Lord General

Lord General Reila Vann of the Achilus Crusade in the Jericho Reach

Lord General, also commonly known as Lord Castellan, Lord Marshal, and Captain-General, is the highest rank possible to achieve on the General Staff of the Astra Militarum. This rank of general officer actually has many different titles depending on the cultural context of the holder.

A Lord General usually commands an entire army group under the overall campaign or Imperial Crusade command of a Lord General Militant, but in fact the responsibilities of this rank can vary dramatically, depending upon the needs of the overall theatre commander.

Lord Castellan of Cadia

Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed of Cadia

On the lost Fortress World of Cadia, the rank of Lord Castellan was a special one granted in times of planetary emergency or military necessity. Cadia had always had two planetary governors, a Primus and a Secundus, so that if one was slain in an assault by the Archenemy, the other could continue to rule with no loss of continuity.

But if an emergency beckoned, a Lord Castellan was appointed whose powers included those of the Governor Primus as well as supreme command of all the Planetary Defence Forces and Astra Militarum troops present on the planet for life or until the crisis had passed.

In recent years, the Lord Castellan of Cadia has been a member of the Creed family, first Ursarkar E. Creed before the Fall of Cadia and then his daughter Ursula J. Creed in the Era Indomitus after her father went missing during the 13th Black Crusade.

Notable Lords General

Lord General Ortarna Lokk of Castobel during the Achilus Crusade in the Jericho Reach.

• Attica - A Lord Marshal during the 13th Black Crusade.

Lord General Jakren Stein, commander of the Cadian Shock Troops forces defending against the Red WAAAGH!.

• Barthol Van Voytz - Commander of the 9th Army Group during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade.

• Castor - Commander of the Astra Militarum forces sent to secure Sub-sector Aurelia during the Third Aurelian Crusade.

• Camila - Camila was a Lord General in the Astra Militarum, who led an Imperial Crusade into the Traxis Sector and successfully brought its worlds into the Imperium. After her death, she was declared an Imperial Saint and was laid to rest on the Shrine World of Sacaellum in that sector. She was interred within an enormous Imperial cathedral that bore her name. At an unknown later date the Traxis Sector was lost to the Imperium, until it was recently rediscovered in the late 41st Millennium.

• De Stael - Commander of Astra Militarum forces who particpated in the Taros Campaign against the T'au Empire.

• Graf Toschenko - The commander of the Vostroyan Firstborn forces during the Nimbosa Crusade.

• Harazahn - Commander of the Imperial forces on Medusa V during the Fall of Medusa V campaign.

• Ireton MaSade - MaSade was a Lord Marshal of the Imperial Army's Solar Auxilia during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras.

• Jakren Stein - Commander of the Cadian Shock Troops forces during the Red WAAAGH!.

• Jenit Sulla - Sulla was a general officer of the Valhallan Ice Warriors, the first woman to achieve the rank of Lady General and one of the very few females from Valhalla ever to achieve a command rank of any kind.

• Mikal Curas - Lord General of the Astra Militarum and Supreme Commander of the Orpheus Salient of the Achilus Crusade in the Jericho Reach.

• Noches Sturm - Commander of the Royal Volpone regiments of the Astra Militarum during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade.

• Ortarna Lokk - The Lord Castellan of Castobel during the Achilus Crusade in the Jericho Reach.

• Reila Vann - Female commander of Astra Militarum forces engaged in the Achilus Crusade in the Jericho Reach.

• Rothenberg - Rothenberg was a Lord Marshal in the Astra Militarum during the War of the Beast in the 32nd Millennium and led its forces during the Imperium's third invasion of The Beast's homeworld of Ullanor Prime.

• Ursarkar E. Creed - Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed was the former Colonel of the 8th Cadian Regiment and later, after promotion to the rank of Lord Castellan, the commander of all the Cadian Shock Troops forces on the Fortress World of Cadia, as well as its Imperial Commander, during the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41 until the fall of the planet to Abaddon the Despoiler. He is currently missing in action and presumed dead, though in fact he was captured by the Necron Overlord Trazyn the Infinite in one of his Tesseract Labyrinths.

• Troskzer - Troskzer was a Cadian Lord General of the Astra Militarum during the later years of the 41st Millennium. An elderly commander and veteran of many battles, Troskzer was made Supreme Commander of all Imperial ground forces during the Second Agrellan Campaign. However in the later stages of the campaign he was fired and replaced due to a lack of results.

• Wiertalla - A Lord Marshal of the Imperial Army during the Great Crusade.

• Volkov - Legendary Lord Castellan of Cadia. During the evacuation of Dortengrav, he stood alone against the monstrous Ork Warboss Spinechew armed with nothing but his cane. Though he perished in that fight, his sacrifice allowed the last Imperial refugee to be evacuated. His cane lives on as a testament to his bravery and an Imperial relic.

• Zyvan - Zyvan was the overall Imperial commander in several campaigns that included the Valhallan Ice Warriors 597th Regiment and its regimental Commissar, Ciaphas Cain. These included the campaigns of the Astra Militarum fought on Gravalax, Adumbria, and Periremunda.

Sources

• Cities of Death (4th Edition), pp. 56-58
• Codex: Astra Militarum (9th Edition), pg. 13
• Codex: Imperial Guard (5th Edition), pp. 18-22, 57
• Dawn of War II - Retribution (PC Game)
• Deathwatch: Rising Tempest (RPG), pg. 10
• Deathwatch: The Achilus Assault (RPG), pg. 139
• Deathwatch: The Jericho Reach (RPG), pg. 134
• For the Emperor (Omnibus Novel) by Sandy Mitchell, pp. 30, 48-51, 151-153, 157
• Gathering Storm - Part One - Fall of Cadia (7th Edition), pp. 12-13, 16, 20, 22-23, 26-33, 35-37, 40-42, 44, 48-49,52-53, 58-60, 62-65, 68-69, 72-78, 80-86, 88
• Gaunt's Ghosts (Novel Series) by Dan Abnett
• Imperial Armour Volume Three - The Taros Campaign, pg. 40
• Necropolis (Novel) by Dan Abnett, pp. 40, 84, 89, 94-95, 168, 199, 242-244
• Sanctus Reach: The Red WAAAGH! (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), "The WAAAGH! Descends"
• Shadow of Ullanor (Novel) by Rob Sanders, Ch. 9
• The Fall of Medusa V (2006 Booklet), pg. 32
• The Horus Heresy Book Four: Conquest (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 257
• The 13th Black Crusade (Background Book), pg. 52
• Traitor General (Novel) by Dan Abnett
• Warhammer 40,000: Conquest (Collectible Card Game), "Wrath of the Crusaders War Pack," "The Final Gambit War Pack"
• War Zone Damocles: Mont'ka (7th Edition), pp. 20, 167
• White Dwarf 283 (US), "Heroes & Villains of the 41st Millennium - Ursarkar E. Creed, Lord Castellan of Cadia" by Pete Haines, pp. 68-73