Currus Imperatoria Mors

The Currus Imperatoria Mors is a Charon Class Light Cruiser of the Black Templars in M42. This vessel is part of the Apophasis Crusade and serves a double role of rapid response and funeral conveyance for Space Marines on their journeys to their final resting place. Mortarch Knight Adelmo Lehmann and his Death Knights watch over the fallen before return to the Eternal Crusader and Tomb Ship.

Being a fleet-based chapter the Black Templars' Fortress Monastery, the Eternal Crusader, doesn't have the space to inter all of the fallen Brother-Marines with their ancestors. Wholly dedicated to the persecution of war, the Eternal Crusader would be even larger if the Cryptorium were to be located within its hull. Though not all Battle-Brothers make this final journey, the Black Templars endeavour to see it done, and even with the remotest Crusade Fleets or far-flung war zones there will be Battle-Brothers and Chapter Serfs whose responsibility it is to gather up the dead and carry then back to the Crusader one last time. On the Crusader the attending Brothers and Serfs will recite prayers over the fallen brother before being ferried to the Tomb Ships.

With just a handful of Tomb Ships spread out across the galaxy, it's not always possible to have one attend to every Crusade Fleet. When this is the case, the Tomb Ship will dispatch one of their Escort Frigates and a special unit of Space Marines to accompany the Crusade. These Space Marines would act as the Honour Guard for the Fallen, Death Knights.

Tomb Ships are some of the most tightly guarded fleet assets that the Black Templars control. It's a well known desire that the Inquisition would like nothing more than to know the true number of the Black Templars Chapter. Access to the Tomb Ships would at least show them that the dead far outnumber what a typical chapter should have.

## History

After the Second Founding after the end of the Horus Heresy, it became apparent to the Black Templars that they would need to find an alternative to the Cryptoriums found on other planet-based Space Marine Chapters. It was decided that a different vessel whose sole purpose was to carry the honoured dead was needed. This ship would over time transform into a traveling mausoleum and the Tomb Ship would hold a particularly revered spot in the culture of the fledgling Black Templars Chapter.

Overtime as the Black Templars particular method of operations became more defined and as the Crusade Fleets that started from the Eternal Crusader grew, the Tomb Ship couldn't travel with all of them so it was given it's own Escorts that would then accompany the departing Crusade Fleets and convey the fallen back to the Tomb Ship should the crusade operate with any great amount of time.

The Currus Imperatoria Mors is one of those escorts. To the greater Imperium it's classified as a Vanguard-class Light Cruiser serving to obscure its true purpose but the Currus has 25% less weapon batteries than genuine Vanguards. The loss of firepower is offset by an increase in engine power and the Mortuary. This allows the Currus to hide in plain sight, joining the *Sigismund's Rage* when not fulfilling its more specialized role.

## Notable Features

### Sanctus Basilica

The Currus Imperatoria Mors contains scores of chapels within its hallowed halls. Simple reliquaries at hallway intersections to cathedral like spaces are everywhere throughout.

One specific chapel however -- the Sanctus Basilica -- is truly note worthy. This stone-lined space is protected by the most potent of wards and provides the Black Templar with a secluded space in which they may perform the Chapter's sacred final rites. Here is where fallen battle-brothers lie in state before their bodies are prepared for their final rest, his fellow Space Marines permitted to visit with him one last time. After the final rites are concluded, each body will then be carefully prepared for burial, his gene-seed removed and his flesh washed of the taint and filth of war.

At the center of the Sanctus Basilica stands a giant brazier. Within this brazier is the *Postremo Lux*, also known as the *Last Light*. This eternal flame serves as a symbol of the enduring nature of the Black Templar's lasting Crusade and the battle-brothers who have lost their lives in the persecution of the Crusade. Here the light of the *Postremo Lux* can shine upon those Black Templar one last time.

The Sanctus Basilica is also home to the Dreadnought known as Venerare Devotio. He stands as guardian and warden to his fallen brethren, making sure that their final moments are spent in a place of purity and honour. When the Venerare Devotio goes to war, he carries the *Postremo Lux* with him on his frame. It is rumoured that since the founding of the Black Templars, the Postremo Lux has not once gone out and it will continue to burn as long at there is a Black Templar Space Marine alive to carry on the Crusade.

### Mortuary

The Mortuary is where the prepared bodies of the Black Templar fallen reside until transferred to the Tomb Ship. Attached to the Sanctus Basilica, the Mortuary is the exclusive preserve of the Venerare Devotion, the Mortarch and his Death Knights travelling on the vessel and, save for the Chapter serfs tasked with caring for the chapel's sacred burden, no lesser mortal may set foot within upon pain of death.

A dark and gloomy place, incense heavy in the air; the Mortuary is silent save for the hum of the engines of the Currus Imperatoria Mors. The Mortarch, Death Knights, and Chapter serfs performing their duties in utter silence, well versed in the tasks necessary to prepare the honoured fallen.

### Eremisium

The Eremisium is the inner sanctum of Mortarch Lehmann.