Night Lords
| Night Lords | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Battle Cry | "We have come for you!" or "Ave Dominus Nox!" | |
| Number | VIII | |
| Original Homeworld | Nostramo | |
| Current Homeworld | Unknown | |
| Primarch | Konrad Curze | |
| Champion | Krieg Acerbus (Daemon Prince) | |
| Strength | Unknown | |
| Specialty | Stealth, guerrilla warfare, and terror tactics | |
| Allegiance | Depends on the warband (at least with regards to the Ruinous Powers. Otherwise, it's mostly to themselves). | |
| Colours | Midnight Blue, with Brass trim, and living lightning effects across the armor. *Apply blood liberally, or as needed.* | |
"Because the Wolves kill cleanly, and we do not. They also kill quickly, and we have never done that, either. They fight, they win, and they stalk back to their ships with their tails held high. If they were ever ordered to destroy another Legion, they would do it by hurling warrior against warrior, seeking to grind their enemies down with the admirable delusions of the 'noble savage'. If we were ever ordered to assault another Legion, we would virus bomb their recruitment worlds; slaughter their serfs and slaves; poison their gene-seed repositories and spend the next dozen decades watching them die slow, humiliating deaths. Night after night, raid after raid, we'd overwhelm stragglers from their fleets and bleach their skulls to hang from our armour, until none remained. But that isn't the quick execution the Emperor needs, is it? The Wolves go for the throat. We go for the eyes. Then the tongue. Then the hands. Then the feet. Then we skin the crippled remains, and offer it up as an example to any still bearing witness. The Wolves were warriors before they became soldiers. We were murderers first, last, and always!"
"I am the thing that keeps you up at night. The fear that haunts every dark corner of your mind. I will never rest. And neither will you."
- – Slade “Deathstroke” Wilson
"I'm Batman, god damn it!"
- – Batman, Batman's voice actor, and every Batman fan ever, including Konrad Curze
"BOO!""
- – Warcry of the night lords when they sneak up on you
" I wanted to be a hero... and look how that turned out. "
- – Talos Valcoran
The Night Lords Space Marine Legion consists of some of the more batshit(HA!)-crazy emos, kind of like the Chaos version of the Raven Guard. They get off to catching their enemies, skinning them alive and crucifying them, all the while recording it for later. Also notable for having a strong vampire motif and playing too much Mortal Kombat; they're scary creatures that live in the dark but scorn the Chaos Gods, much like the Vampire Counts. Their backstory is surprisingly compelling and deep, but they are nevertheless bitter, brutal, terrifying assholes whose battle cries include "We have come for you!" or "Ave Dominus Nox" (translated as "Hail the Lord of the Night").
Think of them as a hybrid of Raven Guard and Blood Angels. Yes, they sneaky beaky, but they also jump assault to rip faces off.
History
Their Primarch called himself the Night Haunter (his IRL name was Konrad Curze). When Chaos abducted the infant Primarchs, they were scattered across the galaxy. Poor lil Konrad ended up on Nostramo, a world of perpetual darkness. And unlike the other Primarchs who were found by the inhabitants of a planet and taken care of, Konrad was left all alone to fend for himself, in a world that was a dark, lawless land. But who's to say it would've been better? So then he grew up, he became like the Batman of the 31st millennium, where he punished the corrupt and the evil. Only the difference from Batman is that he did it in the most gruesome manner possible, such as by hanging the guilty person's disemboweled corpse for all to see or beating the person to literally an unrecognizable pulp, to the point the sewers were clogged with bodies. Strangely enough, this was actually considered an improvement. So yeah, he became such a popular icon that the people of Nostramo basically fixed their shitty society because they feared that the "Night Haunter" would screw their asses to unimaginable levels, thus making him Vlad the Impaler IN SPESS!!! It says something about his world that, even as Vlad the Impaler, he was still clearly quite the good guy.
Curze tried to be a good leader for his people, but there was one thing he was just unable to do: delegate. So when Big.E came rolling by and took him along for a good scrap all over the galaxy, it didn't take long for Nostramo to fall back into crime, anarchy and the like. With the scary thing in the night gone kicking ass AnywhereButHere, it suddenly wasn't scary anymore. Insult to injury, Nostramo provided most aspirants for the Night Lords, and soon only those that thrived in such a lawless environment ascended to become Space Marines... with all the complications one could imagine. Despite the psycho-indoctrination, many Night Lords were serial-killers and sociopaths, hiding their bloodlust beneath a thin veneer of loyalty to the Crusade, and this rot slowly but surely spread to the Legion as a whole.
They also have an unhealthy addiction to flying and lightning. Known for scaring the hell out of civilians for shits and giggles. They are also known for being insanely giant fucking nutheads. Wherever the Night Lords strike, they leave corpses and signs of their assault on display and generally make it look like all the Segmentum's worst metal bands had a gig in the exact same area at the exact same time.
Despite being "traitors" they claim not to be terribly fond of the Chaos Gods and make little to no use of daemons, so they're more of a renegade legion than an unclean one. Which makes them less likely to (accidentally) become possessed. It won't matter though, because they are fucking insane anyway, not only because of their combat doctrines, but also because they have been around for a very long time. Notable exceptions include Krieg Acerbus, a Daemon Prince currently leading the largest warband of Night Lords, who also happen to be hardcore, full-on batshit chaos worshippers. There's also the first claw's Uzas, who's all about blood for the Blood God. In fact, earlier incarnations of the background listed them as a Khornate Legion, and Khorne smiles upon those who murder for the sake of murder, even one's allies, which Night Lords do whenever they can. However, because they're in denial about their religion, they neither get the goodies of the Chaos Gods, nor the technology of the Imperium. So whenever loyalists show up with assault cannons, stormbolters, cyclone missile launchers, land speeders, drop-pods, and hunter killer missiles they silently cry in the night. Or take it out on them by kicking the shit out of the local chapter of Ultramarines.
Tactics
Night Lord warbands, for the most part, are somewhat sensible in that they don't just send in their marines to die in droves. So they generally don't titty-rush the nearest Titan for the lulz unless said Titan is REALLY fucking their mojo up. When they do engage in direct combat, they generally prefer complete overwhelming force to ensure minimal losses, maximum carnage, and enough skulls to stick on their pauldrons. So they're pretty much a chaos version of Reasonable Marines. Including the Alpha Legion too, obviously (maybe?).
Considering what fluff says about them, it seems likely the Night Lords Legion conquered worlds during the Great Crusade by rarely waging actual war. They probably did it the Night Haunter way. Show up, declare Lex Imperialis, and punish violation of the Emperor's law by using stealth and terror. They can get anywhere, be anywhere, and they're always watching you. They don't have to fight you as you are just that horribly outmatched. In cases of legitimate military threats, WMDs, phosphex, rad weapons, and other nasty things can be gleefully used.
Or just take pieces from their leader's little girl. Bit by bit. Without kidnapping her. From her bedroom. Over and over and ruining any attempt to move her (or take bits even after she's in their most secure location). You see, that is far more terrifying than kidnapping her and sending pieces back. Especially preceding each taking with "We have come for you".
ALTERNATIVELY:
They make use of their sneakiness and fuck shit up that way. Striking behind enemy lines, ambushes, sabotaging generators and command centers, etc. Knowing this, one considers them being pretty sensible. In one-on-one combat a Night Lord will do his best to make sure he has the upper hand, and thus resort to cheat tactics by breaking every rule possible and use every dirty trick to avoid being 'on equal footing' with the opponent. Just like certain slimy BDSM pricks.
They like unconventional shock-and-awe tactics (read: Terror with a capital T). One of them, Talos, disabled a ship's bridge by doing a fifteen-second-long vox-amplified scream, which, thanks to his three lungs and super-humanly strong vocal chords, blew out every unprotected eardrum in the room and put many of the bridge staff in a coma. Another method was to kill a planet's population from fright when they broadcasted a horrible snuff movie over the comm waves. More methods include impaling innocents in hard-to-reach areas and spamming the local Internet (or whatever passes for it) with video broadcasts made of extremely scary jumpscares, torture footage and sounds, sort of a superhuman Los Zetas/ISIS/Internet Troll hybrid on crack.
If they can't use fear as a tactic, they will always resort to trying to break morale by sabotaging objectives of strategic import or executing leaders and commanders.
BUT:
This isn't to say that their tactics make them unstoppable. Terror-tactics only work well on people who can be scared, meaning that their preferred operations tend not to work well on other Space Marines, Eldar, Necrons, Tyranids, Orks, or any sort of fanatical religious zealots, meaning that Imperial Guard are one of their favorite targets. If anything, their big saving grace is they're competent enough to leg it when a fight isn't winnable.
Especially noteworthy is that the last time they really had to fight face-to-face, mano-a-mano, was right after the Heresy, when the Toilet Marines came looking for them on their fortress world of Tsagualsa. The Night Lords got slaughtered. Now, to be fair, by that time it was a while since they replenished their numbers after the Heresy. Additionally, in their stupidity, they chose to "bunker down" instead of using their typical hit-and-run tactics. Not to mention the fact that many warbands were not present, the Legion having started to split up after the death of Konrad and Sevatar. Also, the character recounting this, when challenged by another about "losing to the Ultramarines", points out that it wasn't JUST the Ultramarines chapter, but every successor chapter as well. He comments on Howling Griffons working side-by-side by Novamarines, while being supported by Genesis Chapter flanking maneuvers. He comments on how every single chapter involved was running by the same playbook (The Codex Astartes), in perfect unison, and pretty much without any dissension or rebellion (unlike the Night Lords). The result was that the Night Lords were pinned down, outflanked, bombarded, assaulted (or counter-assaulted), besieged and simply fucked over in every way in a textbook fashion. The Night Lords lost so badly that they fragmented, and were never united as a whole force ever again (although there were signs of a semi-reunification in the period leading up to the 13th Black Crusade). And before you cry some "Wardian bullshit", this was in the Night Lords own book, written by a pretty cool guy (actually it was Games-Workshop's fluff that limited the Night Lords.). Besides, against a legion fighting in co-ordination, it was a given who would win, not bullshit. Notice the Codex Astartes clearly works well...when working with at least a thousand Marines or multiple Chapters together (as opposed to individual companies...something Astartes are largely too stupid to realize, apparently).
Bear in mind that upon returning to this fortress planet, the Night Lords proceeded to get revenge on the Ultramarine Genesis Chapter, defeating them with the time-honored strategy of blowing up the fucking moon. Why fight fair when you have nukes?
Huron Blackheart worked out the best way to use the Night Lords: as an advance force for performing a crippling first strike on the enemy. When he assaulted the Marines-Errant in their home base, he asked for a detachment of Night Lords to find a way to let his main force into the Marines-Errant fortress. So a squad of Night Lords scaled into the fortress-monastery and drew off the Marines-Errant and their serfs while a squad of Night Lords Raptors went higher up the fortress and destroyed the actual shield generators. So you offer them something they want, tell them what to fuck up, let them work out the details on their own and do their thing and, as Huron found out, don't expect them to help much in the actual fighting afterward (which to be fair Huron neither expected nor wanted) nor should you leave any shiny toys for them to elope with while you're busy (now that dit piss Huron off! Royally!).
Fun Facts
- It is believed they're linked to Scary Marines.
- They are one of the few Astartes legions who actually think ambushing is a good idea, rather than standing in front of a line of guns and charging it.
- NANANANANANANANANANANANANA BATMAN!
- Kids check under their beds for the boogie man, the boogie man checks under his bed for Astartes, Astartes check under their beds for their captains, first company captains check under their beds for the night haunter
- Konrad Curze IS that thing that goes bump in the night...and he's heading this way
- The Night Lords know all of the things you're afraid of, and they think they are utter shit, wait til they show you what true horror is
- The first most brutal hour of any attack by the Night Lords against is more commonly called thee "Candlyand Hour" for all good children...those poor children
- The Night Lords once discovered records of an ancient Terran mythological figure called "Santa Claus". Reading about this fat jolly man, they couldn't help but be both amused and annoyed with his jovial antics, they were impressed with his ability to get into any habitation block, no matter how well fortified(and assumed warp trickery was at play)his army of slaves in his polar fortress and they greatly admired his almost Orwellian list of "naughty and nice" but couldn't really understand the whole gift giving thing, good children don't get presents, they get the greatest gift of all! They get to live! Bad children... will be made an example of in the style of the Night Haunter and his criminal mob bosses. We'll see who's naughty and nice then
- The Night Haunter used to keep a record of who's naughty and who was nice... and then severely punish those kids who were naughty (Hint it involved disemboweling) today, his sons don't keep a record. they just disembowel whoever might be in the vicinity, naughty or niceness be damned.
- Upon reading about this 'Santa Claus' figure most Night Lords assumed he used some sort of jetbike or skimmer to get around furthermore upon discovering that bad children get "lumps of coal" for their bad behavior in their stockings, the night lords hit upon a great idea, once a year they would deliver coal to all the children on a particular imperial world because, "They are bad and thus must be vindicated", coal themed terrorism was rampant, in what was known as "Ash Thursday" or the Night of 1000 Sorrows, the Night Lords proceeded to unleash a planet wide coal themed reign of terror upon a hapless imperial world, coal was shoved in their stockings...and in their throats...then they were set upon fire, the local Mechanicus weather machine was set ablaze making it rain ash, various coal trucks were detonated raining coal onto hapless imperial citizens, local water purification centers were destroyed (hint coal is used for cleaning) and countless Adeptus Mechanicus kidney dialysis machines were smashed.
- Then they set the weather machine to "snow" and took all the coal back into space so they'd freeze in their habitation blocks and let a note that said "next Sanguinala be a little nicer"
- Nostramo is described as being like Gotham City, if Gotham City had no lights, there was another Gotham City on top of that, and only mob bosses and rich scumbags got to enjoy sunlight and medicine and everyone had guns and Batman ate his victims. Oh did we mention the Night Haunter was so bad he made everyone "nice"? Yeah. Curze killed so fucking many criminals that the survivors were too scared to do crime anymore. At least until Curze left the planet.
- They stick bats in their helmets to help them fly.
- They don't get Daemons or other warp dickery. So they always go to sleep with ease without all the voices in their heads (other than their own psychotic subconsciousness).
- Aaron Dembski-Bowden (AKA the newest edition to the Bald Brotherhood of Awesome 40K Writers) has made them fucking GREAT. 10th Company GETS SHIT DONE!
- When the Word Bearers, Iron Warriors, the Alpha Legion, or Black Legion (the only four legions that really give two shits about Chaos Undivided, and even then the Iron Warriors aren't the biggest fans of it and the Alpha Legion are closet loyalists(or are they really?)) try to recruit them for their next great Black Crusade, the Night Lords usually tell them to piss off and send the messengers back in a box(or several).
- They are also the origin of the Raptor and Warp Talon units, the Chaos version of assault marines.
- They're probably lucky that those other legions are typically too busy to deal with probably the least threatening of the Chaos Space Marine Legions.
- They are probably as old as you could normally count, because they don't hang around in the Warp so much. Sort of. The Aaron Dembski-Bowden Night Lords book mentions Talos remembering the defeat at Terra as being only a few decades from his perspective due to chilling in the Warp. He does mention his bestie is getting crows feet though from time outside of the warp. Although since every single example of Astartes age never mentions them dying of age (including a lost company of Luna Wolves re-discovered by Abaddon eight thousand years after the Horus Heresy and a Salamander whose armor was fused to his ship ten thousand years ago was found by loyalists still alive), it's safe to say that yes, Astartes are freaking immortal. Stress-related physical aging features, though, would be totally unsurprising. Even Space Marines can only take so much shit and see so much horror before it gets to them.
- That's not to say that the Night Lords aren't pants shittingly terrifying. They know what they're good at and they stick to it.
- They've had enough common sense to survive for this long, despite having so many disadvantages compared to the other eight legions.
- Of course, this is relative, because when we talk about "sensible" in the context of Chaos, we mean "will hang you with your own intestines just for the hilarity of it", rather than "completely ignore the enemy army to attack a strategically worthless town to make sacrifices for the Dark Gods." It helps that their attacks are so low-key (except for the bombing a planet once and causing a MASSIVE psychic scream by torturing a bunch of astropaths and sending dozens of planets into psy-communicating-blank) that the Night Lords are not prioritized and actively hunted by the Imperium. Otherwise they'd likely be wiped out in short order (as mentioned above with the guys that have a toilet seat as their insignia kicking their asses). DOWN WITH THE BLUE-TRDZ!(Ehem)I mean smurfs...
- Of all the Night Lords Warbands there are only three "Chaos" Lords that still lead based on their vision of The Night Haunter's Legacy:
- First there is Zso Sahaal, the "Talonmaster", former First Captain of the Legion. He was a Terran Legionnaire appointed by the Night Haunter following Sevatar's death. His flight from the rest of the Legion with the Corona Nox, which was the rightful crown of the Primarch's successor, earned him the title "The Betrayer" to some within the Legion, but he saw Curze's use of fear as focused and controlled in its use.
- Next is Krieg Acerbus, also known as the Axemaster, a Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided. He leads the largest warband of Night Lords in the galaxy and claims that Curze wished his sons to terrorize the Imperium and devour its fear. He and Sahaal battled for the Corona Nox; Sahaal kept the crown, but lost an arm.
- Lastly, there is Talos Valcoran. Formerly an Apothecary during the Heresy/Great Crusade, he bore the titles "Prophet of the VIII Legion" and "Soul Hunter". He earned the title of Soul Hunter for pursuing and killing M'Shen, the Callidus assassin that killed the primarch, for vengeance and out of love for his father rather than greed (a difference in ideology that he would come to despise his brethren for, to some extent). He was also known for his prophetic powers like his gene-father, earning him the title "Prophet of the VIII Legion". Eventually he came to succeed his Company Captain/Warband Leader, Vandred Anrathi in leading the Warband of the Exalted, following the Fall of Vilamus. Under Talos' command, it was renamed to the Warband of the Broken Aquila. He later died on Tsagualsa at the hands of the Phoenix Lord Jain Zar of the Howling Banshees. He succeeded in "killing' her (though kill is a strong term when it comes to Phoenix Lords) in a spectacular display of determination and vengeance, taking her down with him. Talos believed that the Night Lords were betrayed by the Imperium, and were its truest weapon of terror when called upon before the Emperor betrayed them. Talos' gene-seed would later be inherited by Decimus (who might be the son of Octavia, who was the navigator of the ship and Septimus, another slave and a friend of Talos in the warband), who in turn assumed command of his Warband and gained his gift of foresight.
- The Night Lords' character can be pretty well summed up with this song --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XncuY4wLaA8
- Or this one --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2wzpfPFBlw
- Ahem; https://youtube.com/watch?v=sApYX_R4LRo
- No, your both wrong its "this" song, they play it countless imperial worlds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIPGyKGuWeA
it's proven more than effective against Imperial Guard regiments [1]
- This is the one --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dy28ef-_tA
- cough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqds0B_meys
Maybe this one https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EFqjDXy9s5A this ones obvious https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSaDPc1Cs5U
- The Night Lords actually treat their serfs pretty decently for a traitor legion. It's still not particularly pleasant, but it's better than being used as a sex toy, a sacrifice, a punching bag, a zombie, or getting eaten because the last meal was improperly prepared, it does happen on occasion or being used for target practice for lolz etc.
- They actually gave the idea of the vampire imagery to the Blood Angels
Night Lords Character
The character of the Night Lords is a bit...complicated. On one hand, sure, they are a legion of professional sadists, murderers, and (literal) terrorists that delight in preying upon the weak and defenseless at every opportunity. That's their MO. On the other hand, the Night Lords' actual personalities and motivations are surprisingly deep, varied, and intact, more so than probably any other Traitor Legion (especially after 10,000 years). They run the full gamut between bloodthirsty savages that believe terrorizing and killing are goals in and of themselves, and embittered philosophers that believe their methods once did and should still have purpose. Hell, there can even be the occasional comedian, cracking snide (and sometimes genuinely funny) jokes to his brothers while they carve their way through the screaming masses. With all those wildly differing personalities, the Night Lords are also about as dysfunctional a brotherhood as it gets, even by Traitor standards. They are (tenuously) bound by loyalty to Legion and Primarch, and may fight and die for each other on the battlefield, but off of it they all hate each other to some extent, and are in constant and heated disagreement as to the precise nature of their Legion and Primarch, and just how they should be fighting the Long War. Given just how batshit Curze was, they’re also all both right and wrong at the same time.
The Night Lords also have a bit of a dichotomy in regards to their treatment of slaves, with non-essential personnel being free to hunt for shits and giggles, while higher level officers and artificers are usually valued and protected to the point where they can have casual conversations and banter with the Astartes. The latter is something you don't see even in a good chunk of Loyalist chapters.
This all means it’s entirely possible that there are warbands of loyalist Night Lords out there. Crazy thought for a crazy(ier) Legion.
Nightly Rituals
17:00 - The Night Lords awake. It takes them a while to safely get down from their caves.
17:30 - Evening Meal. The Night Lords have a light meal by drinking the blood of captured civilians.
18:00 - Evening Firing Rites. The Night Lords conduct covert firing practice on unsuspecting Imperial citizens or Chaos worshipers. The Night Lords' serfs can't tell the exact period their masters strike as they often see a skinned and maimed body the moment they look away. Unlike traditional legions: kill-shots are considered a demerit and everyone is constantly perfecting their art of making the most efficient and painful wounding shot.
19:00 - Evening Terror Tactics. The Night Lords warm up by terrorizing the planet they will be raiding later in the night. Again the serfs have no idea when or how their masters accomplish this without getting caught.
20:45 - Snack Break. The Night Lords take a fifteen miniute break for milk and cookies. Naturally enough, the contents of the cookies varies, from being made from bone meal and blood to macadamia nut. Skeleton designs drawn on in white icing are personalised, but mandatory.
21:00 - Tactical Indoctrination. The Night Lords finally assemble in the stratagem-ampitheatre and plan out how to maximize the amount of terror they can bring about hapless populace of tonight's world. Serfs are typically commanded out of the room to spare them the nightmares of whatever they hear their masters discuss inside.
01:00 - Nighttime Firing Rites. Now the Night Lords strike. Unlike raids from other legions, there is only a ten percent death rate amongst their targets. Everyone else is helplessly maimed by bolter shots to the knees and elbows.
02:00 - Nighttime Terror Tactics. Here the Night Lords test their true skill as hunters of the dark. Those who manage to survive their opening salvos are sadistically hunted down and maimed slowly.
05:00 - "Decorating". Anyone still alive is dismembered and their still-living corpse nailed to a wall inspire fear. The Night Lords then finish up by activating an enemy distress call so that their friends can appreciate their work.
08:00 - Morning Meal. A feast is prepared by the serfs. This time the Night Lords have given up on their act and sit and munch down on the food.
09:00 - Free Time. The Night Lords occupy their free time by watching and reading an antique and legendary proto-Night Lord who calls himself as 'Batman'. Night Lords are often inspired by this ancient Terran vigilante of justice and terror and often tries their best to mimic him (whilst selectively ignoring the foolish decision to avoid killing his prey). It should also be noted of popular reading is a delightful novel series set in M3 called "The Punisher" written by ancient Terran scribe Garth Ennis. The night lords find Frank Castle's hard boiled murder sprees to be a delightful romp. For comedy, the sons of Curze amuse themselves with laughter when the character "Jigsaw" shows up.
12:00 - Rest Period. The Night Lords go back to their caves, hang upside down with their legs and prepare to sleep.
Gallery
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According to Lexicanum, a depiction of Talos Valcoran, the Soul Hunter.
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Definitely not in a Batman pose.
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I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky...
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'Sup, Darkclaw?
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Masters of Stealth
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![[1]](http://media.moddb.com/cache/images/groups/1/3/2055/thumb_620x2000/2013-04-21-RegularMarine43.1.png){kind=link}