Cabal of Destiny

Cabal of Destiny armorial with warband iconography.

Cabal of Destiny Rubric Marine.

### **Noteworthy Domains**

Vosuvis (Cultist Hive World used for recruiting)Horu (Death World used for recruiting)

### **Warband Size**

2,000+ Marines & Sorcerers
100s of Rubric warriors
Unknown amount of Skitarii & Combat Servitors

## Pre-Heresy

### **Cognomen (Prior)**

Thousands Sons (Partially)Ultramarines (via stolen geneseed)

### **Home World**

Pueblo

The **Cabal of Destiny** is a Chaos warcult dedicated to the Chaos Lord of Change, Tzeentch and led by a Thousands Sons Chaos Sorcerer named Akemos, his loyal sorcerer followers, a former Void Paladins Astartes named Xzore the Splinterer who brought the foundation for their gene-seed, and a Heretek named Relth of the Dark Mechanicum who supplies their vehicle and munitions. Relth's mechanicum faction have their own skitarii & servitors for military operations as well as a scrap planet called the Orb. Akemos has gained favor with Abaddon after the Fall of Cadia, giving him access to millions of cultists, thousands of air & ground vehicles, dozens of warships & void transports, several warbands of chaos astartes, & a squad of Black Legion Terminators to join the Honor guard of Akemos.

## Warband History

Formally founded in M36 after Xzore committed his betrayal of the Void Paladins when he stole half of their gene-seed vault and killed their beloved Kiseran Abba. Once Xzore escaped with a small fleet of warships and a company of traitor paladins along with the prized gene-seed, he met up with Akemos to officially forge the alliance that became the Cabal of Destiny.

### Prior to the Cabal

Before the Cabal of Destiny their was the Sons of the Great Change, a thrallband lorded over by Akemos' former master and a member of Ahrihim's exiled faction who saw the Rubric marines as a better use for the baseline members of the Legion. Some time after setting off on their own, Akemos betrayed his master and assumed control of the surviving remnants from both sides. Unlike his master, Akemos prefers living subordinates to automatons and thus set out to corrupt or recruit a warband of his own to act as underling bodyguards.

### Night of the Splintering

For a standard century the Void Paladins recovered their numbers and supplies to their original chapter strength of about 1,500. Unknown to them, three companies worth of paladins from all over the chapter, including Legetus Xzore and most of his veteran company, had decided to declare themselves a chaos warband and infiltrated the planet's star port in the dead of night. They were able to steal several docked warships and some supply transports meant for the Laeraethus, the Fortress-Monastery battle barge of the paladins. Using the transports, they got boarding pods fired into the ship at point blank range with no warning and used the time to get as close to the gene-seed vault as possible.

While this was happening, most of the other warships attacked and then boarded a Pueblan naval patrol, securing all of their ships to add to their growing flotilla and hundreds of slaves as part of the payment to Akemos. Many of the chaos splinter faction outside of his personal company are killed, but Xzore and his veteran squads are able to steal half of the saved gene-seed and escape using several Thunderhawks. They were able to get picked up by Xzores battle barge and headed into the warp at the cost of their traitorous, but non-veteran, brethren still fighting aboard the transports. Before leaving the highest point of planetary orbit, and scant seconds before the *Laeraethus* opened up with a broadside, the *False God* fired a full broadside not at the flagship bearing down on it but the planet itself. the capital hive was shattered by the destructive effects of the bombardment, again leaving millions of humans in the crossfire killed. Most of his veteran company survived into the warp with the stolen genestock & naval fleet, soon after they joined Akemos to create the Cabal of Destiny. For years prior Akemos had been prying at the edges of Xzore's mind to lead him to the Night of the Splintering and as they left Akemos let himself have a silent chuckle at a destiny unfolded in his favor as planned.

### Second Batch of Recruits

Unknown to the primaris Tidebreakers their firstborn brethren were lost while deployed fighting the Cabal but got caught in a siege on a sub-sector capital. The purpose for the entire chaos offensive was to lure this very chapter, due to their shared lineage with the traitor Void Paladins that make up most of the warband, to a sub-sector they had primed to become enveloped in a warp storm. As the Tidebreakers fought back against the unending tide of daemons Akemos used his sorcery to get into the minds of many of the loyalists and slowly corrupt them from within. Within a month of the siege was over and the surviving loyalists cast their Imperial iconography from their armour and joined the chaos warband.

### Current Times

During the Fall of Cadia, Akemos assisted on several fronts and in turn gained some favor from Abbadon. After Cadia was sundered Akemos pursued a fleeing Imperial fleet to the secondary fortress world of Troii and besiege the planet with elements of over a dozen warbands including: the Battleforged, Pain Harvesters, and Plague Ravens, as well as a Black Legion taskforce.

## Warband Homeworld & Recruitment

Each sorcerer has their own warship to hold their honor guard and slaves for any rituals they might need to do while on a mission. Akemos himself used the Cabal's flagship as his personal warship. As such, the closest thing to a homeworld would be the worlds they recruit from, brutal chaos controlled planets ranging from death worlds full of savages to hive worlds filled with gangers. From these worlds, only the most brutal and cunning youths are taken in to become marines of the Cabal. The main punishment for failure by a trainee is being turned into a mindless servitor, failure by an astartes means being turned into a Rubric warrior.

## Notable Campaigns

* **Night of the Splintering (822.M36):** The night before the 100 year anniversary of the Void Paladins defection from Iben, Legatus Xzore betrayed his former chapter and stole half of their gene-seed as well as killing their beloved leader.
* **First Cabal Invasion of Pueblo (133-137.M38)**: The first attempt by the Cabal to secure more resources or otherwise destroy the Void Paladins or their recruitment base within the Pueblo Confederation. They secured a foothold on the moon away from the forgehives and from here push straight to the surface of the capital planet. After several years of intense fighting they are pushed out of the system though inflict savage losses on the human population.
* **Horu Assault (143.M38):** Assault on a feral world used by the Cabal as a recruiting place in vengeance for the attack on Pueblo. The Cabal's main fortress on the planet is destroyed along with thousands of the native chaos worshiping savages. In this attack, over a dozen chaos tomes are stolen and placed within a warded vault hidden somewhere in the Void Paladin's fortress.
* **Second Cabal Invasion of Pueblo (604.M41)**: A second attempt by the Cabal to assault the Pueblo Confederation as well as steal back their stolen tomes. This time they are soundly defeated, first in space and then on the surface of the moon when they try to land their damaged transports. While everything points to a Confederate victory, Akemos considers this a victory as well though most within the Cabal do not know why.
* **Battle of Epsilon 319b62t (970 M41):** On a mining planetoid known only by the explorator placeholder it received when it was first discovered, was contested warzone by forces from the Cabal of Destiny and the Drukhari belonging to the Kabal of the Broken Glass as they both also wanted to enslave the miners after both teamed up in killing the defense garrison guarding them as well as their meager fortification. A full company of Void Paladins had been observing Cabal forces in preparation for a covert assault, alongside a force of Athirri Exodites hunting for stolen soulstones believed to be captured by their sadistic kin. When Allarus the Stormsword & Centurion Vellom along with his entire command squad were killed from a devastating Drukhari ambush, the xenos also ambush the Cabal forces when they try to join the battle. During the ambush Sezrion seizes Allarus' fallen weapon, the relic blade *Stormsword*, and with it is able to rally the remaining squads and scatter the enemy before launching a full on charge into the Cabal forces. During the final assault on the Cabal forces, Sezrion is sheathed in warp energy and seems to fight off a daemonic incursion of his soul while the rest of the paladins defend him from all sides. All Cabal & Drukhari forces, along with most of the Paladins and over half of their exodite allies, are killed in the brutal onslaught that follows. After this battle Sezrion is granted full ownership of *Stormsword* and all that comes with the champion rank.
* **Larani V Corruption (998.M41):** A small group of sorcerers under the command of Akemos are using their warp powers and the teachings of the Truth to force the downfall of one of their few allies within the Imperium. By making the Emperor's Truth public on that planet, the Void Paladins try to keep their converts from openly proselytizing to others, as well as causing more insidious damage in the background that eventually gets pinned to their Cult of Truth members. The hardest part for them is keeping out of notice by the Paladin company while still forcing them to show themselves on the surface.
* **13th Black Crusade (999.M41):** Used warpcraft to support the frontlines including the arcane teleportation used to insert kill squads across the planet. Also the Cabal's fleet helped secure the important orbital control for Abaddon.
* **Battle of Troii (999.M41)**: Shortly after the Imperial retreat from the Cadian gate, Abbadon had several of his newer lieutenants take a splinter fleet and set up a fortress from which to push from in the next phase of his Crusade. Archspinner Akemos took his fleet and followed a make shift imperial flotilla containing several warships belonging to the Void Paladins that docked at the planet Troii, a fortress world long meant to be a fallback point between Terra and the Eye of Terror in case Cadia ever fell. Which made it a perfect world to use as a staging area to crusade toward Terra and further his favor with Abaddon if he captured its surface intact, unlike Cadia.
* **Third Cabal Invasion of Pueblo (999.M41)**: While the Great Rift tore across the galaxy, the Cabal of Destiny gathered a large strike force that included not only their own forces but several Crews from the Dogs of Arrogance to provide the overall numbers for the assault, in order to capitalize on the weakened fabric of reality and bring a daemonic incursion upon the system. While more devastating than the last invasion this one also falls upon a substantial orbital defense grid and several fleets of warships, having also been mobilized due to the Great Rift. Heretic ground forces were deployed across Pueblo when the Dogs of Arrogance split their combined fleet and drove their warships headlong into the fray. These doomed ground troops entrenched themselves where they could but were quickly crushed by local militarum forces. Eventualy the Cabal's fleet left the Dogs to fight while they turned and fled the system. Elsewhere in the asteroid filled orbit of the gas giant Caspia, unknown to the Void Paladins and the Pueblo Confederation, Akemos lead a small coven of Cabal Sorcerers in finishing a ritual spanning all of their "failed" attempts at invading Pueblo and departed just as secretly...
* **Sacking of Horu (030.M42)**: After the Cabal of destiny left the Nuevoga system, following the completion of their ritual, and left hundreds of Dogs of Arrogance to fend for themselves against Confederate forces, the Lord of Dogs himself lead a majority of his warband in a massive fleet to the homeworld of the Cabal and ransacked the entire system trying to find Akemos. They did not find him as Akemos had been in warp space gathering allies for a final assault on the Pueblo Confederation and Void Paladins. When he returned home he was followed by an invasion fleet belonging to the Battleforged, as well as many other smaller warbands that had gathered for the upcoming war, and together forced the Dog's corsair fleet out of the system.

(To Be Added)

## Warband Organization

The warcult is led by about 30 Sorcerers from the Thousand Sons that are all in turn underlings of Akemos. Each has an Honor Guard made up of Rubric warriors, lesser Sorcerers, and normal astartes of all types. These can be a couple squads or a few companies, and serve as the personal forces of the Sorcerers. Under them are the regular variants of marines used as the main forces to gather slaves and other more mundane resources not considered worth a sorcerer's attention. this reserve force is split up into generally codex compliant reserve companies with 4 Tactical companies, 2 Raptor & Havoc companies each, and a oversized Scout company containing the warband's Neophytes.

When Xzore joined up with Akemos, he split up his veterans to jump start the Cabal's effectiveness in combat. The bottom half of his veterans skill-wise became the squad and company commanders for the warband while a quarter were split up as honor guard members for the sorcerers, and the top quarter of his veterans were kept on as his own honor guard. He also kept his own rank of Legatus to denote a defacto 2nd in command position, as well as using codex ranks and squad markings.

### Special Ranks & Titles

#### Officer Ranks

* **Archspinner** - Warband leader and considered the leader of the Sorcerer's as well.
* **Legatus** - Officer rank used to denote the military commander of the warband and 2nd in command overall though is seen as equal to the exalted sorcerers.
* **Tribune** - Chaos champion or loyalist captain equivalent. Each is under the command of an exalted sorcerer

#### Specialist Ranks

* **Lord Sorcerer** - While the warband's commander is a sorcerer as well this exalted sorcerer commands the day to day rituals of the warband.
	+ **Exalted Sorcerers**
	+ **Aspiring Sorcerers**
* **Warpsmiths**
* **Lord Apothecary**
	+ **Apothecaries**

* **Ancient** - Standard Bearer equivalent.
* **Chosen**

#### Line Ranks

* **Aspiring Champion**
* **Battle-Brother**
* **Scout Marines**
* **Neophyte**

## Warband Beliefs

(To Be Added)

## Combat Doctrine

For the most part they raid for the resources and slaves needed for their rituals or to resupply their warriors. When they actually go to battle they use their immense warpcraft to conjure storms and daemons to attack alongside their Rubric warriors and normal astartes. They use large amounts of fanatical cultists as cannon fodder to probe enemy defenses or act as a distraction.

With the favor of Abaddon on his side Akemos has access to more astartes variants like plague & sonic marines, as well as Khornate berserkers to fight for him, though on a much more begrudging level. Also, he has a squad of Abbadon's Chosen - Terminator wearing Black Legion champions, who are their as much to watch him for signs of betrayal as to protect him, though he has more than enough faith in his personal guardian to not worry about them.

## Notable Cabal Members

* ***Archspinner Akemos***- As the warband's leader he is considered the chapter master but is mostly just using everyone else to his own ends and leaves the actual tactical commanding to Xzore.
	+ ***Nesafor, Shadow of Akemos*-** Giant of a chaos marine who constantly guards Akemos, many are unsure if he is a Rubric or not. He is equipped with artificer armor similar to their older style that he has never been seen without even the helmet removed, doesn't speak to anyone but seems to understand Akemos' commands perfectly, and radiates large amounts of warp energy. Uses an Inferno bolter and a warp corrupted power axe that screams as it kills, it is rumored that the scream is either the victim's or his own soul reaching out. He has been in the company of Akemos since before he left the Thousands Sons chapter with the sorcerer mentor that he eventually killed to take over his fledgling warcult.

* ***Legatus Xzore the Splinterer***- Former Legatus of the Void Paladins that went to chaos and betrayed the chapter by stealing half of the gene-seed stored in the vault and killing the Kiseran at the time. Earned the Moniker "the Splinterer" after smashing Abba's chest with a power maul which caused his broken armor to shatter, this moment also set in motion the corruption of his power maul into the chapter relic Splinter Spike. He joined the Cabal simply because he believed that Tzeentch would, in the long run, scheme his way to the top and that he wanted to back the eventual winning side.
* ***Dark Magi Relth***- Heretek leader of the Dark Mechanicum faction joined with the Cabal of Destiny. He is currently in uncharted space on the galactic fringe that is rumored to have an advanced nanomorph civilization hidden somewhere in it. He is there to get as much intel on their tech and their own bodies, with the ultimate goal of creating a nanovirus that could transform humans into slave soldiers. He brought his own army including hordes of skitarii, combat servitors, and some titans along with his massive mobile scrap planet on par with a space hulk.
* ***Lord Sorcerer Theophiius***- Chief Librarian of the firstborn Tidebreakers turned Chaos sorcerer for the warband, while Akemos commands the warband as a sorcerer as well he leaves the day to day research of the other sorcerers to Theophiius while he pursues his own research.
* ***Lord Apothecary Marcian***- Was the Chief Apothecary of the Tidebreakers but now conducts research in the field of biology and other organic sciences, as well as oversee the creation of new recruits. He has honed the sciences behind geneseed implantation to such a degree that he would rival a Magos Biologis in his success rate, even more so considering his chaos influenced environment.
* ***Fleetmaster Nimeron***- The Navarch of Xzore's former Void Paladins cohort that followed him into following chaos. was in charge of the *False God* while Xzore lead the boarding action to steal the gene-seed. Considered the overall fleetmaster for the warband from his own personal Strike Cruiser, *the Annihilator*.
* ***1st Tribune Evgrius***- Former Chapter-Master of the Tidebreakers and now leader of the veteran company, a powerful figure both in body and in charisma. He leads from the front with his Power sword and bolter combo while protected in MkIV Praetor armour, the power armour a cherished chapter relic meant only for the Chapter-Master and the sword a personal relic created for him when he rose to Captain prior to becoming Chapter-Master of the Tidebreakers.
* ***Tribune Honratus***- Squad sergeant from the Tidebreakers Veteran company that was promoted to a captain of a battleline company after the merger, mostly due to his reputation as a skilled leader as befitting a son of Guilliman. Uses a Power axe and Plasma pistol to quickly force gaps in enemy lines, with a power blade as his back up weapon to his pistol once in the thickest of melee combat.
* ***Dynax the Hungry***- Mid-ranking commander within the warband that followed Xzore into betraying the Void Paladins and is now his right hand man in most affairs as well as his personal champion. Uses the daemonic chainspear, *Rokhar's Maw,* to rip into enemies at point blank range in spurts of bloody soul sucking violence. Considered a deranged psychopath even by his own comrades but is effective at slaughtering as many humans as possible in a short time. He relishes killing other astartes the most. Eats the flesh of injured enemies when he can, often taking a break during combat to indulge his cravings, though will try and finish them with his spear to fully steal their soul with it. Has lead many vanguards for the Cabal against both Imperial and other Chaos forces including during the Fall of Cadia. Currently part of the forces amassing to assault Troii.
* ***Exalted Sorcerer Darell (Deceased)***- Sorcerer in charge of the forces present on Epsilon 319b62t. He along with his entire force is killed after he fails to subdue Sezrion first in a ritual meant to offer his soul to a daemon already watching him as well as his physical assault when he breaks free of the ritual and quickly beheads Darell.

## Warband Appearance

### Warband Colours

The Cabal of Destiny typically paint their battle-plate in a dark blue colour with off-white or cream coloured arms and gauntlets, though their pauldrons retain the dark blue of their armour. Sorcerers and veterans use more cream colouring alongside gold for accents & trims to show their higher status.

### Warband Iconography

The chapter's iconography is a book opened up with the Eye of Tzeentch across its rough pages, all within a cream coloured sunburst.

## Warband Relics

The main relics of the Cabal is its massive library of tomes and manuscripts dating to before the Imperium. Some of them are written in xenos languages or require warpcraft to comprehend without going insane. About half of these have been taken by the Void Paladins over the centuries and locked away.

* ***Splinter Spike***- Power maul that was used to kill Abba, the warp has since corrupted it to include a flanged pick on its reverse face & dozens of daemonic quills all over its striking faces that can pierce most armors to pincushion the victim inside as it feeds of their soul. Xzore uses this as his main weapon in combat.

* ***Rokhar's Maw***- Chainspear with two rows of teeth that go opposite directions for extra cutting power. Large amounts of it is covered in a fleshy substance similar to an animals gums that secretes blood when it feels is about to be used and howls like a monster when the weapon is revving. It is possessed by a daemon that gorges itself on the victims soul, prompting its user to further acts of violence to keep the kills going. Where there would be micateeth or some other variant of cutting edge it has the unbreakable serrated teeth of the daemon itself growing from the chains that is covered in more of the fleshy substance. Even if it looks like it would instantly choke the mechanisms it will never jam as long as a true chaos warrior wields it.

(To Be Added)

## Warband Fleet

* ***The Orb (Space Hulk)***- Massive mobile scrap planet-like space hulk capable of traveling in the warp, owned by Dark Magi Relth as the command center for his Dark Mechanicum faction. Used as a space station capable of launching hundreds of fighters and attack craft for a planetary invasion, has powerful warp tech as well as forcibly integrated xenos tech to further enhance its weapon systems during these attacks.

* ***The*** ***Tzeentchi Autem* (Black Ship)**- A former Inquisition Blackship that was stolen and heavily corrupted by Akemos' former master before Akemos murdered him and took his fledgling thrallband along with his flagship. Besides the normal imperial weapons it has several warp based technologies to further slaughter enemy warships.

* ***The*** ***False God (Battle Barge)***- Was the flagship for Legatus Xzore prior to his betrayal of the Void Paladins. Originally it was named the *True Merit* before Xzore changed it right before the Night of the Splintering so that all vox hails would be tagged with the new name.
* ***The*** ***Annihilator (Strike Cruiser)***- Used as part of the fleet in Xzores cohort and was taken along with many other paladin & Confederate naval vessels during the Night of the Splintering. Flagship of the warband's Fleetmaster. It is currently upgraded to deliver far more firepower than a similar sized loyalist warship could do thanks to its warp based technology.

(To Be Added)

## Warband Relations

### Allies

#### Abaddon / Chaos Undivided

Akemos is one of many the warband leaders that gained favor with Abbadon the Despoiler for having some part in the fall of Cadia. Currently this favor has gained him many times the manpower and resources he had before, though he must obey Abaddon even if it meant being used as cannon fodder for another more favored champion.

#### Battleforged

Khornate warhost that numbers in the thousands of astartes from both the World Eaters and Iron Warriors legions, first seen with the Eye of Terror during the Slave Wars. Though they hate sorcerers like all Khorne worshipers they see the Cabal as a path to greater bloodshed and a connection to Abbadon himself. They are in fact being used as brutal fodder to further Akemos' agenda and are little more than war hounds to him. About 2000 marines & 500,000 cultists were part of the armada that assaulted the planet Troii, though many would die before the warband pulled out of the system.

#### Pain Harvesters

This warband brings the Slaaneshi aspect to the Chaos alliance brought to bear upon Troii and against the Void Paladins. Darron, the leader of the warband, is the reason the alliance stayed at least partially together after Troii.

#### Plague Ravens

Nurgle dedicated warband from a Raven Guard genestock. Though a rival of their patron god, they joined the Cabal's armada at Abaddon's command. Akemos views them with utter distain and if not for their stealth skills being needed would sacrifice them at a moments notice. About 300 plague marines and untold amounts of undead were part of the armada gathered against the planet Troii after the Fall of Cadia and continue to fight under his banner.

### Enemies

#### Dogs of Arrogance

Following the Third Cabal Invasion of Pueblo, and the Cabal seemingly fleeing the war and abandoning the Dogs to their fate, the chaos pirates have held a hardened grudge.

#### Tenebris Shades

Secretive loyalist chapter that wage a covert war of deceit & misdirection against the enemies of the Imperium that would have made Alpharius smile. They have a strike team set up just to deal with the Cabal that also includes a large group of psychic blanks to dampen the powers of nearby sorcerers & a company from the Mauryan 1532nd Combat Engineers that specialize in high risk black ops.

#### Void Paladins

The chapter from which most of their veteran marines splintered from under the leadership of Xzore, as well as the source for much of their gene-seed. To this day they are considered the main enemy of the Cabal outside of Imperial forces due to the constant harassing done to disrupt the Cabals intricate plans.

### By the Cabal of Destiny

"*Your honor means nothing now that you're dying. Know that your geneseed will be harvested as well, old fool*"
—Legatus Xzore the Splinterer right before executing a badly wounded Abba
### About the Cabal of Destiny

"*You vile traitors want some relics?! THROUGH. ME. FIRST.*"
—A young Vikres during the final charge of the traitors targeting the relic vault during the Night of the Splintering
"*Be they sadistic xenos or traitor astartes, it does not matter. we will cut them down all the same. To Arms & Fury my brothers! Ave Kiseran!*"
—Sezrion before leading the remaining Paladins into the final charge against Cabal and Drukhari forces during the Battle of Epsilon 319b62t
"*Somewhere in the depths of the warp Tzeentch is laughing at your arrogance*"
—Sezrion to the **Cabal of Destiny** Sorcerer Darell

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

[Source]