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Black Legion - Legion Combat Doctrine: The Space Marines of the Emperor's Legiones Astartes, like their modern counterparts, were genetically-engineered, psycho-indoctrinated warriors with superhuman abilities and minds and souls tempered for war. In addition, each individual Legion had its own idiosyncrasies and character -- the product of their gene-seed and unique warrior culture.In the case of the Sons of Horus, the combat doctrines of this most aggressive Legion were those of the application of overwhelming force directed to where the foe was weakest. These shattering blows were used to utterly destroy enemy command cadres, vital strategic support structures and wreak terrible slaughter on the pride of an enemy's forces, often turning the tide of an entire conflict with a single, well-placed and savage attack.Even on a personal level, the Sons of Horus took this merciless doctrine to heart and like the wolves they were once named for, were swift to exploit a foe's weakness, surrounding, and brutally tearing apart an outnumbered or exposed enemy before they could recover from the shock of an assault.The XVIth Legion was a truly flexible fighting force, able to adapt to almost any combat situation. With the treachery of Horus, their gene-father, the Sons of Horus Legion grew ever more savage and proud. Freed of the last remaining shackles imposed on them by the distant rule of the Emperor and the dim remembrance of Terra's martial traditions, they fought with callous, calculated fury, born both of the darkness in their hearts and shadowed powers which Horus had found communion with. Their battle tactics became ever more predatory, while the Warmaster himself saw to it that as the rebellion burned on, his own Legion lacked neither for recruits nor the finest weapons and wargear his enthralled Dark Mechanicum allies could supply.The Legion possessed an efficient chain of command, which fell into disarray after its Primarch, Horus, was killed during the Siege of Terra. In the years immediately following the end of the Horus Heresy, the Sons of Horus' discipline broke down completely, as the Legion dissolved into a number of competing warbands of Chaos Space Marines, each led by a different Chaos Champion who maintained his rule through the favour of the Dark Gods and often lethal discipline.First Captain Ezekyle Abaddon ultimately managed to restore a measure of discipline to the XVIth Legion and to bring its disparate warbands under his control after he assumed Horus' place as the Warmaster of Chaos, mainly through exercising a level of fear and violence that could cow even the greatest of the Legion's Chaos Champions. At present, the Black Legion shows more unity of purpose and structural integrity than many of the other Traitor Legions, and only the Word Bearers Legion has managed to maintain its complete Imperial military hierarchy intact amongst the forces of Chaos.The Black Legion generally favours close combat over ranged firefights, and Horus' tactic of "ripping the throat out of the enemy," the annihilation of the enemy's command apparatus through the use of a small force referred to as the "speartip," is still a favoured method of attack.Black Legion commanders seek to apply constant pressure on the enemy in a number of lightning fast strikes. These sharp but limited assaults are meant to disrupt the enemy and secure positions that can be used for fire support. This in turn keeps the pressure on while new attacks are being prepared.The time-lapse between each assault decreases with each advance, and the Black Legion commander will usually wait until the pressure reaches its highest point. When this occurs, the commander will lead the best Astartes amongst his warband, usually Aspiring Champions, in a final, devastating assault; an attack in which teleport-capable Terminators often feature. Hordes of daemons summoned from the Empyrean by the Black Legion's Chaos Sorcerers are also used for frontal assaults, and to pin the enemy in place while the Legion whittles them down. |
Black Legion - Legion Homeworld: The XVIth Legion's homeworld, the ancient Mining World of Cthonia, no longer exists, having apparently lost geo-structural integrity and broken apart into asteroids and debris during the centuries following the Horus Heresy. Certainly the once ore-rich planet was riddled with mine workings right through to its dead core as the numerous gangers that formed the majority of the world's population may originally have been imported as work teams to maintain the crumbling tunnels.However there is some conjecture amongst Imperial savants that Cthonia was destroyed deliberately by the Imperium following the end of the Horus Heresy, when the Loyalist Astartes Legions moved to purge the homeworlds of each of the Traitor Legions during the Great Scouring to remove their Chaos corruption.Since the destruction of their fortress on the Daemon World of Maeleum in the Eye of Terror by an alliance of Chaos Space Marines seeking to capture the body of the Warmaster Horus at the insistence of the former Emperor's Children Apothecary Fabius Bile, the Black Legion is no longer based on any particular planet, and is instead stationed permanently on various spacecraft within their large Legion fleet within the Eye of Terror.The Black Legion possesses a single ancient Battle Barge from their original fleet, Horus' own flagship the Vengeful Spirit, as well as other vessels commandeered or captured from the Imperium over the millennia. In particular, many of the oldest Imperial Army starships that rebelled against the Imperium during the Horus Heresy now seem to be under Abaddon's command, along with newer vessels, such as the Planet Killer, he has ordered constructed within the Eye of Terror over the last 10 millennia. |
Black Legion - Legion Beliefs: The overriding belief that animated the Astartes of the XVIth Legion prior to Horus' demise was in the ultimate superiority of Horus and themselves over all other beings in the galaxy. In continually seeking to prove themselves as the greatest of the Space Marine Legions, they did indeed achieve more than their fellow Astartes in terms of the sheer numbers of worlds brought into the Imperial fold prior to the Heresy.The Sons of Horus' defeat at the Siege of Terra and exile to the Eye of Terror was a crushing blow to the collective ego of the Legion. It took all the strength of character of their new commander, Abaddon the Despoiler, to restore the Legion's sense of pride and refocus its Astartes on their ultimate goal -- to destroy everything that the Emperor of Mankind created and raise themselves up as the new rulers of the galaxy in the names of the Ruinous Powers of Chaos. |
Black Legion - Legion Gene-Seed: The Black Legion's gene-seed, prior to the incident on the Feral World of Davin where Horus was brought back from the brink of death through the power of the the Serpent Temple's Chaos Sorcerers and the corruptive touch of the Ruinous Powers, was perfectly pure and unusually potent, since it was derived from Horus' genome, who was generally considered the greatest of the Primarchs.However, following their corruption by Chaos, the Black Legion's Space Marines started to exhibit random genetic mutations, and it is likely that this taint now affects their gene-seed as it has almost all of the Traitor Legions. The regular practice among the Legion's Astartes of seeking daemonic possession may also have accelerated the effect. However, such mutations are seen as a mark of favour from the Chaos Gods and are generally displayed with pride by Black Legion Astartes.However, it also means that the Legion can no longer produce new Astartes from its own gene-seed to replenish its ranks since the Astartes organs will not properly cultivate or will be so genetically warped as to kill any human male they are implanted within. This inability to replace losses is a problem that afflicts all of the Traitor Legions and drives them to seek out uncorrupted Imperial Space Marine gene-seed stores whenever possible. |
Black Legion - Notable Legion Members: Horus - Horus, also known as Horus Lupercal, was the Primarch of the XVIth Legion and served as the first Imperial Warmaster during the Great Crusade. Once the most favoured son of the Emperor of Mankind, he ultimately became the greatest Arch-Traitor in the history of Mankind when he turned from the Emperor's light and led half the Legiones Astartes in a galaxy-wide rebellion known as the Horus Heresy. Ultimately, this rebellion failed when the Emperor confronted Horus at the climactic Siege of Terra aboard his flagship Vengeful Spirit in mortal combat and killed him, which left the Emperor gravely wounded. This would result in His ten millennia internment within the life-sustaining prosthetic device known as the Golden Throne.Ezekyle Abaddon - Abaddon was the First Captain of the XVIth Legion's elite 1st Company, known as the Justaerin, and was recognised as the greatest warrior of that Legion after its Primarch Horus himself. He was also the leader of the Legion's unofficial advisory council composed of four senior Captains, called the Mournival. Rumours indicate that Abaddon may have been the result of early experiments to clone Horus. Abaddon eventually became the heir of Horus as the leader of the Black Legion after Horus' death at the end of the Horus Heresy and rose to become the new Warmaster of Chaos Undivided. Abaddon, often called Abaddon the Despoiler in the Imperium, is now one of the most powerful Chaos Lords, if not the most powerful, in the galaxy. He alone possesses the power to unite all the warbands of the Black Legion as well as the other Traitor Legions into a powerful army of Chaos in preparation for one last Black Crusade against the Imperium, to finally end the Long War that began ten millennia ago.Maloghurst, "The Twisted" - Maloghurst served as Horus' Equerry, public voice and political enforcer, and during the Horus Heresy he became the Warmaster's unofficial secret police chief. Maloghurst was known as 'The Twisted' for being a shrewd manipulator and the way in which his brilliant mind schemed up complex machinations. Known as a formidable warrior within the Legion there was some speculation that Maloghurst was a serious contender for the First Captaincy of the Luna Wolves which was held by Ezekyle Abaddon before the Warmaster made him his Equerry. During the campaign to bring the world designated as 63-19 into Imperial Compliance in the last days of the Great Crusade, Maloghurst was despatched by the Warmaster to the planet's surface to parlay with the false leader of this world who ironically called himself the "Emperor of Mankind". Unfortunately, Maloghurst met his fate when his Stormbird was shot down and he was horribly wounded after crash-landing on the planet's surface. His body was mangled and his spine horribly twisted. His body was now as physically twisted as his mind, which had long been given to deception and manipulation in a way that was unusual for the usually straight-forward Astartes. Though physically unable to remain on active combat duty as an Astartes, when selected by his Primarch to serve as his closest aide, Maloghurst proved more than willing. After Horus' corruption by Chaos on Davin, he conspired to overthrow the Emperor and install himself as the new ruler of the Imperium. It became Maloghurst's duty to ensure that the Warmaster's orders were carried out, in his new capacity as the chief enforcer of Horus' will. During the initial phases of Horus' plan to conquer the Imperium, he first needed to rid the various Traitor Legions of their remaining Loyalist Astartes on Istvaan III. Once he learned of the plan to exterminate the Loyalists while they were fighting in the Choral City on the planet below, the Loyalist Death Guard Captain Nathaniel Garro seized the Frigate Eisenstein in orbit of Istvaan III in order to flee to Terra and warn the Emperor of the Warmaster's treachery. It was Maloghurst who directed the Death Guard's First Captain Calas Typhon aboard his warship, the Terminus Est, to intercept and prevent the Eisenstein from escaping. Typhon failed at this task, and the Eisenstein escaped, badly damaged, into the Warp. Over the seven years of the Horus Heresy that followed, Maloghurst would become a dark, feared figure amongst his fellow Astartes and mortals alike, and would be responsible for ordering some of the most heinous crimes carried out by the Traitor Legions against civilian populations during the course of the great galactic civil war.Argonis, "The Unscarred" - Argonis was a member of the Sons of Horus Legion during the Horus Heresy who received his byname because his body was covered in scars and tatoos, but his face remained smooth and unmarked. Agonis was an emissary of the Warmaster Horus who served under Maloghurst during the Horus Heresy. He also served as a Chieftain of the Isidis Flight which was oathbonded to his Legion's elite 1st Company. He was sent by the Warmaster to investigate the progress of the Iron Warriors during the Battle of Tallarn.Falkus Kibre, "Widowmaker" - Falkus Kibre was a Captain of the elite 1st Company who led the black-armoured Terminator Squad known as the "Widowmakers" of the elite Justaerin, Horus' personal honour guard. Following the Warmaster's fall to Chaos and turn from the light of the Emperor, Kibre willingly followed his Primarch into damnation during the Horus Heresy. He led the Justaerin during some of the most infamous campaigns during this period of upheaval and rebellion, including the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V and the Siege of Terra. Following the dissolution of the Mournival with the losses of Captains Loken and Torgaddon on Istvaan III during the conflict between the Traitors and Loyalists within the Sons of Horus, Horus Aximand suggested the reformation of the Mournival, proposing to First Captain Abaddon that Kibre be one of its members. Kibre was eventually recommended to become a member of the Mournival by First Captain Ezekyle Abaddon following the Battle of the Mausolytic Precinct on the planet Dwell to replace the Mournival members who had been lost. Ten millennia later, Kibre still serves Abaddon, the new Warmaster of Chaos, as part of the Black Legion's Terminator elite.Kalus Ekaddon - Captain of the Catulan Reaver Assault Squads of the elite 1st Company.Raxhal Koraddon - Raxhal Koraddon was a Chieftain of the Catulan Reavers raised to captaincy for his bloody endeavours during scouring of the Sons of Horus Legion of its Loyalists on the ash-strewn ruins of Istvaan III. Koraddon had gained a fierce reputation in the years of war that followed Istvaan III, first during the Dropsite Massacre and later in leading a score of Dark Compliance actions for his Primarch across the northern reaches of the Segmentum Obscurus. In 009.M31, he was entrusted as Horus' proxy, to treat with the Mechanicum of the Forge World of Xana II in order to secure a trio of deadly Ordinatii, a class of the most powerful and acrane mobile weapons platforms in the Mechanicum's arsenal. However, his plans were foiled when a large Blackshield irregular force and a small force of Dark Angels attacked during the Xana Incursion, and seized two Ordinatii and evacuated from the surface of Xana-Tisiphone. Enraged, Koraddon executed his host, Archmagos Gilim Raijan, before taking his leave. His ultimate fate following this incident, is unknown.Tarik Torgaddon (Deceased) - Tarik Torgaddon was the Captain of the 2nd Company and a member of the Mournival who remained loyal to the Emperor when the Sons of Horus turned to Chaos. Torgaddon was killed during the Battle of Istvaan III when he was beheaded by his fellow Mournival member Horus Aximand. His headless body was often used as an imaginary interlocutor in the mad ravings of Garviel Loken, the only survivor of the battle on Istvaan III who would later be recovered by the former Death Guard Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro to serve in the secret organisation that would become the Imperial Inquisition.Iacton Qruze, "The Half-Heard" - Qruze was the Captain of the 3rd Company, a very old Space Marine who was a native of Cthonia. By the time of the Horus Heresy he was one of the only Cthonian Astartes still serving in the XVIth Legion who remembered what it was like when the Luna Wolves had served only the Emperor before Horus had been rediscovered by his father. Qruze had been a captain of the Luna Wolves since the Legion's inception and was even a veteran of the Unification Wars on Terra. Considered ancient by dint of his length of service to the Legion as well as his continued die-hard loyalty to habits of the Legion from the time of its Terran past that he could not seem to break. Qruze, like most Terran Astartes in the Traitor Legions, remained loyal to the Emperor when Horus turned to the service of Chaos in pursuit of his own ambitions. Recognising that the Sons of Horus no longer represented the Astartes he had once known, Qruze rescued the civilian Remembrancers Mersadie Oliton and Euphrati Keeler as well as the Senior Iterator Kyril Sindermann from Horus' massacre of civilians on his flagship the Vengeful Spirit and fled with them to the Frigate Eisenstein during the virus-bombing of Istvaan III. During the flight of the Eisenstein to Terra, Qruze formed a firm bond with the former Death Guard Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro, the pair were told by Malcador the Sigillite, the Regent of Terra, that they, along with the Sister of Silence Amendera Kendel, were to form the beginnings of an organisation that would utilise "men and women of an inquisitive nature, hunters who might seek the witch, the traitor, the mutant, the xenos" -- later known as the Imperial Inquisition.Hastur Sejanus (Deceased) - Sejanus had been the Captain of the 4th Company and a member of the Mournival during the Great Crusade. Sejanus was sent as an ambassador of the Luna Wolves to greet the leader of the world of 63-19 who styled himself the "Emperor of Mankind" and whose planet had not yet been brought into Imperial Compliance, and was brutally murdered. Horus had loved Sejanus like a son and felt towards him the way he believed that his own father, the Emperor, loved him. Garviel Loken replaced Sejanus on the Mournival following the Imperial Compliance of the world designated 63-19.Horus "Little Horus" Aximand - Horus Aximand, known as "Little Horus" because of his uncanny resemblance to his Primarch, was the Captain of the 5th Company and also a member of the Mournival. Aximand was originally very loyal to the Emperor and the Imperium's ideals, but reluctantly turned to the service of the Ruinous Powers when the Warmaster took ill on the Feral World of Davin and his Astartes desperately agreed to let him be cured by the Chaos Cult known as the Temple of the Serpent Lodge in direct violation of the Imperial Truth. Aximand's loyalty to Horus ran so deep that, in the end, it overrode his own better judgment and fealty to the Emperor. Aximand beheaded Tarik Torgaddon during the fighting against the Traitor Legions' Loyalists on Istvaan III, but was later overcome with regret for his actions. Both Horus and First Captain Abaddon took notice of this unexpected weakness in their comrade, but took no actions against Aximand as long as he presented no hindrance to their plans.Yade Durso - Yade Durso served as the second Captain to command the 5th Company during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy.Zeb Zenonius - Sergeant of the Bale Tactical Squad of the 5th Company during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy.Serghar Targost - Captain of the 7th Company and the Lodge Master of the Sons of Horus' Warrior Lodge, the heart of the Legion's growing allegiance to the Chaos Gods.Kergath the Flame - Kergath was originally the Captain of the 9th Company during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras. He would survive the galaxy-wide civil war and go on to serve Abaddon the Despoiler and his Black Legion as a powerful war leader of the remnants of his original company, which was now a Renegade warband. During the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41, while attacking the vital Astropath listening post on the Mining World of Ormantep, located on the outskirts of the Cadian Gate, the Black Legionaries were soon set upon by an unexpected foe -- the returned Wulfen warriors of the Space Wolves' lost 13th Great Company. Within minutes, all of the Black Legionaries were savagely killed by the lupine creatures, who mysteriously vanished, as quickly as they had arrived.Garviel Loken - Loken was the Captain of the 10th Company and was made a member of the Mournival after the death of Hastur Sejanus. Loken possessed one of the most analytical and perceptive minds amongst the Astartes of the XVIth Legion. Loken remained firmly loyal to the Emperor and His vision of a new Golden Age for Mankind and was one of the first amongst the Sons of Horus to realize that the Warmaster had changed after his miraculous healing in the Temple of the Serpent Lodge on Davin and that he was subsequently leading the XVIth Legion down a dark and dangerous path. Loken, along with his friends Captain Tarik Torgaddon and Sergeant Nero Vipus, were selected by Horus to lead the Sons of Horus' participation in the campaign on the world of Istvaan III, which had recently rebelled against the Emperor and declared itself an independent principality. However, shortly after the liberation of the planet's capital, Choral City, from the Slaaneshi rebels, Horus betrayed the Loyalist Astartes he had deliberately sent to the planet below, and bombarded its surface from orbit with Life-Eater virus bombs. However, because of the heroic actions of Captain Saul Tarvitz of the Emperor's Children, many of the Loyalists manage to survive the initial bombardment. Captains Loken, Torgaddon, and Tarvitz took command of the Loyalist elements that remained and fought a three-month-long holding campaign against the Traitors that delayed their plans to move on Terra. Finally, when Horus had had enough, he sent Loken and Torgaddon's traitorous former Mournival brothers, Ezekyle Abaddon and Horus Aximand, to the planet's surface to kill Loken and Torgaddon while he prepared to wipe out the remaining Loyalists with an orbital bombardment. In the ensuing fight, Torgaddon was beheaded by Aximand, but before Loken could be similarly slain by Abaddon, the ruins they had been fighting in were crushed by the Imperator-class Titan Dies Irae. Loken somehow managed to survive the collapse of the ruins upon him but was left badly wounded in both body and spirit, having been driven partially insane by his Legion's betrayal. He was presumed killed by the XVIth Legion following the final bombardment of the Choral City, but survived and took to wandering the ruins of the Choral City, slaying the groups of wandering Plague Zombies who were raised from the corpses scattered across the dead world by the taint of Nurgle whose influence had grown on the world as a result of the use of the Life-Eater virus to kill its population. Several years later, Loken was found alive and partially insane in the ruins of the Choral City on Istvaan III by the former Death Guard Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro, who had been sent to find Loken so that he could become one of the first Astartes to join what would become the Imperial Inquisition. Garro engaged Loken in a duel and managed to restore his sanity by reminding him of who he was and that he possessed a duty to fight the Emperor's enemies for so long as he still drew breath.Luc Sedirae - Sedirae was the Captain of the 13th Company following the events of the Istvaan III Atrocity. An exceptional warrior, Sedirae's martial exploits were considered not far behind those of First Captain Ezekyle Abaddon. Sedirae was even considered at one point worthy of elevation into the esteemed ranks of the XVIth Legion's elite Mournival, but was passed over in favour of Garviel Loken. The rumoured reason for this was that he was considered too ruthless in battle and too eager an advocate of unleashing warfare to bring worlds into Imperial Compliance when diplomacy would prove to be just as effective. Sedirae was later present on the planet Dagonet in the Segmentum Ultima during the early days of the Horus Heresy after the Sons of Horus had turned to the service of Chaos. Dagonet had been the site of one of Horus' first conquests of the Great Crusade, in which he claimed the planet for the Imperium with only a single Bolter shot. A lengthy civil war ensued between the Loyalist and Traitor factions on the world, with the pro-Horus aristocracy emerging as the dominant rulers of the planet. At the beginning of the Horus Heresy, Dagonet declared their allegiance to the Warmaster and invited him to attend a ceremony in his honour. But by this time, there had been a number of assassination attempts on the Warmaster's life by Loyalist Assassins. Therefore, Sedirae, acting as a body-double, wore Horus' Power Armour and descended to the planet's surface in the Warmaster's place. Upon removing his helm, a team of Imperial Assassins killed the false "Horus". The Sons of Horus were roused to a murderous rage and killed Dagonet's entire aristocracy, and then proceeded to vent their anger by exterminating the rest of the world's remaining population.Jerrod - Replacement Captain of the 13th Company after Luc Sedirae was killed on the world of Dagonet while he was fulfilling his role as a body double for the real Horus and was assassinated by a special Officio Assassinorum strike team.Tybalt Marr, "The Either" & Verulam Moy, "The Or" - Captains of the 18th and 19th Companies, respectively. Marr and Moy had an unusually close friendship with one another. They were amongst those Luna Wolves Battle-Brothers who looked very similar in physical appearance to their Primarch Horus, and were colloquially known as "Sons of Horus". Though notable for their striking resemblance to their Primarch, the similarities between the two were such (both physical and in the way in which they interacted with one another, and the similar styles in which they led their respective companies) that most within the Legion considered them almost as identical twins. Therefore, they were respectively referred to as the "The Either" and "The Or". Their companies often fought together in concert when circumstances permitted. It is interesting to note that Captain Moy was often placed in the speartip, the term used by the original Luna Wolves Legion as the initial assault element in any attack, while Captain Marr was not. It would be on Davin's moon that Captain Moy would meet his fate. Already a member of the Warrior Lodge and a capable line officer, Moy still hungered for the opportunity to distinguish himself as one of the elite Astartes of his Legion. When he was selected by the Warmaster to lead a speartip into the crashed flagship of the renegade Planetary Governor Eugen Temba, it appeared his opportunity for glory had finally arrived. Unfortunately, he was killed when he encountered the now Chaos-corrupted Temba after refusing his offer to submit to the corrupting influence of the Plague Lord Nurgle. The death of Moy affected Marr greatly, as he became sullen and withdrawn after visiting the scene of his friend's death. With Moy's death, Marr changed his mind about joining the XVIth Legion's Warrior Lodge and so, on the eve of the Horus Heresy, he was inducted by Horus himself and followed his Legion to its eventual damnation.Grael Noctua "The Warlocked" - Successor of the fallen Lev Goshen, Grael Noctua was originally a Sergeant in the 25th Company. Not long after the events of the Dropsite Massacre at Istvaan V, Sergeant Noctua was recommended by Horus Aximand to fill one of the missing positions within the elite Mournival following the Battle of Dwell, where he had performed admirably. He would later take part in the Battle of Molech, both on the planet's surface fighting Imperial forces, as well as above in orbit, against a Knights-Errant strike team that had infiltrated the Sons of Horus' flagship, Vengeful Spirit, in a failed attempt to assassinate the Warmaster and pave the way for a Space Wolves strike force. While fighting against the Knights-Errant, Noctua was stabbed by the former Luna Wolve named Severian. Following the Knights-Errants' escape, the Daemon known as Tormageddon possessed the body of Noctua, as it's former host, had been destroyed during the fighting. Noctua's ultimate fate is unknown.Lev Goshen - Lev Goshen was the Captain of the 25th Company.Ekron Fal - Veteran-Justaerin Ekron Fal was a warrior of enormous renown within the ranks of the 1st Company, 12th Chapter of the Sons of Horus. He gained prominence in the later battles of the Ullanor Crusade and was admitted to the ranks of the Justaerin at its conclusion. According to later cult-material captured in the Sack of Hybarix, he also covertly held high rank in several tiers of the Warrior Lodges operating within the XVIth Legion. Veteran-Justaerin Fal led his Justaerin Terminator Squad, known as the Seventh Occluded, as a part of the Umbra Sons Terminator Cohort throughout the opening defensive phase of the Drop Site Massacre, repelling attacks on the fortress-line by the Loyalist Astartes of the Salamanders, Iron Hands and Raven Guard, before leading a decisive counter-charge in the battle's final act. Shortly thereafter, Ekron Fal was promoted to the rank of Centurion by Horus himself.Chieftain K'lathall - According to a stele, recovered on Goth after the war, dedicated to the war leader Chieftain K'lathall, he served in a Despoiler squad at Istvaan III, proving by the exceptional savagery of his deeds that he was deserving of a more honoured appointment. Being placed in command of a Reaver Attack Squad of the 7th Assault Company, he participated in the final assault on the gates of the Palace of Light at Hive Ilium on Manachea. To Chieftain K'lathall fell the honour of being the first to breach the palace's inner bounds. This was merely the beginning of this Sons of Horus Legionary's rise within his Legion, as the Stele of Goth attest. K'lathall's ultimate fate following the Heresy is unknown.Guljuk Ygethddon - Sergeant Ygethddon commanded a Despoiler Squad of the 9th Battle Company, 2nd Battalion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras.Nero Vipus - Locasta Tactical Squad Sergeant assigned to the 10th Company who fought on Istvaan III and remained loyal to the Emperor.Xavyer Jubal - Xayver Jubal was the sergeant of the Hellbore Tactical Squad of the 10th Company. He was angered when Captain Garviel Loken chose to promote Nero Vipus to the position of senior sergeant of the 10th Company, after Garviel had been accepted into the Mournival. Jubal felt that the promotion should have gone to him, since he was of a higher rank and had served longer as a sergeant than Vipus. It was his resentment for Loken and his jealousy of Vipus that allowed a daemonic Warp-entity known as "Samus" to corrupt and possess him deep beneath the Whisperhead Mountains on the world of 63-19. Jubal killed his entire squad before attacking Loken and the accompanying members of Brakespur Squad. Loken restrained Jubal, but only after several members of Brakespur Squad were killed by their former Battle-Brother. The insipid powers of the Warp then mutated Jubal into the visage of a slobbering, raging Daemonhost. Jubal killed two Remembrancers who had arrived beneath the Whisperhead Mountains to document the Luna Wolves' latest victory before being torn apart by the Bolters of Loken and Vipus. Jubal was a member of the XVIth Legion's Warrior Lodge, but had not attended any meetings in years at the time of his death, though Loken learned of the lodge's existence within his Legion when he went through Jubal's effects and found a Lodge Medal.Talonus - Talonus was the Sergeant of the Pithraes Tactical Squad of the 10th Company.Rassek - Rassek was a Terminator Squad Sergeant attached to the 10th Company. He was possibly a member of the elite Justaerin Terminator Squad of the 1st Company.Kairus - Sergeant of the Walkure Tactical Squad of the 10th Company.Ghrastak (Deceased) - Ghrastak was a Cthonian by origin and a former Captain of the 13th Battle Company until he fell in battle during the purgation campaign against the Khrave of Morduna. Though interred within the admantium sarcophagus of a Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought, he remained a staunch devotee of the Emperor and of the ideals of Unification. As a result of his Loyalist sympathies, he became a victim of Horus' conspiracy. Deployed via Drop Pod with the Loyalist Sons of Horus' first wave on Istvaan III, he was ultimately betrayed unto death fighting against the follow-on Traitor forces that ultimately culled the few remaining Loyalists after a two-month-long siege during the Istvaan III Atrocity.Amurael - Amurael, known also as "Amurael the Corrupted", was a Chaos Dreadnought of the Black Legion. He was once a warleader of a Black Legion warband until he was cleft in two by a Khornate Daemon. His shattered remains were entombed witin a Dreadnought chassis, allowing him to continue to fight the Long War. He would later take part in multiple battles against the Crimson Fists Chapter.Master-Driver Ummaos Ludarch - Ummaos Ludarch served for over a decade as a squad leader in 13th Company under Luc Sedirae, and he took part in the conquest of several dozen worlds, culminating in the Dark Compliance of the world of Dagonet. It was during that operation that Ludarch's commander was slain, it is believed by a clade of assassins dispatched from Terra, and in the aftermath the Sons of Horus launched a vengeance campaign during which many thousands were punished, regardless of their complicity in the assassination. It was during this period of brutality and punishment that Ummaos Ludarch excelled himself in the eyes of his superiors, leading to him being detached from the 13th Company and assigned command over a Traitor muster of several thousand slave-troops in future campaigns. Ludarch's ultimate fate is unknown.Grael Noctua - Noctua was a Tactical Squad Sergeant assigned to the 25th Company during the Horus Heresy. Noctua was recommended to become a member of the Mournival by Captain Horus Aximand following the Battle of the Mausolytic Precinct on the planet Dwell to replace the Mournival members who had been lost on Istvaan III during the conflict between the Traitors and Loyalists within the Sons of Horus.Kloros Endall - Lieutenant Endall was a Terran-born veteran of the XVIth Legion. He was a part of the first wave of Loyalists during the assault on Istvaan III's Choral City, and was presumably slain during the subsequent betrayal.Dastruak Judd - Section-Leader Judd was a part of the Traitor attack forces unleashed against the Siren-Hold defences in the latter stages of the Istvaan III Atrocity, where he was slain by the Loyalist Sons of Horus Contemptor Dreadnought Ghrastak.Avakhol Hurr - Hurr was a part of the XVIth Legion's Rukal Breacher Battalion, which was primarily employed as a support assault contingent during boarding actions and siege operations. The Rukal customarily practised the macabre preservation of any blood spray from their previous engagements on their armour as a visible sign of their destructive intent.Severian - Severian was an Astartes of the 28th Company who was incarcerated in the prison of Khangba Marwu on Terra after the outbreak of the Horus Heresy. Severian escaped from the prison along with several other Astartes of the Crusader Host. Severian was last sighted in the Petitioner's City on Terra and his ultimate fate remains unknown.Devram Korda - Also known as "The Tyrant of Sarora", Devram Korda is a servant of the Chaos God Slaanesh, the Prince of Pleasure. During the Great Crusade and the opening days of the Horus Heresy, Korda served within the vaunted Sons of Horus Legion under the command of the Warmaster Horus. When the Warmaster fell to the corrupting influence of the Chaos Gods and began the terrible galactic civil war known as the Horus Heresy, Devram Korda willingly followed his Primarch into damnation. By the opening days of the conflict, Korda served as a Veteran Sergeant of the 13th Company, of the XVIth Legion and as one of the seconds of Captain Luc Sedirae. Korda was present on the Legion's flagship Vengeful Spirit when Captain Sedirae and First Chaplain Erebus of the Word Bearers Legion were able to unmask the Clade Venenum Assassin known as Tobeld. Korda slew the assassin himself. Following the events of the Horus Heresy, he rose to prominence and became a Chaos Lord. He became infamous for his blasphemous actions on the doomed world of Sarora, where he distilled the life essence of the citizens of the planet's largest hive city for a single vial of a sorcerous elixir which made him virtually invincible. He eventually became the current Lord Ravager, the individual who leads the invasion fleets of the Black Crusade in the name of Abaddon the Despoiler. It is Korda who first makes landfall on the surface of a world about to be assaulted by the Forces of Chaos. Korda also commands the personal retinue of the Despoiler, known as the Chosen of Abaddon. In the closing days of the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41, Devram Korda returned to his master's side, bringing with him two individuals (later identified as Skyrak Slaughterborn and Urkrathos) who had journeyed to the centre of the Eye of Terror. Together with the Chaos Sorcerer Ygethmor the Deceiver, they presented Abaddon with the Heart of Chaos, a powerful artefact that Zaraphiston, a Tzeentchian Chaos Sorcerer and rival Chaos Lord of the Despoiler, had long claimed could not exist.Zaraphiston - Zaraphiston is a Chaos Sorcerer of the Black Legion and the most senior advisor to Abaddon. Originally, he was a Legionary of the Thousand Sons, and following the Scouring of Prospero and their extrication to the Planet of the Sorcerers, at the behest of his patron god Tzeentch, he traveled deep into the Eye of Terror. On a Daemon World made of brass cogs and ticking chronometres, Zaraphiston was gifted with a terrible understanding of precognition. Thereafter, he joined the Black Legion and pledged his service to the Warmaster. He would later play a pivotal role in the construction of the massive Planet Killer, and often utilises divination to predict the plans of Abaddon's enemies.Ygethmor the Deceiver - Ygethmor the Deceiver, known also as the "Twice Damned" and the "Purgator of Corrialis", is a formidable Sorcerer Lord of the Black Legion. He currently serves as one of Abaddon the Despoiler's lieutenants and a member of his personal retinue, the Chosen of Abaddon. Ygethmor is the current Lord Deceiver, whose visions of the Warp lead the Black Crusade from star system to star system. During the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41, the Officio Assassinorum sanctioned the deployment of an assassin team to eliminate Ygethmor, amongst other notable targets in service to the Archenemy. Whilst scrutiny of their field records is impossible, at least seven Assassinorum agents are known to have failed in the attempt to take the life of the Deceiver.Iskandar Khayon - Iskandar Khayon, also known as the "Kingbreaker" and "Khayon the Black", is a Chaos Sorcerer and Lord Vigilator of the Black Legion. He is one of Warmaster Abaddon's most trusted and valued lieutenants and a member of the Ezekarion, the elite brotherhood within the legion. As of now, Khayon remains a prisoner of the Imperial Inquisition, to which he had surrendered willingly, as a part of Abbadon's plans.Telemachon Lyras - Telemachon Lyras, known originally as Telemachon Lyral, was a Terran-born Legionary of the Emperor's Children. In the aftermath of the Horus Heresy and his Legion's fall to the corrupting influence of the Pleasure God, Slaanesh, Lyras became the second-in-command of a warband led by Kadalus Orlantir, which consisted of the Emperor's Children's 16th, 40th and 51st Companies. Commanding his own warship, the Threat of Rapture, Lyras took part in an assault by Kadalus on the forces of Falkus Kibre, Lheorvine Ukris, and Iskandar Khayon. During the battle, Lyras was badly wounded by Khayon and captured as the trio attempted to escape. Afterwards, aboard the Thousand Sons' vessel Tlaloc, Lyras was healed by Khayon's Dark Eldar bloodward, Nefertari, whom he quickly fell in love with, despite the fact that Khayon intended to use the Dark Eldar maiden to viciously torture him. Instead, the torture only furthered the love of the smitten Lyras for his torturer. Ultimately, Lyras defected to Abaddon's side and aided his forces during the Battle of Harmony. Though Nefertari was killed during the battle by a clone of the dead Horus, Lyras would continue to serve as one of Abaddon's lieutenants. Much later, during the 7th Black Crusade, Lyras served as a key commander alongside both Khayon and Abaddon himself, and took part in the near destruction of the Blood Angels Chapter on the planet Mackan.Ashur-Kai Qezremah, "White Seer" - Ashur-Kai was a potent Psyker of the Thousand Sons Legion who commanded the warship Tlaloc. This potent warship possessed a partly-daemonic Machine Spirit known as Anamnesis. He had eventually found himself in service to the Thousand Sons' Sorcerer Iskandar Khayon, and became a part of his Kha'Sherhan warband. Along with his Chaos Lord and his fellow Chaos Space Marines, Ashur-Kai also swore his service to Abaddon the Despoiler and his Black Legion, and later took part in their first engagement, known as the Battle of Harmony. Though his vessel was destroyed during the vicious battle, Ashur-Kai had been aboard the Vengeful Spirit and would continue to serve the Warmaster.Skyrak Slaughterborn - Skyrak Slaughterborn is a Chaos Lord of the Black Legion of Chaos Space Marines and the current Lord Corruptor of the Chosen of Abaddon. Skyrak Slaughterborn leads the warbands of Nurgle within the Black Legion into battle. Collectively known as the Bringers of Decay, they spread their disease and corruption throughout the Realms of Man. Skyrak is known to have led the large warband of Chaos Space Marines known as the Slaughterkin in the assault on Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade. The Lord Corruptor is tasked with instilling fear and hatred amongst the Chaos Space Marines of the Black Legion. His trophy rack is adorned with the skulls of failed servants.Urkrathos - Urkrathos is a Chaos Lord of the Black Legion of Chaos Space Marines and the current Lord Purgator of the Chosen of Abaddon. Within the ranks of the Black Legion are those who are bloody-handed servants of Khorne. Though not a single unified warband within the Black Legion, they are collectively known as the Hounds of Abaddon. Urkrathos, the current Lord Purgator and commander of the Legion's Black Fleet, claims all followers of Khorne within the Legion as his own and directs them according to the will of Abaddon the Despoiler, the Warmaster of Chaos and master of the Black Legion. It falls to the Lord Purgator to ensure that every man, woman and child left alive on a world conquered by the Black Legion is dragged in chains into the hold of the Legion's starships, and that no edifice remains undedicated to the Dark Gods.Araghast the Pillager - Araghast the Pillager was a powerful Chaos Lord who commanded the Chaos Space Marine warband of the Black Legion that assaulted the Sub-sector Aurelia during the Second Aurelian Crusade. Araghast was betrayed by his second-in-command, the former Dark Apostle Eliphas the Inheritor, and subsequently killed by a Blood Ravens Chapter strike force led by Force Commander Aramus.Zagthean the Broken - Zagthean is a Chaos Lord of the Black Legion who led his Black Legion warband in a fury of violence and excess on the Agri-world of Valesia. For his own satisfaction, the Chaos warlord constructed a vast maze of thorns from the world's rose orchards, blinding his prisoners and loosing them within its tunnels, before hunting them down at his leisure. Countless inhabitants spent their final terrifying hours listening desperately for the sounds of pursuit, their flesh bleeding from dozens of thorn cuts. Sometime after the 4th Black Crusade, Zagthean pillaged the world of Helosian in the Agripinaa Sector. Taking the Convent of Alabaster Maidens prisoner, he exposed them to the energies of the Warp, triggering their latent psychic gifts. Zagthean then uses Warp-tech to fuse the maidens into a single entity, before using the resultant abomination as a living Warp portal to unleash a daemonic invasion. Zagthean also served as one of the Black Legion's commanders during the 13th Black Crusade to destroy Cadia.Corpulax - Corpulax was originally a member of the Consecrators Chapter, who was infected with the Zombie Plague while battling the plague-ridden forces of Typhus. Left for dead, Corpulax awoke as a reanimated corpse. However, unlike other plague victims, Corpulax retained his intelligence and cognitive abilities. He eventually became a willing servant of the Plague God Nurgle and for the last three centuries, has orchestrated an inexorable rise to power, until finally, he became one of Abaddon's most trusted warlords. Fighting in dozens of battles besides his lord's side, or carrying out the Warmaster's bidding, Corpulax continues to spread the terrible plague that he was infected with. He is single-handedly responsible for disseminating the virulent plague that wiped out every inhabitant of the city of Atika during the Pandorax Campaign.Drecarth the Sightless - The Sons of the Eye were a splinter warband of the Black Legion that was founded and commanded by the infamous Chaos Lord Drecarth the Sightless, the Blind Butcher of Irridous VII, a former Battle-Brother of the Sons of Horus who had fought alongside Abaddon during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy that followed. Always jealous of the Primarch Horus' favour for the Despoiler, the Sons of the Eye considered Abaddon a usurper. During the 6th Black Crusade, launched in 901.M36, Abaddon visited his wrath upon Drecarth the Sightless and his treacherous warband. Abaddon aided the Sons of the Eye in an assault on the Forge World of Arkreach, fighting side-by-side until the defenders were finally crushed. The triumphant Abaddon then slowly killed Drecarth, even as he made him watch every member of the Sons of the Eye bow before their new master.Eliphas the Inheritor - Eliphas was a former Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion and leader of the XVIIth Legion's forces deployed for the Dark Crusade on the world of Kronus in the late 41st Millennium. On Kronus, Eliphas and his forces were defeated and slain by three companies of the Blood Ravens Space Marine Chapter under the command of Captain Davian Thule. After his soul suffered much torment in the Empyrean for his failure, he was resurrected by the will of the Chaos Gods to gain his revenge upon the Blood Ravens and left the Word Bearers behind to ally himself with the Black Legion and Abaddon the Despoiler following his return to life. He pledged to Abaddon that the destruction or corruption to Chaos of the Blood Ravens would be his only goal in life following his resurrection.Eralak - Eralak was a Chaos Space Marine Raptor commander within the Black Legion, whose forces brought about bloody terror to the floating hives of Melphia. During their rampage, his Raptor warband killed millions, and sent dozens of cities falling out of the sky after he tore out their complex suspensor arrays and vented their plasma reactors onto the farms and fields below. He then had giant floating makeshift gallows fashioned from the remaining ruined cities and had millions of Imperial citizens hanged. Their corpses would forever more sway in the breeze as the gallows drifted across the skies of Melphia.Faenroc the Forgotten - A powerful Black Legion Chaos Lord, in 027.M32, he discovered a Daemon World formed from Warp-infused iron ore. To harvest this valuable ore, he drilled to the planet's core, and built a vast mine to harvest its wealth for his forces using slave labour. When the ore proved poisonous to his slave labour force, causing them to mutate or killing them, Faenroc remedied the problem by having Daemons bound to his mining machines, to continue the harvesting of the ore.Malagar Irongrasp - A former notable Master of the Fleet of the White Consuls Chapter known as Malgar Eringrasp, he saw many engagements over four centuries of service to the Chapter. Eventually, he was overcome in battle around Cadia by the Black Legion and swore fealty to Abaddon the Despoiler, and after slaying the leader of the Traitor fleet, became it's ruling admiral. Now known as Malagar Irongrasp, he served the Despoiler without fail for centuries, that is, until the Fourth Battle of the Sunward Gap in 959.M41. His ship, the Merciless Death was crippled by allied Red Corsairs and abandoned by his fleet to the opposing Dark Angels Chapter and Grey Knights forces. Irongrasp went down with his ship as the loyalist forces destroyed it in a hail of gunfire.Ragged King - The Ragged King was the name given to a Legionary of the Black Legion who was the sole surviving member of a space battle against the Imperium in 117.M35. In the battle's aftermath, he sought shelter on the nearby Feral World of Skyrro, and soon became worshipped as a god by the local population. It took the Imperial Guard more than a decade to destroy the Ragged King's savage armies to reclaim Skyrro.Voidheart - Voidheart was a powerful Chaos Lord of the Black Legion and one of Abaddon's favorite lieutenants. During the so-called War of the Wolf, which took place in 612.M41 upon the frozen world of Lumerius against the feral Space Wolves Chapter, he was wounded by Ranulf Ironfang, one of Great Wolf Logan Grimnar's Kingsguard, but managed to escape.Dhar'leth - Dhar'leth was a former Black Legion member who was elevated to a Daemon Prince, as a sign of the Chaos Gods' favour. He later pledged his loyalty to Abaddon the Despoiler. In 165.M37, he formed the vanguard of Abaddon's attack, leading his Black Legionaries against Monarchive, which was the seat of the Imperial Commander on Antecanis IV. Within Imperial annals this infamous slaughter came to be known as the Antecanis Massacre.Xyn'Goran - Xyn'Goran is a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch, whom Abaddon sought out upon his Daemon World within the Warp. This mind-altering world was a place where time flowed backwards and in the world's center, the Daemon Prince sat around its core, counting back from the end of days. Wanting this power for his own, Abaddon clawed his way towards the Daemon Prince, and finally arrived at the creature's feet, demanding servitude. Amused, Xyn'Goran asked why he shouldn't just slay him outright for his temerity? In reply, Abaddon challenged the Daemon Prince -- to guess his true name. Should he guess correctly, the Daemon Prince would pledge his allegiance to him; but should he fail, then Abaddon would surrender the artefacts he carried with him, but the daemon had to tell him his true name to prove that he wasn't cheating. Unable to resist, the Great Daemon acquiesced and agreed to the game's conditions. Unknown to the Great Daemon, this was actually the second time that Abaddon stood before him. For he had already lost this game the first time, but had learned the Greater Daemon's true name as proof. Surrendering his artefacts, Abaddon had then stepped back into the tides of time and returned to the Warp years earlier, before he had come to this world, and left his future self a message with the daemon's true name. Thus, it came to pass, that Abaddon enslaved Xyn'Goran, the fractured Daemon of Time, and acquired the daemon's future memories, which allowed the Warmaster the abilities to perceive the fates and shape his own destiny. |
Black Legion - Legion Fleet: The XVIth Legion's Great Crusade fleet was accorded to be among the greatest under any single commander's flag, with in excess of one hundred capital ships and perhaps three times that figure in smaller cruisers and escorts under Horus' direct command. Abaddon's grand fleet after the Heresy has comprised many thousands of cursed and Chaos-mutated vessels.Amongst them are gigantic space hulks, grand Battle Barges, rebel strike fleets, weaponised asteroid chains, Repulsive-class Grand Cruisers, Desolator-class Battleships, Despoiler-class Battleships named in his honour, Hades, Styx and Lethe-class Heavy Cruisers and a thousand other warships besides.One of his most powerful warships, the Planet Killer, boasts a weapon of such extreme power it can depopulate a world in a single night.Yet the true jewels in the crown of this insane armada were the two Blackstone Fortresses, ancient and alien starbases so large they once anchored entire sub-sectors of the galaxy. Each possessed power beyond mortal imagination, being both an immovable object and irresistible force combined.Yet when Abaddon combined the might of three Blackstone Fortresses at Tarantis, during the climactic events of the Gothic War, the resultant bow wave of raw Warp energy inflamed the system's star to such an extent it consumed the two worlds in closest orbit before going supernova. The cataclysm wiped out everything for many trillions of miles in every direction in a storm of gas and plasma.With the power to destroy entire star systems at his fingertips, Abaddon inadvertently forced the Imperium and the Aeldari to ally against him, and he was driven into retreat at the Battle of Schindlegeist. It was whispered that two of the Blackstone Fortresses existed at the heart of the Despoiler's fleet after the end of the Gothic War, and that Abaddon has other such weapons of annihilation waiting to be deployed when the time is right.During the 13th Black Crusade, Abaddon deployed one of these Blackstone Fortresses, the Will of Eternity, to Cadia. The fortress was damaged in battle with the Imperial Fists' star fortress Phalanx, but ultimately served its purpose when it was used as a giant projectile and slammed into the surface of that Imperial Fortress World to finally claim victory for Chaos.The second Blackstone Fortress was handed over to the service of the Red Corasirs warband of Heretic Astartes in the Maelstorm, who had become important allies of the Black Legion. It would serve an important role in trying to stop the resurrected Primarch Roboute Guilliman from reaching Terra during the Terran Crusade.The following starships are known to have been a part of the Black Legion's massive armada in the Eye of Terror, which has been known as the "Black Fleet" since Abaddon gained control over the Legion:Vengeful Spirit (Gloriana-class Battleship) - The Vengeful Spirit was the infamous flagship of the XVIth Legion and the Warmaster Horus during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. It was upon this vessel that the final battle of the Heresy between the Emperor of Mankind and Horus played out and where the Warmaster's life and soul were finally extinguished by the unmatched psychic power of the Emperor. The Sons of Horus were able to recover their fallen Primarch's body before they fled the Sol System for the Eye of Terror and the Vengeful Spirit was taken by Horus' successor, Abaddon the Despoiler, as his own flagship. It still often serves in that function at present.Planet Killer (Unique Battleship) - The Planet Killer is a massive Chaos starship that served as flagship of Abaddon the Despoiler during the Gothic War and the 13th Black Crusade. The vessel owes its power to its main weapon, the Armageddon Gun, which can destroy an entire planet.Merciless Death (Despoiler-class Battleship) - One of the three original ships of her class that defected to Chaos, it plagued the Imperium for nigh on six millennia until it was destroyed in the course of the Pandorax Campaign in 959.M41 during the Fourth Battle of the Sunward Gap by a combined task force of Dark Angels, Grey Knights and the Imperial Navy.Harbinger of Doom (Battle Barge) - Formerly known as the Magna Tyrannis, this ancient Battle Barge has served the XVIth Legion since the start of the Great Crusade until the end of the 41st Millenium. It has on multiple occasions served as the flagship of Abaddon the Despoiler.Chariot of the Gods (Battleship, Unknown Class)Forinox (Avenger-class Grand Cruiser)Leonis (Avenger-class Grand Cruiser)Blade of Damnation (Repulsive-class Grand Cruiser)Castigator (Vengeance-class Grand Cruiser)Promise of Absolution (Unknown Class) - The Promise of Absolution carried a complement of almost 2000 Heretic Astartes, as well as several tens of thousands of mortals, Beastmen and other servants of the Dark Gods. It was lost with all hands during the 1st Black Crusade.Scarred Crown (Troop Transport) - This troop transport was destroyed with all hands by the fleet of Thagus Daravek the Death Guard Sorcerer Lord who opposed the Sons of Horus during the Legion Wars.Oath of Knives (Cruiser) - The Oath of Knives was a cruiser that was destroyed by the attack of the Death Guard Sorcerer Thagus Daravek during the Legion Wars.Skies of Wroth (Frigate) - Black Legion frigate that participated in the 1st Black Crusade. |
Black Legion - Legion Artefacts: Crucible of Lies - It is impossible to describe the Crucible of Lies, for its image is unique to the beholder. One gifted with the witch-sight may perceive it as a rippling cloak saturated with Warp energy; a warrior may see it as an archaic amulet wreathed in baleful psychic flame. Regardless of its appearance, the Crucible of Lies defies natural law to distort the blows of the wearer's enemies, but such power does not come without a price.Eye of Night - One of the artefacts used by Abaddon to take command of the dreaded Blackstone Fortresses, the Eye of Night is a multifaceted obsidian crystal of unknown origin. The slightest caress of the ebon beam it can unleash causes machines to suffer massive power failure or catastrophic internal damage. Not even the thickest armour can resist its malignant touch.Hand of Darkness - An ancient device infused with the atrophying power of the Warp, the Hand of Darkness decays all and everything that its wielder touches. Flesh sloughs from bones and armour is reduced to little more than pools of liquid slag. It was with this fabled artefact that Abaddon finally gained access to the inner workings of the Blackstone Fortresses, before later surrendering it to the Daemon Primarch Mortarion to secure the allegiance of the Death Guard for his Thirteenth Black Crusade.Last Memory of Yuranthos - Mk'ell was a psyker who was responsible for the annihilation of his species, the Yuranthos. The psyker's power was so great that he was torn apart by the Warp energies he wielded, even as his planet's populace was immolated by the resultant firestorm. Unwilling to waste the power of such a talented student, Tzeentch bound the essence of the dying race into a small crystal. One who carries this azure gem can access a fragment of Mk'ell's power and unleash it upon his foes, though not without risk.Skull of Ker'ngar - Ker'ngar was a mighty champion of the Dark Gods long before the Horus Heresy and the rise of the Chaos Space Marines. So masterful was this ancient warrior that he once boasted he could not be killed in battle. Sadly for Ker'ngar, his claim was proven false when Khorne sent forth Skulltaker to challenge the haughty warrior and take his skull. It adorned Skulltaker's cloak for centuries before being replaced. It is said that, despite his defeat, Ker'ngar's indomitable spirit is still bound within the skull and it protects the one who carries it from harm, be it physical or arcane.Spineshard Blade - Believed to have been forged from the spinal column of a mighty Keeper of Secrets, K'alith the Prurient, the Spineshard Blade reverberates with the quivering essence of the daemon's final, lascivious death throes. |
Black Legion - Pre-Heresy: As if to mark a break from the wars of the past, the armour that the first warriors of the Space Marine Legions went to war in was cast in storm cloud grey, and bore only the thunderbolt and lightning marks of Imperial Unity. Over time the different Legions gained their own marks of distinction and character, as well as iconic names. When the XVIth Legion was given the epithet of the "Luna Wolves" following the successful First Pacification of Luna campaign, they began to wear pale, off-white ivory coloured Power Armour with black trim.The two renowned squads of the elite 1st Company, the Justaerin and Catulan Reavers, wore black Power Armour, in sharp contrast to the white and later pale green of the rest of the Legion. During this time, the then-Luna Wolves Legion utilised more standardised tactical markings than the later Legion iteration of the Sons of Horus. By the time of the conquest of the Coronid Deeps during the early years of the Horus Heresy, the wolf and moon icons were a rare sight.One avatar of the increasing influence of the Legion's Cthonian brothers was the late reemergence of Cthonian gang-sigils graven into a given Space Marine's armour that recorded his notable kills and deeds, as well as to which company of the Legion they belonged. This was a practice which accelerated rapidly after the XVIth Legion had transitioned into its new identity as the Sons of Horus following the elevation of Horus to the rank of Warmaster.This transition marked not so much a new open brutality in the Legion, but a factor that had always been there and had become more visible as the Legion's panoply finally began to shrug off the influence of Mother Terra. The white of the Luna Wolves turned sea-green, then darkened further to a murky verdigris green-black as the Sons of Horus further cast off the discipline of the Terran traditions of warfare and erred in pride and growling malice towards the dark heart of Cthonia, and its traditions of gang-fiefdom, blood-pride and merciless, incessant conflict. |
Black Legion - Tactical Markings and Heraldry: Shoulder Plate Heraldry - The earlier, white-armoured iteration of the XVIth Legion used more standardised tactical markings than the later Sons of Horus. By the time of the conquest of the Coronid Deeps, its wolf and moon icons were a rare sight.Helm Markings - Helm markings were often applied by the bearer and followed formal tactical schemes far less often than amongst other Legions. Cthonian glyphs applied by hand indicated the Legionary had been "blooded" in combat according to the kill-rites of the Cthonian head-hunter gangs.Honourium Armouria - A wide variation of idiosyncratic battle plate was used. Many Legionaries of the Luna Wolves and then the Sons of Horus practiced the Cthonian gang-derived tradition of decapitating defeated enemy champions and dipping the flensed skull in liquid gold as a personal trophy.Battle Plate Armourial Icons - Officers in the Sons of Horus used relatively few markings of rank and when they were required, they tended to be derived from the personal glyphs of senior leaders or an individual company's Captain or Chieftain in line with the traditions of the Cthonian gangs.Dreadnought Armourial Icons - As veterans of numerous campaigns, Dreadnoughts often displayed mementos of their greatest deeds. |
Black Legion - Post-Heresy: This colour scheme was retained until Abaddon the Despoiler took command of the Legion's remnants after the end of the Heresy and the Great Scouring. When Abaddon took control of the Sons of Horus he set about making a break with their previous history.Firstly, he cast off the name of their Primarch, rechristening the Sons of Horus as the "Black Legion," so that they could move beyond the failures of the Horus Heresy and repair their tarnished reputation. While he kept the image of the Eye of Horus as the sole reminder of their origins, he ordered his warriors to paint their armour black and strike all other symbols of their past allegiances.This was to serve as both a mark of their shame and their devotion. An ancient symbol of mourning, the black colour honoured their dead Primarch without speaking his name. Equally, it ensured that the former Sons of Horus would never forget their Primarch had failed, and his failure must be drowned in the blood of his foes.More important than a mark of shame, the black of the Legion's armour was part of Abaddon's plan to unify the Traitor Legions for his great war against the Imperium. So potent a symbol has it become that few other warbands of Chaos Space Marines ever wear black armour. It was a clear message that told of a Heretic Astartes' devotion to Abaddon and that he had forsaken all other oaths. |
Black Legion - Legion Badge: The XVIth Legion's badge was a wolf's head imposed over an inverted crescent moon when they were known as the Luna Wolves.The Legion badge changed to become a stylised eye over a cross -- the so-called "Eye of Terra," which would later be known as the infamous "Eye of Horus" in the Imperium after the XVIth Legion was renamed the Sons of Horus by the corrupted Warmaster.After the Sons of Horus were reconstituted following the Horus Heresy as the Black Legion, the symbol of the Eye of Horus was retained, however it was now superimposed over the eight-pointed Star of Chaos. |
Black Legion - Sources: Apocalypse: Reload (4th Edition), pg. 55Battle Missions, pg. 9Black Crusade: Core Rulebook (RPG), pg. 30Black Legion - Codex: Chaos Space Marines Supplement (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 9, 55-63Codex: Adepta Sororitas (8th Edition), pg. 25Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines (8th Edition), pp. 18-19Codex: Chaos Space Marines (3rd Edition, 1st Codex), pp. 22-23, 32, 34Codex: Chaos Space Marines (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex), pp. 5, 8-11, 44-45, 66-69, 77Codex: Chaos Space Marines (4th Edition), pp. 12-15, 22, 46-47, 66, 74, 78-80Codex: Chaos Space Marines (6th Edition), pp. 9, 12, 57, 74-76, 82Codex: Chaos (2nd Edition), pp. 5, 19-20, 38, 51, 98-99Codex: Eye of Terror (3rd Edition)Codex Heretic Astartes - Chaos Space Marines (8th Edition), pp. 17-25Codex Heretic Astartes - Chaos Space Marines (8th Edition) (Revised Codex), pp. 17-25Traitor Legions: (Codex: Chaos Space Marines Supplement) (7th Edition), pg. 75Dark Adeptus: The Grey Knights (Omnibus)Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising (PC Game)Deathwatch: First Founding (RPG), pp. 90-91Realms of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness (1st Edition)The Horus Heresy: Collected VisionsImperial Armour Volume Seven - The Siege of Vraks - Part Three, pg. 53Imperial Armour Volume Thirteen - War Machines of the Lost & The Damned, pp. 68-69Index Astartes IV, "Sons of Horus - The Black Legion Space Marine Legion"The Fall of Medusa V (Booklet), pp. 16-17The Horus Heresy - Book One: Betrayal by Alan Bligh, pp. 64-83, 244-249The Horus Heresy - Book Two: Massacre by Alan Bligh, pp. 12, 16, 18-19, 56-59, 208-213The Horus Heresy - Book Three: Extermination by Alan Bligh, pp. 14, 20, 34, 38, 64, 90, 146, 259The Horus Heresy - Book Four: Conquest by Alan Bligh, pp. 16, 19, 23-24, 30, 34-35, 41, 43, 48-51, 53-54, 63, 131-133, 146, 148-152, 160, 182, 189, 198, 227The Horus Heresy - Book Five: Tempest by Alan Bligh, pp. 15, 140, 145Thirteenth Black Crusade (Background Book)Warlords of the Dark Millennium: Abaddon The Despoiler (Digital Edition)White Dwarf 332 (US), "Chaos Space Marines", pg. 16White Dwarf 287 (UK), "Death by a Thousand Cuts", pg. 36White Dwarf 274 (US), "Chapter Approved: Chaos Space Marine Legions"White Dwarf 268 (US), "Assault on Holy Terra", "Abaddon the Despoiler" & "Index Astartes First Founding: Sons of Horus, The Black Legion Space Marine Chapter"Horus Rising (Novel) by Dan AbnettFalse Gods (Novel) by Graham McNeillGalaxy in Flames (Novel) by Ben CounterThe Flight of the Eisenstein (Novel) by Ben CounterFulgrim (Novel) by Graham McNeillAge of Darkness (Anthology), "Little Horus" by Dan AbnettMechanicum (Novel) by Graham McNeillNemesis (Novel) by James SwallowThe First Heretic (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-BowdenThe Outcast Dead (Novel) by Graham McNeillDeliverance Lost (Novel) by Gav ThorpeAurelian (Novella) by Aaron Dembski-BowdenFear to Tread (Novel) by James SwallowDark Creed: The Word Bearers (Omnibus Novel)Soul Hunter (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-BowdenPandorax (Novel) by C.Z. DunnBlack Legion (Novel) by Aaraon Dembski-BowdenAdeptus Titanicus: The Horus Heresy Rulebook (Specialty Game), pg. 16The Aphotic Blade - Explanation of Aaron Dembski-BowdenWarhammer Community - Psychic Awakening: War Zone CadiaTimeline of the 31st Millennium |
Black Library - Black Library: The Black Library of Chaos, also known simply as the Black Library, is the secret Asuryani craftworld that serves as the Aeldari's repository of forbidden lore concerning the Ruinous Powers that exists somewhere within the labyrinthine passages of the Webway.The Aeldari craftworlds became the only surviving sources of their ancient knowledge of sorcery and the Ruinous Powers of Chaos after the Fall of that species to the birth of Slaanesh.As the craftwords have drifted apart, this knowledge has consequently become fragmented, and as some craftworlds have become lost over the millennia, more precious Aeldari knowledge has been lost with them.The Black Library is governed by a body of the wisest Asuryani Farseers drawn from all of the craftworlds known as the "Black Council." The Black Council is the closest the fractious Aeldari species has come to an advisory body that looks after the interests of the entire race.The Aeldari know more of Chaos than Humanity ever will, and still more was lost when the Aeldari Empire collapsed during the Fall. Yet a single source of Aeldari knowledge has remained untouched and inviolate since the Fall.In a hidden location, some say at the very centre of the Webway -- the Aeldari's network of stable interdimensional tunnels that crosses the galaxy -- rests the tomes, books, scrolls, and codices describing the Aeldari's complete and extensive knowledge of the Warp. The forbidden lore of the Black Library describes the blandishments, influences, forms, creatures, perils, promises, and horrors of Chaos.The existence of the Black Library is known to only a few and entry is allowed to even fewer individuals. The library defends itself against the weak and those who would misuse its knowledge by refusing entry to all except those who have acknowledged and tempered the Chaos within themselves.The immature, who are still vulnerable to the promises and seductions of Chaos, find that they are unable to pass through its gateway. As a result, only the Solitaires of the Aeldari Harlequin troupes are allowed to come and go freely, although some say that a Human, perhaps an Inquisitor, has also been allowed to do so. |
Black Library - History: The Black Library is the only source of the Aeldari's knowledge concerning Chaos that has remained untouched. It was created by the Aeldari deity Cegorach, better known as the Laughing God, though for what purposes the god created this repository can only be guessed. The Black Library is spoken of by the Aeldari as a dark craftworld existing within the Webway, far beyond the reach of the Imperium of Man.Within are the collected tomes and writings describing the Aeldari's studies of the Immaterium and all the entities that live within it. These writings also describe all aspects of Chaos: its perils, promises and horrors.The Library is enclosed within a nearly impenetrable psychic barrier, and is watched and maintained by its Aeldari Guardian-Scribes, who collate and transcribe the knowledge of the Black Library, a task they have carried out since the Fall.The Black Library contains not just the Aeldari's knowledge of Chaos; any new knowledge of Chaos gained by any intelligent species of the galaxy is taken and kept within the Library. These include a copy of the Book of Magnus, the potent tome of sorcery created by the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion's Primarch or the Book of Lorgar written by the Primarch of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion that sought to spread the teachings of the Ruinous Powers, both written before the Horus Heresy.The Black Library is as much a source of knowledge for those who fight Chaos as it is a vault to keep dangerous knowledge hidden and protected from those who would misuse it. The existence of the Black Library is known to few, and even fewer are allowed access to it.The Library's collective psychic mind embodied in its Infinity Circuit defends itself, barring the weak and corruptible. Only those who have mastered the temptations of Chaos within themselves are able to enter.Two groups come and go at will: the human Illuminati and the Aeldari Solitaires, the most dangerous of the Harlequins. The Imperial Inquisitor Bronislaw Czevak was granted entry by the Black Council once to study the accumulated lore concerning Mankind's interaction with Chaos, but had to prove himself worthy of the honour.Inquisitor Jaq Draco also managed to find a way into the Black Library and steal the Book of the Rhana Dandra, known alternatively among Imperial scholars as the Eldar Book of Fate.The Chaos Sorcerer Ahriman of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion sought entrance to the Library in his vain attempt to better understand his master, the mercurial Tzeentch, the Changer of the Ways and the Chaos God of sorcery. For many Terran centuries the Black Library and its guardians managed to repel this particularly troublesome would-be invader.Then in 998.M41, shortly before Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade began, Ahriman led his warband of Thousand Sons into the Webway in an effort to finally claim the Black Library. Engaging in furious battles with the Harlequins and the forces of the craftworlds of Ulthwé and Lugganath, Ahriman advanced to within sight of the Library itself.However, several major arteries of the Webway were choked with the dead before the Heretic Astartes were driven from the secret paths leading to the Library. The breach caused by the rampaging sorcerers was sealed, but as a result, a section of the Webway was lost forever to the Aeldari. |
Black Library - The Final Act: At the very heart of the Black Library, there lies a silver-lit vault. Therein stands a plinth made of finely graven obstinite, upon which rests a crystalline book said to contain the words of the Aeldari god Cegorach himself.Since the Fall, the tome's covers have remained closed, sealed shut with flickering chains of light. Yet now, long-awaited portents have come to pass. A fallen sorcerer sought and nearly won the lore of the library. A king stirred back to life in his court of death and silence, and rose once more to lead Mankind. As the signs of the Rhana Dandra have come to pass, so the bands of light about the tome have flickered and died.Now, at last, the tome has fallen open following the birth of the Great Rift. Within its pages the Shadowseers have found a script, a secret final act that changes utterly the tale of the Fall. Penned in inks of light and shadow, these words present a slender hope, detailing an intricate, galaxy-spanning performance with the potential to change the fate of the Aeldari species.Always, the strands of fate have pointed toward the victory of Chaos during the last, mythic battle of Creation known to the Aeldari as the Rhana Dandra. Yet within the pages of the crystal tome is recorded Cegorach's ultimate jest, a way to trick Slaanesh into expending all her power not to destroy the Aeldari, but to save them.How such an impossibility could come to pass is unclear, for on this matter the final act is infuriatingly vague. Yet the Harlequins take their god's words on faith alone, for their devotion to Cegorach is total and his methods beyond question or reproach. Thus they have begun the steps of this final dance, and will see it completed, or else face absolute destruction in the attempt. |
Black Library - Structure: The Black Library is a "dark" craftworld eternally travelling through the Webway. Its location and route are secret, hidden from all but the Harlequins and the members of the governing Black Council. Like all craftworlds, the vessel is conscious and psychoactive, hiding itself from all psychic probes, while simultaneously repelling Warp entities and intrusions.It is an enormous construct with a scorched, crystalline appearance, covered in vanes and flourishes but with the typical flowing grace of Aeldari architecture. The interior is an intentional labyrinth with all manner of convoluted passages, corridors, and chambers.Bubble vaults full of stasis caskets containing forbidden lore and dangerous artefacts hang from the superstructure, whilst inside and above are myriad citadels, obelisks, monoliths, and spires where the rest of the craftworld's arcane contents are kept.Among the varied structures present within the Black Library is the Wraith Tower, the section of the Library devoted to Humanity's interaction with Chaos, the accumulated lore of the Imperial Traitors. The psychic emanations of the Webway are known to have a regenerative effect upon Human tissue, which greatly benefited the Human Inquisitor Bronislaw Czevak when he became the first of his species to gain entry to the hidden craftworld.Several standard years after he was granted permission to study at the Black Library, a much younger-looking Czevak returned to realspace and the Imperium, no longer needing the assistance of his cryogenic suspension suit to easily move his once-aged body around. |
Black Library (Company) - Black Library (Company): The Black Library is a section of BL Publishing, itself a division of Games Workshop, devoted to publishing novels, art books, background books, and graphic novels set in the Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000 fictional universes.The Games Workshop fiction publishing company took its name from a famous location in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, where the Craftworld known as the Black Library that was hidden in the Webway contains all the knowledge of the Aeldari species concerning Chaos and the foul Necrons.Some of the Black Library's best known Warhammer 40,000 titles include the Gaunt's Ghosts and the Eisenhorn series of novels by Dan Abnett, The Horus Heresy series and the Gotrek and Felix series of novels set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe by William King and Nathan Long. |
Black Library (Company) - History: The Black Library was founded in April 1997 to publish INFERNO! magazine, a bi-monthly digest-sized anthology of short stories, comic strips and features from the Warhammer worlds. INFERNO!'s success spawned Warhammer Monthly comic books, and then from September 1999 a lengthy series of fantasy and science fiction novels. Their first art book, Inquis Exterminatus was published in May 1999. Black Library's catalogue now runs to well over two hundred titles, with a Warhammer or Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000 novel appearing every month.In October 2003 BL Publishing started a sister imprint, Black Flame, which applied the same pulp styling to novels featuring New Line Cinema characters such as Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees, and 2000 AD comics' Judge Dredd and others. In 2006, Black Flame produced the novel for the New Line Cinema's hit feature film Snakes on a Plane. In the summer of 2005 BL Publishing announced another fiction imprint, Solaris Books, that will publish original science fiction and fantasy. |
Black Library (Company) - Periodicals: From 1997 to 2005, Black Library published INFERNO!, a magazine of short stories, artwork, and other features set in the various fictional universes of Games Workshop's fantasy and science fiction games. These initially included Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40,000, and Necromunda, and later added the Mordheim and Gorkamorka settings.From 1998 to 2004, Black Library published the Warhammer Monthly comic book based on the Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000 fictional universes. The comics were republished as a series of trade paperback comics.Black Library discontinued the two periodicals because their sales were meagre compared to their novels. |
Black Library (Company) - External links: Official Black Library websiteOfficial Black Flame websiteOfficial Solaris website |
Black Library Weekender Anthology (Anthology) - Black Library Weekender Anthology (Anthology): Black Library Weekender Anthology is a two-volume anthology of short stories, released exclusively at Black Library's Weekender event on November 3 and 4, 2012. The book contains several short stories from different Games Workshop properties. The short stories contained within were later released separately. |
Black Library Weekender Anthology (Anthology) - Synopsis: No official synopsis is given. |
Black Library Weekender Anthology (Anthology) - Contents: The Black Library Weekender Anthology contains the following short stories: |
Black Library Weekender Anthology (Anthology) - Horus Heresy: Lost Sons by James SwallowThe Divine Word by Gav Thorpe |
Black Library Weekender Anthology (Anthology) - Warhammer 40,000: Know Thyself by Andy SmillieCrucible by John FrenchThe Smallest Detail by Sandy MitchellOld Scars by George MannSignal to Noise by C.Z. DunnShadow Play by Rob Sanders |
Black Library Weekender Anthology (Anthology) - Warhammer Fantasy: Gods of Flesh and Blood by Graham McNeillBerthold's Beard by Josh ReynoldsThe Great Maw by Laurie GouldingBloodwalker by C.L. Werner |
Black Oculus (Short Story) - Black Oculus (Short Story): Black Oculus is a short story published in the Horus Heresy Series. Black Oculus was originally published simultaneously as a part of the anthology novella Blades of the Traitor and as a stand-alone e-book. It is also now also included in the War Without End anthology novel. Black Oculus is the sequel to Book 23, Angel Exterminatus and is the beginning of the Battle of Tallarn story arc of the Horus Heresy. |
Black Oculus (Short Story) - Synopsis: After Fulgrim's ascension to daemonhood at Iydris, Perturabo and his Legion were trapped by the singularity at the heart of the so-called "Eye of Terror". Their only option? To thread the needle, and dive into the heart of the black hole. Perhaps by sheer blind luck, they were transported far across the Warp to the Tallarn System, but the Navigators in service to the Iron Warriors fleet were irreversibly corrupted by that harrowing experience, becoming the ominous Black Oculus Navigators. Now they serve a new purpose, and Perturabo's plans for revenge come closer to fruition... |
Black Oculus (Short Story) - Tallarn Series: The following is the chronological order of the Tallarn Series story arc set within the Horus Heresy:Black OculusTallarn: SirenTallarn: ExecutionerTallarn: IroncladThe Eagle's TalonIron CorpsesTallarn: WitnessThe Tallarn Series begins shortly after book twenty-three, Angel Exterminatus. |
Black Psalm, The - Black Psalm, The: The Black Psalm are a warband of Chaos Space Marines. They were once a Loyalist Chapter of Space Marines of unknown genetic origin and Founding, known as the Illustrians.They were corrupted after entering the Eye of Terror in 321.M37 as part of the Imperial Abyssal Crusade. It is unknown what they endured during their sojourn into the Eye, but by the time they made their way back into realspace, they had become the warband of Heretic Astartes known as The Black Psalm. |
Black Psalm, The - Abyssal Crusade: Following the Ecclesiarchal Purges of 321.M37, a dozen star systems were engulfed by Warp Storm Dionys, its echoes rippling along the spiral arms of the galaxy as it raged through the Empyrean. Records of mutation and Chaos Cultist activity quadrupled overnight. Worse yet, it was not only the citizens who were affected by the sudden influx of Chaos. Many of the Space Marine Chapters with homeworlds affected by the Warp Storm found that the secret imperfections in their gene-seed were writ large upon their new recruits, giving rise to a wave of disturbing manifestations both physical and psychological. The Illustrians were one such Loyalist Chapter of Astartes that had been affected by these Warp Storms.When the Ecclesiarchy heard of this sinister tum of events, Saint Basillius the Elder demanded that all those Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes whose homeworlds had been touched by the Warp Storm be rendered unto his judgement. Such was the elder's influence with the High Lords of Terra that within a standard year this had come to pass. After a series of stringent tests and prognostications, hundreds of Chapters were deemed unaffected by the Warp Storm. No less than thirty were found wanting. The Judged, as these fallen Chapters came to be known, volunteered for a redemptive Penitent Crusade. The most militant of their number demanded the right to purify their tainted flesh in the fires of battle, to make a noble end from tragic misfortune. To the surprise of his closest advisors, Saint Basillius agreed to this proposal. He saw it fitting to send the accused into the Eye of Terror, taking the fight for the Imperium's future to the Daemon Worlds inhabited by the Traitor Marines.A representative from each of the doomed Chapters held an emergency Council of Dismay to discuss the proposed Crusade. After scant hours of debate, they acquiesced to Basillius' demands, for they believed that martyrdom was preferable to an existence of suspicion and doubt. The last few days of 321.M37 saw a solemn procession of Strike Cruisers and Battle Barges pass through the Cadian Gate into the Eye of Terror, relay systems dormant and heraldic colours obscured by black mag-plates. One by one, the Chapters of The Judged disappeared into the iridescent dust nebulae that surrounded the Eye. As the massive Space Marine flotilla entered the Eye of Terror, they were set upon by a massive Chaos warfleet. The resultant battle was so fierce that the ships of The Judged were forced to retreat and were scattered to the furthest corners of the Eye.Chapter after Chapter fell to the perils of the Eye, for the Abyssal Crusade had entered a hell from which very few emerge unchanged. The true account of what occurred within the Eye to the Illustrians is unknown, but most of the tales of the Chapters of The Judged ended in tragedy and sorrow. By the time they reemerged from the Eye many standard centuries later, the Illustrians were no more, for they had become the Chaos Space Marine warband known as The Black Psalm, wholly dedicated to the service of the Ruinous Powers. |
Black Psalm, The - Warband Colours: The Black Psalm warband's colours are not listed in current Imperial records. |
Black Psalm, The - Warband Badge: The Black Psalm warband's badge is not listed in current Imperial records. |
Black Rage - Black Rage: The Blood Angels Chapter and their successors among the Sanguinary Brotherhood still suffer from a genetic flaw that creates mental instability called the Black Rage, also known as the "Flaw of Sanguinius," as a result of the psychic imprint left by their Primarch Sanguinius' death at the hands of Horus during the Siege of Terra.Blood Angels are unique amongst the Space Marines in that deeply engrained in their gene-seed is the encoded experience of their primarch, and most deeply imprinted of all is the memory of Sanguinius' final battle with Horus.Sometimes, on the eve of battle, an event or circumstance will trigger this "genetic memory" and the battle-brother's mind is suddenly wrenched into the distant past. The Black Rage overcomes the Blood Angel as the memories and consciousness of Sanguinius intrude upon his mind, and dire events ten thousand Terran years old flood into the present. This can cause Blood Angels Astartes to go insane prior to or during battle and feel the uncontrollable rage of Sanguinius himself during the final days of the Siege of Terra.The condition is largely irrecoverable and only a few Blood Angels have managed to overcome "the Flaw." Victims are locked away in the Tower of Amareo (named after an ancient Chapter Master of the Blood Angels), also called the "Tower of the Lost," on the Blood Angels' homeworld of Baal in their fortress-monastery complex of the Arx Angelicum.The reason the Black Rage can be suffered by Blood Angels who have never been in proximity to their long-dead primarch is that during the battles of the Horus Heresy on Terra and Mars, the Blood Angels' stores of gene-seed were lost. To reconstitute the Blood Angels Legion in the immediate aftermath of its terrible losses during the Heresy, gene-seed had to be created from new genetic samples removed from the body of Sanguinius. As a result, every Blood Angel inducted into the Chapter since that time has run the risk of falling to the Black Rage and reliving Sanguinius' final moments before his murder by Horus.A warrior overcome with the Black Rage appears half-mad with fury; he is unable to distinguish past from present and does not recognise his comrades. He may believe he is Sanguinius upon the eve of his destruction, and the bloody battles of the Horus Heresy are still raging all around him. Such a battle-brother stands at the end of his travails, for his path leads only to the Death Company, where he and the Chapter's other damned souls will fight one final battle in Sanguinius' name.When a Space Marine is overcome by the Black Rage he is reborn into a world of constant anger, hatred, fury and nothing else. As well as Sanguinius' memories, the Blood Angels and their kin who suffer from the Black Rage are genetically touched with a small portion of the primarch's unearthly power, boosting their strength and vitality to superhuman levels.Rather than let their afflicted brethren face a slow, insane death, the Blood Angels and their successors will form those of their battle-brothers who have newly succumbed to the Black Rage into a special unit of the Chapter known as the "Death Company." They wear specially painted black power armour, daubed with red crosses to symbolise the wounds of Sanguinius and are often led by the few Chapter officers, notably Chaplains, who are able to communicate orders to the insane troops. They are then sent out to perform the most dangerous assaults, hoping for a quick and honourable death in combat.However, by some unknown means, the genetic flaw in the Blood Angels' gene-seed that produces the Black Rage also seems capable of extending the victim's lifespan, at least until he finally succumbs to the Rage. Commander Dante, the Chapter Master of the Blood Angels, is by far the oldest living Loyalist Space Marine (not including those interred in a Dreadnought), born more than 1000 Terran years before the present time, a feat that may only have been possible because of the genetic flaw he bears. |
Black Rage - Blood Angels Freed From the Flaw: Mephiston - Originally Battle-Brother Calistarius, a Blood Angels Librarian of some considerable ability and strength of character, Calistarius was almost overcome by the curse of the Black Rage when he served as part of the relief force for Hades Hive during the Second War for Armageddon, where, having suffered for 7 solar days and nights trapped in the rubble of the collapsed Ecclesorium building, a vision of Sanguinius helped him fight off the effects. He was reborn as Mephiston -- the Lord of Death, and with his full psychic potential unlocked, quickly achieved the position of Chief Librarian for the Blood Angels Chapter. He is seen as the spiritual son of Sanguinius, a figure of hope to his Chapter. He is now considered to be the most powerful Librarian in the Adeptus Astartes, and possibly the most powerful psyker in the Imperium, after the Emperor of Mankind.Rafen - A battle-brother -- later promoted to sergeant -- Rafen had to kill his brother Arkio who was claiming to be Sanguinius reborn but was in reality deceived by Chaos, having been made, through mutation, into a likeness of Sanguinius. Rafen then had to succumb to the Gene Curse to unleash the power of the Holy Spear of Telesto (a weapon wielded by Sanguinius himself) in order to defeat Malfallax, a Lord of Change who had deceived Arkio. However, he was eventually able to pull himself to the surface of his consciousness, and also succeeded in helping Mephiston defeat the Black Rage within himself a second time. Rafen was the protagonist of the Blood Angels series of novels by James Swallow. |
Black Ravens - Black Ravens: The Black Ravens was a Loyalist Space Marine Chapter of unknown Founding and genetic origin. Unfortunately, the Black Ravens met their end while fighting The Harvest -- a warband of Khorne Daemonkin -- within the walls of their own fortress-monastery. |
Black Ravens - Notable Campaigns: The Threat Within (946.M41) - The Khorne Daemonkin warband of "The Harvest" erupted from blood-portals within the fortress-monastery of the Black Ravens Chapter. Solar days of fierce fighting followed, during which the Harvest killed every last Loyalist within the monastery's walls and used its Defence Lasers to blast apart the Black Ravens' orbital shipyards. Bloodied and exalting, the Daemonkin dropped the fortress' void shields and prepared for the true battle as a tendril of Hive Fleet Behemoth filled the skies. |
Black Ravens - Chapter Colours: The Black Ravens' Chapter colours are not listed in current Imperial records. |
Black Ravens - Chapter Badge: The Black Ravens' Chapter badge is not listed in current Imperial records. |
Black Reach - Black Reach: Black Reach is an Imperial Hive World located in the Ultima Segmentum that was fought over by the Ultramarines 2nd Company under the command of Captain Cato Sicarius and Goff Klan Orks under the control of the Greenskin Warlord Zanzag following the invasion of Black Reach in 855.M41 by WAAAGH! Zanzag. |
Black Reach - History: In 855.M41, Black Reach, and to a lesser extent, its neighboouring planets Jede'ogh and Voldermach, were overcome by a surging Ork WAAAGH! primarily composed of the Goff Clan under the control of the Greenskin Warlord Zanzag. The planet of Black Reach, though ostensibly valueless, was of great tactical import to the Ultramarines Chapter's Realm of Ultramar. The planet is surrounded by a series of asteroid belts so dense that should Black Reach and its vast array of orbital debris ever become infested by xenos, it would take centuries to exterminate them all.Furthermore, the magnetic elements of the Black Reach asteroid belt made it extremely difficult to contact Black Reach from out-system, let alone augur the whereabouts of individual armies and their war leaders. An alien invasion of the Imperium could be mustered there, right under the nose of Ultramar, and remain undetected until it was time to strike against the Ultramarines' home region.All three planets in the Black Reach System were overcome by a surging Ork WAAAGH! which burst into realspace through Jorgund's Eye, a wormhole thought to be connected to the Aeldari Webway in the Vidar Sector. How the primitive Ork fleet pulled off such a feat of interstellar bravado is unknown, but the Greenskin forces descended upon the Black Reach System so quickly that such disturbing questions were put aside by the Ultramarines high command on Macragge in favour of readying for the coming battle.As an Imperial Hive World, Black Reach's massive hive cities were home to billions of Imperial citizens. Much of the planet's population was slain during the initial assault of WAAAGH! Zanzag, and the hive cities and surrounding territory of Black Reach's northern continent were completely ruined by the sheer intensity of the fighting.After the defeat of Zanzag by the Imperial forces led by the Ultramarines' 2nd Company and its valiant commander, Captain Cato Sicarius, Black Reach's inhabitants still had to take back the rest of their world from the pockets of surviving Greenskins. One Terminator and twelve Space Marines from the 2nd Company were slain during the Ultramarines' operations on Black Reach. |
Black Reef - Black Reef: The Black Reef is an astronomical phenomenon of intense, unnatural gravity found within the Jericho Reach.The Reach is littered with celestial perils from the Slinnar Deep Gulfs to the Hadex Anomaly, a combination of stellar debris and void-born chaos so common in the far galactic east.Among these wild zones, the Black Reef stands as a briar patch of gravitational madness stretching across a dozen light years and effectively closing off an entire area of space.Located at the extreme edge of the Canis Salient on the coreward rim of the sector, it has for solar decades been a natural shield against the Achilus Crusade's advance, providing the outposts of the T'au Empire in the Reach with a solid edifice against attack.Bordered by the T'au worlds of Tsua'Malor, Krrk'tikit and Iphigenia, the Black Reef is practically impassable to voidfaring ships, its gravity storms reaching into the Warp itself, fouling Warp routes and disturbing the Immaterium, forcing vessels to return to realspace and face the anomaly's brutal power.The T'au have made extensive use of this barrier to shield their worlds from assault and have created their defensive line to either side, confident that no Imperial battlegroup could hope to cross it alive.The Black Reef is far more than a mere celestial hazard however, and over the years both the Humans and the T'au have made attempts to determine its purpose and perhaps what lies at its core.It is known to both sides that it covers a number of ancient systems and perhaps hides the remains of some long lost civilisation, one that predates both the T'au and the Imperial presence in the sector. The laws of physics however break down as soon as a vessel enters the Reef and gravity loses all reason as it pulls, pushes and crushes areas of space seemingly at random.Entire worlds are flung across the void, torn away from their stars by these random forces and imperiling all in their path.Those few intrepid explorers that have penetrated deep into the Reef (and returned to pass on their findings) tell wild and conflicting tales of their experiences, though all seem to agree there is something hidden deep within its core, something big... |
Black Reef - The Gravity Storm: The Black Reef is a gravitational anomaly which follows none of the natural laws of the universe. Vessels crossing into the Reef, across what has become known as the Stygian Break, are immediately assailed by gravitic eddies and tides.These ripples across the void are practically impossible to detect or predict and any one can smash a ship to fragments. Even those vessels fortunate enough to avoid the worst of the gravity storm will likely be thrown wildly off course by the constant energy fluxes and shifting nature of the void.This problem is compounded by the fact that the gravity storm does not just affect ships crossing the Reef, but all celestial objects and bodies within it, making it virtually impossible to take an accurate bearing as planets, gas clouds and even the stars themselves move erratically across the sky.Gravity swells and navigational mayhem are not the only perils of the Black Reef, however, as it is filled with the detritus of dozens of worlds and the wreckage of thousands of vessels.Given the vast size of the Reef, more than one captain has scoffed at the notion of "running into" such stellar flotsam and jetsam, and under normal circumstances it is a simple matter for a vessel to easily avoid such perils when plying the void.However another astronomical quirk of the Black Reef is that the same gravitational ripples which can rip a ship apart seem to cause all kinds of mass to be drawn together. This means wrecks, asteroids and rogue planets will all seek out ships trying to cross the Reef, changing course and accelerating as if drawn in by some potent magnetic force.Often a craft will have only moments to detect, avoid or destroy such objects as they appear, before they crash into the hull with massive destructive force. |
Black Reef - The Black Heart: Several attempts by Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator fleets have been made to navigate the Black Reef, though to date all have met with failure. Lord Commander Sebiascor Ebongrave himself has also launched numerous scouting parties into the Reef in the hopes of somehow flanking the T'au positions and gaining a decisive military victory.These too have met only with failure, many of them disappearing completely, leading the paranoid Ebongrave to suspect treachery. A few Imperial explorers have managed to delve deep into the Reef and return, among them the famed Rogue Trader Telas Kai and his ship the Ancient Fable.With the aid of his skilled Nostromo House Navigator, Telas has been able to glimpse the heart of the Reef and discern some of its ancient secrets.What he has passed on seems hard to believe, though if true could turn around the fortunes of the Canis Salient in a single stroke. Telas asserts that beyond the chaos of the Reef's outer regions lies a dark centre and a macro-system of dozens of worlds from dozens of systems, all drawn into the orbit of a single, massive, star-sized object.As with the rest of the Reef, this macro-system, dubbed the "Black Heart" by Kai, is a tangled web of gravity fields and unpredictable orbits.Kai tells how he explored several of the worlds and discovered the remains of an ancient, highly advanced xenos civilisation long turned to dust. He also encountered primitive reptilian aliens, which he deduced to be the descendants of the race which once dominated these worlds and this region of space.The aliens, which called themselves the Syrshin, roam the worlds of the Black Heart, defending the ruins and warring among themselves. Without the technology to cross the void, Kai discovered they could use naturally occurring gravity wells, vast plumes of air and water millions of kilometres in length, which would periodically link the planets and allow the Syrshin to literally "fly" between worlds.Cobbling together xenos writing from the walls of the ruins, and secrets pulled from the minds of the Syrshin by his psykers, Telas came to the conclusion that they were waiting for some powerful enemy which they believed would soon return, rising from a millennia-long slumber, once more to enslave them as it had so long ago.Of more interest to Kai than the ghost stories of the Syrshin was what he discovered about the great mass at the centre of the Black Heart. Though he was not able to get closer than a billion kilometres from it, he believes it is in fact a vast engine built by the lost Syrshin civilisation to protect them from the ancient enemy and is the cause of the Reef itself.Telas also suspected that while no ship could approach, it might be possible to travel "on foot" using the gravity wells to skip between worlds. Unfortunately for Telas, the shifting gravity tides forced him to leave the Black Heart before he could put his theory to the test.Thus far he has not been able to find the Heart again, though Ebongrave has become interested in his tales and the possibility of harnessing this Syrshin Singularity Engine. He is eagerly funding a return trip for the Rogue Trader. |
Black Reef - The T'au and the Black Reef: The Humans are not the only ones to explore the Black Reef and the T'au too have been sending scouts into its gravity-ravaged depths. Less willing to needlessly sacrifice their warriors, the T'au have employed those aliens from their empire with an affinity for the void and a skill at space faring, such as the ethereal Ji'atrix and the void-dwelling Nicassar.More successfully than the Imperium, the T'au have mapped a number of routes through the edges of the Reef, at least on their side of the anomaly, allowing their voidships more tactical flexibility than those of their enemies and also allowing them to lay deadly ambushes within the edge of the Stygian Break.The T'au also enjoy a rare speed advantage over the Imperium within the Black Reef as their unusual method of near-Warp travel works more effectively than completely entering the Warp and is less prone to disruption by the gravity storm.The T'au have long been aware of the Syrshin and their lost empire, from artefacts gathered from the fragmented worlds of the Reef. Aun'El Basel'kyth himself has taken an interest in understanding the empire which once dominated this area of space.The senior T'au researcher's interest in the Black Reef and the amount of T'au resources allocated to its secrets has increased in recent times since T'au spies learned of Kai's discovery of the Black Heart.While Aun'El Basel'kyth does not fully believe the wild stories of the Rogue Trader, his research so far makes him believe that such a thing as the Singularity Engine could exist.While the T'au high command in the Jericho Reach is generally skeptical about the existence of such a device, they have nevertheless decided to allow Aun'El Basel'kyth to make a serious attempt at reaching the Black Heart before the Imperium and harnessing the power of the Syrshin Singularity Engine before Telas Kai and his crew can find its location again. |
Black Ships - Black Ships: The Black Ships are the dread Imperial starships that make up the fleet of the League of Blackships, which forms the recruiting division of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica of the Imperium of Man.The great fleet of Black Ships belongs to the Adeptus Astra Telepathica but are often administered by the personnel of the Inquisition and the Sisters of Silence. Independent of the Imperial Navy, they represent the second largest Human fleet in the galaxy.There are many thousands of Black Ships but only the highest-ranking adepts in the Adeptus Astra Telepathica know the true scale of the fleet and the vast scope of its operations. New vessels are constantly commissioned to replace the inevitable losses and to further increase the fleet's size.Thus it is that each standard year, more and more planets of the Imperium are visited and stripped of their psykers for transportation to Terra as part of the Imperial Tithe, where they will be either trained to become Sanctioned Psykers who can serve the Imperium in a number of important roles or their lives will be sacrificed to the Emperor of Mankind so that He will have the psychic energy necessary to maintain the crucial telepathic navigational beacon of the Astronomican.Black Ships are typically incredibly ancient vessels, and it is a rare sight to see one of these foreboding starships enter a planetary system. Even rarer is to have one of these built to replace inevitable losses incurred by the very nature of their mission, as vital to the Imperium as it is fraught with danger.Due to the exacting standards and particular specifications required to construct a Blackship, usually this is undertaken nowhere else but at the orbital shipyards of Mars itself, though records indicate a small number were constructed at the orbital shipyards of the Segmentum Fortresses of Kar Duniash and Cypra Mundi.For all its imposing bulk and the abject fear mere mention of this ship brings, each one is little more than a gigantic transport vessel and high-security prison, albeit fitted with a heavily augmented and carefully-tuned Gellar Field to shroud the beacon-bright imprint so many pykers in such close vicinity would have upon the Warp during a Black Ship's transit.Additionally, such vessels always embark a large contingent of Untouchables, those cursed with the Pariah Gene that appear as psychic Nulls to the Warp, along with a mission of Adepta Sororitas to keep order aboard the ship and to serve as a final line of defence against enemy boarders. Additionally, in the Era Indomitus, with the return of the Sisters of Silence, the female Nulls of that order now also accompany the Black Ships as they did during the time of the Great Crusade.Because of the enormous bounty such a cargo would represent to Chaos or the Drukhari, Black Ships mount weapons comparable to front-line warships, and it is rare that a Black Ship ever plies the void without being under heavy escort. |
Black Ships - Origins: During the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras in the late 30th and early 31st Millennia, the ancient Astra Telepathica possessed a militant arm which was referred to internally within the records of the Adeptus Terra as the Departmento Investigates.But they were known throughout the galaxy as the Sisters of Silence, the Silent Sisterhood and the Witchseekers. The Silent Sisterhood was an all-female Imperial order of Witch Hunters dedicated to the elimination of psychic threats to Mankind.Their primary base of operations was the Somnus Citadel on Luna, the moon of Terra. Their purpose was to hunt and kill rogue Human psykers whose activities presented a terrible danger to the people of the newborn Imperium of Man.The Sisters of Silence were well-trained warriors, and with the added benefit of their natural and innate anti-psyker abilities they were dangerous opponents to the psychic enemies of Mankind. Unlike other living beings, these women sworn to silence possessed no presence in the Warp and were therefore unaffected by all forms of psychic power.There were many names for them in the multitude of Human cultures to be found across the galaxy: Untouchables, Nulls, Pariahs, Blanks. All of the members of their order were non-psychic, for they bore the Pariah Gene which made them immune to all forms of psychic assault and rendered their minds unreadable by telepathy.The Sisters operated the Astra Telepathica's infamous League of Black Ships, which ranged across the galaxy following behind the Great Crusade's Expeditionary Fleets in search of rogue psykers to capture or expunge, seeking to collect and carry them back to Terra where they would be tested and their eventual fate decided.Though few in number, the Sisters of Silence commanded great respect within the Imperium and most servants of the Emperor regarded them with some awe. Few would willingly stand in their way or interfere with their activities and few indeed were those who were comfortable in their presence.The ultimate fate of the Sisters of Silence was long absent from Imperial records, and remained unknown until the 41st Millennium.It was believed for a long time that they were either destroyed long ago or were ultimately folded into the organisation of the Imperial Inquisition following the Horus Heresy, which now administers the League of Black Ships.In the mid-32nd Millennium, a lone bastion of Sisters of Silence had proven crucial to the victory of the Imperium over the Orks during the War of the Beast, but little more was known about them over the following millennia, and their order was believed to have gone extinct.However, in the wake of the Great Rift's birth in the Era Indomitus, the Sisters of Silence have been restored to a prominent place among the Imperium's defenders by the command of the resurrected Primarch Roboute Guilliman.Though still small in number, it is now possible once again to see one or more of the Sisters of Silence accompanying the Black Ships on their vital duties. |
Black Ships - Indomitus Era: With the opening of the Great Rift it became nigh-impossible for the Black Ships to continue operating as they once had.To say nothing of those that had been lost beyond the rift, the remaining craft found themselves forced to dare roiling war zones wherever they travelled, delving into planet-wide battles in order to extract their tithe.The Sisters of Silence who often commanded the Black Ships after Guilliman's resurrection were formidable warriors, but they recognised that this situation could not continue forever.The solution came in the form of the Indomitus Crusade fleets. While some Black Ships continued to ply the space lanes they always had, and to harvest inthe conventional fashion, many more were deployed as so-called "Flights of Crows" that followed in the wake of the Indomitus battlegroups.Like carrion birds picking over the trail of a campaigning army, the Black Ships fell upon recently reconquered Imperial systems and reaped a rich bounty from populations already battered into absolute compliance and so terrified that they would obey the Silent Sisters without question.So did the Black Ships continue to function, throughout the reconquered systems of the Imperium Sanctus at least, and so did they keep the Golden Throne and the Astronomican from faltering in this desperate hour. |
Black Ships - League of Blackships: Constructed solely by the Adeptus Mechanicus of Mars and administered by the Inquisition, the so-called "Black Ships" are among the most secretive of warships currently in the service of the Imperium.Sometime in the distant past the Grand Masters of the Inquisition viewed the reliance upon Imperial Navy or Space Marine forces for transport, support and protection as unacceptable and a new vessel capable of independent action was required.Like their predecessors from ten millennia earlier, these Black Ships (so-called due to their somewhat sinister reputation as well as their colour) combine many features of a Space Marine strike cruiser with a full-sized battlecruiser hull. These formidable vessels can deploy company-sized formations with orbital support.Usually operating alone or in conjunction with Imperial Navy or Space Marine escorts, these vessels can serve as the core of a formidable battle group for dealing with rebellions or Heretic incursions.The Black Ships are feared transports filled with mournful, unsanctioned psykers held in cavernous, psi-shielded holds to be taken back to Terra to feed the voracious psychic appetite of the Emperor. Only those with the strength of mind to withstand the constant, soul-numbing despair projected telepathically and unwittingly by many of the captured psykers that permeates a Black Ship may crew it, so mentally traumatic is such duty.These psykers will become either official Sanctioned Psykers trained to serve the Imperium in a variety of capacities or they will be bound and sacrificed to the Emperor, their lives snuffed out to maintain the power of the telepathic beacon of the Astronomican that the Emperor's mind directs in the Immaterium to guide all Imperial interstellar transport and commerce.The Black Ship fleet travels constantly throughout the Imperium. Each Imperial world is visited every hundred standard years or so by a Black Ship. When a Black Ship nears a planet, its Imperial planetary governor is instructed to prepare the customary levy -- a tithe of unsanctioned psykers drawn from the world's population. Once the levy has been collected, the Black Ship's captain makes an initial evaluation of his cargo before proceeding to the next world in his circuit.When the starships are full of psykers they return to Terra and the psykers are transferred to the Scholastica Psykana of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica for evaluation and training before the ship leaves again to continue its eternal search. It is common for Inquisitors of the Ordo Hereticus or Ordo Malleus to travel on board these ships, as this gives them a good opportunity to investigate a planet's potential for psychically-based corruption. |
Black Ships - Black Ship Crews: The crews of the Black Ships come from both the Adeptus Astra Telepathica and the Inquisition. The captains and other senior officers of the Black Ships are senior adepts of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. The ships' crews are indentured workers drafted from a number of Imperial planets situated relatively close to Terra.The Astra Telepathica has ancient contracts with these worlds, ensuring a steady flow of suitable recruits in return for exemption from Imperial Tithes. All crew are rigorously tested and scrutinised for any latent psychic abilities or sensitivities and are regularly mind-scrubbed to purge any taint or infection. Navigators for the fleet of Black Ships are all members of the Granicus, Ptolemy and MacPherson Navigator Houses who work exclusively for the Astra Telepathica.Inquisitors, alone amongst Imperial officials, have secured Rights of Passage aboard the Black Ships and have leave to travel freely throughout the entire fleet. They are also wont to oversee the identification, capture and incarceration of particularly recalcitrant or rebellious psykers in whom they have a personal interest.Generally, few other Imperial agents are permitted aboard these dread vessels but occasionally Space Marines, Sisters of Battle, Sisters of Silence or higher-ranking members of the Adeptus Terra may be accommodated at the captain's discretion.A Black Ship is a dreadful environment for psykers. Psychically-sensitive crew spend most of their time in the shielded upper decks of the main bridge, as far removed from the containment holds as possible so as to avoid the unpleasant effects of the anti-psychic security measures in place.There are numerous devices and routines directed at the great holds to confuse and confound psychic abilities. Each ship has a troop of specially-trained Adepts whose sole function is to focus their own psychic energies into an Occluding Sphere –- this strange metaphysical device broadcasts an invasive signal into the mind of any nearby psyker, severely disrupting their ability to concentrate or reason and therefore largely curtailing their ability to utilise their talents.In addition to this, oppressively loud and discordant noise is pumped into the holds to disrupt any attempts at concentration or rest. The holds are dimly illuminated for the most part but frequent bursts of strobing light shatter the twilight. Food and drink for the captives is laced with sedatives. The captive population is regularly moved from one hold to another. All of this serves to keep the psykers in a helpless, confused and compliant state. The most dangerous psykers (as identified by Inquisitorial scrutiny) are kept in separate isolation cells deep within the bowels of the containment holds.Adepts of the Telepathica test the psykers being transported, selecting those who are strong enough to shield themselves from possession by Warp entities to begin their training.The Inquisition's role is to scrutinise the tithe gathered from each world to make sure that there is no shortfall in the number of psykers given up, monitor the psykers being transported in case they pose a threat while in transit and (though not their official duty) pick the best psykers for training and use by the Inquisition itself. Indeed, many Inquisition Acolytes with psychic powers themselves began their careers as unwilling passengers on a Black Ship, where their talents were first recognised.The Black Ships themselves are dark places of despair, for they are little more than spacefaring high-security prisons and many of the psykers being transported know full well that they will meet a grim fate at their journey's end. Every solar day, dozens of Black Ships complete their epic journey and arrive at Terra, whereupon they disgorge their cargoes of Human psykers.Each voidship can hold many thousands of psykers within their vast holds. So each and every day, tens of thousands of psykers are sent to the processing halls, graded and passed on through the myriad departments and institutions responsible for ensuring that the Tithe is put to its allotted use.These rarely-seen vessels usually operate only on Inquisition business but occasionally, when the interests of both the Inquisition and the Imperial Navy coincide, a Black Ship will join with an Imperial Navy battle group.While it is a rare Imperial admiral who welcomes an Inquisitor to his counsels, these vessels are highly capable additions to any Imperial force. The Black Ships are described as like a void that blocks out the light of the stars visually as they pass. The captains of Black Ships are often senior Inquisitorial agents with a ship-based defence force of Inquisitorial Storm Troopers or Sisters of Battle. |
Black Ships - Notable Black Ships: Aeria Gloris - This notable vessel was operated by the Silent Sisterhood during the Great Crusade era of the late 30th Millennium. Whereas conventional vessels of an Imperial expeditionary fleet ran with pennants and signal lamps to illuminate the lengths of their hulls, the Aeria Gloris came in darkness, arriving out of the interstellar deeps as an ocean predator might slip to the surface of a night time sea. It was difficult to make out anything more than the most basic details of this formidable warship, as it blended with the void. The Imperium's Black Ships were originally the flagships of the Silent Sisterhood during the Great Crusade and were responsible for carrying them back and forth across the galaxy on the Emperor's witch-hunting missions. The Aeria Gloris was one such vessel under their command. The vessel saw action against the xenos known as the Jorgall during the final days of the Great Crusade with the Death Guard Legion. It also later escorted the Phalanx to Luna after the Imperial Fists Primarch Rogal Dorn picked up Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro, The Seventy and the other mortal survivors of the Vengeful Spirit Remembrancer massacre above Isstvan III such as Kyril Sindermann, Euphrati Keeler and Mersadie Oliton who had fled on the doomed Death Guard frigate Eisenstein from the Isstvan System. On Luna, at the Somnus Citadel, the Silent Sister Amendera Kendel took custody of Keeler to determine if her unusual talents of persuasion and resistance against the entities of the Warp were the result of psychic witchery or not.Ecclesiarch Nevsky - Such is the secretive nature of their work few of the exploits of the Black Ships are known. However, the destruction of the Ecclesiarch Nevsky while destroying the Tyranid incursion on Horatia III stands out. The Nevsky and her Escorts managed to destroy three Hive Ships of the invasion fleet before succumbing. The destruction of the hive vessels prevented any Tyranid reinforcement reaching the embattled planet and the Astra Militarum, coupled with a Deathwatch Kill-team from the Nevsky, helped with the extermination of the Tyranid horde.Validus - A notable vessel that was operated by the Silent Sisterhood during the Great Crusade and early Horus Heresy era, the Validus became stranded within the Warp. Further details in regards to this vessel and its ultimate fate remain classified, even ten millennia later.Irkalla - This vessel was in service to the Imperium of Man during the Horus Heresy era. It was boarded by Astartes of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion who took its Human cargo away for their own unholy purposes. |
Black Skull - Black Skull: Black SkullChaos Space MarinesFoundingHeretic AstartesChaptersThe remainder of their number are comprised of Chaos Cultists. They are thought to be loyal to Chaos Undivided. Little else is known of their actions in current Imperial records. |
Black Skull - Warband History: When the Crimson Sabres Chapter began their descent into madness, they were determined to sell themselves dearly, and so, they turned to the Eye of Terror where they planned to die fighting the enemies of Mankind and in doing so reclaim their honour.The planet known as Nebulon was one of the outermost of the planets ringing the Eye of Terror, a world only occasionally veiled within that region. Onto that bleak orb swept the Crimson Sabres like avenging angels. In a twisted land of derelict hive cities the red-armoured Space Marines hunted and gunned down any quarry they could find. None could stand before them -- none, that is, until the Black Skull Renegades emerged out of the stygian depths of the underhive.The two forces clashed, both nigh on Chapter strength, however, only the core of the Black Skull was comprised of Astartes. The Crimson Sabres fought as one unifying force, and were able to overcome the Renegade warband. |
Black Skull - Notable Campaigns: The Renegade Wars (929-938.M41) - When the Renegade Crimson Sabres fled the Imperium into the Eye of Terror, they fought and destroyed countless cults, but also faced many warbands of Chaos Space Marine Renegades within the Eye. They first engaged and defeated the Black Skulls upon the world of Nebulon, and went on to face numerous other warbands that have been forgotten by history. |
Black Skull - Warband Colours: The Black Skull's colours are not listed in current Imperial records. |
Black Skull - Warband Badge: The Black Skull's badge is not listed in current Imperial records. |
Black Talons - Black Talons: The Black Talons is a Loyalist Space Marine Chapter of unknown genetic origin and Founding. |
Black Talons - Chapter Colours: The Space Marines of the Black Talons Chapter primarily wear bone-white power armour. The trim of the shoulder plates as well as the upper torso and groin areas are black. The black squad tactical specialty symbol -- battleline, close support, fire support, Veteran or command -- is indicated on the right shoulder plate.A white Low Gothic numeral centred on the squad specialty symbol indicates squad number. The colour of the Aquila or Imperialis on the chest indicates company number in accordance with the Codex Astartes -- i.e. white (1st Company), yellow (2nd Company), red (3rd Company), etc. |
Black Talons - Chapter Badge: The Black Talons' Chapter badge is a large raptor's talon centred on a field of bone-white. |
Black Templars - Black Templars: The Black Templars are a Loyalist Second Founding Space Marine Chapter derived from the Imperial Fists' gene-seed and their primarch, Rogal Dorn. Their origin can be traced back to the Imperial Fists' defence of Terra during the Horus Heresy.Since that time, the Black Templars have been on the longest Imperial Crusade the Imperium of Man has ever known to prove their loyalty to the Emperor of Mankind. They are not a Codex Astartes-compliant Chapter and maintain a very different Chapter structure and culture than is the norm amongst most of the Adeptus Astartes.They are also deeply unusual amongst the forces of the Adeptus Astartes for venerating the Emperor as a literal god, just like the mortal adherents of the Imperial Cult.After the Horus Heresy, Rogal Dorn, primarch of the Imperial Fists, resisted the break-up of the Space Marine Legions into smaller Chapters. It was only when the Imperial Fists were almost branded Heretics that Dorn relented, allowing his beloved Legion to be subdivided into Chapters. One of the new Chapters born of this time was the Black Templars.To prove his loyalty to the Emperor in the wake of the Imperial Fists' opposition to the Second Founding, the first Chapter Master of the Black Templars -- the High Marshal Sigismund -- assembled a massive war fleet and began the greatest Space Marine Crusade in the history of the Imperium. It has lasted for 10,000 standard years.Eschewing the establishment of a Chapter homeworld, the Black Templars took to the stars in a mighty war fleet. Rather than constructing a single Chapter fortress-monastery as most Space Marine Chapters do, the Black Templars determined to establish a Chapter keep upon each world they conquered, to keep watch for treachery, to stage future crusades, and to recruit new battle-brothers. The ten-millennia-long Imperial Crusade of the Black Templars has seen its warriors embroiled in some of the most momentous conflicts ever to engulf the Imperium.The subsequent High Marshals of the Chapter have followed the example of their founder and taken the fight to the realms of the alien, the Heretic, and the witch. The Black Templars are crusaders, holy warriors battling to bring the truth and light of the Emperor to the unconquered worlds of the galaxy.With bolt shell and chainsword, the Black Templars convert the benighted to the light of the Master of Mankind and destroy those who refuse to welcome His truth. Each crusade is directed by the will of the Marshal in command, and each is despatched by the decree of the High Marshal of the Black Templars to fulfill their prime mission to cleanse the stars.The Black Templars are the best-known example of a Crusading Chapter in the whole Imperium; their doctrines, traditions, and organisation reflect their particular approach to prosecuting the Imperium's wars. The Chapter is divided into a variable number of self-contained and highly mobile forces known as "crusades," each commanded by an officer known as a "Marshal," who is equivalent to a captain in a Codex Astartes-compliant Chapter and whose only superior is the High Marshal of the Chapter himself.Under most circumstances, the Chapter is divided into no more than three separate crusade forces, though during especially calamitous times the number has risen to several times more. Crusade forces are such large and powerful bodies that they are usually sub-divided into tactical bodies known as "fighting companies," analogous to a standard Codex Astartes company, and each of these is led by an officer with the title of "Castellan", equivalent to a lieutenant in Codex-compliant Chapters. With the successful conclusion of a war for which a crusade force has been raised, the various fighting companies within it are likely to be assigned a new mission, redeployed piecemeal to bolster other crusades already in the field, or sometimes amalgamated into the High Marshal's household until such time as a new crusade force is mustered.Each crusade force is raised from available fighting companies in order to prosecute a particular foe, purge a specific region of space or attain a definite goal. Many of these wars are planned and undertaken by the Chapter itself, according to the wisdom of its current High Marshal and other highly ranked Chapter officers, but others are undertaken as a result of petitions from other institutions within the Imperium.In the main, the High Marshal of the Black Templars is likely to receive only the highest-ranked petitioners, generally those with a warrant from the Senatorum Imperialis and therefore speaking with the direct authority of the High Lords of Terra and the Emperor Himself.On occasion, however, the High Marshal might agree to hear the petitions of especially highly placed Inquisitors or even well-regarded Rogue Traders, though he is under no legal obligation to offer such individuals any aid. Many times in its glorious history, the Chapter has gone to war alongside other august Imperial bodies, and a complex web of mutual obligation and honour has evolved.The Chapter's propensity for launching such crusades is not merely a point of history or tradition, but something deeply rooted in its psyche. The Chapter was formed during the Second Founding from those battle-brothers of the Imperial Fists Legion most disposed towards aggressive and bold styles of warfare and, furthermore, in whom the events of the Horus Heresy had imprinted an unstoppable drive to continue the Great Crusade and avenge the treacheries committed by the Traitor Legions.Perhaps these battle-brothers were the most recently recruited of the old Legion, their raw zeal yet to be tempered by the experience born of duty for which the Imperial Fists were so honoured. Regardless, the drive of those original Black Templars became instilled in the new Chapter from the beginning. The processes by which its gene-stock was cultivated imbued it in future generations on a genetic level.By a combination of raw zeal, genetic enhancement, relentless psycho-conditioning and the continuous reinforcement of the Chapter's histories and battle honours, each battle-brother is an exemplar of the crusading warrior-knight, fired with righteous anger and driven to avenge every wrong ever done to the Imperium of Man by every Traitor, fiend, and alien ever to have existed. |
Black Templars - Defence of Terra: At the Siege of Terra during the Horus Heresy, many Champions of Chaos arose from the Traitor Marines' ranks. During this time, the Primarch of the Imperial Fists, Rogal Dorn, chose the Imperial Fists' First Captain Sigismund to fulfill the role of the Emperor's Champion.First Captain Sigismund was given the best armour and weapons the Legion possessed, and he swore a holy duty to seek out and destroy the foul Champions of Chaos. He did so by challenging over two dozen of the enemy leaders to single combat and slaying them or banishing them back into the Immaterium.At the end of the Horus Heresy, each of the Space Marine Legions was broken down into smaller organisations known as Chapters, each composed of one thousand Astartes, as part of a plan to spread the power of the Imperial armed forces so that no one man could bring to bear the influence that the Warmaster Horus had over the Space Marines.Rogal Dorn, as Primarch of the Legion responsible for the defence of the Emperor's homeworld, Terra, initially refused to have his Legion broken down. Dorn fought with his fellow Primarch Roboute Guilliman over the issue, calling the Ultramarines' Primarch a coward, and Guilliman in turn accused Dorn of heresy and disloyalty to the Emperor.The Primarchs Leman Russ of the Space Wolves and Vulkan of the Salamanders favoured Dorn's stance while Jaghatai Khan of the White Scars and Corax of the Raven Guard supported Guilliman's position on the issue.It was only after an attack on the Imperial Fists' Strike Cruiser Terrible Angel by the Imperial Navy and the threat of a renewed civil war between Dorn's Legion and the newly-formed Successor Chapters of the other First Founding Legions that he decided to relent and allow the Imperial Fists to be divided. |
Black Templars - Second Founding: One of the Imperial Fists' first Successor Chapters, the Black Templars have since become one of the largest and most feared Space Marine Chapters. The surviving Imperial Fists were split into four Chapters during the Second Founding. The younger warriors became the Crimson Fists, while Dorn's chosen warriors remained the Imperial Fists, and the orbital assault specialists were long believed, erroneously, to have formed the ranks of the infamous Soul Drinkers Chapter.The fourth Imperial Fists Second Founding Successor Chapter were the Black Templars. Sigismund, named the Black Templars' first Chapter Master, took with him the most zealous of the Imperial Fists brethren and those that shared his fervour took on the black and white panoply of Sigismund's armour, and then they embarked on an Imperial Crusade to prove their loyalty to the Emperor.Sigismund refused to adhere to the Codex Astartes, seeing the foundational treatise written by Roboute Guilliman as an insult to the teachings of his own Primarch, Rogal Dorn. Instead, he led his warriors into the depths of space, taking the war directly to the enemies of the Imperium.In the centuries since, the Chapter has diverted even further from the standard tenets of the Adeptus Astartes. Embracing their faith and acknowledging the God-Emperor's divinity, the Black Templars have developed a fanatical zealotry and aggressiveness. This deviation from orthodoxy disturbs many of their fellow Space Marine Chapters, though the Black Templars' dedication to eradicating the enemies of Humanity cannot be questioned.Sigismund swore an oath "to prove his loyalty, never resting in the prosecution of his duties against the enemies of the Emperor." It is an oath that every succeeding High Marshal has renewed, resulting in the longest Space Marine crusade in the history of the Imperium. It has smashed through the stars for over 10,000 years and came to the fore during the wars for Armageddon. |
Black Templars - Notable Crusades: The Black Templars Chapter is the only Space Marine Chapter in existence known to still follow the Emperor's original vision of a Great Crusade to protect and reunite all the scattered worlds of Mankind across the galaxy.Since their creation during the Second Founding from the survivors of the Imperial Fists Legion, the Black Templars have waged a righteous war against the many enemies of the Imperium, the single longest Imperial Crusade in its history, persecuting the witch, the alien and the Heretic with a devotional zeal unmatched by the other Chapters.Smaller crusades are created within this ongoing greater crusade and some of the more notable Black Templar crusades are noted below. |
Black Templars - Age of Rebirth (M31-M34): Great Scouring (Unknown Date.M31) - With the division of the Imperial Fists, Sigismund became the first High Marshal. He began the Chapter's first crusade by leading the Black Templars to purge Chaos forces from the Donatello System, in what would be one of the final campaigns of the Great Scouring. A force of Night Lords who refused to retreat, in doing so giving their allies time to plunge into the Eye of Terror, was destroyed utterly.1st Black Crusade (781.M31) - A massive Black Templars fleet under High Marshal Sigismund himself defended the Cadian Gate against the first of Abaddon the Despoiler's incursions into Imperial space since the Horus Heresy. Sigismund led the Black Templars for several centuries after their founding, obsessed with hunting down the Traitor Legions who had fled into the Eye of Terror during the Great Scouring. During the 1st Black Crusade of Abaddon the Despoiler, when Sigismund was over a thousand Terran years old, the forces of the Black Legion assaulted the Black Templars' flagship Eternal Crusader determined to kill the High Marshal. Sigismund met Ezekyle Abaddon in single combat and was slain by the new Warmaster of Chaos, but not before he had buried his Black Sword deep into the Despoiler's chest, leaving a scar that would remain with the Warmaster for the next ten thousand years. The Black Templars were ultimately defeated in this engagement, but the Black Legion forces were forced to withdraw from the Eternal Crusader to tend to their wounded Chaos Lord and to face their other foes. Before his death, Sigismund warned his old friend Abaddon, "You will die as your weakling father died. Soulless. Honourless. Weeping. Ashamed."War of the Beast (544-546.M32) - During this great conflict against the greenskins, the Black Templars were a part of the Last Wall protocol and later contributed part of their strength to rebuild the extinct Imperial Fists Chapter.The Howling (401.M34) - The Black Templars Chapter ended the Catelexis Heresy by executing the Cacodominus, an alien cyborg whose formidable psychic presence allowed it to control the populace of thirteen hundred planetary systems. Alas, the Cacodominus' death scream echoed and amplified through the Warp, burning out the minds of a billion astropaths and distorting the signal of the Astronomican. Millions upon millions of Imperial voidships were lost in the resulting upheaval and entire sub-sectors slid into barbarism without the dictats of the Adeptus Terra to guide them. This tragic event became known as The Howling. |
Black Templars - Ages of Apostasy and Redemption (M35-M40): Barbarus Incursion (831.M35) - The Black Templars took part in an unknown campaign remembered only by its name -- the Barbarus Incursion. Following this campaign all records pertaining to it were sealed and declared Inconcessus (forbidden).Wars of Apostasy (Terran Crusade) (378.M36) - The Wars of Apostasy, known to the Black Templars as the Terran Crusade, were a series of battles fought against the forces of the apostate High Lord Goge Vandire during the Age of Apostasy in the 36th Millennium. During this tumultuous period, the Black Templars had concerned themselves little with the affairs of the Imperium, but when crusade fleets returned to the Segmentum Solar and discovered that their Chapter keeps had been destroyed by orbital bombardments carried out by the Ecclesiarchy's Frateris Templar, the full extent of Vandire's treachery became apparent. Enraged, in 378.M36 the Black Templars' High Marshal Sigenandus declared a crusade to be launched against Vandire on Terra. The Black Templars, together with their progenitor Chapter the Imperial Fists as well as the Soul Drinkers, the zealous Fire Hawks and elements of the Martian Tech-Guard, took the fight to Terra itself and laid siege to Vandire's Ecclesiarchal Palace. The crusade ended with the death of Vandire at the hands of one of his former bodyguards -- Alicia Dominica, the founder and patron saint of the Adepta Sororitas.The Second Purging of Lastrati (543.M36) - The Second Purging of Lastrati occurred in 543.M36, as a part of the Athalor Crusade, under the command of Marshal Gervhart of the Black Templars. Lastrati had become a place of pilgrimage, and for centuries, the faithful had come to bear witness to such spectacles as the Hill of Heretics and the Plain of Purity. Marshal Gervhart and the Black Templars of the Athalor Crusade had come to Lastrati to take heart from the planet's potent displays of faith from the past, but were horrified by what they found. The population had turned to barbaric blood rituals and human sacrifices in search of genetic perfection. The Black Templars realised that the rituals of the people of Lastrati had too much in common with the heretical Chaos Cult worship of the Ruinous Powers. Marshal Gervhart ordered the planet cleansed of its degenerate inhabitants before continuing the crusade. After four standard years of fighting, the warriors of Marshal Gervhart forced the remaining forces of Lastrati back onto the Plain of Purity. There they made their last stand at the Hill of Heretics, before their army was utterly destroyed by the Black Templars.Benedictine War (Unknown Date.M37) - The Benedictine War was a War of Faith unleashed by the Ecclesiarchy. Endeavouring to forget the corruption of the previous millennium, the Adeptus Ministorum sought penance by conquering the xenos-filled Benedictine Sub-sector. The Black Templars sent their entire Chapter to fight alongside five orders of Sisters of Battle and massed armies of faith. Several Aeldari worlds were captured, and in the ensuing conflicts, two Black Templars High Marshals were slain in swift succession. The Ecclesiarch himself declared an end to the war, claiming that they had achieved enough in the Emperor's name and recalling his armies. New High Marshal Constantine continued the crusade regardless, and the Black Templars alone successfully cleansed the remaining worlds of xenos.Arkron Crusade (Unknown Date.M38) - The Arkron Crusade was a crusade launched by the Black Templars in the closing years of the 38th Millennium. Directed into the Ghoul Stars, it numbered hundreds of battle-brothers.Aegisine Crusade (Unknown Date.M39) - The Aegisine Crusade was a crusade initiated by the Black Templars in the 39th Millennium. Directed at the rebel drift worlds of the Mangdragora Sector, it was a long and bitter war. The Black Templars employed the "Iron Cyclone" Dreadnought drop strike assault pattern, launching their Drop Pods from Strike Cruisers in low orbit of Aegisine. Despite taking withering ground fire, the maneuver proved decisive and ended a conflict that had bogged Imperial forces down for solar decades.The Angevin Crusade (322.M39) - The Black Templars participated in the Angevin Crusade, which led to the conquest of the Calixis Sector for the Imperium, fighting alongside elements from their fellow Astartes Chapters the Tigers Argent, the Sons of Medusa and the Charnel Guard.The Jerulas Crusade (645.M39) - The Jerulas Crusade was an Imperial Crusade launched by the Black Templars and led by their High Marshal Ludoldus. Jerulas was a long-isolated star system, only rediscovered by the Imperium in the late 39th Millennium on the outer fringes of the galaxy. Attempts were made to integrate its worlds into the Imperium, but the system had long been prosperous and independent, and scorned Imperial interference. The first missionaries from the Missionaria Galaxia were slaughtered, but when a second group of Imperial priests came to the system they brought the Black Templars with them. Under the direct command of High Marshal Ludoldus, the Templars fought the forces of the rebel worlds with great success until they came to the well defended hive cities of Jerulas itself. Each attempt to capture the hive cities was fought back with great losses and it seemed like the Templars would be unable to force their way into the sprawling arcologies. But the answer was found by the Black Templars Artificer Simagus, who discovered the means to develop the now legendary Land Raider Crusader. Armed to smash through enemy defences and disgorge squads of Astartes right into the thick of the fighting, the Crusader was the perfect weapon for breaching the defences of the Jerulas hives.The Donian Crusade (985.M39) - The Donian Crusade was carried out by the Black Templars to combat the swelling Ork population sweeping through the Donian Sector and surrounding Wilderness Space in the southern sectors of the Segmentum Pacificus. |
Black Templars - Time of Ending (M41): Donorian Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - An unknown Black Templars crusade in which the Dreadnought Gerlach participated.Battle of Sharlor (Unknown Date.M41) - Sharlor is an Agri-world of the Imperium where the Penumbral Cult was destroyed by the Black Templars. As the Chaos Cult's leader was publicly executed, it was revealed that he had been possessed by a Lord of Change when it tore its way free from his severed head. The Lord of Change soon took to the sky and unleashed a maelstrom of psychic fire on the Black Templars, until it was killed by the Hunter Javelin of Faith.Ajaxian Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - The Ajaxian Crusade was a Black Templars Crusade against the Orks of the Broken-worlds WAAAGH!. After the crusade, Chapter Serfs that died in battle were converted into servitors to man the Stalker named Xenosbane. This was considered to be a great honour and show of respect by the Chapter for its fallen mortal personnel.Assault on Cephian IV (Unknown Date.M41) - Following its liberation from the warriors of the Alpha Legion in 343.M37, a Chapter keep of the Black Templars was raised on the world of Cephian IV, in the northern chain of the Harake Mountains as a staging post for further crusades into the Ghoul Stars and beyond. Over four thousand Terran years had passed since the fortress was raised and it was always occupied by at least one Crusader Squad of the Black Templars. The Chapter keep was also used as a recruiting base, for the people of Cephian IV came from a fierce martial culture and provided many neophytes for the Black Templars. When the warriors of Castellan Ulliquel's Thunder Crusade entered orbit above the Chapter keep, it was to demand fresh neophytes to join them in crushing a spate of Chaos Cultist uprisings in the Dominion of Storms. The neophytes deemed ready to join the crusade by Chaplain Develain, the current Castellan of Cephian IV, were pushed harder than ever before to prove themselves worthy of such an honour in a last trial by fire. But unknown to the Black Templars, their old enemy, the Alpha Legion, had planted insidious agents on Cephian IV to foment unrest and outright rebellion amongst the populace. In addition, diabolical pacts sealed with the Drukhari helped to distract their ancient enemies from mustering to intervene in their grand designs. After successfully completing their last trial by fire deep in the Harake Mountains, the surviving neophytes were being escorted back to their transports by Initiates of the Chapter keep. While en route to their Rhinos, a force of Drukhari launched an attack on the Black Templars in order to capture the new recruits as slaves and slay the master of the Chapter keep. The Black Templars fought a desperate battle to protect their neophytes. Chaplain Develaini and his warriors escaped the ambush, but while returning to the Chapter keep aboard a flyer, a missile streaked up from the mountainside and exploded beneath the engine compartment. The pilot had time for only a brief distress call before crashing in the foothills of the Harake Mountains, only a few kilometres from the Chapter keep. A search and rescue mission was immediately despatched to rescue any survivors and recover the warriors' relics and gene-seed, but even as the Black Templars closed in on the crash site, it was clear that they were not alone, as a shambling host of mutants, Heretics and Traitors attacked the survivors. The enemy had revealed its hand too early with the attack on the downed flyer and the Black Templars readied themselves for a full assault. Soon enough, a vast host of enemy troops, Heretics and mutants advanced on the Chapter keep led by Chaos Space Marines from the Alpha Legion and a dangerous rogue psyker of terrifying power. For solar days, the forces of Chaos battled the Black Templars, dying in their thousands as the guns of the Chapter keep scythed their enemies down. Chaplain Develain knew that he had to end the battle quickly, and resolved to lead a strike force into the heart of the enemy to slay their leader. During the ensuing battle the castellan slew the vile rogue psyker while the Emperor's Champion single-handedly took out a Chaos Defiler. The Black Templars displayed their typical fortitude and tenacity in the defence of their Chapter keep, driving the forces of Chaos into retreat. The Black Templars showed no mercy to those who outlasted their final counterattack, slaying any and all survivors.Purge of Orbital Hive 72 (Unknown Date.M41) - A force of Black Templars purged Orbital Hive 72 in orbit of the world of Porphyr III. Led by the Emperor's Champion Brother Bethuel, the Black Templars eliminated the Heretek forces of the Techno Magos Ark Hieron. Bethuel ordered his battle-brothers to evacuate the hive city while he faced Hieron in mortal combat even as Orbital Hive 72 began a fiery plunge into the atmosphere of Porphyr III.The Cleansing of Hive Thetus (Unknown Date.M41) - The Cleansing of Hive Thetus was a military campaign conducted by the Black Templars against a Tyranid Genestealer Cult discovered by the Imperial Inquisition to exist upon the Hive World of Nevaria II. The cult was ultimately successfully purged from existence by the Black Templars.The Declates Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - The Declates Crusade was an Imperial Crusade against the Ork WAAAGH! Gitzmott carried out by the Crimson Fists and Black Templar Space Marine Chapters in the heavily-populated Declates System. The greenskins had overwhelmed world after world in the system and while the Crimson Fists achieved early success in driving the Orks back, eventually their sheer weight of numbers began to tell, and the Orks pushed towards the vital Forge World of Declates IV and the hive cities of Declates V. Help was needed and the Black Templars answered the call for aid of the people of Declates. As a symbol of solidarity against what seemed to be an innumerable foe, Astartes from both Chapters "exchanged" iconography and often fought in mixed squads. Together the two Chapters managed to find and slay the Warboss Gitzmott. While the two Chapters suffered hideous losses against the overwhelming numbers of the Orks, both earned great renown and their Astartes will forever be known as heroes within the Declates System.The Thorados Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - During the Thorados Crusade, the Black Templars burned a white-hot scar of retribution across the rebellious Invernus Sector. The Word Bearers that had instigated the insurrection mounted a fleet-based crusade of their own, clashing with the Black Templars on a hundred battlefields. The war escalated massively as other Traitor Legions and Daemonhosts joined the fight. By the time the two crusades ground to a halt, the once-populous Invernus Sector had been decimated, with six of its worlds consumed by radioactive flame.The Empyrion Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - The Empyrion Crusade was an Imperial Crusade declared by the Black Templars Space Marines against a force of Khornate Chaos Cults on the world of Empyrion IX. The Chaos force was composed of over 4,000 Traitors of the Renegade 24th Gathalamor Astra Militarum Regiment along with Guryan mutineers and some armoured cavalry. With a force of only 30 Black Templars and not enough ammunition to hold the Heretics at bay, the Black Templars commander, Castellan Athellenas, attempted to put into motion an audacious plan that required his troops to follow his orders to the letter, no matter how distasteful they might find them. By performing a continuous tactical withdrawal and denying the cultists an outlet to satiate their bloodlust, the Heretics were driven into an uncontrollable blood frenzy. Unable to contain themselves any longer, the Khornate cultists turned on themselves and began butchering each other in their all-consuming desire to spill blood. With the cultists' ground forces spent after slaughtering each other, two Black Templars strike cruisers arrived in the system to destroy the Heretics' vessel and make sure that this particular Chaos warband of Khorne was unable to sow destruction and bloodshed across the Imperium of Man. The Crusade ended in the total eradication of the Heretics.The Geonide Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - The Geonide Crusade was an action taken by the Black Templars Space Marine Chapter intended to preserve important Imperial technology, scientific research and Adeptus Mechanicus personnel from a Chaos-inspired rebellion on the Forge World Geonide. When rebellion suddenly broke out on the planet it came utterly without warning and within a Terran year 75% of the populace had fallen to the influence of the Warp. A group of scientists with latent psychic abilities had been used as pawns to open giant Warp portals and by the time the Black Templars arrived the planet was crawling with monstrous, debased humans forming a massive Chaos horde to drown the planet in blood. Daemons from the Empyrean tore their way into the material realm to cavort through the masses of Chaos worshippers. In the end, the planet was deemed irrecoverable and an Exterminatus was authorised by the ever-present agents of the Ordo Hereticus. But before the planet's death knell was sounded, the Black Templars carried out daring strikes across the planet to recover valuable artefacts, research notes, and surviving personnel deemed too important to leave behind, or to be captured by the servants of the Ruinous Powers. The Black Templars achieved a great deal of success during the campaign and managed to save a significant amount of invaluable Imperial research before the planet was cleansed with holy fire from orbit.The Purging of Centrati's Eye (Unknown Date.M41) - The Purging of Centrati's Eye was an unexpected crusade undertaken by elements of the Black Templars against a pirate fleet of the Drukhari. A great defence station in orbit above the newly colonised Imperial Frontier World of Centrati came under attack from a Drukhari lightning raid and was captured, the personnel chained and dragged off into the depths of the Webway to an unknown fate, never to be seen or heard from again. What the Drukhari did not know was that a Black Templars Battle Barge was in orbit over the planet, for the Chapter had been asked to aid the colonisation process by removing an unwanted and troublesome xenos species from the planet. When the defence station fired on the planet the threat was realised and the Black Templars rushed back to their Thunderhawks to wreak vengeance on the devious Drukhari raiders. To the Black Templars' surprise they found not one, but two enemy forces on the station. For the Asuryani had arrived to fight their dark kin for one of their inscrutable reasons. The Black Templars cared not, and immediately began butchering both alien forces. In the following solar months the scions of Dorn crushed both alien enemies utterly, and cleansed Centrati and the surrounding space of the xenos taint.The Punishment Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - The Punishment Crusade was initiated by Castellan Draco of the Black Templars. It was comprised of numerous raids on the Gue'vesa human populations of former Imperial worlds fallen under the xenos influence of the expansionist T'au Empire.Thetus Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - On the planet of Nevaria II the Black Templars were called on to deal with a small but highly dangerous heretical cult in the primary Nevarian hive city. As dangerous as the cult was, the real influence behind it was only discovered after a costly covert strike by the Astartes of the Deathwatch, the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Xenos. They revealed that a Genestealer Broodlord was behind the growth of the cult. The nefarious influence of the Genestealer hybrids had spread much farther than anticipated. The Black Templars took up the challenge and cleansed the Genestealer taint from the bottom up, fighting brutal and costly battles in the cramped corridors and forgotten corners of the dark depths of the primary hive city, eventually cleansing the hive and Nevaria II of the xenos contamination.Nightfire Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - A powerful devotion to the Emperor is evident among the warriors of the Black Templars. Chaplain Haldredd was leading a strike force against the T'au Farsight Enclaves during the Nightfire Wars when the spirit of the Emperor overcame him. Heeding His sacred words, a group of Space Marine Veterans formed a Reclusiam Command Squad to protect him. Following the Chaplain's wise battle council and fervent prayers, this Command Squad smashed through lines of Battlesuits and set the T'au to flight. In the bloody battles that followed, the High Hand of the Emperor -- as Haldredd and his Reclusiarch Command Squad became known -- guided the Black Templars to many great victories.Battle of Lilia Mundi (Unknown Date.M41) - Lilia Mundi is a Feral World that is well-known as a Black Templars recruiting world, but also as the site of a conflict between the Black Templars and the Asuryani. The population of approximately 4,500,000 is predominantly part of a martial culture organised around a brutal warrior code. These feral "Iron Bloods" tribes produced ideal candidates for induction into the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, with the Black Templars maintaining a presence on the planet at the Vengeris Keep. The planet was attacked in the eighth century of the 41st Millennium by Aeldari of the Saim-Hann Craftworld, after the Iron Bloods' failed to respond to an evacuation ultimatum issued by an envoy at a tribal contest. The small garrison of Black Templars was originally overrun by the Aeldari forces of Triadhu Firesong and his adviser Oerlin Fargaze. Aeldari battle technology was too advanced for the feral tribes to face, with the Aeldari anti-grav skimmers exacting a large toll on the population. The tide turned with the arrival of reinforcements from the Black Templars warship Vigilant Might, under the command of Reclusiarch Verstelt, and the later arrival of the crusade commanded by Marshal Albrantinus. The Black Templars lost many neophytes in the war, while the survivors were promoted to Initiate status. The local leaders of the Iron Bloods, including the chieftain Khemu, were later selected for initiation into the Chapter as neophytes, having demonstrated impressive skills and leadership during the conflict.Battle of Ixas (500s.M41) - The Black Templars secured the sacred Las-Impulsor STC stolen from the Forge World of Ixas by Chaos Space Marines and Hereteks of the Dark Mechanicum.Achilus Crusade (777.M41) - Given the Chapter's fame as a crusading body, it is perhaps surprising that it was not present at the outset of the Achilus Crusade into the Jericho Reach. The reason is to be found in the internecine rivalry and feudalism that afflicts much of the interactions between the largest of the Imperium's institutions, and is unknown to all but a small number of the crusade's highest ranked staff. When the Achilus Crusade was first conceived, planners petitioned the Black Templars to contribute forces to the undertaking. The envoy appointed to go before the masters of the Black Templars Chapter was a fiery Prelate-Imperialis called Nadab Saul, a man whose inability turned out to be rivalled only by his arrogance. Instead of petitioning the Black Templars for their aid, Saul demanded it. Instead of appealing to their sense of duty, he hectored them. Instead of promising glory, he threatened shame. The only account of the confrontation that followed was that logged in the engram-cortex of one of the party's servocherub attendants. The Prelate-Imperialis was dragged away by vengeful battle-brothers, frothing at the mouth that the Black Templars were Traitors to the Emperor and would pay for their craven deeds. What happened next has never been ascertained and all enquiries established in the aftermath of the event determined that the matter should remain sealed. Needless to say, Nadab Saul was never seen or heard from again. In the years that followed, two other Chapters related to the Black Templars dispatched strike forces to participate in the crusade -- the Imperial Fists and the Crimson Fists. It was through the agency of these, alongside Black Templars battle-brothers serving with the Deathwatch, that contact between the Crusade High Command and the High Marshal of the Chapter was re-established. Upon his ascension to the rank of Lord Militant, Tetrarchus ordered a delegation to approach the Black Templars a second time, receiving the approval and support of members of the Imperial Fists and Crimson Fists Chapters in doing so. Mindful of the potential for insult, Tetrarchus drafted the wording of the petition himself, appealing to the Black Templars to join their brothers in the new offensives he planned to launch. The contact was successful and, on the eve of the main push on the Acheros Salient, the fighting company of Castellan Raimer joined the Achilus Crusade. With the Black Templars forming the spearhead of the renewed assault, they won a string of early victories, but ultimately these proved localised and not typical of the fighting across the whole salient. Raimer's fighting company made rapid progress into the regions surrounding the Blood Trinity, culminating in the boarding of the Space Hulk codified Scion of Desecration. Raimer and his Sword Brethren squads took control of the vast conglomerate vessel and sent it ploughing into an enemy-held orbital station. Final calculations of the destruction estimated it to have consumed half a million servants of the Ruinous Powers and the catastrophic tectonic destabilisation of the world below. Tragically, the Black Templars' victories were an exception in the first few solar weeks of the advances on the Achilus Salient and soon Raimer's force found itself dangerously overextended and under threat of being enveloped by the rapidly counter-attacking enemy. Lord Tetrarchus had no choice but to order a general retrenchment in the face of overwhelming enemy defiance, and his forces began a fighting withdrawal back towards Karlack and the Fortress Worlds of the Iron Collar. Key to the success of this vast rearguard action were the various contingents of Space Marines present, whose valiant deeds saved the withdrawal from turning into a costly rout. The Black Templars were the last to abandon the advance, though eventually they had no choice but to redeploy as night fell across the worlds of the Achilus Salient. It is said that the very last vessel to translate from the Warp on the outer verges of the Karlack System was the Ophidian Gulf, Raimer's Strike Cruiser, and behind it was nothing but the all-engulfing tides of Chaos. Soon after, Raimer's fighting company was recalled by his Chapter in preparation for the Garon mission, which Raimer was to command and which had the status of a full crusade. To date, no further Black Templars forces have been committed to the Jericho Reach, the High Marshal of the Chapter believing the Achilus Crusade to have stalled and become a war of attrition in which his warriors have no part to play.Defence of Aralan (812.M41) - When the floating hive cities of Aralan were infected by the mind plague known as the "Witch-curse," citizens that possessed even the slightest psychic potential found their latent abilities blossoming into uncontrollable storms of etheric energy. The Black Templars, whose crusade had passed through the Aralan Sector less than a standard year beforehand, turned their battlefleet around as soon as they heard of the anomaly. By the time they returned to the hives that float within Aralan's gaseous borders, the Templars had marshalled all the gunships in their fleet and launched a massed assault on the floating hives. Each Storm Wing Squadron slammed through the stained glasteel orbs that protected each district and disgorged a dozen oathbound killers into the streets. The Black Templars cut down every citizen that stood in their path as they located and exterminated the psykers wreaking havoc in their midst. Many of the bravest hivers united against the hate-fuelled Adeptus Astartes, but after the bloody massacre of the Crimson Plaza, the Space Marines were left to go about their persecutions unhindered.Vinculus Crusade (833.M41) - The Vinculus Crusade was a crusade of the Black Templars declared against the Chaos Death Cult warriors who had plagued the Peleregon Cluster. This was one of the earliest campaigns in which the now-famed High Marshal Helbrecht participated. Still a lowly neophyte at the time, Helbrecht was merely a witness to the dramatic events of the campaign. Under the command of the legendary High Marshal Ludoldus, the Black Templars fought alongside Inquisitor Vinculus and the Adepta Sororitas' Order of the Bloody Rose. The assassins were traced back to the world of Peleregon IV, a hellish lava world that was all shifting tectonic plates and rivers of magma. The initial landings met little opposition and the Sororitas and Astartes easily fought their foes back to the massive temple that was the seat of the cult's power. The combined forces fought their way deep into the temple, Ludoldus and his Sword Brethren breaching and holding the walls of the temple so their allies could fight their way inside. As the Imperials breached the pillared inner sanctum of the temple, Inquisitor Vinculus faced the cult's leader in single combat. Vinculus succeeded in slaying the cult's leader but suffered a terrible wound himself, a wound that proved to be the Inquisitor's doom, for the slight weakening in his psychic shields was enough for the freed daemon that had possessed the cult leader to leap into the Inquisitor and manifest itself. A Bloodthirster of Khorne tore itself into the material realm through the Inquisitor's body and began slaughtering the Imperial warriors by the dozen. High Marshal Ludoldus, the Emperor's Champion Ulricus and Canoness Jasmine took on the daemon in brutal close combat, but even though the champions of the Emperor were courageous and their sword arms fuelled by holy faith, they were no match for the Greater Daemon. In desperation, Ludoldus threw a Holy Orb of Antioch into the boiling lava in the chamber's central chasm. The explosion initiated a massive earthquake that began to tear the temple apart and the possessed Inquisitor fell to his destruction in the roiling magma. Thunderhawk gunships braved the billowing ash and storms to pick up the survivors. While a number of gunships were lost in the attempt, the majority of the survivors escaped the world and made it back to their ships in orbit. To make sure the job was finished, the Imperial fleet bombarded the site of the temple until the entire site was drowned in a sea of bubbling lava.The Verdeworlds Campaign (865.M41) - A Black Templars crusade joined forces with the Blood Angels and Scythes of the Emperor to cleanse the Verdeworlds of their Aeldari settlers.Crusade of Wrath (888.M41) - The Black Templars inflicted heavy losses on the Word Bearers, reclaiming several star systems in close proximity to the Maelstrom. Fighting was fiercest on the enslaved Shrine World of Benevolence, where the forces of Chaos had covered the entire surface with blasphemous temples to the Dark Gods. The Black Templars put every single Traitor to the sword.Fall of Agrella (902.M41) - WAAAGH! Skardrek fell upon the sparsely defended planet of Agrella. Only a courageous rearguard action conducted by a dozen Black Templar Sword Brethren allowed Imperial officials to escape the onrushing Ork horde.The Slaughter on Schrödinger VII (930.M41) - In 930.M41, the forces of the infamous Necron Overlord Imotekh the Stormlord, Phaeron of the powerful Sautekh Dynasty, descended upon the frozen plains of the Imperial Ice World of Schrödinger VII. The Necrons drove the local defenders to the shelter of the labyrinthine cryonite mines, but were unable to prevent the planet's astropathic choir from despatching a distress hymnal. A counterattack swiftly arrived in the form of a Black Templars strike force under the command of then-Marshal Helbrecht. Imotekh appeared not to be caught by surprise so easily, and had already shifted his armies into a formidable defensive configuration. Helbrecht led the assault, intended as a crippling alpha strike, but it was instead blunted by a series of impeccably planned Necron ambushes on the Drop Pod and Thunderhawk drop zones. As the frozen caverns echoed to the roar of explosions, scores of Black Templars and Necrons alike were hurled into rivers of molten cryonite. Eventually, Imotekh and Helbrecht met in hand-to-hand combat atop the stalactite-heavy span of an ice bridge. In the battle that followed, Helbrecht dealt Imotekh a dozen ruinous blows, but each time the phaeron was able to quickly recover in a matter of seconds to land a strike of his own. Helbrecht finally collapsed under the assault of the Necron Overlord, blood flowing from a score of serious wounds. However, instead of finishing his opponent, Imotekh brought his scythe down to sever Helbrecht's right hand to remind the Marshal of his "much-deserved defeat". Helbrecht roared in fury and pain as Imotekh pitched the Black Templar commander off the bridge to the cavern floor far below. The surviving Black Templars rallied to their fallen Marshal's side and made a fighting retreat, leaving Schrödinger VII in the Stormlord's hands.Renewed Faith (935.M41) - Following a five year Crusade of Penitence to atone for his defeat, Helbrecht made a pilgrimage to the Imperial Fists' mobile fortress-monastery, Phalanx, to pray at the Hand of Dorn. There, Helbrecht came to realise that the loss of his own hand was symbolic of his Primarch's sacrifice and a sign from the Emperor. Helbrecht returned with the fires of faith burning inside him like an inferno.The Crusade of Sorrow (955.M41) - Drukhari of the Kabal of the Poisoned Heart destroyed the Black Templars' Chapter Keep on the jungle-world of Delleront and captured a score of recruits. Marshal Gerhart and Chaplain Grimaldus led a Crusade of Retribution against the Kabal to punish them for their insolence, and though hundreds of Drukhari were slaughtered, not a single recruit was ever found or recovered.Conqueror's Fall (985.M41) - Marshal Helbrecht led the boarding action against the Inevitable Conqueror, the Cairn-class Tombship that served as the flagship of the Necron Phaeron Imotekh the Stormlord. Helbrecht and Imotekh once more clashed, but the Marshal's rekindled faith lend him great strength, and the Stormlord could not prevail. Realising the battle was lost, Imotekh teleported to safety, but not before congratulating Helbrecht on "one victory apiece." Helbrecht raged at his foe's retreat, but consoled himself by destroying the Stormlord's beloved Tombship to remind Imotekh of his defeat.Varadon Crusade (987.M41) - The desperate last stand of the Shadow Wolves Space Marine Chapter on their homeworld of Varadon saw the entire Chapter wiped out by the Tyranids. The Black Templars attempted to aid their brother Astartes but could not fight their way through the chitinous hordes of Tyranid bioforms to the embattled Shadow Wolves. The last battle-brother of the Shadow Wolves died, defiantly holding the Chapter banner aloft even as he was torn to pieces, his blade broken and his Bolter empty. Chaplain Grimaldus was present for the battle at the time though he was still an apprentice to Reclusiarch Mordred. The glorious last stand of the Shadow Wolves would inspire the chaplain for many years to come.The Nimbosa Crusade (993.M41) - When Hive Fleet Kraken began to threaten worlds on the Eastern Fringe of the Imperium, the High Lords of Terra responded by stripping the worlds that bordered the T'au Empire of their Imperial forces. The T'au Empire was quick to recognise this redeployment and soon took advantage of the situation, beginning the period known as the Second Sphere Expansion. Nimbosa was one of the most important and vital Civilised Worlds of this sector. The Nimbosa Crusade was called, a massive Imperial Crusade undertaken by a joint Astartes task force consisting of the Black Templars, Imperial Fists, Raven Guard, and Ultramarines Space Marine Chapters against the encroaching forces of the T'au Empire. The campaign ended with the successful recapture of Nimbosa by the Imperium and the destruction of the entire T'au garrison.The Ghoul Stars Crusade (990-998.M41) - The Ghoul Stars Crusade was the very first crusade launched by Helbrecht after he attained his rank as the Black Templars' new High Marshal. This was a dangerous decision as no Imperial expedition had ever returned from that desolate region of space. The Black Templars were intent on finally vanquishing the alien race known only as the "Cythor Fiends" of the Ghoul Stars. Within eight Terran years, the xenos population of the outlying systems had been exterminated and the crusade pushed onwards to the aliens' homeworld, but upon reaching the core systems, they were found to be eerily empty. No trace of the aliens could be found, but before a proper investigation could have been launched, a desperate call for help came from the besieged Hive World of Armageddon. The Third War for Armageddon had begun.The Battle for Golgotha (996.M41) - Marshal Actoan led a Black Templars crusade to eradicate the Orks' dominance of the Golgotha System.Dimaris Crusade (998.M41) - The Dimaris Crusade was a Black Templars crusade that was under the command of Marshal Ricard, but was cut short due to the eruption of the Third War for Armageddon.Tiberior Crusade (998.M41) - The Tiberior Crusade was a Black Templars crusade that was under the command of Marshal Marius Amalrich, but was cut short due to the eruption of the Third War for Armageddon.The Crusade of the Ophidium Gulf (998.M41) - A smaller crusade was launched by Castellan Raimer, the master of the Black Templars' Strike Cruiser Ophidium Gulf and its company of 90 Black Templars, into an unexplored region of space in the galactic south called the Veiled Region by Imperial stellar cartographers. The Black Templars inadvertently made contact with the Fallen Angels, the hunted Traitors of the Dark Angels Chapter. While in the Veiled Region, they came upon a small Dark Angels fleet. The Black Templars' capture of one of the Fallen Angels, and their refusal to turn him over to the custody of the Dark Angels, nearly led to open conflict between the two Chapters. Outgunned, Castellan Raimer reluctantly turned the prisoner over to the Dark Angels before he departed the Veiled Region. The ultimate fate of the Ophidium Gulf is unknown, as a single astropathic communication from the starship was received just before it prepared to make a Warp jump from the alien system, and no further communication has been received by the Black Templars from the starship since then.The Third War for Armageddon (998.M41) - The Third War for Armageddon was a massive conflict between the Imperium of Man and the largest Ork WAAAGH! ever raised since the War of the Beast, led by the greenskin Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. Black Templars Chaplain Grimaldus was placed in command of the Helsreach Crusade with 100 battle-brothers assigned the task of defending one of Armageddon's largest centres of industry which was known as Helsreach Hive. Along with regiments of the Armageddon Steel Legion and other Astra Militarum forces, 19 Titans of the Legio Invigilata, civilian militias and 97 Battle-Sisters of the Order of the Argent Shroud, the Black Templars under Grimaldus' command fought the Orks tooth and nail and saved the hive from utter destruction. Ultimately, the Orks' second attempt to conquer this strategic Hive World failed, and Ghazghkull Thraka fled the world to bedevil the Imperium elsewhere. High Marshal Helbrecht joined with Commissar Yarrick, the Orks' greatest foe, to swear an oath that he would not rest until Thraka had been hunted down and slain.The Barbarossa Crusade (998.M41) - An Imperial Crusade carried out by the Black Templars to cleanse one of their Chapter keeps located on the world of Barbarossa IV that had become the residence of Orks fleeing the fighting on the Hive World of Armageddon following the Third War for Armageddon in 998.M41. But this was only the beginning of the crusade, for unknown to the Black Templars, the relic at the core of the keep had become tainted by Chaos. The Black Templars crusade forces under the command of Castellan Hermann fought to cleanse the Chapter keep of both the greenskins and the Chaos taint, which had manifested in the form of a daemonic intrusion and the Chaos corruption of the Black Templars garrison which had held the keep. The Black Templars ultimately proved successful in destroying both the Heretics and the xenos and cleansing the keep of their foul taint.Solemnus Crusade (999.M41) - Under the command of Marshal Brant, the Solemnus Crusade was formed to answer for the razing of the Black Templars' Chapter keep on the world of Solemnus by the Ork Warlord Morkrull Grimskar, a chieftain of the Blood Scar Ork tribe. The Solemnus Crusade belatedly joined the war effort on Armageddon and deployed in search of the elusive warlord. However, the crusade met with disaster when Emperor's Champion Ansgar was captured by the severely injured but not yet dead warlord. Though the Black Templars had nearly succeeded at taking his life, the severely wounded Grimskar was successfully transformed into a Cybork, giving him a new lease on life. Adding insult to injury, many of the cybernetic components used in Grimskar's resurrection were salvaged from stolen Black Templars' wargear. The Black Templars Dreadnought Jarold formed a strike force with the designation "Ansgar's Avengers" specifically tasked with locating the captured Emperor's Champion and recovering the revered Black Sword and Armour of Faith belonging to him. While the strike force did not recover Ansgar on its first attempt, Jarold's forces did uncover the Crimson Fists' Venerable Dreadnought Rhodomanus who had been lost in the ice glaciers of the Dead Lands during the Second War for Armageddon. The strike force destroyed an Ork Stompa freshly recovered from the ice that had been originally constructed during this earlier campaign and prevented it from joining the Ork war effort elsewhere. Not yet finished in their task, "Ansgar's Avengers" and the Solemnus Crusade continue their campaign to hunt down Grimskar across the war-ravaged surface of Armageddon.13th Black Crusade (999.M41) - Under the direction of the vile Chaos Lord Abaddon the Despoiler, the largest mobilisation of both Imperial and Chaos forces seen in the Milky Way Galaxy since the Horus Heresy occurred near the Imperial Fortress World of Cadia at the start of the long-awaited 13th Black Crusade. The Templars' first action was to relieve the beleaguered world of Thracian Primaris. Scattering the Chaos Warfleet easily enough, the Black Templars made an uncontested planetfall outside the Departmento Munitorum's logistical support complex in Hive Demeter. The brethren did not stay long, however, though they were welcomed as liberators, choosing instead to continue to drive the forces of Chaos back to the Eye of Terror. As the brethren moved on from Thracian Primaris they caught word of the "Green Kroosade" of Ghazghkull Thraka building in the Scarus Sector and headed off to stop the greenskin threat before it fully manifested. Severely understrength from the fighting on Thracian Primaris, the Black Templars moved on anyway, knowing that to let the Orks rebuild their numbers without opposition would doom the Scarus Sector.Cruxis Crusade (999.M41) - Led by Marshal Marius Amalrich, the Black Templars of the Cruxis Crusade fought upon Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade with the zeal and fury for which they are rightfully famed. To Amalrich's shame their efforts were not enough to save the world from destruction, yet the heroism and faith of the survivors set them on a course to aid Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl and the Living Saint Celestine on a journey to resurrect the Primarch Roboute Guilliman during the Ultramar Campaign. Amalrich, elevated to the position of Emperor's Champion, gave his life to see the ensuing Terran Crusade reach completion and a resurrected Roboute Guilliman returned to the Throneworld of the Imperium on Holy Terra. |
Black Templars - Era Indomitus (M41-M42): Shrine Worlds Crusades (Unknown Date.M42) - Following the opening of the Great Rift, the Black Templars -- now reinforced with Primaris Space Marines given to them by Guilliman during the Indomitus Crusade -- sent forth four Crusade Fleets, tasking each with the same mission: protect the Shrine Worlds of the Ecclesiarchy. So were the Aurilla, Ophelia VII, Dachsus and Orteg III Crusades launched. Confronted with Renegades, Chaos Cultists and daemons beyond count, the Black Templars proved equal to the task despite great losses.War of Beasts (001.-025.M42) - The Black Templars sent a company-strength formation to the strategically located world of Vigilus to protect it from assault by Chaos and xenos forces who wanted to use it to remove one of the only known ways to cross the Great Rift between the Imperium Sanctus and the Imperium Nihilus.Mephistari Crusade (Unknown Date.M42) - The Mephistari Crusade was a crusade of the Black Templars.Assault on Krostein (Unknown Date.M42) - The Black Templars set out to put down the cultist army of a planet-wide rebellion on the Hive World of Krostein. The Renegades' sorcerous leaders escaped the initial strikes and hid themselves in the densely populated hive cities, where they summoned daemonic allies to start the battles afresh. Battling through the narrow manufactoria streets, the Black Templars found their foes replaced as quickly as they could be slain. In a true test of their faith and dedication, the Black Templars were forced to completely exterminate the local population in order to overcome the threat.Rutherian Crusade (Talledus War) (Unknown Date.M42) - The Rutherian Crusade is a Black Templars Crusade that was launched sometime after the birth of the Great Rift during the Era Indomitus. Castellan Dramos led a strike force of the crusade to aid in the defence of the Talledus System, which has been assaulted by the forces of Chaos, including elements of six Traitor Legions led by the Word Bearers Dark Apostle Kor Phaeron. Castellan Dramos led his Gladius strike force to aid the defence of the Fortress World of Ghreddask in the Talledus System alongside a cadre of Imperial Knights from House Mortan, commanded by the dour yet ferocious Sir Dirkwald. After arrival in the system, Dramos scanned the latest tactical cogitations broadcast from Ghreddask's polar citadel known as the Fortress Resolve. The situation was grim. The Iron Warriors were besieging that fortress, pouring daemonic forces against its shield-walls while their siege tanks kept up a relentless bombardment. Yet the true threat, Dramos quickly intuited, was the Soul Harvester Scarax Krond. As long as the Soul Harvester's Daemonforge was operational, the Traitors could replenish their forces indefinitely. Strike Force Dawnhammer deployed in a decisive attack upon the Soul Harvester. The warriors of House Mortan made for the surface of Ghreddask in their fortified bulwark-landers, the heavily armoured vessels shrugging off reams of flak fire. Sir Dirkwald led a frontal assault upon the Scarax Krond. From the parapets of the Soul Harvester, the Iron Warriors poured a stream of fire down upon the advancing Loyalists. While the Knights drew the attention of the Chaos defenders, squads of Inceptors descended upon the Soul Harvester like living comets, burning through the upper atmosphere and locking coordinates upon the pulsing shell of the Scarax Krond. They struck home with shattering force, breaching holes in the fleshmetal carapace with demolition charges, even as they fended off flocks of fire-spitting Heldrakes. Castellan Dramos led the assault into the heart of the Scarax Krond, battling through the innards of the iron monster, alongside a retinue of veteran crusaders. This assault team suffered grievous losses as the Iron Warriors assailed them at every turn, but in an act of self-sacrifice that would mark their names in the honour-scrolls of their order, Dramos and his Command Squad managed to detonate a cyclonic charge at the heart of the structure. The resulting Warp explosion swept through the Soul Harvester, immolating Loyalist and Heretic alike and blasting its assembly halls and charnel-factories to atoms. The Scarax Krond convulsed and thrashed its metal tendrils like a wounded animal, but its daemonic furnaces would not be snuffed out so easily. Dramos' sacrifice had bought the defenders of Ghreddask precious time, but the planet's fate still hung in the balance. |
Black Templars - The Crusades: The Black Templars have no Chapter homeworld, instead opting to live within their crusade fleets. They are ever-vigilant, and are always ready for battle. They do establish Chapter keeps on every world they conquer or reclaim for the Imperium, both to provide a source for new recruits and to act as staging posts for crusade fleets operating across the galaxy.They have been known to abandon these keeps, only to return and reclaim them later, usually exterminating anything foolish or unlucky enough to have taken up residence in their absence.Each crusade fleet is overseen by an officer with the rank of "Marshal" (equivalent to a captain or force commander in a Codex Astartes-compliant Chapter), while the Chapter Master, known as the "High Marshal" (currently High Marshal Helbrecht) travels between crusades on his personal flagship, the battle barge Eternal Crusader.There are usually at least three Black Templar crusades operating at any one time, although at one stage there were 14 known to the Imperium (during the "Treachery of Dalmark"), with each crusade ranging in size from the deployment of a hundred Space Marines and their fleet support to crusades containing several standard Codex Astartes companies.It is said that only the High Marshal has any idea of the Black Templars' full numbers, but it is rumoured in the Inquisition that they actually number close to 6,000 Space Marines. That would make them nearly as large as some of the original First Founding Space Marine Legions after the terrible losses of the Horus Heresy, and means that the Black Templars are one of only three Chapters of Astartes (the others being the Space Wolves and the Grey Knights) thought to violate the 1,000 Space Marines to a Chapter limitation as proscribed by the Codex Astartes.Such a force united would be nigh unstoppable in the Imperium of the 41st Millennium. The potential size of the Black Templars has resulted in close scrutiny by some of the more Puritan members of the Inquisition. Each Space Marine Chapter is limited to a strength of approximately 1,000 Astartes by ancient tradition and the orders of the Imperial Regent Roboute Guilliman in the wake of the Horus Heresy, so that no one person can ever again command enough military power to start another successful rebellion against the Emperor.The Chapter's history of zealous loyalty to the Emperor and the inability of any Inquisitor to find evidence supporting the claims of unusually high standing troop numbers has spared the Black Templars from further revelation of their true numbers. However, this has not prevented the Inquisition from trying to reveal the hidden size of the Black Templars.The larger Black Templar crusades contain multiple fighting companies, each led by a Sword Brethren of the Chapter who has been raised to the rank of "Castellan", equivalent to a lieutenant in a Codex-compliant Chapter. The largest crusades will be personally led by the High Marshal (as High Marshal Helbrecht did during the Armageddon Crusade called during the Third War for Armageddon).Since the individual squads of each fighting company tend to form and disband on an ad-hoc basis, most fight together out of familiarity and comradeship more than any imposed organisation. Rough squads form with 5 to 10 initiates (fully-fledged Black Templar battle-brothers) with no more than an equal number of neophytes (Black Templars-in-training). These squads have no sergeants, because the experienced members are quickly elevated to the rank of Sword Brethren, who take on the role of non-commissioned officers.Due to their preference for engaging their foes in close combat, few Black Templars are willing to use heavy ranged weapons. As a result, Devastator Squads are unusually rare amongst the Astartes of this Chapter.The Black Templars deviate from Codex Astartes-compliant Chapters, including the Imperial Fists, in one primary way. The Chapter's zealous hatred for mutants and inherent distrust of the Warp and anything related to it means that the Chapter possesses no Librarians and maintains no Librarius. The Grey Knights, known for their utter incorruptibility and genetic closeness to the Emperor, represent the only Imperial psykers that the Black Templars will take as allies.The Black Templar's extreme revulsion to fighting alongside any individuals tainted by the Empyrean would normally prevent them from being allied with anyone with such abilities. The Grey Knights are the exception as the Black Templars consider it an honour to fight alongside Astartes whose membership was originally chosen by the Emperor, who bear a portion of His direct genetic inheritance and not one of whom has ever been corrupted by the tempations of Chaos -- a feat that not even the zealous Black Templars can claim.This attitude towards psykers can prove to be challenging for those Black Templars who are chosen to serve in the Deathwatch and must learn to fight alongside the Librarians of other Chapters as part of a kill-team. |
Black Templars - Black Templars Crusade Organisation: The Black Templars is a fleet-based Chapter, their companies scattered across the galaxy into numerous crusades. Each crusade is led by a Marshal, while a single High Marshal is responsible for the progress of all the current crusades.Below is the disposition of the Arkron Crusade, launched into the Ghoul Stars during the closing years of the 38th Millennium. A typical crusade comprised of Firstborn Black Templars, it numbered hundreds of battle-brothers, war machines and support elements, allowing it to campaign far beyond the Imperium's borders.Marshal's HouseholdMarshal Palin HarrosEmperor's ChampionChaplainsCrusade Banner BearerHousehold Banner BearerTechmarinesServitorsApothecariesSword BrethrenTerminatorsDreadnoughtsLand RaidersRhinosPredator AnnihilatorsPredator DestructorsHunters & StalkersWhirlwindsStormravensStormtalonsFighting Company Edessor "The First Sons": Castellan EdessorBanner BearerTechmarinesApothecariesInitiatesNeophytesDreadnoughtsLand RaidersPredator DestructorsRazorbacksRhinosFighting Company Antora "The Righteous Fist": Castellan AntoraBanner BearerTechmarinesApothecariesInitiatesNeophytesTerminatorsLand RaidersCenturion WarsuitsFighting Company Stenheir "The Scythes of Retribution": Castellan StenheirBanner BearerTechmarincsApothecariesInitiatesNeophytesScout BikesAttack BikesLand SpeedersJump PacksFighting Company Chalica "The Hammer of Heldenhorst": Castellan ChalicaBanner BearerTechmarinesApoothecariesInitiatesNeophytesVindicatorsLand RaidersPredator DestructorsPredator AnnihilatorsRhinos |
Black Templars - Era Indomitus Black Templars Crusade Organisation: Below is the order of battle of the Aurilla Crusade, one of the Shrine World Crusades intended to protect the possessions of the Ecclesiarchy launched after the passing of the Warp storms that enveloped the Caton Sub-sector following the birth of the Great Rift in the Era Indomitus.One of the first Black Templars crusades to incorporate Primaris Space Marines and their new war machines, it is otherwise typical of its type, numbering hundreds of battle-brothers, war machines and support elements prepared to campaign across the sub-sector's multiple Shrine Worlds.Marshal's HouseholdMarshal Armond MontfortEmperor's ChampionChaplainsCrusade Banner BearerHousehold Banner BearerTechmarinesServitorsApothecariesSword BrethrenTerminatorsDreadnoughtsLand RaidersRhinosRepulsorsPredator AnnihilatorsPredator DestructorsHuntersStalkersWhirlwindsStormravensStormtalonsFighting Company Brocas, "The Righteous"Commanded by: Castellan BrocasBanner BearerTechmarinesApothecariesInitiatesNeophytesIntercessorsDreadnoughtsLand RaidersPredator DestructorsRepulsorsRazorbacksRhinosFighting Company Bardolph, "Bearers of the Sacred Bones"Commanded by: Castellan BardolphBanner Bearer (Banner of Sacred Bones)TechmarinesApothecariesInitiatesNeophytesTerminatorsLand RaidersCenturion WarsuitsAggressorsFighting Company Stebach, "The Emperor's Justice"Commanded by: Castellan StebachBanner BearerTechmarinesApothecariesInitiatesNeophytesBikesScout BikesAttack BikesLand SpeedersJump PacksVanguard MarinesReiversFighting Company Darras, "Bringers of the True Word"Commanded by: Castellan DarrasBanner BearerTechmarinesApothecariesInitiatesNeophytesInceptorsVindicatorsLand RaidersPredator DestructorsPredator AnnihilatorsRhinos |
Black Templars - Specialist Ranks: The Black Templars' order of battle contains several specialist formations and ranks not present in other Space Marine Chapters who follow the precepts of the Codex Astartes, including:High Marshal - The High Marshal is the senior ranking Astartes of the Black Templars Chapter, and is equivalent to the Chapter Master of Codex Astartes-compliant Chapters. The fighting skills of a High Marshal are unsurpassed with Bolters, blades or bare hands, as his rank speaks of a bloody past littered with the devastated enemies of the most terrifying and inhuman sort. However, it is not enough for the High Marshal to be the Chapter's foremost warrior, for he must also be a superb tactician and strategist, grounded in the teachings of those who have gone before him and honed through countless decisions made in the heat of battle. He is also steeped in the lore of the Black Templars, privy to all of the Chapter's secrets. A High Marshal is the supreme commander of the Chapter's ongoing crusades, keeping track of their overall progress and making tactical decisions in regards to the deployment of the Chapter's forces and occasionally blessing individual crusades with his inspirational presence. The High Marshal is one of the most autonomous military commanders in the Imperium, decreeing by his own designs where his warriors will fight and without recourse to the dictates of the High Lords of Terra.Marshal - Marshals are the great warriors who lead the individual crusades of the Black Templars and are equivalent to captains in Codex Astartes-compliant Chapters. These ferocious Space Marines possess superb tactical abilities, second in experience to only the High Marshal himself. The purity and ultimate success of a crusade is entrusted unto the Marshal and such a duty is a sacred and glorious responsibility. A Marshal is not only a warrior so deadly that he will rarely meet his match on the field of battle, but one whose expertise includes concerns beyond the battlefield, for the leading of a crusade is a mighty task indeed. As a result, only the most inspirational and determined warriors may rise to become a Marshal, having long proved their courage and determination within the ranks of the Sword Brethren or as a Castellan leading a fighting company. The Marshals are able to coordinate the Space Marines under their command and lead them and their crusades to ultimate victory, whatever the opposition.Castellan - A Castellan is a specialist officer rank that is unique to the Black Templars Chapter, and is the equivalent of a Space Marine lieutenant of a Codex Astartes-compliant Chapter. A Castellan is responsible for leading an entire fighting company of the Chapter on the field of battle during the numerous ongoing crusades conducted by the Black Templars. Larger Black Templars crusades often comprise a number of the Chapter's fighting companies, each led by a Sword Brethren (Veteran) raised to the rank of Castellan. Only those Sword Brethren who have proven themselves as devotional warriors and inspirational leaders may rise to this esteemed rank. These hardened Veterans have earned their ascension to command rank through their bloody and zealous dedication to the Chapter's cause. As masters of the battlefield, Castellans are able to read its ebb and flow, and adjust their tactical formations accordingly. Leading from the front by example, a Castellan's Astartes know what it is to be a Black Templar and a dedicated warrior of Sigismund and the Emperor, and from his leadership they learn the trade of battle and the craft of death.Sword Brethren - Equivalent to the elite members of a standard Codex-compliant Chapter's Veteran 1st Company, the greatest warriors of a Black Templars crusade are inducted into the Marshal's household. Known as the Sword Brethren, they are no longer required to train Neophytes and they will receive additional training, particularly in the use of Tactical Dreadnought Armour. After completion of this training, Sword Brethren will use Terminator Armour whenever available, usually selecting melee weapons to use with it, an area of combat where all Black Templars excel. Like most Black Templars, Sword Brethren will fight with others out of familiarity rather than in organised squads, and they will always be found in the thickest of the fighting. If the Marshal of a crusade is either killed or promoted to the position of High Marshal of the Chapter, one of the Sword Brethren will be elevated to take his place. The Sword Brethren of a crusade who receives this honour is decided by ritual combat. The winner of the melee earns the right to become a Marshal upon the approval of the High Marshal; there has only been one case in Black Templars history of the High Marshal withholding his approval or reversing it (the Gervahrt Repeal of the 36th Millennium). Sword Brethren of the Black Templars often wear a cream-coloured cloak and have red trim on their black pauldrons to signify their elite status.Emperor's Champion - At the very height of the Siege of Terra during the Horus Heresy, Captain Sigismund, First Captain of the Imperial Fists Legion, was tasked by his Primarch Rogal Dorn with leading the ground battle whilst the Emperor, Dorn, and Sanguinius led the assault on the Traitor Warmaster's Battle-Barge. Sigismund was named Emperor's Champion, a title sometimes applied to Dorn, and in that act a new tradition was formed, which is honoured amongst the Black Templars, the direct descendants of Sigismund, to this day. When the Master of Mankind and His gene-sons teleported away to face Horus, Sigismund led the remaining warriors, not as a general, but as an example, taking the battle to the enemy in person and emboldening the hearts of the defenders with his deeds. Sigismund sought out the greatest warriors amongst the teeming hordes of the enemy, facing mighty Chaos Space Marine leaders as well as towering fiends from the great beyond, and defeating every single one of them. Sigismund was chosen as Emperor's Champion because he was filled with such devotion to the Father of Mankind, and to the Imperium and the Great Crusade that had created it, that he was a shining exemplar of all that the Legiones Astartes were and could be. The oath he took when he accepted the mantle of Emperor's Champion resounded through the ages, and was so weighty that it could never be broken. While Sigismund's beloved Emperor fell on that day, the Emperor's Champion prevailed and, with Horus defeated, the vile hosts on the surface were routed. Later, the Imperial Fists split into Chapters and Sigismund's fiery zeal was recognised. He became the first High Marshal of the Black Templars, and his belief that the Great Crusade would never end became a reality embodied by the new Chapter and its never-ending Crusades. Ever since the Siege of Terra, it has become a cherished tradition amongst the Black Templars to field one who the chaplains have proclaimed the Emperor's Champion. On the eve of battle, the Black Templars pray, fast, and meditate upon their duty, and it is not uncommon for one amongst their number to be blessed with some form of vision that speaks to him of his duty and shows him portents of things yet to come. The battle-brother then presents himself to the Chaplains and confesses his vision and if he is found true, is declared to be the Emperor's Champion. The battle-brother is ritually prepared for the coming battle, the attendants of the Reclusiam cladding him in the Armour of Faith and presenting him with the Black Sword. In theory, each Black Templars Crusade force has its own Emperor's Champion who serves as such for the duration of a protracted battle or a campaign, but in practise each Fighting Company is likely to have one, each battle producing its own Champion if one has not come forward already. It is common for Black Templars battle-brothers serving with the Deathwatch to pray and fast on the eve of a mission, just as they would before a battle within the ranks of their own Chapter. On some extremely rare occasions, such a Battle Brother may feel the blessings of righteous certainty upon him, and know that he must take up the mantle of the Emperor's Champion. Within his Chapter, the battle-brother would seek out the Chaplains and be declared the Emperor's Champion by them, but this may not be possible whilst he is serving the Long Watch. Unless a Chaplain of the Black Templars is present and able to take the brother's confession, he must assume the mantle alone, donning the most sacred relics of his Chapter and declaring his mission to his fellows. He will seek permission from the Master of the Armoury to bear into battle the most potent of weapons and the most revered of armour. Few would dare refuse, for the battle-brother's eyes burn with the zeal of his duty and the weight of his oaths is an almost palpable thing. Regardless of the nature of the coming mission, the Emperor's Champion will seek out the greatest champions and leaders amongst the ranks of the enemy and strike them down in the fury of single combat. In so doing, he acts as a shining beacon of faith by which the enemy is cast back and the warriors of the Emperor are driven to ever-greater acts of valour. Having taken up the trappings of the Emperor's Champion, the battle-brother remains as such only until his vision is fulfilled and he returns to the Watch Fortress. Only by the word of the Chaplains is his duty discharged, and he resumes his place in the ranks once more.Initiate - Unlike in other Chapters, an initiate is not an Astartes who is new to the Chapter, but is the rank held by the majority of Black Templars battle-brothers until they have served long enough to be promoted to the Veteran status of a member of the Sword Brethren. Initiates serve in most of the standard tactical roles seen within Space Marine Chapters and are also each responsible for adopting and training a neophyte until he has earned initiate status.Neophyte - A neophyte of the Black Templars differs from the neophytes of other Chapters in that they have already successfully completed the physical process of transformation into an Astartes by the time they achieve this rank. This would normally grant them initiate status in Codex-compliant Chapters, but in the Black Templars this only means that they are ready to truly begin their training. Every neophyte, after he has been deemed worthy by the Chapter's Chaplains and Apothecaries, is assigned to an apprenticeship with a full initiate of the Chapter, essentially serving in some regards as his squire. When the neophyte's initiate feels that his student has gained the experience and wisdom necessary to make him an asset to the Chapter, he is raised to become an initiate himself. The new initiate is then required to begin the personal training of his own neophyte, and so the process repeats itself. |
Black Templars - Emperor's Champion Vows: On the eve of battle, the Emperor's Champion leads the Black Templars in renewing one of the four Vows of the Chapter, each one instilling these Astartes with righteous fury that is expressed on the battlefield in different ways. These vows include:Suffer Not the Unclean to Live - The Black Templars swear to release their unclean foes -- Heretics, mutants, xenos and Traitors -- from the suffering of their lives, striking them down with great fury.Uphold the Honour of the Emperor - The Black Templars uphold the Emperor's honour, and face their enemies' attacks head-on rather than cower behind cover. Such is their indomitable faith that they can withstand attacks that would fell even other Astartes.Abhor the Witch, Destroy the Witch - The Black Templars' hatred of the mutant and the Warp drives them into a rage in battle. Should their enemies' ranks include a psyker, they will rush to vanquish them with renewed effort. Their hatred enhances their will, making them highly resistant to psychic abilities.Accept Any Challenge, No Matter the Odds - The Black Templars swear to answer any challenge, and should an opportunity present itself they will always charge to meet their enemies in close combat. |
Black Templars - Crusader Squads: A Crusader Squad is the standard tactical organisation employed by the Black Templars Chapter. The Black Templars are organised in a different manner compared to many Codex Astartes-compliant Chapters and do not follow the dictates of the Codex in many ways, notably in the recruitment, training and deployment of their warriors.The majority of Black Templars battle-brothers -- known within the Chapter as Initiates -- are organised into Crusader Squads, which form the backbone of any strike force unleashed by the Chapter. Many Crusader Squads have the honour of being led to battle by one of the Chapter's Sword Brethren -- Veterans whose deeds and example inspire the Initiates to ever greater acts of courage.Crusader Squads are armed primarily with the holy Bolter, though given the Black Templars' preference for fighting their foes face-to-face, many choose to carry Chainswords and other weapons more suited to the cut and thrust of close combat, epitomising the Black Templars' righteous zeal and their drive to defeat their foes in battle. |
Black Templars - Formations: Sons of Grimaldus - Chaplain Grimaldus entered legend during the Battle of Helsreach in the midst of the Third War for Armageddon in 998.M41. For more than 60 solar days, he commanded the defenders of the Temple of the Emperor Ascendant against a massive horde of Orks. Eventually, with the defenders cut off and outnumbered hundreds to one, the temple fell. Miraculously, Grimaldus and a handful of the Black Templars with him survived. These few swore to avenge the brave warriors, mortal and Astartes alike, who had fought and died beside them. Other Black Templars flocked to their banner, and from that day the special formation of the Chapter known as the Sons of Grimaldus have harried the Orks from one end of Armageddon to the other, and now pursue them even as they flee into the depths of space. They will not rest until Ghazghkull Thraka and every Ork under his command has been slain. The Sons of Grimaldus are currently commanded by Grimaldus and composed of 1 Command Squad, 1 squad of Sword Brethren Terminators, another squad of Sword Brethren outfitted as Assault Terminators, 2 squads of Sword Brethren encased in standard Power Armour, and 5 full squads of Black Templars Astartes. |
Black Templars - Neophytes: Since the Black Templars have no Chapter homeworld, all of their recruiting is done via their Chapter keeps. Chapter keeps are built on most worlds conquered by the Black Templars, and are used as staging ground for crusade forces and recruitment posts for the Chapter. A Chapter keep only recruits a few individuals in a Terran year.Only the most skilled aspirants are allowed to join, and if they pass the initial tests, they are implanted with the gene-seed organs that will eventually transform them into full Space Marines and neophytes of the Chapter. When roughly two dozen neophytes are available at a Chapter keep and have been approved by the keep's Castellan and the Chapter's Apothecaries and Chaplains, they are despatched to a crusade fleet for the next stage of their induction.Upon reaching a crusade fleet, the neophytes are put through many gruelling tasks and trials by the Initiates of the Black Templars. These trials test the neophytes to their limits, separating out the weaker recruits from the stronger. Unlike other Space Marine Chapters, the Black Templars have no dedicated Scout Company in which its aspirants are trained. Should a survivor of the trials impress one of the assembled battle-brothers, an Initiate may take it upon himself to personally mentor the neophyte in the art of war.From that point on, the Initiate takes sole responsibility for his pupil's training and conduct. He swears an oath to prepare the neophyte for his entry into the brotherhood that is the Chapter, teach him of its history, and guide him through its holy rites of worship to the Emperor.In return, the neophyte pledges obedience to his master and vows never to bring dishonour to his name. Neophytes also act as servants to their mentors, waiting on them at the great banquets and seeing to their day-to-day requirements. The crusade's Chaplains oversee this training and make sure the neophyte learns the history of the Chapter, and watch for any signs of weakness in the neophyte's faith.The neophyte will also accompany his Initiate into combat, and should his master fall, another brother will take up his training. The bond between the Initiate and his neophyte pupil is strong, and if the neophyte meets his end, the Initiate will swear a death oath to avenge his apprentice, or die trying.It is the Initiate's prerogative to say when his apprentice's training is complete. Once he has proven his valour and skill, a Black Templars neophyte submits to the Chapter's Chaplains to undergo the final trials of purity before, in a ceremony of great reverence, he is elevated into the ranks of a full battle-brother of Initiate status and honoured with a suit of Power Armour. He is now truly a Black Templar, possessed of great power, and sworn to use it in the Emperor's service unto death.The Black Templars' zealous hatred of mutants and the Warp prevents them from recruiting any man who bears genetic impurities, including the mutation that allows an individual to wield psychic abilities. This is why the Black Templars' order of battle contains no Librarians. |
Black Templars - Initiates: Once accepted into a crusade's fighting company, an Initiate fights alongside his other Black Templar battle-brothers, forging a name for himself within the Chapter and perfecting his fighting abilities. If the Initiate lives long enough, he will eventually apprentice a neophyte of his own. In this way, the skills, traditions and experience of the Chapter are preserved and passed down, master to neophyte.Initiates form the majority of the Chapter's fighting companies and are split up into Crusade Squads of up to twenty Initiates. Each squad is a deadly force with a range of skills and abilities. Initiates are armed primarily with Bolters, though, given the Black Templars' preference for fighting face-to-face, many choose to carry weapons more suited to close combat.Some squad members may carry more specialised weaponry, such as Plasma Guns, Flamers or mighty Power Fists. Black Templars squads are highly flexible and have the tactical adaptability to deal with virtually any foe, instructing their neophytes by bloody example.On the battlefield, an Initiate often stands beside his young neophyte, teaching him through bloody example the way of Bolter and blade. In this way, the neophyte learns first hand the methods of waging war and of destroying the Emperor's enemies. |
Black Templars - Scout Squads: As noted above, the Black Templars have no dedicated Scout Company in which its aspirants are trained. However, after fighting as part of a Crusader Squad on several battlefields, it is common though for groups of Black Templars neophytes to be tasked together into independent squads, akin to a Codex Chapter's Scout Squads or Vanguard Marines.These units are tasked with infiltrating enemy positions or fulfilling some other critical mission. For a neophyte to be trusted so speaks volumes of his Initiate's faith in his abilities, and the Neophyte fights all the harder, lest they show such trust to be misplaced. |
Black Templars - Training Worlds: The Black Templars, being a fleet-based Crusading Chapter, need many new recruits to fill their ranks. Not only do they lose many Space Marines in battles across the galaxy, but they also lose many recruits in training.Despite this attrition, there are thousands of citizens across the Imperium who dream of becoming Black Templars. Many of them have spent their entire young lives in preparation, honing their martial skills in their local Planetary Defence Forces or even the Astra Militarum.Those brave souls who have declared their intent to join the Black Templars are known as "Expectanten." These aspirants have a long and dangerous journey to survive before they can even bear the title of neophyte.One of the original training planets of Black Templars where such aspirants can try and prove their worth to the Chapter is Barbarossa IV -- a largely peaceful Agri-world. However, the planet's northern regions possess many dangerous native flora and fauna that provide a good training ground for aspirants. It is there that the Black Templars Chapter keep is located. |
Black Templars - Known Recruitment Worlds: The following worlds are known to be planets on which a Chapter keep is maintained and from which the Black Templars have taken neophytes in the past.Barbarossa IVCloisterFergaxKilhavenLilia MundiPurgatius IIISolemnus |
Black Templars - Black Templars Names: The names of Black Templars battle-brothers are generally drawn from the Germanic cultures of Old Earth. As such, sample names for Black Templars Astartes include Otto Ulbrecht, Sebastian Kroeller, Micael Richter, Signar Dranacht, Magnor Arbrecht, Lothair Torismund, Guy Mordred, Diedrech Carlmagne, Sedric Kiergaard, Arnuph Arbrecht and names in a similar ancient Teutonic vein. |
Black Templars - Deathwatch Service: While the Black Templars as a Chapter have left the Jericho Reach for the present at least, their battle-brothers still serve in the ranks of the Deathwatch, the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Xenos. Several of the greatest heroes to have served their Vigil from Watch Fortress Erioch were drawn from the Chapter, though their names and deeds may only be read in the annals of the Deathwatch, and these are sealed from access by all but the most privileged.Black Templars are known to make worthy members of a Kill-team, though their zealousness can occasionally put them at odds with other members. Black Templars never back down from a challenge and they are reluctant to re-deploy from battle in the face of overwhelming odds. A mission that requires stealth and observation may find itself compromised should a Black Templar battle-brother take it upon himself to engage a foe he should be watching from afar.For this reason, only the most self-disciplined and open-minded of Black Templars are seconded to the Deathwatch; the strain on their minds to tolerate the myriad different expressions of a thousand divergent Chapter cults embodied by the new battle-brothers of the Long Watch will be enormous, and to be forced to live and fight alongside psykers, either the other Chapter's detached Librarians or the Ordo Xenos' psychically-gifted Inquisitors, will test the seconded Black Templar's faith and tolerance to their very limits.But a Black Templar does not have to suppress his essential nature to operate in the Deathwatch. Instead, on the field of battle, it is his greatest weapon, for his righteousness and zeal allow him to face and to overcome the most terrifying enemies facing the Imperium. |
Black Templars - Chapter Combat Doctrine: The Black Templars have continued in the style of their first High Marshal, preferring close, melee combat to ranged warfare. This is further emphasized by the fanaticism of the Black Templars' Initiates, whose righteous anger makes them impulsive and headstrong.They launch themselves upon the enemy with a merciless, focused aggression, bellowing battle-oaths as they carve their foes apart. They carry a particularly intense hatred for xenos witchkin and rogue psykers, and will purge these hated foes wherever they are found.When making war, a Black Templars Crusade will focus on two main tactics. The first is orbital assault; the Crusade will use Drop Pods and Thunderhawk gunships to perform a mass-landing in the wake of a heavy orbital bombardment.If enemy resistance is still strong after this initial assault, the Templars will land their heavy armour and launch an armoured spearhead against the weakest link in the enemy's defensive line.As part of their dedication to the Emperor and their crusade, the Black Templars swear fell oaths of faith and protection. Before a battle, it is considered customary to renew one of these oaths, the individual vow serving as a focus on the particular aspect of the battle-brother's duties considered to be necessary to ensure success for the overall crusade.Due to the fact that the Black Templars have such a hate and distrust for the Warp and anything within it or derived from it, Black Templars will not allow Librarians or any beings with psychic powers to fight amongst their ranks or in an alliance with them, except for the Grey Knights.Every Black Templar has a deep prejudice against any type of psyker, which can lead to trouble between the Chapter and those Imperial Adepta that often use Sanctioned Psykers, such as the Inquisition or even certain regiments of the Astra Militarum. |
Black Templars - Land Raider Crusader: The Land Raider Crusader variant of the standard Land Raider was developed by the Black Templars during the Jerulas Crusade, to aid them in the numerous hive city sieges required to reclaim that Hive World for the Emperor. As word of the design's successes spread, many other Chapters pressured the Tech-priests of Mars into releasing construction schematics of the Crusader.Eventually the design was officially recognised by the Adeptus Mechanicus in 763.M39, but this was seen as a mere formality; over three-quarters of the Chapters had already put Crusader Pattern Land Raiders into effective use.The Land Raider Crusader is a line-breaking main battle tank, built and armed to plough into the enemy formation and disgorge its larger-than-normal cargo of Astartes directly into close combat. The Crusader is armed with side sponson-mounted Hurricane Bolters as well as a hull-mounted Assault Cannon and a Multi-melta.By replacing the side sponson Lascannon of the original Land Raider design with the Bolters, the Land Raider Crusader has given up some of its anti-armour capability in exchange for a significant increase in its troop-carrying capacity. It also has Frag Assault Launchers to help pin the enemy unit being attacked. |
Black Templars - Chapter Beliefs: All Space Marines are renowned for their fervent dedication, but the extent of the Black Templars' faith is often described as fanatical. They seek nothing less than to crush every last enemy of Mankind.The Chapter's dogma reserves a special hatred for particular enemies, specifically the mutant, the Heretic, and the witch. The reason for this is to be found in the Chapter's Founding, springing from the contempt in which Sigismund held those Heretic Astartes who had cast off their oaths and turned against the Imperium during the Horus Heresy.In assuming the mantle of the Emperor's Champion, Sigismund delivered the ultimate judgement on those who had betrayed the Master of Mankind, executing them by his own hand. It is the zeal to prosecute such crimes that drives the Black Templars in their crusades across the galaxy and beyond the borders of the Imperium, lending them the strength to face any foe.When a Black Templars battle-brother strikes down a champion of the enemy, he is enacting the judgement of Sigismund and through him the Emperor Himself, and continuing a tradition established at the height of the Imperium's most terrible crisis.For ten thousand standard years the Black Templars have crusaded to prove their loyalty, and this creed has become so embedded in their doctrines that they are utterly ruthless towards anyone or anything perceived as a threat to the Emperor. Unlike most other Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, the Black Templars have come to revere the Emperor as the one, true god of Mankind, just as the mortals of the Imperium do, and this belief has driven them to new heights of fanaticism.However, the Black Templars are first and foremost Space Marines, and so even their faith is superhuman in its focus and dedication. Their gruelling rites are every bit as tasking as their battle drills -- to the Black Templars, ceremonial dedications to the Emperor and their martial drilling are one and the same.The Black Templars have been known to mercilessly wipe out entire planetary populations to expunge the sin of heresy, while the mere presence of a witch on the battlefield drives them into a zealous fury against which few enemies have any hope of standing.The Black Templars' professed loathing of the witch even extends to those psykers in the employ of the Imperium. As a result, the Black Templars eschew the use of all Librarians in their ranks, unwilling to have any of their brethren touched by the taint of the Warp.When not engaged in battle, the brethren of the Black Templars are invariably to be found preparing for it. They pass their time in prayer and meditation, or engaged in exacting training rituals.Those Initiates entrusted with the training of a neophyte spend long solar hours passing on their knowledge to their young apprentice and supervising endless drills, practice sessions, and trials. The brethren frequently impose upon themselves many hardships, foregoing all but the bare necessities in order to purify themselves in the eyes of the Emperor and their Primarch, and to emulate the example of their founder Sigismund.When serving alongside the battle-brothers of other Space Marine Chapters, many Black Templars prepare themselves through long fasts and solar-week-long vigils in order to tolerate the presence of Space Marine Librarians. For those who serve a Long Vigil in the Deathwatch, fighting alongside a brother Space Marine who wields psychic power is a particular hardship, a trial they must undergo in order to serve the Emperor more fully and to strike down the hated alien.For this reason, great care is undertaken when selecting a Black Templar for secondment to the Deathwatch, for only a brother able to contain his deep-seated intolerance against psykers will be able to fight to his full capacity. Despite this, even these individuals are likely to pass every hour not spent fighting in deep contemplation and prayer, often cloistering themselves away from their fellow Deathwatch brothers in a personal shrine to the Emperor, Rogal Dorn, and Sigismund.In temperament, the battle-brothers of the Black Templars Chapter are united by the fiery zeal that burns within the heart of each, a fire first sparked by High Marshal Sigismund himself and stoked each day by the oratory of the Chaplains and by the exemplary texts that each brother reads every hour he is not on active duty.While each Black Templar is inspired by the same crusading drive to utterly crush the enemies of the Emperor, there nonetheless exists a degree of variation within the ranks. Those brethren only recently initiated into the Chapter as full battle-brothers might be driven to prove themselves in the eyes of their more experienced peers.Only when they have done so will they be granted the right and the responsibility to train a neophyte themselves. Throughout his service as an Initiate, the battle-brother gains experience and wisdom, until he may, if he survives long enough and is judged worthy, enter the ranks of his Marshal's household as a Sword Brother.These warriors have learned to temper the fires of hatred with the wisdom of their years, and they are an example to the entire Chapter. |
Black Templars - Abhor the Witch: Outsiders sometimes mistakenly interpret the lack of Librarians within the ranks of the Black Templars Chapter, and the fury with which its battle-brothers slay Chaos Sorcerers, as an intolerance for all forms of psykers.This could hardly be further from the truth, for the Black Templars hold special reverence for astropaths, seeing them as holy disciples who have actually communed with the God-Emperor. Navigators are similarly honoured, for their psychic blessing allows them to see the divine light of the Astronomican and guide the Black Templars through the Warp to deliver righteous retribution against the Emperor's enemies.Instead, the Black Templars' abhorrence is reserved for deviant alien witches and rogue psykers who embrace the blasphemous Dark Gods in their quest for power. These individuals threaten to drag entire worlds from the Emperor's light and into damnation, for they are conduits through which unholy daemons can cross into the mortal realm.So it is that the Black Templars strengthen their souls with the purity of their faith when facing rogue psykers, as they strive to end with a single sword-stroke the potential of a daemonic assault that could otherwise plunge the Emperor's realm into solar decades of bloodshed and madness. |
Black Templars - Behold the Glory and the Wonder: One of the more unusual aspects of the Black Templars' worship of the Emperor is the Chapter's collection of reliquaries. Being a fleet-based Chapter and lacking a proper homeworld, the High Marshal's Battle Barge and mobile fortress-monastery, the Eternal Crusader, has become the spiritual epicentre of the Chapter.It has been refitted many times over the millennia, and its massive expanse is filled with sacred relics, chapels, reliquaries and devotional pieces. All Black Templars return here after a crusade, renewing vows and adding any new-found wonders to their already vast hoard.Some of these pieces date back to the Great Crusade: banners carried before the Emperor Himself, a piece of the First Aquila, a blackened skull reportedly struck by the Emperor's scorching psychic energies, and thousands more. |
Black Templars - Hall of Records: Aboard the Eternal Crusader lies the Hall of Records, a vast archive where a legion of scribes and servitors toil to record the history and deeds of the Black Templars' far-flung forces.Such duties of record-keeping would normally fall to a Chapter's Librarians, but the Black Templars Chapter boasts not a single psychic Space Marine amongst their ranks. It is uncertain how, or when, the Black Templars ceased to field Librarians, for with their disappearance, much of the Chapter's history was also lost.Outsiders suggest that, as the Chapter came to worship the Emperor as a god unlike most of their fellow members of the Adeptus Astartes, they took His decree at the Council of Nikaea to disband the Space Marine Legions' Librarius corps as holy law. Others whisper that the Black Templars' gene-seed has somehow deteriorated, or that their Librarians were slain during a great war in the Chapter's history.Some scholars point to the Black Templars' final battle to end the Catelexis Heresy in the 34th Millennium, and the apocalyptic psychic death-scream that tore through the Warp after the slaying of the Cacodominus, as another possible explanation.Whatever the truth, the Black Templars have come to accept the loss of their Librarians as part of the Emperor's divine plan. If the Emperor decides to once again bless the Black Templars with Librarians, they will embrace it, but until that day, they will wage battle without these powerful warriors at their side. |
Black Templars - Chapter Traditions: Devotion Chain - Most Black Templars use Devotion Chains to bind their weapons to their fists on the eve of battle, removing them only once victory is achieved. This tradition harkens back to the bygone era of the Great Crusade. The tradition of using chains to bind weapons to one's arms was originally started by the World Eaters when they were still the Loyalist XII Legion, a tradition which eventually spread to the other Space Marine Legions after its popularity had extended beyond the World Eaters' fighting pits. Sigismund, First Captain of the Imperial Fists, took to the custom with his usual zeal, binding his knightly weapons to his wrists on dense black chains. He had made an impressive name for himself within the bowels of Primarch Angron's flagship, Conqueror, duelling with the XII Legion's finest warriors late in the Great Crusade.Chain of Zeal - Unlike the Devotion Chain, the Chain of Zeal is no such fleeting token. It is secured to weapon and armour with a permanent weld that lasts as long as the Space Marine serves. Furthermore, because taking off a gauntlet with the chain still attached is a shameful act that entails great dishonour, the wearer of the Chain of Zeal must keep his armoured glove donned and weapon in hand every minute for the rest of his days. |
Black Templars - Notable Black Templars: High Marshal Helbrecht - Helbrecht is the current High Marshal of the Black Templars Chapter. Helbrecht wields the Sword of the High Marshals, which was forged from the remnants of the sword of Rogal Dorn. According to legend, Dorn broke the sword across his knee after the Horus Heresy for failing to defend the Emperor. In addition to being High Marshal of the Black Templars Chapter, Helbrecht is the greatest naval commander in the Adeptus Astartes, and assumed command of all Space Marine warships during the Third War for Armageddon. Together with Admiral Parol of the Imperial Navy, Helbrecht held and eventually repulsed the numerically superior Ork fleet. Helbrecht was last seen departing Armageddon with Commissar Yarrick, hunting down the space hulk thought to be commanded by the Beast of Armageddon, Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. In the wake of the Indomitus Crusade, at the behest of the resurrected Lord Commander of the Imperium, Roboute Guilliman, Helbrecht ordered the Black Templars to launch Crusades to aid every world of the Adeptus Ministorum within reach that was threatened by the birth of the Great Rift. At some point following the birth of the Great Rift, Helbrecht crossed the Rubicon Primaris and underwent the agonising transformation into a Primaris Space Marine.High Marshal Kordhel - Helbrecht's predecessor, Kordhel was slain by a frenzied Chaos Champion of the Ruinous Powers in late 990.M41.High Marshal Ludoldus - Kordhel's predecessor, Ludoldus was a legendary High Marshal of the Black Templars, his career second-to-none, and his accomplishments were the stuff of Chapter legends. When Helbrecht was but a lowly neophyte, he served under the venerable High Marshal during the Vinculus Crusade in 833.M41, playing witness to the dramatic events of the campaign. It has been recorded that Ludoldus fought in the Jerulas Crusade (645.M39) as well, wars separated by two thousand Terran years which would make him unusually long-lived even for an Astartes if these accounts are true.High Marshal Sigenandus - Sigenandus was the High Marshal of the Black Templars during the tumultuous era known as the Wars of Apostasy in the 36th Millennium. A fiercely vengeful warrior, High Marshal Sigenandus was amongst the most fearsome warriors ever to command the Black Templars. Upon declaration of a Crusade, whichever foe was to be fought was doomed from that moment onwards as there would be no mercy shown until every last remnant of the enemy was destroyed. Great was Sigenandus' rage after discovering the destruction of his Chapter's keeps in the Segmentum Solar by the traitorous High Lord Goge Vandire's fleets and, in retribution, in 378.M36, he gathered four Crusade fleets and set off towards Terra, and vengeance. The Black Templars, together with the Imperial Fists and two other Chapters, the Soul Drinkers and the zealous Fire Hawks, and elements of the Martian Skitarii, took the fight to Terra itself and laid siege to Vandire's Ecclesiarchal Palace. The Terran Crusade fell upon Vandire's forces like a thunderbolt, smashing into the deluded followers of the insane High Lord with terrifying fury. The siege of Vandire's palace lasted many months and, together with Chapter Master Lazerian of the Imperial Fists, Sigenandus fought his way towards Vandire's chambers. The two warriors fought side by side with their Thunder Hammers, crushing all before them. At battle's end, with Vandire dead at the hands of his own bodyguard, the Brides of the Emperor, High Marshal Sigenandus still burned with fury at the destruction of his Chapter's keeps and the scale of the High Lord's betrayal. Determined that none should escape his vengeance, High Marshal Sigenandus set off from Terra to hunt down all those who had broken faith with the Emperor. Worlds burned as his quest took him throughout the galaxy until his eventual death in 522.M36.High Marshal Constantine - Constantine was a High Marshal of the Black Templars during the Age of Redemption. After his two predecessors were both slain by the Aeldari during the Benedictine War, Constantine continued his crusade despite calls by the Ecclesiarch to end the conflict.High Marshal Bohemond - Bohemond was the High Marshal of the Black Templars Chapter in the mid-32nd Millennium, and took part in the desperate battles against a massive Ork WAAAGH! that threatened the Throneworld of Terra itself during the War of the Beast that took place in 544-546.M32. The Chapter Master of the Black Templars had a fell reputation as a headstrong and strong-willed commander. His Black Templars stood as a force apart from the rest of the Imperial Fists Successor Chapters. They claimed lineage from Rogal Dorn as did the rest, but they cleaved to their own code and practices. When the last surviving Imperial Fists from the disaster on Ardamantua, Captain Koorland, enacted the "Last Wall Protocol", Bohemond agreed to represent his Chapter. A council between the Successor Chapters was to be held in the Phall System. As the longest-serving Chapter Master of the Scions of Dorn Successor Chapters, he agreed to host the council meeting aboard the Battle Barge Abhorrence. Bohemond would later lead his Chapter in the attack by his fellow Scions of Dorn Successor Chapters against the greenskins' massive Attack Moon in orbit over Terra. In the battle's aftermath, a tense meeting was held between the Last Wall Chapter Masters and the Lord Commander of the Imperium, Udin Macht Udo. The outspoken High Marshal expressed his disdain for both the squabbling and weak-willed High Lords of Terra as well as the Lord Commander. After the world of Ullanor Prime was identified as where The Beast and his massive WAAAGH! originated from, Bohemond was one of the central leaders who advocated an Imperial counter-strike in order to kill The Beast and wipe out the greenskins. He led his Chapter during the invasion of The Beast's capital world, upon the capital city of Gorkogrod, fighting alongside the returned Salamanders Primarch Vulkan. During this epic battle, the High Marshal always led from the forefront of the Astartes' advance, but constantly proved insubordinate to both Captain Koorland and even Vulkan himself. At his wit's end with the High Marshal's constant challenges to Koorland's authority, Vulkan challenged the upstart Chapter Master that whoever could lift his massive Thunder Hammer, Doomtremor, would rightfully assume the mantle of Lord Commander of the Imperium. However, this was a ploy, as the mighty weapon was so heavy, that even an Astartes fully arrayed in Terminator Armour was unable to lift it. Both Bohemond and the Chapter Master of the Crimson Fists, Quesadra, proved unable to lift it. Koorland, however, along with the Chapter Master of the Fists Exemplar, Maximus Thane, and his squad of Astartes lifted the mighty weapon together and managed to launch the Primarch's hammer like a javelin. As Koorland had proved his willingness to work with others, not for individual glory, Vulkan declared Koorland as the best candidate for Lord Commander. During the final push on The Beast's temple-Gargant, Bohemond once again objected to following Koorland's leadership when he ordered the Astartes to evacuate and let Vulkan face The Beast alone, in accordance with the Primarch's wishes. Enraged by the High Marshal's callous disregard, he struck Bohemond to the ground. Chastised, the High Marshal remained on the ground, shamed before his fellow Scions of Dorn, until he eventually evacuated with all the rest.High Marshal Scharn - Scharn was High Marshal of the Black Templars in the early 32nd Millennium. He was succeeded by High Marshal Bohemond.High Marshal Sigismund (KIA) - Sigismund was the First Captain of the Imperial Fists Legion during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy, and was chosen by his Primarch Rogal Dorn as the first High Marshal (Chapter Master) of the newly created Black Templars Chapter during the Second Founding in the early 31st Millennium. The Chapter took upon themselves the black and white panoply of Sigismund's personal heraldry. Chosen as the Emperor's Champion for his fervent faith in the Emperor and his undying devotion to Mankind, those zealous warriors of the Imperial Fists who became Black Templars sought to emulate their former First Captain's heroic example. Seeing the strife that beset the Legiones Astartes during the days of the Second Founding, he determined that a gesture of supreme faith was needed. As High Marshal of the Black Templars, Sigismund swore a mighty oath that upon leaving Terra, he would prove his loyalty, never resting in the prosecution of his duties against the enemies of the Emperor. It is an oath that every subsequent High Marshal has renewed, and so the greatest and longest Space Marine crusade in Imperial history was begun, a crusade that has continued unbroken for ten thousand Terran years. Sigismund led the Black Templars for several centuries, obsessed with hunting down the Traitor Legions who had fled into the Eye of Terror during the Great Scouring. During the 1st Black Crusade of Abaddon the Despoiler, when Sigismund was over a thousand Terran years old, the forces of the Black Legion assaulted the Black Templars' flagship Eternal Crusader determined to kill the High Marshal. Sigismund met Ezekyle Abaddon in single combat and was slain by the new Warmaster of Chaos, but not before he had buried his Black Sword deep into the Despoiler's chest, leaving a scar that would remain with the Warmaster for the next ten thousand years.Marshal Emrik - Marshal Emrik was the founder of the Solemnus Chapter Keep and commanded the Crusade that cleansed that world of a Genestealer taint. Emrik himself slew the Genestealer Patriarch and ended the xenos threat. His chapel-tomb resided within the Hall of Heroes of the Solemnus Keep.Marshal Actoan - In 996.M41, Marshal Actoan led a crusade against the world of Golgotha to try and eradicate the Ork presence on that planet.Marshal Brant - Brant was the commander of the Solemnus Crusade that participated in the Third War for Armageddon. Marshal Brant was just returning from the Liberation of Lugnasad in the Apollo Sub-sector when the Orks of the Blood Scar Tribe attacked and sacked the Solemnus Chapter Keep out of which the crusade had been based. For 12 years, Brant led the Solemnus Crusade in a quest for vengeance until they finally discovered the Blood Scar Tribe fighting alongside WAAAGH! Ghazghkull on the Hive World of Armageddon. The Solemnus Crusade immediately joined the battle against the Greenskin invaders and deployed several fighting companies to the wastes of Armageddon.Marshal Ricard - Ricard led the Dimaris Crusade until High Marshal Helbrecht diverted it to aid the Imperial defenders in the Third War for Armageddon. He was a neophyte around 909.M41.Marshal Marius Amalrich (KIA) - Marius Amalrich played a significant role in the final days of the 13th Black Crusade before the fall of Cadia, in the Ultramar Campaign that resurrected the Primarch Roboute Guilliman, and in the Terran Crusade Guilliman led to meet with his father the Emperor of Mankind on Holy Terra. Amalrich may also have been the marshal who commanded the Tiberior Crusade until High Marshal Helbrecht diverted it to aid the Imperial defenders in the Third War for Armageddon. Amalrich next led a Black Templars Crusade Fleet, the Cruxis Crusade, to Cadia to take part in its defence from the forces of Chaos. He was one of the few survivors to flee off-world and accept aid from the Ynnari in battling back an assault by Abaddon the Despoiler before fleeing through the Webway to Ultramar. After Guilliman's resurrection and the arrival of a new Black Templars Crusade at Macragge to support the efforts of the revived Primarch, Amalrich was recognised for his contributions and was named the Emperor's Champion by his Chapter's Chaplains. During a critical moment of the Terran Crusade aboard a Blackstone Fortress in the Warp rift called the Maelstrom, Amalrich stabbed the Bloodthirster Skarbrand the Exiled One through the chest with the Black Sword of the Emperor's Champion. Though this effort cost Amalrich his life, Guilliman exploited the wound to defeat the Greater Daemon of Khorne, escape from the trap set in the Maelstrom by Kairos Fateweaver and make his way to Terra.Marshal Armante (KIA) - Armante commanded the Lastrati Crusade and came to the defence of the Imperial world of Arthas when it was invaded by Chaos forces in service to Nurgle. Due to the crusade's efforts, the forces of the Death Guard Chaos Lord Malek Vos and the Nurglite Daemon Prince The Fly Lord were kept at bay, though the Black Templars suffered heavy casualties as a result. As the battle wore on, the crusade found itself fighting alone and was stricken a fatal blow, when the Marshal himself was killed. With his death, all hope of saving Arthas was gone, though the remaining Black Templars refused to escape until they could reclaim Armante's body. Led by the Emperor's Champion Horst and the Chaplain Ferdinand, the crusade fought ferociously to reach the Marshal's body, but were destroyed by the Chaos forces that stood in their way, who were personally commanded by Malek Vos and The Fly Lord.Marshal Austein (KIA) - Austein was the initial commander of the Donian Crusade in 985.M39. However on the world of Nickel V Austein was killed by Orks and was succeeded by Marshal Werhner.Marshal Wernher - Wernher joined the Donian Crusade in 985.M39 to combat the swelling Ork population sweeping through the Donian Sector and surrounding Wilderness Space in the southern Segmentum Pacificus. The original crusade marshal, Brother Austein, was tragically killed in battle on the planet Nickel V, and was succeeded by Marshal Wernher in 988.M39. The Donian Crusade lasted for roughly 17 standard years before the high marshal declared it successful in ca. 002.M40. Wernher went on to later become the marshal of the Thangdorn Crusade.Marshal Ulliquel - Commander of the Thunder Crusade who fought against the Drukhari and Alpha Legion during his recruitment mission to the Chapter Keep on Cephia IV.Marshal Magneric (Dreadnought) (KIA) - Magneric was a Marshal of the Black Templars in the 32nd Millennium. A follower of Sigismund and hero of the Horus Heresy, Magneric was badly injured fighting against his old friend the Iron Warriors Warsmith Kalkator and subsequently interred within a Dreadnought. Magneric rarely went into the mandated hibernation cycles required for other Dreadnoughts. As a result, he became emotionally unstable and prone to a fanaticism unusual even for the Black Templars. His temperament was usually moderated by his trusted castellan, Ralstan. He led the Kalkator Crusade with a brutal zeal, determined to exact his vengeance on the Warsmith. Ultimately, Magneric cornered Kalkator on the world of Dzelenic IV but both his and the Iron Warriors' forces were under attack from the Orks of The Beast. Facing mutual annihilation, Magneric initially refused Kalkator's calls for a temporary truce but was swayed to relent by Ralstan. Magneric and Kalkator put aside their vendetta for a time in order to battle the greenskins. Magneric met his end in the Battle of Vandis, during the War of the Beast. The Orks boarded the warship Obsidian Sky in great numbers while Magneric defended its bridge, sending many to their deaths before he ordered the ship to ram a nearby Ork carrier.Marshal Haeson - Haeson was among the Imperium's forces defending Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade. While defending Kasr Kraf, Haeson saw Abaddon the Despoiler teleport onto the battlefield and charged the Black Legion's master to finally end his threat to the Imperium. He proved to be no match for the Despoiler, who easily butchered the Marshal before looking for more of Cadia's defenders to kill.Marshal Armond Montfort - Armond Montfort led the Chapter's Excorius Crusade. During the Era Indomitus after the birth of the Great Rift, he commanded the Aurilla Crusade, one of the Shrine World Crusades to protect the sacred worlds of the Ecclesiarchy.Marshal Gervhart - Gervhart led the Second Purging of Lastrati in 543.M36, as a part of the Athalor Crusade. The Hive World of Lastrati, located in the Ultima Segmentum, had become a place of pilgrimage, and for centuries, the faithful had come to bear witness to such spectacles as the Hill of Heretics and the Plain of Purity. Marshal Gervhart and the Black Templars of the Athalor Crusade had come to Lastrati to take heart from the planet's potent displays of faith from the past, but were horrified by what they found. The Quintarchs of Lastrati had turned to barbaric blood rituals and human sacrifices in search of genetic perfection. At first the Space Marines were welcomed as examples of genetic supremacy, but the more the Black Templars saw, the more they realised that the rituals of the people of Lastrati had too much in common with the heretical cult worship of the Ruinous Powers. Marshal Gervhart ordered the planet cleansed of its degenerate inhabitants before continuing the Crusade. After four standard years of fighting, the warriors of Marshal Gervhart forced the remaining forces of Lastrati back into the Plain of Purity where they made their last stand before the Black Templars at the Hill of Heretics. The army was destroyed, the Black Templars showing no mercy and accepting no surrender. Those deemed free from taint were allowed to live -- an act of mercy that was to have a terrible repercussion for Marshal Gervhart in later years. The infamous Gervahrt Repeal of the 36th Millennium was the only time a High Marshal has repealed the promotion of a Marshal to that rank.Marshal Korneliusz - Korneliusz was a marshal of the Black Templars.Captain Malachi - Brother-Captain Malachi was the leader of a Black Templars squad seconded to the Adeptus Ministorum as a gesture of good will. They discovered Sister Ephrael Stern on the planet of Parnis. Unknown to several of his brethren, Malachi had been turned to the worship of Slaanesh by Cardinal Seraiah. Malachi met his end at the hands of Inquisitor Septimus Grinn, who was placed among his squad to look for corruption and heresy.Castellan Adlar - Castellan Adlar commanded Fighting Company Adlar of the Solemnus Crusade during the Third War for Armageddon. Fighting Company Adlar deployed to the surface of Armageddon to stall the Ork invaders and search for the Red Scar Ork Tribe that had destroyed the Solemnus Chapter Keep. Castellan Adlar fell during the assault on the Blood Scar Tribe's Gargant Factory, pinned by a crashed Ork Trukk, Brother Adlar used his Thunder Hammer to detonate the munitions stockpile of the Kannon emplacement where he was trapped and dying, taking every Ork in the vicinity with him.Castellan Draco - Draco first rose to prominence as part of Marshal Ludoldus' Sword Brethren during the bitter Vinculus Crusade in which he fought the Renegade Inquisitor Lord Vinculus. He was badly wounded after the battle and his body was reconstructed with bionics. He was awarded the rank of castellan and was given a relic suit of the Chapter's finest power armour for his valour. Draco's exploits were further recognised when he was presented with the former Inquisitor's blade as a mark of gratitude from the Ordo Hereticus. Unfortunately, Draco has since been declared Excommunicate Traitoris for deeds too horrible to recount.Castellan Dramos - Dramos was a Black Templars Castellan who aided in the defence of the Talledus System, with forces from the Chapter's Rutherian Crusade. During the Chaos invasion of the system, the Castellan's forces, alongside the Knights of House Mortan commanded by Sir Dirkwald, defended the world of Ghreddask against the forces of the Warpsmith Etrogar. The Warpsmith had attacked that Hive World using the parasitic Soul Harvester Scarax Krond, whose hab-block size tentacles burrowed themselves beneath Ghreddask's surface. This allowed the Soul Harvester to feed off the world and indefinitely create Daemon Engines as well as easily disgorge Etrogar's Iron Warriors forces. As long as it was operational, the Imperium would be unable to defeat the Warpsmith. As a result, Dramos ordered the invasion of the Scarax Krond. As his Templars and Mortan's Knights fought the Iron Warriors, the Castellan's Command Squad fought its way to the Soul Harvester's heart. There, in an act of self-sacrifice that would mark their names in the honour-scrolls of their Chapter, Dramos and his warriors detonated a cyclonic charge. Though the resulting explosion did not destroy the Scarax Krond outright, it heavily damaged the Soul Harvester and gave the surviving Imperial forces time to regroup.Castellan Gothchalcus - Gothchalcus was the commander of a fighting company in the Donian Crusade.Castellan Folkert - Folkert was a Castellan of the Nimbosa Crusade.Castellan Heinman - Heinman was the commander of a fighting company that participated in the Donian Crusade.Castellan Zvarin Roist - Zvarin Roist is the Castellan of the Elysium Crusade, which consists of Black Templars sent to aid the rebuilding of the decimated Celestial Lions on their homeworld of Elysium IX. However, following the creation of the Great Rift, Elysium became one of the many worlds of Elara's Veil that were threatened when it was invaded by the Chaos warhost known as the Exilarchy. The Great Rift's creation also stranded the Imperial forces located in the Veil, but this did not lead Roist and his Black Templars to break their oaths to the Celestial Lions. They continued to aid in the rebuilding of their brother Chapter and aided the Celestial Lions in defending Elara's Veil from the Chaos invaders.Castellan Lazarus Gotchalcus - Lazarus Gotchalcus led one of the Black Templar fighting companies in the Donian Crusade.Castellan Clermont - Clermont worked eagerly at the side of High Marshal Bohemond and took part in the invasion of Ullanor in the closing stages of the War of the Beast in the mid-32nd Millennium.Reclusiarch Merek Grimaldus, the Hero of Helsreach - Chaplain Grimaldus is a noted veteran of the Third War for Armageddon. During the Battle for Hive Helsreach, Grimaldus led the defence of the Temple of the Emperor Ascendant, which had stood since Armageddon's colonisation. The battle became so heated that the building itself collapsed around them. It was believed that all had perished in the building until Grimaldus, bloody but unbroken, climbed out of the rubble bearing three of the temple's artifacts -- a column from its Major Altar, the Banner of the Emperor Victorious, and holy water from the Stoup of Elucidation. Apothecaries who examined him later were amazed that Grimaldus had survived, much less found the strength to climb from the ruins. When the war ended, the citizens of Hive Helsreach honoured him with the title of "Hero of Helsreach." At some point after the birth of the Great Rift in the Era Indomitus, Grimaldus crossed the Rubicon Primaris to become a Primaris Space Marine.Reclusiarch Kul Gilad - Kul Gilad served as the Reclusiarch of the Black Templars in the late 41st Millennium.Deathwatch Chaplain Albanactus - Albanactus was a Black Templars Chaplain who joined the Deathwatch and now serves as the High Reclusiarch for Watch Fortress Furor Shield's Reclusiam.Chaplain Augustin - Augustin was attached to the Marshal's household during the Donian Crusade.Chaplain Haldredd - Haldredd took part in the Nightfire Crusade against the T'au Farsight Enclaves. During the campaign, he was overcome by the spirit of the Emperor and led a Reclusiam Command Squad known as the "High Hand of the Emperor" against the T'au. Following Haldredd's wise battle council and fervent prayers, the High Hand of the Emperor smashed through multiple lines of T'au Battlesuits and soon set the T'au to flight. In the bloody battles that followed, Haldredd and the High Hand of the Emperor guided the Black Templars to many great victories over the Farsight Enclaves.Chaplain Leuter - Leuter was attached to the Marshal's household during the Donian Crusade.Chaplain Mavros - Mavros is currently taking part in the Traxis Sector conflict. Later in that campaign, he formed a strike force from his Chapter in response to hearing that the Shrine World of Sacaellum had been invaded. Yet, Mavros did not intend to come to that beleagured world's defence. Instead, he sought to evacuate numerous relics that Sacaellum contained, chief among them the relics of the Imperial saint Camila. Camila had been responsible for first bringing the Traxis Sector into the Imperium millennia ago and to the Black Templars her relics were worth more than both the Shrine World and its population. However, Mavros' intention to evacuate the saint's relics brought him into conflict with a force from the Aeldari Craftworld Saim-Hann, led by Autarch Talyesin Fharenal, who for reasons unknown sought to claim Camila's relics for themselves.Chaplain Ferdinand - Ferdinand was part of Marshal Armante's Lastrati Crusade when it came to the aid of the Imperial world of Arthas, which had been invaded by the Chaos forces of Nurgle. Thanks to the crusade's efforts, the forces of the Death Guard Chaos Lord Malek Vos and the Nurglite Daemon Prince known as The Fly Lord were kept at bay, though the Black Templars suffered heavy causalities as a result. As the battle wore on, the crusade soon found itself fighting alone and was stricken a fatal blow when the Marshal was killed. With his death, all hope of saving Arthas was gone, though the remaining Black Templars refused to escape until they could reclaim Armante's body. With time running out, Ferdinand and the Emperor's Champion Horst led what remained of the crusade into battle with the Chaos forces, who were personally led by Malek Vos and The Fly Lord. Despite the Black Templars' efforts, they were destroyed before they could reach the Marshal's body. Ferdinand was slain by Plague Drones.Chaplain Ecastus - Ecastus was a Chaplain of the Black Templars.Chaplain Dreadnought Bachorath - Bachorath was a Chaplain Dreadnought during the War of the Beast and was later chosen to become the Imperial Fists' new High Chaplain, after its Successor Chapters decided to rebuild their destroyed progenitor Chapter. He would later take part in the Imperium's third invasion of The Beast's homeworld of Ullanor, but was killed by The Beast after the Imperial Fists stormed the Ork warlord's palace.Hierophant and Reclusiarch Theodorich - Theodorich fought on Barbarossa IV for control of the Chapter keep against the Orks.Chaplain Mordred - Mordred was the Reclusiarch of the Black Templars and the mentor of Grimaldus. Mordred fell in battle shortly before the onset of the Armageddon Crusade, his dying wish was to see Grimaldus as his successor as the Chapter's Reclusiarch. The "Hero of Helsreach" wields the relic Crozius Arcanum of Mordred and wears his silver skull-faced battle helm to this day.Deathwatch Chaplain Broec - Broec was a member of Imperial Fists' Captain Octavius' Deathwatch Kill-team during the mission on Herodian IV against the vile Tyranid menace. Broec died heroically, fighting alongside Librarian Shaidan of the Mantis Warriors while facing a Hive Tyrant, giving his comrades time to escape.Forge Master Jurisian - Forge Master of the High Marshal's flagship, Eternal Crusader, Jurisian served for 19 standard years before being assigned to the Helsreach Crusade during the Third War for Armageddon. During the first days of the siege he was sent to a defensive position in the Ash Wastes designated D-16 West that contained a sealed Adeptus Mechanicus installation. After long hours of work Jurisian discovered the installation was the home of the great Ordinatus Armageddon Oberon, also known as the Death of Titans, a relic of the First War for Armageddon. The Ordinatus was armed with a mighty Nova Cannon normally used in ship-to-ship combat. It took Jurisian most of the remaining two months of the Siege to unlock the resting place of Oberon, reactivate the machine and travel back to Helsreach. In the end, Jurisian's contribution to the fight for Helsreach was the destruction of the Ork Mega Gargant known as Godbreaker.Techmarine Artificer Simagus - Simagus is credited with the discovery of the Standard Template Construct (STC) database used to create the Land Raider Crusader during the Jerulas Crusade in 645.M39. By 763.M39, the Crusader Pattern was officially recognised by the Tech-priests of Mars.Emperor's Champion Bayard - Bayard served in the Helsreach Crusade during the Third War for Armageddon, fighting with honour and courage before being killed by an Ork spearthrust to the throat in the graveyards outside the Temple of the Emperor Ascendant on the last day of the battle for Hive Helsreach. His blade was taken up by the Emperor's Champion Priamus.Emperor's Champion Bethuel - Bethuel was an Emperor's Champion who led the force of Black Templars that purged Orbital Hive 72 in orbit of the world of Porphyr III. The Black Templars eliminated the Heretek forces of the Techno Magos Ark Hieron. Bethuel ordered his battle-brothers to evacuate the hive city while he faced Hieron in mortal combat even as Orbital Hive 72 began a fiery plunge into the atmosphere of Porphyr III.Emperor's Champion Alehart the Slayer - Alehart was the Emperor's Champion in 997.M41 during the Black Templars' battle with Hive Fleet Leviathan in the Shimmering City of Mirlas. In the second battle with the Tyranids, he turned the tide of the conflict when he slew the Hive Tyrant leading the swarm. Not content with defeating the Tyranids on the planet, Alehart led a small band of his battle-brothers in boarding a hive ship orbiting it. After hacking his way to the ship's core, Alehart drove his Black Sword into the pulsing cortex of the giant beast, causing its death scream to echo across the system.Emperor's Champion Tomas - Tomas was the Emperor's Champion of the Donian Crusade.Captain of the Banner and Emperor's Champion Navarre - The Wars of Apostasy, also known as the Terran Crusade, were a series of battles fought against the forces of the Renegade High Lord of Terra Goge Vandire during the Age of Apostasy's Reign of Blood in the fourth century of the 36th Millennium. During this tumultuous period, the Black Templars had concerned themselves little with the affairs of the Imperium, but when Black Templar Crusade Fleets returned to the Segmentum Solar and discovered that their Chapter keeps had been destroyed by orbital bombardments, the full extent of Vandire's treachery became apparent. Enraged by what they discovered of Vandire's perversion of the Emperor's will, in 378.M36 the Black Templars Chapter's High Marshal Sigenandus declared an Imperial Crusade against Vandire on Terra. The Black Templars, together with their progenitors the Imperial Fists, the Soul Drinkers, the zealous Fire Hawks and elements of the Martian Tech-Guard, took the fight to Terra itself and laid siege to Vandire's Ecclesiarchal Palace. For months the armies of the Imperial Preacher Sebastian Thor, the Space Marines and their allies laid siege to the Ecclesiarchal Palace without managing to breach its formidable defences. Eventually, the Emperor's Champion Navarre of the Black Templars led a daring last ditch assault. At the height of the fighting, the Chapter Banner Bearer fell, and all eyes watched as the Black Templars Chapter Standard began to slowly sink to the ground, but Navarre swept the banner up and carried it through the breach in the palace's walls, inspiring his brothers to fight all the harder. After the battle, Chapter Master Lazerian of the Imperial Fists honoured Navarre with the title of Captain of the Banner in recognition of his exemplary bravery and courage.Emperor's Champion Torund the Thrice-Blessed - Torund the Thrice-Blessed was a Black Templars Emperor's Champion in 772.M39. When the cursed Sorcerer-Librarian Xenthuros claimed the Crystal Hives of Vard for his profane god Tzeentch, it was Torund that stood against him and prevailed. In the final Black Templars assault against Xenthuros' floating spire fortress, dozens of battle-brothers were driven mad by the mirrored buttresses and their hidden whisper-spells. Only Torund was untouched. Three times Xenthuros tried to ensorcell the Emperor’s Champion, and three times Torund spat back the enchantments with contempt. In the crystal throne room of the Sorcerer, Torund swept Xenthuros' bird-like head from his shoulders, the Black Sword cleaving through wards and Warp magic alike.Emperor's Champion Ansgar - Ansgar was an Emperor's Champion of the Solemnus Crusade in 999.M41. Despite wounding his opponent, he was ultimately defeated by the Ork Warboss Morkrull Grimskar, who captured Ansgar and used his wargear to turn himself into a Cybork.Emperor's Champion Rynart the Unbowed - Rynart the Unbowed was a Black Templars Emperor's Champion in 563.M38. On the storm-wracked world of Ismas, Rynart led the charge against the cursed Ork hordes of Warboss Slagrut. Astride his clanking, smoking war machine, the Ork leader assaulted the Imperial lines across the great Ismas Steam Bridge linking the vast central canal-cities together. Rynart walked across a river of xenos corpses to smite the alien warlord, his Black Sword smashing apart the pistons and gears of its war engine. In the end, only a blow against the bridge itself proved enough and, rupturing the compression spire, Rynart sent the Ork warlord and his horde screaming into the black waters below.Emperor's Champion Garrein (KIA) - Garrein was the Emperor's Champion of Marshal Marius Amalrich's Cruxis Crusade when it came to the defence of Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade. When the battle for the Fortress World was lost, the Cruxis Crusade was evacuated to Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl's Ark Mechanicus, the Iron Revenant, before Cadia was destroyed on the orders of Abaddon the Despoiler. Before they could escape the Cadian System, they were pursued by Abaddon's fleet. Guided by the Living Saint Celestine, they sought refuge on the frozen moon of Klaisus. However, they were later pursued by Abaddon once again and, in order for the majority of the Imperial survivors to escape, Marshal Amalrich asked for half of his remaining crusade to volunteer to slow the Black Legion's pursuit. Garrein took command of this force and they stopped Abaddon's pursuit for several solar hours before they were eventually killed by the Black Legion. This proved to be enough time for the surviving Imperial forces to be found and rescued by the Ynnari.Emperor's Champion Horst - Horst was the Emperor's Champion of the Lastrati Crusade when it came to the aid of the Imperial world of Arthas after it was invaded by the Chaos forces of Nurgle. Led by Marshal Armante, the crusade kept the forces of the Death Guard Chaos Lord Malek Vos and the Nurglite Daemon Prince The Fly Lord at bay, though the Black Templars suffered heavy causalities as a result. As the battle wore on, the crusade found itself fighting alone and was stricken a fatal blow, when the Marshal himself was killed. With his death, all hope of saving Arthas was gone, though the remaining Black Templars refused to escape until they could reclaim Armante's body. Led by the Emperor's Champion Horst and the Chaplain Ferdinand, the crusade fought ferociously to reach the Marshal's body, but were destroyed by the Chaos forces that stood in their way, who were personally commanded by Malek Vos and The Fly Lord.Deathwatch Battle-Brother Richter - Richter is an old, battle-scarred Veteran Space Marine of the Black Templars who joined the ranks of the Deathwatch, the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Xenos. Though he appears taciturn and unremarkable, his expertise with both Bolter and Chainsword mark him as a past master in the deadly arts. For those with a practised eye, he is clearly Sword Brethren material even though he wears no honours on his armour and seeks no recognition of his prowess. Richter is obviously vexed by some sort of spiritual turmoil, as his hard set jaw and distant gaze tell of a soul deeply troubled by some past event.Jarold (Dreadnought) - Brother Jarold was a Veteran warrior of the Solemnus Crusade, stationed at the Solemnus Chapter Keep and assigned to search out potential Neophytes for the Chapter. Jarold was nearing the end of his tour of duty at the keep when it was attacked by Ork invaders. Jarold was the sole survivor, though his body was cut in two by an Ork Power Klaw after he had slain scores of the creatures, his barely living remains located by Apothecary Colber atop a veritable mound of greenskin corpses. After his internment within a Dreadnought, Jarold participated in the Armageddon Crusade as part of Fighting Company Adlar. After the loss of Emperor's Champion Ansgar he commanded the strike force designated "Ansgar's Avengers," which was tasked with locating and recovering the Champion and his armaments.Gerlach - Gerlach participated in the Donorian Crusade and was known to believe that xenos should be destroyed by the sword, but Heretics with both the sword and faith in the God-Emperor.Paresh Rammius (Dreadnought) - Rammius was a distinguished Sword Brethren of the Black Templars and a close friend of High Marshal Helbrecht. During the Third War for Armageddon, Rammius was badly wounded by an immense Ork Mek. Mortally wounded, he begged to be allowed to continue to serve the Emperor and his body was interred within the cybernetic sarcophagus of a Dreadnought.Invictus Potens (Dreadnought) - The Dreadnought Invictus Potens was originally known as Adelard.Siggard (Dreadnought) - Siggard is a Dreadnought in the Black Templars Chapter's 5th Company. He led his battle-brothers into battle against the Orks, across the Ash Wastes of Armageddon, during the Third War for Armageddon.Tankred (Dreadnought) - Sword Brother Gerhart was born Raclaw, a member of the Drumkil tribe on the primitive Black Templars recruiting world of Kilhaven. The young barbarian was taken by the Black Templars and selected for initiation into the Chapter under the tutelage of Brother Gerhart Brunner, in whose honour he was later named Gerhart. At a later time, after being badly wounded, he was transformed into the Dreadnought known as Tankred.Banner Bearer Eckehart - Eckehart was a Banner Bearer who was attached to the Marshal's household during the Donian Crusade.Sergeant Hermann - Hermann fought on Barbarossa IV for control of the Chapter keep against the Orks.Geraud - Brother Geraud sits upon the Imperial war council overseeing the defence of the Talledus System from the forces of Chaos during the Talledus War.Emmerich Berengard - Berengard was a Black Templar Space Marine during the War of the Beast and was later chosen to become the Imperial Fists' new first captain, after its Successor Chapters decided to rebuild their destroyed progenitor Chapter. He would later take part in the Imperium's third invasion of The Beast's homeworld of Ullanor.Baldarich - Baldarich was a member of the Black Templars and later the Deathwatch during the War of the Beast in the mid-32nd Millennium. He took part in the search for an Ork psyker on Plaeos and later served during the second invasion of Ullanor.Expectanten Bremen - Bremen was a mortal Expectanten who sought to volunteer to undergo the trials to become a Black Templar. After the reconquest of Barbarossa IV's Chapter keep he rose to Initiate rank.Initiate Frederick - Frederick fought on Barbarossa IV for control of the Chapter keep against the Orks.Neophyte Utrecht - Utrecht fought on Barbarossa IV for control of the Chapter keep against the Orks.Helbrant Alderic - Helbrant Alderic was a member of the Black Templars who became the captain of the Imperial Fists 8th Company after the destroyed Chapter was rebuilt during the War of the Beast. He would shape the 8th Company in his image, as its tactics would reflect the hot-blooded nature of the Black Templars he had once belonged to and focussed on headlong assaults. The company would readily embrace these tactics, as it contained many of Alderic's battle-brothers from his former Chapter. The Imperial Fists' newly elected Chapter Master, Maximus Thane, would have rectified this, though, had the restored Chapter not been scattered to confront the Imperial rebellions that began after the Grand Master of Assassins Drakan Vangorich's death. However it was during these conflicts that the 8th Company was truly reborn to war. Under Alderic's command, the 8th Company fought across the Segmentum Obscurus and was given numerous battle honours for their efforts. Many of these were earned in campaigns under the notional command of Wolf Lord Harald Firetooth, whose Fenrisian bravado only encouraged Alderic's aggressive approach to battle. By the time the 8th Company returned to the Phalanx, they were all but unrecognisable as Imperial Fists to their other battle-brothers. This led the company to be censured by Chapter Master Thane, who then split the 8th apart, sending its Astartes to other companies while he demoted Alderic from the rank of captain. However, Thane later noticed that the 8th Company's former members did not carry Alderic's impetuous ardor with them, and instead displayed discipline that put even the most stoic Imperial Fist to shame. It seemed as if by allowing their aggression to run unfettered during their battles in the Segmentum Obscurus, the former members of the 8th had purged that part of themselves, and emerged all the stronger for it. This led Thane to restore Alderic's captaincy and keep the battle tactics he had implemented within the 8th Company. The Chapter Master also changed the Imperial Fists' logistics so that members of the 10th Company would always ascend to the 8th, in order to excise their youthful wildness. For the impact he and Harald Firetooth both had on the 8th Company, they have been immortalised on many of the 8th's Company Banners with a golden figure bearing Alderic's original cruciform-hilted sword, portrayed alongside the Wolf Lord's personal sigil. |
Black Templars - Chapter Relics: The holds of the Black Templars' crusade fleets are filled with innumerable prized relics and holy artefacts. Saved from destruction, they are preserved by a multitude of Chapter serfs, who meticulously maintain these sacred heirlooms in preparation for the day when they are ready to be carried to war in the Emperor's name.Ancient Breviary - This humble prayer book once belonged to the first High Chaplain of the Black Templars. It contains his teachings on the divine, and his successors recite from its pages on the eve of battle. Every utterance from this tome carries immense weight for the battle-brothers of the Chapter.Armour of Faith - Armour of Faith is the traditional name given to the suit of Artificer Armour gifted to an Emperor's Champion. Chosen from the finest Artificer Armour available to the Chapter and then inscribed with sacred wards and catechisms of hatred, the armour offers greater protection than any ordinary suit of Power Armour could, allowing the Emperor's Champion to complete his holy duty. In addition, such is the protection of its wards that some blows and rounds are simply turned aside or flash to nothing in a blaze of divine power.Armour of the Remorseless Crusader - This suit of Artificer Armour is one of a trinity crafted by the Artificers of the Black Templars. Each suit is gilded with detestations of the Warp and said to have the blood of Saints layered into the thousand-folded Adamantite of its construction. The Armour of the Pitiless Crusader and the Fearless Crusader remain with the Chapter, but one suit, the Armour of the Remorseless Crusader, was tithed to the Deathwatch.Aurillian Shroud - Recovered from the Shrine World of Aurilla after the opening of the Great Rift, this relic of devotion was once blessed by the holy form of Saint Agatine. Wreathed in an aura of coruscating light, the shroud is said to bring divine protection to all those who bask in its brilliance.Black Sword of Sigismund - The Legendary Black Sword wielded by First Captain Sigismund, the first High Marshal of the Black Templars, is kept in a place of honour in the most sacred chapel of the Black Templars Chapter.Black Sword - Paired with the Armour of Faith, the traditional weapon of the Emperor's Champion is the Black Sword, a massive two-handed Power Sword. Blessed by the Chapter Chaplains, it becomes a deadly weapon in the hands of the chosen of the Black Templars. Such is the skill with which this weapon has been crafted that the Emperor's Champion can either wield it two-handed or one-handed as a normal Astartes Power Sword.Chain of Zeal - Most Black Templars use Devotion Chains to bind their weapons to their fists on the eve of battle, removing them only once victory is achieved. The Chain of Zeal, however, is no such fleeting token. It is secured to weapon and armour with a permanent weld that lasts as long as the Space Marine lives. Furthermore, because taking off a gauntlet with the chain still attached is a shameful act that entails great dishonour, the wearer of the Chain of Zeal must keep his armoured glove donned and weapon in hand every minute for the rest of his days.Cenobyte Servitor - The Cenobyte servitors assist the Chaplains of the Black Templars in their holy duties. Marching in the shadow of a Chaplain, they are used for carrying relics into battle, intoning prayers of worship to the Emperor, and bolstering the faith of nearby battle-brothers. They often carry equipment, repair technology, and operate basic interfaces on Black Templars vessels and vehicles. They are considered a symbol of the Chapter's faith, as a Black Templars battle-brother can gain the service of such a servitor as a symbol of status and trust from his peers. It is known that the neophytes of the Black Templars who fail in their duty are often punished by being transformed into Cenobyte Servitors.Crusader's Helm - This imposing helm has been passed down to champions of the Black Templars for many centuries. Worked into its ancient vox-piece is the jawbone of Saint Sebatus the Ancient, a sanctified Imperial relic that emboldens the voice of the wearer so that his oratory soars above the clash of battle. The hearts of nearby battle-brothers are filled with zealous fire, and none can stand before their fury.Skull of the Cacodominus - A trophy taken from the period of time known only as "the Howling," the skull of this wretched xenos creature still echoes with its monstrous, psychic death screams, which can cause immense agony to any psykers within its range.Sword of Dorn - The blade was carried by Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the Imperial Fists Legion, and was shattered when Dorn broke it over his knee after returning from Horus' flagship Vengeful Spirit with the broken body of the Emperor at the end of the Siege of Terra. Dorn vowed never to wield the blade again as a penance for his failure to protect the Emperor. The Imperial Fists Legion's First Captain Sigismund kept the shattered blade and had part of it forged into the weapon known as the Sword of the High Marshals that is a relic of the Black Templars Chapter, as a reminder of the duty and sacrifice expected of the Sons of Dorn. The broken blade resides in the halls of the Eternal Crusader, the Battle Barge and flagship of the greatest of the Black Templar Crusade Fleets.Sword of the High Marshals - As a sign of his office, the current High Marshal wields the potent Chapter relic known as the Sword of the High Marshals, which was forged from the remnants of the sword of the Primarch Rogal Dorn of the Imperial Fists Legion from which the Black Templars were spawned. According to legend, Dorn broke the sword across his knee after the Horus Heresy for failing to defend the Emperor of Mankind from Horus, never wielding it again. It was decreed by the Black Templar's founder, Sigismund, that the weapon carried by all High Marshals would forever remind them of their duty to atone for their Primarch's failure by incorporating the pieces of Dorn's sword in its forging.Sword of Judgement - The characteristic sigil of the Emperor's Aquila adorns the cross guard of this revered relic Power Sword, its keen edge having served many a Black Templar well over the millennia.Witchbane - Black Templars Brother-Sergeant Navrell bore the chainsword Witchbane into battle against Aeldari pirates on the world of Scoth in the Ixaniad Sector. What started as a small skirmish escalated when a Webway portal opened on a ridge above the fighting. Through it stepped a black-robed Farseer, and behind him, a stream of Eldar reinforcements. Navrell led three squads to eliminate the new threat. Crackling balefire and slicing shurikens decimated his men, but Navrell fought through to cut down the Farseer. The portal snapped shut, and Navrell's Chainsword slew many more Eldar that day. It was this deed that led to Navrell's secondment to the Deathwatch, bringing his weapon, now named Witchbane, with him.Witchseeker Bolts - With the metal casings forged from the blades of fallen battle-brothers and blessed by the devout priests of the Adeptus Ministorum, these bolt rounds have an unerring talent for finding their way to the heart of the witch. |
Black Templars - Chapter Fleet: The Black Templars have no Chapter homeworld, and instead opt to live within their large crusade fleets of strike cruisers, battle barges and escorts. They are ever-vigilant, and are always ready for battle which is why they have chosen to remain a highly mobile, fleet-based Chapter.This way of life also honours their original Founding Legion, the Imperial Fists, who were a mobile Chapter based upon the great mobile star fortress known as Phalanx.The Black Templars do establish and garrison Chapter keeps on every world they conquer or reclaim, which provide a training base for new recruits for the Chapter and to act as staging points for further crusade fleets.Each crusade fleet is usually led by a Black Templars officer with the rank of Castellan and is charged with carrying out a specific objective. Until that objective is achieved, the crusade fleet will not join up with its brethren and its Astartes will not rest.The Black Templars Chapter fleet is known to contain the following starships:Eternal Crusader (Gloriana-class Battleship) - The Eternal Crusader is the personal flagship of High Marshal Helbrecht and serves essentially as the Chapter's mobile fortress-monastery, home to the Black Templar's Reclusiam, primary Armouries and the vaults containing all of the Chapter's relics and precious artefacts.Abhorrence (Battle Barge) - Abhorrence was a Battle Barge of the Black Templars active during the 32nd Millennium. The vessel served as the flagship for High Marshal Bohemond and the Imperial Fists Successor Chapters during the War of the Beast as the Eternal Crusader was in a state of refit and repairs.Divine Fury (Battle Barge) - The Divine Fury served in the Armageddon Crusade and was the flagship of the Solemnus Crusade.Revenant (Battle Barge) - The Revenant was the operational flagship for the Stygia XII operation.Hammer of War (Battle Barge) - The Hammer of War served in the Solemnus Crusade; this Battle Barge was lost to the Warp with all hands.Light of Purity (Battle Barge) - Flagship of High Marshal Helbrecht during the Third War for Armageddon.Night's Vigil (Battle Barge) - Part of the Eternal Crusader's escort fleet during Third War for Armageddon.Sigismund (Battle Barge) - The Sigismund took its name from Sigismund, the former First Captain of the Imperial Fists and first High Marshal of the Black Templars.Sigismund's Fury (Battle Barge) - Sigismund's Fury participated in the Third War for Armageddon.Sigismund's Light (Battle Barge) - Sigismund's Light served in the Donian Crusade.Sigismund's Oath (Battle Barge) - Sigismund's Oath participated in the Third War for Armageddon.Apocalypton (Strike Cruiser) - The Apocalypton joined the Donian Crusade after it began.Blade of the Seventh Son (Strike Cruiser) - The Blade of the Seventh Son participated in the Third War for Armageddon. After the Second Battle of the Mannheim Gap, the Blade of the Seventh Son carried Ekene Dubaku, the new Chapter Master of the Celestial Lions, and his few remaining brothers back to their homeworld of Elysium IX to begin to rebuild their depleted Chapter. The vessel served with the Celestial Lions for over a Terran century, eventually becoming its flagship. During the chase of the Exilarchy Cruiser Venatrix Candidus the Blade of the Seventh Son was used to ram the heretical ship.Crusader's Sword (Strike Cruiser) - The Crusader's Sword served in the Solemnus Crusade, this Strike Cruiser was destroyed in a Necron ambush.Dorn's Sword (Strike Cruiser) - The Dorn's Sword served during the Donian Crusade.Dorn's Wrath (Strike Cruiser)Excellent (Strike Cruiser) - The Excellent served as main vessel of the Michaelus Crusade, which fought on Kalidar and Geratomro.Holy Crusade (Strike Cruiser) - The Holy Crusade served during the Third War for Armageddon.Holy Hand of Antioch (Strike Cruiser) - The Holy Hand of Antioch served in the Gothic War.Majesty (Strike Cruiser) - The Majesty was a part of the Escort fleet of the Eternal Crusader during the Third War for Armageddon.No Pity (Strike Cruiser) - The No Pity served as part of the Solemnus Crusade fleet during the Third War for Armageddon.Ophidium Gulf (Strike Cruiser) - The Ophidium Gulf is presumed lost with all hands in the wake of the campaign against the mysterious "Voice of the Emperor" during the 13th Black Crusade.Sigismund's Wrath (Strike Cruiser) - The Sigismund's Wrath served as part of the Solemnus Crusade fleet during the Third War for Armageddon.Vengeance is Mine (Strike Cruiser) - The Vengeance is Mine served in the Solemnus Crusade, this Strike Cruiser was destroyed in a Necron ambush.Vigilant Might (Strike Cruiser) - The Vigilant Might participated in the Vengeris Crusade.Goliath (Forge Ship) - The Goliath was the Forge Ship that served with the Solemnus Crusade during the Third War for Armageddon.Heracles (Forge Ship) - The Heracles served with the Donian Crusade fleet.Adytum (Rapid Strike Vessel) - The Adytum is an Rapid Strike Vessel sent by High Marshal Helbrecht to join Magos Lexell Kotov's Explorator Fleet for their voyage into the Halo Scar.Sanctum Imperator (Unknown Class) - The Sanctum Imperator was a Black Templar warship of unknown class that was reported as lost to the Warp in the 39th Millennium. It was launched by the Missionarius Galaxia but never reached its destination in the Cexis VII System.Obsidian Sky (Unknown Class) - During the War of the Beast in the mid-32nd Millenium, the Orks boarded the warship Obsidian Sky in great numbers while Marshall Magneric defended its bridge, sending many to their deaths before he ordered the ship to ram a nearby Ork carrier. |
Black Templars - Chapter Appearance: The Black Templars are noted to wrap chains or bindings around their arms to represent the fact that they will not give up their weapons until the battle is done. |
Black Templars - Chapter Colours: The power armour of a Black Templar is predominantly black and white. The actual application of the colour scheme varies from Astartes to Astartes, and individual Black Templars usually decorate their armour with devotional imagery, litanies, and Purity (and Crusader) Seals.The black colour is a sign that like Sigismund and the black-armoured Chaplains of other Chapters, the Black Templars serve the Emperor directly and with deep faith.Squad specialty symbols are not indicated. Instead, the Astartes' tactical role -- battleline, fire support, Veteran or close support -- is displayed by the colour of the pauldron trim.The Chapter icon is proudly worn on both shoulder guards. Squad number is stencilled as a white Low Gothic numeral upon the right knee plate. Unique seals often worn on the left greave show which Crusade the battle-brother belongs to.Black Templars Techmarines and tank crews have a predominantly red colour scheme for their armour (the colour favoured by the servants of the Machine God); however, they still display their Chapter colours so as to not anger the Machine Spirits of their tanks and armour. |
Black Templars - Chapter Badge: The Black Templars' Chapter badge is a black Maltese Cross on a field of white. The shoulder plates of Black Templar Power Armour depict the Chapter badge, with colour dependent on their rank and role within the Chapter.The Cross depicted on the shoulder plates of the Black Templars mirrors the emblem of the Knights Hospitaller of the ancient Christian Crusades during the early 2nd Millennium. |
Black Templars - Disputed Size of Black Templars Chapter: The Black Templars were stated to be 5,000-6,000 strong in the comprehensive 4th Edition Codex: Black Templars.However in the 2014 novel Eternal Crusader, they were stated to be Codex-compliant, with only 1,000 battle-brothers. Author Guy Haley went on to state on his blog that the Black Templars' numbers are variable depending on the era of the setting and the requirements of a given story.In the 8th Edition campaign supplement Psychic Awakening - Faith and Fury it is restated that the Black Templars do not adhere to the Codex Astartes and are larger than a standard Chapter. Each of their crusades is stated to be thousands strong, with the number now left far more ambiguous. |
Black Templars - Trivia: The "character" of the Black Templars is drawn from the high medieval Christian Crusades of the 11th to 13th Centuries AD, and the history concerning the military orders of the Roman Catholic Church at that time, including the Order of the Knights Templar, the Order of the Knights Hospitaller and the Teutonic Order.One of their special weapons, the Holy Orb of Antioch, is a reference to Monty Python's Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, which itself is a reference to items discovered by the real Crusaders at Antioch (such as the "Holy Spear of Antioch"). |
Black Templars - Sources: Adeptus Astartes: Successor Chapters (Limited Release Booklet), pg. 18Heroes of the Space Marines (Anthology), "And They Shall No Know Fear..." (Short Story) by Darren CoxBlack Legion (Novel) by Aaron Demski-BowdenBlood and Fire (Novella) by Aaron Demski-Bowden, Epilogue, pg. 56Blood and Thunder (Graphic Novel) by Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton, illustrated by Lui Antonia, coloured by J.M. Ringuet, and lettered by Ed DukeshireCodex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines (8th Edition), pp. 42-45, 107Codex: Black Templars (4th Edition), pp. 2-19, 43-44, 65Codex: Imperial Knights (8th Edition), pg. 66, "Knights Preceptor: Las-impulsors"Codex: Necrons (5th Edition), pp. 26–27Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition), pg. 8Codex: Space Marines (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 45, 47, 50-53, 77-78, 100-102, 116-119, 152-153, 168Codex: Space Marines (8th Edition) (Revised Codex), pg. 34Codex: Space Marines (9th Edition), pg. 68Codex Heretic Astartes - Chaos Space Marines (8th Edition), "The Annals of Darkness - The Counter-Crusade", pg. 40Codex Supplement: Angels of Death (7th Edition), pg. 30Codex Supplement: Imperial Fists (8th Edition), pp. 19, 32Codex Supplement: Black Templars (9th Edition), pg. 68Damnation Crusade (Graphic Novel) by Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton, illustrated by Lui Antonia, coloured by J.M. Ringuet, and lettered by Ed DukeshireDaemonifuge Book II: The Lord of Damnation (Graphic Novel) by Jim Campbell, illustrated by Kev WalkerDataslate: Reclusiam Command Squad (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), "Notable Reclusiam Command Squad"Deathwatch: Core Rulebook (RPG), pp. 38–39, 167Deathwatch: First Founding (RPG), pg. 107Deathwatch: Honour the Chapter (RPG), pp. 9-11, 14Deathwatch: Rites of Battle (RPG), pp. 156, 234Deathwatch: Legends of the Dark Millennium (Novel) by Ian St. Martin, Ch. 5Gathering Storm - Part One - Fall of Cadia (7th Edition), pp. 6-88, 96Gathering Storm - Part Three - Rise of the Primarch (7th Edition), pp. 4-70Imperial Armour - Apocalypse II, pg. 35Index Astartes: Emperor's Champion (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), pg. 8, "Heroes Inscribed"Index Astartes: Stalkers and Hunters (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), "Renowned Stalkers", "Renowned Hunters - Javelin of Faith"Index: Imperium I (8th Edition), "Black Templars"Psychic Awakening: Faith and Fury (8th Edition), pp. 16-17, 42, 52, 55Exterminatus (Graphic Novel Series)Helsreach (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-BowdenHeroes of the Space Marines (Anthology), "And They Shall Know No Fear..." by Darren CoxHow To Paint Space MarinesImperial Armour Volume Two, Second Edition - War Machines of the Adeptus Astartes, pp. 17, 80Index Astartes II, "Righteous Zeal - Black Templars Space Marine Chapter" by Graham McNeill, pp. 44-55Legends of the Space Marines (Anthology), "The Relic" by Jonathan GreenPriests of Mars (Novel) by Graham McNeill, Ch. 1, pg. 6, "Microcontent 02"Shadowsword (Novel) by Guy Haley, pg. 217Space Hulk: Deathwing (PC Game)Spear of the Emperor (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Chs. 17, 22The Sabbat Worlds Crusade (Background Book) (2005) by Dan AbnettThe Eternal Crusader (Novella) by Guy HaleyThroneworld (Novel) by Guy Haley, Ch. 5Warhammer 40,000: Dataslate - Adeptus Astartes Storm Wing (Digital Edition)Warhammer 40,000: Dataslate - Reclusiam Command Squad (Digital Edition), pg. 12Warhammer 40,000: Planetstrike (5th Edition)Warhammer 40,000: Rulebook (8th Edition), pg. 50, "Dark Imperium"Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse (6th Edition), pg. 267Warhammer 40,000: Conquest (Board Game), "Wrath of the Crusaders - Chaplain Mavros," "The Final Gambit"Warrior Brood (Novel) by C.S. GotoWhite Dwarf 250 (AUS), "Index Astartes – Black Templars"White Dwarf 251 (US), "The Battle for Techuan's Key - Battle Report", pp. 101–118White Dwarf 269 (US), "Showcase - Matt Hutson's Black Templars Army"White Dwarf 277 (UK), "Fists of the Emperor," pg. 37White Dwarf 310 (US), "Chosen of the Emperor," pg. 68White Dwarf 311 (AUS), "Index Astartes – Black Templars"White Dwarf 312 (UK), "Righteous Victories" by Graham McNeillWhite Dwarf 314 (UK), "Marshals of the Black Templars," pp. 96, 98, 100, 102White Dwarf 323 (UK), "Warhammer 40,000: Iron Will, Iron Blood," pp. 42-51White Dwarf 324 (AUS), "The Black Templars - The Vengeris Crusade"White Dwarf 405 (UK) (Digital Edition), "Battle Report: And They Shall Know No Fear..."White Dwarf (January 2017), "Battle Report: The Emperor Protects"Butcher's Nails (Audiobook) by Aaron Dembski-BowdenWords of Blood (Anthology) edited by Marc Gascoigne and Christian Dunn, "Words of Blood" (Short Story) by Ben CounterEchoes of the Long War (Novel) by David Guymer, Chs. 7-8Predator, Prey - The Beast Arises, Book 2 (Novel) by Rob Sanders, Ch. 19The Glorious Tomb (Audio Book) by Guy HaleyThe Emperor Expects - The Beast Arises, Book 3 (Novel) by Gav ThorpeThroneworld - The Beast Arises, Book 5 (Novel) by Guy Haley, Chs. 5, 17The Beast Must Die - The Beast Arises, Book 8 (Novel) by Gav Thorpe, Ch. 18The Last Son of Dorn - The Beast Arises, Book 10 (Novel) by David Guymer, Ch. 1Shadow of Ullanor - The Beast Arises, Book 11 (Novel) by Rob Sanders, Chs. 3,8,10Guy Haley's BlogWarhammer Community - Psychic AwakeningThird War for Armageddon Worldwide Campaign - Forces Disposition, Imperial Forces: Black TemplarsArchived Games Workshop Site - Space Marines - Black TemplarsArchived Games Workshop Site - Rites of Initiation - From Imperial Citizen to Black Templar CrusaderWarhammer Community - Helbrecht Returns: The High Marshal Who Leads His Crusades from the FrontGrimaldus, the Relic-Saving and Ork-Smashing High Chaplain of the Black Templars, Is Back |
Black Templars Crusade Fleet - Black Templars Crusade Fleet: The Black Templars Space Marine Chapter has no single Chapter homeworld. Instead, they live in their crusade fleets, upon many Battle Barges, Strike Cruisers, training vessels, and gigantic forgeships. The Black Templars establish Chapter keeps on every world they conquer or reclaim for the Emperor.The main purpose of the Chapter keeps is to recruit new Space Marines from the population, and to act as staging posts for mustering the crusades. These Chapter keeps are sizeable, with chambers to accommodate two to three fighting companies of Space Marines, but are far smaller than the fortress-monasteries of other Chapters.However, there have been hundreds of Chapter keeps established over the millennia, some of which are still standing, others which have fallen into ruin and disrepair and are no longer manned. The High Marshal himself has his own Battle Barge, the Eternal Crusader, and he can travel from crusade to crusade lending his military genius and spiritual guidance to those under his command.The Eternal Crusader is gigantic, even for a Battle Barge, having been expanded and refitted over ten thousand standard years with extra docking facilities for Escort ships, additional launch bays for shuttles and Thunderhawk gunships, as well as accommodation for twice as many Space Marines than a normal Battle Barge.This nomadic way of life also honours the Black Templars' original Founding Legion, the Imperial Fists, who were also a fleet-based Chapter, based upon the great mobile star fortress known as Phalanx. Each Crusade fleet is usually led by a Black Templars officer with the rank of Castellan or Marshal and is charged with carrying out a specific objective. Until that objective is achieved, the Crusade fleet will not join up with its brethren and its Astartes will not rest. |
Black Templars Crusade Fleet - History: After the great Horus Heresy, Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the Imperial Fists, resisted the breaking up of the Legions into smaller Chapters. It was only when the Imperial Fists were nearly branded Heretics that Dorn relented, allowing his beloved Legion to be subdivided into Chapters. One of the new Chapters born of this time was the Black Templars.To prove his loyalty to the Emperor, the first Chapter Master of the Black Templars -- the High Marshal Sigismund -- assembled a massive war fleet and began the greatest Space Marine crusade in the history of the Imperium. It has lasted for 10,000 years.Eschewing the establishment of a homeworld, the Black Templars took to the stars in a mighty war fleet. Rather than constructing a single Chapter fortress-monastery as most Space Marine Chapters do, the Black Templars determined to establish a chapter keep upon each world they conquered, to keep watch for treachery, to stage future crusades, and to recruit new Battle-Brothers.The ten-millennia-long crusade of the Black Templars has seen its warriors embroiled in some of the most momentous conflicts ever to engulf the Imperium. The High Marshals have followed the example of their founder and taken the fight to the realms of the alien, the Heretic, and the witch. The Black Templars are crusaders, holy warriors battling to bring the truth and light of the Emperor to the unconquered worlds of the galaxy.With bolt shell and chainsword, the Black Templars convert the benighted to the light of the Master of Mankind and destroy those who refuse to welcome His truth. Each crusade is directed by the will of the Marshal in command, and each is despatched by the decree of the High Marshal of the Black Templars to fulfil their prime mission to cleanse the stars. |
Black Templars Crusade Fleet - Black Templars Crusade Organisation: The Black Templars are a fleet-based Chapter, their companies scattered across the galaxy into numerous crusades. Each crusade is led by a Marshal, while a single High Marshal is responsible for the progress of all the current crusades.Below is the order of battle of the Arkron Crusade, launched into the Ghoul Stars during the closing years of the 38th Millennium. A typical Crusade, it numbered hundreds of Battle-Brothers, war machines and support elements, allowing it to campaign far beyond the Imperium's borders:Marshal's HouseholdMarshal Palin HarrosEmperor's ChampionChaplainsCrusade Banner BearerHousehold Banner BearerTechmarinesServitorsApothecariesSword BrethrenTerminatorsDreadnoughtsLand RaidersRhinosPredator AnnihilatorsPredator DestructorsHuntersStalkersWhirlwindsStormravensStormtalonsFighting Company Edessor, "The First Sons"Commanded by: Castellan EdessorBanner BearerTechmarinesApothecariesInitiatesNeophytesDreadnoughtsLand RaidersPredator DestructorsRazorbacksRhinosFighting Company Antora, "The Righteous Fist"Commanded by: Castellan AntoraBanner BearerTechmarinesApothecariesInitiatesNeophytesTerminatorsLand RaidersCenturion WarsuitsFighting Company Stenheir, "The Scythes of Retribution"Commanded by: Castellan StenheirBanner BearerTechmarinesApothecariesInitiatesNeophytesBikesScout BikesAttack BikesLand SpeedersJump PacksFighting Company Chalica, "The Hammer of Heldenhorst"Commanded by: Castellan ChalicaBanner BearerTechmarinesApoothecariesInitiatesNeophytesVindicatorsLand RaidersPredator DestructorsPredator AnnihilatorsRhinos |
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