vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Black Legion - Horus Lupercal: Horus, the true primarch of the Luna Wolves, was the first of the primarchs to be recovered by the Emperor, having been cast in his gestation capsule through the Warp much closer to Terra on Cthonia than the others by the Ruinous Powers, and he was found at a much younger age. Whereas the early history of many primarchs is extensively if unevenly documented, the same cannot be said of Horus.Contradiction and omission tarnishes all accounts of Horus' formative years. It is clear that the Emperor did find Horus on Cthonia in 801.M30 and also that he took command of the XVIth Legion very early in the Great Crusade. Beyond these manifest facts, agreement between the early Imperial sources is decidedly lacking, some even placing Horus on Cthonia as a foundling. Like many of his superhuman brethren, these sources say that the young primarch thrived in Cthonia's harsh environment, learning his first lessons in war and killing from Cthonia's tech-barbarian kill-gangs.Another source claims that Horus returned to Terra itself. It is said that Horus grew at the Emperor's side, learning from his gene-father even as they took back the Sol System and forged the alliances between the techno-barbarian nations of Terra and with the Mechanicum of Mars that created the Imperium of Man.Other highly creditable claims state that the Emperor found Horus, the first of His lost sons, but neither source specifies where, or the location of this finding. Surrounded in many standard millennia of myths and allegory, the truth of Horus' origins will more than likely never be fully known.As a result, however it came to pass, Horus was for many standard years the Emperor's only son, and there was a great affinity between them. The Emperor spent much time with His protege, teaching and encouraging him. Horus was soon placed in command of the XVIth Legion, which had already come to be known as the Luna Wolves -- 10,000 Astartes created from his own genetic code.With these superhuman warriors to lead, Horus accompanied the Emperor for the first thirty standard years of the Great Crusade that had begun in 798.M30, and together they forged the initial interstellar expansion of the young Imperium of Man.
Black Legion - A Human Harvest: By the time the Great Crusade began in 798.M30, Cthonia's mines were long spent, but it had a resource that the new Imperium needed more than metals and jewels: hardened fighters and born survivors in their millions; a lean and hungry people of killers with no illusions about the horrors of the universe. Cthonia, relatively close to Terra in the void, and with whom some minor intermittent contact had been maintained even through the Age of Strife, had its murderous and strife-torn population marked by one of the first expeditionary fleets to leave the Sol System.To fuel the growth of the early Space Marine Legions, the Imperium took full advantage of the bounty of Humanity that Cthonia provided. At the time of the First Founding, Cthonia already helped provide the necessary flesh for the Selenar gene-wrights of Luna to fuel the growth of the early Legiones Astartes. One report talks of so-called Imperial "recruitment squads" harvesting tens of thousands of Cthonian gangers and shipping them away, chained together in the holds of prison-shuttles, to the geno-laboratories of Luna's Selenar gene-wrights.The majority were impressed as troopers for the Great Crusade's Imperial Army regiments, but the finest specimens were taken for induction into the Space Marine Legions. On Luna these chosen sons of Cthonia were reborn as the transhuman Astartes of the XVIth Legion.It was more common for the first Space Marine aspirants to be adolescent volunteers taken from the peoples of Terra, and later in the crusade, after the rediscovery of the primarchs, from Feral or Feudal Worlds discovered along the way. Yet, after the usual psycho-hypnotic indoctrination and mental conditioning process, the Luna Wolves created from the young men of Cthonia emerged as excellent and ferociously powerful Space Marines.
Black Legion - Triumph of Ullanor: Though the Luna Wolves had won many victories in their years of ceaseless conflict, one would eclipse all others and see them reborn once again. The greatest of the nascent Imperium's victories during the high point of the Great Crusade came in the form of the defeat of the largest Ork empire ever encountered to that time.The Ullanor Crusade of ca. 000.M30 was a vast Imperial assault on the Ork empire of the Overlord Urrlak Urruk. The capital world of this Greenskin stellar empire, and the site of the final assault by the Space Marine Legions, lay in the central Ullanor System of the galaxy's Ullanor Sector. The crusade included the deployment of 100,000 Space Marines, 8,000,000 Imperial Army troops, and thousands of Imperial starships and their support personnel.The Ullanor Crusade marked the high point of the Great Crusade's vast effort to reunite the scattered colony worlds of Humanity. The Orks of Ullanor represented the largest concentration of Greenskins ever defeated by the military forces of the Imperium of Man before the Third War for Armageddon began during the 41st Millennium. Following the defeat of the Orks of Ullanor due to the strategic brilliance of Horus Lupercal, the Emperor of Mankind returned to Terra to begin work on His vast project to open up the Aeldari Webway for Mankind's use.In His place to command the vast forces of the Great Crusade He left Horus. In the aftermath of this Ullanor Crusade, Horus was granted the newly-created title of "Warmaster," the commander-in-chief of all the Emperor's armies who possessed command authority over all of the other primarchs and every expeditionary fleet of the Great Crusade. Before returning to Terra to oversee the next phase of the creation of His stellar empire, the Emperor suggested to Horus that he rename the XVIth Legion the "Sons of Horus", in honour of their primarch and to show his preeminent place amongst the other primarchs.Horus initially declined this honour, not wishing to be set above his brothers, and so his Legion continued as the Luna Wolves for a little while longer. But Horus and the other primarchs never came to terms with the Emperor's absence. Their hurt feelings over His seeming abandonment of the Great Crusade to pursue a secret project whose purpose He chose not to reveal to His gene-sons laid the seeds of jealousy and resentment that would ultimately blossom into the corruption that began the Horus Heresy.
Black Legion - Warmaster: During the Great Crusade, it became apparent that the Primarchs were far from the perfect specimens of Humanity they were intended to be. Although each Primarch was physically and mentally god-like compared to a baseline mortal human being, they harboured the flaws of vanity, egotism, hunger for power, jealousy, arrogance, insecurity and all the other sins of the human character. As the Imperial Warmaster, Horus took over command of the Great Crusade, and accepted his new duties with earnest dedication.However, there was much dissension in the ranks of the Primarchs and other parties in the Imperium over the Emperor's decision to withdraw from the campaign and return to Terra as well as to reorganise the political administration of the Imperium under the control of a Council of Terra headed by His regent, Malcador the Sigillite. Only a handful of the Primarchs, amongst them a scheming Lorgar, remained steadfast beside the Warmaster during this period of conflict.Horus also disagreed with many of the decrees passed by the newly established Council of Terra, a ruling body of Imperial nobles and bureaucrats, which were intended to shift the burden of taxation and administration onto the newly-conquered Imperial Compliant worlds.Even worse, Horus came to believe in his heart that he was failing his father, and was deeply wounded that the Emperor had revealed to none of the Primarchs, not even His most favoured son, why He had secluded Himself upon Terra and the truth behind His secret Imperial Webway Project. These seeds of bitterness, resentment and frustration grew, and would soon bear deadly fruit.
Black Legion - Betrayal at Istvaan III: In the days that followed his miraculous recovery, Horus' officers detected a change in his character. The Warmaster proceeded to use the Warrior Lodge present in the XVIth Legion to begin to subvert his officers and their Astartes to the service of the Dark Gods and to build support for his plan of rebellion against the Emperor.He had already taken up the Emperor's old offer made at the Ullanor Triumph on the advice of Sanguinius and renamed the XVIth Legion the Sons of Horus to subtly hint at his position as the first-among-equals among the Primarchs. He now moved to further consolidate his authority.Horus was now allied body and soul to the Ruinous Powers of Chaos, and he had a new vision for the Imperium with himself rather than the Emperor at its head. Renouncing his oath to the Emperor, Horus led his Legion into worship of the Chaos Gods. He then sought to turn many of his fellow Primarchs to Chaos.Horus was master diplomat and manipulator, and he knew exactly which psychological buttons to push in some of his brothers to get them to agree to his idea of rebellion against the Emperor. His first efforts succeeded masterfully with Angron, Fulgrim and Mortarion, who were the first of the 8 other Primarchs and Space Marine Legions that would follow Horus and his Astartes into betrayal.The majority of the Sons of Horus, already fiercely loyal and proud of Horus, had no hesitation in following their Primarch's lead wherever he chose to go. They secretly renounced their oaths to the Emperor and supported Horus' ambitions and his new gods of the Warp. The Chaos corruption spread to every Imperial Adepta with which Horus had dealings, including a portion of the Mechanicum, and from there to the Adeptus Titanica and the Legio Cybernetica, eventually creating the splinter-faction of the ancient Mechanicum called the Dark Mechanicum and unleashing the terrible civil war between Loyalist and Traitor Mechanicum factions known as the Schism of Mars.The other Primarchs Horus knew as well as any men since they were his gene-brothers, and he was already well practiced at motivating them. Appealing to their pride, martial prowess, and courage, whilst playing upon past grudges and favours against the Emperor and the other Primarchs, the Warmaster ultimately gained the loyalty of fully half the Primarchs and their Space Marine Legions.He convinced them to first rid their Legions of any remaining Loyalists during the Battle of Istvaan III and next nearly destroyed three full Loyalist Legions during the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V.
Black Legion - The Folly of Drecarth: When Abaddon ascended to command of the Sons of Horus, not every warrior of the XVIth Legion swore allegiance to him. Many of the Traitors clung to their worship of Horus as a god, believing that he would one day return to lead them and punish those who had forsaken their oaths.Others considered the Horus Heresy to be the end of their subservience to gods and masters; the Emperor and their Primarch were the last overlords they would ever bow down to and they saw no reason to make an exception for Abaddon. Most of these Renegades were gradually lost to the Warp, disappearing into the Eye and vanishing from record, though some prospered and would return to be a thorn in the side of Abaddon.One of these splinter warbands was the Sons of the Eye, led by Drecarth the Sightless. A former Battle-Brother of Abaddon's, Drecarth had been one of Horus' captains, escaping in the chaos after Maeleum fell. Abaddon had heard whispers of Drecarth's escape and treachery from his cabal of Chaos Sorcerers, who also claimed that an old ally would one day rise to subvert the Black Legion, twisting its loyalty with the memory of the dead Primarch. So, under the guise of truce, Abaddon made a pact with the Sons of the Eye and allied with them during the 6th Black Crusade in 901.M36. Abaddon wanted to make an example of the Sons of the Eye, a dire warning to anyone who would consider challenging his power, but he needed to set the stage for his vengeance just right so that none would ever doubt his resolve.During the 6th Black Crusade, Abaddon besieged the Imperial Forge World of Arkreach, offering Drecarth and his Sons of the Eye an equal share of the plunder. For solar months, the two forces of Chaos Space Marines fought side-by-side against the defences of the Adeptus Mechanicus, bombarding their great forge cities from space.Finally, the Traitors stood triumphant in the smouldering ruins of the great manufactoria, dead littering the ground. As Drecarth extended his hand in greeting, Abaddon grasped it with his own, only to thrust the claws of the Talon of Horus into his fellow Chaos Space Marine's gut. Drecarth lived long enough to see the Sons of the Eye bow to Abaddon and be reabsorbed into the Black Legion before the Warmaster of Chaos tore out his skull and spine. Thus did Abaddon deliver a dire warning to any who dared challenge his power.
Black Legion - The Tower of Silence: As the bloodshed of the 1st Black Crusade reached its frenzied heights, cities burned and worlds were stripped of people to feed the dark desires of the Traitor Legions. Leaving his Black Legion to continue their brutal reprisals and raids against Imperial worlds, Abaddon pursued his own plans. Using the howling souls unleashed into the Warp by so much death and destruction, he made a secret daemonic bargain. In payment for the feast of despair, pain and anguish Abaddon had created with hisBlack Crusade, the Dark Gods gifted him with knowledge of the secret location of the Tower of Silence on the world of Uralan.Cloaked in the shadow of the Eye of Terror, Uralan was whispered of in daemonic lore as a place where the gods themselves locked away their secrets. Following strands of fate unravelled by his cabal of Chaos Sorcerers, Abaddon had discovered a concealed path through the Warp and across the shifting sea of worlds beyond to reach Uralan without needing to breach the Cadian Gate. With a cadre of the Black Legion's elite warriors, each one a brutal veteran of a thousand battles, Abaddon set foot on Uralan and entered the Tower of Silence. Almost at once, the tower's guardians set upon them, ancient constructs of dark energy that shifted and flickered, their claws tearing at the ragged edges of his warriors' souls.After the bitter battle, Abaddon climbed down into the mirrored heart of Uralan. There, Abaddon wandered the massive haunted labyrinth for what seemed an age, fighting off the spirits of the dead that threatened to add him to their ranks. Eventually, Abaddon made his way towards the centre of the labyrinth where a shard of shifting darkness hung suspended in the air.Reaching out into the void, Abaddon felt the cold hilt of a blade meet his palm and he pulled it into reality; the Daemonsword Drach'nyen took terrible shape before his eyes. After the recovery of the malefic sword, Abaddon's power swelled to inhuman proportions and the new Warmaster of Chaos become nigh unstoppable. Whole cities were burned in sacrifice to the every-hungry daemons of Chaos, and entire armies were torn apart by gibbering Warp entities. Abaddon's power swelled to inhuman proportions as the Gods of Chaos rewarded him lavishly and he undertook acts of fiendish bravery which horrified those who stood against him.
Black Legion - Black Legion Ascendant: Infused with the might of Chaos, the Black Legion grew in power and glory during the 1st Black Crusade. Under the command of Abaddon, they seized ever more victories and triumphs. It was a glorious time for the XVIth Legion, as the bloodshed and death of the Crusade washed away some of the memories of the Horus Heresy and their great defeat before the gates of the Emperor's Palace. However, despite the reckless carnage and terrible destruction it caused, eventually, the 1st Black Crusade ended.Responding to the deadly peril, the Imperium had gathered its newly founded Space Marine Chapters and Titan Legions and sent them against the Traitors. Even so, scores of worlds had been silenced forever and millions of slaves were dragged screaming back into the Eye of Terror. Abaddon had tested the defences of his enemies and vastly increased his power with his newly acquired Daemonsword Drach'nyen. He also took to using the title of Warmaster of Chaos, rising to claim all that Horus had once possessed. None within the Black Legion argued Abaddon's right to the title, the 1st Black Crusade proof of his right to lead.For the Black Legion, their first foray out of the Eye of Terror had done much to restore their position among the Traitor Legions, fostering a new grudging respect for the black armoured warriors and their self-proclaimed Warmaster. If nothing else, Abaddon had proven that the Dark Gods favoured him, something not even the Daemon Primarchs could ignore. Conflict still sputtered and flared between the Traitor Legions, but they now had a new purpose, something they had almost forgotten in the half millennia since the fall of Horus.In the wake of the 1st Black Crusade, a time of constant raiding of Imperial space began. Abaddon was content to give a Black Legion warlord and his warband of Chaos Space Marines the chance to make a name for themselves, allowing them the freedom to strike where and when they would. He fostered this independence on one condition: the atrocities they committed must be done in the name of the Black Legion and at cost to the Emperor.
Black Legion - Notable Campaigns: Starting with the 1st Black Crusade, thirteen times has Abaddon the Despoiler led the Black Legion in a grand assault against the Imperium. Every time, the Despoiler and his hordes have achieved a great victory, slain millions of Loyalists or completed some obscure objective before vanishing back into the Eye of Terror. At the close of the 41st Millennium, Abaddon led his 13th Black Crusade in the final conquest of Cadia, emerging stronger than ever before at the head of a vast army of Traitors, Heretics and daemons.
Black Legion - Sons of Horus Armoured Formations: At the time of the Warmaster's advance on the Coronid Deeps, his Legion's armoured forces had been replenished substantially, having been severely depleted during the conflicts at Istvaan III and Istvaan V. In part this was because the Sons of Horus, and to some degree all of the Traitor Legions, had been able to salvage a treasure trove of war machines and materiel from the wreckage laid out upon the sands of the Urgall Depression in the wake of the Istvaan V Dropsite Massacre.It was also because the Warmaster's lieutenants ensured that, as the Traitor armies progressed, the efforts of the Dark Mechanicum and the brutal tithe extracted from the worlds they subjugated were first set to the supply of Horus' own above all others. This ensured that the latest and most powerful Legiones Astartes war machines, such as the Falchion and Sicaran, quickly replaced lost or damaged war machines of older patterns still in the Legion's service.
Black Legion - Post-Heresy: After the death of Horus at the Siege of Terra, proper hierarchical structure within the XVIth Legion's squads and companies disintegrated, as was common in most of the Traitor Legions as the more deleterious effects of Chaos manifested themselves with the end of the unity between the Forces of Chaos. Those Sons of Horus who survived the Heresy formed into warbands of Chaos Space Marines of varying size and composition, led by individuals known as Chaos Champions.These Champions were either ranking officers of the Sons of Horus during the time of the Heresy, or newly emerged leaders who had won great favour with the Ruinous Powers through their violent and blasphemous deeds. When circumstances dictated, several warbands would rally together under the banner of a greater Chaos Champion, or even Abaddon himself as the Warmaster of Chaos Undivided, usually in preparation for a major raid or incursion into the Imperium. The entirety of what remains of the Black Legion only gathers when Abaddon has managed to successfully unleash a new Black Crusade.The overriding belief of the XVIth Legion's Astartes prior to the Warmaster's demise was in the ultimate superiority of Horus over all other beings in the Imperium and, by association, themselves as his genetic progeny. In continually seeking to prove themselves as the greatest of the Space Marine Legions, they did indeed achieve the most in terms of the sheer numbers of worlds brought into the Imperial fold during the Great Crusade, although much effort had to be expended by other Imperial forces to completely pacify these new worlds after the XVIth Legion had moved on to the next target.The Sons of Horus' defeat and exile dealt a crushing blow to the collective ego of the Legion. This has fuelled the current Black Legion's almost fanatical intensity to restore unity amongst the Forces of Chaos in the Long War and drive on Terra to eliminate the Corpse Emperor and regain their place of primacy -- no matter the cost.The Black Legion has recruited countless warbands of every stripe to their cause over the past 10,000 standard years -- though some of these still claim autonomy, they have all bent the knee to Abaddon the Despoiler as the Warmaster of Chaos, and all wear some variant of gold and black in honour of their adopted faction.Many Black Legion warbands worship one of the Chaos Gods above the others, adorning their black battle-plate with icons, trophies and the favoured colours of their patron in the hope of attracting more divine favour -- and perhaps ascending beyond the Black Legion to claim mastery of their own fate as Daemon Princes. Many Traitor Legionaries are counted amongst these hosts, for Abaddon's strength as a leader is impossible to deny.
Black Legion - Thrice-Cursed Traitors: In the long, dark solar decades after the death of their Primarch, the Sons of Horus fragmented. When Ezekyle Abaddon proclaimed himself the new master of the XVIth Legion in the ruins of Maeleum, there were those who turned their back on the Despoiler.These Legionaries either remained true to the memory of Horus or forsook all masters, before vanishing into the depths of the Eye of Terror. Most would disappear from history forever, but some returned to challenge the Black Legion, or in time rejoin its ranks. They are known to the Black Legion as the Thrice-Cursed Traitors:Sons of the Eye - The Sons of the Eye were a splinter warband of the Black Legion. They were led by the infamous Chaos Lord Drecarth the Sightless, the Blind Butcher of Irridous VII. Drecarth was a former Battle-Brother of the Sons of Horus who had fought alongside Abaddon during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy that followed. Always jealous of his Primarch Horus' favour for the Despoiler, the Sons of the Eye considered Abaddon a usurper. When Drecarth broke from Abaddon he had his warriors make a cut across the Eye of Horus sigils they wore on their armour, a symbol of the blindness of Horus that had led his Legion to destruction. During the 6th Black Crusade launched in 901.M36, Abaddon visited his wrath upon Drecarth the Sightless and his treacherous warband. Abaddon aided the Sons of the Eye in an assault on the Forge World of Arkreach, fighting side-by-side until the defenders were finally crushed. The triumphant Abaddon then slowly killed Drecarth, impaling him with the Talon of Horus. As Drecarth died painfully, the Despoiler made him watch every member of the Sons of the Eye bow before their new master.Wolves of Horus - The death of Horus left many veteran Legionaries of the Sons of Horus craving a return to the halcyon days when the XVIth Legion was known as the Luna Wolves. The Wolves of Horus chose to relive those early times, and venerate their dead Primarch by bearing his name.True Sons - Even after Horus' death, his Legion worshipped him as a god, bowing down to his tomb on Maeleum and making daily oaths of loyalty. The warband known as the True Sons never broke with these traditions, even after the destruction of the Primarch's body in the wake of the Slave Wars. Covering their armour in the symbol of the Eye of Horus, the True Sons build effigies of Horus wherever they go, bowing down to them before symbolically burning them.
Black Legion - Chosen of Abaddon: Rather than a single force with a single leader, the Black Legion would become a mighty host of many warbands and warlords. Within this host, all would swear complete allegiance to Abaddon, and through an inner circle, he would lead them with absolute dominion.These favoured lieutenants became known as the Chosen of Abaddon. The Chosen were his favoured generals, standing above all others and enacting his dark will; a warped shadow of the Luna Wolves' Mournival in which he had once served.Nowhere in the galaxy can a more feared and merciless collection of tyrants be found, always eager to put entire worlds to the sword in the name of Chaos. The last recorded deployment of a full Officio Assassinorum Execution Force was against the so-called Chosen of Abaddon. These four individuals were so hated by the Imperium of Man that an entire team of Assassins infiltrated Abaddon's flagship.This was an extraordinary event, for it is rare for even one Assassin to be sent to deal with a threat. Abaddon learned of the impending attack and laid a trap for the Assassins, slaying all four and protecting his Chosen.The Chosen bear an assortment of titles, reflecting their role in a past Black Crusade or honouring particular acts of cruelty for which they are infamous. Their numbers are ever-changing, for Abaddon has little tolerance for failure amongst those who serve him. These four titles include:
Black Legion - Lord Ravager: The Lord Ravager leads the invasion fleets of the Black Crusades and is the admiral of the Black Fleet. It is he who first makes landfall on the surface of an Imperial world about to be ravaged by the Black Legion. The Lord Ravager is always a devotee of Khorne.The Lord Ravager leads Abaddon's ground forces and is always found in the vanguard of the assault.Threxos Hellbreed - Threxos Hellbreed is the current admiral of the Black Legion's Black Fleet and also the new master of the Hounds of Abaddon warband. He replaced the former Lord Ravager, Urkrathos, after that Daemon Prince's death on Cadia. Hellbreed has won great favour with his patron, Khorne, due to his skills at launching ship-to-ship ambushes. He has earned a reputation for initiating spectacular boarding actions.Urkrathos - Within the ranks of the Black Legion are those who are bloody-handed servants of Khorne. Though not a single unified warband within the Black Legion, they are collectively known as the Hounds of Abaddon. Urkrathos, also sometimes called Urkanthos, the former Lord Ravager of the Chosen of Abaddon and commander of the Legion's Black Fleet, claimed all followers of Khorne within the Legion as his own and directed them according to the will of Abaddon. Ironically, Urkrathos, who had become a Daemon Prince after pleasing his patron, the Blood God Khorne, was temporarily slain during the 13th Black Crusade on Cadia itself. He fell just before Cadia's destruction at the siege of Kasr Kraf combatting Saint Celestine and her two Geminae Superia, the Living Saint's protectors, the former Adepta Sororitas Canonesses Eleanor and Genevieve of the Order of Our Martyred Lady. Urkrathos had previously killed both in combat before their resurrection by the power of the Living Saint to serve as her eternal honour guard.
Black Legion - Lord Deceiver: The Lord Deceiver is a powerful Chaos Sorcerer whose esoteric visions of the Warp guide the Black Crusades from star system to star system, so that they might always find their prey, no matter where they hide. The Lord Deceiver is always a devotee of Tzeentch.Ygethmor the Deceiver - Ygethmor the Deceiver, known also as the "Twice Damned" and the "Purgator of Corrialis", is a formidable Sorcerer Lord of the Black Legion. He currently serves as one of Abaddon the Despoiler's lieutenants and a member of his personal retinue, the Chosen of Abaddon as well as one of the commanders of the Sons of the Cyclops warband. Ygethmor is the current Lord Deceiver, whose visions of the Warp lead the Black Crusade from star system to star system. During the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41, the Officio Assassinorum sanctioned the deployment of an assassin team to eliminate Ygethmor, amongst other notable targets in service to the Archenemy. Whilst scrutiny of their field records is impossible, at least seven Assassinorum agents are known to have failed in the attempt to take the life of the Deceiver. Ygethmor led the assault of the forces of Chaos during the campaign known as the Fall of Medusa V in an attempt to become a Daemon Prince. This effort failed and Ygethmor was slain by the blade of the Asuryani Autarch Elarique Swiftblade of Craftworld Alaitoc, and those Champions of the Dark Gods who had followed him were left to their fates on the dying world as Medusa V was consumed by an onrushing Warp Storm. However, death rarely represents an end to the service of a Chaos Lord, if the Dark Gods still have use for him. The galaxy may yet suffer the tread of Ygethmor the Deceiver once more.
Black Legion - Lord Corruptor: The Lord Corruptor is tasked with instilling fear and hatred amongst the Chaos Space Marines of the Black Legion.It is he who spreads fear and corruption before the Black Fleet, and also keeps the lesser warlords of the Legion in line through brutality and terror.He is always a devotee of Nurgle.His trophy rack is adorned with the skulls of failed servants of the Despoiler.Skyrak Slaughterborn - The Chosen of Abaddon lieutenant named Skyrak Slaughterborn, the current Lord Corruptor, leads the warbands of Nurgle within the Black Legion into battle. Collectively known as the Bringers of Decay, they spread their disease and corruption throughout the realms of Mankind. Skyrak is known to have led the large warband of Chaos Space Marines known as the Slaughterkin in the assault on Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade.
Black Legion - Lord Purgator: It falls to the Lord Purgator to ensure that every man, woman and child left alive on a world conquered by the Black Legion is dragged in chains into the hold of the Legion's starships, and that no edifice remains undedicated to the Dark Gods.The Lord Purgator is always a devotee of Slaanesh.Devram Korda - Devram Korda, also known as "The Tyrant of Sarora," is a servant of the Chaos God Slaanesh, the Prince of Pleasure. A former Veteran sergeant of the Sons of Horus Legion, after the events of the Horus Heresy, he rose to prominence and became a Chaos Lord. He became infamous for his blasphemous actions on the doomed world of Sarora, where he distilled the life essence of the citizens of the planet's largest hive city for a single vial of a sorcerous elixir which made him virtually invincible. He eventually became the current Lord Purgator, the individual who ensures the constant flow of slaves into the Black Legion's pens from conquered worlds and raises new edifices to the glory of the Chaos Gods upon them. Korda also commands the Chosen of Abaddon and is one of the leaders of the Children of Torment warband. In the closing days of the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41, Devram Korda returned to his master's side, bringing with him two individuals (later identified as Skyrak Slaughterborn and Urkrathos) who had journeyed to the centre of the Eye of Terror. Together with the Chaos Sorcerer Ygethmor the Deceiver, they presented Abaddon with the Heart of Chaos, a powerful artefact that Zaraphiston, a Chaos Sorcerer and rival Chaos Lord of the Despoiler, had long claimed could not exist.
Black Legion - Legion Homeworld: The XVIth Legion's homeworld, the ancient Mining World of Cthonia, no longer exists, having apparently lost geo-structural integrity and broken apart into asteroids and debris during the centuries following the Horus Heresy. Certainly the once ore-rich planet was riddled with mine workings right through to its dead core as the numerous gangers that formed the majority of the world's population may originally have been imported as work teams to maintain the crumbling tunnels.However there is some conjecture amongst Imperial savants that Cthonia was destroyed deliberately by the Imperium following the end of the Horus Heresy, when the Loyalist Astartes Legions moved to purge the homeworlds of each of the Traitor Legions during the Great Scouring to remove their Chaos corruption.Since the destruction of their fortress on the Daemon World of Maeleum in the Eye of Terror by an alliance of Chaos Space Marines seeking to capture the body of the Warmaster Horus at the insistence of the former Emperor's Children Apothecary Fabius Bile, the Black Legion is no longer based on any particular planet, and is instead stationed permanently on various spacecraft within their large Legion fleet within the Eye of Terror.The Black Legion possesses a single ancient Battle Barge from their original fleet, Horus' own flagship the Vengeful Spirit, as well as other vessels commandeered or captured from the Imperium over the millennia. In particular, many of the oldest Imperial Army starships that rebelled against the Imperium during the Horus Heresy now seem to be under Abaddon's command, along with newer vessels, such as the Planet Killer, he has ordered constructed within the Eye of Terror over the last 10 millennia.
Black Legion - Legion Beliefs: The overriding belief that animated the Astartes of the XVIth Legion prior to Horus' demise was in the ultimate superiority of Horus and themselves over all other beings in the galaxy. In continually seeking to prove themselves as the greatest of the Space Marine Legions, they did indeed achieve more than their fellow Astartes in terms of the sheer numbers of worlds brought into the Imperial fold prior to the Heresy.The Sons of Horus' defeat at the Siege of Terra and exile to the Eye of Terror was a crushing blow to the collective ego of the Legion. It took all the strength of character of their new commander, Abaddon the Despoiler, to restore the Legion's sense of pride and refocus its Astartes on their ultimate goal -- to destroy everything that the Emperor of Mankind created and raise themselves up as the new rulers of the galaxy in the names of the Ruinous Powers of Chaos.
Black Legion - Legion Gene-Seed: The Black Legion's gene-seed, prior to the incident on the Feral World of Davin where Horus was brought back from the brink of death through the power of the the Serpent Temple's Chaos Sorcerers and the corruptive touch of the Ruinous Powers, was perfectly pure and unusually potent, since it was derived from Horus' genome, who was generally considered the greatest of the Primarchs.However, following their corruption by Chaos, the Black Legion's Space Marines started to exhibit random genetic mutations, and it is likely that this taint now affects their gene-seed as it has almost all of the Traitor Legions. The regular practice among the Legion's Astartes of seeking daemonic possession may also have accelerated the effect. However, such mutations are seen as a mark of favour from the Chaos Gods and are generally displayed with pride by Black Legion Astartes.However, it also means that the Legion can no longer produce new Astartes from its own gene-seed to replenish its ranks since the Astartes organs will not properly cultivate or will be so genetically warped as to kill any human male they are implanted within. This inability to replace losses is a problem that afflicts all of the Traitor Legions and drives them to seek out uncorrupted Imperial Space Marine gene-seed stores whenever possible.
Black Legion - Legion Artefacts: Crucible of Lies - It is impossible to describe the Crucible of Lies, for its image is unique to the beholder. One gifted with the witch-sight may perceive it as a rippling cloak saturated with Warp energy; a warrior may see it as an archaic amulet wreathed in baleful psychic flame. Regardless of its appearance, the Crucible of Lies defies natural law to distort the blows of the wearer's enemies, but such power does not come without a price.Eye of Night - One of the artefacts used by Abaddon to take command of the dreaded Blackstone Fortresses, the Eye of Night is a multifaceted obsidian crystal of unknown origin. The slightest caress of the ebon beam it can unleash causes machines to suffer massive power failure or catastrophic internal damage. Not even the thickest armour can resist its malignant touch.Hand of Darkness - An ancient device infused with the atrophying power of the Warp, the Hand of Darkness decays all and everything that its wielder touches. Flesh sloughs from bones and armour is reduced to little more than pools of liquid slag. It was with this fabled artefact that Abaddon finally gained access to the inner workings of the Blackstone Fortresses, before later surrendering it to the Daemon Primarch Mortarion to secure the allegiance of the Death Guard for his Thirteenth Black Crusade.Last Memory of Yuranthos - Mk'ell was a psyker who was responsible for the annihilation of his species, the Yuranthos. The psyker's power was so great that he was torn apart by the Warp energies he wielded, even as his planet's populace was immolated by the resultant firestorm. Unwilling to waste the power of such a talented student, Tzeentch bound the essence of the dying race into a small crystal. One who carries this azure gem can access a fragment of Mk'ell's power and unleash it upon his foes, though not without risk.Skull of Ker'ngar - Ker'ngar was a mighty champion of the Dark Gods long before the Horus Heresy and the rise of the Chaos Space Marines. So masterful was this ancient warrior that he once boasted he could not be killed in battle. Sadly for Ker'ngar, his claim was proven false when Khorne sent forth Skulltaker to challenge the haughty warrior and take his skull. It adorned Skulltaker's cloak for centuries before being replaced. It is said that, despite his defeat, Ker'ngar's indomitable spirit is still bound within the skull and it protects the one who carries it from harm, be it physical or arcane.Spineshard Blade - Believed to have been forged from the spinal column of a mighty Keeper of Secrets, K'alith the Prurient, the Spineshard Blade reverberates with the quivering essence of the daemon's final, lascivious death throes.
Black Legion - Pre-Heresy: As if to mark a break from the wars of the past, the armour that the first warriors of the Space Marine Legions went to war in was cast in storm cloud grey, and bore only the thunderbolt and lightning marks of Imperial Unity. Over time the different Legions gained their own marks of distinction and character, as well as iconic names. When the XVIth Legion was given the epithet of the "Luna Wolves" following the successful First Pacification of Luna campaign, they began to wear pale, off-white ivory coloured Power Armour with black trim.The two renowned squads of the elite 1st Company, the Justaerin and Catulan Reavers, wore black Power Armour, in sharp contrast to the white and later pale green of the rest of the Legion. During this time, the then-Luna Wolves Legion utilised more standardised tactical markings than the later Legion iteration of the Sons of Horus. By the time of the conquest of the Coronid Deeps during the early years of the Horus Heresy, the wolf and moon icons were a rare sight.One avatar of the increasing influence of the Legion's Cthonian brothers was the late reemergence of Cthonian gang-sigils graven into a given Space Marine's armour that recorded his notable kills and deeds, as well as to which company of the Legion they belonged. This was a practice which accelerated rapidly after the XVIth Legion had transitioned into its new identity as the Sons of Horus following the elevation of Horus to the rank of Warmaster.This transition marked not so much a new open brutality in the Legion, but a factor that had always been there and had become more visible as the Legion's panoply finally began to shrug off the influence of Mother Terra. The white of the Luna Wolves turned sea-green, then darkened further to a murky verdigris green-black as the Sons of Horus further cast off the discipline of the Terran traditions of warfare and erred in pride and growling malice towards the dark heart of Cthonia, and its traditions of gang-fiefdom, blood-pride and merciless, incessant conflict.
Black Legion - Tactical Markings and Heraldry: Shoulder Plate Heraldry - The earlier, white-armoured iteration of the XVIth Legion used more standardised tactical markings than the later Sons of Horus. By the time of the conquest of the Coronid Deeps, its wolf and moon icons were a rare sight.Helm Markings - Helm markings were often applied by the bearer and followed formal tactical schemes far less often than amongst other Legions. Cthonian glyphs applied by hand indicated the Legionary had been "blooded" in combat according to the kill-rites of the Cthonian head-hunter gangs.Honourium Armouria - A wide variation of idiosyncratic battle plate was used. Many Legionaries of the Luna Wolves and then the Sons of Horus practiced the Cthonian gang-derived tradition of decapitating defeated enemy champions and dipping the flensed skull in liquid gold as a personal trophy.Battle Plate Armourial Icons - Officers in the Sons of Horus used relatively few markings of rank and when they were required, they tended to be derived from the personal glyphs of senior leaders or an individual company's Captain or Chieftain in line with the traditions of the Cthonian gangs.Dreadnought Armourial Icons - As veterans of numerous campaigns, Dreadnoughts often displayed mementos of their greatest deeds.
Black Legion - Post-Heresy: This colour scheme was retained until Abaddon the Despoiler took command of the Legion's remnants after the end of the Heresy and the Great Scouring. When Abaddon took control of the Sons of Horus he set about making a break with their previous history.Firstly, he cast off the name of their Primarch, rechristening the Sons of Horus as the "Black Legion," so that they could move beyond the failures of the Horus Heresy and repair their tarnished reputation. While he kept the image of the Eye of Horus as the sole reminder of their origins, he ordered his warriors to paint their armour black and strike all other symbols of their past allegiances.This was to serve as both a mark of their shame and their devotion. An ancient symbol of mourning, the black colour honoured their dead Primarch without speaking his name. Equally, it ensured that the former Sons of Horus would never forget their Primarch had failed, and his failure must be drowned in the blood of his foes.More important than a mark of shame, the black of the Legion's armour was part of Abaddon's plan to unify the Traitor Legions for his great war against the Imperium. So potent a symbol has it become that few other warbands of Chaos Space Marines ever wear black armour. It was a clear message that told of a Heretic Astartes' devotion to Abaddon and that he had forsaken all other oaths.
Black Legion - Legion Badge: The XVIth Legion's badge was a wolf's head imposed over an inverted crescent moon when they were known as the Luna Wolves.The Legion badge changed to become a stylised eye over a cross -- the so-called "Eye of Terra," which would later be known as the infamous "Eye of Horus" in the Imperium after the XVIth Legion was renamed the Sons of Horus by the corrupted Warmaster.After the Sons of Horus were reconstituted following the Horus Heresy as the Black Legion, the symbol of the Eye of Horus was retained, however it was now superimposed over the eight-pointed Star of Chaos.
Black Library - Black Library: The Black Library of Chaos, also known simply as the Black Library, is the secret Asuryani craftworld that serves as the Aeldari's repository of forbidden lore concerning the Ruinous Powers that exists somewhere within the labyrinthine passages of the Webway.The Aeldari craftworlds became the only surviving sources of their ancient knowledge of sorcery and the Ruinous Powers of Chaos after the Fall of that species to the birth of Slaanesh.As the craftwords have drifted apart, this knowledge has consequently become fragmented, and as some craftworlds have become lost over the millennia, more precious Aeldari knowledge has been lost with them.The Black Library is governed by a body of the wisest Asuryani Farseers drawn from all of the craftworlds known as the "Black Council." The Black Council is the closest the fractious Aeldari species has come to an advisory body that looks after the interests of the entire race.The Aeldari know more of Chaos than Humanity ever will, and still more was lost when the Aeldari Empire collapsed during the Fall. Yet a single source of Aeldari knowledge has remained untouched and inviolate since the Fall.In a hidden location, some say at the very centre of the Webway -- the Aeldari's network of stable interdimensional tunnels that crosses the galaxy -- rests the tomes, books, scrolls, and codices describing the Aeldari's complete and extensive knowledge of the Warp. The forbidden lore of the Black Library describes the blandishments, influences, forms, creatures, perils, promises, and horrors of Chaos.The existence of the Black Library is known to only a few and entry is allowed to even fewer individuals. The library defends itself against the weak and those who would misuse its knowledge by refusing entry to all except those who have acknowledged and tempered the Chaos within themselves.The immature, who are still vulnerable to the promises and seductions of Chaos, find that they are unable to pass through its gateway. As a result, only the Solitaires of the Aeldari Harlequin troupes are allowed to come and go freely, although some say that a Human, perhaps an Inquisitor, has also been allowed to do so.
Black Library - The Final Act: At the very heart of the Black Library, there lies a silver-lit vault. Therein stands a plinth made of finely graven obstinite, upon which rests a crystalline book said to contain the words of the Aeldari god Cegorach himself.Since the Fall, the tome's covers have remained closed, sealed shut with flickering chains of light. Yet now, long-awaited portents have come to pass. A fallen sorcerer sought and nearly won the lore of the library. A king stirred back to life in his court of death and silence, and rose once more to lead Mankind. As the signs of the Rhana Dandra have come to pass, so the bands of light about the tome have flickered and died.Now, at last, the tome has fallen open following the birth of the Great Rift. Within its pages the Shadowseers have found a script, a secret final act that changes utterly the tale of the Fall. Penned in inks of light and shadow, these words present a slender hope, detailing an intricate, galaxy-spanning performance with the potential to change the fate of the Aeldari species.Always, the strands of fate have pointed toward the victory of Chaos during the last, mythic battle of Creation known to the Aeldari as the Rhana Dandra. Yet within the pages of the crystal tome is recorded Cegorach's ultimate jest, a way to trick Slaanesh into expending all her power not to destroy the Aeldari, but to save them.How such an impossibility could come to pass is unclear, for on this matter the final act is infuriatingly vague. Yet the Harlequins take their god's words on faith alone, for their devotion to Cegorach is total and his methods beyond question or reproach. Thus they have begun the steps of this final dance, and will see it completed, or else face absolute destruction in the attempt.