Honsou

Chaos Portal

The Warsmith Honsou

Honsou is an Iron Warrior Warsmith. He is currently in control of an army 17,000 strong, comprising of Traitor Marines, Xenos and Renegades.

Hydra Cordatus

Honsou, a champion of another Warsmith at the time controlled one of the three segments of the Warsmiths Grand Company. He was looked down upon by his fellow marines, due to the fact that his gene-seed was a meld of that of the Iron Warriors, and that of the Imperial Fists. He was often referred to as "Half-Breed"

He took part in besieging the Adeptus Mechanicus fortress of Hydra Cordatus alongside his chief rivals Forrix and Kroeger all under the command of the Warsmith. The fortress was known to house large amounts of gene-seed belonging to the Imperial Fists Space Marine chapter, the sworn enemies of the Iron Warriors. The siege was successful elevating the existing Warsmith to Daemonhood and with both Honsou's chief rivals dead he was promoted to Warsmith by the Daemon prince. He then returned to Medrengard with the gene-seed captured from the fortress.²

Return to Medrengard

Using the captured gene-seed, Honsou constructed an unusual manufacturing system, the Daemonculaba, which allowed him to create new Iron Warrior space marines. However, the Daemonculaba was far from perfect, and many of the candidates were flushed out. Many did not survive, and those that did were horribly mutated beasts called the Unfleshed, and were cast out from Honsou's fortress.

Honsou then led his warriors into a civil war with two rival Warsmiths, Lord Toramino and Lord Berossus, as he reneged on a promise to share the stolen gene-seed amongst the Iron Warrior commanders. During the war, the exiled Ultramarines captain, Uriel Ventris led a group of renegade space marines to infiltrate Honsou's fortress in a misson to destroy the Daemonculabu. They were captured and brought before Honsou who thought they were mercenaries acting on behalf of Toramino; he also took an interest in the living metal Pasanius' bionic arm (who was also exiled along with Ventris and bound by a Death Oath). Afterwards they were sent to be tortured by the Savage Morticians, and Pasanius' arm was cut off for Honsou to wear. He later became enraged with the Savage Morticians, as Ventris escaped along with a few survivors.

Lord Berossus made one final push to which he managed to successfully storm Khalan Ghol and duel Honsou. However, Honsou defeated Berossus with the support of his Daemonhost bodyguard Onyx. After Berossus' death, his men defected over to Honsou's side after he swayed them to join him in fighting against Toramino. During this battle, Venris had infiltrated Honsou's fortress once again, but this time leading a band of the Unfleshed. Ventris destroyed the Daemonculabu and set free the Heart of Blood, a powerful Daemon captured by the Iron Warriors which had acted as a psychic barrier against enemy sorcerers. When the daemon was set free, the psychic defences fell down, allowing Toramino's forces to attack the fortress with psychic attacks. Honsou returned into his fortress and cornered Ventris and Pasanius before they made their escape. Before Honsou's retinue had a chance to kill the Ultramarines, the Unfleshed arrived to attack and kill Iron Warriors. Ventris also shot down Honsou in the head who was fleeing from the battle.

After the Ultramarines left, Honsou was found to have survived. He then discovered the Heart of Blood collapsed on the floor after exhaustion from winning its earlier battle with its rival daemon, the Omphalos Daemonium. Honsou went on to direct the Heart of Blood against his rival Toramino's army. Given the extent of the daemon's power, this would have undoubtedly won the war for Honsou. Despite the loss of the Daemonculaba and many of his men, Honsou consolidated his power, and began rebuilding his army. His last known action on Medrengard was to invite the remaining renegades who survived into his army, and it was also revealed that within his new retinue was a clone of Uriel Ventris, earlier created by the Daemonculabu before it had been destroyed. ¹

Tarsis Ultra

A furious Warsmith Honsou, fresh from his narrow victory over the Warsmiths Berossus and Toramino as well as his defeat at the hands Uriel Ventris, arrived at a Space Station orbiting Tarsis Ultra and with his new warriors, slaughtered the crew and seized control of multiple torpedoes. A few bombarded cities, while the final one sped up the growth of the Tyranid plants, and killed the world. Magos Locard and a few members of the Skitarii land and attempt to investigate what happened. Magos Locard vows to make Honsou pay for his actions (though he does not know exactly who did this). ³

The Skull Harvest

Honsou travels to the Maelstrom in search of recruits. He plans to lead a mighty army to Ultramar, razing it to the ground, and the skull harvest seems to be an ideal way to raise an army. The Skull harvest is an annual event, hosted by Huron Blackheart which entails mighty warlords bring their warbands to the planet of New Badab. Honsou arrives just prior to the start of one. He sets up a camp with his fellow Iron Warriors, and participates in the event with the main, underlying rule being that whoever slays the leader of a warband may claim the warband for their own. Honsou sends The Newborn (Uriel Ventris' clone) and an ex-member of the Raven Guard to fight the other warlords champion. They both do well, and swell Honsou's army to the size of 5,000. Eventually Honsou, a Khornate champion named Pashtoq, and a Slanneshi champion named Noshta are the only members left. Pashtoq upholds a large dislike of Honsou, mainly because Honsou killed one of his mighty champions with the help of his bionic arm, and the fact that Honsou is a half-breed.Noshta is swiftly defeated, and Honsou is left fighting Pashtoq. He destroys Pashtoq's Daemon Weapon with his own, but Pashtoq calls for one of his champions to bring him a new one. In response, the champion (who has allegiances with Honsou) plunges the new weapon into Pashtoq's chest. Honsou then cuts off his head, winning the Skull Harvest. A wounded Noshta swears his allegiance to him, and Honsou leaves New Badab with a force of almost 17,000 warriors. But before he leaves,Huron Blackheart warns him, telling him to kill his champions as soon as they become un-useful, to prevent a possible mutiny. His final words to Honsou before he leaves New Badab are "Always remember. The strongest are Strongest alone".⁴

Sources

• ¹:Dead Sky, Black Sun by Graham McNeill
• ²:Storm Of Iron by Graham McNeill
• ³: Planetkill (Anthology)
• ⁴: Heroes of the Space Marines (Anthology)