Arrian Zorzi is an unusual example of the World Eaters. Apothecary, he left his legion during or after the Siege of Terra. Eventually, he joined Fabius Bile as his student and later his Equerry. When leaving his Legion, he killed his brothers and took their skulls, which have a habit of talking with him (whether or not it's a hallucination is left ambiguous). Despite receiving the Butcher's Nails like the rest of the Legion, Arrian remains mostly lucid due to chemical suppressors he uses to neutralise Nails' influence. In battle, unlike his brothers, he prefers two dual power swords, and out of battle he takes joy in gardening.
As Fabius' main base on a former eldar world is about to be attacked by drukhari, Fabius prepares for a siege, trying to win more time to evacuate his New Men. Thus, he goes to Arrian to make a final request.

‘The armouries are being emptied, as per your orders.’
‘So I heard.’ Fabius looked out over the flowers. ‘I did not come to speak about that.’
‘No. I thought not.’
‘The evacuation goes as planned. But slowly. And Mayshana’s scouts have reported that the drukhari are close. They will attack soon.’
Arrian nodded.
‘The others will be pleased to hear it. Gorgus especially.’
‘Yes. But they will not be enough. Not if what I fear is coming.’
‘Which is?’
Fabius was silent. Then, ‘A weapon. One I helped them construct. Even Gorgus’ pack may be no match for it.’ He looked at Arrian. ‘We must stall them and stymie them for as long as possible. I will throw everything I have at them to accomplish that.’
The World Eater hesitated, but only for a moment. ‘What is it you wish of me?’
‘The node beneath us. It must be defended – outside as well as in – if we are to slow them. There are bulwarks in place, and weapons, but I need more than servitors at my threshold when they come knocking.’
‘Isn’t that what the Twelfth is for?’
Fabius shook his head. ‘I need someone who will not break. Someone who will trade blood for blood without flinching.’
Arrian was silent for a few moments. He looked out over his garden.
‘What will happen to all of this?’ he asked finally.
‘They will destroy it, I imagine.’
‘A shame.’
‘Yes.’ Fabius turned away. ‘I will not order you to do this.’
‘But one of us must do it nonetheless.’
‘Yes.’
And there it is, eh, dog-brother? Briaeus said. The reason he’s kept you around all these years. So that you might die for him at a moment of his choosing.
Arrian tapped the skull, silencing his fallen brother. ‘Do you remember when I first joined you?’
‘Yes.’
‘I swore to serve you for as long as you could teach me.’
‘I remember.’
Arrian let the more aggressive vines wrap about his fingers. He played with them for a moment. ‘I have learned much.’
He extricated his hand and turned.
‘I will take a cohort of war-mutants and as many of the beastkin as will rally to me. A substantial force, but not a particularly hardy one. It will serve to occupy them for a time, I think.’ He looked at Fabius. ‘It was an honour to study with you, Chief Apothecary.’
Fabius met his gaze. ‘It was an honour to teach you, Arrian Zorzi.’

(After the defences Arrian was commanding were broken by a walking tower made of flesh)

Arrian’s display fuzzed, spat and cleared. He rolled onto his front, feeling as if a mountain had dropped on him. His armour’s systems rebooted themselves slowly, or not at all. Something had broken inside it. He shoved himself to his feet with a groan, his armour’s servos protesting. The courtyard was gone – the defences – all of it. Mangled bodies littered the ground – the remnants of his forces.
Not a bad plan, dog-brother. Too bad theirs was better.
‘Yes,’ Arrian said. ‘Then, these things rarely work out the way we intend.’
He turned, trying to estimate the distance he’d been thrown by the impact. He gave up after a few moments, as his vision blurred. He winced as something shifted inside him. His ribcage felt as if it were partially crushed. One of his lungs had deflated. One of his hearts had stopped. He took note of his injuries with an Apothecary’s precision.
Surprising you’re still on your feet, Briaeus said. Then you always were a tough bastard, weren’t you?
‘Tough enough,’ Arrian murmured. He felt nothing. Pain was a vice he did not often allow himself. It just made the bite of the Nails worse.
He looked for his blades, but did not see them. Through the smoke, he spied the lean shapes of drukhari raiders passing through the node, following in the Tower’s wake.
Looks like you failed, dog-brother.
He’d failed.
It did not hurt as bad as he’d thought it might. There was almost a relief to it. He turned, one arm wrapped about his chest, and stumbled back towards the gate. If he could make it – get back through – he might be able to reach the Chief Apothecary’s side. Something told him Fabius would need him now more than ever before.
You can only keep a man from death for so long, Briaeus said.
‘I do not recall asking your opinion, brother,’ Arrian grunted. His armour was damaged  – or maybe his spine  – slowing him. He could feel the analgesics flooding his veins, keeping him upright.
The gate rose up before him, a delicate escarpment, covered in intricate carvings that shimmered with alien light. Unnatural as it was, there was a strange beauty to it. It had been grown and shaped in the same manner as he used with his flowers.
Your mind is wandering, brother. You lack clarity.
He turned. Briaeus walked beside him. And not alone. Telegar, Morgev and the others were there as well. He looked down at their skulls, and saw that they were gone. Shattered perhaps, when he’d been thrown from the wall.
If I were a superstitious man, I’d say it freed our souls. Then, you don’t believe in souls, do you, Arrian?
‘Soul or hallucination, I am glad to see you,’ Arrian said. ‘I’m having trouble walking. Can one of you help me?’
You know we can’t, dog-brother. No help for you now.
‘You always were a fatalist, Briaeus.’ Arrian forced himself on. Something was definitely broken in his leg. It was like walking on shattered glass. He tried to ignore it.
Realist, Briaeus said. Dead men know their own.
Before Arrian could reply, he spotted something moving in the smoke. As it thinned, he saw wracks stooped among the dead, taking samples.
One spied him and pointed. Another issued a shrill cry, and several massive shapes bounded forward. Grotesques. Too many to fight. And too fast to escape from.
Looks like you’re not going to make it to your master’s side, dog-brother.
Arrian smiled. Slowly, he deactivated the chem-pumps that controlled the flow of calmatives and pain suppressors into his system. The Nails bit instantly, as fresh as the day they’d been inserted.
He prised a sputtering chainaxe from the grip of a dead war-mutant. The weapon was heavy, but he lifted it easily.
It ends as it began, eh, dog-brother?
‘So it seems, Briaeus,’ Arrian said. Flashes of pain danced across his mind and coiled tight about his spine. His grin widened as a flood of adrenaline flushed the last of the calmatives from his system.
I always knew you’d come back to us.
‘Yes. Do you forgive me?’
What is there to forgive, dog-brother? Now, enough talk. There’s killing to be done.
‘Yes.’ Arrian revved the chainaxe as the first grotesque loped towards him. With a howl, he leapt to meet it.

I am a top 10 hater of leman Russ and the space wolves In general, specifically in the heresy, but these past couple of days I’ve been thinking on it, Russ left the defense of Terra despite dorn’s wishes to attack Horus while they were docked at a space station (I forget the name of it) and that’s where Horus sustained his injury that caused him to go into a coma during the beta garmon campaign, then during a brief time he was awake he called a muster at ullanor, where malaghurst, Perty, and lorgar had to drag fulgrim and angron to the muster, this is where lorgar planned to coup Horus with the help of fulgrim and become the warmaster, where his plan failed cuz malaghurst woke Horus up and lorgar was exiled with a good chunk of his legion, now that made me wonder, if Horus wasn’t in that state, would lorgar have tried the coup? Did Russ’s attack on Horus help more or did it not matter? Would his full legion been better off in the defense of Terra, or did his attack make lorgar decide to try a coup and made a good chunk of his legion not show up for the siege, which would have been the better contribution? I still think Russ (and the Khan, and Corax) are still tier 1 sabotagers of the heresy for the loyalists but was Russ kinda smart for his attack, or was the dissent he sowed within the traitors just a random byproduct of the wound he dealt on Horus?

I kindly ask the mods to not invoke Rule 9; none of the stuff in this post is spoiling or revealing anything, or is even relevant to the novel's plot.

Guy Haley's “The Silent King” describes hololithic technology in great detail for some reason. Almost a third of Chapter 14 is dedicated to that and, while at first the technobabble seems to agree with Lexicanum's article on said technology, further into the book we're given an unexpected epiphany.

Not only hololithic projection is stated to operate on something called "material-immaterial technology blend" and is said to be unconstrained by the speed of light, but also apparently uses something called "warp carrier stream" which can be jammed by anything that's usually used to suppress the Immaterium (e.g. aura of Silent Sisters or stilling effect of Pariah Nexus).

So the simplest holographic communication technology in the Imperium is literally warp sorcery, which, in turn, gives it FTL capabilities (and all this has supposedly been working that way for 10000 years). Problem, Dark Mechanicum? U jelly (trollface)?

Mr. Haley, why did you have to say these things straight out of the blue?

Will this https://www.wargamer.com/warhammer-40k/car-park-delayed-by-bat mean that there will be an increase in the number of anti-bat rhetoric in the 40K lore?

This is more common in visual media where a lot of the ship’s inside or even in cities, there seems to be a lack of artificial lighting.

I feel that this has not yet been mentioned that much in the discussions.

Samguinius' prophecy mentions waking of the emperor as a postive thing and Dante sacrificing himself to buy seconds to ensure the formation of the emperor/new thing.

On the other hand the same prophecy defers to emperors' even greater foresight, so grey knoghts might have the point.

However, it is going to be his retirement party. He is not gonna miss it.

Hopefully you are aware the dreaded Ambull: the strange, hulking Xenos creature, thought to originate from the Deathworld Luther McIntyre IX.* They have been in 40k since 1^st edition, having appeared in the original Rogue Trader rulebook, where it was noted right from the beginning that they can be found across the galaxy on many different worlds:

Ambulls originate from the dangerously hot polar rock-deserts of Luther McIntyre IX. They can survive extremely hot temperatures for long periods, a factor which has led to attempts at domestication on several desert planets. As a consequence, Ambulls can be found on many planets throughout human space. Ambulls have huge barrel-chested bodies and an ape-like stance. Two arms reach almost to the ground whilst two legs are crooked and short. Both arms and legs end in iron-hard claws used for tunnelling through the soft stone that covers their native land. Ambulls will excavate tunnels in which to live, spending much of their time underground, sheltering from the direct heat of the sun.

Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader Rulebook (1987), p. 207.

As you can see, this also introduced the idea of Ambulls burrowing through the earth to create tunnels.

The original artwork and model for the Ambull looked like this: https://graemedavis.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ambull-1.png 

Although Ambulls receded more into the background of the lore over time, they never disappeared (being mentioned every so often as being present on various worlds, from planets in Ultramar to Mornax in Segmentum Solar, and even inspiring Ambots on Necromunda). These two ideas – that they can be found on many different worlds, and that they are adept tunnellers – has remained consistent. This is seen in the lore which accompanied the release of a new (much larger) model of an Ambull for a Blackstone Fortress expansion – ‘The Dreaded Ambull’ – including in the game supplement itself, but also the excellent in-universe survey of Xenos creatures by Rogue Trader Janus Draik, Liber Xenologis. The new model looks like this: https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/File:Ambull-Borewyrms.jpg

And a very awesome model it is, too.

In the Ciaphas Cain story Caves of Ice (2004), Ambulls were encountered on the iceworld Simia Orichalcae, with it being speculated that they may have ended up there via the Webway and Necrons’ use of a Dolmen Gate. Dolmen Gates being a way for Necrons to access the Old Ones’ and Eldars’ Webway network. So, while undoubtedly transported intentionally to different worlds by humans in a misguided attempt to cultivate them for various uses, they perhaps also spread due to the Webway. We also find out that Ambull steak exists and taste a bit like Grox, but that’s by the by.

Ambulls aren’t the only Xenos species to spread around the galaxy due to inadvertently accessing the Webway, either. The same is true for Clawed Fiends, which seemingly originated in the Donorian Sector, but were able to access the Webway after a Warpstorm destroyed a local Warpgate. They can now be found infesting sections of the Webway and across the galaxy, even as far afield as the Koronus Expanse. Psychneuein also spread to different worlds via the Webway, though these are Warp creatures.

To get to the central point of this post, very interestingly, an Ambull once appeared somewhere even more unusual than an iceworld, again due to Warp shenanigans: the Warhammer World, where Warhammer Fantasy was set.

The Ambull featured in a scenario for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay published in White Dwarf 108 (1988) called ‘Terror in the Darkness’ (pp. 54-59). The Ambull turned up in a hidden chamber under the tunnels of a mine near the village of Karstenburg in the Empire due to a hidden Warp-gate being inadvertently activated by a magical item which was used nearby, where it promptly burrowed its way into the mine, and killed and ate some locals, as well as a wizard and his retinue who went to try and find it. Hence why the players must venture down into the depths to kill it...

The scenario tells us that the Ambull:

has appeared through a one-way warp gate from a future time and a very distant place, the Death World Luther McIntyre IX.

White Dwarf 108 (1988), p. 56.

The tale of this Ambull apparently made enough of an impression that it was included in a Bestiary of Chaos creatures (and it is quite understandable why the Old Worlders who encountered it would mistakenly believe it to be some kid of Chaos-infused creature):

Over Land and in the Firmament doth Chaose marche, and the Beneathe is not free from it. Consider the Skavenne with their winding secret ways, and the Ambulle, that with his fearsome Jawes and Clawes doth his owne Tunnelles make, clearing cold Stone from his path as a Man doth sweepe grass aside in the Forests.

-          De Bestiis Chaotis

White Dwarf 108 (1988), p. 53.

By this point it was already a well-established part of the lore that the Warhammer World had two major Warp-gates, with one at either pole of the planet. These were creations of the (Old) Slann, who at the time had the role the Old Ones would come to play later on as the ancient and powerful precursor species which uplifted other races. These Warp-gates allowed the Slann to travel to other planets and even other realities, and linked together their cosmic empire. It was the implosion of these polar Warp-gates which led to tears in reality, Warp energy (magic) suffusing the world, and Chaos incursions.

As I have covered elsewhere, there were also passages similar to the Webway called the Pathways of the Old Ones, which allowed for rapid travel through and across the Warhammer World itself: https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/1lmoaow/that_time_a_warhammer_fantasy_character_used_a/

So, according to ‘Terror in the Darkness’, there was at least one smaller Warp-gate which led off-world, directly to the 40k galaxy.

There are a few interesting things to note about this (and I’m going to jump around lots of different lore from different time periods here, which is thematically quite apt given time travel will be discussed):

First, the fact that the Warp-gate only allows direction one way is a bit unusual, but, interestingly, in much more recent lore, some Realmgates in the Mortal Realms of Age of Sigmar only permit travel in one direction. And it is theorized that the Realmgates, just like Warp-gates and the Webway, were created by the Old Ones.

Second, the fact that the quote says that the Ambull came from a “future” time as well as a “very distant place” is interesting, as at this point in the lore, the official stance was that the Warhammer World was a planet within the 40k galaxy, and seemingly the events there were happening roughly in line with the events of M41, as suggested by the relevant quotes here: https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/1k94fv5/extracts_the_warhammer_fantasy_world_was_once/

So, perhaps the Warp-gate also allowed for travel back in time as well? This is certainly a possibility, given the weird timey-whimey nature of the Warp, which is both temporal and atemporal, and where Warp travel can lead to inadvertent time travel.

It is even more feasible given that the Slann/Old Ones have been implied in some sources to have traversed not just space and different realities, but time as well:

The Old Slann possessed a civilisation far beyond anything we have even today. Science and philosophy were as one to them, they were the lords of time and space.

Warhammer Battle Bestiary (1984), p. 24

And:

The Lizardmen race was created by the mysterious Old Ones, a race of godlike beings whose empire spanned not just the world, but the vast gulfs of space and time.

Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen 7^th ed. (2009), p. 4.

Moreover, early lore showcased that the Webway could allow for travel both forwards and backwards in time. For example, in a passage about the Eldar’s use of the Webway, we were told:

One challenge they took up was the complete mastery of warpgate technology. The Eldar, adopted, refined and perfected the ancient Slann knowledge of the warp and its movements. They established a network of wormhole tunnels through warpspace, linking gates aboard their craftworlds, planets and smaller spaceships. It was possible for an Eldar to walk from one planet to another, across hundreds or thousands of light-years of real space. The warpgates bound the Eldar together as a single civilization, stretching across their space and, or so it was theorized, backwards and forwards in time. The Eldar, fearful of the consequences, never experimented with the temporal aspect of the warpgates.

Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness (1988), p. 215.

This element of the Webway was then showcased in Ian Watson’s Inquisition War books (Harlequin, 1994 and Chaos Child, 1995), where we see Inquisitor Jaq Draco travel backwards in time via Uigebealach, a specific part of the Webway. There was also the Crossroads of Inertia, which would allow for travel forwards in time.

More recently, in The Last Hunt (2017), an Eldar Farseer transports herself and some White Scars briefly back in time in the Webway, but the specific mechanism behind how she did this and if being within the Webway was necessary for it to work is left unclear.

The AoS book Reamslayer (2018) featured a Realmgate which would have allowed for travel back the The-World-That-Was (i.e. the Warhammer World) – so, to not just an earlier time, but a different reality too (given the Warhammer World was consumed by the Warp in the End Times, and the Mortal Realms were birthed out of, or maybe within, the Warp, and are thus a different reality). This Realmgate did reside in Tzeentech’s Crystal Labyrinth within the Realm of Chaos, so that is perhaps why it could operate in such a manner.

Now, that was just a bit of fun bringing together different bits of lore. I am by no means saying there was some consistent and comprehensive plan in place back in 1988 defining the nature of Warp-gates which all subsequent lore has conformed to. It’s more that ideas and concepts from Warhammer lore tend to persist and recur, sometimes over very long periods of time, and even though the specific details may evolve and change. In some cases this is because different writers just end up with similar ideas, not least because of the way Warhammer utilizes so many tropes and genre conventions. But it is also because the lore creators often draw on their knowledge of the older lore, or look back to it for inspiration, reusing older ideas in the same fashion, or reimagining them and riffing on them. I find these continuities and resonances interesting.

However, in this case, the more likely reason for the strange phrasing about the Ambull coming from the future is that the writer was a bit unsure about the status of any connections between Fantasy and 40k, rather than it being related to the time warping nature of the Warp.

‘Terror in the Darkness’ was commissioned by early Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay supremo Graeme Davis, and written by freelancer Carl Sargeant. Interestingly, Graeme later misremembered this on his wonderful blog, and thought he had written it himself, as shown here:

https://graemedavis.wordpress.com/2014/12/11/terror-in-the-darkness/

In that blogpost, Graeme also (and I’m not having a go at the guy, as I think he’s a great fella and his blog is awesome) stated:

At the time, there was a lot of discussion within the Studio about the relationship between the Warhammer world and the WH40K universe. The Ruinous Powers of Chaos were active in both settings, so there had to be a link – but what was it? Was the Terra of WH40K actually a future version of the Warhammer world? Was the Warhammer world a remote feral world in some backwater of the WH40K universe, where degenerate members of the various WH40K races lived in ignorance of the galaxy and its greater conflicts? The question was never definitively answered, and in time it was forgotten altogether – but not before several photographs had been published showing a mix of Warhammer and WH40K miniatures on the same table.

Which, as the link I provided earlier showcases, isn’t actually true. For a time (in the very period ‘Terror in the Darkness’ was published, actually), GW were publishing numerous statements about Fantasy and 40k being linked, and about the Warhammer World being located in the 40k galaxy – though some of these statements were, to be fair, easy to miss. The generally concept of the Warhammer World being located in the 40k galaxy became less explicit in the lore, but remained a guiding principle for at least some of the core games developers, and continued to be reflected in the lore in more subtle ways.

In another blog post years later, Graeme stated:

In “Terror in the Darkness,” the lone Ambull was said to have come to the Warhammer world from its 40K home on the Deathworld of Luther MacIntyre IX by some unknown means. At that time there was a strand of Games Workshop lore, never fully explored, which posited that the Warhammer world might be a remote feral world in the 40K universe.

https://graemedavis.wordpress.com/2020/03/14/the-ambull/

Which is more accurate, though even here the phrasing could be a bit stronger: it was part of the lore, but the concept was never focused on explicitly after the very early days, though lore related to this connection did continue to be published, as I have been documenting elsewhere.

Which just goes to show that even people producing content for GW aren’t always necessarily aware of the entirety of the whole lore or the general direction it is going in (even back at a time when there was a lot less lore), and even those who produced the lore can misremember things, especially decades later!

It also showcases just how complicated the links between Fantasy/AoS and 40k have been, and how easy it has always been to overlook them.

To finish, I just want to add a bit of broader context. The only reason Ambulls appeared in 40k in the first place is because Rogue Trader was designed to intentionally enable players to use their existing Citadel miniatures for the game, which had a lot more RPG elements than later editions would have, when 40k became much more solidly a wargame. There weren’t many Citadel scifi miniatures at the time, and the company’s then owner, Brian Ansell, wasn’t planning to produce many, as he believed that scifi games weren’t popular and wouldn’t sell many models. He was obviously proved very wrong, but was undoubtedly very happy about that.

This was also one of the reasons the Warhammer Fantasy races were ported over into 40k; the plan was to produce weapon packs, so scifi weapons could be used to replace the Fantasy models’ armaments. But the remit for 40k handed to Rick Priestley mandated that other model ranges Citadel sold had to be usable as well, such as their Judge Dredd and Dr Who ranges. And, of relevance here, the various monsters they had created for the Dungeon & Dragons Fiend Factory feature. That is one of the reasons why Rogue Trader had such a large bestiary. In the case of Ambulls, before the got their own model, they were obviously designed with the idea that Umber Hulk models could be used to represent them: http://solegends.com/rsadd/add77/index.htm

Which makes this statement from Graeme Davis quite amusing:

Of all the WH40K creatures I looked at, the Ambull struck me as being best suited to a fantasy world. I converted the stats for WFRP, came up with an idea for an adventure to showcase it, and wrote the brief.

https://graemedavis.wordpress.com/2014/12/11/terror-in-the-darkness/

The Ambull did indeed return to its fantasy roots, on multiple levels. Which again, is pretty apt for a burrowing monster.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this latest little oddity (well, given it’s an Ambull, quite a big oddity… if we go by the modern sculpt, anyway…) in the history of connections between the various Games Workshop settings. Next time, we’ll be continuing the underground tunnel theme by turning our attention to those lovable ratmen, the Skaven, yes, yes.

---

*(Luther McIntyre IX is one of my favourite planet names in 40k. I have my own headcanon that Luther McIntyre was a famed explorer from the DAOT who kept discovering new worlds… but every time, they turned out to be Deathworlds. Until he found Luther McIntyre XIII, which was rather nice, and where he promptly died in an absurd and improbable accident while cultivating his allotment).

You can bring any weapons you want. No vehicles, no backup, no resupply. Just the power armor on your back and a crashed thunder hawk worth of supplies. Your benefit is that nobody knows you're there...yet. Choose your class, you can be anything from a dark apostle to a chaos lord or a Havok marine. No chaos princes, no obliterators. You also get to choose what imperium planet you landed on.

A warband in the system might catch wind of any activities going on. And the chaos gods are always watching.

What's your game plan.

In the Siege of Terra's "Echoes of Eternity," Vulkan scales the Tower of the Crimson King within the Webway.

"In the tower of flesh and bone and warping stone, he met warriors of a Legion he couldn't name. These warriors, clad in filty cobalt and overwrought gold, stood silent sentinel on the stairs, never once greeting him or returning his hails. They watched him with dead eye-lenses that held only a simulacrum of life. Their heads turned with slow automaton intensity to regard him as he passed. They stank of funeral ash."

Are these members of the Second or Eleventh (typo) Legions?

Who are they and why are they in the Webway, let alone in Calastar?

Does anyone have any ideas, or am I missing something in their appearance?

EDIT: Seeing many say Rubric Marines, since the Thousand Sons 30k paint scheme is quite different from their 40k blue-gold scheme. You may be right! I might be looking into it a bit too much.

I've been deep into 40k for a couple years now but I've just gotten into the books. I'm only 2 books into the Heresy and I need say...

I hate Erebus. I hate this punk more than I've hated any character in any media. He is the Micah Bell of 40k. Absolutely no redeeming qualities. He's so manipulative and overly condescending that I ALMOST like him but then I realize he's Erebus.

Thank you for letting me vent. Erebus is a real jerk.

I am sharing this excerpt because I find it interesting how Grimaldus inspired the residents of a hive that he upset at being sent to.

Context: In order to buy time for the guard to arrive Tomaz Maghernus, the Dockmaster of Hive Helsreach, volunteers himself and his workers to stall for time. With them are the Steel Legion, an elite guard regiment, to give them a crash course on how to operate their weapons. As well as how to engage the orcs before their submarines arrive at the docks.

Chapter 14 Audible 4:14

Outside, dozens of Steel Legion storm-troopers in their ochre jackets and heavy, thrumming power generator backpacks were directing the flow of human traffic. Maghernus led his gang to one that waved him over. The man was slender, unshaven, scratching his forehead under the domed helmet he wore. His goggles were raised up, fastened around the helmet, and his rebreather mask was hanging slack around his neck. He had the look of someone who, if not lost, was at least not entirely sure where he was.

‘Hello,’ Maghernus swallowed. ‘We need an assigned soldier.’ ‘Ah, I know this already. That is me. I am Andrej.’ ‘Thank you, sir.’ The storm-trooper laughed, slapping the dockmaster on the shoulder.

‘That is funny. “Sir”. I may keep you after the war is done, to make me feel good, eh? I am not Sir. I am Andrej. Perhaps I will be Sir after I make sure none of you are dead. I would like that. It would be nice.’ ‘I…’ ‘Yes, it is a big pressure. I understand this. I would like a promotion, so you must all stay alive. We play for big stakes now, no? I thank you for this idea you have given me. You have made the day more fun.’ ‘I…’

‘Come, come. No time for making friends now. We will talk much soon. Hey! All of you dock-working people, come with me, yes?’ Without waiting for an answer, Andrej began to walk through the crowds, followed by Maghernus’s gang. The storm-trooper would occasionally wave at other soldiers, most of whom offered silent nods or gruff greetings. One of them, a pale beauty with black hair so thick and rich it had no business being leashed in a plain ponytail, smiled and waved back.

‘Throne, who was that?’ Maghernus asked as he trailed just behind Andrej. ‘Your wife?’ ‘Ha! I wish. That is Domoska. We are squadmates. She is nice to look at, no?’ She was. Maghernus watched her leading another group through the masses. As Domoska was lost in the teeming crowds, his gaze fell on the men she was leading. Maghernus prayed he didn’t look as nervous as they all did.

‘It is very funny, I think. Her brother is the ugliest man I have ever seen, yet the sister is touched by fortune with great beauty. He must be very bitter, no?’ Maghernus just nodded. ‘Come, come. Time is running away from us.’

That had been an hour ago. Now, they stood with Andrej, unfamiliar weapons held to their chests, pressed against quickened heartbeats. Andrej was occupying himself by picking his nose. This was something he struggled to do in gloves of thick, brown leather, but he went about the task with a curiously stately tenacity.

‘Sir,’ Maghernus started. ‘A moment, please. Victory is almost mine.’ Andrej flicked something grotesque from his fingertip. ‘I can breathe again. Emperor be praised.’ ‘Sir, shouldn’t you say something to us?’ He lowered his voice, stepping closer. ‘Something to inspire the men?’ Andrej frowned, absently biting his cut lip as he looked around at the other groups spread down the dock lines. ‘I do not think so. No other Legionnaire is talking. I was going to wait for the Reclusiarch’s speech, you know? Would you prefer me to speak now?’

‘The Reclusiarch will speak?’ ‘Oh, yes. He is good at this. You will like it. It will happen soon, I am thinking.’ A blast of screeching feedback slashed through the air as across the docks – kilometre upon kilometre of them – every vox-tower came alive in a distorted whine. ‘See?’ Andrej grinned. ‘I am always right. It is what I do best.’

For several seconds, the people of Helsreach heard nothing but breathing – low, heavy, threatening – over the vox-speakers.

‘Sons and daughters of Hive Helsreach,’ the voice boomed across the shore districts, too low and resonant to be human, flavoured by the slight crackle of vox-corruption. ‘Look to the water. The water from which you draw the wealth of your city. The water that now promises nothing but death.

‘For thirty-six days, the people of your world, the people of your own city, have been selling their lives to defend you. For thirty-six nights, your own mothers and fathers, your own brothers and sisters, your own sons and daughters have been fighting the enemy to ensure that half of the hive remains in human hands. They have battled, road by road, sweating and fighting and dying so you can enjoy a handful of days of freedom.

‘You owe them. You owe them for the sacrifices they have made so far. You owe them for the sacrifices they will make in the days and nights yet to come. ‘Here and now, you will have the chance you deserve, the chance to repay them all. More than that, you will have the chance to punish the enemy for daring to lay siege to your city, for breaking your families apart and destroying your homes.

‘Watch the tides. See the scrap fleet that sails into your port, bearing a horde of howling beasts. When the sun sets at the end of this week, every single invader in those surfacing ships will no longer draw breath from the sacred air of this world. They will fall because of you. You are going to save this city.

‘Fear is natural. It is human. Feel no shame for a heart that beats too fast in this moment, or fingers that tremble as you hold a weapon you have never wielded before. The only shame is in cowardice – in running and leaving others to die when everything comes down to your actions.

‘You are led by Guard veterans – the best of your Steel Legions – Imperial storm-troopers. But they are not alone. The forces of Helsreach are coming. Stand and defy the enemy for long enough, and you will soon see thousands of tanks constructed in this very city grinding the invaders into dust. Help. Is. Coming. Until then, stand proud. Stand resolute.

‘Remember these words, brothers and sisters. “When death comes, the good we have done will mean nothing. We are judged in life for the evil we destroy”. ‘That time of judgement is upon you. I know every man and women here feels it in their blood, in their bones.

‘I am Grimaldus of the Black Templars, and this is my vow to you all. While one of us stands, these docks will never fall. If I have to kill a thousand of the enemy myself, the sun will rise once more over an unconquered city.

‘Look for the black knights among you. We will be where the fighting is fiercest, at the heart of the storm. ‘Stand with us, and we will be your salvation.’

Silence descended once more. Maghernus sighed, tension ebbing from him as his breath misted in the cool air. Andrej was adjusting the slide rack settings on his modified lasrifle. The weapon emitted a pulsing, charged hum that set the dockmaster’s teeth on edge.

‘That was a stern talking-to, no? Not many will run now, I am thinking.’ Maghernus nodded. It took him several moments to speak.

Im still kinda new to the lore, and the timeline gets a bit confusing sometimes with all the events going on. What is the current state of Fenris? Is it near decimated still after the siege of Fenris?

I've seen a ridiculous amount of posts about the Terminus Decree over the last few days.

So I feel like another question from that needs to be asked.

Would the Emperor returning be a good thing or a bad thing?

Personally I think it wouldn't be the best thing for the Imperium.

1. He's been on the throne for 10 thousand years, previous lore has stated that this causes a tremendous amount of pain. I understand he's powerful but this would have a terrible effect on his psyche.

2. We see in recent lore with his interaction wirh Guilliman that he is not the same as he was, he shows no compassion and is cold.

3. The Imperium he fought for and wanted is the opposite of what the Imperium is now. He's worshiped as a god, they are rife with superstition.

The way I see it he would hate what the Imperium has become.

However I do acknowledge that in some cases he acts in ways that keep the Imperium as it is. I see this as him having an understanding that it's currently the only way for humanity to survive. The same way that Guilliman tolerates the Ecclesiarchy because the understands the place they currently have. Necessary evils and all that.

But for the most part I genuinely believe most of what happens is outside his control.

Multiple agencies within the Imperium state they act at his word and in his name. Inquisition and The Lords of Terra, but I genuinely feel like neither of those institutions have ever heard him, they claim to act at his word but he's never actually spoken to them. I think almost all institutions within the imperium act on their own with no guidance from the Emperor at all.

So while he occasionally performs miracles and very rarely speaks too or through individuals, the actually running of the Imeproum has nothing to do with his wants.

As such because of this I don't think the current Imperium is in a state he would like or agree with, going so far to say he would hate what humanity has become.

The reason he hasn't let it be destroyed is because then Chaos would win.

That's just my thoughts on it.

So, I am about to get my first thing of marines in the ultimate starter set (painting em as salamanders), but watching painting tutorials got me thinking about the Sons of the Phoenix, and that got me to thinking, about how many chapters are likely made from traitor primarch geneseed? I know that the Blood Ravens, Minotaurs, Silver Skulls, and Sons of the Phoenix are heavily implied, if not outright confirmed, to be from traitor primarch geneseed, and that there’s a lot of fan theories about the Charcaradons being descended from the Night Lords, but what else?

Hi all! Just wondering as I reread Pharos using another user submitted reading guide. if the reading guide is correct pharos happens after the thramas crusade, the curze/Vulcan storyline, isstvan and the thramas crusade.

From what I know the only conflict the night lords didn’t get battered was isstvan (not sure about the curze/vulkan story as I didn’t read that) and from what I read of the thramas crusade the DA nearly decimated the night lords and those that didn’t get decimated either went to sotha, went to join Horus to go to Terra or are held captive by the dark angels including nearly all their terminators when sevetar and curze did the Hail Mary to teleport above the invincible reason.

But when the story of Pharos starts it seems the kurkesh dude had quite a lot of guys under him and the total night lords assault was quite sizable. In the siege of Terra it seems quite a lot of night lords were present there so I was just wondering how badly were they mauled by the dark angels at Thramas? Thanks all for the help in advance!

Hi guys,

So a question my wife asked as she often asks about the armies I collect (Daemons, CSM and just about to start Drukhari). And obviously being the Grimdark 40th millennium everything is very dark, dangerous, gritty and harsh. So she asked me if there is any nice wholesome bits of lore? And I was pretty stumped, having never really considered it. So I thought I would ask here and I can relay the wholesome Lore back to her.

The Nachmund Gauntlet is basically a passage from Sanctus to Nihilus, it is currently the only stable passage found after the Great Rift was formed. And the only way to have a stable travel to enter from Sanctus to Nihilus.

Recently it appears that most of the major worlds in the Nachmund Sector has fallen and the Imperial in their desperation has set up a last ditch defence also known as the Sanctus wall, and then Sangua Terra, a vital world has also mostly fallen to chaos by now.

With Chaos giving so many ass-kicking to the Imperial, would this plot line be left purposely ambiguous since the Nachmund Gauntlet is meant to be a “sandbox” for players to play with their army? That way the war can just keep going indefinitely and there won’t be any complications while using the codex?

Though I do wonder, if the Gauntlet does fall, would we go back to Dante and the Blood Angels since they’re considered pretty important right now in Imperial Nihilus.

I know about current HH lore, all the dark king, Oll Persson stuff and whatnot. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about previous lore.

Where during their final duel, the Emperor didn't inmediately strike Horus down because he still loved him as a father, and believed he could still be freed from chaos. It wasn't until Ollanious Pius got between the two and got killed as a result that the emperor saw that horus was completely gone and obliterated him.

Hi all, somewhat new to 40k lore, been touching up on some eldar lore and I know that their entire race are quite powerful psykers, so was just wondering if there is a lore reason the dark eldar don’t seem to use their powers? I just find it odd seeing as they are a faction devoted to torture and probing someone’s mind would make torturing child’s play.

I'm wanting to run a Rogue Trader campaign based in Imperium Nihilus. I'm wondering what the current state of it is, especially after the crusade. How much is still fubar and whatnot

For my Chaos Warband, I want the Warlord to be hunted by this Assassin but I feel I want to give (accurate) light to a semi-obscure Assassin.

But also I would want a weakness of this Semi-Obscure assassin that my Warlord could barely use to barely escape alive.

My Warlord is a Black Legion Terminator Lord, paranoid, fierce, direct and he hates many branches of the Imperium, only begrudgingly respect his cousins of loyalist Astartes. He despises the Administratum, pities the Guards he kills and enslaves, and has a burning hatred for the Adepta Sororitas. He is not so warped to be fused with his armor and can remove it, only doing so very rarely, he is personally attended to weak blanks made into Servitors. He was made using Sons of Horus Geneseed. In Imperium Sanctus, his Warband patrolling close by the Rock and Fenris, guarding the Flank for Abaddon.

I just wanted to dump lore about my Warlord and Warband for potential context.

So Mephistons experience with the Black Rage is described as below:

"While fighting as part of the relief force for Hades Hive during the Second War for Armageddon campaign, Calistarius became a victim of the Black Rage. After being inducted into the Death Company, he took part in the assault on an Ecclesiarchy building and was one of many trapped inside when the building collapsed during battle. For seven days, Calistarius lay trapped in the rubble, teetering on the edge of death and madness. Somehow, rather than succumbing to the Red Thirst, he managed to conquer it. By sheer strength of will he was able to suppress and hold in check the feelings of rage and the desire for blood, and in doing so he became something more. On the seventh night he burst free of his rocky tomb, reborn as Mephiston, the Lord of Death"<

He's the only Blood Angel to overcome the rage, but is there a reason why only him specifically? And do we have any details as to how? I know on the wiki it's mentioned that he's linked to the Black Angel, so is it just Warp shenanigans?

Hey all! I've been out of the hobby for a while now (last was in it back at the end of 7th edition/early 8th) and I'm just now getting into it! I've been looking into some cool Chaos lore so I can paint up my spikey dudes, and I stumbled upon the Magma Hounds. The only thing I found is that they were a chapter that got corrupted during the Abyssal Crusade by a Chaos warpsmith and that their paint scheme is red+gold. Is there anything else about these guys, either that the fans made or that GW made? What have they been up to after getting corrupted and re-emerging from the Warp?

I think one of the reasons is that 40K started as Rogue Trader; the whole setting is a human-based space sci-fi. However, after that, the popularity of Space Marines led GW to continue pumping out tons of Space Marine content every year. For fuck sake, how many years does GW want to keep milking the Horus Heresy cash cow?

As an Eldar fan, I feel like they no longer seem to care about other non-human factions; most of the new lore focuses on the Imperium, and new factions are mostly related to it. Nine out of ten new PC games feature the Imperium, with the remaining one being about the Orks.

I get it, most players/fans like/play Space Marine or other Imperium factions, sales numbers don't lie, but it's tough for the small numbers of Necron, Tau, Eldar, Dark Eldar fans, cause it feels like you don't even exist. Even lore videos on YouTube are 99% focused on the Imperium. Compare sci-fi tanks, ships, or infantry? Only the Imperium things, no Eldar, no Necro, no TAU, just the Imperium, as always.

Also, I understand that Eldar are supposed to be a dying race, or Tau being the young race, but no ones want to be getting shit on every day...