Liber Challenge VI- The Lords of Rust

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The Lords of Rust

Notes by Inquisitor Ratheir-M41

"I've spent nearly five decades patrolling the Itano Sector, watchful as ever for the vile forces of Chaos and the foul xenos that plague the borders of the Imperium, in particular withing this oddly valuable sector on the fringes of the Segmentum Tempestus. Among the most dangerous foe here are these malicious heretics, they rampage across the worlds, stealing everything of value not nailed down and departing for parts unknown though our suspicion is the Naraka Rift. It it here we believe that this warband first appeared several millennium ago and nearly destroyed the Steel Dragons marine chapter, along with most of the sector as well. What follows is our current records on the Warband..."

Origins:

"While the forces of Chaos made off with many valuable and in some cases, irreplaceable pieces of technology and equipment in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy, it cannot be disputed that the manufacturing capabilities of our empire outstrip that of the Traitors. While they may have marines thousands of years old with the experience to match, apart from the output of a handful of rare forge worlds plunged into the Warp, they have few manufacturing capabilities, whey must augment their forces with new recruits as cannon fodder, invoke profane rituals to summon daemonic hosts to fight alongside their armies, or in someway use some kind of foul practice to leverage a kind of force multiplier to put their rare equipment on equal footing with our innumerable Juggernaut. It is from here the Lords of Rust find their origins.

A warband following the pantheon of Chaos Undivided, the Lords of Rust were originally composed of a large detachment of Iron Warriors, with several additional members coming from other warbands. Their mission was clear, they were to a space hulk, dubbed "The Portent of Annihilation" across the stars, wherever it emerged, they were to set out in strike craft and pillage any world for valuable technologies o equipment. With the random dispersal patterns that accompany a Space Hulk's travel, the forces of Chaos could emerge anywhere with little warning and under the cover of Imperial protection. From interrogations of a subject captured (a cultists servant of the Lords), the Portent would make a predictable round trip from a random location in real space to a dark realm of the Warp known as Sethlans, where a Dark Mechanicus forge world sat, eager to receive any new equipment to twist to the vile forces of Chaos. The warband its self would keep a percentage of the loot, while sending most back into the Warp as an offering to their dark gods.

Initially they were lead by a fallen Terminator known only as Duranz, or Duranz the Black. Not much can be gleaned about this mysterious figure (and later entries will indicate a possible reason for this). What is known is that for thousands of our years (unknown how much time passed in the warp) this warband pillaged their way across all five Segmentum, descending upon worlds like metal locus, killing all in their way and making their way off world with as much equipment that could be taken off with them. Archival records indicate at least seventeen different attacks prior to M36 across the Imperium (see: Raid on Gestaic IV, I believe that some of the Chaos engines seen around the Segmentum Solar are refinements of agricultural equipment taken from that world and converted into engines of war). Duranz remains a key figure therein, seen leading all seventeen of those attacks. However, now adays the Lords of Rust are lead by a sorcerer named Fulton Lanate, who appears to have some kind of power sharing agreement with two Warpsmiths known as Faziel Lidie and Wes Persyn.

Based on scattered accounts, including the records of the Steel Dragons, the Salamanders Sixth Company (see Steel Dragons for that particular piece of history), as well as defense records taken from the Battle of Beypore and "interrogations" of more than thirty five hundred suspected and/or confirmed Chaos Cultists, a fuzzy picture is painted of this Warband's activity in the sector.

The Events of M36

M36 was an important year for Itano Sector, a one hundred and fifty year warpstrom, dubbed Gigantes cut the sector off from the Imperium and created temporary weakpoints in real space leading to the Warp. it appears that the Lords of Rust used these opportunities to stage a large number of raids across the sector, using the Portent as a mobile base, rapidly flickering in and out of reality, with some many temporary holes in reality, the warband staged more raids across the sector than ever before attempted in their other attacks (hearsay indicates the warband accepted more recruits as various bands sent members to try and get some of the valuable loot). With an influx of new blood and gear, the Lords in turn attacked several minor bands and absorbed them and their supplies to become a truly formidable force. (Legend indicates several thousand marines present, need to backtrack at administratum and inquisitorial outpost, number seems to high, likely local lore or suspicion). From records extrapolated from various myths, all link to a figure in black terminator armor leading this force. Duranz.

So where does Fulton appear?

He seems to take over in the thirty seventh year of Gigantes, when the warband staged a truly ambitious raid on Beypore. Beypore had been a Dark Age of Technology breaking planet, hulks and hulls dotted the surface of the planet while in orbit, a ruined space station once used extracted metals and equipment to make new ships. For more than a thousand years the Mechanicus attempted to revive as many hulks as possible from the planet and in addition, finish (albeit with to the more primitive modern standard) the ancient Gloriana-class battleship still half complete in the scaffolding. When Gigantes struck, the ship (dubbed Machine God's Might) had only just launched after more than several hundred years of repair and rework (it was finished in parallel with the conversion of Beypore into a forge world as hulks slowly rose from the planet's surface). In the attack on Beypore, Duranz apparently promised the Gods of Chaos the Machine God's Might, a valuable prize and one he almost acquired. Instead, it appears though he failed, Duranz and his squad of black terminators initiated a telaport to the Might, and were never seen again.

All this is based on second hand accounts mind you, for the Lords of Rust hold the Beypore in near religious reverence. According to them, during this battle, Fulton just so happened to teleport a large group of marines to the bridge of an Apocalypse-Class Battleship (another relic wrestled from Beypore) dubbed His Mighty Resplendence, captured the rare ship and fled towards the Naraka Rift. Now christened Terminix End this ship appears to have not been taken to the realm of Sethlans, bur rather was kept by the Lords of Rust and used for more attacks. However, after this aquisition, the warband seems to have encountered what can only be described as a permanent state of bad luck. The Portent was destroyed during the Attack on Kenshiro, and while it did nearly destroy the Steel Dragons, were it not for an Eldar device taken by the warband that disabled the bionics of the Dragons, their attack would have been more costly than it ended up being. Through the sacrifices of the Salamanders Sixth Company, the Portent was destroyed and large portion of the warbands equipment was lost along with it, in addition to many marines.

Since then, the band only makes periodic attacks and have spouted more mutations than previously recorded. In addition their tactics lack sophistication and for all their obsession with modifying their weapons and creating new chaos engines (efforts lead by the triumvirate leadership). this has caused their quality in both marine skill and equipment to plummet, yet their go about their lives with even more zeal than before. Why this is is still unnwon..."

CLOSE RECORD...

Servo Skull Recording

"Interogation of Subject D continues...Ralthier reporting.

​R (inquisitor) "Tell me again, why it is they fail?

D (subject D) "Those fools! A dark pact had been made for the Might, prayers invoked, promises made to the powers of the Warp. The Might was to be a capstone, a fine ship to lead a finer force upon a new crusade to the topple the Corpse Emperor an.AHHHHHHHHHHH" *electricity crackles*

R: "So your saying that your own gods cursed a group trying to get them equipment?"

D: "Fulton, that bastard. Had he given that damn ship over they might have earned forgiveness, but instead he kept it, thinking himself above such a thing."

R: "How so, how are they cursed?" *electricity crackles once more*

D: "Lord Khorne spit on sorcerers, and by supplanting a mighty warrior with trickery, he infused a bloodlust in them, their sense of tactics leave them behind. Nurgle inflicts more mutations and changes, non-useful, all painful, the fools are too dumbed down by Tzeentch to see though, he siphons away their high though process, each piece of equipment they make is less piece, each chaos engine a little less well crafted or forged than before. Slaanesh gave them an obsession to make ever finer and craftier equipment, but with the curse of Tzeentch each weapon looses more and more of its self, duller so to say.. *Electricity crackles*

R: Then why? Why stay. I can buy them being unaware, but why stay in Itano for all these thousands of years?

D: Fulton....His grand plan. "Why raid?" he said "Why raid where there are three masterful forge worlds in this sector, on the edge of the rotten empire?" Hehehehehehehe *electricity crackles*

R: "Come on speak! I know you hate his as much as we do, SPEAK!"

D: "You know nothing of hate! That little weasel stole everything from ME! AND FOR WHAT?!? His fool plan? It'll never work, not with the Gods angered at him. You want to know his plan, look to the Naraka Rift! A point of weakness between the Warp and here, enough energy, enough suffering. Enough something, or anything and Fulton hopes it'll become a full opening to the Warp like the Eye of Terror, taking this whole sector and your previous forge worlds with it! With their factories, more engines of our lords could be made *electricity crackled* AND WE COULD....SLAUGHTER....MORE.....OF..........YOU...........PATHETIC..................WOOOOOORRRRRMMMMMSSSSSS!"

END RECORDING