Blackshield - Notable Blackshield Warbands: Ashen Claws - The Ashen Claws were a large, notorious Blackshield force that formerly comprised the 18th Chapter of the Raven Guard Legion. Comprised of several thousand Astartes, near every one was a Terran-born Veteran of the old XIX Legion, before their reunification with their primarch Corvus Corax. Following the Battle of Gate 42 during the campaign in the Akum-sothos Cluster, those that survived the crucible of that deadly near-suicidal assault were gathered together and despatched by Corax into the northeastern reaches of the Ghoul Stars to bring the light of the Emperor to the outer darkness. The Ashen Claws believed themselves to be continuing the work of the Great Crusade, carving a swathe of blood and ash across the void in memory of a dream which had turned to nightmare with the Warmaster Horus' betrayal at Isstvan III. Their ultimate fate remains unknown, though they may have survived into the 41st Millennium as a Renegade Astartes warband.Company of the Sundered - The Company of the Sundered were a Blackshield warband during the Horus Heresy who were later declared by edict of the Terran Council to be murderers and pirates concerned only with claiming their own domains beyond the sight of Emperor or the Warmaster.The Brotherhood of Set  - A Blackshield force that took part in the Solar War.The Burnt Word - A Blackshield force that took part in the Solar War.The Dark Brotherhood - The Dark Brotherhood was a large and notorious Blackshield force that carved out its own corsair empire on the edge of the Pale Stars and began a long war against an Alpha Legion hunter-killer force tasked with crushing resistance to the Warmaster's Dark Compliance campaigns. They formed around a warrior known as the "Nemean Reaver", or simply "the Nemean," a title likely referring to the impenetrable Artificer Armour he was said to wear in battle or to suggestions that he was preternaturally strong and impossible to slay. Of the origins of this war leader very little is certain, though some accounts claim he was a Terran scion of the Ist Legion and a veteran of the Third Rangdan Xenocide, a notion at least partially borne out by elements of the sparse personal heraldy he wore and by the terrible scars that marred his features.Death Eagles - The Death Eagles were the former 34th Millenial of the Emperor's Children Legion that clashed with their Traitor kin at Lethe and at Revorthe Keep in the Coronid Deeps.Desolation Hounds - The Desolation Hounds were a Blackshield warband during the Horus Heresy. There is very little official information on this particular Blackshield force.Fangs of the Emperor - The Fangs of the Emperor are one of the largest Blackshield forces known to have been continuously active for much of the Horus Heresy. The five line companies of the Fangs of the Emperor formed the bulk of the host at Force Commander Endryd Haar's disposal. Each was capable of extended independent action, but also able to act in concert with its peers when employed as part of a larger grouping of forces. At their peak, the Fangs numbered more than a thousand warriors with both starships and super-heavy vehicles as part of their Armoury, and are rumoured to have received support and intelligence from senior figures within the Divisio Militaris. Indeed, the Fangs of the Emperor were on occasion joined by figures of import, often at the orders of Malcador the Sigillite on Terra in order to aid with specific Loyalist missions. The most well-known of these figures was the assassin operating under the persona of Unvacar Noon. Given their high casualty rate, the Fangs of the Emperor maintained a limited pool of field officers. Many of these were not traditional Legion officers, but simply the most efficient killers granted authority by Haar over their battle-brothers. They also maintained a limited pool of armour, as damaged tanks were difficult for the nomadic force to repair, limiting their use to key engagements only. Conversely, they are the only known Blackshield force to field Ordinatus war engines, though these are only recorded as taking the field on three known occasions.Gerasene Host - A little-known Blackshield warband, the Gerasene Host appeared to be the result of rapid, unsanctioned gene-seed hybridisation processes first encountered in the middle period of the Heresy. The source of the Gerasene Host's gene-seed is unknown and the warriors themselves appeared unaware of their true lineage. Some strategio-savants have posited that the Host were created as a living terror weapon, wrought by an unknown hand and released into the galaxy to sow death and destruction in the ultimate furtherance of the Traitors' cause. They are known to have taken part in the infamous Treab's World campaign, a conflict that burned for four long standard years and which ultimately drew in and defeated a large contingent of the Salamanders Legion. While the Host operated independently, its strategies were in retrospect clearly co-aligned with those of the Death Guard and Emperor's Children forces also deployed to Treab's World. Most of these warriors wore Mark V Heresy Power Armour, its source unknown. Their battle-plate had never borne the heraldry of any Legion and beneath the accrued weathering of a long campaign displayed the bare metallic grey of unadorned ceramite. Each bearer applied markings that appeared to be arcane and idiosyncratic glyphs of unknown provenance. The "L" sigil on the right shoulder pauldron was worn by most warriors of the Gerasene Host, its significance unclear to Imperial scholars.Mind-blade - The Mind-blade were a Blackshield warband active during the Horus Heresy. There is very little official information on this particular Blackshield force.The Nine Blades - The Nine Blades were a Blackshield warband active during the Horus Heresy. Blackshield warbands such as the Nine Blades were declared as murderers and pirates by the Council of Terra. Many of these were only concerned with carving out their own petty stellar empire and enslaving those mortals who were too weak to oppose them, as occurred in the Truan System at the hands of the Nine Blades.The Third Covenant - The Third Covenant was a Blackshield group that operated across several sectors to the galactic north of the Great Core, into which they ultimately vanished towards the end of the Horus Heresy. Several studies have been made of the Third Covenant in an effort to identify its members, but most have proven unsuccessful as each Blackshield went to great lengths to conceal their origins. They even renounced their own given names and used instead terms derived from other, more esoteric sources. The group is of particular interest to later generations of Imperial agents because, having rejected the teachings of their own gene-sires (Traitor and Loyalist alike), they turned to other, more shrouded doctrines. Ostensibly, the Third Covenant fought for the Warmaster Horus' cause, but in truth it pursued its own goals often only tangentially co-aligned with those of Horus and his allies. Blackshields of this group wore a typically heterogeneous mix of elements taken from defeated foes. In places the ubiquitous black heraldry would be worn away to reveal the colours of the original owner. Of particular note was the mythological hippocampus worn upon the right shoulder as the icon of the Third Covenant. The many esoteric sigils betrayed the Covenant's true allegiances -- to powers other than Terra or even the Warmaster Horus.True Flame - Scant few accounts of the actions of the Blackshield warband known as the True Flame exist and indeed only from retrospective is it possible to piece together any evidence of a campaign of actions conducted by them. Many such accounts occurred in the war for the Garmon Cluster where it is thought that the organisation first rose to prominence during the Battle of Beta-Garmon.The Twelfth Truth - A Blackshield force that took part in the Solar War.Umbral Hundred - The Umbral Hundred were a Blackshield warband that enthusiastically embraced their vagabond existence and relished the chance to prey upon those weaker than themselves and to take by force that which they considered their rightful due, as was the case when they brutally scoured twelve entire star systems in the southern marches of the Chonma Sector throughout 011.M31.