Author's preamble: I've finally gotten around to finishing the fluff for my
CSM army. This is the first thing I've really written for the
WH40k setting and I don't think of myself as a great writer to begin with, so it's probably not all that great and likely riddled with problems. The Knights of Shadow are a chapter characterized by their pragmatism and careful planning. They are not devoted to any particular chaos god, seeing chaos more as a tool than something to be worshipped. However, the Chaos Lord and leader of the Knights is devoted to Tzeentch - an admittedly strange choice for a Chaos Lord, yet I feel it both fits his character, the character of the chapter, and satisfies me given that Tzeentch is my favorite chaos god. The Knights of Shadow can be played as Alpha Legion, Iron Warriors, or Red Corsairs rule-wise, as these Chaos factions most fit their flavor or affinities.
Without further ado:
The Knights of Shadow
Origins and Methods of the Chapter
The Knights of Shadow Space Marine Chapter was organized in the 23rd Founding (also called the “Sentinel’s Founding”) with the intent to recoup many of the losses which the Adeptus Astartes had accumulated over ages of conflict. Nominally, the chapter is a successor of the Dark Angels, though there are whispers that they have darker origins.
The Knights’ preferred tactics are a combination of espionage, shock and awe tactics, and a preference for advanced weaponry and technologies. They will analyze a given situation to the minute detail and carefully probe an enemy for weaknesses before attempting to maximize the devastation they cause with a single, swift strike. This keen analytical awareness makes them quite flexible, enabling them to adapt to situations that are outside of their standard tactics, such as a protracted siege or an all-out brawl.
The chapter maintained a close relationship with the Adeptus Mechanicus to allow access to wider ranges of vehicles and armament to answer unexpected circumstances. Much like their progenitor chapter, they hold a preference for Plasma weaponry, which mirrors their taste for burning holes in what would otherwise seem impenetrable.
The Knights of Shadow do not have a home world. They remain stationed in their Fleet, allowing them to remain mobile to suit their needs at a given time. The Shadow Knights set up fiefdoms on worlds they find particularly resourceful or supportive, though they tended to be mostly hands-off in terms of governance. One example of worlds of interest to the Knights was Lancelis IV, a feudal world with ferocious, savage wildlife and dense forests.
The Knights’ analytical skills, however, developed a rather unfortunate drawback. The chapter wants to analyze a situation thoroughly before they respond. This dedication to analysis before action can leave them a touch slow to act. This means that fighting an enemy like the Alpha Legion or the Tyranids can ironically put them at a bit of a disadvantage, given the former’s capability for disinformation campaigns and the latter’s preference to quickly swarm their pray.
While their caution does mean that they are less likely to be deceived by falsified information (since they are quite effective at gathering intelligence), they might be given a bit of pause or slowed in their efforts because they are dissecting the information they receive in order to assess the truth. They'll remain guarded to prevent some sort of ambush, but this does mean that the battlefield situation may change in those precious moments they are being careful.
Alongside the potential pitfalls of their tactics, the chapter grew rather distrustful and wary of a number of the Imperium’s organizations, including but not limited to the Administratum, the High Lords of Terra, and the God-Emperor’s Holy Inquisition. The Knights would cooperate only so far with bureaucrats and preferred only to work with other chapters that had a good reputation and tended not to bend wholly to the word of the Inquisitors – such as the Imperial Fists, Space Wolves, Lamenters, Astral Claws, and Red Scorpions.
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The Liberation of Subsector Edeis
The Shadows proved their worth to the Imperium early in their crusading career. The first Chapter Master of the Knights of Shadow, Rhamiel Astereath, personally led his newly created and full-strength chapter to the edge of the Imperium’s borders, ambitiously seeking to reclaim worlds thought long lost to mankind. The most famous and successful of these exploits was the conquest of the Edeian Sub-sector. Edeis sat amidst a series of gravity riptides and a becalmed warp stasis. Psyker powers proved especially difficult in this region, placing a great deal of difficulty on astropaths and pilots alike. The prize of this subsector, however, lie in the pristine habitable worlds that somehow thrived in this environment, along with a bounty of exploitable resources. Upon these peaceful garden worlds, the Knights encountered resistance.
Subsector Edeis, in the Imperium’s absence, had been overrun by a warband of heretical Chaos Space Marines, led by a cabal of sorcerers, calling themselves The Sorcerer-Kings. The heretics were taking advantage of the subsector’s difficult navigation and remote location to practice all manners of horrific experiments among the strange and otherwise unidentified xenos population that had sprouted among the garden worlds – a xenos population that had a notable connection to the Warp and considerable psychic potential.
The Knights of Shadow knew what needed to be done. Their presence in the subsector was, thankfully, unexpected and unnoticed, which they utilized to their advantage. After assessing the situation and the threat posed by the moderately-sized heretic Astartes warband, the Knights determined that the best course of action was to purge the entire Edeis subsector of all xenos and heretic filth that infested it.
The mineral wealth of the planets in the subsector was deemed too valuable to completely annihilate them with Exterminatus. As for their pristine habitability: while cleansing all life on such worlds with a heretical presence would be the normal approach and be effective in the short term, the option was unsatisfactory to Chapter Master Astereath. He wanted Edeis to be returned to the fold of the Imperium in the long term, and as such, it was determined the habitability of the subsector would need to be kept within acceptable parameters (by Imperium standards, granted) for recolonization after a thorough cleansing of the subsector.
The Shadow Knights set about carefully scoping and scouting out every terrain feature of every planet in the whole subsector. Every movement of the traitor Astartes, still blissfully unaware of their presence, was monitored and analyzed. Every possible scenario was carefully considered to the best of the chapter’s ability. Whatever strategic information could be gathered was collected and categorized. Once they had developed their offensive with carefully measure precision, the Knights fell upon the servants of Chaos with all the fury of a lion towards fresh and waiting prey.
Carefully timed and measured precision strikes were launched upon any Chaos vessels within the sub-sector, striking with sudden and brutal force to overwhelm their surprised defenders before swiftly departing before much response could be mustered. Important repair stations were sabotaged or destroyed outright while response fleets chased the raiding parties, forcing the traitors into a war of swiftly depleting attrition. Any attempts to escape were met with further speedy attack forces along with carefully calculated interference, forcing the enemy to be subject to the very gravitational anomalies that had once protected them.
On the surface of Edeis Prime, the leading cabal of the Sorcerer-Kings prepared their defenses for the inevitable assault upon their palace. They, despite their sheer disadvantage of surprise, were not wholly defenseless. Their xenos slaves served as powerful batteries to fuel their psionic powers and to counteract the difficulties in conjuring them despite the stasis effect. Along with the armies of brainwashed worshippers, mutant horrors, and Chaos Marines, the sorcerers pooled their arcane knowledge to conjure a champion to aid in their time of need: a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch.
Once the Knights of Shadow had ensured there would be no escape from the Edeis Subsector, each world was taken in rapid and ordered succession. Each planet was thoroughly and carefully swept to ensure that every possible ounce of heretic and xenos blood alike was squeezed from the proverbial stone. Finally, Chapter Master Rhamiel Astereath personally led the assault upon Edeis Prime.
Advanced landing parties struck and disabled the orbital defenses, allowing the fleet to hammer the fortified capital with every possible weapon they could fire. Ground assault teams proceeded to open up more and more avenues of attack, allowing for mechanized shock units to land and force their way forward into the capital city. Leading the assault on the palace directly was Chapter Master Astereath, in full wargear, along with the chapter’s favored terminator squads and several full tactical companies.
Inside the palace, the Sorcerer-Kings began their last-ditch efforts – a spiteful stab from the grip of hell to flood the planet with Chaos Daemons by burning out their own psionic powers with extreme effort. Astereath engaged the Daemon Prince while the Terminator squads swiftly interrupted the ritual. Their strike was precisely measured – first killing the xenos slaves empowering the sorcerers before the sorcerers themselves, using Edeis’ own nullifying effects to prevent the cataclysm.
Rhamiel Astereath emerged victorious from his battle with the daemon, albeit critically wounded. Any recorded results from the Sorcerer-Kings’ experiments were reportedly destroyed and any record of the xenos race that the heretics had been exploiting were eradicated. After several more sweeps across the sub-sector and thorough cleansing of any and all potential corruption or infested areas, the Edeis subsector was declared secure. Chapter Master Astereath passed away several weeks afterwards, a hero.
With this victory, the Knights of Shadow established themselves as a respected fighting force. They were deployed against multiple opponents – particularly the Necrons, Dark Eldar, and the Orks. Though the Knights were at the height of their career, their distaste for Imperial politics would ultimately lead to their fall from grace.
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The Fall:
Many years later, the Knights of Shadow were deployed to System XVII-AW82 against a still-maturing Ork Waaagh! under the command of the Warboss Gorzog Gitstompa. The Knights’ initial probes were returning disturbing and unusual reports. The Greenskins were acting far more organized and intelligently than one would normally suspect of a roving warband. This gave the Space Marines pause. The Gitstompa was utilizing precisely coordinated attacks, ambushes, and well-planned tactical ‘Weirdboy Joomp’ strikes far beyond the normal capacity of the Orkish craving for wanton violence and direct combat.
While it was certainly not unheard of for the Orkish cunning to be underestimated, the Knights’ intuition was that something - or someone - was guiding these savages. The Knights determined that the best course of action was to engage in a slower campaign, using decoy probes and carefully laid traps or guerilla strikes. It was a slow, frustrating affair, but each operation yielded another tiny piece of information to fill the puzzle of Gitstompa’s surprising competence.
Unfortunately, the Knights of Shadows’ deployment to System XVII-AW82 was at the request of the God-Emperor’s Most Holy Inquisition. Inquisitor Gallifran Xelios was assigned to the chapter to ensure that the operation went smoothly. Given the mutual, underlying distrust of both organizations towards one another, Xelios used his position as a liaison to perform a function that would better be described as an overbearing overseer. The Knights of Shadow chafed under Xelios’ orders, but they reluctantly complied with his less-than-polite requests when they were made.
Once word was given to Inquisitor Gallifran that the Knights would be taking a quite cautious approach against the Orks, he was beyond furious. The Inquisitor stormed into the command bridge of the Space Marines’ flagship, The Righteous Eclipse. With a furious zeal in his eye, he went directly to the Chapter Master of the Knights of Shadow, Achilles Gilgamon, and openly berated him for cowardice. Xelios bellowed that the Ork Waaagh! must be contained before it spilled over into other systems. He directly ordered a full, direct assault into the murky swamps of the Orks’ chosen homeworld to purge the Orkish menace in its entirety.
Chapter Master Achilles explained his own perspective to the Inquisitor. A frontal assault upon Gitstompa’s front door was pointlessly suicidal. The Knights had very little knowledge of the Greenskins’ layout of traps, the positions of their Kommando squads, nor an inkling of the true motivating force behind the Orks’ sudden skill in precise military actions. To attack the Orks directly now would cost far, far more lives than a slim chance at victory was worth. Gilgamon’s attempts at reason, however, fell upon deaf ears. The Inquisitor’s mind was on the prizes and glory of a swift and sudden end to the Orkish uprising, not on the Knights’ “excuses”. After a long moment of considering his options, the Chapter Master’s face turned grim. He agreed to the Inquisitor’s terms and announced that he would personally lead the attack.
The events that followed are unclear. There is speculation that the Inquisitor was incensed at the idea of Achilles leading the attack, thinking that the true glory was to be had on the battlefield. Others believe the Inquisitor happily chose to stay behind on the The Righteous Eclipse. Regardless, the Knights of Shadow conducted an assault upon Gitstompa’s Waaagh! It is not known how many Knights were actually deployed to the battle. It may have been as small as a single company to a quarter of the chapter.
After a mere few hours of brutal jungle warfare, the Space Marines withdrew from the field and returned to their fleet. Among the miraculously few casualties from the battle was the conveniently unfortunate Inquisitor Gallifran Xelios, whom the Knights of Shadow reported as being slain by “Ork Snipers.”
The assault, whether it was a staged maneuver or genuine, did benefit the Space Marines’ cause. During the engagement, Chief Librarian Solum Barachiel was able to pierce the subtle veil of trickery underlying the Orks’ cunning. He had discovered the subtle and careful influence of the Eldar at work. The Craftworlders were carefully slipping information, subtly manipulating, and invisibly aiding the Orks in order to use them as a puppet for some unknown end.
Armed with the knowledge of their true enemy, the Knights of Shadow set about quietly locating and eliminating the Eldar throughout the system. Without the aid of the Eldar’s manipulations, the Orks quickly returned to more brutally direct and savage tactics and were ultimately exterminated by the carefully orchestrated shock strikes of the Knights’ Heavy Support and Terminator detachments.
Once the campaign of System XVII-AW82 was concluded, Chapter Master Achilles Gilgamon was already aware that the certainly accidental death of Inquisitor Xelios would bring a reckoning upon his chapter like no other. The Inquisition does not forgive, even in petty grievances. Despite their inspiring victory in the name of the Imperium, the conquering, loyal Space Marines were now forced to abandon their fiefdoms and flee from the Imperium they had once defended.
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The Means of Survival
The Knights of Shadow became a Renegade Chapter. Being a void-based chapter allowed the Knights to remain mobile, but also proved quite difficult to maintain. By necessity, the Knights of Shadow turned to piracy and raiding as they traveled in order to stay on the run. The Inquisition had already set about declaring the chapter “Excommunicate Traitoris” in retaliation for their crimes. The Knights of Shadow were forced into a state of survival by all means necessary while they fled from loyalist hunters.
As the Knights fled further and further from the boundaries of the Imperium, they found themselves in ever more dire circumstances. They had no allies in the galaxy. The forces of the Imperium would hunt them to extermination. The many Xenos that inhabited the galaxy would slaughter them all the same. There was only one other option to ensure the continued survival of the chapter. With a grim and defeated pragmatism, Chapter Master Achilles and his brethren sought what they believed was the only chance of long-term survival for their chapter - alliance with other forces that were now opposed to the Imperium of Man they once held dear.
The Dark Mechanicum proved surprisingly receptive to the Knights of Shadow once communication had been established. The Knights had always been on good terms with their tech priests and held an appreciation for technology and war machines. The chapter was all too willing to perform various requests and tasks for their new, heretical allies in exchange for support from the dark forges.
Many among the Knights were uneasy with the decision to side with the Imperium’s allies, but their pragmatism prevailed over their concerns. Even if they still wished to fight for the Emperor, the Emperor’s Imperium wished for them to die to the man. There were, however, concerns raised about just how far the chapter was willing to go for their own survival. Surely there we limits to what corruption and heresies the Chapter Master would allow in the name of mere survival.
Achilles had an answer. While many of the followers of Chaos were truly lost and depraved, there were some who maintained a modicum of what could be deemed respectable. They had not entirely sworn themselves to a particular god and saw Chaos more as a tool than as something to prostrate oneself in the name of. With this in mind, Achilles sought tentative alliance with two Chaos Legions in particular: The Red Corsairs and the Iron Warriors. Chapter Master Achilles had a great respect for Lugft Huron and for the iron-willed sons of Perturabo.
While any alliance with their former enemies was approached with the utmost of care, the Knights of Shadow were determined to prove their worth to their new allies. Practicality and ambition came to rule the mind of the Chapter Master – and with those qualities came the subtle whisperings of knowledge from beyond.
To demonstrate their quality, the Knights of Shadow become opportunistic – lending small detachments of aid to those they wished to curry favor with while at the same time preparing for a crusade of their own - one that would prove they had ultimately renounced their old allegiances. Chapter Master Achilles set his sights on Subsector Edeis. Once, the Knights of Shadow had been its liberators and purifiers. Now, they would return as conquerors.
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A Sign
As the Knights of Shadow slowly and carefully built rapport with their selection of allies, they were always aware of the threat of being forcibly subsumed by the much larger Chaos warbands and legions. In order to maintain a foothold in negotiations and alliances, the Knights would need to demonstrate that they were a force to be reckoned with. The more astute among their leadership were also begrudgingly aware that to stand among Chaos would very likely mean to curry the favor of the Dark Gods.
Chapter Master Achilles, however, had already been touched by the voice of one such god – or so he felt. Knowledge and insight seemed to come more readily to him than normal– making him aware of when it was best to deploy detachments to aid the Iron Warriors, Dark Mechanicum, or Corsairs, and when it was best to hold back to protect his own interests. These insights were often uncanny in their accuracy. Over time and study through the heretical grapevine, Achilles Gilgamon came to slowly understand these whispers as a gift – a small encouragement passed on by the Changer of Ways, Tzeentch.
Whether by the hand of the god himself or one of his servants, Achilles could not say for sure. He knew only that this gift of knowledge was not to be squandered frivolously. One night in his chambers, the warlord spoke back to the whispers of the void, asking what could be done to procure more such gifts. At first, he was met with silence. But, as the Chapter Master continued in his persistence, he was rewarded with a spark of insight.
Taking Chief Librarian Barachiel with him to a private sanctum, the pair conducted a dark ritual to commune with the Warp. There, they vowed to dedicate the crusade of the Edeis Subsector to the gods. Achilles promised his own dedication to Tzeentch – and the Chief Librarian did the same. As if to answer him, Chapter Master Achilles found himself presented with a sword – a daemonic blade of gold hilt and blue flame. As he took the hilt, a name was whispered: Eclipse.
Achilles felt a surge of confidence. Surely this was a sign – a sign that the time had come to prove the Knights of Shadow were a force worthy of their new allegiance.
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The Reconquest of the Edeis Subsector
The Knights of Shadow were invigorated. The old proving ground to the Imperium would be the same field where they would prove themselves to the forces of Chaos they had once opposed. The Knights knew the Edeis Subsector well. They had mapped its pathways and calculated its hazards. Against the occupying Imperial forces, the Knights were certain of their victory.
But this could not be just any victory. This crusade needed to be a definitive demonstration – a demonstration that the Knights were not mere pawns and that they could stand upon their own feet. As such, this would be an exercise in art as much as it was in warfare. With the whole host of Knights assembled and their fleet positioned, they began a carefully planned campaign against the defenders of the Edeis subsector.
The Imperial forces that were deployed to the Subsector were not entirely unawares when the Knights arrived, however. The Imperium had suspected the Subsector could come under attack in the same way that it had been taken. The commander of the Imperial fleet had been briefed extensively about the dangerous conditions of travel and how the previous conquerors of the system had navigated through the region. Defensive strategies to counter those samesuch tactics had long been prepared.
The Imperial Navy met the Shadow Knights’ probing raids with confusion. They altered their response each time – being aggressive one moment to being passive the next in a disorienting, chaotic pattern. Against most enemies, such tactics might confuse, but would likely fall under a direct, aggressive push. Against a more cautious opponent like the Knights of Shadow, however, this proved frustrating to their attempts to glean information on their opponents.
The Knights of Shadow knew that to commit with poor information would likely lead their forces into an easy trap. Even if they emerged victorious, their forces would be far too depleted to support the campaign further. Still, there had to be some pattern behind the apparent nonsense of the Navy’s tactics. The Knights committed to one more probing raid, but this time they refused to engage the Imperials. Instead, they goaded and delayed the Loyalists, attempting to provoke them into an engagement while at the same time paying particular attention to their communications and coordination. They reasoned that such tactics were effective but would ultimately crumble if the detachments from the Imperial fleet were not able to coordinate with one another.
The Loyalists proved to be stubborn. Both sides refused to fully commit to one another, leading to very minimal skirmishes where fleets would effectively glare at one another and tease at each other with the odd broadside or missile harrying at the periphery. Then, finally, there was a breakthrough.
The raiding detachment managed to break into the Imperial communication channels and begin tracking the broadcasted orders to their source – a commanding starbase now positioned above the planet of Edeis Prime. The Knights of Shadow intended to strike at the head of the serpent, cutting off Imperial communications to throw off their strategy of confusion. The Imperial Navy were not foolish, however. A simple strike on their command would draw the Imperial fleet towards their operational center like a roused hive of angry wasps.
The operation would require a swift, sudden strike and an equally swift retreat. It would also require circumventing the Imperial defenses carefully positioned around Edeis Prime. A grand deception would be needed – a lure to coax the Imperials into engagement at such commitment that would delay them long enough to perform the guerilla strike.
Chief Librarian Barachiel offered a solution. All but a few of the Knights of Shadow could strike at multiple directions of the Imperial defenses under the mask of a frontal assault. The ploy would be frustration – a desperate attempt to overwhelm the Imperial defenses after the apparent weakness and confusion of their defensive strategy. Any naval officer would eagerly chomp down on such a tasty prize as an overconfident adversary. While the battle raged and necessitated a full Imperial response, a strike force would use the Knights’ knowledge of the subsector’s layout in order to sneak around the Imperial Navy and strike in a swift, calculated assault to disable the commanding starbase. The Chapter Master and the other leaders agreed.
Soon afterwards, the Knights of Shadow fell upon the Imperial defenses with a ruthless aggression. The Imperial fleets scrambled to respond to the assault, forced to recall some of their vessels from other fronts to stand against the invasion. As planned, the Renegade strike force maneuvered around the enemy and made for Edeis Prime. Things did not go entirely as hoped, however.
The Imperial commander recognized that his opponents seemed far too intelligent to simply commit to a reckless attack on his perimeter. He ordered a number of vessels to remain on reserve – just in case of a ploy. Even if the traitors broke through his defensive line, he wanted to ensure that the reserves could handle any threats seeping through towards central command.
This same reserve fleet, consisting of a handful of cruisers and patrol escorts, was waiting as the Renegades arrived to conduct their strike. A desperate engagement ensured, with the heretics fiercely pressing the Imperial defenders while the latter formed up to defend the command station.
Through either the sheer stroke of luck or by the movements of a malignant god, the Imperials committed a vital error. As the Imperial reserve began routing the Knights of Shadow strike force, the commanding officer began to give chase, pulling his vessels out of their formation in attempt to aggressively drive away the invaders. Seeing an opening, the strike force committed to one last desperate ploy.
On command of the strike force commander, the Chaos vessel proceeded to directly ram themselves into the Imperial Navy at the precise angles to force open a split. The Knights’ vessels then proceeded to grind into the broadside guns of the Imperial ships, shielding their flagship from barrage as it charged straight through the Imperial formation and towards the vulnerable command station. The ship collided head on, causing the station and the vessel to erupt in a fireball. The tattered remains of the strike force retreated; their victory won at great cost.
Upon confirmation that the strike force had succeeded, the Knights of Shadow withdrew from the field to concentrate their forces. They then proceeded to strike ferociously at the disorganized Imperial lines in unison, piercing through the blockade at a singular point in order to begin striking from within. The Imperial Navy was routed. The crusade proceeded with the Knights of Shadow utilizing their superior intel of the region to great effect, harrying the remaining defenders, and striking with full force at any perceived weakness.
Within a decade, the Edeis Subsector – once a hard-won Imperial reconquest – had now once again fallen to the Ruinous Powers – and utilizing a gift from Tzeentch on top of it all. The campaign had come with a fair number of casualties, but these were deemed acceptable with the prize that had been won.
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The Knights Reforged
With the Edeis once again under their control, the Knights of Shadow began to use the Loyalist’s own infrastructure to fortify the subsector. While the Knights would ever be at home aboard their void-faring vessels, the subsector was well known to them and would serve as an effective bastion from which the Knights could outmaneuver potential invasions from the Imperium or rival Chaos factions. The subsector would become the first and most central of their new vassals – a new series of fiefdoms from which the renegades could recruit, rearm, and reap as needed.
The Knights of Shadow commemorated their victory with various rituals, sacrifices, and ceremonies dedicated to the dark gods. Every Knight was permitted to pursue favor of any god they pleased – or to abstain entirely. Pragmatism, however, remained the dominant force of the chapter. The worlds of Edeis would need to remain bountiful if the Knights wished to make it a lasting sanctum and the Knights were determined to remain masters of their own fates despite their newfound favors from the Ruinous Powers.
Following the crusade of Edeis Prime, the now-proclaimed ‘Lord’ Achilles Gilgamon became dedicated to currying the favor of Tzeentch. While he was not a psyker, the blessings of tactical acumen, whispered knowledge, and the daemon-sword Eclipse were rather pleasing benefits to the new Chaos Lord compared to the potential offerings of the other gods. The Knights of Shadow began to spread their influence beyond the borders of the Edeis Subsector, creating new fiefdoms under their banner and ever seeking to expand into a respectable power in the galaxy – all while wielding the dark powers they had once fought against.
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