Chaos can be many things. Different things to different people. It can even be wildly different things to the same person. That's why its called Chaos. It's hard to pin down, hard to quantify. It will undoubtedly be different things at different times within the cope of this game.

That said it is to the benefit of all involved to know that that Chaos is, amongst other things, insidious. It is a fact easily forgotten when imagery of fallen Space Marines with rotting flesh for bodies charge across the battlefield at the head of a mutant army - with Chaos sorcerers providing mobile artillery support and daemons fly air missions overhead.

Chaos can be that too - but it is not primarily that. Most of all Chaos is sneaky, insidious, corrupting. And very, very powerful. Like the law of cause and effect - there is no denying the power of entropy, not the utterly and irrevocably corrupting nature of Chaos. So beware - once you start down the path there is no turning back. At best you can hope to slow your fall into the dark abyss.

This has the added benefit of making Chaos potentially very social, very interactive. It's not all bolters, chain-swords, and bloody rituals. It's trying to convince people that freedom, liberty and equality are better than droning for the Corpse-God. Corruption of the mind and spirit - not just bloody mayhem and physical mutation.

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If some of you are tempted to ask meta-questions like 'are the Chaos gods real' or 'is the Emperor truly a god' or 'what happen to the souls of the dead/do people even have souls' - I'm not answering those. If you want to believe in the Powers that's a faith-thing. Just like believing in the Corpse-God. If you want to imagine there are gods out that that answer YOUR prayers, then feel free to believe that. In fact, you're free to believe what you like. It might even be true. You might even make it true by believing. Or not. Maybe your just insane. If there is even a difference between faith and insanity.

At the dawn of the Age of the Imperium the Emperor created twenty beings of great power to be his generals in the Great Crusade that would reunite humanity and reclaim the galaxy for man. They were the Primarchs. From their genetic stock the twenty first Space Marine legions were created. With this army of super-humans the Emperor reached out from Terra and none could stand before his might and glory. But then, at the height of the Great Crusade the Emperor abandoned his warriors and retreated to Earth, leaving Horus as Warmaster. Saddened, yet elated at the same time Horus did not question his father's motives, but resumed the Crusade with renewed vigor. He pushed the forces of the Crusade harder and further than Father ever had, reclaiming lost worlds and destroying xenos civilizations at an unprecedented rate. Hoping that the Emperor would take notice and be proud of his children. And the Emperor did finally take notice, when the legions were all but spent, facing nothing but the great unknown of the Halo stars. Then he did finally notice. He congratulated his children with a job well done, then bade them stand down the legions and return to Holy Terra. The war was over, now it was time to return home to rest and bask in the praise of the masses.

But they were all being deceived. The Emperor had never intended for the Great Crusade to set humanity free of all bonds and shackles. He had only intended for it to replace a thousand horrors with one tyranny and a million kings with one tyrant. The Great Crusade was not a great quest to bring freedom, illumination and equality to all - it was only meant to enslave humanity to the will of one man, the Emperor, father to Horus and the other Primarchs. Horus' great success has shown him that there was only one threat to his hegemony - his own sons. If his rule was to be undisputed he must be rid of the Primarchs and the legions. Horus was no man's fool though, not even before the glory of the Emperor. He, and he alone saw through the lies and the deception to discern the Emperor's true motivations - to rule the galaxy absolutely and for all time, the greatest tyrant that ever would be! Knowing full well that he would die in the attempt Horus nevertheless raised his banner and stood up to the Great Enslaver. Great was his joy when fully half his brothers flocked to his side and many other warriors beside. But great was his sadness also, for he knew that many, if not all would die in the battles to come. And he also knew that the chance of victory was slim - he would have to strike hard and fast directly for Terra, sacrificing whatever was needed to get within striking distance of his father. One blow to strike off the head of the monster, or die trying...

So began what the priests of the Corpse-God call the 'Horus Heresy'

Warmaster Abaddon is the undisputed master of the 13th Black Crusade. If the legendes are true then once upon a time he strode across the stars at Horus' side as a commander of the Luna Wolves/Son's of Horus legion of Space Marines. When Horus fell it was Abaddon who kept together the remaining free forces and led them to safety in the Eye of Terror, the only place safe from the vengeful High Lords of Terra. Initially content to have saved his people Abaddon went into retirement. He only became a warrior once more when he learned that the cropse of the Emperor had been entombed within the Gold Throne and that the Adeptus Terra was now preaching the gospel of the Corpse-God. He has sworn never to rest until humanity is free to choose its own destiny. Abaddon commands the direct allegiance of many warriors, including the Black Legion Adeptus Astartes, these most deadly of all Space Marines. Many more legions, worlds and captains owe Abaddon fealty, so many that there is no other general equal in skill or measure.

You are a Reaver of the Tirteenth Black Crusade and Abaddon is your master. You will fight on the front lines of the final war where it is your duty to tear down every last vestige of the Imperium of Man. You will triumph where lesser warriors would fail; you will infiltrate Imperial worlds to sow the seeds of sedition, you will stalk the corridors of enemy strongholds with bolter and chain-sword in hand, you will torch their ships at anchor and in the dark void between stars, and you will meet their soldiers on the battlefield - the Angels of Death that know no fear, the near-invincible war-machines of Mars, and the endless hordes of lesser men that slave for the High Lords of Terra. You will meet them and you will destroy them all. You will likely never lay eyes on Terra, but if you stay true you will die knowing that you did so as a free man, and that your sacrifice was not in vain, for it is only by the blood of martyrs that Terra can be liberated and humanity freed from the shackles of tyranny!

This is the dawn of the 42nd millennium. For more than a hundred centuries the decadent priests of the false Corpse-God of Terra have ruled the galaxy with an iron fist. But no more. Their god is dead, freed from the deathless prison his jail-keepers named the Golden Throne in mockery of its purpose. Warmaster Abaddon, heir to Blessed Horus, is leading a mighty Crusade against all the wicked works of Earth. He has sworn never to rest until there is no more falsehood left in the galaxy. Yet even with their god fallen the fools of the Adeptus Terra refuse to see reason. They continue to drone as they always have, blinded by false faith and numbed by fear of everything they cannot understand. And so the dying Imperium continues to fight. Mighty Imperial battlefleets continue to cross the Immaterium. Vast armies still give battle in the name of the Corpse-God on uncounted worlds. The Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, still slave for Terra as they have done since they were broken. Their comrades in arms are ever legion; the inexhaustible armies of the Imperial Guard and countless planetary defence forces, the enforcers of the Adeptus Arbites, the servants of the Inquisition and the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name only a few. But for all their multitudes, they are failing. As the Crusade grinds on more and more worlds are breaking free from the tyranny of Terra, adding their strength to Abaddon's holy quest, the liberation of Mother Earth. For when the cradle of humanity has been scourged free of all taint the human race will know that it is free at long last.  To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to rise up to topple the most oppressive and powerful regime imaginable - or die trying. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be re-learned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for there is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods.

Name: Bringer of Faith (ex-Baccus Eihruus)

Class: Renegade Dauntless-class

Type: Light cruiser (CL)

Commissioned: 455.M41, Cypra Mundi Yards, Cypra Mundi, Segmentus Obscurus

Displacement: 9,4m tonnes (typical), 11,8m tonnes (maximum)

Deadweight tonnage: 1,4m tonnes

Length: 1.500 m (main hull), 1.886 m (from forward auspex spires to aft plasma baffles)

Beam: 396 m (main hull), 512 m

Draught: 480 m (main hull), 660 m

Crew: Varies with configuration, 2.000 (skeleton crew), 16.500 (typical cruising configuration), 20.000-22.000 (full wartime crew w/variable number of extra naval armsmen).

Accel: 4.2G/0G (sustainable), 26G/1G (max), 45G/2G (emergency)

Void shields: Duplex CL.

Armour: All except prow (CL light), prow (CL medium).

Main armament: Zelson pattern CA lance battery, forward flight axis

Secondary armament: CL type batteries, port/starboard

Turrets: CL defensive grid, full coverage

Ordnance: Escort-type torpedo battery, forward hemisphere

Small craft: Full complement of light craft.

Description: The Imperial Dauntless-class light cruiser is optimized for scouting and escort duties. The Dauntless forms the mainstay of the CL component of many battlefleets. Light cruisers carry enough firepower to drive off opposing escorts and enough fuel and supplies to remain away from Imperial fleet bases for months of subjective time.

The Adeptus Astartes – the Space Marines – is an ancient warrior brotherhood created by the Emperor more than ten thousand years ago to help him reclaim the galaxy for Man. In the 41^st Millennium they are humanity's champions in the unending struggle for survival. A space Marine is not born, he is made. Made in the image of the Emperor. To make a Marine you recruit at an early age the most dangerous killers humanity has to offer, transform them into superhuman giants, teach them nothing but killing, and instil in them an unflinching loyalty to the Golden Throne and a willingness to die in service of the God-Emperor. Then you encase him in a suit of armour without equal and equip him with the deadliest weapons the Machine God has to offer. The end result is aptly called the Angels of Death; they descend from the heavens to smite the foes of Man with divine wrath.

CHAPTER ORGANIZATION

The Chapter is the largest Marine organizational unit commonly used in M41. During the Great Crusade the Marine Legions would each be composed of many Chapters. A Chapter was the Legion's smallest unit capable of sustained independent operations. It is a popular misconception that Chapters number 1.000 Marines. It is true that newly formed Chapters are made up of a cadre of only 1.000 Marines, plus a command staff taken from their progenitor Chapter, but that is probably the only time a Chapter will number exactly a thousand. In reality the number of Marines available to a Chapter varies quite a bit, as battle deaths and recruitment causes troop numbers to fluctuate. Each Chapter of Astartes has per the Codex Astartes a nominal fighting strength of 1.000 Space Marines, but that is 1.000 battle-ready Space Marines. To be able to field such a force, even for an organization as lean as the Marines, you need 2-3 warriors per position. Then there is an increasingly large command and support staff, plus a number of semi-retired Marines filling semi-honorary position (though most could fight if need be).

Although no Chapter is anywhere near in size to the massive million-strong Legions of old, there are some fairly big Chapters out there. The Black Templars, for example, are known to field at least 5.000 Battle-Brothers at any one time, which could mean that there are as many as 15-20 thousand Black Templars out there, not counting command and support or retirees. The Space Wolves remains the only non-traitor legion not to have complied with the Adeptus Terra with regards to the dissolution of the Legions. They still retain their original thirteen Chapters (though the 13^th has been lost in the Eye of Terror for quite some time), although some Administratum scribes have deftly evaded the truth by labelling the Chapters 'Cohortes Maximus' (i.e. Great Companies). The Space Wolves M41 Chapters are not, however, at their maximum Great Crusade size. Instead they are comparable to other marine Chapters of the present day and age. The Ultramarines are Codex-bound, but control a number of 'vassal' Chapters in and around the 'Kingdoms of Ultramar', thus easily outnumbering all other Chapters in terms of fighting men. Losses against Hive Fleet Behemoth and Hive Fleet Kraken have been considerable, with several vassal Chapters having been completely destroyed and others reduced to just a small cadre.

The Squad is the basic Marine tactical unit. It comprises 10 Battle-Brothers, one of which is a Sergeant. The Sergeant is invariably a battle-hardened marine that has displayed both leadership skill and unusual initiative. The rest of the squad's members are ranked according to seniority, although some awards, commendations and/or disciplinary black marks can cause changes in effective seniority. Regardless of battle deaths or incapacitations there will always be someone in command of the squad. Squad members are typically armed with bolters, except for two heavy weapons (frequently a heavy bolter and a missile launcher) and possibly up to two specialist weapons (such as a flamer or melta gun). Squads are very flexible can be broken down into smaller units, typically two five-man Battle-Squads led by either the Sergeant or a Veteran Brother (some Chapters name this marine Corporal, others have a second junior Sergeant per squad; both are fairly rare). One Battle-Squad might be assigned the heavy weapons while the other one takes the assault weapons; or each could have one heavy weapon assigned. Or one or both Battle-Squads can be split into two-Marine fire-teams as the situation warrants. Options are nearly endless; squads can quickly be made to match any situation.

Ten squads make a Company, led by a Captain. Some Chapters also have a separate position for a company Lieutenant. Those Chapters that do not have lieutenants lists the senior squad Sergeant as the company second-in-command. Companies are sometimes split into two 50-Marine Battle-Companies, led by the Captain and Lieutenant/Veteran Sergeant respectively. Companies can be further subdivided into any combination of squads as warranted by the battlefield situation. The Company (or Battle-Company) is the smallest tactical unit that is commonly deployed in an independent role; one Marine Company and supporting assets are considered sufficient to deal with most targets. This Marine Company Strike Force can easily be fitted into a single Strike Cruiser (most crusier models allow for even bigger forces, usually a maximum of 2-3 Companies worth of troops).

The number of companies to a Chapter will vary; but the basic 1.000 Marine line-up calls for ten companies, one of which is the Veteran/Terminator Assault Company and another which will be a Training/Scout Company. The remaining companies are Tactical Companies, although some Chapters operate with specialized companies – Jump Assault, Heavy/Devastator, Mobile Response, Urban Infiltrators, etc. These are roles that a normal Tactical Battle-Brother can fill, but within the ranks of the specialist companies each Marines focuses on that role to the exclusion of anything but basic Marine skills. Some Chapters wholeheartedly approve of such specialization as a means of pursuing perfection, while other Chapters frown upon it, claiming instead that each Marine should always be ready to face any challenge. Most Chapters are somewhere in between, maintaining just a few specialist companies and/or rotating Marines on a regular basis to avoid calcification within one narrow role. A Chapter is commanded by a Chapter Master. The Master is attended by a senior Commander (sometimes called a Praetor) who is the Chapter's second-in-command. Some Chapters lack a specific position for the Praetor and instead has the senior company Captain hold the honour.

It is very rare for an entire Chapter's battle-ready forces to be deployed at any one time. Instead a Chapter can be divided into two Cohorts, commanded by the Chapter Master and Praetor respectively (one would normally be in the field while the other remains at base and attends to other duties, including permanent garrisons and patrols). For larger Chapters the Cohort formation can become permanent and there may be multiple Cohorts (usually of 5 companies each), each led by a Commander (one of which may also be the Praetor, unless that is a separate position). Some large Chapters, such as the Crimson Dawn Chapter, also maintain a position of Lieutenant-Commander for the Cohort second-in-command. A Space Marine Battle Barge can accommodate one five-company Cohort, support elements, and logistics train (it would e very rare, however, for a Barge to operate alone, without the benefit of support vessels).

All Chapters also have several supporting branches; the Librarium provides both astropaths and battlefield psykers, while Mechanicus-trained Tech-Marines take care of advanced maintenance rites (line personnel are expected to do undertake ordinary maintenance rites of personal and unit gear). Chaplains are tasked with caring for the spiritual well-being of the Battle-Brothers, while Marine Apothecaries are highly skilled in both first aid and advanced medical procedures. Lastly are the Battle-Brothers that are not assigned to any ready-unit, for whatever reason – they could be recuperating, receiving specialist training, be assigned as starship crew, or be semi-retired.

Most Chapters will also have extensive (non-Marine) non-combatant support staffs, offering additional logistical support. After all, someone must take care of the mundane affairs of a Chapters, be if distribution of supplies, refuelling drop-ships, acting as medical orderlies, preparing and serving meals, and so on. Some Chapters rely on serfs, others heavily on servitors, while a few even have free-men retainers who are paid for their services.

A Chapter's non-personnel assets also vary considerably. A new Chapter will be given a homeworld and recruitment rights there, as well as support staff, vehicles and a small fleet of ships, but after that they are expected to fund and fend for themselves. Old and successful Chapters can amass huge fiefs and the resources that go along with them (though they must be wary of gaining too much power, lest the Adeptus Terra become concerned.

The Standard Template Construct system contains the collective knowledge of the Dark Age of Technology, including the application of said knowledge. In short it tells you everything you need to know and how to use that knowledge to affect the universe. This is the Holy Grail of the Adeptus Mechanicus – access to the complete and uncorrupted database of the STC system.

The Standard Template Construct system was perfected during the Dark Age of Technology and was instrumental in allowing humanity to expand across the galaxy. It provided an instant knowledge-base available to all colonies that would not only allow them to be self-sufficient, but in time progress to the highest level of cultural and technological sophistication.

Everything in the STC is standardized, not just the artifacts produced, but also the machines that make the artifacts...and the machines that make the machines, and so on. There is no innovation as such, since for all intents and purposes every field of science has been fully mapped out, and every technological application has already been invented, tested, used, improved, refined, integrated and standardized.

The STC system is not magical; it cannot conjure things out of thin air (but it can tell you how to build a machine that could, provided such a thing is at all possible). Instead the STC teaches those that can understand it how to make the tools to make the machines that in turn would allow them to make more advanced machines, and so on until the highest technological tier is reached. Going down this path would be prohibitively expensive and would generate little in return, so the process would have to be balanced with the need to provide for society's immediate needs.

So going down the path of the STC would take many generations of work, each generation building upon the advances of those that came before. However, each step of the process would be mapped out, progress would be accelerated, and it would all work perfectly and be the best that can be imagined. Indeed, any improvement the STC users might make would reveal themselves to be false as they progressed along the path, with even minor changes potentially having tremendous cascading implications further down the path.

STC Templates: Templates are the blueprints of the STC system, images of one part of the wealth of knowledge contained within the STC system. Such templates, or even parts of them, are highly valued by the Adeptus Mechanicus (and other Tech-guilds for that matter).

STC Constructs: Everything built using the STC system can be labeled Constructs; or more specifically Standard Template Constructs. So a lasgun produced using a STC template is a construct, as is a land raider, a heavy lift shuttle, or any of the other million technological horrors that drive the Imperium of Man.

STC Constructors: A constructor is in itself also a construct, albeit one with a special purpose; it has the ability to create new constructs (i.e. it is an STC factory). As long as it has access to uncorrupted templates and resources (specified in the templates) it can continue to output new constructs. Some constructors can be retooled (or can retool themselves!) to produce a variety of constructs.

Examples: The ubiquitous Chimaera is one STC template that is in common use throughout the galaxy. Each of the Chimaera's physical sub-components (as well as its operating software) is represented by one sub-template (meshed together to form the overall Chimaera template). The Chimaera is an old and flexible design, where the Mechanicus has access to a number of variant templates. These range in scope from major conversions (such as the Hellhound flame-tank), via intermediate variants (with different armor, engines etc. to accommodate for local resource availability and/or needs), to minor alterations (different display screen models, seating material etc.) of mostly cosmetic nature.

STC and the Age of the Imperium: Retrieved STC technology form the technological base of the Imperium of Man. Local variation does exist of course, both to meet local demands and to fill the many gaping holes in the available STC database, but by and large all Imperial worlds have access to mostly the same technology and utilizes it in similar fashions. So a lasrifle produced by manual labor on a small backwater Forge World in Ultima Segmentum might be slightly different (of a different pattern in Mechanicus jargon) from one produced in a holy STC Constructor back on Mars, but when you look past the variations it is the same piece of technology.

STC and the Adeptus Mechanicus: Not a single complete STC system has ever been retrieved; the Age of Strife almost destroyed humanity and with it the STC system. The exact reason why so little of the STC system remained, especially the most advanced parts, eludes the Mechanicus. All calculations indicated that more should have survived, yet it has not. Clearly there are some unknown factors in the equation, factors that if revealed may help the Mechanicus find the missing pieces.

Suffice to say that the Tech-Priests of Mars managed to cling to a great pool of knowledge throughout the Age of Strife, but they are far from having a complete database. They continue their holy work even today, and have now spent 10.000 years looking for bits and pieces of the STC in every dark corner of the galaxy. Unfortunately, as time passes it just gets harder and harder to find uncorrupted templates, and it seems unlikely that the Mechanicus will ever manage to reach their goal...through not for lack of trying. Still, the Adeptus Mechanicus have access to a great number of technologies not commonly available to the rest of the Imperium; techno-lore that it is very reluctant to share.

STC and the Tech Guilds: The myriad Tech Guilds that operate the hi-tech of the Imperium's many worlds have less access to STC templates than do the Mechanicus (and the Mechanicus does but rarely share its knowledge). They may have bits and pieces of it, but otherwise they must make do with whatever local adaptations they have managed to conjure forth over the millenia. Those guilds that do have access to special templates guard them well, for they provide them with a source of power and revenue not available to other guilds.