Children of Carrion - Lord Ephialtes, The Thrice Curse

+++ Thought for the day: Be strong in your ignorance. +++

To fight your enemy, you must first know your enemy. That is basic truth, and the purpose of the Inquisition.

Ever since my first sighting of the forces of the Children of Carrion, and my subsequent hunt for them across the Segmentums Pacificus and Tempestus, I have endeavored to learn all I can about my foe. Naturally, their leadership was the first choice.

And yet… I find myself stymied. This is not an admission of failing, but an admission of fact.

To explain; the leader of the warband has been identified and is known to me. He is known as Ephialtes, the Thrice-Cursed, the Carrion King, the Lord of Corpses and the Father. He is enigmatic; in the fashion of the followers of Nurgle, he is shown to have amassed a large following of those afflicted by the pestilence of the Chaos deity of plague. He openly refers to them as his ‘children’ for those who are, or were, human, mutants and abhumans included. To other fallen Astartes, he lauds them as ‘brothers’. In the dead warzones of Argollis, he was sighted to be present at every major breakthrough attempt by Militarum forces against the warband (although it be right to call them a ‘legion’ now, given their size), loudly extolling his followers to fight on in ‘Father Nurgle’s name’, and also, for him. Not him as a leader of men would, or an officer directing loyal troops, but like a father giving praise and support to a child.

But in combat, even wearing what can only be called a decrepit suit of ancient Cataphractii Tactical Dreadnought armour, the Traitor Astartes identified as Ephialtes is akin to a Leman Russ. He’s slow, loud and ungainly in his approach, especially when accompanied by his retinue of fell Terminators, but once engaged in combat, using his large Plaguereaper-class scythe (See appendix: Weapons and Wargear of Warband ident. Children of Carrion), he is a monster, to use no small a term. Plasteel, adamantium, ceramite, flak armour. He will cut through all. The last pict recording I was privy to showed him felling a trio of Primaris Reivers from the Blood Angels Adeptus Astartes chapter alone. The Astartes gave a good accounting of themselves, as I said so in the missive I sent to their respective chapter command, but they were but wheat before the reaper’s scythe.

But, while his wargear marks him as one of the Traitors that laud themselves as ‘Veterans of the Long War’… I feel that may not be the case. Through my own study and several proxies acting on my behalf studying restricted archives on Holy Terra on the subject, I cannot find any Legionnaire of the Death Guard legion that used the name ‘Ephialtes’, either Terran-born or born of Barbarus. Several names come close, but due to the fragmentary nature of the information from the Heresy, it is hard to verify whether any of those names are in fact connected to the warlord calling himself Ephialtes. Which raises several questions: is this a legionnaire from the days of the Heresy who affected a name change to destroy an old connection of the Imperium, or is this traitor from a Renegade chapter and became lord? Does the name belong to another warlord and is simply passed from successor to successor?

I don’t feel that I will know until the traitor is brought to heel.

In any case: I judge the Traitor Astartes identified as Ephialtes be judged as ‘PRIMARIS LEVEL THREAT - VERMILION’. Use extreme caution when engaging.

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Lo and behold! He is finally done!

TWO YEARS! TWO fucking years this guy has been sitting on my shelf in various stages of painting and now he’s finally done. And he looks glorious!

I really do like the Lord of Contagion model, since to me, it really encapsulates the ‘decaying knight’ aesthetic the Death Guard have about them. Like this guy could have easily been something noble and inspiring to see back in his heyday, but now, all he brings is fear, disease and death.

I mainly used a washes over drybrushed layers for the armour (Steel Legion Drab base, then Flayed One Flesh drycoat, wash with Biel-Tan Green). The bronze and metal bits were regular paint jobs, although I did use Vallejo Mecha Light Rust Wash to rust up the Leadbelcher bits, and the censors were done with a Deepkin Flesh (I think?) basecoat, then a wash of Biel-Tran Green, and I went over that with Hexwraith Flame technical paint. The cloak was Rakarth Flesh base, then a wash of Agrax Earthshade and a layer of Ulthuan Grey.

The helmet is an ode to the first battle I used him in against a force of Blood Angels. He did kill three Primaris Reivers by himself, but I don’t have any Primaris Reiver helmets, so I had to go with a regular Primaris Marine head instead.

So fucking glad this model is finally finished. Now I just have to do the other 200+ models…

The Children of Carrion

++ INQUISITORIAL REPORT: GAMMA TC-239 ACCESSED ++

++ MAGENTA LEVEL ACCESS RECOGNIZED ++

++ CAUTION: REPORTS OF PRIMARIS LEVEL THREAT CONTAINED WITHIN. PROCEED WITH CAUTION. PYSKERS ARE ADVISED TO RECITE THE RITE OF PROTECTION BEFORE ACCESSING MAIN LOGS ++

++ ACCESS GRANTED ++

++ THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: A SMALL MIND IS A TIDY MIND ++

Greetings fellow member of the Ordo Hereticus or Ordo Malleus. Or even the Ordo Xenos. The information I present is not one I believe should be kept solely to one order, for the threat it could pose is one with too much potential to become something far more malignant if left unchecked.

This is the report of Inquisitor Theodore Cabello, of the Ordo Hereticus, and my investigation into the forces of one of the many myriad foes of the Imperium of Man. I talk of a warband of the Heretic Astartes that I encountered at the border of the Segmentum Pacificus and the Segmentum Tempestus in 456.M39. Several Inquisitors will be familiar with the Fall of Pontefex Secundus, I am sure, for the loss of a world devoted to the worship of the God Emperor is not something that can go amiss, even if it is our mission to keep such information away from the ignorant masses. I feel, however, that the information about the atrocity’s perpetrators must not be kept solely to myself and those I consider to be close allies.

The threat I talk of is not some mere band of Renegade Astartes; piratical raiders acting on their own whims. This attack shows a coordinated strategy, between many elements of a greater host, led by a leader capable of such planning. Having visited the site and seen the devastation wrought upon the planet, and having gathered what evidence I could before the sub-sector was subjected to exterminatus and quarantine, I can estimate the force that attacked the planet stood at Legion strength, containing a mix of Heretic Astartes, renegade elements of the Astra Militarum and, I hate to even suggest this, but also a Lance of an, as yet, unknown Knightly House.

The destruction I found was total: not a living being was left alive. No human or animal was spared. Nine billion souls, lost. Monuments of the Ecclesiarchy were defaced and destroyed wholesale, from the smallest shrine to the mightiest cathedral. The very earth was tainted and befouled by the foul energy of Chaos, specifically, of the Chaos deity that is known as ‘Nurgle’. While there was no evidence of daemonic manifestation on the planet itself, I have no doubt that such unholy rituals took place.

Through meticulous research through the archives and investigation of the surrounding sub-sectors and systems around Pontefex Secundus, I have found a pattern begin to emerge: minor and frontier worlds were subjected to piratical raids, to capture slaves, or attacked to silence Imperial waystations and posts, before capital worlds in important sub-sectors had the same level of destruction wrought upon them as on Pontefex Secundus in campaigns of rapid dominance and wholesale destruction.

Through my research, and the research of my fellow Inquisitors and Astra Militarum analysts, I have finally placed a name to the force that laid low an Imperial world.

The Children of Carrion.

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So, yes, I've been very much away from this blog (I don't really seem to have any serious followers, but still), and I've got fairly good reason for that. Work and life has been getting in the way, both in a major and minor way.

But I've managed to find some time to actually do some work on my Chaos Space Marine army; the Nurgle dedicated Children of Carrion.

More work will follow. Decided that doing some sort of backstory, or in this case an Inquisitorial report, would be a good way to condense things down.