vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Chaos Dreadclaw - Chaos Dreadclaw: The Chaos Dreadclaw is an ancient assault boat design very much like the current Drop Pod that was used by the Space Marine Legions during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy and is still in service among the Chaos Space Marine Traitor Legions during the 41st Millennium.The Chaos Dreadclaw may be a variant or descendant of the Anvillus Pattern Dreadclaw Drop Pod, that was widely used during these times. Dreadclaws, like the Loyalist Space Marines' Drop Pods, are used to rapidly deploy squads of Chaos Space Marines onto a planet's surface from orbit. The Dreadclaw assault boats are usually deployed from Chaos battleships and cruisers engaged in a planetary assault. These starships will usually bombard the landing zone before the Dreadclaws touch down, clearing them of any opposition.The Dreadclaw is also intended for use in ship-to-ship boarding actions and is outfitted with two sets of grappling claws that allow the Dreadclaw to securely attach itself to the hull of an enemy starship, after attaching it begins cutting through the ship's hull with a ring of powerful melta-cutters located inside the machine's maw.After cutting through the hull, a process that takes only solar minutes, the Dreadclaw opens its air-tight iris hatch and allows its cargo of Chaos Space Marines passage into the enemy ship. The Dreadclaw is intended as an all-purpose assault boat that can deliver either a squad of up to ten Chaos Space Marines, up to five Chaos Terminators, or a single Chaos Dreadnought to combat for both ground assaults and ship-to-ship fleet actions.The Dreadclaw operates much like its present Imperial counterpart. During a planetary assault, it hurtles through the atmosphere like a man-made meteor until at a certain pre-determined altitude, its retro-rockets kick in and slow its descent to a speed survivable by Astartes (though not necessarily by normal humans).The Dreadclaw does not extend its main claw arms until it has landed and is ready to begin deploying its troops, since the arms' mechanisms are delicate and could be damaged by the impact or the heat of atmospheric entry. Once on the ground, the assault boat's main hatch irises open and the squad or Chaos Dreadnought steps out on the surface. The four claws then extend, driving the Dreadclaw's armoured bulk upwards and revealing its deadly contents, who begin combat operations in their typically savage fashion.Unlike Imperial Drop Pods, the Dreadclaw is an assault boat, which means that it is fully capable of lifting off and leaving a planetary atmosphere or a warship's surface again, so that it can be used to extract Chaotic troops from a planetary surface or boarding operation as well as deliver them.
Chaos Dreadclaw - History: The Anvillus Pattern Dreadclaw Drop Pod was initially designed during the Great Crusade to insert Legion Space Marine boarding forces onto enemy voidcraft in the midst of battle. As such they had a minimal profile and a heavily armoured hull designed to survive fire from smaller, ship-based close defence weaponry, while a series of melta-cutters allowed it to slice through a ship's outer hull and deliver its cargo into the heart of a vessel.Unlike some earlier boarding craft, which were incapable of returning their cargo to friendly ships, the Dreadclaw was also fully capable of operating as an independent dropship. Indeed, many Legions favoured using the Dreadclaw in this role instead of the more common Storm Eagle, dropping from the sky like a flaming comet and employing the craft's thermal jets and melta-cutters to scorch the landing zone clean before disembarking the assault troops contained within.Though lacking in any subtlety or elegance, this tactic was undeniably effective, and many crew had developed a dark notoriety for their skill at reckless low altitude strafing runs, leaving great swathes of the enemy's lines aflame with each pass.Before the Horus Heresy began, the Anvillus Pattern Dreadclaw Drop Pod was one of the most advanced assault boats in service with the Space Marine Legions or the Armada Imperialis fleet of the Imperial Army during the Great Crusade. However, its design by the ancient Mechanicum was flawed.When the Dreadclaw's on-board cogitator was interfaced with the extensive array of navigation auspexes and logic engines present on an Imperial starship, its Machine Spirit began to develop a dangerous and unexpected level of self-awareness. The launch bays and maintenance decks of Imperial warships outfitted with complements of Dreadclaws began to suffer from a suspiciously high number of fatal accidents and malfunctions, which, despite the reassurances provided by the Mechanicum Tech-priests, soon led to rumours that the Dreadclaws' Machine Spirits were cursed in some way.Once the Heresy began, the number of such fatal incidents on starships that were part of the Loyalist forces increased exponentially and led to many Imperial starship captains simply jettisoning their entire complement of the assault boats into the cold vacuum of space. The Dreadclaws present on Traitor vessels did not suffer nearly as many problems.In fact, after the end of the Heresy and the retreat of the Traitor Legions into the Eye of Terror, the Dreadclaws became as warped by constant exposure to Chaos energies as the rest of the Heretic Astartes' equipment and vehicles. The malevolence of these assault boats' Machine Spirits has only grown, though now they serve the agenda of the Ruinous Powers.Dreadclaws today can be said to positively revel in the taking of the lives of those dedicated to the service of the False Emperor. The original Forge World which designed the Dreadclaw was eventually purged from Imperial records after the Heresy.
Chaos Dreadclaw - Armament: The Dreadclaw is an unarmed transport vehicle used by the forces of Chaos to quickly deploy their forces to a planet's surface or to an enemy starship. The Dreadclaw's only feature that could be considered a weapon is its melta-cutter, which is able to cause only minor damage to a starship by cutting access points into its hull so its cargo of Chaos Space Marines can depart and board the vessel.The Dreadclaw is, however, capable of being outfitted with external Frag Assault Launchers, which will fire a blast of fragmentation charges to protect itself from any enemy infantry that gets too close while the Dreadclaw is on a planet's surface.
Chaos Dreadclaw - Dreadclaw Talon: Many of the Traitor Legions prefer sudden and brutally-enacted assaults that can shatter the morale and unit cohesiveness of an Imperial or xenos enemy that is often numerically superior to them. Such attacks serve a double purpose: the elimination of strategic targets and a rapid closing with the foe that allows Heretic Astartes to rend their foes apart in the bloody melee combat that so many of them simply relish.One way that these assaults are carried out is using the formation known as the Dreadclaw Talon. This tactic uses the Dreadclaw assault boat to deliver a hand-picked force comprised of up to four Chaos Space Marine squads, including Chaos Terminators or Chaos Dreadnoughts, into combat mere moments after a Chaos warfleet unleashes a devastating orbital bombardment.Moments after Lance fire and torpedo strikes clear their landing zone, the Traitor Marines will land and unleash their firepower on the stunned defenders to take their objective or kill important enemy personnel. This tactic was used most memorably during the Battle of Ironholm in the Gothic War (12th Black Crusade) when a warband of the World Eaters deployed the Killing Hand Dreadclaw Talon into the heart of the Imperial Guard's defensive lines.Lord General Kolke and his entire command staff were slaughtered on the end of the Khornate Berserkers' Chainaxes, destroying the Imperial defenders' command and control and striking a devastating blow against their morale all in one swoop. This assault ultimately turned the tide of the battle in the favour of the servants of the Blood God.
Chaos Dreadclaw - Wargear: Frag Assault Launchers
Chaos Dreadclaw - Transport Capacity: The Dreadclaw has a transport capacity of 10 or can be used to transport a single Dreadnought.
Chaos Dreadclaw - Ordo Malleus Departmento Analyticus Data: The original technical specifications of the Dreadclaw have been either lost or purged from Imperial records.
Chaos Dreadclaw - Canon Conflict: The Chaos Dreadclaw is no longer available for sale by Forge World, but was reintroduced as the Anvillus Pattern Dreadclaw Drop Pod. The Imperial Armour: Volume 13 - War Machines of the Lost and the Damned book specifically names the Anvillus Dreadclaw as the new Chaos Dreadclaw, and as such the Chaos Dreadclaw may no longer be canon.
Chaos Dreadclaw - Sources: Imperial Armour Volume Six - The Siege of Vraks - Part Two, pp. 21, 33, 145, 157-159Imperial Armour Volume Seven - The Siege of Vraks - Part Three, pg. 188Imperial Armour Aeronautica, pg. 73Imperial Armour Apocalypse, pp. 100, 105Imperial Armour Apocalypse (Second Edition), pp. 112, 114Imperial Armour (Update 2002), pp. 42-43Imperial Armour (Update 2006), pg. 33The Horus Heresy - Book Three: Extermination (Imperial Armour), pg. 235Forge World - Anvillus Pattern Dreadclaw Drop Pod
Chaos Gods - End of Days: With the opening of the Great Rift at the end of the 41st Millennium, the Daemonic incursions that had plagued the galaxy since time immemorial escalated in both scale and frequency.A new era of terror and bloodshed was ushered in by that galaxy-spanning tear in the fabric of reality, and the armies of the Chaos Gods, mortal and Daemonic alike, began to conquer and consume the worlds of Humanity and the alien races with unprecedented impunity.Had the Chaos Gods worked in unison in the wake of that terrible event, it is doubtless that realspace would have been utterly consumed by the sprawling madness of the Warp.Yet true to their nature, the dark brothers saw the anarchy as an opportunity to fulfil their own agendas: to kill, to change, to pollute, to bathe in excess. So divided, they are unable to fully overcome the fierce resistance of the galaxy's inhabitants.The Imperium of Man, the largest single empire in the galaxy, has been galvanised by the return of the legendary Primarch Roboute Guilliman, and with him fights a new breed of warrior in Humanity's defence, the Primaris Space Marines.The older intelligent species of the galaxy, such as the Aeldari and the Necrons, continue to exhibit a stubborn refusal to bow before the Chaos Gods and accept their extinction, while upstart new species like the T'au gain a greater understanding by the day of the Realm of Chaos and the ancient and malevolent beings within it.The barbaric Orks are only incited by the surging conflicts around them, and greet the prospect of battle against the Daemonic legions with the same reckless enthusiasm they always have.The intergalactic devourers known as the Tyranids regard the immaterial Daemons with a special distaste, seeing them only as undigestible threats to the biomass they wish to consume.So the ultimate battle for the galaxy continues, the Chaos Gods and their Daemonic legions threatening to annihilate everything, including each other, in their eternal quest for dominance.
Chaos Gods - Followers: The Chaos Gods' most devoted and powerful mortal followers are known as Champions of Chaos, and are spiritually bound to their patrons.Chaos Champions are rewarded with the mark of their patron Chaos God, mutational or psychic "gifts" unique to each god and the potential blessing of ascension to become a Daemon Prince of that god.When a follower of a Chaos God dies, their soul is absorbed into the greater psychic mass of that god within the Warp, adding its energy to the already formidable power of that deity. It is for this reason that the Ruinous Powers seek to corrupt and turn to their worship as many mortal souls as they possibly can.
Chaos Gods - Daemons: A Daemon is an entity of pure psychic energy formed from a fragment of a Chaos God's consciousness. They comprise the armies of the Chaos Gods within the Warp, and frequently battle the Daemonic armies of other Gods and unbelievers on the material plane.The Chaos Gods often send their Daemonic legions into the galaxy. Such invasions may be part of a long-engineered plan, or merely an opportunity seized -- for instance, taking advantage of a newly opened rift or swirling Warp Storm to materialise a Daemon host that will run rampant across the mortal worlds.Dark omens, Chaos Cultist activity and mutation frequently herald and accompany their arrival in realspace, and when the armies of the gods blaze into being, reality itself bows before them. Each of these dread legions are characterised by the unique aspects of their founding power.Khorne's Daemons advance as a great host accompanied by blaring horns; beneath brazen banners, the whips of roaring monstrosities urge on rank upon rank of bloodthirsty footsoldiers. With raw anger and violence, the legions of Khorne cut a swathe through enemy territory, the blood spilt by their attacks a tribute to their almighty maker.Acts of slaughter and mutilation are rewarded by the Lord of Battle, and even those that fight against his Daemons unwittingly empower him with their rage and blood sacrifice.Tzeentch is perhaps the most devious of all the gods, for he will look to create a weakness to exploit before sending his servants to war. There is always a plan to his attacks, although it is often beyond the understanding of mortals, and may take untold millennia to unfold.Through plotting and sorcery, the Changer of Ways will set his enemies against each other, sowing confusion and distrust; when the time is finally right, Tzeentch's cackling minions and manipulative magisters sweep forward upon a carpet of magic, striking at the weakest of the targets, opening unseen seams of Warp energies or setting the stage for future catastrophes.When Nurgle's minions are set free, they march forth to spread disease and decay. Sonorous chanting and the dolorous clangs of rusted bells herald their attacks, while the army advances under an impenetrable swarm of flies.Capering Daemon-mites carpet the ground before the host, and the noxious poxes of the fleshy hulks that command them kill everything in their path, rendering all life down to mulch from which corrupted fungi and poisonous plants erupt.The invasions of Slaanesh begin in an insidious fashion before developing into a full frontal assault. The tendrils of the Dark Prince's power inveigle their way into the souls of mortals, perverting them from within and giving them over entirely to the pursuit of their base desires.By the time his lithe and sensuous Daemonic legions arrive, the foe is utterly beguiled, and his minions will sweep forward with unmatched speed to slice through opposition in an orgy of mayhem and debauchery.
Chaos Gods - Minor Chaos Gods: Though the four major Chaos Gods are the most well-known and the most likely to be worshipped individually, there also exists within the Warp a plethora of minor Chaos deities.While these entities are not as powerful as the major powers, they are every bit as dangerous and evil. It is believed by some Imperial savants that it is one of these minor deities who transformed the Chaos Space Marine Raptors into their current state.Some of these minor Chaos Gods are outlined below.Ans'l, Mo'rcck and Phraz-Etar are minor Chaos deities. Chaos Space Marines were rumoured to praise them by putting spikes on their power armour. Their names are puns on the last names of Bryan Ansell, Michael Moorcock, and Frank Frazetta, writers and artists whose work all contributed to the look and feel of the Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 universes.Malice is an entity worshipped as the Renegade God of Chaos and the Hierarch of Anarchy and Terror. The Renegade Space Marines Chapter called the Sons of Malice number among his followers.The T'au Fourth Sphere of Expansion is believed to have been saved in the Warp by a possible Chaos God created in their image. However the T'au of the Fourth Sphere believe that the allied Auxiliaries with their fleet were responsible for the being's creation, and that it is in fact a perversion created from their perception of the Greater Good. This entity is described as five-fingered, many-armed, and adhering to the concepts of the Greater Good.
Chaos Hound - Chaos Hound: A Chaos Hound is a type of Chaos Beast often utilised by the forces of Chaos, most often by the mortals of the Lost and the Damned and various Chaos Cults. These beasts resemble mutant dogs or hounds who have been so twisted and deformed by the energies of the Warp that glistening muscle and tissue is visible through their hair and what remains of their skin.However, despite their frightening and decrepit appearance Chaos Hounds are extremely agile and strong, capable of catching a Human and ripping them to shreds within only solar seconds. Chaos Hounds are so vicious and strong that many Chaos warbands frequently make use of Chaos-corrupted Ogryns to serve as their handlers. Only those Abhumans have the matching strength and ferocity to keep Chaos Hounds fully in check until their savagery is needed.
Chaos Knights - Consumed by Strife: As rapidly as Humanity expanded into the stars, the collapse of its galactic domain was even swifter. Vast distances between settled worlds led to the emergence of divergent cultures, and with these came rapid genetic evolution and mutation.Individuals emerged with the ability to sense and manipulate the tumultuous Warp that existed parallel to realspace. On some worlds these so-called "psykers" were mercilessly persecuted, being hunted down and slaughtered wherever they were found, but on many they were revered and allowed to rule over their mundane kin.Alongside psykers came other sub-species of Mankind -- Abhumans whose genetic pool had been irrevocably tainted by the environments in which they dwelt. Interstellar wars broke out as the ideologies of neighbouring systems grew ever-more incompatible.Sentient machines turned violently on the masters they had been built to serve, entire planets were overrun by xenos armies, and as worlds burned, many of the wonders of the Age of Technology were lost forever. With the seething tumult came Warp Storms that tore through the void of space.Routes of contact between Humanity's manifold domains were severed, leaving distant regions cut off from one another. Their denizens were forced to face the horrors that befell them in isolation.The Knight Worlds fared better than most in this time of terror and darkness. The Noble houses had swiftly purged mutations that had developed amongst their subjects, and had strangled branches of their own family trees where genetic deviance had appeared. From the first they had rejected thinking machines, trusting instead to hard work and personal sacrifice to make their planets strong, and so were largely spared from the rampages of the Men of Iron during the Cybernetic Revolt.Armed with their Knight suits, they repelled xenos incursions into their domains, and crushed the savage mobs of mutated Humans that came flooding in from nearby planets. The Knight houses fortified their holdings, kept watch over their worlds and endured as the Human galaxy was overtaken by strife.Over long centuries the cultures of these Knight Worlds regressed even further. Superstitions about the enemies of Old Night became enshrined in codes of Noble conduct. The technologies that had allowed their colonist forebears to survive became worn, the knowledge of their functions lost. But the Knights themselves survived, as did their traditions and the peoples whom they had sworn oaths to defend.
Chaos Knights - Coming of the Emperor: When the Great Crusade spread across the galaxy in the late 30th Millennium, a great number of Knight Worlds were reunited with the rest of Humanity. Vast fleets set out from Terra to find the remnants of Mankind that were scattered amongst the stars, and to bring them under the aegis of the Emperor of Mankind.Many of the worlds to which the Great Crusade came were ruled over by obstinate tyrants -- warlords and despots who had risen to power during the anarchy of the Age of Strife, and who refused to humble themselves before the Emperor's might. These regimes were ended with brutal swiftness, crushed by the armies of the burgeoning Imperium.The first account of a Knight World being rediscovered came from a Rogue Trader named Jeffers. His reports to the Administratum noted both the formidable technology of the Knight suits as well as the loyalty and staunchness of the Nobles who piloted them.In the years that followed, hundreds of other Knight Worlds were encountered and brought into the fold. Most Noble houses were quick to swear fealty to the leaders of the Great Crusade, for in the Imperium they saw their own values of order and duty implemented on an incomparably grand scale.Amongst the myriad organisations that made up the Great Crusade, it was the Mechanicum of Mars that was most successful in securing oaths of fealty from the Knight houses. The Martian Tech-priests coveted the ancient archeotech that existed on these planets, and were eager to exploit the rich mineral wealth of the various Knight Worlds.Many Noble families swore their service to the Mechanicum, though others gave their loyalty directly to Terra and the Emperor. Regardless of who they pledged themselves to, the Knights loyally answered the call to war whenever it came.In return, the Sacristan orders who tended to the Knights were inducted into the secrets of the Omnissiah, regaining many lost secrets of mechanical artifice that allowed them to better serve their masters.
Chaos Knights - Dawn of Heresy: The Great Crusade saw worlds across the length and breadth of the galaxy brought under the Emperor's almighty rule. But at its zenith the Imperium was shattered by treachery. The Imperial Warmaster Horus and fully half of the Space Marine Legions succumbed to the corruptions of the Dark Gods, and in the name of Chaos launched an apocalyptic campaign against the Imperium.The galaxy was riven by civil war -- the Legiones Astartes slaughtered their erstwhile allies, worlds were incinerated by teeming armies of Heretics, and the light of hope carried forth by the Emperor was replaced by bitter darkness. It was during this time that the first Knights fell to Chaos.Many amongst the Imperium had thought it impossible for the Noble houses to be corrupted. The Thrones Mechanicum to which they were bonded altered the Nobles' psyche and synaptic makeup, conditioning them against harbouring thoughts of betrayal or sedition.Indeed, the majority of the Knight Worlds fought aggressively to stem the tide of heresy, putting down any rebellious elements within their own societies before joining in the battle alongside the Loyalist Space Marine Legions. Due to their sheer power and unflagging loyalty, the Knights were crucial to the Imperial war effort on countless bloody battlefields. Yet it was this same loyalty that led some to side with the Archenemy.Innumerable Mechanicum Forge Worlds sided with Horus, as did many of the Knight houses that had sworn undying fealty to the Tech-priests of those worlds. As the Dark Mechanicum delved deeper into the arts of profane techno-sorcery, so too were the Knights in their service tainted by Chaos.Rune-marked Knights marched to war alongside Traitor Titan Legions, unleashing devastation upon the defenders of the Imperium. Other Fallen Houses upheld their oaths to Space Marine Legions that turned Traitor. The Nobles of these houses followed their own codes of conduct to the letter -- serving without question and answering all calls to war -- and in doing so placed themselves on the path to damnation.Still other Knights turned upon their own houses and renounced all ties to their bloodlines. Some were swayed by the whispering of malefic entities in their dreams, whereas others were bound to the will of the Dark Gods through sorcerous rituals.Thus were the Chaos Knights born, and in the hundred centuries since they have continued to spread death and terror throughout the stars.
Chaos Knights - An Eternity of Corruption: Knights have continued to fall to Chaos in the millennia since the Horus Heresy. Knight Worlds lying on the edges of raging empyric storms have been inexorably transformed by the outflow of raw Warp energy.On more than one occasion such a planet has been enveloped entirely by a nightmarish tempest only to later re-emerge, its population devoured by Daemons and its war engines hideously transfigured.Other Knights have slowly succumbed to corruption over the long campaigns they have fought on the side of the Imperium. After butchering endless tides of frenzied Heretics for centuries without rest, the pursuit of carnage can become synonymous with duty.This is especially true for those Knights fighting in isolation from their household kin, or in war zones where reality is distorted by the dread influence of Chaos. Caked in the blood of a thousand conflicts, and faced with horror in every direction, the mechanised warriors lose the ability to differentiate between ally and enemy.Even the spectral gestalt of their Throne Mechanicum becomes blinded by the need to kill, not caring who or what is the focus of the Knight's destructive fury. Several Knights thought lost in battle have later been discovered to have fallen to the service of the Dark Gods, and to have continued their slaughters unabated.
Chaos Knights - Notable Events: The Chaos Knights are descendants of valiant Noble houses, forged long ago when Humanity first ventured into the stars.Many of these Knights once committed acts of great heroism and honour, but this chivalrous past has been buried under the slaughters they have since committed, and is now little more than a source of dimly remembered and tragic myths.
Chaos Knights - Age of Isolation, M15-M31: The Long March (ca. M15) - Long March generation starships depart from Terra and the Sol System, making centuries-long voyages to colonise the planets of distant star systems. Some of the pioneer groups take with them STCs capable of creating Knight suits, and from them the first Knightly households are born.A Chivalrous Code - As the Noble houses that rule the Knight Worlds are established, so too do the principles of duty and obedience become synonymous with their mighty war engines. Though the cultures that develop on disparate Knight Worlds are as varied as their planetary environments, each adopts strikingly similar conservative notions of virtue and morality that would, in later millennia, come to be known as the "Code Chivalric."The Gilded King - On the world of Aurelion Major during the lost Age of Technology, a Knight known as the Gilded King is piloted for the first time. This inaugural bonding of a Noble and their Knight is recorded through towering relief sculptures carved into the gold escarpments that encircle the planet's equator.'The Age of Strife (ca. M25-M30) - The galaxy is consumed by the horrors of Old Night. Human colonies that had prospered for hundreds of generations collapse in upon themselves, torn apart by warlike xenos, or mutated members of their own populations who become renegade psykers. Mankind's hold over the stars is eradicated almost entirely, but the Knight Worlds stand strong throughout this time of bloodshed and strife, their cultures conservative enough to weather the storm and their people protected by the great war engines.The Great Crusade (ca. 798.M30 - 005.M31) - The Emperor of Mankind's fleets spread out across the galaxy, uniting the Human worlds one by one and annihilating all who pose opposition to His rule. Those Knight Worlds that are discovered are quick to swear oaths of allegiance to the rapidly-expanding Imperium of Man, with the Noble houses pledging their fealty to various Explorator fleets and Titan Legions of the ancient Mechanicum. The Knights themselves become invaluable warriors in the Great Crusade, and by their indomitable power countless other planets are humbled. Yet in the vastness of the galaxy there are Knight Worlds upon which the Emperor's envoys never arrive. These planets continue to cleave to their traditions of old, watching the skies for the incoming threats that have hounded them during the long Age of Strife.
Chaos Knights - Age of Broken Banners, M31: The Horus Heresy (ca. 005-014.M31) - At the height of its glory, the Imperium is plunged into civil war as the Warmaster Horus leads half of the eighteen Space Marine Legions in open revolt against the Emperor in service to the Dark Gods. The corruptions of the Warmaster spread quickly, with large portions of the Imperial Army and Mechanicum pledging themselves to the Ruinous Powers. Though the Knight houses are amongst the staunchest defenders of the Imperium, even they are not immune to the taint and temptations of Chaos. Through unbreakable oaths to the Traitor Legions, profane experimentations of the traitorous Dark Mechanicum and numerous other perversions of nobility, the first Chaos Knights join in the slaughters perpetrated by Horus.Battle of Beta-Garmon, "The Titandeath" (006-013.M31) - Numerous Traitor Titan Legions engage in battle with their Loyalist counterparts throughout the Beta-Garmon star cluster during the Horus Heresy. Knight houses fight on both sides of the sprawling conflict, upholding oaths to follow the god-machines into the fray. Whole houses are lost in the war zone, their once-mighty engines reduced to flaming wreckage alongside the metallic carcasses of annihilated Titans. House Vextrix, having marched dutifully alongside the Titans of the Legio Mortis, take severe casualties. Those Vextrix Knights who had expressed even the slightest reservation in siding with their bond-lieges against the Imperium are placed on the front lines, where they suffer the greatest losses. The conflict therefore becomes known amongst the nobility of Vextrix's homeworld of Daxos Gemini as "the Great Cull."Battle of Molech (009.M31) - As they journey towards Terra, the Warmaster's fleets descend upon the Knight World of Molech, which is ruled over by the Knights of House Devine. Horus' initial assault devastates many cities and strongholds. The terrified populace turns to the nobility for protection only to find that the Nobles have succumbed to the temptations of Slaanesh and are utterly corrupted. When the Warmaster launches his second attack,the Knights of House Devine attack the remaining Imperial forces from the rear, leaving them with no way to retreat from the invading Heretics.  Caught between the treacherous Knights of House Devine and Horus' rampant forces, the shattered remnants of Molech's defenders are slaughtered without mercy.Siege of Terra (014.M31) - The Horus Heresy is brought to an end when the Warmaster and the Emperor are both cut down in battle with each other on the Traitors' flagship in orbit of the Imperial throneworld. Vast numbers of Traitors withdraw from the Sol System to the Warp-riven region of space known as the Eye of Terror. Some of the Knight houses who had fought alongside Horus follow the fleeing forces, others launch new campaigns of brutality across the galaxy, while many return to their own worlds to carve out domains of tyranny.
Chaos Knights - Infernal Houses: Not all Knights fell to Chaos in the same manner as those of the Iconoclast houses. Those whose pilots had sworn allegiance to the Hereteks of the Dark Mechanicum were the subjects of countless dread rituals, each designed to corrupt the supposedly incorruptible technologies of the Thrones Mechanicum. The true knowledge of how the Thrones functioned was beyond the ken of even the most ancient magi, but the colossal military potential of the Knights spurred them to conduct ever-more depraved experiments.On the nightmare Forge Worlds called Hell-Forges, Dark Magi created their own grim simulacra of the Chamber of Echoes, and into these Screaming Oubliettes they dragged the Thrones Mechanicum from captured Knight suits, often with the broken and bloodied pilot still attached.Many of these chambers were lined with arcane devices that were used to bombard the captive Thrones with focused Warp energy. Others bristled with mecha-dendritic tentacles that parasitically fused themselves to the Throne, and through them daemonic entities were able to surge into the host tissue of the cybernetically-wired pilot.Certain sects of the Dark Mechanicum raised up base warrior champions who fought one another for the right to Become. These individuals were not trained in the ways of the Noble houses, but for them the prospect of piloting a Knight blinded them to the dangers of attempting to Become. The results of these procedures were ubiquitously gruesome. But amidst the tortured cries, the explosions of flesh and the scrapcode howls of the tainted Thrones, the magi of the Dark Mechanicum gleaned volumes of morbid data. Arcane procedures were devised to scramble the gheists that dwelt within each Throne.Specterphagic Daemons were summoned to devour the spirit echoes of pilots past. The Thrones Mechanicum and the Knight suits themselves were seeded with pathogenic scrapcode, and in some rare cases the magi used their technologies to open interstitial Warp rifts inside the ancient circuitry clusters. Though only a fraction of the Knight suits and Thrones that were captured survived these torturous experiments, those that did were corrupted beyond redemption, as were any pilots unfortunate enough to survive.Through unspeakable procedures the Dark Mechanicum bonded these Fallen Nobles to their tainted war engines, thus creating the progenitors of the Infernal houses who still serve the Hereteks today.Through close ties with the Dark Mechanicum, the Infernal houses of the present era find ever-more twisted ways to warp their weapons and machinery. In brutal campaigns they strip worlds of their material resources and enslave entire populations, funnelling their plunder into nightmarish rituals to infuse their Knight suits with the power of Chaos.
Chaos Knights - Dreadblades: The term "Dreadblade" is used by the Ordo Hereticus to denote those Chaos Knights who serve no master, similar to their Loyalist Freeblade counterparts. This notion is not entirely accurate, for certain Dreadblades do indeed pledge themselves to various heretical warlords or profane demagogues, but such loyalty is fleeting, and these wandering Knights will swiftly betray their masters if it proves advantageous.The horrors that cause a Knight to become a Dreadblade are as varied as the currents of Chaos themselves. Some are led onto this path of damnation through illusion and trickery. Others find themselves becoming roving warriors as a result of their growing insanity. Others still choose violent solitude of their own volition as a means to pursue revenge, and to fulfil their sworn oaths of murder.Regardless of the underlying reason, a Knight that turns its back on the Imperium and its own house is forever outcast. Yet this only makes them more deadly. Freed from the bonds of fealty and subservience, there is nothing to stop a Dreadblade pursuing its own nightmarish desires, travelling from war zone to war zone to slake its lust for carnage, or hunting down and destroying all in the galaxy who have offended its twisted dignity.A great deal of Dreadblades hail from houses that are still loyal to the Imperium and the Omnissiah. During the Horus Heresy, when the rest of their houses sided with the Loyalists, individual Knights felt honour-bound to maintain their fealty to the Traitors.Countless such schisms occurred across the galaxy, and though many of the rebelling Knights were permanently silenced in titanic duels, others disappeared into the stars only to re-emerge alongside the armies of the Warmaster Horus.Other Knights who become Dreadblades are those captured in battle, their allies wiped out and their suits damaged to the point that they can no longer fight. Handed over to the Hereteks of the Dark Mechanicum, a long and horrific fate awaits these warriors. Their minds and souls are gradually shattered through the use of sorcerous torture and daemonic rituals. Notions of loyalty and honour are replaced with the depraved ideals of their captors and a screaming desire for carnage.Then there are those Dreadblades who, over the course of long and bloody campaigns, have lost the ability to perceive the path of righteousness. Surrounded by so much slaughter, their only notions of honour are tied to the killing strike of their blade or the obliterative blast of their Rapid-Fire Battle Cannon. Many such Dreadblades are completely unaware that they have fallen from grace, their single-mindedness blinding them to the atrocities that they so wantonly commit.
Chaos Knights - Idolators: To maintain the integrity of their Chaos Knight suits over the course of countless brutal wars, Fallen Nobles rely on the corrupted artisans known as Idolators. Like those whom they serve, Idolators are an aberrant offshoot of peoples loyal to the Imperium.Where the Sacristan orders are trained by the Adeptus Mechanicus, inducted into the holy mysteries of the Omnissiah so that they might minister to the Knights of the Noble houses, Idolators learn their craft within the screaming soul forges of the Dark Mechanicum.Through diabolic rituals they entreat the entities that dwell within the Warp, sacrificing living victims and mighty machines on great cog-shaped altars. Through such practices they glean knowledge of how Chaos Knights function, and -- more importantly -- they learn how to desecrate the ostensibly incorruptible technologies of the Thrones Mechanicum.Often times there will be multiple cabals of Idolators dwelling on each Fallen Knight World, each with the ability to repair battle damage sustained by the mechanical suits. The power of these cabals waxes and wanes with the services they can provide to the Fallen Noble house.Some know the secrets to performing mecha-inductive rituals that will vastly augment a prominent Knight's power. Others may be able to subjugate their liege Noble's rivals through the installation of psychic yokes and spiritual shackles.Then there are those Idolators who have learnt the sorcerous ways of the Warp, and can provide glimpses of the future so that a Knight despot can better direct their next campaign of terror.Competition between cabals is encouraged by the corrupted nobility, and it is common for wars to break out amongst opposing groups of Idolators. Should a cabal fall out of favour with the Fallen Nobles they serve, their flayed corpses may be used to decorate the Fallen house's Knight suits.However, such actions are not taken lightly, for to incur the ire of the Idolators is to invite a nightmarish demise. Many a Fallen Noble who has slaughtered an Idolator has subsequently been devoured by their own Knight suit, or has had their soul ripped to screaming pieces by a Warp-surge within their Throne Mechanicum.The most cunning Fallen Nobles therefore ensure that the Idolators in their service have some other target upon whom such malice is likely to fall.
Chaos Knights - Fallen Knight Worlds: As the Knight houses became ever-more corrupted, so too were their Knight Worlds transformed into horrific mockeries of their former glory. Where once the denizens of these planets had looked to their Nobles for leadership and protection, they were swiftly reduced to a terror-filled existence.The populations of entire cities were hunted for sport by their Knightly overlords. Fallen Nobles supplied tithes of living Humans to their heretical lieges to be used in sadistic rituals or the forging of daemonic pacts. Where once the would-be Knight pilot prepared for their duty over standard years of training, and proved their worth in solemn duels, they now engaged in competitive slaughters of their own subjects.Depraved cultures took root in every echelon of society on these Chaos Knight worlds. Teeming Chaos Cults worshipped the Dark Gods openly, Fallen Nobles competing to raise the greatest temples to the Ruinous Powers.The landscapes became pocked with charnel pits that overflowed with the corpses of defeated enemies. These planetsthat had been bastions of order throughout the Age of Strife metamorphosed into deep wells of anarchy from which the taint of Chaos seeped further into reality.
Chaos Knights - Infernal Quests: When Renegade Knights gather in great number they are compelled to swear grim oaths to the Dark Gods. In a twisted parody of their former nobility, they vow to complete mighty tasks on pain of death and dishonour.Such deeds may include the burning of a Cardinal World or other great place of Imperial faith, the hunting of some feted Imperial hero, or the wholesale butchery of a star system whose defenders have offended the Dark Gods with their simple resistance.Once they have set themselves to such an Infernal Quest, Renegade Knights will not relent until either they emerge victorious, or they are slain to the last.
Chaos Knights - Questor Traitoris Heraldry: Though the heraldry of Chaos Knights within a given Iconoclast or Infernal house follows the same pattern, there is a great deal of diversity between individual Knights, with each bearing markings that tell of its unique and bloody history.The panoply of Dreadblades is even more diverse. These Chaos Knights eschew household markings in favour of personal emblems, and often bare twisted remnants of former Imperial iconography.
Chaos Knights - Artificer Relics: Damned Crucible - A Fallen Noble pilot who is in possession of the Damned Crucible has only obtained it by forging dark pacts with no less than four Greater Daemons, exchanging power for ever increasing peril to soul and body alike.Craahdekh's Throne of Sacrifice - This thrice-cursed Throne Mechanicum feeds off the blood and soul of the bearer as a perpetual offering to the Dark Gods, in return for a mote of their favour.The Harbinger's Chains - Said to have been forged from the despoiled ramparts of the Keep Inviolate, these Warp-soaked chains radiate a malice that can make even the stoutest heart falter.
Chaos Knights - Antiquity Relics: Shades of Ruin - Those who assail this Chaos Knight are beset by a squall of shadowy wings, flashing beaks and gouging talons. It is a determined foe indeed who can forge a path through these shades of ruin.Icon of Damnation - This eight-pointed Star of Chaos emblem is bestowed on a Chaos Knight by dark artificers in return for a bounty of stolen technology. Striking it causes it to shatter, the fragments running like quicksilver to patch rent armour and mend broken power lines.
Chaos Knights - Legendary Relics: Helm of the Dread Knight - Rumoured to be the faceplate of the first Knight sworn to the service of Chaos, this mask infuses a war engine with dread power and malign forces of the Warp, rendering its every shot and blow anathema to mortal life.
Chaos Knights - Favours of the Dark Gods: Certain Chaos Knights that have given good service to the Dark Gods can be gifted with a special item dedicated to one of the four major Chaos Gods or to Chaos Undivided that grant enhanced capabilities and special, Warp-based powers.
Chaos Knights - Khornate Favours: Blood Shield - Wrought from the carapaces of slain Knights and embossed with the skulls of their pilots, the Blood Shield pulsates like a throbbing heart. When activated, the enemy's psychic barriers are silenced and force fields blink out of existence, opening a window of opportunity for unbridled carnage to  erupt.Collar of Infernal Brass - Forged in the molten core of a Khornate Daemon World and inscribed with runes of nullification upon a thundersmote anvil of thrice-cursed noctilith, this collar wards away even the most potent Warpcraft.Throne Mechanicum of Skulls - This brazen Throne Mechanicum is inlaid with the carved bones of slain champions and decorated with the skulls of former Knight pilots. Through it an all-consuming need for murder grips the pilot of the Chaos Knight who rides this Throne and never lets go.
Chaos Knights - Tzeentchian Favours: Pyrothrone - This Throne Mechanicum burns with spectral flames, out of which whisper the tormented gheists of nine-hundred and ninety-nine sacrificed Tzeentchian magisters. A pilot who sits upon this Throne finds their mind filled with the gheists' accumulated malefic lore  and so are able to manipulate the Warp, summoning pillars of coruscating fire to immolate their enemies or rebuffing psychic conjurations levelled against them.Cursed Rune of Fate -  Tzeentchian rune of sorcerous power shimmers across the surface of this Chaos Knight's hull, ever-moving like a reflection across rippling water. Bound to the strands of fate, the rune pulses as enemies fire upon its host Knight, twisting the web of causality so that hideous and immediate misfortunes befall-the attackers -- from weapon malfunctions and deadly ricochets to ghastly sorcerous mutations.Mirror of Fates - The interior of this Chaos Knight's cockpit is coated in a polished crystal skein so that the pilot sits enthroned within an all-encompassing scrying glass. The Mirror of Fates reveals that which will happen and that which may happen. Proliferating possibilities dance across its surface in a mind-bending kaleidoscope that allows the pilot to predict their enemy's plans and exploit them.
Chaos Knights - Nurglish Favours: The Putrid Carapace - Resembling the stinking skin of spoiled foodstuffs long-gone rancid, this repugnant and semi-sentient organic membrane stretches itself across the iron hide of a Nurgle-blessed Knight suit. At its touch, slablike armour thickens with layers of rust and blubber. Servo-motors and actuator bundles are reinforced with rotted tendon and seeping muscle, while fat buboes swell around vital systems to shield them from harm.Blessing of a Thousand Poxes - Though they appear rusted and pocked, this Chaos Knight's weapons drip with such virulent plague-slop that they need only graze their targets in order to inundate them with withering agues, viral corrosions, pustulant poxes and gnawing parasites beyond count.Aura of Corruption - The rusted exhausts of this Chaos Knight belch clouds of toxic fumes, thick with whirling plague spores and fat-bodied Daemon flies. These stinking emissions gather about the Chaos Knight in such profusion that they form a miasmal shroud that moves with the war engine wherever it strides. Those engulfed in this toxic fog find their flesh breaking out in sores and pustules, their lungs clogging with foul mucus even as armour and weapons corrode and fall apart.
Chaos Knights - Slaaneshi Favours: Quicksilver Throne - This semi-organic Throne Mechanicum invades its pilot's nervous system with hair-thin cilia, binding their senses to the haptic feedback circuitry of the Chaos Knight itself. The pilot is able to move their Knight suit as though it were their own living flesh, at the price of feeling the blissful agony of every blast and blade to strike its hull.Beguiling Majesty - About this Knight hangs an intoxicating aura, as though the Dark Prince himself had infested it with a sliver of his own nightmarish beauty. Those who look too long upon the war engine must be strong-willed indeed, lest their minds and souls be captured by its ineffable allure.Subjugator Machine Spirit - Agile and deadly, Subjugator Scout Titans are Slaaneshi god-machines far more powerful than the greatest Knight. Nonetheless, the sundered Machine Spirit (artificial intelligence) of just such a god-engine has been bound within this Knight suit, and now strains at the overloaded senses of pilot and steed until both are ready to burst asunder. Only by satisfying the Subjugator's constant desire for savage combat are they able to stave off this grisly fate.