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

De Haan (Dark Apostle)

From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
Jump to: navigation, search
Targetdrone.gif This article is about the Word Bearers Dark Apostle; for the Inquisitor who became an Imperial Saint, see De Haan (Inquisitor).

De Haan was a Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers.[1]

History

During The Great Crusade, De Haan served his Legion as an initiate and was present when the Emperor turned upon the Word Bearers. After their betrayal, De Haan joined his Primarch Lorgar and his Legion in worshiping the Chaos Gods and took part in the Horus Heresy.[1]

Millennia after the Heresy, De Haan had risen to become a Dark Apostle and continued to strike at the servants of the False Emperor. One such attack was on the Imperium world of Sahch-V, which had been secretly infiltrated by a small Word Bearers force that included De Haan and his mentor, the Dark Apostle Alaema. From their hidden base within a city's walls, the Word Bearers created a Chaos Cult, which they planned to use to overthrow the Imperium's rule on Sahch-V, once enough of the population had been converted. Unfortunately for the Word Bearers, their plans had unknowingly drawn the attention of the Eldar of Craftworld Varantha. The Eldar of Varantha, are well known for their hatred of the Chaos Gods and their servants and they launched a sudden devastating attack on the Word Bearers, which destroyed their Cult and left De Haan and the Word Bearer Meer as the only survivors. Once De Haan and Meer returned to their hidden ships however, the Eldar attacked once again and harried the Word Bearers' all the way to Cadia; where Varantha led the fleets of Cadia and the Craftworld Ulthwé, against the battered Word Bearers' fleet. De Haan was on one of the few ships to reach the safety of the Eye of Terror, but the Word Bearers' failure on Sahch-V and the loss of his mentor, had taken a heavy toll on De Haan. He developed a deep hatred for Varantha and soon began an obsessive hunt to track down the location of the Craftworld, so he could claim his revenge.[1]

His hunt would last for millennia and take him through over a quarter of the galaxy, as he tracked down various clues and sightings of the Eldar, until he reached Herano's World. There De Haan and his forces took the forces of Varantha to battle and easily defeated them, with De Haan killing the Farseer who led the Eldar himself; after the Farseer warned him he would meet his end, when he stared at the heart of Varantha. De Haan's victory at Herano's World was a turning point for his hunt for Varantha, as the Word Bearers' highest Dark Apostles recognized the depth of his spite and had praised him for it. He was soon granted the Sacrament of the Fifth Blessing, which appointed De Haan a holy vessel, and freed him from his duties to the Word Bearers. He was given a Battle Barge and a large force, composed of Word Bearers, Cultists and Mutants, to command, in order to lead a crusade to finally destroy Varantha. With the forces at his command, De Haan's Crusade soon led him to an unnamed Exodite World, after hearing of Eldar being sighted there, and found it contained a Warp Portal. Knowing deep within his soul, that he had found the key to locating the Craftworld, he named it the Heart of Varantha and ordered a fortress to be dropped on its surface where he was among the first of the Word Bearers to teleport to the Exodite World. Once there De Haan's forces made short work of the Exodites who fought them and he soon made ready to find the Warp Portal, that he learned connected directly to Varantha; despite the constant misgivings of Meer, who had become De Haan's Coryphaus. Meer warned that they had found no sighting of any Eldar from Varantha and it was unsafe for De Haan to be on the surface of the Exodite World, while so many of their own forces were still being deployed from their Battle Barge in orbit.[1]

With his obsession so close however, De Haan dismissed Meer's misgivings and was later proven correct when the Word Bearers Nessun and Traika presented evidence that the Eldar of Varantha were present on the Exodite World. Given all the proof he needed, De Haan made ready to lead his forces to destroy Varantha and made plans to corrupt its ruins, before flying the Craftworld into the Eye of Terror. It was then however, that the Elder of Varantha made their presence known and struck the Word Bearers' fortress in force. The numerous Eldar, soon overwhelmed the unprepared Word Bearers in the fortress and destroyed their Battle Barge in orbit, which still held the majority of their forces. Hours later De Haan, found himself alone as he, ran out of the ruins of his fortress, but he stopped as soon he stepped foot on the ground of the Exodite World. The Farseers of Varantha had him surrounded and an Avatar of Khaine blocked his path. It was then De Haan realized that the Eldar of Varantha had known for sometime, that he was hunting them and had used the Dark Apostle's hatred for them to set the perfect trap in order to destroy him. With his forces destroyed and his own death certain, a sudden calm fell upon De Haan, as he raised his Accursed Crozius to salute the Avatar. As the Farseers of Varantha watched, De Haan charged the Avatar and met his end at its hands.[1]

Source