vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Fall of Medusa V - Battle Zone Euryales: Euryales was the central region of Medusa V's only inhabited continent and the bulwark of Imperial control over the world. It was home to the gigantic Hive Euryales dominating the centre of the region and the Vigilus Penitentiary to the west, a huge prison complex constructed to hold Medusa V's criminals. It also was home to Mount Erinyes and the southern half of Megaera's Cradle, as well as a large canyon called Guilliman's Scar, running along a north-south axis through the region. Hive Euryales was the capital hive city of the planet and possessed an estimated population of 1,300,000,000 citizens. When the conflict began, Hive Euryales was in open revolt against the Imperium and had been heavily infiltrated by Chaos Cultists. It was classified by the Imperial high command on the world as a critical objective that had to be restored to full Imperial control and held against all enemy forces at all costs until the evacuation of its remaining Loyalist citizens could be completed.
Fall of Medusa V - Western Zone: This zone contains an area of wasteland known as the Dead Zone that was used by the world's Planetary Defense Forces as a weapons-testing range, and the Gholus Munitions Testing Ground, which was responsible for the creation of the Dead Zone.
Fall of Medusa V - Northeastern Zone: This zone is heavily mountainous, containing the vast mountain range called the Ferrus Mountains, possibly after the Primarch Ferrus Manus of the Iron Hands Chapter that had aided the original Imperial settlement of Medusa V.
Fall of Medusa V - Southeastern Zone: This zone was mainly desert land, containing the Mortise Desert and the Saline Plains.
Fall of Medusa V - Bone Sea: The Bone Sea was a large expanse of water covering most of the surface of Medusa V that ran along the southern edge of the world's primary continent, and surrounded Johannes Island.
Fall of Medusa V - The Tyranids: In the dark reaches of the night, the frightened citizens of Medusa V whispered stories of a murderous ghost that stalked the underhives of their world's great hive cities. Each Medusan hive had its own legends, its own tales of sudden and unexpected slaughter. Though the details differed, they all described the same beast; a killing machine that appeared from out of nowhere, ripped its victims into bloody tatters and then disappeared into thin air. It became known as Death Leaper; for those who had seen it kill and survived to tell the tale described it as a violent elemental force that pounced from the shadows. But it was no myth. If the underhivers had known the truth about the alien presence among them, they would have realised that the true nightmare was only about to begin.The Tyranid splinter fleet of Hive Fleet Kraken that cast its shadow unexpectedly over Medusa V had evolved in the crucible of constant warfare. Its component species had adapted for fighting in dense urban environments and none more so than the vanguard Tyranid organisms that were first seeded upon the beleaguered world of Medusa V. Death Leaper was one of these breeds; not a single entity but a strain of Tyranid Lictors called the Death Leaper genus by the Inquisition that had evolved chameleonic abilities so advanced these killers had become all but invisible. Given the kill patterns, there was at least one Death Leaper Lictor per hive city on Medusa V. These creatures had alerted their parent bio-ships to the rich amounts of biomass present on Medusa V and the splinter fleet had arrived in the Medusa System like a hive of locusts to scour it clean.The Inquisition understood that there was more at risk on Medusa V than just the fate of a single world. From the testimony of Brother-Sergeant Erasmus of the Ultramarines, the Death Leaper genus was an evolutionary adaptation of the Tyranids that could, if absorbed by their bio-ships and replicated, make all Tyranid vanguard organisms virtually undetectable. Each Leaper therefore had to be hunted down and destroyed by Imperial forces at all costs. If the Tyranid splinter fleet was able to harness the evolutionary adaptations of the Death Leaper Lictors, the citizens of the Imperium would never be free of an even more potent Tyranid threat. The Tyranids were determined to strip Medusa V bare of all life and reabsorb the Death Leaper genus in the process.
Fall of Medusa V - Orks: In this dark time, the Medusa System, once an oasis of stability for humanity, became a treacherous place, a fact many spacefarers discovered to their cost as a force of reavers unleashed a vicious campaign of piracy in the system's vicinity. System augurs detected the presence of something so large that it could only be an Ork Space Hulk moving through the Warp and pict-capture from reconnaissance flights finally revealed the truth after it emerged into realspace. Adorned with dog-tooth patterning and a distinctive Ork glyph, the Hulk was identified as the Scylla belonging to the Ork Warlord Nazdreg Ug Urdgrub. After his unlikely alliance with Ghazghkull Thraka during the Third War for Armageddon was broken and their combined forces were defeated in the Pisicina System, Nazdreg had been presumed dead by the Imperium. Unfortunately, the infamous Ork Warlord returned to plague the Imperium once more. Though alerted to this threat, system defence ships were unable to halt the advance of Nazdreg's Space Hulk, eventually losing it in the chaos of the orbital battles surrounding Medusa V.It should speak volumes for the anarchy engulfing the planet at that time that the impact of an object the size of a Space Hulk north of Hive City Tisiphone along the Charybdis Crest did not register among the world's authorities, but any hopes that the Orks had died in the crash were soon dashed. Within days, scores of farming communities were razed as Nazdreg led his warriors on a new WAAAGH! against the Imperium. Attempts by the Planetary Defence Forces to quash the Greenskins failed and Nazdreg's assaults grew in size as more of his warriors rampaged from the crashed Space Hulk. Soon, the Madboyz began acting more strangely than usual, ranting that Medusa V--and everything on it--was soon to be destroyed. Only when the Weirdboyz confirmed that something nasty was indeed coming through the Warp did Nazdreg decide that it was time to take his warriors someplace else in search of an even bigger fight.In order to do so, the Orks' Space Hulk needed to be repaired. The Orks stripped the human settlements they had destroyed of every scrap of machinery and metal they could find. After each battle, the Orks dragged the still-smoking machinery back to the Hulk for the Meks to bolt onto its side. The Orks came to Medusa V and even though they did not plan to hang around for its destruction, they had no intent of leaving before they had enjoyed their fill of fighting. Every Ork victory brought more scrap metal and technology for Nazdreg's Space Hulk Scylla, so the Ork boyz could rebuild their ship and carry their WAAAGH! to new worlds.
Fall of Medusa V - Necrons: The Necrons were a dormant presence in the Medusa System for sixty million years. The seemingly lifeless world of Medusa VII, unknown to the Imperium, was a Necron Tomb World. There, deep below the surface, the slumbering form of a Necron Lord long dwelt in suspended unlife. Known to the Eldar as "The Herald of the Storm" in times now forgotten, this Necron Lord was one of the original architects of the Star Gods' Great Work and foremost amongst the Necron servants of the C'tan. When the Warp Storm threatened the Medusa System, the time of arising had come once more and the Necrons' robotic Tomb Spyders awakened the malice of the Necrontyr to feast upon the souls of the living once more. On Medusa V, Tech-priest Auspex arrays detected the initial energy surges that were the harbinger of the Necron invasion. In the wastelands beyond the towering spires of Macavius Hive storm clouds gathered, crackling with eldritch energy that defied all sensor interrogations. Beneath the wings of this storm, phalanx upon phalanx of Necron warriors marched at the direction of their Lord, overwhelming the outlying defences of the Hive at ease. Captain Sicarius of the Ultramarines, newly arrived on-planet, ordered several units of his company to Hive Macavius, alongside the Vostroyan 27th Imperial Guard Regiment. By the time the Hive itself was embraced by the storm and all communications became impossible, its defenders had rallied against the threat before them.The Necrons were only too aware of the incoming Warp Storm and so they devised a strategy to turn it to their advantage. The Imperial defenders of Hive Macavius remained unaware that the true thrust of the Necron advance on Medusa V lay not before their walls, but in the chill wastes of the Telosian desert. It was there that a legion of robotic Canoptek Scarabs and Canoptek Spyders laboured unceasingly to build monolithic structures that could hold the Warp at bay, fueled by the harvested essence of those who had fallen before the assault on Hive Macavius. If these monoliths could be fabricated in large enough numbers they would generate a Null Shield that would shelter the entire planet of Medusa V from the fury of the Warp once it was activated. If the Necrons succeeded in their plans, they would be free to harvest the souls of the human population of Medusa V at their leisure while the Warp Storm harmlessly scoured the rest of the Medusa System around them. Each Necron victory ensured that the Tomb Spiders could complete the Null Shield, allowing the Storm Lord and his warriors to harvest the souls of the people of Medusa V for the C'tan at will.
Fall of Medusa V - The Space Marines: Intelligence gained by the Imperium's Officio Assassinorum revealed that the Chaos Sorcerer Ygethmor the Deceiver of the Black Legion had turned his baleful eye towards Medusa V. As the storms wracking the Warp drew ever closer to Medusa V and madness, heresy and Chaos-spawned corruption engulfed the world below, great heroes were needed to stand against the dark will of the Ruinous Powers. The horrors unleashed by Ygethmor during the terrible battles of Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade were well-remembered and if the Deceiver's plan for Medusa V had come to fruition, the Imperium would doubtless have suffered for it.Legendary Space Marine Chapters such as the Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Imperial Fists, Howling Griffons, Black Templars and the Space Wolves answered Medusa V's desperate plea for aid with entire companies and several other Chapters despatched what units they could spare from other duties. Before long, a sizable force of Astartes was assembled on Medusa V and Captain Cato Sicarius of the Ultramarines, hero of the Medusa Schism, returned to take command of this combined force. Together they crusaded for the sake of honour and in defiance of the Dark Gods. Sicarius' first act was to deploy the disparate elements of the new crusade throughout the Medusa System to intercept and destroy the Forces of Chaos and thwart Ygethmor's plans wherever they could. Sicarius knew that only the death of the evil sorcerer of Chaos would end the threat to Medusa V and he swore a mighty oath to the Emperor to hunt the Deceiver down and slay him in personal combat. Ultimately, the Space Marines fought for their honour and the honour of the Imperium on Medusa V. Every victory they won and every Imperial life they saved helped to thwart Ygethmor's dark ritual.
Fall of Medusa V - The Eldar: If Medusa V had been a normal Imperial world that faced mortal danger, the enigmatic Eldar would no more have cared about its fate than that of a hive of insects. But, as with many strategically-placed habitable worlds across the galaxy, Medusa V harboured a portal into the Webway through which the mysterious Eldar traveled through the galaxy. No one save the Guardians of the Black Library knew the true extent of the Eldar's labyrinthine dimension. It connected every one of their Craftworlds and a thousand other locations, riddling the galaxy like the great circulatory system of their long-lost interstellar empire. In its prime it enabled the Eldar to traverse great distances through the Warp in complete safety. But theirs is a fallen empire and the Webway is now splintered and broken. The jagged spur of the Webway jutting onto Medusa V is permanently open, and just as the Eldar can spill out without warning, the Forces of Chaos can also spill in.So it is that the Eldar sought to prevent the Warp from running unchecked upon Medusa V lest it bleed into the Webway and pollute their territory. Craftworld Alaitoc and several other Eldar Craftworlds were potentially in great peril if Medusa V fell to Chaos and its Farseers foretold of a plague of daemons that would riddle its Infinity Circuit should the forces of darkness triumph in their quest. Autarch Elarique Swiftblade of Alaitoc was determined to seal off the portal before the Webway disintegrated under the force of the Warp Storm. She marshaled forces from a dozen Craftworlds in the grim knowledge that she must ensure the ritual to seal the Webway proceeded undisturbed at all costs. Only those closest to her knew that her nemesis, the Black Legion's Ygethmor the Deceiver, had arrived on Medusa V, and that her enmity towards the twisted Chaos Sorcerer was so strong she might gamble the fate of her Craftworld for the chance at revenge. Ultimately, an Eldar victory on Medusa V would have ensured that the Webway gates were sealed, preserving the Eldar Craftworlds from a possible Chaos invasion.
Fall of Medusa V - The Dark Eldar: Shipping in the region of the Medusa System had experienced a severe increase in pirate attacks over the months before the conflict fought on the world. Although the Imperial patrol fleets posted to guard the Medusa System made strenuous efforts to prevent the rising shipping losses in transports and cargo vessels, they had very little success. The fleet commanders and ship captains did not know it, but the reason for their failure was the exceptional skills and leadership of a single individual: No'akei, Daughter of Pain.Once the handmaiden of Asdrubael Vect, No'akei was amongst the most powerful Dark Eldar in all Commorragh and Asdrubael's personal protector. It is common knowledge in the Dark City that No'akei had fallen out of favour with her master and though no one knew exactly what had taken place between them, No'akei swiftly found herself exiled from Vect's palaces and banished from Commorragh. Far from laying her low, No'akei's exile seemed to have hardened her resolve. Dark Eldar warriors flocked to join her raiding force as she secured victory after victory. A thousand Tau were enslaved in a single day, plucked from their colony world under the cover of darkness. A dozen Imperial transports were gutted by her elite warriors, as thousands of human settlers were dragged screaming to their doom by Dark Eldar boarding parties. Wherever she tread, glory abounded and her raiding force grew daily as more Dark Eldar Kabals swore allegiance to her.For many Dark Eldar, leadership of a dozen warships and the support of dozens of Kabals would have been satisfaction enough, but No'akei thirsted for more--her jealousy of Vect's power drove her onwards. The shame of her banishment burned like an inner fire and she hungered for the day when she could cast down the Lord of the Black Heart Kabal and seize his power over Commorragh for her own. The Archons and the Dracons that sided with her recognised a chance to earn great glory and power. If their gambit succeeded there would be enormous rewards for all. To achieve her aims, No'akei needed slaves by the millions for her triumphal return to Commorragh, enough souls to bribe those who would otherwise remain loyal to Asdrubael Vect. If she was to succeed, No'akei needed fodder to fuel the greatest coup in the history of the Dark Eldar. With malice in her heart, the Daughter of Pain lead her raiding force to the embattled surface of Medusa V, ready to slaughter or enslave all who stood in her way. Ultimately, all battles won by the Dark Eldar on Medusa V enslaved more of the populace of the planet, winning glory for No'akei and her allies and enhancing their plans to seize control of Commorragh.
Fall of Medusa V - The Tau Empire: From their hidden scientific research facilities on Medusa V the scientist-engineers of the Tau Earth Caste strove to unlock the secret of Warp travel. The greatest hurdle in the Tau's rapid expansion across the galaxy has been their lack of knowledge of the Warp and from their vantage point on Medusa V's Raffaeleo's Spine they were striving to reverse this inadequacy. Etheric scanner arrays, pointing at Van Grothe's Rapidity were harvesting massive amounts of data intended to unlock the mysteries of the Warp for the Tau.Though the Imperial forces on Medusa V did not know it, the Tau had established a chain of similar scientific facilities across the entire planet, eagerly penetrating the secrets of the Warp. To protect them, Fire Caste Hunter cadres were secreted around these installations, heavily armed and highly trained warriors of the Tau Empire willing to sacrifice their lives for the information their Earth Caste counterparts were gathering as the Warp Storm neared. When the Imperium discovered the true intentions of the Tau, and their hunger for the secret of Warp travel, there was no doubt that it would turn its full might against them. To prevent this, before the Medusa V conflict the Tau had feigned diplomatic negotiations as a ruse to distract the already beleaguered humans, claiming settlement rights on the world and testing the patience of the Imperium to its limits in an effort to delay the onset of war.Aun'T'Pel, the Ethereal assigned to oversee Tau operations on Medusa V, knew full well that this deception would go unnoticed for only so long. His forces stood ready to take the war to the Gue'la and any others who stood in the way of the glorious destiny of the Tau Empire. Every battle won by the Tau forces on Medusa V purchased the precious time necessary for the Earth Caste's scientists to complete their research of the Warp anomaly.
Fall of Medusa V - The Imperial Guard: With Medusa V teetering on the brink of total annihilation and war among multiple combatants engulfing the mining world's surface, the Imperial Sector Command had despatched an Imperial Guard Crusade to ensure that the planet did not fall to the powers of darkness. The honour of leading the Medusa V Crusade fell to one man, Lord Marshal Graf Harazahn of the Vostroyan Firstborn Regiments. With well over 100 Imperial Guard Regiments seconded to his direct command for the Crusade, Lord Marshal Harazahn had vowed to secure complete control of the planet and evacuate all of its remaining Loyalist citizens in the name of the Emperor, no matter the cost. Fighting alongside Harazahn's Vostroyans were scores of Imperial Guard Regiments drawn from all across the Imperium of Man. Grim and sturdy Cadians manned trenches alongside savage Kanak Headtakers. Stoic Valhallans rubbed shoulders with the tough and resourceful Catachans, while the Ventan Heavy Infantry took up positions alongside Tallarn Desert Raiders and the Kroshin Grenadiers. Though many of the regimental commanders had expressed disdain at having to serve under a Vostroyan marshal, those who had bothered to learn something of the man, or had served alongside him before, held a far more favourable opinion. They knew that if the Imperial Guard was to triumph upon Medusa V, they needed a commander with his faith and dedication.As more Imperial Guard forces arrived, Harazahn ordered them to take up defensive positions in designated strategic points around Medusa V. Harazahn and his logisticians had identified nine key defensive positions on the world, including the Hives Zethus and Amphion on the Articus Plateau, Deimos Spaceport and the Dioscuri Observatory. In each location one simple order was given to the troops -- not a single step would be taken in retreat. The Imperial Guard intended to deny Medusa V to the Emperor's myriad enemies, or every man and woman among them would die in the effort. Every victory by the Imperial Guardsmen ensured the safe evacuation of thousands of loyal Imperial citizens.
Fall of Medusa V - The Imperium of Man: The Imperial forces on Medusa V, both the Space Marines and the Loyalist Imperial Guard troops, proved to be the ultimate victors of the Medusa V campaign. Though the planet itself could not be saved from the ravages of the Van Grothe Warp Storm, much of the Loyalist civilian population was successfully evacuated from the doomed world. In addition to the successful civilian evacuation, many of the planet's sacred sites were defended to the bitter end, and the Chaos Sorcerer Ygethmor's plan to attain daemonhood was thwarted. Such a victory came at a terrible cost, however, with many Guardsmen and Space Marines, led by Lord Marshal Graf Harazahn, choosing to remain on the planet to deny the enemies of the Imperium anything of value until the Warp Storm claimed them all.
Fall of Medusa V - The Eldar: The forces of the Craftworlds were successful in closing the Webway portals, but their losses were heavy, including the loss of Autarch Elarique Swiftblade of Craftworld Alaitoc; however, Swiftblade's death was not in vain, as she was able to earn her revenge and personally behead the Sorcerer Ygethmor before being slain herself by his bodyguard of Black Legion Chaos Space Marine Veterans.
Fall of Medusa V - The Forces of Chaos: Ygethmor's plans to ascend to daemonhood were foiled; while many aspiring Chaos Champions were able to achieve battlefield glory during the campaign on Medusa V, they were unable to claim the planet for the Ruinous Powers due to the heroic resistance of the Imperial forces. Ygethmor was slain by the blade of the Eldar Autarch Elarique Swiftblade of Craftworld Alaitoc, and those Champions of the Dark Gods who had followed him were left to their fates on the dying world as the Warp consumed them.
Fall of Medusa V - Dark Eldar: No'akei and her followers were successful in capturing a huge number of human slaves from Medusa V to bring back to the Dark City of Commorragh within the Webway. Upon her return, No'akei entered the Hall of Blood in the Dark Tower of Asdrubael Vect in order to unseat him, only to find herself (and those loyal to her) presumably betrayed by the wily lord of the Kabal of the Black Heart and those who served him. Surrounded by Vect's forces, No'akei was forced to make a forceful retreat from Commorragh with what remnants of her forces survived Vect's ambush. The ultimate fate of the Daughter of Pain remains unknown, though if she is still alive, it can be sure that she is seeking a new means to seize control of the Dark City.
Fall of Medusa V - Orks: The marooned Space Hulk Scylla, which the Ork forces had attempted to repair so they could flee from Medusa V before it was destroyed, was lost. Attacks from both Imperial and Chaos forces (including a "murky pestilence" left behind by Chaos' Plague Marines) sent Nazdreg and his "Boyz" looking for another way to escape the planet. A successful raid on a nearby Imperial facility yielded a large bulk freighter. The fleeing Orks were then able to "convince" the starship's crew to trick an Imperial Battleship into "evacuating" them with the rest of the human civilians. The Battleship's subsequent fate is unknown though it can be sure that the Warlord Nazdreg will likely plague the Imperium again, somewhere at sometime.
Fall of Medusa V - Tau Empire: The Tau expedition's goal, to gather information about the Warp to advance their research into the development of more effective Warp-Drives, was largely successful; however, an analysis of the gathered data, and the terrible fates of those Tau who remained behind when the Warp Storm took Medusa V, caused Earth Caste scientists to believe that further research into the nature of the Warp would be infeasible. The Fourth Sphere Expansion of the Tau Empire was thus delayed in order to further consolidate the recent Third Sphere Expansion. Many humans willingly joined the Tau Empire during the campaign simply to receive the Tau's protection from the other deadly factions rampaging across the world's surface. There were great losses for the Tau on Medusa V, personified by the heroic death of Commander Shadowsun's sibling, Shas’el Ty’res, the leader of the Fire Caste warriors on the world.
Fall of Medusa V - Tyranids: The disorganised Tyranid swarms on Medusa V were unable to make any headway in taking the planet; Imperial officials believe that the sheer diversity of opponents that they faced from multiple different species and cultures contributed to the inability of the Tyranids to make any progress. A Death Leaper Lictor, which the splinter Hive Fleet had sought to claim, was captured by Imperial forces and has since vanished; Imperial investigations hint that the Death Leaper escaped from the Inquisition's Ordo Xenos into space aboard an Imperial freighter, killed the crew, and then fled aboard a second Imperial ship which came to investigate. The Hive Fleet orbiting the planet became inanimate bio-ship hulks floating aimlessly, apparently abandoned by the Hive Mind to their fates in the Warp Storm.
Fall of Medusa V - Necrons: Unable to construct the great pylons in order to erect a Null Shield around Medusa V, the Medusan Necron Lord, the Herald of the Storm, was left behind on the dying planet, cursed by the C'tan known as the Deceiver himself to remain for as long as the planet endured in the Warp -- after which, the Deceiver would return to administer the "true punishments". The remainder of the Necron forces were teleported away along with the Deceiver to plague the peoples of the galaxy elsewhere.
Fall of Medusa V - Trivia: The conflict fought on Medusa V was the 2006 Games Workshop global Warhammer 40,000 tabletop campaign event called The Fall of Medusa V. Almost 60,000 players across the world participated, and 95,280 games were played, making the campaign a truly mammoth event.
Fall of the Aeldari - Decay and Degradation: The Aeldari were a technologically advanced humanoid race, generally considered the most powerful intelligent species in the galaxy before the founding of the Imperium of Man. Their ancient empire spanned the Milky Way Galaxy, and the only intelligent race that could have challenged them, the Necrons, lay in hibernation on their Tomb Worlds across the galaxy in the wake of the end of the War in Heaven. They had unparalleled mastery of the Immaterium, so much so that they could even mold the mystical energies of that hyperdimensional nether realm into physical materials like Wraithbone. When Mankind was still long millennia away from building the Egyptian pyramids, the Aeldari already ruled a vast, unchallengeable interstellar empire. The fall of this empire came not from the actions of another species, but literally from the conflicts that lay within the Aeldari themselves.Aeldari technology had advanced so far by the height of their empire that little or no work was required by individual Aeldari. As a result, at some point around the 24th or 25th Millennium, groups of Aeldari began forming groups known as Pleasure Cults dedicated to the pursuit of experiencing every sensation, pleasurable or painful, that life had to offer. As the Aeldari's emotions are often more powerful than those experienced by Mankind, they were capable of the dedicated pursuit of sensation in a way that even the most sybaritic members of the human race would find difficult to comprehend. These pursuits became more extreme, hedonistic and depraved as time went on. Torture and murder came to be seen as art forms every bit as worthy as poetry, music and painting. The Aeldari were extremely long-lived (even immortal before the Curse of the Nightbringer), never suffered from senility or disease, and their superior intellects, deep emotional resonance and potent psychic powers allowed them to perfect their skills to a degree far beyond that of even the most talented humans. The Aeldari were able to devise cunning new ways of torturing and killing their fellows at rates never imagined.Government within the Aeldari empire soon collapsed and the degeneration of their homeworlds and colonies into utter depravity continued unimpeded. As the pursuit of ever more extreme experiences reached its height, death reigned in the streets of Aeldari cities, hunter and hunted each being part of a twisted ritual of destruction which consumed millions of lives. Some Aeldari were able to see that their now-corrupt society was destroying itself, and fled in disgust; these refugees would settle in the distant planetary colonies of their empire and would later be known as the Exodites.
Fall of the Aeldari - The Fall: Upon dying, the soul of any sentient deceased being traverses the bounds of the physical realm and goes to rest within the Warp. Generally, this has no effect on the physical realm. The Aeldari, however, are quite different. The psychically-gifted Aeldari have powerful souls and register a much stronger presence in the Warp than do the vast majority of humanity, most of whom possess no psychic abilities.The deaths of hundreds of thousands of Aeldari in extremely pleasurable and/or painful ways -- and the concomitant entry of huge numbers of their souls into the Warp -- had an unintended, and catastrophic, side-effect: The restless souls of the dead Aeldari caused the formation of terrible Warp Storms, which made interstellar travel extremely difficult in the physical realm (This was one of the factors that precipitated humanity's Age of Strife). A far worse effect, however, was that these souls began to somehow coalesce into a larger entity, a living, psychic embodiment of the corruption that had taken their lives. As more and more Aeldari died to fuel the decadence and depravity of their society, this entity continued to grow, and the Warp storms continued to grow worse.In the early 30th Millennium, this great Warp entity finally attained full sentience. In the last few years before its birth, many Aeldari were driven insane by the uncontrolled psychic energies possessed by this embryonic entity. Many Aeldari who had stayed behind on their homeworlds to try and turn their race away from the decadence that had consumed them saw what was happening and knew that something terrible was about to occur. These Aeldari left the empire behind, fleeing aboard colossal spacecraft called Craftworlds and taking any plants, animals or other pieces of the Aeldari culture and their homeworlds' environments with them.At last the entity suddenly came to life, and was said to have "taken its first breath"; this first 'breath' instantly slew the overwhelming majority of the Aeldari who lived in the empire as their souls were 'inhaled' by the entity. The death toll was so massive within the Aeldari empire that Warp energy literally spilled over into the physical realm, creating a permanent interface of realspace and Warpspace later known to the Imperium of Man as the Eye of Terror. Even the Aeldari who had fled their empire were affected -— many Exodites and Craftworlders fell dead as their souls were also sucked from them. As well, many psykers of other races were also driven insane or killed by the power that had been unleashed. This new entity became the fourth major Chaos God, Slaanesh, the Prince of Pleasure, and the Aeldari empire was no more.
Fall of the Aeldari - The Prince of Chaos: Slaanesh's first act after annihilating so many Aeldari was to hunt down their gods, who also existed in the Warp. As they had with Slaanesh, the psychically-gifted Aeldari had previously created their own pantheon of gods from their collective desires and beliefs' affect upon the energies of Warpspace. With the sudden deaths of so many Aeldari, the old gods were drastically weakened. Slaanesh took advantage of this weakness and destroyed them, assimilating them within itself. Unlike the other intelligent races of the galaxy who see the youngest Chaos God as male, the Aeldari consider Slaanesh to be female, and refer to her as "the Great Enemy" or "She Who Thirsts." Ancient Aeldari Gods, such as Kurnous, Isha, Vaul, and Asuryan were hunted down and consumed by Slaanesh.However, among the death and destruction, two of the original Aeldari Gods survived. It is said that the Aeldari god of war, Kaela Mensha Khaine, fought Slaanesh, and neither was able to defeat the other — Khaine, being a war god, could not be defeated in battle, but Slaanesh was far too powerful for Khaine to defeat. Some tellings of the story state that in the end, the Chaos Blood God, Khorne, interceded on Khaine's behalf, likely with the aim of absorbing the Aeldari god of war himself. Regardless of the actual events of the battle, the result is clear: Rather than be absorbed by the more powerful Chaos Gods, Khaine's form was shattered and exiled to rest in the mortal realm in the form of great statues called "Avatars", which rest in the hearts of the various Craftworlds, while pieces of Khaine's soul reside in the Infinity Circuit of the Craftworlds and can be called upon in times of emergency to animate the Avatar--though the price is high in blood for this boon.The other Aeldari god to survive the Fall was the trickster God Cegorach, also called the Laughing God. He is said to have hidden himself behind Khaine during the great duel with Slaanesh; when Khaine was finally banished, the Laughing God hid himself within the labyrinthine confines of the Webway, where he still resides. Occasionally he reenters the Warp in order to play pranks upon Slaanesh, most famously to rescue the souls of certain Harlequins from consumption by it.After Slaanesh's birth and its war with the Aeldari gods, the few surviving Aeldari found their society in ruins. They were split into factions, and were forced to find ways of protecting themselves from Slaanesh; with Slaanesh's existence so closely tied to the Aeldari race, any Aeldari who subsequently died had his or her soul instantly consumed by the ever-hungry "Great Enemy". The new Aeldari factions -- the Craftworld Aeldari, the Drukhari, the Harlequins, the Aeldari Outcasts, and the Exodites -- each found their own ways of dealing with the curse of Slaanesh.
Fall of the Aeldari - Legacy: The Fall of the Aeldari was a major event on the galactic stage. Firstly, the Aeldari empire was extinguished, leaving behind the hell-region called the Eye of Terror that has threatened Aeldari and the Imperium alike for ten thousand standard years. The forces of Chaos gained another powerful patron in the new Chaos God Slaanesh, making the Ruinous Powers a further threat to the existence of mortals; however, Khorne's interference in the Slaanesh-Khaine duel caused a rift between Slaanesh and Khorne, and is one of the reasons why the two gods and their followers continue to be enemies.The Aeldari went, virtually instantaneously, from being the most powerful force in the galaxy to being a species comprised of a relatively small groups who struggle to survive and preserve their culture. The various Aeldari factions are reviled by other races for their tendency to focus on their own survival, often at the expense of those other races' well-being, and for the treachery and subterfuge they have often employed in this effort.The birth of Slaanesh had the side-effect of clearing the galaxy of the Warp Storms associated with the era immediately prior to its birth. This allowed interstellar travel and communications to resume; the human leader known as the Emperor of Mankind was able to take advantage of this to unify humanity under his leadership on Terra and Mars, end the Age of Strife, and begin his epic Great Crusade. The Great Crusade would see the forging of the galaxy-spanning Imperium of Man, which would attempt to fill the power vacuum in the galaxy left by the near-annihilation of the Aeldari.Some Aeldari did learn from their mistakes. Knowing that their psychic prowess has profound effects upon the Warp, some far-sighted leaders among the Craftworld Aeldari, the Asuryani, have noticed the slow growth of a new deity, Ynnead, the Aeldari God of the Dead, within the safe confines of all the Aeldari Craftworlds' Infinity Circuits. The Aeldari hope that if and when Ynnead is finally born, he will confront Slaanesh and defeat it once and for all. But as the great Farseer Eldrad Ulthran has noted, this may take thousands of Terran years at the very least, and Ynnead's awakening will require the passing of every Aeldari soul linked to the Eternal Matrix-effectively destroying the Aeldari's past even as it might guarantee this faded species a new beginning.
Fall of the Lords of Gardinaal - Fall of the Lords of Gardinaal: The Fall of the Lords of Gardinaal was a brutal Imperial Compliance campaign of the Great Crusade conducted against the intransigent Industrial World of Gardinaal, located near the Dominion of Storms in the Eastern Fringe in the Ultima Segmentum.This campaign was led by the Primarch Ferrus Manus and jointly conducted by his uncompromising Iron Hands as well as elements from the Emperor's Children and Ultramarines Space Marine Legions, with support from Imperial Army regiments from both the Marnean Armsmen and Serranic Peltasts as well as a demi-legio of the Legio Atarus.Following the decimation of their military forces and the death of Gardinaal's intransigent nobility, the people of this world suffered both famine and great hardship, but its resources were largely left intact for Imperial exploitation.Within a few short standard years, Gardinaal and its heavy industrial output would prove to be a valuable addition to the Imperium.
Fallen Angels - Sarosh: Not long after the Lion's reunification with the Emperor of Mankind he was given command of the I Legion of the Legiones Astartes. Shortly after their entry into the Great Crusade, the 4th Expeditionary Fleet of the newly renamed Dark Angels Legion reached the orbit of the planet Sarosh, which had formerly been commanded by an officer of the White Scars Legion.The Saroshi -- ruled by a massive bureaucracy -- had expressed their interest in peacefully becoming part of the Imperium after they made first contact with the servants of the Emperor, and the Imperials were eager to allow them in, believing that these people seemed to possess the same secular beliefs as expressed in the Imperial Truth. But in truth the Saroshi secretly worshipped daemonic Chaos entities they called the Melachim, and saw the anti-religious stance of the Imperial Truth as a malevolent evil that threatened their way of life and deepest beliefs.The Lord High Exacter, the leader of the Saroshi bureaucracy, denounced Lion El'Jonson and the Emperor to the primarch's face aboard the Dark Angels' flagship, the Battle Barge Invincible Reason, and the Lion responded by ramming his Power Sword through the fanatical Saroshi leader's body.Unknown to the Dark Angels, the Saroshi had secreted a nuclear device aboard the primitive shuttle they had used to reach orbit, intending to assassinate the fleet's entire command structure, including Jonson; however, Luther and a junior Librarian named Zahariel managed to eject the shuttle into space, causing only minor damage to the flagship from its ignited engines.After this incident, Luther, Zahariel and five hundred other Dark Angels were sent back to Caliban in disgrace as punishment for allowing an enemy to get a nuclear device aboard the primarch's flagship. In truth, Luther had been aware of the device's existence and had been tempted to allow it to explode so that the Lion might be killed and he could take the primarch's place as the greatest of Caliban's warriors, a destiny that had been denied him by the Lion's arrival on that world decades before.Only at the last moment had Luther, ashamed of his temptation, recanted and aided Zahariel in getting the shuttle off of the flagship. But the incident would break the trust that had once existed between Luther and the Lion.Luther and his new garrison command were ordered to oversee the recruitment of new Space Marines into the Ist Legion from the Calibanite population.
Fallen Angels - Dark Secret: The days following the Horus Heresy were the most turbulent of times, for the galaxy-wide empire of Mankind had teetered on the very brink of total collapse. Although Horus was defeated and his remaining followers were on the run, the armies of the Imperium were full of bitterness and recrimination. The unforeseen betrayal of Horus had profound after-effects that are still in existence today.Shorn of the Emperor's guidance, the condemnation of the guilty was totalitarian and egregious, and the Imperium grew ever more repressive. The grim realisation that the Space Marines –- the ultimate warriors of Human kind –- had proven vulnerable to corruption was a severe shock. Fully half of the Space Marine Legions had betrayed the Emperor.If the Dark Angels had admitted that some of their members had turned, their entire Legion would have been condemned. In this paranoid atmosphere, the surviving Dark Angels debated their options even as they paid tribute to their lost primarch.In the end, they felt there was no choice but to hide the truth of their brothers' betrayal. It was decreed by the most senior members of the Legion that no outsider must learn the dreadful truth -- none must know that members of the Dark Angels had proven corruptible and turned to the Ruinous Powers like the Traitor Legions.In the wake of the Fall of Caliban, there was much to do, and many secrets to keep. The Dark Angels found that it was easier to avoid the barrage of questions by fully immersing themselves in rigorous duty. However, they were eventually forced to explain the loss of their primarch and their homeworld of Caliban over and over again, telling their fabricated tale to the High Lords of Terra, and eventually the newly established Inquisition.As no fighting formation carried the war against the rebels forward with more furious resolve than the Dark Angels, no one pressed the grieving warriors too closely. The Sons of the Lion continued the fight, chasing the remnants of Horus' armies into the Eye of Terror and enacting many savage acts of revenge.It was at first believed that all their traitorous brethren had been destroyed at the Fall of Caliban, yet it was not so. Eventually, the Dark Angels Librarians picked up the telltale traces of their lost brethren. Thus it was revealed that those defeated Dark Angels Traitors -– known as the "Fallen Angels," or just "the Fallen" –- were not all destroyed when they were sucked into the Warp.Instead, the Fallen had been cast across time and space, for the Librarians picked up evidence that many of the traitors had returned, their psychic signatures shining out briefly from many scattered places across the galaxy. That the Traitors escaped their loyal brethren's vengeance was a torment for the surviving Dark Angels. As long as the Fallen lived, the Legion's great shame would live on as well.They might spread knowledge of the Dark Angels' treachery. Any who encountered the Fallen would bear witness not only to the original betrayal, but also the Legion's ensuing cover-up.
Fallen Angels - The Dark Oracle: Near the heart of the Rock resided a single cell. It was deep in the bowels of the asteroid, where only the Watchers in the Dark and the Supreme Grand Master were allowed to venture. There, past locked gates that were shielded with dozens of metres of adamantine plating, was an oubliette.Its walls were inscribed with the most potent runes of warding known to Humanity, and they have been inscribed to keep creatures out, but also to keep something within. There, sustained in life for ten thousand standard years by a powerful stasis field, languishes the broken man who was once known as Luther.Down the ages, the Supreme Grand Masters had some success in using Luther as an oracle. Although his Warp-contaminated and deranged mind often wandered or attempted to deceive, during moments of lucidity the Luther-thing spoke of events that will be, or might be, or dropped hints at what was hidden and where.Since the Fall of Caliban, each Supreme Grand Master has, in turn, taken the long dark walk down to the heavily psi-warded cell. Each tried to extract a confession form the Arch-heretic, each tried to penetrate the madness that clouded him; none succeeded.The thing that was, and may still be, Luther divulged many secrets -- from the names and locations of members of the Fallen, to the whereabouts of relics from the Legion secreted in the underworks beneath the old fortress-monastery.Mostly, however, all that could be gotten out of Luther were mad ravings -- over and over again he repeated that he had no need of repentance or confession, for one day Lion El'Jonson would return and absolve him of his sins. He often claimed that day was near and that he could feel the Lion was already close at hand.After the birth of the Great Rift following the 13th Black Crusade and the fall of Cadia, The Rock was caught within the Imperium Nihilus, the galactic north that is wholly cut off from the Emperor's Astronomican after the onset of the Blackness.But even as the isolation of the Noctis Aeterna passed, The Rock was invaded. A Daemon army led by the Fallen Daemon Prince Marbas penetrated the formidable Void Shields that surrounded the Dark Angels' asteroid base. Fighting took place along the docks, within the grand halls, and even in the labyrinthine sub-levels and dungeons that burrowed deep into The Rock.As the conflict reached its climactic point, the invaders disappeared with the same suddenness with which they had manifested, having ultimately achieved little beyond mindless slaughter and destruction...or so it is believed. There was one, however, who knew otherwise.In the deepest dungeon, a secret prisoner known only to the Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels -- Luther -- was set free.Azrael suspected the entire battle had been merely a diversion so that nefarious agents of the Fallen could accomplish their true task -- yet it is a theory that he must keep to himself, for none else must know of Luther's imprisonment...and his escape.
Fallen Angels - Descent Into Darkness: During their millennia-long quest to hunt down the Fallen, the Chapters of the Unforgiven have tracked down and captured hundreds of their damnable brethren. To aid them in this task, they have modified their Chapter organisation. Although the Deathwing and Ravenwing are unique to the Dark Angels, most of the Unforgiven Chapters have their own equivalents.The Unforgiven will capture any Fallen, any suspected of being a Fallen, or even any who have are believed to have had contact with a Fallen. They are placed in the stasis-crypt of a Dark Talon and ferried to the Rock.Once there, they are led in solemn procession into the highly secluded dungeons. Deep in the underbelly of the fortress-monastery of the Dark Angels, in the catacombs where only the highest of the Inner Circle may tread, all these prisoners meet their doom.Interrogator-Chaplains, aided by the psychic powers of the Grand Master of the Librarians, seek two things from the Fallen. First, they want to hear a full account of the betrayer -– his history, his purpose and his actions before and during the Fall of Caliban. Secondly, and most importantly, they seek contrition from the guilty party –- for only upon full repentance will the Fallen be granted his final release.The torments are long, the methods are brutal. With each passing year, the Dark Angels have strayed further, although some individuals are far worse than others. Cruel acts once considered despicable are now a standard part of any Interrogator-Chaplain's method.To elicit a confession, there is no torment to which Asmodai, the current Master Interrogator-Chaplain, will not subject a prisoner. It is this fate that waits in store for Cypher, the most hated of all Fallen, should he ever be caught.