Deathwatch - The Nemesis Incident.pdf - Deathwatch - Pomidoros

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DEATHWATCH

CHAPTER MYSTERIES

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The Nemesis

Incident

entire galaxy, and surely nothing short of the supernatural

could have altered Maxen’s words once they were committed

to record.

Following the discovery of the divergent accounts of

the Nemesis Incident, the senior members of the Librarius

undertook a process of determining which of them, if any,

was truthful. This process took the best part of a century,

and was made all but impossible by the facts of the incident

itself. Eventually, one single version of Maxen’s account was

declared the truth, and the others labelled apocryphal and

locked away deep inside the inner repository of the Storm

Wardens’ librarium. Each of these divergent tomes became

known by the name of the Librarian that had compiled it,

such as the Apocrypha of Yorath , the Book of Einion , and the

Liber Esoterica Cadfanius .

The Liber Tempest details the calamitous events of the Age

of Apostasy, as experienced by the Storm Wardens Chapter.

The Nemesis Incident represents a brief but dramatic period

within this turbulent epoch, and the Liber presents very few

details of it. The roots of the incident are to be found in

the general increase in Warp storm activity that aflicted the

Imperium in the run up to and during the Age of Apostasy.

Trade routes the length and breadth of the galaxy became

all but impassable as the Warp boiled with tumultuous

etheric storm fronts. Entire war leets and crusading armies

were lost as the Warp routes they travelled were overcome

with impossible energies. In many areas the raw stuff of the

Warp bled through the thin skein of reality

and engulfed settled worlds or entire

systems. The more fortunate were

simply cut off from all outside

contact; the less fortunate

were saturated in the

terrible unreality of

the Warp, entire

p o p u l a t i o n s

spontaneously

mutating or

falling victim

to apocalyptic

D a e m o n i c

Incursion.

A s i d e

from aetheric

o v e r b l e e d ,

g e n e t i c

mutation and

Daemonic

incursion, Warp

storms sometimes

bring with them

the risk of another,

thankfully rare but utterly

devastating threat. There exist

in the depths of the Warp things

other than what men call Daemons.

Enslavers are one such form, a nightmarish

hybrid of the xenos and the daemonic that exists for most of

its life cycle within the Empyrean but breeds and multiplies

“The awkward question; the wise know when to remain silent.”

many recounting glorious victories and noble deeds,

others serving as warnings against hubris or the

peridy of traitors or aliens. The Storm Wardens hold many

battle honours, yet the deining campaign in their history is

shrouded in mystery, its true details unknown even to those

brethren now interred within the sarcophagi of mighty

Dreadnoughts, some of whom may actually have been serving

the Chapter at the time.

The only details of the event that would later become

known as the ‘Nemesis Incident’ are to be found within

the pages of the Liber Tempest , a seventy seven-volume tome

describing the deeds of the Chapter and the lives of its heroes

throughout the turbulent years of the Age of Apostasy in the

late 36th Millennium. This mighty book was authored by

Chief Librarian Brin Maxen, who had himself become so

crippled in body during the ighting that he was capable of

no more service to his Chapter than committing his wisdom

to parchment before his wounds eventually

claimed his life. It is said that Maxen

held death at bay for almost twelve

years as he recited the Liber

Tempest to his disciples of

the Librarius, each of his

followers transcribing

his words faithfully.

Yet, the very fact

that several versions

of the Liber Tempest

were written

simultaneously

led to a near

schism within

the Librarius

after Maxen’s

death. When the

texts were studied

in detail it was

discovered that they

differed from one

another in several major

details. The differences

were not mere errors of

transcription, but were so

great that Maxen’s successor

came to suspect some outside agency

of deliberately corrupting the transcription

process, or of interfering with the archives at some

later point. Yet, the Librarius of a Space Marine Chapter

should be one of the most secure and sealed places in the

–Chaplain Glaw of the Storm Wardens

E very Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes has its legends,

in the Materium. Enslavers utilise the minds of untrained or

latent psykers, transforming their victim’s bodies into vast,

distended gateways through which the Enslavers themselves

pour from the Warp. Furthermore, they are able to take control

of the bodies or their foes, turning them into drooling mind-

slaves that ight until overcome by their wounds, exposure

or malnutrition. When Warp storm activity increases, so too

do the rates of psyker births, and so the Age of Apostasy

was underpinned by a second horror – that of Enslaver

infestation.

This much the various versions of the Liber Tempest all agree

upon, but the accounts begin to diverge at the point when

the Chapter is committed to a region of space known as the

Steropes Cluster. For the Space Marines, the Age of Apostasy

was an extended period of retrenchment during which the

pronouncements of the Senatorum Imperialis were replaced

with the irrational dictates of the High Lord Vandire. The

vast majority of Chapter Masters became so distrustful of

Vandire’s pronouncements that they were forced to pursue

their duties without recourse to the central authority once

provided by the council of the High Lords of Terra. Where

Warp conditions allowed, Chapters coordinated their actions

with brother Chapters or occasionally with the forces of

the Inquisition, yet very few answered the commands or

demands of High Lord Vandire. Most versions of the Liber

Tempest agree that the Storm Wardens Chapter Master, Owin

Glendwyr took his force to the Steropes Cluster in response

to a reading of the Emperor’s Tarot made by his

Chief Librarian, but some texts call this into

question, insinuating that the deployment

may have been carried out at the behest

of the Inquisition or some other

faction within the Imperium’s

shattered structure.

Having reached the Steropes

Cluster, it is said that the Storm

Wardens discovered a swathe of

worlds entirely consumed by the

roiling energies of the Warp.

Those worlds lying on the

outskirts of the storm had

come under the dominion

of the largest Enslaver

plague the segmentum

had ever witnessed, and

Chapter Master Glendwyr was

faced with a terrible choice—

deploy his warriors in a battle

that would undoubtedly

prove costly in the lives of

his warriors, or grant the

doomed and enslaved

populationstheEmperor’s

mercy and scour the

worlds’ surfaces with

nucleonic ire.

Once more, the various accounts of the war differ in

their descriptions of what followed. The Liber Esoterica

Cadfanius contains a detailed account of Glendwyr and an

unnamed Inquisitor Lord exploring a series of ruins across

several of the cluster’s worlds, and this is corroborated by

the Liber Tempest itself. No account of the ruins gives any

suggestion as to which species may have built them, but all

describe their halls as black and oppressive, and completely

dwaring even the mighty Space Marines. At some point

during the exploration of these ruins, it appears that the

Storm Wardens and an allied Inquisitorial force came under

attack, irst by a horde of enslaved human meat-puppets, and

then by Enslaver Behemoths. The Chapter Master and the

First Company fought a series of desperate battles against the

Enslavers, during which many heroic Battle-Brothers were

lost. Three entire worlds were cleansed of the xenos presence,

but ultimately the Inquisitor Lord declared the Writ of

Exterminatus on seven more before the cluster was declared

purged of the Enslaver Plague.

In the aftermath of the Steropes Cluster campaign, the

Storm Wardens returned to their home world of Sacris. Yet,

by a reading of a number of the Apocrypha, it appears that

the taint had not been entirely eradicated and that the First

Company had in fact brought it back to the Calixis Sector.

According to the Book of Einion, a number

of First Company Veterans had become

corrupted by some form of psychic taint,

which was only uncovered during post-battle

cleansing protocols.

The Chapter’s

most senior

A p o t h e c a r i e s,

Chaplains and

L i b r a r i a n s

turned their

efforts to purging

this taint, but,

according to Einion’s

account, the taint was

too ingrained and presented a

dire threat to the survival of

the entire Chapter. Initially,

the Inquisitor Lord was

of the view that those

infected should submit to

voluntary liquidation, yet the

Storm Warden’s senior oficers

argued vehemently against

such a drastic sanction,

and Glendwyr proposed

a compromise. Having

convinced the Inquisitor

Lord of the viability of

his plan, the Chapter

Master ordered that he

and the entire First

Company would be

interred within stasis

sarcophagi in the vaults

far below the Chapter’s Fortress-Monastery, which would not

be opened until such time as a deinite cure for the Enslaver

taint was discovered. The Inquisition placed a condition on

their acquiescence, demanding that the Chapter’s home world

be isolated from the greater Imperium and all knowledge

of the Nemesis Incident be purged from the annals of the

Imperium’s history. Aside from those often contradictory

accounts presented in the various Apocrypha, which are

accessible only to the most senior oficers of the Chapter,

none outside of the Storm Wardens have any inkling of the

tragic events of the Steropes Cluster campaign.

There were a number of side effects to the sealing of the

stasis vaults and the isolation of Sacris. Firstly, many of the

Chapter’s oldest archives were sealed along with the First

Company, so that millennia later the Storm Wardens remain

ignorant as to many details of their founding and earliest

histories. Furthermore, a number of legends have evolved

around the incident, which form the basis of some of the

Chapter’s most cherished rituals. One such legend states that

the long lost Brethren of the First Company will some day

return, when the very existence of the Chapter and indeed the

Imperium is threatened. The Chapter’s beliefs call upon its

members to be ever vigilant for such a time and to meet with

honour and stoicism every challenge the galaxy can throw

at them. The Storm Wardens maintain their traditions to this

day, seeking every chance to prove themselves in the eyes of

those who they believe will one day return and judge them

worthy of standing at their sides in the inal battle against the

myriad foes of Mankind.

Lies, DamneD Lies, anD

apocrypha

The truth behind the events of the Nemesis Incident has

been left deliberately open, so that players of Storm Wardens

characters can exercise their creativity in deciding what they

think might have happened, and furthermore how it might

affect the way they play their own Battle-Brother. Whether

or not the GM allows the players to read the details presented

here for the Nemesis Incident is up to him, but he should

make it clear to the player that they are apocryphal and might

be entirely wrong. Ultimately, the truth is up to the GM, and

the incident is there for GMs and players to utilise as they

see it.

over, the Nemesis Incident is a great example of a

“Chapter Mystery,” examples of which can be found

or invented for most if not all Chapters a player might decide

to draw his character from. The best thing about these

mysteries is that they can be made into so much more than

background texture by bringing them into the “here and

now” of an ongoing campaign. What if, for example, a Storm

Wardens Battle-Brother inds some hint of the incident in

an intercepted transmission or ancient text, or perhaps some

enemy leader engaged in a valedictory rant makes reference

to it moments before his escape or death? Will the player

decide to follow this narrative strand and be led off in another

direction entirely? As GM, the choice is yours.

n e w m i s s i o n c o m p L i c A t i o n :

c h A p t e R m y s t e R y

During any D e a t h w a t c h mission, there is a possibility

that things do not go according to plan (even for the

mighty Space Marines!). When this occurs, it is known

as a Complication (see page 231 in the D e a t h w a t c h

Rulebook), and it is a tool for the GM to use to alter

the nature of the mission and add additional layers of

challenge and uniqueness to the story.

At the GM’s discretion, he may either select Chapter

Mystery as the Mission’s Complication or he may

replace the “A Bad Beginning” result from Table 7–17

on page 231 in the D e a t h w a t c h Rulebook. If this

Complication is selected for the Mission, at the GM’s

discretion, the Kill-team’s cohesion is reduced by 2

(or even more, at the GM’s discretion). This represents

mistrust, misunderstandings, secrecy, and perhaps

even some abrupt disappearances of a particular Space

Marine during the Mission. The GM is encouraged to

add additional Cohesion rewards, however, if the Kill-

team successfully resolves any of these issues along

the way.

enigmas of the aDeptus

astartes

In R i t e s o f B a t t l e , guidelines are presented to create your own,

personalised Chapter of Space Marines. Similarly, presented

below are some options to create a particular mystery for

such a Chapter. Additionally, the following concepts can serve

admirably as inspiration for a GM to create a story element or

even an entire campaign for the D e a t h w a t c h RPG.

A n e n i g m A o f t h e f L e s h

There are some Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes that possess

particular irregularities in their gene-seed; the Blood Angels

and the Space Wolves being two of the most well-known.

The Chapter’s gene-seed is its future; the function of the

Apothecary is centred around the recovery of the sacred

progrenoid glands to ensure the Chapter’s gene-seed may

continue to create Space Marines. Thus, the importance of

gene-seed to a Chapter cannot be overstated—meaning that

any mysteries arising from the Chapter’s gene-seed gain

similar gravitas.

Any impurity or genetic deiciency arising in a Chapter’s

gene-seed is cause for grave concern. Naturally, any Space

Marine Chapter faced with such a challenge would spare

little effort to discover both the cause of these impurities and

any possible resolution to the problem. Perhaps the agents

of the Traitor Legions are to blame, or the corruptive effects

of being exposed to the Immaterium and the presence of

daemons. It is also possible that the Chapter may have lost

precious knowledge of how to maintain their gene-seed

through the vicissitudes of battle or a particularly barbaric

and crude method of implanting a Neophyte. The impurity

or damage to the Chapter’s gene-seed may be a recent event,

or it may have occurred at some point in the distant past, its

origins shrouded in lies and legends. This motivation may

even be responsible for the Space Marine’s presence in the

Deathwatch, there to try and confer with Apothecaries from

a dozen or more other Chapters, hoping to ind or engineer a

way to reverse the damage.

A L o s t R e L i c

Space Marine Chapters have a number of items, devices, and

relics that are particularly honoured. Such relics may vary wildly

from Chapter to Chapter—a particular weapon of a long-

dead Chapter Hero (such as the Chapter’s Primarch, Chapter

Master, Librarian, or other such celebrated leader), a vehicle or

station (such as a Land Raider dating back to the time of the

Horus Heresy), a tome of ancient lore, a Dreadnought (such as

Bjorn the Fell-Handed of the Space Wolves), or even up to an

entire Space Marine Battle-Barge or unique voidship (such as

the Phalanx of the Imperial Fists). If any of these items were

to be lost, captured by the enemy, damaged beyond repair, or

similarly placed into an untenable position, it would deinitely

be cause for the Chapter to have great concern.

Where the “mystery” comes in with these relics or items

revolves around what may have happened to them; are they

languishing in a vault somewhere, held by forces inimical to

the Chapter? Are they perhaps in the hands of a crusading

force of Space Marines that vanished into an unknown region

of the galaxy? A quest to recover, repair, or otherwise restore

such an item becomes the object of the Chapter’s goals, passed

on to members of that Chapter who join the Deathwatch.

Among the number of those sworn to the Vigil, these Space

Marines have unique opportunities to uncover clues as to the

whereabouts of these lost relics, or discover information that

leads to a deeper understanding of why the relic was lost in

the irst place.

Chapter

Mysteries

A s well as an intriguing mystery for players to mull

Deathwatch - The Nemesis Incident.pdf

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