The Entombed

The Entombed
Battle Cry	They fight in silence, with litanies playing on voxcasters.
Number	VI
Founding	First Founding
Successor Chapters	20 Cardinal Chapters
Primarch	Golgothos
Homeworld	Sepulchra
Strength	50,000 at the beginning of the Heresy, 10,000 at the end of it.
Specialty	Heavy armour shock troops
Allegiance	Imperium of Man
Colours	Grey, white and bone details.

This page details people, events, and organisations from the /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. See the /tg/ Heresy Timeline and Galaxy pages for more information on the Alternate Universe.

The Entombed serve as the shock troops of the Imperium. They have long suffered from a genetic flaw which makes their geneseed difficult to recover from fallen battle brothers. They compensate for this difficulty by fielding more terminators, and interring their wounded in dreadnoughts more often. Their inevitable doom eventually wipes them out, but not before crushing some xenos, swearing revenge on the Life Bringers, and helping to found the Imperial Cult.

Summary of Legion VI

Numeration: The VIth Legion

Primogenator: Golgothos (also known as "The Fervent")

Cognomen (Prior): The Spiritguard

Observed Strategic Tendencies: Heavy Infantry, Armored Walkers, Area Weaponry, Teleportation-based disruption.

Noteworthy Domains: Calixis, Scarus, Gothic, Agripanaa, and Cadian sectors of Segmentum Obscurus

Alliegence: Fidelitas Constantus

"If we fall, we shall burn all we see before us! From here to horizon will be naught but ash and bones!"

Captain Nevazar of the Sons of Fire 3rd Company, during the scouring of Crematoria

"Ashes to Ashes. Dust to Dust."

Letum the Dour, Cardinal of the Ashen chapter, in reply

Legion History

Dark, dour and wreathed in suspicion, the Entombed were warriors of the dark, and yet they would cling to the Emperor’s light when other Legions closer to that light would fall into the abyss of Chaos forever.

Origins: Warriors of the Inner Dark

The History of the Space Marines begins with the Sacred Band, ten squads of ten Astartes each who were deployed in order to prove the worth of the Emperor’s new project and also prove that their Gene-Seed was strong. The Sixth squad of the Sacred Band was recruited from the dark depths of those Hive-Cities under the Emperor’s control, those who were used to living in the lightless depths and twisted mazes. Upon their recruitment, each disposed of their birth-name and chose a new one for their new lives. The Sergeant of the Sixth Squad called himself Vinea, and his brothers were Tormenta, Sambuca, Petrary, Onger, Ballstra, Ludgar, Hellepoli, Springalt and Couillard.

Their innate skills in close-quarters fighting were immediately put to good use. The Sixth Squad was deployed on point in operations in the dark depths of the Merican Hives. After several operations, the Squad took armored plates taken from destroyed enemy vehicles and turned them into shields, fitted with apertures for their Bolters. Using these makeshift shields, they led push after push against the desperate defenders of the last few boltholes in the underbelly of both Noveau Yourk and San Angeles Hives, bookending the conquest of Merica. Their tactics would later be codified across the Legiones Astartes in the Breacher Squad.

Though the Squad gained an impressive combat record, outside of that a darker legacy was born. The squad kept to itself and did not fraternize with any of their brother squads. Outside of battle the squad silently worked on their wargear. They made no effort to integrate with their brothers, and even Hektor himself found them reserved and taciturn to the point where he complained of it to the Emperor. Soon rumors spread that their constant sorties into the dark underhives were an attempt to have the entire squad destroyed. It was even reported that after the San Angeles Incident, Hektor said that it should have been the sixth squad who were slaughtered, not the fifth. The other squads began to shun the sixth and a noticeable rift was opened up between the sixth and the rest of the Sacred Band. While the Remembrancers long spoke of the unbreakable bonds which bound the Sacred Band together, the Sixth Squad was evidence to the contrary. The dark reputation gained during that time would continue to linger and fester for decades to come.

Great Crusade: The Hive Breakers

The Sixth Legion were among the last to be brought up to Legion Strength, and did not enter the Great Crusade until after it had already cleared the Sol System. Though it was explained away as a lack of appropriate recruits, the old tales still lingered and it was said that Hektor and Pallas Eugenesis deliberately left the Sixth so it would not get the chance to gain glory during the last few battles to pacify Terra. The Legion’s first actions would be in the crowded Hive Cities of the systems closest to Solar and the tunnels of ancient Cthonia. The Legion’s mastery of tight conflict was swiftly asserted in victory after victory, and yet the Sixth did not claim any great honors from these. Other legions took the credit for these conquests while the Sixth quietly moved on from warzone to warzone, deployed wherever and whenever they were needed. The Legion became known as the ‘Hive Breakers’ for they were especially efficient at fighting in the tight confines of a Hive City, from the spires to the underhive.

The Legion’s constant service in Zone Mortalis Operations soon drew attention from the Mechanicum, who were working on programs for improved Space Marine Armor, both Infantry and Heavy Armor. Field Tests of Mk III ‘Iron’ armor was largely done by the Sixth Legion, and they also received the first batches of Tactical Dreadnought Armor as it was rolled out. Their field tests of it were critical for the refinement and mass production of Cataphractii Pattern Armor, which would come to define the Legion as it gathered many thousands of those suits, enough to outfit hundreds of Terminator Squads. A close bond with the Mechanicum came during this period as the Sixth were called several times to support Mechanicum Forces exploring ancient collapsed hives and underground complexes in their search for lost technology. This bond helped supply the Legion as it could not rely on any of the other Legions for support.

As Primarch after Primarch was found, the Sixth continued to go without. Their dark reputation only grew. Rumors spread that their Primarch was dead, and that had cursed the Legion even before it had left Terra. None of this was helped by the fatalistic attitude of the Legion, their indifference to casualties and their habit of collecting the Skulls of their own dead and hanging them from their Dreadnoughts so they could ‘see the battle through’. This leavening of superstition led to reports delivered to the War Council from those Imperial Commanders fighting alongside them, warning of a Legion that was slipping away from the Imperial Truth. Solar Auxilia and Imperial Army Forces operating alongside the Sixth suffered higher-than-average casualty rates, being forced to move fast and keep up with the Entombed as they pushed through the enemy.

The Legion did not seem to care what outsiders thought of it, or if they did they kept it well hidden. The entire Imperium could hate them, but they did their duty and did it better than any other Legion. This quiet streak of pride would see them through until their Gene-Father was finally found, but even that would not save the Legion’s reputation.

Golgothos: The Broken Primarch

Golgothos, Primarch of the Entombed was cast upon the blasted planet of Sepulchra, a planet under siege both within and without. Located within an Asteroid Field, Sepulchra was constantly bombarded by Meteorites from the sky forcing people to live below ground. In the underground complexes, the human survivors had to contend with the necrowalkers, twisted creations of the ancient civilization who had once ruled the planet. While Golgothos had been able to recover much of the ancient technologies of Sepulchra and bring hope to the people, he contracted the necrovirus and was only spared by the coming of the Emperor. However, even the Emperor was unable to cure Golgothos, and so he had a massive prototype of the Leviathan Dreadnought brought forth and had Golgothos interred within, keeping him alive until a cure could be found.

For the Legion the circumstances of the Primarch’s discovery was yet another misfortune. Those who had decried the Legion before continued to do so with even greater fervor. However, Legion Master Tormenta, who had taken over after the death of Vinia proudly handed over the Legion to the metal sarcophagus containing their Primarch. Golgothos had already been familiarized with his Legion, and he saw them as kindred spirits. Though outsiders feared, hated and shunned them, they did not care. All they cared for was the duty given unto them. The Primarch declared that he would not change the Legion, for the Legion was already everything he could have wanted. They were warriors of the caves and corridors, and they would leave their foes entombed forever in the lightless depths. Thus did the Sixth Legion become the Entombed.

Soon after Golgothos' discovery, the Eldar craftworld Kaelor drifted near to Sepulchra. He saw this as the perfect opportunity to learn how they fought and become one with his gene-sons, and so he deployed the Legion onto the twisted structure. In six months of bitter conflict and with over six thousand casualties the Craftworld was scoured end to end, the Infinity Circuit was demolished by Golgothos himself, and the craftworld was stripped bare by the Mechanicum before it was set adrift as a skeletal moon around Sepulchra.

From there, the Entombed continued as they had before their Gene-Father had come to them, as premier Zone Mortalis warriors. With Golgothos unable to provide his own Genetic Material, the Legion’s numbers remained low and were principally support troops deployed to break serious obstacles to the progress of the Great Crusade. They were the ones who stormed the mighty Star-Fortress of Brontos Castrus, who cleared the Underhives of Necromunda and cleansed the Space Hulk ‘Anarchy’s Fury’, allowing for a massive haul of priceless archeotech to be recovered and brought back to Mars.

Though the Primarch had deliberately kept much of the original Sixth Legion, the Legion quietly changed to resemble their broken father. In imitation of the Primarch, the number of Dreadnoughts in the Legion skyrocketed as Marines began to see duty as a Dreadnought as an honor, not a curse. Other Vehicles became less and less common, until the Legion had one of the smallest armor reserves in all of the Legiones Astartes. The Religious aspects of Sepulcra fused with the supersitions of the old Sixth, with the new rank of Chaplain being introduced, Chapter Masters becoming Cardinals and Captains Bishops, both names with old religious significance. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. Deep down, the Primarch was spreading a more radical set of ideas: the Imperium as a creed and the Emperor as a god.

This was reflected in how the Entombed operated when they were required to carry out autonomous compliance actions. The Entombed were not kind with the worlds they conquered, and the Bishops of the sixth Legion held violent ‘inquisitions’ upon these worlds, torturing and executing any who would not give up their gods and pay fealty to the Emperor. These extreme measures did not endear them to the wider Imperium, and their dark reputation only grew more pronounced.

The Coalition of Sepulchra

The Late-Crusade Entombed were a Legion with several serious issues. Whereas other Legions had homeworlds or recruitment worlds with massive populations from which they could draw recruits, the Entombed's homeworld of Sepulchra’s human population were unfit to be Space Marines, and thus there was no potential for recruitment there. Sepulcra remained as the Legion’s home base, but the Legion needed fresh recruits. The Legion had not earned any tithe worlds during the Great Crusade, some said because they were barred from doing so.

Furthermore, supply was becoming an issue. Though the Mechanicus was friendly to the Legion, other Legions were not as willing to supply ammunition and supplies to the Entombed while on joint operations. The Legion needed to ensure it could supply itself at all times.

These problems were solved with the creation of the Coalition of Sepulchra. A number of strategically vital worlds in Segmentum Obscurus, among them Cadia, Medusa, Eusas Majoris and Scintilla. Each World would become a protectorate of the Legion, providing indentured Auxilia as well as potential recruits for the Legion. This was further strengthened by deals made with the major Forgeworlds of the Segmentum, most notably Agrippina and Lucius who would provide the Legion with the vast bulk of its weapons and wargear. The Coalition made recruitment easier, consolidated its strength within Segmentum Obscuras and ensured a steady supply of wargear to the Legion’s armories on Sepulcra. But what was regarded within the Legion as a master stroke, was viewed with alarm by those outside the Legion.

The Long Decline

With supplies and recruits now assured, the Legion took to the Crusade with a dour determination. Legion Battlegroups were deployed whenever an urban hell or underground complex threatened to slow the pace of the Great Crusade. City after city, hive after hive, all fell before the Entombed. Golgothos was always in the vanguard, a titan of metal that would plough through even the strongest defences supported by Dreadnoughts and Terminators. Though the Legion was still kept at arm’s length by their brother Legions and very few of the Imperial Army were willing to serve alongside them, they could rest easy knowing that they were the best urban fighters in the Legiones Astartes and no other Legion could do what they did.

All this was clouded by a fact none within the Legion were willing to admit. The Primarch’s condition was worsening. Interment in a Dreadnought was only ever meant to be a temporary thing until a cure could be found. But as decades’ past and the search for a cure continued to be fruitless, the side-effects of a Dreadnought’s form began to tell more and more upon the Primarch. Dreadnoughts could never sleep, only go into stasis for periods of time between battles. Golgothos did not like stasis and preferred to be awake as much as possible to oversee his Legion. Always being awake however put an enormous strain on his mind, and as he went for decade after decade without sleep not even the Dreadnought’s advanced systems could keep the fatigue and sensory overload from wearing away at him. On top of that was the pain. The cyberorganic web which encased his body had no mechanism for pain control, and Golgothos found himself in almost perpetual pain. His ability to endure the pain was beyond any of his brothers, but even that was not enough. And finally the psychological damage was constant and continuous. He hated his life as a Dreadnought, hated the weakness which had forced him to become a cybernetic zombie. But as the Crusade neared its end, he finally began to see a twisted positive in his new state of being.

He had always fought death from the moment he had landed on Sepulchra, and thanks to his body of iron he was a true immortal. And that was a gift he could not keep to himself. In his insane thinking, he decided his whole Legion needed to become like him. Only when they were all like him, all deathless and immortal could they be the true guardians of humanity now and until the end of time itself. Thus unaware to anyone, he laid plans to forcibly convert all 80,000 Marines in his Legion into Dreadnoughts, stockpiling tens of thousands of Dreadnought Chassis on Sepulchra and elsewhere and upping the number of Marines interred to a new high. Beyond that Golgothos had another dream, that the entire Human race could become Dreadnoughts, thus defeating death once and for all. These delusions would have destroyed Golgothos and his Legion were it not for the treachery of others.

Notable Domains

• Sepulchra. A twisted world of dust and stone in the heart of an Asteriod Belt, Sepulchra’s pockmarked and craggy surface could support no life, with civilization dwelling beneath the surface. From bioluminesent fungus and cave moss, to the devastating tunnelworm, to the dreaded threat of the Necrowalkers, Sepulchra is anything but uninhabited. The Humans of Sepulchra were unfit to become Marines, but they made excellent serfs and servants to the Legion, with much of the population moved to within the Catacomb as the Entombed's Fortress Monastery was dubbed.

Organisation and Doctrine

In the twisted dark, you need to be aware at all times. The enemy could come from any direction. Above, below, the front sides and even rear. There are no flanks, no rear area. Everything is the front line.

Jusayth Yin, Master of Recruits

From the moment the Sacred Band took up their shields and advanced into the Underhives of Merica, the Legion organised and equipped itself so it could function best in the bitter and close-raged warfare codified as ‘Zone Mortalis’, also known as the fatal ground or the zone of death. These areas could vary wildly from the lightless depths of a Hive-City, the tangled tunnels of a mining world, the prison-vault of a mighty fortress, the labyrinthine pipes of an industrial sewer system or the crowded decks of an enemy warship. Despite the variety in such warzones, they all shared the same common features. Close confinement that limited the range on weapons, limited access for attack or escape routes that made funnelling troops into kill zones that much easier, and often hazardous environments to make even harder for both sides.

Battles in such places were inevitably fatal and chaotic affairs, where casualties were high and victory always rested on a knife edge. The Sixth Legion decided this was to be their alpha and omega, and immediately began to reshape their Legion to match.

The problems of fighting in close and cramped confines were many, and in overcoming them the Legion deviated far from the norms of the Principa Belicosa. Command and control over large forces was difficult if not impossible with signal distortion and false echoes, so the Legion sought to break down the command structure for maximum flexibility. The Battalion was discarded and Companies became the core building block of the Legion, with the Chapter existing to delegate additional support to each company as required by tactical and strategic considerations. Company Commanders would be given specific goals and were trusted to fulfil those goals however they saw fit, with absolute discretion to fight as they needed to. Sergeants were trained to be able to take over larger forces if the company captain was killed or incapacitated. This made the Legion difficult to slow, as headquarter casualties did not cause the usual amount of panic and uncertainty.

The Breacher Squad the Legion had pioneered now became the signature squad of all forces. Tacticals were trained as Breachers first and foremost and every company had a core of Breacher Marines, supported by Despoilers and Tactical Support Marines with Flamers and Meltaguns. Heavy Support Squads used Heavy Flamers and Multi-Meltas instead of bulky, long-ranged weapons like Lascannons which were all but useless in Mortalis conditions.

Infantry were the bread and butter of the Legion, and armoured units inevitably suffered as a result. Tanks were ill-suited to such conditions, with even light vehicles susceptible to floundering or damaging themselves by unexpectedly crashing through buckled deck plating or getting crushed beneath falling rubble. With the Legion undersupplied anyway, vehicle replacements were designated as a much lower priority that armour or bolters, until the Legion had the smallest armoured reserve of all the Legions. Though small numbers of Predator Infernus were retained for close-raged fire support and some Rhinos were used to carry troops through heavy fire, they had no primacy in the Legion’s doctrine.

The Legion did however have very large numbers of Dreadnoughts, even before the coming of their Primarch. Dreadnoughts were more mobile than any tank and could carry heavy weapons anywhere they were needed. Dreadnoughts took up the fire support mantle normally given to tanks, and they were the only ones to carry long-ranged weapons such as Lascannons and Conversion Beamers to hammer distant foes.

Golgothos made no change at all to the basic organisation of the Legion. It was perfect for the method of warfare they espoused and that he knew well from his own days on Sepulchra. What he did do was bring them more into line with his own brand of mysticism born from the endless war with the Necrowalkers. The Chapter Masters become the Cardinals, named after the chief military and religious leaders of the humans of Sepulchra. The Line Captains became Bishops, and the Sergeants of the Squads were known as Undertakers. Techmarines became Tomb Wardens. In addition, a new type of officer was born, known as the Chaplain. Though on the surface similar to the Mentors of the Eternal Zealots, they were not as politically motivated as the Mentors, and were permanently attached to their chosen company until death or promotion took them. They were both spiritual advisors and fierce warriors who kept their charges mindful of their overall goals. The Religious element to this was noted by the Legion’s many enemies, though openly no form of mysticism beyond the grim rituals of the old Legion were ever shown.

Notable Members

Obitus, the Black Cardinal Recruited from the Hiveworld of Scintilla, Oblitus was a skilled orator and considered to be of great virtue and steel loyalty, though he was also a master manipulator. He cunningly arranged battlefield tactics so as to gain the most glory while simultaneously putting those he saw as his enemies in the greatest danger. He elevated sycophants, but presented them as loyal servants. Any man who questioned his virtue soon found himself leading a charge against a wall of Ork Nobs. He forged strong links with members of the Eternal Zealots and Helios Angels during this time, and was one of the few Entombed known outside his Legion. Rewarded by Golgothos with the rank of Black Cardinal - the Warden of Sepulchra itself – he would end up siding with Hektor and bringing division and war to the Legion itself.

Erebus, Lord of the Grave A Terran Recruit from just as Golgothos was discovered, Erebus would be forever loyal to his Primarch and the Legion.

Cardinal Merik, the Deathbringer Drawn from the Hives of Eustas Majoris in the Scarus Sector, Merik had spent his whole life in the underhive and knew the landscape like few others. These skills made him a master of Hive Warfare, and this skill coupled with his own personal bravery promoted him to the Cardinal of the seventh Chapter. However he had a darker side, in that he was consumed utterly with his quest for vengeance against any foe who dared stand against him. No other Cardinal in the entire Legion suffered losses on the scale of Merik, and he was nearly censured several times for his carelessness.

Specialist Troops

Tomb Wardens

Tomb Wardens serve as the second-in-commands to the Cardinals of the Entombed. They watch over the Armory of the chapter, including the Dreadnoughts, the infantry's armour and weapons, the drop pods, and the ships of the fleet. In addition to these duties, the Tomb Wardens are tasked with the retrieval and laying to rest of the remains of dead marines. Tomb Wardens and their acolytes scour the battlefield after every engagement, recovering the dead and gathering them together. The Tomb Warden himself leads the Ritual of the Last Rite, in which the name and deeds of every dead soldier are recited and inscribed upon the soldier's bones. The Wardens maintain the great Catacomb, and oversee the great banks of Mausolea within its depths. Their role as guardians of the dead grant them great significance among the Entombed, and though the Cardinals are superior, the Tomb Wardens are holier by far. Tomb Wardens hold close ties to the Mechanicum and the Cult of Mars, leading other legions, chiefly the War Scribes, to question whether the Entombed serve Terra or Mars first.

Undertakers

Undertakers are skilled Apothecaries. They are not as skilled in battlefield medicine as the Apothecaries of the Eternal Zealots, nor as skilled at research as those of the Life Bringers. The Undertakers of the Entombed focus their training on the recovery and storage of geneseed. The Genestock of the Entombed is so fragile that even the slightest mistake can irreparably damage it. The dwindling genebanks of the Catacomb are watched over with immeasurable caution. Undertakers are also masters of cybernetic prosthetics, navigating the nebulous dangers of immunorejection with care and uncharacteristic subtlety. As battlefield commanders, the Undertakers are uncreative, and inflexible, following their orders without question or addition.

Bishops

File:Bishop Sigil.png

Bishops serve the Cardinals directly, serving on their war council and leading the Undertakers. Bishops are trained in tactics and leadership, for that is their primary role. The Cardinals decide what should be done, and where, but it is the Bishops who ultimately determine how. Bishops lead many rituals, invoking litanies before (and during) battle, leading hymns of victory, and leading the rites on certain commemoration days, such as the anniversary of Golgothos' discovery. As a secondary duty, Bishops are charged with watching over the Librarians of their company. Each Bishop guards his Librarians personally, watching them for any signs of sorcery. If the Librarians falter, they are stripped of their humanity and turned into Servo-skulls, who serve the Bishops as a shameful reminder of their failures.

Support Formations

Terminators

Apothecarion

Armorium

Legion Tactics

The Entombed favor heavy armour and overwhelming firepower. They are most effective in close-quarters, zone mortalis situations, such as in the streets of a city, winding underground caverns, or in boarding operations. They employ a shattering tactic: Dreadnoughts lay down heavy fire with their Ossuary cannons, while terminators deploy behind enemy lines to disrupt the enemy. Entombed tactics have proved instrumental in breaking Ork charges and invalidating Eldar mobility, as well as displacing fortified positions during the Heresy. Late in the Great Crusade they began to field what would one day come to be called Chaplains, officers in charge of boosting the morale of their brothers. The skull-shaped helms of modern chaplains are theorized by Imperial historians to have been adopted by other legions in homage to The Fallen Legion.

Legion Equipment

To compensate for their difficulty in recouping losses, The Entombed have opted to wear much heavier armour. The VI Legion has a disproportionately large amount of Terminator Armour, and because the geneseed of the dead often cannot be recovered, mortally wounded marines are hastily interred in dreadnoughts or given cybernetic prosthetics. The Entombed field a unique Ossuary Pattern Dreadnought, with thicker armour and armed with the Demolisher Cannons usually seen on Vindicators. The wide, bulky frame of the Ossuary necessary to bear the recoil of the Demolisher cannon was a transitional form between the relatively lithe contemptor patterns of 30k and the bulkier, slower patterns of 40k. The dreadnought of Primarch Golgothos, designed by a collaboration of his brothers, served as the prototype for such designs.

Writefaggotry

The Skeleton in the Caves

As a babe, the Primarch whould come to be known as Golgothos crash landed on a desolate, grey planet known as Sepulchra. The surface of Sepulchra were inhospitable badlands, with gale force winds kicking up dust storms which could rip the flesh off a man. Fortunately, Golgothos' pod crashed with such force that it pierced through the surface into the caverns below, and it is in these caverns that Golgothos made his home.

As a child, Golgothos lived by foraging for caveworms and scraping moss off of walls. As he grew, he began to hunt larger and larger game. The beasts of Sepulchra fell to his bare hands, and Golgothos would consume everything, leaving only the bones behind.

However, Golgothos' life was not safe, for deep within the caverns lived a clan of Orks. Many times as he was feeding, Golgothos would be discovered by wandering Orks, and be forced to flee. For many years he was forced to live cautiously, fleeing before the echos of Ork grunts.

It was not until he was a man grown that Golgothos chose to face the Orks in battle. The Orks had driven all game from the caverns, and so Golgothos was starving. Delirious and exhausted, Golgothos wandered passageways he had never been to before. Stumbling around a bend, he happened upon three Orks, arguing over the roasting corpse of a cave drake. Golgothos attacked the Orks with a ferocity he did not know he had posessed, kicking, clawing, biting, with his screams of fury echoing across the planet. The Orks never stood a chance.

After that, armed with an Ork Choppa, Golgothos grew to enjoy hunting orks. The Orks came to call him "Da skellytun in da caves," and told eachother tales of the bony creature which ripped apart Orks with its bare hands. Eventually, Warboss Skullgub decided he had had enough, and rallied his Orks to hunt Golgothos.

For months, Skullgub harried Golgothos. While Golgothos was mighty, he could not face hordes of Orks at once, and so he was forced to make numerous tactical retreats. Fleeing before the echoing CLANKS of Skullgub's mega armour, Golgothos came upon a pair of massive metal blast doors. Golgothos had never seen anything man made before, and so he marveled at the doors. However, he was quickly ripped out of his confusion by the CLANK CLANK CLANK of skullgub's approach. Golgothos banged his fists against the control panel in desperation, and miraculously, the door opened.

Within, Golgothos found polished metal hallways, with deep recesses in the walls. In each recess he found the ancient, dusty remains of a man: Golgothos had happened upon a crashed Catacomb Ship from the dark age of technology. He went deeper into the ship, looking for some choke point or other tactical advantage, and found it: A door leading into a personal Tomb. He looked within, and found, laying on a Beir, a well dressed skeleton. The skeleton was decorated with gold jewelry and gems, as well as medals which marked him as a military officer. On the officer's hand, dull grey and coated with a layer of dust, was an ancient Power Fist. With his mighty new weapon, and an advantageous choke point, Golgothos was able to drive off Skullgub's Orks.

The Discovery had confused Golgothos, however. He had never seen another human being before, never even conceived of the possibility that there were others. And yet, here in this catacomb, he had found the skeletal remains of hundreds of men. Golgothos began to think that Men were gods, or perhaps demons, meant to torment the Orks. He spent the next few years guarding the catacombs, and tending to the remains of what he believed to be fallen gods.

Eventually, Skullgub managed to corner Golgothos away from home as he was hunting. Outnumbered, outmatched, and staring down the gob of a gigantic mega armoured warboss, Golgothos called out to the gods for aid. With a loud CRASH, the roof before him caved in, and before Golgothos' tear-filled eyes was a Drop Pod of the Imperium of Man. From this Drop Pod emerged the Emperor himself, along with some of his mighty Space Marines. The Emperor cleaved Skullgub in two with his mighty power sword, and the Marines made short work of the remaining Orks.

The Emperor offered Golgothos a mighty legion to lead, and Golgothos required no convincing. As far as Golgothos was concerned, before him stood the King of the Gods, and such a being should not be questioned. The Emperor did not approve of Golgothos' superstition, but at least it was superstition of human superiority. Golgothos was given the VI Legion, which he named The Entombed.

The Entombed maintain Golgothos' faith to this day, believing humans to be Gods, sent to punish impure and inferior xenos. They guard their fortress monastary, called the Catacomb, and pay much respect to the dead.

The Fall of The Entombed

It was in the year of 391.M35 that Erebus, Lord of the Grave, received a message from the Children of Astarot. The Children had discovered that the Life Bringers were destroying entire systems on the edge of the galaxy, converting them into twisted jungles for Nurgle's pleasure. What's more, Primarch Johannes himself had was rumored to be leading the operation. Upon hearing the news, Erebus chose to mobilize all 3,000 Entombed. He would have his vengeance.

Aboard the battle barge Catafalque, Erebus called out to the other Legions for aid, but only the Knights Draconian, a War Scribes successor chapter, responded. The Entombed and their ally set out for the Mortis system, a chain of agri-worlds used to feed the most distant backwaters of mankind. When they arrived, They found Mortis I and II already turned. Warp-spawned tentacles reached out from the surface all the way into space, tearing apart the support ships of the Imperial Guard.

Erebus steered his fleet to Mortis III, a hive world from which the Mortis sector was governed. In orbit, he convened a war council to make plans to defeat the Life Bringers once and for all. At this council, Knights Draconian Third Company Captain Eadwine Herschel came before Erebus on his knees, and begged Erebus to forgive his chapter for their failure at Isstvan V. The War Scribes Primarch had frozen when he learned of the traitor legions' treachery, and failed to warn The Entombed of the incoming artillery barrage which would doom their legion. In anger, The Entombed had declared the War Scribes to be Void, and from then on acted as if they did not exist. Erebus considered Herschel's apology for a long time before replying, "How can I forgive one who does not exist?" Many of the War Scribes were insulted, but Herschel was wise, and knew the response for what it was. The Entombed were stubborn, and in his Primarch's absence, Erebus had no choice but to abide by the Void Decree. Herschel knew that, for The Entombed, to even budge an inch was remarkable.

It was then that the Knights Draconian and The Entombed formed their plan: They would erect a special planetary shield, which would prevent the Life Bringers from deploying their gasses from orbit. If the Life Bringers wanted to turn this world, they would have to do so from the ground. Erebus deployed his forces on the ground, while Herschel held his forces in orbit as a mobile reaction force.

The Life Bringers arrived soon afterward, and engaged the Knights Draconian in space. While the Draconian ships were distracted, the Life Bringers snuck a smaller ship past their blockade. On this ship was a device called the Great Genesis, capable of spewing forth diseases and chemicals which would warp Mortis III into a nurgle-spawned death world. The Entombed marched toward the device, slowly but surely, while battle barges crashed and burned in the skies above.

When The Entombed arrived at the Great Genesis, they found that the Life Bringers had been busy turning civilians into plague zombies. A swarm of writhing corpses orbited the Great Genesis like an asteroid belt, with a core of Life Bringers waiting within. The Entombed showed no remores, no hesitation. They cut through the zombies like a scythe through wheat. As The Entombed marched ever onward, the Knights Draconian began to rain drop pods upon the enemy, breaking their lines and weakening their defense.

At that very moment, as the drop pods and demolisher shells were raining down on his men, Johannes Vrach himself emerged from the Great Genesis. The Daemon prince had been warped and twisted by nurgle, and from his mouth spewed forth vile gouts of bile, where they landed, Knights and Entombed alike died by the score. Erebus ordered his ossuaries to fire their mighty cannons against the hated foe, but Vratch retreated back into the Genesis.

The casualties were becoming too much, and so Herschel ordered his men to retreat. Erebus, however, stubbornly held his ground. The battle came to a standstill, the Entombed unable to advance, and the Life Bringers unable to push the enemy back. The stalemate raged for hours, with heavy losses on both sides. As dusk fell, however, the Great Genesis finally came online. Its mighty vents began to spew forth thick red clouds, and from its massive pipes flowed a sickening yellow sludge. The Ossuary dreadnoughts began to bombard the machine, but even their mighty cannons could not penetrate its thick hull. Herschel commanded his whirlwinds to strike the machine, but the heavy gales of toxins threw the missiles off course. Johannes Vratch emerged once more from the Great Geneses, surveying his victory with joy.

At that moment, when all seemed lost, a great eldritch light filled the battlefield. Looking up, Erebus saw with horror that a warp storm had appeared in the sky above Mortis III. His despair turned to exultation when he saw the primarch's own battle barge, Nurgle's Grave, emerge from the warp storm. Screaming through the skies came the Drop Pods of Golgothos and his Venerable Dreadnoughts, come to slay their ancient foe. With a CRASH, the dreadnoughts struck the ground, and the dreadnoughts came out shooting. They waded through the sludge without concern as it melted through their armoured plates, with not a thought toward self preservation. Golgothos barreled across the battlefield, shouting "VRAAAAAAAAATCH! VENGEANCE FOR THE FALLEN!"

The mighty Golgothos and the twisted Vratch crashed into eachother, blessed power fist meeting against mutated claws. As they dueled, they kicked up huge waves of sludge, crashing over their own men and causing fungal blooms to rip through their armour. The primarchs struck with the bitter hatred of five thousand years, each blow shaking the ground for miles. After hours of fighting, Vratch managed to gain the upper hand. He ripped off Golgothos' faceplate, exposing the ancient face within, and spat a torrent of bile into Golgothos' armour. Golgothos' flesh began to twist, and mushrooms tore through his flesh. As his body tore itself apart, Golgothos grabbed Vratch, shoved his demolisher cannon in his face, and fired.

Erebus cried out, with both joy and despair. He had simultaneously seen his beloved primarch and his hated foe die. He and The Entombed were normally silent in battle, but now they screamed. They charged forward through the sludge, guns blazing, and tore through the Life Bringers. The vile poison twisted their flesh and tore them apart, but not before Erebus and a few survivors made it to the heart of the Great Genesis, deactivating it for good, and saving Mortis III.

As he watched from his safe vantage, Eadwine Herschel wept. In all his years as captain of the Third Company, he had never seen such a divine display. The glory of the warring primarchs, the valiant stubbornness of The Entombed, their last glorious charge to save the planet, it was all too much for him to bear. Once the sludge had been cleared from the battlefield, Herschel had his men gather up the remains of the dead, and load them onto his battle barge. That day Heschel declared that The Entombed would forever be interred on Sepulchra, and that he would found a new chapter, The Watchers Of The Dead, to guard The Entombed for all time.

The Assault on Ostium

The Thunder Kings, though not present at Isstvan, fought alongside The Entombed during the taking of Ostium. The Emperor was enraged by the fracturing of the Terran Webway gate, but the thought of simply sending a force to execute his son was more than he could bear to think. The Voidwatcher would be brought back to Terra, so that his father could look him in the eye and hear the reasons for his treachery; of course, The Emperor knew it would be beneficial to remove the wicked sorcerer from the war at this early stage. For this purpose, the Emperor called in both Golgothos, whose heavily armed Entombed would be ideal for an operation on a collapsing planetoid like Ositum, and Brennus, whose legion was one of the largest still loyal to the Throne. The two rendezvoused at the Entombed's homeworld of Sepulchra, where Brennus offered to provide runic charms against sorcery for his brother. Golgothos and his sons readily accepted, and Brennus and his Runesmiths spent the transit to Ostium working these mystic sigils into The Entombed's armor. Brennus also presented his brother with a mighty hammer he had named “Warlock's Dread”. Brennus also entrusted his brother with 2 sets of mighty iron manacles, bound in the mightiest runes of warding Brennus could grave; the two vowed to drag the Voidwatcher back to Terra "fettered hand and hoof as a lamb for our father's table."

Brennus and Golgothos, while working together in the forges, created a plan for the taking of The Black Augurs homeworld. Brennus and the Thunder Kings would establish beachheads on the world, forcing the Black Augurs to retreat at least some distance, and then the Entombed would teleport in from space, hitting those areas where the Black Augurs were concentrated most heavily to keep them from overwhelming the Kings with summoned daemons, and to hopefully shatter their strongest positions while the Thunder Kings kept reinforcements from arriving. Brennus attempted to convince his brother to stay in the rear guard, and perhaps support his sons at range, but Golgothos would hear nothing of that; he ached to get close to the traitorous sorcerers and teach them their folly. Brennus relented, but instead sent a detachment of the Horned Gods to fight alongside his brother, along with Golgothos' elite guard, The Death Masks. At first, this plan worked quite well: the Thunder Kings were able to hold key fronts long enough for the Entombed to enter the fray. In one notable case, an Entombed Dreadnought pod crushed a sorcerer as he was preparing a spell to slaughter a whole squad of Thunder Kings who had been paralyzed by warp-lightning. Across the battlefield the arrival of The Entombed would spell disaster for the Black Augurs, the heavy hitting, heavily armored warriors pulverizing warlocks across the battlefield. Golgothos was on the front lines, exacting a fearsome toll on the traitors of Istvaan V. Unfortunately, the terms of battle would not favor the loyalists for long.

Unbeknownst to the Thunder Kings and The Entombed, events were spiralling out of control beyond their reach. Arelex Orannis, Primarch of the War Scribes, was devastated by the treachery of Istvaan. As his legion had suffered severe casualties, he began to withdraw his troops from across the galaxy, so as to concentrate the remaining loyalist forces and prevent any of his men from being wiped out piecemeal. This action unfortunately allowed a hidden base of Life Bringers the opportunity to sneak free of the Scribes with their deadly payload: a modified form of the Life-Eater virus, specially altered to work only on beings sharing the geneseed of The Entombed. The spies within the Thunder Kings, meant to sow discontent, quickly picked up on the objective of the joint mission. They funneled the information to their masters in the Children of Astarot, who supplied it to the Life Bringers. Armed with this information, the dark healers of Vrachs' legion would make for Ostium with all speed, eager to unleash their twisted science on what remained of Golgothos' army.

As the battle raged on, the Black Augur's daemon summoning would grow to be a problem for the loyalists; even the protective runes of the Thunder Kings could not prevent the horrors of the warp from taking lives for their masters. Brennus, who had remained behind the front lines to better direct the combined loyalist forces, sent Golgothos and a detachment of his finest warriors, along with several bands of the 5th grand company Terminators, to strike at a fortified position from where the majority of the daemons had been loosed. This act would unknowingly save The Entombed from total annihilation; shortly after Golgothos' force made their initial attack on the Augur's summoners, Thunder Kings outriders reported that a mysterious red fog was stealing in from the edges of the battlefield. At first, this was ignored; these furthest positions consisted of only Thunder Kings outriders and scouts, who assumed that it was simply an attempt by the Black Augurs to obscure the field of battle and adjusted accordingly. Oscara mac Damman, one of the Horned Gods and a legion company commander, was leading an assault in joint command with a member of the Death Masks, a nameless warrior known only as The Butcher of Kaelor. When the red fog began to creep up on them, Oscara watched it closely, knowing that there had to be something more than a simply obscuring effect; the Thunder Kings and Entombed were hardly unprepared to pour a storm of fire into the fog, if so needed. But when the fog finally reached the first of The Entombed, he understood its purpose with complete horror: the normally stolid and silent men began to shriek in pain, as flesh began to melt away from their bodies. Oscara reported this to Brennus immediately, as he tried to command his men to retreat and get The Entombed off the field as quickly as possible; sadly, he was struck down by plague rounds from the fog, as the Life Bringers fired upon the now vulnerable Thunder Kings.

Reports quickly spread throughout the loyalist assault group; Entombed were dying across the moon, their horrific screams choking the vox and disorienting their allies. The Thunder Kings fared no better, as without their heavy support they were quickly overwhelmed by the combined might of plague horrors, daemons, and the assault of two Chaos-tainted Legions. Brennus ordered his men to retreat at all speed, and to save as many of The Entombed if possible; few of either side survived however, only 20,000 of the Thunder Kings original 60,000 strong force making it out of the mist, and only a few hundred of the Entombed able to escape from the mist. Golgothos and the marines he had fought with made up the bulk of The Entombed survivors, about 10,000 as the position they were assaulting was isolated from Life Bringers support and thus the fog. Brennus pleaded with Golgothos to retreat, but the screams of his sons had driven Golgothos battle-mad, and he would countenance no action besides an immediate slaughter of the Life Bringers. Brennus raced to confront Golgothos, and attempt to convince him to withdraw and fight another day, but the Tomb Lord's powerful blows quickly shattered Brennus' shield and knocked him aside. Unwilling to allow another of his brothers to die, he withdrew a rune-crafted sling bullet, made to send a mighty pulse of electricity through its target, and cast it into the mighty dreadnought's motive control; the resulting shock paralyzed the mighty battle engine. Brennus instructed the remaining warriors to escort Golgothos off the planet, as he supervised the rest of the retreat; he would remark later that "the screams of The Entombed were all the more terrible for their customary silence, and will haunt me until the last of my days. But the screams of their father, his pain and loss, will echo for millennia."

Game Material

Legion Rules

Erebus, Lord of the Grave: 2+ poison weapon but very low WS. High T and many W. Improves the FNP of the entire army by 1.