Sons of Fire

"Fire does not simply kill, it consumes. It takes away everything, the weak and the strong. It gives us not only warmth but also destruction. It is a pure instrument which must only be wielded by those willing to use it without fear. Are you worthy of such power?"

The Burned King, speaking to his Legion for the first time.

Sons of Fire
Battle Cry	"Blood and Fire!" "Blood for the Blood God! Fires of His Wrath!"
Number	IV
Founding	First Founding
Successors of	N/A
Chapter Master	Kerasp Nariman, King of Blades
Primarch	Inferox, the Burned King
Homeworld	Crematoria
Strength	150,000 Pre-Heresy
Specialty	Purgation, Area Denial, Planet Kill Operations
Allegiance	Chaos
Colours	Burned Red and Black

This page details people, events, and organisations from The /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe.

The Sons of Fire were a Traitor Space Marine Legion. Inferox is their primogenitor; who forsook the duplicitous Emperor for the ever constant and ever angry God of murder, Khorne. None were more feared in the time of both the Great Crusade and the Hektor Heresy than the Sons of Fire. Specializing in cleansing and purification procedures, the Sons of Fire were often tasked with taking worlds which could not be salvaged or retaken. Xenos infested planets, mutant hordes roaming about old human worlds, religious aristocracies which would never accept the Imperial Truth. All were put to the torch, none could withstand the flames of Legion IV.

Summary of Legion IV

Numeration: The IVth Legion

Primogenator: Inferox (also known as "The Burned King")

Cognomen (Prior): The Hammers of Terra

Observed Strategic Tendencies: Area Denial Tactics, Purgation, Exterminatus, and Planet-Killing Actions.

Noteworthy Domains: The Crematoria System (Primary), Tithe Rights to Achaemenid Cities on Terra.

Alliegence: Traitoris Perdita

"Some call us monsters, butchers, animals. I disagree. We only leave pure ash behind in our wake."

Legionary Equerry Dilshad, M.30

History of the Sons of Fire

The Sons of Fire recognized glory and duty not based upon an individual level, but on a group scale. The actions of a squad member reflect upon that entire unit. Honors are supplied to whole formations rather than just to one individual, which during the Great Crusade fostered a sense of unity and cohesion during their fluid combat procedures. Inferox believed only in honoring a group's achievements, encouraging them to work together rather than seek out selfish goals of obtaining fame. This behavior goes for their whole history. All actions were recognized, past and present, and remembered. Sadly this tradition completely died out by the end of the Scouring, with the Sons of Fire no longer caring for the names of famous units or the glorious charges of Conflagrations long past.

Hammers of Wrath

"We struck too slow and too ponderous to be worthy of the name."

The King of Blades, Kersasp

The Hammers of Terra were specialists in urban combat, using flamers to clear out hallways and hab-blocks with ease. Short, controlled bursts to flush out opposition and frighten mortal foes before the Hammers would rush in with bolter and knife. If the area was too difficult to assault by conventional means, it usually forced the Hammers to burn the whole building at once. This was particularly a favorite inside of Hives, where whole sections could collapse from the lose of one supporting structure. After the Pacification of the Merica Hives, the Fourth Squad of the Sacred Band attempted to expand upon this by segmenting the Legion into a strict organizational structure. Redundancies were introduced into their ranking, with a subdivision within every subdivision of the Legion. Repeated redundancies were introduced into the makeup of squads with sixteen different types of Sergeant being introduced along with over fifty different variations of a simple Line Marine. The purpose was intended to allow the Hammers the ability to easily splinter inside of labyrinthine structures of a Hive, clearing block after block by slipping past all of the rooms. From a person's rank you would know what exact skills they had, what equipment they bore, everything. What it ended up doing was slowing the Hammers down to nearly half their original speed. The obstructions of this doctrine were no more apparent than during the Invasion of Mainiiu II.

Mainiiu was a Hive World at the western edge of the Segmentum Solar that had held onto several pieces of Dark Age tech, building their own primitive patterns of power armor from it. The people refused to comply to the Expedition Fleet sent to their system, forcing the Hammers into action. During the battle in the Hive Majoris of Mainiiu, several complications arose over which officer led this or that section, leading squads to become fragmented and scattered. Before the conquest, it wasn't that terrible as they fought inferior foes, but on Mainiiu they faced their first real opposing force. The battle left the Hammers with their Legion decimated, never fully recovering until their Primarch was located to help them build their numbers back to their original size, and then beyond that to match the other Legions in might.

The Hammers showed incredible promise during the Unification Wars, leading the Emperor to give them Tithe Rights to the Cities of the former Achaemenid Empire. This region of ancient Terra had the most stable genestock of all the techno-barbarian states, giving the Hammers the ability to increase their numbers beyond what was thought possible for a Legion without its Primarch. After the defeat at Mainiiu however, they were mostly kept in reserve, sent only to worlds which needed support from xenos raids or to bolster an assault with their numbers. This was done in part to help them grow after such a humiliating defeat, but also to give them time to learn their lessons on Mainiiu. The few Sacred Band members who lived chose to increase the complexity of their doctrine, attempting to account for every scenario and eventuality. Hektor intended to intervene, with help from Roman Albrecht, both Primarchs always taking an interest in the welfare of other Legions. But before they decided to act, the Hammers gene-sire was discovered.

Inferox's Enlightenment

"When you think of words to describe the Burned King, you do not figure charisma would be one of them. But how strong his words were to us. They had the power to shape us into a true Legion."

The Master of Inferno, Dilshad

The discovery of a Legion's Primarch is a vital event for all of the Astartes, but the reunification of the Hammers of Terra with their Primarch would not be the happy event that many had hoped for. Instead it would be a pall that fell across the Legion, and under its shadow the Hammers of Terra would be broken down and remade by Inferox's hand. Upon taking up his birth mantle of Primarch, the Hammers' primogenitor learned of their past, of their promising beginnings and fast decline due to the overbearing leadership placed to command it in his stead. He immediately instituted his own organizational structure, that of the Conflagrations, which would allow for true fluid movement and deployment of the Legion. A full twenty thousand additional Astartes joined the Hammers ranks, all of them recruited from Crematoria's own zealous warriors. The transition period was not without strife, as many of the new brothers inducted had problems accepting the Imperial Faith after so many years under the despotic-theocracy placed by Inferox himself.

The Hammers were renamed to the Sons of Fire, which Inferox explained to his Legion was the ultimate tool mankind held. Making fire was the first invention by the Crematorians after the long dark, giving them life and light. But Fire was also a tool of war and destruction which had always been his own favorite. His own Psyker-Guards from his Crematoria regime embraced the roles of both Librarian and Chaplain, responsible for discerning the weak from the strong in Neophytes, teaching the Legionnaires the Imperial Truth and the Emperor's philosophy, and lastly making sure a sense of identity in the Legion arose from the warriors pulled from both Terra and Crematoria. This unity was vital to the survival of the Legion, as all needed to serve together in order for success to be had.

The Sons were still suffering these birthing pains when news came from the sector closest to Crematoria. Orks had been raising hell on newly complied Imperial Worlds and a terrible WAAAAGH had now arisen, the Orks wanting to goad the Imperium into a proper fight. Inferox immediately mustered his Legion for action, hoping that a large engagement would hammer the Legion back into shape and show them the true might of their new power. Inferox would not simply defend these worlds, but purge the entire sector utterly of any taint of Ork.

In the Skythykos cluster where the WAAAAAGH originated, the Sons of Fire descended on the Ork spawning-planets with their festering pits of fungus and spores. Inferox led his Legion from the forefront, molding them by example with the new methods of warfare his legion would specialize in. No longer would they take cover or outflank, but instead they would come head on as an unstoppable tide of cleansing fire. Flamers would protect their flanks, chainsword and chainaxe would clear a path in front. If the enemy was too far away, then they would resort to their bolters. The entire cluster in a month was reduced completely to ash, the battle so great the Sons of Fire pulled many of their garrisons away from the beleaguered worlds they had originally been told to defend. The act cemented Inferox's hold on the Legion, birthing the Sons of Fire from the ashes of the Hammers.

Soon though the Sons grew far too eager to cleanse and purify their foes. One historic incident occurred on the world of Aŋra VI, where the Imperial Army had been fighting for months to secure the valuable research facilities of the unwavering Techno-Aristocrats who held the planet in an iron grip. The Sons of Fire were supposed to break the siege, working as the urban specialists of their original incarnation. Unfortunately the enthusiasm the Legion had for destroying the enemy utterly caused the flames of their weaponry to rage well beyond their control. The Imperial Army regiments still within the bowels of the Hive were cooked alive, with only a few escaping due to the actions of the Primarch. He charged into the raging flames to break open a path for them, not fearing the fire which he had allowed to grow beyond control.

After that action Inferox went to the War Council and requested that they divert his legion to Xenos-eradication missions, as he would never again be responsible for Imperial dead. The War Council agreed, as they knew the worth of his Legion, and there were plenty of Xenos foes that deserved only flame. For decades this was their task, the Sons of Fire cracking the bones of Ork realms and Xenos Empires by the hundred. Only once did Inferox nearly renege on his promise when he clashed with The Mouth himself, the Primarch Nathanog. During a joint operation with the Gorgers Legion, many of the Legionnaires demanded to be able to consume the alien dead as was their custom, but the Sons of Fire left behind nothing in their wake for the hunters to consume. This was seen as both a personal insult to them, and to their customs which the Sons of Fire were specifically disallowing to be completed. The Gorgers feared they would stagnate when working closely with the Legion, as they not grow stronger or learn more of their enemy from consuming their flesh.

Nathanog decided it was time to speak with Inferox of this. However, Inferox had no idea this was even happening as only a splinter of his Legion were fighting alongside the Gorgers. The Mouth can best be described as blunt at best, and aggressive at worst. His first act was to throw about accusations and enraged questions. Inferox thought he was being slandered, and immediately set himself on the verbal defensive. Eventually it came to the two striking each other with fists, as was their way when anger took them. Even though later Inferox learned of the misunderstanding, he would still resent Nathanog.

Ever since then the Gorgers and the Sons of Fire have been rivals, both specializing in close quarters engagements but deeply opposed in their respective approaches.

Hektor's Heresy

"Damn you all! Damn you all to hell!"

Adarhormazd, moments before being burned alive

The years of purging and burning had devolved the Sons of Fire into a rampaging force which only knew to rip, tear, and burn. The flames of their conquest left worlds colored grey by ash, blackened corpses of odd and forgotten Xenos in the wake. Inferox's suppressed pyromaniac nature was released fully when he grew tired of the Imperium's hypocritical nature and backstabbing. The censure of Aubrey, the judgement at Nikaea, the Imperial Council, all of it enraged him and so too did the Sons . There was little attempt made by the Primarch to restrain his forces, leaving them to becoming an aimless flame. After discussing for many hours with Hektor Cincinnatus of the Heralds of Hektor and Aubrey the Grey of the Eternal Zealots, he emerged with a single tome.

The next few months Inferox spent talking to a few select officers of his Legion, never seeing more than one person at a time. Eventually through these seeds he tested the Imperial Faith inside his Legionnaires, seeing which ones had tenuous loyalties to the Emperor and absolute loyalty to him. The worship of Khorne rapidly spread in secret among the select circles chosen by their Primarch. The God of war and Murder was instantly close to their hearts. Ritual sacrifices of the Serfs were held, the blood burned up in offering and cracked skulls piled up together, cleansed of flesh, prepared and ready for the Skull Throne.

While many were repulsed at the cowardly act of betrayal that was The Dropsite Massacre, many believed it to be ordained by their Primarch and their new patron. Fifty thousand Sons of Fire perished on Istvaan III, gutting a huge amount of strength from the Sons of Fire. Their Psykers, named the Sandaramet, were numerous and well liked in the Legion. Destroying them in the name of Khorne swore them into his favor. Before the event, only a tenth of the Sons were truly worshiping him. Afterwards, more than half were openly swearing fealty to the Lord of Murder. By the end of the Heresy, all those remaining in the Sons of Fire had declared themselves for the Blood God.

The Sons of Fire were used by Hektor was a tool to cut out and burn chunks of the Imperium. While not terribly swift, they were horribly thorough. Nothing they touched would ever rise again to support the Imperium. It took well over a thousand years for the worlds they attacked to full recover, if they ever did. The majority of the Sons of Fire though acted in an assault supported by the Eternal Zealots, pushing into the realm of the War Scribes. It was here in this campaign that saw countless of their number die miserably to the underhanded tactics of the Scribes. The actions here sowed the seeds of resentment for the other Traitors. Why weren't they at Terra, helping Hektor? Why did Hektor not give them more aid if they were facing the War Scribes who they had barely the Naval forces to compete with?

By the end of the Heresy though, Inferox was banished to the warp. The Legion fled with many others towards the Eye, fighting what battles they could when they were able, fleeing otherwise from the combined wrath of the Steel Marshals, the Silver Cataphracts, and the Void Angels.

The Betrayal of Sudden Flame

"Burn them all. Burn it all. No thing, no one, not a single last piece of reality will be free from the flames!"

Legionary Equerry, Dilshad

Kersasp and Dilshad combined their Conflagrations into a cohesive whole near Cadia, where the Traitors were gathering up to face the vanguard of the Imperial forces sent to cull them. It would be there they would fight as one once more. But the Gorgers, what was left of them anyways, had fled directly into the Eye. The Iron Rangers never appeared, and the Black Augers sent quite profane insults across the warp over the absurdity. The Legions began to weaken and fracture, but the Sons were still one whole. While a Company here or a Chapter there of this or that Legion would depart away from Cadia rather than stand and fight, the Sons were able to keep their calm.

Dilshad went into a fury of rage at the departing units which would one day become warbands. He hated the weakness, the frailty which had caused Hektor to fail. The Astartes were not up to the task demanded of them, and the Sons of Fire needed to correct this. If they could not be proper warriors, they would become sacrifices. A message was sent to all the distant and scattered parts of the Sons of Fire. It was time to burn the cowards, it was time to exact vengeance for Inferox and for Hektor. All across the Segmentum Tempestus the Sons descended upon their fellow Traitors, burning and ripping as they pleased. The surprise attack left the forces marshaling at Cadia a fraction of their size, forcing those few remaining to flee into the Eye of Terror before the Imperium truly fell upon them.

Through this one act, the Sons of Fire had initiated the Legion Wars. Or as they know it, the 'Wars of Ashes'.

Legion Doctrine

Area Denial was the main forte of the Sons of Fire, which made them lethal in urban warfare and in Zone Mortalis operations. As time went on this specialization was joined by a growing hunger for fire, a need to inflict pain by fire, to burn, not merely disintegrate. This led to the use of special types of flamer fuel, that which instead of disintegrating the target outright would scorch and burn them, leaving them broken and bleeding and waiting for the kiss of the Sons of Fire’s flaming axes. These bloody practises went unnoticed initially, but as the crusade dragged on more and more noticed the pyromaniac tendencies and hunger for both blood and fire that would doom the Legion.

While the Sons of Fire did utilise field armour, support vehicles and transports, these were not given any primacy in the Legion's tactical doctrine. The only exception was flame-weapons tanks such as the Malcador and Predator Infernus, and the Land Raider Redeemer invented by the Sons of Fire as an assault transport that would later be adopted by other Legions.

The Burned King was always a twisted soul. Twisted like a flame. The Sons of Fire are no different, obsessed with burning. Everything. They set entire systems ablaze for the Emperor, but they found a new master in Khorne. Before the Heresy, they tried to mask their all consuming desires for fire with a cold, calm and ruthless exterior, which broke down when Khorne claimed their souls. They were present on Terra and the Burned King is now a daemon prince. On Istvaan they collected all of the dead loyalists, and burned their bodies and armour to slag and ash, before piling their scorched skulls in a pyramid inside of a captured ship, and firing it into the Warp.

In the aftermath of the betrayal at Istvaan III, the Sons of Fire became ever more insular and uncontrollable on the battlefield as their desire for Fire and Blood took them over, turning them into double-edged sword even to their allies as they burned whole swathes of the battlefield, uncaring who was incinerated. All-out infantry assaults supported by fast moving armour, with the aim of immediately closing into bloody short range and melee and always with the intent to burn the foe from the battlefield became their only goal; inferno for its own sake beyond any strategic objective to the contrary.

Legion Organization

At its creation, the IV Legion, like almost all the Space Marine Legions of the time, followed the standard "Terran Pattern" of organization as laid out for all the newly created Legions, but even in this earliest period the Legion's procurement and outfitting showed a considerable bias towards direct assault and operations within the close and deadly confines of the kinds of battlefields designated as "Zone Mortalis”, with a speciality on using area denial weapons such as flamers which were most effective in this type of warfare. These 'claws', a nickname for the tactics and tools favored by the early Hammers, were attempted to be removed with only using a single flame per squad as directed by a Sub-Class GT-3 Supervising Sergeant.

Once Inferox took command this trend was revived immediately, and the Legion's organizational structures were kept altered to allow better streamlining, with its main division being tailored towards specialized line infantry formations known as Conflagrations. A Conflagration was a Battalion-level hybrid of tactical/close assault troops for the main contingent, supported by dedicated heavy assault units such as Terminators or Dreadnaughts. Fast attack forces which could scout or flank swiftly were also a common sight, such as flamer jetbikes and Land Speeder squadrons.

A Conflagration’s strength could vary from a Chapter Level force comprising dozens of companies to a mere handful depending on the situation, availability of troops and the tactical demands. In one engagement on Drakayav, the Ninety-Sixth Conflagration had only a single Line company of troops under its command. The leaders of the Conflagrations were given titles by the Primarch after being entrusted with the position, from ‘The Blooded’ (Commander of the Seventeenth Conflagration) to ‘the Torch of Scabrathix’ (Twenty-Fifth Conflagration). These leaders would uplift certain Sergeants to be their trusted advisers, leading assaults in their name across a planet. Usually though this coordination was unnecessary, as the several thousands of Sons only required to defeat the enemy utterly. Producing erratic patterns of assault and attack, with a slight inability to properly marshal a defense in a short amount of time. The Sons of Fire were always at their best when they were attacking, using their decentralized nature to overwhelm a foe, keep them in a never ending state of guessing as to their next move.

In battle, squads would be free to pursue their assigned tasks in whatever manner they saw fit, provided they followed orders from above. Each Conflagration Commander before battle commenced would lay out a long set of objectives for each company to complete, with the company in turn directing their component squads, usually incentivising certain targets over others. Other than this loose set of requirements, the formations could conduct themselves in whatever manner they saw fit on the battlefield. Squads would usually seek out either one or two things during a skirmish; either the complete destruction of the enemy force, or completing the objective they had been given before the campaign had even begun. The lack of a rigid chain of command allowed the Sons to move swiftly across the battlefield and lent itself well to a highly aggressive strategic posture and belligerent tactics, but were usually wild and uncoordinated during long drawn out engagements.

At the time of the Istvaan III Atrocity, a precise estimate of the Sons of Fire’s fighting strength and disposition was difficult to make. The Sons often fought as a small number of large scale deployments, with the bulk under the Burned King formed into the 47th Expeditionary fleet who loved to step in to aid other campaigns when Xenos were present. The best guess made is putting their full strength at 150,000 Legionnaires. Out of all those who fought in the Dropsite Massacre, no Legion suffered more losses than the Sons then perhaps the Gorgers. Both Legions had fervently loyal contingents, with many within the Sons refusing to turn on the Sandaramet, their Psyker division of Librarian-Chaplain hybrids.

Specialist Ranks

Sandaramet

The Brotherhood of the Sandaramet was the Sons of Fire term for their Librarius.

After reshaping the Priests of Xerleth on Crematoria, long before the arrival of the Emperor, he collected the few orphans made as a result of his long war. These children would follow Inferox everywhere he went, as he would teach them the glories of Xerleth, his God of Justice and Purity. Eventually a day came when a Warlock attempted to kill Inferox. He was giving a massive conference with over a hundred of these orphans. As the the warp-flames consumed all but a tenth of their number, Inferox personally beat the warlock to death. The remainder were revealed to be themselves warlockss, having used their own abilities to ward off the fire. From that point on, they would the Sandaramet. Sandar was the Crematorian word for Death, and Sandaramet meant 'Masters of Death'.

Having taken recruits straight from the Achaemenid Empire, those from Terra had abnormally high rates of the Psyker mutation. The Sandaramet swelled with numbers, being the personal envoys and voices for Inferox. Compared to the old Sandaramet, Xerleth was almost completely forgotten as they same as their gene-father had embraced the ideal of the Imperial Truth. They used it to justify their purging of the Neophytes who would show any sign of weakness, casting them into the testing pit where they would be taken over by flames. The Sandaramet constantly probed the surface thoughts of their wards, seeing for any sign of deceit or doubt. Under their careful watch, not one Son of Fire would be wanting in his title.

However, when the leaders from the Sandaramet were brought forth by Inferox to be confined with, the Primarch was appalled by their decision to side with the Emperor. The person who had denied them to use the powers of their birthright. The desire to follow the Imperial Truth had taken such a strong root in the minds of the Sandaramet, nothing could dislodge it out now. Adarhormazd even attempted to read the mind of his lord to discover why he was asking these questions. But the Primarch felt it, even then being protected by the Blood God. This act sealed the fate of the Sandaramet. Deemed cowardly and weak by Inferox who was poisoned by whispers from the warp, the whole of the Sandaramet was sacrificed to Khorne on Istvaan III along with any who would stand by them.

Legion Equipment

Before each campaign, a Son of Fire will meticulously paint his armour with several coats, sometimes making elaborate gilding in bronze or gold depending upon preference, and etching on the deeds of his squad or company. After this is done, they take the field with the intent of racing headfirst into the flames of wrath. The paint will chip, the embroidered text or symbols melt away, and over time nothing remains of the colors they so proudly displayed at the beginning. This is to show their willingness to sacrifice all to flame, showing each time their ability to give up all that they care for. Their achievements, their comrades, their Legion. All of it is null when compared to the purity of fire. Some squads make it a game to see who can both spend the longest time preparing and who can lose their colors the fastest.

In combat, hand flamers and chainweaponry are preferred above all. Sergeants usually go into battle wielding combi-bolters, with an underslung flamer with knife constantly at the ready. Captains universally favor the 'Cremotoria' Pattern chainaxe, which sets off jets of liquid which are easily set alight with the simplest of sparks. This creates an incendiary melee that perfectly combines the attitude and tactical tendencies of the Legion. Fire and blood.

Though the Great Crusade was launched to conquer worlds and not destroy them, unless there was no alternative. In such warzones where there was no hope for human life or where the only option was complete purgation, the usual caveats and protocols restricting the use of contaminate weapons by the Emperor's command did not often apply and these warzones were often entrusted to the Sons of Fire who took great joy in burning them to the crust. The wanton use of Phosphex became a common staple of their Extermination Campaigns, setting the very matter of a world in a constant state of inferno.

Notable Members

First Captain Kersasp, the King of Blades

Blood Burned in His Name! Skulls for His Throne!

Vox recording of Kersasp in battle, M.41

Kersasp, also known as the King of Blades, is a Chaos Space Marine of the Sons of Fire Legion. Once the leader of the First Conflagration and Primarch’s Equerry of his Legion, Kersasp is now the greatest of all the mortal Champions of Khorne. Embodying that god's indiscriminate rage and bloodlust as he was primarily responsible for the Betrayal of Sudden Flame.

A Terran from the Nihion Islands, Kersasp was part of the early intakes for the Legion during the first decades of the Great Crusade, eventually rising to become Captain of the First Conflagration by the time of the Heresy. Kersasp would have reached a leadership role sooner, but it was his violent behavior led to the firestorms that nearly killed all the Imperial Army units working alongside the Sons of Aŋra VI. This act had put a black mark on the Sons of Fire, and made him too temperamental and unstable to hold a title in Inferox's eyes. As the years went by, he fought on the frontline constantly. No mission was too dangerous, no selfless act unrewarding. Over the years he became known as an infamous character of the Fourth Legion. His peerless skill was only matched by his endless well spring of hatred for all of the Sons enemies.

It was easy to recruit him into the fold when the Istvaan Massacre was being planned. He replaced Adarhormazd as commander of the First Conflagration, leading the spearpoint of the Sons assaults upon their enemies. His influence upon the Legion was not equal to that of Dilshad, but his mark on the Legion's history and that of the Traitor Legions is unsurpassed. It was him that first took up the charge against the Sandaramet, who were making their last stand admist a clash of fire and bloodshed. It was him who had to be clawed away from the frontline during the firestorm at the Atalantos Worlds. It was him who struck the first blow that set off the Legion Wars.

In battle Kersasp is always where the fighting is at its thickest while wielding his twin blades, the Fang-blade of Ignarak and the Red Sword. These fell weapons continually rise and fall as they sever heads and claim skulls in the name of his eternal patron. Since the end of the Heresy, Kersasp has become the unstoppable and bloody avatar of Khorne. He hunts through the Eye of Terror and across the galaxy, slaughtering any worthy enough to be killed in Khorne's name. He holds no allegiance but that of his own, joining any cause so long as it shows promise to bring great murder on the battlefield. Be wary of his presence though, after all foes are defeated, he will most likely turn on his 'allies'.

Inferox, "The Burned King", Primarch of the Sons of Fire

Inferox, "The Burned King"

What separated my fate from that of Inferox? A human being that knows the enemy intends to destroy his or her family, friends, and everything dear will resist with the whole of their being. Therefore, to use terror, one must hold out the prospect of mercy. Inferox did not use terror. Terror used him.

(Gaspard Lumey, private correspondence.)

Youth

Crematoria did not whether the storm of that was the Age of Strife well. A hundred different cults and sects arose from the mayhem of those times in a desperate attempt to explain away the numerous disasters and phenomena common of the time. From centuries of warfare between these unending number of faiths the planet had been left it cracked, blackened, and bubbling with magma. Inferox's pod landed directly near a pool one day, nearly dying as flames grew around him. One of the cults managed to rescue him however. They were named the Priests of Xerleth, who instead of worshiping a pantheon instead devoted themselves to a single God.

Many had died rescuing the young Primarch but they decided that this Star Child was a gift from their deity. The Priests had always been in the middle of the various wars, being the only monotheistic religion on Crematoria. His coming was seen as the ultimate blessing, a gift for their devotion. Over the years the babe saw how they lived, tending to the fields of fertile ash; producing food to give or trade away. Inferox saw the power the Priests had with their dedicated and regimented lifestyles. He learned of the knowledge that had survived through them, of tool making, metallurgy, and chemistry. He asked them time and time again why they did not use this power to finish all those who threatened them. Blank and hollow faces replied to his questions, showing him the true weakness of the Priests. Although driven to worship their God, they were pacifists who believed all children were equal beneath Xerleth.

Wishing to do away with this weakness Inferox gathered a small following among several tribes. The children who had become disgruntled with their parents' faith decided to join him, seeing the lad as a Prophet of Xerleth's will. Inferox was not the greatest speaker, but his voice and stature were strong enough to carry the day among the malnourished and broken people of Crematoria. Voices often spoke to Inferox in the night, telling him what he had to do to curry favor of the One True God. He gave an ultimatum to the Priests; either they accept his word that Xerleth desired conquest and not peace, or be slaughtered where they stood. The work was quick and decisive, many of the older generation lamenting having ever saved the burned demon they had named Inferox.

Tribe after tribe fell, being converted by the sword. Several times the tribes tried to kill Inferox, using the magicks of their warlocks to slay him. He lived through all attempts, eventually taking on the name of 'Burned King', for having lived through the fires. Inferox became obsessed with fire during this time using it to burn all those who resisted him. He only desired a strong, unified Crematoria that would do away with any weakness. That would allow the strong to thrive, not whither away neglected and unremembered. He reorganized the basic tenants of the Priests to his will, killing off any mutant found at birth unlike before where the deformed were praised as miracles of the gods. The boundaries between women and men were abolished, Inferox seeing the only justification for limiting an individual should be based on their own weakness. Warlocks and witches were brought in as his 'Sons of Fire', to act as his enforcers and judges. The decades passed by, with all thought of any other gods than Xerleth dying off. Deceivers were burned alive, showing all the price of using underhanded techniques to achieve success.

Inferox had done it. Crematoria was his own, burnt out utopia.

The Coming of The Emperor

The Emperor's arrival in system was not observed by those on the small opaque ball of Crematoria. The people had only the basic understanding of technology, and astrology was not seen as a proper way to spend one's time. Huge dropships landed in the central square of the largest Crematorian city, which only housed ten thousand people. Inferox heralded this as the coming Xerleth at last, with his Angels of Fire to welcome them to the promise land. He was surprised at first and then confused when the Emperor introduced himself not as a God, but as a tool to bring enlightenment.

Inferox did not lash out as a babe being torn from his toys, he instead sought out understanding. Many hours were spent in the open courtyard as Inferox asked every question he ever had about the universe. What was fire? What was the sun, that burned so bright? What were the stars? The Emperor answered these questions handily, giving his new found son understanding and wisdom. He explained that Xerleth was just something used to explain what his people could not fathom or rationalize, that it was all just a fabrication. The weight of this discovery struck Inferox deeply.

Everything he had ever believed in was a lie.

But the Emperor saw his son in distress and told him the good news. There were hundreds of thousands of worlds out there, all that needed to helped like his own. That needed to be taken out of the darkness and into the light. Inferox understood this as the Emperor telling him that weakness was abound in the galaxy, and needed to be burned out. He would serve his new Father then, with the desire to create a spanning empire where only the strong would live. He took control of the Hammers of Terra, renaming them after his elite Psyker guard, and set out to help bring peace and stability to the Imperium.

The Great Crusade

Even as Inferox continued his education of the many facets of the Imperium and its enemies as Crematoria was advanced along Imperial lines, the newly reconsecrated Sons of Fire were called to war. Initially intended by Imperial strategists as a simple defense of a system threatened by an ork warfleet raiding newly-claimed Imperial Worlds turned into a thorough blooding, as the Sons of Fire, eager to show their capabilities now that their father had been returned to them tracked the xenos raiders back to their spawning-worlds beyond the borders of Imperial space in the Skythykos cluster.

Over the course of that first brutal campaign Inferox made and shaped his legion’s aggressive, straightforward fighting style. Though the more advanced weaponry still had its place, he taught the Sons of Fire the simple pleasures of fire, of using smoke to obscure their advance, and the destruction that could be wrought by a simple chainaxe. Committed to waging total war, the Sons of Fire systematically exterminated every ork and purged their worlds with flame to ensure that they would never again be able to pose a threat to the Imperium. However something was awoken in the flames as world after world was burned, a hunger, a mania, a desire for fire, and burning worlds. It was a mania that would come to consume and devour the Legion.

The planets upon which the Sons of Fire now fell were not merely crushed-they were burned. Where once resistance had been found, now were left only grave worlds in their stead-planets burned to ashes. Cities were left standing like silent half-ruined cemeteries commemorating the piles of ash and scorched skulls that littered their forlorn and lifeless spaces. The Sons of Fire Legion became a byword for absolute cleansing, leaving empty worlds to be reseeded and recolonized when there was no need or desire to leave anything behind of the former masters of those worlds.

Under Inferox’s command the Ork empires of Blitzklaw and Mudd Mordrag were burned to ashes by the Sons of Fire, as were the Khrave of Serreak-7 where others had failed before them. In one of the most famous triumphs of its time, the Legion entrapped the Eldar Craftworld of Tuokendar which had endured for a hundred millennia and scoured it of life in a brutal campaign, its vast and charred wraithbone carcass sent hurtling at last into a bloated ancient sun. Nor were human and abhuman worlds spared the Legion's wrath: Alkedar, Susuar, Vaketur, Mygarlas and a dozen more all fell before these Angels of Fire and more than once non-compliant planetary systems surrendered wholesale at the rumour of the Sons of Fire’s approach, so potent had their bloody legend grown.

During the scuffle with Nathanog when he came to complain and moan over the burnt corpses of the defeated Xenos dead, Inferox struck him across the face with a mighty fist. After the two broke up their brawl, Inferox learned later that was actually in the wrong as his Legion had been disregarding the Gorgers respects and pleas for flesh. He decided though not to apologize, and always hold a special flame of hatred for The Mouth. Both Primarchs came from a Feral World, but while Inferox had attempted to bring order and stability, Nathanog would always be an idiot savant. The hunter who accidentally brought peace, but could have easily just not cared to. His only reason for fighting in the Great Crusade was to just do that, fight. It had no higher calling or purpose. Similar stances from Inferox's other brothers began to have him question the entirety of the Imperium's mission from the start.

Game material

Inferox The Burned King, the Fire Rider, Primarch of the Sons of Fire

WS7 BS5 S7 T7 W6 I5 A4 LD10 SV2+/3++

Unit Composition •1 (Unique)

Unit Type •Infantry (Character)

Wargear •Armour of Hades •Flame-Claw Gauntlets •Phosphex grenade launcher

Special Rules •Primarch •Soul of Fire •Sire of the Sons of Fire •Very Bulky

Sire of the Sons of Fire Inferox is the pinnacle of his Legion, the dispenser of justice and the bestower of favour. All his sons aspire to be one with the flame like him, and fight all the harder under his eyes. All models with the Legiones Astartes (Sons of Fire) rule may re-roll the dice when using flamer based weapons in defensive fire, and gain the Crusader special rule. In addition all Medusas, Basilisks and Whirlwinds in an army led by Inferox may take Phosphex ammunition.

Soul of Fire The blazing heart of his pitiless legion, Inferox epitomised the power of unchained fire, its ability to consume all and leave nothing behind. Inferox is immune to all flamer based weaponry, and Fusion, Melta, Plasma and Volkite weaponry have their strength reduced by 2 when firing at him. In addition all his shooting attacks have the shred special rule.

Armour of Hades This blazing suit of armour, wreathed in flames gives Inferox a fearsome visage, and makes it harder for foes to hit him. The Armour of Hades confers a 2+/3++ save, and in addition all successful hits against him in close combat must be re-rolled.

Flame-Claw Gauntlets The Primarch’s signature weapons, these can both project streams of tainted fire at range, or else be used as devastating close-combat weapons. They have two profiles, one for the ranged shots, and the other for close-combat attacks.

Flame-Claw Gauntlets (Ranged) Range: Template Strength: 6 Ap 3 Type: Assault 1, Shred, Ignores Cover

Flame-Claw Gauntlets (Combat) Range: Melee Strength: 8 Ap: 2 Type: Melee, Shred, Murderous Strike, Paired (+1 Attack)

Phosphex grenade launcher This weapon fires the deadly, earth-tainting Phosphex to utterly purge Inferox’s enemies. Range: 18” Strength: 5 Ap 2 Type: Assault 1, Crawling Fire, Lingering Death