Sons of Malice
| Sons of Malice | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Battle Cry | None | |
| Origin | Redacted | |
| Warband Leader | Kathal | |
| Base of Operations | Labyrinth (Space Hulk) Formerly: Scelus |
|
| Strength | 11 companies (around 1100 Astartes) | |
| Specialty | Hunting and eating Chaos/Loyalist forces, being emotionless killing machines, sign language. | |
| Allegiance | Malice | |
| Colours | Quartered white and black with silver trim | |
The Sons of Malice are a Renegade Chapter of Chaos Space Marines who are particularly unnerving individuals which have grown infamous amongst the worshippers of Chaos. Fighting in complete silence, they drag captives off after raids and proceed to eat them, preferably while the captive is alive and fully aware of what is going on. For no trivial reason are they looked at as a chapter of Hannibal Lecters in space, or Friday the 13th Jason in space for being mute killing machines.
Origins[edit]
The founding of the Sons of Malice is unknown although they are suspected to be one of the Astartes Praeses, the twenty chapters tasked with guarding the regions around the Eye of Terror and preventing chaos incursions into Imperial Space. They are also assumed to be the missing 11th Legion of Astartes, as their Primarch/god Malal/Malice's sacred number is 11 and they have 11 companies (which ironically makes them more compliant with the Codex Astartes than a few loyalist chapters) and 11 "champions" (translation: 11 sacrifice to Malice). If the Sons of Malice were in fact descended from the lost 11th legion, its probable that they were absorbed into the Ultramarines following the legion's destruction, but we don't know enough about even their "official" gene-seed parentage prior to turning traitor.
A possible clue is in The Last Council by L J Goulding, when Horus tried to speak the name of one of his two fallen and disgraced Primarch brothers before having his throat crushed by Malcador:
- "‘Mal…’ the stricken primarch choked. ‘M-Mal… al…’"
Of course, he was probably just saying "Malcador".
The Sons of Malice fell when, after a victorious campaign, they engaged in a series of victory celebrations that bordered on cannibalism. Inquisitor Pietas, observing their victory rites, was unacquainted with such customs and was subsequently horrified by it. While some Space Marine chapters have their own set of grotesque rituals (the Blood Angels, for example, partake in literal consumption of blood as a scout's initiation), they're not considered heretical as such, as these types of rituals are usually viewed as part of Astartes tradition. Indeed, one of the Space Marine gene-seed organs, the Omophagea, is even specifically designed to encourage/facilitate cannibalism to gain knowledge via eating brain matter. Regardless of the inexperience of the inquisitor, the High Lords of Terra have no excuse for approving excommunication, knowing Astartes were designed by that guy in the shiny chair to have this ability. (Though to be fair, if the Sons of Malice were routinely cannibalizing servants of chaos, they could have very well been corrupted, since Kroot have been documented to become tainted under similar circumstances. Also their home world had a Schola Progenium on it so the Sons probably should have known that cannibalism was a no-no from an Ecclesiarchical perspective and probably would scare an inquisitor).
Whether or not they were, Pietas, believing them corrupted by chaotic taint and for some reason never asking another Space Marine or even inquisitor about it, formed a strike force of Sisters of Battle Celestians and assaulted the Sons of Malice chapter homeworld Scelus. The Sons fell on their attackers with savage anger emotionless hatred at the interference with their chapter rites and defeated the Celestians, before the captain of the 1st company Kathal dragged the Inquisitor to the chapter's altar, ritually sacrificed her, and devoured her. (Because only the most loyal chapters have sacrificial altars.)
How lovely.
It wouldn't have been the first time a "foolish" inquisitor had "gone missing" due to a loyalist chapter not wanting them to look too deeply into their operations (they were one of the few chapters tasked with guarding the fucking eye of terror after all and not even the Administratum wanted to fill out the necessary paperwork to get replacements); the imperium as a whole probably would have let the whole incident slide if it wasn't for the fact THEY SLAUGHTERED AND ATE AN ENTIRE STRIKE FORCE of Sisters of Battle along with the inquisitor! Rather difficult to ignore.
Needless to say the Imperium was a bit miffed at this and declared the Sons renegades (even though it had been the Imperium to first betray the Sons, rather than vice versa) deploying the Cadian 331st to commit genocide on the tribes the Sons of Malice recruited from. In return the Sons lead by newly appointed Chapter Master Kathal engaged in a hate-fuelled war with the Imperium. Needing a powerful patron, the sons found this in Malice, the Chaos God of Terror and Anarchy. As Malice is directly opposed to the other chaos powers, the Sons battle the other worshippers of Chaos with as much hate as they do servants of the Imperium. Considering this, it is surprising that the Sons have not been wiped out by either side, unless they are receiving additional support from somewhere, but to be fair, Malal/Malice supposedly buffs his followers to almost Primarch levels, so at least there's some slight reason they aren't all dead yet.
13th Black Crusade[edit]
During the 13th Black Crusade the Sons fought to reclaim their chapter homeworld, Scelus, but were unsuccessful. They did manage to bloody both chaotic and Imperial forces, however. On hearing this it is reported Abaddon did rage greatly but he was unable to do anything without arms and the rage of the arch champion of chaos did please Malal greatly.
Dark Times ahead...[edit]
Once every century, the Sons of Malice gather on the space hulk "The Labyrinth" , the closest thing the renegades now have to a homeworld. This holds paramount importance to them and no matter their commitments they return there at the appointed time. They bring slaves of all races to be ritually sacrificed (read: eaten) to Malal. Retreating to their cells with their captives, the Sons practice the lessons of Saint Hannibal and the halls echo with screams for mercy.
Another ritual carried out is the Challenge of the Labyrinth, which a few volunteer to do every century. None are seen again but those that pass the tests are said to become the Doomed Ones, the mighty champions of Malal, enemies to Chaos and Order alike. The Doomed Ones have a special purpose; once there are 11 of them, they will be ritually sacrificed to Malal and this will allow him to manifest in real space and lead his chosen warriors in person. With their God at their side they will unleash a crusade of hate to claim revenge on all that stand in their way. Recently the 11th warrior was chosen and the time of the coming of the Hierarch of Terror is at hand... assuming G-dubs ever decides to try and actually buy the rights to Malal back.
A Canon Appearance?![edit]
The Sons of Malice (And their homeworld of Scelus) make a canon(?) appearance in Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II. Mechanically they are the exact same as Loyalist Space Marines, only with a more Chaotic theme.
A Sons of Malice Chaos Lord by the name of Kanath led some of his brothers at the Battle of Faith's Anchorage following Cadia's fall. The Sons of Malice wanted revenge on the Cadians for their part in the purging of their home world and so they ambushed a fleeing fleet of Cadian survivors. After forcing the Cadians to land on the icy moon of Faith’s Anchorage the Sons unleashed hordes of Cultists and Mechslaves (basically Tech-Priests that have been captured by Chaos and gone insane from torture), which charged the Cadians as the Sons of Malice slowly advanced behind them. While the Sons succeeded in killing a bunch of the Cadians the whole situation ended up descending into a clusterfuck as other chaos warbands like the Crimson Slaughter decided to horn in on the action and everybody started killing everyone else. Ultimately the Sons and the rest of the chaos forces were driven off by the arrival of a second Cadians fleet and the Space Wolf Strike Cruiser Stiklestad.
Daily Rituals[edit]
The Sons of Malice are anti-chaos space marines.
They must not show anger, lest it please Khorne.
They must not show hope, lest it please Tzeentch.
They must not show despair, lest it please Nurgle.
They must not show enjoyment, lest it please Slaanesh.
They bring only utter silence.
04:00 - The Sons of Malice arise from their cells in The Labyrinth. The cells are still messy from yesterday's captive devouring. They spend 30 minutes cleaning their cells up.
04:30 - Morning Prayer. The Sons pray to the renegade god, Malal, in utter silence.
06:00 - Morning Firing Rites. The Sons conduct target practice on captured imperial citizens/chaos cultists.
07:00 - Chaos Battle Practice. The Sons release captured daemons and/or chaos champions into an arena and have one of their own take them one on one. The remaining Sons remain behind a steel cage and study the battle in utter silence. Sons that were slain during practice are to be chopped into pieces and served as lunch later.
08:30 - Loyalist Battle Practice. The Sons release strong, captured imperial loyalists (Commissars, space marines, ogryn and the occasional dreadnought) into the arena and repeat the practice process.
10:00 - Morning Meal. The Sons devour the left overs from the battle practice AND chaos/imperial/xeno captives. The Sons that did not finish their remaining 'meal' properly are to be sent to rudimentary clean up of the hall.
11:00 - The 2 hours of Contempt. The Sons sit in their chair and glare at the wall.
13:00 - Tactical Indoctrination. The Sons plan on raids and invasions upon chaos territories as well as imperial territories. After it has been decided, the Sons will part ways to their respective planned raid routes until 20:00.
20:00 - Returning to Base. The Sons return with human/xeno/daemon captives of various alignments. 50% of the captives are to be sacrificed in Malal's name while the remaining 30% are used for the upcoming evening meals and 20% are given to the Sons to be used as dolls or turned into cultists of Malal or Mechslaves. Promising young male captives are scouted for recruitment into the Sons to replenish battle losses.
21:00 - Evening Meal. The designated captives from today's raid are consumed.
22:00 - Free time. The Sons use this time to clean their favorite cold steel melee weaponry. Others like to read picture books about human/xeno organs. Some read books about the legendary cannibal from before the Age of Strife going by the name of "Hannibal Lecter". Those with psychic gifts open portals to the realm of chaos and bring in even more daemons for tomorrow's battle practice.
24:00 - Rest Period. The Sons retreat to their cells with their captives. The Sons practice the lessons of Saint Hannibal (in utter silence of course). Those who had broken the silence or shown any emotion whilst doing any of the objectives above are either sacrificed to Malal or forced to participate in the Labyrinth challenge.