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73rd Epsilic Eagles - 73rd Epsilic Eagles: The 73rd Epsilic Eagles are an elite and renowned Tempestus Scions regiment of the Ordo Tempestus, who are known for their well-organised defence and coordinated assaults. |
73rd Epsilic Eagles - Regimental History: The 73rd Epsilic Eagles became famous throughout the Varinus System for their well-organised defence against a series of realspace raids from the Drukhari Kabal of the Dying Sun. The sinister Archon Vorl-Xoelanth had been spearheading vicious attacks against the population of two worlds in particular: Nusius II and III.The local Astra Militarum regiments proved too slow to keep pace with the Drukhari, and those who were not killed outright ended up being transformed into experiments for the Haemonculi covens. Segmentum Command ordered the 73rd Epsilic Eagles to maintain a vigilant presence in the system, so that they might rush to the defence of the cities in which the Kabal of the Dying Sun had struck.Though the 73rd Epsilic Eagles never killed Vorl-Xoelanth, their rapid responses, expertly coordinated, saved thousands of Imperial citizens from being claimed as prisoners and tortured to death in horrifying ways within the bowels of Commorragh.When sightings of a Drukhari Raider came from the shrine slums of Nusius II, the 73rd Epsilic Eagles dropped en masse from their Valkyries, deploying via grav-chute to surround and eliminate the raiding party.Their mag equipment enabled them to launch attacks on clutches of Kabalite Warriors, approaching from angles and heights for which the swift Drukhari had not planned. These sudden, unexpected blows slowed down the Drukhari greatly, allowing wider Imperial forces to be mustered.Together the Tempestus Scions and Astra Militarum troopers were able to drive the remaining warriors of the Kabal of the Dying Sun from the planet, and the Drukhari raids eventually ceased in the Varinus System altogether. |
73rd Epsilic Eagles - Regimental Colours: The Tempestus Scions of the 73rd Epsilic Eagles primarily wear tan-coloured fatigues, with green-coloured camouflaged Carapace Armour with silver-coloured trim, as well as green-camouflaged coloured knee guards and Omnishield Helms. The Slate Monitron is tan in colour. A green beret is often worn in lieu of an omnishield helm when not in battle. |
73rd Epsilic Eagles - Regimental Badge: The regimental symbol borne by the 73rd Epsilic Eagles is a heavily stylised fist known simply as the Gauntlet. The reason for this symbology is known only to the regiment's Tempestors, and has never been explained to any outsider. Whether it is a mark of honour, or one of shame, remains a mystery. |
73rd Epsilic Eagles - Sources: Codex: Militarum Tempestus (6th Edition), pp. 24, 34 |
7th Black Crusade - 7th Black Crusade: 7th Black CrusadeGhost WarBlack CrusadeImperium of ManChaos ChampionAbaddon the DespoilerBlack LegionEye of Terrorforces of ChaosWarp riftCadiaThis event is what earned this conflict its informal name of the "Ghost War." The following years saw a game of hide-and-seek played between the forces of Chaos and the Imperium of Man which spread confusion, paranoia, disinformation and deceit across the galaxy.Raids became commonplace in far-flung areas but eventually the servants of the Dark Gods returned to the Eye of Terror, having caused enough trouble but having proven unable to significantly degrade Imperial defensive capabilities at that time. |
7th Black Crusade - History: The 7th Black Crusade began when the Black Legion fleet slipped out of the Eye of Terror undetected and fell covertly upon the worlds of the Imperium. Whole planets were lost before the Emperor's armies could muster the forces to repel the Traitor Legions. Abaddon proved himself a masterful tactician and a match for the combined Imperial Navy commanders of the Battlefleet Obscurus, repeatedly outmanoeuvring their scouts and confounding their attempts to bring him to battle. While the Imperium tried to find and defeat Abaddon's fleet, his Black Legion laid waste to Imperial settlements and star systems. In the volcanic depths of the Harnas Collective, the Traitor Legion broke the great steam seals and left millions to die screaming as scalding clouds engulfed their cities.On the storm-tossed oceans of Jyrro, Renegade Space Marine warbands sunk the silt-mining platforms and fed their workers to rift sharks. Black Legionaries assaulted the Adeptus Mechanicus void stations of Niess, deep within the Magorium Nebula. The Traitors ransacked the void stations' stores, taking ancient Eldar artefacts recovered by the Adeptus Mechanicus. When Imperial forces arrived, they discovered the Black Legion gone and the station decorated with the corpses of Tech-priests and Servitors. |
7th Black Crusade - Midian: When the Blood Angels Space Marine Chapter battled against the Forces of Chaos at Midian, Abaddon singled them out with implacable fury. He led a band of Khornate Berserkers into the teeth of the Blood Angels' Devastator positions. Even the Blood Angels' own Assault troops could not dislodge the frenzied warband and recapture the bodies of their comrades. But there is an obscure reference to the Blood Angels being saved by an unidentified Space Marine Chapter of mysterious origin.Written within the The Canticle of Cassandria Lev - Vol. CVI, the eponymous Sainted Sisters' highly mythologised and oblique account of the wars of the 7th Black Crusade, is found mention of a "grey-clad" Space Marines Chapter who came from "The outer night" to aid the Imperium, and whose "Jagged maw did swallow the stars ... and whose ... black gaze did mirror the void of oblivion." In the course of the canticle this Chapter's warships set upon Abaddon's forces following the disastrous defeat and routing of the Blood Angels at Midian and attacked the pursuing forces as Saint Lev writes: "...fell upon the servants of the skulled-one with great fury from the darkness, unseen as the beast that lurks beneath the black waters, death for death, blood for blood...thus were the Sons of Sanguinius bought respite, and did turn back upon their pursuers and so were the damned traitors of the false gods driven unto their ruin."Images of these events can be found upon the walls of the Cemetery World of Hypasitis created to house the honoured dead of that war, depicted in repeated fresco and bar relief. Curiously, the faces of the intervening Space Marines depicted there are obscured with featureless disks of black obsidian. Given the largely unknown history of the star-faring Carcharodons Chapter, accounts of their activities can only be constructed from recorded historical incidents and fragmentary records that are believed to have involved the Carcharodons on balance of evidence. This notable engagement is listed by Imperial savants as a "[Special] Probable Encounter/Recorded Sighting" of this notorious and mysterious Space Marine Chapter. |
7th Black Crusade - Mackan: While the Ghost War would rage for many standard years before the Traitor Legions finally retreated to the Eye of Terror, a single engagement stands out among the long list of bloody deeds. On the world of Mackan, the Black Legion and its allies faced a company of Blood Angels. The Traitor Legion had ravaged the world, putting its remote dust-mill towns to the torch and tearing apart the grand Cathedral of Radiance raised to honour the might of the Emperor. Arriving in time to halt the escape of the Traitors, the sons of Sanguinius set up defensive positions around the Black Legion landing zone in an attempt to cut them off from their fleet.Although the conflict ultimately ended in the near-extinction of the Blood Angels at the hands of Abaddon the Despoiler and his primary lieutenants -- the Sorcerer-Lord Iskandar Khayon and the swordmaster Telemachon Lyras -- the Blood Angels Reclusiarch Thalastian Jorus becomes one of the few Imperial heroes to ever land a blow against the Warmaster of Chaos. With his Chapter devastated, the Chaplain endured weeks of hardship in the wilderness and the constant trials of keeping his crazed warriors undetected on Mackan. When the time proved right, Jorus lead his Death Company in a lightning raid behind enemy lines, butchering the unprepared sworn warriors of the Despoiler’s honour guard, and allowing the Reclusiarch to lock blades with Abaddon himself. It is said the Chaos Warmaster still bears the scars of that battle, even three standard millennia later.Whatever the truth of the matter, it is known that the Despoiler honoured Jorus once the war was over -- perhaps in mockery, or perhaps with nothing but sincerity.After Mackan, hundreds of Blood Angels corpses were desecrated, their gene-seed ruined beyond recovery. Of all the Chapter, only a handful of bodies were left undefiled: Reclusiarch Jorus and his Death Company, clad in their battered and broken black ceramite, were seated in makeshift thrones made from the armour of those Black Legion warriors they had killed on that fateful night.In the final decades of the 37th Millennium, the Blood Angels were a broken Chapter, ravaged by the Black Legion on the world of Mackan during the tumultuous final years of the Ghost War.Although the Blood Angels restored their strength over the following centuries, for the first time it introduced the threat of mortality upon one of the proudest and noblest First Founding Chapters.Abaddon would go on to use gene-seed stolen from Loyalist Space Marines during this conflict to create new Chaos Space Marines with the aid of Fabius Bile. |
7th Black Crusade - Canon Conflict: There is some confusion as to where the attack by Abaddon and his forces of Chaos against the Blood Angels actually took place. In Codex: Chaos Space Marines (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex) it states, "When the Blood Angels battled against the horde at Mackan, Abaddon singled them out with implacable fury."But in the recently released Imperial Armour Volume Ten - The Badab War - Part Two, under the Notable Campaigns of the Carcharodons Chapter, "...following the disastrous defeat and routing of the Blood Angels Chapter at Midian." It now seems likely that the chroniclers are referring to two separate events that occurred during the 7th Black Crusade. |
7th Cadian - 7th Cadian: The 7th Cadian is is a unit of Cadian Shock Troopers in service to the Imperial Guard. "The Lucky Sevens" were involved in the Battle of Tyrok Fields on Cadia itself where were they were caught unawares by the Renegade Volscani Cataphracts regiments during the 13th Black Crusade. The main body of the Cadian 7th were mercilessly cut down before they could properly form a defence in response to the sudden assault.The regiment was rescued by the actions of the Cadian 8th , under the command of Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed. The 7th Cadians' Regimental Banner was carried forward by no fewer then 12 separate troopers during the course of the engagement. |
7th Epsiloid Hawks - 7th Epsiloid Hawks: The 7th Epsiloid Hawks are an elite Tempestus Scions regiment of the Militarum Tempestus. Little else is known about them in Imperial records. |
7th Epsiloid Hawks - Regimental History: The Antinomican (975.M41) - Guided by a squad of Sanctioned Psykers, the Tempestus Scions of the 7th Epsiloid Hawks are deployed to hunt down and destroy a rogue psyker acting as a beacon for daemonic forces upon the megaship Amphinyx. |
7th Epsiloid Hawks - Regimental Colours: The regimental colours of the 7th Epsiloid Hawks are not listed in current Imperial records. |
7th Epsiloid Hawks - Regimental Badge: The regimental symbol of the 7th Epsiloid Hawks is not listed in current Imperial records. |
835th Psian Pegasi - 835th Psian Pegasi: The 835th Psian Pegasi are an elite Tempestus Scions regiment of the Militarum Tempestus. Little else is known about them in Imperial records. |
835th Psian Pegasi - Regimental History: The Prize Unclean (871.M41) - On the world of Orgal VI, a strange skin-plague billows through the population. Three squads of the Tempestus Scions' 835th Psian Pegasi are despatched to rescue the Planetary Governor, Maas Dietral, from the plague and deliver him to the Adeptus Administratum for debrief. However, on penetrating the stained armourglass of Deitral's inner sanctum, the Pegasi find that their quarry is beset by cyclopean daemons, his dwindling bodyguard fighting desperately to keep them at bay. The Pegasi waste no time in scouring the throne room of infestation, sending blistering volleys into each of the Plaguebearers in turn and then using Meltaguns to explosively evaporate the sludge-beasts that begin to rise from the palace's polluted indoor lakes. With typical efficiency, the Scions clamp a spare respmask over the governor's face and their medic begins to tend to his grievous injuries. After fitting the governor with his own Grav-Chute and reversing the repulsor fields, the Pegasi rocket skyward, reaching their Valkyrie transport and leaving the planet. By nightfall, the Pegasi have delivered their prize to a beige-hulled starship of the Administratum, and depart for their next mission. However, during Deitral's extraction and interrogation, the Administratum Adepts' ship suffers a critical biohazard breach. The vessel is subject to immediate quarantine and, when the breach infests the entire ship, summary extermination by order of Sector Command. |
835th Psian Pegasi - Regimental Colours: The regimental colours of the 835th Psian Pegasi are not listed in current Imperial records. |
835th Psian Pegasi - Regimental Badge: The regimental symbol of the 835th Psian Pegasi is not listed in current Imperial records. |
85th Vendoland - 85th Vendoland: The 85th Vendoland is an Astra Militarum regiment raised from the world of Vendoland. They were present during the events surrounding the invasion of a Tyranid splinter Hive Fleet and an insidious incursion by the Forces of Chaos, who aimed to destroying the Blood Ravens Space Marine Chapter.This regiment is based on the sub-sector's capital Hive World of Meridian, where they often have to put down food riots. The 85th Vendoland is never seen deploying tanks in support of its units, but the men of the regiment are hardy and the 85th has many Storm Trooper companies, who assisted the Space Marines during the battles at Angel Gate and Typhon.The 85th Vendoland emphasizes use of the bayonet in close-quarters fighting, and the troops of this Regiment are equipped in much the same ways as Regiments of the Cadian Shock Troops. |
85th Vendoland - Notable Engagements: During the Tyranid invasion of Sub-Sector Aurelia, the 85th Vendoland battled the attacking Tyranids across the planet of Meridian, most notably at Angel Forge, where the power for the Angel Gate failed and the Imperial Guard forces were overrun by oncoming Tyranids, though they were saved by the timely arrival of the Blood Ravens, and they were able to close the Angel Gate.Later, at the climax of the invasion, the 85th Vendoland assisted the Blood Ravens in holding the line on Typhon, until Captain Gabriel Angelos arrived with substantial reinforcements. Later, the 85th Vendoland succeeded in combating the Chaos Space Marines of the Black Legion with the help of the Blood Ravens Space Marines on Aurelia, and was able to retake Spire Legis on Meridian from the Forces of Chaos after the Blood Ravens weakened the Chaotic forces' interior defences. |
85th Vendoland - Notable Members of the 85th Vendoland Regiment: Sergeant Merrick - Sergeant Merrick who lead the 85th Vendoland forces that defend the Angel Gate and aided the Blood Ravens in holding Typhon. He would also assist the Blood Ravens in attacking the Black Legion stronghold on planet Aurelia. Ten years after, while attached to the 8th Cadian, Merrick would aid Lord General Castor and Inquisitor Adrastia in uncovering the truth about the Blood Ravens Chapter Master Azariah Kyras.Commissar Tharp - Commissar attached to the 85th Vendoland. When the generators powering the Angel Gate, on the planet Meridian, were disabled while under attack from Tyranids, Commissar Tharp rallied the Guardsmen in a vain attempt to stave off the Tyranid swarm. Even when endless broods of Hormagaunts buried him in their mass, the report of his Bolt Pistol could still be heard. |
86th Deltic Dragons - 86th Deltic Dragons: The 86th Deltic Dragons are an elite and renowned Tempestus Scions regiment of the Ordo Tempestus that has won much renown while fighting alongside the Tau against the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Gorgon. |
86th Deltic Dragons - Regimental History: Though Imperial Commanders in the Eastern Fringe are rightfully wary of Tau expansionary forces, they have sometimes been forced to ally with the xenos in order to overcome adversity. When such an abhorrent compromise is required, it is frequently the Scions of the Militarum Tempestus who are rallied, in no small part due to their willingness to adhere rigidly to Imperial orders without argument. One regiment that has won much honour while fighting alongside the Tau is the 86th Deltic Dragons. They have gone to war several times alongside the Fire Warriors and Tau Battlesuits of Kel'shan Sept. That this sept's fighters show a similar level of determination and stoicism to the Militarum Tempestus is purely a coincidence.Standing together, the Scions and the warriors of Kel'shan Sept defended two worlds successfully against splinter fleets of Hive Fleet Gorgon. In each battle, the 86th Deltic Dragons were able to take advantage of the Fire Warriors' covering fire when making swift strikes against larger targets, while the Scions' resilience when fighting at close range bolstered the Tau lines. The complementary nature of the two factions has proven of great interest to the Ordo Tempestus, who monitor their alliance closely -- other than in directing battlefield orders and relaying status updates, Tempestor Prime Prellus is forbidden to engage in dialogue with the Tau Commander Shas'O Shi'Y'he. |
86th Deltic Dragons - Regimental Colours: The Tempestus Scions of the 86th Deltic Dragons primarily wear dark grayfatigues, with black camouflaged Carapace Armour in brass trim, as well as a black right poleyn (knee guard), Slate Monitron and Omnishield Helms. The left poleyn (knee guard) and gauntlets are red. The left couter (elbow guard), vambrace and pauldron (shoulder guard) all have red chevrons that adorn their surfaces. |
86th Deltic Dragons - Regimental Badge: Chevrons adorn the armour and vehicles of the 86th Deltic Dragons in ever changing signifier-patterns that only they fully understand. This is an intentional ploy, intended to obfuscate regimental hierarchy and symbology from the watchful eyes of the Tau with whom they have forged frequent -- if uneasy -- alliances. |
88th Alphic Lions - 88th Alphic Lions: The 88th Alphic Lions is an elite and renowned Tempestus Scions regiment of the Ordo Tempestus that has earned renown through its mutual alliance fighting alongside the First Founding Blood Angels Chapter. |
88th Alphic Lions - Regimental History: Though the 88th Alphic Lions have fought against a vast range of deadly foes, they have proven most effective in war when fighting against the debased entities of the Warp. However, the feature most noted about the Lions by other Imperial bodies is their alliance with the Space Marines of the Blood Angels Chapter, with whom they have fought on several occasions and secured a great many victories for the Imperium. |
88th Alphic Lions - Notable Campaigns: Salvation of Jalbree (Unknown Date) - It was on the volcanic moon of Jalbree that the 88th Alphic Lions displayed their skills to the Blood Angels. Senior Sanguinary Priest Corbulo was leading a small strike force of the Sons of Sanguinius to the planetoid on a secretive mission for his Chapter. The 88th Alphic Lions had also been sent there on a mission to defend the world against a Daemonic tide that was spilling up from one of the volcanoes. Under ash-filled skies, the Tempestus Scions and the Adeptus Astartes united to fight back the surge of furious Warp-spawn, and whittled down the outflow of creatures with blistering, synchronised raids. The Militarum Tempestus proved their exceptional bravery to the Blood Angels when halting the progress of a throng of Seekers, allowing Corbulo to destroy the Greater Daemon of Slaanesh that led the brutal incursion. Since that battle the 88th Alphic Lions have regularly found themselves allied to Blood Angels strike forces, with their rapid pace and deadly impact on the battlefield complementing the fast strike tactics preferred by the sons of Sanguinius. |
88th Alphic Lions - Regimental Colours: The Tempestus Scions of the 88th Alphic Lions primarily wear black-coloured fatigues and Carapace Armour with silver-coloured trim, as well as black-coloured left knee guard and Slate Monitron. The Omnishield Helm is gold in colour. The right poleyn (knee guard) and left pauldron (shoulder guard) are red in colour. |
88th Alphic Lions - Regimental Badge: The Lion is a common heraldic beast throughout the Imperium's statuary and monuments. Its connotations are obvious, the beast embodying nobility, strength and pride. All of these characteristics run strong within the 88th Alphic Lions, making the Lion an apt symbol indeed. |
88th Kappic Phoenixes - 88th Kappic Phoenixes: The 88th Kappic Phoenixes are an elite Tempestus Scions regiment of the Militarum Tempestus. The 88th participated in the Imperial raid on the Kroot world of Jach. Little else is known about them in Imperial records. |
88th Kappic Phoenixes - Regimental History: The Great Cull of Jach (999.M41) - As the Damocles War escalates further, the battle analysts of the Ordo Xenos conclude that the T'au Empire relies heavily on auxiliaries. The vast majority of these in the Damocles Gulf hail from the Jungle World of Jach. The Ordo's research determines that the Kroot are able to evolve at an extreme rate by selectively feeding on the bodies of their enemies and assimilating those genetic quirks their tribal elders deem desirable. Seeking to tip the balance in the Damocles War by whatever means necessary, the venerable Inquisitor Lord Heiss-Alumin makes transition through the Warp for Jach without delay. Eight regiments of Scions requisitioned from the Ordo Tempestus accompany him. Making planetfall via Grav-Chute, the Tempestus regiments split up into separate task forces. Their orders are to locate and exterminate the leader caste of the Kroot wherever they are found. So begins a gruelling jungle hunt, the high technology and stoic discipline of the Scions ranged against the savagery and feral cunning of the Kroot tribes. Unfortunately the Inquisitor has greatly underestimated not only the resolve of his quarry, but the technology with which they are equipped. Each jungle tribe's Shaper is guarded not only by a cadre of experienced Kroot snipers, but also a delegation of the T'au Fire Caste and swarms of accompanying drones. The Scions quickly find themselves outgunned and out-manoeuvred by Tau Battlesuits and swift-moving Kroot, and only the 88th Kappic Phoenixes make it off-planet once the withdrawal is ordered. Though the Kroot Shapers dine well on the Imperial strike force and learn much from Heiss-Alumin's superior brain, the Phoenixes learn a great deal about the foe in return. Before the solar month is out, a new anti-Kroot doctrine is relayed to the Imperial armies in the Damocles Gulf. |
88th Kappic Phoenixes - Regimental Colours: The regimental colours of the 88th Kappic Phoenixes are not listed in current Imperial records. |
88th Kappic Phoenixes - Regimental Badge: The regimental symbol of the 88th Kappic Phoenixes is not listed in current Imperial records. |
88th Siege Army - 88th Siege Army: The 88th Siege Army of the Astra Militarum was composed of regiments of the Death Korps of Krieg raised from the planet Krieg to prosecute the campaign known as the Siege of Vraks.Vraks Prime was an Imperial Armoury World of the Departmento Munitorum in the Scarus Sector of the Segmentum Obscurus that had rebelled against the Imperium following the attempted Imperial assassination of the heretical Cardinal-Astra Xaphan.It originally consisted of 4 line corps, each of which consisted of 4 siege regiments, 2 assault corps comprised of armour, siege and artillery regiments, and 2 artillery corps of 3 siege artillery regiments, comprised of 10 independent artillery companies and 4 heavy mortar companies.Overall command of the army was given by the Segmentum Obscurus Command to Lord General Zuehlke, the son of a well-connected Imperial noble family. The forces of the Imperium required to assault these formidable defences would be the Imperial Guard regiments raised from the world of Krieg, the infamous Death Korps.These were the best Astra Militarum regiments available to the Imperium. The men of Krieg were loyal, dutiful and extremely disciplined. They would fight with an almost inhuman disregard for the cost in casualties, seeing death in battle as the ultimate goal of their lives, to sacrifice themselves for the God-Emperor.The 88th Siege Army would be equipped depending on each regiment's designation. Most of the regiments would be siege regiments, equipped for a long war against static positions, with a special emphasis on artillery. Artillery was the heart of the plan for laying siege to Vraks Prime, and it would be a gunner's war. Large concentrations of heavy artillery would be needed to blast the enemy from their defensive lines, allowing infantry attacks to sweep forwards in their wake.Each regiment would have its own artillery companies, with weaponry ranging from small mortars to the medium artillery of heavy mortars and quad-launchers. There would also be heavy artillery in the form of Medusa siege guns and Earthshaker Cannons, the work-horse of the 88th Siege Army, as well as the heaviest Imperial artillery in use, the deadly Bombards.To augment each regiment's own artillery company, independent artillery regiments would be attached to the army. Other regiments would be equipped as mobile armoured regiments, but for a siege campaign the armoured regiments would be used as breakthrough and gap exploitation forces and would not expect to man the lines as the infantry and artillery regiments would.The tanks would be used to support the infantry's attacks and there would be no mass tank battles since the Imperial forces intended to deny the Heretics the chance to engage in armoured warfare. Still, Imperial Guard Leman Russes, Baneblades and Gorgons would all play their part in the siege.For the men of Krieg, Vraks would prove to be an alien environment. All of them had been raised in the underground hive cities of Krieg, where they became used to the constant overcrowding and recycled air. They had trained for battle on their world's blasted surface, amidst the frigid cold and radioactive hot spots of a perpetual nuclear winter and a landscape of ruined buildings and a hideous metallic mass of trench and razor wire all left from the planetary civil war that had devastated the world centuries before.While many of the Death Korps regiments were well-established, they had been brought up to strength with many new recruits who had never seen combat before they set foot on Vraks Prime. Vraks was a barren world, covered in a choking layer of volcanic dust, with little vegetation. Its climate was warmer than that of frigid Krieg, but violent electrical storms were a daily problem, as were the sudden downpours that accompanied them. These storms turned the ground into a churning sea of sticky grey mud as the water drained away into Vraks Prime's dusty surface.The battlefield encompassed the whole of the planet's Van Meersland Wastes, 5,000 square kilometres of dusty, rocky plains with the occasional outcropping of volcanic rock. The defenders knew this terrain well, but the forces of the Emperor would have to learn the nature of the battlefield as the siege progressed.The first troops of the 88th Siege Army arrived in the Vraks System in 812.M41. The 143rd Siege Regiment was the first to make landfall, and began digging in. These troops were reinforced throughout the campaign and several Space Marine Chapters interceeded on the Imperium's behalf throughout the war.The command for the first volley of fire was issued in 813.M41. The siege had been intended, after voluminous calculations by the Adeptus Administratum, to last for 12 standard years, but, owing to the unexpected intervention of several warbands of Chaos Space Marines and daemonic entities from the Warp, it dragged on for 17 Terran years until 830.M41, when the Imperium successfully reclaimed control of the strategic world at the heavy cost of 14 million Imperial lives. |
88th Siege Army - 1st Line Korps: 3rd Krieg Siege Regiment5th Krieg Siege Regiment15th Krieg Siege Regiment19th Krieg Siege Regiment |
88th Siege Army - 12th Line Korps: 143rd Krieg Siege Regiment149th Krieg Siege Regiment150th Krieg Siege Regiment159th Krieg Siege Regiment |
88th Siege Army - 30th Line Korps: 261st Krieg Siege Regiment262nd Krieg Siege Regiment263rd Krieg Siege Regiment289th Krieg Siege Regiment |
88th Siege Army - 34th Line Korps: 291st Krieg Siege Regiment308th Krieg Siege Regiment309th Krieg Siege Regiment310th Krieg Siege Regiment |
88th Siege Army - 8th Assault Korps: 7th Krieg Tank Regiment11th Krieg Tank Regiment14th Krieg Tank Regiment179th Krieg Tank Regiment231st Siege Artillery Regiment |
88th Siege Army - 11th Assault Korps: 61st Krieg Tank Regiment66th Krieg Tank Regiment101st Krieg Siege Regiment497th Siege Artillery Regiment |
88th Siege Army - 19th Bombardment Korps: 3rd Siege Artillery Regiment4th Siege Artillery Regiment8th Siege Artillery Regiment |
88th Siege Army - 21st Bombardment Korps: 19th Siege Artillery Regiment22nd Siege Artillery Regiment23rd Siege Artillery Regiment |
88th Siege Army - Unattached Artillery Companies: 4th Artillery Company6th Artillery Company8th Artillery Company27th Artillery Company31st Artillery Company33rd Artillery Company224th Artillery Company226th Artillery Company227th Artillery Company230th Artillery Company61st Heavy Mortar Company67th Heavy Mortar Company70th Heavy Mortar Company71st Heavy Mortar Company |
8th Black Crusade - 8th Black Crusade: In 999.M37, Abaddon the Despoiler launched the 8th Black Crusade of the forces of Chaos out of the Eye of Terror into Imperial space.During this incursion into the Realms of Man, Abaddon completed a complex series of ritualised massacres known as the "Skullgather" in the name of Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways. On worlds throughout the Segmentum Obscurus, Imperial citizens were slaughtered in precise numbers using esoteric rituals.Only when the Inquisition finally broke the code of damnation was the Imperium able to bring an end to the Black Legion's rampage across the segmentum in time with these mysterious attacks, but not before countless worlds had been saturated in death and Abbadon's true aim -- to gain access to the favour of Tzeentch -- had been achieved. |
8th Black Crusade - History: The Black Legion and its Chaos allies struck out from the Eye of Terror in every direction as the 8th Black Crusade raged across the stars. At first the Imperium could only guess at the Traitor Legion's plans, as some raids accounted for the genocidal extermination of entire settlements where others only seemed to cause limited carnage by the horrific standards of the Black Legion.On the moons of Teekus, eight of the twenty crater cities were peeled open to the void, their inhabitants freezing in place while others remained untouched.The Chartist pilgrim vessel the Divine Path was waylaid en route and 999 of its passengers were murdered in ascending order of the pilgrim tokens they carried. The rest were left to weep over the fallen.In what later became known as the "Skullgather," tens of thousands of men, women and children were killed across the Segmentum Obscurus in a variety of ways and in specific numbers, their corpses left in ritualistic patterns.This slaughter was part of a plot to appease Tzeentch, the numbers and patterns creating a mathematical equation of terrible and profane perfection.While Imperial forces pursued the Black Legion, trying to bring them to battle, the Inquisition attempted to break the cipher, driving hundreds of Adepts insane in the process. Finally, on the Forge World of Rithcarn, the Traitors instigated a massive uprising of the mutant workers, plunging the world into chaos and ruin.In the confusion, the Black Legion sacrificed the council of ruling Adeptus Mechanicus Tech-magi in the gears of their own manufactoria; with their destruction, the complex sequence of death was complete and the Master of Fates was greatly pleased.The constructs beneath the crater-cities of Teekus began to glow brighter with each ritual slaughter until, at the culmination of the ninth, the structures begin to melt.By the time agents of the Inquisition identified a pattern in the Black Legion's seemingly random actions, Abaddon had already achieved his aims. |
8th Cadian - 8th Cadian: The 8th Cadian, nicknamed "The Lord Castellan's Own," is an elite regiment of the Cadian Shock Troops that was once commanded by Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed himself during the battles of the 13th Black Crusade.Later, during the Era Indomitus, the 8th Cadian earned renown for fighting alongside the Ultramarines Chapter during the Recidious Campaign of the Fourth Tyrannic War.The soldiers of the Imperial Fortress World of Cadia form the Cadian Shock Troop regiments of the Astra Militarum, famed throughout the Imperium for their skill and discipline. They stand as the front line of defence against the predations of Chaos, staring into the very gates of hell, the courage of Cadia's soldiery having repeatedly saved the Imperium from the rampages and depredations of the forces of Chaos.Amongst the most illustrious of regiments the 8th Cadian stands at the fore. Its low numerical designation indicates that it was first founded thousands of standard years ago, perhaps during the earliest days of the Imperium after the end of the Horus Heresy, and has been re-founded many times since to ensure that its glorious regimental heritage never dies. Known as "The Lord Castellan's Own", their commander for many years was no other than the lauded and much beloved Lord Castellan of Cadia, Ursarkar E. Creed.The 8th Cadian is comprised of approximately 8,000 guardsmen divided into roughly 24 companies. Before the Fall of Cadia, at least two companies at a time were in hostile environment training on Prosan (the innermost planet of the Cadian System) and two others helped to garrison Kasr Sonnen and Kasr Holn (Fortress Worlds within the Cadian System). Due to their illustrious history and elite status, the companies of the Cadian 8th are in high demand to play support roles for other Cadian units or to serve in smaller formations as elite strike forces.As a result, the 8th Cadian rarely fights as an entire unit, instead having its companies deployed as support elements for other, less able Astra Militarum or Planetary Defence Forces. In addition, there is always demand for soldiers of the 8th to be indentured as Acolytes to Inquisitors, particularly members of the Cadian Internal Guard, or to assist in training newly-founded regiments.The 8th Cadian is equipped with a number of Leman Russ main battle tanks which were deployed to maximum effect during the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41. The Cadian 8th's officers are also some of the most skilled leaders in the Imperial Guard and are often used to lead the training cadres that will churn out new Cadian Shock Trooper regiments that can meet the high standards required by the Cadian military tradition. |
8th Cadian - Origins: The 8th Cadian is one of the oldest regiments of the Astra Militarum, its low number indicating that it may have been founded in the period before the Astra Militarum and the Navis Imperialis became separate branches of the Imperial military following the break-up of the Imperial Army after the Horus Heresy.The 8th Cadian has been destroyed as a functional regiment numerous times following intense combats, but it has always been reformed on Cadia and brought back up to full strength because of its illustrious history of service.The earliest reference to the deeds of the 8th Cadian in existing Imperial records is the Vrakesworld Campaign of the 38th Millennium, though the unit may have been referred to by a different designation earlier in its history. |
8th Cadian - 13th Black Crusade: The 8th Cadian received its highest honour, being named the "The Lord Castellan's Own," during the darkest days of the 13th Black Crusade when their former commanding officer, Ursarkar E. Creed, was named Cadia's Lord Castellan (planetary governor and supreme military commander). Creed had served in the 8th Cadian throughout his career and had steadily ascended its ranks over the course of his long career of service. Creed began his service as a young lieutenant in command of a platoon of the 8th Cadian during the Drussite Crusade in 975.M41 and rose to the rank of Lord General when he crushed a raid by the Asuryani of Craftworld Ulthwé in 992.M41.When the traitorous Volscani Cataphracts betrayed the Emperor and slaughtered most of Cadia's high command at the Battle of Tyrok Fields on Cadia at the start of the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41, Creed was appointed to the Fortress World's highest military and political office.The 8th Cadian fought desperately and heroically throughout the 13th Black Crusade, and Creed chose to remain the 8th's commanding officer even as he assumed command of all of the Imperial military forces deployed on the surface of Cadia to throw back the invasion launched by the forces of Chaos under the command of Abaddon the Despoiler. When Cadia fell to Abaddon and Ursarkar E. Creed was believed lost with it, remnants of the 8th Cadian managed to get off-world and continue its proud martial tradition into the Era Indomitus. |
8th Cadian - Recidious Campaign: The Cadian 8th served alongside the Ultramarines Chapter's 2nd Company during the Recidious Campaign of the Fourth Tyrannic War, seeking to secure the worlds of the Recidious System from the assault of the forces of Hive Fleet Leviathan and a Chaos incursion by a thrall-band of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion. |
8th Cadian - Notable Campaigns: Vrakesworld Campaign (38th Millennium)Gerreck Heresy (40th Millennium)The Drussite Crusade (975.M41)The Hrud Migration (983.M41)13th Black Crusade (999.M41) - The 8th Cadian Regiment was engaged in multiple battles across the world of Cadia in the midst of Abaddon the Despoiler's all-out assault upon the Cadian Gate during the 13th Black Crusade.Battle of Tyrok Fields - During the outset of the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade, treachery struck at the heart of the Imperium's defences. As the defenders of the Cadian Gate mustered, the traitorous Volscani Cataphracts revealed their true allegiance to the Ruinous Powers. The traitors slaughtered hundreds of loyal Guardsmen before any response could be coordinated. The intent of the Volscani's treason was revealed as they swarmed aboard the the Leviathan command vehicle of the Governor Primus of Cadia and proceeded to slaughter him and much of the senior command of Cadia's armed forces. This included the commander-in-chief of the defenders of the Cadian Gate, who was killed in the brutal attack. At the darkest moment, then-Colonel Ursarkar Creed took control of the dire situation. Rallying the glorious 8th, the bloodied defenders were quickly organised and ordered to advance upon the traitors. The 8th Cadian led the charge into the ranks of the traitorous Volscani. Through Creed's actions, what might have been a grievous defeat for the Imperium, and a nefarious victory for the hordes of the Archenemy, was turned into a defining moment for the defenders of Cadia.Fourth Tyrannic War, Recidious Campaign (Unknown Date.M42) - The 8th Cadian was deployed to the Recidious System to defend it from the assault of a splinter fleet of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Leviathan. They were assisted by Deathwatch Kill-team Kasaeran and the arrival of forces from the Ultramarines Chapter, including the entire Ultramarines 2nd Company under the command of Captain Sevastus Acheran and Lieutenant Demetrian Titus, who finally returned to his Chapter after a long period of exile during this campaign. The 8th Cadian first fought on the Jungle World of Kadaku to extract the magos named Nozick Beta-12 who was responsible for the development of Project Aurora, intended to recreate the Warp-based power source once used on the Forge World of Graia to develop the weapon known as the Psychic Scourge. Project Aurora was intended to build a new weapon similar to the Psychic Scourge that could banish anyone corrupted by Chaos energies into the Immaterium. After the loss of Nozick, the 8th transferredn to the neighbouring Hive World of Avarax where they were deployed to defend against the Tyranid swarm as well as a thrall-band of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion and their supporting Tzeentchian Chaos Cultists under the command of the Sorcerer Lord Imurah to protect Project Aurora. The regiment later joined the Ultramarines 2nd Company in their final assault on the Cemetery World of Demerium to put an end to the Heretic Astartes' attempt to claim the Project Aurora power source for their own nefarious purposes. |
8th Cadian - Notable Members: Ursarkar E. Creed - Colonel and commanding officer of the Cadian 8th Regiment; also later the Lord Castellan of Cadia.Jarran Kell - Ursarkar E. Creed's best friend and Regimental Standard Bearer of the Cadian 8th Regiment.Sarkana - A major of the Cadian 8th that served in the Recidious Campaign alongside the Astartes of the Ultramarines Chapter's 2nd Company. |
8th Cadian - Sources: Codex: Eye of Terror (3rd Edition), pp. 12-13, 40-41Codex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex), pp. 10-11, 13, 30, 50-51Codex: Imperial Guard (5th Edition), pg. 57Imperial Armour Volume One, pp. 64, 71, 94, 102, 109, 115, 168, 180, 196, 259White Dwarf 283 (US), "Heroes & Villains of the 41st Millennium - Ursarkar E. Creed, Lord Castellan of Cadia" by Pete Haines, pp. 68-73Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II (Video Game) |
8th Founding - 8th Founding: The 8th Founding of Space Marine Chapters occurred at an unknown time in the mid-34th Millennium, undertaken before the dark times of the Nova Terra Interregnum, when the Imperium of Man was split into twin interstellar empires.Few records remain surrounding this Founding, but one of the earliest extant likely to pertain to one of the Chapters founded during this period may mention the Mantis Warriors. This fragment can be found in the Libris Gloriana -- a seven hundred and seventy-seven volume treatise on the state of Imperial power commissioned for the ascension of High Lord Gogol after the Nova Terra Interregnum in 093.M36.It mentions in bombastic terms a Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes that is a "...warrior legion of the Mantis (or "prophecy," the language is unclear) "of the 8th Founding of "... the line of the great Khan, by his sons the Marauders." The text goes on to praise their successes in combating the Traitors of the Eye of Terror, as well as crushing alien threats, and speaks of them as operating far from home but fails to name their Chapter homeworld or state the star system in which it is to be found.Another Chapter believed to have been founded during this time is the Angels Revenant Chapter. Noble, if aloof by reputation even for the warriors of the Adeptus Astartes, this Chapter of the 8th Founding, and of the proud lineage of the Ultramarines, had spent much of its long history on crusade throughout the western Imperium. After its glorious role in the Orphean War of Faith, the Angels Revenant was given home at Libethra within the Orpheus Sector of the Segmentum Tempestus.As stern supporters of the Ecclesiarchy and the Imperial Creed, the bounty of the Orphean branch of the Adeptus Ministorum was given freely to the construction of the Chapter's fortress-monastery, while the hardy inhabitants of the Feral World of Patara formed the basis of new generations of neophytes for the Chapter.While completely autonomous of sector authority they serve as protectors, guarding the pilgrimage routes of the Cold Veil, while their Chapter starships tirelessly plied the borders of the Hesod Nebula and the Barren Stars, hunting down and slaughtering xenos corsairs and marauders that had long made these trackless regions their lair.Of the final fate of the Angels Revenant Space Marine Chapter, little can be said for sure. Such scattered and fragmentary evidence as has been uncovered about their final hour suggest unsurprisingly that they fought to the last against overwhelming forces that were unleashed against them.The Libethra System was found littered with the radiation-ghosts of deadly void combat and spreading clouds of micro-wreckage. Furthermore, the ancient hull of at least one of the vast Necron Tomb Ships that were later sighted above the world of Amarah during the Orphean War held fresh scars consistent with the unique signature of Space Marine bombardment cannon strikes at extreme close range.Indeed it may be the case that such was the resistance the Angels Revenant put up that the Necron invaders resorted to breaking through Libethra's crust and unleashing the planet's molten core to seal their fate conclusively.When news of the Chapter's martyrdom reached the Synod Tempestus of the Ecclesiarchy, a segmentum-wide day of requiem was decreed, the bells of a thousand worlds tolling to mark their passing. It is now thought that no more than a few hundred Angels Revenant, far from the Orpheus Sector on crusade, perhaps survive. |
8th Founding - Select 8th Founding Chapters: ChapterSuccessors ofPrimarchHomeworldSummaryAngels RevenantUltramarinesRoboute GuillimanLibethra (Destroyed)Noble if aloof by reputation even for the warriors of the Adeptus Astartes, this Chapter of the 8th Founding, and of the proud lineage of the Ultramarines, spent much of its long history on crusade throughout the western Imperium, in the Segmentum Tempestus. The minor colony world of Libethra, upon which Saint Marduk had shown his favour, was converted to a Shrine World of the Ecclesiarchy and given over to the Angels Revenant as their domain, which until that time had been a Fleet-based Chapter.Mantis Warriors (Unconfirmed)White ScarsJaghatai KhanVarious worlds in the Endymion Cluster; Tranquility III (primary training world before the Badab War); now Fleet-Based ChapterIn the year 587.M41 the Mantis Warriors and their charges within the Endymion Cluster were incorporated within the newly formed alliance of Space Marine Chapters known as the Maelstrom Warders. With this change in status came, for the first time, an alliance of long-standing with two powerful and very different Chapters in culture and outlook, the Astral Claws and the Lamenters. |
9836-18 Grave Core - 9836-18 Grave Core: 9836-18 Grave Core is a gas giant located in a system of the Ghoul Stars of the Ultima Segmentum. Before the Ghoul Stars Crusade, it served as the capital world of the hostile xenos Cythor Fiends' civilisation.It is unknown by what name the planet was called by the Cythor Fiends. 9836-18 "Grave Core" is the Imperial designation, with the number signifying it was the eighteenth world conquered during the Ghoul Stars Crusade. |
9836-18 Grave Core - History: The planet was a mid-sized gas giant which appeared blue from high orbit. Its atmosphere was toxic and extremely cold, unfit for most intelligent species. High Marshal Helbrecht of the Black Templars Chapter noted that the world closely resembled Neptune in the Sol System. 9836-18 Grave Core was later determined to be highly resistant to damage from Imperial Exterminatus-class weaponry, to an unnatural degree.Grave Core was regarded by the Cythor Fiends as their primary homeworld in the region. The xenos had erected platforms in the world's atmosphere that supported their usual crystal fortress-cities. The Astartes of the Death Spectres Chapter who accompanied the Black Templars in the crusade hinted that they had once also assaulted Grave Core, just as the Black Templars now did, but had also found it deserted by the xenos.The Black Templars had expected the Cythor Fiends to make their last stand of the Ghoul Stars Crusade there, but the entire species had already apparently fled the planet. Furious, the Black Templars attempted to destroy the world by unleashing an Exterminatus action, but failed even at that as the world seemed to be able to resist any form of damage.As an alternative, the Black Templars then destroyed the Cythor Fiends' orbital platforms and tried to ignite the world's atmosphere by bombarding it with their armada. This took an unnaturally long time, and the Death Spectres' Captain Naroosh remarked that whatever the Imperials did to the gas giant, it would not matter in the long run, as the Cythor Fiends always returned to reclaim the worlds of their realm. |
99th Deltic Gorgonnes - 99th Deltic Gorgonnes: The 99th Deltic Gorgonnes is an elite and renowned Tempestus Scions regiment of the Ordo Tempestus that is renowned for achieving high kill ratios against the vicious xenos known as the Tyranids. |
99th Deltic Gorgonnes - Regimental History: The 99th Deltic Gorgonnes is a Tempestus Scions regiment of the Militarum Tempestus that has earned great renown as slayers of the vicious monstrosities known as Tyranids. Most recently, the Gorgonnes assembled a surgical strike brigade to provide safe exit for Planetary Governor Vallera Dresis during the Xariss Campaign ahead of the encroaching invasion of Hive Fleet Leviathan. The regiments of the Catachan Jungle Fighters were demoralised after a previous campaign against the Tyranids, jeopardising the operation, and so the Deltic Gorgonnes were tasked with this vital duty. |
99th Deltic Gorgonnes - Notable Campaigns: Bitter Salvation (997.M41) - Less than five standard years after the defeat of Hive Fleet Kraken in the Second Tyrannic War, the Imperium took note of the tell-tale signs of yet another Tyranid invasion in 997.M41. Codenamed "Leviathan", this time the Tyranids were approaching from below the galactic plane, attacking from two points spaced wide apart in the shape of a closing pair of jaws. At a great cost in human life, the Imperial forces managed to secure a victory on Tarsis Ultra, destroying the Tyranids nearest to Terra, and reestablishing astropathic contact with the worlds between the Leviathan's jaws. Yet Leviathan continued to carve its bloody path through the Imperium. To slow down the Hive Fleet's advance and buy time for the Imperial Navy's Battlefleets Solar and Tempestus to muster, a cordon was established. Every world within was to be evacuated and undergo immediate Exterminatus wherever possible. Xariss was one such world. The Planetary Governor Vallera Dresis was deemed essential personnel and worth saving. Commissar Decius Krassus, brother of Tempestor Prime Magnus Krassus, was given what should have been a simple mission: to smuggle out the Planetary Governor of Xaris ahead of the Tyranid invasion. Commissar Krassus' orders were to take the nearby Catachan MDCCCXLV Regiment and escort her off-planet. The Catachans had recently suffered heavy casualties after fighting Tyranids on a nearby Shrine World, where they lost eighty-three percent of their regiment. Four hundred men remained, mostly new recruits. The first waves of the fatigued and dispirited Catachan MDCCCXLV sent forward into battle were insufficient. Even those veterans who had faced the Hive Fleet before were unable to hold their ground. Krassus promptly executed those troopers who foolishly displayed insubordination, and assumed command, spearheading advances personally. Finally, Krassus received a Vox-message that the 99th Deltic Gorgonnes, led by Tempestor Prime Cadmur, were making planetfall amidst Leviathan's deluge. Once the Scions made planetfall and hooked up with the Commissar's forces, they confirmed Krassus' orders, and proceeded to jointly cut through the swarm to reach the governor's compound. When the Imperial troops reached the compound, they were confronted by a new threat -- many Imperial servants within sported strange tattoos and droned allegiance to the Dark Gods. The Imperial forces were forced to slaughter scores of these Traitors. Tempestor Prime Cadmur discovered a terrible truth about the governor, that she too, had also turned to Chaos. Cadmur and Krassus had clear orders to retrieve Vallera Dresis, and that was precisely what they were going to do -- even if she had given herself to the Ruinous Powers. Subduing the rabid Vallera Dresis with tranq-injects, the Scions bound the governor and took turns to carry her through the corridors. As they advanced, the Imperial forces encountered multiple Tyranid bioforms, each more terrible than the last. As they fought their way clear of the compound, the 99th laid explosives in their wake, buckling the gates of the palace and sending rubble flying in order to block the creatures' progress. The surviving Imperial forces were extracted by several Valkyries as they raced across the darkening skies towards their prearranged evacuation point. Eventually, the Scions secured a safe landing zone for their transports. Krassus and the Catachans were the first to board. As the Valkyries lifted off, the governor awoke to find herself looking directly into the barrel of the Commissar's Plasma Pistol. |
99th Deltic Gorgonnes - Regimental Colours: The Tempestus Scions of the 99th Deltic Gorgonnes primarily wear dark gray-coloured fatigues with green-camouflaged Carapace Armour with silver-coloured trim. Their poleyn (knee guards), Slate Monitron and Omnishield Helms are also painted in this green camouflaged-colour scheme. The faceplate of their omnishield helm are silver in colour. |
99th Deltic Gorgonnes - Regimental Badge: The regimental symbol of the 99th Deltic Gorgonnes is a green coloured three-sided polygon, believed to be an ancient symbol of Terran origin, but whose exact meaning is unclear. The orientation of the point-up triangle might represent a strong foundation or stability, as it is rooted to the ground through a solid base. These characteristics of stalwartness and stoicism in the face of adversity run strong within the 99th Deltic Gorgonnes, making the triangle an apt symbol indeed. |
9th Black Crusade - 9th Black Crusade: 9th Black CrusadeBlack CrusadeChaos ChampionAbaddon the DespoilerBlack LegionEye of TerrorCancephalusAntecanisMonarchhive, the hive city that served as the seat of Antecanis' Imperial Commander, was besieged by Abaddon's vanguard. The Black Legionaries burned and butchered their way through the lower levels, whilst Abaddon himself stormed its inner sanctums. The hive populations were slowly destroyed by the slaughter.By the time the forces of the Astra Militarum arrived from Cancephalus to reinforce the desperate survivors, Abaddon and his favoured Legionaries had already left orbit, dropping a dozen Cyclonic warheads onto the ruins of Monarchhive in a last gesture of contempt.The seventeen-standard-year-long war that ensued robbed both Antecanis and Cancephalus of their most precious resource -- manpower. Without the fleets of Cancephalus to stop him, Abaddon was able to ravage the rest of the sector at will , and his Sorcerers were free to conduct the rituals required to weaken the walls of reality in that region of space with impunity.During this time, the Lamenters Space Marine Chapter was recalled along with a number of other Crusading Chapters by the High Lords of Terra to help deal with the rising threat of incursions from the Eye of Terror. Fierce fighting that saw the extinction of two Chapters (coincidentally both named the Celestial Swords by some error of the Adeptus Administratum) ensued throughout the sector.The Lamenters' fell reputation for suffering bitter reversals and dark turns of fate worked against them during their defence of the Hive World of Corillia from a Chaos attack.The superstition-bound Mortifactors Chapter refused to fight alongside the Lamenters, abandoning the planet rather than serve besides fellow Astartes they considered cursed. Unwilling to desert the Hive World's population, the Lamenters held out alone against the Black Legion's onslaught for six solar weeks, suffering horrendous losses until the Ultramarines and White Scars led an Imperial battle group that broke though the Chaos warfleet to relieve Corillia.Reduced to barely 200 surviving Battle-Brothers by their sacrifice, the Lamenters were deemed lost when their fleet disappeared into a Warp Storm soon afterwards, only to reappear more than a standard century later on the edge of the Segmentum Solar, having slowly battled their way back from the outer void. |
9th Founding - 9th Founding: The 9th Founding of Space Marine Chapters occurred at an unknown date sometime between the mid-34th and mid-35th Millenniums.Only a single Chapter is currently known to have been raised in this Founding. This is the Angels Resplendent, who later renamed themselves the Angels Penitent. |
9th Founding - Select 9th Founding Chapters: Angels Resplendent - The Angels Resplendent are a Successor Chapter of the Blood Angels whose fortress-monastery of Kanvolis was established on the world of Malpertuis. Alone amongst the scions of Sanguinius, this Chapter had been entirely free of the madness that haunted the Angel's bloodline. No Space Marine in the red and gold had ever succumbed to the Black Rage. Recently, the arrival of a strange mortal known as the "Undying Martyr" led to the Chapter's conversion to a fanatically puritanical variant of the Imperial Creed. The Angels Resplendent renamed themselves the Angels Penitent, banned the production of all forms of art, and have dedicated themselves to the elimination of all sin and the castigation of all sinners, whether they be mortal or Astartes. |
9th Iotan Gorgonnes - 9th Iotan Gorgonnes: The 9th Iotan Gorgonnes is an elite Tempestus Scions regiment of the Ordo Tempestus that frequently fights alongside the Battle-Sisters of the Order of the Glowing Chalice.The Tempestus Scions of the 9th Iotan Gorgonnes are an unusual regiment. They frequently are tasked to campaigns alongside the warriors of the Adepta Sororitas -- specifically the Order of the Glowing Chalice -- many of whom originated from the same Schola Progenium facility on Vedill I. The Scions and the Sisters of Battle parted after their Trials of Compliance into the different Adepta of the Imperium, but have since been reunited on the battlefield. Though the Scions have faith only in executing their orders, and little else, the missions in which they are most often engaged are ultimately on behalf of the Ecclesiarchy. Under this unusual sanction from the Ordo Tempestus, the 9th Iotan Gorgonnes continue to display exemplary skill alongside the Order of the Glowing Chalice. |
9th Iotan Gorgonnes - Notable Campaigns: Defence of Sanctus Lys (Unknown Date) - One of the greatest displays of bravery from the 9th Iotan Gorgonnes was on the Shrine World of Sanctus Lys. After the simultaneous suicide of a blood-cult, packs of Khornate daemons had breached the Warp; Bloodletters swarmed across the planet on a murder-spree, destroying the faithful populace and filling the streets with gore. The Battle-Sisters of the Order of the Glowing Chalice led the world's defence, but were overwhelmed when brass-flanked Juggernauts began rampaging through the streets, crippling their vehicles. The Scions of the 9th Iotan Gorgonnes prevented a more complete atrocity by launching rapid strikes against the daemon cavalry, and by baiting the Lesser Daemons into courtyards filled with waiting Taurox Primes. This freed the warriors of the Adepta Sororitas to purge the rest of the horde, saving the people of Sanctus Lys. |
9th Iotan Gorgonnes - Regimental Colours: The Tempestus Scions of the 9th Iotan Gorgonnes primarily wear tan berets and fatigues with green camouflaged Carapace Armour, knee guards, Slate Monitron, and an Omnishield Helm, in lieu of a beret, when in battle. |
9th Iotan Gorgonnes - Regimental Badge: Originally, the icon borne by the 9th Iotan Gorgonnes showed black jags set upon a white background. However, in honour of their frequent battles alongside the Order of the Glowing Chalice, the symbol has been altered so that it is now set black upon gold. |
9th Iotan Gorgonnes - Sources: Codex: Militarum Tempestus (6th Edition), pg. 29 |
A.N-vyl - A.N-vyl: An A.N-vyl is a technical workstation employed by the Brôkhyr engineers and artificers of the Leagues of Votann where they fabricate most of the superlative devices and other advanced technology of the Kin. Each A.N-vyl possesses all of the tools and materials an individual Brôkhyr needs to begin work on their next creation. |
A Deeper Darkness (Anthology Short Story) - A Deeper Darkness (Anthology Short Story): A Deeper Darkness is a short story published in The Horus Heresy series that was originally part of an anthology. A Deeper Darkness was first published as part of the Mark of Calth main series anthology in April 2013. The cover image used is that of Mark of Calth, as A Deeper Darkness has yet to be published separately. |
A Deeper Darkness (Anthology Short Story) - Synopsis: In his hunt for the Word Bearers Dark Apostle Ungol Shax, Ultramarine Hylas Pelion realises there are things in the Warp that even the Word Bearers should fear. |
A Ghost Return (Short Story) - A Ghost Return (Short Story): A Ghost Return is the third stand-alone short story in the Gaunt's Ghosts series of novels by Dan Abnett. A Ghost Return was first published at the Black Library's Live! event and later re-published as a stand-alone e-book. |
A Ghost Return (Short Story) - Synopsis: Long before the destruction of Tanith and the rise of its Ghosts, Commissar Ibram Gaunt serves with the Hyrkan regiments on the front lines of the newly-launched Sabbat Worlds Crusade. Descending beneath Sangrel Hive in search of an ancient shrine to Saint Sabbat herself, Gaunt and his men encounter something altogether more sinister. |
A Good Man (Anthology Short Story) - A Good Man (Anthology Short Story): A Good Man is a short story published in the Gaunt's Ghosts series that was originally part of an anthology. A Good Man was published as part of the Sabbat Worlds anthology in October 2010, and was later re-published as a stand-alone e-book. |
A Good Man (Anthology Short Story) - Synopsis: The Sabbat Worlds Crusade has moved on from Verghast, leaving a shattered world in its wake. An influx of Imperial servants come to rebuild the infrastructure, Zale Linder among them. But something is wrong -- the person who summoned him to Verghast doesn't seem to exist. As Linder investigates, he is drawn into a web of secrets and lies where nothing is as it seems and no-one can be trusted. |
A Lesson In Darkness (Audio Drama) - A Lesson In Darkness (Audio Drama): A Lesson In Darkness is the third audio drama for The Horus Heresy - Primarchs series. A Lesson In Darkness was released as an MP3 format as part of the Black Library's 2017 Advent Calendar, on day 22. |
A Lesson In Darkness (Audio Drama) - Official Synopsis: Piamen is a tranquil world in the far reaches of the galaxy. Since throwing off the yoke of xenos invaders, they have remained free and peaceful...until the coming of the Imperium. When they refuse to join Mankind's star-spanning empire, a force of Legiones Astartes is despatched to bring the planet to Compliance. And when the Night Lords come, darkness falls. Piamen will never be the same... |
A Safe and Shadowed Place (Short Story) - A Safe and Shadowed Place (Short Story): A Safe and Shadowed Place is a short story published in the Horus Heresy Series. A Safe and Shadowed Place was originally published simultaneously as a part of the anthology novella Death and Defiance and as a stand-alone E-Book. It is now also included in the War Without End anthology novel. |
A Safe and Shadowed Place (Short Story) - Synopsis: Scattered and leaderless after their disastrous defeat at the hands of the Dark Angels, the remnants of the Night Lords fleet head to a prearranged location: the world of Sotha, on the fringes of Ultramar. They expect to find some of Roboute Guilliman's XIII Legion opposing them, but they're not prepared for what awaits them when they stumble across one of the most important worlds in the Imperium Secundus. |
A Thousand Sons - A Thousand Sons: A Thousand Sons is the twelfth volume in the Horus Heresy series of novels. |
A Thousand Sons - Synopsis: Censured at the Council of Nikea for his flagrant use of sorcery, Magnus the Red and his Thousand Sons Legion retreat to their homeworld of Prospero to continue their use of the arcane arts in secret. But when the ill-fated Primarch foresees the treachery of Warmaster Horus and warns the Emperor with the very powers he was forbidden to use, the Master of Mankind dispatches fellow Primarch Leman Russ to attack Prospero itself. But Magnus has seen more than the betrayal of Horus and the witnessed revelations will change the fate of his fallen Legion, and its Primarch, forever. |
A Thousand Sons - Plot Summary: Following a reprimand by the Emperor of Mankind for dabbling in psychic sorcery, the Primarch Magnus the Red and his Thousand Sons Legion secretly continue to study sorcery despite being forbidden to do so. Magnus learns through the power of the Warp of his brother Horus' impending betrayal, and tries to use his psychic abilities to warn the Emperor on Terra, hoping the news would justify his disobedience of his father's edict against the use of sorcery. However, Magnus overreaches with his powers and causes damage to the vital and secret attempt by the Emperor to create a human extension of the Webway deep beneath the Imperial Palace, opening the path to a daemonic invasion of Terra itself in the process. The Emperor is enraged and orders Leman Russ and his Space Wolves Legion, accompanied by other Imperial forces, to bring Magnus and his Legion to Terra to account for themselves, initiating the chain of events that will lead Magnus and his Thousand Sons to become the servants of the Chaos God Tzeentch. |
Aaron Dembski-Bowden - Aaron Dembski-Bowden: Aaron Dembski-Bowden is an author for Games Workshop's Black Library imprint. |
Aaron Dembski-Bowden - Black Legion: Extinction (Short Story) (2012, collected in The Hammer & The Eagle: Icons of Warhammer (Anthology))Talon of Horus (2014, ISBN 1-84970-589-5)Black Legion (2017, ISBN 1-78496-561-8) |
Aaron Dembski-Bowden - The Horus Heresy: The First Heretic (2010, ISBN 1-84416-885-9)Aurelian (Novella) (2011, ISBN 1-84970-106-7)Prince of Crows (Novella) (2012, ISBN 1-84970-783-9)Betrayer (2013, ISBN 1-84970-497-X)The Master of Mankind (2016, ISBN 1-78496-297-X)Into Exile (Short Story) (2016)A Rose Watered with Blood (Short Story) (2018, Collected in A Rose Watered with Blood & Other Stories) |
Aaron Dembski-Bowden - Imperial Guard: Cadian Blood (2009, ISBN 1-84416-771-2) |
Aaron Dembski-Bowden - Night Lords: Night Lords: The Omnibus (2014, ISBN 1-84970-612-3) collects the following:Soul Hunter (2010, ISBN 1-84416-810-7)Blood Reaver (2011, ISBN 1-84970-038-9)Void Stalker (2012, ISBN 1-84970-148-2)Shadow Knight (Short Story) (2009, also collected in There is Only War (Anthology) and The Hammer & The Eagle: Icons of Warhammer (Anthology)) |
Aaron Dembski-Bowden - Space Marine Battles: Armegeddon (Anthology) (2013, ISBN 1-84970-987-4) collects the following:Helsreach (2010, ISBN 1-84416-863-8)Blood and Fire (Novella) (2013) |
Aaron Dembski-Bowden - Space Marine Legends: Ragnar Blackmane (2015, ISBN 1-78496-118-3) |
Aaron Dembski-Bowden - Others: The Emperor's Gift (2012, ISBN 1-84970-190-3)One Hate (Short Story) (2013, collected in There is Only War (Anthology))At Gaius Point (Short Story) (2013, collected in There is Only War (Anthology))Spear of the Emperor (2018, ISBN 1-78999-023-8) |
Abaddon - Abaddon: Abaddon, also known as "Abaddon the Despoiler," once named Ezekyle Abaddon, whose preferred title is "Warmaster of the Imperium Nihilus," and is sometimes called by others the "Warmaster of Chaos," is a Chaos Lord and the greatest Champion of Chaos Undivided in the galaxy.Abaddon is the master of the Black Legion of Chaos Space Marines and is rumoured to be the clone-progeny of the Warmaster Horus, the greatest Traitor in Imperial history, and at one time his most favoured son as the first captain of the Sons of Horus Legion.Abaddon is now infamous for leading Black Crusades, the terrible military campaigns during which the normally fractious forces of Chaos unite under his leadership and launch a massive attack against the Imperium from within the Eye of Terror.What few realised at the time was that these campaigns were part of an overall strategic plan called the "Crimson Path" intended to lead the forces of Chaos from the Eye of Terror all the way to Holy Terra itself, which reached its fruition in the final days of the 41st Millennium. Abaddon intends to succeed where his predecessor Horus failed, breaking the Imperial Palace wide open and tearing the Emperor's rotting corpse from the Golden Throne.Over the millennia, each of his conquests and Black Crusades has gradually paved the way from the Eye of Terror towards the Sol System, despite this grand design often being oblivious to the Imperium's defenders. Less obvious, however, is that along that path, his actions have gradually weakened the veil between realspace and the Warp, assisting the birth of the Great Rift after the successful conquest of the Fortress World of Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade in ca. 999.M41. The birth of the Great Rift divided the galaxy in half and marked the start of the Noctis Aeterna and the Era Indomitus.The name of Abaddon, the Warmaster of Chaos, has become a bitter curse within the Imperium. During the Great Crusade, Abaddon rose to become first captain of the 1st Company of what was then called the Luna Wolves Legion. When the Horus Heresy came to a head, it was clear that Abaddon's loyalty lay with his primarch rather than the Emperor. He led the Terminators of the re-named Sons of Horus across Isstvan III, Isstvan V, Yarant, and Terra itself. Abaddon's anguish at his master's death at the hands of the Emperor drove him deeper into madness and hatred than any mortal should ever sink.Before retreating, Abaddon took up the Warmaster Horus' body and fought his way out of the quickly deteriorating battle before the Imperial Palace. With their cadaverous prize, the Sons of Horus Legion fled before the Emperor's victorious armies.When Abaddon returned, it was at the head of a diabolic horde ravaging star systems around the Eye of Terror. His Heretic Astartes, now called the Black Legion, were at the forefront of the attack, destroying all in their path. During this 1st Black Crusade, Abaddon formed many bloody pacts with the Chaos Gods.Below the Tower of Silence, he recovered the Daemon Sword Drach'nyen, a weapon of prodigious power, making him nigh unstoppable. Since then, Abaddon has dreamed of forging an empire of Chaos upon the ruins of the Imperium. Twelve more Black Crusades have followed, each achieving some dark purpose that even the mightiest sages of the Imperium cannot discern.It is said that Abaddon alone has the power to unite the ever-fractious Traitor Legions and finish the treachery begun ten thousand standard years ago, ripping the Emperor from His place on the Golden Throne and at last claiming the galaxy for the Ruinous Powers.Abaddon was long reluctant to take up the title of "Warmaster," not wishing to be associated with the failures of Horus. Horus' failure to achieve victory in the Horus Heresy left a deep mark upon Abaddon. He came to despise his gene-sire, and resolved neither to venerate Horus' memory nor to emulate him in any way. So, for the longest time, did Abaddon refuse to use Horus' title of Warmaster as he believed it to be tainted by his gene-father's failure and weakness.However, with the success of the 13th Black Crusade and the Fall of Cadia, Abaddon at last considered the time right to resurrect the honorific and make it his own. Yet, in Abaddon's conception, no longer would the Warmaster be the great general and champion of the Dark Gods, ruling nothing he had not bargained for with inhuman entities. Instead, Abaddon declared his title to be "Warmaster of the Imperium Nihilus," master of the sundered half of Humanity's realm that was, he said, far more territory than Horus ever conquered and held.Abaddon has now accepted the once-scorned title, for with the opening of the Great Rift, he feels that final victory in the Long War against the Emperor is at hand.Quick Answers What is the significance of the title 'Warmaster of the Imperium Nihilus' that Abaddon holds? Abaddon, as the 'Warmaster of the Imperium Nihilus,' rules over the divided half of Humanity's domain, a larger territory than Horus ever held. This title also indicates his leadership of the forces of Chaos, bringing together diverse Chaos factions under the banner of Chaos Undivided, with the goal of overthrowing the Imperium of Man in the Long War. Provided by: Community Who is Abaddon the Despoiler in the context of the Chaos Space Marines? Once named Ezekyle Abaddon, "Abaddon the Despoiler" is the Warmaster of Chaos and the leading Champion of Chaos Undivided. He commands the Black Legion of Chaos Space Marines and is rumored to be the clone-progeny of the Warmaster Horus. Known for leading the Black Crusades, he became the master of the Black Legion following Horus' death in the Horus Heresy, making him one of the galaxy's most powerful Chaos Lords and the greatest mortal champion of the Chaos Gods he despises. Provided by: Community What is the relationship between Ezekyle Abaddon and the Horus Heresy? Ezekyle Abaddon, the First Captain of the Sons of Horus, played a significant role in the Horus Heresy. Abaddon was crucial in making the decision among the other advisers of the Mournival to deliver Horus into the hands of the Chaos Sorcerers of the Davinite Temple of the Serpent Lodge, a Chaos Cult, which resulted in Horus' ultimate corruption during a sojourn of his spirit in the Warp caused by a ritual conducted by the Word Bearers First Chaplain Erebus. Afterwards, Abaddon become Horus' strongest supporter in his rebellion against the Emperor and helped lead the forces of the Sons of Horus in every action the XVI Legion fought during the civil war, up to and including a prominent role in the Siege of Terra. When Horus was slain by the Emperor, it was Abaddon who led his shattered Legion into the Eye of Terror, before abandoning them in despair for a time. Provided by: Community Is there any truth to the rumor that Abaddon is a clone-progeny? Rumours circulate that Abaddon, the master of the Black Legion, might be the clone-progeny of the Warmaster Horus, mirroring his primarch in his combat prowess and tactical skills. Other theories suggest that Abaddon's Humanity was lost due to his primarch's death and defeat at the Siege of Terra, leaving him filled with rage and hatred towards both the Imperium and his own primarch. An alternative belief is that he is a creation of the Dark Gods, embodying their disdain for Mankind. The truth of Abaddon's origins, beyond his former role as the first captain of the Sons of Horus Legion and a member of his primarch's advisory Mournival during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy, is unknown. Provided by: Community How did Abaddon become the master of the Black Legion? Abaddon's mastery over the Black Legion was solidified during the 1st Black Crusade after his quest to slay the clone of Horus created by Fabius Bile, the former Chief Apothecary of the Emperor's Children Legion during the Legion Wars. His inhuman power, bestowed by the Chaos Gods, and his acts of suicidal bravery horrified his enemies. His leadership, amplified by the power of the Daemonsword Drach'nyen he had claimed within the Eye of Terror, reinstated the Black Legion's standing as first among the Traitor Legions. He claimed the title of master of the Black Legion, earning the respect of his now black-armoured Heretic Astartes. 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He commands the Black Legion of Chaos Space Marines and is rumored to be the clone-progeny of the Warmaster Horus. Known for leading the Black Crusades, he became the master of the Black Legion following Horus' death in the Horus Heresy, making him one of the galaxy's most powerful Chaos Lords and the greatest mortal champion of the Chaos Gods he despises."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the relationship between Ezekyle Abaddon and the Horus Heresy?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Ezekyle Abaddon, the First Captain of the Sons of Horus, played a significant role in the Horus Heresy. Abaddon was crucial in making the decision among the other advisers of the Mournival to deliver Horus into the hands of the Chaos Sorcerers of the Davinite Temple of the Serpent Lodge, a Chaos Cult, which resulted in Horus' ultimate corruption during a sojourn of his spirit in the Warp caused by a ritual conducted by the Word Bearers First Chaplain Erebus. Afterwards, Abaddon become Horus' strongest supporter in his rebellion against the Emperor and helped lead the forces of the Sons of Horus in every action the XVI Legion fought during the civil war, up to and including a prominent role in the Siege of Terra. When Horus was slain by the Emperor, it was Abaddon who led his shattered Legion into the Eye of Terror, before abandoning them in despair for a time."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Is there any truth to the rumor that Abaddon is a clone-progeny?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Rumours circulate that Abaddon, the master of the Black Legion, might be the clone-progeny of the Warmaster Horus, mirroring his primarch in his combat prowess and tactical skills. Other theories suggest that Abaddon's Humanity was lost due to his primarch's death and defeat at the Siege of Terra, leaving him filled with rage and hatred towards both the Imperium and his own primarch. An alternative belief is that he is a creation of the Dark Gods, embodying their disdain for Mankind. The truth of Abaddon's origins, beyond his former role as the first captain of the Sons of Horus Legion and a member of his primarch's advisory Mournival during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy, is unknown."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How did Abaddon become the master of the Black Legion?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Abaddon's mastery over the Black Legion was solidified during the 1st Black Crusade after his quest to slay the clone of Horus created by Fabius Bile, the former Chief Apothecary of the Emperor's Children Legion during the Legion Wars. His inhuman power, bestowed by the Chaos Gods, and his acts of suicidal bravery horrified his enemies. His leadership, amplified by the power of the Daemonsword Drach'nyen he had claimed within the Eye of Terror, reinstated the Black Legion's standing as first among the Traitor Legions. He claimed the title of master of the Black Legion, earning the respect of his now black-armoured Heretic Astartes."}}]} |
Abaddon - Deadly Beginnings: In the days of hope that preceded the Horus Heresy, Ezekyle Abaddon fought amongst that most noble of brotherhoods, the Legiones Astartes. Originally the firstborn son of the most mighty of Cthonia's gang warlords, Ezekyle killed his father in single combat after a disastrous Cthonian coming of age ritual.Though he lived in exile after that point, his massive build and natural ferocity saw him grow to be a legend amongst his people. Before long, the vicious young warrior came to the attention of the Luna Wolves Space Marine Legion, and he was recruited into their brotherhood. Within the space of a few short years Abaddon had distinguished himself on the training grounds and fought his way through the echelons of the Luna Wolves to be given the newly founded rank of First Captain.After the development of new and powerful war-technology by the Mechanicum, Abaddon was gifted a suit of custom-made Cataphractii Pattern Terminator Armour to accommodate his mighty stature. So powerful a warrior had Abaddon become that he was used as a military model for the entire brotherhood of the Luna Wolves' elite 1st Company, known as the Justaerin.With a long history of victories behind him, Abaddon was soon respected as a leader and fighter alike, for he waged war like the warrior kings of old. Better yet, he earned a place at the right hand of Horus Lupercal, most favoured of all the primarchs. He became a lord of the new superhuman elite who were to redefine the course of human history; at first to the betterment of the Imperium of Man, and later to its tragic downfall. |
Abaddon - Great Crusade: By the time of the Great Crusade, Ezekyle Abaddon had been recognised as the greatest warrior of the vaunted XVIth Legion after their Primarch Horus. He was blessed with being able to serve at the right hand of the Primarch himself, for to witness such a being in the flesh was to be in the presence of a demigod. Abbadon was the first and most respected of them all, a man who worshipped his Primarch as a god, just as Horus worshipped his father the Emperor of Mankind in turn.Horus Lupercal was raised up by the Emperor Himself as the greatest of all the Primarchs' number, an accolade never surpassed before or since. Yet amongst Horus' many virtues was his humility. He listened well to the counsel of his warriors, learned from his mistakes, and considered every action before committing to it.Amongst his advisers in the Luna Wolves, he trusted four officers above all. This council of warrior captains was known as the Mournival. At the time of the Horus Heresy's beginnings it was comprised of Abaddon himself, Tarik Torgaddon, Captain of the 2nd Company, Horus "Little Horus" Aximand, Captain of the 5th Company and Garviel Loken, Captain of the 10th Company.It was after the battle for the world designated Sixty-Three Nineteen by the XVI Legion, in which Tenth Captain Garviel Loken managed to reach and slay the impostor Emperor who ruled the world ahead of Abaddon, that the First Captain recommended Loken's elevation into the Mournival to replace the 4th Company's Captain Hastur Sejanus. Sejanus, a particular favorite of Horus, had been slain shortly before the battle.As the Great Crusade conquered its way across the stars, it reunited many of the scattered domains of Mankind that had been abandoned and isolated by the chaotic tides of the Warp. Always at the fore was Horus Lupercal, with Abaddon at his side. They were the first into battle, the first to exhort their brother Legions to acts of greatness, and the first to encounter the strange new threats that had grown in the dark corners of the galaxy.One of these threats was a danger so insidious that it slowly corrupted many of the Legiones Astartes, including the Primarch Horus himself. Abaddon was also a member of the Legion's Warrior Lodge, the "quiet order" within the Luna Wolves, inspired by similar lodges on the Feral World of Davin -- which the Luna Wolves had brought to Imperial Compliance many years earlier.Erebus, first amongst the Chaplains of the Word Bearers Legion and first amongst the worshippers of the Chaos Gods, had spread his secret warrior lodges to the brethren of the Luna Wolves as well as many of the other Space Marine Legions at the behest of his corrupted Primarch Lorgar in the decades before the Heresy began. In the daylight hours, those of the Legiones Astartes who had secretly come to worship Chaos used their twisted logics to sway more of their number to their cause.During one particular Imperial Compliance action, Abaddon notably stood against Horus' attempts to negotiate with a stray branch of humanity known as the Interex, preferring to adhere to the Emperor's stated policy, and simply demand surrender or force Imperial Compliance upon newly discovered human cultures. This attitude was reversed in desperation after Horus was critically injured by the Chaos-corrupted Imperial Planetary Governor Eugen Temba upon the XVI Legion's return to the world of Davin.Horus was mortally wounded after slaying the Nurgle-corrupted Temba upon the bridge of his downed starship on Davin's moon, which had been transformed by Nurgle's corruption into a reeking swamp infested with undead Plague Zombies, Temba's own former Imperial Army garrison. Temba had wielded a blade dedicated to Nurgle known as the Kinebrach Anathame that had infected the Primarch with a toxin so virulent that even a Primarch's superhuman immune system and all the advanced technologies of his Legion's Apothecaries could not defeat it.Blinded by grief, Abaddon and his fellow company captains took the Primarch's body on the advice of the Word Bearers' First Chaplain Erebus to a mystic healer who belonged to the Chaos Temple of the Serpent Lodge on Davin and who was actually a Chaos Sorcerer -- an act in utter contradiction of the Imperial Truth (which was stridently atheistic) and which opened Horus up to the influence of the Ruinous Powers of Chaos.Yet instead of salvation, the priests of that Davinite moon brought eternal damnation. When Horus emerged, a change had been wrought in him, and a shadow lurked behind his eyes that would never leave. The seed of bitterness that had been planted in Horus’ heart ultimately blossomed into a fullscale heresy that nearly tore the Imperium apart. |
Abaddon - Horus Heresy: Following Horus' corruption by Chaos and his resurrection through its profane power, Abaddon backed his Primarch to the hilt and firmly aligned himself with Horus against the Emperor, ultimately giving his soul over completely to the service of Chaos Undivided. Horus, under the guise of putting down the religious rebellion against Imperial Compliance on the world of Istvaan III, amassed his troops in the Istvaan System.The corrupted Warmaster had a plan by which he would destroy all the remaining Loyalist elements of the Legions under his command, a plan that would ultimately unfold into the nightmare of what Imperial scholars would later name the Istvaan III Atrocity. During the resulting campaign of attrition, Abaddon was responsible for the wounding and abandonment of the Loyalist Captain Garviel Loken within the ruins of the Istvaanian capital known as the Choral City, although Loken survived the combat and witnessed the beginning of the orbital bombardment of the planet and the remaining Loyalist Astartes on it by the Traitor Legions' fleet on Horus' orders.Throughout the seven brutal standard years of the terrible Imperial civil war that was the Horus Heresy, First Captain Abaddon led the elite squad of the renamed Sons of Horus Space Marines from the 1st Company known as the Justaerin, who wore singular black-coloured Cataphractii Pattern Terminator Armour. Abaddon led this elite unit during many of the most infamous actions by the forces of Chaos during the Horus Heresy, including the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V, the battle against the Loyalists on Yarant as well as in the climactic Battle of Terra.Yet the Warmaster fell at the last. As he duelled his once-beloved gene-father, the Emperor, upon the bridge of the Vengeful Spirit, Horus' flagship, the Warmaster was vanquished by a psychic blast. Abaddon and his most heavily-armed warriors fought their way through squad after squad of yellow-armoured Imperial Fists Terminators to the command centre of the starship, but they were too late.Running across iron decks that were slick with the blood of demigods, Abaddon took up the lifeless body of his father with great tenderness. Wracked with emotion, Abaddon detached the taloned claw that Horus had used to kill the PrimarchSanguinius from his Primarch's armour and resolved to use it to one day throttle the Emperor Himself.With his gene-father dead, Abaddon abandoned the conquest of Terra and instead retreated with the Sons of Horus Legion and all of their remaining assets, Legion slaves and starships, blazing a trail across the stars to the forbidden realm of the Eye of Terror. The Traitor Legions retreated in his wake, cursing the hour that had stolen their destiny. With this act, Abaddon passed from mortal space and into legend. |
Abaddon - Rise of the Black Legion: Following the dire events of the Horus Heresy during the final epic Battle of Terra and the death of the Warmaster Horus aboard his flagship, the Vengeful Spirit, First Captain Abaddon and the surviving Sons of Horus broke orbit over Terra and fought their way free of the battle and escaped into the void. A time of reprisal and retribution known as the Great Scouring followed, and countless worlds were put to death by the Loyalists for siding with Horus, their corpses left as a warning to others. Those Traitor Legions that remained in the Imperium were hunted mercilessly and hounded across the stars by pitiless Loyalists. Abaddon and the remaining Sons of Horus took refuge in the Eye of Terror, choosing to plunge into that maelstrom of madness rather than face extinction at the hands of the Emperor's vengeful warriors.The Sons of Horus managed to reach the Eye of Terror with the bloodied survivors of the Scouring, but the once mighty XVI Legion was reduced to a fraction of its former size. Led by only a few remaining captains, the Legion struggled with its loyalty to their fallen Primarch and the cold reality of their defeat at the hands of the Emperor and His lackeys. Bereft of their glorious Primarch, the Legion floundered, and in desperation turned to each of the Chaos Gods in turn in their search for renewed power, inviting daemonic possession and the ever more costly blessings of the Warp. All the while, the Legion suffered the jealous attacks of their former allies. As the Traitor Legions turned upon one another, the Dark Gods subverted and manipulated their new playthings, reshaping the Legions for their own ends and the never-ending war between the gods.Ezekyle Abaddon abandoned the Legion; broken by the death of Horus and sick of war, he wandered alone into the Eye of Terror. Taking his Legion's massive flagship, the Vengeful Spirit, Abaddon left his brothers behind and plummeted into the furthest reaches of the Eye. The former First Captain knew theLegion Wars would never end. These were not his battles. Shedding blood for slaves and territory -- Abaddon wasn't a barbarian, to fight over trivial nothingness. He was a soldier, a warrior. If the Nine Legions wished to raid one another's hunting grounds for table scraps and steal each others' toys, then he would let them. Of his own Legion, he felt no need to save them from their petty fate. They chose to fight and die in a worthless war. Abaddon's Dark Pilgrimage took him across the thousands of worlds of the Eye. He walked the surface of every world in their purgatorial prison. He felt that he had to -- to learn the realm's boundaries, to see its secrets. Abaddon would not mourn a Legion he had left behind. His time as a pilgrim layered wisdom and perspective atop the brutality of his former command.Meanwhile, the Sons of Horus carried the body of their Primarch, preserved in stasis, further into the Eye, ignoring the wars that raged around them. On the Daemon World of Maeleum, a graveyard world of steel and rust, the Sons of Horus raised a fortress, fashioning a mighty citadel from the wrecks of decaying vessels lost to the Warp with the aid of the thousands of slaves they had taken from the worlds of the Imperium. The Legion interred Horus' body within a great tomb, where many fell into worship of their fallen demigod. Lupercalios, the Monument, was a mausoleum to the XVIth Legion as much as a stronghold. It was where the body of their Primarch had been interred after the Terran Breaking. Few of the other Legion were permitted anywhere near the Sons' last bastion. It also served as a fortress from which they would launch further attacks upon both the Imperium and their fellow Traitor Legions. All the while, the XVIth Legion suffered the jealous attacks of their former allies amongst the forces of Chaos as the brief unity between the Dark Gods and their servants during the Heresy once more broke down into the normal state of internecine rivalry, unleashing the Slave Wars.With their Primarch dead and their Legion on the verge of extinction, the Sons of Horus stagnated. Some captains suspected that it would be but a matter of time before they and their Battle-Brothers were drawn into the wars between the Traitor Legions, and so they pushed for the Sons of Horus to replace its losses by increasing the Legion's gene-seed stocks. These same captains knew that any fortress, no matter how grand, could not hope to hold back a determined Space Marine assault, and called for more warriors to be found. Unfortunately, the majority of surviving captains were convinced that the Warp would provide all the power they needed, if only they could master the methods of merging daemon and Space Marine.The wars between the other Legions who had sided with Horus during the Horus Heresy raged across the Eye of Terror even as the Sons of Horus ignored the events happening around them, and continued to raise their fortress ever higher, worshipping the corpse of their Primarch. The Sons of Horus had remained largely apart from these conflicts; however, jealous eyes now turned their way. Traitorous forces gathered against them and conspired to rob them of the remains of Horus to further vile and selfish ambitions. The Primarch Horus' body, with its potent genetic information and biological secrets, was a great prize indeed. In a sudden assault, the remnants of the debased Emperor's Children, having grown vastly in power after firmly cementing their terrible pacts with Slaanesh, easily smashed their way through the defences of Maeleum and into the central chambers of the Sons of Horus' stronghold. They stole the body of the slain Primarch from the heart of its tomb and spirited it away, some say with the purpose of handing it over to the dark Apothecary Fabius Bile who intended to clone it in order to create a new and still greater Warmaster of Chaos to restore the Traitor Legions' unity and fortunes. |
Abaddon - Summoning Allies: Following the sundering of the XVIth Legion and the destruction of Lupercalios, Falkus Kibre, Chieftain of the Duraga kal Esmejhak warband, master of the warship Baleful Eye, and former commander of the Justaerin, summoned his erstwhile allies to a secret meeting. He had summoned the former Thousand Sons Chaos Sorcerer Iskandar Khayon, leader of the Kha'Sherhan warband, as well as the former World Eaters warrior Lheorvine Ukris, leader of the Fifteen Fangs warband. They had been called to meet aboard the grand wreckage of the long-dead Sons of Horus Battle Cruiser His Chosen Son. Falkus informed his allies that Lupercalios was no more. The Monument was gone -- it no longer existed beyond ashen ruin. As for the shattered Legion, he did not know how many had survived the Emperor's Children's brutal assault. For all he knew, his warband were the last survivors. Having lost everything, Falkus turned to those he could trust. Those who had been his allies in the past. He also brought them the dire news that the Warmaster Horus' body had been stolen. The IIIrd Legion had taken the body to harvest it, to reap its genetic bounty. They wanted to clone the Primarch's body. The assembled Astartes did not want to contemplate the dire consequences of such blasphemy. By resurrecting the First Primarch, the IIIrd Legion hoped to be able to end the Legion Wars.There was little recourse left to Falkus -- his Legion had all but been driven into extinction, the fortress of Lupercalios was gone, and he had no hope of retaliating against the Emperor's Children's capital world of Harmony with his meagre forces. There was little else he could do, but the shrewd warleader had one last desperate hand to play -- he would seek out the Vengeful Spirit. With it, he would destroy the Canticle City and the abominations the III Legion were attempting to resurrect. Those of the Nine Legions knew the vessel well -- an immense battleship, majestic beyond majesty, with its spinal fortresses and armoured prow delineating the bulky murderousness of a Scylla Pattern variant of the ancient Gloriana-class Battleship hull. It was the only Gloriana vessel in all the Emperor's fleet born from the Scylla Pattern variant construction scheme. But the task Falkus had set forth for them was all but impossible. Hundreds of warbands throughout the centuries had sought the mighty ship for centuries -- none had returned. But those hundreds of warband had no idea where to look. Falkus did.To prove his point, he brought forth a prisoner. His name was Sargon, once of the XVIIth Legion, the Word Bearers, and the Brazenhead Chapter. He was a former warrior-priest of the Word Bearers, for Sargon had cast aside Lorgar's teachings. He claimed to bring enlightenment and illumination, but it was no longer the Word of Lorgar. Sargon could not speak to the gathered warleaders with his own voice, as he had suffered a vicious plasma burn that had taken both his larynx and voice box during the Battle of Terra. Utilising his innate psychic abilities, he spoke through a reanimated corpse, one of many fallen Sons of Horus Legionaries that lay in piles, scattered around the once-mighty battleship. Sargon claimed that he had not only seen the Vengeful Spirit, he had also trod the decks of the mighty flagship himself. He knew its location -- the Radiant Worlds -- located in the Eleusinian Veil on the far age of the Eye, near Imperial space, beyond the massive Warp phenomena known as the Firetide. Sargon had surrendered himself to Falkus following the destruction of Lupercalios. He had done so, claiming that fate demanded it. He knew where the Vengeful Spirit was hidden, and brought forth the lore to those who needed it most. Though the Chaos Sorcerer Khayon sensed that the priest was telling the truth, he was unable to probe the priest's mind any further for answers. Whoever had sent him had placed powerful psychic wards that locked the Word Bearer's mind from unwanted intrusion. After some thought, he agreed to assist Falkus. The World Eater warleader never had the chance to agree or disagree. Their enemies did not allow it.A small fleet of Emperor's Children vessels appeared from the surrounding Warp Storm -- seven vessels that bore Imperial purple armour plating bleach-burned into ghostly lilac. Falkus and his allies had five ships against the IIIrd Legion's seven. Even one-on-one the mighty Emperor's Children ships would destroy the rag-tag warbands' vessels. Whoever wanted them dead had arranged their murders to perfection. The lead vessel that sailed at the front of the murder-fleet was a Battleship, it blunt prow shaped into the golden, ripped-wing avatar of a crucified Imperial Aquila. This ship alone was capable of tearing all five of the opposing vessels to pieces. The commander of the vessel hailed the sorcerer Khayon. He identified himself as Kadalus Orlantir, born of Chemos, Sardar of the Emperor's Children warband comprising its former 16th, 40th and 51st Companies, and commander of the warship Perfection's Lament. He informed the sorcerer that he had no quarrel with either Khayon or the World Eater but demanded that they hand over Sargon. Both warleaders audaciously refused the Sardar's "generous" offer. Enraged, the IIIrd Legion commander launched boarding assaults against both Khayon's vessel, the Tlaloc, and the wrecked warship where the three leaders were undertaking their secret meeting. In the fight that followed, Falkus and Lheor attempted to flee to their separate vessels, but Lheor's ship was destroyed. Utilising his psychic arts, Khayon was able to cut a hole in the fabric of reality that led to the bridge of his vessel, allowing them to escape. But not before taking the Emperor's Children's severely wounded commander and seven of his Legionaries as prisoners. |
Abaddon - The Radiant Worlds: Reaching the Eleusinian Veil meant passing through the Radiant Worlds. Only a fool would take their ship directly into them and face the destructive waves of Warp energy known as the Firetide. Though Khayon's vessel could not sail through the region of psychic flame, they could cut past it, by utilising the secret paths behind reality and unreality alike, the Webway. Though most of the Webway's pathways inside the Great Eye's border were worthless and shattered from Slaanesh's devastating birth-scream, for those who knew where to look, there were a rare few that were considered viable avenues through the Traitor Legions' purgatorial domain. Khayon knew of one such secret path into the Webway -- the so-called Avernus Breach. He had learned of it a century before -- and the price of that knowledge was six standard years of service to a Night Lords Legion warband -- six years of binding daemons and destroying the warband's enemies. After approximately a solar month's time of travel through the stygian depths of the null dimension of the Webway, the Tlaloch reached its destination -- the Radiant Worlds. Located on the edge of Imperial space, where the Warpspace of the Great Eye and realspace collided, most of the worlds within this region were uninhabitable, lost in the lethal crash of conflicting psychic energies. The Radiant Worlds were forever bathed in the psychic light of the Astronomican, the psychic beacon that guided the Imperium's vessels through the Immaterium, without burning in it.Amidst a massive asteroid field located on the edge of the Eleusinian Veil, the Tlaloch came to the former Eldar world of Aas'ciaral, which meant "Heart's Song" in the Eldar Lexicon. Its most drastic wound was the source of the asteroid field, for an entire half of the planet was simply gone. Such horrendous damage to an astral body should have destroyed the world completely, yet Aas'ciaral still lived, deformed as it drifted through the vast ash cloud. The face of the planet was cataracted by turgid storms covering the entire world in milky clouds. Lightning wracked the occluded skies in random dances. After several solar days of searching the surface for any signs of life, the crew of the Tlaloch discovered a gigantic downed voidship, half-buried in the snow at the bottom of a deep ravine. Khayon, his bound she-wolf daemon Gyre, Lheor and the swordsman Kadalus took to the surface. Searching the ravine, they came upon the massive warship. Abaddon had taken this vessel, the Vengeful Spirit itself, past the Firetide of the Radiant Worlds, into the unscannable depths of the Eleusinian Veil, and powered the ship down beneath the surface of this broken world. The audaciousness of the plan was truly overwhelming for the Traitor Marines who had come seeking the former First Captain.The Legionaries finally made their way inside the massive vessel and began their search in earnest. After many hours, they finally were approached by a massive Legionary who wore weathered and colour-faded armour scavenged and cannibilised from warriors of all Nine Traitor Legions, with a long fall of ratty, snarled black hair stringing across his features, half hiding his face. He possessed unnatural, inhuman gold-coloured eyes. After brief introductions, the Legionary raked his fingers through the mane of filthy hair, revealing a pitted, pale face that defied any attempt to discern age. War was written across his features in a lattice of old cuts and the pockmarks of heat-scarring. Battle marked him even if age had not. Though he no longer wore the great black war-plate of the Justaerin, nor was his hair bound up in the ceremonial topknot of the Cthonian subterranean work-gangs, he was still easily recognisable. The Sons of Horus Legionary was now a hollow shadow of the invincible warrior who once graced victory hololiths and Imperial propaganda transmissions, but he was easily recognisable by the other assembled Legionaries. He had worn the same expression on Terra, as the Imperial Palace had burned around them. They had found Ezekyle Abaddon. |
Subsets and Splits