Hargrave,

It is with profound honor that I report to you this evening, for I have had the pleasure of meeting with, and fighting alongside, some of the most devoted soldiers of the Imperium that I have ever come to know. They are, as far as I am able to tell, completely unknown. They call themselves the Knights of the Stormrider.

Knights of the Stormrider is a Space Marine chapter hailing from a small rocky, desert planet just inside the Eye of Terror. Yes, inside. They have existed for centuries, though their origins were lost in the sands of time. I believe them to be offshoots of the Dark Angels, but even the chapters Force Commander will not admit this. For all intents and purposes, they are their own force now and should be recognized as such by the Imperium.

At the head of the chapter stands The Stormrider. His true name forgotten, even to him, this name was given to him by his subjects after leading them into the Eye of Terror in pursuit of a chaos fleet, and out again to safety. His capital ship and most of his fleet destroyed by warp storms and other daemonic activity, his navigators dead, he took control of the ship himself and lead his fleet to a small planet known as Alurzia. Marooned, with no hope of escaping the warp storms surrounding this world with their battered fleet, they resolved to do their duty and found a new chapter dedicated to fighting the fell Chaos powers that not only stranded them there, but relentlessly attacked them.

Alurzia was home to Exodite Eldar for ages, until an Ulthwe settlement took up residence there with their feral brethren and "modernized" them, creating a strong unified society. When the Stormrider arrived, there was much concern with the Eldar community, but after years of barrages by Chaos forces, the two races have come to know each other well, and have formed a great alliance there against Chaos and other invaders. Though, trouble may break out between them from time to time, both armies know that they are on that world for a reason, they have a job to do, and they are better off allies instead of enemies.

It was thought that Cadia was the closest planet to the Eye of Terror, and until recently Alurzia was totally unknown to the Imperium. It seems only the Eldar and some forces of Chaos knew of its existence. The planet was sucked into the Eye of Terror during what the Eldar refer to as "The Fall", though not far enough to be corrupted, which could also be due the warp storms surrounding the world "cloaking" it from almost all forms of detection.

With recent activity in the Eye of Terror, it seems these storms have begun to subside and thus the planet was discovered. Scouting missions were in the midst of being planned when the Knights suddenly made their appearance to the Imperium in one of their first battles off of their planet or Alurzia's surrounding airspace. During a siege of the city Unity IV on Cadia, in which I also took a part, just as the forces of chaos were set to overrun us, the Knights appeared from the rear of the Chaos battle lines, ripping their forces asunder in a hail of bolter fire, with thunder hammers and lightning claws tearing through the Chaos regiments, shouting "Glory to the Emperor! Victory to the Stormrider!". This was one of their first forays out of the Eye of Terror, as their fleet has finally reached the capacity to make war in space once again.

I must admit, such fierce battle cries their love of battle reminded me of Khornate followers, perhaps due to their exposure to the eye of terror and/or having Khorne's minions as rivals for so long. I am currently deeply probing this issue, but as of yet I have found no real sign of chaos taints in either the officers or soldiers. As I have stated, they are, in all respects, devoted to the Emperor and the Imperium, bordering on fanatical.

The Stormrider commands every battle. He is always present with his men. All that is known of his former identity is that he survived the Horus Heresy, at least he and his Knights claim this to be true. His battlefield retinue always consists of Apothecary Hale, Techmarine Bramos and Cullum, the Knight's Standard Bearer. Also joining him are Purifier Shaw and his squad of Purifiers who seem to be veteran marines, all armed with Storm Bolters. To this day he still wears a venerable suit of MK2 Crusader power armor, which served more of a ceremonial function at first. He was clad in this armor when the Chaos attack began which inevitably brought him and his fleet to Alurzia. Purifier Shaw is also dressed in outdated armor, donning the ancient MK4 "Maximus" armor.

How they could have lived so long is unknown, but under investigation. My first theory is simply that their world, while hidden by the "warp storms" and inside the Eye of Terror, have somehow been captured in time. What may have seemed like several decades to them, truly passed as several centuries to us. Many of their vehicles, and suits of power armor, are older. Such as their golden Mk 1 Predator tanks, in addition to Landspeeders and Attack Bikes that have long since been retired in Imperial standards, all of which appear and run as good as new. Another theory is simply that The Stormrider is what their leader is known as, and is not one man. When the current Stormrider retires or dies, his armor and weapons are passed on to the marine most worthy. I plan to study these issues much more in depth as I continue my stay with these proud warriors.

The army is clad in black, with gold trim, with the exception of tactical dreadnought armor and rhino-variant vehicles, which are mostly gold. I wondered if these colors were chosen due to the "Grand Alliance with the Eldar", as this Ulthwe settlement is clad in primarily black and yellow. However this has not been proven and none of the Knights will confirm this.

Most tactical marines are armed with the standard bolter, however most officers are known to carry storm bolters. In keeping with the "storm" theme, specialist troops are armed with storm bolters, lightning claws, storm shields, thunder hammers and most terminators carry cyclone missile launchers.

As they have been cut off from the rest of the galaxy for so long, the chapter has developed many survival tactics not normally seen by most chapters. For instance, most squad leaders do not wield better weapons than their squad brothers, but instead arm themselves with apothecary’s narthecium or a techmarine’s servo-arm. They act as field medics or on-the-spot repair technicians to keep their small numbers alive and well, and their vehicles from failing on the battlefield.

Despite such survival tactics, the Knights exhibit such a show of loyalty to their leader, that they will do anything to spare his life. On the battlefield I personally witnessed 3 different marines literally throw themselves in front of him to keep him from being shot. These 3 brave marines have unfortunately died, making what the other Knights refer to as the Ultimate Sacrifice, apparently one of the highest honors among them.

Aside from their alliance with the Eldar, there is no question in my mind that the Knights of the Stormrider are true to the Emperor and want nothing more than victory in His name. The Stormrider has a special hatred for all things Chaos, and against such forces he inspires his troops on the battlefield with his own acts of valor and bravery. As what is now one of the Imperium’s first outposts inside the Eye of Terror, they have thwarted many raids that would have penetrated deep into other systems, without us even knowing.

Though in many cases the mere thought of venturing into the Eye could be gravely punished within the Inquisition, I feel that this is truly a special case. I will be staying with the Knights for another 4 days, before they are ready to break off from their orbit above Cadia and head home. I will learn all that I am able to in this time. They have invited me to return with them, but I respectfully declined, at least until I can receive your response.

Yours in service,

--Logan