Host of the Truthbringer

"I Baptize myself in the blood of the Unbeliever. I mark myself with the Scars of Devotion. I consecrate myself in the Holy Fire, and I am reborn in the God's name. My old life is over. I am nothing but a weapon for the Primordial Truth. By Faith, by Truth, by Consecration. I will serve."

- The Oath of Consecration

The Consecrated are a Warband of Chaos Space Marines derived from the Word Bearers Legion. Originally known as the 500th Host, they are a organization that has been led by Azunar since the late Great Crusade.

Every thought, every emotion, every fiber of their being is dedicated to the Primordial Truth, and their selfless fanaticism knows no bounds. Each marine of the Consecrated has the abilities and physiology of a Possessed Chaos Space Marine, but none are possessed by Daemons. They are simply so saturated with Chaos and the energies of the Warp that they might as well be. Led by the Dark Prophet, Azunar, they are poised to conquer the Material Universe in the name of the Chaos Gods and finally destroy everything that does not serve Chaos.

History
The exact origins of the Consecrated are unknown. It is said that the 500th, seen as fanatical even by Word Bearer standards, left the Legion in order to preserve what they viewed as "Theological Purity" and to pursue a "Divine Purpose" assigned to them by the Gods. Azunar, soon after the Scouring and while pouring over tomes of daemonic lore in the temple's of Sicarus, had a vision of the four Chaos Gods. The Gods told him that as a reward for his endless faith, his Host would be reforged as the personal army of the Primordial Truth. The Gods told Azunar that, while each had a personal legion of Daemons, the universal force of Chaos as a whole did not possess a unified army, and that there was a great lacking of Undivided Daemons within the Warp. Thus, just as a human deeply infected with Nurgle's Rot would become a lesser daemon of Nurgle upon death, Azunar's warriors, through a life of self-sacrifice and eternal worship of the Gods, would be reborn as the Daemon Legion of Chaos Undivided, a divine army meant to embody the Truth of Chaos in it's purest form.

The price for this, however, was that he must sever all ties with the home Legion. Filled with grief, Azunar did his duty to his infernal Masters, and the 500th Host, along with several other Host who had become aligned to Azunar's creed, vanished from Sicarus into the Warp. The Dark Council still, to this day, has in their possession a message, a message written by Azunar, asking for forgiveness for what he must do. The note swears, as an oath, that the 500th Host and it's allies will continue to support the Word Bearers Legion, and will never raise arms against it, yet will always be apart from it. The 500th will only return to the Legion upon the day of Lorgar Aurelian's return: The day that the Consecrated may finally take their place amoungst the Legion as not an army of followers of the Word, but rather the righteous army that embodies the Word.

Organization
Very little is known of the true hierarchy of the Warband. When seen on the battlefield, they are completely unpredictable. Sometimes they have frontal assault as a main strategy, other times they are divided into many well-placed ambushes, and even in others they may simply bomb their enemies from orbit. They are versatile and dangerously fast in their enactment of warfare. It is mainly believed that they are scattered throughout the Galaxy, individual warbands of them constantly crusading in the name of the Dark Gods.

Possessed are common among the Consecrated, and their extreme fanaticism is fueled by their constant, uncontrollable mutations.

Warband Gene-Seed
The Gene-Seed of the Consecrated is that of the Word Bearers Legion, derived from the Primarch Lorgar.

Cult and Culture
The mutating powers of the Warp, combined with their endless faith, has transformed each and every member of the Warband into a horrific zealot, an insane fanatic who's very flesh pulses with the energies of Chaos. Mutation is rife amongst their ranks, and each of them is somehow touched by the powers of Chaos. Because of this, each member is skilled in the wielding of the power of Chaos, and the Warband in general has a deep affinity for the summoning and use of daemonic entities. Above all, they are dedicated to the will of the Dark Gods and to the Word of Lorgar, and they embrace the mutant, the psyker and the warp-touched into their ranks fervently.

Recruiting
Many Daemon Worlds within the Eye of Terror, the Maelstrom, the Screaming Vortex, and some say even the River of Exiles have black Citadel's on them, the citadel's draped in the banners and iconography of the Word Bearers Legion. These Chapter Keeps collect the most physically fit newborns on a Daemon World's population, and send them through rigorous tests and indoctrination since the moment of their birth. Those who pass the tests become Dark Initiates and begin their path to Consecration and Enlightenment.

Initiation and Consecration
The Warband is just as much a Cult as it is a Military Faction. To even become a member of the Warband, one must pass all the trials a Word Bearer must, as well as many well-facilitated rituals, including: But the most important facet of their initiation, is this:
 * 1) Taking the Oath of Consecration and swearing the Eternal Pact
 * 2) Etching runes of Daemonic summoning and dark invocation all over their bodies through scarification
 * 3) Ritualistically denouncing their previous self and giving their entire selves over to the influence of Chaos.
 * 4) Baptism in the blood of a captured member of the Ecclesiarchy

The Rite of Consecration
The final step of initiation is the Rite of Consecration. The Initiate, draped in vile robes and covered from head to toe in the scars of devotion, is exposed to the Rite of the Reshaper. Rather than a sentient Daemon being bound to him, however, the Sorcerer commanding the ritual reaches into the Warp (more specifically into the Formless Wastes), and from it plucks a fistful of Warpfire, Warpfire born from the Initiate's own emotions. This shard of flame is all of the Initiate's devotion and fanatical faith made into pure Chaos Energy. The larger the flame, the more favor the Initiate will have. Much like daemonic possession, the flame is merged with the Neophyte's soul, and if he survives the endeavor, he is welcomed into the Warband, his body and soul fully Consecrated.

Divine Purpose
The Consecrated are not without purpose. There is a meaning to all their rituals and rites, the life of eternal, constant prayer and worship of the Ruinous Powers. It is believed by the Consecrated that a soul so deeply saturated with the energies of Chaos, a mortal so wholly corrupt by it's energies, after spending an entire lifetime in constant worship and fanatical devotion, will be reborn as a Daemon in their own right. Rather that ascending to Daemon Princedom, however, the Consecrated believe their next form will be that of a Lesser Daemon, an entity they refer to as an Ascendant.

The Ascendant is the state that all members of the Consecrated strive for. Once an Astartes of the Consecrated dies, they are rewarded for their eternal servitude with immortality. Their soulfire merges completely with the raw stuff of Chaos, and through such a union the astartes is reborn as a Daemon of Chaos Undivided. Appearing as a Chaos Space Marine, but overflowing with warp energy and made of the stuff of the warp rather than flesh and blood, the Ascendant is free to charge into battle without fear of death, constantly fighting and dying over and over again for the Gods they worship. The entire purpose of the Consecrated Warband is eventually to be reborn as an army entirely composed of these Daemonic entities, reborn as a Daemon Legion to embody the Word of Lorgar within the Immaterium.

Empire of Madness
The Consecrated may be the servants of a force known as Chaos, but they bring their own depraved Order to those they subvert. As well as Zealots, mutants and warp-touched madmen, they are cruel and brutally efficient Slavers. Much like the Word Bearers once did during the Great Crusade, the worlds conquered by the Consecrated are searched and purged from top to bottom. All that they deem heretical and a threat to their ways is burned, and every man, woman, and child of the planet is given the same choice: swear the Eternal Pact and become subservient to the Consecrated, or join the pyre.

The Eternal Pact is a simple oath of servitude, a blood ritual that binds the soul of whomever swears it to Azunar and the Consecrated. The worlds that are used as Recruiting Worlds are in many ways their own depraved kingdoms, left to their own devices due to how the Consecrated are scattered across the Galaxy, but these manifold individual realms must, in the end, submit to the judgement of the Consecrated and their Priesthood.

The Grand Design
The Consecrated believe that despite the conflict of the Great Game, the four Chaos Gods, along with all Chaos Entities, are the various aspects of the universal power of Chaos. And they believe this "All-in-One" Chaos has it's own motives.

The Consecrated believe that every action done by Chaos, every daemonic possession, every Black Crusade, every corruption and blight, is all furthering a greater plan. They believe that the Four Gods are united in this Grand Design, seeking to fulfill it.

The Grand Design in itself is, quite simply, to bring Chaos into absolute power over all Creation. The Consecrated seek to destroy the veil between the Materium and the Realm of Chaos. They have watched entire worlds disappear from reality and be dragged wholly into the Warp, becoming Daemon Worlds. They seek to expand such an event to the entire Galaxy, or if they could, to the entire Universe. They care little for revenge against the Ultramarines or even vengeance of any kind against anyone: The deepest, truest desire of their warped, daemonic souls is to destroy reality itself, and to watch in enraptured glory as all of Existence dissolves into pure Chaos.

Combat Doctrine
The Consecrated have been around for so long, they are well learned in every form of warfare. Their main expertise is a bloody forward crusade, and they make such things a marvelous horror to behold.

Before the Consecrated make invasion of a world, they offer pre-battle rituals to the Gods. Sacrifices, prayer circles, sermons and other acts of fervor and worship. Some even say they take large amounts of a highly warp-tainted combat drug, a mixture of Fury, Bylestim and Spook, or perhaps somehow drawing forth large quantities of pure liquid Aetheria - the raw stuff of Chaos - and drinking it or injecting it into their veins.

When the Consecrated make landfall, they redefine the meaning of the word Madness. They charge into battle screaming litanies of hatred, every breath, every drop of blood spilled, every action of their existence an act of worship to the Ruinous Powers. The corpses of the slain are arranged in ritually significant figures, runes and daemonic rites carved into the flesh of the fallen. Because of their strong Warp Connection, it is relatively easy for the Consecrated to summon and wield the powers of the Warp, and Daemons soon join their side.

Once a planet is taken over, however..... that is when the true Horror begins. The entire population is enslaved and forced to do the Warband's bidding. The entire planet is given over to erecting temples, cathedrals, monuments, obelisks and other edifices to the Word of Lorgar. The sound of Discords resound across the entire planet as dark rituals and sacrifices are enacted. The Discords are mixed with the voice of Azunar, constantly giving sermons to the Dark Gods. For the Consecrated seek not to simply use the Discords to drive the mortals to madness, but to truly convince them in the righteousness of Chaos.

The ultimate fate of the planet, and those on it, varies. When the planet is "Liberated" and transformed into a fully formed Daemon World, the populace is, strangely, released from the chains of forced labor and trained in military, recruited into Azunar's forces. The Consecrated are less indifferent to the plights of Cultists, though that does not make them weak or soft master.

If Imperial retaliation is to come too quickly, when there is no chance in Daemon World creation, two outcomes are possible. After a month of constant slavery and warp exposure, the people are examined. Those who are seen as sufficiently insane, fanatical, and warp-tainted are recruited. Those who are not are sacrificed to the Gods by those who are deemed worthy, sons and daughters sacrificed by their parents, husbands sacrificed by wives, and vice versa. But when the Consecrated see the proper signs, when the Warp is in that proper alignment, all are sacrificed. Every man, woman and child on the planet, all human life, has daemonic runes and marks of ruination carved into their flesh, minds and souls. Once all of them are properly prepared, the entire planet is sacrificed. A endless tide of Daemons is unleashed upon the planet, and the Consecrated depart as the entire planet is utterly drowned in the fire of the Warp.

By the time Imperial retaliation would arrive, all they would find is ruin. The majority of the planets surface would be covered in structures of worship to the Gods. All that would be left of the planet would be empty temple-cities with Daemons wandering it's surface. All human life on the planet would have met one of three fates: Death of the most painful and horrific kind, possession by Daemons, or transformation into Chaos Spawn. Thus, if a World is not given the blessing of becoming a Daemon World, if it is not "Liberated", it may instead by Consecrated.

Notable Campaigns
The Horror of Acrya: Azunar and his followers brought three Shrine Worlds, known as the Acrya Triad, to ruin. The final fate of the three world is unknown, though it is most likely that they were either transformed into Daemon Worlds or utterly annihilated by Chaos.

The Helm of Oblivion
The helm worn by the Dark Prophet Azunar, the Helm of Oblivion acts as a focal point for channeling daemonic powers and sorcery.

The Dark Testament
A Tome penned by Azunar, this book reflects his teachings and beliefs based on the far more sacred Book of Lorgar. It is filled with Azunar's own rituals and knowledge of the 4 Realms of Chaos, as well as deep knowledge of the Formless Wastes. It also has a segment regarding the Prophetia Abyssus, a prophecy regarding the fall of the Imperium, the Reign of Chaos, and the End Times.

Relations
(Feel free to add your own)

The Dark Priesthood
The Consecrated are the Center around which the Dark Priesthood orbits. Both organizations were created and are led by Azunar, and both are dedicated to the same goal.

Enemies
All who would appose the absolute dominion of Chaos over all of Creation are considered enemies. The Galaxy belongs to the Chaos Gods, and anyone or anything who denies that is an enemy that must be destroyed.

By
"We are the Chosen of the Gods. Our Crusade has spanned the Stars and has seen untold worlds burn. None will stand in our way. The Urizen wills it."

- Anonymous member of the Consecrated

"Abyssus Vult!"

- Common battlecry of the Consecrated

About
(Feel free to add your own)"Their faith is strong and pure, their bodies blessed with the gifts of the warp and their minds fused with the children of chaos... Yes... Yes these are brothers of mine, kin to me and my Kinsmen, true acolytes of the Primordial Truth!!"

- Valkyura Warpschild

"Akhan Duus! It seems that Madness incarnate has arrived to taint the Emperor's subjects. We will stand strong and face these heretics. We will not retreat, we will not surrender to the taint. If need be, we will die on this planet, but not without a parting gift. To the heretics, I say this to you. You speak of seeking truth, but you live in a world full of lies. The false gods are only using you, but because you have all succumbed to their will, I shall not feel remorse when I slaughter your kind. COME AT THEE, HERETICS! WE ARE WAITING! (Laughter from distance)"

- Laughing Skull Zuun Jorgen Cranius' broadcast during a Consecrated invasion.

Trivia
The Battlecry Abyssus Vult is based around the fact that a word for Primal Chaos in Latin is Abyssus, and that Crusaders in the Crusades chanted Deus Vult.