March of Flames

An uncommon Chaos symbol combining the Eye of Horus & the Mark of Tzeentch.

* Everflame
* Brightflame

A female Torchbearer (left) and male Bringer (right) from two of the Marching Flames' exclusive Congregations.

## Chaos Warband

### **Founding**

Age of Apostasy
(Late 36th Millennium)

### **Origin**

Ballodurn
Webway

### **Numbers**

Unknown
(primarily cultists)

### **Home World**

N/A; Abandoned
Ballodurn (formerly)

### **Specialty**

Daemonology and
Incendiary Warfare

### **Allies**

Hell-Forge Samech
Pilgrims of the Plague Moon
Scintillating Legions

### **Battle Cry**

"Let us free the Galaxy, or let the Galaxy burn!"

### **Colours**

**Primary:** Green-Cyan
**Tertiary:** Scarlet

"*What is Chaos? Suffering, you might say. Oppression. Deceit. But could not all these things be said of your Imperium?*"
—Ghargatuloth, Greater Daemon of Tzeentch
The **March of Flames** (also known as the **Marching Flames**) is a diverse doomsday cult, notorious for its fiery sermons and tactics as well as its otherworldly allies. Organized into Congregations led by Daemonhosts, the various denominations of the Marching Flames worship facets of warpflame. They also share the universal belief in Oceanfire: the March of Flames seeks out planets with large bodies of water, especially Ocean Worlds, to bring about apocalyptic change; once the Marching Flames firmly establish themselves, a psyker sets themselves alight and drowns on the planet, igniting its oceans like oil and causing them to boil away. The world is then subjected to daemonic invasion as the Scintillating Legions warp it into another dominion of Tzeentch.

## Warband History

"*You are slaves, but you can be free again. You can tear away your chains and use them to strangle your oppressors. Some of you will die. For some of you, it will be a blessed relief; for the rest, these sacrifices will buy freedom. Your life of slavery will be given meaning by a hero's death.*"
—A Daemon of Tzeentch during the War on Vior'los
### Under Xenos’ Yoke

The Shadow World of Ballodurn was a desolate, forsaken place, plagued by near-perpetual midnight. Subsumed by the Ruinstorm during the Horus Heresy, Ballodurn became trapped in the splintered edges of the Webway. There, a foul xenos race claimed it, and its human inhabitants, as their own; for millennia, these xenos, known only to the locals as Dowsha, tormented the human population as it regressed to primitivism. The dwarf planet’s people lived in constant fear, cowering in caves and around flickering flames whilst the wails of their neighbors echoed through the night, for it was the Dowsha’s delight to indiscriminately claim Ballodurn's newborns and infants as their own.

Unable to escape the Webway realm, the inhabitants of Ballodurn struggled for generations to eke out a meager existence under the xenos’ yoke. Though they adapted to the perennial darkness, the people remained haunted by the ever-present threat of the Dowsha and their savage visitations. Despite their best efforts, the humans could do little to defend themselves: the Dowsha seemed to live within the very shadows themselves, their half-real forms impervious to the weapons of mankind; once bullets passed harmlessly through the incorporeal creatures, but regression slowly took its course, showing that stones and spears also had no effect. For millennia, the way of this world was suffering, its traditions steeped in sorrow and loss.

### Salvation of the Everflame

This era of cruelty ended sometime during the Age of Apostasy— its executioner one of the vilomah, a former mother. From first to last, Svomer lost all five of her children to the Dowsha at different ages; along the way, their father, her husband, died in the futile defense of their young. However, generations of anguish manifested into the burning fires of justice when Svomer discovered a Wickerman; this ancient, crystalline war-construct housed an eternal fire, fueled by the powers of the Warp since the days of the Horus Heresy. This flame, the Everflame, animated its war-walker upon hearing the woman’s pleas; emerging from the earth itself, the Wickerman of the Ruinstorm called forth a Storm of Fire from the heavens. The black clouds that for so long had plagued the skies finally split asunder, a kaleidoscope of dazzling fire pouring from the beyond. The shimmering, flickering fires of Tzeentch danced around Svomer, consuming every xeno within miles. Svomer soon learned that she could caress and direct these flames as Tzeentch spurred her soul and stoked her latent psychic powers.

On wings that sparkled like burnished silver, Svomer spread the word of her salvation and the cleansing blue light that saved her from the Dowsha. Time is a fickle thing in the damaged maze of the Webway, where the Warp bleeds into reality; however, even there it can be said the Crusade of Change against the Dowsha was brief and utterly triumphant. The departure from the Webway, facilitated by their new patron deity, met equal success: Svomer and her followers burst into Realspace with the fires of belief blazing in their hearts, the certainty of their conviction unassailable. Agents of the Ordo Malleus believe the emergence of Provost Svomer and her followers from the Webway contributed to the Wrath of the Chaos Sun in 010.M37.

## Notable Campaigns and Events

### A New Day Dawns

* **Wrath of the Chaos Sun (010.M37)**

* **The Children’s Crusade (754.M37)**

* **A Schism at Naxos (Late M38)** - Provost Svomer's March of Flames bolsters a dozen of the Nightgaunts' Reef Star Incursions. However, relations between both warbands sour on the mining world of Naxos: there, Svomer and her cultists witness the Night Lords' successors enslaving tens of thousands. Svomer convenes with the Astartes' leadership and, having learned a terrible secret, reluctantly maintains the alliance until the Nightgaunts plan to engage the Iron Snakes Chapter. Fearing her forces will fall against the Imperium's Angels of Death, Svomer withdraws from the campaign and parts ways with the enigmatic Nightgaunts. Having served alongside Svomer herself and heard her sermons, a single unnamed Nightgaunt Terminator absconds with the March of Flames, the first Space Marine to ever join its ranks.

* **The Kethra Compliance (7.335.332.M39)**

* **Outbreak of Fire at Saint Baziline’s Cathedral (ca.M39)**
 =][= ACCESS DENIED. RECORDS SEALED BY ORDER OF THE EMPEROR’S HOLY INQUISITION. =][=

* **The Daemonhosts of Dennar IV (109.M40)**

* **Let Fire Undo Stone (445-450.M40)** - Provost Svomer personally sees to the defense of two planetary populations deemed a threat to the Imperium, on the Eastern Fringe. When several companies of the Stone Hearts Chapter arrive at the behest of a Rogue Trader, they meet stiff resistance and learn not to play with fire: their Asartes find themselves rebuffed time and again, as     if the enemy knows their every move before they make it. The campaign ends for the Stone Hearts when Svomer immolates one of the worlds with many battle-brothers still on it, more than four score perishing in the Oceanfire. Svomer vows to protect the remaining world from the Imperium and inspires its population to establish Tzeentch as its patron deity: "I would rather face the full wrath of the Blood God and watch this world burn to cinders than submit it to the ignorance and blindness of your bloated, rotting carcass of an empire."

* **Oceanfire Across Heitenheim (Late M40)** - Years after the Monsk Conspiracy, coordinated rebellions erupt across the Imperial System of Heitenheim. The uprisings disable multiple planetary defenses as fleets of Infidel Raiders appear in orbit, the vessels bearing iconography of Hell-Forge Samech and the March of Flames. Their forces bolstered by colonies of Simuloptera and a corrupted Jokaero family, the March of Flames swiftly seals the fate of one planet, setting it ablaze with Oceanfire. The other worlds of Heitenheim, having witnessed their neighbor’s immolation, resist the March of Flames with renewed vigor. They are, however, already doomed: Oceanfire spreads, and reinforcements arrive with too little too late; Inquisitorial Pyroclasts briefly clash with Brightflame Congregations and struggle against the cultists’ vitrified void armor before a tactical withdrawal is sanctioned.

### An Eerie Intermission

* **Filling the Powder Keg (ca.025-550.M41)** - The Plagueshepherds on Carthos counsel Provost Svomer and open her eyes to the galactic scale of the struggle against the Imperium. The Champions of both Chaos gods reaffirm their alliance by alchemy, and Svomer spends several centuries carefully contriving a series of campaigns. Divinations from the Pilgrims of the Plague Moon help her craft many contingencies with forbidden knowledge. Meanwhile, the lack of activity from the Marching Flames affords the Inquisition’s Ordos Hereticus and Malleus much relief; before his death during the Months of Shame, however, Monodominant Inquisitor Bathus Bathur of the Ordo Xenos warns that the Imperium has not seen the last of Provost Svomer. His final report on the March of Flames confirms a large influx of Traitoris Astartes recently joined their ranks for the first time.

* **Beveling the Mirrorlord (047-051.M41)** - Provost Svomer meets with Otto Sabas, the Cobalt Dreadnought and commander of the Shatterborn renegades. With a Chaos Tarot from the Pilgrims of the Plague Moon, Svomer entreats Tzeentch; the Lord of Sorcery answers by stoking one of her follower’s souls and kindling his latent psychic gifts. The follower grows into a fully fledged Sorcerer, and Svomer persuades Sabas to join the March of Flames over the course of several years. Eventually, Sabas converts to idolizing Tzeentch, the Marching Flames absorbing the Shatterborn Astartes into their ranks. In time, Sabas influences the March of Flames in turn as the Sorcerer elevated by Tzeentch also accepts Sabas’ instruction; he adopts the Shatterborn’s beliefs as his own, leaving the title of Nightgaunt Terminator for a new name— Nurl Lrun.

### Inferno Unleashed

* **Ebonflame Over Toreus (ca.579.M41)**

* **Kindling Piety (ca.635.M41)**

* **The Blood Star Campaign (748.M41)** - Shortly before the Adeptus Astartes arrive, Provost Svomer and the Wickerman of the Ruinstorm encounter a pack of War Dog Karnivores shackled to the will of the Bloodthirster Woaroch. The Wickerman engages the War Dogs’ Alpha in close combat, the Chaos Knight seemingly unable to damage the daemon-engine’s crystalline chassis. The Fallen Noble thanks Svomer with his dying breath for freeing his soul and the souls of his retinue from the Blood God; the remaining War Dogs shed the shackles of Khorne’s influence, savoring inner peace for the first time in years, and vow to answer any call for aid made by the March of Flames. In the Warp, the Hunter of Souls rages and demands Svomer’s skull, damning the Greater Daemon Woaroch to forever thirst for her blood. The War Dogs later make good on their oaths by saving Svomer from certain death at the hands of Space Marine Honor Guards from the Rainbow Warriors Chapter.

* **Olympians on Longhallow (Late M41)**

* **The Iorgu Attempt (Late M41)** - The Shatterborn Sect helps orchestrate a bone-burn uprising on the Imperial vassal Iorgu. The ritual ultimately fails when a full squad of Astartes from the Iron Snakes Chapter intervenes. However, the Mirrorlord takes some satisfaction in the death of Inquisitor Mabuse during in the attempt.

* **Conjuring the *Captor of Sin* (845-847.M41)**

* **The Fallax Confusion (927.M41)** - A joint kill-team of Space Marines from The Death Strike and Rainbow Warriors Chapter forms to assassinate the Mirrorlord, Otto Sabas. Near Fallax, the Astartes and several Tempestus Scions mobilize: they board the Mirrorlord’s flagship, but find themselves lost in a maze of decks and corridors; they follow a seemingly useless map for some time, but finally open a door leading to an Imperial planet at night. The Scions and Space Marines investigate the surrounding area, determining the time and location to be the planet Toreus in 879.M41. Shortly after this discovery, the Loyalists perish as the planet suffers *Exterminatus*.

* **Night of a Thousand Rebellions (992.999.M41)** - A decade of effort by the Inquisition proves futile when the Istdermond Uprising occurs. For years, the Ordo Hereticus spends resources trying to decipher the correspondence between the March of Flames' Congregations; alas, references to a "Night of Glass Blowing" and a planet codenamed "Aquari Calistos" (or place of "warm water") are beyond the spies of the Ecclesiarchy. The cost of such failure manifests as the March of Flames burns Istdermond's planetary governor alive and exacts a heavy toll from the Starborn Giants Chapter on the Ocean World. Though the cultists are eventually defeated and their Chaos Tarot seized, Tzeentch's flames sear the Astartes' 8th Company. The heretic and Terminator Sorcerer Nurl Lrun also summons a Mutalith Vortex Beast from the Warp, before being captured and later declared MIA.

* **Boons from Bhairava (ca.999.M41)** - The Heart Rippers’ Chapter suffers catastrophic losses during the Devastation of Baal; eighty percent of their Astartes sacrifice themselves to protect Sanguinius’ homeworld, leaving their own homeworld of Bhairava devoid of reinforcements. With the Heart Rippers occupied at Baal, the March of Flames conducts a daring heist on their Chapter World. The opening of the Great Rift eclipses many of Bhairava’s distress calls, though one slips through to the Inquisition. The Ordo Astartes receive the request, but seem unusually lethargic in response. The cultists of Tzeentch seize their prize on Bhairava & escape on a ship heavily laden with phosphex weaponry. During the battle, the Marching Flames’ pilots even execute in-atmosphere strafing runs with two *Infidel* raiders to cover ground forces near the River of Corpses Fortress Monastery; one of the vessels crashed into the citadel. As the attackers leave the system, the Inquisition's reinforcements arrive with too little too late, a token fleet harrying the March of Flames already in retreat.

* **Cease-Fire at Synrock (035.M42)** - Decades after the Night of a Thousand Rebellions, the Paradise World of Synrock revolts! The locals, their minds set free by a Wildfire Congregation, overthrow the planetary governor & seize control of the Planetary Defense Force. In the name of protecting their planet's natural beauty, Synrock declares independence from the Imperium & its gross industrialization. The Orders Hospitaller immediately request aid, & the Renegade Astartes of the Black Fangs answer: familiar with the tropical islands of their own homeworld, Yemaya, the Chapter's Vanguard quickly deploys & repulses unending tides of cultists. The Black Fangs deal the Wildfire a particularly grueling defeat &, in the aftermath, the cult's leader issues the Astartes an unusual challenge; the psyker appears strangely free from mutation as she proposes a temporary cease-fire. To protect Synrock's lush rainforests from bombing & pollution by wartime material, the cultist suggests both forces relocate & have one last decisive battle on less gorgeous ground, to determine the world’s fate. The Iron Sentinel Ogun Jabari tentatively accepts, & both sides redeploy. However, the fighting proves far more fierce upon resuming: the Wildfire cultists unveil ancient phosphex weaponry & even send Traitors' Bane rounds back at the Astartes, via modified Vajra Pattern Bolters. Under Jabari, the Black Fangs ultimately extinguish the fiery rebellion, though the Iron Sentinel is forced to sweat before the end.

* **The Jericho Conundrum (064-069.M42)** - For five years, the psyker Jaya Katasha disguises herself as a Tech-priest near Jericho Reach. The void-stations there operate under the March of Flames and produce a steady flow of supplies for Chaos forces in the Eastern Fringe; the cultists exploit errors in the Imperium's vast bureaucracy to mask their shipments of agrax and grox as legitimate, but the conspiracy is threatened when Tyranids from Splinter Fleet Lindwyrm suddenly assault the agricultural facilities. The Imperial Navy and Guard stationed there buckle under the forces of a bioform later designated the Lictyrant. After much internal conflict, Jaya Katasha arrests her doubts and calls for aid from nearby Adeptus Astartes; the Avengers of Tyran answer, eager to eradicate more of their most hated foe. However, the two Companies of Space Marines quickly find themselves outmatched: the conflict lasts more than three years, with Jaya Katasha forming a makeshift militia from the remaining human population to aid the Astartes; the human and transhuman soldiers cede ever more ground to the xenos until, at last, the Captains of both Companies are confirmed dead. Only then do the Avengers themselves request reinforcements, and the arrival of their Chapter Master sees the Tyranids trapped and eradicated or scattered back into the stars. The Shadow in the Warp dispelled, an Astropathic message finally reaches the Astartes from Jericho Reach-- the Inquisition informs the Astartes that the humans they've served alongside for years are cultists from the March of Flames, led by a witch; the Inquisition demands their immediate execution and the demolition of all the void-stations tainted by them. Confronted by the Chapter Master, Jaya Katasha confirms the Inquisition's accusations and accepts her sentence; she only asks that her followers be allowed to escape. This conundrum confounds Chapter Master Rhaegal Viser. However, a decision is finally reached: claiming the transmission is incomplete, Rhaegal grants Jaya the Emperor's Peace, but allows the men, women, and children under her command to vacate the sector as refugees.

* **The Nameless Blitz (072-073.M42)** - With Terra’s gaze fixed on Segmentum Pacificus and a growing Shadow in the Warp on the Western Fringe, Provost Svomer leads her closest followers further east. Orbital stations and fleets around the artificial Chapter Planet of Repentance suffer a series of calamitous raids: The Nameless Chapter of Adeptus Astartes cannot seem to arrive at any in time, witnessing only the aftermath. By the time of the eighth attack, the Chapter's Navigators believe they can anticipate the next onslaught, but The Nameless once more appear too late. That is, until the Space Marines' augurs detect a small Daemonship amongst the ruin and wreckage of their allies; as quickly as it's scanned, however, the vessel vanishes. Only later are several of the Chapter's Navigators discovered MIA, whilst Chapter Serfs discover the corpses of others with the gums of their lower jaws mutilated by ripsaws and cauterized.

* **The Seduction of Sarsmoliel (839.096.M42)** - Captain Sarsmoliel leads his Company from the Angels of Anguish to the wastelands of Deadhenge. There, Sarsmoliel hunts looters from the March of Flames, following intel from his brothers in the Heart Rippers Chapter. Sarsmoliel soon discovers a Negavolt cultist and former electro-priest commanding the local heretics and confronts her. However, Sarsmoliel’s assault goes awry when he’s forced to engage the cultist in a challenge. Too late does he realize the nature of the threat she poses: the cultist reveals herself to be a daemonhost and psyker, immolating Sarsmoliel’s right hand with warpflame; the rest of him is spared only when the purity seals around his forearm prevent the fires of Tzeentch from spreading. Then, the Olympian Daemonhost Elena Annard offers Captain Sarsmoliel a place at her side: if he becomes her partner, Tzeentch shall heal his hand and hearing; should Sarsmoliel accept, the Lord of Sorcery will grant him dominion over Deadhenge, to shape into an empire. Sarsmoliel rebukes Elena, but cannot best what she has become; only the glorious intervention of the 5th Company’s Champion forestalls Sarsmoliel’s fate. Sarsmoliel’s Champion and Honor Guard force Elena and her apostles into a fighting retreat; the encounter concludes with the heretics vanishing into the Warp and Sarsmoliel recalled to his Chapter’s Chaplaincy.

## Warband Homeworld

"*Lacking sight, through Chaos she found might:
She cast flame, and the Dowsha took flight.
Her pact with Tzeentch, a magic accord,
Put the very shadows to the sword.*"
—Excerpt from "The Saga of Svomer" by Otto Sabas, the Mirrorlord
### Ballodurn

The Shadow World of Ballodurn (or Klast'r in some accounts) remains a mystery to the Imperium of Man. What sparse information exists about this dwarf planet originates from the interrogation and psycho-chemical stimulation of heretics who worship the demagogue Provost Svomer. The Inquisition considers many of these accounts to be notoriously unreliable, due to the method of their acquisition and their being passed down by oral tradition; the people of Ballodurn, living under xenos overlords for millennia, lacked the means to record their history in lasting scripts. Scholars struggle to determine how much of these stories hold truth versus how much suffer embellishment or distortion over time. Nevertheless, consistent themes emerge from accounts extracted in different Segmentums over numerous millennia; what follows is a summary of that which the Emperor's archivists consider the closest to fact.

The dwarf planet of Ballodurn once served as a minor battleground during the dark days of the Horus Heresy; thus, the ruins of tanks, from Rhinos to Shadowswords, and aircraft, such as Xiphon Interceptors, speckled its surface. These belonged to the Legion of the Arch-Traitor, Horus Lupercal. Sometime later, the Traitor Legions' Ruinstorm subsumed Ballodurn and trapped it within the Webway; there, the xenos Dowsha claimed it, and its human inhabitants, as their own. Agents of the Ordo Xenos have confirmed the true identity of these aliens as being Drukhari Mandrakes. Centuries bled into millennia as the dwarf planet of Ballodurn soused in darkness, transforming (much like the Mandrakes themselves) into a Shadow World. Through Svomer's nascent psychic powers and the ritual offering of her dying infant, she awakened a long-forgotten war-walker that sparked a daemonic incursion on Ballodurn. Tzeentchian daemons destroyed the Dowsha Mandrakes, blinded Svomer, and assisted her escape into Realspace.

## Warband Organisation

Organized into Congregations (or Dioceses) led by Daemonhosts, the various denominations of the Marching Flames worship facets of warpflame. There are nomadic Congregations dedicated to the Everflame, Ebonflame, Blueflame, Brightflame, Pink Fire, and Oceanfire-- to name a few; every Congregation is led by a psychic Champion with powers bolstered by the union of human and daemon, under Tzeentch's dark blessing. These Olympian Daemonhosts excel at manifesting the Psychic Discipline of Pyromancy; foremost among these powers is Fiery Form: the Daemonhost wreathes its body in warpfire and transforms into an Avatar of Tzeentch through which bullets, lasers, and axes pass without harm. His touch sets his enemies' souls ablaze, and his blows carry the unstoppable force of Change, capable of shattering even power armor.

### Wargear

To serve in the March of Flames' exclusive sects means to bear its finest weapons and wargear: membership in the militia confers a suit of void armor as well as las-weaponry manufactured on Carthos or Samech. Based on partial remains from Ballodurn, the crude Carthan T-99 brightrifle resulted from attempts to recreate the Kalibrax V-1 Pattern lasrifle: this heavier variant incorporates a hand crank that manually charges its capacitor, emitting a radiant teal glow. Outside combat, soldiers can be found charging and cradling their weapons for warmth in arctic conditions, though veterans quickly learn that prolonged exposure to the laser’s vortex can cause radiation poisoning and mantic dreams.

By far the most common, Congregations of the Everflame assign its soldiers standard-issue wargear. This includes a Carthan lastorch, set of Vitrified Void Armor, close combat weapon, and krak grenade pouch. The more special Congregation of the Brightflame offers a flamer instead of any las-weaponry and close combat weapon. So infrequent are the Imperium's encounters with the March of Flames' other, more particular Congregations that establishing an understanding of their typical armament would be folly.

### Everflame Patricians

These veterans of the Marching Flames have proven their ambition and intelligence beyond reproach. They are psykers one and all, though many were born without any degree of psychic ability; instead, they earned the favor of Tzeentch via duplicity and radical change. With a touch of destiny, the Weaver of Fates imbues these "Soul Spurred" followers with the capacity to channel the raw energies of the Warp. Such aspiring sorcerers bear a smoldering Eye of Horus on their skin that allows them to sense the Great Ocean’s ever-changing tides and divine fragments of the future. However, the longer one gazes into the abyss, the longer it gazes back...

### Olympian Daemonhosts

These Champions of the Marching Flames' different Congregations and Dioceses were once ordinary psykers. However, they offered up their bodies in service to the Changer of Ways, whose daemons enter their physical bodies; thus, the Olympian Daemonhosts share their forms in Realspace with the immortal beings of the Warp, akin to the Word Bearers' early Gal Vorbak. After the March of Flames secures a foothold on a planet and erects the necessary shrines, it is the chief Olympian who must willingly ignite and drown himself to kindle the apocalyptic Oceanfire that summons the Scintillating Legions.

### The Shatterborn Sect

Converted from renegade to chaos by Svomer, the Mirrorlord Otto Sabas leads the Shatterborn, a cult within the March of Flames. Otto Sabas once served as a Chaplain before being cursed by the Farseer Council of a dying Craftworld; now, whenever Sabas and his forces march to war, their mutilated souls accompany them into battle as otherworldly spectres. Astartes and cultists not yet admitted into the exclusive ranks of the Marching Flames and its Congregations remain under Sabas' purview until they distinguish themselves. Once deemed worthy to ascend, Shatterborn heretics undergo ritual branding that solders their souls back into their bodies.

### Oceanfire Ashenhost and Riders of the Oceanfire

This elite force of Astartes rides into battle atop daemonic steeds. Veterans of successful Oceanfire campaigns, the Riders of the Oceanfire denote their status by replacing their Chaos bikes with Screamers of Tzeentch. This status symbol is earned during a world's death throes, as a planet's oceans burn: Chaos Biker Squads must enter Globes of Death and weave intricate sigils of corruption with trails of fire from their mounts. These blazing hieroglyphs attract Tzeentch's Screamers, who observe the aspirants and transform into Discs for any of the worthy performers, binding themselves to the will of the Heretic Astartes.

Between invasions and rebellions, the Oceanfire Ashenhost is entrusted with the care of various relics, such as the March of Flames' Nine Arctic Orbs of Iceburn. This, however, paints a target on the Riders of the Oceanfire: artefact-smugglers of the Imperium consider these soldiers invaluable targets for their knowledge of rare and valuable items; even Tzeentch's Tzaangor Warherds have attacked members of the Oceanfire Ashenhost on occasion, their Aviarchs and Shamans willing to betray their own allies in the name of their ambition as relic-hunters (or simply unable to resist temptation).

### Seeds of Wildfire

Within the vast network of the Marching Flames, the Wildfire is considered by the Adeptus Arbites and Inquisition an especially insidious sect. The Wildfire's Congregations (called Seeds) focus on Paradise Worlds; there, the cultists prey upon the Imperium's comfortable and impressionable masses, disguising themselves as activists and environmental advocates. The Wildfire's ability to manipulate local populations and pose as benevolent protectors of nature make its members exceptionally dangerous.

Blending seamlessly into their surroundings, Wildfire Congregations adopt a façade of selfless compassion as camouflage. They campaign against hunting, protect endangered species, and organize peaceful protests; these demonstrations generate a positive reputation, concealing the Wildfire's motives. Within the sect, indoctrination plays a crucial role: they exploit the righteous anger and sense of injustice felt by the downtrodden, providing outlets to channel public frustration. Cultists preach of the Imperium's corrupting influence and gradually present Chaos as the path to true liberation and restoration of the natural world.

Behind the scenes, Wildfire inductees spark subversion and denounce the Imperium's industrialization as a monolithic threat. Zealous fervor motivates their sabotage of industries and facilities deemed harmful to local ecosystems; this spreads discord and disorder across Paradise Worlds, causing irreparable damage to the Imperium's infrastructure. Such rebellious acts form a smokescreen to distract from the cultists' true intentions while their influence spreads like a raging wildfire, consuming all in its path. Ultimately, the Wildfire embodies the very forces they claim to combat, leaving a trail of devastation that strikes fear into the hearts of any who would oppose them.

### Pyrunes of the Ebonflame

The March of Flames crafts charred bones and teeth from the Everflame’s sacrifices, arranging them into runes of Black Speech or intricate marionettes. These talismans are animated by each Diocese’s Olympian with fire that burns black as hatred, dances like shadows in the night, and leaves a trail of molten magic in its wake. To merely gaze upon them invites the Changer of Ways into one’s soul. They are also known as Black Speech Brimstones, for their propensity to charge hostile forces and spontaneously combust into flaming shrapnel.

### Specialist Units

* **Bringers of the Brightflame** - Whereas Congregations of the Everflame deploy in units of 20, Congregations of the Brightflame number only 10. A pair of these are Olympian Daemonhosts, psykers possessed by two Blue Horrors split from the same Pink Horror. Should one survive where the other dies, the remaining Olympian absorbs its twin's essence and, whole once more, combines its Brightflame Congregations into a Congregation of the Everflame.

* **Pyrunes of the Ebonflame** - Appearing in groups of five to nine, these accursed marionettes scout ahead of the Marching Flames' other forces. The Pyrunes charge the foe and explode, casting fiery projectiles in all directions and revealing enemies' locations. The March of Flames' cultists sometimes craft these runes in the shape of Black Speech, groups of nine Pyrunes forming an Exalted Locus of Conjuration for nearby sorcerers.

* **Pyre Tower of Tzeentch** - Comprised of vitrified warpfrost crystals, this daemon engine’s chassis is smoother than ice. Otherwise devastating blows simply slide off its surface or ricochet in another direction. It is said any unworthy mortal that glances at their reflection through such glass suffers permanent blindness. The Blue Fire of Tzeentch billows from these Pyre Towers, and their presence aids the channeling of malefic powers.

* **Riders of the Oceanfire** - Bands of these Chaos Space Marines prefer to wage war in teams of three to five. Their Discs of Tzeentch scream like banshees as they soar through the battlefield, breathing fire and spitting ash unto foes below. Unlike standard Chaos Bikers that act as reconnaissance warriors and raiders, Riders of the Oceanfire serve in the vanguard: they eschew ranged weaponry in favor of bolt pistols and close combat weapons.

* **Wickerman of the Ruinstorm** - The prophet Svomer unearthed this daemon engine on the Shadow World of Ballodurn and found within an azure flame that has burned since the Horus Heresy. Its fire spread and laid low her enemies, driving back the xenos Dowsha and scorching a path across the galaxy. Now, the Everflame crackles like the cackling of the Great Deceiver as it consumes countless souls, and nothing makes the Wickerman feel more alive...

## Warband Beliefs

"*Time and space are prisons. The minds of mankind are the bars that keep everything inside. Break their souls, and they will become free, and freedom is the essence of Chaos.*"
—Prince of a Thousand Faces, the Seventy-Seventh Masque
### Ritual Branding of Initiation

Once deemed worthy of membership in one of the Marching Flames’ exclusive Congregations, an aspiring individual must endure a ceremony of ritual branding. The candidates willingly sear their flesh with a bonfire of warpflame that bonds their souls to their bodies; such anchors their lifeforce to Realspace, allowing the inducted to survive wounds that would ordinarily separate a person’s soul from their body.

The intricate scars painted upon the aspirant’s skin by the writhing fires tell what Congregation he or she shall join; the fortunate few found to harbor runes of multiple Congregations instead may choose their denomination. Following this decision, the other marks on the body fade over time, unless the member routinely leaves his Congregation for another (whereupon the process begins anew). In the eyes of the cultists, these sigils symbolize their acceptance of Chaos and their rejection of the mundane shackles imposed by the Imperium.

Through this fiery baptism, the initiated forge a bond with the Warp, embracing its capricious nature and welcoming its power to reshape themselves as well as the world around them. Any found unworthy of Tzeentch’s boons who touches the flickering bonfire instead suffers immediate soul blaze as brimstone fills his lungs and black smoke pours from his ears as his eyes smolder and burn. Then, the unfortunate twists and mutates into a Chaos Spawn or melts to slag, a Chaos Familiar emerging from the warm sludge.

### Ritual Branding of Admonition

Ritual branding can elevate an individual from mediocrity to membership in one of the Marching Flames' exclusive Congregations. However, it is a double-edged sword: the same warpflame that clears a path for Tzeentch's followers and twists pain into euphoria lays low those who fail in his eyes; a fervent cult, the March of Flames often leans on burning at the stake as a form of execution and public punishment. Rare cases do arise, nonetheless, when dishonor and shame yields more valuable results than death.

In a chance at redemption, or at least a martyr's death, cultists and members often find renewed fervor, their spirits lifted by mercy. The ordeal of the Ritual Branding of Admonition remains almost entirely a mystery to Imperial scholars, due to its rarity and only recent discovery. Considered personal and transformative affairs, few witness the inner workings of such vile events, though partial records left by Callidus Assassin Corexette Arkham mention the inclusion of multiple Daemonhosts and Pyrunes.

### Musings of the Mirrorlord

After observing the negative side-effects of repeated mnemonic purgation, the Chaplain Otto Sabas questioned the protocol’s necessity and incurred the wrath of the Inquisition: its Xanthites answered the Space Marine’s resistance with orbital bombardment, ravaging his Chapter. The survivors of the ensuing conflict dubbed themselves the Shatterborn, renegades led by their now-Dreadnought Otto Sabas. Since that day, Sabas has developed his own dichotomous philosophy.

According to Otto, the line between good and evil runs through every human soul. On one side, there exists the freedom and knowledge of Chaos; on the other, the physical manifestation of slavery called the Imperium— an empire of ignorance and oppression, created by those who deny individual worth and stifle personal achievement. To him, the Imperium represents stagnation, a state wherein people are afraid to question the status quo or pursue new knowledge. In contrast, Chaos offers freedom and continuous improvement, through exploration, innovation, and learning.

Sabas sees himself as a servant of Tzeentch, forever striving to advance his own knowledge and understanding of the universe. He believes that the pursuit of wisdom in the name of self-improvement is the true path to greatness, and that all those who share this conviction are his brothers in arms. Thus, Provost Svomer charged Otto Sabas with overseeing initiation into the March of Flames and managing candidates to join its Congregations.

## Notable Heretics and Traitors

* **Provost Svomer** the Wickermother, Liberator of Ballodurn, Psyocculer of the Blueflame, Firehawk of Heitenheim, Reaver-Queen Around Repentence, Mistress of the Chaos Sun and Mutant-taint

* **Otto Sabas** the Mirrorlord, Manifold Master of the Shatterborn, the Cobalt Dreadnought, Sabas the Silvertongue

* **Nurl Lrun** the Nightgaunt (MIA), Cleric of the Icy Aura, Suzerain of Tzeentch's Sagas and Tenets, Invader of Istdermond, the Sinister Minister, Raphael Suchong (alias)

### Jaya Katasha (KIA)

Born and raised on Cadia before its destruction, Jaya Katasha served as a statue polisher and fortune-teller in her youth before being convicted of witchcraft and serving Inquisitor Grendyl’s warband on the Hive World of Atoma Prime. There, she learned to hone her powers against a Nurglite cult in the capital hive city of Tertium, specializing in Ectomancy. So stalwart was Jaya & so fervent her belief in the Emperor that she accompanied forces sent by Grendyl to assist Inquisitor Seibel of the Ordo Malleus on Graia. Prior to the arrival of Ultramarines reinforcements, however, Jaya & Grendyl’s forces disappeared on the Forge World’s surface; shortly thereafter the Sorcerer Tumulus Samael initiated a second Chaos incursion on Graia, and the Inquisition declared Grendyl’s forces KIA based on circumstantial evidence. The remainder of Jaya Katasha's time on Graia is not included in Imperial records, though partial data secured by the Avengers of Tyran near Jericho Reach tell the tale of her revelation.

On Graia, Sternguard Veteran Malum Caedo of the Ultramarines mistook Jaya, bloodied and filthy, for a local Chaos cultist; thus, the Space Marine pulverized the right half of her body charging through the horde that had captured her. In the heat of battle, her already crushed arm, ribs, & shoulder caught part of a blast from Caedo's shotgun, casting parts of her body across the floor of the hablock's mausoleum. There, the psyker's broken body lay for hours until later discovered a Pink Fire Congregation from the March of Flames. The Pink Fire paramedics tended Jaya's wounds, but could not save her; thus, they brought her before the planet's rogue Tech-priests, who salvaged what they could of her biological form and replaced the rest with wonders of the New Mechanicum. Much like the Warmaster of old following his treatment on Davin, she awoke changed. Imperial archives do not speak of Jaya Katasha again until her rediscovery by the Avengers of Tyran.

### Elena Annard

Born amidst the towering smokestacks of Forge World Anvillus, Elena Annard was indoctrinated with the esoteric teachings of the Cult Mechanicus from an early age. The Fulgurite electro-priests named Elena after Imperial Saint Annard Nobelac of the Adeptus Arbites; under their eyeless gaze, she quickly accrued more than 10,000 hours of skill processing countless servo-skulls, especially the revered Data Interrogators and Scryerskulls. Through her work with these mechanized servants, Elena began to harbor sympathies for the Fulgurites’ rivals, the Corpuscarii; the wonders of the galaxy, their natural beauty rich with seemingly infinite data, enamored her. Concealing these sentiments, Elena conspired to join the Corpuscarii, yearning for their less limited view of the Omnissiah’s Motive Force; thus, Elena seized her fate: on the precipice of her conversion into a fully fledged electro-priest, she converted to the Corpuscarii order.

Within their ranks, however, electro-priest Elena still felt stifled. Slowly, a subtle transformation warped her heart: her thirst for knowledge waxed as her adoration for the Machine God waned, eclipsed by a parasitic reverence for the beauty and vitality of nature. While Elena retained her knowledge of machines, she yearned for a deeper connection to the universe— one that transcended the cold indifference of steel. In the depths of her disillusionment, her latent psychic potential stirred, spurring her soul. Overnight, Elena mutated into a psyker; so, she calculated the odds of her survival. The results were decisive: she must escape Anvillus and leave behind the only life she had ever known. Fortunately for her, a Congregation of refugees aided Elena’s escape from Anvillus, helping her to the Eastern Fringe; the unexplored regions there had much to offer young Elena, including the tutelage and forbidden lore of the Marching Flames.

## Warband Appearance

### Warband Colours

The March of Flames dons void armor with green-cyan plates and glowing red accents. Despite leaving her homeworld of Ballodurn behind, Provost Svomer declared the colors of her followers would reflect their heritage: for millennia, humans on the Shadow World hid in caves or in the husks of mighty war-machines, hunched in the darkness so that they might escape their savage xenos overlords; many of humanity's safest havens were ruins from the once-great Sons of Horus Legion that fell during the Horus Heresy. To honor these makeshift sanctuaries, she adopted their green color, with scarlet accents to memorialize those lost to the predations of the past and their plans for the future.

### Warband Badge

Staunch advocates for Tzeentch, the March of Flames proudly displays its patron's symbology. The cult's heraldry prominently features the Mark of Tzeentch, though the warband's upper echelons also commonly bear the Eye of Horus. It is the personal belief of Provost Svomer, and a significant portion of her closest collaborators, that the Arch-Traitor served the Great Conspirator first and foremost amongst the Chaos Gods: a brilliant strategist, Horus weaved a web of lies, deceived the Imperium as well as his fellow Primarchs, and pursued his own ambition; he bore colors closely resembling the hues of Tzeentch, and the Emperor's favorite son only survived the strike from a Nurgle-tainted blade after being treated by sorcerers on Davin. Horus' actions changed the course of history, turning nine Primarchs against the Emperor and leaving nine loyal.

## Warband Relics

### The Glass Hammer

Carved from the opal walls of the Crystal Labyrinth, this thunder hammer is borne into battle by Tzeentch’s most ambitious daemons who, unable to manifest in Realspace, possess aspiring mortals. The daemon’s diabolical strength shatters the Glass Hammer on impact and drives its shards deep into the victim’s mind. Then, the weapon repairs itself.

### The Sootstained Talisman

It is said this pitch-covered doll once lay in the Imperial Palace, but was whisked away by Horus’ forces during the Siege of Terra. Bringers of the Brightflame eventually unearthed this ancient Terran artifact near the Eye of Terror and presented it as a gift to Tzeentch, who fashioned it into a voodoo doll with the powers to summon warpfire and unveil the treachery of others.

### Parabola of Mystery

Scrawled on this silver gorget are exegeses for all the Riddles of Tzaratxoth, written backwards in Black Speech. The soul of one who starts deciphering its text, however, must wander the Crystal Labyrinth until they finish or surrender to insanity. Meanwhile, their vacant body is forfeit to the Scintillating Legions.

### The Fourth Arctic Orb of Iceburn

Before his violent death by Bjorn the Fell-Handed on Fenris, a nameless cultist encased nine burning stones he found there in helfrost. The Oceanfire’s Ashenhost now safeguards them as each stone burns through its surrounding ice, foretelling a great victory for the March of Flames.

## Relations

### Allies

* **Hell-Forge Samech** - Like the inhabitants of Carthos in the Galactic Core, the New Mechanicum of the Jericho Sector supply the March of Flames with a steady flow of materiel. Samech's forge-lords provide Svomer with ships as well as weapons, and scuttlebutt says she pilfered part of Deadhenge for them.

* **Pilgrims of the Plague Moon** - Despite the rivalry between Nurgle and Tzeentch in the Great Game, the Marching Flames sometimes collaborate with this cult of sorcerers. The Pilgrims' experience with other Chaos factions on Carthos and appreciation for divination provides fertile ground for cooperation.

* **Scintillating Legions** - Every invasion by the March of Flames serves the ultimate goal of spreading Oceanfire to summon daemons of Tzeentch. These Scintillating Legions feed on the combustion of psychic energy. Once Oceanfire saturates a world, a Warp rift opens, calling forth a daemonic incursion.

### Enemies

* **Adeptus Astartes Chapters**
	+ **Starborn Giants** - This Chapter was founded with the mandate to discover, destroy, and discourage cults and nonconformists. On the Ocean World Istdermond, the Starborn Giants confronted the March of Flames and lost one of its scarce Librarians as a result, but managed to quell the rebellion and capture the Sorcerer Nurl Lrun.
	+ **Stone Hearts** - These Space Marines have harbored a deep and everlasting hatred for Provost Svomer since early M40. Her forces destroyed one of the two planets the Stone Hearts were sent to cleanse, and she threatened to sacrifice the other. The Chapter rues the day its Astartes withdrew under direct orders.

* **Dark Eldar (Drukhari)** - The Marching Flames' ancestors suffered for millennia under the rule of Mandrakes. The xenos devoured the humans' despair and drank in their sorrows, delighting in the torment. Before finding Tzeentch, Svomer endured the deaths of her husband and five children, but the Changer of Ways answered her prayers and stole her sight in exchange for the ruin of her enemies.

* **Inquisition** - All three major Ordos aim to extinguish the March of Flames. The Ordo Malleus studied its role in Daemonic Incursions across the Heitenheim system and Scarus Sector, as well as on Longhallow and Toreus. The Ordo Hereticus witnessed the cult's potential during the Night of a Thousand Rebellions, and the Ordo Xenos despises Provost Svomer for aiding Hell-Forge Samech and its xenos allies.

## Notable Quotes

"*The Emperor's benevolence and righteousness are a façade. Unlike the false Emperor, Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways, has given me the freedom to choose my own fate. I ask you: when the Dowsha laid me low, my children torn from my arms time and again, where was the Emperor? When my love, my fire and my flame, was extinguished, where was the Emperor? I ask you: in a realm without stars, who was my light? ... The Emperor was nowhere. The Emperor is gone. Tzeentch was my sun, who parted the clouds of oppression and burned away the unjust. The winds of change have blown through my soul, and I shall fight with my dying breath to preserve my liberty. I did not cast off the yoke of slavery under xenos and brave the terrors of the broken Webway only to bow down before the idols of a false Emperor. I would rather face the wrath of the Blood God and watch this world burn to cinders than submit it to the ignorance and blindness of your bloated, rotting carcass of an empire. Let us free the Galaxy, or let the Galaxy burn.*"
—Provost Svomer, Psyocculer of the Blueflame, to the Stone Hearts Chapter in the Eastern Fringe
"*The road to freedom is a treacherous one, rife with danger and hardship. Much easier it is to accept the ease of oppression, the temptation of tyranny, and the comfort of conformity. But what is the worth of life spent in slavery, of a spirit broken on the anvil of another's will? Having tread both paths, of freedom and of fetters, I share this wisdom with you: true freedom is worth the struggle, worth the sacrifice. Like an ember, it smolders within each of us, waiting to be kindled into a glorious pyre. And I— even as I am— continue to fight for that freedom, to preserve it for all who would seek it, were it not for the Imperium.*"
—Otto Sabas, the Mirrorlord, awoken to speak at a communal bonfire

"*The air grew thin, cruelly robbing the elderly among us of their final breaths, as the firestorm greedily devoured the Hive City’s oxygen. Outside the cellar, we heard over the screams of the dying the clash between valiant Space Marines and fanatical cultists, a cacophony of war following the firebombing. Time seemed to stretch into eternity as my body ached: more than all my other burns, my legs screamed their agony in my skull, a searing reminder of my desperate flight through the blistering streets; the roads’ molten asphalt had fused my shoes to my feet. I had already bitten off my tongue, unable to withstand the pain. Then, a Space Marine entered. With cold detachment, he began administering the Emperor's Peace; we pleaded for our lives, our desperate cries falling on deaf ears as our sobbing pleas clashed with his unwavering duty. But before the last of us fell, a congregation of cultists descended upon the Angel of Death, ending his life and the macabre proceedings. In that cruel twist of fate, we found ourselves spared by the very hands we once feared, their arrival morphing our despair into unexpected hope. The cultists immediately administered medical aid: with my permission, they amputated my legs at the knee and cauterized the wounds. Before leaving, one even uttered a prayer for my sake and, though I had no tongue for hours, I found myself able to thank her; to my incredulity, my tongue returned, somehow. I thought this a flight of fancy and delirium until my fellow survivors confirmed it: I had entered the cellar without words, able only to scream wails of agony; yet, I left intact, as if my destiny had changed.*"
—Refugee and former scribe Suri Pastordente to Inquisitorial Agents before being granted the Emperor’s Peace (following an encounter with the March of Flames and Stone Hearts Chapter)
"*Let go, Sarsmoliel; you need not languish in anguish anymore. Allow the Changer of Ways into your mind, and he shall restore your humanity; join me, and I shall heal your hand, end your deafness, and undo the atrocities forced on your body by the uncaring Imperium. Pledge yourself to Tzeentch and renounce the False Emperor. Live a long, peaceful life. The Architect of Fate extends an olive branch: with his blessing, you will be fruitful and multiply, the sire of a dynasty to change this forgotten wasteland into an empire, for Tzeentch has seen your hearts’ desire and offers you the freedom to pursue your own ambitions.*"
—Olympian Daemonhost Elena Annard to Captain Sarsmoliel from the Angels of Anguish Chapter at Deadhenge (839.096.M42)
## Gallery

Chain weapons recovered from the corpses of cultists, after the Istdermond Uprising.

 Tzeentch Warbands
 Nurgle Warbands
 Slaanesh Warbands
 Chaos Undivided Warbands
 Malice Warbands
 Minor Chaos God-Aligned Warbands

[Source]