Warhammer 40K Loremaster: Know Your Chaos Sorcerors
Today Loremasters we will examine a handful of infamous Traitor Legion Sorcerers. How the mighty have fallen in their pursuit of ultimate power!
Chaos Sorcerers are Space Marine Psykers who choose to follow Chaos. Their loyalist counterparts are Librarians.
The first Chaos Sorcerers emerged from the ranks of the Thousand Sons before and during the Horus Heresy. Some of these Sorcerers were exiled after the Rubric of Ahriman was cast and they now sell their services in exchange for sacrifices or the chance to hunt down arcane lore. Only the World Eaters destroyed their Sorcerers, Khorne having no interest in sorcery. If a Librarian overreaches himself and draws on too much psychic energy he may be granted visions of immortality and whispered promises of power.
Most Sorcerers are granted gifts by their god, which further enhance their psychic powers. They are also often selfish madmen, believing themselves superior to all others and on a mighty quest for power and knowledge to increase their mental fortitude and develop new ways of using their powers. Often the visions given to Sorcerers are unattainable, subsequently driving them to extremes in their desire to achieve these goals.
In addition to the Chaos Psychic Powers they can call upon, certain powerful sorcerers are able to wield Force Weapons.
Some Infamous Chaos Sorcerers
Manat – Thousand Sons
Manat is a Thousand Sons Exalted Sorcerer of the Cult of Time, who commands a Space Hulk as his personal vessel.
When his Space Hulk appeared in the western fringe of the Segmentum Solar in M41, it was boarded by the Imperial Fists Chapter‘s Anvil of Dorn strike force. Led by Captain Dantarian, the strike force made their way through the Space Hulk’s mutating corridors and Manat dies at the Captain’s hands. However the Sorcerer’s death causes a crack of aetheric power and Dantarian’s strike force find themselves back on their Strike Cruiser, preparing to board Manat’s Space Hulk as though for the first time. Only an unquiet flicker buried deep within each Imperial Fists’ psyche suggests they have done this before, and none can determine why they seem to have sustained so many casualties before even engaging the enemy. Nonetheless the strike force boards Manat’s Space Hulk again and then proceed to battle Sorcerer seven more times. Each attempt ends the same way though, as Manat’s death always transports the Imperial Fists back to the moment before they boarded the Sorcerer’s Space Hulk. The strike force suffers losses on each attempt and on the ninth boarding attack, only Captain Dantarian remains to confront the Sorcerer to be killed by a laughing Manat.
Ygethmor – Black Legion
Ygethmor the Deceiver is the Sorcerer Lord of the Black Legion and Chosen of Abaddon.
Ygethmor been a bane to the Imperium for hundreds of years and was last seen during the Medusa V campaign. He is a high priority threat to the Imperium due to his mastery of warp powers, and is known to have caused two Systems, Corrialis and Galafonte, and almost the totality of the population, to rebel against the Imperium and declare allegiance to Chaos. It has since been decided that these two systems were both experiments for Ygethmor in preparation for Medusa V.
During the 13th Black Crusade, at least seven Officio Assassinorum agents were dispatched to destroy Ygethmor but none succeeded. In surveillance images, Ygethmor appears to have four eyes arranged in a rather daemonic-like way. He appears also to have a permanent ship named the Blade of Damnation, known since before the Karkass incident. The Blade of Damnation is a Repulsive Class Grand Cruiser but boasts colossal fire power and much greater accuracy than a ship of its size should have. One Admiral Helsten claims that The Blade of Damnation is possessed by some form of Daemonic entity, although this is almost impossible to prove. Given Abaddon’s past history with machine/daemonic integration, the possibility should not be discounted. The ship also took part in the Battle of Horen’s Belt, where a pict-capture was successfully acquired. In a final show of the nature of chaos, the commanders of the Black Companies sent by Abaddon had very specific orders concerning the fate of Ygethmor; he was to be given any assistance needed, but if he failed, they were not to bring the sorcerer back with them.
Ultimately it became apparent that Ygethmor intended to ascend to Daemonhood, planning to sacrifice Medusa V itself as an offering to the Ruinous Powers. However he was foiled by the Eldar Elarique Swiftblade, who decapitated the Sorcerer before being killed in turn.
Necrosius – Death Guard
Necrosius is a Sorcerer of Nurgle and the leader of the Apostles of Contagion.
Once an Apothecary in the Death Guard Space Marine Legion whose true name has long been purged from all records, when the Legion’s fleet was lost in the Warp and invaded by the agonizing diseases of the Chaos God Nurgle, Necrosius eventually turned to the Plague God himself for salvation along with most of his Legion. Embracing the service of his new God, Necrosius cast aside his past role as a healer and gave himself to the pursuit of Daemonic sorcery. With the zealous conviction of a true convert, Necrosius quickly gathered a following among others in the Death Guard and these disciples became the first Apostles of Contagion.
Soon, Necrosius and his Apostles parted ways with the Death Guard and went on their own, spreading disease and walking death wherever they went, heedless to whom they brought their blighted ‘gifts’, be they servants of the Emperor or followers of the Gods of Chaos. As a result, he and his Apostles have made many enemies. They have participated in atrocities in the millennia since the Horus Heresy. Supposedly dispatched by both Imperial assassins and rival Chaos Space Marines such as the Sorcerer Ahriman, Necrosius has survived each ordeal and reemerged, earning him the nickname “the Undying”.
Gharros – Iron Warriors
Sometime after the formation of the Great Rift, Gharros led his Warband in constructing the fortress Indomitasmium on the Death World Toros. However Toros was in the flight path of the Craftworld Iyanden and the fortress was soon attacked by the Masque of the Silent Shroud, in what became known as the Siege of Terror. The attack lasted several weeks and shattered Gharros’s Warband, though the Silent Shroud vanished instead of finishing off the weakened Warband. Their disappearance caused Gharros to feel a spark of hope for his survival, but this was extinguished when the forces of Craftworld Iyanden then invaded Toros and easily killed the Sorcerer and what remained of his Warband.
X’hal Urus – Word Bearers
X’hal Urus was a Word Bearer Sorcerer who led the Lords of Desolation warband. An ancient Chaos Space Marine, his warband had burned a thousand worlds in attacks against the Imperium. As Urus and his warband attacked the world of Sepharis Ultra, they were surprised by the Black Templars landing in drop pods amongst them. In the ensuing battle the Emperor’s Champion Reinhart struck Urus down, while he stabbed and killed the Champion in return. With his death, the daemons allied with him were returned back to the warp, allowing the Black Templars to achieve victory and destroy the Lords of Desolation.
Learn of More Famed Chaos Sorcerers
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