The Birth of Xenobane
During the events of Psychic Awakening there was a bit of amusement on /tg/ that Tau came into conflict with a Genestealer Cult with occasional fanart being drawn since stories between xenos that don't involve Eldar are rare as fuck. It was eventually pointed out that between Tau converting humans to their side and Genestealers doing their thing that the forces of Chaos would be less than pleased that potential followers were steered away from them. A new character's genesis was constructed and it would be a Soul Grinder of all things (possibly to make up for a lack of them in the Fate of Konor campaign). One /m/ anon decided to put a trip on, make Demonbane references, and make something happen. Four sequels were written up shortly after and are included on this page.
The Birth of Xenobane[edit | edit source]
The Birth of Xenobane
The Immaterium is no stranger to the grim darkness of the forty-first millennium. However, in the twilight century the might of the xenos races have proven to be a formidable obstacle for the dark gods as their worshipers had diminished significantly. The Eldar ever so eluding their extinction, the Orks continuing to expand their territory, the Necrons reviving from their eons of inactivity, the Tyranids invading from all corners of the Milky Way, and the exceptionally technological power house the Tau have all prevented assimilation of planets into the Warp with new daemon worlds. The Forge of Souls especially has suffered from this since Ork and Tau souls are nowhere near as good a human souls, Slaanesh takes all Eldar souls, and Necrons and Tyranids have no souls to harvest. New daemons of the Chaos Gods are joining the Forge to prepare for Abaddon's thirteenth Black Crusade which will be said to tear the galaxy in half. The Forge collectively needed something to fight the xenos infestation.
In a strange unholy union the ancient daemon prince Be'lakor and the legendary Word Bearer Zardu Layak presented offerings to the Forge of Souls The Iron Warriors had successfully a thousand furies that would be ideal in fighting their blight on behalf of the Crimson Apostle's request. These furies possessed the necessary hatred needed: The Imperium's hatred for cults, the Imperium's hatred for xenos, the Slaanesh worshipers' hatred for Eldar alluding their master, the worshipers of Nurgle, Khorne, and Tzeentch's hatred for Slaanesh having all dead Eldar souls, the genestealer hybrids' hatred and betrayal upon being devoured by their false gods, and the collective hatred around the galaxy of how Greenskins are difficult to permanently extinguish.
Warp Lightning howled throughout the Forge, the Dark Mechanicus sealed and fused the monstrosities into the machination, their hatred melded into one another, the assimilated gestalt born from raw emotions formed a new intelligence. This new Soul Grinder, motivated only to slay all xenos life that did not worship Chaos, was given form by the traitorous exiles. The six-legged abomination was let loose upon the unsuspecting mountainous world of With. This world was under control by a Genestealer Cult trying to lure Hive Fleet Kraken onto the surface, but was interrupted by a Tau task force that wants With for its rare minerals.
The xenos clashed with one another, the Genestealers claiming the land and caves for themselves while the Tau had air superiority in their hand. The Shadow in the Warp could be felt, but there was enough instability in the fabric of reality to let the beast be unleashed on both masses. The lone Soul Grinder surprised the cult from the rear, using its mighty left arm claw to crush and bash all vehicles that were hopelessly used against it. Its warp sword, which it dubbed the Shining Impact, blasted the filth with an electrical current from its home dimension that tore their mental constitution and bodies asunder. Within hours even their mighty patriarch fell in hand to hand combat as the daemon unleashed its diabolical hellfire straight from the maw.
Once the Genestealers were purged, the Tau took it upon themselves to send a strike force to root out any survivors. The Soul Grinder emitted unholy smoke from the smoke stacks on its back and its rear, covering the area in a nearly unbreathable cloud. Their radars and scanners could not penetrate the thick immaterial and rust-like cloud. The grinder charged into their battlesuits, all in rapid succession. The Tau tried to react, but the beast's weapons proved too strong and it gained the upper hand in melee. The support vehicles were next, destroyed by warpfire assaults.
Without their battlesuits or support vehicles the Fire Warriors were the final enemies left on the foggy battlefield. Terror slowly crept into their veins, the air choked them with unearthly dread. Shots fired throughout the chaotic hellscape. The grinder quickly cut them down one by one, charging while using the smoke and the rocky terrain for cover. The finale fire warrior was brought down via claw bash. In orbit the Tau leaders had to set their sights on the incoming splinter hive fleet that was called upon by the cult. The battleships engaged in orbit as the furious Soul Grinder proclaimed his accursed victory over Planet With. Through daemonic rituals more soul grinders were summoned to take over the planet's inhabitants, harvesting and collecting their unwilling souls for the mighty Forge. Within mere hours the celestial body, under its purple supersized star, was successfully transformed into an island of the Warp in realspace. The surrounding warpstorm finished off the dueling fleets in planetary orbit, ending the hated xenos infestation.
The legion of the Forge of Souls collected alligned daemons to celebrate this occasion. The musicians sounded their maddening horns, almost like glorious trumpets. The lone soul grinder had earned its ranking of fear and was granted a perfect false name by the Crimson Apostle through a poem:
- From hell-forged lightning and machinery
- With prejudice reigning the ire
- It draws the blade that smites infestation
- Cleaning the material filth
Xenobane
The Return of Xenobane[edit | edit source]
The Return of Xenobane
After the first conquest of the empyrean machination on the planet With, the terrifying abomination Xenobane was permitted to carry the defeated remains of his first six Genestealer victims. The Iron Warriors, the Chaos Space Marines that associated themselves with the Forge of Souls more than any other of the original traitor legions, sought use of this destructive behemoth. The Soul Grinder permitted the superhuman heretics to reinforce his frame with a fine unholy armor colored in their evil and ancient tenacity. The Warpsmiths succeeded in their unholy piece of art with a storm of warp lightning, binding and fusing the daemon into something more horrifying than the average Soul Grinder.
Upon this completion finally ending the Forge of Souls sought a new target, the planet dubbed by the Corpse Emperor's worshipers as Lain. This barren tundra world was home to an ongoing conflict between the Greenskins and the Necrons for nearly six centuries, neither side able to successfully destroy the other entirely. In recent months their peaks had been toppled, the WAAAGH! of walking green fungi and the prehistoric nihilists had destroyed the weapons and vehicles of one another in their totality. The schemers of the Immaterium wanted this planet as it lied near the center of the Milky Way and it being converted to a daemon world would aid the Black Legion in their upcoming Thirteenth Black Crusade. The Greenskins had toppled the final pylon preventing any reality-tearing entry onto Lain until that point. Xenobane was summoned into action as both armies prepared for their final confrontations.
With a hate-filled constitution the horrifically forged beast tore out of the Warp and onto an icy plateau, snow raged as below him he could see hundreds of Necrons battling against the green tide. Oddly the Greenskins were composed mostly of grots rather than orks by a seven to one ratio. As neither of these races were seen as favorable to Chaos, Xenobane howled into the constrictingly cold sky, alerting both sides to its arrival and their final doom. The Greenskins cared not and continued their rampage on their necrodermis-clan foes while half the Necron battalion aimed their long ranged gauss weaponry on the charging terror. Like lightning Xenobane scaled down the plateau, charging with intense prejudice at subsonic speeds. The Genestealer skulls mounted on his framed gave his foes the dreadful indication this Neverborn was not going to be an easy victory.
In mere seconds the mighty abomination charged into both armies sending dozens on both sides flying. His rear engine emitted a cloud of rust like before to aid him in evasion. One by one he unleashed his horrifying weapons while both sides began aimlessly firing into the hellish fog. "STRIKING IMPACT!" The warpsword crackled with light of fright, slicing through xenos on both sides. Necrodermis was destroyed beyond repair and spores died from the unreal heat emitted. "GOLIATH BUSTER!' Its iron claw launches from the left arm, flying around the battlefield and destroying what little heavy support both sides had. It was at this point both Necrons and Greenskins temporarily stopped firing on one another and aimed for their new challenger.
"STAR STRIKE!" Xenobane unleashed a psychic ray of tantalizingly horrific energy from his eyes, his own warp gaze that seared his enemies in droves. The Necrons were reduced to mere squads of warriors and a backup regiment of flayed ones while the Greenskins had no orks left and the remaining gretchin relied on the few squigs left in their arsenal. "DAMNED MAGMA!" The harvester cannons on the right wrist broke through the rust cloud that the icy wind was slowly dissipating, one by one exterminating the last of the Necrons until only the grots remained. "HOLOCAUST ERUPTION!" Finally the maw cannon, a level of daemonic and chaotic heat on par with that of a blue star. The remaining Greenskins stood no chance, not even their spores could hope survive the destructive embers built on the foundation of xeno prejudice that was amassed. The area, once surrounded by ice and snow before the Imperium had a syllable of recorded time, was now altered in ash, anguish, abominable abrasion, alien temperatures, and authentic evil. Xenobane howled at his successful termination as he became chanting to summon other neverborn brethren to Lain.
In mere days the planet was ravaged and pillaged by the empyrean denizens of the Warp. No opposition prevented the taint of Chaos from infesting the realspace until finally a new daemon world was successfully converted Xenobane returned to the Forge of Souls, waiting to exterminate more xenos and craving battle.
The Terror of Xenobane[edit | edit source]
The Terror of Xenobane
The Forge of Souls was collectively interested in Xenobane's accomplishments for the prejudice-fueled monolithic monster had successfully tested himself in the unholy eyes of his Neverborn brethren. However, in both instances it was noted by various warpsmiths that the beast relied heavily on stealth tactics against multiple opposing and waning sides rather than a conflict proper. The abominable machination would be sent into a real conflict with a useful target: The Ry-Vius. A craftworld that purposefully intervenes in the plans of chaos, but unlike most this particular one had its population mostly comprised of Wraithguards, Wraithblades, and Wraithlords. Normally it would be nigh-impossible for denizens of the Immaterium to execute an invasion, but the Ry-Vius was only barely able to stave off a massive ork pirate raid, leaving much of the craftworld's hull damaged and close to a warp storm.
The Forge always wanted a large supply of wraithbone and a chance to end this craftworld's constant meddling with their affairs for millennia. Xenobane would be called to action, aiding him were four different battalions. The most notable were his fellow empyrean kin composed entirely of daemonic beasts and steeds with no master. Nearly all Soul Grinders originate from lesser and greater daemons and often leave their more animalistic brethren so a host of these abandoned hellbeasts were formed into a host known as the Wild Fangs. The second was a regiment of Night Lords that became convinced to worship Chaos Undivided. The third was a regiment of the Iron Legion that helped construct Xenobane. The fourth and final was the thrice-cursed warband expelled by Abaddon known as the Wolves of Horus who wore their late primarch's cursed symbol and remained loyal to Chaos Undivided.
The abhorrent forces were assembled, members of the Word Bearers conducted rituals and sacrifices to send them screaming into the Warp and out onto the Ry-Vius in hopes of acquiring intense amounts of wraithbone. The heretics agreed to this assignment only in return for a massive assault on a planet many Chaos Space Marines have been wanting to conquer for over a millennium. A psychic-induced bolt of lightning carried this army into the warp storm of the material world and struck inside of a massive gash in the craftworld left behind by the Greenskins only recently. In mere seconds the Asuryani became aware of the raid that was beginning to take place.
The Wraithguards and Wraithblades quickly swarmed the scene, psychic blasts and blades clashed with the hordes of Chaos Daemons charging into them. The few Rangers and Guardians aiding their mechanical lords found themselves easily taken down from the jaws of Flesh Hounds and embers of Flamers to the caustic burns of Beasts of Nurgle and the poison barbs of Fiends. The Juggernauts, Screamers, Steeds of Slaanesh, and Rot Flies had an intellectual advantage over their more beastly fellow daemons as they quickly encircled the first wave of wraiths and out flanked them. One by one spirit stones were destroyed by the Neverborn, sending their souls to Slaanesh's palace. The Chaos Space Marines moved out, Xenobane slashed through walls with his Shining Impact, aiming for what he believed was the highest concentration of targets.
The craftworld inhabitants kept fighting for their survival as D-Cannons, Vibro Cannons, and Shadow Weavers had now entered the battlefield with Wraithlords commanding the various rangers at the helm. Warp-blasts howled through the air, aiming for the daemon host first with massive success as their ethereal bodies had very little defense. The heretics quickly returned fire, although none brought vehicles almost the entire Iron Warriors squad was armed with heavy weapons.
The Wolves of Horus followed Xenobane as the Soul Grinder had begun rampaging through a hanger filled with unmanned tanks. A Dire Avenger lead squads of Fire Dragons, Howling Banshees, and Striking Scorpions to strike the walking terror down. However, the hate-filled daemon launched the Goliath Buster to instantly take down the Dire Avenger and raise the level of fear in the area. One use of the Damned Magma leveled the forces in front of him followed by a Star Strike to terminate what little remained of the opposition. Vyper Squads arrived seconds later only to be greeted by a barrage of the Holocaust Erupter to slay them before they could fire upon him. The Wolves of Horus shot down the few that managed to survive.
The Night Lords found themselves surrounded by Crimson Hunters, Warp Spiders, Swooping Hawks, and Wraithfighters led by a Shining Spear. Both sides traded blows with one another with neither being able to call reinforcements for help. Once the Iron Warriors had taken down the heavy support they moved forward toward the Infinity Circuit with the intent of destroying it. More wraith-based troops were summoned, holding the worshipers of the Great Enemy at bay for minutes at a time. It was at this point that Xenobane released a horrific bellow heard throughout the craftworld that unnerved friend and foe alike.
The gestalt hell-machine charged relentlessly, soon coming across the Far Seer that commanded the Ry-Vius and the twenty Dark Reapers that protected him. They charged, but Xenobane was only interested in their destruction. One by one he unleashed every weapon in hist arsenal upon them, both sides exchanging blows, but the champion of the Forge of Souls failed to relent at any point. The wraithbone weaponry damaged him, nearly hindered him, but Xenobane's hatred quickly took down every one of his Eldar foes. The Far Seer was quickly taken down with a single vertical strike of the Shining Impact.
This blow was psychically felt throughout the craftworld, engulfing their minds in dread as their blood ran cold. The Night Lords used this opportunity to quickly overcome their enemies at the cost of having a high body count. The Iron Warriors and Wolves of Horus began to make their way toward the Infinity Circuit once the wraiths had been taken down and their spirit stones destroyed. However, an Avatar of Khaine was guarding it and one by one slaughtered the squads of heretics until only the Night Lords had remained. Xenobane easily located and mercilessly charged toward the Avatar as he crashed through entire walls just to get to him. Both of these monsters clashed swords. The cuts, the chops, the stabs, the incisions, the blunts, back and forth the titanic brutes exerted their seemingly infinite hatred toward one another. If not for the Goliath Buster's wrist shield the Avatar may have had Xenobane's head as a trophy as his wounds from the Dark Reapers made it harder to take more blows. The Night Lords attempted to aid the Soul Grinder by shooting the Avatar of Khaine's knees to throw him off balance. This plan, despite its crud nature, was effective enough for the Shining Impact to impale the Avatar through the head and tear it apart with immense warp lightning.
Xenobane, battered and not in its prime, still murderously charged toward the Infinity Circuit to exterminate the Eldar with genocidal intent. The few remaining Night Lords stared in awe and in a dreadful disbelief of the enduring hatred such a being had knowing full well it could not harvest a single soul. The heretics summoned more daemons to aid in the conquest of the ancient ship, most that came through were Slaaneshi for the obvious prizes that awaited them. In the course of a single Terran day the Ry-Vius was fully expunged of Aeldari life and its material structure was transported into the Warp via the warp storm it was dangerously close to.
The Forge of Souls celebrated the arrival of the Ry-Vius with Chaos Daemons of all varieties witnessing an immense amount of wraithbone now being in their possession. The bodies of the deceased marines, at least the few that were still in one piece, were possessed by the foul Empyrean entities to morph into Possessed for future combat while the wraithbone was melted down via warp fire. Xenobane used this opportunity to cover his own warpsword in the melted wraithbone, enhancing it in case of a future conflict. The remaining Night Lords returned to their company, preparing for the Thirteenth Black Crusade, while the Iron Warriors and Wolves of Horus were disappointed at their losses. It was at this point that the three legions held their end of the bargain and demanded that the Forge aid them in a new conquest. That conquest was the Armory World known as Metal Key. Xenobane was willing to aid the heretics knowing that the planet had a unique interest for him as well. The Soul Grinder's metal-like teeth clenched and his eyes lit with an unholy surge waiting to slay once more.
The Fury of Xenobane[edit | edit source]
The Fury of Xenobane
Planet Metal Key was an anomaly that served armory world dating back to the dusk of the Great Crusade. According to Imperial records all psykers that set foot on this world turned into Chaos Spawn in mere hours and as such Pariahs served as the occupants shortly after it was claimed by Corvus Glaive of the Raven Guard. Millennia past, Metal Key was used as a secret outpost that doubled for both the Raven Guard and the Officio Assassinorium. At least once every two centuries the planet would be assaulted by all types of Eldar, Greenskins, or Chaos forces, the worst of these occurring in the mid thirty-sixth millennium when the Brotherhood of Dust led a daemon host, nearly conquering the planet if not for intervention from the White Scars and dozens of Imperial Knights and Titans. Since then Metal Key has often used reserves of various Knights and Titans to secure the planet's main fortress and the dark secret lurking beneath the surface. The most powerful weapon in the Imperium's arsenal for this forest world is a Warmonger-class Imperator Titan that was said to have decimated an entire Ork WAAAGH in the thirty ninth millennium under two minutes.
The Forge and various Chaos Space Marine chapters have found Metal Key as a prized area of interest for both its mysterious subterranean secret and its massive arsenal of Knights, Titans, Tanks, and other vehicles that would prove useful. Since the Despoiler's Eighth Black Crusade the ground of Metal Key frequently glowed with subtle amounts of psychic energy that have caught the attention of Chaos Daemons and the Thousand Sons. After dozens of centuries of failure the Forge of Souls offered to lend its Soul Grinders to a strike force composed of the Night Lords, Iron Warriors, the Wolves of Horus, the Brotherhood of Dust, and the Daggerfangs. Sacrifices of slaves and chants were executed to get the entire strike force to appear on Metal Key, but eventually portals opened the door to war.
The forests surrounding Metal Key's main fortress were filled with the heretical astartes and their Neverborn allies. The Imperial officers that first noticed their approach quickly alerted their superiors. In mere minutes hundreds of guardsmen and tanks were deployed onto the battlefield as plasma, flamer, and bolter turrets lined the forty-plus meter walls. The first wave composed entirely of possessed from the Ry-Vius attack and Chaos Spawn, the mindless monsters charged into the turrets with mindless fury, most of them dying before even being able to damage the wall. The Brotherhood of Dust noted the significant increase in power of their sorcerers and Rubric Marines and as such began to execute long ranged assaults of psychic energy on the tank battalions. The Iron Warriors supported them with their anti-armor weaponry and the handful of Chaos Rhinos they were able to bring with them.
The Assassins were called in, all pariahs and totaled fifty in number. Each one used secret underground passages and emerged from the forest in an attempt to ambush the sorcerers. This is where the Night Lords came in, holding the Assassins back and cutting them off from their object via guerilla warfare. The Wolves of Horus and Daggerfangs were tasked with sniping the Guardsmen and turrets that lined the walls. Twenty minutes passed before the Knights were summoned into action and as such the Soul Grinders were quick to appear from their hiding spots and charged into the valorous armored machines. The Knights and the Soul Grinders exchanged long range blows, neither side successfully downing the other.
It was at that moment the Forge's hateful champion appeared. Like thunder, Xenobane stormed toward the tank battalions, charging and knocking each one over with little effort. His now wraithbone-laced sword easily sliced through them like a hot knife through meat. It was at this moment the Iron Warriors aided in the destruction of the fortress walls, the Chaos Spawn and Possessed were wiped out by the Guardsmen. Plasma and Rockets littered the sky as a hole in the wall was eventually created upon the structure's collapse. Xenobane had no need for this as he rushed up and over the walls, charging like a bull and leaping to its top. The troopers were caught off guard at something so gargantuan and were easily slaughtered as they tried to fire their lasguns. Panic began to spread among the first line of defense before the Titans were called in.
At the same time the Assassins carried out their mission, successfully killing each Night Lord and Dust Brother thanks to their training and weapons, but without the cost of lost a fifth of their force. They steathfully followed the Wolves of Horus, Iron Warriors, and Daggerfangs who had begun to raid the inside of the fortress walls. The Titans emerged from their hangers composing of Warhounds, Reavers, Warbringers, and Warlords to aid the Knights. Soul Grinders kept charging from the opened portals to even the odds, but the god-machines proved to strong as slowly one by one the Emperor's will seemed to have blessed them with victory in their favor.
Minutes passed, the Assassins pinned the coalition of Chaos Space Marines as they finished sweeping the area of imperial soldiers. Xenobane took note of the conflict and charged at the pariahs. The Assassins believed that no Chaos Daemon could harm them as they had permanently destroyed hundreds before. However, Xenobane proved to be different as the Shining Impact, now laced with wraithbone, easily sliced through twenty of them in one strike. The remaining Assassins were baffled by how this happened, leaving them open to intense bolter and plasma fire. The remaining Daggerfangs charged toward them with chainswords and chainaxes, most of them not surviving before landing their blows.
Xenobane swung his unholy blade of hate once more after the now decimated legion took five assassins with them, adding ten more to his own kill count. The remaining five fell back, the Wolves of Horus pursued to finish the job. However, the battle was not over as every Knight and Reaver was called in to open fire on the Chaos invaders that penetrated the fortress. Xenobane was struck heavily in the back from the sudden assault, the Iron Warriors lost their last Chaos Rhinos in the chaotic ambush. However, the Empyrean beast recovered long enough to charge directly at them with near lightning speed.
The Goliath Buster fired, quickly destroying every Knight that didn't erect their void shields in time. The Damned Magma quickly damaged the Reavers as the abomination quickly followed up with one Star Strike to immobile and for most destroy the god-machines. The Holocaust Erupter fired, far longer and with more fury than in previous battles, whittling down the bewildered pilots as to how they were being damaged so fast. The Iron Warriors aided the Soul Grinder by aiming for the leg joints and hips of their foes to knock them off balance.
Word of this massacre reached the channel of the Warhonds, Reavers, and Warbringers as the Soul Grinders began to advance further despite their losses. It was at this point that the Warmonger had to be summoned, the crew boarded the hulking machine and the underground lift used to store it erected the fifty meter machine to the battlefield. Missiles, rockets, shells, plasma, fire, these were all fired in one giant succession against the Soul Grinder incursion.With one decisive barrage the invaders were obliterated back into the Warp, a sense of hope rained across the humans as they took to heart how their Emperor protected them. Xenobane and the remaining Chaos Marines heard and felt the tremors of the attack.
The smaller Titans began to charge into the hole in the wall to finish off the remaining invaders as the Warmonger slowly turned its frame to fire upon the area if the need every arose. It was at this moment that the ground began to glow, radiate with psychic energy. Xenobane felt this power and decided to channel as much of it into it as the raging Daemon could via his warpsword. The mysterious anomaly responded to this in an unpredictable way. In a manner most horrifying, the energy, almost as if it was alive, began to slowly grow Xenobane in size. As the Titans arrived, the mighty Neverborn used the Shining Impact to completely annihilate every Warhound and Reaver that got near him. He kept growing as the survivors in the Warbringers began to open fire before his size maxed out at sixty meters. Their blows damaged it, but not enough to down him as three swings of his swords cut the mechanical foes down with little effort. Xenobane emerged to challenge the Warmonger, causing much of the crew to feel a sense of intense dread running through their veins.
The Warmonger opened fire, Xenobane slowly walked forward as the Goliath Buster's shield deflected the physical projectiles although the plasma shots slowed him down. In close combat both giants engaged in melee, the Warmonger swung its weapons while still firing secondary weapons as Xenobane thrashed the wraithbone-enfused Shining Impact and crashed with the Goliath Buster without launching it. Mighty blows exchanged for each one, in this fire of rage they tried to break each other down.
Inside the fortress the remaining Iron Warriors attempted to investigate the mysterious chasm when a portal opened from the Warp in their bath. The other side had two Blue Horrors on a disc with a large grimoire floating down the path while on their side had a Lord of Change stop them. This avian scheme was the infamous Aetaos'rau'keres, he stopped and proclaimed that they needed to walk away and say nothing of what transpired. The heralds, unbeknownst to them, were the legendary Blue Scribes P'tarix and Xirat'p, sent by their master to collect his consciousness's many pieces throughout the material plane. The mysterious force is revealed to be none other than one of these pieces that separated during the transition between the Age of Technology and the Age of Strife. The Blue Scribes quickly transcribed the piece and all of its power under a minute, allowing them and their escort to return to the Immaterium before any Imperial force could catch them in the act.
Outside, Xenobane noticed his power began to quickly wane and the Warmonger exploited this by easily smacking him around. Battered and damaged, the Soul Grinder quickly realized it would soon be banished as even it could not handle an Imperator-class Titan despite the damage he gave it. The colossal machination attempted to stomp on it, but Xenobane used his Shining Impact penetrate the Titan's foot as it came crashing onto it.
One loud, almost suicidal bellow echoed in the Warmonger's frame as warp lightning began to radiate through the inner circuitry and pulsed through the crew, killing them instantly. The beast managed to break out of the Titan's left foot by slamming through the ankle.
It was weakened. It was heavily damaged. It was exhausted. It was barely able to stand. Xenobane was almost vanquished, but was finally able to survive and win against the Imperium's onslaught. Or so it would seem.
The five remaining assassins slowly approached the tired Daemon, about to expunge its existence. The Wolves of Horus slowly encroached behind them, waiting to strike as well. Xenobane was in real danger of being permanently snuffed out. However, without warning, the Iron Warriors unloaded their barrage from afar, fighting off the Assassins. The Wolves of Horus outflanked them seconds later. The pariahs tried fighting off the heretics on both sides to little avail. Before long the Assassins managed to out maneuver and take down the remaining Wolves of Horus, but lost two in the process. The Iron Warriors gave one last fearless charge that took down two of them, leaving only one assassin alive. This final assassin attempted to flee only for Xenobane to grab the individual with the Goliath Buster and crush them to a bloody pulp, killing the final foe instantly.
Metal Key had now fallen to Chaos. Daemons were summoned to convert the planet into a Daemon World. The supplies and weaponry belonged solely to the Iron Warriors and their successors. While they no longer had their anomaly, the legion was able to repair and defile the many Tanks, Knights, and Titans including the Warmonger as the planet succumbed to the reality unraveling the Warp had to offer. Xenobane returned to its home with many imperial souls and another triumph. Before the Forge of Souls allowed the terror to rest he was told he would be needed again for an invasion the Death Guard are preparing in the Konor System.
The Revenge of Xenobane[edit | edit source]
The Revenge of Xenobane
The the dusk of the forty first millennium Abaddon The Despoiler had succeeded in tearing the galaxy asunder. Warp storms tore through the fabric of reality, countless worlds subjected to the horrors of the Warp and shook the Imperium to its very core. Countless battles were raged across the stars, among these battles includes remnants of Hive Fleet Behemoth from the closing days of the First Tyrannic War against a fleet of Chaos Space Marines. The marines in question were the weavers, a successor legion of the Emperor's Children whose task is to collect rare aliens aligned with their dark god and protect them from the Corpse Emperor's puppets until they ascend to daemonhood. Slaanesh cares not for his followers, but to have rarity his brethren can never claim pleases him to no end. The Weavers kept their pre-heresy colors as they still kept their obsession for perfection as their legion had a high rate of converting their champions into Daemon Princes.
In this instance the heretical marines had to battle the Tyranids that were interested in consuming them. Hours passed, both small fleets wore each other down from intense raids and projectiles flying. Eventually there was only the final ship of each side. The Weavers were divided wanting to either retreat to send what few xenos they had left to their master or summon Daemons in one final board. The sorcerers assembled and opened a portal to the Immaterium, desperate as the giant insectoids began to board upon crashing into the bow with their bioship's jaws clamping onto it. One abhorrent entity spilled out from unreality, the Soul Grinder that slays xenos unloyal to Chaos, the mighty Xenobane.
The rust-covered monster, still weary and only half recovered from the raid on Metal Key, questioned the sorcerers why he was summoned.
"Pain god worshiper, why did you summon me?"
"Any Warp Denizen will do! We need to exterminate a Tyranid horde!"
"As much as I hate unfaithful xenos, I was resting, promised my next mission will be an attack on the Konor System. Why am I fighting some fleet squabble?"
"We will send many loyal xenos to our master! We are aware of what those Nurgle worshipers have in store for the Macragge, you will help-"
"You monogod worshipers really think yours is the best, don't you? You have have revolting weaknesses."
"Slaanesh may be a prince now, but we will ascend our master to a king after-"
"Silence! The blood god refuses to see the usefulness of psykers, the decay god fails to act accordingly, the scheme god throws away resources, and the pleasure god has no interest to concentrate. I am loyal to the Forge. Also, what use are other xenos to you when your god has all Eldar?"
Rippers, Gaunts, and Gargoyles start charging into the main haul, stopped by the basic Tactical Marines aided by Havocs and Raptors while another line of defense was being mounted with Dreadnaught, Possessed, and Chaos Spawn.
"Just do something already!"
Unamused and disconnected from the situation, Xenobane tolerated the Chaos Marines no longer and with his wraithbone-laced Shining Impact sliced the sorcerers with one swift stroke. Nearby, the Terminator squad noticed and began unloading sonic and melta weapons. The abomination was stunned, but quickly retaliated with the Damned Magma, Star Strike, and Holocaust Eruptor all at once which slowly but surely punished and reduced them to molten slag. The Goliath Buster was used to destroy a blast door where the second wave assembled.
The battalion was caught off guard as the now enraged Soul Grinder emitted his chaotic rust fog from his rear engine to hide himself in the chaos. Quickly the beast charged in and swung his warpsword, easily cutting down the Weavers with little effort.
The first wave was successfully slain once Carnifexes and Lictors aided in the swarm. They managed to open a blast door thanks to Biovores and Zoanthropes assaulting it until the material became brittle enough to push through. On the other side the glutenous monsters became consumed by the cloud of rust fog. Before long Xenobane began charging and assaulting the swarm, his unreal weaponry easily shredded his enemies' flesh and carapaces. The Hive Tyrant of this swarm entered the fray, aided by eight Broodlords, and led every lesser creature into the ship for consumption. The rust cloud made its way toward the Hive Tyrant, the Broodlords charged in with Genestealers aiding them. This was a fatal mistake as Xenobane was quick to cut them down and decided to fight the Hive Tyrant one on one.
Armed with twin venom cannons and twin boneswords the Hive Tyrant unloaded his assault on the abomination. Xenobane was stunned by the blows, its body being in critical condition as it was still hindered. The cannons were sliced, both creatures resorted to close combat blades. Blow for blow for blow. Each left wounds fatal to most on the other, but their size and power saves them from going down for the count. Raveners tried aiding their master only to be easily sliced to pieces or violently crushed. Xenobane unleashed his weapons on every Tyranid that tried interrupting their battle, warp fire and lightning illuminating the area with terror. More Chaos Marines began shooting at the smaller Tyranids to keep the fight interrupted. The furious Neverborn grabbed the Hive Tyrant by the waist via Goliath Buster and charged deep into the bioship where it can do far more damage.
Once inside the bioship Xenobane launched the Goliath Buster to send the Hive Tyrant over a hundred meters back followed by the claw teleporting back to its arm. The Soul Grinder then released his hellish cloud followed by an onslaught of the Star Strike and Damned Magma that scorched the interior. The Holocaust Eruptor quickly dealt with lesser Tyranids inside, easily slaughtering them. The Hive Tyrant attempted a charge, but the fog prevented it from knowing where exactly Xenobane was. This allowed the Empyrean spawn to use a Shining Impact slash that bisected the swarm leader, finally ending the debacle.
The bioship soon violently erupted, the swarm being completely overwhelmed and quickly wiped out by the Weavers defending their ship. Xenobane managed to teleport back in before it was completely destroyed. The heretics quickly turned their attention to it, but the Daemon only felt discontent for those who summoned him. Stabbing his warpsword into the floor, it chanted as it was being fired on as its ethereal form began merging with its environment. Fear was starting to sink in with the occupants as unearthly howls could be heard through the interior. Tentacles, eyes, mouths, fog, and claws began to spawn from in and out of the hull, the outer section began to stretch out appendages to grab the destroyed chaos ships from the battle into its frame. The terror had finally sank in: Now that the Tyranid Shadow in the Warp was gone Xenobane had now possessed the ship. Every soul, human and xeno alike, was harvested by the Daemon Ship as the warp spawned appendages on the inside destroyed everyone inside. Blood curdling screams in terror echoed through the halls, horror now consumed them all in their final moments. Xenobane proceeded to take his new Daemon Ship, which he has named the Jyamadow, back to the Forge of Souls so he may finally rest. Only one word came to his mind after the ordeal:
"Pathetic."