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
At the time of the Treaty of Mons Olympus, Kanaash was an Archmagos Myrmidax, one of the high lords of that secretive order. He had been preparing the order for War with Terra, war that he believed was an inevitability based on analysis of the Unification Wars and the Emperor’s prior actions during those wars. Kanaash had been on Terra before as part of one of the last Mechanicum raids on Terra in search of lost knowledge as a lowly Secutor, and there he had witnessed Thunder Warriors in action. The effect of this had remained with Kanaash, who obsessively studied the war tactics of the Thunder Warriors and later the Astartes. As well as this he had begun a personal quest to learn and master all the myriad ways of combat, both unarmed and armed after seeing the ease at which the Thunder Warriors had torn through the Skitarri escorts in hand-to-hand combat. These twin obsessions would grow to consume him and eventually lead to his own ruin and apotheosis.
His deep study of the arts of destruction led to his rise within the ranks, and his knowledge of the Legiones Astartes was in high demand as Terra was unified and Luna pacified. It was expected that Mars would be the next target and he was the only one who knew how to combat the Legiones Astartes. However his skills would not be needed, as the Emperor met with Fabricator General Kalkas Tygian and brokered the Treaty of Olympus Mons, which bound Mars and Terra together. However this would not prove to be too great a disappointment for Kanaash, who would now find his true vocation. A new order of the Priests of Mars was created specifically to sunder and destroy anyone and anything that would stand against the Great Crusade, and given his expertise, Kanaash was chosen to be the head of the Ordo Reductor. He would be the nominal head of the organisation, and oversee many of its operations in destroying hard targets that would otherwise slow or even half the progress of the Crusade.
Kanaash threw himself head long into the Crusade, overseeing dozens of major siege actions. He observed and analysed enemy weapons and defences to find their weakness and then turned those weaknesses against them. Acting as an independent agent, he moved from warzone to warzone wherever his expertise was needed. As he went he studied the combat tactics and techniques of every foe he came across, sending back regular reports to mars, where an entire library was established to hold his learnings. He became a close confidant of several Primarchs, includong Arelex Orannis, who appreciated his mastery of warmaking skills and owned copies of many of Kanaash’s works, along with Roman Albrecht who founght several sparring matches with Kanaash and called him the finest blade in the Mechanicum, though privately both were concerned at the mania that consumed Kanaash whenever he found a new technique to master and a new way of war to learn. Kanaash began leading more and more frontline actions himself, eager to test the skills he had learned and see how they worked in practise. He sought out key enemy warriors and commanders to fight, testing different schools of combat, from the Maku Skara of Europa on Terra to the Hai Khashish of Serebys V. He gathered a vast cache of weapons that he would wield, from human-made to exotic Xenoblades, all of which he extensively tested and wrote tomes of their uses. He maintained certain organic components so he could partake in the adrenalin rush of combat which he coupled with the satisfaction of seeing certain schools of combat proven right or wrong and being able to add to them himself.
As the crusade ground on, some in the upper echelons of the Martian Mechanicum began to become concerned with Kanaash. He was now seeking out every chance to increase his knowledge of the arts of war and even vanishing from sight for short periods to seek out scraps of combat techniques from vanished civilizations as well as the living ones which opposed the Crusade. His personal arsenal of weapons numbered in the tens of thousands, from Terran Broadswords to Eldar Falchions to Ork Cleavers and other, more mysterious weapons. It was while he was attached to a Siege Covenant bringing down the defences of Balzac in the Chinchare Sub-Sector bordering the Eye of Terror in 967.M30 that he learned of a mysterious fortress on the planet Quinx in the neighbouring Scarus Sector. Leaving his forces behind, he set off to seek out this fortress. What happened there is unknown, but when he returned he came bearing a great two-handed axe, which he wielded with devastating effect when his forces stormed the citadel. He ordered the entire garrison put to the sword, afterwards which he departed as mysteriously as he had arrived.
His obsession with learning new combat techniques was now everything to him. Other methods of war were no longer his main concern. He announced that he intended to learn every last way of killing in the Galaxy, so he would become the true master of the art of death. There was talk of censure for him after the Crusade was done, for he had long since plunged deep into the abyss of war and there was no future for him in a galaxy of peace. However soon the Hektor Heresy would break out, and his true allegiance would become known. He had become a disciple of Khorne, the Lord of Blood and Battles and he had spread worship of that fell deity thought elements of the Ordo Reductor, who had taken to it like a duck to water. Though just under half the Ordo Reductor rejected him and sided with the Emperor, enough sided with Hektor to give him a slight edge during the critical first few years of the Heresy. Furthermore, Kanaash’s study of the Legiones Astartes in the distant past was now put to good use as he taught the best ways to kill the Emperor’s finest to the traitors.
Kanaash would lead many actions in person, seeking out famous commanders of the loyalist Legiones Astartes and taking great pleasure in butchering them for the Lord of Skulls. His combat skills were said to be so great that not even the mightiest duelist of all the Primarchs, Roman Albrecht could stand before him, a boast which would be put to the test during the scouring.
Kanaash would raze the great towers of the mighty Fortress on Dubfassh and be present during the Burning Crusade, consigning several fortifications of the War Scribes to Ruin. On Mars he masterminded the final assault and fall of Olympus Mons and the breaking of the walls of the Imperial Palace. But in the end his vast knowledge of war could no nothing to stop the death of Hektor and the failure of the traitor’s gambit.
Kanaash had one final battle to fight. On the heavily fortified world of Thlorica which was a major Traitor strongpoint, the Steel Marshals assaulted a major force of fallen Astartes from several Legions and traitorous Mechanicum led by Kanaash himself. He had deliberately set his forces up as bait to draw the Marshals in. For he knew that there was one Primarch alone who it was said could fight him as an equal, who he had fought alongside during the times of peace when the Crusade was still rolling onwards, and Kanaash now wished to prove this and give the greatest skull of all to Khorne. The duel between the two is said to have lasted a day and a night, with Albrecht’s armor cut to pieces and his blade dulled by endless strikes. But though covered in wounds and staring death in the face, Albrecht would not give up and eventually he managed to strike a decisive blow against Kanaash, sending him reeling, his armoured form broken near to death. Though Albrecht had defeated him, he had not slain Kanaash, who managed to escape through teleportation, fleeing the battlefield and leaving the Traitors there to be slaughtered by the Marshals. His Axe, a Daemon Weapon of Khorne was captured by the Steel Marshals and placed in Stasis so none could ever wield it again. Several sightings of Kanaash were recorded by the Crusaders and Void Angels in the years afterwards, though in all of them he refrained from frontline combat. All pointed towards one place: The Eye of Terror, where Kanaash finally vanished along with the rest of the Traitors.