of the dead and represents the last hope of the dwindling Aeldari species.The Asuryani long believed that when the Infinity Circuits finally hold all the remaining souls of their species, all of the craftworlds will unite into one Infinity Circuit.At that time the collective souls of the Asuryani will join to form a new entity in the Warp that will battle and subdue Slaanesh, so that all Aeldari spirits may once more be able to merge with it and form a single, balanced entity.By doing so, if such a thing is possible, they hope that this will allow the Aeldari race to be reborn into a better form. Meanwhile, the craftworlds and the Spirit Stones must be guarded from harm and continue to survive, so that all Asuryani can see and form in their own minds a concept of the Aeldari virtues that will enter along with their souls into the Infinity Circuits.Ynnead itself (the god of the dead) is a nascent Aeldari deity growing in the collective Infinity Circuits of every craftworld, from the collective souls of the dead Asuryani. Ynnead has yet to manifest itself, as it has not gained enough power to fulfill its purpose: to destroy Slaanesh and free the Aeldari species from the Chaos God's curse.Ynnead's relationship to Kaela Mensha Khaine is unclear. Ynnead is currently forming within the Immaterium from the collective Asuryani souls found in the Infinity Circuits of the craftworlds. As the Aeldari god Asuryan's psychic might is already bound to each Aeldari soul as the result of that god's actions before his consumption by Slaanesh, Ynnead, when fully formed and awake, will be a potent entity indeed.He will be so powerful that it has been foreseen that a new dimension will be created, alongside the Immaterium and the material universe, that will be a part of Ynnead. It has also been foreseen by the Aeldari that all of their souls will be forcibly pulled to Ynnead when they die, instead of being drawn into the Warp to be consumed by Slaanesh.According to Aeldari Mythology and the visions of some Farseers, becoming one with the death god will be like heaven, hell and purgatory all at once. Since the birth of Ynnead offers the one, faint hope to the Aeldari of defeating and overcoming their Great Adversary Slaanesh, all operations regarding his formation and the place of his eventual birth is regarded with utmost care and caution.Ynnead's coming is the target of much of the Aeldari precognitive powers, as are all theories regarding the acceleration of Ynnead's formation. As Asuryani die and their souls become part of the Infinity Circuits, the nascent god grows in power.

Ynnead - The Awakening: Ynnead remains a dream, the embodiment of a possibility that has yet to be fully realised. Some Asuryani Seers long believed that when the last Aeldari died during the Rhana Dandra (the Final Battle with Chaos), Ynnead would be born from the Warp with the strength of all the Asuryani souls stored in the Infinity Circuits of the craftworlds and the World Spirits of the Exodites.Ynnead will then have the power to destroy Slaanesh forever in a final battle, thus correcting the mistakes which led to the Fall of the Aeldari and allowing the entire species to be reincarnated into a universe free of the taint of Chaos, freed from the sins of their past and with the chance to build a better future.Or at least that is what the Asuryani believed would happen for almost ten thousand Terran years. Then, in 999.M41, during the Battle of Port Demesnus on the crystal moon of Coheria, the High Farseer Eldrad Ulthran of Craftworld Ulthwé partially completed a ritual intended to awaken Ynnead using the power of the souls found in the Infinity Circuits of every Craftworld in the galaxy.While the unexpected intervention of the Imperial Deathwatch interrupted the ritual before it could be completed, the God of the Dead was partially awakened in the Warp, and sought out a champion and prophet to complete his rise in the form of Yvraine, the Daughter of Shades. Yvraine founded a new Aeldari faction dedicated to the Whispering God's resurrection known as the Ynnari.The Ynnari, with members drawn from the Asuryani, the Harlequins, and the Drukhari of Commorragh, seek the restoration of the ancient Aeldari race and the full awakening of the God of the Dead by collecting the artefacts known as the Croneswords from across the galaxy.Their combined ritualistic use at a single focused point in realspace will allow Ynnead to fully manifest his power in the Warp, where he will combat Slaanesh, hopefully destroying the Prince of Chaos and freeing the Aeldari from the soul-devouring curse of She Who Thirsts forever.Only then will the Asuryani, restored to the unity and name of the ancient Aeldari species, seek to rebuild a new and better interstellar empire.

Ynnead - Rune: The rune used by Asuryani Spiritseers is sometimes associated with Ynnead, the nascent god of the dead, and the mysteries of the Infinity Circuit.After his partial awakening, Ynnead's Avatar, the Yncarne, displayed a new rune to symbolise the rebirth of the Aeldari, as depicted below.

Ynnead - Sources: Codex: Eldar Craftworlds (7th Edition), pp. 41, 52, 104Codex: Eldar (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), "The Doom of the Eldar"Codex: Eldar (4th Edition), pg. 39Codex: Craftworld Eldar (3rd Edition), pg. 17Codex: Craftworlds (8th Edition), pp. 15, 19, 22, 24, 28-29, 33, 35, 48, 60Codex Titanicus (1st Edition), pp. 34-35The Gathering Storm - Part Two - Fracture of Biel-Tan (7th Edition)White Dwarf 40 (December 2019), "Worlds of Warhammer" by Phil Kelly, pg. 11

You Never Know (Anthology Short Story) - You Never Know (Anthology Short Story): You Never Know is a short story published in the Gaunt's Ghosts series that was originally part of an anthology. You Never Know was published as part of the Sabbat Worlds anthology in November 2014, and has yet to be released as a stand-alone e-book.

You Never Know (Anthology Short Story) - Synopsis: After the mission to Salvation's Reach, former Traitor Mabbon Etoguar, once loyal to the Blood Pact and then the Sons of Sek, now finds himself in Imperial captivity after betraying his Chaos allies and pledging himself once again to the Imperium.

Yrliet Lanaevyss - Yrliet Lanaevyss: Yrliet Lanaevyss is an Asuryani Ranger of Craftworld Crudarach who walks the Path of the Outcast in the Koronus Expanse of the Segmentum Obscurus and for her own reasons forged a partnership with the Rogue Trader of House von Valancius.Many Terran centuries ago, on its quest to conquer the stars, Mankind escaped the bounds of the Sol System to spread across the galaxy and bring the Emperor's word and will to its darkest reaches. But Humans weren't the only ones to have found a home among the void. They encountered a multitude of intelligent alien species: villainous, enigmatic, and monstrous threats, all of which threatened Mankind's survival. "Xenos" was the High Gothic term used to describe these enemies of Humanity, and the Imperium's deadly struggle against them has continued to this day, with no end in sight.Loyal servants of the Emperor are prohibited from conducting any manner of business with aliens or their foul technologies, as the vigilant Inquisitors of the Ordo Xenos mercilessly stamp out heresy in all its forms. And even the basest of underhive rabble have been taught since the day they were born that the alien is to be exterminated on sight. However, every rule has its exceptions. Rogue Traders are among the few servants of the Emperor who are permitted to interact with xenos, do business with them, and even tolerate aliens as part of their crew so that they may be used for the Imperium's benefit. Yrliet Lanaevyss may be about to become one such xenos.Yrliet is a proud Craftworld Aeldari whose ancestors made journeying through the star-studded darkness their eternal calling. The children of Asuryan spend their long lives walking different Paths and perfecting their understanding of their own special calling, so that they may better fulfill their role in Aeldari society. Yrliet had been living on her planet-sized starship, known as a craftworld, for solar decades: long enough for her to grow restless and decide that her new Path was to take her to faraway and unfamiliar places.Having chosen to walk the Path of the Outcast, Yrliet left the enormous craftworld that her kin called home. She sought to blaze her own trail in a universe that would otherwise lie beyond the reach of Aeldari society, and she followed that desire to distant stars. However, new insights and experiences sometimes come at great cost -- as Yrliet is about to discover.As the darkest hour comes, Yrliet's and the Rogue Trader of House von Valancius' paths cross and intertwine -- and only the God-Emperor knows what this meeting of a xenos and a Human lord will lead to.

Yrliet Lanaevyss - History: Many are the intelligent alien species that Mankind shares the Milky Way Galaxy with, but few are those whom they might call a friend or ally. Each one is perfidious in their machinations. Covetous of what Humanity has achieved and all too eager to resort to the violent end of many good, innocent lives to steal that which they can never have. But few are more capable of matching Humanity in wits and ability as the Aeldari are, whether they be of the kindreds of the Drukhari, Exodites, Harlequins or Craftworlders, the last of which is the kindred from which Yrliet Lanaevyss hails.She is an Outcast, fallen into the depths of her chosen Path -- one of the countless trails her kind might travel to find their purpose in life and to remain free of the clutches of Slaanesh upon their soul.In pursuit of her Path, Yrliet has drifted far afield of her void-faring home, Craftworld Crudarach, so she might find insights and answers to whatever problems might come to call upon her people. She has moved out into a universe where her people are unwelcome, unwanted and often hunted. yet Yrliet seeks to always be improving, always bettering herself so she might be up to whatever task is set before her. And this journey out into the distant stars has, like so many of her kind, brought her into the boundless territory of the Imperium of Man.But there is always a cost to knowledge that might one day save untold lives, and we are often unprepared to pay for it. The price of living apart from your kin is that when tragedy befalls them, you are among the last to learn of their piteous fate -- Yrliet Lanaevyss is no exception.From beyond the eddies and gravitic riptides trawled by the continent-sized voidship she once called home, an omen descended upon her. One that plagued her dreams and haunted her every waking moment. But when she went to find her home, her people, she found an absence that rattled her to her very core like an empty building with its doors caught in the wind. Her people had vanished and, with them, their home craftworld. So she then set out to find them, to find the fate of her people and their ancestral home. But her search brought her far, estranged from kith and kin, and left her near-stranded with what remained of the trail she'd been following on the Agri-world of Janus, a shining gem amid the crowning jewels of the von Valancius Protectorate in the Koronus Expanse.Once there, Yrliet entered the employ of the world's planetary governor, Vistenza Vyatt -- who claimed the Aeldari was a "mutant" so as to avoid trampling upon the Imperial Creed's prohibition of dealing with xenos -- and renewed her search. She made use of the rebellion facing Janus and its governing body to further her investigation. And it is during this act of assistance that she encountered the penultimate thread of her fate -- the newly crowned Rogue Trader of the von Valancius dynasty.Having become well-versed in the art of the kill, Yrliet has spent many Terran millennia perfecting her ability to bring death to her foes at great distances. Yrliet specialises in single-target, high-precision damage courtesy of her Ranger Rifle that takes advantage of every weakness identified by her superhuman perception. She analyzes the field and her enemy before then hunting them down, treating everything confronting her as a hunter would their chosen prey.

Yrliet Lanaevyss - Personality: It is a unique individual who tries to pursue a member of another intelligent species, even more so when they lie square in the uncanny valley of what conventional Human beauty or attraction might dictate. But Rogue Traders have seldom been counted among the norm. They also are among those who fraternise with xenos most often, whether it is to do trade or diplomacy or engage in Imperial-sanctioned purgation efforts. So it is not uncommon for feelings some might consider heretical to develop for the likes of those less repugnant xenos one might encounter out amid the stars.Such pursuits might be reciprocated by Yrliet, whether they are made by a Human man or a woman, as the Aeldari rarely make any distinction between the gender of those they partner with.Those who fall beyond the realm of Mankind do not adhere to the kinds of ideals or schools of thought that define Imperial life. Whether their moral outlook is illogical to the sensibilities of Mankind or that they lack anything Humanity might recognise as guiding ideologies is uncertain. But what is certain is that the likes of Yrliet subscribe to no conviction or form of belief that Humanity might recognise or understand, and therefore she is beyond any classification of beliefs that the Inquisition might make, save perhaps for an equal hatred of the forces of Chaos.

Yrliet Lanaevyss - Wargear: Asuryani Ranger ArmourRanger Long RifleFrag Grenade

Yu'Vath - Yu'Vath: The Yu'Vath were an ancient and Chaos-corrupted alien species whose empire was well-established in the Calyx Expanse two Terran millennia ago, during the Angevin Crusade of the early 39th Millennium. These evil xenos were no more than twisted servants of the Warp who built an empire on a foundation of dark sorcery, soul-slavery and daemon worship.For years the Angevin Crusade fought a bloody war against them, slowly pushing them back in the face of massed slave armies and vile Warp-technology. Finally, Saint Drusus himself struck the final blow and ended their domination over the Calyx Expanse.What was left of their worlds and artefacts were destroyed and their locations purged from Imperial records. Over time their existence was slowly forgotten. Whispers in the Koronus Expanse persist, however, that they were never truly defeated and there are inhabited Yu'Vath worlds still hidden deep within the darkness of the Calixis Sector.In terms of physical appearance, accounts vary, and it is thus assumed that there is no "standard" form for the Yu'Vath species. This may be due to a perverse melding of the Yu'Vath with their thrall races, who are also noted as having variable appearances.During the time of the Angevin Crusade, in the 39th Millennium, the Yu'Vath were eliminated from the portion of the galaxy that would later become the Calixis Sector. In spite of this, their wretched taint remains present within the Koronus Expanse.The heretical technology of these ancient creatures and the terrors that they spawned remain a blight and a constant danger. Much of it lays dormant beneath the surface of seemingly serene worlds and scattered among ancient Space Hulks adrift through the ages.All of these silently wait for some ancient sign or foolish sentient to trigger their activation. Many of these devices seem innocuous as they subtly influence their wielders towards the ways of the Ruinous Powers.Others are blatantly hideous in the way they directly expose victims to the raw power of the Warp. Yu'Vath technology represents one of the most blasphemous threats to the strictures of the Adeptus Mechanicus and those who dare to trifle with it risk destruction and utter damnation.

Yu'Vath - History: At the dawn of the 39th Millennium, the Imperium returned to the Calyx Expanse. The Yu'Vath and their client races represented the most potent xenos opposition active within the region. Their blasphemous technology in concert with their inherent psychic abilities presented a substantial challenge to Imperial efforts to seize control of the region.The Yu'Vath had maintained control of this section of the galaxy for untold millennia, and during this time they had established countless colonies and created or subsumed dozens of other xenos species into their stellar empire. Untold planets already bore the abandoned ruins of ancient Yu'Vath civilisations, even as their expansion continued in every direction throughout the Calyx Expanse.Throughout the region, Mankind found evidence of Yu'Vath activity on the vast majority of inhabitable worlds they encountered in the Expanse.From the first contact, there was little chance of peaceful relations. Yu'Vath technology clearly embraced the Warp in ways that were anathema to the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Ecclesiarchy.For instance, in place of traditional Void Shields, many of the xenos vessels incorporated foul devices that functioned by directly interacting with the Immaterium. Loyal servants of the Imperium lost their minds when simply viewing these vessels in combat without a single salvo fired.The histories recount countless unnatural creatures emerging from these devices to spread terror and destruction upon those who opposed them. The Yu'Vath's man-portable weapons and even their architectural designs posed comparable threats to the minds and souls of all who interacted with them.The leaders of the Angevin Crusade wisely chose to take swift and decisive action to eliminate this threat from the galaxy.

Yu'Vath - Crusade's Triumph: To this day, it remains unclear just how many of the Yu'Vath were active within the region when the crusade arrived. The wretched species had attained a high level of decadence as they ruled over their servant races from their blasphemous towers and installations.Reports suggest that every Yu'Vath may have had in excess of a million slaves bound to see to its every need, and some of the corrupt beings clearly had entire worlds devoted to fulfilling their every whim.Their urges were as diverse as their imaginations, but almost all involved harnessing the unstable nature of the Warp to incur perversion on a planetary scale.Reports of their physiology and psychology are fragmentary. Inquisitorial edicts certainly eradicated some of these records, while others were lost to the vagaries of time and the eccentricities of local archival systems.There are no extant reports indicating that any of these wretched xenos were captured alive. There are numerous references to reports compiled by members of the Adeptus Mechanicus Magos Biologis, but none of the actual analyses are known to have survived intact.Fragmentary records indicate that at least three autopsies were performed, but the available data is remarkably inconsistent and uninformative. It may be that none of these studies had access to a complete Yu'Vath corpse or it could be that the available samples were markedly divergent in their anatomy.It is clear that the combination of Warp influence and their advanced technology resulted in significant degrees of morphological variance between members of the species. If the available data is any indication, then the Yu'Vath were not necessarily humanoid in structure, but this may have been a direct result of extensive bodily modifications or accidental mutations.Some members of the Ordo Xenos suspect that the Yu'Vath culture may have been in decline prior to the arrival of humanity in the region. It could be that the ancient race had achieved such a height of decadence that they were no longer capable of sustaining it, even with the assistance of the alien races they had enslaved.A few members of the Magos Biologis have even gone so far as to suggest that the common genetic markers shared by their client races might actually indicate a commonality of origin. If this were true, then those species might actually be the synthetically engineered descendants of the Yu'Vath rather than unique xenos in their own right.This logical path begins with the notion that the Yu'Vath must have had a total population that was immeasurably large in order to have established colonies upon so many worlds within the Expanse. However, when the Angevin Crusade overcame their war machines, the number of opposition forces was modest at best. It might also suggest that somewhere beyond the explored reaches of the galaxy, a massive Yu'Vath civilisation yet remains.Given their abilities to manipulate the energies of the Warp, they might even have developed facilities within the daemonic realms beyond the borders of reality. If such survivors remain, they might lie in wait to re-establish their empire at the expense of any humans who dare to stand in their path.The countless Yu'Vath ruins spread throughout the Koronus Expanse also cause concern. The vast majority of these are little more than broken cities buried beneath tonnes of rubble, characterised in part by the Yu'Vath's architectural preferences. While the styles varied substantially, most of their buildings were constructed of raw stone, crystal, or bonelike ceramics. In the majority of cases, these structures were encapsulated with complex polymeric layers that preserved the construction and may have also played a decorative role.In many instances, these unusual coatings were applied to the structures such that they inscribed complex geometric structures, arcane formulae, or complex and blasphemous pictographs of inhuman iconography. Further, many of these structures seem capable of some degree of self-repair, a feature that makes dating their origins extremely challenging.The iconography of these sites represents another common reference point to identify their origins. The symbols inscribed are often uneven and asymmetric in their style. Though no known literature has survived the passing of the species, many of their ancient devices also bear such iconography. Rumours suggest that some agents among the Ordo Xenos may be capable of translating these ancient markings. However, the rumours also hold that any who attempt such a translation could lose all semblance of sanity in the process of deciphering the hideous glyphs.The overall preservation of the complexes varies substantially between various sites and planets. In some instances the structures often seem habitable, while others are little more than buried rubble. The inconsistencies between various discoveries also pose their own mysteries. In some star systems with multiple habitable worlds, only a single planet shows signs of Yu'Vath inhabitation. In others, Yu'Vath structures are densely packed upon airless rocks too small to ever have maintained an atmosphere.Due to the unusual technology, dating their creation by traditional methods is seldom accurate. Fortunately, in some cases, the surrounding rock and soil offer a better clue to their age than the basic structures. Of course, this is only true for the oldest of structures, where the underlying planetary elements have shifted due to the passage of time that can only be measured in a geological sense. For those sites that were active up until the arrival of the Angevin Crusade, such reference points are far less common.

Yu'Vath - Ruins of an Empire: A few of the ruins seem to still have some remaining functionality, but the nature of their precise function is uncertain. Some analysts have concluded that they are little more than ancient mines, but others wildly theorise that the arcane devices might be designed to trigger the death of local suns or unravel the Materium. It is clear that they draw energy from whatever power is available; the stars, geothermal sources, or even the Warp are tapped to keep these complex machines active long after their creators have ceased to live.However, their ultimate purposes remain an unknowable mystery. Legends tell that some of these machines may be haunted -- driven to carry their blasphemous xenos message to any who would approach them. Others seem devoted to defend a location against any threat that might appear. Every active port circulates dozens of legends that recount the disasters faced by those who delved too far into an ancient Yu'Vath site.Beyond planetary surfaces, a handful of ancient Yu'Vath void stations appear active within the Koronus Expanse. Some are located on rogue asteroids, while others travel adrift in the vast empty spaces between the stars. Legends even hint of stable constructs within the Warp far from any mortal civilisation. Through their sophisticated and blasphemous technology, these stations seem to continue to actively pursue the tasks commanded by their long-dead masters. Those who dare to intrude face defences engineered by these potent xenos and risk becoming a part of such a station's debris field.Xenoarchaeologists that have studied these ruins disagree about their age. This is, in part, due to the unusual materials, but also is due to the lack of any cultural progression throughout the various structures. There are few signs of cultural diversity among a population that clearly spanned an enormous region of the void. Similarly, the technology involved in even the most worn of ruins seems consistent with that found among samples that were inhabited during the time of the Angevin Crusade.Best estimates suggest that the Yu'Vath civilisation may have reached its peak more than a hundred thousand Terran years ago, but it may have been stable for countless ages prior to when the Imperium exterminated the race. Even those samples believed to be the oldest show signs of Warp contamination and devoted servant races; it is very possible that far more ancient ruins remain to be discovered.

Yu'Vath - Yu'Vath Technology: Scattered among the Yu'Vath ruins are artefacts that incorporate their unholy science. To some individuals, these ancient devices are of tremendous value simply due to their rarity and age. Many less-than-scrupulous Imperial explorers willingly exploit this fact by selling the artefacts through the Cold Trade for an enormous profit.Some who engage in this practice have been caught and punished by agents of the Inquisition or the Adeptus Arbites. Others have retired to sedentary lifestyles of peace and wealth within the Calixis Sector. However, the vast majority of those who dared to dabble with these devices have paid for their hubris with damage to their minds, bodies, or lives.Yu'Vath artefacts are most easily identified based upon their material composition and their iconography. Almost all of these devices are constructed of a crystalline or ceramic material that resembles natural or fossilised bone. These devices often bear twisted and asymmetric symbols that seem to distort and shift under most lighting conditions.The precise reason for this is unclear; some hold it is simply a holographic effect inherently designed into the construction materials. Beyond these basic points of commonality, little more information is available about these devices through legitimate Imperial resources.The core problem with the authorised study of Yu’Vath technology is that it is inherently anathema to the Adeptus Mechanicus. Only the bravest, most foolhardy, or heretical Tech-priests dare to trifle with these artefacts.More conservative members of the order choose to keep their distance and advocate that any Yu'Vath creations be contained and buried or destroyed (preferably all three). In instances where such objects are found in the void, their advice typically favours launching the artefacts into the nearest available star.

Yu'Vath - Artefacts of Doom: There are two primary reasons for this attitude. The first is that many of these devices are capable of direct interaction with the Warp. Virtually all of the surviving artefacts rely upon a constant connection to that unnatural realm as their primary source of power; some go a step further and utilise this unholy association in their core function.A few might serve a relatively useful and minor role, such as warning of a presence within the Warp or monitoring the nearby region of Warpspace for any anomalies that might cause difficulties in travel and communications. Others, however, have far more dangerous interactions such as unleashing vast quantities of Warp energy in unpredictable patterns, presenting a beacon to Warp entities, or even opening a portal to the Warp.The second major blasphemy of Yu'Vath technology is that much of it incorporates synthetically constructed spirits. Unlike the blessed Machine Spirits that dwell within all sanctified Imperial technology, these entities are unliving creations of the extinct xenos.Those few Tech-priests who willingly speak of these devices mention that the spirits may be daemonic essences captured from the Warp or simply unholy creations that have grown more malicious over the millennia since their creation.The fools who dare to tamper with these artefacts are often influenced by the dark spirits to perform actions that could damn their minds and souls. Some may unwillingly establish a close relationship with the Ruinous Powers, while others might simply destroy themselves and all they hold dear as the devices subsume their minds for their own dark purposes.These two combined dangers represent a significant threat to even the best-trained members of the Adeptus Mechanicus. For those without such a background, these objects pose an even greater danger. Many of the Yu'Vath artefacts become active the moment that a sentient being approaches. More than one Inquisitorial report begins when a single undisciplined individual acquired and activated such a device without even realising that his mind had already fallen under its influence.In many cases, such artefacts pose an even greater threat aboard a vessel that travels through the Warp. It is for this reason that so many Rogue Traders who dabble in the Cold Trade have become lost. These xenotech creations already interact with the Warp directly, and some create a portal through a vessel's protective Gellar Field. In the presence of a Warp Storm, this pinhole can sometimes offer hostile entities access to the vessel's interior with predictable results.Of course, for some individuals, the rewards offered by these potent artefacts more than offset any risks associated with them. Legends tell of Yu'Vath devices that could transport planets through the Warp, provide limitless energy, or even extinguish stars. More modest examples are clearly capable of reading and controlling minds or slaying a sentient in countless subtle ways.A single device, if used effectively, could make a person unimaginably rich or save a planet from the brink of starvation or ecological destruction. These blasphemous constructs harness unbelievably potent forces in efficient and effective manners. It is not the devices that pay the price for their use however, it is instead the users who dare to work with the artefacts knowing that it may cost them their souls.A few Rogue Traders have discovered Yu'Vath vessel components among the Space Hulks that drift within the Koronus Expanse. While rare, these devices often enhance vessels in ways that are not in keeping with the Imperium's understanding of science. Voidsmens' tales include Yu'Vath engines that can allow a vessel to complete a Warp transit at shocking speed, travelling from one end of the Expanse to the other in moments.Other stories recount shields that are utterly impenetrable and weapons capable of shearing through a Battleship in a single salvo. Yet virtually all of these stories tell of the dark price that the vessels paid for their use. Those voidcraft which were not lost during a Warp transit were inevitably soon populated by crews driven mad by the components that had once seemed their salvation. When Imperial technology breaks down it is typically only inconvenient or deadly. When a Yu'Vath component fails, the ship and her crew may suffer fates far worse than mortal death.A few known Yu'Vath artefacts pose a substantial individual risk in that they graft onto the owner when used. Such devices clearly represent a xenos analogue to cybernetic devices. Imperial cybernetic replacements are typically only installed at the patient's discretion; most often after a loss of a limb. These unholy creations are capable of completely subsuming a user's organs when first activated.Astropathic observers have even suggested that just as the artefact merges with the individual's body, so too does its mind and soul fuse with the wielder's. Most immediately die during the process, as the devices attempt to interact with neurophysiology that is clearly at odds with their original design. Those who survive the process may be changed as the unholy synthetic spirit attempts to seize control of their body.At least three anecdotal reports indicate cases where what started off as a handheld device eventually completely replaced the user's body with a bony exoskeleton, devouring the body and the mind to drive it towards a task that had been pre-programmed millennia in the past.Interestingly, some of these devices seem to physically grow in size and capacity as they are used. Ancient tales suggest that such expansion in capacity comes as they devour the wielder's soul. Better-documented reports from the Angevin Crusade indicate that this may actually be an inherent part of Yu'Vath manufacturing. Some reports from the time of the Crusade suggest that with sufficient use, some of these artefacts actually produce functionally identical devices.In this way, a critical ship's component might grow its own replacement part or a device that served a frequent need might be duplicated and spread throughout the Yu'Vath Empire. In spite of these tales, it remains rare to find identical Yu'Vath artefacts.It may be that these duplicates are not as capable of preservation or it may be that over the millennia the original device somehow absorbs them once again. Without confirmation and analysis by Adeptus Mechanicus agents, the Ordo Xenos retains only a limited understanding of those unknowable creations it has seized and destroyed.

Yu'Vath - Ties to the Warp: A less common hallmark of Yu'Vath technology is that some of their artefacts blatantly display the unholy energies that they wield. While some can channel the Warp into a weapon, many radiate its foul essence wildly as they function.Vulgar plumes and arcs of darkly coloured and poorly focused light often form baleful shapes as the devices convert energy into function. This light can play tricks on the eyes and the minds of all who observe it. Some see decay and depravity in all things illuminated by the dark energy. Others simply crave the power that the artefacts represent -- and may be driven to attempt to seize such items for their own purposes.None who have seen this power in action can forget it, as merely the sight of such a flow leaves its mark upon the viewer's soul. Some of the Yu'Vath devices exhibit their sentience in a more direct fashion. A few artefacts are actually independently mobile, travelling across worlds to feed upon minds and souls.Those that encounter these unholy terrors are often utterly devoured. The combination of a spirit propelled by the Warp merged with the miracle of Yu'Vath technology poses a threat that is nigh-unstoppable for even the bravest of Imperial warriors.

Yu'Vath - Dark Energy Constructs: Of great danger to the Imperium are the Yu'Vath Dark-Energy Constructs. These are the forgotten weapons of the ancient war that raged across the Koronus Expanse during the time of Saint Drusus and the Angevin Crusade.Of these, the Whisperer (see below) is the most powerful, an alien battleship shaped from Warp energy and dark technology. However, there are others scattered across the system.These include the Dark Lament; a complex Warp energy web that the Yu'Vath would lay over ground or structures to turn the very environment against their attackers and the Void Wasps; Yu'Vath interceptors.

Yu'Vath - The Resonance: The Resonance is Yu'Vath machinery, though it is much more Warp-sorcery than mechanism. On the world of Scintilla lie the xenos ruins of Designate-228-18. Though Imperial archeotechs have guessed that the structure is xenos in nature, if the truth of its construction were known, it would portend dire consequences.The vaults of Designate-228-18 were constructed by the Yu'Vath. Complexes like these were used to create Hell Worlds--swirling centres of Warp-tides, sustained by foundation-tunnels of human sacrifice and machine-enhanced psyker agony.The Resonance suffuses the rock of lower levels of Scintilla, dormant and invisible to commonplace Imperial technology. In the depths, the Resonance works a slow, insidious effect upon human minds, for in ancient days the Yu'Vath corrupted their human slaves by forcing actions that fragile minds then justified as their own choices.Residents deep within Scintilla's hive cities often begin to suffer hallucinations, false memories, and waking dreams as their minds rationalise what is happening to them. At each stage, the person hallucinates or constructs false memories to explain his actions: orders from superiors; accompanying comrades; that he is following or fleeing something.As the actions become more bizarre, so too do the hallucinations. Talking to others can break the Resonance's immediate hold by showing the afflicted that he is in the grip of hallucination -- but he still will not know that his actions were forced upon him.

Yu'Vath - Crown of Wonders: These crowns set upon ancient mummies are circlets of black, flexible material, steeped with psy-power and ornamented with curling projections on the outer surface. They are a Radical Inquisitor's prize -- and curse, as they slowly twist a psyker's mind.Wonders of the Yu'Vath bubble up within the mind: wise, angelic beings that guide humanity to rightful adulation of the Ruinous Powers and joyous depravity. The lies begin as a whisper, then grow to a blasphemous torment. Soon, the psyker cannot distinguish the visions from his own beliefs.

Yu'Vath - Shard Spiders: Another construct of the Yu'Vath, these deadly little creatures are fashioned from bruised purple crystal and are about the size of a large dog.With twelve legs and a tiny central body they scuttle about with alarming speed. They also have a set of needle-like mandibles which they can alternatively use to mend broken crystal or plunge into an unwary human's soft flesh.

Yu'Vath - The Whisperer: In the aftermath of the Angevin Crusade's bloody war with the Yu'Vath, the remnants of these xenos' slave armies and techno-Warp constructs were scattered, broken and dying, across the Koronus Expanse. For the most part, these grim reminders of the alien's dark empire slunk away into the shadowy corners of the void, and were lost from sight forever. However, some were found by those who came after -- explorers, treasure hunters and Rogue Traders.The Whisperer, an ancient, sentient Yu'Vath voidcraft constructed of dark energy, is one such spoil -- discovered in a forgotten battlefield between unnamed stars by a Rogue Trader of an unknown dynasty. Unable to return with it to the Calixis Sector (where Imperial powers would have been sure to destroy it), but also believing it too valuable to abandon, the Rogue Trader took it to the newly-founded Svard System and concealed it beneath the rolling cloud layers of the system's gas giant.Here it remained, considered harmless, until such time as a descendant of the original Rogue Trader could return and learn its secrets. Unfortunately, he never did and was lost to the void like so many before him -- and so the Whisperer was forgotten.Early in the ninth century of the 41st Millennium, a strange phenomena began to appear among the citizens of the dying Svard System. People were having dreams of a great dark presence -- always close by but always unseen -- that would whisper into their ear as they slept.No one could remember what this presence was or what it had whispered to them, but the fact that it was afflicting so many people, of all castes, ages and locations, prompted the star system's governing body -- the Crystal Council -- to begin an investigation based on fears of Warp-sorcery or the emergence of a proscribed cult. Unfortunately, before any real knowledge as to the nature of the dreams was uncovered, the entire system began to suffer acts of terrorism and sabotage.Ordinary citizens began attacking their neighbours and striking at the very infrastructure of the system itself. At first, the council thought this was its fears of a cult confirmed, but as reports flooded in, they could find no plan behind the attacks beyond anarchy and no link between the attackers beyond the fact that most seemed to have dreamed of the Whisperer.Soon there were countless scores of Whisperers -- ordinary citizens turned by the subversive power of the Yu'Vath vessel that was trapped within the gas giant of the Svard System. These Whisperers had become "cannon fodder" for their xenos master and soon existed in the hundreds of thousands.Whisperers are, in essence, citizens of Svard turned to the will of the original Whisperer. Whisperers are not zombies or automatons, but rather living, breathing, thinking humans that will work together as a well-trained team under the guidance of the Whisperer.They are also very unnerving to talk to or even to be near when their true nature is known, for while they can counterfeit emotions and even show fear, they have (in a way) had their souls scooped out and show no humanity or reluctance in the face of the terrifying and the amoral.Whisperers are also not religious fanatics -- in fact, they do not worship the Whisperer, or even acknowledge its existence. They are just extensions of the alien construct's will; clever semi-autonomous extensions that can draw on their past skills and memories, but extensions nevertheless.If the agents of the Imperium can manage to find and destroy the Whisperer those turned by its dark dreams will recover -- although they may never be trusted by their fellow citizens again. The motivation of the Whisperers is simple; fulfill the will of the Whisperer. In essence, they are its puppets and enact its will within the Svard System.The motivation of the Whisperer is to repair its wounds and free itself from the gravity well of the gas giant, thus destroying the Svard System, and then to escape into the void to complete its ancient mission of war against the Imperium.To this end, it has spent years dominating the weakest human minds of Svard and using them to supply it with fabricated materials and massive amounts of raw energy. Should the Whisperer manage to escape, it would wreak havoc across the Koronus Expanse and the Calixis Sector.

Yu'Vath - Yu'vath Bone Warden: An ancient Dark Energy Construct, the Bone Warden is a fell union of Warp-based technology and dark sorcery. They were crafted by the Yu'Vath primarily to act as watchmen and guardians for their void crypts and solar fortresses; and even now, long after their masters have been forgotten, they remain to fulfil their duty.The Bone Warden has no physical form and instead resides in a collective of dead matter -- most often corpses or other once-living remains. These corpses are held together by ribbons and arcs of crackling black energy, the air around them charged with constant flashes of midnight electricity and the smell of burning flesh. Acting as a single mass, the corpses form a cloud of grasping, clawing hands and mouths that whirls through the air.The only way to defeat a Bone Warden is to destroy its physical state and thus disperse its dark energy field. However, even as its adversaries blast away its fleshy shell, it uses its Warp-shard Crown -- a collection of dark crystalline fragments that orbit its energised core -- to claim more physical matter, regenerating its rotting form.For this reason, Bone Wardens are often found in rooms well stocked with the dead -- a ready made supply of material left by their Yu'Vath masters.

Yu'Vath - Yu'Vath Vessels: The incomprehensible construction of the voidships of the Yu'Vath do not seem to require the same components that more mundane vessels do. These vessels have no actual crew population.

Yu'Vath - The Whisperer: An ancient device of the Yu'Vath, the Whisperer was created from dark Warp magics and cold alien technology. Easily a match for most Imperial ships of the line, it also has the power to subvert minds and bend the weak-willed to its cause.In appearance, it is a massive ball of dark, reflective energy several kilometres across. Around it orbits a collection of monolithic rounded crystals, power constantly arcing between them.Hull: UnknownClass: UnknownDimensions: Approx. 3 kilometres in diameter, crystals orbit out to 6 kilometresCrew: UnknownMass: UnknownAcceleration: Unknown

Yu'Vath - Warp Technology: The following are some of the few identifiable components for Yu'Vath starships. Yu'Vath voidship components are not powered in ways humans could understand, and do not have space or power requirements. They also cannot be incorporated into human vessels.Yu'Vath Gravity Sails - Gravity sails can touch the quantum forces that bind stellar systems together, allowing their ship to move with agility and grace -- and no visible means of propulsion.Void-Skein Rupture Cannon - A strange and terrible abomination of a Macrobattery, little is known about these xenos weapons. They seem to fire munitions through the Warp, with the warheads only emerging into realspace just before they strike their target.Immaterium Energy-Arc - Far worse than the Rupture Cannons, these energy-arcs seem to be generated from the cores of Yu'Vath vessels, and no armour can withstand their punishing strike.

Yuctan Incident - Yuctan Incident: The Yuctan Incident in 666.M40 represented both the first known naval engagement between Imperial forces and the Necrons, as well as the first recorded instance of a Necron "harvest" of the entire population of a Human planet. The Yuctan System was a sparsely inhabited Imperial star system close to the Eastern Fringe, and the site of this first naval encounter.A minor Imperial fleet of 6 escort ships and 1 light cruiser was destroyed, with the only survivor being a single Cobra-class Destroyer.By the time a full Imperial fleet could be dispatched to the region to deal with what is now called the "Yuctan Incident," the Necrons had disappeared, and the system was found devoid of all Human life. Although similar and unexplained events had taken place up to this time, the incident at Yuctan was the first fully documented account of a Necron "harvest" of a populated world, as they sought fresh subjects for their research into "apotheosis," the restoration of their consciousness to organic bodies.

Yuctan Incident - History: For centuries the Explorators of the Imperium have known of the ancient civilisation of the Necrontyr -- an advanced intelligent humanoid species that was believed to have become extinct tens of millions of years ago. Little remains now of what must once have been a technically advanced interstellar empire that spanned the galaxy. Any surface structures that may once have existed have long since disappeared from Necrontyr worlds. Their existence has been eroded by time. They and their works have crumbled to dust with the passage of eons.Like a thousand other dead civilisations and forgotten xenos races the Necrontyr were of interest to few outside the dusty offices of the Explorator Archaeos. Then, suddenly and unexpectedly, a chance encounter brought the Necrontyr to the attention of the powerful and the great. Raiders marked with Necrontyr runes and indecipherable inscriptions of Necrontyr design were captured on a brief visual scan. It was a momentary visual record of the attack, yet it was a link in a chain of events that extended across the galaxy. It is a link to other raids, to other sites of destruction where raiders leave no trace and where records are wiped across an entire planet.Until the 41st Millennium, almost all contact with the Necrons had been limited to battles fought on planets against small forces of Necron troops. From time to time reports were made of strange voidcraft encountered on the edge of newly discovered systems, which appeared derelict at first but when approached became active. More often than not all that remained of the Imperial vessel which encountered these strange ships was the scattered wreckage of its remains, and the only clues to the nature of the enemy were garbled distress messages speaking of alien ships using weapons of quite terrifying destructiveness. Whenever such incidents were investigated nothing could be found of the perpetrators, and no useful evidence could be collected pointing to their nature or origin.All this changed in the year 666.M40, when the first recorded incident of a Necron "harvest" took place in the Yuctan System close to the Eastern Fringe. Although sparsely inhabited, the system included an Imperial naval depot. At the time of the attack the depot was being used by a small Imperial squadron consisting of the Dauntless-class Light Cruiser Farsight and half a dozen escort craft.Squadron Farsight was undertaking a long-range patrol, and was visiting Yuctan to refuel and re-arm, when it received distress messages from an Imperial colony on the outlying planet of Merida. The squadron moved to intercept and took part in the first recorded encounter between Imperial battlecraft and a Necron fleet. Only one of the Imperial vessels survived to tell the tale (the Cobra-class Destroyer ON37452).The Necrons suffered no losses. By the time a full Imperial fleet could be despatched to the Yuctan System the Necrons had disappeared. And of the Human colonists in the system there was not a single trace. Since then there have been a further 27 recorded encounters between Imperial Navy ship and Necron raiding fleets. There are also anecdotal accounts of space battles between the Necrons and Aeldari, Ork and even Chaos space fleets.All evidence points to the Necrons being old beyond the memory of anything living and their technology, although idiosyncratic, is superior to that of any other species, including even the Aeldari. In every encounter so far the Necrons have only been defeated by superior numbers of enemy ships, and wherever the numbers have been even the Necrons have prevailed. Fortunately for the Imperium all of the Necron fleets encountered so far have been small in size, and what should happen if the Necrons should ever attack in force remains to be seen.Even more worryingly, the encounters that have taken place with the Necrons have occurred all over the galaxy, without any discernible pattern as to when or where the Necrons will strike next. What is more, the frequency of such encounters seems to be increasing, though how or why this should be happening is unknown. All that is known for sure is that the objective of these raids appears to be the seizure of Imperial citizens -- but for what hideous use the captured men, women and children are put remains terrifyingly unknown. They simply disappear and are never seen again.

Yênna's Kindred - Yênna's Kindred: Yênna's Kindred is a Kindred of the Leagues of Votann. It is known to possess Balewind harvester stations. This is an example of the extremophile inclinations of many Leagues of Votann Kindreds.

Yôht's Black Pillars Kindred - Yôht's Black Pillars Kindred: Yôht's Black Pillars Kindred is a Kindred of the Leagues of Votann. It is an example of a Kindred whose name is a combination of several common naming conventions, in this case a Kindred that has been named for a defining feature of their Hold World and after its founding Ancestor.

Yôht Grendok - Yôht Grendok: Yôht Grendok is a young up-and-comer of a Kin kâhl, the proud war-leaders of the Leagues of Votann, in the Greater Thurian League. His wargear is decorated with fine gems, and topped by an ornate Rampart Crest decorated with leonine imagery.

Yôht Grendok - Wargear: Void armour with Rampart CrestUnique, belt-fed Autoch Pattern Combi-bolterForgewrought Plasma Sword

Zachariah Kersh - Zachariah Kersh: Zachariah Kersh is the current Chapter Master of the Excoriators Space Marine Chapter. He formerly served as the Chapter Scourge and corpus-captain of the Chapter's 5th Company.

Zachariah Kersh - Disgraced: As Chapter Scourge, Zachariah Kersh, known as "the Scourge" amongst his battle-brothers, had spent a lifetime at his Chapter Master Quesiah Ichabod's side, fighting experienced warriors of all creeds and species, defeating the best the enemy had to send against him. It had been his singular honour to slay them before they could slay his master. Until the day Kersh failed to stop the Alpha Legion's nearly-successful assassination attempt and crippling of Ichabod, and their theft of the Stigmartyr, the ancient and revered Chapter standard of the Excoriators dating back to the days of the Second Founding. This was a devastating blow to the Excoriators' morale, and the cause of many problems for the Chapter.These tragic events marked Kersh as a disgraced failure in the eyes of his battle-brothers. To make matters worse, Kersh continually found himself afflicted by Dorn's Darkness -- a condition in which he constantly relived Rogal Dorn's darkest hour when he discovered the mortally wounded Emperor on the bridge of the Warmaster Horus' battle barge, the Vengeful Spirit. While it is not clear whether this condition caused Kersh's failures or was triggered by them, the implication is that this is not an unique occurrence, although far from the inevitable Black Rage or Red Thirst which consumes the Astartes of the Blood Angels.

Zachariah Kersh - Feast of Blades: As punishment for his failure to protect the Chapter Master, Kersh was placed in a stasis coffin, only to find himself begrudgingly awoken by his peers when his skill as a warrior served as the Excoriators' last chance to win the 816th Feast of Blades, a desperate bid to restore some of the Chapter's rapidly declining morale. The Chapter had decided to risk waking Kersh only after seven of their competitors had been defeated early in the tournament, and the remaining two were hopelessly outclassed by their match-ups.Kersh's premature awakening required a risky alteration of his Catalepsean Node by the Excoriators' Apothecary Ezrachi in order to bring Kersh out of Dorn's Darkness, and into something resembling a functional state. Shortly after his awakening, Kersh began to see things -- a revenant in midnight black power armour that shadowed him at every step -- and questioned the effectiveness of the procedure. Still, despite all his concerns and protests, the reluctant Kersh was pressed into fighting in the Feast of Blades by the very battle-brothers who still despised him for his dishonour.His superlative performance in the tournament allowed the Excoriators to win the Feast of Blades for the first time in the Chapter's history, despite a debatable move that pitted Kersh in a three-way duel with the chosen champions of the Black Templars and Imperial Fists Chapters. The victorious Kersh was scheduled to return to Eschara with the prized Dornsblade, a revered relic of Primarch Rogal Dorn that brought great honour to the Successor Chapter of the Imperial Fists Legion allowed to hold it until the next Feast of Blades was called.However, new orders from Chapter Master Ichabod changed things for Zachariah, as he was named the corpus-captain of the Excoriators' recently devastated 5th Company. The 5th Company was only at half-strength and lacked a captain after a mission undertaken to the world of Veiglehaven to retrieve the Stigmartyr had turned out to be a carefully planned Alpha Legion ambush. Kersh was given command of the battered remnants of a company that hated him, with only Apothecary Ezrachi, who had brought him back from the brink of madness, as an ally. To make matters worse, Kersh was constantly questioning his own sanity -- due to the continued visions of a revenant Astartes -- as well as his suitability for command.

Zachariah Kersh - Cholercaust Blood Crusade: Kersh's first mission as Corpus-Captain was not the revenge against the Alpha Legion that every battle-brother of the Excoriators longed for, but a distress call from the obscure Cemetery World of Certus-Minor, in the Praga Sub-sector, where a beacon to the followers of the Blood God Khorne -- a pyramid of skulls -- had just emerged from a lake. The world held no strategic importance for the Imperium whatsoever. However, ancient oaths between Certus-Minor's Ecclesiarchical administration and the Imperium, as well as the fact that a tomb of a very important Ecclesiarch and High Lord of Terra, Umberto II, was located there, contributed to Chapter Master Ichabod's decision to deploy the 5th Company to defend such an ignominious target.To make matters worse, Kersh learned that a sizeable Khornate crusade, known as the Cholercaust Blood Crusade, was making its way to Certus-Minor trailing a blood-red comet known as the Keeler Comet which had emerged from the Eye of Terror after ten millennia. Much to the 5th Company's dismay, Kersh ordered them to make a defiant last stand against the invaders, and stranded his forces on the world by sending their Apothecary and their crippled strike cruiser the Angelica Mortis to a nearby Forge World out of the comet's and the Blood Crusade's path, taking their precious gene-seed with them to be used to create future generations of Excoriators after they had been slain.Kersh commanded less than half of a full company of Astartes as well as an Astra Militarum regiment of Certusian Charnel Guard against a legion of Chaos Traitors and Khornate Berserkers. Despite the odds, Kersh formulated a plan worthy of the Chapter's ancestors who had defended the Imperial Palace during the Siege of Terra, and he led a bold last stand by the Imperial defenders at Certus-Minor's capital necropolis of Obsequa City.The weight of the Khornate assault far exceeded even Kersh's estimates, and things began to look grim for the Imperial forces until the mysterious Legion of the Damned made an unexpected appearance, stopping the Cholercaust's Blood Crusade dead in its tracks. Kersh was the sole survivor of the slaughter on Certus-Minor. He later succeeded Ichabod as the new Chapter Master of the Excoriators after Ichabod succumbed to the Alpha Legion's toxin.

Zadkiel - Zadkiel: Zadkiel is a powerful and honoured Epistolary of the Dark Angels Chapter, seconded to the Deathwatch. He is a prominent leader of the Imperial forces in the Acheros Salient of the Achilus Crusade to retake the Jericho Reach.His potent psychic abilities have banished Daemons without number, shrieking back into the Warp, and his Force Staff has reaped a bloody tally against the Heretic hordes of the Cellebos Warzone. Indeed, Zadkiel's knowledge of psychic powers and the Warp are of great value to kill-teams operating in the Acheros Salient.The Librarian possesses an ancient tome that purports to contain lore and secrets within its passages relating to the Hadex Anomaly and how to successfully navigate through its bizarre radiance. However, Zadkiel nurses a deep-seated grudge against the Space Wolves Chapter, and he has little patience for any of the gene-sons of Leman Russ, particularly Watch Fortress Erioch's Master of the Forge, Harl Greyweaver.

Zadkiel - History: Zadkiel's history is oft speculated upon amidst the halls of Watch Fortress Erioch. 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.The trials that one must overcome in order to be worthy for such an honour are not spoken of outside the Chapter, but there can be no doubt that they are rigorous and exhaustive in nature. For Zadkiel, the strength of will and determination needed to pass these tests wrought a change within him, and upon his induction into the Inner Circle, his demeanour had entirely changed.Where once the young Librarian had jested and spoke easily with his battle-brothers, Zadkiel had become withdrawn and silent. Where once he sought battle eagerly, Zadkiel turned bloody-minded and recalcitrant.Ezekiel dispatched his former student to fight alongside the Dark Angels' elite 1st Company of 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 Cypher during the Battle of Screams, an encounter that left the Librarian with a bionic eye and a bitter heart.On the nightmare world of Quiette, Zadkiel and the Deathwing fought a savage engagement against a serried tide of bloodthirsty aliens known as the Khrave. Many battle-brothers fell, their minds devoured by the xenos foe. When the aliens massed for a final assault, Zadkiel marshalled his will and held the line, his psychic powers and Force Sword barring the way until the battle barge in orbit could fix upon the Deathwing's coordinates. In a matter of moments, Deathwing reinforcements teleported directly into the fray, assisted by pin-point barrage blasts from the orbiting vessel.Zadkiel's accomplishments that day earned him a special honour, and the Grand Master of the Deathwing himself granted Zadkiel the right to bear Deathwing heraldry upon his armour from that moment forward.Inquisitor Ezu Ghraile has assembled a considerable file on Zadkiel, and she fervently believes that the Librarian's history is entirely fabricated -- a clever cover story, she asserts, for Zadkiel's placement in the Acheros Salient. Whilst Ghraile has many theories about the truth of the matter, even she is reluctant to endorse any single explanation without further evidence.Despite these doubts, even Inquisitor Ghraile has no complaints about Zadkiel's service to the Deathwatch. The Librarian regularly assists kill-teams with strategic and tactical planning for missions in the Acheros Salient, and Zadkiel has led a number of assaults upon key Chaos Space Marine leaders in the Blood Trinity region.Zadkiel regularly meets with Space Marines seconded to the Deathwatch from the Unforgiven successors of the Dark Angels, and he has built a rapport with many of these Space Marines who are so far from familiar surroundings.In the last five Terran years, Zadkiel's attention has sharpened upon a particular world in the Acheros Salient, a foully polluted Fortress World known as Malehi. A battle force of Dark Angels Space Marines were cut down upon that world by a Stigmartus ambush.There are some reports that claim that Stigmartus Cult-General Elak Sarda has taken a meteorite-forged sword from the fallen Dark Angels captain, possibly one of the famed Heavenfall Blades prized as relics by the Dark Angels Chapter. If this is true, any Dark Angel or one of the Unforgiven would do anything to reclaim it.

Zagstruk - Zagstruk: Zagstruk is the fanatical and merciless Ork Warboss of a much-feared band of Stormboyz known as the "Vulcha Squad".His squad gets its name from Zagstruk's personal aircraft, a massive red Fighta-Bommer called Da Vulcha that is an antique by the standards of modern Ork aircraft.Nevertheless, it still packs a fearsome payload, not least of which are the Vulchas themselves. Boss Zagstruk and his Boyz fly in low attack runs over the front line, riding in the belly of their Vulcha, and at a barked command from Zagstruk, the Vulcha Boyz plummet towards the battle below into the heart of the enemy, iron-plated boots first.To make sure his feet hit the hardest, Zagstruk is equipped with Da Vulcha's Klaws, a pair of bionik legs that allow him to perform his favourite manoeuvre -- the fly-by decapitation.

Zagstruk - History: Boss Zagstruk is one of the most shockingly violent Orks in the galaxy. It is rumoured that he was born in the centre of a Human settlement and that he quickly throttled his way across the hinterlands to his parent Ork tribe.He is perpetually angry, and his bulge-eyed glare is enough to subdue even the most raucous Madboy. His approach is heralded by the metallic quickstep clank of his bionik legs, sending every Grot within earshot skulking.Some claim that Zagstruk once stared down a rampaging bull Squiggoth, though others reckon it more likely that he simply clobbered the bellowing beast until it keeled over senseless.Zagstruk is a ferocious disciplinarian with absolutely no tolerance for stupidity, incompetence or failure. He is more than happy to put a few rounds through the skull of any Greenskin who displays such traits around him, a fact that tends to keep even the biggest and most truculent Orks in line.Known simply as "Da Boss" by the awed Stormboyz who flock to his banner, Zagstruk's thermonuclear temper is legend. He never lowers his voice below a bellow, and can fly into a murderous rage with no provocation whatsoever.The rumour is that Zagstruk has never gone a single solar day without killing something. Da Boss inspires fanatical awe in the Stormboyz who queue up to fight alongside him, and for every underling that he shoots dead there are always two new recruits ready to join the ranks.Zagstruk is well-known for his characteristic wargear, Da Vulcha's Klawz. After confronting a Space Marine Dreadnought unsuccessfully, both of Zagstruk's legs were ripped off. However the vicious Warboss climbed onto the hull of the offending Dreadnought with only his arms and tore its core systems apart with only his sharpened teeth.After the battle, he had a pair of piston-driven bionik replacements made, which were actually two modified Power Klaws crafted from the close combat weapons of the Dreadnought he had destroyed. These modified Power Klaws were attached to Zagstruk's leg stumps. He uses these weapons to jump atop enemies with the help of his Rokkit Pack and then rip his latest victim apart.

Zagstruk - Notable Campaigns: Who's Da Boss? (982.M41) - During fierce fighting on the Exodite world of Lyrithar, Boss Zagstruk took personal offence at being outmanoeuvred by the lightning-fast Wild Riders of Saim-Hann. Enraged beyond words as his cowardly foes retreated into the Webway, Zagstruk lit up his Rokkit Pack and gave chase along with a hard core of his most devoted Stormboyz. The portal closed behind Zagstruk, and Da Boss was next seen some ten solar months later when he stalked into the encampment of Warboss Golgrot. He slaughtered a couple of dozen Lootas, and reclaimed his stolen Fighta-Bommer. No one had the guts to inquire as to Zagstruk's recent whereabouts, but all noted the fresh batch of red and white Eldar helmets dangling from his belt.

Zagstruk - Wargear: Stormboy Rokkit PackStikkbombz Cybork Body ChoppaSluggaDa Vulcha's Klawz - These custom bionik legs were made for Zagstruk after he suffered a terrible wound while in battle. He confronted a Space Marine Dreadnought who tore off both of his legs within seconds of their meeting. Zagstruk himself, possessed of a bad temper even by Greenskin standards, got his revenge when he bit through the Dreadnought's own core systems with his bare, highly-sharpened teeth. Zagstruk's custom bionik legs are the perfect tool for smashing a foe into the ground and softening the impact of his landing in one fell swoop.

Zagstruk - Sources: Codex: Orks (7th Edition), pp. 84, 134-135Codex: Orks (4th Edition), pg. 63White Dwarf 349 (UK), Preview, pp. 3, 18Games Workshop Online Catalogue - Ork Boss Zagstruk

Zagthean - Zagthean: Zagthean, also known as Zagthean the Broken, is a prominent Chaos Lord of the Black Legion of Chaos Space Marines who has dedicated himself to the service of Slaanesh.

Zagthean - History: On the Agri-world of Valesia, the Broken led his Black Legion warband in a conflict marked by fury and savage excess. For his own amusement, Zagthean constructed a great maze of thorns drawn from the world's famous rose orchards.He then proceeded to blind his prisoners and set them loose within the maze's tunnels before proceeding to hunt them down himself. Countless innocent citizens of Valesia spent their final terrifying hours listening for the sounds of his pursuit, their flesh bleeding and torn from the dozens of cuts made by the thorns.Soon after the 4th Black Crusade, Zagthean pillaged the world of Helosian in the Agripinaa Sector. He took the sisters of the Convent of Alabaster Maidens prisoner and exposed them to the energies of the Warp, which triggered their latent psychic potentials. Zagthean used Warp-derived technology to fuse the sisters into a single entity and then that abomination was transformed into a living portal into the Warp to unleash a daemonic invasion upon Helosian.Zagthean was assigned as one of Abaddon the Despoiler's commanders during the 13th Black Crusade and has also become a model for the Slaanesh devotees among the special formation of the Black Legion known as the Children of Torment.

Zahariel - Zahariel: Zahariel, born Zahariel El'Zurias, was a formidable Librarian of the Dark Angels Space Marine Legion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. He was later corrupted by Chaos and became one of the first of the Fallen Angels.

Zahariel - History: Zahariel El'Zurias was a native of the Death World of Caliban during the period of history before the arrival of the Emperor and the Imperial Compliance of his homeworld during the Great Crusade. Zahariel left his home at the age of seven Terran years to journey to the great fortress-monastery of Aldurukh, home of "The Order," one of the most prominent knightly orders of warrior-aristocrats created to defend Caliban's people from the predations of the Great Beasts that roamed the world's forests.These knights maintained a few aspects of Caliban's ancient technology from before the Age of Strife and wielded primitive Bolt Pistols and wore suits of simple Power Armour very similar to that later used by the Astartes that were handed down from knight to knight. Despite these technological trappings, however, Caliban remained very much a pre-industrial society whose warriors rode to war on horseback. One of the most prominent knightly organisations was known as The Order, and was made up of commoners and nobles alike, whereas the other knightly orders were drawn by tradition only from the Calibanite nobility.During that time, The Order was led by two formidable warriors who were proclaimed to be the greatest of the age -- Sars Luther and Lion El'Jonson. Accompanied by his cousin, Nemiel, Zahariel succeeded in becoming a supplicant to The Order, and began his intense training, in earnest, that would occupy his every waking moment for the next two years of his young life. When he was finally judged to be suitable by his Master, Remiel, he was formally initiated by a panel that consisted of Lion El'Jonson, Sars Luther and the Lord Cypher, and became a full member of The Order.

Zahariel - Beast Quest: Years passed, and Zahariel's standing within The Order grew. His first fight with one of the Great Beasts during a routine training patrol had almost cost him his life, but it had been the making of him. The senior Masters of the Order knew his name, and though the monster had been slain by Zahariel's hero and mentor, Brother Amadis, the knight had ensured that every member of The Order knew of Zahariel's bravery in fighting it.Not long after, Zahariel would undertake a Beast Quest, a daunting undertaking to slay one of Caliban's many dangerous Great Beasts that were indigenous to the world. Upon the successful completion of this quest, he would be guaranteed a promotion as a fully-fledged knight of The Order. But Zahariel's quest was not just a simple hunt; his was a quest for vengeance, as Brother Amadis had been slain by a Great Beast the locals referred to as the "Beast of Endriago." The town of Endriago was the place of Amadis' birth, and it had suffered nearly two hundred dead at the hands of this ferocious mutant creature.Amadis had declared a quest against the fell creature, but was mortally wounded in attempting its completion. Somehow, the older knight had managed to ride back to The Order's fortress-monastery with the last reserves of his strength. Before dying, he called forth Zahariel to give his final valediction. With his ebbing strength, he carefully reached for his rotary-barrelled pistol and painfully slid it from its leather holster. Lifting the pistol towards the young man, he ordered Zahariel to take it.It was his wish for the young man to carry it with him -- his legacy -- so that he would always remember him when he fired it. As the great knight died, Zahariel gripped the pistol Amadis had given him in both hands, and hot anger filled him at the thought of the knight's killer still alive and roaming the dark forests. Zahariel declared a quest against the Beast of Endriago on the spot.During his quest to the Northwilds, Zahariel encountered the Watchers in the Dark, a strange race of humanoid creatures of small stature who warned him against venturing into the forests of the Northwilds, for they were corrupted. But of what had corrupted them, the Watchers would not or could not say. They warned the young Knight of an evil that was the bane of all humanity -- an evil that could not be defeated, but could be held at bay for a time -- but so long as there were humans, it would exist. In hindsight, the Watchers' referral to an ancient evil that was the "bane of all humanity," was in reference to the inherent evil of the Ruinous Powers, for Caliban was a world close to the Eye of Terror, a proximity that may have been the source of the Great Beasts themselves.Emboldened by this knowledge, Zahariel vowed he would do everything in his power to defeat the same evil the Watchers stood against. Sensing the truth in the knight's words, the Watchers accepted Zahariel's oath. With their warning given, the Watchers disappeared back into the shadows of the forest. Continuing his quest, Zahariel sought and eventually found the Beast of Endriago, a great Calibanite Lion, the most feared of all the Great Beasts. It was thought that there had been only one in Caliban's history, and that Lion El'Jonson had slain it. Now Zahariel faced a second incarnation of the dreaded and greatly feared creature.While fighting for his life, Zahariel's latent psychic powers manifested. Known as "Terrorsight", this ability allowed Zahariel to gain a preternatural awareness of the world around him. His perception of the passage of time slowed down, which helped him discern future events, granting him uncanny accuracy in anticipating them. This form of divination allowed him to see through the Great Beast's defences and exploit an opening. Using a second psychic ability, Zahariel was able to phase his arm and rotary-barrelled pistol through the ghostly outline of the lion's translucent flesh as though it were no more substantial than smoke.Pressing the pistol against the monster's heart, within the ghostly outline of the beast's body, Zahariel pulled the trigger. As reality reasserted itself, the beast died in a spectacular fashion. He then removed the lion's head -- as it was customary for a supplicant to take some portion of his quest-creature as a trophy back to Aldurukh. He had proved his ability. He had proved his commitment to The Order's creed of excellence, and he had proved that he was worthy to be a knight.Recognising his astounding feat of bravery and perseverance, Zahariel at last became a full-fledged knight of The Order. He also garnered the respect and friendship of the Lion himself, for they both now shared a singular brotherhood that no others on Caliban could lay claim to -- they were the only two in the Order's history to have slain a Calibanite Lion. At the Lion's behest, the Order's artificers had taken one of the sabre-like fangs of the lion that Zahariel had slain and fashioned it into a sword for him. Its sheen was a pearlescent white, like a tusk, and its edge was lethally sharp, able to part metal or timber at a single stroke. As long as Zahariel's forearm, it was shorter than a normal sword, but its added potency more than made up for his reduced reach. The Grand Master of The Order presented this "lion-sword" to the new knight, which would prove to be more potent in battle than any standard blade.

Zahariel - Knights of Lupus: Soon after Zahariel's ascension to knighthood, The Order declared war on the Knights of Lupus, a rival knightly order that had protested against Lion El'Jonson's genocidal campaign against the Great Beasts of Caliban. Led by Lord Sartana, the Knights of Lupus rebelled against the rapid change of their world, as Jonson continued to prosecute his campaign against the Great Beasts that had long plagued Caliban. Unknown to any outside their order, the Knights of Lupus were capturing and training the beasts.Afraid of what the future held for them in a world without these fell creatures, the Knights of Lupus wanted to maintain the status quo of their rapidly changing civilisation. The Order marshaled the bulk of their forces and made for the enemy castle stronghold of the Knights of Lupus. While The Order lay siege to the castle, the Lion launched a diversionary assault on the northern gate, while the bulk of the main attack was led by Sar Luther against another portal. The fighting proved brutal and relentless, with both sides taking horrendous casualties. But this was as nothing compared to the horror that the knights of The Order discovered once they breached the walls of the castle.The Order's warriors found themselves in a life-and-death struggle as a menagerie of caged beasts roared as they were released from their imprisonment and charged. Sar Zahariel bravely fought as a member of The Order's swordline, and came out of the campaign both blooded as a warrior and recognised as a rising star within The Order. The Knights of Lupus retreated within their keep, content to leave the beasts to do their work for them. The knights of The Order had nothing but contempt for the knights who had fallen so far from the ideals of honour and virtue that they would stoop to such a base tactic.After defeating the final creature the knights of The Order assaulted the keep where the Knights of Lupus were cowering. They had forfeited their right to mercy and were to be granted no clemency. When Lord Sartana was confronted, he took the coward's way out and plunged a hunting knife into his own heart. With the death of Lord Sartana, the Knights of Lupus ceased to exist. The last remnants of their order were hunted down in the corridors of their shattered keep and slain.

Zahariel - Descent of Angels: Six solar months after his ascension as a knight of The Order, Zahariel's destiny would change again. Shortly after the success of the campaign against the Great Beasts, the Emperor of Mankind and His Astartes scouts arrived on Caliban after He detected the psychic emanations of one of the primarchs. From the moment the Emperor landed, El'Jonson felt the deep connection between himself and the Master of Mankind, and swore his fealty. In return, the Emperor made the Lion the commander of the Ist Legion of Space Marines that had been created from his genome.The Imperials brought with them all of the advanced technology that was hailed by the people of Caliban as miraculous. Soon, the Astartes of the Ist Legion were putting potential Astartes Aspirants from The Order and the other knightly organisations through myriad martial trials and competitions to gauge their level of martial prowess and character. Only the strongest and most dedicated were allowed to pass to the next stage. Zahariel and Nemiel both took part in these arduous trials, and during one of these formidable tests of endurance, Zahariel's innate psychic powers manifested once again, an unknown third ability -- which granted him the ability to boost his own reserves of stamina and energy.His unusual abilities brought Zahariel the attention of Brother-Librarian Israfael, who, after interrogating the young Knight, quickly deduced that Zahariel possessed an extremely rare psychic ability known as "Terrorsight." Zahariel had possessed no instruction in the use of these abilities and had manifested them instinctively, though in an unfocused manner. Zahariel next drew the attention of someone even greater than that of the Brother-Librarian -- that of the Emperor Himself -- when he was able to foil an assassination attempt intended to be carried out by rogue elements within The Order's Inner Circle who feared the changes to be wrought on Caliban by its incorporation into the Imperium of Man. In the aftermath of these events, Zahariel was personally examined by the Emperor, but his memory of this was psychically occluded by the Emperor's own powerful psychic abilities. The attempted treason that had occurred within the ranks of The Order was suppressed.Finally, the day arrived when those individuals whose courage had been proven beyond doubt, whose stamina, endurance and strength had seen them through the Astartes trials were ready to be added to the ranks of the Ist Legion. Word had come from Sar Luther that the Astartes had made their final selection for advanced training and the gen-hancement required to join their ranks. Zahariel had successfully proven his worth and was chosen. Through the application of Imperial science and the marvels of the gene-seed, these Aspirants were transformed over the next several Terran years into Battle-Brothers of the Ist Legion, newly renamed the "Dark Angels" by the Lion after an ancient Calibanite fable.

Zahariel - Sarosh Campaign: The newly trained Dark Angels Librarian Zahariel was assigned to the 22nd Chapter of the Dark Angels. Shortly after their entry into the Great Crusade, the 4th Expeditionary Fleet of the Dark Angels reached the orbit of the planet Sarosh, which had formerly been under the perview of Shang Khan of the White Scars Legion. For whatever reason, the Saroshi appeared to intentionally put off the inception of the Imperial Compliance process they had agreed to diplomatically.The Imperials believed that these peaceful people seemed to possess the same secular beliefs as they did as embodoed in the Imperial Truth. But the Saroshi (without mentioning it to the Imperial expedition) secretly worshipped Chaos entities in the Warp they called the "Melachim," and saw the atheistic stance of the "Imperial Truth" as nothing less than pure evil. Later, a Saroshi delegation came aboard the Lion's flaghsip, the Invincible Reason. Led by the Lord High Exalter, the leader of the Saroshi bureaucracy, they agreed to discuss the issue of Compliance with the primarch. The Lord High Exalter then proceeded to formally denounce the Emperor to the Dark Angels' collective shock.Meanwhile, Luther and Librarian Zahariel waited in the embarkation deck to deploy to the surface of Sarosh. Out of curiosity, Luther suggested to his Battle-Brother that they investigate the Saroshi shuttle. The commander's interest was piqued, for the shuttle was thousands of Terran years old -- a functioning relic of an earlier age. Upon further investigation, the Legion's second-in-command went utterly pale. Zahariel noticed the change in Luther, who appeared pallid and had a strange expression. The commander dismissed Zahariel, telling him to rejoin his company until he was called for.Zahariel left the Legion's second-in-command at the door to the embarkation deck, watching as Luther stared in fascination at the Saroshi shuttle. But the young Librarian's prescience nagged at him with the feeling that something was terribly wrong, and so he rushed back to the embarkation deck. Upon closer inspection of the shuttle he discovered a dark device that had been hidden in a secret compartment of the shuttle's nose.Luther informed the Librarian that it was some kind of atomic weapon. The Saroshi were obviously intent on assassinating the Dark Angels' entire command hierarchy, including the primarch. Zahariel was confused by this startling revelation and wonder why Luther had not revealed this truth earlier. Luther informed the confused Librarian that he had wanted to, but then he had thought of what could be his if he didn't: the Legion, command, Caliban. It would all be his, and he would no longer have to share it with someone whose shadow obscured everything that he did.Zahariel argued that the Lion's deeds were great, as were Luther's. Luther explained that his deeds might have been great in another age, one in which he did not share the same span of time as a man like the Lion. In any other age, the glory of leading Caliban from the darkness would have been Luther's, but instead it had gone to his brother. He told Zahariel that he had no idea how galling it was to be the greatest man of the age and have that taken from you in an instant.After a solar decade or more, the feelings that had been contained within a dam of honour and restraint were finally erupting, and Luther's true feelings spilled out. Zahariel had had no idea that Luther was so consumed by jealousy and ego. The commander told him that no one in the Legion did, and not even he had realised the full extent of his feelings, not fully, not until he saw the bomb placed aboard the Saroshi shuttle. All he had to do was not lift a finger and walk away, and everything that he had ever wanted would be his.Luther had ordered everyone out of the embarkation deck and walked away, but he hadn't gone more than a few steps before he knew that he couldn't do it. Luther had come to realise that it was an honour to serve a warrior as great as the Lion, and that he was the luckiest man alive to be allowed to call him brother. With the help of Zahariel, the two Dark Angels managed to open the embarkation deck's outer doors, the shuttle and its makeshift bomb hurling into the void of space as the deck decompressed. The nuclear blast wave from the warhead's detonation only caused minor damage to the Dark Angels' flagship. They had managed to save the Lion's life.During the uprising that followed on Sarosh against Imperial rule, the Lion led his Dark Angels to the world's surface. They soon encountered one of the dread Warp entities summoned by the Saroshi. The Melachim threatened to overwhelm the Dark Angels force, including their primarch, with a powerful psychic assault. Libararian Zahariel would prove instrumental in defeating the fell creature, when he used his Bolt Pistol to slay the host body so that the vile Warp entity could not fully translate into their reality. Zahariel joined with the senior Librarian, Israfael, focusing his innate abilities on the foul creature. The powerful psychic attack banished the creature to whence it came.

Zahariel - The Lion's Judgement: No sooner had the Dark Angels returned to the Invincible Reason than they were issued with new deployment orders. A declaration from the Lion announced that the flow of new recruits from Caliban was not proceeding as swiftly as was hoped. Therefore, experienced Astartes were to return to the homeworld with all speed to ensure that the recruitment of new warriors was put back on track.The Great Crusade was entering a new and vigorous stage, and the Dark Angels needed fresh warriors to spread the light of the Imperium outwards into new regions of the galaxy. As to the pacification of Sarosh, word had quickly spread of the knowledge that the Saroshi's god had met its demise at the hands of the Emperor's angels of death. Imperial Army units from nearby Expeditionary Fleets, as well as a demi-Legion of Titans from the Legio Ignatum, were sent to crush any last resistance.The deployment order was given, as hundreds of loyal warriors were earmarked to return home, including Zahariel. The sense of crushing dejection was total, and though there was no outward stigma attached to their departure from the fleet, every warrior knew the truth of the matter in their hearts. Their primarch had rejected them. The Lion did not want them with him for the remainder of the Great Crusade. Those that were to be sent back to Caliban had only made a minor contribution to the cause, so insignificant in the scale of what was to come that many of their number doubted that the chroniclers would even bother to record the short war on Sarosh. The Great Crusade would continue, though it would continue without Luther.

Zahariel - The Fall: Fifty Terran years later, following the great success in the recruitment, training, and equipping of new Astartes for the Dark Angels, Luther and his lieutenants, including Zahariel, who had himself begun to feel something of Luther's betrayal by their primarch, were faced with a widespread rebellion on Caliban. Following Librarian Zahariel's investigations, it was revealed that Caliban was plagued by a resurgence of the Great Beasts that had once run amok across the Dark Angels' homeworld.This dire threat was further compounded by the insurgency raised against them which included former knights of The Order who felt that the Lion had betrayed them. At the centre of this conspiracy was a mysterious cabal of Terran-born bureaucrats who were actually Chaos Cultists and sorcerers that were somehow linked to the reemergence of the Warp-spawned beasts and hordes of undead who began to assault Calibanite settlements.Learning of the Warmaster Horus' rebellion against the Emperor and the start of the Horus Heresy, Luther decided that in the best of interests of Caliban, he was compelled to declare their world's independence in opposition to both Terra and their primarch alike. Zahariel vehemently disagreed with this course of action initially, but the more he learned of Caliban's dark past and its connection to the Warp, the more he agreed with Luther. Finally, after defeating the cabal of Chaos Sorcerers and their walking dead with his own psychic abilities, Zahariel knew there would be no turning back for Caliban due to the Edicts of Nikea and he decided to join Luther in secession. Zahariel went on to become one of the first of the so-called Fallen Angels.Later on Caliban, Zahariel was running through a collapsing tunnel before he was buried beneath its falling mass, left for dead by the Lord Cypher during an expedition against more of the Chaos forces that had afflicted Caliban. While trapped beneath the stone, his mind drifted to the past about an old cave with a wizard before awakening again. Moving through an opening, he came upon the undead who he dispatched with his psychic powers, causing them to withdraw.He quickly looked for the worms that they battled when they fought the Ouroboros and found a psychic void that was growing that he determined was an emanation of the Ouroboros itself, a sentient Warp device deeply hated by the Watchers in the Dark, who feared its Warp-tainted power. With the sudden realisation that he was inside of the worm and cut off from his psychic power, Zahariel blacked out. Later when he finally returned from beneath Caliban, his personality had been changed by the experience and exposure to the Ouroboros, becoming darker and more resentful. Zahariel now insisted that the Ouroboros was actually the embodiment of Caliban itself and not an enemy of the Dark Angels.This belief brought Zahariel into conflict with the Lord Cypher who wished to maintain his influence over Luther. Later, when Zahariel learned of the death of his cousin Nemiel at the hands of the Lion, Zahariel became even more embittered against the Dark Angels primarch and this contributed to him leading a purge against a group of recently arrived Legion Loyalists on Caliban led by Belath.Through the power of the Ouroboros, Zahariel saw Cypher as a green man, a man born of a tree and thus embued with the essence of Caliban's world-straddling forest. The two sides disputed the nature of the planet. He then confronted Cypher, and was surprised by the man's true identity before killing him. Following these events, Zahariel was elevated by Luther as the new Lord Cypher.

Zahariel - Betrayal: While all this had been transpiring on Caliban, the rest of the Dark Angels Legion had been spreading the Imperial Truth across the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy when word reached them of Horus' treachery against the Imperium. It is known that the Warmaster ordered the Night Lords Traitor Legion to intercept the Dark Angels and prevent them from aiding the Emperor on Terra as part of the campaign remembered as the Thramas Crusade, but ultimately without success.As the Dark Angels were in transit to Terra alongside the Space Wolves Legion, so too was the Ultramarines Legion, who had also thwarted Horus' best efforts to keep them from Terra after the Battle of Calth. The three Legions would ultimately arrive too late; Horus had already been defeated and the Emperor grievously wounded, His shattered body placed within the life-support mechanisms of the arcane Golden Throne.Grief-stricken, El'Jonson returned to Caliban. Upon the Dark Angels fleet's arrival in orbit above their homeworld, they were fired upon from the surface. Pulling back the fleet, El'Jonson tried to find out what had happened, and discovered that Luther -- who had become embittered by what he perceived as El'Jonson always taking all of his glory -- had poisoned the minds of the Dark Angels garrison and the new recruits that had been left on the planet against their primarch. Correctly believing that Luther and the planet-side Dark Angels had actually been tainted by Chaos, an infuriated Jonson ordered that Caliban be bombarded from orbit, destroying the planet's defences.In the ensuing apocalyptic battle between the Lion and the Arch-heretic Luther, the Fallen Angels, including Zahariel, were scattered throughout space and time as the Chaos Gods unleashed a Warp storm upon the world, and Caliban tore itself apart under the strain of the Ruinous Powers' assault and the weakening of its crust by the Dark Angels' orbital bombardment. The only portion of the planet remaining intact was the rock on which stood the fortress-monastery in which Luther and the Lion had duelled. The Dark Angels entered the shattered monastery and captured the broken Luther; of El'Jonson himself, however, there was no sign.

Zahndrekh - Zahndrekh: Zahndrekh is a Necron Overlord and Nemesor of the Sautekh Dynasty who was once counted amongst the greatest generals of the lost Necrontyr empire. It was through his campaigns of conquest that his Tomb World of Gidrim rose from a small and insignificant planet on the fringes of the galaxy to become the iron-handed ruler of a dozen star systems.Even now, though Gidrim has been subsumed as a crownworld of the larger Sautekh Dynasty, Zahndrekh is numbered amongst the mightiest of its heroes. It is a reputation well-deserved, for Gidrim is one of the more expansionist of the recently awoken crownworlds of Sautekh, and Zahndrekh's undying armies are an ever-present peril of the Milky Way galaxy's Eastern Fringe.

Zahndrekh - History: Whilst possessing a grand and calculating military genius, many among the Necron nobility believed that Zahndrekh did not grasp reality as it truly is. Many thought his mind suffered damage during the Necrons' Great Sleep, and as a consequence he is trapped deep in the past, in the Wars of Secession that wracked his corner of the ancient Necrontyr empire.In his mind, it seemed that he still fought these campaigns as a creature of flesh and blood, crushing rebellious kings and bringing their domains back into the fold. He did not see armies of Orks, Aeldari or Humanity, but hosts of rebellious kinsmen battling to sunder his beloved dynasties.As such, Zahndrekh is one of the few Necron Overlords to employ the full protocols of honorable Necron warfare against all encroachers –- where others see aliens, he sees only Necrontyr. He disdains the use of Deathmarks, assassin Canoptek Wraiths and other strategies forbidden by the Necron codes of battle –- not that his subordinates have any such compunction.Wherever possible, Zahndrekh ensures that enemy commanders are captured, not killed, and thereafter treated as honoured prisoners -– much to the outraged consternation of Zahndrekh's Royal Court.Indeed, there are many Necron Lords in Zahndrekh's court who would dearly love to see the old general removed from power, for they judge his adrift perceptions to greatly outweigh his feats of battle. However, as befits his station, Zahndrekh has formidable defences against regicide.His personal sepulchre is heavily woven with traps, his personal household retinue boasts three entire legions of Lychguard, and he even employs four score food tasters -- even though it has been countless millennia since any morsel passed his lips. Yet Zahndrekh has one defence greater than all others -- his aide and protector, Varguard Obyron.During their campaigns, Zahndrekh and Obyron have proven to be an almost unbeatable combination. Zahndrekh seldom lowers himself to personal combat, but instead wields as a weapon his grand battlefield acumen that somehow remains undimmed by his faltering memory.Under his gaze, the Necron armies of Gidrim react almost instantaneously to counter enemy strategies, shifting between aggressive and defensive postures at a moment's notice. With a few carefully chosen words of command, outflanking foes are isolated and crushed, enemy assault waves dispersed, and fire support positions obliterated.Such is Zahndrekh's crystal-perfect reading of the flow of battle that even the enemy's experienced veterans often seem like raw and fumbling recruits as their every tactic is anticipated and their every skill countered. For his part, Obyron fights in the front lines, wielding his Warscythe with a precision to be expected of a warrior who counts his campaigns by the thousand.Yet no matter how distant he is, Obyron always keeps close watch on Zahndrekh -- his responsibilities as a bodyguard outweigh any other considerations. Should Zahndrekh be threatened, Obyron always returns to his master's side.It is well that Obyron is so dedicated, for few lords of Gidrim are eager to fight alongside their Nemesor. Some simply cannot tolerate Zahndrekh's constant stream of reminiscences to battles fought long ago, relevant to the campaign at hand though these recollections always are.For others, Zahndrekh's damaged mind is a constant reminder of the fate that might one day be theirs, should need dictate they enter stasis sleep once more. None of them see that such damage has doubtless already been wrought -- that they are, in truth, just as blind to their own involuntary idiosyncrasies as Zahndrekh is to his own.However, Zahndrekh's mind did not suffer complete engrammatic damage during his bio-transference. His moments of delusion are interwoven with moments of clarity. In one of these rare moments of lucidity, Zahndrekh revealed to his Vargard that he had not actually suffered engrammatic damage during the Great Sleep. Instead, he simply sometimes chooses to play the part of the fool.He believes in accepting his fate as a soulless Necron and enjoying the immortality it has brought by pursuing endless campaigns with a merry attitude that is as honorable as when he was still a flesh-and-blood warrior. If others choose to see that as insanity, Zahndrekh can live with that stigma.However, once his delusions return, Zahndrekh believes himself once more to be a living Necrontyr. It is difficult for observers to determine when he is actually lucid or truly in the grip of his delusion, for his behavior and mannerisms are identical in either state.

Zahndrekh - Notable Campaigns: 813.M41 Escape from Cano'var - At Nemesor Zahndrekh's instruction, the Necron armies of the Tomb World of Gidrim invaded the Tau world of Cano'var, routing the planetary defenders after two standard weeks of campaigning. The Necron victory was short-lived, however. A demi-company of the White Scars Space Marine Chapter, led by Kor'sarro Khan, arrived on Cano'var, pursuing a now-obsolete punitive mission against the previous Tau inhabitants. An overwhelming volley of Gauss Weapon fire destroyed the White Scars' Thunderhawks moments after they landed, leaving Khan and his Battle-Brothers to fight a bold, but doomed, series of hit-and-run battles. Almost all of the White Scars were slain on Uzme Plateau, but Zahndrekh commanded that Kor'sarro Khan be spared and imprisoned. So did Khan begin a peculiar period of captivity beneath the surface of Cano'var. Zahndrekh treated him with honour, though few of the other Necron Lords even acknowledged his presence. At a bizarre feast, where food was placed before Zahndrekh and his court but went uneaten, Khan learned he is but one of a dozen prisoners. With the desire for freedom outweighing any ranklement or rivalry, Khan and the other captives conspired to escape. The Necrons were slow to react and so the breakout went well at first. Only when Vargard Obyron took command did things go badly for the escapees. Several of the fugitives were slain by Obyron's Warscythe, leaving only Kor'sarro and an Eldar Ranger by the name of Illic Nightspear to fight on, and the latter swiftly received a blow that sent him sprawling from the fight. Thus did the battle devolve into a duel atop bleeding bodies and broken machines. Khan's sword was quicker and guided by a desperate fury, but Obyron's undying machine body repaired any damage within only moments. Little by little, Khan tired, and the sweeping Warscythe came closer to connecting with each swing. Finally, one of the Vargard's blows was too swift for Khan to evade -- the Warscythe sliced through his armour and deep into his flesh. Before Obyron could finish his foe, there was an intervention from an unexpected source. Unknown to either combatants, Zahndrekh had been watching the fight from afar and, impressed by Khan's skill and bravery, ordered Obyron to stand aside and let him leave. Dragging the crippled Nightspear behind, Khan finally escaped to the surface, found a still-functioning Tau spacecraft and left Cano'var far behind. Khan and Nightspear parted ways shortly after, the Eldar to his Craftworld and the White Scar to Chogoris. Shortly after Khan's return to his Chapter planet, Nemesor Zahndrekh and Vargard Obyron were added to the Scrolls of Vengance, their names to be put forward as possible quarry for the next Great Hunt of the White Scars Chapter.Unknown Date.M41 Conquest of Uttu Prime - The Conquest of Uttu Prime was a military campaign led by Nemesor Zahndrekh against the Imperial world of Uttu Prime in the Vidar Sector in the 41st Millennium. Despite the intervention of a force of Space Marines drawn from the Imperial Fists Chapter, the world was lost to the Necrons and was integrated into the personal domain of Zahndrekh within the larger Sautekh Dynasty.

Zahndrekh - Wargear: Necrodermis - Like all Necrons, Zahndrekh's body is built from the self-repairing living metal known as necrodermis. As befits one of his lofty rank, Zahndrekh's body is of superior craftsmanship and richly adorned, clearly announcing his status and allowing him to repair even the most grievous of wounds in a matter of moments. Zahndrekh, of course, deep in the grip of his delusions, denies that his body is composed of necrodermis, believing he is still made of flesh and blood.Staff of Light - A Staff of Light is both a weapon and a symbol of Necron authority. Its haft is actually a disguised Power Generator Rod and the crest is a finely tuned focussing device which allows the wielder to unleash searing green bolts of Gauss energy at his foes.Resurrection Orb - A Resurrection Orb is a glowing sphere that focuses energy into the repair circuits of Necrons around the bearer. This allows them to regenerate at a rate faster than normal upon the battlefield.Phase Shifter - Using a form of unknown inter-dimensional science, a Phase Shifter is a Necron defensive device that renders its bearer's form hazy and indistinct, as though they were not completely corporeal. Shots and blows can then pass through his mechanical body, meaning that even the most powerful weapons cannot harm him. This is because a Phase Shifter flickers the very fabric of its bearer into and out of a phased state as they move in between dimensions. If improperly timed, even the most powerful blows and shots aimed at the bearer of a Phase Shifter instead pass through empty air.Sempiternal Weave – A Sempiternal Weave is an advanced form of Necron technology used to augment the Necrodermis bodies of members of the Necron royalty. A Sempiternal Weave threads a Necron’s exoskeleton with filaments of phase-hardened amaranthite and adamantium, vastly increasing the body’s hardiness to a level that rivals Astartes Terminator Armour.

Zanatov's Harbour - Zanatov's Harbour: Zanatov's HarbourFrontier WorldDead WorldTyranidIt is found at the farthest tip of the Orpheus Salient in the Jericho Reach, being, after Herisor, the second Imperial world on record attacked by Hive Fleet Dagon.

Zanatov's Harbour - History: The Frontier World of Zanatov's Harbour was named for the legendary Rogue Trader Corsair-Captain Zanatov. This planet was one he frequented on his trade runs coming in from the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy.At one point, the world boasted excellent voidship repair facilities, and the lack of contact with the Imperium made an excellent place for smugglers and other members of the so-called "Cold Trade" to meet up and swap goods. This all changed at the end of 812.M41.Early reports recovered after the fact state that many people saw what they believed to be a meteor shower in the night sky. No one thought much of it, as a meteor shower is often a good omen for ship's captains. Slowly the reports began to filter in that the object had been something very different.These were no mere meteorites that had hit the ground, but instead housed a more sinister cargo of Tyranid bioforms. The merchants and crew on the surface put up a decent fight, but were utterly outmatched by the lethal killing machines.Some managed to make their way to their ships, but found that larger organisms were floating through the void, firing caustic projectiles of a biological nature. None survived the onslaught of the ravenous beasts. All that were on-planet were devoured, their genetic patterns added to the primordial soup that comprises Hive Fleet Dagon's gene pool.Ships in orbit were left abandoned. Most had had their hulls ruptured in hundreds of places by Tyranid bio-spores attaching to the hull which ate their way inside. Any ships not completely wrecked were now floating abattoirs, a sickening testament to the utter brutality of a Tyranid swarm on the warpath.So it was that, by order of Inquisitor Adrielle Quist, Brother-Captain Kristoff and the Templars of Blood's 3rd Company made their way to this graveyard of a planet. They expected to have to use their Strike Cruiser Blood Sword's bombardment cannons to clear the way of Tyranid vessels, and then deploy Thunderhawk gunships, as they would not be able to get close enough to use Drop Pods.What they actually encountered was something far worse. When the Blood Sword translated back into realspace, it found nothing but a dead planet. Every bit of biological material had been stripped bare from the planet's surface.Setting down in their Thunderhawks, the Astartes began a thorough search of the planet for any clue as to how the massive hive fleet had arrived in the Jericho Reach.Realizing that he could not take a full battle company off of the front lines, Captain Kristoff left behind a small contingent of his available Space Marines to continue the investigation.Currently, there has been no communication from the Space Marines left behind that day, but the commanders of the Orpheus Salient still hold out hope that some day there will be news that can help them turn the tide of this war.

Zar-Quaesitor - Zar-Quaesitor: The Zar-Quaesitor was a great Adeptus Mechanicus freighter-hulk, mass-conveyor and Ark Mechanicus that served as the flagship and mobile laboratory of Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl in his time with the Indomitus Crusade Fleet Primus.The Zar-Quaesitor is capable of holding armies of the Mechanicus within itself, as it provided several Skitarii and Legio Cybernetica armies as well as three lances of House Taranis Knights during the course of the Indomitus Crusade.

Zar-Quaesitor - History: At the start of the Indomitus Crusade, Belisarius Cawl's own Adeptus Mechanicus fleet joined Primarch Roboute Guilliman's Fleet Primus, headed by theZar-Quaesitor, that carried within its massive hull a vast number of Primaris Marines still in stasis hibernation.As the Indomitus Crusade penetrated deeper into the galaxy, Archmagos Cawl kept his automaton workers on overdrive, risking meltdowns with their accelerated speeds. Locked deep in the labyrinthine holds of Zar-Quaesitor, thousands of Primaris Space Marines -- some comprising entirely new Chapters and others designated as reinforcements for existing Firstborn ones -- were awakened out of stasis and made ready to join the fray.Despite cleaving a wide path through the darkness that beset the Imperium in the Era Indomitus after the birth of the Great Rift, the Indomitus Crusade eventually began to break down. When the vast holds of the Zar-Quaesitor were at last emptied of their precious contents, Archmagos Cawl departed from Fleet Primus, for he had many more secret vaults to activate in order to complete the Ultima Founding.

Zarabek - Zarabek: Zarabek was a watch fortress of the Deathwatch Chapter that was also the location of the last stand of the Muhlari, a xenos species exterminated by the Ordo Xenos and 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 the kill-teams of his Watch Company 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.

Zarabek - Notable Personnel: Watch Captain Ska Mordentodt (Deathwatch Black Shield) - Mordentodt was a watch captain who served as the commander of one of the Watch Companies of Zarabek. He was known to be a distant and forbidding figure, even to the battle-brothers under his command.

Zarabek - Kill-team Courlanth: Watch Sergeant Courlanth (Howling Griffons) - Courlanth was one of the Astartes stationed at Zarabek when it was discovered by the Ordo Xenos that Human pirates operating in the Teramus System somehow had access to functional Aeldari lance weapons mounted on their voidships. In a debate between the Space Marines present over the issue, Courlanth persuaded Watch Captain Ska Mordentodt to allow him to assemble a kill-team and lead a mission into the Teramus System. Their objective was to uncover the source of the xenos weapons and eliminate them. Courlanth led the kill-team in infiltrating the pirates' asteroid base and discovered that the pirate leader, Arlon Buke, had entered into a pact with the Drukhari of the Kabal of the Crimson Blossom to obtain Aeldari technology. When Courlanth saw that the pirates were trading captured Human slaves to the sadistic xenos in exchange for these alien weapons and Drukhari combat drugs, Courlanth abandoned stealth and ordered an all-out assault on the kabal and the pirates alike. In the ensuing combat, two Astartes of the kill-team were killed or severely wounded and Courlanth was almost killed by Gharax, the archon of the kabal. The watch sergeant's life was saved, however, by the sudden arrival of Ska Mordentodt, who teleported into the pirates' base with his retinue of Deathwatch Terminators using the Teleport Homers that had been carried by Kill-team Courlanth and proceeded to turn the tide of the battle, killing the pirates and much of the leadership of the kabal.Deathwatch Techmarine Felbaine (Novamarines) - Felbaine was one of the Astartes stationed at Zarabek who was selected by Watch Sergeant Courlanth to serve on the kill-team deployed to the Teramus System. In the resulting battle aboard Arlon Burke's asteroid base with the Human pirates and the Drukhari of the Kabal of the Crimson Blossom, Felbaine was crippled by the Drukhari's splinter weapons.Gottrand (Space Wolves) - Gottrand was originally a Blood Claw in the Space Wolves. He was one of the Astartes stationed at Zarabek who was selected by Watch Sergeant Courlanth to serve on the kill-team deployed to the Teramus System. In a debate between the Space Marines present over how to deal with the Human pirates in the system, Gottrand favoured a direct assault on the pirates to the point of accusing his battle-brothers of cowardice, only backing down when the Imperial Fists Veteran Thucyid rebuked him. Although Gottrand objected to the stealth-based nature of the initial stages of the mission, he was chosen by Watch Sergeant Courlanth to serve on the kill-team deployed to Teramus. Gottrand survived the resulting fight aboard Arlon Burke's asteroid base with the Human pirates and the Drukhari of the Kabal of the Crimson Blossom with only minor injuries sustained in combat with a Clawed Fiend present during the assault. Gottrand was armed with Hjormir, a chainsword edged with kraken teeth that had been borne by the warriors of his Great Company since the days of Leman Russ.Maxillus (Ultramarines) - Maxillus was one of the Astartes stationed at Zarabek who was selected by Watch Sergeant Courlanth to serve on the kill-team deployed to the Teramus System. At some point, Maxillus and Courlanth had served on the same kill-team and participated in a Gaunt purge on the planet Masali, exterminating one of the frequent splinter fleets of Tyranids that continued to assault worlds of the Imperium in the wake of the destruction of Hive Fleet Behemoth during the First Tyrannic War. Maxillus was selected by Courlanth for the mission to Teramus partly because of this shared history between them. In the resulting battle aboard Arlon Burke's asteroid base with the Human pirates and the Drukhari of the Kabal of the Crimson Blossom, Felbaine was crippled by the Drukhari's poisoned splinter weapons. Maxillus was armed with a rare Crusade Pattern Boltgun.Thucyid (Imperial Fists) - Thucyid was originally a Veteran of the Imperial Fists who was one of the Astartes stationed at Zarabek who was selected by Watch Sergeant Courlanth to serve on the kill-team deployed to the Teramus System. In a debate between the Space Marines present over how to deal with the Human pirates in the system, Thucyid rebuked the Space Wolf Gottrand, who favoured a direct assault on the pirates to the point of accusing his battle-brothers of cowardice. Gottrand backed down when faced with Thucyid's opposition in part because of Thucyid's long years of service and use of heavy weapons, which Gottrand equated with making him equal in stature to one of his parent Chapter's Long Fangs. In the resulting battle aboard Arlon Burke's asteroid base with the Human pirates and the Drukhari of the Kabal of the Crimson Blossom, Thucyid was wounded by the Drukhari's splinter weapons, but survived. Thucyid was armed with the relic Heavy Bolter Iolanth, which made use of the Deathwatch's special-issue ammunition, including Inferno and Kraken Rounds.

Zarakynel - Zarakynel: Zarakynel, also known as the "Bringer of Torments," the "Souleater," the "Unholy One" and the "Angel of Despair," is a Keeper of Secrets -- a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh -- and a legendary enemy of the Aeldari.

Zarakynel - History: Of all Slaanesh's unholy servants, the name of Zarakynel is revered above any other Keeper of Secrets. Summoned from the darkest recesses of the Human psyche, Zarakynel was bestowed Daemonhood as Slaanesh's perfect creation.Known also as the "Souleater" amongst the Asuryani Farseers, Zarakynel is the physical representation of Mankind's repressed emotions of jealousy, sadistic pleasure and carnal desire. This potent mix contributed to the creation of the Dark Prince's most feared and prolific Daemonic killer.The name of Zarakynel is written large in the Ordo Malleus' Grimoire of True Names, ever since the Sherilax incursion, when the Pleasure Cults of Sherilax rose up in violent rebellion against the repression of the planetary governor.The sadistic violence of the cult members pleased their god greatly, and he cast forth his Angel of Desire to lay ruin to the planet. Led by Zarakynel, the Chaos Cultists ultimately overran the governor's palace, and the fate of the defenders was too horrific to contemplate.Zarakynel is also well known to the Farseers of the Aeldari species. Asuryani legends speak of Zarakynel preying upon their species several times throughout their long and troubled history. The Greater Daemon has ravaged several Exodite worlds on multiple occasions, slaughtering this Aeldari kindred and feasting upon their Spirit Stones, condemning them to eternal torment at the whims of her dark patron Slaanesh.At one point in her history Zarakynel crossed paths with the Chaos Sorcerer Iskandar Khayon of the Black Legion, as well as his Drukhari companion Nefertari. Nefertari was mortally wounded in the fight, and Iskandar used his psychic powers to defeat Zarakynel in his rage.Though Khayon was unable to permanently kill the Daemon, she was badly injured to the point where she was taken out of action in realspace for more than a Terran millennium while she recuperated her dispersed energies within the Warp.

Zarakynel - Wargear: In battle, Zarakynel wields the dreaded Daemonic Weapon called Souleater, a long, slender Daemonic blade of terrible power, which thirsts for the souls of the innocent.

Zarathusa - Zarathusa: Zarathusa, also called "Zarathusa the Ineffable," is a Necron Overlord of the Mephrit Dynasty, and guardian of the Mephrit's vast solar harvesting network, known as the Starflame, in the Cryptus System.Also titled the "Firesworn," Zarathusa is the last in a long line of keepers of the vast solar mirror that captured the light of the system's twin suns and provided energy for dozens of Necrontyr systems and worlds. Though Zarathusa saw himself as lord of the stars, and his role as one of the most important in his dynasty, though his peers among the other dynasties considered him something of a caretaker.

Zarathusa - History: When the War in Heaven threatened to destroy the Necrontyr, Zarathusa and his citizens abandoned the inner worlds of the system they knew as Perdita, destroying the Starflame's vast solar harvesting network and leaving only the solar mirror core intact, ready for the time when they would return. Before Zarathusa entered his crypt for the Great Sleep, he set traps for the unwary, and awaited the time when he might return and reclaim the glory of his people.Machines built to last for thousands of Terran years were forced to endure millions, and one by one Zarathusa's defences decayed. By the time the Necron Overlord awoke during the coming of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Leviathan, the twin stars of the Cryptus System had grown old and swollen, their rotten nuclear cores pumping out endless streams of hard radiation. More worryingly, the worlds Zarathusa had so carefully scoured clean of life, and laced with traps, were now overrun with Humans.When he gazed through the great oculus of Perdita, it was upon the filthy, crowded cities of the Imperium that his mechanical eye fell. To add insult to injury, Mankind had subverted Zarathusa's prized solar mirror. Like simple-minded savages they crawled across its surface and poked at its superlative inner workings, unaware of its true and glorious purpose. Though Zarathusa himself had not escaped the long sleep unscathed, and his own delusions of grandeur had become magnified, he set about reclaiming his star system from savages and aliens alike, now titling himself "the Ineffable."During the course of the Shield of Baal campaign, Zarathusa allied himself with fellow Necron Overlord Anrakyr the Traveller and Commander Dante of the Blood Angels Space Marine Chapter in order to stop the consumption of the Cryptus System by Hive Fleet Leviathan. Zarathusa defended the gas giant Aeros, commanding the Mephrit Dynasty's formidable air fleets to secure air superiority and take control of its fuel hub whilst Anrakyr and Dante fought to secure the Magnovitrium system-inwards in order to channel the sun energy captured by it.Together, the Necrons and Imperial forces managed to pull off their daring plan and detonate Aeros like a planetary bomb, annihilating most of the Tyranids in the system and severely weakening the Cryptus tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan. Zarathusa and his forces escaped the explosion unscathed, the inertialess drives of the Necron's Tomb Ships easily outrunning the shockwave of the detonating gas giant.In the aftermath of this Exterminatus event, the Blood Angels departed to reinforce the defence of their homeworld Baal against the remaining and oncoming Tyranids, whilst Zarathusa most likely has begun to reclaim the Cryptus System for the Mephrit Dynasty.Zarathusa is now among the ambitious Mephrit Dynasty nobles who are striving to become the high commander or senior nemesor of its forces. Each noble is trying to prove their supremacy to their dynasty through military victories and deeds of grandeur. In truth, however, the first to reclaim the Mephrit Dynasty's ability to murder stars will surely reign supreme. It is for this reason, that several contenders have now turned to the Technomandrites for aid.Zarathusa is said to be a detractor of the message of the Silent King Szarekh since his return to the galaxy to unite the Necron dynasties against the Tyranid threat.

Zarathusa - Sources: Shield of Baal: Exterminatus (Campaign Supplement) (Digital Edition), pp. 94, 102-104, 283, 280Codex: Necrons (9th Edition), pp. 22, 30

Zardu Layak - Zardu Layak: Zardu Layak, better known by his epithet as the "Crimson Apostle," was a Dark Apostle and the ambitious commander of the chapter of the Unspeaking of the Word Bearers Legion during the latter years of the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras in the late 30th and early 31st Millennia.During the Battle of Calth, the Crimson Apostle Zardu Layak and his Ashen Circle destroyer units were charged with enacting some of the worst civilian massacres of the opening solar hours of the battle. This chapter was known to have largely retreated from the planet's surface during the final hours of the war, and would go onto further infamy in the Shadow Crusade.Layak eventually went on to become one of Primarch Lorgar's closest confidantes during the Horus Heresy before betraying his plans to overthrow Horus as the Warmaster of Chaos to lead the Siege of Terra himself. Because of this treachery by his leading lieutenant, Lorgar was banished from Horus' command and it was Layak who commanded the contingent of Word Bearers who fought by Horus' side during the final Chaos assault on Humanity's homeworld.At an unknown time after the end of the Heresy, Zardu Layak was slain but would be honoured as one of the great heroes of the Word Bearers Legion and of the forces of Chaos millennia later.

Zardu Layak - Origins: Known as the "Thrice-Born," "The Binder of Souls," and "The Voice of the Unspeaking," Zardu Layak's true name is now lost, but it is recorded in his Legion's lore that he was once an officer of the Ashen Circle, a Terran by birth, and a devout destroyer among the original Imperial Heralds Legion of all that pertained to false superstition and errant creed.He oversaw the burning of a hundred temples and countless tomes of lies in the Emperor's service even after the primarch Lorgar was reunited with the XVIIth Legion and renamed it the Word Bearers.But then came the Word Bearers' brutal censure by the Emperor and the destruction of "the Perfect City" of Monarchia on the world of Khur. As the Primarch Lorgar led his Legion into the wilderness after their punishment, Layak was contrite and ashamed, soul-sick and lost, and quickly a fervent convert to Erebus' and Lorgar's new teachings in which he sought solace, but even this did not fill the terrible void within him.So it was that when he began to receive visions in which he believed his Primarch spoke to him directly. He concealed them from others for fear his shame had driven him mad. In those visions the golden-skinned apparition of Lorgar bade him to reconsider his work, not to burn the books and lore he encountered, but to read them, covet them, to search in them for the hidden truths that the Emperor had not wished His sons to know.Word upon word, rune upon rune, glyph upon glyph was a new creature born, a creature who named himself from the Book of Lorgar using the ancient practice of Sortilege as Zardu Layak, the "Eater of Wisdom," but who came to be known more swiftly by his Legion as the "Crimson Apostle" for his fiery raiment and the scalding blood in which he daily daubed his armour.After his rebirth, Zardu Layak donned a daemonic helm chained directly to the flesh of his face and pledged to never let any but the Chaos Gods themselves see his face again.Assigned to the Chapter of the Ochre Gate as its Dark Apostle by the Legion's First Chaplain Erebus, who sought to channel his fervour, Zardu Layak quickly proved more than a mere voice of the Legion's First Chaplain. Soon the Chapter began to seek missions of its own, away from its parent Legion for long stretches, and each time it returned it was further changed.Like a cancer, Zardu Layak had embedded himself deeper into its carcass, so that after a time, the Ochre Gate was no more and now the Chapter of the Unspeaking stood in its place, with Zardu Layak its de facto master.Though First Captain Kor Phaeron was disquieted by the Crimson Apostle's growing power, much of which he would keep hidden until the atrocity on Calth, Lorgar pronounced himself pleased by Zardu Layak and his devotion to the word of the Primordial Truth.Lorgar assigned the Chapter of the Unspeaking and their master to command a key assault at Calth, though so changed and mutated had they become by their interaction with the power of the Warp that complete concealment was needed for them until the hour came to strike.After his participation in the Battle of Calth, Layak replaced both Erebus and Argel Tal as Lorgar's closest confidant in the later stages of the Heresy.

Zardu Layak - Plot Against Horus: After the Battle of Beta-Garmon had destroyed the last of the Imperial outer defences on the path to Terra, the Warmaster Horus ordered a general muster of all Traitor forces at Ullanor Prime, the site of the great Ullanor Crusade years before.But by this time, Lorgar had come to view Horus as too weak and flawed to lead the forces of Chaos to victory over the Emperor. He had designed a plan to kill the Warmaster and take his place as the new and rightful leader of the Traitor forces. With the aid of Layak and the Chaos mystic and oracle disciple of Cyrene Valantion named Actaea, Lorgar journeyed with them and a small force of Word Bearers into the Webway in the hopes of finding the missing Daemon Primarch of the Emperor's Children Legion, Fulgrim.They successfully navigated the Webway's treacherous corridors to enter the Eye of Terror, where they eventually entered the Realm of Chaos and found themselves before the Palace of Slaanesh itself. Within they discovered Fulgrim and the daemon N'Kari engaged in debauchery. Fulgrim refused to leave his delights and return to the war effort, forcing the two sides to battle. As Lorgar held off Fulgrim, Zardu Layak uttered the True Name of the newly ascended Daemon Primarch.Layak had learned the name during a ritual Lorgar had conducted but due to the total amnesia it would eventually curse the name's bearer with, he had given the information to the Dark Apostle instead. Fulgrim was bound to Layak's will by the name's utterance, and Lorgar now had a powerful pawn with which to slay Horus.Yet Layak had secretly begun to harbour his own doubts about Lorgar, and expressed resentment at his seeming enslavement by the Ruinous Powers. Layak worried that perhaps Lorgar's path was too intertwined with the desires of the Dark Gods.After gathering the disparate Emperor's Children together, the two Legions arrived at Ullanor for Horus' muster.Horus had by this point recovered from the incapacitating injuries he had suffered at Beta-Garmon thanks to the sacrifice of his longtime Equerry Maloghurst, and Lorgar revealed his plan to usurp the Warmaster.After sacrificing large numbers of mortal servants, Lorgar planned to unleash a psychic scream that would disorient Horus, then have Zayak order Fulgrim to attack. The Word Bearers and Emperor's Children orbiting Ullanor would finish off the Sons of Horus Legion, leaving Lorgar in total command of the Traitors' war effort.However Lorgar's coup quickly fell apart, as Actaea had already warned Horus of Lorgar's planned betrayal. Upon meeting Horus on Ullanor, Lorgar was immediately attacked before he could unleash his psychic assault, and Zardu Layak betrayed Lorgar by freeing Fulgrim from his sorcerous bindings instead of ordering him to attack.Lorgar was beaten mercilessly by Horus, who threw him his weapon and demanded he stand and fight. Lorgar refused to fight, and instead expressed pity at the monstrosity Horus had become since his recovery, as Horus had gained an ever-shifting form with a maw of dark Chaos energy at its core.Horus ordered Lorgar to leave his sight, pledging to kill him if he ever returned. The 5,000 Word Bearers of the Chapter of the Unspeaking under Lorgar's command who had followed Zardu Layak in his betrayal of Lorgar would continue to serve Horus. Lorgar left for destinations unknown, proclaiming that Horus was doomed to failure due to his weakness.Layak later conversed with Actaea, revealing that he had already forgotten all of who he had been before the recent events. He also revealed that he knew Actaea was the one who had informed Horus of Lorgar's treachery before their arrival back at Ullanor.Furthermore, Layak had investigated Actaea's past in the cult of Cyrene Valantion and found that nobody by that name had ever existed within its organisation. Layak asked just who or what exactly Actaea was, but she refused to answer.

Zardu Layak - Siege of Terra: Layak participated in the Solar War to cripple the spheres of defence surrounding Terra before the siege of the Throneworld could begin. Layak commanded the Word Bearers forces that remained loyal to Horus under the command of the Sons of Horus' First Captain Ezekyle Abaddon.Displaying a new fanaticism in the service of the Dark Gods, Layak expressed his eagerness to be a martyr for the cause of Chaos. He accompanied Abaddon during the boarding and ultimate destructrion of the White Scars battleship Lance of Heaven, saving the Sons of Horus first captain's life from a powerful blast.Layak served alongside Abaddon when they stormed the Selenar gene-labs of Luna, battling through hordes of cybernetic monstrosities.During the early stages of the Siege of Terra Layak was frequently seen at Horus' side within the Lupercal's Court throne room of the Warmaster's flagship the Vengeful Spirit. Abaddon increasingly blamed Layak's influence for Horus' aloofness from his fellow Heretic Astartes and complete subservience to the will of the Chaos Gods. However Abaddon was forbidden from killing the Dark Apostle, and his influence over the Warmaster remained strong to the end of his life.Layak proved skilled at utilising Traitor propaganda and the Chaos religious faith in speeches that intensified the devotion of the Traitor forces to Horus' cause. His words were broadcast throughout the Chaos fleet and constantly highlighted the existing injustices of Imperial society to the mutants, Abhumans, normal humans, and Beastmen who served aboard the massive Traitor armada's vessels.Alongside the Thousand Sons Primarch Magnus the Red, Layak aided in the sorcerous ritual that weakened the psychic barrier the Emperor had projected on Terra that prevented the summoning of daemons on the Throneworld's soil. During the ritual Layak appeared on an impermeable floating island of bone which rotated around the Imperial Palace complex in the Himalazian Mountains.On this island of Warp energy, Layak gave yet another rousing address where he declared to the citizens of Terra that they would still be shown mercy if they joined the cause of the Warmaster Horus.Afterwards, Layak confided to Abaddon that the combined power of the Chaos Gods focused through the body of the Warmaster were rapidly burning out Horus' soul with their power. Layak believed that no matter what happened no mortal being, no matter how powerful, could long serve as a vessel for such potent energies and that Horus was not likely to survive for much longer.He hinted to the Sons of Horus' first captain that he knew that Abaddon had his own great destiny as the new chosen champion of Chaos Undivided and Horus' successor.

Zardu Layak - Death: At some unknown point, Zardu Layak was slain. he was later honoured as a great hero of the Word Bearers and the forces of Chaos. Statues would be erected to his honour on the Word Bearers' Daemon Worlds alongside similar figures such as Argel Tal and the former Chaplain Xaphen, both members of the Gal Vorbak, the very first of the Possessed.

Zardu Layak - Wargear: Artificer ArmourThe Azurda Char'is - This weapon is Zardu Layak's Force Stave. Not a member of his Legion's Librarius, it is unknown how the Crimson Apostle acquired this potent psychic artefact, or by what hidden lore he has modified it to his usage.Panoply of Flame - An inheritance of his days as a Centurion-Iconoclast of the Ashen Circle of the XVIIth Legion, the Panoply of Flame serves both as a war banner to invigorate those under his command and as a weapon to turn on his enemies -- Zardu Layak's Warp-gifts allowing him to mould the unclean flame the Panoply now produces by will alone.Bolt PistolFrag GrenadesKrak Grenades

Zarhulash - Zarhulash: Zarhulash, known to history as Zarhulash the Potentate, was a C'tan. Like the other star gods of his kind, Zarhulash had been enslaved by the Necrons millions of Terran years before the birth of Mankind as part of their rebellion following the War in Heaven.A C'tan Shard of Zarhulash was used to power the alien Warp beacon known as the Pharos on the world of Sotha until it was freed by Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl during the Era Indomitus.

Zarhulash - History: A shard of Zarhulash the Potentate was used by the ancient Necrons to power one of the eight Warp beacons known as the Pharos on the world of Sotha in the Ultima Segmentum. The Pharos was built of blackstone, and the array of Pharos devices was originally intended by the Necrons to provide a way for them to achieve rapid interstellar communications and FTL travel after their biotransference.The birth of the Great Rift that bisected the galaxy at the start of the Era Indomitus reactivated the Pharos. This was discovered by the Scythes of the Emperor Chapter, which still guarded the world after its destruction by a Genestealer Cult infestation and Hive Fleet Kraken during the Second Tyrannic War.Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl led an expedition to Sotha with the aid of the Ultramarines and the remaining Firstborn Space Marines of the Scythes of the Emperor to study and perhaps use the Pharos' technology to close the Great Rift and defeat Chaos.The expedition came under assault by Genestealer Cultists who had infiltrated the Chapter Serfs of the Scythes of the Emperor. Ultimately all of that Chapter's remaining Firstborn Marines were slain alongside their Chapter Master Thracius in combat with the Genestealer Patriarch whose cult had first called Hive Fleet Kraken to destroy Sotha.After reaching the Pharos, Cawl discovered that a shard of Zarhulash had provided the power source for the ancient Pharos for millions of Terran years. He forged a deal with the alien star god, in which Zarhulash agreed to destroy the device by removing its heart, creating a miniature singularity.In exchange, Cawl agreed to remove the shackles of necrodermis that kept the C'tan Shard captive and create a portal with the Pharos to allow him to finally escape from Sotha.Cawl seemingly agreed, but this was only a ruse as he actually teleported Zarhulash to a far-off region of the galaxy where the C'tan Shard was surrounded by hostile Necron Tomb Worlds.Zarhulash swore revenge on Cawl for this betrayal.

Zayr - Zayr: Zayr is the shieldmaster of Haistand, the capital city of the Feral World of Aurum in the Jericho Reach. He is tasked with maintaining a standing body of warriors to defend the city.The people of Aurum have few laws. Most disputes are settled between individuals (often violently) with the ruling Caele's word superseding all.In times of peace, these warriors' daily duties mainly entail protecting the Caele and carrying out his orders. However, Zayr and his troops occasionally intervene to deal with truly dangerous or deviant individuals.In recent times a new punishment for Aurum's criminals has been devised -- a secret labour necessary for the planet's survival.Zayr knows the truth behind these secret killings, and believes acutely that the shame belongs to the Auran people. He also knows that Rylus Darkscourge wishes to keep the matter quiet.Therefore, both his orders and his conscience incline him to block newcomers to Haistand from learning the shame of Grensvayl, and to resent them for prying.

Zeist Campaign - Zeist Campaign: The Zeist Campaign was a military conflict fought between the Imperium of Man and the Tau Empire, in the Zeist Sector of the Ultima Segmentum. Taking place in 303.999.M41, during the Tau Empire's Third Sphere Expansion, it ran concurrently with Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade and the assault on Imperial space by the Tyranid Hive Fleet Leviathan.As the Imperium's military was heavily involved with preventing the breakout of the Forces of Chaos from the Cadian Gate on the other side of Imperial space, the Tau took advantage of this distraction to rapidly expand their territory. Despite victory belonging to the Imperium, the Zeist Campaign merely allowed the shrewd Tau Commander Shadowsun to rapidly strike deeply into more valuable Imperial space elsewhere.By the time the Zeist Campaign ended, the Tau's Third Sphere Expansion had already enlarged the Tau Empire by 133% of its prior size. The Tau showed no sign of stopping their aggressive expansion in the Eastern Fringes despite their losses in the Zeist Campaign.

Zeist Campaign - History: By the year 997.M41, Tau expansionist activities encroached upon Imperial worlds with the initiation of the Tau Empire's Third Sphere Expansion. This Expansion was notable in that the Tau Empire resorted on occasion to annexing Imperial planets by military force, rather than the seemingly more common approach of cultural subversion. By 999.M41, Imperial planetary governors in the Eastern Fringes of the galaxy were calling for massive reinforcements to push back the Tau forces, but with the constant attacks on Imperial space by the Tyranid Hive Fleet Leviathan and an increase in attacks by the Chaos renegades from the Maelstrom Warp rift, few Imperial defence forces were able to respond to the call. One Imperial defender who could, however, was the Ultramarines Chapter Master Marneus Calgar and his Space Marines. He dispatched the Ultramarines' famous 2nd Company to the Zeist Sector to draw a defensive line through which the Tau would not be able to pass. Calgar also sent requests to other nearby Space Marine Chapters for further assistance.When the Ultramarines arrived in the Zeist Sector, they found numerous Imperial worlds abandoned to the Tau and others heavily fortified to defend against the Tau's lightning raids. Captain Cato Sicarius, commander of the Ultramarines' 2nd Company, attacked the Forge World of Praetonis V to break the ongoing Tau assault on that planet and used this momentum to begin pushing the Tau offensive back. Captain Sicarius used the same tactics as the Tau, which were ideal for a relatively small force of Space Marines, including rapid lightning strikes on weak positions to destabilize more heavily defended ones. Due to the Ultramarines's efforts, the Tau expansion slowed and then stopped under the Imperial assaults. Eventually, only the world of Augura, in the Zeist Sector, remained in Tau hands, as their only remaining logistical and repair source in the area.By this time, the Ultramarines were no longer the only Space Marine forces involved in the assault. Warriors from the Night Watch, Halo Dragons, Silver Skulls, Sable Swords, Crimson Fists, Iron Lords, Aurora Chapter, Eagle Warriors and the Knights of the Raven, as well as many others, had all joined the Ultramarines in the attack on Augura. Despite their advanced technology, Battlesuits and plasma weaponry, the Tau had no hope for defeating such a large combined force of Space Marines. Augura's fortresses, shipyards and weapons factories were either badly damaged or destroyed by the Space Marines's offensive. With the loss of their last forward logistical base in the sector, the Tau appeared to fall back to protect more secure territory within their borders, apparently bringing their Third Sphere Expansion to a close.Unfortunately, though the Space Marines had won the war and appeared to stop the Tau's seizure of human territory, it was not possible to sanction a retaliatory thrust into Tau-held space as the individual Space Marine forces were required elsewhere in the galaxy to hold the line against the Forces of Chaos during the height of the 13th Black Crusade. Reluctantly, Captain Sicarius returned control of the defence of the Zeist Sector back to its Planetary Governors.Later intelligence would reveal that the Tau had anticipated the Imperial counterattack and that the Zeist Sector campaign was used as a colossal diversion, tying up the elite of the Imperial rapid response forces in a sacrificial zone to allow the Tau to launch offensives against more valuable targets in other sectors, and scythe deeply into more valuable territory. Many worlds of the Imperium toppled to this onslaught. Among the victories won by the Tau at this time was Commander Shadowsun's conquest of the strategically important Imperial world of  Agrellan, which took place mere solar months after the conclusion of the Zeist Campaign. Agrellan was conquered by the Tau and renamed Mu'gulath Bay.

Zeist Campaign - Space Marine Forces Involved: Tactical Squads - Ultramarines, Night Watch, Halo Dragons, Silver Skulls, Sable Swords, Crimson FistsDevastator Squads - Iron LordsPredator Spearhead - Aurora ChapterTerminator Squad - Eagle Warriors3 companies of Knights of the Raven

Zenith Gunship - Zenith Gunship: The Zenith Gunship, often called simply the Zenith, was an Imperial gunship specialised for ground attack that was deployed by the Legio Custodes in the Horus Heresy, where it saw heavy action during the Siege of Terra in defence of the Imperial Palace from the Warmaster Horus' Traitor forces of Chaos.The Zenith was armed with missiles and a Rotor Cannon.

Zenonian Free Companies - Zenonian Free Companies: The Zenonian Free Companies are regiments of the Astra Militarum raised from the world of Zenon. The Zenonian Free Companies recently committed 9 companies in the defence of Cadia and its surrounding star systems in the Cadian Gate from the Forces of Chaos under the command of Abaddon the Despoiler and his 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41.They were commended for their actions during the Defence of the Disean Line and were instrumental in aiding Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed's Long Retreat, which allowed the Imperial defenders to make their final stand against an offensive led by Abaddon himself before the fall of Cadia. Little else is known about them in current Imperial records.

Zephon - Zephon: Zephon, also known as "The Bringer of Sorrow," "The Exile," "The Twice-born," and the "Exarch of the High Host," was a former Dominion of the Blood Angels Legion who later became the first Chapter Master of the Charnel Guard, a successor of the Blood Angels, after the Horus Heresy.Noble, though bleak in character, Zephon suffered from an extreme blood thirst that he desperately held in check. Like his fellow Blood Angels, Zephon was known both as a warrior and an artist of great renown whose exemplary record was abruptly cut short when his body was maimed by a xenos blade during the Great Crusade. However, fate would see Zephon in the thick of many notable events during the Horus Heresy.

Zephon - History: Noble, though bleak in character, Zephon suffered from an extreme blood thirst that he desperately held in check. Zephon was a former Exarch of the High Host and warrior of the Blood Angels Legion. He served as a Dominion, an officer in command of a company of the Blood Angels, during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. As a Destroyer Marine during the IX Legion's Compliance actions during the Great Crusade, Zephon earned the moniker "The Bringer of Sorrow" for his ruthless methods of war. Like his fellow Blood Angels, Zephon was both a warrior and an artist, as he was an accomplished musician with skill playing both the harp and the piano.During a battle against an unknown xenos assailant, Zephon was grievously injured, losing both his arms, his left thigh, knee, and right foot to its blade. Surviving the battle, Zephon's limbs were replaced with augmetic appendages, though he often suffered the symptoms of rejection of the bionics which dramatically worsened his health. No longer able to fight as well as his kin and lacking the finesse to play the instruments he had once mastered, Zephon would fall into a deep depression.With his martial prowess significantly diminished, Zephon was despatched to Holy Terra to become a member of the Crusader Host comprised of one Legionary from every Space Marine Legion. Yet with the betrayal of Horus Lupercal and the eruption of the Horus Heresy, the Crusader Host was disbanded and its members imprisoned for interrogation to ensure no Traitors lurked in Terra's midst. Freed to aid the Imperium's war effort, Zephon tallied the dead of the war, yet grew restless while separated from his far-flung Legion. Denied sanction to venture into the galaxy to locate his Legion, Zephon was recruited by the Custodian Diocletian Coros to aid in the secret War Within the Webway being fought beneath the Imperial Palace.Spending many of his days off-duty within the Imperial Palace, Zephon formed an unlikely friendship with the genius Mechanicum Techno-Archaeologist Arkhan Land. Re-fitting Zephon's cybernetic limbs with improved augmetics, Land enabled the crestfallen Blood Angel to fight with renewed vigour. However, Zephon's body still rejected the bionic implants after a period of time, much to the frustration of both the Blood Angel and Land.The Blood Angels finally made their triumphant return to the Throneworld in the days before the start of the Siege of Terra. With the arrival of his Legion, Zephon openly wept at the sight of his Primarch Sanguinius and his fellow Blood Angels. Following Zephon's reunion with his Legion, Land agreed to help Zephon overcome his immune rejection of his augmetic limbs. Land chose to integrate ancient artificial intelligence technology dating back to the Age of Technology into Zephon's body to trick his physiology into accepting the new implants. In return, Zephon agreed to take Land before Sanguinius.During the Siege of Terra, Zephon returned to the side of his kin at the forefront of battle. Zephon fought in defence of the Gorgon Bar and was wounded defending the Imperial historitor Ceris Gonn. Placed within a stasis pod and delivered to Arkhan Land, Zephon's body was swiftly healed through the ministrations of Land and his three Bloodthralls Shafia, Shenkai and Eristes. Following his recovery, Zephon aided in Land's escape from his now-besieged underground laboratory.Returning to the front line in defence of the Eternity Gate, Zephon and Arkhan Land faced the hordes of Traitors. Zephon briefly reverted to his more menacing persona by ordering Land to protect his thralls in the coming battle or be beaten to death should he retreat. Though stern in this assertion, Zephon defended Land from the assaults of the Traitors while the two fought side-by-side.Escorting his ally back to the Sanctum Imperialis as the Traitors pushed their advance forward and took the Bhab Bastion, Zephon rallied several remaining Loyalist Astartes officers such as Fafnir Rann, Maximus Thane, Azkaellon, Satel Aimery and the White Scars' Keshig commander Namahi to serve under the command of Terra's most senior Astartes, Archemus, who was charged with defending the Inner Palace. During the subsequent battle, Zephon succumbed to his incandescent rage during the Traitors' assault, tearing apart the oncoming Heretic Astartes in a hail of gore. Despite this state, Zephon ultimately survived the Siege of Terra.Following the end of the Horus Heresy and the subsequent campaigns of the Great Scouring, the Space Marine Legions were reorganised and broken down into separate, smaller Chapters starting with the Second Founding initiated by Lord Commander of the Imperium Roboute Guilliman. One of these later Successor Chapters was the Charnel Guard, raised from the ranks of the surviving Blood Angels. Zephon was installed as the first Chapter Master of this Blood Angels successor.As the memories of the Heresy transitioned from fact to myth, Zephon rarely told his battle-brothers of his gene-father's glorious deeds, though he would interject if other tellers of the tale claimed that Sanguinius waited during the Battle for the Sanctum Imperialis. He would correct them by saying that Sanguinius did not stand with his back to the Eternity Gate and watch as the "Bane of the Ninth Bloodline" -- the Bloodthirster Ka'Bandha -- attacked the Royal Ascension. Though his listeners were always interested in hearing this first-hand account, Zephon often deferred to others to set the historical record straight as legend replaced history.Zephon continued to fight for the Imperium with the Charnel Guard as a dour yet respected legend of the Siege of Terra. The remainder of his deeds after becoming master of the Charnel Guard are lost to history.