Endryd Haar

"You are a tool. You have been badly used, Endryd, this I admit. You're a tool without equal, a living weapon akin to those that came later, yet subtly different, a neccessary evil."
"I am as I was made."

—Malcador the Sigilite to Endryd Haar

Endryd Haar, known as the "Riven Hound," was once a Praetor of the World Eaters Legion of Space Marines.

He was part of the first intake of initiates raised on Terra, long before the XII Legion even came to be known as the War Hounds, and several solar decades before the rediscovery of their Primarch Angron upon the world of Nuceria.

Endryd Haar would go on to renounce his former allegiance to his traitorous Legion when they declared for the Warmaster Horus' cause during the early years of the Horus Heresy. Initially he led a force of Astartes fighting both sides of the conflict.

However, in the aftermath of the raid on Duat, he decided to align himself with Loyalist forces while leading his own Blackshield unit known as "The Fangs of the Emperor," which faced the Traitor forces across the width and breadth of the galaxy during the Heresy.

History[]

Early Years[]

Endryd Haar and his three Battle-Brothers were part of the first company of Initiates the XII Legion raised in the Imperial Geneworks on Terra, long before his brethren had even taken the name of the War Hounds, and many solar decades before they would become Angron's "Eaters of Worlds." Only he would go on to survive that company; a remnant of a lost age, a living weapon akin to his Legion brothers who came after and yet subtly different in his controlled savagery.

Haar was an unusually large specimen amongst the Space Marines and much faster than should have been possible for a Legionary of his size. Apothecaries like Fabius Bile speculated that as the result of his early implantation at the geneworks on Terra, Haar was the result of a less streamlined process of creating an Astartes, a mongrel, not stamped from a mold like later generations of the Space Marines.

In one of Haar's earliest actions, elements of the XII Legion were deployed to stem the Cerberus Insurrection, fighting the Dait'Tarr, a group of Renegade Thunder Warriors who had gained control of an asteroid prison colony. It is noted by some of his contemporaries that Haar bested a Thunder Warrior in single combat by breaking his opponent's neck.

When the XII Legion had finally been reunited with their Primarch on Nuceria, Haar, unlike most loyal War Hounds, had refused the vain gesture of unity and had not been implanted with the Butcher's Nails -- the archeotech cybernetic cortical implants used to augment a recipient's aggression to inhuman levels and transform them into a killing machine.

There were no Nails in Haar's skull, for his savagery came from a deeper well. Endryd Haar survived dire wounds and returned time and again from shadowed fates that spelled the doom of all those around him as if he had been preserved by some unforeseen hand.

After the reorganisation of the Legion at Nuceria, Haar left it behind, fighting secret crusades alongside the forgotten dead on the orders of Malcador the Sigilite, the Imperial Regent. These campaigns kept Haar far from the events that took place in the intervening years.

When upon his return he learned that his Primarch and Legion had betrayed the Emperor at the Istvaan III Atrocity, he renounced his allegiance to the World Eaters but was interred like other members of the Traitor Legions in the Imperial prison known as Khangba Marwu. The Vault, however, could not hold the Riven Hound, who escaped from the depths beneath Mount Rakaposhi, leaving Loyalists, Traitors and innocents alike dead in his wake.

Endryd was driven to cold madness by the revelation of his Legion's betrayal of the Emperor when he returned to find the Imperium of Man riven by civil war. He cast off all traces of his Legion's insignia and honours, becoming a Blackshield, and swore a Death Oath to atone for the XII Legion's crimes.

Forming a Blackshield unit known as "The Fangs of the Emperor" from the remnants of surviving Death Guard, Iron Warriors, and Raven Guard Astartes, including the Techmarine Erud Vahn, the Rivenhound led his ad hoc force against the Traitors wherever they could be found.

The Xana Incursion[]

"So few of your kind truly understand. Warriors make for adequate butchers but poor killers. But you are a killer, Endryd Haar, a killer among killers."
- "I am as I was made, and I make no excuses."

— Malcador and Endryd

Eventually, the Fangs managed to capture the Sons of Horus vessel Cicatrix Tyrannis rechristening it as Ruination. Masquerading as its commander, Raxhal Koraddon, Haar led his forces during the Xana Incursion in a final, desperate attempt to recover weapons from a secret facility under the prison-forge city of Xana-Tisiphone. Their intent was to secure powerful Ordinatii weapons for the defence of Terra before they could be handed over to the Traitors.

Obsessed with killing the Warmaster Horus, Haar saw this as a perfect opportunity to truly hurt the Arch-Traitor. Those of his warband who rejected this new mission were killed at the hands of the Riven Hound, who would broke no dissension from those under his merciless command.

The remainder of the Fangs managed to capture and secure three Traitor Ordinatus Ulator, a small class of Ordinatus Minoris, but powerful nonetheless. The Blackshields took command of all three of the Ordinatus Minoris intended as gifts for the Warmaster, and with malign savagery turned their dread power on their creators.

After losing the opportunity to secure the Ordinatus Ulator Nepothax, which was destroyed in a Traitor counterattack by an unfamiliar pattern of Battle-Automata, the Loyalists were forced to retreat to the Ruination and withdraw from Xana II. However, they still managed to secure both the Mithrax and Ashurax.

Raid on Duat[]

"It must be done and it shall be done, whatever the cost."

—Endryd Haar

Endryd Haar Blackshield Lord — Endryd Harr, leading his own Blackshield force against the Traitors.

The battles on Xana II had been costly for the forces of the Riven Hound. He desperately needed supplies, weapons, armour and most of all -- bodies. Endryd Haar needed warriors if he was to continue to persecute the Traitors. Duat was a recruitment world for the XII^th Legion. On this Ocean World, the local tide clans fought each other as much as the monsters from the depths. Savage and hardy, they made for perfect recruits for the Legiones Astartes.

The World Eaters had established a presence on this world, consisting of three artificial islands drifting on beds of vat-cultivated sargasm in the ocean, the so-called darkwater-nodes. Primus was responsible for recruitment, it housed gene-banks and all neccessary equipment for implantation. Platform Secundus was an armoury station, used to fabricate weapons, ammunition and power armour.

Tertius completed the trinity. It consisted of refuelling stations, housed spare parts and maybe even a gunship or two. Overall command of the World Eaters installations fell to the castellan, Praetor-Apothecary Kalibos, the closest Endryd Haar ever got to a friend. They had saved each others lives and considered each as battle-brother.

Upon arrival in system, the Blackshields realised that they would have competition for the bounty of Duat. A Cruiser and several escorts of, presumably, the Iron Hands had carved its way through the system, stripping away the defenses of the planet. Indecision beset Haar, as he could not decide whether to fire on the presumed Loyalists or treat them as friendlies. It was not clear to him, whether he would side with the loyalists in the fight or continue as a lone entity in the war, not siding with either faction.

Masquerading as a World Eaters vessel, the Ruination sailed past the remaining defences of Duat. Three teams of Blackshields, each in one Thunderhawk, would travel planetside and secure one of the nodes. Haar led the team that descended on Primus. Forsa, an Iron Warrior, led the mission to Secundus, as his intimate knowledge of ammunition was sure to be a boon. A warrior of unknown heritage called Tarnas led the assault on Tertius.

Whilst the Riven Hound and his team were greeted by Kalibos and a coterie of lasgun-wielding mortals, the other two teams assaulted their respective nodes under the protection of signal jammers obtained on Xana II. Kalibos was the sole Astartes left on the planet; this, he explained, was the result of Angron stripping Duat of all other material. Having been abandoned by his Primarch, the apothecary sought to redeem himself in the eyes of his lord. Ever the loyal hound, he had opted for the Nails even though they affected his actions and concentration.

Kalibos thought that if he could give his Legion enough warriors he would be re-invited amongst the ranks of the Legion, instead of being left to rot on that unimportant planet, fighting in the crusade instead of presiding over feral humans that could hardly speak Low Gothic.

To this end, he had started to experiment on the gene-seed, stretching his supplies and introducing new protocols to the process. He had created faster and stronger Astartes but many of the neophytes did not survive implantation. That was no problem, as necessity dictated that more Astartes were to be produced and the failed Aspirants to serve as fodder for the new ones. After all, the Omophagea offered the ability to learn from an Astartes' food.

Haar was shocked by the creatures that his former friend had created. These were not Astartes but Kalibos did not see it this way. The Riven Hound had hoped to turn his friend to his side, but the apothecary was bent on rejoining his legion.

Both War Hounds came to blows, Haar used his power fist and Kalibos resorted to his chainaxe. In the course of that duel, one of the creations was freed from his fetters, attacking Kalibos and mortally wounding him. With regret, Endryd Haar shot Kalibos after killing the abomination.

The Riven Hound got what he wanted from the nodes of Duat, supplies, materiel and gene-seed. When returning to the Ruination in orbit, he was made aware of a XII^th Legion fleet engaging the Iron Hands vessels.

The World Eaters had reacted to Kalibos' call for help. As both fleets were engaged, he ordered the Ruination to plot a course through their engagement. Whoever stood in their way would be fired upon, but whoever won that fight, could have what he had left on Duat.

The fate of Kalibos' had shown Haar what he truly was. He was a weapon that needed to be wielded. So he set course to aid Rogal Dorn's great effort at the Battle of Beta-Garmon.

Endryd Haar would fight alongside the Loyalists as a field commander in the dark days before the Siege of Terra, accepting any mission -- whatever the odds of survival -- so long as in doing so he could spill the blood of the Traitors.

Forces under Haar's command were sighted at such notable battles as Beta-Garmon IV and the Siege of Terra.

Wargear[]

Sources[]

The Horus Heresy - Book Six: Retribution (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 62-73, 246-247
Blackshields: The False War (Audio Book) by Josh Reynolds
Blackshields: Broken Chain (Audio Book) by Josh Reynolds
Blackshields: The Red Fief (Audio Book) by Josh Reynolds