Abaddon - Black Legion: Abaddon has long since fought to rebuild the pride and reputation of the warriors he named his Black Legion. At first, he accomplished much through sheer determination and a talent for slaughter that exceeded that of every Chaos Lord outside the gates of Khorne's own fortress. Slowly but surely, Abaddon won the grudging respect of the other Traitor Legions, leading his shattered armies again and again against the reviled Imperium of Man. As his deeds grew mightier and his base of power more solid, Abaddon succeeded in winning their support too. His impassioned words rekindled the Traitor Legions' smouldering hatred of the Emperor on dozens, perhaps hundreds of worlds. As the centuries rolled on, warriors of all the Traitor Legions fought beneath his banner. Those who opposed him were crushed, and those who joined him added their strength to the greatest army ever assembled in the Eye of Terror. When the warbands of the Black Legion gathered anew under the wrathful banner of Abaddon the Despoiler, the words of Horus were heard once more upon their lips — "let the galaxy burn!"Abaddon has tested the strength of the Imperium many times in the Long War, and with each victory his power grows. Over the millennia, he has led no fewer than thirteen Black Crusades, each of which has emerged from the Warp and culminated in a spectacular invasion of realspace. The first of these saw him recover the Daemon Sword Drach'nyen, a writhing Warp entity that can rend reality wherever it strikes, and every crusade since has seen him destroy a prospective foe or claim another valuable relic for his own. During the 12th Black Crusade early in the 41st Millennium, a conflict better known in Imperial records as the Gothic War, Abaddon unleashed upon the Imperium of the "Corpse Emperor" his newest superweapon, the Planet Killer. This was a massive starship crafted through the amalgamation of Imperial technology and Chaotic sorcery that was capable of destroying entire worlds. However, even this formidable weapon was but a deceit, as Abaddon's real goal behind the Gothic War was not to destroy planets, but to seize the six Blackstone Fortresses, ancient weapons originally created to oppose the Necrons, which the Imperium had found abandoned and used as mere space stations, unable to divine their true purpose. Abaddon's ultimate success was only foiled by the Eldar, who had foreseen his plan through the visions of their Farseers and entered a desperate alliance with the Imperium in order to stop the Black Legion's attempt to seize all of the Blackstone Fortresses. Abaddon was forced to retreat after seizing only two of his six prizes. Though these would prove devastating enough when they were unleashed upon the Imperium nearly a thousand standard years later.Though the High Lords of Terra believe that these Black Crusades have been repelled, albeit at great cost, they are unaware that each was keyed to a specific goal. As epic in scale as they may be, Abaddon's Black Crusades are but stepping stones, rungs in the ladder that leads to the Despoiler's ultimate vengeance. The destiny the Despoiler has chosen is not that of daemonhood -- though he has been offered the ultimate reward of immortality by each of the Chaos Gods, he has held back from surrendering his soul to their ultimate control. The prize he seeks is nothing less than to tear the Emperor from his Golden Throne upon Terra and, in the process, plunge the Imperium into the darkness of anarchy forever. Without the Astronomican, the psychic beacon with which the Emperor steers His flock across the stars, the Imperium will swiftly collapse into a scattering of cold and lonely worlds, each easy prey for the Despoiler's nightmarish allies.