Crusade Lore 1: Mourning and Retribution

INCOMING ASTROPATHIC TRANSMISSION

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+ + + + + + +TRANSMITTED: Black Templars Strike Cruiser Volsung, Calixis Sector
+ + + + + + + + +RECEIVED: Inquisitor Lord Valec, Ordo Hereticus
+ + + + + + +DESTINATION:  Scintilla, Calixis Sector
+ + + + +  + + + + + + DATE: 9.132.053.M42
+ + + + TELEPATHIC DUCT: Karina Aeshma, Personal Astropath to Inquisitor Elam Grest.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + REF: INQ//579256.63//OH
+ + + + + + + + + +AUTHOR: Inquisitor Elam Grest, Ordo Hereticus
+ + +  + + + + + + SUBJECT:  Investigation into heretical beliefs among the Black Templars of the Calixis Crusade
+ + + + + + + + + THOUGHT:  “All men are loyal. It is the object of their loyalty for which they are judged.”

Crusade Lore Part 1: Mourning and Retribution
Crusade Lore Part 2: Marshals and Martyrs
Crusade Lore Part 3: Iconoclasts and Deceivers
Crusade Lore Part 4: Into the Outer Dark
 

Greetings Master Valac,
I have news regarding my investigation into reported heretical beliefs among the Black Templars who have been observed in the Calixis Sector. They are operating from a single strike cruiser with the designation ‘Volsung.’ I have embedded my retinue among their crusade, and through fighting along side them, have gained a degree of rapport and trust with Marshal Gerhardt. As you will remember, this group of Black Templars has been reported by elements of the Ecclesiarchy to venerate their Emperor’s Champions to a degree bordering on worship. And they have also been reported to regard their former marshal Sigurd as a saint, a status which has not officially been conferred upon him by the Ecclesiarchy.

To accurately deliver my report, I must first recount a bit of the crusade’s history as it was told to me by their chaplains. In the year 999.M41, a Black Templars fleet was called to the Calixis sector, by an inquisitor who was rooting out elements of a chaos worshiping cult which originated on Fenksworld. The cult had begun to spread to the rest of the Josian Reach. The fleet was in orbit around a world called Valais IV, and a detachment lead by Marshal Sigurd, his personal Chaplain, and the Emperor’s Champion made planet fall. It was a show of force designed to intimidate the planetary governor into revealing the heretical elements that had infiltrated Valais IV’s government. Hostilities broke out and after some months of campaigning, the grounds of the governor’s palace were breached by the Black Templar forces. Upon entering the palace, it was discovered that the building was being defended by a unit of heretic astartes from the Word Bearer’s legion and the cult from Fenksworld evidently had been masterminded in secret by an as-yet-unknown Dark Apostle of that same accursed warband. The Black Templars had the Word Bearers outnumbered and surrounded and victory seemed inevitable.

It was at this time, many sectors away, that Cadia fell and the light of the Astronomicon went out. When the Great Rift tore across the galaxy, warp-spawned abominations broke into real space all over the planet. A story which was repeated on countless worlds across the entire Imperium of Man. Word Bearers and daemonic horrors poured into the governor’s palace lead by a foul sorcerer of chaos. A battle ensued between that sorcerer and the Emperor’s Champion which was recounted to me in great detail. Details which I will spare you for the time being. What is important is that the Emperor’s Champion fell that day. Marshall Sigurd and his Chaplain were grievously wounded while retrieving the body of the Champion and his Black Sword. Only a small fraction of the ground forces escaped to orbit, where they discovered that a Word Bearers fleet, lead by an ancient battlebarge called ‘Voidgazer’  had translated into the system and overwhelmed the Black Templars’ fleet. In the end, only one Black Templars ship survived, the strike cruiser Volsung. Aboard the strike cruiser, only the crusade’s 4th fighting company remained. Marshal Sigurd died of his wound and his personal Chaplain was interred in a dreadnought. Castellan Gerhardt was elevated to Marshal and immediately declared a crusade of vengeance against the Word Bearers of the ‘Voidgazer.’

By this point you must be wondering what relevance any of this has to my investigation. As mentioned, it has been reported that this particular band of Black Templars seems to venerate their Emperor’s Champions. When the Great Rift formed, the psychic shock killed all of the astropaths and navigators aboard the Volsung. The ship and its crew found themselves stranded and unable to navigate the warp safely. They have come to believe that their Emperor’s Champion is able to guide them through the warp as they hunt for the Voidgazer. I have been aboard the Volsung for months and on many occasions we have plunged blindly into the warp, guided only by the Champion’s visions- visions he believes are sent directly from the Emperor- only to emerge safely into realspace. The destination is never planned. Rather, they have faith that the Emperor will deliver them where ever they are most needed. And only when they have proven themselves worthy of His favor through holy combat and the persecution of His enemies, will He finally guide them to the Voidgazer and the vengeance they so crave.

Thus, it is my assessment that the loyalty and faith of the Calixis Crusade remains true to the Emperor and that their observed behaviors, while unorthodox, are not heretical. However, even the strongest  zeal can become misguided in times of desperation, should the faithful lose focus. Therefore it is my intention to remain aboard the Volsung indefinitely as an official attaché of the Ordo Hereticus to keep a watchful eye on the Black Templars of the Calixis Crusade, so that their faith never becomes misplaced.

In His Name,

Elam Grest, Inquisitor – Ordo Hereticus.

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