vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Screaming Vortex - Harrowed Space: Beneath the second fluvial transgression of the Screaming Vortex a thick ribbon of Warp-flow marks the location known as "Harrowed Space." Legends say that the gods at play once grew frustrated with the confines of their pitch and flung a world out of the vortex to make more space, dragging a gouge in the swirling currents of the Warp that persists to this day.The high witch-scryers of Velklir on Q'sal maintain that such talk is nonsense and that their calculations clearly indicate the existence of an entity at Giant's Stride. They believe that the anomaly is created by the slow pulse of the sleeping Chaos entity they call Mystolarampharr, the Cardinal of Lost Hours. Certainly the normal psychic screaming of the vortex dulls to a dull, regular throb in the vicinity of Harrowed Space, a pulse that grows more powerful the closer a voidship comes to the anomaly itself.In realspace Harrowed Space is seen as a bruise-coloured nebula shot through with gossamer thin veils of exotic matter ejected from transient Warp rifts that plague the region. Strange entities flit between these rents in reality, gremlin-like sprites that try to lure voidships to destruction with false signals and distress calls. The Giant's Stride is a tumultuous and highly dangerous region to enter, with unpredictable crosscurrents and Warp eddies always on hand to sweep an unwary vessel into the inescapable deeper clutches of the Screaming Vortex.A brave and determined captain armed with the correct star charts or the benefits of Daemonic patronage might pass through these dangers to find the true entrance to the Warp flow at Harrowed Space. Navigating successfully through this fast-moving cataract of psychic energy can shrink a travel time of solar months or weeks down to just solar days or even hours. Areas of the Screaming Vortex that would be completely impossible to reach otherwise can be reached via Harrowed Space for those with the courage to risk the passage.Some whisper that at the right junctures it is even possible to slingshot through the flow and escape the Screaming Vortex completely. The pirate-seeress Zegule the Red is said to have led a fleet of warships through Harrowed Space to raid realspace on three separate occasions before suddenly vanishing without trace after an argument with her pact-bound Daemonic guide.Despite the potential rewards, only the most desperate or overconfident slavers, pirates and smugglers will steer via Harrowed Space regularly. Many ships that make the attempt come to grief in its clutches and the region is littered with their wrecked hulks cast out of the tides of the Warp for an hour, a day or a year. Swarms of scavengers are drawn the edges of the region to plunder these lost voidships as they are often fat with goods from distant worlds. All too often the scavengers become victims themselves, their ramshackle ships caught in the vicious undertow and dragged to their doom.
Screaming Vortex - The Ascendant Spiral: This unpredictable tide within the Screaming Vortex has been described as a sub-current connecting the Lower Vortex and the Gloaming Worlds, and while travellers may pass through it, they may only do so in one direction -- from the Lower Vortex to the Gloaming Worlds, and not the other way.Every now and then a mortal appears at the upper terminus of the Ascendant Spiral who has visited the Lower Vortex and looked upon its darkling face. While most of these individuals are little more than raving maniacs, a few are gifted of power and knowledge only granted to those who have conversed with the highest servants of the Ruinous Powers, and passed every test set before them.Such individuals harbour a special hatred for the denizens of the Imperium of Man, and invariably seek to gather a Black Crusade and bring death and destruction to the Domains of Man in a galaxy-rending orgy of bloodshed.
Screaming Vortex - Screaming Vortex Inhabitants: Though it may seem impossible to the scribes and scholars of the Imperium, there are those who live and even thrive within the Warp rift that is the Screaming Vortex. Many are the inhabitants of the aforementioned worlds and often they remain trapped on their lonely sphere (particularly the feral inhabitants of the many primitive worlds in the vortex). These are described with their aforementioned planets.However, there are also those who travel amongst the worlds, who have the power or resourcefulness to journey from planet to planet within the rift. Foremost amongst these are the many Chaos warbands that wander the Screaming Vortex.
Screaming Vortex - Chaos Warbands of the Screaming Vortex: The Chaos warbands of the Screaming Vortex are a disparate and varied bunch, ragged warriors brought together by fate or chance, fighting together to further common goals or advance their own, private agendas. Just as the vortex itself has no true defined size, there is no counting the number of warbands that wander it.There is no defining a Chaos warband, no archetypical mould that a warband springs from. However, there are several similar characteristics. Warbands are often small, ranging from several to several dozen members. Though a warband could easily become larger, this has seldom happened in the Screaming Vortex of late. This is because most warbands are brought together because the members share similar goals or ambitions, or see the warband as a chance to further their own goals. Such individuals are often prideful and independent. When their goals are met, the warband may well splinter and fracture, its members leaving according to their whims.Just as the warbands of the Screaming Vortex are infinitely varied, so are those who join them. Beyond their shared status as outcasts and Renegades from the Imperium, the members may be anyone from a powerful Chaos Space Marine of one of the Traitor Legions to a feral mortal chieftain of a barbarian planet. However, the one trait they all share is that they are exceedingly competent individuals, for Chaos never rewards failure. The cutthroat and dangerous life in a wandering warband sees anyone who cannot look out for themselves torn to bits (sometimes literally) by their peers.However, on occasion an individual or select few will rise to lead a warband through force of arms or force of will. Such individuals must be charismatic leaders or dread warriors, but if they succeed, they may well see more warriors flock to join their warband. Eventually, entire warbands may pledge themselves to their cause, or even entire worlds and pirate fleets.Finally, should their power and reputation grow far enough, these Chaos Lords may have entire armies under their command, primed for bloody, full-scale war upon the civilised galaxy. Thus, a Black Crusade can be born.
Screaming Vortex - Warband of Sektoth: Sektoth the False Whisper is a master manipulator and leader of a rather piratical warband of Chaos Space Marines. He and the Thousand Sons of the Warband of Sektoth at his command strike without warning against anyone who has resources he requires in his research of the Rubric of Arhiman. Dozens of lesser, mortal psykers have fallen under his sway, exchanging their martial utility for the honour of cowering at the hem of Sektoth's robe. His warband is large, with hundreds of elite Heretic Astartes warriors that report to him and thousands of lesser mortal soldiers and Chaos Cultists who die at his bidding.When Sektoth desires the holdings of another warband he moves decisively and quickly. His light Chaos frigate, The Unyielding, arrives in orbit and hides behind a nearby astral body. He deploys his psykers into the local population to disrupt the daily operations of his target. His minions report to him telepathically, collecting information as they commit sabotage.What happens next has never been the same twice. Sektoth tends to prefer tactics that turn his enemies on themselves. He once garnered enough sorcerous power to drive an entire planet mad with a single word whispered in every citizens' mind. This preference is not absolute, as he is not afraid to use more direct methods. He reduced the Gardens of the Exquisite Delight to swampland by commandeering a hijacked Iconoclast-class Destroyer and crashing the kilometre-long warship into an ocean on the far side of the world, wrecking the planet's climate in the processes.In the wake of this seemingly random act, Sektoth harvests what profit he requires and leaves the vultures to pick the bones. Often, the resources expended far out-strip what he could possibly gain. Unknowable as his actions are, however, he is guided by a dark resolve and is granted resources by an impossibly powerful benefactor.
Screaming Vortex - Captain Korgin, the World-Reaver: "Reaper of the Gloaming Worlds," "Champion of the Dark Pits," the "Shadow Duellist," the "World-Reaver," Captain Korgin is known by many names, all feared throughout the Screaming Vortex. The dread pirate commands a squadron of Chaos warships that roam from world to world, warring and pillaging with whomever crosses his path. Thus far, his successes have been many and his riches have swelled accordingly. However, each victory only increases his thirst for conquest.Korgin leads his squadron from the bridge of his Slaughter-class Cruiser, the Adversarius Aeternam. However, the backbone of his fleet are a pair of Hellbringer-class Light Cruisers, specialist planetary assault vessels manufactured on Chaos-controlled worlds like Iniquity and the shipyards of the Ragged Helix. The Rapere and the Praedus are both well-equipped for assaulting and plundering worlds, with powerful prow bombardment cannons, launch bays full of Swiftdeath fighters, and spinal-mounted Dreadclaw Drop Pod bays full of howling Khornate Berserker hordes of mortal pirate reavers.When the Chaos Lord arrives over a world, he offers one chance to surrender unconditionally. Should the cowering populace accept, Korgin honours their surrender. Though a devotee of the Blood God Khorne, he believes only the skulls of worthy adversaries should be sent to the throne of his master. Those who surrender are certainly not that, and he and his band merely plunder valuables, supplies, and slaves to fill their hold and leave. However, Korgin makes it a point to take something of great value from the world he plunders, whether an ancient artefact, a beloved leader as a slave, or even a famous document held in high regard. He does this in hopes of goading that world to fight the next time he arrives.If a world does resist, Korgin unleashes the full forces at his disposal. With ruthless cunning he demolishes his opposition with quick, savage strikes to defences, then swarms across the world with his reavers. He grants his foes the highest honour in his eyes, a fighting chance and a noble death in combat. Often, that death is delivered at the point of his own blade. However, at times Korgin comes across an especially accomplished warrior and offers him a chance to join his warband.Korgin ceases raiding only to return to the Ragged Helix, where he has several fastnesses established amongst the rocks. Ancient and terrible oaths bind him from plundering the Helix, so he enjoys a wary truce with most of its denizens. However, within his fortress-asteroids, he has the stockpiled wealth of many worlds.Korgin imagines amassing enough wealth to draw a vast army to his cause within the Screaming Vortex, with which he can conquer anyone within who still defies him. With the unified Screaming Vortex at his back, he wishes to carve out his own dark empire amongst the vulnerable worlds of the Calixis Sector -- the Empire of Korgin the World Reaver.
Screaming Vortex - Soloria Half-blind: A refugee of the Imperium, Soloria Half-blind manifested her psychic powers at a young age. When the Inquisition came for her, her parents resisted, and were cut down before her eyes. She leapt on the killers, screaming with rage, but the Inquisitorial Storm Troopers brutally subdued her with the butts of their Hellguns. Soloria lost two things that day -- her left eye, and any fealty she might have had for the Imperium of Man.Through guile and her newfound powers, she escaped the Black Ship upon which she was imprisoned before it left her homeworld of Scintilla. Stowing away on vessel after vessel, she eventually found herself travelling aboard a tramp freighter in the Maw when the Screaming Vortex swelled and plucked the hapless vessel from its course.However, death was not Soloria's fate. The transport crashed deep within the vortex on the Ocean World of Furia. She escaped the floundering wreck, to be rescued by one of the scum-barges that travels that world's oceans. Even then, her fate should have been sealed. The lives of those of Furia are usually measured in a few short standard years, but again Soloria proved destined for something more.When the Daemon-spawn leviathans of Furia's world-ocean came to devour her barge, she met them at the prow of her vessel. One's skull she crushed with a gesture. Another, she wracked with terrible lightning, scouring flesh from bones. The third lunged at her, only to stop as she dominated its puny mind. Soloria sent her new pet deep into the depths of the ocean, to lift the wreck of the transport that had brought her to the world to the surface. Her newfound servants aboard the barge gladly aided her in restoring a measure of its spaceflight capability and, after many standard years of work, they left Furia, never to return.Soloria now wanders the Screaming Vortex with only one goal in mind -- vengeance on the Imperium that robbed her of her family and her life. She gathers fellow Imperial outcasts to her banner, with a focus on those psykers who also fell prey to the Black Ships.Eventually, she will amass enough power to rip through the Calixis Sector. Her goal: her homeworld of Scintilla, for she wishes to see the Tricorn Palace of the Inquisition there burn beneath her maimed gaze.
Screaming Vortex - Legend of the Necrons: In the deepest catacombs of the Temple of Lies on Kymeris, recorded prophecies of the oldest High Oracles tell of an ancient starfaring species that spanned the galaxy long before Mankind stood upright on the plains of ancient Terra. This race fought a war in the heavens with another, even more powerful species, the mythical Old Ones.Who won and lost is not told by the prophecies, but it is said at the end of the war the first race sealed themselves across the galaxy in vast Tomb Worlds. There they sleep, until a time preordained by their lord, at which point they will awaken to reclaim what once was theirs.The prophesy only adds that the sleeping race has no truck with the Warp, and despises its chaotic movements and influence on reality. It closes with a single word, written by a different hand than the remainder of the prophecy: Necron.
Screaming Vortex - Travel in the Screaming Vortex: The regions of the Screaming Vortex present a unique challenge to space travel, for many regions and realms within it exist half-within the Warp, and half-without. These twilight zones are merely one hazard, for the nature of the Screaming Vortex itself makes navigating a voidship through the region using conventional means sheer madness, a difficult proposition even under the best circumstances.However, those who tread the path of glory and have the favour of the Dark Gods may often find their path through the treacherous tides of the Screaming Vortex. Some make pacts with entities of the Warp, guided by the seductive whispers of a Daemon. Others employ crude witchcraft, reading the tides of the Warp in the entrails of a ritual sacrifice. The truly desperate or insane trust entirely to fate and chart their course almost at random, believing that a safe passage indicates the Dark Gods have judged them worthy.For those who prefer the mundane, if (mostly) reliable method of a starship, many warbands prefer to capture an Imperial vessel during a raid upon a nearby region such as the Calixis Sector or the Koronus Expanse (or claim one of the locally constructed vessels in the vortex or the Koronus Expanse, such as the Iconoclast-class Raider). Particularly aggressive or ambitious warbands often prey upon rival groups closer to their home ground, plundering the starships of those who dare to threaten their own rise to greatness.However, voidships are not the only method to slake one's wanderlust within the Screaming Vortex. Treacherous Warp portals exist that connect a number of regions in the vortex, a most treacherous method that is nonetheless popular with many sorcerers and psykers. Additionally, one may make a pact with a entity of the Warp, bargaining for a Daemon to use some of its eldritch powers to whisk one away to another place in the blink of an eye.There are also bizarre machines constructed by the Hereteks of Forge Castir that tunnel through the Warp via dangerously unstable technology created under the reality-bending properties of the Screaming Vortex. These examples are but a few of the means that disciples of the Dark Gods have wielded to traverse the Materium.This is not to say that all Chaos warbands of the Screaming Vortex have a burning desire to travel far; some are perfectly content to limit themselves to uncontested rule of a single world, or prefer the plentiful opportunities for glory such as those found in realms like the Ragged Helix.
Screaming Vortex - Covenant X: A myriad of markets exist in the Screaming Vortex, from crude bazaars where slaves and precious resources are bartered and sold to more organised traders who exchange weapons and technology to stranger beings who deal only in souls and flesh. Speak to any one of these merchants, and one name is often heard whispered in common: Covenant X.This is the name taken by a wolfpack of opportunistic pirate raiders who have banded together around a pair of dominant mutual traits: avarice and greed. The Covenant is primarily made up of captains who possess small voidships, mostly Iconoclast-class or Idolator-class Raiders.These captains have a loose alliance with many of the worlds of the Screaming Vortex and offer their services to Chaos warbands that are rich enough in wealth and slaves to attract their attention. However, most captains that are part of the Covenant are a selfish and untrustworthy breed, a lesson that many unwary warbands have learned to their sorrow when jettisoned out of a void-lock halfway to their destination.
Screaming Vortex - Golden Ships of Q'sal: The voidships that the sorcerer-technocrats of Q'sal produce in their orbital shipyards are prized within the Screaming Vortex; lithe, fast vessels of wondrously small stature (some so small that they need only a few thousand crew or less). These vessels can navigate the currents of the Screaming Vortex with prodigious accuracy and enviable reliability.However, the joke is that these vessels are unable to exist outside the vortex, breaking up on the shoals of hard reality as the complex enchantments that animate them quickly unravel. Thus, many hardened void pirates prefer more "mundane" vessels. Though they may not be as fast, they are far less likely to fail one who wishes to travel beyond the 13th Station of Passage into realspace.
Screaming Vortex - Skra'kalichaust the Schemer: Skra'kalichaust the Schemer is a mischievous Greater Daemon of Tzeentch who seems to take delight in the ongoing struggles for glory amongst the mortal warbands of the Screaming Vortex. This Daemon is an enigmatic Lord of Change who serves Tzeentch, a matchless sorcerer who appears to be using warbands in the Screaming Vortex as pieces in some greater game. Skra'kalichaust has made bargains with a number of Chaos warbands within the vortex, granting them power or passage from one world to another in return for seemingly innocuous services or favours.However, these pacts should not be made lightly, a fact that is made clear in the tale of Skartos Blackskull. Skartos and his warband were once on the ascendant, and many predicted that he would soon gain the Daemon Princedom that he sought so passionately. However, Skartos made a badly-worded agreement with the Schemer in order to launch an ambush against a rival warband. At the end of the battle, the Lord of Change demanded his due...and promptly razed Skartos and his entire warband into oblivion.
Screaming Vortex - The Brass Door: The constant psychic shriek that gives the Screaming Vortex its name is heard most clearly by psykers and other beings closely attuned to the Warp. Occasionally, the wailing seems to form words and phrases rather than simple noise, whispers that chant dire promises and dark supplications into the soul.Many psykers and Chaos sorcerers who spend a great deal of time in or near the Screaming Vortex have witnessed such whisperings, and are left with the knowledge of how to summon the aid of the phenomenon known as the "Brass Door" by a silent act of will. The door never appears the same way twice, but it often takes the shape of a monolithic structure of polished brass and gleaming bone -- a gateway with a single, huge door in the centre.The Brass Door has also taken appearances as wildly different as a simple wooden gate or a huge, half-organic construction of venting steam, writhing flesh, and interlocking cogwheels.Those who summon the Brass Door instinctually know the price for its aid. Always there is a price, and always it is different; one time, the Brass Door may demand a pint of living blood, whilst another time it may merely require a memory of shared pain. If the price is paid, the Brass Door unlocks and swings open, forming a Warp portal to the desired destination.So far as it may be confirmed, the Brass Door has never opened to any location other than those found within the Screaming Vortex, but some have claimed to have used the Brass Door to travel as far as Gathalamor far outside the vortex, a truly vast distance away.
Screaming Vortex - Prophecy of the Harrowing: One of the few mentions of the Screaming Vortex to be found within the canon of Ordo Malleus lore is an obscure prophecy, held in a stasis tomb deep beneath the Calixian Ordo Malleus facility of Treacher's Cloister.This prophecy describes a "Second War in Heaven" like the first one fought between the Necrons and the Old Ones millions of Terran years ago in which the Screaming Vortex will be subject to a harrowing, its worlds assailed by the hated armies of Order.As Treacher's Cloister is currently in the hands of an outcast faction within the Calixian Ordo Malleus, the scroll on which this so-called "Prophecy of the Harrowing" is written is beyond the reach of those who would study it, its exact words lost until the cloister is reclaimed.
Scrolls of Sanguinius - Scrolls of Sanguinius: The Scrolls of Sanguinius are sacred texts of the Blood Angels Space Marine Chapter which contain the visions of the future as foreseen by their Primarch, Sanguinius. Sanguinius inherited the prescient abilities of his genetic father the Emperor of Mankind, and he often recorded his visions of the terrible events to come for his Chapter and the Imperium of Man.The Scrolls of Sanguinius are far too precious ever to be risked upon the field of battle. However, on occasions when the foresight contained therein is specific enough to be linked to a particular conflict, the ancient device known as the Veritas Vitae is coaxed into life, and the words of Sanguinius read aloud so that it may commit them to its Machine Spirit's (artificial intelligence) memory. This ornate Vox-reliquary hovers in the wake of a Blood Angels officer, mechanically intoning the prophetic fragments with which it has been entrusted, its words containing strategic insights that might allow an attentive commander to change the flow of a battle or even an entire war in his favour.There are ninety-nine scrolls in all. Copies are kept in the Chapter Reclusiam in the Arx Angelicum, the Blood Angels' fortress-monastery on their desert homeworld of Baal. The Reclusiam nestles in the heart of a great spire that stands tall over the rest of the Arx Angelicum. Only the tower of the Chapter's Sanguinary Priesthood stretches as high. No part of the fortress-monastery is as revered as the Reclusiam, adorned as it is with banners and relics of ages past, its sable stones steeped in history and grandeur. Here do the Chaplains conduct their ceremonies, the rites of Initiation, Vindication and Redemption, the Blood Pact and the Host-throng. In earlier days, the Reclusiam tower was once given over to Sanguinius' quarters, and the Blood Angels believe that their beloved Primarch can hear any prayer given voice within.The original copies of the Scrolls of Sanguinius written in the Primarch's own hand are interred in the deep Vaults of Marest in the Librarium of the fortress-monastery, protected by powerful stasis fields from time and decay. There are only five other copies kept outside of the fortress-monastery in the rest of the galaxy.
Scryerskull - Scryerskull: A Scryerskull is a type of servo-skull deployed for tactical advantage on the battlefield.The tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus take the assessment and exploitation of battlefield resources very seriously indeed -- so much so that many of them continue their work in this role beyond the point of death as servo-skulls dedicated to tactical analysis, transmitting a torrent of binharic code outlining battlefield strengths and weaknesses back to their masters.
Scylior - Scylior: The Scylior is a warship of the Carcharodons Chapter known to appear, albeit infrequently, within the Jericho Reach. The ship itself is the rough size and make of a frigate, similar in design to the standard Imperial Sword-class Frigate.However, unlike a standard vessel of its class, the Scylior possesses powerful, even oversized, Plasma Drives capable of propelling it at impressive speeds, and it appears to trade some of its weapon batteries for expanded hangar bays capable of holding Thunderhawk gunships.The remaining macrobatteries appear to be a medley of types, ranging from the traditional laser-based weapons found aboard a Sword frigate to archaic macrobeamers and magno-carronades.Characteristically, the Scylior has never allowed any non-Carcharodons to serve aboard the vessel, and only identifies itself by name, never by Chapter. That the vessel belongs at all to the Carcharodons is simply conjecture.Nevertheless, the warship has been sighted in the Reach at least twice since the beginning of the Achilus Crusade. Long range Imperial Navy patrols reported a vessel matching its description off the Black Reef, engaged with two T'au Defender-class escorts.Though outnumbered, the Scylior managed to cripple one with macrobattery fire and ram and board the other, with the results one would expect from a Space Marine boarding action. Even when its task is transport, it seems the Scylior is unwilling to pass up a chance for blood.Recently, Inquisitor Adrielle Quist unearthed some information from Watch Fortress Erioch's data-vaults pertaining to a possible origin of the Scylior. A ship matching its description named the Prowler was reported to have hunted the space lanes of the Jericho Sector many millennia ago as a pirate vessel.According to the crumbling data-tape, the Prowler vanished with a number of other pirate vessels during a solar decade of "mysterious disappearances" amongst reavers plaguing Imperial shipping.
Scythe-class Harvest Ship - Scythe-class Harvest Ship: A Scythe-class Harvest Ship is a Necron starship that has been a part of every Necron fleet so far encountered by the Imperium of Man. The Harvest Ship is more common in Necron fleets than the larger and more powerful Cairn-class Tomb Ships and more akin to a cruiser in its combat role.The vessels are so named because they have been present when the Necrons "harvest" the population of various inhabited worlds as part of their ongoing research into what they have termed "apotheosis", the return of their consciousness to organic bodies.The Necrons seek an organic, intelligent species that is compatible with their own neural physiology and can be used as new hosts for their return to life. To this end, they routinely harvest the populations of many different intelligent species for a series of grisly biomedical experiments that will help them achieve their goal.All of the Harvest Ships encountered by the Imperium appear to belong to the same class, with the only difference being the inclusion of a Sepulchre-like chamber on some of the starships, though this does not change their outward appearance, nor does it appear to function in the same manner as the Sepulchre portals used on Tomb Ships for boarding operations.Harvest Ships have proved to be incredibly resilient and difficult warships to destroy. To date Imperial ships have only been able to disable a Harvest Ship on three occasions, and in all three cases it required the firepower of several Imperial Navy capital ships to achieve the feat. The Harvest Ship’s resilient design, combined with its armament of sophisticated and devastatingly effective Necron weaponry, makes it a match for all but the largest Imperial spacecraft.As with all known Necron vessels, Harvest Ships possess an unknown form of drive technology that allows the ship to undertake interstellar travel without the need to enter the Warp. The Harvest Ship's drive technology eliminates the spacecraft's inertia, allowing it travel at extreme speeds and with extreme acceleration, whilst also giving the spacecraft an agility that few other ships can match.In truth, however, Harvest Ships, like all Necron spacecraft, primarily rely upon the use of Dolmen Gates to serve as portals into the Webway, which allows them to cross the vastness of space without resorting to the use of the Warp since the undying Necrons possess no psykers.
Scythe-class Harvest Ship - Notable Encounters: 666.M40 Yuctan Incident – The Yuctan System was a sparsely inhabited Imperial star system close to the Eastern Fringe, and the site of the first naval encounter between the Necrons and the Imperial Navy in 666.M40. A minor Imperial fleet of 6 escort ships and 1 light cruiser, known as Patrol Group Farsight, after the name of its command ship, the Dauntless-class Light Cruiser Farsight, was destroyed, with the only survivor a single Cobra-class Destroyer. By the time a full Imperial fleet could be dispatched to the region to deal with what is now called the Yuctan Incident, the Necrons had disappeared, and the system was found devoid of all Human life. Although similar and unexplained events had taken place up to this time, the incident at Yuctan was the first fully documented account of what was later recognised as a Necron "harvest" of a populated world, as they sought fresh subjects for their research into "apotheosis," the restoration of their consciousness to organic bodies.962.M41 Bora Culpa Incident – Harvest Ships were sighted around the Imperial planet of Bora Culpa in 962.M41. The population of the world was found to have vanished after a later reconnaissance mission by the Space Wolves Space Marines.992.M41 Orphean War – During the Orphean War, at least twenty Scythe-class Harvest Ships, as identified using data from the Ordo Xenos, were encountered by the Imperial Navy's Battlefleet Orpheus. Belonging to the Maynarkh Dynasty's Phaeron, Kutlakh the World Killer, they destroyed many times their number in Imperial warships and had shattered the combat effectiveness of Battlefleet Orpheus by the time they disengaged.
Scythe-class Harvest Ship - Armament: Harvest Ships are composed entirely of necrodermis, a unique living metal which comprises the undying mechanical bodies of every Necron warrior, vehicle and starship. The material's regenerative properties and hardy nature means that Harvest Ships are immune to the detrimental effects posed by celestial phenomena such as solar flares, radiation, gas clouds and nebulae, and are also able to repair their armour at a rapid pace during an engagement.However, standard Necron combat protocol dictates that a clean disengagement is preferable to a fight to the end, and Harvest Ships will do this by "fading out," where the vessel in question dematerialises into an unknown extradimensional space; taking it out of the battle.The standard armament of a Scythe-class Harvest Ship includes:Star Pulse Generator – A Star Pulse Generator sends out a massive pulse of energy when activated. Whilst other Necron ships are shielded from this attack, enemy vessels within the field of force’s radius are usually severely damaged if not destroyed outright by the immense energies released.Lightning Arc Batteries – Lightning Arcs use stored solar energy and, when activated, release it as a forest of living energy tendrils which envelop targets and probe for weaknesses. Lightning Arcs act as the main weapon batteries for Necron ships, but are different from the equivalents used by the other starfaring species of the galaxy in that the arcs they fire are able to split up and guide themselves to their own targets, providing a mass-strike ability like no other known ship-based weapon. A Lightning Arc battery is usually able to cover all angles of approach except for the rear.Particle Whip Batteries – Particle Whips are the preferred ranged weapon of Necron warships, and work by projecting a magnetic field across a short arc. This arc is sufficient to be "cracked" like a whip and the anti-matter particles within the stream detonate upon impact with normal matter. When a target is hit, the beam’s power acts in a similar way to a strike from a Lightning Arc, albeit focussed upon a smaller area like a Lance weapon. A Particle Whip battery is usually able to cover all angles of approach except for the rear.Portal – Portals are vast stone gateways located within a Necron warship, and act as extradimensional conduits for boarding enemy vessels. More precise than conventional Imperial Teleporters, they are most commonly used to flood enemy starships with a relentless host of Necron Warriors and swarms of Canoptek Scarabs.Some Harvest Ships have been known to be upgraded with a:Sepulchre – A Sepulchre is only utilised by the largest Necron vessel in a given fleet. When a Sepulchre is used to attack an enemy ship that has foolishly come within its range, a wave of palpable psychic force is generated and sent outwards in all directions. The enemy’s crew are then paralysed by visions of horror, and if discipline is lost, then the crazed crew are likely to do damage to their own ship as they rampage uncontrollably through its confines.
Scythe-class Harvest Ship - Sources: Battlefleet Gothic 2002 Annual, pp. 4-5Battlefleet Gothic Armada, pp. 72-74, 76Battlefleet Gothic Magazine 2, pg. 6Imperial Armour Volume Twelve - The Fall of Orpheus, pp. 51, 56-57Battlefleet Gothic Armada II (PC Game)
Scythe-class Reaper Ship - Scythe-class Reaper Ship: A Scythe-class Reaper is a type of Necron warship that serves in the role of a battlecruiser in Necron fleets.
Scythes of the Emperor - Scythes of the Emperor: The Scythes of the Emperor is a Codex Astartes-compliant, Loyalist Chapter of Space Marines. It is a 3rd Founding Successor Chapter of the Ultramarines.Its history can be traced back to the early Horus Heresy era, when the Ultramarines 199th "Aegida" Company was assigned as permanent protection over the restricted world of Sotha, the site of the mysterious Mt. Pharos and the strange xenos artefact known as the Pharos device within.Following the Second Founding and the subsequent sundering of the original Space Marine Legions, a phantom 11th Company was assigned to secretly continue the defence of the Agri-world, in direct contravention of the dictates of the Codex Astartes.The last surviving member of "Aegida" Company, Captain Oberdeii would later become the first Chapter Master of the newly formed Scythes of the Emperor Chapter, which would be a part of the 3rd Founding in 001.M32.By the latter years of the 41st Millennium, the Scythes of the Emperor stood on the brink of extinction in battle with the extragalactic xenos known as the Tyranids, having lost their Chapter homeworld to Hive Fleet Kraken, and the sorely depleted Chapter was prepared to go out fighting in a final blaze of glory against the Great Devourer.However, Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl and the Ultima Founding gave the Chapter an unlooked-for chance to return to full strength. With their ranks bolstered by the genetically superior transhuman warriors of the Primaris Space Marines, the Scythes of the Emperor have been fully restored, and now take the fight to the various enemies that assail the Imperium on all sides.
Scythes of the Emperor - Rise of the Great Devourer: One of the Scythes' later Chapter Masters, Thorcyra, proved an excellent strategic leader. He led the Scythes for several standard centuries until his death during the desperate flight of his Chapter from the jaws of Hive Fleet Kraken on their homeworld of Sotha in the latter years of the 41st Millennium.As the Scythes grew in strength, they expanded their policing actions around their homeworld of Sotha in the Eastern Fringes of the galaxy. After eradicating Human and alien pirates from the nearby Imperial mining colonies, the Scythes moved on to counter several Ork migrations in the lower Segmentums of the Imperium.The Scythes served during the Damocles Gulf Crusade, and played a vital role in the capture of the world of Sy'l'kell from the T'au Empire. However, the crusade ultimately stalled and withdrew when it was learned that the newly encountered Tyranids were heading for the Realm of Ultramar, the home of the Ultramarines.In recent history, the Scythes of the Emperor, along with their allies, the Lamenters Chapter, were virtually destroyed during the invasion of the Imperium of Man by the Tyranids' Hive Fleet Kraken in 992.M41.The remnants of the Chapter stood on the edge of oblivion. The few battle-brothers that remained swore to spend their lives seeking out and annihilating the remaining Tyranid splinter forces within the Ultima Segmentum and beyond even as they sought new recruits to replenish the Chapter's shattered ranks.Since the destruction of their homeworld by Hive Fleet Kraken, the Scythes of the Emperor have become a far more secretive Chapter. This is because many of the Chapter's Firstborn battle-brothers were infected with the genetic corruption of the Genestealer's Kiss during the invasion.The Astartes were mentally strong enough to resist the call and mental control of the Broodmind, but were forced to wear psychic dampening hoods to lessen its power.
Scythes of the Emperor - Resurrection: During the events of Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade, the long-standing Fortress World of Cadia was destroyed.With Cadia's fall and the loss of the network of Necron-built Cadian Pylons that had long prevented the Eye of Terror from naturally expanding into the Materium, the Warp rift began to expand exponentially across the width of the known galaxy. This tear in reality, known as the Great Rift, effectively rent the Imperium in half.But all was not lost, for upon the Ultramarines' homeworld of Macragge during the Ultramar Campaign of 999.M41, the genius of Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl combined with the power of Ynnead, the Aeldari god of the dead, to resurrect the Primarch Roboute Guilliman from his millennia-long slumber.Guilliman had anticipated the need for a new breed of hero for this, the darkest age in the Imperium's history. He knew that the galaxy would need warriors resilient enough to stand against the Forces of Chaos as the Imperium found itself poised on the brink of annihilation. To that end, for 10,000 standard years, Archmagos Cawl had been working upon improving the Adeptus Astartes themselves.The result were the Primaris Space Marines of the Ultima Founding, a more powerful corps of transhuman warriors, more potent than even the original Astartes. New armies were raised in breathtaking numbers and new and terrible weapons were developed whose fury even the worshippers of the Dark Gods would be unable to withstand.Gathering a great new armada, composed of elements of the Adeptus Custodes, the Silent Sisterhood and a vast war host of Primaris Space Marines from many newly founded Chapters, the Lord Commander of the Imperium launched his Indomitus Crusade.Guilliman decreed that those Chapters who had suffered the worst at the hands of the myriad enemies that assailed Mankind were to be amongst the first Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes to receive the newly-created Primaris Space Marines of the Ultima Founding as reinforcements.With their ranks fully replenished by the new Primaris Astartes, the Scythes of the Emperor are now able to once more take the fight to the Archenemy and the various threats that currently assail the Imperium of Man.
Scythes of the Emperor - Era Indomitus: During the Indomitus Crusade, Lord Commander of the Imperium Roboute Guilliman chose the Scythes of the Emperor as one of the Chapters tasked with defending the growing territory of his Realm of Ultramar.At the time of their replenishment by the Primaris Marines, the Scythes of the Emperor's original complement of Space Marines had stood at about two companies' worth.But within only a few standard years the original Firstborn Space Marines of the Chapter had been whittled down to a tiny remaining complement of Veterans and Chapter officers.The entire complement of these remaining original Scythes of the Emperor accompanied the expedition of Belisarius Cawl to Sotha to study the ancient artefact known as the Pharos. The Imperials were attacked by a force of Genestealer Cultists who had managed to infiltrate the Scythes' own Chapter serfs with their genetic corruption.During the combat that followed, Chapter Master Thrasius died in combat with the same Genestealer Patriarch that was responsible for originally bringing Hive Fleet Kraken to Sotha.All the remaining Firstborn Marines of the Scythes of the Emperor died alongside Thrasius in this battle. The Chapter Master's final words were, "Ave Imperator."
Scythes of the Emperor - Chapter Organisation: For a time the surviving Space Marines of the Scythes of the Emperor Chapter navigated through space on board their last starship and mobile fortress-monastery, the Battle Barge called The Heart of Sotha, recently renamed the Heart of Cronus. The Chapter was but a shadow of its former glory, but it was a hard and elite fighting force, and could be found fighting anywhere against the Tyranids within the Ultima Segmentum.The Chapter was forced to break with its past tradition and operated with only 2 full companies. The survivors of Sotha were amalgamated to form one company referred to only as the "Battle Company," while all new recruits to the Chapter which the Scythes actively sought from any suitable worlds they passed (often, in fact, those worlds that they had saved from destruction by Tyranid splinter Hive Fleets), were inducted into the Chapter's other company, the "Scout Company."The current disposition of the forces of the Scythes of the Emperor after the induction of the Primaris Space Marines is unknown, though they are once more a fully operational Chapter and fighting force.The Scythes of the Emperor's flagship and mobile fortress-monastery Heart of Cronus is known to carry the Chapter's Primaris brethren on missions detailed by Roboute Guilliman in the Era Indomitus.
Scythes of the Emperor - Chapter Recruitment: During the Scythes' retreat from Hive Fleet Kraken, Chapter Master Mansirius Thrasius instigated tactics of minutely detailed withdrawals and a constant fighting retreat, viewing every engagement without a casualty as a victory despite the Chapter constantly falling back from world to world ahead of the Kraken's advance.Thrasius realised that the Chapter had to recruit new Space Marine Aspirants in order for the Chapter to survive. On each planet where the Scythes fought they would gather up those defenders with the greatest potential, especially those young enough to become Astartes, and rescue them while the rest of the world fought and died.In this way hundreds, if not thousands, of potential recruits have been gathered along with many others who could serve as Serfs to the Chapter, replacing those lost on their former homeworld of Sotha.Before the near-destruction of the Chapter during the Second Tyrannic War, the Scythes drew neophytes from many different worlds (Sotha, Miral, Narro and Radnar), all worlds now fallen to Hive Fleet Kraken. These new Scouts were the future of the Chapter. They demonstrated the Chapter's new diversity, the new embryonic culture it was developing, and its old traditions were inevitably passing.For many Scythes Veterans, these neophytes personified everything that they detested about the changes their new Chapter Master was forcing upon them and their disdain for those changes, alongside their resentment at having to train the new recruits instead of fighting as one of the Veterans of the remaining Battle Company.This has fostered a bitterness towards the Scout Marines of the Chapter that many Veterans are unable to completely conceal. With the news of the Kraken's defeat, Chapter Master Mansirius Thrasius and many of his lieutenants disappeared, departing The Heart of Sotha abruptly and returning just as suddenly. What Thrasius did while away is unknown, but upon his return over 300 neophytes had already had their gene-seed organs implanted and begun the Chapter's training regimen.These recruits were those who had been gathered from the many planets on which the Scythes of the Emperor had fought, but the source of the gene-seed was another matter. Rumours persist within the Chapter that perhaps the gene-seed for their augmentation had been secretly rescued from Sotha before the Tyranids attacked.Other theories were darker, including that Thrasius had found or purchased arcane or xenos technology that allowed Astartes Progenoid Glands to develop far faster than was possible within the body of a Space Marine, or that most of the neophytes did not receive true gene-seed, but had their implants wholly bio-engineered and so would never mature into true Astartes.Others yet believe that the gene-seed might have been stolen, pillaged from other Chapters in similar dire straits during the Tyranid invasion.Finally, some have speculated that perhaps the gene-seed was bargained for, or that it was the payment by the Inquisition's Ordo Xenos for seconding over 40 of the surviving Scythes of the Emperor to the Deathwatch. The truth of the matter remains unknown.
Scythes of the Emperor - Specialist Units: Salvation Teams - Rumours abound of Space Marines wearing the insignia of the Scythes still alive inside the Tyranid Hive Ships of Kraken splinter Hive Fleets; stories of Imperial Navy boarding parties of armsmen surrounded, nearly destroyed, before being saved by such warriors who then disappeared back into the depths of those hideous living vessels; stories of Tyranid Bio-ships convulsing and collapsing in the midst of battle, though untouched by any external force. The rumours of scattered remnants of the Scythes fighting the Tyranids has lead to the creation of "Salvation Teams"; small, autonomous units of Scythes given the task of traversing the battlegrounds of the Eastern Fringe in the wake of Hive Fleet Kraken and running to ground every rumour, every indication of Veteran Scythes still alive somewhere in the wake of the Tyranid assault. In reality, very few live Astartes are ever found, more often than not the "Salvation Teams" are merely reduced to salvage teams recovering the non-biological artefacts such as Power Armour and Bolters, and not just from the slain Astartes of the Scythes but from many, many other Chapters as well. Still, desperate times call for desperate measures and Thrasius has ordered all such recovered material to be taken for the Scythes' use. Nevertheless, Thrasius' strategy appears to be solid and succeeding, as the Chapter's Scout Marines eventually rise to become full battle-brothers on an accelerated timetable and lead their own "Salvation Teams" while the Scythes gain invaluable experience in boarding actions against the Tyranids. It is possible that the Scythes of the Emperor now know even more about this foul xenos species and how to defeat them than even the Ultramarines.