Fall From The Light

The Fall From The Light is the lamentable Chapter schism that occurred between Loyalist and Traitor factions of the Invokers Space Marine Chapter, due to a contentious disagreement in Chapter doctrine when fighting against Chaos. The Chapter Master called for a Chapter-wide council on the merits of staying within Codex Astartes-proscribed doctrine. An opposing faction within the Chapter believed they should continue their study of the arcane and utilise such lore and forbidden knowledge against the Great Enemy. The resulting debate, turned into an Chapter-wide schism, which resulted in the Loyalist faction being slaughtered to a man. With news of the Invokers fall from the light, the Imperium sent military forces to eradicate the rebellious Chapter. Seeing their inevitable doom, the remaining Invokers used their acquired forbidden lore and cast a great sorcerous spell that transported their Chapter home world from the material realm and across the universe, beyond even the outer dark of the Ghoul Stars. Since that time, they have continued to wage their private war against the Ruinous Powers by utilising the tools of the Great Enemy against itself.

History
For hundreds of years, as the galaxy darkened and the light of the Astronomican faded, the Invokers turned to more and more extreme methods and practices in the fight against the Imperium's enemies. Foreseeing where this dark path would take them, Chapter Master Azabell Vied ordered a chapter-wide council to take place at the Sanctum, Fortress Monastery of the Invokers Chapter. The great halls filled with Marines of all ranks and all ten captains, every chaplain, Librarian, Apothecary and Techmarine sat in attendance of the Chapter Master's summons. There, the fate of the chapter was debated. What had been meant to be a realignment of the chapter's faith and practices back to the Imperial standard, swiftly divulged down to two factions vying to be dominant. Vied led the conservatives who desired a return to a more orthodox way of battle, and a return to the Emperor's holy light.

The other side was led by Third Captain Zephyer Kize, who believed that the only way to defend the Imperium, the Emperor and all of his subjects, was to employ the Great Enemy's weapons against them. The debate seemed brutally tied, with the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th companies standing by the Chapter Master but the 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 9th and 10th siding with Kize. The various auxiliary bodies within the chapter, the Apothecarion, the Reclusium, etc, were as divided as the rest of the chapter over the decision, each one arguing the merits of each to their fellows. Finally, the argument grew to a crescendo, and Kize, vying for a peaceful solution, turned to leave Maladiction forever, saying that those who wished to follow him could do so, and that they would expunge all affiliation between themselves and the conservative Invokers.

This was intended to allow the two warring sides of the debate to part ways amicably and battle the Emperor's foes in their own way, Vied from without, Kize from within. Vied, refusing to allow such a betrayal of what he believed to be the true path of Astartes, drew arms and fired a bolt at Kize. Kize's life was saved only by the heroism of his second-in-command, Rhaine Isbeal, who pushed Kize out of the shot at the cost of losing his own left arm. With that one shot, violence erupted between the two factions. Brother fought brother in a dark re-enactment of the civil war that their primogenitors suffered through millennia before. The halls were stained with blood, and after days of vicious fighting, it was Kize and his Radicals that emerged alive. Alerted by the vicious fighting, the Order of the Vigilant Eye stationed on Maladictio's moon sent scouts to investigate what was happening. Upon discovering the truth, they alerted the Imperial authorities that the Invokers had turned traitor and butchered those loyal to the Emperor. The remaining Invokers scampered to their great libraries, scrambling for something they could use to save themselves and their homeworld from destruction. Within a dark, heretical tome, they found their answer. Dark warp magiks, using the blood of their slaughtered brethren, the remaining Invokers insured that the slaughter was not for naught. With a blinding flash, Maladictio disappeared from the material universe.

The Invokers knew not where the spell would take them, but that anywhere was better than in the firing line of imperial forces. Transported across the breadth of the galaxy, the Invokers found themselves stranded in the Storm of Souls, even further from the Emperor's light than the Ghoul Stars. Lost and stranded, in a place where the Warp crossed over dangerously with the material realm. It was Kize who offered a solution to their problem and led them down the path they now follow. For many millennia it had been well documented by the Ordo Malleus that there existed within the warp, cadres of daemons that existed to fight against their own kind, and desired nothing more than to slay their kin. It was with these daemons that Kize parlayed, and with these daemons that the Invokers now fight, using their warp-spawned strength to bolster their depleted numbers and lack of easily acquired supplies. The Invokers having been officially dubbed Excommunicate Traitoris, they now fight isolated and alone against the Imperium's enemies, using all the arcane knowledge and power they can muster, they use the tools of the enemy against them and fight to free the Imperium of the threat of Chaos, even if it costs them their souls.