vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Word Bearers - War Disposition: The strength of the Word Bearers at the time of the Istvaan V Drop Site Massacre was thought to be approximately 140,000 Astartes. It is now clear that this figure was a lie. Four decades earlier, when the Legion was rebuked at Khur, it was approximately 100,000 Space Marines strong. That the XVIIth Legion had made a notable increase in recruitment was clear, but far from swelling their numbers by 40,000, the Word Bearers had grown to a far greater strength. Mass recruitment from every world they conquered, and the use of rapid gene-seed implantation techniques and hypno-indoctrination meant that by some reports their numbers might even have rivalled those of the Ultramarines. Certainly the scale of their actions during the opening phases of the civil war, and the casualties they suffered, indicate that few other Legions could have approached them in size.In addition to the surge in numbers of the Word Bearers, the number of mortal vassal warbands and half-feral fanatics who accompanied them reached extraordinary numbers. In the extermination phase of the Istvaan V Drop Site Massacre, one survivor estimated that a horde of 50,000 faced the Loyalist enclave of Nurin. That such forces were lost and yet more were unleashed on world after world in the dark years that followed shows that behind the Word Bearers themselves stood millions more willing to die at their command. Given the actions of the so-called Abyss-class vessels in later campaigns, it is also clear that Lorgar had increased his Legion's naval strength, possibly to levels which exceeded that of the Imperial Fists, who were thought at the time to control the largest fleet of any Space Marine Legion. Such an increase in strength, and the delicacy with which it was concealed, indicates that Lorgar went into the Horus Heresy ready to embrace the carnage that would follow.
Word Bearers - Post-Heresy: After their corruption by the Ruinous Powers, the Word Bearers alone amongst the Traitor Legions maintained a facsimile of their former discipline and faith in the wake of the Horus Heresy.Word Bearers do not worship the Chaos Gods individually. Instead, the Word Bearers venerate and regard them as a collective Dark Pantheon of Chaos Gods, placing their faith in the concept of Chaos Undivided.The Sons of Lorgar view those who limit their worship to a single Chaos God with contempt and are partially at odds with the Emperor's Children because of both their decadence and their devotion to Slaanesh alone.The Word Bearers often rely on summoned Daemons as shock troops, "meat-shields," and to form the bulk of their armies. Their elite Chaos Space Marines are used to accomplish vital tasks.The Word Bearers have been known to maintain large numbers of Chaos Cultists in their forces, and have used cultists and insurgents in their assaults since the Great Crusade. However, unlike the Alpha Legion, the primary use of Chaos Cultists for the Word Bearers is only as cannon fodder and to serve as distractions.The Word Bearers are notable for being the only Traitor Legion who still have a corps of Chaplains, now known instead as Dark Apostles. The Word Bearers follow the words of their Dark Apostles with total faith in battle. The Dark Apostles divine through many ways how a battle is to be fought and won, and the warriors of the Host of Lorgar obey unquestioningly.Before battle, the Word Bearers gather in ritual prayer, chanting hymns and cult doctrine to affirm their faith in the power of Chaos Undivided. Often these chants will be answered and it is common for the Word Bearers to fight alongside daemonic entities.A core group of the most dedicated and powerful Dark Apostles within the Legion make up an evil priesthood known as the Dark Council. This elite cadre is the main ruling body of the Legion at present, enforcing the will of their Daemon Primarch Lorgar and the Chaos Gods. They rule from their immense cathedral-fortress known as the Basilica of the Word upon the Daemon World of Sicarus, located deep within the Eye of Terror. They rule the Legion in the absence of their Primarch, who has isolated himself for 10,000 Terran years in meditation within the Temple Inficio to seek enlightenment and communion with the Ruinous Powers.
Word Bearers - Legion Combat Doctrine: The Word Bearers follow the words of their Dark Apostles with utter loyalty and faith in battle, and they in turn interpret the will of Lorgar by many and varied means. The means to win a battle may be contained within the entrails of a particular captive, a particular alignment of the stars or the pattern of cast bones.The Dark Apostles decree how the battle is to be fought and the warriors of the Host obey unquestioningly. Before battle, the Word Bearers gather in ritual prayer, chanting blasphemous hymns and forbidden doctrines to affirm their faith in the power of Chaos. Often these chants will be answered and it is common for the Word Bearers to fight alongside hideous Daemonic entities that have made diabolical pacts with the Dark Apostles.The Word Bearers then raise their damned standards high and march into battle beneath cursed icons, bellowing catechisms and canticles of hatred at their foe as hideous drums beat out a dolorous thunder. The relentless advance of the Word Bearers is a terrifying sight, as the monotonous chant and beat of drums can break even the strongest will. The night before battle, the enemy can hear dark mutterings emanating from all around, echoed in the pounding drums, stretching the nerve and instilling every man with fear.The unshakable belief of the Word Bearers that they alone can save the galaxy and Mankind has seen them marching towards certain death, yet unwilling to take a single step backwards. Any victory won over the Word Bearers is only won at a terrible cost, as their fanatical attacks will only ever end when all are dead.
Word Bearers - Legion Homeworld: Colchis was once a technologically advanced world that regressed to a feudal state during the Age of Strife. The arrival of Lorgar brought with it both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it brought the world into the fold of the Imperium, a curse because his arrival signed the planet's death warrant many hundreds of Terran years later.Under Lorgar's brief rule the planet prospered, but when the Emperor came to Colchis and put Lorgar in command of the Word Bearers, those he left behind allowed the world to fall into decline. When the Ultramarines took the fight to Colchis after the Heresy, they found a devastated world, its industry in ruins and its people clinging desperately to civilisation.Given Lorgar's treachery, the Inquisition ordered the planet to be cleansed and the Ultramarines Battle Barge Octavius bombarded Colchis with Cyclonic Torpedoes. The geological structure of Colchis was highly unstable and the resultant seismic activity split the planet apart. Nothing now remains of Colchis and where it once existed is still a closely guarded secret of the Inquisition.The Word Bearers currently reside on the Daemon World of Sicarus within the Eye of Terror. Beneath churning clouds of pendulant fire and blood the surface of Sicarus is covered by massive temples, towering cathedrals and blasphemous monuments dedicated to the worship of the Chaos Gods.Millions of slaves toil endlessly in the construction and raising of new structures and monuments of dark devotion. New levels are built upon existing crumbling edifices which results in towering spires that reach kilometres into the foreboding sky. This results in the creation of the sprawling subterranean warren of labyrinthine passages that interconnect the various devotional structures.From this daemon planet, the Word Bearers Dark Council, a collection of the Word Bearers Legion's most powerful Dark Apostles, is the main ruling body that leads the XVIIth Legion in the absence of their Daemon Primarch, who has isolated himself in meditation for millennia within the Templum Inficio.The seat of the Dark Council is located within the immense cathedral-fortress known as the Basilica of the Word. This structure is crowned with hundreds of five kilometre high barbed spires, each studded with jagged spikes, upon which are impaled countless living sacrifices.The Legion also maintains control of the daemonic Forge World of Ghalmek deep within the Maelstrom Warp Storm, which is ruled over by Kor Phaeron and serves as a base for the Legion to launch raids against Imperial worlds in the eastern regions of the galaxy.
Word Bearers - Word Bearers Names: The names of Word Bearers Astartes are often derived from those of the people of lost Colchis. They include names like Baruk Talgron, Noros Drennulan, Koros Vondar, Jadath Sethilon, Kemak Kartho, Verok Bol, Halam Ennar, Xaphen Mairon, Daroth Khoura, and Tarem Sa'quath.
Word Bearers - Legion Beliefs: Rooted in the beliefs of Lorgar himself, the Word Bearers are the heralds of a terrible new age for Mankind of religious servitude to the Chaos Gods. Only united behind the teachings of these divinities and offering the obeisance that they require can the masses of humanity be saved from the perils of alien menace, Imperial tyranny and internal schism.There is only one power in the galaxy worthy of such submission, and that is the dark majesty of Chaos, which was discovered by Lorgar on his infamous pilgrimage after the extermination of the capital city of Khur.Each warrior of the Word Bearers is a missionary bringing the darkness of Chaos with them, preaching the one true faith to those that will hear it and exterminating those who will not.Their belief is simple: Humanity must tread the path of Chaos Undivided or die. The word Bearers hold the Book of Lorgar as their most sacred text and the foundation of any faith in Chaos.They often inscribe heretical passages from this unholy tome upon their Power Armour, and will provide copies of it to every world they assault in order to spread the message of the Urizen and convert more of Mankind to the service of the Dark Gods.It is also common for passages from the Book of Lorgar to be read by Dark Apostles on the battlefield, propelling the warriors of the Word Bearers Legion onward, no matter the odds against them.
Word Bearers - Legion Gene-Seed: The gene-seed of the Word Bearers was originally thought to be pure, but events subsequent to the Horus Heresy revealed the weaknesses inherent in their genetic make-up.The Space Marines of the Imperial Heralds and then the Word Bearers displayed a marked tendency towards dogged, unquestioning belief and fanaticism that verged on insanity during the Great Crusade.Since the end of the Horus Heresy, their gene-seed has become corrupted and mutated beyond any hope of redemption by constant exposure to the energies of the Warp and the Word Bearers' original negative personality traits have been magnified to hideous proportions.The Word Bearers do not display a particular tendency towards mutation, though those who are gifted with such "blessings" of Chaos are much favoured amongst their Host.
Word Bearers - The Flayed Hand Chapter: Cyrnair - Attached to the Flayed Hand Chapter, and present during the betrayal at Calth, Cyrnair was an ancient of the Annunake and was at the head of the Flayed Hand Chapter as it mustered amongst the towering manufactoria of Dainhold. Where once he had proudly worn the stone-grey of the Iconoclasts, Cyrnair was now adorned in arterial red, and bedecked in runic symbols and engravings that hinted at the terrible change undergone by the Word Bearers. Cyrnair was amongst the first of his brethren to break ranks in the aftermath of the Campanile's arrival, ploughing into the ranks of the shocked Ultramarines and slaughtering them before they were even aware of the attack. By the end of that bloody day, Cyrnair had claimed the lives of several dozen of Guilliman's warriors, including the Centurion Jorvan Dolomel, whose sundered corpse he later bore strapped to his sarcophagus as a macabre trophy.Shir Shadiru - Assigned to the 4th Company of the Flayed Hands Chapter, Legionary Shir Shadiru was newly recruited from the teeming cities of Colchis in the years immediately prior to the Isstvan rebellion, Legionary Shadiru was blooded in the fighting against his fellow Legiones Astartes having known no other foes. Shadiru was one of the first of a new generation of Legionaries whose primary combat experience was the fratricidal wars of the Horus Heresy; warriors who never knew the glorious days of the Great Crusade and the crusading spirit it had engendered in the warriors of the Emperor. This new breed of Legionary fostered a scathing disregard for the achievements of the Great Crusade and a brutal pragmatism regarding the horrors of Horus' rebellion. As the war progressed, warriors like Shadiru became increasingly common in the ranks of both sides.
Word Bearers - The Graven Star Chapter: Hol Beloth - One of the most prominent and certainly the most ambitious of the field commanders of the Word Bearers Legion, Hol Beloth was a seasoned warrior and a decorated veteran of his Legion's lightning swift Compliance campaign in the years after their censure. This was a period which saw the XVIIth Legion conquer more worlds in a confined period of time than any other, and Captain Hol Beloth, then a rising star within the ranks, was personally responsible for a score of broken and subjugated worlds. The flames of his ambition fanned further by the honeyed words of Erebus and his Dark Apostle Maloq Kartho, Hol Beloth took up a position of command at the forefront of the Word Bearers attack on Calth where he would meet his dark fate at last.
Word Bearers - The Osseous Throne Chapter: Ban Xisugal - Apothecary Ban Xisugal served with the Kigal Medicae Pact, detached to the 4th Drop Assault Company of the Word Bearers' Osseous Throne Chapter. He deployed along with almost two thousand other Apothecaries to the battlefields of the Urgall Depression during the Drop Site Massacre, a number far in excess of that indicated by standard Space Marine Legion doctrine. Apothecary Xisugal and his brethren plied their bloody craft amongst the Legionaries of the 4th Word Bearers Drop Assault Company, striking into trapped and unsuspecting Loyalist Imperial Army forces in the rear echelons. Despite the units they accompanied suffering few fatalities, further pict-captures from the battlefield indicate Xisugal and his Pact all ended the engagement with their Vas "Mortuis" and other gene-seed and casualty containment pods fully laden, most likely to add to the XVIIth Legion's growing forces.
Word Bearers - The Unspeaking Chapter: Zardu Layak - Known as the "Thrice-Born," "The Binder of Souls," and "The Voice of the Unspeaking," Zardu Layak's true name is now lost, but it is recorded in his Legion's lore that he was once an officer of the Ashen Circle, a Terran by birth, and a devout destroyer of all that pertained to false superstition and errant creed. He oversaw the burning of a hundred temples and countless tomes of lies in the Emperor's service. That was until the Word Bearer's brutal censure by their ultimate master. As Lorgar led his Legion into the wilderness after their punishment on Monarchia, Layak was contrite and ashamed, soul-sick and lost, and quickly a fervent convert to Erebus' and Lorgar's new teachings in which he sought solace, but even this did not fill the terrible void within him. So it was that when he began to receive visions in which he believed his Primarch spoke to him directly, he concealed them from others for fear his shame had driven him mad. In those visions the golden-skinned apparition of Lorgar bade him to reconsider his work, not to burn the books and lore he encountered, but to read them, covet them, to search in them for the hidden truths that the Emperor had not wished his sons to know. Word upon word, rune upon rune, glyph upon glyph was a new creature born, a creature who named himself from the Book of Lorgar, using the ancient practice of Sortilege, as Zardu Layak, "Eater of Wisdom", but who came to be known more swiftly by his Legion as the "Crimson Apostle" for his fiery raiment and the scalding blood in which he daily daubed his armour.The Beast of Scaidava - During betrayal at Calth the entire town of Scaidava, located in northern Calth, was slaughtered in the hours just before the Battle of Calth began, along with a dozen other nearby settlements, all in areas untouched by the larger battles which raged across the planet. In every eye witness account, the slaughter of these towns was no random accident, no tragic misfortune, but a deliberate act of callous and horrific brutality perpetrated by monsters clad in the remains of blood-red Legiones Astartes plate. The creature identified as perpetrating the slaughter in Scaidava, and clearly displays the insignia of the Unspeaking Chapter of the Word Bearers and other iconography of the XVIIth Legion. Though once a Legiones Astartes warrior, some horrific transformation had rendered this Legionary into something almost unrecognisable.
Word Bearers - 8th Grand Tactical Company/Host: Grindis Vahn - Legionary Grindis Vahn served in Squad Ameshdun of the 8th Tactical Company of the Word Bearers' Sundered Tower Chapter, one of the largest and most prestigious of the Word Bearers Chapters which comprised eighteen separate companies designated as frontline tactical companies for the XVIIth Legion during the Great Crusade era. After the Legion's shaming on Khur and subsequent re-organisation, these companies appear to have been filled with the majority of those Terran recruits who still remained in the Chapter, placed under Colchisian officers of proven fervour and set to the hazardous spearhead of the Legion's future attacks. A Terran veteran, Legionary Vahn was one of the longest serving and most decorated line infantry Legionaries in the Word Bearers, having served since the Unification Wars. He was a member of the Sundered Tower Chapter and was deployed along with his squad as part of the Orichalan Subjugation in early 005.M31. Squad Ameshdun suffered near total casualties during the final confrontation between the massed ranks of the Sundered Tower and the Orichalan's war-simulcra, and while battle reports state that Legionary Vahn, though badly injured, survived the battle, there is no record of his assignment to one of the Chapter's many Apothecaries for treatment or his whereabouts afterwards.
Word Bearers - 18th Grand Company/Host: Sarabdal - A native of Colchis, Sarabdal handpicked by Lorgar for his position within the XVIIth Legion.
Word Bearers - 13th Coterie: Sabtec - Chaos Champion of the 13th Coterie (Assault Squad) of the 34th Host. Sabtec played a pivotal role in the boarding action and successful capture of the White Consuls' Battle Barge Sword of Truth during the Word Bearers' Dark Crusade into the Boros System. He fought with a serrated Power Sabre, a potent weapon gifted to him personally by Erebus after the 13th Coterie's heroics upon the stinking Death World of Iagata VII. His Coterie had successfully brought down the defences of a war shrine of the Adepta Sororitas, ensuring a crushing victory against the hated Battle-Sisters holed up there. Every last Sister had been stripped of her armour and her flesh ritually debased before being staked out around the outskirts of the defiled shrine, the Sisters' bloodied forms affixed to crosses hammered into the earth. There they were left to perish, vast swarms of blood-sucking insects rising from the surrounding death-marshes and descending upon them, their screams music to the Word Bearers' ears.
Word Bearers - 17th Coterie: Khalaxis - Exalted Champion of the 17th Coterie (Assault Squad) of the 34th Host. Khalixis presented a savage appearance -- his cheeks were always carved with fresh cuts by his own ritual blade, and he wore his mane of hair in thick dreadlocks which swung wildly as he hurled himself, roaring in hatred, at the enemy. The 17th Coterie were brutal warriors, always the first into any engagement, and invariably the last to be extracted. These savage berserkers wore the grisly trophies of those they had defeated around their waists. Their shoulder plates were draped with skins ripped from the corpses of powerful enemies they had overcome in personal combat; it was an old Colchisian belief that by donning the flesh of powerful defeated enemies, you were able to harness a portion of their strength. While the Word Bearers as a Legion worshipped Chaos in all its glory, Khalaxis and his brood had a tendency to gravitate towards the sole worship of Khorne, the Bloodied One, the Skull Taker, the brazen god of destruction and brutality. For the most part Marduk overlooked this failing, as had his predecessor Jarulek, merely for the fact that this Assault Squad were such devastating shock troops, and that their pre-battle blood-rituals honouring Khorne lent them unmatched fury and savagery.
Word Bearers - Known Word Bearers Daemon Princes: Kor Megron, the Reaper of Rhodax - Daemon Prince from the Word Bearers Traitor Legion. During the Great Crusade, Kor Megron was known as a brave and formidable warrior who brought many glories to the Imperium. Following the defeat of Warmaster Horus and the failure of the Horus Heresy, Megron swore eternal allegiance to the Ruinous Powers. Upon the Cathedral World of Rhodax he fought the forces of the Imperium, and through his dark, unflinching devotion to the Chaos Gods, he was rewarded with daemonhood.M'kar the Reborn - Daemon Prince of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion. He was once the Dark Apostle Maloq Kartho. During the Horus Heresy he took part in the attack on the hated Ultramarines on the world of Calth, where he was eventually slain by Captain Ventanus who used a small flint dagger known as the Shard of Erebus. Rewarding his dark devotion to the Chaos Gods for the blood slaughter he wreaked on Calth, Kartho was resurrected as a Daemon Prince named M'kar the Reborn. He has been a great bane to the Imperium of Man for over ten millennia.Periclitor the Foresworn - Daemon Prince from the Word Bearers Traitor Legion. In 220.M38, Periclitor became the root cause of long-standing enmity between himself and the Howling Griffons Space Marine Chapter after the brutal slaying and desecration of their former Chapter Master Orlando Furioso on the eve of the 5,000th anniversary of the Chapter's Founding.
Word Bearers - Known Word Bearers of the Furious Abyss: Zadkiel - Fleet Captain of the Furious Abyss.Baelanos - Assault-Captain of the Furious Abyss.Ikthalon - Brother-Chaplain of the Furious Abyss.Reskiel - Sergeant-Commander of the Furious Abyss.Malforian - Weapon Master of the Furious Abyss.
Word Bearers - Legion Appearance: Since their worship turned from the Emperor to the Chaos Gods, the Word Bearers have adorned the deep crimson of their armour with runic script in the Dark Tongue.Devotional parchments made from human skin are inscribed with excerpts from the Book of Lorgar, blasphemous texts that detail the philosophies of their Primarch, and scraps of ritual that attract the eyes of daemons.The Word Bearers have become a literal manifestation of their name -- though their creed is no longer a celebration of the Emperor's glory, but of the Ruinous Powers that cast their shadow across reality.At the behest of the first Dark Apostles, the armour of the Word Bearers was changed from steely grey to the scarlet of dried blood. The script that once adorned their armour changed too; where their ceramite once bore Imperial truths in High Gothic, after their great censure the XVII Legion replaced the text with runic sigils and arcane symbols redolent with hidden meaning.As a Word Bearer garners ever more favour from the Chaos Gods, his appearance changes to reflect his station. One who excels in a battle -- or in an especially violent ritual sacrifice -- may have Colchisian runes inscribed on his battle-plate by a Dark Apostle or Chaos Sorcerer, lending an extra measure of esoteric protection that hardens his soul against horrors both metaphysical and corporeal.Before the betrayal of the Horus Heresy came to light, the book icon of the Word Bearers represented the pursuit of gnostic truths. Now it is seen as emblematic of arcane tomes and daemon summonation. The Chosen of the Legion are walking encyclopaedias of arcane lore, the blasphemous syllables spilling from their lips weakening the veil between realspace and the Empyrean so that daemons might force their way through.Veteran Word Bearers often wear hermetic icons, stylised after the geometric symbols devised by Lorgar to summon and bind entities from the Empyrean. The most extreme of these symbols invite daemonic entities to possess the wearer entirely -- only the most devoted go to such lengths to become one with the darkness of the universe, for though they gain tremendous power, they forfeit their soul.
Word Bearers - Legion Colours: The Pre-Heresy Word Bearers Legion originally wore slate grey coloured Power Armour complete with inscribed/engraved prayers in Colchisian cuneiform script, phrases, and words of devotion, with no contrasting colors. Word Bearers Chaplains wore the slate grey armour of the Legion, being distinguished by gold armour trim and their Crozius.The Chaplains repainted their armour black following the Legion's reprimanding by the Emperor in Monarchia, "...in remembrance of the ashes coating every warrior's armour."First Chaplain Erebus was known to have a clean shaven head which was richly tattooed with religious sayings and imagery. It is not known whether or not this was standard practice amongst the other members of the Word Bearers' Chaplaincy.After their fall to the Ruinous Powers, the Word Bearers adopted a new colour scheme in the days immediately after the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V intended to symbolise the Word Bearers' willingness to shed blood to bring the truth of Chaos to all Mankind.Their Power Armour was repainted the colour of spilt blood, a colour often called "Traitor's Red" or "Betrayer's Red," sometimes worn with black or silver trim. Heretical prayers are inscribed directly into the surface of their armour.Often times Word Bearers Traitor Marines are also seen wearing devotional prayer sheets hanging from their armour's shoulder plates -- the blasphemous words of the Book of Lorgar inscribed upon them. By the time of the Battle of Calth, the arterial red and abyssal black first worn by the Serrated Suns Chapter had become widespread throughout the Legion.Also almost entirely supplanted was the use of ancient Colchisian runic script, once employed extensively to denote a Legionary's rank, status, role and deeds in a manner comprehensible only to other Legion inductees and to varying degrees depending on the viewer's level of initiation into its mysteries.The runes came to be replaced with distinctive esoteric geometry, readable only by those steeped in the mysteries revealed to them by Lorgar in the aftermath of his journey into the Great Eye.
Word Bearers - Word Bearers Variant Heraldry: When first the Primarch Lorgar assumed control of the XVIIth Legion, he imposed his own ideals of organisation and hierarchy upon its ranks. Informed by the mysteries of Colchis in which Lorgar had been raised by Kor Phaeron, these structures were typically impenetrable to those not party to the complex and mystical hierarchies of that ancient culture.The titles and iconography of the chapters into which Lorgar first sub-divided the XVIIth Legion were derived from the constellations seen in the night skies of Colchis.As the Word Bearers' descent into treachery and corruption accelerated, newly founded chapters drew their titles and symbols from other, less visible and far darker sources.
Word Bearers - Legion Banners: The Word Bearers make extensive use of a wide range of banners, icons and vexillas at every level of the Legion's command structure. Initially derived from the runic script of ancient Colchis, the banners have come to display ever more disturbing and debased symbols as the full extent of the Legion's treachery and corruption has been revealed.In particular, the burning book icon which held such significance to the Legion prior to its shaming at Monarchia changed dramatically, a leering devil face appearing from the flames and investing it with an entirely different and highly portentous meaning.
Word Bearers - Vehicle Markings: The Word Bearers adorn their war machines with a complex range of symbols, icons and markings, much of it entirely impenetrable to outsiders but which holds ritual and esoteric meaning to those privy to the teachings of the Book of Lorgar.Most of the Legion's vehicles mount the Word Bearers Legion icon, often placed at the convergence of an intricate web of geometric lines. This motif is derived not from the mysteries of Colchis but from the fell wisdom obtained by Lorgar in the aftermath of his fall to dark powers, and by the time of the Battle of Calth it was commonly applied to vehicles of all classes.The white text often applied to the flanks of Word Bearers Legion vehicles represents passages copied from the Book of Lorgar. It is also common for vehicles to have paper prayer rolls applied to them before battle, a practise derived from ancient Colchisian battle-rites but twisted into new and debased significance as the Word Bearers fell ever further from grace.
Word Bearers - Legion Badge: The insignia of the pre-Heresy Word Bearers Legion was an opened book surmounted by a burning flame of truth, which was prominently displayed on the left shoulder plate.Following their corruption by the Ruinous Powers the Word Bearers adopted new iconography: the Latros Sacrum, the Chaos symbol that represented the Word Bearers Legion.It was a stylised representation of a roaring, horned daemon's head wreathed in flames, which represented all that the Legion stood for, all that they believed in so deeply and all that they were willing to kill for.
Word Bearers - Sources: Black Crusade: Core Rulebook (RPG), pp. 28, 55, 202, 379, 381, 388-390Codex: Chaos (2nd Edition), pp. 13, 39, 51Codex: Chaos Space Marines (3rd Edition, 1st Edition), p. 38Codex: Chaos Space Marines (3rd Edition, 2nd Edition), p. 43Codex: Chaos Space Marines (4th Edition), pp. 13, 69Codex: Chaos Space Marines (6th Edition), pp. 13-14Codex Heretic Astartes - Chaos Space Marines (8th Edition), pp. 38-41Codex Heretic Astartes - Chaos Space Marines (8th Edition) (Revised Codex), pp. 38-41Traitor Legions - Codex: Chaos Space Marines Supplement (7th Edition), pg. 99Deathwatch: First Founding (RPG), pp. 89-90Deathwatch: Achilus Assault (RPG), pg. 79Horus Heresy: Collected Visions, pp. 112, 132, 285, 388Index Astartes II, "For the Emperor - Space Marine Chaplains"Index Astartes IV, "Dark Apostles - The Word Bearers Space Marine Legion"Only War: Enemies of the Imperium (RPG) (Forthcoming)The Horus Heresy - Book Two: Massacre (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 136-155, 254-261The Horus Heresy - Book Five: Tempest (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 15-21, 25, 28, 30-31, 33, 36-38, 41-43, 45, 49-53, 56-57, 59, 61-62, 64-65, 67-69, 79, 104-115, 126-127, 139-145, 240-255The Horus Heresy - Betrayal at Calth (Boardgame Supplement)Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook (6th Edition)White Dwarf 270 (US), "Index Astartes: Dark Apostles"False Gods (Novel) by Graham McNeillFulgrim (Novel) by Graham McNeillTales of Heresy (Anthology) edited by Nick Kyme and Lindsey Preistley, "Scions of the Storm" by Anthony ReynoldsA Thousand Sons (Novel) by Graham McNeillBattle for the Abyss (Novel) by Ben CounterThe First Heretic (Novel) by Aaron Demski-BowdenAurelian (Novella) by Aaron Demski-BowdenButcher's Nails (Audio) by Aaron Dembski-BowdenBetrayer (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-BowdenThe Blood Angels Omnibus by James SwallowChapter's Due (Novel) by Graham McNeillDaemon World (Novel) by Ben CounterKnow No Fear (Novel) by Dan AbnettMark of Calth (Anthology) edited by Laurie GouldingInheritor (Short Story) by Gav ThorpeDark Apostle (Novel) by Anthony ReynoldsDark Disciple (Novel) by Anthony ReynoldsDark Creed (Novel) by Anthony Reynolds, pp. 9, 111, 184-185The Lords of Silence (Novel) by Chris Wraight, Chs. 10, 11, 12, 21, 22Lorgar: Bearer of the Word (Novel) by Gav ThorpeSons of the Emperor (Anthology), "Shadow of the Past" by Gav ThorpeSlaves to Darkness (Novel) by John FrenchAdeptus Titanicus: The Horus Heresy Rulebook (Specialist Game), pg. 16Dawn of War - Dark Crusade (PC Game)Psychic Awakening - Faith & Fury (8th Edition), pp. 8-19, 60-65Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (PC Game)Forge World - Primarch Lorgar AurelianForge World - Erebus & Kor PhaeronForge World - Gal VorbakForge World - Mhara Gal Tainted Dreadnought
Words of Blood (Anthology) - Words of Blood (Anthology): Words of Blood is an anthology of short stories published in 2002 and edited by Marc Gascoigne and Andy Jones.
Words of Blood (Anthology) - Synopsis: In the war-torn 41st Millennium, Humanity is locked in a desperate struggle for survival against a relentless tide of aliens. Read tales of heroism and valour in this action-packed selection of savage science fiction stories ripped from the pages of Inferno! magazine.The anthology contains the following short stories:Words of Blood by Ben CounterRaptor Down by Gav ThorpeChains of Command by Graham McNeillLoyalty's Reward by Simon JowettDeus ex Mechanicus by Andy ChambersBarathrum by Jonathan CurrenMissing in Action by Dan AbnettLiberty by Gav ThorpeOrk Hunter by Dan AbnettBusiness as Usual by Graham McNeillDefixio by Ben Counter
World Eaters - Transformation: Angron returned to the Great Crusade and took charge of his Legion at the mustering grounds on the War Hounds' garrison world of Bodt. After his return from Terra he swiftly worked many changes on his forces. He was given a surprisingly free hand for a newly invested Primarch, for he was not required to undergo a period in which he shadowed one of his Primarch brothers while he grew into command, or even spend time in his new-found gene-father's company.Instead he was given license to simply take charge of his host. With his usual bellicose energy, Angron prepared it for war. The regime of discipline and training the XIIth Legion had abided by in the past would prove to be but a shadow of what came to pass under Angron's direction and reform.Conflict became the only measure and the only judge, and training beyond its most basic elements was as real as any war or battle a World Eaters Astartes would find themselves in. Blood, live rounds and bared blades, fighting pits and gladiatorial combat; these were the methods now used to test the mettle of the Primarch's gene-sons, to make them more brutal and efficient killers, in the image of their genetic father. Each warrior soon bore scars by which to count the lessons learned amid heat and the bitter volcanic sands, and those that failed did not live long enough to try again.Knowing how successful his own cortical implants could be at boosting a warrior's prowess in battle, Angron ordered his Apothecarion to insert the Butcher's Nails implants within every Astartes of the World Eaters Legion to enhance aggression and pain tolerance far beyond that which even the gene-engineered flesh of a Space Marine was capable.But the drawbacks were that the implants and the such surgical procedures required to place them in the brain left the individual devoid of joy or peace save for that found in battle, just like their Primarch.In this dark endeavour, Angron ordered the study of his Butcher's Nails implant by the XIIth Legion's Techmarines to serve as a template for the manufacture of new versions of the devices. However, this proved a difficult task, for Angron's implants were a relic of a long-lost Human technology, little understood by its makers, while removing them from Angron for closer study would have proved fatal to the Primarch.Early attempts to duplicate these implants by the combined efforts of the Legion's Techmarines and Apothecaries were far from successful. Under the supervision of Apothecary Gahlan Surlak, the implantation of new copies of the Butcher's Nails resulted in a 100% mortality rate among the Astartes volunteers, but Angron persisted in his demands that all his warriors ultimately be implanted with the same crude device.
World Eaters - Eaters of Worlds: In the early days of Angron's leadership of the XIIth Legion, the Primarch still refused to acknowledge most of his sons, since none were strong enough to survive the implantation of the Butcher's Nails. At one point, Angron simply abandoned his Legion after hijacking a frigate, and disappeared without a trace.It took two Terran years of searching, but eventually, the World Eaters' missing Primarch was tracked down by Centurion Khârn, the Primarch's Equerry, who discovered him upon a backwater Feral World. Here, Angron lived like a savage, seeking a foe that would put him out of his misery.Shocked by this revelation, Khârn chastised Angron and reminded him of his Nucerian comrades, and how they would have loathed to see him in such a pitiful state. This argument finally convinced Angron to re-join his Legion with the promise that he would try to lead the World Eaters in such a way that they would shed their weakness.In the years that followed, the Liber Malus speaks of whole star systems surrendering wholesale when the World Eaters' fleet was detected entering the system rather than face the wrath of Angron's Space Marines, so potent had their bloody legend grown. With this legend came dark tales of atrocity and wanton destruction that froze the blood of even hardened Imperial Commanders and caused concern even at the level of the Imperial War Council and the other Primarchs.Not least of the XIIth Legion's detractors was Roboute Guilliman, the Primarch of the Ultramarines, who fought beside Angron and his Legion during the Cleansing of Arigatta and saw at first hand the bloodbath they left in the wake of their attack on the Basalt Citadel, where the last defenders of this non-Compliant Human world had made their stand.Guilliman had seen the ramp of World Eaters corpses that had been used to finally mount a breach in the mighty fortress and the vengeful horror the Space Marines had wrought within and been sickened. Angron soon earned the nickname the "Red Angel" for the bloody atrocities committed across the width and breadth of the galaxy.Of all his titles, given in glory or earned in infamy, Angron most despised being named the "Red Angel." The Imperium already had an Angel in Sanguinius, and Angron had no desire to ape the fey mutant that commanded the IXth Legion. For all his flaws, he was his own man, and took pride in that above all else. Though Angron loathed this particular epithet, it later proved among his most fitting titles.
World Eaters - Decimation: Despite the tally of victories garnered by this brutal Space Marine Legion, it came at a dire cost. Most infamously, Angron ordered his warriors to conquer a targeted world within 31 solar hours -- the length of a single Nucerian local day -- and the time in which it took Angron to score his greatest victory upon his former homeworld.Despite their best efforts, the World Eaters consistently failed to subjugate worlds within this set time limit. Each time they failed, they were ordered by their gene-sire to undergo the barbaric punishment known as decimation, forcing 1 out of every 10 World Eaters to be killed by 9 other Battle-Brothers in his unit.This brutal punishment proved to be too much to bear for one Veteran World Eaters officer, and matters quickly came to a head during the campaign known as the  Second Compliance of Ghenna.
World Eaters - Horus Heresy: By the dawn of the 31st Millennium, as the World Eaters' vicious savagery only worsened, many of Angron's brother Primarchs voiced their concerns to the Emperor, yet the Master of Mankind, having left the Great Crusade to return to Terra, proceeded to seek help from an unfortunate source. He dispatched Horus, the Primarch He trusted over all others, to confront Angron and bring him back into the Imperial fold.Yet Horus was a master manipulator, and unknown to the Emperor, had already himself been corrupted by the Ruinous Powers of Chaos following his campaign to reconquer the Plague Moon of Davin.In Angron, Horus saw a warrior consumed by bitterness and resentment towards the Emperor and it was simple for the Warmaster to feed that bitterness and emphasise the Emperor's betrayal of the World Eater Primarch at Nuceria. This fed Angron's perception that the Emperor was a weakling in need of replacement by a stronger ruler -- a ruler like Horus.Horus had told Angron exactly what he wanted to hear. When the Horus Heresy began, plunging the galaxy into civil war, Angron's World Eaters joyfully marched beside the Warmaster into treachery. Thus, the World Eaters became one of Horus' original four Traitor Legions, along with the Death Guard, the Word Bearers and Horus' own Sons of Horus.
World Eaters - Istvaan III Atrocity: During the first battle of the Horus Heresy, the Istvaan III Atrocity, Horus at last declared his traitorous hand and openly defied the Emperor. Angron led the World Eaters personally in the first surface assault on Istvaan III to destroy the remaining Loyalist Astartes of the four original Traitor Legions, including his own Loyalist World Eaters, who had survived the traitorous virus-bombing of Istvaan III's planetary capital of the Choral City by Horus' orbiting fleet.Horus had deceitfully launched this treacherous saturation bombardment of the planet after the four Traitor Legions' known Loyalists were already engaged against the Slaaneshi rebels who held the world. The deadly cargo which contained the ferocious, flesh-eating life-eater virus held within the virus bombs killed billions of innocents, whose psychic death scream was said to be louder than the holy beacon of the Astronomican.But much to the Traitors' surprise, nearly two-thirds of the Loyalists from the first wave survived the orbital bombardment, thanks in no small part to the timely warning of the Loyalist Emperor's Children Captain Saul Tarvitz.Taking matters into his own hands, Angron defied Horus' plans and spearheaded a second Drop Pod wave after the bombardment failed to eliminate all of the Loyalists. The Warmaster and his allies could only look on in outrage as the Red Angel made planetfall at the head of a full 50 companies of his bloodthirsty Astartes, landing in the plaza areas to the west of the Precentor's Palace, hunting for their own kin with fratricide in their hearts.The World Eaters bloodily massacred most of their Loyalist Battle-Brothers, plunging into their former comrades' ranks like a white hot dagger. Incensed at his brother's disobedience, the Warmaster saw no choice but to support his ill-tempered and impulsive ally since the atmospheric after effects of the global firestorm unleashed by the virus bombs made it impossible to carry out an immediate, accurate orbital bombardment.Horus ordered all of the Traitor forces to commence a ground attack to salvage victory from disorder. Nearly two full solar months passed on the Dead World of Istvaan III as the Loyalist survivors stalled the Warmaster's plans by tenaciously holding out against the Traitor forces. But their numbers quickly waned against the Traitors reinforcements and steady supply of munitions.Eventually, once the world's atmosphere had cleared enough to make accurate orbital fire once again possible, the Traitors leveraged their superiority of arms, and soon the slaughter swung decisively in the Warmaster's favour following another orbital bombardment of the Loyalist positions. The gauntlet had been thrown down and the Horus Heresy had truly begun.
World Eaters - Mindless Slaughter: After the Shadow Crusade, the Daemon Primarch Angron and his Worlds Eaters proceeded to go on a bloody rampage throughout the width and breadth of the galaxy, ignoring the Warmaster Horus' calls to muster at Ullanor in preparation for the final drive on the Throneworld. Perturabo, the Lord of Iron, Primarhc of the Iron Warriors Legion, was ordered by Horus to bring Angron at all costs to Ullanor.The Iron Warriors tracked the World Eaters to the world of Deluge, where they discovered the planet's entire population had been butchered and stacked into mountains of corpses. Shortly thereafter, they were set upon by berserker-crazed World Eaters and Khornate daemons. After withstanding this initial onslaught, the sky opened up and the Daemon Primarch Angron entered the carnage.Perturabo and Angron engaged in a brutal battle, with the Daemon Primarch having the upper hand in both power and speed. However, despite sustaining several wounds, the Lord of Iron endured, and goaded Angron. He declared that Angron had been born a slave and would now remain one, enslaved to darkness for all eternity.Utilising his superior tactical acumen and with the aid of the Iron Warriors and his Iron Circle of robotic honour guards, Perturabo was able to outmanoeuvre and bombard the World Eaters, pounding them into submission and besting Angron in the process.However, at that moment, an Ultramraine fleet appeared in orbit above the planet. Angron merely laughed, declaring that they were now all going to die. Perturabo retorted by reminding Angron that he had once seen his own warriors butchered by the slavemasters on Nuceria and had done nothing to stop it.This moved the Daemon Primarch to act, and after conjuring a Warp Storm, both the Iron Warriors and World Eaters fleets managed to evade the Ultramarines and make their way towards Ullanor.Angron would subsequently appear during the climax of the Solar War, when a massive Warp Rift opened up over Luna. This allowed the primary Traitor strike force to assail the Throneworld itself. The Daemon Primarch was seen perched during the battle over Luna aboard one of the battlements of his flagship Conqueror.
World Eaters - Post-Heresy Fragmentation: After Horus' death at the hands of the Emperor, the tide of the battle for Terra turned and the remaining forces of Chaos were scattered. Angron and his World Eaters fought their way across the galaxy to reach the Eye of Terror.Once inside the Warp rift, the bloody Chaos Space Marines chose a Daemon World to settle, which Khorne blessed and perverted into a realm of constant battle, bloodshed and pain where Angron, now a Daemon Prince of Khorne, ruled over all.