vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
World Eaters - Battle of Skalathrax: Following the end of the Horus Heresy, the World Eaters Legion was finally sundered as a coherent military force during the Legion Wars at the Battle of Skalathrax on the Daemon World of the same name.There the World Eaters faced off against the Emperor's Children Chaos Marines, the devoted servants of the Chaos God Slaanesh, the chief rival among the Ruinous Powers of the World Eaters' patron Khorne.The two armies of Traitor Marines clashed through the planet's storm lashed cities of black rock and ice. City after city fell to the berserker assaults of the World Eaters, as the chosen of Khorne hurled themselves at the Emperor's Children, slaughtering the hated Slaaneshi devotees until forced to halt their attack as the Daemon World's freezing night fell.The potent Champion of Khorne and former Equerry Khârn screamed his frustration as the Legion paused in its attack, demanding that he be allowed to continue killing. Furious with his comrades for taking shelter while there were still enemies left to slay, Khârn took up a Flamer and turned its heat upon his fellow World Eaters Berserkers and those who tried to stop he cut down with great sweeps of his chainaxe.As the flames spread to the rest of the city, the World Eaters Legion tore itself apart, berserkers fighting both each other and the Emperor's Children for what little shelter remained. Khârn burned and hacked his way through the flaming ruins of Skalathrax, having become the living incarnation of the Blood God himself.From that day forth, the World Eaters were broken as a Legion, becoming instead scattered warbands of berserk Heretic Astartes, forever in search of more blood to spill. Khârn now stalks the Eye of Terror and only the most insane of Khornate warriors dare to fight alongside him, since few who do so ever survive.Following this conflict the raving blood thirst of the World Eaters broke down any form of organisation and control. Units of World Eaters of varying sizes broke off from the main force to seek out glory and skulls for Khorne.In the wake of Khârn's slaughter, all of the captains who had led the Legion before the battle had been killed. This ensured that in the future no warband leader of the World Eaters could claim a right of command due to their prior position rather than by dint of their sheer martial ability. Such was the way of Khorne.Squads of ancient World Eater berzerkers can now be found as parts of larger Chaos armies, in Khorne-sworn forces, or even in small teams called warbands -- always seeking combat, blood and skulls.
World Eaters - Dominion of Fire: In the mid-38th Millennium, Angron and 50,000 Chaos Space Marines and troops drawn from the other forces of Chaos slaughtered their way through a large swathe of Imperial space for over two standard centuries. They took control of over 70 sectors.In response, a combined force of four Space Marine Chapters, 2 Titan Legions and more than 30 Astra Militarum regiments participated in a massive Imperial Crusade to retake what the Imperium had lost to the Red Angel's assault.Ninety percent of the territory that had been lost to Angron's forces was eventually recovered by the Imperium's defenders. This protracted campaign is known in Imperial archives as the "Dominion of Fire."
World Eaters - Legion Homeworld: The name of the world on which Angron was raised has long since been lost to history, though records indicate it was once called Nuceria. The pre-Heresy Legion made use of the world called Bodt for many solar decades as a training site for new recruits during the Great Crusade.However, in the early days of the Horus Heresy, long before the Siege of Terra, the World Eaters Legion was diverted to crush a single world utterly by Angron during the so-called Shadow Crusade. It is not known if this world was their Primarch's homeworld or not, but popular belief was that it was indeed the world on which Angron had been a slave.Angron also ordered the destruction of several other worlds, seemingly at random, during the Heresy.Unlike the other Traitor Legions, the World Eaters at present are not known to hold any world as their own in the daemonic realm of the Eye of Terror that the Traitors now call home.This is speculated to be due to the fact the Legion is essentially no longer a coherent entity since the World Eaters are actually comprised of multiple warbands of Khornate Berserkers who traverse the galaxy looking for slaughter and maintain no overall organisation or coordination between them.
World Eaters - Recruitment and Training: Attrition rates within the World Eaters were high, and fatality levels on recruits during training are believed to have been the worst of any Space Marine Legion in the period, so unrelenting were the World Eaters' methods.Past a certain point in training, gladiatorial contests and battle-exercises became real life-and-death combat with live rounds and wetted blades, with the goal to raise the skill and strength of the warrior to the greatest extent before they would be deemed worthy of joining the World Eaters' ranks.In order to cope with the rigours of their training and the ceaseless campaigning, under Angron's direction recruitment processes were streamlined and accelerated, and recruits were drawn from a number of Feral and Feudal Worlds scattered across the Segmenta of the Imperium in order to meet the Legion's demands.Under the World Eaters' regime, not only was individual combat skill their main focus, but the wider arts of warfare as well. Entire companies and even battalions fought one another in great matches and competitions to enforce unit tactics and coherent operations under their Primarch's eye and judgement, but it was always the battlefield that the World Eaters hungered for, and where its champions and officers were chosen.
World Eaters - Death of the World Eaters' Librarius: During the Shadow Crusade, Roboute Guilliman faced off against Angron in single combat on the world of Nuceria. As the two fought, Guilliman landed a glancing blow, his fist pounding across Angron's breastplate. One of the skulls of Angron's fallen kinsmen that hung from the chain worn across his breastplate was partially shattered and scattered across the ground. Guilliman stepped back, his boot crushing the skull's remnants to powder. Angron saw it, and threw himself at his brother, his howl of wrath defying mortal origins, impossibly ripe in its anguish.The Primarch Lorgar of the Word Bearers saw it, too. The moment Guilliman's boot broke the skull, he felt the Warp boil behind the veil. The Bearer of the Word started chanting in a language never before spoken by any living being, his words in faultless harmony with Angron's cry of torment. Lorgar had decided to use the moment to enact his dark plan to save his brother's life from being taken by the Butcher's Nails, summoning the Ruinstorm to the world of Nuceria, tearing the sky open and unleashing a crimson torrent, formed from the ghosts of a hundred murdered worlds, raining blood.Lorgar focused his concentration on the triumphant form of his mutilated brother, calling for the Neverborn, the entities men called daemons, to answer in kind. He locked Angron's muscles, setting fire to the synapses in his brain. The first spasms wracked their way through Angron's sinews, turning his blood to quicksilver, then to lava and at last to holy fire. His cries of thwarted rage were tainted by an agony beyond comprehension. His body started tearing itself apart, growing, rising. Perfecting, after a lifetime of broken torture. This was the moment of Angron's apotheosis into daemonhood.The remaining World Eaters Librarians sensed the fey powers summoned by Lorgar. In an attempt to halt the Urizen's dark plans, the 19 remaining Librarians harnessed their collective psychic powers to manifest a psychic entity known as the Communion, the gestalt consciousness of 19 psychic minds. In the midst of Lorgar's incantations, the Communion pulled the soul of the Primarch from his body.The two psychic entities confronted one another within the Warp, locked in a deadly contest of wills, each convinced that they were the one responsible for saving Angron. But ultimately, the Communion failed, for Lorgar was just as powerful in the Warp as he was in the material universe.After Angron's completed metamorphosis into a new Daemon Prince, the newborn Daemon Primarch turned his attention to the Librarians. Angron killed the last of his Librarians, expunging his Legion of the weakness that had plagued his gene-sons since his reunification with them a century earlier.The Librarius of the World Eaters, the last fragment of the War Hounds within the XIIth Legion, was no more, a fact which greatly pleased the Blood God Khorne, who would not brook the existence of any psykers amongst his chosen servants. Now there would only be blood, an ocean of blood carried on a tide of eternal slaughter.
World Eaters - Post-Heresy: Banished to the Eye of Terror and tied forever to the worship of Khorne, the blood rituals of the Legion became an even more important part of the World Eaters' daily lives, mighty oceans of blood filled in his praise.The legendary tactical organisation of the Space Marines broke down, washed away by the years of slaughter that followed. As more and more of the Legion's officers and champions were possessed by daemons or became mighty Chaos Champions, the last vestiges of discipline and organisation fell away, the once-proud Space Marine Legion reduced to howling, berserk killers thirsting for death and bloodshed.After the Night of Madness on the Daemon World of Skalathrax, when the champion named Khârn turned on his fellow World Eaters, the Legion tore itself apart in a day-long slaughter, becoming nothing more than roving bands of Renegades, endlessly questing for battle and death.Such bands vary enormously in size from single champions, small squads to company sized forces capable of untold destruction. The champions who lead these marauders will fight alongside almost any other Chaos Lord who is gathering his forces, asking for nothing more than the chance to spill blood in the name of Khorne. But even a Chaos Lord must be wary lest his head be added to the tally of skulls.In keeping with the doctrine of the Blood God Khorne which holds the use of psychic abilities to be a dishonour in battle, the World Eaters maintain no Chaos Sorcerers amongst their ranks. During the Horus Heresy, Librarians in the other Space Marine Legions that dedicated themselves to the Ruinous Powers were granted new psychic abilities and malefic powers. The only exception were the Librarians of the World Eaters.As part of a bloody sacrifice to their new master, the Librarians of the World Eaters were hunted down and slaughtered by their brother Astartes, as Khorne despises all practitioners of the sorcerous arts.The killing came to a head when the World Eaters hero Scyrak the Slaughterer slew the Legion's Chief Librarian, thus removing the last obstacle to the Legion's bloody fall to the Eightfold-Path and their service to the Skull Throne.
World Eaters - Notable Warbands: Since the infamous Battle of Skalathrax, the once mighty World Eaters Traitor Legion has splintered into countless murderous hosts. Those warriors who worship Khorne are anarchic individuals, their armies little more than ragged coalitions of rival warbands ready to turn upon one another at the slightest provocation.Only the leadership of a truly mighty individual can hold such a force together for long as its Chaos Lord. Listed below are several such notable warbands that originally were members of the unified World Eaters Legion:Angron's ChosenAngron's FuryBa'ar Zul's CleaversBerserkers of SkallathraxBlack FeastBlood Legion of KhorneBloody DawnBloody PathBonescarButcherhordeCrimson CovenantCrushers of BoneDhorngar's GoredrinkersEndless MurderFifteen FangsForesworn (World Eaters)Gladiator Group 138GorehuntersHarvest MacabreLifeslayersLord Skchalick's EliteOblivion ButchersPistonhand's DaemoniforgeRavagersSanctifiedSkullhuntSkulltakersSkull Takers of Hans Kho'renSons of SlaughterThe AnointedWrathful Dead
World Eaters - Post-Heresy: The World Eaters now possess but a single desire in life -- to slay their enemies in savage melee combat and take their skulls for Khorne. To this end, the Legion has cast away their long-ranged weapons completely and have taken up the Chainaxe favoured by Khorne and the Bolt Pistol.Their thirst for blood and slaughter has become such an overpowering addiction that when battle is joined the World Eaters, now all transformed into Khornate Berserkers, rampage across the battlefield, roaring the name of Khorne, all strategy and tactics forgotten in their overpowering thirst for bloodshed.In combat, these frothing, psychotic berserkers are ferocious and will fight to the death, knowing that their own blood is as welcome to the Blood God as that of their enemies. The World Eaters are a force entirely dedicated to and specialised in close combat.Reflecting the breakdown of overall organisation and strategy in the XIIth Legion after the Horus Heresy, most World Eater combat consists of rushing a force of World Eater Berserkers towards the enemy line as quickly as possible so they can engage in melee combat.Once locked into close combat, few enemy units can persevere against the World Eaters' Khornate Berserkers. World Eater armies feature little to no long-range weapons, but they balance this lack with their exceptional close combat and melee prowess. The World Eaters do, however, possess various artillery weapons gifted to them by Khorne.World Eaters who seek to grow even closer to their bloodthirsty patron may partake in horrific rituals inviting possession by daemons of the Warp. A warrior claimed by a Lesser Daemon of the Blood God like a Bloodletter has their body twisted into a living weapon known as a Possessed, the better to harvest blood and skulls for Khorne, while the daemon itself benefits from a mortal host that provides a permanent anchor to realspace.
World Eaters - World Eaters Names: World Eater names are generally one or two-syllable words with hard consonants derived from those used by the Astartes recruited into the ancient Legion from across the galaxy. World Eaters Heretic Astartes also sometimes possess a by-name derived from a physical feature, personality quirk, past deed, favourite way to kill, or other defining feature.Examples of World Eater names include: Barask Draxxigor, Khargos Bloodgrin, Gharrax Axefist, Khoran Khrul, Varrak Korgath, Zagrek the Headsman, Trosk Bloodhair, Tarvakh the Reaper, Drakh Khorr, Nharax the Maimer, Macer Kharos, Sarvak the Butcher, Berek the Reaper, Garrek the Hound and Azkor Hakkan.
World Eaters - Triumph Rope: Like their fellow Astartes Legions, the XIIth Legion would often take an oath of moment, a final last act before embarking for combat. Each Legionary prepared their vows to their fellow brothers in the Legion. What they will do for their Emperor, their Legion and themselves.They witnessed one another's oaths. Some Legions wrote them and then decorated themselves with the written oaths on fluttering paper on their Power Armour. But with the coming of Angron, the Primarch introduced to his gene-sons the tradition of the "Triumph Rope."This was something that was shown to Captain Kharn by his Primarch. Angron explained that before a battle one would carve a line in one's body, and after said battle you would either let it heal normally, to show that you were victorious, or you would rub some of the dirt from the battlefield into the wound, to show you were defeated. This would cause the scar to appear to be a "red twist" if victorious, or a "black twist" if defeated. Warriors could then keep track of their battle honours and gauge each others' prowess.Angron had the longest "Triumph Rope" within the Legion. A ridge of scar tissue began at the base of Angron's spine. It traveled up his backbone, then veered to the left and around his body, riding over his hip and curving around to his front.The length of his continuous scar seemed to expand and thin again, ploughing and gouging the skin, in some places vanishing entirely where the Primarch's healing powers had overcome it.The scar looped around and around Angron's body, spiraling up over his belly, around his ribs, towards his chest. A little past the right of his sternum, it abruptly stopped.Angron, it was said, had no black twists. When the Emperor spirited Angron away from his world on the eve of battle where he was ready to give his life fighting side-by-side with his fellow slaves, he was denied the right to return to his world. He couldn't pick up the soil to make a black twist. Unable to wear his failure, he was bitter with the Emperor that he couldn't fight alongside them and even more so that he couldn't even commemorate them properly.
World Eaters - Gladiatorial Pits: The gladiatorial pits of the XIIth Legion were one of the traditions that carried over from the War Hounds -- and the World Eaters that followed after them. Once, the XIIth Legion had been a proud Legion founded upon brotherhood above all else. They taught it in the gladiatorial pits, bonding warriors from different worlds, chaining them together and forcing them to fight as pairs.Brotherhood remained strong at the Chapter's heart in that time, and was the test that truly mattered. For especially deserving Astartes, the Hounds even opened their pits to those born of other Astartes bloodlines. The Hounds duelled because in their hearts they knew that nothing forged a stronger bond of brotherhood than fighting. There was no need for pageantry, and no reason to hold back. Rank was disregarded, and all that mattered was the weapon in their hands, and who struck first.When the World Eaters fought in the pits, the combatants would first come to an accord as to how many wounds they would inflict upon each other to determine who was the victor. They would usually only fight to first blood, but sometimes bouts would go on to second and even third blood. But on rare occasions, they would be fought to Sanguis Extremis -- a bout to the death.The Legionaries of the World Eaters had an intractable and ambitious nature. Quick to anger, the World Eaters were taught to avenge slights to their honour with blood, even amongst their own. But when there was a dispute between brothers, often they were settled in the pits.There was little that passed in the way of brawling or boisterous competition amongst the World Eaters in such matters, for all such battles were to the death of those involved. In the World Eaters' extreme view, honour demanded no less.The violence each World Eater willingly subjected himself to within the pits often resulted in a warrior sustaining a web of scars across his body from the blows of their fellow warrior's chainaxes or blades.Another notable example of the costs of pit-fighting would be the World Eaters' use of metal prosthetic teeth to replace their own. Legionaries of other Legions often told tales of how they had never met a single World Eater without at least one metal tooth jammed into his gums, and most sported whole sets from their time in the gladiatorial pits.When losses were incurred during a campaign and entire squads were wiped out, they had to be collapsed and folded into one another, and decisions were needed to be made as to who would lead them. More often than not, the question of leadership was decided in the pits.Normally, such means would have been forbidden, especially if the Legion was still on an active war footing, but in light of dire events, a Praetor could relent, understanding all too well that his brothers needed the grounded calm that duelling could bring, an outlet to exorcise their frustrations and rage.Warriors would need to forge new bonds and have trust in the prowess of their leaders, and bleeding together in the pits was a better way to accomplish this than most.
World Eaters - Wearing Chains: Before the Horus Heresy, the World Eaters' originally wore white Power Armour that was unadorned, save for the chains binding their weapon to their arms. The chains were a personal tradition of the XIIth Legion that had spread even amongst the other Legions from the fighting pits of the World Eaters where the practice had originated.World Eaters would chain themselves together in the fighting pits and duel to the cheers of their brothers. They entered without armour, naked but for loincloths to show they feared no wound, and to prove every warrior would fight on equal ground. For especially deserving legionaries, the XIIth even opened its pits to those born of other bloodlines.Sigismund, the First Captain of the Imperial Fists Legion, had taken to the custom with his usual zeal, binding his weapons to his wrists on dense black chains. He made an impressive name for himself when he served with the World Eaters within the bowels of the Conqueror, dueling with the XIIth Legion's finest warriors late in the Great Crusade.The "Black Knight" they had called him, in honour of his prowess, his nobility and his personal heraldry. Often he would be paired with Delvarus of the Triarii, and the two of them won every fight they entered -- always to first blood, never lasting more than half a minute. No one could keep up with them. No one even came close.Nassir Amit, a Captain of the Blood Angels Legion, known as the "Flesh Tearer," was another Astartes who earned great glory in the World Eaters' pits in the days before the Horus Heresy, for he fought with the same savagery and brutality as his hosts, a trait that would later be passed on to the Flesh Tearers Chapter he led after the Heresy.Amit would often be paired with the Apothecary Kargos, and few ever wished to come up against the "Flesh Tearer" and the "Bloodspitter". They were known for always fighting past first blood, third blood and into sanguis extremis (to the death). No dirty trick seemed beyond them, and every one of their matches was a death bout.
World Eaters - Warrior-Marks: Such few honours that the XIIth Legion believed in were warrior-marks of brotherhood and the scars of battle, for these things transcended rank and spoke to the worth of the Space Marine beneath the armour.The sundered chains of one who had fought overwhelming odds and lived, an allusion that spoke to Angron's own bleak personal history, and the bloody handprint over the face or heart bestowed by a battle leader for a warrior whose fury had transcended that of his brothers, to the World Eaters these meant more than any mere bauble, title or trinket. Examples of such warrior-marks included:Bearers of the Blood Hand - Those that bore the mark of the Blood Hand cared not for remembrance of past glories or trivial commendations. Instead, each warrior strove to embody the principles of fury and bloodlust that earned them the honour up until the moment they would finally be slain on the field of battle, surrounded by the torn and ruptured bodies of their enemies.Fanged Maw - This warrior-mark included several versions of the Legion badge of the fanged maw adorning an individual Space Marine's armour, which denoted long service.Red Striations - Red striations on a helm could be a personal decoration that echoed the psycho-surgical cortex implantation of the Butcher's Nails.Red Tears - Red "tears" (more likely blood drops) painted beneath the eye lenses on a helm were thought to denote an Astartes' ritual scarification.Tally Markings - Kill tally marks were often incised into a vambrace or a warrior's individual weapon. A "crossed-chain" decoration on a vambrace accorded an individual warrior status as having killed a fellow World Eater of higher rank in a sanctioned arena duel.
World Eaters - Caedere Weapons: Based upon the ritual weapons of the cyber-augmetic gladiators of the savage world on which their bloody-handed Primarch was once cast, it was Angron himself who revived the use of the Caedere Weapons among his Legion's ranks.Brutal and difficult to master, the weapons of the Caedere remain largely the preserve of the Rampagers -- World Eaters who have responded the best to the addition of the cranial berserker implants which are a hallmark of the Legion, and its champions.These weapons include:Meteor HammerExcoriator ChainaxeTwin Falx BladesBarb-hook Lash
World Eaters - Caedere Remissum: Before the Horus Heresy, many of the World Eaters had adopted the snarling Sarum Pattern Helmet, though by the time of the Heresy, many of the XIIth Legion's warriors had begun modifying these distinctive helms with the twin mantles of the caedere remissum -- a dubious honour dating back to the gladiatorial traditions of the Primarch Angron's homeworld.When a warrior was judged too unstable or damaged to fight anything other than death matches, they would wear the bladed horns of the remissum as a warning to their foes.While Angron himself forbade them amongst his Veteran companies, many World Eaters still risked his wrath and eventually the more stylised mantles became synonymous with the warriors of the Khornate Berserker cults after the Primarch's ascension to daemonhood.
World Eaters - Head Taking: One of the more bloody traditions of the World Eaters were gruesome contests of head-taking between members of individual squad members, various squads, and the Chapter's Companies and Captains. This may just have been an easy way to confirm kills, but it has been surmised by Imperial scholars that the World Eaters saw the head of a foe to be important. It is unknown if the totals of collected heads were kept for just single battles, wars, or the warrior's career.
World Eaters - Mortuus: Another ancient Legion tradition is known as a mortuus -- an official report made to the commanding officer of a Legion vessel, listing those Battle-Brothers who had fallen in battle, much as Apothecaries in the other Legions traditionally relayed them to their commanding officers.A mortuus was more than simply a casualty list, it was a remembrance -- a roll of honour, a relic for the Legion to treasure. This often took the form of names and ranks inked upon scrolls or names engraved in brass plaques, or chiseled into stone. These names would then be entered into the ship's Archive of the Fallen; other Legions used different names, such as the Thousand Sons' Dirge, or in the case of the Sons of Horus, the Lamentation.As the World Eaters fully fell into a permanent red haze of rage and blood-soaked madness, they came to care little for recording the names of the dead and the practice of composing a mortuus after every engagement was abandoned like so much else of the Legion's culture.
World Eaters - Current Practices: Now, there is only one thing the World Eaters believe in; the spilling of blood. The sole purpose of their existence is to kill and to shed blood in their god's name. Whether that blood comes from a foe, an ally or even their own veins, it matters not. All that matters is that the pile of bloody skulls laid at the brass throne of Khorne grows ever larger.
World Eaters - Legion Gene-Seed: Many suspect that Angron's gene-seed was corrupt from the start and the World Eaters were damned the moment they were created. Others point to the known history of Angron and insist that his Legion could have been saved had the signs been noticed earlier.Whichever is correct, the Space Marines of the World Eaters have a physical need to shed blood and kill, a driving imperative that sends them into a berserk fury of unrestrained bloodthirsty psychosis. So strong is the desire to kill that the World Eaters will turn on one another to satisfy their bloodlust should no other foe present itself.
World Eaters - Legion Appearance: The World Eaters care for one thing above all else -- the thrill of slaughter. Even if they cleaned and sanctified their wargear after each engagement in the manner of Loyalist Space Marines, it would be caked in the sticky, clotted lifeblood of their victims within solar minutes.Wherever they go, whatever enemy they face, the deep crimson battle-plate of the World Eaters is covered in another layer of arterial red, and then another. Each new jet of gore or splash of vital fluids is a sacrament offered unto Khorne himself.Before Angron's Legion turned upon their brothers at the Istvaan V Drop Site Massacre, his warriors were clad in stark white and deep blue -- in theory, at least. Such was the violence with which these warriors brought worlds into Imperial Compliance during the Great Crusade that more often than not they were spattered with copious amounts of blood -- a fact that did not go unnoticed amongst their brother Legions, as noted above.The present warrior elite of the World Eaters have long histories of slaughter. Many fought at the side of Angron himself, the waves of unnatural energy that radiate from the Daemon Primarch leaving their mark on body and soul. It is considered a blessing second only to that of Khorne himself to kill within Angron's sight -- those who truly earn his favour are granted a nod of respect or a growl of recognition in the midst of battle.The Berserkers of the World Eaters use a variety of weapons optimised for close-range slaughter, but the most favoured amongst them is the Chainaxe. This massive weapon has rows of grinding teeth that whir around the axe's edge with speed enough to gnaw through armour and hack through rockcrete -- should they make it through to the flesh beneath, the destruction they cause is catastrophic.
World Eaters - Legion Colours: First as the War Hounds and then in their new incarnation as the World Eaters, the XIIth Legion wore white Power Armour with blue on the shoulder plates and parts of the power pack. The Astartes of this Legion often modified their armour by adding large spikes on the shoulder plates to not only evoke fear but also to turn the armour's surface into a weapon in its own right.A brazen helm would denote Veteran status. When the World Eaters gave into their bloodlust and fell to the corrupting influence of the Blood God, their white and blue heraldry gave way to blood red and brass, the favored colours of Khorne, although one can often find some pieces of the World Eaters' original heraldry in individual pieces of their armour.While most World Eaters retain their original Legion badge, the Mark of Khorne, as well as other Chaos icons and symbols like the Star of Chaos, often supplement it. In battle, the World Eaters almost exclusively employ Chainaxes and Chainswords to maximise blood spillage, although some of the most powerful warriors of the Legion use arcane power or daemonic Khornate weapons infused with the power of a daemon of the Blood God.Other Renegade Space Marines that have given in to the pull of Khorne since the end of the Horus Heresy have adopted the look of the World Eaters, but few can compare to the experience that thousands upon thousands of battles across some 10,000 standard years has brought to the original World Eaters Heretic Astartes.What was once the most effective shock assault force in the galaxy is now a terrifying collection of savage berserkers and insane, psychotic killing machines that live only to spill blood and take skulls for their master Khorne.
World Eaters - Legion Badge: As the War Hounds Legion, the original XIIth Legion badge was that of a large red hound, rampant, centred on a field of white. This symbol was reminiscent of the epithet given to them by the Emperor Himself, for the XIIth Legion reminded Him of the white war hounds the Yeshk warriors in the north of Terra once used.After the War Hounds' reunion with their Primarch Angron when they were redubbed the World Eaters, their Legion badge changed to that of a great, red-fanged maw poised to crush a life-bearing world, centred on a field of dark blue.This iconic image was to prove entirely fitting to describe what was to come for the World Eaters. The maw was a literal representation of their Legion's name, the World Eaters, as well as the brutal violence wrought on those enemies whom failed to comply with the tenets of the Imperial Truth and allow themselves to be brought into the folds of the burgeoning Imperium.After their corruption, many World Eaters Legionaries began incorporating Khorne's stylized skull-rune which is either painted or carved onto their Power Armour. The World Eaters' Khornate Berserkers are also sometimes seen wearing a variant of their original Legion iconography of the fanged maw engulfing a planet superimposed over the eight-pointed star of Chaos.
World Engine - World Engine: The World Engine was the name given by the Imperium of Man to a monstrous mobile artificial Tomb World of the Necrons of the Neokhares Dynasty, known to those undying xenos as Borsis. It was discovered in the Vidar Sector of the Imperium in 926.M41 after the Necrons hibernating in stasis tombs beneath its metallic surface rose from the Great Sleep.This Necron planet-sized weapon was armed with an array of deadly Gauss Projectors capable of scorching away all life on the surface of an entire planet. Presenting a hideous threat to the security of the Imperium once its existence was discovered, the World Engine was attacked in the Vidar Sector by 15 Space Marine task forces supported by elements of the Imperial Navy.Despite their best efforts, the Imperial task force was unable to penetrate the World Engines' superior defences, attempting at least a dozen times to overwhelm the massive construct with sheer firepower.The Imperial forces were rewarded for their efforts with many destroyed and crippled starships and millions of casualties. Finally, in desperation, the Astral Knights Space Marine Chapter rammed their flagship into the World Engine in a suicidal charge, and then deployed its surviving Battle-Brothers onto the Necron vessel's surface. After fighting for over 100 solar hours, the surviving Astral Knights reached a Necron command node and planted Melta-charges that destroyed the vast Necron tomb complex that housed many of the World Engine's command arrays.This brought down the vessel's impenetrable Void Shields and also silenced the World Engine's advanced weaponry. The sacrifice of the Astral Knights allowed the Imperial Navy's starships to finally destroy the World Engine with Cyclonic Torpedoes.
World Engine - Armament: The World Engine was protected by a defensive screen in the form of a swirling storm of silver energy that could interfere with electronic devices and prevent remote attempts at reconnaissance. Its primary weapon was an immense Gauss Weapon located at its equator which unleashed silvery blasts of energy capable of destroying capital ships of the Imperium with a single blast. It also had at least five hundred Doom Scythes and Night Scythes for aerial battle and to protect the World Engine from assault ships.The massive Necron vessel possessed other potent weapon technologies of unknown provenance. These included the ability to unleash blasts of gravitic waves that could rip an enemy vessel apart or crush it, and a potent teleportation technology capable of locking onto void debris like asteroids and materialising them within other vessels, destroying them.
World Spirit - World Spirit: The World Spirit is the sentient, animistic entity comprised of pure psychic energy that serves as the spiritual heart of every Maiden World that belongs to the Aeldari Exodites. It is a psychic gestalt composed of the collective souls of every Aeldari who died on that planet and is very similar in form and function to the Infinity Circuits of the craftworlds.When an Exodite on one of these worlds dies, his or her soul is immediately drawn to or ritualistically joined with the World Spirit before it can be devoured in the Warp by She Who Thirsts.The World Spirit, like a craftworld's Infinity Circuit, actually has a physical locus on the planet, in this case a global grid of menhirs, obelisks and stone circles called a World Shrine that are scattered across the Exodites' world and all crafted from psychoactive crystal.These regions are considered sacred by the Exodites and can be used by any psychically-active member of the Aeldari race to commune with the World Spirit, though this interaction is normally only undertaken by a trained Farseer.
Worldbreaker - Worldbreaker: Worldbreaker was the mighty Power Maul and infamous personal weapon of the Warmaster Horus during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras of the late 30th and early 31st Millennia.It was personally crafted and presented to him as a gift by the Emperor of Mankind when he was named as the Imperial Warmaster and charged with leading the Great Crusade as the Emperor's proxy following the Ullanor Crusade.
Worldbreaker - The Horus Heresy: Worldbreaker is said to have been created by the hand of the Emperor Himself and presented as a gift to His most favoured gene-son during the Triumph of Ullanor in 000.M30, the same day Horus was raised to become the Warmaster and the Emperor announced that He was returning to Terra. This massive weapon was easily the size of a mortal man marked out with the Imperial Aquila at the base of its grip.As well as being a weapon capable of shattering armoured ceramite, it was also a signifier of Horus' rank as the Warmaster of the Imperium. Horus was the first and foremost of the primarchs and master of the Luna Wolves Space Marine Legion and the most favoured son of the Emperor. Horus Lupercal was capable of bearing the massive Power Maul one-handed, but the immense mace was too cumbersome for any of the other Astartes to wield it with any grace. A bludgeon of darkened metal, its spiked head alone was the size of a Space Marine warrior's entire armoured torso.When Horus fell on Davin's moon and became corrupted by the Ruinous Powers, he unleashed a devastating civil war known as the Horus Heresy, and ushered in the so-called "Age of Darkness." His formidable weapon lived up to its name, as he broke world after world, until finally, his nine-standard-year-long rebellion culminated in the final battle at the Siege of Terra.In the final hours of the conflict, Horus allowed the Emperor and an entourage of Loyalists to teleport directly to his flagship, the Vengeful Spirit. He went on to use Worldbreaker to kill his brother Sanguinius, the angelic primarch of the Blood Angels Legion, who spurned Horus' invitation to join his dark cause.When the Emperor came upon the horrific scene, Horus stood over the broken and bleeding body of his brother. Father and son then confronted one another, one final time. In the end, the Arch-traitor was cast down, but not before he managed to mortally wound the Emperor.
Wrack - Wrack: A Wrack is a twisted biological creation of the Drukhari Haemonculi, individuals of that species dissected and refashioned into living instruments of torture.They act as assistants and bodyguards to their fleshcrafting masters and are equipped with a range of cruel Drukhari weapons including razor-sharp blades, needles, poisons and even more exotic and disturbing instruments of pain and torment.Each Wrack is an abhorrent example of his or her master's surgical craftsmanship, an individual cut apart and refashioned into a walking instrument of torture.Masked and modified to better instil fear into those they encounter, they act as the hands of the Haemonculi in the world outside, and upon the field of battle they will defend their creators with their lives.
Wrack - Role: Every ruler needs obedient servants, and Wracks are literally fashioned for the task. Known in some circles as "Haemacolytes," each Wrack's sole duty is to dutifully serve their master, whether at the slab or upon the battlefield.To this end they are physically modified to better perform their gory duties. Within the Wrack's surgically enhanced frame lies a shocking strength, and in combat they lay about themselves with a variety of sickled blades, corrosive whips, stun-rods and silvered hooks.Because Haemonculi tend towards megalomania or even delusions of godhood, they surround themselves with supplicants and minions to enact their orders. In fact, most Haemonculi prefer not to sully themselves with physical labour of any kind, and consider themselves somehow polluted if they have to exert themselves in any way. Instead, the dirty work of each Haemonculus is performed by his Wracks.Most Wracks hope to one day transcend their previous lives entirely -- a Wrack will endure almost any degradation in the hope that they may eventually ascend to the ranks of the Coven lords. A typical scene in the oubliettes and laboratories of the Haemonculi is a single figure looming over a partially dissected victim whilst hunched Wracks scrabble to enact every disturbing command.Wracks often have heavy metal gauntlets grafted in place of their hands that can inject or withdraw fluids from their subjects with the flex of a wire-taut tendon, or be coated with searing venom when accompanying their master on a raid into realspace.Spinal grafts and rampant bone growth is common in these disturbing composites, often forming baroque exterior racks and hooks from which samples and serums can be suspended so they are readily at hand when their Haemonculus needs them.They will also be further modified to ensure that they can defend their creator in battle, or pillage a community in order to gather fresh specimens for their master's pleasure. The nails of their fingers and toes are severed and replaced by razor-sharp talons that skitter and scratch on the cold stone floors of their underground needle-lairs, and their faces are covered by inscrutable metal masks, for individual identity has no place in the Wrack's existence.Wracks wear only the most rudimentary of clothing in their day-to-day lives, going about their business in stained butcher's aprons and tabards, twilight glinting from a bewildering variety of Haemonculi torturer's tools hung from their belts.Perhaps the most sickening aspect of the Wrack's strange plight is not their hideous appearance or simmering bloodlust, but the fact that they have chosen this fate for themselves.It is a peculiar trait of the Drukhari psyche that after a few Terran centuries of life they often request to be modified into a form other than that of their birthright, for such voluntary surgery staves off ennui and gives up a whole new suite of experiences and debaucheries to savour.For this reason a Drukhari who has nothing to lose will give themselves to the Haemonculi, emerging from their foul metamorphosis as something far more frightening than ever before.
Wrack - Acothysts: Among Wracks there is a position or rank referred to as "Acothyst." This seems to be a position of authority amongst the Wracks, perhaps equivalent to an officer or other small unit command position.Acothysts are sometimes rewarded with unique Haemonculi weapons such as the Hexrifle, Stinger Pistol or other particularly deadly and painful Drukhari weapons.
Wrack - Unit Composition: 4 Wracks1 Acothyst
Wraith - Wraith: Note: This article discusses material that was once considered canon but whose canonicity is now questionable. For the current version of the Necron Wraith please see Canoptek Wraith.A Wraith is one of the more sophisticated units employed by the forces of the Necrons. These grotesque floating killers lack legs or body except for a serpentine spinal column, and float over the battlefield using anti-gravity technology like ghosts. Their wide, hunched shoulders support a leering, skull face and long, whip-like arms that wield Necrodermis scalpel blades for fingers and a nightmare array of surgical implements.Moving with unnatural fluidity, Wraiths are fearsome in close combat, often shifting in and out of phase with the space-time continuum like ghosts, thus granting them their Imperial sobriquet of "Wraiths." This phase-shifting ability which is based on the standard Necron phasing technology that they use to travel across the galaxy allows Wraiths to avoid physical damage from weapons or to even move through solid objects.It has been suggested by certain Imperial savants that in ancient days before the War in Heaven the Wraiths were once Necrontyr murderers and psychopaths before their eternal entombment within their cold, metallic husks.
Wraithbone - Wraithbone: Wraithbone is the primary construction material used by the Asuryani, the Craftworld Aeldari, and the staple of their psycho-technical engineering. It is a form of crystallized psychic energy that can exist as a solid in realspace brought forth from the Warp and shaped by an Aeldari concentrating his thoughts and intent upon it.All Aeldari are able to psychically influence and control wraithbone to a certain extent; for instance, most Aeldari walking the Path of the Artisan will use wraithbone in order to create the pieces of art, musical instruments or any other tools they desire.However, truly complex constructions (such as functional weapons or whole voidships) can only be brought into existence by the Aeldari Bonesingers; specialised craftsmen who focus on understanding and mastering the intricacies of creating, growing and shaping the Wraithbone through the application of their innate psychic power.When and where the Aeldari first began using wraithbone is unknown, though most Imperial scholars assume it was in the distant past, long before Humanity had even fully evolved to sentience. It is used to create the craftworlds of the Aeldari, all of their edifices, their tanks and other vehicles, robotic constructs such as the Wraithguard and Wraithlords, as well as their individual weapons and armour.It is a psychic conductor and thus provides not only the structure and armour for the things built of it, but also the power distribution and communications systems since wraithbone carries psychic energy the way a wire or fiber optic cable carries electricity or photons.Wraithbone can also naturally generate a psychic shield that protects the occupants of any spacecraft made from the material from the predations of the entities of the Warp, much like an Imperial Gellar Field. It was this psychic shielding property of wraithbone that protected the souls of the inhabitants of the craftworlds from the birth of the Chaos God Slaanesh which destroyed so much of the Aeldari race.Wraithbone is a psycho-plastic material that is highly resilient to damage, and capable of limited self-repair. It, and the other building materials of the Aeldari, will grow and react more like living tissue than the building materials of other intelligent species, save for the Tyranids' bio-constructs and necrodermis, the Necron living metal that is the basis of a majority of the Necron's technology.Wraithbone provides the psychic structure that allows it to become a repository for the spirit of a dead Asuryani hero when used in certain constructs.An Asuryani spirit is drawn from the Infinity Circuit of a craftworld and resides within a Spirit Stone mounted in the construct until such time as its power begins to fade and it can no longer function.
Wraithcannon - Wraithcannon: A Wraithcannon is a Craftworld Aeldari Distortion Weapon that is basically a smaller, more portable version of the D-Cannon.Wielded by a Wraithguard and powered by the psychic energy of its Spirit Stone, the Wraithcannon opens a small, temporary rift from realspace into the Warp that tears apart its target through the unleashing of potent gravitic forces and then swallows the remains.The Wraithcannon is often used as a potent anti-armour weapon against otherwise difficult to penetrate targets.However, unlike the D-Cannon, the Warp rift created by the Wraithcannon is more tightly controlled and its effects more accurate.A Wraithcannon is considered such a diabolical weapon by the Asuryani that no mortal could wield it because it draws upon so much psychic energy. Only the spirits of the dead within the Wraithguard can effectively wield its power.
Wraithcannon - Heavy Wraithcannon: A Heavy Wraithcannon is a far larger and even more powerful version of the standard Wraithcannon that is wielded as a primary ranged armament by the colossal Wraithknight Ghost Warriors.The lengthy forms of the twin Heavy Wraithcannons deployed by Wraithknights are  capable of sending their targets straight into the hell-dimension of the Warp.