Blood Wars

Armorial of the Murdering Sons Chapter.

The **Blood Wars** is a lamentable incident that occurred on the hive world of Gloriam Secundus between the infamous Murdering Sons Space Marine Chapter and the fierce Blood Angels Successor Chapter, the Bone Reapers (then known as the Revenant Lords). Both Chapters took part in the joint-xenocidal campaign known as the Red Blade Wars, to cleanse the Judaius Sector of a massive Ork invasion by WAAAGH! Grimmskullz in 910-911.M41. Though the exact details of how this internecine conflict between these two Chapter began, supposedly, during the final battle of the campaign several Veteran Marines of the Revenant Lords Chapter manifested the genetic curse known as the Black Rage and turned upon their fellow Murdering Sons allies. This resulted in several hundreds Astartes, as well as their Chapter Master, being slain.

Enraged by their supposed 'allies' actions, the Murdering Sons launched an immediate counter-attack against their transgressors. Eventually, this conflict resulted in an inter-Chapter war that lasted several months, despite calls from Imperial authorities to cease all hostilities. It was only through the intervention of an Ordo Astartes Inquisitor and several Crusades from the Black Templars, that both Chapters finally ceased their internecine conflict. Despite witness testimony on both sides, it is unclear exactly who began the hostilities, and despite circumstantial evidence against both sides, each Chapter was held complicit for their actions. For their dishonourable actions of taking up arms against one another, both Chapters were forced to undergo a fifty-year long Penitent Crusade.

Due to this conflict, there has been a lasting enmity between both Chapters - both of which have sworn vengeance against the other. Both Chapters hate each other *in extremis*, and are forbidden, by order of the Inquisition, to be within the same warzone. Should they ever be in the same proximity, hostilities will most likely resume and the resulting bloodshed and collateral damage would be catastrophic.

## History

The so-called 'Blood Wars' would become one of the darkest chapters within the annals of the Murdering Sons' history. During the campaign known as the Red Blade Wars, which occurred in 910-911.M41, the Murdering Sons fought alongside the Revenant Lords, a fearsome Blood Angels Successor Chapter, upon the hive world of Gloriam Secundus to cleanse it of the foul taint of greenskins. Throughout the campaign, the two Chapters vied with one another to claim the most victories. It was on the capital world of Gloriam Secundus where matters between the two Chapters would come to a head.

During the Battle of Hive Ebonspire, the ferocious counter-attack was spearheaded by the Bone Reapers' 1st Company elite, the Necrophoroi, which helped to drive off the attacking Ork forces. But it is here that the fog of war obscures the truth of the events that occurred following the final counter-attack. It is not known, with any certainty, which Chapter was responsible for starting the feud that continues to this day. Evidence compiled from pict-captures, vox traffic, witness testimony and helmet feeds taken from fallen Astartes on both sides, would paint a general picture of the dire events that surround that fateful day.

Many Imperial scholars believe that some of the Necrophoroi had fallen into the throes of the Blood Angels' genetic curse known as the Black Rage, and continued their indiscriminate slaughter even after the Orks had been annihilated. The afflicted Bone Reapers tore into the Murdering Sons' ranks, unable to distinguish between friend and foe, and so, the Necrophoroi brutally butchered many of their own cousin Astartes, including the Murdering Sons' Torture Lord (Chapter Master) Evlon. Outraged by the actions of their supposed 'allies', the enraged Murdering Sons turned their wrath upon the rest of the Bone Reapers in a hail of bolter fire.

When testifying before a formal Inquisitorial tribunal, many surviving Bone Reapers maintained that it was the Murdering Sons who had instigated hostilities between the two Chapters. They had a well-known reputation for arrogance and would often provoke their fellow Astartes for their perceived failings, which sometimes resulted in violence. Whatever the truth of the matter, what is known, with any certainty, is that the resultant battle saw brother-fighting-brother, with the death of many dozens on either side. The fighting devolved into a savage war of attrition between the two Chapters, which resulted in the loss of over half their number on both sides.

With the two combatant Chapters refusing calls to end their feud and aid with the pacification of Gloriam Secundus and its surrounding conquered worlds, an Ordo Astartes Inquisitor, leading three large Crusade forces from the Black Templars, were despatched to sunder the two and end the internal strife. In the decades after, both sides would claim that the other Chapter was responsible for setting in motion the terrible chain of events that led to their confrontation. This conflict is a source of pride for both Chapters, and a source of secret shame. Though both claimed victory, each Chapter feared that they had actually lost, and in truth, the battle proved bloody but inconclusive.

In retribution for their disreputable actions, both Chapters were forced to undergo a fifty-year long Penitent Crusade for taking up arms against one another. This conflict has created lasting enmity between the Murdering Sons and Bone Reapers Chapters. Both have sworn vengeance upon the other should the opportunity arise and each Chapter has banned one another from entering their respective demesnes. This terrible event came to be known forever more as the 'Blood Wars'.