vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Keshig - Minghan-Keshig: While the Keshig was the elite honour guard of the Vth Legion as a whole, the individual brotherhoods (companies) of the White Scars during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras also possessed their own honour guard for their commanding khans (captains), which were also known as keshig.These formations were called "minghan-keshig", as minghan is the word in the Chogorian local dialect of Khorchin for "brotherhood."
Keshig - Trivia: The Kheshig was the imperial guard of the Mongol royalty of the Mongol Empire, particularly for rulers like Genghis Khan and his wife Börte. Their primary purpose was to act as bodyguards for the Mongol emperors and other important nobles.They were divided into two groups: the day guard (Torguud) and the night guard (Khevtuul). They were distinct from the regular army and would not go to battle with them, instead staying back on guard duty. Their supreme commander was called the cherbi.
Keylekid - Keylekid: The Keylekid were a hostile race of reptilian xenos that were ultimately wiped out during the early years of the Great Crusade by the Luna Wolves Space Marine Legion. The war against the Keylekid proved to be a long, brutal and miserable campaign for the XVI Legion.
Keylekid - History: Early in the Great Crusade the Luna Wolves encountered the hostile alien reptilian race known as the Keylekid on the world of Keylek. The grotesque Keylekid were greatly skilled in the arts of combat, and rose against the XVI Legion angrily the moment the 63rd Expeditionary Fleet made contact. Their world was a harsh place of crimson rock and indigo water. Horus, then known by his Astartes only as "The Commander" as it would be many years before he was named the Warmaster of the Imperium, expected a prolonged and brutal struggle, for the Keylekid were large and powerfully-built creatures. Even the least of their warriors took three or four Bolter rounds to bring down.Yet, while the the Luna Wolves had come to their world to make war, at first the Keylekid would not fight them. The Luna Wolves did not comprehend the rules that these aliens fought by. The Luna Wolves learned later that the Keylekid considered war to be the most abhorrent activity a sentient race could indulge in, so they set upon it tight controls and restrictions. There were large structures upon the surface of their world, rectangular fields many kilometres in dimension, covered with high, flat roofs and open at the sides. The Luna Wolves named these structures "slaughterhouses," and there was one every few hundred kilometres. The Keylekid would only fight at these places, which were reserved solely for combat. War was forbidden on any other part of their world’s surface. They waited for the Astartes to meet them at a slaughterhouse and decide the matter. But the Luna Wolves destroyed them outright.There had been suggestions within the XVI Legion to fight the Keylekid according to their own rules. Some Luna Wolves believed that there would be honour in such a gesture, but it was ultimately determined by Horus that the Space Marine Legions had their own rules which the enemy chose not to recognise. Besides, the Keylekid were a formidable species, and had the Luna Wolves not acted decisively, these xenos would have remained a threat to the Great Crusade and the larger Imperium. Horus also reasoned that it was clear that the Keylekid were a rigid species who would take a long time to learn new rules or to abandon their old ones, and thus were unlikely to be candidates for the acceptance of peaceful coexistence with the expanding Imperium. As a result, the Luna Wolves unleashed a campaign of xenocide that saw the Keylekid species wiped out when they refused to fight the Luna Wolves invaders outside of their prescribed places.A preserved cadaver of a Keylekid warrior was later displayed in the Vengeful Spirit's Museum of Conquest.
Keys of Hel - Keys of Hel: The Keys of Hel was the name given to the seals placed upon forbidden technological knowledge held by the Iron Hands Space Marine Legion by their Primarch Ferrus Manus during the Great Crusade era of the late 30th Millennium.Among these forbidden technologies were the true rites of cybernetic resurrection from death. Where such elements of forbidden technology or lore were encountered (and indeed recognised for what they were only by the Iron Hands) during the course of the Great Crusade, they were seized and suppressed by the primarch's express order and withheld, it was rumoured, even from the ancient Mechanicum.Few outside the Xth Legion knew of the ban placed by Ferrus Manus on such forbidden technology as the Sarcosan Formulae, the Progression of the Seventh Gate, and the Ophidian Scale. Even amongst his gene-sons few knew more than the name and, of those who did know, most grasped only the shadows of dark possibility.Cyber-resurrection, ghola, death and life bound by field, woven by metal or sung by axioms of the unknown -- the names for forbidden technologies across the galaxy were legion.Created by Humanity in the Age of Technology, or by alien hands under cruel suns, their origin does not matter. They were the evolution of Mankind that Ferrus Manus had placed beyond his Astartes' reach, the lock upon a gate to a denied realm.But after the death of Ferrus Manus at the hands of his Chaos-corrupted brother Primarch Fulgrim of the Emperor's Children at the Drop Site Massacre on Isstvan V, some of the Iron Hands who survived the slaughter went mad with grief.They resorted to the use of these forbidden technologies and "turned the Keys of Hel," seeking out any advantage they could utilise against the Traitor Legions to exact their righteous vengeance for the loss of their gene-father.
Keys of Hel - Maletek Incarna: Cybernetic resurrection was one of the rites of cybermancy. The application of this forbidden technology was one of the nightmares of the Age of Technology.Following the death of their Primarch Ferrus Manus on Isstvan V, some Iron Hands Iron Fathers became desperate enough to turn the Keys of Hel and access the forbidden technologies. They then resorted to the use of such forbidden rites.With them, they were able to resurrect their fallen brothers to a semblance of life. Known as "Ghola" or "Revenants," these resurrected Iron Hands Legionaries still retained their memories and were even capable of speech, though they were emblematic of that which had long been considered Maletek Incarna, the incarnation of heretek technology, by the Mechanicum.When not awake, they were kept within a cryogenic state at sub-life support temperatures until they were needed for battle. But over time, these Revenants gradually became slower and slower the longer they spent away from their cryo-stasis chambers.Through the use of such forbidden techniques, repeated resurrection was possible even after a Revenant was "killed" again.Some Iron Fathers, such as Kastigan Ulok, who utilised cybernetic resurrection, modified the standard operating protocols of their own cryo-stasis vault to protect it against catastrophic shut-down by utilising neuromorphic sub-routines which bordered on Abominable Intelligence.
Keys of Hel - Notable Users: Phidias - Commander of the Thetis.Kastigan Ulok - Iron Father and commander of the Obstinate.
Keys of Hel - Known Revenants: Athanatos - Killed by a Word Bearers Legionary during the fighting on Isstvan V.Azoth - An Iron Father killed by the World Eaters.Crius - Former member of the Crusader Host and Iron Father of Clan Kadoran.Soter - Former clan-father of Clan Kadoran.Helfathers - Custodians of the Iron Council.
Kha Ak-Lash Kha-Aksha - Kha Ak-Lash Kha-Aksha: Kha Ak-Lash Kha-Aksha, called The Usurper, is an infamous Bloodthirster, a Greater Daemon of the Blood God Khorne. It is written that Kha-Aksha is one of the most powerful Warp entities ever spawned. Exactly what deeds earned this being its name remain the preserve of those truly steeped in the most forbidden of lore, but some whisper that, having attained such power as to set itself apart from the Blood God, Kha-Aksha attempted to turn against its master.Angered to such a degree by this betrayal that entire Daemon Worlds burned, Khorne is said to have imprisoned the Bloodthirster within a mighty axe of Warp-forged metal which he cast out from the Warp and into the cold, hard dimension of reality. The ancient and feared weapon known as the Axe of Kha-Aksha is spoken of in numerous texts known to the hell-seers of the Screaming Vortex and, so it is said, the most soul-blasted scholars of the Inquisition's Ordo Hereticus.How many ambitious and brutal Chaos warlords have wielded the Axe of Kha-Aksha since then cannot be said; many of the Screaming Vortex's most infamous and bloodthirsty murderers have sought the axe, and a number have mastered it, for a brief time at least. In truth, all ultimately fall to the rage of the Bloodthirster within, for mortals cannot harness such power without a price being exacted. That price is, inevitably, the soul of the bearer, a soul so blood-engorged that it makes the most satisfying of meals for the Daemon entrapped within the axe.This Daemon Weapon is fabled across the length and breadth of the Gloaming Worlds. The Axe of Kha-Aksha is located on the planet of Messia. But, as every true Chaos Champion of the Blood God knows, such treasures are rarely to be claimed without a challenge. The axe is not lying around waiting to be picked up, but is instead in the possession of one of the countless millions of bloated mutants that shamble across the surface on Messia's night side.How the mutant came into possession of the axe cannot be known, but when the tortured light of Messia's polluted sun falls upon that wretched creature, it shall be transformed into a cunning and devious adversary, and at that very moment realise the true nature of the weapon clutched unthinkingly in its distended, filth-encrusted claws. When that happens, the once-lowly mutant will have in its possession the means of laying claim to the entire world -- unless it is opposed by another servant of the Blood God.
Khalophis - Khalophis: Khalophis was the Captain of the 6th Fellowship during the latter days of the Great Crusade and the beginning of the Horus Heresy in the late 30th and early 31st Millennia. He also served as the Magister Templi of the Pyrae Cult. Khalophis was present during the Burning of Prospero, when the Space Wolves Legion, accompanied by elements of the Legio Custodes and Sisters of Silence, were sanctioned by the Emperor of Mankind to punish the Thousand Sons Primarch Magnus the Red for his blatant violations of the Imperial Decree Absolute rendered during the Council of Nikaea forbidding the use of psychic powers and the pursuit of sorcery. During the defence of his homeworld, Khalophis sent his consciousness into the inert Battle Titan Canis Vertex, that stood sentinel before the Pyramid of the Pyrae Cult. Initially, the now-living Titan seemed to turn the tide of the battle, but ultimately, Khalophis' victory was short-lived as he was caught in the tremendous explosion of pent-up aetheric energy released by the dying Phael Toron. Khalophis fought to sever his connection to the doomed war engine, but the aetheric feedback lashed back upon him, the fire consuming him utterly, and the entire pyramid of the Pyrae exploded in a searing fireball of glass and steel.
Khalophis - History: Khalophis was born on the world of Prospero, and joined the ranks of the XV Legion, newly renamed the Thousand Sons, after they were reunited with their lost gene-sire. He was a member of one of the earliest intakes of potential Neophytes. The first time he appeared in recorded history was when he served with the Iron Warriors, a Legion he admired and ranked second only to the Thousand Sons. As part of their training, all Captains of a Thousand Sons Fellowship undertook a secondment to another Legion to learn its ways and further the Thousand Sons' understanding of the galaxy.
Khalophis - Great Crusade: By the early years of the Great Crusade Khalophis had already risen to the esteemed rank of Captain of the 6th Fellowship. He also served as the Magister Templi of the Pyrae Cult. The Pyrae were pyrokinetics, meaning that they had developed the ability to both generate and control fire, the power for which was drawn from the Warp. The Pyrae could both generate lethal bursts of fire from their bodies that they could shape into a number of different forms, including projectiles fired from their hands, as well as fire shields that could hold back foes and melt away incoming weapons fire. The Pyrae could manipulate existing or standing sources of fire and with their connection to the Warp could lower the temperature of flames striking their own bodies or the bodies of others, effectively making them immune to the effects of fire or great heat. The Pyrae also developed secondary psychic abilities that allowed them to control and manipulate mechanical automata like the robots of the Legio Cybernetica and even the massive Titans of the Collegia Titanica. These secondary abilities were known as technopathy.
Khalophis - Khamenka Troika Campaign: On Prospero, the cult temple of the Pyrae was a vast pyramid of silvered glass with an eternally burning finial at its peak. Where the other cult temples of Tizca raised golden idols of their cult symbols before their gates, the Pyrae boasted a battle-engine of the Titan Legions. Supplicants to the pyromancers approached along a brazier-lit processional of red marble towards a mighty Warlord-class Titan. Bearing the proud name Canis Vertex, the war engine had once walked beneath the banners of the Legio Astorum, its carapace emblazoned with a faded black disc haloed by a flaming blue corona. Its Princeps was killed and its Moderati crushed when the war engine fell during the bloody campaigns of extermination waged in the middle years of the Great Crusade against the barbaric Orks of the Kamenka Troika. The Emperor had issued the writs of war, commanding the Thousand Sons, Legio Astorum and a Lifehost of PanPac Eugenians of the Imperial Army to drive that savage race of xenos from the three satellite planets of Kamenka Ulizarna, a Forge World claimed by the Mechanicum of Mars. Imperial forces had been victorious after two standard years of fighting and earned a score of honours for the war banners, but the campaign was savage, the slaughter and relentless, grinding attrition leaving tens of thousands dead in its wake. Victory had been won, but the cost had been high. Eight hundred and seventy-three warriors of the Thousand Sons had died, forcing Magnus so reduce his Legion from ten Fellowships to the Pesedjet, the nine Fellowships of antiquity.Canis Vertex had been brought down on the killing fields of Coriovallum in the last days of the war by a gargantuan war machine of the Greenskins, crudely built in the image of their warlike gods. Defeat seemed inevitable until Magnus stood before the enemy colossus, wielding the power of the Warp like an ancient god of war. Two giants, one mechanical, one a flesh and blood progeny of the Emperor, had faced each other across the burning ruins, and it seemed the battle’s conclusion could not have been more foregone. But Magnus raised his arms, his feathered cloak billowed by unseen storms, and the full fury of the Warp unmade the enemy war engine in a hurricane of immaterial fire that tore the flesh of reality asunder and shook the world to its very foundations. All those who saw the giant Primarch that day would take the sight of his battle with that bloated, hateful, war machine to their graves, his power and majesty indelibly etched on their memories like a scar. Ten thousand warriors bowed their heads to their saviour as he returned to them across a field of the dead. The Legio Astorum contingent had been destroyed, and Khalophis of the 6th Fellowship had "honoured" their sacrifice by transporting Canis Vertex back to Prospero and setting it as a silent guardian to the temple of the Pyrae. The raising of such a colossal sentinel was typical Pyrae Cult showmanship, but there was no doubting the impart made by the sight of the dead engine sheened in the orange firelight of the temple.
Khalophis - Aghoru Campaign: Khalophis took part in the Imperial Compliance action of the world of Aghoru (officially codified in Imperial records as 28-16). This action was carried out by units of the Thousand Sons Legion who managed to achieve Compliance through simple diplomacy without bloodshed and was thus considered a great success. Secondary combat operations were carried out against apparent Warp denizen infestation (beings known to the local population as "Elohim") within the subterranean passages of a titanic peak that stood taller than Olympic Mons on Mars. The Thousand Sons forces were further enhanced by a small unit drawn from the Space Wolves Legion during this operation. At the height of these combat operations, the joint-Astartes forces faced off against a pair of unidentified Chaos-corrupted xenos combat walkers similar to Titans.
Khalophis - Council of Nikaea: As the Great Crusade progressed, some of the Primarchs voiced their dissent that so-called "psyker" Astartes were allowed to exist and be a part of the Emperor's righteous Great Crusade. Rumours and condemnations began to spread about the Thousand Sons Legion amongst the other Expeditionary Fleets. The most vocal of these detractors were the Primarchs of the Death Guard, Imperial Fists and Raven Guard Legions. The majority of the Astartes of the XV Legion had been afflicted by the rampant genetic mutation within their ranks early in their existence. Those that still remained unafflicted had seen their psychic abilities increase dramatically in power level. Soon the Thousands Sons' detractors raised their objections to the Emperor Himself, calling for the XV Legion's disbandment and for the Legion to be expunged from Imperial records like the II and XI Legions.The Emperor was also displeased by the Thousand Sons' dabblings in manipulating the corrupting powers of the Warp and later forbid the use of sorcery by either Magnus the Red or the members of his Legion after an Imperial Conclave was called on the world of Nikaea to deal with the question of psykers. When a consensus emerged among the Council of Nikaea's participants that psykers and their powers represented a potential danger to the people of the Imperium, the Emperor's edicts were that in the interest of unity, no one was to be censured for prior actions involving the use of psychic abilities. However, the future use of psychic abilities by the Imperium's military forces was banned (except the use of Astropaths, Navigators, and very strictly sanctioned and controlled psykers who were authorised to carry out Imperial business, like the Sisters of Silence). All Astartes Legion Librarians were to be disbanded, and their members returned to conventional combat duty. In effect, Magnus and the Thousand Sons were banned from practicing "sorcery" or using the psychic abilities and knowledge they so coveted.
Khalophis - Horus Heresy: As one of Magnus' senior Captains, Khalophis had the honour of escorting his Primarch to the Council of Nikaea, and stood resolutely at his Primarch's side during the Emperor's pronouncement against the further use of psyhic abilities or the pursuit of forbidden knowledge in regards to the Warp. Following the Emperor's Decree Absolute, Magnus and his Thousand Sons could not depart Nikaea fast enough. The bulk of the XV Legion returned to their homeworld of Prospero, and unknown to them, events would soon transpire that would prevent them from ever leaving it again. Despite the Emperor's decree, Magnus continued his forbidden pursuit of knowledge into the arcane. Meanwhile the other Legions continued to earn glory in battle; the Emperor's Children were on Laeran, the Luna Wolves on One-Forty-Twenty, the Ultramarines at Mescalor. It had been over two years since the Ark Reach campaign and yet the Thousand Sons sat idle while their brothers made war. For his part, Magnus had all his warriors buried in their cults' libraries after they returned to their homeworld. Magnus had been keeping a monstrous secret from his captains while he worked feverishly and alone in his private library and the vaults beneath the Prosperine capital city of Tizca. Amon and Ankhu Anen, Guardian of the Great Library of Prospero and member of the Corvidae Cult, had shared Ahriman's knowledge that something was wrong, but even their combined power was unable to pierce the veils of the future to see what so concerned their Primarch.Gathering the members of the Rehati within his private sanctum, Magnus revealed to his sons that he had foreseen a terrifying vision of the Warmaster Horus falling from grace and dragging the burgeoning Imperium of Man into a war more terrible than any of them could imagine -- an Age of Darkness that had been prophesied tens of thousands of standard years before by the ancient Aegyptos of Old Terra. Though he did not exactly know the means by which Horus would fall, all he could perceive from his vision is that something primordial and corrupt would take root in his soul. Magnus had foreseen that the Luna Wolves Legion would soon be making war on a moon of Davin, and the fates were conspiring to fell Horus with a weapon of dreadful sentience. In his weakened and blinded state, the enemies of all life would make their move to ensnare his warrior heart. Without the intervention of the Thousand Sons, they would succeed and split the galaxy asunder. The works that Magnus had Amon researching since the Council of Nikaea held the key to Horus Lupercal's salvation. With the help of his Fellowship Captains, Magnus projected himself across the Warp and attempt to shield his brother from his enemies. Unfortunately, the Primarch failed and Horus' soul was corrupted by the Ruinous Powers.
Khalophis - Personality: Khalophis was a tense and vociferous warrior. Though he was hotheaded and quick to anger, he was utterly loyal to his Primarch and would bow to his gene-sire's commands without hesitation. Khalophis was a true Pyrae, a warmongering student of conflict in all its most brutal forms. If an enemy was to be wiped from the battlefield with overwhelming firepower, it was to Khalophis that the Thousand Sons turned.
Khalophis - Powers & Abilities: Khalophis was the most powerful pyrokinetic within the entirety of the Thousand Sons Legion. As the Magister Templi of the Pyrae Cult, Khalophis was able to hurl aetheric projectiles from his hands as well as producing fire shields that could hold back foes and melt away incoming weapons fire. Khalophis was also known to use his innate abilities to shape these summoned flames into a fiery sword. He could even summon his innate pyrokinetic abilities and channel them into his fists, greatly enhancing his strikes when he fought hand-to-hand against his enemies. At the time of the closing years of the Great Crusade, the Pyrae Cult was in the ascendence within the XV Legion's hierarchy, while the Corvidae Cult was at its lowest ebb for nearly fifty standard years. For centuries, the Corvidae had been pre-eminent within the ranks of the Thousand Sons, but in the Legion's final decades within the Imperium, their power to read the twisting paths of the future had diminished until their seers could barely penetrate the shallows of things to come.Like all his Fellowship Captains, Khalophis was attended upon by a psychic Tutelary (or Familiar). To those without Warpsight, Tutelaries were invisible, but to the Thousand Sons with power they were bright visions of exquisite beauty. Tutelaries were simply fragments of the Primordial Creator (Chaos) given form and function by those with the power to bend them to their will. Khalophis was attended upon by the Tutelary known as Sioda. With the power of the Pyrae in ascendance, his Tutelary was a winged essence of shimmering fire. His connection with Sioda allowed Khalophis and the 6th Fellowship to burn entire armies to ashes without firing a single shot from their many guns.As the Magister Templi of the Pyrae, Khalophis was also an accomplished technomat. In battle, Khalophis was charged with leading Maniples of the Imperial Robots known as Cataphracts. Psychically resonant crystals within the Cataphracts which allowed the Captain of the 6th Fellowship to direct his mindless charges with complete precision, instead of relying on the usual doctrina wafers provided by the Legio Cybernetica.
Khamrians - Khamrians: The Khamrians are a sect of the Adeptus Mechanicus who are interested in exploring the creation and limits of artificial general intelligence, the long-forbidden technology now known as "Abominable Intelligence" among orthodox tech-priests.
Khamrians - History: Amongst the Adeptus Mechanicus, there exists a certain fear of self-aware machinery -- A.I., or "Abominable Intelligence." This fear of A.I. harks back to the Dark Age of Technology, during which time depraved and bizarre sciences were practiced, and thinking machines battled their Human masters for supremacy during the Cybernetic Revolt. Since that time, and owing to a decree by the Emperor Himself, it has been forbidden to dabble in the creation or maintenance of machines that can think fully for themselves.During the late 34th Millennium, however, a recently ordained and brilliant magos by the name of Degio Khamrios was to covertly circulate research he had carried out on the subject of A.I. His words carried with them such conviction that a small body of like-minded tech-priests were to join with him, dabbling in the forbidden sciences.By the end of his first standard century as a magos, Khamrios was confident that his theories were ready for publishing to the Adeptus Mechanicus as a whole.He had severely misjudged his brethren's opinions upon the matter, and within solar months was a hounded fugitive, branded a heretek. Eventually he was brought to heel, but only after much effort on the parts of the Inquisition, Mechanicus, and at one stage the Iron Hands Chapter of Space Marines. He was taken into Mechanicus custody, and his fate is unknown to this day.Despite this, certain unorthodox tech-priests still express a desire to perform research in the field of A.I., hoping to harness and improve upon ancient examples they uncover in dusty and forgotten places. Some even attempt to copy the examples they find, and so produce for themselves intelligent robotic servants. Should they ever succeed in producing their heretical creations en masse, the dark days of the Iron Men could return. Whole legions of thinking machine-warriors had risen up and opposed Humanity then -- who could say that the same could not happen again?
Khamrians - Khamrian Plots: Examples of the plots that Hereteks of the Khamrian sect have sought to pursue, include the following:After much fruitless searching of archives, on numerous worlds, a Khamrian tech-priest thinks he may have discovered a clue as to the location of an ancient stasis prison containing Iron Men dating back to the Age of Technology; excellent examples of artificial general intelligence. The Khamrian now wishes to deactivate the prison and kidnap several examples to study. What he hasn't counted on is the Iron Men themselves not warming to his intrusion, or the stasis prison's guardians (which could range from a garrison of elite soldiers such as Deathwatch Astartes or Storm Troopers, to xenos which have moved in and don't realise the significance of their new home!).The T'au are a technologically advanced species that make much use of artificial intelligence, in the form of their T'au Drones and other mechanical constructs. A Water Caste ambassador of the T'au Empire, along with his entourage (especially any Earth Caste members), are kidnapped by a Khamrian tech-priest who wishes to learn more about alien A.I. When the Imperium learns of this, they attempted to rescue the alien ambassador lest more conflict with the T'au is initiated. The T'au themselves learned of their diplomat's abduction, and dispatched a team of Kroot or Kin mercenaries to retrieve their representative.There was the last frantic struggle of Degio Khamrios himself in the 34th Millennium. On one side was the father of the Khamrian movement, attempting to flee aboard a Rogue Trader's vessel, accompanied by his acolytes and the panicking Rogue Trader himself. On the opposing side was an Inquisitorial force with orders to kill the heretical magos at all costs, and an Adeptus Mechanicus force with orders to capture Khamrios so he may be returned to Mars for trial -- and to determine what other technologica secrets he might know...
Khamun-Sen - Khamun-Sen: Khamun-Sen is an Imperial world within the Elara's Veil sector of the Segmentum Ultima that was once the Chapter planet of the Star Scorpions Chapter, until that Chapter was lost in the Warp.After the surviving Star Scorpions reemerged into realspace as the corrupted Heretic Astartes warband called The Pure, the Emperor's Spears and Celestial Lions enacted an Exterminatus action upon Khamun-Sen, purging the planet of its Chaos taint but killing all 3 billion of its native inhabitants.
Khangba Marwu - Khangba Marwu: Khangba Marwu, also known as "The Vault," was a large underground maximum security Imperial prison complex on Terra intended to hold the worst criminals of the Imperium of Man. Its inmates were overseen by the Legio Custodes during the early 31st Millennium. The prison was located in the Himalazian (Himalayan) Mountains under the mountain peak of Rakaposhi, and had been constructed at least a thousand standard years before the Horus Heresy began by persons unknown.The prison was home to some of the worst criminals of the Imperium and had been used to imprison several of the tyrants defeated by the Emperor's forces during the Unification Wars. Some of these warlords, such as Uilleam the Red, the Prince of Albyon, the Ethnarch of the Caucasus Wastes and Narthan Dume, the Tyrant of the Pan-Pacific Empire, had cells designed for them by the Emperor Himself to ensure that they would never escape. Dume himself was executed at the urging of Constantin Valdor, the Captain-General of the Legio Custodes, soon after his capture, but many of his lieutenants eventually found themselves incarcerated within The Vault.Once the Horus Heresy began, a cell that was never occupied was also prepared for the traitorous Warmaster Horus. The prison also became a dumping ground for the Outcast Dead, those members of the Traitor Legions who had been stationed on Terra as part of the Crusader Host, an Astartes honour guard that had once served in the Imperial City on the outskirts of the Imperial Palace.The prison's cells and walls were cut from the limestone of the mountain and layered with adamantium plates, and cells used to house psykers had psi-resistant crystals built into the walls. There were multiple security systems in place to ensure that prisoners could not escape, including cell blocks that would drop into abyssal holes in the ground during an escape attempt and Combat Servitors armed with Autocannons and Assault Cannons.During the Horus Heresy many of the Custodians that were normally stationed at The Vault were sent to reinforce Imperial units fighting the Traitor Legions or to increase the Imperial Palace's security, leaving the prison undermanned, and this weakened security would eventually allow the members of the Outcast Dead to escape from the prison.
Khangba Marwu - Notable Gaolers and Interrogators: Custodian Uttam Udar - Head GaolerCustodian Sumat TirthaNatraj - Soldier of the Uralian StormlordsTejas Doznya - Soldier of the Uralian StormlordsHiriko - Adept and InterrogatorScharff - Adept and Interrogator
Khangba Marwu - Notable Inmates: Narthan Dume - Tyrant of the Pan-Pacific Empire. Executed shortly after his capture by order of the Emperor's decree.The Ethnarch of the Caucasus WasteThe ReaperUilleam the RedPrince of AlbyonWarlord KibukaZamora - Supposedly an officer in the Emperor's bodyguard before the founding of the Legio Custodes.Praetor Endryd Haar (World Eaters)Adept Exemptus Atharva (Thousand Sons)Sergeant Tagore (World Eaters)Battle-Brother Subha (World Eaters)Battle-Brother Asubha (World Eaters)Battle-Brother Severian (Luna Wolves)Battle-Brother Argentus Kiron (Emperor's Children)Battle-Brother Gythua (Death Guard)Astropath Kai Zulane
Kharon Pattern Acquisitor - Kharon Pattern Acquisitor: The Kharon Pattern Acquisitor was a type of grav-tank used by the Sisters of Silence to carry out their missions of acquiring and suppressing rogue psykers. One of a number of highly specialised vehicles utilised by the Silent Sisterhood, the Kharon Pattern Acquisitor is in truth a paramilitary rather than a battlefield design meant for the execution of the great psyker cull on the Imperium's worlds at the time of the Great Crusade.Built to incorporate numerous systems known collectively as a "Spectra Distort Field" to approach its targets with utmost stealth, it is also made quite deliberately to be a thing of mystery and terror when its presence is unveiled, to cow potential resistance through fear as much as the threat of force.When that forces is required, the Kharon can release a hail of murderous weapons fire to annihilate any resistance in the form of Heavy Stubber rounds, which more than effective enough against any interfering civilian or militia targets encountered.Against sterner opposition, various payloads of missiles can be employed, including sophisticated anti-psyker warheards where rogue psykers are encountered. The Kharon can carry up to twelve Sisters of Silence and access to the vehicle is gained through a forward hatch revealed when the vehicle's armoured prow retracts.
Kharon Pattern Acquisitor - Unit Composition: 1 Kharon Pattern Acquisitor
Kharon Pattern Acquisitor - Armament: Hellion Pattern Autocannon - A turret-mounted array of cogitator-slaved short-barelled Autocannons are used to lay down a hail of suppressive fire as the Kharon arrives in the target area.Twin-linked Multi-Melta (Optional replacement for Hellion Pattern Autocannon)2 Twin-linked Missile LaunchersFrag MissilesKrak MissilesPsyk-Out Missiles - A Psyk-Out Missile's warhead contains a special additive that is laced within its explosive charge. The Adeptus Custodes reverently gather the dust that forms from the body of the Emperor of Mankind where He is entombed in the Golden Throne. This byproduct of the Golden Throne's arcane workings possesses a strong anti-psychic charge and can produce an effect in psykers and Warp entities similar to those produced by a psychic Blank, a being afflicted with the Pariah Gene.Capture-grid - The Kharon is fitted with a number of short-range neural disruptors, web-nets and retractable wire-snares to capture and incapacitate its victims and drag them within the hull for subdual and later processing.Spectra-distort Field - The Kharon is a stealth vehicle, outfitted with a suite of arcane technologies designed to conceral its approach, some of which may even be of xenos origin. Flying almost silently, its hull either shaded a pitch black, bleeding shadow into its environment, or distorting its image into an oil-sheen mirage, it is not for nothing that the Sisters of Silence have entered the mythology of many worlds as dark spirits or sinister "angels" sent to cleanse the worlds they cull of the witch taint.Battle AuspexSearchlightSmoke LauncherExtra Armour Plating (Optional)Armoured Ceramite (Optional)
Kharybdis Assault Claw - Kharybdis Assault Claw: The Kharybdis Assault Claw, also known simply as the Kharybdis, was a monstrous ship-to-ship heavy assault craft that was used by the Space Marine Legions during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras of the late 30th and early 31st Millennia. The Kharybdis was a Drop Pod-type assault craft, massive in size compared to other Drop Pods of the era.The Kharybdis was capable of carrying a large assault force through the void of space whilst mounting significant enough firepower to blast a path through smaller defensive vessels. The arrival of a swarm of these assault craft, boarding hooks extended outwards like hungry jaws, signalled the doom of whatever target they closed on.
Kharybdis Assault Claw - History: The Kharybdis Assault Claw was a consequence of the same cursed machine lore that gave birth to the wretched Dreadclaw Drop Pod and as such the vessel fell under scrutiny when that other void assault craft's deficiencies became known.The Kharybdis was studied and measured, its cogitation cores dissected in search of even the slightest hint that the corruption that defiled the Dreadclaw did not exist in the Kharybdis' own Machine Spirit. Although these searches did indeed find anomalies within its demeanour, there existed no instances of the ill-fortune that had led to the Dreadclaw being forcibly withdrawn from Imperial service -- at least at the time.At the end of the Horus Heresy and further on into the Great Scouring, the Kharybdis saw extensive use on both sides of the conflict. As the Loyalist Legions hounded their traitorous brothers from warzone to warzone, entire fleets burned in void battles in which the lives of countless thousands more Astartes lost their lives. At the end of the Great Scouring, hundreds, possibly even thousands of Kharybdis served the Astartes faithfully, and in so doing began to develop certain characteristics for which it too would become infamous in the ranks of Loyalist and Traitor alike.The Ordo Malleus of the Imperial Inquisition is in possession of several sealed accounts that pertain to the Kharybdis Assault Claw, and while they are mostly contradictory, it is likely that they all contain at least a fragment of truth. There are some that suggest that the Kharybdis' Machine Spirit developed the same near Abominable Intelligence that plagued the Dreadclaw, but of a very different demeanour. Rather than the many malign incidents suffered by the Loyalist Legions at the hands of their Dreadclaws, the Kharybdis seemed to became attached to individual masters, and grew to be highly unpredictable when they were not close to hand.Should the master the machine was attached to leave the area for too long, Tech-priests and Servitors that were tending the machine would fall prey to grizzly accidents. If the machine's chosen master died or was otherwise unable to tend to the machine it would tolerate no others to be within its armoured hold. This fact became revealed during the worst possible time -- during atmospheric entry the great iris hatch would spontaneously open, incinerating those inside to ashes.During the Great Scouring, the Loyalists would eventually stop using the Kharybdis altogether, instead turning to Thunderhawk gunships or Caestus Assault Rams for their ship-to-ship assaults, but they lacked the brute effectiveness of the Kharybdis. However, the assault craft remained in use amongst the Traitor Legions, and as such shared their fate when they fled to the Eye of Terror. Over the millennia, the tides of the Warp changed the Kharybdis as it changed the Traitors, creating a thing of dark sentience and wholly malefic intent.
Kharybdis Assault Claw - In the 41st Millennium: The Kharybdis Assault Claw has served the dark Chaos Space Marines since the Scouring and throughout the war-torn Age of the Imperium, both as an atmospheric drop ship and as a void assault craft. The Chaos Space Marines regularly use the Kharybdis' Storm Launchers and Melta Weapons to scour landing zones before their deadly cargo disembarks.More aggressive commanders employ the craft as a deadly and highly efficient tank hunter, ramming enemy armoured vehicles in daring low-altitude attacks and hooking on with their hook-claws before burning through even the thickest plate with Melta cutters designed to breach the far-thicker hulls of voidships.The secrets of the Kharybdis' construction were lost by the Imperium in the centuries following the Horus Heresy, but still persists in the hands of the Dark Mechanicum and their Chaos Hell-Forges, who offer them up in return to the Forces of Chaos for a bounty of souls and slaves.
Kharybdis Assault Claw - Notable Campaigns: The following is a list of notable campaigns the Kharybdis Assault Claw has been used in:Great Crusade - The Kharybdis Assault Claw was widely used by all of the Legiones Astartes during the Great Crusade.Horus Heresy - The Kharybdis Assault Claw was widely used by both sides during the Horus Heresy, with most Space Marine Legions making use of them for both ship-to-ship boarding actions and ground assaults.Battle of Kalleth - During the Battle of Kalleth in the Horus Heresy, the Astartes of the Ashen Claws made use of entire squadrons of Kharybdis against the Night Lords Legion over the world of Kalleth.Great Scouring - The Kharybdis Assault Claw was widely used during the Great Scouring, with most Space Marine Legions on both sides of the conflict making use of them for boarding actions and ground assaults, although these craft began exhibiting strange attachments to certain masters and sometimes were prone to devastating accidents. Eventually the Imperium discontinued their use entirely during this conflict.Destruction of Solomon Theta - The Kharybdis Assault Claw, along with the Dreadclaw were used in massive numbers by the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion during the Destruction of Solomon Theta in 744.M40, where a coordinated global attack left the planet completely ruined.First Scouring of Coriolanthe - Lord Koth-Scarren of the Night Lords Traitor Legion led a devastating counterattack against the Inquisition and the Grey Knights who were answering an astropathic distress call from the world of Coriolanthe. The usage of Kharybdis Assault Claws helped the Night Lords repel the Imperium long enough for Coriolanthe to fall into madness.
Kharybdis Assault Claw - Armament: The Kharybdis Assault Claw was equipped with several forward-facing Melta-Cutters and Cyclic Thermal Jets that were used to cut breaches into the outer hulls of enemy voidcraft, but could also be used for dangerous low-altitude strafing runs and for burning clear a landing zone before touchdown.The Assault Claw was also armed with a high-powered Melta-ram, which was used with its hook-claws to ram enemy vehicles and burn through their armour, and five Kharybdis Storm Launchers. The Kharybdis Storm Launcher was an external missile launcher system that gave the Kharybdis some degree of ranged striking power as it closed with its target, and could be used to clear landing zones of enemy combatants.The Kharybdis was capable of carrying up to twenty Space Marines, ten Terminators, or a single Castraferrum Pattern or Contemptor Dreadnought. The Assault Claws used by the Chaos Space Marines in the late 41st Millennium are also able to carry a single Helbrute.The Kharybdis is capable of being outfitted with external Frag Assault Launchers, which will fire a blast of fragmentation charges to protect the craft from any enemy infantry that gets too close while it is on a planet's surface.
Kharybdis Assault Claw - Unit Composition: 1 Legion Kharybdis Assault Claw (31st Millennium Only)
Kharybdis Assault Claw - Wargear: A standard Legion Kharybdis Assault Claw is armed and equipped with:5 Kharybdis Storm LaunchersMelta-RamFrag Assault LaunchersInertial Guidance System
Kharybdis Assault Claw - Adeptus Mechanicus Technical Specifications: The technical specifications of this heretical craft are no longer publicly available in Imperial records.
Kharybdis Assault Claw - Sources: The Horus Heresy: Book Three - Extermination (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 61, 236-237The Horus Heresy: Book Six - Retribution (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 145The Horus Heresy: Legiones Astartes - Crusade Army List, pp. 62-63The Horus Heresy: Legiones Astartes - Age of Darkness Army List, pp. 74-75Imperial Armour: Volume 13 - Warmachines of the Lost and the Damned, pp. 18, 92-96Forge World Website - Experimental Rules (No Longer Available)
Kharybdis Storm Launcher - Kharybdis Storm Launcher: The Kharybdis Storm Launcher is a rapid-firing missile launcher system that was used on Kharybdis Assault Claws once used by the Space Marine Legions during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy eras of the late 30th and early 31st Millennia. This weapon system was designed to provide the Kharybdis with some measure of ranged striking power as it closes with its target and to clear landing zones around the Kharybdis once it lands.The weapon worked by throwing nearby enemy resistance into total disarray by firing clusters of fragmentation and anti-armour ordanance as the warriors on board disembarked. The Kharybdis was armed with five of these launchers, one covering a portion of the machine's outer diameter. Each Storm Launcher was controlled independently by the assault craft's on-board Augury-array, allowing accurate fire-control even when tasked with striking multiple individual targets.
Khazant - Khazant: Khazant is a War World: a planet-wide battlefield over which blood has been shed almost continuously since the coming of the Achilus Crusade to the Jericho Reach.Renowned for many years as a corsair stronghold, this former Imperial planet and its oppressed population have long been enslaved to one warlord or another, with Khazant's orbital naval dockyards and plentiful resources its principal prize.From the Achilus Crusade's outset, Khazant was always considered a primary target, and its initial conquest, and the driving of Heretic forces from the Khazant System in a year long campaign, was the last great victory of the crusade under Lord Militant Tiber Achilus' leadership.The former overlords of Khazant were allowed to escape; a development that, in hindsight, would later have the darkest consequences for the crusade effort. Shortly afterwards, the newly-acclaimed Lord Militant Solomon Tetrarchus divided the crusade to form the three existing salients.Raids by Heretic forces into Imperial-held territories in the Cellebos region began to increase dramatically, and the Acheros Salient, under Tetrarchus' direct command, found its main assault meeting massive, organised resistance head-on.During this period, Khazant was temporarily cut off and overwhelmed, its garrisoning forces suffering near-total casualties before an Imperial counterattack could once again contest the system.Since then, control of Khazant has swung back and forth numerous times, and its now-wrecked surface has become the principal battleground of the war in the salient. Its star system is now littered with the wrecks of voidcraft destroyed in action, and it has become the hunting ground of raiders from both sides.These raids are punctuated by attempts from Heretic and Imperial alike to run the gauntlet of enemy blockades to land reinforcements on the surface.On Khazant itself, crusade regiments are still doing battle daily against the forces of the Stigmartus Chaos Cult and their unholy allies on a dozen fronts across a no-man's land, which is now little more than a tangled morass of bunkers, trench works and reeking mud.It is a war of endless artillery barrages, poison gas, grinding armour, and brutal hand-to-hand fighting that shows no sign of relenting.