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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
→Background
The Red Corsairs are a Renegade Chapter and [[warband]] of [[Chaos Space Marines]] who lead a vast fleet of pirates composed of mortals and other Traitor Marines that threaten [[Imperial]] shipping and Imperial worlds near the [[Maelstrom]] [[Warp rift]]in the [[Ultima Segmentum]], a region known as the Maelstrom Zone to Imperial astrocartographers. The Red Corsairs were once a Loyalist [[Space Marine]] [[Chapter]] called the '''Astral Claws''' who were based on the world of [[Badab Primaris]] in the [[Badab Sector]] of the Ultima Segmentum. The Astral Claws were, ironically, raised during the [[10th Founding]] in the [[35th Millennium]] to guard against the numerous daemonic and alien threats emerging from the Maelstrom. Under the leadership of their [[Chapter Master]], [[Lufgt Huron]], the "Tyrant of Badab," in the late [[41st Millennium]], the Astral Claws sought to have the Badab Sector secede from the Imperium of Man in protest against the Imperium's continued attempts to use the resources of the Badab Sector outside the region rather than dedicating them fully to the defeat of the [[Chaotic]] and [[xenos]] threats that emerged constantly from the Maelstrom Zone. The Astral Claws and the Tyrant of Badab were able to convince several other Astartes Chapters also dedicated to the protection of the Maelstrom Zone, including the [[Executioners]], [[Lamenters]], and the [[Mantis Warriors]] to stand with them against the Imperium in what they believed to be a just cause and an attempt to maintain the traditional autonomy of the Adeptus Astartes in the face of unwarranted interference from the Imperial nobility, economic interests and the often hated Inquisition.{{cite this}}
Unfortunately, Lufgt Huron had slowly been corrupted by his desire for power into the service of Chaos, and eventually the Imperium was forced to respond to the Secessionists in the Maelstrom Zone by unleashing the full might of the Imperium in the terrible civil conflict that became known in the Imperial record, before the Inquisition laid down an Order of Obliteration that sought to remove all records of the Astral Claws' existence from Imperial history, as the Badab War. This conflict was fought between 901.M41 and 912.M41 and ended in the complete destruction of the Astral Claws defences and the devastation of their Chapter homeworld of Badab Primaris. Only 200 Astral Claws survived the final Imperial assault, and these Astartes, all corrupted by Chaos, fled with the maimed body of their leader into the Maelstrom, where they founded a new Chaotic empire. {{Fn|4}} The other Astartes Chapters who had served the Secessionist cause were eventually forgiven by the Imperium since they had only been misguided and not corrupted, in return for launching themselves upon a series of penitent Crusades. But Lufgt Huron swore his soul and the souls of his remaining Astral Claws to the eternal service of the Ruinous Powers in return for the restoration of his health and the power needed to make war upon the Imperium that he believed had betrayed him and his fellow Astral Claws. Replacing the ravaged portions of his body with bionic augmetics, Lufgt Huron, now calling himself Huron Blackheart, ironically led his corrupt Astartes, now calling themselves the Red Corsairs, back into the Maelstrom Zone to become the piratical raiders that he had so long fought against. In time, the Red Corsairs became the leaders of a vast Chaotic pirate force of Renegades and Traitors that represents a major continuing threat to the Imperium in the Ultima Segmentum{{Fn|4}}. During the [[Thirteenth Black Crusade]], the [[Maelstrom]] merged with the [[Great Rift]] and the Red Corsairs have now been sighted further from their home than ever before.{{Fn|18b}}
[[Image:GuillimanBattles.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The Red Corsairs and their [[Tzeentch|Tzeentchian]] allies battle the forces of the reborn [[Roboute Guilliman]] during the [[Terran Crusade]] ]]
