vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Nachmund Sector - Notable Systems: Nachmund System - The Nachmund System is an Imperial star system located near the Eye of Terror in the Nachmund Sector of the Segmentum Obscurus. It contains the Nachmund Gauntlet, one of the only known safe passages through the Great Rift to the Imperium Nihilus.Vigilus System - The Vigilus System is a star system centred on the star Astravigilia that lies in the Nachmund Sub-sector of the Nachmund Sector in the Segmentum Obscurus. It lies on the Imperium Nihilus side of the Nachmund Gauntlet, the only confirmed navigable passage through the Great Rift. Because of its strategic position, the system has come under assault from multiple factions, and its major inhabited planet, the Imperial Sentinel World of Vigilus, became the primary war zone of the great conflict waged during the early Era Indomitus remembered as the War of Beasts. The Great Rift lies directly on the edge of the Vigilus System to coreward, and the highly eccentric orbit of its outer asteroid girdle actually passed through the great Warp rift for some time after its formation.
Nachmund Sector - Notable Worlds: Daethe - Daethe is an Exodite Maiden World located in the Nachmund Sector of the Segmentum Obscurus, near to the Nachmund Gauntlet. Not long after Abaddon the Despoiler retreated from Vigilus following the War of Beasts in the Era Indomitus, a Black Legion warband called the Forgeborn under the command of the Warpsmith D'vok launched an assault against Daethe that was contested by the Asuryani Autarch Ghaelyn of Craftworld Saim-Hann.Vigilus - Vigilus is an Imperial Hive World in the Vigilus System of the Segmentum Obscurus that represents the terminus of a key route -- the Nachmund Gauntlet -- through the Great Rift from the Imperium Sanctus into the Imperium Nihilus. As a result, Vigilus has become a heavily contested strategic location and the source of conflict between several of the different starfaring species and factions of the Milky Way Galaxy in the early 42nd Millennium. The campaign to claim Vigilus became known as the War of Beasts. After its start, Vigilus was designated a War World and a Sentinel World by the Imperium.
Nachmund System - Nachmund System: The Nachmund System is an Imperial star system located near the Eye of Terror in the Nachmund Sector of the Segmentum Obscurus. It contains one terminus of the Nachmund Gauntlet, one of the only known safe passages through the Great Rift from the Imperium Sanctus to the Imperium Nihilus.It thus possesses enormous strategic value and has become a source of much conflict between the Imperium of Man and the forces of Chaos.
Nadzybar - Nadzybar: Nadzybar was the "archon" or overlord of the forces of Chaos within the Sabbat Worlds Sector from approximately 634.M41 until his death in 765.M41 during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade at the hands of the Imperial Warmaster Slaydo.He successfully organised the disparate and fractious Chaos Cults and warbands that existed within the Sabbat Worlds into a potent fighting force able to extend the rule of the Dark Gods over the entire sector.Nadzybar then kept a massive Imperial Crusade at bay for over a solar decade until he met his death at the Warmaster's own hands on the world of Balhaut.
Nan Yanoi - Nan Yanoi: The Nan Yanoi or "Sword Moon" is one of the two moons of Kaurava II, in the Kaurava System. It is the base of the T'au led by the Fire Caste commander, Shas'O Or'es'Ka. It was named after the mighty T'au Ar'Ka Cannon, which was built there. The moon's previous name was Orridune.
Narthecium - Narthecium: A Narthecium is a tool of a Space Marine Apothecary's trade, containing implements specially designed for treating the Astartes' genetically-engineered physiology and for performing first aid without having to remove the patient's power armour.The Narthecium is either built into a bulky gauntlet module or incorporated on articulated armatures that protrude from the wielder's backpack. Containing anti-venoms, healing agents and stimm packs -- as well as having built-in surgical equipment and chainblades -- this device can be used by the Apothecary to crack open armour, carry out transfusions, repair torn ligaments, plug holes in organs and close terrible wounds.It also comprises various counterseptics, skin patches, transfusions and other compounds engineered for the Space Marines’ physiology, and several stasis tubes for storing any recovered gene-seed taken from a dead Space Marine's Progenoid Glands.In battle, an Apothecary carries a number of specialised items of equipment, integrating a variety of tools into his single, wrist-mounted Narthecium unit. The Apothecary may have crafted many of these tools himself according to his own needs.He uses a high-powered laser scalpel or an adamantine-toothed chainsaw to cut away ruined armour so that he can treat a battle-brother's wounds, and he administers the panacea of drugs stored within the unit using long syringes.The Narthecium also includes a pistol-like tool to deliver the Emperor's Peace by piercing the battle-brother's skull and brain with a metal piston. This is messy and often inefficient, though it will kill the mortally-wounded Astartes with little pain.The chainblades and drills fitted into Nartheciums allow the Apothecary to crack open even Terminator Armour to reach a fallen brother's progenoid glands. It is essential that these are recovered, as they contain vital gene-seed without which the Chapter cannot survive.For this the Narthecium has a carbon-alloy Reductor, a tool optimally designed for the extraction of Progenoid Glands quickly for secure storage in the Narthecium's dedicated cryo-receptacle.The Narthecium also contains a highly secret concoction of poisons that react swiftly with a Space Marine's biology, causing massive heart failure. Even the existence of these poisons is a secret known only to the Adeptus Astartes and high-ranking members of the Adeptus Terra.Other, non-Codex Astartes-compliant Chapters use their own variants of this equipment. Blood Angels Sanguinary Priests carry the Acus Placidus, a wrist-mounted pistol for euthanising those Blood Angels too seriously wounded to recover.The Space Wolves' Wolf Priests bear the Fang of Morkai, a multi-bladed tool, alongside a wide assortment of potions, balms and herbs.
Narthecium - Notable Variants: Acus Placidus - A wrist-mounted pistol used to bring the Emperor's Peace to mortally wounded Blood Angels by that Chapter's Sanguinary Priests.Exsanguinator - This device is used exclusively amongst the Sanguinary Priests of the Blood Angels Chapter. It is otherwise identical to a Narthecium in all respects. An Exsanguinator is both a sophisticated medical device and a close quarters weapon. It is also used to harvest the gene-seed of fallen comrades and contains implements specially designed for treating Astartes physiology, just like its more common Narthecium counterpart.Fang of Morkai - The Fang olf Morkai is a variant Narthecium carried by the Wolf Priests of the Space Wolves Chapter. It is a multi-bladed tool like other Nartheciums, but also carries an extensive supply of potions, balms and herbs intended to aid wounded battle-brothers based on the herbal lore of the Fenrisian tribes.Hagen Pattern Narthecium - The standard Apothecary's Narthecium includes a chainblade and carbon-alloy Reductor, and an apothicarion drill for piercing armour. The Hagen Pattern is a deep bore version, which features a saw-disc in a lower position to where a chainblade would usually sit. The main focus of this version is for piercing armour and retrieving gene-seed as quickly as possible. The Hagen Pattern drill is larger and stronger than standard, and is designed to be able to work on Terminator Armour as well as standard Space Marine Power Armour.
Narthecium - Sources: Codex: Space Marines (9th Edition), pg. 32Codex: Space Marines (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), "Command Squad", "Armoury of the Space Marines - Special Issue Wargear"Codex: Space Marines (6th Edition), pp. 88, 125Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition), pg. 55Codex: Space Marines (4th Edition), pp. 16, 24Deathwatch: Core Rulebook (RPG), pp. 68, 173Deathwatch: First Founding (RPG), pg. 102Warhammer 40,000: Index Astartes - Apothecaries (Digital Edition)Warhammer 40,000 Munitorum: Narthecium (Digital Edition)Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade - Rogue Trader Store: Hagen Pattern Narthecium
Narvhal - Narvhal: The Narvhal is a unique Tyranid bio-ship that allows Tyranid hive fleets to traverse interstellar space by warping space-time between the origin and destination star systems.Tyranid hive fleets do not travel through the Warp like Imperial starships. Yet, the hive fleets' incredibly fast rate of advance into the galaxy belies the argument made by some that they do not possess a mode of faster-than-light travel.Whilst it is true that the Tyranids are forced to remain at sublight speeds when within the gravitic boundaries of a planetary system, they are capable of superluminal velocities when travelling through interstellar space. This capability is the result of a small Tyranid bio-ship classified by the savants of the Imperium of Man as a Narvhal.Unlike most Tyranid bio-ships, the Narvhal is almost completely defenceless, and possesses almost no bio-weaponry and only a very thin protective carapace. A cluster of monofilament spines on the Narvhal's bow allow it to take in a wide variety of sensory input, including a broad spectrum of gravimetric and electromagnetic signals.Using these sensors, the Narvhal can detect new planetary systems at extreme interstellar distances. In some unknown manner it then makes use of the origin star system's own gravity and creates a compressed space-time transit corridor through which the Narvhal and other Tyranid bio-ships can traverse interstellar distances.This form of space-warping travel cannot be used near strong gravitational sources as they overwhelm the Narvhal's hypersensitive navigational sensors. As a result, a Tyranid hive fleet must use more conventional forms of biologically-induced reaction-based propulsion during the final approach to a new star system, which can slow their arrival by Terran years or even entire solar decades.Whist this form of propulsion is ultimately slower than a reliance upon the Warp-Drive, it is a great deal more reliable and allows the Tyranids to move implacably, if slowly, across the galaxy.However, the Narvhal's manipulation of a star system's gravity does sometimes produce unintended side effects. A destination world can suffer from earthquakes, solar flares, tidal waves and other natural disasters produced during the interval during which the Hive Fleet is in transition through the space-time transit corridor.This chaos only further benefits the Tyranids' invasion, however, as the defenders of the target world will have their resources bound up in dealing with these problems when the swarm finally arrives in orbit and the first Mycetic Spores begin to fall.
Nassir Amit - Nassir Amit: Nassir Amit, called the "Flesh Tearer," was the captain of the Blood Angels Legion's 5th Company during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy of the 30th and 31st Millennia. He was a line commander, who was notorious for proudly displaying his Artificer-wrought battleplate's impact marks, blade scratches and other signifiers of battle-wear, even on formal occasions when protocol called for it to be in good order and dressed in a manner befitting such an important function.The armour mirrored the martial bluntness of the warrior who wore it. Of all the IXth Legion's captains, Amit's reputation -- and that of his company -- was the most bloodthirsty. More than once, the 5th Company had been called to censure by Sanguinius for their zeal in pursuing enemy forces. It was not for nothing that the outspoken officer had earned the nickname the "Flesh Tearer," and rather than deny the epithet, he had made it his own.During the Second Founding when the Blood Angels Legion was dissolved into a number of Successor Chapters, Amit was chosen to become the first Chapter Master of the newly formed Flesh Tearers Chapter, which was named after him.
Nassir Amit - Bloody Legacy: After their official formation, the Flesh Tearers immediately left Terra to embark upon a new Imperial Crusade to eliminate Traitor forces still loyal to Horus as well as continuing to purge Chaos infestations from Imperial worlds during the period known as the Great Scouring. The Flesh Tearers were assigned the battle barge Victus from their former Legion, which served as their mobile fortress-monastery for the next three thousand Terran years.The Flesh Tearers' reputation for savagery in battle was soon well-known, and so the terrible Flaws of the IXth Legion's genetic legacy must have asserted themselves very soon after the death of the Blood Angels' primarch. During this time, these Space Marines remained constantly on crusade, destroying any Heretics whose path they crossed. Those they encountered, they defeated. Those they defeated, they utterly annihilated, leaving no stone left unturned and no living beings left to continue any heresy.Some rumours circulated of their brutality, even going so far as to reach the High Lords of Terra. However, their degree of success in achieving compliancy was nearly unparalleled. During this period of strife, as the Imperium recovered from Horus' treachery, results were valued far more than technique. As such, there were no investigations into the savage rumours that accompanied the Flesh Tearers' implacable advance.For thousands of Terran years after their founding, the Flesh Tearers were a mobile, crusading Chapter. Eventually, however, in the 34th Millennium, the Chapter chose to establish a permanent fortress-monastery upon the Death World of Cretacia, deep in the galactic west. Cretacia was home to a small population of feral Humans whose genes were pure and who had developed a remarkable Neolithic warrior culture that produced strong and able Flesh Tearers recruits.The Chapter had great need of this easy supply of recruits, for as the centuries passed the Flaw in the Flesh Tearers' gene-seed gradually worsened and few Flesh Tearer Space Marines were able to avoid succumbing to the Black Rage after more than 200 standard years. The combination of an environment that suited the Chapter's martial philosophy with a readily available supply of potential candidates made Cretacia an ideal world for the Flesh Tearers to make their home. With this realisation, the Chapter ceased its endless crusade and established their fortress-monastery.
Nassir Amit - Death: In the end, anger and despair saw the end of Nassir Amit. He had been the first of the Flesh Tearers' Chapter Masters. A brutal, vicious warrior, his deeds were great and many. He had fought in the IXth Legion's greatest battles and lived to conquer Cretacia to serve as his Chapter's new homeworld.The Chapter records of the present day do not indicate how Nassir Amit died or who had ultimately bested him. Only the remains of his suit of Tactical Dreadnought Armour were found aboard one of the Chapter's voidships after battle. Most of the data in the cogitators and memory banks of the vessel had been corrupted, and the events that led to his death are a secret unto this day.
Nassir Amit - Personality: Nassir Amit was notorious amongst his Blood Angels brethren for his savage and brutally honest nature, a trait which Primarch Sanguinius highly valued, as Amit was unafraid to speak the truth bluntly and unabashed, even when others would stop when decorum demanded it.In battle, Amit possessed a savage aspect, utilising his iconic serrated flaying blade which earned him his epithet. His savagery in battle had even earned him the respect of the murderous warriors of the XIIth Legion, the World Eaters, within the fighting pits of their flagship Conqueror before the start of the Horus Heresy, for his ability to fight past first blood, third blood and into sanguis extremis (a fight to the death).Amit wasn't afraid to do what he thought was right, even if it meant going against Legion law, for he possessed little fear of his Legion's Wardens.
Nassir Amit - Wargear: Artificer Terminator Armour - Amit wore a mighty suit of Artificer-made Indomitus Pattern Terminator Armour, which prominently featured the striking serrated iconography of the Flesh Tearers Chapter on the right shoulder guard and the Crux Terminatus on the left one. This suit of Terminator plate was a heavily bastardised suit of war-plate. Re-forged at Roboute Guilliman's request, it had once belonged to Brother Bial of the Blood Angels' 1st Company, but like the others whose battle-plate the Terminator Armour had subsumed, he was long dead. Though this newly forged armour was meant to honour the reformation of the Imperium in the Time of Rebirth and the creation of the new Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, to announce that the Imperium was unbroken and that its will was as strong as ever, it only reminded Amit of all that they had lost to the darkness of the Horus Heresy.Iron Halo - The Iron Halo emits a very strong Conversion Field around its wearer, which makes his armour even harder to pierce with enemy weapons. In addition it also provides its wearer with immense resilience to even the most potent weapons on the battlefield such as Lascannons and missiles of all varieties. The energy shield stands a good chance of deflecting many deadly projectiles with ease.Pair of Chainfists - Amit wore a pair of chainfists with integrated Storm Bolters worked into the gauntlets which had been taken from Brothers Aquinus and Furiel, Veteran Blood Angels warriors who had died by Sanguinius' side during the final hours of the Siege of Terra aboard the Vengeful Spirit.Flaying Knife - This iconic close combat weapon took the form of a large Astartes Combat Knife that possessed barbed edges, the source of Amit's epithet as the "Flesh Tearer."Frag GrenadesKrak Grenades
Nathaniel Garro - Nathaniel Garro: Nathaniel Garro was originally the battle-captain of the Death Guard Legion's 7th Great Company and later became the commander or Agentia Primus of a band of Space Marines gathered from all the Legions known as the Knights-Errant who remained loyal to the Emperor of Mankind and were directed on missions chosen by Malcador the Sigillite, the Regent of Terra.Kyril Sindermann would later claim that Garro became the first true martyr of the Church of the God-Emperor.Garro was also the leader of "The Seventy," the 70 surviving Loyalist Astartes who alone of the Death Guard Legion escaped the massacre of Loyalists at Isstvan III aboard the frigate Eisenstein to bring word of the Warmaster Horus' betrayal of the Emperor to Terra.Garro held to the original tenets of his Legion when many of his battle-brothers chose to follow Horus, their traitorous Primarch Mortarion, and First Captain Calas Typhon's decision to serve Chaos and overthrow the Emperor, installing Horus as the new emperor to rule over the Imperium of Man.After his arrival at Terra, Garro would be tasked by the Emperor's regent, the psyker Malcador the Sigillite, with gathering other Loyalist Astartes from all of the Legions, Traitor and Loyalist alike, who would wear the heraldry of the Sigillite himself.Several of these Astartes, the Sigillite's "Knights-Errant," would become the core leadership of a new Imperial institution composed of Astartes and Imperial nobles of "an inquisitive nature" that would serve as the precursor of the Inquisition and the first Grand Masters of the secret Grey Knights Chapter of Space Marines.
Nathaniel Garro - Isstvan III: Garro's 7th Company fought in concert with the Emperor's Children's elite 1st Company against traitorous forces on Isstvan Extremis, the outermost planet within the Isstvan System. Whilst fighting against a powerful Slaaneshi psyker known as a Warsinger, Garro sustained serious injuries; crushing damage to his torso, his arm, and the loss of his right leg from the mid-thigh down.He was only saved from certain death under the assault of the Warsinger's psychic scream by the timely ministrations of an Apothecary from the Emperor's Children Legion -- their chief apothecary, Fabius.Garro's leg was eventually replaced with a bionic prosthesis of excellent quality. Garro was livid, feeling his anger surge each time the new leg made him limp. The minute gyroscopic mechanisms in the limb would take time to learn the motions and kinetics of his body movement, and until they did, he would be forced to walk as if lame.The Legion's Apothecaries had not declared him fully healed and therefore Garro was deemed unfit for battlefield operations. His command also remained on limited duty until their commander was fit to reenter combat.As a result, Garro and his company would not be going down to unleash the final assault upon Isstvan III. Those orders came directly from the Death Guard's first captain, Calas Typhon.Garro was to be stationed instead aboard the frigate Eisenstein during the assault on Isstvan III, while Commander Ignatius Grulgor of the 2nd Company kept a close eye on the Terran-born officer. They were both to be assigned to duty stations with their Command Squads aboard the Imperial warship, where they would supervise its operations.The rest of their Great Companies would remain in reserve. During the assault on Isstvan III and the Choral City, they would provide standby tactical support for the Drop Pod deployment operation, and remain on alert to perform rapid-reaction interdict duties.Before the mission began, First Captain Typhon pulled Commander Grulgor aside and spoke to him of their primarch's desire to bring Garro to the Warmaster's banner over the Emperor's, but they both knew that Garro would never betray the Master of Mankind. He was too much the Emperor's dutiful warrior.Realising the first captain's intent, Grulgor deduced that the time for the Traitors to act against the Imperium had arrived, as he saw Horus' intention emerging in the unusual pattern of mission assignments on Isstvan III granted to specific units from the Legions, instead of complete companies.Grulgor realised that the Warmaster sought to isolate those elements of the soon-to-be Traitor Legions that did not share his convictions.When the turning point arrived, Typhon informed Grulgor that there were certain duties that Horus would want him to perform. The commander relished his part in this conspiracy against Garro, whom he had long found insufferable.
Nathaniel Garro - Uncertain Fate: Garro's fate in the wake of the Horus Heresy is not currently known, though there are several conflicting stories. Kyril Sindermann, a future Inquisitor, described Garro as the first true martyr of the church of the God-Emperor.Despite this, conflicting testimonies claim that Garro variously remained imprisoned with The Seventy until his death; went on to serve at the Master Apothecariate seeking a cure to Nurgle's Rot, a path followed by fellow Eisenstein survivor and Apothecary Meric Voyen; that Garro still lives in the 41st Millennium and commands an elite Astartes task force clad in the colours of the pre-Heresy Death Guard; or that he was ultimately possessed himself by the Lord of Flies.
Nathaniel Garro - Appearance: Garro possessed a patrician aspect, its roots dating back to the warrior dynasties of ancient Terra. He was pale-skinned, but without the pallidity of his brother Astartes who hailed from the Death Guard's cold and lethal homeworld of Barbarus.He had old eyes in a face that, despite its oft weary countenance, seemed too young for them; his head was hairless and patterned with pale scars.In combat as a Death Guard, the battle-captain wore Mark IV Imperius Maximus power armour. On the chest of Garro's power armour was a brass cuirass that rested there. This was a ceremonial piece that Garro wore only in combat or upon formal occasions.In tandem with the honour-rank of battle-captain, the decorative over-sheath sported an eagle, wings spread and beak arched, sculpted from brass as if about to take flight from the chest plate.Similarly, the rear of the cuirass had a second eagle as a head-guard that emerged from the shoulders when worn over the backpack of Astartes armour. What made this piece unique was that its eagles differed from the Emperor's Aquila.While the symbol of the Imperium of Man had two heads, one blinded to look at the past, one sighted to see to the future, the battle-captain's eagles were singular.After entering Malcador's service, Garro was given a suit of Mark VI Corvus power armour (retaining the Aquila Imperator) and a Paragon Bolter — a master-crafted bolter with an increased rate of fire.He was also equipped with a variant of a device known only as a "Falsehood" that projected a psycho-luminal sphere around him that distorted his appearance, allowing Garro to infiltrate the battlefield unseen and, even once detected, made it difficult for an enemy to target him.
Nathaniel Garro - Legion Serf: Kaleb Arin – Kaleb was Battle-Captain Garro's equerry and housecarl. Kaleb was a former aspirant of the XIVth Legion who had failed the series of trials required for those who wished to become full battle-brothers of the Death Guard. Those aspirants that failed largely chose to accept the Emperor's Peace over a return in dishonour to their clans on Barbarus. But not all, as some lacked the strength of will even for this honour. Though some of the Legions made use of these throwbacks, it was not the Death Guard way. Thus, Battle-Captain Garro, as was his right, saved the failed aspirant and offered him a place within the Legion as a serf. Kaleb loyally served his lord for many solar decades, and like Garro, held to the old traditions of the Dusk Raiders. Kaleb was also a secret adherent of the holy teachings of the Lectitio Divinitatus, the sacred tome written by the Primarch Lorgar that extolled the virtues and divinity of the God-Emperor. During the Battle of Isstvan III, Kaleb was the one who discovered Commander Ignatius Grulgor's treacherous intentions, when he saw that he was unloading crates of Life-Eater virus warheads. The housecarl immediately rushed to the bridge and warned Garro of Grulgor's duplicity. During the ensuing battle between Garro and Grulgor's men, an errant shot from the traitorous Commander ricocheted off the ship’s bulkhead and struck one of the deadly containers, releasing the deadly pathogen. Kaleb sacrificed himself in order to ensure that Garro could fulfill his destiny in the name of the divine Emperor.
Nathaniel Garro - Trivia: In the various Black Library audiobooks, Nathanial Garro is voiced by Toby Longwirth.
Natrix Shock Lance - Natrix Shock Lance: The Natrix Shock Lance is a Titan-grade ranged weapon deployed by the Warhound-class Scout Titans of the Legio Audax. The Natrix Shock Lance is an upgraded version of the Titan-grade Ursus Claw that delivers a potent energy burst to a grappled Titan struck by its harpoon-like lance, potentially shutting down its reactor for a brief period on a successful strike.The Natrix Shock Lance has a slightly shorter range than the Ursus Claw, but if it gets a direct or critical hit upon an enemy Titan, that god-engine must immediately shut down its reactor.
Nauseous Rotbone - Nauseous Rotbone: Nauseous Rotbone is a Plague Surgeon of the Death Guard Traitor Legion formerly of the Sons of Sorrow vectorium who now serves as the personal physician of the Daemon Primarch Mortarion.
Nauseous Rotbone - History: The name of Nauseous Rotbone is infamous throughout the Death Guard and beyond, for this accomplished Plague Surgeon is the personal physician of Mortarion himself. It is Rotbone who sees to the virulence of the plague censers borne into battle at Mortarion's feet, and the putrid feculence of the Daemon Nurgling mites that bear them. It is he that draws his primarch's Daemonic ichor with needles and grizzle-leeches for use in gruesome rituals and unclean rites. Rotbone listens to his gene-sire's embittered rants with a doctor's wry patience, and is one of the few individuals in the galaxy who Mortarion will permit to disagree with his pronouncements or challenge his plans.Originally, Rotbone belonged to the Sons of Sorrow, a vectorium of the Legion's 7th Plague Company. Since being chosen and elevated by Mortarion -- seemingly on a whim -- he has fought alongside, and even led, forces from all the different Plague Companies.He is the keeper of the surgical dungeons deep within Mortarion's Black Manse on the Plague Planet, wherein the Death Guard keep their stocks of tainted gene-seed, and Rotbone's assaults into realspace are most often launched to gather new samples for this genetic treasure trove, with which he delights in tinkering.
Navar Hef - Navar Hef: Navar Hef was a well-known warrior and officer of the Raven Guard Legion during the early 31st Millennium. Born and raised on Deliverance, Hef had already been selected as one of the XIXth Legion's Aspirants before Corvus Corax shipped out to confront his traitorous brother, Horus Lupercal, in the distant Istvaan System. Following the terrible losses sustained in the Drop Site Massacre and the ninety solar day struggle for survival of the remnants of the Raven Guard, their Primarch placed high expectations in Hef and his fellow Aspirants.They, and others like him, were to form a new breed of Legiones Astartes, a distinct command known as the Raptor contingent. Unfortunately, unknown to the Legion's highest authorities and Apothecarion, the new and improved genetic material that had been implanted into Hef had been tampered with by agents of the Alpha Legion, which caused Hef to suffer from severe mutations.As one of the first to suffer from this genetic deviation -- which would quickly become the hallmark of the Raptors -- Hef became a figurehead for those of his brothers afflicted in the same way as he. This led Hef to act as second-in-command of the Raptor contingent under the esteemed Commander Branne Nev.
Navar Hef - Aberration: It quickly became very obvious that apart from the first 500 recruits, every Raptor had suffered from this genetic deviation. Those concerned were now assembled in Ravendelve's subterranean levels. Those too far gone, required incarceration. Fortunately, Ravendelve's deepest levels contained cages where prior tests of the Primarch-gene-seed had been conducted on animals. Despite their new condition, most of the Raptors were still masters of themselves and thus needed no special precautions, yet the Raven Guard insisted on keeping the Raptors in seclusion. Officially, every effort was made to revert the changes, and despite Corvus Corax personal involvement, most Raptors realized it was but an empty promise. Sixx and Orlandriaz suspected a sudden manifestation of non-human genes that had laid dormant in the gene-seed, and thus far no one suspected that the gene-seed had been tampered with. Despite Hef's claws, his mutations were far less severe than those of others, even the vestigial tail that had grown from his spine and that had been surgically removed by Vincente Sixx had been somewhat common amongst this new gallery of monsters the later generations of Raptors had become.With more than a thousand Raptors now unoperational, Legionaries from the Talons were ferried down from Ravenspire to secure and guard the compound. This proved to be a wise decision as within the week Ravendelve was attacked by secessionist elements.
Navigator's Quarter - Navigator's Quarter: The Navigator's Quarter is a large district of the world-city that is Terra entirely given over to the aristocratic Navigator families of the Navis Nobilite. The Navigator's Quarter is home to some of the stateliest palaces the hand of Mankind has ever raised. Almost every Navigator house maintains an estate in the Navigator's Quarter.By ancient tradition, even those ruins of once-great edifices belonging to disgraced or extinct houses are left as they were when their last masters departed. Thus, amidst the opulence there can be seen tragic reminders of Navigator houses cast down or lost to the passage of time and war, the skeletal ruins of their once majestic palaces crumbling away beside the still-standing splendour of those of their rivals remaining in existence.In many cases, however, Terra is not the centre of a Navigator house's power and their mansions are maintained there only as a matter of form. The interests of most houses of the Navis Nobilite are spread far and wide across the Imperium, as befits an organisation whose fortunes depend upon their expertise traversing the countless Warp routes of the galaxy. It is not uncommon for various Navigator houses to concentrate their resources more in one region of the galaxy than in others, and so most sectors of the Imperium are host to the central holdings of at least one, and possibly several dozen, Navigator houses.
Navigator's Quarter - Palace of the Navigators: The Paternova of the Navis Nobilite permanently resides in the Palace of the Navigators which dominates the centre of the Navigator's Quarter. From the moment he or she is installed, the Paternova never leaves this palace.The staff, soldiery and other retainers of the Palace of the Navigators are all drawn from the Paternova's own Navigator house, and are all replaced with each new Paternova who assumes the office. From this throne on ancient Terra, the Paternova guides the destiny of the houses of the Navis Nobilite, ensuring their place of privilege and power within the Human-settled galaxy.The chief amongst a Paternova's servants is the Navigator designated as the Paternoval Envoy, who often serves as one of the High Lords of Terra, representing the interests of the Navis Nobilite on the Senatorum Imperialis.
Navigator - Navigator: A Navigator (Homo navigo) is a very particular form of Imperial-sanctioned Human mutant who possesses the Navigator Gene. This gives a Navigator the unique ability to navigate a faster-than-light starship accurately through Warpspace to emerge safely at another point in realspace. This ability makes Navigators absolutely essential to the Imperium's continued survival and to all Human interstellar transportation, communication and commerce.All Navigators have a third eye, commonly called the "Warp eye," on their foreheads, which allows them to perceive the "psychic light" projected by the Emperor from Terra known as the Astronomican, enabling them to fully use their powers in guiding Human starships through the currents of the Warp.Their ability to sense the tides of the Warp is considered a psychic power, although Navigators never possess any psychic abilities beyond the powers their Warp Eye affords them.Navigators possess natural life spans of as much as four hundred Terran years. As they increase in age, their abilities increase in power, and their physical appearance changes: the white and iris of the third eye gradually disappear, leaving only a hardened black orb.All Navigators belong to a large group of noble families based on Terra in the great district of that world-city known as the Navigator's Quarter. These dynasties are known collectively as the Great Families of the Navis Nobilite.
Navigator - Appearance: As sure as a star will dwindle and die, a Navigator will be warped by their genetic heritage over time. "The sins of blood," as the old Imperial proverb goes, "will out." As stable a mutation as the Navigator Gene is, it still gives rise to countless other deformities of body and soul within its host.This, combined with long-term exposure to the energies of the Warp, almost always ensures that Navigators will be afflicted with some kind of physical aberration. Simply being born into a Navigator family means that an individual will be mutated in some way. A Navigator's resistance or susceptibility to mutation is often purely a function of the genetic stability and psychic purity of their gene-stock.Ultimately, it must be remembered that all Navigators are a mutant sub-species of Humanity. Other than the existence of the third eye in the middle of their forehead, most Navigators are virtually indistinguishable from normal Humans; others possess such extreme physical deviations that their appearance is utterly alien.Mutation or deformity is common among Navigators; although the deviations exhibited tend to be limited to specific traits common among Navigators. Some bloodlines sustain a set of hereditary traits that accompany their strain of the Navigator Gene, while others are subject to random mutations from birth.Navigators tend to be tall and spindly, sometimes with pale and almost translucent skin. Other common mutant traits include scaly skin, extremely large eyes which may lack the iris, and ill-defined facial features. The hands and feet of a Navigator could be ridiculously large, and are often webbed. It is very common for Navigators to be completely hairless, either from birth or soon after adolescence when the third eye first opens.Although many mutations can be disfiguring or debilitating, like a Navigator's teeth turning into sharp needles or his body becoming uncomfortably large and bulbous, others are beneficial. Fortunate Navigators may possess inhuman strength or agility, indomitable willpower, deadly claws for fingers, completely black eyes that can see in darkness, or incredible body regeneration.It's impossible to predict what boons or burdens the Navigator Gene will bestow, although most Navigators are bound to accumulate at least several over their long lifespans.Except in the most extreme cases, a Navigator would never possess all of these mutant traits at the same time. Those born with such extreme mutations might be hidden away or even killed at birth by their house to prevent their bloodlines from being contaminated by a level of mutation that would surely draw the attention of the Ordo Hereticus -- or even worse, the interest of their rival Navigator Houses.
Navigator - Navigator's Sanctum: On every Imperial Warp-capable starship, the sanctum of the Navigators was a domain unto itself. Typically designed to resemble a spheroid between two to ten decks in diameter, the enclosed kingdom of the Navis Nobilite was built into the framework of Human-made voidships while they were still in their stardocks.Often, the great orbs were delivered by the representatives of whichever noble Navigator House was oath-sworn to guide the vessel, wholly finished, ready for interface with the new ship and untouched by the hands of common shipwrights.Indeed, there were stories of some great vessels that had sailed the void for hundreds of Terran years, and never once had their Navigators ventured outside their sanctum. Power, communication and utility conduits would feed the needs of those within, and in return they would do as they were commanded.With their third eye open, the Navigators would guide the way from star to star. Without them and their preternatural psychic gifts, any semblance of a galaxy-spanning Imperium of Man would be an impossibility.
Navigator - Great Houses: Almost nothing is known of the earliest history of the Navigator Houses, though some amongst the Holy Ordos of the Inquisition suspect that the ancient stasis vaults beneath the mansions of the Navigator's Quarter on Terra must contain records and artefacts rivalling those of the Inquisition in age and significance.Whatever secret histories of Mankind's darkest ages are hidden beneath those marble palaces are likely to remain obscured, for the Novators of the Great Houses are beholden to no other authority and even the most determined and relentless of Inquisitors would find it all but impossible to breach their closed society and force them to acknowledge any external law.Few organisations within the Imperium hold as much power as the Great Navigator Houses of the Navis Nobilite. Their position of control over nearly all Imperial shipping and interstellar commerce places them in a rare position of power, one that sits almost beyond the reach of both the Administratum and even the Inquisition itself. It is a position that the Great Houses have mercilessly exploited down through the millennia and used to gather vast wealth and influence.Though across the long span of years this power has risen and fallen, it has endured longer than almost all other Imperial edifices. The only aspect of the Great Houses that matches their political endurance is their constant struggle with each other. In their internecine struggles for position and favour, the houses use all manner of means to outdo their rivals, sometimes even engaging in open warfare against one another. Only the strict control of the house Novators and the carefully maintained codes of behaviour and tradition of the Navigators keep such conflicts from spiralling out of control.Whatever the details of their roots, the Navigator Houses appear to have enjoyed a special status since time immemorial. They must have been an established and powerful body at the beginning of the Emperor's Great Crusade in the late 30th Millennium, which would have been impossible without their services. Were it not for the Navigators that guided each expeditionary fleet, the Great Crusade would have taken millennia to prosecute, not the scant two Terran centuries it actually took before the calamitous events of the Horus Heresy plunged the nascent Imperium into a galaxy-burning civil war.It must be presumed that a number of houses fell to the insidious lies of the Warmaster Horus, for it would not have been possible for Horus to deploy his fleets with the speed and cunning he did were this not the case.Whatever the truth, the Navigator Houses appear to have emerged from the Heresy with their power and reputation largely intact -- confirmation, were it needed, of their critical role in the very existence of the galaxy-spanning interstellar empire that is the Imperium.
Navigator - Novators: The Novator is a patriarch or matriarch that rules over a Navigator House, the figurative -- and often biological -- father or mother of the family. It is the role of the Novator to hold the family together and manage their fortunes, fostering new contracts and contacts for the house and jealously guarding those already in its possession. Above the scores of Novators stands the Paternova, head of all the Imperium's Navigator Houses.From his throne on ancient Terra in the Palace of the Navigators, he or she guides the destiny of the houses, ensuring their continued place of power within the Human-settled galaxy. While the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Great Houses are collectively and generally known as Novators, each house may choose its own name or title for the nobleman or woman who leads its endeavours. The Novators of Navigator Houses are usually chosen from a family's ruling branch, elected based on merits or rights of inheritance by a council of elders from the bloodline.While the Novator is responsible for ruling the clan's affairs and making important decisions and alliances, it is the elders who subtly guide the bloodline and ultimately must choose a new Novator -- although these ancient Navigators are consigned to a life of luxurious isolation due to their gruesome and unsightly mutations, their sheer age and experience grant them great influence in critical moments of decision for the clan.To ensure the internal stability of the Navis Nobilite, the Novators of most great houses have direct communication access to each other, both in times of peace and during trade wars. Using a special encrypted communications chamber called the Novator Cortex, the patriarchs and matriarchs of Navigator Houses can directly contact each other at a moment's notice so long as the network allows in a given star system or sector.In this way they can negotiate and settle disputes, discuss betrothals and otherwise cooperate to ensure any issues or problems are handled with civility.
Navigator - Traditions: Each house of the Navis Nobilite has their own unique traditions and positions within the house's hierarchy dependent upon their own histories and culture. For instance, House Belisarius is led by an individual Novator referred to as the "Celestarch" and has its own standing military trained by the Astartes of the Space Wolves Chapter.The Space Wolves long ago concluded a special alliance with House Belisarius to provide its Celestarch with a small force of Space Wolves known as the Wolfblade to serve him or her as a personal honour guard.A nobleman or noblewoman known as a Novator serves as the matriarch or patriarch of a Navigator house. A Novator can either be the figurative parent or a biological parent of the other members of the family, but always serves as the house's legal and titular leader. A Novator is expected to manage their household's fortunes and to keep their kin united in fostering the house's political and economic agenda. These duties include fostering trade contracts for the house whilst jealously guarding those profitable enterprises the house already holds in its possession.The strict controls a Novator imposes along with the Imperium's legal Navigator codes prevents devastating economic and even outright military conflict from erupting between the Navigator Houses. Ranked above the many Novators of the different houses in the hierarchy of the Navigators sits the powerful noble known as the Paternova, who oversees the fortunes of the Navigators as an Imperial elite.
Navigator - Trade Wars: The most common conflict involving the Navis Nobilite are the conflicts between the various Navigator Houses. Each Navigator family's power and wealth is based on the trade it can control, its contracts and pledges to various Imperial mercantile organisations, and the courses that its Navigators can plot. All these matters are areas of fierce competition between the different Navigator Houses and often the focus of campaigns of espionage, violence, and assassination.Such conflicts can cause huge amounts of damage to the infrastructure of the Imperium, often occurring without the direct knowledge of the other Human nobility or the Imperial authorities until it is too late.Traditionally, this damage has been controlled by the formal declaration of a "trade war" under the terms of the ancient Navigator Convention. A trade war, once declared, allows all Navigator Houses involved to act against their rivals using military and covert means. According to the terms of a trade war, those outside of the Navigator Houses involved should not be affected or harmed by its progress. However, in reality, subsidiaries, allies, and associates of the Navigator Houses immersed in a trade war are usually dragged into the conflict whether they want to be or not.While a trade war is meant to control and contain competition between the Navigator Houses, many houses act outside of the constraints of a declared trade war. Such illegal actions usually involve intermediaries, assassination guilds, or mercenary armies for hire -- sometimes even using xenos like Orks or Kroot.
Navigator - Rogue Trader Service: Even for those like Navigators so designed on a genetic level to endure the Warp's horrors, there is still a price to pay. Navigators who have served the longest may become wracked with bodily failure, incipient madness, and possible mutation, and ultimately they become virtual prisoners reliant on the life-sustaining machinery of their sanctums.Conversely, those newly come into their calling often revel in their rank and wealth, affecting rakish mannerisms and caring little for the petty concerns or trivial realities of life in the Imperium, each knowing that such a life is for them a thing that must one day pass.Those that embrace this wild, almost nihilistic attitude are often attracted to service aboard a Rogue Trader vessel, striking out into the darkness almost as if ﬂeeing the inevitable fate they must one day face. Others owe their dangerous service thanks to some hidden crime or misdemeanour among their own kind or through connection to an infamous and some might say tainted bloodline.Regardless of whatever idiosyncrasies a Navigator might bear, they are essential to the operation of a Rogue Trader vessel and given great leeway by their Rogue Trader, for should a vessel lose its Navigator beyond the fringes of known space, any such vessel, and all who serve aboard her, is surely lost.