Voidrippers
| |||
The Voidrippers are a Khornate Chaos Space Marine Warband[1c] that is active in the Warp and the Caligari Sector.[1i]
History
|
This page contains spoilers for: | Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Prophecy |
The Voidrippers were originally Space Marines of the Caligari Sector's Stormwatcher Chapter, who began to worship the Chaos God Khorne. Soon nearly the entire Chapter was in the Blood God's grasp and those Stormwatchers who refused to worship Khorne[1e], were viewed as traitors[1f] and were killed by their Heretic Battle Brothers. The Voidrippers were then born, when all of the Stormwatchers had been hunted down and killed or corrupted and joined the Warband's ranks. Afterwards, the majority of the Voidrippers began Crusades within the Warp[1e]; save for a few left slumbering on their Starfort[1c], Fort Blood[1g], with their Goreforged Cult servants[1c]. The Starfort was located in the Gwaelod System and was once known as the Fort of Echoes[1b]. It had originally served the Stormwatchers, before the Voidrippers corrupted the Starfort[1c] and Fort Blood now served as their only base in Realspace. The Voidrippers did not know, however, that a few of their loyalist Stormwatcher Battle Brothers had survived the Warband's purge. Over the next millennia, the survivors were able to rebuild the Chapter with the aid of the Inquisitors of the Caligari Conclave[1e] and in time, it was made a tradition that only the Chapter's Grand Master would learn its true history[1a]. Those who had survived the purge, would later be replaced with new Battle Brothers and eventually all save the Grand Masters, became unaware of how the Stormwatcher Chapter was nearly destroyed by their Heretic Battle Brothers[1i]. The Caligari Conclave would also work to ensure the Stormwatcherss' very existence became hidden from the wider Imperium as well. While the Chapter still carried out its duty to protect the Caligari Sector, these measures ensured the Voidrippers were unaware that they had failed to destroy the Stormwatchers[1e]. The Conclave and Stormwatchers would also mark the location of the Gwaelod System as being forbidden[1a], in order to prevent Fort Blood from being discovered[1e]. However, the Caligari Conclave made the mistake of keeping any knowledge of the Voidrippers and their connection to the Stormwatchers, only available to its high ranking members.[1e]
This proved disastrous in M42, when a low-ranking Caligari Conclave Inquisitor was sent to aid the invaded Starfort of the Navigator House Ranieli. It had been attacked by the Word Bearers Warband of the Sorcerer Lord Rutial Glinthar, who ransacked the Ranieli's stored knowledge of the Caligari Sector. His sought to find the hidden Gwaelod System in order to destroy[1a] the Voidrippers[1c], after they had insulted the Word Bearers and defied the will of Abaddon the Despoiler. Due to the Caligari Conclave's efforts to keep the Stormwatcher Chapter's existence a secret, however, the location of the System was hard to find. Glinthar knew, though, that House Ranieli would have its location stored in the Starfort, as the House was known to serve the Conclave. The Sorcerer Lord was proven correct, when he found the Gwaelod System's location within a Warp Folio, but it was then that the Conclave's Inquisitor intervened. While he was heavily outnumbered, the Inquisitor managed to destroy Glinthar's Warband and claim the Warp Folio, before the Word Bearers could escape with it. The Inquisitor then became curious as to what Glinthar had sought in the Gwaelod System, despite being warned not to travel there, by the Conclave's head Inquisitor Lord Grigori Maldor. Even the Inquisitor's Stormwatcher retinue member, Sergeant Caius Thorn, warned against doing so, though, he did not know the true reason why it was forbidden. The Inquisitor, however, refused to heed their warnings, as he desired to uncover the mystery[1a], and immediately traveled to the Gwaelod System, with Sergeant Thorn in tow. They soon discovered the seemingly abandoned, Fort Blood and entered the Starfort. During the course of exploring it, the two discovered evidence that it was once used by the Stormwatcher Chapter and then began to reactivate the Starfort.[1b]
This awoke Fort Blood's slumbering Voidrippers, who in turned warned their brethren in the Warp, before confronting the interlopers. The first to do so, was the Champion Gladius Feralt and he was surprised to see that Sergeant Thorn was a living Stormwatcher. He then revealed that the Voidrippers were once Stormwatchers to a disbelieving Thorn. The Champion then told the Sergeant they thought their loyal Brothers were dead and the enraged Sergeant attacked Feralt while denying his words. The Inquisitor joined Thorn and the Champion was soon killed by them[1c]. Other Voidrippers then attacked them, but the two destroyed the Anchor-machines that were keeping the Blood Fort from being dragged into the Warp Rift in its lower levels. While they escaped before the Blood Fort was destroyed by the Warp Rift, the Voidrippers now knew the loyalist Stormwatchers still lived[1d]. This led them to emerge from the Warp and begin a Crusade to destroy the Chapter once and for all[1e], as an offering to Khorne[1d]. Led by the Chaos Lord Kairn Golgarth[1i], the Voidrippers quickly learned that the Caligari Sector Hive World Ascalon, served as the Stormwatchers' Homeworld[1e]. The Warband then opened a Warp Rift in one of the world's forts[1i] and began an overwhelming invasion, to destroy the Stormwatcher Chapter and claim its Gene-seed. The Voidrippers were joined in this by their Goreforged Chaos Cult[1g] and their allies, the Chaos Knight Abraxas[1h] and the Khorne Daemons of the Gore-Drenched One Herald[1i]. While the Stormwatchers fought back fiercely, they were heavily outnumbered and Ascalon began to fall to the invaders[1f]. The tide finally turned against the Voidrippers, however, when the contrite Inquisitor who had entered Fort Blood, and brought about the invasion, arrived with the Freeblade Ambrose Caradoc. Their strength[1h] allowed the Stormwatchers to close the captured fort's Warp Rift and stopped the Voidrippers from receiving any further reinforcements. This was a hard blow to the Warband's invasion and they also suffered heavily losses in the attack on the fort, including the death of their leader Golgarth. Despite this, though, the remnants of the Voidrippers invading forces continue to fight on Ascalon. The Warband has remained in Realspace as well and continue to plague both the Stormwatcher Chapter and the worlds of the Caligari Sector.[1i]
Related Articles
Sources
- 1: Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Prophecy
- 1a: Campaign Mission - The Consecrated Archives
- 1b: Campaign Mission - Fort Echoes
- 1c: Campaign Mission - Slumbering Horrors
- 1d: Campaign Mission - The Gaping Wound
- 1e: Campaign: Awakenings Investigation Completed
- 1f: Campaign Mission - Bastion of Heroes
- 1g: Campaign Mission - Capture the Ascalon Void Port
- 1h: Campaign Mission - Mayhem and Carnage
- 1i: Campaign Mission - Fort Blood
