vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Watch Fortress Erioch - Quarantine Zones: Certain areas of the Catacombs have been declared as Quarantine Zones. Here the xenos taint is so powerful that only an armoured battle-brother may enter, and even then at some risk. Some of the Quarantine Zones are bathed in unknown radiation or subject to unpredictable temporal effects due to unstable xenos artefacts.Others are infected by alien organisms so virulent that they cannot be truly destroyed, only contained. It is rumored that some of the Quarantine Zones actually contain alien dimensional gate technology of one kind or another -- Aeldari Webway portals or smaller examples of the Jericho-Maw Warp Gate.If so, these locations would create a dire threat to the fortress' security in the wrong hands and must be heavily protected. On this matter, as with many other secrets of the fortress, the Deathwatch battle-brothers remain tight-lipped.
Watch Fortress Erioch - Shrine of Saint Aret the Lethecant: Hidden in a forgotten vestibule deep within the bowels of the fortress there lies an incongruous edifice. A beautiful Imperial Cult shrine can be found there, decked out in the full, rich panoply beloved of the Adeptus Ministorum.Intricate stained glass windows tower over an octagonal dais of gold-veined white marble at the centre of the shrine. A heroically-proportioned statue of an Imperial warrior carved from alabaster occupies the centre of the dais and its incredible antiquity can be only be guessed at.The High Gothic psalms graven into the walls of the shrine give no hint of whom it was built to honour. Time has blurred the details of the once-masterful carving, its face and one upraised arm have been obliterated by some past violence and yet it retains a haunting air of nobility and purpose.Over the past few solar decades, those arriving at Erioch from the Calixis Sector have come to associate the shrine with Saint Aret the Lethecant, sovereign guardian of that which should not be remembered. A scattering of purged data-slates and cracked library crystals can sometimes be found left as offerings to the saint to call on his assistance in expunging memories of the past.The longer-serving battle-brothers on the fortress know that the shrine long pre-dates the beatification of Saint Aret by the Ecclesiarchy. It is thought it most likely portrays a hero of the Ecclesiarchy long-forgotten by his fellow priests but still honoured by the Deathwatch for his works at their side.
Watch Fortress Erioch - Inquisitors: Inquisitor Hezika Carmillus, Inquisitor of the Chamber - Hezika Carmillus of the Ordo Xenos has served the Holy Ordos for over three standard centuries. In that time, she has led pogroms that have scoured xenos infestations from a dozen worlds, condemned and executed Lord Commanders and admirals, broken influential and traitorous Rogue Traders, and denounced Radicalism amongst her own kind. Tall and blade-thin, she wears exoskeletal enhanced armour at all times and keeps a court of diverse and deadly warriors, collected from dozens of worlds, at her beck and call as Acolytes and Throne Agents. Her voice is silken honey at one moment and unyielding steel the next as she desires. She will not, under any circumstances, allow herself to be perceived as anything other than what she is: a warrior-scholar in the service of the Emperor of Mankind. She is undaunted by the transhuman killers whose company her duty now bids her keep, and she will brook no challenges to her authority, in particular by other Inquisitors, although she is ever-conscious of its limitations. Inquisitor Carmillus has been the Inquisitor of the Chamber and mistress of the Tower of Brass for sixteen Terran years and has executed her sworn tasks with precise dedication and utter ruthlessness. While possessing a warlike temperament, she is also highly intelligent and subtle. These traits make her an ideal emissary to the domain of the Deathwatch and well-equipped to deal with its Adeptus Astartes masters. She has voiced the opinion in the Chamber of Vigilance that, although she is in favour of the Achilus Crusade to reclaim the Jericho Reach, a contingency plan should be drawn up to destroy the Jericho-Maw Warp Gate to the Calixis Sector should the crusade suffer catastrophic failure. She believes that the Warp Gate represents a vast threat if it is no longer under the Imperium's direct control. Much of her other motivations, however, remain a tightly-held secret.Inquisitor Adrielle Quist - Adrielle Quist was first noted by Inquisitor Carmillus for her prodigious telepathic abilities. Her sharp, investigative mind distinguished her from her fellow Acolytes, and during her time as an Interrogator she was one of a select few brought to the Tower of Brass when her mistress became Inquisitor of the Chamber at Watch Fortress Erioch. Five short standard years ago, Quist earned her own Inquisitorial Rosette, and she remains Carmillus' primary hand in the field. Quist has a deep fascination with alien technology that she keeps tightly concealed. She is all too aware that many around her would brand her a Radical or Traitor for her desire to see the Imperium match the technological advancement of alien species like the T'au. She is secretly one of the Crucible Resolviate's principal sources of xenos artefacts. The fresh Inquisitor would like greatly to find Deathwatch warriors who share her open mind about the path to Humanity's continued advancement, as it would make procuring items of advanced alien technology from their missions far less laborious.
Watch Pack - Watch Pack: A Watch Pack was a specialist formation utilised exclusively by the Space Wolves Legion during the opening days of the Horus Heresy that was intended to guard against betrayal of the Emperor by the primarchs.Even as the VIth Legion brought sanction to Prospero and sought to eliminate Magnus the Red for his violation of the Edicts of Nikaea, a handful of Space Wolves packs were despatched elsewhere by their primarch Leman Russ, under the direct authority of Malcador the Sigillite, the acting Regent of Terra, speeding through the Warp on the Imperium's fastest voidships.This plan sought to place a force of the Space Wolves, the Emperor's most trusted executioners, within striking distance of each remaining primarch, ideally in a place of trust attached to their Legion. The orders given to these strike forces were simple -- if their charge took action against the Imperium or the Great Crusade in violation of their oath of loyalty, then the watchers were to eliminate them by any and all means possible.This was an explicit order for the death of any given primarch, as judged necessary by the VIth Legion officer in charge of the watch force, a contingency that if made common knowledge would likely lead to no small amount of dissent and as such, its full scope and detail remained secret.The full and complete rosters of these so-called "Watch Packs" have remained sealed within the restricted archive-vaults beneath the Imperial Palace and as such any judgement on the effectiveness of this initiative is rendered moot. Some observers have noted that these forces often appeared to be little more than squad strength deployments, but this seems a futile gesture in the face of a primarch's fury, not to mention the assembled force of his Legion.Such an understated response to the threat level presented by their targets is unlike the standard operating practices of the Space Wolves, and other sources speculate that the small Watch Packs were only the tip of the spear aimed at each of the primarchs, with additional forces remaining within striking distance.However, any debate regarding Malcador's and Russ' attempts to enforce the primarchs' loyalty in the wake of Magnus the Red's violation of the edicts of the Council of Nikaea after his intrusion upon the psychic wards of the Imperial Webway Project is made largely inconsequential by the obvious failure of the plan.Instituted on the very threshold of the Horus Heresy, while Horus' own plans for rebellion were already well-established, many of the Watch Packs failed to even reach their targets before the civil war was underway. Those who did rendezvous with the Legions they were assigned to were plainly unable to complete the missions assigned to them, for not one of the Traitor primarchs is known to have been so much as injured by Leman Russ' hand-picked executioners.Indeed, those who arrived at the courts of the various loyal primarchs, such as the warriors assigned to Sanguinius, appear to have aided the Traitor cause more than their own by spreading discord and suspicion among the ranks of the Loyalist Legions.
Watch Pack - Pack Bludbroder: Watch Pack Brother Gudson Allfreyer - Member of the Watch Pack of Faffnr Bludbroder.Watch Pack Brother Shockeye Ffyn - Member of the Watch Pack of Faffnr Bludbroder. Brother Ffyn was killed fighting Konrad Kurze in the Residency of Macragge Civitas on Macragge.Watch Pack Brother Biter Herek - Member of the Watch Pack of Faffnr Bludbroder.Watch Pack Brother Kuro Jjordrovk - Member of the Watch Pack of Faffnr Bludbroder.Watch Pack Brother Nido Knifeson - Member of the Watch Pack of Faffnr Bludbroder.Watch Pack Brother Malmur Longreach - Member of the Watch Pack of Faffnr Bludbroder.Watch Pack Brother Mads Loreson - Member of the Watch Pack of Faffnr Bludbroder.Watch Pack Brother Salick the Braided - Member of the Watch Pack of Faffnr Bludbroder.Watch Pack Brother Bo Soren the Axe - Member of the Watch Pack of Faffnr Bludbroder.Watch Pack Brother Valdin - Member of Captain Redknife's command during the ill-fated Signus Campaign. He was slain by blood-mad Captain Nassir Amit and the warriors of his 5th Company when they had fallen into the throes of the dreaded Red Thirst.
Watch Pack - Pack Kargir: Watch Pack Brother Vaegr Echo of Three Heroes - Named after the ancestors of the Vakreyr tribe. Vaegr was a member of Pack Kargir.Watch Pack Brother Ordun Kin to the Night - A killer in the shadows, brother Ordun served with Pack Kargir.Watch Pack Brother Brandwyn Storm's Son - Born on a longship in the middle of a raging storm, such a birth is an extremely ill-omen on Fenris. To counter the ill-luck of his birth shamanistic rune-tears were tattooed onto Brandwyn’s face, curling from the corners of his eyes. Member of Pack Kargir.Watch Pack Brother Herek Iron Song - Possessing an augmetic lower jaw and metal teeth, Herek gained these injuries through an incautious head butting of a helmeted foe. Member of Pack Kargir.Watch Pack Brother Rykath No Foes Remain - A stern and soft spoken member of Pack Kargir brother Rykath fought with a painstakingly maintained chain-axe.
Watch Pack - Pack Redknife: Caster of Runes Jonor Stiel - A Rune Priest that served under Watch Leader Redknife's command, he took part in the ill-fated Signus Campaign, having been been assigned to watch over the Blood Angels Primarch Sanguinius. During the height of the epic Battle of Signus Prime, the Blood Angels were struck by the throes of the dreaded genetic curse that would come to be known as the Red Thirst. Jonor Stiel, along with the rest of his pack, were killed by Captain Nassir Amit and his ferocious warriors of the 5th Company, who were enthralled to the Red Thirst, and could not distinguish friend from foe.
Watch Pack - Pack Strong-grin: Watch Pack Brother Rutvald Yevi - White of hair but keen of eye brother Rutvald served with the Watch Pack of Theodore Strong-grin assigned to watch the Night Lords. Realizing what was about to happen brother Rutvald rushed towards Kurze, smashing his way past the wall of Night Lords armour in an attempt to get to the traitor Primarch. He made it to within five meters before he was dragged down and slain.Watch Pack Brother Hraidisson - The youngest member of Pack Theodore Strong-grin. Brother Hraidisson was the second of his pack-brothers to die to the Night Lords treachery, his armor torn off and his body pummeled and kicked into a pile of meat and bone fragments.Watch Pack Brother Annek - A veteran of almost two hundred wars, brother Annek was the first of Pack Theodore to be slain by the Night Lords.Watch Pack Anders Drackenvolk - The third member of Pack Theodore to fall to the Night Lords. Brother Anders disobeyed the order of his Pack Leader to leave all weapons aboard their shuttle, choosing to conceal a Combat Blade beneath his furs. This foresight and stubbornness allowed him to slay three attackers before they were able to land blows against him but faced with such odds his success could not last.
Watch Pack - Pack Torbjorn: Watch Pack Brother Egil Formerly a Wolf Guard of For (4th Great Company), Brother Egil served with the Watch Pack of Torbjorn and was slain in the Golan System by the Alpha Legion traitors.Watch Pack Brother Engal - Formerly a Wolf Guard of For, Brother Engal served with the Watch Pack of Torbjorn and was slain in the Golan System by the Alpha Legion traitors.Watch Pack Brother Grimnir - Formerly a Wolf Guard of For, Brother Grimnir served with the Watch Pack of Torbjorn and was slain in the Golan system by the Alpha Legion traitors.Watch Pack Brother Gunir - Formerly a Wolf Guard of For, Brother Gunir served with the Watch Pack of Torbjorn and was slain in the Golan System by the Alpha Legion traitors.Watch Pack Brother Hengist - Formerly a Wolf Guard of For, Brother Hengist served with the Watch Pack of Torbjorn and was slain in the Golan System by the Alpha Legion traitors.Watch Pack Brother Holdar - Formerly a Wolf Guard of For, Brother Holdar served with the Watch Pack of Torbjorn and was slain in the Golan System by the Alpha Legion traitors.Watch Pack Brother Salagrim - Formerly a Wolf Guard of For, Brother Salagrim served with the Watch Pack of Torbjorn and was slain in the Golan System by the Alpha Legion traitors.
Watch station - Watch station: A watch station is an Imperial military facility used by the Space Marines of the Deathwatch Chapter.A watch station differs from a watch fortress in that while watch fortresses are large, relatively rare complexes with a wide range of facilities, watch stations are far more numerous, smaller and less potent Deathwatch outposts.The watch stations are fortified outposts used by the Deathwatch throughout the galaxy. There are many watch stations scattered across the worlds, moons, and cold void of the Jericho Reach for instance, and no two watch stations are quite the same. Some take the form of single-blocked, armoured bastions from which eagle-headed gargoyles glare out at the silent expanses of Dead Worlds. Others are complexes of forbidding towers strung through the peaks of lunar mountain ranges, while yet others are small, jagged void stations that watch from the blackness of space, bristling with auspex arrays and seer-webs. No matter their location, all watch stations exist to serve the Deathwatch as bases of operation, and as an ever-vigilant gaze on the Deathwatch's assigned sector of the galaxy.Each station is fitted with highly advanced sensors that constantly gather information about the area around them. These sensors gaze far into space, scour the air for communications of all types, and even skim the Warp with powerful witch-sight augurs. All the information gathered by a watch station is stored in data reservoirs in the heart of the station. When any Deathwatch Space Marine leaves a watch station, it is his duty to take a copy of the information gathered by that station and return it to one of the main watch fortresses for entry into its records. Small, high-speed, Warp-capable vessels known as "Dark Hunters" are designed to slip unseen through the stars while they make their rounds, harvesting each watch station's valuable data.Thus, the Deathwatch sees much that passes in the Jericho Reach and other regions of the galaxy that eludes most others. All watch stations house weapons and materiel caches to some extent; arms that can be accessed by any Deathwatch kill-team that needs them. Many also have extensive medical, analysis, and armoury facilities that any Deathwatch kill-team that needs them can avail themselves of, although to gain the full extent of their use, the specialised skills of an Apothecary or a Techmarine are required.Most watch stations are not physically manned by battle-brothers, except for when they function as a base of operations in the field. Many watch stations can go for solar decades without a battle-brother crossing their threshold.During the normal course of events, watch stations are maintained, operated, and if need be, defended by the finest automated systems the Machine Cult can provide. If a watch station is attacked, its protection can sustain it from all but the most determined and powerful assault. If breached, it will self-destruct, annihilating itself utterly, leaving nothing of its secrets for the enemy. A watch station's greatest defences, however, are the secrecy, remoteness and concealment of its existence.
Watch station - Role: While Deathwatch watch fortresses are relatively scarce across the galaxy, there are far more of the smaller facilities known as watch stations. These are often no larger than a small escort ship, and some are little more than a rockcrete bunker situated upon a lonely mountain top.Watch stations are located so as to provide watch against a specific threat, or to guard a particular location. They may have been placed centuries ago, perhaps on the word of a mystic's prophecy or an especially auspicious reading of the Emperor's Tarot, or it may be that a great enemy was defeated at that location and its possible return is being guarded against.As with the watch fortresses, watch stations can take many forms. A great many are silent sentinels in orbit around a world, while others are lonely towers standing guard over a long-dead battlefield.Watch stations provide facilities for little more than a single kill-team and the battle-brothers are rarely stationed on one for any great length of time; the resources of the Deathwatch are too scarce for every such station to be permanently staffed.Instead, watch stations may be used as a staging point should a threat become apparent, and to this end they are always stocked with vast reserves of ammunition, arms and equipment.While they are not always manned by battle-brothers, many watch stations are home to a skeleton crew of sensor-techs and watch-serfs. These live out their entire lives performing their duty, ever watchful for the threat of the alien and ready to call upon their Astartes masters should such an event occur.Many of these serfs have lived and died and never met a battle-brother, yet all are indoctrinated and conditioned into their duty, and their watch never tires.A great many watch stations are not crewed by Humans at all, but are controlled by Machine Spirits (artificial intelligences). It is only by the blessings of the very highest acolytes of the Machine God that this is possible, for such devices that can be entrusted are rare indeed.Orbiting many a Dead World might be found, by one who knows to look, a silent mechanical picket, its glass eyes scrutinising the surface far below, its transmitters trained upon distant relay stations. The primary task of any watch station is to gather information and to pass this back to the nearest watch fortress.The nature of the information may be detailed activity logs compiled by watch-serfs, or at the other extreme, it may be the constant chatter of raw machine language beamed in a never-ending transmission across the void.The most important watch stations are attended by an astropath, but others rely instead on regular visits for their reports to be collected.In many cases, it is not a sudden and disturbing report of alien activity that draws the attention of the Deathwatch, but the absence of any report at all. Standard Deathwatch doctrine dictates that any unexpected silence must be investigated immediately, and a Kill-team dispatched to forestall possible alien attack.
Watch Station Andronicus - Watch Station Andronicus: Watch Station Andronicus is a watch station of the Deathwatch. It is an oddity in that some knowledge of it exists beyond the warriors and vassals of the Deathwatch. Located within the Jericho Reach, it lies situated upon a barren and distant rocky world that orbits the cold and feeble star of the Andronicus System.Upon this airless, worthless world, two structures exist that watch the void for threats to the Imperium. The first and most ancient is an outpost of the Adeptus Mechanicus, claimed long ago by the wiles of the Inquisition to spy upon the many enemies of Humanity.The second is a watch station of the Deathwatch, its armouries containing powerful weapons and its archives holding a wealth of lore on the many xenos threats to Mankind.
Watch Station Andronicus - History: In the earliest days of the Imperium, the Adeptus Mechanicus extended their reach across the nascent Jericho Sector, claiming worlds beyond the gaze or interest of the newly ascended lords who ruled it.They were destined to serve as hidden research cloisters and other facilities too valuable for outsiders to know of, concealed from the attentions of those not devoted to the Machine God and Omnissiah.The eighth planet of the Andronicus System was one such world, a worthless ball of rock located in a system difficult to reach for any but the most skilled Navigator.The rare phenomena that surround the system within the Warp made it ideal for long-range observation, and the Priesthood of Mars constructed upon it an observatory, referred to as the "Mirador," to seek paths through the Warp to further the Quest for Knowledge.In 813.M36, as the Jericho Sector fell into anarchy and was consumed by Warp Storms, the Adeptus Mechanicus congregation on Andronicus Octus made contact with agents of the Inquisition, seeking to broker a pact to ensure the Mirador's safety even amidst the anarchy of a collapsing sector.Dubbed the Carthenis Dictum after the ruling magos of the facility, this agreement passed the control and protection of Andronicus Octus to the Inquisition, who in turn placed it under the stewardship of Watch Fortress Erioch's Master of the Vigil.In the solar decades that followed, the Deathwatch set about constructing a facility of their own on Andronicus Octus, while Techmarines delved deep into the arcane lore of the Adeptus Mechanicus to learn the secrets of the Mirador.In time, Watch Station Andronicus was completed and deemed fit for purpose, and a Keeper stationed there to guard over it and the secrets secured deep within stasis vaults and librarium archives.Since its completion, the watch station has seen a great many Kill-teams operate from it, employing the Mirador to seek out targets and respond to them swiftly and decisively.A staff of several hundred Tech-priests and lay-mechanics serve the operational and maintenance requirements of the Mirador, aided by a dozen astropaths who communicate the observatory's findings and project their divinatory powers over great distances.With the coming of the Achilus Crusade, servants of the Inquisition once more returned to the Mirador, adding teams of Acolytes and Throne Agents to the personnel stationed on Andronicus Octus, while scores of serfs loyal to the Deathwatch serve the Watch Station's Keeper.At present, the gaze of the Mirador is turned upon the distant Orpheus Salient, attempting to pierce the shrouding effects of the Shadow in the Warp of Hive Fleet Dagon, but so far to no avail.However, this focus upon the Great Devourer gave the Deathwatch unprecedented forewarning of the Tyranid incursions into the Canis Salient, allowing the Imperium to act against the encroaching menace.
Watch Station Andronicus - Operations: Technically two linked facilities, Watch Station Andronicus can serve as both a well-stocked base of operations for a Kill-team, and a readily available source of missions.The Mirador serves as a vital intelligence asset for the Inquisition and the Deathwatch alike, providing both organisations with the means to perceive distant worlds and disturbances in the Warp and find pathways through it that are unknown to others.The most common mission involving Watch Station Andronicus is information-gathering. The Mirador is an exceptionally powerful asset, one of the best tools for this purpose the Deathwatch has, and arguably one of the reasons for their ability to respond swiftly, often pre-emptively, to threats across the Jericho Reach.The amount of information that reaches the augurs of the Mirador is colossal, and little of it can be properly interpreted and verified, requiring the intervention of Kill-teams and Acolyte cells to investigate many of the leads the facility produces.Some of these missions are fruitless, while others have been monumentally successful, allowing the Imperium to intervene and halt potentially catastrophic events.Often, merely learning of an impending threat isn't sufficient, and these information-gathering missions merely serve as reconnaissance for more decisive actions. Such informed assaults have proven invaluable over the centuries, halting dozens of xenos incursions before they could truly begin.On rare occasions, information gathered by the Mirador unlocks sections of the Omega Vault at Watch Fortress Erioch, spurring the Deathwatch into action to discover the meaning of each new revelation, and often drawing them into unexpected conflicts across the Jericho Reach.Watch Station Andronicus is a large and well supplied outpost, containing a vast range of armaments and resources useful to a Kill-team, and able to support several Kill-teams simultaneously if the situation demands it.A limited supply of Astartes vehicle assets are stored and reverently maintained within the depths of the watch station, as are a collection of relics and powerful archaeotech devices stored within stasis vaults accessible only by the express consent of Andronicus' Keeper, presently an Imperial Fists Techmarine by the name of Vandar Illych.By the standards of the Jericho Reach's watch stations, Andronicus is frequently visited by a wide range of personnel, many of whom linger for a protracted period of time, often to gather intelligence from the Mirador, or to study in the archives of Andronicus' librarium.
Watch Station Andronicus - Armouries of Andronicus: Watch Station Andronicus has an extremely large and well maintained armoury, supported by dozens of artisan-serfs and arming Servitors to ensure that the Kill-teams operating from Andronicus are well-equipped in wargear maintained with the utmost reverence.Andronicus' armoury contains an ample supply of all items worthy only of those made famous by their deeds, and a handful of extremely valuable and revered items sealed behind stasis fields and retrieved only upon permission from the watch station's Keeper.Each of these items is a precious relic of the Deathwatch or another Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes, and each is utterly unique. They include the Andronican Cowl, the Serpent's Bite, and Throneforged.
Watch Station Andronicus - Andronican Cowl: Constructed from similar technology to the Mirador, the Andronican Cowl is a powerful tool for a sufficiently skilled Librarian.This cowl's technology is fundamentally the same as that of a Psychic Hood, but capable of far more accurately detecting changes to the flows and tides of the Immaterium.A perceptive Librarian can turn that precision to his advantage, discerning the actions of enemy psykers and moving to halt them.
Watch Station Andronicus - Serpent's Bite: Notable more for the number of lives it has taken than for the warriors who have carried it, the ancient needle rifle known as Serpent's Bite has been a favoured tool for assassination missions performed by Kill-teams in the Jericho Reach for thousands of Terran years.Designed to fire mono-edged adamantium darts loaded with the most deadly Death World toxins, the Serpent's Bite is a far more powerful weapon than a conventional needle rifle, capable of slaying more resilient or more heavily armoured foes.
Watch Station Andronicus - Throneforged: Perhaps the most ancient and spiritually significant of relics to be found within the Jericho Reach, Throneforged is a master-crafted Bolter of the venerable Phobos Pattern, constructed and sanctified within the forge-cities of Mars and issued to Battle-Brother Temoth Ulrecht of the Imperial Fists Legion in the earliest days of the Great Crusade, before the Primarchs had been found.This much and more is known to Deathwatch artificers, for the weapon is micro-engraved with the saga of its history, preserved in ceramite and meticulously restored from archived transcripts each time the weapon has seen damage.Every shot brings devastation, a sense of righteous fury upon the Traitor Legions. Such is its revered nature that, for a fellow Space Marine to look upon it is to remind them of the fellowship and brotherhood of the Adeptus Astartes.
Watch Station Arkhas - Watch Station Arkhas: Watch Station Arkhas is a Deathwatch watch station that takes the form of a circular void station that sits hidden within the gas clouds that wreathe Arkhas VII, the Arkhas System's outermost planet. There, it remains in constant vigil over the worlds now claimed by the Achilus Crusade's Orpheus Salient in the Jericho Reach.The watch station is only crewed by a handful of Tech-priests, a pair of mortal Deathwatch serfs, and a single astropath.The Arkhas System is located deep into the frontier territories claimed by the Orpheus Salient, within a region dubbed the "Tuam Transitional Nexus," a point where three distinct stable routes within the Warp intersect, named for the Navigator who discovered it.The system itself contains many worlds, none of which are inhabited, though two -- Arkhas III and Arkhas IV -- both possess the capacity to support Human colonisation.As a result, the Imperial Navy regards the Arkhas System as being a vital strategic location for the movement of troops, fleets and resources. However, unbeknownst to even the most senior officers within the Achilus Crusade, the Arkhas System was claimed long ago by the Deathwatch for exactly that reason.Located upon several swift and stable routes through the Warp, Watch Station Arkhas has been a hub for Deathwatch movements along the rimward edge of the Jericho Reach for thousands of standard years, and even amidst the onslaught of the Tyranids and the Shadow in the Warp they bring, the Tuam Transitional Nexus provides comparatively swift and reliable travel. As a result, many missions within the Orpheus Salient begin at Watch Station Arkhas.Arkhas' armoury is surprisingly large and well-stocked, considering the watch station's small size, and while a number of the rarest items are absent from its stores, everything else is in plentiful supply.The powerful augur arrays allow a considerable amount of information to flow through and from the watch station, and the astropath Emil Varras' skill at prophecy can provide information leading to other worlds and other threats.His continued efforts to pierce the Shadow in the Warp may prove invaluable to the operations of the Deathwatch, the Achilus Crusade and the Imperium as a whole, if they bear fruit.
Watch Station Arkhas - History: Set in place thousands of Terran years before the Achilus Crusade began, tens of thousands of personnel have manned Watch Station Arkhas since its founding, each and every one adhering to the duty given them by their Adeptus Astartes masters -- be ever vigilant.Appearing roughly like a pinwheel of black iron, Arkhas is concealed by cunning design and arcane technology, which has allowed it to remain unnoticed for its long watch over the rimward edge of the Jericho Reach.The station is equipped with some of the most accurate and sensitive augur arrays the Adeptus Mechanicus can provide, under ancient compacts dating back to the Apocryphon Conclave, and is said to have been constructed above Mars itself.Since its founding, Arkhas has been a rallying point for numerous Kill-teams, but few have stayed within the station for more than a few solar hours before departing, either headed towards a vital mission, or returning from one before heading back to Watch Fortress Erioch.Each time, they have departed bearing a precious crystalline datacoil, containing the watch station's augury logs and transcripts of the astropath's auto-séances, to be analysed at length by the Lexmechanics and Librarians stationed at Erioch.In recent years, Watch Station Arkhas has been overseen by Loquator-Majore Emil Varras, a skilled and experienced astropath, oath-bound to Deathwatch service for more than two solar decades.Strong-willed enough to endure the burn-out that plagues many of his kind, Varras is nonetheless entirely blind and deaf and his flesh numb from the mind-searing effects of the Soul-Binding, his senses deteriorating over the years as his psychic powers have increased.A quiet, proud man, Varras has a particular talent for prophecy, his psychic senses keen even if his mortal ones are almost entirely gone. He turned this talent to gaze upon the furthest edge of the Jericho Reach, unsettled by the portents and omens that dominated his visions.Varras' visions were lamentably accurate, foretelling a great and hungry darkness beyond the rimward edge of the Reach, which descended to cloud his sight at the end of 812.M41.Defiant of the Shadow in the Warp, Varras has persisted in attempting to cast his psychic gaze upon the void and attempts to send a new message out to any who can hear it.What little can be discerned from his attempts, he records as he has done for many years, upon a crystalline data-coil to be passed into the care of any Kill-team that sets foot aboard Watch Station Arkhas.Amidst this, however, has come a new complication. The last few solar months have brought increasing numbers of vessels to the Arkhas System, as Imperial Navy patrols have withdrawn from the ferocity of the Tyranid advance and regrouped in the otherwise lifeless system.Composed primarily of elements from Battlefleet Daedalus under General Javier Casterlix and Commodore Ektor Cavanno, the forces gathered in the Arkhas System are oblivious to the Deathwatch, and muster for a renewed offensive against the Tyranids as soon as contact can be made with Hethgard to direct their assault.
Watch Station Arkhas - Arkhas's Vaults: Watch Station Arkhas has served the Deathwatch within the Jericho Reach for a long time, and in that time, many heroes have passed within its doors, and more than a few have left some sign of their passage within the station's armoury.A few of these items are described below, and are considered relics of the Adeptus Astartes in every way. Thus, they can only be requisitioned from within Watch Station Arkhas.
Watch Station Arkhas - Forgeheart: Borne into battle by Re'kem of the Salamanders, a Deathwatch Battle-Brother who served his vigil within the Jericho Reach a Terran century ago, the master-crafted Meltagun known as Forgeheart was crafted by his own hands within Erioch's central armoury, and is renowned for the swiftness with which it sears through flesh, bone and steel.
Watch Station Arkhas - Hallowed Razor: The master-crafted Power Axe Hallowed Razor was the personal weapon of Champion Heydrich, who served six vigils with the Deathwatch, two of them within the Jericho Reach.When he fell in battle, his blade was borne to Arkhas' vaults by his Battle-Brothers, where it has lain ever since.
Watch Station Arkhas - Omnissiah's Gaze: The work of Forgemaster Gharran, the famed Omnissiah's Gaze is an auspex of unmatched awareness, its Machine Spirit (artificial intelligence) able to perceive more clearly than any other device of its kind.Indeed, it can detect objects and phenomena up to 100 metres away, instead of the usual 50 metres, and can penetrate walls up to a metre thick.
Watch Station Cressid - Watch Station Cressid: Watch Station Cressid is one of the Jericho Reach's Dead Stations, a series of watch stations that have gone mostly dormant save for the eternal vigilance of its machine spirits (artificial intelligences).
Watch Station Cressid - History: Nearing the last years of the 41st Millennium, the watch station on Cressid came under attack by a group of Chaos Renegades, who believed they had discovered a treasure trove of powerful artefacts.With the aid of the automated defences of the station, a single Deathwatch battle-brother on patrol beat back the attackers, though the structure sustained a great deal of damage. The battle-brother repaired the damage before leaving the station to continue his vigil.The repairs performed on the station did not address all of the damage as previously believed. The Renegades' attack did substantially more damage than anyone could have discovered with standard auguries and analysis.The Chaos forces left behind a Warp-entity on Cressid, a being of pure malice and hatred that wormed its way into the station's pathways and data core. The station now possesses a malign intelligence that guides its sensors and readings, searching the surrounding areas for something that only it knows.To date, the information gathered by the station has been manipulated and altered by the daemon and all information relayed to the Deathwatch has been scrubbed of anything of value. To the Imperium, Watch Station Cressid continues to monitor a Dead World and its surrounding environments with little of value detected.Should a Kill-team arrive on Cressid to utilise the station, they would find a common watch station with nothing out of the ordinary at first glance.However, if any length of time were spent inside its walls, the daemon's bloodthirsty nature would take hold and subject any within to a hall of horrors.
Watch Station CX3119 - Watch Station CX3119: Watch Station CX3119 is a watch station of the Deathwatch located in the Jericho Reach.
Watch Station CX3119 - History: Watch Station CX3119 was established to study the Hadex Anomaly nearly 800 solar years ago in the early years of the 41st Millennium. Due to the reported fluctuation of the anomaly, this watch station was initially created to be mobile, that it might remain ever on the periphery of the Warp rift.In addition to the usual banks of archeotech sensors, this station also sported powerful Warp augurs to warn of any dangerous expansions of the anomaly that may place the structure at risk.Sadly, these devices did not provide enough notice when the Hadex Anomaly expanded to nearly half again its size, sucking the station into the Immaterium and cutting it off from the Deathwatch.At the time, the station was unmanned, and while the Imperium was loathe to lose a valuable monitoring tool, it considered the station gone and classified it as destroyed. One can imagine the consternation and surprise of all within the Deathwatch when Watch Station CX3119 reappeared in 815.M41.The station's reappearance has provoked great debate amongst Watch Fortress Erioch's Chamber of Vigilance and the Inquisition. The structure's new location is many light years from where it originally vanished, creating additional speculation on the nature of the anomaly.Many wish to investigate the station to see what details the station's sensors have recorded during its time within. While the matter is debated, an elaborate system of quarantine beacons has been put in place warning all voidships to keep a wide berth away from the area.While the Chamber of Vigilance continues to argue over how to proceed with the watch station, unbeknownst to them, one man has already set foot on board the station. Master of the Forge Xerill discovered the station while travelling onboard a Deathwatch vessel to enact repairs on another watch station.His consuming desire for knowledge of the unknown led him into the bowels of the station and whatever lurked within. He has since returned to his post and so far, he has spoken to no one about finding the station or what waited within.
Watch Station Iobel - Watch Station Iobel: Watch Station Iobel is a watch station of the Deathwatch located in the Jericho Reach.Watch Station Iobel is less of a watch station and more of a fortress than most of its ilk, located deep in the storm-wracked mountain range of the world of Iobel II.Its winding halls are carved out of the very mountain itself, and its facilities are large enough to house and train multiple Deathwatch Kill-teams simultaneously.Iobel has acted as the primary launch point for all Deathwatch operations into the Hadex Anomaly, and contains various ancient devices for monitoring and observing the movements of xenos in and around the Warp rift.With its new status as the primary watch station for all operations around the Hadex Anomaly, it is highly likely that a Kill-team operation within the Achilus Crusade's Acheros Salient would be stationed at Iobel at some point.Due to its recent additions, its size, and its close proximity to Watch Fortress Erioch, Iobel contains an extensive armoury as well as many large Space Marine vehicles to which other watch stations do not have access.This wide access to supplies is a great boon to Kill-teams, but it doesn't come without its difficulties. Because of the number of Kill-teams operating out of the watch station, a Battle-Brother may find the wargear he wants has already been requisitioned by a different Kill-team.
Watch Station Midael - Watch Station Midael: Watch Station Midael was a watch station of the Deathwatch located in the Jericho Reach.Watch Station Midael was ultimately lost to the expansion of the Warp rift known as the Hadex Anomaly when it consumed the world of Midael itself. Since that incident, all communication with the watch station has been lost.
Watch Station Midael - History: Watch Station Midael sits on a Dead World of the same name shrouded in metallic grey dust that lies close to the spinward extent of the Chaos-held Charon Worlds. The watch station takes the form of a single armoured tower that rises from a spur of rock above one of the world's dust plateaus.Watch Fortress Erioch has not received word from this station in over three solar decades. In truth, it is a dead and lifeless place, inhabited by a lone Deathwatch Battle-Brother, cut off from the outside by the spreading baleful influence of the Charon Stars.For more than thirty Terran years, he has waited for others of the Deathwatch to come and relieve him, standing guard over the thing that is held in the deepest chamber of the tower. Slowly, the watch station's servitors have failed and died, and the tower's systems have become corrupted and atrophied.Every few years, enemy forces come again to claim it. So far, however, they have failed to defeat the lone brother of the Deathwatch who waits within.Outside the tower, the screaming wind howls and the bloody light of the Hadex Anomaly flares ever larger in the cold skies.In 175.M41, the Deathwatch Rapid Strike Cruiser Instance of Fire was attacked by an unknown warship of an archaic Imperial design, and forced to flee before the vastly overmatching vessel. Guided by infernal power, the warship pursued the Deathwatch vessel to Midael and caught the Instance of Fire and disabled it in a brief exchange of fire.Escaping to the watch station on Midael's surface, the fifteen surviving Battle-Brothers make Death Oaths and prepare their last defence in the armoured tower of the watch station. They held out for seventeen solar days against a company-strength force of Chaos Space Marines clad in red armour emblazoned with the marks of the Dark Gods.When a relief force reached Midael, it was too late; they found the watch station despoiled but repairable. The bodies and armour of the fifteen defenders were never found.
Watch Station Oertha - Watch Station Oertha: Watch Station Oertha is a Deathwatch watch station located in the Jericho Reach.Watch Station Oertha is a bastion under siege, situated on a semi-arid world within one of the primary warzones of the Achilus Crusade's Canis Salient. The forces of the T'au expansion effort believe the planet of Oertha possesses vast resources of fuel and primary materiel.Oertha has been a prime candidate for exploitation and colonisation by the T'au Empire forces in the Reach for some time. The world's largely uninhabited status has led the T'au to lay claim to the planet; a claim that is disputed by the watch station and the Imperial forces within it.Watch Station Oertha is a sprawling and heavily fortified compound that stands concealed in the maze-like ravines of the equatorial Berrick Mountains of Oertha. In a rare instance of overt and ongoing cooperation between the Achilus Crusade's forces and the Deathwatch, Watch Station Oertha has now become the keystone of the Imperial efforts to deny the planet to the T'au.Twenty Deathwatch Battle-Brothers, under Watch Codicier Kurita, and fifty allied Astartes of the Storm Wardens Chapter have garrisoned the watch station, using it as a base from which to launch a campaign of devastating raids against the T'au.So far, these raids have made it all but impossible for the T'au to expand on the planet. As matters stand now, both sides are awaiting reinforcements, and only time will ultimately determine the fate of Oertha.
Watch Station Phaedas - Watch Station Phaedas: Watch Station Phaedas is a largely automated, mobile watch station of the Deathwatch deployed in the Jericho Reach. It is essentially a Warp-capable void station, its structures constructed into a small asteroid.Watch Station Phaedas is a relic of ages past. Not a true watch station in the conventional sense, Phaedas is an archaeotech voidcraft that bears no resemblance to any form of starship or void station within Imperial records. If the Adeptus Mechanicus know of Phaedas' provenance, they are not forthcoming about it.Phaedas is largely automated, its myriad machine spirits (artificial intelligences) demonstrating sophistication that rivals those of the most ancient and revered of Titans.The vessel -- if it can be defined as such -- seems to operate based on incredibly complex logic paths, turning augur data into plotted courses, even able to travel short distances through the Warp without a Navigator.Phaedas is comparatively small for an object capable of self-sustained travel through the Warp -- massing far less than the smallest Warp-going craft in service to the Imperial Navy or Adeptus Astartes.The watch station has space only to support ten Astartes, but contains a modest armoury and a supply vault sufficient for standard years of travel without requiring replenishment.It is also equipped with a launch bay loaded with a single Stormraven Gunship and a Drop Pod bay equipped with a single Drop Pod, either of which is enough to deploy the Kill-team occupying it from orbit swiftly and with precision.Its small size and cunning design allow it to avoid all but the most careful of observers, making it extremely effective at conveying its Kill-team while remaining unnoticed.