User:Kadjah Thoris/Sandbox10

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In the Works Articles & Additional Notes ---

Athaliah's resurrections: * 876.M41

* 880.M41

* 921.M41

* 931.M41

The Second Primate
Talyesan ‘Lord of Wisdom’ was the third of the Primarchs to be discovered in 838.M30. His gestation capsule came down on the single trefoil shaped continent of the planet Gwythno in a system not far from Fenris. It landed in an orchard adjoining a reclusium where he was found by a sisterhood of the Order of Mystic-Adepts who shared power with the warrior elite. The mistress of the college, the Lady Ganeida, took him as a son and reared him in in the ways of the Wise but as she was also born to a princely house of the Warrior caste she sent him to her brother, Prince Gwion, to be trained in arms as well. The infant grew into a man in less than a year and advanced almost as rapidly through the levels of Initiation achieving the rank of Magister – which normally took a human lifetime - barely ten years after his arrival. Sated with learning the young Primarch set out explore his new world. He found it a patchwork of green and pleasant terra-formed land surrounded by wastes in which the poisonous flora and dangerous fauna native to the planet continued to flourish. He observed the continual struggle for power and territory between the clan chiefs and the princes of the little kingdoms and noted too the ineffective efforts of his Order to establish some kind of peace and unity among them. Slowly the realization came to him that Human life was losing ground on Gwythno as war-ravaged and abandoned lands reverted to the native life reducing the potential agricultural base which in turn fed the land greed and battle fury of the warring princelings. Clearly something had to be done. Talyesan spent the better part of his first century wandering from princedom to clan territory meddling in successions and marriage alliances, persuading and where necessary overawing the restive warrior caste into more constructive behavior with his mystic powers or supreme combat skills. He also sought out and studied the remains left by the ancient First Settlers which quest eventually culminated in the discovery of a lost STC.

With this technical information Talyesan builded himself a mighty fortress on the Isle of Apples to which he gave the ancient name of ‘Avalon’ and gathered around himself a select war-band to enforce Talyesan’s Peace and destroy the dangerous native lifeforms. He also brought together collegia of scholars and artisans whose work transformed Gwythno from a feudal to a civilized planet over the course of his second century until they had achieved a near Imperial level of technological development. It is possible that all this was what brought the Eldar down upon Gwythno. But the warrior aristocracy had not forgotten their traditions and fought back with skill and considerable enthusiasm led by Talyesan as Dux Bellorum – over all CinC - for the Council of Princes. The Warriors of Gwythno pursued their enemy into space and rumors of their battles reached the ears of the Emperor and brought him to the warring system with an expeditionary fleet that included the two Primarch sons he’d already found; Horus and Leman Russ.Thanks to his precognitive sight Talyesan was not at all surprised by the appearance of his father and brothers, in fact he laid his battle plans in expectation of their emergence at exactly the point necessary to cut off the Eldar Craftworld’s escape and utterly destroy the enemy. At the time of his discovery Talyesan was something over two standard centuries old, a graceful giant magnificently thewed with marble white skin, black hair worn at shoulder length, deep set gray eyes with a quicksilver gleam and a fugitive smile ever lurking about his mouth. He was thus significantly older than the Emperor’s other sons and a fully matured and well-rounded personality (also unlike all too many of his siblings). The mystic Order in which he had been trained embraced reason and science as unmatchable tools for comprehending the Materium, but they were also well aware of the Immaterium and of the danger posed by the (false) Chaos gods both avoiding and condemning warpcraft. They cultivated and made full use of latent human abilities that seemed magical to the uninitiated as well as some psyker powers. Their theosophy postulated a creative power immanent in the universe perceived by some as a universal consciousness and others as a numinous elemental energy. In the beginning neither the Emperor nor Talyesan saw any conflict between the beliefs of the Wise of Gwythno and the Imperial Creed promoted by the former. Nor did the son question the need for the unification of mankind in the face of the threat from Chaos. Talyesan was not a seeker of forbidden knowledge like his brother Magnus but of understanding. He was a musician of heartbreaking skill and a true healer of minds as well as bodies. Talyesan’s counsel was a great support to his more troubled brethren. He accepted command of the Astarte II Legion integrating them with his personal warband. But unlike his brethren he never really took to power-armor often going into battle clad only in his black magister’s robe with a shining star upon his brow, wielding his gigantic two handed adamantine sword Caladbolg.

His Rebellion:
Talyesan’s restless and inquiring mind was to prove his downfall, at least in the eyes of his Father, as he came at length to question the teachings and ends of the Emperor. Reared among a fierce, freedom loving (not to say anarchic) people he was finally repulsed by the uniformity the Emperor sought to impose. And as a mystic he could only reject the Emperor’s brutal atheism. After a long struggle with himself Talyesan realized that despite his love for his Father and brethren he could not continue to lend himself to the Great Crusade. He openly requested permission to withdraw from the Crusade from the Emperor and in the presence of several of his brothers. The Eleventh Primarch Rama created further shock by stepping forward to join in the petition. The Emperor did not take their request at all well and the brothers soon realized their father intended to detain them on Earth until he could dissuade them. They managed to escape thanks to Rama's Queen Devera and the Emperor set the Space Wolf Legion upon his errant sons.

Rama took command of both legions and managed to hold the Rout and the Custodes at bay until Talyesan and his adepts had finished constructing a massive trans-dimensional gate that took the systems of Gwythno and Onuris out of the Materium into a pocket universe of their own. This occurred in 963.M30. The Emperor battled his son Talyesan in the Immaterium trying to prevent the closing of the gate and causing, he believed, the latter’s death. In great grief he ordered his two rebel sons’ images erased from Imperial iconography and all record of their deeds and those of their Legions wiped. This damnatio memoriae frightened his remaining sons into hiding their own troubles and doubts lest they bring down a similar fate upon themselves. The Emperor also became less tolerant of dissent from his sons resulting in his extreme rebuke of Logar and his Word Bearers on Monarchia. The mental stability of Angron, Konrad Curze, Mortarion and Perturabo similarly suffered without Talyesan’s kindly guidance. But the Imperium may not have seen the last of Talyesan and his Knights. There are those among the Inquisition who have knowledge of the Lost Primarchs who suspect the occasional individual identified as a ‘scion of the Emperor’ or Sensei is not a blood descendants of the Emperor via children begotten in his early years as the Illuminati contend but are in fact Talyesan’s Astartes sent back into the Imperium on missions of unknown import for their Primarch.

His Legion:
The IInd Legion Originally known as the Steel Knights Talyesan renamed them his Knights Ovate and he continued to recruit from Earth as well as Gwythno respecting the original traditions of the Legion even while incorporating his own.

Aspirants were subjected to a gauntlet of physical and even more demanding spiritual tests before being accepted as Neophytes. Ovates were trained as adepts in the disciplines of the Wise passing through the three ordinary levels of initiation above which was the extraordinary level of Magister. The survivors of that ultimate test were known as the ‘Second Born’ steeled against wounds and hazards and bound to Life until they chose to relinquish it.Talyesan kept much of the original Legion organization intact altering only a few titles; Chapter Masters became ‘Comites’ or Counts. Battalions became ‘Battles’ and their commanders ‘Duces’ (Leaders) or Dukes. He was counseled by his Magisterium and guarded by his Knights Comitatus every one of whom was a Twice Born. The Knights Ovate were thoughtful warriors given to analysis and careful calculation, noted for their brilliant strategies and superb intelligence work no less than their mystical powers. As members of the Wise the Ovates wore the white robes of Neophytes, were promoted to the royal blue of Initiates and then to the crimson of full Adepts where most remained. Only a few went on to earn the black of a Magister. In battle they wore cloaks and/or tabards in these colors over their power armor which was bright silver decorated with intricate knot-work designs inlaid in gold and enamels in patterns of their personal heraldry. Animal blazons distinguished Chapters and Companies; golden harps Bards (the Librarian equivalent), green hands Apothecaries and a black hammer Tech-Marines. The Legion emblem was the circled cross in gold.

Talyesan was the only other Primarch to avail himself of the techniques for creating female geneseed discovered by Iset ('mother' of Rama). But he segregated his gene-daughters into single sex Chapters in accordance with the ancient Gwythno custom concerning collegia of female adepts and all woman warrior bands.

The Eleventh Primate
Rama ‘Son of the Twin Suns’ was the 19th Primarch to be discovered in 902.M30. Warp currents swept gestation capsule XI to a dual star system on the fringes of the Segmentum Pacificus and the Primarch Rama was deposited by the Ruinous Powers upon the world of Onuris where cities of luxurious decadence dotted the deep cloven river valleys and the shores of the five sea basins, co-existing with the Spartan tribal nations of the high deserts. His capsule floated down the Great River Hapes and into the pleasure lake of the Imperial Princess and Mater Genetrix Iset, Regent of Wadjet a major city of the Empire of Qeb. Entranced by the exotic beauty of the golden infant the princess declared him a gift from the Suns and adopted him as her own conferring upon him, as was her right, the dual rank of a Prince Imperial and Heir Select. Onuris was a world of constant warfare; city state against city state; empire against empire; desert tribe and nation against one another and the valley people alike. It had been settled back in the Dark Age of Technology by eugenicists intent on creating the acme of human perfection. Over innumerable generations masters of the biological sciences worked to engineer genes and breed them into human flesh, testing and culling their subjects through constant and deadly competition until their labors culminated in the magnificent Black and Red races of Onuris

Black males average two meters in height and the females are only slightly smaller. Their black skins have a mauve sheen and their hair is similarly colored but their eyes are either violet or silvery gray. The minds of the Blacks are as perfect as their beautiful bodies; brilliant, inventive and unfortunately ambitious in proportion to their gifts. Males of the black race are completely intent on personal aggrandizement by force or intrigue. The women on the other hand are educated to consider the wider picture, trained as geneticists and entrusted with the ancient and sacred duty of reproducing and improving the race.

Matres Genetrices sitting on the reproductive councils of imperial and noble houses are responsible for the reproduction of the highest genotypes possible extracting genetic material from the members of their Houses, mixing and splicing it as seems best to themselves and incubating the result in gestational capsules. Noble and Imperial children are reared in the House creche under the eye an adopted mentor (who may or may not be one of their biological parents - they usually have far more than two). The title of ‘Select’ distinguishes a child marked out for the highest offices including the Imperial throne itself. The reproduction of lower ranked and by definition genetically inferior Blacks is governed by Matres Genetrices on the Municipia reproduction councils. When a citizen comes of age he or she contributes their genetic material to the city genebanks where it is studied and tweaked by the Matres. After establishing themselves and taking a spouse the citizen then petitions the Matres for children, the number and sex of which is negotiated between the two parties. Only the peasant agriculturalists reproduce naturally and are looked down on because of it. They are periodically culled by the Matres Genetrices resulting in genetically flawed outcasts who sometimes breed among themselves and form an underclass of laborers for the most undesirable and despised jobs. The Red tribes and nations of the high desert are even more splendid physical specimens then the Blacks; the men measuring an average of seven feet and the women not much smaller both superbly fast and powerful. Their skins are a rich, ruddy bronze and their hair dark red. Their eyes are usually black or brown. Some have darker skins, black hair and violet or gray eyes due to descent from captured Blacks. They are in no way inferior to the city men in intelligence but they have quite deliberately embraced a demanding primitive lifestyle that requires them to constantly test themselves against their harsh environment and each other while raiding the river cities for loot and amusement. As the favored son of the Mater Genetrix Senioris of the Imperial House of Qeb and the favorite also of the Great King Chaema of Qeb, Rama should have succeeded to the latter’s throne. Physically he surpassed even the splendid men of Qeb. And his brilliant mind had been cultivated by the best scholars and technologists Onuris civilization had to offer. But he was not of the Imperial genome and so was rejected by the Empire of Qeb. The Matres and other Selects formed an alliance against him and Rama was forced to flee for his life into the high deserts. But of course a Primarch was not to be so easily defeated. Rama, by the might of his arm, rose rapidly to the leadership of the Ephame tribe that dwelt in the deserts above Wadjet. He then proceeded to conquer the other tribes of the nation of Issus and after that the twelve other nations forging them into a mighty weapon of war which he brought down like a storm upon Qeb. Once established upon what he considered his rightful throne he proceeded to unite the Seven Empires under his rule. His mother’s city of Wadjet became the capital of all Onuris.

And then the Emperor came. His found Rama to be a man in the fullness of his strength and beauty but with the wisdom and maturity that comes only with the years of which he had fifty standard. Rama was golden skinned and golden haired with features of classic regularity, square and powerful jaw and deep set eyes of lucent and brilliant gold. His gigantic limbs were so perfectly proportioned that his true size was often unrealized until one stood directly before him looking upward. The Emperor was delighted in his new son but considerably astonished to learn that Rama had taken a wife, the beautiful and deadly red War Chiefess Devera, upon who he had sired five sons and five daughters. Rama was the only one of the Primarchs to beget a family.

The Emperor recovered from his astonishment eventually and accepted both the marriage and his grandchildren for he loved his sons and felt no little guilt over his failure to protect them and thus was more than ready to grant them anything that would make them happy. He even went so far as to administer genetic treatments to make the lovely Devera as ageless as her mate and her offspring. The Great Queen Devera was a magnificent creature worthy to be the bride of Primarch; at seven foot three she was taller than many men of the tribes and surpassed them in strength and puissance as well. Thus she scorned to unite herself with any man - until she met Rama upon the field of battle and was, for the first time in her life, bested. As she surpassed the men of the tribes in might so she surpassed the women in beauty. Her skin was a glowing bronze; her face was shaped to aquiline perfection as was her sleekly muscled body formed in goddess-like proportions. Her long, curling hair was the dark red of smoldering coals and the long lidded eyes she’d inherited from some Black ancestor were the deep violet of Onuris’ sky when the white sun shone. Mating even this paragon of a woman’s genes with the genome of a Primarch had required all of the Genetrix Iset’s considerable skill and pushed the genetic science of Onuris to its limits. When finally she had succeeded Devera insisted on nurturing the embryos in her own body as was the Red tribes’ custom. The gestation period was but half that of a normal pregnancy and only a woman of Devera’s great strength and vitality could have survived the stress it put on her system even with the medical support available to the mistress of the Imperial house. Proudly Devera endured the strain eight times giving birth to ten children: Ashera was the firstborn, followed by the twins Ahkira and Ahkiva; then two more daughters; Hadassa and Vashti; a brother Baruk; another pair of twins, Ramassu and Chaemassu; another daughter, Mariam; and finally Jael. Glorious were these children with the height and strength inherited from both parents, tawny of skin and green of eye with hair mingling their mother’s red and their father’s gold into the color of leaping flames. Some possessed the straight, elegant features of their father and others their mother’s fierce, falcon-like beauty.

His Rebellion:
Later the Emperor was to blame Devera for Rama’s rebellion but this was unjust. The true cause of his disaffection was far more subtle. Having begotten a family he was no longer merely a son, like his brothers, but a father with all the responsibility that implies and as a father he began to question the Emperor’s wisdom. It has been suggested that being reared by mothers also contributed to Rama and Talyesan’s rejection of the Emperor’s patriarchal vision. When Talyesan stunned his Imperial Father by requesting permission to withdraw from the Crusade Rama stepped to his side and seconded his plea. Rama was weary of war and wished to return to the many projects he'd left unfinished on Onuris and he wanted to see his children settled with mates and children of their own rather than constantly at war.

The Emperor was deeply dismayed and imprisoned his dissenting sons in the apartments deep beneath the Imperial Palace but the two soon escaped with the help of Great Queen Devera. Then the Emperor waged war upon them hoping to capture and turn them back to the Imperial Vision. Rama led the combined II and XI legions holding off the Rout and the Custodes with the Emperor himself at their head while Talyesan worked on the trans-dimensional gate that was to furnish their escape. In 963.M30 Talyesan succeeded, nearly losing his life as he slammed the door shut in the face of the Emperor. There is reason to suspect Rama is not quite through with his father’s Imperium. The 1st century of the 39th millennium was an era of disaster building upon the disasters of the late 38th millennium. Early in the 2nd century five mighty warrior heroes arose simultaneously in all five Segmentum to drive back the foes of the Imperium, and heal and rebuild the wounded worlds. Fifty years later, their work done, the five disappeared as mysteriously as they had appeared. Those few who know the lore of the Lost Primarchs suspect these were the five sons of Rama.

His Legion:
Rama took command of the XIth Legion which carried his geneseed after a crash course in the ways of Galactic war. The XIth had been called ‘the Fatherless’ but their Primarch renamed them the Children of the Suns. Rama recruited from both the Red tribesmen and the Black city-folk. Aspirants were tested for genetic soundness instead of undergoing the customary ordeals, it being taken for granted that genetic analysis would tell the examiners all they needed to know. Rama adapted his Legion’s structure to match that of the army he’d used to conquer his planet. Chapters became ‘Phalanges’; Battalions ‘Tribes’; and Companies ‘Bands’ commanded by ‘Chiliarchs’, Great Chiefs, and Chieftains respectively. The Primarch was advised by the Strategoi headed by the Diarch – ie: Devera - and defended by an honor guard called The Braves, as was his Diarch and Chiliarchs. Companies were recruited from a single tribe or city to avoid trouble with cultural differences and blood feuds. The Children specialize in massed formations and shock battle but weren’t above laying a trap or an ambush. Former tribesmen had a sometimes embarrassing tendency to collect pieces of the enemy as trophies. City men were notorious looters with a special fondness for art objects. None of which bothered the Emperor and the other Primarchs half as much as Rama’s female Marines. Accustomed to mixed sex war-bands Rama had his mother Iset use her genetic knowledge to fabricate female geneseed from the DNA of his daughters. The Emperor recovered from his shock eventually and decided to countenance this deviation too but the only other Primarch to make use of female Astartes was Talyesan who had also been reared in a sexually egalitarian society. Rama further shocked father and brethren by appointing his wife as his second in command and putting his sons and daughters at the heads of the XIth’s Phalanges. The Children of the Suns wore shining black power armor adorned with orichalcum and gold mail vest and an apron-like loin guard both adorned with semiprecious gems and the latter worn over a flaring, pleated green kilt. Helmets were adorned with elaborate crests and Marines from the tribes often sported the desiccated heads or hands of fallen foes. The mail and the kilt also served as the Children’s uniform off the battlefield. Their heraldry included the gold and silver dual sun-disks flanked by wings as the Legion emblem. Band insignia was based on the totems of the recruiting tribe or city. Tribal or Phalange symbols were taken from the personal heraldry of Chiliarch or Chief.

Order of Imperator Salvus
This Order Minor was founded by a group of Catachan Sororitas from several Orders in honor of their homeworld which they named a testing place of the Faithful. The Order is small but extremely active. Battle missions of Salvus Sisters can be found in any warzone of the Segmentum Solar. In Sector Occident Prime they have small houses on Greater and Lesser Zab in the Tigris sub-Sector, the Chaos tained partially jungle world of Zaratusa in Thermopylae sub-Sector and the badly misnamed deathworld Temperans in Ara Pacis sub-Sector.

Order of the Night Lily
An Order Minor of Farfallen, the Paradise world and stop on the Trail of St. Evisser. Founded by the Blessed Violet Moutan and modelled on the Order Major of the Sacred Rose. Over the past several centuries the sisterhood has abandoned all its establishments in the Evisser Sector, save only for its mother house the Fane of the Lily on Farfallen, and shifted their center of activity to the several preceptories they have established in Ara Pacis sub-Sector and Sidonian Space.

Order of the Fires of Redemption
This Necromundan Order Minoris was founded about a thousand years ago by acolytes of St. Dondana Cawdor in her honor. The Saint's origins are uncertain but her legendarium claims she was a high ranking member of the Ganger House from which she took her name. Unlike many Redemptionist preachers St. Dondana was an ordained member of the Ministorum who backed her crusade against the mutants and heretics who had all but taken over Hive Decade, today one of the most fervent and faithful hives on the planet. It is the location of the Sisterhood's mother-house but commanderies and missions of the Fires of Redemption can be found throughout the warzones of Segmentum Solar. Like their patroness the Sisters are tainted by the extremist Redemptionist doctrine making them a dangerously two edged weapon.

Order of Chirosius Martyr
This Order Minoris, native to Gathalamor, is dedicated to the memory of the Great Confessor and Martyr Dolan Chiriosius. Their mother house, the Priory Of Chriosius Martyr, is built over the bloody footprint impressed by St. Dolan on a paving stone as walked his road to Martyrdom. The Order has preceptories and comanderies established on planets in the southern quadrants of the Segmentum Solar. Their main house in Sector Occident Prime is the Preceptory Dolanus on Inde, a planet of sub-Sector Occidentis Auster.

Order of the Pillar of Bone
This Order Minoris was founded on Holy Terra herself by St. Ekaterine, a Sister of Our Martyred Lady, who was inspired by the Pillar of Bone, the incredibly ancient monument reared to the heroism of the Imperial Fists in the Defense of Terra, to found an Order of Sisters Militant specializing in the design and building of fortifications and the defense - or breaking - of same. The Order has a preceptory on the appropriately named fortress world of Fortitudis in Ara Pax sub-Sector and are responsible for defensive structures all over the Sector.

Order of the Bleeding Heart
Another widespread Order Minor the Bleeding Heart was formed from Sisters and auxillaries of the Wounded Heart separated from that Order by the Seraphinian Reforms. Hostile feeling exists between the two orders to this day. The Sisters of the Bleeding Heart hold that the Reforms betrayed the intentions of the Foundresses to which they have remained true. They have a priory on Praetexta and convents on the shrine worlds of Regia and Invictus providing shrine guards and preaching to the faithful as did the original Wounded Heart Sisters.

Names
Keterlind Alt Bianka Kapel Famke Besch Elisinda Nethe

Ordo Hereticus:
Lord Inquisitor Postumus Kriel, Master Hereticus

Lady Inquisitor Trantia Intias

Inquisitor Marna Galustane

Inquisitor Violette Leversee

Inquisitor Hogan Bono

Inquisitor Eneida Lueker

Inquisitor Samarra Hastur

Inquisitor Kensie Hastur

Ordo Malleus
Lord Inquisitor Herennius Hohlstone

Inquistor Gideon Leuze

Inquisitor Deacis Ghant,

Inquisitor Jacan Marnay

Inquisitor Antenor Krenn

Inquisitor Amadeus Dahler

Ordo Xenos
Lord Inquisitor Nicodemus Silon, Master Xenos

Inquisitor Yonas Klemens, Ordo Xenos

Lord Inquisitor Niklas Sabritz, Ordo Xenos

Inquisitor Iesha Ibdah, Ordo Xeno

Inquisitor Darell Collusant, Ordo Xenos

Inquisitor Boadicea Ginaz, Ordo Xenos

=Wolf's-Head=

Non-Codex compliant chapter of unknown founding and progenitor. Dispite their use of the wolf in their heraldry there seems to be no connection to the Space Wolves.

Founding
Unknown but no later than the Eighth. The source of the Chapter's gene-seed is also unknown. The Wolf's-Heads are one of the most stubbornly secretive of the naturally reticent Astartes Chapters and not at all forthcoming about their origins and early history.

The Evacuation of Herculeia (666.M34)
The first recorded appearance of the Wolf's-Head Chapter occurred in the terrible year 666.34 when a vast warp storm erupted out of the Eye of Terror spawning a dozen or so wandering daemon stars to threaten worlds and shipping in the surrounding sectors. It was at this time that a strike cruiser with unfamiliar heraldry appeared unexpectedly in the skies over doomed Herculeia, a civilized world in the Rubicon Sector, which was sliding inexorably into the grasp of an eerie green warp star. The accompanying electrical storms and earthquakes triggered by gravitic stresses were wrecking havoc and complicating evacuation. The Wolf's-Head Captain aboard offered the services of his sixty or so marines to the Governor of Herculeia who, of course, gratefully accepted. The Wolf's-Heads promptly took the over the evacuation, organizing collection centers, performing search and rescue operations all over the globe, and overseeing the loading of the refugees aboard the Imperial Navy and regular merchant ships who had answered Herculeia's call for help. When these proved inadequate to the need the Strike Cruiser White Wolf went out and collected more ships - by force since no captain in his right mind would willingly get any closer to the Green Star. As Herculeia was drawn nearer to its nemesis loops and tendrils of warp-enegy erupted from the star's corona engulfing the dying world and shreding reality. The Wolf's-Heads rallied and led the remainder of the planetary PDF against chaotic incursions as the last of the population was taken off. Their fate remained uncertain until the White Wolf appeared in the Compito system to drop off some thousand or so PDF survivors several weeks after the other Herculeian refugees had arrived. The Wolf's-Heads exchanged a few brief and uniformative messages with the authorities, ferried down their passengers, then vanished into the void.

The Ghost Wars or Seventh Black Crusade (811-881.M37)
The Chapter reappeared during the dark days of the Seventh Black Crusade when the enemy seemed to be everywhere and always a step ahead of Imperial forces. During this terrible time the civilized world of Illios located at a major nexus of the warp currents in the Cordatus Sector came under attack by the fleet of the then Lord Purgator of the Black Legion a Chaos Lord named Khutgore Gorsham. The despairing defenders saw ships emerge from warp, enemy reinforcements they assumed, but then they saw the entire black fleet thrown into confusion as it tried to reorient itself to repel the Imperial force hot on their trail. The rescue fleet included elements of both the Sentinel and the Cordatus fleets led by a battle barge and brace of strike cruisers emblazoned with an unfamiliar heraldry.

Organization/Tactics
The Wolf's-Heads are not a codex compliant Chapter. The squad is the Chapter building block and only permanent formation. They usually consist of between ten and twenty marines but some number as many as forty and others as few as four. Like Codex squads they are commanded by sergeants. Each squad has a name, not a number, its own standard and heraldry. When squads are combined for a mission one of the sergeants, not necessarily the most senior, is named Chief. Sometimes such combined units choose to remain together after the mission and the rank of Chief Sergeant becomes permanent.

Squad Types
Tactical Squads: Are the most numerous type normally comprising between ten and twenty marines, flexible and versatile. Like Codex squads the marines are armed with both ranged and melee weapons in addition to a heavy weapons team with serious firepower.

Terminator Tactical Squads: Normally deployed in a spear formation aimed at the heart or head of enemy resistance. Their Terminator armor is painted dead black relieved only by the squad heraldry.

Breecher Squads: As the name suggests this type of squad specialized in creating breeches in the enemy lines and defenses. Such squads are equipped with storm-shields and power weapons.

Despoiler Squads: Are specially trained in fire saturation and close combat techniques. These squads are customarily held in reserve until the enemy's weak spots have been identifed and then unloosed to overrun them.

Assault Squads: Less numerous then the Tactical Squads but often very large with between twenty and thirty marines, melee experts usually equipped with jump packs for mobility. It is their job to strike swift and hard at vulnerable points. They wear black armor trimmed with white, the reverse of the standard livery.

Reaver Squads: Special Assault Squad rarely numbering more then ten marines equipped with terminator armor and armed with power fists, chainfists and lightning claws in preference to ranged weapons, intended for harrowing actions and penetrating bunkers and redoubts.

Destroyer Squads: Are the Wolf's-Heads' version of Devastator marines. These squads are usually relatively small numbering between ten and five marines. In addition to the usual cannon and missile launchers specially trained Devestators employ ancient and forbidden bio-chemical weapons, relics from the time of the Great Crusade, capable of cracking any defense - at the price of permanently poisoning the ground on which they are used.

Seeker Squads: This type rarely numbering more than four or five marines, operate behind the enemy battle lines identifying and eliminating key leaders thus decapitating to command structure. They too wear black armor, for secrecy, and are armed with sniper type weapons.

Command Structure
Practically non-existant. As noted above there are no permanent companies, temporary formations are created to suit the needs of the mission or campaign and placed under the command of a Captain chosen for his particular skills. Occasionally more than one Captain is assigned with one placed in command and the others to serve as his lieutenants.

The First Captain: This is the title of the Wolf's-Head chapter master. He is the first among his peers of the Captain's Concillium rather than the absolute ruler of Codex compliant Chapter Masters. Yet he is not without powers; the First Captain is the final court of appeal and has the last word on any subject raised by his Captains. Any Battle-Brother may approach him at will with complaint or request for counsel. He mediates disputes and sets punishments.

The Captains Concillium: The Concillium is comparable to the general staff of a Guard Army. The Captains plan campaigns, assign missions and commands. They also adjudicate disputes and distribute honors and promotions. As stated above the First Captain is head of the Concillium and his is the deciding vote on any subject.

Captains: Head not a company but a 'Command Squad' often numbering up to fifty marines. The composition of this super-squad varies according the talents, interests and charisma of the individual Captains but invariably includes an Honor Guard of Terminator marines, one or more Preceptors, several Apothecaries and Techmarines. The rest of the 'command squad' is made up of marines recruited for their deeds or special skills. Captains who specialize in shock battle will have mostly Assault marines in their squads. A Captain interested in covert warfare will prefer Seekers and Scouts and perhaps a team of Reavers, and so forth.

Specialists
Preceptors: These specialists combine the roles filled by Chaplains and Librarians in Codex Compliant Chapters.

Techmarines:

Apothecaries: