Sable is an Imperial world located in the Imperium Nihilus region of the Segmentum Ultima. Sable was recently liberated in the Era Indomitus from occupation by the Ten Thousand Eyes warhost of Chaos Space Marines by the awakened Primarch Lion El'Jonson of the Dark Angels and The Risen, those among the Fallen Angels that the primarch has personally forgiven.
Sable has since joined the Lion's Protectorate, the alliance of Imperial planets under the direct protection of the returned primarch.
History[]
Chronomancy[]
Centuries before the birth of the Great Rift, the leaders of Sable were executed by the Space Marines of the Blood Angels Chapter after they were discovered seeking to unravel the heretical secrets of chronomancy, using technology to alter the flow of time itself.
Liberation from Chaos[]
In the Era Indomitus, Sable was one of the Imperial worlds conquered by the Heretic Astartes of the Ten Thousand Eyes warhost under the command of the Fallen Angel and Sorcerer Lord Seraphax in the Imperium Nihilus region of the Segmentum Ultima.
After the Primarch Lion El'Jonson first awakened after millennia of dreamless sleep beneath The Rock and began to move across the galaxy once more through the sub-realm of the Immaterium he saw as Mirror-Caliban, his first destination was the world of Camarth in the Imperium Nihilus. There he met and forgave several of the Fallen who had been cast to that world through time and space by the Dark Gods after the destruction of the Dark Angels' homeworld of Caliban. With the aid of these Astartes, now called The Risen, the Lion obliterated the garrison of Ten Thousand Eyes Chaos Space Marines who had captured the citadel of Redmoon Keep from a detachment of the Ruby Crescents Chapter.
Yet, rather than fear at the sudden emergence of a primarch to oppose his schemes, Seraphax welcomed Lion El'Jonson's return, for he saw it as an opportunity to carry out a plan to ensure the Emperor's ultimate victory over Chaos. Seraphax lured the Lion to Sable in the Imperium Nihilus, not far from Camarth, by having his Ten Thousand Eyes warhost butcher much of that world's population, knowing that this massacre of the innocent would eventually draw the primarch to oppose him.
When the primarch arrived at Sable through Mirror-Caliban as expected, Seraphax was able to capture him by binding the Lion in psychic chains summoned by his sorcery. Seraphax revealed to the captive El'Jonson his grand plan to save Humanity -- he would force the Lion's soul from his body and then use his sorcerous powers to take control of the primarch's corpse as his undead puppet. Using the Lion's return as a pretext for the second returned Loyalist primarch to gain an audience with the Emperor on Terra, Seraphax would use that audience to have his puppet strike down the Master of Mankind upon the Golden Throne, which would finally free Him from His chains of flesh to fully ascend as a new god in the Warp. Fully ascended, Seraphax believed that the Emperor would then possess the power to both destroy the Chaos Gods and all of the remaining xenos threats to Humanity in the galaxy, such as the Tyranids and Orks.
However, once the ritual of soul-banishment began, the Lion was able to resist its effects long enough for The Risen, the Fallen Angels he had met on his journeys and whose crimes he had forgiven, to arrive and assault the Ten Thousand Eyes on Sable, eventually disrupting the ritual and allowing the primarch to free himself.
During the combat between the Lion and the crazed Sorcerer Lord that ensued, Seraphax called upon the Warp to transform himself into a bestial mutant form, but was slain by his own lieutenant Baelor who stabbed him from behind. Baelor was a Fallen Angel himself, who saw the return of his primarch as a chance to gain his own redemption and become one of The Risen. He also saw Seraphax's mutation in his fight with the primarch as the final proof he needed that his friend had fallen too far to the corruption of Chaos to be allowed to survive.
After Seraphax's death, Baelor asked for and received the forgiveness of the Lion, joining the ranks of The Risen for a short time. However, Baelor's body was slowly degrading under the influence of the Daemonsword Seraphax had gifted him long before, so he requested and the Lion granted him the quick and noble release of the Emperor's Peace.
Sable was restored to its surviving people and became part of the Lion's Protectorate in the Imperium Nihilus. The warhost of the Ten Thousand Eyes were scattered with the loss of their leaders, its survivors fleeing off-world.
Sources[]
- Honours (Short Story) by James Swallow, pg. 3
- Codex: Astra Militarum (8th Edition), pg. 17
- The Lion: Son of the Forest (Novel) by Mike Brooks, Chs. 28-30