Flayed Hand

The Flayed Hand was a Chapter of the Word Bearers Space Marine Legion. During the opening days of the Horus Heresy they were one of the largest constituent chapters of the XVIIth Legion to arrive at Calth in force. The warriors of the Flayed Hand were one of several groups of Legiones Astartes included in the assault whose loyalty to Lorgar's new cause was undoubted, even if their mental stability was now suspect. It seems likely that their zeal was intended to act as an example for those whose commitment the Prim arch found to be questionable. Of the 6,000-8,000 of the Flayed Hand deployed at Calth, it is believed, through inspection of data records of the conflict and necro-cortical interrogation of the fallen, that nearly half of this number fought interspersed with other chapters as well, reinforcing their numbers and in turn their resolve to the mission at hand, rendering a truly accurate accounting of their numbers impossible.

Records and testimony gathered from within the Traitors' ranks reveal that the warriors of the Flayed Hand had enthusiastically embraced the new path of their Primarch Lorgar and showed particular interest in various occult rites and practices, and from accounts of the surviving Raven Guard and Salamanders veterans of the Dropsite Massacre of Istvaan V were responsible for a number of atrocities during that conflict, perhaps to fuel this growing obsession. Many among their number volunteered to undergo Erebus' new process for the manufacture of Gal Vorbak Warp-tainted warriors to replace those lost in battle -- a process that met with mixed results. In the years before the outbreak of the Horus Heresy, the Flayed Hand were noted for their intricately planned, multi-pronged assaults and set piece battles. In the wake of the changes wrought upon the Legion, such tactical complexities appear to have been cast aside; during the fighting on Calth, the Flayed Hand fought with a fury that disdained all except the slaughter of the foe and their ritual dedications. These dedications it seems found favour with Lorgar, but perhaps ultimately less so with Kor Phaeron and Erebus, who saw perhaps a rising and secretive power within the Legion, unbeholden to them for revelation and contact with occult truth.