new deathwatch

Master of the Black Apothecarion, Apothecary Rantaelus Illum of the Red Scorpions
“Purity is not simply a devotional aspiration.  It is an ugly need.  It is a dire need.  We do battle against things that send the lashes and barbs of unspeakable horror against the Emperor.  We can not risk being found wanting.”

An Apothecary from a Chapter that outright refuses fraternizations with Chapters it views as deviant is an odd choice for the highest-ranking Deathwatch Apothecary for hundreds of lightyears.  However, Rantaelus Illum did not join the Deathwatch because he was chosen for the honor of his own volition.  Illum brought shame and disgrace upon the Red Scorpions during the administrative clean-up of his Chapter’s role in the Badab War.  Although the details were never shared in the whole when he joined the Deathwatch, other Brothers of the Vigil have pieced together that some grave error of judgment on his part led to a population of mutants, some potentially even psykers, eluding the Imperium’s detection during the total chaos of the Astral Claws’ territory’s reintegration to the Imperium.  When this mistake was discovered, Illum was thrown to the Deathwatch to atone for his mistake.
It is the zeal he brought in his pursuit of redemption that propelled him to the highest posting.  Illum has forced down his typical Red Scorpion revulsion for those Chapters deemed ‘impure,’ and has driven himself to the brink of his enhanced endurance in the study of the chirurgeon’s art.  New Battle-brothers who are more familiar with the Red Scorpions’ reputation than the man himself may be somewhat uncomfortable with the thought of their gene-seed in Illum’s hands, but their concerns are misplaced.
On the rare occasions that Illum goes to battle, he does so in a Mk. VII suit, with the typical Apothecary’s kit and wargear, plus a plasma pistol in case enemy vehicles grow near.

Keeper Gaius of the Scythes of the Emperor
“A martyr?  No.  My Brothers were martyred.  I am simply an old, lost killer, who has found a new group of Brothers to aid me in my vengeance.”

The near-absolute annihilation of the Scythes of the Emperor by the Tyranids has stranded what few Brothers were away from Sotha at the time.  Many are so far from Sotha that they can not tell if their home Chapter still exists, even as fleet-bound vagrants or an Inquisitorial curiosity.  Keeper Gaius of the Scythes had been away from his Chapter for two decades prior to learning of the Chapter’s destruction.  Like many Keepers, he had long since given up on ever going home at all, but that made its total destruction no less hurtful and enraging.
Watch Commander Domack gave Gaius a chance to leave and travel to the nearest Imperial Fortress World to Sotha, to try to get into contact with his Battle-Brothers.  Gaius, after much deliberation and bitter anger, rejected the Watch Commander’s offer.  He had seen too much, learned too much in the Deathwatch to ever have truly fit in among his gene-brothers ever again.  His role as the unofficial fleet commander of the Cloudburst Deathwatch was simply too important to leave, even to go home.
Gaius was the first – and probably now last – Scythe of the Emperor to ever serve the Vigil in the Tri-Sector.  Becoming a Keeper was a trial for him, as his gregarious nature made it challenging for the Watch Captains to believe he would have any aptitude for keeping secrets.  Eventually, he was allowed into their order, only for the horrible news about his home to cleave all companionship from him.  Now, he is a grim, silent, morbid specter that haunts the crypts and stardocks of the great Watch Fortress, left alone with his thoughts and his prayers for vengeance.

Keeper Rengris of the Angels Vermillion
“Exterminatus is meant to be irrevocable.  There are no second chances.  Nor should there be; the Glasians are not inclined to pity nor mercy.”

Born on the planet Corinal to a family of Imperial Navy enlisted sailors, Rengris seemed destined for greatness even in his youth.  Excelling at every field of survival study or martial technique to which he applied himself, Rengris was a natural choice for the Angels Vermillion Initiate protocol.  Surviving the brutal, bloody Initiation, Rengris received his implants and became a Space Marine at the age of only seventeen.
His first several decades of time in the Angels Vermillion were unremarkable beyond his natural talent for microgravity combat.  As soon as he was elevated to Sergeant in the Eighth Company, however, his leadership talent and exceptional grasp of 3D maneuvering became clear, and he quickly transferred to the Thunderhawk wing of the Chapter Fleet.
There he stayed for many years more, quickly coming to rival in skill pilots of far longer tenure.  He worked his way into the ranks of the Shipmasters of the Chapter’s Fourth Company, and eventually became second in command of the Marine contingent of the Chapter’s Strike Cruiser fleet.
At this point, the Deathwatch called the Chapter to provide an expert in identifying and sinking alien ships to serve.  Rengris was the natural choice, and he flew to the nearest Watch Fortress to be initiated.  Shortly thereafter, the Deathwatch supreme command on Talasa Prime transferred him to Watch Fortress Dascomb, where he has served for the past seventeen years.
Rengris was quickly drawn to the Keepers, and entered into their ranks after a brief but thorough screening by High Keeper Elkop.  Putting his mastery of ships, microgravity tactics, and alien combat to use, Elkop assigned Rengris to command the ships of the Dascomb fleet when they receive assignments to engage in rapid transport of Killteams to war fronts against the Glasians and Orks that infest the Sector.

Although Keeper Rengris is not the longest-serving of the Keepers of Cloudburst’s Deathwatch contingent, he is the one trusted to range farthest afield.  Like many Keepers, he is trained in the art of secrecy and stealth.  However, he does not preside over dark, shadowy vaults of alien relics in the heart of a fortress; rather, he is responsible for the dispatch and use of Exterminatus weapons should the need arise.  The Dascomb vaults are hardly the ancient lock of horrors that some older Fortresses are, of course, but like all Deathwatch installations of the right size, it does possess an Exterminatus weapon to be used if a world falls beyond salvation.
Specifically, Watch Fortress Dascomb contains an antimatter lattice weapon, one capable of producing eighty-five kilograms of antiprotons.  If it is activated, and its two-user authentication system confirmed, it ejects the antimatter from its magnetic containment torus, causing instant annihilation of the surrounding continent.

Dascomb has never had to use it, but if the coming Glasian Migration costs the Imperium a world, it will be Rengris that kills it.  He does not enjoy that responsibility, but he understands it well, and will carry it out mercilessly.

Champion Keilro of the Black Templars
“If the Emperor did not want us to put an end to witchcraft, he would not have sent me to slay xeno sorcerers.”

Stoic, courageous, and seething with hate, Champion Keilro is a member of the Black Templars to the core.  He has served with the Deathwatch for nine years, and has taken on the role of Emperor’s Champion for two of them.  Again and again, he has thrown himself into battle against psychic aliens, from Weirdboyz to Aeldari pirates, seeking a glorious end in battle against the Emperor’s foes.
To the more Puritanical Inquisitors, it is not difficult to detect a dangerous level of presumptuousness in Keilro’s beliefs.  Keilro behaves as if it is he, and he alone, who is qualified to judge who is and is not using psychic power in the service of the Emperor; he tolerates Sanctioned Psykers with only the barest edge of restraint.  His resentment and distrust of psychics has only risen in the service of the Deathwatch, as he has been exposed to forces wielding the Warp in ways he had not even known possible.
However, his drive to slay the witch is tempered by two things: his service to the psychic Lady Inquisitrix Cloudburst, Cassandra Lerica, and his morbid certainty that he will die in battle against the Emperor’s enemies soon.  Superstitious for a Space Marine, Kielro is troubled by frequent and worsening dreams that wrack his mind in sleep.  When, for whatever reason, he is unable to use his Catalepsean Node to avert the need for sleep, he is often struck by dreams that smack of prophecy.  Most Black Templars would find these visions to either be the influence of some unseen enemy, or perhaps visions from the Emperor.  Keilro does not; he believes them to be whispers of doom that his mind is puzzling through when he is at rest.
When Brother Keilro came to the Deathwatch, it was as a specific request for an experienced Crusader who knew well the dangers of battling psychic aliens at close range, to join the Vigil against the imminent arrival of the Seventh Glasian Migration.  At the time, he was a Veteran Brother of the Shoaler Crusade Fleet, campaigning its way through the Ork-infested regions to coreward of the Drumnos Sector.  He leaped at the chance to earn honor and glory for his Chapter in the Deathwatch, and readily accepted a position within it.
At first, he fit in well with the elite brotherhood, but tensions slowly rose the longer he stayed.  After brutal battles against a tribe of humans that had been corrupted by the presence of an alien artifact on an outpost in the Cloudburst Circuit, he became embittered.  His loyalty never flagged, but Keilro’s unwillingness to work with psykers in battle rose to near-mania.  When his dreams started, he first ignored them, but as they persisted, and he was unable to explain them, he withdrew into himself, eventually donning the Armor of Faith.
The Kill-teams with which he had served were taken aback by this, but did not object.  For the next two years, Keilro has thrown himself into the fiercest melee battles he can find, and at times, has returned on the verge of death.  His humors have not improved from survival, and have not been aided by the increasingly unsubtle attention paid to him by the Lady Hiqh Inquisitrix, who believed his dreams are the beginning of something more.



Curator Gein Smithlog, Keeper of the Hall of Arms
“By the hand of Man is the darkness of the xeno extinguished.  In the signing of this oath do I pledge myself eternally to the service of the Deathwatch, until I go to stand at the side of the Emperor Himself.”

Deep within Watch Fortress Dascomb, there is a great chamber called the Hall of Arms.  This is where the products of the Armory are kept; all of the weapons available to the Deathwatch Marines of the fortress can be found and requisitioned here for missions.  As Curator, Smithlog is tasked with the identification and preservation of the sacred arms of the Deathwatch, and ensuring that the relics that are specific to the history of individual Chapters are properly accounted for.  This is a delicate task, especially given the sheer number of Space Marine Chapters that have taken the Oath of Apocryphon over the millennia – upwards of nine hundred.
Some question why a mere human man is given the responsibility of ensuring the safe storage and distributuion of Astartes arms, given that most mortals are not even allowed to touch them.  The answer is that Gein Smithlog is an artificer beyond compare, perhaps the most skilled so outside the Techpriesthood in the Sector.  He is not unlike the Lastrum Core Clan of Terra, those most blessed with the chance to labor in the making of the armaments of the Emperor’s own Custodians.  Even those Techmarines that arrive on the station with the most dismissive and resentful attitude towards normal Mankind come away in astonishment at his savant skills with the Machine Spirits.
Gein himself owes everything to the Deathwatch.  One of the few people who successfully escaped the destruction of the world of Valhagoth in the Cloudburst Circuit, he was brought by ship to Watch Fortress Dascomb.  Athough the people of that world bore no suspicion regarding the world’s destruction, as there was realistically nothing that could be done to stop a Hrud Migration on that scale, they were not welcome anywhere else, as the superstitious Imperial people saw them as being cursed, or having invited the aliens.
Young Gein was left on the station as others slowly found new homes and resettled elsewhere.  Eventually, he was taken in by the Adepts of the station, who saw in him a strange potential for interaction with the machines, given how the cleaning and repair servitors in his dormitory’s ward never seemed to fail.
Their faith was borne out; as Gein was educated, he showed an understanding and recall of the fine points of weapons maintenance that shone unrivalled among the non-Techpriest population of the station.  Although the Techpriests of the Watch Fortress initially resented his elevation to the Curator role, their complaints have faded, as he had demonstrated staggering ability to clean, repair, identify, store, placate, and catalogue all manner of human weapons and wargear.
He resides in a sizeable apartment near the Hall itself.  Gein is aware of his talents, and takes pride in their use.  He treats his Deathwatch masters with courtesy, and makes his displeasure known in subtle ways if the Kill-teams do not bring ‘his’ gear back in the finest of working order.



Relics
As could be expected from a Watch Fortress that sees as much action as Dascomb, some equipment becomes so venerated by its users or so carefully upgraded that it comes to be considered a relic of the Fortress and an heirloom of the Deathwatch, and is not given to the Death Brother’s Chapter upon their departure or demise.  These machines are stored in a stasis field in a locked room in the Forgemaster’s suite in the Forge Core, and are only used when their presence would be decisive, or their retrieval trivial.  Only one was made by a Brother who remains at Dascomb now: the Eraser, a potent and frighteningly accurate shoulder-mount Conversion Beamer made by Forgemaster Asutori himself.

Relic Ranged Weapons
•	The Eraser [Deathwatch]) This weapon is new enough that calling it a ‘relic’ is something of a misnomer.  However, while some may contest its status as an artifact, none could contest its power.  This is no mere Conversion Beamer.  This weapon, the product of the temperamental genius of Forgemaster Asutori of the Bone Knives, is a shoulder-fired Conversion Beamer that uses a microgravitic stabilizer similar to the ones used on Fire Wasps to board Space Hulks.  The weapon is bulky and runs quite hot, but its effect on enemy armor and buildings is nothing short of horrifying.  Instead of a single energetic conversion beam, the device uses a tiny laser rangefinder to zero three smaller, converging beams on a target.  Thus, the target does not slowly convert to energy in a process that ends in a single large explosion.  Instead, the target is wildly thrown about as jets of energy and destabilized matter erupt from the impact site as the antimatter beams jostle each other.  This has the effect of dissolving the target very rapidly, with no explosion at the end.  Given the sheer cost of the weapon and Asutori’s lack of notes, the weapon will likely remain unique.
•	Alloy-Bane [Deathwatch]) The Doom Eagles are an ancient and well-honored, if somewhat moody and dour, Chapter of Ultramarine Successors.  In the never-ending task of shielding the easternmost portions of the galaxy from aliens that dwell beyond the range of easy reprisal for attacks, the Chapter has developed a need to repulse and destroy foul xenos armor as rapidly as can be safely managed.  Rather than build up their own armor fleet, however, the mobile and rapid Chapter has built weapons such as these.  The Alloy-Bane is a cut-down and light multimelta that uses two parallel thermic expansion coils and a tight zero to punch through nearly any metallic substance.  Built with its barrels side-by-side and drawing power from the backpack feed of the user, this weapon is wielded like a comically-oversized shotgun by Assault Marines of the Deathwatch, punching through tanks and bunkers and darting away before escorting infantry can retaliate.  Quite how these rare thermal weapons could have parted from their origin Chapter is unclear, but Watch Fortress Dascomb’s records claim the weapon was abandoned by a Doom Eagle sometime in the 900.M39 era with no further detail.  However, Dascomb did not exist at that time, so this record is somewhat contentious.
•	Wildfire Engine [Deathwatch]) Flamers are especially useful in large-scale operations of xeno extermination.  The cleansing power of fire against spores and emissions of aliens is well-documented and easily-verified.  For the same reason that the Blue Daggers like to use combi-Flamers on their bolters, the Deathwatch often brings this beautiful Heavy Flamer with them when doing battle against large numbers of aliens in the field.  The Celestial Lions donated this weapon to the Deathwatch in 420.M41, and the Techmarines of Dascomb are grateful for their willingness to part with this work of art.  The flamer’s hull is made of an expensive alloy of tungsten, titanium, and adamantine that is effectively immune to all small-arms fire and thermal damage.  The alloy is difficult to work and must be forged at insanely high temperatures, which apparently did not stop the master smiths that forged it from decorating its every inch with expressive imagery of Space Marines setting whole alien towns and armies aflame.  Its flames burn dark blue with air-rippling heat, matching the subtle gradients of metal color in its case and making the flames look like part of the weapon itself.  It is a treasured tool of Dascomb’s elite Kill-teams, who rarely take to the field in large numbers without it.
•	Spiritbreacher [Deathwatch]) Although the defense of the Emperor’s realms from aliens and their insidious thoughts and technology is the ultimate remit of the Deathwatch, they are by no means unable to fight against Heretics, Witches, Daemons, and other beings that dabble in Warp-power.  This weapon was born of that occasional need.  Artificed by a gifted Techmarine over the course of a year in 730.M39, Spiritbreacher is a plasma pistol that has had every single component thrice-blessed and dipped in the holiest of Ecclesiarchial waters on a Shrine World in the Drumnos Sector, where it is said two Imperial Saints began Wars of Faith to increase the Sector’s size.  Now, it is used by the Deathwatch’s Assault Marines in the main, when there is a chance that a Kill-team may encounter un-Sanctioned Psykers in the field.  The Tech-brotherhood of the Watch Fortress insist that the weapon has a much higher than typical rate of penetration against the unnatural defenses of daemonhosts.
•	Scourge of Deviants [Deathwatch]) The Salamanders Chapter is justly renowned for their exceptional standards of craftsmanship, cooperation with other Imperial branches, and strategic capabilities.  It is a rare Salamander who does not forge their own equipment, sometimes even including Power Armor and other rarities that some Chapters cannot produce even in their own Chapter Forges.  However, even among this brotherhood of smiths and makers, there are those who distinguish themselves with peerless feats of design and engineering.  Forgefather Vulkan Elancro, formerly Fourth Company Captain Raecanis Elancro before taking up the Forgefather’s mantle, was one such a craftsman.  Before becoming Fourth Company Captain, he served an eleven-year secondment to the Deathwatch in the very first inductee group of Watch Fortress Dascomb.  There, he inaugurated the great Forge Core that serves as the personal forge of the Chief Forge Master, by building this set of digital weapons.  They are so compact and precise that impressed Ordo Xenos Inquisitors have commented that Jokaero could scarcely have done better.  There are four, two Needlers and two Flamers, and are always deployed as a set.  Normally, relics such as these would be used only by the Chapter that provided them, but Vulkan Elancro insisted they be made available to any worthy of using them.
•	Whisper of Regret [Raven Guard]) This Needle Rifle is the perfect companion for a Raven Guard marksman.  It is near-silent thanks to its elaborate, non-standard barrel gas catch system, put in place by Raven Guard Techbrother Archer.  The Techmarine was an eccentric by any means in his own Chapter, but well-suited to serving alongside the more diverse and varied Brothers of the Deathwatch.  He expanded the arsenal of the Deathwatch considerably in his time there, until he was suddenly killed by an unseen Glasian mortar team during the Sixth Glasian Migration.  His weapon survived him, and holds a place of honor in the Armory Cuprum.
•	Grit of the Aett [Space Wolves]) The impossible mountain that the Wolves of Fenris call home is more than a mere fortress, or a landmark by which superstitious tribal sailors set their maps.  It is a mine, a homestead, a vault, and a proving ground for the worthy sons of Leman Russ.  The Wolves take a measure of pride in not using their most unblooded and inexperienced Brothers in the Scouting role, as most other Chapters do.  Instead, Wolf Scouts are usually over a hundred years old, and operate singly or in pairs, instead of the five- to ten-man teams of Codex Chapters.  When they fight, it is usually in stealth.  This weapon was designed to serve in the rare exceptions.  The Grit of the Aett is a shotgun, designed specifically for Wolf Scouts.  The Iron Priests of Fenris built this weapon, and its dozens of identical brother armaments, from nickel-rich rivers of molten rock.  This is harvested during the Season of Fire, when their world’s complex geology belches forth lava from its equatorial volcanoes.  The gun has an integrated rangefinder for rocket artillery such as Whirlwind and Manticore launchers, but its true value is in its astonishingly robust construction.  Wolf Scouts have loaded this gun with everything from rifled slugs to rock salt to chips of hardened Tyranid chitin, and with only basic maintenance, it has simply never, ever jammed.  It was left on Watch Station Redshield by a Wolf Scout who later ascended to the rank of Deathwatch Keeper, leaving his old Chapter behind, but unwilling to leave his Scout Brothers undergunned.
•	The Scorned Flames [Deathwatch]) The Celestial Knights Chapter of the Naxos Sector has long prized what relics and remnants of the old Dark Angels they have preserved.  Masters of plasma technology as they were, the Dark Angels shared much of this advanced knowledge with their fellow Unforgiven after the Edicts of Guilliman split the Legions.  The Celestial Knights were recipients of a Sicaran Omega tank-hunter, a prized token from the Rangdan Xenocides.  Its speed and broad range of traversable terrain made it a potent tool of the Chapter, but that ended in fire during the anarchy of the First Glasian Migration.  The ancient vehicle detonated when a Ruin Gun plasma streamer tore through its main cannon’s thermocapacitor, and instantly slew the crew.  The broken remains were returned in solemnity to Naxos, but the dislodged pintle-mounted combi-plasma was left behind for the Deathwatch to salvage.  Some of the Vigil’s Tech-brothers have questioned how valued this ancient relic actually was if the Knights were willing to salvage its inoperable mount, but not a pre-Great Crusade weapon from it.  Still, its value as a historical artifact alone is colossal, and those Deathwatch Brothers who can stomach the Celestial Knights’ creative interpretation of the Imperium’s founders report that it still burns through Glasian armor like it was fresh from the forges of Ryza itself.
•	The Purgative [Blood Angels]) The Blood Angels Chapter is no stranger to the brutality needed to truly purge the taint of Chaos from the realms of mortal men.  There are few enemies that stain the land to a greater degree, save possibly the Tyranids.  To truly erase the remnants of a Chaotic invasion from an Imperial world, either great haste is needed to cut it off before it can spread, or deep, thorough repulsion of the taint must be undertaken.  This weapon was designed to aid in both, by the great Blood Angels Tech-brother Leondrei.  Given how frequently the Naxos and Cloudburst Sectors are plagued by aliens under the effect of Chaos, first in the Pox Ring and then in the Glasian Cylinders, its presence is a tremendous relief to the heirs of Sanguinius that serve the Dark Vigil.  Its range and operating temperature are unmatched by any Imperial Flamer of equal or lesser weight not crafted by the Primarchs themselves, and the hundreds of hexagrammatic wards inscribed on every square centimeter of its outer casing aid it in cutting through the taint of the Warp like a chainsword through glass.  Although only Masters of the Forge and Inquisitors are permitted to know this, the weapon is based on a design originating among the Grey Knight Justicars, who must frequently clash with Chaos-tainted aliens themselves in their secret duty.  Leondrei briefly encountered the Justicars while serving in the retinue of Lord Inquisitor Malleus Josephus Mandrovar, while hunting Death Guard Traitor Marines in the Pox Ring Exterminations.
•	Vigil’s Sight [Blue Daggers]) The Blue Daggers Chapter has always specialized in the use of bolter weapons.  From the smallest bolt pistol to the Hurricane Bolters on their gunships, they are the preferred weapons format of the Chapter, and the Daggers do not look to change that.  What was once a simple logistical focus has expanded into an art form.  The weapon known as Vigil’s Sight emblematizes that focus.  It is crafted to the highest possible standards of quality and craftsmanship, and its Machine Spirits seem proud of their reputation for precision.  The weapon has a reinforced internal chamber for the primary charge of the bolts, and an integrated 4.2x scomp-link scope that allows for its feed to appear directly in the helm of the bearer.  Finally, it comes outfitted with a strap and internal magnet set, allowing for mag-locking for half the usual cost, and a flash hider to make for stealthier shots.  Any Blue Dagger would be proud to use such a weapon.
•	Iron Blizzard [Deathwatch]) Long before Watch Fortress Dascomb stood its dark vigil over the Imperial North, the Deathwatch still had a footprint in the region.  Because the vast majority of the enemies of Imperial rule in the space now known as the Tri-Sector were human – either turned piratical or in the service of Nurgle – the Deathwatch had not needed extensive space fortifications, but they still undertook missions there at the behest of the Inquisition.  The vast Star Fort known as Praefex Venatoris was the hub of outfitting for the Deathwatch in the region, and many of its relics and materiel remain in places of respect in the newer facilities that watch over the Tri-Sector.  This Heavy Bolter weapon was created long ago, millennia before the Glasians had even reached the outermost fringes of the Cloudburst Circuit.  Its artifice is such that it seems to pelt its targets with bolts, as fast as an Astra Militarum Sabre Gun Platform spews bullets.  It is fed exclusively through a backpack feed, as it fires too quickly to be practically reloaded with magazines, and has a Suspensor and Optical Scope built into its assembly.  When it is not in use, it is stored in the Forge Core’s annex.
•	The Gladiator’s Spite [Raven Guard]) Unlike many Chapters, the Raven Guard understand that stealth is more than just not being seen.  The proud sons of Corax are armored by silence, and armed by the shadows.  This Inferno Pistol is shrouded such that no light from its discharge, nor its heat venting, are visible, ad can thus be fired from concealment.  This makes it immensely useful for ambush tactics, where more obvious weapons might be used to immobilize a vehicle, while a concealed Raven Guard moves to finish it off.  It was forged by the blacksmiths of Fort Pykman, and bequeathed to Watch Fortress Dascomb upon its founding.
•	Dragoon’s Bloodthirst [White Scars]) While the White Scars are at home on open battlefields, roads, and plains warfare, they are Adetus Astartes, and thus never truly out of their element.  This weapon, however, plays much to the strength of the Chapter.  Its rare and expensive scomp-link allow for it to be used without a trigger, as long as the user is wearing Power Armor with intact palm data feeds, as nearly all Space Marines do when not in Scout Armor.  The weapon is a long-barreled bolt pistol with extended magazines and a small Combi-attachment, carrying twenty-seven millimeter grenades.  These grenades are far less potent than the forty millimeter explosives used by most Imperial Grenade launchers, but have a tiny gas cartridge in the back of their case that allow for a degree of acceleration once launched.  This gives them remarkable range, and its lack of a trigger allow for undistracted use by a Space Marine using it as a sidearm while mounted on a vehicle.  It was crafted by Techpriests of Cognomen in response to a request from Watch Fortress Dascomb for a weapon that Marine Bike drivers could use while mounted that did not rely on a power cell like a Plasma Pistol would.
•	The Restored Armament [Storm Wardens]) Many of the Traitor Warbands that assail the Imperium are led by Chaos Space Marines, and most of those are former Loyalists that turned their coat.  While some of the First Founding Traitor Legions have means of replenishing their gene-seed, Renegades from later Foundings generally do not.  Thus, many of the smaller Chaos Warbands of the galaxy are little better than Warp-tainted pirates and thieves.  This weapon was recovered from one such warband by the Storm Warden Techmarine Warren o’Donnliervie, and upon bringing it to Watch Fortress Dascomb, it was subjected to several consecutive months of purgation, to free its Machine Spirits from the taint of the Warp.  After its final consecration, it was added to the stores of the Armory Cuprum in 754.M41.  It is a Bolt Pistol of the highest reliability, and its Machine Spirits seem to thirst for the blood of Chaos-tainted enemies.  Storm Warden Techmarines speak proudly of it, and its seeming desire to avenge its desecration by Traitors.
•	The Emperor’s Vision [Black Templars] The Crusading Brothers of the vast Black Templars Chapter are, of course, quite diverse, as their missions take them across the span of the Imperium and beyond.  As a result, many of the Deathwatch Brothers are former Black Templars, simply because of their huge recruitment pool.  This weapon was a favored tool of the Black Templar Brother Khass, who served for eight years on Watch Fortress Shade in the 800s of M41.  Khass was a meditative but zealous warrior, who honed his craft obsessively in the firing and sparring chambers of that austere stealth platform.  When he took to the field, this finely-crafted bolter was his constant companion.  When he was recalled to his Chapter for a Crusade against the splinters of Hive Fleet Behemoth, he left the bolter behind, hoping his future Brothers could benefit from its astounding precision.

Relic Melee Weapons
•	Jovian Cutter [Deathwatch]) A one-handed Power Blade of exquisite balance.  The blade is shaped like a medieval Terran arming sword and embossed with the sigil of the Forge Moon of Gantz.  The blade was a gift from the Adeptus Mechanicus stationed there to maintain the Titans of the Legio Praesagius, after a Kill-Team from Watch Fortress Dascomb rooted out a genestealer cult that had spread among the Legio’s support staff.  The Kill-Team did not visit the moon proper; rather, the Titans had served in anti-Tyranid operations in the northern Ultima Segmentum in the same theater as the Dascomb Kill-Team.  The Kill-team’s eagle-eyed Apothecary noted the distinct symptoms of gene-bundle implantation among several of the menials the Techpriests brought with them, and averted catastrophe.  Grumbling among the Deathwatch’s Techpriests would hold it that the Gantz Tech-clergy made the gift as much as a bribe for silence over their shame in failing to detect the cult as it was a genuine offering of respect and gratitude.  Regardless, it is artificed and crafted to absurd heights of precision and durability, and often sees use by the Brothers of Dascomb in battle against the thick hide of the Ork.
•	Castigant [Deathwatch]) No Chaplain would be seen taking to the field without a Crozius Arcanum at their side, and the Castigant is unique among them.  This was the first relic bequeathed to the Watch Fortress Dascomb by visiting Marines.  The Castigant is an ancient Crozius, dating back to at least the Eighth Founding, although it is bereft of any icons or Chapter sigils.  Like most Croziuses Arcanum, the Castigant sheathes a stave in a potent energy field that disrupts matter.  Unlike most, the energy field of the Castigant can be independently modified by a technician prior to use in the field, to render the power field invisible, brilliantly glowing, sheathed in flame, sparking with electricity, or other visual effects.  This allows the weapon to be fine-tuned to the needs of a circumstance.
•	The Smith’s Glove [Deathwatch]) Many find this relic annoying.  Its performance in combat is sterling, and its Machine Spirit easily supplicated and hungry for blood, but the name is quite offensive.  The Celestial Knights Chapter, an ancient Successor of the Dark Angels, holds it to be that the Iron Hands and Salamanders had the same Primarch, a being they call The Smith.  This weapon was bequeathed as a gift from the Chapter to the Deathwatch, to help bind together their alliance against the hated Glasians, but the Knights’ insistence on naming it after a being that transparently did not exist vexes the Salamander and Iron Hands brothers of the Vigil.  In combat, however, it is extraordinarily effective, and cleaves through ceramite, titanium, plasteel, and ferrocrete as if they were not there.  Between the need to maintain close ties with the well-equipped Knights and the weapon’s admirable effectiveness, the Deathwatch shall probably not choose to change its name any time soon.
•	The Renderer [Flesh Tearers]) The Flesh Tearers Chapter of the Second Founding are a brutal force to behold in battle.  This Chainsword seems to live for the claiming of xenos blood, and can cleave through steel as if it were wood.  Hundreds of years before the Glasian Migrations, the Flesh Tearer Assault Marine Plaitel served in the expansion of the Rampart Subsector into the Cloudburst Circuit and Oldlight Exo-zone.  Such was his ferocity that even other Space Marines in the Deathwatch who served alongside him found his sheer violence unnecessary.  When he died in battle, his weapon and its matching shield, the Scarred Buckler, were left behind, and only other Flesh Tearers dare risk the ferocity of their Machine Spirits.  Any Space Marine that uses one weapon without the other risks the scorn of their matched spirits, which are temperamental and quick to avenge.
•	The Edge of Conquest [Dark Angels]) The First Legion can justly claim a longer roll of honors and glories than any other Chapter of the Emperor’s Space Marines.  From before the end of the Unification Wars to the present day, no force under arms in the Imperium has served so broadly and consistently in the van of the Emperor’s wars.  This ancient Power Sword, crafted to resemble an ancient Terran arming sword, seems to ring with the reflected glories of the secretive Chapter.  The weapon’s natural edge is itself so sharp that it could cut through more or less anything of equal or lesser hardness without effort.  When its power envelope is engaged, it can cleave through any xenos hide yet encountered.  It was abandoned at the station under less than proud circumstances, however; the Dark Angel who brought it to the Watch Station Discus left it there when he was forced to leave the station in a terrible hurry after receiving news he would not share with the rest of his Deathwatch Brothers.
•	Fang of the Sea Dragon {Space Wolves]) Whether by dint of their association with the World Eaters Traitor Legion or by their odd balance, relatively few Loyalist Space Marines make use of chainaxes.  The Space Wolves are among the few exceptions.  This great chainaxe was originally the weapon of Grey Hunter Valthor, and unlike many of the weapons in the arsenal of the Deathwatch, this weapon was not bequeathed to them by a serving Kill-marine.  Instead, the weapon was brought by Valthor from Fenris when he was seconded to the personal court of Rogue Trader Lord Auvis, who then traveled to the depths of the Cloudburst Circuit to seek riches.  Valthor died after less than one year of battle against the myriad xenos and human civilizations of the Circuit.  To avoid the Wolves’ rage, Auvis turned the weapons, armor, and body of the Space Wolf over to the Deathwatch, in the hopes that they could see to Valthor’s remains properly.  The Deathwatch were permitted to keep the weapon, on the condition that the armor and progenoid glands of the fallen Grey Hunter be returned with all possible haste.
•	Helcleaver [Iron Hands]) One of the roles of the Iron Hands Legion during the Great Crusade was to identify relics and artifacts of prior human civilizations.  Often, these archaeotechnological discoveries were useful to the Imperium, and promptly turned over to the Mechanicum for reverse-engineering or cataloging.  However, at times, they were so bizarre, dangerous, potentially Warp-tainted, or associated with humanity’s xenos enslavers that they could not be.  At those times, the Iron Hands were responsible for secreting them away in secret vaults, known only to themselves, the Custodian Guard, and certain Rogue Traders.  They were hidden by devices known as the Keys of Hel, named for a primeval Medusan goddess.  This weapon carries the same name, and originated in one such vault that was opened at the height of the Great Scouring, as the vengeful sons of Ferrus Manus chased the Night Lords to the depths of space for their role in the Isstvan Betrayals.  It is a Relic Blade, a massive Power weapon by appearance.  However, when it is activated, instead of being surrounded by an energy envelope, it instead thrums with an unnerving frequency, and somehow increases its hardness and strength to the extent that it can slip through solid ceramite as if it were air.  Superstitious Astartes mutter that the weapon was sealed away for a reason, and only the Iron Hands can wield it safely.  There is some truth to this; only those with bionic limbs can safely wield this weapon without suffering crippling headaches.  Its origins are a complete mystery.
•	Heartstealer [Space Wolves]) Many of the most famous and potent weapons of the Space Wolves are treasured relics of their Primarchs and Great Wolves, or gifts from other First Founding Legions exchanged in the aftermath of the Scouring.  This weapon is not.  This Power Bayonet, shaped like but clearly not the same as a Misericordia of the Adeptus Custodes, was found on the Space Hulk Predator, six hundred years in the past.  It was recovered by a Kill-team led by Long Fang Garreeth Icetread, on his first assignment as Squad Leader.  The weapon fits neatly to any Imperial standard Bolt Weapon larger than a pistol.  It can power up using a cell, or by plugging into a backpack power source using cable mounts that slip along flush with the receiver of the weapon, and its Power energy envelope is so fine that it can pierce Tyranid chitin or Traitor Plate with ease.  Garreeth claimed it for the Chapter, but left it on Watch Station Discus for others of the Space Wolves to use instead of having it sent to the Fang.  There is no maker’s mark on the weapon, leaving its origins unclear, but it was obviously manufactured on a Forge World, given its Adeptus Mechanicus-standardized power feed.  Quite why it was on the Predator is not clear, but given that that particular Space Hulk has now slammed into the moon of Lossos, there may be a chance for investigation, once the Genestealers are purged.
•	Portal Maker [Ultramarines]) The Deathwatch forces of the greater Tri-Sector area are not so flush with resources that all possible material needs of the Space Marines and serfs in their service can be met locally.  Especially during the period of intense construction that followed the formal establishment of the Watch Stations and Watch Fortresses of Cloudburst, huge amounts of material and equipment had to be requisitioned from those Space Marine forces that would constitute the initial secondments of Astartes.  This was among the very first weapons delivered from a Chapter to swear the Oath of Apocryphon: the Ultramarines.  With the Realm of Ultramar containing multiple Forge Worlds and Research Stations, the Adeptus Mechanicus there were able to spare this unequaled Chainfist.  The weapon is so massive that it can be used only with Terminator Armor, but it cuts through the thickest bulkhead as if it were paper, and its mighty grip can squeeze the guts out of an Ork Killa Kan without appreciable difficulty.
•	The Scion’s Knife [Black Templars]) The Black Templars are a rare Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes; their relations with the Adeptus Ministorum and Inquisition’s Ordo Hereticus are closer than most.  This is largely a result of the Templars slowly adopting many of the religious traditions of the times, rather than their founding intent; the Templars predate the adoption of the Imperial Cult by a thousand years.  This weapon’s history lies in those ancient ties.  It was forged in great haste by a Black Templars Techmarine with aid from a crafter of the Ministorum, to cut through the unnaturally resistant hide of a daemonhost, at the height of the purgation of Vaxilor Hive, over eight thousand years ago.  How the weapon fell into Deathwatch hands is unclear, although the Templars are aware of it, and have not yet requested its return.


Relic Armor
•	Antiquarian’s Plate [Deatchwatch]) Space Marine Librarians are twice-disciplined warriors; first by the training and hypno-conditioning of their Chapter, and second by the extra rigors of shielding the mind from the depredations of daemons.  More than that, a Librarian must resist temptations to use their power to influence their Brothers, mortals they encounter, or agents of the Inquisition whose agendas they dislike.  Finally, a Librarian must keep their power under control in combat, lest their abilities wreak havoc on their allies near a target.  This Mark VI Corvus Plate armor, with its integrated Psychic Hood of Master craftsmanship, represents a lifetime of labor by the Deatchwatch Epistolary Herlanides of the Red Wolves, a Chapter that has a vanishingly rare rate of induction to the Deathwatch.  Herlanides did not understand the extent to which the insidious thoughts and powers of the alien would assail his mind on his Vigil when he began it.  To his credit, he reacted to the unanticipated pressure with intense activity rather than despondency or retreat.  Together with Tech-Brother Lamartian of the Iron Hands, the two friends crafted this peerless plate, and donated it to Watch Fortress Pykman, which then provided it to Watch Fortress Dascomb upon its establishment.
•	Inexorable Slaughter [Imperial Fists]) Based in the Sol System, the Imperial Fists have long been the praetorians of the Imperial homeworld.  That does not prevent the Chapter, outfitted as they are with some of the fastest ships mankind has crafted since the Dark Age, from engaging the Emperor’s enemies as far away as the Astronomican casts its sacred light.  This magnificent suit of Assault Terminator armor, Tartaros 4b-pattern, represents the absolute peak of the Adeptus Mechanicus’s armor-crafting art.  Including an in-built Adamantine Mantle, Iron Halo, and two Lightning Claws, as well as the typical Teleport Homer of all Imperial Fist Terminators, the Inexorable Slaughter more than lives up to its lofty name.  Waves of alien weapons fire simply vanish into its impermeable defense as the bearer charges or teleports forward, claws glinting with electric arcs.  It was not gunfire that laid its wearer, First Company Veteran Dalikos of Terra, low in 876.M41.  It was, instead, a virulent alien pathogen that even his super-human biology could not counter that took his life, when his helmet seal tore during a rushed Space Hulk boarding in the Cloudburst Circuit.  He left the Tactical Dreadnought suit behind to replenish the scarce stock of the Deathwatch, with his Chapter Master’s begrudging approval.
•	The Forgemaster’s Harness [Deathwatch]) An old and priceless relic of the Deathwatch.  This suit of artificer armor, based on the Mk IV pattern but owing its lines and appearance to many origins, was designed explicitly for use by Techmarines, by one of their own.  The armor was modified to its current state in one of the very first conclaves of Deathwatch Kill-teams outside the Segmentum Solar, only a few centuries after the rampage of the Ork known as the Beast that gave rise to the Vigil’s establishment.  In that far-gone epoch, manufacturing Power Armor was less of an ordeal.  Tech-brother Osse of the Ultramarines built it himself, and crafted it to perfection.  Designed to accommodate downlinks from servo-skulls, familiars, drones, and servo-arms and harnesses, it is incredibly flexible and modular.  It is stored permanently onboard Watch Station Redshield when not in use, although it can be brought to Dascomb to outfit a team for a particular task.
•	The Hand of Defiance [Deathwatch]) The Lamenters have a long history of service to the Deathwatch, and it is marked by the same accursed luck that has defined their entire Chapter’s history.  The Chapter has been struck by everything from friendly fire accidents from other Chapters to routs from undetected Tyranid Hive Fleets.  However, they have had successes in their history, as well, and one of them involved this magnificent suit of Mk. VI Power Armor.  Formerly the armor of 2nd Company Captain Mhaedrola, the Captain once led his Company against a brutal Ork Warboss named Gitwrecka, to evacuate the Imperial Mining Worlds of the Lascorid Cluster.  Although half of the Company fell, the Lamenters were able to rescue over eighty million people using the Orbital Spires on the mining complexes, usually used to move ores to space without wasting fuel, by putting the Chapter Fleet’s shuttles on the ore cars on the space elevators.  While the Company’s Marines fought desperate battles against the greenskins on the ground, the miners were brought to hastily-requisitioned ore freighters and Astra Militarum troopships in orbit.  When Mhaedrola eventually met his end fighting the Warboss, his Company fell upon the Ork in a fiery rage, and dragged him to pieces in their fury.  The Captain’s warplate was donated to the Deathwatch, that they might benefit from the Captain’s cleverness and inspiring selflessness.
•	Stealth Suit B01 [Raptors]) The Raptors Chapter has always sought to make sure that their opponents do not see them coming, even after it is too late.  This specialized set of Scout Marine armor has the Raptors’ distinct touch.  Every component has Cameleoline thread woven into it, from the bootsoles to the interior of the hood.  Loops on the outside allow for the mounting of extra camouflage or a ghillie, while a harness of webbing permits the wearer to carry extra ammunition and supplies, above what the Marine’s belt would normally allow.  The sheer cost of the suit means that the Raptors were loathe to part with it, but they serve the Oath of Apocryphon like all other Chapters, and conceded that their Brothers in the Deathwatch would have need of stealth from time to time.
•	Silvermantle [Black Templars]) The Black Templars excel at the detection and neutralization of witches.  Over the eleven grinding millennia of their existence, the Chapter has grown by leaps and bounds, and their equipment specialization has allowed them to pursue their tasks with zeal.  This armor is the preferred raiment of the Templars in the Deathwatch of the Tri-Sector when the time comes to hunt witches, human or otherwise.  It is layered in alternating plates of ceramite, silver, and adamantine, and outfitted with extra osmotic gill packs in case the witch summons poison or water to drive off pursuers.  SIlvermantle was created by a Black Templar Tech-brother seconded to the Inquisition in the Cloudburst Conclave, and bequeathed his armor to the Deathwatch after his death.  Hexagrammatic wards turn aside witchcraft-fueled spells, while its hefty plate is proof against nearly all small arms.
•	The Faithful Son’s Hauberk [Blood Angels]) Sanguinary Priests are functionaries of their Chapter, as well as being warrior-scholars and healers.  The Sanguinary Priesthood safeguards the lineage of Sanguinius, and impress upon their brothers the utter need of the Imperium’s eternal vigil against the forces of the Heretic.  This armor was created specifically for the Sanguinary Priests in their role as the Apothecaries of the Chapter.  It is a finely-artificed suit of Mk VII Aquila armor, and has an auspex, a Narthecium, and an expanded Combat Webbing system mounted upon it directly, as well as additional laminators to better-light areas where emergency surgeries and transfusions are needed on the battlefield.  It was crafted by a Blood Angels Techmarine named Arvendroma, one hundred years after the foundation of the Watch Fortress Dascomb following the Second Glasian Migration.  Arvendroma left the armor on Watch Fortress Dascomb itself in the new Armory Cuprum, knowing any Sanguinary Priests who followed in his footsteps could benefit from it.

Relic Shields
•	Vacuum Bulwark [Deathwatch]) At one point, this tower shield was the property of the native Chapter of Space Marines, the Blue Daggers.  However, this solidly-crafted Thunder Shield changed hands when First Company Veteran Brother-Sergeant Alsterwicz gave his life to protect the sarcophagi of two downed Deathwatch Dreadnoughts that had been disabled by an EMP bomb in battle against Chaos-worshipping aliens in the Cloudburst Circuit.  In honor of his sacrifice, the Blue Daggers allowed the Deathwatch to keep his masterwork Thunder Shield, to ensure that the Vigil never forgets the hero the Chapter lost that day.
•	The Scarred Buckler [Flesh Tearers]) This shield, the mate of the celebrated Chainsword The Renderer, was left behind upon the sudden death of Assault Marine Brother Plaitel, a member of the Flesh Tearers who served on Watch Fortress Dascomb.  The Combat Shield has a reputation for being as bloodthirsty as its former wielder, and for testing itself against the Marine carrying it.  Any Space Marine who fields one item without its match may find its Machine Spirit highly displeased.
•	Dragon’s Hide [Salamanders]) Upon the world of Nocturne, home of the First Founding Chapter Salamanders and the Primarch Vulkan, the great beasts known as Drakes are a symbol of their brotherhood.  Their Veterans slay them as a rite of passage, their art features them, and their totems and fetishes on their armor feature their teeth and claws to invoke their power.  However, drakes were not always the uncontested rulers of the endless ash.  Long ago, before even the first stable human colonies, the drakes warred with the dragons, winged beasts that breathed flame and competed with the drakes for food.  The drakes won, and drove the dragons extinct.  This Storm Shield is decorated with ossified wing membranes from the ancient dragons, thanks to the near-obsessive collection of rare fossils and artefacts of his homeworld by Fire Drake Sergeant Vol’ko, who served with distinction in the repulse of the Third Glasian Migration.  The shield now sits in the Armory Cuprum after Vol’ko’s death in battle against the Aeldari Corsair Vilmax, formerly of the Elathac Craftworld.

Relic Force Fields
•	Julius’s Barrier [Ultramarines]) The many Adeptus Mechanicus facilities and Forge Worlds pacted to the Realm of Ultramar produce gigatons of war materiel for the Chapter and its nearer Successors, and more than a few pieces of it wind up in the hands of the Deathwatch.  This unique Refractor Field was the signature wargear of a brilliant Ultramarines Keeper by the name of Julius Lainsius, who served two Vigils of over forty years each in the span of only a century.  Not one given to lingering around secure facilities and protected bastions, Julius led a Kill-team of half a dozen Marines on routes between the Watch Points and Watch Stations of the Cloudburst Circuit and Sector, keeping looting aliens from stealing the precious data stored within them.  Near the end of his second Vigil, he was killed in battle against the nefarious multi-species coalition of pirates known as Doom’s Flock.  His Refractor Field was left with the Watch Fortress Dascomb Armory Cuprum, for the next Ultramarine to use, after his furious Kill-team butchered an entire pirate crew to get it back.
•	The Halo of Ash [Storm Wardens]) The cold and weather-wracked home of the Storm Wardens is a place of mystery, barbarism, and long tradition, which neatly reflects much of the Imperium at large.  This unique Iron Halo, the life’s work of the Master of the Armory of the Chapter in 643.M41, Donnadh mac Lorvens, was left on the Watch Station Discus as part of a bequeathment.  Donnadh gave the astoundingly powerful Iron Halo, his pride and joy, on the Watch Station for any other members of his Chapter to use, to keep them safe when they were so far from home.  Techpriests of the Deathwatch secondment have observed with awe that it can absorb amounts of punishment that would shatter a Cataphractii Tactical Dreadnought Suit, while drawing only fractionally more power than a typical Iron Halo.  How this was done, even Donnadh was not entirely sure; his machine contained the results of many trials he could not replicate.
•	Celestial Fence [Deathwatch]) This is no mere Force Field Generator.  This backpack-mounted combination of power cell, storage chamber, and energy barrier is a unique upgrade kit for a Space Marine Power Armor set.  Although it is only compatible with Marks IV through VIII Power Armor, this is little trouble, since Watch Fortress Dascomb has no older Marks.  The kit was supplied to the Watch Fortress by the Space Marine armory on Cognomen, from its archaeotech Castle of the Forges.  This was done to commemorate the beginning of the Deathwatch posting in the Sector on Watch Fortress Dascomb, since the Techpriesthood of Cognomen was relying on the Deathwatch to aid them in fighting off the alien threats of the Sector, and in securing the Cloudburst Circuit.  The Celestial Fence acts as an ammunition feed for any belt- or cable-fed weapon, such as a multimelta or heavy bolter, as well as providng Iron Halo levels of protection.

Relic Vehicles and Starships
•	The Mountebank [Deathwatch]) Named for a legendary trickster from Old Terran storytelling, this Land Raider Ares was a long-term loan from the Celestial Knights Chapter to the Deathwatch.  Given the Chapter’s secretive and ancient traditions, a loan such as this is somewhat out of character for them.  However, the Chapter believes that the possibility of Cloudburst’s spinward edge being overrun, and the perilous Naxos borders severed from behind, is large enough that the Deathwatch there deserves this rare prize.  This mighty tank sports two twin-linked heavy flamers, a twin-linked Assault Cannon, a Siege Shield, a Demolisher Cannon, extra armor plating, a pintle-mounted Storm Bolter, and a full complement of missile and smoke capsule dischargers.  Its sheer armored bulk is sufficient to withstand all but the heaviest Glasian weapons.
•	Hatred’s Eye [Deathwatch]) This tiny satellite is disguised as a ruptured Imperial Licensed Cargo storage container.  If it were as it appeared to be, it would be one of untold hundreds of trillions of identical steel boxes, fourteen meters wide and six deep.  It is large enough to detect with navigation sensors, small enough to not be worth shooting, and common enough to not be remotely worth salvaging.  Inside its camouflaged exterior, however, sits a state-of-the-faith observation camera, with high-resolution topographic scanners, thermal and wind pattern analysis cogitators, a radio antenna, and an expensive fusion bottle, of the sort more usually found in Inquisitorial Power Armor.  Standard doctrine for Cloudburst Deathwatch is to pay a freighter Captain to discharge this satellite ‘accidentally’ in orbit over a world on which the Deathwatch needs to spy to pick out the ideal landing site for future covert actions.  They then retrieve it with whatever ship they use to depart when their holy task is complete, with none the wiser. Fletching and Dart [Deatchwatch]) A matched pair of Corvus Blackstars, and the most heavily armed aircraft of their size in the Cloudburst Sector.  These two dropships are the product of Adeptus Mechanicus ingenuity.  When the Deathwatch needed to insert four Kill-Teams and a pair of Bikes into the rear of a Glasian formation in the Sixth Migration, they knew that speed and maneuverability would not be enough.  They needed to be able to provide withering cover fire for the Kill-Teams as they inserted into the target zone.  Thus, the Adepts of Watch Fortress Dascomb undertook the task of radically overhauling two of their precious Blackstars.  The two ships mount a twin-linked Assault Cannon, two Blackstar Cluster Launchers, two missile launchers, and two Hurricane Bolters each.  The extra weapons are heavy, and the craft have shorter operational range because of high fuel costs and the reduced on-board storage for fuel thanks to the larger ammunition wells, but the sheer volume of fire they can discharge into a landing zone make them well worth the cost for short-range operations.
•	The Chariot [Deatchwatch]) Despite not being a frontline combat vehicle in any way, the Chariot is a treasured relic of the Deathwatch.  Originally, the Aurora Chapter donated this Damocles Rhino to the Deathwatch for temporary use in prosecuting the Fourth Glasian Migration, but after seeing its incredible value therein, decided to turn the loan into a gift.  Although the vehicle has no unusual armaments, it does benefit from having the fullest variety of sensory and communication technotheology the Adeptus Mechanicus still knows how to build crammed into its hull.  That allows the Space Marine operating its dispatch center to coordinate whole companies of Marines and other forces with ease.  When patched into a satellite or starship overhead, the Chariot can easily contact any ship or formation in range, all the way down to a single solder, and provide full telemetry to them for coordinating fire missions or timed ambushes.  It also benefits from a Flare Shield, perhaps the last operational one in the Galactic North, a secret that only the Aurora Chapter and Forgemaster Asutori know.  Asutori is so determined to prevent its existence from becoming known to the Imperium’s enemies that he has authorized its use only if the alternative is the loss of the vehicle outright.
•	The Benefaction of Silence [Deathwatch] Under typical circumstances, Imperial vessels use many exterior lights and sensors to illuminate their foes.  Some Imperial Commanders even specifically mount as many lights on their ships and stations as they can, to drive their overwhelming presence into the sight of the foe.  The Deathwatch typically does not; its numbers are never high enough to draw too much attention.  When the Deathwatch employs ships capable of Warpflight, they tend to be stealthy, small, and fast.  The Benefaction of Silence is a prime example of stealth, but it is not small.  The largest Deathwatch ship in the Tri-sector, the Cloudburst Circuit, and the nearby reaches of the Exo-zone, this Strike Cruiser has an average loadout of armaments and defense, but its engines are tuned to minimal emissions, it keeps its lights off, and its communications systems are heavily encrypted.  The ship makes port at Watch Fortress Dascomb, and is Captained by Keeper Gaius.

Relic Items, Tools, Wargear, and Imperial Icons
•	Ghost Finder [Deathwatch]) The Deathwatch holds the unhappy responsibility of second contact with many alien races, if the first contact was found to merit the race’s extinction.  While no Brother of the Deathwatch would be anything but pleased to see xenos species rendered extinct, the first contact with hostile aliens is rarely one that allows the Imperium of Man a detailed understanding of those aliens’ strengths, numbers, anatomical features, and other combat factors.  The auspex known as Ghost Finder was designed specifically for the Deathwatch and built on the Forge World of Cognomen for the purpose of scanning and recording the most expansive and esoteric information about any possible life form.  This model of auspex was originally designed by the Raven Guard, and has proliferated slowly to the Forge Worlds that supply the Deathwatch over the centuries.  Bulkier than usual but quite robust, Ghost Finder can track any object the user manually confirms to be a life-form, through walls, water, total darkness, sub-zero temperatures, and even hard vacuum.  The machine tirelessly records data about whatever is tagged as a life-form, in rich detail, and serves thusly as a cataloguer as well as a tool of battle.  After all, the Deathwatch is usually the first organization to whom Rogue Traders and Inquisitors turn when an alien race suddenly reappears after being declared extinct, and it would not do for the Deathwatch to be lacking information about defeated foes.
•	Tome of Hatred [Deathwtch]) This book was donated to the Watch Fortress Dascomb by a pair of Emperor’s Falchions Chaplains who were invited to the Fortress specifically for a mission.  Among the very first missions undertaken by direct Inquisitorial request after Dascomb was finished and set in its place, it was an unqualified failure that saw millions slaughtered by ravenous alien marauders from a mongrel fleet of multi-racial spacers, driven mad by exposure to Warp energies from the Terminus Shock Warp Storms.  After the mission, the two Chaplains together crafted this metal-clad book of prayers, historical anecdotes, tactical advice, and doctrinal chastisements for the Deathwatch to encourage and enable success in later missions.  This book instills a certain superstition in the Marines who see it, thanks to its ugly history and biting tone of critical recrimination, towards any Marine who would deserve the recitation of its contents in the field.  Marines in Kill-teams whose Chaplain feels the need to bring along this book fight like men possessed.
•	Angel’s Sacrament [Blood Angels and Successors]) Nearly all Space Marine Chapters have retained the ability to collect knowledge about their enemies through the consumption of their flesh.  While implant atrophy has reduced this function for some, the majority can still employ the Omophagea.  For the Blood Angels, this function has risen to a near-necessity, and for some of their Successors, it has risen yet more.  To aid in the battlefield medical treatment of wounded Blood Angels, who in their injury or the crushing of foes may be driven to heightened need for blood, this unique Narthecium and injector was created by Sanguinary Priest and gifted artist Paxus Arkria, a proud son of Baal.  Constructed to the highest possible standards of durability and sterilization, engraved with over two thousand tiny images and runes depicting the sanctity of Sanguinius, and compatible with every mass-produced model of Apothecary and Sanguinary Priest armor, this tool can be used in its traditional role of gene-seed retrieval as well as allowing for pressurized blood transfusion.
•	The Crusader’s Labors [Deathwatch]) Many Space Marines find their proper place in their home Chapter on Imperial Crusades.  These massive military endeavors include anywhere from a few million to hundreds of billions of ground troops, tens of millions of sailors, and untold millions of others, who band together under a charismatic leader to expand – or reclaim, or purge – a region of space for the Imperium.  The Deathwatch rarely accompanies these Crusades, and even more rarely takes orders from their Warmasters and Lords Militant, but it has happened.  During the Purity Circle Crusade in the Naxos Sector, in the final years of M40, dozens of Nauphry, Celeste, Septiim, Maskos, Thimble, and Cassie’s World regiments were tithed up, and were joined by Space Marines from every Tri-Sector body, including the Deathwatch.  The Crusade flew into the much-contested Corumbino Nebula in the heart of the Naxos Sector, and whole worlds burned.  This prayer book was written by Codicier Lang of the White Consuls, who recorded all of his musings within.  A gifted psyker and profound monastic thinker, Lang was a natural at writing prose that suits the focused mind of a Space Marine.  His Book of Labors, dictating fifteen years of meditating upon the Chaos-corrupted minds and souls of the aliens in the thrall of Nurgle he fought in the Crusade, are a source of incredible wisdom for those who read its flowing, natural prose.
•	The Crystaline Specter [Deathwatch]) The Fifth Glasian Migration was the most destructive of all those that occurred after the Blue Daggers were founded.  The Glasians amassed their forces into three massive assault groups into four or five as the previous ones had.  The planet Letrione suffered an unprecedented number of fatalities in the Migration; over nine million people died by the end of the planetary invasion phase alone.  At the heart of the Glasian Colony Cylinder that the Blue Daggers boarded, the Daggers found something they had not encountered before.  The Glasians had apparently looted a human, but non-Imperial space station on their way into the Cloudburst Sector, because the Cylinder contained this piece of distinctly human archaeotech.  It is a data-crystal, apparently uncorrupted by Chaos.  When it grows near a source of Warp-energies, such as an active psyker or a Warp Drive, the crystal emits strange, spectral glows and patterns.  The Deathwatch took possession of the crystal at the Daggers’ own insistence, but have had no luck in determining its actual function.

Imperial Assets
Hypothetically, any agent of the Imperium that had urgent need to collect supplies, manpower, ships, equipment, or other assets could acquire them if they had sufficient clearance.  Of course, proving urgent need is challenging.  The Imperial bureaucracy is large and slow to rouse.  However, a Rogue Trader, Imperial Guard regimental Colonel, Space Marine task force, Deathwatch Kill-team, or Inquisitorial Throne Agent Acolyte force could use the power of their office to collect or waylay such assets as needed.

•	Containment Regiment) Imperial Guard forces are typically raised in response to a need elsewhere in the Imperium.  Some are raised for Crusades, others to repulse alien invasions, and most to respond to loss of Imperial control over adjacent star systems.  However, some regiments are raised specifically to prevent loss of stability in the first place.  The Containment Regiment is a force of the Astra Militarum that exists solely to keep aliens from escaping a landing zone (or Webway Gate, or teleporter hub) once they arrive upon an Imperial world.  These regiments are dispatched where needed by the Lords General of the Guard, who use them to shore up the defenses of worlds where an incursion by aliens or the landing of Roks and shuttlecraft is considered inevitable.  They are not outfitted to fight peer-level armored forces, but they aren’t supposed to: they contain enemy beachheads, and are equipped for the task.
•	Cognomen Explorators) The Forge World of Cognomen is the regional hub of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and as such, serves as local headquarters for the Astra Explorators and their fleet.  The thousands of scouts, mappers, catalogers, and archaeotech retrieval specialists of the Cognomen Explorators are eager to add to their Quest for Knowledge, and would be quite willing to join up with any force under a similar motive.
•	The Lord Admiral’s Finest) Lord Admiral Maynard of the Cloudburst Admiralty is able to keep control of the far-flung assets of the Imperial Navy on the basis of his incredible skills at logistics, acquisitions, and delegation.  While by no means a poor commander of ships and men, Maynard’s true skill lies in the organization of warfare, and winning wars before they begin.  One could, if the need demanded, requisition a force that held those same attributes dear.  A force of the Lord Admiral’s logisticians and communication specialists could be parted from his command if needed, although their skills would not come cheap.