vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Ku'gath - Plague Wars: During the Plague Wars of Ultramar in the Era Indomitus, it was Ku'gath who led the Daemonic Plague Legions of Nurgle from the Scourge Stars alongside the Daemon Primarch Mortarion and his Death Guard to assault the "Hospital World" of Iax. Ku'gath commanded a force of seven other Greater Daemons of Nurgle known as the "Plague Guard."These Daemons were a plague upon all the worlds of Ultramar until the Nurglish forces finally retreated from Ultramar following the battle of Iax fought personally by Rouboute Guilliman and Mortarion. During the war on Iax Ku'gath was given a portion of Nurgle's own cauldron from the Realm of Chaos, which the Plaguefather attempted to use to concoct a brew that could slay Roboute Guilliman. Ku'gath's plan later came to a head on the Ultramarian world of Parmenio, where the Greater Daemon failed to kill Guilliman who instead slew his lieutenant among the Plague Guard, Septicus.Despite the setback on Parmenio, Ku'gath was able to use blood he had gathered from Guilliman during the battle there to complete his ultimate disease: the Godblight. Refusing to honour the orders of Nurgle himself to withdraw to the Scourge Stars in order to repulse an assault from the Daemonic forces of the Blood God Khorne that would become known as the War in the Rift, the Great Unclean One instead sought to earn greater glory by remaining in Ultramar and continuing his alliance with Mortarion.Upon Iax, Ku'gath sought to use the portion of Nurgle's cauldron he possessed in combination with Guilliman's death as part of a great Chaos ritual to transport the entirety of Ultramar into the Garden of Nurgle in the Realm of Chaos, but was foiled when he was assailed by an Imperial strike force of Space Marines and Cadian Shock Troops led by Colonel Odrameyer of the Astra Militarum's 4021st Cadian Regiment.Ku'gath was able to defeat all the Space Marines but was slain when Odrameyer rammed his Leman Russ Battle Tank into the Greater Daemon and delivered and drove his Power Sword directly into the Daemon's skull. At the same time, Ku'gath's portion of the cauldron of Nurgle was destroyed thanks to the efforts of the Militant-Apostolic Mathieu, Guilliman's chosen representative of the Ecclesiarchy in the Indomitus Crusade.Due to this failure and his prior refusal of Nurgle's orders to return to the Scourge Stars, Ku'gath's fellow Great Unclean One Rotigus happily informed the still-regenerating Ku'gath in the Realm of Chaos that both he and Mortarion had earned the Plague God's ire. Ku'gath would not be able to return to realspace for quite some time in the wake of this catastrophic defeat, and even worse, he had lost his status as the most favored of Nurgle's Daemons.
Ku'gath - Personality: Unlike other Great Unclean Ones, Ku'gath is an unusually sombre creature. He is also studious and observant, all traits needed to create the perfect disease. He is pessimistic and prone to worrying, for instance, during the Plague Wars he constantly proclaimed that Nurgle's plan on Iax was likely to fail. Unlike most Nurglish Daemons Ku'gath despises music, and violently demands that the twisted bands of the Plague God keep silent whenever they are around him.Despite his formidable powers, Ku'gath does not enjoy combat and usually attempts to avoid any situations that might require him to engage in personal combat.
Ku'gath - Wargear: Ku'gath rides atop a palanquin carried by straining Nurglings that is loaded with the paraphernalia of his mobile laboratory. In battle, Ku'Gath uses the opportunity to conduct his field tests, unleashing clouds of spores, bacteria and viruses that could wipe out whole armies.The Nurglings that grow from Ku'gath each carry a unique blend of the elements that created them, and can be hurled at the Great Unlcean One's enemies to produce various different infections.
Kubrik Chenkov - Kubrik Chenkov: Commander Kubrik Chenkov is the commanding officer of the Valhallan 18th Regiment of the Imperial Guard, nicknamed the "Tundra Wolves," one of the units of the famed Valhallan Ice Warriors. Commander Chenkov is one amongst many whose nerve and endurance have won the Valhallans their reputation as a grim and dogged people who will fight and even die rather than give up territory to an enemy. Because of their stubbornness, Imperial Guard generals often deploy Valhallans to bolster their lines of defence, knowing that they will hold out where other troops might crumble under the onslaught of a foe's charge.
Kubrik Chenkov - History: Commander Kubrik Chenkov is a ruthless commander who insists on leading from the front, eschewing the safety of a command bunker for the front lines where he can keep an ever-vigilant eye on his subordinates. Instilling his own draconian brand of motivation and encouragement, his men doggedly obey the grim-faced commander, knowing that to disobey means certain death. Chenkov has a low opinion of cowards, for if a Guardsman dares retreats within his sight, he will not hesitate to have that coward gunned down by his former comrades. It is even whispered that Chenkov has personally killed more of his own Guardsmen than he has of the enemy. His Bolt Pistol has earned a fearsome reputation amongst friend and foe alike. So high is the attrition rate amongst the Tundra Wolves that they have been refounded more than a dozen times in recent decades. Each time, Chenkov and the few remaining survivors of the decimated regiment have returned to Valhalla to lead the newly raised conscripts who will restore the Tundra Wolves Regiment to life.
Kubrik Chenkov - Personality: Like his fellow Valhallans, Commander Chenkov is notoriously stubborn, refusing to admit defeat or acknowledge surrender. Like all Valhallans, Chenkov is dour and obstinate, but few of his comrades are as ruthless or as merciless. He does not employ subtle strategy to win wars, relying instead on blunt, direct, frontal assault tactics. Knowing that he has tens of thousands of troops at his disposal, Chenkov will not hesitate to throw away men's lives in order to obtain his objectives. He believes that any opponent can be overcome if one is willing to sacrifice enough lives.Although an unimaginative commander, Chenkov's tactics are doubtlessly effective. In one year-long siege, Chenkov assumed command, and through his actions brought a swift, if bloody, end to the conflict. He stormed a heavily defended citadel without benefit of armoured support or dedicated siege weapons. In another instance, he had platoons of his Guardsmen draw enemy fire to prevent the more valuable demolition crews attempting to breach an enemy battle fortress from being discovered. During one notorious action, when an advance of Leman Russ Battle Tanks were slowed by enemy mines, Chenkov actually used his own troops to clear the explosives by marching them across the minefields. Commander Chenkov's ruthless command style continues to win the Imperium of Man many victories and though the cost is high, the price of failure for Chenkov is intolerable.
Kul - Kul: Kul is an arid, empty Desert World in the Askellon Sector of the Segmentum Obscurus, haunted by sandstorms and dust devils that skitter across its crumbling surface. The planet is covered in rough sandstone; the deserted ruins of moderately sized frontier settlements and ghost towns dot its surface unevenly, their streets empty of all save the winds and the merciless light of Kul's white-gold star.Kul idles at the end of a winding, fading cul-de-sac Warp route that branches away from a score of uninhabited systems. In the ordinary course of events, the world would have been left to its own devices, allowed to stagnate, been forgotten.However, in light of its tragic, eldritch, and horrific history, Kul has been soberly appraised as a clear and present danger to the moral and spiritual well-being of the entire sector.As such, Kul has been quarantined and blockaded, locked away from the ordinary starfarers of the region by a number of orbiting defence platforms and the attentions of a small and increasingly strained Imperial Navy taskforce detached from the sub-sector's Battlefleet Cyclopia.Now, the attentions of the sector's most opportunistic recidivists turn to the Dead World like moths to a flame by persistent rumours of Warp-flotsam of incalculable value.These greediest and most rapacious practitioners of the Faceless Trade thoughtlessly dice not only with their own souls but with the souls of countless others across Askellon, for the taint that settled upon and destroyed Kul may yet claim other worlds.
Kul - Dragged Screaming to Hell: Kul's early history is lost to antiquity. From its earliest recorded days, though, it had an unimpressive reputation as a frontier backwater with little strategic value; even after thousands of Terran years of occupation, its inhabitants achieved little to advance their world.The population's failure to cultivate worthwhile exports did little to endear the system to any outside agency. Such records pertaining to Kul's early history that do exist are universally scornful regarding the planet's inhabitants; their appearance, morals, and intellect apparently having been something of a low jest in the Cyclopia Sub-Sector.A factor in the planet's unsavoury reputation may have been its relationship with the local Warp conditions. Always unpredictable, even by the terrifying standards of the Askellon Sector, the Warp tides around Kul were particularly prone to bizarre surges, rendering interstellar navigation to the system a tricky proposition at the best of times, forcing ships to exit the Immaterium far from the normal translation points.Ships that traversed these fluctuations found that these voyages invariably coincided with increases in shipboard mutant births and violent crimes, contributing to the planet's dire standing. Over millennia, the isolated planet became perceived among Askellian powers, rightly or wrongly, as an unsightly stain undeserving of attention or support.As if commenting sardonically upon this perception of Kul, nearly a Terran millennia ago, after a period of relative inactivity lasting two standard centuries, the great Warp Storm named the Pandaemonium suddenly snapped into life, turning and thrashing like a great ocean predator, throwing shipping across the entire region into disarray. The veils of reality around Kul shattered, and the entire planet was drawn into the Warp in a matter of seconds.This anomalous event caused tremendous consternation among Askellon's rulers on Juno; while Kul and its people were of no moment in and of themselves, the fear of a similar event happening to a world that actually mattered concerned them gravely. However, in a sector where new threats arise all the time, this event was quickly forgotten, and not a thought was spared for the population of the world.Roughly a hundred Terran years later, a remote Adeptus Mechanicus monitoring station within the Askellon Sector's Cyclopia Sub-sector reported that transit photometry of Kul's star revealed the presence of an anomalous planet in orbit. Kul had returned.
Kul - The Tainted World: A hastily-arranged scouting force from the Imperial Navy's Battlefleet Cyclopia in the Cyclopia Sub-sector investigated and discovered that the prodigal planet had been irrevocably altered by its sojourn in the Warp. It appeared at first glance depleted of life, a world of vast dustbowl deserts and stagnant oceans.Most townships were in ruins, but some areas appeared frozen in time, with plates full of still-fresh food carefully set on tables and eating utensils embedded in dripping meats, meals interrupted forever.Old, clotted bloodstains mark other surfaces with signs of struggle and violence; evidences of gunfire, extensive weapon discharges, but no sign of what was responsible for the carnage. The world overall retained a hellish and unsettled psychic aura of atrocity, fear, and horror.Disquietingly, no survivors could be located in the first sweeps, though anomalous distant fires, unsettling screams in the night, and uneven footprints dogged the footsteps of the Naval ground teams. Bafflingly there were bodies -- thousands of them -- but they were not of the native Kuln.Instead of the expected remains of Kul's citizens, scouts found the horrifically twisted corpses of the Jakaan 11th, a regiment of the Astra Militarum lost in the Warp several standard centuries previously. Their bodies, some as fresh as the day they died, others mere bleached bones, were alternately left fresh and unmarked, scarred beyond recognition, or melded together in the most nauseating fashion.To see such insanity was enough for the armsmen of the Imperial Navy, and they retired in haste to their vessels. Their missives alarmed the sector praefect, and grandsounding orders were placed decreeing that the world be sealed eternally against intruders of all stripe, "lest the doom brought upon Kul be brought upon other worlds of our domains."Originally a trio of cruisers led the blockade, but over the centuries there has been a serious degrading of the squadron's capabilities. Now only a single Naval vessel guards the Warp-approaches to the system, the slow and underpowered Askellian Sica-class corvette Righteous Custodian, with twenty poorly-maintained servitor-operated defence platforms guarding the inner approaches to the world.Kul is now quarantined, a ghost world of bone and dust. What few know is that there were indeed survivors, both in mortal and spirit form, that hide themselves amidst the remains of their old homes and the inhospitable reaches filled with the decayed, tortured bones of long dead soldiers. The living are few, but they still retain their hardy, frontier ways.Most were driven insane or mutated beyond belief in what seemed like only a moment's exposure to the terrible energies of the Warp, but the communal spirit remains strong, and they refuse to abandon anyone. All know that certain death faces them should the Imperium discover their existence. Some still manage to make their way off-world -- often by paying their way with the tainted items that were washed up upon Kul from its time within the Immaterium.
Kul - The Shores of the Sea of Souls: The peculiar circumstances of the world's demise have acted as a siren call to those scavengers, Heretics, and Warp-Dabblers entranced by the leavings of the sickening entities that lurk beyond. Those with a working knowledge of the ways of the Sea of Souls recognise in Kul that rarest of Askellian Warp-phenomena, the Eye of a Warp Gyre.The Warp is often likened to a planetary sea, and the comparison is apt if simplistic. The Warp has tides, currents, and predators. Also, like a normal sea, its great tides occasionally give up their treasures, washing up artefacts from within their unknowable depths upon the shores of reality.These "shores" are rare and transitory; where they appear on a permanent basis, they are known as the "Eyes of a Warp Gyre." Kul, haunted as it is, is such a place, a tainted tidal pool of the Warp, and great treasures, in the form of ancient Warp-detritus, can be found washed up upon the banks of realspace.Like an ocean floor littered with the wrecks of ancient maritime vessels, Kul is dotted with artefacts from every era of Human Warpfaring history, both large and small: archaeotech, acidic lengths of glistening tentacles, data-slates of ancient texts in languages long forgotten, daemonic remnants foul and obscene, still-smouldering footprints burned into solid rock, gleaming starships sunken into gigantic deserts, and other forbidden treasures. All lie waiting for discovery on the surface of the planet, and for those who risk anything to retrieve them.
Kul - The Var Kavas: The "Faceless Trade" is the Askellian term for the black market in items prohibited by the laws of the Imperium, a vast smuggling network of loosely-connected traders and interlinked criminal empires.Many of the Faceless content themselves with bartering in items which are commonly banned at the local, planetary level (dangerous narcotics, slaves, Human organs, and the like), but the most powerful and dangerous of these organisations deal in more exclusive contraband such as xenos artefacts and technology, psykers, or the sale of Warp-tainted artefacts.The Var Kavas are an old, inbred clan of voidborn nomads and traders who have been operating throughout Askellon for much of its history. Their contempt for the Imperium seems to date back to the origins of the sector, and is such that they readily gather forbidden artefacts from the surface of doomed worlds like Kul and trade them on the open market.Cunning and gifted in the ways of smuggling, the Var Kavas can vanish for solar decades at a time, retreating from the space lanes to avoid Imperial scrutiny, only to reappear at some neglected outpost to trade unsanctioned material of the deadliest kind. They have become adept at rendering their vessel undetectable to the meagre Kul blockade squadron by cutting all power, except the most basic life support, for solar weeks at a time.On a regular basis they make silent runs to the surface, broadcasting fake friend/foe signals to the ancient and malfunctioning orbital defence platforms. Occasionally, the Var Kavas leave behind small communities in orbit about Kul to hunt for the priceless Warp-flotsam, unknowing (or uncaring) of the tremendous spiritual dangers these settlers face here.
Kul - Warpwisps: At the time of its descent into the Warp, around fifteen million Humans inhabited Kul. As the planet fell into the Warp, many were sundered into scraps of agonised psychic energy, an atrocity that left its echoes in the very fabric of the world. The original armsmen who investigated Kul's return reported bizarre manifestations of this psychic trauma.Called the "Warpwisps" by those still sane enough to converse after an encounter, they appear to be the incorporeal embodiments of dying Kuln settlers from their final moments. They are described as screaming corpses that emerge from dust devils and sandstorms, burning and blackening with invisible fire.Hooting, lowing, and screeching, they claw at their own sightless eyes and mindlessly attack the hated living with charring, disintegrating hands that can tear flesh despite their insubstantial form.
Kul - Sss'Elgiagin, Herald of the Dark Prince: Conceived from madness, born into atrocity, and spun from the souls of Kul's inhabitants as the planet sank into the Warp, Sss'Elgiagin is a powerful and deadly Daemonette of Slaanesh, and a herald of its dark master's numberless legions.Formed in a manner similar to its patron from the collective unconscious of Kul's Human settlers as they were smothered, she represents the unspoken lusts, terrors, and desires of the dead of an entire planet, given alluring and terrifying form.The Kuln were predominantly rustic and primitive peasants who retained many peculiar traditions from the long-forgotten, overcrowded hive city from which they were plucked one day to settle their new home.Strange folk-tales abounded among Kul's peoples regarding a legendary night-terror, Sally Sixsouls, a beautiful witch-woman who could literally steal the hearts of her lovers, leaving empty, soulless husks in her wake.For generations, tales of her exploits grew and grew by the firesides of Kul's frontier folk, beginning as simple tales to frighten children, and growing into darker epics to titillate and terrify their descendants. Whether this tradition caused Sss'Elgiagin to emerge, fully-formed, upon Kul's descent into the Warp may never be known.Sss'Elgiagin now haunts its birthplace as a conscious, calculating atrocity, an ancient legend given flesh by the death of all who believed in it.The daemon now seeks to expand its influence and power beyond Kul, and lays temptations in the path of those who would venture to the planet's surface, hoping to ensnare them in complex, languorous intrigues.
Kult of Speed - Kult of Speed: The largest and most popular of the various subcultures of Ork society is the Kult of Speed. Orks possess an inherent need to go fast. Speed fulfils some deep need in the Orkish temperament, just like the thunder of guns, the clank of tank tracks or the din of battle. The Greenskins like to feel the wind whipping into their faces, see the dust rising behind them in a great cloud and hear the throaty roar of supercharged engines. It is hardly surprising that warbikes and warbuggies of all kinds are popular vehicles amongst the Orks. These up-gunned vehicles may not be as sturdy as those used by the armed forces of the Imperium of Man, but they are cheap, well-armed and most important of all, they can achieve truly breakneck speeds.
Kult of Speed - Red Ones Go Fasta: The Orks of the Kult of Speed are able to achieve amazing speeds with their equipment due to what the Orks consider a must for most of their vehicles -- a Red Paint Job. In their culture, Ork Boyz simply believe the red ones “go fasta.”There is no rationale as to why this should be true, but far too many Imperial Commanders have seen it first hand on the battlefield for it to be ignored. Many theorise it is simply that the better-constructed vehicles get this special paint, but then why would they slow down when the paint is scorched away? Common myth in the Koronus Expanse has it that it is the manifest will of the massed Ork consciousness. Orks are insistent that it be true, and thus it becomes so, despite any mechanism for it to happen other than their sheer determination. Despite ongoing investigation by the Adeptus Mechanicus, no definitive conclusion has been reached.
Kult of Speed - Speed Freeks: Some Orks become addicted to the sensation of speed and join the Speed Freeks, the name for those Greenskins who belong to the Ork Kult of Speed, a Kult whose members rarely if ever get out from behind the handlebars or steering wheels of their light vehicles. These grinning greenskinned lunatics roar into battle ahead on exhaust-belching jalopies and crude but effective flying machines, intent on getting into the thick of the fighting before their ground-pounding comrades. Due to the large number of vehicles in each Speed Freek warband, they often have several of the Oddboyz known as Mekboyz amongst their number to keep the Battlewagons and other vehicles and aircraft running smoothly. Sometimes it is even a Mekboy, who leads the warband as a Big Mek. The obsession with speed can affect any Ork -- so it is possible to find Orks from different klanz in a Speed Freek force. Of all the known major Ork klanz the Evil Sunz have the most Speed Freeks.
Kult of Speed - Flyboyz: Although most Orks prefer to keep their feet firmly on the ground, there are a few unstable individuals amongst the tribes that developed a craving to fly through the air like a bird. The Orks refer to these creatures as Flyboyz. It seems their demand for extra speed cannot be satisfied by land-based vehicles. They take to the sky in search of even greater exhilaration. Their reckless attacks and dive-bombing seems to effect their brain patterns, as does the search for greater and greater speeds. Other Orks generally consider them to be quite mad and most Flyboyz live in semi-exile from the Ork tribal hierarchy, only associating with other Flyboyz, Gretchin  slaves and the deranged technicians who build and maintain their aircraft.
Kult of Speed - Sources: Codex: Orks (7th Edition), pp. 23, 29, 60, 77, 169Codex: Orks (4th Edition), pg. 29Imperial Armour II - Ork, Eldar and Dark Eldar Vehicles for Warhammer 40,000, pg. 34Red WAAAGH! Campaign Supplement (7th Edition), pg. 61, 74, 112Rogue Trader: Koronus Bestiary (RPG), pp. 67-68Waaagh! Ghazghkull: A Codex Ork Supplement (Ebook), pp. 57-61Warhammer 40,000: Compendium - Death From the Skies, pg. 62White Dwarf 389 (UK), pg. 30-37Helsreach (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Kulth - The Green Tide: None can tell what might have come of Severus’ fiefdom had events continued unchecked. Perhaps he would have grown so bold as to risk openly declaring secession, or perhaps his shadowy allies would have turned upon him in his hubris.Instead, it was another xenos species that decided the matter. An Ork WAAAGH! under the Warlord Ghenghiz Grimtoof, the self-titled “Git-Slaver,” came crashing out of the darkness and fell upon the outermost fringes of Severus’ pocket empire, slaying millions in a few short months. The Planetary Defence Forces of these worlds were geared largely towards the suppression of their own populations, or else for blustering parades honouring their master in House Severus, and few were able to mount anything like a capable resistance. World after world slipped from Severus’ grasp as the Git-Slaver’s Orks rampaged all but unchecked through his realm. There was nothing either he or his sinister allies could do to halt them.Severus XIII brooded upon his granite throne as millions perished. His closest advisors counselled him to beseech the Imperium for aid, yet all were silenced by the executioner’s blow. At the last, his counsellors all dead or fled, Severus was left alone and his empire all but fallen. In a moment of grim revelation he saw they had all been correct. He dispatched his own kin to the court of the Calixian Lord Sector Marius Hax on Scintilla to beg for aid against the Ork invasion. Though most of the messengers were intercepted by unknown assassins or fell prey to other, equally deadly fates, one got through. Severus’ own granddaughter went before Sector Lord Hax and delivered the plea for aid. Hax simply laughed at her.The patrician Calixian Sector Governor had been watching the Periphery from afar for years and knew well the treachery of Severus XIII, though how much he was aware of its origins, he did not reveal. Later hearsay implied that some link between Severus and Hax, some dark tie, perhaps even a blood tie, stayed his hand as Severus built his own private realm. Yet, when the Orks attacked, it was to Hax’s own benefit, for it humbled Severus and forced him out of the wilderness in a very public manner. At length, Hax agreed that the Orks must be checked and the Calixis Sector’s military reserves were mobilised.Kulth, the capital of the Periphery Sub-sector, was relieved, though in truth the Imperium never committed sufficient force to truly turn the tide against the Orks. The worlds beyond the Periphery descended into a churning cauldron of total war, yet so many Calixian troops were being committed to the secret war in the Jericho Reach that to many in the highest Imperial circles of the sector the endeavour in the Periphery seemed to have little hope of success. Some whispered that those who prosecuted the distant Achilus Crusade had need of a war closer to home to mask the huge drain on resources, and so a deadlock in the Periphery was at best convenient, and at worst deliberately maintained.
Kulth - Only War: While the situation on Kulth was stabilised, the war beyond the Periphery was going badly for Severus XIII. While the Orks plundered the worlds of Deluge, KW-9, Pertinax, and a score of lesser star systems, a myriad of other threats rose up. Despite the pacts Severus believed he had secured with the DarkEldar, the pernicious children of Commorragh launched ever more audacious raids against those worlds of the Periphery on the verges of the war zone. Drawn by the near total collapse of the Imperium’s power in the region, the servants of Chaos, in particular the warband of Chaos Space Marines led by Sektoth the False Whisperer, launched a series of brutal assaults, pursuing their own blasphemous missions.Beset upon all quarters, Severus XIII announced his personal annexation of the chaotic zone of space beyond the Periphery into what he termed the “Severan Dominate” until the crisis had passed. Lord Sector Hax was incensed, declaring Severus a Secessionist and a Traitor, and the war escalated to a previously unseen pitch. The servants of Chaos now walk openly upon the war-torn worlds, doing the unknowable bidding of their masters, while the Dark Eldar raid where they will, their pact with Severus XIII all but torn up. The Orks have now entered the second phase of their WAAAGH!, the focus shifting from slaughter to enslavement. The Ork Warlord has established his own bastion world at Avitohol and enslaved its populace so that countless millions of tons of ramshackle war materiel are being churned out to feed the greenskinned species’ incessant hunger for weapons and munitions. The lines are drawn and the pressure on the front is increasing, and it is only the far more pressing needs of the Jericho Reach fronts that keep the Imperium from flooding the Spinward Front with so many regiments of the Imperial Guard that all resistance is crushed. Each year that the Severan Dominate is not brought to heel is another year it spends reinforcing its core worlds, and another year the Orks’ strength becomes ever more established. And all the while,the Forces of Chaos move unchecked through the region, and mad prophets whisper of an imminent manifestation of Komus, the dreaded Tyrant Star that has long afflicted the Calixis Sector.
Kunrad Voigtvir - Kunrad Voigtvir: Kunrad Voigtvir, whose full name was Kunrad Voigtvir von Valancius, was the Master of Whispers of House von Valancius, one of the three largest Rogue Trader dynasties operating within the Koronus Expanse, and an heir to Lord Captain Theodora von Valancius, though he had been passed over by her as her successor.As his house's Master of Whispers, Kunrad was responsible for establishing, maintaining and making use of the vast network of spies and informers who served House von Valancius across the Koronus Expanse. A distant relative of Theodora von Valancius, Kunrad had originally been in line to succeed her as the new Rogue Trader of the house. However, she soon determined that Kunrad lacked the necessary qualities to successfully lead the dynasty after her passing and so she began a search for a new candidate related to the von Valancius line who could succeed her.Kunrad was deeply angered by what he viewed as Theodora's betrayal and so he allied himself with the forces of Chaos in the Koronus Expanse under the command of the Dark Apostle Uralon the Cruel, the leader of a Host of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion operating within the Expanse. It was Kunrad who set in motion the events that led to Lady Theodora's death when he allowed a Warp incursion to occurr on the von Valancius flagship as its was in the Immaterium making its way to Rykad Minoris.Kunrad expected to seize the dynasty's Warrant of Trade while the ship was under assault, but this plan was upended when one of the candidates Theodora had recently invited aboard the flagship as one of her new possible successors was aided by a Servo-skull that protected the dynasty's Warrant and that had been programmed to aid an heir of the von Valancius bloodline during an emergency.When this heir to the dynasty succeeded in helping the von Valancius retainers in throwing back the mutiny unleashed by the Warp incursion on the lower decks, Kunrad fled the flagship and joined up with Uralon, where he became increasingly corrupted and mutated by Chaos as he dedicated himself to the service of the Chaos God Tzeentch in return for the power of sorcery.In the end, Kunrad met his end on the world of Eufrates II, where Uralon sacrificed him so that he could become a Daemonhost for the Tzeentchian Daemon known as the Edge of Daybreak. The new Rogue Trader of House von Valancius and his retinue succeeded in killing the Edge of Daybreak before deciding whether to help or stand against Uralon's plans to claim the Koronus Expanse for the Ruinous Powers.
Kunrad Voigtvir - Wargear: Cybernetic cerebral and aural augmentationsNeedle Pistol
Kutlakh - Kutlakh: Kutlakh is a Necron Overlord and the Nemesor of the Undying Legions of Maynarkh, named in fearful praise as the "World Killer" on ancient monuments raised to the honour of the Necron Maynarkh Dynasty on planets they have left as silent graveyards in their passing. Kutlakh serves as the "Maktlan" or "Extinguisher of Life" of the Maynarkh Dynasty, the title given to the commander-in-chief of its legions. He also bears the titles of "Charnel Lord" and the "God-Slayer." Kutlakh the World Killer was the Necron commander who launched the great assault upon the Imperial Orpheus Sector of the Segmentum Tempestus in 991.M41 that initiated the ongoing Orphean War.
Kutlakh - History: During the ancient wars and conquests of the War in Heaven, Kutlakh was regarded as the cruellest and most brutal of all the Nemesors in his dynasty. He was a killer who took particular pleasure in the humiliation of enemy champions and generals in personal combat, be they lords of rival dynasties of warriors or the warriors and servants of the Old Ones. A warrior first and foremost, Kutlakh cared little for the intrigues of the dynasty's Royal Court, openly disdaining his high office, caring only that he was afforded the respect and glory that his conquests were due. It was so that while the reins of political power were held by others within the Maynarkh Dynasty, the overall battlefield command of its legions was Kutlakh's alone. But in truth this insularity masked a darker secret, for since the final days of destruction of the C'tan, some terrible force has haunted Kutlakh. It has marked and tainted him, turned his triumphs into empty ashes and threatened the mask of sanity he wore as both general and commander. Over time, the cloying, hungering shadows that hung about him darkened and began to impress itself even on the soulless machine-minds of those Necrons around him, making him a pariah even to his own kind.If the ancient legends are to be believed, it was by the hand of Kutlakh that the C'tan known as Llandu’gor the Flayer was betrayed to its demise, although the Maynarkh Dynasty has long scorned and refuted this claim of perfidy. Regardless, some strange and nightmarish taint or curse hangs around Kutlakh and his kin. Those unfortunate enough to draw close can feel a terrible malignance and splinter of madness radiating from Kutlakh’s machine body, which claws at their minds and threatens to overwhelm them with insanity.When Kutlakh awoke from the Great Sleep, he was both more and less than he had been, though his eye lenses now blaze with an unhallowed cold light -- a gaze that even his fellow Necron Lords cannot easily meet. In battle he is a terrifying figure whose gilded android shell is blackened as if by fire and bedecked in the skulls and bones of his victims. The once proud aristocrat and glory-hungry general has now become a nightmarish and near-silent monster, the corroded engrams of his mind driven only by a burning desire to destroy the living and re-establish the rightful supremacy of his dynasty.
Kutlakh - Notable Campaigns: 991.M41 - 999.M41 Orphean War – Kutlakh led the undying legions of the Maynarkh Dynasty when they first awoke from the Great Sleep, and he was swift to prosecute a sector-wide war against the Imperial forces encroaching upon his domain. Under his command, the Imperial Orpheus Sector in the Segmentum Tempestus fell swiftly until the only bastion of Imperial defence left was the world of Amarah Prime. Whilst the Maynarkh legions undertook an extermination mission on the planet’s surface, Kutlakh led the dynasty’s fleet from his capital ship, the Cairn-class Tomb Ship Dead Hand, against the Imperial Navy's Battlefleet Orpheus and the contingent of Battle Barges and Strike Cruisers contributed by the Minotaurs Chapter. When the Minotaurs' Chapter Master Asterion Moloc and his elite 1st Company teleported onto the Dead Hand in a last-ditch boarding assault after the fleet engagement, Kutlakh tore through Moloc's Terminator bodyguards and was about to deal the finishing blow to the Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought known as Ancient Geryon when Moloc intercepted and engaged him in personal combat. Though equally matched, the combat ended when the Tomb Ship was hit by a broadside of Imperial firepower, causing Moloc to fall out into the void and leaving the Necron fleet to disengage and retreat from combat.
Kutlakh - Wargear: Necrodermis - Like all Necrons, Kutlakh's body is built from the self-repairing living metal known as Necrodermis. As befits one of his lofty rank, Kutlakh's body is of superior craftsmanship and richly adorned, clearly announcing his status and allowing him to repair even the most grievous of wounds in a matter of moments.Obsidax - The Obsidax is a unique Necron weapon currently in the hands of Kutlakh the World Killer. Since before the time of the Necrons' revolt against their C'tan masters, this specially-crafted midnight-black Hyperphase Blade has been carried by the greatest war leaders of the Maynarkh Dynasty, and has ended lives without number across the ages, and its edge is bathed in a dark, unknown radiation that has proved deadly to all living matter.Staff of Light – A Staff of Light is both a weapon and a symbol of Necron authority. Its haft is actually a disguised Power Generator Rod and the crest is a finely tuned focussing device which allows the wielder to unleash searing green bolts of Gauss energy at his foes.Phase Shifter - Using a form of unknown inter-dimensional science, a Phase Shifter is a Necron defensive device that renders its bearer's form hazy and indistinct, as though they were not completely corporeal. Shots and blows can then pass through his mechanical body, meaning that even the most powerful weapons cannot harm him. This is because a Phase Shifter flickers the very fabric of its bearer into and out of a phased state as they move in between dimensions. If improperly timed, even the most powerful blows and shots aimed at the bearer of a Phase Shifter instead pass through empty air.Phylactery - Often taking on the appearance of a small scarab-sized cylinder, a Phylactery is an inconspicuous charm that is actually a powerful Necron self-repair device. A Phylactery is filled with tiny, spider-like nanoscarabs that will swarm over the Necron bearer’s body and wounds at a command, or if he is severely damaged or destroyed. The nanoscarabs then proceed to reknit tears in his ravaged Necrodermis body; bolstering his own self-repair abilities so that he may continue to fight on again.Sempiternal Weave – A Sempiternal Weave is an advanced form of Necron technology used to augment the Necrodermis bodies of members of Necron royalty. A Sempiternal Weave threads a Necron’s exoskeleton with filaments of phase-hardened amaranthite and adamantium, vastly increasing the body’s hardiness to a level that rivals Astartes Terminator Armour.
KV128 Stormsurge - KV128 Stormsurge: The KV128 Stormsurge is the first in a new breed of T'au super-heavy war assets known as Ballistic Suits. Towering colossi of destruction, KV128 Stormsurges carry the firepower to annihilate whole columns of tanks, or fell super-heavy walkers with a single, earth-shaking volley.Rushed to the front of the escalating Third Sphere Expansion campaigns against the Imperium, these mobile bastions have swiftly proved their worth against the heavy armour of the foe. Though not as swift or agile as the XV104 Riptide Battlesuit, a single KV128 Stormsurge can alter the course of a battle in solar seconds. Its armoured resilience and phenomenal firepower make it equally lethal in attack or defence.
KV128 Stormsurge - History: Developed by the noted Earth Caste weapons scientist Fio'o Bork'an Ishu'ron, KV128 Stormsurges are massive bipedal weapons platforms that are an answer to the super-heavy war engines of the T'au's foes. O'Ishu'ron recognised that even heavy Battlesuits and aircraft such as the Heavy Railgun-toting Tiger Shark AX-1-0 could be outgunned by the Imperium's Titan-class combat walkers.Furthermore, when the enemy deployed their mightiest war machines en masse -- as was the case during the war for Dal'yth and the Great War of Confederation -- all the Railguns and Seeker Missiles in the empire could not prevent the Fire Caste from sustaining heavy casualties. O'Ishu'ron, however, had a solution -- the pinpoint application of overwhelming force.When Fio'o Ishu'ron created the KV128 Stormsurge, it was his intention that it would not be fielded as a Battlesuit. Armed with weapons on a scale more commonly seen on starships, and with a host of secondary support systems, the Stormsurge was too cumbersome to be equipped with a Jetpack, thereby excluding it from the style of fluid, mobile warfare practiced by Battlesuit teams. Instead, Fio'o Ishu'ron saw the Stormsurge as a walking tank that would support the main advance rather than lead it, an unsubtle colossus bristling with weapons that could be deployed against targets too large or too numerous to be tackled with conventional tactics.The differences between the Ballistic Suit and the Battlesuit are emphasised by the fact it has two crew, like a Hammerhead gunship. The Stormsurge also requires so much power for its weapons that it has two reactors: one uprated Battlesuit reactor, and a high output, slow-charge reactor to power the main weapon systems.
KV128 Stormsurge - Role: Each KV128 is essentially an enormous walking gun-tower, whose purpose is to anchor the Fire Caste battle line; serving as a mobile strongpoint by laying down an insurmountable weight of covering fire. To this end, the Ballistic Suit is fitted with a secondary generator specifically to power its Titan-killing weaponry, and is regularly used as a platform to field-test experimental T'au weapons so heavy they have previously only been seen in use on spacecraft.Most KV128 Stormsurges are operated by a carefully selected pairing of veteran Hammerhead crewmen who have graduated through the Ballistic Suit academies on Bork'an, although some KV128s are piloted by veteran Fire Warriors with great experience commanding T'au Battlesuits or tanks. The prestige of operating a Ballistic Suit is not equal to that of donning the Hero's Mantle, but the steely-eyed graduates of the so-called Ves'oni'vash -- or "giantmaker academy" -- are honoured by Fire Warriors for the countless lives they save.Working as a seamless team, the shas'vre crew operate their towering suit, one piloting the Stormsurge while the other monitors, aims, and fires its weapons systems. In order to keep pace with the fluid strategies of the T'au military, teams consisting of up to three Ballistic Suits are mag-lifted into battle beneath specifically modified Manta Missile Destroyers.Once deployed, the KV128 Stormsurges stomps into position and fires its stabilising anchors, locking the enormous Ballistic Suits into the ground while the gunners divert all power to their apocalyptic arsenal of weaponry. They then unleash their incredible firepower, annihilating their designated targets before being lifted away once more.
KV128 Stormsurge - Notable Formations: Heavy Retribution Cadre - Heavy Retribution Cadres consist of a squad of XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuits working in tandem with two units of KV128 Stormsurge Ballistic Suits, with the XV95 Ghostkeels acting as invisible forward spotters that feed targeting data back to the Stormsurges. Thus, when a Heavy Retribution Cadre opens fire, the blinding firestorm produced is truly terrifying. Even the most colossal enemies stand little chance when caught amid this sudden monsoon of destruction.
KV128 Stormsurge - Armament: Standing even taller than an XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit, KV128 Stormsurges are true behemoths to behold on the battlefield. Whilst too heavy to mount a Jetpack like most T'au Battlesuits, the KV128 Stormsurge incorporates the advanced sensors common to all battlesuits built into its primary sensor array. These sensors and intelligent systems allow for the user to gather more accurate battlefield data which can assist informed decision-making on where to best deploy to maximise the Ballistic Suit's tactical effectiveness.All KV128 Stormsurges are also equipped with a Blacksun Filter, which is an advanced optical system that enhances and magnifies the pilots' low-light vision whilst simultaneously filtering bright flares of light that could blind them in battle, and a Multi-Tracker, which assists the Ballistic Suit pilots in engaging enemy threats by using multiple armaments at once, making them formidable opponents in a wide variety of battle conditions.As with T'au Battlesuits, KV128 Stormsurges are constructed out of a lightweight yet strong nano-crystalline alloy called fio'tak in the T'au Lexicon, which is light, malleable, impact-and corrosive-resistant, reducing the weight of the Ballistic Suit whilst also providing excellent protection. Even the armour's shape helps deflect solid projectiles, while a reflective liquid metal coating can reflect medium-grade laser fire.As befits their size, KV128 Stormsurges are armed with a fearsome array of weapon systems. Most powerful of these is their single primary weapon system, either a Pulse Driver Cannon or Pulse Blastcannon. These weapons are some of the largest Pulse Weapons at the T'au's disposal, employing superheated plasma on a different scale altogether, leaving only glowing craters to mark where victims once stood.Whereas the Pulse Driver Cannon utilises pulse induction fields to propel huge bursts of plasma over great distances, the Pulse Blastcannon employs Aggressive Reactive Charge technology (A.R.C) to hyper-accelerate plasma into the enemy. Its shot disperses over a wider area the further away the target is.As secondary weapon systems, KV128 Stormsurges typically mount a set of twin-linked Smart Missile Systems, and a twin-linked set of either Flamers, Burst Cannons or Airbursting Fragmentation Projectors.As well as these, KV128 Stormsurges further wield a Cluster Rocket System which can saturate enemy ranks with salvos of Drone-guided warheads, and four Destroyer Missiles; an advanced form of the more common Seeker Missile piloted by an artificial intelligence (A.I.) targeting system so they strike with millimetric precision. In order to further bolster their effectiveness in battle, KV128 Stormsurges are able to fit up to three scaled-up Battlesuit Support Systems within their chassis.
KV128 Stormsurge - Available KV128 Stormsurge Support Systems: Below is a list of the most common available support systems that a KV128 Stormsurge can be armed with:Advanced Targeting System - An Advanced Targeting System is a specialised target acquisition system that enables the Ballistic Suit pilots to automatically identify and pick out priority targets in the midst of combat.Counterfire Defence System - A Counterfire Defence System is a valuable artificial intelligence sensor suite first designed to counter the threat of charging Ork hordes. It incorporates logic circuits to ensure that assaulting enemies are met with a withering curtain of unerringly accurate firepower.Early Warning Override - An Early Warning Override sensor suite is calibrated to detect the electronic signatures of teleport beams and orbital-entry jump systems, and jolt the Ballistic Suit's weapon systems to lock-on status before the target has a chance to react.Positional Relay - A Positional Relay digitally records detailed battlefield data and relays it in a tight encrypted radio burst to assets in orbit and squads held in reserve. Information sent usually includes battlefield terrain and status reports to allow the incoming units to make a better decision on where to deploy onto the battlefield and coordinate their actions as part of the overall combat strategy.Shield Generator - The Ballistic Suit's Shield Generators project cohesive energy fields around the suit that can deflect weapons fire and melee blows that would otherwise destroy the Ballistic Suit outright, whether such incoming fire be shots from heavy ordnance or anti-tank weapons.Target Lock - A Target Lock is a specialised target acquisition system that enables the user to engage different targets from the rest of the squad.Velocity Tracker - The advanced motion detection and infra-red sensor systems built into a Velocity Tracker allows Ballistic Suit pilots to track the movements of airborne targets and effectively engage them with the suit's weapons.
KV128 Stormsurge - Sources: Codex: Tau Empire (7th Edition), pp. 32, 51, 103, 106, 116-118, 121-124War Zone Damocles: Kauyon (7th Edition), pp. 93-96White Dwarf Weekly 88 (October 3, 2015), "KV128 Stormsurge, " pp. 2-8