Abaddon

"Horus was weak. Horus was a fool. He had the whole galaxy within his grasp and he let it slip away."

- Abaddon the Despoiler

Abaddon the Despoiler, once named Ezekyle Abaddon, is the Warmaster of Chaos, a Chaos Lord and the greatest Champion of Chaos Undivided in the galaxy. He is the commander of the Black Legion of Chaos Space Marines and is rumoured to be the clone-progeny of the Warmaster Horus, the greatest Traitor in Imperial history, and at one time his most favoured son amongst the Space Marines of the Sons of Horus Legion. He is now infamous for leading Black Crusades, the terrible military campaigns during which the normally fractious Forces of Chaos unite under his leadership and launch a massive attack against the Imperium from within the Eye of Terror. The most recent of these attacks, the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41, led to the partial capture of the vital Imperial Fortress World of Cadia and an expansion of Chaos-controlled space into Imperial territory for the first time since the Horus Heresy.

Deadly Beginnings
In the days of hope that preceded the Horus Heresy, Ezekyle Abaddon fought amongst that most noble of brotherhoods, the Legiones Astartes. Originally the firstborn son of the most mighty of Cthonia's gang warlords, Ezekyle killed his father in single combat after a disastrous Cthonian coming of age ritual. Though he lived in exile after that point, his massive build and natural ferocity saw him grow to be a legend amongst his people. Before long the vicious young warrior came to the attention of the Luna Wolves Space Marine Legion, and he was recruited into their brotherhood. Within the space of a few short years Abaddon had distinguished himself on the training grounds and fought his way through the echelons of the Luna Wolves to be given the newly founded rank of First Captain. After the development of new and powerful war-tech, Abaddon was gifted a suit of custom-made Cataphractii Terminator armour to accommodate his mighty stature. So powerful a warrior had Abaddon become that he was used as a military model for the entire brotherhood of the elite 1st Company, known as the Justaerin. With a long history of victories behind him, Abaddon was soon respected as a leader and fighter alike, for he waged war like the warrior kings of old. Better yet, he earned a place at the right hand of Horus Lupercal, most favoured of all the Primarchs. He became a lord of the new superhuman elite who were to redefine the course of history; at first to the betterment of the Imperium, and later to its tragic downfall.

Great Crusade
By the time of the Great Crusade, Ezekyle Abaddon had been recognised as the greatest warrior of the vaunted XVI Legion after their Primarch Horus. He was blessed with being able to serve at the right hand of the Primarch himself, for to witness such a being in the flesh was to be in the presence of a demigod. Abbadon was the first and most respected of them all, a man who worshipped his Primarch as a god, just as Horus worshipped the Emperor in turn. Horus Lupercal was raised up by the Emperor himself as the greatest of all their number, an accolade never surpassed before or since. Yet amongst Horus' many virtues was humility. He listened well to the counsel of his warriors, learned from his mistakes, and considered every action before committing to it. Amongst his advisers in the Luna Wolves, he trusted four officers above all. This council of warrior captains was known as the Mournival. At the time of the Horus Heresy's beginnings it was comprised of Abaddon himself, Tarik Torgaddon, Captain of the 2nd Company, Horus "Little Horus" Aximand, Captain of the 5th Company and Garviel Loken, Captain of the 10th Company. At the time of the Heresy's beginnings it comprised Garviel Loken, Horus Aximand, Tarik Torgaddon and Ezekyle Abaddon. It was after the battle for the world designated Sixty-Three Nineteen by the XVI Legion, in which 10th Company Captain Garviel Loken managed to reach and slay the impostor Emperor who ruled the world ahead of him, Abaddon recommended Loken's elevation into the Mournival to replace the 4th Company's Captain Hastur Sejanus, a particular favorite of Horus, who was killed shortly before the battle. As the Great Crusade conquered its way across the stars, it reunited many of the scattered domains that had been abandoned and isolated by the chaotic tides of the Warp. Always at the fore was Horus Lupercal, with Abaddon at his side. They were the first into battle, the first to exhort their brother Legions to acts of greatness, and the first to encounter the strange new threats that had grown in the dark corners of the galaxy. One of these threats was a danger so insidious that it slowly corrupted many of the Legio Astartes, including the Primarch Horus himself.

Abaddon was also a member of the Legion's Warrior Lodge, the "quiet order" within the Luna Wolves, inspired by similar lodges on the world of Davin - which the Luna Wolves had brought to Imperial Compliance many years earlier. Erebus, first amongst the Chaplains of the Word Bearers Legion and first amongst the worshippers of the Chaos Gods, had spread his secret warrior lodges to the brethren of the Luna Wolves as well as many other Space Marine Legions. In the daylight hours, those of the Legiones Astartes who had secretly come to worship Chaos used their twisted logics to sway more of their number to their cause.

Abaddon notably stood against Horus' attempts to negotiate with a stray branch of humanity known as the Interex, preferring to adhere to the Emperor of Mankind's stated policy, and simply demand surrender or force Imperial Compliance upon newly discovered human cultures. This attitude was reversed in desperation after Horus was critically injured by the Chaos-corrupted Imperial Planetary Governor Eugen Temba upon the Legion's return to the world of Davin. Horus was mortally wounded after slaying the Nurgle-corrupted Temba upon the bridge of his downed starship on Davin's moon, which had been transformed by Nurgle's corruption into a reeking swamp infested with undead Plague Zombies, Temba's own former Imperial Army garrison. Temba had wielded a blade dedicated to Nurgle known as the Kinebrach Anathame that had infected the Primarch with a toxin so virulent that even a Primarch's superhuman immune system could not defeat it.

Blinded by grief, Abaddon and his fellow captains took the Primarch's body on the advice of the Word Bearers' First Chaplain Erebus to a mystic healer who belonged to the Chaotic Temple of the Serpent Lodge on Davin and who was actually a Chaos Sorcerer - an act in utter contradiction of the Imperial Truth (which was stridently atheistic) and which opened Horus up to the influence of the Ruinous Powers of Chaos. Yet instead of salvation, the priests of that Davinite moon brought eternal damnation. When Horus emerged, a change had been wrought in him, and a shadow lurked behind his eyes that would never leave. The seed of bitterness that had been planted in Horus’ heart ultimately blossomed into a fullscale heresy that nearly tore the Imperium apart.

Horus Heresy
Following Horus' corruption by Chaos and his resurrection through their profane power, Abaddon backed his Primarch to the hilt and firmly aligned himself with Horus against the Emperor, ultimately giving his soul over completely to the service of Chaos Undivided. Horus, under the guise of putting down the religious rebellion against Imperial Compliance on the world of Istvaan III, amassed his troops in the Istvaan System. The corrupted Warmaster had a plan by which he would destroy all the remaining Loyalist elements of the Legions under his command, a plan that would ultimately unfold into the nightmare of what Imperial scholars would later name the Istvaan III Atrocity. During the resulting campaign of attrition, Abaddon was responsible for the wounding and abandonment of the Loyalist Captain Garviel Loken within the ruins of the Istvaanian capital known as the Choral City, although Loken survived the combat and witnessed the beginning of the orbital bombardment of the planet and the remaining Loyalist Astartes on it by the Traitor Legions' fleet on Horus' orders.

Throughout the seven brutal years of the terrible Imperial civil war that was the Horus Heresy, First Captain Abaddon led the elite squad of Sons of Horus Space Marines from the 1st Company known as the Justaerin, who wore singular black-coloured Terminator Armour. Abaddon led this elite unit during many of the most infamous actions by the Forces of Chaos during the Horus Heresy, including the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V, the battle against the Loyalists on Yarant as well as in the climactic Battle of Terra. Yet the Warmaster fell at the last. As he duelled his once-beloved gene-father, the Emperor, upon the bridge of the Vengeful Spirit, Horus' flagship, the Warmaster was vanquished by a psychic blast. Abaddon and his most heavily-armed warriors fought their way through squad after squad of yellow-armoured Imperial Fists Terminators to the command centre of the starship, but they were too late. Running across iron decks that were slick with the blood of demigods, Abaddon took up the lifeless body of his father with great tenderness. Wracked with emotion, he detached the taloned claw that Horus had used to kill the Primarch Sanguinius from his Primarch's armour and resolved to use it to throttle the Emperor himself.

With his gene-father dead, Abaddon abandoned the conquest of Terra and instead retreated with the Sons of Horus Legion and all of their remaining assets, Legion slaves and starships, blazing a trail across the stars to the forbidden realm of the Eye of Terror. The Traitor Legions retreated in his wake, cursing the hour that had stolen their destiny. With this act, Abaddon passed from mortal space and into legend.

The King of Traitors
"Speak not to me of Abaddon, blackest of hearts, basest of fiends. Who else amongst the hosts of the traitors embraced damnation with such a fierce glee?"

- Attributed to Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines

As the events of the Heresy reached their tragic conclusion, the Traitor Legions began their fighting withdrawal from Terra after Horus' death, and in the anarchy and confusion Horus' body was recovered by his Legion. Having fought their way clear of the Sol System and fled for the Eye of Terror, the Sons of Horus established a world that was at once the tomb of their lost Primarch and a fortress from which they would launch further attacks upon both their fellow Traitor Legions and against the smouldering ruins of the Imperium. Bereft of their glorious Primarch, the XVI Legion floundered and in desperation turned to each of the Chaos Gods in turn in their search for renewed power, inviting daemonic possession and the ever more costly blessings of the Warp. The internecine conflicts with the other Traitor Legions eventually culminated upon the Daemon World of Maeleum, where the mile-high fortress built by the Sons of Horus was brought low by a combined force of Traitor Legions. To add to the ignominy of defeat, the Warmaster's body was captured from the stasis vaults at the heart of the fortress. It was given to the dark Apothecary, Fabius Bile, and cloned in an attempt to restore Horus as a puppet Primarch, much to the disgust of his remaining Sons. Denied their Warmaster and the hope he represented, the Sons of Horus looked to Abaddon once more in their hour of desperation.

Not only had the gene-father Abaddon had once worshipped been slain, but his body had been stolen and defiled many times over. Ezekyle was forced to admit to himself that Horus had failed utterly, and that even in death he was nothing more than a puppet. At this realisation Abaddon's soul shattered into a thousand black shards. All his love and grief hardened into a burning coal of hatred, hot enough to set the galaxy ablaze in his quest for revenge. He would succeed where Horus had failed, even if it took him ten thousand years to do so. So was born Abaddon the Warmaster, scourge of the Imperium and most visionary of all the chosen of the Ruinous Powers. Abaddon's first edicts to his followers were to reject the name of Horus and their ancient Legion title. He ordered the remaining Chaos Space Marines to repaint their armour black, the colour of shame and vengeance. He then personally led them in a series of lightning raids upon the rival Emperor's Children Legion that had stolen the Warmaster's body, destroying his mortal remains. A costly battle followed as Abaddon located and destroyed every one of his gene-father's clones, burning every trace of Horus' mortal flesh to ash. Horus Lupercal was gone forever. The Traitor Legionnaires had a new warrior king, one who would not rest until he had engineered his cold and pitiless revenge.

The Black Legion
Abaddon has long since fought to rebuild the pride and reputation of the warriors he named his Black Legion. At first, he accomplished much through sheer determination and a talent for slaughter that exceeded every warlord outside the gates of Khorne's own fortress. Slowly but surely, Abaddon won the grudging respect of the other Traitor Legions, leading his shattered armies again and again against the reviled Imperium of Man. As his deeds grew mightier and his base of power more solid, Abaddon succeeded in winning their support too. His impassioned words rekindled the Traitor Legions' smouldering hatred of the Emperor on dozens, perhaps hundreds of worlds. As the centuries rolled on, warriors of all the Legions fought beneath his banner. Those who opposed him were crushed, and those who joined him added their strength to the greatest army ever assembled in the Eye of Terror. When the warbands of the Black Legion gathered anew under the wrathful banner of Abaddon the Despoiler, the words of Horus were heard once more upon their lips — 'let the galaxy burn!'

During the 1st Black Crusade when Abaddon returned, it was at the head of a diabolic horde that ravaged entire systems around the Eye of Terror before the Imperium could muster the strength to halt it. Planet after planet fell in an apocalypse of fire and steel before his Traitor Legionnaires. The armies of Abaddon were only stayed at great cost by the combined efforts of the Titan Legions and the loyalist Chapters of the Space Marines. Yet this was but the first of many such grand invasions into Imperial space, for Abaddon dreams of forging a diabolic empire of his own from the blazing remains of the shattered Imperium. Each world, each city destroyed is a step closer to wiping the canvas clean so that he can make his indelible mark upon the galaxy.

Abaddon has tested the strength of the Imperium many times in the Long War, and with each victory his power grows. Over the millennia, he has led no fewer than thirteen Black Crusades, each of which has emerged from the Warp and culminated in a spectacular invasion of realspace. The first of these saw him recover the Daemon sword Drach'nyen, a writhing Warp entity that can rend reality wherever it strikes, and every crusade since has seen him destroy a prospective foe or claim another valuable relic for his own. During the 12th Black Crusade early in the 41st Millennium, a conflict better known in Imperial records as the Gothic War, Abaddon unleashed upon the Imperium of the "Corpse Emperor" his newest superweapon, the Planet Killer. This was a massive starship crafted through the amalgamation of Imperial technology and Chaotic sorcery that was capable of destroying entire planets. Abaddon also had control of the two Blackstone Fortresses that he had taken from the Imperium during the Gothic War, which he intended to unleash when the time was right.

Though the High Lords of Terra believe that these crusades have been repelled, albeit at great cost, they are unaware that each was keyed to a specific goal. As epic in scale as they may be, Abaddon's Black Crusades are but stepping stones, rungs in the ladder that leads to the Despoiler's ultimate vengeance. The destiny the Despoiler has chosen is not that of daemonhood – though he has been offered the ultimate reward of immortality by each of the Chaos Gods, he has held back from surrendering his soul. The prize he seeks is nothing less than to tear the Emperor from his Golden Throne upon Terra and, in the process, plunge the Imperium into the darkness of anarchy forever. Without the Astronomican, the psychic beacon with which the Emperor steers his flock across the stars, the Imperium will swiftly collapse into a scattering of cold and lonely worlds, each easy prey for the Despoiler's nightmarish allies.

13th Black Crusade
The last and greatest of Abaddon's thirteen Black Crusades has plunged the Cadian system into a war of unsurpassed intensity. The ninth planet in the system, St. Josmane's Hope, has already been utterly destroyed, and war rages across every district and kasr of Cadia itself. The uninitiated question the Despoiler's motives, for he has ploughed the broad-bladed spear of his invading forces right into the heart of Fortress Cadia and her many-layered defences. Those who know of the daemonic bargains Abaddon struck in the depths of the Eye of Terror realise the true scale of his ambitions. Within the toxic swamps of the Plague Planet, Abaddon bartered the Chaos relic known as the Hand of Darkness for the aid of the gaunt monstrosity Mortarion, Daemon Primarch of the Death Guard, and earned the blessings of Nurgle. Within the surreal, spawn-infested planescapes warped by the power of Tzeentch, Abaddon gained the use of the Rubricae of the cursed Thousand Sons. Within the red bowels of the Goreswirl, the Despoiler duelled the finest of Angron's champions, cutting off their heads one after another with the Daemon Sword Drach'nyen before gifting the Hellfire Stone to the Daemon Primarch of the World Eaters and earning his respect in the process. Upon the flesh-world of Oliensis, the serpentine prince Fulgrim swore his aid in exchange for a Pythonian psyker-innocent and the promise of a third-share of those civilians caught in the path of the crusade to come. All that remained was to pave the way for the Daemon Primarchs and their hordes to breach realspace.

Abaddon managed to unite all the Forces of Chaos that exist within the Eye of Terror under his leadership as the Warmaster of Chaos Undivided in 999.M41, after decades of preparation to unleash the greatest Chaotic assault upon the Imperium of Man since the Horus Heresy, more than 10,000 standard years ago. This great campaign, Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade against the realms of the Emperor of Mankind, focused its assaults upon the sectors of the Segmentum Obscurus surrounding the Fortress World of Cadia and the Cadian Gate it protected. The Cadian Gate is the only known free passage through the roiling Warp Storms of the Eye of Terror into Imperial space, and the capture of Cadia would allow the Forces of Chaos their first uninterrupted chance to assault Imperial space in millennia. In the end, after months of truly titanic fighting that spread across hundreds of worlds and tested the resources of the Imperial military as never before, the campaign wound down in a stalemate. Though Abaddon's Chaotic forces were able to gain a territorial foothold upon Cadia itself, the Imperial Navy's Battlefleets proved to be the victors in the massive space battles that were waged high above the world.

The Forces of Chaos are currently trapped on Cadia and have lost air and space superiority to the Imperial forces, who daily bombard the Ruinous Powers' servants from the air. With several hundred thousand Chaos Space Marines falling upon Cadia in his name, Abaddon has spilt enough blood that the walls of reality are thinning to the point of total collapse. The gates of hell are yawning wide. Abaddon intends to drive the speartip of his Traitor Legions deeper and deeper into Segmentum Solar, numberless Daemon hordes sowing utter destruction in his wake. His ultimate goal is to capsize realspace in a localised swathe of ever-escalating battles that allow the poisonous half-realm of the Eye to bleed outward all the way to Terra. Once he completes his evil pilgrimage, the Despoiler will dash the Corpse-Emperor from his throne of lies and forge an empire of madness in the name of the Dark Gods.

Should Abaddon and his Chaotic allies discover a way to defeat the massive Imperial fleet in orbit over Cadia, the Forces of Chaos would have an open path to drive onward towards the heart of the Imperium and perhaps assault Terra for the second time in its history. As the various Tyranid Hive Fleets are also inexorably moving towards the shining Astronomican beacon of the Emperor's mind that shines out like a light in the darkness from Terra, and the Adeptus Mechanicus reports that the Golden Throne is finally failing, it may well be that the current era of the Age of the Imperium, the Time of Ending, is well-named. In the face of the terrible threat presented by Abaddon the Despoiler and the other enemies of the Imperium, only one true hope may remain for the salvation of Mankind, drawn from the most ancient litany of the Imperial Creed: the Emperor protects...

Chosen of Abaddon
The Chosen of Abaddon are four powerful Chaos Lords that serve under the patronage of Abaddon the Despoiler. Nowhere in the galaxy can a more feared and merciless collection of tyrants be found, always eager to put entire worlds to the sword in the name of Chaos. The last recorded deployment of a full Officio Assassinorum Execution Force was against the so-called Chosen of Abaddon. These four individuals were so hated by the Imperium that an entire team of Assassins (when it is rare for even one to be sent to deal with a problem) infiltrated Abaddon's flagship. Abaddon learned of the impending attack and laid a trap for the Assassins, slaying all four and protecting his Chosen. The Chosen bear an assortment of titles, reflecting their role in the Black Crusade or honouring particular acts of cruelty for which they are infamous. Their numbers are ever-changing, for Abaddon has little tolerance for failure amongst those who serve him. These four titles include:
 * Lord Ravager - The Lord Ravager leads the invasion fleets of the Black Crusade. It is he who first makes landfall on the surface of a world.
 * Lord Deceiver - The Lord Deceiver is a powerful Chaos Sorcerer whose visions of the Warp lead the Black Crusade from star system to star system.
 * Lord Corruptor - The Lord Corruptor is tasked with instilling fear and hatred amongst the Chaos Space Marines of the Black Legion. His trophy rack is adorned with the skulls of failed servants.
 * Lord Purgator - It falls to the Lord Purgator to ensure that every man, woman and child left alive on a world conquered by the Black Legion is dragged in chains into the hold of the Legion's starships, and that no edifice remains undedicated to the Dark Gods.

Current Chosen of Abaddon

 * Devram Korda - Known as "The Tyrant of Sarora," Devram is a servant of Slaanesh, the Prince of Pleasure. A former Veteran Sergeant of the Sons of Horus Legion, after the events of the Horus Heresy, he rose to become a Chaos Lord. He became infamous for his blasphemous actions on the doomed world of Sarora, where he distilled the life essence of the citizens of the planet's largest hive city for a single vial of a sorcerous elixir which made him virtually invincible. Abaddon's retinue of Chosen, led by Devram Korda, returned to his master's side in the closing days of the 13th Black Crusade, bringing with him two individuals who had journeyed to the centre of the Eye of Terror. Together with the Chaos Sorcerer Ygethmor the Deceiver, they presented Abaddon with the Heart of Chaos, a powerful artefact that Zaraphiston, a Chaos Sorcerer and rival Chaos Lord of the Despoiler, had long claimed could not exist. Korda is the current Lord Ravager.
 * Ygethmor the Deceiver - Ygethmor is a formidable Sorcerer Lord of the Black Legion. Ygethmor is the current Lord Deceiver.
 * Skyrak Slaughterborn - Skyrak led the large warband of Chaos Space Marines known as the Slaughterkin in the assault on Cadia. He is the current Lord Corruptor.
 * Urkrathos - Urkrathos is one of the commanders of Abaddon's vast fleet, which he leads against the vessels of the Imperial Navy. Urkrathos is the current Lord Ravager.

Characterisation
Prior to the Horus Heresy, Ezekyle Abaddon looked up to Horus as his rightful leader and a father figure, equal to if not above the Emperor of Mankind in his esteem. As the loyal First Captain of the Luna Wolves' 1st Company, Abaddon was proud, irascible and someone who could inspire men to "cry out for Abaddon's return" if he were to die, though Abaddon became inexplicably darker and quicker to anger as the Great Crusade reached its final stage. Abaddon was prone to panic and desperation when Horus' life was in danger and quick to cast blame on others (such as the Emperor and the Luna Wolves' Apothecary Vaddon, who attempted unsuccessfully to treat Horus after the Primarch was wounded on Davin).

Initially displaying examples of dogmatic devotion towards Imperial doctrine and the traditional Imperial distrust for anything inhuman or alien, Abaddon followed Horus unquestioningly into service to Chaos and rebellion against the Emperor after the Primarch's recovery from his mortal wounding. Abaddon came to believe that the Horus Heresy was the best outcome for the Great Crusade since it would allow humanity to be ruled by a true leader like Horus rather than a weaker ruler like the Emperor. As he fell more and more under the spell of Chaos, Abaddon came to believe that winning and victory were the only things that matter and that the acquisition of power was the rightful role of the Astartes, since they should rule over their fellow men rather than just serve as their protectors and guardians as the Emperor had intended. The very fact that the Emperor had sought to replace the Primarchs and the Astartes with legions of "mortal" officials and bureaucrats in the governance of the Imperium after the Ullanor Crusade only further convinced Abaddon that the Emperor was a weakling and a fool who did not deserve to rule over Mankind.

Physically, Abaddon was a towering and truly imposing Space Marine, taller even than the vast majority of his fellow Astartes, with a crested top-knot atop his shaven head and the straight nose and wide-spaced eyes reminiscent of Horus' own visage as was common among the Sons of Horus Astartes, though not enough for Abaddon to truly be a doppelganger of the Primarch.

After the Heresy, Abaddon's view of Horus abruptly changed and he came to view the defeated Warmaster with disdain in light of his new view that what mattered was the acquisition of power. Abaddon effectively stepped out of Horus' shadow, as was exemplified when he said, "Horus was weak. Horus was a fool. He had the whole galaxy within his grasp and he let it slip away." Abaddon also displayed the psychotic contempt for human life characteristic of most Chaotics and was willing to inflict an endless stream of atrocities upon other human beings so long as such actions enhanced his own power and position. Through his martial skill and personal might and the obvious favour he held among the Ruinous Powers after Horus' death, Abaddon won the respect of the other Traitor Legions and is shown to be an inspiration to the Chaos Space Marines who dwell within the Eye of Terror. Some of the Traitor Legions, namely the Word Bearers under the leadership of the Dark Apostle Erebus, think that Abaddon is not fit for the position of Warmaster of Chaos and their cause would be better served if it was lead by a leader with more strategic acumen and less temperamental choler.

Abaddon's troops among the Traitor Legions and the other Forces of Chaos know that he will not accept failure in any form, much like his masters, and follow his every command without question. He is the only person to command the obedience of all 9 Traitor Legions during a Black Crusade; no other Chaos Warmaster has ever been able to do the same. Abaddon is the personification of the power of Chaos, the ultimate prodigal son whose return will one day bring the apocalypse to the Imperium of Man.

Wargear and Abilities
Abaddon is possibly the most powerful character in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, other than the Emperor of Mankind or one of the other Dark Gods of the Immaterium. Abaddon is a powerful warrior of immense strength and skill. In his left hand he carries the Daemon Sword Drach'nyen. Drach'nyen was powerful enough to destroy a Space Marine Land Raider and flay the souls from those it struck with a single touch. In his right hand he carries the Talon of Horus, a unique Lightning Claw fitted with a twin-linked Bolter taken from the corpse of the Warmaster Horus himself. Abaddon also possesses the Mark of Chaos Ascendant, which bestows all the benefits of every one of the four other Marks of Chaos, forever branding him as the greatest Champion of Chaos Undivided. Abaddon's armour is covered with many archaic devices, runes, and fetishes that he has collected over time. The ancient Sons of Horus Terminator Armour Abaddon wears still incorporates a Daemonic Rune gifted to him by the Daemon-Oracle of Asellus Tertius which greatly enhances his protection from normal weapons. He is also described as a demagogue, able to sway other followers of Chaos to his cause against the Imperium. Abaddon's extraordinary connection to all 4 of the major Chaos Gods and multiple arcane layers of daemonic protection means that he cannot be killed outright by anything in the purely physical world, even direct fire from a super-heavy tank such as a Baneblade or a Land Raider. Like his predecessor Horus, only the power of the Warp, harnessed by a psyker of immense power and undoubted purity of mind and heart, will be able to slay Abaddon the Despoiler for all time and forever place his soul beyond the capabilities of even the Ruinous Powers to resurrect.

Trivia

 * Abaddon (also known as Abaddan, Apollyon, Appolyon and Appolion) literally meaning destruction, ruin or perdition — is the Hebrew name of the demon identified as the 'angel' of the bottomless pit, or the abyss, in Christian Bible in the Book of Revelation of St. John; Revelation 9:11.
 * Abaddon has also earned the nickname "Failbaddon" by Warhammer 40K fans, due to his many failed Black Crusades.