#there are no seas on Terra by the time of the Age of Strife | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

fvaleraye · 4 years ago

Text

Political Correspondence

Oh hey would you look at that, I made another chapter Amazing what a few kind words will do... I see y’all ;w;

Anyway, this one is... a little different? It’s mainly worldbuilding, and a peek at the goings on of the political shit of the Council that runs the world, or, more specifically, their more... uncooperative members, and it’s not very long. I may do a follow up that’s just the council members who don’t get along messaging each other ASDLFKJN

I hope y’all enjoy reading ^^

The lands of Magna Terra have been dominated by the Ten Great Cities for generations. Though still a relatively young civilization, all things considered, it has manage to stand tall despite much strife. Or, at least, that's what they say. The Council, the leading body of the government, are believed to be a unified and benevolent group, unshakeable in their will to lead Magna Terra to greatness and prosperity. While this is not... entirely accurate, the continent has not descended into anarchy yet, so that must mean something. The Council are, on paper, made up of ten exceptional, hand-picked individuals from each of the ten cities. In reality, only six of them consistently show up to any meetings. One is typically busy with research, another has many spiritual responsibilities, while the other two quite honestly only have a seat on the council in name only. No-one complains, however. Forcing all attendants to appear in person would most likely do more harm than good. So. Written correspondence is the next best thing.

Technically speaking, Finley was the one and only Free Lands representative on the council, as he was the only one who had the patience for all the paperwork and political dealings, but all four Pirate Kings typically debated, or argued, on any decision that the Free Lands would make on council proceedings. Odysseus was usually busy raiding ships for "volunteers" in his bloodsports and shiny metals to decorate his opulent ships with, and clearly cared very little for anything else. Delphine mostly guided the various ocean dangers away from the ports, as she was expected to, as every siren emissary from the Deep Kingdoms did. And Finley's brother, Lockley, mostly just got into barfights and raided ships that Odysseus hadn't already picked clean, when he wasn't nursing hangovers.

So, with all these... colorful individuals, it fell to Finley to keep track of everything, and make sure that the Council didn't come down on their less than legal activities like a hammer. It was stressful, and he didn't want to be the one to do it, but someone had to. And no-one else was going to volunteer. So he spent most of his time sitting in his study, or in the captains quarters if he was on the sea, writing to the other Council members and keeping track of all the numbers in his fellows... escapades. This is why he had his own private grog stash kept stocked at all times.

"Fellow Members of the Council.

I appreciate your continued tolerance of my fellows activities, and we're all thankful for the shipment of various goods. Odysseus in particular was overjoyed at the crates of fine wine, and I doubt you'll be seeing much of him and his crew for a bit, as they've managed to drink themselves into a stupor these past few nights with the stuff. Delphine is doing well, and, as a result, so are the seas, so you should have no trouble getting your other shipments here and back. I must admit that I am continually thankful, though not surprised, at the generosity and tolerance you have shown us, despite how the citizens of the Free Lands continue to do what pirates, outlaws, and scoundrels do. Again. Thankful. Not surprised. After all, we're the ones with all the cannons, muskets, and flintlocks. And, to answer your last letter, no, they're still not up for trade. You have magic, don't you? You'll be fine. I'm sure. As long as we're all in good standing with each other, that is.

Signed Yours Truly, Finley Bracket, Third of The Name, Lord Pirate King of The Free Lands."

The Charred Lands, meanwhile, wanted very little to do with the land beyond the forests, and the pyromantic Council members, understandably, stopped attending any meetings after the Third War of Embers. They still weighed in on any decisions the Council made, but they were governed by their own Council, the Council of The Charred Ones, presided over by the Nine Charred Lords. Quite honestly, they were more united in their efforts than the actual Council, but they still had their squabbles. They hardly payed lip-service to any laws the Council made, and were simply self ruled. The Charred Lords had been around since the dawn of the Sparking, they did not need to listen to these petty mortals in their gilded tower.

The cold war between them and the Golden City went back ages, as the words of the Sacred Embers and the teachings of the Holy Church often conflicted, and the animosity between them was only strengthened after the war. The Church didn't take kindly to any "pagan" religions who did not worship their Lady of Light, and the people of the Charred Lands believed in only the Nine Unburnt Gods. Most Council members were thankful when the Lords stopped attending, honestly, as they spent most of their time bickering with the Archbishop than actually adding anything to the decisions. It was far more productive this way, even if they still didn't add much at all to Council decisions.

"Councilman of The Uncharred.

We have deigned to hear your requests for the holy metals, and the rare ores they are crafted from, that our holy guard uses in defense of the most holy Citadel of The Everlasting Embers, resting place of the gifts of the Unburnt Ones. We shall decline. These metals are for the use of true believers, and you have shown yourselves to be quite the opposite time and time again, as the wars prove. Remember, you have earned our tolerance, not our forgiveness. We have not deigned to give you any of our resources. We, however, deign to give our thanks for the fine jewels you have sent. We shall return them to you in a few suns time. The Unburnt Gods have no need of such finery, and neither do we. Bribery will get you nowhere in these discussions. As for your requests to remove the demons currently creeping through your lands, isn't that what your "Holy" Order is for? To kill or restrain these Blessedly Charred Beings is to betray the teachings of the Holy Ember, which your "Church" should take no issue with. Deal with it yourselves.

May The Blessings of Ember Touch Upon Your Woefully Uncharred Minds. The Council of The Nine Charred Lords, Children of The Unburnt Gods."

The Councilman Argentum, or Silver Councilman as most people call him, spent most of his waking hours researching the magic and history of Sparks, as well as contributing to the Historum in the Silver City. While he had very little interest in politics, his decisions and opinions were weighed very carefully by the rest of the Council, and his mind was held in high regard, even if his more logical approach to things rubbed the Church the wrong way at times. While he is a well regarded and respected member of the Council, more and more often he fails to attend Council meetings, as he becomes more and more absorbed in his work, hoping for a breakthrough before the end of his long life.

He keeps in very close contact with the High Magus of the Historum, though the two have been falling out with each other in recent times. Mostly due to a difference in scientific opinion. But still, he contributes to the Historum, and to the Magus's research, as well as his own. Still, the other Council members have recently begun to raise brows at his decision making in his old age. But he hasn't gone senile yet.

"Regarded Members of The Council.

While I am shocked and appalled at what has transpired in the eastern villages, I must protest the investigation of my Magus's. These men and women are respected historians and valued sorcerers, not barbarians who burn villages and steal children. And the accusations laid against the High Magus himself are absurd at best. I refuse your request to investigate any of my inner circle, as internal investigations have already taken place, and nothing has been found. I doubt the Church's Inquisitors would find anything that my investigators haven’t. You can tell the Archbishop that. As for your request to have the lower levels of the Historum searched, I must refuse that as well. The only things down there are dust and things too valuable to be within reach of the public. If you want to poke around at dusty old relics, go to the Old Lands and find some for yourselves, it will be close enough. And the fresh air should do you some good. I am old. Not senile. And I'm a better judge of character than any of you seem to assume.

Signed Stephan M. Moores, Councilman Argentum."

The Archbishop, the spiritual leader of the Holy Church, and representative of the Golden City within the Council, could very easily attend more Council meetings, as she lives directly within the Golden City's Holy Ring, but she values her spiritual teachings more than the political intrigue of the Council. Which, given how often the other members of the Council grate on her nerves, is understandable. She leads the processions of the Holy Church within the Golden City, and personally teaches aspiring priests and priestesses of the words of The Lady of Light, as well as dealing with the backlash of the more zealous actions of the Order. Many people who do not hold the church in the absolute highest regard often raise brows at the steps taken to "protect" the Cities from the "harmful" or "heretical" religions spread around Magna Terra.

Still, the Archbishop is not a cruel woman, and would rather convert a "heretical" individual than kill them. Though, as the other members of the Council know, she is more than willing to take a morally grey stance on things if she believes it would do more good than harm in the long run, and that she can be rather terrifying when angered. While not the oldest, or wisest, member of the Council, she is level-headed enough to be a key component in keeping the other Councilmen from ripping each others throats out. When she actually attends meetings, that is.

"Dearest Councilmen.

I have heard your fears and concerns regarding the pagan cults cropping up across the outskirts of Magna Terra. I, too, am worried for the spiritual future of our fellows, so far from Her light. I have already sent several cohorts of clergymen, and, while many found success, most were repelled. I have, with a heavy heart, authorized use of the Order's Paladins to quell these dissidents. I did not want it to come to this, but some just cannot see the light until they are brought to Her judgement. As for your reports of Abyssal Kin in Crystalbarrow, I have dispatched several Inquisitors. They will arrive before the Scaled Moon rises. If the Silent Titan's misbegotten children are hiding there, they will be found. I promise you that. And, as for evidence regarding the attacks on the eastern villages, I am sorry to report that no new evidence has been found. It seems that we have found all we're going to.

May Her Light Shine Upon Your Path. Yours Truly, Lilliana Beneficia, Archbishop of Her Holy Church."

The other members of the Council, while just as important to the wellbeing of Magna Terra, are not as noteworthy as those who cause the most issues with the formal proceedings. They are, while still colorful individuals, rather normal in comparison. Most are often exasperated by their fellows. Some are amused. They would all rather they just get along and get things done without a crisis having to happen first. While not quite as unified as they wish to appear, they are thankfully still far from ineffective in keeping the different territories from tearing each other to pieces.

#Valerie Writes #Scintillam #i had fun with this asdlkfjn #it was different!#and i jus wanted to worldbuild; mostly #may do more of these worldbuilding chapters if y'all rlly like them #just. chapters that don't add toooo much; or progress the story a lot #just chapters that add background to the story #*shrugs*#maybe...#reblogs are appreciated if u enjoyed :V

1 note · View note

bloomofiron · 7 years ago

Text

Sororitas Rewrite Part 2/???

The history of the Adepta Sororitas as an organization is well known, and an exhaustive re-telling of that story is not the intention here, especially since what is known is essentially the whole truth.

During the Age of Apostasy, the Adeptus Custodes smuggled Alicia Dominica and four of her sisters into the chamber of the Golden Throne. What transpired there is not fully known, though it's clear that the Emperor invested Dominica with a portion of his power, exalting her unto a status above mortals. Exiting the Golden Throne, she confronted Goge Vandire, condemned him to death, and cut off his head.

Although she lacked their superhuman physical prowess and genetic augments, it was clear that in her own way, Dominica had become the spiritual equivalent of a Primarch, and though she was the first to receive a blessing of such terrifying might, she was not the first woman to be transformed in such a way by the Emperor of Mankind.

Victors In The Midst Of Strife

The Adepta Sororitas are the all-female military wing of the Ecclesiarchy. They are warriors first, though they have Orders who serve as hospitallers, as well as sages, advisors, relic hunters, demonologists, and translators. While a great number of mortal men and women serve the Orders of the Adepta Sororitas, the Sisters themselves are something greater than human. The are heirs to the Emperor's spiritual legacy, in the same manner the Adeptus Astartes are heirs to his genetic one. What they lack in superhuman physical prowess they make up for in righteousness, devotion, and their unique ability to channel holy powers.

The process by which women are chosen and transformed remains a mystery, even in the modern day, and even to the Custodes and technicians who serve the Golden Throne directly. However, after delving into the past, scholars have discovered indications that the Emperor created Sorortias (though they were called by different titles) to be his bodyguards, allies, and companions throughout every era of history.

The Adepta Sororitas are similar to the Adeptus Astartes, but different in key ways.

All Sororitas are female. Much in the same manner that all Astartes are male, and geneseed will reject a female host - the power fragment that the Emperor uses to elevate a Sister cannot, for reasons that no one has yet figured out, bond with a male host. However, that is not to say there are no Sororitas who are men or masculine-identifying. The Imperium, both modern and historical, has no history of prejudice or social stigma against trans and gender non-conforming individuals, and both are welcome within Sororitas ranks.

Sororitas are human beings. When a Sororitas becomes a host for a fragment of the Emperor’s power, the person she was previously is not erased. She changes without changing, and she does not forget her family, friends, loved ones, or parents. Her personality, emotions, and desires may shift slightly as her worldview expands and heightens, but largely, they remain intact. At the end of the process, she is clearly herself and identifiable as such.

Sororitas lack the bodily augments, superhuman physical might, and additional organs present in the Adeptus Astartes. Although they do not shun mental or physical modifications and prosthetics (but this can vary from Order-to-Order), their bodies are no more capable of supporting extensive modification than the bodies of regular humans. It should be noted however, that as part of their transformation, Sororitas are often left in peak physical condition, and any Sororitas traveling the Imperium has spent either years or decades being trained in both hand-to-hand combat and the arts of warfare. They are terrifying opponents, and are often victorious in battle, even when facing enemies they were not specifically created to oppose.

Sororitas have a divine mandate to use the Emperor’s power. This holy power can manifest in different ways and takes on many different forms, but in all cases it is devastating to daemons, undead, ghosts, and abominations from beyond space and time when brought to bear as a weapon. The Sororitas are the greatest enemies of these creatures, exceeding even the ability of the Astartes to confront and destroy the most ancient and dire of humanity’s foes. Some Sororitas learn to channel their powers into healing physical and mental wounds, glimpsing the future and the past, inspiring allies, granting blessings, maintaining order, and purifying people and locations.

Sororitas are beacons of power. Although they are not psykers, mutants, or sorcerers, the divine power their wield cannot be fully contained by their souls. When they channel their power, it spills out as a visual display. This imagery is always personalized, and no two Sororitas are alike, though their Order does play a role in it. Lions, eagles, horses, hosts of golden phantoms, crowns, and weaponry are all common if the Sororitas is part of an Order from the core worlds of the Imperium. Orders which don’t cleave as closely to Ecclesiarchy canon often have different manifestations. Such as machinery, gears, vehicles, or steam engines for the Obsidian Sentinels; dice, cards, wheels, butterflies, and cups for the Sea Snakes; and howling specters, shrouds, ravens or crows, and mist, for the Void Ravens. Finally, all overflow of Sororitas power causes a Sister to appear winged (unless she’s a Hag - but more on the Hags later), and it’s possible for a Sororitas to expend so much power so dramatically that her wings become ‘fixed’, which causes them to manifest permanently as part of her body.

Sororitas are personally chosen (but also, see below). Unlike the Astartes, whose ascension is left in the hands of the Chapter Masters and their officers, each Sororitas is weighed, judged, and selected (at least somewhat) personally by the God-Emperor of Mankind. During her transformation, when she is imbued with a fragment of his power, he speaks to her one-on-one and often imparts some duty, charge, or mission to her. These conversation are typically quite short, though in some cases, Sororitas have known the Emperor as a man, or been peers and friends with him (Loralyn, the Shepherd of Songs and Angelica, the Bloody-Handed-Saint are examples of this). Alicia Dominica had a personal audience at the foot of the Golden Throne, while other modern Sororitas receive visions, waking dreams, or claim to have encountered splinters of the Emperor’s soul traveling the Imperium in disguise.

Sororitas are heroic characters. While all humans are capable of acts of heroism, a single moment of courage or sacrifice in an otherwise unremarkable life is not enough to attract the Emperor’s attention. Women who are transformed into Sororitas are already exceptional - as leaders, healers, warriors, in devotion and faith or some combination of the four.

Spring Eternal

While the Inquisition, and indeed, most of the Sororitas, believe that the power they wield comes directly from the Emperor, that's... only partly true.

The God-Emperor did, in the twilight of antiquity, craft the fragments of power that attach to the souls of women and make them Sororitas - holy warriors who are something more than mortal. These fragments were cut from his own soul, and do represent both personal and divine investiture.

It’s just that the Emperor has no control over them.

Although modern religious and scientific leaders believe that each Sororitas transformation is unique, this is not the case. When a Sororitas dies, the power within her flees. Returning through invisible channels in the Warp to the Golden Throne, it rests there for a time, and then soars free to seek out a new host.

About three million of these fragments exist, or three times the current number of Adeptus Astartes. It’s unclear if this represents the upper limit or if more could be created should the Emperor desire or require it. However, the total of three million is falsely inflated, as at any given time, about one third of the fragments are ‘at rest’ within the Golden Throne, another third are seeking out hosts or attached to young women who lack the proper training and control, and the final third represent actual Sororitas, who are active, fully trained, and ready to confront humanity’s enemies.

The fragments are not under the Emperor’s direct control, and though he can influence them during his lucid or desperate moments - as was the case with Alicia Dominica - for the most part, they function independently of his will. He does speak with each Sororitas directly, and appoint them to an Order or charge them with a personal mission, but he has little to no say in the selection process (beyond giving the fragments their original impetus seeking out the faithful).

This is working as intended. For even if the Ruinous Powers were to assault Terra and lay waste to the planet, slay the Emperor, enslave all the humans who lived, and rip open the Eye of Terror until it consumed the galaxy, the Sororitas would still continue appear among mortals to oppose the dark gods and their pawns.

#warhammer 40k #sisters of battle

2 notes · View notes

asktheadeptus · 7 years ago

Text

House Terryn

House Terryn is a Loyalist Imperial Knight House aligned with the Imperium of Man. The Knights of House Terryn are renowned for their skill at arms and ferocity in battle, each one a master of knightly combat. Ruled over by Patriarch Tybalt on the tropical world of Voltaris, detachments of the house range across the battlefields of the Eastern Fringe, from the cursed edges of the Ghoul Stars to the hellish warzones of the Damocles Gulf. Rumours speculate that the Knights' ferocity in battle and perchant for long off-world campaigns is a reaction to the tedium and oppressive peace of their homeworld, where convoluted ritual and endless ceremony permeate society. True or not, House Terryn boasts some of the finest nobles ever to fight for the Emperor.

House History

House Terryn was founded in the 25th Millennium during the early days of the Age of Strife by Maximillian Terryn. At a certain point of his life, Maximillian experienced visions of a mysterious white stallion that appeared to warn him of danger. Ever since, the white horse's head on a blue field has been the house's emblem. Early on, the Knights of House Terryn fought for the cause of the Great Crusade, to help expand the burgeoning human empire known as the Imperium of Man. The golden age of the Great Crusade was to be cut short by the supreme act of betrayal known as the Horus Heresy, during which the galaxy was gripped by the most bitter civil war humanity had ever seen. Across the nascent Imperium, rebels clashed with Loyalists for the fate of Mankind. Space Marines fought Space Marines, Titans fought Titans and, alongside them, Imperial Knights fought Imperial Knights. As the Warmaster Horus led his armies to Terra, he left a trail of destruction in his wake hundreds of light years wide. His forces seemed unstoppable as garrison after garrison fell before his might, or changed allegiance and sided with the traitorous commander.

As the events of the Horus Heresy neared their tragic conclusion seven standard years after the fateful betrayal at Istvaan III, Horus was confronted and defeated by the Emperor aboard his flagship, the Vengeful Spirit, though the Master of Mankind was mortally wounded and had to be interred within the cybernetic life support mechanisms of the advanced psychic augmentation technology known as the Golden Throne. Though Horus lay dead at the hands of the Emperor, so high was the cost of victory that many sought solace in hounding the fleeing Traitors across the stars rather than face the task of rebuilding the shattered Imperium. This campaign of vengeance is known as the Great Scouring. The surviving knightly houses with the strength to fight unanimously joined in this crusade of retribution. Believing the honour of the many to be stained by the treachery of the few, the Imperial Knights hunted down the knightly houses that sided with Horus with extreme prejudice, seeking to redeem their tarnished reputation. Filled with righteous indignation, a combined strike force of Knights from Houses Terryn, Cadmus and Borgius annihilated the turncoats of House Devine as Imperial forces reclaimed the lost Knight World of Molech. But there were rumors that some of the traitorous Knights of House Devine went unaccounted for. Presumably when Horus was defeated and Molech was reclaimed by Imperial forces, these survivors of the Chaos-corrupted Knight House fled alongside the Traitor Legions into the Eye of Terror, where they remain to this day. Ten millennia after his house's founding, in 239.M35, Seuitonius Thucidides Terryn took the oath of allegiance to the Emperor of Mankind and his world became a formal part of the Imperium. Under his auspices, Terryn Knights often fought alongside the Ultramarines Space Marine Chapter.

Voltoris, An Oppressive Peace

The world of Voltoris is a tranquil place, largely covered in glittering emerald seas and dotted with jungle-covered islands. Despite its location close to both the Tau Empire and the encroaching Tyranid Hive Fleets, it has remained largely untouched by war for thousands of standard years. Even its predators –- the carrion vendell or the betentacled kroktars –- are little danger to a Knight. This freedom from strife or ceaseless assaults from xenos raiders has led to a society of tedious ceremonies and tiresome customs.

Under the light of their binary stars the nobles of House Terryn hold endless court, the expectations heaped on young nobles driving many to yearn for the call of battle where problems can be solved at the end of a Reaper Chainsword's blade. From the moment he awakens to the moment he returns to his sanctum, the noble of House Terryn must observe the ancient traditions of his family; ancestors must be honoured, observances spoken and rituals performed. To ease the burden on their sons, most families have oathsmen that shadow a noble wherever he goes, standing in for them when they are called upon to make an observance. An oathsman will perform such tasks as offering up a drop of blood to each of the noble's ancestors, opening his palm over barely healed scars so the noble can keep his own hands unblemished. By this same token, it is not permitted for a noble to finish eating before his guests, and an oathsman might find himself choking down ale and fermented vendell flesh long after his lord has taken his leave. Oathsmen also suffer punishments, and deliver them, in place of their lords, leading to all too common situations where servants play ritualistic castigation upon one another in the name of their masters.

Far from being an unwelcome position, becoming an oathsman is a proud achievement for the family of one blessed. To be forced to honour the ancestors of a noble is to touch the glory of the knightly houses. In fact, many oath-servants have begun lineages of their own, generations of men and women bound to a single noble family. It is a life of sacrifice lived in the shadow of greatness, but is the closest most common folk will ever come to the nobility that rule over them.

Beneath the tedium of House Terryn's reliance on ceremony is the ancient weight of the law, and though many lords chaff under the complication inherent in their daily life, the house does not hesitate to punish those that stray from the binding traditions. Men have been lashed to dead animals and set adrift to face the kroktars for mere breaches of protocol, but such a sanction will seldom affect the noble himself; rather, his oathsman will obediently take his place.

Wandering Warriors

It is little wonder that with such a ritualistic culture the young noblemen of Voltoris are drawn to the danger and freedom that comes from piloting a Knight suit into war. Once a noble has completed the Ritual of Becoming he will find more and more excuses to be in his Knight. Regular "training" missions are fundamental to the daily routine, with the lord likewise finding reason to help his sons to master their Knights in the jungles and shallow seas around their keeps. Younger brothers can only look on jealously as their older siblings laugh and brag about days spent crashing through the forest canopies hunting for vendell, or using derelict ships as target practice for their cannon.

When Seuitonius Thucidides Terryn forged the formal alliance with the Imperium, he was canny enough to ensure that Voltoris law was changed so that any Knight under arms in the service of the Emperor was exempt from his ceremonial obligations to house and home. Since that time the Knights of House Terryn have sought off-world conflict across the galaxy, pursuing their foes with an aggression born of years of unrequited yearning for war. From the time he reaches adulthood to his twilight years a House Terryn noble will spend much of his life on campaign, returning to Voltoris only to ensure the continuation of his line and to show his fealty to the Patriarch. Even Tybalt, ruler of House Terryn, still leads detachments in wars against the Imperium's foes, though he is over a standard century old. The keeps of Voltoris are as a result often quiet and empty places, populated by industrious servants and petulant young sons, overseen by jealous wives and daughters. Furion Peak, House Terryn's vast keep, echoes to the sound of song and revelry only when Tybalt and his nobles are between campaigns. Then, as quickly as they arrived, the lord and his men will depart, leaving the servants to clean the feasting halls and restock the larders for the next time he should grace the keep.

The Long Hunt

At the end of the 41st Millenium, the Tau Empire entered into its Third Sphere Expansion, and the war across the Damocles Gulf flared again into terrible life. Voltoris itself came under attack from the Tau Commander Shadowsun. Though the forces arrayed against them were vast, the Imperium was able to lay a deadly ambush for the Tau in the shadow of Furion Peak, and the combined might of the Imperial Guard and knightly houses eventually defeated the xenos, driving them back from the world. In the aftermath, the Tau tried to extract as much of their forces as possible from Voltoris. Those Tau that could not reach the landing zones around the peak were forced to retreat into the jungle or make for the open oceans in an attempt to find respite from the Imperial assault. Tybalt personally led households of Knights in pursuit of these xenos remnants, hunting them down before they could muster their strength once again. While many of the alien units scattered, Tybalt eventually ran a regiment-sized formation to ground in the Weeping Reefs, the crimson-stained waters becoming a battleground for Knights and Tau Battlesuits. Rending their foes to scrap with their Reaper Chainblades, the nobles made a bloody example of the Tau. Tybalt was granted the honour of slaying the final alien, cracking open its suit and crushing it between the mighty foot of his Knight and razor-sharp coral.

Though the battle had been won, Voltaris would never be the same. It was stained by the presence of the aliens and their foul ambitions, while scores of its favoured sons lay dead in the twisted remains of their proud Knight suits. Tybalt vowed revenge upon the Tau as he stood tall over the corpses of their dead, promising much blood to come for this gravest of insults against his house.

The Honourable Company

Many House Terryn nobles spend extended periods away from Voltoris, fighting wars on distant worlds under alien suns. These protracted sojourns into the void can sometimes go beyond what is considered dutiful to the house and stray close to the way of the Freeblade. More than one noble has become lost in the duty of his quest, his single-minded devotion to pursuing a foe or honouring a vow taking him far into the wilds of the Imperium. Patriarch Tybalt accepts that sometimes a Knight's journey will take him beyond the battlefields and banners of House Terryn and to a place where he must forge his own destiny.

This was the case with the Honourable Company. The Company was a detachment of five Knights fighting alongside the Forlorn Crusade in the southern wilds of the Eastern Fringe, that chose the path of the Freeblade to complete an honour-debt for a fallen brother. The Crusade had been fighting for centuries to reclaim the Storlar Sector from xenos empires and Heretic overseers when the Knights of House Terryn joined their campaign. The Knights played a vital role in dozens of engagements across the sector, from the destruction of the Ork scrap-hive on Orbalok II to leading the breakthrough of the Imperishable Line during the Battle of Bluefire. Each of the nobles earned a reputation for honour and courage among the crusaders, Imperial Guardsmen and Space MarineBattle-Brothers saluting the huge Knight machines as they thundered past on their way to the front line.

It was in the closing days of the War of Ashes, against the Swords of Khargoth Renegade Space Marine warband, that the Knights turned Freeblade. The Renegades had been fighting a war of scorched earth against the Imperium, falling back across the Laimean System, burning worlds in their wake and throwing armies of mutants, Chaos Cultists and worse against the Crusaders. Khargoth, the warlord of the Traitor armies, had noted the prowess of the Knights and had singled them out for retribution. Khargoth's daemonic assassins infiltrated the Imperium's forward camp and murdered one of the House of Terryn nobles while he slept in his pavilion, dissecting his body and laying it out in pieces for his lance-brothers to find. Not only was this perceived as a vile act of treachery by the nobles; it was also a terrible insult. For a member of the house to die outside his Knight suit was to dishonour him in the most fundamental of ways, a slight that could not be ignored. As one the other nobles vowed to slay Khargoth and destroy his warband at any cost. In the final battles of the war, the company strove to hunt down the Renegade Space Marine, often placing themselves or their allies in great danger. When the Swords of Khargoth escaped from the system the Knights followed, choosing the path of the Freeblade in order to fulfill their vow, and set off into the void after their hated quarry.

Notable Campaigns

The Death of Traitors (c.M31) - Horus lies dead at the hands of the Emperor. But so high is the cost of victory that many seek solace in hounding the fleeing Traitors across the stars rather than face the task of rebuilding the shattered Imperium. This campaign of vengeance is known as the Great Scouring. The surviving knightly houses with the strength to fight unanimously join in this crusade of retribution. Believing the honour of the many to be stained by the treachery of the few, the Imperial Knights hunt down the knightly houses that sided with Horus with extreme prejudice, seeking to redeem their tarnished reputation. Filled with righteous indignation, a combined strike force of Knights from Houses Terryn, Cadmus, and Borgius annihilates the turncoats of House Devine as Imperial forces reclaim Molech.

The Battle of the Six Swords (776.M30) - Lord Brutus Terryn leads the house in the war against the Great Kroktar, a beast that has plagued his people for a decade, finally slaying the monster.

The Fall of Agrellan (757.999.M41) - The Tau Empire's Third Sphere Expansion surges through the Damocles Gulf before striking hard and fast upon the Hive World of Agrellan. Though the Imperial forces are hard-pressed to counter the brilliant tactics employed by Commander Shadowsun, the timely arrival of several household detachments of Knights from House Terryn soon stems the tide. Time and again, the Knights sally forth from the hive city of Agrellan Prime, breaking through the xenos lines to take a heavy toll on formations of Broadside Battlesuits and Hammerhead gunships, using their Ion Shields to counter the devastating impacts of the Tau's rail weaponry. Only the mass deployment of prototype XV104 Riptide Battlesuits forces the Knights to cease these attacks, a course of action that ultimately changes the course of the war.

Notable House Terryn Knights

Fury of Voltoris - Imperial Knight Warden of High King Tybalt, Patriarch of House Terryn.

Intolerant - Imperial Knight Warden, piloted by Baron Darius, current Master of Justice of House Terryn.

Unbowed - Imperial Knight Crusader of Baron Artemidorus, Herald of House Terryn.

Ever-Stalwart - Imperial Knight Paladin of Baron Balthazar, current Kingswarf of High King Tybalt.

Wrath Incarnate - Imperial Knight Warden of Sir Erasmus

Scythe of Light – Imperial Knight Paladin of Sir Myrcor

Spear of the Righteous – Imperial Knight Paladin of Baron Yorac

Unending Victory – Imperial Knight Paladin of Sir Orpheron

Honour Intractable - Imperial Knight Errant of Baron Taurus, Gatekeeper of House Terryn.

Vermilion Shield – Imperial Knight Errant Sir Capulan

Voltoris Undaunted – Imperial Knight Errant of Sir Monteryn

Honoured Vigilance - Imperial Knight Gallant of Sir Alarbus

Knight Undeniable - Imperial Knight Crusader piloted by Sir Hortensio

Notable House Terryn Personnel

Maximillian Terryn – Founder of House Terryn, Maximillian founded the Knightly house in the 25th Millennium.

Lord Brutus Terryn – Lord Brutus lead his house into war against the Great Kroktar and succeeded in slaying the beast in the 30th Millennium.

Seuitonius Thucidides Terryn – Seuitonius Thucidides Terryn took the oath of allegiance to the Emperor of Mankind, forging a formal alliance between House Terryn and the burgeoning Imperium.

Patriarch Tybalt – Tybalt Terryn is the current Hight King and Patriarch of House Terryn. He is well over a century old and still leads his house into combat against many xenos enemies in his Knight Warden Fury of Voltoris. It is said that the full telling of High King Tybalt's triumphs takes well over twelve days to complete, and it is a tale that is still growing. The High King is ever eager to add whole new chapters to his ongoing glory. Recently he had to defend his homeworld of Voltoris against a Tau invasion lead by Commander Shadowsun. Though the battle was won, Voltoris was stained by the presence of the aliens, which was the gravest insult to his house. Therefore he vowed a mighty revenge upon the Tau.

Baron Artemidorus - Pilot of the Knight Crusader Unbowed, Baron Artemidorus was chosen by High King Tybalt to join his Exalted Court, and named in long ritual as the Herald, which in House Terryn also carries the titles of the All-hailer and Executor of Orders. In House Terryn a Herald’s duties are plentiful, but mercifully streamlined upon the battlefield. The Herald ensures the fanfare -- trumpet-blasts blared through his vox-grilles -- befits each Knight who enters the battlefield. It is the Herald's role to issue the first warning of enemy attacks, and the Ion Shields of the entire Exalted Court pivot upon his alerts. Finally, from a central position, he also relays vox orders and lays down supporting firepower.

Baron Taurus - Pilot of the Knight Errant Honour Intractable, Taurus is a Baron of the Exalted Court and serves as the current Gatekeeper of House Terryn. The Gatekeeper is tasked with the solemn duty of protection. To him falls the sacred honour of defending the strongholds of Voltoris, a tradition that stretches back to the Long Night. Long ago it was realized that it mattered little if Knights marched out to protect their world only to return to find their strongholds in ruin. Without the irreparable equipment and mechanisms of the Chamber of Echoes and the Sanctuary, no new Rituals of Becoming could take place, nor could Knights be repaired. Taurus was tasked with assuring that the stronghold of Furion Peak would forever welcome back the Knights of House Terryn.

Baron Balthazar - Pilot of the Knight Paladin Ever-Stalwart, Balthazar serves as the Kingsward of High King Tybalt. To be Kingsward is a great honour and burden, given not just to a superlative warrior, but to one whose loyalty is more firm than adamantium. The clear choice for High King Tybalt was that of Baron Balthazar. Balthazar's forefathers have protected the rulers of House Terryn for seven generations. All have done their duty with distinction, honouring the quartered tilting plate that is the symbol of office. In battle, Balthazar matches King Tybalt stride for stride, always angling his Knight and his Ion Shield to best protect his liege lord. It is also Baron Balthazar's task to guard Tybalt when the High King is in court and not protected by his Knight suit.

Baron Darius - Baron Darius is the pilot of the Knight Warden Intolerant. With the death of Lord Grundle, there was no question about who would take up the position of Master of Justice in Tybalt's Exalted Court. Promoted to such a lofty rank, none were more deserving to bear that symbol of military strength and fortitude upon their tilting plate, for Darius exemplified the rigorous discipline and military honour that every Noble in House Terryn aspired to emulate. As Master of Justice, Baron Darius is the High King's Blade, the executor of his military might. He leads his own Baronial Court upon missions at Tybalt's command, bringing justice in his lord's stead. In addition to his role as chief military advisor, Darius is styled the Executioner of Terryn, an unmerciful station that punishes wrongdoing both in the courtrooms and on the battlefield. Ever stern, none have crossed Baron Darius and lived to tell the tale.

Baron Yorac – Pilot of the Knight Paladin Spear of the Righteous, Yorac has lived a charmed life, cheating death at the hands of countless foes. In the scrap-harvest of Scouros IX, Yorac was one the few survivors of a Dark Mechanicum ambush, his Knight, covered in the broken remains of his enemies and allies alike, climbing out of the waste reclamators to crush the armies of the Grand Dark Magos. Over time a Knight's heraldry will change as its pilot is tempered in the fires of war. On the Spear of the Righteous, Baron Yorac has added a single white strip over his starboard salvation hatch. This indicates that he escaped after his Knight was crippled, climbing free from its wreckage. Far from a mark of disgrace, this shows both a Noble's tenacity and the skilled repair work of their house's Sacristans.

Baron Erasmus - Although it's certain that he's seen more winters than he has ahead of him, Sir Erasmus Krag of House Terryn has never lost the battlefield impetuousness that is often the hallmark of younger, greener Nobles. Some believe that it is this occasional rashness that has prevented the otherwise revered Baron from entry into High King Tybalt's Exalted Court -- a veneration surely due him, given his age, experience and battlefield honours. Few can boast of slaying a Hierophant bio-titan, however -- and Krag has a near-legendary seven such kills to his name. None, than, can gainsay the prowess Sir Erasmus displays on the field of battle, and if any would dare to denigrate the butcher's bill Krag delivers on the field, then their whispers are too quiet to be heard in the labyrinthine halls of Furion Peak. In the unimaginable even that such a voice would raise itself to be audible, Krag's oaths-men -- who number far beyond those a Noble would normally be expected to retain, a sure sign of the esteem in which he's held -- can be counted on to silence the dissent with startling swiftness.

Sir Alarbus - Pilot of the Knight Gallant, Honoured Vigilance, Sir Alarbus has already begun to forge a name for himself amongst his house's many heroes and veterans. To earn the blue and red stripes that honour both House Terryn and the Imperium, a Knight must single-handedly slay a Titan-class foe. Although still reckoned young, the Noble Alarbus has already done so twice, earning stripes for both his Reaper Chainsword and his Thunderstrike Gauntlet. He earned the first by felling a mountainous Gargant when his lance were sent to halt the rampages of WAAAGH! Grazguts. Hard pressed by the Gargant's guns, the intrepid Knight hacked through the Ork machine's protective plates before hoisting himself into the beast's iron belly, carving his way through and out the other side of the behemoth just before the Gargant's damaged engines exploded catastrophically.

Sir Monteryn – A notable Voltoris Knight, Monteryn accompanied Patriarch Tybalt to the Hive World of Agrellan to fight the invading Tau forces of Commander Shadowsun. During the course of the conflict, Monteryn and his lance-brothers Myrcor and Capulan became known as Tybalt's Triumvirate, for they fought at the side of the ruler of House Terryn in every sortie from the capital city's gates. At the Battle for Agrellan Prime, Tybalt's Triumvirate were in the heart of the fighting. Monteryn's moment of glory came when a Razorshark strike fighter lined up an attack run on Patriarch Tybalt's Knight, its course taking it directly over Voltaris Unndaunted. With a scything blow from his Reaper Chainsword, Monteryn hacked the aircraft's tail from the fuselage, sending it spinning into the ground in a cloud of flame and shrapnel.

Sir Capulan – Pilot of the Knight Errant, Vermilion Shield, Capulan has won acclaim and glory for his household. In addition to commendations of valour given to him personally by Ultramarines Chapter Master Marneus Calgar, Capulan won the Golden Arrow -- the highest knightly honour of Voltoris -- for his fighting prowess in the Ghoul Wars. On the world of Oranos, Capulan fought in the Ghoul Wars after the machine-dream awoke thousands of metallic Necron warriors from their ancient slumber. In a rare alliance, he sided with the Eldar to defeat a near endless tide of recently awoken Necrons. The Knight defended the Eldar psykers while they closed the Necron's eldritch portal, emptying his Battle Cannon into endless waves of the undying foe. Because of his many feats of honour, Lord Capulan was selected by High King Tybalt to join the household for their revenge attack upon the Tau invading Agrellan. Capulan accompanied Patriarch Tybalt to the Hive World of Agrellan to fight the invading Tau forces of Commander Shadowsun. During the course of the conflict, Capulan and his lance-brothers Myrcor and Monteryn became known as Tybalt's Triumvirate, for they fought at the side of the ruler of House Terryn in every sortie from the capital city's gates. At the Battle for Agrellan Prime, Tybalt's Triumvirate were in the heart of the fighting. There, with deadly thermal cannon blasts, Lord Capulan earned further renown until unusually accurate fire from a Hammerhead tank damaged his weapon systems and forced an honourable retreat.

Sir Hortensio - Pilot of the ancient and venerable Knight Crusader, Knight Undeniable.

Sir Monteryn - Pilot of the Knight Errant, Voltoris Undaunted, so agile is Monteryn with his reaper that other Knights halt in battle to watch his swordplay. At the battle of Durgan IV Monteryn swung the enormous blade so deftly that he decapitated the Ork Warlord Zaglutz and his entire bodyguard, effectively ending that WAAAGH! with a single sword stroke. Because of his prowess, Tybalt selected Monteryn to accompany him to Agrellan. Monteryn and his lance-rothers, Yorac and Capulan, soon became known as Tybalt's Triumvirate, for they fought ever at their High King's side. Monteryn's moment came when saving Tybalt from the attack run of a Razorshark Strike Fighter. With a scything blow, Monteryn hacked the aircraft's tail off in midair, sending it spinning downwards to an explosive end.

Sir Myrcor – Pilot of the Knight Paladin, Scythe of Light. Although he only recently completed his Ritual of Becoming, Myrcor has already campaigned off-world several times, earning many battle honours and the hard-won esteem of his peers. His greatest success was on Tormark, where he pushed ahead of his fellows to undertake the daring rescue of the Tormarkian governor from out of the jaws of an oncoming Tyranid invasion. The Hive Mind unleashed a torrent of Tyranid creatures against the Knights, and only Myrcor made it back to his lander, the terrified governor clinging to the undercarriage of his Knight. Myrcor accompanied Patriarch Tybalt to the Hive World of Agrellan to fight the invading Tau forces of Commander Shadowsun. During the course of the conflict, Myrcor and his lance-brothers Monteryn and Capulan became known as Tybalt's Triumvirate, for they fought at the side of the ruler of House Terryn in every sortie from the capital city's gates. At the Battle for Agrellan Prime, Tybalt's Triumvirate were in the heart of the fighting.

Sir Orpheron - Sir Orpheron is a notable Voltoris Knight and pilot of the Imperial Paladin Unending Victory.

House Appearance

House Colours

The proud heraldry of House Terryn incorporates the rich blue of their oceans, the white of their pure lineage and the gold of their wealth, both in resources and might. It is believed that when the knightly house of Terryn was first founded, the nobles chose the sapphire hue of their livery from the beautiful azure oceans of their homeworld. However, over the many thousands of standard years since House Terryn was established, microscopic algae found within the seas of Voltoris have gradually reacted with the system's twin suns to turn its waters an emerald green. Regardless of this natural phenomenon, the Knights of House Terryn proudly continue to bear the cobalt blue of their ancient ancestors.

House Arms

An example of the genesis of House Terryn's iconography over the millennia

In the 25th Millennium, Maximillian Terryn, founder of House Terryn, experienced visions of a mysterious white stallion which appeared to warn of danger. This stallion was incorporated into the original coat of arms of House Terryn, which was a simple blue shield with a white horse's head. The image of the white stallion's head has been a staple icon of the house since shortly after its inception. It is the preeminent symbol of the house and embodies the spirit of the dream horse that guided the first Terryn nobles when they came to the frontier world of Voltoris. The meaning of the chain around the stallion's neck is not known for sure, though some nobles see it as symbolic of the control and mastery they have over their destiny. The facing of the stallion's head is also important, and must always be presented on the shoulder facing forward, showing that the Knight is embracing his destiny.

In 776.M30, Lord Brutus Terryn led his house in the war against the Great Kroktar, a beast that had plagued his people for a decade, finally slaying the monster in the Battle of the Six Swords. The Terryn coat of arms was changed to reflect this momentous event, which now included a Knight's helmet above the shield, the House's name on a scroll centered below the shield, and six swords and four spears behind the shield, representing this famous battle. In 239.M35, Seuitonius Thucidides Terryn took the oath of allegiance to the Emperor of Mankind. Under his auspices, Terryn Knights fought alongside the Ultramarines Chapter. Without having any formal ties to a Forge World of the Adeptus Mechanicus, House Terryn's crest is dominated by a pair of stylized wings to acknowledge its allegiance to the Imperium of Mankind. On one side of the shield, the house emblem of a white stallion's head is proudly emblazoned upon Terryn's traditional field of azure blue, and on the other side an ebon-colored Imperial Aquila is displayed on a field of crimson. This same dual-split is used throughout most Knight House heraldry, in this case, symbolizing House Terryn's loyalty to be equally divided between their house and the Imperium.

House Terryn Personal Heraldry

Each Terryn Knight bears both the colors of its house and the personal heraldry of the noble who commands it. Each of the families within the household wear differing black and white patterns on their cloaks, a reminder of the clans among the first settlers, before the rise of House Terryn as the dominant power on Voltoris. Over time the heraldry of a Terryn Knight will change, growing as the noble gains experience and is tempered by the blood and fire of war. Most notably this will be on his banner, as he accrues badges and icons denoting his many victories and campaigns. However, the Knight suit hull will also bear marks left by the exploits of its Noble.

Source: http://warhammer40k.wikia.com

#warhammer 40k #horus heresy #adeptus mechanicus #adeptus arbites #adepta sororitas #adeptus astartes #adeptus custodes #astra militarum #Adeptus Astra Telepathica #officio assassinorum

150 notes · View notes

chthonicworld-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Kalevala Rune I

In primeval times, a maiden, Beauteous Daughter of the Ether, Passed for ages her existence In the great expanse of heaven, O'er the prairies yet enfolded. Wearisome the maiden growing, Her existence sad and hopeless, Thus alone to live for ages In the infinite expanses Of the air above the sea-foam, In the far outstretching spaces, In a solitude of ether, She descended to the ocean, Waves her coach, and waves her pillow. Thereupon the rising storm-wind Flying from the East in fierceness, Whips the ocean into surges, Strikes the stars with sprays of ocean Till the waves are white with fervor. To and fro they toss the maiden, Storm-encircled, hapless maiden; With her sport the rolling billows, With her play the storm-wind forces, On the blue back of the waters; On the white-wreathed waves of ocean, Play the forces of the salt-sea, With the lone and helpless maiden; Till at last in full conception, Union now of force and beauty, Sink the storm-winds into slumber; Overburdened now the maiden Cannot rise above the surface; Seven hundred years she wandered, Ages nine of man's existence, Swam the ocean hither, thither, Could not rise above the waters, Conscious only of her travail; Seven hundred years she labored Ere her first-born was delivered. Thus she swam as water-mother, Toward the east, and also southward, Toward the west, and also northward; Swam the sea in all directions, Frightened at the strife of storm-winds, Swam in travail, swam unceasing, Ere her first-born was delivered.

Then began she gently weeping, Spake these measures, heavy-hearted: "Woe is me, my life hard-fated! Woe is me, in this my travail! Into what have I now fallen? Woe is me, that I unhappy, Left my home in subtle ether, Came to dwell amid the sea-foam, To be tossed by rolling billows, To be rocked by winds and waters, On the far outstretching waters, In the salt-sea's vast expanses, Knowing only pain and trouble! Better far for me, O Ukko! Were I maiden in the Ether, Than within these ocean-spaces, To become a water-mother! All this life is cold and dreary, Painful here is every motion, As I linger in the waters, As I wander through the ocean. Ukko, thou O God, up yonder, Thou the ruler of the heavens, Come thou hither, thou art needed, Come thou hither, I implore thee, To deliver me from trouble, To deliver me in travail. Come I pray thee, hither hasten, Hasten more that thou art needed, Haste and help this helpless maiden!"

When she ceased her supplications, Scarce a moment onward passes, Ere a beauteous duck descending, Hastens toward the water-mother, Comes a-flying hither, thither, Seeks herself a place for nesting. Flies she eastward, flies she westward, Circles northward, circles southward, Cannot find a grassy hillock, Not the smallest bit of verdure; Cannot find a spot protected, Cannot find a place befitting, Where to make her nest in safety. Flying slowly, looking round her, She descries no place for resting, Thinking loud and long debating, And her words are such as follow: "Build I in the winds my dwelling, On the floods my place of nesting? Surely would the winds destroy it, Far away the waves would wash it."

Then the daughter of the Ether, Now the hapless water-mother, Raised her shoulders out of water, Raised her knees above the ocean, That the duck might build her dwelling, Build her nesting-place in safety. Thereupon the duck in beauty, Flying slowly, looking round her, Spies the shoulders of the maiden, Sees the knees of Ether's daughter, Now the hapless water-mother, Thinks them to be grassy hillocks, On the blue back of the ocean. Thence she flies and hovers slowly, Lightly on the knee she settles, Finds a nesting-place befitting, Where to lay her eggs in safety. Here she builds her humble dwelling, Lays her eggs within, at pleasure, Six, the golden eggs she lays there, Then a seventh, an egg of iron; Sits upon her eggs to hatch them, Quickly warms them on the knee-cap Of the hapless water-mother; Hatches one day, then a second, Then a third day sits and hatches. Warmer grows the water round her, Warmer is her bed in ocean, While her knee with fire is kindled, And her shoulders too are burning, Fire in every vein is coursing. Quick the maiden moves her shoulders, Shakes her members in succession, Shakes the nest from its foundation, And the eggs fall into ocean, Dash in pieces on the bottom Of the deep and boundless waters. In the sand they do not perish, Not the pieces in the ocean; But transformed, in wondrous beauty All the fragments come together Forming pieces two in number, One the upper, one the lower, Equal to the one, the other. From one half the egg, the lower, Grows the nether vault of Terra: From the upper half remaining, Grows the upper vault of Heaven; From the white part come the moonbeams, From the yellow part the sunshine, From the motley part the starlight, From the dark part grows the cloudage; And the days speed onward swiftly, Quickly do the years fly over, From the shining of the new sun From the lighting of the full moon.

Still the daughter of the Ether, Swims the sea as water-mother, With the floods outstretched before her, And behind her sky and ocean. Finally about the ninth year, In the summer of the tenth year, Lifts her head above the surface, Lifts her forehead from the waters, And begins at last her workings, Now commences her creations, On the azure water-ridges, On the mighty waste before her. Where her hand she turned in water, There arose a fertile hillock; Wheresoe'er her foot she rested, There she made a hole for fishes; Where she dived beneath the waters, Fell the many deeps of ocean; Where upon her side she turned her, There the level banks have risen; Where her head was pointed landward, There appeared wide bays and inlets; When from shore she swam a distance, And upon her back she rested, There the rocks she made and fashioned, And the hidden reefs created, Where the ships are wrecked so often, Where so many lives have perished.

Thus created were the islands, Rocks were fastened in the ocean, Pillars of the sky were planted, Fields and forests were created, Checkered stones of many colors, Gleaming in the silver sunlight, All the rocks stood well established; But the singer, Wainamoinen, Had not yet beheld the sunshine, Had not seen the golden moonlight, Still remaining undelivered. Wainamoinen, old and trusty, Lingering within his dungeon Thirty summers altogether, And of winters, also thirty, Peaceful on the waste of waters, On the broad-sea's yielding bosom, Well reflected, long considered, How unborn to live and flourish In the spaces wrapped in darkness, In uncomfortable limits, Where he had not seen the moonlight, Had not seen the silver sunshine. Thereupon these words be uttered, Let himself be heard in this wise: "Take, O Moon, I pray thee, take me, Take me, thou, O Sun above me, Take me, thou O Bear of heaven, From this dark and dreary prison, From these unbefitting portals, From this narrow place of resting, From this dark and gloomy dwelling, Hence to wander from the ocean, Hence to walk upon the islands, On the dry land walk and wander, Like an ancient hero wander, Walk in open air and breathe it, Thus to see the moon at evening, Thus to see the silver sunlight, Thus to see the Bear in heaven, That the stars I may consider."

Since the Moon refused to free him, And the Sun would not deliver, Nor the Great Bear give assistance, His existence growing weary, And his life but an annoyance, Bursts he then the outer portals Of his dark and dismal fortress; With his strong, but unnamed finger, Opens he the lock resisting; With the toes upon his left foot, With the fingers of his right hand, Creeps he through the yielding portals To the threshold of his dwelling; On his knees across the threshold, Throws himself head foremost, forward Plunges into deeps of ocean, Plunges hither, plunges thither, Turning with his hands the water; Swims he northward, swims he southward, Swims he eastward, swims he westward, Studying his new surroundings.

Thus our hero reached the water, Rested five years in the ocean, Six long years, and even seven years, Till the autumn of the eighth year, When at last he leaves the waters, Stops upon a promontory, On a coast bereft of verdure; On his knees he leaves the ocean, On the land he plants his right foot, On the solid ground his left foot, Quickly turns his hands about him, Stands erect to see the sunshine, Stands to see the golden moonlight, That he may behold the Great Bear, That he may the stars consider. Thus our hero, Wainamoinen, Thus the wonderful enchanter Was delivered from his mother, Ilmatar, the Ether's daughter.

#chthonic #kalevala #luonotar #ilmatar #yoni

0 notes

asktheadeptus · 8 years ago

Text

C’tan - The ‘Star Gods’

"They came to us as gods and we, like fools, took them at their word. Mephet'ran the Deceiver, Aza'gorod the Nightbringer, Iash'uddra the Endless Swarm; I curse their names, and the names of all their malevolent brethren."—from the Chronicle of Szarekh, Last of the Silent Kings

The C'tan or Star Gods (in the Eldar Lexicon they are called the Yngir) are said to be the oldest intelligent beings in existence in the Milky Way Galaxy. It is said that they were created at the very beginning of the universe, spawned from swirling gases and enormous amounts of energy, and as such are aetheric creatures by nature. In their natural form they are vast beings and spread themselves over the surface of a star, absorbing its solar energy to feed themselves. After a time, they learned to use diaphanous wings to travel to other stars to continue their consumption when their host star died. The matter around them was so insignificant that it did not register on their voracious appetite. They are able to interact with the physical world thanks to the technology of the Necrontyr which transferred their consciousnesses into robotic bodies made of the living metal called Necrodermis. The C'tan used the hatred of the Necrontyr towards the ancient species called the Old Ones to help them gather the more appetizing energy of living beings that they came to crave.

The C'tan hate the Warp and its psychic energies (even as they crave the living energies of organic beings) and had the Necrons construct a series of pylons on the world of Cadia and other planets across several sectors in the Segmentum Obscurus which, when completed, were intended to close off the Warp from the material universe entirely, utterly destroying any living creatures with a soul, leaving all other life in the galaxy as nourishment for the C'tan.

It was the C'tan who designed the process of bio-transference for the Necrontyr, transferring their proteges' consciousnesses into undying mechanical bodies composed of Necrodermis. However, the biotransference process also transformed the Necrontyr into the Necrons, soulless beings who have difficulty taking pleasure in anything and who can never truly enjoy their immortality. After the end of the War in Heaven against their ancient foes the Old Ones, the Necrons, led by the Silent King Szarekh, successfully rebelled against their C'tan Star Gods. Those C'tan who survived the revolt were broken into fragments known as C'tan Shards that were more easily contained and imprisoned within arcane Necron devices known as Tesseract Labyrinths. At present, since the Necrons' Great Awakening began in the mid-41st Millennium, these C'tan Shards are deployed when needed as the Necron Dynasties' greatest weapons on the battlefield. However, there always exists the possibility that the imprisoned C'tan will escape their captors. Then they will wreak a terrible vengeance upon their captors and the innocent alike.

History

The Star Gods

The birth of the entities known as the Star Gods occurred at the same time as the moment of Creation itself, as they formed from the vast, insensate energies first unleashed by that churning mass of cataclysmic force. In that anarchic interweaving of matter and energy, the sea of stars began to swirl into existence and for an eon the universe was nothing more than hot hydrogen gas and light elemental dust ruled over by the gravitic force of billions of newborn suns. Long before the first planets had formed and cooled, the very first truly self-aware beings emerged, their thoughts encased within the lines of force produced by the plasma and electromagnetic flares of the stars themselves. In later times, these entities would become known as the C'tan, but early in their existence they were nothing like the malevolent beings they would eventually become. They were little more than monstrous energy parasites that suckled upon the solar energies of the stars that had brought them into existence, shortening the lives of otherwise main-sequence stars by millions of standard years. In time, these star vampires learned to move on the diaphanous wings of the universe's electromagnetic flux, leaving their birthplaces to drift through the cosmic ether to new stellar feeding grounds and begin their cycle of stellar destruction once more. Beings of pure energy, they paid no mind to the hunks of solid matter they passed in the vacuum of space, the blazing geothermal fires and weak geomagnetic fields of these nascent planets insufficient to be worth feeding even their ravenous hunger.

The Necrontyr and the Wars of Secession

The humanoid species that would become the Necrons began their existence under a fearsome, scourging star in the far reaches of the galaxy known as the Halo Stars region, billions of standard years before Mankind evolved on Terra. Assailed at every moment by ionizing solar winds and intense radiation storms, the flesh and blood Necrontyr became a morbid people whose precarious life spans were riven by constant loss. What little information the Imperium of Man has recovered on the Necrontyr tells that their lives were short and uncertain, their bodies blighted and consumed at an early age by the terrible cancers and other illnesses linked to the high levels of ionizing radiation given off by their sun. Necrontyr cities were built in anticipation of their inhabitants' early demise, as the living were only brief residents living in the shadow of the vast sepulchers and tombs of their ancestors. Likewise, their ruling dynasties were founded on the anticipation of demise, and the living were thought of as no more than temporary residents hurrying through the more permanent and lasting structures raised to honour the dead. On the Necrontyr homeworld, the greatest monuments were always built for the dead, never the living. Driven by necessity, the Necrontyr escaped their crucible-prison and struck out for the stars, hopeful of carving an empire in which they could realise their species' potential free from the lethal energies of their birth star.

Unable to find peace on their own world, the Necrontyr blindly groped outward into the universe to explore other stars. Using stasis crypts and slow-moving antimatter-powered torch-ships that were clad in the living metal known as necrodermis to resist the millennia-long journeys through the void, the Necrontyr began to colonize distant worlds. Little by little, the Necrontyr dynasties spread ever further, until much of the ancient galaxy answered to their rule. From the earliest days, the rulers of individual Necrontyr dynasties were themselves governed by the Triarch, a council composed of three Phaerons. The head of the Triarch was known as the Silent King, for he addressed his subjects only through the other two Phaerons who ruled alongside him. Nominally a hereditary position, the uncertain life spans of the Necrontyr ensured that the title of Silent King nonetheless passed from one royal dynasty to another many times. The final days of the Necrontyr Empire occurred in the reign of Szarekh, the last of the Silent Kings.

Sometime during their slow expansion, the Necrontyr encountered an ancient species far older than any other in existence in the known galaxy. Collectively, these beings were known as the Old Ones, and they were absolute masters of forms of energy the Necrontyr could not even conceive of, yet alone wield. The Old Ones had long ago conquered the secrets of immortality, yet they refused to share the gift of eternal life with the Necrontyr, who yet bore the curse of the bitter star they had been born under. The colonization of much of the galaxy by the reptilian mystics had been immeasurably swifter and more expansive than that of the Necrontyr because of their Warp Gates and mastery of the Immaterium. That, and the Old Ones' incredibly long, if not downright immortal lifespans, kindled a burning, jealous rage in the Necrontyr, which ate at their culture spiritually as much as their physical cancers consumed their bodies. The Necrontyr were astonished to learn that another intelligent species enjoyed such long lives while their own were cut so brutally short.

But as time wore on, further strife came to the Necrontyr. Each dynasty of the Necrontyr sought to claim its own destiny and soon the great houses were engaged in all-out conflicts known as the Wars of Secession. Had circumstances remained as they were for but a generation more, it is possible that the Necrontyr would have wiped themselves out, as so many species had before them and shall do in the future. As their territory grew ever wider and more diverse, the unity that had made them strong was eroded, and bitter wars were waged as entire realms fought to win independence. Ultimately, the Triach -- the ruling council of the Necrontyr Empire-- realized that the only hope of unity lay in conflict with an external enemy, but there were few who could prove a credible threat. Only the Old Ones, the first of all the galaxy's known sentient species, were a prospective foe powerful enough to bind the feuding Necrontyr dynasties to a common cause. Such a war was simplicity itself to justify, for the Necrontyr had ever rankled at the Old Ones' refusal to share the secrets of eternal life. So did the Triarch declare war on the Old Ones. At the same time, they offered amnesty to any secessionist dynasties who willingly returned to the fold. Thus lured by the spoils of victory and the promise of immortality, the separatist Necrontyr realms abandoned their Wars of Secession and the War in Heaven began.

It was the last of the Silent Kings who headed the Triarch of the Necrontyr Empire, Szarekh, who formulated the plan that would change everything forever and have consequences that would echo through history for countless millions of years. In a typically bitter act of jealousy and resentment for the Necrontyr race, it was the Silent King who used the Old Ones' refusal to share the secret of immortality as a pretext for war, forcibly uniting the entire Necrontyr species beneath the rule of the Triarch against their common foe. War erupted across the stars, yet while the Silent King succeeded in uniting his hateful people, it was a war the Necrontyr could not win. Not on their own.

The War in Heaven

The terrible wars between the Old Ones and the Necrontyr that followed, known later in Eldar myth as the War in Heaven, would fill a library in their own right, but the Necrontyr could never win. Their superior technology was consistently outmaneuvered by the Old Ones thanks to their mastery of the Webway portals and Warp Gates. The Necrontyr were pushed back until they were little more than an irritation to the Old Ones' dominance of the galaxy, a quiescent threat clinging to their irradiated world among the Halo Stars, exiled and forgotten. The Necrontyr's fury was cooled by their long millennia of imprisonment on their homeworld, slowly transforming into an utter hatred towards all other forms of intelligent life and an implacable determination to avenge themselves upon their seemingly invincible enemies.

But in the face of defeat, the always fragile unity of the Necrontyr began to fracture once more. No longer did the prospect of a common enemy have any hold over the disparate dynasties. Scores of generations had now lived and died in the service of an unwinnable war, and many Necrontyr dynasties would have gladly sued for peace with the Old Ones if the ruling Triarch had permitted it.

Thus began the second iteration of the Wars of Secession, more widespread and ruinous than any that had come before. So fractured has the Necrontyr dynasties become by then that, had the Old Ones been so inclined, they could have wiped out their foes with ease. Faced with the total collapse of their rule, the Triarch searched desperately for a means of restoring order. In this, their prayers were answered,though the price for their species would be incalculably high.

It was during the reign of the Silent King Szarekh that the godlike energy beings known as the C'tan first blighted the Necrontyr. It is impossible to say for certain how the Necrontyr first made contact with the C'tan though many misleading, contradictory and one-sided accounts of these events exist. The dusty archives of Solemnace claim it was but an accident, a chance discovery made by a stellar probe during the investigation of a dying star. The Book of Mournful Night, held under close guard in the Black Library's innermost sanctum, tells rather that the raw hatred that the Necrontyr held as a race for the Old Ones sang out across space, acting as a beacon that the C'tan could not ignore.

Another account claims that from the earliest days of their civilization, Necrontyr scientists had been deeply engaged in stellar studies to try to understand and protect themselves from their own sun's baleful energies. After long, bitter centuries of searching for some power to unleash upon the Old Ones, the Necrontyr researchers used stellar probes to discover unusual electrodynamic anomalies in the oldest, dying stars of the galaxy. In the complex skeins of the energetic plasma of these suns, the Necrontyr found a sentience that was more ancient than that of any of the corporeal species in Creation, including the Old Ones, entities of pure energy that had spawned during the birth of the stars eons before. These entities had little conception of what the rest of the universe entailed when the Necrontyr first found them, feeding upon the solar flares and magnetic storms of these bloated red giants. Here was the weapon the Necrontyr had long sought to bring about the downfall of the Old Ones, beings they believed were the progeny of the death-god they worshiped. Howsoever first contact occurred, the shadow of the C'tan fell over the oldest Necrontyr dynasties first.

The power of these star-born creatures was incredible, the raw energy of the stars made animate, and the Necrontyr called them the C'tan or "Star Gods" in their own tongue. The C'tan were dispersed across areas larger than whole planets, their consciousnesses too vast for humanoids to comprehend. How the Necrontyr ever managed to communicate with them is unknown to the Adeptus Mechanicus. Understanding that such diffuse minds could never perceive the material universe without manifesting themselves in a material form, some Necrontyr actively sought the C'tan's favor and oversaw the forging of physical shells for the C'tan to occupy, cast from the living metal called necrodermis that they had once used for their colony torch-ships. Fragmentary Eldar legends tell of translucent streamers of electromagnetic force shifting across space as the star vampires coiled into their new bodies in the physical realm across an incorporeal bridge of starlight. Thus clad, the C'tan took the shapes of the Necrontyr's half-forgotten gods, hiding their own desires beneath cloaks of obsequious subservience.

Incomprehensible forces were compressed into the living metal of the necrodermis bodies which the Necrontyr had forged as the full power of the C'tan at last found form. As the C'tan focused their consciousnesses and became ever more aware of their new mode of existence, they came to appreciate the pleasures available to beings of matter and the other realities of corporeal life. The deliciously focused trickles of electromagnetic energy given off by the physical bodies of the Necrontyr all about them awakened a new hunger in the C'tan very unlike the one they had once sated using the nourishing but essentially tasteless energies of the stars.

So it was that one of the C'tan came before the Silent King Szarekh, acting as forerunner to the coming of his brothers. Amongst its own kind, this C'tan was known as the Deceiver, for it was willfully treacherous. Yet the Silent King knew not the C'tan's true nature, and instead granted the creature an audience. The Deceiver spoke of a war, fought long before the birth of the Necrontyr, between the C'tan and the Old Ones. It was a war, he said, that the C'tan had lost. In the aftermath, and fearing the vengeance of the Old Ones, he and his brothers had hidden themselves away, hoping one day to find allies with whom they could finally bring the Old Ones to account. In return for this aid, the Deceiver assured, he and his brothers would deliver everything that the Necrontyr craved. Unity could be theirs once again, and the immortality that they had sought for so long would finally be within their grasp. No price would there be for these great gifts, the Deceiver insisted, for they were but boons to be bestowed upon valued allies.

Thus did the Deceiver speak, and who can say how much of his tale was truth? It is doubtful whether even the Deceiver knew, for trickery had become so much a part of his existence that even he could no longer divine its root. Yet his words held sway over Szarekh who, like his ancestors before him, despaired of the divisions that were tearing his people apart. For long months he debated the matter with the other two Phaerons of the Triarch and the nobles of his Royal Court. Through it all, the only dissenting voice was that of Orikan, the court astrologer, who foretold that the alliance between the Necrontyr and the C'tan would bring about a renaissance of glory, but destroy forever the soul of the Necrontyr people. Yet desire and ambition swiftly overrode caution, and Orikan's prophecy was dismissed. A Necrontyr year after the Deceiver had presented his proposition, the Triarch agreed to the alliance, and so forever doomed their race.

For their part, the Necrontyr soon fell into awe of their discoveries and the C'tan moved to take control over their benefactors. The powers of the C'tan manifested in the physical world were indeed almost god-like and it was not long before the C'tan were being worshiped as the Star Gods the Necrontyr had named them. Perhaps they had been tainted by the material universe they had become a part of, or perhaps this had always been their nature even when they were bound to the suns they fed upon, but the C'tan proved to be as cruel and capricious as the stars from which they had been born. They soon reveled in the worship of the Necrontyr and feasted upon the life energies of countless mortal slaves.

Biotransference and the Rise of the Necrons

Armed with weapons of god-like power and starships that could cross the galaxy in the blink of an eye through the use of quantum phase technology, the Necrontyr stood ready to begin their war against the Old Ones anew. But the C'tan had another gift for their mortal subjects. They offered the Necrontyr a path to immortality and the physical stability their race had always craved. Their diseased flesh would be replaced with the living metal of necrodermis that made up their Star Gods' own physical forms. Their discarded organic husks would be consumed and their cold, metal forms would then be free to pursue their great vengeance against the Old Ones and the rest of a hateful universe, freed forever from the weaknesses of their hated flesh.

With the pact between Necrontyr and C'tan sealed, the Star Gods revealed the form that immortality would take for the Necrontyr, and the great biotransference process began. Colossal bio-furnaces built by Necrontyr artifice roared day and night, consuming weak-bodied flesh and replacing it with enduring machine forms of living metal, much like the C'tan themselves. As the cyclopean machines clamored, the C'tan swarmed about the biotransference sites, drinking in the torrent of cast-off life energy and growing ever stronger.

Whether the Necrontyr actually realized the price they would actually pay for accepting this pact with the C'tan is not known. The immortality the C'tan promised would be delivered unto the Necrontyr by way of the arcane and terrible process of bio-transference. Vast bio-foundries were constructed, and into these the Silent King's peoples marched according to the terms of the pact he had made with the C'tan. What blasphemous procedures the Necrontyr were subjected to within the raging bio-furnaces cannot be known, but certainly, each was stripped of flesh and of soul, his body replaced by a shell of living metal animated by what remained of his guttering self. Above each furnace swooped and dove the ethereal true-forms of the C'tan as they glutted themselves on the spiritual detritus of an entire species. It was only when the Silent King himself emerged from the bio-transference process and looked upon what had become of his people that he saw the awful truth of the pact he had made. Though immortality and nigh godlike strength and vigour were his, it had come at the cost of his soul, the effluvial remains of which had already been sucked down the gullet of a circling C'tan.

As Szarekh watched the C'tan feast on the life essence of his people, he realized the terrible depth of his mistake. In many ways, he felt better that he had in decades, the countless aches and uncertainties of organic life now behind him. His new machine body was far mightier than the frail form he had tolerated for so long, and his thoughts were swifter and clearer than they had ever been. Yet there was an emptiness gnawing at his mind, an inexpressible hollowness of spirit that defied rational explanation. In that moment, he knew with cold certainty that the price of physical immortality had been the loss of his soul. With great sorrow the Silent King beheld the fate he had brought upon his people: the Necrontyr were now but a memory, and the soulless, undying Necrons had been reborn in their place.

Yet if the price had been steep, biotransference had fulfilled all of the promises that the C'tan had made. Even the lowliest of the Necrontyr was now blessed with immortality -- age and hard radiation could little erode their new mechanical bodies, and only the most terrible of injuries could destroy them utterly. Likewise, the Necrons now enjoyed a unity that the Necrontyr had never known, though it was achieved through tyranny and the complete loss of individuality and emotion rather than by consent. The biotransference process had embedded command protocols in every Necron mind, granting Szarekh the unswerving loyalty of his subjects. At first, the Silent King embraced this unanimity, for it was a welcome reprieve from the chaos that had consumed the Necrontyr Empire in recent years. However, as time wore on he grew weary of his burden but dared not sever the command protocols, lest his subjects turn on him seeking vengeance for the terrible curse he ahd visited upon them.

Thus the Necrontyr became the Necrons, cursed to the eternal servitude of their Star Gods. The C'tan feasted upon the entire Necrontyr race's life energies even as they made the transfers, leaving behind only the ghostly echoes of the Necrontyr's consciousnesses. Only a few of the most strong-willed Necrontyr retained their intellect and self-awareness and even they were but shadows of their former selves. They had been purged of so much of what had made them unique individuals. The Necrons cared not at all for their loss; all that mattered to them was that they would live forever without disease or death as their Star Gods had promised. Nevertheless, the Necrontyr species was united as never before. The process imbued in every one of the Silent King's subjects the command protocols with which he would rule over them with an iron hand. The entire species was his to command, and so it fell upon the Necrons to honour their side of their terrible bargain. Renewed by their devouring of the souls of an entire species, the C'tan were unstoppable, and with the legions of the Necrons marching in their wake, the Old Ones were doomed. Only one thing truly remained of the old Necrontyr -- their burning hatred for all the other living, intelligent species of the universe. Legions of the undying living metal warriors set out into the galaxy in their Tomb Ships and the stars burned in their wake. The Old Ones' mastery of the Warp was now countered by the C'tan's supremacy over the physical universe and the ancient enemies of the Necrons suffered greatly in the interstellar slaughter that followed.

The Necrons Ascendant

With the C'tan and the Necrons fighting as one, the Old Ones were now doomed to defeat. Glutted on the life force of the Necrontyr, the empowered C'tan were night unstoppable and unleashed forces beyond comprehension. Planets were razed, suns extinguished and whole star systems devoured by black holes called into being by the reality-warping powers of the Star Gods. Necron legions finally breached the Webway and assailed the Old Ones in every corner of the galaxy. They brought under siege the fortresses of the Old Ones' many allies amongst the younger intelligent races of the galaxy, harvesting the life force of the defenders to feed their voracious C'tan masters.

In the closing years of the War in Heaven, one of the primary factors that led to the Necrons' ascendancy was their ability to finally gain access to the Old Ones' Webway. The C'tan known as Nyadra'zath, the Burning One, had long desired to carry his eldritch fires into that space beyond space, and so showed the Necrons how to breach its boundaries. Through a series of living stone portals known as the Dolmen Gates, the Necrons were finally able to turn the Old Ones' greatest weapon against them, vastly accelerating the ultimate end of the War in Heaven.

The portals offered by the Dolmen Gates are neither so stable, nor so controllable as the naturally occurring entrances to the Webway scattered across the galaxy. Indeed, in some curious fashion, the Webway can detect when its environs have been breached by a Dolmen Gate and its arcane mechanisms swiftly attempt to seal off the infected spur from the rest of the Labyrinthine Dimension until the danger to its integrity has passed. Thus, Necrons entering the Webway must reach their intended destination through its shifting extradimensional corridors quickly, lest the network itself bring about their destruction.

Of course, in the present age, aeons have passed since the Necrons used the Dolmen Gates to assault their archenemies. The Old Ones are gone, and the Webway itself has become a tangled and broken labyrinth. Many Dolmen Gates were lost or abandoned during the time of the Necrons' Great Sleep, and many more were destroyed by the Eldar, the Old Ones' successors as the guardians of the Webway. Those that remain grant access to but a small portion of the immense maze that is the Webway, much of that voluntarily sealed off by the Eldar to prevent further contamination. Yet the Webway is immeasurably vast, and even these sundered skeins allow the Necrons a mode of travel that far outpaces those of the younger races. It is well that this is so. As a race bereft of psykers as a result of the loss of their souls during the biotransference process, the Necrons are also incapable of Warp travel, and without access to the Webway, they would be forced to rely once more on slow-voyaging stasis-ships, dooming them to interstellar isolation.

In the wake of these victories, the C'tan and their undying Necron servants now dominated the galaxy. The last planetary bastions of the Old Ones were besieged and the intelligent races they had once nurtured became cattle for the obscene hunger of the C'tan. To the younger sentient species of the galaxy, the Necrons and their Star Gods were cruel masters, callously harvesting their populations at will to feed the C'tan's ceaseless hunger. The C'tan were figures of terror who demanded their adoration and fear in equal measure. For unknown reasons, but probably because their individual hungers for mortal life energies knew no bounds, the C'tan ultimately began to fight amongst themselves for both sport and out of spite as they unleashed destructive forces beyond mortal comprehension. Among the Eldar, an ancient myth holds that their Laughing God tricked the C'tan known as the Outsider into turning on its brothers and beginning their long war for ascendancy. In the course of the C'tan's struggle against one another, whole planets were razed, stars were extinguished and whole solar systems were devoured by unleashed black holes. New cities were built by the efforts of millions and then smashed down once more. As the "red harvests" of the C'tan and their Necron servants grew thin, C'tan eventually devoured C'tan, until only a few were left in the universe and they competed amongst themselves for a long age.

Eventually, even the Old Ones, who had once been defined by their patience and unstoppable will, became desperate in the face of the Necron assault. They used their great scientific skills to genetically engineer intelligent beings with an even stronger psychic link to the Warp, hoping to create servants with the capability of channeling psychic power to defend themselves. They nurtured many potential warrior races, among which are believed to be the earliest members of the Eldar species and many other xenos races, including the Rashan, the K'nib, the Krork and many others. Millennia passed as the Old Ones' creations finally bore fruit and the C'tan and their Necron servants continued to extinguish life across the galaxy.

The Tide Turns

The Old Ones' psychically-empowered servant races spread across the galaxy, battling the advanced Necron technology with the psychic power of their Warp-spawned sorcery. Facing this new onslaught, the C'tan's empire was shattered, as the psychic forces of the Immaterium were anathema to soulless entities whose existence was wholly contained within purely physical patterns of electromagnetic force. For all the destruction they could unleash, they were unable to stop the Old Ones and the younger races' relentless advance across the stars.

The C'tan, unified by this great threat for the first time in millions of years, sought a way to defeat the soul-fueled energies of the younger species. They initiated a great warding, a plan to forever defeat the psychic sorceries of the Old Ones by sealing off the material universe from the Warp, a plan whose first fruits can still be found on the Imperial Fortress World of Cadia in the form of the great pylons that litter the surface of that world in intricate networks and create the area of space-time stability near the Eye of Terror known as the Cadian Gate. With their god-like powers, it was only a matter of time until the C'tan succeeded and the greatest work of the C'tan was begun. But before it was complete, the seeds of destruction the Old Ones had planted millennia before brought about an unforeseen cataclysm. The growing pains and collective psychic flaws of the younger races threw the untapped psychically reactive energies of the Immaterium into disorder. War, pain and destruction were mirrored in the bottomless depth of the Sea of Souls that was the Warp. The maelstrom of souls unleashed into the Immaterium by the carnage of the War in Heaven coalesced in the previously formless energies of the Warp. Older entities that had existed within the Immaterium transformed into terrifying psychic predators, tearing at the souls of vulnerable psykers as their own environment was torn apart and reforged into the Realm of Chaos.

The Enslaver Plague

The denizens of the Warp clustered voraciously at the cracks between the Immaterium and the material universe, seeking new ways to enter the physical realm. The Old Ones brought forth new genetically-engineered warrior races to defend their last strongholds, including the technology-mimicking Jokaero and the formidable, green-skinned Krork who were the ancestors of the present day Orks, but it was already too late. The Old Ones' intergalactic Webway network was breached from the Immaterium and lost to them, several of their Warp Gates were destroyed by their own hands to prevent the entities of the Warp from spreading to uncorrupted worlds and Old Ones' greatest works and places of power were overrun by the horrors their own creations had unleashed. The most terrifying of these horrors were the Enslavers, Warp entities whose ability to dominate the minds of the younger races and create their own portals into the material realm using transmuted possessed psykers brought them forth in ever greater numbers. For the Old Ones, this was the final disaster as the Enslavers took control of their servants. The Pandora's Box unleashed by the creation of the younger races finally scattered the last of the Old Ones and broke their power over the galaxy once and for all. Life had stood at the edge of an apocalypse during the War in Heaven between the Old Ones and the C'tan. Now as the Enslavers breached the Immaterium in epidemic proportions, the survivors looked doomed.

Ultimately, beset by the implacable onset of the C'tan and the calamitous Warp-spawned perils they had themselves mistakenly unleashed, the Old Ones were defeated, scattered and finally destroyed. Whether the species went extinct or simply fled the galaxy to seek a new haven elsewhere is unknown.

The Silent King's Betrayal

Throughout the final stages of the War in Heaven, Szarekh bided his time, waiting for the moment in which the C'tan would prove vulnerable. Though the entire Necron race was now his to command, he could not hope to oppose the C'tan at the height of their power, and even if he did and met with success, the Necrons would then have to finish the War in Heaven against the Old Ones and their increasingly potent allies alone. No, the Old Ones had to be completely and utterly defeated before the C'tan could be brought to account for the horror they had wrought. And so, when the C'tan finally won their great war, their triumph proved short-lived. With one hated enemy finally defeated, and the other spent from hard-fought victory, the Silent King at last led the Necrons in revolt against the C'tan masters.

In their arrogance, the C'tan did not realize their danger until it was too late. The Necrons focused the unimaginable energies of the living universe into weapons too mighty for even the Star Gods to endure. Alas, the C'tan were immortal star-spawn, part of the fundamental fabric of reality and therefore nigh impossible to destroy. So was each C'tan instead sundered into thousands of smaller and less powerful fragments with a similar energy signature. Yet this was sufficient to the Silent King's goals. Indeed, he had known the C'tan's ultimate destruction to be impossible and had drawn his plans accordingly; each C'tan Shard was bound within a multidimensional Tesseract Labyrinth, as trammeled and secured as a Terran djinn trapped in a bottle. Though the cost of victory was high -- millions of Necrons had been destroyed as a consequence of the rebellion, including all of the members of the Triarch save the Silent King himself -- the Necrons were once more in command of their own destiny.

C'tan Shards

A C'tan Shard is all that remains of the once mighty Star Gods of Necron antiquity. They are now only echoes of their former selves, splinters of energy that survived their Necron servants' ancient betrayal and were enslaved in turn. Most now languish in unbreakable servitude to their former vassals, utterly incapable of acting without commission. Should a C'tan Shard rebel, or a fault develop in its control relays, then fail-safe mechanisms automatically activate, whisking the creature back to its tomb, there to languish for long Terran centuries until times are dire enough that the Necrons must call upon its services again. Even with these precautions, the Necrons are wary of employing C'tan Shards in battle. Though the chance of escape is remote, the possibility remains, so the day must be dark indeed for the Necron cause before the Tesseract Labyrinths are opened and the C'tan unleashed upon the galaxy once again. In the late 41st Millennium, the foes of the Necrons have so far only encountered two types of C'tan Shard, those of Aza'gorod the Nightbringer and Mephet'ran the Deceiver.

Even now in their reduced and wholly fettered state, C'tan Shards are beings of near-unlimited power. They can manifest energy blasts, control the minds of lesser beings, manipulate the flow of time, and banish foes to alternate dimensions. Indeed, a C'tan Shard's abilities are limited only by two things: its imagination -- which is immense -- and glimmering memories of the being from which it was severed. Whilst no individual C'tan Shard has full recall of the omnipotent beings it once was, each carries the personality and hubris of that vaster and more puissant being. Though a C'tan Shard has the power to reduce a tank to molten slag with but a gesture, it might simply not occur to it to do so, as its gestalt primogenitor would have tackled the situation through other means, such as by devolving the crew into primordial ooze, or deceiving them into attacking their own allies. The only hope of defeating a C'tan is to breach its Necrodermis shell -- the living metal form that cages its energetic essence. If the Necrodermis is compromised, the C'tan Shard explodes in a pulse of blinding energy, its being scattered to the galactic solar winds.

Whilst it is true that many C'tan Shards are now indentured to Necron service, this by no means accounts for the entire pantheon of C'tan. Rumors of C'tan-like beings can be found across the galaxy, though many are merely entities that exhibit inexplicable reality-warping powers. Indeed, any such being -- whether Warp-spawned daemon, energy-based life form or an alien with advanced technology -- can be mistaken for a C'tan if the observer is primitive, credulous or simply ill-informed enough. This discrepant information causes great confusion concerning the exact number and nature of the surviving C'tan, even among the Eldar. Records held in the Black Library contradict those maintained on Ulthwe, which are again at odds with the archives held on Alaitoc. There might be four C'tan at present in the galaxy, four thousand or any number in between. However, all Eldar agree that the splinters of knowledge held by the Imperium of Man are so flawed and confused that they, if anything, move further from the truth with each fresh discovery made. Any who go looking for proof of a C'tan's existence can easily uncover it, but this speaks more to the mindset of the searcher than it does to any value of the "evidence."

Transcendent C'tan

Transcendent C'tan are the most dangerous of their kind amongst the C'tan Shards. Each is an aggregation of anywhere between a dozen and a hundred lesser C'tan Shards, and its power far surpasses the sum of its parts. Those few that are chained to Necron service are not contained by Tesseract Labyrinths, but by energy shackles designed aeons ago by the legendary Necron artificer Svarokh. Such devices are unstable, making the deployment of a Transcendent C'tan without the device known as a Tesseract Vault to contain it something of a risk, only undertaken in times of direst need. For this reason, when contained within a Tesseract Vault, a Transcendent C'tan is also kept within a special energy shield generated by a robotic Necron construct known as a Canoptek Sentinel. Canoptek Sentinels are used to control the raw elemental energies of a Transcendent C'tan. The Sentinel draws from the Transcendent C'tan's own power to generate a force shield strong enough to keep the C'tan shackled to the mechanisms of the Tesseract Vault. At the same time, constructs known as Canoptek Leeches arrayed and docked around the circumference of the vault and an army of Canoptek Scarabs move to constantly repair the damage done to the arcane prison. However, there are only so many Scarabs and Canoptek Leeches holding the Tesseract Vault together, and as the Transcendent C'tan bends reality and tears metal off the vault in its bids for freedom, the Canoptek automatons rebuild its prison using the debris in a cyclical process of destruction and reconstruction.

Manifestations of Power

C'tan Shards are beings of reality-warping power. Their abilities are many and varied, often harking back to those their far more powerful parent-entities enjoyed. A C'tan Shard is always capable of unleashing two of the following abilities which have been recorded by Eldar scholars.

Entropic Touch - Metal decays on contact with the C'tan Shard's rotten grasp.

Gaze of Death - Eyes blazing with dark energy, the C'tan Shard drains the life from all in the vicinity.

Grand Illusion - The C'tan Shard weaves a glamour of deception, preventing the foe from seeing the true disposition of the Necron forces.

Lord of Fire - The C'tan Shard that wields this ability can become a creature of living flame, able to command the fires wielded by the enemy. This makes all Flamer weapons (as well as heat rays, Burnas, Skorchas, Inferno Cannons and any other weapon that uses flame or fire), as well as all Melta Weapons fired near the C'tan Shard may explode at the C'tan whim.

Moulder of Worlds - Tortured rock buckles and heaves, showering the C'tan Shard's foes with boulders.

Pyreshards - The C'tan Shard conjures specks of blazing black matter and directs them against its foes.

Sentient Singularity - The C'tan Shard's presence destabilizes all local gravitational forces, disrupting engines, teleport beams and Warp jumps.

Swarm of Spirit Dust - A cloud of swirling darkness conceals the C'tan Shard from the gaze of its foes.

Time's Arrow - Mutating the flow of causation and remoulding the temporal stream of the space-time continuum, the C'tan Shard casts its foe back into the darkness from before time was time.

Transdimensional Thunderbolt - The C'tan Shard projects a bolt of crackling transdimensional energy from its outstretched palm.

Writhing Worldscape - The natural world revolts at the C'tan Shard's presence, the very ground writhing and shaking as the physical laws of reality are undone.

Ascendant Powers

A Transcendent C'tan is a far more powerful entity than a standard C'tan Shard. As such, Transcendent C'tan are able to unleash these abilities when the Necrons deign to release them upon the battlefield. Every Transcendent C'tan must possess one of the following powers, though they cannot be unleashed when the C'tan is fully shackled within the confines of the Tesseract Vault:

Storm of Heavenly Fire - The Transcendent C'tan unleashes a rain of fire from the heavens which explodes with a cataclysmic blast upon the battlefield. This power is extremely effective at destroying enemy tanks and armoured vehicles.

Transliminal Stride - Using its ability to manipulate the space-time continuum and extradimensional realities, the Transcendent C'tan can move across the battlefield to a predetermined point, simply phasing through all obstacles or opponents in its path.

Seismic Shockwave - When the Transcendent C'tan slams its Necrodermis-clad foot down, it unleashes a seismic shockwave that causes the very ground to shake, blasting armoured vehicles and infantry alike into the air like unfortunate toys.

A Transcendent C'tan is able to manifest two of the following Ascendant Powers, and can utilize them to devastating effect on the battlefield:

Antimatter Meteor - The Transcendent C'tan is able to unleash a huge meteor composed of antimatter upon the battlefield, a furious assault from the sky that will annihilate all normal matter within range.

Cosmic Fire - The Transcendent C'tan unleashes a wave of fire hotter than the interior of some suns upon the battlefield, incinerating everything in its path.

Seismic Assault - The Transcendent C'tan causes rumbling earthquakes with a flick of its hand, crushing enemy units to pulp.

Sky of Falling Stars - A rain of blazing meteorites falls from the sky to impact the foe at the whim of the Transcendent C'tan.

Transdimensional Maelstrom - The Transcendent C'tan uses its command of transdimensional energies to unleash a swirling extradimensional vortex upon the battlefield that can banish all it touches to an alternate reality.

Wave of Withering - The Transcendent C'tan can cause metal and flesh alike to wither at its command.

Known C'tan

Active C'tan

Those C'tan who are known to still exist include:

Aza'gorod the Nightbringer - Aza'gorod the Nightbringer has impressed its image as that of the grim reaper itself on the psyche of the younger races, apart from the Orks (since they do not fear death). Upon entering stasis it was almost destroyed and starved but was released by Kashmir De Valtos, a corrupt planetary administrator in the Imperium of Man in the 41st Millennium, which caused the Necrons to begin to awaken from their ancient sleep.

Mephet'ran the Deceiver - Mephet'ran the Deceiver came out of stasis an unknown time ago and has been weaving plots ever since, including the destruction of the ancient Old Ones weapons the Eldar call the Talismans of Vaul and the Imperium knows as the Blackstone Fortresses which were designed to destroy the C'tan on their emergence.

Mag'ladroth the Void Dragon - Mag'ladroth the Void Dragon is the most powerful C'tan and still resides in stasis, theorised to be located beneath Mars in the Noctis Labyrinthus. The Void Dragon is believed by some Tech-priests to be the actual Machine God venerated by the Cult of the Machine of the Adeptus Mechanicus. A master of the material realm, this particular C'tan was a figure of oblivion, devastation and wanton destruction and its created warriors were nigh invincible. No C'tan Shard of this C'tan has yet been encountered, and it is possible that the Void Dragon has remained whole through the eons and its essence was never captured within the Tesseract Labyrinths. This is a truly terrifying prospect for the galaxy if this entity were to awaken.

Nyadra'zatha the Burning One - It was the C'tan known as Nyadra'zatha, the Burning One, who had long desired to carry his eldritch fires into the Webway and beyond, who enabled the Necrons to gain access to the Labyrinthine Dimension, showing the Necrons how to breach its boundaries. Through a series of living stone portals known as Dolmen Gates, the Necrons have finally been able to turn the Old Ones' greatest weapon to their own purpose. As a race bereft of psykers, the Necrons are incapable of Warp travel, and without access to the Webway, they would be forced to rely once more on slow-voyaging stasis-ships, dooming them to isolation within the galaxy.

Inactive or Unknown Status

The names of several other C'tan are known to the Imperium of Man and the Eldar, though they have not yet been encountered as active C'tan Shards and it remains unknown whether they still exist in Necron captivity like their brethren or have ceased to exist.

Iash'uddra the Endless Swarm - Nothing is currently known about this C'tan, other than that it exists.

Kalugura - Kalugura is a C'tan who was captured and transformed into a C'tan Shard. Kalugura was once a horrific engine of destruction. This particular C'tan Shard was entombed on the world of Kalugura aeons ago, at the command of the Silent King Szarekh, then the supreme overlord of the Necron race's ruling Triarch. The reason why this Shard was imprisoned and is no longer deployed by the Necrons is unknown.

Llandu'gor, the Flayer - When the Necrons finally turned against the C'tan in the last days of the War in Heaven, the Flayer was not simply splintered as were his brothers, but utterly obliterated. In his dying moments, the Star God inflicted a terrible curse upon the Necrons, tainting them with an echo of the fathomless hunger of its essence. The victims of this terrible madness are the Flayed Ones.

Og'driada, the Arisen - Nothing is currently known about this C'tan, other than that it exists.

Tsara'noga the Outsider - Tsara'noga the Outsider became insane due to its consumption of other C'tan, a trick played on it by Cegorach, the Eldar Laughing God. It developed a hellish presence, causing madness in all who came close, and many killed themselves rather than have to face the Outsider. The Outsider shares some similarities with the Nightbringer, in that it is said that to look upon it would cause terror, much like the Nightbringer's infusion of terror in the younger races produced by the Old Ones. Furthermore, one of the Harlequins' many dances depicts the moment when the Laughing God tricked the C'tan into consuming each other, except that the C'tan depicted is the Nightbringer, rather than the Outsider. The Outsider is currently imprisoned in a Dyson Sphere beneath the galactic plane. The Harlequins whisper that "one dark night, it shall return."

Yggra'nya, the Shaper - Nothing is currently known about this C'tan, other than that it exists.

Other C'tan Influences

The Imperial Inquisition employs elite Officio Assassinorum Assassins, among whom, the members of the Callidus Temple, use a weapon called a C'tan Phase Sword. It is unknown what specific relation the weapon has with the C'tan themselves. The most likely explanation would be that the C'tan Phase Sword is made out of Necrodermis, such as in one instance where a Callidus Assassin attacked an Imperial Planetary Governor, only to have her C'tan phase weapon absorbed into the "governor" and become a part of his body. This governor was most likely the C'tan called the Deceiver in another of its myriad disguises.

The primary weakness of the C'tan is their inability to comprehend the Warp. It is speculated that they find it impossible to survive in it and are particularly susceptible as a result to Warp-spawned psychic and the psykers that wield it. It is also speculated that they have set up the networks of pylons on Cadia, with the likely intention of sealing off the local area of realspace (i.e. the galaxy) from the Immaterium. Whether these pylons have anything to do with the existence of the nearby Eye of Terror is unknown, but it is unlikely, as the Eye was not opened until long after the C'tan were already in their stasis tombs. There is also a Necron object of unknown purpose on the Hive World of Armageddon in the Equatorial Jungle regions of the planet.

Source: http://warhammer40k.wikia.com

#horus heresy #warhammer 40k #necrons #c'tan #adeptus sororitas #adeptus arbites #adeptus astartes #adeptus custodes #adeptus mechanicus #astra militarum #Adeptus Astra Telepathica #officio assassinorum

37 notes · View notes

asktheadeptus · 8 years ago

Photo

The Chainsword is the preferred close combat melee weapon of many of the military forces of the Imperium of Man. The Chainsword is essentially a sword with powered teeth that run along a single-edged blade like that of a chainsaw. Most versions of the weapon make use of monomolecularly-edged or otherwise razor-sharp teeth. Chainswords are not subtle weapons, and wielding one is a statement in its own right: they are horrific tools of war, designed to bite, tear and eviscerate where more primitive blades merely cut and slice. The weapon makes an angry buzzing sound as the teeth spin around, intensifying into a high pitched scream as they grind into armour. It is not unlike a modern chainsaw, but lighter and able to be wielded with one hand. It is often used in conjunction with a Laspistol.

A Chainsword brings the weight of intimidation with its obvious effectiveness, and it promises pain before death. On worlds claimed by Humanity, these blades are items of status for criminals and high-ranking gang fighters, as well as weapons of lethal (and crowd-pleasing) necessity for indentured gladiators. Among Mankind's endless armies, the ubiquitous Chainsword has found a home in the arsenal of many Imperial Guard officers and Commissars, as well as serving as the weapon of choice for countless warriors among the Adeptus Astartes since the ancient era of the Space Marine Legions in the Great Crusade. This weapon sees action in all forces that serve in boarding and assault parties -- such as Space Marine Assault Squads, Chaos Space Marines, especially the Chaos Space Marines' Raptor Assault Squads, and Eldar Striking Scorpions Aspect Warriors. The Chainsword has also been seen in common use amongst Imperial pirates and Rogue Tradercaptains.

In alien hands, chainblades take more exotic forms despite obeying the same function. An Ork "chain-choppa" will have none of an Eldar chainsabre's bone-sung elegance, and little of the reliability of a Space Marine's mass-produced weapon, but it will carve flesh and shed blood with the same eagerness. Orks often steal them for Mad Doks and Meks and it has been reported that Slugga Boyz also use them. Some Ork Warbosses have been known to attach them to their hands instead of Klaws.

History

Like many examples of human invention, the Chainsword's many variants seem to have their roots in the shrouded heresies of the Dark Age of Technology. Accordingly, it saw consistent use in the armoured fists of techno-barbarians during the Age of Strife, and among the Emperor's own armies during his Thunder Warriors' brutal conquest of Terra. But Chainswords have been wielded by inhuman hands for aeons. Several xenos races have borne such blades into battle even in the ages when Mankind could only look up to the stars with spears in their filthy hands. Tech-Priest foundry masters have speculated, down the centuries, that it is simply a natural evolution of the sword's design: from bronze to iron; from iron to steel; from steel to chain-teeth; and from chain-teeth to a weapon wreathed in an energy field -- such as the Imperial Power Sword.

But doubt remains. More than one Martian magos has devoted their life's work to researching the primeval origins of Chain Weapons: mostly likely the result of inspiration stolen from an alien race, in a war that may never be remembered. If this theorem ever bears fruit, it is distinctly possible that the galaxy's first wielders of Chainswords were jade-clad warriors of the ancient Eldar. As befitting the galaxy's most common type of chainweapon, chainswords come in hundreds upon hundreds of styles, patterns, and local variants. Two-handed blades are often referred to as "Eviscerators" by the Imperium, but these immense weapons come in almost as many variants as their more common counterparts.

Every Space Marine Chapter will forge its own blades with subtle differences to those of its brethren, just as every Forge World produces its tried and tested signature weapons based on its preferred schematics. The most common template for any Imperial chainsword is the Mk. XI "Hell's Teeth" pattern, with thousands of minor variations seeing use throughout Mankind's endless armies. Chapters such as the Flesh Tearers, the Marines Errant, the Minotaurs, and the Blood Eagles have made no secret of their own named pattern chainblades, usually divergent in matters of decoration and reverence. Unsurprisingly, one of the most dramatic Imperial variants is also found among the Adeptus Astartes: the so-called "Krakentooth" frost blade of the Space Wolves, with its chain-teeth supposedly formed from the fangs of the sea monsters blighting the oceans of their homeworld of Fenris.

Battle and Maintenance

Despite their relative ease of manufacture, few weapons require as much maintenance as the Imperial Chainsword. Fortunately, the maintenance is of a mundane nature -- easily performed by any ganger or warrior -- rather than something like plasma technology which inevitably requires the sacred insight of a tech-priest in order to keep it functioning over time. Replacement teeth-tracks are found in vast crates alongside Lasgun power packs in every Imperial Guard drop zone, as well as being similarly stored aboard every Space Marine Thunderhawk Gunship. The first concern is that even the most well-forged chainsword will blunt quickly against heavy armour, especially the dense, ablative layers bolted onto an Orkish warlord, or the tainted Ceramite of a Traitor Marine. Chainswords lack the heavy cutting weight of Chainaxes and their bulkier ilk, and are better served to cleaving through the joints of heavy suits of armour.

Secondly, Chainswords are thirsty weapons. Some variants are much more efficient in terms of fuel consumption, but those that aren’t powered by self-sustaining energy generators drink Promethium fuel no differently to countless other low-tech Imperial machines, and emit the same crude, oily reek as any tank's engine. The final concern is one of skill. Chainswords can "throw" teeth when they're used in poorly executed parries, slapped blade-to-blade with other chainweapons, or simply wielded with all the precision of a club. While teeth are easily replaced and repaired, it is not uncommon for battles between Chainsword duellists to end with both the victor’s and the loser’s blades missing several teeth, especially if the fighters wore heavy armour. Ork weapons, especially those with chain-teeth made from the alien "ivory" of an Ork's own sharpened fangs, are especially vulnerable to this kind of degradation. Anyone with a modicum of experience wielding one of these weapons knows to parry with the reinforced flat of the blade, rather than catch a blow on the toothed, moving edge.

These issues of durability rarely apply off the battlefield. A hive ganger or sump-waste outlaw can own a Chainsword his entire life without suffering the same degenerative annoyances as an Assault Marine of the Adeptus Astartes, because – like any weapon –- a Chainsword's use depends entirely on context. When used as intended against lightly armoured foes, a Chainsword is lethality incarnate. No other blade in existence cuts flesh with the same vicious, ravening hunger as a Chainsword. A fighter's strength will add to the blow's devastating effects, but where other melee weapons may rely purely on strength, a chainsword makes for a perfect duelling weapon; just as effective when wielded with grace and speed over brawn. Once the teeth even graze flesh, their motorised bite hooks deeper and saws through muscle, sinew and bone with the same, surgical ease. Just as nothing cuts meat and bone like a Chainsword, nothing bleeds like a Chainsword wound. Enemies losing arms and legs to these weapons (a practice commonly called "limbing" by Imperial Guard veterans with unpleasant smiles) can look forward to one of the bloodiest battlefield deaths imaginable, as their life pours out through the uncauterised, mangled stump of flesh that remains in place of a whole limb.

Chainsword Variants

Imperial

Acitus Pattern Chainsword - A common pattern Astartes Chainsword utilised by such Chapters as the NovamarinesChapter.

Astartes Chainsword - This massive weapon is commonly utilised by Assault Marines. These weapons generally have a flat carapace containing the chain teeth, with only the forward, curved section open where the spinning chain teeth can bite into flesh and bone.

Drusian "Crusader" Chainsword - Manufactured by a variety of Forge Worlds, these popular weapons are a familiar sight throughout the edges of the sector where memories of Saint Drusus burn brightly. On Drusus Day, many shrines are crowded with multitudes of followers, raising their Chainswords (or mock replicas, for the poor or young) in the air in honour of his works and sacrifice. For those who seek to continue the crusade in the Koronus Expanse, the most common pattern of this weapon uses a curved cutlass-like blade. Most are a holy silver in colour, and favour a large spiked basket-guard to better smite the unclean xenos.

Eviscerator - Favoured by Ecclesiarchy zealots and Witch-Hunters, the Eviscerator is an obscenely large double-handed Chainsword fitted with a crude version of the disruption field generator more commonly found on Power Weapons. Although very unwieldy and tiring to use, the Eviscerator is fully capable of ripping an armoured man in half or tearing open the most blasphemously corrupted mutant in a single stroke. Even more massive versions of these two-handed weapons are also in limited issue in Space Marine Assault Squads, and though similarly unwieldy in combat, when combined with the enhanced strength of the Astartes, they are fully capable of tearing apart the hull plating of even heavily armored vehicles with ease.

Frost Blade - Frost Blades are potent weapons unique to the Space Wolves Chapter, and can carve through the heaviest armour with ease. Frost Blades usually take the forms of Chainswords or Chainaxes, though they can exist in the form of any type of Imperial melee weapon. Frost Blades are master works created by the Space Wolves' Iron Priests -- each is incredibly rare and prestigious. The teeth of these icy Chain Weapons are always cut from nigh-unbreakable substances such as Ice Kraken fangs or tempered diamond. The unique power fields enveloping Frost Blades have a distinctive blue cast. A Frost Blade combines the best qualities of a Chain Weapon and a Power Weapon. Some Frost Axes have blades of energised diamond rather than chainblades, which gives the weapons the appearance that they have been carved from a single, lethal shard of ice.

Gore Prow Pattern - A notable Chapter subtype pattern Chainsword known to be utilised by the zealous Fire Hawks Space Marine Chapter.

Hecate Pattern Chainsword - This pattern of Chainsword weighs a full 6 kilograms but remains a well-balanced weapon useful in melee combat that is often used by Rogue Traders to intimidate foes and mutinous crew members alike.

Hydraphur-Pattern Chainsword - Sometimes called a Chain-Cutlass, these short-bladed, curved Chainswords are favoured by armsmen crew chiefs for their brutality. Their shorter length makes them easier to wield in the close confines of a starship corridor, while their more compact design conceals two parallel rows of teeth, allowing it to deal greater damage than its size might otherwise suggest, at the cost of poorly-distributed balance.

Locke Pattern Double-Edged "Mercy" Chainsword - Some of the more maniacal wielders of Chainswords use customised models with two ripping edges, created by removing the protective carapace surrounding the near side of the weapon. This modification (also available as a finished product due to demand) makes the weapon dangerous to the user as well, but this is not generally a concern and wielders proudly wear the numerous self-inflicted scars that using such a sword often entails. "Mercy" chainswords typically come with a longer haft, so that they can be swung using two hands for deeper strikes.

Mark IID "Errant" Pattern Chainsword - A notable Chapter subtype pattern Chainsword known to be utilised by the Marines Errant Space Marine Chapter.

Mark V "Fangmaw" Pattern Chainsword - A notable Chapter subtype pattern Chainsword utilised exclusively by the savage Space Wolves Space Marine Chapter.

Mark XI "Hell's Teeth" Pattern Chainsword - This pattern of the weapon is the most current version of the Chainsword used by Imperial military forces. The Mark XI pattern designed for use by an Astartes is much larger than one designed for use by a normal-sized human who is an Imperial Guard officer. This pattern is known to be utilised by the Lamenters Space Marine Chapter, amongst others.

Thunder Edge Pattern Chainsword - An ancient pattern Chainsword utilised by the warriors of the Legiones Astartes during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras, this pattern of Chainsword's origins may lie even further back in history, and were most likely utilised by the Thunder Warriors during the Wars of Unification on Terra.

Chaos

Legion Chainsword - As the name suggests, Chainswords are roughly sword-like in shape with a large flat housing containing the chain. Chainsword variants often used by the servants of Chaos have the entire blade chassis opened to expose the chained teeth. This makes the weapon more dangerous to both user and victim, but for a truly dedicated warrior this is of little concern. Like all their weapons, the Chainswords used by Chaos Space Marine forces are longer and heavier, fit only to be carried by these mightiest of warriors.

Ironfang Chainsword - Designed to allow mere humans to approximate the deadly blows of a Chaos Space Marine, the Ironfang features a thick, bladed area with chained teeth nearly twice as wide as other Chainswords. The power from the backpack-mounted supply provides greater tearing strength, and the weighted nose of the sword allows the user to strike with heavy slashing blows.

Phobos Pattern Great Chainsword - This huge two-handed weapon can run almost two metres in length, with a long grip and weighted pommel to allow for some semblance of balance in use. The chained teeth are exposed along the entire length, so that the user can swing it in both directions in combat more like a flail than a real sword. Originally used in Forge Polix as a tool for ripping apart large bulkheads and armour during construction, the tool was repurposed by warriors of Khorne who found it brutally effective on the battlefield. This is a two-handed melee weapon.

Eldar

Biting Blade - Utilised exclusively by the Striking Scorpions Exarchs, these large swords are reminiscent of the massive Eviscerators used by zealots within the Imperium, as Biting Blades are also long-bladed, two-handed chainswords. However, where Eviscerators are heavy, noisy machines, Biting Blades are slender and quiet, but no less deadly for their relatively light weight. Wielded properly, their razor-sharp teeth can tear through flesh and bone with horrific speed, and a skilled warrior can cleave a man in two without difficulty.

Eldar Chainsword - A seldom-seen weapon, Eldar Chainswords bear only a superficial resemblance to the roaring, heavy blades of humans or Orks. Almost silent, they produce little more than a sibilant whisper as they tear through flesh and bone. Their swiftly-cycling rows of mono-edged teeth cause considerable damage to any creature in their path.

Scorpion Chainsword - A lightweight Chainsword used by warriors of the Striking Scorpions Aspect Warriors, they are a deadly one-handed melee weapons whose vicious blade is comprised of diamond-toothed edges that mangle and tear flesh. Its advanced design augments the user's strength, making it an incredibly deadly weapon to use in close combat against infantry and lightly armoured targets.

Orks

Choppa - Orks use a bewildering variety of bladed, spiked, serrated, jagged, barbed and notched hand weapons ranging from the proverbial blunt instrument to whirring Ork-tooth chainsaws. An Ork Chain Choppa is the Greenskin equivalent of a Chainsword, a large blunt instrument of death with large whirring jagged metal teeth that rip and tear an enemy apart in a hail of gore.

#horus heresy #warhammer 40k #adeptus arbites #adeptus astartes #Adeptus custodes #adepta sororitas #adeptus mechanicus #officio assassinorum #astra militarum #Adeptus Astra Telepathica

90 notes · View notes