Heirs of Lupercal

The Heirs of Lupercal are a notorious Chaos Warband whose origins hearkens back to the ancient days of the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras, when they were originally the 22nd Company of the Sons of Horus. Following the defeat of the Traitor Legions during the epic Siege of Terra, and subsequent flight into the Eye of Terror, the 22nd Company struggled to survive the internecine conflicts fought between the various Traitor Legions. Eventually, the broke off from the main body of the XVI Legion and formed their own warband, renaming themselves the 'Heirs of Lupercal'. Since that bygone age, this warband has continued to plague the realms of the Mankind in their neverending Long War.

Warband History
Founded during the Great Crusade, the Heirs Of Lupercal began life as the 22nd Company of the Sons of Horus, composed exclusively of Cthonian recruits. Noted for their fierce and unshakable loyalty solely to The Warmaster Horus himself, the 22nd were a part of numerous engagements throughout its service history, including Murder, the Interex, and the moon of Davin. Of great importance, they also fought within a sector of Necron held territory, working with numerous other companies, including the First, to take a system of man’s lost colonies held by Necrons. A fierce and bloody campaign ensued, and the defeat of the Necrons was assured though at the cost of the planet’s surface.

During the Heresy, they became much more in tune with their Cthonian roots, openly displaying Cthonian gang signs on their armor, scratching tally kills, and so on. In turn this led to them becoming much more savage and bloodthirsty killers under their then-Captain. This unrestrained savagery would prove to be their downfall as they were nearly decimated at Molech.

Their future Captain was the sole surviving officer of the 22nd Company at the Battle for Molech, taking more lives than anyone else in his company. After his promotion, the Cthonian-born Sons Of Horus Ezkhar Khagor reformed the 22nd, making them ultimately a savage, but extremely disciplined company, noted for its adaptability and tactics mirroring the way actual wolves hunt.

Post-Heresy
After the Scouring, The 22nd resided in the Eye of Terror, living in a volatile new realm. For years they lived as mercenaries to other, larger Warbands, but with the Siege Of Lupercalios at Maeleum, came the birth of the Heirs of Lupercal, if not in name yet. Taking part in the conflict, the 22nd under Khagor (whom, at this time, led a force of barely 5 marines), tried in vain to defend Lupercalios from the III Legion force, enraged at the sight of other Sons of Horus Warbands amongst the multi-Legion force besieging Lupercalios.

When the battle was done, and only Raiders remained behind to pick the bones of a decimated legion, Khagor and his squad, who had surprisingly managed to rally their numbers to 16 legionnaires now, fought their way to the tomb of Horus. Rather than becoming enraged at the sight of Horus’ tomb, stolen and desecrated, a great sense of despair became them. Khagor walked about the room, looking at what remained of the shattered windows that once displayed scenes of his gene-sire’s life. It was in this single, sorrowful moment that the Heirs were truly born, and yet would still have no name. But they would have a sigil. Taking the serpent Glyph elites had once wore (the Catulan reavers, the Justaerin, the First Company veterans), he made it their badge. And when he looked upon them, bronze trim gleaming, he hung his head. Bronze was for the victors, for the heroes, for the Sons they had once been.

Khagor’s first order, to the First Sixteen as they would later be known, was to strip the bronze from their armor, and make it black. “No longer will our armor gleam in the sunlight, for we have forsaken it.” He said. “No longer shall we bear the Eye upon our shoulders, for we have failed it. We are the inheritors of our father’s legacy, and we will carry on in his name.”

So it was that the new Warband took to their new visage. Khagor personally led excursions to the gene-vaults below, taking only lists of former 22nd Company members Alive and Dead, and purging the information. Only he was allowed the knowledge of these Brothers lost among the Eye of Terror. This done, they armed themselves and the Warband took to the Stars. But time has no real meaning in the warp. What would have taken hours had, in the empire of the Eye, taken them two Terran standard years. Ezekyle Abaddon, their former First Captain, had taken their vengeance without them. And he had killed the Sons of Horus.

In its place was something he called the Legion of the Long War. In its place was something that turned its back on all legacies. Something that cast aside its shame for the promise of brotherhood.

Khagor politely declined their offers to join them, and Abaddon spoke the words that would give them a name, forevermore. “Then you are fools, and Heirs of a deluded weakling.”

Heirs.

He had given them name, and purpose.

So, with this new name, the Heirs Of Lupercal began in earnest their own way of waging the Long War. The first thing was they traveled to every known location of 22nd Company members still alive. Some renounced their paths to their pre-existing Warbands and knelt before their Captain once more, naming him their Lord. Others had to be taken by force, when deluded Warband leaders would not let them go. These leaders were executed and their numbers given a choice to join or die. Khagor did not care wish, so long as he got the names he wanted.

Their men collected, Khagor’s next objective was to amass a fleet, one strong enough for his ambition, yet still able to not incur the wrath of the Black Legion. He settled upon 16 vessels, each bearing an appropriate number of smaller craft suited to running a war fleet. One not nearly suited enough to large scale campaigns, but well suited enough to War in the Eye.

And yet, not long after, they fled. The Black Legion had found them again, and their only hope of respite was to flee the eye, their prison and their home for so long. So they fled, hiding away in the Maelstrom, that naturally occurring Warp Rift to the east.

And thus, scoured a second time, the Heirs came to the Maelstrom. This time, they became adamant about staying. The first thing Khagor did was call up a list of all worlds previously held by the Sixty-Third Expeditionary Fleet. From there, he set his eyes on a new home for them.

Molech.

Notable Campaigns

 * The War of Shame, (Unknown Date.M31) - After the Fall of Lupercalios, the Heirs took to the Eye, with their fledgling forces, and hunted for the Pulchritudinous, yet only came upon a ship bearing nothing but Emperor's Children yet not the apothecary they so hunted. The two forces met upon a world below, their ships neither suited nor built for void war at this point. Fighting lasted a terran ten minutes, yet for the forces embattled within the eye, it was a relative century. As a result of this, the Heirs were not at the siege of the Canticle City, and moreover, had not seen Horus Reborn.
 * War For The Enduring Spirit (Unknown Date.M32) - Following the War of Shame, the Heirs were left with depleted numbers, and their fleet still had no flagship. Deciding to correct this, Khagor and the warband traveled to a nearby stronghold of the Sons of Horus legion, only to find Iron Warriors besieging it. Determined even more when they realized a fully functional battle barge was in the docks of the Fortress, the Heirs began a decade long conflict, starting first with the inception of their cultist followers, the Hand of the Rusted Blade. Using this new Cultist force as meat shields and its psykers as a means for ritual teleportation. 300,000 Cultists sacrifice themselves to bring forth a Greater Daemon. Battle rages on for an approximate five years after the summoning, but the Iron Warriors are routed, and the Enduring Spirit, the flagship, is claimed and named.
 * The Second Scourge (Unknown Date.M33) - With the Black Legion on their tail, the Heirs flee the Eye of Terror, traveling through the Empyrean to the Maelstrom. There, they set themselves up as a fleet based warband.

Pre-Heresy
Cthonia,

Flagship
The Enduring Spirit  is a Battle Barge that once served in the Sons of Horus fleet, though locked away

Warband Beliefs
The Heirs' are undivided for the most part, however, the god most prominently worshipped in the Heirs is Nurgle, as their cultists and plague marines attest. However, despite the Nurgle-aligned factions within the Heirs, Tzeentch and Khorne are displayed with equal favor.

Slaanesh however, is spurned and slaaneshi aligned forces reviled. Slaanesh is seen by them as abhorrent due to the favor The Youngest God has placed upon the Emperor's Children, and the Fall of Lupercalios is something they cannot nor will not forgive.

Warband Gene-Seed
Within the Sons of Horus, the gene-seed was considered extremely pure, with no mutation recorded. However, in the long war since, mutations have become rampant, especially among the Luperci, and such mutations are worn with pride.

To maintain their numbers, excursions are often taken to realspace to kill loyalist astartes and take their geneseed. A favorite to hunt of theirs is the Blood Angels and their successors due to the delicious irony and echoes of history.

Warband Organisation
The Heirs are organized into 16 Companies, each of them following the old Legion command structure, and at the top sits the Warlord, Ezkhar Khagor himself. Standing apart from the command structure is the Luperci, answerable only to Khagor. The Luperci are a cadre of possessed, comprised mainly of daemons from all of the Dark Pantheon, and the sixteen most powerful of them serve as Khagor's bodyguards. The head of the Luperci also serves as Khagor's Equerry.

Specialist Formations
Terminator Elites within the First Company are known as the Mourn Brethren. Their Armor is black and red, unlike the rest of the warband.

The Luperci
Translating as "Brotherhood of the Wolf" in Cthonian, the Luperci are a holdover from their halcyon days as the Sons of Horus. Originally created by Maloghurst the Twisted, Equerry to the Primarch Horus Lupercal and Captain Serghar Targhost, 7thCompany, with tutelage by First Chaplain Erebus of the Word Bearers, The formation of the Luperci began shortly after the Dropsite Massacre at Isstvan V, with their first deployment in combat being at the Battle of Molech. The Heirs, however, did not form their version of the Luperci until sometime in late M31, during the dying days of the Legion Wars. The Luperci within the Heirs are comprised of no more than 80 men at any given time, and the most skilled and lethal 16 members of the Luperci comprise Khagor's bodyguards, and are his personal companions alongside Apostle Valdictus and the Daemon Engine Garmr the Bound.

Combat Doctrine
The Heirs of Lupercal are a terrifying thing to behold. They fight with all the rage of wounded wolves, yet all the discipline of an elite fighting force. Standard tactics of the Heirs' are speartip strikes, the composition of which is subject to any advance intelligence about the foe. These speartip strikes are not used to instantly tear out the throat of the foe, for no combat plan survives contact with the enemy. Rather, they probe for weaknesses, drawing out the enemy into exhaustion, tiredness, and discomfort. Then, when the enemy has revealed a weak point or flaw, the Heirs will pour an overwhelming strike into it, using all of the terror tactics they can.

It is also noted that there is a preference for close combat within the Warband, and an emphasis is placed on mastering melee as well as the bolter. Plasma is the preferred firearm of choice for the command within the Warband

Notable Members

 * Warlord Ezkhar Khagor, The Reclaimer: Born of Cthonia, Master of the Heirs of Lupercal. A warrior without peer amongst his warband, and a reasonable man, if only to his Brothers. He wears modified Mark IV Power Armour, and carries a modified mace, Stormtaker. He is also a true Son, meaning his facial features echo those of his Primarch. Wears a respirator at all times, for reasons unknown.


 *  Zhugral:  Born of Cthonia. Daemon Prince. Commands the Second Company, but often fights with the First as well.


 *  Commander Zael:  Born of Cthonia. A lord in terminator plate, Zael leads the First Company Terminators, the Mourn Brethren.


 *  Carillonneur Eiren : Born of Barbarus. Once handpicked by Mortarion as a Noxious Blightbringer, he through reasons unknown, has joined the Heirs of Lupercal. Within the Warband, he is given command of the Nurgle-aligned forces within it.


 *  Warpsmith Carven : Born of Cthonia. The head of the Techmarines once attached to the 22nd Company, Warpsmith Carven now leads the warpsmiths within the Heirs of Lupercal


 *  Apostle Valdictus:  Born of Cthonia. head of the Chaplaincy within the Former 22nd company, Valdictus now leads both the cultists, and still serves as a spiritual guide to his brothers. Often can be seen in Khagor's retinue.


 *  Garmr the Bound:  Born of the Sea of Souls. A Decimator Daemon engine, who, like Rex Malevolentia, has sworn itself to the warband as a permanent member. Curiously, it did so for seemingly no ulterior motive, and has even aided Khagor's plans from time to time. Few trust it, but it has become a valued member of the warband nonetheless


 *  Hezrion: Born of Cthonia. First of the Sixteen and head of the Luperci. Equerry to Ezkhar Khagor.

Warband Fleet

 * Enduring Spirit (Battle Barge): Battle Barge of unknown class and holds most of the warband, including the revered Titan Rex Malevolentia

Warband Colours
The Heirs of Lupercal still retain their former Traitor Legion's verdigris green-black colours for their battle-plate. Cthonian gang-sigils graven into their armour that record notable kills and deeds. They also have the usual spikes, chains and other Chaos fetishes denoting their allegiance to the Ruinous Powers.

Warband Badge
The Heirs of Lupercal's warband icon is large black coloured Cthonian Serpent Glyph, that was utilised by some specialised formations of their former Legion, such as the Catulan Reavers.

Warband Relics

 * Rex Malevolentia: Warhound-Class Scout Titan, last of its Legio. Saved from doom by the Heirs of Lupercal during an unknown engagement, it has sworn itself to the permanent service of the warband. As such it is treated like a relic of the Warband, and is by far the most respected thing within the Legion, even Khagor himself deferring to it when it chooses to speak.

Allies

 * The Endemic Blades: A Nurgle-Aligned Cult, created by Apostle Valdictus. Uses Rituals to allow the Warband teleportation, a tactic used by Erebus as well.

Notable Quotes
Feel free to add your own

By the Heirs of Lupercal
"No longer will our armor gleam in the sunlight, for we have forsaken it. No longer shall we bear the Eye upon our shoulders, for we have failed it. We are the inheritors of our father’s legacy, and we will carry on in his name."

- Warlord Ezkhar Khagor, The Reclaimer.