The Chaos of the MAELSTROM I Warhammer 40k Lore

dearest friends I bid you all a warm welcome to today's sermon throughout the near endless expanse of our galaxy ancient astronomical studies had revealed there to be around 100 billion stars glinting out into the dark as great beacons of the Divine but as it stands today even with the Advanced Technologies of the 41st millennium it is doubtful that our Scholars would ever again be able to calculate an accurate approximation and it is for a truly terrible reason it may be difficult to believe but in our ancient past the cosmos was relatively clear and we were able to spy even the light of the most distant stars and galaxies however as we are all too well aware the PLS of reality have become ever more damaged and the immaterial has tragically began to leak through uding all that we were once so fortunate to see what I am referring to are the chaotic warp storms which have become an everpresent danger to all who name our galaxy as their home it matters not if you are a dauntless Imperial citizen an audite elari Fara or even a barbaric orc for for when the warp erupts all around you then you will be forced to fight lest you meet your fate at the hands of a starving demon whilst there are warp storms which have manifested themselves across every corner of our galaxy there are two which have garnered a level of infamy due to not only their sheer size but also from the horrors which lurk within them the first would be the great eye of Terror spawn from the birth Cry of slanesh and current home to the vast majority of chaotic forces who ever plague the sentient species of the Galaxy however there is a second storm which in many ways is perhaps more interesting and possibly even more hellish than of any other within the Stars this great Tempest of unreality would be known as the Maelstrom and it shall be our topic for today's sermon located close to the epicenter of the Milky Way it has proven to be a blight against all who cling to life within its Insidious reaches and ever since the days of the great Crusade it has been a dark Thorn pressing ever farther into the very heart of the Imperium we shall first learn of the Maelstrom investigating some of its strange and horrific features before moving on to recount some of our earliest of expeditions within this otherworldly Tempest afterwards we will return to our present day and investigate the current status of the Maelstrom including sections on unique formations which have endured within its swell as well as of some of the more notable of War bands which have claimed it as their hellish Bastion rest assured that this infernal region of space is Rife with dangers spawned both from our own plane of reality as well as from those devilish forces who have ripped their way out of their immaterial haunts simply to Prey Upon the poor Mortals of our galaxy but with this in mind let us turn our attention to the Maelstrom and delve our way through its horrific Tempest friends I urge you to steal yourselves not only against the horrors which we shall soon see se but also in preparation for the inquisitorial interrogations which you will be sure to receive for having gazed into this fiery Abyss if we were to begin our journey from the gaseous giant of Jupiter from where the bulk of terra's own ships are kept and maintained we would need to turn our gaze towards the galactic East and in the far distance some 40,000 light years away we may hear the pulsating and Goring cries of the Maelstrom before we begin our Stellar Voyage towards this gaping hellscape let us first briefly learn of what it actually is many of you will already be aware of the concept of warp storms and since the formation of the catric maledictum across our Stars it is the sad truth that more and more Denis of the G Galaxy have been forced to witness the terrible truth of the immaterium with their own eyes but regardless of how you first came to discover a warp storm almost universally none will wish for one to manifest around their own home system for any who are unaware I shall give a brief overview as to the nature of a warp storm it is a violent tearing of reality itself which can occur due to the volatile and crashing tides of the immaterium growing to such a degree that they can no longer be contained within their own hellscape and so they will rip through the delicate Plains of real space only to manifest as an infernal gateway to the warp these storms will vary rather wildly in size with some being so small that they may only appear within a single room before flickering and imploding in on themselves whereas others are incomprehensibly massive such as with the eye of Terror which has claimed a horrifically large region of space to Forever shoulder the oppressive burden of chaos but the I is not the only storm which exists at such a scale as the Maelstrom is thus far the second largest warp storm which we have encountered Ed throughout the Galaxy I shall briefly mention that with the formation of the great rift this fact may be somewhat disputed however considering that the catric maledictum is more of a daisy chain of Rifts I still believe that the Maelstrom can be considered as more of a singular storm compared to this Rift saying that some Scholars now view all of the individual warp storms of the Galaxy with the eye of Terror and Maelstrom included as being somewhat fused or connected thanks to the formation of the rift however it is incredibly tricky to map these Stellar phenomena and so it is a point which I believe we should quickly move past regardless of this confusion when we look at the Maelstrom as it existed prior to the formation of the Great Rift it still stood at a tremendously prodigious size stretching out several hundred light years in diameter it has been an indelible feature of the Galaxy since the earliest days of man and rather surprisingly it seems to have formed as a natural phenomenon whereas the eye of Terror was torn into existence by the birthing screeches of slanesh during the 30th Millennium as far as we are aware the Maelstrom has always existed as a dark port to that otherworldly dimension of pain and suffering the Maelstrom exists close to the heart of the Milky Way being situated between one of the great Galactic arms and of the dense unnavigable core of the Galaxy itself due to the gravitational disturbances created in areas of space which are as rich in stars and Stellar gases as the core this region of the cosmos was always going to be incredibly challenging to sail through however with the presence of a warp storm as large as the Maelstrom it is near impossible for even the most highly skilled of Navigators to find a safe path through this sector being forced to rely on their warpy to peer into the abyss and find a stable passage a navigator will only be met by the swirling chaos of an Ever shifting immaterial storm which seemingly longs to envelop and devour your craft almost as if the rift was a sentient and ravenous creature the reason I say this is because the Maelstrom exists as an eternally swirling Cyclone which pulls all errant matter towards its Center and we are still uncertain as to what terrible fate is to be found within its crashing heart there is a common misconcep ception that the Maelstrom exists within the very center of the Galaxy however this would be incorrect the warp storm is an entirely separate entity to the super massive black hole which stands at the core of the Milky Way as I had previously stated it is situated to the galactic west of this blaring monstrosity but the two exist as completely independent stellar entities once you become enveloped within the crashing tides of a warp storm it becomes truly impossible to describe the nature of your surroundings as reality itself will cease to be a Dependable constant to your existence as the thin walls between our Realms distort and bend through the dimensions the very laws of physics cease to function as we have grown to expect gravity can no longer be seen as reliable and even the forces which hold your atoms together can be tampered with by capricious demons who will Relish in delight at watching your arms simply drift away from your body at horrifying angles you will not even be able to trust in your sense of scale as even the smallest of perturbation in the flowing warp energies could snowball into a crashing Force which will knock a world out of its tenuous orbit leaving it to wander the stars as a cold and Lonesome Rogue Planet although that may very well be a favorable fate for the denisons of that world to die amidst the cold night is undeniably Bleak but once your home has been engulfed by a warp storm then your lives will now be but simple play things for the endless tides of the neverborn Deon incursions are a constant threat which can almost be expected to occur with a sense of certainty for worlds which were unfortunate enough to be consumed by a warp storm and once this occurs there is very little hope for a Victorious end for the poor Mortals who once dwell upon its fertile soils but this accounts for planets which were previously seen as safe and as we have discussed the Maelstrom has existed for thousands of years years and so there would have been no opportunity for the various species of the Galaxy to ever colonize or Thrive upon the worlds which find themselves within the borders of this storm as such these worlds will have remained within the Maelstrom for their recent history meaning that in all likelihoods their surface will no longer resemble that of a typical Planet some will have become demon worlds having been claimed by a mighty demonic Prince or Lord of the warp and they will have used the energies of the immaterium to shape it into a personal dwelling for themselves depending on the patron God of that champion the planet will take many different forms so for instance a lord of nurgle may decide to infect the very World itself with a pox leading to the eruption of plague forests and toxic bogs which stretch across the entire breadth of this Fallen Planet alternatively a slany prince could decide that their world would be fit for a pleasure Palace replete with Dungeons and cells for where their subservient demonic followers can experiment and push their prisoners into new PLS of terrible pleasure other worlds however though left abandoned by the demons will not be safe from a similarly ghastly fate the over overwhelmingly errant energies of the warp can barely be Quantified by inquisitorial agents and the shifting currents and flows will be sure to sweep up any unprotected object they can be it a small asteroid or even an entire planet as such worlds will begin to contort and bend into impossible forms with crystalin mountains rising and falling in on themselves before bursting outwards in an ocean of sparkling minnows all of which Scream the names of Heretics not to be born for another Thousand Years the ancient tectonic plates will be rent aunder by the forces of the warp with the ease of a child tearing apart a ripe tangerine and from their wounds will clouds of phosphorescent Smoke Rise High into the atmosphere before crashing forth into a dazzling display of multicolored rains whilst quite a spectacular sight make no mistake for if you were to witness such events from the world's surface then you could never hope to survive you will not be exempt from the flailing and directionless outlash of warp energy which have deformed the planet itself and soon enough you too will be claimed as yet another victim to the immaterium if you are lucky then you may Simply Be eviscerated and reduced to dust by a burst of Otherworldly lightning forever sealing your fate as a dark shadow of pain upon a shimmering Rock if you are unlucky however then the many demonic entities which lurk within the depths of the malstrom will spot your bright and vibrant soul and such a tantalizing treat as this cannot last long in this hellish realm lesser demons desperate for a taste of power will dive down seemingly manifesting from thin air but we must remember that the warp is their realm and they know how to navigate its impossibilities far better than we could ever hope to understand they will rip your soul out from your corporeal flesh leaving you as a tattered and bloody mess before violently departing in a dazzling flash either to Feast upon the succulent morsel or to deliver it at as a gift to some greater demon in the hopes that it will Garner them some favors with the higher powers of the warp in addition to the many demonic Legions which reside within the chaotic swell of the Maelstrom it has also become a home to many Renegades and Pirates who have used the warp storm to hide their nefarious operations from The Wider Galaxy I will soon go into far more detail regarding these groups but but rest assured that if you were to somehow sail through this Abyssal storm you would encounter Fallen chaos Space Marines torturous drari hot-headed Orcs And a myriad of lesser alien species all of whom would see you as a pathetic and vulnerable Target to Prey Upon now that we understand a little more about what the Maelstrom is and of the Demons who lurk within it let us look back and learn of its significance to the Long March of our history as I had previously stated this warp storm appears to be a naturally formed phenomenon and we have no true records which may give us a hint to when it first spawned within our galaxy with that being said we could possibly speculate as to it appearing as a scar upon real space caused by an action taken in the ancient war in heaven or even from it being rent into existence by a weapon from the Dark Age of Technology but we would have no way of ever confirming either of these wild theories in any case the earliest accounts which make reference to the Maelstrom date back to the time of the great Crusade deep within the 30th Millennium as we are all well aware Humanity in its distant past had already colonized a vast swath of the Galaxy and so it is possible that our early ancestors did in fact circumnavigate this anomaly but again there are no records from this time which could give us any information regarding its first encounters but we are aware of the actions taken by the emperor's Legions when they first discovered it when the Great fleets arrived at this cyclonic aberration they initially attempted to enter MPP Purge the anomaly from all of the Myriad Terrors which found their squalled homes within its hellish field unfortunately however even with the combined might of several Legions of noble estares they were met with defeat time and time again dozens of the ancient warships some being relics of the Dark Age of Technology were lost to the swirling tides of warp energy and Untold thousands of Marines lost their lives in the maddened environments falling prey to the ungodly Horrors who voraciously feasted upon the Stray Mortals whilst they did find some success in their operation it was clear that this war zone would soon stand as an Abyssal sinkhole to the efforts of the great Crusade choosing instead to prioritize the rest of his Galactic Conquest the emperor declared the Maelstrom as being a Zone peratus meaning that all should keep clear from its hellish swell over the following years the events of the Horus heresy transpired and though the Imperium was successful in achieving something of a pic Victory many of the traitorous forces remained alive and some of them had in fact fled Into the Heart of the Maelstrom understanding the severity of this threat the primarch of the ultramarines robut gilan declared that there should be a constant armed presence of Imperial forces to surround the region lest its foul inhabitants decide to lash out at a most inopportune time possibly striking at the very heart of the Imperium of man as such the white scars were to shoulder this burden of responsibility primarily because their home world of Mundus planus was relatively close to the warp anomaly whilst they performed admirably and contained a great many of the emergent threats from the malstrom by the 36th Millennium it was clear that more and more of their duties were being consumed by their defensive role and they were unable to respond to other dangers in The Wider Galaxy to rectify this situation in the year 598 M35 during the tumultuous period no known as the Nova Terror internum the high Lords declared that the 10th founding should commence and so a host of new Space Marine chapters were formed to serve a specific purpose within the Galaxy much of our knowledge regarding this founding has been lost although we do know of one chapter which was created from this process and it would be the loyalist Force known as the astral Clause they were to take up the role which the white scars had previously fulfilled in that they would be situated on the border of the Maelstrom and there sole Duty would be to protect the wider Imperium from any emergent threats from the great warp storm for 6,000 years the astral claws remained faithful and loyal to the Imperium ever committing their forces to daring raids within the chaotic Cyclone all to root out the various aliens mutants and Heretics who posed a significant enough danger to the surrounding stars but alas we must now look at the tragic downfall of this once venerable Legion to look back through the annals of the Maelstrom there is one name which will appear time and time again and it is from a turncoat aartis who has forever left an indelible scar upon this region of of space and it would be none other than Huron Blackheart to understand his Infamous position within the Maelstrom we will first need to learn of the fall of his chapter and of the rise of his pirate War band The Red Corsair previously a loyalist chapter of the adeptus estares known as the astral claw they had been originally tasked with maintaining a constant vigil over the surrounding regions of the the warp storm so that they could tackle the everpresent threat of aliens demons and Pirates who would emerge from its chaotic swell with their chapter home world of badab primaris they were in a perfect position to patrol and monitor the comings and goings of the otherworldly Cyclone but perhaps the call of that infernal Abyss was simply too great to ignore keep keeping the various threats of the Maelstrom contained was truly to be a near impossible task even for a chapter of the venerable Space Marines each day they were forced to make the heart-wrenching decision of choosing which calls for Aid to respond to and for which to leave to their inevitable Fates the reason I say this is because the astral claws were woefully underere equipped for tackling a task as large as theirs a Space Marine chapter only contains 1,000 Marines and for them to cover an area as large as the malstrom which itself is around several hundred light years in diameter this was simply too much to ask their grievances were only made worse by the intrusive and exploitative actions of the high Lords Of Terror the natural resources of the bab sector were constantly harvested though their produce was to be sent off to the distant stars of the Galaxy leaving the astral claws to watch as their own precious Bounty was shuttled away with no recompense given for its loss the W and careless extraction of the administratum became a bitter point of shame to the astral Claws and in particular to their chapter Master Luft Huron growing more and more discontent with the ruling practices of the Imperium he slowly began to implement a series of sweeping changes across the entirety of his own sector the great tithes were hoarded away in fortified bastions kept safe from the prying hands of meddlesome administratum agents and he ordered for the construction of increased fortifications around badab primaris purely to defend his home if a conflict would emerge from his actions indeed he was soon to be proven right in this premonition however it was the astral claw who fired the first Salvo in this war on his order an investigative Imperial fleet was destroyed whilst traveling through the badab sector and from this the badab war would plunge his home into chaos Huron was not alone in this Rebellion however as he had successfully assembled three other Space Marine chapters who similarly shared in his distaste for the meddlesome and intrusive grips of the Imperial Lords these were the cursed Mantis Warriors The Fearsome executioners and the tragic lamenters though each and every Marine believed himself to be fighting for a vital and just cause which would put an end to the rampant administrative Corruption of the Imperium their actions would soon be tainted and corrupted by their leader LOF Huron the master of the astral claws whilst not a servant of the dark Gods had likely heard the Goring Whispers emitted from the Maelstrom and as we will soon discover these had clearly had a lasting impact upon his soul his Rebellion though large did not last long after around 10 years of war a combined Armada of loyalist Space Marine chapters had made planetfall upon bada primaris and during this climactic battle the Tyrant of bab was seemingly slain with half of his body being incinerated by the blast of a melter gun now seeing this war as unwinable the surviving astral claws retrieved the charred Corps of their master and fled Into the Heart of the Maelstrom seeing it as their final remaining Refuge against the forces of the Imperium after locating a region to lick their wounds the apothecaries and Tech Marines were quick to turn their attention towards their fallen Lord rather miraculously they were successful in stabilizing his condition and with a series of bionic implants the destroyed portion of his body was rebuilt as a far stronger albeit cybernetic frame in truth however it was not the skills of his companions who saved him lying on the surgical table drifting between this life and the next he struck a bargain with the dark gods of the warp where the demons would restore his form if at the Unseen cost of the sanctity of his soul rising from Death he rejoined his companions as Huron Blackheart and with with his chapter being renamed as the red corsairs he was prepared to enact a bloody Vengeance against the foolish Servants of the Emperor who brought his home to ruin as they stand today the red Corsair are a true blight on the Galaxy once they operate out of the Maelstrom their range is not at all limited to the surrounding stars and they have been known to enact raiding Expeditions far out into the various segmenta of the Imperium though most of their chapter was left for dead during the badab war they have slowly and steadily rebuilt their ranks through the recruitment of other turncoat aares with a large contingent known as the red wolves having betrayed their brothers within the Space Wolves preferring to seek glory and power within the ranks of the Corsair none are safe from their daring and CR Expeditions out into real space and they have been known to attack Imperial forces from even the farthest corners of the Galaxy where they will Loot and plunder whatever Goods they can before silently slipping themselves back through a warp portal returning to their chaotic home of the Maelstrom because of the sheer size of this ghastly anomaly imperial administratum agents have classified the Maelstrom as a majority grade interface with the warp meaning that it has the potential to act as a staging ground for an immense Invasion by demonic or traitorous forces who may violently claw their way out of the anomaly in every direction bringing not but War to the surrounding stars there is an everpresent and existential risk of suffering from a demonic incursion in the sectors which surround the Maelstrom but unfortunately this cannot be at all surprising to us as I previously stated a near permanent warp storm of this scale which stretches over such a vast reach of space may as well be seen as containing an infinite Wellspring of starved and rabid demons who will gladly manifest themselves within your homes with not but devilish intent within their blackened Hearts similarly the volume of demon worlds within the Maelstrom is truly astound ing being seconded by only the eye of Terror itself from these other worldly bastions true Legions of demonic entities led by some of the most powerful champions of the chaos Gods themselves will be amassed and prepared to set out into the nearby stars to ravage the poor populations whose only crime was to be born close to this hellish Cosmic anomaly as an example of one of these planets let us look upon the world which goes by the name of tendis located within the very heart of the Maelstrom this Demon World exists as an Ever shifting impossibility having been utterly corrupted after suffering for thousands of years under the oppressive weight of immaterial energy the Landscapes stand in a constant state of flux with deserts sprouting into Lush forests only to collapse into a great lake of black eor from which mountainous peaks of burning ice will jut out from and this cycle will eternally repeat over the course of mere hours there is no true way of mapping the environments here and it seems that as soon as one puts pen to paper on how the world looks then the planet will respond in kind and shift once more simply to spite the individual who thought they could quantify this impossible Realm yet somehow life has found a way to exist in this most inhospitable and unpredictable of places there are two relatively stable regions likely anchored thanks to the efforts of Greater demonic Lords and it is here that a strange population not only survives but thrives within the canis Mountain reach a large population of mutants has assembled and they have found some solace in carving out their existence under the ever shifting Lights of the Skies where they may watch the lower Landscapes melt away and reform themselves as some form of psychedelic entertainment similarly the great luxurious city of lady chibia is an everpresent fixture of tendis and it is here that several million minions and Servants of slanesh will Frolic and dance purely to please and praise the Dark Prince of decadent pleasure but to step outside of these relative safe zones is to condemn yourself to death great armies of glass Golems stried out in the wastes being led by demon princes the size of Titans who wish to somehow claim this Jewel of the Maelstrom for themselves there are even immense oceans Upon This World which are periodically covered up and con sealed by the shifting tectonics but there is an entire Society beneath the Demonic waves to be uncovered great fortresses of still molten lava have been erected from the sea floors and within esoteric and nightmarish demons will chase and Prey Upon one another all in the hopes that they may unite the brackish darkness of their realm into a cohesive force which will reclaim the surface world for themselves there is no order to be found upon tendis and to try and impose your rule across such a world will lead you down a dark path of lunacy many chaotic sages and witches have spent their lives invoking ancient blood rituals in the hopes that they would be able to ordain the future patterns of this Demon World however it seems that any attempt at divining the events to transpire here will only alter your own destiny into one of utter Madness there are thousands of Worlds similar to tendis which are equally as chaotic and impossible to track but this is just to be expected from a planet locked within the tidal flows of the Maelstrom still some of these locations are said to Harbor true Treasures which are desperately sought after by the sentient species of the Galaxy upon the Demon World which has been aptly given the name of Hell's teeth there are rumors that somewhere within its hellish crust lies a great artifact known as the omnic Capa this is a relic from the Dark Age of technology which is said to contain every STC blueprint which has any relation to the esoteric Gifts of psychic might it its Discovery would Herald a new dawn for mankind in that the mechanicus would be able to fabricate archaic tools from our golden period all of which would accentuate the latent psionic Gifts of humankind potentially propelling us into a new brighter future because of the clear value of this data Bank the mechanicus magos known as delin Gru has orchestrated a mass Expedition involving the activation of several billion skari units all of whom are to descend upon the world of Hell's teeth to discover whether or not the rumors of its presence are true even though it is unconfirmed if it actually rests upon this Demon World any hints as to the location of an STC database cannot be ignored especially for one which is said to contain as much information as the omnic CAPA it is important to note that such is the size of the Maelstrom that danger lurks for many worlds which simply exist around its outer borders the Imperial world of kovalik 2 had long existed as a minor Outpost of man being situated just on the fringes of the warp storm far enough that it was not subjected to the immaterial horrors but not so distant that its citizens could rest peacefully at night because of its vocational risk the Lords of segmentum Ultima only ordained for the stationing of a small mining operation and several telepathic a monitoring outposts which would maintain a constant watch over the swirling hellscape of the Maelstrom unfortunately however on one fateful day the citizens of kovalik 2 simply ceased in their Communications with the wider Imperium and due to the clear dangers posed by this region a task force of Space Marines was quickly dispatched to investigate what had occurred rather tragically when they made planetfall it quickly became clear that these citizens had suffered a most horrific fate a duari raiding party had descended stealing away every Survivor and leaving the outposts of kovick 2 as Barren and ruined tombs for the dead but even for those who fell there was to be no peaceful rest the estaris found vast displays of mutilated humans who had been propped up in some form of artistic arrangement showcasing the drari skills of torture and cruelty it is excruciatingly difficult to admit this but based on the reports of the deployed apothecaries it seems that the majority of these humans had been placed here here whilst still alive and so we can only speculate as to what they experienced in their final agonizing moments perhaps one of the most notable of Worlds within the Maelstrom would be the planet named as new badab this has become the new home of the red corsair's Renegade War band who fled their original home world of badab primaris during their rebellious Uprising against the Imperium in any case the surviving traitors navigated their way into the chaos of the Maelstrom and found a planet to claim as their own this world was only inhabited by raving bands of mutants and outcasted drgs of human societies who were quickly put down or brought to heal by the violent actions of the turncoat aartis though there were only around 300 of the red Corsair who survived their first war against the Imperium under the leadership of Huron Blackheart they were Swift in their conquest of this forgotten and tainted place as it stands today the blood reav rules from his Palace of thorns a mighty star scraping Fortress brimming with enough defensive Weaponry to deter any opportunistic pirate bands or imperial agents who seek to bring retribution to the Fallen Master with that being said however Huron Blackheart has not kept the world as an isolated Bastion for himself and he has accepted visitors from alien species or from other Renegade aartis Legions who hold similar goals to his own most notably this will occur during an event known as the skull Harvest this is a grand tournament which attracts the bravest of contestants and combatants from all across the Galaxy with alien mercenaries from the null city of comra or chaos champions from the eye of Terror being the most common of Gladiators to be permitted to join you must attend with a war band of your own followers and as we are soon to discover there is a good reason for involving so many Warriors to this cause once admitted the ruling Lords of their War band will step into the ring and the blood games will begin the Champions will fight to the death utilizing every available skill or trick at their disposal to claim the heads of the foolish mercenaries who ever thought they could gain the upper hand in a gladiatorial ring once the majority of contestants are dead and when only three remain this is where the games become truly too captivating to look away from the three Champions will be pitched against one another in a free for all and from this battle only one is to walk away with their life and skull intact once a single Fallen hero stands Supreme he is to sever the heads of his slain foes and Grant the burnt skulls to hon black heart as an offering where he will impale them upon the great spikes of his blackened throne in any case the winner of the skull Harvest will now be granted leadership over the combined War bands of the slain contestants and due to the sheer volume of combatants who join in with these games they can often leave with a veritable Army of new soldiers at their disposal for example in the wake of the destruction of the demon kulaba by Uriel Ventress the iron Warriors warsmith honzo was victorious in the skull Harvest and so he was free to depart from new badab with over 177,000 loyal followers who would follow him on his bloody path of Vengeance aside from these blood Sports the newly claimed world of the red Corsair often acts as the staging ground for great raids against the fertile worlds of the Imperium with their great fleets the Renegade aartis have carved out a bloody name for themselves as vicious Pirates Who show no mercy to any who are unfortunate enough to find themselves opposed to these Fallen Angels this is by no means the only planet which has been graced with a new diabolical purpose for it is now time for us to look at the hell Forge of galck this Demon World is ruled over by none other than core Faron the word bearer's dark Apostle and adoptive father to the primar lar Oran he has transformed this planet from being yet another swirling mass of chaotic energies into becoming a true Bastion of dark Faith towards the ruinous powers and many of the Fallen Legion of the word bearers have come to call this world as their home since their defeat during the Horus heresy bear in mind this is not their true home world but many have still chosen to use galck as a jumping off point for their dark wars of Faith against the Imperium of man as I had stated this Demon World can also be considered as a hell Forge and so it is also home to the innum able Servants of the dark mechanicus who will fan The Infernal warp flames of their tainted smelter complexes all to create the many Twisted machineries and tools to be used by the heretic aares because of this the war bands which emerge from galck are often replete with heavily mechanized units and tanks belching forth other worldly smokes from their tainted exhausts which rise High into the skies dispersing themselves through the atmosphere to Forever taint the very essence of the planet [Music] itself the final Demon World which I shall mention exists as but a faded memory to those who once saw its glory and it was known as Chiron this planet was once ruled over by the Demons of zinch who had transformed its Landscapes into an endless range of crystalline structures jutting outwards into the void like a series of glass daggers aimed at the stars themselves upon the tallest of Crystal mountains there existed an artifact known as the Ebon Talon which was widely known as a chaotic weapon of terrible destruction capable of reducing any targeted foes into KN but burnt Cinders and dust with the utterance of a single word this power was not without cost however for its use would spur an innate rage within oneself prompting them to become more violent and more prone to using the artifact against any who made even the smallest of slight against them in any case the Demon World was home to a series of mutant tribes who worshiped the zch demons and they would constantly fight and clamor about at the base of this mountain in the hopes that they would one they ascend to its peak and claim the great Ebon Talon for themselves this was to be a most fateful prize to be claimed however the aforementioned red Corsair had set out on a mission to claim this Relic for their War band but upon landing and claiming the Talon the world itself began to shake and buckle it seemed that this was something of a loadbearing artifact to the world and once it had been retrieved from its cave the entire planet simply shattered breaking into a vast Haze of broken crystalline glass destined to float through the Maelstrom as strange debris from the god of change with all that I have said one may believe that the only threat which they will face within the Maelstrom would be from the demon kin however they would be sorely mist staken being a region which is so challenging to navigate and so shrouded from the prying eyes of the Imperium it makes sense that there are innumerable factions and War bands who will call this warp storm as their home since they will be able to act without retribution for their heinous acts perhaps seconded only by the dark city of karra it would be truly challenging to find a more wretched Hive of scum and villainy than of the Maelstrom within this veritable den of iniquity we will find thousands of roving pirate bands made up of dozens of alien species all of whom have been Outcast from their original homes similarly murderous criminals fleeing from their sentencing will find Refuge within the dark outposts and safe havens dotted around this anomalous field and you can be sure that they will continue in their vile offenses whilst shielded by the storm Renegade warbands made up of turncoats traitors or insurrectionist Rebels have also spied the Maelstrom as a potential home they will set up small bases for themselves upon the less ravaged of Worlds and from here they may plan out their next attack upon their Old Masters although they may be liable to pick up the ever pervasive taint of chaos from remaining within this Cyclone for too long I will soon go over these minor factions in far more detail but I would be remiss to speak of the dastardly Renegades of the mailstrom without first shining the spotlight back onto the pirate Kings known as the red Corsair I have previously described their founding tale and of some of their actions but let us once again look at some of their treacherous Deeds all of which were performed to the great Chagrin of the Imperium none are exactly sure of how many aartis now stand within the ranks of the Corsair as the vast majority of the original chapter were killed during the badab war but despite this turncoat Marines from the various chapters of the Galaxy have flocked to the banner of Huron Blackheart taking up his colors as their own and pledging their lives to his Renegade wishes I previously mentioned the large contingent of former Space Wolves who had joined in with the ranks of the red Corsair but there are thousands more who similarly wished to be free from the Imperial Creed and because of the sheer volume of aspirant members the pirate War band now stands at a size where it is almost as large as an ancient Legion from the days of the the great Crusade being made up of so many marines it makes sense for the red Corsair Fleet to be truly prodigious rivaling that of the great segmentum fleets of the Imperial Navy hundreds of great battle barges stolen from the various dockyards or War zones of the Galaxy have been assembled into a fearsome Armada which has been further bolstered by thousands of smaller support craft from the various traitor forces who threw in their arms with the Corsair in addition to the actual chaos Marines their Fleet is supported by a host of Traitor Guardsmen alien mercenaries and pirate bands who have pledged themselves to support the Blackhearts Corsair if it means that he will spare their lives rather interestingly even though they are to be considered as a true War band of chaos they do not hold the dark gods to the lofty standards as their fellow Fallen Brothers the Corsair seem to see the ruinous Powers as being a simple means to an end and so while they will still enact vast ritualistic offerings to the gods it is only ever to ascend their own strengths rather than being as a form of reverential worship typically Warlords and champions from this pirate band will isue the off offerings of mutated gifts and it is incredibly seldom found for there to be a red Corsair to ascend as a demon Prince since it would force him to be a subservient to the darker Powers which is antithetical to their own beliefs of being independent and free from all external control we must remember that the Maelstrom is still a warp storm and as we are all well aware it is to be the home of the endless swarms of demons who will voraciously attack any who they perceive as weak or vulnerable to predation the various demonic worlds will host innumerable Legions of other worldly Warriors spawned from the Wellspring of dark energy from the four Gods themselves and they will gleefully set out on a war path if it means that they may bring some form of Glory to their Patron Lord greater demons standing as tall effes of their own God will lead their impossible armies of lesser demon kin out into real space having rent us under the thin walls between our plane of existence and the next allowing them to spill forth to claim The Souls of any pathetic Mortals who match their gaze because of the turbulent currents of the Maelstrom it is very much possible for demons who reside here here to manifest themselves in areas far from the galactic core but the greatest threat will obviously be for the worlds surrounding the anomaly though these worlds may be hundreds of light years away from the Maelstrom itself the presence of this aberration has caused reality itself to become weaker in the nearby regions meaning that the demons will have a far easier time of breaking through to our realm through these tenuous borders a demonic incursion can take many different forms but however it manifests itself will be sure to Forever change the fate of that world in a most negative and deathly way if not stamped out quickly by the righteous Defenders then a burgeoning warp portal will only grow larger and larger prompting more demons to spill forth and reap a bloody toll upon all who they encounter rather sadly most incursions will result in the Ultimate Death of a world for the Imperium quite often the forces of the Inquisition will be forced to enact an exterminatus upon the doomed Planet condemning any survivors to death by fire but this is a price that they must pay forever having witnessed the unbridled Fury of a demonic Army it is not only the forces of chaos who lurk within the Maelstrom as there are currently around two dozen large orc Empires which have found their Niche within the calamitous warp storm as we all know the green skinned ORS can thrive on almost any habitable world and once they have taken root on a planet then they are incredibly difficult to dislodge but they do have one predictable tendency toward W which worlds they choose to inhabit and it would be that they prefer to remain in areas where they can continuously engage in brutish acts of War though most Orcs would prefer to fight against the various sentient species of the Galaxy there are some who are known to prefer conflicts with the other worldly neverborn and as such these demon slaying green skins have found their perfect home within the chaos of the Maelstrom they will pilot their scrap ships jettisoning themselves from Demon World to Demon World slaying the immaterial hordes of hell-spawned Horrors wherever they are to be encountered and thanks to the very nature of the warp they will always have a fight to get stuck in with despite this let us remember that it is only a small subset of the orc faction who enjoy a good scrap with the demon spawn and many of their species are somewhat disturbed by their malformed and twisted Legions because of this some of the larger orc War bands will attempt to avoid regions of warp activity however a storm as large as the Maelstrom is often rather difficult to stay away from for instance the great w of the War Boss urok has been forced to Halt its ceaseless Advance through the Stars after reaching a stalemate upon the Forge World of Rizza being rather close to the immaterial Cyclone the Orcs initially intended to avoid venturing further in however with the manifestation of the cicatrix maledictum which the boys have named as gaw's grin they have been forced to defend themselves against the encroaching demons who have spilled forth from the chaotic expansion of the Great Rift I have previously referenced the red corsairs as being a pirate band of aartis however they are not the only Marauder Fleet which exists within this deathly warp storm huge groups of roving drari raiding parties will effortlessly sail through hidden webway portals allowing them to find safe Passage through the chaotic swell of this hellish realm from here they will descend upon demon worlds to steal up a great Bounty of mutant slaves or exotic warporn artifacts all of which will be shuttled back to comra to be sold on the dark markets garnering them a hefty profit from their diabolical actions other Raiders will simply lie in wait watching the surrounding worlds which border the MST and once they become endangered by a demonic incursion then the duari will take that as a chance to raid the unprepared Defenders utilizing the invasion of Hell spawned minions as a cover for their own nefarious plans with all this said however let us not forget that the duari still possess their own vibrant Souls which will shine ever so brightly within the gloaming of the warp and so for them to Traverse this realm they will put themselves at a great risk of being attacked by demons because of this they will have to stay alert and Vigilant against any perturbations in unreality which could possibly swallow them up for once caught within the Maelstrom you will surely never again find Freedom there are other roaming pirate bands who operate in or around this warp storm being made up of independent humans or aliens who wish to exploit this strange anomaly for their own gain those who fear the terrible dark within the epicenter of this aberration will stay on small outposts often upon abandoned worlds or asteroidal bases in the surrounding star systems and they will launch their raids from here to plunder Imperial vessels which may have become lost within the swirling chaos of the rift but they themselves cannot remain within the storm for long for just as with the duari any individual who holds a soul will gleam as a tantalizing treat to be claimed by a starved demon and they will show you no mercy once you are found but it is not only the dark enemies of the Imperium who choose to venture into the Maelstrom for there are many great Treasures to be recovered by the Dead in Rogue traders who are brave enough to enact an expedition into the horrifying Tempest these audacious explorers will equip their vessels for the long Voyage before plunging themselves and their Crews into the very heart of the storm where they will seek out any artifacts or relics from a bygone age with which to sell onto the Imperial Merchant class some of them may instead desire to map out the impossible realm since the Imperial trading fleets will be more than willing to pay a hefty price for finding an easily navigable route through this chaotic hellscape truly the Maelstrom is a most fearsome and terrible place within the Galaxy being home to innumerable Horrors and Devils who will rapidly tear us aunder for the simple thrill of shedding blood over anything else even with the forces of the Imperium keeping a constant watch over the surrounding region of this warp storm it is still an area of the Galaxy which is to be avoided at all costs and if your mission requires you to sail through the neighboring stars then you would do well to keep an armed escort Fleet prepped and ready to defend you for those who dwell within the hellish swell of this Rift they must believe themselves to have founded a veritable Kingdom free from the intrusive and meddlesome actions of the Imperial Lords who would give anything to be rid of this Galactic blight once and for all but in all likelihoods the Maelstrom will remain indefinitely as an indelible scar upon the cosmos as we know it was likely formed as a natural Stellar phenomenon and thus far we are not even sure if the Blackstone pylons which previously existed upon Cadia would be sufficient in blocking off the expanse of this natural storm because of this we must simply acknowledge its terrible existence and pray that our voyages through the stars do not lead us towards the Maelstrom for if we become lost within its cyclonic swell then I do not believe that any of us shall emerge with our lives my friends this this shall conclude today's sermon on the Maelstrom I hope that the horrors which we explored have brought you some enjoyment and I look forward to hearing from you all in the next address but for now I shall bid you all good day

Channel: Scholar's Lore

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Id: fs3K1vhPOdY

Length: 63min 56sec (3836 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 15 2024