Sicarus

Sicarus, Home World of the Word Bearers Legion

 Sicarus is a daemon planet located deep within the Eye of Terror, and is home to the Word Bearers Chaos Space Marine Legion. The planet was conquered by the Word Bearers after the Horus Heresy, when the forces of Chaos fled from the Imperium, and has been occupied as such for 10,000 years. Beneath churning clouds of pendulant fire and blood the surface of Sicarus is covered by massive temples, towering cathedrals and blasphemous monuments dedicated to the worship of the Chaos Gods. Millions of slaves toil endlessly in the construction and raising of new structures and monuments of dark devotion. New levels are built upon existing crumbling edifices which results in towering spires that reach kilometres into the foreboding sky. This results in the creation of the sprawling subterranean warren of labyrinthine passages that interconnect the various devotional structures. From this daemon planet, the Word Bearers Dark Council, a collection of the Word Bearers Legion's most powerful Dark Apostles, is the main ruling body that leads the XVII Legion in the absence of their Daemon Primarch, who has isolated himself in meditation for millennia within the Templum Inficio. The seat of the Dark Council is located within the immense cathedral-fortress known as the Basilica of the Word. This structure is crowned with hundreds of five kilometre high barbed spires, each studded with jagged spikes, upon which are impaled countless living sacrifices.

Occupants

In addition to a majority of the corrupted Word Bearers legion, there are some important figures within the Word Bearers that have taken up residence on the scorched surface of Sicarus:

• Lorgar - Lorgar, also once called Lorgar Aurelian and the Urizen before the Horus Heresy, is a Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided and the former Primarch of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion. Lorgar spent his entire life determined to uplift humanity through a deep belief in the divine. Once the Emperor of Mankind rejected his attempts at worship, Lorgar discovered new gods, the Ruinous Powers of Chaos, who he beleived were more worthy of his devotion during his infamous Pilgrimage. He was the first Primarch of the Space Marine Legions to fall to the corruption of Chaos before the Horus Heresy and it was he who ordered the corruption of the Warmaster Horus. He and what remains of the XVII Legion can today be found on the Daemon World of Sicarus within the Eye of Terror, where the Word Bearers have maintained far more unity of purpose than any of the other Traitor Legions.
• Erebus - Erebus held the prestigious position of First Chaplain of the Word Bearers Legion during the end of the Great Crusade in the early 31st Millennium. He was a fearsome and intimidating Astartes warrior and wore tattoos depicting sections of the Book of Lorgar across his shaven scalp to terrify his enemies. Erebus was the first of the Space Marines to knowingly turn to Chaos and he was personally responsible for corrupting Lorgar, Horus and the Death Guard's First Captain Calas Typhon to the worship and service of Chaos. He is presently one of the ruling Dark Apostles of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion and has an ongoing but subtle war with Kor Phaeron for control of the XVII Legion's direction.
• Ankh-Heloth - Ankh-Heloth was the Dark Apostle who led the 11th Host. Ankh-Heloth had risen to the esteemed position of Dark Apostle under dubious circumstances. While it was the Council of Sicarus that had instated Ankh-Heloth as the First Acolyte of the 11th Host, this was only at Grand Apostle Ekodas’ insistence. Less than a decade later, Ankh-Heloth ascended to the position of Dark Apostle after his predecessor was killed under circumstances engineered, many believed, by Ekodas. Ankh-Heloth did not garner much respect from his fellow Dark Apostles of the Dark Council, many of whom regarded him as "Edokas's whipping boy."
• Marduk - Marduk was a Dark Apostle and the former First Acolyte of Jarulek. He was a member of The Brotherhood which eliminated all Word Bearers who failed to comply with the new direction of the Legion following the conversion of Lorgar to the service of the Chaos Gods, including all Terran-born Word Bearers. Marduk fought at Calth against the Ultramarines Legion during the Heresy and was elevated to the position of Dark Apostle and leader of the 34th Host following the death of his former master at the hands of a Necron Lord on the world of Tanakreg in the late 41st Millennium.
• Mothac - Mothac was a Dark Apostle who was encased within ensorcelled daemonic armour that was a gift of the Daemon Primarch Lorgar. He was the keeper of the forbidden tome known as The Dark Creed, a thick book bound in the skin of fallen Ultramarines. This book contained the holy writings of Lorgar after the Horus Heresy and the Legion's flight to Sicarus.
• Paristur - Paristur was a Dark Apostle who was known for his shrewdness and savagery. He had killed the Blood Angels Chaplain Aristedes in single combat on the walls of the Imperial Palace during the Battle of Terra in the closing days of the Horus Heresy.
• Sarabdal - Dark Apostle of the 18th Host. Within the elite ranks of the cadre known as the Dark Council, Dark Apostle Sarabdal had led his Host the longest. Sarabdal had been groomed to become the Dark Apostle of the 18th Host by none other than Lorgar himself. Raised in the scriptorums of Colchis, Sarabdal had been little more than a child when he had taken part in the brutal Schism Wars that fractured the Covenant, the dominant religious order of that Feudal World before the arrival of the Emperor. Impressed with the youngster’s religious fanaticism for his new faith and fiery demeanour, Lorgar had taken the boy under his wing and once reunited with his Legion after the Imperial takeover of Colchis, had personally chosen Sarabdal as one of the first Colchisian natives to join the Word Bearers. Few Dark Apostles garnered more respect than Sarabdal. Other Dark Apostles even bowed at his venerable presence.
• Sor Talgron, The Warmonger - Dark Apostle, Sor Talgron served as the Captain of the 34th Company during the Great Crusade. He took part in bringing Forty-Seven Sixteen into Imperial Compliance. He was stationed on Terra during the Horus Heresy. Known to have worn Terminator Armour with a Chaplain's Skull Helm. Fought at the walls of the Emperor's Imperial Palace during the Battle of Terra. Eventually rose to the esteemed rank of Dark Apostle. Was mortally wounded in battle and interred within a Chaos Dreadnought and has managed to retain most of his sanity through the willpower instilled by his dark faith, though at times his hold on reality slips, and he believes he is once against fighting alongside his Primarch during the Horus Heresy.
• Garand - A Chaos Warmaster, Garand was a mighty warrior and formidable psyker. He served under Captain Jerulek during the Great Crusade at the battle of Fortrea Quintus, revelling in the slaughter of the planet's population. He rose through the ranks of the Word Bearers Legion and eventually became the Witch-Prince of Helicia. He went on to earn the esteemed rank of Warmaster with command of over a thousand Hosts.

Source

• Word Bearers Novel Series:
  • Dark Apostle (Novel) by Anthony Reynolds
    • Dark Disciple (Novel) by Anthony Reynolds
      • Dark Creed (Novel) by Anthony Reynolds
• The First Heretic (Novel) by Aaron Demski-Bowden
• Index Astartes IV, "Dark Apostles - The Word Bearers Space Marine Legion