vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Koronus Expanse - Children of Thorns: When voidfarers in the Koronus Expanse speak of the fickle and vicious ways of Aeldari Corsairs, their tales most often speak of the corsairs known as the Children of Thorns, who are actually a renegade kabal of the Drukhari. Clad in glossy, beetle-black Kabalite Armour, the proud and capricious Kabalite Warriors of the Children of Thorns are merciless in combat and are said to slaughter their enemies to the last once battle is joined.The Children of Thorns are one of the weaker Drukhari kabals. Exiled from the Drukhari's city of Commorragh in the Webway, the Children of Thorns consist of ex-slaves, fugitives, the dregs of Commorrite society, and fallen Drukhari lords who have come together in an attempt to regain their glory. To do this, they spend most of their time in realspace in search of slaves and plunder and have even allied with ambitious Human lords, such as the secessionist Duke Severus XIII of the Calixis Sector's Periphery Sub-sector.They are also active within the Warp storm known as the Screaming Vortex, where they also collect slaves and weapons from among the Human Heretics and servants of Chaos who find refuge there.While other kabals desire to overthrow Supreme Overlord Asdrubael Vect so they can take his place as the rulers of the Dark City, the Children of Thorns want instead to tear down the old order of the Drukhari and replace it with their own. To do this, they secretly arm their followers lurking in the deepest, darkest sub-reality sinks of Commorragh, who wait for their chance to strike back against their oppressors.It is said that one is fortunate to hear the keening war cries of the Children of Thorns and live to tell of it. The leader of the Children of Thorns is a female Aeldari archon who long ago cast herself from the strictures of the Asuryani Path to lead her Children of Thorns in bloodshed across the Halo Stars in pusuit of the Path of Damnation. Her true names long ago discarded, she is now simply known as the "Mother of the Shadows."When attacking in the void, the night-black ships of the Children of Thorns prize stealth above all other tactics. Only once they have ensured complete surprise and a perfect position of attack, they strike with ferocity and precision, crippling their prey and leaving the foes' voidship reeling and boarded by screaming, dark, and graceful shapes that kill and kill until there is nothing left alive and the prize is theirs.Despite their terrifying reputation, the Children of Thorns have had dealings with a number of Rogue Traders in the Koronus Expanse and have even made compacts with a few or fought as mercenaries for those brave enough to seal such a bargain. It is perhaps these ties that give the Children of Thorns the phenomenally accurate information that allows them to strike at Human voidcraft close to the Maw with such accuracy. One or more Rogue Traders have sealed a compact with the Children of Thorns -- one paid for in the blood of their rivals.
Koronus Expanse - Craftworld Lu'Nasad: Lu'Nasad, now known as Dresil'ach in the Aeldari Lexicon, which means the "Forgotten Ruin," was a minor craftworld of the Asuryani Aeldari that was destroyed after fleeing from their civilisation's destruction during the Fall of the Aeldari. The scholars, Farseers and Warlocks of Lu'Nasad had spent Terran centuries studying and discovering lost paths within the Webway which led through the Empyrean that no living being had walked since time out of mind.As fate would have it, the dark, twisting, and largely unknown paths taken by Lu'Nasad took her not to salvation, but directly into the seething heart of the Rifts of Hecaton, a region of unnatural darkness in the far depths of the Koronus Expanse. The stars of the Rifts of Hecaton are white dwarfs and neutron stars that are guttered and dead, and the few bold Rogue Traders who have gone there do not return.There in the midst of these damned and forgotten stars, Lu'Nasad came face-to-face with powerful forces of the Empyrean that were manifesting in realspace as a result of the psychic turmoil created across the galaxy by the birth of Slaanesh. A desperate and largely futile battle ensued as Lu'Nasad's defenders were overwhelmed by the forces of Chaos, and in short order the craftworld fell silent and drifted further into the Rifts, her only uncorrupted survivors the powerful Farseer Anaris and the crew of his ship.Bathed in the energies of the Warp and infused with the taint of Chaos, Lu'Nasad became a twisted, ugly parody of herself. Now, in the 41st Millennium, the nightmare craftworld spoken of in Aeldari prophecy returned some thirty standard years ago from its ten-thousand-Terran-year exile among the savage, roiling Rifts of Hecaton.Her once-teeming inhabitants dead or corrupted, her formerly elegant spires toppled, her streets choked with the bones of her defenders, and her Infinity Circuit driven mad by centuries of pain and terror, Lu'Nasad once again wanders the Koronus Expanse, sowing madness and destruction in her wake.Only the Aeldari Corsairs of the Crow Spirits, descendants of the inhabitants of Lu'Nasad, Warlock Bhaine Dhûn of Craftworld Kaelor, and the disembodied former Lu'Nasad Farseer Anaris, his soul trapped in a spirit stone, are fully aware of the danger the corrupted craftworld poses to the galaxy. They are currently seeking the aid of Human explorers of the Koronus Expanse in destroying it as their Farseers' psychic visions have all foreseen that only with Human aid will the tortured souls of the Forgotten Ruin finally be put to rest.
Koronus Expanse - Crow Spirits: The Crow Spirits are grim, cold killers who seem bent not on piracy but the selective annihilation of Humanity's presence within the Koronus Expanse. Clad in glittering armour that shines as if filled with moonlight, they make no sound in battle and are led by witches robed in pale tatters with tall helms of gleaming wraithbone. Their starships are like pale, dead things driven by a cold and broken will. Their tattered ethereal solar sails propel them from the depths of the void to strike at Imperial voidships, colonies, and space stations in the Foundling Worlds, Accursed Demesne, and Unbeholden Reaches regions of the Expanse.Cloaked and unseen until it is too late, the Crow Spirits are borne on a storm within the Warp and realspace that boils and screams with ethereal voices. They destroy and kill with a cold precision -- and then leave, taking no prizes. Who leads these mysterious Corsairs and what their purpose is remains unknown, but some have speculated that they are guarding something, or keeping something from being discovered. At least one Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos believes that the Crow Spirits have some tie to a notorious Aeldari Corsair in the Calixis Sector -- Ulthyr Ellarion.These Aeldari Corsairs are descendants of those inhabitants of the Chaos-corrupted craftworld of Lu'Nasad who were not aboard the craftworld at the time of its desecration following the Fall of the Aeldari. They are aware that it was lost to the Rifts of Hecaton in the Koronus Expanse, and the Farseers of their faction have long predicted its return as a hideously Chaos-corrupted force of destruction.Through the millennia, the Crow Spirits have dwelt within the Koronus Expanse, eliminating any whom their Farseers believed would hasten the corrupted craftworld's return. Over the thirty standard years since the craftworld's return into the main reaches of the Koronus Expanse, the Crow Spirits have been aggressively seeking out any means to destroy it.At the same time, their vessels have travelled throughout the Koronus Expanse to destroy those who might become tainted by the home of their ancestors. It is because of this endless quest to protect the Koronus Expanse and the rest of the galaxy from the Chaos taint of Lu'Nasad that the faction has earned its reputation as merciless killers of all non-Aeldari.
Koronus Expanse - Craftworld Kaelor: Kaelor is an extremely isolated minor craftworld of the Asuryani Aeldari. Under unclear circumstances, at some point in the distant past, Kaelor made a Webway jump to the edge of the galaxy and has not ventured back towards the galactic centre for several millennia. It has virtually no contact with the outside galaxy, and even the Harlequins barely remember its existence. Unlike most other craftworlds, Kaelor is governed by a strict feudal system controlled by an oligarchy of great noble houses.The Kaelor craftworld is located in the Segmentum Obscurus in distant orbit of the Eye of Terror. The Craftworld Aeldari have little presence in the Calixis Sector, with the exception of Craftworld Kaelor, whose migration route brings it through the sector once in a thousand Terran years. On such occasions, Imperial authorities have strict -- and highly confidential -- instructions from the Ordo Xenos to give it a wide berth. Battlefleet Calixis is tasked with intercepting any Human voidships that would attempt to make contact with the craftworld.As that time draws near once again in the 41st Millennium, Kaelor sends warriors out into the Koronus Expanse, for its Farseers have seen something approaching, something wreathed in shadows that their sight cannot penetrate, which promises only doom for those that cross its path. Some believe that it is the lost, Chaos-corrupted craftworld of Lu'Nasad, which they have known as Dresil'ach, the "Forgotten Ruin," which has recently resumed its travels through the void. It must be stopped, or the stars could grow cold and fall from the void.Already, several of Kaelor's outposts and a number of the Maiden Worlds and Exodite Worlds under its protection have suffered sudden and catastrophic losses, leaving them utterly devoid of inhabitants and deathly silent save for the psychic echoes of something in great pain. In the last few Terran decades, sightings of Aeldari wearing Kaelor's crimson and orange livery within the Koronus Expanse have increased dramatically, particularly within the Heathen Stars region.The current most influential leader of the craftworld is Farseer Ela'Ashbel, an especially gifted and powerful psyker. Blinded at a young age during a confrontation with Heretic Astartes of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion, she sheds tears of blood when she manifests her potent psychic abilities. Ela'Ashbel has a long history of manipulating Humans and using agents of the Imperium as her cat's-paws, often drawing them into conflicts that inexorably lead along paths of fate she has foreseen that always resound to the eventual benefit of Craftworld Kaelor.
Koronus Expanse - Rak'Gol Marauders: The Rak'Gol are a relatively new threat to those who would ply the Koronus Expanse, encountered first in the dim stars past the Alenic Depths a little more than a standard century ago in the 8th century of the 41st Millennium. A xenos breed of which little is known for fact, they take the appearance of rough-hewn and irregular stone reptilids, eight-limbed and over three metres long. Chalky white in colour and mantis-like in bodily arrangement, Rak'Gol warriors favour cybernetic augmentation to increase their abilities and replace lost limbs.Their point of origin remains unknown, as does the motivation for their sporadic attacks on Human-held worlds and vessels, other than to slaughter indiscriminately and steal minerals and weapons. Their rasping, screeching language remains incomprehensible to Imperial scholars, and no successful communication between the Rak'Gol and Humanity has been recorded; no Rak'Gol has ever been captured alive. Indeed, even their name is taken from children's stories of mythical monsters from Footfall's slums, legends which they superficially resemble.Rak'Gol technology is judged by the Adeptus Mechanicus' Magi Explorator to be inferior to the Imperial standard, but what they lack in this regard they more than make up for with their ferocity and single-mindedness, as well as their individual combat prowess, which is considerable. Many mysteries surround them, not least of all the location of their homeworld, already marked for destruction by many Rogue Traders should it ever be found.Some believe that they may possess a pocket xenoempire somewhere deep in the Koronus Expanse; others claim they are no more than nomads, moving locust-like through the stars. Another mystery the Explorators and Ordo Xenos would like answered is how they appear to be able to navigate the Empyrean with some skill, as no psykers have been reported among them. A few adepts with the dark wisdom to know such things have noted that the distorted symbols they use to adorn themselves bear some similarity to the blasphemous iconography of Chaos.
Koronus Expanse - Disciples of Thule: Archmagos Paracelcus Thule's vast Explorator fleet is a potent force in the Calixian branch of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Despite that, he and his followers disappear beyond that sector's boundaries for solar decades at a time. In 528.M41, a sub-fleet of Thuleans under Magos Solus Kanceme entered the Koronus Expanse and scattered far and wide, spurning Xenos Worlds in search of pre-Imperial artefacts sacred to the Omnissiah and the Quest for Knowledge.Little is known of Kanceme's fate. The Disciples of Thule are a mystery to Rogue Traders, vanished into the far voids for centuries now, uncommunicative and fixated upon their own goals. Many believe the Thuleans lost, consumed by the myriad dangers of the Koronus Expanse. If the devotees of Paracelcus Thule still come and go through the Koronus Passage, then they do so secretively, avoiding both Port Wander and Footfall. A Rogue Trader who finds himself vying with Thuleans for a prize of ancient Human technology should consider them as great and ruthless a foe as any xenos breed.
Koronus Expanse - Yu'vath: The Koronus Expanse is rife with unnatural drifts of dead stars, each a dim ember, the remnant of a mighty cataclysm wherein a star convulsed in death throes, casting forth a shell of burning outer matter into the voids. The dark outer reaches of the Rifts of Hecaton were long ago sculpted by the violent deaths of dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of stars.A great evil indeed must have moved across the Koronus Expanse in a past age, a dark power that murdered the very stars, cluster by cluster. Dead Xenos Worlds orbit these stellar remnants, blasted molten in ancient death throes and then frozen beneath the wan light of a star-ember. Their ruins are cyclopean, their under-crust warrens labyrinthine, and their dire symbols, where not worn to dust by the passage of aeons, warn of xenos sorcery and ancient doom; they speak of the Yu'vath.The Yu'vath were a blight upon the Calyx Expanse in the era of Lord Militant Angevin Golgenna, prior to the creation of the Calixis Sector in the fourth century of the 39th Millennium. The Warp-worshipping Yu'vath enslaved worlds though vile xenos sorcery, expending the lives and souls of corrupted Human slaves to build such horrors upon the Calyx Hell Worlds that chroniclers of the Angevin Crusade forbore to record them.The Warp-ridden Yu'vath and their tormented slave armies bled the Angevin Crusade's forces for solar decades before their ultimate extinction at the hands of General (later Saint) Drusus and the Adeptus Astartes. Even now, chronicles of the Angevin Crusade's victories over the Yu'vath are restricted works, and few scholars know what came before in the region before the blessed establishment of the Calixis Sector.
Koronus Expanse - Kroot: The Kroot are a predatory, often mercenary, avian breed of alien who fight with ferocity and feed on the dead. The Kroot maintain a nomadic society strangely divided between feral savagery and proficient high technology-use. Their homeworld is Pech and is fully part of the T'au Empire. However many Kroot fight for others as mercenaries, which is at odds with the Greater Good and something the Kroot seek to keep from their T'au allies.These mercenary kindreds will fight for anyone for the right price. They are thinly spread across the galaxy and cross the voids in imposing Warspheres, yet they abandon almost all of their technology to live and fight in a feral fashion once set down upon a habitable world. Most disturbingly, the Kroot eat the flesh of other intelligent species with an avid, selective hunger, and the ugly forms of their future generations take on some genetic characteristics of the consumed.Much of their culture is driven by these unholy acts, carried out at the direction of their leaders, beasts known as Shapers. Every Warsphere contains many branches of the Kroot breed, made diverse and often corrupt by their Shapers' past choice of victims -- some of which were clearly Human. Marauding Kroot Warspheres move across the Koronus Expanse very infrequently, though none can say from whence they came or what destination they see ahead. Some Rogue Traders have taken a handful of Kroot mercenaries into their employ where they have encountered them, but others exterminate them on sight, weary of so predacious a species gaining a foothold in the region.
Koronus Expanse - Halo Artefacts: Halo Artefacts, also called Halo Devices, have been known to select Arch-heretics, recidivists, and the Ordos of the Inquisition for millennia, ever since renowned Explorators and Rogue Traders of antiquity returned from the Halo Stars bearing these devices, along with tales of corpse stars and disturbing pict-records of dead Xenos Worlds.The Artefacts defy analysis by tech-augury and are nearly imperious to age and harm. The corrupt amongst the Imperial masses long ago discovered that, through dark transformation of body and mind, some of these xenos devices can grant life eternal. The body is restored to youth and the passage of years no longer weakens the flesh. Other Halo Artefacts were found to possess stranger and greater powers, their unholy potency behind the rise of a number of infamous Arch-heretics. As centuries passed, the Artefacts were sought by masters of the occult and became legends amongst the power-hungry, associated with dire heresy and corruption. Nonetheless, perhaps a few score Artefacts have changed hands for vast sums since the Calixis Sector came into being, and the opening of the Koronus Expanse in the 41st Millennium has added to their number.Halo Artefacts have many forms, but most are small and easily confused with odd jewellery, small pieces of armour, or even curious, abstract miniature statuary. Some are irregular spheres, some segmented ovoids a handbreadth wide, still others small scarab-like objects. All are clearly xenos in origin, made of an unidentifiable metallic material, and their texture and surface patterning calls to mind the shells of insects or skins of lizards.A Rogue Trader might win a fortune to dwarf his noble inheritance in the trade of a single Halo Artefact won from a Dead World of the Koronus Expanse, but he risks both life and legacy to be burned alive, for that is the fate of all who are discovered by the Ordo Xenos to have touched such vile corruption. Or worse, the Artefact might call to him, merge with him, and drag him down into an eternity of corruption, the nightmare legacy of xenos creators long vanished to dark aeons.Every Rogue Trader of note knows the bloody consequences that fell upon the Lord-Captains Balastus Irem, Rafe Longinus, and Eduard Majessus in the fifth century of the 41st Millennium as a result of their suspected dealings in Halo Artefacts. Wealth beyond measure exists in a hundred other forms in the Koronus Expanse: crux-gems, precious ores, xenos beasts for the circuses, and worlds brimming with heathen riches. Yet dead stars and eldritch biers upon lifeless Xenos Worlds sing their siren song, and there are always some who will listen.
Koronus Expanse - The Transformed: There are those who seek the power offered by Halo Artefacts. These individuals become physically bonded to the device they have obtained and are transformed over time into undying inhuman monsters. The powers granted by a Halo Artefact come at great cost: a body, mind, and soul corrupted by ancient alien technology. Those who meld with a Halo Artefact are ultimately doomed, fallen prey to xeno thirsts and waking nightmares that come to rule their every moment. Many of these transformed monsters flee into the depths of the Koronus Expanse, where their transformation, and the unnatural thirsts that accompany it, can be hidden in places beneath undiscovered suns. Some amongst the Ordos Xenos look at Rogue Traders who spend much time unseen in the depths of the Expanse and shun the company of others, and wonder if they have become something other than human while walking the unexplored void.
Koronus Expanse - Lost Rogue Trader Lineages: Many are the Rogue Trader lineages passed into darkness, victims of the Koronus Expanse or their own corruption. Large Rogue Trader dynasties will survive the loss of their patriarch or a single scion, but lesser lineages can be extinguished utterly by a single death. Among those known to have been lost within the Koronus Expanse are the following lineages:Aquairre Lineage - This lineage died along with the notorious Kobras Aquairre, who gained a just reputation as a genocidal madman and the scourge of those who sought to escape the Imperium's judgement. He vanished into the Rifts of Hecaton in 201.M41.Deed Lineage - The Ordo Xenos burned the Rogue Trader Amphian Deed at the pyre in 803.M41 for his role in the Halo of Darkness Chaos Cult, ensuring he was the last of his line.Dewain Lineage - The Dewain lineage was lost on the deathbed of Parsimus Dewain in 498.M41, as that great man left no heir.Haarlock Lineage - The lineage of House Haarlock was destroyed from within by bloody-handed Erasmus Haarlock during the Haarlock Purge, who then vanished in 703.M41. Of all the lost Rogue Trader lineages the Haarlock is perhaps most crowded with dark and terrible myth.Irem Lineage - The Irem lineage was ended by the Inquisition's murder of Balastus Irem and all his family in 443.M41, fit punishment for the dynasty's trade in xenos corruption.Kail Lineage - The Kail lineage was ended by assassination within solar days of Fenton Kail's declaration of discovering an intact Standard Template Construct database in 388.M41.Urussalin Lineage - The Urussalin Lineage was lost to the voids with Roodmar Urussalin, presumed slain by Orks in 718.M41.Renuka Lineage - Veronique Renuka was declared outlaw for her involvement in an attempted coup on the Calixian Hive World of Cyclopia in 179.M41. House Renuka's descendants are said to still operate as pirates on the edge of the Unbeholden Reaches.
Koros - Koros: Koros is a Warsmith of the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion who is active in defending the Chaos worlds near to the Hadex Anomaly in thew Jericho Reach.
Koros - History: Warsmith Koros is a veteran of the battle of the Iron Cage, and one of the Daemon Primarch Perturabo's lieutenants, having proved himself worthy of command of one of the Iron Bastions on Medrengard, the Daemon World which is home to his Legion.Koros has been dispatched to the Jericho Reach in order to oversee the fortification of numerous worlds about the Hadex Anomaly, and to lend his assistance in the planning of a grand counterstrike against the forces of the Imperium involved in the Achilus Crusade to retake the region.What price the various Chaos factions opposing the Imperium have agreed to pay in return for the Iron Warriors' aid is not known, but it must certainly be high.Warsmith Koros is known to be in league with the corrupted Dark Mechanicum of the heretical Hell-Forge of Samech, who have equipped him and his forces with numerous items of Heretek equipment, some of which was undoubtedly constructed according to his own specification.It is now suspected by several within the Jericho Reach Deathwatch's Chamber of Vigilance that Warsmith Koros and the Dark Mechanicum of Samech have entered into an unholy alliance, the only result of which can be the creation of a new generation of previously unseen and abominably powerful weaponry.Armed with the twisted fruits of such a dark union, the servants of the Ruinous Powers might finally be able to break the deadlock that has befallen the Acheros Salient of the Achilus Crusade, and begin to push the lapdogs of the Corpse Emperor back to the Well of Night, finally expelling them from the Jericho Reach.
Korvosi - Korvosi: Korvosi, formerly known as Kolossi, is a Daemon World and Fallen Knight World under the control of the Daemon Prince Be'lakor in the Imperium Nihilus that was once the Knight World of Kolossi, the seat of House Raven.During the Charadon Campaign of the Era Indomitus Be'lakor corrupted the garrison force of Knights that House Raven had left behind on their capital world and used them to aid his invasion of the planet with the armies of his Disciples of Be'lakor. When the corrupted Knights turned on their fellows, Be'lakor's invasion succeeded and he took control of Kolossi. Rather than lose his new prize to an approaching fleet of the Indomitus Crusade, Be'lakor used his immense power to unleash a sorcerous ritual that moved the entire world through the Warp to a new location somewhere in the Imperium Nihilus.Korvosi has been reshaped into a Daemon World under the command of Be'lakor and his allies in the Disciples of Be'lakor, including Traitoris Militarum regiments, Heretic Astartes warbands, daemonic legions in service to the Dark Master, elements of the Dark Mechanicum and House Korvax, the Infernal house of Chaos Knights that are all that remains of the House Raven garrison the first Daemon Prince corrupted.
Korvosi - Seat of House Raven: Thousands of Terran years ago Kolossi was a virgin world of verdant plains and forested mountains. When the first Human settlers arrived in the Age of Technology they found an environment conducive to life, with little in the way of natural predators. However, the settlers built legions of Knights, their industries strip-mining the Kolossi continents for materials. Ancient tales tell of an evil that lurked in the darkness of the Kolossi star system, the Tethras System, or perhaps within the heart of the star itself, and it was against this evil that the settlers were protecting themselves.If there is truth in these tales time has erased any evidence, leaving only rumour and conjecture in their wake. In time, the society of Kolossi stratified and House Raven rose to prominence among the settlers, becoming a title synonymous with the Knight World. As the rulers of Kolossi came and went each added to the world's armies and fortifications, stripping away more of the planet's mineral wealth. By the time that House Raven made its enduring alliance with the Forge World of Metalica, Kolossi had been reduced to open pits, towering slag heaps and smog-wreathed manufactoria lit only by guttering promethium flares from soot-stained chimneys.This degradation of Kolossi has only worsened through the millennia. In addition to House Raven's own mineral needs Metalica added its own demands upon Kolossi, endless shambling lines of mining servitors slowly hacking their way toward the heart of the world. Only a handful of cities remain on the planet, islands of steel and smoke amid the deep-core shafts and strip-mine canyons.Greatest of these is the Keep Inviolate, an adamantium-plated fortress over a kilometre high, its glittering peak long welcoming home Nobles as they descended from orbit into Kolossi's roiling banks of smog. The work of centuries, the Keep Inviolate is a fortress to rival the Space Wolves' Fang on Fenris or the Emperor's Imperial Palace on Terra, its walls hundreds of feet thick and its Macrocannons capable of tearing voidships apart in orbit.The real power of the keep though lies in its Vault Transcendent. Dug deep into the bedrock of Kolossi, its heavily shielded walls housed hundreds of Knight suits, each one ready to stride out onto the scarred surface of their world should it ever face invasion. However, the real threat to Kolossi, when it did come, came from within.
Korvosi - Fall of Kolossi: The fall of Kolossi began during the Charadon Campaign of the Era Indomitus, when the Daemon Prince Be'lakor used his powers to sway a number of House Raven's Sacristans to his cause who then secretly corrupted their Knight suits' Thrones Mechanicum with the power of Chaos. After this was done, Be'lakor unleashed the daemonic legions and Heretic Astartes warbands under his command as the Disciples of Be'lakor upon House Raven's Knight World of Kolossi while the Questor Mechanicus house prepared to defend their world. Most of its Knights, however, were already fighting elsewhere in the Charadon Sector, under the command of their Princeps Grevan Raven, leaving the few left on Kolossi heavily outnumbered.These valiant Nobles were led by the Knight Seneschal Havlorn, and he had the remaining House Raven Knights protect their primary fortress, the Keep Inviolate, which was being used as a refuge for Kolossi's population from the daemonic assault. The Daemons and Chaos Space Marines eventually reached the fortress, but as Havlorn was preparing his Knights to defend it, disaster struck. The Nobles who sat upon the Thrones Mechanicum that had been corrupted by the Traitor Sacristans were suddenly transformed into Chaos Knights under the command of Be'lakor. These corrupted Traitor Knights then fired upon their still-loyal allies and Seneschal Havlorn was among the first to be slain. Many of House Raven's remaining Loyalist Knights on the world died soon afterwards and the few remaining survivors were forced to escape offworld. This brought an end to any significant resistance and Kolossi fell to the forces of Be'lakor.However, a distress call had been sent out before House Raven's collapse and it was answered by Battle Group Tarsus of the Indomitus Crusade's Fleet Primus. As the battle group made its way to Kolossi, they sent a vanguard force ahead of them to undertake a reconaissance-in-force of the Knight World. This fleet neared Kolossi even as Seneschal Havlorn and House Raven's remaining Loyalist Knights were being slain by the Traitors. When the Imperial vanguard reached Kolossi they were suddenly attacked by the Disciples of Be'lakor, who had seen the vanguard fleet approach the Fallen Knight World.During the battle that ensued, the vanguard of Battle Group Tarsus dispatched an Adepta Sororitas strike force to Kolossi, but the corrupted House Raven Knights counter-attacked. Though the vanguard fleet and Sisters of Battle strike force were both quickly overwhelmed, Be'lakor knew that that the full might of Battle Group Tarsus would soon arrive. Rather than risk losing his newly-won prize, the Daemon Prince enacted a sorcerous ritual to transport the entire world through the Immaterium to a new location deep within the Imperium Nihilus, where he soon transformed its surface into a realm of shadows more to his liking, renaming the planet Korvosi and its Chaos Knights House Korvax.Korvax's nightmarishly deformed Chaos Knights are now among the most powerful of Be'lakor's servants who stand with the forces of Daemons, Heretic Astartes and Traitoris Militarum that also defend the Dark Master's new realm.
Korvosi - Geography: Korvosi, once the Knight World of Kolossi that was home to House Raven, is now a Daemon World and a Fallen Knight World of mist and shadow, reshaped dramatically from its former incarnation as world of industry by the hand of the Dark Master Be'lakor, the first Daemon Prince. Korvosi is now enshrouded by a darkness so vast that it stretches into the surrounding void of space. This shadow makes the world appear to conventional augurs more as an absence against a backdrop of stars than a visible presence.Rumour and nightmarish tales are all that have reached the cognoscenti of the Imperium concerning the fate of Kolossi. Fleeting glimpses of Korvosi's surface have fuelled tales of immense chasms that now scar a bleak, fractured landscape. Hypnotic balefires and monstrous machineries churn in their depths. Whispers have surfaced of gigantic land masses the size of continents that float in the skies, tethered by immense chains with links as broad as battleships.Upon one of these continent-sized shards there is said to stand a colossal fortress-city, seething with wailing souls. At its pinnacle, so the tales recount, is an enormous throne upon which sits a brooding malefic entity -- Be'lakor, the Dark Master and true ruler of Korvosi.
Korvydae - Korvydae: Korvydae is the shadow captain of the 10th Company of the Raven Guard Space Marine Chapter and the Chapter's Master of Recruits.Korvydae is renowned as an efficient raider and saboteur, who uses Scout Marines and Assault Marines to launch devastating lightning assaults against the foe. Despite his formidable skills and stealthy exploits, few outside of his Chapter have heard of him.Shadow Captain Korvydae led the disastrous Raid on Kastorel-Novem against the Orks of WAAAGH! Garaghak. Despite Korvydae's skills and heroism, the Raven Guard lost over 70 battle-brothers on Kastorel-Novem, and for his failure Korvydae is now serving a two-year penance with the Deathwatch.
Korvydae - History: Korvydae is a Veteran Space Marine of the Raven Guard Chapter, entrusted with the command of the Raven Guard's 10th Scout Company.He also served as the Chapter's Master of Recruits, overseeing the vigorous training of new Raven Guard initiates, but this was a task that Korvydae preferred to delegate to his hand-selected cadre of training-sergeants.Korvydae himself was more often found leading his Scout Marine charges on the ground, working amongst them on their far-ranging scouting and sabotage missions.Korvydae's long service transformed him into a brilliant raider and saboteur. He led hand-picked Scout and Assault Squads behind enemy lines, observing and reporting.Much of his work was unseen, but countless enemies have found themselves suddenly beset by one of the Raven Guard's lightning airborne assaults because of the intelligence reports provided by Korvydae and his Scouts.Whilst he does not have Shadow Captain Kayvaan Shrike's glorious reputation, this was because Korvydae's stealthy exploits, by necessity, remained secretive. While Shrike's heroic exploits have become rightly famous with the Imperium's fighting forces all across the Segmentum Tempestus, Korvydae prefers to remain in the shadows and retain his anonymity.On Kastorel-Novem, Korvydae led the Raven Guard strike force and planned the raid in detail. It was by his quick thinking and brave actions that many of the Elysian Drop Troops who accompanied the Raven Guard on the mission were saved from the rampaging Orks.Following the raid's failure, Korvydae volunteered for two standard years of service with the Deathwatch as penance for his failings in the eyes of the Emperor.
Korvydae - Wargear: In combat, Korvydae wears Artificer Armour and the Iron Halo, as befits his rank and accomplishments.He also wears a Jump Pack to facilitate his battlefield mobility.His weapons, drawn from the Chapter's Armoury, are a matter of personal choice and change depending upon the tactical requirements of the mission.
Kossolax - Kossolax: Kossolax, also spelled as Kosolax and known as Kossolax the Foresworn, is an infamous Chaos Lord who supported Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade.He now leads a large warband of Khornate Berserkers known as the Foresworn, drawn from the ranks of the sundered World Eaters Traitor Legion.
Kossolax - Origins: One particular Chaos Rhino, belonging to the World Eaters Legion, was reportedly present at the Siege of Terra, and has been identified on numerous occasions over the millennia since as being the vehicle of Kossolax the Foresworn.That Rhino, identified as Barbarus by its nameplate, is covered in iron spikes, each adorned with the severed head of an Imperial warrior. The records of the Ordo Malleus state that Barbarus belonged to the squad commanded by Sergeant Solax of the World Eaters' 3rd Assault Company before the Horus Heresy, and this individual is thought to be the beast now known as Kossolax the Foresworn.If this is indeed the case, Sergeant Solax has risen to the command of an entire company of Khornate Berserkers in the form of the Foresworn, and Barbarus has served with him and his warband across 10,000 standard years.
Kossolax - First War of Armageddon: In 444.M41, Kossolax joined his Daemon Primarch, Angron, in the First War for Armageddon. At that time, Kossolax's veteran warriors had already proven themselves in eight campaigns against the Imperium of Man.Though the forces of Khorne overwhelmed the planet and caused a bloodbath, their hold was ultimately broken. Angron and his daemonic minions were banished and the warriors of Khorne repelled. During their withdrawal a part of the Foresworn warband was left behind on Armageddon.
Kossolax - Era Indomitus: Following the destruction of Cadia in the 13th Black Crusade, the forces of Chaos launched a second assault on Agripinaa. Daemon Engines led by many Warpsmiths invaded the Forge World, diseases and maladies ravaged its population, released on the surface from the space hulks that continued to emerge out of the Eye of Terror and then later from the Great Rift after its formation.Hordes of shambling undead crawled from the vents and cog clusters of the world's forge cities. Later the battle was joined by Chaos warfleets of the World Eaters, Night Lords, Black Legion, Thousand Sons and Death Guard Traitor Legions under the command of the World Eaters Chaos Lord Kossolax the Foresworn once more aboard the ancient World Eaters flagship the Conqueror. Even Daemons were now able to manifest on the planet due to the proximity of the Cicatrix Maledictum.However, despite all this, the Cadians who had survived the destruction of their world, many of whom dispersed to systems surrounding the Cadian System like Agripinaa, proved to be the decisive force in once again keeping the Forge World out of the hands of the Ruinous Powers.
Krak Grenade - Krak Grenade: The Krak Grenade is a type of explosive device used by the military forces of the Imperium of Man. Krak Grenades use a shaped explosive charge capable of punching holes in armoured targets such as vehicles or bunkers, and its charge can even rip armour plating apart. Typically Krak Grenades are attached directly onto vehicles or fortifications with magnetic, adhesive or physical clamps, maximising their effect on the target. They can also be used against monstrous creatures (such as the larger Tyranid bioforms), when they are attached to the creature's carapace before detonation.These munitions are often used for attacking fortified defensive positions and vehicles, and provide Imperial infantry with a means of harming heavy targets that their primary anti-personnel weaponry may not be able to affect. However, the focused detonation lacks a blast radius, therefore making them impractical for use against enemy infantry.
Krak Grenade - Sources: Deathwatch: Core Rulebook (RPG), pg. 150Warhammer 40,000 (6th Edition), pg. 62
Kraken (Creature) - Kraken (Creature): A kraken is the most powerful and terrifying of all the marine megafauna that inhabit the turbulent oceans of the Death World of Fenris. Analogous to a Terran cephalopod in shape but far larger in size and aggressive in nature, a Fenrisian kraken can grow to be over 8 kilometres (5 Terran miles) long, with tentacles four times that length.The origins of a creature like the kraken remain unclear to Imperial scholars and Adeptus Mechanicus magi biologis. Some believe that they are the remains of a Tyranid bioform that was left on the world during an earlier Tyranid incursion into the galaxy. Separated from the Hive Mind, the kraken became feral.Others say these creatures are as old as Fenris itself. They believe the kraken are an apex predator species native to the frigid world. Fenrisian legends say that the oldest of the krakens gnaw at the roots of the world.Another legend holds that the Space Wolves Chapter's primarch, Leman Russ, went fishing one day and caught the Father of Kraken, but threw it back, declaring that it was too small and he would return one day and catch it when it was full-grown. Since then, the legends say, the Father of Kraken has grown until its tentacles encircle the entire planet.Kraken are extremely aggressive and often attack the small ships of Fenris' barbaric Human inhabitants during their frequent migrations across the ever-changing landscape of the Death World's seas.
Kraken (Creature) - History: Arjac Rockfist, a Wolf Guard and the personal champion of the Great Wolf, Logan Grimnar, won his position after defending the Iron Isles on Fenris from the attack of a thousand kraken-spawn almost completely by himself.The Lone Wolf Aj Kvara battled a Kraken-like Tyranid creature on the Ocean World of Lyses.
Kraken (Creature) - Kraken's Egg: Within the Trophy Halls of The Fang is a giant leathery piece of flesh, over fifty feet in length, known as the "Kraken's Egg."Whether it really came from a Kraken or not is uncertain, but it gives some credibility to the legend of Russ, which might otherwise be considered entirely apocryphal.The Magi Biologis of the Adeptus Mechanicus have examined the Kraken's Egg and claim it is Tyranid in origin, suggesting that the Krakens of Fenris may have evolved from a feral Tyranid bioform adapted for underwater combat that lost its connection to the Hive Mind many thousands of standard years ago.
Kraken (Creature) - Frost Blade Creation: One particular species of kraken, the ice kraken, possesses diamond-hard fangs that are highly prized by the Iron Priests of the Space Wolves Chapter for use in forging Frost Blades.The Space Wolves believe that the finest Frost Blades are made of ice harvested from the heart of a Fenrisian glacier that has then been tempered within the belly of a Kraken.
Kraken (Short Story) - Kraken (Short Story): Kraken by Chris Wraight is a Warhammer 40,000 short story published in 2012 and collected in the anthologies There Is Only War and Nexus & Other Stories.
Kraken (Short Story) - Synopsis: Hailing from the icy Death World of Fenris, there are few brotherhoods among the Adeptus Astartes as noble or fierce as the Space Wolves.  These warriors, often thought more beast than man, have defended the Imperium of Man with bolt, blade, and fang for over ten thousand standard years.In Kraken, Chris Wraight weaves the poignant tale of Kvara. The lone survivor of his pack, he heads into the storm-tossed oceans to slay a great beast and meet a mighty death so he may join his comrades in the feasting halls of the afterlife forevermore.
Kraken (Tyranid Ship) - Kraken (Tyranid Ship): A Kraken is an escort-analogue bio-ship found in Tyranid hive fleets.Kraken, which come in several different variants based on the starship-sized biomorphs they are grown with, act as scout vessels for a hive fleet and escort vessels for the much more massive Tyranid Hive Ships.The species is named after Hive Fleet Kraken, the hive fleet in which their existence was first encountered and documented by the Imperium of Man.Kraken are often encountered in giant swarms accompanying Hive Ships, and Hive Ships have been known to give birth to more Kraken when engaged in battle.Kraken pose no direct threat to planets as this species of bio-ship is entirely space born. However they will viciously attack space stations, shuttles, military vessels, and other spacecraft that cross their path.
Kraken (Tyranid Ship) - Sources: Codex: Tyranids (5th Edition), pg. 14Battlefleet Gothic Armada (specialty Game), pp. 80, 89White Dwarf 146 (January 1992)Battlefield Gothic Armada 2 (PC Game)
Krakstorm Grenade Launcher - Krakstorm Grenade Launcher: A Krakstorm Grenade Launcher is a type of Imperial Grenade Launcher usually wielded by the Primaris Space Marines.It fires a volley of three Krak Grenades at a time upon the enemy.It is deployed for use as an anti-armour or anti-fortification weapon by Repulsor grav tanks.
Kranon the Relentless - Kranon the Relentless: Kranon the Relentless is a Chaos Lord and the current leader of the Crimson Slaughter warband of Chaos Space Marines. Once the Loyalist Astartes named Sevastus Kranon, he was a militant and brutal warrior even when he was still a servant of the Emperor of Mankind as the Chapter Master of the Crimson Sabres Chapter of Space Marines.The Crimson Sabres eventually slid into heresy and damnation following the massacre committed by the Chapter on the world of Umidia. Cursed by the Blood God Khorne, the Crimson Sabres were driven insane by voices in their heads which belonged to their murdered victims. Upon leading his warband into self-imposed exile in the Eye of Terror, Sevastus was finally corrupted by the Ruinous Powers of Chaos.Renaming himself Kranon the Relentless, he has driven himself and his Chapter to commit increasingly bloody and vile acts in an attempt to silence the maddening voices that plague him and the rest of the Crimson Slaughter.
Kranon the Relentless - Sources: Crimson Slaughter - A Codex: Chaos Space Marines SupplementWhite Dwarf 393, "Dark Vengeance", pp. 22-35, 40-65White Dwarf 392, "The Crimson Slaughter," "'Eavy Metal - Chaos Space Marines," and "The Battle for Bane's Landing," pp. 32-33, 38-63Ascension of Balthasar (Audio Drama) by CZ DunnDark Vengeance (Novel) by CZ Dunn
Kratos - Kratos: The Kratos, known officially as the Kratos Heavy Assault Tank, was a main battle tank used by the Space Marine Legions during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. It is rarely seen in the 41st Millennium, save as a relic vehicle.
Kratos - History: The Kratos Heavy Assault Tank is based on an ancient Terran pattern fielded during the Unification of Old Earth, redesigned after the Emperor signed the Treaty of Mars with the Tech-priests of the ancient Mechanicum to serve as the spearhead of the Great Crusade. It was intended to be a line-breaker and foe hammer extraordinaire. This grinding main battle tank is all but impervious to enemy fire, and its steady, inexorable advance provided an indomitable core to any assault by the Legiones Astartes, enforced by a barrage of overwhelming firepower.The Kratos originally served as a dedicated infantry support tank and the powerful shells of its heavy Kratos Battlecannon could quickly open a path through massed enemies for any Astartes or mortal support infantry that followed in its wake. However, the Kratos was determined to be obsolete in the final years of the Great Crusade and was later retired from active service when the Legiones Astartes began to favour faster, more multi-purpose armoured vehicles such as the ubiquitous Predator tank. Yet some Kratos remained in the reserve armouries of the Legions even after their replacement. During the Signus Campaign early in the Horus Heresy, the Blood Angels Legion made heavy use of the Kratos at the Battle of Signus Prime.
Kratos - Armament: The Kratos Heavy Assault Tank is a nigh-impenetrable war machine bristling with heavy armaments. In terms of sheer power, the Kratos was intended to sit between the Sicaran Battle Tank and the Fellblade in the arsenal of the Space Marine Legions. This impressive vehicle can be built with one of three powerful turret weapons -- the versatile Kratos Battlecannon, tank-busting Melta Blast-gun, or the searing thermal rays produced by the Volkite Cardanelle. If armed with the Kratos Battlecannon, it can be loaded with high-explosive shells intended to kill large numbers of enemy infantry, armour-piercing shells to eliminate enemy armour or transports and assault well-defended fortifications or flashburn shells that are most effective when used against super-heavy enemy tanks.The Kratos also sports a co-axial Autocannon, a pair of hull-mounted anti-infantry weapons with a choice of 2 Autocannons, Heavy Bolters, Lascannons, or Volkite Calivers -- and a separate pair of sponson weapons -- 2 Heavy Bolters, Heavy Flamers, Lascannons, or Volkite Culverins.The Kratos Heavy Assault Tank can be upgraded to carry a pintle-mounted weapon -- a Havoc Missile Launcher, Heavy Bolter, Heavy Flamer, Multi-melta, or a Combi-weapon with five configurations (Combi-bolter, Combi-flamer, Combi-melta, Combi-plasma, or Combi-volkite) -- as well as a searchlight, a Dozer Blade, and a Hunter-Killer Missile.