Editing Soul Drinkers (section)

===Rebellion===
Fast forward some 5,000 years. It's the close of the 41st millennium, and the Soul Drinkers receive word that one of their sacred artifacts, the Soulspear, has been discovered by a ne'er-do-well family owning a star fort. The [[Administratum]], already eager to take control of the fort and its revenue, assembles a task force to occupy the station while a kill team under Captain Caeson and Librarian Sarpedon go in for the Soulspear. Caeson is killed (somehow poisoned, despite his oolitic kidney), but Sarpedon manages to locate the Soulspear. Just as the Soul Drinkers claim it, the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] element of the Imperial task force teleport in and steal the Soulspear, immediately sending it to a Forge World so that the Administratum would lose jurisdiction. The Soul Drinkers demand the Soulspear returned and hold the star fort for a siege. During this time, they meet a mutant preacher named Ysir who worships the Emperor in his aspect as [[Tzeentch|the Architect of Fate]], and begin listening to his tales about the Imperium's corruption. The AdMech makes things actually worse by ''attacking'' the fort, believing the Soul Drinkers would stand down. Instead, the Soul Drinkers fight off the Skitarii and destroy the fort before fleeing on their fleet.

After five months of evading the Imperium, the [[Inquisition]] finally shows up. The Inquisitor orders the Soul Drinkers to stand down, regarding this as little more than a simple case of them suddenly rebelling against the Imperium. When they refuse he declares the Chapter ''Excommunicate Traitoris''. Eventually, the rest of the Soul Drinkers fleet arrives, and Chapter Master Gorgoleon challenges Sarpedon to combat. Sarpedon is about to lose when he spontaneously develops spider legs and kills Gorgoleon. Believing his mutations to be a gift from the Emperor, the Chapter veterans acclaim Sarpedon as Chapter Master, but the younger marines and novitiates reject Sarpedon as a mutant. This leads to the First Chapter War, resulting in many of the younger members being killed off, while many of the veterans also gain mutations, though less extreme than Sarpedon. As of this, the Soul Drinkers officially break with the Imperium.

Around this time, Sarpedon realizes that a fleet would be too much of a waste of resources for the Chapter to effectively move around. Finding a massive [[Space Hulk]] dubbed the ''Brokenback'', the Soul Drinkers scuttle their fleet and use the ''Brokenback'' as their fortress-monastery, with [[Techmarine]] Lygris, de facto Master of the Forge, able to bring the vessel under their technological control. After cleansing the hulk of the usual hangers on ([[Genestealer]]s, [[Daemon]]s, etc.) the Soul Drinkers react to visions Ysir was having. They find a Daemon World ruled by Ve'Meth, a [[Daemon Prince]] of [[Nurgle]]. Though taking horrible losses, the Soul Drinkers ultimately defeat Ve'Meth. Mere moments after they're back on the ''Brokenback'', however, they're confronted by Abraxes, a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch, who was the real cause of Ysir's visions and their mutations. Having acquired the Soulspear (and indirectly killing the Archmagos responsible for its theft), Abraxes offers Sarpedon the chance to serve Tzeentch. Sarpedon replies that the Soul Drinkers belong to no one and stabs Abraxes through the heart with the Soulspear. Now knowing that they can serve neither the Imperium or Chaos, Sarpedon instead advocates a policy of doing "the Emperor's work": instead of fighting threats as designated by the [[Adeptus Terra]], the chapter would work to protect the people of the Imperium so frequently forgotten by the Adepta.

Unfortunately, just because they rejected Chaos didn't mean that Tzeentch stopped offering up mutations. With their [[gene-seed]] rapidly becoming unstable, the Soul Drinkers review a previous mission where they intervened in an [[Eldar]] attack on an Adeptus Mechanicus facility that was attempting to develop measures to halt or reverse mutations. Unfortunately, the Eldar attack ended up releasing the very thing it tried to prevent: one of the test subjects, a mutant psyker with delusions of godhood by the name of Teturact, resulting in the mutant becoming a Champion of Nurgle without realizing it. Finally locating where the facility was, on Stratix Luminae, the Soul Drinkers sent in the entire chapter to retrieve the genetic data. Unfortunately, they got caught in a three way battle with Teturact's forces and the Inquisitorial force sent to eliminate the Soul Drinkers under a new Inquisitor, Thaddeus. Sarpedon and Thaddeus reluctantly worked together to kill Teturact, and the Soul Drinkers were able to escape with the genetic data.