|
This article, Dark Vultures, was written by Algrim Whitefang. Please do not edit or 'acquire' this fiction without the writer's permission. |
|
This article, Dark Vultures, is currently under active construction. The author, Algrim Whitefang, apologizes for the inconvenience. |
The Dark Vultures, or 'Tenebris Vulturis', are a formidable Chaos Warband of ill-repute. They were once Astartes of the Gore Vultures - a brutal and unforgiving Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes created during the 8th Founding from the lineage of the angelic Primarch Sanguinius. Relentless and savage, the Gore Vultures quickly garnered a reputation as a ferocious and merciless Chapter. A fleet-based Chapter, the Gore Vultures fell upon recalcitrant worlds that had forsaken their oaths of fidelity to the Emperor. Without warning, the Chapter fell upon their enemies like a tsunami, utterly annihilating everything in their path.
Rumours soon began to circulate of these gore-spattered Astartes stalking the battlefield to devour the bodies of the fallen after a battle as a final mark of disrespect for their weakness. The Gore Vultures committed so many excesses in the Emperor's name that by the latter years of the 35th Millennium onwards, this Chapter all but disappeared from official Imperial records. Unknown to the wider Imperium, the following account is only known at the highest levels of the Imperium's main ruling body, and even then, only barely a half dozen or so individuals know the whole truth.
Unable to ignore the atrocities committed by this Chapter the High Lords of Terra eventually declared the Gore Vultures Renegades and cast them out from the light of the Emperor's realm. Despite this edict, the Chapter refused to acquiesce to the High Twelve's declaration.
For a time, the Gore Vultures still considered themselves to be loyal servants to the Emperor of Mankind, if not to His Imperium. However, over time, this renegade Chapter was forced to take drastic measures to ensure their survival. Unable to receive succour from their former Adeptus Mechanicus allies, the Chapter's vehicles and equipment soon fell into a deplorable state. This forced the Gore Vultures to attack Imperial shipping and Mechanicus outposts. However, reports of this Renegade Chapter's actions soon reached the ears of the High Twelve, they dispatched an Imperial retribution force comprised of three Loyalist Chapters to seek out and annihilate the renegade Gore Vultures. Driven to the edge of the known galaxy, the Chapter was forced to seek refuge within the hellish warp rift known as the Eye of Terror. Entering the rift, the Gore Vultures disappeared from Imperial history. The truth of the Gore Vultures' ultimate fate remains unknown to the wider Imperium.
It is unknown what the Gore Vultures endured during their sojourn into the Eye. Still, by the time they reemerged into the material realm millennia later, they had been wholly corrupted by the insidious influence of the Ruinous Powers and become the Chaos warband known as the Dark Vultures.
Since that bygone era, this vicious and brutal Chaos Warband has struck out from their dark home world and launched numerous bloody attacks against neighbouring Imperial star systems. They especially take pleasure in raiding the worlds of the Akeldama System, the demesne of their erstwhile Loyalist descendants, the Blood Vultures Chapter.
Warband History []
Brotherhood of Blood[]
- "They vilify our methods, yet nobody questions the results. We are the Great Angel's chosen scions, a tempered weapon of the Emperor Himself. Our enemies quake with fear even before we strike first blood. They will soon know it is a fear well-founded! Let them fear us. Let them fear what is left of their short future; let them pray for death. Brothers, we will answer those prayers!"
- — Warlord Teigon 'the Marauder', former commander of the Gore Vultures 3rd Company
Gore Vultures armorial with Chapter iconography (pre-heresy), circa M35.
Gore Vultures' original colour scheme during the Nova Terra Interregnum, circa M35.
Once, these Astartes were fiercely loyal to the Imperium, but eventually, they turned from the light of the Emperor and renounced their oaths to everything that they had once sworn to uphold. These Traitor Astartes were once members of the loyalist Gore Vultures - an Adeptus Astartes Chapter of ill-repute - that long bore a brutal reputation as being both bellicose and savage. The Gore Vultures were a ferocious and ravening force of berserkers that made war with reckless abandon and eschewed all contact with other Imperial military forces.
Created during the tumultuous era known as the Nova Terra Interregnum, when the Imperium was rife with internal conflict, a series of several linked Foundings occurred during this strife-ridden age. One such founding was the 8th Founding. The Chapters of this particular Founding came to be known for their proud martial traditions and bellicose temperament. These Chapters became battle-hardened and unforgiving as they were mostly founded due to the desperate need to stabilize the Imperium's borders. Thus, Chapters of these Foundings were often posted in, or near, volatile and dangerous areas that the Imperium felt needed more firepower and the swift retribution of the Adeptus Astartes, a task for which the Gore Vultures were eminently suited.
Operating as a fleet-based Chapter, the Gore Vultures deployed to the most dangerous war zones imaginable. However, like their ancient forebears, the 'Revenant Legion' of antiquity, the darker gifts these Space Marines possessed saw them hunting the fields of battle long after the fighting had ceased. The Astartes of this Chapter possessed an unquenchable need to seek out the finest among the fallen and feast upon their flesh and blood. Despite achieving many victories on behalf of the Imperium, these were marred by the sight of the blood-smeared Gore Vultures stalking the fallen and wounded champions of the enemy across the corpse-choked fields. Some companies even began incorporating bloody rituals into their battle doctrines, tearing apart the enemy on the field of battle or indulging in bloody feasts to break morale and set panic in the enemy's ranks.
Lost in the throes of slaughter the Gore Vultures often failed to recognise a battle's end. There are several accounts of the blood-maddened Chapter turning their weapons on their allies and even the humans they were supposed to protect. This ravenous force killed until nought remained except ash, bloodied ground and churned viscera. With each successive campaign, the dire reputation they garnered for themselves saw them shunned by their fellow Chapters of the Blood, who saw the Gore Vultures' barely restrained berserk fury and carnage they wrought during an Imperial campaign as unbecoming of true Sons of Sanguinius. Their genetic lineage most likely somehow played a role in the Chapter's barely controlled battle rage and desire to shun those they should call allies; possibly a result of some particular curse in their blood. Regardless, from the latter years of the 35th Millennium onwards, the Gore Vultures all but slipped from the Imperium's records, their bloody-handed deeds and battle honours purposely suppressed or expunged by a series of data purges and edicts.
Sojourn to Hell[]
Notable Campaigns of Infamy []
- The Ruination Heresy (Unknown Date.M37) - A millennium after their inception during the 13th Founding, the fate of the Blood Vultures' was irrevocably changed. The Chapter's homeworld of Regark was set upon a hitherto unknown Chaos warband at the height of the Blood Vultures's first millennial celebration of their inception. Two whole company-sized formations of Heretic Astartes proceeded to launch a lightning assault during the celebratory processional within Regark's capital city, slaughtering innocent civilians, visiting Imperial dignitaries and military commanders as well as dozens of Blood Vultures Battle-Brothers.
These Forces of Chaos were led by none other than the former Captain of the Gore Vultures' 3rd Company, known as Teigon 'the Marauder', a brutal and vicious Astartes known for his bellicose manner and savage, unforgiving mien. He, along with the rest of his Chapter, were the genetic forebears of the Blood Vultures. However, their many excesses led to them being declared renegades by the High Lords of Terra. They fled from the Imperium's wrath within the massive warp rift known as the Eye of Terror, disappearing from the annals of Imperial history. It is unknown what the Gore Vultures endured during their sojourn into the Eye. However, by the time they reemerged into the material realm a millennium later, they had been wholly corrupted by the insidious influence of the Ruinous Powers and become the Chaos warband known as the Dark Vultures. Without preamble, the corrupted brethren proceeded to wreak as much havoc and bloodshed as they could before their loyalist brethren were finally able to counter-attack and drive their corrupted brethren away from the civilian population.
As the Heretic Astartes attacked the planet's capital, luring the bulk of the Chapter away from their fortress-monastery, simultaneously, a Chaos strike force infiltrated and disabled the fortress-monastery's void shields and launched a determined assault that neutralised the fortress' power network and its automated defences. As the majority of the Chapter was taking part in the celebration, the fortress-monastery was only protected by a single company of Blood Vultures Astartes and a skeleton force of human auxiliaries. Despite their stubborn defence, the Blood Vultures were eventually overwhelmed by a large number of daemons summoned by a small cabal of Chaos Sorcerers. The daemons slaughtered a large number of the defenders and managed to fight their way to the heart of the fortress-monastery, where the Chapter's Apothecarion lay. The attack on the capital had merely been a distraction, as the true goal of the Chaos Warband was to pillage the Blood Vultures' gene-seed repository.
Plundering the Apothecarion's gene-seed vaults, this attack led to the loss of nearly half of the Blood Vultures' stockpile of precious genetic material. This devastating loss would set back the Chapter's ability to be an active force for several centuries until they were able to replenish their ranks and raise their numbers to an acceptable level.
In the ensuing internecine conflict, half of the planet's capital city would be utterly destroyed during the fierce conflagration. Though the Blood Vultures managed to kill half of the corrupted Astartes, Teigon and his remaining followers managed to effect their escape by utilising teleport-homing devices to teleport aboard one of the warband's strike cruisers in orbit. Before they fled the wrath of the erstwhile Chapter, the traitorous Astartes performed one last act of spite, and launched a devastating orbital bombardment, destroying the Planetary Governor's palace, and causing the deaths of thousands of innocents. They then made their way towards the nearest Mandeville point and fled into the Warp. Since that time, the Blood Vultures have sworn a blood-oath to see the Dark Vultures warband utterly destroyed, a debt which has yet to be paid. - The Vultures' Folly (829.M41) - When the imperial worlds of the Jarlaxis system were set upon without warning by a reaving Heretic Astartes warband, they left a trail of slaughter unseen for millennia. World after world fell to these ravaging Astartes, as they slaughtered their way through planetary defence forces with ease, and then proceeded to execute the doomed world's population, leaving bloody abattoirs in their wake. The few vid-captures obtained by agents of the Inquisition showed what appeared to be Astartes of some unrecognisable Space Marine Chapter. However, the grainy vid-logs revealed that many of these transhuman warriors were twisted and corrupted by the powers of Chaos. They wore sable and dark crimson-coloured armour that bore the symbol of a large bloodied carrion-eating vulture emblazoned upon their pauldrons - these Heretic Astartes were none other than the infamous Dark Vultures Chaos warband which had not been seen in centuries.
When word reached Regark, the Blood Vultures Chapter deployed in full, intent on wiping out their mortal enemies once and for all. For several months the Chaos Warband continued their slaughter unabated, prowling Imperial shipping lanes or invading backwater worlds, it mattered not. Whenever the Dark Vultures appeared, they brought with them red ruin. Pursuing the Heretic Astartes relentlessly, the warband always managed to stay one step ahead of their enemies. Finally, the Blood Vultures Librarians discovered their foe's whereabouts upon the civilised world of Kardax. The Chapter fleet bludgeoned its way through the Chaos fleet located on the outskirts of the system on a direct course for their target world. Caring nothing for secondary targets the Blood Vultures attacked the besieged world, immediately taking the fight to the planet's surface.
As the Chapter's battle barges unleashed a hurricane of supporting fire, Blood Master Haron Thas descended through the fire and ash to the surface in his assault barque Vulturis Irae. The barque smashed into the upper structures of the primary hive-capital causing a massive hive quake. The Blood Vultures then proceeded to launch a massive wave of drop pods and gunships in the barque's wake, descending to the surface like a force of nature. Death had come to Kardax, with the Blood Master at the head of 1,000 crimson-clad Astartes in his wake. Slowly and methodically, the Blood Vultures proceeded to kill anyone that took up arms against them - both Heretic Astartes or Chaos Cultists - it mattered not. The Blood Vultures fought tooth and nail to save the Imperial planet from the foul renegades who befouled it with their presence. Street by street, building-by-building, the Blood Vultures fought their hated foes with righteous indignation - both sides receiving no quarter from the other. The resultant slaughter was on an unimaginable scale as tens of thousands of civilians died in the crossfire between the two opposing sides.
Sensing their inevitable defeat, the Dark Vultures' Chaos Lord, Teigon 'the Marauder', enacted one last act of spite. He ordered his warriors to sabotage the ancient geothermal reactors which powered the world's hive cities and fed its hungry planetary defence batteries with energy, resulting in a cascading effect that saw massive tectonic upheaval on a planetary scale. As the world's various hive cities began to quake and their towers began to topple over, the Dark Vultures withdrew in the wake of the resulting chaos. The Blood Vultures attempted to evacuate as many civilians as possible, however, it was all for nought as the Imperial world was doomed. Though the Blood Vultures had struck a mortal blow against their lifelong enemies, their anger had blinded them to the larger picture, resulting in the death of millions of innocents. They swore a terrible oath that they would not rest until every last one of their erstwhile dark kin was hunted to the ends of the galaxy, and slaughtered to a man.
Warband Home World []
Warband Combat Doctrine []
Warband Gene-Seed []
Notable Dark Vultures []
Warband Fleet []
Warband Appearance []
Warband Colours[]
Pre-Heresy[]
In their former iteration as the Gore Vultures, the Astartes of this Chapter primarily wore black coloured power armour as their primary colour. The secondary colour was light red, the colour of arterial blood. This included the helmet vent, both shoulder pauldron insets and the right poleyn (knee guard). A large black-coloured Gothic numeral stencilled on the right poleyn designated a Battle-Brother's squad assignment.
A small light-recoloured squad specialty symbol stencilled on the left poleyn indicated a Battle-Brother's assigned battlefield role (Fire Support, Close Support, Battleline, Veteran or Command).
The Imperial Aquila or Imperialis affixed to their plastron (chest guard) was silver in colour.
Like their genetic forebears, the Gore Vultures also utilised a similar heraldic system which allowed them to recognise what company any battle-brother belonged to at a glance. Instead of using the standard Codex-compliant symbols to show company assignment the Gore Vultures utilised symbols on their right shoulder pauldron inset instead of different coloured trim and Imperial Gothic numerals. The following is a list of how each company represented itself:
- 1st Company (Veteran): A white avian skull over a light red background on the right armorial inset. When Tactical Dreadnought (Terminator) Armour was worn, the left armorial showed the 1st Company's specific heraldry, the right shoulder pauldron proudly displaying the Chapter's badge.
- 2nd Company (Battle): A single yellow blood drop.
- 3rd Company (Battle): A single white blood drop.
- 4th Company (Battle): A single green blood drop.
- 5th Company (Battle): A single black blood drop.
- 6th Company (Reserve Tactical): Twin yellow blood drops, side by side.
- 7th Company (Reserve Tactical): Twin white blood drops, side by side.
- 8th Company (Reserve Assault): Twin green blood drops, side by side.
- 9th Company (Reserve Devastator): Twin black blood drops, side by side.
- 10th Company (Scout Marines): The Gore Vultures' Scout Company wore a black avian skull on the right shoulder plate, and the Chapter badge on the left.
Grim Trophies[]
One of the more brutal traditions of the Gore Vultures was the practice of habitually wearing totem-relics of significant enemies upon their battle-plate. They were also known to adorn their armour and vehicles with the bones, skulls, and sometimes flayed skins of those who had resisted the rule of the Imperium - a psychological ploy utilised by the Gore Vultures to great effect. These grisly displays sent a clear message to those yet to be punished that a similar fate awaited them.
Post-Heresy[]
Following their fall to the Ruinous Powers the surviving Gore Vultures shed their old name and past livery, adopting a dark black colour scheme, with portions of their battle-plate being re-painted with a darker red colour - the colour of congealed blood. Even before they fell to Chaos, the Dark Vultures adorned their armour with the imagery of death. They knew fear was an invaluable tool, as effective as any chainaxe or bolter. It is quite common to see the Heretic Astartes of this warband adorned with an assortment of grisly trophies including skulls, human bones and flayed skins of their victims. Avian skull faceplates are laid over or even sorcerously melded into helmets. Their greaves often have femurs inlaid upon them, splayed ribcages adorn plastrons, and even compacted ground bonemeal is used to trim their shoulder guards.
Warband Badge[]
Pre-Heresy[]
The Gore Vultures Chapter icon was a large black vulture clutching the remnants of its victim within its talons, while it's beak dripped with the stripped meat of their fallen foes. This central symbol was prominently displayed upon a field of light aertial red.
Post-Heresy[]
After becoming willing servants of the Dark Gods, the newly reformed warband adopted a new symbol befiting their status as willing followers of Chaos, which took the form of a large, vicious-looking rotting vulture who is rapidly decomposing.
Relations []
Allies[]
Enemies[]
| Blood Vultures |  |
Quotes []
By the Dark Vultures[]
About the Dark Vultures[]
| Eighth Founding Space Marine Chapters | |
|---|---|
| Dark Angels Successors | Black Reapers • Ebon Angels • |
| White Scars Successors | Desert Hawks • Destroyers of Worlds • Marauding Eagles • Rising Sons • |
| Space Wolves Successors | N/A |
| Imperial Fists Successors | Ash Scorpions • Bears of Kalum • Crusaders Inexorable • Sable Lions • Thunder Guardians |
| Blood Angels Successors | Great Bears • Immortals • Sanguinary Accipiters • |
| Iron Hands Successors | • |
| Ultramarines Successors | Bronze Bastion • |
| Salamanders Successors | • |
| Raven Guard Successors | Crow Stalkers • Illuminators • |
| Unknown Lineage | Exalted Paladins • |
| Renegades | Bloody Hymn • Dionysus Revelers • Gore Vultures • Verum Illuminate • |
Gallery []
