Out in the deep halo the Warp is oddly calm, almost serene. Warp travel is atrociously slow (doubly so because distances are so great out there). No Astronomican is visible, and the navigators and sorcerers of the Host are hard pressed to do much more than blindly follow the paths traced by the kull over the millennia. Interstellar communication is nearly impossible - due to distance and the damping nature of the far warp. Sorcerers find it difficult to employ their powers - their abilities are hampered, if they work at all. Daemons must struggle to remain in this reality - a few of the never-born have even slipped back into the great beyond. The presence and actions of the Granite Prince has begun to change the scene, but it will be a long time before things become 'normal' out here, if ever.

Kull seem to be grouped into three rough castes: the ordinary Kull, the warrior caste, and the ruling caste.

Ordinary Kull are larger and more powerful than typical humans. They are also more resistant to hardship and pain. Such Kull will fight if attacked, and indeed makes up the bulk of the hive militia forces and the deck crews of Kull ships. They are no more immune to fear than veteran human troops and have been known to feel or surrender. Equipment is generally light; lasweapons and autoguns for the most part, a sort of perverse alien mirror of the IG.

Kull warriors stand nearly seven feet tall on average, and a much stronger and more durable than human soldiers. They also seem to lack many of the fear-responses so common in human soldiers, making them unlikely to surrender or break. Typically equipped with a heavy carapace suit and equipped either with a bolter or powerful lasweapon (hellgun). Although not individually as powerful as Marines (but clearly a match for the Daughters), these warriors must not be underestimated: they will stand and fight to the death, and are armed with weapons capable of killing even Astartes. The presence of large number of kull warriors (a typical cruiser might have as many as a thousand such warriors on board) makes clearing kulls ships a hazardous occupation at best.

Kull rulers are largely indistinguishable from the warrior caste, but always heavily augmented with cybernetics. In battle situations they are always armed in exoskeletal armour of varying potency. Many carry archaotech weapons that can kill Astates with impunity (plasma weapon, melta guns etc.). Thus far only a few have been encountered - colony commanders, high-ranking officers and the like. While individually powerful they lack the numbers required to be a real threat to Astartes.

This vile xenos species seems set to cause further trouble in Finial Sector - both for Imperials and Reavers. They lurk in the shadows, waiting to strike when either side is off-guard or exhausted. Then they strike with great fury. The presence of tech-priests and such seem to anger them the most (and they don't care if they are Dark Mechanicum or Adeptus Mechanicus).

The Kull are humanoid in appearance. They are taller and more physically capable than humans - almost like an Astartes, but without the additional organs and implants. Their skin is black - not negroid black, but completely black, like the color of the bio-polymers that make up the marine's carapace graft. Facial features are also human-like, but their features are flat and rugged, and their facial expressions fare from the human norm.

The Kull operates using STC technology - probably because such equipment is better than their own xenos rubbish. Ships, armour, weapons, simple utilities - everything is just as STC as your average Imperial settlement.

Reports of Kull exist as far back as the great Crusade, but at that time they didn't pose a threat to Mankind. War broke out during M35, when the AdMech decided to investigate rumors of the Kull possessing a partial STC. No such thing was found, but several new templates or fragments were added to the AdMech's inventory. The Kull were believed utterly destroyed. Obviously they weren't!

Hard to say if they will become a problem for the 10th.

Commanded the 1st (Anointed) company under Obel Gar (and later Castor). Served valiantly until killed in close combat with Chapter Master Eos of the Tigers Argent. Risen as a Gal Vorbak. He doesn't have much persoanlity left, only his old combat skills - with some daemonic prowess added on the top. He has taken the place of the late Amarath as Castor's shieldbearer. Part of the Soulguard.

The deceased former Apostle of the 10th, Obel Gar, has made a surprise return:

The first of Castor's Gal Vorbak claims to BE Obel Gar. True or not? Hard to tell, but he seems to have most of Gar's memories intact. He also claims to have communed with Lorgar and forgiven Castor for his little 'trick'. If his claim is ture, then Obel Gar was posthumously elevated to daemonhood, which means the gods and/or Lorgar must have approved of his actions.

Part of the Soulguard.

The Soulguards is a very small, very elite daemonic bodyguard to Apostle Castor.  Comprised solely of daemon-possessed terminators, the Soulguard never leaves Castor's side.

The Lifeguards started out as the new Apostle's honour guard, granted to him by the (Dark) Council. Since then a number have fallen - and been replaced with other proven veterans. The lifeguards aren't necessarily better than the other Anointed, but they are all extremely loyal to the Apostle (above and beyond what you'd expect of a Word Bearer, which is saying something).

Melkar is the Anointed Sergeant in charge of Castor's personal bodyguard, the Lifeguards. He's a veteran of the Great Crusade. Fought on Calth. Originally a spy for the Council, now he's loyal only to Castor. For a time he commanded the Bringer of Faith, but now he follows his master wherever he goes.

The Anointed are the Word Bearer equivalent of Terminator veterans.

The 10th Host has a full company of these powerful warriors. The Anointed has no Captain or Chaplain - other than the Apostle.

The Apostle's Lifeguards are a special bodyguard unit formed from the ranks of the Anointed.

Castor's raiders bring in additional intelligence regarding the Spinward Front/Periphery:

The main Eldar faction operating in the area is known as the Children of Thorns Kabal. They are a bunch of savage and vile outcasts - so much so that they are exiled from Commorragh and shunned by other 'Dark' Eldar. Which is no mean feat, given the nature of the citizens of Commorragh!

E'danas, Castor's pet Eldar reaver captain advises him to stay away from Kabal. They are too factitious and too erratic to be of direct use to the Apostle.

To spinward (hence the name) of Calixis proper lies a wild and vast sub-sector called only 'the Periphery' (if you keep going you eventually reach the Scarus sector). The sub-capital (such as is) is the war-torn world of Kulth. The area is also known as the Spinward Front - for the region has been involved in a three-way struggle between Imperials, orks and the renegades of the Severan Dominate for many centuries. The Imperium usually has the upper hand, but with the Reaving of Finial and the Vortex opening up...no doubt the orks and rebels will rise again!

This peculiar warp anomaly lies at the edge of the galaxy. It's part of the belt of warp storms that separates Calixis from the Halo Stars. More specifically it sits trailing of the Koronus Passage and rimward of the Spinward Front. The sorcerers say that all manner of reavers and daemons are emerging from the Vortex (it is usually a closed circle, more likely to suck things in than let them out). If this is true it could prove an excellent distraction - and a source of possible allies/recruits. It's a long way off though.

The Tyrant Star (sometimes called Komus by those in the 'know') is apparently a wandering stellar phenomenon, a spectral apparition that takes the form of a dark sun (or eclipse, the stories are confusing and contradictory). Since the creation of the Calixis sector in early M39 it has appeared a number of times, always with widespread destruction as a result. Details are classified and suppressed by the Holy Ordos.

Among certain Inquisitors (and heretics) there is talk of a Propheticum Hereticus Tenebrae - the Prophercy of the Shadow Heresy - which tells that the Tyrant Star is merely the reflection of something far darker and more powerful. Komus is the Herald of this Doom. And it will come soon, at the turning of the world, to devour everything (which is taken to mean anything from the Calixis sector to the entire galaxy).

Hiram is the Chaplain of the 12th. He is a man of uncertain origins, having been brought to Sicarus as a result of a slave-raid during an early Black Crusade. Judging by his eye-colour and gene-markers he may be of Cadian stock. He made a life for himself as a self-taught preacher amongst the slave-labourers of Sicarus, eventually commanding the allegiance of tens of thousands of stone-workers. He came to the attention of the Word Bearers legion, and they chose to make him one of their own, despite Hiram being nearly an adult. It was believed that Hiram was already better indoctrinated to the Word than most recruits. He barely survived the accelerated implantation procedure. He went on to have a decent career as a battle-brother, but he was always one of those that would rise to chaplain-hood - or die trying. Hiram occasionally allows himself to be possessed by the Envoys of the Gods.