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Welcome to "Codex Chaos", a one-stop resource for background information regarding the Chaos Space Marine armies of Warhammer 40K. All documents listed herein are copyrighted Games Workshop. With the exception of spelling and grammar editing they remain in their original form, no words were changed or moved from their original print in Codex Chaos ©1996. I created this site as the old codex is out of print and the new Codex Chaos ©1999 lacks this information, which I feel is necessary for truly understanding the army as it is used in the game. | |||||||||||||||||||
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Death Dealer
Were You Expecting God? |
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After the Heresy, in the light of the Warmaster's treachery, vast structural changes were made to the fighting force of the Imperium. Titan Legions and Imperial Guard were forbidden their own transport vessels so that in the event of a rebellion they could not leave their own star system without wholesale treachery on the part of the navy as well. In the so-called Second Founding the mighty Space Marines which had been tens of thousands strong in the Great Crusade were divided into "Chapters", each no more than a thousand strong. Never again would one man wield as much power as Horus and the other Primarchs of the Space Marine Legions. The events of the Horus Heresy have long since passed into myth within the Imperium. Ten thousand years of history have obscured those dark days when Horus almost enslaved mankind with the shackles of Chaos. Indeed, records of the full horror of the Heresy are only preserved now by the demon-haunting Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus, and perhaps within the memories of the Emperor himself. The involvement of Chaos in the Heresy has been carefully concealed by the High Lords of the Imperium, fearful that others might tread the same path of damnation as the renegade Warmaster. But within the Eye of Terror time flows differently and the same traitors who howled their praises to the gods of darkness before the Imperial palace still live to this day. Their defeat gnaws at them like a cancer and their hatred of the Imperium which they helped to forge burns undimmed. These deadly warriors who were tall, powerful Space Marines, proud warriors clad in plasteel and ceramite armor, have become cynical and embittered reavers determined to destroy what they once protected. Within the Eye the Traitor Legions fight constant wars amongst themselves for gene-seed, slaves, resources or martial honor. New Chaos Space Marines are recruited from the most dangerous heretics that are drawn into the Eye by the lure of Chaos, or else selected from the masses of slave-warriors who fight eternal battles for the amusement of the Dark Gods. The implantation of recruits is a brutal affair, quite unlike the carefully measured program of development used by Imperial Space Marines. Whether the candidate lives or dies is left to the will of the Chaos Gods. Initiation rites are similarly debased and savage, ensuring that only the toughest initiates ever survive. Millennia of jealousies and infighting have broken down the Legions into companies and warbands of varying size, each led by their own Captain or Champion of Chaos who pursues his own destiny. The most fervent individual worshippers of the Dark Powers have banded together to form squads blessed by their patron gods: Plague Marines of Nurgle, Berzerkers of Khorne, Slaaneshi Noise Marines and Tzeentchian Sorcerers. Others have given themselves over to possession by demons, allowing the monstrous spawn of the warp to venture out into reality clad in the flesh of a powerful host. In the ever-changing delirium of the demon worlds most Chaos Space Marines have survived the worst of the warping influence of Chaos by keeping their sense of purpose. They have not forgotten, nor forgiven, the mortal universe which exiled them and still exact a bloody vengeance when the tides of the warp carry them back there. They are carried forth by ancient warships that have survived from the time of the Heresy, but are now encrusted with millennia of baroque decoration and scarred by old battle wounds. The Legions also capture drifting space hulks and refit them to use as vast battle barges carrying thousands of troops. The ships of the Traitor Legions are driven by the fickle tides of the warp and can appear anywhere in the galaxy at any time. The Chaos Space Marines descend upon an unsuspecting Imperial planet, plunder it and raze anything they cannot take with them before retreating into the Eye of Terror. Though local defense forces may struggle against the invaders they are doomed unless Space Marine reinforcements are on hand. Then the Chaos Space Marines have a joyous opportunity to visit woe and destruction on their weakling younger brothers, perhaps the true objective of these random raids. Major invasions are instigated in one of two ways. Chaos Cultists may plunge a world into anarchy and revolt, generating a ripple of worship in the warp which attracts the attentions of the Chaos Gods. By casting auguries and making divinations Chaos Sorcerers can guide an invasion fleet to the Cultists' world. Once there the Chaos Space Marines will fight alongside the Cultists to capture the whole planet in the name of Chaos. Only then will the Cultist realize that they have summoned up entities who will enslave them as surely as the iron rule of the Imperium. But even bloody conquests like these are little more than pinpricks against the galaxy-wide Imperium of Mankind, the blows which shake its very foundations are the dreaded "Black Crusades". | |||||||||||||||||||
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