vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Crimson Slaughter - Fall of the Crimson Sabres: To better understand how an entire Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes could turn aside from its duty, many Inquisitors have attempted to trace the rot of corruption back to its source. Although much detail has been lost or remains shrouded since the Chapter's Founding, investigators have pieced together as much as could be uncovered about the Crimson Slaughter's past.The story of the Crimson Slaughter is a tragic tale. To the Imperium of Man, it is the story of ultimate betrayal -- a Space Marine Chapter that turned from the light of the Emperor, rebels who forsook sacred duty to pursue their own twisted agenda. As for the Crimson Slaughter themselves, their beliefs on the matter are more varied. Some claim that the chain of disasters that befell them was nothing more than random fate, a series of events that led down a path upon which there could be no turning back.Others deny any aimlessness in their doom, seeing instead either the engineered machinations of more sinister forces at work, or perhaps their Chapter's own subconsciousness bursting forth after long and brutal suppression. Some seek the truth of the Crimson Sabres' fall, hoping to identify signs of further corruption in other Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes. Others seek evidence simply to understand what could make Mankind's most elite protectors into its worst nightmare. All agree upon two things -- the Crimson Slaughter were born of war, and their history has been writ in blood.
Crimson Slaughter - A Growing Estrangement: Even a small stone can cause many ripples. Although outwardly everything was the same after the minor rift that later came to be known to the Crimson Sabres as the Amalgamathian Schism, it set off a chain of events that was to have wider repercussions. Within days, the Crimson Sabres' stronghold of Decavitum received words of censure from Terra, and most probably from their Founding Chapter as well, although no records remain. This was little more than remonstrance, a lesser rebuke that let it be known that failure to properly acclaim the Dark Angels and Blood Angels had brought the Crimson Sabres dishonour, a tarnish that did not sit well with their gloried predecessors. The leadership of the Crimson Sabres -- the Chapter's High Council of Company Masters and senior officers known as the Sword Council -- ordered a tribunal to investigate the matter. None wished the Crimson Sabres' deeds to be questioned and Chapter Master Nigellus was alarmed to learn that some of the group feared further Imperial censure. Concerned with what he felt was a growing element of unwarranted paranoia, Nigellus was outraged. To his mind, he felt the Crimson Sabres had followed procedure and acted swiftly and correctly in responding to the threat. If there was any misconduct it was not by his Chapter. Furthermore, any perceived slight to the First Founding Chapters' honour was unintentional and petty. They were all serving the same Emperor and fighting the same enemy were they not?Nigellus was determined to shed his Chapter's growing self-doubt and make a statement. In a bold move, he declared the Crimson Sabres would sever all ties to their brother Space Marine Chapters, including their founders. They would be loyal to the tactical guidelines laid out by the Codex Astartes and follow uncompromisingly all orders as issued by the High Lords of Terra. To all others, they would be unanswerable. By Nigellus' straightforward logic this was as it should be -- for their mission of service must not be corrupted by the influence of their comrades. Was it not dogged faithfulness to the Warmaster Horus that had allowed half of the original Space Marine Legions to be led astray? In this action, he sought to free the Crimson Sabres from faulty judgement and therefore all reproach.
Crimson Slaughter - Born Again: At first, the Crimson Sabres maintained great pride in their resolve, but slowly, self-doubt began to gnaw at many within the Chapter. Never one to brook dissent, Nigellus banned all further debate on the matter and any mention of the deeds of the Amalgamathian Schism was forbidden. Although the Crimson Sabres remained resolute in their convictions, the break with their primogenitors was far from easy. Much of their Chapter lore had to be reconfigured so that no mention of their founders appeared in their history. Over and over, the Librarians and Chaplains were ordered to scrub clean all evidence of their forebears, and Rhoghon was scoured of statues, heirloom suits of Power Armour, and any relics of their ancient past that predated the Founding of their Chapter. Amongst the star-faring fleet, Strike Cruisers were renamed and the training regimen of the 10th Company was reconstructed anew. In essence, the Crimson Sabres were reborn -- new defenders of the Imperium, unencumbered by any ties to the distant past.Only in the Sanctum of the Sword, the innermost chambers of the tallest tower of Decavitum, their Chapter stronghold and fortress-monastery, was the Chapter's full history locked away. There it was decreed that the truth of the Crimson Sabres' birthright and the full history of their deeds would be kept. The sanctum was accessible only to the Chapter's senior officers -- the Captains of each company, along with the senior Chaplains and Librarians. Beneath Nigellus' stern leadership, the Crimson Sabres were zealous in their duty. If any rumour or ill feeling towards the Chapter remained amongst any agents of the Adeptus Terra, this was soon forgotten. The red-armoured Space Marines firmly established a reputation for swift efficiency, being regarded as warriors of unimpeachable conduct. Indeed, their rigorous obedience to the Codex Astartes, for they followed its guidelines to the letter, earned them many commendations for their rapid actions. However, deeper within the Crimson Sabres, something dark was brooding.
Crimson Slaughter - A Growing Righteousness: For over a hundred standard years, Nigellus served as Chapter Master. He was uncompromising and quick to action, for he knew well the tenets of the Codex Astartes and followed them to perfection. In the pursuit of faultlessness, Nigellus instilled a new cult of extreme rigour within the Crimson Sabres. It was not enough for each mission to be successful; it had to be faultless, executed more swiftly, and properly detailed and recorded. It was a great loss to the Chapter when Nigellus was slain in action during the Fornstadt Rebellion. Arnoch succeeded Nigellus as Chapter Master of the Crimson Sabres, but the new traditions he had established lived on. If anything, the Chapter became yet more fervent and exacting in its strict adherence to orders. Arnoch became known as the Intransigent -- a title that would be used to describe all the Chapter Masters that followed. In one of his first acts, Arnoch the Intransigent sought to further banish their hidden past, wary of how others might judge the Chapter. He made the decision to seal all entrances to the Sanctum of the Sword. Not only did it lock away evidence of a perceived imperfection, but it was also his declaration that the past was over and a new era begun.More eager to prove themselves than ever, the Crimson Sabres conducted operations with undeniable precision. Over many centuries, their battle records were exemplary. They gained particular distinction in the Zobrist Wars, hunting down the piratical Eldar, and also drew many commendations for leading the spearhead attacks during the Deadstar Battles. In both cases, their allies -- who included many battalions and armoured divisions of Tallarn Desert Raiders along with the Black Templars -- are noted in official documentation as praising the Crimson Sabres. Off the record, however, the truth was rather different. The Crimson Sabres were efficient and trustworthy, yet when the battle was over, they were self-righteous and fastidious. Allied commanders, whether subordinates or many ranks more senior, received post-battle reports of great detail. These inevitably pointed out where allied forces had failed to meet proper standards. For Space Marines, any deviation from the Codex Astartes brought even longer datascrolls -- long lists of observed compliances that failed to follow the tactical or organisational guidelines set forth by Roboute Guilliman. While their demands for meticulous detail, contingency plans and exact protocol ultimately helped win many battles for the Imperium, it also estranged the Crimson Sabres from those they fought alongside. All of their previous conflicts, however, were precursors to the Chapter's role in the Redemption Crusades.
Crimson Slaughter - Whispers in the Dark: The Crimson Sabres had departed Umidia long before the Inquisitorial teams arrived to document the carnage that wholly eliminated its native population. However, the slaughter they had wrought was already beginning to have a strange effect upon the Crimson Sabres. At first, none of the Space Marines mentioned any of their untoward experiences to each other -- each feeling as if, perhaps, he was simply having some sort of post-battle melancholia. Many felt unusual symptoms -- their multiple hearts racing to peak levels for no purpose, or the onset of a growing sense of foreboding, as if some unseen fog was closing in all around them. A rising pressure weighed heavily upon their minds. Even before the mission on Umidia was fully complete and the Crimson Sabres returned to their orbiting fleet, some of their members were already feeling the first effects of what they would later call "the haunting". Individual members of the Chapter found that they could not properly clear their minds. No amount of litanies or meditations seemed to work. Thanks to their gene-seed organ implants and genetic modifications, Space Marines do not sleep as most humans know it, but enter a comatose state that allows them to recharge their minds, even while their bodies remain alert. Yet the Crimson Sabres failed in attempt after attempt to reach that peaceful state. Rather than being able to relax, they visualised instead the faces of those they had killed, living over and over again their massacre.In an ever growing state of unrest, the most agitated of the Crimson Sabres began to hear voices -- the whispered words of the slain. The voices cajoled, taunted, or pleaded, while others screamed endlessly, or chanted indecipherable words that were painful to hear. No Space Marines yet broke -- for through training and superhuman discipline, their willpower was as impervious as their ceramite Power Armour. However, as the fleet entered the Warp, travelling towards their next destination, many of the Crimson Sabres felt their sanity slipping away. Hidden from their comrades, they clutched their hands to their heads in a futile effort to stop the voices. Since he had watched the slaughter on Umidia unfold, Chapter Master Sevastus Kranon too felt a growing unease. The Crimson Sabres were, of course, only following procedure -- the Imperium's response to Heretics was necessarily harsh -- but something felt very wrong.
Crimson Slaughter - Desperate Course of Action: The Cadian Gate is the most stable route that is large enough to allow the passage of battlefleets into and out of the Eye of Terror. However, it is neither easy to enter nor to leave that region -- for Imperial cordons surround that swirling mass of space, guarding against the raids, horrors and Black Crusades that sporadically issue forth from its whirling depths. With the correct Imperial clearance codes, the seven ship warfleet of the Crimson Sabres slipped past several of the layers of that restricted zone, eluding fortress-planets and orbital sentinel stations. But those that guard the Eye of Terror are on constant alert and could not wholly be avoided. In their final run to enter restricted space, the Crimson Sabres could not avoid a brief clash with an Imperial Fists Strike Cruiser and supporting destroyer craft that had scrambled to block their entrance. The opposing fleets exchanged distant torpedo and Lance battery fire, and the Crimson Sabres were forced to repel a brief but fierce boarding action from their fellow Adeptus Astartes. This was not a battle that Kranon wished for, but with their heads filled with nightmare visions of slaughter and the horrible accusations of those they had slain, the Crimson Sabres reacted by rote, their training taking over as they simply fought off another foe. With only a single warship, the Red Horizon, damaged enough to trail debris while it listed slightly due to damage to its aetheric rudder, the Crimson Sabres at last left behind their pursuers and entered the most feared region of space in the galaxy.
Crimson Slaughter - The Renegade Wars: Onwards, into the Eye of Terror the Crimson Sabres steered their course, making all speed. Kranon knew that only by war could the spectral voices be drowned; only when their very armour dripped with gore would the voices cease. They had travelled long and the pent-up madness in their minds threatened to overload and burst forth at any moment. So it was that the Crimson Sabres descended upon the Eye of Terror with the unequalled fury of both the righteous and the psychotically enraged. They brought doom and in their hands they carried death and carnage. The first to feel the unbridled wrath of the Crimson Sabres were the outermost planets, those only partially contained by the swirling maelstrom. These were not full-fledged Daemon Worlds that bathed in the free-flowing powers of the Warp, but rather the refuge of the dispossessed -- the twisted home of mutants and the most successful of the Chaos Cultist rabble that had escaped persecution in the Imperium. These forsaken planets made fine recruiting grounds and hidden lairs for the many Renegade warbands of Chaos Space Marines. There, piratical raiders formed small armies that would launch plundering forays back into the Imperium. Whether witch or Abhuman, mutant or Renegade Chaos Space Marine -– all fell before the scythe that was the Crimson Sabres. With Bolter and Chainsword they unleashed retribution, fighting with a savage joy that, for a time, cleared their minds and souls.
Crimson Slaughter - Descent to New Depths: Since the battle on Umidia, not all the Crimson Sabres went along with or accepted the growing corruption of their Chapter. A few of the most aggressive of these individuals were struck down as they attempted to forestall or prevent the massacres perpetrated by their brethren. However, even when filled with the red joy of slaughter, the Crimson Sabres were loath to slay their brothers. In most cases, those who attempted to rein in the rampant bloodshed, or even those who protested too loudly afterwards, were seized and thrown into holding cells aboard the Chapter's warships. One of these was Chapter Master Sevastus Kranon's own biological brother. Several more Crimson Sabres were clamped into irons after they rebelled against their brethren's growing mutations. A former Chaplain buckled as he realised a horrible new truth -- he was starting to enjoy the wanton slaying and he begged his compatriots to put him out of his misery. Chained and isolated, without massed killing to even temporarily drive out the voices that haunted them, most of those unfortunates succumbed to raving insanity. The lower levels of the Chapter's warships rang to the howling ravings of madmen, yet still the Crimson Sabres kept them incarcerated.
Crimson Slaughter - Sabres No More: Kranon gathered about him a selection of his most trusted officers and those leaders of the Crimson Sabres who seemed to be coping the best with the onset of their curse. Into that tight circle came Company Masters Rangald and Sherdon and Veteran Sergeant Draznicht, along with the former Chaplain Okrark and Master Librarian Mannon. To them alone Kranon revealed his new frame of mind. He stated he meant to find some way to end the curse and to carve out a life rather than simply finding a way to end it with honour. In many ways, this was a final acceptance of their rebellion -- intentional or not -- from the Imperium. Where Kranon had half-expected to find resentment, anger and confrontation, he found only a feeling of mutual relief. Each of the gathered leaders of the Crimson Sabres had also felt the pang of regret as they prepared to sacrifice their lives in battle. They were following Kranon out of duty and vows, aspects that had controlled their lives fully for many years, but now seemed hollow. Each of the officers expressed his own version, justifying that they no longer sought to martyr themselves for the very cause that had so quickly -- and erroneously -- judged them. None of them, not even Kranon, mentioned that the inner voices that tormented each of them had been spewing long diatribes along similar lines for some time now. It was as if each was steeling his mind, willing themselves to believe that the whispered words of enticement had washed over harmlessly, that their decisions were entirely their own. Thus began a new stage, as a growing circle of confidants began planning how best to bring the rest of the Chapter along with them. They also agreed the best ways to deal with those who insisted upon remaining loyal to their pledges to the Imperium and the Emperor. One way, or another, the Crimson Sabres would be no more.
Crimson Slaughter - Crimson Fracture: Not until every aspect of the plot was ripe did Kranon give the command. The Chapter had gone ten long solar days without battle before they were unleashed to maul a rabble enclave they discovered upon a drifting Space Hulk. So vast was the derelict spacecraft that it took three solar days to clear. As the sated Space Marines returned from their latest butchery, they were immediately summoned once more into the great Sabre Hall upon the flagship, Red Honour. There, squad by squad and company by company, they formed up, waiting for their brethren to arrive, waiting to hear the words of their leader. Despite their gore-slick armour, and the viscera that still dripped from their close combat weapons, each of the red-armoured superhumans was content. Aboard the derelict vessel -- a Hulk designated Lost Hope -- had been hundreds of dark pilgrims, worshippers of the Dark Gods lured into the Eye of Terror with false promises of power. Their deaths had drowned out the voices, at least for the time being.Kranon addressed his Battle-Brothers -- asking them how long had they fought in the Eye of Terror. Once, he had told the Chapter that they had been brave enough to follow him into the most dreadful place in the galaxy. Now he asked them to have the courage to follow him out. Kranon announced that he no longer served the Imperium. Instead, he would seek a cure to halt the madness that had grown in his mind. The Crimson Sabres were dead, he told them, claiming the very name the Imperial agents had pinned upon them for their acts on Umidia and Demetra. From now on, he would lead the Crimson Slaughter. What followed was brief, but bloody. To some score of Space Marines this was a final blow. They heard the words of sedition and, looking around them, saw that which they had foresworn to destroy. Kranon's war council had already earmarked who the likely Loyalists would be and stationed their own supporters nearby, with guns already aimed. Less fought than expected, and the action was swiftly over. Once again, their lives had changed forever. Another line had been crossed, another decision had been taken from which there could be no turning back. So did the Crimson Slaughter step forward and of their own free will choose to stride down the path of damnation.
Crimson Slaughter - Crimson Slaughter Unleashed: With an established base of operations and a system for replenishing their lost casualties, Kranon was at last ready to unleash the full force of the Crimson Slaughter upon the Imperium. Yet it was not vengeance alone that drove the Renegades onwards -- they sought also to reclaim their sanity, and to halt the voices in their heads forever. How long it took the Crimson Slaughter to outfit their Space Hulk base is unknown. They no longer kept records and the passage of time was unpredictable, for they were inside the swirling arms of the Eye of Terror and well within its aura of temporal disorder. Certainly many decades were lost in the endless labour. During this period, the Renegades continued to launch raids, both in the Eye and into the Imperium. Due to the immensity of the Emperor’s realm -- over a million inhabited worlds scattered across the vastness of the galaxy -- these hit-and-run assaults were hardly noticed by the Imperium at large. It was an era of war, and such battles and loss of life were rampant across the five segmentums. Despite the inconsequential numbers involved, however, there was a rising concern. Although the raids were carried out by between fifty and a hundred Chaos Space Marines, the amount of damage inflicted was wildly disproportionate.Many of the inhuman foes of the Imperium inflicted gut-wrenching damage or perpetrated sadistic acts. However, the Crimson Slaughter's raids were always bound to attract additional attention. Firstly, they were obviously Chaos Space Marines -- a bitter foe for the Imperium, and one that Imperial agents did their best to cover up. They loathed admitting the fact that their best and most reliable warriors were susceptible to heresy. Secondly, there was something far more sinister about these raids. Reports gleaned from vid-cams, for survivors were uncommonly rare, showed that these bloodthirsty killers were steeped in the mystical powers of the Warp, accompanied into battle by phantasmal forces. The red-armoured Renegades left behind not just a trail of bloody massacres, but another kind of corruption. Bone-chilling hauntings drifted in their wake, maleficent poltergeists that lingered long after the Crimson Slaughter had left. These Warp-cursed signs, which were becoming all too familiar in the late 41st Millennium, were normally the hallmarks of a different kind of incursion. On the Agri-World of Grunald, the Crimson Slaughter destroyed entire communities before departing, but their presence was blamed for the wilted and bleeding crops that starved a continent. The raid that broke the sentinel bunker on the moon of Tarkus had left a series of jagged craters which, when viewed from orbit, formed the image of an enormous eight-pointed star. Witch hunters of the Ordo Hereticus studied the bloody trail of the Crimson Slaughter, theorising that this was the return of the corrupted Crimson Sabres.
Crimson Slaughter - New Recruits: Space Marine Chapters recruit by seeking out the best of Mankind's natural warriors. This is why so many Chapters recruit from Feral or Death Worlds, where survival is not a birthright, but an accomplishment achieved by only the strongest and fittest. The Crimson Sabres had recruited from Feudal Worlds, planets where warfare between rivals heightened the competition and ensured those who survived were excellent Space Marine candidates. Now, as the Crimson Slaughter, Kranon sought to emulate their old recruitment and training cycle. With help from Fabius Bile, great laboratories had been set up aboard the Lost Hope. Row after row of chem-vats grew the organs that would be transplanted into Aspirants to transform them into Initiates. Kranon's first few sorties into realspace to collect potential recruits from savage worlds went poorly -- the Renegades either slaughtered everyone, or the prisoners proved too resistant to pass even the first few stages of the process. Luckily, there was another, better answer already en route to the Lost Hope.The Crimson Slaughter were gaining a reputation inside the Eye of Terror as well as outside. Many bands of Cultists and the lesser enclaves of rebellious Chaos Space Marines remembered them with angst, recalling their brutal attacks during the Renegade Wars, but many more Chaos Cultists were already flocking to the Crimson Slaughter's banner. In all human societies, power has an alluring draw, but nowhere is that more true than in the Eye of Terror. Many of these so-called "dark pilgrims" banded together and left the repressive Imperium, searching for a new life, seeking to make something of themselves. Most die horrible deaths, being but fodder or sport for Renegades or daemons. To survive in that environment requires skill, toughness and a certain psychotic edge -- the very same qualities produced by the most ferocious of Death Worlds. Some of the novices that reached the Lost Hope were young enough to receive the gene-seed implants, although they still had to prove themselves to begin the process. Those who had spent too long near the Warp overflow already were too genetically contaminated for their bodies to accept the organs but they too served a purpose. Some were fashioned into Servitors, or joined the growing factions of Chaos Cultists that were drawn to joining the Crimson Slaughter's cause.
Crimson Slaughter - Confrontation with Angels: The search for the Hellfire Stone continued, leading to a further string of massacres inflicted upon the Imperium. Unable to dredge up the ancient artefact that might lift their curse, the Crimson Slaughter instead uncovered the ten thousand year-old secret of the Dark Angels. A great enmity and bitter rivalry was born, and many battles followed. The Crimson Slaughter's attacks were well-documented, if subsequently suppressed by the Imperium. The remote nature of the planets along the southern rim of the galaxy and the speed with which they completed their massacres meant that by the time a distress call was received, the Crimson Slaughter had long since departed. Only the fast-response ability of the Space Marines was suited to combat such rapid hit-and-run tactics. Thus far, no Imperial Guard or Planetary Defence Force had been able to withstand the fury of their attacks. The Adeptus Astartes were soon alerted and elements from several Chapters were already present in the region.
Crimson Slaughter - Dark Vengeance: Kranon fumed at the information. His own Chapter had been excommunicated due to a misunderstanding, whilst the Imperium heaped accolades upon the guilty I Legion of old, its membership riddled with Astartes who had turned Traitor to the Emperor during the Horus Heresy. That the Dark Angels were also one of the Chapters involved in the Amalgamathian Schism that had put the first mar upon the Crimson Sabres was too much. The Hellfire Stone could wait. Now that he knew their secret, luring the Dark Angels into battle would be easy, but Kranon wanted his first impression to be one the Dark Angels would never forget. While small warbands were sent out tasked with capturing the Fallen Turiel had spoken of, Kranon prepared the trap. He found what he was looking for in the newly-founded Ecclesiarchy world by the name of Stern's Remembrance.With no warning, the Crimson Slaughter attacked Stern's Remembrance with savage brutality. There was nowhere for the masses to flee to, and Daemon Engines and Helbrutes waded through overcrowded streets, crushing victims with every footfall. The bells of ten thousand cathedrals tolled, but their ringing was no aid to the doomed. The limited resistance provided by the Planetary Defence Force and the few honour guard squads of Adepta Sororitas did not slow the Crimson Slaughter in their grisly work. Only when the last inhabitant of the planet fell twitching did the Renegades begin the next stage -- piling the corpses into the cathedrals. The dead were stacked all the way up to the great vaulted ceilings, a grim trophy mound.When all was ready, Kranon ordered his Chaos Sorcerers to send the Dark Angels a message -- a telepathic vector that would burn the coordinates into the body of whoever received the message. But he not only sent a map, for the message also named one of the Fallen, that could be found there and mocked the Dark Angels for their filthy secrets. Amidst the piled dead of Stern's Remembrance, Kranon left one of the recently captured Fallen. He wanted to ensure his foes that he knew of their hidden past. Their trap set, the Crimson Slaughter left the empty planet, returning to the Warp to await the oncoming of their foe. They knew it would not take long. Soon enough the Dark Angels Strike Cruiser The Pride of Caliban materialised in the sector and cautiously approached orbit. Twin Thunderhawks swooped down in order to land elements from the 5th Company. Kranon gave them time to discover and appreciate the true horror of what the Crimson Slaughter had left them before he sprung his trap. A host of landing craft entered the atmosphere, rapidly deploying the Crimson Slaughter. Before the Dark Angels could extricate themselves, they were surrounded. There, amidst the enormous stone edifices and winding streets, battle ensued. No match for the numbers or ferocity of the Renegades, the Dark Angels retreated, fighting their way out of the narrow streets. Although they recaptured the Fallen known as Attias the Untamed, they lost many Battle-Brothers, including Zadakiel, the Master of the 5th Company.
Crimson Slaughter - Battle of Bane's Landing: Kranon soon had the Crimson Slaughter back in search of the Hellfire Stone. Their rampage blazed a trail of bloodshed and devastation, but they could not yet find the artefact. Meanwhile, another force was stalking them. The Dark Angels had sworn retribution against the Renegades. Ostensibly this was for the loss of their 5th Company Master, but underlying that was a compulsive urge to destroy any who knew of their ancient secret. Relentless was the hunt, and on a dozen of the worlds ravaged by the Crimson Slaughter, the Dark Angels arrived to do battle. Most were small skirmishes -- the Dark Angels advance forces nipping at the heels of the Renegades as they escaped back to the Warp. It was on the planet of Bane's Landing that the Dark Angels tracked down the Crimson Slaughter in force. For it was on Bane's Landing that Kranon finally found what he was seeking: the Hellfire Stone. To complete the ritual required to have the artefact restore the Crimson Slaughter to full sanity, Kranon needed to find the ancient altar and to sacrifice a Loyalist Space Marine upon it. Many skirmishes broke out as the Dark Angels learned what their foe was attempting and raced to thwart them. The two forces battered at each other, neither side willing to give ground. Ravenwing Bikers clashed with Draznicht's Ravagers –- the Chosen warriors that had fought by his side since he led the 1st Company of the Crimson Sabres. Although Kranon was nearly successful, at the last moment victory was snatched from his grasp when his hard-won Dark Angels captive heroically sacrificed himself rather than allow the Crimson Slaughter to complete their ritual. Bitterly, the outnumbered Crimson Slaughter returned into the Warp.
Crimson Slaughter - Grim Realisation: After their battles with the Dark Angels, the Crimson Slaughter fleet returned to the Eye of Terror. Lord Kranon was furious. He struggled with rage and above all, the manifold voices. In the midst of battle, after bloodletting granted him a rare moment of clear thought, Kranon experienced an epiphany. He was being used, and badly. It had been a near thing on Bane's Landing. As they had attempted to wash the Hellfire Stone with the blood of a captured Space Marine he had felt the skies grow black, he had felt the twitching agitation from the inner voices that were now a part of him. It was not fear they were feeling about the ritual, but a fierce joy. The words that had risen unbidden from Kranon during the height of the ritual had not been his own, nor even in a language that he knew -- but it came to him that he had heard similar words before. On Umidia the Balethu Cults had screamed those words. They sought to summon daemons from their patron, Khorne, but were denied the completion of their ritual by Kranon and the Crimson Sabres that slaughtered them.The ancient magicks of the Hellfire Stone were not meant to eradicate the inner daemons, but rather to make them stronger. They were intended to usher in a dark new age. His mind reeling with implications, Kranon returned to the Lost Hope to find it a larger and more vibrant place than the forlorn and derelict Hulk they had left. Word of the Crimson Slaughter had spread wide. Cultists, Renegades and Traitor warbands had flocked to fight beneath their banner. The time Kranon had to think clearly was short and there was much to do. Decisions needed to be made before the madness grew inside him and the core of his army. Also, the Lost Hope was a political powder keg, with many Chaos Cultists and rival factions vying to win favour. A warband of Khornate Berzerkers had joined -- they tired of the petty raids of other Renegade warbands and were eager to take part in the epic bloodbaths that had already made the Crimson Slaughter infamous. To maintain control, Kranon needed a new war.
Crimson Slaughter - New Redemption: After discussing the progress of the newly recruited, Kranon knew what the next target for the Crimson Slaughter must be. It was clear that the recruits produced from the gene-seed of their own brethren were faring well. Those implanted with the organs developed from Fabius Bile's creations, however, were turning into monstrosities, wild and uncontrollable. But he needed more warriors -- many more -- and there was only so much gene-seed that could be farmed from his own followers. To gain the more stable genetic material he would need to seize it. After recent clashes and the vendetta the Crimson Slaughter had developed, Kranon knew exactly which Chapter he would steal it from. Since the destruction of their homeworld, Caliban, the Dark Angels no longer had a single recruitment world, but instead used a variety of different planets. Their headquarters, The Rock, was an asteroid base replete with Warp-Drives, and could travel between worlds or war zones as required. Upon each world they claimed, the Dark Angels established strongholds -- fortress-monasteries to hold the necessities required to implant and train new Space Marines. The Warp-visions of Chaos Sorcerers aided Kranon’s search for the Dark Angels recruiting world best suited for attack. On the ice-covered planet of Numarc, the Dark Angels had built the fortress of New Redemption. Although the star system was heavily populated, Numarc was furthest from the sun -- a frozen world where the small human population fought the elements and ferocious beasts to survive. Those harsh conditions made for excellent recruits, where the Dark Angels could select the best warriors from the savage wastelands and turn them into new Space Marines. It was also a location that the Crimson Slaughter could raid and get away from before the full might of the Imperium could be roused against them.Through masterful planning and Kranon's superior acumen for war, the Crimson Slaughter launched a diversionary orbital attack and a simultaneous lightning ground assault. Eventually, the Crimson Slaughter managed to fight their way into the confines of the beleaguered Dark Angels' fortress. A Defiler ripped open the triple-sealed doorway into the stronghold's inner cloisters. While squads rushed in to plunder the halls, Chaos Sorcerers and Dark Apostles stalked amongst the dead, callously extracting gene-seed from their fallen foes. As the other warbands had destroyed all three of the Defence Lasers, the Crimson Slaughter's fleet easily entered orbit to extract the Crimson Slaughter's troops when their looting was complete. On Numarc, not a single Dark Angel remained alive.
Crimson Slaughter - Daemon Wars: The Crimson Slaughter continued to grow stronger, but Lord Kranon was not satisfied. It was still his goal to rid himself and his men of the curse, but he seemed no closer to finding a way than before. This realisation led the warlord and his warband down a strange, forbidding path, yet Kranon the Relentless refused to bow before either curse or daemon. It was a difficult trip through Warpspace back to the Eye of Terror. The Cadian Gate was well guarded and the Immaterium was restless. Great storms were surging through the centre of that maelstrom and raw Chaos energy poured forth to sweep across the galaxy. The Eye itself was astir -– for rumour of the 13th Black Crusade was building everywhere. Kranon, however, had other things weighing heavily upon his mind. He brooded. Kranon too had taken part in the battles on Numarc. The joyous act of cutting down Dark Angels with his blade had cleared his mind of the cobwebbed voices that wove in and out of his thoughts. How had he been so convinced that the Hellfire Stone would lift the curse? Had that idea been planted in his mind by the voices? Others too had been involved -- were his own followers seeking to undermine him? Was Draznicht, who could see into the future, part of the plot? Did Mannon, chief of his Sorcerers, twist his visions so as to better manipulate him? Kranon made up his mind and called for a council. Acting on an inkling, he knew just where to hold the assemblage of leaders.
Crimson Slaughter - Revelations Brought to Life: Flush with their great victory, the most fell-handed of his lieutenants filed into the very heart of the Lost Hope. Down into the great engine room Kranon led them, down into what was now known as the Room of the Orb. It was to there that all the power cables and conduits ran, snaking through miles of passageways and spreading outwards like veins and arteries. Through them pulsed the lifeblood of the Lost Hope. Two dozen leaders of the Crimson Slaughter strode in, each wondering what this meeting and locale might mean. To begin, Kranon addressed not them, but the orb itself. A great spherical fleshy mass hung suspended by myriad coils. At Kranon's word it opened -- a great lid drew back, revealing a pulsing wet globe beneath. It was once Brother Sartok, a Crimson Sabres Techmarine whose fervour to work closely with the machines took on strange roots in the Eye of Terror. Now it was something more -- a fusion of man, machine and the daemonic. When it spoke, it did so with no mouth -- the sound instead emanating out of a comm-station grown into the raw flesh. In Kranon's restless wanderings they had engaged in many conversations before. Now Kranon asked the orb whom it saw in the room. It listed them in its slow, steady and inhuman voice. It also saw and named the Spirits of Umidia -- a fact that Kranon had discovered long ago. He was hoping the orb would call out any other unseen manifestations it saw, for it was Kranon's suspicion that one of his trusted captains had become wholly possessed. The last appellation uttered by the orb was Tzax'lan-tar. Saying a daemon's true name is to speak a word of power. At its articulation the room grew chill, a cold prickle running down the spines of all there. All save one.Forward stepped Mannon, an iridescent shimmering rippled through his body as the daemon stepped out of the former psyker. It shed the Power-Armoured carcass as though shrugging its way out of ceremonial robes, and the skin-shell crumpled behind it. The creature grew, standing twice, now three times the height of a man and still it expanded. Spreading out its feathery wings and stretching forth its long serpentine neck, the Greater Daemon of Tzeentch opened its beak wide and gave a long mind-tearing screech of mocking defiance. It gazed upon the Crimson Slaughter with eyes that sparkled with ancient evil. Even as it opened its beak to speak, Kranon fired his Plasma Pistol to open the conversation. Though halted by some invisible force field, the super-heated blast still caused the daemon to pull back, hissing. So began a brief battle, pitting the flickering Warp-flames of Tzax'lan-tar against the blades and pistols of the Crimson Slaughter. Even surrounded and outnumbered, the Greater Daemon was a powerful foe -- able to behead a Warpsmith and melt several others. However, when Kranon's Imperator Blade screamed through its defences, the Greater Daemon disappeared in a blink.
Crimson Slaughter - 13th Black Crusade: The greatest of all Chaos invasions are the Black Crusades. It takes the most powerful of Chaos Champions to unite the disparate forces and hold them on course long enough to sweep out of the Eye of Terror. During such events, the entire galaxy holds its breath -- for war on such a scale, and of such a magnitude of hatred, threatens to sweep away all that is, or ever was.Led by Kranon the Relentless, the Crimson Slaughter had carved out their own realm within the Eye of Terror. Their numbers were swollen as other outcasts from the Imperium sought them out, arriving in droves to the Lost Hope. Most were Chaos Cultists, worthless lives that the Crimson Slaughter could spend as they saw fit. However, some few showed promise and were allowed to progress further.A few were impressive enough to be augmented and given the gene-seed that would transform them into Initiates. Not until they were fully proven could a member of the Crimson Slaughter don the red Power Armour and join his brethren. But when he did, he joined a warband with numbers beyond the strength of a Space Marine Chapter.
Crimson Slaughter - Campaign of Shock and Horror: Losing no time, Kranon led the massed Crimson Slaughter fleet to skirt the Cadian Gate, and to instead penetrate deeply into the Imperium. Their campaign of shock and horror would draw off some of the support that would be rushed towards the battle at the Cadian Gate, but more importantly it would put fear into the hearts of any who clung to the false hope of the Imperium of Mankind.Their first target was the heavily defended Hive World of Regallus. Kranon was forced to make his plan of attack en route. From the best visions his Chaos Sorcerers could conjure, it appeared as if the defence batteries were concentrated around the mighty continent-sized hive cities. With that in mind, Kranon decided the dropsites must be in the ash plains.This meant a two stage campaign -- the first would be to break through the formidable defensive barrier. Once the Crimson Slaughter got past the trench lines, the next phase would be to wreak havoc amongst the tangled inner hive -- to massacre all they could, for this would send a message to the other Imperial planets -- a sign of what awaited them all.By the time the Crimson Slaughter reached the most heavily defended battlement it was the last one. By that point, however, the wave of horror was so great, the psychic tension so thick, that few defenders were left. The towering statues of mighty heroes of the Imperium that lined the streets were already weeping blood by the time the first Renegade crashed through the gates and entered the hive city proper.It was at this stage of the campaign that the true killing really began. None now could stay the butchery. The last phase of the operation was the bloodiest. Disparate squads of Astra Militarum and the remnants of their supporting armour desperately attempted to defend the hab-blocks, concentrating their efforts near the densest of population centres.One by one, those strongholds fell and the massacres began. Street by street, the battle raged and the blood flowed. Howling spirits and maniacal laughter echoed down the long avenues, almost drowning out the sound of chainsaws, Bolter fire and the unheeded screams for mercy. Utter madness and cold-blooded slaughter had come to Regallus and it went on and on and on. Regallus was only the beginning –- the start of the Crimson Slaughter's terror campaign. Tales of the genocidal horrors committed there would soon send shockwaves through the Imperium. Planet by planet, their doom was at hand. And the voices were finally silent -- for a time.
Crimson Slaughter - Warband Combat Doctrine: The Crimson Slaughter strike with the same precision and thunderbolt fury as the Space Marines. To the Imperial repertoire of lightning assaults and armoured spearheads are added lurching daemonic engines of war and waves of brainwashed Chaos Cultists. Alongside traditional Bolter and heavy weapons fire come sorcerous blasts and drizzling balefire. For close quarters onslaughts the Crimson Slaughter use the time-honoured Chainsword and Power Fist, but also lasher tentacles and claw pincers capable of snipping a Dreadnought in two. Against them, no defence line can hold, no bunker can remain intact. In the end, most of their foes break and run, hoping to hide in the ruins of their world. Yet whether the Crimson Slaughter hunt their prey by Augur-tracker, Warp trace or bloodscent, their end is always the same. None can hide, some are permitted to escape -- all must fall, broken and bullet-ridden. The doctrine of well-coordinated shock attacks has ever been the trademark of the Space Marines, but none employ it with the mastery of the Crimson Slaughter. With their hellish arsenal they harness surprise and dismay, wielding them in the same way a master swordsman wields his blade. Yet as horrific as their wanton violence is, as gut-wrenching as their genocidal purges are -- there is something else about the Crimson Slaughter that makes them more terrifying than the other myriad threats that stalk this brutal era. Strange things happen when the Crimson Slaughter arrive for battle. Unnatural, awful things that hardly bear description. Phantasmal spirits manifest out of shadows and premonitions of doom coalesce so thickly they hang like haze upon the air. The skies bleed, walls melt and the innocent contort and wrack their bodies into baleful angles while they howl to the heavens with the voices of the damned. Even mutes will plead for swift and merciful death, screaming out in languages they never knew.
Crimson Slaughter - Slaves To The Voices: The Crimson Slaughter are haunted. Like claws scratching down a steel hull or the slow and steady scratching away of tooth enamel to reach the nerve cluster within, the spine-shivering voices murmur to them. A hateful sound, the whispering is quiet at first, so quiet that a lone warrior might pay it little heed. Those voices build in intensity, swelling not only in their volume, but also in their power. As a steady drip will, over time, carve through the hardest rock, so too work the voices. Only by acts of inhumane butchery and utter annihilation can members of the Crimson Slaughter find release from this agony. Only in gore-drenched wars can they dispel that which bedevils them, dogging their every footstep. Only by turning entire worlds into abattoirs can they make the voices halt, a reprieve that is all too short-lived. In the beginning, this Renegade Chapter of Space Marines resisted their doom -- perhaps some still do. Most of their number, however, have cast off the fetters of service and deprivation. They have at last embraced the power and the madness, longing for the blissful, sweet release that follows slaughter. It is impossible to surmise who are more damned -- the warriors who are filled with self-loathing for their vile acts, or the ones who have developed a taste for it? Regardless, the power of the Warp spreads and the shadow of the End Times grows longer. The bells of doom clang and toll. And somewhere in the galaxy, or hidden just behind the veil that overshrouds it, the Crimson Slaughter are once more driven by their inner voices, once more on the hunt.
Crimson Slaughter - Warband Fleet: Red Honour (Battle Barge and Chapter Flagship)Pride of Rhoghon (Strike Cruiser)Red Horizon (Strike Cruiser)Myriad other vessels, names unknown to Imperial records