vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Rubycon II System - What Lies Beyond: Beyond the planets of the system are vast fields of comets and other debris, forming an Oort Cloud ranging far into the borders of the interstellar void. The comets are of particular interest, as these fetch a premium price on the station, and scores work these dim regions because of them.Most are void miners who have chosen to switch from rock to ice, trading more dependable finds for higher risks and the chance of higher profits. While most live somewhat ordinary lives, mining and transporting their frozen hauls back into the warmer depths of the system for sale, others spend their entire lives on their icy homes.These are the true Cloudminers and they hold sway over this dominion. Many will never leave the clouds, though others visit the port for trade negotiations or to barter their ice and other discoveries for their needs.Their finds are often remarkable, and the clouds are home to many a wrecked vessel. Some are the obvious remains of disastrous Warp attempts or pirate attacks, while others could be millennia-old space hulks or even xenos vessels beneath the accumulated impact scores and encrusted soot. The Cloudminers also mine these finds, and what they uncover has lead to furious bidding wars and outright armed conflict.For there are others in the clouds. Pirates and raiders of all types lie in wait to attack unwary traders returning from the Koronus Expanse, hiding amidst the ice to patiently stalk their prey. Smuggler networks also ply the area, ready to pick up those items not permissible even on Port Wander and escort them to eager buyers.At the cloud fringes lie the standard system beacons established by the Imperial Navy to aid in navigation for approaching and departing vessels, and the flickering astropathic boost-relays to aid interstellar and Warp-communications.Beyond the clouds are the endless depths of the void. These deep oceans only are disturbed by passing vessels hurrying into the system or towards their Mandeville Point Warp jump location. Rubycon II is far removed from other Calixian star systems, and no Imperial starships would think to brave the long Terran centuries of passage to the closest stars via realspace travel.
Rubycon II System - The Maw and the Fleet: Beyond the Rubycon II System, the Koronus Passage looms wide, ready to swallow the Rogue Trader starships that brave its depths. The Maw is so vast it is more a region of space than an opening in the Warp Storms along the Drusus Marches -- but the Maw can also swell closed when the Warp Storms rage, shrinking to the narrowest passage.Though the political boundaries of the Calixis Sector end at the entrance to the Maw, there are certain Imperial organisations that venture beyond those bounds. Chief amongst them is the Battlefleet Calixis of the Imperial Navy which maintains a watch of warships at Port Wander, the entrance to the Maw, and some say, within the Expanse beyond. This squadron, under command of Fleet-Captain Nathaniel Horne, is on extended detached duty from the rest of Battlefleet Calixis.Though the squadron, Passage Watch 27 Est, is not large, especially compared to Battlefleet Calixis as a whole, it is comprised of several cruisers, light cruisers, and battlecruisers, supported by multiple destroyer and frigate escorts.These warships are some of the most combat experienced in Battlefleet Calixis, as they are almost constantly in conflict with raiders, pirates, and the occasional xenos vessel that come through the Maw to plunder the Calixis Sector.Passage Watch 27 Est is hard-pressed but vigilant, and on occasion has sent its distinctive crimson-prowed vessels on counter-actions and reprisals into the Koronus Expanse. This has led the ships' crews to refer to themselves, only half-jokingly, as "Battlefleet Koronus."
Rubycon II System - Zone 15 and the Jericho-Maw Warp Gate: Within the last century, Passage Watch 27 Est has placed a blockade on one of the rare becalmed sections of the Maw. Once dubbed the Fifth Station of Passage, this barren and unremarkable star system is now known as Zone 15. Imperial Navy frigates constantly patrol the edges of the system, and unauthorized vessels are challenged first with terse warnings, then Lance fire.However, Zone 15 sees a large influx of voidship traffic. Convoys of mass conveyors and unwieldy transports put into Port Wander for fuel and supplies, though neither the crews nor passengers (if any) are allowed to disembark.These convoys vanish into the Koronus Passage, and those who traverse the Maw regularly claim their destination is Zone 15. When the convoys eventually return, their holds are empty and their hulls often show the scars of combat.On occasion (and with increasing regularity in recent decades), Rogue Trader vessels have been given leave to pass into Zone 15. These vessels return solar months or standard years later, if at all, although most of their captains remain tight-lipped, some speak of an ancient relic, a "gate" that leads somewhere...else.If these captains know where this "Jericho Reach" lies, they do not speak of it. However, with increasing numbers of ships entering Zone 15, it is only a matter of time before the truth of the existence of the ancient xenos-built Jericho-Maw Warp Gate that allows travel across the breadth of the galaxy to the Jericho Reach in the Ultima Segmentum is publicly revealed.
Rubycon II System - Crime in the Ruby's Light: Port Wander supports a thriving underclass of criminal activity. This ranges from pirate raiders that drift in the outer cometary clouds, to smugglers, thieves, brokers and murders that infect the station itself. Smuggling is a common crime; most captains cannot resist an opportunity to supplement their income by hauling some additional, illegal cargo.Smuggling is so common that many intersystem ships or transport shuttles contain hidden stowage spaces for that very purpose. Many of the Port Wander shuttle clans are known for making a tidy profit as go-betweens for larger vessels returning from the Halo Stars and brokers aboard the station. There are also larger smuggling networks, with Warp-capable vessels, intersystem ships, and even hidden asteroid bases.The infamous Cold Trade of xenos artefacts runs through Port Wander, and it is not the only smuggling venture in the Rubycon II System. The Calixis Battlefleet would have to station at least a quarter of its starships at Port Wander to even put a dent in the smuggling, something the Imperial Navy has little interest in doing.Pirates also infest the system, attracted to the rich bounties being harvested from the Koronus Expanse and the heavily-laden vessels supplying the system. A common tactic is to attack transports as they translate into realspace or lure them with false distress calls.Many merchant vessels approaching the system operate in fleets in an attempt to stave them off, but with little success. Xenos raiders are also a threat, though major attacks have been rare in recent decades. Be they Human or alien, pirates are ruthless and generally leave no survivors. Captured starships are either stripped for parts, refitted and re-crewed as prize vessels, or left to drift and die without power.
Ruination of Imperfect Beauty - Ruination of Imperfect Beauty: A Ruination of Imperfect Beauty or simply a Ruination, also called the Sensate Daemon Breed of Kinog, is a Daemon of the Chaos God Slaanesh, the Prince of Pleasure, similar to an unusually powerful Daemonette like a Herald of Slaanesh, that has been active in the Calixis Sector. It is a corruptor of schemers, artists, and artisans.It builds covens of weak men who seek perfection, and empowers itself by the ruin it works upon their souls. The Daemon is a whisper upon the air, a taint upon some few amidst the many. Those who would combat it must force its manifestation by tearing down its coven, or await its final act of ruination brought upon the weak. There, it might be banished by force of blessed weapons and the prayers of the faithful.
Ruination of Imperfect Beauty - History: Slaanesh sends ripples of raw sensation across the Calixian Empyrean. Strange and obsessive Daemon breeds crystallise where those ripples meet the psychic ebb and flow of decadent Pleasure Worlds. One such breed is the Ruination of Imperfect Beauty, named by savants of the Schola Impermissus before their final purge at the hands of the Inquisition's Ordos Calixis.A Ruination of Imperfect Beauty arose upon the Pleasure World of Kinog in the early 8th century of the 41st Millennium. The sinful of Kinog consorted in illicit pleasure, in the creation of extravagant art, and in ornate conspiracies -- it was a pale and sordid reflection of corrupt Malfi, composed at the surface as a floral garden within which courtly love might bloom.Thorough decadence and exacting sin called a Ruination from the Warp to complete the blackening of noble, mortal souls. The true form of a Ruination is a bloated, repulsive combination of toad, crab, and corpulent woman, but it rarely manifests itself until its plans reach their conclusion. Even then, it hides behind a delightful, lustful appearance.It is a potent Daemon, yet is driven to do no more than quietly build a coven of just six decadents: wastrel artists, lovers, or conspirators. It whispers in their ears, steering their dreams and hopes to the construction of perfect works: the perfect painting, the perfect love, the perfect conspiracy of murder. All of the members and works are interlinked within the coven, and each nearly perfect work is marred by one deep flaw.The Ruination is pleasured by these undertakings and the Human emotions -- frustration, anger, delight -- resulting from them. Perfection is a harsh taskmaster, and the Daemon is obsessive in its manipulation and arrangement of lives. In the end, however, when the pattern has run its course, the Ruination must draw its coven together and manifest to destroy it, so as to feed upon their souls and empower itself.A Ruination has power to lay waste in the Archenemy's unholy name and drive mortals insane with a glance -- but instead, its mad daemonic nature compels it to cajole, threaten, and bargain as a whisper on the wind. It achieves its aims by manipulative subterfuge and seeps Warp–taint into the spires of wealth almost by accident.Tomes of the Schola Impermissus reveal further secrets of the Ruination breed, scattered between the ramblings of broken minds -- if the tomes can be found at all, that is. For example, a Ruination abhors incompetence with the conviction of a zealot. Obviously poor goods or inept artisans can act as a ward, and credible accusations of imperfection can achieve banishment of the Daemon.
Ruinstorm - Ruinstorm: The Ruinstorm was a massive Warp storm that blocked off large portions of the Milky Way Galaxy to interstellar travel and communications during the Horus Heresy in the early 31st Millennium.The massive Warp disturbance had been engineered by Lorgar, the primarch of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion, to isolate the Loyalist forces of the Emperor in different places across the galaxy so that they could not cooperate in defence of the Imperium of Man against the Warmaster Horus' drive on Terra.The Ruinstorm was unleashed by the Word Bearers First Chaplain Erebus during the Battle of Calth between the Word Bearers and the Loyalist Ultramarines Legion. The Ruinstorm grew greater in size and even more potent in blocking off portions of the galaxy in the years after the destruction of Calth, its growth fuelled by the psychic emanations released into the Immaterium by the misery of Lorgar's Shadow Crusade.While the Ruinstorm remained active, the Warp in many regions of the galaxy often proved incapable of being navigated by Loyalist forces. However, the Traitor Legions and their allies were able to make their way through the Ruinstorm by using secret passages through the Immaterium revealed to Lorgar by the Ruinous Powers.After the Second Battle of Davin in ca. 011.M31, the strength of the Ruinstorm began to wane to the point that Rogal Dorn, the primarch of the Imperial Fists and the Praetorian of Terra, came to believe that the Ultramarines would be able to reach Terra in time to help defend it from assault by the Traitor forces of Horus. In truth, Horus had foreseen the weakening of the Ruinstorm and had erected a blockade to the Loyalists' passage through it with a portion of his fleet.Instead, the Ultramarines and Dark Angels Legions distracted the forces of the Traitor blockade while Sanguinius and the entire Blood Angels Legion made directly for Terra as the Angel had foreseen in his precognitive visions of the future, where they would arrive in time to play a pivotal role in the defeat of Horus.In the wake of the defeat of Horus and the forces of Chaos at the end of the Horus Heresy, the Ruinstorm would fully dissipate back into the æther as the power of the Chaos Gods waned with the defeat of their champion by the Emperor.
Ruinstorm - History: Mustering at Calth on orders issued by the Warmaster Horus before the massacre of Loyalist forces at Isstvan III, the Ultramarines and Word Bearers prepared for a campaign against the Orks of the Ghaslakh xeno-hold. The Ultramarines were unaware of the Word Bearers' true allegiance and utterly unprepared for betrayal, and suffered horrific losses during the subsequent Calth Atrocity. The Traitors' real objective was the murder of the Veridia star as an offering to the Ruinous Powers that would bring about the Ruinstorm, a Warp tempest so large, it would sever the galaxy in half and render all long-range Warp travel unpredictably dangerous, and trans-luminal communication all but impossible. What would later be known as the phase of the great conflict called the "Age of Darkness" had begun.Lorgar's invocation of the Ruinstorm cut the galaxy asunder, and so most Legiones Astartes forces not operating under the personal command of their Primarch were often required to act under their own cognisance for extended periods, in many cases for the entirety of the Horus Heresy and long after. The Ruinstorm did not serve only to stymie the coordination of far-flung armies, but had a more unsettling effect born of the Dark Gods underpinning the entire conflict. Even though it existed primarily in the other-dimension of Warpspace, the Ruinstorm bled through into realspace in many regions, the raw stuff of the Immaterium tainting the void itself with coiling æetheric tendrils and kaleidoscopes of unseen colours. From the surface of many worlds, the stars appeared to have been swallowed by the void or the night skies were transformed into a canvas upon which were rendered scenes from the hells of ancient superstitious texts.On the worst afflicted worlds, nightmares made flesh walked the lands, the veil between reality and the Immaterium stretched beyond the breaking point and the infernal denizens first encountered by the Ultramarines at Calth -- named by some "Daemons" -- came spewing forth. Thus, in many cases, it was the smaller, detached Legiones Astartes forces that first encountered such abominations as they fought far from the key war zones, prosecuting isolated wars against creatures that defied all sanity and had no place in the secular Imperium the Great Crusade had founded upon the bedrock of Imperial Truth. By 010.M31, the Imperium of Man that had been stood no more. The fires of the Horus Heresy were consuming hundreds of star systems in all-out war, while innumerable conflicts burned in the darkness far beyond the central war zones.
Ruinstorm - Envoys of Terra: With the Ruinstorm surging across the galaxy, the War Council of Terra sought by any means to gauge the true scope of the unfolding calamity. Blinded as it was, the Council was desperate for other ways to measure the disposition of Horus' hosts and the allegiances of planetary rulers. Astra-telepathic communication was by that point all but impossible, the Warp a howling cacophony that either drowned out their messages or corrupted their content in insidious ways. The only means of assaying the status and allegiance of the scattered worlds of the Imperium would be to despatch envoys and agents to do so in person, even though the Council knew that such a hazardous mission would be the deaths of countless loyal and devoted servants of Terra.
Ruinstorm - A Kingdom Divided: Entire cohorts of Imperial historators and savants have attempted to piece together a coherent picture of the status and deployment of the major Legiones Astartes forces in this period when the Ruinstorm raged unabated. In all likelihood such a picture is impossible to compose in entirety, and so their knowledge must remain incomplete. For every world that burned in planet-wide conflagration, innumerable smaller scale, but equally bitter wars were fought, often far away from any war zone that might be considered a front line.At the opening of the Horus Heresy, many of the Legions had been operating as large bodies under the direct command of their Primarch, but even then, many smaller contingents had been seconded to service elsewhere. As the Age of Darkness ground on, many of these mighty hosts became fragmented and while individual Primarchs often remained in direct command of the core of their Legions, ever more sub-commands were despatched across the galaxy in pursuit of either Traitor or Loyalist goals.As the Ruinstorm cut yet more regions of the galaxy off from the greater Imperium, many such detachments were turned by circumstance into independent commands in all but name, their leaders vested with what amounted to total authority to conduct their own wars in whatever manner they deemed most appropriate. Across the galaxy, independent Legiones Astartes forces varying in scale from sub-company to battalion or chapter conducted countless high intensity operations. Many were surgical strikes against targets of vital strategic worth. Many operations were specifically targeted attacks against key enemy leaders or individuals holding the balance of power, and many of these amounted to little more than callous murders and brutal assassinations. Far-ranging Legiones Astartes Kill-teams or larger strike forces were capable of reaching and striking against targets more conventional Astartes forces could not engage, and so no commander or high administrator was guaranteed safety from the executioner's axe.Some Loyalist forces pledged themselves to defend individual worlds against the depredations of the Traitors, in particular if they found themselves stranded by the coming of the Ruinstorm and unable to penetrate its depths. History can never make a full accounting of the number of such actions fought by stoic and self-sacrificing Loyalists far from the main war zones; indeed, only they and possibly those they protected will ever know of the sacrifices made. Other Legiones Astartes ranged for thousands of light years across the galaxy, braving the perils of the storm-wracked Warp in an effort to engage the enemy wherever they were to be found.
Ruinstorm - Dark Angels: The bulk of the I Legion was engaged against the Night Lords for much of the period, and in the aftermath of the Lion's victory over the Traitor Primarch at Tsagualsa despatched numerous strike forces across the eastern galaxy to hunt down the splintered foe. Many did not return, pursuing their own missions across the Ultima Segmentum and beyond. Some of these detached forces encountered other similarly isolated or orphaned Legiones Astartes groups, finding common cause with some and fighting others to the death, the Ruinstorm making it impossible for them to return home or receive new orders.
Ruinstorm - Blood Angels: Among the forces loyal to the Emperor that were isolated by the Ruinstorm was the Blood Angels Legion, the majority of whose Astartes were marooned in the Signus Cluster and cut off from communication with their Legion homeworld of Baal. At the opening of the Horus Heresy, the fate of the Blood Angels was unknown and this would remain the case until the Legion's return to contact with the broader Imperium in 010.M31.The Blood Angels had been ordered to muster at the Nartaba System and from there to deploy to Signus Prime to crush a major recidivist uprising. Several thousand Astartes never arrived there however, some serving as Lamentii honour guardians watching over silent battlefields wherever the Legion had shed its blood while others simply never reached Nartaba, their vessels cast far and wide upon the tides of the Warp when the Ruinstorm struck.It was only later that news of their survival began to filter out and then only very slowly thanks to the Ruinstorm. For a period of almost five standard years, many of those lost and scattered Blood Angels forces who survived their mis-jumps to Nartaba had every reason to believe themselves orphans and the last remaining survivors of their Legion.
Ruinstorm - Ultramarines: Another Space Marine Legion greatly affected by the Ruinstorm were the Ultramarines. The bulk of the XIII Legion had mustered at Calth and for most of 007.M31 and in 008.M31 they were engaged in the bitter war to repulse the so-called Shadow Crusade of the Primarchs Angron and Lorgar. Nevertheless, Legion detachments were stationed elsewhere, on lynchpin worlds such as Molech and serving in the Conquestor fleets of Rogue Trader Militants. There are likely to have been Ultramarines units that had not arrived at Calth when the Word Bearers' betrayal struck, and such units were likely to have operated as independent, autonomous forces until they re-established contact with their chain of command.The Ruinstorm eventually grew so strong and covered so much of the galaxy that Primarch Roboute Guilliman of the Ultramarines feared that the Throneworld of Terra itself was lost to the Loyalists. To maintain the power of the Imperium and the ideals of the Emperor of Mankind in the region now cut off from Terra's control, Guilliman proceeded to create his own auxiliary Imperial state, the Imperium Secundus.Only the use of the pre-Imperial xenos biotechnological artefact called the Pharos allowed the Loyalists of the Imperium Secundus to navigate through the great Warp Storm as if using a much weaker version of the later Astronomican and regroup on the Ultramarines' homeworld of Macragge.
Ruinstorm - Age of Darkness: Between the eruption of the Ruinstorm across the galaxy in early 007.M31 and Roboute Guilliman's establishment of the Imperium Secundus in 010.M31, civil war erupted across the entire galaxy. While most of the Space Marine Legions, whether Traitor or Loyalist, operated as mighty armies led in person by their Primarch, every one of them had smaller forces detached to serve myriad roles across the Imperium.With the coming of the Ruinstorm, many of these detached forces were lost, cut off, isolated or simply never heard from again. In some cases, Great Crusade detachments returning from the outer void to find the Imperium in flames had no way of knowing the fate of their brethren, and were forced by circumstance to forge their own fates and to determine their own allegiance in a galaxy of blood, war and chaos.
Ruinstorm - Second Battle of Davin: During the Horus Heresy, the Space Marine Legions trapped behind the Ruinstorm -- the Ultramarines, Blood Angels and Dark Angels -- had sought to breach the great Warp Storm so they could make their way to Terra and aid in its defence from the assault by the Warmaster Horus' Traitor Legions.The three Legions successfully defeated a daemonic assault at the world of Davin during the Second Battle of Davin and then used cyclonic torpedoes upon that cursed planet to destroy it. In the place of where Davin once was, a breach in the Ruinstorm had become visible.The opened path led to Terra, but upon further study it became apparent that somehow Horus had foreseen this route and a large blockade of Traitor warships had been erected to stop any passage.Roboute Guilliman and Lion El'Jonson agreed to use their forces to distract the Traitor vessels while Sanguinius and the Blood Angels made directly for Terra. The arrival of the Blood Angels on Terra proved crucial to the Imperium's victory during the Siege of Terra, though it cost the life of Sanguinius as he had foreseen when he was slain by Horus aboard the Vengeful Spirit. In addition, the destruction of Davin proved to weaken the Ruinstorm, which slowly began to dissipate after the battle, eventually evaporating completely by the end of the Heresy.
Ruinstorm (Novel) - Ruinstorm (Novel): Ruinstorm is the forty-sixth volume in The Horus Heresy series of novels.
Ruinstorm (Novel) - Synopsis: Imperium Secundus lies revealed as a heretical folly. Terra has not fallen, though it remains inaccessible. Sanguinius, Roboute Guilliman and Lion El'Jonson, the Primarchs of the Triumvirate, must reach Terra at all costs. They seek to defend the Emperor, and to atone for their sins. But the Ruinstorm, a galaxy-wide maelstrom of Chaos, hides the Throneworld of Terra from the Primarchs. Now the fleets of three Space Marine Legions depart Macragge, and the Primarchs will stop at nothing to overcome the Ruinstorm. Yet an insidious enemy watches their every move, and plots against the weaknesses of the errant sons of the Emperor. Each has his own inner storm, and each marches towards his own ruin.
Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy - Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy: The Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy is a type of Ork attack vehicle. The first Rukkatrukk Squigbuggies were invented by enterprising Snakebites in order to feed Speed Freeks on the move. Mobile pens full of edible Squigs, the vehicles kept pace with the warband's Warbikers, buggies and Trukks while their grinning crews hawked their wares at the tops of their lungs.Once a suitable bag of teef was slung across to them by a hungry driver or passenger, choice Squigs were loaded into the Rukkatrukk's Squig Launchas and fired into the hands -- or even waiting gobs -- of the hungry customers. Legend has it that it was only after a rabid Attack Squig was accidentally stuffed into the launcha and fired into a luckless Ork's face that the true potential of this mobile murder-menagerie was realised.Nowadays, Rukkatrukk Squigbuggies are often seen muscling their way through their fellow Speed Freeks as they roar towards the front lines. Easily identified by their rugged construction, the throaty roar of their engines, and the anarchic masses of Squigs and Orks riding aboard them, these vehicles employ their close-range living artillery to wreak havoc amongst the enemy ranks.
Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy - Armament: Rukkatrukks typically mount both a Squig Launcha and a Heavy Squig Launcha. The Squig Launcha is Ork-portable, often tossed between one crewman and another in order to quickly deliver the perfect Squig into the middle of an enemy squad, bunker or transport as the Rukkatrukk rides past. By comparison, the Heavy Squig Launcha is bolted securely to the Rukkatrukk's chassis, and is operated by the vehicle's leering gunner.Though some Snakebite crews have been known to fire everything from Buzzer Squig pots and bellow-lunged Screech Squigs to the truly revolting -- and panic-inducing -- Bowel-torrent Squigs, three types of living ammunition are particular common: Bitey Squigs, Bile Squigs and Boom Squigs.The Boom Squig is infamous for its defence mechanism of violently exploding at the slightest provocation "to warn off predators." Typically triggered by direct physical contact or surprising loud noises -- or sometimes even by its own bouts of indigestion -- Boom Squigs detonate with such force that they kill or maim anything unlucky enough to be in the vicinity.Needless to say, these creatures not only make for excellent ammunition, but they are also dropped by the crew as living landmines, and are favourite props when it comes to Greenskin practical jokes. Nothing provokes greater amusement amongst a Rukkatrukk crew than hiding a Boom Squig under their driver's seat, though this can prove inconvenient for everyone if it happens to trigger while the buggy is in full motion.Bitey Squigs include any squiggly beast with sufficient jaws, claws and stingers to savage the target and anything standing close by. Launched gnashing and snarling into the enemy, they latch onto the first thing they hit and do not stop chewing until they are bludgeoned, stomped or shot to death.Bile Squigs comprise any breed the crew can get hold of that squirt, spray or vomit harmful fluids. Typically launched by the handful, these disgusting creatures squeal and thrash while madly jetting acids, lubricants, poisons and flammable bio-slop in every direction. The foe are drenched in disgusting -- and often harmful -- slime, leading to much hilarity amongst the Rukkatrukk crew as their victims slip, skid, scream in pain, burst into flames, dissolve or worse.
Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy - Unit Composition: 1-3 Rukkatrukk Squigbuggies
Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy - Wargear: Heavy Squig LaunchaSaw BladesSquig Launcha (Crew Armament)Bile SquigBitey SquigBoom SquigStikksquig (Crew Armament)Shotgun (Crew Armament)
Rules of Engagement (Anthology Short Story) - Rules of Engagement (Anthology Short Story): Rules of Engagement is a short story published in The Horus Heresy series that was originally part of an anthology. Rules of Engagement was first published as part of the Age of Darkness main series anthology in May 2011. The cover image used is that of the e-book version Rules of Engagement which was released alongside the original anthology.
Rules of Engagement (Anthology Short Story) - Synopsis: Roboute Guilliman has put the finishing touches to his great work -- the Codex Astartes. This tome will show his Ultramarines how to deal with any tactical situation, no matter the foe. But as the Horus Heresy reaches Ultramar, Captain Ventanus of the Troublesome Fourth must test the strictures of the Codex Astartes against the one foe that the Primarch never expected: other Space Marines.
Rune Priest - Rune Priest: A Rune Priest is a specialist officer unique to the Space Wolves Chapter of Space Marines. The Space Wolves' equivalent of the psychic Librarians who serve other Chapters, these grim warriors possess potent psychic powers whose ritual form is based upon the native shamanic traditions of the barbarian tribes of Fenris.The Rune Priests are also the keepers of the oral history of the Space Wolves Chapter. These secrets are passed on from Rune Priest to Rune Priest, each generation teaching the young skalds the complex and archaic incantations of runic lore.A Rune Priest's Power Armour is covered with Fenrisian runes and they wear rune-encrusted fangs as pendants and badges of their office. These runes are not purely decorative, as they serve to channel and concentrate the Rune Priest's psychic powers.
Rune Priest - History: The role of the Rune Priest harkens back to the bygone era of the Great Crusade in the last two centuries of the 30th Millennium. They were one of several subdivisions within the Priests of Fenris, the interconnected orders which provided for the physical, spiritual and technological needs of the VI Legion.Occluded to outsiders beneath webs of what outwardly seemed superstition and barbarism, they were more than technicians and specialists, but instead the repositories of the Legion's true history, the keepers of its secrets and the masters of its lore.There were several divisions of particular prominence, with the warrior-mystics known as the Caster of Runes being one of them. They were undeniably an order of psykers who considered themselves a breed apart from the Librarians of the other Legions.Those chosen as the Casters of Runes had the psyker's gifts, but treated them warily as a potential curse as well as a blessing, reaching for their power only through a deliberate skein of cognitive shielding within their own minds, and aided by a unique lattice of psycho-memetic pattern field technology incorporated into their armour as a safeguard both against hostile outside forces and drawing down too much power from the Empyrean themselves.They manipulated their powers through these little-understood runic matrices and adapted Fenrisian rituals, and provided the VI Legion with prognostication and shielded it from Warp threats.Eventually this bygone specialty rank of the Space Marine Legions evolved into the present-day role of the Rune Priest for the Space Wolves Chapter.
Rune Priest - Wargear: Runic Power Armour - Runic Priests wear Runic Armour denoting their specialist position within the Chapter. This armour is covered in glowing, protective Fenrisian Runes of Power that nullify the affects of enemy psychic abilities. The Space Wolves are known to also grant valiant members of their Chapter these specially crafted suits of Power Armour inscribed with psychic Runes of Protection by the Chapter's Rune Priests. These runes provide the wearer of Runic Armour with an enhanced defence against psychic attacks. This armour is created by the Space Wolves Chapter's Iron Priests (Techmarines) and officially codified by the Adeptus Mechanicus as the Mark XII Lupio Pattern, though the suits can look like any of the standard patterns of Power Armour. As a result of their antiquity, many of these suits are often earlier patterns of Power Armour than the most common Mark VI and Mark VII.Terminator Armour (Optional)Psychic Hood - Psychic hoods are commonly used by Astartes Librarians. These arcane devices are lined with psi-enhancing crystals that amplify the wearer’s psychic powers. More importantly, they render the wearer capable of nullifying the effects that other psykers can unleash.Chooser of the Slain - The Chooser of the Slain is a fusion of flesh and steel that acts as a cybernetic familiar and spy for the Rune Priests, often taking the form of a psyber-raven though other animal forms are also possible.Runic Weapon - Runic weapons are the signature tools of the Rune Priests, often taking the form of staffs or wickedly bladed axes. These staffs are crafted from rare and priceless oak, the wood taken from trees raised in the soil of ancient Terra back in the days when trees still grew wild upon that ancient world. Carved with protective sigils and canticles of banishment, the weapon affords excellent protection against the powers of the Warp. These staffs are highly prized treasures which gradually absorb the psychic imprint of their owner, becoming more closely tailored to the Rune Priest's mind. It is said that if a Rune Priest lives to a great age, his staff becomes a living part of him, and that after his death the staff lives on, preserving something of its former master's thoughts and powers.
Rune Priest - Rune Priest Psychic Powers: Rune Priests possess a number of unique abilities that standard Chapter Librarians do not. These powers are psychic as well as elemental in nature and work on a gestalt principle similar to those manifested by Ork Weirdboyz, in which the more Rune Priests are present in one location, the more powerful their psychic abilities become. Unlike the Librarians of other Chapters, Rune Priests' psychic abilities are based upon the shamanistic rune magic used by the feral natives of Fenris. The Rune Priests use runes to concentrate and develop their powers, and their armour is enscribed with patterns of interwoven runes that form a complex psychic web attuned to the Rune Priest's own mind.Fury of the Wolf Spirits - The Rune Priest summons up the spirits of the Thunderwolves Freki the Fierce and Geri the Cunning from the netherworld. These Thunderwolves were Primarch Leman Russ's wolf-brothers and constant companions. The Rune Priest sets the charcoal-black spirits of the two most exalted Thunderwolves upon the foe, their eerie howls sending men mad with fear. As long as this power is sustained, the Rune Priest is flanked by two spectral wolves that he may direct against his foes with a verbal command.Jaws of the World Wolf - The Rune Priest implores the spirit of the world upon which he walks to open its rock-fanged maw, and a chasm cracks open under the feet of his enemies, sending them tumbling to their deaths.Living Lightning - The Rune Priest cries out to the sky and calls a dancing bolt of sentient electricity down from the heavens. This bolt crackles from the brooding skies, arcing into the ranks of the enemy and grounding on foe after foe until a trail of blackened corpses is left in its wake.Murderous Hurricane - The Rune Priest bellows an ancient curse and his frosted breath coalesces and grows into a deadly blizzard. Within moments, the Rune Priest's foes are all but consumed in a hurricane of freezing shards, a thousand blades of Warp-forged ice plunging into their flesh.Storm Caller - The Rune Priest chants an ancient rite that builds into a terrifying crescendo. In the space of a few moments, howling winds and furious blizzards rage about him in a vortex of ice and snow that crackles blue with destructive psychic energy.Tempest's Wrath - In a fearsome display of power, the Rune Priest calls upon the spirits of wind, storm, and snow, tearing the air with gales and tempests. The Rune Priest brings the rage of the storm to a roaring climax as frost-fingered wind spirits whip those who intrude upon their domain out of the skies and smash them upon the stony ground.Thunderclap - The Rune Priest slams his armoured gauntlets together whilst shouting a word of power, and the noise is magnified a hundredfold. The resultant thunderclap is loud enough to shatter stone and even liquefy the brains of those nearby.
Rune Priest - Notable Rune Priests: Njal Stormcaller - Njal Stormcaller, called the Tempest that Walks, is the Space Wolves Chapter's greatest Rune Priest. He has proven to be of unparalleled ability both as an Astartes warrior and a psyker. He is accompanied by his companion Nightwing, a psyber-raven.Irnist the Wise - A Rune Priest of the Chapter, Irnist the Wise is the twin brother to Erik Morkai and advisor to the Great Wolf Logan Grimnar.Torvald - Known as Torvald the Reaver of Red Kraken Hold, he has continuously served in the Space Wolves' 13th Company for ten millennia. This mighty Son of Russ was one of the Space Wolves' first Rune Priests and fought by the side of Russ himself during the Great Crusade. He has been Wolf Lord Bulveye's lieutenant since that bygone era.Ohthere Wyrdmake - Rune Priest of the Space Wolves during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy eras. Ohthere had befriended Ahriman, the Chief Librarian and Captain of the 1st Fellowship of the Thousand Sons Legion, in an attempt to learn about the sorcerous tenets of the XV Legion. He used what he learned to speak against the Thousand Sons for their blatant use of sorcery, leading to a ban on all Astartes Librarians during the Council of Nikaea. During the Fall of Prospero, Ohthere had a psyber-raven with him that Thousand Sons Astartes Ankhu Anen (Guardian of the Great Library of Prospero and member of the Corvidae Cult) thought was a good omen but unfortunately led to the destruction of his cult's library, eradicating thousands of years of history and research. Wyrdmake was ultimately killed by Ahriman after he realised that the Space Wolves had been manipulated by Chaos to attack the Thousand Sons.
Runtherd - Runtherd: A Runtherd (pl. Runtherdz), also known as a Slaver, is an Ork Oddboy who has the patience to take care of his clan or warband's Gretchin and Snotlings. Their characteristic weapons are whips, Grabba Stikks and Grot-Prods. They are often seen leading Gretchin mobs into the fray or ordering around the Gretchin crews of Big Gunz. They often make use of Squig-hounds to eat errant or fleeing Grots in battle to "increase" the morale of their Gretchin mob.
Runtherd - Role: The average Ork, from the youngest Boy to the strongest Warboss, is a brutish and direct creature, who interprets the slightest resistance to his desires as a challenge to his authority, and such challenges are quickly and brutally answered. Orks constantly compete and fight amongst themselves, and they frequently kill those weaker than themselves to assert dominance, or simply for the fun of it. The life expectancy of Gretchin and Snotlings would be minimal amongst a tribe of Orks, were it not for their natural cunning and the presence of the Ork Boyz known as Runtherdz.Runtherdz are Ork Oddboyz who exhibit a trait extremely uncommon amongst Orks: patience. Only they have the right mindset to "care" about their smaller Orkoid cousins, the Gretchins and Snotlings, and the patience to perform the task of training them to be more efficient at their tasks. Where the average Ork only yells his orders, and beat his underlings if the orders are not fulfilled to his liking, a Runtherd has a more "reasonable" approach of carrot-and-stick treatment. He explains to those under his care what is expected of them, and those that perform efficiently are rewarded, while only those that perform poorly are beaten. The simplest and most menial tasks are undertaken by the tiny Snotlings. Snotlings are not particularly easy to train because they are slow learners and need to be slowly and carefully conditioned to perform even the most simple tricks. Runtherds train Snotlings to cultivate fungus and tend Squigs and take extraordinary pride in their tiny charges.The Runtherdz make a good living by selling well-trained Gretchin and Snotling servants and workers to other Orks. Runtherdz often become quite wealthy and naturally invest their earned teef (teeth, the Ork currency) in solid weaponry and other wargear. On the battlefield they tend to either fight alongside the machines crewed by their Gretchin where they can keep a close eye on things, or lead a large mob of Gretchins forward, using the smaller Orkoids as diversion, living shields or living mine detectors for the other bands of Boyz.Most Runtherdz also exhibit curiosity, especially for the other sentient races of the galaxy. Where the average Ork Boy only sees a non-Ork as either a challenge or a nuisance to be killed in either case, the Runtherdz sees a non-Ork as a challenge to be mastered. When an Ork mob goes to war, the Runtherdz will claim the surviving enemies as their spoils, and start training them as slaves. A Runtherd sees barriers of language and behaviour as a challenge to his skill for control and command rather than to his authority, and will apply his skills to boosting the production of his hapless charges just as he would with a group of uncooperative Gretchin. Successful Runtherdz can handle Humans, Squats, Tau and most other sentient races of the galaxy (with the exception of Tyranids and Necrons), eventually learning enough of their language, mannerisms and culture to ensure his slaves are always working at peak efficiency.
Runtherd - Wargear: Runtherdz can easily be identified by the tools of their trade: they often wear an assortment of whips, chains and manacles to capture fresh slaves, as well as a Grabba Stikk. This is a long pole outfitted with a pulley-operated maw-like pincer, with which they can either grab and restrain a being, or throttle it if it proves too resistant to their control to be useful. Some Runtherdz favour the use of a Grot-Prod instead, an imitation of the human electrical cattle-prod, albeit much larger. These can be used to motivate, incapacitate or even kill, depending on the voltage. Runtherdz also often train a pack of Squig-hounds to keep an eye on their Gretchins and motivate them, by setting an example and having the Squig-hound gobble up one of the Gretchins if necessary.
Runtherd - Notable Runtherdz: Zodgrod Wortsnagga - Zodstrog Wortsnagga is an infamous Ork Runtherd who was perhaps the greatest Runtherd in Ork history before being expelled from the Warboss Ugulhard Duffgruntas' Chargerz, an extremely fundamentalist band of Snakebites who rabidly rejected the use of advanced technology. After the expulsion, Zodgrod travelled the galaxy and learned several ancient Orkoid techniques to create enhanced Gretchin who were possessed of more aggression, intelligence and sheer ferocity than any of their counterparts, which he named "Supa-Runtz." Zodgrod is now hired by Ork Warbosses and Warlords who are particularly desperate to make use of his Supa-Runtz in battle.
Runtherd - Sources: Codex: Orks (2nd Edition), pg. 68Codex: Orks (4th Edition), pg. 50Gorkamorka (Specialist Game), pp. 36-58Rogue Trader: Into the Storm (RPG), pp. 142-146
Rusheck Vakkim - Rusheck Vakkim: Ruscheck Vakkim was a formidable and notorious Magister of the Forces of Chaos who served under both Archon Nadzybar and Archon Urlock Gaur during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade. He was the leader of a Chaos warband known as the G'uttkhra or "Thorns of Heaven". Vakkim met his end during a gun battle with the Imperial Guard forces of Commander Lang Mowzer near Penetor Hive on the world of Nyzon II in 768.M41.
Rusted Claw - Rusted Claw: The Rusted Claw is a Genestealer Cult that originated among the hardscrabble miners of the world of Newseam in the eastern Ultima Segmentum, though genesis infestations of the cult have been found on many Imperial planets in recent years.Its nihilistic and ascetic adherents believe there is no value in material things, and that even their own bodies are worthless hunks of flesh and bone that must be reforged into something new and better by the alien beings they worship.The weather-beaten, rugged survivalists of the Rusted Claw are more at home on the open wastes than they are in the claustrophobic confines of an Imperial underhive. They are the pioneers, the nomads and the prospectors of their deluded kind.Where many Genestealer Cults sing with a near euphoric sense of righteousness and self-belief, the Rusted Claw are grim nihilists. They hold to a creed of universal transience and inevitable entropy, living nomadic lives and striving to erode Imperial civilisation from the roots upward. Hardened by their experiences, Rusted Claw broods are perfect vectors of the Genestealer Curse.The wandering nomads of the Rusted Claw are hardened guerrilla warfare specialists, their degraded appearance belying leathery hides and stone-hard chitin. Skilled at covering rough terrain at speed, they favour swift assaults across multiple fronts, overwhelming their enemies from all sides while shrugging off direct hits from weapons that should surely lay them low.
Rusted Claw - Beyond Salvation: The dusty but adamantium-rich planet of Soharia became host to an infestation of the Cult of the Rusted Claw. Wide-roaming, they made little effort to conceal their growing influence. Planetary Governor Endst, loath to inform the proper authorities and hence invite a potential Exterminatus action upon his beloved world, resorted to drastic measures of his own.After arranging systematic bio-scans via his extensive collection of Servo-skulls, Endst took great pains to sort those untouched by xenos gene-taint from those who maight be compromised. He did so in secret, for news of a Genestealer Cult insurrection had reached him from the neighbouring world of Ghord Ninth, and he dared not trigger a full uprising just yet.Instead, those deemed genetically pure were gradually secreted in a network of underground bunkers, each locked with a cellular syringe system that kept it inviolable against the alien. Then, when he was sure his core supporters were safe, Endst levelled a systematic bombardment of hyperfusion missiles from his personal arsenal at all those cities he marked on his prized cartographs as "beyond salvation."The solar-week-long firestorms that followed razed the planet's surface, eradicating 99% of the populace. Only the hardiest and most resourceful escaped the firestorms, but unfortunately for Endst, they included a great proportion of outrider cultists from the Rusted Claw.The years that followed, known as the "Dust Hunt," saw those same outriders scour the post-apocalyptic wastelands of Soharia for the enclaves of pure-blooded Humans forced to ride out the radiation of their own nuclear winter. One by one they were found, compromised, and corrupted by the agents of the Rusted Claw -- and within a solar decade, even Endst himself was converted to the cult's nihilistic creed.