Welcome to Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum! Log in and join the community.

Hesperax

From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
Jump to: navigation, search
Targetdrone.gif This article is about the planet; for the Dark Eldar Succubus, see Lelith Hesperax.

Hesperax was a former Dark Eldar world in the Eye of Terror.[1a]

Map Basic Data Planetary Image
px Name: Hesperax Unknown.jpg
Segmentum: Segmentum Obscurus
Sector: Unknown
Subsector: Unknown
System: Unknown
Population: None
Affiliation: Dark Eldar
Class: Destroyed[1i]
Tithe Grade: Aptus Non

Never touched by sunlight, the ever present dark clouds, bathe Hesperax in cold darkness.[1a]

Spoiler!
This page contains spoilers for: Warrior Coven (Novel)

In the past, the Archon Sussarkh the Kabal Slayer ruled the Kabals and Wych Cults on the planet. Sussarkh made the world run slick with blood as he turned them against one another in perpetual combat, bringing the world to the brink of its own ruin. While sitting on his throne on the highest peak of a volcano,Sussarkh asked his consort, the breathtaking Lelith Hesperax of the Wych Cult of Strife, to dance for him, as he watched the bloodshed below. As she began her dance, Lelith danced between Sussarkh's retinue as lightning flashed and black rain began to pore down on them[1a]. Unknown to Sussarkh, Lelith had struck a contract with a Daemon of Slaanesh. She would be given the power to stop the mindless slaughter and instead have it done in a grand gladiatorial arena. All it would take to sign the contract was the soul of the Archon himself[1b]. As she finished her dance, Sussarkh noticed his retinue had stopped moving and began to fall apart. Lelith had killed them skillfully during her dance leaving Sussarkh undefended. He raised his sword to battle Lelith, only to find that he too, had been cut and he watched as his body fell apart. With a skillful dance, Wych Queen Lelith, became the new ruler of Hesperax.[1a]

In the coming years Lelith, and the Wych Cult of Strife, strengthened their hold on the planet and began to fulfill her contract with the Daemon. She had a gladiatorial arena built, into the very volcano, where she had killed Sussarkh. There Lelith had her throne built, so she could watch over the spectacle of the gladiatorial fights and watch the gallons of blood being spilled every day in her honor[1a]. Her Daemonic patron had already granted Lelith numerous favours and had offered her assistance to ensure the longevity of the Wych Queen's rule on Hesperax itself. In return, Lelith had promised the Daemon enough souls to push its Slaaneshi army out of the warp and into the material realm.[1b]

Lelith began to send raiding parties out to find strong souls for the arena, including several on the nearby Craftworld of Ulthwé[1d]. For long centuries the Wych Queen accumulated the souls of warriors from various species and stored them up for a magnificent sacrifice to unleash her daemonic patron. As it turned out, she was still a vital few short[1b]. She began to increase the raids on Ulthwé and Eldrad Ulthran and the Seer Council found a way to rid themselves of their problem once and for all. The Council agreed to allow Lelith to raid the lower levels of the Craftworld where expendable Eldar were located. Using these raids as a reason to call for aid, they contacted the Ordo Xenos on the Inquisition substation Ramugan. Enacting the Coven of Isha, an agreement for mutual aid between Ulthwé and the Ordo Xenos[1e], they requested a Deathwatch Kill Team be sent. The strength of their souls would be enough to release the daemon from the warp, if the Wych Queen was able to sacrifice them appropriately. Ulthwé would be safe and the Dark Eldar of Hesperax would have satisfied their Slaneesh patron.[1d]

The Kill Team landed on Hesperax, in pursuit of the Ulthwé Seers kidnapped during Lelith's raid, in order to honor the Coven of Isha. Once they land on their Thunderhawks, the team, and the few Ulthwé Eldar sent to aid them, were quickly overwhelmed and taken to the gladiatorial arena. There they are made to fight for the crowd and Lelith, but managed to turn the battle in their favor. Lelith herself gets involved and despite suffering several losses, including the Watch-Captain Quirion Octavius and their Eldar allies, the Kill Team escapes the arena[1f]. Underneath the arena and the volcano itself, the Kill Team finds Lelith in her lair with the spirit pool nearby, where all the souls killed in the arena are gathered. Knowing that it is important to Lelith, they begin to destroy it with explosives, while battling the Wych Queen and the surviving Dark Eldar[1g]. Once the explosives go off, the team escaped to their surviving thunderhawk and returned to their ship in orbit.[1h]

The explosions increased and caused the volcano itself to explode. The volcano's eruption becomes so great that the planet began to disintegrate. The ship, carrying the Kill Team, outraces the planet's destruction and escapes to safety.[1h]

Related Articles

Source