This article, Soul Flayers, was written by GrandVisigoth. Please do not edit or 'acquire' this fiction without the writer's permission.
"Of all the creations, the Emperor himself shunned them. Their minds warped, broken, and beaten. Yet, their feeble form amuses me. Despite all my worries, my questions, and my true faith, they still persist. The terrible darkness that clouds their minds, it means nothing to me or our Ordo. They are a weapon of the Emperor, a weapon of sheer might and force. Despite our efforts, they retain their flaw. For it is far more than a weapon."
—Inquisitor Cora Vortak
The Soul Flayers Chapter is a loyalist Successor Chapter created from the heroic lineage of the ancient Blood Angels - founded during the ill-fated 21st 'Cursed' Founding. Like many Chapters born from the largest Founding of Space Marine Chapters since the Second Founding, the Soul Flayers are plauged with identified deficiencies in their gene-seed.
The Chapter was originally censored by the Inquisition due to the mutation of the Chapter's gene-seed. The mutations caused a great number of Astartes to succumb to enhanced aggression, where Astartes enter into a state of mental instability and degeneration. Some Battle Brothers have a heightened need to consume raw flesh, including the ritual drinking of blood in and out of combat. As well, Astartes of the Chapter have been noted to have an inability to experience rapid eye movement sleep. The most notable flaw is the high percentage of Astartes who succumb to mental instability called the Black Rage, also known as the "Flaw of Sanguinius".
This is believed to be caused by tampering during their creation process by the Adeptus Mechanicus in an effort to rid them of the genetic flaws found within the Blood Angels' gene-seed.
However, after several deployments of the Chapter, the Inquisition lifted censorship, however, keeps an Inquisitorial Representative stationed with the Chapter Master of the Soul Flayers.
The unique situation shaped the inner workings and military doctrine of the Chapter. Like their forebears, the Chapter is heavily fundamental in their beliefs of their Primarch, however, the Chapter views the "Flaw of Sanguinius" as a gift from the Emperor himself and sees it as a way to enter into the Imperium's Pantheon as an ordained saint. This has made the Chapter renowned for shock troop tactics, with their reliance of brute force and terror tactics by the hands of their Black Enraged Brethren.
The Tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus seek to "perfect" the gene-seed of the Adeptus Astartes.
The history of the Soul Flayers begin during the forsaken 21st 'Cursed' Founding in the 35th Millennia. Also known as the "Cursed" Founding, the Founding took place on the cusp of the 36th Millennium, shortly before the start of the Age of Apostasy. The Adeptus Mechanicus was sent forth to perfect and remove the existing, identified deficiencies in flawed Adeptus Astartes gene-seed that had been present since the Emperor of Mankind'sGreat Crusade. The goal was to ultimately produce a new and improved Primarch-like Space Marine core as part of what was called "Project Homo Sapiens Novus."
Unfortunately, the Adeptus Mechanicus' proved far less skilled in the genetic sciences than the Emperor of Mankind, and their efforts resulted in the development of seriously flawed gene-seed that was used to craft the organ implants for the new Chapters.
The Soul Flayers were born from altered Blood Angels gene-seed. The goal of their creation was to route out the flaw known as the Black Rage in order to create perfect Astartes. However, over the course of the monitored two years, the altered gene-seed proved to hold the opposite effect.
The rate in which Battle Brothers succumb to the Black Rage grew with each new batch of Space Marines, with even the "more stable" Brothers retaining traits of self mutilation and uncontrollable hunger for raw flesh. This unnerving development forced the Chapter's censorship under the enforcement of the Inquisition. For the next thirty standard Terran decades, the Chapter was monitored heavily by Inquisitional forces in order to examine their usefulness and possible eradication.
The Vendent Wars
Nearly thirty standard Terran years passed since the founding of the Soul Flayers Chapter during the 21st Founding. For their final test of loyalty to the Imperium, the Inquisitional oversight of the Chapter, led by Seth Vendent, used the Chapter against the rampant mutation of the Arthes System and its surrounding worlds that were tainted by the warp. The Vendent Wars were three wars carried out by Imperial Guard Assets with combined naval and Astartes forces, primarily the Soul Flayers.
A Brimlock Dragoon of the Imperial Guard
During the conflict, the Inquisition noted the Soul Flayers were best used for large scale decapitation strikes, with many of their "afflicted" Brothers proving far useful in close quarters combat that other examined Astartes. This was seen heavily during the Landing of Genet on the World of Ridars. During the Landing of Genet, the Imperial Guard, comprised of mix arms regiments from the Brimlock Dragoons, made landfall on the tainted mining settlement of Genet. In the early hours of the battle, mutated warp spawn had overrun many segments of the city, with various Imperial guard squads being destroyed outright in the first wave. The Soul Flayers 3rd Company, under Captain Yaros Semyon, surged onto the world with drop pods and drop ships. Upon arrival, the 3rd Company pushed the mutated population from the remaining Brimlock regiments, with the battle finishing only four hours later after the final mutated pockets were exterminated.
Furthermore, as the First Vendent war closed, the final strong hold of mutated on Ridars remained in open defiance. The final strong hold was a series of mining tunnels that were used as passages for supplies and transport of the various mining settlements on the world. The close quarters nature of the Soul Flayers allowed quick surging strikes in these tunnels, however, slowly the advance was halted as further worlds broke out with similar mutations caused by the supernova that inflicted Ridars in the Arthes System. Despite being ordered to abandon the siege by Seth Vendent, the First Chapter Master, Justinian Trullan, ordered the rapid deployment of the Rosguard. From the tunnels to the sky, the first Glassator of the Chapter, Nikit Danil, released the full might of the Rosguard upon the mutated horde. Four companies of Battle Brothers, each inflicted with the Black Rage, surged down from drop ships and through the tunnels.
The overall success of the Rosguard earned the Chapter's trust with the Imperial Army, who, after the end of the Third Vendent War, concluded the usefulness of the Chapter as proficient shock troops. However, skepticism remained in several Inquisitorial institutions. It was decided that an inquisitor would remain with the Chapter, deploying its assets and advising to ensure the Soul Flayers remain effective in the eyes of the Imperium, rather than turn renegade or traitor.
The Establishment of the Shroud
Following the end of the Third Vendent War, the Shroud Worlds were established under the Soul Flayers Chapter. The Shroud Worlds, established four standard Terran Years after the conclusion of the Vendent Wars (Unknown.M36), were a series of human colonized worlds located in Segementum Ultima. These worlds were heavily monitored by the Inquisition before the arrival of the Soul Flayers. The worlds themselves were designed as both a gift to the chapter for their success in the war, and as a way to limit the area in which the Chapter recruits new aspirants. The worlds themselves were divided into sub-classes based on desired traits for their aspirants.
The Devastation of Baal
The Devastation of Baal, also called the Battle of Baal, was the assault by the single largest concentration of the Hive Fleet Leviathan ever encountered upon Baal, the homeworld of the Blood Angels Chapter of Space Marines. The battle was fought in 999.M41, and was part of the wider Third Tyrannic War.
The Soul Flayers Chapter, like all successors the Blood Angels, arrived to Baal upon receiving the call to arms. The Soul Flayers had always retained an uneasy reputation and relationship with their parent chapter. Regardless, Commander Dante allowed the Soul Flayers chapter to serve beside them. The defenses of Baal and her moons were bolstered like never before, with great fortresses rising above the sweltering sands. To aid where they could, the Chapter itself was divided into select forces. The 3rd and 4th Company accompanied the Blood Angels and Flesh Tearers in the Cryptus Campaign, while the Roseguard and the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th remained in the Baal system maintaining battle barges of Fleet Sanuri and Fleet Oath.
This mighty force reached the Cryptus System in time to aid the last, hard-pressed Imperial defenders and avert complete catastrophe. Yet the war that followed was unremittingly savage, with both the Imperial and xenos forces suffering rapidly escalating casualties.
The Blood Angels were eventually forced to unleash an ancient weapon of Necrontyr provenance called the Magnovitrium to annihilate an entire world of the Cryptus System and use its debris to gut the onrushing splinter fleet. The Blood Angels Commander ordered his forces to return to Baal. His Chapter intended to fight for its survival upon the worlds of its birth.
Gabriel Seth, Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers.
Unwilling to cede void supremacy to the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Leviathan without a fight, Commander Dante ordered his naval vessels to strike at the enemy and slow their advance. Hundreds of thousands of bio-ships, in clusters so thick that the invasion fleet seemed to be one vast, many-limbed organism, surged towards Baal. The Blood Angels' own fleet met them head-on, its numbers bolstered by the presence of several spaceborne Successor Chapters. Across a hundred fronts, the red-armoured voidcraft of the Blood Angels and their Successors struck at the fleshy Tyranid Hive Ships. Lances and gun decks split the darkness with their fury. Ruptured bio-ships tumbled away, slicks of ichor spilling from their sundered innards to freeze in the merciless void.
The sky above Baal erupted in a violent firestorm as the rugged vessels of the Space Marines slammed their way into the midst of the approaching Tyranids, launching devastating broadsides and storms of nuclear-tipped warheads. Valorous as this naval action was, it was also hopeless.
One by one, Space Marine Battle Barges and Cruisers were isolated and overwhelmed, battered by organic missiles and enveloped by swarms of smaller bio-ships.
The Blood Court was one of these shuttles, its main gun decks were overwhelmed and destroyed as tendrils of the Hive Fleet moved in to destroy the vessel. Under order of Draken Ruik, the Blood Court was placed under Inquisitor Cora Vortak's command. The remaining serfs and relics of the Chapter abandoned the battle, with the Battle Barge Soul Mount sacrificing itself as a swarm of bio-ships surged towards the Blood Court. Soul Mount was destroyed in the first volley, with its hull splintering into thousands of shards. Following the Battle of Baal, the Blood Court was discovered adrift by forces of the Unnumbered Sons, with much of its structural support still intact and crew alive, including Inquisitor Cora Vortak.
Entering low orbit over Baal and its moons, the Leviathan's vessels began to disgorge clouds of spores and organic transports into the atmosphere. As the void battle raged overhead, the defenders of Baal awaited the first waves of Tyranids, taking up positions amidst Horus Heresy-era fortifications that had been unearthed and rebuilt by Chapter Serfs and Servitors. Baal and its twin moons had been transformed into killing fields, dotted with artillery redoubts, mine-laced choke points and criss-crossing fire zones.
The Blood Angels face Tyranid assaults from the sky.
The Space Marine defenders, led by Chapter Master Gabriel Seth of the Flesh Tearers, fell back, harried on all sides. Only the sacrifice of the Knights of Blood, an excommunicated Successor Chapter who had nonetheless been accepted as allies by Commander Dante, allowed the survivors to board their vessels and escape, as Baal Prime was overwhelmed by Warp-spawned monstrosities. As Seth's forces retreated, they caught one last glimpse of the Knights of Blood, hurling themselves into the thick of close combat with mindless ferocity, fully enveloped by the madness of the Black Rage.
In Baal's orbit, thousands of Hive Fleet Leviathan's bio-ships were snatched into the Warp by coils of empyric energy or swallowed by rifts in space. Soon, only the burning remnants of gutted Hive Ships remained, drawn in by Baal's gravitic pull to rain down upon its ravaged surface.
Below this raging inferno, Commander Dante led the few remaining marines to the last bastion of the world, the Blood Angels' fortress monastery of Arx Angelicum.
The greatest Tyranid wave yet then slammed into the defenses of the Arx Angelicum and finally breached them. Four Successor Chapter Masters fall in the battle of the Dome of Angels alone, including Draken Ruik, Chapter Master of the Soul Flayers. Bodies pile high amidst the sundered defenses. Still the defenders fight on. The Black Rage took hold of many of the remaining Soul Flayers, their savage combat ensued along the walls as the Blood Angels released their Death Companies into the fray for their final acts of valor.
The warriors of the Emperor bled, not before taking the lives of the beast, their bodies straining to hold back the tide But as soon the tortured skies finally cleared. The storm had passed, and where before the Tyranid armada had blotted the sky, not a single xenos vessel remained. In their place were majestic Imperial ships. The PrimarchRoboute Guilliman, the resurrected Avenging Son, had arrived, at the head of the great Indomitus Crusade.
Surge of Talons
A recently inducted Blood Angels Primaris Space Marine battling the foes of the Imperium.
Following the Devastation of Baal, Baal was finally cleared of the xenos threat. A great rebuilding of both world and Chapter was undertaken, for the Blood Angels and their Successors were sorely needed elsewhere in the beleaguered Imperium as the Great Rift slashed its way through the Imperium following the events of the 13th Black Crusade.
The Soul Flayers, like its brother Chapters, were beaten and nearly brought to the brink of extinction by xenos. It took the intervention of a Primarch, the Avenging Son, to save the beleaguered defenders. Hundreds of Primaris Space Marines joined in the final destruction of the Tyranid swarms. These warriors wore the colors of the Blood Angels, the Blood Drinkers, the Flesh Tearers, Soul Flayers, and many more. They were inheritors of the might of the Primarchs, and they bolstered the depleted ranks of their adoptive Chapters just when they were needed most. The Blood Angels and their successors accepted their reinforcements gladly, along with Cawl's offering of the technologies that would allow them to recruit and create still more Primaris Battle-Brothers.
With the fresh hope brought by the Primaris Space Marines, the possibility that perhaps the Sons of Sanguinius will not burn out. Like the Blood Angels, the Soul Flayers set forth in the Imperium Nihilus, swearing to purge the realm of Chaotic taint as their ancestors had done during their inception, even should it take another thousand Terran years.
Notable Campaigns
The Vendent Wars (Unknown.M36) - The Vendent Wars were a series of wars under Inquisitor Seth Vendent during the early 36th Millennium. During the Vendent Wars, the Censored Soul Flayers Chapter was first used against the enemies of the Imperium. Prior to their action, a red giant star exploded within the Arthes sytem, with the star exploding in a Warp-tainted supernova. All worlds touched by its dark Chaos energies were mutated, possessed or destroyed outright by the sheer force of Chaotic warp energy. To combat the new threat of mutated population centers, every military asset within fifty light-years of the event were called to serve. This was the first test of the Soul Flayers, with the Inquistion sending them straight to war. The resultant disaster is eventually contained at the cost of uncounted billions of human lives, however, the Soul Flayers Chapter proved useful by Imperial command, and was allowed to operate with "limited" supervision.
Lord Commander Solar Macharius
The 8th Black Crusade (999.M37) - In 999.M37, Abaddon the Despoiler launched the 8th Black Crusade of the Forces of Chaos out of the Eye of Terror into Imperial space. During this incursion into the Realms of Man, Abaddon completed a complex series of ritualized massacres known as the "Skullgather" in the name of Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways. On worlds throughout the Segmentum Obscurus, Imperial citizens were slaughtered in precise numbers using esoteric rituals. Only when the Inquisition finally broke the code of damnation was the Imperium able to bring an end to the Black Legion's rampage across the segmentum in time with these mysterious attacks, but not before countless worlds had been saturated in death.
The Macharian Heresy (ca. 400-425.M41) - After the death of Macharius, the Macharian Crusade fell into open civil war and anarchy between his seven former Imperial Guard Army Group Generals. Throughout the newly-conquered territories, territories were splintered into petty star empires, each lorded over by one of the old generals who had abandoned their oaths of loyalty to the Imperium. the authority of the Adeptus Terra rose to stop them, and with the aid of several Space Marine Chapters, the rebellion engulfed many forces of the Imperium. With sword drawn upon Space Marine Chapters and Imperial Army contingents in dispute and anger, the High Lords of Terra were forced to act decisively to stop the rebellion from spreading. Fresh Space Marine Chapters were brought into the civil conflict, in order to bring an end by exterminating heretical forces and bringing order to the region under the command of the Imperial Warmaster Solon. Ultimately, the forces of over 100 separate Chapters were deployed at some point during the campaign, including the Soul Flayers Chapter.
The Castration of Sons (989-992.M41) - The Castration of Sons was a crusade carried out by the Soul Flayers Chapter on the Hive World of Pirodia. The Castration of Sons was a joint military operation between the 2nd Company of the Soul Flayers, who had joined 60,000 Imperial Guardsmen of the Lammark Lancers and the Fancho Armoured Regiments in order to cleanse the world of the Forces of Chaos who had conquered the eastern continent and razed its hive cities in revolt and open rebellion against the Imperial Governor. In the course of the campaign, the Imperial forces were affected with a supernatural disease that mirrored a hemorrhagic fever, explosive blood loss, and hyper-aggression.Only the Astartes remained unaffected, however, it became noted the disease altered the behavior of some Rosguard, with their Black Rage seeming to vanish only to return in extreme condition. As the campaign continued, it became evident that the virus was of Warp origin, suspected to be created by the Nurgle-spawn that had been summoned onto the world by the heretical cultist. Every attempt to cure the Imperial forces and civilians of Pirodia had actually spread the Torment further. Due to this, the inquisitorial Representative of the Soul Flayers, Desta Warren, ordered the 2nd Company to eradicate the remaining population and the guard effected in order to stop the spread of the plague. After nearly two months, the Soul Flayers exterminated all human settlement and military outpost on Pirodia, which allowed the Imperium to reclaim the world for reclassification and resettlement efforts. That victory cost the lives of 59,000 Guardsmen and an unknown number of civilians lost to the combined actions of the Soul Flayers and rebellion.
The Blood Angels face the horrific Tyranid swarms of Hive Fleet Leviathan.
Devastation of Baal (999.M41) - The Devastation of Baal, also called the Battle of Baal, was the assault by the single largest concentration of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Leviathan ever encountered upon Baal, the homeworld of the Blood Angels Chapter. Like the Blood Angels successors, the Soul Flayers Chapter arrived to the world to defend not just their Primarch's homeworld, but the foundation of their existence. Despite being distrusted and unofficially excommunicated by the Blood Angels, had the Battle
Commander Dante, Chapter Master of the Blood Angels, led the defence of the Baal System.
Brothers of the Chapter were nonetheless accepted as allies by Commander Dante, and allowed to fight side by side with their brothers. It was still not enough. Learning at an exponential rate, Hive Fleet Leviathan could not be thwarted by the same strategy twice. Advancing steadily, their superior numbers cleared the entire surrounding sector of life before the xenos made planet fall upon Baal and her twin moons. The first nineteen waves, each larger than the last, were driven off at great loss to the Blood Angels and their Successor allies. Six Chapter Masters fell in that bitter fighting, three in the Battle at the Dome of Angels alone, including the Soul Flayers Chapter Master, Draken Ruirk. The Tyranids began the process of absorbing all biomass from Baal and its moons, absorbing even the radiation-poisoned deserts of Baal Secundus. With their defenses in ruin and Baal's moons stripped and broken, the remaining Space Marines retreated back to the rubble of the Blood Angels' sprawling fortress-monastery. There, they prepared for a last stand as the next wave swept downwards. Doom, it seemed, had at last come to the sons of Sanguinius. It was then that the Great Rift cracked open the galaxy in the wake of the fall of Cadia to the 13th Black Crusade, and the withered Baal System was blasted by the aetheric storms. Although no further attack waves came from the Leviathan Hive Fleet, not a single Imperial defender remained alive upon the last moon, Baal Prime. On Baal itself there were already enough Tyranids there to destroy the Imperial troops many times over. Even with no chance of victory, Commander Dante led his troops, each fighting retreat seemingly more hopeless than the last. As the final perimeter was broken, the stars reappeared. Looking skywards, the Tyranids on the surface of Baal sought contact with their Hive Fleet, but it was gone, replaced by a newly arrived Imperial fleet. Like an angel of vengeance came Roboute Guilliman and his Indomitus Crusade. After many more battles, Baal was finally cleared of the xenos threat. A great rebuilding of both world and Chapter was undertaken, for the Blood Angels and their Successors were sorely needed elsewhere in the beleaguered Imperium. What became of the Leviathan is a mystery, although a clue was found upon the now-barren moon of Baal Prime. Xenos skulls were piled impossibly high in the much-reviled, eight-pillared symbol of one of the Blood Angels' most terrible and ancient nemeses: the Bloodthirster Ka'Bandha and his army of Khornate daemons.
Homeworld
The Shroud Worlds
Map of Segmentum Ultima
The Shroud Worlds are a series of worlds directly and indirectly influenced by the Soul Flayers Chapter inside Segmentum Ultima. The Shroud Worlds comprise of ten systems, each kept at different levels of industry, population, and technological advancement to suit the needs and preferences of the Chapter. Despite having no official home world, the Soul Flayers make use of an unofficial relationship with the world of Aula Prime, a hive world located in the Aula system. This relationship is done in order to maintain control over the vast array of recruitment worlds.
The world of Aula Prime is a heavily industrialized hive world, with seven large hive cities dotting the vast continents of the world. the World of Aula Prime is ruled indirectly by the Chapter, who resides in the capital city of Mainzport, inside the large fortress of Blood Banner. As the unofficial seat of the Chapter, the world of Aula Prime and its subsequent holdings of Aula Secunia and Aula Pazar, act as the breeding grounds of new chapter officers and chapter masters.
The other Shroud Worlds are kept in a state of barbarism, with many of the worlds being held at the period of bronze or early iron ages. These worlds are heavily directed by the Chapter, who have an unsettling way of recruiting new Aspirants into their Chapter. Chapter Watchers are sent to seek out suitable human-settled colonies far from the heart of the Imperium, where they collect the best genetic specimens of women and men they can find.
These women and men are taken to the Feral Worlds, which are designed to be suitable breeding worlds for specific characteristics and traits. There, the women are expected to bear future generations who might prove capable of joining the ranks as Neophytes.
Fortress-Monastery
The Emperor-class Battleship Iron Blood, flagship of the Iron Warriors Legion; a Cobra-class Destroyer is adjacent for size comparison.
The Fortress-Monastery of the Soul Flayers chapter is the Chapter Barque known as the Blood Court. The Blood Court is the mobile fortress vessel of the Chapter, which comprises the seat of the Honorary Guard, The Chapter Master, and the inner sanctum of officers and inquisitorial representatives.
The Blood Court itself is Emperor-class Battleship, the largest ship of the Soul Flayers fleet. The Battleship itself was left adrift in the open before rediscovery during the Vendent Wars (Unknown.M36). Currently, the Blood Court serves as the Chapter's spiritual and operational center, with its inner walls able to support the entire chapter if needed. The Blood Court holds most of the Chapter's relics, Chapels, and Reliquaries. Inside the vessel, it has been refitted many times over its thousands of years of service.
As well, the original hull of the ship was repurposed, with the new vessel maintaining extra docking facilities for escort craft, additional launch bays for shuttles and thunderhawks, and accommodation for twice as many Space Marines as a normal battle barge, as stated before.
Chapter Organization
The Successor Chapters of the Blood Angels adhere as closely to the Codex Astartes as their flaw allow. The Soul Flayers recognize the strictures of the Codex as a form of discipline that can be used to restrain the Red Thirst, but due to the severity of their gene-seed it isn't enough. Accordingly, each Chapter has a nominal strength of one thousand battle-brothers under arms, further divided into ten companies of roughly one hundred Space Marines each. However, the Soul Flayers maintain only 999 battle-brothers, with the 1000th seat being reserved for an inquisitor.
The 1st Company is home to the Chapter's most experienced Veterans, all of its Battle-Brothers steeped in solar decades, if not Terran centuries, of constant warfare in the name of the Imperium. The 2nd through 5th Companies are the Chapter's backbone, the Battle Companies who form the core of any strike force needed for ongoing campaigns against foes of the Emperor. The remaining companies are reserve and training formations of one sort or another. However, the clear distinction is the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th companies.
While in other Codex compliant chapters, The 8th and 9th Companies are specialist formations, composed of Assault Squads and Devastator Squads, and the 10th Company is seen by many as the future of the Chapter, comprising of Scouts. In the Soul Flayers chapter, the 6th company is comprised of the Scout core, with the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th companies being reserved for the Rosguard, the specialized assault units made of Black Rage inflicted brothers of the Chapter. This dedication to the Rosguard is due to the flaw in their gene-seed, with a high abnormal amount of battle brothers succumbing to the Black Rage or the Red Thirst.
This forces the Chapter to isolate those inflicted with the flaw, putting them in specialized companies that span nearly half of the Chapters full strength.
Chapter Command
Chapter Master of the Soul Flayers, Elezo Volkov
False Sons
29 False Sons
Chapter Equerries
Serfs & Servitors
Armoury
Reclusium
Sanguinary High Priest
Brother Kurska
Master of the Blade
39 Techmarines
95 Servitors
21 Predators
25 Baal Predators
6 Vindicators
7 Whirlwinds
19 Land Raiders
35 Stormraven Gunships
Agrosius Tumu
Glassator of the Soul Flayers
21 Watchers
Brother Vakt
Keeper of the Red Grail
26 Sanguinary Priests
Librarius
Fleet Command
Logisticiam
Kranoff
Master of the Librarius and Chief Librarian
Epistolaries
Codiciers
Lexicaniums
Acolytum
4 Librarian Dreadnoughts
Brother Petrovadin
10 Strike Cruisers
3 Battle Barge
20 Rapid Strike Vessels (Escorts)
47 Thunderhawk Gunships
10 Thunderhawk Transporters
Brother Grunnhild
850 Chapter Equerries
(Chapter Serfs) and Servitors
Chapter Recruitment
World Classification
The capital city of Mainzport on Aula Prime
The Soul Flayers Chapter recruits from all Shroud Worlds in its domain. These worlds are broken into classification based on population, technological advancement, and recruitment cycle. There are two world classifications the Soul Flayers Chapter uses: The Chamber Worlds and the Aulic Worlds.
First, the Chamber Worlds are a subsection of the Shroud Worlds. These worlds include planets that are held within the technological period that would create a civilized society, similar to the Old Terran Renaissance to Modern Imperial Hive City. On these worlds, unlike the Aulic Worlds, the Soul Flayers interact rarely with planetary affairs, only keeping a presence on the largest of these worlds, Aula Prime, within their regional defense fortress Blood Banner. These worlds are allowed an autonomous relation, as these worlds are cultavated to breed new Chapter Officers and future Chapter Masters.
Secondly, Aulic Worlds are the secondary subsection of the Shroud Worlds. These worlds experience more direct control and influence by the Soul Flayers Chapter. These worlds are notable isolated from the wider Imperium, with each world living in a near barbarism period similar to the early Terran Bronze Age all the way to the Early Terran Iron Age. As well, the Chapter implements a series of eugenics programs on these worlds, kidnapping suitable men and woman from across Imperial space based on specific traits, physical or genetic. These men and woman are introduced to these worlds, due to their genes allowing a higher chance of gene-seed abnormalities, specifically a higher percentage in Battle Brothers succumbing to the Black Rage.
Aspirant Trials
The Death World of Nenet
The aspirant trials of the Soul Flayers Chapter are designed based on the key doctrines of their Chapter. Regardless of birth, each aspirant will be forced to pass the four trials of Initiation: The First Night, The Noddic Rise, the Citadel Salting, and the Arethusa Gallows. These test are administered by the Glossator, who selects aspirants at the age of Nine. These aspirants form Cutomarias, groups of 40 aspirants who will be kept together from beginning to the end of the trials. The test themselves are administered on the Dead World of Nenet, specifically the fortress outpost of the Enclave.
On the Chamber Worlds and Aulic Worlds, a ceremony known as the Veil is held every year. By decree of the Soul Flayers Chapter, every male of 9 standard years is to be present in each major settlement or hive city, upon the ninth day of the ninth lunar month of every local year. Every year is the same: the Watchers of the Chapter will come to the various outlying villages, tribal communities, and hive centers to collect the youths that are deemed "Harbinged".
The term "Harbinged" is used by the Chapter to explain the inevitable reality of the humanity's true nature. For the Soul Flayers, the Imperium itself is a sovereign power responsible for protecting the security of the people and is given absolute authority to ensure the defense of itself. Humanity itself is inherently corrupt, with sacrifice being needed to ensure the continued existence of humanity. Like their Primarch, the Great Angel, sacrificed all to save the Imperium in its darkest hour. Aspirants who are selected understand the great truth of life. They understand life is fleeting and that death is eternal. Only through their sacrifice, can the Imperium of Mankind stand against its ancient foes.
These youths are then taken away from their families, transported to Nenet. The world of Nenet is a vast dead world, with large salt flats and mountainous valleys dotting much of the discarded ocean waste. The Enclave itself sits at the lowest peak of the world, sunken deep in the salted valleys of the White Waste. Here, the trials are held for a period of ninety standard days.
The First Night
Upon arrival to the Enclave, the 40 aspirants are taken into the inner walls of the Fortress, a barren structure that has been overtaken with overgrowth and decay. Upon arrival to the courtyard, the black-robed Chapter Serfs will begin to choose partners of two, until there are twenty divided groups of aspirants. The Serfs direct the boys based on their traits: height, build, and geographical birth.
The Serfs themselves will depart, with the entrance to the courtyard closing behind them. An unknown voice speaks to them all, for only twenty can survive the First Night in the White Waste, only twenty aspirants must die. Unknown the aspirants, the Glassator communicates to each of the aspirants, informing them of the combat needed to pass the first Trail.
In order to succeed, the twenty groups of aspirants fight one another to the death. Each aspirant is equipped with only bare first and sheer grit. From the onset of the trail, the Glassator watches as the aspirants fight, judging their combat and strategic techniques. The test itself is administered to break the will and minds of the aspirants and to limit the numbers of the Cutomarias. It also serves a secondary position, to judge to the strategic ability of aspirants taken from the Chamber worlds, as the aspirants from the Aulic worlds have a greater chance to survive the unarmed combat.
One twenty of the aspirants are slain, the gates of the courtyard remain closed. Until morning light, the aspirants are forced to lay and rest, surrounded by the deceased corpses of the aspirants they killed. Their minds are weakening from the trauma inflicted upon themselves.
Noddic Rise
Upon the rise of the morning light, a gate around the courtyard will open. The aspirants will receive no instruction or call. However, despite that, the aspirants will funnel through the opening until all pass through. Once the remaining twenty enter into heart of the rock face, the gate shuts. Like the First Night, the Glassator communicates his will to each remaining aspirant. In the tunnels of the cave system, the aspirants must escape before succumbing to the noxious toxic gases released by the springs under the earth.
Within minutes, muscle pain begins. Some hearts pulse quickly and some eyes go blind. The few able begin to make their way through the tunnels. With each obstacle, the few surviving youths try to move from the gases, only for the noxious smell to linger where every they go. Their muscles protest, convulsing with each new obstacle, forever convinced that each test will be their last.
No aspirant is expected to survive. The mixture of sulfur, nitrogen, and chloride over power the young aspirants until they succumb to death. Their hearts stopping as their last breath escapes their lips.
Citadel Salting
Despite the taste of death lingering on their frames, the trials are not yet over for the aspirants. The Serfs of the Chapter enter into the tunnels, collecting the dead. The bodies of the deceased are entombed in the great salt face of the White Waste. The Aspirants begin to wake, breathing and gasping as the grip of death is released. But upon their awakening, their witness to see large tubes and medical coils ripped into the skin. For some, death takes longer, and the victim will experience visions for the several hours.
However, by the end of the second day, each of the aspirants would have reawakened inside the medical coffins. Their air is thin, with little passing through the salted earth buried upon them. The medical devices linger inside them, injecting the gene-seed as their bodies feel each prod, each cut, and each stitch, only to then enter into a state of great slumber.
The aspirants remain under the earth for nearly 80 standard days, in full care of the casket's life-support systems, while they are injected with blood of the Sanguinius. Many die, incapable of bearing the vast changes wrought upon them by the gene-seed; others wake up too early and grow insane from their dark and claustrophobic existence. Those who wake up or grow insane are given to the Glassator. Those who died are taken to the inner vaults of the Enclave, where the are entombed with other failed aspirants.
Arethusa Gallows
The Emperor confronts Horus on the Battleship Vengeful Spirit after the death of Sanguinius
After 80 standard days, the aspirants are dug from the earth by the chapter Serfs, fully grown into space marines. However, before the aspirant is indoctrinated fully into the Chapter, one last trial is held: The Arethusa Gallows. Like their Primarch, his neck was broken by the Arch-Traitor. Each Brother of the Chapter is forced to relive the pain and suffering their Primarch suffered during his Great Sacrifice.
For 8 standard days, metallic ropes are tied around the necks of the remaining aspirants. Each day the rope tightens, suffocating their necks until air is thin and their eyes go blood shot, even for an Astartes. The rope cuts into their skin, drawing blood from the aspirants' flesh. Upon the end of the 8 standard days, the Gallows are released and the trials are over, each each Brother of the Chapter with deep scaring around their neck to remind them of the Great Sacrifice of their Primarch.
Combat Doctrine
Soul Flayers Weapons and Wargear
The companies of the Soul Flayers generally fight in a similar fashion as most other Blood Angel Successor Chapters, with a tendency toward aggressive and decisive space borne and planetary assault actions utilizing highly mobile forces against an enemy position. This usually results in actions in which dedicated assault units, including the Rosguard, close with the weakest point of the enemy position at the earliest opportunity under covering fire, and then are supported by mounted tactical units and armored forces to exploit the breakthrough. This then allows the assault units to carry on into successive enemy positions behind the front line, preventing an organised response, while the rest of the units conduct a mop-up of the remaining enemies and move into positions of support, pinning down the next target with available firepower. Their passion for perfection in all things martial and otherwise, added to the longevity in which to achieve this, can be seen in their strategic and tactical planning, which is exemplary. However, they cannot be counted upon to hold a position in the same disciplined way as other Space Marines, as the Black Rage can afflict any Marine in the midst of battle, inciting him to charge forward in an attempt to tear the enemy limb from limb.
Chapter Gene-Seed
The Soul Flayers, like all the warriors of the successors of the Blood Angels, experienced the greatest degree of transformation of flesh to the Space Marines. The aggressive over-writing of the aspirant's genes by the blood of the Primarch was capable of transfiguring and scarring the twisted bodies of the Shroud Worlds to create "perfected" warriors, living icons of the physical ideal of the Astartes, each one an echo of their Primarch, called "The Angel", Sanguinius in his fearsome glory.
There was a price, however, for this power. Due to experimentation during the 21st Founding by Adepts of the Adeptus Mechancius, Battle Brothers of the Chapter manifested with unflinching, unreasoning fanaticism bordering on madness. Their flaws were noted as minor and extreme, with the most minimal flaw being the lack of R.E.M sleep experienced by Battle Brothers. Yet, with each new flaw, they grew in considerable worry and delusion. A great number of Soul Flayers, it is said, are driven by a terrible death-seeking madness called the Black Rage, brought on by visions of the death of their Primarch at the hands of the Arch-Traitor. Others are afflicted by the terrible Red Thirst, a craving for blood in and out of combat. To many onlookers, it would be seen as the first signs of chaotic corruption.
Chapter Beliefs
The Nomocanon
Captain Erasmus Tycho in the throes of the Black Rage during the Third War for Armageddon.
The Nomocanon is the set rule of the Chapter. The Nomoanon itself is the collection of ecclesiastical law, consisting of the elements from both the civil and Imperial canon. From the birth of the Soul Flayers Chapter, a defining body of ideals was necessary for the continuation of the Chapter. The Nomocanon is series of eighty-seven chapters, comprised of fifty titles each written by the founding Chapter Master: Justinian Trullan.
The Nomocanon can be broken into three key tomes, each representative of the Justice, a measurement of duty one Battle Brother must be held to. The three tomes are broken in High, Middle, and Low justices, with each governing from the smallest mannerism of a Brother to the entire foundation of the Soul Flayers Chapter.
The Nomocanon itself was written to explain the duty of the Soul Flayers chapter, with its main goal being as a symbol acceptance by the wider Imperium for their duty, and as a way of self control by instilling beliefs contrary to their parent chapter and other Astartes institutions. Firstly, the Soul Flayers actively operate with Inquisitional oversight. Secondly, the Soul Flayers, unlike other Blood Angels successors, do not shy away from the topic of the Black Rage, yet in the High Justice Tome of the Nomocanon, explain it as a gift from the Emperor himself. To the Soul Flayers, the Great Sacrifice of Sanginius was an action that not only weakened Horus, but allowed the continued survival of the Imperium of Mankind. This is why the Black Rage is openly excepted as a fact of their Chapter, including the controlled eugenics program controlled by the Glassator and the Watchers of the Soul Flayers.
The Inquisitorial Appointment
An Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor, armed with Power Sword and Inferno Pistol
Like many Chapters founded during the 21st Founding, the Inquisition took steps to censor the creation of Chapters who suffered abnormalities in their gene-seed. The Soul Flayers Chapter were originally censored due to 60% of first batch of Chapter recruits succumbing to the Black Rage within the first two years of existence. This proved problematic as Space Marines in the Rage become entranced in uncontrollable rage. This flaw has always persisted within Blood Angels successors, as the Blood Angels are deeply ingrained in their gene-seed. However, the numbers of Astartes succumbing to the Rage alarmed the Mechanicus and the Inquisition who had developed the gene-seed in order to prefect the genes of the Blood Angels.
At first, the Inquisition censored the Chapter in order to investigate and ensure the Chapter was able to be deployed. Over the course of ten standard Terran years, the inquisition noted Chapter operated in extreme proficiency similar to the success of the Pre-Hersey] World Eaters Legion. During the Vendet Wars (Unknown.M36), the Chapter proved proficient in mass subjugation companies, with its Officers quickly adapting to the conflict while directly the specialized Black Rage Brothers in companies called Rosguards.
It was deemed the Chapter could operate without oversight from many Imperial Institutions, such as the Army and Navy. However, to ensure the Chapter did to not succumb to the same fervor as the World Eaters during the Hersey, an Inquisitorial Representative was placed inside the Inner workings of the Chapter, with its Chapter Master personally selecting the Inquisitor. This was only meant to be temporary, however, the Chapter insisted on keeping the Inquisitorial Appointment as the Chapter grew ties with Ordo Hereticus and Ordo Xenos.
This is why the Chapter holds only 999 Battle Brothers, as the Chapter has fully integrated itself around the appointment of the Inquisitor; going as far as to give the Inquisitor honorary titles and ranks within the Chapter as if they were an Astartes themselves.
Notable Members
Justinian Trullan - Patriarch and first Chapter Master of the Soul Flayers.
Draken Ruirk - Chapter Master of the Soul Flayers during the Devastation of Baal. He was succeeded by Justinian Trullan.
Elezo Volkov - Current Chapter Master of the Soul Flayers.
Nikit Danil - First Glassator of the Soul Flayers Chapter.
Chapter Fleet
The Soul Flayers once comprised of four large scale fleets, each designed to operate as interplanetary incursions. However, after the Devastation of Baal (999.M41), much of the Soul Flayers fleets were destroyed or made inoperable. The flag ship and fortress monastery of the Chapter, the Blood Court, was severally damaged during the Battle of Baal, with its main gun batteries and hull bays destroyed or crippled.
The Soul Flayers fleets most notable vessels:
Blood Court (Emperor-Class Battleship) - An Emperor-class Battleship, this mighty vessel acts as the flag ship and Fortress Monastery of the Soul Flayers Chapter: Crippled during the Devastation of Baal
Soul Mount (Battle Barge) - Operational headquarters of the 2nd Company of the Soul Flayers: Destroyed during the Devastation of Baal.
Constitute (Long Serpent-class Battlecruiser) - Crippled During the Devastation of Baal.
Suinth (Dictator-class Cruiser) - Destroyed during the Devastation of Baal.
Ninth Son (Strike Cruiser) - Destroyed during the Devastation of Baal.
Barbaroum (Strike Cruiser) - Crippled during the Devastation of Baal.
Novissum (Firestorm Frigate) - Seat of the Glassator: Destroyed during the Devastation of Baal.
Providentia (Firestorm Frigate) - Seat of the Watchers: Operational.
Chapter Relics
The Fang of the Father - Following the Devestation of Baal, Commander Dante gifted an Archangel's Shard to the Soul Flayes Chapter. When Sanguinius battled Horus, he wielded a magnificent blade that was tragically shattered against the Warmaster's profane battle-plate. The shards of that blade were gathered up and new Power Swords forged to incorporate them, each one gifted to a different Blood Angels Successor Chapter.
The Executor Helm - The Executor Helm is a master-crafted death mask crafted during the Cursed Founding. The helm is worn by the Glassator, who controls the Chapter's Rosguard companies and the Watchers of the Chapter. It is said that the sight of the faceless presence of Glassator brings despair and sorrow, followed by the onset of savage blood shed.
The Halo of Decay - Upon recovery of Draken Ruik's body from the Devastation of Baal, The Iron Halo was recovered. The halo a relic of the Chapter Master and his sacrifice for the world of their Primarch. The halo is estimated to have been crafted during the Third or Fourth Founding.
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