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Black Augurs

2016-12-30T19:26:03Z

2602:30A:C0BD:2080:D8C5:F919:1576:396A: /* Legion Equipment */

''"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''

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Black Augurs
|Heraldry = [[File:Augurssymbol.jpg|200px]]
|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
|Specialty = Sorcery
|Strength = 30,000 Marines/Apprentices and 90,000 Acolytes
|Allegiance = Chaos Undivided
|Colours = Black with gold trim and white highlights
}}

{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}

=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==
[[File:Black Augur Revised.jpg|200px|thumb]]
'''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

==The Heresy==

==A Legion Betrayed==
Confrontation with the All-Father

==The Long War==
Beyond the Heresy

{{Template:/tg/-Heresy-Legions}}
[[Category:The /tg/ Heresy]]

Black Augurs

2016-12-30T19:23:39Z

2602:30A:C0BD:2080:D8C5:F919:1576:396A: /* Legion Disposition */

''"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''

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Black Augurs
|Heraldry = [[File:Augurssymbol.jpg|200px]]
|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
|Specialty = Sorcery
|Strength = 30,000 Marines/Apprentices and 90,000 Acolytes
|Allegiance = Chaos Undivided
|Colours = Black with gold trim and white highlights
}}

{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}

=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==
[[File:Black Augur Revised.jpg|200px|thumb]]
'''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 later 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 Augur's 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 later'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 acolytes humanity and 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

==The Heresy==

==A Legion Betrayed==
Confrontation with the All-Father

==The Long War==
Beyond the Heresy

{{Template:/tg/-Heresy-Legions}}
[[Category:The /tg/ Heresy]]

Nautiloid

2016-12-30T15:24:27Z

2602:30A:C0BD:2080:D8C5:F919:1576:396A:

[[File:Nautiloid.jpeg|250px|right|thumb|Imagine Garry from Spongebob had taken a steroid injection shot and a touch of [[Cthulhu]]. That is the Nautiloid in a ''nutshell''. Pun not intended.]]
The '''Nautiloid''' is a massive species of [[Tyranid]] that looks like an overgrown nautiloid on land. Carrying a massive shell that looks like it can tank a number of hits, its mid- and rear-limbs are fused into a pseudopod and Lash Whip combination.

Not much is known about this critter other than appearing in a rather elusive and unknown Warhammer 40,000 Collectible Card Game. It is unknown what its main purpose was as its assumed slow speed and lack of range weapons makes the Nautiloid... mysterious. It could be assumed that it is only dropped when the Hive Mind knows there is very little defense on a planet and drops these suckers in to help gobble up any microbial or hard suck out organisms. Heck they might be the ones responsible of sucking out the planets micro-organisms in the first place.

==Tabletop Fan-Rules==
Nautiloid
Pts/model: 430
| WS: 4 | BS: 2 | S: 6 | T: 10 | W: 6 | I: 1 | A: 4 | Ld: 10 | Sv: 2+ |

Unit Composition:
1 Nautiloid

Unit Type:
Gargantuan Creature

Weapons and Biomorphs:
Scything Talons
Lash Whips
Regeneration
Armoured Shell
Impaling Tendril

Impaling Tendril 24",S9,AP 3,Ignores cover,Drag,Homing
Any model smaller or equal in size to the Nautiloid can be dragged until it's B2B with the Nautiloid,or until it reaches an obstacle.

Special Rules:
Slow and Purposeful
Anaphylactic Shock

Anaphylactic Shock: Nautiloid's lash whips are tipped with poisonous barbs, when these pierce or rasp the flesh of an organism. The toxins contained within cause the skin to blister and swell almost immediately. Due to their extreme toxicity, any wounds from the Nautiloid cause Instant Death. This does not affect Daemons, including C’tan and the Eldar Avatar.

{{Tyranids-Creatures}}

Hive Crone

2016-12-30T15:20:15Z

2602:30A:C0BD:2080:D8C5:F919:1576:396A:

[[File:HiveCrone01.jpg|350px|thumbnail|right|BIO JET-FIGHTER HO!!!]]
The '''Hive Crone''' is the [[Tyranid]]'s answer to a fighter jet. No, seriously. Created to allow the [[Hive Mind]] to establish aerial dominance over a world it has targeted, they fight with tooth, nail and claw for the Hive. That, and a variety of nasty living weapons; [[Tyranid Bio-Weapons|living missiles known as Tentaclid,; a Drool Cannon (lol) which fires acidic spit, and bladed spurs on their wings]]. Despite how they look (and considering they are flying by flapping their wings) they are freaking fast and have to be to catch enemy fighters.

These creatures also serve as the [[Hive Fleet]]'s jet escorts in space as well, protecting their bio-ships and ripping open the hulls of enemy vessels. This is a bit retarded though when you consider the vastness and vacuum-ness of space - and, as mentioned, these things are literally flapping to get around, which we are expected to believe makes them a match for fast moving space attack craft. Regardless these pests are a danger and anti-Nid spray should be applied at the same sighting.

They are cousins to the [[Tyranid Harpy|Harpies]], another Tyranid aerial strain. This means that Tyranids are content with building a single base creature that works, and slap a variety of bio-weapons onto it (although not to the extent of the [[Imperial Guard]]- seriously, how many different guns can you put on a [[Leman Russ]] chassis?).

{{Template:Tyranids-Creatures}}

Tyranid

2016-12-30T15:06:47Z

2602:30A:C0BD:2080:D8C5:F919:1576:396A:

[[Image:Nids3rdEdCover.jpg|400px|thumb|right|NOM NOM NOM!!!]]
{{promotions}}{{Heresy}}

''"This isn't a war," said the artilleryman. "It never was a war, any more than there's war between man and ants."'' ― H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds

The <strike>'''THE SPACE BUGS OF DEATH!!!!'''</strike> '''Tyranids''' (often shortened to simply '''<nowiki>'</nowiki>nids''') are a race of extragalactic "Alien locust" in [[Warhammer 40k]], that seemingly exist only to devour [[Human|biomass]], evolve into a more perfect species and grow in numbers. They are extremely adaptable, and frequently engineer and modify traits and characteristics in their genome, by devouring other unfortunate species into their own, in order to improve their combat effectiveness and survival. As a result, they are constantly evolving and becoming more dangerous. The Tyranids are most commonly seen in the galaxy in the form of [[Hive Fleet]]s, large collections of space faring organisms that are capable of transporting and birthing the smaller strains of the species, as they travel from world to world, attack and consume all biomass on/in that planet, leaving it a lifeless rock. Even bacteria and archaea are consumed from the atmosphere. They are probably one of the oldest races when you think about it, and are together with Orks and Necrons, are probably going to win this galactic war in this galaxy. For this reason pretty much every faction in the galaxy sees Tyranids as the ultimate threat and [[Blood Angels|would ally even]] [[Necrons|with their sworn enemies]] to fight them. Thus call the race The Great Devourer.

==Overview==
Before they arrived to this galaxy, the Tyranids were probably lying dormant in intergalactic space because there is nothing there to consume (probably). Despite this, they had sentinel organisms, looking constantly for any sign of life in distant galaxies. We actually don't know how many galaxies they have already left bare or why they came to this galaxy. So most facts we have on them are simply not more than speculations. It could be that we have only seen a fraction of their numbers or that their current numbers is all there is. We simply don't know.

Circa 30k, and the alien device known as the Pharos sends up a huge quantum energy pulse, effectively signposting the Milky Way as an all-you-can-eat buffet. They set off, taking roughly the next 10,000 years to do so.

The Tyranid species is mentally connected and controlled by the extremely powerful and near godlike HIVE MIND. The Hive Mind is the collective consciousness of the entire Tyranid race, a psychic embodiment of Tyranid instincts and racial imperatives: to devour and evolve. It is so powerful that its mere presence (the Shadow in the Warp) makes even psykers and [[Chaos]] shit their metaphysical brains out in terror. The power of the Hive Mind is such that it casts a stifling influence over the Warp in the area, and therefore, warp travel becomes almost impossible. Hence it is that a world that finds itself a target of a Hive Fleet is unable to call for help or receive reinforcements by the time it detects the Hive Fleet's presence. This super consciousness allows their forces to move with a unity of purpose and cohesion that makes them extremely dangerous. The individual intelligence of different strains of the species is variable, however, and many of the smaller species lack the psychic power to communicate over long distances, and so the swarm relies on larger organisms, the so-called "Synapse Creatures", to act as relays and communication nodes in the psychic network (if the Hive Mind is the Internet (Internid), then synapse creatures are ISPs (ISynaPse) and routers (router-warriors)?). Outside of the range of a synapse creature, such as a Tyranid Warrior or a Hive Tyrant, smaller varieties such as those found within the Gaunt genus revert to animalistic behavior. However, certain strains, such as the Genestealer or the Lictor, are designed to be able to spend long periods of time beyond the reach of the Hive Mind, and are consequently considerably more intelligent and autonomous than other Tyranid organisms.

[[Image:KillEmAll.jpg|300px|thumb|left|DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA!]]

The normal Tyranid modus operandi is to locate a delicious looking planet, usually by following the psychic emanations of vanguard organisms like the Genestealers, who are sent ahead as scouts to infiltrate and form cults while obtaining genetic information about the local species (hence the name Gene-stealer), drawing the fleet towards a viable target. It is also known that Tyranids are attracted like moths to concentrated sources of psychic energy such as the [[Emperor|Astronomicon]]. The Tyranids are capable of non-[[Warp]]-based FTL travel, which they achieve by using gravity to manipulate spacetime and travel extremely quickly towards large gravity wells such as stars, and once they are relatively close, they must rely on STL travel to close the gap with their target. Once they reach the world, infinite swarms of creatures flood down to the surface to overwhelm all resistance and consume the planet's population and resources in a manner reminiscent of a Korean StarCraft champion performing the devastating "Zerg Rush" (Note that the Zerg were supposedly based on Tyranids, which in turn were based on aliens in from movies like ''Starship Troopers'' and ''Alien''. All these organisms are based on eusocial Hive insects such as the order ''Hymenoptera'', which includes ants, bees etc.) In the later stages of the invasion, the Fleet manipulates the planet's biosphere and seeds it with aggressive plant life that grows extremely rapidly and assimilate all nutrition/life left on the planet, which is then consumed by the creatures of the swarm and massive feeding tentacles/tubes, dropped by Tyranid bio-ships in low orbit, and hence conveyed to the Hive Fleet as a whole. The fleet literally grows in size and mass, and moves on to the next planet.

This makes the Tyranids a very dangerous foe to fight. Even the Imperial Guard and Orks will find it difficult to beat them in a war of attrition, as individual losses are meaningless to the bugs. As long as they are able to recover the biomass of the dead, it is simply recycled into new warriors and ships. It's worth noting that going against technological species, results in fewer and fewer recycled biomass, so a Hive assaulting a high-tech heavily fortified fortress, loses some of it's total biomass bit-by-bit, but there are only few cases where the Tyranids really bite off more than they can chew. Even a Hive Fleet that has taken terrible losses and is forced to retreat, may soon return to terrorize strong worlds, as capturing and consuming a few poorly defended backwater planets is all that is required for them to replenish their forces. Even Hive Fleets considered defeated by the Imperium, may still be dangerous, as the splinter elements that have survived, may continue to infest worlds in the region. It is worth noting that, in the rare event that two different Tyranid fleets encounter each other, they are apt to attack each other. This is generally believed to be some sort of Darwinian selection mechanism to compare the competitiveness of the traits the individual fleets have absorbed, with the victorious fleet consuming the other, absorbing their best traits, and culturing a deadly hybrid with the best of both worlds.

[[File:1389680259601.jpg|thumb|450px|right|Who doesn't love a scuttling swarm of space locusts?]]

So far, only fragments of Tyranid Hive Fleets have made it to this galaxy, and they were given monstrous names such as "Behemoth" and "Leviathan" and ate untold numbers of planets before finally destroyed or stalled. It's also known that these are merely scouting fleets for the unimaginably large swarm that has yet to arrive, still currently in transit from another galaxy ([[Imperium|Imperial]] scholars suppose them to be either en route from a galaxy they successfully scoured of all life, or retreating from some force even nastier than they are). Noted Imperial scholars believe that the only possible plan that stands any chance against the arrival of this force involves giving a [[melta]] gun to everyone that has hands and praying to the God-Emperor for the best. They have been expected to arrive on Terra's doorstep any day now for years, being stalled by a force even more malicious then they are: [[Games Workshop|GW]]'s refusal to move the story forward.

And if they do expect the above to be retcon so that Leviathan is in fact the main force, as the above was coming from a crazed inquisitor.

==On the Table==

[[Image:No Retreat.jpg|300px|thumb|left|KABLOOIE!]]

===5th Edition===
When the 5th edition Codex released, it was met with [[skub|split opinions]], as usual. Some were angry at how overpowered the army looked, citing the facts that the [[Tervigon]] could create more units out of thin air using "broken" special rules, that the anti-psyker powers were so broad, and that the [[Hive Guard]] and [[Zoanthrope]]s were so good at tank hunting at a time when tanks were kings.

However, after some time passed, people who decried the cheesy aspects of the army faded from view as people began to realize the army only seemed cheesy on paper, and that, in truth, any cheese the army had was drowned in the army's drawbacks. The Termagants the Tervigon could spawn? Stats like a [[Imperial Guard|Guardsmen]] in close combat, but with half their weapon range and weaker armor. And to get Tervigons to the Troops slot from the HQ slot (where they were practically useless), you had to pay Guardsman prices for a unit of them. In other words, you ''had'' to use the "cheesy" special rule or they were overpriced into uselessness.

Then there were the special powers that supposedly buffed the army. Again, at a first glance, they looked broken. Certain upgrades allowed any unit within 6" of certain models to gain rules like Feel No Pain, Furious Charge, Poison, cover saves, and so on. It sounded like a serious boon, but it had a funny effect. Aside from the fact that most Tyranid models are too expensive unless you capitalize on the bubble-buffs, it also does a horrible thing to your freedom to play the army. Mainly, it forces players to keep all their units bunched up within 6" of a few key models, requiring them to spend the entire game in a rigid formation that can spell disaster for the army when broken. Tyranids already suffered from this problem somewhat due to their synapse rules, but the 6" range on the mandatory buffs only shortened the leash. Not to mention it also made blasts even worse for an army already vulnerable to them.

Tyranids do seriously lack effective long range support as well. While they possess some weapons capable of mincing infantry units, most things with a range over 12" come at a premium. With an army so focused on close combat this shouldn't be such a problem, but synapse and buff leashes actually make it a valid concern. Mainly, the short buff leash pressures a player into a castle formation, but the lack of medium and long ranged weaponry pressures the player to advance the entire castle towards the enemy, which has a way of creating chinks in the formation. And you can't just move a few key units - when a unit moves forward, the model providing the buffs has to follow them, and then the other units relying on the buffs have to follow the model providing the buffs; it just makes the army obscenely inflexible.

Tyranid monstrous creatures, their heavy support, also got drastically [[Nerf|nerfed]] in the 5th edition update. 6th edition rules have mitigated it somewhat, but the supposedly heavy-hitters of the army have limited roles or schizophrenic weapons options. Like the Tyrannofex, for example: with a 2+ save and six wounds at a toughness of six, the damn thing is almost indestructible, but the weapons are short-ranged, and if you buy it an expensive long-range cannon to shoot at tanks, you can't change any of its other short-ranged weapons which are designed to kill infantry. You just can't quite kit your heavy support to do the things you specifically want.

Which brings us to the final problem: on top of mountains of tactical inflexibility, the Tyranids also suffer from the drawback of design inflexibility. Unlike Guardsmen or Space Marines, the Tyranids don't get a lot of options to change the way the army works. When you buy hormagaunts, you get them at face value - you can't equip them with frag grenades, give them pistols, add heavy weapons, or mess with their gear in any way. You can buy them the poison special rule if you want, or maybe the Furious Charge special rule, but those are your two choices. Almost the entire army is that way, which is vastly different than the way they worked in 4th edition. The Carnifex alone lost eighteen weapon and biomorph options between 4th and 5th edition and it doubled in points value. And with no upgrades taken! And for twenty points more, you can get a trygon. Which is better then the carnifex in almost every way. Cept looking good. It's possible that Tyranids are now the least adaptable army in the game.

The last kick in the teeth is that Tyranids are one of the more expensive armies to collect, requiring a larger number of models than most. Their HQ choices, short of the Tyranid Prime, are big monsters which run at prices edging nearer and nearer to $100 each. For the fact that most Tyranid armies will play exactly the same way, having all the same exploitable weaknesses and no unique wargear surprises, it's not a wonder that the army has seen a huge drop in sales since the release of their 5th edition codex. The shorter lesson to take from all this is, if you're thinking about beginning a 40k army, even with how expensive it's all gotten, Tyranids are not the best army to start with.
===6th Edition===
[[Image:GWstockfail2.jpg|300px|thumb|right|WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! THE FAIL TRAIN HAS NO BRAKES!]]
[[Image:Haruspex.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Is it me, or does the [[Haruspex]] look like it belongs in a [[/d/|bad hentai movie?]] ]]
Now that it's out, it sadly more of the same so far and may in fact have nerfed them FURTHER. Though a few new units did get added, most of which weren't even mentioned since Chapter Approved 2001 (such as the Exocrine and the Haruspex), along with a new FMC called the Crone, also on the plus side, rumour has it that carnifexes are going to be a fair bit cheaper, and can take almost any biomorph, and Flesh Hooks are back but only three units can have them.

...[http://imgur.com/a/8w57g And virtually everything the Tyranids needed to stay competitive was either removed or nerfed to uselessness]. On the downside, Tyranids no longer have Mycetic Spores, the Doom of Malan'tai, Ymgarl Genestealers or the Parasite of Mortrex (GW lost a pissing contest with Chapterhouse Studios, with the rather iffy ruling that GeeDubs didn't have the IP right to the models ChapterHouse was producing, and now they're taking it out on us because "fuck balance and competition" apparently). They even lost the ability to use psychic powers from the Biomancy table along with their Hive Mind powers being nerfed. Why GW thought that the most underpowered army needed even MORE nerfing will remain a mystery (But odds are that Cruddace had something to do with it). A perfect example of unnecessary nerfing is the tyranid prime; it was rarely fielded in 5th edition, and the 6th edition codex inexplicably increased its cost by over 56%. At any rate, it looks like the Tyranids will soon be joining the Sisters in GW Hell, rather ironic as they were once under the axe along with Squats. Keep in mind that GW stocks were already dropping due to the financial disasters that were 6th ed Apocalypse, Strong Hold Assault, and Escalation, but we're not kidding when we say, that, THE NEW CODEX WAS SO BAD THAT EVEN THEIR STOCKS PLUMMETED BY 23%! Looks like there were more Tyranid players than everyone thought, not everyone plays Space Marines (although to tell the truth, CNN Money reports show that actually the entire market was hit by a worldwide crash, Tyranid nerfs may just have aggravated the situation). Meanwhile in [[Warhammer Fantasy]] there's 3 armies which are at least one edition behind in updates (with Dwarfs updated in Febuary 2014). Along with the announcement was plans to close many GW stores, including their headquarters in Germany... yeah, this might be the beginning of the end.

[[Indrick Boreale|BUT NO! WE SHALL NOT FAIL, IT IS THE ENEMY WHO WILL GET TASTED AND EATEN!]] Ahem, GeeDubs has released some Dataslate formations which allow you to <strike>buff your Tyranid armies to make them quite competitive,</strike> ignore the force organisation chart to spam flying monstrous creatures and overwhelm an opponents anti air defenses because the flyer rules are an even larger catastrafuck than the tyranid codex. Expect discussions and rage about allowing these dataslates for tournaments.(of course any of these arguments and complaints are founded on stupidity. This is a game not designed for hardcore competition. If you want that then play warmashit)'''**SSSS rippaaaahhhssss will be put in crudfacessss bedssss for what he hasssss done to ussssss**'''

===7th Edition and White Dwarf updates===

Geedubs seems to have finally noticed how badly nerfed tyranids have been during the last editions so they took opportunity to get your money by releasing new waves of tyranid units supported by White Dwarf updates, expect huge amounts of Skub and tactics for your space dinobugs.

Things started poorly with a pair of monstrous creatures who really didn't bring anything new to the table. The [[Toxicrene]] was fine on paper, bringing Poisoned 2+ Instant-Death-on-a-6 attacks, but as yet another flootslogging MC it had trouble catching the things it WANTED to kill. The [[Maleceptor]] was just overcosted, overcomplicated, and underpowered hunk of plastic that would be lucky to kill more than 20 points worth of models in a given turn. What was the final nail for both, however, was their armor save; the difference between a 3+ armor save and a 4+ armor save (which the two MCs had) meant that they were now vulnerable to a LOT more weapons than other Tyranid MCs (who at least warranted ordinance-grade weapons to deal with their toughness + armor).

But then things got interesting. The [[Mycetic Spore]]s came back, under the name of "Tyrannocytes", and they were well worth the wait! Alongside the new spores were a Tyranid "fortification" (that is, a Heavy Support that didn't take up a force org. slot) that could boost synapse range and drop spore mines around, and a new super-sized Muceloid Spore Mine that could assault fliers. Soon afterward came the Doom of Malan'tai in a new body: the [[Neurothrope]]! While slightly nerfed -- his signature "fuck you" bubble is now a psychic power rather than just free damage -- it's far from unusable and can even be put in a squadron to make Look Out Sir rolls!

==7th Edition, DLC and==
[[Image:maketyranidsgreat.jpg|200px|thumb|right|MAKE TYRANIDS GREAT AGAIN]]
The most unexpected announcements came from GW around Fall 2014, coinciding with the coming of [[The End Times]]: New models for the Tyranids.The first pack that was announced was a Dual Kit for the [[Maleceptor]]\[[Toxicrene]]. While the Maleceptor proved to be unpopular within ''minutes'' of having its rules announced in White Dwarf as it was an overpriced drain of warp charges, the Tocxicrene proved to fare a bit better, as the copious amount of poison and Instant Death on a 6 to-wound using said poison made it a menace against Monstrous Creatures (though its intended targets, the [[Riptide]] and [[Wraithknight]], merely scoffed at it because they're jumping monstrous creatures, and thus able to kite it like a toy).The second release proved to be the most popular by far: The return of Mycetic Spores (now [[Tyrannocyte]]s), the living fortifications known as [[Sporocyst]]s, and new [[Mucolid Spore]]s that not only assault flyers, but are also the cheapest troop choices, making starting an army of Tyranids a much simpler task. While the Tyrannocyte proved an incredible weapon that made several units (including the infamous [[Pyrovore]]) suck slightly less, that power came with a hefty price tag (for a Transport, not as a Monstrous Creature), and Sporocysts are completely immobile and are equally pricey in exchange for synapse bonuses and the ability to spam spore mines. Needless to say, people actually thanked GeeDubs for this rare show of intelligence.The third release gave new Sprues for the [[Zoanthrope]]/[[Venomthrope]] as a multi-part kit with a new set of rules for the Zoanthropes: The [[Neurothrope]], a sergeant that gave the brood a new power that could potentially give them more Warp Charges to spend on Warp Lance. Not bad, but the new sprue was still welcome.After these releases, it became clear as to why the Nids got new shit: promotions for a new Campaign called ''Shield of Baal'', which involves Nids chomping through a system near the territory of the [[Blood Angels]], meaning that [[Dante]] has to call all the successor chapters to stop the mob. He had to take help from [[Anrakyr]] to save even part of the system.This now concludes the awesome part of all things Tyranid. If you look at the gallery below the Cutenids, you will require a mind scrubbing and be lobotomized into a servitor. No exceptions.Of course you now have players mocking Nids as being a DLC faction.

==See Also==
*[[Tyranid Bio-Weapons]]
*[[Genestealer]]
*[[Carnifex]]
*[[Hive Tyrant]]
*[[Lolifex]]
*[[Hive Fleet]]
*[[Unyuufex]]
*[[Harridan]]
*[[Tyranid RPG]]
*[[Hive Fleet Nidhoggr]]
*[[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Tyranids(7E)|Tactics/Tyranids]]
*[[Tyranid /tgbrew modifications|/tg/'s homebrew modifications that make 5E nids get awesome]]
*[[Codex - Tyranids: /tg/ edition|Another /tg/brew 'Nid modificaton, now based on 7E and made into fully blown codex]]
*[[Genestealer Cult]]
* Unlike other 40k factions there is not clear Warhammer Fantasy counter part for the Tyranids. They seem to combine the [[Skaven]] and [[Ogre Kingdoms]] for tactics and lean closer to the Ogres for motivation, namely eat it all.
*[[Phyrexia]], a faction/category from [[Magic:_The_Gathering|Magic: the Gathering]] with some similar fluff
*[[Slivers]] a creature type from M:TG that bares some similarities with 'nids.
{{Template:Tyranids-Creatures}}

==Gallery==
<center>
<gallery>
Image:Cuteid_(1).jpg
Image:Cuteid_(2).jpg
Image:Cutenids.gif
Image:Cuteid_(3).jpg
Image:Genestealer_purple.jpg
Image:Tyranid_(0).png
Image:Tyranid_(-1).jpg
Image:Tyranid_s_(0).png
Image:40k_Oh_My_Emperor_by_Sebbythefreak.jpg
Image:F5ASTER.jpg
Image:Tyranid_s_(1).png
Image:Tyranid_s_(2).png
Image:Tyranid_s_(3).png
Image:Tyranid_s_(4).jpg
Image:Tyran_dont_work_that_way_by_eccma417.jpg
Image:Tyranid_hugsies.jpg
Image:Jean_toys.png
Image:Tyranid_Kool.jpg
Image:Tyranid_more.jpg
Image:Tyranid_some_more.jpg
Image:Tyranid_Notions.png
Image:Rocking_Tyranids.jpg
Image:Tyranid_wrestler.jpg
Image:Gangstagaunt.jpg
Image:Hormogaunt_by_kriegsmachine14.jpg
Image:20141009 193455.jpg Their's always a bigger fish, And the tyranids are no exception [[cat]]

</gallery>
</center>
Thus far the Cutenids. From down here there be many [[promotions]]. Abandon all hope ye who enter here.
{{Template:Promotions}}
<center>
<gallery>
Image:Tyranid_f_(0).png
Image:Loligauntloot.png
Image:Tyranid_f_(1).jpg
Image:Tyranid_f_(2).jpg
Image:Tyranid_f_(3).jpg
Image:Tyrantxfire prism.JPG|[[Eldrad]] leaves no woman unsatisfied.
Image:Tyranid_f_(4).jpg
Image:Tyranid_f_(5).jpg
Image:Beachnid.jpg|Fun in the sun.
Image:Assnid.jpg
Image:Colorassnid.jpg
Image:Sexynid.jpg
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Image:Tyranid_f_(7).jpg
Image:Tyranid_f_(8).jpg
Image:Tyranid_f_(9).jpg
Image:Tyranid_f_(10).jpg
Image:Tyranid maid.jpg|I'd let her clean up my biomass, if you know what I mean.
Image:Hardworkingtyranidmaid_anonib.jpg
Image:Taunid4.jpg|Go back to bed Matt
Image:Dat_tyranid.png
Image:Tyranid_Princess.jpg
</gallery>
</center>

{{WH40k-Factions}}

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Tyranid]]

Space Wolves

2016-12-29T14:56:17Z

2602:30A:C0BD:2080:D8C5:F919:1576:396A:

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Space Wolves / Vlka Fenryka
|Heraldry = [[File:Spacewolveslogo.png|200px]]
|Battle Cry = "For Russ and the Allfather!"|Number = VI
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Successors of = N/A
|Successor Chapters = [[Wolf Brothers]]
|Chapter Master = [[Logan Grimnar]]
|Primarch = [[Leman Russ]]
|Homeworld = [[Fenris]]
|Specialty = Aggressive Close-Range Assaults, Defensive mid range shooting, cavalry
|Strength = More than 1,000 (fuck the Codex)
|Allegiance = [[Imperium of Man]]
|Colours = Grey-blue and Yellow
}}
''Let a man never stir on his road a step without his weapons of war; for unsure is the knowing when need shall arise of a spear on the way without.'' 
-Havamal

The '''Vlka Fenryka''' (Internally called The Rout, known to the wider Imperium and most of the fans as the Space Wolves) are a loyalist Chapter of [[Viking]]-inspired [[Space Marines]]. They're as [[Manly Marines|manly]] as the Angry Marines are [[Angry Marines|angry]]. Big fans of wolves, though how much they actually use them is a matter for debate. Extremely [[Viking|Nordic]], very melee oriented, and often found drinking and feasting when not at war. Given that they're honor and legacy obsessed Nordic melee powerhouses, one can draw many parallels between the Wolves and [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dwarfs]] and [[Warriors of Chaos]] from Warhammer Fantasy. The chapter is traditionally rivals with the Thousand Sons, though one might see the Wolves as a direct loyalist counterpart for the [[World Eaters]], with whom they have a long standing history of conflict going as far back as before the Heresy. Both legions have similar melee-oriented, berserk mindsets in combat, but where the World Eaters are reckless and bloodthirsty, uncaring about discipline one battle begins, the wolves value teamwork and honor as much as individual strength. The Wolves are basically unstoppable, badass Vikings are second to none when it comes to melee, yet still somehow manage to retain more versatility than most armies.

That said, they aren't all fun and bar-room games, as they have their unique flaws. Where the [[Imperial Fists]] are dutiful and stubborn, and the [[Dark Angels]] are secretive and faithful, the wolves are loud, boisterous, and often arrogant. They're almost exceptionally brutal with how they sometimes go about purging heretics. Though the chapter may have the famously merciful example of [[Armageddon]] to their name, that's a bit misleading. A lot of people see how compassionate and heroic [[Logan Grimnar|the Old Wolf]] is and they apply that quality to the entire chapter, but that's really just him. As we see in Battle of the Fang and [[Ragnar Blackmane]]'s books, the Rout tends to kill everything within the general proximity of Heretics or Xenos, regardless of innocence or guilt (this may be another nod to the Vikings, who would often try to be as merciless and intimidating as possible in dealing with enemies, so as to make the next guys think twice about fighting). The Wolves also tend to be arrogant and sometimes hypocritical, as they enjoy ego-stroking tales and boastful stories, espousing honor and glory, yet even when one of their [[Ragnar Blackmane|greatest heroes]] does something horrifyingly dishonorable, they conveniently ignore his misdeed and just keep praising him.

They're one of the more "controversial" chapters, because fans will circlejerk them to death about how amazing the Chapter is, though the chapter's numerous detractors will rant endlessly about how the Chapter are all furries. Much of this conflict comes from GW's dissonance between the Vlka Fenryka of the books, and the Space Wolves of the tabletop game. The Vlka Fenryka of the Black Library books are a chapter with many different tribal and historical inspirations, drawing on Viking and Germanic culture along with their favorite totem and symbol, the wolf. The Space Wolves of the tabletop game ride wolves into battle, adorn themselves with wolves, name their gear and vehicles after wolvess. Whereas the Space wolves have an Old Wolf, and Wolf Lords, and Wolf Guard, and Live in the Fang, the chapter as portrayed in the books (theoretically the same people) have a High King, and Jarls, and Thanes, and Live in the Aett. The Wolvess have many faces, it just depends which source you're looking at. Horus Heresy books? Generally Nordic-themed supersoldiers with the occasional wolf totem. 40K books? Heroic, bloodthirsty barbarian werewolves in power armor. Codex: Space Wolves? God damn wolf-obsessed weirdos. Perhaps the most telling example of the lore-clash within the chapter is that, in all the Black Library books I've read about the Space Wolves, there is literally ONE example of a Space Wolf actually interacting with a Fenrisian wolf: In Ragnar Blackmane's first book, he kills one and takes its hide. That's it. Compare that to the Codex, where the Wolvess wolf their wolfen wolfy wolfers when they wulf the wolfen Wolf Wulf wulfers.

==Brief History and Main Overview==
Leman Russ was basically [[Viking]] Mowgli, being raised by wolves before he was captured (or possibly chose to/was talked into joining them, fluff varies) by the humans of Fenris and became adopted son to Jarl Thengir. When Thengir passed, Leman became Jarl by virtue of being the biggest badass on Fenris. And that's saying something. Ol' Empy came along and said 'JOIN ME!' in his typical dickish fashion. Leman then challenged him to three contests: drinking, eating, and fighting (though goodness knows why they didn't do the fighting bit first. If your fighters are drunk and stuffed, the fight will be less interesting). Leman showed up the Emperor in the first two contests, supposedly eating an entire ox and drinking a dozen barrels of mead. When the two of them fought, though, the Emperor was the victor, beating Russ fair and square. When he finally woke up from his pummeling and liquor induced stupor, Leman recognized the Emperor as a worthy master, and agreed to serve.

One further thing of note is that it is implied by an offhand comment of Russ's in the Horus Heresy books that the two missing legions were destroyed or at least broken by the Space Wolves, so if it is true then that brings their legion kill tally to three.

The Space Wolves are another example on how Games Workshop lusts after medieval Scandinavian history and mythology. As if the [[Warriors of chaos]] weren't already enough of a tip off to that. Given that they are the only Space Marines to have wolves, beards, wield axes, laugh boisterously, and act like something more than sombre, grim assholes, and because they have names like 'Ragnar' and 'Bjorn' they are instantly considered manlier than all other Spehss Mehreens, including the Chaos ones.

Based on their characterization in Prospero Burns and Battle for the Fang, they hold little regard for "mortals", but highly respect bravery in battle. On top of all that, they happen to have the most compassionate and bro-tier Chapter Masters ever, [[Logan Grimnar]]. Logan is known for being famously sympathetic to the common man of the Imperium, defending his mortal charges with a passion beyond reason. This attitude has earned him a somewhat mixed reputation among the upper echelons of the Imperium, because while Grimnar is much loved by the people of the Imperium, he also has a bad habit of leading his chapter [[Armageddon#First War for Armageddon|into conflict]] with other factions of the Imperium when he deems it necessary.

If they were in a vidya game, they'd probably be voiced by Brian Blessed, or his royal Cinemaness CHRISTOPHER LEE, may he glory and feast forever in Valhalla.

They also once managed to kill an entire [[Void whale|VOID WHALE]]! (If a hideously malformed one) Scary Badass Grampa Werewolf Viking FTW!

Spess Wohlfs, if not already obvious, draw upon a heavy Viking theme, an equally heavy werewolf theme, and wolves in general. As such, the Space Wolves, Black Templars, White Scars, World Eaters and Khornate Worshipers in general, are the few people to realize that they all live in a fantasy universe with spaceships.

Another question that might come up if one thought about it is what happened to all of their extra marines. Even between the Burning of Prospero, a brutal void battle with the Alpha Legion straight afterwards and the rest of the Horus Heresy, the Wolves and their descendants were reduced to a chapter strength of about 1200 marines by the 41st Millenium. Even with attrition over the years, they should have been left with thousands of marines to split into different chapters. The main school of thought is that the Wolves split into two chapters, the original Space Wolves as well as the Wolf Brothers. While the Wolf Brothers would eventually be disbanded due to [[Mutant|genetic instability]], it would still leave the Space Wolves several thousand marines strong. It's though that the rest of the Sons of Russ would eventually be brought down to close to Codex Chapter strength by attrition, as their numbers were overcome by casualties, the rise of the Mark of the Wulfen, and alcohol poisoning. Another hypothesis is that there would be other chapters that would split off from the wolves, albeit unofficially or by their origins being proscribed for...whatever reason. However, if the Wolves were indeed left to be several hundred strong after Guilliman got his reform on, it would mean that after Russ's disappearance, the wolves [[Grimdark|were slowly dying out]] after their recruitment numbers dwindled to the dozens per year. (Though the natural ratio of recruits-to-casualties probably reached an equilibrium point at some point a few centuries afterwords, and has hovered right around that point for a long time. [[Grimdark]] doesn't always mean [[Fail|Grimderp]].)

In M32, a small but influential faction within the Rout started experimenting on the Canis Helix, trying to make it less wolfy but preserve the general badassery of Russ' gene seed. This was aimed at realising Russ' dream of Wolves descendants- the reformers saw their Chapter becoming steadily more isolated, making it harder for them to defend the Imperium. Some even claimed that the Imperium would start to question the Wolves' loyalties because of the wulfen issue, putting their existence at risk. They faced lots of internal opposition, but the gene-splicing began to pay off and the Legion's "apotheosis" was looming. Then Magnus heard about it and attacked Fenris, leaving the Fang all but broken and the current Great Wolf dead, along with most of the reformers. Magnus took a thrashing in the process, but finally had a comeback to all Russ' "forever alone" jokes (fuck, even the Salamanders probably have successors these days). As predicted, although the Wolves are still revered throughout much of the Imperium, they're also mistrusted by its rulers and institutions. Inquisition tried pretty hard to bring them to heel over the whole Armageddon fracas- it's a fair bet that they wouldn't have tried this if the Wolves had a few successor Chapters to call on.. Oh, and their attack on the Fang did a similar amount of damage to what Magnus managed.

And now, with a new Black Library novel inbound, it seems that the Wolves big secret is about to get out, and now the Inquisition might just get them opening they were looking for...

==Relationship with the Thousand Sons==
Space Wolves have a talent for [[rage]], and it is thought by some that they pride themselves with the sheer number of enemies they have. But the [[Thousand Sons]] Chaos Legion is by and large their greatest enemy, at least that's what they think. The fact is that the rivalry began when the Space Wolves (with help from Custodians and Sisters of Silence) kicked the living shit out of the Thousand Sons on their home planet, which is like having your country host the Olympics and then getting last place in every event (much like Canada in the 1976 Summer Olympics and again in the 1988 Winter Olympics). Before that, [[Leman Russ]], [[Primarch]] of the Space Wolves, broke the back of [[Magnus the Red]], who is Primarch of the Thousand Sons. TO BE FAIR, Magnus felt that he deserved it and therefore ordered his warriors to deactivate all planetary defenses (he actually deactivated it himself and even killed one of his own captains to hide the coming of the invasion fleet). If the Thousand Sons had their defenses active, the Wolf of the Wolf Wolf Wolves probably would have had a much harder time of it. As it is, even with all the backup the Wolves had, once they ran out of planetary defense forces in parade uniforms to slaughter, and came across the Thousand Sons, the Wolves/Custodians/Sisters were slowed down a little until Tzeench pulled the troll lever (though he might've been bolstering the Sons' powers already, which the Ruinous Powers later did with Horus, and this was just a side effect) and the Sons' greatest psykers started mutating and exploding like Tetsuo from Akira.

Considering the [[Emprah]] basically just asked for Leman Russ to give Magnus a ride to Earth, this is more like your parents asking you to tell your younger sibling to come out of their room and clean up the mess they made, only for you to go in there, shoot off both their legs, take a dump on the floor and set the room on fire, chase them out into the streets, murder his best friends, and then tell your parents that the brat suffered for not taking responsibility for the five or so school books on the couch. Of course, [[Horus]] helped that all along, having already went full daddy hate:he twisted Big big E's orders into "rape prospero, k tnx", being a loyal lapdog Russ just rolled with it. Just as planned. Chief Custodian Valdor also urged Russ to curbstomp Magnus for good, presumably because he was concerned what kind of damage Magnus could do in person, given how much trouble he caused from millions of light-years away.

This set the tone for the rest of their unhealthy relationship. The Thousand Sons do something to piss off the Space Wolves, usually some brilliant, convoluted plan, and the Space Wolves just charge and beat the living shit out of them and laugh in their faces when they find out how much work those [[Tzeentch]]ies put into their plots. Sadly, this usually comes at a staggering toll in Space Wolf lives. So [[grimdark]]. Oh, and the Thousand Son's usually accomplish some underlying secret objective.

Many theories are abound as to why the Space Wolves hate the Thousand Sons and their sorcery so much. The most popular amongst fa/tg/uys is that the Thousand Sons Primarch, Magnus, being aware of Russ's [[furry|bestiality]], was always watching him from his magical lookout, riding up and down his sorcerer's tower to observe Russ from every height and depth, intently channeling the power of his one-eyed cyclops to pierce into Russ's most intimate chambers. Understandably, this left Russ very (literally) [[butthurt]] indeed and eager for vengeance. Or because Magnus is a NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERD.

One theory disclosed to the Khan, admittedly from the probably-not-very-reliable source of a shade of Magnus left behind on Prospero, suggests that there could be an even more sinister reason for the hatred, suggesting that there is a dark reason why the Wolves put runes of protection on every part of their wargear (other books suggest the Wolves place huge importance on runes and symbolism).

Also while it may seem laughable that the axe dragging wolf-fucking barbarians continually thwart the plans of the hyper-intelligent sorcerers, the wolves are actually probably the most ideal chapter to fight them (except, perhaps, the [[Grey Knights]], for obvious reasons). They have the Canis Helix which causes them to wolf out rather than be corrupted by chaos, and the Rune "Magic" that their Rune Priests use is literally the closest thing to sorcery used in the Imperium. Add to that the fact that they have one of the most impressive fleets in the entire Imperium, making them somewhat less worried about warp storms, and you have a group almost tailor-made to resist the Thousand Sons.

Other people believe that Space Wolves are indeed a traitor legion and the Thousand Sons a loyal one. Think a second about it. What are the benefits of the Mark of Khorne? Rage and counterattack, exactly the same rules Blood Claws have. Why Russ destroyed completely Prospero if Magnus was not defending himself and his only sin was warning the Emperor about the Horus Heresy? Why Russ went to the Warp? To become a Daemon-Prince? Why they don't recognized Guilliman as their spiritual leader? Why they don't follow the codex who has given so much prosperity to the Imperium? What are those mutations wulfen have? Gifts of Chaos? However, these people are idiots who don't read the lore and have bad grammar, so you shouldn't listen to them.

===Ragnar Blackmane===
[[File:Yiff yaff.jpg|300px|thumb|right|HERESY]]
Perhaps the best example can be found in ''The Space Wolf Omnibus'', in which [[Ragnar Blackmane]], who is basically a young Space Wolf, not only fucks over a Sorcerer, but Magnus the Red himself. The Sorcerer, [[Madox]], is so pissed at being foiled by Ragnar that he bitches about it to other Thousand Sons, who find this hilarious, and goes around making plots, which Ragnar manages to fuck up nicely, thereby saving the galaxy. Ragnar even took the spear of his Primarch and hurled it into the eye of Magnus the Red. Do note that this is as much canon as other [[Black Library|BL]] anti-fluff shit.

Because of this, the [[Blood Ravens]] forge a weapon named after Ragnar, who tells them to keep their toys because he doesn't need it (though in all reality he had a suspicion that they were trying to 'fence' their 'gift' by giving it to him to evade Imperial authorities).

He and his pack (and about 30 Militarum Tempestus Stormtroopers people somehow always forget to mention) once fought off 40 odd genestealers in close combat. In the actual game and fluff; fighting this many 'stealers in melee is a one way ticket to massive rending claw induced ASSRAPE for anything short of a vehicle with AV 14 on it backside. Yet somehow he managed to avoid being torn into gory paper thin pieces and come out on top (like this kind of thing is really uncommon with book marines). He manages this without being a [[Mary Sue|Mary]] [[Ultramarines|Sue]]. Why?/How? It's because he's a motherfucking Space Viking. Also they were helped by about forty Militarum Tempestus Stormtroopers and two Inquisitors, so it wasn't quite as one sided as it sounds.

==The Fate of Leman Russ==
Of Leman Himself, you ask? Legends state that after a great feast, He said unto his warriors:

<blockquote>"Listen closely Brothers, for my time is short. . There shall come a time far from now when our Chapter itself is dying, even as I am now dying, and our foes shall gather to destroy us. Then my children, I shall listen for your call in whatever realm of death holds me, and come I shall, no matter what the laws of life and death forbid. At the end I will be there. For the final battle. For the Wolftime."</blockquote>

And so, Leman departed, with his closest retinue... No, not you Bjorn... Some say he searches for a means to revive His God-Emperor.. But despite the efforts of the Great Hunt, Leman remains beyond the reach of Man... Who knows what great feats of Heroism he undertakes....

. . . Oh, who the fuck are we kidding? Leman got lost in the [[Warp]] and became a Daemon Primarch of Kho-

{{BLAM|//Historitor 109.163.233.200 decommissioned by Inquisitorial decree.//}}

He was, in fact, [[Horo|turned into a small girl]]. (Holy shit! A [[Tzeentch|change]] like that can only mean that Magnus must have gotten revenge.) And if by that you think we mean, "Russ had a shitton of bastard children everywhere and one was a mutant that could shapeshift" then yes; only because Russ's kids turning into [[Werewolf|wolves]] is nothing new. Nobody really knows if this had happened before he went to [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and made the Norscans or not, but since they aren't vikings out of a shoujo anime, we can make a pretty good educated guess. Somehow, he found his way back to the Dark Millenium, still stuck in the form of a [[Horo|small girl]].

(But seriously, we have no idea. There HAVE been sporadic reports of sightings of the 13th great Company with Russ leading them, for what that's worth. And Magnus has mentioned that he knows exactly what happened to Russ, but it's not like he'd ever tell them.)

Actually he has entered Slaanesh's realm of eternal yiff, meaning we will never see him again.

==Organization==
[[File:Tyranid Attack.jpeg|350px|right|thumb|The wolves taking on a [[Tyranid]] horde.]]
Since they only see the [[Codex Astartes]] as a source of toilet paper (when they bother to wipe), the Space Wolves have roles and titles far different from the standard Space Marine chapters. Additionally, while traditional chapters each hold ten ~100-strong companies, the Space Wolves instead have 12 autonomous companies, each of which is in varying strength and since they aren't bound by the Codex, each company may have more than 100 marines on hand. However, the Space Wolf legion was never particularly numerous, pre-heresy, in the first place due to their unstable gene-seed (The fact that [[Magnus the Red]] destroyed the long-sought cure to this during his attack on Fenris for this didn't help). Thus while unbound by the Codex, Space Wolf companies are typically slow to reinforce their numbers due to said unstable gene-seed.

With 12 independent Great Companies (each with their own fleets, logistics support etc), this means that even if each Great Company had 100 brothers, they would outnumber a normal codex-compliant Spess Mehreens chapters by at least 20%. This is corroborated by the latest 7E codex which has rules for playing a Great Company on its own; consisting of eleven squads of varying size.

However since each Great Company doesn't bother to limit themselves to 100 (some Space Wolves great companies sometimes number over 300 brothers) it means that they outnumber codex chapters by an even greater degree, so with that said, the [[Apocalypse]] formation for the same thing has no hard limit on the number of Blood Claw squads that may be taken, so will probably represent a good period of recruitment for the Chapter. Therefore the total numbers will vary over time in response to casualties and recruitment rates but can reasonably reach estimations of 3000 marines or more; several times the official codex strength at peak times. But currently though, [[Logan Grimnar]]'s own company is the largest in the chapter and it totals 200 exactly by 998.M41 ''(not counting the "Great Wolf" assets like Dreadnoughts & Priests)'' whilst [[Ragnar Blackmane]]'s is said to be second, also currently sitting at 162 marines.

===Hierarchy===
The different ranks and assignments for the Wolves are the following:

*'''Great Wolf''': The [[Chapter Master]] of the Space Wolves, the Great Wolf is chosen from among the Wolf Lords by virtue of <s>having the most furry porn</s> being the most badass of an army of space vikings. The Great Wolf is effectively the First Captain of the Space Wolves, commanding an elite Great Company that includes the members of the three Priesthoods and the Chapter's Dreadnoughts. [[Logan Grimnar]] serves as the current Great Wolf.
*'''Wolf Lord''': The [[Brother-Captain]]s of a company in Codex Chapters (although more like a watered-down vanilla chapter master), Wolf Lords lead their Great Companies and charge the Iron Priests with maintenance of its motor pool and the Wolf Priests with recruiting new Astartes.
* '''Wolf Guard''': A cross between [[Veteran Squad|Veterans]] and [[Honour Guard]], Wolf Guards serve as the body guard of the Wolf Lord and leading packs in battle, serving as the Space Wolves version of a [[Brother-Sergeant]]. They also get [[Terminator]] armour. In ''Second Edition'' they also got to take any weapons they liked and could be built from stock parts with an Assault Cannon and Cyclone Missile Launcher. This led to many games being won as Assault Force Dickhead rampaged across the table murdering everything.
* '''Wolf Priest''': Combining the role of [[Apothecary]] and [[Chaplain]], the Wolf Priests do the standard roles of preaching and medical duties, but are also charged with recruiting Aspirants for their companies. Plus they have a secret role on the battlefield, trying to prevent their battle-brothers from turning into Wulfen.
* '''Iron Priest''': The Iron Priests serve the role of [[Techmarine]]s, overseeing the motorpool and equipment of the companies they belong to.
* '''Rune Priest''': Taking the role of [[Librarian]]s in Codex Chapters, Rune Priests are the [[psyker]]s of the Space Wolves. However, instead of seeing their powers as coming from the [[Warp]], they hold that their powers come from the world spirit of Fenris, and consult the runes in a means to divine the future. Trying to explain to the Rune Priests that they're drawing power from the Warp, and that they cannot "draw their powers from Fenris" while being half-Galaxy away from it will usually result in the non-Space Wolf getting a month's stay in the Apothecarion. The ultimate irony of this is that they are, in reality, Sorcerers, the very thing they denounced the Thousand Sons for being.
* '''Wolf Scouts''': Each Great Company will have members who shun their pack brothers and are shunned in return, preferring the company of more somber individuals, Wolf Scouts serve to scout out enemy positions and terrain. As opposed to the regular codex, Wolf Scouts tend to be veterans of battle able to rein in their savage rage.
* '''Lone Wolf''': Space Wolves who are the last of their pack. The loss of their brethren drive them to seek a glorious death in combat at the hands of some form a fell enemy. Think of Dwarf Slayers only a few metres tall with powered armour and weapons of doom and destruction. Often the only way out of the Lone Wolf lifestyle is managing to kill something that the individual shouldn't have survived killing and being elevated into the Wolf Guard.
* '''Skyclaws''': Skyclaws are the trouble makers among a Chapter of trouble makers, forced to wear Jump Packs. The Space Wolves view Jump Packs as an insult, reasoning that if the Emperor wanted them to fly, he would have given them wings. Snide comments regarding [[Sanguinius]] result in a short game of tug-o-war involving the offending battle-brother's beard.
* '''Thunderwolf Cavalry''': Space Wolves who function in a manner similar to a [[Bike Squad]], but instead of actual bikes, they use Thunderwolves, which can be the size of a small car.
* '''Long Fangs''': Taking the role of [[Devastator Squad|Devastators]], Long Fangs are veterans who have grown long in the fang. No pun here - Space Wolves' teeth actually lengthen as they age, as an effect of a mutated Betcher's Gland.
* '''Grey Hunter''': Having the role of [[Tactical Squad|Tactical Marines]], Grey Hunters are those Marines who have survived long enough as Blood Claws to quell the worst of their ferocity and blood lust (read: wear a helmet in battle). Their new found experience and control allows them to shoot and fight better than their younger brethren.
* '''Blood Claws''': Neophyte Space Wolves who serve in the [[Assault Squad|Assault Marine]] roles of Codex Chapters.

=== Other Assets ===
The Space Wolves have an impressive number of other gadgets and gizmos going for them.

Not least the fact that the Fang (''Aett'') is one of the three most defended locations in the entire Imperium ''(the other two being the Imperial Palace on '''Terra''' and the Keep Inviolate on '''Kolossi''' the homeworld of [[Imperial Knight|House Raven]])'' and is tall enough that entire [[Imperial Navy|battlefleets]] can dock with the fortress.

Speaking of battlefleets; the Wolves themselves have a navy to rival most others, with eight Battle Barges and more than thirty Strike Cruisers, which in terms of logistical support could accommodate over 5400 fighting men. As well as this, they have '''TWO''' Star Forts and over forty escort '''squadrons'''. To let you know how much firepower this counts as, some lesser known chapters would consider themselves fortunate to have even a single battle-barge. Even the [[Grey Knights]] have only four Barges and twelve strike cruisers, so basically when Fenris held off the [[Grey Knights]] during the Months of Shame, they had plenty going for them. They used to have even more ships, and a star-fort network that could put the infamous Iron Circle of Badab to shame before the Thousand Sons attacked Fenris in M33.

They also have '''''over''''' one-hundred [[Dreadnought]]s stored in stasis vaults within their fortress depths, where/how they accumulated them is uncertain and considering that most other chapters tend to have around two or three Dreadnoughts per company, they likely outnumber nearly anyone else by a considerable margin. ''(For comparison, the [[Blood Angels]] have 35 dreadnoughts listed in their rolls of battle)''

Not to mention the packs of feral wulfen that they can scrounge up... Yeah they might happen to have a shit ton of unregistered mutated werewolf murder machines lying around as ''''failed'''' aspirants. That said, Fenris is far less populous than the likes of Macragge, and feral Wulfen are basically wildlife, so this is a moot point.

Oh, and all the "actual" Fenrisian Wolves & Thunderwolves that the chapter can muster.

==Combat doctrine==
<blockquote>"The best way to defeat a Space Wolf is to wolf his wolf. You must be careful, though, because if the Space Wolf wolfs your wolf first, then your wolf is wolfed." 
—Attributed to Wolf Rider Volk Wolfclaw, ''On the Weaknesses of the Space Wolf Doctrine''.</blockquote>

<blockquote>"A good way to get into a state of pure wolfness, would be that you shall wolf the wolf until the wolfing wolf wolfs. Then, when the wolf wolfs your wolfness, the wolves of the wild will wolf your wolf up. Wolf!" 
—Attributed to Wolf Master Jonal Wolfhand, "The Call of the Nightblizzard".</blockquote>

<blockquote>"Wolf wolf wolf wolf wolfity wolf. Wolf wolf, wolfo wolfy wolf wolf wolf. Wolf? Wolf!" 
—Attributed to Wolf Lord Egil Ironwolf, ''On the Intricacies of Tactical Wolffare''.</blockquote>

Jokes aside, the Space Wolves are rather unusual when it comes to organisation and tactics. Contrary to what many fans will tell you, they do actually study the Codex Astartes's points on combat, though they completely reject it from an organizational standpoint. In battle the warriors of the Rout will usually work on their own initiative and experience, but at the same time, they don't disrespect or ignore the lessons of the codex. Their battle strategies tend to be neglected in favor of localized battlefield tactics. They keep to their wolf theme by working as a "pack", with very "make it up as we go along" tactics. This doesn't bite them in the ass as much as it would other space marine chapters, because they can "smell the plan" (I can't make this shit up). The books try to base this off of how normal wolves coordinate hunts, with nonverbal cues being premium. The idea is that the wolves can read the situation by [[Hive Mind|smelling their pack member's moods and thoughts]], using natural pheromone cues (and a few added by the Canis Helix) to anticipate the moods of those around them. This is actually why most wolves prefer to fight without helmets: you can't smell anything in the sealed environment of closed power armor.

==Daily rituals of a Space Wolf==
1300 - Wake Up with Hangover - The Space Wolf awakens from his booze-induced coma and begins the day. Headaches abound. Aspirin is consumed by the ton. 
1310 - Morning Piss - The Space Wolf empties the alcohol that has accumulated in his bladder(s) in the Sacred Alcohol Excretion Grounds. 
1311 - Morning Fart - The Space Wolf empties his intestines. Pissing without farting is like going to a holy site without praying to the Emperor, which is heresy. 
1320 - Morning Piss Ends - The Space Wolves have finally finished urinating. 
1330 - Ritual Intake of Alcoholic Beverages - The Space Wolf now cracks open his first cold one of the day. The first of many. Cheerios may be consumed as well. 
1345 - Firing Drills - The Space Wolf consumes another liter of alcohol before going out back and shooting empty beer bottles with his bolter. This takes place far away from the Alcohol Excretion Grounds, after that one time Brother Brynjolf accidentally lit his own piss on fire, and ended up in sickbay until his beard grew back and he was thus fit to be seen in public again. 
1400 - Freeze your Gonads - The Space Wolf sheds his armor and most of his clothing to wander around Asaheim for an hour. 
1500 - Feeding of the Land Raiders - Space Wolf observes a feast with his brothers in honour of the chapter's revered battle machines. Blood Claws are still wandering around outside naked in the snow. 
1530 - Boozing of the Land Raiders - No feast is complete without shittons of liquor. Ale and beer are poured and scrubbed all over the most honoured of the chapter's war machines. Many still have bullet holes, sometimes allowing beer to get into the exhaust ports and make for kickass explosions later. Blood Claws are still wandering around outside naked in the snow. 
1600 - Wolf your Wolf - Grey Hunters and older Space Wolves take this time to play with their favourite 4-legged companions. Blood Claws are still wandering around outside naked in the snow. 
1630 - Save the Blood Claws - Blood Claws are brought in from the cold. Most are frozen blue or black - and hungry for more. 
1700 - Evening feast - Eat. Drink. Start brawls. The usual non-warzone Space Wolf thing. 
1800 - Try to wake up [[Bjorn the Fell Handed|Bjorn]]. 
1810 - Give up, try to find something fun on the Vox Saga. 
1900 - Night shitter break. 
2000 - Night firing drills - Much to the Iron Priest's dismay, the Space Wolves practice writing their names in the snow with bolters. In runes. In the dark. 
2100 - Ritual Intake of Narcotics and Purging of Testicles - bitches and blow. 
0500 - Daily Rest - The Space Wolf passes out. 

==A Quick Word Out of Character==
The true reason for all this, is that, we at /tg/, in our pathetic, low reaching mastery of comedy, have seen how idiotic it is that every Goddamn Space Wolf codex unnecessarily uses the word; 'wolf' as a prefix or a suffix in every 3rd sentence (similar to the [[Robin Cruddace|tyranid codex]] shoe-horning the prefix bio- into every 3rd sentence). Since /tg/ is an easily angered monster, not unlike an [[Angry Marine]], we attempt to furiously link Space Wolves to furries (its really fucking annoying). As we are as fucked up as [[Chaos Pretty Marines]].

It has been established in the ''[[Horus Heresy]]'' series that the VI Legion don't employ the word Wolf as much as they appear to. Wolf is readily apparent in their motifs, such as Leman Russ's titles as "Wolf-King" and "Great Wolf", as well as the formal name of the Wolf Guard, but it's not as overblown as it's made out to be. Apparently, whoever did the Fenrisian-to-Gothic translation made a few errors. First off, they don't call themselves the Space Wolves. When speaking formally, they refer to themselves as the ''Vlka Fenryka'', which can be translated as "Wolves of Fenris", since Fenrir is the name of a wolf in Norse myth this makes <s>it awesome</s> <s>pretentious as fuck.</s> Not if you realise that a bunch of colonists landed on a planet, bred giant dogs from their great, great, grand-children then thought "You know what's better than planet Unicorn? Planet fucking Fenris") The term is more like "folk of Fenris" if Vlka is associated with the Germanic 'Volk.' However, if Vlka is translated as Slavic, then we get the "Wolves of Fenris." Hence, Dan Abnett is using linguistics to reinforce his theme that the Space Wolves are misunderstood by the rest of the Imperium - called the Space Wolves because of a mistranslated word. (So they are actually called "Space People"?) ( would make sense since ragnar refered to them as "Star warriors" in the William King novels but the lore from these novels has been left by the wayside so take that s you will). When speaking informally, they refer to themselves as "the Rout", solidifying their purpose as the Emperor's executioners/snowflakes. Additionally, the post of "Wolf-Lord" is also a mistranslation, as they refer to their Company commanders as "Jarl". Finally, they don't call their fortress-monastery the Fang, but rather the ''Aett'', which can be literally translated as "clan home".There's also this in-universe [[meme]] "there are no wolves on Fenris". At all. This was started by one of the primarchs remarking that they should be called xenos, because they're natives of an alien planet, and it quickly morphed into a joke. But it goes a little deeper than that, <s>presenting weird questions about where the whole wolf thing (and the actual wolves they ride/cuddle) come from. Long story short, they are furry cousins yee haah! Seriously</s> No, it highlights that there are no wolves on Fenris, because there are no wolves on fenris. See below....keep up dammit.

With regards to the Fenrisian wolves, the origin a little more freaky than expected: they're not wolves, but descendants of human wolf mutants. Back when Fenris was first settled, the colonists had the ''Canis helix'' added to help them adapt to the harsh environment by adding wolf genes to their genetic-makeup. Unfortunately, it worked a little too well--the ''canix helix'' caused a number of settlers to degrade into wolfmen and wolfwomen. Following this, they bred and produced a new strain of wolf into the environment. So there are no ''wolves'' on Fenris. They're just the descendants of human mutants. Which might explain why, post-Heresy, only Fenrisians can become Space Wolves (assuming that's why the successor chapters couldn't handle Russ' gene seed).

Of course, that means that the Space Wolves are wearing pelts made of [[Fabius Bile|human skin]], but lets not dwell on that - after all it's fairly common in the Imperiums to wear human skulls... WolfyWolfWolf {{BLAM|''' *BLAM*}}.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Lightning2.jpg|'Tis only a matter of time until Steve Blum voices 'em
File:Warlord of Fenris by NachoMon.jpg|Totally not overcompensating...Yeah he's just hiding a massive hardon with the skull
File:Lemanruss39.jpg|Leman Russ. About to mercilessly fuck over the Thousand Sons.
File:Prospero.jpg|Is he carrying a wooden shield? Really? Against a bolt shell?
File:Stormrider.jpg|You better watch out, you better not die, you better not fight, I'm telling you why: Santa Grimnar's coming to town
[[File:http://l.wigflip.com/DucDpDtG/roflbot.jpg]]|Pretty cool guys to hang with.
File:SneakySpaceWolves.png|Space Wolves? Using stealth? [[Heresy]].
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Bjorn the Fell Handed]]
*[[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Space Wolves(7E)|Tactics/Space Wolves]]
*[[Warriors of Chaos]] - With whom they get into bar brawls and drinking contests to see who is moar [[Viking]].

== External Links ==
* [http://space-wolves-grey.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/wolf-sister.html Wolf & Sister] Space Wolves webcomic by Nachomon.

{{Marines-Official}}

[[Category:Space Wolves]]

C.S. Goto

2016-12-29T14:54:47Z

2602:30A:C0BD:2080:D8C5:F919:1576:396A:

{{WTF}}
{{heresy}}
[[image:csgoto.jpg|thumb| Police sketch.]]
"My form of canon is just as valid as anyone else's. Warhammer nerds need to get out of their mother's basements and do something with their life before they start criticizing others." -From the midget himself. Dick.

You are reading the 1d4chan article for '''C.S. Goto''', and this pleases him.

Cassern Sebastian Goto is a black Irish leper and one of [[/tg/|/tg/'s]] most "beloved" [[Black Library]] authors, dare we say even more than [[Matt Ward|he who must not be named]]. His books contain plenty of [[Eldar]] torture scenes, and also completely disregard most [[Warhammer 40,000]] [[canon]], along with an apparent contempt for the English-fucking-language. Most likely because they are actually recycled versions of his old movie scripts from fifteen years ago, with just some names changed.

* [[Multilasers]], anyone? (To be fair, it COULD have been explained away as a supply problem on the Mantis Warriors' part, but for whatever reason he didn't bother to do so.)

* One supply Mantis Warriors never did seem to run out of, ammunition. Never in Goto's tenure writing for GW no one has ever seen the need to re-load. Ever.

* Adamantium is now Adamantite (or is it Ceramite that's become Adamantite? Fucking Goto).

*[[Land Raider]]s. They can transform into [[Razorback]]s now. (They also change back in under a page and a half.)

* Apparently [[Tyranids]] [[Bullshit|bray like donkeys now.]] [[FAIL|And apparently so do Space Marines and]] [[Rage|Necrons]].

* [[What|Back flipping Terminators! WTF!]] As if the absurdity of braying Tyradonkeys weren't enough, Goto apparently thought it is a good idea to have a couple metric ton worth of bulky as fuck armor being capable of doing moves that would defy even the logic bending rules of 40k. And now with the release of Dawn of War 3, [[RAGE|it is now somewhat canon with the new move sets of Gabriel Angelos which in turn might indicate that this fucker might have something to do with Gabe's sudden mysterious powers of jumping and doing somersaults in said armor.]]

*You know that Dawn of War book he wrote? Apparently, during Winter Assault, [[Sturnn]] got to the titan first and met with Gabe and the Blood Ravens, who had apparently been tipped off by the Eldar that there was a Webway Gate under the Titan. Oh and the [[Ultramarines]] [[Sturnn]] escorted? [[derp|They were the Alpha Legion in disguise all along]]. Fucking Stupid.

For some reason, Goto really seems to hate the Eldar. Their fluff is repeatedly violated in many unforgivable ways, almost as much as the Eldar themselves are when he's the one writing.

* It's fucking CANON that the Aspect Warriors don't own their armor (except Exarchs, but '''theirs doesn't come off''') and return it to the Aspect Shrine when they grow too much sense to play dress-up kung-fu ninjas anymore. Goto had several Eldar keeping the helmets they wore as Aspect Warriors like some sort of fucking souvenir.

* The Eldar also worship [[Slaanesh]], including the entire Ulthwe Seer Council and [[Eldrad]] himself. You know, despite the fact that every Eldar, even the [[Dark Eldar|crazy, hedonistic ones]], loathe and revile the folly of their ancestors that so happened to result to their race being damned to a life of eternal pain and suffering the moment their souls enter the warp after death. Ohh, and said folly also reduced their empire to a shadow of its former glory as seen today.

* Or D-Cannons? The things teleport chunks out of the target (looks kind of like Looney Toons-style swiss cheese production, but messier). The retard had them fire '''bullets'''.

* Or [[Craftworld|Biel-Tan's]] Avatar? Apparently he hasn't had his Wailing Doom sword for the past 3,000 years. And is dead. A piece of said Wailing Doom was somehow forged into [[Gabriel Angelos]]' Godsplitter daemonhammer.

* Or Fire Dragons; Goto wrote that the meltaguns of Fire Dragons (expert tank-hunters) struggle to get through a hastily-constructed Imperial Guard barricade, even at point-blank range, despite the fact that even ''fucking'' [[Land Raider]]s suffer critical existence failure the moment Fire Dragons starts shooting.

* It gets worse; according to this idiot, [[Herp|instead of using Wave Serpents or Falcons, the Eldar steal tanks from Imperial forces and use them in battle]]. [[Derp|The Eldar do this because the tanks have better armour, in spite of the fact that the Imperial tanks are landbound, slower and have more primitive guns than their own vehicles. Goto seems to have ignored the fact that the Eldar purposely eschew heavy-armored tanks for lighter faster, and more agile ones as Eldar strategy revolves a lot on quick skrimishes and hit-and-run attacks, instead of the Imperial Guard's equivalent of a steel wall full of guns.]]. And the additional armor is offset by the fact that [[FAIL|the Eldar ride the tanks into battle by standing on the roof or hanging off the sides like suicidal idiots]].

* Additionally, you know how in mainstay fluff, that Eldar tanks are much more versatile and deadlier than Imperial tanks to the point that their dedicated [[Fire Prism|Anti-Vehicle platform]] can render [[Baneblade|Baneblades]] on life support? Yeah you know those vehicles with energy shielding that can deflect multiple [[Lascannon]] fire? Apparently, this retard illustrated that an Eldar grav tank can also be brought down by [[What|feral world kids]] [[Fail|throwing stones into its engines,]] dragging the commander out when he pops the hatch, [[Rape|and sodomizing him with sticks.]] '''[[RAGE|WHAT. THE. FUCK!?]]''' We are not making this shit up! We swear! As if the Eldar has been humiliated enough with GeeDub's proverbial writers cocks, now their tanks are made of literal tissue paper that can be destroyed by kindergartners and their commanders are so much of a whore that they can be literally raped by your little brother. Fucking hell Goto!

* Even language isn't safe. According to Goto, the Eldar can't fully grasp human languages or speak them properly (though the languages of the Eldar are much more complex than any human language, and Eldar are capable of having conversations with each other using nothing but body language; yet according to Goto they can't handle human languages!? Fuck off!)

* In the aforementioned Dawn of War book, if you were wondering where [[Taldeer]] (who is suddenly a novice Farseer from Biel-Tan as opposed to a veteran from Ulthwe) was during all this, she was busy being murdered by [[Ahriman]] and his Prodigal Sons (who also happened to be on Lorn V for no apparent reason). Goto puts her through nearly 20 pages worth of graphically detailed torture before finally putting her out of her misery (and fortunately rendering the novels non-canon, given that she shows up alive and well in Dark Crusade).
**[[Macha]] doesn't fare much better- after being given one of the Swords of Vaul from Gabe (who got it from the Harlequins after repelling the forces of [[Ahriman]]) she uses it to turn into some kind of green warp-fire thing to destroy a Necron ship and subsequently vanishes from the story without a word of explanation.

*[[Lelith Hesperax]] now lives in the Eye of Terror, and is also a worshipper of Slaanesh. This is in spite of the fact that any [[Dark Eldar]] who was so stupid as to get that close to Chaos' home turf would have his or her soul devoured in seconds (which is why they live in the webway), let alone take the utterly suicidal step of actively offering oneself up to She Who Thirsts. And she's also a psyker, even though psychic powers in Dark Eldar have long since atrophied due to their suppression since, you know, they run the very high risk of being Slaaneshi daemon chow the moment they commune with the Warp (and even if there were DE psykers, Vect has made it very clear that using said powers in Commorragh is punishable by death or [[Haemonculi]], the latter being death by Haemonculi).

While similar accusations might be fairly leveled at almost any [[Black Library]] author, instead of the usual once-per-book or once-per-chapter, or even just once, against Goto you can count one for every page on average (sometimes more).

He is also the only Black Library writer to ever be so much of a pussy to try excusing himself with "having an artistic license" (which in his definition apparently means he's being free to screw the canon left, right and inside out however it fucking pleases him). He is apparently also a cigar-smoking midget, and rides a motorcycle that pleasures him simultaneously — much like [[Doomrider]] — which pleases him.

It is also a known fact that [[Matt Ward]] is another pen name for C.S. Goto. (What? You thought the books they wrote were similarly terrible by coincidence?)

From just a writer's viewpoint the books are awfully written, the plot and characters confusing at times, and it is clear the works were quickly knocked up on a bank holiday weekend by a writer in a half daze from an intense Slaanesh orgy of whips, chains and daemonette snuff (this indeed pleases him).

Fortunately, though [[Games Workshop|GW]] demand that anything published through the Black Library be considered canon, they also state that canon doesn't necessarily mean ''true''. The work (in universe) may be written as Imperial propaganda, for example. Or in this case, the real-world fan fiction of a severely mentally disabled child living in the slums of a hive city. C.S. Goto is not [[Ben Counter]], though he may wish he was.

[[Twilight|Still, it could get worse, just pray to the Emperor that it doesn't.]]

We have recently obtained information on his background confirming that at some point in his life he was butt-hurt by a man in a red robe.

Which would explain his near-on obsessive need to fit the words red robe into nearly every paragraph and his desire to rape the established background of 40k.

He also has the balls to compare himself to C.S. Lewis.

==The "Best" of C.S. Goto==

"Grasping one talon in the formidable grip of his power fist, Neleus dragged the lictor creature out of the sand and held it momentarily, dangling from its own fore-talon. Then, with a swift movement, he crushed the talon in his fist and launched the hapless creature in the air with a swing of his immense arm, riddling it with hellfire shells as it flew. By the time it landed back in the sea of its own kind, the creature was little more than a shredded husk."
 -'''''Warrior Brood. Terminator Armor does many things, but giving a Space Marine the strength to throw a 1-ton Tyranid through the air is not one of them.

"Balder's fellow veterans were in formation around him, discharging volleys of lasfire from their multilasers, providing support for Hoenir's squad."
 -'''''Warrior Brood. The aforementioned Multilasers.

"Taldeer stood bolt upright with her hands pressed against the lintel and her feet braced against the floor. The sinewy muscles in her slender limbs were taut and bulging with exertion. Her neck was knotted with protruding veins and her mouth was stretched into a contorted, rigid and unnatural cave. But it was her eyes that commanded the scene: they had gone. In their place there were simply two gaping cavities, rimmed with a thick, bloody ichor. She was screaming.(...)After a sudden, gurgling pause in her screams, Taldeer yelled something incoherent in a tongue that Gabriel did not know. Her voice was shrill and wracked with pain, but there was a new quality to the sound that even Gabriel could recognize. She had been shot. As the psychic screaming commenced, slightly weaker than before, Gabriel ripped his chainsword into life and whirled it around his head, clearing a moment of clarity in the mists of Chaos for him to assess the situation. A gaping wound had appeared in the side of the alien's abdomen, as though she had been shot at close range by a bolter. Judging from the position of the wound, Gabriel reckoned that the shell had probably ricocheted off the bulkhead and then punched into her kidneys, [[What|if eldar had kidneys]]."
 '''''-Dawn of War: Tempest, page 88. Unfortunately for her, this doesn't kill her.

"With an explosion of emerald light, the stones seemed to detonate, spraying themselves into shrapnel and jagged shards that ricocheted around the polished, [[wraithbone]] walls of her inner sanctum. A hail of razor-sharp projectiles, like the tiny shruikens (sic) used in eldar firearms, lashed into Macha's body, lacerating the psychic shields and armoured plates with microscopic ease. Before she could rise to her feet or even let out a cry, Macha slumped forwards onto the circular tablet, unconscious and bleeding from thousands of tiny incisions."
 -'''''Dawn of War: Ascension. Macha's also described as having white hair, which is blatantly false too.

"With a blinding blast of red light, the [[Assault Squad|Assault Marine]]'s jump-pack went critical and its fuel cells detonated, firing him down towards the ground like a giant bolter shell. Even from where he was standing, Gabriel could see the Marine was working to release the grenades that were clipped around his belt, flinging them down into the formation of eldar below him even as he rocketed down towards them. The disciplined aliens seemed unphased (sic) for a fraction of a second, holding their firing vectors until they realised what was about to happen. Then, as the xenos creatures began to scatter away from the [[Wave Serpent]]s, the string of grenades smacked into the ground and detonated all at once, blowing a huge crater into the desert and rocking the nearest Wave Serpent. In an instant, the Marine's jump-pack roared down towards the vehicle, spiralling on its axis now that it had been jettisoned by the Marine himself, until it punched heavily into the gunnery cockpit on top of the Wave Serpent, blowing it clean off the vehicle and engulfing the whole thing in a giant red fireball. The Marine himself ploughed down into the desert nearby."
- '''''Dawn of War: Ascension. Jump-packs do not work that way and they never will.

"Somewhere in the lashes of the Eye of Terror, Lelith Hesperax flicked open her eyes with a slow smile, the serrated perfection of her teeth glinting lightlessly...(upon killing an underling) This soul she would offer to the Satin Throne, its twisted and unrestrained hedonism would please the dark lord of pleasure and fulfill the continuing terms of their ancient compact."
- '''''Warrior Coven. The only compact Slaanesh would make with a Dark Eldar is "I eat your soul and you die." And that would definitely not involve implied lesbianism with a Daemon Prince.

"They all looked down at the tiny form of the alien creature, broken, bleeding, and shattered by the agonies of the warp and the hostility of the Ravenous Spirit." (...)
"Between them they were carrying a large, heavy throne, in which was slumped the broken and contorted figure of the eldar seer." (...)
"Gabriel hastened over to the broken form of Taldeer, who was lying in a frozen pool of her own blood. Her eye cavities trickled with tissue and her abdomen was a shredded mess of flesh and shrapnel."(...)
"His eyes were fixed on the inferno that was gathering in the downed Thunderhawk, enshrouding the dying eldar seer in a thick death-mask of smoke and toxins."
 -'''''Dawn of War: Tempest, pages 89-100. WHAT THE FUCK, Goto, <s>what did Taldeer ever do to you?</s> [[Love Can Bloom|she stole LIVII's well-muscled body away.]]

"The Harlequin mime had been strapped to its surface and was pinned by four Marines, each holding one of its limbs in place. The thin, rubbery armour over the alien’s chest had been sliced open and peeled back, exposing its porcelain skin. In turn, the skin had been cut, burnt and shredded until it was awash with bloody colours, almost as vibrant as the eldar’s armour itself. The alien’s mask had been removed, and I could clearly see its startling blue eyes bulge with each incision. Ahriman circled the table slowly, muttering quietly to himself in a tongue that I recognised but could not fully recall. He was lost in concentration, and seemed to be almost oblivious to the presence of the dying Harlequin on the table next to him. But as he muttered the secret words of his forgotten language, more cuts and gashes appeared in the flesh of the prisoner, each wider and deeper than the last until blood started to ooze out of the joints in the creature’s armour, pooling on the table and then on the floor below. But the Harlequin said nothing. It made no sound at all. Its eyes bulged and widened with each stroke of the invisible knife; it was clear that the alien was suffering terrible pain."
 -'''''Dawn of War: Tempest. You know what, a better title for the book might be "Exhibit A".

Here is his wikipedia page. It is highly recommended that you check it out: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cassern_S._Goto&oldid=329863137
==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Multilasers.jpg|This is what C. S. Goto actually believes.
Image:GOTO_HH.png|Typical Goto heresy - Superb Cover clamped around manure.
Image:CS-G0T0.jpg
</gallery>

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:RAGE]]
[[Category:Writers]]
[[category:Black Library]]