Anathame

First Chaplain Erebus of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion bearing the Kinebrach Anathame

The Anathame was a bladed sword created by the mysterious Kinebrach, a species of simian-like humanoid aliens who co-existed with the humans of the Interex culture before the Great Crusade. The Kinebrach were particularly notable for the sophistication of their weapons, which were quite advanced when compared to that of the Imperium at its height at the time of the late 30th Millennium, though their military technology lagged somewhat behind. The Kinebrach's weapons, in particular, were of interest to the Interex and the Imperium, as they had clear ties to the Chaos powers. One example was a blade known as an Anathame, which was dedicated to the Chaos God Nurgle. If the name of a target was spoken to the blade, the weapon would become totally inimical to that being on an almost molecular level, producing poisons and toxins tailored specifically to them. One of these blades was stolen by the Word Bearers' Chaos-corrupted First Chaplain, Erebus, from the Hall of Devices in the Interex's Museum of Technology on Xenobia, the world of their empire that the Imperium's 63rd Expeditionary Fleet commanded by the Warmaster Horus was visiting in a failed diplomatic attempt to open peaceful relations between the Interex and the Imperium of Man. The Kinebrach Anathame was then used through a series of events largely orchestrated by Erebus to mortally injure Horus while he was in combat against the Forces of Chaos on the moon of the Feral World of Davin, corrupting him to the service of Chaos.

History

During the latter stages of the Great Crusade in the late 30th Millennium, the mysterious xenos known as the Kinebrach were a species of simian-like humanoid aliens who co-existed with the humans of the Interex. Long before humanity had spread across the stars from their homeworld of Terra, the Kinebrach ruled a large and mighty interstellar empire. However, by the time the humans of the Interex made first contact with them, the Kinebrach empire was old and decaying. The Kinebrach, rather than go to war against a more vibrant and powerful species, decided to ally themselves with humanity instead. Thus, the Kinebrach were taken under the wing of the Interex, with certain limitations placed upon them. The foremost of these was than no Kinebrach was allowed to carry arms, except in times of war. Those Kinebrach in the Interex military served as shock troops due to their strong, stocky build. Kinebrach technology, at the time of the Interex's first contact with the Imperium of Man, was very advanced, in some ways more so than than that of the Imperium at its height, and was one of the reasons the Interex was able to progress so quickly as a culture.

Architect of Fate

First Chaplain Erebus and the rest of his XVII Word Bearers Space Marine Legion was secretly in league with the Forces of Chaos since they had been humiliated by the Emperor for their violations of the Imperial Truth on the world of Khur over 40 years before the start of the Horus Heresy, became a very close confidante and adviser of Horus. The Words Bearers, who originally had worshipped the Emperor as a God and whose Primarch Lorgar had penned the Lectitio Divinitatus before he turned against his father following the events on Khur, had been brutally reprimanded for their constant erection of temples and shrines dedicated to the worship of the God-Emperor on newly conquered worlds, a policy that had directly violated the Emperor's secularist philosophy and had slowed the XVII Legion's progress in the Great Crusade to a crawl. In the wake of his humiliation and the reprimand against his Legion on Khur, Lorgar had sought to discover whether there truly were divinities worthy of human worship during the quest that came to be known as the Pilgrimage of Lorgar.

During this journey, Lorgar entered the Eye of Terror and came face-to-face with the "truth" of the Primordial Annihilator, a force that he believed was truly divine and worthy of his service and the worship of all Mankind. He brought this faith to his Legion, and soon all the Astartes of the Word Bearers believed that the Chaos Gods were more worthy of their loyalty and worship than the Emperor who had proved himself to be a false god. With the guidance of the Ruinous Powers, Lorgar and the Word Bearers hatched their secret plans over the course of the next four decades to convert humanity to the service of the Dark Gods, starting with Horus. After Lorgar placed his agent near Horus, Erebus slowly managed to twist the thinking of Horus against the Emperor and turn half of the Mournival, the Warmaster's most trusted advisers within the XVI Legion, towards the same path of treachery by exploiting their intense loyalty to their Primarch over that for their far more distant Emperor.

The Interex Compliance

The world of Xenobia was first encountered by the 63rd Expeditionary Fleet of the XVI Luna Wolves Legion, under the command of Warmaster Horus during the latter days of the Great Crusade. The Interex were devoted to fighting the menace of Chaos (referred by them as "Kaos") and were therefore highly suspicious of the Imperium's intentions, as they believed that the interlopers from Terra might be servants of the Ruinous Powers. While Horus and his Mournival were treating with the leaders of the Interex, First Chaplain Erebus of the Word Bearers, who had been accompanying the Warmaster as part of his entourage and who was already a secret follower of the Chaos Gods, infiltrated the Hall of Devices on Xenobia, a museum that contained various artefacts and weapons drawn from the history of the Interex and their allied alien species. His objective was to steal the highly valuable and deadly Kinebrach blade known as the Anathame, a Chaotic artefact sacred to the Plague God Nurgle. After claiming the blade, Erebus rigged the building to explode to make good his escape. Feeling betrayed by the Imperials, who they took for agents of Chaos for stealing a known Chaotic artefact, the Interex's troops immediately attacked the bewildered forces of Horus, sparking a deadly confrontation. The Warmaster was evacuated off-planet by his Astartes as the Luna Wolves unleashed their full might upon the Interex. The Anathame would later play a pivotal role in the corruption of Horus by the Dark Gods upon Davin's moon. The Interex were later destroyed by an Imperial campaign and all of their worlds were brought into Imperial Compliance.

Corruption of Horus

This plot reached its climax on the moon of the Feral World of Davin, where Horus was wounded during a struggle against Eugen Temba, the former Planetary Governor of Davin who had rebelled against the Imperium following his corruption by Chaos. The xenos artefact blade known as the Anathame had been stolen by Erebus from the museum of the Interex had been given to Temba by Erebus. Temba had become a mutated servant of Nurgle, the Chaos God of disease and decay, and during a confrontation that was orchestrated by the Word Bearers' First Chaplain, the corrupted Temba managed to seriously wound the Warmaster with the malefic blade by stabbing the Primarch through his left shoulder. When the Luna Wolves found the wounded Primarch, the Mournival moved the Warmaster to the Medicae aboard his flagship, Vengeful Spirit.

The Apothecaries of the XVI Legion proved incapable of healing the Warmaster's wounds despite every form of advanced medical technology at their disposal, until it seemed that Horus would surely die. The Luna Wolves' notable Apothecary Vaddon examined the Primarch's wound, discovering that the fell weapon's toxins rendered the Primarch's superhuman physiology useless. His Larraman Cells weren't functioning correctly, and so, the open wound wouldn't clot properly, causing the Warmaster to bleed profusely. Vaddon informed Captain Garviel Loken of his findings, explaining that in order to save the Warmaster, he needed to examine the weapon that had wounded him. Captains Loken, Tarik Torgaddon, Sergeant Nero Vipus and members of Locasta Squad went back down to the surface of Davin's moon to retrieve the Anathame.

Erebus then convinced the Luna Wolves' Warrior Lodge to allow him to take the Warmaster to a secret sect on Davin and use sorcery at the Temple of the Serpent Lodge in order to treat the Warmaster. The creation of a warrior lodge within the Luna Wolves and many other Space Marine Legions based on the lodges used by the savage warriors of Davin had been another of Erebus' ploys to infiltrate and corrupt the Astartes into turning against the Emperor. However, not all Astartes of the Legions joined the lodges, as many saw them as a direct violation of the Emperor's desires that all Space Marines dedicate themselves to truth and openness. The lodges would prove to be the primary purveyors of corruption in those Legions which turned Traitor in the days immediately preceding the start of the Horus Heresy and those Astartes within those Legions which lodges which held themselves aloof from those secretive organisations were marked as Imperial Loyalists who would later be betrayed during the Istvaan III Atrocity. Following the "miraculous" recovery of the Warmaster on Davin, the Anathame was mysteriously taken away from Apothecary Vaddon by Emperor's Children Chief Apothecary Fabius, who bore the Warmaster's Seal, which enabled him unlimited access. Fabius then delivered the weapon to his Primarch Fulgrim.

Sources

• Horus Rising by Dan Abnett, pp. 324, 345, 347
• False Gods by Graham McNeill, pp. 183, 187, 191, 224, 252, 318-319, 329
• Galaxy in Flames by Ben Counter, pg. 88