Introduction

The Hephestors is a newly founded Space Marine Chapter. Their origins are veiled in mystery, their motives
unknown even by the Inquisition. Their march followed by grinding gears, the music of technology and
thunder of artillery.

The Hephestors are known to incorporate Xenos-tech in their Arsenal, each Battle Brother being a well
trained Tech Marine with deep knowledge of his weapons and armour.

They practice extensive cybernetic augmentation using reverse-engineered Necron Living Metal. This metal,
now part of their armour and cybernetic limbs, gives them more resilience and versatility in combat.

The Chapter is vast in number, with over 10.000 battle brothers.

They are supported by cohorts of the planet’s Astra Militarum and Imperial Titans.
These brave men and women are trained rigorously and don’t accept defeat. They will give the enemy the
Omnissiah’s peace, or perish in blood and flame.

While the Chapter is considered Loyalist, their use of Xenos tech and questionable actions have placed them
under the gaze of the Inquisition’s Ordo Hereticus, but reports from the Ordo Xenos disregards these
claims.

The truth however, in the Imperial Records, remains UNKNOWN.

 The data contained a collection of blueprints for
high-power Necron weaponry along with information
about the indestructible Necron Living Metal,

945. M35.
Planet supposedly destroyed in a Warp Storm.

874. M41.

Reports of Unknown Astartes Activity on Svarog IV, previously designated B27O8. Planet has no reported taint of
Chaos.
Astartes number in thousands, Codex non-compliant. Suspected Renegade Warband due to extensive use of Xenos
Weaponry in their arsenal.

Inquisitorial
EXTERMINATUS: DENIED

The Chapter seems Loyal according to the first reports. It is deemed beneficial to the goals of the Imperium of Man

Record
and fulfill the Will of the Holy God Emperor of Mankind. Further Inquisition surveillance is now underway due to
reports of Techno-Heresy.

854. M35.
Imperial records state that an Adeptus Mechanicus
Magos discovered a planet rich with resources and
had requested supplies to help his crew excavate.
A ship was sent and arrived in due time, and mining
was soon underway.
The planet designated B27O8, was a registered Tomb
World, but has shown no Necron activity for
hundreds of years. The excavations into the Tomb
complex had confirmed that it was not functional,
and the central power core has suffered damage,
leaving it inactive. The Magos’ crew were ordered to
halt any further excavations until a representative of
the Ordo Xenos of the Emperor’s Inquisition was
sent to oversee further work.
With the Inquisitor and his crew now in charge of the
excavation effort, the servitors kept digging further
and further into the complex, revealing almost intact
Necron stasis chambers in a great hall. The Servitors
were ordered to salvage any and all weaponry they
can find, and bring it to the surface.
Further discoveries are also recorded within the
records.
A central Archive was discovered, while it took a long
time to power it and translate the contents, 85.6% of
all data was salvaged.
Necrodermis.
The Ordo Xenos quickly confiscated all data and
executed all personel connected to the expedition.
Not long after, the Inquisitorial Ship was almost
destroyed by a Warp Storm, crash landing on a
Forge World.
Naturally, the Adeptus Mechanicus entered the ship
and claimed possession of the data from the
expedition.
Seeing the data, the Mechanicus Tech Priests
boarded an exploratory vessel and ventured to the
planet’s coordinates. Tomb Complex was discovered,
with remnants of the expedition’s supplies, but
abandoned for hundreds of years. A Forge Colony
was later established on the site of the Tomb
Complex, the surface monolith being completely
taken apart and repurposed, albeit with great
difficulty. Manufactorums are producing weaponry
on a regular basis.
Exterminatus of planet was rejected due to regular
exports of munitions to the Imperium.

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Chapter
Wargear
Since its founding, the Chapter was very active
in its acquisition of Xenos technology and its
incorporation into its arsenal. Aside from the
aforementioned Necron tech, they also included
Eldar warp drives into their Battle Barges,
which in turn enabled them to use the Webway,
although Webway travel is still a bit risky, due to
the incompatibility of Eldar and Human tech,
but the Chapter still manages to take advantage
of the short, yet useful Webway “jumps”.
The Battle Barges are equipped with Necron
Death Rays, which gives them more than enough
firepower, although it takes a while to charge the
generators in order to fire a single shot. This
flaw makes the ships vulnerable in close combat,
so it is advised to keep distance (but if need be,
there are close combat options using standard
weapons).
The standard weapons for Astartes are modified
Astartes Mark Vb Godwyn Pattern Bolter rifles,
enhanced with Gauss coils in their barrels. This
produces a magnetic field, which accelerates the
bolt forward. Furthermore, the bolt itself was
modified so that when it gets in contact with said
field, it generates a greenish-blue light, described
by Techpriests of the Chapter as a
“Disintegrator field”. When an object gets in
contact with this field, its molecular bonds are
broken, allowing the bolt to penetrate its target
regardless of the protection they are wearing.
The process of making these bolts is a well-kept
secret.
The Armor of the Technis Astartes is also
enhanced. Dubbed the Mk. 9 Atlas Pattern
Armor, this armour incorporates Necrodermis in
its design. The Necrodermis layer is located
beneath a thinner layer of standard armour
Ceramite and Adamantium. The Ceramite is
thinner in order to balance the weight caused by
the incorporation of Necrodermis, which by itself
weighs a substantial amount. Older patterns of
Power Armour are still in service.
In order to use this modified armour, the
Astartes have more enhanced strength and their
Black Carapace is altered to interact with the
Necrodermis. Additional augmentations of
Astartes include replacing limbs or organs with
Cybernetic equivalents. Some of these
prosthetics are made of Necrodermis, and are
quite resilient in combat. They interface with the
Central Nervous System through a central Nano
processor connected to the Brain stem, making it
so that the prosthetic limb or organ reacts like its
organic counterpart, providing sensory input as
well. This feature can be disabled in cases of
intense trauma.
Experiments were made in incorporating
Necrodermis to the bones of Astartes. The
experiments were a failure, and have proven
unnecessary, since prosthetics work far better
than Necrodermis-enhanced limbs. The
surviving test subjects have experienced seizures
of excruciating pain, which in some cases
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resulted in the Astartes attacking their battle
brothers. After this incident all the surviving test
subjects were summarily executed and their
records have been erased from the Archives.
Armoured divisions are used to crush the enemy
front line with superior firepower. The front line
of Land Raiders are armed with Necron-tech
enhanced turrets. The shots take time to charge
compared to the regular fire of the standard
Land Raider. The delay may put the tank in
jeopardy, but it compensates with a devastating
blast that vaporizes the enemy in its range. The
Front Line tanks are escorted by a squad of
Predators. The front line is supported with a line
of Whirlwinds providing sufficient artillery fire.
The main body of the Air Force of the Chapter
consists of a fleet of Storm Eagles, followed by a
smaller contingent of Thunderhawks. They are
supported by a fleet of Fire Raptors armed with
Twin-Linked Railgun Auto-Cannons and Wing-
Mounted Disintegrator Hellstrike Missiles.
Chapter
Customs
“Without me the Machine Spirit fades. Without
the Machine Spirit My Enemies draw breath”
The Hephestors practice extensive
implementation of cybernetics in its infantry.
Rarely does one come across an Astartes whose
limbs or organs are not replaced by a cybernetic
equivalent.
Recruits are selected from various planets in the
system by the Adeptus Mechanicus. They start
training very young, but contrary to most
chapters they are not immediately selected to be
Astartes. They are trained as ordinary
footsoldiers from the age of 6 up to the age of 11-
12. The training involves the study of various
types of Xenos and Human technology,
Weaponcrafting and care, Military Tactics, etc.
A great emphasis is placed on Weaponcrafting
and care, as every Soldier and Astartes is
expected to know how his weapon works, how it
can be improved and repaired, as to ensure that
it never misfires. After a 5-6 year service the
Chapter Master or the Captain of the 1st
Company selects the best recruits. They are then
enlisted into the Astartes Hephestus Program.
The first 3 phases of Astartes Organ
implantation are conducted at the same time at
the age of 12. After the procedures the recruit
becomes a Neophite and is introduced into the
Scout Company.
The Scout company differs slightly from the
norm. A tech squad is formed with lightly
armoured Neophites. They accomplish recon
missions and battlefield surveillance similarly to
a Scout regiment, but with equipment analogous
to that of a Tech Marine. They have hampered
mobility compared to the standard Scout
regiment, but compensate that with more
support firepower from planted turrets and
portable cover.
Outside of combat the Neophites conduct various
rituals with the Mechanicus and the Chapter.
The rituals consist of sacrificing limbs or other
organs that the individual Neophite or Battle
Brother deems weak. The individual kneels at
the altar, chanting a prayer to the Omnissiah
and then speaking to the Techpriest: “The
Omnissiah has spoken to me and deems my …
corrupted by weakness”. Afterwards the
Techpriest removes the limb or organ and it is
placed upon the altar. Then the replacement
limb/organ is immediately attached, cauterizing
the wound in the process if required. During the
procedure the kneeling individual is not allowed
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to utter a sound, otherwise they themselves are
deemed too weak to proceed and are summarily
executed by the priest. This sort of ritual is
performed once every 5 standard Terran years.
The Neophite or Battle Brother attends this
ritual until their superiors deem them “Strong in
Flesh and Metal”. This can mean that a
Hephestor Astartes can basically replace all of
his limbs with cybernetic equivalents, but this is
rarely the case (unless lost in battle)
Necrodermis, or Necron Living Metal is
regarded by the Mechanicus on Svarog IV and
the Chapter as “The Blood of the Machine God”.
Elaboration: They believe the metal to be the
physical manifestation of the Machine God, used
by the Necrons for Heretekal means, finally
liberated by the Hephestors in order to fulfill its
holy purpose. The Necrodermis is regularly
blessed by Techpriests before forging into limbs,
weaponry and armour, to cleanse them from
their xenos corruption. This in turn, in a way,
reduces the chance of the Chapter being labeled
as Hereteks by the Inquisition and wider
Mechanicus (with varying success).
There are customs within the Chapter that are
deemed almost Heretical by the Inquisition.
Certain gene-seed organs are fused with what is
presumed to be xenos-based tech to improve
their efficiency, according to the Chapter’s
Apothecaries. While this may function
hypothetically, the gene-seed organs and xenos
technology are not completely compatible and
some have even had ill effects. The examples
being the Black Carapace, Progenoid glands and
Larraman’s organ. As previously mentioned, the
Black Carapace is modified in such a way as to
enable the Astartes to manipulate the
Necrodermis-enhanced Power Armour. In the
beginning this posed a problem. The organ and
armour didn’t interface properly and the metal
would extend inward and impale the Astartes,
causing a slow and painful death. This was
rectified by the Arch Magos of the Chapter by
modifying the Progenoid gland. The process is
only known to the Arch Magos and is a well-kept
secret. The Larraman’s organ has had its
properties changed. The Larraman’s cells still
act like platelets, but they also magnetize to the
inside of the Power Armour, drawing in the
Necrodermis onto the Marine’s skin, closing the
wound. The Inquisition looks on these
modifications as borderline Heretical, but made
an exception due to the unwavering loyalty of the
Hephestors. The wider Mechanicus, however,
condemn the acts, proclaiming the Chapter as
Hereteks and pushing for it being proclaimed
Excomunicate Traetoris.
Apart from the Astartes, the Svarog
Blacktroopers (The Imperial Guard Regiment
based on Svarog IV) have their own customs as
well that have arisen mostly after the events of
the 13th Black Crusade.
One of the events held every year is the
“Dominatus Requiem”, a holiday devoted to the
fallen comrades that valiantly died onboard the
Reaver Titan Dominatus Imperius.
It involves a parade towards Azmarin Ridge,
where the great war machine made its last stand.
A great altar has been carved out of the wall of
the canyon resembling the head of the God
Engine. The General kneels before the altar and
says a prayer. Afterwards he stands, draws his
sword, after which the guard in front fire their
weapons in rhythm to mimic the steps of the
Titan. The parade then continues back towards
the Capital with the General holding the Armour
plate of the Titan that was on the Altar. He gives
the plate to the Arch Magos who reads a prayer
to the Omnissiah and then returns the plate to
the General. He then places it in a special
container in the main square, where it lays for a
month, the pilgrims kneeling in front of it and
praying.
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The Blacktroopers must be trained vigorously
and show great ingenuity on the battlefield. As
mentioned before, all recruits start their training
with the Adeptus Mechanicus and then proceed
towards military training, the best of the best
being selected to become Astartes. The ones who
don’t get selected, they get sorted into the Svarog
Blacktroopers. The Blacktroopers are trained on
various Death Worlds near the Homeworld.
Once every two years a small regiment is sent
back to Svarog IV to serve there. Whilst there
they usually partake in testing various new
weapons that the Mechanicus of Svarog have
manufactured. The Troopers have good
knowledge of the weapons they wield, and
maintain them with great care. They improvise
when needed and some guardsmen even use their
own weapon prototypes (with varying success
rates). One of the tests a Blactrooper faces is to
test his own prototype weapon. It is tested by
firing a shot into a thick slab of Adamantium
and Ceramite. If the weapon fires without
problems, penetrates the slab and hits the target
behind it, it passes the test and the Trooper
keeps it as his own. Some of the weapons are
even mass produced for other Troopers.
An annual tournament is held within the Great
Arena in the Homeworld Capital. The Astartes,
and Troopers partake in various combat
scenarios against Xenos that were captured in
various campaigns. During these tournaments
one chosen Astartes and Trooper partake in the
contest, each carrying his own weapon. The
contest is split into categories for the respective
contestants. The goal of the contest is to fight
various Xenos and their war machines using a
prototype weapon until either 5 rounds are
complete, or the contestant dies. If the contestant
dies, the round he died on becomes Round 1 and
the next contestant is introduced, each round
being more and more difficult. The reward for
surviving the Arena is a corresponding purity
seal, blessed by the Arch Magos and Chapter
Master. The Purity Seal contains various
blessings that aid the Astartes and Trooper in
various combat situations to come. In this way it
is ensured that the Hephestors and their
adjacent armies remain stronger than their
enemies.
The Hephestors closely work with their adjacent
armies. For example: Most operations are first
scouted by the Blacktroopers and are sent en
masse to the planet of interest. If the Troopers
require additional support, the Astartes are
quickly deployed to accomplish the mission.
The Hephestors value their un-augmented
comrades, some Astartes even knowing
individual names in a Trooper regiment. This
sort of behavior boosts the Trooper’s morale and
in most cases reduces casualties. The “bond”
between Astartes and Trooper is not of emotion
though. It is born out of the need for efficiency,
army synergy and requirement of absolute
victory.
The Hephestor’s hypnotherapy is responsible for
the unacceptability of loss. The Astartes is
subjected to regular hypnotherapy during his
augmentation stage, in which he is indoctrinated
into a fanatical victory-seeker. The concept of
losing is almost nonexistent in the mind of the
Hephestor Astartes. The Battle Brothers do not
accept defeat, even in insurmountable odds,
forcing them to use unorthodox and even
desperation tactics. These doctrines have steered
the Chapter into the direction of “modifying”
their weapons and armour with Xenos
technology, especially those of Necron origin.
Due to their aforementioned beliefs, they have a
high affinity to Necron artefacts and tech.
Regarding said tech, the Hephestors are known
to be closely working (and being monitored by)
the Inquisition’s Ordo Xeno. The Ordo Xeno
regularly monitors, and receives information
from the Chapter about their discoveries,
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advancements and incorporations. While the
Inquisition does not saction the Heretical
modification of Gene Seed, they do value the
information regarding Xenos Tech, in terms of
their weaknesses, exploits and power. In this
way, the Inquisition, and therefore the wider
Imperium is granted an edge, however slight,
over the Xenos threat.

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Historia
“Our future lies in our enemies’ annihilation.
Look at your fallen brethren and surpass them, or
join them in death!” -Chaplain Balior
In terms of warfare, the Hephestors have been in
almost constant conflict with the Tau Empire.
The Tau Empire has tried many counter-
offensives against the Chapter, but every time
the Hephestors seemed to fall back, they
returned with twice the force. Tau weaponry
does manage to hamper the Chapter’s advance
for a short time, causing heavy casualties but due
to their quick adaptability, Tau efforts have been
proven to be insufficient. Numerous worlds of
the Tau Empire fell to the Hephestor’s relentless
assault, but due to the Fall of Cadia and more
frequent Warp Storms, the Chapter’s advance
was stalled.
After the Fall of Cadia, the Hephestors started
behaving defensively. The more frequent Warp
activity brought further Daemonic incursions.
They now wages war on two fronts: Against the
Tau, and the forces of Chaos. It has managed to
ward off many invasions. The 13th Black Crusade
brought the Emperor’s Children Traitor Legion
to the Hephestors’ doorstep.
The Planetary Defense Force was effective
against the intruders, but additional fleet
support was needed. The Emperor’s Children
were relentless in their assault, almost destroying
the fleet in orbit of the Chapter’s homeworld.
The fleet now in high alert, Admiral Craven
launched a bold counter offensive. His flagship
the Corvinus Terribus charged its Death Ray
cannon and fired at the flagship of the
Archenemy. The horrid vessel was crippled and
began to dissolve, its void shields barely
protecting it from the molecule-ripping energies
of the Admiral’s proud battleship. The ship now
out of power, it was vulnerable to enemy fire, a
big flaw in the design of the devastating weapon.
Suddenly, the machine spirit awakened once
more, powering up the auxiliary power, enough
for the ship to get out of range. The Admiral
didn’t wish to retreat like a coward, instead
ordered his men to brace for impact. The front
of the ship was heavily armoured, with
protruding spikes on its bow. The ship barely
hitting ramming speed, it collided with the
abominable vessel of the Emperor’s Children,
causing it to burst into vibrant flames. The ship
blessed by the Prince of Pleasure was no more
and the Corvinus Terribus finally pulled out of
combat, greatly damaged by the subsequent
barrage of fire, its void shields giving out as it
approached the atmosphere.
To enable the Admiral’s ship to escape, two
cruisers entered the fray and launched a
relentless barrage of broadside canon fire. The
green-tinted projectiles smashing against the
Archenemy’s void shields, but leaving almost no
mark. The defenses of the ships were too strong
for mere cruisers to penetrate. In a desperate
attempt, one of the cruisers used its Ursus claws
to pull one of the ships away to enable the
Admiral to escape to safety. It managed to
penetrate the enemy ship, pulling it slowly
towards itself. The Archenemy sent a boarding
party to the cruiser and entered its holy
corridors. The Chaos Space Marines of the
Emperor’s Children Traitor Legion mowed
through the crew as if they were mere lambs for
the slaughter. The Hallways now dripping with
blood and the foul Heretics indulging in covering
their bodies with the skin of fallen Guardsmen.
They reached the bridge, as the brave captain sat
in his chair, grasping its armrests ever so tightly.
He entered a sequence into the keypad to his
side, raising his bolt pistol with his other hand.
The room glowed red and the alarms screamed
throughout the ship, warning the remaining
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crew that they are to evacuate. There was no
more crew however, all 2000 stood together
defending the bridge and their honoured
Captain.
The Man proudly stood in front of the Heretics,
pulling the trigger violently but to no avail. The
damned traitors ripping the Captain apart and
desecrating his body. Minutes after a rumble was
heard and the ship tipped over, its artificial
gravity failing, the systems shutting down and a
strange low-pitched noise started spreading
throughout the vessel. Green flames engulfed the
traitors and the ship was cleansed of their filth.
The Indominatus Valerias was now no more, and
the Admiral, seeing the ship die, said his last
farewell to the brave souls aboard.
The ground forces were dispatched with more
difficulty. The Chapter Master sent the
Armoured divisions on the front line to crush the
enemy head on. The 8th reserve company was
sent behind enemy lines to prevent the enemy
from retreating, pressuring the enemy into a
single point. The Traitors didn’t falter, however,
sending vile war machines against the Chapter’s
forces. In a desperate attempt, the Chapter
Master Darius Magnus resorted to a form of
guerilla warfare. He pulled back his troops to a
nearby canyon named Azmarin Ridge. Using the
Arch Magos’ prototype cloaking device, he
managed to hide two assault companies on the
cliffs of the narrow passage. The Traitors
charged through, hoping to reach the retreating
loyalist forces, not knowing this was all a well
thought out trap.
The Archenemy well into the canyon, the Assault
Marines de-cloaked and swooped down on the
Traitors. The tactical units turning around and
providing cover fire while the power-sword
wielding Angels of Death cut through the
Heretics in their droves.
The Tanks of the Hephestors now arriving into
the fray, they fired on the canyon walls, burying
the Heretics below tons of rock. The Assault
Marines managed to escape the fray before the
massive rockslide, shouting a warcry that spread
through the entire rocky corridor. But from the
sky came more traitors, the ground forces now
surrounded by the Archenemy. It seemed like all
hope was lost, until a quake was felt on the
ground and a voice shouting over a loud vox-
speaker: “By the Will of the Omnissiah, we
march. By our holy fire, we purge the Traitors”!
The Last Stand of the
Dominatus Imperius
++ Varus They have brought down the
Dominatus, and the filth are preparing to board.
We have taken up arms to protect the bridge and
Princeps Cosano for as long as we can, but I fear
it will only be a matter of time before they gain
access. May the Omnissiah watch over you and
the Aquillus, as he has for us this day. ++
-Final transmission from the Dominatus
Imperius, from Moderati Antarius Faltz, to
Vesalius Varus, Princeps of the warlord Engine
Aquillus Ignus.
The ground below trembled as the great War
Machines marched towards Azmarin Ridge. The
Assault Troops hailing the great Titans as they
passed over the rows of Space Marines. Their
weapons firing and the thunderous noise of the
cannons spreading across the canyon like in
some sort of acoustic chamber. The Traitors now
mere ashes in their wake, the great Titans
marched further forward, cleansing the ground
with holy fire of the Omnissiah.
The Hephestors’ lone Warlord Titan; the
Aquillus Ignus, commanded by Princeps Vesalius
Varus, provides merciless salvo fire alongside the
Dominatus, firing deadly accurate volleys of laser
and plasma into the largest concentrations of
enemy armour and troops. Thousands were
obliterated over the course of their relentless
onslaught. However, the Ignus was commanded
away from that attack only a few hours into the
battle to deal with a squadron of enemy engines
9|Page
that were advancing dangerously close to the
Chapters Titan yards the other side of the
Azmarin Ridge.
Having full faith in the abilities of Princeps Lera
Cosano, the Aquillus Ignus left the Dominatus
with one final parting salvo of its main weapons,
obliterating a swathe of tainted armour and
heretic flesh in the blink of an eye. After this
brutal salvo the Ignus receeded from the
frontline and moved to defend the Titan yards;
where the Chapter’s two warhound Titans: Ira
Aeturna, and Venetor Mortalis, were receiving
repairs to their void shield generators, Auspex
sensor banks, and were taking onboard another
full load of ammunition and supplies.
These remaining two of the Chapter’s Titans
were undergoing repairs after taking substantial
damage from enemy engines earlier in the
conflict. They would take at least another 2 days
to be put back into action, and the loss of the
remainder of the Hephestors’ Warhounds was
not something the Arch Magos was willing to
risk.
During the climatic stages of the engagement the
Chapter’s lone remaining Reaver Titan, the
Dominatus Imperius, saw a break in the line, and
charged headlong into the teeth of the enemy
attack, reactor core shining a brilliant white as
its mighty weapons began to rip the enemy
incursion asunder. The towering machine
crushing traitorous heretics by their dozens with
every tremor causing step as it picked up speed,
crashing towards the archenemies advance.
The Dominatus continues its unabating assault
into the enemy’s lines, turning enemy engines to
piles of molten slag with the Titans mighty
volcano cannon as it advanced, then moving into
close quarter with the archenemy. The large
carapace mounted Apocalypse missile launcher
spat fury and fire worthy of a Primarch into the
invaders as the Titan made its earthshaking
advance.
The Titan proceeded to Tear into the wave of
daemonic invaders and annihilated heretics,
renegades and xenos in their thousands,
Unleashing the rest of its missile payload directly
amongst the heretics. Towers of flame burst up
amongst the enemy advance as the missiles hit
home, causing a good portion of the weak-willed
cultists to instantly rout back to the warp-rift,
only to be trampled by the onslaught of
ramshackle tanks and APC’s that bore down on
the Chapter’s already weakened Positions.
The Dominatus Imperius came to its defiant end
while in brutal close combat with an enemy
engine, specifically the Victrix Impassionata, a
Chaos Warhound class engine. Both Titans
struck deadly blows against each other at point
blank range, the Dominatus even using its
formidable volcano cannon at point blank range,
annihilating the Warhounds left weapon mount
and good portion of its torso with a sickening
cacophony of tearing metal and the ear piercing
scream of a binary scrapcode roar as bubbles of
white hot Ceramite and Adamantium drip from
the gaping side of the enemy engine.
However, the Dominatus’s heroic charge was
fated to be its last. The once gleaming statue to
the Emperors might lay surrounded. Its void
shields buckled, the 4 ancient void generator
banks blowing out one after another from a
savage volley of fire from the Victrix’s remaining
weapon in the form of a plasma blastgun. The
mass of Chaos tainted armour that had minutes
before beaten back the Dominatus’s supporting
armour and infantry support with a hell storm
of claw, tooth and bolter scuttled around the
God-Engine’s feet like ants. Picking away at the
nigh impenetrable armour with grim
inevitability.
10 | P a g e
Paint and centuries-old artwork were stripped
off under the hail of all manners of ungodly
weapons towards the defiant engine’s armour.
The once proud heraldry of millennia gone by
torn and shredded from beneath the mighty
volcano cannon; and the tapestry of honour
ripped from the mount between the god
machine’s legs. The machine spirit of the
Dominatus was outraged by this and completely
overtook the mind of its Princeps, who was
struggling but inevitably failing to keep such a
feral god machine bent to her will.
The Titan; now fully in control, could feel
thousands of pained pierces and scratches in its
skin as needle like harpoons were shot into the
god machine’s weapon mounts and legs,
anchoring it in place.
The lone Titan lifted its gargantuan powerfist
and sent a planet shattering claw strike at the
rearing beast-like head of the Victrix
impassionata. Ceramite and adamantium
clashed, the din of twisting metal mingled with
the agonised scrapcode screams of the enemy
engine. The front of the feral machine’s
deformed head was instantly annihilated,
dethatching itself completely from the Victrix’s
battered torso with one last tormented cry as the
traitor Princeps was crushed into a bloody pulp.
The entire right side of the command bridge
caved in from the sheer brutal impact of the
engine’s fist. The crumpled and destroyed bridge
of the Victrix slammed down into the swarm of
armour and heretics encircling the Titan,
obliterating several heavy tanks and scores of
men as it crashed into the ruined earth.
Cheers rang out from Chapter Positions as the
guardsman units still left witnessed the death of
the abominable engine, boosting their morale to
the heavens as they saw the Reaver Titan
obliterate its command deck with a brutal claw.
Then seeing the decapitated torso stand their
frozen in place, Billowing fire and belching
smoke out of a hundred deadly scars. Though
among the celebration, the Dominatus’s fate was
obvious even to the lowliest guardsman, that
Titanic swipe had been its final hurrah, and one
worthy of the emperor himself.
Even the Dominatus Imperius itself could feel the
end was nigh: the abominable invaders had
almost gained entry to its sacred interior, and
the remaining forces of the archenemy were
piercing its blessed armour hundreds of times
over. tanks firing into the now exposed organs of
the Titan. Secondary explosions rocked the
anchored engine as coolant pipes were
obliterated, weapon reactors and generators
blowing out under the strain; and the screaming
of the Princeps in the manifold tore even into the
Immaterium itself.
writing and struggling, stumped limbs thrashing
in the suspension liquid of her amniotic tank.
every portion of her body bloodied as the Titan
withstands more horrific damage, the amniotic
fluid surrounding her going pink with the blood
now pouring from her countless wounds. Then
suddenly, the unthinkable happened…
The god machine was brought to its knees.
The hundreds of massive tow cables attached to
hundreds of razor sharp harpoons had
completed their terminal course into the legs and
gun mounts of the ancient machine. The sound of
defiant and protesting servos and hydraulics
screeching and fighting against the inevitable
could be heard for kilometres as the Titan began
its final agonising end.
With a cataclysmic crash of metal, the once
indomitable Reaver was brought to its knees,
barely keeping balance through the hundreds of
taut cables keeping it in its final spot. The
scarred and shattered armour of the engine was
a testament to its defiance through millennia of
war against every conceivable enemy. Entire
planets had come to fear its very name, yet here
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it knelt. Defeated, broken, terminal damage
ravaged both the mighty engines interior and
exterior. Void banks long dead, the main reactor
beginning to deactivate and overheat through
the destruction of so many secondary systems. It
was bowed to the enemies will.
Princeps Cosano barely clinging to life as her
thrashes in the amniotic fluid, and deadly earth
shaking attacks turned to twitches. Her body
was as broken as the Titan she commanded, for
so many centuries past.
As the Princeps started to lose grip on
consciousness, the Titans mighty head started to
lower itself in defeat, the machine spirit not
strong enough to even raise an arm against the
heretical forces holding it to the floor. The
Moderati in the bridge disconnected from their
stations and ran to weapons lockers, grabbing
shotguns and laspistols, preparing to sell their
lives to defend the Princeps and the machine she
was intertwined with in the depths of the
manifold.
They knew it was a futile gesture, but they had
all agreed to defend both Princeps and Titan to
the very last. each and every crew member had
made peace with their thoughts, The Dominatus
Imperius was their engine, and Lera Cosano was
their Princeps, and Terra would fall before they
would abandon either.
A Desperate Strategem
“The Enemy has us surrounded Brothers, we ran out
of ammunition, with only our fists and our minds. Put
them to use Brothers, the Omnissiah does not forgive
Failure!” -Chaplain Balior
Two squads of Hephestor Astartes were sent behind
Eldar lines. The Troopers bombarding them with
continuous fire from their lasguns and keeping them
focused on the heavily fortified trenches. The plan
being to execute the vile Witch leading the Xenos
menace upon the planet.
It was supposed to be a simple mission, quickly
executed without heavy casualties. All the simulations
have confirmed this specific outcome, and the voice
of the Omnissiah is never wrong, not in Hephestors’
eyes.
With their faith unwavering they marched through
the thick jungle behind enemy lines, an echo of
lasgun fire spreading even through the thick
underbrush. This was a convenience for the Astartes,
almost muffling the sound of their power armour’s
systems. After 5 hours of continuous marching, the
Astartes reached the Eldar encampment. Target was
in sight, the Battle Brothers awaiting confirmation
for fire. Balior, the Chaplain of the Hephestors, was
leading this operation. Standing in front of all his
men, he scanned the area with his Servo Skull, no life
signs were detected in the near vicinity, except the
Eldar encampment. With confidence the Chaplain
gave the kill order, a Battle Brother loading his
Stalker Bolter prepared to fire.
Suddenly a quiet rustle was heard very close to their
position. The Chaplain on edge, sends his Servo Skull
again. The waiting was almost painful, a few seconds
felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours. The Servo
Skull did not return. The Astartes stood in formation,
ready for an ambush by the Xenos menace. After
another rustle of the trees above, there was a strange
sound, a low-pitched wave, then another, and
another.
In a split second 4 figures jumped down from the
treeline, with sharp blades and multiple limbs. Their
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attack quickly replied with bolter fire, the Xenos The Chaplain threw a gesture telling his men to
teleporting as quickly as a bolt exits the Astartes’ spread out and fire upon command. They each
rifles. The desperate Hephestors retreated further encircled the camp, Xenos rifles at the ready. With a
from the camp as to not alert more of the Enemy, but single wave of his hand, the Chaplain and his men
it was all for naught. They found themselves fired upon the Eldar. In the insuing panic and
surrounded as they retreated to a nearby chasm. confusion the Eldar Farseer, the mission target, tried
to open a Webway gate to escape, but to no avail.
An entire squad lost, half of them wounded, they The whole site now resembling an underhive
retreated further into the chasm, darkness butchery, the Chaplain lifted up the lifeless corpse of
enveloping them. They could not hear the Enemy the Farseer, calling for extraction. At the question if
anymore, which put them into more of a silent panic. they had achieved victory, he simply responded with:
The Astartes know no fear, that is true. It is not fear ”Victory is always ours Brother, no matter the means
for their survival that torments them, but the fear of we achieve it. The Omnissiah judges not the means,
Failure. but the ends. Remember this, and you will never fail!”
The Chaplain orders the men to stop. Already weary
of the situation, he could sense their fear, their
anguish, their uncertainty. With a strong voice, he
uttered words of reassurance to his Brothers. They
will not die in this chasm, they will not fail, they will
not surrender to these pitiful Eldar. He commanded
each man to take up a knife, silently scour the jungle
for the Enemy. This was not a tactic often used by the
Hephestors, but desperate times call for all the cards
to be put on the table. As each Hephestor found his
target, he executed it with great speed, and procured
any weapon capable of fire.

The Eldar had curious weaponry, their rifles were

light, almost weightless in the hands of an Astartes.
In a dire situation there was no place for shame, and
now the Hephestors were prepared for the Xenos, for
they will never expect their own to fire upon them.
The Eldar’s arrogance knowing no bounds they
thought the Astartes were all dispatched in the initial
pursuit, so they rested in their encampment. The
Hephestors slowly approached the encampment, but
suddenly the Chaplain ordered the men to stop.
Their armours would alert the enemy, so he ordered
each man to remove his armour. They did so, and
covered themselves in dirt and leaves from the
jungle.

They slowly came to the clearing, seeing a small

patrol and a handful of Eldar pillaging the remains
of their Astartes Brethren. The Hephestors quickly
dispatched of the Xenos using nothing but their bare
hands, as they snuck into the encampment.

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