Index Traitoris: Chaos warband fluff

[DeusMaximus]

Hi there,

 

After a long break I'm picking up my most favourite game again. I've dusted off my Chaos Space Marines and trying to get them back into combat shape (literally B) ).

Now after a bit of thought I've thought I'd try to write myself some army fluff...

 

Now I'm not playing a pure legion chaos army. I'm more fan of the 'warband' idea presented in the second and fourth edition codexes. That isn't to say that once in a while I will field a pure legion force but on the whole I have quite a diverse set of legions fighting together. I already have quite a force ready and therefore I need those present in my army fluff. These are at the moment: emperor's children, night lords, thousand sons and quite possibly iron warriors. Now I don't need the slaanesh part of the warband to be really EC (I still have to paint the shoulder pads) if that's more easily. It could also be a random slaanesh worshipping warband. The same goes for the night lords. :)

 

The big problem I've encountered is the actual reasons why they would fight together. I've already read the 'siege of vraks' series and I know it's possible but I wanted to get people's opinion on it and to help me develop some great army fluff.

 

I've already tried to write some bits and pieces. Tell me what you think of it.

 

Characters

 

Karna Evernight

 

Karna Evernight is the current night lord commander of the growing warband that is plaguing the segmentum tempestus. Originally one of the night lord captains he was treated with as much respect as he was being shunned by his battle brothers. He was privy to the same sudden bouts of paranoia that his primarch Konrad Curze was capable of. Nevertheless he was a valued captain who claimed victory upon victory.

During the Horus Heresy he was one of the relative few captains in the Night Lord rank that escaped with a company sized force into the Eye of Terror. Here he took their new damned path with vigor and very soon they were raiding far outside the Eye once more. They would strike from their old cruiser wherever and whenever they liked. Over the millennia Karna has been able to keep his company degrading into warring warbands. This is a testament to his leadership abilities as well as his mighty stature as a warrior. Even though he does not actively follow one of the chaos gods he has been blessed with some mutations. Foremost amongst them are two pinioned wings that sprout from his back. Black and red like a bat’s wing he strong wings help Karna to propel him across the battlefield, to wreak carnage with his daemon sword.

 

Khagras the beautiful

 

The beautiful, the alluring, the serpent. These are just a few of the names given to Khagras. Once a space marine sergeant of the Emperor’s Children legion he took command of a company after the bloody night at Skalathrax. Their captain was cut down in the total chaos unleashed by Khârn of the World Eaters legion. Khagras took over command of the company and they retreated from the world on their starship. He was able to maintain control and order to the company and held them together by promising them ever greater glory in the name of the lord Slaanesh.

In this way his own path to glory was set and over the centuries he was blessed by handsome Slaanesh with a multitude of gifts. Foremost amongst them was a heightened ability to sense everything around him. Khagras relished this gift as he was able to reach new unimaginable levels of pleasure. But as everything from Chaos there was a price to pay. Like a drug Khagras noticed he needed more and more stimulants to reach the same sensations again. Instead of descending into madness Khagras saw it as a challenge and searches the length and breadth of the galaxy to find something which can stimulate his overloaded senses.

On the world of Astra he received a mount of Slaanesh, a long serpentine creature with a long flicking tongue. With it Khagras became even more formidable and his star continued to rise until finally he was granted full daemonhood. Carried high above the ground in a cloud of multicolored perfumed light Khagras was transformed. He fused with his mount, the two becoming one, his skin turning into an alabaster white with large pitch-black pupils. In his hand materialized a long spear, a daemon weapon carrying the essence of his former mount. Fast as quicksilver was this weapon and a small cut from it was enough to cause delusions and spasms into its victims. His power armor fused to his body, capable of slowly regrowing the ceramite as though it was his own body.

These days he still leads his warband on their raids, the name of him or his warband enough to scare a population in fleeing instead of being captured by him or his warband.

 

Storan Blueflicker

 

Storan Blueflicker is a blue-eyed disciple of Tzeentch with a velvet charismatic tongue. He left the silver glittering towers of the planet of Sorcerers with goal to explore and extend his knowledge of the arcane. With him he took his small Cabal, boarded one of the many warships and set out into the wide universe. Trusting fully in the almighty wisdom of the Changer of Ways he was carried on the currents of the Ether until he received a vision of his Master. For weeks they stayed in the Warp until finally Storan was visited with a vision. Immediately he ordered to drop out of the Warp and the ship materialized within the vicinity of an Imperial agro world. Instead of finding some treasured tome of knowledge he found a planet already set upon by night lord marines and emperors children. Not wasting another minute he ordered to be dropped and the cabal joined the battle against the PDF forces. Together the chaos space marine forces massacred the remaining imperial guard forces and afterwards the three leaders met in private. What is discussed is known only to them but when they emerged again the warbands set aside their differences and joined together to visit hell upon yet more planets. Storan only seemed to be pleased with this turn of events and it seems that he somehow managed to exert some form of authority over the other leaders.

Storan wears an ancient suit of Tactical Dreadnought Armour (also commonly known as Terminator armor) that he earned before the Horus Heresy. The armor is still in almost pristine condition, bearing the addition of many of the more common embellishments used within the traitor legions. The small modification is that any neural inhibiting circuits in his helmet and collar was removed. These circuits are common in armor suits assigned to librarians and help them keep control of their powers and bleed away excess energy. Storan no longer needs to inhibit his powers anymore and he believes his is in total control of his powers. His weapon is a combi-melta of archaic design. Quite where he acquired it is unknown and he rarely uses it, trusting instead in his psychic powers. The bolter is carried and cleaned by his small familiar who follows him everywhere. The other weapon is his force staff; Storan found this staff in a locked vault on one of the warbands many raids. Seeing it as a clear sign of the gods he took it for himself and has used it to further enhance his own power.

[NemFX]

That explains the Who but not so much the Why.

 

 

You could say that Karna was given orders by Night Haunter to do some objective, that could be literally just short of impossible, and that his time in the warp has affected his sanity enough that the concept of doing anything else is impossible.

 

That Khagras's cult was starting to get unruly, so he started giving them missions to do. Their addictions and desire caused some to become instable, and the only time they are kept in check is after a successful raid where they are satisfied for a time.

 

Storan already follows visions, so you can pretty much run with that.

[DeusMaximus]

Well still trying on the background of the individual warbands but I've already written something for the manner of travel for them.

 

I might add a space hulk in it but I'm not sure it would fit. What do you think of the idea of adding a space hulk and what do you think of this part of my background? ;)

 

Because of the nature of most chaos space marine warbands the warband is not based on a single planet. Instead they are based on board of their starships to give them the ability to strike where they want and to avoid Imperial retribution. The night lords are based on a cruiser of ancient design. Called the ‘Howling Night’ this cruiser predates even the Horus Heresy. It is one of the rare Repulsive Class grand cruisers. Its hull is marked with score of battle damage attained over the long centuries but its power hasn’t diminished a bit. Rivaling almost an Imperial Battlecruiser in power the Howling Night is a dreaded name amongst the Imperial Navy.

The Slaaneshi part of the warband is based on their own cruiser. A brightly colored Devastation Class cruiser it is aptly named ‘Scream of Pleasure’ as the communication channels are filled with the sound of screams of slaves. The cruiser seems to be in almost pristine condition and their lord Khagras seems to take exceptional care of the ship, regularly raiding enemy space stations to capture Navy personnel to work as slaves on his ship. The bowels of the ship are large chambers which are lavishly decorated with ancient tapestries that hurt the eye and perfumed incense that dulls the senses. Some of these rooms are used for their most vile debaucheries and it is here that most daemon summoning is undertaken.

The last and most mysterious ship that has joined the warband has to be the Murder class cruiser of the sorcerer Storan Blueflicker. Codenamed ‘Soulbane’ the ship seems to flicker in and out of reality as though it was not completely real. This could very well be true as people with a Warp eye have seen, as the ship looks possibly more real in the Warp then in the real universe. Multicolored lightning plays across the hull and blazing balefire erupts from the many gargoyle heads situated across the outer hull.