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Bheta-Decima - Rescue of Torc Dystari: Meanwhile the ambitious Magos Bartolomus Virellan had captured a Craftworld Aeldari Farseer named Torc Dystari from the ruins of the Gallowdark to serve as the subject of his own dark experiments and research. The capture of such an important prisoner led to a search party being dispatched from the Farseer's home craftworld of Biel-Tan to the Forge World to rescue him from the Mon-keigh.After Dystari's location was confirmed to be Bheta-Decima, Biel-Tan Farseer Di'sar Caman organised the retribution and rescue operation. They deployed a cadre of Striking Scorpions Aspect Warriors from Biel-Tan's Onyx Claw Shrine via a stealth corvette used by an Aeldari Corsair warband. The team of Biel-Tan Striking Scorpions soon came into conflict with a Raven Guard Chapter kill-team under the command of Shadow Sergeant Kyrin Torvaec, which had been deployed to Bheta-Decima in search of pre-Imperial technology once utilised by the Raven Guard primarch Corvus Corax.
Bheta-Decima - Cult of the Chittering Verse: In the wake of the fall of the Gallowdark, the Genestealer Cult present on Bheta-Decima known as the Cult of the Chittering Verse has since managed to finally draw the notice of the xenos they call the "Star-Children," who they believe will soon arrive to save them from the present conflict and usher in their long-promised spiritual salvation.As such, a small splinter of Hive Fleet Leviathan is currently en route to Bheta-Decima, but its bio-ships were detected in transit and engaged by the Farsail of Thryk Kindred of the Leagues of Votann's Trans-Hyperian Alliance league. These Kin seek to trap and then harvest the resources of the splinter fleet, as the Leagues of Votann have discovered that they can render bio-ship organic matter into rare and exotic compounds that can be used in all sorts of highly profitable applications, from new medicae treatments to voidship engineering projects.Scout vessels were deployed ahead of the Tyranid splinter fleet to identify its prey worlds, but the Quicksilver-class Scout Ship Vektrônn's Eye was shot down over Bheta-Decima by the Genestealer Cultists. The ship crashed into the central hold of their Genestealer Patriarch in the Seethe, the Deeprealm. In a desperate panic, the troops of the Chittering Verse, including the Traitoris Militarum Cadian Neo-917th Regiment comprised of Brood Brothers and Genestealer hybrids, descended upon the wreckage of the Leagues of Votann ship and battled with its Kin to eradicate the intrusion.One of the 917th Neo-Cadian's elite kill-teams called the "Wardens of the Verse" was responsible for assaulting elements of these Kin forces. The acting commander was Jerran Krauss, who led the Wardens of the Verse alongside the Chittering Verse's cult magus.During the combat over the Deeprealm, Extrication Craft Thargr 7 carrying a unit of the Kin's Hernkyn Yaegirs called Need's Gaârd from the Vektrônn's Eye was shot down by enemy fire. The Kin's team leader Vynn Dreygr and his squad survived the crash but were forced to regroup as they sought to secure a Legacy Vault present in the Deeprealm, a critical artefact present on Bheta-Decima that they sought to secure and return to the Votann. A Legacy Vault is an advanced Leagues of Votann cogitator technology that allows the neural makeup of individual Kin who have been slain far from their holds to be secured and stored in order to one day be rejoined with their distant Ancestor Core. To recover these neural patterns is a primary task of the Kin's Hernkyn.The Kin kill-team fortified their position at the crash site while fending off repeated ambushes from infected Brood Brothers of the Cadian Neo-917th. The guidance of the cult's magus was pivotal in this first contact, as her psychic focus allowed Jerran Krauss to discover the Kin's movements after they unleashed a counteroffensive on the Brood Brothers as a distraction.As the Brood Brothers of the Wardens of the Verse launched coordinated attacks under the guidance of Krauss and the magus, the Kin retaliated fiercely but were ultimately forced to seek out a generatorium that could be used to power-up the damaged Legacy Vault so that the transfer of its precious data could begin. The Kin discovered their communications had been compromised by the cultists, leading to an ambush by the Brood Brothers at a generator site.The situation became dire when a Genestealer revealed itself, accompanied by more Brood Brothers and a powerful female Clamavus. Despite heavy losses, including the near-death of Vynn Dreygr, the Kin managed to fend off their attackers temporarily.In the end, the remaining members of Need's Gaârd held out at the generatorium site while Dreygyr made a solo journey back to the Vektronn's Eye for reinforcements, leaving his team to defend the Legacy Vault. The team was resigned to fight to the death, knowing that through the Legacy Vault, their knowledge and sacrifice would return to the Votann, ensuring that their legacy would endure even if their lives did not.
Biel-Tan - Biel-Tan: Biel-Tan is the most martial and aggressive of the Aeldari craftworlds. The people of Biel-Tan constantly strive to return the ancient Aeldari Empire to its former glory. Consumed with bitterness, they wage an endless campaign of xenocide against those foolish enough to cross their path.The world-rune used by Biel-Tan stands for the principle of reincarnation of Aeldari souls from the Warp in new bodies, a fate that once defined every Aeldari in the days before the Fall. The name of this world-rune loosely translates as "Rebirth of Ancient Days."Craftworld Biel-Tan was almost destroyed during the Battle of Biel-Tan in 999.M41 in the midst of the 13th Black Crusade, when it was assaulted by a daemonic alliance forged between the forces of Slaanesh and Khorne. Its Infinity Circuit was polluted by the Herald of Slaanesh known as the Masque of Slaanesh.The craftworld was saved by the intervention of the Ynnari, the cult of the god of the dead Ynnead and its high priestess Yvraine. Yvraine purged the Infinity Circuit of daemonic influence by pulling forth one of the legendary Croneswords that had been hidden within it.At the same time, the influence of Ynnead upon the psychic turbulence within the Infinity Circuit allowed the god of the dead to manifest his Avatar in realspace, the being called the Yncarne.The price for this salvation was high, however. The damage to the wraithbone core of the world-ship proved catastrophic and the great vessel subsequently broke apart into its constituent parts. Craftworld Biel-Tan is currently more of a great Aeldari armada than a single vessel.For the Biel-Tan, there is no question that winter has fallen on the Aeldari people, but they remain convinced even now that spring will soon return.Craftworld Biel-Tan is currently located on the southern rim of the Milky Way Galaxy in Segmentum Tempestus.
Biel-Tan - History: Biel-Tan's story begins with the Fall of the Aeldari -- the dying days of the Aeldari Empire, when the monstrous birth of Slaanesh shattered their civilisation, and the survivors fled in disarray across the stars. Having barely survived the catastrophe, the Aeldari of Biel-Tan refused to despair. Soon after, they joined Craftworld Iyanden's cause.For thousands of Terran years, Iyanden and Biel-Tan fought as inseparable allies, their distant craftworlds united by the common goal of defeating Chaos. Though the Aeldari forces were few, when considered on a galactic scale, their mastery of the Webway allowed their fleets and warhosts to span the stars with a speed and surety no other race could ever have hoped to match.As Biel-Tan purged the western arm of the galaxy, so did Iyanden drive the forces of Chaos from the eastern rim, tirelessly defending the Exodites and Maiden Worlds they hoped would one day form the heart of a new Aeldari civilisation.Then came the Tyranids. Iyanden had encountered such creatures before, but those had only been tendrils of the Hive Mind's awareness, groping blindly through space; now Iyanden stood exposed before the onset of an entire hive fleet.In their pride, the Asuryani of Iyanden underestimated the threat. They believed that their might could weather even this storm, that their armies and fleets could vanquish the Great Devourer. Alas, they were terribly wrong.In an eye blink, as the Aeldari reckon existence, the Iyanden craftworld was reduced to ruin. Abandoned by Biel-Tan, whose own dream of an empire reborn suffers not stragglers, Iyanden's living looked to their dead for salvation; the Infinity Circuit had become the craftworld's only hope.
Biel-Tan - Honour of the Aeldari: Each craftworld carries the seeds of Aeldari culture. Not all are identical by any means, as each reflects the cultural heritage of its long dead Aeldari world of origin. Biel-Tan is renowned for the strong warrior ideals of its people.For the Aeldari of Biel-Tan, the Way of the Warrior, the life-stage that encompasses the Aspect Warriors of the Asuryani, is considered the first step upon the Asuryani Path. Upon reaching physical maturity, a Biel-Tan Aeldari becomes an Aspect Warrior, and only once he has fulfilled this role can he continue along the Path.As a result of this cultural predilection, the Biel-Tan craftworld is famous for the militant and aggressive warrior ways of its Aeldari population, and for the large number of Aspect Warriors it maintains, who often incorporate the traditional green and white colours of the craftworld into their armour as well as the colours of their Aspect. The Aeldari of Biel-Tan have a strong martial honour code and believe that the best way to die is in battle fighting the enemies of Biel-Tan.The Asuryani of Biel-tan are honourable warriors who have taken it upon themselves to rebuild the lost glory of the ancient Eldar Empire through the destruction of the lesser races like Mankind and the Orks who have "usurped" the galaxy, and they believe it is glorious to die fighting the enemies of the craftworld and the Aeldari people.At the centre of Biel-tan is the Chamber of Heroes where the Spirit Stones of dead Aspect Warriors are placed. Farseers often come to this chamber to consult the dead of the craftworld on their proposed courses of action. The dead of particular battles that the warriors of Biel-Tan participated in are arranged together and are often referred to by the name of the battle in which they fell -- for example, the Dead of Corrus fell fighting the forces of Chaos on the ancient Aeldari colony world of the same name.As the Asuryani of Biel-Tan see it, when the time comes for the Aeldari to reclaim what is rightfully theirs, the paradise Maiden Worlds and the planets of the Exodites will be the first staging points for their conquest. Due to this, the Biel-Tan Aeldari see any colonisation by other races of these worlds as a threat to the future growth of the reborn Aeldari Empire. The incautious Explorators of the Imperium have often made planetfall on an Exodite world, only for their successors to find nothing but corpses that have been hacked to pieces and subsequently picked clean by indigenous scavengers.
Biel-Tan - First Contact: Details of the first contact between the Imperium of Man and the Biel-Tan craftworld are fragmentary at best. Whilst it is likely that the forces of the God-Emperor encountered Biel-Tani forces during the Great Crusade in the 30th Millennium, the first formally detailed encounter was in the late 32nd Millennium.An Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator fleet was in the process of settling the uninhabited world of Gavris Minor when they came under attack. The archaeo-xenos teams had barely begun to unearth alien architecture when the Aeldari assaulted with inhuman ruthlessness.The startled adepts sent a desperate cry for help before all communication was lost. In accordance with their settlement schedule, the Explorator teams had built several preliminary fortifications. However, under the ferocity of the assault, such meagre preparations proved useless and they were forced to retreat back to their landing craft in the hope of withdrawal.Deadly xenos weapons and highly specialised warriors slaughtered the fleeing adepts and their Skitarii protectors alike in carefully planned and meticulous orchestrated attacks.The landing craft that escaped the planet found the fleet burning in orbit, slaughtered by the swift Aeldari attack craft. Their ship crippled and without Warp capability, the Explorators that survived were abandoned to their fate, the Aeldari leaving as swiftly as they had arrived.The only communication given by the Aeldari throughout the incident was an ominous broadcast delivered to the floundering landers: "The soil of this planet is not for your feet to tread. Only death awaits you here." When elements of the Imperial Navy arrived to investigate, only one of the Explorator craft remained, drifting lifelessly amongst the molten wreckage of the settlement fleet, its crew long since starved of both food and oxygen.Reviewing the vid-logs and vox-recordings Admiral Kieslick ordered all Imperial vessels out of the area before marking the planet with warning buoys, declaring the planet unsuitable for settlement.Accurate records of the episode at Gavris Minor have long since been sealed by the Ordo Xenos, though it is interesting to note that, despite four subsequent settlement attempts by Explorator teams, Gavris Minor remains a contested world, and bears the same sanction as given by Admiral Kieslick 8,000 Terran years ago.
Biel-Tan - WAAAGH! Arbuttz: Amongst the Orks, it is inevitable that from time to time a great and fearsome leader will arise to sweep aside all rivals and unite countless warring tribes under his brutal leadership. Arbuttz the Incredible was one such Ork who, in 914.M40, emerged from the wild and primitive worlds of the galaxy's south-western rim. Here, Ork battled Ork, just as they had done for centuries on a dozen worlds infested by Greenskins since an age no one could remember. Arbuttz at first swept over his own world and others in the same system, sweeping aside rival warlords and taking their followers for his own. The Orks revelled in the uproar caused by this ambitious warlord and his ceaseless invasion of other tribal territories. For months tribe gleefully battled tribe, eagerly hurling themselves into the tumult of battle with the kind of abandon only Greenskins are capable of. With each new battle formed, Arbuttz proved his dominance anew, effortlessly defeating all comers.Now the tide changed. Where once each new warlord had battled and resisted Arbuttz, now they each in turn fell in behind him, joining his warband and bringing with them their own greenskin tribe, keen and hungry for war. Ork battled Ork no more. Tribe after tribe flocked to the ascendant Arbuttz, until at last they formed a great unruly mass, barrelling along to the sound of a single monotonous chant, "WAAAGH!"Now Arbuttz was unleashed upon the galaxy at large. In such an ancient and distant corner of the galaxy, Arbuttz was first forced to cross thousands of light years of wilderness, rampaging across one uninhabited planet after another, his boyz chasing and hunting any large predators or 'uge beasties they could find, desperate to get to the proper scrappin'. They would not have to wait long.In the Zypher sub-sector, Arbuttz and his WAAAGH! swept across several ancient worlds of the Aeldari. Here survivors of the long-ago fallen race lived in their so called Exodite communities, the last sorrowful remnants of the once great Aeldari Empire. As the greenskins poured across the system, the Aeldari rode to war, mounted atop great beastly lizards, armed with weapons far beyond the technology available to the Orks and moving with a graceful ease that the lumbering greenskins simply could not hope to match. But for all this, WAAAGH! Arbuttz was vast, and in its size unassailable, and the ancient Aeldari were swept away in the few short months it took the Orks to cross the system. Arbuttz and his boys marched on, and here, on the most distant boundary of the Imperium, the Orks crashed into a dozen worlds of man as violently as the largest and most unstoppable of waves might smash asunder the shore. Arbuttz’s boys cut a bloody swathe through the Imperial defenders until finally running out of steam on the Imperial Death World of Gorang, where they were brought low fighting the indigenous life-forms as much as they were by the Imperial defenders. By the end of the fighting the entire Zypher sub-sector had be overrun and conquered by the Orks.
Biel-Tan - Eagles & Ravens: For almost 300 years this new Ork empire was left unmolested, until a campaign of re-conquest was finally begun in 204.M41 The re-conquest was led by troops of the Marauders, Eagle Warriors, Raven Guard and Revilers Space Marine Chapters, supported by over two-dozen Imperial Guard regiments. In a long, hard fought campaign these troops battled to reclaim the planets lost to Warlord Arbuttz, until finally in 224.M41, the Zypher sub-sector was declared free of the taint of alien infection. But the Imperium pushed on. Not content merely with reclaiming those worlds lost to Arbuttz three centuries prior, the Imperial war machine raged across the dozens of other worlds which the Ork WAAAGH! had claimed, conquering worlds never before touched by the boot of man. An Imperial Guard regiment was assigned to each of these planets and ordered to cleanse the planet of Ork infestation. Troops from the 127th Death Korps of Krieg regiment, commanded byGeneral Himmel von Paulus, were assigned to cleanse a backwater planet named simply Baran. In return the Death Korps veterans were granted rights of settlement on the planet. Baran was a wild and uncultivated planet, covered by dense forests, rolling steppes, and craggy mountain ranges. Little could these valiant frontiersmen have realised that the soil upon which they now stood was that same ancient soil onto which the brave Aeldari Exodites had bled as WAAAGH! Arbuttz stole their world from them.The now Feral Ork tribes that inhabited Baran were quickly driven from the open steppe-lands by the initial Death Korp assault. The surviving Orks scattered and hid in the forests and mountainous areas of the planet, where they proved extremely difficult to eradicate. Lacking the huge numbers of troops needed to destroy the Orks by weight of numbers, von Paulus decided to contain the Ork threat instead, building a series of interconnected fortified positions to hem the Orks into their wilderness retreats. These fortified positions quickly grew into the first major Imperial settlements and cities on the planet. With the Orks still a major threat, the colonists were under a state of constant siege on a dangerous frontier planet. New cities were built as a curious amalgam of military and civilian structures, where the Imperial Guard's trenches, bunkers and other defences were slowly pushed out to incredible distances so that whole cities could be built amidst them, civilian buildings replacing the old fortifications as these cities snaked outwards.
Biel-Tan - Old Enemies, New Beginnings: Over the course of the ensuing generations, these colonies grew, and although never populous, and under constant threat of Ork assault, Baran thrived. Once the colonies were large enough new Imperial Guard regiments were raised to replace the Death Korps veterans who had long since aged and died. These new recruits were to become the first and foremost of Baran's defenders -- the Baran Siegemasters. Alongside them, the Raven Guard remained, though in precious few numbers, and concerned themselves mostly with hunting down those cunning Ork warlords believed to be in possession of Imperial technology stolen during the initial WAAAGH! On one of Baran's moons, the black rock known as Coron, the Raven Guard established a fortress-monastery from where little more than a hundred of their brethren could continue the struggle against remaining Ork elements. The men of Baran and the aloof Raven Guard shared little contact, though the Raven Guard watched their human charges closely, for they realised that such a harsh world as Baran would breed hardy stock -- stock from which the Raven Guard might one day draw initiates fit for their own superhuman ranks.For decades the Siegemasters and the Raven Guard stood guard over Baran and the handful of valuable nearby worlds required for the mining of metal ores, minerals and other precious resources. The Orks remained a threat, and from time to time claimed great successes of their own, though the resolute Siegemasters and the grimly determined Raven Guard time and again proved themselves equal to any threat. Equal, that is, to any threat the increasingly feral Orks could throw at them.
Biel-Tan - The Talons of Biel-Tan: The craftworld of Biel-Tan does not journey aimlessly as it glides through space. It does not wander as a lonely and frightened exile might, fleeing constantly from danger, finding itself ever battered, bullied and cast out. This is not the way of Biel-Tan.Biel-Tan is guardian and conqueror to its people, ceaselessly patrolling all those worlds that lie within the bounds of its ancient route, the same route it has ploughed ever since the Fall of the Aeldari ten thousand Terran years ago. This is the Kingdom of Biel-tan, or so they would have it known. Not an empire unto itself, but a great and powerful bastion of the larger Aeldari Empire as the proud and warlike ruling Court of Biel-tan see it. As it journeys silently through the void, Rangers still loyal to their former craftworld roam far ahead, scouting the way to those worlds which lie next upon Biel-Tan's route. Alongside their craftworld, the warfleets of Biel-Tan streak through the stars, overwhelming any resistance which might endanger or impede the gargantuan craftworld as it sails on inexorably.Many worlds lie upon this ancient route -- worlds populated by men, overrun by Orks, infested by crude and primitive usurpers or else barren, uninhabited and forgotten. But no matter their fate, to the Aeldari of Biel-Tan these are Aeldari worlds once and former, present and future. In the eyes of Biel-Tan, the young races who now populate the galaxy are not the natural successors some would claim them to be, springing up to fill the void left by an Empire which long ago betrayed, defeated and destroyed itself, but rather they are greedy and savage usurpers with no right to take these worlds from the Aeldari. So it is that as Biel-Tan soars effortlessly through the stars its talons fall hungrily upon the Aeldari's foes, crushing their primitive colonies and dragging their filthy carcasses away from the beautiful, verdant worlds of the Aeldari. No matter that these societies have dwelled for centuries upon these worlds, no matter that the last flame of Aeldari life on these worlds burned out millennia ago, no matter that many of these so-called usurpers have taken nothing which they did not find unused. None of this matters to the proud Aeldari of Biel-tan. The mere presence of these young races brings only one outcome -- war. War with the Swordwind of Biel-Tan.And so it was that as Biel-Tan drew silently through the Zypher Sub-sector after long centuries of absence, its scouts ranged far ahead, abroad in all the worlds once held dear by the Aeldari, and one by one their sorry accounts returned to the ears of Biel-Tan. World after world lay ruined, its people, its culture and its ancient Aeldari heritage swept away into nothing. Such tales are ones that the Aeldari of Biel-Tan have had to endure often in the millennia of their Long Winter, returning to worlds unseen in lifetimes to find them morbid and desolate. Yet for all the familiarity of these tidings of sorrow and despair, the Aeldari resented them no less, and the fire of war burned brightly in the hearts of Biel-Tan people as all the craftworld talk turned to vengeance and reclamation.Of the worlds still known to them, the Rangers reported that no living Aeldari now survived. Yet they spoke also of some gates within the webway barred so firmly that they had been unable to pass, and that beyond these might lie worlds yet untouched, or perhaps embattled worlds where the valiant Aeldari still fought on. The Exarch Mauryon, Burning Spear of the Fire Dragons Aspect Shrine, met this news with both fury and determination, and travelled at once to a world he had known as a child to see if it still endured. Taking it upon himself to unearth the fate of his people, Mauryon travelled at once to the world of Baran. Just as the rangers had attested, no gate now remained open and Mauryon took instead to the Dragonship Ilethryr, Chariot of Khaine, accompanied by only a handful of his most faithful acolytes. Mauryon felt his numbers too few to risk journeying the Baran directly, and instead Ilethryr was hidden in orbit around the silver moon of Ephos. The gate to the silver moon had long been barred, but Mauryon hoped that the gate between Ephos and the planet below might remain open, and fortune was with him.As predicted, the gate was closed (for none had been able to reach it from Biel-Tan), but it's structure still stood. All about it were carved runes of doom, frantic testimonies speaking of the last desperate Aeldari defenders swept away by the greenskinned menace. These same runes barred the gate tight, sealed by those last brave Aeldari so that the ancient webway might not be tainted by the Ork filth. Mauryon ordered that Elasthith, a seer, a steersman, be brought up and unfasten the magics which bound the gate shut. As he did so, he found many of the roads from the gate crumbled and impassable, so that there was still no direct way to Biel-Tan. Yet one path remained open -- the path to Baran itself, albeit by only the smallest and humblest of gates.
Biel-Tan - A Gate Unbarred, A Fury Unleashed: On Baran, Mauryon's rage was given a face, a shape and a name. Hordes of wild Orks, naked or clothed only in the skins of animals rampaged about him. Familiar landscapes remained, though the forests ran wild and uncultivated, ragged and imperfect. Rivers ran dirty, littered with ugly black rocks, while choking grasses covered the hills which Mauryon had remembered as lush, green and fair. Mauryon's rage was unleashed and he plunged his Burning Spear into the green savages that swarmed about him. The fire with which the Burning Spear raged was Mauryon's own, the fire of rage immolating the Orks all about him, but he and his Aspect Warriors were few and even in his fury Mauryon realised little good would come of remaining amidst the slaughter. Mauryon departed via the newly opened gate. Upon his shoulders he bore the body of the largest Ork, all the proof he would need that the Aeldari had been done a great injustice. On Biel-Tan, Mauryon cast the Ork's stinking carcass to the floor as the Court of the Young King gathered in a circle about him. Few words were spoken, none were needed. With a single nod of derision at the corpse beneath him, Mauryon declared his Autarchy and thoughts turned to preparation for the coming war. As had happened a thousand times before, the entire craftworld was suddenly alive with a single monotonous chant, "Khaine! Khaine! Khaine!"
Biel-Tan - The Swordwind Descends: Finding himself without the means to transport anything larger than a man via the single wraithgate open to him, and not yet willing to reveal himself in an all-out assault from space, Mauryon was left with no choice but to begin his war with his Aspect Warriors alone. His entire army on foot, Mauryon and several dozen Aspect Warriors journeyed to Baran and the Swordwind was begun. The Gate by which Mauryon first journeyed to Baran was known as the Gate of the Dead, the Banshee Gate or the Hag Gate, for it was this ancient gate to which the Exodites of this and other worlds had journeyed in order to convey their dead to sacred barrows which lay nearby.Emerging from the Gate of the Dead, Mauryon found the barrows broken and defiled. Their great structures lay hidden beneath the ground, yet they contained much wealth and Orks have a keen scent for plunder. The great sweeping hills which formed the surface of these barrows had been cracked open by the Orks who now infested them, littering this sacred place with their own filthy greenskin mess, disturbing the spirits of the resting and causing much damage to the delicate wraithbone fronds of the world spirit which formed the barrows' architecture. A whole tribe had made its home within the barrows, just as simple creatures might populate caves and tunnels for shelter. The greatest and most magnificent of the barrows, the resting place of the ancient Exodite Kings of Baran, had been claimed by the tribe's own Warlord, the bloated Bogga-Bogga.The Aeldari were far outnumbered by the Orks, but came upon them unawares, moving swiftly up to the barrows themselves. Each barrow was guarded by the same Ork mob who had taken it for their den, and even with the advantage of surprise the Aeldari found resistance fierce. Orks are always ready for a fight, and bare moments after the Aeldari revealed themselves a great shout, accompanied by a bellowing roar of WAAAGH! energy swept over the landscape, rousing the Orks to battle. The Orks rushed from the barrows, but the Aspect Warriors moved swiftly and hemmed them in, charging right up to the entrance of the barrows so that the Orks could not pass cleanly, cutting down the greenskins as they filtered into the narrow tunnels and archways which led up from below ground. By means of clever feints and faked retreats, the Aeldari cleverly drew the Orks to push against themselves, or else drew them to one side so that Aeldari themselves could advance a little further into the barrows. Each and every one of the Aspect Warriors knew full well that their ultimate goal lay deep within these cairns, and that no time could be wasted in reaching it.As the Aspect Warriors hacked a way through to the Barrows, the handful of Seers who had been willing to accompany Mauryon broke through and took their place within one of the newly recaptured barrows. Here they paused for some moments to read of the fame and repute of those spirits which rested here, so that they might know them by both name and character, before solemnly turning their minds to commune with the dead. As the Seers spoke, the spirits awoke, drawing forth from the deep and hidden refuges to which they had fled when first the greenskins came. These bodiless spirits surged and rushed around the barrows and cairns, their formless voices ringing out from the walls and pillars of their ancient tombs, calling in voices of thunder and terror, startling the Orks as the battle raged all about. Their deathly wails stopped the Orks dead with fright and the Aspect Warriors found their blows striking home effortlessly as all fight drained from the terrified greenskins. In the Great Cairn of Kings, Bogga-bogga's Weirdboy, Zoombanga, began his own invocation to the spirits, casting his head upwards, shaking his primitive fetishes and totems in a savage dance before a single, barking howl from the dead shattered the WAAAGH! energy building up around him and dropped the Shaman lifeless to the floor.As he watched Zoombanga assailed by the screaming Aeldari spirits, Bogga-bogga himself fled from the barrow, surrounded by his Nobz and Grot attendants. Striking Scorpions of the Grieving Shrine surrounded the Warlord at the entrance to the Great Cairn and cut him down in an instant. With Bogga-bogga slain, the surviving Feral Orks broke and fled, seeking refuge in the great forest which lay in a circle all about the barrows. Mauryon had come for more than simple slaughter though, and with his objective in his grasp the Autarch ordered no pursuit. The Aeldari abated their attack and a silent, deathly calm once more fell over this ancient resting place. But Mauryon had not arrived as some reverential liberator, returned to lay his people to rest -- his war demanded greater sacrifice than that. Mauryon called forth the Spiritseers and Bonesingers which he had ordered accompany him from the craftworld. With them they carried the humble beginnings of wraithbone, a few component psycho-plastics, nothing in and of themselves, but it was all that the powerful Seers would need to begin fashioning their intricate constructs.From the broken tombs, from the scattered bodies and the partly buried wraithbone cores which lined the barrows the Seers plucked all the Spirit Stones they could find. The Seers muttered words of comfort and forgiveness as they went about their task, for this was sacrilege to them, an affront to the peace of death -- an atrocity, some might say -- but such was Mauryon's command. Alongside them, the Singers' voices boomed out as the wraithbone shells of great walking machines sprung upwards and were one by one assembled into silent, motionless ranks in front of the gloating Mauryon. Here and there the line was broken by the outline of a true giant, twice the size of a man, towering over the rest of these automatons. Into these same husks were placed the spirit stones taken from the barrows, and as the deathly Banshees danced and wailed about them, these tired and reluctant spirits were slowly coaxed from their slumber and brought once more to life inside their new wraithbone bodies. Larger than anything Mauryon could have hoped to get out of the solitary gate available to him, now before him stood Wraithguard and Wraithlords. As Mauryon and his army emerged once more from the barrows, an army of the dead now walked alongside them.
Biel-Tan - The War Goes On...: With a swift and decisive victory under his belt, Mauryon wasted no time in persecuting his war further. More Aspect Warriors were brought forth from Biel-Tan, though as yet Mauryon still lacked any means of deploying larger vehicles to aid his cause. Nonetheless, taking the ancient barrows as their camp, Mauryon divided his forces and began a program of cleansing in battles across much of Baran. The Barrows had been the resting place of Aeldari from all over Baran, and from other nearby worlds. Many wraithgates surrounded the barrows -- avenues leading to dozens of ancient Exodite colonies across the planet. Mauryon's seers unbarred these gates and dispatched forces through each of them.Invariably, the Aeldari emerged to find yet more Feral Ork tribes encamped around ancient Aeldari colony's, monuments and sacred places, knowing nothing of their value, but drawn to their riches nonetheless. Without hesitation Mauryon's armies fell vengefully upon the Orks, butchering them in devastating hit-and-run raids before vanishing once more through the ancient wraithgates. Occasionally, however, the Aeldari would emerge to find themselves greeted by the colonies of Man, rather than Ork, and here under Mauryon's specific orders the Aeldari retreated, slipping away without ever their presence being made known to the men of Baran.Mauryon's attacks caused much upheaval amongst the Orks, and whole tribes fled away from their tribal homelands, migrating hundreds of miles across Baran before again finding refuge amongst the wild and forgotten places of the world where their simple feral minds felt comfortable. Some tribes survived in such numbers that even as they fled they invaded the territory of rival warlords, taking land from their rivals as their own land was taken from them. In their hurried migrations, other Orks were flung against the cities of the Imperium, putting a great strain on Baran's beleaguered defenders. So it was, that even as the Aeldari remained unseen, war still came soon enough to the Imperial Guard regiment known as the Baran Siegemasters.The Orks cared not who they fought and, driven from their own lands, many fell more hungrily than ever upon the cities of Baran. Great tides of Feral Orks swept down out of the wild places of Baran and smashed against the fortress-cities of the Imperium. In each of these cities, the Baran Siegemasters struggled to repel the attackers, though the greenskins surged in numbers never before witnessed, great massed tribes where once they had been scattered warbands. Three colonies were overwhelmed completely and Commander Asaberra, Planetary Governor of Baran, faced the greatest test of his time. From his capital at Enderra, Asaberra dispatched extra regiments of Siegemasters, including the few Baran Cavalry regiments available to him to reinforce the most distant and beleaguered cities. Some time was bought by this action, but with Asaberra’s forces barely able to defend their own colonies, little could be done in attempting to discover the cause of this great and unexpected Ork assault. All across Baran, in a dozen fortress cities, the Siegemasters were as prisoners, trapped in defence, able only to hold tight and attempt to repel each new wave of Orks with no hope of surging forwards and striking out for themselves. Such tactics, as Asaberra well knew, rarely suffice for long, and so it was with some urgency that Asaberra dispatched a plea for aid to his black-armoued allies on the dark moon of Coron.
Biel-Tan - Upon Dark Wings: Purposeful, if not truly callous, the Raven Guard showed little haste in their response. With their own numbers so few, their own Captain Moradius saw little reward in seeking to defend the cities of Baran. More troubling to Moradius was the sudden onslaught of the Orks, and it was to this which he turned his attention, lest the danger grow and come to pose a threat to the wider Imperium. Intent on discovering the source of this greenskin assault, Moradius and his Raven Guard ventured once more to Baran.
Biel-Tan - A Foe Revealed: Arriving on Baran, the Raven Guard chose to make only cursory contact with the Men of Baran and their Commander Asaberra, choosing instead to move virtually unknown amongst the deepest and wildest reaches of Baran, rooting out the Orks in their own lairs, searching for the source of their sudden ferocity. They would not wait long to find it. At a dozen sites across Baran the Raven Guard found the remains of Ork camps, littered with burned-out huts and dozens of Ork carcasses. Indeed, Moradius could find no Ork settlement standing at all. Something, it would seem, had driven every wretched greenskin from their lair and sent them hurtling against the fortress cities of Baran. It was quite possible that the Orks themselves had wrought such destruction, but to have done so spontaneously across the entire planet seemed too organised for them. Moradius feared that something more deadly lay at its root. Reconvening the scattered scouting parties, Moradius led his hundred or so men across the Voltus Plains -- a great, wind-beaten steppe where even the Orks did not settle, but instead prowled in nomadic, predatory packs atop boars, Squiggoths and other fungal monstrosities. After a week's hard march, the Raven Guard at last encountered Orks -- a curious kind of relief to Moradius. It would seem that the nomadic Orks had proven more elusive than their encamped counterparts, and so here had yet evaded attack.The Orks, as ever, proved themselves eager for a fight and rushed forwards in great numbers as soon as they caught the scent of the Space Marines. Moradius, however, saw little benefit in sending yet more Orks fleeing across Baran and, after a cursory skirmish, withdrew his men, leaving the Orks to bludgeon their way across the plains as ever they had. His scouts remained close however, hoping that whatever fate had befallen the Ork settlements would soon reveal itself in pursuit of these nomads. Some days later, Moradius was once more proved shrewd. His scouts returned to report the Orks under attack and Moradius at once led his Raven Guard to their position. Six Thunderhawk gunships skimmed rapidly over the plain, following the signal sent by the remaining scouts, though even in the short time it took them to arrive, the Orks were overwhelmed and slain. Instead of Orks, as Moradius and his Raven Guard emerged from his gunships they were confronted by the Swordwind of Biel-Tan.Recognising the Aeldari for the elusive opponent they truly are, Captain Moradius ordered an immediate assault lest the Aeldari simply vanish before he return. The Aeldari, perhaps, had not intended to engage the Imperium so soon, let alone the Space Marines themselves, and the Raven Guard’s first strikes took heavy tolls. Relying on their favoured hit-and-run tactics, the Aeldari rapidly fell back, though not nearly so swiftly as they could. Not so swiftly, more importantly, that the Raven Guard would not be able to follow. A running battle raged for hours as the Raven Guard, now heavily outnumbering the Aeldari harried them from all sides.At last, as the Aeldari's numbers dwindled ever more, they fell back finally into the midst of a great ring of standing stones, ancient monuments left from a time when the planet had been under the Aeldari's rule. Here the Raven Guard resolved to wipe out the Aeldari army utterly, rushing against them with their full strength. As with so many things, it proved to be just as the Aeldari had intended. Amidst the standing stones, Wraithgates opened. Small gates by the Aeldari's standards, but more than large enough for the Aspect Warriors of Biel-Tan to pass. Mauryon’s armies who had been marauding all across Baran now reconvened amidst the standing stones, Mauryon himself arriving to take command moments later.Where the Raven Guard had thought they might surround and annihilate the Aeldari, they now found themselves surrounded by a foe many times their own number. Even for the sturdy resistance they could offer, the Raven Guard survived precious few hours in the midst of the Aeldari circle of stone. The Raven Guard were gone, though the Men of Baran would know nothing of their passing, for their minds remained utterly occupied by the ever-growing hordes of Orks which hurled themselves at the Imperial colonies.
Biel-Tan - The Hordes Gather: Elswhere, the savage displacement of the Orks had created a near uncontrollable migration amongst the Greenskins. While some battled the Baran Siegemasters, others still warred amongst themselves. Ork fell upon Ork as tribes were driven from their homelands and sought to conquer the lands of others, or else were butchered as they fled through the territories of neighbouring tribes. Amidst the carnage, one wily and ambitious Ork saw his destiny awaiting him. Snagga of the Big Teef tribe spread his own horde far and wide, using brutal displays of power to intimidate all the newcomers, all the rampaging, migrating hordes, before offering sanctuary to any who would fight alongside him.Many of the first to cross Snagga's land rebuked his offer, and sought instead to take his realm from him by force, but Snagga was cunning and defeated his rivals with ease. Soon those that came upon his borders recognised his might and Snagga's horde was swelled by the new arrivals. What’s more, word of his burgeoning WAAAGH! spread across Baran, carried far on the tribal drums, Suiggoth calls and Grot tellygraffz of the Orks. Word spread of this emerging Warlord, and dozens more tribes flocked to his banner. Many had felt the wrath of the Aeldari first hand, and joined with others of their kind only too gladly. Now a full-blown WAAAGH! surrounded Snagga-Snagga (his name lengthened in honour of his victories) and the Aeldari and Imperium alike had a unified foe to fear. This unity brought no calm to the Orks, however, it merely galvanised their thirst for war and now an ever more fearsome opponent descended upon the poor, beleaguered Baran Siegemasters.Snagga-snagga unleashed his horde first against the city of Enderra, one of the oldest and largest cities on Baran, occupying one of the original landing sites of the Imperium's conquest of the planet. The Feral Ork Horde descended upon the city and bludgeoned it with a weltering mass of fire, but the walls stood firm. Snagga's horde was vast, and easily surrounded the city, easily overwhelming any who attempted to break out, but he yet lacked the punch to topple the walled fortresses for which the Siegemasters were rightly famed. Frustrated, but not yet thwarted, Snagga-snagga retired to plot his next move.
Biel-Tan - An Enemy Made: The Aeldari's war, however, went on, and with his forces now gathered on the plains of Baran, Mauryon unleashed his largest attack yet upon the Orks. In his rage, however, he had not reckoned upon the sheer number of tribes now under Snagga-snagga's command, and as the Swordwind fell upon the encamped Orks, Mauryon felt his first taste of defeat. Hundreds of thousands of Orks rushed to battle as the Aeldari sprung their surprise assault. Falcons and Wave Serpents scythed down wave after wave of Orks with their opening pop-up attacks, but nothing could halt such a mass of Orks. The Greenskins smashed into the Aeldari army and slaughtered hundreds -- a bitter loss Mauryon could little afford. Realising his trap was too soon sprung, Mauryon reluctantly ordered the retreat. As the Aeldari fled, Snagga-snagga sat and gloated. Things were going very well indeed.
Biel-Tan - Bigga & Bigga: Like all powerful Warlords, Snagga-snagga found himself surrounded by a whole host of would be advisors (or 'Elperz) and sycophants, all vying for his affection. Amongst these were the boilerboyz Wurzbag and Durrboz. Wurzbag was a traditional boilerboy, a proven master of steam technology, while Durrboz was once a pigdok, and so sought fame for his legendary "grot-engine" with which he claimed to have once powered a Gargant by the medium of dozens of unfortunate Grots frantically leggin' it inside great caged wheels whose motion powered the Gargant. Snagga-snagga ordered that a machine be built that would allow him to topple the Siegemaster's fortifications, and set Wurzbag and Durrboz to the task. But the pair were rivalrous, and simply would not work together. Instead the pair conspired to hold a great contest -- each would build a machine, and Snagga-snagga and the tribe would choose which was the greatest and would hence win the honour of leading the assault on Enderra.For days the pair slaved away on their creations until both were unveiled to the startled gasps of the tribes. Alas, however, in typical Ork fashion no one could quite decide which was the winning Gargant -- no one could quite decide which was the biggest (as is the Orkish way of deciding all things). The suggestion was raised that the gargants simply be named Bigga and Bigga, a suggestion loved by Snagga-snagga and loathed by the competitive boilerboyz. Still, two Gargants are better than one, and with his new machines at the head of his army, Snagga-snagga's Horde set off once more for the city of Enderra.
Biel-Tan - Forgotten Places: As Mauryon's army fled their defeat at the hands of Snagga-snagga, not all had managed to follow their leader. Smaller bands, cut off and forced to retreat away from the main Aeldari army lest they be surrounded now dashed across Baran, desperately seeking to find a wraithgate by which they might reunite with the main Aeldari army. Mauryon was forced to wait some days as these scattered elements gathered at the Barrows. Last of all came the Striking Scorpions of the Grieving Shrine. Driven far to the south in their humiliating rout, the Scorpions, led by their Exarch Suerymane, had journeyed to an ancient Aspect Shrine, long ago hidden by the savage, cloying vegetation of Baran, but known to the Aeldari by some unbreakable empathy.Here though, disaster was found and their doom nearly met. The temple's wraithgate was barred with a force that the Scorpions simply could not break, and as pursuing Orks descended upon them, hope looked lost. As the Orks attacked, the Striking Scorpions hid themselves about the shrine, lurking deep within its ruins where their stealth might aid them and their lack of numbers not so utterly undo them. Suerymane himself crouched within the deepest and darkest of the shrine's ancient rooms, and here he found a sorry totem indeed. Scattered about the place were the broken forms and scattered spirit stones of his own kind. Still and perfect, they had lain in this lonely place of dying since Baran had first fallen to the Orks centuries ago. Just as Suerymane now intended, this place must once have been the site of his own people's last stand.
Biel-Tan - The Battle of Vaul's Gate: Mauryon's war had progressed well. With an army of Ghost Warriors taken from the Exodite Barrows, the Raven Guard utterly defeated and now the Phoenix Lord Karandras at his side, the Autarch’s victories were great, but he nonetheless remained powerless to tackle the human colonists in their heavily fortified cities. Without his vehicles and Titans, which had so far been unable to traverse any of the wraithgates opened by Mauryon’s forward forces, his efforts would all be in vain. As far as his Rangers could ascertain, only one substantial wraithgate survived on Baran -- Vaul's Gate, some several leagues away over the great plain which formed the centre of Baran's primary continent. Mauryon led his army on a swift overland march, the Aeldari's swift feet covering the distance in mere solar hours. Despite their fleet-footedness, such a large scale movement could never go unnoticed, and Snaggasnagga soon assembled a great horde to meet them at the edge of the great plain, where the land breaks into shallow bluffs and hard, earthy ground. Upon the highest of these bluffs stood Vaul's Gate itself, a towering Aeldari monolith, fully twenty times the height of a man.The Orks themselves clearly possessed no idea of the true value of Vaul's Gate, though its meaning to the Aeldari was not lost on them, and out on the left flank the Orks clustered all about the ancient monument for no other reason than wanting to deprive their enemy of it. The Ork line was immense, stretched out for several miles across the plain. At its centre stood Snaggasnagga's twin Gargants, Bigga and Bigga. At the far right of the field, a few scattered ruins concealed the handful of Rangers who had joined the army, but apart from this Mauryon could simply not afford to face the Orks in a pitched battle. A single decisive attack was the Aeldari's only hope, and accordingly Mauryon clustered his own forces near the Gate. Swooping Hawks and Warp Spiders formed a thin, broken line down the field, for Mauryon feared the Orks might surround him if he allowed his front to become too narrow. Against such vast numbers of Orks, however, those Aeldari in the centre would stand little chance.Great clouds of dust and smoke arose in the distance as the Orks began to bully their engines to life. Their raucous whoops and shouts rose to a cacophony as the shambling mass prepared itself for battle, but Mauryon and his army, however, were already on the move. Flocks of Swooping Hawks took to the skies, rushing headlong at the greenskins, drawing the centre of the Ork line forward, luring them away from the lumbering gargants behind. At the last possible moment the Hawks turned and soared away as one, and Mauryon unleashed his only gambit. Nightwing fighters and Phoenix bombers burst from the clouds and streaked around the Ork army, homing in on the now isolated Gargants. Many of the Orks turned back to defend the great war machines, racing backwards to turn their fire on the Aeldari flyers, but they were too slow. The Hawks swooped back towards them again, as effortlessly as they had turned away in the first place and unleashed a withering hale of short-range fire into the back of the Orks. Bigga fell to the first Aeldari attack run. Atop the other Gargant, Wurzbag beamed with perverse pride, gloating as his rival's machine went up in smoke.Seeing the fight take shape in the centre, Orks from both flanks rushed towards the embattled gargants. On the right, the Ork advance stalled as the Rangers opened fire from their unseen positions amongst the ruins. Several mobs floundered and broke, even before reaching the battle, but as screeching hordes of trukks and wagons arrived to aid the surviving Gargant, a Phoenix crashed earthwards, then a second, then a third and the Aeldari flyers were at last forced to speed away from the battlefield. They had already done more than enough. With the Orks' attention drawn to the centre of the field, Mauryon saw his chance to attack the Gate directly. The Autarch, the Phoenix Lord Karandras and hundreds of Aspect Warriors surged forwards over the shallow bluff betweem them and Vaul’s Gate. At last the Orks found themselves able to get to grips with the enemy up close and proper, and Mauryon's first attack was blunted by the sheer number of greenskins. Karandras and the Aspects close by him, however, battled on and quickly fought their way through to the Gate. Mauryon pushed forwards again and this time broke through the Orks, joining Karandras and the other Aspect Warriors atop the hill, at the foot of Vaul's Gate itself.With the Aeldari flyers gone, the Orks had won the battle in the centre ground and were quickly regrouping. The hulking figure of Da Biggest (as the Orks had hastily dubbed the surviving Gargant) rumbled towards Mauryon’s position, surrounded by a rampant mob of wagons and boyz. Mauryon himself rushed to the foot of the gate and stood guard over the small crowd of Seers gathered there as they frantically began the rituals necessary to re-open the long sealed gate. Even as they did so, the first thunderous blasts from the Orks' soopa guns slammed into the gate, shaking it to its very foundations and crushing two unfortunate Seers beneath the falling rubble. At the Gate’s centre, the portal blinked slowly into life, a streak of glowing energy running from base to peak. The portal flickered and struggled to open wider as more and more Ork fire flew about the heads of Mauryon and his Seers. On the slope below, the fastest of the Ork mobs were already deep in hand-to-hand fighting with the Scorpions and Banshees Mauryon had ordered to guard the approach.Now Da Biggest itself arrived. Mauryon spun about as he felt the huge shadow loom over him and looked on in horror as all about him Aspect Warriors fell to the blaze of fire from the towering Gargant. At the machine's feet, Mauryon spotted Snagga-snagga himself, and rushed forwards towards him, fearing now that the only way to victory might be to slay the Ork warlord himself. There would be no such need. Barely had Mauryon taken a step before he felt a surging rush of energy behind him. The Gate was open and Mauryon knew victory was his. Raising his head skyward to look back towards it, Mauryon watched the shimmering portal roll and break apart as the figures of three great Phantom Titans stepped forth onto the field of battle.Da Biggest lasted scant moments as the three Titans unleashed a co-ordinated burst of pulsar fire. Wurzbag was launched skywards as his gargant's head blew off and the machine came to a halt as a smoking wreck. Under the shadow of the burning gargant, Mauryon and Snagga-snagga met in hand-to-hand combat, though only one outcome was now possible. With the Orks fleeing all around him, and buoyed utterly by the capture of Vaul's Gate, Mauryon was undefeatable and drove his Burning Spear through Snagga-snagga's stomach. The Autarch cast Snagga-snagga's body over his shoulder and swiftly scampered up the creaking frame of the motionless gargant above. From atop this smoking wreck, Mauryon launched the warlord's body earthward in a rampant celebration of victory. As the slain Ork's corpse crashed to the ground, his army broke and fled, utterly defeated.
Biel-Tan - Dark Portents: In 999.M41, the divinations of the Seer Council of Biel-Tan, precipitated by the Harlequin Masque of the Midnight Sorrow, led the forces of Biel-Tan to the once-beautiful world of Ursulia, an Exodite Maiden World ravaged by Warp Storms and transformed into a Daemon World.There, the daemons of Slaanesh intended to breach an ancient Webway portal called the Obsidian Gate that led to Biel-Tan itself. A temporary alliance between the Masque of Slaanesh and the Greater Daemon of Khorne known as Skarbrand saw the hosts of Slaanesh and Khorne fight the Swordwind of Biel-Tan amongst a raging daemonstorm. At the battle's height, the portal that led to Biel-Tan was smashed open by Skarbrand's axe, allowing the Masque to pass through to reach the world-ship beyond.Descending from the Webway portal at the stern of Biel-Tan to drift down like a pearl diver heading for the sea bed, the Masque made it to the surface of the craftworld. From there she polluted Biel-Tan's Infinity Circuit with Slaaneshi daemons in such number that the innate defences of that wraithbone megastructure were hard-pressed to cope.Slowly, the Biel-Tan Infinity Circuit became corrupted as it was possessed by the very daemonic forces it was devised to help the Asuryani within it escape.
Biel-Tan - Fracture of Biel-Tan: Even as the Biel-Tani fought during what became known as the Battle of Biel-Tan with every ounce of their skill to quarantine and cleanse their home of the daemonic infestation, the Ynnari, the newborn cult of the Aeldari god of the dead Ynnead, passed through the Webway to join forces with them.The Ynnari's high priestess and prophet Yvraine, under attack from a horde of Daemonettes, breathed out a cold grey mist that dissolved them amongst a horrible keening scream. The parlay between Ynnari and the Biel-Tani was strained, for there were those that wore the armour of the hated Drukhari amongst them. The presence of the Phoenix Lord Jain Zar, who spoke out on Yvraine's behalf, bought enough time for the high priestess of Ynnead to perform a ritual of her own.Yvraine plunged her hand into the psychoplastic wraithbone skeleton of the Biel-Tan world-ship as if it offered no more resistance than water. When she drew it back out, she held high the second of the Croneswords that had been buried in the craftworld's spine for many Terran millennia.The Biel-Tani Infinity Circuit, already wracked with pain, began to shatter, and the backlash of deathly psychic energies formed a vortex of terrifying power. From that vortex emerged the Yncarne, Avatar of the Aeldari god of the dead.Its coalescence had a terrible price, however -- though Biel-Tan's Infinity Circuit was cleansed of daemons by Ynnead's power, the craftworld began to physically break apart.Worse still, roiling storms of psychic energy boiled through the void, joining with the empyrric dissonance of several other cataclysmic events such as the destruction of Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade to form a large section of the Great Rift.Biel-Tan was saved though it would need solar decades to recover, but the galaxy itself had paid the price.
Biel-Tan - Era Indomitus: Craftworld Biel-Tan's fate was intrinsically linked with the precarious rise of the Ynnari. Since the sundering of the wraithbone endoskeleton that formed its Infinity Circuit during the Battle of Biel-Tan, the moon-sized Aeldari world-ship had slowly broken up into its constituent parts.Now Biel-Tan had become more of a fleet than a single starship, its military strength almost halved by the turmoil that had started upon the corrupted paradise world of Ursulia. They had reached the point of civil war by this fracture and the political division that Yvraine had brought unto them -- for a good portion of those lost to Biel-Tan had followed her lead to become Ynnari, further worsening the already-reeling craftworld's situation.Self-belief was their salvation, a quality that the remaining Asuryani of Biel-Tan held as one of the highest of all virtues. Its people, fierce optimists one and all, had always believed the Aeldari Empire would rise like a phoenix from the ashes of near-extinction.Biel-Tan was soon to show its strength, making a virtue of its ability to spread its power across a wider area than ever before. During the Chaos invasion of the trio of Exodite worlds known as the Three Sisters, Biel-Tan was led to war by three of the legendary Phoenix Lords: Baharroth, Fuegan and Karandras.Both Baharroth and Fuegan were welcomed with fierce joy, for the coming of but one of Asuryan's pupils was cause for intense celebration, let alone two. But when Karandras revealed himself mid-battle upon the world of Khazhar to cut a bloody swathe through a wedge of daemon cavalry, a ripple of unease undercut the Asuryani's feeling of jubilation at his arrival.It was prophesied that at the time of the Rhana Dandra – that final, apocalyptic battle against Chaos that would spell the doom of everyone and everything -- all six Phoenix Lords would fight together. Would three become six, showing that time of ending to be close at hand?With the three Phoenix Lords working together at the fore, Biel-Tan levelled the Swordwind with such vengeful ferocity the daemon hosts were broken and destroyed.In the solar weeks that followed, the Human Chaos Cultists upon nearby Khazhar -- whose ritual-practising leaders had conjured the daemons into realspace in the first place -- were killed.The rest of the planet's population was slain by a psychic tempest unleashed by a conclave of Farseers and Warlocks that scoured their world clean of every last living thing. It was a display of raw power that lit the flame of war in the broken heart of Biel-Tan once more.The leaders of Biel-Tan learned much from the Exodite kings of the Three Sisters. Conversely, many of the Maiden Worlds' youthful warriors were entranced by the sight of the Phoenix Lords.Through these legendary leaders, many young and vital Exodites were convinced that their aid was of paramount importance -- the hour was so dire that the Aeldari species had to call upon every blade it could muster.Though their lieges raged at the betrayal, the young Exodites rode to war alongside the Swordwind of Biel-Tan. Just as the Biel-Tani had worked tirelessly to defend the Maiden Worlds of their former empire, now the Exodites would repay the debt in kind.
Biel-Tan - Notable Events: The Voyage Begins (ca. M29) - Iyanden is one of the first craftworlds to escape the failing and corrupt Aeldari Empire.Fall of the Aeldari (ca. M30) - The Aeldari Empire is torn asunder as Slaanesh is born from their depravities.An Alliance Fades (777.M34) - Craftworld Biel-Tan begins a bloody war to reclaim the Maiden World of Rasilena from the encroaching humans. Iyanden, judging that reclaiming Rasilena brings no benefit in the ongoing war against Chaos, refuses to send aid, even when two whole sector fleets and ten Space Marine Chapters join the fight. Biel-Tan eventually emerges bloodied, but victorious. Thereafter, the two craftworlds soon lose their unity of purpose, each assuming the other to be uncommitted to their alliance.The Pyre of Killiak's Bane (838.M41) - Imperial xenologists begin to plunder the buried artefacts of the Aeldari Maiden Kiliak, triggering a devastating response from the nearby Aeldari craftworlds of Biel-Tan and Ulthwé. After a confirmed sighting of the Phoenix Lord Jain Zar and over a hundred Howling Banshees disciples, the Imperial interlopers are killed to a man, incinerated, and their ashes scattered to the wind.Battle of Orar's Sepulchre (888.M41) - An Aeldari emissary from Craftworld Biel-tan was sent to the Imperial world of Commrath to enter negotiations with its Planetary Governor for the return of an ancient eldritch artefact from the tomb of one of the Ultramarines' most-lauded heroes, Captain Orar, known as the Sceptre of Galaxian. When the Imperial noble refused his request, the Aeldari emissary grew angry and soon his pleas turned to threats of violence. The Planetary Governor refused to be cowed by the arrogant xenos and had the Aeldari executed on the spot. However, the Governor had the foresight to heed the Aeldari's threats and requested aid from the Ultramarines. Aeldari from the Alaitoc and Iyanden craftworlds then proceeded to assault the planet Commrath to recover the Aeldari artefact within Orar's Sepulchre. Orar was a great Ultramarines hero in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy, and Chapter Master Marneus Calgar vowed not a single alien would breach the sanctity of his tomb. For the first time since the Battle of Macragge, Calgar lead his entire Chapter to war. The Aeldari descended upon Orar's Sepulchre to find it held against them by the Ultramarines. Aeldari Aspect Warriors and Guardians darted towards the main gates of the great edifice that was Orar's tomb as grav-tanks and artillery engines battered the Imperial defenders. On Calgar's command, the Ultramarines emerged from cover and scoured the invaders from the Sepulchre's steps with disciplined Bolter volleys. The Aeldari fell back, only to find their lines of retreat cut off by Assault Marines and Land Speeders. Aeldari leaders emerged from cover and rallied the trapped first wave, only to fall to sniper fire as the Ultramarines' Scouts made their presence known. The initial Aeldari assault faltered but, for an entire day and night, they continued to attack. Though they mustered every arcane science at their command, they could not overcome the tactical brilliance of Marneus Calgar and his Ultramarines. The following day, a fresh assault swept onto the great stairs of the sepulchre, led by a colossal figure wreathed in flame -- an Avatar of Khaela Mensha Khaine, the Aeldari god of war. Heavy weapons fire seemed only to anger the creature, and the Ultramarines' battle line buckled beneath its onslaught, so Calgar issued a challenge himself. The fiery god bellowed with fury, its first blow missing the Ultramarines' Chapter Master by a hair's breadth. The second tore plates from Calgar's armour. A third bit deep into his shoulder, driving the Chapter Master to one knee. But the fourth slammed into the armoured palm of Calgar's left hand. Rising up, Calgar struck with all his strength, bringing his other gauntlet around in a mighty arc that punched clean through the molten ichor of the Avatar's torso. With the fall of their war god, the Aeldari lost all heart and retreated. Some fled without heed while others fell back in good order, but all of the xenos retreated into the darkness. Despite overwhelming odds, once again the Ultramarines had emerged victorious, but in his wisdom Calgar knew that the Aeldari would return for the Sceptre of Galaxian. So it was that Calgar informed Commrath's Governor that the Galaxian Sceptre would be removed from Orar's Sepulchre to Macragge, where it could be properly defended.Dishonourable Alliances (909.M41) - A vast Imperial force comprised of the 52nd and 124th Valhallan Imperial Guard regiments leads an invasion of the ice planet of Klaihn. To prevent a sacred Aeldari Temple of Isha from falling into the hands of the Imperium, Biel-Tan and Lugganath each field their most potent Ghost Warriors and Aspect Warriors in a unified force. Partially because of the strange, ethereal blizzards that plagued the world, and the stubbornness of the Valhallans, what was intended to be a fast strike results in a protracted and exhausting conflict. Eventually, the Aeldari reach the temple and encircle it with Ghost Warriors, only for a Warp-blizzard to bring new terrors in the form of a wave of Daemons. An uneasy alliance is struck between the Aeldari and the Imperial forces to purge the planet of frost-blighted Slaaneshi Warp-horrors. However, the Aeldari have a greater plan, and lure the Daemons and Valhallans into a bloody conflict against each other that greatly reduces the numbers of each. Though the Valhallans are finally victorious against the Warpspawn, the Ghost Warriors easily rout the exhausted Imperial survivors.The Devourer Descends (992.M41) - The Tyranids push their tendrils into the galaxy, and Craftworld Iyanden is locked in a death-struggle against the mighty Hive Fleet Kraken. As the craftworld teeters on the brink of extinction, more and more Ghost Warriors are summoned to its defence, until the army facing the Tyranids is as much of the dead as the living. Biel-Tan sends a small warhost to help fight against the Great Devourer, and acquit themselves well against the chitinous swarm. But in the end, they are all slaughtered by the innumerable creatures.The Red Death of Dûriel (778.999.M41) - The Aeldari of Iyanden and Biel-Tan combine with Drukhari forces to prevent the biological union of Hive Fleets Kraken and Leviathan upon the Maiden World of Dûriel. They are successful, but Dûriel itself is sacrificed to ensure victory, through means of an arcane device known as the Fireheart. In the wake of the battle, Prince Yriel disappears.The Bio-Purge Continues (811.999.M41) - Encouraged by their successes against the Tyranids at Dûriel, the Asuryani of Iyanden and Biel-Tan bring the Fireheart to other worlds. Thus do they begin a campaign of planetary annihilation in order to starve Hive Fleet Leviathan as it advances. The two craftworlds then take part in the incineration of dozens of Imperial and Ork-held worlds in and around the Octarius System. By swiftly establishing beachheads and activating a modified version of the psychic doomsday device used to destroy the Tyranid-infested planet of Dûriel, the Aeldari ensure that no shred of biomass is left intact. Countless worlds, many of them inhabited, are scoured clean of bio-mass in the ensuing campaign. Though the Imperium rages at the slaughter, blindly venting its wrath upon any xenos spaceship within a dozen parsecs, Hive Fleet Leviathan is denied crucial bio-resources as a result. A short time after, a major part of the hive fleet is isolated and destroyed by interlacing Aeldari attacks.Battle of Biel-Tan (ca. 999.M41) - See above for a more complete description of the Battle of Biel-Tan and the fracture of the world-ship.Exodite Alliance (Unknown Date.M42) - In the wake of the fracture of Biel-Tan and the recruiting drive of the Ynnari, the great world-ship has lost almost half of its military forces and has been forced to become more of a fleet of smaller ships rather than remain as one colossal vessel. Civil strife become srampant as the Biel-Tani disagree over the course that they should take in the new era. To restore its military strength, Biel-Tan begins to recruit Exodite warriors to serve with the Swordwind after the Biel-Tani free three Exodite worlds known as the Three Sisters from attacks by the forces of Chaos with the aid of the Phoenix Lords Baharroth, Fuegan and Karandras. Long isolated from wider Aeldari affairs, many Exodites now feel that with the existence of their species truly at stake, the time has come to fight alongside their Asuryani brethren.
Biel-Tan - Biel-Tan Forces: When the Asuryani of Biel-Tan go to war they assemble the Bahzhakhain. In the Aeldari Lexicon this term defines their assembled warhost. Translated literally the term could be construed to mean "Swordwind," "Tempest of Blades" or even "Frozen Leaves" and "Falling to Cut." Regardless, the term Swordwind is also the name given to the manner in which the Biel-Tan wage war -- a single attack that relies on the immense fighting skills and overwhelming firepower of its Aspect Warriors to annihilate the enemy in one swift blow. This tactic works considerably well with the elite fighting skills of the many Biel-Tan Aspect Warriors, who can eliminate the enemy's main body of resistance before they can respond. The Biel-Tan therefore make expert use of the speed and manoeuvrability of their craftworld's complement of Wave Serpents and Falcon Grav Tanks to move its units into position, from which the Aspect Warriors then launch a devastating all-out attack, smashing into the enemy and giving them no chance to recover. The Swordwind Court's battle colours are green and white, often with flowing vines painted on Biel-Tan vehicles. Each thorn of these vines represents the death of a hated enemy at the hands of the vehicle's pilot.This kind of attack has proved particularly devastating against the Swordwind's favoured type of target -- enemy colonies. The Biel-Tan see any colonisation by other races as a threat to the future growth of the Aeldari Empire. It is their philosophy that it is better to eradicate any usurpers as soon as possible before the enemy becomes well established. To this end, there have been countless conflicts between Imperial forces and the Biel-Tan craftworld. Often the Explorators of the Adeptus Mechanicus colonise worlds near to Biel-Tan's course, only for the Aeldari to launch an attack and wipe out the settlers. This forces the Imperium to provide heavy garrisons for newly settled worlds on the southern rim to protect colonists from these sorties by the Aeldari, draining valuable resources for battles elsewhere. While Biel-Tan certainly doesn't possess the power to restore the Aeldari Empire alone, this penchant for attacking Imperial colonies certainly makes the craftworld one of the greatest threats to the Imperium on the southern rim.The main targets of Biel-Tan aggression are non-Aeldari colonists -- particularly non-Aeldari occupying Maiden Worlds. Maiden Worlds are the lush paradise planets originally terraformed into existence by the Aeldari before the Fall of their race. The creation involved seeding barren, dead planets with life, gradually leading to their transformation into lush, life-supporting worlds perfect for the settlement of Aeldari colonies. This terraforming of worlds was part of a program of colonisation which was intended to take many thousands of Terran years to reach fruition, and the result would only be seen by later generations of Aeldari. It is especially galling to the Aeldari who created these paradise worlds that they are often overrun by the settlements of the "lesser" starfaring species of the galaxy. The Asuryani of Biel-Tan believe the success of other alien races like Humanity is a threat to the future progression of the Aeldari Empire reborn.The Swordwind has fallen upon other alien races as well. The Orks in particular are hated by the Biel-Tan, as they can rapidly spread across a colonised world (with a prolification which even the Imperium finds hard to forestall). The starships of Biel-Tan hunt across the stars to destroy Ork spacecraft, such as Ork Roks, before they can find a world to engulf with a tide of green warriors.There have been many accounts through the millennia of the Biel-Tan Aeldari arriving to help a beleaguered Imperial garrison fighting against the Orks, only for the Aspect Warriors to turn on their erstwhile Human allies once the Orks have been destroyed.The leaders of the Swordwind see it as their duty to protect the Exodite worlds from alien invasion. As the Asuryani of Biel-Tan see it, when the time comes for the Aeldari to emerge from the shadows and reclaim what is rightfully theirs, the Exodite worlds will be the first staging points for conquering the worlds of other intelligent species that have spread across the galaxy. Many an incautious Imperial expeditionary force has made planetfall on a world not knowing that the Exodites inhabit it, only to find themselves swept away by the ferocious attack of the Swordwind.The Swordwind possesses a vehicle that is unique to the Asuryani of Biel-Tan. It is a super-heavy gravity tank called a Void Spinner which is armed solely with a huge monofilament cannon which works just like any other Aeldari monofilament weapon, except that it incorporates a techno-virus that sterilises the ground that it touches.This makes it extremely useful against the Orks due to the Orkoid physiology's spore-based method of reproduction, preventing further reinfestation of a world by greenskins.
Biel-Tan - Structure of a Swordwind: Biel-Tan CommandAutarchAvatar of KhaineWraithgate - Functions as a Webway portal to bring Biel-Tan forces quickly onto a battlefield.Biel-Tan Craftworld HostsAspect Warrior Warhost - Eight Aspect Warriors chosen from the following: Dire Avengers, Striking Scorpions, Howling Banshees, Fire Dragons, Warp Spiders, Dark Reapers, Swooping Hawks, Shining Spears.Aeldari Guardian Warhost - Consists of one Farseer and four to seven Guardians. Up to three Heavy Weapon Platforms may replace up to three Guardians. Sometime this warhost includes up to three Support Weapon Platforms, three Wraithguard units and three Wraithlords. Alternatively, sometimes this formation is mounted in four Wave Serpents.Biel-Tan Craftworld TroupesRanger Troupe - From four to eight Eldar Ragners.War Walker Troupe - Six Eldar War Walkers.Windrinder Troupe - Six Jetbikes.Falcon Troupe - Five Eldar Falcons.Fire Prism Troupe - Three Eldar Fire Prisms.Night Spinner Troupe - Three Eldar Night Spinners.Engines of Vaul Troupe - Up to three Scorpion, Cobra, Storm Serpent or Voidspinners (or any combination of these).Biel-Tan Craftworld Spacecraft, Aircraft & TitansAeldari Spacecraft - One Wraithship or one Dragonship.Warlock Titan - One Warlock Titan.Revenant Titan - One Revenant Titan.Nightwings - Three Nightwing Interceptors.Phoenix Bombers - Three Phoenix Bombers.Vampire Raider - One Vampire Raider.
Biel-Tan - Combat Capabilities: The Asuryani way of war is very much akin to a child's puzzle. Composed of interlocking pieces of the puzzle, like the Aeldari war machine, is of little value if any of the pieces are missing.The Aeldari army functions by dozens of mutually supporting elements combining, creating a dangerous and effective force: each piece plays its own specific part. An army composed of several Warrior Aspects becomes a menace due to its diversity and speed, and it is this variety that makes the Swordwind of Biel-Tan the threat it is.The combat capability of the Biel-Tan is comprehended well, for whilst victories over the other Aeldari are honoured and celebrated, victories against the Biel-Tan Aeldari are disappointingly rare. In the Aeldari tongue the term Bahzhakhain defines their assembled warhost.Translated literally into Low Gothic, the term could be construed to mean "Swordwind," "Tempest of Blades" or even "Frozen Leaves" and "Falling to Cut."Regardless, the term Swordwind is also the name given to the manner in which the Biel-Tan Asuryani wage war -- a single attack that relies on the immense fighting skills and overwhelming firepower of its Aspect Warriors to annihilate the enemy in one swift blow.The Swordwind is most effective against Biel-Tan's favoured target -- fledgling colonies that are ill-prepared for the carefully orchestrated onslaught of the Swordwind. What makes this behaviour unusual is that Biel-Tan is virtually the only craftworld to behave in this way.Ordo Xenos experts believe that Biel-Tan are attempting to take back the Aeldari realm by force of arms, striking out to claim worlds that they believe are their own. The Swordwind utilises the very best weapons and technology available to the Aeldari forces with deadly energy weapons mounted on the transport vehicles and well-armoured and armed warriors within.For all the speed and precision of the Swordwind, there is a fatal flaw in its method. The very nature of this Swordwind tactic involves a rapid strike that is not bogged down in protracted combats, nor caught up in a war of attrition so often used by the Imperial Guard. For whilst the Aspect Warriors are swift and deadly beyond belief, they lack the physical endurance of the Adeptus Astartes and the numberless ranks of the Imperial Guard.
Biel-Tan - Court of the Young King: Biel-Tan places an unusual importance on the role of the warrior within their society. Whereas in many craftworlds the Farseers hold sway over important decision, on Biel-Tan a warrior council, referred to as the "Court of the Young King," appears to be at least the equal of the Farseers.This cadre reveres the idol of the Aeldari war god Khaela Mensha Khaine and taken its name from the ceremony in which they awaken the Avatar of Khaine. A strong and dynamic political faction, it is often the court that makes the decision to go to war or negotiate as they see fit.Every member of the court is an Aspect Warrior trapped in one particular path. Unable to move to another path and gain new experiences, these Exarchs as they are known, are perhaps the most potent political force acting in Biel-Tan as well as its most deadly warriors.The Exarchs are also the ones who designate the "Young King," who is ritually sacrificed on all Asuryani craftworlds to awaken the raging spirit of the Avatar, but on Biel-Tan, a Young King who survives the Terran year in office will join the court rather than return to tend their Aspect Shrine.The Exarchs of the court are deeply hostile to all outsiders, as one might expect, and it is their influence which has produced the unusually aggressive and xenophobic culture of the Biel-Tan craftworld. It is speculated that the court is what drives the craftworld to war over and over again.The position of Autarch is one that arises only when a craftworld is in a protracted or especially desperate state of war. Due to the aggressive nature of Biel-Tan, this is more often than most. An Autarch is an Exarch who has trodden the Path of the Warrior in several Aspects for so long that battle to them is first nature.To most Aeldari the concept of Autarchy, where the individual allows war to rule their life completely, is a horrifying idea as it is anathema to the ideals of the Asuryani Path. The Biel-Tan view it differently.
Biel-Tan - Technology: The technology employed by the Biel-Tan craftworld is as advanced as that of the other craftworlds. It can be argued that Biel-Tan is considered more terrifying, however, because of the diverse weapons and equipment they employ in the differing units of Aspect Warriors.Even the most basic weapon in the Aeldari arsenal is of a technological level incomparable to the solid and dependable weaponry of the Astra Militarum, and arguably the equal of the Bolter wielded by the Adeptus Astartes.Every aspect of Aeldari technology is baffling in the extreme, the shrewdest Tech-priests and Adepts of the Machine Cult have all so far failed to unlock the secrets of their operation.
Biel-Tan - Threat Index: Classifying Biel-Tan on the Imperial Threat Index is a near-impossible task. It has been proven time and again that Biel-Tan has attacked settler fleets, Explorator teams and Imperial outposts without provocation or warning. On most of these occasions the results has been the total destruction of the Imperial elements involved, followed by a swift withdrawal.Such damning evidence would cause the Ordo Xenos to classify Biel-Tan as a serious menace, except for every such account there are others where the armies of Biel-Tan have struck against Orkish infestations, Chaos-held planets and even the menace of the Necrons with the same results.In particular Biel-Tan has struck against the Orks time and again, harrying their space hulks and attack ships to prevent them infesting more worlds, and exterminating them on a planet's surface if they are too late.Swordwind hosts have even been known to come to the assistance of the beleaguered Imperial forces facing the green tide, crushing the greenskins with no show of mercy, although all too often, they turn their attention and their weapons on the armies of the Emperor once the Ork threat is removed.The problem therefore is how can the Imperium classify a threat that is such a thorn in the side of its enemies? Attempts to negotiate with Biel-Tan have been abortive at best and there are many within and without the ordos of the Inquisition who perceive the very act of negotiating as heresy.Current policy amongst Imperial commanders towards the Biel-Tan craftworld is unclear. Despite repeated petitions to hunt down and destroy Biel-Tan, there is neither the military might nor the political will to do this. For their part, Biel-Tan appears to be attempting to counteract any expansion into areas that they perceive as their own, rather than prosecuting a campaign of annihilation.Apparently the worlds that Biel-Tan is willing to fight over are of some deep cultural significance to their craftworld, so much so that they are willing to expend significant resources purging them. It is considered unwise to attempt Imperial conquest of those worlds without overwhelming military support.
Biel-Tan - Notable Locations: Ixia Wayport - A transit and transportation hub for the craftworld.The Deathly Wail Shrine - A Howling Banshees Aspect Shrine.
Biel-Tan - Notable Biel-Tan Aeldari: Anath'lan - Anath'lan was once one of Biel-Tan's most skilled Farseers. Alas, pride caused him to misread the runes, dooming a Maiden World to a bitter demise. Unable to forgive himself, Anath'lan died of grief. His Spirit Stone refused to bond with the Infinity Circuit, and guides other Aeldari away from error to this day.Avele Swifteye - Known as the Duke of Asteri Reach, Avele Swifteye leads a Corsair fleet out of Biel-Tan craftworld, and has continued Biel-Tan's pledge to protect the Maiden Worlds from settlement by lesser races. Swifteye has been known to display the greatest compassion to his defeated enemies if it pleases him to do so. On the world of Yrthal, Avele destroyed half a dozen Human settlements before the fledgling Imperial colony surrendered. He took the surviving forty thousand colonists to a nearby habitable moon, keeping them in stasis aboard his ships while they shuttled back and forth in short warp jumps, and promised that no further hostilities would be taken against them if they did not stray back to Yrthal.Macha - Macha is a powerful Aeldari Farseer psyker who had originally sealed a Greater Daemon in the Chaos artefact called the Maledictum on the world of Tartarus. She later sought to prevent its unwitting release by the agents of Mankind. Later events indicate that her destiny had become intertwined with that of Captain Gabriel Angelos of the Blood Ravens Space Marines Chapter.Mauryon - Mauryon is a militant Autarch who leads campaigns to purge non-Aeldari presences off Exodite Worlds and Maiden Worlds. A former warrior of the Fire Dragons Aspect Shrine, Mauryon is filled with a burning rage and hatred of the "lesser species" that now inhabit these worlds. He has led many a ruthless campaign to purge these "infestations" of both Orks and Humans. One of his greatest challenges came in the early 41st Millennium during the Baran War, where the Autarch managed to defeat both a detachment of Raven Guard Space Marines and an Ork horde under Warboss Snagga-snagga.Tyladrhas - Farseer Tyladrhas is known for leading a Biel-Tan warband against an Ultramarines Space Marine force.
Biel-Tan - Remnants of Glory: The Spirit Stone of Anath'lan - Anath'lan was once one of Biel-Tan craftworld's most skilled Farseers. Alas, pride caused him to misread the runes, dooming a maiden world to a bitter demise. Unable to forgive himself, Anath'lan died of grief. His spirit stone refused to bond with the infinity circuit, and guides other Aeldari away from error to this day.
Biel-Tan - Trivia: The name of the Biel-Tan craftworld is a variation of the ancient Celtic holiday of Beltane (also known as Bealtaine or in modern times, May Day). Much Aeldari lore has been drawn from Celtic mythology.
Biel-Tan - Sources: Codex: Craftworld Eldar (3rd Edition), pp. 3, 9, 14, 20-21Codex: Eldar (6th Edition), pp. 14, 75, 82-86Codex: Eldar (4th Edition), pp. 12, 15-16, 53Codex: Eldar (3rd Edition), pp. 18, 20, 24, 28Codex: Eldar (2nd Edition), pp. 21, 34The Gathering Storm - Part Two - Fracture of Biel-Tan (7th Edition), pp. 4-101Dataslate - Eldar Ghost Warriors (Digital Edition), pg. 13Dawn of War - Ascension (Novel) by C.S. GotoDawn of War - Trials of Isador (Short Story) by C.S.GotoPsychic Awakening: Phoenix Rising (8th Edition), pp. 12-13Warhammer 40,000: Planetstrike (5th Edition), pg. 56Warhammer 40,000: Rulebook (3rd Edition), pg. 21White Dwarf 302 (UK), "Index Xenos: The Swordwind - The Eldar of the Galactic South," by Adam Troke, "Tactica: Swordwind - Aspects of War," by Alessio Cavatore, pp. 62-73White Dwarf 237 (US), "Codex: Eldar - Path of the Warrior," by Gav Thorpe, pp. 16-20Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (PC Game)Swordwind Part One: Eldar Forces (PDF)Swordwind Part Three: The Baran War (PDF)Swordwind Part Four: Biel-Tan Craftworld Army List (PDF)Swordwind Reference Sheets (PDF)
Bike Squad (Space Marine) - Bike Squad (Space Marine): A Space Marine Bike Squad is a close support tactical formation utilised by the Adeptus Astartes to serve a wide variety of strategic uses.Some Chapters employ them to perform reconnaissance manoeuvres, or as hit-and-run raiders behind enemy lines.Others field their bikes as outriders for armoured columns, scouting ahead for potential ambush sites and guarding the tanks' flanks and rear from assault.Some Chapters have even been known to use their Bikers to spearhead line-breaking assaults, a role in which the White Scars, Iron Hands and Howling Griffons Bike Squads excel.When expecting heavy resistance, Bike Squads incorporate Attack Bikes into their ranks. Fitted with an armoured sidecar and pintle-mounted heavy weapon, these vehicles strike down enemy war engines or massed infantry with ease.So effective is this combination of firepower and speed that many Chapters field whole squadrons of Attack Bikes, using them as highly mobile fire support.
Bike Squad (Space Marine) - History: Legion Outrider Squads were specialised units of the ancient Space Marine Legions that was employed during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras in the late 30th and early 31st Millennia. These squads were formed from experienced Space Marines expert in operating independently and often deep behind enemy lines.These specialised troops were the eyes and ears of their Legion in the field. They took to the field mounted upon ruggedly constructed, all-terrain armoured ground bikes and scramblers. These squads were utilised for scouting missions and hit-and-run attacks deep behind enemy lines, the chief advantage of the Outriders being their speed.Their Assault Bikes enabled them to cover ground far quicker than infantry and go where heavier vehicles could not. It would be from these formations that the later Adeptus Astartes Bike Squads were created after the Second Founding in the early 31st Millennium.
Bike Squad (Space Marine) - Role: A Space Marine Bike Squad carries out fast-moving assault missions using 8 one-man Assault Bikes and sometimes with the addition of a single two-man Attack Bike, often operating on intelligence gathered by infiltrating Scout Squads or Land Speeder reconnaissance flights.A Bike Squad at full strength, for a total of eight Assault Bikes and one Attack Bike, can split into two combat squads. If this is done, one combat squad consists of five Assault Bikes and the other of three Assault Bikes and an Attack Bike.Bike Squads attack at incredible speeds, using surprise and unstoppable momentum to punch holes in the enemy formation, accelerating away as the enemy recovers his wits only to circle back and attack once again from an unexpected direction. For a Space Marine biker to operate at full potency, the superhuman rider and his mechanical steed must function flawlessly as one.To this end, the Codex Astartes dictates that all of a Chapter's Assault Marines, Scout Marines and the entire 6th Company should master the art of mounted warfare as part of their training regimen. A few Chapters take this further, with every Space Marine required to maintain his mounted training, even though he may have long passed into the elite 1st Company, or perhaps even into the exalted ranks of the Chapter Council.Few Chapters exemplify this better than the White Scars, who proudly employ Bike Squads as the main body of any strike force. Other Chapters are less enamoured of a Bike Squad's tactical value, preferring to send assault forces into battle in Rhinos or Razorbacks.The Space Marine Assault Bike itself is a robust construction. It needs to be, for it must be powerful enough to propel a fully armoured Space Marine at dizzying speeds, and yet responsive enough to perform a full range of death-defying combat manoeuvres.Even at low speeds the combined impact mass of bike and rider is no small thing to encounter. Indeed, many experienced Space Marine bikers can boast of riding through rockcrete walls at full speed, suffering neither harm nor impediment.For the heaviest assault missions it is common for a Bike Squad's Assault Bike firepower to be further augmented through the attachment of an Attack Bike. Each Attack Bike is a highly formidable mobile firebase, with the twin Bolters of the bike itself augmented by a Multi-melta or Heavy Bolter mounted on a sturdy sidecar.So potent is the striking power of the Attack Bike that many Chapters field them in entire squads, employing them as fast-moving fire-support units to complement Scouts, Assault Marines or other Bike Squads. On those rare occasions when Attack Bikes are deployed en masse, as they were by the fabled White Scars Chapter during the Third War for Armageddon, they prove to be a nigh-unstoppable foe.
Bike Squad (Space Marine) - Scout Bike Squadron: During the final stages of a Scout Marine's training, he is attached to a Scout Bike Squadron. Scout Bikers are employed as fast-moving reconnaissance and disruption units. They operate on a far longer leash than other Scouts, often operating as a separate and distinct adjunct to the main Space Marine strike force, answerable to none save the commanding Sergeants of their Squadron.While Scout Bikers continue to perform the hit-and-run tactics they perfected in their earlier years of service, their repertoire of combat skills is broadened by hard-won experience and further augmented by supplies of special issue equipment.While the enemy concentrates on the main Space Marine attack, the Scout Bikers ride rampant behind his lines, calling down orbital bombardments and reserve deployments with pinpoint accuracy.
Bike Squad (Space Marine) - Variant Bike Squad Organisation: Some Chapters do not abide by the Codex Astartes and operate their Bike Squads in a different manner. The Dark Angels' 2nd Company, the Ravenwing, is completely mounted on Assault Bikes, Attack Bikes and Land Speeders.The Salamanders are organised into less than the standard 10 companies but put more Astartes in each and so they only make use of bikes in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Companies.While the Space Wolves do make use of Bike Squads, the only members of the Chapter known to ride bikes are the Blood Claws. Even then only a few Blood Claws make use of this option, as the Space Wolves consider the use of bikes to be an overly headstrong approach to warfare.At the opposite end of the spectrum, the White Scars make extensive use of bikes in every company due to the open plains on which they train on Chogoris and their historical and cultural connection to the nomadic warriors of that world.
Bike Squad (Space Marine) - Unit Composition (Bike Squad): 2-5 Space Marine Bikers1 Biker Sergeant1 Attack Bike (As replacement for 1 Assault Bike)
Bike Squad (Space Marine) - Wargear (Bike Squad): Power ArmourBolt PistolTwin-linked Bolters (on Bike)Heavy Bolter (Attack Bike Only; in sidecar)Frag GrenadesKrak GrenadesAssault Bike
Bike Squad (Space Marine) - Optional Wargear (Bike Squad): ChainswordFlamer, Grav-Gun, Meltagun, or Plasma Gun (Any 2 bikers can have 1 in place of Bolt Pistol)Bolt Pistol, Bolter, Chainsword, Combi-weapons, Grav-pistol, Lightning Claw, Plasma Pistol, Power Axe, Power Fist, Power Maul, Power Sword, Storm Bolter, or Thunder Hammer (Bike Sergeant Only)Melta Bombs (Bike Sergeant Only)Attack Bike w/Multi-Melta
Bike Squad (Space Marine) - Unit Composition (Scout Bike Squadron): 2-7 Scout Bikers1 Scout Biker Sergeant
Bike Squad (Space Marine) - Wargear (Scout Bike Squadron): Scout ArmourBolt PistolTwin-linked Bolters (on Bike)Astartes Grenade Launcher (As replacement for Twin-linked Bolters on Bike)Space Marine ShotgunFrag Grenades Krak GrenadesAssault Bike
Bike Squad (Space Marine) - Optional Wargear (Scout Bike Squadron): Bolt Pistol, Bolter, Chainsword, Combi-weapons, Grav-pistol, Lightning Claw, Plasma Pistol, Power Axe, Power Fist, Power Maul, Power Sword, Storm Bolter, or Thunder Hammer (Bike Sergeant Only) (Scout Biker Sergeant Only)Melta Bombs (Scout Biker Sergeant Only)Locator Beacon (Scout Biker Sergeant Only)
Bike Squad (Space Marine) - Unit Composition (Attack Bike Squad): 1-4 Space Marine Attack Bikes
Bike Squad (Space Marine) - Wargear (Attack Bike Squad): Power ArmourBolt PistolFrag GrenadesKrak GrenadesAttack BikeTwin-linked Bolters (on Bike)1 Heavy Bolter (on Attack Bike sidecar)1 Multi-Melta (replacement for Heavy Bolter on Attack Bike sidecar)
Bike Squad (Space Marine) - Sources: Codex: Blood Angels (7th Edition), pp. 155-156Codex: Dark Angels (7th Edition), pp. 97-98, 276-279, 314-315Codex: Dark Angels (6th Edition), pp. 46-47, 82-83Codex: Dark Angels (4th Edition), pp. 26-27Codex: Space Marines (8th Edition) (Revised Codex), pp. 72-73, 142, 146-147Codex: Space Marines (7th Edition), 52, 89-90, 341-346Codex: Space Marines (6th Edition), pg. 84Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition), pg. 68Codex: Space Wolves (7th Edition), pp. 163-165Codex: Space Wolves (5th Edition), pg. 33Codex: Space Wolves (2nd Edition), pg. 61Index Astartes, "Lightning Attack - The White Scars Space Marines Chapter," pp. 40-47Index Astartes IV, "Salamanders"
Bilious Ones - Bilious Ones: The Bilious Ones are a warband or vectorium of Heretic Astartes of the Death Guard Traitor Legion's 4th Plague Company. They are commanded by a Death Guard Sorcerer and are one of the few Death Guard warbands which likes to enter battle amidst living carpets of Nurglings, the Lesser Daemons of the Plague God Nurgle. Little else is known about the Bilious Ones in current Imperial records.
Bilious Ones - Warband Colours: The Bilious Ones' power armour is the same as that of the Death Guard, composed of decayed and cracked plates of ceramite discoloured in sickly greens and browns. Bilious Ones Chaos Space Marines, like those of the Death Guard, often wear grotesquely warped suits of the antique Mark III Iron Power Armour.
Bilious Ones - Warband Badge: The Bilious Ones' warband badge is usually a modified version of the standard Mark of Nurgle, similar to that used by the rest of the Death Guard.
Bio-plasma - Bio-plasma: Bio-plasma is a potent close-ranged Tyranid Biomorph -- often engineered by the Hive Mind into Tyranid Carnifexes -- that is capable of unleashing a potent short-ranged attack upon their foes. With this Biomorph, a Tyranid organism gains the ability to internally energise a form of organically-created plasma that can be vomited forth as a burning and blinding ball of incandescent green energy. Each ball of plasma has the equivalent force to a blast from an Imperial Plasma Cannon, but can only be hurled a short distance. Bio-plasma is formed from a highly corrosive exothermic chemical that releases massive amounts of heat once it is released from the Bio-plasma organ within the Tyranid bioform. Shortly before the plasma is launched, the bioform will usually let out loud screams as the projectile makes its way from its belly through the creature and out its gaping maw. This high-pitched scream is often the last thing the Carnifex's prey ever hears.The most common Screamer-Killer strain of the Carnifex bioform is notable for its enhanced evolution of the Bio-plasma Biomorph. The Screamer-Killer's characteristic high-pitched screaming is caused by rasping plates in their oesophagus, which are used to energize Bio-plasma in their gut. However, instead of launching this plasma as a ball, the "vomit" acts as a deadly short range Flamer-like weapon. Screamer-Killers are also capable of using an electrical field around their claws to build up an incandescent Bio-plasma ball before launching it at a target over longer ranges.Massive Bio-plasma-emitting spines can also be found on Tyranid bio-ships. These spines emit gargantuan balls of Bio-plasma that can devastate enemy voidcraft. Bio-plasma spines serve as effective short-range weapons batteries in void combat for Tyranid bio-ships.
Bio-Titan - Bio-Titan: A Bio-Titan is a monstrously large, Titan-grade Tyranid bioform intended to counter the greatest war engines deployed by the other intelligent species of the Milky Way Galaxy. Towering above the battlefields, leading the swarms of lesser Tyranid creatures, stand the vast forms of the Bio-Titans. These massive biomechanical war-machines stalk the warzones of the Imperium spitting death and destruction, cutting down their foes with potent bio-weapons.Their approach is a terrifying sight to behold as they rip apart buildings, tear to pieces infantry and tank formations and even destroy Imperial Titans, Aeldari Wraithlords or Ork Gargants with their armoured claws and ripper tentacles. Propelled relentlessly forward on their powerful legs, these horrifying creatures smash enemy defences into rubble with their deadly arsenal of bio-weapons.In return their enemies can do little; even under the heaviest fire, Bio-Titans are notoriously hard to kill as their huge bodies are protected by ridged plates of chitinous armour, and even when a lucky shot does penetrate their armoured sides a Bio-Titan is capable of rapid tissue regeneration.
Bio-Titan - Hierophant: The Hierophant Bio-Titan is an immense, hideous creature, towering over the battlefield and bristling with spines, tendrils and symbiote weapons. They are amongst the largest bioforms yet encountered by the forces of the Imperium amongst the swarms of the hive fleets, comparable in size and power to an Imperial Titan. A brood of Hierophants are likely to be at the forefront of a major Tyranid attack -- striding forwards, drawing enemy heavy weapons fire away from the lesser creatures of the swarm, absorbing huge amounts of damage before smashing into the enemy line with devastating force.The Hierophant is the Tyranids' largest shock trooper, armed with monstrous Bio-cannons, multiple claws and razor-sharp blades, armoured with a thick chitinous hide that exudes poisonous spores from rends in its plates. Like all Tyranid bioforms, the Bio-Titan seems to be able to mutate its genome rapidly, evolving new organic weapons and defences.Other variants of the Hierophant Bio-Titan, such as the less well-known Viciator, have been identified with huge crushing claws or long scythe-like blades, cluster spines and other bio-weapons. How the Tyranids have developed such large biological constructs remains a mystery to the Imperium's Xenos Biologis. Whilst it seems a Hive Tyrant or Carnifex could easily be the result of a further genetic manipulation of the basic Tyranid Warrior genotype, there is no known genetic antecedent among the existing Tyranid bioforms for the Hierophant.It is speculated by the Magi Biologis of the Adeptus Mechanicus that the Hierophant was derived from the combined genetic strains of the Tyranid Carnifex and the Dominatrix. The forces of the Imperium have learned that combating Hierophants is simply a matter of applying the heaviest firepower available; large ordnance weapons and heavy artillery have so far proved the only effective weapons in destroying Bio-Titans.
Bio-Titan - Harridan: It is believed that the Harridan Bio-Titan may be derived from a combined strain of the Gargoyle and the Winged Warrior subgroup of the Tyranid Warrior genus. The Harridan is the largest flying Tyranid bioform the Imperium has yet encountered in its bitter war against that inter-galactic alien menace. Harridans are truly massive creatures, likened to the flying drakes and wyverns of ancient Terran legend. They are the largest Tyranid bioform capable of atmospheric flight, soaring through a prey world's skies on vast, leathery wings.Though they lack the sheer speed of an attack aircraft, it is a brave fool indeed who thinks them an easy target. They are the Gargoyles' "brood-mothers" and carry their "young" into battle. Circling high above, the Harridan waits patiently before diving down over the battlefield, strafing its foes with Bio-Cannons or swooping low to rake a tank with its two massive claws, or snapping its great fanged jaws around an infantryman.This creature's fearsome armament makes the Harridan capable of attacking just about any target on the field of battle. The Magos Biologis of the Adeptus Mechanicus have noted that Harridans have been encountered in a variety of sizes. Some are huge, upwards of 30 metres in length with a sizable wingspan of 40 metres, while other, far smaller Harridans have also been encountered that were well below the size of what would be considered a Bio-Titan. Instead, these Harridan variants are more like larger and somewhat tougher Gargoyles.
Bio-Titan - Dactylis: The Dactylis Bio-Titan is speculated to be a larger genetic derivative of the Tyranid Biovore. The Dactylis hurls large Spore Mines at very long ranges. Their forelimbs are long and covered in tightly-corded tendon and muscle that makes a distinctive cracking sound when used to hurl its deadly payload. When initially encountered by the forces of the Imperium, the Dactylis was noted for using the bio-weapon known as a Bile Pod.This living ammunition is a parasitic creature which feeds off the toxins emitted by the poisonous glands of the Dactylis' cranium. In recent encounters, the Dactylis has shown the Tyranids' innate ability to adapt to any combat situation or tactical need -- its cranial glands have grown a variety of spore-generating colonies that can be used to produce a number of different types of deadly ammunition chosen for their particular utility against specific classes of foe.
Bio-Titan - Dominatrix: The Dominatrix is a specialised Bio-Titan, psychically commanding the Tyranid forces on the battlefield and providing the highest level of psychic control as an exceptionally powerful -- and valuable -- Tyranid synapse creature. It is a fearsome opponent, for its sheer mass and panoply of bio-weaponry dwarf that of an Imperial super-heavy tank.The Dominatrix is no unthinking beast –- its level of intelligence is akin to that of the Hive Tyrant, and the strength of its telepathic link to the Hive Mind surpasses even those mighty creatures. Whilst within range of the Dominatrix's psychic aura, lesser Tyranid creatures become little more than an extension of the Dominatrix's will. As a result, a swarm under the Dominatrix's direct supervision functions with uncanny efficiency and a tactical genius that is beyond compare.Fortunately for the galaxy, such beasts are extremely rare in all but the most advanced Tyranid swarm, for where the Dominatrix treads, doom surely follows.They are armed with an immensely potent Warp blast weapon, Bio-plasma emitters, and their massive chitinous claws. They also serve as synapse creatures, the Hive Mind's primary battlefield coordinators for the Tyranid swarms. Because of this role, the destruction of a Dominatrix can severely incapacitate a Tyranid swarm that it is responsible for directing, though the firepower required to bring down a Dominatrix is immense.
Bio-Titan - Close Combat: Rending Claws - These are massive versions of rending claws that are only used by gargantuan Tyranid bio-forms like Bio-Titans.Razor Claw - Razor Claws are deadly hand-to-hand combat weapons carried by Tyranid Bio-Titans to enhance their already formidable fighting power. Razor Claws resemble gigantic crab claws, but this basic evolutionary design has been made more lethal by bonding a mono-molecular edge to them so that they can slice through armourplas and ceramite. Razor Claws are also implanted with frag spines like those mounted on Haruspex and Malefactors, and these increase the Bio-Titan's short-range firepower against infantry and light vehicles.Scything Talons - These are massive versions of the chitin scything talons found on smaller Tyranid bio-forms.Stinger Salvo - Stinger Salvos are used against infantry and lightly armoured vehicles at close range. The Stingers themselves are fans of long, needle-like protuberances which contain a vein of lethal corrosive venom. The stings are segmented and when the Bio-Titan directs a pulse of venom into them the tips are launched with tremendous velocity. This reveals the sharp tip of the next segment of the needle and makes it ready for firing. Salvos of the high velocity Stingers are short-ranged but devastating, riddling targets with slivers of bone and corrosive poisons.
Bio-Titan - Ranged: Bile Launcher - Bile Launchers work by belching a jellied lump of cankerous slime which is corrosive enough to burn through flesh and bone in seconds. Armoured targets may last a little longer than others but even they will collapse into piles of pitted and rusted metal within a few Terran minutes. Worse still, the Bile Launcher can have a considerable splatter radius if it strikes its target. These smaller droplets of acidic slime are unlikely to damage battle tanks but they can still kill foot soldiers who fail to take cover.Bio-Cannon - Bio-Titans commonly carry large, triple-orificed symbiote weapons which appear to function in a similar manner to the Bio-Cannon mounted on an Exocrine. The heavy cords of muscle that ridge the barrels of the cannon accelerate its ammunition of chitin shells to a speed at which they punch through armour as if it were cardboard. A hardened penetrator core at the centre of the shell penetrates the target in a small explosion of shrapnel and carries the spores of a pernicious slime fungus into it. Large targets that sustain a hit from a Bio-Titan's Bio-Cannon are often rotted from the inside out within minutes of impact.Cluster Spines - Cluster Spines are similar to the Frag Spine implanted onto Haruspex and Malefactors for close range, anti-personnel work. They are fired by a muscular contraction and use explosive cellular expansion to detonate on impact and spray razor-sharp chitin plates over the target area. The cluster spines implanted onto Bio-Titans are larger, more densely packed and fire in groups to achieve maximum saturation of the target.Pyro-Acid Spray - Pyro-Acid Spray is undoubtedly one of the most fearsome weapons in the Bio-Titan's arsenal. The spray fires a triple jet of highly corrosive acids which melt through plascrete and steel like wax. The interaction of the acids also produces a great release of heat, such that the jets ignite as they leave the nozzles of the spray and the target area is quickly covered in licking flames and explosions where the burning acid has swept over it.Spore Pods - Many Bio-Titans carry swollen pods of virulent spores implanted into their chitinous limbs. When they explode, the air around the Bio-Titan is filled with deadly spores which will pierce the surface of anything warm they touch and send burning, threadlike growths shooting into it. Bio-Titans use nerve impulses to detonate the pods, either as an intense cloud in a small area or as a broad bank of spores to sweep a larger area. Though each Spore Pod is emptied when it is used, a single Bio-Titan carries enough Spore Pods to last for an entire battle.
Biologus Putrifier - Biologus Putrifier: A Biologus Putrifier is a Chaos Space Marine specialist found exclusively within the ranks of the Death Guard Traitor Legion. These individuals are driven by an obsessive desire to test their concocted plague-batches to perfection, for it is the Death Guard's desire to spread Grandfather Nurgle's putrescent gifts to every corner of the galaxy.Biologus Putrifiers take a very active role in spreading disease upon the field of battle, lobbing Blight Grenades or using their cursed Injector Pistols to spread their epidemics far and wide amongst the ranks of their foes as they receive the Plague God's virulent blessings.
Biologus Putrifier - Role: The great labour of the Death Guard is to spread Nurgle's bounteous gifts to every corner of realspace. The Biologus Putrifiers have a vital role to play in this process, for it is they who refine the batches of diseased slurry brewed by the Foul Blightspawn, and distil them to utmost potency.Biologus Putrifiers bear a unique mutation: lidless, milky eyes that grow like cysts concealed beneath their flesh. Known as "occulobes," the gaze of these foul orbs can penetrate armour, flesh and bone to perceive every nuance of an infection's spread through a living body. Putrifiers croak out their observations to scurrying menials and capering daemonic scribes, filling tomes of mouldering parchment with forbidden lore.Driven by an obsessive desire to test their plague-batches to perfection, Biologus Putrifiers take a very active role in spreading disease upon the field of battle. From their backs dangle racks of Blight Grenades, churning with the latest strains of noxious plagues to issue from the disease factories. Death's heads drip foetid slime. Brittleglass alembics seethe with bubbling fluids and potent gasses. With every movement these flasks and vessels rattle and clink together, threatening to shatter and spill their noxious contents. As the fury of battle rages around them, the Putrifiers urge their brother Plague Marines to pluck the Blight Grenades from their racks like spoiled fruit and fling them into the ranks of the foe.With each volley of hurled ordnance the epidemic spreads, the Biologus Putrifiers watching every nuance as though in slow motion through their occulobes. Yet to simply observe is not their way; samples must be extracted, and tests must be run. This is when their Injector Pistols come into play. Striding into the midst of their reeling foe, the Putrifiers pick out the most intriguing entities to assail. Some look for the most resilient enemies upon the field of battle; others seek out the most easily infected, the bravest, the swiftest, or whatever other esoteric criteria they decide their test subjects must display.With their victims selected, the Biologus Putrifiers strike. They fire their Injector Pistols into vulnerable spots such as exposed flesh, chinks in armour and eyelenses before squeezing a concentrated dose of foulness into the target's body. The results are rarely less than spectacular, with victims erupting in explosive boils, liquefying into screaming sludge, vomiting billowing clouds of flies, and countless other revolting -- and mercifully lethal --symptoms. Those specimens whose deaths are especially fascinating are pierced with Injector Pistols once again, this time to extract whatever clotted foulness now passes for their blood, ready for later study.Those enemies who understand the threat posed by Biologus Putrifiers do everything in their power to kill them swiftly. Yet even this may prove their undoing, for should a Putrifier be struck by sufficient firepower or a powerful enough blow, the attack is liable to rupture his racks of Blight Grenades, releasing their deadly contents in a billowing cloud that slaughters any nearby who lack Nurgle's blessings.
Biologus Putrifier - Disease Factories: The disease factories of the Plague Planet are as bloated and corrupted as the beings that wander their halls. They are sprawling abominations of gurgling pipes, bubbling vats, belching smokestacks and rusted cages crammed with test subjects and living ingredients. So vast are they that their masters, the Foul Blightspawn and Biologus Putrifiers, have divided them up into virtual nations, each ruled by the Blightspawn elders that fester at their hearts.Millions-strong mortal Chaos Cults reside in these factories, scurrying to do the bidding of their foul masters and worshipping the Plague Marines as demigods of Nurgle, even as they slowly sicken and die. Devoted to brewing the plagues favoured by their ruling elders, these rag-clad lunatics regularly engage in sectarian warfare through the smog-wreathed passages and brewing chambers, much to the amusement of their Death Guard masters.
Biologus Putrifier - Notable Biologus Putrifiers: Slert - Slert is a Biologus Putrifier of the Death Guard warband called the Lords of Silence. A twisted monstrosity like all of his kind, Slert is blind save for the dozens of mutant eyes that now exist across his body which can perceive disease and other organic abnormalities in others. He is in charge of all of the Lords of Silence's efforts at developing new diseases, toxins and plagues. Slert proudly maintains a collection of horribly mutated slaves and Plague Ogryns to test his latest ideas upon. Slert takes enormous pleasure in testing out his new contagions, often using them on the crew of the warband's warship, the Solace. He is not considered trustworthy either by his commanding Death Guard Lord Vorx or any of the other Plague Marines of the warband. It was Slert who, at the order of Vorx, assembled the arcane machinery needed on the captured former Space Marine Chapter Homeworld of Sabatine to transform its remaining populace into Plague Zombies and Poxwalkers. Sabatine had been conquered from the White Consuls by the Lords of Silence and the Word Bearers warband called the Weeping Veil. Slert's action spoiled the Weeping Veil's attempt to sacrifice the planet's people to the Chaos Gods in a ritual that would have summoned three Greater Daemons and their daemonic legions to Sabatine. Instead, Sabatine was transformed into a new Daemon World dedicated to Nurgle that became a mirror image of Mortarion's own Plague Planet in the Eye of Terror.
Biologus Putrifier - Wargear: Corrupted Power Armour (Any pattern)Injector PistolPlague KnifeHyper Blight GrenadesKrak Grenades
Biologus Putrifier - Sources: Codex Heretic Astartes - Death Guard (8th Edition), pp. 23, 34, 61, 79Lords of Silence (Novel) by Chris Wraight
Bionics - Bionics: Bionics, also called augmetics in the Imperium of Man, are mechanical or electronic cybernetic substitutes for biological Human limbs or organs. Generally the bionic replacement is stronger, more durable or effective than the original, or gives its user completely new and/or enhanced physical abilities.The use of bionics is widespread in the Imperium. However, bionics are expensive and mostly limited to valuable servants of the Emperor, such as veteran warriors and officers of the Imperial armed forces, skilled adepts, high-ranking Imperial officials, Inquisitors, merchants, Rogue Traders, planetary rulers and members of the Imperial nobility who possess the required wealth.
Bionics - Effects and Distribution: An individual may have artificial bionic limbs and organs implanted to replace diseased or damaged parts, or simply to improve their innate abilities beyond the unaugmented Human norm. Bionics include partial and full replacements of organic body parts, brain implants, cybernetic weaponry and other devices.There is no standard level of bionic technology throughout the Imperium -- many bionics are clumsy and inefficient replacements, while the best can replicate or even improve upon the performance of the original limb or organ. The Inquisition's bionics are among the more sophisticated and can reverse what would otherwise be fatal or crippling injuries.In most Astra Militarum regiments, only the officers will have access to bionic equipment. On the other hand, there are a few regiments where virtually every soldier is bionically enhanced.Also, the Space Marines of the Iron Hands Space Marine Chapter are infamous for making extensive use of bionics, almost to the point of obsessively replacing all their flesh in favour of machinery, much like the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus, in the belief that organic flesh is weak and that the more machine-like they are, the less Human frailties will afflict them.In fact, personnel in practically all branches of the Imperial armed forces and government use bionics in some capacity. Even some particularly wealthy members of the Imperial citizenry can afford, and have been known to use, bionics.Although bionic parts are mechanical, many of them are tied into the user's bloodstream, nerve endings, etc., so damage to one may be as debilitating as an injury to the original organic part, although in general bionic replacements are a lot more durable than their organic counterparts.
Bionics - Imperial Bionics: Bionic implants in the Imperium of Man come in all shapes and sizes, from memory upgrades for the Human brain to implanted weapons. Some of the more esoteric bionic implants are listed below. The tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus are infamous for making use of extensive bionic implants, and some of the more exotic ones they create are used solely by them.This list is by no means exhaustive.Bionic Organs - For the wealthy or privileged of the Imperium, bionics can replace diseased or aged organs and therefore offer an increased life-span. Practically any organ can be replaced, even parts of the Human brain. The simplest bionics are mere replacements, while the more advanced increase the functionality and performance of the organ beyond its previous capacity.Bionic Senses - Such is the level of technology in certain parts of the Imperium that bionic senses can replace eyes, ears, noses, and even touch and taste. More advanced bionic senses can even produce effects of synaesthesia. Bionic eyes can increase a subject's visual spectrum, allowing the ability to see heat, ultraviolet light, other forms of energy, etc., as well as incorporating advanced weapons targeters and resistance to the effects of blinding flashes. The addition of digi-weapons into bionic eyes is also not unknown for high-ranking individuals. Bionic hearing can improve normal hearing to the point where the user can hear living creatures breathing, hearts beating, etc.Psi-Booster - A Psi-Booster increases activity in the part of the brain responsible for controlling psychic ability and accessing the psychic energies of the Warp. A person with one of these implants is usually a proficient psyker and has greater control over their powers compared to someone of the same psychic ability without a psi-booster.Mind Impulse Unit (MIU) - A Mind Impulse Unit (MIU) is a neural link between a sentient brain and a piece of electronic equipment, allowing an individual to control and monitor an electronic system by thought alone. MIUs are most commonly used by Space Marine Dreadnoughts and the crews of the gigantic Titans of the Adeptus Titanicus but are rarely seen elsewhere. The other uses entail shoulder-mounted weapons which allows the user to fire a weapon whilst keeping both hands free. In some rare cases the weapon is not shoulder-mounted but is carried as normal; the MIU allows the user a greater intimacy with his weapon's internal workings, such as ammunition count or barrel temperature. This is sometimes found amongst the Skitarii Tech-Guard of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Wireless MIUs also exist, although they are exceptionally rare and are used to control mechanical Familiars or certain types of servitor. This type of MIU is most common when the user cannot perform a common task himself (perhaps being too large to fit somewhere) or when he prefers to stay out of harm's way. A less advanced version of this same technology is the Throne Mechanicum used by the Nobles who pilot Imperial Knights.Implant Weaponry - An implanted weapon is one that has been grafted onto an existing limb, replacing a hand or occasionally the entire arm, and is controlled by a simpler MIU than that needed for a more sophisticated device. The obvious benefit of finer weapon control is substantially offset by the loss of hand or arm functionality outside of combat. This bionic is thus not especially practical, and is usually intended to intimidate, as the surgery used to graft them onto the user is often quite crude, leaving gruesome suture scars frightening above and beyond the "body horror" qualities of the implant itself. Another reason for implantation of bionic weapons is the user not being expected to need his arm for other tasks; this approach is most often seen in the cases of pit slave gladiators or certain types of Combat Servitor.Mechadendrites - Mechadendrites are mechanical tendrils used by the tech-adepts of the Adeptus Mechanicus to aid them in construction, maintenance, and research. These bionics contain small motors and actuators within their armoured shells and wave about the tech-priest implanted with them almost with a life of their own.Electoos - Electoos are metallic strips bonded sub-dermally that enable Tech-priests to channel limited amounts of electromagnetic energy; an extreme example are the renowned Electro-priests, who turn themselves into crackling founts of electricity in battle for the Adeptus Mechanicus. Electoos enable the user to directly absorb electromagnetic energy from equipment or other power sources and then expel it, with sometimes devastating results. They also can be used to store digital information and allow the user to interact directly with digital technologies such as cogitators.Rite of Pure Thought - The Rite of Pure Thought is considered an extreme measure even among some tech-priests. The creative, emotional, illogical right hemisphere of the Human brain is replaced with a cogitator (computer) linked directly to the logical left hemisphere. This frees the recipient of any irrationality and illogic, though it also essentially eliminates much of what makes him or her Human.
Bionics - Augmenticist: Augmetic implants are ubiquitous throughout the Imperium. From the prosthetic limbs of Astra Militarum veterans, to the life-extending sanguinary actuators of ancient savants, to the multi-jointed mechadendrites of the Adeptus Mechanicus tech-priests, one is hard pressed to find a resident of a civilised world who does not sport some form of bionic implant.Within the upper classes of Imperial society, where money is freely spent in service to status and fashion, the scions of nobility strut like peacocks displaying a plumage of coiling wire and ribbed augmetic tubing. But for some, bionic modification is more than a mark of status, age, or devotion to the Omnissiah. It is an obsession.For these few, known as Augmenticists, there is no greater goal than physical and aesthetic perfection. It is through repeated bionic surgery that Augmenticists believe such a goal can be attained.There are as many reasons for becoming an Augmenticist as there are Augmenticists themselves. An ageing servant, driven by fervent devotion, replaces his failing organs one by one lest he die leaving some task incomplete.A warrior of exceptional skill nevertheless becomes frustrated with the limits of the Human body, undertaking repeated muscle grafts and the implantation of ever-more lethal weapons in a quest to become death incarnate.The foppish merchant prince, a slave to youth and beauty, puts himself under the surgeon's knife time and again until he has attained statuesque allure and an inhuman tolerance to even the most exotic intoxicants.It is not long before such burgeoning Augmenticists pass the point of no return, reasoning in their various ways that they are better off as beings of mechanical perfection than creatures of crude and ugly flesh. As they pursue their physical ideal, many Augmenticists declare their contempt for the flesh proudly, displaying each new implant with gleeful abandon, every graft moving them one more step above the ruck and run of Humanity.Others hide their increasingly artificial bodies behind knowing smiles and tailored robes, content in the knowledge of their own physical superiority. However, an Augmenticist's obsession rarely ends in the realm of the physical. What is the mind, they reason, but another organ to be improved upon or replaced?The Cult Mechanicus looks upon Augmenticists with the same cold logic with which it evaluates all things. Most tech-priests applaud the burgeoning Augmenticist for recognising the limitations of the flesh and for taking steps towards the "true flesh" of the Machine God.Unfortunately, as an Augmenticist is implanted with increasingly complex devices for ever-more-selfish reasons, the Adeptus Mechanicus comes to regard him as a fetishistic dabbler, an abuser of both his body and the sacred technology that infuses it.It takes an Augmenticist of exceptional comportment and devotion to maintain the respect of the Cult Mechanicus. For their part, Augmenticists tend to view tech-priests as hidebound dogmatists weighted down with ugly cybernetics.Despite their differing opinions, many alliances have been struck between individual Augmenticists and the servants of the Machine God. Augmenticist Rogue Traders have been known to escort Explorator contingents deep into Wilderness Space in the hopes of being the first to benefit from whatever bionic technology may be rediscovered.In their quest for the rarest and most potent implants, Augmenticists all too often come into contact with Heretek factions and fabricators of proscribed technology. Augmenticists who report such groups quickly earn the respect and gratitude of the Adeptus Mechanicus, often becoming regular informants for both the Machine Cult and the Inquisition.As Augmenticists evolve, they find themselves becoming more familiar with the ways of machines and less comfortable amongst beings of flesh and blood. They spend the majority of their time in private, tuning up their implants and polishing exposed metal, emerging only to seek out new cybernetic technology and engage in social activities that best allow them to display their unreal forms.Some Augmenticists come to view those without bionics with disdain, replacing servants and crew with servitors and augmented savants. To the true Augmenticist, such isolation is a small price to pay for physical perfection and the immortality of steel.
Biophagus - Biophagus: A Biophagus is a Genestealer hybrid who acts as a medicae and biomedical scientist for Genestealer Cults and specialises in perverse genetic engineering and bio-alchemy using Tyranid DNA. Their primary role is to determine new ways to spread and adapt the Genestealer Curse to the needs of the cult.In conflict, these scientist-surgeons can use injector goads to enhance the unholy might of Aberrants and other favoured cultists, or to dose enemies with a mutagenic cocktail that rapidly dissolves them from within. Coupled with hurled vials of bio-acids, this arsenal renders the Biophagus a deadly agent of biological warfare.
Biophagus - Role: A master of gene-manipulation and bio-alchemy, the Biophagus is responsible for industrialising the processes of indoctrination and infection for a Genestealer Cult. They concoct devious new contaminants that infect their victims with xenos genetics, morphing their body and mind and rendering them susceptible to the sinister influence of the cult.Biophaguses can be found posing as medicae specialists in slum hospitals, macro-alchemical distilleries and med-paste factories. Embedded in positions of high authority, they run discreet tests upon the local populace and practice their twisted experiments upon pliant Broodkin.It was the Biophaguses of the Twisted Helix cult that first unlocked the secrets of extracting Genestealer germ-seed from a Purestrain Genestealer. The cultists of the Helix contaminated medical supplies and food rations with this biomatter, spreading their genetic curse through ingestion and fluid intake rather than by the original vector of the "Genestealer's Kiss."This knowledge has gradually spread amongst other cults, gene-sects and hidden cells, and the sinister experiments of the Biophaguses continue apace. These artificially synthesised vectors of infection allow the reach of a Genestealer Cult to spread far and wide. Imperfection in the synthesised Genestealer germ-seed often leads to strange mutations and aberrations in the subject: flesh twists and splits, and muscles swell with alien strength even as the unfortunate victim's mental capacities degrade into inchoate anger and hatred. Those affected individuals who are not slain by this slow and agonising transformation emerge as the lumbering hulks known in the cults as Aberrants.A Biophagus will maintain a hidden lair for these lumpen brutes within one of their gene-sect's holdings, continuing to trial new bio-alchemical solutions upon them in an attempt to bring out the latent alien power within their blood. The Injector Goad that each Biophagus carries contains concoctions of the alchemist's own devising, virulent gene-brews that temporarily grant an Aberrant subject enhanced strength and speed. For their part, the Aberrants come to view the Biophagus as something akin to a benevolent parent, for the Biophagus ensures the misshapen creatures are delivered a regular supply of fresh meat laced with psychoactive chemicals to induce dependence and fearsome loyalty.Genestealer Patriarchs instinctively value the work of the Biophaguses, for any process that aids the proliferation of their genetic curse only increases the numbers under their sway. To this end, a cult's Patriarch grants its bio-alchemists an Alchemicus Familiar to aid in the synthesising of xenos biomatter, a scuttling assistant that sneaks into safeguarded facilities to disperse chemical agents into watersumps or air filtration bellows.Biophaguses are reclusive beings at heart, far preferring to labour alone on their great work than to engage in the messy business of armed insurrection. Ultimately, however, the Broodmind's irresistible influence will draw them out like all other Genestealer hybrids come the day of the cult's ascension, and they will visit the horror of biological warfare upon the enemies of the Patriarch.Often marching to war surrounded by a phalanx of Power Hammer-wielding Aberrants, the Biophagus unleashes their finest creations, hurling vials of corrosive acids and flesh-morphing mutagens that melt their foes into a protean ooze.Their Injector Goad pumps stimulating chemicals into the blood of their faithful Aberrant bodyguards, but it can alsobe put to use against mortal flesh. Those struck with this weapon who do not bear the Genestealer Curse are dissolved from within by a hyper-adrenal alien cocktail.
Biophagus - Wargear: AutopistolInjector GoadAlchemicus Familiar
Biotechnical Division - Biotechnical Division: The Biotechnical Division was a scientific research group of the early Imperium of Man that was formed on Terra before or during the ancient Unification Wars of the late 29th and 30th Millennia by the Emperor of Mankind. Many of its laboratories were located deep beneath what later became the Imperial Palace complex in the Himalazian (Himalayan) Mountains.The skilled scientists and engineers of the Biotechnical Division were tasked by the Emperor with carrying out both the Primarch Project and the creation of the Space Marine Legions.The first director of the Biotechnical Division was the famed Terran geneticist Amar Astarte, who gave her name in High Gothic to the Legiones Astartes but who betrayed the Imperium late in the Unification Wars when she participated in the Imperial Palace Coup in the misguided belief that with the loss of the primarchs to the Warp, the Space Marine Legions created from their gene-lines would prove to ultimately be too unstable to achieve the goals the Emperor and she had wanted for them.By the time of the Horus Heresy in the early 31st Millennium, Astarte had been replaced as director after her death by the even more skilled Terran scientist Ezekiel Sedayne. A portion of Sedayne's personality and memories would later be digitally copied and incorporated into the psyche of Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl through the use of his "soul-merging" technology and would help to provide the archmagos with his unparalleled skill at genetic engineering and the ability to create the Primaris Space Marines by improving upon the original work of the Emperor, Astarte and Sedayne.
Biovore - Biovore: The Tyranid bioform called the Biovore (Tyranicus patris-boletus) is a powerful "living artillery" weapon for the Tyranid swarms.Deep within its squat, lumpen form, the Biovore nurtures a clutch of Spore Mines -- living bombs that cloud the battlefield and cover enemies in acids, poisons and pieces of chitin.Biovores thump forward in battle, bony protrusions on their forelimbs anchoring themselves into the ground as they release their vile payload from a dorsal aperture by means of a powerful, shuderring muscle spasm. As the Spore Mine is flung through the air, its internal gas bladder inflates and it floats down towards ground level.A Biovore can fire three types of Spore Mines: fragmentation, bio-acid or poison.Even if the shot misses its target, the danger is far from over, for the Spore Mines are possessed of a rudimentary animal intelligence and detonate not on impact, but when they sense the proximity of a non-Tyranid lifeform.Fortunately, the Biovore's relative rarity amongst the Tyranid swarms is taken as a sign that the Hive Mind prefers to win its battles in bloody melee, but the truth is subtly different.Over time, as the hive fleets pressed ever deeper into the galaxy, their victories were much harder won as their enemies began to concentrate on destroying the swarm from great distance. In response, the pragmatic Hive Mind recognised the need for a bioform that could neutralise the enemy's long-range weaponry, thus leading to the birth of the Biovore.When the Hive Mind wishes to deny the enemy access to a particular zone upon the battlefield, it will direct hosts of Biovores towards the area. There, they will unleash dozens of Spore Mines, creating a deadly and impassable hazard.Imperial savants believe that the Hive Mind may have made use of Orkoid genetic material to create the Biovore. Thus this creature is not merely a powerful weapon in the Hive Mind's arsenal, it is living proof of the adaptive nature of the Tyranid menace.
Biovore - Wargear: Spore Mine Launcher
Biovore - Ordo Xenos Departmento Analyticus Record: Ordo Xenos Departmento Analyticus RecordDesignation:BiovoreCommon Title:GunbeastSpecies Name:Tyranicus patris-boletusAverage Height:2 metresAverage Weight:2 tonnesFirst Encountered:Ichar IV (Second Tyrannic War)Role:Indirect fire supportThreat Evaluation:Low
Biovore - Sources: Codex: Tyranids (7th Edition), pp. 66, 101Codex: Tyranids (6th Edition) (Tablet), pp. 125-126Codex: Tyranids (5th Edition), pg. 48Deathwatch: The Jericho Reach (RPG), pg. 184Imperial Armour Volume Four - The Anphelion ProjectGames Workshop Online Store - Tyranid BiovoreWarhammer 40,000: Collectible Card Game (Picture)
Birmingham - Birmingham: BirminghamBlack PlanetImperialFeral WorldSegmentum TempestusAstra MilitarumAs of 998.M41, its regimental tithe results in the recruitment of 5 million to 10 million Imperial Guardsmen per Terran year.Birmingham is also the Chapter homeworld of the Harbingers Space Marine Chapter.
Birmingham - History: Birmingham is known as the Black Planet because it receives almost no visible light from its system's sun. As a result, the world receives few visitors from the wider Imperium, and its inhabitants have become linguistically and culturally isolated. Its technology is primitive and pre-industrial compared to the rest of the Imperium. For instance, the favoured weapon among the natives is still the black powder musket.In 849.M41, a Drukhari raiding force attacked several outposts on Birmingham, causing the Imperium to lose all contact with the planet. Subsequent investigations discovered that almost the entire planetary population had been slaughtered or carried off as slaves by the xenos raiders.In 888.M41, the desolate world was again the site of conflict. This time the Daemonic horde of Skulltaker, a Bloodletter Herald of Khorne, attempted to transform the planet into a Daemon World through dark rituals.Warned of the attempt, a force of Grey Knights managed to land on the planet, and the Purifier Garran Crowe challenged the mighty Daemon to single combat. Crowe managed to weaken the Daemon with a vial of the Emperor's tears, battling the Daemon to a standstill and buying enough time to win the day.By 998.M41, Birmingham's population had recovered enough to once more serve as a source of recruitment for the Imperial Guard. Birmingham also now served as the Chapter planet for the Harbingers, a Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes known to specialise in voidship boarding operations and planetary drop assaults.
Biscopea - Biscopea: The Biscopea, also called the "Forge of Strength" or the "Warrior's Vigour" (within the Silver Skulls Chapter), is the third of the 19 gene-seed organs implanted into a neophyte Space Marine during the induction process to create a new Astartes.These organs enhance a Space Marine's physical combat ability and survivability to superhuman levels should he live to become a full Astartes of a Space Marine Chapter.The Biscopea is implanted into the chest cavity. It is small, approximately spherical in shape and, like the Ossmodula, its primary action upon the body is hormonal. The presence of the Biscopea greatly stimulates muscle growth throughout the body, increasing a Space Marine's physical strength beyond the Human norm.It can be implanted at the same time as the first two organs, the Secondary Heart and the Ossmodula, generally between the 10th and 12th standard years of age of the neophyte.In at least one known case, a Silver Skulls neophyte suffered an undetected discontinuity in his psycho-conditioning which led to a traumatic stop in the action of inhibiting genes. This allowed the Biscopea to keep producing muscle hypertropics which could not be detected until the process was irreversible.The subject was removed from the implantation process and physically restrained within the Apothecarion's Reclusia until the accelerating muscle growth caused the fracture of the reinforced skeleton and even the inner organs, killing the hapless aspirant.Nevertheless, Chief Apothecary Malus considered that, in a controlled environment, muscle overgrowth could be beneficial for the creation of more efficient assault warriors.
Biting Blade - Biting Blade: Biting Blades are large, two-handed, long-bladed Chainswords wielded by the Craftworld Aeldari Striking Scorpions Aspect Warriors reminiscent of the massive Eviscerators used by religious zealots within the Imperium. However, where Imperial Eviscerators are heavy, noisy machines, Biting Blades are slender and quiet, but no less deadly for their relatively light weight.Wielded properly, the razorsharp teeth can tear through flesh and bone with horrific speed, and a skilled warrior can cleave a man in two without difficulty. These deadly weapons are wielded exclusively by Exarchs of the Striking Scorpions Aspect Shrine.
Biting Blade - Notable Biting Blades: Dragon's Tooth - Whether fanciful myth, or a legitimate truth, the Dragon's Tooth chainsword has been seen in the hands of Striking Scorpion heroes of legend. Though extremely rare, the presence of such a weapon is considered a good omen by the warriors of Karandras; the roar of the Dragon's Tooth is often the last thing the enemies of the Aeldari ever hear. The teeth of this weapon are heavier than usual, which makes the weapon heavier. However, because the teeth are so much sharper, it has a much easier time opening armour wide open.
Bitter Sons - Bitter Sons: The Bitter Sons was a warband of the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion. The Chaos Space Marines of the Bitter Sons were deployed to the Macragge System as part of the Ultramar Campaign of Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41. They managed to capture one of the Hive World of Ardium's three subterranean hive cities -- Hive Magmaria -- and fortified it against the Ultramarines' expected counterattack.However, during this campaign, the Ultramarines Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, was resurrected. He assumed command of the defence of Ultramar and led the Ultramarines' 4th and 6th Companies into the hives of Ardium to drive out the forces of the Heretic Astartes. Guilliman launched a surprise attack with the aid of some of Ardium's own Planetary Defence Forces on the Bitter Sons from Magmaria's under-sump runoff locks and thermic processing stations, which caught the Bitter Sons off-guard. The Iron Warriors force was ultimately destroyed.
Bitter Sons - Warband Colours: The Bitter Sons' Power Armour is the same as that of the Iron Warriors, tending to muted and dark metallics, weathered by the aeons and heavily scarred by the rigours of battle. Much could be said of the souls of those who wear such wargear, for Iron Warriors like the Bitter Sons never forget the inequities that befall them, using them as fuel for the fires of their hatred.
Bitter Sons - Warband Badge: The Bitter Sons warband badge is that of the Iron Warriors, an iron mask formed into a shape of a skull often superimposed over the symbol of the eight-pointed Chaos Star.
Bjorn: Lone Wolf (Short Story) - Bjorn: Lone Wolf (Short Story): Bjorn: Lone Wolf is the thirteenth short story published in the Horus Heresy that was not originally part of an anthology novel. It was originally published online in December 2013 as part of the Black Library Advent Calendar, on the Black Library's website. It is also now included in Legacies of Betrayal anthology novel. Covers for both the original and updated artwork is shown.
Bjorn: Lone Wolf (Short Story) - Synopsis: As daemons swarm across the fields of Velbayne, bringing madness and Chaos to all that they touch, Leman Russ and the Rout stand arrayed against them. Packs fight back to back, brothers protecting one another except for one. The Lone Wolf, the warrior without a Pack, stands alone. And somewhere on the battlefield is a foe against which he will have vengeance.
Bjorn Stormwolf - Bjorn Stormwolf: Bjorn Stormwolf is a Wolf Lord of the Space Wolves Space Marine Chapter, one of twelve legendary warriors who lead the Great Companies into battle. The military actions of Bjorn Stormwolf's Great Company are typified by noise, intimidation, and splendour. Bjorn is a hairy, red-faced mountain of muscle to whom calm and introspection are foreign concepts.He has taken the Thunderwolf as his symbol, for he too is a creature of might and ferocity over stealth. Bjorn fills a silence with his booming voice just as completely as he fills his ornate suit of Terminator Armour. He has been known to interrupt Imperial dignitaries with a loud belch (or worse) if they begin to bore him.Bjorn's spectacular assaults reflect his impatient and aggressive nature, and invariably includes lots of Long Fang squads, Bikes and Vindicators -- essentially anything that makes a great deal of noise. The Great Wolf Logan Grimnar employs Bjorn for frontal assaults rather than the stealth missions favoured by Erik Morkai, which the Stormwolf dismissively refers to as "whelp-work".
Bjorn Stormwolf - Heraldry: Bjorn Stormwolf and his Great Company bears the totem of the Thunderwolf. According to the ancient legends of Fenris, Leman Russ fought and tamed the great wolf packs of Asaheim. He cast down the two-headed wolf Morkai, and made him the guardian of the gates of death, a task which Morkai has endured ever since. There are many stories of how Russ fought Morkai's lieutenants, and banished each in turn to an appointed place.According to legend, the Thunderwolf was one of the ancient wolves that Russ fought and vanquished. The Thunderwolf ran from Russ and continues to run to this day, forever circling the world of Fenris. The creature can be seen as a constellation in the night sky fleeing across the heavens. As he passes overhead his howling cry is said to create the thunder, and his flashing fangs are the lightning. The symbol of the Thunderwolf is highly favoured as an emblem of Wolf Lords.It is quite rare for one of the Great Companies not to display this symbol, and many renowned leaders have borne this distinct emblem into battle. It is regarded as a very lucky symbol, and over the centuries many Great Companies bearing this badge have earned everlasting fame.
Bjorn Stormwolf - Wargear: Terminator ArmourBelt of Russ - Each Great Company has in its Armoury a single Belt of Russ. A mighty ward against enemy attacks, these powerful girdles incorporate potent gravitic force fields that protect the wearer. Forged by the master Iron Priest Stef Blacksoul after the disappearance of Russ, these belts are important relics of the Chapter.Storm BolterFrag GrenadesKrak GrenadesFrost Blade
Bjorn the Fell-Handed - Bjorn the Fell-Handed: Bjorn the Fell-Handed, also known as "the Eldest," "Trueclaw," "Revered One," and "Last from the Company of Russ," is a Venerable Mars Pattern Mark V Dreadnought and former Great Wolf of the Space Wolves Chapter. He is also the oldest living Space Marine in the Imperium of Man, for in his mortal life he fought beside the Emperor and his primarch, Leman Russ, during the Great Crusade and the bitter wars of the Horus Heresy.More than ten thousand Terran years have passed since that age of legends, yet Bjorn remains a living link to the Chapter's distant past -- it is little wonder that his counsel is sought by many within the Space Wolves when they gird for war. Despite his extreme age, Bjorn is a steadfast warrior and lumbers into battle entombed within the sacred sarcophagus of his Dreadnought.A venerable hero of immense power, Bjorn has masterminded many of the Space Wolves' greatest victories, and by his hand have some of the Imperium's most heinous adversaries been slain. Always eager to crush the foes of the Allfather, Bjorn continues to fight amongst his Chapter's ranks as he has done for millennia.Legend claims that the spirit of Russ ever watches over Bjorn, and that no harm will come to him until the primarch returns to fight alongside his friend once more in the battle to end all things -- the Wolftime.
Bjorn the Fell-Handed - Prospero: Ten thousand Terran years ago, before his internment within the armoured sarcophagus of a Dreadnought, Bjorn fought alongside Primarch Leman Russ of the Space Wolves Legion during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy and saw the Emperor Himself before He was interred within the mechanisms of the Golden Throne. Bjorn was a member of the Vlyka Fenryka (Wolves of Fenris)'s Tra (3rd) Great Company where he served under the command of Jarl Ogvai Ogvai Helmschrot. The stern, taciturn warrior saw combat in many theatres of the Crusade, including the Olamic Quietude Campaign and the Battle of Prospero, during which he served as the (rather unwilling) guardian of the Remembrancer Kasper Hawser to atone for his mistake of wrongfully shooting the man's shuttle out of the sky during the Remembrancer's initial arrival on Fenris.Bjorn's saga of greatness would begin in earnest during the Battle of Prospero. The exact account of what happened on Prospero has been lost to time, but it is known that some thing, whether foul warlock of the Thousand Sons or Neverborn abomination had taken a special interest in Kasper Hawser, ostensibly attempting to use the mortal as a spy against the Vlyka Fenryka, but in truth to ensure that the confrontation between the Space Wolves and Thousand Sons resulted in their mutual annihilation.The being revealed itself to its unwilling mortal pawn on Prospero, and when Hawser defiantly planted his axe into the foul creature's head, the monster started to choke the life out of him due to its inveterate malice. Bjorn intervened, hacking the foul being's arm off at the elbow and saving Hawser's life. Pressing his advantage, Bjorn dealt the creature several ruinous blows, but the Daemon refused to fall, and used fell magicks to pluck the Space Wolves' true names from Hawser's mind and to use it against them as part of its foul sorcery.Yet, the sorcery failed against Bjorn, for Hawser, having always subconsciously translated his name to "Bear," in Imperial Gothic, did not know Bjorn's true name. Refusing to be daunted by the messy death of his fellows, Bjorn kept hammering at his opponent, driving it back until the foul being managed to grab his arm and send a massive surge of Warp energy through it. Bjorn's hand immediately started to smoulder and decay, and the corruption started to crawl up his arm, yet Bjorn grimly fought on.Luckily, succor arrived in the form of a Rune Priest accompanied by a squad of Sisters of Silence, two Space Wolves Dreadnoughts, and (according to some accounts) Constantin Valdor of the Legio Custodes. The Silent Sisters' Pariah Gene interrupted the being's fell magicks, and it was ground to paste by the two vengeful Dreadnoughts.At the same time, either Hawser or Valdor intervened and saved Bjorn's life by hacking his arm off at the elbow, preventing the corruption from spreading further. Bjorn was later lionised by the others, especially Hawser, for resisting and driving back such a monstrous opponent.
Bjorn the Fell-Handed - First of the Lone Wolves: During the Horus Heresy, Bjorn was a young warrior of great potential. He had excelled during the campaign known as the Battle of Prospero and Bjorn's saga was already being crafted by the skalds. He had been there when he was confronted by the Horus-Daemon and heard the words of mystery spoken by the fell creature. His stock had risen, and he was being spoken of as if some deep wyrd had attached itself to him. Indeed, Bjorn's pack (squad) was often singled out to lead assaults where enemy resistance was expected to be at its heaviest.It was whilst undertaking one such attack on the acrid, volcanic world of Gryth that events were to take a tragic turn. Bjorn's pack had humbled tyrants, butchered aliens beyond counting, and even hewn down their brother Space Marines who had fallen from the Emperor's grace; yet against the Daemon king, Arvax the Arch-slaughterer, they knew only death. That Bjorn actually survived the massacre of his kinsmen was a testament to his exceptional skills as a warrior, for all others who faced the mighty Daemon of Khorne that fateful day joined Bjorn's packmates in death. Though the arrival of the mighty Primarch Leman Russ saw the Space Wolves ultimately emerge victorious against the daemonic warhost, it was Bjorn's relentless assault who finally drove the seemingly unstoppable Daemon general from the field.Despite his victory of sorts, Bjorn never forgave himself for the loss of his kinsmen, nor the fact that he alone yet lived, having been denied a magnificent death. In the hours that followed the battle, Bjorn became increasingly melancholic, refusing to accept the hearty approval of those who had witnessed his heroic battle against the Daemon king. As he witnessed his packmates burn atop the victory pyres, he gave voice to a long, mournful howl. Kneeling before the bodies of his burning kinsmen, he swore a grave oath of vengeance against their slayer.To Bjorn's continued frustration, it was to be five long standard years before word of Arvax's location surfaced once more. Russ immediately led his Space Wolves to destroy the foul creature, determined to personally slay the Daemon king himself and avenge those who had died during their last encounter. Yet in this goal, the primarch was to be denied, for Bjorn too sought out his nemesis and, as fate would have it, was the first to face Arvax in battle.As the Wolf-King tore through the Khornate horde towards his quarry, he witnessed Bjorn's duel first-hand. Russ could only look on in pride as Bjorn deftly rolled beneath a blow attempting to cut him in half, then clambered up the Daemon's towering frame to tear out the Arch-slaughterer's throat with his trusty Wolf Claw. In the aftermath of the battle, Russ came to Bjorn in person and exonerated him in front of the entire Legion, holding his oath fulfilled.Setting a precedent that still exists to this day, the Wolf-King promoted Bjorn to his personal Wolf Guard, naming him the "Fell-Handed" in honour of his mighty deed. The Skjalds of the Chapter hold that it was the sense of loss and tragedy that Bjorn had already experienced and learned to master that influenced Russ' decision to leave him behind when he set forth on his last, fateful journey into the Eye of Terror. Of all of the primarch's Wolf Guard, he alone had shown such strength of purpose and determination in his darkest hour; he alone would understand the lonely burden of command in the primarch's absence.
Bjorn the Fell-Handed - Last of the Company of Russ: No one knows what happened to Leman Russ. Some say he disappeared in the Eye of Terror whilst searching for his old friend and rival, the Dark Angels Primarch Lion El'Jonson. Others say that, to this day, he walks disguised among Mankind, watching over the people of his Emperor and guarding them from the powers of Chaos. All that is known for sure is that Leman Russ vanished in 211.M31, nearly two standard centuries after the Emperor was entombed upon the Golden Throne. At that time, all of the Space Wolves warriors and their Wolf Lords, including the Great Wolf himself, were gathered for a feast on Fenris.The holiday, known by the devotees of the cults of Emperor-worship as the "Feast of the Emperor's Ascension," commemorated the day the Emperor defeated Horus and "ascended" back into the Immaterium after being entombed upon the Golden Throne. On this occasion, Leman Russ quieted the great hall of his warriors to speak, but then froze in place as his eyes glazed over as if seeing a vision. The assembled Space Wolves looked on in horror as their primarch fell to his knees and called for his Wolf Guard and closest retainers to attend him, all save the youngest, Bjorn the Fell-Handed. Giving his closest companions his instructions, Russ turned and left the Great Hall with his honour guard in tow, leaving only Bjorn behind.The tale of Russ' disappearance is retold every thousand standard years by Bjorn the Fell-Handed, now the oldest Astartes Dreadnought still in service in the entire Imperium. It is believed by some Astartes amongst the Space Wolves that Russ left Fenris and journeyed into the Eye of Terror to find the fabled Tree of Life, a font of uncorrupted Warp energy hidden somewhere within the Immaterium that bears fruits said to be able to heal the Emperor and restore Him to full life.It was no mere coincidence that Russ chose young Bjorn to lead the Chapter in his stead. During the aftermath of the Horus Heresy called the Great Scouring, Bjorn proved both his tenacity and mettle a hundred times over. This, combined with the fact that he had already lived through and come out of the ordeal of losing his packmates stronger than he was before, led Russ to see in Bjorn the future leader of the Space Wolves in the reformed Imperium as forged by Roboute Guilliman. He was the only member of Leman Russ' personal Wolf Guard who could and would endure being left behind when Russ departed for the Eye of Terror; and so he was.This deed left Bjorn harbouring intense feelings of rejection and bitterness to this very day, for the taciturn primarch did not explain his decision to the young warrior, and what was meant to be high praise and honour left Bjorn instead feeling that he had been punished by his primarch for some flaw of which he was unaware. Bjorn has never explained why he was left behind in this manner; it is not certain if he even knows himself, but the primarch was never one to act idly.Every standard year after his disappearance, Russ' place was laid at the same feast. Every year his drinking horn was filled should he return. For seven long, painful Terran years the Space Wolves waited patiently for their lost Wolf-King to return to them. After seven years, the surviving Wolf Lords gathered and elected Bjorn their leader, becoming the Chapter's first warden in the primarch's name. So it was that, when it became clear that Russ was not to return, Bjorn reluctantly took his primarch's place as master of the Chapter, becoming the first Great Wolf.Bjorn gathered all his warriors together in the Great Hall of The Fang, and announced the first Great Hunt. Russ' people would seek out their master if it took the rest of time to do it. So did the twelve Great Companies take to their voidships and sail forth in separate directions across the Sea of Stars. From the day of Russ' disappearance, Bjorn has given his all to prove himself worthy in his missing primarch's stead, first as Great Wolf, then as a Dreadnought, and finally to this day as the spiritual and moral compass for the entire Chapter. Only the ancient Wolf Priest Ulrik knows Bjorn well enough to suspect that he still craves the benediction of Russ, and that Bjorn will know no peace until he fights alongside his primarch once more.Bjorn's heroic career as the first Great Wolf of the Space Wolves was tragically cut short during the Proxima Rebellion in 934.M31. Bjorn led a successful raid to free those of his battle-brothers trapped within the notorious Dreadsun Fortress, but his body sustained such terrible injuries that, to preserve his life, what was left of his shattered body was interred in a Dreadnought. Acutely aware that, as a Dreadnought, he could no longer fulfil his duties as master of the Chapter, Bjorn abdicated his position as Great Wolf.Even being confined within a cold robotic shell did nothing to dampen Bjorn's burning conviction. Over the following five hundred standard years, he remained at the forefront of every battle, leading by example, and counselling his successors as the Chapter's Great Wolf. Eventually, the long years took their toll on the ancient warrior, and he began spending longer and longer periods dormant in stasis sleep. Now he is only awakened when the Chapter has the greatest need of his potent skills and ancient wisdom, as during the Battle of The Fang in the 32nd Millennium, where Bjorn faced off against and severely wounded the Space Wolves' arch-nemesis, the Daemon Primarch Magnus the Red; or the so-called "Months of Shame" in the aftermath of the First War for Armageddon in 451.M41 where he negotiated a truce between the Space Wolves, the Grey Knights and the Inquisition.Bjorn is also awakened by his Chapter at the dawn of each new standard millennium to hold court at the Great Feast. The Great Feast commemorates the disappearance of Leman Russ; it is a boisterous celebration that all Space Wolves attend, where Fenrisian Ale flows freely, the ancient sagas are told to the younglings, and new oaths taken and old oaths reaffirmed. Invariably, at some point during the Great Feast, a delegation of Iron Priests will arrive, escorting a massive figure. In seconds, the Great Hall of The Fang will fall utterly silent as the Great Wolf rises and cedes his place to the new arriver.When the ancient Venerable Dreadnought speaks, the boisterous mirth of his battle-brothers is replaced by the hushed silence of utmost respect. Entire generations of Space Wolves can fight and die without ever witnessing Bjorn in person, so to be in the majestic presence of this revered hero is a rare privilege. In the utter silence of profound respect, Bjorn will speak of the time of the Great Crusade, where he recounts elements from his own saga and anecdotes about their long-gone primarch to his battle-brothers.To the youngest Blood Claws, Bjorn's stories sound more like a skjald's outlandish legend than a recollection of facts, yet Bjorn's memory is clear and he speaks with the authority and certitude of one who has seen it all and lived to remember it. The only moment where his voice falters is when he recounts Leman Russ' decision to leave for the Eye of Terror and his own appointment as the first warden of the Space Wolves Chapter until Russ returns.Even after ten millennia, Bjorn still feels the pain of rejection by his primarch as keenly as he did on that fateful day. Those who are the eldest amongst the Space Wolves believe that the only thing that could grant "The Revered One" his peace of mind again is the return of Leman Russ, and the occasion to fight alongside his primarch one last time in defence of Humanity.To the Space Wolves, Bjorn represents the Chapter's greatest link to the past. He is revered as a hero almost as great as Leman Russ, and his words are to his living brethren akin to law, for he is the only one amongst them who can still judge a situation by their primarch's own standards. In this, Bjorn also functions as the Space Wolves' moral compass, and even the stubbornness incarnate that is Logan Grimnar, the current Great Wolf, listens and defers to Bjorn's ancient wisdom when "The Eldest" speaks against him.On those dire occasions where the Ancient is roused to take the field, the Space Wolves will fight with a tenacity and stubbornness remarkable even for the Space Wolves, for they believe that faltering in the eyes of Bjorn is akin to faltering in the eyes of Leman Russ himself. Woe to the being skillful yet unlucky enough to dare to damage the mighty Venerable Dreadnought, for it only spurs the Space Wolves into a fanatical, homicidal rage, and the whole of them will charge forward madly in order to prevent "The Eldest" from being defiled by the foe.
Bjorn the Fell-Handed - Wargear: When he was still counted amongst the living, Bjorn was outfitted as befitted a member of Leman Russ' retinue of Wolf Guard: garbed in a mighty suit of Artificer Armour, one hand a master-crafted Wolf Claw which he always wielded with tremendous skill, and in his other he bore a bolter modified with a pistol grip, allowing him to fire the weapon one-handed. Bjorn's Wolf Claw was not so much a weapon as a replacement for his lost organic hand, for the Iron Priests had refused his request for an augmetic replacement. As such, he had stolen the Wolf Claw and chose to use it as an appendage and weapon alike.Shortly after his internment in a Dreadnought chassis, the Chapter's Iron Priests fashioned a unique Wolf Claw sized to match his massive chassis in honour of his favoured weapon in his former life. Bjorn wields this mighty weapon, known as Trueclaw, as deftly as ever, ensuring that he continues to live up to his name. It is much more devastating than the weapon he bore as a living Astartes, and is additionally equipped with a built-in Heavy Flamer that allows Bjorn to carbonize anything escaping his claw's attentions.On his other arm Bjorn also bears a mighty ranged weapon: most often an Assault Cannon, which is to a Dreadnought like the standard bolter is to an Astartes. However, if the situation requires it, the Iron Priests will equip Bjorn with a Plasma Cannon, Helfrost Cannon , or Twin-linked Lascannons.However, Bjorn's most potent weapon is neither his Lightning Claw nor his tactical acumen, but his legend. To be in Bjorn's presence is to the Space Wolves akin to being in Leman Russ' presence by proxy, spurning them on to commit acts of courage so foolhardy that even their "usual" acts of near-suicidal bravery seems only like child's play in comparison.Although he rarely complains, Bjorn finds the decorations and embellishments with which his brothers have decorated his sarcophagus an annoyance and a lie, for he is convinced that Leman Russ left him behind for some failing on his part, and that he is as such unworthy of the reverence in which he is held. Yet, he is canny enough to understand his value as a role model to his younger brethren, and thus only voices his opinion in private to the other Dreadnoughts beneath The Fang.
Black Arts of Shaimesh - Black Arts of Shaimesh: The Black Arts of Shaimesh is the name given by the Drukhari of Commorragh to the arcane sciences that surround the distillation of various poisons and toxins. The term refers to the Dark Muse Shaimesh, renowned as the Lord of Poisons and the patron of assassins and murderers.The Drukhari are expert in the use of toxins. Entire districts of Commorragh are given over to the manufacture of the most potent necrolixirs and vitriolic compounds that can eat through duralumin as if it were soft flesh. Many of the weaponised syringes and needlers used by the Drukhari contain potent cocktails of the most virulent venoms available, for the Kabals appreciate the toxic spectrum much as an artist would the myriad colours of a sunrise.The Haemonculi are the most skilled of all when it comes to administering a painful death, and should one come too close one would find that their sting is always poisonous.Their toxin-based weaponry, of which the Liquifier Gun is most infamous, fires organo-acidic compounds that can trigger blood vessel explosion or implosion, pharyngal contraction, extensive haemolysis, skeletal disintegration, sclerotic corrosion, intercostal spasms, hyper-reacted thermoreceptors, subcutaneous necrolysis, Eustachian collapse, cardiac and respiratory atrophy or wide-scale exsanguination -- sometimes all at once.Toxin traders thrive in Commorragh, and though antidotes exist, they are difficult to obtain and generally frowned upon as being the refuge of the weak.
Black Brethren of Ayreas - Black Brethren of Ayreas: The Black Brethren of Ayreas are a warband of Chaos Space Marines drawn from the Black Legion who follow the Chaos Champion Ayreas. They were among the Forces of Chaos and the 11 warbands and Renegade Chapters of Chaos Space Marines who participated in the the infamous Siege of Vraks (813-830.M41).
Black Brethren of Ayreas - Notable Campaigns: Siege of Vraks (813-830.M41) - The Black Brethren of Ayreas were one of the 11 warbands of Chaos Space Marines who heeded the Alpha Legion Chaos Lord Arkos the Faithless' call to the Imperial Armoury World of Vraks Prime to take part in the slaughter and mayhem that marked the 17-year-long siege by Imperial forces.
Black Brethren of Ayreas - Warband Colours: The Brethren of Ayreas wear predominately black Power Armour with gold trim. Like many different Chaos warbands and companies, many warriors of this particular warband choose to adopt individual schemes and iconography on their armour.

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