vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Altansar - Notable Altansar Eldar: Maugan Ra - The Phoenix Lord and founder of the Dark Reapers Aspect Warriors shrine, Maugan Ra is known as the "Harvester of Souls." Maugan Ra came from the once-lost craftworld of Altansar, following the birth of the Chaos God, Slaanesh. Altansar rode out the psychic shock-waves that destroyed the Aeldari realms but was subsequently caught in the gravity well of the Eye of Terror. Although the Asuryani of Altansar fought valiantly against the encroachment of Chaos, they were unable to escape their inevitable doom, and within five hundred Terran years of the Fall their craftworld was swallowed by the Warp. Nothing remained of Altansar except for Maugan Ra, the mightiest Exarch of Altansar's Shrine of the Dark Reapers. Millennia later, during the 13th Black Crusade, Maugan Ra was responsible for the creation of the Ulthwé Strike Forces. Maughan Ra and the elite Black Guardians fought across every sector against the forces of Chaos by cunning use of the Webway. He ultimately led the Asuryani to victory even in the heart of the Eye of Terror and, after repelling the innumerable hosts of Chaos, guided his former homeworld back into realspace. It is believed by many farseers that the reappearance of the shadowy Craftworld of Altansar and its ghost-like inhabitants was purely due to the iron determination of the Phoenix Lord to locate and redeem his once-lost brethren.
Altansar - Appearance: Aeons spent adrift in the Eye of Terror have forever altered the warriors of Altansar. The stained reddish purple of their armour evokes the seas of blood shed by their people in the craftworld's defence; the white the bones of their ancestors.Warriors of Altansar also wear the colour black in honour of Maugan Ra -- first of the sinister Dark Reapers -- for it was he who found them within the Eye of Terror and freed them from its perilous grip.
Altansar - Sources: Codex: Craftworlds (8th Edition), pg. 24Codex: Eldar Craftworlds (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 41, 180-181Codex: Eldar (6th Edition), pp. 14, 61Codex: Eldar (4th Edition), pg. 57White Dwarf 287 (UK), "Eye of Terror Campaign: Death By A Thousand Cuts," by Andy ChambersEye of Terror Campaign, "Death By A Thousand Cuts"Psychic Awakening - Phoenix Rising (8th Edition), pg. 47
Amalathian - Amalathian: The Amalathians are a philosophical sect of the Inquisition that believe that the Emperor's will is unfolding constantly across the Imperium and that He has a plan known only to Him.A strict Puritan faction, Amalathians believe in maintaining the laws and governance of the Imperium as they currently exist above all other considerations, convinced that in keeping the status quo intact they are in fact fulfilling the Emperor's great vision for His domain. They are also counted among the oldest of the Inquisition's factions, their tenets first being laid down millennia ago on the sacred slopes of Mount Amalath on the world of Gathalamor -- from which they take their name.The Amalathians enjoy close ties with many Imperial adepta, providing assistance, overt and otherwise, in order to maintain their control. Thus they ensure a balance within the power of the Adeptus Terra and in the operational fabric of the Imperium.Throughout the Imperium, the Amalathians seek to calm volatile situations and prevent rapid change, should change even be necessary at all. They claim events are unfolding as the Emperor has foreseen and to force change in His name is a supreme arrogance. Who can truly claim to know the will of the Emperor?They believe it is their sacred duty to protect the Imperium from those who seek to plunge it into anarchy, and to allow the Emperor's sacred plan to unfold at its ordained time. To achieve their goals, the Amalathians must often work closely with agents from other adepta, and its members often have good relations with bodies such as the Adeptus Arbites, Orders Famulous, and the Adeptus Astartes.Many vocal proponents of change within the Imperium accuse the Amalathians of burying their heads in the sand, trusting events to unfold as fate dictates rather than taking a proactive stance in the defence of the Imperium. However, the Amalathians know that the Emperor is infallible and to second-guess His divine plan for Humanity is to attempt to know the will of a god. And what mortal would dare claim such knowledge?Amalathians are generally men and women who pride themselves on being level-headed, and they often gather retinues of like-minded companions and Acolytes. They value the learned wisdom of the sage as much as the tactical advice of a veteran of the Astra Militarum, and listen to each before deciding upon a course of action.
Amalathian - History: For those who noted their coming, the first days of the 41st Millennium were days of optimism and promise, a time of great spiritual and physical rebuilding. It was decreed that there would be a conclave held at Mount Amalath on the world of Gathalamor, where military, religious, and political dignitaries would gather to once again renew their vows of piety and devotion and to swear their oaths of loyalty to the Emperor.It is said that alongside the cardinals, admirals, generals, Imperial lords, and praefects were as many as eight hundred Chapter Masters of the Adeptus Astartes journeyed from the far corners of the galaxy to join in this renewal of faith; if true, by far the greatest number to assemble in one place in many millennia. Also in attendance were a number of Inquisitors, who were as inspired by what they heard and saw as the others.In the aftermath of the sermons at Mount Amalath, the Imperium entered a phase of expansion and renewal, perhaps the greatest achievement of which was seen when Lord Solar Macharius led the Macharian Crusade in the Emperor's name, leading his forces into the galactic west and beginning the campaign that saw over a thousand worlds claimed for the Master of Mankind.Within the ranks of the Inquisition there was a growing feeling that events were once again proceeding to the Emperor's plans, and that the pervading sense of doom that had spread through the Imperium during the Plague of Unbelief and the Reign of Blood of the 36th Millennium was finally over.Many Inquisitors were swayed by the numerous impassioned speakers on Gathalamor, and vowed that none should threaten the strength which the Imperium was slowly regaining. This body of Inquisitors became known as "Amalathians" and decreed that they would forever strive to maintain order and destroy those who would seek to destabilise the Imperium.Less concerned with the traditional heresies of witchcraft and mutation, except where they were being manipulated by the Emperor's enemies, the Puritan Amalathians sought to keep infighting and politicking within the Imperial adepta and military to a minimum, holding to the Inquisition's original mantra of strength through unity.
Amalathian - Amalathian Doctrine: The Amalathian viewpoint is one of the widest-held and best-accepted of the diverse dogmas and ideologies to be found present within the Holy Ordos of the Inquisition and its adherents are found across all the differing Ordos Majoris and Minoris.The fundamental position of the Amalathian doctrine is that the Imperium of Man as it currently stands in the 41st Millennium is valid, divinely ordained, and worth fighting for. Amalathian Inquisitors therefore strive to maintain the current balance of political power in the Human-settled galaxy and the structure of the Imperium's military, church, and state. Change other than the slow glacial pace of Human history is for them an anathema and revolution an unthinkable blasphemy against the divinely-ordained order.This doctrine leads Amalathian Inquisitors in scouring out and destroying any individual or agency that might destabilise or damage the greater Imperium both from without and within its domain. As a result, Amalathian Inquisitors often rank the crimes of bodily and spiritual corruption, witchery, and personal heresy as being of a lower priority for their attentions than wider threats against the status quo or ones that endanger or corrupt the standing institutions of the Imperium either on a local or interstellar level.One marked characteristic of those that follow the Amalathian doctrine is their tendency to operate "within the system" and display a tolerant conservatism for the rights and domains of the Imperium's various arms of governance and authority (where they have not become corrupt or overstepped their bounds).This approach commonly sees them working successfully in close co-operation with adepta such as the Adeptus Arbites, the Adeptus Ministorum, and local authorities such as the Imperial governors and planetary law enforcement. They also maintain good relations with notoriously independent Imperial power centres such as the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Navis Nobilite.Compared to all the ideologies prevalent within the Inquisition, Amalathism has remained one of the most stable, and perhaps the one closest to the founding conception of the Inquisition after the Horus Heresy; that the Imperium should find strength through unity, and unity through strength.Although over the years there have been self-professed Amalathians who have strayed far from the path into Radicalism of their own accord, or have in the judgement of their peers "gone too far," there have been few true splinter doctrines from the Amalathian root.Radicals tend to react against this conservative and Puritan creed rather than adopt it. As such, the development of Librcaranism amounts to a disturbing and unexpected development in the eyes of many. Most Amalathians would prefer to see this cancer cut from the body of the Inquisition.
Amalathian - Amalathian Domains: All of the major worlds within the Calixis Sector lie beneath the influence of the Amalathians. From the hive cities of Scintilla to the mines of Sepheris Secundus and beyond, their watchful eyes monitor the actions of the Emperor's countless organisations.Only as the light of the Emperor becomes faint and the grasp of the Imperium weakens does their power fade. Towards the galactic rim, among the Halo Stars, and deep within the empty reaches of the sector and in the Koronus Expanse, there is little evidence of the Amalathians and their work.After all, it is the Imperium and its workings that are their chief concern -- "better to have power over the people than the stars," as some would say.
Amalathian - Amalathian Operations: Amalathians have a direct hand in the daily operation of several of the Calixis Sector's key Imperial adepta. Certainly, many of the most powerful Imperial military leaders have their operations in part directed by the faction. Whether they know it or not, the Calixian branches of the Navis Imperialis and the Astra Militarum have (numerous times) been redirected to further the ends of the Amalathians.Such shifts in manpower and vessels are sometimes so subtle as to have gone unnoticed, and certainly being told what to do is pretty much the norm for those within the Imperial military--even at the sector command level.Within the Adeptus Arbites, however, members of the faction take a far more direct and visible hand. Acting as advisors, they work to ensure the Emperor's laws are being enforced and guide the Imperium's lawmen towards areas most in need of their firm hand.This work is very important to the Amalathians, as many of the faction's Inquisitors have an almost pathological belief in the rule of law. This conviction could be attributed to the fact that many of them believe that Imperial law is synonymous with the divine word of the Emperor Himself.
Amalathian - Amalathian Secrets: Like the Thorians, the Amalathians are one of the more visible and well-known factions of the Inquisition. Certainly, within the Calixian Conclave their actions and agents are easily recognised, and their ends are apparent and accepted. This transparency of intent, however, hides a significant secret.The Amalathians, being privy to vast amounts of information gathered by the Imperium's military and law enforcement organisations, have discerned a dark, deadly secret about the Hereticus Tenebrae and what perhaps is its ultimate meaning. This information, if it became known among the Conclave, would most probably force radical changes among the Inquisitiorial operations in the sector and, worse yet, alter the Imperium's very presence there.Thus, a small Tyrantine Cabal within the faction has chosen to suppress the information and its existence. To date, only a handful of Amalathians know these facts, and even they are each entrusted with only a part of the truth, perhaps not even guessing at the enormity of the danger.
Amar Astarte - Amar Astarte: Amar Astarte was a scientist of ancient Terra and the first director of the Imperial Biotechnical Division who was instrumental during the final days of the Unification Wars in the 30th Millennium in creating the first Space Marines of the Legiones Astartes.It is believed that it was Amar Astarte who gave her name to the project, and indeed to all of the Space Marines who are known in High Gothic as "Astartes."
Amar Astarte - History: Not much is known about Astarte's origins or how she came to work on the Legiones Astartes project. By the later years of the Unification Wars she served as the first director of the Imperial Biotechnical Division in the subterranean laboratories of the Imperial Palace.Her project was the development of the separate gene-lines of the Space Marine Legions. She was known to be perhaps the greatest geneticist of the era save for the Emperor Himself. Her skills were said to even surpass that of the Selenar gene-cult of Luna.It was Amar Astarte who first attempted to develop the prototype for the Space Marine gene-seed organ that would become the Black Carapace. But the initial design was flawed and had to be perfected by another legendary scientist named Ezekiel Sedayne who had been alive during the Age of Strife. Sedayne ultimately replaced Astarte as the director of the Biotechnical Division.At the time of the Horus Heresy in the early 31st Millennium, Astarte was no longer viewed with much esteem by the Imperial government. After she was replaced by Sedayne as the head of the Imperium's genetic engineering efforts, the second director of the BioTechnical Division tended to view her with a certain degree of disdain or even outright hostility.
Amar Astarte - Trivia: Astarte was the Hellenised form of the Middle Eastern goddess Astoreth (Northwest Semitic), a form of Ishtar (East Semitic), a goddess of fertility, love, sex and war. Astarte was worshipped from the Bronze Age through Classical antiquity. The name is particularly associated with her worship in the ancient Levant among the Canaanites and Phoenicians. She was also celebrated in Egypt following the importation of Levantine cults there.The name Astarte is sometimes also applied to her cults in Mesopotamian cultures like Assyria and Babylonia.Her portfolios of fertility and battle make her an excellent namesake for the woman who helped to give birth to the Space Marines of the Imperium of Man.
Amaranthine Syndicate - Black Market Operator: The illegal operations of the Amaranthine Syndicate operate in tandem with its more legitimate trading interests and are centred on inter-system smuggling operations. They deal primarily in illicit drugs, stolen items, controlled technologies, arms, and other black market goods, and in the worlds bordering the Hazeroth Abyss, the Syndicate has quickly come to displace other organised smuggler gangs, being the first to challenge the domination of the Cold Guild in generations. It has been utterly merciless in crushing any organised opposition against it and the Syndicate will readily utilise targeted assassination and mercenary Kill-teams in order to employ a strategy of divide and conquer -- backing one local criminal or mercantile faction against another.The Syndicate is also careful to leave petty gangs and local independents largely untouched, using their activities to mask the Syndicate's own and providing convenient scapegoats for the authorities. For those with the wealth or connections, the Syndicate has other goods and services to offer. Its agents deal in forbidden xenotech, artefacts, and other trinkets from beyond the Imperium's border. The Syndicate can also do more, much more, for the right buyer; it can arrange to have enemies permanently "vanished," provide clients with vast sums of financial backing, and arrange for shipping (or even whole outposts) to disappear without trace. However, the price for such services is total loyalty to the Syndicate and its often strange requests.
Amaranthine Syndicate - The Dark Design: The ultimate power behind the works of the Amaranthine Syndicate is a covenant of xenos known as the Slaugth. The Slaugth are an ageless and patient alien race, and their plans and schemes are tangled and largely incomprehensible to the human mind. However, they share one motivation that humans can understand, that of an addictive hunger. To feed this hunger, the Slaugth have undertaken to destabilise the Calixis Sector in order to see it unravel in civil war, anarchy, and terror so that they might feed on the fractious masses of Mankind with little or no opposition.To this end they infiltrated the Amaranthine Syndicate when it actually was a fledgling human trade cartel, overcoming all opposition until they controlled it completely. The Syndicate is their pawn in a wider game that may take generations of human lives to see fruition. Their plan is elegant in its simplicity. The Slaugth understand Mankind very well. Their weapons are human greed and desire, and their plan is to effectively destroy humanity by giving it exactly what it wants -- wealth, power, weapons, drugs, and forbidden trinkets -- and watch as humanity tears itself apart as a consequence. At the same time, they are using their "gifts" to further infiltrate not only the criminal underworlds and economic structures of the sector, but also its nobility and government. Certainly the Ecclesiarchy, Departmento Munitorum, and Administratum are likely targets. If their plan sees its apotheosis, then when the time is right, the Slaugth will turn the key on their operations -- eaten away from within, utterly compromised and eroded, the Calixis Sector will collapse in on itself in fire and chaos. In the ruins of once mighty Calixis, the Slaugth will have their way, and the survivors will doubtless envy the dead.
Amaranthine Syndicate - Amaranthine Syndicate Members: The Amaranthine Syndicate's membership covers a range of different individuals and operations, from the trader crews and captains of the Syndicate's starships to its planet-bound merchant and smuggling contacts. The legal side of its operations involves everything from employed casual labour to scribes and interface pilots, while its criminal operations include mercenaries, hired guns, Hereteks, and street scum who deal their illicit cargo. Most of these individuals will have no dealings whatsoever with the Syndicate's Principals save for the most trusted and the most compromised:Amaranthine Agent - The Syndicate conducts its more important deals through skilled agents, usually groomed for the task and selected from the staff of minor merchant houses and sometimes even the Administratum. Such agents represent a charming (if often somewhat melancholic) human face for their faceless masters. Most having been ensnared by their own ambition and vanity, they are quite capable of leading others similarly astray and are utterly loyal to the Syndicate, if less than happy with their lot. They know full well who they work for and the price of failure.Amaranthine Captain - While the Syndicate's agents direct their negotiations and business affairs, it is the captains of its free trader vessels that are relied on to deal with more direct matters when needed. Most were dangerous, disreputable men and women long before their greed or piratical activities led them to the Syndicate's attention, and what little morality or compunctions they may once have had they can literally no longer afford if they want to live. There is nothing they will not do to maintain what freedom and power is allowed them -- and to avoid the Slaugth's personal attentions, of course.
Amaranthine Syndicate - The Slaugth: In appearance, the Slaugth are truly horrific to look upon, taking the form of a vague humanoid shape composed of seemingly hundreds of writhing, half-melded maggot-like worms covered in viscous, necrotic mucus. Capable of stretching and reforming their body-mass at will, they move with an obscene, boneless fluidity and are capable of regenerating injury with startling speed. They are impervious to age, poison, diseases, and all but the most extreme injury. Their minds are as alien as any encountered by Mankind —- coldly savage, psychic voids filled with a monstrous hunger for the dead. Slaugth science and technology is likewise nightmarish and powerful, seamlessly melding the organic and inorganic to achieve its ends in a blasphemous symbiosis of form and function. The Slaugth seem capable of manufacturing strange techno-organic construct creatures of a bewildering variety, carrying out their master's wishes as need be. Slaugth weapons and artefacts are indeed so advanced and strange as to appear to be the products of Warpcraft to the uninitiated -- a fact that, coupled with their hideous appearance, has mislead some into believing them daemonic in nature.Slaugth Overseer - The Slaugth "Principals" behind the Amaranthine Syndicate are, if anything, more dangerous and powerful than those encountered as infiltrators. Whether they constitute some leadership caste or particular cabal remains unknown.Slaugth Vassal Construct - The vassal is a common biomechanical construct creature, animated by the Slaugth to tend devices and serve as menial labourers, guards, spies, or observers. Like most examples of Slaugth technology, its appearance inspires immediate revulsion in humanity. Though widely differing in appearance, most appear as hovering asymmetrical columns of mottled, fungal looking flesh, shot through with pulsing veins and lattices of metal threadwork and crystalline studs. Their heads are no more than clusters of waving, frond-like sensory growths, and skeletal pincer-limbs erupt from their body mass as needed.
Amaranthine Syndicate - Ordo Xenos Departmento Analyticus Threat Briefing: As far as the Ordo Xenos is concerned, the Amaranthine Syndicate, or possibly a faction within it, is under suspicion of the organised trafficking in proscribed xenos artefacts and perhaps more seriously of extensive links with human Renegades and pirates operating in the Hazeroth Abyss region. As a result, several Inquisitors (with the support and notice of Battlefleet Calixis' Hazeroth patrol squadrons) have begun to undertake the tracking and investigation of suspect individuals and voidcraft connected to the Syndicate. To date, the results remain inconclusive, although several smuggling rings and individual Xeno-heretics have been successfully prosecuted as a result of the Ordo Xenos' investigations. The matter is ongoing, and the Amaranthine Syndicate remains under covert surveillance and Inquisitorial suspicion. However, preliminary reports indicate that no wider conspiracy or xenos-taint exists beyond such localised corruption.
Amaranthite - Amaranthite: Amaranthite is an unknown mineral used by the Necrons to strengthen the structural integrity of necrodermis, the living metal they use in their own undying bodies and all other vehicles and wargear in their possession.Amaranthite is used alongside adamantium as part of the Necron defensive technology called a Sempiternal Weave. A Sempiternal Weave threads a Necron's exoskeleton with filaments of phase-hardened amaranthite and adamantium, vastly increasing the body's structural integrity to a level that rivals that of Astartes Terminator Armour.This technology is only available to Necron royalty, such as Necron Overlords, Necron Lords and Necron Destroyer Lords.
Amasec - Amasec: Amasec is a potent alcoholic liquor similar to wine that is popular across the Imperium of Man and is distilled from different types of local grain, including vineyards on the world of Mistral. Many different Imperial worlds produce drinks that go by this name.Its quality can vary considerably, ranging from lesser brews fit for use in firebombs, to well-aged brands suitable only for the Imperial nobility or the highest-ranked of the Emperor's servants.In the Astra Militarum, Amasec has a tendency to be confiscated by higher-ranking officers for their own use from among the rank-and-file when they discover it.
Amberley Vail - Amberley Vail: Amberley Vail is an Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos, best known for her close professional and personal association with the famous commissar Ciaphas Cain.Vail does not profess allegiance to any particular Inquisitorial faction, but her actions are generally those of a Puritan. She prefers safe disposal of xenos or Chaos artefacts in most cases with few exceptions, and she considers Radicals of any ordo to be barely distinguishable from their heretical prey.Physically, Amberley Vail is tall, blonde, and blue-eyed, and has the powerful contralto voice of a trained singer. In addition to High and Low Gothic, she is reasonably fluent in the T'au, Aeldari and Orkish tongues.Vail operated mostly in the Damocles Gulf and the surrounding space of the Segmentum Ultima. Her length of service is currently unknown, but spans for at least a standard century. Cain first met Inquisitor Vail in 931.M41, and her active career continued past his eventual death in the first century of the 42nd Millennium.
Amberley Vail - Keffia: Vail's first actions mentioned in the Cain Archive were in the late 920s.M41. After dealing with the space hulk Dolorous Tidings, which delayed her longer than expected, she arrived on Keffia. This Agri-world had been the site of a major Genestealer Cult, but the Astra Militarum had already broken the cult's military strength, and Inquisitor Vail merely took over from them to root out the last remaining traces.
Amberley Vail - Perlia: Around this time, Vail was also involved in a joint Ordo Xenos/Adeptus Mechanicus project on the world of Perlia, studying the Shadowlight, a pre-Human xenos relic located there that possessed strange, Warp-based powers. The Mechanicus laboratory-shrine studying the artefacts was hidden within a hydroelectric dam in the so-called Valley of Daemons. Unfortunately, the project was disrupted by an invasion of the world by the Orks of WAAAGH! Korbul, which conquered the continent where the Valley of Daemons was located. After the area was reconquered, the laboratory-shrine proved to have been robbed by unknown parties and the Shadowlight stolen.On the bright side, a great many other artefacts were found during the reconstruction efforts. Ciaphas Cain had raised an army from within Ork-held territory to meet the Greenskin threat, known as the "March of the Liberator." They had breached the dam in the Valley of Daemons in order to take out an Ork horde, and the resulting flood scoured much of the valley down to bedrock, unearthing dozens of other artefacts that had been buried there.None were of the same potency as the Shadowlight, but many were designed to work with that artefact as part of a greater system of unknown purpose, or were xenos documentation related to its use. The rebuilt laboratory-shrine had plenty of material to study even without the Shadowlight itself.
Amberley Vail - Gravalax: Amberley Vail's first well-known action was the Gravalax Incident in 931.M41, during which she helped prevent both the takeover of the planet Gravalax by the T'au Empire, and a plot by a Genestealer Cult to provoke a bloody and pointless war between the T'au and the Imperium. It was during this mission that Vail first met Commissar Ciaphas Cain, beginning a long and fruitful relationship. She also discovered that his aide Ferik Jurgen was a Psychic Blank, a fact that likely saved the lives of all three during Cain's duel with the Genestealer Patriarch and Vail's fight with the tainted planetary governor.As the dust settled and the Imperium consolidated its victory on Gravalax, Vail saw the withdrawing T'au rescue two Fire Warriors who had been lost fighting the Genestealers. She watched in satisfaction, recognising what the T'au did not: both scouts were showing clear signs of Genestealer infection, and were doomed to spread their genetic curse to whatever T'au world they were taken to.
Amberley Vail - Simia Orichalcae: A standard year later in 932.M41, Vail and Cain met again, following the Valhallan 597th Regiment's encounter with a Necron stasis tomb on the world of Simia Orichalcae. The regiment had survived with few losses and apparently destroyed the Necron tomb, though at the cost of losing much of their materiel and destroying the promethium refinery they had come to protect from Orks.At Cain's recommendation, Vail immediately placed Simia Orichalcae under Inquisitorial quarantine. She then spent some solar weeks comprehensively debriefing the 597th's troops, as well as warning them of the dire consequences they would suffer from the Inquisition should any of them breathe a word about the existence of the undying robotic warriors to anyone else.Even while the regiment was still fighting to hold the refinery, Cain's record search revealed that the refinery was not sited on the planet's richest promethium deposits, but on a lesser deposit that was sited directly over the stasis tomb. Vail and her Ordo Hereticus colleague Inquisitor Kuryakin easily discovered which Adeptus Mechanicus magi chose the site, but were unable to prove that the Tech-priests were knowingly attempting to gain access to the xenos tomb. The matter is still under investigation by Kuryakin.
Amberley Vail - 13th Black Crusade: During the 13th Black Crusade, Vail discovered that one of Abaddon's subordinate Chaos Lords, Varan the Undefeatable, and his army were headed towards Perlia, clearly hungering for the power of the Shadowlight. If he found it, he could manufacture psykers by the billions, all unprotected by the Emperor's sanction. Reality would be torn asunder throughout the galaxy within solar decades. Varan had to be denied his goal at all costs.Since Varan had thus far easily conquered every Imperial world he had attacked, Vail sent her Rogue Trader associate Orelius to spirit away the Shadowlight to safety elsewhere. However, the greater apparatus surrounding the Shadowlight was now too large to move, and moreover Orelius' ship was driven out of the system before he could try. Instead, the defence of the artefact fell on the Planetary Defence Force, led by Ciaphas Cain. Miraculously, Cain and his forces managed to hold out long enough to lure Varan into a trap, and kill him in a personal duel.All might still have been lost, as Varan's enraged army attacked the laboratory-shrine in full force. Unexpectedly, however, a Necron Monolith Phalanx materialised at the Chaos army's rear. The Necrons ripped through the Lost and the Damned like a chainsword through butter, marched into the shrine as the Imperial defenders hastily got out of their way, defeated an attempt to self-destruct the shrine, and absconded with the Shadowlight.Cain and Vail later concluded that the complete Shadowlight complex was a psychic superweapon, created by the long-vanished Old Ones to fight the Necrons, who greatly feared psychic powers and the energies of the Warp. A Necron surveillance post had been lurking in the Perlia System for aeons, hoping to finally neutralise the ancient weapon. Varan's attack had revealed the artefact to them, at which point the Necrons launched a raid to seize it.While not an ideal resolution, if the Necrons had feared the Shadowlight so, they likely had no plans to use it against the Imperium. Better for the artefact to fall into their hands, rather than those of the forces of Chaos.
Amberley Vail - Cain Archive: After Ciaphas Cain died, Inquisitor Vail examined his personal effects in order to secure any Imperial secrets they might hold. In the process, she found a Data-Slate full of jumbled files, which Cain apparently wrote during his retirement as a sort of retrospective private journal. Unlike his official memoir, To Serve the Emperor: A Commissar's Life, these accounts were brutally honest about both the redacted parts of Cain's famous exploits, and the commissar's own less-than-noble motives.Naturally, Vail immediately placed the contents of the slate under Inquisitorial seal. Imperial secrets aside, the Inquisition could hardly allow the public to know that the celebrated Hero of the Imperium was in fact a scoundrel and a self-seeking rogue, let alone that those very flaws likely made him such a effective champion of the Emperor in the first place.However, she did feel that her fellow Inquisitors should understand what had made Cain who he was. Further, over the course of his career Cain had fought almost every enemy the Imperium has, from the Archenemy to the Great Devourer to the Greater Good of the T'au Empire, and Vail felt that the Inquisition should gain the benefit of his own insights into Humanity's various enemies.Accordingly, Vail began a side project to edit the Cain Archive. She sorted the unstructured account into a series of relatively self-contained books, and added various footnotes and material from other sources in order to give Cain's self-centered narrative a wider context.As each book was completed, she released it for internal Inquisition circulation. She was pleased to see them widely read, although less pleased to see that most Inquisitors took them as light entertainment, rather than the serious food for thought she intended them to be.In a fictional conceit, Vail's edited volumes of the Cain Archive were the actual Black Library books about Ciaphas Cain written by Sandy Mitchell.
Amberley Vail - Wargear: Inquisitorial RosetteElectoo of the Inquisitorial Rosette embedded in palmBolt PistolDigital NeedlerDisplacer FieldCameleoline CloakInquisitor Artificer Armour with integrated bolter and Power FistExternus Exterminatus - The Externus Exterminatus was Vail's Warp-capable personal yacht.Aquila Lander armed with Twin-linked Lascannons
Amberley Vail - Acolytes: Amberley Vail maintained a relatively small group of Acolytes in her service.Rakel - Rakel is a Sanctioned Psyker. It was Rakel's extreme physical and mental reaction to Ferik Jurgen that prompted Vail to suspect him of being a Psychic Blank.Cogitator Yanbel - Yanbel is a Tech-priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus.Caractacus Mott - Mott is a savant in service to the Inquisition. Mott possessed numerous bionic augmentations and a tendency to launch into long-winded explanations of any topic that came up, often at inopportune moments. Nevertheless, Ciaphas Cain seemed to enjoy Mott's company, especially since Mott's prodigious mathematical abilities allowed the pair to cheat at cards in gambling houses."Flicker" Pelton - Pelton served Vail as a covert operations specialist. He was once an agent of the Adeptus Arbites until his superiors became concerned he had genuinely joined a crime cartel he was infiltrating and tried to retrieve him. Unwilling to let his work go to waste, Pelton engineered an internal war that bloodily destroyed the cartel. This effective but unlawful tactic ended Pelton's Arbites career, but caught Inquisitor Vail's approving eye.Zemelda Cleat - Cleat was a street rat and former fast food seller who ended up in Vail's service on Periremunda.Simeon (KIA) - Simeon is a former commissar who was sentenced to a Penal Legion after snapping under the pressure of his position. Simeon was fitted with a combat-drug implant that supercharged his speed and reactions in battle, at the cost of a crippling addiction and withdrawal symptoms. Simeon was killed in action on Periremunda.Pontius - Pontius served as Vail's pilot.
Amberley Vail - Collaborators: Ciaphas Cain - Cain was one of the most famous commissars ever to serve with the Astra Militarum and is considered a hero of the Imperium. This is despite his own memoirs indicating that his heroic deeds were often driven by more base motives, such as simply seeking to save his own life.Ferik Jurgen - Jurgen is Ciaphas Cain's meltagun-toting aide, a guardsmen of the Valhallan Ice Warriors, and a Psychic Blank. Despite Jurgen's incalculable value to the Inquisition, Vail decided to leave him with Cain rather than requisitioning him for herself, which would have made him a prize to be fought over within the byzantine ranks of the Inquisition.Orelius -  Orelius was a Rogue Trader who commanded the Lucre Foedus, a vessel  comparable in size and firepower to an Imperial Navy cruiser.Kuryakin - Kuryakin was an Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus. In 999.M41, Kuryakin and his entourage were dispatched to Perlia, on a tip from Vail, to help combat the heretical influence stirred up in the wake of Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade. By the time he arrived, the Chaos forces present on the planet had already been defeated.
Ambition-class Cruiser - Ambition-class Cruiser: The Ambition-class Cruiser is an extremely rare class of cruiser produced by the Kormisoshi Dockyards of the Calixis Sector for private clients like unusually wealthy Rogue Traders rather than the Imperium itself. Despite the fact that they are intended for use by private citizens, these formidable cruisers posses firepower comparable to that of the Lunar-class and Tyrant-class Cruisers of the Navis Imperialis.Invariably incorporating the most luxurious and opulent quarters, the Ambition-class is a briskly efficient voidcraft that lacks some of the ultra-conservative redundancies built into true naval vessels. Some commentators have observed that as such these warships are likely to be somewhat more brittle than many "true" cruisers, but most Rogue Traders are prepared to sacrifice this for the prestige of owning such a noble and exclusive voidcraft.
Ambition-class Cruiser - History: The Navis Imperialis is by far the most important purchaser of warships in the Imperium of Man. The economies of entire sub-sectors are devoted to supporting the manufacture and supply of these mighty voidcraft, principally in regions which serve the greater Forge Worlds such as Mars or Cypra Mundi.It is extremely rare for private customers to have the resources to purchase a whole new cruiser-grade vessel outright. Rare, but not unknown. The Imperium, despite its complex feudal hierarchy, does occasionally produce the extremely wealthy individual, or corporate or Rogue Trader dynasties with the financial wherewithal to commission the manufacture of a bespoke cruiser.These are not rusty and echoing mothballed, second-hand cruisers from the wrecking yards or naval reserve fleets, but shining new vessels built to the quixotic specifications of eccentric and boundlessly conniving individuals. The Ambition is representative of such a type of voidship. A handful of warships of this rare class have emerged intermittently from the orbital Kormisoshi Dockyards of the Calixis Sector over the past thousand standard years, each a phenomenally expensive purchase.They are true Imperial cruisers, with the ability to pack as much firepower as the Lunar-class and Tyrant-class Cruisers of the Navis Imperialis, though they have never been tested in combat against them, to anyone's knowledge.
Ambition-class Cruiser - Notable Ambition-class Cruisers: Ardent Bane - The construction of the Ardent Bane was completed under a pall of secrecy in the Kormisoshi Dockyards after Rogue Trader Modren seized his Warrant of Trade but before his retreat into the furthest reaches of the Koronus Expanse. Investigators from the Tricorn palace suspect Modren eliminated a chartist captain who'd already commissioned an Ambition-class vessel in a convenient accident involving a solar storm. With the original owner dead, he offered to purchase the partially completed hull and pay handsomely for the finishing. What surreptitious deals Modren offered the masters of the shipyards to enact this highly irregular transfer may never be known, but the Ardent Bane was completed five years to the day after being moved to an isolated slip on the edge of the dockyards. Many fitters and dockworkers who helped construct the interior portions of the vessel also suffered strange accidents -- those who did not die were often crippled so badly that they were recycled into servitors aboard the Ardent Bane. In the decades since its launch, the Ardent Bane has made a name for itself in the Expanse as a dangerous vessel to cross prows with. As formidably armed as any warship of the Imperial Navy, the Ardent Bane has, on at least one occasion, hulked a reaver cruiser in a single torpedo volley. The rumourmongers of Footfall tell tales of the lavish halls lauding the glories of House Modren running the length of the keel. They also whisper of secret underdeck vaults housing technologies of unknown origin and providence, maintained by tongueless servitors and shackled enginseer-slaves.
Ambition-class Cruiser - Dimensions: Hull - Approximately 4.9 kilometres long, 2 kilometres abeam at fins.Class - Ambition-class Cruiser.Mass - Approximately 25 megatonnes.Crew - Approximately 89,000 crew.Acceleration - 3 gravities maximum sustainable acceleration.
Ambot - Ambot: An Ambot is a cybernetic construct used for heavy mining duties across the Imperium of Man. Its central nervous system is that of the xenos creature known as an Ambull that exists on many different worlds across the galaxy.The Ambull was chosen to serve as the controlling intelligence of the construct because of its native adaptation to subterranean environments and its instinct for tunnelling. This is of great use in finding new deposits of valuable ores. Every Ambot is implanted with cortical limiters to reduce its aggressiveness and prevent it from escaping from its handlers and running amok.On the Hive World of Necromunda, some of the gangs have gained access to Ambots and altered their programming to turn them into powerful engines of destruction. They are then deployed in the constant wars among the gangers of the underhive of Hive Primus.
Ambulator Frame - Ambulator Frame: An Ambulator Frame is a medical exoskeleton that uses irreplaceable relic technology dating back to the Dark Age of Technology to counteract the infirmities of old age even after multiple rejuvenat treatments have run their course. These precious relics are only found amongst the most powerful and senior members of the Imperium of Man's ruling elite as they not only continue to keep their wearer alive, but the ambulator provides protections and enhanced physical strength comparable to that provided by Adeptus Astartes Artificer Armour.Most Ambulator Frames also include batteries of stimulants, drugs or other medicines that can keep their wearer alive even after having suffered the most horrific of wounds as later illustrated by the legendary resilience of Inquisitor Commodus Voke.Among the most famous users of an Ambulator Frame was Lord Marshal Ireton MaSade of the Agathean cohorts of the Solar Auxilia who fought during the Horus Herest at the Liberation of Numinal.
Ambull - Ambull: An Ambull is a massively built, roughly humanoid xenos creature with an insect-like armoured carapace and oversized arms tipped with iron-hard claws. Their pronounced hunched stance lowers their true height greatly, but when fully upright with claws stretched overhead they can easily reach four metres in height.Ambulls are extremely hardy and long-lived social creatures, usually forming close-knit family units with several adults tending to broods of four to seven offspring. They are also natural tunnelers, with eyes sensitive to the faintest light even into the infrared spectrum, and claws that can excavate through soft rock and earth at alarming speeds.Ambull communal tunnels and caverns can stretch for many kilometres underground, forming a vast network of what can appear to the unwary as safe havens from threats above the ground.
Ambull - Canon Conflict: The 1st Edition Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader rulebook (1987) stated that Ambulls might have originated on the Death World of Luther McIntyre IX in the Segmentum Solar, but the Liber Xenologis (2021) instead claimed it to be the Death World of Luther McIntyre IX in the Segmentum Tempestus.
Amendera Kendel - Amendera Kendel: Amendera Kendel was an Oblivion Knight of the Sisters of Silence during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy in the late 30th and early 31st Millennia. She would later be recruited by the Regent of Terra, Malcador the Sigillite, as one of his senior agents and granted the rank of Agentia Tertius. Following the Horus Heresy, she was one of the founding members of the newly-created Holy Orders of the Inquisition.
Amendera Kendel - History: At the outset of the Horus Heresy, Amendera Kendel was thirty standard years old, recruited from an unnamed world located in the Belladone Reach. While traveling to Terra aboard a Black Ship, she met Emrilia Herkaaze, who was also recruited from a world in the Belladone Reach. The two would later become friends during their aspirant trials after they were both selected by the Silent Sisterhood to join their ranks.At some point, following her induction as a Null Maiden, both Kendel and Herkaaze would encounter a fire-witch on the world of Sheol Trinus. Unwilling to fall back and regroup, Herkaaze would be badly wounded when she was struck by burning debris that blinded her left eye and badly scarred her face. She would later blame Kendel for not supporting her, and the friendship between the two soured.
Amendera Kendel - Jorgall Persecution: By the latter years of the Great Crusade, Sister Kendel had achieved the rank of Oblivion Knight and commanded the Black Ship Aeria Gloris. At this time, Sister Kendel was a part of a cadre of sisters known as the Storm Dagger Witchseeker Cadre sent on the orders of Malcador the Sigillite to deploy alongside the Death Guard Legion in pursuit of the xenos known as the Jorgall for daring to venture into human space. The Sisters proved instrumental in attacking and wounding a powerful mutant Jorgall psyker.They captured the wounded creature for transport back to Terra and further research into its abilities. Sister Kendel then moved on to perform other duties. During this campaign, Kendel would first come into contact with Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro, the commander of the Death Guard's 7th Great Company. She was greatly impressed by the Astartes' dutiful service.
Amendera Kendel - Horus Heresy: After the Horus Heresy began on Istvaan III, Kendel and the Aeria Gloris intercepted the Imperial Fists flagship, the Phalanx in the Sol System when it returned with Loyalist survivors from the Death Guard frigate Eisenstein. Known as "The Seventy," Sister Kendel volunteered to protect the Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro and his fellow Death Guard and mortal survivors of the Isstvan III Atrocity at the Somnus Citadel on Luna.She was later forced to lead her fellow sisters into battle with the corrupted Death Guard Astartes Solun Decius who had finally given into the Nurglite contagion inflicted upon him by the reanimated corpses aboard the Eisenstein. His corrupted body had mutated into a Daemonic entity known as the Lord of the Flies.
Amendera Kendel - Agentia Tertius: After defeating this Daemonic threat, Sister Kendel, Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro and Captain Iacton Qruze of the Luna Wolves were confronted by Malcador the Sigillite. The Regent of Terra informed them of his intentions to form a new organisation which would need to utilise "men and women of an inquisitive nature" and offered them a place within this fellowship of Loyalists, and promoted Kendel to the rank of Agentia Tertius.Kendel was marked with a brand composed of liquid metal scars that formed the sigil of the Regent of Terra, imbuing her with his authority. Kendel also broke her Vow of Tranquillity, though she considered that her oaths had changed following her recruitment by Malcador rather than being broken.She returned to the Somnus Citadel to recruit Bajun Kyda and Helig Gallor for a mission to Proxima Majoris. Amendera Kendel became the first mortal to order the ultimate sanction of Exterminatus, which was carried out on Proxima Majoris once Kendel determined that its leaders had betrayed the Imperium.