Immortals

*Enjoy some ambiance courtesy of the wickedly talented Farya Faraji while you read*

## Immortals(Athanatoi)

An armorial belonging to the Immortals displaying their chapter's sigil. The central red blood drop paired with the gold heraldry marks the owner of this pauldron as a veteran sergeant.

* Firstborn
* Primaris

Brother Adrigon Uriah, an Assault Marine of the Third Spear; the "Erelim." His emblems indicate that he is of the Third Spear's (company) fourth squad. Worthy of note is the customary sagaris issued to each brother maglocked to his side which often replaces the combat knife.Beside him is Dilaver Çağan; a Hyparch (Lieutenant) of the Second Spear; the "Avestan Hussars." He was granted permission to sport the Ultramarines insignia on his Imperialis during his service with the Greyshields. To note: his markings are in silver and his helm sports a plume and is coloured in copper. Command staff get silver or white markings and all Astartes past the rank of veteran are issued a copper coloured helm.

## Space Marine Chapter

### **Allegiance**

Imperium of Man
(*Fedelitas Totalis*)

### **Founding**

8th Founding
(Mid-Late M35)

### **Successor of**

Sanguinius
(Blood Angels lineage)

### **Number of Marines**

1,000 (Speculated to be above strength, claims remain unsubstantiated)
Under Investigation

### **Specialty**

Shock Assault, Siege-Breaking/Siege Laying, Attrition Warfare, Void Warfare and Combined Arms

### **Battle cry**

Prompt: "Earth and Water."Answer: "Your Tithe or Ruination."

### **Colours**

Green and copper with orange lenses alongside gold or silver heraldry and filigree depending on rank

### Successor Chapter(s)

None

"*Perpetuity is itself a boon or curse that we ourselves will never truly understand, never mind the fragile, the weak or the downtrodden masses that we are to safeguard and carry into tomorrow. Jaded or otherwise, you will be the subject of envy and admiration, of hollow praise and mockery, or pity and sorrow. For while you may have the chance, perhaps even the luxury of enjoying basal joys in life indefinitely, so too are your souls condemned to be weathered and ground to dust while you are made to suffer each and every loss of your fellow brothers. Every heartache and burden yet another link to be added to the long chains that we are to carry. No matter the number of your victories or your triumphs, be it in the line of duty or by the slow decay of time you will be faced with this eventuality. You were deemed worthy of this gift and burden for it is not to be handed out lightly. Your station carries with it the weight of ages which has crushed the lives of countless men. We, however, have been granted its mantle. For only we could withstand that which is asked of us. Only we have the strength to endure the relentless march of time. It is why we alone should bear the name of the Deathless. I bid you now to rise, let go of the child you were before walking into these hallowed halls and rise now in the name of your father and his father before him. In the name of Sanguinius and his Father, I bid you now to rise forevermore an Immortal.*"
—Current Shahanshah Artaxerxes Hydarnes of the Immortals accepting the newest roster of Neophytes within the chapter
The **Immortals** (High Gothic: *Athanatoi*) are a semi-Codex-compliant Loyalist Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes hailing from the Eighth Founding in the middle to late stages of M35 and descended from the bloodline of the Blood Angels. These ill-understood but noble sons of Sanguinius have fought the enemies of man with a tenacity few of their peers could match, their extensive roll of battle honours reflecting that. Carrying the traditions of their forebears and combining it with the teachings of their home world’s customs, alongside works like the posthumously named the Vidarnan Verses penned by their first very Shahanshah (Chapter Master): Vidarna. The tome catalogues the many storied traditions of the empires that call their planet home and that of traditional Blood Angels doctrine and culture alongside his own musings and philosophical writings. The volumes of Vidarna’s writings are largely treated as an accompaniment to the Codex Astartes whose tenets and ideals are aspired to; just as with Guilliman’s own writings.

Having proven themselves as staunch and stoic scions of their Primarch despite their isolationist tendencies, the Immortals have been commended by their parent chapter on several occasions. The most noteworthy example in recent memory being the participation of several Spears (Companies) during the Devastation of Baal, the Fourth Spear even being granted a new addition to their moniker; now branded as the Anuvaniyans (archers) of Baal by their progenitor chapter. The Immortals maintain bonds of loyalty with their progenitors and the majority of their successor kin irrespective of the otherness some of their brother chapters might feel for them. However, following the Devastation of Baal, they have been increasingly distant largely due to their posting in the Avestan Satrapy far out into the Eastern Fringe. Of note, the Immortals share bonds of loyalty to some Chapters of the Blood more closely than others, such as the Angels Encarmine, Charnel Guard, Stormborn and the Angels Numinous. Those not of their progenitor’s bloodline that the Immortals have otherwise made ties with or have fought alongside of on several occasions include the likes of the Iron Lords, Nemean Brotherhood, Lightning Wraiths, Imperial Wardens, Abyssal Rukhs, Nemean Lions and the Executioners.

Claiming regency over the system of worlds far out into the Eastern Fringe, past even the dreaded Hadex Anomaly, which they have dubbed the Avestan Satrapy. Their closest immediate neighbours are found in the Iron Lords of the Grendl Stars. Locally the star system is also known as the “Last Paradise” in Avestan, (the system’s own native tongue, the collated languages and dialects are called Bhāṣāvesta) within the Avestan Satrapy. The protectors of the Satrapy are a stark contrast to the name of the haven they helped create and subsequently guard. Though noted as stalwart, noble and regal personalities; they are often reserved, quiet, dour and taciturn individuals whose features and gaze belies the cold, silent anger of their gene-father behind walls of resolve. Though they don’t bear contempt for the mortals they defend, they are largely indifferent to them. Especially as the warriors of the chapter age and climb through the ranks do they take on an increasingly colder disposition. As far as Astartes go, mortals that encounter their number often report the eeriness of their nature. Their pragmatic nature as warriors means that they prioritise their objective less on ideals and lean much more on hard strategic value. They are often indifferent to the suffering of the masses that can often find themselves in the crossfire of the battles they wage. However, they still recognize the worth of protecting civilians, even if only for the bare minimum in that it serves to keep up morale and fuels the Imperium’s propaganda machine or its ability to man the Imperium’s military industrial complex and manufactorums on a solely arithmetic basis. Thus they can and will make an effort to see that they keep civilian casualties and collateral damage to a minimum so long as they are able to meet the objectives given to them, but should it prove to not outweigh the importance of a position or objective, they don’t mourn for those that are lost as a result. Which is not to say that they are entirely uncaring of the civilians they protect as both the Blood Angels doctrine and that of Vidarna’s own texts stress the importance of protecting civilians on grounds of their duty and morality in addition to the more utilitarian causes to safeguard them. However, as they age they treat the subject of life itself as a currency that is to be spent or gained, be it that of Astartes or that of a mortal. Thus they have by nature become more practical and calculating with the subjects they are charged with defending, albeit not out of disdain of them.

When not on the field of battle or practising exercise drills, the members of the chapter partake in various forms of artistry and martial practices as a form of meditation in itself. Such activities include but are not limited to things like poetry, pottery, painting, calligraphy, carpet weaving, archery, fermenting and brewing of ales and wines, horsemanship and metallurgy to keep their aggression in check. However, they do encourage treating slights on them or their peers with heightened aggression internally amongst themselves in a manner that has been compared to the likes of the Executioners chapter with regards to the lengths they might go to in settling a score. Any member may challenge another to a trial by combat, even the Shahanshah himself may be challenged for some perceived slight. But this is noted to be an exceptionally rare occurrence within their ranks because just as they encourage persecuting these slights, there is more emphasis on settling disputes in whatever manner is most fitting to the offence. Which is to say that they are just as noted for their aptitude of peacefully setting differences aside within their own chapter as to not allow feelings of resentment nor bitterness to take root and fester in their ranks to maintain ties of brotherhood with one another just as much as they are known for settling scores blade to blade.

All Blood Angels and their successors are noted for their ability in shock assault and decapitation strikes; the Immortals are no different in that regard. However, their homeworld and region of space demanded they fully embrace a new specialty: siege and attrition warfare. Their time in containing species like the Barghesi during their cooperation with the Iron Lords or whilst against other xenos races within the reaches of the space they call home demanded they also be exceptional in this style of war. The methods of their war waging combine the fast decapitating strikes of their primogenitors with the grinding attrition of the Iron Warriors and their grim resolve. Making for an efficient blend of the two: forcing their enemies on the defensive and to sustain the brunt of the massive attrition by keeping them tied down while they constantly outmanoeuvre the foe. Only ever committing to static lines where it is deemed most beneficial to the war effort.

## Chapter History

### Without Death - Archon's Bane

The story of their genesis, at least their name, can trace its roots back to the Great Crusade to the Dominion of the Blood Angels Legion’s 54th company, informally known as the “Undying Sons” within the Legion. Over the following millennia with the reorganising of the legion, the predecessors of the Immortals in the aforementioned Undying Sons would be seconded to the Blood Angels when the Second Founding had occurred. Though the name of the Undying Sons would fall into obscurity after the breaking of the Legions, its mantras and beliefs would go on to be carried into the future by the third company of the Blood Angels: the Iron Helms. Vidarna during his tenure in the captaincy was commonly referred to as the “Deathless” by his confidants for the number of horrendous wounds he sported. The most severe of which had been given to him whilst pursuing a fleet of Drukhari of the splinter Kabal of the Barbed Sail, a vassal of the Kabal of “The Severed” toward the galactic east within Ultramar with little in the way of success during the fraught years of the Nova Terra Interregnum.

Archon Obair'tui, the Amethyst Tyrant of the Kabal of the Barbed Sail had ambushed the Blood Angels fleet whilst they were on convoy duty in Ultima Segmentum. In doing so had slain the acting commanders and captain and in the concluding moments of the fighting cost a then Sergeant Vidarna his power spear, an eye and an arm alongside the majority of the third company he served under. Only being able to achieve a pyrrhic victory against the foe after rallying the remnants of his battered company to see them off at great cost to the fleet. His actions during this engagement would clear the way to him assuming captaincy of the company and he was keen to settle the score of the losses incurred on his chapter and when presented with the opportunity. Years of pursuit and other mission deployments kept him from ever crossing paths with Obair’tui. However, said opportunity would reveal itself years later as reports of a splinter of the Kabal was reportedly sighted carrying out slave raids in the Ghoul Stars.

It was in 897.M34 within the reaches of the Ghoul Stars that a force of Angels Encarmine were deployed on garrison duty with two companies assigned to the Forge World of Carcosa in the Poltergeist Star System. A small and battered flotilla of Imperial Navy vessels moored themselves on the void ports of the Forge World due to a warp jump that had gone awry. After making planetfall and seeing to the most dangerous repairs of the small imp fleet of Imperial Navy vessels made for the void once more. Misfortune struck as at the same moment the Archon of The Severed made his presence known to the world. The newly repaired flotilla in orbit was once more completely disabled and their crew taken aboard their vessels as slaves.

The garrisoned Angels Encarmine and Mechanicus forces alerted the system of the magnitude of the threat that presented itself through the astropathic choir, requesting that navy vessels blockade the world so the Drukhari may not be allowed to escape. In the ensuing engagement, the Angels Encarmine put up a valiant defence but had suffered severe losses as a result and were no longer a viable combat ready unit to call upon.

It was but mere chance that the newly promoted Captain Vidarna was within close enough distance thanks to the string of reports on sightings of the Kabal to make for a timely warp jump and be the one who would answer the call for aid. Translating back to real-space at the head of four companies and a detachment of Imperial Navy escort ships, he had expected to find the Drukhari making haste for their accursed home. He was instead greeted with a slow moving and battered Drukhari fleet still in the middle of plundering the Imperial vessels of their crew and cargo. Identifying the flagship, he boarded an assault ram to make straight for the capital ship's starboard side for a decapitating strike.

The boarding rams smashed through the vessel and disgorged their detachments of Astartes with a wrathful Vidarna at the head of the procession. He and his retinue would swiftly cut a swathe through the unprepared and horrified Drukhari and with the opportunity now presented to them, the recently enslaved crew rallied and began to overwhelm their captors. This chain of events replicated itself all throughout the ship to where for every Drukhari aboard there were now four humans ready to tear them apart. Using the momentum of this rising tide to his advantage, Vidarna had turned the ship into a charnel house alive with the sounds of battle. The Drukhari flagship was awash with the clangour of metal on metal, barking of boltguns and blood curdling howls and shrill cries of pain as man and Drukhari tore each other to ribbons. He didn't relent and continued to press the sword to its hilt as the captain cleared room upon room of the vessel.

The Drukhari now having overcome the initial shock could do hopelessly little as the Blood Angels tore through their ranks. Vidarna knew better than to underestimate a snake backed into a corner and put nothing to chance. Winding corridors, room to room, atrium and bridge, wherever the Astartes went, the Drukhari were brought low by their advance. The flagship's sanctum now at the will of the Blood Angels strike force, the Archon's own bodyguards gave him up to the Astartes. They were all rounded up by the Blood Angels and Captain Vidarna was only too eager to settle the score and swiftly executed the Archon and his bodyguards with the same blade that had cost Vidarna an eye and arm before discarding it. After which he then made for securing the rest of the vessel before ordering its destruction. Before doing so, however, he happened upon the highest security prison holds and discovered the mutilated remains of several Salamanders, their battle plate in ruin with untold numbers of dead and dying Drukhari strewn about them.

They would recover the corpses and panoply and set a course for the world of Nocturne to return the fallen warriors to their Chapter and upon the moon would call for a parley with the Drakes. For their gratitude in returning to them the remains of their own, he was gifted a drake skin and his choice of weapon from their armoury where he chose a power spear to replace his own which would be known thereafter as the “Fated Emerald.”

Come mid-M35 during the tail end of the events of the Nova Terra Interregnum, the order to found more Astartes chapters was dispatched. Chosen for the honour of leading a new successor of the Blood was none other than Captain Vidarna himself. Having been humbled by the display of gratitude the Salamanders showed him in the centuries prior upon the return of their fallen kin to Nocturne, he would adopt the green of the chapter as his own mark of respect for the fallen Salamanders and the generosity they showed him upon the safe return of his remains. He would choose to have his descendants thereafter take after his moniker and unflinching approach to war as the Deathless. Thus it was that the Immortals were born.

### The Drowning of Tears

The newly ascended Chapter Master Vidarna and his kin began operations as a crusading chapter and granted with the use of a massive, warp-capable Star Fort: the “Sarissa.” Smaller than but still comparable to that of the Rapturous Rex of the Fire Hawks which acted as their mobile Fortress Monastery and was ultimately destroyed during the Devastation of Baal. After settling the score of conflicts during the Nova Terra Interregnum, the Immortals were called away from service in that theatre of war. Bidden to make haste for an area of space within the Eastern Fringe, within it lay their next target: the Avestan Satrapy, a star system beyond the Hadex Anomaly and the Grendl Stars. This region of space would prove to be of vital importance to the Imperium’s as its most fortified bastion of the far flung frontiers. Housing xenos races like the Umbra and possibly a species descended from the Barghesi.

Its most noteworthy and populous world was to be what the Immortals would eventually make into their homeworld: Seleucia. A backwater feudal world of squabbling gunpowder empires struggling for supremacy over the other in a needlessly complicated and convoluted network of alliances, client and vassal states. A particularly long and brutal set of wars left the world unable to settle their tithes to the Imperium. Vidarna would split his numbers three ways to cover the rest of the Satrapy, while himself would lead four companies of his fellow brethren to make planetfall upon Seleucia. To bring the world back into the fold; whether it be through violence or by way of diplomacy, the method didn’t matter to the Chapter Master. The three most influential of the royal houses were those of the Osemmar, Safarrite and the Morgarii and dotted about the rest of the world are a plethora of other smaller factions, city states, client kingdoms and ethnic groups making up the rest of the world’s incredibly convoluted borders.

The coming of the Astartes sent the royal courts of each into an upheaval with factionalism taking hold and divided loyalties becoming further fragmented and granular. Some believed that their coming was a bad omen, others a blessing, while some still thought this event was nothing more than the mad and incoherent ramblings of a village idiot amounting to little more than a mass of falling stars and asteroids.

The smaller states were either largely neutral on the matter or understood the threat posed by the newcomers and stood down or outright swore their fealty to the Imperium rather than face the wrath of the Astartes. Despite understanding that they were technologically outmatched, they believed in their arrogance that on sheer numbers alone, that they could withstand invaders, as such, all three of the most powerful royal houses would choose to settle other political matters aside with one another until the menace of the invaders had been addressed. Rejecting the envoys demands, they began to mobilize their standing armies in defiance to the chapter with the flower of their soldiery led by their rulers to face the sons of Sanguinius in battle. Between each of their armies was a hastily combined sum total of four million men to Vidarna’s 400 or so Astartes, though figures remain disputed.

Vidarna once more demanded each of the monarchs put down their arms and unconditionally surrender to the Imperium. The demand was a short and simple one: **earth and water**. To stand down and accept the tithe that the Astartes had come to settle, or be torn asunder by blade and bolt. Where all the other houses eventually submitted, the bellicose triumvirate of dynastic houses refused and were adamant in their opposition against the Imperials.

Having been rejected by each, though Vidarna knew he had the means to quite easily bypass and overcome the estimated seven and a half thousand to one difference between the native Seleucians and the Astartes. However, he would opt to make an example out of the unbowed and launched a campaign of attrition against his foes. Never allowing the Seleucians the ability to choose the field, evading and outmaneuvering his prey. Using the militaries of the houses that bent the knee, they kept the armies of the triumvirate divided and from being able to unite with one another on the field by launching lightning fast raids upon them before withdrawing, prolonging their exposure to the elements and whittling down their overwhelming mass in numbers gradually by means of attrition and skirmishes. Allowing the casualties to mount in addition to sustained losses due to exposure, starvation, desertion, skirmishes and disease to demoralize the collective of each of the field armies mobilized. The number of battle ready soldiers had been halved over the coming weeks, but still amounted to a massive army in the hundreds of thousands to millions. Due to death or defection, the situation looked more bleak with the passing of each week. Vidarna allowed the native Seleucians to carry the brunt of these engagements as they were just as eager to cut down their long-time rivals and overlords as much as the Astartes were to bring the world back into the fold.

With each army now sufficiently weakened, the Astartes would cease their operations and allow the numbers to combine with one another and lure them into a river valley where they sprang their trap. Having lured the foe onto the embankments, Vidarna would encircle the numerically superior feudal army with his own and that of his own Astartes. He would first send his Chaplain with an Honour Guard to once more give the kings their final chance at accepting the reality they now faced and the demand was the same: earth and water. With this last rejection, Vidarna set about concluding the engagements and promptly sicced his newly acquired army upon the enemy before entering the fray themselves. The enemy were thrown, trampled under foot and drowned under the shadows of the mighty Zahrathustran Mountains where the river valleys were soaked red for months afterward and the river turned a deep shade of claret. Any number of fates could have befallen the prisoners, either ultimately killed by their captors or ransomed back to their families. To the world, this event would be forever etched into Seleucia’s collective consciousness as the **“Drowning of Tears”** and the river would thereafter be named the Wailing River. Vidarna and the chapter at large would recount this as a lesson in hubris and not an event deserving of being remembered in song or fondly, merely a showcase of man’s folly and a lesson that was required to be taught to the world.

### The King of Kings - Earth and Water

Now having been soundly defeated in pitched battle with the rulers slain and the rest of Vidarna’s chapter having made planetfall, the next of kin of those dead monarchs would be given word of the events that transpired by the envoys in the form of the Astartes themselves. They would arrange to meet Vidarna upon the banks of the river with flags of white upon the banner staves, where their fathers met their end. Face to face with the Deathless himself, the sons and the procession of the royal courts would come bearing vases of earth and water. Granting Vidarna with the old historic title of Shahanshah: King of Kings. Seleucia would forever remember these men in their history thereafter as the Wise Men or the Magi, from whom the Librarius derive their name from. For not continuing the fruitless affair of warring against the Astartes, they were granted the right to maintain rule of their domains under the watchful eyes of the Immortals and Seleucia was now the homeworld of the Immortals forevermore.

## Notable Campaigns

* **Nova Terra Interregnum [Early M35]:** Their founding saw the Chapter deploy their full strength in the Grendl Stars, dividing their numbers between the worlds that called for aid in putting down the rebellious Nova Terra Regime alongside the newly-founded chapters of the Eighth Founding and the various events taking place in M35. Little is recorded or understood, but the founding of the Immortals saw them enter the fray and where Sarissa first saw active use in the hands of the Chapter.

* **Pacification of Seleucia [Early M35]:** After they saw to the events of the Nova Terra Interregnum, this campaign saw the Chapter deploy their full strength in the Grendl Stars, dividing their numbers between the worlds that called for aid in putting down revolts or seeing off a minor incursion of the Hrud. Vidarna would launch a devastating campaign of attrition against the rebellious imperial powers and so utterly defeat them in the field, that they may never rise against the Imperium so long as the Immortals existed. It was here that Chapter Master Vidarna would be referred to as Shahanshah Vidarna and that the Immortals went from being a fleet-based crusading chapter to one with a home planet.

* **Ortegar Campaign [312-317 M35]:** Not long after the chapter’s inception, the Immortals were soon to be embroiled in the conflict known as the Ortegar Campaign within the Ghoul Stars. A five solar year long engagement, the war was initially a defensive one before being turned into an offensive operation after the arrival of the Astartes; waged against what would in the current day of the Imperium be classified as the Ork Empire of Aslanta. A Mining World by the moniker of Lonely Light would be besieged by the WAAAAGH! of Warboss Short-Tusk of the Ortegan Empire, the predecessor to the Aslantan Empire of the Orks. The first week of the WAAAAGH! saw first blood handed to the invaders, with the local PDF garrison slain to the man, the rest of the star system called upon what fleet assets were within a short warp jump’s distance to blockade the Orks. However, it became immediately obvious that what assets were available would not be able to keep the menace from escaping their clutches. A combined task force of the Immortals, Brazen Claws, Revilers and even the elusive Carcharodons toward the tail end of the campaign were dispatched at the head of a flotilla of Fleet Agripinaa’s vessels. Lonely Light would be purged of the xenos taint, prepared for repopulating and garrisoning, and for the remainder of the campaign would be driven from world to world until they were within the bounds of the outer galactic reaches of the Milky Way. This empire would be all but destroyed, but eventually replaced by its successor in the form of the aforementioned Ork Empire of Aslanta in the centuries to come.

* **The Trials of Marathon [988-996 M35]:** This campaign would spell one of the greatest defeats handed to the Immortals in their history. A full six companies, first through fifth spears would be obliterated with elements of their next two companies each being reduced to half strength. Less a single engagement and more a series of engagements, skirmishes spread out over nearly a decade that bled over half of the Chapter's numbers during their involvement. The threat which caused this ultimately would be scoured from Imperial, believed to be by demand of the High Lords of Terra themselves, but as with many such instances, its not entirely corroborated. Imperial scholars and Inquisitors, those who know of the event having occurred at all that is, believe this long winded campaign to have involved the likes of the Hrud or the Enslavers, others claiming the entities could have been the Slaugth but all of these are as of yet unsubstantiated claims.

* **The Battle of the Chains [008 M36]:** The Drukhari once more made their presence known to the Immortals, but this particular event would be noted as a defeat to the depleted ranks of the Immortals despite achieving their objective. Many of the details have since been lost to history, but the Immortals own record state that they met the Drukhari Kabal of the Dying Sun on the planet of Zamettar in Eastern Ultima Segmentum, bordering the outer marches of the region of the Grendl Stars. In spite of securing their objectives, capturing Drukhari vessels for the forge world of Carcosa, and ultimately driving the Drukhari off of Zamettar, at least nine in ten of the population of Zamettar would be slaughtered or taken aboard the slave ships to the eldritch city of Commorragh. The Immortals would officially document this event as a defeat despite driving their foes of.

* **Sorrow of Undeath [Unknown Date M36]:** Little is documented regarding this militaristic endeavor undertaken by the Immortals. Though ultimately successful in containing the threat of the Word Bearers in the incident that would become known as the Sorrow of Undeath, would see the then Sword of the Evening of the Apadanian Guard be lost to the chapter thanks to the warp fueled machinations of the Dark Apostles and Chaos Sorcerers. The Shahanshah having been slain in the same engagement would carry the identity of the champion with him into the grave. Thus the Immortals went into a brief period of mourning for the loss and began the tradition of this particular warrior’s identity remaining hidden from the rest of his kin, being known to everyone save the Shahanshah and his unit of Apadanians as Sword of the Evening or as Arteshtaran.

* **Thucydian Purges [089-090 M37]:** The Immortals were once more mobilized within the Ghoul Stars to destroy a xenos incursion on the night world of Thucydia, upon the surface were a token force of the Abyssal Rukhs containing the conflict. Most documentation surrounding this event are classified, likely due to the nature of the supposed xenos race that rooted itself on the world, Imperial scholars posit everything from a Hrud migration, an early awakening of a Necron Tomb World, or even the long thought dead Rangda, but all of these are believed to be completely erroneous. However, the most likely according to Imperial scholars and Inquisitors who have researched the incident put forth that the specimen encountered were the eldritch terrors like the Yu’Vath or the Umbra. Whatever the truth of the matter was, the Abyssal Rukhs found themselves in system when they received a distress call from worlds surrounding Thucydia, within distance to not warrant a warp jump, the Abyssal Rukhs fell upon the world with untamed ferocity. Initially making much headway in the engagement, they were abruptly stopped, casualties spiking exponentially. The Immortals had just finished taking on a supply of armour and weaponry from the forge world of Carcosa were also alerted to the distress call and set a course for Thucydia, a short warp jump would see them arrive within the system. Requesting permission from the Rukhs, the Immortals would make planetfall upon Thucydia and purge the menace from the world alongside their newfound allies. The most notable action on their part was that of the recovery of the gene-seed of the Abyssal Rukhs by the Sanguinary Priests of the Immortals in light of how the Abyssal Rukh’s own apothecaries were slain. The victory was ultimately decisive and led to the two chapters swearing fealty to one another and saw much cooperation between the two afterward, with the sending of emissaries and equerries to the other’s monasteries semi-regularly following the events of Thucydia.

* **Judgment of Artirya [213-215 M37]:** A set of worlds in the Artiryan Despotate located in the Eastern Fringes would rebel against mankind, declaring their own sovereignty and declaring their suzerainty over the rest of the worlds of their system that would not capitulate to their rebellion. Eventually taking over the star system in its entirety, it was deemed big enough of a threat that Astra Militarum regiments would not suffice in stemming the tide on their own after the slaying of Officio Assassinorum assets. The Immortals of Fifth Spear, the Headsmen, were mobilized, systematically purging the worlds of their traitorous elements alongside the Astra Militarum and allowing them to garrison and secure their positions as they moved from world to world. It eventually culminated in the final confrontation with Carmila Artiryamus, the self styled Despot of the Artiryan Dominate. The Headsmen would split their forces in half, half the Spear remaining in orbit to act as a blockade and as a mobile reserve for the rest of the Astartes should the need arise. The Headsmen carried out operations as they had done previously, reaching the tail end of their operations as they were tightening the noose around the despot, drop pods of a livery unrecognized by the Immortals were observed falling from the skies. The Immortals in orbit were now engaged in a tense standoff with the newcomers, with the ground forces having to contend with the possible threat. The Scar Hounds of the Eighth Clan Company had arrived and immediately set about putting the traitors to the sword, unperturbed, the Immortals pressed their advantage eventually reaching the inner sanctum of the citadel that the despot Carmila had barred herself in. She was met with both the Scar Hounds and the Immortals, and a confrontation between the Immortals and the Scar Hounds would occur, the Immortals attempting a quick and decisive conclusion to the end were about to execute the traitorous despot but the executioner was slain by a Scar Hound, claiming that the prize of her skull was for their chapter to claim before killing the despot themselves. A clash would break out between the two, bolters barking and power weapons hissing, Astartes on both sides engaged each other in fierce hand to hand combat. Satrap Ariamenes and Captain Borir Storl faced off one another with the latter being slain by the Satrap, before he himself was killed by the Sergeant Ulrich Ejukir of the Scar Hounds who would seize the helmet of the Satrap and claim it as his own. The events of what were happening below were relayed to the Immortals in orbit and they engaged the enemy vessels with boarding torpedoes, suffering minimal losses and capturing the vessel, executing or taking the crew and capturing what Astartes had remained on the vessel, they would be returned to Seleucia where they would meet their ultimate fate. Of the fifty Immortals that were on the ground, only ten saw the end of the battle, but at the cost of all ninety Scar Hounds save for two or three individuals that fled with the helmet of the Satrap, further incensing the Immortals. A decisive but pyrrhic victory for the Immortals in both the void and on the ground, utterly destroying the Scar Hounds Eighth Company in the process. Making fierce enemies out of the two of them from that day forward, with the Headsmen of Fifth Spear vowing to recover the helmet of their Satrap from the clutches of the bellicose Scar Hounds.

* **Salamis Incident [221 M38]:** Little is documented regarding the Salamis Incident, historitors believe that the chapter met an incursion of Enslavers in the region of the Halo Stars. Known to be a campaign fought entirely in the void, the Immortals supposedly prevented the Enslavers from ever making planetfall before driving them screaming back into the Empyrean, but at the cost of at least three of their Spears and many of their escort vessels. A Pyrrhic victory tallied in the records of Imperial archives, noted a loss among the Immortals own voluminous libraries.

* **Carcosan Insurrection [316 M38]:** The incident that would become known as the Carcosan Insurrection occurred on the same planet and vicinity that Vidarna himself slew the Drukhari Archon upon some two and a half millennia prior to this particular incident. Upon this very same Forge World would come a threat the Imperium hadn’t faced since the days of the Dark Age of Technology and the terrors of Old Night. The Forge World would experience a surge in the reports of cult activity in its set of hive cities. This would all come to a head with the leadership of the majority of these hive cities being viciously slaughtered to the man, having culminated in a standoff and siege of the Mechanicum’s forges. It became clear that the numbers would overwhelm what the Mechanicum could bring to bear, a distress call would once more resound into the surrounding void. (Additions pending)

* **Grendl Stars Campaign [Unknown Date M38]:** Within the reaches of the Grendl Stars are the infamous “Barghesi'' race within the reaches of said region. The Iron Lords chapter of the Adeptus Astartes have proven themselves to be instrumental in preventing this monstrous and hyper-aggressive species from leaving the holdings of the star system. Assisting the chapter were the Immortals who alongside the aforementioned Iron Lords prevented the Barghesi not only from escaping the Grendl Stars, but in keeping Hive Fleet Kraken out, preventing them from attaining the biomass of this vile race. The Immortals primarily assisted in keeping the Tyranids out of the system, but did deploy Second Spear, a demi-company detachment of Fifth Spear with supporting elements of First Spear veterans to assist the Iron Lords directly in meeting the Xenos.
* **The Harrowing of Epipolae [566-572 M39]:** A string of worlds in the secluded Cisepolus Star System in Ultima Segmentum saw an incursion of Enslavers that threatened it in its entirety. The Immortals would be dispatched to offer their aid with four Spears, including the majority of their First Spear to see this event through. No strangers to slugging it out for protracted campaigns, they settled in for a grueling campaign, fulfilling several noteworthy objectives and making headway in seeing the Enslavers off. From attrition and redeployment, the four spears were reduced to a spear and a half by the first year’s end in **567.M39**. However, things took a dark turn when several other fleets of Enslavers and their races of thralls converged upon the star system, cutting off the Immortals and those they assisted and driving them all the way toward the hive and fortress world of Epipolae. The Inquisition, taken aback at the sheer, unprecedented number of Enslavers that now occupied the territory, declared the entirety of the star system to be subject to Exterminatus and that all the space within Cisepolus was declared a free fire zone. Anyone who did not leave the area within a standard week of issuing the order was to be destroyed alongside the worlds of Cisepolus. Unlooked for by the Immortals, a contingent of the Nemean Lions numbering two companies were dispatched to assist in evacuation efforts of vital military assets and to alleviate the stress the understrength Imperials were facing. Thus the Immortals set forth from Epipolae, their vessels alongside that of Imperial Navy vessels laden with as many of the world’s populous and military hardware of value in a series of clashes with the Enslavers upon the world and in the void above them. A matter of pragmatism as far as the Immortals were concerned given just how heavily populated Epipolae was. In the closing stages, however, the overstretched Immortals and Nemean Lions were met with yet another foe: the elusive Amber Shrouds. The two fleets were ambushed as they found their way to the Mandeville Point to see themselves out of the zone of avoidance by the renegade Astartes that had a score to settled with the Immortals since before they took on their current moniker, with a force numbering some six companies worth of Astartes. Of those six, four of their companies fell upon both the Immortals and Nemean Lions while their last two companies ensured that the pursuing Enslavers would not intervene. A steep toll was paid by both the chapters and their assortment of Imperial, the ambush only being seen off after the flagship of the first Spear, the Star Song downed four vessels in quick succession as the acting Hekaton (Captain) of the Nemean Lions boarded the command bridge of the aggressor’s flagship in a last ditch effort to sap momentum out of their opponent’s advance and seize the initiative once more. Though the enemy was halted and seen off; he was killed as a result of his decision to do so and unfortunately for all those involved, the bodies they lost aboard the vessels of the Amber Shrouds could not be recovered due to the lack of numbers and other circumstances that barred either the Immortals or the Nemean Lions from being able to do so. A slight that the Immortals were keen to exact on behalf of themselves and their newly-made allies. The Nemean Lions had in the years leading up to the events already endured a betrayal by a brother chapter that had lain waste to their numbers, coupled with the inability to recover the bodies, they looked at the Immortals with much contempt for this failure to return the corpses. Something that the chapter shouldered on their own and alone following this event.

..................................................................................

+++CLEARANCE: Carmine

+++DATE: 578.M39

+++RED NN. 223368-9

+++SUBJECT: Epipolae Atonement

*Greetings esteemed Regulus,*

*I come to you with glad tidings, a matter which I hope can repair the ill blood that lies between our two Chapters.
During a series of reprisals we enacted against those foul traitors, the Amber Shrouds, we captured and purged their flagship, the vessel which caused us so much ire at Epipolae. In the abomination that was their trophy room, we recovered the bodies of those who fell at Epipolae, both our own and your dead. While defiled and broken, we were able to restore them and we are on-route to restore them to your keeping. It is our great hope that this will be sufficient to heal the rift between us and perhaps our Chapters can become friends once more.
If you would permit us the honour, we will remain for the funerary rites so we may pay our respects to the fallen.*

*May the Spirits guide you*

*Shahanshah Epaminondas Abariel Esfand,*

*Chapter Master of the Immortals, Adeptus Astartes*

* **Atonement for Epipolae [572-578 M39]:** Immediately following the events that became known as the Harrowing of Epipolae, the Immortals were keen to embark on a shadow crusade against those responsible for this tragedy, the Amber Shrouds. The events of that day bit deeply into the chapter’s sense of self and they were ready to pay that tally back to the Amber Shrouds for their transgression. Fought entirely within the void with few if any witnesses, this was a personal labour that no one else would be allowed to meddle in or contribute toward. They obsessively stalked their prey for the coming years in a bid to learn how they went about operating as traitors that shunned the Ruinous Powers, waiting for the opportunity to pounce on their quarry. They would be given said opportunity in the aftermath of a deal gone awry with other renegades and bands of pirates. While the small flotilla of vessels under the Amber Shrouds was licking their wounds, the Star Song and her assortment of vessels surrounded the wounded vessel. The vicious Terminator formation of Sunspears teleported aboard their flagship while the other vessels contained the flotilla. It was ultimately a massacre for the beleaguered Amber Shrouds, their trophy room filled with the bodies of those slain at Epipolae were reclaimed and taken with the Immortals back to the homeworld of the Nemean Lions. On the surface of Caelus Prime, both Chapters paid their last respects and observed the Last Rites of the Lions. For their part, the Immortals remembered the sacrifice of the Lions of Caelus and offered the Nemean Lions a statue carved from marble depicting one of the Astartes struggling with an Apex Leonis.\***Second Cherubic Crusade [233-235 M40]:** Involving no less than the elements of ten different chapters (including themselves) hailing from the Lightning Wraiths, Nemean Lions, Mourning Cherubim, Carmine Angels, Angels of Anguish, Omni-Legion, Iron Wyverns and the Erelim to contain a Speed WAAAAGH! led by Warboss Bulletteef. The Immortals would lend elements of their second, fifth and seventh Spears under command of Satrap Sathariel Lydrio, Shemshad Kurultahn and Hanriyah Mithran to the fight and would arrive to lift the siege of Cherun Tertius toward the closing stages of the wider events unfolding in this crusade. They would relieve the Lightning Wraiths on Cherun Tertius in a drop pod assault against the greenskin menace where Shemshad leading the fifth spear would perish alongside 80 of his fellow Astartes. The Immortals primarily played a support role in attaching themselves to other Astartes units and deploying alongside them and defending supply convoys from praying freebootaz and pirates.

* **Lazican Crusade [Unknown Date M41]:** The Lazican Crusade was a smaller offensive of the Black Templars within the larger operation of the Nightfire Crusade against the T’au. Little has been documented or declassified regarding the battles or circumstances of the battles that would follow, however, Orks would also fall upon the world in the midst of the battle. The Immortals would be called in to assist the overstretched numbers of the Black Templars, during this event, the standard bearer of the Immortals elite unit of the Apadanian Guard, Orodes, would be awarded the moniker of “the Defiant”. The Orks would eventually come to encircle and destroy most of the Templars and Immortals, cutting them off from one another as a result. After suffering multiple grievous wounds that should have felled him, including a burna blast to the face that fused most of the helmet’s internals to it, he never loosened his grip upon the vaunted banner he held. The display redoubled the resolve of the Immortals and would regroup in a counter offensive to strike the Orks once more, fighting to their standard bearer and then to their Templar allies. After this event, details regarding the rest of the events are scattered and disputed by the Ministorum with conflicting accounts of what would follow.

* **Constantinus Iconoclasm [746-749 M41]:** The second time that the planet of Nova Terra would renounce the Imperium would see the deployment of the Immortals in this theatre once more. Alongside the Iron Knights successors of the Imperial Fists, another chapter whose records are not accounted for, twelve regiments of the Astra Militarum alongside elements of both the Ordo Hereticus and the Officio Assassinorum, they would put down this insurrection. Prior to this event having unfolded, Captain Constantinus of the Fourth Company of the Sons of Guilliman of the Adeptus Astartes put down a Genestealer Cult on the world of Nova Terra. The fighting lasted some three standard years before it was ultimately concluded and the world rallied themselves behind the marine, dubbing him “Constantinus the Liberator” and swearing fealty to him. This would set in motion a cascade of events that saw him claim the world as his own and throw off the yoke of the Imperium and set about at least thirteen years of rebellion before his assassination. The fighting would continue for at least another three centuries, by then, the Immortals and most of the Astartes having withdrawn, periodically engaging in the events thereafter, most documents and information surrounding this event are classified and much is left to speculation and hearsay.

* **The Pelusium Massacres [812-816 M41]:** Calling upon the Abyssal Rukhs, the Immortals requested the aid of the Scions of Corax and invoking their millenia long pacts to see to the destruction of a cult on the planet of Pelusium in the east of the Ultima Segmentum that threw off the yoke of the Imperium. The cult itself would be headed by a man named Adrastos who styled himself as Kaiser and his cult would be recognized as the Adrastan Star Cult. Compared to most other cult uprisings the Imperium faces, this one is fairly unique in that it wasn’t a Cult of Chaos, nor a xenos cult like that of the insidious Genestealers, but rather simply a cult of personality that captivated the populace. The Immortals wanted to bleed the secessionists white in an especially brutal and drawn out manner to make an especially hideous example to set for other worlds that might follow in the footsteps of Pelusium. This campaign would be launched by the Satrap Achaemenes of the Seventh Spear of the Immortals, the Gordian Knot and the personal leadership of the Shade Raptor Nizar Sabbah, Chapter Master of the Abyssal Rukhs. This particular campaign would not immediately see the involvement of Astartes directly from the start, but capitalized on the infiltration and assassination prowess of the assassin serfs of the Abyssal Rukhs. Acting as covert operatives, they would learn of the cult’s beliefs, inner workings, modus operandi and larger aspirations, with the intention of infiltrating the leadership spheres of the cult itself. The hope was that the Immortals and the Rukhs would be able to turn the cult’s own beliefs on themselves to force the enemy into subjugation, where the populous would be given the choice to capitulate or be annihilated. The assassin serfs would play a pivotal role in these operations, most of all in the gathering of intelligence and the infiltration of the cult’s leadership and relaying the information back to the two chapters over the next four standard years. Initially the serfs carried out assassinations on many of the priests and cardinals of this cult, bloodied aquilas staining the walls or ground where the bodies would be discovered, often one of the assassins would assume the role left vacant by their actions. They would also come to realize that the priests would themselves be viewed as the living, breathing embodiments of their backward faith as some perverted form of saints whom they would lay down their lives for rather than see harm befall them. The serfs then stopped with the slayings for a time, allowing for a sense of calm to once more take hold before they switched targets, seemingly picking out cultists at random rather than aim for the leadership specifically. Leaving them unrecognizable as humans when the corpses would be discovered, preying on their fears that the Emperor was not unaware of their deeds. On the eve of the most sacred day of Pelusium’s year, roughly coinciding with Sanguinala, the Immortals and the Abyssal Rukhs would themselves make planetfall on the night side of the planet and make their way to the largest temple on the world of Pelusium: the Mausoleum of Forty Stars. In preparation, the serfs would kidnap most of the priests and the cardinals and install teleport-homers in the temple, set boobytraps and take up their positions in the structure. The Immortals and the Rukhs then concealed themselves within the structure, each marine had with them one of the many kidnapped priests stand in front of them bound and gagged. The sermon was called, and close to 100,000 people filled the halls of the enormous temple the assassins then barred the doors and all other points of entry and exit, surrounding Adrastos, the head figure of the cult were another detachment of assassins. The air was tense, the trepidation palpable as Adrastos began to deliver his sermon to the many cultists. Without warning, the assassins sprang into life, seizing Adrastos as he reached the climax of his impassioned speech and began slaying the other priests that hadn’t been captured prior to this gathering, the onlookers were aghast and gripped with panic, about to turn their collective rage on their assailants until the Astartes revealed themselves. Before each marine were the hapless priests, and Satrap Achaemenes and the Shade Raptor Nizar Sabbah had themselves entered the dais behind Adrastos himself, they now addressed the congregation directly. Achaemenes demanded the citizens to absolve themselves with a tithe of earth and water and the Astartes would withdraw, with any judgement to be doled out to the civilians of Pelusium be in the hands of the Imperium itself, should they not, they would be annihilated to the last alongside their priests and their cult. Given this one chance, the populace didn’t capitulate, Achaemenes then ordered the Terminators to enter the temple, twenty terminators clad in the colours of each chapter materialized and immediately fell upon the congregation with the rest of the Astartes joining in. The Mausoleum of Forty Stars, Adrastos himself, the priesthood and the rest of the world were then ruthlessly extinguished for refusing to submit, the world now cleared for resettling.

* **Battle of Carrhae [840 M41]:** The Battle of Carrhae was an engagement that saw the involvement of the Immortals and the descendants of the White Scars, the Lightning Wraiths. The operation was originally meant to be the quelling of secessionist forces in Ultima Segmentum upon the Hiveworld of Carrhae. The yoke of the Imperium was very quickly thrown aside and put back on when warbands of the former IVth Legion, the Iron Warriors arrived and began to lay waste to Carrhae that the hiveworld sought help from the Imperium after deposing their traitorous governor. In either case, it was too late for the populace, for the Iron Warriors quickly pressed them into servitude to begin the painful manufacture of daemon forges. The Imperial response came in the form of the Third and Seventh, with contingents of the First and Tenth Spears of the Immortals. They set about laying siege to the planet and spearheaded the advance of the Astra Militarum’s efforts to break through the ponderous siege lines of the Iron Warriors. Eventually even the relentless advance of the Immortals was beginning to slow against the Iron Warriors as the casualties began to mount as the Iron Warriors denied engaging the imperials in any meaningful capacity while bleeding them white. Eventually, after some three weeks, the Lightning Wraiths would arrive and commit some two of their Pillars of Wisdom to the fight and ensured the Iron Warriors wouldn’t be able to deny combat to the Immortals or their charges nor slow their advance. Their expertise in tunneling and subterranean combat proved to be especially decisive in the fight against the Iron Warriors and the traitors. The hiveworld eventually fell with what was left of the Iron Warriors having been scattered, torn apart and looted by the victorious Imperials, after which, the other hive cities settled their score with Hive Carrhae and sacked the city after the departure of the Lightning Wraiths and the Immortals.

* **Devastation of Baal [999 M41]:** When Commander Dante, Chapter Master of the Blood Angels called for all of the Blood to assemble once more and to meet Hive Fleet Leviathan upon the world of Baal, among their number would be three Spears sent by the Immortals with elements of the First attached to each of three. Second, Fourth and Fifth Spears would each take part in the defence of Baal with Fourth Spear and half of Second taking to the field in the ground battle, with the remainder taking the fight to the Tyranids in orbit. Of note are the actions taken by the voidborn marines who saved the remnants of the Stormborn, after their flagship was torn almost in half by the hive. When the void battle looked to be all but lost, the Immortals would deploy the Stormborn and the remnants of Second and Fifth Spears via drop pod to Baal when the battle reached its crux before the coming of the Bloodthirster Kabandha.

* **The Myrian Insurrection and Reclamation [003-112.M42]:** An enormous, sector wide conflict that saw the involvement of over seven chapters in different phases of the conflict that went on for over a century in elapsed time when accounting for the intermediary periods after the fact and in cleaning the system of the taint of chaos. The conflict itself would result in the founding of the informal and secret alliance between the seven which has come to encompass other chapters after the fact at the behest of Shahanshah Artaxerxes Ishim Hydarnes of the Immortals called the "Myrian Septumvirate."

## Chapter Homeworld

A large super-earth sized planet but with a density that leaves its gravity only being marginally more significant than that of Terra, Seleucia is composed primarily of oceans and mountainous terrain interspersed on a largely desert based feudal world. Though deemed a habitable world even before the coming of the Imperium, the terraforming project of Seleucia was an undertaking that would serve as a model for others to follow thereafter because of how successful an operation it was when compared to the best case scenario projections that Mankind had made for the world. Seleucia does harbor other biomes like forests, savannah, mangroves, and tundras, but none dominate its landscape to the same degree that water and sand do. Orbiting a star comparable in size to that of the Sol System’s, though slightly larger, more massive and hotter accounts for its on average warmer climate the planet is known for. Its oceans are more saline than its contemporaries in no small part due to the amount of sand and mineral components that make up the planet’s crust. On average drier than most, but nonetheless habitable and even comfortable when compared to its neighbors in the Avestan Satrapy, it baffles most scholars to explain why even in its pre-terraformed state that the world would be mostly devoid of life.

Seleucia was believed to have first been colonized during the Dark Age of Technology, having been largely untouched by any xenos lifeforms. Bizarrely, the same wouldn’t be true of the rest of what is now called the Avestan Satrapy as noted by Imperial Historitors. Seleucia would in time, however, be largely forgotten about and by the Age of Strife would lose contact with the rest of the Imperium at large. The days of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy are largely undocumented, but the Deathless Flame, the Fortress Monastery of the Immortals contains a vault containing the myriad histories of the world and its people, among the chapters is a passage that refers to the coming of a figure known as the “Atar”, the Avestan for holy fire and the coming of his “Amesha Spentas”, or his Archangels and their “Hamkars” or lesser angels/helpers. This is commonly attributed to the time that roughly coincides with the Great Crusade reaching the region of space in which Seleucia resides. Likely to be a reference to the Emperor himself or one of his Primarchs, their retinue of Space Marines and the Astra Militarum. Seleucia would capitulate to the Imperium and their old religions wiped from existence. However, the core concepts and beliefs of their tenets would survive the wiping, coupled with this relative isolation from then on, gave rise to their mythologizing of the so called Amesha Spentas, now that their old mythologies had a face to attribute to. The local religion is now little more than a reskinned take on the Imperial Cult mixed with elements of their own local customs and traditions that distinguish them from their counterparts, thus still within the bounds of what the Ecclessiarchy would deem as acceptable.

Many centuries and millennia of regression and untold losses of technologies would follow. In conditions that resembled Neolithic Terra, Seleucia would slowly crawl out of this Age and by the coming of the Imperium under the Emperor of Mankind, would be much more akin to pre-medieval Terra. Upon reuniting with the Imperium, Seleucia would largely remain unchanged, and experience self-contained cultural and technological Renaissances and Dark Ages multiple times over due to horrific wars or other natural causes and famine. Seleucia itself sustained a relatively quiet existence, occasional incursions by the Drukhari or other xenos slavers. With the Imperium only ever periodically raising men to serve in the Astra Militarum and provide with whatever material wealth the planet had to offer from its mines and oceans.

### Satrapies of Seleucia

The now Shahashah Vidarna was the patron figure to which all of Seleucia’s myriad empires would answer to. Alongside his brothers, he came to adopt the traditions and customs of the world they pacified. He saw benefit in keeping the empires separate from one another, allowing the empires to continue their squabbling. This is to encourage competition to breed stronger potential candidates for the planetary PDF and on the occasions that Astartes might be recruited from Seleucia, though the Immortals prefer recruiting from beyond Seleucia to fill in their own ranks. With the Chapter only truly stepping in to resolve the matter if the disputes prevent their warring from being productive to the Chapter and the wider Imperium.

From art forms, battle doctrine and day to day life, of the three empires, the Safarrites made their largest impact upon the Immortals, portions of their sigil being integrated into the insignia borne by every Immortal. Vidarna was a steadfast believer in the Imperial Truth of days long gone and he would not sully his Chapter’s honour nor the memory of the Emperor in eschewing it. But he would adopt customs of the Seleucian courts into their code of conduct and to some extent on their outlook of life and the Imperium they serve. In addition, he would allow for freedom of worship to maintain of their old gods out of pragmatism rather than altruism after only after vetting the natives and their religion for corruption with the chapter’s Maegi and the Shoshant (Librarian and Sanguinary High Priest respectively). Ultimately this would be settled and ultimately vetted by the Ecclesiarchy itself as just another local variation on the Imperial Cult, seeing the "gods" of Seleucia as different faces of the Emperor and his pantheon in the form of the Primarchs. The pre-existing territories were largely kept the same, the ten largest falling under direct rule of the Immortals, the rest allowed to maintain autonomy so long as their debts are paid.

The Safarrites, Morgarii and Ossemar make up the three largest royal families upon Seleucia, and answer to the Satraps (equivalent to Company Captain). The most powerful royal families and dynasties that answer to the Chapter are as follows in order of the Satraps to the Spears they are subservient to:

***Ossemar Sultanate:*** The largest and most powerful of the three empires making up the gunpowder triumvirate. Butting heads most often with the royal house of the Saffarites, their longstanding feud predates the coming to power of either dynasty and will very likely outlast them only to be picked up by their successor states. Mobilizing the largest and well drilled armies on the planet; they are famed for their hundreds of thousands Janissaries in addition to contributing the most personnel to the PDF of the planet. Their pottery and textile markets are the envy of the world, rivaled only by the Saffarites.

***Saffarite Caliphate:*** The eternal archfiend of the Ossemar Sultanate, the birthplace of the Zamathustran faith that informs most of the cultural ideals and customs of the world. The Avestan tongue also originates from within their borders along with its Cuneiform alphabet that the rest of the empires use in their courts. The power dynamic between the Saffarites and the Ossemar is one of constant flux between the two. The empire is also the most famed for their espionage and intelligence collecting abilities and assassins. Their army is second only to the Ossemar, and boast the best cavalry and marksmen, their cataphracts and mamlukes hired out from the Hetmanate being especially feared units. It is also from the Saffarites that the title of Shahanshah came from. Their carpet weaving industry and monopoly over the local spice trade, especially saffron has earned the Saffarites another name: “The Saffron Lords.”

***Morgarii Empire:*** The third of the three big gunpowder empires, the Morgarii command by far the largest navy of the triumvirate. Exceptionally wealthy even compared to their contemporaries, they are noted as much for their architectural marvels as they are for their militaristic and warlike nature. They wield the smallest armies of the three, but can still go toe to toe with either of their larger counterparts. Most famed for their use of large elephant-like they call the Mumak, these animals are laden with massive howdahs astride their backs sporting cannons and musketeers. Apart from their architecture, the Morgarii are most noted for having the largest diamond and precious metal mines and reserves anywhere on Seleucia as far as proven veins of ore and precious stone are concerned.

***Venettori Republic:*** The only power that can match the navies of the big three and their wealth is the maritime republic of Venettori. The Most Sublime Venettori Republic was most famed for its salt and spice trade, becoming fabulously wealthy for it. The foremost trading power and hub on the planet of Seleucia for they have practically monopolized the world’s stock market to their own advantage on multiple occasions. The last and most recent one required the Immortals to issue a decree that dissolved one such scheme lest the world be embroiled and unable to assemble the tithes to the Chapter. Which ultimately ended in their Satrap sending one of their own to summarily execute half of their royal house when the demand was not met.

***Pashmortan Confederated Kingdoms:*** Regarded by the majority of the other royal houses as being exceptionally difficult to align with and invade, the Pashmari reside in a landlocked territory in the more mountainous areas of the world. Guerilla warfare specialists, tribal and nomadic pastoralist communities are familiar with the various routes and shortcuts through the passes and of secret networks of tunnels in the mountains they call home. Seldom has an outsider ever been able to claim full suzerainty over the area for a whole century before being driven out or otherwise disposed of until the coming of Vidarna and the Immortals. This royal dynasty’s reputation for being isolationists and inhospitable to outsiders have garnered their lands the ominous title of “The Graveyard of Empires.” Unbowed, unbent and unbroken; the people of these principalities are among the fiercest and most proud of their relative independence from their hostile neighbours.

***Tsardom of Aralis:*** The Tsardom of Aralis are a client kingdom of the Ossemar dynasty and serve to enforce their southern marches against the Saffarites as a buffer state. With a cavalry force second only to that of the Saffarites own mamluke and sipahi cavalry; they frequently proved themselves on the field against the larger Saffarites and have spearheaded the Ossemar incursions into their territories. In addition, they are renowned across the world for their industry and aptitude for fermenting the finest selection of alcoholic beverages. Of which a large majority finds its way into the neighbouring Hetmanates of the Oxian highlands. Massive vineyards and distilleries from which wines, spirits and beers unrivaled anywhere else makes up the primary export of their nation.

* Within its capital also lies the Ivory Tower, which is home to the Order of the Mandrites: a guild of scholars and advisors to the dynastic houses of Seleucia. Within the Ivory Tower, acolytes are taught in the schools of astrology, mysticism, healing, divination, the sciences, financing, statecraft and other more esoteric practices like alchemy and occultism. For they are to be the chief advisors to each of the dynastic houses they serve, they are expected to have an intimate understanding of as many different schools of thought and disciplines as possible and mastery of each subject is marked with a branding upon their dominant arm. Novices bear no brands, attaining one brand makes an acolyte, five brands marks one as a mandrite and fit to be sent off to a royal court, where their learning is expected to continue. Archmandrites are mandrites that have displayed mastery of a particular subject above and beyond their peers and are granted a scepter and mask corresponding to the brand they have mastered and are part of their high council. The Grand Mandrite is the head figure of this council of mandrites and the seneschal of the Ivory Tower, in addition, the Grand Mandrite is also appointed to serve the Shahanshah’s own court. Their loyalty to the court of their patron is marked by a sash that hangs toward the right side of the wearer (this is where the Sanguinary Priesthood of the Chapter derive their tradition of wearing the sigil of their Chapter on their right pauldron).Though they are highly respected in a nobleman's court, these figures are as lauded as they are viewed with suspicion by the common folk. Perhaps most famous and feared for their talents as exorcists, these rituals were done using elixirs and chemicals of their own manufacture that when struck alight burned with a smokeless fire. Despite it being practiced relatively infrequently, this practice became so synonymous with these advisory figures, that the mandrites of the Ivory Tower are commonly referred to by another name: the naffatuns - the fire throwers.

***Oxian Hetmanate:*** The many Hetmanates of the Oxianan highland territories are a collection of multiple princedoms that are ruled by a Hetman who once served as a client state to the Saffarite Empire. Serving as the buffer state between the northeastern border of the Morgarii and Saffarite dynasties. Formerly a subject peoples of the Morgarii Empire, persecution at their hands led to their ousting from their holdings. While under the Morgarii, the Oxianan people were the first to make use of gunpowder on a wide scale in this iteration of Seleucia’s political makeup. Widely regarded for their marksmanship and hunting prowess and their trading of furs and animal hides making up the majority of their exports. Said marksmen and hunters are excellent frontiersmen and trackers for they know the woods they call home down to its every last trail. Making the marches through their territory or festering marshlands and forests an especially miserable endeavor when under the ever watchful eyes of an Oxian jezzalier or archer tracking their every last move, it’s rare that a hostile force makes it to the other side of the woods without suffering grievous losses. The areas just shy of the marshlands are contested by the Morgarii and referred to as “Cisoxianus”, to mean their side of the Oxianus and everything beyond it as “Transoxianan” territory

***Ghoreshi Khaganate:*** A landlocked steppe peoples who call the plains of Seleucia home who make frequent incursions into Pashtoran lands as slavers. Practically born in the saddle, horse archery and cavalry tactics make up the bulk of their war and battlefield doctrine. A ruthless and cutthroat people, but a people famed for their religious tolerance, even if it is a matter of pragmatism over altruism. Noted artisans and falcon tamers, their trade garnered these largely pastoral and nomadic communities’ considerable wealth. Some chose to settle permanently in the heartland of the steppes in a capital city befitting a noble clan of the horse lords. A lesser appreciated accomplishment that they aren’t as well renowned for are their skills as physicians and alchemists.

***Mamluke Emirates:*** Former slave soldiers to the Tsardom of Aralis now turned rulers under the suzerainty of the Ossemar. Renowned for being the finest slave soldiers money could buy on Seleucia, would throw the Arsamid Tsardom into turmoil. Once Tsardom finally got the upper hand in the revolt and ousted them from their lands; the now freed but homeless Mamlukes were out of work or patron. Along the way on their journey to make for Safarrite territories, some two thirds of their number were once more taken slaves by bands of raiders and sold to the markets of the Khaganate and other Principates. The remainder settled beyond the reach of the Ossemar, approaching the coastlines within view of the Tyrian Order. They have since grown to become a fairly powerful dynastic house in their own right vying for dominance with the rest of the noble houses quite regularly staging incursions into other neighboring realms. It was the Mamluke Emirs that were able to successfully repel the Ghoreshi army in their tracks using a much faster and lighter equivalent to what is comparable to a light tank: the Zamburak, meaning wasp. These small swivel-mounted cannons would be mounted on the backs of camels, and acted as fast light artillery support units. The Anuvaniyans of the Immortals (the Devastator equivalents) would admire the ingenious use of such weapons and tactics from such comparatively backwards people. Terminators of the Immortals derive their moniker “Mamluke” from these former slave soldiers turned Emirs.

***Tyrian Order:*** Famed sea people and dye-masters, they’re the contemporary rivals of the Venettori Republic on the high seas and in matters of trade. Their Sacred Band units and artillery brigades the envy of their lessers. In relative isolation from the rest of the dynastic houses being situated on an island just barely out of sight from the supercontinent that houses most of their rivals. They are as regarded for their abilities in war as they are for their abilities to fill their coffers with near unimaginable wealth. Their leadership consists of a sect of warrior priests who appoint a council of magistrates and senators that are ultimately subservient to them and also train and marshal their armies, the feared Sacred Band being the flower of their armies. So impressed were the Immortals that a notable tradition of the Tyrian Order would shape and partially informed some of traditions surrounding the recruitment and training of the Astartes.

***Badrawi:*** An aggregation of ethnic groups rather than a dynastic house are the Badrawi people. All over the Empty Quarter are these loose groupings of nomadic tribes and clans that go from oasis to oasis, following the migratory pattern of various herd animals through the sweltering heat and dust storms in the day, and recuperating in the bitterly cool nights. Expert navigators and trackers through the desert, they are so attuned to this way of life that they can tell people in their clan apart from the footprints they leave in the sands. It is for this reason that these nomadic peoples are sought after in the armies of the rest of the major powers as scouts and trackers. Having entered into an agreement with the Immortals, they remain the least looked over and most autonomous people group on Seleucia for they accept the aspirants of the chapter among their number for at least the first year of trials on the world.

### Fortress Monastery

"*Where once I walked beneath sprawling scented woods of spring, now beneath moonless nights under bells tolling, Under a coronet of silver and gold. I tread now through the cold.*
Whilst the stars bleed and cry and my tears do dry, under a coronet of silver and gold, I now march through the wold.

When the sun withers and dies, do I beg you to heed my cries. Under a coronet of silver and gold, surrendering to the chill, do I now fold.

Should night fall and never lift, will you then fathom his auric gift. For when all light is consumed, all that remains is a coronet of silver and gold.*"*

— A poem regarding the perpetually lit pyre for which the fortress monastery is named. The memory of the person attached to its writing now part of local folklore.

The Immortals reside in a superstructure they refer to as the "Deathless Flame" that acts as their seat of power, base of operations and Seleucia's largest fire temple. This magnificent structure of adamantium, plasteel, marble, granite, sandstone, black iron and copper is carved into the foundations of the highest peak of the Zahrathustran Mountains: Mount Sasan. Reminiscent of the overall layout and composition of an ant-hill or termite mound, with many winding halls and chambers running down the length and width of the monastery leading to other rooms, training grounds, barracking stations and other infrastructure to keep the chapter alive. Each entrance to the monastery sits upon a podium that rises some eight hundred meters above the ground on which the mountain rests, overlooking the vast expanses of of Seleucia's lands in each of the cardinal direction. The Deathless Flame features two such entrances, a northern and southern set of gates that are known to Seleucians as the "Gate of All Nations". Outwardly to any onlooker, these gates would be the most stunning and intimidating features of the monastery and the mountain it is nestled into.

Said feature is a series of gates and tunnels that sits upon the podium carved into the rockface of Mount Sasan and connects one side of the continent it divides to the other through its multiple set of passages that cleave through it. In addition the structure also serves an important non-militaristic role to the populace as an important trade route and customs office staffed by the enlarged crew of chapter serfs, equerries and other affiliated Seleucians who have taken up work and residence at the monastery.

Spiritually, before the coming of the Immortals to Seleucia, this mountain was the most beloved and cherished sight in all of Seleucia, where wars would frequently be fought over which petty kingdom would claim this mountain as their own. The many wars over the foothills of Mount Sasan and the rest of the Zahrathustran Mountains have toppled countless kingdoms and claimed many lives. Many of the ruins of former settlements and empires rest just beyond the podiums that the entrances of the Deathless Flame sits upon. Aspirants would be greeted with the sight of these ruins and be hailed by an Ossuary Warden (High Chaplain) and the Melchior (Chief Librarian) along with their Honour Guard. Upon their ascension to neophyte, they would be lead out to these ruins once more and their oath to the Chapter and the Imperium renewed and rise once more as an Immortal in service to Him.

### Bhāṣāvesta (Bhāṣā Avesta)

The long standing relationship between the Immortals with their homeworld and the wider satrapy has resulted in much of the culture and conduct of the people of the satrapy permeating wholly into the Chapter's own culture. More a series of languages or dialects that belong to the same family mutually intelligible with one another to varying degrees all over the satrapy rather than a single unified language. Bhāṣā simply means "speech" or "to speak" and Bhāṣāvesta meaning something to the effect of "to speak in Atar's tongue" though the etymological roots to Avesta and Avestan have since been lost to anthropologists and other scholars of the Imperium.

Its sound is characterised by non-natives as being multi-syllabic and sing-songy in its intonation, and functionally much of what is communicated can be quite heavily context dependent where one word can mean several different things depending on the words surrounding it, its positioning in sentence structuring and even the inflection or intonation of the spoken word itself, reflected in the language's own equivalent to diacritics in writing. Its script comes in several different forms, a very fluid and "cursive" script that demands years of exposure to to read without stumbling, and a more blocky script used in legal contexts or their numerical system. Bhāṣāvesta is itself deemed too flowery and unwieldy to first time speakers, but it lends itself incredibly well to communicate several ideas simultaneously and impart double or triple meanings to phrases. This is useful both in an artistic capacity like poetry where one can impart several meanings at once depending on the reading, and in espionage where sharing information through plain speech can obfuscate the true meaning. Though it also has a place in law and legal matters, Bhāṣāvesta has a simplified form called the Bhāṣānun (meaning law-speech) specifically to concisely communicate and interpret law with less chance that wildly different interpretations of the same words trip over one another.

The music of the Bhāṣā similarly follows the same general motif and mode of speaking, being characterised as a musical interpretation of the way they speak, thus singing (and even in regular speaking in some circumstances) are melismatic where instead of being syllabic where each syllable is spoken or sung in a single pitch or note, a single syllable can move up or down in pitch or move between notes in the same syllable. Though this is primarily found in their singing and musical composition, it has a place in day to day conversation in that it can also be used to train the ear to better control their vocalisations and to pick up on microtonal changes in pitch and notation.

## Chapter Organisation

The Immortals eschew most of the names and designations of the Codex Astartes in favour of the equivalent of their homeworld's largest set of empires, Bhāṣāvesta is the majority language family of the Avestan Satrapy. The newer Primaris units have since come to include the names, designation and ranks of the native Seleucians since their integration into the chapter. The multiple titles that a rank of officer typically holds stems from the variations in dialects and languages that make up Seleucia as much as it is a vestige of tradition within their own ranks. As such, the Immortals learned a great number of the languages of the world they live in to communicate with them all and better accommodate them rather than force them to speak in the Gothic that the chapter might typically prefer for their own purposes. This serves the purpose of making the populace both more at ease with the chapter when having to interact with them, but more importantly for the Immortals, sends a message to their subjects, in that they cannot disguise their motives or intent by attempting to converse in another language.

### Officer Ranks

* **Shahanshah:** The Shahanshah (King of Kings) is the Chapter Master of the Immortals and is also referred to by other titles such as First Immortal, Amir-Tuman (leader of 1,000) and Lord Regent of Seleucia. The title of Shahanshah is derived from that of the native Avestan’s old prehistoric title that the native kingdoms and empires sought to attain as their own meaning “King of Kings”. Ten large provinces are under the direct jurisdiction of each of the Ten Spears of the Chapter. Each of the various kingdoms and territories of Seleucia ultimately answer to the authority of the Shahanshah, in addition, there are many other smaller and less notable provinces, empires and city states dotted all across the world that each pay tribute to the crown. The Shahanshah is to embody all the qualities of an Immortal, their competitive nature, restraint, shrewdness, honesty and quick wit. Among his peers, he’s often the most cold and intimidating figure in the chapter to mortals especially, though he is also to be a masterful orator, politician and speaker, to see to the needs of his Chapter’s charges. He cares not for the political machinations of the various kingdoms so long as the tithes to the chapter and the Imperium are delivered. His individual Spears are each given a great deal of autonomy without much direct interference on his part unless one of his commanders is either unfit for leadership or is otherwise killed and left without a named successor or consensus on who should take charge. Be it with a carrot or a spear, he will see to insubordination or the loyal service of his charges on a case by case basis as it is required of him. A successor is chosen amongst a cabal of the satraps, chaplaincy, sanguinary priesthood and librarius upon the death of a Shahanshah.

* **Satrap:** Satraps are the equivalent of a Company Captain equivalent, are the Satraps of one of the ten Satrapies, massive provinces that contain the empire the Satrap and his Spear are to oversee. He is also called a “Shahzadeh”- the native Avestan for “prince”, and make up part of the cabal and pool of possible successors to the role of Shahanshah. The royal families of the satrapy they oversee are mostly granted a large degree of autonomy, but will be reprimanded by the Satrap should they go against the interests of the Immortals. In certain cases this could be a simple expression of disapproval, or in other more extreme cases could see the wiping out of a royal family with another of the noble houses within the satrapy being granted the throne. These figures are typically chosen from the roster of veterans found within the First Spear of the Atahanatoi, but not solely, those from the company itself can be placed in charge on meritocratic grounds before they take up arms in the Athanatoi. Though this is admittedly quite a rare occurrence. Beyond their acuity for combat and tactics, they are also masters of words as much as they are a master of their weapons. They serve as heralds of the will of the Shahanshah to the people of Seleucia and the noble families they oversee, being incredibly shrewd and capable statesmen in their own right.

* **Hyparchos (Primaris/Firstborn):** Hyparchos (pluralised as hyparchoi) are the Lieutenants equivalents of the chapter, and the rank predates the coming of the Primaris to the Immortals. Hyparchoi are thus named from the Avestan term for “assistant to the satrap” and each leads a demi-company sized detachment of their fellow brothers into combat. The Immortals saw the need to further divide the role of command of each company as to better be able to divide their numbers more efficiently for their preferred methods of waging war. As assistants to the Satrap, they assist the Satrap in the war of words they undertake as diplomats, or when knee deep in mud, filth, blood and entrails.

* **Çavuş:** Çavuş (pluralised as çavoi) are the Veteran Sergeants of the Immortals. The term is derived from the Ossemar Sultanate’s elite body of janissaries from whom the veterans of the chapter also derive their designation of Janissary from. Çavuş within the ranks of the sultanate’s janissaries serve as their sergeant equivalent and in gothic translates to mean “one who yells orders” which has been adopted by the Immortals.

* **Lochagos:** The lochagos (pluralised as the lochagoi) are the Sergeant equivalents of the Immortals to the traditional Codex rank. They are the lowest of the ranking officers in the chapter and they oversee squads of between five to ten Astartes each on average. Like other officers, they are typically chosen from the ranks of the Athanatoi for their leadership and tactical acuity in leading their brothers into battle. Like their superiors, they are brought up to be just as competent as statesmen as they are warriors. Typically their squads number ten battle brothers, but as the situation demands it of them, they might lead anywhere between five and twenty Astartes into combat. They are marked out by the ring that surrounds the squad specialty symbol on their right poleyn.

### Specialist Ranks

* **Sword of the Evening/Arteshtaran:** The Chapter Champion is a figure referred to as the “Sword of the Evening'' or “Evenstar '' and is the most capable fighter in the chapter; this warrior is always drawn from the ranks of the Apadanian Guard. Said warrior is in charge of a formation dubbed the “Dark Stars'', composed of all the other Swords of the Morning (Company Champions) and is referred to by his peers as “Evening Star” or the Avestan word “Arteshtaran” - The Chief of Warriors. The Evening Star is the head of this formation, the master of the Chapter’s own Sanguinary Guard: the Apadanian Guard. Chief among his duties is to call a brother to the ranks of the Apadanian Guard. This figure’s name is struck from records of the chapter upon their ascension to the rank and whose true identity is known only by his fellow Apadanians and the Shahanshah, in keeping with a tradition that originated after the loss of a Sword of the Evening during M36 to the Word Bearers. The lost champion was banished to the warp and the then Shahanshah was killed during this battle, with records of the identities inexplicably being lost. Said tradition was put in place in remembrance of that lost champion.

* **Sword(s) of the Morning/Salar:** Company Champions are referred to as “Swords of the Morning” or as “Morning Stars”, are members of the formation of the “Dark Stars” and the chosen combatant of each Spear. They are also the foremost candidates for vacancies in the Apadanian Guard, the Dark Stars convene and nominate brothers among their own numbers or of their own company, should one of these Morning Stars be chosen, they are to name a successor from their Spear to their position of Morning Star.
* **Lord of the Colours**: A "Lord of the Colours" is the term chosen to denote a battle standard bearer, for he carries the vaunted fabrics embroidered with the chapter's deeds and flag of the satrap they oversee upon the world of Seleucia. Each of these are painstakingly and lovingly handwoven woven by both marine and serf into the Spear or Chapter's pride and joy. A symbol of defiance, the warriors that are tasked with the responsibility of bearing the banner of their Spear are instantly marked out by their foes and eagerly seek out this individual in the hopes of claiming the colours to break the will and resolve of the Immortals. The privilege to sport these venerated banners are entrusted to the most steadfast of the First Spear's Janissaries, for they alone are most able to weather the foe and ensure that no enemy would dare lay a hand upon this sacred textile.

### Battleline Formations

**Ghazi:** Not a rank but a term which means “warrior” which is treated as Battle Brother, a contracted and corrupted spelling of Qizilbash from the common Avestan tongue. This term doesn’t denote their specialty or position as battleline, close support or fire support specialists, but is part of the Seleucian vernacular and has since been adopted by the chapter to refer to one another largely irrespective of rank.

**Paygan** (pronounced pāi-gān) form the bulk of the ranks of the Immortals, as with most other Chapters, the battleline equivalent of the Firstborn tactical squad, derived once more from the Safarii dialect of Avestan meaning infantryman. Just as their counterparts in other chapters, flexibility and adaptability is the key to their role on the field of battle. Unlike their namesake on the homeworld who often amount to little more than cannon-fodder as the term is typically used to refer to levied peasantry, though obvious that Astartes are not merely cannon fodder the term stuck largely out of tradition when the Immortals began to integrate into Seleucian culture.

Following the introduction of Belisarius Cawl’s rollout of the Primaris Marines, the **Piyadeh** (pronounced pee-yā-deh), meaning pedestrian, have since been introduced to the Chapter. This term is used to distinguish these new units of Primaris Intercessors from the regular Tactical Marines. Though initially met with skepticism, for the term piyadeh was initially meant as a slight or insult against the newly arrived Primaris Marines, they have since proved themselves and their worth to the chapter at large and the name remained unchanged, embraced by the newly arrived Cawlite Marines.

Heavy Intercessor Squads are clad in Gravis Armour and are entrusted with securing especially high risk and high priority areas with their heavy bolt rifles. **Jezzaliers**, as they are referred to, meaning “long rifles” are aptly named and characterised for they share the same disposition of the widely (and rightfully) feared marksmen of the Oxa River on Seleucia. Within the marshlands of the Oxa River, the marksmen of the Oxian Hetmanate are noted as being among the finest frontiersmen of the many warring states, frequently taking on work as mercenaries. They are especially feared by their enemies for their utter ruthlessness in never offering their enemies any quarter nor daring to ask for it. A rare breed of marksmen without peer that share the utterly uncompromising and merciless temperament of the frontiersman of the Oxian Highlands. Coupled with the further enhanced protection granted to them by the Hali pattern of Gravis armour and their Jezzail variant of the Executor heavy bolt rifle, these marines carry the fear and reputation of these highlanders and marsh-folk wherever war is being waged.

**Hortan** Squads are the answer of the Immortals to the Primaris Infiltrator Squads of the Vanguard formations. In Seleucian mythology, the Hortan is believed to be the offspring of the Iffrit with a mortal man or woman and manifests itself as a looming and mischievous poltergeist that attacks the senses, rendering their targets a blind, deaf and mute quivering mass before claiming them for their infernal parents. Clad in the Carcosan variant of Phobos and trading in the Myskaton grenade launching harness for the omni-scrambler arrays, they take after the creatures abilities to steal one’s senses and ability to act on them before they are dispatched swiftly using their bolt carbines. Their role on the field with being behind enemy lines for prolonged periods demand a degree of autonomy and initiative that are generally not afforded to the majority of their peers in their long duration missions, in some ways also reminiscent of the mentality and distance between the hortan of legend and their sires. To assist in their long operations, they are often accompanied by their Helix Adepts, often referred to in their ranks as **Haoma**, named for a mythical plant said to cure maladies on Seleucia. They are regularly deployed alongside squads of the Hortan to recover their gene-seed and should an assigned member of the Sanguinary Priesthood fall or not be present on the field they can assume general medical duties in their place, though not fully fledged members of the Apothecarion, they maintain the practice of not being allowed to wield the Helix Gauntlet without the prerequisite acquisition of chest markings as is mandated for one’s secondment to the Houses of Healing.

### Close Support Formations

* Firstborn Assault Marines have taken on the moniker of **Asabar** (pluralised as asabari or asabaria) have mastered close quarters fighting and asymmetric warfare tactics. Asabar means horseman in the lexicon of the Morgarii people who model their horsemen on that of the Saffarite cataphracts and the sipahi of the Ossemar. The chapter’s relatively limited number of heavy weapons teams mean that they typically rely on bolstering their numbers of close support squads to make up for this discrepancy and many of the pilots of the Chapter are drawn from their formations of assault squads.

* Assault Intercessors are designated as **Akindji**, derived from the Ossmar dialect which translates to “raider” in Gothic. Deli is the term used to denote an akindji who is straddled atop the Cawlite Raider pattern assault bikes used by the Primaris Outrider Squads. Deli is another Ossmar derived word derived from their lexicon meaning “mad, wild or daring”. In either case, the role of being either an akindji or a deli demands constant vigilance and readiness to charge or withdraw at a moment’s notice and demands a great deal of initiative from the local commander to use them to their best effect.

* **Iffrits** are the Reivers in the ranks of the Immortals, a term derived from a superstition of the nomadic desert wandering Badrawi people who inhabit the Empty Quarter. Among their many beliefs are to do with immaterial spirits parallel to one's own and in this case, the Iffrit is said to be the malicious part of one's own essence and soul that manifests itself an eldritch creature made of smokeless fire which lives as a malignant para-dimensional complement to your own. Ultimately, these entities herald calamity, woe, suffering and death as they drag their prey to their abyssal demise. Reivers of the Chapter have been likened to them and have since actively modelled their role on the field of battle to reflect that of their namesake and their masks harken back to the ancient Destroyer units of the Blood Angels: the Angel's Tears. Coincidentally, the depictions of the Iffrit in the folkloric tales and art made by the Badrawi share an uncanny likeness to the masks of the Angels Tears. They used to be outfitted with Mark X Phobos battle plate like all Primaris Vanguard units, but have since opted to clad their Vanguard units with their own derivation of Phobos: the Carcosan Sub-Pattern. This variant promises slightly less in stealth and mobility, but offers more in protection, grav chute performance and additional firepower when outfitted with the backpack mounted Myskaton-Pattern Grenade Launcher. While these suits remain largely backward compatible with regular suits of Phobos and their power units, the Immortal Vanguard, the Iffrit in particular have found the Carcosan variant to be most complementary for their use, especially when paired with the grenade-launching harness.

* Often accompanying the Iffrit are the Primaris Incursor Squads, the so-called **Arimaspi** in the ranks of the Immortals. Their primary battlefield role encompasses high intensity close quarters firefights using their Occulus pattern bolt carbines, haywire mines, grenades and the Divinator auspex array. Like the Iffrit, the Arimaspi are clad in the Carcosan manufactured variant of Phobos more suited to the uses of the Immortals. As for the naming of the unit, folkloric tales tell of a tribe of cyclopean mountain men that call the Zahrathustran home. Just like the creatures they are named for they are an ominous foretelling of doom made manifest in ceramite and barking automatic fire.

* Inceptors are the Cawlite replacement for the Firstborn Assault Marines and in the chapter are designated as the **Anzû**, these marines are named for the malicious legendary birds of prey that call the peaks of the Zahrathustran Mountains home and prey upon enormous mountain goats larger than they are by throwing them off the side of a mountain or cliffside. Their suits are of the Hali pattern of Gravis outfitted with more conventional jump packs that boast more powerful and efficient afterburners, discrete grav chute arrays kept within and can deploy and omit the use of the boot servos in place of reinforced shock absorption hidden discreetly in the boots. The more powerful grav chutes render the use of the jump assisting servos obsolete and reduce complexity of manufacturing and maintenance. In addition, they trade in at least one of their assault bolters or plasma exterminators, or both of them in favour of the more traditional gear of the assault marines. Chainswords, chainaxes, power weapons and heavy bolt pistols are all counted among their armoury, whilst some are outfitted with eviscerator chainswords and melta bombs. Intended as a more well rounded and versatile alternative to the inceptors as part of the close support roster of the Immortals and a true replacement of the Asabari that the inceptors were not counted as being by the Chapter. In addition, the Immortals eschew the use of the suppressors as a squad sized formation and typically have one heavy weapons specialist deployed among a squad of the Anzû.

* Sat astride the Assault Bikes are the **Cataphracts** of the Immortals who simultaneously fulfill the role of light and heavy cavalry. Cataphracts are named for the heavy cavalrymen of the Saffarite Caliphate whom sit astride mighty destriers and camels clad fully in platelets and scale armour just as their mounts do wielding long cavalry pikes, close combat weapons and a bow for when the situation demands and form the vanguard of their enormous armies. Just like their Seleucian counterparts, they are capable of skirmishing and harrying the enemy at breakneck speed while also having the option of crashing through ranks of the enemy without fear of their mount being scared off by formations of enemy that a traditional cavalryman would face. They are, however, much more suited to the role of light cavalry and to attack exposed units of loose formations or to pulverize the enemy from the flank or their rear, much like their namesake. The twin linked boltguns are the primary weapons of the bike squadrons, but in addition they carry other melee weapons such as chain weapons or power weapons astride them when they go full tilt toward the enemy. Of this arsenal, however, they are most famed for carrying great two handed lances that are especially favoured by the Cataphracts when going in for a mass charge are the elongated power lances referred to as the “kontos” and are for all intents and purposes a cavalryman’s pike. Even unpowered and with enough force behind it it could impale two or three men in a furious charge, something that their Seleucian counterparts are also famed for being able to do.

* Attack Bike Squads of the Immortals have been likened to the units of the disparate Mamluke Beyliks, the former slave soldiers turned sultans and horse lords made use of vast numbers of swivel mounted light cannons, heavy crossbows and rifles put atop the back of a camel. Named **“Zamburak”** for the Avestan word for “wasp'', likely a reference to the sound these light mobile artillery pieces made when loosening their payload. The Immortals were impressed by the display of these units and their performance on the field of battle to the extent that they modeled part of their combat doctrine surrounding the Attack Bikes on the native people’s camel mounted weapons. From time to time, they even make use of and drill themselves in using these camel mounted guns in their spare time.

### Fire Support Formations

* The Devastator Squads of the Immortals are dubbed the **“Anuvaniya”**, meaning archer. Surveying the field of battle from any vantage point or otherwise making or improvising one, their presence on the field ensures that their brothers always have a steady stream of firepower to suppress or otherwise neutralise their foes outright. Their pace is always a deliberate and uninterrupted, nearly choreographed sequence of advances, volleys of bolt shells and plasma before either covering the withdrawal or to regroup and redouble their push forward ever further into the heart of the enemy.

* Eliminators of the Immortals like all of the Vanguard units are clad in the Carcosan variant of Phobos battle plate, sometimes donning the omni-scrambling array and are often paired with the Companions. **Gurraka**, as they are called by the Immortals, are designated snipers and marksmen that go after opportune targets and objectives from afar while their brothers push the offensive forward or from deep behind enemy lines. The name itself translates literally as “one who is hidden”, and is so named for a being recorded in the lands of the Khaganate which is believed to manifest itself when tragedy is to befall someone, a bad omen thought to herald death to those who see it or to their loved ones or comrades. Where these marines are concerned, they are to ensure that the threat is not an idle one.

* **Naffatuns** are the designation given to the Primaris Hellblaster Squads, meaning “fire thrower” in the Avestan lexicon. Plasma Incinerators demand absolute discipline to sate the volatile machine spirits of these temperamental weapons. They are named for the informal and colloquial name for the mandrites; the advisors to the courts of the royal houses, so given to them by the common folk for their use of smokeless fire in exorcisms. The screaming and wailing of the weapon as it hisses and discharges the smokeless fire of plasma is itself noted by members of the mandrites to sound eerily like the sounds of a shrieking spirit being exorcised from its host body.

* Eradicators are Primaris fire support specialists clad in the Hali variant of Gravis and carry a large array of melta weapons such as melta rifles and multi meltas. Among the Immortals they are referred to as **Zahhak**, a catchall Avestan word meaning draconic. Like the drakes they are named for, the zahhak are noted for their resilience and their malevolence, but above both of these they are regarded for the unrelenting pace at which they carry their advance to reduce their adversaries to charred slag.

### Veteran Formations

* The term **Yeniçeri**, which in Gothic can be translated to **Janissary**, is used to denote veterancy among the ranks of the Immortals, these Astartes are typically found among the number of the First Spear but can be seconded to other Spears or be referred to as a Janissary while still serving in a Spear other than the first. Most if not all the officer positions, from the sergeants to the captaincy served a stint in the First Spear as a Janissary before being redistributed elsewhere. Janissaries are so named for a corps of slave soldiers in service of a sultan and have historically on Seleucia had a fierce rivalry with both malmukes and the sipahi for a sultan’s favour and drove themselves to ever greater hights of martial prowess and heroism to do so, a custom kept alive among the ranks of the Immortals own janissaries and only heightened with the introduction of Cawl’s reinforcements in the Primaris and the crossing of the Rubicon Primaris some of the Firstborn of the Immortals.

* Any Marine clad in Tactical Dreadnought Armour are designated as **“Mamlukes,”** a callback to the many divisions of mercenary slave soldier infantry and heavy lancer corps that many empires used to supplement their own armies. In many cases they were known to outright outclass the standing army of the empire that called them to service and would over time form the main army corps themselves for some of the squabbling kingdoms that called upon them. They are second only in seniority and skill to those of the Apadanian Guard and the commanders they are put under. The term Mamluke is of Bhāṣāvestan origin and is used by the Immortals to reference the elite divisions of slave soldiers and mercenaries that fought both on horseback and on foot by the many empires that employed them. Having seen the abilities of the Mamlukes on both sides of the conflict firsthand during events such as the Drowning of Tears have cemented the naming convention into the chapter's own terminology. Immortals typically prefer to not make use of such suits for their mobile approach to attrition warfare, preferring any mark of regular power armour in its place, but they do keep a reserve of Tactical Dreadnought suits of both Indomitus and Tartoros Patterns in their armories, but most prized are the suits of Tartaros that they have claim ownership over. These formations are tasked with holding objectives or with spearheading lightning assaults via Drop Pod assault, Thunderhawk or Landraider insertion, or via teleport beacon. The already resilient Immortals give new meaning to the name when one is clad in these hallowed suits. Mamlukes can be armed in any number of ways, from the standard combination of storm bolter and power fist, to the more specialized close combat pair of lightning claws, or thunder hammer and storm shield based on preference of the warrior and the engagements in which they are deployed. These marines are the ones entrusted with the responsibility of clearing out any Space Hulks.
* Aggressors are typically eschewed from their regular loadout of dual wielding boltstorm or flamestorm gauntlets and clad more in the manner of their Terminator counterparts and do not serve in a fire support role. These Gravis-clad marines are instead paired with and fight alongside the Mamlukes and are referred to by the same moniker. They have effectively been phased out of the combat doctrine of the Immortals and reabsorbed into Veteran squads as Terminator equivalents of the new generation of Primaris Marines.

### Specialist Formations

* **Apadanian Guards** are bound within the command structure of the chapter lie the quarters of the Shahanshah himself and of the household. An Apadanian (translates to protector of the palace or palace wanderer in Gothic) are the chapter’s equivalent of a ***Sanguinary Guard***. Clad in the same artificer armour of their brother chapters, their panoply is halved in black and white marble, a reference to the cold rage of their gene-father and his nobility and elegance. In addition, it reflects Seleucia’s own dualistic cultural views that stemmed from a long dead religion who’s customs seeped into the cultures of its modern roster of empires and ethnic groups from the days before the coming of the Great Crusade. The Sword of the Evening, or Arteshtaran (Chief of Warriors) serves as the chapter’s equivalent to the chapter champion of regular codex chapters is the head of this elite unit, whose identity is only truly known by the Shahanshah and the rest of his fellow Apadanians. His role it to serve as the chapter’s senior and best combatant, and the Shahanshah’s second-in-command and advisor. The custom of maintaining the identity of this figure under veil from the rest of the Chapter comes from an engagement with the Word Bearers in M36 where the then Sword of the Evening had been singling out enemy champions to bring low. A lone sorcerer cast him into the warp to be forever lost to the chapter despite their efforts to locate this individual. With the Shahanshah having perished in the same battle, the information surrounding the former was as all but lost. It became something of a tradition for said role to be accepted by a warrior whose name will only be known to the Shahanshah and the rest of the Apadanians, with records of the name being struck from all but the personal collection of the First Immortal. As Sword of the Evening, he is also the head of the order of the company champions who are the foremost candidates within the chapter for taking the post of Apadanian Guard. When a vacancy opens in the Apadanian Guard, the Swords of the Morning, or Salars (Company Champions) convene and discuss amongst themselves to decide which of their number or of their fellow brothers in their Spear is to be chosen. The Sword of the Evening having the final say on the matter is able to directly appoint his own choice be it of the cabal of champions or any other Astartes, or veto against the one chosen any such decision at his own discretion. With a successor chosen, the one who was appointed names his own choice for a successor within the company he came from to assume the role of Salar.

Should there be no consensus, the Sword of the Evening chooses the two most promising candidates in his eyes and arranges for them a series of trials to prove themselves fit for the responsibility of an Apadanian Guard. From mental trials through strength of arms, craftsmanship, ability as a tactician and matters of statecraft, it culminates in a duel between the two candidates. Whether to first blood or to the death is decided by the Arteshtaran. With the winner standing victorious they are granted the honour of being appointed to the circle of the Apadanian Guard with the same succession procedures in place to follow suit.

* **Sunspears:** Those marines within the Mamlukes who have the privilege of cladding themselves in the Tartaros Pattern of Terminator plate are those of the elite formation of Terminators called the Sunspears. Said marines are armed with the trademarked spear or polearm that the chapter is famed for, sporting wickedly sharp power glaives, halberds and spears in addition to a wrist mounted storm bolter and small buckler on their off hand. Sunspears are chosen from the oldest of the Mamluke roster and typically serve the First Satrap as his personal Honour Guard.

### Order of Battle

#### Headquarters

**Shahanshah Artaxerxes Ishim Hydarnes**
King of Kings and Lord Regent of Seleucia,

Amir-Tuman, First Immortal, Chapter Master of the Immortals
***Brother Bahram the Evenstar*,**
Sword of the Evening (Chapter Champion),
Lord Commander of the Apadanian Guard, Exalted Spear of the Host
50 Apadanian Guards
Chapter Equerries
Serfs and Servitors
 **Temple of Brimstone**
**(Armorium)**
**(Reclusiam)**

*Virtuoso Pahaliah Aphredon,* ***Lord Custodian of the Temple of Brimstone and Master-at-Arms,***
**18 Steelsingers**
**193 Servitors**
*Ossuary Warden Ishmael Chobin,* ***Lord of the Litanies, Guardian of the Daevas, Seneschal of the Tower of Silence***

5 Tower Guards
**20 Death Vigils**
**25 Drachae**
*Shoshant Shapur Shahin,* ***High Warden of the Reliquaries and Bringer of Benefits***

24 Herbad

15 Haoma
 **Palace of Dust**
**(Librarius)**
**(Fleet Command/Admiralty)**

*Melchior Arsaces Samax,* ***Castellan of the Palace of Dust, Lord Commander of the Council of the Maegi, First Wisdom of the Immortals, Seneschal of the Tower of Ashes***
**7 Balthasars**
**9 Gaspars**
**15 Shagerds**
**15 Acolytum**
**1 Contemptor Furioso Librarian Dreadnought**
**3 Furioso Librarian Dreadnoughts**
*Brother Damasithymus Avio,* ***Lord Admiral of the Fleet, Keeper of the Ashen Gates***

**8 Strike Cruisers**
**14 Light Cruisers**
**4 Battle Barges** (*Star Song, Ophanim, Love and Fury, Pride of Halicarnassus***)**
**32 Rapid Strike Vessels (Escorts)**
**28 Thunderhawk Gunships**
**15 Thunderhawk Transporters**
*Brother Themistocles Oriontus,* **First Quartermaster, Castellan of the Gate of All Nations**

510 Chapter Equerries (Serfs and Servitors

#### The Spears

**Death Vigil Amarasa Shaffir**
***Warden of the Daevas***
**The Death Company of the Immortals deviates little from those of their contemporaries. All members of the chapter who succumb to the Black Rage are inducted into the ranks of the Death Company as one of the Daevas including their Dreadnoughts.**

## Chapter Recruitment

### The Empty Quarter

Every ten years the Immortals endeavor to fill in vacancies left open by their ceaseless operations, ranging typically between 7-12 years of age. Most of these recruits for the chapter come from the surrounding death and feudal worlds of the Avestan Satrapy, most notably the feudal world of Halicarnassus and its neighbor, the death world of Hydaspes and her moons. Most of these worlds are feudal or technologically handicapped and call the vessels of the Astartes vessels the “Astral Wains” and their occupants their “Wainriders.” Said recruits are rounded up by the Immortals from each of their respective homeworlds and ferried away by the Chapter using the Astral Wains (Thunderhawks) and back to their voidships. They do on occasion recruit directly from Seleucia itself, however, as a rule, Seleucia mostly recruits the locals into the “Seleucian Ghilman”, the PDF and local garrisons that are drilled by the Chapter. Wherever they hail from, aspirants are tattooed a cuneiform pattern on their wrists that reads as “With Death” in the common Avestan tongue, marking them out to others as prospective Immortals in the making. Given a quiver of arrows, a composite bow, dagger and water-skin, the Immortals land somewhere in the deserts of the “Empty Quarter”. They are instructed by the Chapter to find one of the clans of the Badrawi - Desert Wanderers in Avestan. Most of their number never make it to find the elusive desert folk most dying of exposure in the sweltering heat of the day, the bone-biting cold of night, starvation and thirst or predation by the local fauna.

### The Way Home

Those who pass the first trial must now bid farewell to their surrogate family of desert dwellers, after just over one year of elapsed time. They are now to make for the Fortress Monastery of the Chapter: the Deathless Flame. Armed with the knowledge of navigation using the stars and their equipment, they must brave the wild sands of the Empty Quarter and make a pilgrimage toward their next rite of recruitment.

Once more, along the way, these boys might get lost in sandstorms, buried in the sand, picked off by predators or slavers and cruel men along the way. Cooperation is especially key now that they lack the support structure of the Badrawi they had to once rely on. Moving through deserts, marshes and steppes, those that evade or fend off their assailants and overcome the obstacles will soon be greeted with a site unlike any other on Seleucia. One of the three entrances to the fortress monastery of the Immortals, referred to as the “Gate of All Nations''. Sat atop a podium is the Deathless Flame that is itself carved into the five most formidable peaks of the Zahrathustran Mountains, the majority of which resides in the tallest peak: Mount Sassan. Just beyond the large podium it rests upon are the ruins of older civilizations left by the Immortals out of respect for the history of the land they now called home; upon those grounds, the Ossuary Warden (Master of Sanctity) and Melchior (Chief Librarian) along with a selection of the Apadanian Guard (Sanguinary Guard) and chapter equerries make an audience with the newly-arrived aspirants.

The first test the Immortals issued to the aspirants by the Chapter begins in earnest immediately upon their arrival outside the Deathless Flame, as they are ordered to kneel and have and have a restraint placed in their mouths. The Melchior then presents the aspirants with his relic force staff - “Bane of the Beholder” rumours are abound regarding the nature of this relic. From the eyes set in its ornamental head belonging to psychic blanks, to each of the rings being inhabited by an unaligned warp entity that the native Seleucians refer to as the Djinn. The truth is otherwise unknown and not cared for by the chapter either. It is said each person is granted visions or perceives the image of the staff differently, many of these aspirants experience seizures, bleeding of the eyes and ears, are driven to madness, or are outright killed by the stress of what they are seeing. It's not unheard of for an aspirant to lose grip of their restraint and bite off their tongues during the seizures they experience. Those who ultimately are not driven to insanity are then escorted to the interior of the labyrinthine halls of the Deathless Flame, those that fail the test are left to the elements to die and carried to the Towers of Silence by the chapter serfs upon their passing, or are otherwise taken in to be grafted into servitors as need requires.

Upon making their way up the massive podium and through the Gate of All Nations, they are stationed in the barracks and undertake the trials of an aspirant. This stage largely resembles their progenitors chapter’s own culture and traditions, between the violent games and gladiatorial contests they hold to further weed out those unfit for service. Those that survive the trials are escorted into the chamber of the Houses of Healing, in view of their future battle brothers, where they are to meet the members of the Shoshant (Sanguinary High Priest) and his retinue of the Immortals own Sanguinary Priesthood. They then drink deep of the blood of priests and of Sanguinius out of the relic rhyton “Eternal Lamentation”, the additives begin their work on the aspirants and their eyes grow heavy with sleep. Servitors then take the slumbering aspirants to the inner sanctum of the Houses of Healing, where the priesthood implants the geneseed organs into the bodies of their aspirants. Upon the completion of this procedure, they are carried further into the chambers of the Chambers of the Sarcophagi in the Houses of Healing.

### The Coffin

Those that have now been escorted into the Hall of the Sarcophagi, much like their parent chapter, now place the recruit into the mighty iron and copper adorned coffins. For the next Terran year, they are fed intravenously with the blood of Sanguinius and other assorted nutrients as they allow the gene-seed to fully take root and change the physiology of the incumbent marine. The geneseed carries with it the memories of their forebears and that of their genefather Sanguinius, the claustrophobic environment only exacerbating the intensity of the dreams. Many of those that undergo this procedure don’t live to see the light of day, their coffin ultimately claiming them. The same risks a Blood Angel would face are to be faced by the Immortals just the same. Those that are not claimed by the coffins, however, grow quickly, gaining muscle mass and acquiring the new organs.

Now with their time in the sarcophagus completed, the aspirant emerges, forevermore an Immortal and son of the Angel. Their senses sharper, their physique and frame enlarged, tall, superhumanly powerful and now beautiful and as regal as their genefather. They are now neophytes and are ready to begin training as a marine hereafter. The Ossuary Warden is now summoned to escort the newly initiated to the ruins outside of the Deathless Flame where he takes the oaths of the newly inducted, with the Shahanshah as their witness. The Ossuary Warden and chaplaincy return the marines within the confines of the monastery into the Fire Temple and complete the cuneiform tattoos on the wrists of the newly initiated to now read as “Without Death”. These men are now truly of the Immortals.

### The Hadal Chorus

A rite of passage for any newly initiated brother of the Immortals is the acquisition of the horns of a Shadhavar. Shadhavar translates to “Sweet Song” in the native Avestan tongue, these animals are quite elusive, but noted as incredibly dangerous, with a kick and bite capable of incapacitating, or even killing an Astartes. Bearing the frame and likeness of a horse that a fully armoured Astartes can ride should they so choose with two great horns and the teeth of a carnivore. They resemble bicorns with various stripes and patterns unique to each animal, their great horns curved like that of an ibex. These horns are unique in that they are lined with grooves and small holes, allowing wind to rush through them and create beautiful sounding music and melodies that transfix those that hear the tune. An animal or a collection of animals will hear said tunes and be drawn to the sound like a siren lures a sailor to their end, the great stallion stands there, the music rising sharply to a high crescendo where the animals fall upon themselves or each other, the stallion then feasts on the corpses left behind.

The first trial the aspirants underwent upon gazing at the Melchior’s staff was in part to weed out those that lacked the resolve to face eldritch horrors, but to also prepare them for this task and imbue them with a stronger psyker repelling presence. They are much more able to weather the psychic effects of the Shadhavar’s music upon them, though it’s not a guaranteed fix. Regardless, they are once more armed with a bow, a quiver of arrows and knife and ordered to bring back the horns of this creature to their monastery within two weeks of being issued the task. Upon their return to the Deathless Flame, their horns are judged by the size and its musical properties, then catalogued on display behind the throne room in a gallery. From here on out, they are then seconded to the Tenth Spear of the chapter: the Companions. Scouts of the Immortals are referred to as Companions, themselves evocative of the famed mercenary units of Seleucia known as the Companion Cavalry.

### Ameretat's Teeth

Now free of the coffin and having survived the trials of the eldritch shadhavar, the companion is now to learn the ways of the chapter in earnest and serve as the members of its vanguard. The sagaris they have received upon their ascension to the rank of companion denotes them as officially being an Immortal, but ultimately unblooded. Often these weapons are handed down from members of the chapter that preceded them and have fallen in combat. The companion is to maintain and look after the sagaris they have received and should the sagaris be lost or broken the offence is treated as betrayal and treason. The only recourse for the companion is to reforge the broken weapon or otherwise forge a new one at a deadline chosen at the discretion of the Virtuoso (Master of the Forge) with the Ossuary Warden as witness. Should the weapon be made and pass the judgement of the Virtuoso, the offence is forgiven. Should it not: the companion is executed. Over time, the companion gains ever more experience in the field and their body acclimates further and is prepared for the final implantation of their gene seed organ in the black carapace. Once they have received the carapace are the companions to observe and partake in this ritual. The roster of neophytes are called into the Temple of Brimstone (the Armorium) where the Virtuoso and Ossuary Warden together oversee their transition from neophyte to initiate. The Immortals bear a great veneration for fire and they themselves are the guardians of the sacred fire bestowed to them by Atar, the neophytes are thus branded on the chest with the sigil of the Temple of Brimstone: twin axes crossed over a great pyre. Now marked, companions “weds their sagaris” and the Ossuary Warden officiates this brief tradition and are thus fully initiated battle brothers from then on. The tradition can be traced back to the class of warrior priests that make up the rulership of the Tyrian Order who’s satrapy is now under the jurisdiction of the Tenth.

## Chapter Beliefs

### Veneration of Fire

Immortals view fire as being the greatest and purest gift bestowed to the universe and mankind, with Atar (the Emperor) viewed as being the concept of holy and smokeless fire incarnate. This belief stems from the Seleucian tales of creation that Atar is the ultimate benevolent creator god, infinitely wise, good, loving and the lord of all order. He is accompanied by twenty holy immortals (comparable to an Archangel or Primarch in regular Gothic mythology) known as the Amesha Spentas. It was he who created the universe, light, fire, life and joy.

In opposition to him was his dark mirror: Ahriman, who crept into the universe and tainted all of Atar’s gifts alongside his Daevas, themselves a mockery of the Amesha Spentas. Where Atar symbolized the truth and good, Ahriman would be the lie and evil. Before the universe as we now know it began, Atar and Ahriman lived in infinite light and infinite darkness respectively, it was only once that the physical plane had been created by Atar that Ahriman crawled into it and polluted Atar’s gifts. The gift of life was now burdened with the curse of death, flowers would wither, oceans were made salty, metal would rust, good tilled earth made into desert and fire tainted with smoke. The native Seleucians do not believe that Ahriman’s presence is one that cannot be expelled, rather that Atar made the physical plane to lure in Ahriman and trap him there to be ultimately defeated. Ahriman is viewed as a stain upon the universe that would eventually be expelled by people serving Atar through their good thoughts, good words and good deeds. Seleucians believe that they now live in a period they call the mixture, where everything they do is a balancing act between choosing the truth and the lie.

To the natives, death is seen as the most polluting force in the universe, one that exists solely because of Ahriman’s pollution of the gift of life. As such, cremation would never be carried out upon the bodies of the deceased, and specially chosen corpse bearers would take the bodies to the Towers of Silence after the completion of the last rites that allows the soul of the deceased to leave their bodies. The carrion birds would then strip the bodies of their flesh, the deceased’s last good deed of charity before departing to be judged by Atar (the Emperor), their bones then left to degrade and fragment into dust.

Immortals do not believe the old tales of creation, but note its similarities to the histories of the Imperium and have appropriated the cultures and views of Seleucia into that of their own Chapter’s culture. The veneration of fire and the polluting influence of death is one tradition that has greatly impacted their internal chapter culture. Thus, to corrupt fire is viewed with the utmost of disdain, eschewing traditional flamers unless the fuel for said weapon have been blessed and sanctified by their Sanguinary Priesthood, lest the flames be tainted by the corrupting influence of death and their unclean foes.

### Funerary Traditions

The Immortals view fire as being the most sacred gift the universe bestowed upon the living and is the purest essence of good there is, to taint fire by burning the living or the dead with it is not something the Immortals view kindly. Should they take to the field with flame weapons, the promethium is blessed by the chapter Shoshant and the Ossuary Warden and then blended with other oils to sanctify the fuel to then burn the foes of mankind to cinders. With regards to what this implies toward their funerary practices, the bodies of the slain are either moved to the top of the Tower of Silence and the vultures and crows are allowed to pick the bodies clean. The bones then remain out in the open to be baked in the sun and crumble into dust. Should the tower be unavailable or the fauna not present, they do also employ the use of electrical cremation, both of these methods are designed to keep the sanctity of fire intact.

There is but one sole exception to this rule that applies to ranks of the Daevas (Death Company). When one falls to the curse of the flaw, they are taken to the field of battle where they would be sent into the thickest of the fighting to allow the warrior to have his final peace. Once the battle has concluded, any survivors of the Death Company are granted their last rites and mercy by the Chaplaincy. Upon retrieving the bodies, the Chaplains and the members of the Priesthood draw a small portion of the blood of deceased which collect in a small funerary urn which is then burned as incense as the rest of the funerary processions continues. The corpses of the Death Company having been deemed as completely purified of any taint in the warriors’ last moments, is thus granted the honour of being cremated with untreated fire rather than be picked clean by carrion birds or burned through electrical incineration. The ashes are then mixed with those of the blood in the urn and moved to a gallery behind the throne room of the Shahanshah. After the proceedings are brought to a close, the chaplaincy gathers in the fire temple to witness the branding, where those lost in battle are remembered by the chaplains by using a red hot iron to brand themselves where the slain were delivered their mortal wounds.

### Passing of Names

Immortals observe a tradition that can be difficult for outsiders or historitors to follow when trying to look through the records catalogued in their libraries or in Imperial databanks. In large part, this is to do with the names of the battle brothers themselves. For an Immortal may keep their birth name and may be referred to by it within their own ranks, but to the wider Imperium they exclusively go by their inherited names. Much like how Lord Commander Dante’s true name is Luis, he inherited the name Dante upon his ascension to the ranks of the Adeptus Astartes. A great many names that are regularly listed can be traced back to their founding. This in part accounts for some of the more traditionally angelic names that are regularly catalogued like Cassiel or Belial, while Avestan and Seleucian names such as Epaminondas or Xerxes came into the fold in an official capacity after the first few generations of aspirants were taken in following the subjugation of Seleucia and its locality within the Grendl Stars.

When an Immortal is slain, the name is passed to another that joins the Chapter. For instance: a battle brother named “Vologases” might fall on the field of battle, but the name is inherited by another and not recorded among the fallen in any official capacity outside of the Maegi’s own private libraries. Coupled with their tireless efforts of reclaiming the bodies of the fallen, to the wider Imperium, Vologasses is never listed as having died in action. Soon after a neophyte named "Saaber" is given his Black Carapace and he inherits the name Vologasses. Thus making him "Vologasses Saaber." The cycle of name inheritance continues and is only broken when Vologasses is slain when in the grips of Nightfall (the Black Rage). Once he is prepared for his funerary rites, the Maegi record the deeds of the slain and officially declares Vologasses as having been killed.

Every holder of their respective inherited names are tallied and stored in the vast private libraries within the Palace of Dust by the Maegi. This tradition is further extended to and slightly expanded upon with regard to the Shahanshah (Chapter Master). The current Shahanshah's birth name is Hydarnes. He inherited the name Ishim upon his completion of his aspirant trials to become a neophyte. The tradition that is solely observed by the Shahanshah is the use of a third name: their regnal name. Whom he inherited from his predecessor: Artaxerxes. Thus making him "Artaxerxes Ishim Hydarnes." He typically uses his first inherited name informally when among other Immortals whilst his regnal name is used when dealing with anyone not of the Chapter. To call any of the Immortals by their birth name is an especially personal way to address one another and often sets the tone of whatever conversation is to follow.

### Markings of Distinction

Immortals observe a number of ways to mark out their deeds and accomplishments to themselves and one another. Primarily in the form of engravings, inlays and sculpting of their armour, however, they do also tattoo themselves quite heavily, typically leaving the face for last or completely omitting it. These are both personalized to the warrior’s own likes and taste, typically speaking, the honour of being granted the right to bear these personalized pieces of heraldry requires the recommendation of another battle brother or that of the chaplaincy to award this honour. Whatever the impetus, when awarded the right to sport such markings, the brother is summoned to meet with the Ossuary Warden in the Tower of Silence. Once convened, the Ossuary Warden lays out the first set of lines on the brother’s battle plate. The brother then interprets and designs their own markings based on their own personal tastes, typically this entails floral markings and motifs, calligraphy and engravings of the mythologies and stories of their homeworld.

The placements of these markings and tattoos acknowledge the type of feat or recognition they earned, with the iconography being for the brother to engrave and inlay by their own hand. For instance, markings on the eyes denote marksmanship, typically with the use of arrows as the iconography. Markings on the backpack are for Astartes who proved themselves as daring pilots, the placement alluding to the burden placed upon the backs of those given the responsibility of flying and commanding aircraft or voidcraft. Markings on the hands and arms are divided into two, the right and the left, both denote proficiency in close quarters combat, the right symbolizes a highly aggressive and offensive approach to their craft. Whereas the left denotes a more reserved and defensive fighting style, but no less deadly a combatant.

Those on the legs and chest do somewhat overlap but are typically divided in terms of acts of selflessness and valour and those of sheer resilience in the face of overwhelming or impossible odds. Typically acts of self-sacrifice are what land an Immortal the right to sport markings upon their breastplates. For instance, moving to take what could have been a potentially mortal wound for even the likes of an Astartes meant for another, be it of their own battle brothers, another chapter, or even civilian, could be honoured with the right of decorating their chests. The legs are reserved for sheer acts of strength, resilience or willpower in the face of adversity that would be deemed close to insurmountable for an Astartes, yet they still lived to see the threat off.

Some of the most sought after markings are those that are wrought upon the weapon itself. Be it a boltgun, or a knife, these will be decorated with engravings, etchings or inlays that denote a particularly noteworthy kill or accomplishment having been achieved with the weapon.

### The Sagaris

Each battle brother upon their ascension to the Tenth Spear as a Companion is issued a sagaris by the Shoshant and the Virtuoso (Master of the Forge). To pass the trials of having become an Astartes is to have earned the right to brandish this weapon, these are mono-edged one handed weapons that usually take the form of a war pick or axe, typically the latter. Usually this replaces the Astartes Combat Knife, but brothers can brandish both. The shape and form may vary but ultimately serves the same purpose, everyone from the youngest of the Companions to the Shahanshah himself carries this weapon, a symbol of both their station as an Immortal and of their duty to one another. Great efforts are taken to recover a fallen Immortal, his gene-seed and his sagaris, but in the rare instance that a body could not be recovered, the sagaris is to be recovered, often by the Sanguinary Priesthood. This weapon would then be passed down to the newest roster of neophytes that have passed the trials of becoming an Astartes as a reminder of the one who wielded it before them and in a sense, a portion of their soul has been imbued into the weapon. To receive the sagaris means that the marine is of the Immortals, albeit not blooded. Once this weapon is issued by the Virtuoso and the Shoshant, the care and maintenance is bestowed upon its current wielder, in essence, granting the former wielder a form of immortality in the memories and stories told of the weapon and its last wielder’s deeds. In the time between its issuing and the donning of the Black Carapace, the axe being broken or lost is treated as treason with the only possible path for recourse being reacquisition of the axe, repair or to forge a new one entirely. To meet the deadline issued is to have one’s hands wiped clean of this transgression, to fail is to be executed. On their ascension to the rank of full Initiate after donning the Black Carapace, the Immortals observe a brief ceremony and are ritually wedded to the sagaris they wield, thus making them Atar’s own axes.

### Artifice

Members of the Immortals also observe another tradition in the reusing and repurposing of former brother’s equipment and its maintenance, not dissimilar to how they do so with the sagaris that they are issued. It is after they receive their carapace and are wed to their sagaris that the Immortal is also given a piece of armour, normally belonging to the former wielder of the sagaris they now bear.

### Laws of Hospitality

Though known primarily for being a chapter of icy personalities and of a generally cold and callous disposition, they are renowned for their seemingly uncharacteristically strong adherence to observing laws of hospitality and of guest rights. When receiving guests, the Shahanshah or the highest ranking Immortal in his absence is to share with them bread and salt if he is to offer them guest rights, for the duration of the guests visits, they are not to be harmed, nor their guests harm their hosts. Should guest rights not be invoked, the Immortal is to lay his weapon out on the table before his throne, or to lay it across his lap. Should guest rights be invoked and either side break this sacred tradition, they will be dealt with swiftly and accordingly, the prospective guests would be brutally hunted and executed without a trial if they are found to be guilty. Should anyone be guilty, they will be tried and punished very harshly, with executions not being unheard of for such a transgression. However, said guest rights can be revoked by the host when they present their guest with a parting gift, meaning that they are no longer subject to any of the chapter’s benevolence within their halls.

Those who respect the traditions and culture of the Immortals are often treated with more respect and care than those who do not, remaining just as cold and foreboding to their guests as they would with others who disregard the courtesies of the Immortals.

### The Tower of Ashes

This structure is situated within the larger Palace of Dust where the Chapter Librarius resides and is something of a misnomer in that it is more akin to a pit than a tower. The Tower of Ashes serves as a method of execution reserved for traitors, used most often on traitorous or renegade Astartes (their own chapter if necessary). After the battle, the Melchior and the Ossuary Warden (Chief Librarian and High Chaplain respectively) interrogates the accused in a manner similar to that of the Interrogator Chaplains of the Unforgiven. The accused is dragged before the lip of the pit and is subject to the treatment of his two interrogators, upon either offering information or repenting for their treason, they are dispatched in one fell blow, a quick and fairly clean death. Their bodies then moved to the Tower of Silence or otherwise disposed of in accordance to their traditions, however, should the traitor prove to not do so or is still viewed as being not absolved of their crimes regardless of the admission of the traitor in question, the accused is thrown down the Tower of Ashes. The structure is tall with downward pointing spikes and protrusions running down the whole length, partway filling the structure is ash, sand, dust and shards of glass. It is normal for the victim to break bones when thrown from such a height, even with bodies as resilient and durable as that of an Astartes. Now in the bowels of the pit and unable to escape, wheels and paddles within the chamber are rotated which kick up the foul blend of particulates, forcing the unfortunate soul to inhale the concoction. An agonising and drawn out death befitting of their victims as they are made to choke on the ashes of their own failures. Once they succumb, they are denied the dignity of being taken to the Tower of Silence or being electrically cremated, a rare case of allowing the corpse to break down on its own and add to the dust that makes up the grounds on which they died to soil and desecrate the next victim.

## Chapter Gene-Seed

As scions of Sanguinius are noted for having gene-seed without much in the way of flaws or aberration with the exception of the psychic imprint and bloodlust of their gene-father Sanguinius. They appear to not be as heavily as afflicted by the affliction as their peers in the Flesh Tearers, but are nonetheless subject to all of its struggles and horrors just as any Chapter derived of the blood are destined to be.

On average, the Immortals sport darker hair and skin, but this appears to vary from brother to brother, with both blonde, auburn or black hair being counted among its numbers, as is the more characteristically pale skin of their forebears alongside the more tan complexion they are noted for. This is believed to be due to random mutation and is ultimately considered of little consequence to the Chapter’s gene-seed purity by both the Mechanicum and the Immortals themselves. Its noted as little more than a strange idiosyncrasy of the Chapter's gene-seed, possibly tied to an unknown cultural facet of the Chapter, the simple truth of the matter is that the reasoning behind this cosmetic inconsistency among the ranks of the Immortals is not cared for to be altered.

### Genetic Flaws

The Red Thirst is as present in the Immortals as it is in their brother Chapters that share in the Twin Flaws of the Host. Of the two defects, the effects of the Red Thirst are more prevalent in the members of the Chapter, with few surviving if ever to see the full toll the curse takes on their minds and body. The Red Thirst is a genetic abnormality that few Astartes are ever able to keep this bloodlust in check without fail, but the Immortals keep to their duty to the Chapter and to the Imperium in spite of this difficulty. A method to help circumvent and curtail the worst of this flaw’s effects are done through the pursuit of craftsmanship, meditation and self reflection when they aren’t training. The favoured methods to curb the effects of the flaw are weaving, metalworking, sculpting, painting, animal husbandry and gardening.

## Combat Doctrine

The Immortals adhere fairly closely to the tenets of the Codex Astartes and are proficient in the many methods of waging war as prescribed by the ancient tome. But they are unique among the Blood for being especially competent and capable of weathering attrition. Blending this method of waging war with the shock assault tactics favoured by their progenitors, siege laying, siege breaking and attrition warfare have proven to be where the Immortals truly excel. They primarily eschew most defensive tactics and the practice of hunkering down in stagnant lines by constantly keeping on the move and harrying the enemies in their places of strength. Forcing their opposition to carry the toll of the attrition and whittling away at their numbers and resolve. Remaining elusive and always out of reach with the ability to withdraw and quickly re-engage causes enemy lines to buckle under anxiety and fear as they anticipate the next hammerblow to fall.

Though Astartes are typically unsuited for attrition based warfare, largely based on the number of brothers that they have to spare, to ameliorate this, there are several mechanisms that allow for this to be achieved. One of which is tied to a deviation from their adherence to the Codex Astartes, for the Inquisition believes that they sport more than the traditional 1,000 line rank Astartes. Internally, the layout of each Spear is identical to that of the Codex Astartes and still maintains the structure and layout of ten companies, the first five of the Spears being battleline and a veteran company and the next five being reserves and a scout company respectively. The ranks of the Chapter in reality is often slightly inflated, due to each of the Spears having its own self contained reserve of Astartes, typically with two to five additional ten man squads that can equip themselves in whatever role that is required of them should the losses sustained prove to be too great and require their intervention. This has only been observed in such instances where their allies fighting alongside them report the Immortals sustaining casualties, withdrawing from the fight and attacking once more with seemingly the same number of Astartes. Though this is not corroborated by Inquisitorial agents, its suspected to be the mechanism they use to keep their numbers up.

A weapon that serves as being most symbolic of the Immortals is the spear and the axe alongside its many derivatives. They train extensively in the use of these weapons alongside their usual bolter drills for all Immortals are demanded to be without peer when using polearms and their sagaris just as they are to be exemplary with bolt. Even training with massive purpose built recurve bows and arrows specifically for the Astartes frame to wield so that no manner of weapon is overlooked in their arsenal. However, the sagaris: a one handed mono-edged axe that typically serves in place of the regular combat knife is perhaps just as important if not more so to the chapter. Given that an aspirant becomes a neophyte when they are bestowed their sagaris and are officially accepted truly as members of the chapter when they are ritually wedded to their axe, they consider themselves Atar’s axes. It is for this reason that the sagaris is as greatly tied to their image as the spear. So much so that the brand each Astartes has seared onto their chest is that of a crossed pair of axes atop a flaming pyre. Marines are known to carry the regular knife in addition to their traditional sagaris, but this is isn’t a universal practice among their number.

Where possible, the Immortals seek to close the distance with their foes to engage them in close quarters combat. Though capable as marksmen, steps are taken to ensure that their speed, heightened reflexes and strength can be capitalised on in close quarters since Astartes are inherently at their most dangerous when up close. This in turn; places a stronger emphasis on their variation of attrition and siege centric doctrines to air toward constantly being on the move and only resorting to static lines only when forced to do so or when it proves to be the most advantageous proposition available to the chapter.

### Carcosan Wargear

The Forge World of Carcosa within the Ghoul Stars have always provided for the chapter’s war materiel following Vidarna’s rooting out of the Drukhari prior to their founding. Though the chapter would be remiss to take sole credit for their development of the suits and wargear that they outfit their battle brothers from, for the developing and trialing of wargear from Carcosa was done in partnership with the Imperial Wardens. Following the events of the Purgation of Iyrin in M36, where the Imperial Wardens and the Immortals destroyed the Purifiers, the forge world and the Immortals have granted the Imperial Wardens access to the forges and armouries of Carcosa. Since then, Carcosa supplies both Chapters with their suits and motorpool, the Armoriums and Forge Masters of both the chapters cooperating in the production of and testing of wargear when they meet in the Ghoul Stars to resupply.

Among Carcosa’s tally of contributions to the chapter and the wider Imperium are the new Cawlite suits of Mk. X and its many derivatives of power armour collectively dubbed the Carcosan Sub-Pattern. The Mk. X Hyades suit is based upon that of the Phobos battle plate and the Hali Suit is based around that of the Gravis armour set. Each has their own specialty and was made with the intention of being best suited to the Immortals own combat doctrine without risking being incompatible or interchangeable with the suits that Cawl has made and where need should arise to accommodate for pre-Cawlite suits of battle plate.

Hyades suits are for one, significantly more durable and better rounded for use in close quarters than its regular counterpart incurring only a light penalty to mobility is sacrificed alongside some of its stealth capabilities. But in its place are more powerful, robust, efficient and discrete grav chutes that are more stable in orbital drop than the regular suits and are capable of higher and faster drops. The armour is less silent than the regular Phobos plate on which it is based upon, as such, this is made up for by the use of the Myskaton Grenade Launcher harness to make up for the suit’s hampered stealth abilities with extra firepower should the user opt to outfit them upon their backpacks. The Iffrit, Hortan, Arimaspi and the Gurraka each use the Hyades suits in place of the regular Phobos with the necessary alterations and equipped as their roles dictate.

The Hali variant of Gravis armour in its form and function is largely the same to the Gravis armour it takes the place of but conceals the power cabling better in the armour’s own plating. It is also made with the previous suits of Terminator armour in mind and to provision for their inclusion on the suit to ensure that those armour components remain in service. The Hali suits are able to be outfitted with or without the hoods characteristic of the Gravis armour on which its based. In addition, the Executor heavy bolt rifle has its own make from Carcosa: the Jezzail Pattern heavy bolt rifle and can come equipped with a telescopic sight and is chambered for a marginally heavier round and can be fired in either in semi automatic or three round burst. These weapons and suits are greatly favoured by Jezzaliers of the Immortals. The suits are made to be more manoeuvrable than the Gravis suit on which they are based with their more carefully articulated armour segments, especially along the abdomen. In addition, the suits conceal the servos and power cabling feeding them within the armour, especially on the rear portion of the legs, making them less prone to failure or damage on the battlefield short of a direct hit that penetrates the armour and the servos beneath them.

## Deathwatch Service

The Immortals have long staffed the ranks of the Deathwatch with their own, some of their stations demand service in the Deathwatch to be eligible for certain positions, like that of the Sunspears. Many among the veterancy in the Chapter have served secondments among the ranks of the Deathwatch, with some taking permanent secondments in their hallowed ranks. Warriors of the chapter are typically sought out for their expertise in leadership and in matters of asymmetric warfare against hyper-aggressive species of xenos, like their efforts to keep the Barghesi confined within the reaches of the Grendl Stars or that of the mythic Umbra and the Enslavers within the Avestan Satrapy. For those that take on full time duties among the ranks of the militant arm of the Ordos Xenos, Immortals often attain the role of Keepers in the Deathwatch.

## Notable Members

**Shahanshah Artaxerxes Ishim Hydarnes -** The current Shahanshah is an imposing figure indeed who lives up to the mantle of the title he is bestowed being some seven to eight centuries old, but the actual number hasn't been corroborated outside of the Chapter's own historical records. This is not helped by the fact that the title of Shahanshah is what the rest of the Imperium at large is actually familiar with (if at all) rather than the name of the monarch himself. During his tenure he would see to the defence of Seleucia on several occasions but in more recent times brought the Sarissa out of its mooring from the homeworld. He had little more than three spears to spare to bring alongside him to the Baal under Dante's directive, but the arrival of the starfort itself was to help make up for the discrepancy which would ultimately meet its fate as Hydarnes would turn the vessel into a makeshift blockade and set it to explode in the ranks of the oncoming Tyranid bioships buying the Imperials all the time they could in the void battle before making planetfall to stand alongside Dante and the Blood Angels.

**Shahanshah Vidarna -** The very first Chapter Master, then crowned Shahanshah following the pacification of Seleucia, known to his charges simply as “The Deathless”, was possibly the most influential figure in his chapter’s history. From their early days as a crusading chapter, to their rulership as lords of Seleucia, Vidarna would see their chapter’s transition from a crusading force to a settled one. His tomes are the backbone of the beliefs of the chapter and all that they hold dear, these edicts survive into the present day under the watchful eyes of the Maegi. Records of his deeds and actions survive into the present day within the chapter’s own vaults and records, but precious little is remembered by much else in the Imperium’s record keeping.

**Shahanshah Vidarna Lazica Esshaq -** The last Shahanshah to bear the name Vidarna was Lazica Esshaq. His death marked the first official coronation Seleucia would bear witness to since the ascendancy of the chapter's founder himself after its pacification. He was claimed by Nightfall (Black Rage) and subsequently executed by his Ossuary Warden Auriel Androcles when he wasn't killed in the fighting. He would be succeeded by the Shahanshah Cassiel Eridanus and the reign of all those that took the moniker of Cassiel.

**Auriel Androcles -** Served as Lazica Esshaq's Ossuary Warden, ultimately executing his lifelong friend when Lazica had not succumbed to his wounds after being claimed by Nightfall. Auriel would continue to serve as the Ossuary Warden under the next lineage of Shahanshahs to go by the name Cassiel, starting with Cassiel Eridanus until his death in mid-M37.

**Judhail Alcaeus, the "Iron Angel" -** Formerly the Melchior to Shahanshah Cassiel Eridanus would be crippled in the Purge of Iyrin by the Purifiers and the Black Huntsmen during the years of the Age of Apostacy some time during M36. For his expertise and the great respect he commanded of his peers, he would be interred in a Contemptor Dreadnought sarcophagus and would be known thereafter as the "Iron Angel." He would be saved from death by his closest confidant in the chapter, the Shoshant Hydriel Esfandiar at the cost of his own life in facing down Bezaliel, the Master of Sanctity of the Purifiers.

**Hydriel Esfandiar -** the Shoshant (Sanguinary High Priest) of the Immortals during the reign of the first Shahanshah, Vidarna during M36. Taking part during the Purging of Iyrin against the Purifiers alongside Melchior Judhail Alcaeus where the Immortals first made contact with the Purifiers before being struck from the rear by the Black Huntsmen and stalling the advance of the Immortals. In this brief lull, Bezaliel, the Master of Sanctity of the Purifiers regrouped his Astartes and Hydrield mirrored the gesture as he stood guard over Judhail after he was crippled by the Black Huntsmen in their reckless charge to come to grips with the Purifiers whose offensive had just stalled. When Bezaliel had crashed through the opposing line in his counter offensive, he would face off the Shoshant in single combat over the barely lucid Judhail. The fight would end in Bezaliel's death but Hydriel himself would succumb to the horrific wounds he suffered moments after in a mutual embrace of death with Bezaliel, having stabilised Judhail before his end.

**The Fallen Stars -** Two figures are collectively referred to as the Fallen Stars: one a former Sword of the Evening of the Apadanian Guard whose name is held a secret (as was tradition with that rank of office) was the Exalted Herald of the Host. Much to the Chapter’s dismay, he was lost during the events now described in the annals of their history as the “Sorrow of Undeath” during M36 at the hands of the Word Bearers when a Chaos Sorcerer Lord slew his master and cast him into the Warp. The other was a former Ossuary Warden believed to be Auriel Androcles who executed Vidarna Lazica Esshaq, the last Shahanshah to be named Vidarna late in M36 or early into M37. Their spectres now haunt the Deathless Flame and manifest themselves to the Shahanshah at the most dire of moments. It is said that should the Ossuary Warden manifest himself, he heralds the coming of cataclysm and should the former Evenstar appear, he heralds victory. Should they both manifest together, they herald a pyrrhic victory at the cost of the Shahanshah’s life.

**Bahram the Evenstar -** The current Sword of the Evening, Bahram is the Chapter Champion and the Lord Commander of the Apadanian Guard under Shahanshah Artaxerxes Hydarnes. While most of his predecessors have had their identities hidden from the chapter, this tradition was broken by Bahram (albeit unintentionally in a fit of rage) during the events of the Devastation of Baal when he faced down the Tyranid Swarmlord. Charging the abominable creature after it slew the ensign of his Guard unit, spear gleaming ferociously under the half-light of the warp rift whirling above and was cleaved in two by the Swarmlord before it was put down by Artaxerxes Hydarnes. By what means he was returned to service isn’t known, but he would be present during the chastising of the Angels Vermillion at the hands of their progenitors and successor kin after the events of the Devastation of Baal, much to everyone’s surprise who witnessed his death on Baal.

**Orodes the Defiant -** The Lord of the Colours of the Apadanian Guard, Orodes has been lauded by his peers as an avatar of resilience. Others have even claimed that he is imbued with the spirit of Vidarna the Deathless for Orodes has withstood as many horrific injuries as he has years under his belt. Clad in a set of durable Mk. III Power Armour styled in the Artificer plate favoured by his peers, nothing could force Orodes to shirk from his duty nor to loosen his grip upon the vaunted banner of the Apadanian Guard. His first and most notable citation during his years within the elite guard unit was during the Lazican Campaign. The Apadanian Guard were beset upon all sides by an onslaught of orks, the former Lord of the Colours was slain during a vicious assault by the greenskins, Orodes then took hold of the banner. Despite being surrounded by Orks, with part of his face fused to his helmet’s internals due to an ork burna blast at point blank range, on the brink of death from his numerous injuries, Orodes refused to let the banner drop from his hand. The very sight of his legendary defiance in the face of death even briefly stopped the Orks in their tracks, in awe of the sight of the black and white marble clad Astartes garroting an Ork Nob with razor wire while still grasping the banner in the other. Having caused a brief lull in the fighting, it served to provide an ample enough distraction for the rest of the Immortals to conduct a successful counter-assault. The fighting having concluded, he was returned to the Deathless Flame and had his artificer helmet "Spirit of the Immortal" was reforged anew in his visage to commemorate his achievements with most of his face being recovered but with horrific scars upon his face. This he now wears with pride and considers being among his the finest of his storied career and string of achievements. Yet he was not given the position of Lord of the Colours until the events of the Devastation of Baal took place where the replacement to the former ensign that perished on Lazica would be slain on Baal, solidifying his place as the Lord of the Colours. Thus he was forever known to his brothers thereafter as “Orodes the Defiant'' for his actions during the Lazican Campaign.

**Dara Barbelo -** A new member of the Immortals is Dara Barbelo, following Guilliman’s reinforcing of the Imperium with the introduction of his Primaris Marines, Dara was part of the Unnumbered Sons that accompanied the returned Primarch during the Indomitus Crusade. Judging by his appearance and his disposition, he could be potentially mistaken for a son of Russ given his inclination toward sporting savage fetishes in his braided red beard, long curled lock and his aesthetic of choice regarding the tattoos he sported on his skin. Though his visage and appearance aren’t too far outside of the norm for the chapter, perhaps his particularly strong affinity for them comes from his time among the ranks of the Space Wolves or their successors during the Ultima Founding. Regardless, he would find himself reunited once more with his kin among the Blood Angels following the lifting of the siege of the homeworld by the Tyranids during the Devastation of Baal. Dara was assigned his posting among the Seleucians following the pyrrhic victory at Baal as a member of the reserve companies, being noted for his ability to lead and his exceptional oratory talents that garnered the attention of the chaplaincy. Dara for his part remains a Judiciar, however, his superiors are considering when they are to have Dara be promoted and take his place as a fully recognised Chaplain among the Silent Quarter. His right to bear Baktamael’s Call, his relic power maul, is testament to the favour he has garnered among even his biggest detractors and sceptics in the Reclusiam.

**Arshia Saleh -** One of the Cawlite Astartes to join following the launching of the Indomitus Crusade at Baal, he was ordered to receive leadership of the chapter's fifth spear. The Headsmen, however, would not acquiesce to this order: deeming Arshia to be too inexperienced to assume leadership of the fifth. Satraph Shahriyar Sa'adi saw through this and directly refused Arshia several times and the matter would be taken up with the Shahanshah himself. He was rebuked and beaten nearly to death by the Chapter Master for the insubordination and would eventually be brought back into the fold by Artaxerxes. Though he was refused the captaincy as Satrap; he would in time climb the ranks of the fifth spear and briefly serve as a Hyparch before being inducted directly as part of Satrap Shahriyar's command squad as the Lord of the Colours, allowed to hold aloft the banner of the Headsmen. There are rumours internally within his spear that the Satrap may be considering appointing for command of the spear to pass to Arshia - though these remain unsubstantiated and he would not be the only person to be considered for the station.

## Chapter Fleet

* ***Sarissa* (Star Fort )-** The former mobile starfort of the Chapter, most comparable in size and firepower to the Raptorus Rex of the Fire Hawks is a presence that typically seldom leaves the reaches of the Grendl Stars unless at the behest of the Shahanshah. Its most recent outing into the wider Imperium during the Devastation of Baal saw it ultimately destroyed at the battle. The flotilla of the Immortals were too thinly stretched and required reaming. When news came from within the starfort that genestealers were sighted within it, Hydarnes ordered the vessel to spearhead a charge into the oncoming rush of Tyranid bio-ships and crash itself within it. With its hundreds of weapons arrays and lance beams at full power, it tore a bloody swathe through the bio-vessels before crashing into one of the motherships and being blown to shreds.

* ***Star Song* (Courageous Class Battle Barge - Tranche Two) -** Flagship of First Spear, throughout her tenure under the Athanatoi the *Star Song* has faced off many perils and served her chapter diligently from the very beginning while as a crusading chapter. She saw to the subjugation og Seleucia, the the defence of the Grendl Stars alongside the Iron Lords, and the Devastation of Baal to name but a few. Among her achievements were a series of four kills against the traitorous warband of renegades dubbed the Amber Shrouds during M39 during the chapter’s withdrawal alongside the Nemean Lions from Epipolae and their later campaign to reclaim the bodies of the slain to return to the homeworld of the Nemean Lions. The Star Song was also present at the Devastation of Baal which would be final battle; going down alongside the *Sarissa* during their defence of the Blood Angels homeworld. Though she and the star fortress were ultimately destroyed; the arrival of the Indomitus Crusade to Baal would supply the beleaguered chapters of the Blood with both Astartes and war materiel; among them vessels. *Theseus*, a relic of the Great Crusade was a Courageous-class vessel of the second tranche that served as flagship of the Brothers of Jarad who were slain to the last in the defence of Baal. The Blood Angels was were offered *Theseus* after the lifting of its siege but they declined the offer; stating that their successors were more in need of such vessels and supplies than they were; and considering that the Immortals lost both a barge and a star fortress in the defence of Baal, the Blood Angels passed ownership of the *Theseus* to the Immortals. Already a hardened and decorated vessel who also participated at the very tail end of the battle against the Tyranids; ramming her prow into a bioship and was gravely wounded in the fighting - still the Immortals accepted her into their fleet. They took the *Theseus* to their dockyards on Carcosa and would salvage what they could both of their former ruined star fort and battle barge. Said pieces of the former *Star Song* and the *Sarissa* were shipped alongside the *Theseus* and retrofitted to the vessel and the *Star Song* returned to service of her Spear. Within her hold are a number of relics and trophies belonging to the Brothers of Jarad who the Immortals look after in their memory.

* ***Spear of Salamis* (Battle Barge) -** Flagship of the Second Spear (Avestan Hussars)

* ***Ophanim* (Strike Cruiser) -** Flagship of the Third Spear (Erelim)

* ***Kontos* (Vanguard Cruiser) -** Flagship of the Fourth Spear (Anuvaniyans of Baal)

* ***Pride of Halicarnassus* (Battle Barge) -** Flagship of the Fifth Spear (Headsmen)

* ***Atar's Will* (Strike Cruiser) -** Flagship of the Sixth Spear (Consecrating Flame)

* ***Hangman* (Strike Cruiser) -** Flagship of the Seventh Spear (Gordian Knot)

* ***Aspis* (Strike Cruiser) -** Flagship of the Eighth Spear (Sparabara)

* ***Starpike* (Strike Cruiser) -** Flagship of the Ninth Spear (Keepers of Paradise)

* ***Parting Shot* (Strike Cruiser) -** Flagship of the Tenth Spear (Companions)

* ***Farya's Hearth* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Caliph's Regard* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Dark Sister* (Strike Cruiser)**

* ***Angaros* (Viper-Class Missile Destroyer)** - Derived from the Cobra-Class Destroyer, the vessel is noted as being among the swiftest and most prized of the fleet of smaller ancillary vessels in service. Named for the swift messenger horses from the homeworld; she sports only her boarding torpedoes in addition to her powerful auspex and augur arrays, forgoing the use of any weapons batteries. She is the lead vessel in a small reconnaissance flotilla dubbed the Angarium for whom they are named. However, when battle is joined, she takes on the role of a combat-ferry. Narrowly avoiding destruction and delivering or retrieving squadrons of battle brothers to wherever the fighting is thickest. Her most recent and famous exploits were recorded during the Devastation of Baal when she evacuated a number of the beleaguered Stormborn and Charnel Guard from their doomed flagships and her later involvement during the Myrian-Insurrection.

* **29 Rapid Strike Vessels (Escorts)**

## Chapter Relics

* ***Fated Emerald* -** The relic power spear wielded by the Shahanshah is an ancient weapon, older than the chapter she serves, bestowed upon their very first Shahanshah, Vidarna by the Salamanders upon the safe return of several of their slain battle brothers. The spear has served the chapter dutifully in the hands of each of their chapter masters since the dawn of the chapter’s founding into the present day. The weapon is an artisan’s delight; from the spearhead, to its ornate haft and its pommel, it is as richly laden with details as it is history. A twisted core of adamantium and steel is shaped into a broad leaf-headed hewing spear with a wicked point etched with star shaped patterns sat atop a haft fashioned out of adamantium and drake teeth laden with more stars and clouds engraved into its side. Most striking of all perhaps, is the butt end of the spear: a block of adamantium and jade fashioned into a pommel modeled after a bull’s head set with emerald eyes that serves as the counterweight to the imposing yet elegant spear of the First Immortal.

* ***Spirit of the Immortal* -** A mask specific to a singular battle brother, Orodes gained the right to wear this particular marbled death mask of the Apadanian Guard following his actions during the Lazican Campaign. After the former Lord of the Colours and the rest of his contingent was slain to a man, Orodes stood in front of the halved black and white standard of his unit and slew any Ork that approached despite the horrific wounds he suffered, most notably with a side of his face partially fused to his helmet’s internals after suffering a burna blast at point blank range. He miraculously survived, his refusal to give ground acting as a rallying point for his fellows to launch a counter assault from and drive the Orks off the side of a ravine. For this, after he was treated for his wounds, the mask he now wore was fashioned to resemble that of his own face before its disfigurement. Marbled half in white and black, like the rest of his panoply and the rest of his peers, it symbolises the rage and nobility of their gene-father and that of Orodes’s own struggles and triumphs as the Lord of the Colours of the marble-clad Apadanians.
* ***Samyaza's Blade* -** A greatsword that shimmers with an etheric blue flame in custody of the Satrap of Third Spear: Satrap Hadraniel Ignathus. The blade was among the spoils of war that the chapters of the Drakes Encarmine, Imperial Wardens and Immortals plundered from the maniacal chapter of the Purifiers. The blade and other equipment salvaged from the now extinct Purifiers remain a point of hostility between the Immortals and the Black Huntsmen.

* ***Heartsbane* -** A greatsword nearly the size of its wielder, this relic belongs to the current Satrap of the Fourth Spear, Satrap Hannibal and is stylised in the manner of their company’s heraldry of an archer at full draw. The blade was crafted by the people of Seleucia as a gift and modelled in part on Samyaza's blade and was awarded to the then acting Satrap of the Fourth Spear after an engagement on Seleucia during the containment of the Barghesi in M38. In Mithra’s Square, the fourth company drove off the Barghesi in a last stand to defend what remained of that population centre in the vicinity of the battle. With this blade gifted to the chapter, their artificers put it through its paces and further honed the blade to the standards of the chapter. The blade would thereafter be named Heartsbane, where it remains in their custody to the present day.

* ***Trials of Perpetuity* -** Masks, helmets and armour specific to particular ranks and stations of the Immortals are fairly well established among the chapter. The Shoshant, the Sanguinary High Priest is a stylised death mask of alabaster with orange lenses dripping red tears of the man’s comrades down its face. At the base of it’s plume holder is a stylised symbol of Atar’s Aquila in copper, holding plumes of dyed green horse hair from a Seleucian destrier. It makes for an unsettling visage that embodies all of the Immortals own virtues and hardships.

## Chapter Appearance

### Chapter Colours

The chapter’s colours are a dark and vibrant green all across the marine’s power armour barring the pauldron’s trim, Imperialis or Aquila, the poleyns and the boots which are finished in a copper. The green is an acknowledgement of the generosity the Salamanders showed their Chapter before its founding when Vidarna had returned the corpse of some of their battle brothers back to Nocturne after their battle in the void above Carcosa.

The company marking is worn on the right pauldron, the Chapter emblem on the left, the squad number on the left poleyn and the right poleyn sporting the specialty symbol (tactical, assault, devastator, veteran, command). The squad numeral is stencilled in using cuneiform numerals in a white-ish metallic colour over the poleyn as is the specialty symbol.

### Chapter Badge

The pre-Seleucian iconography details a large xeranthemum centered upon a field of green, a flower associated with immortality. After their subjugation of Seleucia, their iconography evolved and grew in complexity, detailing the aforementioned xeranthemum surrounded by five teardrops radiating outward, each representing fire, earth, water and air. The fifth and final teardrop is centered above the flower and symbolises their tie to their gene-sire, the red colouration of the top most teardrop are reserved for the officer ranks. Surrounding all of those components is a ring, symbolising their suzerainty over the Avestan Satrapy. In addition, these markings are further divided into gold and silver or white floral markings, company and chapter emblems. The gold markings are used by the line rankers and veterans whereas the Hyparchoi (lieutenant), command staff, Satrap and all other higher ranking individuals sport the same markings in silver.

## Relations

### Strained Relations

 Angels Penitent |      | The Angels Penitent are viewed with suspicion among the Immortals as cult of luddites that have claimed the leadership of the former Angels Resplendent. The Melchior of the Immortals has confided with Artaxerxes of his concerns regarding the purity of the Angels Penitent and suspects a more sinister plot afoot amongst their number.

## Notable Quotes

### About the Immortals:

"*Don't let the beauty of their markings fool you. Each stroke of gold upon green plate is a valiant marker of excellence, earned through the brutal fires of war and blackening impression of pain. Don't let their nobility and regality fool you either, for their father's wrath is implanted into their veins, as much as ours is.*"
—Szulah Nuk'Fallad, Preceptor of the Lightning Wraiths
"*Death has no hold over them. There is much wisdom there. We share the fire in our souls.*"
—Karna Aariv the Tiger-Skinned, Kshatriya-Rajan of the Heart Rippers after witnessing the Immortals
"*What truly is an artisan? Is it a servant of the machine cult laboring for years on a single item? Is it a brother of the Salamanders forged in the fires of Nocturne over years of hamming the anvil? The answer is they all are, but I like to think an artisan is one who gives true meaning to the craft which he calls his domain, as these scions of Sanguinius do with surety of purpose.*"
—Bray'mat Steelfinger, Master of the Forge of the Star Golems
"*Cisepolus may have been a dark opening chapter in the history of the dealings between our two Chapters, yet it did not set the tone for what followed. Most would have walked away from such a beginning, rightly believing that no debt was owed, no sin to forgive. Yet the Immortals are not just any Chapter. They knew our pain, our loss, the importance of our beliefs to us. They knew that the wrong must be righted. To risk their own to recover our fallen, such dedication marks the Immortals and elevates them. When they call, the Lions will answer. I am proud to call them brothers.*"
—Hekaton Pelopidas, 9th Speria of the Nemean Lions regarding the prowess of the Immortals
## Trivia

* The chapter itself as an idea has been gestating in the mind of the author for several years in various forms, be it as a legion, chapter or Imperial Guard homebrew. It was December time of 2021 when the author first joined the Discord server and the ideas all coalesced into the chapter you are now reading up about. Although primarily Persian in influence, its far from the only culture that shaped the identity of the Immortals, and one may find other Iranic cultures like the Scythians in their culture and that of the homeworld alongside, Hellenic, Carthaginian and Phoenician, Roman, Venetian, Scythian, Turkic, Arab, Indian, Circassian and Ottoman Turk all had at least some influence on some facet of the homebrew material. Biblical influences are primarily found in select aesthetic choices made and with some of the names chosen for the Astartes themselves alongside mild Lovecraftian and eldritch motifs in other select facets of the lore. This wide pool of inspiration is as much to do with the rule of cool as it was to evoke the multi-ethnic make up of old dynastic Persia and other empires of the past, both with regard to the homeworld and the chapter's own internal culture.
* The name itself and some of its lore is drawn from the Achaemenid Empire, they served a dual role as the Imperial Guard and the core the standing army around which the others were levied to. Though we don't know the name of the unit itself as the Persians would have called them, Herodotus and other Greek sources referred to them as the *"Athánatoi"* meaning literally *"without death"* for the practice of the unit always maintaining ten thousand men. Should a member fall ill, be seriously injured, slain or otherwise be unfit for service, they would immediately be replaced with another as to always maintain the ten thousand. In addition, they were incredibly meticulous about collecting bodies of the slain from the field after battle and would always return to the next battle with ten thousand men in their ranks, with Greek sources even stating they would never find the body of an Immortal after the battle. Thus adding to the reputation of the unit and was the inspiration for Herodotus to call them the Athánatoi. This tradition and the meticulous collection of the bodies after the battle was one of the central inspirations behind the homebrew itself.
* The name Hydarnes is the Hellenised form of the name Vidarna (Romanised as Vidrna), while not entirely clear regarding its etymology, scholars believe that the name may be "he who knows the guilt/wrong" and Herodotus states that the Immortals were led by Hydarnes the Younger during the reign of Cyrus the Great and was one of the conspirators against Gaumata/Bardiya, the so called pseudo-Smerdis following the death of Cyrus. Led by Darius (who may or may not have been a usurper of the Achaemenid throne) and slew the supposed impostor making way for Darius to become the next king thereafter all the kings of the Achaemenid Empire were descendants of Darius the Great. The choice for Vidarna here was a nod to both this first commander of the Immortals and a more distant and loose connection to his vendetta against Archon Obair'tui who he would slay above Carcosa when he boarded the Drukhari flagship. The name Hydarnes, as stated before is the Hellenised form of the name Vidarna and its choice for his name here was more to do with the meaning of the name itself. Alongside the author's friend: Glorious Mongoose (who's articles you can find on the wiki here as well), they're planning to write a mini-anthology story inspired by the Flesh Tearers book in its structure following the events of the Devastation of Baal where Dante arranges a feast to reaffirm the loyalty of the Blood and hold an impromptu trial of the Chapter Master of the Angels Vermillion: Kuldoth Moar alongside his chapter for their crimes against the Imperium and their transgressions against the Blood. Though the name was chosen before the two authors decided to work together on this anthology series, the choice of the name was all but solidified when it became clear this story's underlying thread is the castigation of Kuldoth Moar.
* The chapter's inclination toward and admiration of fire is derived from the Zoroastrian faith of old Persia alongside their funerary rites. Zoroastrians have strongly dualistic outlook on their faith and the world and see fire as the most sacred of all the four elements, a gift of Ahura Mazda himself to the universe as it were. Angra-Mainyu is the other half of the dualistic equation, the evil to Ahura Mazda's good (fun fact: Angra-Mainyu's Middle Persian form, the form of Persian spoken by the Sassanids is Ahriman, *that Ahriman*) and tainted all of existence. Causing fire smoke, making the oceans salty, causing death, wither and rot to oppose Ahura Mazda's creations. The author wanted to reference these traditions, but not be wholly similar in some of its particulars. Zoroastrians have corpse bearers take the bodies of the deceased to raised circular structures on hilltops called the Towers of Silence so that they may be excarnated by carrion birds and broken apart by the sun and elements. Lifted almost word for word with regard to that tradition, but cremation is itself not practiced by Zoroastrians for they believe that corpses are unclean and polluted, and thus will pollute others and the elements. So they seclude them on the towers to be picked apart, only as these options become less available like the outlawing of the uses of the towers in Iran or the heavy air pollution of India making carrion birds less common a sight there. Modern Zoroastrians are thus made to look at alternatives still without using fire, with methods like electric cremation and using the sun itself to break down the bodies using powerful solar concentrators to hasten the breaking down of the bodies. The author tried to include a number of these methods, like the aforementioned Tower of Silence service as the place where the Death Company are held and eventually corpses are lain to rest after partly being ritualistically cannibalised by their brothers and then the carrion birds, to the shipboard electrical cremation method for those in the field after their gene-seed organs had been harvested. The main departure is with regard to the use of flamer weapons and the practice of those who are slain whilst in the grips of the Black Rage being cremated with fire, their bodies being cleansed of any taint and pollutive influence as it were.

## Gallery

Nader Afsharid, the Master of Sieges and Satrap of Ninth Spear: the "Keepers of Paradise" issuing orders to his fellows.Uriah Iskander, Master of Recruits and Satrap of Tenth Spear: the "Companions" assesses a roster of aspirants who have arrived at the Deathless Flame with their lives.Dilaver Çağan, Hyparch of the second spear clashes with a Tyranid in the retaliatory campaigns after Baal with the parent chapter.Dilaver Çağan, Hyparch of the Second Spear clad in his panoply of war, a commendation of the Ultramarines he served alongside during his tenure as a Greyshield.Ishmael Chobin, the current Ossuary Warden of the Immortals accompanied by Zotiel, a cherub that bears his crozius.A pict capture taken during the Battle of Batulimas in which Ilyas Khassim, Dilaver Çağan, and Ketywajo of the Lightning Wraiths, Immortals and Nemeans respectively fight shoulder to shoulder during the Myrian Insurrections.Shapur Nazeri, Shoshant of the chapter in full ceremonial regalia as the chapter's equivalent to a Sanguinary High Priest.Judhail Alcaeus, formerly the Melchior and now the 'Iron Angel" after being interred in his Contemptor Dreadnought sarcophagus following the Second Purging of Iyrin..Melchior Arsaces Samax channels portion of his power and holding aloft the "Bane of the Beholder," the relic force staff and symbol of his station.Kassadiel Midrash, the Sword of the Morning of the Third Spear confronts Arshia Saleh, a recently inducted member of the Immortals following the launching of the Indomitus Crusade by Lord Regent Guilliman and Belisarius Cawl.Brother Abadir Kelon, one of the Sunspears (the honour guard to the First Satrap) of First Spear clad in the first iteration of the Nihilus pattern of Terminator armour brandishing a power spear and wrist mounted flamer.Satrap Mithridates Martell of the First Spear, the "Atanatoi."Brother Farya Faraji, the Sword of the Morning of the Fourth Spear.Brother Dorian Drakin, the Sword of the Morning of the Eighth Spear.Brother Uriah Adrigon, an Assault Marine of third spear, fourth squad.Brother Asturiel Lyrea. One of the Hortan (Vanguard Infilitrator) of the recently inducted Primaris Marines of tenth spear, third squad. He is outfitted with the Carcosan-made Hyades Phobos sub-pattern and accompanying Myskaton Grenade Launcher.Brother Nieran Daigo, one of the Daevas of the chapter, note the lack of any signifers of the Immortals or their traditional heraldry and their red honour markings over black battleplate."Shadow of the Axe," a Deimos Predator Retaliator of the Fifth Spear.The chapter fleet enroute to the forge world of Carcosa.

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 White Scars Successors
 Space Wolves Successors
 Imperial Fists Successors
 Iron Hands Successors
 Ultramarines Successors
 Salamanders Successors
 Raven Guard Successors
 Unknown Lineage
 Renegades

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