Duniya Kanaash

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

Duniya Kanaash
Title/Honours	High-Adept of the Ordo Reductor, Lord of Blessed Ruin, Father of Destruction

Duniya Kanaash was an adept of Mars who turned to the worship of Chaos and fought alongside the Traitors during the Hektor Heresy. He held many titles, such as Lord of Blessed Ruin, the Father of Destruction, the Omnissiah’s Obliterator, High-Adept of the Ordo Reductor. Later, darker ones included the Crimson Lord, the Murderdax, the Brass Vulture and the Gorebringer.

History

War in Sol

The Mechanicum had been born in war, war had forged and tempered the Machine Cult into the power it had become, and those who made war were highly regarded within the Mechanicum, none more than the Myrmidons, an order of Techpriests who had devoted themselves solely to the arts of war. Duniya Kanaash was one of many who chose war as his profession. Of his life before the Myrmidons nothing is known, but somehow as a menial he impressed the Myrmidax enough that he was let into their number and given the mark of the Skull and Cog.

Thanks to the meticulous records Kanaash kept of himself which were freely given to those who wished to study them, his war service during the Unification Wars is well known. He fought against the Forge Lord of Nili Patera and the Master of Mondus Gamma, He battled Xenos Raiders striking from their bases in Jupiter against the Martian Mines in the Asteroid Belt, and he was part of the Mechanicum force that assaulted Luna to steal the secrets of Pallas Eugenesis’ gene-forge.

Most importantly of all he was present on Terra twice, both times having a major effect upon him. The first time he was a lowly Secutor who was part of the force sent to defend the Outpost of Iota-Pi 6-0 while the archeotech horde stored there was evacuated to Mars. There he fought hand to hand with the most deadly warriors in the Sol System, the Thunder Warriors. Kanaash lost an arm there, and was deeply impressed with the savage gene-bred warriors of the Terran Emperor. Of all the foes he had faced, they were by far the deadliest. It was at this moment that he deducted that the Terran Emperor was the most dangerous foe the Mechanicum had ever faced and one who could even conceivably bring Mars itself to its knees. When he returned to Mars he was strident in his calls for a preventive war to keep the Terran Emperor from upsetting the delicate balance of power.

He found himself with an unlikely ally in the form of Valran Burija, Forge Lord of Urbis Juventas. Burija met several times with Kanaash, pouring over Kanaash’s research into the Thunder Warriors and discussing how easily the Emperor was overrunning his Terran foes. To Kanaash, Burija alone could also see the rising storm. The Terran Emperor could not be underestimated, and nor could he be ignored. To others within the Ordo Myrmidon, Kanaash was too preoccupied on the Terran threat. The Xenos Overlords of Jupiter were considered a greater foe, especially after they tried and failed to raid the Deimos Forges. Kanaash continued to make strident calls for a greater focus on Terra and followed with interest any news from the Homeworld, but for all that he was seen as a crackpot.

War on Terra

When Luna fell before the armies of the Emperor, Burija’s arguments became too great to ignore and he was elected as Fabricator General. Straight away he appointed Kanaash to lead the group who would formulate the plans to assault Terra. Kanaash was vindicated, and could now put years of work into practise. Even as he battled with Jupiter Xenos and wayward Martian Magi he had been studying the combat tactics of the Thunder Warriors, their reliance on close-quarters combat and frontal assaults. He had a foolproof strategy for fighting the Terran super-soldiers. Martian Firepower would be key to keeping them off the Martian lines, and for that Titans would be the ultimate weapon. His combat protocols were copied and spread throughout the Skitarii, Thallaxi and other troops being mustered to assault Terra. His star within the Myrmidon Order was ascending and proof came of this when the supreme master of the Myrmidons, Kaerl Wach appointed Kanaash to be his second for the assault upon Terra.

The Legions of Mars set out for Terra in high spirits, but the assault ended in the disaster known later as Burija's Folly. Kanaash’s protocols for fighting Thunder Warriors were useless against the Astartes who made up the assaulting Army. Wach was killed defending the Fabricator General from Hektor, broadcasting his command protocols to Kanaash even as his broken shell was crushed beneath Hektor’s boot. Kanaash rallied the Mechanicum forces to defend the stricken Titan landers, for there would be no higher stain then if the Terran Emperor captured a God-Engine. The Myrmidons reaped a fearsome toll among the assaulting Astartes, but faced with a foe for whom they had no effective counter there was never a doubt as to the ultimate outcome. Kanaash wished to remain with his Myrmidons as the rearguard, but he was forced into joining the Martian Forces as they evacuated.

Kanaash returned to Mars beaten and despondent. Mars could not hope to prevent the Unification of Terra now. Years of work had been wasted, and all Kannash’s plans and schemes were laid waste. Kanaash the Crackpot was the nickname spread throughout the Ordo Myrmidon, and even as he was inaugurated as Myrmidax Prime a score of challengers rose up to wrest the title from him.

For several days Kanaash locked himself away in the data-archives of the Ordo Reductor, trying to figure out where he had gone wrong, what he had done wrong. After countless hours of reading through endless documents on war, Kanaash reached a revelation. They had been going at it all wrong. He had been fighting, but he had not been fighting for anything. The Ordo Myrmidon had fought their battles because that was all they knew. But there needed to be something greater to why they fought. The Terran Emperor’s men fought for a cause, and that was what the Mechanicum needed. And that cause was Terra. The threat of Terra was a cause all the Mechanicum could believe in, could fight for, could die for.

Kanaash emerged from his seclusion and straight away accepted his many challenges. Though he won them all, his body was rent and broken. He deduced that his personal combat skills were lacking, and given that the Terran General Hektor had felled his predecessor and the Fabricator General in close-quarters combat, Kanaash would need to improve his own skills in that area if he had a hope of winning the second round.

With his body still broken and his new form yet unforged, Kanaash addressed the assembled Myrmidax of the order. There had been a setback, yes, but the chance would come to even the score. They needed to be ready for the second round. He would give the Myrmidons a purpose, a foe to face and a task to perform. They would learn how to kill Astartes.

War Beyond Sol

Kanaash began a deep study into the ancient military philosophers of the human past. Machulius and Antaxus, Von Klowswitts and Soo, all of them Kanaash devoured with a frightening intensity. The notions of a Just War, of Eschatological Conflict and war as a tool of states were all absorbed and synthesized by Kanaash. He defined the coming War with Terra in all three categories. It was a Just War because the Terran Emperor posed a threat not just to Mars, but to the entire Sol System. It was an Eschatological Conflict because the ultimate outcome was to remove the threat of Terra forever. And war was a tool of the Emperor to achieve his goals of unification and pacification of all threats to his power, and thus would also be a tool of Mars to oppose him.

Alongside his philosophical education came martial one. Kanaash began to study and practise as many forms of single combat as he could, learning each in turn before moving on to the next. The Terran Warlord Hektor was surely the greatest opponent any could ever hope to face, but Kanaash would defeat him. He taught himself the Maku Skara of Europa, the Baresark of Skandermark and every other unique style of fighting he could find. He routinely practised his skills on those Myrmidons who continued to challenge his position as head of the order, and soon he inaugurated fighting tournaments where all the Myrmidons could test their skills on each other, giving yet another outlet for the martial order to improve itself.

Throughout all this he continued to press for a second crack at Terra. The Martian Fleet still outnumbered and outgunned anything Terra possessed. Once the recovered Vid and Pict-caps of the Astartes were properly analysed, they would know how to fight and kill them. There would be no repeat of Burija’s folly.