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Star of Chaos

The Star of Chaos

Shebol Red-Hand was a Magister in the Archenemy forces commanded by Archon Nadzybar during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade. The Magister was slain on the world of Khan III by the Imperial Guard forces of Lord General Bulledin in 773.M41.

History[]

Shebol Red-Hand was one of many notorious Magisters in the Forces of Chaos within the Sabbat Worlds Sector who served as one of the Archon Nadzybar's lieutenants. Holding sway within the ranks of the Archenemy, Shebol Red-Hand was a notorious monster who left a trail of burning worlds in his murderous wake and possessed considerable Chaotic military forces under his command.

At the outset of the Imperial Crusade in 756.M41, Imperial forces assaulted the Hive World of Formal Prime. This contentious battleground soon provided the first substantive opposition for the newly appointed Warmaster Slaydo and provided the Imperial forces their first taste of how bloody the Crusade would become. The complexity of the terrain and the fanaticism of the opposition would prove to be a hindrance in the Warmaster's stated objective of securing the planet within six weeks. The initial assault went well, but then progress began to founder as the enemy forces were led by the so-called "Charismites," the zealous devotees of Magister Shebol Red-Hand, who orchestrated the fierce resistance.

This fanatic follower of Chaos made the Imperials pay dearly for their overconfidence, as the attrition rate for the Imperial troops climbed to untenable levels. Nearly 200 soldiers died for every metre of ground taken. With casualties mounting and the assault grinding down in its eleventh week, Slaydo knew his reputation was at stake, as was the overall morale of the Crusade. The impasse was finally broken by the deployment of a force of White Scars Space Marines whose highly mobile assault tactics purged the Hive World of the remaining Heretics.

Red-Hand would continue fighting throughout the entirety of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade in numerous campaigns, serving Archon Nadzybar until his death in 764.M41 on the world of Balhaut. After Nadzybar's death, Shebol Red-Hand continued to harass and harangue the Imperial forces while they pushed coreward into the Cabal System. Red-Hand's forces not only provided fierce resistance to the Imperials but also began to launch hostile counter-strikes. By 771.M41, a new Archon, Urlock Gaur, rose from within the ranks of the Forces of Chaos to command their defence of the Sabbat Worlds. As the new Archon withdrew into the Carcaradon Cluster to the Fortress World of Morlond to mass his forces for a large-scale counter-attack, he left his most capable Magisters, including Red-Hand, in charge of his forces to continue prosecuting their attack on the Crusade's coreward flank.

In 773.M41 on the world of Khan III, Lord General Bulledin, the most cautious and focused of all of Warmaster Macaroth's senior staff, found himself pitted against the forces of Shebol Red-Hand. Fortunately for the Imperials, Red-Hand lacked organisation and discipline, a fact that the Lord General would take full advantage of when their troops clashed. Supported by two separate armoured brigades, Bulledin forced an opening in the Archenemy's lines, then sent foot companies from two Imperial Guard regiments to flank Red-Hand's forces. Panicking, the Magister drew his forces closer to him. A heavy tank battle soon ensued, and Bulledin quickly pressed in with three battalions of troopers with Titan support. Magister Shebol fled to the highlands and soon found himself surrounded by an armoured brigade commanded by the Lord General himself. Though allegorical tales tell of how Bulledin met and slew Shebol in personal combat, many regard these tales as speculation and hearsay. What matters is that the vile Magister met his ultimate fate upon that high ground and was killed.

Sources[]

  • Sabbat Worlds Crusade (Background Book) by Dan Abnett
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