Kinebrach

Not a kinebrach

The Kinebrach was a xenos species that populated multiple systems near the Interex empire on the Segmentum Pacificus during the times of the Great Crusade. They were basically intelligent gorillas IN SPACE.

The basics

The Kinebrach was a species of humanoid aliens similar in appearance to the Earth gorilla. Before humanity started spreading out among the stars, the Kinebrach had a pretty considerable empire of their own, but by the time the Interex arrived, their empire, like all empires before and after them, was now slowly on it's way out, so once the fighting was all done they would chose to join with this new, young, energetic species. Decay is natural, don't worry. When confronted with the Interex humans, the two species would engage in a century long conflict before they eventually decided to ally with each other. In exchange for peace and technology exchanges, the Kinebrach (along with their human allies) were forbidden to carry arms, save in times of war. When in war, they usually aided the Interex as shock troops, due to them being big space gorillas and all. This species, like the Interex themselves, went the way of the Dodo once they made contact with the Imperium of Man. By the end of the Horus Heresy, the species is considered extinct; that being said, enclaves might still exist. The conflict with the Kinebrach would have a profound effect on the Interex, and would lead them to developing their more open and cooperative view on interacting with other species, along with the Eldar the Kinebrach would warn them about the dangerous nature of Chaos and the Warp.

Kinebrach technology and its possible Chaos ties

Most sources say the Kinebrach developed a very complex and advanced technology, further advanced by its combination with Interex tech. In particular, the Imperium were extremely wary of their weaponry due to how deadly they were; there was certainly some Warp magic going on here, not that the Imperium would have had any clue regardless, thanks to the Imperial "truth". There were sayings that they were able to create poisons and weapons specifically made to kill a target by whispering them the name of their victim, which sounds like warp-fuckery. This is very interesting, since the Interex were very adamant in their fight against Chaos (or Kaos, as they called it), so why didn't they recognise these weapons for what they were? ? They did, and saved the kinebrach from Nurgle-induced lethargy and stagnation, but really should have thrown their tech away. The most famous piece of tech the Kinebrach ever made was the Anathame (surprisingly similar to the big E's nickname "the Anathema" except the "e" and "a" were swapped, because it is a play on that and "athame"/ritual knife). It was stolen by Erebus and given to a Champion of Nurgle, who then used the warpsword to mortally wound Horus and left him comatose. Erebus would then manipulate his desperate sons by leading them to a Chaos cult who would then perform a ritual that corrupted him completely (this took place much later, and on an entirely different world- Davin).