vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Deathwatch - War Upon the Brink: In the 41st Millennium, the shield of the Deathwatch has been shaken, shivered and brought to the edge of destruction. Never before have so many threats to the fabric of Humanity's realm risen up at one time; never before have so many powerful xenos species sought to take the galaxy for their own. A thousand horrors gnaw and tear at the fabric of destiny, foes old and new emerging to take their chance as Mankind is torn apart by its long and escalating war against Chaos in the Era Indomitus.The Craftworld Aeldari fight for a resurgence ten millennia in the making, taking no prisoners as they seek to burn brightly before the end. Their vile Commorrite cousins, the Drukhari, intend to line their larders of damned souls before the apocalypse breaks, raiding in never-before-seen numbers to leave once-thriving worlds empty of sentient life as their collections of chattel slaves grow ever larger to feed their dark appetite for suffering.The Necron dynasties awake faster than the Deathwatch can put them down, long-buried undying armies lurching to life as ancient overlords attempt to restore a lifeless order to the era of mayhem that greets their awakening. The Orks, a threat long turned upon itself by the Deathwatch's surgical raids, are finally uniting under the prophet of Armageddon, Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. Their green tsunami of violence -- the Great WAAAGH! -- is set to drown the stars.On the Eastern Fringe the tech-savant armies of the T'au Empire expand aggressively, their invention of the ZFR Horizon Accelerator Engine pushing them across the Damocles Gulf to steal worlds from the Imperium at a shocking pace. Further out drift the numberless bio-ships of the Great Devourer, the extragalactic menace that is the Tyranids.Hive Fleets Behemoth and Kraken push the rapacious tendrils of their remaining splinter fleets further coreward with every standard year, leaving nothing but scoured balls of rock in their wake. A dozen others encroach upon the Imperium's borders, their living bio-ships creeping from the void in numbers beyond sane measure. Perhaps it is Hive Fleet Leviathan that should be feared the most, for its splinter fleets emerge from under the galactic core in the Era Indomitus to menace the Segmentum Pacificus and the Segmentum Solar -- the seat of Human civilisation itself.With every standard year more requests are levelled unto the wider Adeptus Astartes by the Deathwatch, citing ancient oaths to claim tithe after tithe. Yet the astropathic messages flow both ways. Hundreds of Chapters are formally requesting their battle-brothers be discharged from their Long Vigils and sent back, despite the tarnishing of their honour that this entails.In this time of woe, every Space Marine is vital in the war against the dark powers that seek to capsize reality itself. Whether Humanity will survive to see in a new age is unknown, but the Deathwatch is fighting with every iota of its strength to ensure it.
Deathwatch - Notable Campaigns: Since the Deathwatch's inception in the mid-32nd Millennium, there have been periods when the Imperium dared to believe it was holding the xenos menace at bay. By dint of countless martyrdoms, this hidden order has kept the segmentae of the Emperor's domain safe. Now, as the Great Rift ravages the galaxy in the Era Indomitus, the stakes of that battle have never been higher.
Deathwatch - Age of the Shield Raised, M32: War of the Beast (544-546.M32) - After the Ork tyrant known as The Beast nearly conquered Terra itself, the High Lords of Terra oversaw the creation of an alien-hunting task force of the Adeptus Astartes. So were the seeds of what will become the Deathwatch first sown.The Primogenitor's Get (Unknown Date.M32) - The Chaos Lord Fabius Bile's experiments in melding alien bioforms to form the perfect attack organism came to an abrupt end when the Deathwatch raided his laboratories, fighting its way through a dozen fleshy hells to put the entire complex to the torch.A Deadly Jest (Unknown Date.M32) - Through manipulation, trickery and a series of precisely executed hit-and-run attacks, a band of Aeldari Harlequins brought the Shantoria System to the brink of a civil war. Their activities were bloodily curtailed when kill-teams out of Fort Prescience cut the xenos off from their Webway portal and slaughtered them.The Hammer of the Deathwatch (Unknown Date.M32) - The Prognosticars of the Grey Knights detected a coming Warp rift in the Endasch Sub-sector. Upon Endasch itself, rival Ork warlords had spilt rivers of gore so copious they were at risk of creating a rift to the Blood God Khorne's own kingdom in the Realm of Chaos. Unable to reach Endasch in time, the Grey Knights sent an astropathic pulse to the Deathwatch. A dozen kill-teams reached Endasch, and slew one of the Ork warlords and his retinue using only Thunder Hammers, Power Mauls and Power Fists. Bludgeoning the enemy to death with crushing weapons proved no mean feat, and it cost the kill-teams a full half of their number. Yet by limiting the blood spilt, the Deathwatch prevented the Warp breach from ever happening. The surviving Ork warlord then led a Greenskin crusade out of the sub-sector. A solar week later, augur beacons traced the Ork crusade into the Eye of Terror, and the matter was considered resolved.The Omega Chamber (Unknown Date.M32) - Aeldari Corsairs raided Fortress Omega, their target the riddle-carved doomsday sphere secured in the complex's null chamber. They discovered the watch fortress better defended than they expected, for though it is small, it houses only Venator Kill-teams. Hundreds of Aeldari raiders were slain before the last of them chanced upon the chamber -- only to find it empty. The doomsday sphere was a myth, misinformation spread to the Aeldari via mercenary contacts of the fortress' Black Shields.Purge of the Ur-Ghuls (Unknown Date.M32) - An Ur-Ghul migration spilled from the thrice-cursed ziggurats of Shaa-dom in Commorragh into realspace. It flowed into the nightmarish Shardmaze, and from there to the Mirrored Palace of Plenitia. When the gangling predators proved strong enough to tear apart the kill-team that hunted them, the Deathwatch Dreadnought Xenomortis was sent to reinforce its battle-brothers. Solar months later, the cybernetic war machine stormed from the ruins of the now-empty Mirrored Palace, every inch of his hull covered in Ur-Ghul blood.
Deathwatch - Watch Fortresses: The Deathwatch is the most vigilant defender the Imperium has to guard its borders. It operates from remote stations known as "watch fortresses," each absent from Imperial records, as to the Deathwatch, obfuscation is another moat with which to keep its castles strong.Each space-borne watch fortress is a sovereign domain ruled by the Space Marine officer known as its "watch commander." On his authority, entire sectors are put to the torch without question. These strikes are so effective that the grand crusades of attrition which typify Humanity's approach to war are made unnecessary -- many growing threats are contained and expunged before the wider Imperium is even aware of them.Each Deathwatch stronghold operates under a shroud of secrecy, standing as a hidden sentinel over a select area of the Imperium's dominion. Some are space-borne void fortresses that monitor a specific threat -- i.e. Castilos Nullifact watches for the rise of the long-slumbering Necron dynasties in the north of the Ultima Segmentum, whereas Fort Pykman monitors the Ghoul Stars and the horrors that lie beyond. Others instead keep watch over a specific area in which aliens have been sighted in great measure.There are those smaller outposts called "watch stations" which house a garrison of only a handful of battle-brothers, whilst the largest of watch fortresses play host to multiple entire Watch Companies, each of which comprises four full kill-teams. Regardless of size, these space stations bristle with weaponry -- islands of sanity and strength in the midst of the endless sea of stars.Since the Great Rift tore the Imperium in two at the start of the Era Indomitus, some watch fortresses have been cut off in the Imperium Nihilus, while others have been engulfed in the fury of Daemonic incursions and empyric turmoil. The watch masters of these fortresses have not despaired, instead exploiting every advantage they can with ruthless efficiency to ensure their Long Vigil continues.
Deathwatch - Watch Stations: The watch stations are fortified outposts used by the Deathwatch throughout the galaxy. There are many watch stations scattered across the worlds, moons, and cold void of the Jericho Reach for instance, and no two watch stations are quite the same. Some take the form of single-blocked, armoured bastions from which eagle-headed gargoyles glare out at the silent expanses of Dead Worlds. Others are complexes of forbidding towers strung through the peaks of lunar mountain ranges, while yet others are small, jagged void stations that watch from the blackness of space, bristling with auspex arrays and seer-webs. No matter their location, all watch stations exist to serve the Deathwatch as bases of operation, and as an ever-vigilant gaze on the Deathwatch's assigned sector of the galaxy.Each station is fitted with highly advanced sensors that constantly gather information about the area around them. These sensors gaze far into space, scour the air for communications of all types, and even skim the Warp with powerful witch-sight augurs. All the information gathered by a watch station is stored in data reservoirs in the heart of the station. When any Deathwatch Space Marine leaves a watch station, it is his duty to take a copy of the information gathered by that station and return it to one of the main watch fortresses for entry into its records. Small, high-speed, Warp-capable vessels known as "Dark Hunters" are designed to slip unseen through the stars while they make their rounds, harvesting each watch station's valuable data.Thus, the Deathwatch sees much that passes in the Jericho Reach and other regions of the galaxy that eludes most others. All watch stations house weapons and materiel caches to some extent; arms that can be accessed by any Deathwatch kill-team that needs them. Many also have extensive medical, analysis, and armoury facilities that any Deathwatch kill-team that needs them can avail themselves of, although to gain the full extent of their use, the specialised skills of an Apothecary or a Techmarine are required.Most watch stations are not physically manned by battle-brothers, except for when they function as a base of operations in the field. Many watch stations can go for solar decades without a battle-brother crossing their threshold.During the normal course of events, watch stations are maintained, operated, and if need be, defended by the finest automated systems the Machine Cult can provide. If a watch station is attacked, its protection can sustain it from all but the most determined and powerful assault. If breached, it will self-destruct, annihilating itself utterly, leaving nothing of its secrets for the enemy. A watch station's greatest defences, however, are the secrecy, remoteness and concealment of its existence.
Deathwatch - The Inquisition and the Adeptus Astartes: For over ten standard millennia, the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes have waged unending war in the name of the Emperor. Largely left to their own devices, the Space Marines are not accustomed to answering to others in matters of war.Chapter Masters are some of the greatest Human leaders in the galaxy and their decisions affect the lives of billions. So when the Inquisition arrives in a warzone or other engagement and begins making demands, it may draw the ire of the Space Marines.While most Astartes recognise -- and even appreciate -- the role that the Inquisition plays in the Imperium, there are other Chapters that are distrustful of the shadowy organisation. Anti-authoritarian Chapters such as the Space Wolves have reservations about any group wielding such unchecked power. Other Space Marines may have issues stemming from personal experiences with particular Inquisitors and decisions they did not agree with.
Deathwatch - Ordo Xenos: The Ordo Xenos is the arm of the Inquisition tasked with defeating the alien in all its forms, and as such it is counted amongst the Deathwatch's foremost allies, as the Deathwatch serves as its official Chamber Militant. The two organisations frequently work side by side, both on the battlefield and in the strategium. There have been times when a watch fortress' commander has been not a Space Marine, but a Lord Inquisitor -- and conversely times when the esoteric forces of the Inquisition have been led by a battle-brother of the Deathwatch.The two organisations do not always see eye to eye. Inquisitors are accorded a great deal of autonomy, and the more Radical members of their order have been known to treat with the alien or even to use xenos weaponry in order to defeat a greater threat. The extreme reaction this engenders in the Deathwatch, which is by nature of a more Puritan bent, has led to bloodshed on more than one occasion.While the Deathwatch is not directly under the command of the Ordo Xenos, it has close ties with that mysterious body and it is the Inquisition that identifies many of the targets and missions for it to undertake. Some kill-teams may question the urgency of a mission to recover a minor xenos when a Tyranid threat looms in the Jericho Reach. Many Space Marines often feel that Inquisitors pursue their own agendas over the safety of civilians and this brings them into conflict.If a kill-team undertakes a mission to bring down a rogue Inquisitor, then the situation has been deemed especially dire. The Inquisition is loath to let anyone -- even the Deathwatch -- know of such a transgression. Any reports of such a mission would be encoded in the highest levels of security and all involved would undertake additional oaths of secrecy.
Deathwatch - Deathwatch Veterans: Even among the mighty Space Marine Chapters, those warriors who live long enough to earn the title of Veteran are uncommon, many falling on the battlefield after only standard years or solar decades of service against overwhelming odds. Unlike the Astra Militarum or the Imperial Navy, where a man might be considered a veteran if he survives his first taste of combat or earns a campaign ribbon, a Space Marine's Veteran status only comes after genuine achievement, and then only at the end of long years of bloodshed and hard-won victory.The Deathwatch is no different, and those battle-brothers who spend their years of secondment fighting the xenos foes of the Emperor are only considered to be doing their duty. Mere survival is not enough for a Space Marine; as the Emperor's favoured sons and chosen warriors, they are expected to acquit themselves well in combat, their foes are expected to die upon their bolt shells and chainswords, and the honour they earn is the honour of their Chapter.To be considered a Veteran of the Deathwatch, a battle-brother must accomplish great and glorious things, and mark himself out as a true instrument of war, above and beyond even the transhuman capability of the Adeptus Astartes.
Deathwatch - Web of Loyalties: It is the duty of all Astartes to serve the Emperor and fight for the Imperium against its many foes, but where battle-brother stands in the great chain of command can become unclear once he has spent Terran years serving the Deathwatch. Ostensibly, while serving in the Deathwatch in the Jericho Reach for example, a battle-brother serves the watch commander and the Chamber Vigilant of Watch Fortress Erioch, which can include the influence of the Inquisitors of the Ordo Xenos.However, at the same time, he retains his loyalties to his own parent Chapter and Chapter Master, while retaining any rank he might have had previously, even though he is no longer under the command of his company or squad commanders.As time passes and the battle-brother spends more time in the service of the Deathwatch, many of these ties change, either weakening or strengthening, and his loyalty can shift to encompass the members of his kill-team while his duty to the Emperor and the Imperium becomes broader and less restricted by the specific teachings of his Chapter cult.This is especially true once he is exposed to the ideas and doctrines of his kill-team members and they have survived many harrowing battles together.It is even possible, though rare, that, after long standard years of service, a Veteran battle-brother can find that this loyalty narrows until he sees himself as a member of the Deathwatch first, and part of his Chapter second. While the battle-brother will always retain a deep connection to his Chapter, long periods of service to the Deathwatch and the secret knowledge he gains about the enemies of the Imperium can make him see his true place as part of a kill-team.His Chapter Master and his Chapter battle-brothers might understand and respect why he would choose to fight for the Deathwatch rather than his own Chapter if they know anything of the nature of the Deathwatch's mission, though it is more likely it will be seen only as divided loyalty.In either case, the chain of command can become blurred for such a Deathwatch Veteran, as the influence of his Chapter recedes and he focuses his efforts against the enemies of the Deathwatch.
Deathwatch - A New Brotherhood: Deathwatch Veterans are also unique among the Adeptus Astartes as one of the few groups in which true alliances can form between battle-brothers of different Chapters. Space Marines who might have little love for one another and only work together grudgingly can, as part of a kill-team, over time, form bonds stronger than even those they share with their Chapter.Living lives of stark seclusion broken only by fierce combat, most battle-brothers come to the Deathwatch only knowing their own kind, having only encountered those different from themselves on the field of battle or from dim, half-remembered memories of their lives before their initiation into the Chapter. Suddenly, they are presented with a variety of different opinions, cultures, and appearances, most of which run counter to what they have learned from their Chapter's battle-brothers.While all the members of their kill-team might share a transhuman physiology, a similar duty to the Emperor and a faith in the Imperium of Man, even minor differences can be troubling. This is even truer of combat doctrine and tactical creed, a subject close to the core of every Space Marine.Many battle-brothers will never completely accept the other members of their kill-team for these reasons and will return to their Chapter with stories of the strange practises of the other Space Marines. Those that become Deathwatch Veterans, however, inevitably adapt to these differences, the better to function as part of their kill-team.
Deathwatch - A Brotherhood Apart: It is a double-edged blade that Deathwatch Veterans, while valued and skilled members of the Deathwatch, might grow apart from their own Chapter. Battle-brothers accept the honour of secondment without question or complaint even though it means leaving their place within their own Chapter and giving up their place beside battle-brothers who have become close companions from many battles.Such is the honour of a secondment that both Chapter Master and Chapter usually only afford it to proven Space Marines, even though it can mean losing such a valued asset to the Deathwatch for standard years. For the chosen battle-brother, leaving his own Chapter behind can be a burden, even though he understands why he has been chosen and is honoured by the chance to prove his worth alongside others of the Adeptus Astartes within the Deathwatch.Even so, the gulf between Deathwatch and the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes can create a wide variety of battle-brothers, changed in small ways by their crossing. Some might come to the Deathwatch eager to prove the superiority of their Chapter, or the strength of their traditions, while others remain resistant to their kill-team, remaining reserved and restrained, doing their duty as dictated by honour and ancient covenant but little more.In one way or another, all battle-brothers conform to this new brotherhood, finding their place within the Deathwatch and seeking out their duty to both Emperor and Imperium. A kill-team is only as strong as its weakest member, and its real strength lies in the bonds of brotherhood it can foster between its battle-brothers.So when a battle-brother comes to the Deathwatch harbouring distrust of other Chapters, or tries to impose his own ideals on other battle-brothers, the kill-team will suffer. However, Space Marines are superhuman warriors and even these weakest of kill-teams are stronger than the most veteran of Astra Militarum squads or elite Tempestus Scions unit could hope to be.This means that for many battle-brothers their time in the Deathwatch will pass with honour as they complete their duty, though they never truly overcome the divisions within their kill-team.Deathwatch Veterans are made up mostly of those battle-brothers who have overcome these differences, or embraced them and turned them to their advantage. They are the battle-brothers which have changed to meet the challenges of the Deathwatch, and created something more within their kill-team than the sum of its parts.
Deathwatch - Deathwatch Combat Doctrine: Deathwatch Space Marines will usually operate in individual battleline squads, known as a "kill-team." Each kill-team is led by an Inquisitor, the watch captain who commands the Watch Company of which it is a part or a Librarian.Their missions range from those undertaken alone and without support to accomplish their goals with minimal combat engagement to outright battle while re-enforcing allied Imperial forces like the Astra Militarum, Sisters of Battle or other Space Marine Chapters against alien incursions.The highly perilous and vital nature of their missions means that Deathwatch kill-teams have access to exceedingly rare or advanced Imperial equipment, such as Heavy Bolter Gyro Suspensors, M.40 Targeters, and numerous types of specialist ammunition, such as the fragmentation Metal Storm shells or the high-powered Kraken penetrator bolts.If the situation offers no alternative, they will utilise advanced xenos weaponry and equipment to accomplish their mission. The Deathwatch often utilises unconventional means of insertion, such as teleportation, high altitude Grav-Chute drops and Leagues of Votann-built Termite tanks.Sometimes, the situation may be more than even a dozen elite Space Marines can handle, and because of this, Deathwatch Space Marines are able to freely requisition any and all Imperial forces they deem necessary to complete their task, from individual brother Space Marines of other Chapters to entire regiments of the Astra Militarum.A member of the Deathwatch speaks with the full authority of the Inquisition and also possess the unlimited (in theory) political authority of that organisation and its servants.
Deathwatch - Deathwatch in the Jericho Reach: The Deathwatch has stood sentinel in the Jericho Reach long before Achilus launched his Imperial Crusade to reclaim that lost sector. For millennia, it has watched, waited, and fought amongst the lost stars and abandoned worlds of the Reach.Its domains have stood since a time now long forgotten and lost to the oblivion of dead history. It has seen worlds conquered by the Imperium fall once again to darkness. Its watch has been a thing of millennia. Ancient secrets, long since locked and sealed, are now open, and there can be no doubt: the hour has come round at last, and the future, so long awaited and dreaded, is here.The domains of the Deathwatch in the Jericho Reach exist to aide it in the Long Watch. These places are held by it and it alone, secret and well-guarded. These domains range from the vast and mysterious Watch Fortress Erioch, which circles a dying star, to the many lesser watch stations standing silent vigil on forlorn worlds, airless moons, and in the dead marches of space throughout the Jericho Reach.These domains best serve the Deathwatch by providing places where they can gaze into the darkness beyond, re-arm, gather information, or (as a last resort) hold the line against the many enemies of Mankind that infest the Jericho Reach. The Deathwatch moves between these secret domains using rapid strike vessels and reconnaissance craft, often unseen by both enemies and allies.
Deathwatch - The Long Watch: The presence of the Deathwatch in the Jericho Reach is the consequence of an ancient resolution and sacrosanct order. Made under conditions of utmost secrecy, this resolution's cause and purpose remain obscure even to those Astartes that carry out its terms.The order's effect, however, was to place the Jericho Reach directly under the eyes of the Deathwatch in perpetuity, through safety and peril, in a cause that overrode all other concerns in the area. To fulfil this compact, the Deathwatch built its hidden watch fortress in the dead system of Erioch on the ruins of an artefact ancient before Humanity first walked the soil of Terra. At the fortress' heart, they constructed the Omega Vault and sealed within it the terrible truths of a future yet to be born.For millennia, the Deathwatch has ensured that some of its number have remained in this dark place, there to stand watch. Their determination has never wavered. Come what may, whether disaster, invasion, or civil war, they have held their watch. The battle-brothers of the Deathwatch have fought and died, have known both victory and defeat, and continue to fight against the myriad enemies that swarm in the Jericho Reach like vermin in a midden.They do so to honour their Long Watch and to guard against the greater darkness to come. The true nature of this secret threat remains hidden from the Deathwatch that bides in the Jericho Reach, hidden until its fated hour approaches. Something of the truth is known by the watch commander and the Inquisitors of the Ordo Xenos admitted into the Chamber of Vigilance.This information has been passed down one to another over the centuries, and that knowledge guides the missions assigned to the Deathwatch of Watch Fortress Erioch. In recent times, portions of the Omega Vault's intricate mechanisms have unlocked themselves, as if in response to changing events in the Jericho Reach and the mission logs entered by the Deathwatch into its antediluvian engines. In some cases, an ancient weapon, device, or task has been revealed to the Deathwatch as a result.In other cases, the Omega Vault has yielded data that has drawn kill-teams to distant parts of the Jericho Reach, sent into certain death, never to return. Watch Fortress Erioch stirs now as never before, and only a few locks remain before the Omega Vault opens fully -- a dire portent, indeed.
Deathwatch - Deathwatch Wargear: The finest wargear the Imperium can provide lines the reliquaries of each watch fortress. Though many of these artefacts are the work of the Adeptus Mechanicus, not even the tech-priests of the Machine Cult know of their true number.The act of technological innovation is tantamount to tech-heresy in the rest of the Imperium, but it is not forbidden within the Deathwatch Chapter. With every new war the Chapter reassesses and fine-tunes its mission tactics, and its equipment is subjected to the same rigorous scrutiny.The weapons these black-armoured warriors bear to war are painstakingly engineered, customised and auto-sanctified to be the bane of specific alien foes. Not a single bolt's potential is wasted; be it filled with bio-acid, volatile promethium or superheated plasma, it will be selected and aimed to do the maximum possible damage to its target upon detonation.Even heavy weaponry and the guns of strike craft can be set to fire different ammunition types or discharge variable energies depending on their target. This is a necessary measure, for kill-teams rarely know the exact composition of the xenos enemies they will be facing, and consider versatility a weapon unto itself. With a small arsenal of military assets at his command, a member of the Deathwatch can theoretically wrest victory from any breed of foe.The suits of power armour found amongst the Deathwatch are amongst the finest of their kind. Many are so ancient and well-respected, they bear names of antiquity, such as Iron Sanctum or the Pride of Lord Varicco. Just as with guns, blades and other weapons, it is up to the initiate whether he continues to use the battleplate he is familiar with from his parent Chapter, or whether he replaces it with a suit tended to by the Deathwatch's own Techmarines.There is no uniformity enforced upon this order save the Chapter colours -- the only real dogma is that the battle-brother maximises his own effectiveness in the field. It is not uncommon to find a kill-team where every member bears a different suite of weapons to war, even to the extent that some use Jump Packs or ride rugged Assault Bikes into the fray whilst their brethren go on foot.Though many of the Chapter's tools of battle resemble advanced versions of those used by their fellow Adeptus Astartes, there are far stranger and more exotic relics of battle available to them.The war vaults of the Deathwatch contain everything from oversized Thunder Hammers designed to slay alien giants to stasis bombs that use time itself as a weapon. Some even contain doomsday warheads of mass destruction that can set an entire world aflame -- many are weapons of last resort, but the Deathwatch does not hesitate in their use.
Deathwatch - Example Deathwatch Warrior: To the right is an image of a standard Firstborn Deathwatch 1st Company Veteran seconded from the Howling Griffons Chapter.Warriors like him have provided the core of all Deathwatch Chapter forces for many millennia. The numbers in the image correspond to the numbered description below.Parent Chapter Icon - When a battle-brother ritually repaints his power armour's colours to those of the Deathwatch, he keeps his former Chapter icon upon his right shoulder guard as a mark of honour to the Chapter that fashioned him into a warrior of such Veteran skill, and to prevent the Machine Spirit of his armour from being insulted.Mark VIII Errant Power Armour - The Mark VIII Errant Pattern battle-plate found in use among many of the battle-brothers of the Deathwatch is unusual in that it is the rare pattern of Firstborn power armour that was created after the Horus Heresy, incorporating some innovations gained in the centuries after the defeat of Horus. In addition to the improvements made to all Mark VIII suits such as better protection for the armour's front-mounted power cabling and the addition of a neck guard to prevent deflection of enemy fire into the helmet, some suits bear backpack-mounted auspicator lenses to better improve the processing of data prescience (improved sensor functionality and fidelity).Artifex Pattern Bolter - The Artifex Pattern Bolter wielded by this Deathwatch Veteran is amongst the most potent of its kind. It is fitted with multi-spectral augur lenses, a silacharibdis shot selector to choose Deathwatch specialist bolt ammunition (see below) and a gene-grip  bioveritor that ensures the weapon can only be fired by the touch of the Space Marine whose DNA matches what the weapon's Machine Spirit (artificial intelligence) expects.Bioscryer Cuff - The right forearm of a Deathwatch battle-brother's power armour can bear a complex monitron relay that allows the wearer to analyse the hostility of the local environment to Human life -- and his own vital signs -- at the touch of a command rune and have the data presented to his helmet's auto-senses.Deathwatch Iconography - The heraldic icon of the Deathwatch Chapter seen on this Veteran Space Marine's left knee plate shares its origin with that of the Inquisition in the original personal seal of the Regent of Terra Malcador the Sigillite, for they too must bear the duty of constant vigilance, merciless judgement and excruciation of all those who would do harm to the Imperium, whether from within the Imperium, without, or even beyond the confines of reality itself.
Deathwatch - Special Issue Bolter Ammunition: The Deathwatch uses shot selectors and bolt harnesses that hold specialist bolt rounds. From bolts that douse their targets in acid to hollow shells filled with superheated gas, each type is designed to eliminate specific xenos foes.The self-propelled projectiles that complement the Deathwatch's bolters are each tiny masterpieces of war. Hand-crafted by munitions-artificers and thrice-blessed in fonts of Ecclesiarchy holy water, certain shells are worth as much as an Imperial city. To waste even a single such bolt would be a groiss sin, and the Deathwatch ensures that every shot they fire using such ammunition counts.Dragonfire Bolt - Dragonfire Bolts are highly pressurised hollow shells that contain a violently combustible, super-heated gas that explode to saturate foes in cover. Designed to detonate in pyrotechnic air bursts, these bolts make a mockery of cover and slaughter large masses of lightly armoured foes en masse.Kraken Bolt - Kraken Bolts utilise an adamantium core to provide them with additional weight and stopping power and use an improved propellant to penetrate the thickest xenos hides.Hellfire Round - Hellfire Rounds house a crystalline reservoir of tailored bio-corrosives that douse their targets in voracious bio-acids that are particularly good at dissolving Tyranid chitin and other xenos from the inside out.Vengeance Round - As their name suggests, Vengeance Rounds were developed for use against the Heretic Astartes of the Traitor Legions. Vengeance Rounds employ unstable flux core technology that makes them hazardous to use, but incredibly effective against armoured targets, whether Chaos Space Marines or xenos alike.Derevenant Shells - Developed by Deathwatch survivors from Fort Volossia, these bolts contain a cyclic temporal core found to disrupt Necron reanimation long enough for their remains to vanish entirely, thus removing them from the fight.Helspears - Many are the entities -- xenos and otherwise -- that hide behind the Warp's corrupting power. Sheathed in a proscribed material, these bolts can pierce their hellish psychic defences.Tempest Bolts - Seething with barely-constrained voltaic wrath, these bolts detonate in a crackle of coruscating electrical energy that worms its way into every delicate system of enemy war engines.Metal Storm Frag Shells - Replacing the usual mass-reactive tip of a standard explosive bolt with a proximity detonator, these bolts erupt in a blizzard of slicing shards that are particularly effective against massed enemy infantry.Thermic Pentrator Rounds - Supplemented by thermic acceleration, these bolts are released at hyper-velocities that result in near-instant hits, increasing their accuracy and armour-penetration capabilities.Inertial Fusion Bolts - A series of micro vacuum wells collapse on detonation of this bolt. Like a crushing fist, they violently implode and cause horrendous, gaping craters in whatever they penetrate. This is particularly useful against xenos who possess regenerative capabilities or of a particularly large size.
Deathwatch - Armour: Artificer Armour - The suits of Artificer Armour worn by the officers of the Deathwatch are collectively the most advanced in active use. Though these suits are as compact and self-contained as the more common marks of power armour, they have been embellished and improved upon by successive generations of artificers until they provide a level of protection surpassed only by the larger and more restrictive Terminator Armour. Each is a work of art in its own right, treated and ornamented in the Chapter's specialist armourium to fit the wearer like a glove. Upon its panels are the diverse honours and scrollworks of the armour's owner, whilst beneath its layered ceramite are hidden sources of indomitable stamina and strength.Deathwatch Scout Armour - Based on the Scout Armour fielded by all Space Marine Chapters, Deathwatch Scout Armour is a lightweight, non-powered suit of armour modified by Watch Fortress Erioch Deathwatch armourers specifically to suit the needs of their unique mission. Similar to the armour worn by sniper Scouts of Chapters like the Raven Guard, Deathwatch Scout Armour is composed of a hardened ceramite chestplate that covers the Space Marine's torso, shoulders and groin area worn over a reinforced body glove. Armoured, elbow-length gauntlets protect the wearer's hands, while heavily reinforced, ceramite-toed Grox-hide boots keep his feet safe and dry. Since Deathwatch Scout Armour is essentially a half-suit over a form-fitted body glove, and is made of light materials, it does not hinder the wearer's movement and allows him to retain his natural agility and stealthiness while still providing excellent protection. This armour is often worn in conjunction with Cameleoline Cloaks.Terminator Armour - Terminator Armour, also known as Tactical Dreadnought Armour, is the toughest personal armour in the Imperium. Massively bulky, it contains not only sophisticated sensors and teleport integrators but a full exoskeleton arrangement of fibre bundles and adamantium rods to support the heavy gauge plasteel and ceramite plates that form the outer carapace.
Deathwatch - Deathwatch Vehicle Equipment: Auspex Array - The Corvus Blackstar bears arrays of sensor equipment that contain Vigilus-class Machine Spirits (artificial intelligence routines). Acting much as the auspexes borne by those Space Marines that hunt the alien across the battlefields of the Imperium, these arrays use wide-spectrum strafe readers to detect the presence of hostile life forms and war engines.Blackstar Cluster Launcher - The Corvus Blackstar has two rear-mounted Grenade Launchers, allowing the pilot to sow a hailstorm of munitions in his wake as he strafes his primary targets. The launcher is capable of firing either crater-chewing frag clusters or a matrix of infernus grenades that leave burning promethium in the Blackstar's wake.Blackstar Rocket Launcher - The pugnacious silhouette of the Corvus Blackstar heralds a barrage of missiles, each selected the moment before firing to maximise the destruction it wreaks. Whether air-to-air missiles guided to blast enemy aircraft from the skies or warheads designed to turn a strafing run into a violent visitation of hellfire, these munitions are delivered with pinpoint accuracy and perfect timing.Ceramite Plating - These hull plates are thrice-blessed by the Chapter's Deathwatch Techmarines and anointed with the seven sacred unguents of thermic warding to protect against the extreme conditions of orbital re-entry. Such precautions also serve to thwart the fury of certain xenos weapons, absorbing and dispersing even the most extreme temperatures and microwave emissions.Deathwind Launcher - Deathwind Launchers are fitted to some Drop Pods to provide a level of anti-infantry fire support to their passengers, giving them the precious seconds they need to secure a perimeter.Stormstrike Missile - When the Stormstrike Missiles borne by the Corvus Blackstar detonate, they do so with the force of a thunderclap, ripping open their targets and stunning those lucky enough to survive.Frag Assault Launchers - The hulls of Land Raider Crusaders and Land Raider Redeemers are studded with explosive charges designed to blast clouds of shrapnel into the enemy as the tank closes in and the troops inside it charge out.Infernum Halo-launcher - When a Corvus Blackstar comes under attack from enemy flak, missiles, or biological equivalents, the pilot will deploy a complex spread of sanctified flares and decoys from its Infernum Halo-Launcher. These fan out around the Blackstar like the white-feathered wings of an angel from Terran myth, baffling and intercepting the incoming xenos munitions.Locator Beacon - Locator Beacons are often mounted onto Drop Pods and Corvus Blackstars. They provide a system of signalling packages, broad-spectrum communicators, and geo-positional trackers. When activated, the beacon uploads detailed positional information to the Watch Captain's tactical grid, allowing precision reinforcement from the second wave of the attack.
Deathwatch - Xenopurge Discipline: Deathwatch Librarians can be taught an additional psychic discipline in addition to the disciplines they have mastered within their own Chapters such as the Librarius or Obscuration Disciplines. The Xenopurge Discipline has been crafted over the centuries by Deathwatch psykers to prove especially useful in defeating the xenos menace.Deathwatch Epistolaries are able to enhance these abilities even further than their lesser-ranked brethren, often increasing the range, number of targets and potency of the psychic effects of this discipline.Premorphic Resonance - The psyker peers into the timeless eddies of the Warp, seeing future echoes of whatever sinuous, scuttling or bounding movements the xenos enemy will make before imprinting this foreknowledge into the minds of his battle-brothers to better guide their aim and increase their accuracy against the foe.Fortified with Contempt - Fanning the fires of the Deathwatch's hatred into an inferno of contempt, the psyker instils a feeling of such vehement disgust in his battle-brothers that they shrug off the direst of injuries in their determination to exact their Long Vigil's vow.Neural Void - The psyker assails the target with a void-black darkness upon their minds, woven from psychomantic shadow. Mental cohesion and coordination begin to break down, orders become garbled and impetus and morale are blunted.Psychic Cleanse - Before the empyric might of the psyker, teeming throngs of lesser minds are swept aside in a Warp-fuelled purgation that purifies and slays the unclean.Mantle of Shadow - The psyker draws a shadow over his allies, shrouding their presence from enemy physical senses and assuring the completion of priority missions without detection.'Severance - The psyker has trained his powerful mind to single out enemy entities from which xenos foes gain their strength, snipping their influence with his razored thoughts. In an instant, commanding screeches fade to whimpers, inspiring presences falter and physical or telepathic communications vomit forth babbling nonsense.
Deathwatch - Librarians: Andreas, Librarian - Andreas was the Deathwatch Astartes who believed that the pulsing, expanding Van Grothe's Rapidity was acting as a beacon for the Tyranid forces that were enroute to Medusa V.Ashok, Librarian of the Angels Sanguine - Ashok once served with his Chapter in a campaign against the Tyranids on the planet Hegelian IX. At the time, he was deployed with the Angels Sanguine's Death Company into the planet's catacombs in order to pursue the fleeing xenos, where he and his comrades succumbed to the terrible effects of the Black Rage. Before he was able to regain control of himself, he had killed three of his battle-brothers. For the next three years, he became strapped to the Tablet of Lestrallio in his Chapter's fortress-monastery, where he faced the nightmares caused by the Rage. After he emerged from this state, Ashok was presented with the Shroud of Lemartes as a symbol of his mastery over the Black Rage. Though he had successfully managed to deal with the effects of the Black Rage he continued to combat the signs. Ashok was later seconded to the Deathwatch, where he served under the command of Captain Quirion Octavius. Librarian Ashok later deployed with his kill-team, under the command of Inquisitor Kalpysia, to deal with a splinter Tyranid Hive Fleet on the planet Herodian IV. He is the only known Librarian to have taken on three Tyranid Zoanthropes and survived.Atreus, Librarian of the Blood RavensBrytnoth, LibrarianImtehan , Librarian of the Flesh Tearers - Imtehan was a member of Kill-team Artemis, which participated in the defence of the Kurbynola System.Lyandro Karras, Codicier of the Death Spectres - Karras served as a field leader for Kill-team Talon. His call-sign was Talon Alpha, but amongst his fellow Deathwatch members he was referred to as "Scholar."Shaidan, Librarian of the Mantis Warriors - Shaidan was a "Penitent", one of the Mantis Warriors who was still serving the century-long penance for their shameful actions in the Badab War. Shaidan and some of his battle-brothers served alongside the Deathwatch unofficially in the defence of Herodian IV against a splinter fleet of Tyranids. Shaidan heroically sacrificed himself and was posthumously inducted into the ranks of the Deathwatch.Zadkiel, Epistolary of the Dark Angels - Epistolary Zadkiel is a powerful and honoured Librarian of the Dark Angels Chapter who trained under Ezekiel, the Dark Angels' Grand Master of Librarians, and was seconded to the Deathwatch and rose as a prominent leader in the Acheros Salient of the Jericho Reach. His potent psychic abilities have banished Daemons without number, shrieking back into the Warp, and his Force Staff has reaped a bloody tally against the Heretic hordes of the Cellebos Warzone.
Deathwatch - Apothecaries: Damias, Apothecary of the Raven Guard - Damias served as a member of a Deathwatch kill-team led by Captain Bannon. The team was summoned to the defence of Tarsis Ultra in the late 41st Millennium to assist the Lord Inquisitor Kryptman in combating the Tyranids from Hive Fleet Leviathan. Damias continued to serve the team after Ultramarines 4th Company's Captain Uriel Ventris assumed control of the team after Bannon's death before the kill-team's assault on the last remaining Hive Ship in orbit around Tarsis Ultra. Damias fought valiantly on the way to the Norn-Queen's chamber, and was one of the few surviving members of the kill-team. He was instrumental in saving Ventris' life after the latter was severely injured by the Norn Queen, keeping Ventris alive long enough for him to be transferred back to Tarsis Ultra for more extensive medical treatment.
Deathwatch - Chaplains: Broec, Chaplain of the Black Templars - Broec was killed in action while defending Herodian IV against a splinter Hive Fleet of the Tyranids.Luthar, Chaplain of the RevilersVigilant, Chaplain - A mysterious Space Marine of unknown origin, this Black Shield joined the Deathwatch under auspicious circumstances. Nevertheless, Vigilant continues to operate from Watch Station Andronicus in the Jericho Reach, departing frequently with itinerant kill-teams venturing deeper into space contested by the T'au.
Deathwatch - Techmarines: Harl Greyweaver, Iron Priest of the Space Wolves - Harl Greyweaver is an Iron Priest of the Space Wolves Chapter. He has been the Forge Master of Watch Fortress Erioch since his predecessor answered a summons to serve the Achilus Crusade a decade ago. While the influence of Greyweaver's time in the unorthodox halls of the Deathwatch shows in his Servo-Harness and other small deviations from the traditions of the Iron Priests of Fenris' Isles of Iron, he is not nearly as compliant with the teachings of Mars as many of the Techmarines who serve under him wish.MacKrentan, Senior Techmarine of the Storm Wardens - A member of the Storm Wardens Chapter from the Calixis Sector, the Senior Techmarine is a fervent follower of the Machine God and a master craftsman known throughout the Watch Fortress for his skill as a weapon-monger. An unpopular and radical member of Watch Fortress Erioch's forges, this Senior Techmarine is known, and widely avoided, for his taste for xeno-tech devices, and will do everything in his power to collect these cursed items. It is also widely known that there is an ongoing feud between MacKrentan and Forge Master Greyweaver, whose fervent hatred of alien technology puts him at frequent odds with the iconoclastic Senior Techmarine.Keilor, Techmarine of the Doom EaglesKorpheus, Techmarine of the Raven GuardSulphus, Iron Father of the Red TalonsFelbaine, Techmarine of the Novamarines - Felbaine accompanied Kill-team Courlanth's mission against the Drukhari Kabal of the Crimson Blossom and was incapacitated by the Haemonculus Maelik Toir and taken into the Webway with the rest of his kill-team, necessitating a risky Assault Terminator strike by Watch Captain Ska Mordentodt.