Erelim

Heraldry of the Erelim blazoned upon a pauldron: a H'ishtvearan plumed and masked helmet.

An Erelim Battleline Astartes of the 6th Company's 5th Squad.

## Adeptus Astartes Chapter

### **Successor of**

Lion El'Johnson
(Dark Angels lineage)

### **Strength**

Full chapter strength: nominally 1,000 Astartes.

### **Specialisation**

Void warfare: shipborne assaults, Spacehulk purgations and boarding assaults.

### Successor Chapter(s)

None

The **Erelim** are a largely *Codex*-compliant successor of the Dark Angels of an unknown founding that occurred sometime during the middle period of the 37th Millennium in the interim between the first steps of the T'au taking to the stars and the Ghost War. They are a grim, taciturn and humourless band of warriors whose sole aim in war is the utter ruination of the enemies of Mankind no matter the cost or toll. The 37th Millennium exacted a heavy toll on the Dark Angels and their successor kin through attrition, thus they petitioned the High Lords of Terra and laid the groundwork for what would become the chapter that is now the Erelim. When assessing the situation they were met with following these calamitous events, the Unforgiven saw the need to reintroduce (or at the very least bolster) what elements of their successor kin formed the modern iteration of the Hexagrammaton, namely the Dreadwing.

Though the Dark Angels founded the likes of the Dread Knights with the expressed intent that they fulfill the role of the Dreadwing, their performance as that wing of the Hexagrammaton has proven to be lacklustre. However, their performance in hunting the Fallen was seen as reason enough to not hinder the Dread Knights in their endeavours to persecute the Fallen. As such, the Erelim were made to further this end and to occupy a role and niche most comparable to that most reviled and feared wing of the Hexagrammaton now set loose to sow destruction among the enemies of Mankind at full song.

## Chapter History

The Erelim trace their beginnings back to the middle to late period of the 37th Millennium shortly before or after the events of the Ghost War. The Unforgiven chapters suffered horrific casualties and sought to again replenish their numbers to offset the price paid in these wars. Though the Dark Angels officially speaking have disbanded four of the six wings of the Hexagrammaton upon the breaking of the Space Marine Legions, though it is understood among the Unforgiven that they are legion in all but name and that the Dark Angels can call on their successor kin to make use of their specialists as the need may require. Among these examples are the Consecrators who are believed to be an extension of the Firewing and the Star Phantoms as a contested former arm of the Dreadwing. The Unforgiven, in light of these developments during M37, the threat of Black Crusades, Aeldari incursions emergence of other xenos races into the fold and the innumerable internecine conflicts that wracked the Imperium; they petitioned the High Lords to covertly see to the quiet founding of another chapter that would serve as as the Unforgiven's fell-handed executioners.

Their first Grandmaster was Lorinal, second-in-command to Master Baradiel of the Dark Angels' Third Company during the Battle for Kurin's Acropolis on Persembe II in 551.M37, who distinguished himself during the drop pod assault they levelled at the forces of Potchek, the Chaos Magister who led the revolt and contained the beleaguered Imperial defenders within Kurin's Acropolis. He would then take on the captaincy of the third company of the Dark Angels following Baradiel's death in a hunt against the Fallen soon afterwards. The Seventh Black Crusade came and went nearly three centuries later by which point the Unforgiven saw the need to found a new chapter. Though reluctant to leave The Rock, Lorinal took the mantle as the first Grandmaster of what would become the Erelim.

The Erelim quickly formed to full chapter strength inordinately quickly and requisitioned their equipment from the armouries of Mars under founding charters and that of their parent chapter in addition to a number of terrible weapons and relics of the Dreadwing preserved in the Rock by the Dark Angels in their vaults.

## Notable Campaigns

#### The Humbling [700.M37]

The seeds for this event would be sewn millennia before, long before the founding of the Erelim, but they would even as a fledgling chapter leave an indelible mark on this period in the Unforgiven's history. Even among the ranks of the Unforgiven, the Black Cherubim were an especially renowned chapter, their deeds and honour roll harkening back to the bygone days of the legion. They were at the fore with the number of the Fallen they apprehended and later made repent, though the Unforgiven rarely paid these Astartes much attention despite their accomplishments. They would continue to serve faithfully regardless but the continued lack of acknowledgement by their peers began to wear on the Black Cherubim. This sense of malcontent would begin to manifest itself in the chapter's change from being the most boastful and outwardly prideful of the lot to becoming increasingly more reserved, standoffish, and even antagonistic toward the others within the ranks of the Unforgiven when the Inner Circle would convene.

Nonetheless, through gritted teeth, they kept to their oath in the hunt for the Fallen until an ill-fated campaign alongside the Vaunted Sons against the Fallen resulted in the near extinction of their chapter. The lines of the Black Cherubim were spread too thin and eventually collapsed under the sheer weight of numbers the cultists brought down on their lines the Vaunted Sons were forced to deploy their contingents of Excindio automata prematurely. Though the day was won, they were forced to fight a costly rearguard action to contain them once more, without the aid of the Black Cherubim. The use of the Excindio in so reckless a manner by the Vaunted Sons to ensure the line didn't collapse after the route of the Black Cherubim ensured their fate and the Inner Circle blamed the Black Cherubim for this disaster.

With the line of the Vaunted Sons extinguished, the Black Cherubim paid restitution for their failings (however reluctantly) to their Inner Circle with the confiscation of their share of the Dreadwing's armoury. This portion of their armoury would be redistributed to the newly introduced Dread Knights who would prosecute their wars using them, the Black Cherubim ultimately suffering humiliation and loss of face with the Dark Angels. The Black Cherubim would redouble their efforts but would never again reach the heights of their former achievements. Becoming ever more jaded that they were being overshadowed by newcomers to the ranks of the Unforgiven in their own hunts for the Fallen, the Black Cherubim found themselves disillusioned with the hypocrisies of the Dark Angels and sought to fight on their own terms; even tentatively reforging old bonds of understanding between themselves and Astelan's First. Decades of dealings with the Fallen to source replacements for what they rescinded from their armouries or on intelligence concerning the whereabouts of other warbands of the Fallen would eventually again come to haunt the Black Cherubim. The Dark Angels called them for trial, (likely with intelligence passed to them by Cypher) where the chapter demanded that they answer for their transgressions. The situation became incredibly volatile when the Black Cherubim threatened the Dark Angels with releasing their captured Fallen and informing the Inquisition of such matters, and proclaimed to the Unforgiven that they dissolve the Inner Circle and disavow the hunt for the Fallen. The Dark Angels' Supreme Grand Master instead offered the Black Cherubim an ultimatum: rescind their reliquary and renounce the Lion, or be disbanded and they had a century to comply under pain of death.

As the date neared, the Black Cherubim massed their prison cells with the Fallen, supposedly even briefly having captured Astelan to bargain for their position within the Unforgiven. However, their prisoners ultimately escaped on the eve of the arrival of the Dark Angels to proceed with the trial. With the date of complying with this ultimatum now passed, the Dark Angels grouped together a task force comprising of the Lion Blades, the Lion's Revenant, the Dread Knights and the Erelim to hold a show trial and to execute the terms of that ultimatum. Extant records regarding the particularities of the events following their arrival to enact the terms of said ultimatum are scant and fragmentary. However, what is known implies the forced disbandment of the Black Cherubim, the reclamation of what relics and weapons they had if not destroyed during the fighting and the absorption of any remaining brothers of the Black Cherubim who had surrendered and repented for their sins when battle drew to a close into the chapters who enacted the sentencing.

#### Blackened Earth, Blackened Skies [Unknown Date, early M39]:

The world of Lazarian was once a verdant world and the crown jewel of its home system within the Zhau Sector, so renowned it was for its natural beauty and vistas. Imperial nobility saw here all the trappings of a paradise world: a quiet, obscure and largely uninhabited planet with a rare natural beauty that is rarely found in the Imperium's dominion. Imperial historitors have conjectured the ethereal beauty of its landscapes and partial ruins may have once been inhabited by the Aeldari in days long before the fall, though this remains a contested issue. Following the xenocides of and purging of the Zhau Sector by the Lightning Wraiths in the first half of M38, the world of Lazarian was among those caught in the crossfire with the nobility who had called it home being slain. Though Lazarian was marred by this event, it endured and eventually, its nature reclaimed what was once lost in the fires of war, partly with the help of the Lightning Wraiths themselves who lamented the innocence of the world being blighted so. While doing so, however, they also took the opportunity to commemorate the fallen of the war and the Ecclesiarchy sanctified the grounds of Lazarian, now a cemetery world and place of pilgrimage. Even in spite of this development, the Ecclesiarchy took great pains to maintain the natural beauty of Lazarian with the burials of the fallen, with each body laid to rest itself becoming a gardened mausoleum. Lazarian unofficially became a destination of pilgrimage for the chapter itself as a result, with a number of the fallen Lightning Wraiths having been interred in the cairns of the world. This would, however, not be to last.

Some centuries following the consecrating of the grounds of Lazarian, it would be beset upon by a blight unlike anything Lazarian had ever witnessed. Its greenery decayed and boiled and the ground tore open releasing shambling horrors of once lauded war heroes now necrotic revenants. News of this event would reach the wider Zhau Sector and a retaliatory fleet was dispatched following the declaration of a quarantine zone on the star system. Among those who answered the distress call were the Lightning Wraiths and the Erelim who fought their way through minor warp storms and daemonic hordes the whole way to Lazarian, their combat doctrines complimented the other and they made much headway enroute to Lazarian.

What befell Lazarian had been the handiwork of the Nurglite warband of the Pilgrims of the Plague Moon who had used the world as a test bed or precursor of what would later become the Curse of Unbelief another two millennia later, in the latter half of M41 on the world of Hydra Minoris. This experimental contagion raised the deceased from their slumber, though only for a short while or a few days at most and took longer to reanimate, but the Mooncalves of the Pilgrims of the Plague Moon had a nearly inexhaustible number of bodies to reanimate for their ends. Extant records of what followed in the actual battles and stratagems employed are scant or otherwise redacted, but what is known is that Lazarian was scoured wholly clean of life and un-life. Mooncalves of the Pilgrims of the Plague Moon were beaten back and had cut their losses after tallying the effects of their plague before making their exit from Lazarian; leaving their cultists and living dead to fend for themselves against the Astartes.

The Lightning Wraiths knew upon arriving on Lazarian that hope to see it restored was laughable, but had hoped to at least recover their own fallen to rebury in the foothills of the Jirae Mountains on their homeworld of Morozh’nehya. However, the chem-salting of Lazarian's now foetid soil by the Erelim left the Lightning Wraiths unable to even afford to their fallen this courtesy. Relations between the two became confrontational and mutually decided that working with the other was not in the interests of either chapter.

## Chapter Home World

The world of H'ishtvean's Rest is a bitterly cold rocky planet that orbits a blue hypergiant called Szeráfok within the galactic west of Segmentum Obscurus. Despite the size and output of its star and its thick atmosphere (though highly reflective) comprised largely of greenhouse gases, its relative distance from Szeráfok makes it such that the planet is cold nearly year-round and denizens on the surface rarely get much sunlight from their parent star. Though it is a cold planet, H'ishtvean's Rest radiates more heat internally than it receives from its sun; which powers its geological cycles and its seasonal storms. Its surface is pockmarked with craters and populated with ranges of short shield volcanoes overlooking a steppe-tundra or taiga where there is substantial acreage of vegetation, or of glaciers merging with partly frozen fjords. The environment is hostile to sedentary life so most if not all the peoples of H'ishtvean's Rest have taken to a semi-nomadic or wholly nomadic style of living often grouped into extended family units or the clan mostly in an effort to seek shelter from the violent storms that wrack its surface. These storms are primarily seasonal, being most frequent and violent when the planet is at its orbital perihelion and these weather phenomena are known to reach speeds well in excess of 800 miles per hour at their zenith. The storms are known to rip groundcover and ice and carry them all over the globe, the debris is whisked by the storm and thrown at incredible speeds which pose a serious hazard to the inhabitants of H'isthvean's Rest. When this debris is carried by the storm, it becomes a phenomenon known as the "Szélk" which is both a term meaning storm and perhaps a grim joke of those who live on this world: an onomatopoeic representation of the sound someone being impaled by the ice and stones kicked up by the storm.

#### Ecology

The world of H'ishtvean's Rest, though sparsely populated, is still home to a rich diversity of life; from the lowliest microbe to its most feared and regarded apex predators, the planet hosts no shortage of organisms of note. Among them:

##### Fauna

itation and having them carve scars into their flesh, this practice serves two primary functions: to dull the psychological pain and desire to be remade in augmetics, and to remind the affected brother of the vitality of their own bodies that they ought not to waste.

## Chapter Recruitment

Chapters that are fleet-bound like the Sons of Orcus typically lack official recruiting worlds, though they may revisit certain ones that become essentially defacto fiefs of recruitment. The Sons of Orcus though, lack any such arrangement and will typically recruit from wherever they are able to, but their favoured areas of recruitment oft tend to be feral and death worlds for the hardy people they produce that can thus better withstand the trials of the aspirants.

## Deathwatch Service

The Sons of Orcus are quite ambivalent of the Ordo Xenos and their Chamber Militant, neither too eager to contribute battle-brothers to it, nor adverse to their stated mission and objectives in large part. Their general reluctance to contribute members of their chapter to the Deathwatch are primarily to do with their chapter strength and spread nature, meaning that the chapter must like other similarly deployed chapters like the Carcharodons make the deployment of each Astartes count. Similarly still, the Sons of Orcus do take the lessons of working with other chapters and the lessons learned within the Deathwatch as seriously as any other, so still count that to be an asset most invaluable to the chapter and will as such second their chapter members to the Deathwatch if their force disposition so allows. The Sons of Orcus who do serve the Long Watch are generally regarded as stoic and dependable combatants, of a cold countenance, marked ingenuity to solve problems, but this often belies the often cruel-hearted intent of warriors of the Sons of Orcus.

## Chapter Fleet

The fleet of the Sons of Orcus is primarily characterised by its smaller vessels,

### Fortress-Monastery

The *Mandate of Heaven* is the chapter's defacto seat of power, though they claim lordship over H'ishtvean's Rest: the Erelim keep themselves at arms-length with the world they rule they act as custodians of, seeking only a tithe of flesh or to defend H'ishtvean's Rest from any would be attackers. The *Mandate of Heaven* is believed to have once been an Oberon-class Battleship retrofitted to the specifications of a battle-barge in keeping with the dictates of the Codex Astartes that was once named the *Chorister Inviolable* and who's name can be found tallied as part of many Imperial undertakings and operations, perhaps most notably in the Dark Angels xenocidal campaign against the Rangda during the years of the Great Crusade. Her frame measures some nine kilometres from bow to stern and specialised in planetary assault, hence her favoured weapons are its crew and boarding torpedoes with its plasma and other assorted weapons batteries as secondary to its Astartes complement.

## Chapter Organisation

Functionally, the majority of the chapter's organisational cross section resembles what is described within the Codex Astartes and in accordance with the Dark Angels' own signifiers and iconography. Much of the nomenclature and terminology is derived from the Lexicon of H'ishtvean's people, additionally, the chapter's designation of a battle brother's role by the colour of their plumes and top-knots is a vestige of their integration with H'ishtvean society.

### Specialist Ranks

* **Kardok Vihara:** Where other chapters assign the role of a Champion as the headhunter and huntsman of enemy warlords to each of their companies, the Erelim instead favour a singular Champion to represent the entirety of the chapter, be it in war or in more official capacities with other fellow chapters. The Kardok Vihara, meaning "Storm of Swords" or the "Swordstorm" in the H'ishtvaeran Lexicon, so named for a weather phenomena on H'ishtvean's Rest where cyclonic storms rip chunks of ice from the ground and hurl them well in excess of the speed of sound, is the Chapter's most fearsome warrior. He is the first among the Ezürçak, the Chapter Master's bodyguard unit and overseers and serves as their Lord Commander. Among his duties are the seeking out of enemy warlords, and safeguarding the Chapter Master as his constant companion, advisor and executioner.

### Line Ranks

#### Battleline Squads

*Hajudhra Squads* *(Hajudhr: singular)* form the backbone of the Erelim's numbers and is the H'ishtvearan equivalent to the universal Tactical Squad. The term when translated into the Gothic equivalent reads something to the effect of “wanderer” or "prodder" specifically in reference to prodding and driving livestock. Already a dangerous and seasonal profession on a world so bleak as H'ishtvean's Rest, especially during monsoon seasons where storms could rip people to shreds with debris torn from the ground, it became a common saying that no sane person would take up the profession on their world. It became a byword for the insane or death-seeking, pejoratively used to call somebody mentally unwell, however, these drovers and prodders were of just the right temperament to recruit from and many irregulars of these confederated tribal people tended to be of the class of the Hajudhra or of people from these droving communities who themselves became a sought after class of hired sword. Whole families and communities of this class of people became the subject of folkloric tales as bullheaded but brave and cunning characters who were a contradictory blend of braggadocious but acutely self aware men and women who braved the temperamental weather of their world and the squabbling warring of rival clans with a serenity that defies belief. The Erelim took to the meaning of this term at face value with their characteristically humourless and deadpan temperament. The people of H'ishtvean's Rest have since used the term colloquially amongst themselves an apt moniker for the entirety of the chapter, whether its used derogatorily or not seems to be of little import to the chapter.

#### Close Support Squads

*Vörálozo (Vörálok - singular)* are the H'ishtvearan equivalent to the Firstborn's Assault Squad. A Vörálok is a member of the diverse arrays of highly militant groups that inhabit the world of H'ishtvean's Rest in small local, tribal communities. The word is derived from the H'ishtvearan Lexicon and translated crudely to "red headed" in reference to the gored red hats or plumes a Vörálok wore and was used pejoratively as more ill-famed bands of Vörálozo would frequently preyed upon bands of travelers. Vörálozo itself became a derogatory term that was associated with warmongers and one consumed by bloodlust, this moniker was taken at face value by the Erelim who followed suit in colouring the plumes of an assault specialist's helm in the blood red of the Vörálok. The relative lack of Terminator suits in the chapter's armouries due to their practice of trading suits of Terminator plate for other relics or war materiel sees assault specialists over represented in the chapter's roster, especially among the first company with heavier equipment afforded to them. Hence why Close Support squads are seen in older or more reinforced suits of battle plate or with shields in a manner reminiscent of the Breacher Squads of old.

### Specialist Units & Formations

#### Ezürçak

The Ezürçak is comprised of the elite of the chapter's veteran corps in the First Company. They don their plate and are armed habitually, only removing their gear for maintenance. As with most other chapters, the members of the First Company serve to bolster the fighting strength of the company they might be attached to, but they serve another purpose in the ranks of the Erelim. Not only are they guards of the Chapter Master and members of his chapter's own Inner Circle, but act as overseers and enforcers of the Chapter Master's will as his eyes and ears. The Ezürçak, in contrast to their peers, cultivate some sense of grim-natured humour whereas the other Erelim are of a more reserved and dour disposition. Ezürçak is derived from the lexicon of those who call H'ishtvean's Rest home and can roughly be broken down into ezürs and çak, meaning "silver" and "soul" respectively, thus this unit is also known as the "Silver Souls" or the "Silvered Brotherhood". Silver's place in their distant homeworld's culture plays a pivotal role in mysticism and occultism, though it is also regarded for its warding properties and its resonant properties are said to have some form of uplifting quality to it. Though unclear, the notion that the Ezürçak often develop a cold humour is a coincidence that hasn't gone unnoticed.

#### Maszorkolány

The Devastator elite of the Erelim's First Company within their equivalent of the Deathwing are a specialist unit tasked with being the first to lead in the charge to lay down the first volley or salvo of the chapter on their enemies, or in the second directly after the first units withdraw, covering their retreat as as the previous wave withdraws to cycle for another run. Deployed by drop pod, astride the back of attack bikes or in armoured transports like Rhinos, or jump packs when none of these are available to them; they target mass groupings of enemies or make efforts to herd and group them closer together for their munitions to do the work or for the following charging line to sweep through them. Maszorkolány brandishes the old legion trefoil symbol denoting the individual as belonging to one of the long disbanded Destroyer cadres, the emblem is an honourific that he who is permitted to bear the trefoil is among those trusted to make use of the Chapter's horrifying arsenal of the techno-arcane. The Destroyer's trefoil was the chosen emblem as they are for all intents and purposes: the spiritual revival and successors to those infamous legion formations. Their favoured weapons include grenade and missile launchers, plasma and incendiary weapons, especially incendiary grenades, as well as many varieties of specialised bolt rounds. Their name is derived from a folkloric creature of H'ishtvean's Rest called the Maszorko who took the form of an enormous flying creature that was said to swallow the sun and was associated closely with the eclipse and the consuming of celestial bodies. On a world that so rarely sees its sun at its full brightness and cherishes what sunlight they do receive, eclipses are generally seen as ill omens by the soothsayers and shamans of the tribal people of H'ishtvean's Rest. Maszorko itself can literally be translated to mean "Evenfall" into Gothic and the suffix lány can be interpreted to mean "youth" or "child/son of", or even the "hands of" depending on the context in which it is used. Thus making them literally the "Sons of Evenfall" or its other variations, though among the chapter, it is commonly interpreted as the "Coterie of the Falling Sky."

### Erelim Librarians - the Tángrotos

The Erelim host a Librarius as dictated by the tenets of the Codex Astartes. However, the idiosyncrasy at play with their Librarius is that they are twinned with the Apothecarion into a single entity: the Tángrotos as they are so known by the chapter are their reflection of H'ishtveans' societal structure that places the shaman and witch doctor toward the top of social structures and communities. Their parallel duty as the overseers of the medicae facilities is a mirror of H'ishtvean's own societal structure where shamans are also a tribe's medicine-man, or witch doctor, using their psychic powers to facilitate in treating maladies that befall the Astartes and their charges.

They serve both the administrative duties of a Librarian and in medical research when not on the field of battle, and as potent psykers who collect the gene-seed of their fallen brothers when deployed in battle. In said administrative role they oversee the many tomes and lore of their chapter and that of the Unforgiven at large that they have stored within their databanks and library. Their scrying and divination are invaluable to their ends in searching for distress calls and safeguarding Imperial sovereignty. As keepers of ancient lore, they are privy to many of the secrets of the Unforgiven and the higher echelons of the Librarius are members of the Inner Circle and serve as advisors to the Grand Masters and Supreme Grand Master of the chapter. As such they have an especially important role within the hierarchy of the Erelim as both the keepers of their lore and their physical and psychic health. When in battle, the Erelim can call upon their cadre of psykers to unleash the unfettered wrath of the Lion on the foes of man, in their ranks, the Erelim have cultivated several psychic powers that are unique to their Librarians:

* ***Aetheric Choir:*** A Librarian speaks in cant and calls on the spirits of long dead Dark Angels, channelling their hatred and fury with their oratory in battle. Lending their voices to his, this warp energised cant or scream is made even louder and the Librarian's voice is made into a sonic weapon. The resulting sound is so loud that the shockwave it forms can throw enemies to the ground, stunning them, rupture organs, collapse fortifications and drive their foes to madness after deafening them. The Librarian can either opt to channel the voices of all those he can reach into his own in a single call, or lend the voices of the slain to the other Erelim in battle to give their curses a concussive psychic weight to level at their foes. Alternatively, the Librarian can also channel the voice of these deceased Dark Angels into their enemies' voiceboxes, robbing them of their own voice, tearing their vocal cords and their ability to command units coherently whilst demoralising their fellows in battle and knocking them over under the psychic weight and volume of the calls.

A mark of office of one of the Tángrotos is purple in which they are clad. Purple is to the people of H'ishtvean's Rest the colour of the mystical plane and the Emperor's sanction to use it in his name. As such they mark themselves out with purple robes, plumes and heraldry whereas others maintain the more standard orange characteristic of the chapter. Purple dye has always been highly sought after for its rarity in occurring naturally. Though its synthetic forms have been procured by the populace, the dyes and tanning agents the chapter uses for its dyeing are from a more traditional and perilous tradition. The purple in question comes from the distilling of the oxidised byproducts of the venom that the szélkoraa contains in their glands at the base of their tails after it has been processed for the chapter's other uses. The yield of said byproduct is minimal and it takes the harvesting of many tails to get the rich hues of purple necessary. Many hours of hard, strenuous labour must be dedicated to the dyeing process with materials that are scarce and perilous for fully-fledged initiates of the Astartes to acquire, with some fifteen to twenty tails necessary to dye a single yard of fabric to the desired shade of purple. Thus this not only speaks to the means of the chapter to acquire the dyes necessary but the ferocity and skill of the person to gather and work the raw materials necessary to wear such finery. They see no need to wear the gauntlets they craft for the others in the ranks of the Maszorkolány, nor wear pelts, nor bear trophies on their person when they are shrouded in the purple of their office.

## Combat Doctrine

The Erelim are primarily adherent to the tenets, strictures and stratagems as described within the tomes of the Codex Astartes, though they have carved out a niche that plays to their preferred method of waging war. As such they emphasise two facets above all else: high mobility and speed of the advance rarely seen outside the ranks of the White Scars and moor it to the Dreadwing's salting of the earth with overwhelming firepower of techno-arcane, esoteric and forbidden weapons. They hold few if any reservations against the notion of collateral damage so long as their foes are destroyed utterly beneath their boots and treads, and their penchant for the use of phosphex or other chemical and rad weapons does little to curb that tendency. Though it should be stated that they only make use of such weapons in a deliberate and careful manner and only if they don't see a better alternative to hand, but when they are made to utilise them, it is with the same characteristic humourlessness of the chapter's warriors that they sanction their use. To that end, they boast a vast armoury and motorpool with a similarly equipped fleet of air and voidcraft to saturate the ground ahead of where the Astartes will be inserted to scour it clean of life. The assault of the Erelim is an exercise in methodical brutality and butchery, requiring tight control and coordination between units and branches to capitalise on points of weakness in an enemy's position. Ground vehicles are positioned in pre-planned formations and positions and await the volley-fire of artillery batteries or orbital guns as ground troops take to armoured transports and fighting vehicles or attack bikes whilst drop pods and aircraft ready their crews for insertion. Assaults begin with the opening salvos of orbital guns or requisitioned artillery barrages in concert with the aerial assault over enemy keystone positions. Beneath them the armoured advance brings to bear its own payload of munitions and Astartes to join the forward advance of the now dismounted aerial assault and catch their enemies in a withering crossfire.

However, when the Erelim are forced onto the defensive, they take on a defence in depth where they purposefully yield lightly defended territory and channel their foes into prepared positions in an effort to stress an attacker's logistics or to spread out a numerically superior attacking force. Once an attacker has lost momentum or is forced to spread out to pacify a large area, they can be outmanoeuvred, contained and torn apart within those prepared positions. Local commanders may then make probing and defensive counter-attacks that can be mounted on the attacker's weak points, either to route the enemy or to encircle them.

## Deathwatch Service

Though a comparatively uncommon sight within the ranks of the Deathwatch, members of the Erelim have served the Long Watch diligently and are primarily sought for their expertise in chemical warfare, and especially in procuring chemical agents for use against the likes of the Orks and Tyranids. The Erelim for their part, though reluctant to part with their psykers who oversee both the duties of the Apothecarion and the Librarius, use the opportunity both for their warriors to gain further experience in the Long Watch and also to have access to the many bio and chemical-engineering facilities that the Deathwatch is able to call on. Warriors of all types and specialties have served in the Long Watch, but the purple plumed masked helms of the Tángrotos are by far the most likely to be sighted as representatives of the chapter at large within the Deathwatch.

## Chapter Fleet

* ***Mandate of Heaven* (Battle-Barge) *-*** The *Mandate of Heaven* is a battle barge of unknown provenance, the schematics of its hull and stature, however, suggests it may have once been an Oberon-class before its retrofitting to its current station as a battle-barge now specialised for planetary assault and boarding actions in ship to ship combat. Though her origins prior to the launching of the Great Crusade aren't wholly clear, what hasn't been lost to time paints a long, illustrious and dutiful career in the name of the Dark Angels as the *Chorister Inviolable*. Her name was tallied among the vessels that participated during the pacification of Venus in the Mehr-Yesht Campaign against the War Witches and Litho-Golem armies alongside the Iron Warriors of the fourth legion. Her name was catalogued during the height of the Rangdan Xenocides and by the time of the Horus Heresy had accompanied the Lion throughout the establishment and dissolvement of the Imperium Secundus before seeing the majority of her service afterward in chasing the Night Lords throughout the Thramas Crusade and intermittently thereafter in the Scouring after suffering the worst of her injuries during the Thramas Crusade against the Night Lords. Upon the breaking of the legions into their component chapters, the *Chorister Inviolable* would serve in the Dark Angels reserve fleet, rarely seeing active front line service. She would briefly serve in the fleet of the Lion Blades before again being requisitioned by the Dark Angels when a vessel more fitting the requirements of the Lion Blades was acquired by their chapter. By the time of the founding of the Erelim, she would undergo the last of her metamorphosis into the barge that serves as the crown jewel in the fleet of the Angels of H'ishtvean. She would be the lead vessel at the head of the executioner's procession that meted out the sentence of the Black Cherubim in the Humbling where she would receive her new name as the *Mandate of Heaven.*
* ***Deluge* (Battle-Barge) *-***
* ***Fellhearted* (Vanguard Cruiser) -**
* ***Dark Portents* (Vanguard Cruiser) *-***
* ***Leviathan's Call* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Psalm to Moeháchs* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Per Aspera* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Maat's Witness* (Strike Cruiser) *-*** The *Maat's Witness* took her name during the Humbling of the Black Cherubim in 700 of M37 where she took to the front of the assault ahead of the *Mandate of Heaven* and destroyed the significantly larger battle-barge *Unbroken Resolve* of the fleet of the Black Cherubim with the aid of the *Leviathan's Call* and the *Fellhearted* during the Humbling and sent her remains crashing into their home planet. Parts of the *Unbroken Resolve* fell onto the Citadel of Maat, slaying many of the Black Cherubim in the explosions that wracked the monastery before the Dark Angels made planetfall on the planet.

## Chapter Relics

The Erelim call on a comparatively modest reliquary when compared to the rest of the Unforgiven, but they still act as custodians to an impressive collection of items, weapons, suits, vehicles and aircraft, most of which have long and storied pasts before they were bestowed to the Erelim. Though a portion of these was gifted by the Dark Angels and some of their successors at the outset of their founding, the majority of what they now house in their reliquaries and motorpool is from their involvement in the censuring and execution of the Black Cherubim.

* ***Magor -*** The *Magor* is a Falchion Superheavy Tank Destroyer that the Erelim had looted from the Black Cherubim during their humbling and razing of their homeworld. She had a long and storied service history while under the Black Cherubim, last seeing battle at their command alongside the Vaunted Sons in a battle that effectively rendered that chapter extinct. She was too damaged during the siege of their homeworld to partake in the defence of their monastery against the Dread Knights, Erelim, Lion Blades and Lions Revenant and when the reliquary of the Black Cherubim was looted by the Dread Knights and the Erelim, they claimed the venerable machine from them and named it the Magor. She only takes to the field when the need arises for a superheavy of her calibre to engage or harass titans, her most noteworthy kills have been stencilled onto her turret to commemorate those victories.
* ***Mackó -*** This Typhon Superheavy Siege Tank was a relic gifted to the Erelim by the Angels of Absolution at their founding and is regularly sighted on the field commanding squadrons of Vindicators to tear down the walls and fortifications of their enemies. The *Mackó* is so named as being the "little sibling" to the *Magor* in H'ishtvean's own mythologies. This relic earned many battle honours whilst tearing down the walls of the Citadel of Maat during the humbling of the Black Cherubim, reaping a heavy toll as she tore through its southerly curtain wall.
* ***Hailstorm -*** The Dios pattern Stormraven of Tvastarian make has since become the favoured pattern of Stormraven with more being requisitioned and ordered by the chapter, *Hailstorm* was acquired by the Erelim during Era Indomitus and has proved its combat effectiveness in every engagement since its adoption. They have yet to receive the STC necessary to craft it locally in system, but the Techmarines of the chapter are both reverse engineering the machine and working on its schematics. Additionally, they are looking to negotiate with the Tvastarian magi to secure the STCs necessary to manufacture the Dios enmasse in local forges.
* ***Scourge of the Cherubim -*** A Spartan Assault Tank and sister-tank to the *Mackó* gifted by the Angels of Absolution at their founding. Regularly sighted whenever the Erelim takes to the field, she earned her name when she tore through the breach the *Mackó* had opened in the southerly wall of the Citadel of Maat. She loosed volleys of lasfire and sicced a squad's worth of the Maszorkolány into the monastery where they used their plasma weapons to reduce the defenders to ash with covering fire still being provided by the tank. A squad of the Dread Knights who were close behind used the machine as moving cover and when catching sight of the Maszorkolány laying waste to the citadel in an off-hand remark commented that the Maszorkolány and the tank that delivered them as being a "scourge" to the defenders. The name has since stuck.

* ***Manica Szélkoraa -*** Not a single relic but a collection of gauntlets entrusted to the Maszorkolány that are permitted to don the gauntlets made by the Tángrotos, the Librarian-Apothecaries who serve the chapter as soothsayers and witch-doctors, from the hides of the szélkoraa. These Tángrotos carry out the butchering of these animals in a highly ritualised procedure - taking an oath of silence for the duration of it - save only for the sound of hand drums that are rhythmically beaten by serfs that allow the Tángrotos to fully enter what they call the "ice body" state where they absorb the animal's emotional essence. Upon completing this step, they skin the animal and remove the venom glands. The pelts and furs are repurposed by the chapter's warriors and the venom and glands are used in their own medicae labs for concocting elixirs or to concentrate and synthesise them into other toxins and chemicals. The animal is then left to hang and dry for several months to age and ferment. The meat is consumed and the leather is tanned to be prepared for its crafting into gauntlets which are infused with the animal's essence that they absorbed at the beginning of the ritualised butchering. These are then bestowed to members of the Maszorkolány both as a sign of their station and to allow them to carry out their task to the fullest extent without even a trace of remorse or doubt, heightening their aggression and increasing their threshold for pain. Though subject to conjecture, the imbuing of the szélkoraa's own emotional essence supposedly unlocks the wearer's most dark and violent instincts in war and ties it to that of the szélkoraa itself.

## Chapter Appearance

### Chapter Colours

The Erelim's colours are primarily that of a dark naval blue lined with silver trim, poleyns, visors and bolts. Their squad specialty symbols are of an orange colouration with squad numeration stencilled in white or silver atop it. Their robes are either orange or terracotta and are oft decorated with patterns and knotwork specific H'ishtvean's culture. The plumes of their helms correspond to their specialty with their own symbolic significance:

* Black: Battleline (crushed and salted earth beneath their boots)
* Orange: Fire Support (the colour of embers, having burnt away their enemies of their sin in sulphurous fire)
* Red: Close Support (the colour of viscera and blood that coats their blades)
* White/Silver: Veterans (the silver hearts and souls for which the Ezürçak are so named)
* Purple: Tángrotos (the colour of the aetheric plane that they are sanctioned to scry and command)

### Chapter Badge

A plumed masked helm of H'ishtvean origin rendered in silver over a field of dark navy.

## Notable Quotes

### About:

Brother Leváente Zolatar, one of the Tángrotos of the chapter. The purple of his panoply is indicative of his station as one of the Tángrotos.Brother Flauros Gasparian, the current Kardok Vihara of the Erelim.Brother Basckó Oberzt, a recently inducted member of the Ezürçak from the Primaris reinforcements, now a Sergeant in their ranks.Brother Kalkaria Vhen, a member of the Ezürçak.Brother Barnarae Toluat, a member of the 1st Company's 7th's Maszorkolány Squad.Squad Katti, 1st fireteam of the 7th Maszorkolány of the 1st company.Squad Attaris, 2nd fireteam of the 7th Maszorkolány of the 1st company.Brother Domokos Ora, an Erelim the 3rd Company's 2nd Assault Squad, note the heraldry of the Ravenwing on his loincloth indicating prior service in that company.Brother János Alaizon, Sergeant of the 6th Company's 5th Battleline Squad.Brother Alágos Ezron of the 6th Company's 5th Battleline Squad.Brother Marágá Azaradel of the 9th Company's 6th Devastator Squad.Brother Márton Aleros of the 9th Company's 8th Reiver Squad, seen here clad in the Hyades sub-pattern of Phobos armour with auxiliary Myskaton pattern grenade launching harness atop his backpack.The Magor, a Falchion Superheavy Tank Destroyer of the Erelim.Scourge of the Cherubim, a Spartan Assault Tank of the Erelim.Mackó, a Typhon Superheavy Siege Tank of the Erelim.A Caestus Assault Ram of the Erelim.Hailstorm, a Dios pattern Stormraven of the Erelim, a craft of Tvastarian makes.