Adeptus Titanicus (1988) + Codex Titanicus (1989) + Titan Legions (1998) Chaos Lore

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Codex Titanicus (1989)​

FIR LIRITHION
(HEARTS ARMOURED FOR BATTLE)


The Fir Lirithion are regarded as the surgeons of the battlefield by most observers. They have fought many highly effective campaigns. such as the rout of a Company of Emperors Children on the Moon of Balthon: a strike force of Phantoms went deep into the Valley of Envy and destroyed the Traitors’ command centre. The leaderless and battered Marines were forced to withdraw to a savage feral world in the outer systems, where they were killed by a virulent plague that caused their Larraman's Organ to emit cells uncontrollably, terminally thickening their blood.

RACIAL DISASTER

The Eldar civilisation collapsed at its very height. Today, its remnants reflect, but cannot hope to equal, the achievements of that long past era. The Old Slann are said to have forewarned the Eldar about the dangers that they would face. They taught how every living thought and feeling creates an echo in the warp, and how likecharacteristics re-echo together, creating a unified circulating wave of energy. Such waves form vortices of pure energy manifesting a collective consciousness and will. The Slann called these conscious warp creatures the Powers of Chaos.



The Eldar fell victim to the monster created by their own racial inclinations: a Power of Chaos raised by their common ambitions and motives. As the Power grew stronger, its echos began to permeate the minds of the Eldar themselves, reinforcing the qualities upon which it fed and furthering its own growth. The natural ambitions and ideals of the Eldar, healthy enough in moderation, were soon reinforced to a point of obsession and insanity. Within a few generations the extremes of behaviour overthrew all other considerations and the whole civilisation fell into madness and decay. Only a few Eldar rebelled against the life of sybaritic ease now almost universal amongst their kind. These were the few that had heeded the warnings of the long vanished Old Slann, turning their minds away from their natural inclinations and towards the aversion of racial disaster. In order to escape the decaying civilisation around them, they constructed many vast spacecraft, self-contained worlds where they could live wholly untainted by the mass of their race. These craft worlds were the only portion of Eldar society to survive the fall of the Eldar race. All the living Eldar are the descendants of these brave and hardy people.

The fall of the Eldar is said to have happened in a single orgy of destruction, When the Power of Chaos finally achieved sufficient energy, it began to draw all Eldar consciousness to itself, literally draining the minds of the Eldar. Every Eldar world was emptied of life, and almost all of the race perished. The energies of the Eldar passed into the warp, and became the creature known as Slaanesh, the Power of Chaos given form by the dreams of the Eldar. This relationship is important to those Eldar who survived, because in Slaanesh they perceive the worst side of their race, the side of their character which caused their downfall and to which even the survivors are inclined.

THE INFINITY CIRCUIT

While the Old Slann taught the Eldar about the dangers of the warp, they also taught them about its many positive aspects. They taught how the mind of a living creature passes upon death into the warp, where it may, if the individual mind has achieved power, remain whole and immortal as a spirit in the warp. The Old Slann believed that the object of life was to perfect the mind, and thereby achieve conscious immortality as a spirit in the warp. Once created an immortal spirit could reincarnate as a living creature, and would always return to the warp as a whole spirit upon death. However, the Old Slann also warned that such an existence was impossible if an individual's own thoughts were too close to those of a Power of Chaos, for when that happened a deseased consciousness would be devoured by the greater Power, losing its identity and melting into it. Today the Eldar know that upon death their consciousness will not surivive, but will be devoured by Slaanesh and further invigorate that which is the eternal shame of their race. They can have no immortal life as a spirit, and in death can only hope to serve the creature they regard as their most potent enemy. It was as a response to this fate that the Eldar developed the Infinity Circuit. The Infinity Circuit is a repository of Eldar minds, a collection of objects called Spirit Stones. The consciousness or spirit of one or more Eldar is preserved in each Spirit Stone. Of course, a consciousness is not quite like a living mind, so many Eldar minds can occupy a single Spirit Stone manifesting a collective consciousness, or pool of knowledge. Although Stones are individual repositories, all share the energy of the entire Infinity Circuit, and are linked by that energy flowing between them. When an Eldar dies his spirit passes into a small temporary spiritual repository called a Way Stone. The Way Stone can only hold the spirit for a limited time, during which the Eldar’s spirit must be transfered to a Spirit Stone for it to survive. All Eldar wear a Way Stone, a small stud or decorated emblem which will hold their spirit if they die, usually on their breast.

Each craft world has its own Infinity Circuit, spread over many Spirit Stones where the consciousness of its past citizens resides. The craft world’s Infinity Circuit represents a vast repository of wisdom and experience, and it is treated with ultimate respect by the Eldar who live upon that craft world. Every Eldar knows that his fate is to join his forefathers in the Infinity Circuit when he dies. If an Eldar dies before his spirit can be gathered, this is regarded as a great loss and a terrible fate. The Infinity Circuit of the craft world is regarded in many respects like a living creature, which in some ways it is, contributing its own undying wisdom to the government of the living. There are many small Spirit Stones containing one or only a few collective minds. These smaller Spirit Stones sometimes lie at the heart of machines, spacecraft, or other mechanical devices in such as way that the consciousness they contain can cojoin and harmonize with the minds of living Eldar. The relationship is a useful one to the surviving Eldar, and one which has grown to be entirely natural for them.

The ultimate examples of Eldar meshing with Spirit Stones is that of the creatures called Avatars. Every craft world has a number of Avatars, battle-suits built around a Spirit Stone housing the idealised spirit of an Eldar principle. Such stones contain only the parts of consciouness which most embody an aspect of the Eldar character. An Eldar who becomes an Avatar melds his own personality with the idealised spirit of a racial principle, becoming a living manifestation of that attitude of the Eldar character. Once an Eldar has donned the suit of an Avatar, he and the Spirit Stone are united until he dies, the Eldar simply forgets he has his own personality and becomes enmeshed within the single-minded thoughts of the Avatar. Upon death, the Eldar’s own spirit passes into the stone and awaits a new Avatar. The Avatars are important to the Eldar, they are living virtues, the embodiment of what they see a worthy about their race. The Avatars are the most important occupants of a craft world. A further example of this melding of Eldar and Spirit Stone is the Phantom Titan, where the minds of its living crew meld into the Spirit Stone of the Titan itself, and are governed by its vast fighting experience. Unlike the Avatar the melding is only temporary, but it still enables the crew to fight with all the battle-wisdom and ferocity embodied by the spirit in the stone.

THE LAST HOPE

Although very long lived, Eldar are not a prolific race. This may be one side-effect of their spiritual fall. As a result most Eldar populations are in a state of slow decline, and many craft worlds are all but deserted. The Eldar nurture one last hope. They believe that when the Infinity Circuits hold all the spirits of their race, all of the craft worlds will unite into one Infinity Circuit, and the collective spirits of the Eldar will join to form anew Power of Chaos that will battle and subdue Slaanesh, so that Eldar spirits may once more be able to merge with it and form a single, balanced entity. By doing so, if such a thing is possible, they hope that this will allow the Eldar race to be recreated in a better form. Meanwhile the Avatars of the craftworlds must guard the Spirit Stones from harm and continue to survive, so that all Eldar can see and form in their own minds a concept of the Eldar virtues that will enter along with their spirits into the Infinity Circuits.

 

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Titan Legions (1994)

CHAOS SPACE MARINES

The Chaos Space Marine Legions fled into the Eye of Terror after the Horus Heresy. Four Legions of Chaos Space Marines are directly aligned to the Chaos Powers: the World Eaters to Khorne, the Emperors Children to Slaanesh, the Thousand Sons to Tzeentch and the Death Guards to Nurgle. The names of these Traitor Legions were struck from all Imperial records and they are hated and reviled by loyal Space Marines.

The Chaos Space Marine Legions are some of the Chaos Gods* most favoured warriors. Many Chaos Space Marine commanders became Champions of Chaos and eventually Daemon Princes. Squads of Chaos Marines will often join Chaos hordes to further the aims of their patron, and at other times companies of Chaos Marines will be despatched with their Daemon Primarch to perform specific missions. Companies of Chaos Space Marines are granted special Chaos rewards by their patron gods, making them even more potent, A troop stand of Chaos Space Marines comprises four Chaos Space Marine models plus a model armed with a missile launcher, Other Space Marine models can also be freely used to make up troop stands of Chaos Space Marines, and these simply represent Space Marines whose appearance has not yet been changed by the corrupting influence of Chaos.

CHAOS SPACE MARINES

Ten thousand years ago the newly founded Imperium was torn apart by a devastating rebellion led by the Emperor's mightiest Warmaster Horus. Horus was Primarch of the Space Marine Legion called the Sons of Horus. Like all the Primarchs he was a superhuman leader, genetically engineered to be the ultimate warrior. Horus led the Imperial forces in the Great Crusade to reconquer the galaxy and create the Imperium. It was during his campaigns that the Warmaster turned to Chaos and began to secretly work against the Emperor. Too many years have passed to be sure of exactly what brought about Horus’ defection, but it is clear that he became a Chaos Champion and all the forces under his command followed him in rebellion. The following war became known as the Horus Heresy. Many Space Marine Legions chose to side with Horus and turned to Chaos, and the rebellion spread to the Imperial Guard, the Titan Legions and the Imperial Fleet. The Horus Heresy very nearly brought about the destruction of the Imperium and all of mankind, but in the final battle the Emperor himself fought and slew Horus, ending the war at one stroke. The defeated Chaos Space Marines fled into the Eye of Terror. Thanks to the massive distortion of time which affects this region some of these Space Marines are still alive today. Although ten thousand years have passed in the outside world, to them it has only been a few years. Even now some spacecraft drop into the Eye of Terror disgorging crews of Chaos Space Marines fleeing from their defeat by the Emperor.

CHAOS

When spaceships travel from one star system to another they use warp drives which take them into another dimension that humans call the warp, or warp space. Warp space is not empty — it is a realm of psychic energy inhabited by incorporeal but very powerful creatures, The four most powerful of these creatures are the Chaos Gods Khorne, Slaanesh, Tzeentch and Nurgle, but there are many more. Some are daemonic servants of these Great Powers, and others are lesser powers in their own right. The creatures of the warp are not content with their existence in the universe of Chaos, and they are always trying to find ways into the material universe. They can do this by finding gateways into real space, such as are created whenever a ship enters or Jeaves the warp. Gateways can also be created unconsciously by psychic humans and other living creatures, for every living creature has a tiny spark of ethereal existence in the warp which is called their astral body. This is why powerful human psychics and Eldar Seers are able to enter a trance and enter the warp with their minds, their astral bodies are travelling through the warp. amongst the creatures of Chaos. Needless to say this is very dangerous because a daemon can capture the astral body and destroy or enslave it, so that the living person becomes a mindless tool of Chaos.

Some people willingly open their minds to Chaos, pledging to fight on behalf of their daemonic master in return for unearthly power. Such power is mighty indeed, for the Chaos Gods are able to use such a person as a channel for their immense energies. The individual becomes a Chaos Champion, and his body becomes twisted into an ever more horrific form, The Champion often gains incredible power for a period, but eventually he will be destroyed by the unnatural forces that course through his mortal body. On every human world there are secret worshippers of Chaos, gathering their strength, increasing in numbers and awaiting the day when they will rise up and overthrow the Imperium. However, the chief threat from Chaos comes from the daemon worlds and the Chaos Marines that live there. The daemon worlds are planets where Chaos has taken over. Warp space and normal space have become intermixed, breaking down the laws of physics that govern the material universe and introducing a new, insane, order where magic is real and all kinds of improbably mutated creatures exist alongside mortal beings. The daemon worlds are hellish places: some of them are flat, others have skies that burn, while others are dreamlike and insubstantial. Daemons and other creatures from the warp can live on these worlds in physical form, although they cannot move beyond them, and living creatures too can survive here. Most of the daemon worlds exist in the Eye of Terror, where the heart of the Eldar civilisation once lay.

One of the most serious threats to the Imperium is the flood of mortal armies from the daemon worlds, forces commanded by Daemon Princes of Chaos and other daemons. Of these the most notorious are the Chaos Space Marines and Traitor Titan Legions. Thousands of years ago, when the Emperor was still fully alive, over half of his Space Marine Chapters and Titan Legions were infiltrated by Chaos and rebelled against him, plunging the Imperium into a long and bitter war known as the Horus Heresy. Eventually the forces of Chaos were beaten and their Arch-Champion Warmaster Horus destroyed in hand-to-hand combat with the Emperor, who was so badly wounded he was placed in stasis on the golden throne so that his spirit might endure even if his physical body should fail. The remnants of the defeated Chaos Space Marine Chapters and the Traitor Titan Legions fled to the Eye of Terror. There, they and their descendants still live on, nurtured by daemons and raised to the status of Champions of Chaos. These lost and damned souls raid the Imperium, ravaging human space and despoiling unprotected planets. Fortunately for humanity Chaos ts divided amongst itself; the four Great Powers and other lesser creatures war against each other constantly, striving for supremacy in the warp. This is just as well, because were the Great Powers to unite in one supreme effort there 1s littke doubt that the material galaxy would be overwhelmed by Chaos and turned into a daemon realm.

 

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Makari, the Gretchin entrepreneur, studied the throng that had come out from Orktown to watch Dragnatz and Urgluk work, A mixed crowd of Mekboyz, Painboyz, Gretchin and Snotlings had gathered to gape at the great structure that was emerging. Dragnatz’ personal bodyguard were labouring away like Mekboyz. It was a strange sight. Makari cuffed a Snotling away from his tray of squigmeats, “Thievin’ git! I'll give ya a smile on the other side of your face if ya try that again,” he shouted. “Oh sorry, milord. Would ya care for a squigmeat - only one toof. No? A drink of fungus-wine perhaps? Two teef to you.” The stranger, a huge, barbarous-looking Mekboy wearing the horned helm of a Goff, leaned down to peer at him from the back of a huge cycle, His camera-monocle glowed with some inner light. His shadow fell across Makari and the little Gretchin shivered. “Wot is dat?” enquired the Goff, jerking a thumb in the direction of the scrapyard. “Du... dunno, milord. But Dragnatz and Urgluk been buildin’ it for monfs. Some folk’s think itza big steel vat for brewing fungus-wine.” F “Naw, can’t be that. Look at the holes in the side. Too much like winders or gunports. Be a zoggin’ stoopid vat.”

“Some folks say, Dragnatz an’ Urgluk is Madboyz milord. Me, I don’t ‘old wiv dat. Hoo ever ‘eard of sensible Orks becomin’ Madboyz? Naa, I fink deyz buildin’ a secret weapon. Hot squig, milord, only one toof.” “Nar, I fink I'll find out wot dey’re up to.” He revved up his bike and roared through the crowd, spraying a great cloud of dust over Makari's squigmeats. The Gretchin mouthed curses silently and began to dust off his wares. He looked up when the crowd roared. He saw that the bike riding Goff was talking excitedly with Dragnatz. After that he joined in the work. Gork struggled towards awareness. After centuries of dormancy it was a long process. He sensed other powers in the warp trying to interfere. He blocked a subtle tendril from Slaanesh, ignored a baleful warning from the Emperor, discounted the triumphant cry of Khorne. He reached out with out with his millennia-old mind and gathered the strength of his people. Soon he would be awake and active. A body of steel had been prepared for him. A time of blood and iron was approaching.

 

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Adeptus Titanicus (1988)

CHAOS

Mention has been made elsewhere of the malevolent psychic creatures which live in warp space. These beings have preyed upon psykers throughout human history, using them as gateways into the real universe. Accounts of witchcraft, possession and daemons appear again and again in the Imperium's most secret records, along with hints of other, darker mysteries. Within the Inquisition there is a secret college, the Ordo Malleus, which is devoted to the combatting such phenomena. Their scholars have determined that there are four great powers within warp space, consistently identified in ancient and proscribed writings as Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh and Tzeentch The domination and possession of psykers is only one weapon in their armoury. Human perversity and greed works in their favour; there are those who, for reasons of their own, are prepared to commit the ultimate heresy and offer worship to these dark beings. They are called the great Powers of Chaos by their followers, who work for the overthrow of mankind and the triumph of Chaos. The Inquisition’s Ordo Malleus and other, more clandestine organisations, fight a secret war against Chaos and its servants. Few know of the struggle, for to know is to risk corruption and temptation Humanity as a whole must never learn of the battle, else the darkness would surely triumph. Ignorance is the armour of purity. The few outside the Inquisition who do have some inkling of the truth are silenced; death or mind scrubbing is their only fate.

 

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Only when the Imperium was still new, during the Horus Heresy, was the Emperor's supremacy seriously challenged. In the 31st Millennium, the forces of the Imperium turned against the Emperor, and humanity tottered on the brink of disaster.

It was during the Age of Strife that the knowledge needed to maintain the Titans was lost, and their use became increasingly rare. By the time of the Imperium only one group knew how to build, maintain and operate the Titans - the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Within the Adeptus the knowledge was concentrated in one of its fighting arms: the Collegia Titanica or, to give it its full title, the Adeptus Mechanicus Collegia Titanica. This technological priesthood is also known as the Adeptus Titanicus, a contraction of its full name. The Collegia Titanica/Adeptus Titanicus was organised from remnants of old Titan Legions. In the wake of the Horus Heresy and the defection of many of the Titan Legions, a new organisation of guaranteed loyalty was required. Independence in thought and deed was abandoned or rigorously monitored. The new Collegia’s part in this was to sweep away the old Titan Legions, gathering the remaining Titans into a single force whose loyalty could be assured. The reorganisation was a success: since the time of the Heresy the Emperor and his Administratum have had little cause to worry over the Collegia.

THE DIVISIO MILITARIS

The Orders of the Divisio Militaris, usually referred to simply the Military Orders, are the successors of the old Titan Legions from the Age of Strife. Many can trace their unit histories back beyond the founding of the Imperium to those troubled times. Used when a swift, clinically precise, strike by a Space Marines Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes would be inappropriate, the Military Orders are the cutting edge of the Collegia. Each Order is based on its own Forge World, and includes many ground combat troops and support staff inaddition toits Battle Titans. Some of the Military Orders are highly specialised forces, created to deal with siege ‘works or combat in exotic planetary atmospheres, for example. No Order, however, is allowed to have its own space transport; it is a matter of Imperial policy that this must be provided by the Imperial Fleet. Transport is denied to the Military Orders for good, if historical, reasons. During the Horus Heresy more than half of the Titan Legions joined the rebellion. With their own transport ships they were able to fight mobile campaigns, and Titans even took part in the siege of the Imperial Palace. In the reorganistaion that followed the Heresy, the Military Orders were deliberately made reliant on the Fleet for transport; deprived of mobility, rebels could be quickly isolated and destroyed. By and large, the policy has been a success. Over a hundred of the Divisio’s Orders are stationed near the Eye of Terror to combat the Chaos Titans of the banished ‘Traitor Legions. The remainder are scattered at strategically important sites across the Imperium.

THE IMPERIAL HIERARCHY
The Emperor is the undisputed Master of Humanity. Ageless and ancient, he lived in hiding among men for millennia. After the founding of the Imperium, he emerged as Mankind’s most powerful psyker, who had no need to fear any warp creature or personal threat Wounded during the Horus Heresy, the Emperor ordered a life-support machine of incredible complexity to be built, the Golden Throne. As soon as it was completed, he was placed within its confines, where he has remained for ten millennia, sustained by life-energy drained from millions of human psychics. His will maintains the navigation beacon of the Astronomicon and binds humanity together. On a year to year basis within the Imperium the Emperor’s Will is carried out by two colossal organisations: the Inquisition and the priesthood of the Adeptus Terra, Tens of millions of adepts, scholars, priests, soldiers, governors and Inquisitors exist only to serve.

THE WARRIORS OF THE IMPERIUM
The teeth of this governmental machine are the armed forces of the Imperium. The Imperium’s might is concentrated in the Guard, the Fleet, the Adepeus or Legiones Astartes and the Collegia Titanica, which is discussed in a separate section of this book. The Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, are the finest warriors ever created by humanity. There are one thousand Chapters, each of one thousand Marines, a mere million battle-brothess. Their worth, however, is not measured by numbers alone - Marines are devout and dead warriors, capable of awesome destruction. Chapters can move quickly to nullify a threat, supported by the own transport, vehicles and heavy weaponry. If Titans can be likened to a bludgeon in the hands of the Emperor, the Space Marines are a cutting edge to be used with clinical precision.

 

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THE HORUS HERESY

Ten thousand years ago, when the Imperium was young and the Emperor walked among men, rebellion flared. The Imperium was split and Mankind teetered on the edge of disaster. A new age, one ruled by the forces of Chaos, began in civil war and with acts of desperation and brutality. General Horus was regarded as the finest military commander of his age. When brave deeds were common, he was exceptional, and the Emperor eventually honoured him with the title of Imperial Warmaster, second only to the Emperor himself. Yet at the height of his powers, Horus, the hero who could do no wrong, turned against his Emperor. On the feral world of Davin, the Warmaster was possessed by a Daemon from the warp.

With a tool such as Horus, the servants of Chaos planned to destroy the Imperium and install their own puppet Emperor. Darkness would be unchecked and universally triumphant. The daemonic Horus, still respected and loved by his troops, plotted and conspired; all his skill was bent towards the destruction of the Imperium and his Emperor. The plot was eventually exposed, and thus began the First Inter-Legionary War.

The pax Imperia dissolved as news of the rebellion spread Many Imperial units declared for Horus, attracted by his reputation, yet unaware that he had been corrupted by Chaos. Old dissatisfactions with the Emperor’s rule were voiced once more, and battles erupted in system after system. For each regiment, corps and army that joined the rebellion there were those who remained loyal. The war and the Imperium hung in the balance, neither side able to deliver the crushing blow.

And then Horus struck at the heart of the Imperium. The Warmaster mounted a direct assault on Terra; the Luna defences were crushed, and the Imperial Palace itself breached. His followers, the Traitors of the Adeptus Astartes, Mechanicus and Titanicus, fought a savage campaign. No quarter was given or asked. All that stood between Horus and victory on Terra were the Adpetus Custodes, the Emperor’s personal bodyguard, the Imperial Fist and White Scars Marine Chapters and the Titan Order of the Fire Wasps. The struggle for the Imperium would be won and lost in the battle for the Imperial Palace.

And on the 55th day of the battle, the Traitor Legions and their Titan allies reached the walls of the Inner Palace. Despite acts of insane valour by the loyalists, victory was within Horus’ grasp. As the Outer Palace was abandoned to the rebels, the Emperor acted. An elite company of Adeptus Custodes and Imperial Fist Marines teleported into the Warmaster’s command bunker. They were lead by the Emperor himself A brutal firefight ensued; the Emperor sustained terrible wounds and Horus was killed. As word of the Warmaster's death spread, the Traitors paused, and then fell back to their transport barges. The Emperor was carried from the field and placed in a support bubble. In the confusion of victory and defeat, however, the Warmaster's body was never found. The Sons of Horus Chapter had fled from the Palace with his remains, the signal to all that the rebellion had failed.

The Traitors fled into the Eye of Terror, a collection of dust shrouded hell-worlds battered by warpstorms and worse. The Emperor was confined to the Golden Throne of Terra, the machine that has supported him to this day. He pronounced his judgement upon the rebels: they were to be exiled and accursed. All records were destroyed. It was to be as if the Traitors had never been part of humanity and the Imperium. Seven years of hard fighting remained, as the rest of the Imperium was cleansed of the naïve rebels who had sided with the Warmaster. All were destroyed or driven into the Eye during the Great Scouring.

The Traitors have remained sealed within the Eye of Terror. Lest they should return to threaten the good order of the Imperium, its boundaries are constantly patrolled and monitored. The Imperial Fleet and the Inquisition maintain a close watch upon the doings of the Traitors, while over one hundred Titan Orders of the Divisio Militaris are assigned to worlds near the Eye. They have no purpose but to stand ready against the day when the Traitor Legions and their Chaos-Titans could once again threaten the Imperium. For ten thousand years watchfulness around the Eye of Terror has been a constant duty, borne with quiet pride by the Emperor’s servants. It is the mark of their unshakeable loyalty to the Imperium and the person of the Emperor. A fuller account of the Horus Heresy, its aftermath and the participating Traitor Legions can be found in Realm of Chaos.