u/AskAGinger

Design themes: heavy metal crowds and bands combined with a chaos warband.

---

The Devil's Horns are a warband making use of the Emperor's Children gene-seed.

Warband History

Timeline

The Horns were officially formed approximately 17 years ago.

History

Electric Jade didn't necessarily want to start a warband. She was happy being a musician, though her tendencies began to become darker and darker. She began to hear whispers in her depraved dreams, offering widespread fame. Jade was cautious, as she had heard from others about the Gods of Chaos. While she has a natural intense charisma, some mild intensifying caused others to flock to her performances. As a sign of appreciation, she paid homage to all four gods, in order to not be beholden to any one.

After a truly awe-inspiring concert on Delbion III, what would become the Horns' homeworld, she and her band destroyed the entire stadium and she personally instigated a Wall of Death that killed 63 people. The ensuing brawl and general bloodbath caused the deaths of almost two thousand attendants; partly from the melee, and partly from raw Chaos energy swirling around the place. This brawl caught the attention of Mordekhar, who flocked to see. An emissary of the Gods visited Jade and served as a channel for them as they rewarded her for her service. Overnight she became something similar to an Astartes, but without the gene manipulation or organs.

The Gods instructed Jade to spread her sound around the galaxy, and the Devil's Horns were formed.

Progenitor

Emperor's Children. The vast majority of aspirants that have joined the Devil's Horns have been of that gene-seed. Jade herself, not being Astartes, doesn't have it.

Organization

The Horns are relatively ordered for a Warband. Rough groupings of cultists and Marines based on function make up a set of "Pits", rather than companies. They have their own internal rank structure and organization; the "Leader" of each Pit are equal in rank to each other and answer only to Electric Jade.

Pits:

>0. the Iron Maidens. A unit of women Noise Marine equivalents that tour and stay with Jade, and answer to no one else except Jade. They are not officially part of any Pit and are personally selected and trained by Electric Jade. They undergo any number of cybernetic, mutagenic, and arcane enhancements to make them approximately equal to Adeptas Sororitas.

>1. The Noise Pit. The "face" of the Devil's Horns. Handles most interactions with other warbands or non-Chaos groups. Pulled from cultists, Chaos Space Marines, and daemonhosts. Contains whatever passes for administration for the Horns and undergo "stealth" missions. Pit Leader: Mordekhar Knife-ear

>2. The Pit of Doom. The primary assault force comprised of Tormentors, Infractors, Noise Marines, and the like. Pit Leader: Renaverus Cestus

>3. The Circle Pit. Collectively where the majority of Cultists are positioned. Handles much of the work and labour for the Horns. Pit leader: Rha'loth

Combat Doctrine

The Horns have multi-layer approaches to missions and combat scenarios. The standard and straight-forward combat method is two pronged: the Wall of Death and the Wall of Noise. Cultists, Infractors, and Tormentors rush the enemy and seek to crush them under the combined Wall's weight and weapons. Noise Marines and other things that go 'boom' follow behind and mop up the stragglers.

Infiltration, Corruption, and Terror campaigns are known to happen when an up-front assault simply won't work.

Gene-Stock Purity

The Devil's Horns consider themselves to be related to the former Third Legion, but a distinct entity with no ties other than a shared Primarch and Chaos allegiance.

Mentality and intra-warband relations

The Devil's Horns are rash. They take fast, decisive action that is often successful solely because the enemy is not expecting it from a band dedicated to Slaanesh. Electric Jade DOES create plans, but those plans seldom make a lot of sense to more rational minds. She sees patterns of connections and futures, though even she sometimes can't squeeze coherence from them. Possibly due to the Horns starting from a cult of personality, and possibly from their Mutation to see and hear connections between people, the Horns are far more tight-knit than other Warbands. There is infighting, there are threats higher in the chain. But there is little infighting, minimal fracturing within ranks and between the Pits, and Warriors fight side by side as though they expect their brother cultist to not stab them for benefit or amusement. Both Jade and those visiting from other Warbands have noted Horns simply sitting and debauching with each other as friends.

Mutation

The Devil's Horns have one of two mutations that appear among them, at an approximately 75/25 ratio.

>1. Warp Sight. This mutation allows Horns to see a variety of warp signatures, such as whether someone has visited a world recently, or interacted with a certain prominent person recently. This sigh also allows them to perceive cracks between bonds. They can see the relative strength of a relationship, and if it has changed recently.

>2. Harmonics. This mutation is a little stranger. A Horn, when trained with their gift, can hear something akin to "harmonics" when people speak, and can sometimes hear unintended tones when speaking about other people. For example, they can hear if a speaker actually hates their boss but keeps personal separate from public. This harmonic becomes stronger when they can hear both people speaking at the same time.

Both of these mutations are used to great effect during infiltration and Corruption missions, or when spreading chaos in an organization.

Jade was granted both, but sometimes limited; a joint effort between an Emperor's Children Apothecary/surgeon and a Horns sorcerer extracted and synthesized a pseudo-pathogen to cause the Devil's Horn mutations in loyal followers.

---

Design note: the Horns gene-seed is still functionally from the Emperor's Children, as provided by Fulgrim. The Devil's Horn pathogen simply randomly mutates the eyes or inner ear. It is bot intended to be anything even approximating a Patriarch gene-seed.

---

Prominent Figures

The Warmaster and Frontwoman, Electric Jade. Would have made a perfect Lord Cacophonist if she had been born male and been able to become an Astartes.

In the aftermath of the Ruined Stadium, the rubble became a centre for Chaos energy. Within two months, manifestations of daemons began appearing, and within the next year several Chaos cults sprouted in the city. While Jade had no direct hand in spreading the word of Chaos on Delbion III and in creating temples to the Gods there, it was still her influence that allowed Chaos to manifest and take a strangle hold on the planet.

The Traitor Marine, Renaverus Cestus, a fallen Ultramarine. Renaverus is originally from Delbion III, though he became Astartes many years ago. A year after the Ruined Stadium, the Devil's Horns had a small skirmish with the Ultramarines, and Cestus was involved in the battle. Electric Jade saw a bond between several of her cultists and Cestus, who gave a war cry referencing the protection of homes. She heard the connection between him and home and her cultists, and realized that this Marine was from the planet she helped corrupt. Jade taunted Cestus with the knowledge that his original home had fallen to Chaos. It caused just enough pause in the Marine that the Horns were able to gain the upper hand and wipe out the rest of Cestus' squad. The Iron Maidens took Cestus captive where he was treated better than most captives, all the while Jade wore down his sensibilities and hit his vulnerabilities until he accepted the offer of Chaos. Over the years since his fall, continued atrocities and indoctrination ensured his final fate, and he stands with Mordekhar as chief advisors to Electric Jade. The Horns have had one or two other engagements with the Ultramarines, but Cestus has been kept from them.

The Warrior, Mordekhar Knife-ear, a former member of the Black Legion who serves as an advisor and general for Jade. He and Renaverus have become almost similar to friends (or at least as close as two devotees of Chaos can be). Lead three squads of Devil Marines against an Eldar company and exterminated the lot in the name of Slaanesh and the Horns. His moniker is two-fold: during the battle, he got many of his kills with a sword or knife to the skull, often directly through the enemy's ear; "knife-ear" is also a pejorative for elves, who have pointed ears.

The Sorcerer, Rha'loth, originally part of the Emperor's Children, joined the Horns for more opportunities for advancement.

Homeworld: Delbion III

Delbion III is a corrupted hive world. The Horns maintain a distant-absent rule over the planet: the Horns do not directly rule Delbion III, but they have laid claim to it. They act as the world's contact with Chaos, and will periodically stage uprisings to weed out the weak and to prevent stagnation. The Horns will also stage their recruitment and inductions on Delbion.

Devotion

Slaanesh, room set aside for Khorne, Tzeentch, and Nurgle

Strength

The Devil’s Horns are currently under strength, due to infrequent induction rites and high turnover rates.

Appearance

Badge/Symbol

Closed hand, extended pointer and pinky in the classic Metal Horns

Colours

Primarily green of various shades and bare metal armour. Left boot and shin guard are blackened (can see colour underneath). Iron Maidens have dull iron-grey boots, entire suit of armour is soot stained. Helmets colored according to wearers preference

Allies

>Emperor's Children and its affiliates

>other warband(s) (Looking for homebrew allies for the band!)

Enemies

>Ad Mech, for the Horns' emphasized sonic weapon use

>Minotaurs, for being insufferable slags

(Like Allies, looking for some homebrew Chapters and warbands to be enemies as well)

---

Let me know if there are questions or comments!

Mods, please remove this or let me know if this violates either the sub rules or the 40k lore as a whole.

-----

A message comes through to your Chapter from the Warp, from a relatively unknown Chapter. A slow, steady voice echoes from the vox.

"Hail, Brothers and Cousins, and Warriors of the Emperor. My name is Atum Kantius, Forge-Captain of the Wanderers. I wish to propose an exchange of information, skills, and training.

Our Chapter is young, though we have been hardened from an unfortunate stay far from home. The purpose of my message is thus: I wish to send you one or two of my brother Wanderers. For one year, or as long as you wish, your Chapter will gain a proud Son of Vulkan. He will live, eat, breathe, and serve as one of your brothers. He will be, for his time with you, a son of Sanguinus. Of Guilliman. Of Dorn. If he should die, he will die as one if your own. At the end of his time, I would ask you to send him back to us, where he will share his knowledge and strengthen our Chapter. He will pass his knowledge and skills to you, thus bettering us both.

May this exchange serve both our needs, and may it allow the bond between cousins to crush our enemies and serve the Emperor. From the Ashes."

The voice trails away, and attached is a contact coordinate.

-----

What each of our Chapters gain from this: fresh skills and training. New methods of combat to incorporate into their combat discipline. A new contact and future partner in missions and task forces.

What I gain from this: an opportunity to incorporate new lore and practices to my fledgling Chapter, and an opportunity to create a unique force with colours shared from across this whole community. I intend to include an accent of your Chapter on several of my minis, to commemorate their service.

What I need you to do to your chapter or lore: nothing at all. All I would ask is some general lore bits from your Chapter that a visiting brother might learn during his year with your force. Your chapter's primary armour colour would also be helpful, if images are not available.

What I am NOT trying to do: replicate or subvert the Deathwatch. There have been several posts recently of some of you lovely people creating Deathwatch fortresses, and I have pledged Wanderers to serve the Long Vigil. This experiment simply gives me a lore-based excuse to have small splashes of colour on my models.

Please let me know if you have questions or comments, or if this is just a bad idea all 'round! The Emperor Protects, brothers and sisters.

Much if this will look similar to a previous homegrown I made. This is the latest version, under a different name.

---

The Wanderers are a Salamander Successor Chapter, originally formed from a collection of squads from various Salamander companies. While on the hunt for a Chaos cult that was threatening a colony, they found themselves and their ship, Visions of Ash, suddenly pulled violently into the Warp. Because of the sudden nature of the shift, and the machinations of the cult that they hunted, their Navigator and psyker were both killed, leaving the ship stranded in the Warp. In their own timeframe, the collected squads spent over one hundred standard years surrounded by Chaos and hunting for a way to return to normal space; in reality, however, approximately 900-1000 years passed. Captain Atum Kantius kept the squads together and eventually reformed the Astartes under his command into a semblance of a Chapter.

Chapter History

Approximate timeline

The squads that would become the Wanderers were initially drawn into the Warp somewhere between WAAAGH! Garskrak (600.M40) and WAAAGH! Bogga-Bogga (910.M40). The Knights missed the Gothic War (139.M41 - 151.M41), the Macharian Crusade (392 - 399.M41), and the Tears of the Emperor (500.M41), only returning approximately 10-12 years ago.

Return from the Warp

Under the command of Captain Kantius, the Wanderers tracked cultist movements to a hulk in the Warp, which turned out to be a primary base. Preliminary scans of the hulk determined that specific portions of it had functioning Gellar fields, though whether or not the cult was present could not be determined. Now-Lieutenant Monus lead the charge into the hulk, surprising Goulrulak, the Sorcerer who had actually dragged the Visions of Ash to the Warp in the first place. Working with typical Astartes efficiency, and fueled by wrath and vengeance, the Wanderers swept through the cultists and broke into an inner chamber, disrupting a ritual to draw the attention of Ahriman and destroy the Astartes. Monus himself landed several crippling shots into Goulrulak, who began to flee. The energies gathered during the ritual, no longer having a focus, began to unravel and several surviving cultists were simply unmade. Goulrulak fled through the hulk, intent on reaching a vessel himself. Kantius ordered the immediate withdrawal of his troops to the Visions, hoping to catch the fleeing sorcerer.

Unfortunately for him, Goulrulak ripped the hole to realspace as the Visions reached him, and during the transition to realspace, the Visions of Ash smashed directly through Goulrulak's ship, which exploded. The Wanderers found themselves being hailed by a Salamanders patrol craft, who was stunned to find a ship that was supposed to have been lost a thousand years before. In the next several years, each and every member of the new Chapter was thoroughly tested and examined by Salamander chaplains and techmarines, as was their ship. Each battle-brother was found to be pure of Warp taint, save the change in eye colour. After a meeting with the Forgefather, Vulkan He'stan, and Chapter Master, Tu'shan, Captain Atum Kantius was promoted to Chapter Master of the new Successor, the Wanderers.

Organization

Companies

Company 1: Veterans - Emberguard

>(Chapter Master) Forge-Captain Atum Kantius

>(Master of Sanctity) Caller of the Wanderers Shuboka

>Chief Apothecary Damoxia

>Master of the Fleet: Lord Captain Emalia Spahr

Armorium

>Forgemaster: Vitessios

Librarius

>Chief Librarian: Berus Trismantar

2nd Company: Close Support / Fire Support - Inferno Wardens

>Master of the Arsenal: Captain Nahir Ortoza

3rd Company: Battleline - Flameblades

>Master of Rites: Captain Harann Mendane

4th Company: Scout - Shadowsmoke

>Master of Recruits: Captain Sigot Darserro

Notable Traits

Wanderer practices

When a Brother dies, if his body is recoverable, it is cremated following the extraction of the gene-seed, without exception. During an incursion of cultists into Visions of Ash, a Sorcerer was able to, briefly, animate the body of a fallen battle-brother and puppet it. Once the incursion was repelled, the body and equipment of that brother was incinerated completely, and both Captain Kantius and Caller Shuboka implemented the policy that all fallen brothers are to be cremated at the earliest opportunity.

As part of this, any battle-brother who was particularly close may take a portion of his ashes and keep them as a personal relic. The fallen brother's name and cause of death is inscribed on it as well.

Notable oddities

The Wanderers possess remarkably few Librarians, or even any Astartes with any notable psychic talent. A brief investigation into the anomalous gene-seed sought to determine if the Warp-taint caused less psychic talent, but the results were inconclusive. The lack of psyker ability did not appear to stem from their time in the Warp; instead, it may simply come down to poor luck. A total of three Librarians have manifested and been trained since their return, including one that manifested while exiled. None of these three have been EXCEPTIONALLY talented, but like all Librarians they serve their chapter to the best of their ability. It is because of this oddity that Captain Kantius, with the approval of the Salamanders Chief Librarian Vel'cona, submitted a request to two other Salamander Successor chapters, the Dark Krakens and the Covenant of Fire, for any trained Librarians. The Dark Krakens responded, and sent Berus Trismantar, who has become the Wanderers' Chief Librarian. In return, if the Dark Krakens require aide and the Knights of Ash are not ACTIVELY engaged, the Wanderers will always be the first to bring the fight to the Krakens' enemies.

Notable Wanderers

>Chapter Master

>Forge-Captain Atum Kantius

Captain Kantius still generally refers to himself as "captain", and "forge-captain" on occasion. He of course recognizes his rank and status as a Chapter Master, as recognized by the chaplains and leadership of the Salamanders, but Kantius still seems himself as a soldier and leader of troops first and foremost. It was Kantius' efforts and will that kept his companies forging onwards to find a way out of the Warp.

>Master of the Arsenal

>Captain Nahir Ortoza

Captain Ortoza is the current captain of the 2nd company. Ortoza has a particular fondness and characteristic strategy of "light targets on fire and shoot whatever flees".

>Master of Rites

>Captain Harann Mendane

Captain Mendane is the captain of the 3rd company.

>Master of Recruits

>Captain Sigot Darserro

Captain Darserro is the captain of the 4th company. Darserro was assigned the 4th company after the previous captain, Torfyn Sicaros, fell in battle just a few short months after the Knights returned from the Warp.

>Master of the Fleet

>Lord Captain Emelia Spahr

Captain Spahr is not, in fact, an Astartes, but an ordinary human Navis Imperialis officer. Forge-Captain Kantius recognized that the leadership of the Wanderers was better suited for ground-based combat, and that he himself could not be everywhere at all times.

Some four years ago, fully half of the Wanderers were engaged in a combination Cult Hunt and rescue mission when a previously undetected Emperor's Children ship entered the system and began an assault on the Wanderers. Captain Spahr was the commanding officer of an Imperial cruiser, the Bastion's Echo, that happened to be in the area as part of a group action against an Ork Warband. When she heard the Wanderers' request for aid, she did not hesitate and moved the Bastion to provide much-needed assistance. She and her crew were able to disable the Chaos ship long enough for the besieged Astartes to complete their rescue, and provided covering fire while Captain Ortoza and several squads boarded the same ship. A running firefight, punctuated by Imperial Navy fire, completed with Ortoza personally gutting the Sorcerer commanding the craft.

In recognition of Captain Spahr's bravery and direct action, as well as her masterful use of precision violence despite the presence of Astartes on board an enemy craft, Forge-Captain Kantius offered Captain Spahr the unique position of Master of the Fleet for the Wanderers. While their fleet may be small, Kantius still feels that an experienced naval officer is the best fit to guide their ships.

>Master of Sanctity

>Caller of the Wanderers Shuboka

Shuboka is the Master of Sanctity. During the Knights' exile to the Warp, he began to refer to his fellow brothers as "the Wanderers", and a portion of his time was spent calling his brothers and leading them in sanctifier rites. When Forge-Captain Kantius officially formed the Wanderers, he was named as the high Chaplain, and Shuboka himself named his position "the Caller of the Wanderers". His 'rank' or salutation is simply 'Caller'.

>Chief Apothecary

>Apothecary Damoxia

Damoxia is the Chief Apothecary. His primary duties are as Apothecary on the battlefield, but he DOES have some training as an Apothecary Biologis.

>Forgemaster

>Vitessios

Vitessios is the Master of the Forge, and received his training and indoctrination from Argos, the Salamanders' own Master of the Forge. Vitessios was one of only four Techmarines present during the Wanderers' exile to the Warp, and was one of only two who managed to survive the ordeal, Brother Marqothar being the other. Captain Kantius approached both Techmarines after returning to realspace, and Marqothar actively expressed disinterest in becoming the Forgemaster; thus being saved a difficult decision, Vitessios was promoted, though they do work closely together in the execution of the Forgemaster duties.

>Chief Librarian

>Berus Trismantar

Trismantar is actually from the Dark Krakens, a brother Successor chapter of the Salamanders. Due to either a gene-seed oddity or just bad luck with psychic talent, the Wanderers have remarkably few Astartes with any reasonable psyker ability. Thus, Forge-Captain Kantius requested aid from and the Covenant of Fire the Krakens, who responded. Trismantar has been a formidable ally for his new Chapter, and has accepted his new role with both vigour and grace. He has had a hand in training the few Librarians the Wanderers have produced, and two of the three are currently undergoing further training with Vel'cona, the Chief Librarian of the Salamanders.

>Lieutenant Kalaphrach Monus

Lieutenant Monus is bold, almost dangerously so. He takes risks that he feels is worth the trade-off, when others might reconsider. He gets results, but on occasion requires backup and extraction. Monus is attached to the 2nd company.

>Brother Algenius

Brother Algenius is a Dreadnought assigned to the 2nd company.

Notable Relics

Ex Inferno - a suit of relic Saturnine power armour. The suit was found scattered in over a dozen different crates, all liberated from a Khornite cell's treasury. The cell had collected crates from nearby systems but had yet to catalog their contents. The Wanderers learned of the treasury and sought to both relieve the cell of its ill-gotten treasure and also to stamp out a nest of Heretics. The Khornites put up a fight typical of the servants of the Blood God, but the Wanderers proved victorious. Vitessios and Morqothar investigated the crates and, to their surprise, found pieces of a Saturnine suit. The two techmarines consulted manuals and performed the necessary rites and declared the suit operational and fit to serve. Shuboka ensured that the suit was cleansed, and presented it to the Forge-Captain.

Inferis - a power sword forged by Forge-Captain Kantius. Its power field generator was exposed to raw Warp during its forging, causing the field to glow a sickly green instead of the more typical blue. Caller Shuboka inspected Inferis and performed many rituals over the sword, and has declared it to be free of daemonic influence; the only difference between this sword and any other is its colour. Inferis is currently wielded by Captain Ortoza.

Wrath - a master-crafted bolt rifle wielded by Lt Monus. Monus made the weapon himself, but before he and his fellow battle-brothers were lost to the Warp.

Monolith - a power sword crafted by Forgemaster Vitessios around the same time as the crafting of Inferis. Monolith is wielded by Lt Monus.

Memoria Inferi - a portion of a daemon's head horn that was shorn off while hunting for the Cult of Tzeentch in the Warp. While aboard the hulk, shortly before returning to realspace, the Cult summoned forth a daemon to hold off the Wanderers. Captain Kantius, with the aid of fifteen full seconds of sustained bolter fire from two of his squads, was able to put down the daemon and reduce it mostly to slag and gore. He hacked off a portion of the beast's horn and carried it through the remaining battle as a war trophy. Upon his return to the Visions of Ash, he ensured that the horn was properly consecrated and purified, to remove any chance of a "Warp incident", and continues to carry it even now.

Chapter Appearance

>Chapter Colours

The Wanderers wear purple power armour. 4th Company brothers do not typically have pauldron trim, so their entire pauldrons are purple. The Aquila or Imperialis is brass.

The Chapter Badge is worn on the left pauldron; in white for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd companies and in black for the 4th company. The Wanderers do not typically display battlefield role, as this is incorporated into their company.

>Rank and Company

Sergeants are denoted by a blue helmet. Lieutenants have their right pauldron trimmed in brass, with their left pauldron trimmed according to their assigned company. Captains have both pauldrons trimmed with silver, and both kneepads in light blue.

Companies are distinguished by different colours on the pauldron trim. 1st company use light blue trim, 2nd uses red, 3rd uses black, and 4th uses purple, for those 4th company Brothers who have pauldron trim.

Veterans of the Wanderers are distinguished by red helmets; veteran sergeants have a light blue stripe down their helmet’s crest.

A flame pattern on the bottom of their right or left shin guard denotes a Battle-Brother who has performed acts of bravery, heroism, and valour beyond the norm of his Brothers.

Chapter Badge

A 4-pointed star swooshing upwards

---

Let me know if there are questions, commentary, or criticisms!