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Lufgt Huron, known as Huron Blackheart, was the Chapter Master of the Astral Claws. He declared himself Tyrant of Badab, and after his defeat he founded the Red Corsairs, the largest renegade warband in the Maelstrom.
He was horribly wounded at the end of the Badab War and survived only through extensive bionic reconstruction, which earned him the name Blackheart. From his fortress in the Maelstrom he rules a pirate realm. His Red Corsairs welcome deserters and renegades from loyalist Chapters, and steal gene-seed to grow their numbers. Lufgt Huron was Chapter Master of the Astral Claws and self-declared Tyrant of Badab in the Maelstrom Zone. He refused the Imperium's demands, and the Badab War followed. When the war was nearly lost he was critically wounded. He survived, rebuilt with bionics, fled into the Maelstrom and founded the Red Corsairs, now one of the largest renegade forces in the galaxy. Early sources called his Chapter the Tiger Claws, which is a known retcon.
Origins
The Astral Claws were one of the Chapters guarding the Maelstrom. Huron seized the chance to become a regional power after crushing a coup on Badab Primaris.
Under Huron the Astral Claws kept the Maelstrom Zone secure. In the decades before the war, he consolidated power over the Badab Sector, withheld tithes and gene-seed from the Imperium, and drew nearby Chapters into his secession. The Badab War that followed set loyal Space Marines against each other for over a decade.
Most records of the Astral Claws were destroyed under the Inquisition's Edict of Obliteration, but surviving fragments say that Lufgt Huron first came to notice as a Scout Novitiate late in the Ribos Crusade. He was unusually skilled in the tactical use of firepower and rose quickly, first to the 3rd Company and then to the Veterans of the 1st, where he commanded warriors with far more experience than himself. In 587.M41 an Edict Imperialis assigned several Chapters permanently to the Maelstrom Zone as the Maelstrom Warders. The Astral Claws were honoured with a place among them and took an orbital battle station in the Badab system as their fortress-monastery. In 715.M41 his peers acclaimed Huron Chapter Master, the youngest in the Chapter's history.
Key events
- Crushed a failed coup on Badab Primaris and turned the Badab sector into his domain.
- Withheld gene-seed tithes from the Mechanicus and refused imperial demands, triggering the Badab War.
- Was defeated and grievously wounded during the war; his followers escaped into the Maelstrom.
- Rebuilt himself with heavy augmetics and created the Red Corsairs.
- Supported Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade, demanding one of the Blackstone Fortresses as payment.
The road to secession was slow. His request for more Chapters, or even a new Founding, to garrison the Maelstrom was dismissed without a full hearing. From the mid-700s.M41 the Astral Claws' gene-seed tithes to the Mechanicus became sporadic and incomplete. Investigators later found that his Apothecarion had been experimenting with rapid zygote cultivation, and that the Chapter had grown to around 3,500 battle-brothers, more like a Legion of old. The dispute over tithe and Astartes privilege, the Badab Schism, lasted well over a century and a half before it turned into open war. After Badab he took his revenge. On Vilamus he destroyed the Marines Errant's gene-seed stocks, dooming the Chapter to a slow death. At Parenxes he killed Wolf Lord Gnyrll Bluetooth and seized the strike cruiser Wolf of Fenris. To ambush Battlefleet Aquinas as it mustered above Oldarian, he dropped out of the warp in the dead space far from the system so that his arrival would not be detected.
Battles & campaigns
- The Badab War: His rebellion against the Imperium ended in the fall of the Palace of Thorns.
- The Maelstrom: As Huron Blackheart, he built the Red Corsairs from renegades.
- Era Indomitus raids: The Red Corsairs strike Imperial worlds out of the Maelstrom.
Personality
Charismatic, tyrannical and ambitious, he sees himself as a king rather than a slave of the gods.
He sees himself as a ruler, not a servant, and he resents any authority that would limit him. He is pragmatic in his dealings with the Chaos Gods, offering them service in exchange for power without fully surrendering to them. His charisma attracts followers, but his paranoia and ruthlessness keep them in line.
Weapons & Vehicles
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A master-crafted blade sheathed in a crackling molecular disruption field that parts ceramite, bone and steel with effortless lethality…
The signature .75-calibre rocket-propelled mass-reactive firearm of the Adeptus Astartes, firing self-propelled explosive bolts that de…
Traitor veterans in ancient, warp-twisted Tactical Dreadnought Armour who serve as their lord's brutal enforcers and take first pick of…
Chaos Dreadnoughts whose entombed pilots have been driven insane, combining tank-like firepower with psychopathic fury.
Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.
Connections
Characters (5)
Cypher enemy · The FallenCypher helped Guilliman and his fellow captives escape from Huron's Blackstone Fortress.
Roboute Guilliman enemy · UltramarinesGuilliman was held prisoner aboard Huron's Blackstone Fortress during the Terran Crusade before escaping.
Abaddon the Despoiler bargain · Black LegionHuron raided the Imperium alongside the 13th Black Crusade in exchange for one of Abaddon's two Blackstone Fortresses.
Kairos Fateweaver ally · Chaos DaemonsKairos aided Huron's lieutenant Verngar in capturing Guilliman during the Terran Crusade.
Factions
- Red Corsairs primary faction
- White Scars enemy Huron's forces overran the Yasan Sector and besieged Chogoris, homeworld of the White Scars.
Related units (3)
Some links are thematic parallels (marked "parallel") rather than recorded meetings. See the connections web.
Legacy
Huron Blackheart turned the Astral Claws into the Red Corsairs and made the Maelstrom a haven for renegades. His rebellion, the Badab War, showed how loyalist Chapters could fall. His fleet still raids the Imperium from the Maelstrom. The war that should have ended Huron instead made him a pirate king.
Appearances & sources
- Imperial Armour Volumes 9–10: The Badab War
- White Dwarf 101 (UK): first appearance as Lugft Huron
- Codex: Chaos Space Marines background