Battle of Belial IV
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The Battle of Belial IV, also known as the Vengeance of the Scars,[1] was a confrontation between the Dark Eldar and Emperor's Children Chaos Space Marines in 993.M37.[1]
Overview
The renegade Fabius Bile, having studied the Haemonculi’s craft under the Coven of the Thirteen Scars, betrays the trust of his Commorrite mentors under Hexachires.[2a] By teaching the secrets he has been entrusted with to the Emperor's Children in his employ, Bile dilutes the art of the fleshcrafter to an unforgivable degree. The Thirteen Scars have long watched for just such an infraction,[1] and musters allies from the Kabal of the Bloody Blossom under Archon Peshig and the Kabal of the Hanging Skull under Salar. The Dark Eldar were aided by an old foe of Fabius, the Shadowseer Sylandri Veilwalker, who manipulated the turn of events to make sure Hexachires had the support he needed.[2b] Meanwhile, suspecting incoming retaliation from the Dark Eldar over an earlier battle with them on Peleus-Tertius, Fabius rendezvoused with his Alpha Legion allies under Harrowmaster Pero.[2b]
Using energy pillars linked to the Ilmaean suns, the Dark Eldar Haemonculi animated their living fortress for war – a towering pillar of flesh fashioned from the bodies of those who have defied them in the past. The fortress breaches a long-sealed webway node on Belial IV, and lumbers into the Eldar palace that the Emperor's Children were using as a base of operations.[1] Fabius' forces, led by the Noise Marine champion Ramos and the former World Eaters Apothecary Arrian Zorzi, put up fierce resistance.[2c] Bile’s heavily mutated Noise Marine allies turn their sonic weaponry upon the hordes of Covenites that pour out from the Tower of Flesh’s yawning maws, rupturing and splitting countless monstrosities as they sally forth. Their charge hits home nonetheless.[1] Bile was further assisted by the sudden arrival of additional warbands of Emperor's Children and Chaos Titans led by Vilius, Caradistros, Volupus, and Gorgus.[2c]
The violence that erupts from the close-quarters battle is as intense as it is invigorating, Chaos Space Marine and Wrack alike screaming in glee as they are physically torn apart. The Tower of Flesh itself duels with the corrupted Titan's in Bile’s employ, smashing them aside with its flailing appendages. As their minions fight tooth and nail outside the shattered palace, the Primogenitor Bile is paid a visit in his palace by the Coven lords of the Thirteen Scars. During the chaotic battle that followed, Igori is badly wounded killing an Archon. Dying, she was met by Melusine, who offered her a way to survive.[2d] At the same time, the Tower of Flesh managed to destroy the Chaos Titans and breach the gate to Bile's fortress as Fabius's forces are scattered. Fabius gave the order for a general retreat as Ramos and Zorzi sacrifice themselves to hold back the advancing Drukhari.[2e]
After the renegade’s private army of horrors experiences a dozen esoteric types of murder at the hands of the Haemonculi, an understanding is reached, particularly after Bile threatened to release a Glass Plague and Slaaneshi Daemons began to arrive in earnest due to the machinations of Melusine.[2a] Bile’s augmented Emperor's Children are granted death by masochistic ecstasy, and Hexacrites departs after surgically ensuring that the renegade cannot speak of his learnings to any other living creature.[1]
A dying Fabius was later discovered by Melusine and Igori, who have since merged into a single being. They told him that he was not dying but simply going to sleep and when he awoke his work would begin anow. He was taken by the Daemons and placed inside a casket in the Webway, where he will sleep until he would be needed again.[2a] Though still operating through a gestalt of clones throughout the subsequent millennia, the "primary" Fabius was put in stasis. Sometime after the opening of the Great Rift, forces Abaddon discovered him and informed him of Primaris Space Marines.[2f]
Sources
- 1: Haemonculus Covens - A Codex: Dark Eldar Supplement (E-book) — The Chronicle of Endless Woe
- 2: Fabius Bile: Manflayer (Novel)
