Black Templars - Time of Ending (M41): Donorian Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - An unknown Black Templars crusade in which the Dreadnought Gerlach participated.Battle of Sharlor (Unknown Date.M41) - Sharlor is an Agri-world of the Imperium where the Penumbral Cult was destroyed by the Black Templars. As the Chaos Cult's leader was publicly executed, it was revealed that he had been possessed by a Lord of Change when it tore its way free from his severed head. The Lord of Change soon took to the sky and unleashed a maelstrom of psychic fire on the Black Templars, until it was killed by the Hunter Javelin of Faith.Ajaxian Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - The Ajaxian Crusade was a Black Templars Crusade against the Orks of the Broken-worlds WAAAGH!. After the crusade, Chapter Serfs that died in battle were converted into servitors to man the Stalker named Xenosbane. This was considered to be a great honour and show of respect by the Chapter for its fallen mortal personnel.Assault on Cephian IV (Unknown Date.M41) - Following its liberation from the warriors of the Alpha Legion in 343.M37, a Chapter keep of the Black Templars was raised on the world of Cephian IV, in the northern chain of the Harake Mountains as a staging post for further crusades into the Ghoul Stars and beyond. Over four thousand Terran years had passed since the fortress was raised and it was always occupied by at least one Crusader Squad of the Black Templars. The Chapter keep was also used as a recruiting base, for the people of Cephian IV came from a fierce martial culture and provided many neophytes for the Black Templars. When the warriors of Castellan Ulliquel's Thunder Crusade entered orbit above the Chapter keep, it was to demand fresh neophytes to join them in crushing a spate of Chaos Cultist uprisings in the Dominion of Storms. The neophytes deemed ready to join the crusade by Chaplain Develain, the current Castellan of Cephian IV, were pushed harder than ever before to prove themselves worthy of such an honour in a last trial by fire. But unknown to the Black Templars, their old enemy, the Alpha Legion, had planted insidious agents on Cephian IV to foment unrest and outright rebellion amongst the populace. In addition, diabolical pacts sealed with the Drukhari helped to distract their ancient enemies from mustering to intervene in their grand designs. After successfully completing their last trial by fire deep in the Harake Mountains, the surviving neophytes were being escorted back to their transports by Initiates of the Chapter keep. While en route to their Rhinos, a force of Drukhari launched an attack on the Black Templars in order to capture the new recruits as slaves and slay the master of the Chapter keep. The Black Templars fought a desperate battle to protect their neophytes. Chaplain Develaini and his warriors escaped the ambush, but while returning to the Chapter keep aboard a flyer, a missile streaked up from the mountainside and exploded beneath the engine compartment. The pilot had time for only a brief distress call before crashing in the foothills of the Harake Mountains, only a few kilometres from the Chapter keep. A search and rescue mission was immediately despatched to rescue any survivors and recover the warriors' relics and gene-seed, but even as the Black Templars closed in on the crash site, it was clear that they were not alone, as a shambling host of mutants, Heretics and Traitors attacked the survivors. The enemy had revealed its hand too early with the attack on the downed flyer and the Black Templars readied themselves for a full assault. Soon enough, a vast host of enemy troops, Heretics and mutants advanced on the Chapter keep led by Chaos Space Marines from the Alpha Legion and a dangerous rogue psyker of terrifying power. For solar days, the forces of Chaos battled the Black Templars, dying in their thousands as the guns of the Chapter keep scythed their enemies down. Chaplain Develain knew that he had to end the battle quickly, and resolved to lead a strike force into the heart of the enemy to slay their leader. During the ensuing battle the castellan slew the vile rogue psyker while the Emperor's Champion single-handedly took out a Chaos Defiler. The Black Templars displayed their typical fortitude and tenacity in the defence of their Chapter keep, driving the forces of Chaos into retreat. The Black Templars showed no mercy to those who outlasted their final counterattack, slaying any and all survivors.Purge of Orbital Hive 72 (Unknown Date.M41) - A force of Black Templars purged Orbital Hive 72 in orbit of the world of Porphyr III. Led by the Emperor's Champion Brother Bethuel, the Black Templars eliminated the Heretek forces of the Techno Magos Ark Hieron. Bethuel ordered his battle-brothers to evacuate the hive city while he faced Hieron in mortal combat even as Orbital Hive 72 began a fiery plunge into the atmosphere of Porphyr III.The Cleansing of Hive Thetus (Unknown Date.M41) - The Cleansing of Hive Thetus was a military campaign conducted by the Black Templars against a Tyranid Genestealer Cult discovered by the Imperial Inquisition to exist upon the Hive World of Nevaria II. The cult was ultimately successfully purged from existence by the Black Templars.The Declates Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - The Declates Crusade was an Imperial Crusade against the Ork WAAAGH! Gitzmott carried out by the Crimson Fists and Black Templar Space Marine Chapters in the heavily-populated Declates System. The greenskins had overwhelmed world after world in the system and while the Crimson Fists achieved early success in driving the Orks back, eventually their sheer weight of numbers began to tell, and the Orks pushed towards the vital Forge World of Declates IV and the hive cities of Declates V. Help was needed and the Black Templars answered the call for aid of the people of Declates. As a symbol of solidarity against what seemed to be an innumerable foe, Astartes from both Chapters "exchanged" iconography and often fought in mixed squads. Together the two Chapters managed to find and slay the Warboss Gitzmott. While the two Chapters suffered hideous losses against the overwhelming numbers of the Orks, both earned great renown and their Astartes will forever be known as heroes within the Declates System.The Thorados Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - During the Thorados Crusade, the Black Templars burned a white-hot scar of retribution across the rebellious Invernus Sector. The Word Bearers that had instigated the insurrection mounted a fleet-based crusade of their own, clashing with the Black Templars on a hundred battlefields. The war escalated massively as other Traitor Legions and Daemonhosts joined the fight. By the time the two crusades ground to a halt, the once-populous Invernus Sector had been decimated, with six of its worlds consumed by radioactive flame.The Empyrion Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - The Empyrion Crusade was an Imperial Crusade declared by the Black Templars Space Marines against a force of Khornate Chaos Cults on the world of Empyrion IX. The Chaos force was composed of over 4,000 Traitors of the Renegade 24th Gathalamor Astra Militarum Regiment along with Guryan mutineers and some armoured cavalry. With a force of only 30 Black Templars and not enough ammunition to hold the Heretics at bay, the Black Templars commander, Castellan Athellenas, attempted to put into motion an audacious plan that required his troops to follow his orders to the letter, no matter how distasteful they might find them. By performing a continuous tactical withdrawal and denying the cultists an outlet to satiate their bloodlust, the Heretics were driven into an uncontrollable blood frenzy. Unable to contain themselves any longer, the Khornate cultists turned on themselves and began butchering each other in their all-consuming desire to spill blood. With the cultists' ground forces spent after slaughtering each other, two Black Templars strike cruisers arrived in the system to destroy the Heretics' vessel and make sure that this particular Chaos warband of Khorne was unable to sow destruction and bloodshed across the Imperium of Man. The Crusade ended in the total eradication of the Heretics.The Geonide Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - The Geonide Crusade was an action taken by the Black Templars Space Marine Chapter intended to preserve important Imperial technology, scientific research and Adeptus Mechanicus personnel from a Chaos-inspired rebellion on the Forge World Geonide. When rebellion suddenly broke out on the planet it came utterly without warning and within a Terran year 75% of the populace had fallen to the influence of the Warp. A group of scientists with latent psychic abilities had been used as pawns to open giant Warp portals and by the time the Black Templars arrived the planet was crawling with monstrous, debased humans forming a massive Chaos horde to drown the planet in blood. Daemons from the Empyrean tore their way into the material realm to cavort through the masses of Chaos worshippers. In the end, the planet was deemed irrecoverable and an Exterminatus was authorised by the ever-present agents of the Ordo Hereticus. But before the planet's death knell was sounded, the Black Templars carried out daring strikes across the planet to recover valuable artefacts, research notes, and surviving personnel deemed too important to leave behind, or to be captured by the servants of the Ruinous Powers. The Black Templars achieved a great deal of success during the campaign and managed to save a significant amount of invaluable Imperial research before the planet was cleansed with holy fire from orbit.The Purging of Centrati's Eye (Unknown Date.M41) - The Purging of Centrati's Eye was an unexpected crusade undertaken by elements of the Black Templars against a pirate fleet of the Drukhari. A great defence station in orbit above the newly colonised Imperial Frontier World of Centrati came under attack from a Drukhari lightning raid and was captured, the personnel chained and dragged off into the depths of the Webway to an unknown fate, never to be seen or heard from again. What the Drukhari did not know was that a Black Templars Battle Barge was in orbit over the planet, for the Chapter had been asked to aid the colonisation process by removing an unwanted and troublesome xenos species from the planet. When the defence station fired on the planet the threat was realised and the Black Templars rushed back to their Thunderhawks to wreak vengeance on the devious Drukhari raiders. To the Black Templars' surprise they found not one, but two enemy forces on the station. For the Asuryani had arrived to fight their dark kin for one of their inscrutable reasons. The Black Templars cared not, and immediately began butchering both alien forces. In the following solar months the scions of Dorn crushed both alien enemies utterly, and cleansed Centrati and the surrounding space of the xenos taint.The Punishment Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - The Punishment Crusade was initiated by Castellan Draco of the Black Templars. It was comprised of numerous raids on the Gue'vesa human populations of former Imperial worlds fallen under the xenos influence of the expansionist T'au Empire.Thetus Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - On the planet of Nevaria II the Black Templars were called on to deal with a small but highly dangerous heretical cult in the primary Nevarian hive city. As dangerous as the cult was, the real influence behind it was only discovered after a costly covert strike by the Astartes of the Deathwatch, the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Xenos. They revealed that a Genestealer Broodlord was behind the growth of the cult. The nefarious influence of the Genestealer hybrids had spread much farther than anticipated. The Black Templars took up the challenge and cleansed the Genestealer taint from the bottom up, fighting brutal and costly battles in the cramped corridors and forgotten corners of the dark depths of the primary hive city, eventually cleansing the hive and Nevaria II of the xenos contamination.Nightfire Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) - A powerful devotion to the Emperor is evident among the warriors of the Black Templars. Chaplain Haldredd was leading a strike force against the T'au Farsight Enclaves during the Nightfire Wars when the spirit of the Emperor overcame him. Heeding His sacred words, a group of Space Marine Veterans formed a Reclusiam Command Squad to protect him. Following the Chaplain's wise battle council and fervent prayers, this Command Squad smashed through lines of Battlesuits and set the T'au to flight. In the bloody battles that followed, the High Hand of the Emperor -- as Haldredd and his Reclusiarch Command Squad became known -- guided the Black Templars to many great victories.Battle of Lilia Mundi (Unknown Date.M41) - Lilia Mundi is a Feral World that is well-known as a Black Templars recruiting world, but also as the site of a conflict between the Black Templars and the Asuryani. The population of approximately 4,500,000 is predominantly part of a martial culture organised around a brutal warrior code. These feral "Iron Bloods" tribes produced ideal candidates for induction into the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, with the Black Templars maintaining a presence on the planet at the Vengeris Keep. The planet was attacked in the eighth century of the 41st Millennium by Aeldari of the Saim-Hann Craftworld, after the Iron Bloods' failed to respond to an evacuation ultimatum issued by an envoy at a tribal contest. The small garrison of Black Templars was originally overrun by the Aeldari forces of Triadhu Firesong and his adviser Oerlin Fargaze. Aeldari battle technology was too advanced for the feral tribes to face, with the Aeldari anti-grav skimmers exacting a large toll on the population. The tide turned with the arrival of reinforcements from the Black Templars warship Vigilant Might, under the command of Reclusiarch Verstelt, and the later arrival of the crusade commanded by Marshal Albrantinus. The Black Templars lost many neophytes in the war, while the survivors were promoted to Initiate status. The local leaders of the Iron Bloods, including the chieftain Khemu, were later selected for initiation into the Chapter as neophytes, having demonstrated impressive skills and leadership during the conflict.Battle of Ixas (500s.M41) - The Black Templars secured the sacred Las-Impulsor STC stolen from the Forge World of Ixas by Chaos Space Marines and Hereteks of the Dark Mechanicum.Achilus Crusade (777.M41) - Given the Chapter's fame as a crusading body, it is perhaps surprising that it was not present at the outset of the Achilus Crusade into the Jericho Reach. The reason is to be found in the internecine rivalry and feudalism that afflicts much of the interactions between the largest of the Imperium's institutions, and is unknown to all but a small number of the crusade's highest ranked staff. When the Achilus Crusade was first conceived, planners petitioned the Black Templars to contribute forces to the undertaking. The envoy appointed to go before the masters of the Black Templars Chapter was a fiery Prelate-Imperialis called Nadab Saul, a man whose inability turned out to be rivalled only by his arrogance. Instead of petitioning the Black Templars for their aid, Saul demanded it. Instead of appealing to their sense of duty, he hectored them. Instead of promising glory, he threatened shame. The only account of the confrontation that followed was that logged in the engram-cortex of one of the party's servocherub attendants. The Prelate-Imperialis was dragged away by vengeful battle-brothers, frothing at the mouth that the Black Templars were Traitors to the Emperor and would pay for their craven deeds. What happened next has never been ascertained and all enquiries established in the aftermath of the event determined that the matter should remain sealed. Needless to say, Nadab Saul was never seen or heard from again. In the years that followed, two other Chapters related to the Black Templars dispatched strike forces to participate in the crusade -- the Imperial Fists and the Crimson Fists. It was through the agency of these, alongside Black Templars battle-brothers serving with the Deathwatch, that contact between the Crusade High Command and the High Marshal of the Chapter was re-established. Upon his ascension to the rank of Lord Militant, Tetrarchus ordered a delegation to approach the Black Templars a second time, receiving the approval and support of members of the Imperial Fists and Crimson Fists Chapters in doing so. Mindful of the potential for insult, Tetrarchus drafted the wording of the petition himself, appealing to the Black Templars to join their brothers in the new offensives he planned to launch. The contact was successful and, on the eve of the main push on the Acheros Salient, the fighting company of Castellan Raimer joined the Achilus Crusade. With the Black Templars forming the spearhead of the renewed assault, they won a string of early victories, but ultimately these proved localised and not typical of the fighting across the whole salient. Raimer's fighting company made rapid progress into the regions surrounding the Blood Trinity, culminating in the boarding of the Space Hulk codified Scion of Desecration. Raimer and his Sword Brethren squads took control of the vast conglomerate vessel and sent it ploughing into an enemy-held orbital station. Final calculations of the destruction estimated it to have consumed half a million servants of the Ruinous Powers and the catastrophic tectonic destabilisation of the world below. Tragically, the Black Templars' victories were an exception in the first few solar weeks of the advances on the Achilus Salient and soon Raimer's force found itself dangerously overextended and under threat of being enveloped by the rapidly counter-attacking enemy. Lord Tetrarchus had no choice but to order a general retrenchment in the face of overwhelming enemy defiance, and his forces began a fighting withdrawal back towards Karlack and the Fortress Worlds of the Iron Collar. Key to the success of this vast rearguard action were the various contingents of Space Marines present, whose valiant deeds saved the withdrawal from turning into a costly rout. The Black Templars were the last to abandon the advance, though eventually they had no choice but to redeploy as night fell across the worlds of the Achilus Salient. It is said that the very last vessel to translate from the Warp on the outer verges of the Karlack System was the Ophidian Gulf, Raimer's Strike Cruiser, and behind it was nothing but the all-engulfing tides of Chaos. Soon after, Raimer's fighting company was recalled by his Chapter in preparation for the Garon mission, which Raimer was to command and which had the status of a full crusade. To date, no further Black Templars forces have been committed to the Jericho Reach, the High Marshal of the Chapter believing the Achilus Crusade to have stalled and become a war of attrition in which his warriors have no part to play.Defence of Aralan (812.M41) - When the floating hive cities of Aralan were infected by the mind plague known as the "Witch-curse," citizens that possessed even the slightest psychic potential found their latent abilities blossoming into uncontrollable storms of etheric energy. The Black Templars, whose crusade had passed through the Aralan Sector less than a standard year beforehand, turned their battlefleet around as soon as they heard of the anomaly. By the time they returned to the hives that float within Aralan's gaseous borders, the Templars had marshalled all the gunships in their fleet and launched a massed assault on the floating hives. Each Storm Wing Squadron slammed through the stained glasteel orbs that protected each district and disgorged a dozen oathbound killers into the streets. The Black Templars cut down every citizen that stood in their path as they located and exterminated the psykers wreaking havoc in their midst. Many of the bravest hivers united against the hate-fuelled Adeptus Astartes, but after the bloody massacre of the Crimson Plaza, the Space Marines were left to go about their persecutions unhindered.Vinculus Crusade (833.M41) - The Vinculus Crusade was a crusade of the Black Templars declared against the Chaos Death Cult warriors who had plagued the Peleregon Cluster. This was one of the earliest campaigns in which the now-famed High Marshal Helbrecht participated. Still a lowly neophyte at the time, Helbrecht was merely a witness to the dramatic events of the campaign. Under the command of the legendary High Marshal Ludoldus, the Black Templars fought alongside Inquisitor Vinculus and the Adepta Sororitas' Order of the Bloody Rose. The assassins were traced back to the world of Peleregon IV, a hellish lava world that was all shifting tectonic plates and rivers of magma. The initial landings met little opposition and the Sororitas and Astartes easily fought their foes back to the massive temple that was the seat of the cult's power. The combined forces fought their way deep into the temple, Ludoldus and his Sword Brethren breaching and holding the walls of the temple so their allies could fight their way inside. As the Imperials breached the pillared inner sanctum of the temple, Inquisitor Vinculus faced the cult's leader in single combat. Vinculus succeeded in slaying the cult's leader but suffered a terrible wound himself, a wound that proved to be the Inquisitor's doom, for the slight weakening in his psychic shields was enough for the freed daemon that had possessed the cult leader to leap into the Inquisitor and manifest itself. A Bloodthirster of Khorne tore itself into the material realm through the Inquisitor's body and began slaughtering the Imperial warriors by the dozen. High Marshal Ludoldus, the Emperor's Champion Ulricus and Canoness Jasmine took on the daemon in brutal close combat, but even though the champions of the Emperor were courageous and their sword arms fuelled by holy faith, they were no match for the Greater Daemon. In desperation, Ludoldus threw a Holy Orb of Antioch into the boiling lava in the chamber's central chasm. The explosion initiated a massive earthquake that began to tear the temple apart and the possessed Inquisitor fell to his destruction in the roiling magma. Thunderhawk gunships braved the billowing ash and storms to pick up the survivors. While a number of gunships were lost in the attempt, the majority of the survivors escaped the world and made it back to their ships in orbit. To make sure the job was finished, the Imperial fleet bombarded the site of the temple until the entire site was drowned in a sea of bubbling lava.The Verdeworlds Campaign (865.M41) - A Black Templars crusade joined forces with the Blood Angels and Scythes of the Emperor to cleanse the Verdeworlds of their Aeldari settlers.Crusade of Wrath (888.M41) - The Black Templars inflicted heavy losses on the Word Bearers, reclaiming several star systems in close proximity to the Maelstrom. Fighting was fiercest on the enslaved Shrine World of Benevolence, where the forces of Chaos had covered the entire surface with blasphemous temples to the Dark Gods. The Black Templars put every single Traitor to the sword.Fall of Agrella (902.M41) - WAAAGH! Skardrek fell upon the sparsely defended planet of Agrella. Only a courageous rearguard action conducted by a dozen Black Templar Sword Brethren allowed Imperial officials to escape the onrushing Ork horde.The Slaughter on Schrödinger VII (930.M41) - In 930.M41, the forces of the infamous Necron Overlord Imotekh the Stormlord, Phaeron of the powerful Sautekh Dynasty, descended upon the frozen plains of the Imperial Ice World of Schrödinger VII. The Necrons drove the local defenders to the shelter of the labyrinthine cryonite mines, but were unable to prevent the planet's astropathic choir from despatching a distress hymnal. A counterattack swiftly arrived in the form of a Black Templars strike force under the command of then-Marshal Helbrecht. Imotekh appeared not to be caught by surprise so easily, and had already shifted his armies into a formidable defensive configuration. Helbrecht led the assault, intended as a crippling alpha strike, but it was instead blunted by a series of impeccably planned Necron ambushes on the Drop Pod and Thunderhawk drop zones. As the frozen caverns echoed to the roar of explosions, scores of Black Templars and Necrons alike were hurled into rivers of molten cryonite. Eventually, Imotekh and Helbrecht met in hand-to-hand combat atop the stalactite-heavy span of an ice bridge. In the battle that followed, Helbrecht dealt Imotekh a dozen ruinous blows, but each time the phaeron was able to quickly recover in a matter of seconds to land a strike of his own. Helbrecht finally collapsed under the assault of the Necron Overlord, blood flowing from a score of serious wounds. However, instead of finishing his opponent, Imotekh brought his scythe down to sever Helbrecht's right hand to remind the Marshal of his "much-deserved defeat". Helbrecht roared in fury and pain as Imotekh pitched the Black Templar commander off the bridge to the cavern floor far below. The surviving Black Templars rallied to their fallen Marshal's side and made a fighting retreat, leaving Schrödinger VII in the Stormlord's hands.Renewed Faith (935.M41) - Following a five year Crusade of Penitence to atone for his defeat, Helbrecht made a pilgrimage to the Imperial Fists' mobile fortress-monastery, Phalanx, to pray at the Hand of Dorn. There, Helbrecht came to realise that the loss of his own hand was symbolic of his Primarch's sacrifice and a sign from the Emperor. Helbrecht returned with the fires of faith burning inside him like an inferno.The Crusade of Sorrow (955.M41) - Drukhari of the Kabal of the Poisoned Heart destroyed the Black Templars' Chapter Keep on the jungle-world of Delleront and captured a score of recruits. Marshal Gerhart and Chaplain Grimaldus led a Crusade of Retribution against the Kabal to punish them for their insolence, and though hundreds of Drukhari were slaughtered, not a single recruit was ever found or recovered.Conqueror's Fall (985.M41) - Marshal Helbrecht led the boarding action against the Inevitable Conqueror, the Cairn-class Tombship that served as the flagship of the Necron Phaeron Imotekh the Stormlord. Helbrecht and Imotekh once more clashed, but the Marshal's rekindled faith lend him great strength, and the Stormlord could not prevail. Realising the battle was lost, Imotekh teleported to safety, but not before congratulating Helbrecht on "one victory apiece." Helbrecht raged at his foe's retreat, but consoled himself by destroying the Stormlord's beloved Tombship to remind Imotekh of his defeat.Varadon Crusade (987.M41) - The desperate last stand of the Shadow Wolves Space Marine Chapter on their homeworld of Varadon saw the entire Chapter wiped out by the Tyranids. The Black Templars attempted to aid their brother Astartes but could not fight their way through the chitinous hordes of Tyranid bioforms to the embattled Shadow Wolves. The last battle-brother of the Shadow Wolves died, defiantly holding the Chapter banner aloft even as he was torn to pieces, his blade broken and his Bolter empty. Chaplain Grimaldus was present for the battle at the time though he was still an apprentice to Reclusiarch Mordred. The glorious last stand of the Shadow Wolves would inspire the chaplain for many years to come.The Nimbosa Crusade (993.M41) - When Hive Fleet Kraken began to threaten worlds on the Eastern Fringe of the Imperium, the High Lords of Terra responded by stripping the worlds that bordered the T'au Empire of their Imperial forces. The T'au Empire was quick to recognise this redeployment and soon took advantage of the situation, beginning the period known as the Second Sphere Expansion. Nimbosa was one of the most important and vital Civilised Worlds of this sector. The Nimbosa Crusade was called, a massive Imperial Crusade undertaken by a joint Astartes task force consisting of the Black Templars, Imperial Fists, Raven Guard, and Ultramarines Space Marine Chapters against the encroaching forces of the T'au Empire. The campaign ended with the successful recapture of Nimbosa by the Imperium and the destruction of the entire T'au garrison.The Ghoul Stars Crusade (990-998.M41) - The Ghoul Stars Crusade was the very first crusade launched by Helbrecht after he attained his rank as the Black Templars' new High Marshal. This was a dangerous decision as no Imperial expedition had ever returned from that desolate region of space. The Black Templars were intent on finally vanquishing the alien race known only as the "Cythor Fiends" of the Ghoul Stars. Within eight Terran years, the xenos population of the outlying systems had been exterminated and the crusade pushed onwards to the aliens' homeworld, but upon reaching the core systems, they were found to be eerily empty. No trace of the aliens could be found, but before a proper investigation could have been launched, a desperate call for help came from the besieged Hive World of Armageddon. The Third War for Armageddon had begun.The Battle for Golgotha (996.M41) - Marshal Actoan led a Black Templars crusade to eradicate the Orks' dominance of the Golgotha System.Dimaris Crusade (998.M41) - The Dimaris Crusade was a Black Templars crusade that was under the command of Marshal Ricard, but was cut short due to the eruption of the Third War for Armageddon.Tiberior Crusade (998.M41) - The Tiberior Crusade was a Black Templars crusade that was under the command of Marshal Marius Amalrich, but was cut short due to the eruption of the Third War for Armageddon.The Crusade of the Ophidium Gulf (998.M41) - A smaller crusade was launched by Castellan Raimer, the master of the Black Templars' Strike Cruiser Ophidium Gulf and its company of 90 Black Templars, into an unexplored region of space in the galactic south called the Veiled Region by Imperial stellar cartographers. The Black Templars inadvertently made contact with the Fallen Angels, the hunted Traitors of the Dark Angels Chapter. While in the Veiled Region, they came upon a small Dark Angels fleet. The Black Templars' capture of one of the Fallen Angels, and their refusal to turn him over to the custody of the Dark Angels, nearly led to open conflict between the two Chapters. Outgunned, Castellan Raimer reluctantly turned the prisoner over to the Dark Angels before he departed the Veiled Region. The ultimate fate of the Ophidium Gulf is unknown, as a single astropathic communication from the starship was received just before it prepared to make a Warp jump from the alien system, and no further communication has been received by the Black Templars from the starship since then.The Third War for Armageddon (998.M41) - The Third War for Armageddon was a massive conflict between the Imperium of Man and the largest Ork WAAAGH! ever raised since the War of the Beast, led by the greenskin Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. Black Templars Chaplain Grimaldus was placed in command of the Helsreach Crusade with 100 battle-brothers assigned the task of defending one of Armageddon's largest centres of industry which was known as Helsreach Hive. Along with regiments of the Armageddon Steel Legion and other Astra Militarum forces, 19 Titans of the Legio Invigilata, civilian militias and 97 Battle-Sisters of the Order of the Argent Shroud, the Black Templars under Grimaldus' command fought the Orks tooth and nail and saved the hive from utter destruction. Ultimately, the Orks' second attempt to conquer this strategic Hive World failed, and Ghazghkull Thraka fled the world to bedevil the Imperium elsewhere. High Marshal Helbrecht joined with Commissar Yarrick, the Orks' greatest foe, to swear an oath that he would not rest until Thraka had been hunted down and slain.The Barbarossa Crusade (998.M41) - An Imperial Crusade carried out by the Black Templars to cleanse one of their Chapter keeps located on the world of Barbarossa IV that had become the residence of Orks fleeing the fighting on the Hive World of Armageddon following the Third War for Armageddon in 998.M41. But this was only the beginning of the crusade, for unknown to the Black Templars, the relic at the core of the keep had become tainted by Chaos. The Black Templars crusade forces under the command of Castellan Hermann fought to cleanse the Chapter keep of both the greenskins and the Chaos taint, which had manifested in the form of a daemonic intrusion and the Chaos corruption of the Black Templars garrison which had held the keep. The Black Templars ultimately proved successful in destroying both the Heretics and the xenos and cleansing the keep of their foul taint.Solemnus Crusade (999.M41) - Under the command of Marshal Brant, the Solemnus Crusade was formed to answer for the razing of the Black Templars' Chapter keep on the world of Solemnus by the Ork Warlord Morkrull Grimskar, a chieftain of the Blood Scar Ork tribe. The Solemnus Crusade belatedly joined the war effort on Armageddon and deployed in search of the elusive warlord. However, the crusade met with disaster when Emperor's Champion Ansgar was captured by the severely injured but not yet dead warlord. Though the Black Templars had nearly succeeded at taking his life, the severely wounded Grimskar was successfully transformed into a Cybork, giving him a new lease on life. Adding insult to injury, many of the cybernetic components used in Grimskar's resurrection were salvaged from stolen Black Templars' wargear. The Black Templars Dreadnought Jarold formed a strike force with the designation "Ansgar's Avengers" specifically tasked with locating the captured Emperor's Champion and recovering the revered Black Sword and Armour of Faith belonging to him. While the strike force did not recover Ansgar on its first attempt, Jarold's forces did uncover the Crimson Fists' Venerable Dreadnought Rhodomanus who had been lost in the ice glaciers of the Dead Lands during the Second War for Armageddon. The strike force destroyed an Ork Stompa freshly recovered from the ice that had been originally constructed during this earlier campaign and prevented it from joining the Ork war effort elsewhere. Not yet finished in their task, "Ansgar's Avengers" and the Solemnus Crusade continue their campaign to hunt down Grimskar across the war-ravaged surface of Armageddon.13th Black Crusade (999.M41) - Under the direction of the vile Chaos Lord Abaddon the Despoiler, the largest mobilisation of both Imperial and Chaos forces seen in the Milky Way Galaxy since the Horus Heresy occurred near the Imperial Fortress World of Cadia at the start of the long-awaited 13th Black Crusade. The Templars' first action was to relieve the beleaguered world of Thracian Primaris. Scattering the Chaos Warfleet easily enough, the Black Templars made an uncontested planetfall outside the Departmento Munitorum's logistical support complex in Hive Demeter. The brethren did not stay long, however, though they were welcomed as liberators, choosing instead to continue to drive the forces of Chaos back to the Eye of Terror. As the brethren moved on from Thracian Primaris they caught word of the "Green Kroosade" of Ghazghkull Thraka building in the Scarus Sector and headed off to stop the greenskin threat before it fully manifested. Severely understrength from the fighting on Thracian Primaris, the Black Templars moved on anyway, knowing that to let the Orks rebuild their numbers without opposition would doom the Scarus Sector.Cruxis Crusade (999.M41) - Led by Marshal Marius Amalrich, the Black Templars of the Cruxis Crusade fought upon Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade with the zeal and fury for which they are rightfully famed. To Amalrich's shame their efforts were not enough to save the world from destruction, yet the heroism and faith of the survivors set them on a course to aid Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl and the Living Saint Celestine on a journey to resurrect the Primarch Roboute Guilliman during the Ultramar Campaign. Amalrich, elevated to the position of Emperor's Champion, gave his life to see the ensuing Terran Crusade reach completion and a resurrected Roboute Guilliman returned to the Throneworld of the Imperium on Holy Terra.