The Infamy

The event known has ' The Infamy ', amongst the members of the Void Ravens Space Marine Chapter, is their greatest shame, and the one and only time in all of their bloody history where they truly stood at the brink of Excommunication, due to the actions of one of their own.

History
A war of influence had broken down on the Cardinal World of Saint-Iosaph. The Fifth Hold, led by a Marshal whose name as been expunged from all the records kept by the Chapter and is now only known as 'the Traitor', answered the call to arm from one of the faction, led by Father Hiropal, to the surprise of all. Blessed by the priests, the Hold unleashed its terror-tactics on a faithful population like never before or since. Soon, the streets were covered in blood and a tenth of the population had been killed. By then, the Bishops had vowed to support Father Hiropal, to end this madness. Alas for them, dementia had taken control over the Hold.

In an orgy of destruction, the Marshal ordered the mighty ship under his command, Terror's Doom, to unleash its ancient bioweapons on the planet. When the slaves and Astartes still on the ship refused to do so, he led his own forces against their Brothers, killing them all and burning their gene-seed. Saint-Iosaph was then bathed in viruses unseen on a world of Man since the dark days of the Horus Heresy. All living beings died, but it was not enough for the Traitor, who turned his forces against the nearby worlds, consuming them in his madness. Unbeknownst to him words of his atrocities had reached the Inquisition and his Chapter both.

Then begun a gruelling manhunt into the depths of space, Void Raven against Void Raven, all trying to avoid the forces of the Inquisition. It took six long years before the Traitor's Doom was located and commandeered by forces loyal to the Void Lord. The renegade Astartes, by now turned to Chaos, were captured alive when possible to be delivered to the Inquisition. The Traitor tried to escape but in the last moment was betrayed by his own men and brought before their former Brothers.

The trial on Saint-Iosaph lasted six years, during which the whole Void Ravens Chapter had gathered, opened all their archives and willingly submitted to the Inquisition. Many a Brother who had fought against the forces of the Traitor was deemed unfit to serve the Imperium, and sentenced to death, a sorrowful destiny for those warriors, but one accepted with grim resolution. It is probably this openness which spared the Chapter from Excommunication. Still, while the forces of the Traitor were burned on their stakes, the terms of the Chapter's redemption were laid down, and harsh they were - three hundred years of Crusade, without the right to replenish their ranks, under the watchful eyes of the Inquisition.