vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Spartan Assault Tank - Variants: The Spartan Assault Tank has several different variants, including the following:Typhon Heavy Siege Tank - The Typhon Heavy Siege Tank is a variant of the Spartan Assault Tank that was designed to be used during sieges and is equipped with a powerful siege weapon known as the Dreadhammer Siege Cannon. The Typhon was developed by the Mechanicum during the Great Crusade in response to a request by the Primarch of the Iron Warriors Legion, Perturabo, for an Astartes vehicle that could quickly deploy heavy, fortress-breaking firepower to the front lines, so that no time would be lost waiting for the Imperial Army's slow artillery batteries.Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer - The Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer was a rare experimental variant of the Spartan Assault Tank. The Cerberus was designed by the Mechanicum to use the massive internal space of the Spartan's chassis to mount a Neutron Laser Projector, a more powerful and unstable variant of the Neutron Laser Cannon that would later be used by the Astartes' Sabre Tank Hunters and the Valdor Tank Hunters of the Imperial Army. It is believed that the Neutron Laser Battery was scaled down to create the smaller, and more stable, Neutron Laser Cannon. As the Cerberus was used to field-test the first Neutron-based weaponry, they were not as widely mass-produced as the other Spartan variants.Land Raider Phobos - Although the Land Raider Phobos does not use the Spartan's chassis, many of the design features of the Spartan, and the older Land Raider Proteus, would be incorporated into the the first Land Raider that could transport Terminators. Sometime during the latter half of the Great Crusade the Mechanicum developed the Land Raider Phobos as the primary replacement for the Land Raider Proteus. The Land Raider Phobos takes the best of both the Land Raider Proteus and the Spartan Assault Tank's designs. As a testament to the robust nature of this design, the Land Raider Phobos is still used by every single Space Marine Chapter after nearly 10,000 standard years, and has even spawned many common variants of its own.Chaos Spartan Assault Tank - The Spartan Assault Tank was used on both sides of the Horus Heresy, and after the death of Horus at the hands of the Emperor the surviving Traitor Primarchs and their Legions fled Imperial space, most to the Eye of Terror. These Legions took their Spartan Assault Tanks with them, where they would be corrupted and twisted by the malign powers of the Warp. Spartan Assault Tanks used by the Traitor Legions are armed with weaponry no longer used by the Imperium, such as Reaper Autocannons, Havoc Missile Launchers, and Pintle-mounted Combi-Weapons. The vehicle's crew may even be permanently fused to the vehicle itself, or the tank may be controlled by Daemons.
Spartan Assault Tank - Known Users of the Spartan Assault Tank: The following are the known users of the Spartan Assault Tank:Space Marine Legions - The Spartan Assault Tank was used by most, if not all, of the original Space Marine Legions during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. Some Legions, such as the Death Guard and the Sons of Horus, made especially extensive use of the Spartan tank.Second Founding Chapters - When the Space Marine Legions were broken up into 1,000 man Chapters during the Second Founding any Spartan Assault Tanks that survived the Horus Heresy and the Great Scouring were divided up and given to these newly formed Chapters. It is unknown if the present day Adeptus Mechanicus is able to build new Spartans or if the technology has been lost.Chaos Space Marine Legions - After the death of Horus Lupercal at the end of the Horus Heresy, the nine Traitor Legions either fled to the Eye of Terror or into uncharted space, taking any surviving Spartans with them. Chaos Spartan Assault Tanks are corrupted and twisted by their exposure to the Warp, yet this has not negatively affected the vehicle's performance or capacity for destruction in any way.
Spartan Assault Tank - Adeptus Mechanicus Technical Specifications: Spartan Assault TankVehicle Name:Spartan Assault TankMain Armament:2 Sponson-mounted Quad-LascannonsForge World of Origin:Anvilus XISecondary Armament:Hull-mounted twin-linked Heavy BoltersKnown Patterns:I - VITraverse:180 degreesCrew:One Driver, One GunnerElevation:-32 to 55 degreesPowerplant:Antomantic Core with Auxiliary ReactorMain Ammunition:Unlimited; cell power feedWeight:165 tonnesSecondary Ammunition:800 RoundsLength:10 metresArmour:Width:6.1 metres w/ SponsonsHeight:5 metresSuperstructure:95 millimetresGround Clearance:0.5 metresHull:95 millimetresMax Speed On-Road:45 kilometres per hourGun Mantlet:N/AMax Speed Off-Road:38 kilometres per hourVehicle Designation:UnknownTransport Capacity:25 Space Marines or 12 TerminatorsFiring Ports:UnknownAccess Points:1 Front Assault Ramp, 2 Side DoorsTurret:N/A
Spartan Assault Tank - Sources: The Horus Heresy - Book One: Betrayal (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 24-25, 32-33, 54, 57, 125, 135, 222The Horus Heresy - Book Two: Massacre (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 101The Horus Heresy - Book Three: Extermination (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 98-99, 135, 146-147, 173, 182, 252The Horus Heresy - Book Four: Conquest (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 32-33The Horus Heresy - Book Five: Tempest (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 102-103The Horus Heresy - Book Six: Retribution (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 100-101The Horus Heresy - Book Seven: Inferno (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 49, 65The Horus Heresy: Legiones Astartes - Age of Darkness Army List, pg. 70Imperial Armour Index: Forces of the Adeptus Astartes (8th Edition), pg. 17Imperial Armour Volume Two (Second Edition) - War Machines of the Adeptus Astartes, pp. 24, 116-119Imperial Armour Volume Twelve - The Fall of Orpheus, pp. 54-55, 156White Dwarf 119 (UK), "Spartan: Land Raider Variant for Terminator Transport", pp. 60-64
Speaker for the Chartist Captains - Speaker for the Chartist Captains: The Speaker for the Chartist Captains is the high-ranking Imperial official who administratively commands the merchant fleets of the Imperial Fleet and represents the interests of the mercantile Chartist Captains to the High Lords of Terra on the Senatorum Imperialis.As the representative of the myriad merchant guilds, noble houses and corporations who have been granted Merchant Charters as the Chartist Captains who carry all of the interstellar trade that keeps the Imperium's economy functioning, the Speaker for the Chartist Captains wields enormous political and economic clout. As a result, they are often granted one of the non-permanent, rotating seats on the Senatorum Imperialis.As some 90% of the Imperial Fleet is comprised of the voidships of the merchant fleets, in times of broader conflict for the Imperium like the War of the Beast the Speaker's power can potentially eclipse even that of the Lord High Admiral who commands the Navis Imperialis.Naturally, the Speaker for the Chartist Captains is one of the wealthiest individuals in the Imperium, and maintains their headquarters in the opulent Nexus Axiomatic fortress complex on Terra. The Speaker commands and is protected by the Praeses Mercatura, the security forces of the Nexus Axiomatic and the honour guard of the Speaker.
Spear of Telesto - Spear of Telesto: The Spear of Telesto is a relic weapon of the Blood Angels Chapter that was once wielded by the angelic Primarch Sanguinius as his primary weapon alongside the Blade Encarmine during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy, though it was long believed lost during the latter conflict.Sanguinius was shown using it against the Slaughter-Lord Morroga on the Tapestries of Riga, which hang in the Silent Cloister of the Blood Angels' fortress-monastery on Baal.Its blade is shaped like an elongated tear with a hollow in the centre to represent the single drop of blood Sanguinius shed when he swore fealty to the Emperor.The shaft is sculpted to show the primarch as a hooded angel of blood, and beneath that is a Purity Seal with an oath allegedly hand-written by the Emperor Himself.The spear can emit a blast of directed energy which vaporises anyone who does not possess the blood of Sanguinius coursing through his veins.The spear was originally thought to have been lost during the Horus Heresy, but the Blood Angels' Battle Barge Bellus was sent to recover it following the discovery of documents relating to its whereabouts on the world of Evangelion, a mission whose outcome had profound consequences for the entire Chapter.The weapon was found among the Ork-held star systems on the borders of the Segmentum Obscurus by a team led by Inquisitor Ramius Stele.
Spear of Twilight - Spear of Twilight: The Spear of Twilight, known also as the Cursed Blade of the House of Ulthanash, is an eldritch artefact kept in a Stasis Field within the Shrine of Ulthanash on the Aeldari Craftworld Iyanden. This ancient weapon is said to contain the baleful energies of a dying sun, and is so powerful that it eventually burns through a bearer's soul.The Spear, like other types of cursed artefacts, cannot be set aside by the owner willingly without death. Prince Yriel, Autarch and outcast of Iyanden, first used the potent Spear to slay a Hive Tyrant in a single blow and was forevermore bound by its curse. This creature was the leader of the Tyranid hordes of Hive Fleet Kraken that assaulted Iyanden in 992.M41. Yriel had been convinced to take up the cursed weapon by the Harlequin Shadowseer Sylandri Veilwalker of the Masque of the Veiled Path.The Spear 's curse operates by  slowly draining Yriel's life energy as he struggles to keep the artefact's power in check. The Spear of Twilight is actually a modified Singing Spear, the psychically-charged weapons similar to Witchblades that are often utilised by Eldar Warlocks.During the final days of the 41st Millennium it was revealed by Yvraine, the leader of the Ynnari and the prophet of Ynnead, the Aeldari God of the Dead, that the Spear of Twilight was in truth one of the legendary Crone Swords needed to fully awaken Ynnead. Yvraine reverted the Spear to its true form as a sword and used it to resurrect Yriel by plunging it into his chest after he had fallen in battle defending Iyanden from an assault by the daemons of Nurgle.
Spear of Ultramar (Novella) - Spear of Ultramar (Novella): Spear of Ultramar is a novella in The Horus Heresy series. Spear of Ultramar was released in November 2018 alongside Dreadwing as part of the Black Library's Novella Collection #1, a collection of novellas written by various authors featuring stories from Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, Warhammer 40,000 and The Horus Heresy.
Spear of Ultramar (Novella) - Synopsis: The Siege of Terra looms, and the fate of the galaxy balances on a razor's edge. Roboute Guilliman leads the immense fleet of the Ultramarines in a race towards the Throneworld, and such is the power he commands that he could turn the tide of the war in the Loyalists' favour. As determined as Guilliman is to reach Terra, Horus is as resolute in delaying his brother Primarch until it is too late.Guilliman's path through the Ruinstorm crosses through the Charchera System, and here Warsmith Khrossus and a lone company of Iron Warriors have been given a fateful mission. At all costs, they must hold back the Ultramarines.Guilliman foresees the coming ambush, but he has no choice but to plunge into it. So begins a desperate struggle where the passage of every second could mark the difference between survival or extinction for the Imperium.
Spear of Vulkan - Spear of Vulkan: The Spear of Vulkan is one of the nine Artefacts of Vulkan created by Vulkan, the primarch of the Salamanders Legion during the days of the Great Crusade in the late 30th Millennium. The Spear is a mighty relic Power Weapon that takes the form of a huge master-crafted spear, once wielded by Vulkan himself in battle. The incandescent blade of this polearm can set even ceramite ablaze.Only four of Vulkan's original nine artefacts are still sought by the Salamanders battle-brother chosen by his Chapter to seek out the remaining four Artefacts of Vulkan -- the Forgefather. By the 41st Millennium five of the original nine Artefacts had already been reclaimed by the Chapter through the travails of previous Forgefathers, of which the Spear was one.The Spear of Vulkan was wielded in battle by the current Forgefather of the Salamanders, Vulkan He'stan.The weapon has long been coveted by the Necron Overlord Trazyn the Infinite, who has made two separate attempts to claim it, in 878.M41 and during the Tochran Crusade in 943.M41, leading him into conflict with the Salamanders Chapter.
Spear of Vulkan - Sources: Codex: Necrons (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), "A New Epoch Begins," pp. 146-147Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition), pg. 93Codex: Space Marines (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 194-196Warlords of the Dark Millennium - Vulkan He'stan (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 3-13, 21-27
Specialist Games - Specialist Games: Specialist Games, formerly known as Fanatic Games, is the division of Games Workshop which sells tabletop wargames aimed at older gamers who seek more tactically challenging wargames than those sold to the company's core market (which is served by such games as Warhammer 40,000).The Specialist Games rules are normally developed openly by the design studio and the online community and playtested by hobbyists over the world, although some closed-source development occurs too.Most of the rulebooks and supplements for the games are released both as physical books and downloadable PDF documents (The exception being 'The Battle of Five Armies').The Games Workshop policy regarding how to promote the Specialist Games division is a source of some concern to fans, since releases for the games are few and far between.The Specialist Games lineup contains the games listed below.
Specialist Games - Warhammer 40,000 Universe: Epic - A wargame for fighting massive battles with 6mm-scale miniatures.Battlefleet Gothic - A wargame based around spacecraft combat.Inquisitor - A highly-detailed skirmish wargame using large (54mm) miniatures.Necromunda - A skirmish wargame & campaign system, depicting gang warfare.
Specialist Games - Warhammer Fantasy Universe: Blood Bowl - An American football-style game using Warhammer Fantasy races. The world of Blood Bowl is a more light-hearted, parodic rendering of the Warhammer Fantasy setting.Mordheim - A Fantasy skirmish wargame & campaign system. An expansion (Empire in Flames) was also released.Warmaster - A wargame for fighting large fantasy battles with 10mm-scale miniatures.
Specialist Games - The Lord of The Rings Strategy Battle Game universe: The Battle of Five Armies: The Hobbit Strategy Battle Game - A game for fighting larger battles with 10 mm-scale miniatures. The game was named after (and initially centred on) the Battle of Five Armies, one of the later scenes in JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit.The Strategy Battle Game has now expanded and has recently added many new supplements to the list of its current games and scenarios.
Specialist Games - Magazines: Up until the 1990s there was frequent support for the Fanatic games range in the White Dwarf magazine. From 2000 to 2004, most hobby content was published in a number of short-lived hobby magazines. These included:Gothic Magazine (for Battlefleet Gothic)Exterminatus (for Inquisitor)Firepower (for Epic 40,000, the 3rd Edition of Epic)Necromunda Magazine (for Necromunda)Planet Killer (for Battlefleet Gothic)Spike! Magazine (for Blood Bowl)Town Cryers (for Mordheim)Warhammer Epic 40,000 Magazine (for Epic 40,000)Warmaster Magazine (for Warmaster)
Spectoris - Spectoris: Spectoris, called the "Complete Ocean," is an ocean-covered Agri-world in the Calixis Sector of the Segmentum Obscurus that is the subject of many legends. Some say there are sapient xenos forms of vast size inhabiting the unexplored watery depths of the world. Others claim that the world-ocean itself is sentient.When the Lord Militant Golgenna Angevin's world surveyors first discovered the Ocean World of Spectoris, they were delighted by the vast quantities of fish that the planet seemed to promise and readily noted it as a potential Agri-world for future aquacultural development. As the Human population of the Calixis Sector grew in the centuries after Lord Militant Angevin's conquest of it, so to did its need for food.In 312.M41 the sector governor declared that the time had come to begin harvesting the piscine crop of Spectoris, a task that was to prove far easier to order than to achieve. The Imperium soon found that the native denizens of Spectoris' seas routinely destroyed all foreign objects that were placed within the world-ocean, effectively halting any large-scale collection efforts. For solar decades the legendary "Complete Ocean" held the settlers of the Imperium at bay, leading many to believe that the world-ocean itself was sentient in some inexplicable manner.At last, frustrated by their inability to progress the world's colonisation and development, the Adeptus Mechanicus turned to one of their more eclectically-minded members, the somewhat infamous Genetor Halix Redole. Genetor Redole was known to be associated with a faction within the Mechanicus known as the Organicists, a group of Tech-priests who esteemed biological enhancement as being equal in value with the cybernetic, a somewhat radical if not heretical position among the adherents of the Cult Mechanicus.Redole applied his keen intellect to the "Spectoris Problem" for five standard years before hitting upon a solution. The Genetor discovered that a form of Sectorin sea life roughly analogous to terrestrial coral was attracted to certain chemicals. By blending the chemicals with a bonding agent derived from a Spectorin fish analogue, Redole created the compound known as "Coral Paste." The paste draws Spectorin coral to whatever it is applied to, soon creating a "natural" layer of sea life that causes the creatures of the world-ocean to regard the encrusted vessel as native.The Genetor's success opened the way to large-scale Imperial harvesting and development of the world and Coral Paste is now regularly applied to all Spectorin sea-going ships, no matter their size, as well as being repeatedly caked across the entire hull of the planet's sole underwater habitat, Enkaidan.Coral Paste has proven to be useful to the colonists of Spectoris as a makeshift hull repair agent on a number of occasions. Its utility is marred by the fact that it must be reapplied frequently, else the coral covering can deteriorate with lethal results. Coral Paste is a highly regulated substance due to the extreme value of a great many Spectorin species of fish on the Calixian agro-markets, which inevitably brings poachers to the planet.
Spectoris - Departmento Cartographicae Planetary Database: Galactic Position: 88/23/CS/SWEquatorial Circumference:  28,164 kilometres (17,500 Terran miles)Class: Agri-world (producing aquacultural crops like fish and seafood) / Ocean WorldYears and Days: Spectoris takes 388 Terran days to orbit its star and spins on its axis every 24.6 Terran hoursPopulation: 2,000,000Mean Surface Temperature: 35° CelsiusTropospheric Composition: Nitrogen 72%, Oxygen 25%, Argon 1%, Ozone 1%, Carbon Dioxide 0.5%Climatic Regions: The entire surface of Spectoris is covered in a planetary ocean.Native Flora and Fauna: A variety of animals and plants live in the seas of Spectoris; the vast majority of them form a great planktonic soup drifting in the ocean. The lantern jaw is the largest predator in the Calixis Sector. It is a giant, eel-like, piscine xeno-form over 200 metres long that is indigenous to Spectoris' "Complete Ocean."Economy: The population of Spectoris mostly live on vast farming rigs, tethered to submerged reef or rocks by numerous cables. The people of Spectoris refer to their currency as "scales" or "fins," and being particularly flush with cash is often colloquially referred to as having a "shoal of fins" or looking a bit "scaly."Principle Exports: Spectoris is the Calixis Sector's largest exporter of fish and fish-meal product.Countries and Continents: None. Enkaidan -- Spectoris' sole Imperial habitat -- is located on a submarine peak.Imperial Guard Recruitment: Spectoris is not expected to raise any regiments of Imperial Guard beyond their Planetary Defence Force. The population's farming work is considered an important enough service to the Emperor and constitutes its contribution to the Imperial Tithe.Contact with Other Worlds: Spectoris sends shipments of food to many other worlds in the Calixis Sector. There are relatively stable Warp routes linking Spectoris to Tranch and Sentinel, the sacred Drusus Shrine World of the Calixian Ecclesiarchy.
Spectra-vestment - Spectra-vestment: A Spectra-vestment is a protective garment used by the Sisters of Silence. Most often utilised by the Silent Sisters of an Excruciatus cadre, the bloody, crimson-coloured raiment of the Silent Judges and the silver cloaks of her more junior acolytes conceal sophisticated energy field generator technology that allows it to blur and shift to adapt to its surroundings or simply bleed shadow at will, concealing its wearer from sight should they wish and making them things of darkness rather than substance when viewed from a distance.
Speed Freeks - Speed Freeks: Speed Freeks are those Orks who who become addicted to the sensation of pure speed. These speed-obsessed Greenskins band together in their own mobs and warbands, which are full of buggies, bikes, and Trukks. They belong to what Ork kultur refers to as the Kult of Speed and become members of the Speed Freeks. These grinning loons roar into battle on exhaust-belching jalopies and crude but effective flying machines, intent on getting into the thick of the fighting before their ground-pounding comrades. Most vehicles used by Speed Freeks are painted red as, according to Ork superstition, "Da red wunz go fasta!" Due to the large number of vehicles in each warband, they often have several of the Oddboyz known as Mekboyz amongst their number to keep their vehicles running. Sometimes a warband of Speed Freeks is even led by a Big Mek instead of a Warboss.
Speed Freeks - Role: Orks possess an inherent need to go fast. There is something about speed that fulfils some deep need in the Orkish temperament, just like the thunder of guns, the clank of tracks or the din of battle. They like to feel the wind whipping into their faces and to hear the throaty roar of supercharged engines. It is hardly surprising that bikes and buggies of all kinds are popular with the Orks. These up-gunned vehicles may not be as sturdy as those used by the Imperium, but they are cheap, can pack a massive amount of firepower and, most important of all, they can achieve truly suicidal speeds.Some Orks become addicted to the sensation of speed and join the Speed Freeks, the name for those Greenskins who belong to the Ork Kult of Speed, a Kult whose members rarely if ever get out from behind the handlebars or steering wheels of their light vehicles. These grinning greenskinned lunatics roar into battle ahead on exhaust-belching jalopies and crude but effective flying machines, intent on getting into the thick of the fighting before their ground-pounding comrades. Due to the large number of vehicles in each Speed Freek warband, they often have several of the Oddboyz known as Mekboyz amongst their number to keep the Battlewagons and other vehicles and aircraft running smoothly. Sometimes it is even a Mekboy who leads the warband as a Big Mek. The obsession with speed can affect any Ork -- so it is possible to find Orks from different klanz in a Speed Freek force. Of all the known major Ork klanz the Evil Sunz have the most Speed Freeks.
Speed Freeks - Speed Freeks Icons and Colours: Speed Freek symbols often incorporate lightning, or the Ork glyph "zag", to reflect the idea that these crazed Orks prefer to strike hard and fast. Many Speed Freeks, most notably the Evil Sunz klan, will usually have their vehicle painted red from grille to exhaust. A superstition held by the Orks that, "da' red 'uns go fasta!" The habit of painting vehicles red has its roots in the ritual covering of the Ork's mounts with the blood of the foe, a practice that is still observed by some of the older Evil Sunz tribes.
Speed Freeks - Sources: Codex: Armageddon (3rd Edition), pg. 12Codex: Orks (7th Edition), pp. 23, 29, 60, 77, 169Codex: Orks (4th Edition), pg. 29'Ere We Go: Orks in Warhammer 40,000 (2nd Edition), pg. 78Imperial Armour II - Ork, Eldar and Dark Eldar Vehicles for Warhammer 40,000, pg. 34Red WAAAGH! Campaign Supplement (7th Edition), pp. 61, 74, 112Rogue Trader: Koronus Bestiary (RPG), pg. 77Waaagh! Ghazghkull: A Codex Ork Supplement (Ebook), pp. 57-61Warhammer 40,000: Compendium - Death From the Skies, pg. 62White Dwarf 389 (UK), pp. 30-37Helsreach (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Spiculus Bolt Launcher - Spiculus Bolt Launcher: A Spiculus Bolt Launcher is a type of large Missile Launcher used by the aircraft, vehicles and Dreadnoughts of the Adeptus Custodes. These arrays, resembling the smaller Cyclone Missile Launcher or Apocalypse Missile Launcher, are typically mounted on Telemon Heavy Dreadnoughts.
Spiculus Bolt Launcher - Spiculus Heavy Bolt Launcher: The Spiculus Heavy Bolt Launcher is a larger and more potent variant of the standard Spiculus Bolt Launcher Missile Launcher with a longer range and more stopping power used on Adeptus Custodes vehicles like the Orion Assault Dropship.
Spinward Front - Spinward Front: The Spinward Front is an Imperial warzone encompassing dozens of star systems that have been consumed by conflict between diametrically opposed Human and xenos factions. It is centred on a sub-sector of the Calixis Sector in the Segmentum Obscurus called the Periphery.The bulk of the Spinward Front warzone is "off the map" in unexplored regions of the Calixis Sector. It encompasses a region that lies directly in the path of a massive Ork invasion, a region also plagued by traitorous secession and other xenos and Chaos incursions.The battlefields of the Spinward Front are many and varied, and offer as many opportunities for glory as they do ways to die. Only the strongest will rise to take command of the Emperor's armies in such a place, the weak falling prey to Orks, rebels, Drukhari, or even the dread forces of the Ruinous Powers.
Spinward Front - The Green Tide: None can tell what might have come of Severus’ fiefdom had events continued unchecked. Perhaps he would have grown so bold as to risk openly declaring secession, or perhaps his shadowy allies would have turned upon him in his hubris.Instead, it was another xenos species that decided the matter. An Ork invasion under the Warlord Ghenghiz Grimtoof, the self-titled “Git-Slaver,” came crashing out of the darkness and fell upon the outermost fringes of Severus’ pocket empire, slaying millions in a few short months. The Planetary Defence Forces of these worlds were geared largely towards the suppression of their own populations, or else for blustering parades honouring their master in House Severus, and few were able to mount anything like a capable resistance. World after world slipped from Severus’ grasp as the Git-Slaver’s Orks rampaged all but unchecked through his realm. There was nothing either he or his sinister allies could do to halt them.Severus XIII brooded upon his granite throne as millions perished. His closest advisors counselled him to beseech the Imperium for aid, yet all were silenced by the executioner’s blow. At the last, his counsellors all dead or fled, Severus was left alone and his empire all but fallen. In a moment of grim revelation he saw they had all been correct. He dispatched his own kin to the court of the Calixian Lord Sector Marius Hax on Scintilla to beg for aid against the Ork invasion. Though most of the messengers were intercepted by unknown assassins or fell prey to other, equally deadly fates, one got through. Severus’ own granddaughter went before Sector Lord Hax and delivered the plea for aid. Hax simply laughed at her.The patrician Calixian Sector Governor had been watching the Periphery from afar for years and knew well the treachery of Severus XIII, though how much he was aware of its origins, he did not reveal. Later hearsay implied that some link between Severus and Hax, some dark tie, perhaps even a blood tie, stayed his hand as Severus built his own private realm. Yet, when the Orks attacked, it was to Hax’s own benefit, for it humbled Severus and forced him out of the wilderness in a very public manner. At length, Hax agreed that the Orks must be checked and the Calixis Sector’s military reserves were mobilised.Kulth, the capital of the Periphery Sub-sector, was relieved, though in truth the Imperium never committed sufficient force to truly turn the tide against the Orks. The worlds beyond the Periphery descended into a churning cauldron of total war, yet so many Calixian troops were being committed to the secret war in the Jericho Reach that to many in the highest Imperial circles of the sector the endeavour in the Periphery seemed to have little hope of success. Some whispered that those who prosecuted the distant Achilus Crusade had need of a war closer to home to mask the huge drain on resources, and so a deadlock in the Periphery was at best convenient, and at worst deliberately maintained.
Spinward Front - Only War: While the situation on Kulth was stabilised, the war beyond the Periphery was going badly for Severus XIII. While the Orks plundered the worlds of Deluge, KW-9, Pertinax, and a score of lesser star systems, a myriad of other threats rose up. Despite the pacts Severus believed he had secured with the Dark Eldar, the pernicious children of Commorragh launched ever more audacious raids against those worlds of the Periphery on the verges of the war zone. Drawn by the near total collapse of the Imperium’s power in the region, the servants of Chaos, in particular the warband of Chaos Space Marines led by Sektoth the False Whisperer, launched a series of brutal assaults, pursuing their own blasphemous missions.Beset upon all quarters, Severus XIII announced his personal annexation of the chaotic zone of space beyond the Periphery into what he termed the “Severan Dominate” until the crisis had passed. Lord Sector Hax was incensed, declaring Severus a Secessionist and a Traitor, and the war escalated to a previously unseen pitch. The servants of Chaos now walk openly upon the war-torn worlds, doing the unknowable bidding of their masters, while the Dark Eldar raid where they will, their pact with Severus XIII all but torn up. The Orks have now entered the second phase of their WAAAGH!, the focus shifting from slaughter to enslavement. The Ork Warlord has established his own bastion world at Avitohol and enslaved its populace so that countless millions of tons of ramshackle war materiel are being churned out to feed the greenskinned species’ incessant hunger for weapons and munitions. The lines are drawn and the pressure on the front is increasing, and it is only the far more pressing needs of the Jericho Reach fronts that keep the Imperium from flooding the Spinward Front with so many regiments of the Imperial Guard that all resistance is crushed. Each year that the Severan Dominate is not brought to heel is another year it spends reinforcing its core worlds, and another year the Orks’ strength becomes ever more established. And all the while, the Forces of Chaos move unchecked through the region, and mad prophets whisper of an imminent manifestation of Komus, the dreaded Tyrant Star that has long afflicted the Calixis Sector.
Spinward Front - Worlds of the Spinward Front: Confronted with the combined crisis of xenos invasion, traitorous secession, Dark Eldar raids, Chaos assaults, and religious-inspired anarchy, the Imperium has now declared the Periphery Sub-sector of the Calixis Sector and its spinward marches a formal war zone. The entire area is designated as the Spinward Front by the Departmento Munitorum and it falls into three broadly defined partitions.The first is the Periphery Sub-Sector itself, a region that has been crumbling from within for many generations and is likely to be sent into terminal decline with the recent upheavals. Most of the planets in the Periphery are Frontier Worlds, existing on the lawless fringes of Imperial space where life is especially brutal and short. The laws the Adeptus Arbites enforce across the Calixis Sector appear distant and irrelevant codes to those who fight just to survive on the decrepit frontiers.The second part of the Spinward Front is that area invaded by WAAAGH! Grimtoof. Most of the worlds captured by Warlord Git-Slaver’s invasion previously fell under the rule of Severus XIII, but now look well and truly lost to the Imperium.The third part of the Spinward Front is the Severan Dominate, a cluster of worlds beyond the spinward border of the Calixis Sector that Duke Severus XIII has declared under his direct rule, effectively seceding from the rule of the Emperor of Mankind. The planets of the Severan Dominate are in the main barren wastes, but their position along the Calixis-Scarus Warp conduit renders them strategically essential to the security of the entire Segmentum Obscurus. The majority of the area is fast becoming a cauldron of war, as ever greater numbers of Imperial troops are committed there.
Spinward Front - Periphery Sub-sector: The Periphery is aptly named, and not simply because of its position on the edges of the Calixis Sector. Its worlds have been slowly decaying for almost as long as the sector has been in existence, side-lined by those regions with more valuable natural resources, better developed infrastructure, and more prosperous mercantile concerns. In many ways, the sub-sector has always served as a buffer against any enemy that might emerge from the vast gulfs of Wilderness Space separating the Calixis and Scarus Sectors, and with the arrival of WAAAGH! Grimtoof, that is exactly what has happened.For most of those assigned to the Spinward Front, it is clear that the Imperium is fighting not to defend some valuable resource or strategically vital location, but to prosecute a bitterly hated enemy. Of those worlds considered part of the Periphery Sub-sector proper, Kulth is entirely consumed by war, while several others lie close enough to hostilities that they too may soon be plunged into the bloodshed. The Imperium is fighting a war on two fronts though, simultaneously seeking to repel WAAAGH! Grimtoof and suppressing the Severan Dominate. The current front line has largely stabilised at the spinward border of the Periphery, and standard Imperial military doctrine calls for the fortification and reinforcement of its core worlds in order to conduct a “defence in depth” against the invading Orks. No such reinforcement or fortification has yet been instigated, the ongoing Achilus Crusade in the Jericho Reach drawing away any Imperial forces that might be employed to do so.
Spinward Front - Sabriel: Spinward of the region claimed by the Severan Dominate, bestriding the Calixis-Scarus Warp route, lies a star system once claimed by the Adeptus Mechanicusbut long thought abandoned by the followers of the Cult Mechanicus. Orbiting the unclassified world of Sabriel is a vast artificial body, its original purpose long forgotten. The Spinward Front High Command is currently drafting plans to reconnoitre Sabriel in the hope that an Imperial Guard presence could be established there and a new front opened up against the Orks as well as the Secessionists. Such a mission would be highly perilous, however, for reinforcing and supplying it in the face of counterattack would be all but impossible. Nonetheless, several ambitious regimental commanders have already volunteered their units to take the artificial planet of Sabriel, ignorant of what perils may lurk there...
Spinward Front - Sinophia: Of all the worlds of the Periphery, Sinophia came the closest to carving its place in the annals of the Calixis Sector. Long ago, the unclassified world of Sinophia was a distant outpost of the Ixaniad Sector, but with the coming of the Angevin Crusade in the early 39th Millennium, it suddenly became the jumping off point in the conquest of the Calyx Expanse. For a generation, Sinophia was the staging world and the mustering ground for vast armies and fleets of the faithful, who came from light years in all directions to cast the horrors of the Expanse back into the darkness of the Halo Stars and conquer the region for the God-Emperor of Mankind.But Sinophia’s glory was brief and the rot soon set in. Now, its once mighty cities are crumbling piles of decay, its population a mere fraction of its former density. As if to rub salt into the wounds, the world has been afflicted by Tech-heresy, its numerous Cult Mechanicus shrines bolting their portals as if to deny the horrible truths stalking the thoroughfares without. Many are those who dream of service in the Imperial Guard, seeing it as a means of escaping their misery, yet Sinophia’s Planetary Defence Forces are rated sub-par and no such tithing is likely to occur.Despite its condition, Sinophia is still of some strategic importance to the Periphery Sub-sector, for it bestrides the Calixis- Scarus Warp conduit. Imperial fleets destined for Kulth and the contested worlds of the Severan Dominate beyondit have been staging at Sinophia with increasing frequency. Perhaps the world might resurrect its all-but forgotten role of mustering ground for forces of conquest, reprising its former glories at the dawn of the Angevin Crusade.
Spinward Front - Cyclopea: The eponymous capital of the Cyclopea System is a world of ruin, decay, and bitter curses, sharing something of the cruel malaise, yet nothing of the former glory, of its neighbour Sinophia. The Forge World of Cyclopea is a place of dust and debris, its barren surface strewn with the faded remnants of some long extinct civilisation. These relics take the form of megalithic monuments raised by unknown masons in ages long past, and no one can tell whether the builders were even human,though no taint of the xenos is known to linger. Many of Cyclopea’s settlements are built using the ruined megaliths as foundations or pilings, while others cling to the sheer sides of the very largest. The tallest soar so high into the dismal skies that they pierce the very clouds, human habitations clinging precariously to their crumbling surfaces in search of some hint of untainted sunlight.The people of Cyclopea are known to be every bit as morbid as the world of their birth, as if touched by some aeons-old soul-curse. They are grim and dour and they shun even those few pleasures others might cleave to in a universe of oppression and war. As with Sinophia, numerous Tech-heresies have sprung into being, nurturedby the tinker-witches who skulk in the deep shadows of the towering megaliths.Few regimental tithings have ever been raised from Cyclopea, its dues rendered by other means such as base manufacturing and the processing of a variety of bulk ores.With the recent upheavals in the Spinward Front, however, the Departmento Munitorum has dispatched several Imperial Guard regiments to Cyclopea to prepare it for a full-scale, enforced regimental tithe. Very soon, hundreds of thousands are to be offered the choice of service in the Imperial Guard or death.
Spinward Front - Sleef: Classified as a Dead World, Sleef has long been forbidden space to the void farers of the Calixis Sector. With the Ork invasion of the nearby worlds of Letum and Pertinax, however, there are those amongst the Spinward Front High Command who are calling for Sleef to be opened up for fortification lest the xenos utilise it as a means of striking further into the Calixis Sector. To date, such proposals have been overruled on the advice of various highly ranked members of the Inquisition's Ordos Calixis. What secrets might await any Imperial Guard regiment dispatched to reinforce Sleef remains to be seen, for thus far the Inquisition’s counsel has been heeded.
Spinward Front - Kalf: A Frontier World spinward of Sinophia, Kalf is host to a planetwide desert of shifting sand seas that harbour a number of highly aggressive autochthonic life forms, including the notorious Kalfian Sand Devil. Of late, Kalf has served as a staging ground for Imperial Guard regiments deploying to Kulth, yet the activities of another enemy has caused several to remain there to guard against a new threat. A Dark Eldar force identified as the retinue of the Haemonculus Tevriel Vektesh has launched numerous realspace raids into the system, and in particular into the deeps of the Kalfian sand seas, to unknown ends. Imperial Guard units tasked with engaging the Dark Eldar have found the environment and its native life forms every bit as deadly an enemy as the Haemonculous and her cruel followers, and several entire companies have failed to return from search and engage missions.
Spinward Front - Cthulgha Nebula: Beyond the spinward marches of the Periphery Sub-sector, the void seethes with the nucleonic fires of dozens of slain stars. What processes led to the creation of this burning nebula are unknown, and the region is the subject of cautionary tales told by those few void farers who have traversed its outer fringes. At the heart of theregion lies a zone of relative calm sometimes referred to as the Heart of Cthulgha, about which countless superstitious stories are uttered. Something is said to lie deep in the heart of the Cthulgha Nebula. A silent, tomblike structure is said to drift through the raging fires, protected by the most potent of Void Shields and the most holy of wards. Some claim it is some manner of sentinel and that it watches over the infernal nebula, ever vigilant for the return of some ancient nightmare that even the Orks, who hold no fear of death, flee from in abject horror.
Spinward Front - Under Greenskin Occupation: Those worlds that have suffered the presence of the Git-Slaver's invasion fall into three types types. Those that fell in the opening phase of the invasion are now largely desolate wastes reduced to ashes by the unleashing of total war. Several of these have now spawned populations of Feral Orks, which are likely to be unaware that they were “seeded” by the passage of a mighty WAAAGH! Even now they are struggling to gain power and momentum of their own, so that the greatest of their leaders might launch their own migration.The second type is where the forces of humanity, whether the Imperium, Severan Dominate, or native, are holding on and all-consuming war now rages. Such planetary war zones are the scenes of epic battles of attrition consuming thousands of warriors of all sides each day. There are at least a dozen primary worlds of this type in the Spinward Front, and countless more planets and systems where war waxes and wanes as the embittered foes launch massive salients or counter-attacks.The last type is relatively new and its appearance heralds a new phase in Grimtoof Git-Slaver’s invasion. Several of those worlds the Warlord’s forces have captured have not been razed to ashes, nor their populations slaughtered for food or for sport. Rather, they have been taken largely intact and their populations have been enslaved in sprawling, forced labour camps and slave-foundries, forced at gunpoint to manufacture the crude arms and ammunition used by the barbarous Orks. This turn of events signals a failure on the part of the Imperium, for it means the Orks have been allowed to consolidate their gains to such an extent that their migration is becoming an occupation. Previous experience teaches that if the Orks are allowed to establish a new stellar empire, their inexorable pattern of strife and migration will make a new invasion inevitable. With the source just beyond the Calixis Sector’s borders it will prove a hundred times more challenging to halt. Some whisper that the Spinward Front High Command has been negligent in allowing this state of affairs to develop, for with a full commitment of forces, the Orks could have been defeated decades ago and the Severan Dominate would never have come into being. With the drain on resources by the Jericho Reach and the upheavals caused by the recent appearance of the Dei-Phage, however, it is hard to see how events could have proceeded differently. The situation is a perfect example of the perils that beset the Imperium at every turn, with entire star systems falling, or being ceded, as forces are deployed in other, more important regions despite the potential loss of millions of the Emperor’s loyal subjects.
Spinward Front - Ghenghiz Grimtoof the Git-Slaver's Iron Mountain: Several standard years after his invasion of Avitohol and the enslavement of its native peoples, Ghenghiz Grimtoof has constructed for himself a formidable Ork stellar empire.That empire has as its capital a structure now rivalling the average Imperial hive city in size, a teetering spire so tall its peak skewers the clouds and constructed from the scrap of an entire sub-sector at war.At the very summit of this grim, rusted edifice, which Grimtoof has dubbed Iron Mountain, is the lair of the Git-Slaver, a huge throne room with one face open to the skies, the walls bedecked with trophies from a hundred battlefields and more. Opposite the open wall is Grimtoof's throne, a massive seat constructed from the weapons and armour of the greatest of his foes.Seated upon his throne, the Git-Slaver glowers out across the ashen steppes of Avitohol, brooding sullenly on the next stage of his conquest. By his side are his most trusted Nobz, those with more to gain in protecting his life than betraying him. About the dais are chained numerous captives, for Grimtoof delights in laying low the champions of his enemies in such a way.It is said that Imperial Guard Marshals have suffered such treatment, as well as aliens, including a Succubus of a Drukhari Wych Cult, though she escaped within solar days of her capture, leaving a trail of dead Nobz behind her.By day, the vast expanse of the chamber floor is filled with Orks of all stations, some receiving their orders to conquer distant worlds, others seeking some favour from their dread overlord. Several hundred of the diminutive Gretchin slave race scamper to and fro, running errands and attending to their master’s every need.On occasion, Grimtoof has even ordered the largest of his Gargants to attend his throne by crossing the steppes far below to stand before the Iron Mountain. From his throne, the Git-Slaver looks down at even the mightiest of his race’s creations, and with a grunt orders the destruction of countless foes.Yet, even though his nascent empire is by far the most powerful of its type in the region, perhaps even in the entire Segmentum Obscurus, Grimtoof the Git-Slaver is entirely unsatisfied. Like all successful Ork Warlords, he is prone to fits of violent rage, but of late, Grimtoof has been known to enter protracted periods of dour brooding.With no warning, he dismisses his entire court and sits alone upon his throne, his brow furrowed and his red eyes glowering out across the blasted steppes of Avitohol. What thoughts of doom and bloodshed cross his blunt consciousness none can say.Perhaps with his WAAAGH! entering its new stage, Grimtoof expects a challenger greater than any he has faced before to appear before him. Or perhaps he ponders the next stage of his endeavour, when his great work is complete and the entire Calixis Sector will tremble before him, his armies fuelled by the toil of scores of enslaved worlds.The Orkish mind is a tiny thing, capable of little more than thoughts of violence, yet the scope of that violence in the mind of one such as Ghenghiz Grimtoof the Git-Slaver must be limitless.