vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Vanquisher-class Battleship - History: What few Imperial records survive of its construction indicate that the Vae Victis was the first vessel of the class constructed in the orbital shipyards of Hydraphur in the late 32nd Millennium. Built at the request of the Lord High Admiral Javor, the Vae Victus was the first Vanquisher-class Battleship to see service in the Imperial Navy.Following its construction, the battleship saw action during the Pacification of Magdellan and the Saint-Saen Crusade. Whilst on this extended Imperial Crusade the vessel was recorded as "lost in the Warp" with all hands. Believed to have been thrown wildly off course by Warp storms, the Vae Victis returned to realspace some two hundred Terran years later. Records do not detail the intervening years.Over the next millennia this starship's design underwent an extensive refit, launch bays were removed in favour of forward torpedo rooms. The two antiquated bomber launch tubes are still visible on the vessel beneath the armoured prow. Following heavy battle damage to the Vae Victis's main engines, the ship's propulsion system was radically redesigned. What could be salvaged was converted into the upper engine room, whilst a second lower engine was added. She then returned to patrol duty.Its next known action came when it served as part of the Dominion Fleet of the Ultramarines Chapter in Ultramar.Aged and suffering continued problems with the twin plasma engine units, the Vae Victis was mothballed as part of the Imperial Navy's reserve in the 38th Millennium and left in a stationary orbit around Drawkesd in the Segmentum Tempestus. The vessel's weapons and Void Shield systems were stripped for reuse. For long standard years the battleship was left to decay in orbit of that forgotten back-world. Recently, increased pressure on segmentum battlefleet resources as a result of the assault of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Behemoth on Imperial forces at the Battle of Macragge has led to the Vae Victis being recommissioned. She is currently undergoing rearmament and crew training before resuming active service.
Vanquisher-class Battleship - Notable Vessels: Crown of Ashes - The Crown of Ashes was commanded by Groupmaster Abedwe and served as the flagship for Battle Group Tarsus of Indomitus Crusade Fleet Primus.Vae Victis - See above.Virtue of Helena
Vanquisher Cannon - Vanquisher Cannon: The Vanquisher Cannon is a more complex variant of the standard Imperial Battle Cannon. The most obvious difference between the Vanquisher Cannon and the Battle Cannon is that it is almost twice as long. The cannon uses specialised, shaped high explosive shells to take down enemy tanks from afar. The Vanquisher Cannon is most commonly used on Imperial Leman Russ Vanquisher tanks and the Macharius Vanquisher Heavy Tank.
Vanquisher Cannon - History: The Vanquisher Cannon is becoming increasingly rare in Imperial service due to the actions of the Ork Warlord Arrgard the Defiler, who scoured the Forge World of Tigrus in the 35th Millennium, destroying the Standard Template Construct (STC) designs for constructing the Vanquisher Cannon in the process. Since that loss, efforts have been made to reproduce more Vanquisher Cannons on other Forge Worlds, with only mixed success. The Forge Worlds of Trebor I, Gryphonne IV and Stygies VIII have enjoyed the most success, and are now capable of producing Vanquisher Cannons in limited quantities. Other Forge Worlds continue their efforts, though it is a slow and complex process. Of all the extant Imperial Forge Worlds, only Trebor I caters exclusively to the needs of Cadia. One of the most sought-after creations from Trebor I is its pattern of the Vanquisher Cannon which is known as the Heavy Vanquisher Cannon, and it is the most powerful of all the Vanquisher Cannon variants. During the Dark Age of Technology, the two independent interstellar empires of Terra and Mars co-existed, to the mutual benefit of both. Trebor I was colonised by survivors from both Terra and Mars after their starships were lost and damaged during a Warp Storm. This forced both groups to combine their knowledge and build the most advanced of of all the Forge Worlds. Lost for centuries, Trebor I was re-discovered for the Imperium by Commissar Yarrick during the Second War for Armageddon. As a result, Trebor I has sworn its allegiance -- and more importantly, its industrial output -- only to Commissar Yarrick and to Cadia.
Vanquisher Cannon - Vanquisher Cannon Variants: The three Forge Worlds' versions of the Vanquisher Cannon are not exact copies of the original STC pattern. Instead, each possesses slightly different qualities. Gryphonne IV's cannons are longer than the Stygies VIII equivalents, producing remarkable shell velocity to penetrate armour plate. Stygies VIII cannons are shorter, and utilise a smaller calibre shell with no barrel rifling. However, the Stygies VIII cannons have superior recoil absorption, allowing for greater accuracy with follow-up shots. The Trebor I Heavy Vanquisher Cannon is the longest of all three variants, and each can be easily identified by its longer and thicker barrel and the heavy-gauge suppressor/velocity compensator that resembles the tip of a Hellhammer Cannon. The thicker barrel along with the heavy-gauge compensators allow for a range that is 25% farther than either of the other two patterns of the cannon, with amazing pin-point accuracy. This power and accuracy has brought many a Chaos Titan and Greenskin Stompa to their demise with little effort as a result of the Heavy Vanquisher Cannon's power. The remarkable penetrative power of the Leman Russ Vanquisher means it is a highly desired tool for Imperial Commanders. Not even a Titan is safe from its mighty weapons. This fact has not escaped the Imperium’s enemies amongst the Forces of Chaos and the more intelligent Ork hordes, who tend to make Vanquishers priority targets for capture.
Vanus Temple - Vanus Temple: The Vanus Temple, originally called the Clade Vanus during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy, is one of the temples of the Officio Assassinorum, acting as its intelligence-gathering arm.The temple primarily trains their operatives, known as "info-cytes," exclusively in the use of predictive engines and prognostic simulations, to determine the probability of success in completing missions and then using this data to arrange for the elimination of their targets at a distance.These operatives are also used to hack through secure, networked cogitator communications and data management systems to obtain encrypted information through the means of signals and electronic intelligence.
Vanus Temple - Info-Cytes: The Vanus Temple's stock-in-trade is employing operatives known as "info-cytes;" essentially Human computing engines, but at the very far opposite of the spectrum from the mindless cybernetic constructs known as servitors. In matters of strategy and tactics, the insight of an info-cyte was unparalleled; their existence cemented the Vanus Temple as the intelligence-gathering faction of the Officio Assassinorum.It was said they had never been known to make an error of judgement. There were those that considered this as little more than disinformation, however; the creation and dissemination of propaganda was also a core strength of the Vanus Temple.The Vanus also employ operatives known as "cryptocrats," whose primary role is to provide the means for securing communications between its own operatives. This is accomplished by encrypting data using cryptographic algorithms, transmitting it in an encrypted state, and later decrypting the received information.Cryptocrats are also adept at analyzing and breaking the encryption of protected data and detecting whether or not data has been modified by an outside force. Most operations carried out by info-cytes and cryptocrats are accomplished through telepresent means directly from a Vanus sanctum, or from aboard an Officio-sanctioned starship. The thought of actually physically deploying into the field is deeply disturbing for most Vanus operatives.
Vanus Temple - Unbound Infocyte: Assassins of the Vanus Temple usually operate remotely, manipulating events through altering data to bring about the termination of a target.The noble killed by a jealous lover, after the discovery of rather explicit pict images; the cartel bosses eliminated by their business partners, when they discovered evidence of theft; the city wiped out by a plague because the shipment of a vaccine, which would have saved it, never arrived -- all these were the murder trade of the Vanus Temple, and, for most, the executioner did not have to see their target, or set foot on the killing ground.In fact most Vanus clade siblings did not even take to the field. Direct methods were the preserve of the other temples, but occasionally one of the Assassins of the Vanus Temple was designated as an Unbound Infocyte, and became an exception to the rule. It was not a condition set lightly.An Unbound Infocyte both designated and executed their targets. Once they had eliminated one target they selected another, and so on, extrapolating from termination to termination, until their Unbound condition was withdrawn. Death at the hand of a Vanus was normally ordained and delivered with the remoteness of an angel enacting the will of a deity. To be Unbound is to be both the eyes that see and the hands that cut.
Vanus Temple - Wargear: Vanus operatives often hide discreet bronze vents beneath their hair in the back of their skulls, where interface sockets gleam alongside memory implants and dataphilia. Unlike the cohorts of the Adeptus Mechanicus, who willing give themselves fully to the marriage of flesh and machine, info-cytes' cybernetic augmentations are often discreet and nuanced.Info-cytes are also adept in the acquisition of information through the penetration of local sensor webs, which only presents a minor impediment to one of these operatives. This is accomplished by sending a small swarm of organic-metal "netfly" automata out to chew into any opti-cables they find, and transmit any rich data flows they locate back to their handler.Each netfly by itself is a relatively unsophisticated device, but networked en masse, the information the swarm returns can be combined into a dense picture of what was happening in the surrounding area. An operative could assemble maps of the nearby structures, the flows of foot and vehicular traffic, and worm their way into the encoding of several hundred monitor beads scattered throughout a city zone.Info-cytes also carry an array of specialised equipment for a mission, such as electro-pulse projectors built into a Cogitator gauntlet that projects hololithic panes that floated in the air for means of accessing data as well as a menagerie of other exotic weapons; psyber eagles, eyerats and of course, their ubiquitous netfly swarms.
Varagyr - Varagyr: A Varagyr Wolf Guard Terminator Squad, or simply the Varagyr, was an elite, exclusive formation of Veteran Marines who served as both personal advisors and the Honour Guard to Leman Russ, the Primarch of the Space Wolves Legion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras in the late 30th and early 31st Millennia.The Varagyr served as the prototypes for the Wolf Guard formations of the later Space Wolves Chapter after the Second Founding.
Varagyr - Unit Composition: 1 Varagyr Thegn (Veteran Sergeant)4-9 Varagyr Terminators
Varagyr - Wargear: Cataphractii Pattern Terminator ArmourFrost Blade (Axe, Claws or Sword)Combi-Bolter
Varagyr - Optional Wargear: Power FistChainfistThunder HammerCombi-WeaponsSecond Frost Blade (Axe, Claws or Sword)Heavy FlamerReaper Autocannon
Varagyr - Optional Wargear (Varagyr Thegn Only): Grenade Harness
Varagyr - Dedicated Transport: 1 Land Raider Phobos or Land Raider Proteus or a Spartan Assault Tank
Varagyr - Sources: The Horus Heresy - Book Seven: Inferno (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 79-80, 84, 86, 165, 229
Varantha - Varantha: Varantha is a minor Aeldari Craftworld that is also known as the "Crown of Our Steadfast Hopes." Varantha is renowned among the other Craftworld Aeldari for the gems it crafts, the rare flowers it breeds, and the beautiful metals its artisans work. The Aeldari of Varantha hate Chaos with a white heat, and so the Craftworld has deployed much of its military to combat the Forces of Chaos across the galaxy as well as to defend the worlds of the Exodites from their taint.
Varantha - Notable Events: The Fall of Karlsen (Date Unknown)- Varantha's warhost held off the Chaos Lord Karlsen of the Night Lords Traitor Legion during his raids on the Clavian Belt until the Ultramarines arrived.Luring the Beast (Date Unknown) - Varantha's Farseers lured the Orks of WAAAGH! Chobog into falling on the Iron Hands' fortresses on the world of Taira-Shodan instead of assaulting the Imperial and Exodite Worlds in the same region.The Shame of Arhendros (Date Unknown) - Varantha's warriors drove Arhendros the Silken Whisper from the three worlds he had claimed for Slaanesh.The Failed Rebellion (Date Unknown) - Varantha's forces defeated the Word Bearers on Sahch V, making sure the great citadels and halls the Heretic Astartes intended to build there never came to be when a Varanthan Witchblade cut down the warband's Dark Apostle. Varanthan Wraithships drove the Word Bearers Battle Barges and Strike Cruisers out of the system and then led the fleets of Ulthwé and Cadia in destroying the Chaos warfleet before it could return to its sanctuary within the Eye of Terror.
Varantha - Notable Locations: Grove of New Songs - The Grove of Songs is a forest-hall deep within Varantha where its few Aeldari children are born and weaned.
Vardus Praal - Vardus Praal: Vardus Praal was an Imperial baron and the Planetary Governor of Istvaan III in the times of the Great Crusade. It is known that he eventually fell to the temptations of the Pleasure God Slaanesh, along with the majority of the planet's indigenous people.The Warmaster Horus Lupercal, now newly corrupted by the insidious Dark Gods, would utilise the rebellion as a means to rid himself of the Loyalist elements that remained within both his own Sons of Horus, as well as three other Space Marine Legions under his command -- the Death Guard, Emperor's Children and the World Eaters.Vardus Praal was killed by Captain Lucius of the Emperor's Children during the initial combat on Istvaan III.
Vardus Praal - Conspiracy: For Horus the reconquest of Istvaan III would serve both to amass those forces loyal to him without suspicion, and also rid his own Legion and those of his closest allies of those within their ranks whose loyalties he suspected. The Istvaan system's distant location and the warp storms that still blocked it from Terra made a perfect screen for the dark deeds that were to come, and orders were given for four Legions -- the Death Guard, World Eaters, Emperor's Children and his own Sons of Horus, to rendezvous at Istvaan. Horus had a plan by which he would destroy all of the remaining Loyalist elements of the Legions under his command.
Vardus Praal - Onslaught: For the attack on the sprawling Choral City itself four primary target zones had been identified from orbit. The first was the heavily fortified Precentor's Palace and its environs which housed the seat of government, and presumably where the Traitor Vardus Praal might be located. This would be the focus of the Emperor's Children's attack.It was in the plazas which adjoined the palace and formed the principal aerial intersection of the city's transport network that resistance was likely to manifest quickly, and this was given as the World Eaters' target to first seize and then spread beyond. The western fortification wall with its Imperial-built bastions and the bunker network they protected were to be the target of the Death Guard's assault, with the goal of either eradicating or boxing-in the garrison forces they contained.The final, and perhaps most difficult, target was located in the east of the city; a vast and ancient complex of tomb-spires, shrines and temples known by the indigenous peoples as the Siren Hold. This complex had been in a state of near-disuse at the time of the first invasion and so left standing, but now long-range reconnaissance surveyor-scans showed the Siren Hold active again, with significant life signs and powerful anomalous energy patterns registering within.Given the assumed religious focus of the rebellion and the psyker-witches also encountered on Istvaan Extremis, the Siren Hold too was afforded the status of a primary target and the Sons of Horus assigned to the attack with orders to destroy everything and everyone they found within. A score of secondary targets to be hit in the first wave were also identified, including the star port and several prominent infrastructural complexes and numerous smaller, splinter forces assigned to take or destroy.After a lengthy bombardment of Istvaan III, Horus dispatched all of the known Loyalist Astartes down to the planet, under the pretence of bringing it back into the Imperium. During the attack on the Choral City by the forces of the Emperor's Children, Vardus Praal, armoured in twisted baroque splendour and wielding strange psycho-sonic weaponry, surrounded by his elite Warsinger bodyguards, encountered the Palatine Blade, Captain Lucius, of the III Legion's 13th Company, in personal combat. Despite Praal's Chaos-gifted abilities, he was no match for the Legionary's superlative swordsmanship, and the Traitor Imperial Governor fell to Lucius' blade.Within hours the rebellion was in tatters with all of the invasion force's objectives secured and tens of thousands of the enemy dead in the wake of the assault. The victorious Space Marines were jubilant, their victory hard-won and well-deserved, but unbeknownst to them, disaster was about to strike. These Loyalist Astartes were betrayed when a cascade of terrible Life-eater Virus Bombs fell upon the doomed planet, launched by the Warmaster's orbiting fleet, unleashing the event known later as the Istvaan III Atrocity.
Variel - Variel: Variel, also known as "Variel the Flayer," was the Apothecary Secundus of the Astral Claws Chapter and later of the Red Corsairs Chaos Space Marine warband who had been the favoured apprentice of the Corpsemaster Garreon.Variel ultimately betrayed the Red Corsairs to join the Night Lords 1st Claw warband commanded by Talos Valcoran, and after Valcoran's death Variel served his successor Decimus.Variel was dubbed "the Flayer" due to his habit of skinning his victims' faces and wearing them upon his shoulder pauldrons.
Variel - History: The Renegade Space Marine Variel had been a member of the Astral Claws Chapter before the Chapter was corrupted during the Badab War. Following the corruption of his Chapter he continued to serve as an Apothecary Secundus of the Astral Claws and later the Red Corsairs after the events of the Badab War ran their course.It was Variel, his mentor Chief Apothecary Garreon and Armenneus Valthex who treated their mortally wounded Chapter Master Lufgt Huron in the wake of the Badab War. It was they who oversaw the reconstruction of Huron's severely damaged body, helping him to be reborn as the mighty Chaos Lord Huron Blackheart.After the Astral Claws had been cast out of the bosom of the Imperium, and forced to flee into the hellish realm of the Maelstrom where they became the piratical Red Corsairs Heretic Astartes, Variel also undertook additional duties as an infamous torturer who oversaw interrogations, contriving inventively malignant punishments and keeping his "subjects" alive and lucid far longer than they wished to be.This, alongside his preferred habit of skinning his victim's faces so he could wear them upon the pauldrons of his power armour, earned him the sobriquet of "The Flayer."
Variel - Joining the Night Lords: Late in the 41st Millennium, the infamous Talos Valcoran, called the "Soul Hunter", sergeant of the 1st Claw (squad) of the 10th Company of the Night Lords Legion, came with his warband to the Maelstrom seeking to repair his damaged vessel.At this time, the conflicting loyalties of Variel's past and present persona began to emerge. Variel liked and respected Talos, who had saved his life some solar decades previously on a world called Fryga, far more than he did any of his fellow Red Corsairs or even Huron Blackheart himself.Ultimately, Variel went on to betray Huron Blackheart and assisted Talos in reacquiring the Red Corsairs' warship Echo of Damnation, a former vessel of the Night Lords Legion that had been captured by the Red Corsairs.Variel would faithfully serve under Talos' command, and would be one of only a handful of survivors of his warband when the Night Lords' former adoptive homeworld of Tsagualsa came under attack from the Asuryani of Craftworld Ulthwé, who sought to eliminate Valcoran, for their Farseers had seen through the mists of the Warp that Valcoran would one day become an even more powerful Chaos Lord.Talos instructed Variel to escort his valued mortal servant Septimus and the pregnant enslaved Navigator Octavia off-world aboard one of their Thunderhawk gunships.Once in orbit, both of Valcoran's servants eventually escaped back to Tsagualsa's surface. This forced Variel to pursue them and attempt to claim the Navigator's child, who had been fathered by Septimus.The Apothecary was badly wounded when he encountered the Asuryani Phoenix Lord Jain Zar, losing both of his legs in the battle. He had already lost one leg previously in an earlier encounter with a Broodlord and had it replaced with an augmetic; now both would require cybernetic replacements.Following the events on Tsagualsa, Variel would continue to serve the Night Lords' 1st Claw. Variel harvested the slain Talos Valcoran's gene-seed which was used to create a new prophet of the Night Lords Legion named Decimus.Variel would become one of Decimus' most trusted followers in the years to come alongside Lucoryphus, and would participate in the 13th Black Crusade.
Variel - Personality: Variel the Flayer earned his name through a brutal and merciless career. He rarely showed any bias as an Apothecary toward saving the lives of any of his brethren he felt did not have a high chance of surviving.This detachment from his fellow Red Corsairs was obvious when he left the Renegade Chapter to join the Night Lords. He did not share the same strong level of disdain for the power of Chaos felt by many of the Heretic Astartes of 1st Claw.Variel is an unusual Chaos Space Marine. He is surprisingly stoic and not externally moved by emotions, and keeps a tight control on his own, rarely displaying them overtly even while he takes action.When a wounded Astartes in a triage station would not let go of his arm after two requests, he grabbed the warrior's arm and removed the offending hand with the laser-cutters and bonesaws on his Narthecium and calmly asked his brother, "What have you learned?"Variel is intelligent even for an Astartes and in his own words, "dislikes ignorance." He takes time to study and learn new things he encounters, whether it be the Aeldari Lexicon (learned from Asuryani captives tortured in his time as a Red Corsair), or studying the unusual mutations of a brother Astartes.Variel is a calm, efficient, competent, utterly ruthless medical officer, and possibly one of the best Apothecaries in all the Traitor Legions.
Variel - Wargear: Power ArmourBolterChainswordNarthecium
Varnus - Varnus: Varnus was a Chaplain of the Ultramarines Space Marine Chapter and the de facto leader of the small Space Marine Tactical Squad deployed to the Ice World of Lorn V that was detailed with the task of protecting and delivering a Titan's Princeps and crew to the site of the recently discovered Imperator-class Titan Dominatus. While en route to their objective, they were ambushed by the Blood Legion of Khorne warband of Chaos Space Marines under the command of Crull, a Chaos Lord of the World Eaters Traitor Legion, who shot down their Thunderhawk gunship.Varnus and the handful of surviving Ultramarines held off waves of oncoming Chaos forces, sending an emergency distress message that was received by General Sturnn, commander of the 412th Cadian Shock Troopers Regiment. In response, Sturnn assembled his Imperial Guard troops to go on a search-and-rescue mission deep behind enemy lines. During the battle on Lorn V that resulted, the remaining Ultramarines force escorted and successfully delivered the Titan's new Princeps and crew to the ancient war machine. The crew was able to power up its massive weapon systems and used them to destroy the attacking Ork and Necron forces. Chaplain Varnus single-handedly defeated a Bloodthirster in combat.
Varro Tigurius - Varro Tigurius: Varro Tigurius is the Chief Librarian of the Ultramarines Chapter of the Space Marines. As a psyker, Tigurius has always stood apart from his battle-brothers. Even to the company Captains of the Ultramarines he is a figure of mystery, possessed of a knowledge that goes beyond the towering datastacks and myriad scrolls of the Chapter's Arcanum.Little is hidden from the Chief Librarian's sight, and many of the Astartes amongst the Ultramarines believe him to be guided by the Emperor's own hand. Tigurius is unique among Librarians, for he has displayed the precognitive capability to foresee events, even on the tactical level, before they have come to pass, revelations of the future that usually come to him in the form of waking dreams and powerful premonitions.In Tigurius' eyes, nothing is more dangerous than incomplete knowledge nurtured in an unready mind. As such, it is common for him to meet inquiries with his own questions, until satisfied that the enquirer grasps the full meaning and consequences of the information he seeks.This can cause tension between the Chief Librarian and the Chapter's Captains, for such heroes have little time for contemplative introspection. However, Tigurius rewards those who persevere with uncanny insight that borders on prescience.Even his merest hunch, honed by centuries of experience and wisdom, is often worth more than the predictions of a battalion of strategists and a fleet of spies. Many times Tigurius' foretelling of impending incursions upon Ultramar have allowed the Lord Macragge to counter many before they had truly begun.There is little that happens that the Chief Librarian does not seem to know. Were he any other man, his prescience might attract suspicion, yet none who have witnessed Tigurius in battle can find cause to doubt him. When the call to war comes, he is oft to be found in the Ultramarines' vanguard.Amid the fury of battle, the Chief Librarian's silent manner falls from him like a shroud, replaced by the vigour of a warrior born.So it was on the world of Boros, which stands as an example of Tigurius' sheer power: focusing his psychic might, Tigurius sent hellfire coursing through the Ork invaders and led the charge that saw the wearied 4th Company victorious over a far more numerous foe.Tigurius has also been able to turn his talents to the threat of the Tyranids in ways no other psykers have found possible. His predictions about their movements have been so accurate that it was almost as if he had tapped into the gestalt consciousness of their Hive Mind – a feat that has driven lesser individuals insane.
Varro Tigurius - Ascension: In the wake of the incident at Harka, word of Tigurius' power began to spread. His bespoke psychic hood was dubbed, by those who had witnessed him vanquish the Seven, as the Hood of Hellfire. Orestes, who had fought beside Tigurius, and seen his courage first hand, became a friend and confidante of the Librarian, a friendship that served both well for many years. With such glories behind him, Tigurius' ascension to higher ranks was only a matter of time. He quickly left behind the rank of Lexicanium and excelled as a Codicier, providing a depth of insight into the campaign overviews submitted to the great libraries within the Fortress of Hera. Such was Tigurius' natural power, however, that his tenure at that rank was short, and he was swiftly promoted to Epistolary, where he coordinated company-sized operations, using his immense psychic prowess to guide the Captains and Sergeants in system-wide campaigns. The late Captain Invictus described Tigurius, in the wake of the bloody slaughter known as the Rarth Cleansing, as "the greatest administrator the Munitorum had never known."During his time as a Codicier, Tigurius began to prove his exceptional worth to the fleetmasters of the Chapter, delivering several formidable threats to the Ultramarines fleets simply by virtue of the ability to predict where and when the enemy threat would arrive. Tigurius forewarned Captain Ideus of the 4th Company, Fleet Master of the Ultramarines, of the arrival of the Space Hulk Instigation of Wickedness before it ever entered the Leer System on the eastern edges of Ultima Segmentum. As the sinister vessel materialised from the Empyrean, Vae Victis and a dozen other ships of the Space Marine fleet hammered it into wreckage, ignoring the chance to search it in light of the dire warnings Tigurius had given regarding its occupants. Over the years, Tigurius has continued to offer sage counsel to the Admiral of the Fleet, now the venerable Lazlo Tiberius, perhaps the greatest fleet commander the Ultramarines have ever known. Lazlo, for his part, offers no apology for his successes, but rather shares a great deal of credit for his finest victories, such as the triumph over the Orks of Madbrakka and even the Tyranid monstrosities of Hive Fleet Behemoth, with the Librarian.
Varro Tigurius - Shadows of the Future: Since his elevation to the rank of Chief Librarian, Tigurius has been an indispensable aide at the side of the Chapter Master. Increasingly, with his office, the solemn Varro Tigurius finds his duty and his gifts a burden that weigh heavy on his soul. He gave the order that sacrificed his best friend, Sergeant Orestes, to save a dozen other Battle-Brothers and millions of innocents in the Hallowed Stars Cleansing. He has witnessed the Legion of the Damned in battle, and beheld the ethereal horror of their warmaking. His report, one of the most accurate depictions of the Legion of the Damned in the Imperial archives next to that of Chapter Master Zacharias Kersh of the Excoriators Chapter, reported how these macabre undead Space Marines appear seemingly at random when all seems lost; rout the enemy with incredible displays of martial valour and ultimately vanish again without leaving a trace. Since that encounter, Tigurius has attempted to divine who or what these strange warriors were, but without success.Increasingly he finds himself drawn from the Library of Ptolemy, and contemplating the truths within its million manuscripts, to the Temple of Correction, where he gazes for solar hours at a time upon the Shrine of the Primarch. Though such an act seems solemn, it appears to invigorate the Chief Librarian, for when he returns from this meditation he is revitalised, as if a bright hope for the future has been rekindled in his heart. So fortified, Tigurius remains one of the greatest weapons in the arsenal of the Ultramarines Chapter, far more than just another battle-psyker in the ranks of its warriors, but a watchman who guides his brothers when he can perceive the right path for them, and fights at their side when he cannot.
Varro Tigurius - Tyranids: Tigurius has also been able to turn his talents to the threat of the Tyranids in ways no other psykers have found possible. His predictions about their movements have been so accurate that it was almost as if he had tapped into the gestalt consciousness of their Hive Mind -- a feat that has driven lesser individuals insane.If this is true, then Tigurius will have proved himself the most powerful psyker in the Imperium of Man, after the Emperor of Mankind, rivalling even Mephiston of the Blood Angels.
Varro Tigurius - Plague Wars: When the Great Rift came into being, Tigurius fell into a protective coma for a time. He had not foreseen the coming of the Great Rift, only that the future would be marked by oblivion and doom -- and the psychic backlash of that galactic catastrophe nearly ended Tigurius.Yet he rallied from his mind-coma, joining in the defence against the horrible plague that descended upon Ultramar during the Plague Wars.When the Death Guard and the daemons of Nurgle came out of the renewed Warp Storms of the Noctis Aeterna, it was Tigurius that helped steel the minds of the Ultramar Auxilia, for as courageous as they were, they would have fled before the disease-ridden foes and the terrible Warp plagues they unleashed.At some point during this period, Tigurius chose to undergo the dangerous Rubicon Primaris surgical procedure and become a Primaris Space Marine.
Varro Tigurius - Wargear: Tigurius makes use of the best wargear the Ultramarines Chapter has to offer, making him an even more potent foe for the enemies of Mankind than most Astartes Librarians. His wargear includes:Power Armour (Different variants depending on era)Hood of Hellfire - A specially modified Psychic Hood that not only provides protection against the psychic assault of other Psykers, but allows Tigurius to conserve his body's energy, enabling him to make use of his powerful offensive psychic abilities more often than is normal for even the most powerful psykers.Rod of Tigurius - Tigurius wields the Rod of Tigurius, an extremely potent master-crafted Force Weapon that draws the psychic energy out of Tigurius and focuses it into a tight beam of unstoppable energy that blast his foes' souls from their bodies.Force Staff of Malcador the Sigillite - In 922.M41 after the Battle of Andraxas, it is believed that Tigurius came into the possession of what is believed to have been Malcador the Sigillite 's Force Staff.Bolt PistolFrag GrenadesKrak Grenades
Varro Tigurius - Sources: Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines (8th Edition), pp. 96, 132Codex Supplement: Ultramarines (8th Edition), pg. 42Codex: Space Marines (6th Edition), pg. 107Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition), pg. 86Codex: Space Marines (4th Edition), pg. 29Codex: Space Marines (3rd Edition), pg. 38Codex: Ultramarines (2nd Edition), pp. 71, 74-75Codex: Legion of the Damned (Digital Edition), pg. 20Gathering Storm - Part III - Rise of the Primarch, pp. 8-47Index Astartes I, "Psykana Librarius - Space Marine Librarians"Index Astartes III, "Warriors of Ultramar - The Ultramarines Space Marine Chapter"Warlords of the Dark Millennium - Tigurius, pp. 3-4, 7-12, 20, 22-27White Dwarf 326 (US), "Psykana Librarius: Space Marine Librarians in Warhammer 40,000", pp. 76-89White Dwarf 258 (US), "Psykana Librarius: Space Marine Librarians"Chapter's Due (Ultramarines Novel) by Graham McNeillCourage and Honour (Ultramarines Novel) by Graham McNeillWarhammer Community - Apocalypse Mega-battle and Warhammer 40,000 Preview! (Image)
Vasgotox - Vasgotox: Vasgotox is an Alchemical Weapon that is a fluid at room temperature and is highly toxic, eating through any flesh exposed to it. It was employed by the Death Guard Legion's Grave Warden Terminator Squads during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. It was a toxic weapon of mass destruction that was  utterly lethal to most forms of organic life.
Vashtorr - Vashtorr: Vashtorr, also known as Vashtorr the Arkifane, who bears the titles of "Master of the Soul Forges" and the "God in the Machine," is the Greater Daemon of Chaos who rules over the Forge of Souls where Daemon Weapons and Daemon Engines are forged within the Immaterium's Realm of Chaos. Vashtorr serves Chaos Undivided and claims to have no connection to any of the four major Chaos Gods, having come into existence independently in the Warp as a result of mortals' obsessive pursuit of technological innovation at all costs -- especially inventions that resulted in unexpected and terrible consequences.Vashtor is the Daemonic demigod of inventors, engineers, scientists and artisans. He is curiosity and innovation shorn of moral conscience and driven to its darkest extremes. Empowered by the ceaseless inquiring of mortal minds, Vashtorr embodies the mortal need to understand and then enslave natural forces to their will, and to eventually achieve technological apotheosis at any cost.
Vashtorr - Origins: Few mortal servants of any intelligent species know of Vashtorr the Arkifane, for he has manifested only sparingly in realspace across the long history of the galaxy. Why this should be is unclear, but it has made him a seldom-glimpsed figure of fear, a techno-daemonic bogeyman whose occasional appearances herald nightmarish catastrophe.Some cryptoscholars have claimed that Vashtorr was created amid the reckless arms race of some ancient and galaxy-spanning war. Others posit that he was birthed into the Warp by the horrors of Humanity's Dark Age of Technology, or conversely that he was the author and patron of those horrors. Still others claim that he was greatly empowered in the Warp by technological events such as the birth of the Necrons through biotransference, the "Cursed" 21st Founding of the Adeptus Astartes, and the creation of the Primaris Space Marines.
Vashtorr - Master of the Forge of Souls: However Vashtorr came to be, he is neither a formerly mortal Daemon Prince nor a Daemonic entity emanating from one of the four major Dark Gods. He has his own sphere of influence different from theirs, and his own unique role within the wider pantheon of the Realm of Chaos, for he is the master of the Forge of Souls. This colossal metaphysical foundry is a realm of dark iron and steam, of clattering cogs and pounding pistons wherein infernal pacts are sworn and grotesque Daemonic transformations effected.Any Daemon of Chaos may approach the essence brokers of the Forge of Souls and enter into a pact with them. Some do so seeing a swift route to martial might, thence into the greater favour of their patron deity. Others seek to circumvent the spiritual bonds and lingering shame of a previous banishment from realspace.Whatever each entity's reasons, Vashtor and his Daemonic brokers are only too glad to forge a binding contract. In exchange for an agreed price of mortal souls reaped and offered up to the soul forges, the entity is fed into the Daemonic machines and transformed into a grotesque melding of war engine and Daemon known as a Daemon Engine, such as a Soul Grinder, a Calamity Engine or an Infernal Bombard.Other Daemons, less desperate or with less to offer up to the soul forges, are simply enslaved to Vashtorr's will for a time, melding torturously within unholy machineries and joining the ranks of his indentured Daemonic hosts. Such Daemons' bonds are shown by a collar, manacle, ritual chain or bodily mechanistic melding that becomes part of their manifested forms while they remain indebted to the Arkifane.Unlike other Daemons, it is not in Vashtorr's nature to lie, trick or deceive. His contracts are explicit in their conditions. Instead he leaves it to the monomaniacal nature of the Daemons themselves to entrap them in his service, for with every defeat an indentured entity suffers, so its soul-debt increases; few indeed are the Daemons that have ever escaped their self-inflicted bondage to the Forge of Souls.Meanwhile, the usefulness of the forces' grotesque war engines to the Ruinous Powers' Daemonic legions, coupled with the danger of being the only Chaos God to lose Vashtorr's allegiance, keeps the Dark Gods' reprisals at bay for the loss of their servants. The Arkifane is the arms dealer of the Great Game, an agent of no single power yet a precarious ally to them all. Yet Vashtorr's activities have nonetheless attracted the ire of other Daemons, most notably Be'lakor, another independent Daemon who serves Chaos Undivided and no individual Chaos deity.Quite aside from the infernal hosts he can summon to fight for him, Vashtorr is himself a frighteningly powerful Warp entity. Whether reordering the mechanisms of reality to his will, or soaring across the battlefields of realspace amidst storms of empyric lightning, the Arkifane is a demigod of dark artifice and corrupted technology. He is a Daemon of ordered and meticulous evil, whose will is as inexorable as the churning gears of some great and unstoppable machine.
Vashtorr - Arks of Omen Campaign: Rarely ever encountered in realspace before the Era Indomitus, Vashtorr has recently become more active, forging an alliance with Abaddon the Despoiler and the forces of Chaos that Chaos Lord commands to seek out the different artefacts that when combined create the Key, a mysterious, ancient weapon said by prophecy to possess so much power that whoever claims it will be able to alter the destiny of the galaxy forever.It was Vashtorr who created the Arks of Omen voidships from modified space hulks that allowed Abaddon to initiate the series of events known as the Arks of Omen Campaign. Vashtorr became aware of the existence of the Key and believed that if he aided Abaddon in claiming and restoring it, he could use it to increase his own power and ascend to become the fifth major Chaos God.The Arkifane did not know precisely what form all of these fragments of the Key took, but across the span of many mortal lifetimes Vashtorr had learned that each had their own unique signature in the Warp. This would allow them to be tracked down and once all were found, an infernal ritual, Warp alchemy and inhuman ingenuity could be used to restore the Key.But Vashtorr realised he needed significant mortal aid to succeed in his quest, since the artefacts were scattered across realspace. This led him to seek out Abaddon the Despoiler, who commanded the mighty Heretic Astartes forces of the Black Legion and many of the other mortal forces of Chaos. Though Abaddon was greatly suspicious of Vashtorr at first, as he was with all Daemons, he agreed to enter an alliance with the Arkifane to restore the Key, after Vashtorr informed him the weapon's power could be used to finally destroy the Imperium and win the Long War against the Emperor.Afterwards, Vashtorr created the Arks of Omen with the aid of Abaddon's allies among the Hereteks of the Dark Mechanicum, and gave them to the Warmaster of the Imperium Nihilus to command. They were designed to both track down the artefacts that were the components of the Key and destroy any who opposed that effort. The fragments of the Key varied greatly in size and shape, from ancient pillars to meteorite-like constructs to cogitator banks. While Abaddon provided several of the Arks of Omen to his own Black Legion officers, he also provided them to other Chaos Lords who swore to aid him in his quest to destroy the Imperium.The nature of the Key and what power it possesses once it is reassembled remains mysterious. All Abaddon told his followers about it was that once it was refashioned, the Key would transform the servants of the Emperor into greater traitors to His cause than any Chaos Space Marine.
Vashtorr - Wargear: Hammer of the Soul Forges - The Hammer of the Soul Forges is a Daemon Weapon that serves as the primary weapon wielded by Vashtorr. But it is more than just a weapon, for it aids him in all his acts of creation and destruction within the Forge of Souls.
Vassalians - Vassalians: The Vassalians are a little-known xenos species from the Eastern Fringe.They were waging a war against their xenos neighbours the Donarathi until the arrival of Hive Fleet Jormungandr in the late 41st Millennium.Facing the Tyranid invasion, they accepted the uneasy truce proposed by High Admiral Vortigern Hanroth to join his loose alliance of various fleets with their Slavebird starships.In 995.M41, during the subsequent Battle of Black Nebula, Hanroth and his unlikely allies shattered Hive Fleet Jormungandr.
Vaul - Vaul: Vaul is the Aeldari God of Smiths and all craftsmen as well as the brother of the Phoenix King Asuryan, the ruler of the Aeldari pantheon in Aeldari Mythology. Vaul is the patron god of all artisans and is worshipped by a small sect of the Aeldari's primary psychic craftsmen, the Bonesingers. Vaul was the architect and primary engineer of Asuryan's palace during the First Age of the Aeldari.Before Asuryan created the barrier between the world of the gods and of mortals that split the universe between the physical realm and the Immaterium, he was depicted as a busy man, always creating swords for the Aeldari War God Khaine, creating or repairing the Needles of Fate for the Crone Goddess Morai-Heg, maintaining the hunting equipment of Kurnous, and performing all the other acts of divine craftsmanship required by the Aeldari gods. He often created musical instruments to accompany the luring dream songs of Lileath or the life-preserving songs of Isha.During the Fall of the Aeldari, Eldrad Ulthran believed that if Vaul had been set free from his imprisonment, he could have marshaled the defences of the Aeldari gods, because of his skills in craft and engineering, and the gods would never have fallen to the hunger of the newborn Prince of Chaos, Slaanesh.
Vaul - Vaul-Moon: An Aeldari artefact called The Awakening was discovered by the forces of the Imperium of Man on 2343.724.M41 on the world of Rahe's Paradise. It was studied by Sister Superior Meritia of the Orders Dialogous and is known to have concerned the ancient Necrontyr.According to the translated inscription on the artefact, "the Vaul-Moon shall bring forth the Dragon" and the Sister's annotations led her to determine that Vaul was the Aeldari God of the Forge who was a blasphemous deity who was crippled both physically and spiritually. Her analysis led her to conclude that a "Vaul-Moon" was the Aeldari equivalent of an Adeptus Mechanicus Forge World.
Vaul - Talismans of Vaul: The massive black star fortresses created by the Old Ones over sixty-five million standard years ago during their ancient conflict with the C'tan and the Necrons (which was the true War in Heaven only dimly remembered in Aeldari Mythology) are known as the "Talismans of Vaul" to the Aeldari, while the Imperium knows them as the Blackstone Fortresses.When the fortresses' power is combined it is possible for them to cause a star to go supernova. This capability was originally intended to destroy the C'tan, who were sentient creatures of pure energy whose natural habitat was the core of stars.
Vaults of Moravec - Vaults of Moravec: The Vaults of Moravec were a depository of forbidden knowledge and techno-arcana located on the Mechanicum's holy world of Mars in the Segmentum Solar. Hidden in a sealed vault inside a maze of old tunnels and chambers nearly a kilometre deep beneath Olympus Mons -- the mighty forge city of the Mechanicum's ruling Fabricator-General Kelbor-Hal -- the Vaults of Moravec had been deliberately kept locked by the order of the Emperor of Mankind, who correctly judged the knowledge it contained as too dangerous to be known.When Warmaster Horus Lupercal began to plot his rebellion against his father the Emperor, he promised Kelbor-Hal to lift the Emperor's ban on the forbidden knowledge and archeotech stored there, thus swaying this powerful figure to serve him. The opening of the Vaults of Moravec would spark the civil war within the ancient Mechanicum that would become known as the Schism of Mars and mark the true birth of the Dark Mechanicum and the present-day Adeptus Mechanicus.
Vaults of Moravec - Trivia: The Vault of Moravec was likely inspired by the Austrian-Canadian computer scientist Hans Moravec  of the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, known for  his work on robotics and artificial intelligence. He is also credited with describing Moravec's paradox which holds that the computation resources required to achieve reasoning by a machine is far less than those required to achieve sensorimotor and perception skills by an autonomous robot.
Vaultsword - Vaultsword: A Vaultsword is a type of archeotech power sword that is wielded by the elite Blade Champions of the Adeptus Custodes. They can be wielded either as single greatswords, known as "Klaimors," or paired with a slightly smaller "Nemis," depending upon what the Blade Champion's chosen Martial Ka'tah requires.