vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Pestilaan-class Light Cruiser - Pestilaan-class Light Cruiser: A Pestilaan-class Light Cruiser of Chaos is a disturbing predator of the Koronus Expanse in the Segmentum Obscurus. The vessel appears bloated and sluggish with tarnished, rusted metal, open sores scattered across the hull and odd organic protrusions. Such appearances belie the power of such a voidship, as its very diseased nature drives the unholy energies that sustain both it and its crew. It is thought that the Pestilaan-class is a long forgotten ancient class of Imperial Light Cruiser, upgunned and armoured at the price of a Light Cruiser's speed. Most of the Pestilaan-class Light Cruisers are thought to be once-proud vessels, now debased into unclean servitude after mutiny or capture by those Forces of Chaos who serve the Plague God, Nurgle.These vessels are resplendent with the very finest of Nurgle's sicknesses and diseases, to the point where any attempt to enter one is unthinkable. Attempts to board or conduct hit-and-run attacks on this voidship meet with a high degree of failure. The crews of these ships are all infected with horrific diseases. There is a very high percentage that some disease will be caught by the boarding party (usually Nurgle's Rot), and that their ship will suffer a long-term sickness which is highly virulent and difficult to cure -- unless they turn to Nurgle, thus perpetuating the cycle of Chaotic corruption.
Pestilaan-class Light Cruiser - Dimensions: Hull: Light Cruiser.Class:Pestilaan-class Light Cruiser.Dimensions: Approximately 5 kilometres long, .9 kilometres abeam.Mass: Approximately 39 Megatonnes.Crew: Approximately 50,000 crew, plus countless Lesser Daemons of Nurgle.Acceleration: 2 Gravities maximum sustainable acceleration.
Peter McLean - Peter McLean: Peter McLean is an author for Games Workshop's Black Library imprint.
Peter McLean - Astra Militarum: No Hero (Short Story) (2018, collected in Inferno! Vol 1. (Anthology))
Peter McLean - Warhammer Horror: Predation of the Eagle (Short Story) (2019, collected in Maledictions (Anthology))Blood Sacrifice (Short Story) (2019, collected in Invocations (Anthology))
Peter McLean - Others: Baphomet by Night (Short Story) (2018)Lightning Run (Short Story) (2018, collected in Nexus & Other Stories (Anthology) and Warriors and Warlords (Anthology))
Phaedra Campaign - Phaedra Campaign: The Phaedra Campaign was an Imperial military campaign undertaken by the Blood Angels Chapter of Space Marines on the Shrine World of Sabien, sometime during the 41st Millennium. At that time, Sabien had seen the largest loss of life to the Blood Angels Chapter since the battles of the Horus Heresy, and when the world had finally been pacified at the cost of untold expended lives, the Ecclesiarchy awarded custody of the planet to the Sons of Sanguinius as a reward for their sacrifices. The site of their desperate last stand against the enemies of mankind became a place of pilgrimage. The open space was littered with fallen masonry as far as the eye could see, shattered spars of rusted iron laid down upon the crumbling remains of columns. The remnants of architecture created in the ancient styles of Old Terra were everywhere.Long halls and cloisters mingled with cathedral towers that once had cut the sky with their magnificence. Now, Sabien's streets were filled with drifts of fallen stone and the towers were humbled. Only a single construction still remained in the middle of the echoing square. Canted at an angle by eruptions of some long-silenced shell fire, a statue on a stone plinth kept watch on the dead city. Somehow, the figure of an angel had never once been struck in all the madness of the fight for Sabien. It remained here now, its features worn to vague shapes, as a symbol of human will.Mephiston, Chief Librarian of the Blood Angels Space Marine Chapter had set foot on Sabien several lifetimes ago. He had been a different man then: Brother Calistarius, a mere Codicer centuries away from the events at Hades Hive that would remake him as Mephiston, Lord of Death. Yet, as much as he had changed in the intervening years, Sabien had not altered at all.
Phaenonite - The Death of Phaenon Prime: The Phaenonite Schism can be traced to a recent and specific point in space and time; the rebellion of the Vanderveken Trinity in 367.M39 during the bleakest periods of the Angevin Crusade. The Cluster was situated in an otherwise desolate area of space at the edge of former domains of the perished Madragora Sector, along the Spinward edge of the Ixaniad Sector and what several bloody years later would be formally recognised as the Calixis Sector. A trio of star systems centred around the isolated Hive World of Phaenon Prime suffered from pirate activity, xenos slaver raids, and much worse -- the region was often cut off from aid by Warp squalls -- its situation only worsened during the Crusade years as what little Imperial protection it received was cut away to aid in Angevin's wars.Increasingly embittered, Phaenon Prime's Imperial Commander declared the trinity's secession from the Imperium during the Crusade's weakest ebb. He bargained that the authorities' preoccupation with the bloody toll of the ongoing conquest of the Calyx Expanse would protect him from swift retribution. The Renegades soon crushed any resistance from their neighbors with the aid of voidships from their new pirate allies, and in an orgy of bloodletting, he threw down the blessed icons of the Adeptus Ministorum and raised the foul idols of Chaos in their place. However, the Traitor Governor of Phaenon Prime had badly miscalculated the Imperium's response.Already on the way to reinforce the floundering Crusade effort was an Inquisitorial taskforce under the command of the notorious Xanthite and warlord Kobras Aquairre. Along with his own private warfleet and a Strike Cruiser of the Charnel Guard Astartes Chapter, Aquairre was quickly re-diverted to quell the rebellion with extreme prejudice. Smashing aside the raider ships and crippling the planetary defences, the Inquisitor Lord's judgment on Phaenon Prime was as harsh as it was merciless, and he deployed the Life-Eater virus without delay.A Hive World of fourteen billion souls was slaughtered in punishment for their pride and blasphemy unto the last living thing. In the aftermath, Aquairre deployed a force of several Inquisitors from his personal staff and their retinues as well as an Adeptus Mechanicus detachment from his forces to the now dead planet in order to discern what could be found from the wreckage.He was particularly interested in the daemon-tainted war machines deployed against the Crusaders during their assaults. Kobras Aquairre swiftly moved on to join the war for Calyx, restless as ever for new conquests and fresh horrors with which to do battle. By his order, Phaenon Prime was given over as a dominion of the Holy Ordos. After the Crusade once again gathered strength rimward and pushed into the terrors of its Hazeroth and Adrantis phases, the planet -- emptied of life and conveniently isolated -- quickly began to be used as a repository for captured weapons and prisoners to be studied by the cabal of Xanthites drawn to the distant Dead World.
Phaenonite - The Shadow of the Dark Mechanicus: The Adeptus Mechanicus hold their darkest hatred for those Renegade forces of their own brethren that turned on them during the Horus Heresy, Traitors who live on to this day as the Dark Mechanicus. The forbidden histories of those terrible days show that the destruction wrought by the Traitors on Mars and in a dozen other spheres of war was unparalleled, and have left a stain of the soul of the Omnissiah's priesthood that has never been cleansed.In the aftermath of the Warmaster's fall, many of the Dark Mechanicus who survived found sanctuary with the various Traitor Legions and in dark corners of the Imperium where their terrible arts have prospered and their undying hatred of the Imperium has festered down the millennium. The forbidden psycho-Sonic Weapons of the Emperor's Children, the gene-atrocities of the hated Fabius Bile, the malign perversion of the techno-viral technology used to create the terrible Obliterators -- all have been laid at the Dark Mechanicus' door. Hellish Forge Worlds bestrode by cyber-daemonic overlords deep within the Eye of Terror ceaselessly churn out the weapons and munitions that arm the Forces of Chaos and fuel the dreaded Black Crusades.The Phaenonite faction looks on the Dark Mechanicus with jealous eyes and covets its ancient and twisted designs for their own use. They also see the Dark Magi themselves to be an object lesson in the inherent weakness of the Tech-priesthood, regardless of who or what its serves. The Phaenonites believe them to be no more than deluded and enslaved pawns of Chaos, no better than their parochial counterparts of the machine cult. To the Phaenonites, the Dark Mechanicus and the Traitor Legions both are small-minded fools who have squandered the power in their grasp and now dance to the sound of the laughter of the Chaos Gods, who gave them all they desired until it choked them.
Phaenonite - The Art of Destruction: No mere group of shadowed conspirators and outlaws, Phaenonism is also an ideological doctrine, and its followers believe fanatically in the fundamental rightness of their cause. Inquisitors (Radical or otherwise) are by their very nature usually men and women of conviction, and the Phaenonite creed is centred on the mastery of the Warp via technology for a reason beyond the power it may grant -- for the future fate of all humanity. For those that come to it, the Phaenonite path offers the only viable way that Mankind can survive the horrors and growing threats that assail the Imperium on all sides. For them, the weapons and tools of the past and the prating ideologies that would offer no more than a retreat into superstition and fear are antiquated and useless. A truly visionary way is required to ensure the future dominion of existence rests in human hands.At the core of the Phaenonite philosophy is the harnessing of the Warp and the enslavement of the daemon by use of arcane technological processes whose nature has been long forbidden to the Imperium. The doctrine -- which as an outgrowth of the Xanthite ethos focused on a technological method rather than an entirely occult one to achieve their goals (as the Xanthites are wont) -- rapidly and quickly mutated into something far worse, taking onboard the most extreme doctrines of Monodomination.The Phaenonites quickly cast aside the creed both of the God-Emperor and the worship of Chaos, and instead came to the conviction that Mankind's destiny lay as a fusion of man and machine, united and made immortal by the limitless and protean energies of the Warp. If the Phaenonites can be said to have any god at all it is ambition, for they do not bend their knees to worship but crave instead to be worshipped, to crush the cosmos beneath their heel and become lords of all that is or will be.The Phaenonites see the Imperium reborn under their leadership and see humanity shaped in their hands as clay on the potter's wheel to become the ultimate masters of machine, flesh, matter, and spirit. For this to come to pass, the Phaenonites know that the body politic of the Imperium must be decapitated and replaced, and the deluded slaves of the Ruinous Powers must be destroyed entirely to make way for their new order.Recognising that their numbers are few and their enemies many, the outlawed faction's first goal has been to acquire and develop superior machineries of destruction in order to accomplish their ends. This quest has lead them to gather the darkest of Hereteks and Renegades to their hidden forces and pursue knowledge and malevolent invention unfettered by the dictates of the Imperium, the ancient traditions of the Adeptus Mechanicus, or the restraints of morality and sanity.In doing so, they have fast forged for themselves tools and weapons of shocking power and also great risk even to themselves. These weapons are made all the more dangerous by the Phaenonites who use them with all the subtlety and guile that might be expected of members of the Inquisition.
Phaenonite - Weapons of the Phaenonites: The Phaenonites' power is best manifested by their brutally efficient armaments and their skill in wielding them. To this end, their organised cells have a tendency to stockpile weapons and equipment, and the members boast a high degree of individual augmentation, both of a mundane and more esoteric quality. As a result, Phaenonite Inquisitors and their Acolytes rarely take to the field unprepared, often concealing their most fearsome wargear, daemonically-infused cybernetic systems, and Warp-augmented weapons until they are needed, giving them an unforeseen and terrifying advantage over their foes.Although they have been known to make use of ancient Terran and xenos designs, the principal obsession of the Phaenonites is the fusion of technology with the occult lore they have acquired, thereby investing it with the power of the Warp -- a development they consider ultimately superior to all other systems. Though dangerously unpredictable, this often–nightmarish category of devices is referred to as "maltek" by the Adeptus Mechanicus and can prove extremely effective and difficult to counter.Such technology can range from bolt ammunition that unleashes mutating Chaos energies to aetheric signal generators capable of disrupting psychic powers and decimating psykers over a wide area. One of their more recent developments is rapidly becoming a signature -- the Maltek Stalker. It is an assassination engine, a human killer or Death Cultist which has been augmented with proscribed bionic systems and graven with runes of occult power, combining a human's mastery of lethal skill with unyielding metal and a daemon's fury.
Phaenonite - Current Conspiracies: The current goals of the Phaenonite faction are threefold; infiltration, expansion, and acquisition, all geared towards the end of regaining their fallen might and ultimately to exceed it. From their small remaining seed, they have long planned to spread their Radicalism to the Calixian Inquisition and subvert it from within, until one day the shadow can consume the substance -- fitting vengeance against the force that once all but destroyed them.Driven almost to extinction by Inquisitorial purge two Terran millennia ago, the few Phaenonites that remained were scattered and much reduced, but it was a fatal mistake for the Calixian Conclave to believe that they were powerless and effectively destroyed. Cast out of their stronghold, the survivors fled, bearing with them terrible weapons and forbidden lore from the shattered world of Phaenon Prime, some taking refuge deep within the anonymity of distant sectors whilst others took to the limitless voids beyond the edge of the Halo Stars, there to purse their nightmare sciences beyond the writ of the Imperium to interfere.Nor were all their agents ever fully rooted out and purged. Instead, sinking into secret obscurity, they watched and waited. With spider-patience, these agents slowly spun their webs. So the cancer of the Phaenonite conspiracy slept deep in the marrow of the Calixis body politic, and as the sector grew and history took its course, the Phaenonites became lost almost to Inquisitorial myth. Their transgressions were deleted from the records, their enormities replaced in the minds of the Conclave by a succession of more immediate threats and conspiracies down the centuries. So matters remained, until events came into configuration to herald this monstrous faction's return.
Phaenonite - Evil Calls out to Evil: Drawn back from the outer darkness, the agents of the ancient Phaenonites returned in subtle force to the Calixis Sector by the actions of one man; the Renegade Explorator Archmagos Umbra Malygris, whose recent rebellion had riven the Calixian Cult Mechanicus with civil war. An insane genius and master of arcane technology beyond all measure, the Phaenonites had hoped to make an alliance with Malygris and perhaps offer him safe haven elsewhere to carry out his work.The Phaenonite cell quickly re-established contact with those who had kept their ancient faith. Identifying and making alliance by insidious corruption and malign force with Calixian Inquisitors who might be suborned to their cause, the Phaenonites mounted their own shadowy pursuit of the Renegade Tech-priest. Although the Phaenonites made contact with Malygris, he proved to be too dangerous and erratic for even the Phaenonites to manipulate or control, and crossing the dark Archmagos' path nearly resulted in the Phaenonite cells' complete destruction. In fact, the operation partly exposed the Phaenonites' returned presence to the Calixian Conclave for the first time.
Phaenonite - The Spread of the Phaenonite Taint: Even though their primary mission had failed, the Phaenonites decided they had indeed made a wise choice in coming to the Calixis Sector. They found it rife with corruption, conspiracy, and dark lore, its Conclave turbulent and sown with factionalism and discord. This afforded the Phaenonites many opportunities to hide in the shadows, further their pursuit of power, and expand their influence. Soon, the surviving cell members and their agents were in pursuit of the plethora of ancient secrets that lay buried beneath the Calixis Sector's civilised façade on the damned worlds at its fringes that still echoed to the footsteps of older races than Man.In the short span of Terran years since then, the Phaenonites have sunk their claws into both the Calixian Conclave and the Adepta, corrupting some, converting others and outright murdering and replacing a few. Few in actual number, there are perhaps no more than perhaps a dozen true Phaenonite Inquisitors in the Calixian Conclave and none openly known as such by their fellows, but these are the tip of the iceberg for the Phaenonites' organisation.They have in a short span of years proved frighteningly adept in building up their powerbase, and possess resources extraordinarily extensive for a faction of their size, bankrolling several minor noble houses and free trade captains, and now have agents highly placed both in the sector's Commercia and the Cold Guild. They have also proved more than able to deal with opposition in the shape of local cults, and other more wisely spread conspiracies and rivals for the main part, able to call both on their own dark might, and the veneer of Inquisition authority when needed.
Phaenonite - The Infiltration of Idumea: The greatest inroads the Phaenonites have made into the governance of a Calixian world have been into the Machine Cult on the minor Forge World of Idumea. Long disadvantaged by its location on the edge of the Hazeroth Abyss and lack of strategic importance, the Forge Masters of Idumea have for centuries considered themselves to be sidelined and undermined by the central Mechanicus authorities of the Lathe System, a disaffection the Phaenonites have been quick to exploit. Much of Idumea's upper echelons were hopelessly entrapped by the Phaenonite conspiracy, corrupted by the offer of forbidden technological lore and coerced through a concentrated program of targeted murders and sabotage. The Forge World itself now houses numerous secret facilities for the faction, as well as serving to provide a steady supply of manpower, experimental subjects, and a hidden port.The Phaenonite infiltration of Idumea and its activities on nearby worlds have caused the Phaenonites an unforeseen problem -- the attentions of the Amaranthine Syndicate. The Syndicate is a mercenary alliance of far traders and smugglers operating within the deeps of the Hazeroth Abyss. At first, it seemed a perfect target for the Phaenonites' attention. However, as they moved against the group, it quickly became apparent that they had made a grave error. The Syndicate proved already to be the cat's-paw of another, darker force more than able to take on and destroy the Phaenonite agents with almost contemptuous ease.Rather than fight a war against a power whose nature and extent they did not fully understand the Phaenonites are now giving the Syndicate a wide berth where they can until they can find out more. This reversal has placed them in an invidious position, and so now they must thread a tightrope of bringing other, more legitimate Inquisitorial authorities to bear on what is a clear threat not only to them but to the sector itself, and do so without exposing their own true nature in the process. Regardless, the Phaenonite conspiracy's pride and power has been directly challenged, and it will see the Amaranthine Syndicate and its mysterious backers destroyed at any cost. The Syndicate is not the only group with unseen masters stalking the dark stars beyond the Imperium's borders that be called on if needed...
Phaenonite - The Altar of Genocide: A fragment of dark lore that has obsessed several of the Calixian Phaenonites since the faction's arrival in the sector concerns what some sources name as the "Altar of Genocide." Referred to repeatedly but obliquely by the fragments of techno-arcane lore left behind in the wake of the insane Archmagos Umbra Malygris, the "altar" is reputed to be a hidden vault containing the master templates for all of Malygris' dark creations, as well as dread artefacts recovered or seized in his long career as an Explorator out beyond the Emperor's light.The myth has brought the Phaenonites into conflict both open and covert with other seekers for its nightmarish treasures that have included rival Inquisitors, Explorators, and -- most bloodily -- the rival heretical tech-cult called the Logicians. A widespread and powerful conspiracy of uncertain origin, the agents of the Logicians have battled the Phaenonites elsewhere and quickly recognised their rivals for what they were. Since then, the Logician presence in the Calixis Sector has plotted to expose the Phaenonites' presence to the Holy Ordos, hoping that the Inquisition will do them the service of wiping out this hated rival, whilst the Phaenonites have likewise plotted to do the same in return from within the Conclave.
Phaenonite - The Phaenonites and other Inquisitorial Factions: The Phaenonite faction holds the rest of the Inquisition in murderous contempt, as only those that have been persecuted and hunted beyond reason can. Of the other factions, Radical or otherwise, they reserve a particular hatred for the Xanthites. This group both gave birth to the Phaenonite splinter doctrine and were at the forefront of their past denunciation and destruction.Phaenonites also loathe the Thorians, who for them, personify the Imperium's greatest failings. Phaenonites are also singularly dismissive of the Recongregators, who they see as holding a naive and weakling dilution of their own position. If the Phaenonites were to find a common cause with any of the other Radical fractions of the Holy Ordos, it would be perhaps the Istvaanians, as their goal of strengthening the Imperium through conflict and the use of any means necessary to do so resonates with the Phaenonites own practices.Recently, the Phaenonites have come into intelligence regarding the "cult" known of the Sleepers of Solomon and its possible links to a hyperextremist Istvaanian faction. Although they have yet to make any concrete contact, the Phaenonites are highly interested in the cult's motives and methodology if their intelligence proves to be true.For the other factions of the Calixian Conclave and its high authorities, the Phaenonites presence is more rumour than fact. Save for their exposure when battling Malygris' followers, they have done all they can to preserve their secrecy and security. Several Inquisitors have, in fact, encountered them in the past, but have been unable to firmly ascertain their nature. More than one such Inquisitor holds definite suspicions as to the Phaenonites' true identity.As the Phaenonites grow in power and numbers, however, so does their chance of discovery. If their presence were to be evidenced in the sector, they can expect opposition and inquest from the whole Conclave thanks to their excommunicate status and legendary horrors, and above all, the Oblationists who would stop at nothing to see them destroyed if they knew of their existence.
Phaenonite - Beyond the Emperor’s Grace: Unlike many of the other Radical factions, the Phaenonites have been rendered Excommunicate Tratoris by the High Lords of the Inquisition itself. This fact makes the Phaenonites far more than suspect Radicals whose individual actions might lead to their destruction by the Holy Ordos; it casts them squarely among the foremost of the Imperium's enemies, unprotected in any way by the rights and authority that an Inquisitor or their servants would usually possess.In short, for the Phaenonites, there is no "benefit of the doubt," no right to dabble with what for others is forbidden, and no right of trial before the Conclave. If any member of the Holy Ordos, from Inquisitor Lord to the lowliest Acolyte, falls under the accusation of being a Phaenonite or of harbouring or aiding them -- however unwillingly -- they can expect only death at the hands of their fellow Inquisitors. In becoming a Phaenonite, or even in serving one, an individual (no matter what their rank or connections) has essentially embraced a sentence of death. They must be prepared to stop at nothing and balk at no act of violence or betrayal in order to maintain their secret and in doing so survive.Likewise, if others confront a Phaenonite or uncover their intrigues during the course of a wider investigation, they must be prepared to face an enemy of great subtlety and power who will stop at nothing in order to defend themselves and will never submit to the Holy Ordos for judgement. With nothing to lose, Phaenonites are more than willing to unleash their darkest arts in order to make good their escape or to carry out their mission, regardless of who or how many die in the process.
Phaenonite - Acolytes of the Phaenonites: Most of those who serve a Phaenonite master have no idea that they are doing so. Most such Inquisitors hide under the guise of an independent operator or offer lip service to one of the major Ordos only to better conceal their true allegiance or spy on the wider Conclave. Some few claim to be operating under special secrecy and keep their entire operations hidden from the Calixian Conclave.This last group are in fact true Renegades, Phaenonites either believed dead or on the run from Conclave authorities for their crimes. They rely upon distance and concealment for their safety. Life for Acolytes (ignorant of their leader's terrible secret), in service to such masters can be harsh indeed. They are considered to be entirely disposable tools to be used as the Inquisitor wills it.As such, the Phaenonites have use for Acolytes of every background and persuasion to some extent, with the exception that they never bring the Sororitas into their service and only have interest in Ecclesiarchy Priests whose faith is less than sincere. Their favoured agents, however, are killers of one sort or another. Former Imperial Guardsmen and murderous scum are chosen for their brawn and moral adaptability respectively, while Tech-adepts who have strayed from the Cult Mechanicus' orthodox teachings are particularly valued as potential assets for the Phaenonite's "great work."The most talented, promising, or simply the most callous Acolytes in a Phaenonite Inquisitor's service will find themselves singled out for special attention to bring them into the true fold, either by conviction, manipulation, or (if necessary) mental reconstruction. These chosen Acolytes are then branded with a Warp-infused electoo that marks them as belonging to their master, body and soul. It is likely that further darkly tainted augmetics and other "improvements" will follow.
Phaeton - Phaeton: PhaetonForge WorldAdeptus MechanicusSegmentum Solarisland worldAstra MilitarumLegio OsedaxTitan LegionLeman Russ Tank
Phaeton - History: Much of the early history of Phaeton has been lost due to the passage of time, but with the end of the Age of Strife and the launching of the Emperor of Mankind's Great Crusade into the stars, one of the first tasks of Imperial expansion from Terra was to link up with a number of key domains within the Segmentum Solar identified as vital to the Great Crusade's success. Crucial among these were several Forge Worlds with whom the Mechanicum of Mars had maintained some relationship throughout the tribulations of the later centuries of Old Night. In many cases, these inclusions went without difficulty, and the newly-contacted Forge Worlds willingly bent the knee to Mars without qualm, but in others such as Phaeton, inclusion in the Imperium was the matter of some negotiation and difficulty, and the final acquiescence bought with considerably more autonomy than the Fabricator-General of Mars would perhaps have preferred from a vassal-domain.What began as a coldly cordial relationship quickly grew into one of veiled and open rivalry, with Phaeton's position further strengthened by its quickly becoming perhaps the second-most productive Forge World of the Great Crusade until the later discovery of mighty Anvilus. Although never faltering in its committment to the Great Crusade,machinations by the authorities of Mars brought matters close to outright conflict over doctrine and subtle accusations that Phaeton was building its military assets to threatening levels, and this began to have a corrosive effect on the Forge World's reputation -- to the point where the storm clouds of hostile censure and perhaps even armed retribution gathered. At last, the Revered-Comptroller of Phaeton Prime, realising that his domain could not stand before such power, brokered a compromise, offering publicly to give up a full third of his world's engines, armed forces and chattels in the interests of equanimity with Mars. This was quickly agreed, but as the Fabricator-General, no doubt with some lust for the task, despatched an assayance taskforce to Phaeton, he discovered that he had been outmanoeuvred.Rather than give up its lore and dominion to Mars, Phaeton had created a fleet of vast Explorator Arks, and into these were divided an equal third part of its priesthood, chattels and machineries, and even as the Martian emissaries looked on, they were despatched into the void. Conflict was averted, Phaeton diminished and its subservience assured, but it and its allies gained a long-burning antipathy towards Mars and its masters. After a long and perilous journey through the Warp, the Phaetonite Covenant alighted in the vicinity of the white super-giant star Atarath, on what was then the edge of known space. Here they founded the fledging Forge World of Atar-Median in its shadow, on one of the many rogue planets caught in the colossal star's gravitational pull.
Phaeton - The Bequest of Phaeton: In the final year of the 38th Millennium, the lords of Phaeton were stunned when their primary manufactorum produced a variant hull of the Land Raider not described in any archive of known machine canon. Outwardly, the hull differed little from the thousands produced before, yet its internal systems were constructed to such a high tolerance that, once the artificers had completed initial machine supplications, the result was declared superior amongst war machines. Subsequent investigations determined that the forge was operating under a deep-core automated production protocol that took millennia to cycle through, thus no Tech-priest had ever witnessed it before. It seemed that at the dawn of the Imperium, some unknown Magi had coded a slow-burn quota sequence into the forge's automated production nodes, so that it produced variants of common patterns of vehicle according to his pre-cognative calculations regarding what would be needed in the future in order to prosecute the wars of the Imperium.To date, the forge has produced seven more variants of common Space Marine war machines, some exceptional examples of existing patterns, others entirely novel and never seen before or since. An entire sub-cult has emerged in recent years based around this, a body of Tech-priests devoted to predicting the bounty of Phaeton's primary forge and working to ensure that its creations are given all due reverence. There are some within this cult who would enshrine such lordly war machines that all might adore them, while others hold that such engines are clearly destined to do great deeds and should be released into the service of the Adeptus Astartes that they might realise their glorious potential. The matter has yet to be settled, and it is likely that the next Bequest of Phaeton, when it comes, will precipitate a schism within the Tech-priests of this mighty Forge World.
Phaeton - Manufactoria Capabilities: As a major Forge World of the Imperium, Phaeton is known to produce an array of arms, vehicles and equipment including: Earthshaker Cannon Platforms, Sabre Gun Platforms, the powerful Demolisher Cannon, Lascannons and powerpacks, as well as several patterns of standard Leman Russ Tanks including the Leman Russ Demolisher.
Phaeton - Sources: Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus - Skitarii (7th Edition), "Bastions of the Machine God, pg. 17 (Map)Imperial Armour Volume One - Imperial Guard & Imperial Navy, pp. 8, 11, 15-16, 97, 185, 251Imperial Armour Volume One - Second Edition: Imperial Guard, pp. 10, 13, 25, 189, 207Imperial Armour Volume Two - Second Edition: War Machines of the Adeptus Astartes, pg. 12Imperial Armour - Imperial Vehicles for Warhammer 40,000, pg. 30The Horus Heresy - Book Two: Massacre (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 156-157White Dwarf 318 (UK), "Arming for Medusa - Part 1: The Imperial Muster," pg. 94
Phalanx - Horus Heresy: For much of the Horus Heresy, Phalanx was stationed in orbit of Terra and used as Rogal Dorn's command centre in the primarch's role as the Praetorian of Terra and overseer of the defences of the Imperial Palace. However as the Warmaster Horus' Traitor forces advanced into the Sol System, Dorn eventually moved his headquarters to the Bhab Bastion of the Imperial Palace.During the final stages of the Solar War, Dorn intended to use Phalanx to shatter the Traitor armada emerging out of the Warp near Luna and Mars. To do so, he took personal command of the vessel.However, the Remembrancer Mersadie Oliton unwittingly unleashed the Daemon Samus on the great star fortress.Samus and its daemonic hordes were on the verge of capturing Phalanx for the Traitors and Dorn was about to order its self-destruction when Oliton committed suicide and closed the portal she had unintentionally created, banishing the Daemons through the same rift into the Immaterium from which they had come.Phalanx was badly damaged during the battle, and with the Traitor forces closing in to begin the Siege of Terra, Rogal Dorn ordered the Armada Imperialis Admiral Niora Su-Kassen to take the star fortress into the outer reaches of the Sol System in order to both save it and wage war on the rear echelons of the Traitor armada.
Phalanx - War of the Beast: By the mid-32nd Millennium, Phalanx was already in a state of decay. Built to sustain a full Space Marine Legion, it was far too large to be garrisoned and maintained by a mere Chapter of one thousand Space Marines.Most of its vast docking bays were deserted, and the Imperium's inability to replicate its ancient technologies resulted in even minor damage creating significant operational troubles.Thus, during the War of the Beast, Phalanx was moved to the space between Terra and Venus in the Sol System so as to not risk it against the Ork Attack Moons.
Phalanx - 13th Black Crusade: Phalanx was almost destroyed during the 13th Black Crusade in ca. 999.M41 at the fall of Cadia when it unexpectedly came to the aid of the defenders of that Fortress World, first by a daemonic infestation that overran its decks during Warp transit, and then by the prodigious firepower of the armada of Traitor Legion warships gathered in the Cadia System.As the 13th Black Crusade opened, the Imperial Fists 3rd Company was defending Phalanx from a daemonic boarding action led by the Iron Warriors Warsmith Shon'tu and the Daemon Prince Be'lakor.Shon'tu and Be'lakor sought to outdo Abaddon's goal of breaking through the Cadian Gate to drive on Terra by infesting the massive starship while on station in the Sol System and using it to bombard the Imperial Palace, circumventing the  creation of the Crimson Path altogether.Captain Tor Garadon was the commander of the 3rd Company and tasked with the defence of Phalanx. His forces inflicted extreme casualties on the attackers and maneuvered Phalanx into the Warp in order to protect Holy Terra should they fail in repelling the assault.The Legion of the Damned arrived aboard Phalanx to assist Garadon's forces as the battle grew desperate for the Imperial Fist defenders. The Iron Warriors used daemonic scrap-code to take control of much of the starship, forcing Garadon to turn Phalanx's guns on itself to cleanse the sections infected by the Chaos-corrupted computer virus.Ultimately, Be'lakor summoned a Warp rift aboard Phalanx but as victory seemed certain for for the forces of Chaos the phantom Astartes of the Legion of the Damned turned the tide. Yet, approximately ten percent of the vast starship was rendered unusable in the course of the battle for control over it.With the Legion of the Damned still aboard, Garadon next guided Phalanx to Cadia, where it destroyed the Blackstone Fortress Will of Eternity after its shields were disabled by a force of Space Wolves commanded by the Wolf Lord Sven Bloodhowl.The great vessel persevered through all of these hazards, however, successfully bearing many faithful Imperial warriors who escaped the fall of Cadia back to the Sol System and resuming its time-honoured position in orbit above the Throneworld, standing guard over the cradle of Humanity on the orders of the resurrected Lord Commander of the Imperium Roboute Guilliman.
Phalanx - Era Indomitus: Since the end of the 13th Black Crusade, repairs have been under way to restore Phalanx to its full functionality, and to purify those zones of the voidcraft deemed tainted by the touch of Chaos during the assault of Be'lakor and Shon'tu.Amidst the endless bustle, the toing and froing of gene-bulked work gangs, and the interminable rites of the Adeptus Ministorum, the Adeptus Custodes have had little difficulty seeding agents onto the craft.Hidden in plain sight, these intruders keep careful watch over what they view as a dangerously potent Adeptus Astartes war engine, and stand ready to take whatever action they must. To the Custodians, even the most loyal Space Marine Chapters will always be potential Traitors.It is their duty never to forgive, nor forget, what trust in the primarchs led to during the Heresy. Thus, were Phalanx ever to direct its guns towards the Imperial Palace, the Custodians would enact veiled protocols that would see it scuttled before it could fire a shot.By the time the Indomitus Crusade began to mark the start of the Era Indomitus, Phalanx was badly damaged, much of its ancient technology nonfunctional or long-decayed. In an act of solidarity, the Shadowkeepers of the Adeptus Custodes opened one of their Dark Cells and provided the Imperial Fists with secret technology long kept hidden within the bowels of the Imperial Palace, giving the sons of Rogal Dorn a chance to restore the star fortress' full capacities.The vessel now operates at a level of readiness and efficiency that has not been seen in centuries.
Phalanx - Arena Restricta: Onboard the Phalanx, and in the Strike Cruisers and larger starships of the Imperial Fist Chapter fleet, can be found the Arena Restricta, sacred halls hung with ancient and storied blades, temples dedicated to the worship of the sword.And upon that hallowed ground, battle-brothers draw their blades against one another, their feet secured in blocks of gleaming steel, while their brethren sit in solemn witness from above. The Imperial Fists Astartes duel to settle a dispute, or to prove the strength of one proposition against its counter, or merely to test the mettle of one battle-brother against another.And though the wounds inflicted in the honour duel are seldom fatal, it is rare to find an Imperial Fist of long years who does not bear somewhere on him the badges of honour won in the Arena Restricta.
Phalanx - Foredeck: The massive foredeck of the great vessel was able to accept large transport ships, including the High Lords of Terra's ship Potus Terrae, the equivalent in size of a light cruiser. The dock itself had a massive atrium covered in ornate panels and had four large, decorated docking corridors that allowed entrance into the ship.The concourse was huge, over 100 metres high with a domed ceiling decorated with Legionary and Chapter victories. A 30 metre-wide diamond sat at the top of the dome, the walls held beautiful reliefs, and the marble floor was further decorated with a mosaic of Imperial Fist imagery.At the other end was a massive staircase leading to a kilometres-long hall containing various trophies of conquest.Adjacent to the trophy hall was another corridor with a grand but smaller stairway and corridor that contained damage from fighting during the War of the Beast.At one end of the smaller corridor was a hall for dining and a chamber surrounded with plain glass for meetings. The chamber held a black, circular table and a finely crafted statue of a Space Marine in the center of the room.This foredeck is so large that it can dock a dozen large cruisers and has developed its own ecosystem, complete with unique species of animal life that have had their own evolutionary history aboard the ship.
Phalanx - Sigismunda Tactica: This area of the mighty star fortress was the heart of Phalanx. It spanned the barracks deck and was a kilometre and a half wide. The Forge of Ages was anchored on one end, beyond which lay a tangle of engineering areas and power and coolant conduits.The other flank of this large area terminated in the Rynn's World Memorial, an amphitheatre of granite inscribed with the names of the Crimson Fists lost in the infamous near-destruction of their fortress-monastery by the Orks during their assault upon that homeworld of the Imperial Fists' Successor Chapter.A large, carved stone tableau contained carved battle scenes from the Rynn World's campaign.
Phalanx - Observatory: The Observatory was one of the Phalanx's many follies, a viewing dome built as a throne room for past Chapter Masters, where the transparent dome afforded a dramatic enough view of space to intimidate the Chapter's guests who came there to petition the lords of the Imperial Fists.The former Imperial Fists Chapter Master Vladimir Pugh had little need for such shows of intimidation and kept the Observatory closed for years.
Phalanx - Librarium: The Phalanx also possessed a large Librarium which contained accumulated knowledge dating back to the bygone era of the Great Crusade. These vast repositories of knowledge were maintained by the ship's archivists, a curious breed even by the standards of the Void Born.Most had been born on the ship -- the few who had not had been purchased in childhood as Chapter serfs to serve as apprentices to the aged Chapter functionaries. An archivist's purpose was to maintain the enormous parchment rolls on which the deeds and histories of the Imperial Fists were recorded.Those massive rolls, three times the height of a man and twice as broad, hung on their rollers from the walls of the cylindrical archive shaft, giving it the appearance of the inside of an insect hive bulging with pale cells.An archivist therefore lived to record the deeds of those greater than him. An archivist was not really a person at all, but a human-shaped shadow tolerated to exist only as far as his duties required. They did not have names, but were referred to by function. They were essentially interchangeable.These strange, dusty, dried-out people had eyes preserved by goggles and their fingers were nothing more than thin bony spindles. They schooled their apprentices in the art of abandoning one's own personality.Several archivists would write on the fresh surfaces of recently installed parchment rolls, their nimble fingers noting down the transmissions in delicate longhand. Others would be illuminating the borders and capital letters.
Phalanx - Apothecarion: The Phalanx is said to possess some of the finest medicae facilities in the Imperium within its onboard Apothecarion and the sickbays used by the ship's personnel.
Phalanx - Internal Defences: The Phalanx had been designed -- whenever it had been designed, before the Age of the Imperium -- to survive.Any hostiles who boarded the immense ship might find themselves trapped in the tight, winding corridors of the engineering and maintenance areas just beneath the hull's skin, separated from the vast ship's more vulnerable areas by hundreds of automated bulkhead doors and whole sections of outer deck that could be vented into hard vacuum with the press of a control stud.
Phalanx - Panpsychicon: A little known area of the Phalanx lay deep within the bowels of the mighty star fortress. Known as the Panpsychicon, this was an unsuccessful experiment that had laid dormant for two standard centuries. The circular expanse of the Panpsychicon was bounded by smooth walls inlaid with mosaics.The names of a hundred great battles from Imperial Fists history were depicted there in patterns of brightly coloured stone shards, surrounded by complex heraldries that spiralled into an unbroken pattern. Even the name Terra was picked out among the heraldry, commemorating the part the Imperial Fists had played in the battle for the Emperor's Imperial Palace ten thousand standard years before at the Siege of Terra.In the centre of the Panpsychicon was a device of steel and crystal that reached the ceiling, something like a set of interlocking spider’s webs in which were suspended cut slabs and chunks of crystal like giant gemstones.A rainbow of colours reflected from every surface, creating a maddening nest of shapes and light that refused attempts to view it as a normal object in three dimensions.There were manacles set into the floor, one of dozens set in concentric circles around the central device. Some enemies of the Imperium resisted traditional interrogation techniques, particularly psykers amongst them. The Panpsychicon was built to rid them of their mental barriers. It was a machine built to grind down men's souls.Only the Inquisition made use of such devices, but with varying degrees of success. Never before had one been built on such a scale. The Panpsychicon was a relic of the past, one rarely spoken of by the Imperial Fists themselves.
Phalanx - Strategium: The strategium is the command bridge of not only Phalanx but also the headquarters of the Imperial Fists Chapter fleet.The strategium contains the Hand of Dorn, supposedly the last remaining portion of the body of the Imperial Fists' primarch, which members of the Chapter renew their vows before.
Phalanx - Hall Martalis: The Hall Martalis was the location of the vessel where aspirants seeking to join the Chapter are gathered and trained.
Phalanx - Temple of Oaths: The Temple of Oaths was an Imperial shrine located deep inside the star fortress.Once the spiritual heart of the Imperial Fists Legion, today it is sealed, for those who were once to permitted to walk its halls without leave from Rogal Dorn are long dead.
Phalanx - Cloister of Remembrance: The Cloister of Remembrance is another Imperial shrine kept aboard Phalanx and the closest current equivalent for the Chapter to the ancient Temple of Oaths.It is here where captured trophies and battle honors are kept and where Captains of the Chapter renew their oaths. The Cloister is unfurnished and austere.
Phalanx - Scriptum Ascenda: The Scriptum Ascenda is an archive of the Imperial Fists aboard Phalanx. Containing commentaries by Rogal Dorn on the events of the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy, the texts are said to be shockingly blunt and matter of fact in their manner.Only members of the Imperial Fists 5th Company, the Chapter's Librarius, and the Reclusiam are permitted access.Over time, however, the archive has become damaged and decayed and today what were originally great military schema and predictions of the future are now reduced to garbled prophecy.During the 13th Black Crusade in the battle with the Black Fleet over Cadia, the Scriptum Ascenda was badly damaged.