Accursed Crozius

An Accursed Crozius is a special form of Daemon Weapon, the mark of office of a Dark Apostle of the Traitor Word Bearers Legion. It ressembles a heavy mace whose head has the shape of the eight-pointed star of Chaos. Within the matter of the weapon is bound a Lesser Daemon of Chaos Undivided, put there as a reward to the Dark apostle for his travails spreading the corrupting influence of Chaos; and as a watchkeeper to ensure the Apostle does not falter in his devotions and actions.

While not as destructive as some more mundane Daemon Weapons, the inhabitant of the Accursed Crozius grant its bearer unholy resilience, allowing him to shrug off blows who would maim a normal Astartes. But the most insidious power of the Accursed Crozius is its ability to infuse the very words spoken by its bearer with Immaterium energies. Combined to the oratory prowess of the Apostle, it makes their blasphemous speeches utterly convincing, and many a world has fallen into corruption without a shot being fired in anger, simply by listening to a Dark Apostle spread the words of his Primarch Lorgar.

History
The fall of Lorgar Aurelian and his Word Bearers to Chaos is a long and painful story. Suffices to say that the Primarch Lorgar was a deeply faithful and devout man, who believed the Emperor ofMankind to be a God. His writings, the Lectitio Divinatus, ironically enough still forms the core of the Ecclesiarchy's beliefs. But for all his love for his sons, the Emperor could not tolerate being worshipped, and so he ordered the Ultramarines to raze the city of Monarchia on the planet Khur, while at the same time he made all the Word Bearers psychically kneel before him while he berated their behavior.

This demonstration shattered Lorgar's faith, and so he set out on a pilgrimage to find once and for all if gods existed or not. He fell into the eagerly waiting embrace of the Ruinous Powers and turened his back on the Emperor, which he now saw as a weak-minded fool.

Lorgar, with the help of his closest aides Erebus and Kor Phaeron quickly but covertly started spreading the influence of Chaos amongst the Word Bearers. At first, it was slow going, for the XVII Legion was still being monitored. Ironically enough, it is the Emperor himself who would provide Lorgar to spread the influence of Chaos far and wide: when the position of Chaplain was made mandatory for all Legions after the Council of Nikaea, Lorgar was swift in promoting Erebus, Kor Phaeron and those amongt his converts who were both zealous and good orators to the position. These devils in angelic disguise then spread the fell influence of Chaos to the their whole Legion and beyond, eventually managing to corrupt Warmaster Horus.

When the Horus Heresy broke out, the Word Bearers abandoned all pretense at discretion, and openly enforced worship of the Ruinous Powers wherever they went. The Chaplains ritually debased their former Imperial wargear, an act that combined with their previous actions pleased the Chaos Gods to no end.They rewarded the former Chaplains, now called Dark Apostles, by binding a Lesser Daemon into their profaned Crozius. Thus were created the Accursed Crozius, mark of favor of the Chaos Gods; and of office of one of their most devout and succelful priests.