Hounds of Surmah

> "*You seek to understand why I have unleashed my Hounds upon your world after such peaceful proceedings? Hubris. That you thought you understood the workings of the universe more profoundly than beings so consummately superior to you would be laughable, had it not cost the lives of thirteen billion souls. You decried the sovereignty of the Emperor, the Master of Mankind, and spat on the generosity of what the Imperium offered you, without a cost more than that of any other planet within its dominion. We gave you the keys to enter true and total enlightenment, and instead you chose to remain in ignorance and darkness. It is for that very reason that I was created... While the rest of my brothers were crafted with the purpose to gloriously bring the stranded dregs of humanity back into our fold, I was designed for a singular task; to be the final judgement rendered upon those who were too foolish to accept such a generous offer. I, am Death, Destroyer of Worlds.*"
> ― Surmah Nyyrik, Primarch of the Hounds of Surmah addressing the Plenum of Sovran during the purging of 616-364.
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## The Hounds of Surmah

The Sigil of the Hounds of Surmah, XXth Legion of the Imperium of Man, the Arch Betrayers and First Heretics [1]

### **Observed Strategic Tendencies**

Global Education (Pre-Fall), Vicious Melee Assaults, Extensive use of Destroyer Squads, Exterminatus Sanctions

### **Warcry**

“Pain begets clarity! Clarity begets Truth!” "Vae Victus!"

The **Hounds of Surmah** are one of the nine Legions to betray the Emperor of Mankind during the galactic civil war known as the **Almire Apostasy**, casting off their shackles of fealty after bearing witness to the **Cosmic Truth**. In the wake of such a discovery, they joined their Primarch, **Surmah Nyyrik**, in propagating the spread of Chaos through the other Legions, becoming the first heretics to fall from the light of the Emperor.

## Legion History

### The Great Crusade

Even before their reunion with the genesire, the Absolvers, as they were then called, were a Legion of unthinkable cruelty. The Emperor of Mankind had seen fit to equip his final Legion with the very weapons he had decreed as too abhorrent to be used by any save a select few. The XX Legion was to be his extermination decree made manifest, and so possessed a disproportionate number of Destroyer Companies, making up nearly half the Legion.

Rarely were they dispatched to bring the worlds of humanity into compliance, rather, they were sent to sectors that had refused to join despite the most excruciating efforts of the Iterators or worlds and tracts of space held by xenos who threatened those already under the aegis of the Imperium. To them they brought untold ruination, with world poisoning radiation, bio-chemical munitions and the sentient hellfire that was Phosphex did the Hounds of Surmah purge those who dared to stand against the ascendency of Humanity.

Worlds died and vile xenos breeds went extinct beneath the ceramite tread of the XX Legion, but such lethality did not come without a cost. Even the transhuman constitution of the Astartes and the protective qualities of their power armor proved insufficient to stem the poisoning of their own bodies from the weapons they bore into battle. Radiation burns, cellular degeneration, lightning-storms of sickly veins and blood-bruises stained their flesh and even hyper-aggressive forms of cancer which inevitably resulted in cybernetic transplants and grafts after amputations. Yet none of these horrors made them question their duty; they had been created for a singular purpose and to that end they would dedicate their lives, however brief and agonizing they may be.

So it was that when the Legion landed on Verivaltas and was reunited with their Primarch at last, they assembled before him in all their sickly might. Such a sight tore at Surmah's conscience, twenty Legions strode the stars in galactic conquest and he had been given a Legion that had been broken before it even set forth from Terra. And so he endeavored to correct this oversight; employing rare materials and lost technologies found on his homeworld, Surmah designed a variant to the Crusade pattern armor yet still it was not as refined as he would have liked. Thus did he seek the council of the Breacher-Lord himself, turning to Shaaa Hydrades or assistance in completing that which he promised would save his Legion. Seeing another use for the servo bundles he'd just refined for what would later be classified as "Iron Pattern" power armor, he gifted to Surmah their design. With the enhanced servo systems now integrated, the agility of the mark was no longer hindered by the increased protection against the radioactive and thermal ravages of their weapons, and so the now codified "Stalkkeri" pattern went into Legion-wide use.

#### A Son's First Mistake

It would be that during the first compliance undertaken by the newly renamed Hounds of Surmah, that the method in which they waged war would forever be set in stone. Under diplomatic pretenses did Surmah meet with the governing body of the world designated 616-01, known as *Thirsh* in the common tongue; amicable and friendly, they welcomed these wayfarers from the stars into their lives, eager to learn of what lay beyond their own tiny domain. Days turned into weeks as the Iterators Surmah and his most senior officers deliberated with the planetary governors, educating them on Imperial history and what they could expect upon entry into the cradle of Humanity's galactic empire. And though it appeared on the surface that the Thirshites were eager to join their long lost cousins, there was an underlying reticence that seemed oddly out of place given their jovial nature towards the Imperials. However, as the thirtieth day dawned, the Thirshites revealed their true intent to Surmah and his forces; disparaging these Imperial invaders, the planetary governors railed against Surmah and his Emperor's arrogance. They refused their hand in a brighter tomorrow, claiming they would rather die in righteous defense of their homeworld than suffer the depredations of such tyrants. Fire erupted around them as hidden explosives detonated, the maniacal laughter of Surmah and his entourage falling to their trap bringing them to the heights of elation. Yet, when the smoke and debris finally cleared, Iterators were scattered about, their bodies mangled into shreds of meat, while the Stalker-Prime was sprawled upon the ground, his upper body crushed beneath a massive pillar of sculpted stone. But to their shock and horror, Surmah still stood, unmarred by their treacherous devices, his cold, white eyes seething with something beyond their comprehension. Despite being dressed only in his military vestments, there wasn't a scratch nor soot mark upon him. The planetary governors stood stark still as he slowly made his way over to his fallen warrior, their faces becoming masks of terror as he casually lifted the multi-ton pillar into the air and cast it aside. A pulped mess was all that remained of his proud warrior, not even his precious geneseed would have been retrievable after such a thorough murder. Turning back to the mortals in his midst, he activated the vox-bead on the inside of his collar and made a planet-wide broadcast as his message was simultaneously relayed to his fleet. For their duplicity and attempted assassination on one of the Emperor's sons, the planetary population was forfeit; not a soul was to be left alive, their world would become an irradiated abattoir where his Hounds would hunt the survivors for their pleasure, all while the governing body watched what their arrogance had wrought. He had given them a month to join the greatest empire the galaxy had ever known, and in return they had tried to murder him. Now would they see the folly of hubris.

#### Event ... (etc)

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### Notable Campaigns

**[Event Name] (Event Date)** -

**[Event Name] (Event Date)** -

## Legion Organisation

### Great Crusade and Early Apostasy

#### Specialist Ranks and Formations

##### **The Ajattaraenen**

The Ajattaraenen form the elite First Pack within the 1st Great Clan; clad in Tartaros pattern terminator armor, they are able to wade through near endless storms of fire and though they lack the extra protection Cataphractii gives its bearers, their suits have been augmented past the standard template. Extra servo and muscle-fiber bundles have been incorporated into the shoulders, arms, hips and knee joints; the result being a surprising increase to their speed and agility, able to keep pace with their power armored kin. So while they may lack the protective conversion field emitters of Cataphractii, their greater agility means landing a blow or shot on them is drastically more challenging.

##### **The Syöjataaras**

As the Ajattaraenen embody Surmah's thirst for visceral, personal slaughter, the Syöjataaras embody his methodology in warfare. Lumbering into battle in Cataphractii pattern terminator armor, bearing grenade launchers, combi-bolters, they are further equipped with a dorsal-mounted havoc launcher. As if this vast arsenal of ranged superiority was not enough, all the munitions used by these monsters are radioactive in nature. Rad missiles and grenades presage an assault, bathing the area in so much radioactive particulate that a literal fog wall blankets the targeted zone. Those unfortunates who manage to survive the initial barrage are either cut down with scything sweets of their combi-bolters or fall victim the the massed charge of the 1st Great Clan's elite warriors.

##### **The Vicars**

Originally tasked with preserving the traditions of Verivaltas, as well as maintaining the discipline of their brothers, the Vicars were later given the honor of assuming the duty of the Chaplaincy within the Legion. With ruthless determination they enforced the Edict of Nikaea, ensure that no Witch ever tapped into their preternatural abilities. However, when the Legion succumbed to the mania of their father and embraced the denizens of the warp, it was the Vicars who became the voice of such corruption. Like profane priests of ancient Terra, the Vicars espoused the virtues of the Ruinous Powers, fanning the seething spite that had been growing within the Hounds of Surmah. Under Surmah's guidance they seeded their corruption within the chosen Legions Surmah and Almire wished to sway to their cause, twisting their cousins minds and bodies into foul mockeries of their once noble countenance.

##### **The Kalmahitse**

Astartes who had fallen victim to The Desolation, they possessed a suicidal need to operate beyond their own forces alone, ensuring their brothers’ safety often at the cost of their own lives. Equipped with weapons designed for eliminating high priority targets, they were repurposed to serve the Legion in a command-decapitation role, sowing discord among defenders as their leaders were viciously slaughtered. These units would later be codified as the Moritat and adopted into the other Legions.

##### **The Metsänoita**

On Verivaltas, those who were able to tap into the seething power of the warp were viewed with awe and fear, as their nomadic existence meant that they dwelled in the gloom-shrouded woods and swamp along the nightmare denizens of the world. Any being that could survive in such a hellish existence was predator of immense power and thus given the respect, however venomous, it deserved. When the Legion began recruiting from Verivaltas, the children of these witches would journey to the primary cities to present themselves as offerings to the being that had chosen them first. Surmah had dwelled amongst their kind before he ever entered the cyclopian neo-keeps of the more civilized populace, and so they pledged their souls to his service. For whatever reason, the survival rate for these psychically gifted children was exceedingly low, yet those few who managed to survive the transformation into Astartes saw the roiling power within them spill forth with horrifying potency. However, Surmah ever cautioned discipline and focus, for the power of the Empyrean was a capricious as it was terrible in its power, and thus needed to be honed like any fine blade. In the wake of the Edict of Nikaea, the Witches of the Hounds of Surmah cloistered away their power but never was the Metsänoita disbanded, for though they were forbidden from ever tapping into their abilities, the Witches were still permitted to study and meditate to keep their seething emotions in tranquil stasis. It would not last though; with the Legion succumbing to the malignancy of the warp, the Witches unleashed that which had been held in fetters for too long, reveling in their preternatural abilities as they drew closer to their new patrons than any other among the Legion.

##### **The Kulleretari**

While other Legions would have anywhere from several squads to a company’s worth of Destroyers within their ranks, the Hounds of Surmah boasted an inordinate number; over half the Legion’s Astartes were Destroyers. As such, upon being reunited with their Primarch, a unique sub-pattern of Mk II power armor was designed exclusively for them to better protect them against the ravages of their own weapons while not hindering them with the increased protection via specialized fiber bundles and servos. However, where the Destroyers of the other Legions were strictly ranged units, the Kulleretari were equipped with melee weapons as well, allowing them to fill the role of assault units once they had stricken their prey with such horrific weapons of war. As the Legion fell to Chaos worship, they would undergo horrific surgeries in order to become even more lethal weapons of desolation warfare. Modifying their Betcher’s Gland and the bone structure and musculature of their mouths, throat and abdomen, they were now able to vomit up gouts of highly radioactive blood and acidic saliva onto their prey, causing a monstrous end for any such unfortunates.

##### The Valaistuja Lapsett

The first among the Astartes to ever be possessed, the Valaistuja Lapsett differ from later iterations in that they are willing hosts, they share a symbiotic connection with the Neverborn they house within their flesh. This in turn grants them far greater capabilities than those they see as lesser, daemons who had to force themselves into unwilling vessels and thus taint themselves with hesitancy. While they understood the desire to be made flesh and the need for fodder to throw into the guns of the enemy, there was a sense of profane nobility among them, a step towards ascension that others couldn’t begin to comprehend.

##### Kivutari Hautas

For the Hounds of Surmah, internment within the sarcophagus of a Dreadnought was a polarizing matter; granted to those potent individuals whose expertise and knowledge was still required, it was a monumental honor however, to never feel the physical euphoria of the hunt again, to nimbly stalk one’s prey, was a fate near unbearable. So it was often that those Hounds so interred would eventually fall to mania, their minds eroding under the personal torment of being imprisoned within one’s own mind. When the Legion fell to Chaos, the Ancients made for easy candidates to act as hosts for daemons, their fractured minds welcoming the Neverborn to refashion their frames into a vessel worthy for the children of the gods.

#####

##### **The Armon Ahrvot**

Functioning as the private council of the Primarch, the Armon Ahrvot were hand selected by Surmah based on merits that proved to be of value to his planning and execution of Legion dictates. Rank held no sway within the council when in assembly, as each member was intended to be able to speak freely and without the hinderance, their insight more important than the observance of etiquette.

#### Equipment

* **Mk II "Stalkkeri" Pattern Power Armor** - A more specialized pattern of the MkII suit, jointly developed in M30.914 by Shaaa Hydrades and Surmah Nyyrik for the XX Legion, the designated 'Stalkkeri' pattern was refined to help deal with the extensive use of forbidden destroyer class weaponry the Hounds of Surmah utilized to wage war.
* **Verivaltan Mauls** - Based upon a pre-Imperial design the Verivaltans use to penetrate the thick hides, scales and exoskeletons of the various beasts that dwell upon their homeworld, the Verivaltan Mauls were the Legion's perfecting of such a tool of murder. Vicious warpicks in base design, they're killing blade is further augmented by the coruscating fury of a disruption-field generator, allowing the wielder to carve through all but the most armored of foes.

#### War Disposition

Strict adherents of the Imperial Truth, the Hounds of Surmah brought countless worlds to compliances, though whether by true altruism or the revelation of the fate that befell those who resisted such an offer was of little concern. The XX Legion had been created expressly for the task of exterminating all opposition to the Imperium, viciously wiping such threats from existence. With radiation and Phosphex weaponry did the Hounds of Surmah end even more worlds than they conquered, reaping a staggering tally of dead world, living up to exactly what the Emperor had intended for them.

### The Frontier Wars

Specialist Ranks and Formations

* **The Wretched Sons** - When Surmah forsook the light of the Emperor and helped Almire instigate the Apostasy, not every son of those Primarchs that stayed loyal shared in their fathers’ decisions and several flocked to his banner personally. For reasons only they could give voice to, they found their place at their adoptive father’s side, or in the case of one, lying dormant within the heart of the Imperium, biding his time until he could grant the Great Hound entry into the Kingdom. Others weren’t stripped of such choice andhough the Hounds of Surmah were a Legion of extinction, the imperative flesh played in their machination saw to the harvesting of survivors of their onslaughts. Surmah decreed that a tithe of slaves were to be taken from every battle; whether to serve as meat for profane rituals or to swell the ranks of the Faulekhinde, those unfortunate wretches who were to become hosts to the seething madness of the Neverborn. However, a number of those taken caught the eye of the Primarch and were in turn forcibly converted to his vision; whether through ritual torture or the bonding of daemons, those who refused to submit were reborn as a new kind of monster, eager to slay their former brothers in service to their adoptive father.

#### Equipment

* Vammatara Talons - These blades are hewn from psycho-absorptive crystalline rock found beneath the surface of Ang-Mainyu, after which they are napped to shape, and then inserted into the chest of a psyker. Subjected to torments beyond reason, their agonies seep into the stone, giving it an adamantine-hard edge and a bottomless hunger to inflict the same torments. Wounds from these blades are afflicted by rapid and uncontrolled exsanguination, as the body’s natural counter measures are completely overrun; even the mighty Larraman Cells of the Legiones Astartes are rendered useless by these diabolical weapons.
* Seethe Projectors
* Ichor Rounds - Like the Destroyers of other Legions, the Kulleretari used the same radiation-laced rounds issued to their cousins, just in drastically larger numbers. However, as the decades of the Crusade changed into the tumultuous years of the Almire Apostasy, even the hyper-resistant Stalkkeri pattern power armor they used couldn't keep out the amount of radiation they joyously subjected themselves to. Slowly, their blood became so saturated with radiation that it could be weaponized in its own right.... and weaponized it was. In obscene rituals of bloodletting, the Kulleretari would bleed themselves, pouring their radiation-saturated and warp tainted blood into specialized bolt shells. Housed within pressure-released reservoirs, upon detonation of the bolt rounds, the victim's body would be flooded with the arterial contaminants of the Ill-Fated Sons, flooding them with such obscene levels of radiation that their bodies would boil as their armor melted around them.

#### War Disposition

As the Apostasy spread its claws throughout the galaxy, the Hounds of Surmah fell ever deeper into their father's nihilistic mindset, wish to expedite the cleansing of the material universe and usher in eternal aeon of Chaos. No longer did they seek to conquer, to bring worlds to heel under the rising dominion of the Warmaster, only extermination on a galactic scale and satiating their ever-growing thirst for inflicting pain.

## Legion Homeworld

### **Verivaltas**

Verivaltas is a Death World of dark woods and near-endless swamplands, located within the Segmentum Tempestus, in the Garon Nebula region. Lit by a dying star, its forests drift between twilight and pitiless night, where eternal mist blankets the land and a ceaseless torrent of rain falls from the skies. Despite the desolate and gloomy nature of the planet, the inhabitants of Verivaltas live in relative technological comfort, having survived ravages of Old Night unscathed; though when questioned about how they managed such a feat, they refuse to speak on the subject. Utilitarian and oppressive in aesthetic, the architecture of Verivaltas lacks an artist’s touch, rather it stands defiant against the dank forest and fens that burble beneath its supports; its cyclopean durasteel and armorglass metropolises slab-faced as they weather the wrath of the pregnant skies. Though their cities are despotic in aspect, the Verivaltans have a great amount of respect for their native flora; they work their cities and settlements into the surrounding area, removing only what is absolutely necessary in order to preserve their fens, moors and woods. This world shaped them, they adapted to its sodden embrace, and in return, have worked meticulously to preserve its nature. Lumen lamps dot road and walkways that disappear off into the swamplands or surrounding forests, lighting the way for travelers and transports as they make their way across Verivaltas’ benighted landscape.

Though the Verivaltans may venerate their gloomy world, such care doesn’t diminish it dangers. Ghost-lights have lured countless civilians to their deaths, wandering out into the bogs and fens, where they inevitably fall victim to the toxic mire sucking at their feet, starvation, the predatory beasts that make their home there or the ones who skulk out from the woods. Great, predatory worms lie beneath the dank earth, waiting for careless footfalls to draw their attention, darting from the fetid water and latching their fang-rimmed maws onto the unwitting prey. Such unfortunates are dragged beneath the surface where they are slowly devoured by the worms, though most drown before too much time goes by, a mercy by anyone’s standard. Though a myriad of beasts stalk the woods of Verivaltas, there are two that hold a special place of infamy among the inhabitants; the Surmataan, a monstrously mutated wolf-like creature with a barbed tail and scything tertiary limbs jutting from its chest, and the Ajattara, a leviathan serpentine horror whose maw splits vertically down a third of its length. Numerous long, multi-jointed limbs jut from just behind the end of its head which they use to snatch up prey, the barbed talons acting like a butcher’s hook, as they drag the victim into is ravenous gullet.

## Legion Combat Doctrine

### Great Crusade and Early-Apostasy Era

Upon arriving at a planet subject for compliance, the Hounds of Surmah initiate a one month period of extensive global education and diplomacy in order to bring the planet peacefully into the arms of the Imperium. No shot is ever fired, nor blade unsheathed during this allotted grace period as a gesture of good faith on behalf of the Emperor.

However, should the occupied world fire on the Hounds of Surmah or the one month timeslot expire, the planetary population is henceforth forfeit while its rulers are hauled off in shackles to witness the price of their hubris. Mass drivers and concentrated lance fire mark the opening moments of the XX Legion’s extermination of the planet, blasting clear an entry point from which they will coordinate their purgation of the planet. Once planet-fall is made, the Kulleretari, the Legion’s designation for their Destroyer Squads, are born into combat on modified jump packs, turning the world into an irradiated conflagration with their Radium and Phosphex weaponry. From there, stalking through the smoke and burning husks of cities, the Hounds of Surmah clean up those few who managed to survive the initial onslaught, unsheathing their blades in anticipation of a more personal conflict.

Some Legions enjoy the artistry of melee combat, while others take a more brutal or savage approach, revelling in the crushing of their foes, and still there are those who take a dispassionate view of it. The Hounds of Surmah, contrary to their own claims, have a sadistic glee when they are finally permitted to wet their blades with the blood of the condemned. Though they have kept this behavior closely guarded, it has not escaped the notice of some of the Primarch. There is some debate among them over where this hidden predatory thirst for inflicting pain comes from; some laying blame on the Legion’s ever more frequently assigned purgation missions, where the time for Compliance has passed and an Exterminatus order has been issued instead. Several others feel it is a defect in their geneseed, some kind of unseen mutation due to a previously unknown instability. However, there is one who noticed an upswing in such behavior upon being reunited with their Primarch on the fens of Verivaltas.... believing something sinister took root then.

## Legion Geneseed

The genestock of the XX Legion has survived in quite healthy condition, nothing abhorrently abnormal plagues the Hounds of Surmah, though there are several prominent quirks that only those of Surmah’s legacy possess. Every Astarte shares Surmah’s characteristic pallid skin and porcelain-like eyes, coupling this with a leaner frame than their cousins, the Hounds look more akin to an army of corpses, rather than hearty transhumans. The oddity of their appearance doesn’t stop there however, and though how such a mutation developed isn’t clear, it has lead to further fuel their fearsome reputation. The canine teeth, as well as the ones directly in front and behind have elongated into lethal fangs, and small claws tip each finger, resilient enough to even be used during armored warfare, should the need arise. There are those amongst the Genetors of the Mechanicum that believe it developed while Surmah was stalking the forests of his homeworld, adapting to his surroundings and becoming the apex predator on a planet full of monsters. Due to the benign nature of these minor mutations, no sanctions against the XX Legion have been enacted, as despite the frightening appearance, it doesn’t seem to harbor any emotional or mental abnormalities, unlike the ill-fated sons of the Bleeding Seraph.

It wouldn't be until during the Frontier Wars that a final quirk in their geneseed would be revealed, their predilection for inflicting pain going beyond a simple desire to do so. It is unknown whether or not the Emperor or Amar Astarte were aware of this issue, but as the Hounds of Surmah were left to the pursuit of their own desires, their thirst for inflicting pain became just that; a thirst. What those who were privy to this nature of their thought to be a minor issue had instead proven to be a guiding force in how they operated until it eventually became a biological imperative. The XX Legion didn't just *want* to inflict pain upon others, they *needed* to, for they had grown to tangibly feed upon it, gaining nourishment from the suffering of those around them. Wasting away, it was only in the presence of horrendous excruciation that the Hounds of Surmah returned to true form, actively seeking to always draw out the deaths of their prey so that they might stave off their eventual fate, a metaphysical desiccation.

## Notable Hounds of Surmah

### Great Crusade

* **Surmah Nyyrik** - Surmah Nyyrik is the Primarch of the XX Legiones Astartes, the Hounds of Surmah and the First Heretic, he who brought his brothers into corruption in a bid to slay their Father.

The Hound of the Moors was a figure of dreaded infamy throughout the breadth of the Imperium even before his eventual fall to Chaos, his disposition so disparate it made treating with him nearly impossible to all save those who understood him. Ever composed, Surmah was a diplomatic, if cold individual, dispassionate but driven in his endeavors to see Mankind claim its birthright. However, when the time for words of entreatment had passed, nothing in creation would survive his judgement. With the most horrific weapons within the Imperium at his disposal, he would annihilate entire worlds, reducing the planets not entirely shattered to irradiated husks that wouldn't recover for countless millennia to come. When the Primordial truth was revealed to him after the purging of the Word Bearers during The Silencing, Surmah's fractured mind could not accept the reality-crushing truth of the universe; his Father had lied to him, forced him to taint his hands with the blood of the one being who spoke truth, and so his mind spiraled into mania.

With the fall of Terra during the First Solar War and the subsequently tumultuous decades of the Frontier Wars, Surmah's devotion to the Chaos Gods only deepened, his mind reeling with the forbidden knowledges of aeons past gleaned to him through their blessings. His obsession with seeing the galaxy cleansed of life and an age of the warp swallowing up all creation led to a distancing of himself from the Warmaster who seemed only concerned with ruling the very same empire they had just sought to destroy. This gulf only seemed to widen until the Loyalists managed to rally and march on Terra, seeking to reclaim the cradle of the Imperium and finally end the reign of their once most noble brother. However, when their Father and brothers closed in on them, Surmah sent his fleet away and into the depths of the Warp as he gave a final farewell to his foolish brother, abandoning Almire to his fate at the hands of the Emperor of Mankind.

With Almire erased from existence, the coalition of Traitors finally and truly shattered, the surviving Primarchs taking their Legions to whatever clandestine fates awaited them. It would be during the opening years of M32 that Surmah Nyyrik finally ascended to Daemonhood, the last of his traitorous brothers to achieve true immortality and become the greatest Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided.

* **Tursari Härkönen** - Known across the breadth of the Imperium by his epithet, *Musta Leski (the Black Widow)* Tursari Härkönen held the rank of Stalker-Prime within the Legion, only being eclipsed in command by that of the Primarch himself, to whom he also served as Equerry. Throughout the Great Crusade, the Verivaltan-Born champion would distinguish himself time and again, fighting in the most horrific theatres of war alongside the Primarch and returning each time bathed in the blood and viscera of his prey. However, it would be during the monumental event known as the Great Feast that his infamy would rise to knew heights, apathetically entering the Tournament of Champions as the representative from the XX Legion. In the end, having fought the Final Round to a draw for the title of Imperial Champion, Tursari was finally recognized no longer as just a skilled killer, but a warrior beyond reproach of any, save one other among the Legiones Astartes.
* Raako Kunigas - A brutal and cunning warrior, it was to Raako that Tursari entrusted the personal safety of their father and to whom he deferred command should the need arise. As such, it was Raako who lead the *Ajattaraenen*, Surmah's personal guard.
* **Rasmus "Hiisi" Hiisivirne** - From his earliest days within the legion, Hiisi showed a propensity for operating on his own, shunning the company of nearly all others with the primary exception of Tursari, with whom he spent much of his childhood with hunting the moors and woods of Verivaltas. With the creation of the Kalmahitse, Hiisi was removed from his company and refitted to serve in this new role within the brotherhood of the grave. Having been the first among the Verivaltan recruits to develop the telltale signs of the Desolation, he occupied a unique bridge between the old and new members of the brotherhood, able to seamlessly speak for both sides. Eventually this talent would see him promoted to the role of Speaker and his indoctrination into the Armon Ahrvot, there to convey the desires and status of his brothers among the Kalmahitse to his Primarch. During the events of the Frontier Wars, as Surmah grew more clandestine in his schemes, he began to answer to Tursari above any other, trusting in his long-time friend to lead the Legion as their father grew more distant. If there was one being who could hold the Legion together, it was the *Black Widow*, and Hiisi would ensure that none dared to defy his command. As the Scouring came to a close and the Legions of old fell to the ravages of infighting and centuries old rivalries, Hiisi would become Tursari's personal enforcer and assassin, as his suffering from the Desolation precluded any chance of him holding a position of proper command. Planetary dignitaries, Inquisitors, rival Chaos Lords, the quarry mattered not; all that mattered was that they were removed from existence and Hiisi was to the blade by which Tursari excised such unwanted prey.
* **Jyri Näkki** - Stalker of the 2nd Great Clan, Jyri was an oddity among his brothers, possessed of a joviality at odds with his murderous desires. He enjoyed the sport of sparring with any who would meet him in the training cages, regardless of Legion affiliation, though it was his cousins of the VII Legion that he took the most pleasure pitting himself against. As the preeminent knife-fighter within the Legion, Jyri's style of combat is that of a brawler; knees, elbows, kick and punches being used during a duel as much as his twined daggers. It would be during the events of the Almire Apostasy that he came upon a truly ancient artifact of Chaos, a napped blade that predated the rise of civilization by tens of thousands of years. Armed with a weapon that had tasted even the blood of a god, Jyri carved a bloody reputation for himself through the First Siege of Terra and into the strife-ridden years of the Frontier Wars, his eldritch blade imbuing him with a potency few could understand.
* **Egon Geier** - Egon Geir, known throughout the legion as "Vulture," due to his tendency towards looting the bodies of the dead, was the former Third Stalker of the 3rd Great Clan. A capricious and contemptuous man, Ego was prone to letting his tongue get away from him, though his rank and lethality had a tendency to prevent any vindication sought by others. As toxic as the weapons he so loved, Egon ruthlessly enforced his command, quashing any who might question is authority, lest an upstart "pup" take his place. During the Almire Apostasy, he would lead his Great Clan in savage ambushes, always attacking his prey from their rearguard and forcing them into a pincered assault. To him, battle was a means to an end, the fighting and objectives didn't matter, only the pleasure he gained from killing his foes and taking from they the choicest of trophies. However, it was during the Siege of Terra that Egon would meet his untimely end; not in glorious combat but to a stray round hitting a Phosphex grenades clipped to his belt, engulfing him and his pack in a conflagration of seething, green flame.
* **Jaska Verileto** - Jaska Verileto and his pack were bounding into the Loyalist's lines when Egon Geier was slain during the Siege of Terra and being his second in command, he took control of the 3rd Great Clan in the wake of the Vulture's death. Rallying what Clans were in his immediate vicinity, Jaska ordered his brothers to ascend the walls and bathe the defenders of the Lion's Gate in enough Phosphex and radiation to saturate the earth for millennia to come. Where his predecessor ruled with an iron-fisted pettiness, Jaska commanded through bloody-minded example; butchering his opponents in single-combat whenever possible and leading from the front at all times. This would work in his favor as when the Siege had come to an end, and a new Stalker of the 3rd Great Clan would be needed, his self-claimed battlefield promotion would be rendered official, his worth as a killer and leader being proved many times over. He would later subject himself to the same surgeries as the rest of his monstrous kin until little remained of the once hauntingly beautiful commander, a permanent serrated grin carved into his face, caustically radioactive bloody-spittle leaking from his mutilated mouth.
* **Sakari Takala** - Known as *Dirge,* for his commanding and potent battle-sermons, Sakari Takala held the rank of High Vicar within the Hounds of Surmah acting as warden of the Legion's traditions and enforcing the Edict of Nikaea in the wake of the Emperor's judgement. When he spoke, all listened, from the newest of initiates to the Stalker-Prime himself, none were beyond his sanction nor influence. In the aftermath of Milburga IX, while Surmah sealed himself away in his sanity-shattered state, Sakari poured over his notes and the pic-captures he had taken during *The Silencing*, noting etchings, reliefs, sculptures and mosaic work identical to the monstrosities that he bore witness to on that hellish world. Through further study, he began to uncover just what the Legion had been subjected to and when his father finally rejoined his sons, he was shocked to find that the Primarch was already well aware of just what they had found. And so as his first converted son, Sakari and his Vicars were charged with spreading the new doctrine to the rest of the Legion, and from there, turning their cousin Legions to Surmah's designs. Seeking greater ways in which to bring the word of his primeval masters to the galaxy, he placed himself under the ministrations of the apothecarion; through the use of warp witchcraft and tech-organs harvested during the extermination of the xenos species known as the *Nephilim*, Sakari's voice became that of the gods themselves. Now, more than ever, he reflected his epithet; his voice being capable of shredding through armored Astartes, shattering tanks and even sundering the very ground beneath him, his psychosonic capabilities only growing in potency as the blessings of his primeval patrons grew.
* **Synkkä Vipunen** - A psyker of near-unparalleled power, the *Lord of the Black Tempest* served as Arch-Witch to the XX Legion, overseeing the maintenance of its Metsänoita, the Librarius of the Legion. As with all Witches that served in the Hounds, their talents always oriented towards the nature their tenebrous homeworld, but none encapsulated this more than Synkkä. Whenever he took to the field of battle ebon clouds would choke the skies as rain fell in a torrent, purple lightning crackling and lancing down to the earth as the heavens cried out their unnatural rage. Many amongst the Legion claimed that *Mother Vera* always accompanied him to war, ever watchful of one of her favored sons.

When the Legion began its descent into Chaos worship, Synkkä understood the scope of what they were giving praise to better than all but their father, and thus dived deeper than others had sought to, save his closest brother, Sakari. Carving cuneiform runes of power into his armor, he sought to bolster his powers even further, his command of the warp and its denizens reach a point of near insanity.

* **Valdamar Myrskinen** - Belligerent and choleric in the extreme, *Iron-Bear*, as he was commonly called, would have been better suited to serving amongst the VII Legion, far closer to Kodiak Ursidae in temperament than his father. Even among Astartes, Valdamar was a giant, standing as tall as one of his terminator brethren while he was bereft of armor; that he strode into battle clad in a monstrous suit of Cataphractii pattern terminator armor only amplified his prodigious size to even greater heights. Clad in such protection, he would lead his heavy destroyer packs into countless boarding actions and other close-quarters fighting, reaving a heavy toll from his unfortunate victims. Whether through legitimate delusion or the simple need to be antagonistic, he would constantly challenge the authority of Tursari Härkönen, claiming the Stalker-Prime wasn't worthy of his station. Eventually he pressed this matter too far and during a congregation, he was humbled by Tursari who tore his lower-jaw from his skull with contemptuous ease in front of the Legion-greater. Ever after would he bear enmity towards the Stalker-Prime but never again would he seek to challenge him. During the events of the Almire Apostasy, he would come under the eye of the Blood God Khorne, acquiring his patronage with countless bloody deeds and indiscriminate slaughter. By the time of the Siege of Terra, having grown swollen with blessings from the Father of Rage, he might have once more challenged Tursari for his title, were he not to be slain by the High Steward of the Watchers of Akhet, Imothes in a duel. Boasting of his prowess and how he would do that which the Black Widow never could, Valdamar was summarily executed with little to show for his arrogance.
* **Vammat Iiro** -
* **Albrecht Meier** - Among the Hounds of Surmah, there were none more gifted or skilled in the creation and maintenance of the Legion's wargear as Albrecht, save the personal artificer of the Primarch himself. Innovative and devilishly brilliant, Albrecht was responsible for honing the lethal edge of the Hounds of Surmah, always seeking to improve upon old designs and increase efficiency even the the tiniest degree. It would be this drive however that saw him to ruin. During routine work upon one of the numerous Khmali housed within the Sielun Murskaaja, a damaged rad-furnaced ruptured, engulfing half the forge complex in an irradiated conflagration of plasmic fury. Somehow, the charred slab of meat they dragged to the apothecarion still breathed, the faintest of whispers escaping its lips; *not yet*. Months passed and countless surgeries followed as Albrecht was brought back to a semblance of life; his scorched and withered form only surviving through the life-support systems of his armor and cybernetic enhancements that replaced his limbs and much of what remained of his body. To his own form would his meticulous nature turn, rebuilding his ruined anatomy with the precision that had seen him elevated to the position of *Ilmari Samponu*. When the doors to his private artifisorium finally opened, a monster of cybernetic articulation emerged, no longer resembling an Astartes, but something far greater.
* **Arjah Niku** -
* **Reijo Harmataivas** - Among the XX Legion, Reijo was always an anomaly, eschewing their vicious ways and desire to inflict pain for a nobler bearing. When the Emperor of Mankind walked upon the surface of Verivaltas, it was the most transcendent image the young boy had ever seen; in truth, it was the first time he'd seen what could only be described as a "living sun." Imperial, resplendent, beneficent, such words could only scrape at the majesty of the Master of Mankind as Reijo gazed upon his splendor. After his elevation into the Legion, he quickly stood apart from his brothers, dispatching his foes with clean and quick efficiency, refusing to follow their lead. As the years passed, Reijo spent any and every opportunity working alongside the Astartes of the XV Legion, as the Silver Basilisks embodied everything he aspired to be. Honorable and dedicated to preserving the lives of those around them, Reijo took such attributes and fashioned himself in their image, going so far as to eventually become the greatest swordsman within the Hounds of Surmah. Within a Legion of the most vicious of killers, he stood alone; a knight of purest intent to hold back the darkness of an ever-brutal galaxy.

So it was that when the Hounds of Surmah revealed their betrayal, he decried his father and brothers, refusing to spit on the oaths he had made with his blood to the Emperor and the Imperium. Saving a handful of captives from the oubliettes of the Vicars, Reijo battled his way to one of the hangar bays in hopes of acquiring a safe teleport-lock to his own vessel. In the end, only he and one other, a Star Guardian by the name of Tyban Gharz, made it safely to his ship before it dove into the warp in a desperate bid to warn the Imperium of the Great Hound's betrayal.

### Apostasy

#### The Wretched Sons

* **Aphoph the Ever-Shifting**- Watchers of Akhet - Djehiset

* **Fracturam** **Lord Bahadur Esteri** - Star Guardians - A Veteran of the IVth Legion, Bahadur Esteri was the first of the Dreadnoughts of those from the Ring, placed within the life-supporting sarcophagus after the bloody victory at 30-5. During the First Solar War, Bahadur was placed amongst the Outer defences, commanding a vast Star Fortress that came under heavy attack by the sons of the XXth Primaarch. though he fought bravely, Bahadur was not inviolable, and over close to a month of fighting, wounds that alone would be insignificant began to combine, systems shutting down one by one, hamstringing the mighty dreadnought in the way of the Hounds of Surmah. When he finally fell, his leg hydraulics giving out, his weapon feeds spluttering and failing, the tech marines of the XXth moved in, securing his mighty form with blood-soaked chains, dragging him before the Hound of the Moors. Even so weakened, little more than a corpse encased in armour, Bahadur refused to submit, pain long since scoured from his emancipated corpse, the thought of torture bringing a laugh not only from the Dreadnought's vox-grill, but from Bahadur's ruined lips as well. At this, Surmah smiled, a chucle of his own escaping his lips, before he bid his Vicars to begin opening Bahadur's eyes to the truth of the universe. Bahadur was not seen again for the First Solar War, the Star Fort he had defended echoing impossibly through space with the screams of the once mighty prisoner held there. Slowly but surely, Bahadur was bound further and further to his sarcophagus, where once only mechanical connections had existed, now the warriors body itself threaded through its warping metallic form, even as his ruined nervous system was agonisingly pulled back into full function. Bahadur and his form became one entity, removal of a weapon arm now causing as much pain as a flesh and blood limb torn bodily away from where it was connected but moments before. In time, even the mighty could take no more, his soul laid bare, even as he, albeit weakly, still resisted the ruination done to him. His willingness was not required however, as the Vicars conducted the final stage of the ritual, opening Bahadur's soul wider still, and inviting in a creature from the warp, a greater daemon of Chaos Undivided; Daevas . The power of a being such as Daevas  was immense, the change done to Bahadur immediate and irreversible, visually the armour moulded to his sarcophagus fusing into a daemonic visage, even as his weapons twisted into new forms, crackling with energy not native to Bahadur's native realm of existence. When the Wretched Sons strode the galaxy during the Frontier Wars, the booming tread of Bahadur often accompanied them, daemonic cannons spitting great blasts of energy at the enemies of the Herald of the Dark Pantheon, before his mighty claws rent them apart with contemptuous ease.
* **Njorthr “Scourge” Ymirthrm** - Sirens of Kastar - Captured during the events of The Drowning, Njorthr was brought aboard the *Sielun Murskaaja* as the rest of the Kraken Lords were swallowed by the tidal calamity that befell Orsyr. After suffering for months at the hands of the Legion’s Vicars, the being that emerged from their reliquary was no longer the resolute ravager that had been pulled from the deep of the Kraken Lords’ homeworld, but an embodiment of the fetid tidal shore of his home. Now host to all manner of parasitic mites, Scourge bring the blessings of the Grandfather to the foes of Surmah, briny rivulets endlessly seeping from his flood-ravaged armor.
* **Ashok Bhutan "Gyalken'shug"** - Seekers of Unity - When the :Holding Place: fell to the wrath of Almire  Da'caathe, not all his sons heeded the rallying call of their new appointed leader, their grief and fury over such betrayal smothering all reason. Ashok was one such Seeker, taking his frigate, he fled to the far reaches of the Segmentum Tempestus; there, he and his brothers took to pirating, stealing what they could from other vessels as well as raiding worlds that fell beneath their gaze. Whether by chance or perverted machinations, their vessel was set upon by several bearing the heraldry of the XX Legion,
* **Gwrtrynn "Red-Maw"** - War Bears - Even amongst the War Bears, Gwrtrynn was a particularly monstrous Astartes, reveling in the pain and destruction he caused, no act or weapon was beyond use in his eyes and this mentality in turn earned him the ire of his lord. Yet another master took note of his appetites, Surmah finding tremendous merit in his dedication to seeing victory won at any cost, and as such, spoke praise of him to Kodiak whenever they were together. So when the War Bears refused to join with the Traitor side, he rallied his Clan to him and set about slaughtering his brothers for their betrayal of their closest allies. Surmah and the Hounds had ever been the ones to respect and understand their ways, unlike the Imperium who sought to keep them as far away and unpraised as possible, seeing them as nothing more than mongrel animals. For his loyalty, Surmah adopted Gwrtrynn and his Clan into the Legion and elevated him to a place within the Armon Ahrvot, his private council. Since that time, Gwrtrynn has caused untold devastation among the Loyalists, pledging himself to the Blood God and receiving his blessings in kind.
* Ambrosard Savier - Guilded Vanguard - Born into
* **Ophiuchus** - Ashen Crows - Like all scions of the XI Legion, Ophiuchus had an obsession with garnering ever more knowledge, however, unlike his brothers, he took to any and every means at his disposal. Disappearing on archeology expeditions, following leads on archaic data-wafers and pouring through every book, tome and grimoire he and his research flock could find. Only through absolute knowledge could he save mankind, his Primarch had instilled that creed within him and so he bent every iota of his being to it. However, he who delves to deep often finds truths not meant for the minds of mortals, and such would be the fate of Ophiuchus. With velvet promises of profane erudition, the Hounds of Surmah swayed him to their cause, tormenting him with further knowledge in exchange for ever greater travesties meted out by his hands.

* Hussar **Melita “Nuckelavee” Neritos** - Palatine Wings - A member of Bartosz's Perun, and regarded as one of the greatest warriors within the Palatine Wings, Neritos was believed to have perished upon the sands of Istvaan V alongside most of his legion and order, but the truth was far, far darker. Instead of dying, Neritos was captured by the Hounds of Surmah, subjected to cruel, torturous rituals to forever bind him to the Ruinous Powers. Soon, the Neritos that was fell away, the Nuckelavee, taking the title of the Centaur Lord, a dark reflection of the newly forming Orcadians amongst the XIVth.
* **Kassandros** of Kakosia- Wisp of Acherons - That a Legion as bloody-minded as the Wisps of Acheron never fell to the Warmaster's cause has ever been a point of absurd question. Yet not all obeyed the dictates of their father when the Legion finally managed to quell the fires of the Schism, a vessel from the XVIII fleet diving into the warp with all haste to alert the Warmaster of Charon's refusal to join his cause. Among the Astartes of this vessel was Kassandros, however, unlike his brothers who had sworn themselves to Almire, he had long since been in the hidden service of Surmah Nyrrik. Having been brought into the deep confidences of Sakari Takala during The Silencing, Kassandros had spent years spreading his vile truths into the Wisps of Acheron alongside those of the Keepers, hoping to ensure their fall to Chaos when tensions bad finally reached an apex. When his ship reached that of the Traitor armada that was plunging towards the Sol System, he alone departed for the Sielun Murskaaja, finally taking up his place among the Wretched Sons.
* **Sargon** - Dragon Lords -

## Legion Fleet

### Notable Vessels

**Sielun Murskaaja-**

**Wiedergänger-** Former flagship of the Hounds of Surmah, the *Wiedergänger* of an ancient design found only during the Dark Age of Technology; lacking the carrying capacity of the later Gloriana-class ships, it made up for this in sheer firepower, armor plating and void-shield arrays, capable of taking on entire fleets singlehandedly and shattering whole worlds. As the Almire Apostasy and subsequent Frontier Wars raged on, the *Wiedergänger* would be found at the most horrendous of void battles, destroying untold numbers of ships and claiming the lives of untold millions. Eventually, through its constant saturation of warp exposure, the ship began to change, developing a malign sentience until finally, her captain was absorbed and merged with the vessel itself; becoming the first void-faring daemon vessel in history.

**[Name] (Ship/Station Class)** -

## Legion Relics

* Mercy's Eclipse - A power claw of near unrivaled design, it was a gift from Shaaa Hydrades to his brother Surmah Nyyrik; both a vicious weapon and a means to keep himself safe. When Surmah went to his brother in a bid to sway him to the Warmaster's cause, the vitriol spilled between them and the heartache he felt at this betrayal from one of his most beloved brothers, saw him cast away the claw, lest he be reminded of his failure and the loss of so kindred a spirit. Unbeknownst to Surmah however, the claw was retrieved by one of his sons and kept hidden well into the Frontier Wars, where once again it would taste the blood of those who found themselves to be prey of the XX Legion.
* Kiln of Spite -

## Sources

[1] - Art by Antarus - Former author of the Scorpion Guard