Minotaurs

Minotaurs armorial with corrupted Chaos iconography.

A Minotaurs Heretic Legionary.

### **Specialty**

Shock Assault, Planet-Kill & Extermination Operations, Close-Quarters Actions (Boarding Operations, Line-Breaker Attacks, 'Forlorn Hope' Objective Assaults).

### **Warband Size**

Estimates place this warband around 100,000-120,000 Legionaries at the height of the Dornian Heresy. Some theorists have pointed the figure as far lower, somewhere in the 90,000 range based upon the largest concentration of Minotaurs forces ever seen in operation in a single theatre, however, evidence of multiple simultaneous battle-groups operating in far distant locales suggests a far higher figure.

### **Battle Cry**

"For wrath and ruin! For the Blood God!"
Alternatively, "Destroy for the sake of destruction! Kill for the brass bull!"
or "We follow the Eight-fold path. No one can stop us!"

## Pre-Heresy

### **Colours**

Bronze & Deep Red

"*The beasts, the bronze beasts in the darkness...footsteps..they never tire..they just keep coming! We didn't stand a chance...wherever we turned, we could not escape, never escape! They're coming...they're HERE!*"
— Final vox transmission of Hedrith Blaine, The Slaughter of the Jurah-17 Mining Colony, Larsha Tertius
The **Minotaurs** are an infamous Khorne Daemonkin warband of Chaos Space Marines that are fanatically devoted to the Blood God and his brutal creed. Dedicated to murder and destruction on a galactic scale, the Minotaurs have continuously plagued the known galaxy for nearly ten millennia, carving a bloody swathe across the stars in Khorne's name. So complete is the Minotaur's devotion that the Blood God's fury has seeped into their dark souls, setting them aflame with hate. They seek always to utterly devastate their foes, eradicating them down to the final pitiful wretch before moving on in search of new prey. The Minotaurs are little more than beasts in blood-spattered, bronze battle-plate. Even within such murderous haunts as the Maelstrom and the Eye of Terror, these Daemonkin are whispered of with awe.

## Warband History

Almost from the outset, the war of the Dornian Heresy was a vast cataclysm and one whose events moved with such quicksilver pace that mystery, supposition, lies and simple ignorance cloaked much of the bloodshed even as it occurred, casting a veil over much that would never be lifted. Though the roll call of Space Marine Legions, Mechanicum forces, Titan Legions and Auxilia regiments that sided with the Arch-Traitor Rogal Dorn and those who remained loyal to the Emperor of Mankind is largely known and accepted, the full truth is far more complex and far more mysterious than commonly believed.

Despite the paucity of records, accounts of small warbands that were once part of a known Traitor Legion fighting independently persisted throughout the war. In some cases, outcast forces proudly bore their original colours and may have regarded themselves as the true inheritors of their Legions. Further to this, and perhaps an even more sinister enigma, are the persistent reports of Space Marine forces appearing bearing no sign or seal of heraldry or origin at all, or stranger yet, heraldry which bore no mark known during the Great Crusade. A handful of extant accounts, now sealed beyond all retrieval, makes reference to a loosely-termed and non-formal class of Astartes warrior known as the "Blackshields".

The majority of Blackshields appear to have been of the Legiones Astartes, though some may once have belonged to other factions. In some cases the term was a literal description, the warriors having obscured the livery of their parent Legion, painting some or all of their armour's panels black to hide all former associations. Although whether the "black" Legionaries were merely turncoats or, as some have whispered, perhaps raised by the Traitors from the chimeric gene-seed of the Isstvan dead for their own terrible purposes, none can now say for certain. It cannot be known when the first Blackshields appeared upon the battlefields of the Dornian Heresy, and in truth the definition is so broad that some may not have been noted as such at the time.

Despite their rejection of visible Legion heritage, most Blackshields remained nonetheless recognisable as Space Marines. A small number, however, stretched such a definition to a point where onlookers may not have taken them for the product of the Emperor's vision at all. Throughout the Dornian Heresy and beyond, accounts of Astartes fallen to physical mutation persisted, hinting at a creeping instability in gene-seed purity, corruption of the implantation process, exposure to certain influences or even deliberate tampering with the Astartes genetic template.

### Legion of Wrath

The origins of the Minotaurs are shrouded in mystery. This marauding reaver force of brutal repute has long been the brunt of suspicion and acrimony by other Space Marine Legions. During the Age of Darkness they were highly active in the prosecution of their own wars and objectives. It was observed that these marauding band of Space Marines had clearly abandoned themselves to the very madness that had birthed them. Gripped by an insanity that knew no distinction between Traitor or Loyalist, they ravaged across the stars throughout the Dornian Heresy and well into the current age.

The Minotaurs are a force of berserkers that makes war with savage abandon and eschews all contact with other Forces of Chaos. This warband is highly active in the prosecution of their savage wars, seemingly deployed according to their own mysterious whims, and rarely if ever answer the calls to war from any other Chaos Lord to take part in the numerous Black Crusades against the Imperium of Man, unless it suits them, and usually only if they are given ample opportunity to commit slaughter on a vast scale.

## Warband Homeworld

As the Minotaurs are a fleet-based warband, they do not possess a home world of their own.

### Fortress-Monastery

The *Daedelos Krata* is a relic-ship, classified as a Heavy Assault Carrier. It serves as the mobile fortress-monastery of the Minotaurs warband and flagship of their Legate Praetor, Asterion Moloc.

## Warband Gene-Seed

While much of the Minotaurs' records going back over several millennia have been ascertained through sifting through myriad battle archives from across the Imperium, much of their history before the era of the Great Scouring is not simply lost, but has been deliberately suppressed and sealed under binding edicts laid down by the High Lords of Terra that even the authority of the Inquisition cannot circumvent. The Minotaurs that emerged in early M32 rapidly gained a fell reputation as a force whose ferocity and fury on the battlefield were all but unmatched. As time progressed, the sheer savagery and brutality enacted against the worlds of the Imperium became impossible to ignore. This suggests that there was some kind of curse of genetic corruption that began to take hold in this marauding warband of bellicose Legionaries, that affected their force as a whole.

Nobody knows what Primarch's gene-seed led to the creation of the Minotaurs, and opportunities to study the organs involved have been exceedingly rare as the Minotaurs are known to desecrate the corpses of their own slain Legionaries in grisly and ghastly ceremonies dedicated to the worship of the Blood God. The few ravaged samples acquired by the Mechanicum's Magos Biologis that were able to perform an extraction of the gene-seed, took note that it bore several genetic markers of unknown origin. Therefore, they branded this gene-seed as 'Chimeric', that is to say, the Minotaurs' genetic material was either procured from a prohibited source, mixed with a heretical genetic pool, adulterated or somehow tampered with during its creation.

It has been suggested by some Imperial scholars that not every band of such genetic aberrations classified as Blackshields were truly outcasts from the other Legions. Some may actually have been deliberately created in secret within one of the Legions and then released into the war-torn galaxy as living weapons of mass destruction. Created ignorant of their heritage, such forces would have reaved across the stars in pursuit of some implanted imperative, burning fiercely, albeit briefly, in the depths of the Dornian Heresy's Age of Darkness.

The Minotaurs are more than likely to have been among those who had their gene-seed tampered with or altered in some way, but by whom, remains a matter of conjecture and much speculation. It is likely that the Minotaurs' barely-controlled battle fury and desire to shun those they should have called comrade is a result of some particular curse in their blood, but whether or not their affliction has mastered them or they have finally mastered it remains unknown.

Another unusual aspect of the Minotaurs is the methods in which they are able to replace losses in manpower so quickly. The speed of transition between Neophyte, Scout Marine and full Battle-Brother in the warband is brief compared to that of many other Space Marine Legions. This is explained by the use of extremely high levels of programmed psycho-indoctrination and neuro-cerebral surgery by this warband. This program accelerates the recruits' progression and is continued during deployment as ongoing treatments to reinforce mental conditioning administered by the warband's Apothecaries. Furthermore, the flash-indoctrination protocols to which each aspirant is subjected invests him with the stolen memories of a hundred thousand kills, a flickering montage of other warriors' lives and deaths cycling through their consciousness in an eternal loop. From the moment each awakes from the gene-vats, he believes himself a red-handed champion and a veteran of countless wars. His only desire is to shed blood -- his enemies' or his own -- in the name of the Blood God.

These techniques have inherent dangers that can carry a greater risk of damaging the subject physically and mentally than those normally performed by other Space Marine Legions. Most Legions utilise a more studied training and battlefield erudition of their Neophytes, believing them to be a key component in tempering the soul of a warrior rather than the dangerous artificial techniques employed by the Minotaurs to replace their often self-inflicted losses.

## Warband Combat Doctrine

The ancient repute of the Minotaurs suggests that these Astartes were once a well-disciplined, if not brutal force, that once preferred to deploy a vanguard to pin their enemies in combat, then utilised fast units to encircle them to ensure there could be no escape before bringing in the full weight of their force's firepower and heavy armour to crush the foe without mercy. Highly autonomous, the Minotaurs went where they willed by their own needs, but seemed far more content to operate within the structure and command similar to that used by the Imperial war machine during the bygone era of the Dornian Heresy.

The Minotaurs that emerged following that Age of Darkness in M32, however, were quite different in regards to how they prosecuted a campaign. It had been observed by Imperial war savants that this large warband-size force now prefers to deploy on the battlefield exclusively as a shock-assault force. It has also been observed these Heretic Astartes often times eschew any form of combat that does not allow them to rapidly get to grips with their enemies as fast as possible.

This highly autonomous, berserk force is often announced in a war zone without preamble or even much by the way of reconnaissance. They will hurl themselves at the enemy without heed of loss or cost. At battle's end the Minotaurs will then fall upon the corpses of the slain, defiling them in unspeakable ways, as they hack and peel the skin from the bodies and make ragged cloaks and face masks that they then drape across their foul battle-plate. Bones are ripped free and worn as grisly totems and fetishes. Blood is guzzled and organs are crushed into a foul paste that is used to anoint their foul weapons and wargear. Finally, the fleshless skulls of the fallen are piled into tottering heaps as an offering to the Blood God.

Their fury spent, the Minotaurs will then withdraw as suddenly as they had arrived. This pattern makes the Minotaurs too unpredictable and unreliable a force to be counted on by their fellow Chaos allies.

## Notable Minotaurs

* **Legate Praetor Asterion Moloc, Master of the Minotaurs, Satrap of the *Daedelos Krata*, "Bringer of Wrath"** - Asterion Moloc is the Chaos Lord of the fearsome and brutal Minotaurs warband. This paranoid and bloody-handed Astartes commander revels in his dark reputation and his name is a byword for death and mayhem carried out in the name of their murderous, bloody-handed god. Asterion Moloc is a brutal tactician and enjoys the utter destruction of his foes, but has little patience for councils or strategic planning. Instead he chooses to remain aloof, as is his warband's nature, often sending High Executioner Ivanus Enkomi as his warband's emissary and his personal representative in such matters. A veteran of hundreds of battles, his body has been heavily rebuilt with cybernetic augments and his sheer spite and malice is enough to allow him to shrug off wounds that would fell a lesser Space Marine. Moloc is most often found in battle at the head of his warband's Terminators slamming into the enemy line. He is also bellicose and ferocious commander and a master of siegecraft. Outside of battle he can be found on his brazen throne at the centre of the maze-like chambers of his deadly flagship, the *Daedelos Krata*, surrounded by tottering piles of his enemy's skulls, measuring the drops of blood spilt in pursuit of slaughter and the acquisition of skulls for the Skull Throne.
* **High Executioner Ivanus Enkomi, "The Voice of Khorne"** - Ivanus Enkomi is the current High Executioner (High Chaplain) of the fearsome Minotaurs warband. A skilled commander, he leads his forces from the front in battle, exhorting them to ever greater heights of hatred and destruction against the foes of the Blood God.
* **Destructor Sergeant Hamath Kraatos** - Hamath Kraatos is the non-commissioned officer who serves as the second-in-command of the Minotaurs' Devastator Company. His progress through the ranks of the Minotaurs has been rapid, unwarrantedly so by the standards of many other warbands. He has achieved this rise by demonstrating his ability as a warrior and utterly devoted adherent of the Blood God as well as his phenomenal proficiency with ballistic weapons of all kinds. He has proven himself to be ruthless and calculating as a leader, with a murderous edge to his temper. His skills and combat record have been rewarded both with an early command assignment and with access to the advanced wargear of the warband's armoury.
* **Vanguard Veteran Sergeant Thoul, "The Headsman"** - Thoul is a Vanguard Veteran Sergeant. A formidable Khornate Berserker, he has amassed more human skulls than he knows what to do with. A brutal and bloody-handed warrior, he has earned the dire moniker of "The Headsman" by the countless bloody deeds he has perpetrated across the width and breadth of the galaxy. Savage and unrelenting in battle, he wields a mighty two-handed chain-axe with which he beheads his foes, often up to a dozen in a single sweep.
* **Chaos Terminator Sergeant Ixthalion** - Sergeant Ixthalion commands his own squad of deadly Khornate Berserkers arrayed in formidable Tartaros pattern Terminator Armour, designated the 'Dead Hand'. They are often chosen to spearhead an assault or boarding action, being granted the honour of making the first kill in honour of their patron Chaos god.
* **Astrophane, "The Annihilator"** - Astrophane is another infamous blood-soaked killer of the Minotaurs warband, whose bloody-handed deeds and acts of savagery have garnered him the deadly moniker, "The Annihilator". This savage fighter revels in the bloodiest hand-to-hand fighting, and can often be found where the fighting is thickest and at its deadliest, in his perpetual quest to offer up blood and skulls to Khorne.
* **Ancient Geryon** - A notorious Contemptor Dreadnought, Geryon was a former Veteran Destructor Sergeant before being entombed within the sarcophagus of this deadly class of Dreadnought. He often serves as part of the bodyguard retinue of Legate Praetor Asterion Moloc. Long dedicated to the Blood God Khorne, whose skull rune is repeated across his armour, Geryon eschews ranged weaponry in favour of a pair of mighty Power Claws, their serrated blades encrusted with the blood of countless defeated rivals and foes. It is said that Geryon delights in employing the claws' in-build combi-bolters to shred foes caught within his lethal grasp.
* **Ancient Hecaton Aiakos** - Aiakos, known as the "Guardian of the Daedelos Krata" and the "Terror of Bifrost", is the leader of the trio of deadly Contemptor Dreadnoughts, known as the Hecaton, which are charged with standing guard over the Minotaurs' flagship. Despite his power and impressive kill tally, Aiakos is treated with cold indifference by his fellow warband members for reasons unknown.
* **Ancient Hecaton Morbus** - Morbus is a part of the trio of deadly Contemptor Dreadnoughts known as the Hecaton, whom are charged with standing sentinel over the Mintotaurs flagship, the *Daedelos Krata*.
* **Ancient Hecaton Palaemon** - Palaemon is a part of the trio of deadly Contemptor Dreadnoughts known as the Hecaton, whom stand guard over the *Daedelos Krata*. He is barely controllable and subject to indiscriminate and savage bouts of rage thanks to the unpredictable interaction between his psycho-surgical indoctrination and the Dreadnought's cybernetic control systems. Palaemon is often kept in a deep coma between battles, until he is awoken from his deep slumber, and unleashed upon the Minotaurs' enemies, committing indiscriminate slaughter of both allies and enemies alike.

## Warband Fleet

The Minotaurs possess a mighty warband fleet composed of no less than 12 Strike Cruisers and at least one Battle Barge. At the start of the Orphean Conflict in 991.M41, the Minotaurs' warband fleet had expanded to consist of 3 Battle Barges, of which two were destroyed during that conflict, and 8 Strike Cruisers.

* ***Daedelos Krata* (Heavy Assault Carrier)** - The *Daedlos Krata* serves as the flagship of the Minotaurs' large and powerful warband Fleet.
* ***Daughter of Tempests* (Battle Barge)** - The *Daughter of Tempests* was taken as a spoil of war from the Lamenters warband during the Badab War. This warship was shot asunder by a crossfire of *Scythe*-class Harvest Ships during the Orphean Conflict.
* ***Fedelitas Lambda* (Battle Barge)**
* ***Stymphalos* (Strike Cruiser)**

## Warband Relics

* ***The Black Spear*** - A deadly relic-weapon of unknown provenance, the *Black Spear* is similar in some regards to the sacred arms of the Legio Custodes. Rumours abound that this foreboding weapon was, in fact, taken as a prize from a fallen Custodian during the Dornian Heresy. The spear is a master-crafted power weapon of remarkable potency, able to pierce the formidable and thich ceramite plates of tactical dreadnought armour. It also incorporates a single-shot laser weapon sufficiently potent to be used as an anti-tank weapon if needed. The *Black Spear* is currently wielded by Legate Praetor Asterion Moloc and is the ceremonial badge of office of very Master of the Minotaurs since time immemorial.
* ***Unmaker's Touch*** - Of the terrible weapons the Minotaurs are able to bring forth from their formidable stock, none is more feared than the chainfist known as *Unmaker's Touch*. Its potent power field makes a mockery of both armour and vehicles and has also served admirably against the creations of the Mechanicum and other unliving foes.

## Warband Appearance

### Warband Colours

Several commanders on both sides of the Dornian Heresy had gone on record, finding the Space Marine Legionaries of the Minotaurs Blackshield warband to be brooding and malign warriors, far from the epitome of honour and righteousness. The warband's individuals held about them an aura of barely restrained spite and malice that bred fear and apprehension in all but the strongest hearts. But in recent millennia, it has been observed that although some of these Legionaries are indistinguishable in appearance from any other Astartes, they possess such an unnatural mien or aura that others cannot stand their presence, and with prolonged exposure are driven by an inexplicable urge to strike them down.

The Minotaurs primarily wear bronze coloured battle-plate with shoulder pauldron insets painted deep crimson - the colour of spilled blood. The power armour worn by the battle-brothers of this warband typically bears syncretic iconography, denoting rank and battlefield record. Many of these symbols have meanings hidden from outsiders to the warband, though it is believed that the numeration and colouration of the "lambda" Helikan-glyph markings common to the Minotaurs heraldry refers to attested "kills" against worthy opponents in single combat, likely in increasing order of magnitude.

As the Minotaurs have fallen further and further into the worship of the Blood God, many took to mounting the bladed horns of the *Caedere Remissum* upon their helmets as a warning to both allies and foes alike, that they were all but uncontrollable from the battlefield - their only desire, to shed blood -- his enemies' or his own -- in the name of the Blood God. These stylised mantles quickly became synonymous with the warriors of the Khornate Berserker cults associated with the worship of Khorne.

While most Minotaurs retain their original warband badge, the Mark of Khorne, as well as other Chaos icons and symbols like the Octed - the eight-pointed Star of Chaos - often supplements it. In battle, the Minotaurs almost exclusively employ chain-axes and chainswords to maximise blood spillage, although some of the most powerful warriors of the warband use arcane power or daemonic weapons infused with the power of a daemon of the Blood God.

### Warband Badge

The warband's original icon was a stylised red bull's head with black horns on a bronze background. Members of the warband's Terminator elite wore a variant of the warband's badge; a bronze bull's head on a dark red background. Falling wholly to the worship of the Blood God, the Minotaurs now incorporate a bone-coloured bull's head, centered upon an eight-pointed Star of Chaos, to denote their allegiance to the Ruinous Powers.

## Notable Quotes

### By the Minotaurs

*Feel free to add your own*
"*By the Great Bronze Bull!*"
— Battle-cry by an unknown Minotaurs Heretic Legionary.