First Acolyte Ephitas

"We are pure through our damnation, clean through our filth. We have seen the darkness and allowed it inside and so we know that hell is nothing to be feared. Follow me brothers unto the gates of war, follow me unto the Cataclysm, and let only the strong stand before our Lord."

Origin
Monarchia... That was where everything changed.

Knelt there, in the ashes of our greatest achievement, the eyes of He who we revered as a divine being burning into our souls. His "Favoured Sons" surrounding us, pride and self righteous virtue seeping from their being in such force it was almost palpable even by those of us not gifted with Psychic ability.

Smoke billowed from the funeral pyre that had once been the perfect representation of the Emperor's divinity and of the holy right of the Imperium to dominate the galaxy. On his knees, chastised and shamed by his father, knelt the greatest being I have ever come to know in the galaxy.

Lorgar. The Urizen. Father of my Legion. While we may have been the Bearers of the Word, it was He who wrote the pages. Lorgar was the might of Faith made physical. His belief in the Sacred nature of the Emperor and his fledgling Imperium had been enough to sway whole civilizations to join the greatest empire in human history without needing to fire a single shot. His faith was so strong that it even began to spread through the rest of the Imperial forces bringing the Galaxy to heal. One of Lorgar's early works, the Lectitio Divinatus, the sacred text that would one day form the basis for the Imperium's false Eclesiarch, had already begun to spread among the far flung expeditionary fleets. In darkened chambers, in hushed whispers, men and women of the Imperium begun to share the view of the Urizen.

The irony that the text the Emperor himself disregarded out of hand leading to the establishment of the religous arm of the Imperium, the rotting edifice that it is, has never been lost to my brothers and I. It, however, does not lesson our disgust for it.

After the burning of Monarchia the Legion felt directionless. That is, until Lorgar declared the Pilgrimage. The legion was divided, and scattered amongst the stars. The the rest of the Crusade, it seemed we had learnt our lesson and were following our new mandate. In truth, we scoured the heavens to find any trace or connection between the distant and far flung religions of the isolated civilizations throughout the Galaxy.

Eventually, word from the Urizen reached our ears. He had found that which he had been seeking. Truth. When the Legion was finally reunited with our father, the truth of the Universe was revealed to us. Much of what we were told rang familiar of the old faith of Colchis which Lorgar, in his misplaced dedication to his Flase-god father,had wiped from the planet. There were those of us, however, who still remembered the words. The comfort and feeling of empowerment they often brought to us in our mortal youths.

The rest, as you mortals are so fond of saying, is history... Members of the chapters were spread amongst the fleets of our brothers in the other legions, to slowly lay the seeds of descent and disloyalty to the Emperor.

It started with the Lodges. Places where brothers were supposedly, equal with no rank or hierarchy to interfere with the truest bonds of brotherhood. The idea in truth was to reintroduce elements of spiritualism to the brothers who were previously so dogmatically tether to the so called "Imperial Truth", and to lay the foundation for larger rebellions against the Imperium.

It culminated, as you might expect, with Horus.

The so called "Warmaster" was key. The Gods of the Immatrium needed a champion. A figurehead the legions could follow against their treacherous Emperor, and who better than the very Primarch the Corpse-God had chosen to replace him as the leader of the Crusade he returned to Terra to tinker in shadow and secret.

I remember well the events of the Heresy. The drop site massacre still fills my half sleep with recollections of joy and pride.

Seeing the brothers we failed to free from their slavery to a false ideal falling before us. In all my long years, I don't think I ever saw as many of my brothers fall in a single moment as when we received the order to fire on the Loyalists in the killing field. There Astartes trained minds took only a moment to realise what was happening. Although I like to imagine that their souls have spent the long centuries since still trying to come to terms with it. The slaughter was exquisite. Our former brothers dropped by the dozens every second.

The Shadow Crusade. The burning of the 500 worlds. Now that was an interesting campaign. Fighting beside our liege and master against the very brothers who has brought low our greatest accomplishment was sweet nourishment to my soul. It was a great disappointment we could not conjure the Ruinstorm, but it was not a total loss. We had purged those from the Legion who could not overcome their hatred for the Ultramarines. The new order has no use for those who lack the control and foresight to not properly serve the Urizen and the Gods.

The siege of Terra. Now that was the battle that defined the fate of the galaxy for millennia to come. Such a shame that Horus was foolish enough to fall that day, as now the Galaxy rots. Stagnant and crushed beneath the oppression of the Corpse-Imperium. The Empire that does not know it is already dead.

But one day soon, we shall remedy that...

But first I have a more personal issue to overcome. I have been First Acolyte for far too long. My Apostle knows now that I have outgrown him, or perhaps he does know and fears I would overshadow him if let loose. Either way, it matters little. I have a plan...

If he will not give me what is rightfully mine I will take it by force. I will spread the Word of Chaos across the Galaxy until not even the Dark Council can deny my worthiness. When the time comes that Warp-Blessed Lorgar chooses to return to us, to finish what he began millennia ago, he will find myself and my host waiting eager to receive him, to bring low the empire of lies that is the Imperium.

But for now, the Dark Creed awaits...

Raid at Griffon Station:
Liberating the Dark Creed from the Word Bearers had been a taxing ordeal, for both the Astartes who took her and the ship itself. Battered, low in supplies and desperate for a break in their fortune, the new crew of the Creed made made there way to the Calixis sector. They encountered the Griffon Station watch post and thought it a soft target to "acquire some supplies".

Upon arrival it became clear that things were not as simple as they hoped. The station was infested with some xenos filth. Four armed chitinous creatures with claws that would rend through their armour like simple Flax beneath a chainsword. Making their way to the bowels of the station to try and find a key to the vault, apparently kept in the possession of a Storm Warden's Seargent stationed at the outpost. The body of the Seargent was found, but the key could not be retrieved until the most vicious of the creatures was dispatched.

With the death of the Broodlord, the vault was within reach. A tech priest the Chaos Marines had "acquired" informed them the alarms would sound as the vault was accessed. A brutal combat broke out while waves of the aliens assaulted their held position whilst Ephitas took the supplies they desired from the seperate vault chambers.

After sealing the vault and ending the alarm, contact was regained with the Dark Creed. Captain Red informed them that Imperial vessels were close and they needed to vacate the area as soon as possible. After the Creed's slave crew had gathered the supply the Creed retreated and broke through the walls of the Warp and towards the relative safety of the Coronus Expanse.

The Slaugth Situation:
After making their getaway from Griffon Station they arrived in the Coronus Expanse, and were met by a man who went by the name of Castor. He claimed that a local group, the Amaranthine Syndicate, had placed a bounty on the Dark Creed and her crew. However, he also added that a local band of pirates wished to make a deal with Ephitas and his new companions.

The band of Renegades and Traitors thought it best to avoid adding another group to their already impressive list of enemies, and elected to go with Castor to investigate this "deal".

Upon arrival at the meeting location it became apparent that no deal had actually ever been offered, and that Castor had not been entirely truthful with the group. Alarms blared as Castor seized something from the pirates, led by the Slaugth aliens. The group narrowly avoided another grizzly death, battling through the Slaugth even as their weapons dissolved in their hands.

Boarding torpedoes of a sort were fired into the Dark Creed as she attempted to make her escape, both greatly outnumbered and outgunned in this current engagement. The marines were forced to dispatch another Slaugth while the Creed maneuvered towards a point of escape. As the Slaugth was finally felled, the Creed opened a door into the Warp, ripping apart another ship that blocked their path in the progress.

Whilst in the Warp, the Marines expressed their displeasure towards Castor. In response, the man claimed that a contact of his wound repair the currently extensive damage to the Dark Creed. This contact was Lord-Commander Cain, currently leading the war for independence from the Imperium in the Malfian Sub-sector.

The Malfian Malaise:
Arriving in the Malfian system, the Dark Creed ripped into a naval war-zone. Both Imperial and Malfian fleets plied the lanes above the world. To the surprise of all aboard neither side seemed to exchanging any fire, they simple drifted through orbit.

After drifting between the two forces towards the planet, the Creed was hailed from the surface of Malfi. The voice of Lord-Commander Cain filtered through the speakers of the bridge requesting that the Marines descend to the surface of the world and help turn the tide of the battle. Specifically he requested they "make an entrance".

Ephitas and his allies climbed into one of there few functioning drop pods and rocketed towards the surface. The projectile impacted into the surface in a deafening crash, spraying dust and the blood of those pulverized beneath in all directions. Mortal soldiers of the Imperium fell before the First Acolyte and his allies. It was however, not just mortals taking part in this battle.

Striding through the carnage was a figure resplendent in Gun-metal grey. One of the Imperium Daemon hunters, a Grey Knight. Eager to bring low one of the greatest affronts to his faith, Ephitas engaged the heathen. In a concentrated effort between himself and a number of his allies, the warrior was brought low.

The celebrations were brought low as an Imperial super heavy, a baneblade, appeared through the smoke and the screams. The prospect of facing down such a foe was even more daunting than the grey knight. Luckily, that task did not fall to Ephitas.

From a bank of smoke came thunderous footfalls. Emerging was a glorious figure, a Knight. A towering monument to destruction. In the blink of an eye the tank was vaporised. At this, the battle was won. The Imperials routed the Astartes regrouped and finally met their potential benefactor, Lord-Commander Cain. However, before introductions could be made a new player made themselves known.

Seeming to appear from nowhere, a robed and hooded figure materialised. Wrath-like, seemingly made of mist thought and possibilities. The man, who would later be named as Jericho, appeared and started to level threats and cryptic promises towards the First Acolyte and his associates.

After the end of the festivities in the battlefield, Lord-Commander Cain brought them into his city and made them comfortable with accommodation and a fairly large feast. It was here, in the presence once again of Castor, that Cain agreed to repair the damages to the ''Dark Creed. ''That was not all however.

Lord-Commander Cain made an offer. More or less if they went to a planet, the seed-world, and retrieve some information regarding the bloodline of the Lord-Commander and his family. In return, more or less, he would owe them one. Of course they would not be going alone. Cain would send his son, Marduk, and his elite troops the Shattered Lords to accompany them. Marduk knew what they needed, and Cain wanted some assurance the job would be completed.

Whilst traveling through the warp to their destination, Ephitas was blessed. In his dreams he shard a communion with his father, the blessed Aurelian, speaking to him through the Book of Lorgar. He received visions of a great Daemon, Ishmahael, trapped. If he were to free him, great boons could be earned.

Once arriving at the Seed-world it was a short but highly eventful expedition. The perimeter to the complex was quickly secured by the shattered lords and the Astartes made their entry to the compound. In the entrance chamber the Marines encountered a group of Inquisitorial storm troopers, who were quickly dispatched. The group then split their numbers to secure the top floor before descending.

Ephitas, joined by Artemis, secured a barracks filled with additional stormtroopers and a security station. Beyond the security station was a vault containing any of the stations contraband. Within the collection, Ephitas and Artemis found some vials of Phosphex, a highly dangerous substance that dissolves living matter into a highly flammable gas.

After securing the materials, Ephitas and Artemis rejoined the others in the main chamber. From the stories they told, Ephitas had managed to avoid the most dangerous of the foes on this level, and for that he praised the machinations of Tzeentch.

The group was made aware by one of the parties that an area of this floor was yet to be cleared. In no mood to be am bushed either while completing their task or attempting to leave, the Astartes made to clear the area. Upon breaching the chamber, the encountered a Deathwatch kill team. A short but brutal confrontation broke out, ending with all spare one of the loyalist marines dead at the feat of the traitors.

They descended. From where they were they could only reach the second level of the complex upon which they encountered no resistance. They could find no obvious way to descend. However, after examining a chamber they discovered a passage heading to a lower floor, although not before Ascher managed to blow his arm off in a booby-trapped pile of scrap.

Following the stairs down they found themselves staring in an enormous chamber; freezer banks lining both walls, a giant containment unit covered in eldritch wards and the barrels of 4 heavy autocannon turrets staring down at them. At the far end of the chamber stood a number of imperials, including what remained of the Deathwatch kill team, planting explosives on the freezer units.

The squad broke into the chamber and used the turrets themselves as cover while they filled the air with bolter fire. Round after round slammed into the rune encrusted chamber on the far side of the chamber and after a final shot it shattered.

Freed from his bindings the Greater Daemon of Chaos Undivided who had been trapped within, Ishmahael, broke free. With his eruption the imperials around his prison were all but incinerated. As he stepped forth the turrets burst into flames and the traitor marines dropped to their knees.

Stepping from behind his cover, Ephitas addressed the greater daemon. He asked for a portion of the daemon's true name. This was to act as a reward for freeing him, and a means to contact him again should they desire to do so. With this, the Daemon vanished.

After this, the group returned to the Dark Creed, Lord-Commander Cain's prize in the hands of Marduk, and made their way to return to Malfi. Upon their return they found the world in jubilant celebration. Once locating the Lord-Commander, the revelries seemed only to intensify.

Upon informing him of their success, Cain's mood towards the Astartes seemed to shift and Ephitas could tell something was amiss. He ascended to a podium, and in front of a grand ballroom full of guests began to berate and insult the marines before him. His sacrilegious condemnation of the Dark Gods tickled the ire of Ephitas and he would have struck him low had the world itself not started to tear itself apart.

Cain was engulfed in a beam of white light and the ground began to shake. The group sprinted for the thunderhawk that had brought them to the surface and made their way back to the Creed with all available speed. As the vessel turned to escape the death of the Planet the group saw the world swallow itself whole, after which a shockwave roared out and seemed to penetrate their very souls.

Artemis reached out his mind into the warp and found it sterile. The madness that was iconic of the Immaterium was absent, the writhing tides of madness and emotion now wiped away clean.

Gamble on the Graveworld:
Ever without invitation or welcome, Castor made contact with the marines to gather what they knew. After a brief exchange he informed them that he still intended to make his way into the Coronus Expanse, to complete his expedition to a long Dead Eldar Craftworld.

Castor has mentioned this before, whilst the Marines waited for the damages to the Creed to be repaired on Malfi. It had not been their intention to assist Castor with this task, at least not immediately, however recent events had left them somewhat shaken. Ephitas, in truth, saw this as a great opportunity. Castor had revealed his knowledge of a great weapon to the group, the Legendary sword World-Splitter, and Ephitas craved it greatly. If the legends were correct, this vessel was named for killing the very craft world they were about to embark towards.

It was at this point Castor revealed that he had made a deal with a Kabal of the Dark Eldar which allowed him to make use of their Webway, giving them safe passage through the tumultuous tides of the warp, a thing unheard of to all but that elusive Eldar themselves.

With few preparations left to be made the ships made their way towards the Graveworld. Their arrival was eventful. The Dark Creed emerged in what could only be described as a ship graveyard. Vessels from across time and space, both Imperial and alien in design, littered the orbit around the craft world. Many of the ships present defied logic or explanation, but nothing was harder to conceive than the sheer scale of their intended destination.

The craftworld lay before them, size beyond comprehension. After a brief scan of the surface the Cred began to receive a signal. Castor has survived the journey and his ship had arrived within the craftworld itself and broken through the writhbone hull. Castor and his men were already establishing a base camp by the time the marines arrived.

Some brief path-finding groups were sent out from the camp but most ended with little achieved. Ephitas, on one of his outings encountered a solitary Howling Banshee, a fact which displeased him considering this world was supposed to be uninhabited save for ghosts.

After dispatching the assailant, Ephitas returned to base camp to find out that a way inside the Craftworld proper had been located. He left the camp with some of his Astartes allies and a number of Shattered Lords support troops towards the point of access. The locations discoverer, the loathsome Ultramarine Tancred, informed the party of some form of threatening voice, promising to destroy any who attempted to enter the Craftworld.

Upon arrival the edifice lay silent, however when Tancred and Asher lay foot upon the first step the voice rang out declaring the coming deaths of the intruders. From the great teardrop crystal atop the structure one of the Eldar's ghost fueled constructs broke free and descended, a Wraithlord. A vicious battle broke out, the Xenos construct dealing great damage to the marines but failing to fell any before being brought low. Pinned beneath the prone construct Ephitas loosed a blast from a nearby Melta gun that burned a hole through the head of the construct and the Soul stone held within.

With it's guardian defeated the marines retreated to gather their absent allies and supplies. Once done, and giving a report to Marduk and Castor they returned to find the tear drop repaired. Eager to make progress and not intimidated by the return of the crystal they descended. Similar to what prompted the emergence of the writhlord, a voice spoke out. In stead of threats and thinly veiled whispers of an age long forgotten the voice spoke only of impending doom. As soon as the voice vanished a Psychic scream rippled across the entire Craftworld, which was soon to be identified as a call for help to all other Eldar across the galaxy.

Reports started to flood in. The base camp was under assault from an unknown number of assailants. Red aboard the Dark Creed reported that forty-eight Eldar vessels had translated into the orbit of the Craftworld. In no mood to engage the combined forces of an unknown number of Eldar Craftworlds, as well as their darker kin and the Exodites, the renegades descended into the vessel. Communications reaching them from the base camp did not give a positive impression of the status of the Shattered Lords.

After a short journey through the narrow passageways of the goliath vessel the group emerged into a large chamber, statues reminiscent of the Wraithlord lining the walls on large plinths. As the group entered the room they saw a solitary exit from the chamber, just as the statues awoke. The statues were in fact Wriathguard, a variant Eldar construct but wielding vicious warp-based heavy weaponry. Another brutal conflict broke out, but as in the same fashion as with the Wraithlord there were no casualties.

After dealing with the chambers guardians they proceeded down the only available passage.

Legends and Fables
Shattering of the Graveworld - In his quest for the legendary sword World-Splitter, Ephitas needed to strike a deal with a devil. In order to free the blade from it's wraithbone prison, Ephitas needed a thousand Eldar souls. However once finding the sword, embedded in the chamber housing the Graveworlds infinity circuit, he saw an opportunity. In his ritual to free the blade he offered up the souls of the entire circuit. The backlash of this unsettled the black hole which powered the vessel, which began to rip the vessel asunder.

Artefacts and Arcana
- World-splitter

Allies
Artemis - The Death Guard Plague Sorcerer, his abilities have proven his worth and Ephitas finds it refreshing to have another of the faithful among this group of malcontents and atheists. They are developing the closest thing to a friendship that can be born among such beings.

Vestan Ascher - "The Hydra's Talon". Ascher is most likely the most irritating Space Marine Ephitas has ever met. However, his skill with a blade is undeniable. Ephitas also finds great comfort in acting as Ascher's spiritual guide. It's good practice for when he ascends to hid rightful position as the Dark Apostle of his own Chapter. Ashcer, however, sometimes walks a thin line. There are only so many times Ephitas can forgive his affronts to the Gods. And if he calls him "nerd" one more Warp-blasted time....

Red - Captain of the Dark Creed. "ally" is definitely a stretch, especially considering he is technically a slave. However, Ephitas greatly respects his skills as a naval officer. He knows Red would love nothing more than to see him float through space, but he knows that (for the time being) he's not likely to be blasted out any airlocks.

Ultramarines Ephitas doesn't currently wish to kill
Tancred of Ultramar - Not only is this Great Crusade Era Ultramarine a constant reminder of the disgrace his Legion suffered at Monarchia, his stoic maltheism grates against Ephitas' nerves. One way or another though Ephitas will break him. What will be shattered first he wonders, his beliefs or his soul?

Ephitas also STRONGLY suspects Tancred released a Deathwatch Marine loose aboard the Dark Creed with the sole objective of killing Ephitas. As such, he is watching him very closely.

Enemies
Castor

Inquisitor Jericho

Lord-Commander Cain