In 999.M37, Abaddon the Despoiler launched the 8th Black Crusade of the forces of Chaos out of the Eye of Terror into Imperial space.
During this incursion into the Realms of Man, Abaddon completed a complex series of ritualised massacres known as the "Skullgather" in the name of Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways. On worlds throughout the Segmentum Obscurus, Imperial citizens were slaughtered in precise numbers using esoteric rituals.
Only when the Inquisition finally broke the code of damnation was the Imperium able to bring an end to the Black Legion's rampage across the segmentum in time with these mysterious attacks, but not before countless worlds had been saturated in death and Abbadon's true aim -- to gain access to the favour of Tzeentch -- had been achieved.
History[]
The Black Legion and its Chaos allies struck out from the Eye of Terror in every direction as the 8th Black Crusade raged across the stars. At first the Imperium could only guess at the Traitor Legion's plans, as some raids accounted for the genocidal extermination of entire settlements where others only seemed to cause limited carnage by the horrific standards of the Black Legion.
On the moons of Teekus, eight of the twenty crater cities were peeled open to the void, their inhabitants freezing in place while others remained untouched.
The Chartist pilgrim vessel the Divine Path was waylaid en route and 999 of its passengers were murdered in ascending order of the pilgrim tokens they carried. The rest were left to weep over the fallen.
In what later became known as the "Skullgather," tens of thousands of men, women and children were killed across the Segmentum Obscurus in a variety of ways and in specific numbers, their corpses left in ritualistic patterns.
This slaughter was part of a plot to appease Tzeentch, the numbers and patterns creating a mathematical equation of terrible and profane perfection.
While Imperial forces pursued the Black Legion, trying to bring them to battle, the Inquisition attempted to break the cipher, driving hundreds of Adepts insane in the process. Finally, on the Forge World of Rithcarn, the Traitors instigated a massive uprising of the mutant workers, plunging the world into chaos and ruin.
In the confusion, the Black Legion sacrificed the council of ruling Adeptus Mechanicus Tech-magi in the gears of their own manufactoria; with their destruction, the complex sequence of death was complete and the Master of Fates was greatly pleased.
The constructs beneath the crater-cities of Teekus began to glow brighter with each ritual slaughter until, at the culmination of the ninth, the structures begin to melt.
By the time agents of the Inquisition identified a pattern in the Black Legion's seemingly random actions, Abaddon had already achieved his aims.
Sources[]
- Black Legion: A Codex Chaos Space Marine Supplement (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 36-37, 39
- Codex: Heretic Astartes - Chaos Space Marines (8th Edition), pg. 23