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The Masque

2017-12-07T10:51:32Z

2605:E000:7ECF:7F00:A115:F312:C923:D4C: /* The Legend */

[[File:The Masque 4.jpg|thumb|right|400px]]
Formerly [[Slaanesh|Slaanesh's]] favorite [[Daemonette]], now on his permanent shit list.
Created when Slaanesh had a fixation on dancing, she is literally the most perfect dancer ever (except for that one time in 40k when an [[Eldar]] [[Harlequin]] beat her in a dance-off). Thanks to being referred to exclusively as "she" in fluff (despite her half masculine chest, which seems to be balanced by six breasts on the other side) Masque is also the only canon fully female Daemonette.

==The Legend==
After [[Tzeentch]] baited Slaanesh into a war against [[Khorne]] and [[Nurgle]] that resulted in his biggest ass-whooping to date, he sat back on his throne fuming. Not about the loss, but about being humiliated in front of the entirety of [[Chaos]] because that's just how Slaanesh operates. Masque, seeing her master was sad, started dancing to cheer him up, intending to get him so horny he'd forget about the whole thing (having forgotten the key part of Interpretive Dance is ''"Interpretive"'').

Slaanesh thought she was dancing to insult him, and snapped his fingers to place a curse on her. She's perma-banned from any pleasure that isn't dancing, including sight, sound, sex, drugs, pride, and so forth. She can only tell the stories that make Slaanesh look badass, and only through dancing. No longer the best Daemonette ever, she's just a moving flag for Slaanesh. Note that no other HNIC Daemonette was ever identified, meaning it is possibly still Masque despite her..."disability".

So why is she so damn special anymore? She doesn't just play the part of Slaanesh, she draws anyone around her into doing the same. If she dances a story of [[Dechala]] carving through [[Bretonnia|Bretonnian Knights]], [[Grey Knights]] may find themselves prancing forward as if riding invisible horses before their entrails spill out of their [[Power Armor]]. If she dances the story of Slaanesh in 40k consuming the Eldar, the souls of [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Asur]] find themselves pulled into the gullet of her master.

==On The Tabletop==
===[[Warhammer Fantasy]]===
Being unable to join Units, Masque is not that great a choice. If carried into an enemy Unit she can deal some decent punishment and play some games, but she's not tournament tier.
===[[Warhammer 40000]]===
Counts as a Herald, but without any of the Herald benefits. Her sole purpose is debuffing a [[Deathstar Unit]], otherwise she's even worse than in Fantasy.
===[[Age of Sigmar]]===
A bit more survivable than in the other Warhammers, she now has a rolloff against opponents trying to hurt her where she can shut down their attack if he gets a higher result. She can also reroll her Hit rolls if she has the same Movement as her opponents. Her main ability is making ALL models within 12 inches move at half speed which makes her a liability to being near you, but getting her near your opponent's models will makes them move like they're in tar for at least one turn.
===[[The 9th Age]]===
Masque doesn't exist in T9A rules as of yet. There are no named characters in the game at the moment, but the most important abilities have either been incorporated directly into the army or through magic items that allow you to emulate the character. Masque however has no equivalent, meaning her model is just a standard Herald with a backstory.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:The Masque 1.jpg|The Masque's model.
Image:The Masque 2.png|The Masque in the trading card game.
Image:The Masque 3.jpg
</gallery>

{{Daemons-Characters}}

The Masque

2017-12-07T10:51:12Z

2605:E000:7ECF:7F00:A115:F312:C923:D4C: /* The Legend */

[[File:The Masque 4.jpg|thumb|right|400px]]
Formerly [[Slaanesh|Slaanesh's]] favorite [[Daemonette]], now on his permanent shit list.
Created when Slaanesh had a fixation on dancing, she is literally the most perfect dancer ever (except for that one time in 40k when an [[Eldar]] [[Harlequin]] beat her in a dance-off). Thanks to being referred to exclusively as "she" in fluff (despite her half masculine chest, which seems to be balanced by six breasts on the other side) Masque is also the only canon fully female Daemonette.

==The Legend==
After [[Tzeentch]] baited Slaanesh into a war against [[Khorne]] and [[Nurgle]] that resulted in his biggest ass-whooping to date, he sat back on his throne fuming. Not about the loss, but about being humiliated in front of the entirety of [[Chaos]] because that's just how Slaanesh operates. Masque, seeing her master was sad, started dancing to cheer him up, intending to get him so horny he'd forget about the whole thing (having forgotten the key part of Interpretive Dance is "Interpretive").

Slaanesh thought she was dancing to insult him, and snapped his fingers to place a curse on her. She's perma-banned from any pleasure that isn't dancing, including sight, sound, sex, drugs, pride, and so forth. She can only tell the stories that make Slaanesh look badass, and only through dancing. No longer the best Daemonette ever, she's just a moving flag for Slaanesh. Note that no other HNIC Daemonette was ever identified, meaning it is possibly still Masque despite her..."disability".

So why is she so damn special anymore? She doesn't just play the part of Slaanesh, she draws anyone around her into doing the same. If she dances a story of [[Dechala]] carving through [[Bretonnia|Bretonnian Knights]], [[Grey Knights]] may find themselves prancing forward as if riding invisible horses before their entrails spill out of their [[Power Armor]]. If she dances the story of Slaanesh in 40k consuming the Eldar, the souls of [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Asur]] find themselves pulled into the gullet of her master.

==On The Tabletop==
===[[Warhammer Fantasy]]===
Being unable to join Units, Masque is not that great a choice. If carried into an enemy Unit she can deal some decent punishment and play some games, but she's not tournament tier.
===[[Warhammer 40000]]===
Counts as a Herald, but without any of the Herald benefits. Her sole purpose is debuffing a [[Deathstar Unit]], otherwise she's even worse than in Fantasy.
===[[Age of Sigmar]]===
A bit more survivable than in the other Warhammers, she now has a rolloff against opponents trying to hurt her where she can shut down their attack if he gets a higher result. She can also reroll her Hit rolls if she has the same Movement as her opponents. Her main ability is making ALL models within 12 inches move at half speed which makes her a liability to being near you, but getting her near your opponent's models will makes them move like they're in tar for at least one turn.
===[[The 9th Age]]===
Masque doesn't exist in T9A rules as of yet. There are no named characters in the game at the moment, but the most important abilities have either been incorporated directly into the army or through magic items that allow you to emulate the character. Masque however has no equivalent, meaning her model is just a standard Herald with a backstory.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:The Masque 1.jpg|The Masque's model.
Image:The Masque 2.png|The Masque in the trading card game.
Image:The Masque 3.jpg
</gallery>

{{Daemons-Characters}}

Octarius War

2017-12-07T10:47:20Z

2605:E000:7ECF:7F00:A115:F312:C923:D4C:

[[File:Orks vs. Tyranids.png|250px|thumb|right|It's this. And it's happening 24/7, completely covering the surface of every planet in the Octarius system.]]
The '''Octarius War''' is the most hilarious and [[fail]] venture the [[Imperium of Man]] has ever made. And believe us, that is no small feat.

The [[Imperial Guard]] were having their asses handed to them by the [[Orks]] on the planet Ghorala in the Octarius system. Former [[Lord Inquisitor]] [[Kryptman]], leading expert on the [[Tyranids]] and prolific bastard, decided that the best solution would be to sic a recently captured swarm of Tyranids on the Orks, let the two fight it out, and mop up the remaining survivors with the IG. The obvious flaw in his plan of course is that both Nids and Orks thrive on war, being unintentional experts at biological warfare, meaning the survivor would emerge much stronger than ever before, though hopefully if the Tyranids win they will be over-specialized ork killers and be weak to other threats and fighting styles. The conflict has currently devolved into a massive meat grinder, where neither side has a clear sight of winning, and both races are fucking loving it.

This tale is notable for being one of the few bits of fluff in the Nid 'dex where they don't get their arses handed to them by [[Tau|space communists]], [[Eldar|space elves]], or [[Ultramarines|fucking smurfs]]

Never mind on the Eldar part, they're currently trying to clean up Kryptman's mess by bio-purging the front line and worlds around it. Unfortunately, they missed the Overfiend of Octarius, who just managed to [[Looted|loot]] an Avatar of Khaine...fucccckkkkk.

Oh, and [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka|Ghazghkull]] himself is on his way there too so he can call up more boyz for Da Great WAAAAGH!!!! Score one for the Orks, it looks like. After arriving there and killing a mawloc from the inside out (eat your heart out, Alien), he managed to take over the leadership of the octarian orks.

With so much carnage and destruction going on, it was bound to attract the attention of the ruinous powers. In particular, a Khornate warband called the Skullhunt of Vodha Bloodprice attack the system, declaring a Blood Crusade. And their results are... mediocre, to say the least. In the CSM 8th ed. Codex, it says the khornates were able to get "over eight thousand skulls are offered to the Blood God, the smallest of which is the size of a boulder" and that was enough to make Vodha Bloodprice ascend to Daemonhood. Which sounds too weak to be true. Sure, skulls the size of boulders are nice and all, but considering the amount of orks and tyranids are around Octarius, just 8,000 skulls is too damn little. We can get that amount of deaths by a relatively safe trip to the Warp, or a very succesful imperial guard campaign. But khornates fighting orks and tyranids, two of the most bloodthirsty and warmongering species in the galaxy, not to mention numerous, and all confined on a single planet? It just screams lazy. Khorne must be becoming old if he grants daemonhood for such a half-assed job. Anyway, the Blood Crusade probably had to retreat fast due to the massive opposition and being sandwitched by the orks and nids, and the fact that the Indomitus Crusade started, so there were fresher pastures to drown in blood. Said Khornate Warlord did kill a Hierophant Bio-Titan with the Axe of an Ork though, which is incredibly impressive in its own right, and if people like M'kar can get Daemon Princehood, its quite clear anyone can.

{{40k-Timeline}}

[[Category:Orks]][[Category:Tyranid]]

Warboss

2017-12-07T10:18:39Z

2605:E000:7ECF:7F00:A115:F312:C923:D4C:

[[Image:78c57105683b6853f8b4c6e0586869d8.jpg|frame|The very image of a warm and loving father figure.]]
<span style='color:green;font-size:150%'>'''''"I'z da biggest. So I'z da boss."'''''</span><br>
:-The Orks' simple yet highly effective method of determining who's in charge.

A Warboss is the biggest, baddest, meanest and greenest [[ork]] in a tribe, and the second-biggest possible type of ork within the species - the biggest being the Warlord. These guys have been through a hell of a lot of fights, and the respect and submission that their tribe shows for their prowess has caused them to reach gargantuan size (a warboss easily towers over a space marine and is capable of reaching the size of a [[Dreadnought]] if he fights and wins enough). Because the Orks grow in proportion to how much fights they've won (getting beaten doesn't count!) in their lives; a tribe's warboss size alone proves how 'ard and killy he is to everyone else, both to fellow Orks and the enemy. If that isn't enough, the other ways of showing off their rap sheet is through the use of boss poles (spiked poles that contain the impaled heads of the warboss' fiercest opponents) and the biggest and flashiest gubbinz the meks can give to the boss; like dead 'ard cybork armor, the shootiest shootas, the choppiest choppas, and/or the Orkiest wagons.

A Warboss is what you get when a [[Nob]] rises through the ranks of the tribe through either cunning brutality or brutal cunning (or a mixture of both), eventually making a power play against the reigning Warboss and nabbing his spot (and all the shiny gubbinz that come with it.) Sometimes this turns out differently, with the Warboss dying in a genuine scrap with the enemy while his Nobz all fight amongst themselves for the right to take his place.

A Warboss leads from the front, eager to have the chance to add some heads to his pole. Don't think they do this lightly, though - Warbosses are always keen to slap about the [[Big Mek|Meks]] of the tribe to make them give them the shiniest bitz. Despite their pretty much single-minded focus on warfare, they often end up gearing up completely differently than one another based on preference and clan. This just as often results in the already ridiculously huge bastards having Mega Armour or something welded to them as it does having a bitchin' bike to chop heads off from at high speeds.

Despite all this Warbosses are among the most frequently slain of all leaders in the narrative of 40k, with most known Warbosses usually dying without even posing a threat to more than a single system, and very few ever managing to actually win more than a few battles. As a whole Warbosses tend to be quite indicative of their race, stupid and prone to being less skilled and ferocious than their opponents, despite their reputation or informed capabilities.

Warlords are the biggest of the big - so big that they can command many tribes under their flag into one big [[Waaagh]]! These are the most exceptional individuals of the orkoid race, as one would expect from an ork so big he can boss other Warbosses around.

The Warboss of a [[Freebooterz|Freebooter]] group is called a [[Kaptin]].

== On the Tabletop ==

The Warboss has always been, and will remain, one of the most iconic and generally useful HQs to the Orks, and maybe in the entire game. They haven't got the resilience of armour that Marines have, the sheer killyness of a [[Chaos Lord]] or the supportive abilities of a [[Farseer]] or a Tau Commander, but make up for it by being resilient, killy and supportive at the same time, while being pretty damn cheap for what they do. Let's dive in, shall we?

In terms of stats, the Warboss is in a good spot, having WS 5 T 5 S 5 A 4 and three Wounds, making him quite a powerful git off the bat. He also has a Ld of 9, alongside Scrap Armour, giving him a paltry 6+ Save. This might seem a bit lousy for such a prominent and powerful character in a WAAAGH, but that doesn't account for his upgrades, which severely boost him and make him into a true force to be reckoned with.

You start out with a Choppa and Slugga, and frankly, that isn't all that bad a choice. Sure, it doesn't do much that other units in the Codex can't, but that's not the point - It allows you to put a cheap Warboss in a large Mob of [[Ork Boy|Boyz]] and boost their melee output, while helping with Ld and being able to fully utilize his most important supportive ability, which we'll touch upon later. You can, however, switch it for a Big Choppa, which will make him S 7. The Power Klaw - which is right 'ard and a great choice always - is the most powerful melee option simply for doing plasma-to-Railgun-like damage with the same AP properties in melee combat, however, it's also unwieldy which will allow many opponents to hurt or even kill him before he makes his attacks.

[[File:Da boss by diegogisbertllorens-d6bbrda.jpg|thumb|400px|left|Only Ork leaders would think of wearing vehicles as personal body armour.]]

For shootin', you get a Slugga of the bat, which is pretty alright for the most part - Warbosses aren't really ranged models. If you pick a Specialist Weapon or a Two-handed one, however, feel free to grab a Shoota for a bit more shootin', if you so desire, or maybe a Kombi-weapon, the Kombi-Skorcha being one of this author's favorites.

Defensively, there's not much of a choice for a Warboss - He tends to use Boyz or Nobs to defend him through LoS checks. It's still pretty mandatory to pick a cheap 'Ard Armour for a 4+, so you'll get a save against Bolters at the very least. You can also really pay up and get a Mega Armour, which is like a Terminator Armour, but without 5++ and with Slow and Purposeful. This is generally a great choice no matter what, though expensive.

On top of this, Warbosses have a multitude of gear to choose from, one of the most notable being a Warbike, which'll make a right 'ard and fast model to put in a right 'ard squad of fast models (the infamous Nob Biker Star includes this). You can also go with a Bosspole, which is great if sitting in a large Mob, or the ever-so-awesome WAAAGH-banner, which boosts your unit's WS by one point, which ''will'' be felt when charging other WS 4 units (if you are in a Nob unit, pick another Nob to have it, since it'll make the Warboss less of a target). There's also the Squig Hound, which is a free re-roll on one attack for almost nothing, Cybork Body for 6+ FNP, Gitfinda for BS +1 when standing still (Which Warbosses shouldn't really do) and Ammo Runts, for one free re-roll of a shooting attack for each runt.

And after all that, there's the Gifts of Gork and Mork, which, for the most part, are pretty nice. Standing out is Da Lucky Stikk, the late [[Makari|Makari's]] banner, which will allow the Warboss to re-roll any and all failed Armour, Invulnerability and to Wound, but if you ever roll three 1's with these re-rolls, your Warboss goes, no questions asked. Other great choices are Da Finkin' Cap, which boosts your Warboss' tactical support immensely, though sporadically, and Da Ded Shiny Shoota, which hits your own units when it misses.

The Squiggoth in the room is, of course, the WAAAGH Ability. Once per game, the Warboss can call a WAAAGH, which allows all units in your army with the 'Ere We Go rule (which is pretty much ''every fucking units in the entire Codex'') to run AND charge in the same turn. This is what make melee Ork lists possible, as it can make your mobs touch enemy units at Turn 2, at which point a good chunk of your army will be doing bisections in an expedient and efficient way. It will also make your enemy react and play to your actions, which is funny as hell, when people assume they can just blow away the horde for lulz. This is also what makes Warbosses your supportive HQ, as, alongside some defensive options, Da Finkin' Cap and proper use of the WAAAGH, the Warboss, costing round about 100 points, boosts your army to extreme levels that no other HQ can help you with.

Big Meks do defense, shooting and weird gadgets, the Painboy tarpits and the Weirdboy psyking up the enemy, but the Warboss is the duct tape, gum and liberal kicking that makes this sporadic and rowdy band of lunatics into an efficient and scary monster for any enemy to face. Unless it's Eldar or Tau. Then nothing can help you.

== [[Dawn of War]] ==
The Warboss appears as the secondary commander for the Orkz in the original Dawn of War. Most factions start with their army's commander, but the in game fluff says that the Warboss only joins battles that he considers big enough to be worth his time. Hence you need to tech up to get him.

The Warboss has the most health of any hero next to the [[Daemon Prince]] and [[Necron Lord]] with the upgrades added in Soul Storm, but falls short compared to the like of the Force Commander and [[Chaos Lord]] in terms of raw damage since his abilities are more aimed at buffing large groups of Orks than himself.

In Dawn of War II the Warboss is one of three heroes the Orks can pick before the game begins, serving as their offensive hero. If you want to play an Orky style with a focus on melee, the Warboss is your Ork, because his global abilities are designed for melee.
"Use Yer Choppas" increases melee damage, and melee skill giving a higher chance for special attacks to knock back an enemy. His other "Ard Boyz" cuts melee damage in half. Early game he's one of the strongest heroes in a direct fight and can knock down squads with is Stomp ability. Whether or not you want to focus on the wargear to bring him to his full killing power depends on the situation.

Most commonly you will see a Warboss given a Power Klaw since it does the most damage and packs a punch against vehicles. His best bet for armor is usually "Eavy Armor for the health boost, unless fighting Tyranids or other Orks, where his Spiky Armor that deals damage to enemies every time he's hit in melee, becomes a viable choice. His accessories have two good for what he does, the Boss Pole poll increased health and suppression resistance within its radius (this includes the Warboss), and the Trophy Rack which decreases enemy damage. Which is better depends on the situation, the boss poll is more likely to be helpful in a team game with more friendlies to effect, especially if you want to stack it with ally buffs.

== See Also ==
* [[WAAAGH]]
* [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka|Warboss Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka]]
* [[Warboss Gorgutz 'Ead 'Unter]]
* [[Warboss Grimskull]]
* [[Orks]]

{{Template:Orks-Forces}}

[[Category:Orks]]
[[category:warhammer 40,000]]

Tuchulcha

2017-12-07T06:19:27Z

2605:E000:7ECF:7F00:A115:F312:C923:D4C: /* The Great Crusade */

[[File:Tuch.jpg|200px|thumb|right|]]
'''''Azrael saw a flicker of reflection- an immensely bloated daemonic creature with a dozen fanged maws and a thousand eyes. Yet beyond the daemon, inside its immaterial form, he saw a vast worm, coiled about the core of the daemon, feeding on it's own tail.'''''

The Tuchulcha Engine used by the Lion during the Horus Heresy is a truly interesting entity. It is an incredibly ancient sentient device of unknown origins; though it does mention that it was created by beings that used it to '''"tunnel their secret ways hidden from the eyes of the powers that rule"''', which sounds suspiciously like the [[Old Ones]] and their creation of the Webway. If its creators are indeed the Old Ones and it was indeed used in the creation of the [[Webway]] then it is possibly the oldest thing still around by the time of 40k and may even predate the Chaos Gods themselves seeing as they came into being during the War in Heaven ''(Warp entities existed before the ruinous powers existed. As time works strangely in the warp this may or not be true; it's all so very Chaotic isn't it?)''.

Tuchulcha claims that it cannot be destroyed as it exists in the past, present and future simultaneously and that if it was ever destroyed then it will no longer exist in any time line, though it admits that the Lion scares it as it has no wish to die.

This brings up an interesting dilemma that the guys at GW could not possible have missed as it turns Tuchulcha into possibly the ultimate reset button; if Tuchulcha was indeed used in the creation of the Webway and it simple no longer existed then the Webway no longer exists and if the Webway doesn’t exist then the Old Ones and the Necrontyr may never have crossed paths which means that the War in Heaven never happens. The [[Eldar]] and [[Orks]] are never created and the C’tan are never discovered and the Necrontyr never become the Necrons. With the War in Heaven never happening the turbulence that it created in the Warp never happens and the Chaos Gods never come into being and without them the ancient Shamans never sacrifice themselves in order to protect their souls and there for the God Emperor is never created. In short if Tuchulcha is ever destroyed then so is the 40k universe as we know it.

Tuchulcha is part of a trinity of sentient Warp constructs consisting of itself, the '''Plagueheart''' and the '''Consumer''' (the creature at the heart of Caliban, also called the '''[[Ouroboros]]'''):
#Tuchulcha takes the form of a large perfect sphere. Presently hidden deep within [[the Rock]] and guarded by the [[Watchers in the Dark]].
# The [[Ouroboros]] (also known as The Consumer or devourer worm) is a gigantic nightmare creature almost the size of a planet that comes straight out of H. P. Lovecraft. Current state unknown but likely still hidden within the ruins of Caliban. During the event of ''Unforgiven'' by [[Gav Thorpe]], the [[Dark Angels]] and [[Cypher]] attempted to slay it, but they discovered that its “Heart” was somewhere else.
#The Plagueheart is a vast living planet like entity that looks like it was the love child of a Great Unclean One and Ego the Living Planet from the Marvel universe. Presently in the possession of Typhus and Merir Astelan.

When the three are combined they can create a rift that bridges space and time. The three entities were apparently at one time part of a single whole but were split apart at some time in the past by some unknown means. On its own, Tuchulcha is capable of extremely efficient, precise, and accurate Warp jumps by calming or flattening the Warp around it.

For some reason Tuchulcha claims that [[Caliban]] is its home and that salvation is waiting there for it and the Dark Angels.

''''''Who? Who made you?''''''

''''''At the dawn of the galaxy, so far removed from humans they might as well be gods. But even they could not tame the warp, only corral it for moments at a time. But that which creates also devours, and i am the foundation of all that was, is and will be. I am the Lens, the Bridge, the Doorway.''''''

==The Great Crusade==
During the great crusade the [[Dark Angels]] and the [[Death Guard]] brought to compliance the Perditus System where Tuchulcha was being worshiped as a god by the local population.

Tuchulcha apparently took a great liking to the Lion as it says that as soon as it felt the presence of the Lion, it knew its “saviour” had finally come. Its apparent fondness for the Lion borders on almost stalker-like levels of obsession; although it could have left at any time, it chose to remain in the exact same spot for more than fifty years waiting for the Lion to return and claim it; even when Typhus turned up wanting to save it, Tuchulcha told him to go away as it would only leave with the Lion.

==The Horus Heresy==
During the Horus Heresy the Lion would come into conflict with the Death Guard under Typhon over Tuchulcha. The Lion prevented Calas Typhon from acquiring the engine and was determined to use it to defeat the Night Lords and their Primarch, Konrad Curze. Lion El'Jonson began to frequently converse with Tuchulcha in the aftermath of the battle. Tuchulcha of course was overjoyed at the Lion's return and constantly wanted to know how it could help.

The Lion would use Tuchulcha to enter the realm of [[Ultramar]] through the ruinstorm brought on by the devastation of Calth. After joining Guilliman's [[Imperium Secundus]], despite the fact he had only a small fleet and 20,000 warriors with him ''(the rest remaining on the opposite side of the Ruinstorm with Corswain)'' he would employ it to great effect against the forces of the [[Word Bearers]] and [[World Eaters]] who were plaguing the 500 worlds. All the time, Tuchulcha remained fairly reliable and never lied to the Lion, albeit speaking in a cryptic manner.

When the joint visions of [[Konrad Curze]] and [[Sanguinius]] proved the lie of Imperium Secundus, the three legions set out for Terra. Initially leaving separately, the Lion ordered Tuchulcha to take him to Terra, and instead delivered him to the '''Pandorax''' system. Later explaining that it took the Lion as far as he needed to go, but no further until certain barriers were overcome, but becoming almost belligerent in its further explanations, saying that the Lion could not go directly to Terra, but could not explain what the barriers were, arguing that it could only see so far and it was not omnipotent.

After picking up some Shattered Legion and getting pointed in the direction of '''Davin''', the Lion called his brothers to him so that he could lead them through the ruinstorm together. At which point Tuchulcha [[Troll|noped]] him again and deposited the fleets at a literal brick wall in space; billions of miles wide and thousands of miles thick. Only made possible as it was being summoned from the warp and being anchored to a conquered Forge World.

Tuchulcha then dropped the fleets in a region of space filled with giant solid blocks, light years in diameter, again summoned from the warp. The three primarchs now realising what the galaxy would look like if Chaos achieved it's victory.

Then Tuchulcha finally took them to Davin, which was surrounded by a bone yard of actual skeletons and ruined buildings, the layer was millions of miles thick and took hours to shoot their way through.

When their business on Davin was completed, the way to Terra was revealed. But the Lion would not go to Terra because Sanguinius needed a distraction to make it there himself and face his own destiny. So the Lion and Guilliman set about assaulting the Traitor force's rearguard to start drawing them away from Terra and give Sanguinius a chance.

==40k==
[[File:Ouroboros-dragon-serpent-snake-symbol.jpg|200px|thumb|right|]]
Much later in the 41st Millennium, [[Cypher]] revealed that Tuchulcha was embedded within [[The Rock]] and that the [[Dark Angels]] dark history of [[The Fallen]] could potentially be changed by finding the other two engines and changing history. He also warned that Astelan and [[Typhus]] both sought the engines as well. Eventually all 3 devices were gathered, and a warp rift was summoned over the ruins of Caliban.

''''''It is done, the plague-lord will no longer interfere. We will be remade.''''''

Convinced by [[Ezekiel]] to leave history be and to focus on trying to prevent nearby Fallen and Death Guard forces from accessing the rift first, [[Azrael]] destroyed the rift leaving the status of the other two constructs unknown, and it also had the unforeseen consequence of '''***Error*** records cannot be found, there is nothing to see here move along***'''.

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

Kardan Stronos

2017-12-07T05:58:18Z

2605:E000:7ECF:7F00:A115:F312:C923:D4C:

[[Image:Stronos.jpg|thumb|right|Strange as it seems, he's actually the most reasonable guy in the Chapter.]]
'''Kardan Stronos''' is an [[Iron Father]] of the [[Iron Hands]] and the closest thing they have to a [[Chapter Master]]. His role is closer to that of the US President or UK Prime Minster than a normal Chapter Master. He was appointed by the council to act as leader of the chapter to fight the Farsight Enclaves. After the campaign, he resigned, returning control of the chapter back to the council, only to be immediately reappointed to face the looming threat of Hive Fleet Leviathan, pissing off a few other Iron Fathers.

What little we know of him is that he's about 90% machine, just like the rest of his Chapter. However, the remaining 10% seems to include most of his brain as he's smart enough to realize the point of a group ruling is that they don't all have the same ideals, which isn't something you get with all Iron Fathers. As such, he's been adding other ranking members into the Clan Council over the years, and been encouraging more healthy ways to deal with their emotions than just repressing them. This also worries a lot of the Iron Fathers, as Stronos doesn't have a very good track record in mastering his own emotions. During one campaign he was challenged by a [[World Eaters]] champion of [[Khorne]] to single combat. Although calculating that the simplest way to defeat him was by [[Commissar|shooting him in the head]], in the end, he charged the Champion while [[Angry Marines|screaming at the top his lungs in a blind rage]] before decapitating him. May not be the most expedient method, but it [[gets shit done]]. He also has a massive boner for [[Razorback]]s, believing firepower is the only major tenet of combat, and wants to outfit the entire Chapter with them.

While his penchant for dealing with Khornates is effective, the enemy of the [[Imperium of Man]] that Stronos hates more than any other are the [[Necron]]s, viewing the soulless automatons as abominations in the eyes of the [[Omnissiah]]. Which also makes him a whole lot smarter than some [[Techpriest]]s, who tend to start bowing down and worshiping the Necrons right as they're powering up the [[Gauss#Necrons|Gauss weapons]]. When expecting to face Necrons, he takes more forces than the Clan Council believes is necessary, not stopping until every Necron in sight is destroyed or teleported off the field.

He has an unofficial official crunch profile which reveals his full name: Kardan [[Chapter Master Smashfucker|Smashfucker]] Stronos. He also has an official crunch "profile", in Clan Raukaan's Echoes of War missions, wherein he's represented by "any Chapter Master model you have, with the Axe of Medusa". Dropping Smashfucker's traditional Hammer/Claw for a Medusa/pistol (because the Axe is thankfully not Specialist), we get a build that's statistically weaker than a Thunder Hammer but 30 points cheaper than a Hammer/Claw, and still hits at AP2.

{{Marines-Characters}}

Vraks

2017-12-07T05:54:17Z

2605:E000:7ECF:7F00:A115:F312:C923:D4C: /* Phase One: Landing and Siege */

[[File:Vraks_titans.png|right|400px|thumb|]]
'''Vraks''' is a system in the [[Imperium of Man]], near the [[Eye of Terror]]. It is part of the defenses centered on [[Cadia]]; in particular, its main planet, Vraks Prime, is an armory world, an entire planet used by the [[Departmento Munitorum]] to stockpile weapons and ammunition. The justification is that, if the tithe fleets bringing weapons directly to Cadia from further out in the Imperium get delayed, they can withdraw supplies from Vraks until contact is restored.

As far as the environment goes, it used to be an intensely volcanic world, so there's sulfur everywhere, the weather is stormy and cloudy, and the entire ground is either desert or ocean. The only things living there were algae, and then the [[Administratum]] moved in and brought a bunch of humans with them to set up the armory. It eventually got a basilica, to commemorate some martyr or another, and a big fortress to protect the armory (that many tanks and guns in one place proved a tempting target for pirates), designed to be all but invulnerable to orbital attack, and for ten thousand years, Vraks Prime never fell to pirates, [[Chaos]], [[xenos]], or worker rebellions. Unfortunately, this state of affairs was not to last, because the Vraks system was created by [[Forge World]] for a trilogy of [[Imperial Armour]] books; Vraks Prime was soon to be the site of a mighty siege.

== Fall of Vraks ==
[[File:Krieg_soldier.jpg|250px|right|thumb|]]
It was not pirates or [[xenos]] that eventually brought Vraks low, but a rogue member of the [[Ecclesiarchy]], one Cardinal Xaphan. Having recently been promoted into the post of Cardinal-Astral of the entire Scarus Sector (if the name is familiar to you, that's because it's where the [[Gregor Eisenhorn|Eisenhorn]] and [[Gideon Ravenor|Ravenor]] trilogies took place, plus it's next door to the Calixis Sector, where [[Dark Heresy]] is set. It was named after a Great Crusade era World Bearer's Captain going missing there ; Captain Scarus - Lorgar, eventualy arch-priest of ALL HERESY, bitched out salty tears about this and renamed the sector), Xaphan decided to take a tour of his domain. He found that he enjoyed rousing armies of the faithful, and decided (with some prodding by his number-one oh-so-trustworthy assistant Deacon Mamon) that he could do more good leading an army than working a desk job. The only problem was that pesky Decree Passive preventing him from raising men under arms, so to keep his plans hidden, he went to Vraks, where there were plenty of soldiers and weapons to make an army, as well as a basilica to give him an excuse to stick around.

The [[Inquisition]] found out anyway, and sent a [[Vindicare]] assassin after him, but the assassin failed; seeing that covertness was no longer an option, Xaphan moved the workers of Vraks to open rebellion. The Imperial presences on the planet, namely the [[Administratum]], [[Adeptus Arbites]], and the [[Adepta Sororitas]] (who had been his bodyguards until this point), were either killed or imprisoned, which should have been a clue that he was making a bad move, but Mamon assured him that he was in the right, and that his enemies were merely deluded fools who would see the light once he actually got started on his crusade.

== Siege of Vraks ==
The [[Departmento Munitorum]] wasn't going to sit back and let Vraks turn traitor -- not because of the eight million workers living there, but because it was a giant armory (which could not be allowed to fall into traitor hands, or be kept from the [[Imperial Guard Regiment|regiments]] who needed them), and because, if word got out, other worlds could fall into rebellion, and use Vraks' supplies for themselves. Therefore, the world would have to be taken, and quickly. The Citadel of Vraks was all but invulnerable to orbital attack, so it could not be assaulted directly (ruling out the [[Space Marines]] and [[Imperial Navy]]), and the world's massive stores meant that a blockade-and-raid strategy would take five centuries to complete. The only way to take Vraks back in under a century was to put the Citadel under siege and take it by force, so they took some thirty regiments of the [[Death Korps of Krieg]] and put them into an army. They were given twelve years to take Vraks back.

=== Phase One: Landing and Siege ===
[[File:Krieg_night_fight.jpg|right|thumb|300px|]]
The Citadel was the only thing really worth defending on Vraks, so the planet had no anti-air or anti-orbital defenses on the opposite side of the fortress (which is stupid, there's no excuse to not have anti-orbital defenses across the world). The army used the far side of the planet as a landing zone, and over several months, they landed all of the troops, vehicles, and supplies they would need (one could reasonably wonder why [[Tyranids|other]] [[Eldar|races]] [[Orks|wouldn't]] [[Chaos|do]] [[Dark Mechanicus|the]] [[Dark Eldar|same...]] though to cut them some slack: Vraks defenses were planned with the idea that they only had to last long enough to get help from the Imperium). Meanwhile, they also built a bunch of rail lines around the planet to carry said army to within a hundred miles of the Citadel's outer defensive lines. Once there, the Kriegers built their own trench and gun network to encircle the fortress. They anticipated that, because the outer defense line was so long, a single massed assault on a particular zone would be flanked and repulsed by the neighbors of their target (a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedgehog_defence Hedgehog defense]), so the plan was to pound the whole thing at once until it folded. They would then surround the second defense line; said line would be small enough to be less resistant to a massed assault, so they would attack a single point to crack the line wide open. Then, they would surround the Citadel itself, and finally be close enough to bombard it directly with their heavy guns and pound it to the ground.

After all of this planning and logistical work, the Death Korps finally began the attack on the outer defense line about a year after first arriving at Vraks, but of course things didn't go as planned. The enemy had substantially reinforced the defenses since the last Imperial survey, and so the "weak point" that the Kriegers tried to attack as a first blow wasn't so weak after all. Matters stalemated for two years, until Captain Tyborc managed to take a bunker whose artillery piece had been destroyed. The guy was a badass even among Kriegers: he took wounds in every part of his body except his left arm, and only eight men of his entire company survived to see reinforcements arrive, but the Imperium had found its breakthrough.

The outer defenses fell pretty quickly, but as the Imperial army got stalled again when the defenders of Vraks made a counter-attack to the North that forced the Imperium to halt its advances in the west and south to get reserves to stop the counter-attack. In the end, the stalemate resumed, just a little tighter around the fortress.

=== Phase Two: The Noose Tightens ===
Seven years after the invasion, the Imperial army was still stalled at the second defense line, when reports of renegade Space Marines assisting the defenders started filtering in. It eventually emerged that Mamon was an [[Alpha Legion]] spy and had called for backup. Cardinal Xaphan was probably no longer even pretending to serve the Emperor when he signed them up for his crusade. Anyway, two years later, the Imperial army got some more line korps, and to everyone's surprise [[Azrael]] showed up with half the [[Dark Angels]] in tow as well. His goals were to smash the heretics' star port (pun intended), to stop them from getting more reinforcements, and to capture Arkos the Faithless, the Alpha Legion's commander on Vraks. They successfully captured and destroyed the star port, but Arkos got away and Azrael was severely wounded, not to mention pissed.

The success and the new reinforcements led the Imperial commanders to attempt another massed assault. It stalled (again), until Colonel Attas hatched a plan to have his artillery and infantry make a synchronized assault -- blast the enemy while his troops crawled up through no-mans-land, and then move the bombardment when the infantry was within charging distance, in other words original WW1 Stormtrooper tactics combined with a creeping barrage. Not quite as badass a feat as Tyborc's, but it worked. The second defense line cracked and fell, and the Imperial army was within sight of the Citadel.

Xaphan, having jumped headfirst into heresy by this point, rubbed his hands and cackled with glee, because he knew that the slaughter was only beginning -- he had some more friends on the way.

=== Phase Three: Chaos Joins the Fray ===
[[File:Vraksian_enforcer.jpg|200px|thumb|right|]]
Captain Fodor managed to put a dent in the inner defense line when he led his company to take a vital bunker. He continued Tyborc's tradition of making footholds with risky, badass feats; among other things, he had a member of his squad torch a trench with a [[flamer]], and then he led the charge into the trench ''while it was still on fire''. Unfortunately, his success was not to last, because Arkos had called in a full [[Chaos]] fleet. (At this point, Xaphan had been imprisoned in his own fortress, as he had outlived his usefulness.) They destroyed the Imperial Navy detachment over Vraks and dropped [[Khorne Berzerker]]s right onto the inner defense line (Fodor's skull was taken, by the way). Then another ship rolled in and dropped a traitor [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|Titan]] legion and a bunch of fliers on them. And then some [[Plague Marines]] showed up, seized some nasty poison gas stored on Vraks, and gassed a whole regiment.

It was decided that siege tactics were no longer viable. The commander was dismissed (though not executed - nobody blamed him or {{blam|BLAMMED}} him for not knowing in advance that so many reinforcements would arrive), and his replacement got some Titans of their own as well as a larger Imperial Navy division to turn the tide back and regain air superiority. They were successful in this, although the enemies didn't break and run this time; instead, they dug in. For those counting, this is twelve years after the siege began.

=== Phase Four: Breaching the Citadel ===
Fortunately for the Imperium, the Death Korps of Krieg could fight underground as well as over it. Their miners and engineers worked tirelessly, fought through enemy counter-mining efforts, and finally found and destroyed one of the foundation pylons for the Citadel's inner wall. They destroyed it and brought down a huge chunk of the wall, exposing the squishy insides for the rest of the army to pile through.

The infantry regiments advanced on the breach, first in [[Gorgon (tank)|Gorgon]]s, and then on foot when they reached the remnants of the wall itself (the crater left by the blast was impassable for vehicles). The first attack failed when enemy troops from surrounding wall sections piled into the breach to stem the tide, so a few weeks later, they tried again, with a bigger assault plus a few suppressing attacks on the neighboring wall sections. That failed, too. They tried making more breaches, but while they got pretty good at knocking holes in the walls, they were never able to take them. Fourteen years after the start of the siege (two years longer than planned), the Departmento Munitorum decided that it had worn on long enough, and started to draw Krieg regiments originally destined for Vraks to more successful and more important warzones elsewhere, telling the command staff that they had five years to wrap everything up.

Fortunately (inevitably, for those familiar with Warhammer 40,000 fiction), the [[Space Marines]] were on hand to save the day. In particular, the [[Red Scorpions]] donated a hundred Marines (from various companies) to the cause. With their [[Terminator]]s seizing the breach, the remaining Titans gathered up to keep the enemy Titans at bay, and a mixed Marine and Death Korps force following up to hold the ground and drive the enemy away, the Citadel's curtain wall finally fell, and there was only the fortress itself left to take.

=== Phase Five: Wrapping Up ===
By this time -- eighteen years after the start of the siege -- word of the extensive involvement of Chaos had reached the ears of the [[Inquisition]], and so Inquisitor Lord [[Hector Rex]] brought some [[Grey Knights]] and [[Red Hunters]] to take control of the situation and get things wrapped up before the Death Korps found itself in over its head. Though the Death Korps was still being drawn down, Rex managed to keep enough soldiers to contain the heretics while he made arrangements to bring a final end to the conflict. First, the remaining artillery brought their combined firepower to bear on the fortress's void shield to overload them. Then, infantry would surge up to take the gates. Tyborc, now a badass Colonel, would lead the charge. The attack stalled, so the [[Red Hunters]] made their drop, but the traitors responded with a [[Reaver Battle Titan]] and some [[Alpha Legion]]naires, which wiped out the first wave. Finally, a wave of [[Marauder Bomber]]s cracked the gates and permitted the assault to proceed.

However, Arkos and company had set their Chaotic rituals in motion, and managed to summon [[An'ggrath]], one of [[Khorne]]'s mightiest [[Bloodthirster]]s. He wrecked the entire company of Grey Knights who went into the fortress to stop him, and Inquisitor Rex only barely managed to defeat him. Once he was gone, though, the fight was basically over, and the only remaining task was to clear the catacombs under the fortress.

Some [[Red Scorpions]] and the [[Angels of Absolution]] turned up to participate in the final attack, to regain the honor of their brothers who had gone before them and snatch up some Alpha Legionnaires for the interrogators, respectively. Arkos killed the Company Master of the Angels of Absolution detachment, but was finally captured (the Interrogator-Chaplain who apprehended him ordered him "[[Abaddon|disarmed]]").

== Aftermath ==
[[File:Krieg_quagmire.jpg|300px|right|thumb|]]
The war to retake Vraks took eighteen years instead of twelve, and didn't so much "retake" Vraks as deny it the enemy, since the ammunitions piles and supplies stockpiles on Vraks were completely consumed and those were the primary reason for the siege in the first place. In the end, the primary result was lots of death. The Imperium destroyed fourteen traitor Titans (for the cost of nine Titans of their own), the [[Dark Angels]] got a bunch of prisoners from the [[Alpha Legion]] to interrogate (in retrospect, their interest may have been due to a possible link between Arkos and the [[Fallen Angels]]), and the weapons of Vraks were kept on-planet and not allowed to be taken off-planet by other traitor warbands. On the other hand, Vraks and its defenses were thoroughly ruined by the war, and the contents of its vaults were either used up or so tainted by Chaos that they had to be destroyed. A Pyrrhic victory if there ever was one, the only thing the Imperium ever gaining being that this world could not be used by the enemy. The prisoners rescued from the cells in the fortress, six Sisters of Battle and Cardinal Xaphan himself (who had long since been turned into a [[Chaos Spawn|you-know-what]]), were so destroyed by their experiences that they were barely people anymore. The Sisters ended up in Inquisitorial custody, and thanks to their "care" in Chaos custody, [[/d/|were so experimented on and broken by the time they were freed]] that they were eventually given the Emperor's Peace (read: bolt round to the skull), while the thing that used to be Cardinal Xaphan was summarily executed by the Grey Knights who found him.

Meanwhile, Deacon Mamon, the jerk who started the whole thing, escaped justice entirely. In fact, [[Nurgle]] was so pleased with how he turned Vraks into a scene of death and decay that he made Mamon a [[Daemon Prince]]. Such is life in the [[grimdark|grim, dark]] future.

{{40k-Planets}}

[[Category:Imperial]]