Crimson Sabres - Fall From Grace: For over a standard millennium after resettling their Chapter upon Drogsh, the Crimson Sabres continued to do their duty. All Space Marines are detached from those they serve, but the zealously obedient Crimson Sabres drifted into ever greater isolation. They did not realise the growing acrimony they themselves fostered amongst their comrades. In others they saw only flaws, and they were puzzled that their own quest for absolute adherence to the Codex Astartes gained them little commendation.By the time they made the planetfall upon the Imperial world of Umidia in 928.M41, the Crimson Sabres had earned a reputation as self-righteous crusaders. Several Space Marine Chapters heard the vermillion-level message sent out from the Jungle World of Umidia from a Inquisitor Lord Federic Koshyn of the Ordo Hereticus.Though the Inquisition was no ally of the Crimson Sabres, the staunchly loyal Chapter was honour-bound to deal with the corruption before it spread to other worlds. Though they had long since severed their ties with the bureaucracy and other militant forces of the Imperium, the Sabres were still its servants and loyal to the Golden Throne. If this planet had become a haven for the Ruinous Powers then it was their sworn duty to cleanse it.The message had been broadcast on a general channel, and soon, other forces were preparing to come to the Lord Inquisitor's aid. Chapters such as the Hawk Lords, Angels Encarmine and the venerable Dark Angels had all pledged to send multiple companies of their warriors to help the Lord Inquisitor prosecute the Heretics on Umidia.Not to be outdone, the Crimson Sabres' leadership decided unanimously to join the fight, and so, Chapter Master Sevastus Kranon pledged the entirety of his Chapter to the fight. The other Space Marine Chapters immediately withdrew their support, refusing to fight alongside the brutal and zealous Crimson Sabres, which suited them just fine. Had any of them sent along a landing detail to aid the operation then perhaps matters might have turned out differently.There was scant information the Chapter held regarding the planet: a mention in an old logbook from when a Crimson Sabres fleet had passed nearby almost three millennia ago; its location on an outdated parchment starchart; the results of an Imperial census carried out more than a standard century earlier, the last time any branch of the Imperium had any official contact with Umidia.The Administratum clerks had counted two hundred thousand souls residing in the tree city on that occasion; there were easily twice that number observed by the Chapter's Scout Marines. For thousands of standard years the Ecclesiarchy had tried to incorporate the native beliefs and rituals of any new world or culture it came across into worship of the God-Emperor. Any narrative could be manipulated to make the Emperor its architect, any history moulded to make Him its shaper -- the sky god who gave rain for their planet's crops or the sun that rose every morning -- all were a manifestation of the God-Emperor.Following standard procedure, reconnoitres by the Crimson Sabres Scouts reported a surprising development upon Umidia. The Scouts observed what appeared to be a cult leader wearing a strange bird mask leading the Umidian people in a vulgar display of frenetic dancing and chanting. As the commander of the 10th Company observed closer through his magnoculars, he saw the cult leader threw off his robes altogether, and unbidden, he saw the cult leader wearing a suit of slate-grey power armour inlaid with a stylised golden Inquisition symbol from chest to sternum.Though the thing wore Lord Inquisitor Koshyn's armour, when it removed its mask, it displayed an identical bird face of a Greater Daemon beneath it. Escalating calls for support eventually summoned all available warriors from the entire Chapter onto the fateful planet. With each new location their Augurs scanned, they found more corruption, so that it was not long before they went from localised assaults to genocidal cleansing.In their methodical manner, the Crimson Sabres purged Umidia, seeking nothing less than to eliminate every single one of the corrupted world's inhabitants. As the red veil of slaughter began to lift from the ensorcelment of their minds, the Crimson Sabres quickly realised the horror they had committed. These were not Chaos Cultists that they had been slaying. The citizens of Umidia, were loyal Imperial citizens celebrating their Adeptus Ministorum-approved All Saints' Day, before being set upon by Angels of Death, cold-blooded killers blinded by foul daemonic magicks.In their rush to judgment, the Crimson Sabres had purged the entire planet of life. The innocent blood on their hands left an indelible stain upon the Chapter's honour. The Crimson Sabres were already treated with disdain. They were held in contempt by many other Chapters, and had strained relationships with the Inquisition, the Administratum and the Adeptus Mechanicus.There had been a cancer eating away at their Chapter for even longer than those currently serving. Those Chapters who refused to come to Umidia's aid because of the Crimson Sabres' presence did not do so because of their actions or those of any who currently wore the crimson and sported the crossed blades. They shunned them because of millennia of transgressions and deviation.The Crimson Sabres claimed to serve the Emperor and the Golden Throne with their words but did their deeds truly match that oath? On many occasions they had refused to come to the aid of other Chapters because of some perceived historical slight. They had abandoned entire worlds and star systems to their fates because they chose to pursue their own agenda instead. Their Chapter had flirted with heresy and sedition one too many times. Now the scale of the atrocity they had committed would push the Crimson Sabres over the precipice, leading them to excommunication and extermination.Enraged at being manipulated into killing innocent Imperial civilians, the Crimson Sabres, led by their Chief Librarian Xastus Mannon, pursued the Daemon that was most likely the cause of their ensorcellment, a Lord of Change, named Tzax'lantar, and helped overcome the vile Greater Daemon with his innate psychic abilities.But unknown to his fellow battle-brothers, Mannon's body had been subsumed by the Greater Daemon. Much later, when questioned about the deed, members of the Crimson Sabres claimed that all of Umidia's citizenry were given over to Balethu Cults –- a debased group that worshipped the Dark Gods.In the wake of their purge, teams of Inquisitors from the Ordo Hereticus were sent to investigate. The Inquisitors found no evidence that the Balethu Cults were worshippers of the Dark Gods. What they did find amongst Umidia's thick foliage, however, was an atrocity.With the duty of rooting out nests of corrupted cults, the Ordo Hereticus was composed of hardened individuals. Each of their order had seen many a grim scene -- yet each expressed horror at what they witnessed upon Umidia. The Crimson Sabres' action went well beyond the eradication of some hidden cult, it had been an act of wanton butchery on a planetary scale.