vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Pale Stars - The Coming of the Herald: At 017.008.M31, a grey-hulled, dagger-prowed Warp-sprinter named the Eusebeian Herald plunged from the churning Warp Storms closing in upon the outlying system of Optera, a trail of rapidly dissolving Warpstuff forming a kilometres-long contrail in her wake. The Herald had been laid down at Saturn by the hands of the most skilled ship-wrights of that domain and utilised hybrid technologies jealously guarded by the Terrawatt Clans of Ancient Terra and denounced as heresy by the Martian Priesthood. Not only had she survived the tempest but she had made the journey in mere solar weeks and carried her passengers safely through the otherwise impenetrable Immaterium to the frontier of the Pale Stars. It was a voyage few would have dared and even fewer could have survived.Aboard the Eusebeian Herald was a contingent of the Knights-Errant -- Garro, formerly of the Death Guard, Callion Zaven, once of the Emperor's Children, and Tylos Rubio, a scion of the Ultramarines. Each Astartes had been named by Severian and the Sigillite had foreseen they would each prove vital in averting the fall of the Imperium and combating what he had prophesised would come in its aftermath. In the Dark Brotherhood and their mysterious leader, Malcador hoped to secure another weapon for his long, silent war against the darkness.
Pale Stars - The Conclave of Optera: At Optera, Garro ordered the Astropath assigned to his mission to send forth a signal, its allegorical cipher imprint unique and composed for this specific circumstance. The message could only be understood by an Astropath bound to the service of the Legiones Astartes, and its precise content only deciphered by one whose loyalties lay truly with Terra. The message called for the recipients to gather at Optera and Garro chose as the meeting place a ruined, megalithic structure high atop a rocky plateau overlooking the cratered wastes of Optera IV. There were numerous risks inherent in the sending of such a message, but still greater advantage to be won, and so the Astropath's mind-song went out across the storm-wracked reaches of the Pale Stars. Twenty solar days later, Garro convened his parley.At the fulcrum of the parley, both the Loyalists' and Blackshields' vessels were attacked in orbit by the Traitor forces under Strike Master Ijax. The Traitors must somehow have broken the cipher of Garro's Astropath, a feat that only the Alpha Legion could achieve. In an instant, chaos claimed the formerly solemn gathering. Blackshields bellowed in rage or denial, some at the skies, some at their brothers but the greater number at Garro and the other two Knights-Errant. The Dark Brotherhood quickly fractured into rival groups and a vicious, close-range fire-fight erupted. What followed remains unknown, only that the meeting descended rapidly into armed conflict. The Nemean ultimately turned his back on the Dark Brotherhood and departed with Garro, to become one of the Sigillite's Knights-Errant.
Pale Stars - The Blood-Stained Stars: In the aftermath of the Alpha Legion's ambush at Optera, a bloody and bitter shadow war erupted across the systems of the Pale Stars. The Dark Brotherhood carved their way across the region, slaughtering any force that stood in their way until they vanished into the Eridayn Cataract, not to be encountered again for an age. As with so many accounts of those final days of the Horus Heresy's Age of Darkness, the truth is hidden beneath a pall of ashes and the crushed bones of the greatest heroes of the shattered Imperium.
Pale Stars - Notable Worlds: Crow's World (Civilised World)Optera IV (Feral World)Larsa II (Mining World) - This Mining World is known to have a mutant population -- and their aberrations are many.Phargos Hex (Information Classified. Access Forbidden. Security Level Omega) - This world, once named Phargos Rex, served as the de facto authority within the region, but since the time of the Horus Heresy, it has been declared Classified for unknown reasons. During the Horus Heresy, with the coming of the Ruinstorm, Phargos Rex and a number of other worlds were subsumed into the seething mass of a Warp/realspace interface -- a Warp rift. Waves of insurrection and insanity gripped the planet, and soon daemons walked amongst man. Great swathes of the doomed planet's population reportedly joined their daemonic allies and turned upon their fellows, rendered by Warp-touched madness into atavistic cannibals and savage murderers. It is assumed the world was lost to the Ruinous Powers and became a Daemon World. Most likely, following the events of the Heresy, and the subsequent Great Scouring, the planet was subjected to an Exterminatus and declared Perditas ("Forbidden") by order of the Inquisition. This would explain the planet's modern-era name, "Phargos Hex," and why it is deemed Classified by long-standing Imperial decree.
Pale Stars - Notable Systems: Kyro SystemKyro IV (Mining World)Kyro VI (Penal World)
Pale Stars - Notable Celestial Bodies: Eridayn Cataract - This trinary star system is a primary source for resource extraction in the Pale Stars region. A dense shroud of asteroids circles the star system's three stellar bodies, concealing secrets and hazards that only the most accomplished of void masters could hope to navigate. Boundless natural resources orbit its three stars, which makes it a target for prospectors, smugglers and pirates alike.
Pale Throng - Pale Throng: Rightly regarded as the cause of one of the most dangerous threats to the stability of the Calixis Sector in recent years, the Pale Throng is a mutant Chaos Cult whose origins lay on the bleak and oppressive world of Tranch. There it led the wave of bloody uprisings that ignited the infamous Tranch War, whose aftermath still lingers to plague many worlds in the Malfian and Adrantian Sub-sectors to the present day.No subtle cult or hidden conspiracy, the Pale Throng is a crazed and degenerate congregation of shambling horrors and decayed and sickening witch-breeds guided by sinister mutant overlords. Its only goal is to throw off the shackles of its oppression and visit bloody vengeance in an apocalyptic rebellion to destroy the Imperium and ultimately seize control of the future of mankind. Born on a world now made infamous for war and suffering, the Pale Throng has since created and inspired revolts on dozens of worlds across the Calixis Sector and beyond. But perhaps greater than the danger that this amorphous army of monstrosities possesses -- in terms of the threat to civil order -- is the fact that the Pale Throng and what it represents has become a blasphemous rallying cry for the twisted and disaffected. It has grown to become something of a heretical ideology that offers easy answers to the weak and feeds on the resentment and anger of the oppressed -- a rebellious whisper far harder to stamp out than any mere physical foe.
Pale Throng - Operation Bellerophon: The Destruction of the Shroud Council: Operation Bellerophon was an ultra-secret operation mounted by elements of the Inquisition's Ordo Calixis at the outset of the Tranch War. The aim of the operation was, by means both subtle and violent, to decapitate the uprising and break the unity of the Pale Throng. After the first disastrous phase of fighting, it became clear that the rebels were led by a group of shadowy overlords called the Shroud Council. There were also indications that several, possibly all, of the Shroud Council were rogue psykers of considerable power. The elimination of the Shroud Council was deemed a high priority, and agents chosen by a number of Inquisitors were deployed to locate, infiltrate, and destroy the Shroud Council in order to decisively weaken the rebels' unity.Just how this objective was accomplished remains a secret and the cause of some murmurs of discontent and controversy within the Holy Ordos. Rumours persist of radical doctrines of engagement and the use of proscribed weapons, unstable psykers, and even mutant "cat's-paws" by the Inquisitors involved. Regardless of the truth of such scurrilous tales, Operation Bellerophon was a guarded success, the Shroud Council disintegrated with several of its members assassinated, while the rest ripped the council apart in a paranoid rage of recrimination and savage attempts to seize control. Thus the Shroud Masters crippled the very rebellion that they had started. It was reported at the time that all the Shroud Masters had died in the culmination of Operation Bellerophon; however, subsequent events have shown this report to be inaccurate. After the war, Shroud Masters (or at least would-be successors to that title) have been reported working their malice still in the depths of Tranch's Soot Warrens or masterminding revolts on other Imperial worlds, although never in such numbers or concentrated power.
Pale Throng - Influence of Chaos: The possibility as to whether there was any direct involvement of the taint of Chaos or a wider occult conspiracy within the Pale Throng during the Tranch War remains a mixed and contradictory picture, open to much debate among the Holy Ordos. What seems clear is that during the initial uprisings on Tranch, several of the smaller witch-cults drawn into the Pale Throng did have daemonic taint in their ranks. In addition, at least one malefic cult concealed among the Oligarchs took the uprisings as an opportunity to work its own ills. But, the conclusion that has been drawn is that there was no systematic Warp-worship or widespread use of daemonic ritual encountered in the war, simply reckless hatred, unremitting savagery, and the horrors of the mutant and the witch unleashed.
Pale Throng - Tenets, Goals and Heretical Beliefs: At the heart of the Pale Throng is a reciprocal hate for the Imperium's own abhorrence of the mutant and the psyker. Behind this simple hate is another subtler ideology that (flawed though it may be) guides the propagators and masters of the Pale Throng to create rebellion after rebellion across the stars. Theirs is the belief that the future of mankind belongs to the mutant and the psyker ascendant, and to achieve that ascendancy the Pale Throng must rise up and smash the Imperium's rule by any means necessary. This deeper motivation is based in a belief in the superiority of the mutant. The cult's higher circles believe that the future of humanity is as a psychic race. The Pale Throng not only denies that the mutant is a twisted abomination, but believes that the mutant is a manifestation of mankind's metamorphosis into something greater, something of beauty and purpose, and humanity's passage to this new life form is to be embraced. The mutant (from the cult's outlook) is superior to the mundane human in any number of ways, sometimes stronger, sometimes able to survive the worst of conditions untouched, and more. The mutant is superior, and because of this, it is the mutant that will inherit humanity's future.Expressed in simple terms to the brutalised and ignorant masses of Abhumans, subs, and other outcasts that toil under crushing oppression, the Pale Throng's ideology offers the prospect of liberation and revenge. It promises an end to their sufferings and, most importantly, a sense of acceptance and an end to the shame and stigma that Imperial culture heaps upon them at every turn. This ideology is a heady and dangerous mix, one that appeals to both the downtrodden and the malign, whether they seek only an end to their pain or an excuse to inflict such pain on others.To many of its adherents, this creed translates into a spiteful sense of self-deluded superiority over the loathed masses of humanity untouched by mutation, which justifies their grievances against the faceless powers of the Imperium. This hubris is amplified a thousand-fold among the cult's wyrdlings and witches, who see those "blunts" untouched by the psyker's gifts at best as a natural enemy, and at worst as little more than playthings and cattle to be toyed with, used, and destroyed at whim. For many at the cult's higher echelons, the Pale Throng's Shroud Masters, mutant demagogues, and petty warlords, this is a creed worth risking all for and is the price of a victory in the coming war between human and mutant.
Pale Throng - Doctrine of the Psychic Ascension of Mankind: To the Pale Throng, the psyker is no foul "witch" to be abhorred but a wielder of power more subtle and profound in nature than any normal human can comprehend. This particular heresy is not a new one, but a viperous idea that has flared up time and again in the Imperium's history. According to such beliefs, to witness the gift of the psyker is to glimpse the future where man may re-order the physical, re-sculpt flesh, and see the true hearts of all. These then, the Heretics claim, are the gifts of an evolution of human form that the Imperium loathes and fears. These Heretics believe that the Imperium fails to comprehend the truth -- that psykers are the foreshadowing of the magnificence that awaits the human race once it has ascended to its true potential.
Pale Throng - Internal Schism: From the beginning, one of the Pale Throng's greatest vulnerabilities has been its tendency towards internecine conflict and schism. On Tranch during the uprising, the sheer power and commanding presence of the Shroud Council was enough to hold the disparate mutant gangs, sub-cults, and witch factions together, at least for a time, in deadly united purpose. But in smaller revolts and other uprisings, various groups and individual leaders often fall into open conflict over their particular "truth" of the Pale Throng, their own fitness to lead, or thanks to their own paranoia and often inherent insanity. This instability can lead to a catastrophic failure of leadership in the face of Imperial enemies, leaving the Pale Throng open to manipulation by other, often darker forces.
Pale Throng - Thousand Rebellions: The Pale Throng has been linked to scores of mutant rebellions across the Calixis Sector and beyond. Some are simply the razing of an industrial outpost for the loss of a few hundred souls, while others have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands. In the aftermath of the Tranch War, petty revolts and unrest sprang up on scores of worlds in the Adrantian and Malfian Sub-sectors, occasioning massive crackdowns and a great loss of life. But these troubles have not been an end to the matter, as the Pale Throng and its imitators have risen repeatedly on other worlds to trouble the authorities.On Sepheris Secundus, the name of the Dionides Mine was expunged from records following a rising of the Pale Throng so powerful that, despite the damage it would do to the planet's production, the mine was collapsed by atomic charges. In the purge that followed, any amongst the planet's serfdom who had a connection with the area, however tenuous, was executed. Rogue psykers, intent on ramming Fenksworld's orbital docks, commandeered the heavy ore barge Borombarst, causing it to be destroyed by orbital defences. The subsequent investigation blamed the crime on the Pale Throng's infiltration of the population of Abhuman "subs" used to work the system's asteroid mines.On Baraspine, a Pale Throng-style revolt by the mutant castes used to tend the wind-blasted Impellor Towers that dot that world's barrens threatened to plunge the hive cities into darkness. The Baraspine rising was later revealed to have been backed and instigated by a secret malefic sorcerer cult, the Ghol Voluptara. The cult used the anarchy and distraction caused by the insurrection as a cover for a series of dark rituals which were only prevented by the combined forces of the Adepta Sororitas and the ruling executive's household troops. From these gross acts of terror and destruction to the whisper of a witch-kin at work in the depths of the Scintillan underhives, there are a thousand signs that the threat of the Pale Throng to the Calixis Sector is not at an end but perhaps merely beginning.
Pale Throng - Anatomy of a Pale Throng Revolt: At the centre of all of the most dangerous uprisings where the Pale Throng has been involved is one of the infamous Shroud Masters. These sinister overlords select mutant populations that they consider ripe for rebellion and instigate an infiltration of that population, be they labouring in mines or chemworks or festering in the wastelands and rad-pits of the underhive. With the Shroud Master often comes a following of other witches and mutants, such as Tranch-bred witch-kin, veteran killers, and covens of wyrd diviners. Once in place, the Shroud Master and his minions begin to spread the name and creed of the Pale Throng amongst the local mutants and dregs. At this point, any resistance or rival mutant leader is crushed or assimilated into the Pale Throng. However, the Shroud Master is not above dealing with underhive criminal elements and other cult groups in order to trade for arms or extend his reach where his twisted followers cannot go.The Shroud Master and his retinue bring with them tactics and methodologies developed and honed in the nightmare conflict on Tranch. Chief amongst their tactics is the "sudden onslaught" where they simply unleash all of their fury at once, including psychic atrocities, rampaging hulks, waves of abominations, suicide attacks, bombings, and unrestrained bloodletting. Such attacks often serve to conceal and divert forces away from the Shroud Master's true targets. The destruction generated by these tactics can be immense, especially if the Pale Throng is swollen by large numbers of high-grade rogue psykers. If this initial phase is successful, the Pale Throng rapidly attempts to consolidate its gains by fortifying and defending the areas it has seized, using them as the basis to fight a wider guerrilla war.If large swathes of territory fall to the Throng's hands, an orgy of looting and reprisals will often follow, with unfocused acts of barbarism and the enslavement of such unfortunates who do not carry the mutant's mark often being the norm. However, the Pale Throng has a very poor track record in holding ground, due in the main to its own lack of cohesion. The clashing egos of its commanders and the fact that most of the Throng's rank-and-file are little more than ill-conditioned, ignorant rabble serves to tear apart what victories that it may gain.When faced with superior Imperial forces, the Pale Throng's defeat in any particular theatre of conflict is largely inevitable, particularly if its leaders and rogue psykers can be neutralised. However, this can present its own dangers. If defeated but not annihilated, the Pale Throng will often fragment into small packs of rebels and marauders fighting their own petty wars. Thus the rebellion can prove hard to finally put down, short of exterminating every twist, sub, and dreg in evidence -- a solution favoured by many Inquisitors and Adeptus Arbites marshals of a Puritan bent.
Pale Throng - Ordo Hereticus Departmento Analyticus Threat Briefing: The Pale Throng is a known threat currently subject to the full attentions of the Holy Ordos and the Adeptus Arbites, subject to a general and ongoing purge. Following its first and greatest act of insurrection, the Shroud Council was shattered and the loose alliance of witches and mutants that followed it reduced to a fragmented shadow of itself. This, however, has not meant the end of the Pale Throng (nor indeed the troubles on Tranch), and there have been full-blown Pale Throng-inspired uprisings on worlds spread across the Calixis Sector and even beyond.The various uprisings' only connection to each other (that the Inquisition is aware of) is the sometime presence of a Shroud Master and the name of the Pale Throng. As far as the Inquisition is aware, there is no real coordination between the Shroud Masters, and many within the Ordos believe that most hold their fellows in the greatest enmity, a fact which has served to make the disparate cult harder, rather than easier, to purge. While the Inquisition knows much about the methods, ideology, and past activities of the Pale Throng, it remains ignorant as to the number and identities of the surviving Shroud Masters, a situation which has undoubtedly helped the Pale Throng survive as a threat to the stability of Imperial governance. But the Holy Ordos are determined that in time they will hunt down every Traitor, witch, and malcontent. Even the name of the Pale Throng shall be slain, burnt from the pages of history just as surely as its members will burn in the Witch Hunters' pyres.
Pale Wasting - Pale Wasting: The Pale Wasting was an obscure conflict fought between the Imperium of Man and a mysterious, likely xenos threat arising from the Ghoul Stars in the Segmentum Ultima, which took place at some point during the late 34th Millennium.The only known participant in this campaign is the Novamarines Chapter, though eleven unnamed Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes were lost in total.
Pale Wasting - History: During the dark and terrible times known to later historitors as the Nova Terra Interregnum, when the Imperium fractured into warrior factions, there exists in what records remain scattered and veiled references to a great threat arising from the Ghoul Stars known as the "Pale Wasting."Inquisitorial investigation has discovered that much of the extant evidence relating to this threat has been censored or purposely destroyed, but there are contradictory indications which describe the nature of the threat as both a "star-spawned plague" that swept away scores of Human-settled worlds and as "nightmare engines" slaughtering whole sectors.The only evidence for the Novamarines meeting this threat is an ancient stelae relating to this conflict in the Imperial Palace itself. This artefact praises the Chapter most highly and records them compellingly as having "By their mortal sacrifice and unmatched valour unmade that which cannot die and so preserved the most holy realm of Mankind."Those partial records which have been uncovered about the event suggest that the threat was xenos in nature. The xenos threat briefly mentioned in Imperial historical records might be the Thexian Elite of the Thexian Trade Empire.The inscription naming the Novamarines also indicates that eleven other Space Marine Chapters were lost in the final battles of what must have been a truly apocalyptic struggle. The chronicles of many Chapters noted in other sources to have taken part in this campaign are curiously empty of any reference to this conflict, and it is quite possible that this ancient threat may also account for the unusually large number of formerly Human-inhabited Dead Worlds in the region.The Novamarines' own chronicles are curiously empty of any reference to the conflict, which makes one of their earliest recorded great battle honours remain one of the most shadowed and mysterious.In response to the events of the Pale Wasting, the Imperium initiated the 13th Founding of the Adeptus Astartes. The Death Spectres are one of two known Chapters to have been created during this unusual Founding. Following their creation, the Death Spectres were stationed beyond the frontiers of the Imperium and charged by the High Lords of Terra to maintain a constant vigil to ensure that the inhabitants of the Ghoul Stars never again threatened the galaxy as they had in the Pale Wasting.The nature of the threat could not be overstated enough, and the containment of such a species as the Thexians was worthy of the attention of an entire Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes. To this day, the Death Spectres maintain a constant vigil to ensure that the inhabitants of the Ghoul Stars never again threaten the galaxy.
Pallas Grav-Attack - Pallas Grav-Attack: The Pallas Grav-Attack, also known simply as the Pallas, is a highly-manoeuvrable, medium-armoured, anti-gravitic hunter-killer vehicle utilised exclusively by the Legio Custodes during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras. It incorporated numerous technologies originally unearthed by the famed techno-archaeologist Arkhan Land.In ancient times, the Legio Custodes relied on the Pallas' superior agility to inflict devastating hit-and-run assaults on the enemy or to hunt down fleeing targets. In addition, these capabilities allow Pallas Grav-Attack Squadrons to be used as reconnaissance units or as skirmishing forces large enough to pin down or delay the enemy in place as the main bulk of the Legio Custodes ' heavy infantry forces were deployed. It is unknown if the Pallas is still in use by the Adeptus Custodes of the 41st Millennium.
Pallas Grav-Attack - Role: Designed as a high manoeuvrability hunter-killer, the Pallas provided the ancient Legio Custodes with a rapid-strike capacity greater than that which could be afforded by the use of ground troops alone. In this it replaced standard pattern skimmers as well as larger war machines such as the ancient Jocasta Pattern Grav-Attacks, themselves relics of the Unification Wars, and considerably smaller Hermes Grav-Sleds, which while highly agile and swift, offered little in the way of combat survivability. In addition to their relative durability and extreme turn of speed, the Pallas' more well-rounded abilities allowed the Grav-Attack to also be used as reconnaissance units or as skirmishing forces in larger assault groups to pin or delay the enemy in place as the main bulk of the Legio rallied to meet a threat either in direct confrontation or ambush.The Pallas was designed, it is reported, to incorporate advanced manoeuvring and autonomous response systems recovered by the great techno-archaeologist Arkhan Land. The Pallas Pattern Grav-Attack was one of the most recent designs to have entered service with the Legio Custodes prior to the Burning of Prospero. Clearly based upon the advanced repulsor-lift technology pioneered by the Coronus Grav-Carrier and Caladius Grav-Tank, it was smaller than either, a single-seat, high-speed attack skimmer analogous in role to the Land Speeders of the Legiones Astartes.The Pallas was also very powerfully armed for a vehicle of its size, with its standard configuration carrying cycle-linked Arachnus Blaze Cannons, a highly flexible Laser Weapon able to unleash rapid individual pulses of fire or concentrate them into a single blast-beam, allowing it to serve ably as both an anti-infantry and anti-armour device. Rarer variants did exist, including those equipped with extremely powerful Adrathic Disintegration Beam Weapons.
Pallas Grav-Attack - Wargear: Twin-linked Arachnus Blaze CannonFlare ShieldMachine Spirit (Artificial Intelligence)
Pallas Grav-Attack - Optional Wargear: A Pallas Grav-Attack may take any of the following upgrades:SearchlightExtra Armour PlatingAny Pallas Grav-Attack may exchange its twin-linked Arachnus Blaze Cannon for the following:Twin-linked Adrathic Devastator
Pallas Grav-Attack - Sources: The Horus Heresy - Book Seven: Inferno (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 273-275Forge World Webstore - Pallas Grav-Attack
Pallas Grav-Attack Squadron - Pallas Grav-Attack Squadron: A Pallas Grav-Attack Squadron was a specialised squad of the ancient Legio Custodes, the elite bodyguard of the Emperor of Mankind, that utilised the highly-manoeuvrable Pallas Grav-Attack hunter-killer vehicle during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras of the 30th and 31st Millennia. The Legio Custodes relied on the Pallas' superior agility to inflict devastating hit-and-run assaults on the enemy or to hunt down fleeing targets. In addition, these capabilities allowed Pallas Grav-Attack Squadrons to be used as reconnaissance units or as skirmishing forces large enough to pin or delay the enemy in place as the main bulk of the Legio Custodes detachments were deployed. It is unknown if the Pallas Grav-Attack is still deployed in the 41st Millennium.
Pallas Grav-Attack Squadron - Role: Designed as a high manoeuvrability hunter-killer, the Pallas provided the Legio Custodes with a rapid-strike capacity greater than that which could be afforded by the use of ground troops alone. In this it replaced standard pattern skimmers as well as larger war machines such as the ancient Jocasta Pattern Grav-Attacks, themselves relics of the Unification Wars, and considerably smaller Hermes Pattern Grav-Sleds, which while highly agile and swift, offered little in the way of combat survivability. In addition to their relative durability and extreme turn of speed, the Pallas' more well-rounded abilities allowed the Grav-Attack to also be used as reconnaissance units or as skirmishing forces in larger assault groups to pin or delay the enemy in place as the main bulk of the Legio rallied to meet a threat either in direct confrontation or ambush.The Pallas was designed, it is reported, to incorporate advanced manoeuvring and autonomous response systems recovered by the great Techno-Archaeologist Arkhan Land. The Pallas Pattern Grav-Attack was one of the most recent designs to have entered service with the Legio Custodes prior to the Burning of Prospero. Clearly based based upon the advanced repulsor-lift technology pioneered by the Coronus Grav-Carrier and Caladius Grav-Tank, it was smaller than either, a single-seat, high-speed attack skimmer analogous in role to the Land Speeders of the Legiones Astartes.The Pallas was also very powerfully armed for a vehicle of its size, with its standard configuration carrying cycle-linked Archanus Pattern Blaze Cannons, a highly flexible Laser Weapon able to unleash rapid individual pulses of fire or concentrate them into a single blast-beam, allowing it to serve ably as both an anti-infantry and anti-armour device. Rarer variants do however exist, including those equipped with extremely powerful Adrathic Disintegration Beam Weapons.
Pallas Grav-Attack Squadron - Unit Composition: 1-3 Pallas Grav-Attack Vehicles
Pallas Grav-Attack Squadron - Wargear: Twin-linked Arachnus Blaze CannonFlare ShieldMachine Spirit (Artificial Intelligence)
Pallas Grav-Attack Squadron - Optional Wargear: A Pallas Grav-Attack may take any of the following upgrades:SearchlightExtra Armour PlatingAny Pallas Grav-Attack may exchange its twin-linked Arachnus Blaze Cannon for the following:Twin-linked Adrathic Devastator
Pallas Grav-Attack Squadron - Sources: The Horus Heresy - Book Seven: Inferno (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 273-275Forge World Webstore - Pallas Grav-Attack
Pallid Hand - Pallid Hand: The Pallid Hand is a warband or vectorium of Heretic Astartes of the Death Guard Traitor Legion's 2nd Plague Company. Masters of the armoured assault, the Pallid Hand employ a greater number of Chaos Predators and Chaos Land Raiders than any other vectorium of the Death Guard. Those enemies that are not crushed beneath their rusted treads are blasted apart by indiscriminate artillery bombardments.The Pallid Hand are part of the 2nd Plague Company of the Death Guard, and thus are willing hosts of the Warp-spawned plague known as the Ferric Blight, which furs their armour and tanks alike with flaking, contagious rust.
Pallid Hand - Notable Campaigns: The Rusthounds Arrive (Unknown Date.M42) - Amidst the ruins of Chambakh, Knights of House Krast battle the mechanised infantry of the Pallid Hand. Shrugging off salvo after salvo of Blight Launcher rounds, the Knights trample the Death Guard and claim victory. Yet in doing so their mechanical steeds are infected with Ferric Blight. What emerges from that festering war zone is a warband of Renegade Knights rusted through in body and soul, limbs shrieking and seized, Thrones Mechanicum tainted beyond recovery. Renaming themselves the Rusthounds, the Knights set off on the hunt for their former allies' souls.Battle of Hollowfall (Unknown Date.M42) - The Pallid Hand are ambushed by overwhelming Necron forces from the Novokh Dynasty amidst the ruins of Hollowfall. During a fighting retreat, Mortarion's gene-sons infect a number of Necron Warriors with Ferric Blight. Phasing out, the undying android warriors bear the deadly Warp-fuelled contagion back to the stasis crypts of their Tomb World, beginning an epidemic of catastrophic proportions.
Pallid Hand - Warband Colours: The Pallid Hand's power armour is the same as that of the Death Guard, composed of decayed and cracked plates of ceramite in bleak yellow. Pallid Hand Chaos Space Marines, like those of the Death Guard, often wear grotesquely warped suits of antique Mark III Iron Power Armour.
Pallid Hand - Warband Badge: The Pallid Hand's warband badge is usually a modified version of the standard Mark of Nurgle, similar to that used by the rest of the Death Guard.
Pallid Hand - Sources: Codex Heretic Astartes - Death Guard (8th Edition), pp. 15, 22-23, 64Dark Imperium (Game), Death Guard Booklet, "Death Guard Vectoriums," pg. 12
Pan-Telluric Commonwealth - Pan-Telluric Commonwealth: The Pan-Telluric Commonwealth is a league of the Leagues of Votann located in the galactic core. It is known to boast an exceptionally egalitarian society for its Kindreds.
Pan Spectral Scanner - Pan Spectral Scanner: A pan spectral scanner, also called a pan spectral array, is a powerful information-gathering and diagnostic tool available to the Kin of the Leagues of Votann. Pan spectral scanners exist in several different sizes, including Kin-portable or vehicle or installation-mounted. The larger systems possess more range, power and diagnostic capability.The Kin's pan spectral scanners are useful both in prospecting for strategic resources and combat. They can detect an incredible range of energy spectra not only through solid matter, but even across multidimensional wavelengths, such as Warp energy signatures, ensuring the Hernkyn are rarely surprised during their explorations by even the most cunning or esoterically empowered foes.These scanners are equally unlikely to miss the presence of natural resources the Kin would prize. When such rich discoveries are made, Hernkyn mark the location using powerful claim-beacons, whose multispectral energy signatures are bounced back along networks of relay satellites all the way to League space. It is at such times that the Cthonian Mining Guilds rumble into action to begin exploiting the new resource deposits.
Panopticon Orbital Station - Panopticon Orbital Station: The Panopticon Orbital Station is a Research Station found within the Pondus System of the Lathe Worlds in the Calixis Sector.The station serves several purposes: as the clandestine headquarters of the Lords Dragon, a top-secret weapons research and development base, and a repository for weapons and artefacts deemed so dangerous that the leaders of the Adeptus Mechanicus within the Calixis Sector must deny their very existence.
Panopticon Orbital Station - Tumala: The heart of the station has been given over to the Acuitor Set, who have further fortified it into the stronghold of Tumala, guarding the ancient mechanisms that keep the asteroids at bay.A fortress within a fortress, Tumala is almost entirely self-contained, void-moats dividing it from the rest of the station, and an independently armoured hull further securing the artefact and installations within.The darkest heart of the station, Tumala is open only to the mech-assassins and their lords, and a select few of the highest-ranking Lords Dragon magi.Long ago, the original Magister Samadhi came to the station for reasons now lost to time. Somehow an agreement was reached with the Lords Dragon, to establish Tumala as a primary training base for his disciples.In the later stages of the magister's life he returned to Tumala to personally train his mech-assassin followers, and to meditate in deep binary-datadreams upon the nature of his purpose and that of his sect.Today, each master of the Acuitor Set reviews these ancient meditations as he puts aside his personal name and assumes the identity of Magister Samadhi, donning a stylised iron mask that is never removed.Legends say though that the original Samadhi never died, and, in fact, still wanders the halls of Tumala to this very day.
Panthers - Panthers: PanthersSpace MarineChapterFoundingImperial
Panthers - Chapter Colours: The Panthers' Chapter colours are not listed in current Imperial records.
Panthers - Chapter Badge: The Panthers' Chapter badge is not listed in current Imperial records.
Paragon - Paragon: ParagonIndustrial WorldLow GothicAs the seat of the designated Imperial Governor, Aronis City, Paragon's greatest settlement is generally considered the system's capital. Combined, the population and industrial output of these moons are roughly equivalent to that of an Imperial Hive World or a small Forge World, which makes them a vital recruitment zone for the Astra Militarum.Paragon's wealth and level of industrialisation is famed throughout the sub-sector and beyond, which explains why most of the Paragonian Regiments raised there are armoured regiments or mechanised infantry. Although not under the political jurisdiction of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Cult Mechanicus is firmly implanted in Paragonian society and the Machine God is commonly venerated alongside the Cult Imperialis.As a result, most Paragonians venerate and carry on their person both the Imperial Aquila and the Cog Mechanicum. Since the Geratomran Reconquest, the model of Paragonian society has successfully been exported to the point that the world formerly called Geratomro has been re-designated "New Paragon."
Paragon - The Paragonian Year: As Paragon is but one of several natural satellites orbiting the Mater Maxima, the moon spends much of its time in the shadow of its primary, which has a considerable impact on life and the measurement of time on the moon. It is also important to note that in stark contrast to Luna, Terra's own moon, Paragon is not tidally locked with Mater Maxima and revolves on its own axis, providing a natural day/night cycle common to most worlds inhabited by Mankind.The Paragonian year is divided into two main seasons, called "Winter" and "Glory," each roughly equivalent to the greater part of two Terran years. A full Paragonian year is thus approximately four Terran years, which explains why most Paragonians prefer to use the standard Imperial Calendar.Glory is subdivided into several smaller sub-seasons commonly referred to as the "Glory Seasons." These are called "Growth," "Little Summer," "Second Growth," "Little Fall" and "Little Winter." This cycle repeats twice and corresponds to the time when Paragon is not hidden by the bulk of Mater Maxima and is directly exposed to the light of its yellow sun.The last sunset for a twenty-three solar month period marks the beginning of "Long Winter", when Paragon passes into the shadow of Mater Maxima and sees no sunlight at all. While technically Long Winter is also divided into five sub-seasons, with their typical pragmatism the Paragonians have given no names to them.As they know no sunrise during Long Winter, "daytime" or "nighttime" refers to the time where Mater Maxima's faint glow may illuminate the sky, while "Zero Night" refers to the time when the moon's surface faces the void and everything vanishes into darkness.
Paragon - Duelling: Among the aristocracy, honour is all and the noble clans have a long tradition of strictly regulated duels. Every male offspring of one of the great clans is given extensive fencing lessons to defend his personal honour and protect the family name. While frowned upon by Imperial authorities and actively discouraged, the practice has never been entirely outlawed since it is firmly inscribed in the Paragonian constitution within the clause called "Codicils Regarding Rightful Duelling."Depending on the severity of the perceived slight, honour duels may be fought with dull or sharp blades, the latter being reserved for special permit-holders and only in accordance with an extensive set of rules. Whereas most cultures would use two different weapons for this purpose, the Paragonians use only one.Such is their mastery of metallurgy that the Paragonian artisans can create modular, self-realigning metallic molecules. This means that a simple switch placed on the pommel of a sword allows the fencer to dull or sharpen his blade at a moment's notice. Article Two of the Codicils specifically exempts both contestants from any legal liability the outcome of a duel might incur, if the contest has been properly registered at the correct bureau. Illegal duelling consists of one of the few major offences on Paragon, as it is seen as a threat to those who would duel honourably.
Paragon - Gleece: One of the more interesting cultural idiosyncrasies of Paragonians is their general dislike of amasec, easily the most popular drink in the entire Imperium. Instead, the Paragonians prefer a locally-produced alcohol called gleece, a spirit distilled from the fruits of the glest tree which grows all over Paragon.The brand is distilled to different degrees of purity, with the higher degrees of quality strictly reserved for the aristocracy. One of the reasons the Paragonians prefer gleece over amasec is that it can be served both ice-cold during Glory and steaming warm during Long Winter.
Paragon - Government: Due to its strategic importance and commitment to the cause of the Imperium, Paragon is afforded a certain autonomy to administer its domestic politics as it chooses. As the system's economy is firmly in the hands of the manufacturer-clans, its government is controlled exclusively by these same clans, meaning that Paragon is effectively a plutocracy. The clans are each entitled to a representative on the Unified Clan Council which functions as a political counterweight to the executive office of the Imperial Governor.The Governor himself cannot be appointed unless he is approved by the Clan Council. In accordance with the Paragonian Constitution, the Unified Clan Council can also depose the Imperial Governor should circumstances require it. In fact, Paragon's current Governor, Planetary Commander Gondannick Lo Materiak, has been threatened with impeachment by the council several times because of the dishonorable conduct of his brother.In 396.M41, after yet another scandal involving the Planetary Commander's brother and the virginity of one of the daughters of a prominent member of the Unified Clan Council, the assembly charged him with fraud (a wedding contract stipulating the girl's virginity having already been ratified) and threatened to accuse Planetary Commander Lo Materiak of obstruction of justice should he choose to veto an inquiry into the matter. Ultimately, the Planetary Commander was forced to disown his own brother and send him into exile, which probably saved his life as large mobs of the offended clan's commoners had gathered to lynch him.
Paragon - Notable Paragonian Clans: With roughly 150 clans and clan-names, Paragonian society is dominated by a small group of powerful individuals. As the clans are often referred to by their area of expertise, this has been added to the list where it is known.Lo Bannick (the Optics-clan)Lo Basteen (the Engine-clan)Lo EpperaliantLo Ganlick (the Miners-clan)Lo HannickLo KalligenLo KismLo MeggenLo MateriakLo OutlannerLo Parrigar (the Harvester-clan)Lo RannickLo SankelloLo TurannigenLo VandLo Vorkosigen
Paragon - Notable Locations: Aronis City - Aronis City is the capital of Paragon and the entire system. It is the seat of the system's temporal and spiritual power and is home to the Planetary Commander's Palace and the Unified Clan Council as well as the great Basilica of Saint Honoria Dahl. Not a true hive city, Aronis City is nevertheless a megalopolis that is home to several hundred million citizens. Amongst the aristocracy, the city is particularly appreciated for its large pleasure district.Gardens of the Vermillon Moon - The Gardens of the Vermillon Moon is a public garden located in Aronis City. It harbours a large collection of exotic plants imported at great cost from off-world. Most of these plants are from tropical or sub-tropical climates and would not survive the rigours of Long Winter, and so the Gardens are not established out in the open, but are, in fact, large, interlinked greenhouses. As the temperature is always thoroughly regulated, it is a very popular destination during the Long Winter as it is one of the very few places where Paragonians can enjoy the feeling of being outside without their thick fur cloaks and thermo-suits. The Gardens of the Vermillon Moon are also favoured by those wishing to engage in illegal duelling, which is why both the Night Watch and Dawn Watch patrol it regularly.Revival Basilica of Saint Honoria Dahl - The famous Revival Basilica of Saint Honoria Dahl is a towering edifice in the late Cheroptidian style and is Paragon's main site of pilgrimage for those devotees following the path of Saint Ephesus. Saint Honoria Dahl was herself a third-grade sister of the venerable Saint and died a martyr on Paragon during the Age of Apostasy. The Basilica is mentioned in several pilgrims' guides, including the much-lauded Famous Pilgrimage Guide of Frater Zonecus Tufar.Helwat City - Helwat City is Paragon's main spaceport. Its sizeable landing fields are large enough to accommodate the greatest dropships and shuttlecraft of the Astra Militarum. As a result, it is traditionally in Helwat City that newly-raised regiments are sent off to their warzones, an event that is always celebrated by the Paragonians. Helwat City is surrounded by thick marshlands where the common soldiers usually get their first taste of life in the Imperial military.
Paragon - Canon Conflict: The Emperor's Hands Space Marines Chapter is said to originate from a world also called Paragon located in the Segmentum Solar, but there is nothing to indicate that this Space Marine Chapter Homeworld is the same planet as the one from which the Astra Militarum's Paragonian Regiments originate.As the sources remain unclear as to whether the Paragon System lies in the Segmentum Tempestus or the Segmentum Pacificus, and the Emperor's Hands' Chapter planet was said to lie in the Segmentum Solar, it is unknown if the moon of Paragon is the same world in both cases, or whether there are two different worlds both named Paragon.
Paragon Blade - Paragon Blade: A Paragon Blade is an ancient melee weapon first forged by unknown means during the Dark Age of Technology in pre-Imperial times. These blades were few in number even in the early days of the Horus Heresy and took a number of forms. The most common Paragon Blades are two-handed Power Weapons of extraordinary balance and durability.However, Paragon Blades have also been made in the form of various kinds of Chain Weapons like chainswords and chainaxes whose blades are fitted with the teeth of terrifying xenos-beasts from the Halo Stars as well as night-black sickle-swords.All Paragon Blades were considered prized possessions by the elite Space Marine and Sisters of Silence warriors lucky enough to earn the right to wield one.
Paragon Blade - Paragon Glaive: A Paragon Glaive is an ancient melee weapon first forged by unknown means during the Dark Age of Technology in pre-Imperial times. These blades were few in number even in the early days of the Horus Heresy and took a number of forms. The Paragon Glaive was a two-handed Power Weapon in the form of a great glaive of extraordinary balance and durability that provided its wielded greater reach and leverage than a standard Paragon Blade.
Paragonian Regiments - Paragonian Regiments: The Paragonian Regiments, also referred to as the Paragon Regiments, are regiments of the Astra Militarum raised from the moons and lunar colonies of the Paragon System. Commonly designated as Paragon, the system's capital world is, in fact, the most important moon of the great gas giant Paragon VI, locally known as "Mater Maxima."Officially classified as an Industrial World, with the resources and population of an entire star system at hand, Paragon's wealth and industrial output easily rival that of a Hive World or even a less important Forge World. The planet maintains close ties with the Adeptus Mechanicus which allows it to equip most of its Astra Militarum troops as either mechanised infantry or armoured regiments.While the Paragonian Regiments cannot boast as illustrious a history as the Armageddon Steel Legion, their actions brought stability to those regions of the Segmentum Pacificus and Segmentum Tempestus weakened by the demands of the Macharian Crusade. Therefore, the Paragonian Regiments are considered rising stars within the hierarchy of the Imperial Guard.