vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Drukhari Wargear - Grisly Trophies: Main article: Grisly TrophiesSome Drukhari vehicles are adorned with the disembodied heads of slain foes and daubed with copious amounts of enemy blood. The sight of the festering remains of once-proud foes instils the Drukhari with arrogant pride.
Drukhari Wargear - Night Shields: Main article: Night ShieldThe vehicle is covered by a broad-spectrum displacement field, enveloping it in cold and inky darkness. Foes find the vehicle hard to target, hidden as it is within a cloak of roiling shadow.
Drukhari Wargear - Torment Grenade Launchers: Main article: Torment Grenade LauncherSome Drukhari skimmers incorporate hull-mounted launchers that send barbed grenades spinning into the ranks of the foe. Each grenade spews out an ochre cloud of phantasm gas that causes abject terror in the minds of those nearby.
Drukhari Wargear - Shock Prow: Main article: Shock ProwThe shock prow is an energised ram that sends out a directional wave of electromagnetic force, allowing the skimmer to carve its way through infantry and even shatter the heavy hulls of enemy vehicles.
Drukhari Wargear - Splinter Racks: Main article: Splinter RackSome Drukhari vehicles carry additional racks of anti-personnel weaponry on their decks. This allows passengers to quite literally empty their weapons' magazines in great raking fusillades, before discarding their spent guns in favour of fully-loaded replacements.
Drukhari Wargear - Sources: Codex: Drukhari (8th Edition), pp. 108-111Codex: Dark Eldar (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 200-232Codex: Dark Eldar (5th Edition), pp. 56-63Codex: Dark Eldar (3rd Edition, Revised), pp. 14-15Codex: Dark Eldar (3rd Edition)Dark Eldar: Datacards (7th Edition)Haemonculus Covens - A Codex: Dark Eldar Supplement (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 110-112
Drusus - Drusus: Drusus was a Lord General Militant of the Astra Militarum and the second leader of the Angevin Crusade that conquered the Calyx Expanse in the Segmentum Obscurus and founded the Calixis Sector for the Imperium of Man in the early 39th Millennium.Drusus was initially a subordinate commander to Lord General Militant Golgenna Angevin who first led the Angevin Crusade which had been named for him. But after Angevin's mental breakdown, Drusus took de facto command of the waning Imperial Crusade against the Chaos-corrupted xenos race known as the Yu'Vath and their allies.After he had gained the political favour of the High Lords of Terra, jealous rival Generals of the crusade attempted to kill the rising star with assassins. Though supposedly slain during their attempt, Drusus was seemingly resurrected as a Living Saint, leading many to believe that he also held a special place in the eyes of the Emperor of Mankind.As a result, Drusus was formally granted full command of the crusade by the Senatorum Imperialis and led a new, massive offensive that saw the final destruction of the Yu'Vath and the establishment of Imperial settlement in what became the Calixis Sector. Drusus is hailed as a great hero and Imperial Saint across the Calixis Sector to this day.
Drusus - History: In 322.M39 Praetor Golgenna Angevin, a powerful noble from the Terran Court, was raised to the rank of Lord General Militant in the Astra Militarum and granted a writ from the High Lords of Terra to persecute an Imperial Crusade to liberate and dominate the area of space designated as the Calyx Expanse.His crusade's forces were drawn principally from the Segmentum Solar and numbered over 17 million levied troops who were divided into 4 battle groups and a strategic reserve, re-enforced by elements of the Titan Legios Venator and Magna, as well as the Black Templars, Tigers Argent, Sons of Medusa and Charnel Guard Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes and a significant Imperial Navy deployment drawn from the Battlefleets Solar and Obscurus.A score of Rogue Trader and Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator fleets ranged ahead of the main Imperial forces, identifying targets and providing active reconnaissance in this dangerous region of space. Swelling the force's already vast ranks were tens of thousands of "pauper warriors" of the Frateris Militia whipped up into a frenzy of holy zeal by the Ecclesiarchy and innumerable petty hangers-on, opportunists and logistical transports, with supply trains leading back whole sectors away from the front.Using the well-established Frontier World of Sinophia as its forward staging post and marker, the crusade's main thrust was launched like an armoured fist into the heart of the Calyx Expanse across the Periphery in a two-pronged assault directed towards two prominent star systems where Rogue Traders had long-established pro-Imperial human contact: Malfi and Solomon.
Drusus - The Reaping of the Emperor's Wrath (341-545.M39): Having strongly established and fortified two salients of conquered Imperial territory into the Calyx Expanse, with their domains now anchored on the worlds of Solomon and Malfi, as well as defeating three minor xenos empires and innumerable other non-Compliant forces in the prior twenty years of fighting, the Angevin Crusade paused for fortification and entrenchment of its gains from 341 until 545.M39 before the next stage of conquests begins.The crusade was then granted a fresh influx of troops by the High Lords of Terra in recognition of its success (and the wealth already pouring into Imperial coffers from their conquests), in order to press on.Seizing the moment, the crusade forces carried out the greatest single sweep of conquests in the conflict as the two-pronged assault from the salient's arms swept together conquering as many worlds in the pace of four Terran years as had been taken in the proceeding two solar decades.These conquests formed the territory later known as the Golgenna Reach sub-sector in a campaign that was called by Imperial chroniclers the "Reaping of the Emperor's Wrath."Of the many famous victories of this campaign, one of the most lauded belonged to the young General Drusus, who took the War World of Iocanthos in a single solar week, overthrowing a great and baleful tyranny there, while perhaps the most infamous was the Exterminatus of the world of Amun'an Morrus, whose once-Human population of intelligent machines was judged too tainted by tech-heresy to continue to exist.Such horrors are attested to on this world that after its destruction its former location is stricken from all Imperial records, only to live on as a dark Calixian legend.
Drusus - Golgenna Consolidation (353-558.M39): With the first and second great phases of its vast operation complete, (and partly owing to battle fatigue after 30 standard years of crusade), Lord Militant Angevin's forces consolidated their hold of what was more than 200 captured worlds, and shepherded the arrival of the first wave of Imperial colonisation to the areas they controlled.During this period of relative peace, several notable regiments of the Astra Militarum who had earned great glory in the campaign (such as the Brontine Centurions) were given rights of settlement to their own worlds, while several attached forces (like the elements provided by the various Astartes Chapters) rotated out of the crusade's service.
Drusus - Second Front is Opened (359.M39): The Angevin Crusade's third great push began with a freshly raised army group gathered from the core worlds of the Segmentum Obscurus, under the command of the Imperial Navy's High Admiral Vaakkon who opened a second front. The new army group to enter the crusade assaulted the Calyx Expanse from the segmentum's coreward regions, with the goal of linking up with Angevin's own forces who advanced from Golgenna to meet them.This phase of the campaign proved disastrous, as worsening conditions in the Warp and a series of calamities and reversals beset the Imperial forces, and when the fleets finally met in 363.M39 at the world of Orendal the Imperial losses of the last four years nearly equalled that of the first two decades of the crusade.Angevin commanded the world of Orendal be transformed into a shrine to honour the fallen dead and then he ordered a retreat. Some say that after this time Angevin is a man broken in will and purpose.The crusade's forces withdrew to the interior of the Golgenna Reach, and Angevin devolved command of his armies to his senior generals and admirals with mixed success, as with no clear line of authority factionalism and bitter rivalries started to appear in the ranks of the crusade.
Drusus - The Bleak Years (363-369.M39): With the Angevin Crusade's forward impetus stalled, its domains began to come under repeated and sustained attack from without, weathering the storms of an Ork WAAAGH!, and the privations of xenos corsairs and raiders whose assaults claimed the lives of millions.Signs and omens were everywhere; a burning black fire was seen in the skies of the world of Lossal Prime days before all contact with the thriving Imperial colony world was lost, the wreckage of an entire overdue re-enforcement battle group out of Akurion was discovered by piquet ships operating on the fringes of the Ha'az'Roth region and plagues decimated the worlds of the Malfian Holdfast.Rebellions and cult activity rose to threaten what were thought to be stable worlds and assassins claimed the life of Arch-confessor Melcher El, the crusade's spiritual leader and Ecclesiarchy adviser.Worsening political rivalries between the crusade's generals and Imperial Commanders break out into petty conflicts. Betrayals and a wave of outright distrust between the crusade's leaders allow matters to deteriorate further.For the first time the crusade's gains began to be lost, and the Imperial forces were stretched increasingly thin in their defence of the new realm. Morale problems and discord grew in the ranks.Only the fleets of the Rogue Traders Sibylline Haarlock and Ludd Sabrehagen provided the rapid transport and redeployment needed to support the brilliant and daring counterattacks of General Drusus' army group against the Warp-worshiping xenos species known as the Yu'Vath and their debased Human allies which prevent the entire Malfian region from collapsing and leaving the crusade's conquests wide open for assault.Drusus was widely acclaimed as a saviour but many powerful figures in the crusade viewed him as a dangerous warmonger, rival and would-be usurper.
Drusus - Transfiguration of Drusus (367.M39): According to some sources, betrayed by agents of his rivals among Lord General Militant Angevin's generals, Drusus was attacked by a deadly assassin whilst rallying his depleted forces on the world of Maccabeus Quintus and was seemingly slain, before rising again -- an event many see as a true miracle and a clear mark of the Emperor's favour.The newly established Drusine sect of the Imperial Cult begins to flourish in his shadow, already revering him as a Living Saint, while shadowy agencies, some say belonging to the Ordo Malleus of the Inquisition, also bring new aid to his forces in the persecution of the Yu'Vath and their Human allies (which include Traitors within the Imperium's own ranks).Almost by sheer force of personality and by independently rallying much of the crusade's forces to his own banner with tacit backing from the wider Imperial powers (including the involvement of a sizable force from the Iron Hands Astartes Chapter), Drusus orders the launch of the Angevin Crusade's third and final phase of conquests.This campaign succeeded in destroying the powers that controlled much of what would later be known as the Drusus Marches Sub-sector in General Drusus' honour, laying waste to as many worlds as he dominated.
Drusus - Great Founding (370-610.M39): Mass colonial expeditions from the overpopulated worlds of the distant Segmentum Solar, and from nearer afield in the troubled Mandragora and Gehenna Sectors arrive within the fledgling Calixis Sector, creating a great influx of Human population to the region.
Drusus - Death of Angevin (372.M39): Lord General Militant Golgenna Angevin died at his palace on the world of Quaddis. Though the official cause of death was listed as natural causes, rumours lay his decline in health on advanced old age and a surfeit of fine living.Darker stories persist of the Officio Assassinorum's hand in matters as punishment for his later failings in the prosecution of the Angevin Crusade.Drusus is named lord general militant by wide acclaim in Angevin's stead (with the political support of both the Departmento Munitorum and the Inquisition) and as soon as a state period of mourning for the late Angevin is over, Drusus immediately set to re-forging the region's military forces for a final counterattack into the regions of the Adrantis Nebula and the remaining strongholds of the Yu'Vath Hell Worlds.
Drusus - Grant of The Lathes (380.M39): In recognition of their invaluable assistance and heavy losses in the purging of the taint of the Adrantians, as well as their service to the Angevin Crusade in solar decades past, Drusus grants the Lathe System to be the sole domain of the Adeptus Mechanicus in perpetuity, and ratifies their claims to several other worlds and rights of free and unchecked passage through the stars the crusade has conquered.By this act, the lords of Mars were bound in strength both to the fledgling sector and to Drusus' own banner.
Drusus - Birth of the Calixis Sector (384.M39): With the final defeat of the xenos known as the Yu'Vath and the Bale Childer, and the Exterminatus of their homeworlds, the final serious organised resistance to Imperial rule in the Calyx Expanse ends and Drusus declares the Angevin Crusade to be complete.Drusus is installed with full rights and title by the Equerry Primaris of the High Lords of Terra as the first Lord Sector Calixis to much acclaim. Amongst his first acts are the confirming of the world of Scintilla as his sector capital, the ratification of the great trade charters for the new sector's mercantile shipmasters and rising commercial powers that had maintained the crusade.This binds the new sector's life blood of trade and creates what would become the great Chartist families and first great Calixian noble houses.His other achievements include the creation of the sector's great legal code, the Corpus Presidium Calixis and the instillation of a Calixian branch of the Holy Synod of the Adeptus Ministorum at Tarsus on Scintilla.The full effective pacification of the sector will continue to consume much blood and treasure of the Imperial war machine for a further three Terran centuries to come.
Drusus - Death of Drusus (417.M39): The first and greatest Lord Sector Calixis dies and is succeeded by Marshal Corin Shultus in 417.M39, his former aide-de-camp and distant kinsmen to the late Golgenna Angevin.The final resting pace of Drusus' mortal remains is kept a secret, although rumours circulate that he was taken back to Maccabeus Quintus to be interred at the site of his first "death."Mass lamentation and political unrest accompany the news of his passing and the entire sector undergoes a seven-year cycle of mourning.
Drusus - Beatification of Saint Drusus (502.M39): After nearly a standard century of deliberation the Holy Synod of Terra confers Imperial Sainthood on Drusus, whose cult and dogma had already flourished within the Calixis Sector and become a dominating factor in the local Calixian sect of the Imperial Cult.
Drusus Shrine World - Drusus Shrine World: The Drusus Shrine World, also known as Sentinel, stands at the rimward limits of the Calixis Sector and is dedicated as an Ecclesiarchy Shrine World to Saint Drusus. An elementally poor world, dominated by bleak dust bowls and salt-deserts, it supports, thanks to the ships of the Chartists, a population of Imperial pilgrims who maintain the Drusus Shrine: a five-thousand-metre-tall structure of ouslite and rockcrete located in the southern hemisphere.The Drusus Shrine is the only significant artificial structure on the planet. There, high up in the draughty reaches of weathered stone, burns the eternal flame of Drusus, ministered to by the flocks of pilgrims, most of whom come to Sentinel to die. The standard of living is low on this bleak world and there is no system of government or order apart from the rubrics of the Imperial Creed.Outside the Drusus Shrine -- "beyond the shadow" as local slang has it -- life is a fringe existence, to say the least. Endless, waterless deserts of dust and calcification stretch out to the very edges of the planet. Jettison collectors and scavengers may be found in the vast salt-licks but they are transient. A well supplied man might last twenty days in the barrens of this harsh world.However, Sentinel is a world that draws visitors and explorers. Foremost are the pilgrims, those wishing to abase themselves at the foot of Drusus' Shrine. For many, this is an act of suicide. Voyaging to the Shrine World is vastly expensive and passage is hard to procure. Even if you get there, there is no guarantee of a return ticket. The licks beneath the shrine are littered with desiccated bones and mummified remains, sometimes in a thick carpet.It is said that in the outer bowls of Sentinel, a man may find visions and answers. This rumour has undoubtedly arisen from the mind-altering effect of the emptiness and the heat. Even so, pilgrims come to the shrine and then head off, on foot, into the bleakness, in search of spiritual illumination. Any short ride by land car or flier from the Drusus Shrine will reveal tortured bones lying in heaps at the end of long footprint trails that the wind has never erased. "Walking into silence" is what the shrine priests call this behaviour. Yet rumours suggest that, at the point of death, for a rare few the silence speaks back to the true of heart.
Drusus Shrine World - Planetary Data: Galactic Position: 10-4/6/CS/NW.Native Flora and Fauna: Rumours make mention of a xenos species living on the Shrine World. Certainly there are several species of lustrous bug and beetle that haunt the desert, drinking dew off their armoured carapaces every dawn. The rumours talk of an ancient, insectoid race called "the Whisperers," which lives, shelters and breeds in deep tunnels under the dry earth. Far from being an animalistic species, the Whisperers -- if the insane rantings of a few, surviving silence walkers can be trusted -- are a complex and ancient culture, tunnelling under the crust of Sentinel and only occasionally crawling to the surface. The Whisperers -- so named because of the brushing sounds their giant wing cases make -- are said to hold great truths and secrets about the cosmos, which may be learned by the aware and the capable. No relic or evidence of the Whisperers has ever been found.Contact with other Worlds: A stable Warp route connects Sentinel to Spectoris.
Duat - Duat: Duat was a fief-world of the World Eaters Legion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras of the late 30th and early 31st Millennia. This Ocean World was used as a mustering and recruitment planet for the myriad campaigns of the XII Legion.Though Duat had no true landmasses, only areas where local seaweed had grown thick enough over its planet-wide ocean to support the weight of edifices, it was still inhabited by humans. The local tide-clans of Duat were ideal candidates for recruitment into the Legiones Astartes, for if these sea-going nomads were not fighting the monsters of the depths, then they were at war with one another.The local presence of the XII Legion was centred around three "darkwater nodes," artificial islands that floated atop beds of vat-grown sargasm seaweed. Node Primus housed gene-banks and bio-processing units and was used for the recruitment and implantation of new World Eaters Astartes. Node Secundus was an armoury and weapons production facility, responsible for the manufacture of ammunition, weapons and Power Armour.Node Tertius was outfitted with refuelling stations and spare parts depots for maintenance and repair of the Legion's armour and other vehicles. These installations were protected by a Tetra Pattern planetary defence grid. Overall command of the Legion presence on Duat fell to Praetor-Apothecary Kalibos, a senior Apothecary of the World Eaters.It was on Duat that Kalibos experimented on the production of World Eaters gene-seed and was able to reduce the training time for new Astartes from Terran years to only solar months, though at the cost of a dramatic increase in fatalities among the recipients.During the Horus Heresy, Duat was attacked by a force of Loyalist Blackshields under the command of the former World Eaters Praetor Endryd Haar. Haar used a call for aid from Kalibos to raid the facilities under the guise of being a XII Legion force coming to bolster the defence of the planet. When true World Eaters arrived in-system in response to the distress call and engaged the Blackshield fleet, Haar and his forces made good their escape, but not before Kalibos was slain by Haar's own hand, putting an end to the World Eaters' efforts to rapidly increase their numbers.
Dulcis - Dulcis: Dulcis was an Imperial Swamp World that was ravaged by a plague of Enslavers during the Era Indomitus after the birth of the Great Rift. Its population was ultimately exterminated by the combined forces of the Blood Angels and Red Wings Chapters.
Dulcis - History: Dulcis is an Imperial Swamp World located near the Cicatrix Maledictum in the Imperium Nihilus. Its surface was primarily comprised of marshlands with the few regions of dry ground serving as the sites of Human settlement. The primary export of the world was meat from its native species of large and aggressive mudeels and other crustaceans.At the time of the Indomitus Crusade, Dulcis was invaded by Enslavers from the Warp and the world's population of forty million people ultimately had to be exterminated by the Space Marines of the Red Wings and the Blood Angels. During the campaign, the Red Wings' captain, Ares, the only Firstborn among a Red Wings complement comprised solely of Primaris Marines, was killed when Lieutenant Jadriel unexpectedly fell victim to the Black Rage.Without a Firstborn to explain the genetic flaw that afflicted all of the scions of Sanguinius, the Red Wings Primaris Marines had no idea what was happening to them until the arrival of a Blood Angels force under the command of High Chaplain Astorath the Grim, who soon taught the Red Wings the nature of their curse and how it was to be contained. After the elimination of the Enslaver plague, Dulcis itself was left intact for Imperial resettlement at a later date.
Dulma'lin Cleansing - Dulma'lin Cleansing: The Dulma'lin Cleansing was a year-long campaign fought by the Catachan II regiment under the command of Colonel "Iron Hand" Straken in 926.M41. It was fought primarily in the Ork-infested cavern network of the planet, where the Catachans used guerrilla tactics to wreak havoc amongst the Orks.At one point Straken's men became the target of their own ambushes, slain by a seemingly cunning and stealthy Ork in the Warboss Killzkar's employ. The infamous Ork Kommando, Snikrot, engaged Straken in a brutal dual, and was eventually defeated and grievously injured.The climax of the campaign was the infiltration of the primary Ork settlement in the Mommothian Vault by Straken and his demolition experts. They managed to stay undetected for three solar days before the Orks' Squighounds finally located them. By then it was too late as the Catachans had planted explosives on the cavern's support stacks, while Straken himself fought off the Ork horde, killing no less then 30 and wiping out a Killa Kan mob before dragging the Warlord Killzkar beneath a Squiggoth, who trampled them both.Incredibly, the demolition team managed to pull Straken's body from the cavern before it collapsed, destroying the entire Ork settlement beneath. The Catachan hero Sly Marbo personally carried Straken to safety. The Colonel was patched back together with the aid of Astra Militarum medics and he was redeployed to the Ulani System with his regiment, while the High Praetor Osh'preen arrived two solar days later with Imperial reinforcements and easily finished off the now-leaderless Ork horde, taking all the credit for himself and becoming the world's Planetary Governor. Osh'preen later declared that the Catachans were cowards who had hidden for the duration of the campaign. Despite the governor's slander, a statue of Straken was erected by those citizens who remained both loyal and thankful for the Catachans' aid.Two standard years later, the increasingly corrupt reign of Governor Osh'preen opened the way for a heretical uprising by the Slaaneshi Cult of Frantic Flensing. The Catachan II were the only regiment close enough to offer assistance but due to a "mysterious" series of communication failures that bedeviled the Catachans, Osh'preen and his corrupt government were left to their remarkably horrible fate.
Durak Rask - Durak Rask: Durak Rask was a Barbarus-born Space Marine of the Death Guard Legion and a fanatical follower of the Primarch Mortarion. He quickly rose through the ranks of the XIVth Legion and became the Legion's Marshal of Ordnance.At the start of the Horus Heresy when Mortarion declared his Legion's allegiance for the Warmaster Horus, Marshal Rask proved his most vocal supporter. During the opening stage of the Istvaan Campaign, Rask would meet his ultimate fate fighting against the remaining Loyalist elements of the first four Traitor Legions the Istvaan III Atrocity.
Durak Rask - History: Durak Rask was a fanatical follower of his Primarch, and viewed Mortarion as a preternatural saviour from his early youth on the benighted world of Barbarus. Having first been accepted into training into the Death Guard Legion when he came of age, Rask's innate intelligence and fervour were marked from an early stage and he quickly proved to be a dour and driven warrior with an uncommon flair for siegecraft.Over his solar decades of service in the XIVth Legion, Rask rose steadily through the ranks to become his Legion's Marshal of Ordnance, proving his mettle in many battles and campaigns, and earning a rare commendation from Mortarion himself after the Siege of Valstpol, a battle in which Rask himself lost his left eye and was left horrifically scarred.When Mortarion declared his allegiance for Horus at the start of the Horus Heresy, Rask was one of the first and loudest in his support, having already become a member of the Seven Pillared Warrior Lodge which had been founded within the Death Guard to corrupt them towards the service of Chaos from within. On Istvaan III Rask volunteered to lead the vanguard attack against his former Battle-Brothers, a treachery he would pay for with his life.
Durak Rask - Wargear: Artificer ArmourThunder HammerVolkite SerpentaFrag GrenadesKrak GrenadesPhospex BombNuncio Vox
Duralium - Duralium: Duralium is a metallic substance mined by the Imperium for use in the Plasma Reactors of voidships and void stations as well as to carry out repairs.One of the primary worlds where its ore was once mined is the Derelict World of Bairsten Prime where much of the War of the Spider was fought in the Era Indomitus.
Durell - Durell: Durell is a Daemon World found within the Hadex Anomaly of the Jericho Reach.
Durell - History: The Imperial Hive World of Durell was not the most pious of places before the coming of the Hadex Anomaly, and once Slaanesh got its sinewy fingers into the spire nobles of the world's hive cities, it was impossible for anyone to stop what was coming.When the Anomaly first manifested, the first settlement that was affected was Hive Primus, the seat of the world's planetary government.The hive city was transformed from a magnificent structure of stone and steel into one of flesh. Those that were unlucky enough to have habitation quarters on the outer edges found themselves being drawn into the walls.Their bodies formed the mortar that would hold this new structure together. Their mouths were placed facing inwards, so that all could hear the moans of ecstasy and cries of agony that Slaanesh could bring to those that it favoured.The upper spires became dens of decadence and excess. The middle hive is a gathering place where all can worship Slaanesh in any manner they choose. The hive itself has been transformed into a grand temple to the worship of Slaanesh.
Dusk Raiders - Dusk Raiders: The Dusk Raiders were the XIV Space Marine Legion raised by the Emperor of Mankind on Terra at the dawn of the Great Crusade in the 30th Millennium. After the Emperor discovered the Dusk Raiders' Primarch Mortarion on the poisonous world of Barbarus, and gave him command of the XIV Legion, Mortarion changed the name of the Legion to the Death Guard in honour of the name of the military force he had raised on his homeworld of Barbarus to overthrow the rule of that Feral World's necromantic warlords.
Dusk Raiders - Legion History: The Emperor of Mankind sought to unite all of humanity under one banner following the Long Night of the Age of Strife, and end inter-human conflict. Once united, the Emperor intended to begin the next stage of His great plan to ensure human domination of the Milky Way Galaxy, which He judged to be necessary if humanity was to survive the never-ceasing threats to its existence embodied by Chaos, myriad xenos races and its own fragile human nature. In time, when the Emperor's eye first began to fall beyond Terra, He began to raise new armies to fight His Great Crusade. He drew these new troops in part from the forces that had already unified Terra during the Unification Wars of the late 30th Millennium. To carry out the Great Crusade and reunite all the scattered colony worlds of Mankind beneath the single banner of the Imperium of Man, the Emperor created the genetically-enhanced superhuman warriors known as the Space Marine Legions. These forces would serve as the speartip of His Great Crusade that began in ca. 800.M30, bringing the light of Imperial Truth and enforcing Imperial Compliance with the new regime on every human world encountered.
Dusk Raiders - A Mournful Unity: When Mortarion was discovered by the Emperor upon the troubled Feral World of Barbarus, he was swiftly given control of the XIV Legion whose Space Marines had been created from his genetic material and he began to enlarge the Legion's ranks with men taken from the population of Barbarus. Upon first seeing them he told them: "You are my unbroken blades. You are the Death Guard. By your hand shall justice be delivered, and doom shall stalk a thousand worlds." The Legion's name was then changed in accordance with this decree, and Mortarion's words were engraved above the airlock door of the Battle Barge Reaper's Scythe in honour of that moment. By this simple decree the Dusk Raiders were no more, and the records and annals from that day forward would carry this new name as one to strike fear into the hearts of Mankind's enemies.The XIV Legion's Astartes had been primarily Terran-born before Mortarion joined the Legion; after that time almost all of the Legion's Neophytes were drawn from the Feral World of Barbarus. This changed the culture and traditions of the Legion, so much so that by the last days of the Great Crusade in the early 31st Millennium, there were increasing tensions between the Barbarus-born Astartes and the Terran minority who remained in the Legion and who remembered the Dusk Raiders' earlier martial traditions brought out of Old Terra. These tensions became most clear in the period directly preceding the first battle of the Horus Heresy at Istvaan III, when approximately one-third of the Legion was judged by Mortarion to be likely to remain loyal to the Emperor when the Legion joined the Warmaster Horus in his rebellion against the Imperium. Many of these Loyalist Death Guard Astartes were Terran-born, former Dusk Raiders like Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro of the 7th Great Company whose loyalty to the Emperor outweighed their devotion to their Primarch.
Dusk Raiders - Legion Organisation: Before they were reunited with their Primarch, the Dusk Raiders conformed very closely to the standard raiment of arms and organisational patterns laid out for the early Space Marine Legions by the Officio Militaris. At its most fundamental level the Dusk Raiders were organised around the principle of equipping individual Space Marines as well as possible, so that they could endure and prevail against any foe encountered, and operate for extended periods without resupply or support if necessary. This dogma was espoused by the warriors of the XIV Legion, built upon the foundations of independence and surety with which they had always fought. The Dusk Raiders are noted in records of this period as maintaining a well-rounded capacity for unleashing multiple modes of warfare, although with some bias towards heavy assault formations and attritional engagements, as evidenced by the particular use of close-ranged weaponry within the Legion. The Dusk Raiders relied upon its infantry to provide its strategic strength, with the bulk of tactical fire support coming from heavily armed support squads, and later with considerable numbers of Terminators and Dreadnoughts providing reinforcement and an assault spearhead where needed.
Dusk Raiders - Legion Combat Doctrine: The Dusk Raiders' signature strategy had been to attack their foes at nightfall, thus earning them their Legion moniker. The Dusk Raiders' Power Armour was an unpainted slate grey in colour while their right arm and one or both shoulder plates were painted crimson. This was done with the intent to symbolically show their enemies what they truly were -- the Emperor's red right hand, relentless and unstoppable. Many enemies would throw down their weapons the moment the sun dipped beneath the horizon, rather than dare to fight them.
Dusk Raiders - Notable Dusk Raiders: Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro - Nathaniel Garro was the Battle-Captain of the Death Guard's 7th Great Company. Garro was born on Terra, in the small techno-barbarian state of Albia on the continent of Europa. Garro was one of the few remaining Terran Astartes of the XIV Legion when it had still been named the Dusk Raiders, so known because of their signature tactic of attacking a foe at nightfall. Garro was the leader of the 70 surviving Astartes who alone of the Death Guard Loyalists escaped the betrayal of Horus on Istvaan III aboard the Imperial Navy frigate Eisenstein to bring word of Horus' betrayal to the Emperor. He held to the original tenets of the Legion when many of his Battle-Brothers chose to follow the Traitors, Horus, Mortarion, and First Captain Typhon's decision to serve Chaos and conquer the Imperium for themselves rather than trust in the will of the Emperor. After a lucky rendezvous with the Imperial Fists' space fortress Phalanx, news of Horus' treachery were brought to Terra and the Emperor, which may well have saved the Imperium. While his historical fate is uncertain, it is believed that Garro, along with the remaining Loyalist Luna Wolves Captain Iacton Qruze, was ordered by Malcador the Sigillite to gather 8 Astartes from both the Loyalist and Traitor Legions across the galaxy who would later form the precursor of the Grey Knights Chapter of Space Marines, and along with 4 lords and administrators of the Imperium they helped to forge the secret organisation that would later become the Imperial Inquisition. After arriving on Terra, Garro's Power Armour had all of its Death Guard regalia removed and replaced with the personal sigil of Malcador, an "I" with three horizontal lines through its center, the icon that would later become famous as the Rosette of the Inquisition. During his mission for the Sigillite, Garro consistently referred to himself as a "Knight Errant" and the member of a "Legion of One". Garro wielded the potent relic Power Sword named Libertas.
Dusk Raiders - Legion Colours: The Dusk Raiders' base pattern Power Armour was an unpainted storm grey. The entire right vambrace, gauntlet and shoulder plate (sometimes both) were painted the deep crimson of drying blood, which signified the XIV Legion's status as the "red right hand" of the Emperor's justice.
Dusk Raiders - Legion Badge: The Dusk Raiders' Legion badge was a black skull halved, with a setting black sun on the other side, centred on a field of deep crimson. This icon symbolised the XIV Legion's given epithet of the "Dusk Raiders", a consequence of their use of the ancient tactic of conducting major ground attacks at the fall of night. Once the Dusk Raiders were unleashed upon their foes, nothing would stay the Legion's hand.
Duty Unto Death (Short Story) - Duty Unto Death (Short Story): Duty Unto Death by Marc Collins is a Warhammer 40,000 short story published in 2020 and collected in the anthology Nexus & Other Stories.
Duty Unto Death (Short Story) - Synopsis: Of all the numerous brotherhoods of gene-crafted warriors serving the Imperium, none are as elite or as sacrosanct as the Adeptus Custodes, the watchers of the Imperial Palace on Terra. After centuries of vigilance on the walls of the palace, these golden-armoured warriors now venture beyond the Sol System to ensure the Imperium is truly protected.A small group of Custodians travel to a Feral World to guard a treasure beyond imagining.  As the full wrath of a Tyranid hive fleet descends, the warriors will prove that a single squad of the Adeptus Custodes is the equal of any army.
Duty Waits (Short Story) - Duty Waits (Short Story): Duty Waits is the sixty-second short story published in the The Horus Heresy series that was not originally part of an anthology novel. Duty Waits was first published on day 4 of the Black Library's 2017 Advent Calendar.
Duty Waits (Short Story) - Synopsis: On Terra, the Imperial Palace awaits war. Since the Alpha Legion infiltrated the mighty structure, the Imperial Fists have upped their patrols, defences have been tightened and the planet prepares for the coming of Horus. Four Primarchs stand ready to defend the Throneworld. But the enemy do not come. As the situation worsens and morale drops, Captain Maximus Thane and his company are forced to deal with a civilian riot -- with tragic consequences.
DX-11 Exploratory Drone - DX-11 Exploratory Drone: A DX-11 Exploratory Drone is a type of T'au Drone (small, disc-shaped, semi-sentient machine) employed extensively alongside T'au Space Hulk exploratory expedition teams.Exploratory Drones consist of an advanced processor unit, which individually has only a basic intelligence (approximately equal to that of a small animal such as a pterasquirrel), and moves about by way of a compact anti-gravitic generator and much modified variant of T'au Jetpack. This allows the DX-11 to hover over the ground and skim over most obstacles.The DX-11 Exploratory Drone is a derivative of the DX-4 Technical Drone, and was very recently developed in response to the first encounter with the Space Hulk Mortis Thule in the Canis Salient of the Jericho Reach. It was developed alongside the XV46 Vanguard Void Battlesuit, and is designed to aid those Battlesuits in T'au exploration expeditions into Space Hulks.The DX-11 is fitted with the limited armament of a single Pulse Carbine for basic self-defence, and also contains an array of sensory and high-powered communications equipment to aid their explorations. DX-11 Exploratory Drones are typically sent off to roam an unexplored area of a Space Hulk autonomously, searching for anything of interest while an operator views their findings and makes command decisions.Their potent sensors and communications, along with their powerful anti-gravitic motors, allow them to identify, report, and respond quickly to developing situations when properly directed.A DX-11's primary seeker protocol is to locate targets, threats and obstacles and observe them until instructed otherwise. If threatened, an Exploratory Drone will swiftly act to conceal itself by clamping down onto a suitable surface, transmit an alert to its operator, and await instructions. It will power down its engines to avoid detection and reserve its limited firepower only for moments of absolute necessity.A DX-11 will remain in this state until it is discovered or commanded otherwise. Exploratory Drones typically operate as individual units, regrouping into small squadrons only when instructed, typically during search-and-destroy operations.If an Exploratory Drone is within close proximity to its master, it can act as a form of robotic bodyguard if necessary by getting in the way of incoming enemy fire or close-combat opponents during the course of a battle. An Exploratory Drone will also utilise its Pulse Carbine in direct support or defence of its operator.All Exploratory Drones that are attached to a T'au exploratory unit are controlled by a device known as a Drone Controller which is usually integrated into a support system for a T'au Battlesuit.A Drone Controller is an electronic device which acts as a hub of digital communications between the Drone's operator and up to two Drones that accompany the user. It allows a user to communicate his will to any Drone directly under his control.Most of the time, the controller operates at a default level that simply keeps the Drone obeying its basic programming, but the owner can also use it to issue simple orders beyond the Drone’s normal parameters.
DX-11 Exploratory Drone - Ordo Xenos Departmento Analyticus Technical Specifications: The technical specifications for this T'au unit have not been obtained or released by the Ordo Xenos.
DX-13 Aerial Drone Mine - DX-13 Aerial Drone Mine: The DX-13 Aerial Drone Mine is a type of T'au Drone (small, disc-shaped, semi-sentient machine) employed alongside T'au forces in an airspace denial role. Aerial Drone Mines consist of an advanced processor unit, which individually has only a basic intelligence (approximately equal to that of a small animal such as a pterasquirrel), and moves about by way of a compact anti-gravitic generator and a much modified variant of T'au Jetpack.This allows the Aerial Drone Mine to hover at high altitudes where it can intercept enemy aircraft. They are primarily deployed in planetary airspaces by modified Tiger Sharks, which drop them off in mid-air. The Aerial Drone Mines can then arrange themselves in formations of six Drone Mines that hover in the sky.Aerial Drone Mines are capable of changing the altitude at which they hover using their anti-gravitic engines, allowing them to better spread themselves out. Although not fast enough to actively chase enemy aircraft, they will constantly scan the surrounding sky and use tracking information from T'au commanders on the ground in order to detect nearby aircraft.Once found, the mines will move to engage the enemy aircraft before detonating themselves in a series of devastating explosions. In this way, they act as an aerial minefield, forcing enemy air forces to move into other areas covered by T'au fighters or ground defences and away from certain flight paths that need to be protected.It is of note that due to their nature as Drone Mines that float high in the sky, Aerial Drone Mines cannot be attached to other T'au units via Drone Controllers, unlike most forms of T'au Drones.
DX-13 Aerial Drone Mine - Ordo Xenos Departmento Analyticus Technical Specifications: Serial Number:UnknownMain Armament:1 Explosive ChargeDesignation:Drone MineVehicle Codename:DX-13 Aerial Drone MineSecondary Armament:N/AVehicle Type:DroneCrew:N/ATraverse:UnknownWeight:1 tonne (empty)Elevation:UnknownLength:0.9 metresAmmunition:N/AWidth:0.9 metresArmour Type:Nano-Crystalline Alloy, Composition Unknown to the Adeptus MechanicusHeight:UnknownMax Recorded Speed:UnknownSummary:Self-aware anti-aircraft mine
DX-13 Aerial Drone Mine - Sources: Deathwatch: Mark of the Xenos (RPG), pg. 12Codex: Tau Empire (4th Edition), pg. 31Imperial Armour Volume Three - The Taros Campaign, pg. 282Tactica Aeronautica, pp. 20, 35Forge World Website
DX-4 Technical Drone - Ordo Xenos Departmento Analyticus Technical Specifications: The technical specifications for this T'au unit have not been obtained or released by the Ordo Xenos.
DX-6 Remora Drone Stealth Fighter - DX-6 Remora Drone Stealth Fighter: The Remora Drone Stealth Fighter, officially designated as the DX-6 Remora, is a light, unmanned T'au Drone fighter recently developed by the Tau Empire's Earth Caste. Packed with advanced Tau technology, Remoras were first encountered by the forces of the Imperium of Man during the Tau's raid on the Imperial penal mining colony of Typha IV. The Remora is a stealth Drone aircraft that commonly flies in support of Pathinder and Stealthsuit teams on scouting and reconnaissance missions, where they excel in conducting high speed hit-and-run attacks and rapid flanking manoeuvres. As a Drone fighter, the Tau are willing to deploy Remoras into situations where they would not risk valuable Air Caste crew, such as hazardous environments. Remoras often work to disrupt and scatter enemy troops whilst singling out and destroying enemy targets of strategic value, such as command vehicles and enemy support vehicles, with their Seeker Missiles. Remoras are also capable of operating effectively in support of Air Cadres in dogfighting with enemy aircraft.Remoras are capable of operating in either full flight or anti-gravitic skimmer mode in combat, giving them great versatility in their deployment and tactical movements. However, whilst in full flight, the aircraft relies on aerodynamic principles to stay aloft at a speed above half of its cruising speed of 1800 kilometres per hour. If the Remora ever becomes immobilised due to engine damage, it will fall and crash to the ground. The Remora's anti-gravitic engines are also of limited use. Because of this, Remoras may only operate as skimmers for up to ten minutes per hour. Remoras themselves have a short operating range and need to be carried into battle underneath a modified Tiger Shark AX-2-2 variant mothership, or in the back of a specially modified Manta; made easier due to their collapsible wing design. Whilst the Drones are artificially intelligent and have some degree of self-initiative, they still rely on their mothership to relay data towards the drone fighters and direct them whilst in combat with their advanced Drone Controller systems. These mothership aircraft often direct Remoras from a high altitude and usually do not actively participate in combat. In the rare event a mothership aircraft disengages from the battle, or is destroyed, Remora fighters will revert back to their basic programming and begin to suffer from their lack of direction, making their manoeuvrability sluggish and slow as they move about aimlessly.
DX-6 Remora Drone Stealth Fighter - Armament: Remoras are armed with twin-linked, long-barrelled Burst Cannons as their primary armament, allowing them to target infantry from long ranges effectively. Remoras also carry two Seeker Missiles which can be fired upon targets designated by Marker Light operators on the ground, or by the Remora's own Networked Marker Light. The Remora's Seeker Missiles are most effective against light to medium armoured targets as the Remora's speed allows it to move into positions where its Seeker Missiles can strike the more vulnerable side or rear armour of vehicles. Remoras are equipped with a Targeting Array and Blacksun Filter as standard. The Targeting Array increases the accuracy of the Remora when firing its Burst Cannons and Networked Marker Light, whilst the Blacksun Filter utilises its optical filters to give the Drone fighter better combat effectiveness in low-light conditions and darkness. Remoras are also equipped with the same stealth field technology used by XV15 and XV25 Stealthsuits. This allows the Remora to hide itself from enemy sensors and also become all but invisible once the field is activated. It is because of this stealth field capability that Remoras are a valuable tool in scouting and ambushing enemy forces whilst remaining unseen.