Infernal Masters forge pacts with daemonic entities, referred to in the lore of Prospero as tutelaries. Chanting jagged syllables and making promises of blood and souls, they unleash the powers of these malign familiars to engulf their foes in swarms of momentarily corporeal terrors, to divine whispers of the future, or to master the currents of the warp itself.
For ten thousand years, the seeker of arcane truths known as Ahriman has roamed the galaxy in a quest to acquire every artefact, every tome and every scroll that harbours eldritch powers
Twisted arcanists, wicked of intent and strange of form, Exalted Sorcerers have an encyclopædic knowledge of spells and are able to bend reality to their desires.
Scarab Occult Terminators were once the finest psykers in the Thousand Sons Legion, bodyguards to Magnus the Red himself. Reduced to dust along with their brethren, they now possess only an echo of their previous intellect.
Stepping out from the fog of war come the Rubricae. Many of these undying warriors were psykers in their own right, before an ancient curse damned them to an eternity as living husks – their baroque power armour now contains nothing but sparkling dust.
Scions of their Primarch Angron, Daemon Prince of Khorne, the World Eaters were amongst the most feared of the Space Marines Legions to turn traitor during the brutal civil war known as the Horus Heresy. The World Eaters long held a reputation for wanton savagery, and as they fell to the powers of Chaos, they devolved into warbands of blood-crazed maniacs dedicated to the Taker of Skulls, glorying in violence and slaughter, and with no other purpose than spilling blood in their deity's name.
The Astra Militarum are the backbone of the Imperium's largest armies. They are the men and women who hold the line, a bulwark standing between Humanity and a nightmarish galaxy of horrors. Amongst the Astra Militarum's massed regiments, the born soldiers of Cadia are some of the most disciplined warriors to be found – tough marksmen trained for a lifetime of grim duty.
The Kin are a clone race of resilient and pragmatic warriors, who together form the ancient Leagues of Votann. Given wisdom and purpose by their ancient Ancestor Cores, armed and armoured by the pounding pistons of the forge, they scour the galaxy for the resources to expand their works and overcome any foe. Hernkyn Pioneers roam the battlefield on magna-rail bikes, scouting a path for doughty Hearthkyn Warriors and augmented Cthonian Beserks to secure their objectives – guided by battle-tested Kâhls such as the legendary Ûthar The Destined.
The daemonic servants of Khorne spill from the madness of the warp to corrupt and slaughter, the very battlefield contorting at the touch of Chaos. Gore-drenched Bloodletters hack heads from shoulders, led into the material plane by Bloodmasters, the greatest of their ravenous kind. Mounted atop the infernal engine-beasts known as Juggernauts, a charge by merciless Bloodcrushers breaks the most stalwart resistance, while tireless Flesh Hounds pursue any who flee across time and space.
The Genestealer Cults erupt from the shadows in a tide of xenos-worshipping acolytes, employing ambush and subterfuge to outmanoeuvre their enemies. Utterly immersed in Tyranid gene-taint, the cult's Neophyte Hybrids and more mutated Acolyte Hybrids rise up against their oppressors, armed with a variety of repurposed industrial equipment – from powerful mining lasers to heavy machinery like the Goliath Rockgrinder. Guided by the insidious psychic presence of a Magus, the misshapen Aberrants lope from the shadows to reinforce their kin, swinging crushing mauls to deadly effect.
For ten thousand years, the Chaos Space Marines have waged near-constant war on the galaxy that cast them out. Once the defenders of humanity, the Heretic Astartes have pledged themselves to the Dark Gods. Led by maniacal leaders such as the fanatical Dark Apostle, bitter warbands of Chaos Space Marines roam the battlefield, armed with an array of vicious weapons. Barricades and defenders alike are torn asunder by the devastating heavy armaments wielded by Havocs – and the frenzied swipes of a lumbering Helbrute.
Resplendent in gleaming gold, the Adeptus Custodes stride into war with the confidence earned through ten millennia of martial superiority. Bullets and shrapnel ricochet from gilded auramite breastplates – these warriors are armoured with the finest wargear, carrying the blessing of the God-Emperor Himself. When combined with the peerless anti-psychic protection provided by the Sisters of Silence, there are few in the galaxy who can withstand them.