Qin Xa, Master of the Keshig, Chosen of the Khagan, during the Horus Heresy, wielding the Tails of the Dragon blades.
Qin Xa, also known as the "Chosen of the Khagan", was a senior warrior of the White Scars Legion and Master of the Keshig during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. He served as a senior advisor to his gene-sire, Primarch Jaghatai Khan, and was considered one of the Warhawk's closest confidants.
As such, he commanded the White Scars' venerated Terminator-armoured honour guard cadre known as the Keshig. His sworn duty to protect his primarch saw him lead the Keshig through many hunts, earning ever greater glory in the name of the Khagan before his death during the Horus Heresy in the Battle for the Kalium Gate in ca. 011.M31.
History[]
Qin Xa arrayed in his fearsome Tartaros Pattern Terminator Armour during the Great Crusade.
Qin Xa was an exceptional warrior even before he became a White Scar, having fought alongside Jaghatai Khan during their youth on Chogoris. Qin Xa was frequently described by his primarch as one of the most formidable warriors of the Vth Legion, having mastered the art of the hunt at a young age and bringing such skills to bear by the primarch's side during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy that was to follow.
He was one of the first natives to be inducted from Chogoris into the newly renamed White Scars Legion after Jaghatai Khan was reunited with the Vth Legion and his father the Emperor of Mankind. Though few outside the Vth Legion have spoken of Qin Xa's prowess, it was often described within the records of the White Scars that he took to the battlefield as a force of nature, with a fury and strength behind his aggression that, while apparently barbaric, was tempered by a keen intelligence and an innate sense for the ebb and flow of battle.
Though loyal to his master, Qin Xa was known to question the decisions of the Khagan on occasion and actively encouraged those within the Keshig to question him too, to ensure that they never became followers of the primarch through blind faith. Though Terminator Armour was often eschewed within the White Scars, cumbersome as it was, Qin Xa was one of the few who actively preferred its bulk. Despite the weight of his master-crafted Tartaros Pattern Terminator Armour, his skill as a deft warrior was not dulled in any way, and he wielded the twin blades known as the Tails of the Dragon with consummate skill.
Two standard years into the main campaign of the Horus Heresy in 009.M31, Qin Xa battled against the Traitors at Peressimar, helping to drive them off that Imperial world and achieving a great victory. Fours standard years into the civil war in ca. 011.M31, Qin Xa took part in the raid at Kalium where he fought Lord Commander Primus Eidolon of the Emperor's Children atop the ancient Human relic known as the Kalium Gate, a massive void installation many times larger than a star fort that had once served in the Age of Technology as a Warp Gate and defended a strategic Mandeville Point leading to Terra.
During the subsequent Battle of the Kalium Gate Qin Xa was nearly killed, but was saved by the timely intervention of the Loyalist Thousand Sons Revuel Arvida using his psychic powers. The mortally wounded White Scar was taken back aboard the White Scars' flagship Lance of Heaven to be treated for his critical wounds.
While in the end it was determined that Qin Xa was mortally injured, he spoke to Arvida telepathically to express his fear that Jaghatai Khan would blame himself for the failure of their raid. Arvida assured him that Ilya Ravallion, a Departmento Munitorum bureaucrat assigned to the service of the Vth Legion who was also a close friend and advisor to the primarch, offered the White Scars a path to return to Terra using the Dark Glass artefact, and that his sacrifice would lead to ultimate victory for the Loyalists. After this assurance, Qin Xa died soon after of his many wounds and passed into the legends of the White Scars.
Wargear[]
Qin Xa's deadly twin blades, the Tails of the Dragon.
- Tails of the Dragon - As the legend is told amongst the horse tribes of Chogoris, the Tails of the Dragon were twin blades gifted by the ruling khan of the tribe to one among their number loyal without question not only to him, but to the protection of the tribe and to the pursuit of ever-greater martial glory. While the original blades, if they ever existed, have been lost to time, the Tails of the Dragon Power Swords in the shape of Chogorian dao blades gifted to Qin Xa by the Khagan were crafted in their image and legacy in a form more befitting a renowned Astartes warrior of the White Scars Legion.
Sources[]
- Scars (Novel) by Chris Wraight
- The Path of Heaven (Novel) Chris Wraight, Ch. 6 & 7
- The Horus Heresy Book Eight: Malevolence (Forge World Supplement), pg. 223
- Warhammer Online Store - The Horus Heresy Character Series: - Qin Xa - Master of the Keshig
- The Horus Heresy Legions: Beta-Garmon Expansion (CCG)