Red Corsairs - Notable Red Corsairs: Huron Blackheart (Chaos Lord) - Huron Blackheart was originally Lufgt Huron, the Chapter Master of the Astral Claws Space Marine Chapter and the Imperial Governor of the world of Badab Primaris in the Ultima Segmentum. Huron Blackheart, as he became known, ultimately turned to Chaos in his ambitious pursuit of power and corrupted most of his Chapter as well, leading them in a rebellion against the Imperium that was known as the Badab War (901-912.M41). He is today the Chaos Lord who leads the surviving Astral Claws, who are now the piratical Red Corsairs. Huron Blackheart has great ambitions to unite all the Chaos Renegades of the Maelstrom under his leadership and create a Chaotic empire that will rival that of the Traitor Legions within the Eye of Terror. Blackheart was badly wounded during the surviving Astral Claws' retreat from Badab Primaris at the end of the Badab War, and large parts of his body have been replaced with cybernetic enhancements.Garreon "The Corpsemaster" (Chief Apothecary) – Garreon was one of the Veteran Battle-Brothers of the former Astral Claws Chapter that survived the final assault on Badab Primaris during the closing days of the Badab War. The Red Corsairs call Garreon "The Corpsemaster", not because he harboured any desire to see the dead walk, but because he took a pathological interest in the biology of the dying and the dead, both of whom provided him with a harvest of precious gene-seed. He believed, as had many Apothecaries throughout the history of the Adeptus Astartes, that the future of their brotherhood lay in a better understanding of human genetics and xenobiology. He performed regular dissections on enemies and Red Corsairs both – in some cases whilst his subjects were still living. He could keep his victims alive for a phenomenal length of time, reducing them to skeletal, still-living things that begged for a release that was an eternity in coming. All Apothecaries of the Emperor's Space Marines have heard of Garreon of the Astral Claws. His research scrolls and early documentation were once lauded for their extraordinary insight and understanding of Space Marine physiology, and many Apothecaries have studied Garreon’s earlier works. The idea of meeting such a legendary figure might once have filled an Apothecary with interest and reverence, but now it fills them with nothing but revulsion because of Garreon's corruption and betrayal of the Emperor. Garreon was taller than most of his comrades but possessed a leanness that would have made him seem thin had he not been a Space Marine. Sharp, angular cheekbones stood out prominently in a scarred face whose most striking feature was the eyes. An impassive, unreadable dark brown, the colour of Garreon’s irises were so dark that his pupils were barely visible. His hair was a tawny brown mane that fell to his shoulders, streaked through with grey that hinted at his advancing years. It was a face that was filled with great intelligence but also underlined with the terrible cruelty born of a hunger for forbidden knowledge.Variel "The Flayer" (Former Apothecary Secundus) - Variel served as an Apothecary Secundus of the Astral Claws and later the Red Corsairs after the events of the Badab War ran their course. It was Variel, his mentor Chief Apothecary Garreon and Armenneus Valthex who treated their mortally wounded Chapter Master Lufgt Huron. It was they who oversaw the reconstruction of Huron's severely damaged body, helping him to be reborn as the mighty Chaos Lord Huron Blackheart. After the Astral Claws had been cast out of the bosom of the Imperium, and forced to flee into the hellish realm of the Maelstrom, Variel also undertook additional duties as an infamous torturer who oversaw interrogations, contriving inventively malignant punishments and keeping his "subjects" alive and lucid far longer than they wished to be. This earned him the sobriquet "The Flayer." Late in the 41st Millennium the infamous Talos Valcoran, called the "Soul Hunter", Sergeant of the 1st Claw (squad), 10th Company of the Night Lords, and his warband came to the Maelstrom seeking to repair his damaged vessel. At this time, the conflicting loyalties of Variel's past and present persona began to emerge. Ultimately, he went on to betray Huron Blackheart and assisted Talos in reacquiring the Red Corsairs' warship Echo of Damnation, a former vessel of the Night Lords Legion that had been captured by the Red Corsairs. Variel would go on to faithfully serve under Talos' command, and would be one of only a handful of survivors of his warband when the Night Lords' former adoptive homeworld of Tsagualsa came under attack from the Ulthwé Aeldari, who sought to eliminate Talos, who had become a dire threat to them. Talos instructed Variel to escort his valued mortal servant Septimus and the pregnant Navigator Octavia off-world aboard one of their Thunderhawk gunships. Once in orbit, both of Talos' servants eventually escaped back to the planet's surface. This forced Variel to pursue them. The Apothecary was badly wounded when he encountered the Aeldari Phoenix Lord Jain Zar, losing both his legs in the process. Afterwards, he would later rejoin the Night Lords under Decimus' command, becoming one of his most trusted followers.Armenneus Valthex, "The Alchemancer", Honoured Patriarch of the Forges - Valthex was the Astral Claws' Master of the Forge, the chief Techmarine, and so an individual of great importance to the Chapter during the Badab War as Lufgt Huron's chief Armourer and most loyal servant. Valthex's skills as a crafter of poisons and chemical weaponry were as infamous as his abilities as a forge-wright and tech-smith were famed. During the Badab War, Valthex fought as a field commander and as the Astral Claws' chief siege engineer, and it was believed that it was he that carried away his fallen lord's body into the Maelstrom after the apocalyptic final battle for the Palace of Thorns during the Loyalists' final assault on Badab Primaris.Garlon Souleater (Chaos Sorcerer) - The cadaverous and cruel Garlon is Lord Blackheart’s most powerful Chaos Sorcerer within the Red Corsairs.Oneius Prayd (Captain) – Oneius Prayd was once a Captain of the Red Scorpions, but he threw aside his vows of fealty after his peers refused to choose him as Chapter Master. A greater part of his Company joined him when he seceded from his former Chapter and joining the bloody reavers known as the Red Corsairs. Oneius has led his renegade Company on a rampage across the various alien worlds near the Veldin Sector, attracting all manner of outcasts and Renegades, including being bolstered by a squad of Chaos Space Marines from the Disciples of Ruin and another squad from the ill-fated Wolf Brothers. The Dark Gods eventually appeared to him in a vision and commanded him to fight on Makenna VII as a true test of his new loyalty.Crassus (Khornate Champion) - Crassus was a Renegade from the Ultramarines who was Khorne's chosen Chaos Champion amongst the Red Corsairs. Crassus was a bloody-handed psychopath a full head taller than the average Astartes, with few equals in hand-to-hand combat.Taemar (Chaos Sorcerer/Warband Champion) – Taemar's roots did not lie with the Astral Claws. Once, a lifetime ago, he had belonged to another Chapter. Like many of the Renegade Space Marines from other Chapters that joined the Tyrant of Badab’s warband in the Maelstrom after the Badab War, Taemar had attempted to disguise his original allegiance by obliterating the sigil of his former Chapter, but the core colours of his Power Armour proclaimed that Taemar had once belonged to the Executioners. But the less he thought about his betrayal of his former Chapter, the less it bothered him. He had fought and murdered his way through the ranks of the Red Corsairs until he served as one of Blackheart’s champions within the warband. History suggested that this was no coveted position -- death would be his only reward, whether it came at the hands of another ambitious Traitor Marine or in battle against Huron Blackheart's enemies and he knew it. Taemar was also an accomplished Chaos Sorcerer who possessed powerful psychic abilities. He ultimately was slain at the hands of Prognosticator Brand of the Silver Skulls Chapter on the bridge of the Loyalist strike cruiser Dread Argent during the Red Corsairs' failed campaign to take control of the Gildar Rift.Huntmaster Galvaron – There are no more than four Huntmasters at any one time; all are bitter rivals vying for glory in the eyes of their master. The rewards for obedience are great, the punishment for treachery fatal. It is amongst the Hounds' tasks to hunt down renegades that once flocked to the Red Corsairs' banner and have since put their own agenda above that of Huron's. Large squadrons of Chaos Bikers provide a violent thunderbolt of destructive force, although they tend to group together under the command of a particularly powerful Chaos Lord. It takes an individual who can promise to deliver the renegades an even greater bounty to temporarily gain their allegiance. Huron's Huntmasters are men such as this, imposing figures in the Red Corsairs who answer only to Lord Blackheart himself. Huntsmaster Galvaron is one such ruthless individual, for he is truly one of Huron's chosen agents, one of his favoured heralds of terror.Vollsanger (Battle-Brother) – A former Space Wolves battle-brother, he served aboard the Strike Cruiser Wolf of Fenris which was captured by the vile Red Corsairs during fierce fighting near Parenxes. In the final assault, the remaining Space Wolves faced annihilation. In an act of desperate betrayal, he turned upon his own battle-brothers and slew them. He recanted his oaths to his former Chapter, his Primarch and the Emperor of Mankind, and swore new pledges of loyalty to Huron Blackheart. In return, Blackheart granted the traitorous Wolf the command of the Wolf of Fenris.Sartak (Chaos Sorcerer) – Sartak was once a former Librarian of the Astral Claws but later became a Chaos Sorcerer of the infamous Red Corsairs. Sartak felt that he had followed the easy path for far too many years. Sartak remembered those dark days on Badab, when Huron had poisoned the Astral Claws against the Emperor. Sartak, loyal to his Chapter Master, as a Space Marine should be, followed him into heresy. Along with 200 other battle-brother he escaped his destruction when he fled Badab Primaris at the end of the Badab War. But the years of reaving had taken their toll on the once idealistic warrior. Like a sleeping man jarred to consciousness, Sartak had opened his eyes to the depravity and corruption of the man once known as the Tyrant of Badab. With this shocking awakening Sartak had realised that there was only one way to make good his betrayal of the Emperor. He had been found unconscious on the bridge of a White Scars’ cruiser following a Red Corsair raid by the White Scars battle-brother, Arghun. Sartak claimed that he was allegedly through with being a blood-handed reaver and had betrayed his oath of fealty to the Tyrant. If was allowed to infiltrate and find his friend Lothar on Blackheart’s flagship, he would be able to tell the White Scars where the next attack would fall. Brother Arghun and Sartak make their way into the Maelstrom and are eventually captured by the Red Corsairs and brought before their Chaos Lord. The Tyrant queries Arghun for the reasons he has betrayed his oaths of fealty to the Emperor. Unconvinced of the supposed traitor’s intentions, he orders Sartak to slay the White Scar in order to prove his loyalty. Reluctantly, Sartak does as he is told. After the execution, he seeks out his contact aboard Blackheart’s ship – his friend Lothar. Unfortunately, he finds Lothar in a deadly gladiatorial contest against the reigning Khornate Champion, Crassus. Hopelessly outmatch, Lothar is summarily beaten. As he lay dying, Lothar informs his friend of the Red Corsairs’ next target – the planet Razzia. Retreating to his quarters, Sartak reaches out to the aether of the Warp and finds the mind of a White Scars Storm Seer waiting for him. Sartak then informs him of the Tyrant’s next target. After sending his astrotelepathic message, Sartak is confronted by Garlon Souleater, the Tyrant’s chief psyker, as well as Blackheart himself. They inform Sartak that they were aware of his betrayal and that they had used him to misdirect the White Scars for their next intended target which was the Imperial world of Santiago, not Razzia. Facing his doom, Sartak attempts to attack Blackheart but loses both his hands to the deadly Tyrant's Claw for his trouble. Garlon then psychically attacks Sartak and knocks him unconscious. When Sartak finally reawakens he finds himself confined in some kind of container and in utter darkness. His limbs are restrained and tubes have been shoved down his throat. He tried to cast his mind into the Warp, but found that his powers had been suppressed. Sartak comes to the bleak realisation that he might be sealed into some sort of escape pod and jettisoned into space. But much to his horror, he comes to the sickening realisation that a worse fate has befallen him. Horrified, he realises that he is sealed within a sarcophagus of a Chaos Dreadnought, never to be installed into the nigh-indestructible adamantium shell of a Dreadnought body. Kept barely alive, he is doomed to slowly rot for all eternity. With this shocking revelation Sartak’s sanity flees his once rational mind in a silent scream.Lothar (Battle-Brother) - Lothar was a formidable warrior within the ranks of the Red Corsairs for he had won a place amongst Huron’s inner circle. A friend of Sartak, Lothar wanted to give up the ways of being a bloody-handed raider. But by the time Sartak returned to the Tyrant’s ship, he found Lothar in gladiatorial combat against the Khornate Champion, Crassus. Lothar is mortally wounded in the duel and as he lay dying, whispers to Sartak the location of the next planet the Tyrant planned to raid. But unfortunately for both of them, they had been duped. For the Tyrant's true target was the Agri-world of Santiago.Remulus (Battle Brother) - Remulus was a formidable warrior in his own right. He wears the Terminator armour of a 1st company veteran with the Corsair's red obscuring the yellow and black of his former Chapter, the Scythes of the Emperor. He is the Captain of the No Redemption.Haxan the Defiler - Haxan was originally a captain of the Crimson Fists Chapter who turned against the Imperium during an Exterminatus action against the world of Hydra Secundus. Inquisitor Rabe had ordered the destruction of Hydra Secundus due to an uprising against the Imperium that in fact had never taken place. Instead, Rabe simply sought to obfuscate the crimes he had committed during his time on the world. That an Inquisitor could so callously send an entire world to its death on his own corrupt whim led Captain Haxan to lose faith in the Emperor and the Imperium of Man itself. Haxan slew the Inquisitor and the demi-company of Crimson Fists that he had commanded, knowing they would never turn against a member of the Holy Ordos. Deeply disillusioned, Haxan reasoned that it was, "better to serve the Darkness; Old Night hungers but it does not lie."  Haxan ultimately joined the Red Corsairs warband of Chaos Space Marines and rose to become a powerful Chaos Lord in their service known as "Haxan the Defiler." For the next 60 Terran years, Haxan preyed upon the Imperium, showing particular contempt for Shrine Worlds and the faithful of the Imperial Cult, for he could not countenance the worship of a God-Emperor who led a political system as unjust as the Imperium. His raids swept across the Serpentis Reach and deep into the Loki Sector. However, he finally fell into a trap set by the Crimson Fists, who had long sought to cleanse the stain of the dishonour created when Haxan had turned Traitor. The Crimson Fists arranged to secretly escort a target that they knew would draw Haxan's ire -- the grand cruiser Duchess of Hespera, which was transporting a high-ranking prelate of the Ecclesiarchy and 12,000 Imperial pilgrims to reconsecrate the cathedral on the world of Cereus Ultra. Haxan's flagship, the stolen Gothic-class Cruiser Scourge of the Faithless, was destroyed by the Crimson Fists Strike Cruiser Intractable commanded by Veteran Brother Fuentas in the Cereus System. Haxan himself was executed during the battle by Veteran Sergeant Sandor Galleas.