Founding of Barbaris

Armorial of the Wings of Salvaxes.

The **Founding of Barbaris** is a momentous event that occurred in the annals of the Chapter history of the Wings of Salvaxes Space Marine Chapter, when they discovered the isolated world of Barbaris, found within the backwater Barbaris System in the Segmentum Ultima.

## Background

"*We shall rise from the decrepit and weak of the Sanguinary line, and embody the destructive power of our heritage. Long have we tried to hide and hinder our fatal curse, but no more, they are but tests we must overcome, and those who fail are less than worthless, but excellently useful.*"
— Taggath Kyrias, First Chapter Master of the Wings of Salvaxes

The Wings of Salvaxes was founded upon the divergent belief that if the Red Thirst and the Black Rage cannot be controlled by the Sons of Sanguinius, then they must be harnessed and used to further the goals of the Imperium. This radical belief was proffered and cultivated by the Wings of Salvaxes' first Chapter Master, Taggath Kyrias of the Knights of Blood Space Marine Chapter, which would later go on to be declared *Excommunicate Traitoris* by the High Lords of Terra due to excessive destruction wrought against both friend and foe. Even amongst such a savage brotherhood, First Captain Kyrias was renown for his insatiable rage and bloodlust, but also for the contempt with which he held those who were not strong of will and pure of mind enough to resist the Black Rage. While he believed those Astartes who fell into the madness to be weak and pathetic, he valued their usefulness and their ferocity greatly. He railed against the custom of executing surviving Death Company members after the battle, claiming that they had not earned their rest, for only in death does duty end, not in madness. As a result, the Knights of Blood were all too eager to release their unsavoury Captain and grant him command over the newly formed Chapter of Space Marines.

Naming themselves the Carmine Raiders, Kyrias and his newly budding chapter set off in the newly completed Battle Barge, *The Crimson Beacon*, to claim a world to call home, and a population from which to draw new recruits. Sailing the interplanetary darkness, they headed north from Baal in the direction of the Ghost Stars and the galactic east of the Segmentum Obscurus. As they continued to travel and fight north, they eventually encountered the massive Warp Storm known as the Storm of the Emperor's Wrath. Whether through headstrong bravery or simple foolishness, he then continued to lead them into that swirling vortex and through the Warp itself. While the inhabitants of Kyrias' fleet were gone, they experienced a time lapse of only a scant few hours, but in realspace the Carmine Raiders had vanished for a score of fifty years, and many had thought them prematurely condemned to destruction. However, fifty three years later, the Carmine Raiders burst forth once again, and this time on the far side of the Storm of the Emperor's Wrath. As they sailed ever northward into increasingly unmapped planetary regions, they happened upon a system that showed promise. This new locale was dubbed the Barbaris System by Kyrias, for it matched no accessible stellar cartographic maps and had been, for the most part it seemed, untouched by the Imperium of Man. However, it was not devoid of human life, and the initial assumption of new galactic space, was soon to be found incorrect.

Of the newly discovered system's three planets, only one was habitable in any way, shape or form. The furthermost planet was a large gas giant many times the size of Terra's Jupiter, surrounded by a cluster of moons that orbited the gas giant with such force that they were perpetually locked in calamitous seismic destruction. Similarly was the closest planet to the system's baleful sun inhospitable to human life - a world of molten stone and acidic rain. The very land-masses themselves that swam within the corrosive seas were mercurial and formless in nature. However, within the system's habitable zone, sat the planet Barbaris Secundae, a seemingly barren rock of shifting black sand deserts and worn, stony peaks. Upon the surface of the planet, there was naught to suggest any life existed whatsoever upon its dark surface, but looks are often deceiving, and there was an obvious marker of human contact. A crashed wreck of an Imperial cruiser upon the slopes of a sand worn mountain.

Geothermic scans revealed a molten core, and that the planet's mass and density was of a much lower quantity than the planet's size had initially led them to believe. This, and the discovery of the wrecked cruiser warranted enough reason to investigate, and soon landing parties had been dispatched to explore the wreck, and take more detailed analyses of the planet's surface. True to appearances, the surface world of the planet was a desolate wasteland, its grainy deserts formed of ground volcanic rock, and proffered little to no ability for any sort of flora to cultivate. Similarly, the wrecked cruiser was a long abandoned husk, its immense armoured plating and internal support structures all that remained of the once mighty vessel, every piece of reusable material having been stripped or destroyed in the impact. However, no bodies were found, either having been consumed by some yet unknown wildlife, or been taken away along with the innards of the ship. There was one thing that was immediately certain, There had been survivors from the crash.

A brief foray of the surrounding rocky slopes revealed two important pieces of information. Firstly, there were numerous crevices, caves and deadfalls littering the mountainside, seemingly of natural formation within the highly porous, volcanic stone. Secondly, the Chapter ascertained precisely why no life existed upon the surface of Barbaris Secundae. Far on the horizon, loomed an immense, titanic sandstorm. Easily matching speeds of over three hundred kilometres an hour, within its dense black cloud no doubt flew billions of the small, volcanic rocks that made up the black deserts of Barbaris. The Marines would need shelter, and quickly. Too far from their transports to safely extract back to the orbiting *Crimson Beacon*, they instead retreated into the honeycomb cave network of the mountain, voxing the transports to return to orbit and retrieve the stranded Space Marines once the storm had passed. So, hidden within the mountain, the Astartes could only wait for the storm to strike, and when it did, it struck with fury. The howling winds and battering stone assailed the mountain with force, and the Astartes found themselves having to fall back ever further into the subterranean realm in order to escape the worst of the vicious storm. It was as they delved deeper underground, that the first signs of the human survivors became evident. Signs of artificial alterations and man-made tunnels began to become evident, and the deeper they delved, the larger these caverns became.

As the hours of downward descent continued, Kyrias began to despair that life was as equally inhospitable below ground as above, meaning that whatever humans survived the shipwreck, had no doubt eventually died of starvation. There was no sign of even the most basic form of life, despite numerous pieces of evidence suggesting the opposite, for as they descended, the air became more and more rich in oxygen and other gases and minerals. It was then, as Kyrias sat on the brink of conceding defeat, and returning to the surface, that they struck. A dozen primitive, armed humans descended upon the Space Marines, who were taken off guard by the suddenness and ferocity of the attack. The Astartes who were the recipients of the initial surprise attack, were beaten back by the sheer savagery of the warriors. It was unknown how the humans could see in such pitch black conditions, but they fought with a wild abandon and merciless accuracy. When they discovered that the Astartes' power armour was more than a match for their crude instruments, they began to stab at eyes and into the soft neck armour of the transhuman warriors. Though none of the Space Marines fell to such an ill-equipped force, numerous brothers lost eyes or even suffered serious gashes to the soft portions between their ceramite plate. With a mighty roar, brother Augio let loose a gout of burning promethium from his flamer, and in an instant, half a dozen of the human attackers fell in screaming heaps. Burning spectacularly with bright orange fire, their bodies illuminated the cavern in bright golden light for the first time. In such light, the true appearance of both forces could be made out clearly.

The human warriors, taken aback by the sudden burst of flame and the bright light of their burning comrades, regrouped and seemed to prepare to press the assault. However, suddenly the savage in the lead stopped, and stared at the armoured chest of Taggath Kyrias, who stood defiantly at the head of his Space Marine scouting force, the Imperial Aquila emblazoned proudly upon his chest. At the sight of the aquila, the lead warrior stopped and corralled his brethren, pointing his crude blade at the symbol and speaking in a rough, simple language that Kyrias could barely make out as severely degraded low gothic. The warrior seemed to converse briefly with his fellows, before stepping forward, slowly and cautiously, his weapon still in hand, but held low at his side. As he approached Kyrias in the light of the burning men, he seemed to pause and think, looking away and muttering to himself, as if trying to remember a long lost lesson. Slowly, and with great apparent difficulty, the warrior turned to the Space Marine Chapter Master and said two words, with a pride that belied his savage appearance, "*Ah... Ahh..ve... Imperator.*"

Kyrias raised his gauntlet-covered hands and brought them together over his chest, one hand on the other, thumbs together, with fingers spread wide - the formal salute of the Imperial Aquila. The warriors eyes widened and he looked prepared to drop to the ground in supplication, before the crackle of his burning comrades brought him back to his senses. He looked sternly at Kyrias again and beckoned for him to follow. And so, follow, Kyrias did.

Another hour of downward climbing revealed a number of intriguing quirks of the barbaric humans; their weapons, Kyrias observed, were crude, misshapen chunks of metal that he instantly recognised as cannibalised pieces of the wrecked ship on the planet's surface. The pieces were worn and well used, bearing the tell tale scrapes of a lifetime of sharpening, or perhaps several. Also the natives' outfits were of bizarre appearance, for they resembled in shape and design, crude replications of Imperial Navy uniforms. They were made from leather, skins and what appeared to be chitinous plates. As Kyrias observed, they even possessed crude, simplistic markings akin to the Imperial Aquila, and the Imperial Navy. Whoever these strange savages were, they had at least at some time, had contact with the servicemen and women of the Imperial cruiser above.

As the Carmine Raiders continued into the earth, the sounds of life began to softly reach their enhanced hearing, and before long, the marines were revealed unto the fate of the lost cruiser crew. Beholden before them, within an immense cavern unlike that which they had previously encountered, was a city of stone. Thousands of crude caves had been carved from the porous stone, and within them moved humans who observed the foreign space marines with a mixture of awe, fear and curiosity. They were dressed similarly to the warriors, in rough hewn cloaks of leather and hide, and they similarly had crude representations of the imperial aquila painted upon these clothes. As the warrior band led them further into the cave, more and more humans began to appear, swiftly surrounding the marines in a thronging mass of dirty skin and dark eyes. It was then Kyrias realised, that he could see, see without the need for his night optic helmet lenses. As he looked for the source of the light, his eyes eventually landed upon the cavernous pit below the underground city, and what lay beneath it.

What must have been a hundred feet down was a roiling lake of magma, the light and heat of its golden red surface rising up into the cavern, providing the light and heat by which these people lived. Led around the lip of the enormous cavern, Kyrias and his marines were shown through a large doorway and into another smaller, but still impressive cavern, within which was a large flat floor, upon which many people knelt, heads and bodies bowed in supplication, and despite the fact there must have been over a thousand within the chamber, they did not come close to even filling a quarter of the caverns breadth. It was then Kyrias eyes were drawn to the object of their worship, and he gasped along with a dozen of his fellow brothers. Before them, in the centre of the cavern of worship, stood an immense stone statue, crudely carved, but unmistakable. Before them stood the Emperor of Mankind, a solid gold imperial Aquila, beautifully crafted and surely not forged here, clasped within the statues grasp. Below the stature knelt another one of the savages, however, unlike the others, he was clad in fabric robes of purest white. At their arrival, the man stood and turned, his aged face smiling peacefully. He spoke softly, but the chamber magnified his words tenfold, echoing across the cave in a resonance that reached every corner of the chamber of worship.

*"Welcome, Astartes, we have waited for so long, and at last, you have come. The Emperor has answered our prayers, just as we knew He would. My name is Gertran Molz, and we are the children of the Salvaxes."*

After a deep and thorough discussion with Gertran Molz, Kyrias discovered the elder's tale of how he and his people arrived, and survived, upon the planet Barbaris. Molz detailed the story he had been told by the high priest before him, as he had been told by his predecessor, and so on and so forth. The story began with a great journey, Molz relayed, that his people had been chosen, singled out, to rise and travel across the stars to the Emperor's realm of light and peace. However, they had become lost. The Journey had been betrayed to the darkness, and the darkness hungered for the souls of the Emperor's faithful. As they had sailed the sea of stars, they had been struck by the storm, sent to waylay them, and they had been thrown adrift through the abyss. They were ejected from the Darknesses storm thanks to the grace of the Emperor, who in His infinite mercy heard their prayers and released them from oblivion. However, they had fallen short in their faith, and ceased their prayer once they were free of the storm.

As a result, when they tried to resume their journey, they found themselves stranded, their engines failed and wrecked, and only their lives left untouched so that they could contemplate on their lack of faith. However, the Emperor saw fit that they would have the time to reach their absolution, and lay the ship to rest upon the surface of Barbaris. Here they were tested in mind, body and spirit, and only those possessed of pure heart and strong will, survived. When Kyrias asked how long the ship had laid strewn upon the planet's surface, the priest replied that generations uncountable had lived and died waiting for the Emperor to send them their salvation, a salvation that had finally come in the form of the mighty Space Marines.

While the mere existence and survival of the people of Barbaris was an odd miracle in and of itself, many within the chapter, Kyrias included, harboured doubts concerning the purity and faith of the planet's inhabitants. As the sand storm on the planet's surface passed, reinforcements were sent down to the surface from the *Crimson Beacon*, chief amongst them the Chapter's standing Master of Sanctity, Galero Ventra. As they made planetfall, they were met by an unusual welcoming party. A full ten man squad stood patiently upon the planet's onyx surface, with a small trio of male savages standing by their side, as the welcoming committee met with Ventra and his rescue force, they relayed the events of the previous twelve hours. They had been sent to the surface with a trio of Barbarosi guides to speed their ascent, to meet with Ventra and escort him back down into the planet's subterranean realm, and the human survivors settlement within it. On the explicit orders of Chapter Master Kyrias, they were too charged with a secondary mission unknown to the native populace, for Ventra to make his own judgement of the native's purity, and judge whether they should be purged, or re-integrated into Imperial society.

Ventra took to his duty with the utmost severity. Upon re-entering the Barbarosi cave-city, Ventra begun his judgement, one that would either spell doom or salvation for the regressed savages. He interrogated every priest, every warrior and had his marines search the homes of all the inhabitants of the under-city. Though the primitives' religion and culture had regressed far upon the unforgiving planet, Ventra found their simplistic, metaphorical faith to be very much in keeping with the Imperial Cult of the late 37th Millennium. Further investigation revealed the startling truth of the ship above and the astounding conviction and piety of those who survived its crash. The ship had been apart of the Lost Crusade, the fleet of pilgrim ships that had become lost in the Warp on the way to Terra, the fleet that had been missing for over two millennia. They also learned the name of the crashed vessel, its ancient hull an object of holy reverence for the people of Barbaris, the ancient ship had once been known, as *The Salvaxes.*

The miracle of their survival, the piety of their faith, and the determination to survive the alien planet struck all the marines present, and within hours of the discussion, a decision was reached. This new planet, this strange, hostile, alien world, with its hardy, devout people, would be the chapter's new home world. No longer would they be the Carmine Raiders, no longer would they bear the noble silver of their primogenitors, from now on they would daub their armour as the pitch dark sands of Barbaris, and the crimson blood of the Emperor's foes. They would be the Carmine Raiders no more, for though *The Salvaxes* had lain dormant and decrepit for millennia, its people would rise again. On the angel wings of Sanquinius's sons, the people of Barbaris would rise from the ashes, and deliver their mighty faith to battle against the Emperor's foes, so would they be uplifted by the chapter, so would they be borne, upon the Wings of Salvaxes.