vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Kiava Gamma - History: Few worlds can boast of the industrial marvels that are commonplace across the subsumed surface of an Industrial World of the Imperium. Fewer still are those who can claim to be a cut above the rest in this regard. But Kiava Gamma, one of three prominent jewels amid House von Valancius' holdings, stands taller than most such worlds sequestered within the dark of the Koronus Expanse.The industrial backbone of the von Valanicus Rogue Trader dynasty, Kiava Gamma is a renowned Industrial World managed by the tech-priests of the Cult Mechanicus under a deal made with the Rogue Trader dynasty whose feats have come to be synonymous with prosperity. Their production of weapons, vehicles, voidships, commodities and so much more was a major contributor to the dynasty's coffers. For which, were it not for the small territory of the dynasty, the efforts of the ruling fabricator would outstrip the greatest of production planets sequestered within House Winterscale's or Incendia Baastal-Chorda's domains.Now, however, their prosperous production has come to a grinding halt.With the collapse of known Warp corridors and the upheaval of the Koronus Expanse, so too comes a disruption in the production capabilities of once flourishing and prosperous Industrial Worlds of the frontier region. Kiava Gamma is one such world, another of the von Valancius jewels lost to the vast gulf separating them.When the heir apparent of the von Valancius dynasty was made to take up the reigns of their assassinated predecessor, Theodora von Valancius, they came out the other side of a Warp storm only to find their new holdings scattered to the wind. The Warp storm had washed away the passages that connected the von Valancius holdings in the Expanse to one another. Yet while an Agri-world was a helpless target on its own and a capital world would soon starve if left alone for too long, the worlds of the Adeptus Mechanicus have always prided themselves on their ability to act independently of everyone else. Yet it is quite unlike any world, even lost to the immaterial tides, to vanish entirely off the map -- even astropathic messages can unveil naught.So now it falls to the new lord captain of House von Valancius to recover this lost industrial gem, to piece together clues of its fate, and track down any and all who might have fled from whatever fate befell the planet.
Kiavahr - Kiavahr: Kiavahr is the heavily industrialised world around which the former prison-moon of Lycaeus -- better known today as the Raven Guard Chapter's world of Deliverance -- orbits. A tumultuous history ties Kiavahr to its moon, a history forever changed by the arrival of one of the Emperor's primarchs, Corvus Corax, who would subjugate the world's powerful ruling Tech-guilds and lead Kiavahr into the fold of the Imperium of Man.Although no true domain of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Kiavahr and Deliverance together easily rival a Forge World's output in terms of quantities of goods, weapons and ammunition produced. Much of Kiavahr's output benefited the XIX Legion during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy.Even today in the 41st Millennium, Kiavahr still produces almost all the equipment required by the Raven Guard Chapter. While officially under the jurisdiction of the Raven Guard, Kiavahr largely governs itself -- toiling under the watchful eye of its masters from the Adeptus Astartes.
Kiavahr - History: Little is known of Kiavahr's distant past save for the fact that it was settled sometime during the Dark Age of Technology. Ruled throughout Old Night by ruthless and entrenched guilds that controlled every aspect of Kiavahr's society, the surface of that world was long ago scoured to blasted wastes by many standard centuries of industrial exploitation.It was also during this age that Kiavahr rose to become a powerful hive of advanced technology, its city-spanning manufactoria providing many goods of high quality to star systems near and far. Kiavahr survived the Age of Strife with much of its advanced technology intact and succeeded in staying in contact with its neighboring worlds through interstellar void travel.With these worlds Kiavahr established profitable trade agreements which served to further enrich and empower the Tech-guilds that governed it. Each one of these powerful organisations was governed by a guildmaster, an individual of immense wealth and whose political power was almost unlimited. These guildmasters cared little for the well-being of their workers and ruled over millions of souls by violence and strength of arms, employing a caste of guards whose brutality kept the workers at bay. As Kiavahr's own mineral wealth was slowly depleted, the Tech-guilds were forced to impose ever harsher working shifts and conditions to meet the imposed production-quotas.As a preemptive measure to ensure their people's compliance, the guildmasters commonly decided to exile and imprison those that would speak out against them, try to negotiate better working conditions for their fellow labourers or who didn't meet their allotted production-quota. To banish these dissidents and prevent any form of rebellion, the agitators were locked away on Kiavahr's moon, Lycaeus, where immense force-domes were erected to house several thousand political prisoners.Here, the slave-prisoners lived out what remained of their lives in forced labour. Soon after the establishment of the prison moon, a wealth of mineral deposits was discovered beneath its surface and so the prisoners found their every effort devoted to aiding the industries of the world they had been exiled from and furthering the staggering wealth of its ruling elite.To feed the ever-hungry forges of Kiavahr, a stream of new prisoners was required. To meet this demand, even minor offences were soon punished by exile on Lycaeus. The amount of ore and other precious minerals harvested from Lycaeus soon required the construction of a gigantic mass-lifter, the towering structure using Kiavahr's and Lycaeus' gravity fields to continuously ship the refined ore from the moon to the Industrial World's surface.The prison-moon's population soon numbered in the millions, as not only the condemned but also their children and grandchildren were forced to toil in Lycaeus' mines, constantly watched by a well-equipped and brutally effective corps of Tech-guild guards. It was into the midst of this ruthlessly oppressed and maltreated slave caste of Lycaeus that Corvus Corax came, and it was by his hand that the guilds were finally cast down.
Kiavahr - Under the Raven's Banner: By the time the Raven Lord took command of his Space Marine Legion, the Great Crusade was over a standard century old. Corax was quick to impose the style of war he had perfected on Lycaeus over that which had come to define the XIX Legion, melding stealth and guile with vigilance and swiftness.During its restructuring, the Legion commissioned several innovations from the forges of Mars, all of them cunningly wrought to further its mastery of the arts of stealth and speed. As the Thunderhawk gunship entered widespread service, the Raven Guard secured for themselves a variant known as the Shadowhawk, sporting all manner of technologies that made it invisible to all but the most sensitive of augurs.In addition, the Legion gained access to the Whispercutter, an open airframe flyer constructed around a gravitic impellor and capable of dropping ten Astartes into a war zone in utter silence and with practically no chance of detection. Such technology was created not by the Martian Mechanicum nor any of its Forge Worlds, but by those master artificers of Kiavahr who formerly served the Tech-guilds.Utilising strands of machine canon unknown to the mainstream of the Mechanicum, the Tech-guild artificers created all manner of systems at the behest of the Raven Guard and in time the Legion's Techmarines were inducted into these mysteries, although it has been speculated that the Kiavahrans might have been declared outcast by the jealous lords of Mars, were it not for the patronage of so august a body as the Legiones Astartes and Primarch Corax.As the Great Crusade ground ever onwards, Kiavahr assumed its position in the Emperor's Imperium of worlds. While its output was not equal to that of a fully-fledged Forge World of the Mechanicum, with the aid of the Tech-priests of Mars, its forges and manufactoria produced and exported vast quantities of materiel as well as a number of the more specialised machines and weapons required by the Raven Guard Legion. As with many worlds upon which the Martian priesthood saw fit to defend its interest, a portion of its military might in the form of a sizeable detachment of the Legio Vindictus was detached to Kiavahr.The Tech-guild artificers attempted to retain their closest secrets from the Mechanicum with some small measure of success, and clung on to their political independence from Mars. Having remained self-sufficient throughout the lonely dark ages, Kiavahr remained unwilling to cede its secrets to outsiders, and the only authority it recognised was that of the Raven Guard.Of all of the Mechanicum's subsidiary domains, Kiavahr maintained relations with only one -- Gryphonne IV. The terms of this relationship remain unclear, but because the Legio Gryphonicus fought alongside the Raven Guard throughout several of its larger-scale campaigns during the Great Crusade, it can be assumed that some manner of reciprocal pact was, and perhaps still, remains in place.
Kiavahr - Seed of Dissidence: While it was widely believed that the power of the Tech-guilds had been broken in the wake of the Lycaeus Uprising, unknown to the Raven Guard and the wider Imperium, some of the former guildmasters still lived, their lifespans augmented by foreign techniques that were almost immediately outlawed by the Mechanicum when the Priesthood of Mars' grip tightened on Kiavahr. Eeking out an existence in the inhospitable rad-wastes or hiding among the teeming multitudes of the planet's workers, the guildmasters, some of them the very same individuals that were cast-down by Corvus Corax and his original freedom fighters, lurked in the shadows.Yet, they still held a measure of power, commanding the respect of sizable parts of the population as not all had suffered under their rule to the same extent as the miners on Lycaeus had. To some, the guildmasters had brought wealth, position and even prosperity, all of which was now threatened by the Imperium. These last survivors maintained an extensive network of spies within Kiavahran society and even commanded a semblance of military might, but never truly posed a threat to the Raven Guard, or indeed, the Mechanicum. But then came the Drop Site Massacre and the Horus Heresy and things quickly changed.As the Imperium began to tear itself apart, the Tech-guilds and their supporters conceived a far different future for their planet -- Kiavahr reconstituted to its former influence, freed from the Imperium's yoke, freed from the watchful eyes of the Raven Guard and the Mechanicum's dominion. A power to rival that of Mars, some dared to hope.It is most likely that without outside interference, the Tech-guilds' grab for power would have failed miserably, but as it was, with two influential organisations backing the uprising -- namely, the secretive Order of the Dragon within the Mechanicum that greatly resented the Emperor's regulation of their pursuit of the Quest for Knowledge and the Alpha Legion -- the Tech-guilds now posed a genuine threat to the severely depleted Raven Guard.Unknown to Corvus Corax, some of the surviviors of the Raven Guard from the Drop Site Massacre had been replaced by infiltrated Alpha Legion Astartes, including one of the XIX Legion's senior commanders. These infiltrated agents were able to coordinate with other elements hiding within Kiavahran society, be they loyal to the Alpha Legion, the Order of the Dragon or the exiled guildmasters.This potent coalition would band together in an effort to wrestle control of Kiavahr from the Raven Guard and declare its secession from the Imperium of Man. Chief amongst these conspirators was none other than one of the Alpha Legion's twin-primarchs, Omegon.
Kiavahr - Flora and Fauna: As a fairly terrestrial world, Kiavahr still counts numerous regions of wilderness where plant and animal life have survived the eons unharmed. Despite the continuous works of its forge cities, Kiavahr's atmosphere remains largely pure and breathable, the toxins in the air being filtered through Kiavahr's vast forests, which still cover the majority of the planet's surface. The mountainous terrain and high oxygen levels seem to have favoured the evolution of several hundred species of birds, ranging from well-known species such as the common Kiavahrian raven to the mighty rok which lives in the Diagothian Mountains.With a wing-span of over four metres, the rok is a powerful raptor. A predator more than a scavenger, roks are intelligent animals, known to be able to operate in groups and even ambush those foolhardly enough to try to hunt them down. Like all raptors, roks possess sharp talons that can pierce even the Black Carapace of a full grown Astartes and a powerful beak that is rumoured to be able damage even the enhanced bones of a Space Marine. It is no surpise then that the rok is highly respected amongst the tribes of Kiavahr and indeed serves as a Raven Guard totemic animal.Hunting a rok is a highly respected quest, for many Space Marines have perished trying to fulfill it -- but those who succeed gain a very special status amongst the Chapter as the bird's bones are then incorporated into the wearer's power armour. The last Raven Guard to have achieved this feat was Chaplain Cordae who even took the roc's skull to be incorporated into his armour's Skull Helm.
Kiavahr - Kiavahrian Society: Since the times of the Great Crusade, Khiavarian society has been notable for its lack of homogeneity. The streets of Kiavahr are crowded with figures ranking from vat-grown slaves, half-machine servitors and the augmetically-enhanced forms of the priesthood of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The mighty Tech-guilds that once ruled Kiavahr still exist today, although their true power has long been subdued by the Imperium.However the Tech-guilds are still powerful organisations which have benefited for the last ten thousand Terran years from the protection and patronage of the Raven Guard. So far this patronage has allowed the guilds to retain some of their independence towards the intrusive nature of the Martian Mechanicus and allowed them to keep some of their greatest technological achievements for themselves.With its extremely high pollution levels, Kiavahr also harbours a sizable population of mutants which, at least in theory, exceed the tolerance levels established by the Adeptus Ministorum, but the quality of the goods produced on Kiavahr has always spared the planet from the brutal purges this branch is rightly famed for.
Kibellah - Kibellah: Kibellah, called the "Second Spinner of the Bloodspun Web," is a Death Cult assassin of the Bloodspun Web cult in service to the Rogue Trader of House von Valancius in the Koronus Expanse.
Kibellah - History: The Imperium is founded upon death and bloodshed, and maintained only by the further sacrifices of Humanity. There are those for whom death is a way of life, and Death Cults of many types can be found on worlds across the Imperium. They revel in holy slaughter, dedicating their victims' souls to the God-Emperor, offering up blood sacrifices to Him of his many enemies so that He might answer their prayers.The practices of these Death Cults are dark and terrifying. Common folk maintain a superstitious fear of ruthless assassins who specialise in ritual murder, self-mutilation and bloody communion. Vague omens can make these zealots of the Imperial Cult target seemingly innocent people just as easily as obvious enemies of the Imperium.One such cult lurks within the bowels of House von Valancius' flagship. For standard years, the ascetic and inscrutable servants of the Death Cult known as the "Bloodspun Web" have protected the dynasty from enemies aboard the vessel, stalking the threats hiding in lower decks and spraying the bulkheads with the blood of their victims.Kibellah is a masterful assassin whose talent and fanatical devotion to the Undying Emperor has earned her the title of the "Second Spinner of the Bloodspun Web." Since childhood, she has dedicated herself to rigorous training of mind and body, perfecting the art of the blade dance and mollifying her emotions. Kibellah has no desires, only duty; no fear, only purpose. She is the perfect instrument of death, and this undying servant of the Undying Emperor has left the shadows to become the Rogue Trader of House von Valancius' personal bodyguard.Her specialised blades and ritualistic arts are at the Lord Captain's service, as is her sophisticated mind. She recognises the divine signs sent by the Emperor, even through the veil of mundane reality. Her world is a realm of riddles and blood that interweave and resolve into momentous insight.To that end, she bears the greatest relic of the cult: a sacred deck of the Emperor's Tarot. The cards speak the will of the Undying One and reveal the names of those who must depart. Every new reading reveals ever more clearly that the greatest moment of her life is at hand. The Immortal Emperor holds an exceptional destiny in store for His servant, who is now ready to step into the future.
Kibellah - Wargear: Kibellah is armed with a slightly-curved but lethal longsword and a variety of daggers. She often wields her sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. She wears an Armoured Bodyglove underneath a chest and backplate of Carapace Armour with a cowl that possesses a built-in augmetic optical device to enhance her targeting capabilities and provide access to auto-senses.Her left hand is encased in an injector gauntlet much like that used by the Drukhari Haemonculi. It is a bladed claw-glove crammed with syringe-like protrusions and vials which can inject potent toxins into any enemy she faces while in whirling melee.
Kieldar - Kieldar: KieldarImperialFortress WorldCadian SystemDinorwyc ClusterKieldar Offensive
Kieldar - History: In 956.M41, Kieldar fell under the influence of Chaos Renegade agitators who had also summoned several daemons. The rebels gained control of the world and declared its independence from the Imperium.Those deemed a threat to the new order on the world -- representatives of the Ecclesiarchy and military advisors from Cadia -- were executed shortly afterwards. A Cadian Astropath warned the wider Imperium of the rebellion before the executions.Fearing that the uprising would spread to the strategically vital Agri-worlds of the Dinorwyc Cluster, the Astra Militarum was ordered by Segmentum Command to assemble a task force to assault Kieldar.The result was the Kieldar Offensive which led to the overthrow of the rebellion and the ultimate return of Kieldar to Imperial rule.
Kieldar - Geography: Kielder possesses several continents, with the northern one considered the best place to establish a drop site by the Astra Militarum and Imperial Navy.One of the fortifications on Kieldar is Darkridge Hold. During the Kieldar Offensive, the Astra Militarum besieged it for 33 solar days using Basilisk artillery bombardment and a company of super-heavy tanks consisting of at least one Baneblade. Darkridge's main line of retreat was towards the Krokorax bastion near outlying cities and trenchlines.During the offensive, Taskforces Ironwind and Steel Hammer first besieged these cities in an attempt to prevent the Kieldarian rebels from reinforcing Darkridge, and then advanced through them to cut off the rebels' lines of retreat. Kieldar returned to Imperial control shortly afterwards.
Kieldar Offensive - Kieldar Offensive: The Kieldar Offensive was a major campaign waged by the Astra Militarum against the rebellious Fortress World of Kieldar in 956.M41 after it declared its independence from the Imperium of Man. The campaign proved successful and Kieldar was restored to Imperial rule.
Kieldar Offensive - History: The Kieldar rebellion began with a declaration of independence and flagrant rejection of the Imperial Creed. Shortly thereafter all those deemed a threat to the newly "independent" Fortress World -- including representatives of the Ecclesiarchy and military advisors from nearby Cadia were executed.Unbeknownst to the rebels, an Astropath attached to the Cadian delegation was able to send warning of Kieldar's uprising. Fearing that misrule would spread -- especially to the nearby, and vital Agri-worlds of the Dinorwyc Cluster, an Astra Militarum task force was assembled by the Segmentum Obscurus Command and ordered to crush the Kieldar rebellion.The forces involved included regiments drawn from Cadia, Elysium, Vostroya, Mordian, Tallarn, Harakon, Paragon, Birmingham, Pintax, Jjojos, Loriar, and Morox.
Kieldar Offensive - Campaign Progress: Days 1 to 7 - Three attempts to secure a drop site on the northern continent are defeated. The fourth drives the enemy from the beach-head.Day 18 - Blitzkrieg assault on outer defence line. Thunderbolt fighters provide air cover.Days 20-24 - Reconnaissance elements destroyed whilst cutting enemy supply lines. Reports pointed to captured Imperial Guardsmen having been ritually sacrificed by the rebels, indicating Chaos Cultist presence among the enemy.Days 25-40 - Taskforces Ironwind and Steel Hammer engage in pyrrhic sieges of outlying enemy-held cities and trenchlines. The mission goal is that the task forces should die slowly enough to prevent the enemy reinforcing his stronghold. Presence of daemons reported, but not independently verified.Days 41-63 - Flank March. Unexpected victory by Taskforce lronwind allows seizure of the Krokorax bastion from Chaos Renegade agitators. Taskforce Ironwind advances upon enemy positions in the Kieldar Darkridge.Days 60-93 - The Siege of Darkridge. The Darkridge Hold fortifications are reduced to rubble by thirty solar days of continuous bombardment. Kieldar rebel defence units fall back before the Imperial infantry advance. Taskforce Ironwind cuts enemy line of retreat. Kieldar returns to the control of the Imperium shortly thereafter.
Kill-team - Kill-team: For kill teams of other factions besides the Deathwatch, see Kill Team Unit.A kill-team, also spelled Kill Team, is the standard operating tactical unit of the Deathwatch Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes, the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Xenos of the Inquisition. Each kill-team is composed of an elite squad of experienced xenos-fighters consisting of no fewer than 5 Space Marines and no more than a reinforced squad of 15 Astartes.The term is also used by conventional Space Marine Chapters to refer to the small, ad hoc units comprised of about 3-5 squads, or 30-50 Astartes, drawn from a single company for specific missions. These kill-teams are lightly armed and are intended to make use of speed and relative stealth to destroy selected, highly important strategic targets.The term "kill-team" is also a generic one used in the Imperium to refer to any small group of warriors of any faction of the galaxy, who are frequently assembled by their species' government or other governing authority to carry out missions that larger military forces above the squad level cannot easily accomplish.
Kill-team - Role: The kill-team is the primary tactical formation of the Deathwatch, serving as the core group that engages the bulk of their hated xenos foes, and to bring about the achievement of the Deathwatch's objectives. Most battle-brothers are veterans of a hundred alien wars before being inducted into the Deathwatch, but selection is not made upon length of service alone.In theory, even a Scout Marine who shows exceptional skill at arms against the xenos may be selected to serve, although such an event is extremely rare. In the main, it is those battle-brothers who have faced a broad range of alien threats and not only survived, but prevailed, learning and passing on new methods of defeating such foes. A Deathwatch kill-team consists of no less than 5 battle-brothers, but they are never larger than a reinforced squad in size, about 15 Astartes, tasked with carrying out a specific objective, such as the destruction of a particularly dangerous target or strategically important objective.If a mission requires an unusually large number of Deathwatch Astartes to participate, the Inquisition may assemble several kill-teams, though such instances are rare because of the elite status and potent combat ability of even a single Deathwatch kill-team.The term "kill-team" can also refer to larger, more ad hoc assemblies of Space Marines drawn from the companies of the standard Space Marine Chapters. These types of kill-teams often consist of 3-5 squads within a standard Astartes company, or about 30-50 Space Marines. These Kill-teams are lightly armed and are intended to make use of speed and relative stealth to destroy selected, highly important strategic targets. These targets are primarily the enemy's most important command-and-control units, such as an enemy commander and his bodyguard. Additionally, standard Space Marine Chapters also make use of these larger kill-teams to mop up any remaining enemy troops after the primary combat has ended in an Adeptus Astartes victory.
Kill-team - Selection: Each kill-team is selected with the utmost care. The archives of the Deathwatch detail every member's history, the oaths he has sworn, his areas of expertise, the alien species he has engaged and any quirks or flaws he may have. The team's leader will delve long into these records before each mission, for his choices can be the difference between victory and death.The battle-brothers of the Deathwatch are exceptional individuals taken from Chapters across the galaxy. In this diversity and fund of experience lies great strength. Where one member of a kill-team may not have encountered a specific breed of alien, another will have met that creature in battle and defeated it, or one roughly analogous to it. Once a Kill-team has fought together long enough to share the full extent of this knowledge, it will often be disbanded, its members assembled into different kill-teams to learn anew.With a gamut of hard-won wisdom much in evidence, the battle-brothers of each kill-team come to rely upon one another's expertise; they have little option, for they may spend many standard years out of contact with their watch fortress. It is common for a Veteran sergeant to seek his warriors' advice as often as the other way around, and in many cases act more as an arbiter than as a traditional commander.Deathwatch officers will invariably choose the members of their kill-team in order to draw on as much relevant experience as possible. With different Chapters having long-standing specialisations, it is easy enough to identify who will have the most relevant insights in a given circumstance. In matters of how best to launch a close assault, a Sternguard Veteran of the Imperial Fists will likely yield to the advice of a Vanguard Veteran from the Blood Angels Chapter, whereas in the defence of a bastion complex, it will almost certainly be the other way around.Long-standing rivalries between Chapters do sometimes sour these relationships, at least initially -- headstrong Space Wolves may clash with dour Dark Angels in an echo of their primarchs' famous rivalry, and a tactician from the Hammers of Dorn may endlessly debate the finer points of the Codex Astartes with his Ultramarines equivalent. Over time, however, these instances of conflict lead to long-standing respect or even firm friendship.Kill-teams are borne to their allocated war zones by onyx-hulled strike cruisers. These magnificent warships operate out of the watch fortresses, using their Warp-Drives to ply the cursed tides of the Empyrean in order to reach their target as swiftly as possible. The Navigators that steer them are amongst the best in the Imperium, as are the astropaths that provide the psychic link back to their base of operations.So it is that the Deathwatch slip through the sea of stars like stilettos cutting through silk -- silent and swift until the time comes to stab at the heart of a xenos empire. It is just as well, for if even a single Deathwatch vessel misses its mark, it could spell disaster -- with that failure, a swathe of Imperial space could be ceded to the alien, never to be recovered.
Kill-team - Tactics: Over the course of the Imperium's history, the Deathwatch's kill-teams have worked miraculous feats of arms. They have stymied alien invasions, cleansed infested space-fleets, and even hunted the denizens of hostile planets to extinction. In the process, some necessarily become specialised in the persecution of a particular type of enemy.Some kill-teams accomplish such unalloyed success against their chosen foes that their methods are taught in every watch fortress. For example, the methods Squad Veridium used to eradicate the remnants of The Beast's Greenskin armies in the 32nd Millennium are still in widespread use. Codified as Furor tactics, their techniques involved the delivery of explosive firepower across a wide frontage. By concentrating on the tightly-packed throng of Orks at the fore, Squad Veridium aimed each detonation to cause maximum collateral damage, sowing the field with dismembered corpses that slowed those elements behind.Venator tactics were perfected after fighting the all-female pirates of the Drukhari Wych Cult Sybilla. Frustrated by the Drukhari's ability to evade the Emperor's vengeance, Jaaghen Khan of the White Scars requisitioned bikes for his combat squad and led his enemies on long-running battles where they perfected the art of leading their fire. When the enemy struck back by surrounding them, the Khan brought in the rest of his kill-team. Equipped with comprehensive data concerning their targets, the kill-team filled the air with so much firepower that the Khan's nimble foes were torn from the sky. This has proven an invaluable tactic against fast-moving xenos hosts ever since, be they capricious Aeldari, Ork Kults of Speed, or even the outriders of a Necron metaphalanx.It was Kill-team Brontos that first codified Malleus tactics. When breaking the Tyranid war-monstrosities infesting Rakkor IX, Captain Brontos and his warriors rode to war in a Land Raider whose Godhammer Pattern Lascannons claimed three Carnifex kills en route. Charging into the fray, they used Power Maces to stun the largest of the survivors, and then cracked even the thickest exoskeletons with their heavy Thunder Hammers. Brontos took the same approach to shatter the Dread Mob of Big Mek Dakkahorn, the Wraith Host of Yme-Loc and a boarding party of Daemon Engines led by Warpsmith Gruallex.Purgatus tactics were developed by Librarian del Athyu, sworn enemy of Craftworld Ulthwé. They involve the concentration of utmost force upon the leaders of the alien hordes. By taking a commanding position on the battlefield under the psychic aegis of their Librarian, and then pouring pinpoint firepower into their quarry, Kill-team del Athyu overloaded their Farseer target's mystical shields and shattered the wraithbone armour protecting his vital organs. It was then that the killing shot was punched home, leaving the enemy host leaderless whilst the greater conquest began. Since that day, hundreds of commanding alien warlords have been executed with these same tactics, their invasions brought low before they could claim a single Imperial world.
Kill-team - Aquila Kill-team: When the Deathwatch face unknown foes, or the threat requires a measured and strategically versatile response, they deploy Aquila Kill-teams. In many ways, these kill-teams are a microcosm of the Deathwatch itself, for they comprise battle-brothers drawn from multiple Chapters, each bringing their own specialised tactics and favoured armaments to strengthen the team as a whole. Rather than specialise in the destruction of particular xenos species or strategic assets, Aquila Kill-teams are generalist squads whose strength lies in their capacity to adapt swiftly and decisively to new battlefield challenges as they arise.As such, their battle-brothers typically carry a wide spread of both ranged and close-combat armaments that allow them to engage varied enemies across all manner of battlefields. When a single kill-team must be despatched to investigate potential dangers, it will most often be an Aquila Kill-team that is chosen, specifically for its ability to handle any threat.With the pounding of armoured boots, the blaze of Jump Pack jets, and the roar of finely-tuned engines, the Aquila Kill-team takes to the battlefield. Armed and armoured to handle any eventuality, the team's battle-brothers keep in constant communication, evolving their battle plan with each new twist of fate. They assess the strengths and weaknesses of the foe with the penetrating gaze of a hunting eagle, devising the optimum courses of action before swooping in for the kill.These operatives go about their work with such fluidity and skill that they strike in synchrony even when spread across a wide front. So skilled is the Aquila team at taking the measure of unknown foes that they can tear a bloody victory from their enemies in a series of explosive strikes, no matter the nature of the horrors ranged against them.
Kill-team - Dominatus Kill-team: Many xenos species have elite warriors that they can deploy to the most crucial battlefronts. From the arrogant and deadly Incubi of the Drukhari to the lethally focussed Necron Immortals, each specialist force is its own unique threat. It is the role of the Dominatus Kill-team to study each and every one of these enemies, to understand how to counter their strengths and how to exploit their weaknesses.Dominatus battle-brothers accordingly change their armaments with great regularity, equipping themselves before each mission with the optimised weaponry for the foe they face. Deathwatch Shotguns and Inferno Pistols are deployed to deliver point-blank kill shots, while heavy Thunder Hammers and Power Fists ensure each blow struck is the last one needed. Meanwhile, the finest duellists in the kill-team carry thrumming Power Swords, the better to match their enemies blade-to-blade and prove their mastery with every decapitation and impalement.Should the enemy rely on specialist forces of its own, the Dominatus Kill-team will make their destruction a priority in order to secure dominion over the field. The team's Vanguard Space Marine warriors roar out of the skies to launch their alpha strike even as the Veteran marksmen that form the rest of their kill-team pin the enemy in place with disciplined firepower.It is a tactic that has been employed to great effect against the most marshalled xenos armies. Alien marksmen, thinking themselves secure in commanding positions, are swiftly ripped apart by the airborne warriors that dive into their midst, whilst the close assault specialists sent to crush the Imperial army are hammered by heavy firepower.Every sweep of a chainsword or detonation of a bolt strips away the xenos army's potency until their prized assets lie in tatters.
Kill-team - Furor Kill-team: Furor Kill-teams are swarm-slayers, pure and simple. Where vast hordes of Orks stampede towards the Imperial battle line, or surging Tyranid swarms darken the land with their numbers, there the Furor Kill-teams are deployed. In the first instance, Furor Kill-teams place an emphasis upon ranged weaponry, ideally those firearms that generate an overwhelming hail of shots, or those whose rounds burst in clouds of shrapnel or bio-acids, the better to scythe down rank upon rank of lightly armoured targets. Frag Cannons, Infernus Heavy Bolters and the like are often found in Furor Kill-teams, allowing the Deathwatch to mow their enemies down right up until the inevitable moment that the enraged alien survivors push their charge home.At that moment the kill-team's close combat specialists come to the fore, Terminator-armoured brethren wielding crackling Lightning Claws as Assault Terminators who wade into the enemy, rending and stabbing until the foe's nerve is broken, or all the aliens lie dead.The air fills with flesh-chewing explosions as the Furor Kill-team's marksmen open fire. Every bolt and frag charge is selected and aimed to cause maximum damage to lightly-armoured foes. Whole swarms of xenos can be taken down by the storm of bolts and shells the Furor team rains upon its foes as its main assault closes in, and explosive bolts sow anarchy and confusion amongst the ranks.Where the enemy still threatens the Imperial lines through sheer weight of numbers, the team's close combat specialists will charge in at the last moment. With voices raised in praise to the primarchs, they dismember the survivors with powered blades, chainswords and Lightning Claws. The forward elements of the Furor team drive onwards with each new charge, breaking enemy offensives one after another.
Kill-team - Malleus Kill-team: The Space Marines of Malleus Kill-teams are monster-slayers and tank-killers. They are fearless heroes who stand unyielding before the towering abominations and deviant war engines of the xenos menace. In order to best perform this role, the Malleus Kill-team makes great use of the heaviest man-portable assault weaponry available. They also look to their own defence -- typically deploying with a number of battle-brothers protected by Terminator Armour and Storm Shields as Deathwatch Terminators who serve in the role of Assault Terminators, for the enemies they fight can crush even a Space Marine to bloody pulp. The Malleus Kill-teams return the favour, however, for their heavy Thunder Hammers and lethal Power Weapons make a mockery of the thickest chitin and xenoform armour.Their target selected, the Malleus Kill-team attacks with absolute focus and relentless ferocity. Firing pointblank volleys of melta and plasma energy into their victims, the Malleus battle-brothers blast and batter at their chosen target until it is reduced to smouldering ruin.
Kill-team - Purgatus Kill-team: Cut off the head, and the body will die. One of the most ancient strategic axioms in Human history, it holds as true amidst the darkness of the 41st Millennium as it ever has. This is the role of the Purgatus Kill-team, and it is a task they are well equipped to perform. Typically led to battle by a member of their watch fortress' Librarius, each member of a Purgatus Kill-team carries weapons that will allow him to assassinate xenos warlords, psychic demagogues and synaptic node-beasts.With a mixture of overwhelming firepower and punishing close-combat weaponry, the kill-team scythe down any bodyguards that may stand in their way before surrounding their victim with a forest of crackling power blades. Augmented by the psychic powers of their Deathwatch Librarian, the battle-brothers swiftly identify, engage and neutralise their target, ensuring that his demise is as bloody and visible as possible so as to spread the greatest amount of terror and confusion amongst the enemy ranks.Purgatus Kill-teams must be indomitable in heart and mind, for these squads hunt down and slay those dominant creatures that hold xenos forces together, whether through conventional command structures or through psychic means like Tyranid synapse creatures. Aided by heavy covering fire from his battle-brothers, the kill-team's Deathwatch Librarian closes with his prey, his Warpcraft concealing his brothers from sight until it is time to strike.When the Purgatus team is in position it will burst from concealment in a storm of Hellfire shells and purifying lightnings, the Librarian engaging his quarry in a fierce war of the mind as his comrades cut down the fell leader's guardians. In a matter of heartbeats the xenos leaders are slain, and the mastermind that holds the enemy force together destroyed.
Kill-team - Venator Kill-team: Venator Kill-teams specialise in combating those xenos threats who have the speed to run rings around their slower brethren such as the forces of the Aeldari. These kill-teams balance speed and manoeuvrability with heavy firepower, and are practised at pre-empting the enemy's movements and shutting down the advantages that their swiftness normally affords them. Deathwatch Veteran Bikers are much in evidence amongst Venator Kill-teams, their role to use their speed and hitting power in swift, punishing strikes designed to cripple and slow their victims.While the bikers engage and surround the xenos, the remainder of the kill-team prepares to strike. Typically heavily armed Veterans, often clad predominately in Terminator Armour to serve as Deathwatch Terminators, utilise predictive firing solutions and expert timing to unleash their arsenal upon the enemy at the optimum moment. No matter how fast and agile the target, it takes only a single blow from a Venator Kill-team to bring its rampage to a bloody end.A Venator Kill-team is assembled when the Deathwatch face a foe too agile or manoeuvrable for a conventional strike force to contain it. Where such a xenos army could run rings around an armoured division or Gladius demi-company, the Venator team turns the enemy assault on its head, its Assault Bike-mounted warriors hurtling in wide sweeps to encircle the foe in their turn. When their designated quarry is located, the bikers share the auspex data of their previous forays with the rest of their team.It is then that cold vigilance turns to fiery, red-hot fury. As the bikers finally open fire, the weapon systems borne by the rest of the team's Veterans send salvos blasting in on the coordinates set by their bike-mounted brethren –- no matter how fast their prey, the pinpoint vengeance of these volleys strikes home with killing force.
Kill-team - Proteus Kill-team: The sheer versatility of their weapon loadout, combined with their durability and manoeuvrability, make it little wonder that Proteus Kill-teams have worked miraculous feats of arms on countless hostile worlds over the course of the Imperium's history.A Proteus Kill-team is normally comprised of 4 Deathwatch 1st Company Veterans and 1 Veteran watch sergeant.Additionally any 5 of the following types of Firstborn Marines can be added:Deathwatch 1st Company VeteransDeathwatch TerminatorsDeathwatch Veteran BikerDeathwatch Vanguard Veteran
Kill-team - Fortis Kill-team: Fortis Kill-teams are the kill-teams of the Deathwatch comprised wholly of Primaris Space Marines in the Era Indomitus.Resurrected and returned to the Imperium in its hour of greatest need during the Ultramar Campaign of the 13th Black Crusade, Primarch Roboute Guilliman strove to reunite his father's shattered realm after the start of the Era Indomitus. As the lord commander of the Imperium and Imperial Regent, he presided over the Ultima Founding of the Adeptus Astartes, wherein the long-slumbering Primaris Marines were awoken by the primarch's ally Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl and sent to join the war against Chaos.As part of this grand mobilisation, Guilliman issued the Ultimaris Decree and sent entire Chapters' worth of Primaris battle-brothers to reinforce the hard-pressed Deathwatch and pulled them back from the brink of annihilation.The introduction of Primaris Space Marines into the Adeptus Astartes posed the watch masters with an array of strategic challenges and opportunities. In the first instance the Primaris battle-brothers were incorporated by squad type, Intercessors joined with Intercessors, Reivers with Reivers and so on, bringing with them the practices and specialties of their Chapters but still fulfilling their traditional tactical battlefield roles.It was the watch master of Talasa Prime who took matters a step further and created the first Primaris Space Marine kill-team. Naming this tactic the Fortis Kill-team, Watch Master Mordelai aimed to create the Primaris equivalent of the Aquila Kill-team, basing its structure around a core of Intercessors to provide durability and firepower. He then introduced a Reiver for stealth and terror tactics, an Aggressor for close-range overwhelming strength, an Inceptor for swift scouting and reconnaissance duties and a pair of Hellblasters whose Plasma Incinerators could complement the firepower of their battle-brothers and bring down the largest alien foes.The template of the Fortis Kill-team, often augmented with a Repulsor tank to provide transport and fire support, spread rapidly from one watch fortress to the next, and new tactics and specialisations are constantly being experimented with as the Primaris Marines and their new physical and technological capabilities become ever more integral to the Deathwatch.Further refined from Watch Master Mordelai's original concept in the years since the Primaris Marines joined the Deathwatch to have a slightly different composition as other patterns of Primaris kill-teams are established, present day Fortis Kill-teams exemplify the supreme adaptability of Mark X Tacticus Power Armour, seamlessly merging a variety of battleline and close support roles and deadly firepower.A Fortis Kill-team is normally comprised of 4 Intercessors and 1 Intercessor watch sergeant.Additionally any 5 of the following types of Primaris Marines can be added:IntercessorAssault IntercessorOutriderHellblaster
Kill-team - Wargear Options: Auto Bolt Rifle (As replacement for Intercessors' Bolt Rifle)Stalker Bolt Rifle (As replacement for Intercessors' Bolt Rifle)Assault Plasma Incinerator (As replacement for Hellblasters' Plasma Incinerator)Heavy Plasma Incinerator (As replacement for Hellblasters' Plasma Incinerator)
Kill-team - Indomitor Kill-team: Comprising Primaris Marine warriors wearing the heavier Mark X Gravis Power Armour variant, Indomitor Kill-teams are mobile bastions capable of unleashing the firepower of a squadron of main battle tanks. Before them hors of xenos and monstrous beasts alike are torn apart.An Indomitor Kill-team is normally comprised of 4 Heavy Intercessors and 1 Heavy Intercessor watch sergeant.Additionally any 5 of the following types of Primaris Marines can be added:Heavy IntercessorAggressorInceptorEradicator
Kill-team - Wargear Options: Heavy Auto Bolt Rifle (As replacement for Heavy Intercessors' Heavy Bolt Rifle)Heavy Stalker Bolt Rifle (As replacement for Heavy Intercessors' Heavy Bolt Rifle)2 Flamestorm Gauntlets (As replacement for Aggressors' 2 Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets and Fragstorm Grenade Launcher)2 Plasma Exterminators (As replacement for Inceptors' 2 Assault Bolters)Heavy Melta Rifle (As replacement for Eradicators' Melta Rifle)
Kill-team - Spectrus Kill-team: Sinister, silent and all but invisible until they choose to strike, Spectrus Kill-teams are adept in inflicting death from both near and far. Clad in close-fitting Mark X Phobos Power Armour, these Vanguard Marines specialise in battlefield control and enemy destabilisation.A Spectrus Kill-team is normally comprised of 4 Infiltrators and 1 Infiltrator watch sergeant.Additionally any 5 of the following types of Primaris Marines can be added:InfiltratorIncursorReiverEliminator
Kill-team - Optional Wargear: Bolt Carbine (As replacement for Reivers' Combat Blade)Las Fusil (As replacement for Eliminators' Bolt Sniper Rifle)
Kill-team - Notable Kill-teams: Kill-team CassiusKill-team Excis
Kill-team Cassius - Kill-team Cassius: Kill-team Cassius was a Deathwatch Space Marine kill-team seconded to the watch fortress Talasa Prime that was commanded by the Ultramarines Chapter's High Chaplain Ortan Cassius that first discovered the existence of the Genestealer Cult threat to the Imperium during an unauthorised mission on the world of Ghosar Quintus in ca. 681.M41. They have fought together many times since and baulk at no alien horror.Kill-team Cassius was designated an Aquila Kill-team. In many ways, these kill-teams are a microcosm of the Deathwatch itself, for they comprise battle-brothers drawn from multiple Chapters, each bringing their own specialised tactics and favoured armaments to strengthen the team as a whole. Rather than specialise in the destruction of particular xenos species or strategic assets, Aquila Kill-teams are generalist squads whose strength lies in their capacity to adapt swiftly and decisively to new battlefield challenges as they arise.As such, their battle-brothers typically carry a wide spread of both ranged and close-combat armaments that allow them to engage varied enemies across all manner of battlefields. When a single kill-team must be despatched to investigate potential dangers, it will most often be an Aquila Kill-team that is chosen, specifically for its ability to handle any threat.