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- "You know nothing of me, and I know everything of you."
- — Jaghatai Khan
The Lightning Wraiths, who also refer to themselves as Tal Sobalsu Hoshda meaning The Sable Horde in their language, are a Loyalist Space Marine Chapter founded in the 37th Millennium during the 23rd 'Sentinel' Founding as a Successor Chapter to the White Scars. They were created in response to an increase in Chaos activity in Segmentum Pacificus. Khugol Khan, the founder and first Chapter Master, had forged his chapter to effectively combat Chaos Warriors and cultists - specifically Khornate worshippers - as penance for a failure that had cost him his honor and the life of his mentor. A chapter born from shame, hate, and vengeance, the Lightning Wraiths are a reclusive chapter that eschews the pursuit of glory, prestige or recognition. Their introverted disposition also results in their apparent autonomy from the Imperium as the chapter rarely communicates to those outside their circle of trust. It is a widely accepted fact that very few gain the favour and the trust of these Scions of the Khan.
As a Semi Codex-compliant Chapter, the Lightning Wraiths mostly adhere to the tenets Codex Astartes with exceptions regarding specialist roles, naming conventions, and chapter organization. Their disregard of certain passages in order to honour the proud history and traditions of their homeworld, a Feudal World called Morozh'nehya, has gained the ire of devout practitioners of the Codex, such as the Hammers of Dorn. Most of their traditions are derived from the Order of Brehus, an alliance of Morozh'nehyan Kingdoms that was destroyed during a brutal war where an exploratory force of the newly founded chapter fought alongside the Order against the rest of Morozh'nehya. All that remains from the Order are savage tribes scattered on the eternal winter plains of the planet. From the aspirants to the Chapter Master, otherwise known as the Preceptor, every Lightning Wraith has spent a year living amongst the populace to learn the many proud traditions and histories of Morozh'nehya, especially the ways of the remnants of the Order of Brehus.
Marines hailing from the chapter are taciturn individuals, speaking only when the situation requires clear and concise communication. Even then, they speak very little to those who are not of the Lightning Wraiths. The only exception to their introverted attitudes are the White Scars, as the Lightning Wraiths are fanatically loyal to their forefathers, and children, as a deep paternal instinct that was never removed from psycho-indoctrination compels them to protect the next generation at all costs coupled with underlying motives to manipulate the child to become loyal martyrs of the Imperium. However, in the fields of battle, the normally introverted marines turn into savages fuelled by their undying rage. Although they avoid direct confrontations, the savagery within the Lightning Wraiths directs them to the heart of an enemy flank, leaving a bloody swath as they cut down anything that was too slow to react to their advance. At the end of a battle or campaign, they are the last ones to leave as their warrior code demands the total annihilation of an enemy and their scholarly nature prompts them to accrue as many tomes from the planet's libraries as possible. The hunt for enemy survivors is also an opportunity for them to collect equipment from fallen Astartes from other Chapters so that it may be returned to their rightful place whilst their nigh-obsessive hoarding of knowledge also allows them to aid in any funeral rites as the Chapter ethos places great respect towards the dead.
As of the 42nd Millenium, the Chapter is currently recovering from the near decimation of multiple Companies, otherwise known as Pillars of Wisdom, during the expansion of the Eye of Terror into the Cicatrix Maledictum. Massive warp storms had appeared after the Fall of Cadia, and the fleet containing the 5th and elements of the 9th Pillar of Wisdom was begotten with misfortune as one such warp storm coalesced on its flight path as it withdrew from a disastrous and costly campaign against the Tyranids. When the fleet was forced to return to realspace, the 2nd Pillar of Wisdom's fleet was close enough to receive some of the survivors of the 5th, but it too had suffered losses in its attempt to rescue some of their brothers as an undetected Night Lords fleet attacked the Lightning Wraiths. Furthermore, their home world was also claimed by an invasion force consisting mainly of Black Legion Traitor Astartes at the dawn of the Dark Millenium. Forces of the 3rd, 7th and 8th were annihilated. Multiple officers were killed and the orbiting fleet was mostly destroyed by the time any survivors, of which included the Oathtaker and the chapter’s gene-seed repository, fled from the Chaos forces.
The arrival of Primaris Reinforcements have filled the gaps left by the deceased marines within these Pillars of Wisdom. The next generation of Imperial super soldiers were initially met with distrust, but they had proved themselves through baptisms of fire during the Indomitus Crusade, otherwise known as the Indomitus Krovdyzhna by the chapter. The Firstborn, after accepting the Primaris as worthy warrior-kin, have taken it upon themselves to educate their new brothers of the many beliefs and traditions of the Chapter, and by extension Morozh’nehyan culture and history.
Chapter History: Druszuna'a Kroljati []
While the Lightning Wraiths’ battle record is as impressive as any other loyal son of the Khagan, there are certain campaigns in which the Chapter had learned painful lessons through defeats or pyrrhic victories that would play a part in how their beliefs are established. These chronicles are of great importance to the chapter and are among the first things that an Aspirant would learn about their history. Through these lessons in history, an aspirant would be imbued with the same wrath-filled shame that had begun Khugol Khan’s journey from a promising scout of the White Scars to founder and first Preceptor of the Lightning Wraiths.
A Primaris Marine clad in the colours of the Sipahi. His left poleyn's markings indicate that he is part of the 2nd Squad and his right poleyn is an honour marking from when he was part of the 3rd Pillar of Wisdom.
Founding[]
- "There have been many cultures throughout human history that placed a great deal of importance in strengthening a familial bond, whether by blood or by fire. This is why vengeance is such a powerful force; it drives the lowest of the low to conduct great acts that would be immortalized as the deeds of a demigod as the grief of severance is too great for one to bear. Especially with the knowledge of their perpetrator's continued existence.
We understand this feeling, this desire to succumb to the basest human instinct to destroy those who dared to sever a bond that we have spent a lifetime to cultivate. This vengeance, a horrible instinct rooted deeply in our hearts ever since our chapter's inception, is the reason why the Emperor's Angels are devastating warriors. For there is nothing more lethal than a man willing to turn himself into a monster in his single-minded purpose to exact retribution."- —Szulah Nuk'Fallad, Current Preceptor of the Lightning Wraiths
The First Lightning Wraith[]
The seeds of the chapter were sown during the Yolan Defensive, a campaign between the White Scars and a Drukhari invasion force on the Imperial Colony Yolan on 672.M37, where a Harlequin Troupe ambushed one scout squad conducting surveillance. All but three members of the squad barely managed to survive due to the timely interference of White Scars Bike Squads. One of these survivors was the future Lightning Wraiths founder and Preceptor Khugol Khan.
Khugol was unique among his peers because he was not chosen from a multitude of promising Chogorian souls to take part in the chapter’s trials. When he was a child, the White Scars came to his world in order to purge it from a xenos infestation. During their arrival, one of the chapter’s Thunderhawks had landed near Khugol’s home village. Rather than be stricken by fear and hiding from the unknown and terrifying noises, the boy that was to become Khugol snuck out of his village to investigate the landings. His young mind bore witness to the disembarkation of White Scars armoured vehicles in flashes of white and red. Curiosity had coaxed the boy to approach and attempt to sneak into the large spacecraft in order to learn more about its machinations.
Due to his inexperience in the fields of stealth and his childish eagerness to satiate his curiosity, two individuals thwarted the boy by the time he reached the ramp. One was a giant clad in pure white armour, with scrolls and animal bones dangling from chains and thick twine cords or welded onto flat surfaces. In his hands was a massive falchion that glowed with barely contained energy and on his back was a bulky jump-pack with its machine spirit growling with anticipation. The other was slightly smaller, but a giant nonetheless. Unlike his armoured compatriot, the smaller of the two men could barely be seen as a cloak of changing colours hung from his shoulders and a hood covered his face. Although, small glimpses of white armour can be seen in areas not covered by the cloak.
The boy did not know what they were and had perceived them as monsters who were going to eat him. As such, he tried to attack them with his tiny fists. His efforts were for naught as at that moment, he was trying to fight Scout Sergeant Ugon Tavre and Lord Executioner Chi-Long Khan. Although the two men were able to subdue the boy without any effort, they were interested in him as his fighting spirit and fearlessness was something seldom seen in children not belonging to a Death World or the underhives of a Hive City. As such, they took him into their ship and sent him off to Chogoris for training when the extermination of the Xenos on the boy’s planet was finished.
The boy, then named Kol’rha, was subjected to the White Scar’s training regime upon arrival to Chogoris. Kol’rha struggled in many fronts, as the plains of Chogoris were unfamiliar to him and the shift from his world to White Scar’s savage lands was so sudden for his young mind. The main source of his struggles were surprisingly from the other aspirants. Some of the Chogorian youths despised him for he was an outsider and felt that his presence was a crime against their ancestors. As such, many of them made it their personal missions to make Kol'rha's life miserable. However, young Kol'rha's spirit was strong and unyielding. He took each act against him as a challenge and retaliated against them with wrath burning in his small heart. His actions gained the respect of many of his peers.
By the time he was inducted into the Windspeaker Brotherhood, the White Scars' Scout Company, he was one of the most well-respected initiates in the White Scars and had been renamed Khugol Tsogai. His skill in tracking and reconnaissance was unmatched among his fellow aspirants. For his skills, he would have been favoured for a promotion to become a Scout Sergeant. However, his trials against the Chogorian-born aspirants had ignited a flame in his soul that would not be tempered. He became very hot-headed, almost belligerent towards his superiors as paranoia from his aspirant years had taken root in his mind and he could not bring himself to trust any Chogorian at face-value. This shortcoming almost costed him his life during the Yolan Defensive.
White Scars Astartes defend themselves against a Drukhari Strike Force during the Yolan Defensive.
When an Apothecary had cleared him to be fit for combat again, he was ordered to await transfer into a new squad. Khugol perceived this as the Chogorians accusing him of weakness and was consumed with fury and rode to the frontlines in a bloodthirsty haze. His explosive arrival surprised both Dark Eldar and fellow White Scars as he crashed his bike into a Drukhari transport craft before launching himself into the Dark Eldar horde with complete disregard for his life. Khugol would have perished on that day if it wasn't for the intervention of the acting commander of the White Scars force, Chaigut Khan of the 3rd Brotherhood.
Descending from the skies, Chaigut and squads of Assault Marines tore into the Dark Eldar. He had been awaiting the perfect time to strike and Khugol's sudden appearance provided his troops an ample distraction to make a decisive attack to break the Dark Eldar. The suddenness of his assault forced the Dark Eldar to conduct a retreat, but the White Scars had been anticipating it. Land Speeder Typhoons that hid in the valleys of the planet were given the order to attack the retreating Dark Eldar. Before the Dark Eldar could register what happened, they were caught in between the chainblades of Chaigut's forces and the firepower of the Land Speeders. In his berserk state, Khugol did not register the arrival of reinforcements or the Dark Eldar's broken morale. So when Chaigut approached him to stand down at the end of the fight, the scout attacked his commander with animalistic growls.
The relatively young marine was hopelessly outmatched by Chaigut and was restrained by the Khan in short order. Khugol had to be beaten into submission to bring him out of his bloodlust. He was detained in the Strike Cruiser Chogorian Warhorse for insubordination, assault on a fellow marine and assault on an officer. Typically, these crimes against the Chapter was met with either death or conversion into a servitor. However, Chaigut had requested Khugol to be spared from severe punishment as the scout was a gifted asset, despite his short temper. It surprised Khugol that the man he tried to kill wanted to spare him, as even Khugol himself had accepted that he would die for his crimes. Instead of death, Chaigut offered that Khugol would do penance under his watchful eye and requested Khugol to be attached to a Scout Squad liaisoned to the 3rd Brotherhood.
When Khugol approached Chaigut and asked why the Khan spared him, Chaigut told Khugol that he knew about Khugol's distrust for the Chogorians and why the distrust existed as Chaigut had his eye on Khugol ever since the scout's prodigal skill emerged. He told Khugol that he would endeavor to destroy that distrust as brothers are supposed to watch over each other. However, it did not mean that Chaigut forgave Khugol's actions. Quite the contrary, Chaigut was furious that Khugol had the gall to assault another battle-brother. As such, Chaigut also informed Khugol that he was also under the 3rd Brotherhood's command because Chaigut would personally teach him to temper his fury and savagery. In fact, Chaigut admitted that he would have executed Khugol on the battlefield because he was a danger to everyone if he didn't know about Khugol's circumstances.
It marked the beginning of a bond between two brothers, forged out of mutual respect and fear at one another. Chaigut was wary of Khugol's fury, but was determined to bring out the potential of the young scout because a prodigal White Scar who was not of Chogorian blood was last seen at the dawn of the Horus Heresy. Khugol on the other hand, respected Chaigut's calm and stalwart demeanor. However, the young warrior knew that behind that calm lies a storm that overpowers his own. Khugol knew that when Chaigut's patience reached its limit, he would not survive the ensuing battle between him and the Khan.
Through his time with Chaigut, Khugol became a warrior worthy of attention since his undeniable skill in the arts of the scout was no longer marred with insubordinate and hot-headed behaviour. Chaigut's teachings helped him find inner peace with the grudges that he carried towards those who have wronged him in his youth and had helped him control the Primarch's Curse within their gene-seed. The teachings also made Khugol a lot more cautious and methodical, a total far cry of his wild and uncontrollable former self. It made him slower in deployments, but the information he was able to gather bypassed many of those his peers. Before long, Khugol was promoted to Scout Sergeant and at the same time, Chaigut was chosen to become the new Great Khan of the White Scars.
Tragedy soon struck Khugol on 994.M36 during a campaign against World Eater Warbands invading a planet known as Agathon. The planet had sent distress calls when Chaos ships began to appear on their orbital sensor arrays. The White Scars had answered the summons with Chaigut leading them as his fleet was the closest to the planet. Khugol, who was still undergoing penance, requested that he would be among the first to land on the planet to scout. His request was accepted. While the majority of the fleet hid behind a neighboring planet, a Thunderhawk containing three scout squads made planetfall. When Khugol arrived, he and his squad immediately went towards the planet's PDF headquarters. To their surprise, the PDF's headquarters were already under assault. The PDF troopers were inside of the buildings and were firing upon a massive horde of people who were throwing themselves upon the windows and entrances with reckless abandon.
The scouts noticed that many people within the horde had numerous lacerations, most of which appeared to be self-inflicted. One of the horde's members carried a bloody banner aloft, marked with a sigil of the Blood God. The sight of the banner sealed the fate of the cultists and Khugol ordered his men to fire upon the horde from the shadows. Subsonic rounds tore through three or four people at a time and the sudden deaths caused confusion among the members of the horde. Khugol contacted the PDF within the building and when he appraised them of the situation, the volume of fire from the buildings doubled. Within seconds, the cultist horde was eradicated and the gates of the PDF headquarters opened for the White Scars.
Khugol soon received reports from the other scouts detailing the same phenomenon. Khornate cultists attacking both the Planetary Governor's residence and buildings containing the Astropathic Choirs. The scout squad sent to investigate the Planetary Governor's residence arrived too late as the cultists had already broken through and were ritualistically murdering its inhabitants. As for the Astropathic Choir, the cultists were already in the process of murdering the Astropaths by the time the scouts shot them down. Some managed to survive, but not enough to send an astropathic message into the void to call for assistance. The highest-ranking PDF officer at the station, Corporal Natalia Isenhart, told them that the cultists began their attack as soon as the Chaos ships were spotted. When the servants of the Dark Gods made planetfall, many of the PDF were not able to defend themselves as they were occupied with holding off the cultists. The PDF HQ was lucky as it was located in a backwater city of the planet and not in the capital.
As soon as Khugol learned of this, he instructed the remaining PDF to send a message to the awaiting White Scars fleet. Tears were shed in hope as the message was relayed. The White Scars soon arrived in force and immediately went on the offensive as soon as their tires touched Agathonian soil. The sudden appearance of the White Scars caught the invading Chaos Marines off guard and were initially swept away by the speed and ferocity of the counter-offensive maneuvers. After the warriors of Chogoris successfully made landfall, the ships of the White Scars fleet engaged the Chaos fleet. The war seemed to be in favour of the White Scars as they slew more and more Chaos worshippers and Khugol reveled in the glory he was attaining. That was before they all received a distress call from Chaigut's honour guard, notifying the White Scars that they were ambushed by a horde of Khornate Berzerkers that managed to slip past the White Scars.
A hidden passage only known to the natives of the world was the means that the Berzerkers used to get behind the White Scars' frontlines. The ambushing Berzerkers overwhelmed most of Chaigut's honour guard and accompanying warriors. Those who survived were barely able to hold off the World Eaters long enough to call for aid. Chaigut slew many warriors with his massive power axe, sustaining injuries that would have felled lesser Astartes. His defiant last stand inspired his men and delayed their deaths. However, the tide of maddened Khornate Berzerkers became too much for Chaigut and the remnants of his honour guard. By the time reinforcements arrived, among them were Khugol and his squad, the Berzerkers had finished a ritualistic beheading and scalping of the Great Khan.
At the sight of Chaigut's lifeless corpse, something finally broke within Khugol's soul. Decades of tempering his fury and practicing discipline were thrown away in favour of engulfing himself in rage once again. The wrath of Khugol was a sight to behold, a culmination of all his rage from birth to that very moment. He unloaded his weapon on the closest Berzerkers to Chaigut and when his sniper rifle ran dry, Khugol threw it away and pounced on the dying Berzerker who had scalped his friend and master. While the Berzerkers engaged with the fresh waves of vengeful White Scars, Khugol tore off his victim's helmet and beat his skull into a pulp with his bare hands. Such was Khugol's strength under his trance of wrath. Once his vicious deed was done, he approached his friend's corpse and collected his power axe. With Chaigut's weapon in hand, Khugol rode to seek the Warlord of the Burning Heart Warband.
Many warriors shared his vengeful fury and rode alongside him. Those who remained requested a medevac and prepared the bodies of their comrades so that the Apothecaries may extract their gene-seed. News of Chaigut's death spread fast and the World Eaters became emboldened when they noticed that some of the White Scars faltered. A haze of bloodlust consumed the warriors of Khorne and they were killing more and more White Scars before they could be put down. Khugol and his entourage of vengeful battle-brothers arrived when the White Scars were about to conduct a tactical retreat. Righteous hatred fueled Khugol and he inspired the faltering White Scars to reap vengeance to those who have dared invade an Imperial World.
The battle reached a tipping point when Khugol finally found the Warlord of the Burning Hearts Warband. Ionus the Bloodmonger was at the epicentre of the battle, slaying Imperial warriors with his massive axe. While the warlord was distracted, Khugol rode towards his target and strapped detpacks to his bike's frame. His fellow riders saw what he was planning to do and rode ahead of him to clear a path to the warlord. With a prayer of apologies to the vehicle's machine spirit, Khugol dismounted the bike as it hurtled towards Ionus. The warlord was unable to defend himself when the bike crashed into him and could only scream in agony when Khugol detonated the detpacks. Surprisingly, Ionus was not killed by the explosion, but his limbs were torn off by the force as many organs were ruptured. Khugol saw this and approached the incapacitated Khornate warlord. Before Ionus could say a word, Khugol swung Chaigut's axe and decapitated Ionus. Raising the warlord's severed head to the sky, Khugol proclaimed to the skies of Agathon that Chaigut has been avenged. The battle from the point on was a manic slaughterhouse as White Scars regained morale and destroyed the remnants of the Burning Hearts.
After the campaign, he was promoted to Khan of the 10th Brotherhood for his actions and was forgiven for his past crimes of insubordination and assault. Instead of rapture or pride, Khugol only felt disappointment and sadness. To Khugol, the promotion was another farce in order to control him. Khugol had lost the only person who actually knew him, and because of his loss, Khugol had reverted to distrusting the White Scars again. The warrior became inconsolable and holed himself in the Chapter's archives and the Reclusiam to mourn for 18 days.
Pict-capture of Khugol Khan on his ascension as Khan of the 10th Brotherhood
In his solitude, Khugol poured over records of White Scars campaigns from the days of the Great Crusade. He felt responsible for the death of Chaigut, believing that if he had known of that hidden passage then the Great Khan would never have been ambushed. He studied strategies, intelligence reports, battle reports and Jaghatai Khan's written words of wisdom. The more he learned, the worse he felt about his lack of vigilance on Agathon and the guilt for Chaigut's death grew.
When he finished mourning, Khugol threw himself into a self-imposed duty to beat in the importance of intelligence into the new recruits of the Chapter. The new Master of Recruits vowed to himself that as long as he taught warriors, none of them will make the same mistakes he made. Due to his tutelage, the Chapter began to deploy planetside slower as the scouts would take longer to conduct reconnaissance on the planet's surface. They took it upon themselves to learn as much about a planet and its people as possible, as was what Khugol taught to them. Some also inherited some of Khugol's belligerence, but were reprimanded by the Khan of the 10th Brotherhood. He was called out for his hypocrisy, but he paid the claims no mind as long as his students would become better men than himself.
When news of a Founding reached Khugol, he immediately requested that he would take part. Shame for his lack of incentive at Agathon fueled his desire for further penance away from the White Scars. He felt that if he remained in the Chapter, then he would sully their reputation by his mere presence. Knowing that he would not be swayed, Chaigut's successor allowed it. Those who wanted to take part in the founding of the new Chapter with Khugol were those who rode with him on Agathon after Chaigut's death. Some who came were scouts who learned under Khugol's tutelage and refused to part with him.
Before he set off into the stars to find a new home, High Chaplain Khazim Rashak gave Khugol Khan the power axe he used to cut off Ionus the Bloodmonger's head on Agathon. The final gift broke the hateful spell that lingered in Khugol's heart, and he embraced the High Chaplain as brothers would. With a company's worth of men, a small fleet and enough resources to begin recruitment, the newly founded Lightning Wraiths set off to Segmentum Obscurus to wage their war against Chaos.
The Search For A New Home[]
[[[REWRITE INBOUND]]][[[REWRITE INBOUND]]][[[REWRITE INBOUND]]]
After the Chapter's Founding, the Lightning Wraiths sought out a suitable homeworld within their assigned sector of Segmentum Obscurus. Through expeditionary fleets consisting of a handful of squads and a member of the high echelon, the Lightning Wraiths soon found the Feudal World of Morozh'nehya. The head of the expeditionary force that found Morozh'nehya was a former White Scars Stormseer named Tayang Ganbold and with him were a squad of scouts, a squad of Tactical Marines and the Gladius-class Frigate Exodus.
Tayang Ganbold, former Stormseer of the White Scars
At the time of their arrival, Morozh'nehya was experiencing a prosperous and peaceful Iron Age. The frigid surface was littered with Empires of varying sizes and might. The largest and mightiest of these empires was known as the Ghonzi Empire under the rule of a man named Lord Amadeus Schreifter. The Ghonzi Empire and fifteen other empires scattered across the habitable plains of Morozh'nehya formed the Volair Coalition. It was the prince of the small nation of Inxi that had spotted the Lightning Wraiths' landing ship and because it was a part of the Volair Coalition, it shared the knowledge regarding the new arrivals to its allies. Before long, every single monarch became privy to the news that a star fell to Morozh'nehyan soil and was tempted to investigate it.
And so, as the Lightning Wraiths expedition party landed, dignitaries from every Morozh'nehyan Empire came to greet the strangers from the stars. Initially, they thought that the Astartes were messengers from their pagan gods who have come to deliver them to the path of absolution and glory. This forced the Lightning Wraiths to educate the dignitaries of the galaxy and the Imperium. The expeditionary force had landed far from any habitations as they intended to investigate the planet's surface in solitude. If they were greeted by a small party, then it would have been a simple task of silencing them. However, the large crowd of dignitaries and their subjects marching towards them made it an impossibility to conceal their presence without incurring the military might of the entire planet. Although they were Adeptus Astartes and would be more than a match against millions of feudal soldiers, the thought of killing humans due to a misunderstanding did not sit well with the expeditionary force. Through the wonders of science and the oratory skill of the mortal shipmaster, the dignitaries were awed by the vastness of the galaxy and humanity's domain.
Little did the Lightning Wraths know that deep within the Ghonzi Empire, a daemon laid dormant within an ancient relic. It was awakened when it felt the psychic presence of the former White Scar Stormseer. The daemon had been banished to the Warp centuries ago by the White Scars and it longed for revenge against the warriors clad in white and red. It had managed to crawl back into realspace at the dawn the Morozh'nehyan Empires, but only through a foolish Morozh'nehyan's attempts to peer into the void. Even then, the daemon was trapped inside a mirror and was used by the Lord of Ghonzi to peer into the other Empires' state of affairs so that he may capitalize on any weaknesses. This was how the Ghonzi Empire grew to its massive size and it was how the daemon began its plot of revenge.
As the many monarchs traveled the Morzhkan wastelands to greet the strangers, the daemon's plans began to unfold. As she wandered the hallways of the Ghonzian Fortress, Lydia Ergenweld, the wife of Lord Schreifter, was drawn to the hidden mirror through a seductive and hypnotic song that emanated from it. Before she knew what was going on, the daemon possessed her and used her body to murder the Lord of Ghonzi a few days after his arrival. Through false tears and sorrow, the possessed widow blamed the 'demons from the stars' for murdering Schreifter and demanded that every kingdom should join arms and remove the invaders from the planet. Initially, many of the Kingdoms refused to listen to her demands, claiming that it was just her grief that was directing her actions. However, strange murders began to plague each of the Morozh'nehyan empires, each one was immensely brutal and can only be achieved by beings of great strength. Fear and panic began to seep into the minds of the monarchs, and when one of them became the victim of the brutal killings, they sprang into defensive action. All but nine amassed their armies to march towards the Jirae Mountains in order to drive the strangers away.
The nine monarchs who refused to drive away the Lightning Wraiths were part of a union known as the Order of Brehus, named after the Mountain King of Jirae. These nine lords immediately set out to the wastelands with a small coalition of their families and honour guards to warn the giants of bone and blood red. When they arrived, Ganbold had already sensed the daemon's malign presence and had contacted the rest of the Chapter for aid, but was told that it would take months for the closest expeditionary fleet to arrive due to the Immaterium's turbulence at Segmentum Obscurus. Even if their warning was obsolete, the Monarchs of the Order pledged themselves to the Lightning Wraiths under an oath of honour at the moment of arrival. They guided the Astartes to a hidden tunnel network under the infamous Jirae Mountains so that they may prepare for the war before returning to their Kingdoms to marshal their troops. Instead of being offended by the monarchs' assumption of their lack of combat skill, Lightning Wraiths were impressed by their willingness to protect strangers and had the beginnings of kinship with the Monarchs of the Order as those mortal men and women were considered outcasts by the majority of the 'civilized' empires of Morozh'nehya.
Each monarch of the Order ruled an empire at the frontiers of Morozh'nehya's plains, pushing the limits of humanity's resilience and desire to expand. Some of them even bond with the volatile fauna and either make them into their pets or as their war beasts, from an enormous avian capable of transporting two heavily armoured warriors known as the Ayur Hawk to the Polshta Nemeans, giant lions coated in pure white fur that frequently stalk the only volcano in Morozh'nehya - Mount Estia. Some still clung to gladiatorial rites of passage for teenagers, so that their warriors would be a fearless and experienced flock. Others practiced a religion that placed a heavy emphasis on death and ascendance to immortality through said death. Of the nine monarchs, the Lightning Wraiths found themselves to enjoy the company of Izhmael Kalator the most.
Izmael Kalator was the Preceptor of the Crypt-Watchers, an ancient order tasked with safeguarding the location of the Jirae Mountains' greatest treasure - the Tomb of Brehus, and the king of a small nation called Qashai. A diminutive and intelligent man, Izmael always tried to find time to communicate with the imposing warriors. His desire to learn and teach was contagious and his soft-spoken nature made it imperative to listen whenever he spoke. He had been the one to suggest that the Astartes should plan for the incoming war within the tunnels of the Jirae Mountains. It was Izmael who insisted that he would guide Tayang and his men to the Tomb of Brehus with the promise of revelation. It was within the Tomb of Brehus where the Lightning Wraiths understood why the Order was willing to fight and die for them.
They had discovered that the Tomb was an enormous Imperial Shrine with Imperial iconography painstakingly carved into the walls of the mountain. Time had eroded some of the detail, but the rough outlines of twin-headed eagles and the vigilant guardians of the Adeptus Astartes could still be made out. At the centre of the tomb was a small structure with nine pillars carved into the likeness of nine people holding up a gilded roof. Each of the pillars had a bronze plaque at its base containing the name of the person the pillar is modeled after, their history and a virtue that they represented. Within the structure, an upright marble sarcophagus faced the only entrance and exit. Its lid was carved into the lifelike image of the First King of the Jirae Mountains and the sparse amount of offerings at the foot of the sarcophagus indicated that the Tomb has very few visitors.
As the nations gathered their armies, the possessed Lydia began the creation of Chaos cults and had seduced many citizens to join with promises of power and wealth. Many had been tricked to act as vessels for daemons to bolster the Morozh'nehyan armies in their crusade against the Lightning Wraiths. Others were taught to speak in daemon tongue to prepare for the inevitable summonings of Greater Daemons. An enormous amount of people were driven insane by the increasing whispers of the Immaterium and were granted inhuman strength through their insanity. Before long, the once proud and mighty Ghonzi Empire became the epicentre of madness and mindless violence. Its streets were littered with corpses showing signs of ritualistic sacrifices and the sigils of Chaos were branded onto the minds of everyone who remained alive.
The possessed form of Lydia Ergenweld at the apex of the Morozh'nehyan uprising.
Days after the call to war was made, the entire military force of Morozh'nehya bar the Order of Brehus arrived at the foot of the Jirae Mountains. While knowledge of the Crypt's existence is widespread, the entrance to it is not. In an attempt to find it in a short amount of time, large patrols were sent to scour the mountains to search for it while some of the engineers attempted to tunnel into mountains of interest. The engineers were met with little success as their steel pickaxes struggled to chip away the thick layers of rock that concealed any potential tunnels underneath. On the other hand, reports of patrols going missing began to increase. Some of the missing patrols turned up with one or two members remaining and their wills to fight broken. Soon, stories about how the Mountains have spirits that are protecting the strangers surfaced among the warriors.
These disappearances are the work of the skilled mountaineers of the Xulka Empire, who are renowned for their innate skill in navigating the treacherous slopes of the Jirae Mountains. Under the cover of the thick snowfall, Xulkan Sov'yadtsai ambush the patrols with crossbows tipped with poison before cutting down any survivors. Alongside their mortal comrades, Lightning Wraith Scouts eradicated any patrols they came across with nary a sound thanks to their silenced sniper rifles. Tayang and his accompanying tactical squad were confined to the tunnels of the mountains as their heavier armour would give them away. They despised the claustrophobic halls, but swallowed their pride as they found it to be necessary to maintain the element of surprise.
Some of the Order's warriors, most belonging to the Ayur Hawk riding Uzeki Knights of the Umfasir Kingdom, were taught how to operate Imperial com-beads as they were tasked with reconnaissance. Through these com-beads, Uzeki Knight Narruk Olasiya reported the arrival of reinforcements and an increase of patrol deployment. When the next batch of patrols were dealt with by the wandering Sov'yadtsai and scouts, they were appalled to discover their countrymen and family members as a part of the patrols. Many of their countrymen had their tongues cut off and their hands bound to their weapons, rendering them unable to warn the defenders or to plead for mercy. Those who weren't subjected to this kind of mutilation were victims of another affliction. While they were alive, the hidden warriors noticed that they moved with an unnatural gait, as if they were struggling to control their own bodies. When the ambushes were sprung, it required significantly more effort to kill one of them. Their bodies would become a pincushion for poisoned crossbow bolts and the only proof of their bodies feeling the impact of the bolts or the poison coursing through their veins was a strangled cry of ecstasy. Decapitation was the only way to ensure that they would stay dead.
These findings were immediately reported to the gathered monarchs and Tayang. It was deduced that the Morozh'nehyan armies against the Order had split apart during the journey towards the mountains and had targetted the Kingdoms of the Order. Despite the rage that permeated in the back of their minds, the gathered monarchs were especially concerned about the more resilient prisoners and were curious as to what caused these people to behave in such a manner. In a sign of good faith in the willpower of the gathered leaders, Tayang revealed to them the truth of what he suspected their captured countrymen had become and told them of the daemon residing on the planet. Initially met with bewilderment, they listened to Tayang as he told them about the Immaterium, the existence of psykers and daemons. To prove to them that he wasn't tricking, he showcased a small portion of his power by conjuring spectral falcons. The final straw for the gathered monarchs was a report of how one of these' possessed prisoners had mauled a squad of Sov'yadtsai with their bare hands and how the prisoner mutated into a fiendish creature after the act.
At that point, the Warrior Kings and Queens felt that the time had finally come for their counter-attack. And so, at the break of dawn, the war drums of the Order resounded off the intertwining tunnels underneath the Jirae Mountains after days under siege. Vicars, the spiritual leaders of the Vossaka Kingdom, led recitations of ancient battle creeds as the war drums' song increased in intensity. From the invaders' perspective, it sounded like the mountains themselves were enraged at the trespassers. When the last notes of the war song was played and the last lines of verse were recited, the gathered armies of the Order of Brehus let loose a terrifying war cry that conveyed their rage and pain at those who used their own families and countrymen against them. Flowing out of the tunnels like quicksilver and over the mountains' steep slopes, the soldiers of the Order of Brehus poured out of the tunnel networks they resided in and made their final charge with their Kings and Queens leading from the front.
In response to the appearance of the Order's armies, Lydia's generals and their allies ordered a counter-attack. As a deterrent, the armies of the Ghonzi Empire forced the captured to lead the charge against their own countrymen. Many of the warriors loyal to the Volair Coalition and its allies were appalled by the usage of human shields, but were told that the Order of Brehus was consorting with demons and used their countrymen and women as vessels for their sick experiments. The sight of the possessed was enough evidence for the warriors of Morozh'nehya to believe the tale and were more than willing to cut down either prisoner or enemy warrior at that point. However, the armies of Morozh'nehya were not expecting their human shields to turn on them.
The war drums of the Order of Brehus and the battle creeds of the Vicars emboldened some of the captured, specifically those who belonged to the Vossaka Kingdom. The battle creeds were not only rites of war, but a call to martyrdom for Vossaka as every Vossakan was expected to die for their Kingdom when the time came. The Volair Coalition was not prepared for the frenzied Vossakan's to turn on them and the first ranks fell to these men and women under their death oaths. Soon, other prisoners threw themselves at the front ranks of the Morozh'nehyan armies. They would rather die than harm their fellow countrymen and women. The only ones who continued their charge towards the armies of the Order were the possessed and those whose minds broken during their capture. They were successful at stalling the charge as some of the Order's soldiers hesitated in killing the possessed. However, when the possessed and the mindless attacked them, all thoughts of mercy were drowned by rage.
The former White Scars themselves used the massive charge as a distraction so that they could attack from the enemy's flanks. They were accompanied by heavily armoured Hussars of the Utyug-Krov and crossbow-wielding Lancers from the Duchy of Polshta, warriors mounted on massive bears and horses respectively. The enormous beasts were hard-pressed into keeping up with the Astartes' bikes, as both the rider's and the mount's pride demanded that they stay by their new lords' side until death. As they approached the enemy's flanks, the Lancers let loose a rain of poisoned or burning crossbow bolts while the Astartes opened fire with the twin-linked bolters on their bikes. The Hussars went on a full gallop, overtaking the Astartes who slowed down to let the bulkier cavalry unit do its job. At it was a glorious sight, as the sheer weight of the massive bears toppled over any pikemen that dared to stop the charge and the mace-wielding warriors atop the bears crushed heads left and right as they made a bloody swath into the enemy.
The battle was a lengthy bloodbath, with massive casualties from both sides. The Order of Brehus was outnumbered by a hundred to one, but they made up with ferociousness that the other kingdoms lacked due to their insistence on being 'more civilized'. Their lack of martial drive was exploited by the battle-ready knights of the Order. Sov'yadtsai and Xulka Mountaineers dealt death from a distance, their arrows found chinks in the enemy's armour so that the deadly poison coating their tips could invade the victim's bloodstream. Hellscreamers, alchemists of great renown, hurled ceramic pots filled with a concoction that ignited on impact. Uzeki Knights of the Umfasir Kingdom plucked men from the ground to either hurled them to their deaths or have the massive Ayur Hawk devour its prey. Some of the Volair Coalitions knights even turned on their generals, courtesy of Szek-Faltran Saboteurs who implanted themselves among a general's honour guard.
Map of Morozh'nehya during the Uprising.
The Lightning Wraiths' advanced weaponry also even the odds somewhat, as each bolter shell either killed or heavily injured 5-7 men. At least one died from the shockwave of a bolt in gyroscopic flight, another from the direct impact and at least 3 from the resulting shrapnel due to the bolt's detonation within the victim. Tayang's gifts were another blessing as the Stormseer used his gifts to great effect and the sight of his giant form controlling the elements broke the morale of many enemy combatants.
However, the possessed proved to be a challenge for the mortal knights. Having a daemon inside a mortal vessel gave it inhuman speed, strength, and reflexes at the cost of the host's soul. They were incredibly difficult to put down and tore apart any who tried to stop their rampage, whether it be friend or foe. Furthermore, the battle slowly shifted to the Volair Coalition's favour as their higher numbers meant that they could win the war through attrition. More and more knights loyal to the Order found themselves surrounded and outnumbered.
To ensure their victory, Tayang made a large gamble. Requesting his men to protect him, Tayang dug deep into his soul and called upon the Immaterium to summon a great storm over the battlefield. If he failed to protect his soul during this tumultuous act, he would either become a vessel for a daemon or his body would be obliterated by the Immaterium's power. As he focused, the sky began to darken with unnatural colours. The sound of thunder caught the attention of the warriors on the ground and before anyone could react, lightning began to strike. Hundreds of men fell to Tayang's storm in seconds and the mounting casualties broke the enemy. Retreats were called by surviving generals, as they did not want to fight what they perceived as a god.
As the enemy was pushed back, the possessed generals and warriors were hunted down and killed by Lightning Wraith scouts. Tayang then relinquished his powers and rested as the Order celebrated. However, despite his exhaustion, he still sensed that the daemon was still tethered to Morozh'nehya. So, he ordered the interrogation of captured prisoners to determine where the daemon was residing. One prisoner, a mercenary general under the Ghonzi Empire's employ, told about how the Ghonzi Empire became a hell-hole and about the maddening pressure that seemed to loom over its capital. With this information, Tayang and the remnants of the Order made their way to the city of Aludica.
Survivors of the Ghonzi Empire's downfall to Chaos hunt down their mutated countrymen.
When the remnants of the Order arrived at Aludica, the Capital of the Ghonzi Empire, they were surprised to see how far the mighty fortress had fallen to Chaos. Mutated townsfolk wandered the streets, too far gone to be saved by any means. The only option for them was extermination. Surprisingly, some of the citizens of Aludica survived the Chaos occupation and the subsequent purges by the fanatics and when they heard of the city's upcoming salvation, they emerged from their hiding spots and aided in the hunt. Soon, the streets of Aludica were filled by small mobs of desperate citizens armed with whatever they could get their hands on converging on any mutant they come across. Many of these mobs were slaughtered to the last due to the mutants' gifts from the Dark Gods, but the sheer desperation that the civilians had to having their city cleansed was enough for them to keep throwing themselves at the monsters that took their home.
As the city was cleansed, the Lightning Wraiths and the best warriors of the Order made their way to Aludica's Citadel. In there, they found more mutants touched by the warp. After an hour of slaying mutants and traversing treacherous corridors filled with traps infused with warp magic, the hunting party found themselves face to face with Lydia Ergenweld in the citadel's throne room. With nary a word, they all attacked the daemon. Although they were the best that the Order had to offer, these mortal knights fell to Lydia's blade by the droves as she wove between them in a hypnotic dance of death. The Astartes were also hard-pressed to attacking her, as her nimble form darted underneath combat blades or jumped away from bolts at the last second. Her blade, infused with warp energy, cut through power armor like a power sword and with it, she slew 3 Astartes and rendered the rest of the Tactical Squad unfit for combat. The only ones that survived her onslaught were Tayang and Izmael, the last living monarch of the Order. The Stormseer was on his last legs as he was injured by Lydia while protecting Izmael.
When all seemed bleak for Tayang, the reinforcements that he had requested arrived and among them was Khugol Khan. The sudden rain of drop pods provided the Stormseer an ample distraction to let loose his psychic fury upon the possessed Lydia. His psychic attack vaporized Lydia's body, but the daemon still remained on the planet as it returned its essence to the mirror a split second before Lydia was destroyed. Izmael heard the song that the daemon used to entice Lydia and was drawn to it. As Tayang was still incapacitated from the backlash of using his gifts, Izmael wandered through the halls of Aludica's palace without conscious thought. Before he knew it, he was in front of the accursed mirror and the daemon possessed. Unlike Lydia, Izmael had the willpower to fight off the daemon's possession long enough to destroy the mirror. As the daemon bellowed in agony as its tether to the material is severed, Izmael ignited the room with a Hellscreamer firepot so that he and the daemon would die in fire.
With Izmael's death, the planet was freed from the daemon's grasp, but at great cost. The Order of Brehus was no more. Its cities and fortresses were naught but rubble. All of its monarchs were dead, and there were not enough survivors from each nation to help the kingdoms start anew. Those who remained formed tribes, shadows of the once great Empires. The Ghonzi Empire was also dissolved, but the fear of daemonic taint prompted the Lightning Wraiths to aid in the extermination of mutants and the interrogation of Ghonzi citizens that survived the purge. Tayang himself succumbed to his injuries and exhaustion. Before he died, he was able to recall the events of the Uprising to his Chapter Master.
Khugol Khan claimed the world to become their homeworld and with Tayang's tale in mind, began the construction of their fortress-monastery as a massive tunnel network underneath the Jirae Mountains, with the Tomb of Brehus as its epicentre. Nine entrances were constructed for the tunnel network, each is connected to a Shrine built in tribute to the nine Lords and Ladies of the Order of Brehus that defied their entire world to stay true to the Imperium. He also made structural reforms in homage to the Order of Brehus, beginning with the change of the title Chapter Master to Preceptor. Forgemaster Ferro Azhik, who then became Koval Ferro Azhik, then forged a crown from an Iron Halo and the remnants of the crowns belonging to the Order's kings and queens.
In a ceremony immortalized through carvings and paintings within the Crpyt's walls, the Koval welded the Crown of the Old Kingdoms onto Khugol Khan's helmet in a manner reminiscent to a crowning of a new king or queen of Morozh'nehyan Royalty. With this ceremony, the Lightning Wraiths cemented their roles as Defenders of Morozh'nehya and Segmentum Obscurus.
[[[REWRITE INBOUND]]][[[REWRITE INBOUND]]][[[REWRITE INBOUND]]]
Aedalur Massacre[]
At the wake of the 9th Black Crusade, an enormous Space Hulk exited the warp at the edge of the Aedalur System. Accompanying the massive machine was a small fleet of Khornate warships, with Yhar’gol, a Khornate Champion with an insatiable drive for daemonic ascension, commanding the invasion party. The attackers consisted of two Chaos Warbands, the Hand of Khorne and the Blackblood Hounds, as well as auxiliary support in the form of daemon engines and an entire Traitor Guard regiment of Khornate Cultists hailing from the Bellowing Daemon Cult.
The first planet that was invaded was the feudal world of Salis. The entire population was either murdered or indoctrinated within a week by a company of Hand of Khorne Traitor Astartes. However, only the strike cruiser Song of Violence was provided for the attack of Salis. The rest of the fleet remained beside the space hulk as it made its way through space towards the Forge World Nivera.
The Forge World Nivera at the Dawn of the Aedalur Massacre.
As the space hulk slowly drifted in space, psykers that were either planetside or serving in a nearby Imperial ship began to writhe in agony or jerk spastically as they experienced a seizure brought about by psychic attacks from an immensely powerful psychic presence. The sight of astropaths and navigators foaming at the mouths, screaming in pain as they spasmed on the ground scared those who were unfortunate enough to witness the phenomenon. Merchant ships were not able to enter the warp in order to make a quick escape due to the phenomenon, rendering them effectively trapped in the warzone that encompassed the Aedalur system. Almost all psykers died from the attack, and some psykers became a conduit for a warp gate, spewing forth daemons of Khorne upon the populace of a planet or the crew of a ship.
Amidst the agony she felt, one astropath had projected a powerful psychic message with the remaining vestiges of her energy. The sheer might required for her astropathic message to be sent coupled with the pain of feeling malicious psychic energies caused her to perish. Her final act was what would save Nivera as well as the rest of the system from total destruction as a fleet consisting of elements of the Lightning Wraiths' 3rd, 4th, and 9th Pillar of Wisdom received her message and warped into the system a few hours later.
The carnage that met the Lightning Wraiths as they returned to realspace was nothing short of sickening. The carcasses of destroyed ships drifted lazily in the void. Worlds that were subject to the Khornate fleet's bloodthirsty warriors were either burning or stricken with a red miasma that clouded the minds of the weak-willed. Each world conquered gave the fleet more followers and gave Khorne more devout worshippers. The centre of their attention was on the drifting Space Hulk inching closer to Nivera. The Hulk was identified as the Silent Blade, with Imperial records claiming that it was last seen in the aftermath of the 5th Black Crusade.
During their journey through the Immaterium, Magister Polsheyeska Khazan had sensed the powerful psychic presence that was killing Imperial psykers in the system. When they returned to real-space, he was subjected to the full offending might of the psychic aura and it caused Khazan to fall to his knees. Despite the pain that he felt deep within his immortal soul, Khazan was able to use his gifts in order to pinpoint the source of the presence. Before he forced himself to a state of unconsciousness to protect his brothers from a potential psychic backlash, Khazan relayed to the Viceroys of the fleet that the presence's source was deep within the Space Hulk.
Before the Lightning Wraiths could act upon the information bestowed upon them, they received news that many of the Khornate Fleet's ships had broken off formation and were headed straight to Nivera to drop their cargo of warriors and Berzerkers. This update forced the Lightning Wraiths to split up what forces they have between killing the source of the psychic energy and protecting the Forge World. Viceroy Attilus Paran of the 4th Pillar of Wisdom volunteered to board the Space Hulk and requested all present Veterans as well as Steelmasons to aid him in his hunt for the Chaos psyker. The rest would deploy on Nivera to aid the Mechanicum's defense forces on the planet.
Viceroy Paran and the Veterans were given the rare duty of donning Terminator Armour for their mission in Space Hulk as the Lightning Wraiths never found a proper scenario where its usage would benefit their combat doctrine. Within the confines of the Space Hulk, speed was a factor that only served as a detriment and because of this, Paran found it prudent to use the Terminator suits. The Strike Cruiser Dissonance of the Void was seconded to Paran so that they may board the Space Hulk with its Boarding Torpedos and be extracted with the onboard Thunderhawks.
As Viceroy Paran's Killteam boarded the Silent Blade, Saboteur Squads from the 9th made swift landings onto Nivera's surface via Thunderhawk Gunships. They arrived under a hail of fire from patrolling Traitor Guard Valkyries, losing vital aircraft and Astartes due to sheer amount of ordnance and enemy Valkyries that controlled the skies of Nivera. When the Thunderhawks managed to unload the Saboteur Squads, it was an uphill battle against the Traitor Guard to return to the Lightning Wraiths' fleet. One of the Saboteur Squads, led by Cavus Mattias Vohl, was able to contact one of the Magos that oversaw Niveran weapon production. With their help, communication with the Lightning Wraiths fleet was achieved and data was relayed to the relief force to prepare for the defense.
An updated holomap of Nivera revealed that the majority of the planet was covered in narrow, winding and interconnected pathways. The labyrinthine passageways were a boon for the Skitarii and Mechanicum conscripts as navigating large forces was difficult in this environment. Kill zones were established by the Skitarii at every major intersection, where the forces of Khorne were forced to cross if they wanted to destroy key facilities. However, Lightning Wraiths aircraft would struggle to provide any form of support as many of their ships are much too wide. Furthermore, the Lightning Wraiths were not as gifted in urban warfare as some of their cousins hailing from Dorn or Ferrus Manus' legacy. As such, they had to choose their fights wisely and memorize the intertwining paths of the Forge World as if it were a tunnel system from their home. Unsurprisingly, Saboteurs and Sov'yadtsai would thrive in this chaotic environment as the enemy was hard-pressed to pinpoint the locations of the nimble and silent snipers as they whittle down their numbers with deadly precision.
With the layout the planet taken into consideration and places of interest marked as priorities, the Lightning Wraiths began landing their troops onto Niveran ground, opting to neglect drop pods as the tall towers of the Mechanicum acted as a barrier against any debris that would crash into the planet from outside the atmosphere. Squadrons of Stormhawk Interceptors appeared from the thick and noxious clouds to create a safe cordon for the Thunderhawks and Storm Ravens to unload Lightning Wraiths Astartes onto the narrow streets. A large concentration of Lightning Wraiths Wrozhinas and most of the Jirae Squads were deployed on the Mechanicum headquarters of the planet, which contained many high-ranking Mechanicus officials and a repository of records pertaining Imperial shipping routes that intersect the planet towards nearby warzones. Aekorians came to blows with Khornate Berzerkers almost immediately after landing while their Skitarii allies picked off any stragglers or assisted a Lightning Wraith that would have been overwhelmed.
The battle that the Lightning Wraiths found themselves in was heavily favouring the Skitarii as their weapons and the tight passages created killing fields that destroyed an enemy's advance before it could gain too much momentum. However, despite the advantages in the Skitarii's favour, Yhar'gol's warband outnumbered both the Skitarii and the Lightning Wraiths. In fact, despite the Lightning Wraiths having complete aerial superiority, many support aircraft - mainly Stormtalons - were plucked from the skies due to the sheer volume of fire that pierced either the gunships’ cockpit or its fuselage. Lightning Wraiths Hussars and Magyars struggled to make the best of their bikes and Landspeeders on the streets as they found themselves surrounded time and again due to debris from the battle blocked escape routes. The forces located at the Mechanicum headquarters were slowly giving up ground as the hordes of Berzerkers slew more and more Lightning Wraiths and Skitarii. The attached Sov'yadtsai and Harbingers helped deny the enemy passage into priority zones that were marked by the combined Imperial force for their strategic importance.
Pict image of the last appearance of the Space Hulk designated 'Silent Blade' during the 5th Black Crusade.
Meanwhile, the Dissonance of the Void had launched boarding torpedoes onto the Silent Blade because the Space Hulk had its own gravity due to its sheer size and was pulling the Strike Cruiser in. Paran's Terminator Squads and the accompanying Steelmasons scoured the Space Hulk for the source of the psychic presence. The only thing that was guiding them was a feeling of wrongness that grew in intensity when they moved in a certain direction. Approximately 30 minutes into their search, Steelmason Olga Konczeski made a startling discovery. While hacking a cogitator that controlled a blast-door blocking their path, he conversed with its machine-spirit to ascertain the cogitator's previous master. The ancient machine-spirit told him that its previous owners were the Fifth Legion and further investigation revealed that the ship it was part of was lost to the Warp during its harrowing escape through the Path of Heaven. He disclosed to the machine-spirit that over 10,000 years had passed and that he and his brothers were Scions of Khan. Before long, he was able to discover the location of an ancient armory and had urged his brothers to investigate its contents.
In their desire to reconnect with their distant past, Paran and his men made haste to the armory that the machine-spirit had shared with Konczeski. When they arrived at the armory, they were surprised to see its contents. There were suits of ancient Mark III and IV power armour in pristine condition, a suit of a Praetor’s artificer Mark II armour, rows upon rows of Chogorian Glaives and Crusade-Era combi-weaponry. Paran ordered a small contingent to remain in the armory and to contact the fleet in order to notify them of their discovery before moving on to seek the heretic psyker. Konszeski spoke to another machine-spirit and was able to determine the location of the hangar bay, which he relayed to Paran in case their teleporters would not work or if it would be impossible for any small craft to land on the Space Hulk for the extraction of relics.
As the Steelmasons secured as many relics as they could, Paran and his men moved further into the Space Hulk. An hour after their separation from Konszeski, they began to see signs of corruption taking root on the Space Hulk. Fleshy protrusions covered the walls like vines, some of which oozed a black viscous liquid. Voices also began to taunt the minds of the Space Marines, coaxing them to unleash their rage at each other with hate-filled whispers that soon devolved to outright psychic screams of fury. Before long, the Terminator-clad Veterans came into contact with the defenders of the Space Hulk. Khornate cultists, mixed in with Traitor Guardsmen and women, threw themselves at the Lightning Wraiths in a mad hope of overpowering them with sheer numbers.
Before long, the growing number of dead cultists and Traitor Guard heralded the arrival of a more potent foe. Daemons and Traitor Astartes made themselves known with beastial roars and conducted a devastating charge against the Lightning Wraiths. Paran’s Killteam managed to brace themselves in time, but the weight of the charge soon forced the Terminators to break formation and engage in a brutal melee within the corrupted corridors of the Space Hulk. It was their Terminator Armor and skill at arms against the ferocity of Khornate Daemons and Worshippers. Paran, believing that the sudden appearance of their current foe meant that they were getting closer to their goal, broke off from the melee along with two others and made their way deeper into the Hulk. The others that remained held off the enemy and prevented them from following Paran.
Paran was correct in his belief as he arrived at a massive chamber an hour after he broke off from his Sipahi contingent. At the epicentre of what appeared to be the dilapidated congregation halls of an Ecclesiarchy vessel, a heavily mutated humanoid was chained to the floor. However, its mutations were not borne of genetic deviancy, but rather from the malignant powers that roiled within its form. With nary a second of processing the creature’s appearance, Paran had deduced that it was a daemonhost. A few feet away from the Chaos vessel, its master stood with a kneeling posse of sacrificial psykers.
A Dark Apostle of the eternally damned Word Bearers Legion had barely finished the ritualistic murder of a psyker when Paran and his men opened fire on the daemonhost. Despite its mortal vessels’ apparent lack of sentience, the daemonhost was able to erect a barrier of warp flame to intercept the lethal Vengeance rounds that Paran’s fireteam had chambered into their storm bolters. Seeing that the fulcrum of his plans was under jeopardy, the Dark Apostle summoned creatures of the Warp to attack the fireteam. Paran maintained his hail of fire, only stopping to reload, as he approached the daemonhost while his brothers engaged the warp-spawn and the Dark Apostle.
Due to the majority of its power being focused on maintaining the powerful psychic aura that destroyed the minds of lesser psychic beings, the daemonhost struggled to cease Paran’s lumbering march towards its body. Warp flame soon clashed against heavy plates of layered ceramite and adamantium. Despite the pain of scalding temperatures and melting ceramite fusing with his skin, Paran crossed the unnatural wall of flame and proceeded to brutalize the daemonhost with his power fist. Normally, a mortal human’s frame would be liquidated from one blow, but it took Paran multiple ground-shaking hits to cause a fatality. Each hit melted and warped his power fist and by the time the daemonhost’s mortal tether to reality was severed, its corrosive fluids had shorn the weapon down to its base components with little to no hope of repair. The damage was further exacerbated when parts of the melting weapon melded with his hand, a wound that required amputation once the campaign drew to a close.
As soon as he confirmed the kill to his kill team, he felt the sensation of wrongness that plagued him during the trek dissipate. The agony of the warp flame’s damage to his flesh had clouded his mind, yet he was lucid enough to sense someone’s approach and was able to block the Dark Apostle’s attack in time before it could bludgeon him. Paran looked past the Word Bearer’s mangled face and saw the two Astartes that accompanied him on the ground with pools of blood increasing in volume exponentially through geysers of arterial blood from lethal injuries. With the last of his failing strength, augmented by the systems of Tactical Dreadnought Armor, he pushed the Dark Apostle away while making the order for withdrawal before blasting the heretic apart with the final rounds in his storm bolter’s magazine. In the span of seconds, the teleport homers built into all the Terminators activated and the surviving Sipahi as well as the bodies of the dead found themselves in The Dissonance of the Void. The contingent of Lightning Wraiths in the armories took longer to return to the vessel, due to their task of saving as many relics of the past via Thunderhawks that found a way to land in a nearby hangar bay.
No sooner had the last Thunderhawk arrived at Paran’s ship, did the response fleet receive signals of warp signatures at the Aedalur System’s Mandeville Point. Preparing for a secondary assault by enemy forces, the Lightning Wraiths were surprised to see a massive Mechanicus fleet bearing the colors of the Niveran Forge World making full speed to its home planet. Seeing the arrival of allied reinforcements, the chapter renewed its attack upon the enemy fleet with greater vigor. Hours later, the Khornate fleet was bombarded by the Niveran fleet's devastating weaponry and was slowly being whittled down from two sides. The Lightning Wraiths suffered great casualties as the last of Yhar’gol’s fleet rammed their ships against the Imperials as a final sign of defiance.
On the surface of Nivera, news of the daemonhost’s death had reached both Imperial and Chaos forces. The Astartes of the Lightning Wraiths found themselves losing ground to the enemy as the desperation of Yhar’gol’s forces drove them to new heights of unrelenting aggression. Yhar’gol himself had slaughtered scores of Skitarii and Astartes when he lost his mind to bloodlust and fury when his plans for ascension were ruined by the death of the Dark Apostle. The climax of his rampage took place within the Mechanicum Headquarters, where Yhar’gol crossed blades with Viceroy Akburzhi Sekmihr of the 9th.
While Sekmihr was a skilled swordsman by his own right, he could barely defend himself from the significantly stronger Yhar’gol. The Viceroy dueled with the Ascendant Warrior until his last dying breath, and the outcome of their duel determined the fate of Nivera. As Sekmihr fought, the Mechanicus overseers of the Forge World were escorted to safety by the final line of Lightning Wraiths and Skitarii defense. Hundreds of blood maddened servants of the Blood God threw themselves into the line of fire and despite the unrelenting hail of fire put out by the Imperials, the red tide of human bodies never seemed to end. Before long, the Lightning Wraiths ran out of ammunition and resorted to deal death with combat knives in hand as they were slowly slaughtered by the numerically superior foe. However, the Mechanicus Overseers were successfully escorted off of the planet and into their own vessels following the end of the void war.
Meanwhile, upon his opponent’s death, Yhar’gol was granted the boons that he desperately sought for. Within the chambers of the Mechanicus Headquarters, Yhar’gol ascended to become a Daemon Prince of Khorne as a reward for the blood and skulls that he had collected during the Aedalur Massacre. As soon as his body and soul was reborn, Yhar’gol proceeded to decimate the remaining Lightning Wraiths within the Mechanicus Headquarters. Its halls became slick with the bright red blood of Astartes as the deceased Lightning Wraiths’ bodies were used for ritualistic sacrifices and their gene-seed devoured. Soon the exhausted warriors of the Sipahi sans Viceroy Paran warped onto the planet’s surface along with the revitalized Magister Khazan who also donned Terminator Armor in preparation for the fight against the Daemon Prince.
Minutes after warping onto the surface of Nivera, the Sipahi came in contact with Yhar’gol. Unbeknownst to Yhar’gol, Khazan came with a secret weapon rooted deep within his mind. During his coma, Khazan casted his soul out of his body and searched for a means to aid his brothers. In this time, he came across a discovery when the Dark Apostle was killed by Paran. The Word Bearer, either through spite or desperation, uttered Yhar’gol’s true name in his final moments in an attempt to summon the World Eater to his rescue. His gambit was in vain as Khazan tore the Word Bearer’s soul from his body and demolished it with a thought. When the time came, Khazan spoke the World Eater’s true name with a guttural whisper and the sheer maliciousness of the name destroyed the Librarian’s vocal cords.
However, the power of the true name could not be ignored and Yhar’gol was severely weakened by its utterance. As soon as the weakness made itself evident, the Sipahi opened fire to riddle the Daemon Prince’s body with Vengeance Rounds. The final blow came from Khazan himself, as the Magister split Yhar’gol’s head in two with a swing of his force axe. The psychic backlash of banishment hurled the gathered warriors against the walls of the chamber they fought in. One was beset by the manic hands of Khornate cultists as they sought to kill him for vengeance. They were dispatched with ease, and soon the entirety of Yhar’gol’s forces on the planet routed save for a few pockets of resistance.
Despite the Imperial victory on Nivera’s surface and in the void, the Silent Blade still loomed over the planet and threatened to split it in two. The fleet considered destroying the Space Hulk, but Mechanicus calculations determined that the Silent Blade's proximity to the Forge World meant that if it was destroyed, the debris would still be large enough to cause significant damage to the planet's surface. Damage that would severely hurt the planet’s production of war materiel and potentially rupture the planet’s crust enough for Nivera to die a volcanic death.
When this information was relayed to him, Paran ordered his ship to intercept the Space Hulk. As the Dissonance of the Void aligned itself in the Silent Blade's path, the Thunderhawks on board were loaded with as many scavenged relics from the expedition before they were sent off with Stormravens carrying Astartes trailing behind them. The human crew onboard urged the Viceroy to take part in the evacuation of the doomed vessel, as he stubbornly refused to let the ship die without him at the helm. Konczeski heard the pleas and acted upon them. With his mechadendrites, he hoisted his Viceroy into a Stormraven and demanded the pilot to take off before Paran could wrestle out of Konczeski's iron grip. With their conscience clear, the mortals of the Dissonance of the Void detonated the warp-engines when Paran's Stormraven was a safe distance away. The warp rift that appeared from the explosion was large enough for the Space Hulk to pass through and the remaining warriors of Yhar’gol’s warband could only watch helplessly as the last gambit to appease the Blood God was taken from them before they too were slaughtered by their enemies.
As thanks for their deeds, Nivera vowed to become the Lightning Wraiths' key supplier of arms and armour as well as ammunition for the long years to come. A debt that benefited the chapter greatly as Niveran pattern equipment suited their combat doctrines and philosophies in warfare. However, the Lightning Wraiths had refused to be the only ones who benefited from their alliance with the Forge World. As such, the Lightning Wraiths would begin to occasionally send diplomatic parties that bring ancient technologies that the chapter comes across throughout their campaigns as a sign of good faith and friendship with the Niveran Priesthood. A gesture that further cemented Nivera’s loyalty to the chapter for years to come.
Dawn of a New Beginning[]
Siege of Morozh'nehya[]
At the dawn of the Dark Millenium, Magister Adun Kilicz felt a disturbance in the Warp as he meditated in the Sanctum Astralis. To confirm the psychic sensation of wrongness that he felt, Kilicz scryed the void to discover that Cadia had fallen and that the Warp was expanding. Before he could warn his brothers of the discovery, the permanently overcast skies of Morozh'nehya turned to a sickly shade of magenta and fire rained from the clouds above. Viceroy Waczlo Dekur’Manoa and Viceroy Lukam Sahyab of the 3rd and 8th Pillars of Wisdom began to mobilize their forces in order to prepare for an invasion. Aspirants taking their year-long pilgrimage within the Kingdoms and the ice plains made haste to the Crypt with tidings about daemons coming forth from the hellfire.
Far above the planet’s surface, a defensive fleet made attempts to contact the Crypt of Brehus, but were unsuccessful due to interference on their communication equipment. As such, they were not able to notify the planet bound forces of the Lightning Wraiths that a large fleet bearing the colours of the Black Legion had emerged from the tumultuous Warp Storms and were making their way to the homeworld. Pesahi Asqeram - a Sorceror whose loyalties have shifted from the Thousand Sons to the Black Legion - led this warband of Black Legionnaires as well as elements of World Eater and Night Lords Warbands. His sights were set upon the Lightning Wraiths’ homeworld after whispers of ascendancy through a psychic focal point on the planet had plagued his visions.
Determined to safeguard their home from whatever corrupt agenda the forces of the Black Legion had in store for Morozh'nehya, the fleet engaged the significantly larger enemy force. Despite their fervor, the fleet was overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemy ships and many of the enemy dropships successfully made atmospheric re-entry. Less than a quarter of the original cordon survived their contact with the enemy. Of that number, over 80% were borderline non-functional drifters due to the extensive damage they had received. They had only escaped due to Pesahi’s lust for power, as the sorcerer had commanded any attempts to chase the fleeing ships to cease.
At this point, the great horns of the Jirae Mountains sounded off and the populace was sent to a mass panic. Mortal civilians mobbed in the streets of the Kingdoms, finding a location where a semblance of safety can be felt. Many resorted to leaving all of their belongings behind and making the treacherous trek to the Jirae Mountains, hoping that the Emperor's Angels would grant them sanctuary from what could possibly be the end of their world. Mortal soldiers and militia took up arms to defend their Kingdom's walls from the invaders, most of which were armed with pikes and primitive muzzleloader muskets. Before long, the orbital defences hidden in the Jirae Mountains opened fire into the skies to destroy any dropships before their lethal cargo could be released onto the surface. Despite the unrelenting hail of fire from the mountains that downed dozens of ships, many were able to successfully land.
News of the civilian migration towards the Jirae Mountains soon reached the Lightning Wraiths as well as the portents that were given by the Aspirant Pilgrims. Squads of recuperating Saboteurs as well as a portion of transport gunships were sent to the most populous sections of Morozh’nehya to aid in the evacuation. However, they were given an ultimatum that they must relay to the refugees. Only children were to be rescued and protected, if any families were to resist then their children would not be saved and any adults attempting to board would be shot. Derku’Manoa was counting on a mixture of fear, religious zeal and necessity born from familial love in order for the evacuations to be carried out with due haste.
As the evacuations took place with varying degrees of haste, the remaining portion of the Lightning Wraiths gunships took to the skies to seek both daemonic and traitor foes. Large concentrations of daemons and traitor forces were mowed down from the skies while dropships burdened with troops were prioritised. In their wake, the chapter’s armories were emptied of its vehicles as the chapter mobilised the rest of its garrison for war. Sahyab commanded the ground forces of the Chapter as they sought to defeat the enemy before they could gain momentum. On the other hand Derku’Manoa commanded the airforce from within the Crypt along with a demi-company of warriors tasked with fortifying the nine entrances. A plethora of hidden automated defense systems scattered within the tunnels, never before activated, were brought to life by a small team of Steelmasons led by Koval Izh’Falka Nelhum.
By the time the forces of Sahyab crossed blades with their opponent, the once pristine snow of Morozh’nehya’s land was stained with the blood of its people. Kingdoms that once lived untouched by the empires of the stars underneath the ancient life-giving technology were now empty husks only fit for sacrifice. Mortal armies and refugees that the chapter was able to save at the last instants of annihilation were either at the verge of their sanity and willpower or had gone completely mad. Those who had lost themselves were mercifully killed quickly. It was a painful parallel to what had occurred millennia ago. This potent mixture of rage and grief drove the Lightning Wraiths to new heights of bloodlust, fueled by their desire for vengeance.
The first engagements had been in favour of the Lightning Wraiths as the forces of the enemy had yet to rally in force. As such, smaller groups were wiped out with a flurry of blades while larger elements were lured into the heavier guns of the Chapter’s tanks and Jirae Squads. Try as they might, the ground forces of the Chapter that rode out to confront their hated foe were slowly whittled down as each engagement resulted in losses, but had failed to weaken the resolve of their enemies. The presence of Possessed Marines in the largest collection of Chaos Astartes they had come across was a difficult challenge and were responsible for most of the losses they had experienced up to that point. That is, until they rode for the last known location of the warband’s leader.
Their initial engagement with Asqeram on the remains of Aludica, the former Ghonzan Empire’s capital, began with pillars of fire. The Chaos Sorcerer, along with a cabal of his disciples, summoned pillars of warp fire to act as barriers against the Lightning Wraiths aircraft. Those that attempted to fly through were struck from the skies with tongues of flame that lashed out from the warp fire. As such, the aircraft retreated from Aludica and resumed their patrol of the skies to strike down any more drop ships. Some stayed to clear the surrounding area of stragglers or potential ambushes, but they all were struck down by the time the ground force arrived. Attempts had been made by the ground contingent to find a weakspot amongst the vortices of flame, but the sheer heat of the warp fire as well as the psychic manipulations of Asqeram’s cabal made it impossible for them.
In a rare display of brashness brought about by the cloud of fury that tainted his judgment, Sahyab ordered a portion of the gathered Rhinos and Predators to join him as he tried to brute force his way past the pillars of fire. While more heavily armored than aircraft, many of the Rhinos and Predators were swallowed up by the flames as well as the Astartes within the transports. The vehicles that managed to traverse the pillars, blackened by ash, were beset by a horde of World Eaters waiting for anyone mad or foolish enough to cross the fire. With the pillars of flame behind them and the World Eaters approaching, all Sahyab’s contingent could do was push forward in a desperate attempt to cut off the serpent’s head. Despite their best efforts, their advance was ultimately thwarted by the Blood God’s servants before they could even catch a glimpse of Asqeram. It is said that in his dying moments, the Astartes on the other side of the fire could hear Sahyab forcing his ruined throat to scream into the heavens - cursing all those who have invaded his home with a cruel demise by the hands of the Y’vhtoja they claim to be the masters of.
After hearing the demise of Sahyab, Sipahi Cavus Nurha took command and ordered a retreat with the intent to make another attempt for Asqeram’s head when the Sorceror was unprepared. For the time being, he would wipe the land clean of traitor life. As the ground contingent waged war on the frozen fields of Morozh’nehya, the Crypt would soon be subjected to a siege. Anti-Air weapons isolated from the main Crypt were destroyed from orbit via bombardment that leveled the mountains that enclosed them. Those that were nearby were ultimately saved by the Crypt’s void shields, but that meant that the enemy fleet in orbit was able to triangulate the rough location of the chapter’s Fortress-Monastery. Once word reached the invading Black Legion, the ground forces began to mobilize towards the Jirae Mountains.
The first to arrive at the foot of the Jirae Mountains was a warpsmith named Erasath Vranagius and a contingent of his men. Given that the entrances to the Crypt were hidden and forcing the mountain open with sustained fire would yield mixed results, Vranagius ordered his legion of servitors and slaves to begin establishing a reinforced foothold. This position was immediately assaulted by the Lightning Wraiths’ aerial contingent, but it was repulsed by the combined weight of fire of Vranagius’s men. Soon after more of the Black Legion arrived at the mountains’ base, some of which remained at Vranagius’ position to help reinforce it while the others began to move around the mountains to look for the Crypt’s entrance. Some of these men would mysteriously lose contact with Vranagius and be soon after be found with their bodies bereft of their heads.
Once a sufficient number of men had been gathered, Vranagius requisitioned the drops of daemonic engines to aid in the search of the fortress’ entrances. As soon as the Forgefiends and Maulerfiends emerged from their holding cells, the skies above the Jirae Mountains caught fire once again as Helldrakes took to the skies to hunt down the last of the Lightning Wraiths’ aircraft. Pesahi Asqeram arrived at such a conflagration and congratulated Vranagius for his diligence before using his sorcery to find the entrances to the Crypt. The sorcerer’s efforts were rebuffed by Magister Kilic and Magister Ophis, but despite their efforts he was able to relay the location of one entrance to Vranagius. The entrance was known to the pilgrims and the Chapter as the ‘Path of Fidelity’.
With a target presented before him, Vranagius ordered the daemon engines to spearhead the assault into the Crypt. As these unholy beings of corruption and metal marched towards the entrance with the Black Legion tailing behind, the ghosts that had taken the lives of the first patrols struck from the snowy peaks. Saboteurs armed with sniper rifles took out overconfident Traitor Marines that had strayed far from the protective bulk of the daemon engines. Their well-concealed positions and the wrathful winds of the mountain peaks hid them from even the enhanced vision of Astartes. They reaped a sizable toll before they were soon dispatched by more experienced Black Legion marksmen or Raptors hailing from the Night Lords plucking them from their hiding spots. The time they bought the Lightning Wraiths was enough for Koval Nelhum and his tech-thralls to begin the awakening procedures for the indomitable ancients of the chapter.
The first ancient to awaken was Elias Khatiphor the Kingmaker, the oldest dreadnought of the Chapter. As soon as he was informed of the situation, Elias made haste to the tunnel entrance where the daemonic engines were approaching as Nelhum strove to awaken more of the slumbering Dreadnoughts. By the time he arrived, a Steelmason and two Jirae Squads were attempting to stem the tide of Traitors entering the tunnel alongside a platoon of Morozh’nehyan soldiers. The sheer weight of fire from the Jirae Squads were more than enough to deter a full on assault, but the daemonic engines acting as mobile shield mitigated the amount of deaths that the Black Legion sustained. The Kingmaker announced his arrival with a roar and twin lascannon beams punching through the chest of a Forgefiend. The presence of the Kingmaker inspired the men around him and even prompted the mortals to join him as he charged into the enemy lines.
With litanies of wrath spilling from his vox speakers, Elias cleansed the path before him with copious amounts of promethium-laced flames. His twin-lascannons gouged into the earthwork above areas used as cover to bury his foes in a pile of mountain debris. His powerfist pummeled any Traitor that dared approach him and wrestled daemonic engines into submission if the heavy weaponry of his brothers were not enough to slay it. The mortals, despite their lacking armaments compared to the cultists, made up for their technological disadvantage with fervor in close quarters. Their muskets, while only capable of firing one slug, were lethal spears in the deftly hands of a skilled wielder. There were others that threw away their firearms and fought valiantly against the invaders with the traditional basket-hilted swords of their kingdom.
Despite his impressive kill count and that of his brothers, they were not enough as more daemonic engines poured into the opening. The mortals that had accompanied him during the charge had been almost wiped out to a man, while his brothers were at the limits of their ammunition. Battered and crippled from a lucky hit from Traitor’s las-cannon, he ordered the survivors to fall back to the next layer of defense and vowed to hold off the Traitors as long as he could. As soon as he was certain they were safe, he overloaded his reactor core. By the time a Maulerfiend lifted his non-functioning chassis off the ground as a trophy, his reactor had gone critical. The resulting explosion caused a tunnel cave-in, effectively sealing the only known entrance to the Crypt from the enemy. His sacrifice, and that of the mortal men who aided him, only delayed the inevitable as another gate further up the mountain, the Path of Hospitality, had been discovered soon after and breached by one of Asqueram’s sorcerers.
While the Chapter scrambled to reinforce the newest breach in their defences, they were unaware of a Night Lords contingent that had managed to bypass the vigilant gaze of Elias before his death. They stalked the halls of the Crypt, slaying servitors and Morozh’nehyan refugees, in the search for the other hidden gates. A Wrozhina combat squad had been sent to eliminate the Night Lords when Nelhum had noticed the path of death. They were ambushed by the very warriors they were sent to kill and the locations of the nearest gates were forcefully extricated by the leader of the Raptor pack from the Wrozhina. By the time a Vicar named Itzakh Orix had caught up to them with another Wrozhina combat squad, the Night Lords were able to open the gate leading to the Path of Valiance and destroy the controls to prevent any attempts to reseal it. The Night Lords were defeated as they had no opportunity to strike from the shadows, with Itzakh Orix bludgeoning one of them with his bare fists after being disarmed by a stray bolt. Their victory was short lived as Nelhum warned Orix of a fresh wave of Traitors approaching the newly opened entrance along with the gate leading to the Path of Honour being forcefully torn open by another of Asqeram’s apostles.
Orix and his squad attempted to seal their tunnel with what explosives they had, but the mountain was sturdy and would not give in easily. The same attempts had also been made on the two other entrances, with only forces defending the Path of Hospitality finding a modicum of success as the heavy guns of a dreadnought managed to loosen enough rocks to cause a partial cave-in. As such, the forces sent to reinforce the Paths of Honour and Valiance were tasked to defend the second gate of their respective tunnels and let the automated defenses whittle down the enemy’s ranks. Unfortunately, the automated defenses that were supposed to protect the second gate of the Path of Valiance had been destroyed by the infiltrating Raptor pack, so Itzakh could only rely on the bulk of the second gate to buy time for reinforcements to arrive. They were reinforced by a Jirae Squad that had originally defended the Path of Fidelity by the time one of the daemon engines tore down the second gate.
As the Lightning Wraiths fought tooth and nail to defend their Fortress-Monastery, Pesahi Asqeram conducted a psychic assault upon the location of the Sanctum Astralis. The psychic might of Kilic and Ophis were once again tested against the torrential power that a Lost Son of Prospero possessed. The skies above the Jirae Mountains were affected by this psychic battle, as the clouds began to swirl violently as if the four winds themselves were stating their allegiances. Even the hexagrammic wards engraved upon the perimeter of the Sanctum, designed to contain and mitigate large fluxes of psychic energy, were hard pressed against Asqeram’s powers. So mighty was Asqeram’s power that Kilicz perished due to a lapse in focus that resulted in the Prosperine Sorcerer destroying the Magister’s mind. Sensing the inevitable, Ophis had a surviving serf instigate the sanctum’s self-destruct protocol.
A sizable portion of noctilith, also known as a Pariah Stone, had been embedded at the epicentre of the Sanctum at the completion of the Lightning Wraiths’ construction of the Crypt’s vast network. Throughout the years, it was used as a foci by
As the rest of his brothers made their final stand in the Khaganate Sepulchre, Nelhum went to the deepest depths of the Crypt in order to preserve whatever sanctity and honour his home had left. Within his domain, at the Vroia’Karum, lies the beating heart of the Fortress-Monastery. An entire array of thermic plasma reactors along with a set of experimental geo-thermic systems modeled after the Morozh’nehyan Pillars powered every aspect of the Crypt. His last task as Koval of the Lightning Wraiths was to overload all of the reactors to cause an explosion that would cave in all the Crypt entrances and spread radioactive poison throughout the Order’s old territories. In his final moments, Izh’Falka Nelhum begged for forgiveness - an act that surprised even himself as he never knew this part of his humanity remained - from the planet’s spirit as what he had done would poison the land for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. When the reactors finally exploded, the first to die along with Nelhum were those who had been pulverized by tons of mountain rock as all the tunnels began to cave in.
After the aftershocks of the explosion began to fade, Astartes and mortals from both sides began to experience incredibly severe symptoms of radiation poisoning. The mortals were dead or dying within minutes while the Astartes were beset with sickness that significantly decreased their combat effectiveness. Much like Nelhum, the Lightning Wraiths also begged for forgiveness from the planet’s spirit for what had to be done and for their failure to protect their home. Once they had made their peace on the inevitability of their deaths and defeat, the Lightning Wraiths sequestered within the Khaganate Sepulchre started an inferno. They would rather have such precious knowledge burn down to the ground than be defiled or capitalized by their most hated foe. As their chapter’s greatest treasure burned, they met their foe as true Sons of the Khagan. Laughing in the face of death as they danced bloodily to a brutal rhythm that only they can hear, like ghosts in the wind or wraiths in the midst of a storm.
The ferocity of such a daring and suicidal counter-offensive took their foes off-guard, and many fell at the initial onslaught of their retributive wrath. In their wake, the inferno grew in intensity as the flames seemed to devour anything it could come across.
As the radiation began to spread further and more slaves perished in their attempts to unearth the collapsed tunnel networks, Asqeram flew in a rage and called upon a warp storm to destroy the mountains themselves before ordering a retreat. After the Black Legion left, not one living thing would step on Morozh’nehyan soil until the Lightning Wraiths’ return years after the beginning of the Indomitus Crusade.
Indomitus Rising[]
Meanwhile, on the other side of the galaxy, the Chapter remained true to its oath of tribute and loyalty to its progenitor. As such, the Lightning Wraiths' 1st Pillar of Wisdom made haste to Chogoris even as the Cicatrix Maledictum began it's expansion. Despite the nigh impassable torrents that plagued the Immaterium, the Lightning Wraiths' fleet managed to power through the Warp and returned to realspace at the edge of the Yassan Sector. However, their exit from the warp was not met with the warm welcome that the chapter was usually subjected to by the White Scars. The lack of a welcome was soon revealed when Szulah Nuk'Fallad, Preceptor of the Lightning Wraiths, intercepted distress calls from Chogoris regarding an invasion by a Chaos Warband.
Filled with rage at the audacity of the Chaos Warband, the Lightning Wraiths sped towards the enemy fleet, forcing their engines to perform past acceptable parameters. Szulah's personal ship, which contained the Chapter's tribute, positioned itself at the centre of the formation so that it may be protected despite the Chapter's wrathful advance. Escort ships ensnared frigates with Ursus claws and.
Notable Campaigns []
As scholars and historians, the Lightning Wraiths take great pride in their detailed documentation of events that they have partaken in without bias nor propaganda. Their history logs, despite being quite a young chapter compared to the likes of the vaunted Immortals, are filled with tales of their greatest exploits and most shameful defeats. However, cataloging such a large repository is a difficult endeavour for even an entire Chapter of scholars and as such they have indexed certain time frames under classifications called Kroljati or Chronicles. Through these tomes of the past, the Lightning Wraiths are able to learn things about themselves as well as the cultures that they come across, human and xenos alike, for future encounters. It had been said by Casimir Arslan, one of the Lightning Wraiths' past Preceptors, that each chronicle is a period of growth for the chapter that within each time frame, the discovery of an invaluable lesson would catalyze a change, however slight, within the chapter's ethos.
Odradnya'a Kroljati (Chronicles of Rebirth)[]
During this time period, the chapter was still its infancy and had scoured the stars as a fleet-based chapter in search of threats to exterminate with extreme prejudice. This had also taken place prior to the discovery of their homeworld, Morozh'nehya, and thus their culture and combat doctrine was still predominantly influenced by Chogorian roots.
- Fate of the Penumbran Abyss (932.M37) - The recently christened chapter responded to a Rogue Trader’s call for aid at the edges of the Veiled Region. The Rogue Trader ship Explorator’s Caress had discovered an abandoned Eldar vessel, henceforth known as the Penumbran Abyss, and was poised to capture it for the Imperium when they were attacked by a large fleet of Aeldari origin. The closest Lightning Wraiths fleet arrived in time to save the Explorator’s Caress from total destruction. Although they were severely outnumbered, the Lightning Wraiths fleet latched onto the Eldar vessels with Ursus claws like parasites while having Space Marine kill teams board nearby enemy ships. Some Eldar ships either scraped against their comrade’s ships to peel off the Astartes craft or made gambles to shoot the parasitic vessels off. However, as the two factions fought, a third faction made its presence known. A Grand Battalion of the Brotherhood of the Scorpion Chaos Warband exited the warp near the conflict and bombarded both Eldar and Imperial ships. A truce was made between Viceroy Fahir Arkadi and Arbiter Regulate of the Shadow of the Phoenix in order to confront the Chaos Astartes. Unbeknownst to the Lightning Wraiths, a contingent of Bonesingers boarded the abandoned Eldar vessel and repaired it as the fighting increased in intensity. As soon as it was operable, the Eldar entered the Webway and left the Lightning Wraiths to fend for themselves. For the following days, the Lightning Wraiths had to conduct a fighting retreat and were relieved by the timely rescue of the Astral Knights. Only the Strike Cruiser Steps of Enlightenment was able to barely survive the battle with most of its Astartes and mortal contingent killed.
- The Dal'Amroth Campaign (972-983.M37) - Near the end of the 37th Millennium, the Dal'Amroth System - a collection of planets in Segmentum Pacificus whose entire purpose is to aid in the defense of the Cadian Gate through the production and export of food and raw material - declared independence from the Imperium of Man and marked their secession through violent revolts that concluded with the public execution of the Planetary Governors as well as all Imperial subjects. The first Imperial force to respond to the High Lord's call of reclamation was a strike force hailing from the Black Templars. The crusaders of Sigismund believed that a system consisted of mainly labourers and farmers were going to be easy prey, and paid dearly for their hubris. The secession had been a project that spanned multiple generations, where the native populations have longed to break free from Imperial chains ever since their conquest during the 36th Millennium. Weapons and Armour were smuggled into key worlds while merchants and dregs in the Imperial Navy whispered promises of freedom and prosperity into the ears of any that would listen. When the Dal'Amroth System seceded and renamed itself as the Dal'Amrothian Conglomerate, multiple planets had enough armed men and women to field eight Imperial Guard regiments per planet. Furthermore, mutinies would break out in nearby Imperial Navy fleets and those that were successful would form the Dal'Amrothian Navy. The arrival of the small Black Templars fleet was met with a blistering barrage of fire from the Dal'Amrothian Navy, and the mighty Space Marine vessels were destroyed before they were able to launch Thunderhawks to board their enemy. News of the surprising might of Dal'Amroth spread, and more ships would flock to the system in solidarity with the secessionists. Realizing the severity of the secession, the High Lords requested a larger Imperial strike force to be made in order to destroy the fledgling Conglomerate. The Imperial force would include multiple regiments of Imperial Guard, an Imperial Navy Battlefleet, and elements of multiple Adeptus Astartes Chapters - which included the Lightning Wraiths. The Lightning Wraiths would distinguish themselves as the speartip of many naval engagements, blazing forth amidst a hail of fire to drive a wedge into an enemy formation while its allies followed closely behind to capitalize on their opponent's distraction. Once the Dal'Amrothian Navy was largely destroyed, the Imperial began to make landfall on the planets of Dal'Amroth. The pale Sons of Jaghatai found themselves assaulting the Industrial World of Pressieux IV along with regiments of the Corsaegan Cuirassiers. Intelligence reports had found that many of the cities of Pressieux IV were natural fortresses, protected by steep mountains with only one way in. As such, the Lightning Wraiths and the Corsaegans were the ones sent to the planet due to their combat doctrines heavily relying on the speed of an assault. Knowing that sieges of attrition would not bode well, Viceroy Kai Trazhari devised plans with the Corsaegan Seneschals on how to lure out their opponents.
Atryczefa Kroljati (Chronicles of Discovery)[]
After the Chapter claimed Morozh'nehya as their homeworld, this time period was a time of great change as the Lightning Wraiths would begin to acculturate the many beliefs and practices of the Order of Brehus into their own as well as construct their Fortress-Monastery, the Crypt of Brehus. Furthermore, Khugol Khan and his confidant Tarac Re'Nali had begun to experiment ways on how to expand upon the White Scars' hit and run tactics with Morozh'nehyan doctrines. By the time he was killed, Khugol Khan was able to establish a new combat doctrine and had reconfigured the chapter's organization to maximize its effectiveness with the new system and to honour the Morozh'nehyan cultures that they had adopted.
- Irquos Uprising (211.M38) - A planetary governor refused to pay his Imperial Tithes and had gained the support of many generals. Imperial delegation parties were shot upon when their landing craft breached the atmosphere and any survivors were executed. A strike force of Lightning Wraiths Sov'yadtsai accompanied by Magister Aleksei Nikorov were sent to quell the rebellion before it escalated even further. Any attempts of communication and negotiations were denied by the power-hungry planetary governor. A week after their arrival to the sector, the planetary governor was found bound and gagged in front of his home with the renegade generals' dead bodies accompanying him. He was last seen on his way to a meeting with his generals on the previous night. The man was considered mad as all he spoke of were about the undead coming to rip out everyone's soul from their bodies. However, news of his madness and the dead generals convinced any further usurpers to consider rebelling against the Imperium. The new planetary governor, the exiled son of the previous and an Imperial loyalist, denied any accusations that the Imperium had any hand in the event.
- Pursuit of Izrahmar (213.M38) - A Dark Eldar fleet led by an infamous Archon named Izrahmar was intercepted by the Lightning Wraiths as a vision by Magister Kaytaan Haug had foreseen the fleet's destination. A void battle ensued, and during the chaos that enfolded, Izrahmar slipped passed the Lightning Wraiths blockade. The Lightning Wraiths chased the Archon across an entire sector and before Izrahmar could escape indefinitely, a White Scars fleet led by the Saiko Khan, the Master of the Hunt, crippled Izrahmar's vessel and personally slew the Archon. As thanks for their assistance, Saiko invited the warriors of the fleet to take part in the ceremony of a successful hunt.
- Kyrthoni Sector Incident (277.M38) - The Lightning Wraiths were falsely declared as heretics following an incident regarding Inquisitor Commodus of the Ordo Hereticus violating the psychic ‘sub clause’ of the Law of Hospitality. After the Inquisitor and their retinue were escorted back to their ship, they made many demands to be given access again to their ship and were subsequently requested to leave every time. Convinced that they were hiding something that threatened the safety of the Imperium, the Inquisitor declared the chapter as heretics and requisitioned the support of many nearby Imperial Forces, including a demi-company of Crimson Fists. At first, the chapter was attacked on sight by various forces hailing from the Kyrthoni Sector and as news of the Lightning Wraiths’ supposed fall to disloyalty had spread throughout the Segmentum, other forces joined in carrying out Imperial justice upon the chapter. The Chapter retaliating in self-defense only worsened matters and before long, they were forced to return to Morozh’nehya and attempt to weather the storm from within the Crypt of Brehus. By the time an invasion force had been stationed over the Chapter’s homeworld, another Inquisitor confronted Commodus. Lord Inquisitor Valeria of Ordo Xenos, a veteran of the Holy Ordos and an occasional guest of the Lightning Wraiths, had explained why Commodus had slighted the chapter and ordered him to call off the invasion as well as rescind his claims of the chapter’s supposed heresies. For the losses they sustained, Commodus was ordered by Valeria as well as another Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus to compensate the Lightning Wraiths for his mistake under the threat of death or worse. Little is known about what Commodus had done to appease the Chapter’s rancor towards him and those who had bloodied the chapter, but Morozh’nehyan pragmatism and nihilism have been attributed in the assistance of the mending of bridges.
- The Rakannian Retreat (328.M38) - A failed campaign against the Orks on the Feudal World Rakann forced elements of the 3rd Pillar of Wisdom to withdraw from the planet with their hangar bays filled with as much data regarding the planet's culture as well as the young and the women. The men of the planet refused to let their home world die without a fight, and rallied under one banner to fight off the Ork menace. Vicar Yasan Aziz stayed behind to inspire the doomed men in their final stand. The journey to the nearest Imperial world to drop off the mortals and the subsequent return to Morozh'nehya was done in complete silence to mourn for the loss of the planet and their valiant brother. In remembrance of the planet's defiance, the sigil of Rakann's unified banner - a boar's head impaled by three spears - has been added onto the 3rd Pillar of Wisdom's banner.
- The Carmine Hunt (364.M38) - In the midst of a joint campaign between the Lightning Wraiths, Flesh Tearers and Ultramarines against a nascent Xenos Empire known as the Rai'Shakra, a portion of the Lightning Wraiths' 5th Pillar of Wisdom found itself stranded on the Jungle World Faibasa along with a Flesh Tearers Strike Force when their ships were attacked by a larger Rai'Shakran fleet. As the two chapters navigated the dense vegetation, with the Flesh Tearers taking the lead due to their familiarity to such environments, they would soon find themselves hunted by colossal arachnids that inhabit the planet. These creatures had fangs that were sharp enough to puncture the soft parts of Astartes Power Armour as well as an abdominal stinger that injects a powerful neurotoxin able to overwhelm a Space Marine's transhuman biology and stop both of his hearts within seconds. Their greatest weapon, however, was their skin that is able to change its hue and saturation with respect to its surroundings, allowing the xenos species to seamlessly blending in with the trees of the forest. For weeks, the Astartes would be slowly whittled down by stealthy strikes and well executed ambushes by these highly intelligent predators. Although the Astartes were initially able to repulse multiple attacks with great efficiency, the frequency of successful defenses began to dwindle as the days went by. On the 4th week, with about a third of the original strike force remaining, the Imperials discovered an underground facility deep within the jungle. Although it was shelter that they had desperately sought for, the Lightning Wraiths advised caution and took the lead as they descended into the facility. After spending some time exploring their new base, they would soon discover that the facility was a research centre for extensive genetic modification and cloning. Further investigation would inform the Imperials that Faibasa was intended to be a breeding ground for a new strain of Megarachnids xenos species, once thought to be extinct following the Great Crusade's campaign on the planet Murder. As both chapters have an understanding of how lethal the Megarachnids were, they made attempts to re-establish contact with any nearby Astartes fleets. They waited for another 3 weeks within the underground facility, occasionally leaving to hunt or scout out the surrounding area for any other traces of human life, before an Ultramarines fleet was able to wrestle back control of the void above Faibasa. Before the Ultramarines could send a Thunderhawk down to collect the survivors, they were immediately informed of what manner of creature stalks the dense jungles of the planet and were urged to conduct an Exterminatus as soon as possible. Understanding the severity of the request, the Ultramarines relayed the information to nearby Flesh Tearers and Lightning Wraiths ships as they rescued the survivors. Before long, ships of the other two chapters arrived to the planet and once the verdict was passed on the necessity of the action, Faibasa was subjected to an Exterminatus via Cyclonic Torpedo to immolate all life that dwelled upon its surface.
Triamfara Kroljati (Chronicles of Triumph)[]
What many view as the Chapter's Golden Age, this was a period of time when the Lightning Wraiths perfected Khugol Khan's art of war. Not only had they begun to masterfully conduct modified versions of their forefathers' hit-and-run tactics, but had also seamlessly applied many tactics derived from stealth-oriented chapters like the Raptors into battles that would normally require brutal applications of force. This era was also the beginning of a long and prosperous alliance between the Lightning Wraiths and Forgeworld Nivera after the Sons of Morozh'nehya rescued the beleaguered planet from the predations of the World Eaters.
- Purge of the Zhau Sector (427.M38) - A Lightning Wraiths arrived at the Zhau Sector, which was located at the edge of Segmentum Obscurus, after receiving news of Drukhari presence. Upon arrival to the sector, they immediately detected the xenos' ships near a feral world. Without any delay, the Astartes fleet barrelled towards the xenos at full-speed and when they were finally noticed by their prey, the closest Drukhari vessels were harpooned to Astartes frigates so that they may not escape. Thanks to the harpooning, the Astartes of the Lightning Wraiths were able to board the xenos ships and wreak havoc from within. Some of the ships managed to cut off the harpoons before Lightning Wraiths boarding parties could land and made their escape. Those were not fortunate enough were either slaughtered to the last living being or bombarded until their ships were naught but ash.
- The 9th Black Crusade - When Abaddon the Despoiler sallied forth from the Eye of Terror to begin the 9th Black Crusade, the Lightning Wraiths sent strike forces throughout Segmentum Pacificus to protect key worlds from the Forces of Chaos. During this period, a Forgeworld called Nivera would find itself under siege from a Khornate Warband and would have its calls for aid be answered by the Lightning Wraiths.
- Ayur Incident (Unknown.M38) - The Lightning Wraiths Gladius-class Frigate Ayur was beset with an odd phenomenon following a successful operation in the edges of the Gothic Sector. During a routine inspection by the ship's crew, a notable gap in the ship's logs was discovered. The gap spanned two months long, and souls on board the vessel had no recollection on what occurred during this time. Even a deep scan upon the ship by the Koval and a mind-scry by the Vizier was not able to ascertain the cause of the incident and the possible nature of events that took place during the two month period. Any suspicion of Chaos corruption or malignant warp influence was squashed when the Astartes stationed in the ship were found to be pure by the Oathtaker after a long session of meditation and prayer in the Fyarat'Karum.
- Seryaj Campaign (830.M38) - [RECORDS EXPUNGED BY ORDERS OF THE EMPEROR'S MOST HOLY INQUISITION]
- Bayhan Rebellions (153.M39) - A violent rebellion on the Agri-World Bayhan was quelled by the Lightning Wraiths exploiting the populace's deeply rooted pagan superstitions. One such superstition was a local myth of an ethereal bird that collects the souls of those who are cursed to be afflicted with madness. Magister Kai'Shan used his gifts to create a phantom of the twin-headed Imperial Aquila and used it to 'mark' those who started the rebellion. The sight of Kai'Shan's creation marking the rebellion leaders caused many of the rebellion's supporters to abandon the cause and flee to their homes. The rebel leaders themselves committed suicide as they feared the madness that would befall upon them.
- Glory of Degyaratev (183.M39) - The world of Degyaratev was beset by a Chaos invasion and the planet’s own PDF were able to stave off the Archenemy long enough for the Lightning Wraiths to respond to their calls for aid. In particular, the Degyarsi Sky Spears, the planet’s very own Air Force, had maintained total aerial superiority throughout the invasion despite difficult odds. By the end of the conflict, a total of 63 Pilots from 16 Squadrons had gained enough kills against enemy fighters to be recognized as Aces by the Imperial Navy, 37 of which survived at the end of the war. A testament of their skill against a numerically superior foe. As a sign of respect for their ferocity and indomitable defiance in the skies, all of the surviving 37 aces had the sigil of the Lightning Wraiths’ revered crown emblazoned on their aircraft. The aces that had not seen the end of the war had the Lightning Wraiths’ sigil emblazoned on their tombstones. Their names would be immortalized in both their world’s history as well as the Lightning Wraiths’ Hall of Heroes as the Crowned 63.
- The Shadow Cull (277.M39) - Two Squads of Lightning Wraith Astartes assigned to the protection of the Shrine World Haetalum's holy tomb were killed to a man when a mixed warband of Night Lords and Word Bearers laid siege on the world to defile the remains of Saint Agatha of the Ebon Chalice. The chapter's retaliation force was not able to intercept the warbands from their flight and the year-long pursuit that followed after was not able to deliver that chapter's vengeance for the desecration of both the saint's remains and the bodies of the fallen Lightning Wraiths.
- Battle of Szetarji (116.M40) - During a joint campaign with the Imperial Guard, Lord General Oleg Cartolian’s all-out offensive against the traitor-held hive city of Szertaji ended in disaster when almost all the tanks under his command were destroyed by a flanking maneuver upon his undefended left-flank. This disaster stemmed from the Lord General’s belief that the Lightning Wraiths would protect his flank as forces of the vaunted Sipahi arrived two days prior without warning to help his forces repel an attack against the enemy, who had outnumbered them at the time. What he did not take into consideration was that the Sipahi had left in the middle of the night to respond to another call for aid when word of reinforcements en route reached their defensive position. When he confronted the Sipahi about their lack of presence during the offensive, Sipahi Cavus Rasheed stated that the offensive would not have failed if the General was pragmatic and patient enough to wait an extra day for reinforcements to arrive.
Tamgesia'a Kroljati (Chronicles of Tragedy)[]
The 41st Millennium was a time of great tragedies and conflict, and the Lightning Wraiths were not exempt from the crushing weight of multiple large scale xenos invasions and Chaos uprisings that would plague the galaxy. Each victory was met with larger and larger margins of loss and each defeat became a tragedy of unholy spectacles. Casualty rates overshadowed replenishment rates in much higher frequency compared to previous millennia, and desperation would wrack the chapter over the prospect of annihilation. The grinding attrition that marked the 41st Millennium came to an end with a catastrophic encounter with a Tyranid Splinter Fleet as well as the cataclysmic 13th Black Crusade.
- Grace of Lysanda (143.M41) - At the dawn of the 12th Black Crusade, the Lightning Wraiths sent a fleet to combat the Chaos forces within the Gothic Sector. Magister Elias Dantarum, who was attached to the 7th Pillar of Wisdom was given command of a small portion of the fleet in order to respond to a distress call originating at the very edge of the Gothic Sector. The astropathic message they received had the psychic signature of astropaths belonging to Legio Lysanda. The Warlord Titan Stoic Defiance and a hunting party of three Warhound Titans - the Ignus Absentia, Silentium, and Void Druid - were stationed on the newly conquered world of Wralkas prior to the sudden emergence of Chaos forces to defend it from raiding parties. Stoic Defiance had been wounded due to orbital bombardment overloading its void shields which left it vulnerable against sustained ground attacks. Ignus Absentia and Void Druid were hard-pressed with protecting the Warlord while Silentium had met its end when Chaos Raptors had boarded the Titan when its void shields dropped. An Adeptus Mechanicus fleet hailing from Legio Lysanda, led by a ship designated Grace of Lysanda, had also been attached to the Lightning Wraiths to rescue the titans. As soon as the Lightning Wraiths exited near Wralkas, they immediately deployed troops and aircraft planetside in a very uncharacteristic act of brashness as they could not waste time preparing when a God-Machine was in jeapordy. Lightning Wraiths Astartes aided in the escorting of Stoic Defiance and held off any Chaos vehicles or aircraft that attempted to disrupt the extraction of Legio Lysanda's three Titans despite heavy losses. Once the extraction was complete, the Lightning Wraiths withdrew and acted as the rearguard so that Legio Lysanda's ships could leave the battlefields safely. As a parting sign of gratitude, Princeps Amadeus Kant of Stoic Defiance vowed his God-Machine's service to the Lightning Wraiths for the entire duration of the 12th Black Crusade.
- Desecration of Lazarin (Unknown Date, M41) -
- Invasion of Elas (839.M41) -
- Battle of Carrhae (840.M41) -
- Damnation of Eulta (994.M41) - The planet of Eulta, a Lightning Wraiths recruitment world, was subjected to an Ork invasion by the Blood Axes Ork clan. Vicar Atlan Khassim was on the planet as he was tasked to scout for any potential recruits. When the Orks made planetside, he saw this as an opportunity to test a serum that he was developing. The serum was designed to draw Orks to a location through a chemical reaction that the Orks are attracted to. He intended for the feral Orks on the planet, which were hunted by children of the planet as a rite of passage to adulthood, to encounter and fight the invaders. His concoction proved to be a little too effective as the feral orks on the planet pledged themselves to become a part of the HackDagga WAAAGH! with the promise of a worthy fight. This resulted in a full-scale WAAAGH! breaking out on the planet's surface and required the intervention of the Angels of Absolution along with the White Scars to completely quell. Atlan Khassim was shamed and would have been interred to the Dark Prophets when a Lord Inquisitor took interest in his work and requested that he is interred into Deathwatch in order for his research to thrive.
- Battle for New Shilla (997.M41) - The Lightning Wraiths and the Storm Zealots joined forces to defend the mining world of New Shilla from a Drukhari invasion force. The two chapters fought valiantly side by side until victory was achieved when Archon Andolemar the Slaver was slain by Viceroy Ilius Engelraz of the 2nd Pillar of Wisdom.
A Lightning Wraiths Hussar Squad engages abominable pure strain Genestealers of Hive Fleet Kraken upon the Agri-World Laiko.
- 13th Black Crusade (999.M41) - The entirety of the 4th and elements of the 7th Pillar of Wisdom took part in the orbital defense of Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade. The fleet bore witness to the destruction of the planet and was among the few ships that rescued the refugees that escaped Cadia's surface before the Blackstone Fortress crashed into it. Following the expansion of the Maledictum, the remnants of the fleet stayed close to the vaunted star fortress Phalanx as it made its way to Terra to recuperate. Once they were in the section of the galaxy now known as Imperium Sanctus, the Lightning Wraiths immediately made their way to their home world. During their transit towards Morozh’nehya, they intercepted what remained of their home’s Astartes garrison as it made haste to Terra. It was at that point when news of Morozh’nehya’s fall became known to the campaigning Lightning Wraiths. Rather than make an immediate attempt to reclaim it, Viceroy Zebediah Ahab of the 4th Pillar of Wisdom and Oathtaker __ found it more prudent for the rest of the chapter to make their way to Chogoris to regroup with the Preceptor. As they made their way to Chogoris, they came across more Lightning Wraiths that had suffered great losses. It was upon Chogoris where the chapter was reinforced with Primaris Space Marines and the plans to retake Morozh’nehya are made.
- Death of Laiko (999.M41) - Elements of the 5th and 9th Pillar of Wisdom arrived to the Agri-World of Laiko to purge a Genestealer Uprising, only for them to be forced in a defensive campaign against a splinter fleet of Hive Fleet Kraken. The Lightning Wraiths suffered heavy losses despite their valiant defence and were forced to condemn the world to Exterminatus after saving as much children and data from the planet. In their attempt to escape from the Great Devourer, a Warp Storm coalesced in the fleet's flight vector and swallowed it whole. They were declared lost until they reappeared at the edge of Imperium Sanctus a few years later and were rescued by the 2nd Pillar of Wisdom only to be forced in a confrontation against a Night Lords fleet.
Krovdryzhna'a Kroljati (Chronicles of the Blood-tithe)[]
After what the Firstborn consider to be the darkest era of the Lightning Wraiths' history, the remnants of the chapter recongregated on Chogoris to resupply and take stock of their losses. During this period of recuperation, the Avenging Son's Primaris Space Marines arrived in a Torchbearer fleet to the system to reinforce the legendary Vth Legion. When this fleet noticed that another chapter had stationed near the White Scars' homeworld, a portion of the Primaris reinforcements intended for the Chogorians were given to the Lightning Wraiths to initiate contact between the reclusive sons of Morozh'nehya and Guilliman's miracle warriors. While initially wary of outsiders becoming a part of the Chapter, the assurances of an Allarus Custodian of the Emissaries Imperatus known as Darius Nebuchadnazer as well as their own pragmatic desire to regain strength for their revenge against Pesahi Asqeram. However, before they would set out to wage war once again with the Primaris as part of their ranks, the Lightning Wraiths demanded that they would return to their homeworld to hold a vigil so that they could mourn its loss and their failure to protect it. Nebuchadnazer and the Greyshields agreed in hopes of improving ties between the Firstborn and the Primaris. As promised, as soon as they finished their vigil, the Lightning Wraiths accepted the Primaris as one of their own and set out to hunt and exterminate those who had desecrated their home.
- Indomitus Krovdryzna (Unknown Date.M42) - Once the Chapter was sufficiently supplied and brought back to fighting capacity, the entire chapter took part in the Indomitus Crusade to cleanse Segmentum Pacificus of Chaos. In particular, the chapter sought to restore order in the Kjolmaras sector and let loose their vengeance upon those who destroyed their cherished planet and decimated its populace. The fleet-based chapter blaze across Segmentum Pacificus, and conduct extermination campaigns with extreme prejudice. During their single-minded mission to collect a bloodtithe from the enemy, the chapter only deployed at company-strength or greater in order to win overwhelming victories and cow any further usurpers into submission at their militant might. They only remain on a planet long enough to stay true to their ancient traditions before moving on to the next planet.
- Battle of Vectrus (120.M42) - Elements of the 4th Pillar of Wisdom follow a distress call to the planet of Vectrus, which is under attack from the mutated swarms of Hive Fleet Nidhogg. The Astartes made landfall around the planet's central bastion - its capital city Korhelvius - and quickly made use of the lack of airborne bio-forms employed by Nidhogg to gain aerial superiority. They were able to quickly repel the wave of subterranean bio-forms that assualted them as soon as they landed. However, simply having aerial superiority would prove not to be enough, as in the following weeks more and more toxic spores would be released into the atmosphere, blocking the engines of the Chapter's Storm Talons and preventing them flying. Those that were fell prey to the psychic barrage of unstable Zoanthropes and mutated Tyranid Primes. Eventually the Lightning Wraiths would be pushed back to the final temple of Korhelvius, where they made a glorious last stand. Just as they thought they would all die, the Tyranids were pushed back by a sudden barrage of bolters and melta weapons; the Molten Fists 3rd Company, having sworn a crusade of purification against Hive Fleet Nidhogg, had arrived. Together with the new Astartes, the Lightning Wraiths purged the planet of Tyranids, forging a close bond with the warriors of the Molten Fists.
- Reclamation of Coele-Myr (003.M42-112.M42) - A long campaign spanning across the Coele-Myr Sector within the Ultima Segmentum, a detachment of the Lightning Wraiths arrived to the sector while hunting for the enigmatic leader of the Brotherhood of the Scorpion. When news of Pesahi Asqeram reached Itzakh Orix, the chapter's Oathtaker and ranking officer, they sent out a call for reinforcements in order to aid them in the extermination of their most hated foe. By the end of the campaign, the Lightning Wraiths would help found the Myrian Septumvirate - an unofficial alliance of Astartes chapters consisting of seven chapters that had taken part in the campaign.
- Battle of Sevlhain Pass (Unknown Date.M42) - Following the Chapter’s collection of a bloodtithe from the enemies of man, Preceptor Szulah Nuk’Fallad and the 6th Pillar of Wisdom investigated the planet of Qarim Primus as a potential staging ground for excursions into Imperium Nihlus. When Szulah’s forces made landfall, the 6th Alkhuwroen was attacked by another fleet donning the insignia of the Emperor’s Children. The Alkhuwroen was forced to retreat and Szulah’s men had to fight a series of withdrawals as the numerically superior Emperor’s Children warband harried them continuously. At Sevlhain Pass, a deep canyon complex wide enough for a Warlord Titan to trek through, the remaining Lightning Wraiths surprised the Emperor’s Children by suddenly going on the offensive once they broke through the canyon’s exit. This sudden burst of defiance coincided with vox reports that the 6th Alkhuwroen had returned with the might of the 1st Alkhuwroen. The Emperor’s Children fleet was destroyed from orbit and drop pods rained to support their surviving brothers. Two Predator Tanks and the Venerable Land Raider ‘The Laughing Lich’ appeared from behind the Emperor’s Children and blocked their escape path. These vehicles remained hidden by the order of Szulah and had only emerged once the last of the Emperor’s Children was deep within the Sevlhain Pass. The pincer maneuver coupled with strafing runs by the chapter’s aircraft decimated the Emperor’s Children.
Chapter Homeworld []
A Departmento-Cartographicae pict-file of the planet Morozh'nehya.
Morozh'nehya is a hostile feudal world, cast in an almost permanent winter due to its distance to its star. Furthermore, a volcanic catastrophe in the early years of the planet's formation led to thick layers of volcanic ash and smoke to be trapped in its atmosphere, rendering the planet bereft of much-needed sunlight for the majority of the year. On the surface, the planet consists of either vast and empty plains or enormous mountain ranges that are nigh hospitable and traversable. It is a wonder that life somehow survived in this brutal landscape. Any flora that exists is typically fungal in nature, as they are not dependant on sunlight. However, many forests consisting of dead trees litter the bases of the many mountain ranges of the world. Their sheer size is indicative that these had existed prior to the volcanic catastrophe that rendered the planet into a frozen wasteland. These forests are treated with respect by the human populace and are the abodes of various fauna. In fact, he fauna on the planet is surprisingly diverse. From the grox-like quadrupeds that feed primarily on plain mushrooms to the enormous Ayur hawks that are used as both a means of swift transportation or hunting during times of peace.
Living in Morozh'nehya is to subject one's self to a lifetime of struggle against the unforgiving planet. The average temperatures throughout a Morozh'nehyan year, which is roughly 2 Terran Standard years and 7 months, would yield third-degree frostbite within minutes of skin exposure to the elements. Furthermore, the nigh constant overcast of the world has made its inhabitants significantly more sensitive to light and the higher average elevation of the planet's land masses forced the human body to adapt to low-oxygen levels. The comparatively sparse human populace that calls this planet home are distrustful of each other, each one clinging onto a lot of land and would not part with it until death. In Morozh'nehya, wealth is determined primarily by the size of the land that one owns, as very little of the planet can be deemed inhabitable. Even then, most of the inhabitable areas of the planet could barely provide enough resources to form and sustain a small community.
However, despite the inhospitable circumstances of the planet, human life has thrived and civilizations have formed from its years in solitude from the Imperium. This was due to the legacy of the first human colony that discovered this world long before the Imperium was founded. Massive pillars of steel extruding from the ground release heat in a wide radius around it via geothermal energy from the planet's mantle. From these 'hot zones', the first communities were founded and soon evolved to kingdoms with populations in the thousands. Agriculture, despite being underdeveloped due to the lack of sunlight, boomed in these 'hot zones' and the increasing populace need not fear starvation.
Artist's rendition of a pre-Imperial human colony struggling to survive the Morozh'nehyan frost under the warmth of a Morozh'nehyan Pillar.
These generators do not require maintenance or external fuel, and have risen as religious symbols of the Emperor's benevolence when Imperial missionaries arrived to the planet during the early stages of the Age of Apostasy. Ambassadors from Nivera and Mars have claimed that these generators are pinnacles of human ingenuity and skill during times of crises and have been granted permission to study them, but have been warned to never reveal themselves to the feudal populace else their privileges would be revoked by the Chapter. Due to the religious reverence that surrounds these pillars as well as their invaluability to the natives of the planet, to voluntarily damage or destroy one of these pillars would result in the perpetrator(s) and their entire family line to be subjected to death by exile onto the barren plains of Morozh'nehya. As such, the technological advancements of the Morozh'nehyans revolving around war is relatively stunted as there exists the constant fear of creating something that would destroy the very pillars that sustain human life.
Fortress-Monastery[]
The Crypt of Brehus is a massive tunnel network hidden within the heart of the Jirae Mountains. It is both the Lightning Wraiths' Fortress-Monastery and an honoured shrine dedicated to the Morozh'nehyan hero and Imperial Saint Hassan Brehus as well as the Lords and Ladies who led the Kingdoms that made up the Order of Brehus against the rest of Morozh'nehya when a daemon threatened to plunge the entire planet into chaos. The entrance to the Crypt - known as the Niakha'Ratum or Indomitable Gate - is located deep within a gorge and is consisted of reinforced adamantium doors built into the mountain face and is set between walls where gigantic reliefs of Morozh'nehyan warriors are carved in such a way that they are looking down upon any who approach the gates. To approach the entrance is a treacherous task, as the gate is constructed halfway up the mountain and the steep incline of the gorge can only be traversed safely by a winding path designed to slow invaders. Furthermore, the gate itself is protected by three concentric walls with interspersed ravelins known as the Three Brothers - with the tallest and closest wall to the gate known as the Eldest Brother - outfitted with batteries of Tarantula Sentry Turrets to rain fire upon any who would attempt breach the gate. Lightning Wraiths are could also join in the torrent of fire as the walls' wide battlements allow even the lumbering Dreadnoughts maneuver into position with enough space to spare for other Astartes passing through. Each wall has its own reinforced gate that is situated between the densest concentration of turret batteries and breaching them is a task unto itself.
One of the many peaks of the Jirae Mountains during a rare occurrence of the Morozh'nehyan overcast lifting to reveal the nearby moon
However, one of the greatest and yet most detrimental defensive designs of the Crypt are the multitude of tunnel networks that lead to hidden entrances which would allow Astartes to maneuver to a more advantageous position that can catch the enemy off guard. The tunnels themselves are quite small, such that an Astartes needs to crouch down in order to navigate them. These hidden entrances can only be opened from within and are nigh invisible to all spectra of vision, only truly visible through warpsight or the trained eyes of a Lightning Wraith. As previously stated, these tunnel networks can be detrimental to a siege as the garrison commander would need to take into consideration the possibility of infiltration through said tunnel networks and given the large amount of these, it can be quite difficult to defend once multiple breaches occur as the sentry turrets that guard the entrances can only do so much before they are destroyed by a clever foe. Certain measures are taken to mitigate the effects of a catastrophic breach, which included the creation of false tunnels that would lead an intruder to a trapped chamber or the inclusion of tripmines built within the walls that would cause a cave in should they be detonated.
Despite their aloof nature towards the Morozh'nehyan populace, the Lightning Wraiths are not blind to the cultural significance of the contents of their fortress monastery. In particular, the nine sarcophagi that act as the centrepiece of their Hall of Heroes. These are known as the Tomb of the Guardians and they are a symbol of the Pillars of Wisdom that the Lightning Wraiths uphold. The sarcophagi themselves are empty, as the Morozh'nehyans that are meant to be placed within were put to rest in accordance to their kingdom's traditions at the aftermath of the First War of Morozh'nehya. To the general populace, many of whom are practitioners of Mallakah, a variant of the Imperial Cult revolving around lunar worship as Morozh'nehya's moon is held with great reverence due to its gentle light during rare occasions of the Morohkan overcast lifting when compared to the baleful glare of the planet's sun, these Tombs are the holiest landmarks on the planet. Many brave the treacherous Morozh'nehyan mountains in order to pay their respects to the heroes of the First War, which is only possible with the Lightning Wraiths' annual opening of the Niakha'Ratum to allow the Morozh'nehyans to conduct their pilgrimmage. Due to the Astartes' transhuman and otherworldly presence, many pilgrims perceive the Lightning Wraiths to be the "Mal'Akim", the earth-bound servants of Sicora. Any Morozh'nehyan that has been given the rare opportunity to lay their eyes upon the Lightning Wraiths clad during the pilgrimage tend to throw themselves at the feet of any Astartes they come across to request for blessings.
At the epicentre of the Crypt, located a kilometer under the base of the tallest peak of the Jirae Mountains, lies the Crypt of Hassan Brehus. Its location represents that his tenets are the foundation of the Chapter's soul and each Tomb of the Guardian represents a virtue that the associated kingdom upheld until their last dying breath - an act that each Lightning Wraith will also commit as many mortals have done so before them. The Fyarat'Karum, the Chapter's equivalent to both a Reclusiam and an Apothecarium, is positioned adjacent to the final resting place of Hassan Brehus. The purpose of this is to encourage genuflection on what Hassan Brehus stood for when an Astartes is having a crisis in faith or on a path of spiritual healing. It is also a representation of how reverently the Lightning Wraiths view death as not an end of life, but a celebration of a legacy and the cultures that surrounded a soul who lived in service to the Emperor. The Crypt's location would also result in the Vicars, the most fervent believers of the Chapter ethos, to act as the bodyguards of the Chapter's soul.
Beneath the Crypt of Brehus, near where the planet's crust would meet the mantle, lies the Vroia'Karum or Sanctum of Steel.
Within the highest peak of the Jirae Mountains lies the Sanctum Astralis, an observatory that is psychically attuned to the Immaterium's everchanging paths. The Magister and his Viziers reside within the Sanctum and use it to scry into the everlasting void to search for any calls for aid or drifting Space Hulks ripe for an expedition into its bowels. Wards are engraved into the walls of the Sanctum in order to prevent any potential exploitation of the psychic attunement by the daemons of the Immaterium. Sometimes, they abduct and train Blanks to guard its sole entrance so that neither the daemon within nor daemons without may exit or enter the Sanctum.
The Khaganate Sepulchre[]
The Khaganate Sepulchre is a massive underground library filled with ancient tomes and books containing knowledge regarding the galaxy's inhabitants. This was constructed after the expansion of the Crypt of Brehus under the orders of Khugol Khan in honor of Preceptor Izmael's desire to gain and share knowledge. Many works of literature that are too precious to be given away are kept within the Sepulchre's shelves, preserved carefully and studied dutifully by those who respect the words that lined their pages. The Sepulchre is also where many of the Chapter's gifts are stored, given by honoured allies and grateful Imperial officials for the Chapter's service in preserving the safety of humanity. Some of these 'gifts' are relics that were traded by Lightning Wraith Stalkers with other acquired relics during expeditions through drifting Space Hulks.
Drazha Tal'Khruta, entombed within a Niveran-Pattern Ironclad Dreadnought, which combines the heavy armor of an Ironclad's chassis with the deceptive agility of a Contemptor.
The Sepulchre is protected by the Kharash, an honour guard consisting of the greatest Morozh'nehyan warriors, and a contingent of Lightning Wraiths Astartes and serfs. This contingent is typically overseen by either a Magister of the Zhalat'Karum or one of the Ancient Dreadnoughts. Members of the Kharash are chosen through gladiatorial trials amongst warriors from all the remaining Morozh'nehyan Kingdoms and are held once every decade. These men and women protect the ancient texts of the Sepulchre from the shadows, ready to swiftly strike down anyone or anything that would dare desecrate the written wisdom of man. Those who are part of the Kharash are bound by blood-oaths to never abandon their posts and when their time comes to be replaced, the Lightning Wraiths hold a ceremony along with the rest of the Kharash to bid the aged soul a final warrior's farewell before they are ritualistically beheaded by the Oathtaker.
The only way to access the Sepulchre is through the behest of the Preceptor or the Oathtaker, as they are the only ones who know its location and the access codes required to open the massive doors that protect its invaluable treasure. Even if one were to somehow extract this information from these two men, they would still have to traverse a treacherous labyrinth that the Lightning Wraiths have created to protect the ancient knowledge. Morozh'nehyan Predators roam its corridors, kept at the brink of starvation to ensure blind aggression to those who lose their way in the labyrinth. First-time visitors are guided by either the Preceptor or the Oathtaker to and from the Sepulchre. Afterwards, they are expected to remember the path towards the Sepulchre by memory. One wrong turn would result in their demise by the whim of the creatures that roam the labyrinth.
Lingua Morozh'nehya[]
From their long relationship with the people of Morozh'nehya, it is no surprise that the Lightning Wraiths have adopted the usage of the Morozh’nehyan language in their daily rituals. Known by the wider Imperium by the umbrella term "Lingua Morozh'nehya", there are 8 primary dialects of the language that were spoken by the Morozh’nehyans. The dialect that the Lightning Wraiths utilize is referred to as “Pyzhosen Volk” or “Pilgrim’s Tongue” in Low Gothic, which is the closest thing that the planet has to a planetary language.
Regardless of dialect, Linga Morozh’nehya is characterized by its multi-syllabic vocabulary and harsh phonetics. Many who have heard it commonly comment that the language sounds very unwieldy and overly complicated. Historians and Linguists are torn between two theories regarding this odd variation of human language that more often than not seems like it belongs to xenos mouths. One theory claims that its multi-syllabic structure was created for diplomats and nobles in order to weave ambiguities in the words that they say in order to maintain plausible deniability in political debates. The other claims that the very same structure as well as the harsh phonetics ensure absolute truth in every spoken and written word.
A 'gerege' with the Lightning Wraiths' war cry written in Korchoi-Ghonzan. This piece of metal is given by the Lightning Wraiths to the White Scars during their tributary voyages to Chogoris as a symbol of their continued fealty to the Vth Legion.
Interestingly enough, the alphabet that the Lightning Wraiths utilize for their records was once used by the Ghonzi Empire before it's fall to corruption. One may suspect that the harshness of Pyzhosen Volk would be represented in the Ghonzan Script through the presence of hard angles. However, the alphabet itself is quite organic as the majority of letters consist of heavy curves. Unlike the unwieldy spoken language of the Lightning Wraiths, the Ghonzan Script is quite simple to use hence the chapter's preference of its usage in daily tasks. From the Oaths of Moment written on a warrior's purity seals to the long and intertwining stories of ancient Morozh'nehya carefully carved in stone, the legacy of the Ghonzi Empire lives on in its preserved alphabet.
There are two variations of the alphabet currently in use by the Lightning Wraiths. One is more common as its characters and structure are somewhat similar to that of the Gothic Alphabet, thus making it easier to implement into cogitator systems belonging to the chapter. Referred to as the Ghonzan Primus or Ghonzan-Yokurei, this variation is what most people would see if they would spend time in the Lightning Wraiths’ vicinity. The other variant is used only for ceremonial purposes, and is referred to as Korchoi-Ghonzan. Tracing back to the discovery of Morozh’nehya, Korchoi-Ghonzan is a modified version of Chogorian Korchin calligraphy that implements Morozh’nehyan phonetics as well as the heavy curves typical of Ghonzan Primus. There are only three instances in which Korchoi-Ghonzan is used: naming ceremonies for newly indentured Aspirants, burial rites for fallen battle brothers, and records intended for the Tome of Thirteen Seals.
Only the Lightning Wraiths’ Oathtaker knows the true nature of Linga Morozh’nehya as its roots can be traced back to the era of the Y’vhtoja. He keeps historical records regarding this time hidden in the deepest annals of the Lightning Wraiths’ secret vaults to hide the truth of the planet’s past. A dark secret that would be the catalyst for their annihilation if it was ever discovered. However, the Lightning Wraiths' records comprised of Pyzhosen Volk's vocabulary written Ghonzan Script and while the latter is easier to decipher, the former's complicated nature is a boon for the chapter as deciphering it requires one to learn the language in its entirety to appreciate the subtleties of the Lightning Wraiths' history.
To be given the chance learn the languages of Morozh'nehya is a sign of trust by the Lightning Wraiths, but none are given the opportunity to learn the language from Morozh’nehya’s human populace. Rather, the language is taught only by the Lightning Wraiths themselves, as they were very protective of the cultures of Morozh’nehya and would prefer that the people of their homeworld would only have minimal contact with the Imperium to preserve their myriad traditions. The following are some common terms and phrases that the chapter freely shares with those that they come across:
- Wrozhina - ‘warborn’, the Chapter's title for a Firstborn Tactical marine.
- Shahir - lord/master/sir, a term of respect which is not lightly given.
- Urzhim - ‘witch’, a term for psykers with a feminine connotation.
- Urzhaukrov - ‘witch-blood’, a variant of urzhim with a unisexual connotation.
- Fyarhus - ‘healer’, an informal title given to the Vicars and the Oathtaker.
- Auryashi - ‘hawk-spirit’, a term referring to the chapter's most skilled pilots.
- Mak’Toum - ‘friend’
- Makur’Tesh - ‘stranger’
- Krovdryzhna - ‘bloodtithe’, a crusade undertaken by the chapter in retaliation for unforgivable sins.
- Zahrjat - ‘void’, typically confused for the space between worlds, this term simply refers to a lack of presence.
- Quarshem - ‘soul’
- Zahrquum - ‘void soul’, a term referring to Blanks or Pariahs for the unique auras they emit.
- Wrozahr - ‘war void’, referring to the chapter's aspirants who have not earned the right to call themselves Lightning Wraiths.
- Y’vhtoja - an ancient term with no literal translation, it once and still is referring to warp spawn.
- Yadt’Gai - “to give” is the literal translation, but the connotation usually revolves around moving with haste - either towards the speaker or with the speaker.
- Sov’Yadtsa - “hunter”, a term associated with the fully-fledged Astartes attached to the 8th and 9th Pillar of Wisdom
- Ghanszig - ‘penitent’, a term referring to those of the chapter that have committed sins and seek penance in death or deeds.
- Stryghanszi - ‘black penitent’, an old term referring to disgraced leaders of an old religion tasked with hunting the Y'vhtoja which is currently adopted by the Primaris Judiciars.
- Stryquar - ‘black soul’, a term referring to traitors and heretics.
- Alkhuwros - ‘moonshards’, with its root noun referring to the Morozh'nehyan moon, it is a term that refers to the chapter fleet.
- Alkhuwrœn - ‘moonshard’, a portion of the chapter's fleet large enough to support an entire Pillar of Wisdom.
- Aun'Khor - 'kin', in a literal sense as blood relatives within the chapters ranks as either serfs or fellow battle-brothers are not uncommon.
- Wrokhor - 'war kin', the Lightning Wraiths' equivalent to referring to another as a battle-brother.
- Stryg'kha drei'zhurm! Stryg'kha aiuf'xai! - 'Blackened Earth! Blackened Skies!', the Lightning Wraiths' battle cry from the Dawn of the 42nd Millennium onwards.
- Koen yv'naer tal'khour qef haeg'dra vra alkhaertipha szofe. - 'May your paths be guided by moonlight's song.', the Chapter's formal version of The Emperor Protects.
- Alkhaertipha szofe haeg'drohm yv'na. - 'Moonlight's song guide you.', the Chapter's informal version of The Emperor Protects.
Rites of Recruitment[]
Every 15 years, the Chapter would set off on a voyage across the Kjolmaras Sector to conduct visits to their various recruitment worlds, which typically are Feral Worlds or Feudal Worlds. Serfs would discretely land onto these planets with the intent of scouring the planet's human populace for any potential recruits. Lightning Wraiths ships would remain in orbit for approximately one Terran month before Vicars would make planetfall to collect any child that has garnered their serf's interest. In other worlds where a tribute or tithe was owed to the Chapter for deeds done in the past, one child in every household from 8-12 years of age would be collected. There would be no exceptions, as was the way of the Utyug-Krovian Clans of old. These children, henceforth known as the wrozahri or ‘war void’, would then be dropped off at the edge of the Jirae Mountains. This would mark the beginning of the Wrozhari Trials, where the worthy would be separated from the weak.
The Lightning Wraiths typically do not collect aspirants from the populace of Morozh’nehya, partially due to their preference of recruiting from Feral Worlds with the exception of worlds that are required to pay a tribute to the chapter at least once. However, many Vicars insist that the primary reason why they do not recruit Morozh’nehyans is that the Morozh’nehyan genome is incompatible with Space Marine implants. This claim is supposedly due to the irreversible genetic alterations that their bodies experienced from generations living in Morozh’nehya’s conditions.
Apotheosis of a Wraith[]
The Cull[]
The first stage of the Chapter's recruitment requires the children to locate one of nine hidden entrances to the Crypt of Brehus. They would have to find the entrances as swiftly as possible lest they perish in the mountains during the harsh winter season of Morozh'nehya, which has been noted to cause hypothermia within an hour of exposure even with proper clothing. These aspirants would either move swiftly alone or huddle with other children so that they may preserve their body temperature during their search. The entrances themselves, which typically are hidden by thick layers of snow and protected by massive adamantine gates, are opened and would only remain open for two hours. Any child who has found the entrance past the two hour mark is considered to be dead as hypothermia and frostbite have already laid claim on the child at that point. From experience, too much time would be spent keeping the child alive and there is often lingering damage that hinders their physical abilities if they were received past the two hour mark.
Once a child or a group of children find a crypt entrance, they would then have to navigate the pitch black tunnels to find the secondary entrance that would lead them to shelter. The tunnels are a relic from the era of the Order of Brehus, as they were created and maintained by the Xulka Empire prior to their destruction. They are oddly shaped and branch off in many junctions to disorient any invader. Some of a tunnel's branches lead towards a sudden drop or a nest of cave-dwelling predators. It is possible for them to find their way to the secondary entrance by feeling for a slight increase in the ambient temperature as the secondary entrances seal the rest of the Crypt off from the harsh elements and excess heat often seeps through the gates.
Once the Cull is over, the bodies of those who have failed are gathered by serfs and buried at the foot of the Mountains. Those who have died from the tunnels' treacherous secrets are unfortunately not given the proper send-offs as their bodies would be lost forever, or 'claimed by the Mountains as tribute' as some of the more spiritual members of the Lightning Wraiths say. Those who survived the Cull have exhibited the strength of their bodies as well as the virtues of perseverance, diligence and self-reliance.
Trial of Ayur[]
The second test is the Trial of Ayur, where aspirants are taken to the Ukxalkesh Peaks: mountains located on the other side of the planet where the Ayur Hawks nest at their summits during mating season. This Rite of Recruitment is to test the spirit of an Aspirant, and by extension, to see if they uphold the tenets of the 4th, 5th and 6th Pillars of Wisdom. Ayur Hawks are highly intelligent creatures and have been said to be able to sense malcontent and fear within a soul. Traditionally, this was a rite of passage undertaken by newly appointed Umfasir Knights after their ascension from being squires. Many tales of warning have been written by the Umfasir Knights about how the barest hint of a malicious heart was enough of a reason for an Ayur Hawk to cast a rider down a mountain, the avians not even deigning to feast upon the deceased warrior’s flesh. To tame an Ayur Hawk is to prove that you are its equal, as you are to respect its limits as it is to respect yours. These are done through three tasks that could take weeks to complete, as the Ayur Hawks will make it as difficult as they can for the aspirant.
The first of which is to ‘debase’ oneself before an Ayur Hawk, a task where many would fail as there is a fine balance that needs to be met for it to be a success. If one comes off too aggressively and attempts to force an Ayur Hawk into a position of submission, then they have already compromised any bond that could be made with the Hawk. However, if one is too passive, the Ayur Hawk would see this as a sign of weakness and view the aspirant as prey for them to hunt and devour. One must understand when to stand their ground and when to give ground to the Ayur Hawk. Once the creature understands the dynamic of mutual equality that an aspirant would convey, it would approach said aspirant to prostrate before them. This is a final test of the task as the Ayur Hawk’s prostration is a false show of weakness to see how the aspirant would treat it at its most vulnerable. Failure at this part of the task almost always results in death.
The second task would be to create and attach a saddle to the Ayur Hawk within a fortnight. While they are given a rough approximation of shape and size, it is up to the aspirant to make the proper measurements and to find the natural materials out in the Morozh’nehyan wilds. It is at this point where an Ayur Hawk would become more playful and mischievous. Much like the first task, there is a fine line that one must walk for them to succeed. Due to their recently forged bond, the Ayur Hawks will repeatedly test their new companions without fear to see if they would still stay true to the unspoken agreement of equality. If the aspirant were to falter, either through complacency or frustration, then the Ayur Hawk would simply kill the aspirant for breaking an oath to nature. It is only through a focused mind and a proper balancing of one’s humors would an aspirant succeed in his task as they would be able to properly calm the creature down without compromising its bond.
The final task is a leap of faith between both wrozahri and Ayur Hawk. Once the saddle has been attached to the Ayur Hawk, the aspirant would mount it upon the summit of the Ukxalkesh Peaks and brace himself as the Ayur Hawk takes a dive from the top of the world. The aspirant must completely submit himself to the avian’s mastery of its body and the skies. Forcing the hawk to move according to his will would not only put their lives in jeopardy, but also break whatever semblance of trust had been made between them. On the other hand, the hawk must also have complete trust in their human rider’s creation. It is intelligent enough to know that the saddle that the aspirant made was created for both of their safety in mind. As such, in its act of making the treacherous dive, the Ayur Hawk places absolute trust in the hope that their rider had created the saddle in a way that it does not affect the hawk’s ability to fly. If both rider and mount’s faith in each other is absolute, then the skies of Morozh’nehya would be graced with the calls of triumph from both Ayur Hawk and man.
Path of Twilight[]
The third stage of the Rites of the Recruitment is the most treacherous: the Path of Twilight. One by one, aspirants would find themselves at the bottom of a dead volcano’s primary vent with no recollection of how they got there and only the clothes on their backs on their person as well as a single dataslate. Encoded within the dataslate, a short message would play in which the aspirant’s task would be explained to him and the message would end with a phrase in Lingua Morozh’nehya that the aspirant must memorize throughout the rite and never share with anyone. As soon as the message is delivered, the dataslate’s machine spirit would self-terminate, rendering it useless for the duration of the rite.
The aspirant’s only task for this rite, besides memorizing the assigned phrase, is to climb out of the volcano. However, it will not be easy as the volcanic crater’s walls are lined with shards of obsidian and the bottom of the chasm is pitch black as barely any light manages to reach it, making safe navigation nigh impossible. No food, water or tools are provided, meaning that the aspirant must make the climb to the lip of the crater with only their bare hands and within days before their body shuts down from dehydration. The only source of light that is available comes from chemi-luminescent crystals buried within the obsidian walls that only seem to glow during Morozh’nehyan twilight. Hence the name of the final rite.
Strategically positioned alcoves barely larger than an adult Morozh’nehyan male are carved into the walls in regular intervals so that an aspirant may rest if necessary. The moment they succumb to the solace of rest within these alcoves, does the true test of the Path of Twilight begin as it is a test of the mind and not of the body. As an aspirant sleeps, one of the overseeing Magisters will use his abilities to alter the dreams of the aspirant. Visions of death, war and their deepest mortal fears will plague the aspirant. The dreams only cease when the aspirant awakens and by then, the Vicars play their part in the rite. Upon the first crack of down following the beginning of the rite, massive war drums would play and their sound would reverberate in the Chasm’s walls. Paired with the guttural war chants from the Vicars, this cacophony of noise would continue until dusk where the Magister would assault the aspirant’s dreams once more if they choose to sleep.
Many have been driven mad by the combination of unreal nightmares and the ground-shaking cacophony that rendered thought an impossibility. These aspirants would either kill themselves via impalation on the obsidian spikes or simply lay in their alcoves with their minds shattered, slowly dying due to hypothermia and dehydration. Others break their vow of secrecy and utter the assigned phrase in hopes of freeing themselves from torment. These are shamed and branded for their weakness, forever marked amongst fellow serfs as failures. Only those with the mental fortitude to push onwards will find themselves successfully pulling themselves up at the lip of the crater. By this point, a Vicar would approach and ask for the assigned phrase so that the aspirant may pass.
This is the final test of the rite, and those who still remember the instructions of the dataslate would be the only ones who would pass. While the memorization of the phrase is a sign of the aspirant’s mental fortitude against the difficult trials of the mind, it is only secondary to the vow that the aspirant took to never share it with anyone under any circumstance. The request, often made with the threat of death or worse, is a trick to see if they would honour their vows and speak truth when required against the very things that provoked fear in the hearts of men. Virtues that are ingrained in the ethos of the 7th, 8th and 9th Pillar of Wisdom.
Pilgrimage of Prodigal Sons[]
The final Trial of the Wraith is a duel between two aspirants. Prior to the duel, the aspirants would be ritually bathed and shaved to appear as if they were born anew. The duelists would also be naked save for a loincloth and pure white cords that are wrapped tightly around their ankles, knees, upper thighs, wrists, elbows, shoulders and groin in order to reduce blood loss as the aspirants would be duelling with combat knives. To further discourage restraint, the aspirants would be given a powerful combat drug that doubles as a hallucinogenic by the Oathtaker, who would oversee the duel. The only way a duel would end is through the victory of one aspirant or the intervention of the Oathtaker. If there is an odd number of aspirants, then either a member of a Saboteur squad or the Oathtaker himself would duel with the remaining aspirant.
At the end of their training, the surviving aspirants that have earned their place as Initiates into the chapter are required to undergo a one year pilgrimage into the kingdoms and tribes of Morozh'nehya. Upon their return, they are required to debrief the Oathtaker or the overseeing Viceroy about the things they learned about the mortals. This pilgrimage has two reasons for its practice. The first is an opportunity for the Aspirants to gain a greater understanding of the world where many of the Chapter’s practices stem from. The second is to ensure that the chaotic taint that the Chapter purged during the Morozh’nehyan Uprising has not returned among the populace.
Afterwards, they observe a 9-day silent vigil within theFyarat'Karum and when they emerge from the dark halls of the Farshan, the aspirants are interred into a Saboteur Squad to begin their new life as a warrior of the Lightning Wraiths. For some, their first mission would be to investigate and apprehend potential chaos cults that their commanding officers suspect to have risen based on the information given during the post-pilgrimage debrief.
Post-Indomitus Rites[]
Due to Morozh’nehya’s downfall during the dawn of the Dark Millennium, the Chapter refused to step foot on their homeworld for a hundred years after a funerary vigil was undertaken on its surface. For a century, the Chapter conducted an unrelenting crusade against the Forces that sought to destroy the Imperium’s hold on Segmentum Pacificus and Segmentum Tempestus. The wrozahri were collected from any world that is of interest to the Chapter rather than solely from the Kjolmaras System and the traditional rites of recruitment are compressed due to the unnatural rate of loss in the ranks. The decision to compress the rites of recruitment was also due to that fact that they revolved around Morozh’nehya’s unique topography and climate to truly test their aspirants.
The Cull, the Trial of Ayur and the Pilgrimage of Prodigal Sons remained largely similar in regards to how they were conducted. The Cull was modified in which aspirants now must climb a mountain of the chapter’s choosing on a random world. Depending on the mountain and the world’s climate or biosphere, the wrozahri would be required to either climb up to a mountain’s peak or up to a certain point. The mountains used for the test were either notoriously steep or crawling with predators. The Trial of Ayur’s tasks can still be undertaken within the Alkhuwros’ vessels, but since the Ayur Hawks are near extinct, its final test of faith is only taken when supervised by at least one squad of Astartes. The duel preceding the Pilgrimage can be conducted on any vessel and the Pilgrimage itself can also be done on the surface of any suitable civilized planet.
It is only the Path of Twilight that had to be drastically altered to simultaneously stay true to old traditions and adapt to new circumstances. The Path of Twilight would be undertaken in the ill-fortuned Strike-Cruiser Stryshan, the ‘Black Sanctum’, the vessel where the Ghanszig and the Vicars make their refuge in between campaigns. Instead of climbing out of a deep crater in the ground, an aspirant tested in the Path of Twilight would be required to traverse a labyrinth’s epicentre in the ship’s underbelly along with others who would be placed at different entrances. This labyrinth was constructed partially out of obsidian slabs taken from the Djuras Chasm, to preserve the iconic crystals that guided the paths of past aspirants. An addition to the rite was also made to further strengthen the minds of aspirants. Members of the Ghaszig would be tasked to wander the labyrinth to aid the Magisters and Vicars in whittling down the aspirant’s will. They would bellow taunts at the aspirants and beat anyone unfortunate enough to cross their path, but only enough to send a message of the futility of their efforts.
Trial of the Whispering Winds[]
Whilst the Sov'Yadtsai are the Lightning Wraiths' experts in infiltration and sabotage, second only to the much older Cavii of the Saboteurs, there are members who excel in different methods of eliminating high value targets but are implemented as parts of a squad for the sake of operational versatility. The advent of the Primaris brought about concepts of specialist cadres such as the Eliminators and the Reivers, and as such, the Lightning Wraiths developed a set of trials that would have members of the Sov'Yadtsai earn their specialization as either Khatiph or Qatal. Based on a rite of passage by Kai’Talshuun for young boys looking to become hunters for hearth and home, the Trial of the Whispering Winds would push a Sov'Yadtsa's skill at arms to the limit by forcing them to use primitive weaponry wholly unsuited for the creatures Space Marines are bound to face.
Those who seek to be one of the hawk-eyed Qatal are to be tested by the bow while those who wish to be swift and ghostly Khatiph are tested by the humble dagger. The trial begins with the time-consuming act of creating their weapon. The bow is made in the fashion of a traditional composite bow with materials consisting of wood, horn and sinews while the dagger is made with a single piece of bone from a large animal's femur. Between the two items, the bow takes significantly longer to make as the cutting, fitting and gluing of materials is usually finished by a mortal man between a few months to an entire year. However, thanks to a secret technique perfected by the Duchy of Polshta’s Magyar mercenaries as a response to the frigid climate of Morozh'nehya making it difficult for glue to properly stick, an Astartes can make the bow in about a month or two and the arrows for an even shorter amount of time. On the other hand, while the dagger only requires a future Khatiph a week to carve into shape, there is a specific property on the finished weapon that could make his entire progress moot. Traditionally, this bone dagger is designed such that a sizable portion snaps off after it is embedded into a hunter's prey. This allows the poison tipped upon the weapon to be properly administered and because the tip is securely embedded, the prey would have little hope of removing it as the poison destroys its body from within. The poison itself also needs to be created by the future Khatiph and he has the option of either scouring the vast Khaganate Sepulchre for a formula or creating his own.
Once the weapons are created, the aspirant would have it on their person until their final task is completed. In the past, pre-teen mortals would join a hunting party and be given the responsibility of letting loose the first arrow upon their prey. Amongst the Astartes however, they would be paired with an overseer - typically a veteran of the Sov'Yadtsai - and be sent out along with a scouting cadre. They are to stalk a target of the overseer's choosing and eliminate them with their creation. The Qatal are required to make a fatal shot, preferably through the head, at a minimum distance of approximately half a kilometre as this is the maximum theoretical range of their bows. The Khatiph on the other hand, are required to kill their prey with their poison-tipped dagger and are not allowed to throw it. However, the main caveat of this task is that they only get one chance to do this during the campaign. This is due to the old hunter's mentality of only striking when the knowledge of a kill is absolute. Should they fail, either because they were spotted by their prey or they were not able to make the fatal blow, the overseer would destroy their weapon before the duo would be sent back to their respective squads. The aspirants may try again, but they would only get three opportunities in total before they are prohibited indefinitely from taking part in the trials and by extension, become part of the Khatiph or the Qatal.
Chapter Organisation []
Rather than use designations prescribed by the Codex Astartes, the Lightning Wraiths prefer to use the titles and ranks of the now dissolved kingdoms of the Order of Brehus out of respect for the fallen warriors. Some of the designations that the Lightning Wraiths use for the new Primaris Marines are not from the Order of Brehus, but rather from the remaining kingdoms that dwell upon Morozh'nehya.
Officer Ranks[]
The Crown of the Old Kingdoms, the Chapter's most revered relic and the Preceptor's symbol of office.
- The Preceptor - The Lightning Wraith's equivalent of a Chapter Master, the Preceptor is chosen from a cabal of men consisting of members of the "Fyarat'Karum", the “Vroia'Karum”, the "Zhalat'Karum", and the Viceroys. One is chosen through a vote among the cabal and would be favored for being an exemplar for all Lightning Wraiths. He must have all the qualities of a Lightning Wraith in spades, from the insatiable desire to learn to the ferociousness of a warlord. Upon his ascension, a Preceptor would become the Viceroy of the First Pillar of Wisdom and the Lightning Wraiths' representative during their centennial voyage to Chogoris. This great duty and burden derived from the Kingdom of Qashai’s own rank of similar name. Historically, the Qashaian Preceptor was the peacekeeper between the kingdoms of the Order of Brehus and had also acted as the figurehead of the Order when negotiating with the other kingdoms. While the Preceptor has command of the entire Chapter, he is the Viceroy of the 1st of Pillar of Wisdom before the Chapter Master when deployed alongside another Viceroy to respect the other man’s authority over his men. The only time he would override a Pillar of Wisdom's command structure is when its Viceroy is either dead or unfit to command.
- Viceroy - The Lightning Wraith's equivalent of a Company Captain. The rank itself is an ancient title, given to the representatives of a Morozh’nehyan monarch on the battlefields. Typically given to favoured generals, a Viceroy’s duty is to carry out the bloody will of their masters through any means necessary. In the Lightning Wraiths, these men lead a company into battle and are in charge of duties that help the Chapter run smoothly. Viceroys are chosen from the ranks of the Chapter's Veterans, typically those who were former members of their assigned Pillar of Wisdom, for their exemplary skill in combat as well as their tactical acumen. Viceroys are also in charge of diplomatic relations with other Imperial forces. As such, many Viceroys are taught by Morozh'nehyan nobility and poets in the nuances of conversation. They are also provided with expansive knowledge in human psychology. A greatly exaggerated rumor is that Lightning Wraith Viceroys are among the best diplomats in the Adeptus Astartes due to their extensive knowledge of how the human mind works and their silver tongues.
A Lightning Wraiths Hetman brandishing his Niveran Pattern Combat Knife.
- Hetman - The Lightning Wraith's equivalent of a Primaris Lieutenant. A new addition to the Lightning Wraiths' ranks, the Hetmans are a Viceroy's second-in-command in the battlefield and his personal bodyguard. This title was taken from the ancient and defunct Duchy of Polshta where these officers have historically served their commanders for life and were only removed from their positions when their assigned commanders die or when they themselves are found guilty of treason. This practice of being practically permanently assigned to a Viceroy has been adopted when the chapter began receiving Primaris Reinforcements to simultaneously establish ties with the new generation of warriors as well as to determine if the Greyshields of Roboute Guilliman's miracle legion would be receptive of the Lightning Wraiths' many practices. When these men were finally accepted by the chapter, they are taught the basics of psychology and poetry to aid in diplomacy - much like the Viceroys that they are attached to. In matters of command, a Hetman is given the authority and autonomy to command multiple squads in the stead of their Viceroy should the situation necessitate the company to be split apart for more flexible tactical maneuvers. A famous example of this autonomy in action was through Ulitor Xicora's daring gambit of marching a portion of his company through the treacherous terrain of the mountains while a blizzard rages on so that he could capitalize on a fortress' blind spot.
- Cavus - (plural "cavii") The Lightning Wraith's equivalent of a Sergeant. The Cavus is the lowest rank of command within the Lightning Wraiths, as discipline is still practiced extensively despite battlefield autonomy being encouraged within the chapter. As with the Hetmans and the Viceroys, the Cavii were also taught by nobles and poets in the past as well as Vicars to aid in diplomatic relations with other factions. Much like a Codex-Compliant Sergeant, it is among the Cavii of the Pillars of Wisdom, with the exception of the First, where Hetmans and Viceroys are chosen. Although, a notable difference between a Sergeant prescribed by the Codex Astartes and a Lightning Wraiths Cavus is that a Cavus must earn the Crux Terminatus through service in the Stalker cadre or earn the vaunted black feathers from one of the Vanguard Companies before they can be inducted into the elite 1st Pillar of Wisdom or be promoted to a higher command echelon. Sipahi Cavii are Veteran Astartes who have served the chapter with distinction for a long time and also have shown promise in command. While not as capable in large scale strategies as the Hetmans or the Viceroys, Sipahi Cavii are still invaluable tactical assets as their experience can overshadow those in higher echelons of command.
Specialist Ranks[]
- Iakugo - Instead of having a champion in each company dedicated to hunting down enemy warlords, the Lightning Wraiths have one Champion to represent the entire chapter's martial skill. The Iakugo, a title meaning "bewildering force" in a dead Morozh'nehyan language, is the greatest warrior in the Chapter. His previous name would be forgotten, as it is a tradition for him to become one with the weapon that bears the same name as the position he is to hold. His duties consist of safeguarding the Preceptor, spearheading mass assaults, and hunting down Warlords. The Iakugo is the Preceptor's shadow, his guardian and his executioner. With an oath of silence and a death masque donning the features of Jaghatai Khan and Chaigut Khan welded onto his helmet, the Iakugo is seldom seen or heard as he lurks in the shadows but is never too far to intervene any attempts on the Preceptor.
One of the Stryghanszi with a traditional Morozh'nehyan bardiche in honour of his ancient namesake.
- Stryganszi - Long before the Imperium's rediscovery of Morozh'nehya, the people were fearful of periods when absolute darkness covered the land. Unseen creatures lurked in the inky void between towns and those who dared to make the dangerous trek during this time would disappear. After months have passed, the missing souls would re-emerge with their minds having regressed to that of a beast. Their affliction prompted the human colonies to create an order of warriors to hunt down the creatures that caused this phenomenon. Thus, the Stryganszi or the ‘black penitents’ were created from the ranks of disgraced members of the world’s primitive clergy to eradicate the Y'vhtoja, the creatures that were suspected to have caused the bouts of beast-like regression upon humans. When the world was rediscovered by the Imperium, it was soon discovered that the Y’vhtoja were warp beasts that had found an opening to the material realm. To preserve Morozh'nehyan culture after its downfall, Primaris Judiciars adopted the title of Stryganszi as their own. With a vow of silence, not dissimilar to that of the Morozh'nehyan Stryganszi's own during hunts, they lead their brothers through impossible odds. If one of their own, be it Ghanszig or otherwise, would stray from their duty as defenders of humanity, it would be the Stryganszi's task to hunt down and execute them with an archaic headhunter’s axe used by their namesakes.
- Vicars - Vicars of the Chapter are the amalgamation of an Apothecary and a Chaplain of the Codex Astartes. Healers of both mind and body, the Vicars are held in high regard and are often the ones with a security detail accompanying them with the exception of the Chapter Master. Clad in brown robes in homage to the Morozh'nehyan earth that the Lightning Wraiths return to upon their death, Vicars are the macabre manifestation of the Lightning Wraiths' cultural reverence with death. Due to the combination of two roles, the Reclusium and the Apothecarion are also merged into the 'Fyarat'Karum', a Morozh'nehyan word that roughly translates to 'Sanctum of Healing' in Low Gothic. There is also a larger than normal amount of Vicars, when compared to a Codex-Compliant Chapter's amount of Apothecaries or Chaplains, to compensate for the combination of two roles. Beginning as acolytes of the Fyarat'Karum taking in lessons from the Tome of Vossaka to heart as well as assisting their masters in healing future brothers-in-arms, Vicars are trained to act as both spiritual beacons and healers while their kin are trained to be the warriors of the chapter. Along with detailed teachings on Astartes physiology, these acolytes would also be trained in basic xenobiology as well as baseline human physiology where the latter is applied during a pilgrimmage that each would undertake near the end of their training. This insularity would initially isolate them from their brothers and they would only fight alongside them once their training is at an end. However, there may be instances when a fledgling Vicar encounters an Aspirant during the Pilgrimmage as the Vicars would also take part in such a practice, wandering the planet for years as healer-priests. Many tales are shared amongst Morozh'nehyans about silent giants clad in brown travelling from one city to another, administering aid where needed and carrying out antiquated funerary practices that had not been observed since the First War of Morozh'nehya. When their own pilgrimmage comes to an end, which may vary as each acolyte undergoes a spiritual journey that may last years, a Vicar is immediately clad in their warplate in a ceremony in which their mentor will scarify their faces with Morozh'nehyan runes before staining their Crozius with their own blood. All Vicars are equipped with a Niveran-pattern Diagnostor Helmet which is a Chaplain's iconic skull helm with improved Auto-senses and readouts along with a built-in auspex for improved performance when conducting their sworn duty on the battlefield.
- Oathtaker - The Oathtaker is the combination of a Reclusiarch and a Head Apothecary, and bearer of the heavy burdens that come with both positions. They are the guardians of the Chapters deepest secrets while also the one that the Chapter turns to during crises of faith and healing or times of celebration. Thus, with the adoption of an ancient Morozh'nehyan term that translates to 'confessor', the title becomes a culmination of the multitude of oaths that one man would need to take - either from himself or his kindred - and give - from his forefathers, the White Scars, to a lost soul in need of spiritual guidance - throughout his lifetime. These men are gifted in the medicinal arts and have devoted their life studying various tomes regarding the human mind and spiritual healing from Morozh'nehya. They are also warlords with tactical acumen akin to a Viceroy, unafraid to bring forth the Primarch's wrath upon the enemy and upon former brothers who have chosen paths of damnation and treachery, if need be. Outside of the battlefields, the Oathtaker becomes the Chapters greatest critic, acting as the proverbial devil's advocate whenever major decisions need to be made. Those who are given this position are responsible for inducting Neophytes into the Chapter, overseeing ascensions of Viceroys, Kovals, Viziers and Preceptors. Oathtakers also work closely with Viziers and the Viceroys of the 6th Pillar of Wisdom in maintaining the chapter's immaculate records and preserving the many traditions of the Order of Brehus. As such, with the titanic weight of his responsibilities as well as the oppressive aura that his position carries, an Oathtaker becomes isolated and detached from his brothers.
- Vizier - The Lightning Wraith's equivalent of a Chief Librarian. As the most gifted Librarian in the Chapter, whomever earns this position would act as the Preceptor's chief advisor in matters of great importance. Furthermore, one of his most important tasks besides being the Preceptor's advisor is to scout for potential recruits for the Zhalat'Karum, or the Sanctum of Heaven, as the Librarius is called. His duty of training new Magisters has given him an exemption from the 50-year(Terran-Standard) periodical recruitment trials, granting him the opportunity to accept trainees whenever the chapter comes across a child that shows psychic potential. This exemption comes with strict guidelines and limitations as well as the vigilant scrutiny of the Oathtaker, who ensures the spiritual purity of each recruit and that the Vizier himself is free of taint or corruption.
- Magister - The Lightning Wraith's equivalent of a Librarian. Besides being invaluable force multipliers due to their psychic gifts, Lightning Wraiths Magisters are tasked with the maintenance of the Chapter's grand library as well as the Khaganate Sepulchre. As they are the ones tasked with the maintenance of the Khaganate Sepulchre, they are also among those who are responsible for recruiting new members of the Kharash - the Sepulchre's secretive mortal bodyguards. They are also tasked with scouring the void from within the Sanctum Astralis for any distress calls in their sector or to predict the machinations of an enemy in order to prepare a defensive cordon or a liberation force in advance.
- Koval - The Lightning Wraith's equivalent of a Forgemaster. A position of both prestige and respect, the Koval is the greatest Machinist within the Armorium. His skill makes him the only person qualified to conduct maintenance and repairs on the Chapter's Relics. The Koval is also the one who creates the guidelines on how to modify and tinker equipment that was scavenged off of the battlefield, a secret that the Chapter's Oathtaker guards vehemently. He works with the Viceroy of the 5th Pillar of Wisdom to safeguard the relics and to ensure that the Armorium is always fully stocked. Interestingly, his title stems from a Morozh'nehyan tradition of having a surname that coincides with a familial trade. Koval was the last name of a family from the Order of Brehus with unparalleled skill in metallurgy. When the chapter was founded, the first Forgemaster adopted the title out of respect for the family line and his first duty was to create the revered Crown of the Old Kingdoms.
- Steelmason - The Lightning Wraith's equivalent of a Techmarine. The Chapter's expansive airforce as well as high numbers of bikes and landspeeders within their armoury demand a fairly high amount of specialists trained by the Adeptus Mechanicus to maintain and repair these tools of war. Due to their training with the Mechanicus, they are forced to renounce their oaths of non-voluntary augmentation in order to gain the knowledge that the Priests of Mars selfishly guard. When a contingent of Techmarines return from their training in Mars, they have to renew their oaths to the Chapter before undertaking another Pilgrimmage to the Forgeworld Nivera, an ally of the Chapter and their supplier of unique patterns of arms and armour. Along with the usual duties of maintaining the Chapter's armory and repairing any damages that the vehicles have sustained, Steelmasons are also entrusted to oversee the health and integrity of the Chapter's Dreadnoughts. Through their training in Mars, the teachings of the sanctity of death as well as the purity of flesh are altered to suit a new outlook, one that views interment into a Dreadnought as a great honour as it is the perfect marriage of steel and flesh. Thus, this gives the chapter's Steelmasons a more intimate understanding and reverence to the what is seen as a curse. A Steelmason is also the only rank that has a personal retinue of servitors to assist him rather than Chapter Serfs due to the dangerous tasks he has to undertake which require the expendable yet robust slaves.
- Bannerlord - The Lightning Wraith's equivalent of a Standard Bearer. Although the Chapter heavily frowns upon vanity and hubris, it still carries a fire of pride in its heart especially in its heritage as a Scion of the Vth Legion as well as Sons of Morozh'Nehya. One of their most greatest displays of pride in their heritage is through the Company and Chapter Banners. Upon hand-woven fabric, the vaunted history of a Pillar of Wisdom or the Chapter is embossed with immense care and devotion. To carry the pride of a Pillar of Wisdom or the Chapter into battle is a great honour, but one that comes with great risk. Every enemy of the Imperium knows by heart that those who carry the standards of an Imperial Force is responsible for upholding the morale of an army. This knowledge drives them to seek and desecrate any Company standard that enters the warzone. As such, it falls to the Bannerlords to protect these symbols of glory and to hold it aloft even if their own body fails them amidst the tide of battle. Choosing a Bannerlord is not just a matter of skill-at-arms as any one of the Sipahi - the Chapter Veterans - would be eligible for the lethal task. It is a combination of unbreakable will, devotion to a purpose greater than one's own life, and unyielding faith in what the standard represents that dictates who is chosen to become a Bannerlord. These men, who selflessly put themselves at a disadvantage in order to act as a beacon of hope and purpose, would stand tall amongst their brothers and remain as steady as the mountains when all hope seems to be lost.
The Sipahi[]
- "Ride, knights of the black cloak;
Ride for the father, whose memory was sullied;
Ride for the son, whose mortality drowns in sin;
Ride for the mother, whose heart aches for her children;
Ride for the daughter, whose innocence would be defiled;
Ride, for your enemies quake in fear at your visage;
Ride, for the souls of the oppressed scream for justice;
Ride for the Mountain King,
For he is your guardian, as you are his;
Ride for his people, for they are our future;
Ride for your fellow knights and stay true to unbreakable bonds;
Ride swift and ride true;
Ride till the end of days;
Ride, for death rides with thee."- —A poem written by a chronicler who witnessed the Sipahi’s might
A callback to the near-mythical nomadic knights of the winter plains of Morozh'nehya, the Sipahi were said to be the greatest warriors who have ever graced the lands of Morozh'nehya. Lead by none other than Hassan Brehus, the Mountain King of Jirae, the Sipahi wandered the lands in search of a home after they were exiled for their leader's refusal to acknowledge the ascension Lord Uraka Caelafrax of the Ghonzi Empire.
Hassan Brehus was once a well-respected general of the Ghonzi Empire and close friend to its lord. As such, when the aging lord passed away and the search for a new successor was announced, Hassan was suspicious of a stranger named Uraka Caelafrax and his claim to the throne by birthright. Hassan knew that the old lord had no legitimate sons as he was found to be sterile by court physicians, much to the lord's sorrow. However, Uraka had claimed that his mother was the late lord's wife and that his father was a trusted court advisor.
Once Uraka had ascended to the throne, the first thing he did was banish Hassan Brehus and all those who were loyal to him or who shared his beliefs of Uraka's illegitimacy. Hassan and all 80 of the elite soldiers serving under him, who were then known as the King's Fist, were escorted out of the city walls by former comrades after a day had passed since Uraka's ultimatum. Clad in black cloaks of shame and mourning, the King's Fist boldly renounced their loyalties to the Ghonzi Empire as soon as they were cast out of the city walls. On that day, the King's Fist would be reborn as the Sipahi, a title that stemmed from an ancient Ghonzan word that roughly translated as 'The Betrayed Guardians'.
The Sipahi's mythical reputation stemmed from their deeds during their exile, as much of the frontier towns of Morozh'nehya were bereft of protection by the larger kingdoms as a war had been raging on for the past 13 years. Due to the lack of protection, many of the frontier towns were exploited by mercenaries, passing armies or deserters. Although they were exiled and disgraced, the Sipahi were still knights by oath and took upon themselves to drive away the miscreants that threatened the outcast towns.
For months, they travelled from town to town and offered their services to the beleaguered townspeople. Once, a small group of the Sipahi successfully held off a band of marauders almost three times their size with the aid of a town militia. As tales of their exploits began to spread, other kingdoms even hired these warriors garbed in black cloth as bodyguards or as trainers for their own armies. However, despite the fact that they are employed by a multitude of differing factions, the Sipahi remained truly loyal to Hassan Brehus.
The apex of Sipahi legend came when Hassan Brehus was given the title of Mountain King by many of the Kingdoms and towns that have received the Sipahi’s services as their main base of operations was at the foot of the Jirae Mountains, where an ancient Morozh’nehyan Pillar stood. At this time period, the Ghonzi Empire invaded lands under Sipahi protection and many chroniclers recorded how the Sipahi always managed to force their enemies to rout despite being outnumbered and suffering losses of their own. At the end of the war, the last of the Sipahi committed ritualistic suicide to join their deceased lord in the afterlife as guardians once more.
Like the Morozh’nehyan knights, the Veterans of the Lightning Wraiths may offer their services and expertise to other Imperial factions in order to bolster their allies’ strength. Some may announce their presence to their allies as a show of respect, but most of the time the Sipahi arrive in silence and leave as soon as they can see that their allies can stand on their own and their usefulness as force multipliers is no longer required. Their sudden appearance and departure has been the source of quarrels between the Lightning Wraiths and various commanders, as the Sipahi’s presence is often an unknown factor in a commander’s plans due to their fleeting nature.
Each Veteran is a master of both blade and bolter, as Ancient Sipahi philosophy dictates that a warrior should not limit themselves to one style of warfare. The Codex Astartes designations of Sternguard and Vanguard Veterans for differing combat specialties are not utilized by the Lightning Wraiths. Instead, the Sipahi have immersed themselves in every aspect of combat and trains vigorously to master as much as they can. This flexibility coupled with their long years of service allows them to combat any threat with the utmost efficiency.
Vanguard Companies[]
Due to their usage of Sov'yadtsa Squads and their preference for guerilla warfare, the Lightning Wraiths have two Vanguard companies, where the scouts are trained and where Sov'yadtsai sharpen their skills as hunters. Scouts are placed in one of the two companies based on observed affinities that various high-ranking officers of the Lightning Wraiths noticed during their training as aspirants. Following the Indomitus Crusade and the Ultima Founding, Primaris Vanguard Marines, have found their place within the Vanguard Companies. As with the members of the Sov'yadtsa squads, they do not have the Chapter insignia on their person and are only identified by the handprints painted on their helms and the black service stud above their right eye.
Saboteur Squads are the Lightning Wraith's equivalent of a Scout Squad. Saboteur Squads are loosely based on the Pioneer Cadres of the Great Crusade, acting as the eyes and ears of a campaign or an expedition, and the Saboteurs of the dead Szek-Fjaltran Empire that specialized in destruction of vital assets from behind enemy lines. Like the Pioneer Cadres that they are modelled after, Saboteur Squads are sent ahead of a fleet, typically a few days in advance, to gather information on their destinations. Once planetside, Saboteur Squads identify high value targets and cripple the enemy infrastructure in preparation for the arrival of the rest of the Lightning Wraiths.
A Vanguard Infiltrator scanning the battlefield from a mountain peak.
Vanguard Infiltrators and Incursors would be known as Shadewalkers in homage to the legendary spies of the Kai'Talshuun Empire. Specializing in reconnaissance, Shadewalkers not only identify high value targets, but also locations of interest such as potential chokepoints, shortcuts and hidden passages. Furthermore, their training also allows them to slip behind enemy lines to conduct stealthy decapitation strikes. On the other hand, should a more direct approach be required, these marines are also trained to operate within enemy fortifications and create openings in their defences via explosives. When deployed in conjunction with the more experienced Sov'Yadtsai and Saboteurs, Shadewalkers are able to transform inconspicuous terrain into a high-risk environment with creative trap and mine placement should the Lightning Wraiths be forced to conduct a defensive war. The chaos that would ensue from careless traversal into a Shadewalker's realm is something that they capitalize with great efficiency, striking from the shadows with devastating accuracy before fading away to strike again when the time is right.
Primaris Eliminators have found a place among the Lightning Wraiths' elite Sov'yadtsa Squads and have begun to refer themselves as the Qatal, which was an ancient Alik-Massah formation that roughly translated to 'assassins'. As with the Sov'yadtsai, members of the Qatal typically operate in the heart of an enemy's forces as they hunt for the enemy's command structure. Their skill with the Shrike-Pattern Sniper Rifles and Las-Fusils make them invaluable snipers specialized in HVT elimination and morale disintegration.
Line Ranks[]
Battleline Squads[]
A Wrozhina of the Lightning Wraiths clad in MKV Armour.
Wrozhina (vro-zhee-nah) Squads are the Lightning Wraith's equivalent of a Firstborn Tactical Squad. An ancient Qashai term that loosely translated as “warborn”, it once was a reference to family bloodlines that had always chosen soldiery as its preferred profession. From archers to mounted knights, a Wrozhina’s bloodline is as diverse and adaptable as a Tactical Squad. Every Wrozhina had a patron ancestor, one who was either the first of their bloodline or the one who had placed their ancestry on history books through exploits of great renown. Due to the incredible diversity and amount of Wrozhinas in Morozh’nehyan history, Lightning Wraiths squads utilize a Wrozhina patron ancestor as their callsigns. It was even said that Hassan Brehus was one of the Wrozhina and the last of his bloodline.
The fresh wave of Primaris reinforcements introduced Primaris Intercessors into the Chapter. These men are designated as Eyaschur, translated as ‘hawk-kindred’ from the Szek-Fjaltran language, as the first of the Primaris who have gained the respect of the Lightning Wraiths’ reticent Firstborn were Intercessors. The title once was a sign of respect for a nation’s leader or a warlord who was gifted with both battlefield acumen and long-sighted wisdom on matters of the state. While the Intercessors are martially superior than the mortals of Morozh’nehya, the legacy of humble wisdom attached to the title acts as a bridge between the warriors without a home and the planet without life. The decision to give these men a title of such great gravitas and meaning also opened the gates for the melancholic Firstborn to share all they can about their old home to their new battle-brothers.
Heavy Intercessors Squads, warriors clad in Gravis Power Armour tasked to hold and secure high-risk areas, are referred to as Lesovik Squads in homage to ancient mythology regarding the spirits of the Morozh'nehyan forests. These spirits, who are also known as the Lesovik, are the guardians of the few forests of Morozh'nehya. To cut down a tree would invoke their wrath and the only way to pacify them if woodsmen were to do their jobs was to leave offerings underneath a tree that they would need to cut in order to survive. The Astartes who share the name of these old and powerful spirits are noted to share the Lesoviks' uncompromising and unforgiving temperament.
Wrozhinas and Fusiliers are also extensively trained in mounted combat and either use the bikes as a means to travel great distances or as a means to wage warfare. In comparison to a Codex-Compliant Chapter, the Lightning Wraiths assign Bike Squads into Battleline Squads rather than Close Support Squads due to the extensive amount of training and experience required to be a member of a Bike Squad. Those who dedicate themselves as members of a Bike Squad or an Outrider Squad are split into two designations:
- Hussars - Those who prefer strike hard with a close-ranged firearm or a melee weapon while in motion ride in Attack Bikes or Raider Pattern Bikes and are known as Hussars in homage to the heavy cavalry of the Utyug-Krov, lion-riding shock troopers of great skill renowned for breaking enemy formations with devastating cavalry charges. The Hussars of the Lightning Wraiths follow the doctrines of their namesakes, pulverizing the enemy with repeating high-speed charges from the flanks and penetrating deep into the heart of the enemy's forces. Their preferred weapon of choice when on a bike's saddle are lances and power sabers. Hussars are also differentiated from the Magyars by the wings that decorate the rear of the bike, an old practice by Morozh'nehyan Hussars to intimidate the enemy.
- Magyars - Those who prefer to strike from a distance while travelling at high speeds to prevent retaliation would ride in Land Speeder Squads and are known as Magyars in homage to the highly effective anti-cavalry formation that the Duchy of Polshta used during times of war. The term 'Magyar' referred to the mercenaries that offered their services to the Duchy, who were renowned for their skill with the bow. Despite the dissolution of the Duchy, the remaining kingdoms of Morozh'nehya rely on these mercenaries to train their troops or act as security. In exchange for their service, the legendary bowmen were provided with the latest inventions, such as bombs in order to increase their effectiveness in softening the enemy's flanks. Like their namesakes, Lightning Wraith Magyars utilize heavier ranged weaponry to whittle the enemy's numbers from afar, taking care to avoid any direct confrontations.
Close Support Squads[]
The Aekorian Squad is the Lightning Wraith's equivalent of a Firstborn Assault Marine Squad, and has mastered the art of close-quarters combat as well as various forms of unconventional warfare. Named after an Uzekian folk tale about a winged saint that perished when her wings’ feathers burned away as she pushed the sun away from Morozh’nehya to prevent a calamity. This folk tale is among the oldest that derived from Uzekian culture and can be traced as the catalyst for their affinity and usage of airborne knights mounted on Ayur Hawks. Furthermore, due to the chapter's limited number of Devastator Squads prior to the Ultima Founding, some Aekorians were extensively trained to pilot each type of aircraft in the Chapter's air force.
Assault Intercessors are designated as Khroczaks in homage to an emergent civilization of nomadic riders at the last years of Morozh'nehya. The Khroczaks were like the Vossmortin nomads in that they had travel from settlement to settlement in order to sustain themselves. However, unlike the Vossmortin who engage in mutually beneficial trade, the Khroczaks are warriors to their core and would sell their skills to causes that they believe in or to the highest bidder. They were rightfully feared by the large kingdoms for their uncanny ability to fade in and out of sight while attacking during the harsh winter storms. Like their mortal counterpart, Lightning Wraith Cuirassiers would attack the enemy with multiple harrying charges before withdrawing swiftly to either let other units finish the enemy off with a hail of gunfire or reposition to lure the enemy away from an objective. If the enemy is forced to rout, the Khroczaks would gun down their fleeing opponents with bolt pistols before engaging a different group with another brutal offensive.
Khatiph Cavus Drago Yasif, 6th Pillar of Wisdom, 8th Squad
Reiver Squads are designated as Khatiph Squads in homage to a Utyug-Krovian myth regarding disembodied voices belonging to avenging spirits that haunted sites of murder. Members of the Khatiph Squads would replace the skull masks of their helmets with a blank, featureless faceplate. This dates back to a practice carried out by Utyug-Krovian priests where they would don featureless masks to exorcise a haunted location. If an exorcism is successful, the mask was said to have its features shifted into the face of the murdered. Sergeants would often decorate their masks with blood-red tear trails as some variations of the legend state that a failed exorcism would result in the priest's eyes exploding due to the anger of the spirit.
Inceptors and Suppressors are conflated into the singular designation of Strelćy (pronounced "s-trel-tsy") due to their identical roles as highly mobile skirmishers with the similarly named ancient cavalry that hailed from the Duchy of Polshta. The Polshtan Strelćy were lightly armoured cavalrymen armed with crossbows that were created to counter the heavier cavalry formations that many of the Morozh'nehyans favoured. Their light armour and excellently trained horses meant that they could outrun and outlast any cavalry unit. Strelćy would appear at an enemy's flank, rain death with their crossbows, and disappear before the enemy could retaliate with their own cavalry. In the past, these men worked in tandem with their fellow Polshtan cavalry squad, the Magyars. In the Lightning Wraiths, the Strelćy don the heavier Gravis variant of MkX Power Armor and decimate waves of enemy infantry as well as light vehicles before repositioning with their powerful jump packs. With either Niveran Pattern Autocannons, specced by tech-priests with a blazing rate of fire, or a Niveran Pattern Plasma Cannon, modified Firstborn Plasma Cannons for use by Inceptors, the Strelćy have become favoured units in the Lightning Wraiths for the fire support they provide whilst remaining highly mobile and well-protected.
Fire Support Squad[]
As followers of the Codex Astartes' tenets of warfare, the Lightning Wraiths maintain the usage of Fire Support Squads and use them in a greater capacity than their forefathers. This is partially due to the Chapter's preferred combat doctrine of using hammer and anvil tactics, where the presence of heavier firepower would force an enemy to focus their attention to the most immediate and potentially devastating threat. Thus, they would be blind to the wide flanking maneuvers that the Lightning Wraiths had prepared for prior to their engagement. Primaris Reinforcements only served to augment the lethality that the Firstborn Fire Support Squads were able to convey with an unrepentant and indiscriminate hail of rounds and projectiles. These new warriors sometimes prefer to don heavier variants of the Gravis Power Armor in order to improve survivability as well as further intimidate their opponents.
The Chapter's Devastator Squads are known as Jirae Squads and are the manifestations of the Mountains that the chapter calls home. They are looming presences in the battlefields that trudge at a glacial speed relative to the rest of their brothers and when they find their targets, their weapons are as relentless and as unforgiving as the avalanches that punish those who dare challenge the mountains' dominion. Their preferred armaments of Plasma, Melta and Grav weaponry ensure that the first encounter should be the only encounter that the enemy would have against a Jirae Squad. Prior to the arrival of the Primaris Space Marines, Jirae Squads, along with heavier vehicles like the Predator Tank, were the sole anchor of the Lightning Wraiths' grand strategies and as such they were regarded in very high esteem for being unbreakable even against overwhelming odds.
Ifrit Squads, as the Primaris Aggressor Squads are referred to by the Chapter, are comprised of the most ruthless yet austere combatants that the Lightning Wraiths have to offer. The Ifrits are named after famous Morozh'nehyan folktales of similarly named spirits that are borne of fire and smoke roaming burial grounds to immolate any trespassers. As such, the Astartes bearing the designation share the spirit's malevolence towards their enemies. In homage to their namesakes, Ifrit Squads have a preference for Flamestorm Gauntlets and have been noted to be very proficient in their usage.
Othal Yericzen, a former Jirae Marine seconded to Deathwatch who became an Ifrit after crossing the Rubicon Primaris.
Hellscreamers were Morozh'nehyan alchemists that have gained a reputation during the Morozh'nehyan Uprising for their devastating creations: bombs and a primitive form of napalm. In the past, the title invoked the image of souls who were subjected to the alchemists' weaponry and the horrifying screams that they would let out. Within the Lightning Wraiths, the title not only refers to the screams of those who somehow survived plasma attacks, but also the high-pitched whining of plasma weaponry prior to firing. To be a Hellscreamer is to be an exemplar of discipline, as their plasma weaponry is as dangerous to wielder as to the enemy. When proper respect to the weapon’s belligerent machine spirit is given due, a Hellscreamer’s presence is a deadly force multiplier.
Uncontrollable and unstoppable. Two words that describe the infamous Mount Estia of Morozh’nehya as well as the Primaris Eradicators who have adopted the name of the volcano as their own. The Estians have gained a reputation of possessing unbreakable willpower as these warriors have powered through hails of enemy fire to destroy their objective. Much like the volcano, once their onslaught has begun and the first steps towards destruction have been taken, very little can truly stop them.
Specialist Formations[]
Within the Lightning Wraiths, there are specialist squads that stand apart from their brothers. While not completely unique, as the Chapter has adopted these formations from other Chapters or from ancient texts regarding White Scars Legion formations, the manner in which they are used is what sets them apart from a standard Astartes Squad. Note that most of these specialists are not part of the Chapter's elite veterans from the 1st Pillar of Wisdom. However, they are veterans in their own right and are treated as such for their prowess by other Chapters.
A Sov'yadtsa of the 9th Pillar of Wisdom during a tank-hunting operation. Note the lack of the Chapter Badge on his pauldron.
- Sov'yadtsai - Sov'yadtsai are a covert infiltration team of Astartes specializing in sabotage and decapitation strikes against the enemy while deep behind enemy lines. Sov'yadtsai typically consist of particularly gifted scouts that have finally earned their Black Carapace and Power Armour, but have refused to leave the 8th or 9th Pillar of Wisdom. Armed with Stalker Bolters along with one support weapon and enough explosives to demolish 5 hab-blocks, their purpose is to cause as much havoc at the heart of the enemy either through a decapitation strike on an enemy's leadership or through a destructive sabotage campaign. The presence of Sov'yadtsai is the precursor of an assault by the Lightning Wraiths. The integration of Primaris Marines into the Chapter increased the number of Sov'yadtsai as Vanguard Primaris Marines, specifically Eliminator Primaris Marines have found a place within the ranks of the Sov'yadtsai.
- Ganzig - The Ganzig are squads of disgraced Astartes who have shamed the Chapter through their pride or lack of self-control. Like the Sagyar Mazan of their forefathers and their Utyug-Krovian namesakes, these warriors are put under a death oath and would spearhead any engagement or act as the rearguard in order to restore their honor. Their insignia would be blotted out, indicating that their actions have made them unworthy of wearing the mark of a Lightning Wraith. Squads would be led by Veterans hand-picked by either the Preceptor or the Oathtaker and each Veteran would be given permission to execute any of the Ganzi who is beyond redemption. Despite their sins, the Ganzig are terrifying warriors driven by desperation for penance and the right to call themselves Lightning Wraiths once more. Their desperation and ferocity have proven to be a massive boon for the Lightning Wraiths whenever these warriors are placed on the field.
- Harbingers - Harbingers are a specialist formation designed around the rapid response to large hordes of enemy infantry. Primarily armed with flamers and jump-packs, Harbingers dart around the battlefield and shut down any attempts of mass-infantry charges in pre-emptive surprise attacks. Their weapons would be insulated from external heat sources, so that a flamer fuel tank would not prematurely ignite due to its close proximity to the flames of a jump-pack. From the skies above their foes, Harbingers would let loose a hail of incendiary grenades before crashing down and burning down the front ranks of survivors. They typically deployed when the Chapter's opponents are either Orks, Traitor Guard, or more recently, Tyranids. However, due to the introduction of the Primaris Suppressors and Primaris Inceptors during the Ultima founding, the Harbingers have been paired with either squads to further increase their lethality. Pairing a Harbinger with Suppressor Squad would improve their tactical flexibility as the Suppressors specialize in anti-tank rapid response, while pairing them with an Inceptor Squad would make them almost unstoppable against infantry.
A Stalker engages gene-stealers during a Space Hulk Expedition
- Stalkers - Before earning the white helm of the vaunted Sipahi, those who have been chosen to become a part of the First Pillar of Wisdom would receive training on the usage of Terminator Armour. It is a rite of passage for these war-torn veterans to spend a period of time clad in these cumbersome shells as the handicap upon them would act as lessons in decisiveness and efficiency of movement. One of the ancient teachings of the Morozh’nehyan Sipahi was that one had to understand the indomitable Olmamut in order to become a swooping Ayur Hawk. A teaching that manifested after the Order’s fall, and subsequently immortalized after the homeworld’s death, by the Oliphant tusks that decorate the helmets of the Stalkers. Furthermore, they will be the ones who will board any Space Hulks that the chapter comes across. It is an impulsive act for the Lightning Wraiths to scour the decks of derelict ships in order to find some ancient relic or a repository of information. The unstable conditions and the possible presence of xenos or daemons within a Space Hulk requires the additional protection that Terminator Armour provides its user. Whenever a Relic is discovered, the Chapter will search Imperial databases to find its original owners. If a match is found, then the Chapter will return the Relic to whomever it belonged to. This comes at a price, as the Lightning Wraiths would bargain for tomes of knowledge from another Chapter's library in exchange for the relic. If the Chapter refuses, then the Lightning Wraiths would keep the relic for themselves, but this occurrence is extremely rare as any form of knowledge is usually a suitable payment. This desire to hoard knowledge caused the Lightning Wraiths to gain notoriety amongst more secretive chapters, to the point that some would wage open war against the Lightning Wraiths should they be encountered again, as well as attention from the Inquisition who sought to investigate the depths of knowledge that the Lightning Wraiths collect almost religiously. Especially since rumors had risen near the end of the 41st Millennium regarding the Lightning Wraiths owning records that detail the deepest secrets of many chapters of questionable renown within the Khaganate Sepulchre. A rumor that had grown out of proportion when the events of the Siege of Morozh’nehya became known to the wider Imperium.
The Zhalat'Karum[]
A Primaris Magister unleashes his powers whilst channeling warp energy into his weapon.
Like many Space Marine Chapters, the Lightning Wraiths has a contingent of powerful psykers who act as invaluable force multipliers as well as advisors and keepers of the Chapter's many traditions and ancient lore. In addition to their scholarly tasks outside of combat, the Vizier and his Magisters are also tasked with scrying the eternal void of space for distress calls from nearby planets and/or vessels. The Sanctum Astralis, a psychic hub located at the peak of the tallest mountain of the Jirae Mountain Range and the supposed source of the ancient Y'vhtoja night stalkers, is their headquarters and a crucial piece of the Crypt of Brehus. Magisters on Morozh'nehyan soil conduct their scrying rituals within the hexagrammatically warded walls of the Sanctum Astralis.
Within the Sanctum of Heaven, there exists a rudimentary hierarchal system akin to the one prescribed by the Codex Astartes with the Chogorian Path of Heaven's ethos of moderation and discipline at the heart of their training. Each Magister is tenured into the vaunted position with limitations on what kind of abilities they are allowed to wield. As they age and gain experience, they move up the ranks and with each promotion they earn the right to utilize a more diverse array of psychic abilities. These limitations that the first of the Magisters had established were meant to ensure that those with psychic abilities would not over exert themselves to the point of self-destruction. It is only through an intimate understanding of their own limitations that any Magister would be able to move up the ranks and wield more dangerous abilities. The ranks of the Lightning Wraiths Librarius, which are inspired by Morozh'nehya's cultures and are among the last remnants of the now dead planet, are as follows:
- Magista Pruina are ‘Scholars of Frost’. The youngest and most in-experienced of the Librarius, they are taught abilities revolving around the psychic disciplines of Biomancy, Telepathy and Divination. The purpose being is because of their relative youth, they are the most susceptible to the predations of the warp and as such are encouraged to fight as warriors first and librarians second. As such, they are typically seen closer to the frontlines than more experienced Magisters.
- Magista Tempesta are the ‘Scholars of the Storm’. Librarians who have gained enough experience with controlling their abilities, these men are taught the disciplines of conjuration, telekinesis and basic Chogorian weather magic. Equal parts student of the blade and of the warp, these are the most numerous of the Ukxalat’karum and are invaluable force multipliers given that their abilities focus on magnifying the lethality of their strike force.
- Magista Anima are the ‘Scholars of the Soul’. The most experienced Librarians of the Lightning Wraiths are the only ones who are sanctioned to learn and use advanced Chogorian Weather Magic as well as abilities from the psychic discipline of Desolation. Their experience and mastery of the warp are paramount requirements in order to wield destructive powers that could level an entire army.
At their epoch, the Lightning Wraiths Magisters initially utilized abilities akin to the weather magic of Chogorian Stormseers. Over time, they branch out from the Path of Heaven to develop their own psychic abilities. Interestingly, most of these abilities are not destructive in nature and focus on augmenting the Magister's allies. Furthermore, given that Chogorian teachings are the foundation of their own teachings, the Lightning Wraiths' Librarians utilize psychic focii. Rather than using totems like the Rune Priests or the Stormseers, the Lightning Wraiths use a tome that they carry on their person at all times. Within these tomes are invocations of protection, strength and divination. Some of the abilities that they employ include the following:
- Spirit-Walk - The Magister wraps himself and fellow marines and an aura of psychic energy. This aura renders their bodies intangible to the physical world, making any weapon pass through them as if they were ghosts.
- Siphon - The Magister uses a psychic lash to entangle his target. Any creature caught by the lash will have its soul torn from its body. However, this psychic ability is a double-edged sword because if the target is a creature of the Immaterium or of greater psychic power, then the Magister runs a risk of either possession or having his soul obliterated.
- Armata Strigoi - The Magister calls upon the lingering souls of dead warriors around him and puts them under his command. As long as he has strength in his mind and body, the souls of the dead do his bidding and would slay anything that dares oppose them.
- Wrath of the Storm - The Magister summons a powerful warp storm over a battlefield, striking down anything caught under its domain.
- Lightning-Step - The Magister imbues either his own or an ally's body with warp energy. The warp energies supercharge their nerve clusters, causing the warrior to gain an immense speed boost.
Order of Battle[]
Initially, the Lightning Wraiths' Chapter composition is quite similar to that of the White Scars, with a heavy emphasis on Bike Squads and Land Speeders and a limited amount of Devastators and heavy armor. However, following the discovery of Morozh'nehya and the reforms of Khugol Khan, the chapter had been reorganized to suit a new combat doctrine that revolved around hammer and anvil tactics as well as to honour the Order of Brehus. The amount of Bikes and Landspeeders had been decreased, but are still quite numerous compared to other chapters, in favour of increasing the strength of their air force. Heavy Armour and Devastators would also regain their importance within the chapter and would increase in number compared to their forefathers. Although, artillery would become the neglected arm of the chapter due to Morozh'nehyan doctrine of avoiding such weapons due to fear of destroying the invaluable Pillars of their world. The few Whirlwinds that the Lightning Wraiths have in their armories are only used in cases where indiscriminate usage of force is a necessity such as the Tyrannic Invasion of Laiko. Warsuits would also be of limited use in the chapter as they are seen to be more trouble than they are worth and other aspects of the chapter's armories could do their jobs with the same amount or even greater amount of efficiency.
The Khal'Karum[]
| 1st Pillar of Wisdom (Perseverance) | |||
|
| |||
Fyarat'karum (Sanctum of Healing) |
Vroia'karum (Sanctum of Steel) |
Alkhuwros (Shards of Holy Moonlight) |
Zhalat'Karum (Sanctum of Heaven) |
|
Oathtaker Itzakh Orix Vicars Fyarat'Karum Disciples |
Koval Uhran Dzakov Steelmasons Serfs and Servitors Transport Vehicles |
1 Courageous Class Battleship 42 Thunderhawk Gunships |
Vizier Xiao Meigu Magista Anima (Epistolaries) Sanctum Acolytes |
The Pillars of Wisdom[]
The Kair'Vekha, an old Morozh'nehyan symbol of unity, which represents the Pillars of Wisdom as a whole.
Rather than having 10 companies of a Codex-compliant chapter, the Lightning Wraiths have 9 irregularly sized companies that they refer to as Pillars of Wisdom as tribute for the 9 Virtues that the 9 Monarchs of the Order of Brehus upheld during the Morozh'nehyan Uprising. When the chapter is at full strength, there would be 80 Veterans, 100 Astartes in each of the four Battle Companies, 150 Astartes in each of the two Reserve Companies, and 110 Astartes and Scouts in each of the two Scout Companies. Each of the Companies represents a Virtue, and each Viceroy is given a duty that coincides with said Virtue.
- Perseverance - The 1st Pillar of Wisdom of the Lightning Wraiths bears the responsibility of upholding the virtue of Perseverance and the 80 resilient Veterans of the vaunted Sipahi strive to remind their enemies of humanity's stubbornness against all odds. The title 'Regent of Morozh'nehya' and 'Mountain King of Jirae' would be bestowed upon the Preceptor when he is inducted. Like the late Izmael, the Preceptor of Qashai before its fall, the Chapter Master of the Lightning Wraiths would have the responsibility of ensuring the unity of the many warriors under the banner of the Lightning Wraiths. As Regent of Morozh'nehya, he maintains good relations with the surviving Morozh'nehyan kingdoms and is responsible for the world's safety should a threat loom over it. As Mountain King of Jirae, he is responsible for reminding his subordinates to stay true to the virtues that were upheld by the Order of Brehus until their last dying breath.
- Diligence - The 2nd Pillar of Wisdom upholds the virtue of Diligence, which was once the most well-known attribute of the Xulka Empire. Much like the dead kingdom, the 100 Astartes who hail from this particular company have been lauded as trail-blazers or pioneers in the Lightning Wraiths' art of war. In particular, the tenets of tunnel and guerilla warfare that the chapter has perfected were created through the wisdom of the first Viceroy of the 2nd. The Viceroy of the 2nd Pillar of Wisdom is given the title 'Warden of the Crypt' and is tasked with the maintenance of the Crypt of Brehus and would be the de facto commander if the fortress would be under siege. The multitude of defences that litter the interior and exterior of the Jirae Mountains as well as the well-being of the serfs serving within the Crypt's walls are among the Viceroy's many responsibilities. This responsibility traces back to the Xulka Empire’s greatest achievement: the creation of the Crypt of Hassan Brehus.
- Self-Reliance - Before the 3rd Pillar of Wisdom existed, the Duchy of Polshta was an icon of Self-Reliance. They were located deep inside a valley, flanked by mountains, and very difficult to access. Trade was almost impossible as merchant caravans and convoys would struggle to reach the kingdom due to the terrain. Despite it all, the Kingdom endured through its own resources and the will of its people to live minimally. This virtue has been taken up by the 3rd Pillar of Wisdom and those who proudly proclaim to serve in it are masters of surviving while deep within enemy lines, second only to the Sov'yadtsai and the new Vanguard Marines. The Viceroy of the 3rd is known as the 'Warden of the Logistiam' and is responsible for keeping track of deployment numbers between campaigns and the supply stocks of the chapter, much like how the High Guardian of the Duchy was responsible for the rationing their kingdom so that they may survive deep within the valley.
- Hospitality - Throughout human history, the wealthy have always been portrayed as highly selfish and narcissistic people who are only concerned in increasing and/or preserving their wealth. Such is not the case with the Alik-Massah Caliphate, a kingdom that the 4th Pillar of Wisdom honour as it embodied the virtue of Hospitality. Sitting upon one of the biggest metal deposits of Morozh'nehya, the Alik-Massah Caliphate is an economic powerhouse. The highest quality metals were its prize and it was a prize that the Caliphate heartily gave its allies, a sign of good will and trust. Emissaries from neighbouring kingdoms are treated as if they were the rulers of their own nation. The Viceroy of the 4th has the chapter's entire fleet entrusted upon him, and tasks relating to it are carried out with great enthusiasm by the aptly titled 'Warden of the Fleet'. Like the old Caliphate, those who are welcomed into the chapter’s ships are treated with utmost respect as if they themselves bear the title of Preceptor. However, if the Lightning Wraiths’ hospitality is abused, then the visiting individuals are requested to leave and are subsequently banned from entering a Lightning Wraiths vessel ever again.
- Discipline - As the greatest warriors that the Imperium has to offer, discipline is one of the paramount virtues that each Astartes must uphold within and outside a battlefield. None could exemplify such strict adherence to this virtue than the 5th Pillar of Wisdom, whose mentality was adopted from the ancient and shattered Clans of Utyug-Krov. Utyug-Krovians firmly believed in survival of the fittest, and their gladiatorial rite of passage for every boy achieving the age of 13 is an exemplar of their mentality. Any boy succeeding in their rites of passage will be immediately shafted to mandatory military service and subjected to harsh training to instill fearlessness as well as unwavering discipline in the face of battle. Such a tradition has naturally been adopted by the Chapter, and the Viceroy of the 5th is often among those responsible that it is never forgotten. The 'Warden of Desolation', as the Viceroy is referred to, is responsible for ensuring that the chapter's arsenal of weaponry is always well-stocked and maintained. A duty that he often carries out alongside the Koval.
- Fidelity - With its roots stemming from the Tribes of Vossaka, the 6th Pillar of Wisdom upholds the unbreakable oaths of undying loyalty from their tributary kingdom. From Vossakan teachings, the Lightning Wraiths have become firm believers that the only punishment for treachery is a slow and excruciating death. Any form of treachery, from disloyal whispers amongst mortals to outright betrayal of the Imperium, is an unforgettable grudge that the chapter rectifies with extreme prejudice. The Viceroy of the 6th is given the title of 'Warden of Faith' and with this title comes the immensely important task of recording and preserving the chapter's history and traditions. This duty partially extends to the security of the Khaganate Sepulchre, a massive library built to store knowledge that the chapter has gathered throughout its years. Furthermore, due to his duties, the Warden of Faith works very closely with the Oathtaker and the Vizier in matters of faith and history.
Viceroy Schwarz Kampfflieger of the 7th Pillar of Wisdom, Warden of the Skies.
- Honour - Contrary to the teachings of Vossakan tomes and the wisdom of the Vossmortin nomads, the 7th Pillar of Wisdom ensures that lessons regarding the virtues of chivalry and honour from the Umfasir Kingdom would not be forgotten. As many of the chapter firmly believe in the uselessness of honour and rivalries, those who have served in the 7th learn the importance of an 'obsolete' idea. Oaths of honour, when made by a Lightning Wraith, are expected to be fulfilled as the completion of these oaths would gain the trust, respect and loyalty of other Imperial forces. The 'Warden of the Skies', as the Viceroy of the 7th would often be referred to by other Viceroys, is expected to ensure that the Chapter's expansive air force is properly stocked, maintained and battle-ready. His duties also include acting as the chapter's representative during visits to the Forge World Nivera to collect precious equipment that the indebted Mechanicus officers provide the chapter.
- Sincerity - Scouts, Pathfinders, and Hunters; the people hailing from Kai'Talshuun have been lauded for their eerily accurate sense of direction as well as their skills in stealth. As such, they have been employed by many as guides through the treacherous mountains. The Kai’Talshuunates cared not for the reason why they were employed, whether it was to smuggle fugitives and refugees between borders or to help thrill seekers conquer the snowy peaks. However, they had a golden rule that should not be broken if they were to conduct business with clients and that rule is to simply be upfront with a Kai’Talshuunate guide. This core belief of absolute trust and honesty is the primary tenet of the 8th Pillar of Wisdom, where scouts are taught to operate as pathfinders for the rest of their brothers. The Sov'yadtsai strive to cement the fact that each warrior must learn to trust his equipment and his brothers to carry out their tasks, as they teach the next generation of Astartes alongside the Scout Sergeants. The Viceroy of the 8th, colloquially known as the Warden of the Wind, is the overseer of training that the Scouts of this Pillar of Wisdom undertake and master of field communications.
- Valiance - With three of its neighbours as hostile nations, the relatively small Szek-Fjaltran Empire had to assert itself from the very beginning as an empire that should not be underestimated. Its military, with each member drafted and indoctrinated from youth, is utterly fearless and an unrelenting offensive force. However, their greatest asset is the multitude of spies and saboteurs whose loyalty to the nation is unquestionable. Masters of disguise, sabotage, and natural linguists, the Szek-Fjaltran Saboteurs were the bane of the enemies of the state. The quietest whispers of aggression towards Szek-Fjaltra are silenced with utmost swiftness and it would strike fear into the hearts of other conspirators. This legendary proficiency of decimating enemy morale lives on through the deeds of the 9th Pillar of Wisdom. Scouts that have shown potential as snipers and assassins thrive in the teachings of Szek-Fjaltra and its lethality has only increased with the addition of Sov'yadtsai and Primaris Vanguard Marines. The Viceroy of the 8th, colloquially known as the Warden of Shadows, is the overseer of training that the Scouts of this Pillar of Wisdom undertake and the chapter’s best executioner barring the Iakugo.
| Battle Companies | |||
| 2nd Pillar of Wisdom - Diligence | 3rd Pillar of Wisdom - Self Reliance | 4th Pillar of Wisdom - Hospitality | 5th Pillar of Wisdom - Discipline |
|
Warden of the Crypt 2 Hetmans 60 Battleline Astartes Bikes |
Warden of the Logistiam 2 Hetmans 60 Battleline Astartes Bikes |
Warden of the Fleet 2 Hetmans 60 Battleline Astartes Bikes |
Warden of Desolation 2 Hetmans 60 Battleline Astartes Bikes |
| Reserve Companies | Vanguard Companies | ||
| 6th Pillar of Wisdom - Fidelity | 7th Pillar of Wisdom - Honour | 8th Pillar of Wisdom - Sincerity | 9th Pillar of Wisdom - Valiance |
|
Warden of Faith 2 Hetmans 80 Battleline Astartes Bikes |
Warden of the Skies 2 Hetmanns 80 Battleline Astartes Land Speeders |
Warden of the Wind 2 Hetmans 80 Sov'yadtsai and Vanguard Astartes Bikes |
Warden of Shadows 2 Hetmans 80 Sov'yadtsai and Vanguard Astartes Bikes |
Combat Doctrine []
- "We are the storm that descends from cloudless skies!"
- —Lightning Wraiths Proverb
As adherents of the Codex Astartes’ many practicums of warfare, the Lightning Wraiths are trained to react to any threat that they come across in the most efficient way possible. However, as time passed, the chapter had begun to prefer a certain style of warfare that revolves around the swift and explosive exploitation of an enemy's weakness which is preceded by sabotage, decapitation strikes and guerilla warfare. Through the adaptation of both their forefathers and their cousins of the Raven Guard, the Lightning Wraiths have strived to perfect their preferred style of warfare. This style of warfare is typically witnessed when the chapter is deployed on a campaign at company strength in order to maximize its lethality, though the chapter has been recorded utilizing this doctrine with less than a company’s worth of Astartes.
While devastating and highly effective, their preferred combat doctrine is heavily reliant on the success of units operating behind enemy lines. To address this, the chapter reformed its composition to have two scout companies and created the Sov'yadtsai. Having two scout companies allows the chapter to have more scout squads be seconded to various strike forces responding to a multitude of threats throughout the galaxy. With more scouts deployed at any given campaign, it allows for more thorough reconnaissance as well as giving the ranking Astartes commander contingencies in case one squad fails in its duty. In conjunction with the formation of two scout squads, the Sov'yadtsai were founded as units that specialize in operating deeper within enemy territory than what was deemed unsafe for scout squads. These are men who have earned their Black Carapace, but have been lauded for their skill as a scout and had accepted the offer of permanent assignment in the scout companies to be hunters of enemy leaders. Typically, the Scouts and Sov'yadtsai are deployed a fair distance away from the enemy via Landspeeder or Gunship and are tasked to infiltrate on foot . However, if a heavier handed approach is required, the chapter has access to Hades Breaching Drills that chapter serfs would pilot to create a tunnel into an enemy’s sanctum.
If their scouts and Sov'yadtsai are successful, the deployed forces of the Lightning Wraiths could carry out their attack. During that chaos that the men from the scout companies had wrought, the chapters’ forces would spring forth with an extremely coordinated assault between both aerial and ground forces. These forces would typically be positioned at hidden staging grounds so that the focal point of an assault cannot be guessed by their enemy until it is too late. Furthermore, due to the highly coordinated nature of an ideal Lightning Wraiths assault, the aircraft of the chapter are deployed beforehand and make a suborbital flight near the objective until the signal is given. The chapter’s airforce, larger than most Space Marine Chapters, would wreak havoc from the skies and maintain its dominance so that the ground forces could carry out their attack without fear of enemy retaliation. In particular, the Lightning Wraiths’ higher-than-average ratio of Stormhawk Interceptors would blitz between key enemy defensive positions and enemy fighters at supersonic speeds to ensure that the enemy has little time to breathe as the ground forces close the distance. In a close mirror to their progenitors, the Lightning Wraiths favour bikes amongst their ground forces and typically use them as both highly mobile fire support as well as transportation if speed is an absolute necessity. If speed is a secondary concern, then more Rhinos would be deployed alongside the bikes squads to carry squads of Astartes to their objective.
However, when the Lightning Wraiths are forced to be on the defensive, an additional facet of Morozh'nehyan doctrine is implemented to their usual hit-and-run tactics. If an objective has to be held, the Lightning Wraiths would construct expansive and interconnecting underground tunnel networks around the mission area. A total far cry from their usual tactics, but a viable strategy that was perfected through combat simulations held underneath the tunnels of the mountains of Morozh'nehya. These tunnels would be heavily guarded, filled with traps or dead ends, and designed to confuse those who dare to use them. Above ground, inconspicuously hidden entrances and foxholes are placed near allied fortifications as well as potential choke points or weak spots. Some of these entrances are false openings that lead the enemy away from the main objective and towards deadly traps. These tunnels are a great boon to those who aid the Lightning Wraiths with the defense of an objective as they are able to move from one place to another in comparative safety. Granted, they would need a Lightning Wraith Astartes or Serf to act as a guide so that they would not get lost or accidentally trigger a trap.
Unlike their progenitors, tanks and Fire Support Squads are key components of the Lightning Wraiths’ combat doctrine. While they are not as mobile as the rest of the chapter, tanks and Fire Support Squads act as the anchors of an attack or a defense. As the forces of the Lightning Wraiths make war with their enemies with rapid efficiency, tanks and Fire Support Squads become a wall of sundering firepower that protect the ground forces’ flanks as well or the battering ram in which an enemy’s defenses would be tested against the heavier guns of the chapter. A further derivation of their progenitors’ preferred style of conducting high-speed warfare, the Lightning Wraiths prefer to add extra armor to their ground vehicles to improve their survivability instead of stripping parts to make them lighter. The chapter believes that forcing heavier equipment to adapt to the high-speed warfare that they prefer is detrimental to both the equipment and the chapter’s fighting effectiveness. Instead, augmenting the strengths of the heavier equipment would bolster the chapter’s effectiveness as it would cover the weaknesses that are prevalent in their style of warfare. Granted, there is still a smaller-than-average amount of tanks and Fire Support Squads per company as the Lightning Wraiths combat doctrine emphasizes on rapid exploitation of a weakness.
Nivera Pattern Stormtalon[]
Within the Lightning Wraiths' armoury, a unique variant of the Stormtalon exists solely in the hands of the Lightning Wraiths. The Nivera Pattern Stormtalon is redesigned from the standard Storm Talon to maximize firepower and protection based on an STC that the Lightning Wraiths found on the Space Hulk Silent Blade. This variant has an elongated frame with the VTOL thrusters moved to the rear, just before the modified tail fins. This modification revolved around the Stormtalon's change of the main armament. Instead of a twin-linked weapon mounted on the nose of the aircraft, the Nivera Pattern Storm Talon has an Avenger Bolt Cannon with its ammunition stored in a custom-built carrier within the fuselage. This carrier has enough rounds for the cannon for a sustained barrage that could last 20 seconds before it runs dry.
With the VTOL thrusters moved to the rear of the gunship, a choice made to balance out the weight of the new Avenger Bolt Cannon and to increase aerodynamics, the wings of the Stormtalon were also modified to increased stability. The wingspan of the Nivera Pattern Storm Talon is larger than a regular Stormtalon's by a factor of 2. At the ends of the wings, vertical stabilizers similar to the ones mounted on Stormraven wings were added in order for the gunship to improve its VTOL capabilities. Furthermore, larger wings meant that more weapons could be mounted onto the gunship. Two hardpoints are found on each wing, one is located near the vertical stabilizers and capable of mounting a Storm Strike missile pod while the other is found near the fuselage and is capable of mounting either a twin-linked lascannon, a Typhoon missile launcher or a Skyhammer missile launcher.
Another change applied to the Nivera Pattern Storm Talon is that more armour plating is welded around the cockpit and key positions on the fuselage. This was to improve the gunship's survivability as the aftermath of the War for Nivera revealed to the Chapter that many Stormtalons fell to the enemy due to lucky hits on the cockpit and the integral components within the fuselage. All of these modifications came at a price, as the Nivera Pattern Stormtalon is slower than its counterpart and could barely keep up with its cousin, the Stormhawk Interceptor. A price the Lightning Wraiths are willing to pay as these crafts provide such an overwhelming amount of fire support that cannot be matched by the standard variant of the Stormtalon and is equal to the heavier gear that the Chapter shuns.
Chapter Culture []
Keepers of Ancient Lore[]
One of the core tenets of the chapter revolves around the collection and preservation of ancient texts from all over the Imperium’s vast domain. This belief of theirs stemmed from Khugol Khan’s experience as a scout of the White Scars as well as from the teachings of Jaghatai Khan, as these emphasized that information was the most important currency that a warrior has. In fact, this core teaching plays a major part in their reclusivity as the Lightning Wraiths are wary of former allies using any sort of knowledge they learned about the chapter against them. Their reclusivity and almost obsessive thirst for collecting ancient tomes have led some of their allies to compare the chapter to Ancient Terran depictions of a dragon - mythical creatures that hoarded vast wealth while keeping to themselves until provoked, in which they retaliate with great prejudice. However, they are not incredibly selfish with their vast collection, as they have given the honour to very few individuals in the past to peruse the halls of their library, the Khaganate Sepulchre, to their hearts’ content. Furthermore, if a situation requires the morale of their mortal allies to be boosted or for cooperation between chapters to be established, an Astartes from the Lightning Wraiths would enrapture his compatriots with tales memorized earnestly from their many tomes. Stories of valour, bravery, and sacrifice are retold by these giants clad in the colours of the dead so that those around them will be driven to pursue the same degree of fervor as the warriors of yore.
As students of the many works they hoard, each Lightning Wraith studies history, psychology, diplomacy, various dialects of Low Gothic and many other facets regarding the lives of mortals in order to gain insight on both ally and potential foe. Any and all information regarding xenos foes is gathered in order to be exploited prior to deployment. Each Astartes bearing the insignia of the Lightning Wraiths has the virtue of humility molded into his psyche, as knowledge cannot be attained through pride and stubbornness. Knowledge stemming from Xenos during temporary alliances are always taken with suspicion, but utilized nonetheless if it means to serve the Imperium. Furthermore, while the chapter only has good relations with the White Scars and recently fellow members of the Myrian Septumvirate, information from the mouths of older warriors, regardless of Chapter, is taken out of respect. They may even have their serfs interact with a planet's populace to learn about popular myths and folktales to understand their culture, both from a tactical standpoint and an academic standpoint. Great Libraries filled with tomes and literary works are defended with fanatical zeal, as the loss of knowledge is anathema to the Lightning Wraiths. In fact, before the Agri-World Laiko was besieged by a Leviathan Splinter Fleet, a collection of tomes pertaining to the planet’s history and agricultural practices were taken to be preserved as a precaution. Furthermore, numerous samples of the planet’s exported produce were taken and subsequently handed over to the Adeptus Administratum in order for it to be regrown on another Agri-World of similar climate.
Due to this belief of the importance of knowledge, every Lightning Wraith is an accomplished scholar. Prior to any deployment, a strike force will scour Imperial and the chapter’s own records to gain information on the opponents that they will exterminate and on the land they will fight in. Topographical charts, historical records, battle reports, xeno-biological data, and psychological profiles are some of the many mines of information that a strike force will gather from in order to better prepare themselves. Any chink in their enemy’s defenses - physical or otherwise - would be capitalized with such brutal efficiency that it seems the chapter is filled with telepaths. In the case of a defensive campaign, the Lightning Wraiths will endeavor to learn every secret that a planet may hold in so that any potential points of exploitation will be dealt with or utilized as a trap. A lesson that Khugol Khan had learned from his earlier years and had cemented in the minds of all who came after him. However, this also results in a slower deployment as the chapter can be quite reluctant to deploy troops if there are too many unknowns or if not enough information can be gathered. There had been few instances where the chapter harnessed the reckless bravery of their forefathers upon themselves in order to respond to an immediate threat without preparation. While they are Astartes and had been trained vigorously to deal with any opponent that may come their way, each loss that they take from such an endeavour would weigh heavily more to their psyche than normal.
The Iakugo and his Bladekeepers[]
This belief of preserving ancient lore and only sharing to those who are seen to be worthy is most notable in regards to the Iakugo, the Chapter Champion. Every 'reincarnation' of Iakugo is both a teacher and student of the martial art required to wield the twin-blade relic weapon. The hypnotic battle technique is only known to the previous Iakugo and the serfs that he taught. At the death of an Iakugo, a new one is inducted through a vote by the Cabal of Khugol. This warrior would then be taught by the previous Iakugo's serfs, who are typically aspirants that could not become Astartes due to their bodies rejecting the gene-seed and known as the Bladekeepers, as per the chapter's traditions. If he refuses the tutelage of the Bladekeepers, he commits an unforgivable sin of pride and consequently disrespects the legacy of his predecessor by doubting the validity of the knowledge that he bestowed upon his servants. The disgraced Iakugo-to-be would then be interred into the Ghanszig and another would be chosen to take his place. If he accepts, then at the end of his training, the new Iakugo would be expected to take a new generation of Bladekeepers under his wing and impart his knowledge onto them under an oath of secrecy.
Purity of Flesh[]
The Lightning Wraiths despise bionics and the thought of voluntarily replacing body parts with augmentics is anathema to them. It is their belief that when a warrior's limb is severed or an organ is destroyed, a part of the warrior's soul is lost. To replace a severed limb or an organ is to desecrate what remains of the warrior's soul. Only through a proper death will a warrior's soul be truly whole and at peace. Bionic limbs, eyes, and organs are only accepted out of pure necessity in order to serve the Imperium. Due to this belief, the Lightning Wraiths are very reluctant to serve with the Iron Hands and its successors as well as the forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus' Skitarii Legions.
Much like the beliefs of their forefathers, the White Scars, dreadnoughts are considered to be a great burden and curse to the warrior who is interred into one as the Lightning Wraiths firmly believe that a warrior must be rewarded with eternal peace once they have paid their tithes to the Imperium with their own lives. These ancient machines are seen as tombs of torment that prolong the suffering of the pilot. However, despite the negative stigma the Chapter has upon the idea of becoming a Dreadnought, the Dreadnoughts themselves are highly respected as the warriors who are chosen to be interred in such machines are considered to be the greatest exemplars of the Chapter's 9 Virtues and deserve to be immortalized. The fact that the marine would sacrifice the purity of a proper death over further service to the Chapter and the Emperor is enough for the Lightning Wraiths dreadnoughts, as few as they are, to be venerated above their fellow brothers in arms.
A Dreadnought is a symbol of the Chapter's core virtues, the sight of these war machines in a battlefield is enough to bolster the hearts of the weak.
Otherwise, if a Space Marine of great skill or experience has suffered wounds that would render them unfit for combat for the rest of their lives, they are given the Emperor's Peace as there is no point to prolong their suffering. There have been instances where the injured party would outright refuse it and request that they are to be healed as much as possible. These marines would become an Ealdor, Astartes that act as mentors for Aspirants and Serfs regarding the Chapter's many traditions. These Ealdors may also go planetside to scout for potential aspirants, and sight of their imposing statures have become part of the folklore of many worlds as they are seen as harbingers of misfortune due to sudden influxes of kidnapping wherever they are seen. At a certain age, the Ealdors are returned to Morozh'nehya to partake in their final hunt where they are stripped of all their equipment and only given a spear before being cast out to the Morozh'nehyan wilds to hunt as many predators as they can before they are slain.
This also results in a reluctance to use servitors and a very large amount of Chapter Serfs, larger than most Chapters. It is their belief that any task a servitor can do is achievable through human hands with equal or greater efficiency. A fully functional human mind is more favourable than a lobotomized yet obedient one because creativity and innovative thought processing are core facets in the Chapter's ethos. Furthermore, the chapter's beliefs of a soul's purity being desecrated by machinery also applies to mortals and lobotomization is often seen as a unforgivable act of cruelty and disrespect to those who deserve peace. This is also because they are aware of the reputation that Astartes have among mortals, so they use Chapter Serfs as a means to bridge gaps between posthuman warriors and mortals. The only exception to this is the Armorium as certain duties are too dangerous for normal humans and require expendable servitors instead.
Abhor the Mutant[]
Ever since the chapter's inception, the Lightning Wraiths have seen mutants and abhumans as things barely worthy of their attention due to their impurities, with the latter being significantly more tolerated due to certain species proving their worth via service in the Astra Militarum. While initially not as extreme compared to the likes of the zealous Black Templars, the Lightning Wraiths' first encounters with the insidiousness of the Genestealers have caused them to adopt extreme measures in order to prevent such an event from occurring upon other planets again. Ever since their disastrous defeat in the Agri-world of Laiko, the Lightning Wraiths would conduct extermination raids at suspected mutant nests on planets where they would be campaigning in so that they could theoretically uproot potential Genestealer cults before they can gain enough strength to conduct an uprising. In fact, Astartes that have been seconded to the Deathwatch have recently been obsessively studying genestealers so that future raids can be done with greater efficiency upon their return to the chapter.
Oath of Morozh'nehya[]
- "In my experience, the best way to protect your people in times of war is to ensure that the enemy is never given the opportunity to reach your castle walls. Take the initiative and strike before a siege forces you to commit to a war of attrition."
- — Chieftan Yasif Que'tahm of the defunct Clans of Utyog-Krov.
One result of the chapter's expansive grasp on history is that they have gained a dour outlook on humanity's future, seeing as the race will never achieve its former greatness due to the self-serving interests within many souls. In fact, the Chapter believes that the race is dying and the warriors of the Imperium are the only things that are delaying the incoming extermination of humanity. Most mortals are perceived to have this self-serving mindset, regardless of their importance to the Imperium as a whole. This belief of humanity's inherent selfishness stems from Khugol Khan's early distrust of the Chogorians and the death cults of Morozh'nehya.
Despite their pessimism and nihilism, the Lightning Wraiths refuse to ignore any calls for aid and are always amongst the first ones to respond to any distress signals within Segmentum Obscurus. While they are not as humanitarian as some Chapters, the Lightning Wraiths actively choose assignments that would ensure the safety of mortals. The chosen assignments often require the Astartes to act as bait or a diversionary assault force to give other Chapters or Imperial forces time to assist civilian evacuation. Lightning Wraith Hussars and Lancers have also been noted to volunteer themselves as outriders and scouts of an escort convoy to intercept any enemy forces that intend to attack the defenseless.
This behaviour has been deeply rooted into the Chapter's combat doctrine through the Oath of Morozh'nehya. Before the Uprising, any nobleman or woman from any kingdom that desired to become a knight had to swear on oath of fealty to a frontier town's elders. This oath placed heavy emphasis that if war were to break loose, every knight's first and foremost duty is to ensure that the people they pledged their oath to would remain safe. Usually it comes in the form of bringing arms and armour for those who are willing to fight and escorting the children and elders to the closest allied kingdom's castle. It is not uncommon for the peasantry to be devoutly loyal to a single knight and many power struggles within a kingdom have begun with a peasant uprising in favour of their lord's ascension.
They are also surprisingly very protective of children. Time with Morozh'nehyan natives had instilled a form of paternal code within the Lightning Wraiths' ethos. Any child that dared to approach a Lightning Wraith is met with warmth and wisdom instead of the unwelcoming silence that is typically associate with these warriors. They go to great lengths to save children from any threat that looms over a world and consider the young as priorities whenever a planetary evacuation has to be made. To voluntarily harm a child, whether directly or indirectly would gain the ire of the chapter.
Law of Hospitality[]
An ancient Alik-Massan tradition that is still being practiced by both the Lightning Wraiths and the kingdoms of Morozh'nehya prior to its fall. The Law of Hospitality dictates that each and every guest that enters your domain is to be treated with the utmost respect, as if they were the kings of the realm. All but the darkest secrets can be shared by the host and the guests' every need is to be addressed with great efficiency by the hosts themselves. However, if said guest abuses the hosts' hospitality in any way, be it through blatant disrespect or a crime, they are to be escorted out of the premises with a warning to never return. They still will be considered as allies and will fight alongside them if need be, but they lose the privilege of being welcomed by the chapter. Murder will warrant the immediate retribution of the chapter, and a blood tithe will be collected.
The Lightning Wraiths have created a sub-clause of the law that applies to allied psykers and servants of the Omnissiah. These individuals are warned beforehand that they should never use their psychic or mechanical gifts within their hosts’ domain if possible, as it is seen as a sign of grandstanding. Posturing as a superior when amongst equals is a sign of disrespect to the hosts as well as fellow guests. This sub-clause is particularly aimed towards psykers and is enforced by hidden members of the Zhalat'Karum, who would immediately approach a guest utilizing their gifts - discretely or otherwise - to personally escort them and any persons in their party out of the hosts’ domain.
An odd quirk has also emerged from the Lightning Wraiths' adoption of this Law. Rooting from an old Szek-Fjaltran tradition, tasks that are directed to a guests' well-being are only carried out with their dominant hand. Whether it be to refill a guests’ drinking glass or to aid them, a Lightning Wraith’s dominant hand should always be seen and/or occupied. It is the belief of the Szek-Fjaltrans that if a warror-host's sword arm is occupied, it is a sign of peace and respect as the host is essentially leaving themselves open for an attack with only a small chance of proper defence or retaliation.
Sanctity of Eternal Sleep[]
- "It is time for the fallen to rest, they have fought as hard as the Emperor asked them to. Look to the future, to the young ones, and ensure that they too will fight with every ounce of their being as there is no greater reward in death than knowing that the price the foe paid in blood for your life is steep and unforgiving."
- —Oathtaker Aiko Sotek after the Aedalur Massacre
Teachings from the Vossmortin Death Cults of Morozh'nehya have instilled the importance of respecting the dead within the Lightning Wraiths. A small portion of the Chapter will always remain on a planet after a war to aid in the burials of respected warriors. Rites of the Fallen are taught to each Battle-Brother by the Vicars so that they themselves can give the dead a proper Imperial burial which also lends credence to a deviation to their forefathers in which the Fyarat'Karum has more influence within the chapter rather than the Zhalat'Karum. Additionally, if a planet has unique burial traditions, those who remain will take the extra effort to learn the planet's traditional rites. To further cement their unwavering respect for the dead, the Lightning Wraiths have been noted to return wargear belonging to other chapters that have been left behind in a battlefield. Most of the time, the returned items are in pristine condition which hints that the Lightning Wraiths' Steelmasons have repaired it so that it may serve its purpose once it has returned to its parent chapter.
Their fierce desire to place the utmost respect for the dead has inadvertently resulted in their adaptation of some extreme punishments for the desecration of the deceased. To steal from the dead, with the sole purpose of taking a trophy or to make a profit, will result in the thief’s hands being cut off. If an individual or a group of individuals fail to uphold either Imperial or local burial customs due to negligence, then they would be buried alive while parasites feed on their bodies as they die from asphyxia. Cannibalization is highly frowned upon and any perpetrator seen conducting the act outside of necessity would be force fed a concoction of slow acting neurotoxins. This extremist philosophy has earned the ire of many Regiments and Chapters as the more zealous Lightning Wraiths would often attack those who have committed acts of desecration without warning. It is only through careful negotiations that war between a regiment or a chapter would be averted, but relations between the chapter and the offended party would be permanently worsened.
The greatest example of a schism between the Lightning Wraiths and another Imperial organization revolves around Living Saints - and tangentially, the Legion of the Damned. The concept of resurrection is anathema to the Lightning Wraiths and is often perceived as an extreme form of desecration. To them, a resurrected Living Saint is nothing more than a doppelganger who was given the equipment of the original wielder in order to trick the pious masses. While they would initially work with them begrudgingly due to the invaluable boost in morale that their presence provides, the Lightning Wraiths are infamous amongst the Adeptus Sororitas for their relentless accusations of grave-robbery and ceaseless demands for justice on behalf of the very saints that they seek to persecute.
Although, the same degree of obsession for burial practices could not be said in regards to the disposal of the corpses belonging to their foes. Whenever possible, monuments of the enemy dead are piled up high before they are immolated by what the the chapter refers to as drei'zhurma marvecz, or 'maw of the earth'. This concoction, which has the same gelatinous consistency as promethium, produces an unnatural flame that spectators have observed to shift between pitch black and deep blue. The flames borne from these pits have been recorded to never burn out despite harsh storms or after being smothered for days by debris. These would only finally die out once the last sliver of bone is reduced to ash. The exact composition of this eerie compound is a secret that the Lightning Wraiths have refused to share, even to the Tech-Priests of Mars, but many have noted that this bluish-black flame was never seen to erupt from the flamers of these Astartes.
The teachings from the Vossmortin Death Cults about the inevitability of death also made many Astartes abandon misguided ideals of honor and glory, seeing as these things are of no use to the dead. As such, they consider feuds and rivalries between Chapters or Regiments as a waste of time and energy. They also find competitiveness distasteful as it breeds jealousy and strife between warriors whose duty should be their greatest priority. Warriors of the Lightning Wraiths learn early during their training that the only way to truly ensure humanity's survival is to cast away personal ideals and possessions. They believe that the best warriors are those who have nothing to lose and nothing to believe in, as the only thing left in their minds is the drive to protect and to slay.
Vossmortin teachings have also created the foundation for the Chapter’s adoption of Spartanism. Coupled with their experiences with various Chaos Cults aligned with Slaanesh, the Chapter has shunned the usage of gold and excessive decoration. Every Lightning Wraith has very little personal belongings as having more than what is necessary is seen as vain and materialistic. To them, what one owns in the physical world will amount to nothing in the grand scheme of things as everything can and will fade to dust once death has claimed one’s soul. This mentality can also be observed in their Hall of Heroes. Many chapters embellish the final resting place of their warriors as a final sign of honor for the fallen, but the Lightning Wraiths believe that doing so demeans a warrior’s worth as it makes it appear that the warrior is self-centered and vainglorious.
This mentality can also be noticed on their power armor. Besides macabre trophies and a general lack of decoration, the Lightning Wraiths are not too concerned about their armor’s appearance. Minor damage is often ignored and armor plates are only repaired when the structural integrity is approaching a point in which a Battle-Brother’s safety is in jeopardy. Even then, most of the armor’s wear and tear is not addressed during the repairs and this sometimes results in a veterans’ armor being almost devoid of the chapter’s colors and heraldry because the paint had been peeled off by the multitude of battle scars that the armor endured. Some warriors take this as a means to show how devoted they are to the Imperium’s survival when their loyalties are questioned. However, maintenance of the battle plate is still observed vigorously and none of the Lightning Wraiths would dare become the lynchpin of a failure due to false pride in that their skills would be more than enough to compensate for severe battle-damage on their war plate
Tears of the Solstice[]
Given the Lightning Wraiths’ deep respect of the dead and belief in the sanctity of the soul, concepts brought about the teachings of the Chogorians and the Vossakans, burials of fallen brothers are done in a manner that could be easily be seen as occult or barbaric. Every 20 years, during Morozh’nehya’s Winter Solstice, a grand procession would be held for those who had fallen. Astartes and aspirants would gather in the Reclusiam as the highest ranking Vicar would deliver a sermon for the dead - whose coffins would be arrayed before the Vicar in preparation for their final rest in the chapter’s catacombs. However, prior to this event, a collection of serfs who served the deceased marines are selected to be cast out into the frozen wastes of the planet. Each serf would have on their person a series of items: a crimson-colored piece of amber called a bloodstone, a sword made from either the shard of the fallen’s combat dagger or a piece of a bionic, a personal affectation of the fallen such as an Ayur feather, and a waterskin filled with ibex milk. Their 100 day journey would lead them to the Black Tear, an ancient forest of such immense spiritual importance to the people of Morozh’nehya that no woodcutter would dare fell a tree from this revered place. They would soon reach an enormous clearing deep within the forest where a field of swords await along with a lone hooded giant. Without hesitation, these serfs would create a small pyre to burn the charm they brought with them. The ashes of the charm would then be mixed into the waterskin along with the bloodstone and a concoction that the giant would provide. Around this time, the procession within the monastery would be relocating the coffins to the catacombs. As dawn approaches, the serfs would be instructed to drink the contents of the waterskin while the Astartes finally place their brothers’ in their final resting place.
The concoction that the giant provided is a fast-acting poison that renders the serfs unconscious as if in a deep sleep before inducing a cardiac arrest which would lead to hypoxia. This painless death would mark the end of the ceremony and the giant would begin the burials of the serfs, marking their graves with the sword they brought with them. The significance of this macabre tradition is that the serfs would become eternal companions to the fallen marines as they make their way to the afterlife in the Emperor’s Light. Only a devoted few are given this honor, and it is believed by the Vossakans that their devotion to their lord would create a bond so deep that even the dreaded Yvh’Toja are not able to separate the master from the servant.
The Favoured Sons[]
- "I am my father's son. A manifestation of his undying will and never-ending hatred for the enemies of humanity. No amount of spite or self-loathing will ever change that."
- —Attributed to Khugol Khan
When Khugol Khan founded the Lightning Wraiths, one of the first lessons he bestowed upon his subordinates was to respect their progenitor chapter and their primarch above all else. However, as time went on, this deep-seeded respect to their forebears had evolved something akin to religious reverence. The Lightning Wraiths see their primarch-primogenitor, Jaghatai Khan, as the absolute pinnacle of martial prowess and wisdom outside of the Emperor. This almost fanatical devotion to their primarch and the White Scars is matched by the reverence that Sanguinius inspires amongst both Astartes and mortal. Many have no doubt that if the White Scars were somehow persecuted by the Imperium, the Lightning Wraiths would become the mad dog that would defend them unto death.
At first, their respect to their progenitor came in the form of adopting some of their many traditions. One tradition that the Lightning Wraiths proudly share with their forefathers is the White Scars' scarification rites. Despite the Chapter's negligence to pursue honor and glory, scars earned in battle are signs of a warrior's prowess. Each Lightning Wraith can recite tales of how they got their scars by heart, from a shallow graze caused by an Ork's Choppa to the intricate patterns that dance along the faces of some Vicars. These scars are also marked on their power armor, much like the White Scars, but the first stroke of said honor mark is always done with a warrior’s own blood. Like their progenitors, scarification ceremonies are held during a Battle-Brother's ascension to a position of command and the marks that the Vicars graft onto the skin of these warriors are solemn reminders of the burden one must bear as a leader. Although, their scars are given a black hue rather than the traditional off-white of the White Scars because the Lightning Wraiths believe that only their forefathers have the Khan's blessing to carry on the traditions of the nomadic tribesmen of the Chogorian Steppes. This is also a form of psychological warfare as the black hue starkly contrasts their albino white skin tone, further amplifying their unnatural appearance.
Accompanying these scars of honor, the Lightning Wraiths have also taken the White Scars’ tradition of collecting trophies. Typically in the form of enemy skulls or pieces of weaponry, the Lightning Wraiths decorate themselves with these macabre trophies as a form of psychological warfare. These trophies are inspected by both the Fyarat'Karum and Zhalat'Karum prior to a Battle-Brother adding it to their panoply of war. This inspection is done to ensure that neither an insidious pathogen or a corrupting presence lurks within these trophies.
As time went on and their obsession with their Primarch increased, the Lightning Wraiths’ behaviour began to grow more unusual when it involved their fellow successors. The chapter would look upon their fellow scions of the Khagan with disdain, as they did not share the same degree of fanaticism and loyalty towards the White Scars. While they don’t often devolve into open hostilities, it has been noted that whenever a successor of the White Scars is suspected of heresy or treachery, the Lightning Wraiths are always amongst the first to prosecute their kinsmen. One of the most notable instances occurred at the aftermath of the Badab War, where a strike force of Lightning Wraiths cordoned off a Mantis Warriors fleet during their penitent crusade. An audience with the ranking officer was demanded by the Lightning Wraiths, and when it was granted, said officer was so badly beaten that his Sus-an membrane was prematurely triggered and the thunderbolt of the 5th Legion was carved into his forehead.
The White Scars have stated multiple times that they frowned upon the borderline religious zeal that the Lightning Wraiths had shown towards their Primarch and have attempted multiple times to temper their hatred towards other successors to no avail. As such, the Lightning Wraiths are held at arm’s length by the White Scars as their worth as the devoutly loyal enforcers of the Khagan’s legacy is offset by their manic obsession to ensure its purity from corruption and weakness.
Gene-Seed []
- "The pale demons hide their true nature behind a facade of apathy and wisdom, but we know what they truly are. Mutated monsters consumed by hatred and violence, waiting for the right moment to unleash the beast within their souls."
- —Accredited to Lady Forossa of the Order of the Lioness
As successors of the White Scars, the gene-seed of the Lightning Wraiths was initially found to be stable and free of aberrations, save for the underlying curse that every scion of Jaghatai suffers from. However, many years after the chapter's first batch of recruits were transformed into Astartes, peculiar mutations began to surface.
Ilyas Khassim, first Lightning Wraith to successfully cross the Rubicon Primaris, still retains his chapter's genetic mutation.
Astartes blessed with the gene-seed of the Lightning Wraiths have been noted to have a deathly alabaster skin tone, to the extent that it had been suspected that they were given Raven Guard gene stock rather than White Scars. Furthermore, their pupils would lose their colouration until only milky white orbs remain and their hair would lighten to an almost pure white shade. It was never discovered how these mutations came to be, with many Vicars believing that the initial batch had been altered or had mutated during the transit to Morozh'nehya. Their ghastly appearance is a source of great shame to them, as they believe that their mutated existence is a stain on the purity of their progenitor’s legacy. In an effort to preserve the Khagan’s legacy of genetic purity, the Lightning Wraiths always don their helmets and take great care to ensure that nobody would bear witness to their deathly appearance. To have a warrior of the chapter bare his appearance to anybody is a sign of great trust from said warrior and it is not easily gained.
As time went on, another mutation surfaced following the degradation of a warrior’s appearance to that of a blind corpse. At a certain age, they begin to lose the ability to spit acid as their Betcher’s Gland would deteriorate suddenly and agonizingly. A side effect of the deterioration, along with the loss of a powerful tool, is the deterioration of their larynx. Aged veterans of the Lightning Wraiths who have lost the ability to spit acid, speak with an unnaturally raspy voice and cannot raise their volume above a whisper. A veteran’s lack of power behind his voice due to this mutation is often mitigated by maximizing the output of their helmets’ vox-grill emitters. This affliction is preceded by an Astartes spitting out and/or coughing out thick globules of blood mixed with the acid produced by their failing Betcher’s Gland. It has been stated by many veterans that the agony that they experience when the acid from the Betcher’s Gland slowly melts away their larynx is among the worst pains they have ever experienced
Primarch's Curse: Savagery Within[]
The genetic curse of Jaghatai's legacy is also felt by the Lightning Wraiths. A savage mindset that is contained through the constant vigilance of both the marine and the members of the Farshan. The curse is necessary as it gives the Lightning Wraiths strength at times where others would have faltered. Those who cannot restrain themselves or drag themselves out of this cloud of wrath and death are interred into the Dark Prophets, specialist squads with death oaths cast upon each member for shaming the chapter through their lack of discipline. The curse usually manifests itself in two stages, but the introduction of the Morozh'nehyan genome has resulted in an unforeseen third stage:
- Level 1 (A Moment Unrestrained) - The Battle-Brother's discipline begins to slip and falter, allowing brief moments of untamed ferocity to emerge in the heat of battle. Often, the Battle-Brother will not even know that he is succumbing to this savagery, and it requires the presence of his Brothers to warn him of his failure.
- Level 2 (Suppressed Rage) - Within the darkest reaches of the Battle-Brother's mind lurks the shadow of his rage and fury, seeking any opportunity to emerge, and causing the Battle-Brother to become belligerent and quick to anger.
- Level 3 (Wrath of Khan) - The Battle-Brother's rage and fury becomes too great to contain and his mind becomes clouded with thoughts on how to unleash it. When given an opportunity, he recklessly throws himself onto the enemy with complete disregard for orders and discipline. If he is unchecked for a prolonged period of time, he will begin to lash out at both friend and foe.
Deathwatch Service []
Service in the Deathwatch is seen as both a form of exile as well as a means to groom a Lightning Wraith into a future leader or a more efficient warrior. While a great honour to most chapters, Veteran Astartes chosen to take part in the Long Vigil are those who have exhibited enormous potential throughout their life but are inhibited by a flaw in their character that goes against the chapter ethos. The duration of their service largely varies, but extreme examples like the ill-fortuned Atlan Khassim are essentially all but banished from the chapter due to the severity of their fatal flaw. Regardless of their circumstances and their flaws, a Lightning Wraith would not disrespect their chapter and their forefathers by not performing their absolute best amongst warrior-peers of equal calibre.
Prior to the discovery of Morozh’nehya, the Lightning Wraiths were more reluctant with the notion of sending one of their veterans to the Deathwatch as they were highly mobile and isolated void hunters at the time and could not afford any loss of manpower. Following Morozh’nehya and Khugol’s reformations, the chapter would begin to be more open to the idea of seconding Astartes but only for those that the Oathtaker deemed necessary. However, preparing a Lightning Wraith to become something greater is not the only reason why the chapter began to send more of their veterans to the Long Vigil. Within every Watch Fortress is a repository of information regarding the many xenos species that the Imperium encounters. Many Lightning Wraiths have scoured the many tomes of a Watch Fortress’ library and would return to the chapter with new additions to their own records.
Atlan Khassim, one of the few Lightning Wraiths who are subjected to a nigh permanent secondment to Deathwatch
Naturally, most of the information retained from their service in the Deathwatch were predominantly xeno-biological data. However, there are some who delve further into their research and would study cultural intricacies amongst known xenos species. Surface level studies usually yield a contemporary understanding of languages while deeper research allows an Astartes to have a glimpse of the inner workings of their opponents. This insight sometimes allows a Lightning Wraith to make accurate predictions on a target’s next move, but not often given that some xenos species like the Orks can be too unpredictable to anticipate. Along with data regarding xenos, Lightning Wraiths also take note of their compatriots’ combat doctrines and cultures. While not malicious, as this data is intended to be used to improve combat compatibility with other chapters, the Lightning Wraiths still keep this information under lock and key in case of an occurrence where they would need to defend themselves against or prosecute a former ally.
Furthermore, while they are gifted warriors, as are all of those who are seconded to the Long Vigil, the Lightning Wraiths’ reputation as withdrawn and taciturn scholars would be reinforced due to their aloofness amongst other members. There are exceptions, usually members of the Fyarat’Karum given that they are both spiritual guides as well as healers, but the overall experience of other Astartes when interacting with the Lightning Wraiths primarily consists of curt words and long bouts of silence. There is also the issue of the chapter’s animosity towards other successors of the White Scars and the Space Wolves, as the Lightning Wraiths are always quick to anger whenever they are forced to work with the VIth or other successors of the Vth. Normally, this is avoided by putting the Lightning Wraiths in contact with other chapters but because of the nature of a Deathwatch Kill-Team, these Astartes are forced to swallow their old grudges for a time to improve the squad’s combat efficiency. In any case, to have a Lightning Wraith converse extensively with another is usually a sign of respect from said Lightning Wraith if the Astartes in question did not hail from chapters that the Lightning Wraiths already hold in high regard.
One thing that other Watch-Captains also have noticed from Lightning Wraiths that are seconded for a long period of time is they experience bouts of severe homesickness. Predominantly manifesting through episodes of speaking in one of Morozh’nehya’s languages whilst in a mission, a Lightning Wraith may sometimes indulge in a favoured pastime of brewing either al’kherasz (a citrusy tea made from a Morozh’nehyan mountain flower) or khaghya (an extremely concentrated brew of recaff) when in the Watch Fortress. In extreme cases however, a Lightning Wraith may have bouts of insubordinate fury where they would throw themselves where the fighting is at its thickest. Those that survive are severely reprimanded and would sometimes have their secondment extended in order to remove such impulses. Atlan Khassim, a Vicar that has been serving in the Deathwatch for much longer than any Lightning Wraith, has claimed that these bouts of fury are often extreme attempts to remind oneself that the Sable Horde’s roots are firmly planted in hatred and should never be forgotten.
Notable Members []
- Khugol Khan - Founder of the Lightning Wraiths.
- Tarac Re'Nali - Khugol Khan’s closest advisor and confidant, Tarac Re’Nali was often found by Khugol’s side even before the man assumed the mantle of Iakugo. A former veteran sergeant of the 9th Brotherhood, Tarac was a warrior who embodied many Chogorian virtues of honour, brotherhood, and self-improvement. Like many Chogorians, Tarac longed for a time when he could hunt freely without the heavy burdens of responsibility and duty weighing him down. When the calling for a new founding had been made, Tarac was approached by Khugol for the Preceptor-to-be needed someone to be his naysmith. Someone to curb his desire to temper the wild spirit of the Khagan’s legacy with caution and meticulousness by reminding him of what it meant to be a Scion of the Fifth Legion. Seeing an opportunity to let his skills with talwar and lance grow without constraint, Tarac accepted the responsibility of becoming the devil’s advocate for Khugol’s vision. After the liberation of Morozh’nehya from Chaos’ taint, Tarac had immediately grown to enjoy the diverse cultures of the local populace. From their histories and mythologies, he helped Khugol reorganize the chapter and created the Sov’Yadtsai and the Iakugo. The Iakugo was his homage to a local tale from southern Morozh’nehya of an unknown nomadic warrior pledging his blade to a humble king. The tale recalls how the warrior would help the king strive to greater heights of power and aided him in defeating threats deep within the inner circle. This story had cemented itself in Tarac’s mind as a lesson of trust between champion and ruler as well as a cautionary tale that a leader’s downfall does not come from the failings of his guardian but from his own hubris. These beliefs were what led Tarac to dissolve the Honour Guard and replace them with the Iakugo so that the Preceptor would never cease in his vigilance due to a false sense of security and force the head of the Lightning Wraiths Chapter to be as skilled in blade or bolter as the masked guardian who watches over him.
- Elias Khatiphor, the Kingmaker - The oldest Dreadnought in service to the Lightning Wraiths, this venerable ancient has overseen the chapter’s founding as a member of the White Scars and has since paid witness to each and every Preceptor’s ascension to the venerated position after his voluntary reassignment to the Lightning Wraiths. A former Voice of the Storm, the White Scars' equivalent of a Reclusiarch, Khatiphor was interred into a sarcophagus to preserve his life after a defiant last stand against overwhelming Ork numbers. His strike force's actions allowed a large exodus of civilians to evacuate the planet as it was being overrun by Orks. When the White Scars returned to carry out a cleansing campaign with multiple regiments of the Imperial Guard, they were surprised to discover that Khatiphor was being kept alive - if only barely - by the Orks as a trophy. By the time they were able to rescue the aged warrior, the only option for him to continue living was to subject him to the claustrophobic existence of a Dreadnought. Khatiphor only agreed in the condition that they would not bedeck his new mechanized body with the livery of a Chaplain, but of a proud Son of Chogoris. As the oldest warrior in the Lightning Wraiths, many Vicars come to him to ask for guidance in regards to the Chapter’s many traditions and many officers look up to him as a stalwart beacon of defiance against the eternal darkness. The slumbering machine of war was awoken during the ill-fated Invasion of Morozh’nehya during the wake of the Dark Millenium. During the Invasion of Morozh’nehaya, Elias had ultimately perished defending one of the entrances to the Crypt of Brehus. During his last moments, Elias overloaded his reactor and the resulting explosion collapsed the tunnel. A statue of his likeness was carved by multiple Lightning Wraiths who respected him and mourned his loss. It currently stands at the entrance of the Path of Fidelity, where Elias made his last stand.
- Jharkem Ishkal - Former Viceroy of the 4th Pillar of Wisdom. He was most well known for his unnatural size and resilience as he towered over his brothers even before his ascension to Primaris. His moniker, The Lupine Goliath, comes from his physicality as well as the mark of the Sable Wolf emblazoned on his favoured breaching shield. Ishkal was designated KIA when his body was never found following a campaign where he remained to hold off a tide of __ so that his brothers could escape. At the 13th Black Crusade, he was found on Cadian soil fighting alongside an Imperial Guard Regiment that was also designated KIA decades prior. Upon his extraction from Cadia, Ishkal divulged that he had no recollection on how he survived the __ campaign and how he arrived at Cadia during its time of need.
- Uresh Haeed - Former Viceroy of the 8th Pillar of Wisdom, famously renowned for his preference for psychological warfare which earned him his moniker "Ghoul of the 8th''. Uresh was one of the many Astartes throughout the Chapter's history that was not recruited from Morozh'nehya. Rather, he was recruited from a Hive World called Ballur IV after the Lightning Wraiths had secured a victory against forces of the notorious 8th Legion. The Night Lords had carried out a mass slaughter on the population of Ontara Primus's underhives, Ballur IV's main hive city. Uresh had been one of the few survivors of a mindless purge carried out by Warp Talons upon his community. However, he did not survive unscathed as his face had been mangled by shrapnel from a bolt round detonating within his father's body and had been forced to watch as his other family members were flayed alive. When the Lightning Wraiths had come to liberate the Underhive of Ontara Primus, the boy had unknowingly followed the footsteps of Khugol Khan and snuck into a Lightning Wraiths vessel after recovering from his injuries. The boy had been noted to be especially anti-social amongst his peers during the chapter trials but had fit in surprisingly well with the nomadic hunting parties of the Oxthonik tribe during his Pilgrimage. When he finally earned the right to be called a Lightning Wraith, his first-hand experience of Night Lords torture methods coupled with teachings from his mentors had given him the foundation to become a terror on the battlefield. Uresh had never killed his prey in broad daylight or during battle, preferring to strike in the darkness of the night from behind enemy lines as they would be lulled into a false sense of security. When he decided that the time was ripe for him to strike, Uresh made it a habit to shed his helmet to showcase his malformed and ghoulish features to whoever had the unfortunate fate to become his target. Often, he would ensure that his target was not alone so that he would leave a traumatized survivor, whose eyes would be taken from them, to spread the news of his deed. Armed with a Stalker Bolter and a Flaying Knife given to him by a warrior hailing from the Flesh Tearers Chapter, Uresh Haeed's exploits during his time as Viceroy of the 8th Pillar of Wisdom had spread to the far reaches of Segmentum Pacificus and whenever news of the Lightning Wraiths' arrival had reached a rebellion's high echelons, a mutiny headed those who feared the Chapter would almost always occur.
- Kashirin Zukhol - Former Oathtaker.
Itzakh Orix, Oathtaker of the Lightning Wraiths, clad in the Mantle of the Aniol'Valak.
- Itzakh Orix - Current Oathtaker. Also known as ‘the Blackhand’ within the Chapter for an event in which he brutalized a Chaos Marine with fists, such that his armor from the elbow down was coated in black ichor. Itzakh Orix was only recently appointed to the rank of Oathtaker when his mentor, Kashirin Zukhol, perished during the Siege of Morozh’nehya in order to buy time for the gene-seed to be safely evacuated from the doomed planet. Donning the Mantle of the Aniol’Valak, an archaic set of artificer power armor crafted in the image of the Morozh’nehyan Angel - otherwise known as one of the Aniol’Valak - Itzakh acts as one of the last bridges between Morozh’nehya and the Chapter. When not in the midst of combat or assisting the preservation of his brothers’ lives as a healer, Itzakh works with Xiao Meigu and Ishkarro the Sal’nuurian to catalog and record as much of Morozh’nehya’s history and culture that their eidetic memories can remember. A task that he struggles to truly complete due to his many duties as well as his obsession with ensuring that every detail is preserved and immortalized.
- Xiao Meigu - Current Vizier and Szulah's advisor.
- Izh'Falka Nelkhum - Former Koval of the Lightning Wraiths. He was the senior authority during the Siege of Morozh'nehya and had been the one who activated the Fortress' self-destruct protocol at the cost of his own life, which caved in the ancient tunnel networks of the Crypt of Brehus and subjected the lands around the Jirae Mountains to centuries of radiation.
Uhran Dzakov, Koval of the Lightning Wraiths and his servo-skull companion, which he jokingly refers to as 'zhlifo' or 'little child'.
- Uhran Dzakov - Current Koval of the Lightning Wraiths, Uhran Dzakov is a strange character due to his sense of humour, which makes him stand out amongst his withdrawn Lightning Wraiths brethren as well as his cold and calculating Techmarine peers.
- Atlan Khassim - Vicar of the Lightning Wraiths, permanently seconded to the Deathwatch. The circumstances of his secondment trace back to the Eultic Campaign. During a
- Casimir Arslan - Former Preceptor of the Lightning Wraiths, known as the Lion of Antora for his exploits on the Antoran Campaign as well as the Man of Two Worlds. Casimir Arslan was part of a host of Chogorian children that were given to the Lightning Wraiths after one of the chapter's traditional centennial pilgrimage to their progenitor's homeworld. Although he was raised as a Morozh'nehyan, Casimir was able to retain his people's joy in riding with the storm. As he climbed the ranks due to his peerless skill as an Aekorian, Casimir was soon given a chance to return to his old home by partaking in the traditional duels of the Successors of the Vth Legion as the Viceroy of the 7th Pillar of Wisdom. His agility with the blade along with the deceptive techniques of Morozh’nehyan swordplay earned him a glorious victory and through it, the prodigal child of the Chogorian Steppes was able to relearned his lost culture. Arslan took to the ways of the laughing hunters like fish in water and when he returned to Morozh'nehya, he was chosen as the next Preceptor via unanimous vote, and his first act as Preceptor was to share what he had learned with the chapter. During his reign, both Morozh'nehya and the Lightning Wraiths experienced a renaissance of the arts. Poetry and Calligraphy were taken upon as worthy pursuits where in the past they were considered bothersome tasks that had been retained for sake of diplomacy. While Morozh'nehyan poetry was as unsubtle as the metal pillars that littered the planet's surface, there was beauty in the bluntness of the verse that the chapter had neglected to explore. He himself earned the epithet of Artisan King for his numerous works of calligraphy and poetry. When he had perished, Morozh'nehya as a whole mourned for 10 days at the loss of such a bright light in their bleak lives.
Szulah Nuk'Fallad clad in his panoply of war, including the Crown of the Old Kingdoms and the relic power axe, Khasar
- Szulah Nuk'Fallad - Current Preceptor of the Lightning Wraiths. The only child of a widower blacksmith, Szulah Nuk'Fallad had always been a beacon of hope ever since he drew his first breath. His upbringing and close proximity to his father's workshop gave the boy insightful knowledge in the art of smithing. In fact, many had believed that he would become a Steelmason for he was skilled in manipulating metal into beautiful works of art while spending many hours in the Chapter's forge. When he refused a position in the Vroia'Karum, a rarity among Astartes, all but his closest comrades were confused. He later divulged to his confidants that despite all his skill in the forge, he always believed that his true calling was to lead.
Właçista Durszakh, Sipahi Marksman bereft of his preferred armament: a customized Las-Fusil.
- Właçista Durszakh - A Sipahi of the Lightning Wraiths, Durszakh is an accomplished marksman who has earned accolades during his time as a member of a Jirae Squad specializing in the Lascannon. Outside of combat, he is also a well-learned xenobiologist whose research regarding the eccentricities of Orkish hierarchy allowed his comrades to destablize an Ork WAAAAAAAGH! before it could become a credible threat within Segmentum Tempestus. He is also typically seen with one of the last fully grown Ayur Hawks, as he had bonded with this majestic avian as an aspirant and had remained close with it - sometimes even having it accompany him during campaigns to act as his eyes from the sky. With the advent of the Primaris Space Marines, Durszakh has exchanged his Stalker Bolter with a Las-fusil and has taken to attaching himself with Sov'Yadtsai Squads to conduct decapitation strikes.
- Mak'Rasham the Hollow - A Renegade formerly of the Lightning Wraiths, Mak'Rasham was once a Wrozhina Cavus who consorted with the Thousand Sons in a desperate attempt to rescue his subordinates from the foul sorceries of Villuxus of the Emperor's Children.
- Zhi-Huo Han - Current Viceroy of the 5th Pillar of Wisdom, known by his peers as the Unrepentant for his rigid and brutal mindset towards failure and betrayal. A former child vigilante, who was given along with a few others as a tribute for the Cull in the place of a king's firstborn son, Han has retained a strong and unwavering belief in justice and retribution. His moniker derived from his actions against Renegade Astartes as he would not give any of his opponents a chance to redeem or explain themselves as he believed that they have forfeited themselves to damnation the moment they betrayed the Imperium. This impenitence also extends to his fellow Lightning Wraiths and has resulted in a firm opposition to the existence of the Ghanzi. To him, anyone who has failed to uphold their duty to the Imperium and the Chapter only deserves death, not repentance. However, this self-proclaimed brute of a man is not without his own pieces of wisdom. Armed with a storm shield and a brutal Morningstar of his own design, Xi-Huo Han not only upholds and exemplifies the ironclad discipline of his Pillar of Wisdom but also is a man of selfless action and honour. Inspired by the chivalric oaths of the Sipahi, Han has made himself into a character who would inspire mortals with his magnificent skill-at-arms rather than uplifting speeches and would never shy away from any battle that his Preceptor would command him to lead. Furthermore, much like his brothers, he is a man of very few words but is never afraid to lay out painful truths or unsubtle commentaries that would seem boorish or disrespectful to those unused to his blunt personality. A trait that is equally a boon and a nuisance, but one that is respected by more open-minded and level-headed thinkers like Szulah Nuk'Fallad as well as those who are equally unsubtle and boorish like the infamous Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers, Gabriel Seth. When the Indomitus Crusade began and the Chapter was reinforced by Primaris Greyshields after their many losses, Zhi-Huo Han was among the first that desired to cross the Rubicon Primaris. While he was not impressed that Szulah had Ilyas Khassim become the first one to ascend as a Primaris Space Marine - as the Preceptor saw that Han was too valuable to risk dying during the operation - Han immediately undertook it as soon as the Vicars were certain of continued success for the fires of vengeance burned brightly within him following the Death of Laiko.
- Onnura Mohandra - Bannerlord of the 5th Pillar of Wisdom, Onnura Mohandra was the close confidant and a mentor figure of Xi-Huo Han throughout the Unrepentant's tenure as Viceroy of the 5th. A veteran of over five hundred years with the scars to prove them, Mohandra is one of the best examples of a typical battle-brother of the Lightning Wraiths: taciturn, introspective, and fueled with a quiet rage. Men of the 5th Pillar of Wisdom looked up to Mohandra as his wealth of battlefield knowledge was second only to the sarcophagi-clad ancients. His most common ‘students’, as he liked to call the younger Lightning Wraiths who would approach him, are those who shared his former specialization as a Fire Support Astartes. The sharp eyes of a devastator coupled with a long and storied service to the Emperor meant that he could spot minute details that could potentially turn the tides of battle. Knowledge of these details were his most treasured commodities and he greatly relished sharing them with those who were willing to learn it. Having served as Bannerlord under three Viceroys prior to Xi-Huo Han, Mohandra’s brothers in the Sipahi have noted that while the 5th Pillar of Wisdom’s Bannerlord is a very skilled warrior, he was also a walking beacon of misfortune. A joke of sorts that would taint Mohandra’s world view time and again, but would be cemented in his psyche after near decimation of the 5th Pillar of Wisdom’s Command Squad during the Death of Laiko. Only Han, Mohandra and Gol’Tashyk would survive the genestealer ambush from within that preceded the total collapse of the Lightning Wraiths’ defence. From then on, Mohandra became very distant from his brothers, save for his students and Han. After his crossing of the Rubicon Primaris, Mohandra would throw himself and the Banner of the 5th where the fighting was at its thickest and where he would be as far away from the rest of the command squad. A habit that would gain the ire of those who have not lived through the calamity of that was the Laiko Campaign.
- Ulitor Xicora - Commonly referred to as the Snowpiercer, Ulitor Xicora is a Hetman oathed to the side of Xi-Huo Han of the 5th Pillar of Wisdom. One of the Awakened Primaris, Xicora and his kind were outsiders to the Lightning Wraiths as they knew nothing of the chapter’s lore, traditions and combat doctrine. The initial suspicion that the Awakened were subjected to was put to dust following Xicora’s daring stratagem during the Battle of Waerus Heights. During a lethal blizzard, Xicora led two squads of Fusiliers through a treacherous mountain pass that led to a weak point on a heretic commander's fortress. In order for Xicora’s men to remain hidden from enemy auspex sweeps, he ordered them to deactivate their armor. For hours, they marched through the blizzard where visibility was near zero and temperatures were averaging at -60 centigrade. Once the blizzard lifted, the enemy was surprised to see Astartes mere metres from the fortress walls and were wholly unable to cease their advance into their domain. Xicora’s actions allowed the rest of the Lightning Wraiths to breach the fortress and slaughter all its occupants.
- Nahru Gehn'Batuur - A Hetman oathed to service under the command of Xi-Huo Han.
- Dregun Gol'Tashyk -
- Yorishu Valktrei -
- Hassan Makh'Sariq - A former Grey Shield Apothecary, Makh'Sariq was trained to become a Vicar before his assignment to the 5th Pillar of Wisdom as part of the first wave of Primaris Reinforcements.
- Drago Yasif - A former Grey Shield Reiver, Drago Yasif was one of many first generation Primaris warriors that flourished after their induction within the Lightning Wraiths. His skill as a Reiver led to him being the first Cavus of the newly formed Khatiph squadrons and Yasif would go on to earn a reputation amongst his fellow warriors as a relentless hunter. The teachings of the chapter about gathering as much information about an enemy was adopted seamlessly into his methodology of the hunt that he would sometimes be tasked with conducting assassinations deep within enemy lines due to his expertise. However, Yasif himself admits that he has no mind for logistics or grand strategies, and this can be noted on his choice of weaponry which includes a two-handed Eviscerator chainsword that he prefers to use as its iconic roar strikes fear into those who are within the vicinity of his prey. As such, Yasif has not been chosen to ascend into the rank of Hetman or Viceroy due to his rather short-sighted desire of punishing one target to another for their conceived sins of continued existence.
- Ishkarro the Sal’nuurian - A Dreadnought assigned to the 5th Pillar of Wisdom and the only surviving Ancient from the Siege of Morozh’nehya, Ishkarro is one of the last Firstborn dreadnoughts in service to the Lightning Wraiths. His title derives from a peculiar experience during his pilgrimage across Morozh’nehya where he met a cadre of nomads that had gathered around an large and ancient Sal'nuur tree. Initially thinking they were poachers, Ishkarro would soon discover that these nomads were actually part of a long line of caretakers that had been watching over the forests and attempting to regrow the ancient trees for centuries.
Non-Astartes Personnel[]
- Aurelia Valerikov - Main Character of the Aurelia Short Stories. A well-respected and long-serving Shipmistress of the Lightning Wraiths currently assigned to the Battle Barge ‘Woe of the Forgotten’. Aurelia Valerikov was the daughter of dock workers on the planet of Elas and been a young child when she bore witness to an Ork invasion that ravaged her home. She had been hiding in her hab located in the destitute parts of Nairomu, one of the major cities of Elas, for weeks before she was discovered by Casimir Arslan, Preceptor of the Lightning Wraiths. The aged warrior was separated from his men during an operation to cull the Orkish hierarchy and had been wandering through Elas' slums in an effort to stealthily regroup with the rest of the Chapter's forces. At the sight of her pitiful state - the sole living human for kilometres and barely clinging to life due to her scant access to food and water - Casimir placed her under his protection and vowed that she would live to become someone great. As he slowly made his way back to one of the Chapter's bases, Casimir nursed her back to health with what food and water he could find. Despite his best efforts, it wasn't long before they were discovered by the Orks. In the skirmish that ensued, Casimir was able to defeat the small patrol at the cost of his arm. He managed to find a spot to hide and comfort Aurelia, but was grievously injured during a last stand against a larger horde of Orks in order to defend her. When she was found by the Lightning Wraiths, they sent her to one of the refugee camps to reunite with her parents. Normally, in a situation where a child was rescued by one of the Lightning Wraiths, said child would be brought into the Chapter along with their immediate family to serve as labouring serfs as the parents would theoretically instill devotion to the chapter for the debt that cannot be easily paid. However, in Aurelia's case there one aspect that made her situation quite unique. It was the fact that a Preceptor had given their life to protect her. Her debt to the Chapter was astronomical in their eyes, and this would have made her a pariah of sorts if she were to be indentured as part of the Chapter's legion of serfs. However, it was the wisdom of Kashirin Zukhol, Oathtaker of the Lightning Wraiths, that convinced them that she was destined for a greater purpose if Casimir saw fit to lay down his life for her. And so, when Aurelia and her mother were taken in by the Chapter, the young girl would be one of the Chapter equerries and henceforth be pushed to the absolute limit so that her calling will be made clear to Aurelia and the naysayers of the Chapter. The harsher treatment Aurelia received from those around her made her mother despair at their situation for a long time, but even at a young age she understood that it was a small price to pay for Casimir's sacrifice. Even without her mother's assistance, Aurelia had already devoted herself to serving the Chapter that saved her. It was at the cusp of adulthood when they found that she had a knack for marksmanship and regicide which led to her transfer from equerry to bridge crew. As soon as she understood the intricacies of a voidcraft's bridge and the duties associated with it, she adapted so quickly that her future bodyguard, Tariq Mak'hann, remarked that this could have been the potential that Casimir had seen all along.
The Alkhuwros []
The Alkhuwros (al-khu-vros) - which translates to ‘moon shards’ in common Morozh’nehyan - is a term that refers to the entirety of the chapter’s fleet that patrols the Segmentum Pacificus and beyond. However, following the loss of Morozh’nehya, the fleet is split into 9 divisions, each of which is known as an ‘alkhuwroen’ (al-khu-vrehn) or ‘moon shard’, and is capable of transporting and supporting a company of Astartes for a prolonged period of time. The 1st Alkhuwroen consists of the Chapter’s sole Battle Barge and current Fortress-Monastery, the Woe of the Forgotten, as well as a heavier concentration of support vessels compared to the 8 other divisions.
Battle Barge 'Woe of the Forgotten', the Lightning Wraiths' flagship.
Vessels hailing from the Lightning Wraiths have been modified with more powerful engines in homage to their progenitors in order to close the distance much faster or to make a quicker escape from an unwinnable scenario. Furthermore, many of the Lightning Wraiths' escort ships are modified with improved stealth systems for ease in closing the distance to an enemy ship. In parallel to their shrewd tactics on the ground, the Lightning Wraiths had their escort ships be painted pitch-black and be devoid of markings in order to blend in with the darkness of outer space. However, the larger vessels retained the chapter's heraldry and the intent of this decision was to induce a false sense of security amongst enemy fleets at the sight of a deceptively small collection of ships. In order to maintain the illusion, Lightning Wraiths fleets fly in close formation so that the smaller vessels can hide in between the larger ships and have their heat signatures be masked by the roaring engines of the Strike Cruisers.
These modifications were made as the Chapter's combat doctrine in void warfare is identical to their planetside combat doctrine: defeat the enemy with a single, lightning fast and devastating blow from a position of stealth. This doctrine is further emphasized by the larger hanger bays that are present in most of the larger ships of the Chapter. Given that almost all Astartes vessels are more heavily armored than their Imperial Navy counterparts in exchange for a loss of firepower, the Lightning Wraiths once again decided to play to their strengths and focused on improving the lethality of boarding actions to end a fight swiftly by destroying a ship's command structure or sabotaging it from within. That is not to say that their vessels are helpless when their hangar bays are empty, as they are still capable of defending themselves should a void battle last longer than intended.
The following are some of the many ships of the Alkhuwros, some of which have unfortunately been lost to the void due to unfortunate circumstances whilst traversing the Immaterium or total annihilation by the hands of the chapter's many enemies:
- Woe of the Forgotten (Battle-Barge) - This ancient ship has been in the possession of the Lightning Wraiths since its inception and was among the gifts that Chaigut Khan's successor had given Khugol prior to his departure. It was the first vessel to be modified with the larger hangar bays, more powerful engines and weaker shields and armor in order to suit the Chapter's void combat doctrine.
- Wings of Aekoria (Courageous Class Battleship) - The newest addition to the Alkhuwros, the Wings of Aekoria is a behemoth of a voidship that currently acts as the Woe of the Forgotten's sister vessel in terms of importance to the chapter. It had been a hard fought prize wrested from the clutches of the infamous Night Lords when a warband using this ship as a battering ram ambushed the 2nd Pillar of Wisdom as they tried to rescue the remnants of the 5th Pillar of Wisdom from the violent turbulence of the warp, brought about by the Cicatrix Maledictum. When they were able to re-acquire this ancient ship for the Imperium, they brought it back to Chogoris as Szulah Nuk'Fallad made a grand summons for the chapter to regroup following its many losses. The ship was handed to a Torchbearer fleet as soon as what was left of the Lightning Wraiths gathered in the Chogoris System to receive their new Primaris Reinforcements as well as the means to create this new breed of warrior. However, rather than reassign this enormous battleship to another chapter of older roots, the tech-priests of the Torchbearer fleet - many of which are Niverans that had undertaken a pilgrimmage to Mars at the Dawn of the Dark Millennium - vowed to restore it so that the beleaguered and battered chapter can stand proud once more in spite of the difficulties it had faced that would've broken any other chapter. There had also been rumors that the Avenging Son himself had approved the re-assignment of this blessed warship to the Lightning Wraiths after learning of the Chapter's steadfastness despite multiple close calls to ruination.
- Kublai's Song (Strike Cruiser) - One of the older ships in the Chapter, Kublai's Song has seen many conflicts that have shaped the Chapter. Szulah Nuk'Fallad once was the acting captain of this ship when he was the Viceroy of the 4th Pillar of Wisdom.
- Gai Gamshig (Strike Cruiser) -
- Silent Storm (Strike Cruiser) - The leading ship of the Purge of the Zhau Sector, this ship's hull is decorated with scars from the encounter with Dark Eldar vessels and trophies that the Chapter salvaged from the remains of the xenos ships.
- Epiphany (Strike Cruiser) -
- Falconeer (Strike Cruiser) -
- Ayur (Gladius Frigate)
- Exodus (Gladius Frigate) - The Lightning Wraiths' homeworld of Morozh'nehya was founded through this ship and was brought to Imperial jurisdiction through the efforts of Vizier Tayang Ganbold and his expeditionary force. This was the first vessel to don the five-pronged crown of the Lightning Wraiths' chapter badge.
- Winter-blood (Gladius Frigate) - The first ship to be outfitted with broadside harpoons at the request of Viceroy Fai after Dark Eldar ships escaped him during a pursuit due to their more nimble vessels.
- Ashen Sky (Gladius Frigate)
- Khugol's Oath (Hunter Destroyer)
- Thirteenth Moon (Hunter Destroyer)
- Carmine Tear (Nova Frigate) - One of the most decorated ships of the Lightning Wraiths' fleet. This vessel has hunted down and destroyed 17 ships belonging to Traitor Astartes throughout its lifetime. The only ship of its class in the fleet, the Carmine Tear is Viceroy Zebediah Ahab's favoured ship and the Lightning Wraiths' vanguard during the defence of Cadia.
Chapter Relics []
The Chapter's Reliquary holds a modest collection of Relics that embody both the Lightning Wraiths' spirit as warriors of the Khagan's Ordu as well as keepers of ancient knowledge. War gear that has been passed down through generations of Astartes are meticulously cared for by both its users and the Vroia'Karum despite being used rather liberally. These are also blessed by both the Fyarat'Karum and the Zhalat'Karum as it is believed that each user has imbued a portion of their soul within their war gear through decades or centuries of service whilst wielding these ancient tools of war. However, to some members of the Chapter, ancient wargear is secondary to the accrued knowledge of centuries. While most of their collection resides within the Khaganate Sepulchre, some tomes are too valuable and are instead placed within the stasis fields of the Reliquary to preserve them until the end of days.
- Voice of Jaghatai - A book that was supposedly written by Jaghatai Khan himself, this was gifted to Khugol Khan by a Stormseer when the Chapter was founded. The book is an omnibus of Jaghatai Khan's master strategies as well as passages of his personal teachings that reverberate within each tactical move on the battlefield. This was the same book that Khugol poured over during his time of mourning and solitude following Chaigut Khan's death. While the original is kept within the Reclusiam, under the watchful eye of the Oathtaker, copies have been made for widespread usage within the chapter and many Lightning Wraiths have turned to this book when seeking guidance and meditate upon its passages.
- Signet Rings - Each Viceroy and Head of the 3 Khal’karui, also known as Sanctums, as well as the Iakugo has a signet ring welded upon the left index finger of their gauntlets. Along with being another symbol of office, the signet rings are bio-metrically linked to their owners and act as a security measure as encrypted data-slates of great importance regarding Lightning Wraiths secrets or stratagems can only be opened through one of these thirteen rings. The insignias emblazoned on each ring are the sigils that represent the core values and ideals of each of their respective positions within the chapter. As such, purity seals between Astartes can have different designs upon the wax since it is a signet ring that affixes the honour mark onto the armor. If an owner of a signet ring dies, their successor would be tasked to forge an iron ring with the deceased warrior’s personal heraldry emblazoned on the ring’s face. Their biometrics would be linked to the signet ring after their predecessor is laid to rest with the newly forged iron ring on their finger.
- Tome of Vossaka - An ancient leather-bound book, preserved since the Chapter's Founding. The Tome of Vossaka is a religious text that was written at the beginnings of the Kingdom of Vossaka. Its lines were once recited with holy fervor by the Vicars of Vossaka to embolden the hearts of their fellow warriors. When the Kingdom fell at the height of the Morozh'nehyan Uprising, Tayang Ganbold received the book from the last of the Vicars and swore an oath to ensure its survival. To this day, the Chapter's Vicars read upon its ancient pages to study the powerful words that these men and women uttered that turned the tides of war to their favour and use these ancient phrases in their own litanies of faith, fury and hate. When a new Aspirant is inducted into the Chapter as a Saboteur, he swears his fealty to the Chapter in the language of the book under the guidance of the Oathtaker. Unfortunately, the original tome was lost during the Siege of Morozh'nehya when the tunnels of the Crypt of Brehus were immolated by nuclear fire and this has deeply wounded the chapter's spirit as it was one of the only reminders that survived the great purge during the First War of Morozh'nehya.
- The Crown of the Old Kingdoms - A relic dating to the Chapter's founding, the Crown of the Old Kingdoms is a Mark IV helmet with a wrought-iron crown welded around its circumference and cheek plates that cover the portion of the faceplate under the lens and beside the grill. The relic was made from the remains of crowns belonging to the Lords and Ladies of the Order of Brehus, who swore their fealty to the Chapter during a war for their homeworld against a daemon who had tricked the entire world. The first Koval had incorporated the remains of the nine crowns onto an Iron Halo and forged it into the shape of a crown before affixing it onto the helmet. On the surface of the crown's band, the names of these monarchs are etched in Ghonzan-Korchoi along with the names of the city-states that they once led against the looming tide of damnation. The helmet itself is Khugol Khan's very own, a relic from his time with the White Scars and a reminder for future Lightning Wraiths Preceptors of their vows of eternal loyalty to their forefathers. Khugol's honour markings on the helmet have remained in place to this day, carefully preserved and maintained by the Chapter's Koval, artificers and the Viceroy of the 5th Pillar of Wisdom.
The Khasar, A Relic Power Guan Dao that was wielded by Khugol Khan upon the Chapter's founding.
- Khasar - An Power Guan Dao that was supposedly created during the First Sabbat Worlds Crusade, this relic was formerly Chaigut Khan's weapon of choice before it was passed over to Khugol Khan. A fine balance between beauty and savagery, Khasar was a symbol of the White Scars' warrior spirit. Adamantium imbued with silver gave the blade an unnatural sheen even in darkness and the shaft was decorated with finely engraved script recounting the Primarch's triumphs. The blade also had an engraving of a Chogorian horse carefully etched onto its face. It is said that the depicted horse was one of Jaghatai's own mounts during his youth on Chogoris. The horse's name was lost along with the Primarch of the White Scars when he disappeared after a Dark Eldar raiding party laid waste on Chogoris. Many Stormseers of the White Scars also claimed that the horse's soul is imbued into the guandao, and like the animal that had ruled the plains of Jaghatai's home, it would not let anyone wield it unless they were deemed worthy, despite the fact that the beast was dead for decades by the time the weapon was made. Its deceptive beauty hides the brutality that the weapon is capable of bringing when in the hands of a worthy warrior. Even if the power field generator were to fail, the sheer weight of the weapon coupled with the mono-molecular edge of the blade is sufficient enough to cleave through swathes of men or even power armor. Every new Preceptor swears his oaths of fealty and service upon this weapon before he cuts his palm against its edge.
Iakugo, weapon of the Chapter Champion.
- Iakugo - A word from a defunct vassal of the Ghonzan Empire meaning 'bewildering force', it is the weapon wielded by the Chapter Champion. They would renounce their old name and replace it with the weapon's in order to become one with the relic as tradition demands it. The weapon is a matching pair of Chogorian Talwars acquired from the Space Hulk Silent Blade during the War for Nivera by Viceroy Paran and was given to the Iakugo as a gift. The talwars had been modified by Koval Ishal Nakeer after their retrieval to suit the Iakugo’s preferred fighting style, a mysterious martial art that the first Iakugo, Tarac Re’Nali, created and preserved through the Bladekeepers. The traditional Chogorian hilt assembly was replaced with a stylized variant of the Alik-Massan Kilij’s hilt and crossguard with the hilt being extended so that each talwar could be wielded by either one or two hands comfortably. The pommels were also customized to allow the two blades to interlock with each other via powerful mag-lock, which would transform a pair of scimitars into a twinblade. When paired with the War Spirit’s Masque, the relic twin-blade becomes an instrument of death in the hands of the Chapter's Champion. Those who are marked as prey by the Iakugo will have a whirlwind of adamantine steel as the last thing they see before they die.
The War Spirit's Masque
- War Spirit’s Masque - This relic is a helmet that incorporates an incredibly lifelike mask said to have incorporated the features of the Khagan and of Chaigut Khan, Khugol’s mentor and master. Created after the discovery and reclamation of Morozh’nehya, the War Spirit’s Masque is said to have been made with the intent for its wearer to be able to harness the fury and focus of both warriors it took after. Initially, the intent was that the War Spirit’s Masque was to be used by Khugol on the battlefield while the Crown of the Old Kingdoms would be relegated to ceremonial duties. However, the Preceptor balked at this notion and could not be convinced to part with Chaigut’s crowned helmet. As such, the gift was instead given to Tarac Re’nali, Khugol Khan’s closest advisor and the one who would create the Iakugo’s identity and tradition. The helmet not only boasts advanced auto-senses as per Tarac’s requests to improve a warrior’s performances on the battlefield, but it also has modified vox-speakers akin to those found on the armor of the infamous Night Lords. This grants the Iakugo the ability to let out an ear-piercing roar, often described in records as that of a Leviathan’s cry of wrath, in order to disorientate his opponents. This helmet, coupled with the frightful grace required to wield the Iakugo’s twin-glaives, allows the scions of the Khan to believe for a short moment in the height of combat that their gene-father still fights alongside them. A belief that pushes all Sons of the Fifth Legion to great endeavours of martial prowess, bravery and joy in righteous combat.
Morozh'Nehyan Artifacts[]
Although the Chapter does not venerate these items as much as the ancient wargear or texts of the Reliquary, the adornments that bedeck the Lightning Wraiths are as important to the Chapter as the colours that they wear. These are bridges between the aloof warriors and the frigid planet that they once called home. Following the destruction of the Crypt of Brehus and the death of Morozh'nehya, these have become the only link that the chapter has to their planet's legacy aside from what remains of the historical texts once held within the Khaganate Sepulchre. To desecrate these items in any fashion is to incur the pure, unadulterated wrath of the Lightning Wraiths.
- Soul Tethers - A Battle-Brother that is mourning the loss of another Battle-Brother or of a respected mortal would tie a piece of pure white rope with a decorative tassel around their off-hand, but some of the Lightning Wraiths have been noted to place their soul tethers on different body parts due to personal oaths to the fallen or beliefs. This is an ancient custom from the Kingdom of Qashai and it had meant that the wearer of the rope will act as a tether for the deceased as they make their journey to the afterlife so that the human soul would never be lost in their final odyssey to paradise.
- Uthmira Piolrisha - In Low Gothic, it translates to ‘Uthmir’s Favour’. An Uthmira Piolrisha is a mark of prestige amongst the Szek-Fjaltrans as it was an Ayur Hawk’s feather dyed with the juices of a unique fungus that only grows in caves near mountain peaks. The practice of decorating their war gear with these feathers is still prevalent among the Lightning Wraiths. The color of dye used on the feather is indicative of the warrior’s talents. A white feather is a warrior whose bravery in battle compliments his skill at arms. A red feather is a pilot of the Land Speeders that the chapter favours while two red feathers are for the pilots of larger vessels such as the Stormhawks. A blue feather is reserved for those whose tactical acumen has earned them command of a chapter vessel. A black feather is an honor mark of Sov'yadtsai who have distinguished themselves apart from their brothers by their skills in stealth and subterfuge.
- Shards of Estia - A century after the dawn of the Dark Millennium, the Lightning Wraiths returned to their homeworld to reclaim whatever the Forces of Chaos were not able to defile with the Warp’s malignant taint. To their great sorrow, very little of the planet was not tainted. The only haven of purity on Morozh’nehyan soil was Mount Estia, the only active volcano on the planet that still spews out ash and lava despite the death of all things around it. All but the former Greyshields trekked to the volcano on foot as penance for their failure to protect their home. When they reached its base, each warrior gathered a small shard of obsidian to store in iron lockets that they would keep on their person until their final breath. On that day, the long contained beasts dwelling within the souls of the Lightning Wraiths was set loose upon the galaxy.
- Mantle of Sorrows - One of the main aspects of Morozh'nehyan culture that the Lightning Wraiths have latched on to since their discovery of the frozen world were the many funerary practices amongst the varied cultures of Morozh'nehya. An example of this are the Soul Tethers, the white cords that decorate the armor of the Lightning Wraiths, whose roots can be traced back to the Preceptories of Qasahi. Another equally notable example is the Mantle of Sorrows. In many Morozh'nehyan cultures, either a dark shade of teal or gray-blue are considered the colours of mourning as they match the color of a clear sky during the winter solstice. When a Lightning Wraith dons the colours of mourning, he does so with either a robe or a skirt made from a coarse, thick material known as akash which was the traditional fabric of the Alik-Massan Caliphate. Traditionally, those who were mourning were allowed to wear the colours indefinitely until they finally made peace with their loss. However, within the Lightning Wraiths, an Astartes is only allowed to don the colours of mourning for the length of a single campaign. Once the campaign ends, a Vicar would conclude the period of mourning by burning the mantle with the white flames of rebirth. The sole exception to this are those who serve in the Deathwatch, as their secondment to the Long Vigil is a campaign in of itself and the grief of severance from their brothers is so great that only a Vicar of the Lightning Wraiths can cleanse them of this depressive malaise.
- Ghul’Thas Olmamut Tusks - The Ghul'Thas Olmamut was an enormous mastodon native to the ice fields that bordered the former territories of the Clans of Utyug-Krov. Its fur and its ivory tusks were prized commodities, but the animals themselves were considered sacred by the Utyug-Krovians. So much so that those who hunted the Olmamuts only do so in dire circumstances and the hunters themselves are blood oathed to treat the creature with respect during the hunt and when its flesh is harvested. It is not uncommon for an Utyug-Krovian to make a blood sacrifice to appease the beast's spirit after a successful hunt. During war, the Olmamut is a terrifying sight to behold. Its fur would be decorated with ancient war paint, spikes would be mounted on the already brutal tusks and howdas brimming with javelin throwers rain a painful death from their holy war beast. The last time these creatures were used in war was during the Morozh'nehyan Uprising, when the Order of Brehus made its final stand upon the base of the Jirae Mountains to buy time for Taiyang. Great sagas were written about how a single corp of Olmamut riders demolished an enemy cavalry force outnumbering them 4-to-1 or how the last chieftan of Utyug-Krov destroyed one of the Y'vhtoja with a javelin crafted from the tusks of his father's own Olmamut. Before Morozh'nehya's Downfall, the Olmamuts peacefully wander the ice fields and graze upon the hard mushrooms that grow against the brutal winds. The beasts were protected by Lightning Wraith edicts and any poachers caught hunting them were impaled upon the tusks of the last Olmamut Corps. The Lightning Wraith Stalkers, the elite Terminator cadre specialized in Space Hulk expeditions, decorate their helms with Olmamut Tusks in remembrance of the war beasts' legacy. Since the creatures have been rendered extinct after the Siege of Morozh'nehya, each Terminator helmet decorated with an Olmamut's tusk is treated with due reverence by both serf and battle-brother as the chapter would not dare desecrate the final resting places of one of Morozh'nehya's most fearsome animals by returning home to collect new sets of tusks.
Arsenal of the Vroia'Karum []
Within the Chapter's armories, there exists variants of Imperial Weaponry that the Lightning Wraiths utilize as their primary tools of war. Most of these are provided by the Forgeworld Nivera as they have been in a trade agreement with these scions of Jaghatai ever since they rescued the Niveran Priesthood's home from the predations of a Khornate Warlord. These weapons are typically a amalgamation of Morozh'nehyan and Chogorian doctrines and philosophies along with a few Niveran quirks.
- Dragan's Talons - Abvarashim Dragan, the first Lightning Wraith to be seconded to Deathwatch, was in their service for a hundred standard years and was highly regarded by his Killteam as a skilled warrior and scout. One of his greatest exploits was defeating an Ambull single-handedly during a covert operation on a world under xenos occupation. Dragan had been separated from his squad due to unforeseen circumstances and had to trek through an abandoned mining tunnel system to reach the exfiltration point. In his journey, he ran into a lone Ambull that had gone completely feral. After it had destroyed his weapon during a scuffle, Dragan retreated deeper into the tunnels to find a means to kill the insectoid xenos. Thanks to his training in the many Morozh'nehyan tunnel networks, Dragan was able to navigate the mine whilst remaining hidden from the Ambull. Dragan was ultimately able to kill the Ambull by trapping it long enough for him to crush it with a Goliath Rockgrinder's drilldozer blade. In remembrance of his deed, Dragan commissioned the creation of two combat knives in the style of a traditional Morozh'nehyan jambiya. This weapon would have its hilt and scabbard made from Ambull talons and mandibles, trophies that Dragan brought to the Watch-Fortress after his mission. Upon a scout's ascension to the Sov'yadtsai, as Dragan himself was once a part of the special unit, a warrior must make a blood oath upon these two blades and would be provided with a jambiya with components created from the bones of Morozh'nehyan creatures that they have killed during a ceremonial hunt. This jambiya is as much of a symbol of office to the elusive Sov'Yadtsai as the black helmets that they don.
A bolter with its handguard, weapon casing, and pistol grip replaced with pieces of Sal'nuur Oak.
- Whispers of Morozh'nehya - The Lightning Wraiths have a peculiar practice of replacing weapon components with pieces of laminated and blessed wood from the stubborn Mashaan and Sal'nuur trees that populate the famous Sable Tear Forest located the feet of the Jirae Mountains. It has been said that each tree contained the voices of ancestors and the noises they make when a wind passes through them is an ancestor's attempt to communicate with their descendants. Much like the mortal populace, the Lightning Wraiths treat the trees with absolute respect and would leave offerings to appease both the spirits of the forest as well as the creatures that dwelled with in. The wood would be treated with a secret process by the Steelmasons of the Vroia'Karum such that it would be as tough and durable as the standard furniture of a bolter.
- Niveran Kriegmesser - A weapon that exemplifies the Lightning Wraiths philosophies of combat, the Niveran Kriegmesser is a staple component of a Lightning Wraiths duelist. Combining the aggressive curvature of a Chogorian talwar with the heft, length and deceptive nimbleness of a Terran longsword, a Niveran Kriegmessar is everything a warrior of the Lightning Wraiths should be. Swift and nimble, but perfectly capable of being an unrelenting bludgeon borne of strength when required. Interestingly, this weapon implements a variant of Morozh'nehyan technology that was also used by mortal warriors of the frozen world. Rather than having the generator create a power field to disrupt the molecular bonds of a target, a Niveran Kriegmesser has its sole edge be superheated whilst retaining rigidity. As such, each cut with this weapon would melt whatever comes into contact with it, even reinforced ceramite. This bladed weapon comes in varying lengths, from a one-handed weapon that could be dual-wielded by more aggressive members of the Aekorians or the Khroczaks to massive greatswords capable of cutting swathes of flesh in twain with a single swing. While Nivera is the only Forge World that produces a variation of the weapon that suits the Lightning Wraiths’ criteria, it is not uncommon for the Forge World to create different variants of the Kriegmesser that suits the needs of other Chapters.
A set of Niveran Pattern Bolters used by the Sov'Yadtsai prior to the introduction of the Primaris Space Marines.
- Niveran Bolters and Bolt-Rifles - Given that the Sov'Yadtsai are trained to operate behind enemy lines to conduct decapitation strikes and to sabotage enemy emplacements, it necessitated the creation of a weapon suited to the task. It was from this demand that the Niveran Pattern Boltgun, a unique variation of the Mark Vb Godwyn Pattern that is commonly found in a Space Marine chapter's armory. A Niveran Pattern Bolter is configured as a bullpup firearm, meaning that the loading and firing mechanism are located behind the grip thusly increasing the inner barrel length whilst retaining the original size. As such, this pattern theoretically has the same range and precision as a standard Stalker Bolter. Should these be configured as Combi-Weapons, a squad of Astartes armed with Niveran Pattern Bolters are capable of dealing with threats at all ranges with significant efficiency as opposed to a standard squad where a single specialist compensates for a lack of range or firepower. When the Primaris Space Marines were introduced to the Imperium's ranks, Forgeworld Nivera was quick to reconfigure a Primaris Bolt Rifle into Niveran Pattern Bolt Rifle. Furthermore, the creation of the Myrian Septumvirate meant that the Lightning Wraiths are able to direct fellow chapters such as the Nemean Lions to Nivera in order to arm themselves with this particular variant of the Bolter. The only caveat however is that the Niveran Pattern Bolter and Bolt Rifle are unable to load drum magazines, meaning that these weapons could not be used for suppressive fire in the same vein as other bolter patterns. However, given that this pattern's purpose revolved around covert operations, this downside is not much of an issue for squads of skilled marksmen who strike from the shadows.
- Niveran-Pattern 'Occipita' Helmet - Developed as a piece of equipment for Astartes who have lost both their eyes, the Occipita is bionic housed within either a MKIV or a MKII Helmet. Rather than have a bulky bionic to compensate for their loss of vision, the Occipita is a nigh permanent attachment to a warrior's helmet, in which a bionic visor attached to a faceplate would directly interface with the six cranial nerves of each eye. However, this helmet isn't solely used by those who have lost their eyes. Astartes who still have perfect vision are also able to use this helmet as a modified version was also developed for Lightning Wraiths marksmen as the helmet pattern has significantly superior telescopic vision than a regular helmet, which coincides with a marksman's pride of having sharper eyes than their transhuman brethren. Although, in order to implement the superior telescopic vision of the non-bionic variant, Nivera's techpriests had to severely downgrade the helmet's auto-senses with only the absolute necessities remaining. Other visual modes such as prey sight were also removed to improve telescopic quality. Interestingly, the visor 'displays' the macular vision of the wearer as a ball of light on the visor which moves with respect to their point of focus.
Chapter Appearance []
Chapter Colours[]
A battle brother hailing from the Lightning Wraiths is clad in dark bone-white armour with blood-red pauldron trims and a black backpack. The bone-white armor and blood-red trims are a reminder of their tradition to always provide the fallen heroes of the Imperium the proper respects through the act of conducting funerary practices that their cultures observe as well as their own belief that they are not meant to live an immortal's life while the black backpack is a representation of the Astartes' burden and duty to protect the Imperium from threats within and without. Their right arm is painted in pure white from pauldron to finger in homage to their gene-sire, the White Scars.
A chart regarding the White Scars' Squad numbering convention that the Lightning Wraiths have adopted.
As they are proud of their heritage as Successors of the White Scars, the Lightning Wraiths have adopted many of their parent chapter's markings along with Chogorian practices and traditions. Much like the White Scars, Squad number is designated by symbology inspired by the forks of lightning in a storm while Squad Type designations are modified Codex Astartes designations that implement the form and shape of Chogorian Khorchin. However, the exception to their adoption of Chogorian symbology lies in the the Fire Support Designation as squads that fall under this category are marked by the Morozh'nehyan alchemical symbol of sulfur.
Veteran Astartes, known colloquially as the Sipahi, are set apart from their battle-brothers by donning black robes in homage to their Morozh'nehyan counterparts as well as a pure-white helm as a sign that their long service has brought them spiritually closer to their forefather's legacy. It is from the ranks of the Sipahi that the upper echelons of command are chosen, as well as the indomitable Bannerlords. These Astartes, who are given the treacherous task by virtue of being one of the most highly skilled and iron-willed warriors in their cadre, have the wings of their Veteran Designation painted blue in homage to the blue feathers of the Ayur Hawks. The Stalkers on the other hand, Veterans who have yet to earn the white helmet through service as part of a Terminator Squad, have grey helms with tusks - another homage to a creature from the Lightning Wraiths' homeworld: the Ghul'Thas Olmamuts.
In terms of differentiating between officers, Cavii - the Lightning Wraiths' equivalent of a Codex Astartes Sergeant - have a black ring around their squad type designation while the Hetmans - the Lightning Wraiths' equivalent of Codex Astartes Lieutenant - have a crimson ring around the White Scars' Veteran Designation along with a feathered ringlet on their helmet's forehead. The Viceroys, Captains of the Lightning Wraiths' Pillars of Wisdom, are distinguished by a blood-red wreath around the Chapter Insignia while donning a bone white helm rather than the pure white of the Sipahi.
A chart showcasing the Lightning Wraiths' chapter colours as well as means of identifying specialists.
A chart showcasing the Lightning Wraiths' company designations.
Chapter Specialists are distinguished by the symbol on their left pauldron and the colour of their robes. The Vicars of the Fyarat'Karum don brown robes in homage to the earth where they are buried and a variant of the Prime Helix on a skull pauldron. The Magisters of the Zhalat'Karum don the purple robes akin to their Morozh'nehyan counterparts and the Horned Skull of the Librarius on their left pauldron. The Steelmasons of the Vroia'Karum don a dark red robe similar to what the Mechanicus techpriests wear and the holy cog-wheel of the Omnissiah on their left pauldron. The Oathtaker, Koval and Vizier are set apart from the other specialists by donning the Codex Astartes’ colours for their specializations with the exception of the pure white right arm.
The two Scout Companies are encouraged to utilize camouflage on their armour and tunics rather than don the colors of the chapter. The Sov'yadtsa and Primaris Vanguard Marines are distinguished from the scouts by a pitch-black service stud above their right eye, but the 8th and 9th companies as a whole are set apart from their brothers through their usage of a sable helmet and a lack of symbology on their pauldrons. Instead, they would have the Morozh'nehyan numbers for 8 and 9, osiatham and tiewiesć respectively, emblazoned on their pauldrons.
Mark of the Martyred Son[]
Instead of using their forefathers' markings or the recommended designations by the Codex Astartes to differentiate between Pillars of Wisdom, the Lightning Wraiths mark parts of their power armor with intertwining estuaries of blood-red veins. This is to honour the legacy of Imperial Saint Hassan Brehus.
After his exile from the Ghonzi Empire and rise to the throne as the Mountain King of Jirae, his old lord's successor demanded that he would be tried for his illegitimate rise to power and harboring of fugitives within his kingdom. The demands soon turned violent as armies loyal to the Ghonzi Empire sacked and ravaged the lands under Brehus' protection. Although his Sipahi Knights were among the greatest warriors to have graced Morozh'nehya, they would not be enough to stem the tide of bodies deadset on arresting the Mountain King. Aid came in the form of 9 Generals of the Ghonzi Empire, who defected as they found that the atrocities being committed to be a far cry to what the old Empire stood for. Skirmishes broke out between armies, each fighting for what they believed in.
The old king, not wanting anymore bloodshed between kinsmen, announced that he would turn himself in only if the Ghonzi Empire's armies would retreat and leave the people under his protection in peace. For all Uraka Caelefrax's lust for power, he was an honourable man and complied with Brehus' demands. Hassan Brehus would soon be tried and found guilty of all the crimes he was accused of and was sentenced to death by poison. As thousands watched, Hassan Brehus drank a lethal concoction that would seal his fate. After his death, the 9 defector Generals, who became the 9 Monarchs of the newly founded Order of Brehus, requested to collect his body so that he may be buried in the Jirae Mountains.
Chroniclers claimed that when they saw his body, Brehus' veins had darkened due to the poison he consumed. His sacrifice for the sake of peace between nations would be immortalized in the Tomb of Brehus, a sepulchre that the collective engineers of all kingdoms of the Order constructed in his honour. To this day, the Tomb of Brehus is a symbol of self-sacrifice that the Lightning Wraiths aspire to honour through their deeds. Until that time, each warrior would have to make do by marking his armour with the Mark of the Martyred Son.
Morozh'nehyan Honour Markings[]
Much like the naming conventions of the Lightning Wraiths, there are certain Astartes Honour Badges where the Lightning Wraiths utilize an equivalent decoration or marking which originally hailed from Morozh'nehya. These include:
- Tears of the Khatiph - Red markings under the lenses of a Lightning Wraiths' helmet are given to those who have distinguished themselves as expert marksmen. This is the chapter's equivalent to the Marksman's Honour, which is normally in the form of a bolt shell casing that was supposedly fired by a Chapter's Primarch.
- The Crimson Crescent
Chapter Badge[]
The Crown of the Old Kingdoms, a relic of a time when nine kings and their loyal subjects remained loyal to the Imperium as their world fell to anarchy and dissent.
The chapter's insignia is that of a five-pronged crown made of black iron over a field of bone-white. It is in the image of the Crown of the Old Kingdoms, one of the Chapter's oldest and most revered relics.
Scout Companies do not have the badge displayed on their armor as it believed that as hunters, they belong to nobody but themselves. It represents the freedom the members of the company will have before they are thrust into a lifetime of servitude as a part of the Chapter's Reserve and Battle Companies. Furthermore, because scouts are encouraged to wear camouflage and tasked with infiltration ops, the lack of a chapter badge would stir confusion and paranoia amongst the enemy as those who are familiar with Astartes wouldn't know which chapter would be attacking.
A Primaris Greyshield with a Niveran-Pattern Bolt Rifle and the Chapter Badge decorating his helm.
The Ghanszig, marines who have committed a great sin, also do not have the badge on their armour, but for an entirely different reason. Either through catastrophic failure brought by hubris or misguided treachery, these marines have shamed their chapter and have lost the right of calling themselves as Lightning Wraiths. The five-pronged crown would be stricken from their person, and the marks of excoriation left on the warrior’s armor are decreed to be forbidden to repair. They would be given a chance to redeem themselves in the most treacherous of battlefields. Besides an honourable death, it is only through great deeds of courage and selflessness does one of the Ghanszig regain the right to call himself a Lightning Wraith.
With the arrival of Primaris Reinforcements, many of the Greyshields that had bolstered the dwindled ranks of the Lightning Wraiths brought with them practices learned from other chapters. One such practice was the decoration of one’s helmet with the Chapter insignia, a tradition that was emulated by Greyshields who had served with the Black Templars. While the reasoning of this form of decoration can vary between Battle-Brothers of the Eternal Crusade, the newly oathed Primaris Lightning Wraiths view the marking of their helms as a reaffirmation of their oaths to both Chapter and Imperium. Some of the Firstborn saw this as blasphemy as the Primaris were not of the same mind as those where trained and raised on Morozh’nehya, but as the Indomitus Crusade went on, the Firstborn grew to accept this practice and even encouraged the second generation of Primaris Marines to continue this new tradition.
Chapter Relations []
Allies[]
| Name | Iconography | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| White Scars | It is said that every Chapter of Jaghatai's lineage bears the Warhawk's stubborn refusal to be chained down by those who wish to control them and to live freely like the winds that dance across the Chogorian Plains. As such, Successors of the White Scars hold the belief that they are their own masters close to their hearts. The Lightning Wraiths are no exception to this, to a point. To them, their true masters are not the bureaucratic High Lords, but their Progenitors. This has lead to a cultural phenomenon where the Lightning Wraiths are fanatically loyal to the White Scars, to such an extreme degree that they see themselves as the Favoured Sons due to their devotion and has resulted in derision towards fellow successors of the Vth Legion. Their rabidity in defending the legacy of the Khagan, whether from the failings of treacherous sons or the slandering of his teachings, gave the Lightning Wraiths a reputation as the attack dogs of the White Scars. A reputation that made the White Scars keep the Lightning Wraiths at arms length as they themselves are uncertain of deep their devotion goes. | |
| Hawk Lords | The Hawk Lords are among the few chapters outside of the White Scars has gained the favour and respect of the Lightning Wraiths. Their respect was gained through their superior aeronautical skill and immense experience in waging war through aerial superiority. The Chapter gives these Scions of Guilliman tributes out of gratitude whenever they accept one of the Lightning Wraiths' most gifted pilots for a secondment with the renowned Talon Wing. These tributes usually come in the form of promising aspirants, but there was a time that the Lightning Wraiths had offered a Nivera Pattern Storm Talon to the Hawk Lords. | |
| Bloodmoon Hunters | The Bloodmoon Hunters are a stalwart and dedicated non-codex compliant Loyalist Space Marine Chapter created during the 13th Founding, the so-called 'Dark Founding'. Very few are welcome among the ranks of Lightning Wraiths, and in turn very few trusts the Chapter. The Bloodmoon Hunters are among those few do to a similar outlook of how to take down an enemy but further the few joint hunts they had together has built mutual respect. Throughout the Chapter, blind obedience is strongly discouraged. All of these Space Marines are expected to act upon their own initiative at the appropriate times. However, such actions must fit within the context of the larger battle scheme. Battle-Brothers consider unorthodox tactics during their preparation for any conflict. These include unusual deployment maneuvers and infiltration. Most times, they have go so far as to assemble ad hoc units specifically appropriate for resolving a particular tactical problem known as a Hunting Party. It was with these Hunting Parties that Bloodmoon Hunters interact with Lightning Wraiths. | |
| Myrian Septumvirate | As one of the founding chapters of the unofficial alliance, the Lightning Wraiths maintain ties with the Myrian Septumvirate and are quite swift in responding to calls for aid from any of its fellow member chapters. While initially wary of such an alliance, given the Lightning Wraiths' reclusive nature, they agreed to its creation after experiencing great success while working with the other six founding chapters during the Coele-Myr Campaigns. Of the original seven, the Lightning Wraiths are in very good terms with the Immortals, the Nemean Lions, and the Imperial Wardens as their chapter cultures and combat doctrines are quite similar or at the very least complementary. This mutual respect has gotten to the extent that they have conducted trade with said chapters, exchanging unique pieces of war gear that each respective chapter has taken to be their signatures. |
Conflicting Allies[]
| Name | Iconography | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Murdering Sons | The Lightning Wraiths despise the Murdering Sons for their single-minded brutality, especially when directed towards children. Although they do agree that a rebellious colony needs to be dealt with, wiping all the inhabitants of a world from the face of the universe is not a method that they condone. In fact, during one notable incident, there was a time where both Chapters nearly waged war against each other over a single child. The Murdering Sons wanted to burn the child and make an example of him while the Lightning Wraiths wanted to make him into a Space Marine as they saw potential in the boy for the young child had aided them during their campaign against the rebellious planet. It was through the orders of the High Lords of Terra that the conflict was resolved, by killing the child so that no trace of his civilization would exist. Unable to go against the orders of the High Lords, the Lightning Wraiths reluctantly gave the child to the Murdering Sons and were forced to walk away as the child was slaughtered. This once act of cold-blooded murder has never been forgotten by the Lightning Wraiths, who have sworn to rectify this injustice one day. | |
| Space Wolves and Successors | The Lightning Wraiths have an uneasy relationship with the remnants of the VIth Legion ever since the young chapter's inception. While they acknowledge the many accolades and honours that the vaunted Space Wolves have earned throughout the millennia, the Rout's barbaric legacy had tainted the Imperium's outlook towards the White Scars as being equally barbaric and unrefined. This would have been more than enough for the Lightning Wraiths, a chapter known for its fanatical devotion to the White Scars, to despise the Vlka Fenryka but there had been repeated instances when the plans of these scions of the Khagan had been derailed by the unrepentantly aggressive and unsubtle tactics of their much older cousins. This contempt has also extended to the successors of the Space Wolves following the Ultima Founding as well as chapters that model themselves after VIth Legion because the Lightning Wraiths only see them as sons of a barbaric chapter whose almost oppressive pride and reputation ruined that of their forefathers. While the Lightning Wraiths may respect the Vlka Fenryka by sheer virtue of being one of the First Founding chapters, this courtesy does not extend to their successors nor to those who see themselves as successors of the VIth legion. |
Enemies[]
| Name | Iconography | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The Forces of Chaos | Whilst the Lightning Wraiths treat every threat to the Imperium with the same calculating manner, the Forces of Chaos are the only things that can make a Lightning Wraith lose their composure. As scholars and historians, they know about the destructive and malignant powers of Chaos and how it can affect anyone. However, this knowledge has ingrained hatred into their hearts that could not be quelled as Chaos was the source of the Imperium's downfall from its glory. To them, worshippers of Chaos are no longer human, but selfish animals who do not understand or care for humanity's need to survive in the vast galaxy. Those who worship these evil powers are hunted down relentlessly and worlds that have fallen to its taint are wiped clean of life. Mercy is a luxury that is never given to those who would sell their souls for their own benefit. | |
| Aeldari | Although the Chapter may begrudgingly work with these xenos races when under the orders of a more powerful authority, most of the time any Aeldari force that comes into contact with the Lightning Wraiths are immediately attacked and hunted down. This blind hatred initially stemmed from the knowledge that Drukhari raiding parties were the cause of the Khagan’s disappearance from real-space following the Horus Heresy. Furthermore, at first it was only Drukhari that was subjected to the Lightning Wraiths’ vindictive wrath for their sins of the past as well as the present. However, they were beset with treachery and blatant aggression by the Asuryani during the early years of their founding. This experience expanded the scope of their hatred to encompass the entirety of the Aeldari race and henceforth drove the chapter to purge the remnants of the once proud empire with extreme prejudice. |
Quotes []
By the Lightning Wraiths[]
- "Prompt: "As lightning strikes, the earth shall quake!"
Response: "As above, so below!""- —Alternative Lightning Wraiths Battle Cry
- "I fail to see whatever slight I may have caused you, cousin. My refusal to cross blades with an established warrior such as yourself is not out of disrespect or cowardice, but out of pragmatism. The enemy maybe defeated and the world has been saved, but dead heroes still lie in the battlefield. I would rather expend whatever strength I have left in my body to ensure that they're given the proper respect so that their spirits may pass on without bitterness and spite. Whatever honour you seek to attain from defeating me, you may have it."
- —Kaid Izrafel, 26th Preceptor of the Lightning Wraiths, after an Iron Knight Champion called him a coward for refusing to partake in an honour duel for a grievance regarding the execution of an Ork warboss.
- "We are children of the mountains. Unbowing and unyielding against all odds. Yet we are not Sons of Dorn.
We are the children of the wind. Swift and silent, difficult to ascertain. Yet we are not the Sons of Corax.
We are children of the blade. Deceptively artful and dangerous in its many forms, for war is our purpose. Yet we are not the sons of the Angel.
We deny the Iron Hands’ Calculus of War, for it can never predict the actions of madmen and heroes.
We deny the Promethean Creed, for it is not our way. While the teachings of Vulkan may coincide with ours, the volcanoes of Nocturne differ from the peaks of Morozh’nehya.
We deny the rigidity of adhering to one man’s wisdom, for the truest form of wisdom is borne from experience. However, to listen is also wisdom in itself thus our adaptation to the Codex.
We deny the Lion’s honour and glory, for pride always cometh before the fall. These things must come in moderation, else we lose ourselves in our hubris.
We deny the embracing of our inherent savagery, for savagery untempered by discipline is the way of the beast.
We are Sons of the Khagan. His Sable Horde. Nothing more, nothing less."- —Vicar Tulemon Far'zhul
- "The enemy thinks that the storms we create are the worst things we could offer. Little do they know that while they weathered the storm, wraiths began to wander the streets."
- —Sov'yadtsa Yesugi Jalla prior to the assassination of a Traitor General and her retinue
- "I wear the colour of bone on my armour to symbolize our final fate and destination. Even the Emperor’s Angels succumb to death’s caress. The purest shade of white on my right arm to honour my progenitors, the legendary White Scars of Chogoris. Darkest black upon my back to represent humanity’s eternal duty and burden. The Aquila on my chest is crimson red in remembrance for those who have fallen... In place of gold, we use black iron to remind us of our humble beginnings."
- —Preceptor Casimir Arslan, Szulah's predecessor, to future shipmistress Aurelia
- "Men and women of the Imperium are expendable, we are no exceptions. Children, on the other hand, are not. We pave their paths so that they may create the foundations for a better way. They are the next generation of warriors, scholars and heroes. If you even think about leaving a child unprotected, I will kill you myself."
- —Szulah Nuk'Fallad threatening a Black Templars Sword Brother during his time as a Deathwatch member
- "If a warrior has nothing to lose and nothing to believe in, then survival is simply a matter of enduring the impending weight of damnation on one's shoulders"
- —Lightning Wraiths proverb
- "To fear death is cowardice, but to embrace it is foolishness. Make peace with your mortality, but do not make your death an easy endeavour or a wasteful act. Always strive to remind our enemies that humanity will never die quietly in the darkness."
- —Khugol Khan on the inevitability of death
- "To err is to be human. We grow as a race for every error we make. However, some transgressions do not deserve forgiveness and warrant spiteful remembrance. Such is the lesson that history begets those who study it."
- —Unknown Lightning Wraiths Magister
- "We are content with being the outriders and vagabonds of the Imperium, as was the way of Jaghatai Khan. We are content of being ignored and overlooked, as was the way of Jaghatai Khan. And like the Khan himself, we swiftly fly to the protection of humanity whenever the call is made. Do not mistake our silence for apathy and our promises to be meaningless for we are the Knights of the Khan. Our word is our bond."
- — Viceroy Xi-Huo Han reprimanding an Imperial Guard Colonel for his comments regarding the Lightning Wraiths' behaviour
About the Lightning Wraiths:[]
- "Cold and merciless as the blizzard winds, the Lightning Wraiths strike with the swiftness and ferocity of the Jivikari Snow Leopards. When we take to the skies together, they become a storm that strikes fear into the hearts of any who oppose them. We are deeply honored to fight alongside our brothers."
- —Viren Drajar, Brave Lord Captain of the Solar Leopards 1st Company on the Lightning Wraiths after the Crimson Snow Campaign.
- "They are a chapter of contradictions. They call themselves 'knights' but eschew honor and glory. They have an affinity for labyrinthine tunnels despite their preference for their gene-sire's high-speed warfare and air superiority. They are extremely reluctant to communicate with other Imperial forces, but once they are placed in front of wide-eyed mortals, they answer any questions that are thrown their way. Never before have I witnessed such a frustrating clash of ideals."
- —Unknown Hammers of Dorn Astartes when queried about the Lightning Wraiths
- "Have you ever seen or heard of the walking dead? No? Trust me lad, those things are the closest thing we have to the undead serving the Imperium. If I were you, I would pray that I would never see their faces in my lifetime. Emperor knows that I wish that was the case with myself."
- — Sergeant Velsta of the 67th Cadian answering a young Guardsman's question regarding a Lightning Wraith Viceroy's apparent rudeness of never taking off his helmet.
- "Too slow, little wraith. Your forefathers would be ashamed of your lack of fervor. I know I am, having personally killed many of the Khan's bastards throughout my long and fruitful years. I shall spare you, so the shame will kill you from the inside."
- —Night Lords Raptor Razh'akk of the 19th Claw
- "Most Astartes inspire fear and compliance amongst mortals whenever they are in close proximity with one another. These Lightning Wraiths are one of the few exceptions. They move and present themselves in such a manner that one sometimes forgets that they are in the presence of an Angel of Death. To both my embarrassment and surprise, I also overlook these warriors more often than most."
- —Watch-Captain Benedicto Galicia of the Crimson Fists commenting about the Lightning Wraiths seconded to Watch-Fortress Fort Excalibris
- "They're here, I can feel it. They're watching me, watching us! Those frakking zombies! They'll eat your soul, y'know. That's what they did with Ophelia and Karkus. They spared me, spared me so that I can suffer! So I can remember their undead faces! So that I can remember how they tore out my generals' souls from their bodies!"
- —Excerpt from the Planetary Governor's interrogation following the Irquos Uprising. The audio feed devolves to a cacophony of hysterical sobbing and incoherent babbling after this point.
- "They look too keenly and too deeply into the past to the point of ignorance as one may observe. Yes, they are knowledgable historians and skilled diplomats, but one can be disillusioned with delusions when they forget the difference with once was and what currently is."
- —Librarian Remus of the Raptors.
- "They strike with the force of nature itself, my brothers could learn much from them. Shame they would see me dead if I showed my face."
- —Darius Medies, formerly of the Stormbreakers, about the Lightning Wraiths' combat doctrine
- "Whew! That was some hit-and-run ya'll helped us pull of on them Battlesuits just now. Reminds me of the olden days when we were doin' drive-bys against Fire Warriors back home. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta help our librarians upgrade our Library of Liberty. After seein' yours, it puts ours to shame!""
- —Executive Alexis 'Preacher' Jonesson of the Emperor's Liberators after a battle against the Tau.
- "From the rumors I heard of these guys, they love to study as many aspects of a friend or foe as they can. What're the odds that they studied US? If they know a lot about us, it's best we stay on their good side. Wouldn't want them giving a detailed playbook of us to the Inquisition...""
- —Major Collins of the now renegade Agents of Liberty.
- "These Hunters that are like after images of lightning are the closest thing we have as brothers in all but blood. The unquenchable desire for knowledge and the freedom from the false chains of honour and glory. The Lightning Wraiths are welcome on our hunts and we shall answer their call when the need calls for it."
- —A Bloodmoon Hunters Veteran
- "I think there's a lesson to learn here. No wall can shield you from a blade in the dark... Or an assault from below"
- — A Wild Hunt Eliminator, scouting the remains of an insurgent fortress raided by the Lightning Wraiths
- "At first glance, one would assume a close kinship between our Chapters, given our similar deformities. Yet nothing is further from the truth. These Sons of the Khan, have their father's temper, and yet a measure of sophistication I would not have foreseen. Their defensive strategies were sounder than they originally seemed, complimenting our fortresses well.
The counter attack, when it came, was swift, precise and well co-ordinate, far in excess of what we would have envisioned. Indeed, we have much that could be learned from our cousins. Yet we are staunch traditionalists. We will continue in the manner we always had, with determination and grit.
We will save being the better men, to those more suited to it. Ride safely, Cousins."- —High Chaplain Aranati Champions of Mortis.
- "I admire the Lightning Wraiths, their unwavering commitment and denial of glories earned. They speak only when they need and fight with a fury like our own rage! Only drawback is that they lack a real sense of humor. But they can make a mean cup of recaff. What I'd give for that recaff again."
- —Ladinas Gemeni, The Exalted Paladin of the Draconian Impalers, while holding a cup of insufficient recaff.
- "Brother Eridanus had once told me regarding the deathly skinned sons of the Khan that the Djinns of Seleucia weren't nearly as elusive as a Lightning Wraith, nor their motives as easy to ascertain. Having fought alongside them at Carrhae, I have this much to say: to chase one is to chase one's own shadow, to flee is to ensnare yourself in a noose. In moments of self reflection I have gathered that among the ranks of their successor kin, I have yet to serve alongside one so in tune with the spirit of their father. Eridanus had ultimately understated his claims to me."
- —Orodes the Defiant, Standard Bearer of the Immortals Apadanian Guard to his peers following the aftermath of the Battle of Carrhae
- —Orodes the Defiant, Standard Bearer of the Immortals Apadanian Guard to his peers following the aftermath of the Battle of Carrhae
- "I have always had a respect for the sons of the Great Khan, and the Lightning wraiths are no exception. They strike with the speed of a Gryphos and the fury of a Drakos. I have never felt more alive than when fighting at their side, much to the chagrin of my fellow Elitia and my Kyria. There is a merit to adhering to a single style of war, as we Elitia are aware of, for to master an aspect of war is to master yourself. I believe it was Vizier Xiao Meigu who told me that one."
- —Polemarchos Bellaro Ephikias of the Solar Paladins, speaking after the battle of Klaxia, M42
- "I know little about these sons of the Khan, for their silence is almost as legendary as their fighting prowess... though, this silence is made up for by the attention they show towards your words and culture. Never have I come across another Chapter that has shown the respect and regard towards my stories as they have. Equally as commendable is their regard for the rituals of passing and the spirits of the fallen, which mirrors our own.
Their hearts are those of Lions and they will always have a place at our fires."- —Deathspeaker Reclusiarch Philocentes of the Nemean Lions
- "Questions left unanswered long enough can be your ruination, it was a pleasure to teach you this."
- —Unknown Astartes of the Nightgaunts to Ilyas Khassim, the last Lightning Wraith as he lay dying on the revenant Morozh'nehya.
- —Unknown Astartes of the Nightgaunts to Ilyas Khassim, the last Lightning Wraith as he lay dying on the revenant Morozh'nehya.
Trivia []
- The Lightning Wraiths' affinity for tunnel warfare, guerilla warfare and aerial superiority have been inspired by various factions across the Command & Conquer video game series.
- Many of Chapter's Ranks are either inspired by the military ranks and government positions of the Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or by Slavic/Middle Eastern mythology.
- The Chapter's appearance based on the appearance of Death Knights from the Warcraft series, in particular Arthas the Lich King.
- The Chapter's Companies are named after the memoirs of T.E Lawrence, "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom". The 'virtues' of each pillar belong to the 9 Noble Virtues of Asatru from Viking culture.
- The Morozh'nehyan Pillars are based off of the Generator from the game Frostpunk, which serves the same purpose as the ancient archeo-tech found on the chapter's homeworld
Stories []
Gallery []
Chapter Iconographies[]
Chapter Personnel[]
Chapter Motorpool[]
 Myrian Septumvirate Chapters
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| Member Chapters | Angels of Anguish • Ashen Souls • Blades of Onyx • Draconian Impalers • Immortals • Imperial Wardens • Jade Wyverns • Lightning Wraiths • Nemean Lions • Onyx Phoenixes • Star Golems |
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