Claws of Konrad

Warband armorial with corrupted iconography

A chaos space marine in the colors of the Claws of Konrad

The **Claws of Konrad** are a chaos space marine warband broken from the Night Lords legion. Like their parent, they specialize in terror tactics, and elements of the warband utilize sorcery.

The warband consists of about two thousand men and a mid-sized fleet. They take resources and recruits from the planetary tithes of two dozen worlds, which they have subjugated and placed puppet rulers on.

## Warband History

The Claws of Konrad are a relatively new warband, created in the 35th millenium.

Leading up to this, in the closing days of the Horus Heresy, Vael the Retributor left the Atramentar. The future warlord abandoned the legion, remaining loyal to the Imperium. He could not abandon the Emperor’s plan for humanity’s prosperous future, fighting even his own brothers in the Siege of Mars.

Yet after the heresy, the imperium began to stagnate. Vael and his blackshields could see it - the empire would never recover on its own. It had to be wiped clean. The Retributor, still ideologically charged, joined the Black Legion. Here he spent three millennia, as an attack dog for the Despoiler. The terminator became a chaos lord, butchering the corrupt Imperials and any who dared challenge Abaddon’s armies.

And yet… the Imperium remained. The Black Legion was constantly killing and raiding, yet the empire remained. Vael’s fiery ambition began to fizzle out, as all the years of fighting produced nothing of note.

One day, the chaos lord met Nostramen. Named after the people they shared, he was a Night Lords raptor lord with his own small warhost. Vael decided to abandon the Black Legion, for a price, and join Nostramen. To reclaim his heritage, and build something for himself.

To do so further, he used the skills of Word Bearer Daemonsmith Lakde Ces to forge a daemonic sword. This blade used one of the Night Haunter's claws, which Vael had saved from his Atramentar days, as the spine. Imbued with a trapped Tzeentch daemon, this sword became the Claw of Mercy.

The drawback of the sword was that only a powerful psyker could wield it, and neither Vael nor Nostramen were one. So they sought out and found an Oracle to use the blade. This title was passed from wielder to wielder over the ages. The last Clawed Oracle was selected two centuries before the Indomitus crusade.

## Warband Homeworld

Sedanor is an agri-world littered with orbital defences and fortresses, primarily used to keep the warband's relics and other conquered treasures. This planet was chosen because of it's particularly strong connection to the warp, which makes daemon summoning significantly easier. As well as its agricultural status - by controlling the centre of food production, the Night Lords held the entire sector hostage. The people of Sedanor pay tithes to the Claws of Konrad, and the warband acts as the enforcers of order.

This is the seat of power in the Midnight Sector, a small realm of twenty-four worlds conquered by the Night Lords. They are ruled by fear, as well as agents and spies embedded in the planetary governments. If a planet rebels - well, the sector used to have twenty-five worlds.

## Notable Campaigns

**The Siege of Tartaron.** The Claws of Konrad fought with the Vargarian Guard, the Blood Zealots and other warbands against loyalist forces. In this battle, Inquisitor Krast shot a plasma gun into Nostramen's backpack, nearly killing him. In the aftermath, the Raptor lord was interred in a hellforged dreadnought.

**The Battle of Brothers.** A fight between the Serrated Blades warband and the Claws of Konrad. Vael kills their warlord and absorbs most of their men, freeing the Night Witches sisters from their service as well.

**The War of Beasts (Vigilus).** The Claws of Konrad fought with Abaddon the Despoiler against the Black Templars. The Clawed Oracle broke his sword in a duel with the Emperor's Champion, and this conflict ended in defeat until Black Legion reenforcements arrived.

**The Quest for Mercy.** The Clawed Oracle traveled to Rathikdis, to meet with Lakde Ces and reforge his daemon sword. Once he did so, the two were attacked by the Red Corsairs, who they emerged victorious over.

**The Siege of Kapkan.** An invasion force of the Red Swords warband assaulted the key forge world. The defenders were able to repel the khornates, but it was a costly battle that has decommissioned the forge-cities on Kapkan’s surface.

**The Pillage of Da’lyth.** Allied with Warsmith Tharrax and the Iron Marauders, Vael and his men raided the tau’s primary merchant world. While the warlord abhors xenos technology for its unreliability, he was keen on claiming the fusion generators of the Tau for further study.

## Warband Organisation

### Hierarchy

The Claws of Konrad are lead by a council of ruthless heretics, the Hand of Curze. The five members of this council are:

**The** **Clawed** **Oracle**, champion of the warband and wielder of its greatest relic: the Claw of Mercy. A daemon sword fashioned from one of the Night Haunter's own gauntlet blades, this weapon is hereditary; many Oracles have come and gone. Each of them was an exceptional Master of Possessions, and with the sword they could read their fate in battle with amazing accuracy.

**Vael** **the** **Retributor**, the warlord of the Claws of Konrad. He was formerly one of Curze's elite warriors, an Atramentar. After the Horus Heresy Vael spent a few centuries in the Black Legion before returning to his Night Lords roots. The Atramentar had kept a broken blade Cuze discarded from his gauntlet Mercy, and paid a daemonsmith to forge it into a daemonic sword.

**Heron** **the** **Merciless**, head apothecary of the Claws of Konrad. He inters injured marines into helbrutes and hellforged dreadnoughts. Heron also often experiments with warp-tainted concoctions to mutate marines into stronger versions. Or into another chaos spawn for cannon fodder.

**Beastmaster** **Akemonton**, the Lord Discordant of the warband. He maintains and commands the daemonic engines. Traitor astartes and serfs who underperform under Akemonton are fed to the beasts.

**Nostramen** **the** **Reaper**, former warlord of the Claws. Once a feared Raptor Lord, Nostramen was a proud son of Nostramo and wore it's name like a badge. But tragedy struck when an Inquisitor caught up with the infamous warlord, and with a lucky plasma shot detonated Nostramen's jump pack. Barely alive, the warlord was placed into a Hellforged dreadnought. Now able to tear even the heaviest of enemy infantry apart, this came at the cost of his sanity. The rest of the Hand rarely wake the monstrous son of Nostromo, only when battle is truly dire.

Each member of the warband's council commands a detachment. Every detachment has elements of each division of war, but they primarily focus on different roles.

The Clawed Oracle leads the daemonkin, with possessed and warp talons in abundance. Vael utilizes veteran melee fighters, along with havocs as heavy support. Akemonton commands most of the daemon engines of the warband, with heldrakes and maulerfiends galore. Heron rides attack bikes into battle with his fellow apothecaries, to find and recover the wounded quickly. Nostramen's detachment contains techmarines and other hellforged dreadnoughts and helbrutes.

## Combat Doctrine

The Claws of Konrad do not often wage all-out offensive war with an enemy, prefering to delegate splinters of their forces to Black Crusades and minor conquests. Defensive warfare is another matter, obviously.

When the Claws fight they often send their cultists or an allied Traitor Guard Regiment as a vanguard, then deploy their own forces. The Night Witches typically fill this first-strike role.

The warriors of the VIIth utilize terror tactics when they can, although it is difficult to rely on them in a battle with Astartes, Necrons or Tyranids. Their main weapons are daemon engines and quick units such as Warp Talons, Possessed and Attack Bikes. Sorcerors support the daemonic troops, and Havocs work to aid with heavy firepower.

## Warband Beliefs

The Claws have great faith in their late primarch, believing in his sense of brutal, merciless persecution of the wicked and his vicious bloodlust. Though Curze hated his sons, they were the greatest weapons of the self he loathed. Konrad’s claws ripped apart people, and the Night Lords ripped apart worlds.

Ideologically the warband is very diverse. Atypical of most 8th warbands, many of the Claws of Konrad worship the Chaos Gods. Particularly Tzeentch, because of his representation of sorcery and as a gateway to reading fate and seeing the future, just as their gene-father could. Yet others worship the Blood God for his viciousness, the Gradfather for his resilience, and the Dark Prince for its methods of excess.

Yet many still do not walk the path of the Ruinous Powers, having seen too many comrades fall from it into madness and folly. Vael is among these - superstitious and faithful in the gods, yet careful in the extreme.

What unites this diverse warhost is the blood of the 8th, and a list for power. They stick together because together they are stronger, and an empire is theirs.

## Notable Personnel

**Sorcerer Anumak**, a subordinate to the Clawed Oracle.

**Daevor the Warpsmith**, also works under Oracle.

**Apothecaries Fathor and Hertan**, students under Heron.

**Veteran Havoc Thumaw**, an old partner of Vael's.

## Warband Appearance

### Warband Colours

Deep metalic blue, gold trim, red eyes, and skin tabards.

## Warband Fleet

The fleet of the Claws is made up of five battleships and about a dozen smaller voidships. Each battleship is commanded by one of the members of the warband council. Vael oversees the *Sovereign Ruler*, the Oracle is master of the *Daemon's* *Talon*, Beastmaster Akemonton steers the *Gharkale*, Head Apothecary Heron commands the *Deadly* *Healer*, and Nostramen resides on the *Gauean*.

## Warband Relics

*The Claw of Mercy*

The most esteemed relic in the Claws of Konrad, and one of the founding artefacts of the warband.

In a fight with a gargantuan warboss, the Night Haunter broke a blade from his lightning claw. A blade that he naturally replaced, but Atramentar Vael salvaged the broken claw as a relic. The Night Lord kept this memento throughout his life, and once he met Nostramen the two decided to forge this artifact into a weapon. For their greatest champion to wield the fury of the Night Haunter from beyond the grave.

Forged into a thin sword, the Claw of Mercy imprisoned a tzeentchian daemon of prophecy. The powerful sorceror who wields the sword would be able to listen to it's whispers, and dodge attacks in battle. This champion was named the Clawed Oracle.

"The Clawed Oracle" is a title, passed down from sorceror to sorceror. The daemon within learned what had killed it's previous hosts, and used this information to make sure the next one did not make the same mistakes.
The current Oracle, once named Julius Ander, lost a duel with the Emperor's Champion, in which the sword was broken. Mangled by the Black Templar, it's daemon slain.

The Oracle embarked on a quest to reforge the blade, with the help of Lakde Ces, son of Lorgar. After a long journey, he completed the task: the Claw of Mercy was now reforged into a broadsword, with the metal of the original blade as the spine. A new daemon of prophecy was forced into the sword, at the cost of the Oracle's left hand.

Enscribed on the new blade is the phrase "When I raise this sword, so I pray this poor sinner receives Mercy” in nostramen runes.

The other relics of the Claws of Konrad have relatively little significance: individual sets of heresy era armor and weapons, a Fellblade, and a few Xiphon interceptors.

## Relations

### *Allies*:

*Firstly, those within the Midnight Sector. These organisations are directly subordinate to Vael, yet maintain their own autonomy from the warband.*

**The** **Night** **Witches**

A traitor guard regiment, the Night Witches act as a vanguard for the Claws of Konrad, and the first line of defence against invaders. Commanded by three traitor sisters of battle, the Night Witches use Avenger jets, Lightning fighters and Marauder bombers to strike an enemy quickly and violently. These aerial elements are supported by Manticores, Hydras and Leman Russ tanks.

**The Cult of the Cutting Edge**

The dark mechanicus faction produces the weaponry and repairs the ships of the Claws. Formerly located on Kapkan, the bulk of their operations have now moved to the smaller Fallen Forge World Piedge.

**Heretic Knight house Yrthan**

A relatively small faction, containing only 3 full knights and 4 war dogs. The knights reside on Piedge, and are ferried to battle in the battleships of the warband. Their blue and gold heraldry match the Claws, and red heads symbolize the rage they embrace.

**The Shadow Key**

The least physically imposing of the organisations, yet the most crucial. It is the network of spies, bought politicians, killers and informants which keep the peace in the Midnight Sector. They make sure the populations are kept docile, employing assassins and saboteurs when required.

*Next are those who reside outside the sector, yet still hold a relationship of amity with the Claws of Konrad.*

**The Deathpact**

**The Scroll Readers**

This Word Bearers successor chapter is lead by Lakde Ces, the daemonsmith who forged the Claw of Mercy and other daemonic weapons for the Claws of Konrad - all for the right price, of course.

### *Enemies*:

**Red** **Corsairs**

During the Oracle's Quest for Redemption, he had to fight a splinter fleet of the Corsairs. The red-armored astartes had wanted to capture Lakde Ces of the Scroll Readers and force him to craft them weaponry. Elements of both Night Lord and Word Bearer warbands managed to stave off and defeat the Red Corsairs. Word of this defeat will likely reach Huron, and he will not take too kindly to the sons of Curze intercepting his target.

**Red** **Swords**

Many centuries ago, Konok was a commander of a World Eaters contingent, barely making a name for himself in the galaxy. Back then, he was defeated by a sizeable faction of the Black Legion, at the helm of which was Vael the Retributor. Konok vowed revenge and now the Slayer, lord of the Red Swords warband, bides his time for the perfect opportunity to strike the resurfaced Vael and his comrades.

**Watch** **Team** **Misfortune**

As the galaxy knows, the Deathwatch are famed for their hatred of the alien, and are masters of counless ways to kill the xeno. But the hate of an astartes is bountiful, and enough to spill over for Heretics as well. Watch Master Catalen has a particular hatred of Night Lords, and has fought the Claws of Konrad on several occasions.

## Notable Quotes

### By the Claws of Konrad

*“I am Nostramen. I take the name of my people, and pledge to honour their legacy of fear, bloodlust and carnage.”*

— Nostramen the Reaper becomes commander of what would later evolve into the Claws of Konrad.

"*The wolf is weaker than a lion or tiger, but he does not dance in the circus. We worship chaos, but we are not bondservants to it's every whim*"
—Vael the Retributor on the larger, constantly warmogering Khornate warbands.
"*I reserve no respect for my enemies, as many other warriors do. If they are my foe, their character is not worthy of admiration.*"
—Nostramen the Reaper.
"*The sword speaks to me. It acts as a sixth sense in battle, telling me to dodge the lethal strike of the champion still charging me from behind.*"
—The Clawed Oracle about his Claw of Mercy.
### About the Claws of Konrad

"*Compared to what Nostramen the Reaper did to me, this is a Slaaneshi pleasure den.*"
—A captured Claws of Konrad serf, being tortured by the Inquisition.
"*The Claws of Konrad are no different from the rest of their kin. Nothing but cut throats and disgusting pirates, though I know many a warrior who had come to underestimate them. Only to find himself at the mercy of their blades.*"
—Konok the Red Slayer, regarding the Claws of Konrad
"*My brothers tore the legion asunder, and I despise working with them for it. But the Claws of Konrad honor his legacy the slightest bit, and pay very well.*"
—Ghuul Aanrathi of the of the Haunter's Thrall, a for-hire Night Lords warband.
"'**"**
—
## Gallery

Beastmaster AkemontonHeron the Merciless, Head-ApothecaryNostramen the ReaperNostramen as a Raptor Lord, before being interred in a Hellforged DreadnoughtThe Clawed Oracle, champion of the warbandVael the Retributor, warlord of the Claws of Konrad