Black Augurs

"This will be the greatest pain any of you have ever experienced. The weak will die, the strong will be crippled, but the great will thrive. I shall show you all power beyond any you have ever known or imagined, but you must fight for it. You will fight the enemies of the Imperium for this power, you will fight your brother Astartes, and you will fight your own mind. Fight, and prepare yourselves for greatness my sons."

Quote attributed to The Voidwatcher, addressing his legion before the Decimation

Black Augurs
Battle Cry	Arcane chanting, disturbing murmuring, and villainous cackling
Number	XIV
Founding	First Founding
Successors of	N/A
Successor Chapters	Various covens across the galaxy
Chapter Master	N/A, The Bloodseer is a de facto leader of the only unified group within the remnants of the legion
Primarch	The Voidwatcher
Homeworld	Ostium, pulled into the warp and hidden in the Eye of Terror
Strength	30,000 Marines/Apprentices and 90,000 Acolytes
Specialty	Sorcery
Allegiance	Chaos Undivided
Colours	Black with gold trim and white highlights

This page details people, events, and organisations from the /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. See the /tg/ Heresy Timeline and Galaxy pages for more information on the Alternate Universe.

Summary of Legion XIV

Sorcerers, warlocks, magician, and witch doctors. These are just some of the names Black Augurs are known by. They use fast and brutal tactics, favouring ambushes and any way they can get an upper hand on their foes. Hostages, destruction of civilian infrastructure, and massacres to antagonize their opponent are never out of the question. The legion is known not just for their sorcery and psychic power but also for their lust for power. The Black Augurs are raised from the world of Ostium, who was once ruled by sorcerous meritocracy, where anyone who could scheme or fight their way to the top could control all those below them without question. The Black Augurs have inherited this vicious ambition through their Primarch alongside his psychic ability. The entire legion is constantly competing within itself, every legionnaire scheming to take the position of his superior, from the lowliest acolyte to the Voidwatcher himself.

Legion Disposition

The Fourteenth legion is most bizarre not for its sorcery, size, or even its system of organization, but for its almost complete lack of the trope of brotherhood that is pervasive in all it's sibling legions. Instead the Black Augurs have an almost childlike concept of power and highly isolationist tendencies.

The Black Augurs live to gain power. The legion inherited a meritocratic mindset from their Primarchs homeworld of Ostium where everyone is expected to try to advance in society through any means necessary. Because of this every Augur believes he is pitted against not just the foes of the Emperor but also every single one of his battle brothers at any given time. Every marine must constantly be trying to advance his status within the legion, be that through training relentlessly to earn battlefield honour, studying ancient tomes to glean new and powerful sorcerous ability, or scheming endlessly to usurp his superiors position. This mentality of constant conflict has bred the Voidwatcher's sons to be on constant guard to the point of paranoia but also means that each Black Augur marine is constantly improving himself past the point of another legion's in whatever is area of expertise is.

The legion also views the standard Imperial citizen as an expendable resource, something to be used and discarded once they're usefulness is finished. This disdain comes from the fact that not only do most citizens not try to move past their station, and are therefore either lazy or weakwilled, but also because they do not possess even rudimentary psychic skills. This also bleeds over into some of their brother space marines, legions with lower numbers of psykers are viewed as unworthy to be sons of the Emperor and only those with a high population of them are viewed with any respect. This is, of course, with a few exceptions.

Legion Tactics

The Black Augurs generally specialize in sneak attacks and ambushes, where they can put their precognitive abilities to best use. During the Crusades they preferred to use trickery and some diplomacy to conquer worlds. When that failed it only required one or two engagements to break the spirit of a worlds defence in the face of an army of seemingly magical superhumans. They most commonly preferred to fight in close quarters, (jungles, underhives, etc.) where their psychic abilities and quick reflexes could prove most useful. They were also known to use unscrupulous and "dishonourable" tactics such as hostage taking, execution or torture of civilians to lure out guerillas, and outright massacres to put down civil disturbances. They also proved adept at channeling the ruinous powers and summoning daemons when the time of the Heresy came, something that many of their loyalist brothers had long feared.

Sorcery

The vast majority of the higher ranking members of the Black Augurs practice sorcery to some degree and to truly excel in the legion one must immerse themselves in it. Powerful psykers known as the Vates act as the legions Librarians and Captains. The Black Augurs have many arcane rituals and practices that they claim channels their psychic abilities. Chanting and burning of incense in combat, inscribing ruins and esoteric symbols directly onto their armaments, and focusing on a single thing to discern prophecies from it or destroy it with gouts of warpflame. They can channel a huge number of psychic powers with their disturbing incantations and sorcerous rites. All can project visions of doom and death into the minds of their enemies to demoralize and confuse as well as cause intense pain in the minds of individuals or small groups. The more powerful can project visions of unimaginable horror and the future death of all their opponents hold dear directly into their minds, often causing them to go mad with grief or anguish. Many high ranking Vates can project blades or projectiles of invisible psychic energy, cleaving or blasting their foes with a flick of the wrist. The most powerful of the Vates as well as the Primarch himself can channel their will so fiercely into another's mind that the strong willed will often black out and the weak's brains boil out of every orifice or explode.

Augury and Foresight

Some Black Augur marines can simply channel their combat focus into being able to predict the very near future, dodging bullet and sword swings and knowing when to fire on an enemy behind cover can both come to Black Augur when he enters a trance like battle focus. The things most often used to discern the farther future are the black void of space, storms (solar, thunder, cosmic, etc.), large groups of animals, and the patterns of explosions and debris. The elite terminators called the Haruspices (Haruspex singular) even claim to be able to discern the future in the blood and viscera of their enemies and so use almost exclusively massive power glaives to produce as much of these two things as they can.

Weaknesses and Shortcomings

On a more universal scale many members of the legion often suffer from horrific visions while in stasis after a hard fought battle and many neophytes suffer from visions of several of their deaths far in the future while becoming a marine. These visions are not always of the future, many even during the Great Crusade were scenes of cosmic hellscapes and dark creatures that none had ever seen before. The more powerful also speak of dark whispers that persist for days, though the Vates have attempted to suppress these rumours.

While incredibly potent as a tactical tool it is recommended that the common marine try to avoid going into a trance of prescience for too long in battle as they may discern momentary flashes of possible death. This is incredibly painful and distressing to such an extent that more than a few marines have had a vision of their death that is quickly followed by their actual death as a result.

Legion Equipment

Legions Colour and Ornamentation

The Black Augurs paint scheme is, obviously, mainly black. The bulk of the marine's power armour is black with a trim of midnight purple as a highlight or accent colour. The iconography of the legion focuses on birds and eyes. Their legion icon is the all-seeing eye inset in a pyramid but many marines choose to depict other symbols as well; including abstract birds (usually owls and ravens), slitted eyes, and numerous runes or hieroglyphs. The marines are actually expected to inscribe the latter onto their armour directly as a means of enhancing their abilities and to prove they've researched the arcane. Many marines carry tomes, scrolls, esoteric totems and icons, and various artefacts on their person at all times.

Stryx Pattern Terminators

Stryx Pattern Terminator armor, this pattern of Tactical Dreadnought Armor is unique to the Black Augurs' Haruspex formations. Its design bears resemblance to the Aegis Terminator Armor worn by the Grey Knights (as the Armor would go on, ironically, to inspire the armor worn by the 666th Chapter) and the Tartaros Pattern armor, as such it looks like the former, but with the latter's helmet. These suits of armor have a built-in Psychic Hood for defense against hostile psykers as well as Runes engraved into the armor with the intent of amplifying the wearers own powers. Frequently the armor's ranged weapons are mounted on the forearm of the user to accommodate usage of the Legion's trade mark weapon, the Force Glaive.

Acolyte Equipment

The acolytes standard equipment is not overly different to the standard for the Imperial Army kit in function, being comprised of a set of carapace armour, an autogun or shotgun, an ankle-length black trenchcoat, and a full face helmet. These helmets have become one of the most infamous aspects of the acolytes as it is completely featureless (a smooth black faceplate covers the entire front) and the acolytes are not allowed to be without it during combat. This is officially supposed to promote self sacrifice and camaraderie, but is more often seen as a way to remove an acolyte's humanity and to intimidate enemies.

Organization

The Black Augurs are few in number, but it's a rare being that has the chance to underestimate them twice. Count yourself lucky!

- Hephaestion Horatius, private correspondence

To understand the Black Augurs organization one must understand their Primarch and their history. The Voidwatcher was born on the a small hive-moon known as Ostium. The entire world ran on a complete and brutal meritocracy. One had to fight for ever position and the ultimate goal of every citizen was to become a member of the Vates, the elite ruling class. The Voidwatcher was "born" into that class and revelled in it's vicious politics and constant struggle for power. He was an ambitious and power hungry man, completely enraptured by the system of violence. He was also an immensely powerful psyker with few rivals in the galaxy. When he discovered his legion he found them to be lacking in the personality and skills he had grown accustomed to. He devised a spell that would strip his legion of what he believed were petty moralities and greatly enhance their psychic abilities. This all came at a cost. The ritual wiped out the majority of the legion in the brutal throes of their ascendence. Their strength plummeted from 110,000 to just over 13,000. This was known as the Decimation, as only one in ten Black Augurs would survive. This ritual, on a much smaller scale, is still used to the present time among new initiates to the Black Augurs. The incredibly high mortality rates have resulted in a complete restructuring of the process to become a Marine.

Acolytes

To combat the incredibly high mortality rate the Augurs adopted a system of ranks for initiates and every Marine is given an personal apprentice. At entry level, an initiate is classified as a lowly acolyte. They are commonly used as serfs, personal attendants (if one is lucky), test subjects, and cannon fodder. All acolytes are under the jurisdiction of their respective coven's (company's) Vates. A company may have anywhere between 1000-1500 acolytes. This means that there is a veritable army of acolytes within the Black Augurs and offsets the legions small size. Generally they act as support soldiers for the Augurs, preforming sweeping operations in cities, policing actions during conquests, and as a reinforcement in full scale battles. In many cases the Acolytes also serve as vehicle crews alongside one or two full fledged Black Augurs.

The black faceless legion of acolytes have earned an almost more infamous reputation among Imperial allies then their masters. Their blind subservience, cutthroat behavior among themselves, and the fact that many of the more known of the Augurs atrocities have been carried by proxy through them mean that allied commanders are hesitant to fight side by side with them.

Apprentices

If an initiate manages to survive his time as an acolyte they will be able to take part in an induction ceremony. The induction ceremony involves the implanting of the geneseed and a sorcerous ritual similar to the Decimation then surviving the subsequent psychic turmoil. Those that survive will be given as apprentices to Marines that do not have one. If there is a surplus of apprentices to open Marines they will be given to the Vates instead as he can have as many apprentices as he wishes. The amount of time before an induction ceremony for acolytes is not predetermined and is usually left to the Vates to decide when he should allow one to take place. Generally it is when there are a significant number of marines without apprentices or if there have been several acolytes that have shown promise.

Each apprentice has his own designated Marine and is expected to follow his mentor everywhere, including onto the battlefield. Apprentices act as personal assistants, scribes, and right hands to their mentors. The fate of the apprentice is entirely in the hands of the Marine who he has been assigned and because of this the interactions between the two intended to be highly personal while also being instructional. The mentor will teach the apprentice the sorcerous and battlefield tactics of the legion while the apprentice waits on the mentors hand and foot. It is not uncommon for mentor and apprentice to become very close. Most covens have long traditions of a particular type of sorcery or even names passed down from mentor to apprentice through the ages.

This incredibly close relationship is tempered by the fact that there is no determinate end to an Augurs life as an apprentice. The only way to cease this transitory period is through the death of their mentor, selection by his coven's Vates, or the death of another Marine without an apprentice. This can culminate in a number of different ways. Usually the pair will fight together for some time and train a considerable amount before the mentor presents his apprentice to his Vates. Impressing the Vates will result in status for both the mentor and the apprentice so this is the most popular route. Another option that is less often chosen and never admitted is the mentor and apprentice conspiring the death of another Marine so that the apprentice can take his place. The least common event is the apprentice killing his mentor. The apprentice is highly unlikely to forfeit such a valuable source of knowledge and a vehicle for upward movement and the mentor is, as a teacher, more powerful than his student, making challenging them a risky proposal.

The Covens

The coven is the standard unit for groups of Black Augurs pre and post Heresy. It contains a Vates, the equivalent of a captain, a number of Marines and their associated apprentices, and numerous acolytes. Pre-Heresy they function similarly to a standard legion company but post heresy each coven went their separate ways as was supposedly mandated by the Voidwatcher before his departure.

These post-Heresy covens became the equivalent of warbands, some going so far as to take new names and colours (though these are very few), scheming and gathering resources separately. However, once every 15 solar years the covens are expected to meet at the secret location of their legion homeworld of Ostium. This event is intended to allow some cross pollination of ideas among the covens as well as share information about their various region of the galaxy. These events are highly political and ritualized, with lesser covens trying to curry favour among the more powerful. There are frequent assassination attempts and power plays among the Vates in attempts to elevate their status.

Legion Fleet

• The Folly of Man, Gloriana Class Battleship, Black Augurs Flagship

The flagship of the Black Augurs was given to the legion upon the discovery of their Primarch but quickly became nearly unrecognizable, rather like the Augurs themselves. Much of the interior was restructured to be furnished as libraries, sanctums, and arcane laboratories for the new Augurs and the Voidwatcher. The Imperial iconography on the exterior was seen to be almost blasphemously defaced to depict the esoteric symbols endemic to the legion.

This transformation changed little of the armaments of the ship and the Folly of Mans guns, while standard, became notoriously associated with atrocities even before the Horus Heresy. After their fall to Chaos the Augurs battleships armaments were upgraded with the legions newly freed sorcerous powers. One of the most notorious of these new weapons was a specific ritual known simply as the Wail. This ritual, requiring the sacrifice of no less than 100 non-essential crew, let loose a psychic wave made of pure despair from the ship. While it had no effect on machines it wracked the minds of the enemies crews with visions of their torture, death, and the loss of everything they hold dear. Causing the crew to collapse to whimpering heaps is a potent tool in ship to ship combat and frequently routed entire battle groups sent against the Folly of Man.

Legion History

The Sacred Band

Merica? Ahh... such a naive and hopeful time. I do not cling to those memories, but they are still here. Everything I have seen in my long life is still here! Hektor had us serve his favourite son, Hephaestion, and we were the best of the assault marines in the Sacred Band. Do you know that Hephaestion died at his father's hands? It runs in the family...

- The Nightshade

Actions During the Pacification of the Merican Hives

During this first deployment of Space Marines the Fourteenth Squad quickly gained a reputation for both great heroism and intense petulance.

The Original Fifteenth

Little is left of most of the individuals that made up the Fifteenth Squad of the Sacred Band. Many of them became entirely different people after the Decimation and others died outright.

• Original Name Stricken from Records - the Bloodseer - Lord Commander of the Solar Warriors (now Equerry to the Primarch)
• Original Name Stricken from Records - the Stormfist - Lightkeeper of the Solar Warriors (The Lightkeeper was a specialized position within the Solar warriors and pre-Decimation Black Augurs that served as a kind of spiritual leader for the legion and general teacher on the use of their weak psyker abilities. Later replaced by the Chief Librarian but dissolved by Order of the Voidwatcher during the Decimation)
• Original Name Stricken from Records - the Yratyr - Equerry to the Lord Commander of the Solar Warriors
• Raja Thyrfin (Died during the Decimation) - Master of the First Chapter
• Original Name Stricken from Records - the Kharduil - Master of the Second Chapter
• Original Name Stricken from Records - the Blade - Master of the Third Chapter
• Original Name Stricken from Records - the Nightshade - Master of the Fourth Chapter
• Khovur Sarna (Died during the Decimation) - Master of the Fifth Chapter
• Original Name Stricken from Records - The Mail - Magos of the Techmarine Convent
• Original Name Stricken from Records - the Prophet - Chief Librarian of the Legion Librarus

The Decimation

The former Solar Warriors were once noble, if proud, sons of the Emperor but it was not to last. Their Primarch, the Voidwatcher, was an incredibly powerful psyker and he was dissatisfied his legion did not take after him. While they were the most generally psychically gifted of any of the legions they did not possess anything akin to his focus and power upon his rediscovery. To rectify this perceived shortcoming he set began to develop an immensely powerful spell to "enhance" and "purge all the weakness" from his legion. In the first few months of crusade after the Voidwatchers discovery he held his legion back as reserve for others and spent most of his time locked in his arcane laboratories. Finally, after almost a solar year the Solar Warriors were becoming increasingly uneasy. Their Primarch refused to allow them to gain glory like their brother Astartes and was hiding himself from them. The company commanders finally agreed to confront their absentee Primarch but when they burst into his study they found him waiting over a ritual circle. The sorcery had been prepared for a almost a week but the Primarch had decided to wait so there would be eyes to bear witness. The incense was lit, the stars were in alignment, and all that needed to be done were speak the last crucial words of the incantation. A pillar of ethereal smoke gathered above the circle, crackling with dark energies and twisting like the screaming faces of the damned. The gathered commanders stared on in awe as it began to twist and writhe like a living being, gathering speed and vigour like a horrible beast trying to escape it's confinement. It finally swirled in on itself, a black singularity of pure malice glaring down at the onlookers. The Voidwatcher spoke a single, final word and the singularity erupted. Howling wind and warp energies gushed outwards, filling the interior of the battleship. Tendrils spilled from every crack and port to seek out the other Solar Warriors ships all across the sector. At the moment the grand ritual was complete.

All the Marines of the 14th Legion immediately suffered violent and reality-defying fits as the energy coiled around them. Their bodies and minds rebelling against them as they were forcefully converted into psykers while their minds were ravaged by all the possible horrors of their future and their past. The vast majority did not survive the process. The truly weak burst into warp flame, exploded, or degenerated in primordial ooze; some devolved into psychotic beasts, were disgustingly crippled, or were reduced to gibbering useless heaps; and only a few, one in ten, survived and mastered their new found psychic ability. These lucky few became among the most powerful psykers in the Imperium. Those that survived suffered the most unimaginable horror during the sorcerous rapture. All were left mentally scoured and all the kindness, all but the basest trace of human compassion was snuffed out in an instant. Replaced with naught but the neverending goal for more power.

This event was known as the Decimation and resulted in a reduction of the legions fighting force from just over 100,000 to less than 10,000. This forced the legion to overhaul their hierarchy as well as recruitment protocol. The were renamed the Black Augurs and that title would soon spread fear from one end of the Great Crusade to the other. What was once a beacon the Emperor's light was now a collection of the most fearsome, depraved, and completely vicious warpcrafters in the galaxy.

Some say the Voidwatcher laughed as he watched his chaotic essence be implanted in his unwitting men.

The Great Crusade

"There were millions of them on those ships. The vox was choked with the screams of the crews begging for help. There was nothing we could but watch them burn as they re-entered. I have fought on a hundred worlds for the Emperor, but I have never seen such disrespect for human life. Not like that."

After the retrieval of their Primarch and their recovery from the effects of the Decimation the Black Augurs began to come into their own on the Great Crusade. The marines began to come to terms with their new found psychic powers, many embracing it to the point of obsession and all those survivors of their great trial believing they were better for it. They learned a new philosophy under the Voidwatcher whom they would begin to revere as an enlightened being and call, at least amongst themselves, "the All-Father." Their Primarch taught them that the ultimate goal is personal achievement, no matter the cost for others. One must constantly endeavour to became better than they are, to usurp the station of all those higher than them, no other method would allow an Augur to achieve their destiny. Across the conquest of a hundred worlds the All-Father taught his sons that they must always strive to improve their sorcerous power, similarly to their life philosophy, by any means. The lives of all non-Augurs were meaningless in the face of the individual Marine's achievement.

The Conquest of Elon II

One of the first engagements where the unsavoury character of the Legion made itself known, the Conquest of Elon II was widely rumoured about among Imperials and is frequently pointed out as one of the warnings of what was to come.

Elon II was a peaceful and advanced industrial world, it's citizens well disciplined and highly communal. During the Augurs initial attacks they proved to be a impressively difficult people to break spirit of, even if they weren't exceptional on the battlefield. Despite numerous losses and rearguard actions the populous of the planet staunchly refused to surrender in any amount. Cities would send vanguards of soldiers to hold the Augurs while civilians were evacuated to worlds capital city, a veritable fortress that they couldn't yet hope to besiege effectively. The Voidwatcher, both intensely frustrated by the uncharacteristic slow pace of the conquest and having now gained experience with the culture of the people, formulated a plan of action for dealing with the coming deadlock. Continuing to besiege outlying cities and forcing refugees towards the capital the Augurs seemed to be playing into the Elonians' hands.

When the night finally came for the final siege though, the Voidwatcher sent the bulk of the Imperial forces under his command in a massed frontal assault seemingly doomed for failure. Much to the shock and horror of the Elonian high command a group of 2000 Black Augurs had dropped directly into the cities now vast refugee camps alongside a contingent of acolytes and began openly massacring unarmed men, women, and children. Forced to act decisively the commanders chose to send their elite guard that had been defending them to try and stem the bloody tide. With the high command largely unprotected the Voidwatcher and the elite Haruspex teleported directly into the military heart of Elon II. Swiftly the general and commanders were doused in warp-flame and the Elonian chain of command collapsed. The now scattering forces were crushed and the planet was brought into the Imperial fold in a fortnight.

The Burning of Qesh

"Would it not be wise to call upon one of your brothers more accustomed to this type of war?"

(Attributed to a General Berk shortly before his re-assignment to frontline command during an unknown conquest)

The world of Qesh was little more than a frigid rock with virtually no natural resources to speak of and in peacetime little more than a skeleton population. It was, however, in a system that served as the only bypass around a Warp storm and so was immensely fortified. The northern mountain ranges had been fortified into a single continuous fortress, it's defensive systems and anti-orbital weapons among the most advanced encountered by the Imperium. Deemed "Unassailable" by the Imperial scouts that had first surveyed it. Many Imperial commanders had commented it would be more cost effective to simply go around it. It was a bulwark which had never been breached, but it was also in the path of the Voidwatcher's fleet.

After tentative initial skirmishes by Imperial troops and the fatalistic reports they gave the Augurs were uneasy to be told they would be assaulting it directly. The Voidwatcher was quick to explain his decision. He explained that it was time for the legion to cast off the trepidation they had for their enhanced abilities, they would need to embrace them to achieve perfection. He opened portions of his personal library for open study and allowed free use of psychic abilities in the training facilities aboard the Folly of Man for two weeks before the assault on Qesh. By the end of those weeks every Augur was practically champing at the bit to be unleashed upon the world, and unleashed they would be.

Reports of what happened on Qesh are still sketchy, as they will likely continue to be. The Voidwatcher barred regular Imperial army troops from taking part in the battle. Scattered vox casts and pic captures give a rough outline of the battle. Black lightning swatted anti-air rockets from the sky, enormous invisible hands rent down concrete and steel, and living tides of blue flame forced men to run screaming from their bunkers. The so called "Burning of Qesh" lasted just 6 days and at the end of them not one of it's original defenders was left to draw breath. Much to chagrin of the Imperial commanders that were in charge of garrisoning the planet afterwards few of it's defensive structures were left in working orders either.

After Qesh all Vates were mandated to keep their own libraries of arcane lore collected during the Augurs conquest.

Across the grinding years of the the crusade the Augurs began to pick up more and more esoteric knowledge. Locked away in the libraries of a thousand conquests and among the sorcerers of people they subjugated, they found perverse, powerful, and sorcerous practices. At the spurring of their Primarch they embraced them and so the legion of psykers became the legion of sorcerers, misbegotten and feared by their fellow crusaders. As the Black Augurs delved deeper and deeper into the realm of mysticism they ventured farther and farther to the edge of the crusade to avoid the Emperor's prying eyes. They slipped farther and farther from the Imperial truth as time passed, becoming something that their brother Astartes would have held in revulsion.

The Heresy

The Black Augurs were one of the Emperors legions that turned traitor during the Hektor Heresy. While other legions and higher ups in the empire had long had some misgivings about the legion of sorcerers and warlocks the Black Augurs had long had suspicions they were not trusted as well as other legions. Their strange mystic rituals and unsettling arcane practices had even drawn the ire of the Emperor on occasion, especially when they used them around civilians. It was simple for Hektor to convince the Voidwatcher and his legion that some of their visions of a disgusting, stagnant, witchhunting, empire were not far off and that they would never truly be excepted into the Emperor's unified humanity. They quickly joined the forces of the renegade legions but resisted the pull of the Chaos gods. Though farther down the line in the Heresy some mentions and devotions to Tzeentch were made he was never their patron.

Notable Legionnaires

The Bloodseer, Vate of the Haruspex, First Captain of the Black Augurs

The Bloodseer, Vate of the Haruspex

Appearance

Though he could once be considered a fairly handsome man, his face and body have been wracked by two centuries of warfare. All Astartes inherit some physical trait from their Genesire, The Bloodseer is no exception to this. He is tall, standing higher than a great many of his fellows from other Legions and his skin is a pale white where in some places the dark veins are able to be seen underneath. Unlike his Primarch and even some of his brothers he looks powerfully built, stocky even, a result of who he was before his selection as an Astartes and member of the Sacred Band. His once handsome face is now scared, with the right portion of it bearing the brunt of the damage after a round from a sniper, a shot that would have left him dead had he not been wearing his helmet. His face is clean shaven, and his Black hair kept short to better accommodate his helm. His dark blue eyes or rather eye has a sunken distant look to it, a result of all he has witnessed and been through with the Legion, the other eye is a masterfully crafted cybernetic. His hair is black, grayed at the sides by age. Unlike his many of his Brothers and his Primarch, Bloodseer does not have arcane tattoos covering his body, choosing instead to have them featured as arcane runes engraved into his suit of armor.

Like the other Astartes in the Haruspex, The Bloodseer is most frequently seen in a suit of the Legion's unique Stryx-Pattern Tactical Dreadnought armor. The armor prominently features it's name sake across the brestplate, with the rest of it being covered in various runes of power. In addition he is frequently seen with a large two handed sword of Daemonic Origin from the onset of the heresy, the duel with The Voidwatcher and beyond. It's large blade is jet-black seemingly absorbing all light, while on its pommel it features a halved black and white skull. He is also frequently seen with a wrist mounted Combi-Bolter and Personal Teleporter pack.

The Chosen Few

Time with The Sacred Band and early Crusade

Reunited with the Primarch

The Decimation

Return to the Crusade

Mid-Crusade to the Early Heresy

A Legion Betrayed

Confrontation with the All-Father

The Long War

Beyond the Heresy