Mordu

Skaran legend recalls the Curse of Mordu, the son of a Chieftain who placed ambition and selfishness above the good of his clan. Cast out by his people as punishment, he was taken in by a Hag who revealed herself as a witch. He sort vengeance against his clan and demanded a spell from her that would make it so. She granted his dark wish and cursed him as punishment, transforming the Chieftains son into a vile mockery of the mighty Skaran Bear. Black of fur, scarred and mutilated, blind in one eye and carrying the weapons of all those of a selfish heart impaled in the flesh of its back, the Demon Bear known as Mordu was sent out to haunt the Skaran wilds forever more. It's eternal torment was to hunt and devour the souls of all those who would serve themselves over their clans and risk their failure due to their own arrogance.

As grim tribute to the tale that had haunted so many Skaran dreams, Kodiak Ursidae - Primarch of The War Bears named his Flagship after the avatar of Skaran vengeance. Measuring over 24 kilometers in length, the *Mordu* is amongst the largest of the Gloriana-class Battleships in use by the legions, being amongst those second generation of vessels that were purpose built, rather than retrofitted, and in this manner, only the *Herald of Destruction* is larger, any vessel larger still predating the Great Crusade itself, such as the *Furiar Imperator* of the Dragon Lords.

Similar to how all of the *Legiones Astartes* retrofited, modified or designed their ships from scratch to serve their specific styles of warfare, the War Bears have outfitted their Flagship as the ultimate void predator. Clad in armour plating tens of metres thick, the *Mordu* dispenses with agility and grace and embraces its role as a vast hulk that bludgeons its way through its adversaries - leaving dozens of lifeless wrecks in its wake.

Unlike many of its contemporaries, The *Mordu* lacks much in the way of directed energy weapons such as Laser and plasma - instead favouring all manner of solid based projectile systems. Numerous torpedo banks, missile launchers and macro shell cannons line the *Mordu's* hull and as soon as an enemy vessel enters auspex range the ships metal skin erupts in a cascade of ordinance. Such is the firepower of the *Mordu*, that smaller vessels are ‘advised’ to maintain a safe proximity from the Flagship lest they be torn asunder by the shock waves of its multitude of weapon systems.

All of this pales however in comparison to the effectiveness and sheer lethality of *Mordu's* ‘bite’.

Ordered by the explicit command of the Chieftain King, the *Mordu* was fitted with an absurdly large bladed prow. Reminiscent of a hunters speer, the blade is a reinforced composite of numerous high density metals. Used as the ram, the *Mordu* smashes into the largest ships in can find, it's gargantuan engines running white hot to power the vessel to top speed as the Flagship plows through its enemies in a terrifying display of power. Ripping through shields, hulls and decks, the spectacle is both astounding and horrifying to witness as the *Mordu* disembowels ships - leaving them broken and spinning as they vomit debris and crew into the ice cold of space.

If not already enough of a formidable weapon of savage wrath and fury the *Mordu* has a final surprise embedded deep within its onyx black hide. Due to her significant mass and power requirements, the *Mordu* is not a fast vessel. Easily outmaneuvered by almost any other space faring craft, the Warmakers of the 7th legion have devised a means to counteract its prey escaping the *Mordu’s* clutches.

Rolling back armour plating and sliding out dozens of crude turrets, the *Mordu* launches hundreds of massive harpoons out into its prey before slowly reeling them in. Thus the Demon Bear can continue to pound its foe with continued volleys of close range firepower whilst ensuring its inability to escape. Should the harpooned vessel attempt to fight back and disgorge the mighty blades they will be met with hordes of raging War Bears, released from assault pods attached behind the harpoon blades. Commanded to kill and burn everything, the War Bears set about the vessels internals - gutting the ship from the inside.

Beset from within and without, those poor unfortunates will know the fear every Skaran feels as they close their eyes to sleep only to meet the Demon Bear *Mordu* ready to consume their soul.

Internally the *Mordu* is as one would expect a Flagship of a legion to be, eponymous of its masters culture in every detail. To walk its corridors is to be transported into the depths of the *Cairn*, the War Bears fortress on Skara. The *Mordu's* expansive corridors are bedecked in wood, stone and crude metalwork that obscures any sign of the ships true identity. The smell of smoke, meat and ale wafts through corridors and an unusual haze almost akin to a mist clings to the air. No matter where one stands a palpable tension hangs over them and a constant feeling of being watched permeates the minds of all the mortals who serve aboard the flagship.

The War Bears themselves prefer the depths of the *Mordu*, where it is warm and dark. Indeed, such is their fondness of the isolation it affords that a great deal of the ships command stations are located at the ship's core - this is to both serve the Bears peculiarities of habitation as well as maximise the strategic integrity of the vessel. It was Kodiak who again ordered the dismantling of the ships bridge and relocation to the *Mordu's* depths, his survivalist mind unable to comprehend the logic of locating a vital command post so brazenly on the top of his Flagship. Situated around the command center are the legions barracks and armouries and from there the vast corridors leading to the landing bays, drop pods and teleportariums. This structure allows the War Bears to maintain a constant defensive position around the *Mordu's* heart and in the case of boarding actions respond immediately by launching rapid assaults outwards to drive off the invaders, purging the ship deck by deck outwards from the Command center.

Buried in amongst his sons places of rest is the den of the Primarch himself. As in the *Cairn* so to on the *Mordu*, Kodiak Ursidae seeks solace and respite surrounded by his sons. Though they may not speak nor even see one another both the Primarch and his sons are noticeably more passive just being in each others vicinity. It is speculated that this relates to an unspecified psychic phenomenon between the Chieftain King and his sons, but such hypotheses would require extraneous research.

The Primarchs den encompasses all his needs from his quarters to armouries to training pits and even a shrine area where he may evoke the spirits of the slain and seek guidance from them.

Relatively close to the majority of the ships Astartes contingent is the Druids lair. As on Skara so to is it on the *Mordu* and the Lair serves as Apothecarium and librarium to the ship's occupants. It is a place of esoteric oddities and wonders, a place where the spirits and the living converse and interact and where only those permitted may enter. It is here that Old Crow is often found if not at the Primarchs side offering council.

Below this are the hollows of the Sluagh Hordes. The *Mordu's* contingent is extensive and they are placed down in the ships depths in order to supplement the Astartes strength whilst simultaneously defending the forges lower still. In battle time they will swarm forward and rush to board the transports and drop pods in a frenzy of combat drug fuelled exhilaration - little knowing that few will return to take up residence again on the Demon Bear.

Ready to supplement these losses however as well as provide arms and armour are the Warmakers in their forges. Toiling and building in scale versions of the furnaces of Mars, the Warmakers assure the legions tools of war are operational and stirred to bloodlust by the invocations taught to them by the Druids. Such practices are believed to help consecrate the machine spirit and the hunters spirit into a singular being of mechanical rage and animalistic fury.

Further down still, far from the crashing and smashing of the forges is arguably the most sacred place aboard the *Mordu*. The Vault of the Spirit walkers is situated far below anything else onboard and this is in no small part due to its occupants, the legions Ancients - They Who Sleep - until the need is so dire they must be awoken.

It is here that the War Bears Dreadnoughts slumber away as their bodies and souls merge and break away from one another in an endless weave of reality and unreality. Their significance to the Legion is beyond measure as they are living conduits between those who live and those who have passed on. Revered and respected, the Dreadnoughts and the Druids often convene in ritualistic ceremonies where they commune in a realm between ours and the next. What is exchanged between the two is unknown to all except those involved and it is because of this pivotal role in the legions spirituality that they are afforded such esteemed positions in the War Bears. When roused to battle, the very depths of the *Mordu* echo with the War chants and shamanic cries of the Druids as the Ancient ones step forth from their hallowed vaults and stride up through the ship towards the assault decks.

Running the entire length of the *Mordu*, the assault decks are an ad hoc assembly of drop pod launchers and troop transport hangars.

The *Mordu* utilises its expansive assortment of drop deployment systems by performing a ‘death roll’ above a planet. As the immense ship spins along its horizontal axis it disgorges thousands of drop pods and transports whilst simultaneously teleporting its entire terminator compliment planetside. Such immediate and overwhelming deployment of force is utterly irresistible and when combined with the *Mordu's* immense arsenal of firepower there are few if any worlds that can resist such an all consuming onslaught.

The *Mordu* also holds claim to the dubious honour of receiving a number of experimental power plants, each required to supplement its existing generators and collaborate in powering the goliath through the void. A ‘gift’ from the Mechanicum, the power plants are unpredictable when run at high capacity for extended periods and peculiar phenomenon seem to occur within their proximity. Shades and spectres skulk the shadows of the *Mordu* and ghastly shrieks and wails reverberate along its corridors. Due to this the Chieftain King has set his Druids to scour the ship of accursed spirits who seek to do ill to her and her crew.

As stated, the *Mordu* is clad in its entirety with black onyx. Mined from some unknown backwater world, the material appears to shift light reflecting off it into strange and unnerving shapes that ripple along its length from prow to stern. To witness this illusion with the bare eye has been said to drive one mad as they attempt to reconcile the nightmarish images that morph into existence within the midnight coloured stone. To be the masters of a ship that seems haunted both within and without would perhaps give one cause for concern and yet the War Bears embrace it. The primal savagery they embrace as intrinsic to the persecution of their duties has led to a predators kinship with the *Mordu*. To the 7th legion it represents their culture, their home and at a core level - who they are as warriors. Big, brutal and brash - the *Mordu* is in every way a reflection of its masters and as if knowing this continues to serve them in the same bellicose fashion it always has.

To all others it is a harbinger of doom and death and the shadow of the Emperors beasts set loose to devour all who stand against his will.

“Beware the black of the void, for within its night moves the Demon Bear - and it is hungry.”

## Technical Specificaltions

* Length: 24 Kilometers
* Role: Close Range Destruction
* Date of Construction: M30.921