If the Faculty is the brain of the Chain, the Shard of His Imperial Mercy is its fist.

An ancient Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes, the Shard — formally the Shard of His Imperial Mercy, although Shard of Imperial Mercy and Shard of the Emperor’s Mercy are also found in its records — is a small, shipborne force devoted to the recovery and accession of dangerous relics.

The Shard was not always so specialised. Its origins are obscure, and surviving records suggest that it was once broadly Codex-compliant. Whether it was established as part of one of the original Legions, or descended from one of their successors, is uncertain. The remarkable quantity of Horus Heresy and earlier-era equipment, or fragments of it, retained within the Chapter lends some weight to the former possibility.

Over the millennia, however, the Shard’s purpose has narrowed. It has operated increasingly in concert with the Inquisition, particularly against the forces of Chaos, recovering weapons, armour, devices and other artefacts for the custody of the Chain. They may be examined, archived, preserved or destroyed. Sometimes they are employed again.

Accession

The Faculty seeks to understand relics: their provenance, nature and properties, and ultimately whether they should be preserved or destroyed. The Shard is concerned with what comes next.

Can this thing be used?

For the Shard, accession is not simply the recovery of dangerous artefacts. It is the purpose of the operation. Weapons, armour and devices taken from Chaos are brought into Imperial service where they can be employed, studied or held until their use is determined.

This has shaped the Chapter itself. The Shard maintains an unusually large Librarius, a strong assault arm and a small cadre of ancient Terminators suited to boarding and recovery operations. Its armouries contain an uncommon proportion of Heresy-era equipment, alongside a disturbing quantity of weapons and armour recovered from renegade and Chaos forces.

The Council of Mercy

The senior officers of the Shard are collectively known as the Council of Mercy. It is less a standing council than an inherited office: a distinction accorded to those whose responsibilities extend beyond command of the Chapter and into the deeper duties of the Chain. Its composition is not fixed, and other offices may be called to the Council as the needs of the Shard and the Chain require.

Huron, Master of the Shard

His weapons are no less distinctive. The lightning claws are old Shard relics, maintained and modified across generations of artificers; the Grimoire of True Names is older still. Purity seals and scraps of parchment hang from his armour, some placed there for protection, others for reasons known only to the Librarians who have tended them.

Huron is not merely an Astartes. He represents something close to the furthest edge of what the Apothecaries, artificers and martial culture of the Adeptus Astartes can make of a human being. Centuries of experience. Thousands of missions. Uncountable glimpses into the abyss.

And still Huron remains singularly, obdurately focused upon the same purpose:

the de-fanging of the Immaterium.

The Chief Librarian

Alongside the Master, the Librarian bears the heaviest burdens of the Shard. It is he who is responsible for the identification and accession of daemonic artefacts, and who must spend his life tentatively, carefully plumbing the depths of the Ruinous Powers’ tendrils within reality.

As head of the Shard’s substantial Librarium, he draws upon an unfathomably old tradition and records of profound depth. If the Faculty holds an exquisite, ordered palace of cataloguing, the Shard sits within a swirling storm of myth, legend and folk history, with currents and gusts running across the ages. The Chief Librarian knows how to read these winds, and must chart a course through them for the safety of his Chapter and the Imperium.

It is by his authority that the Brotherhood of the Shard adorn their armour with salvaged fragments of abandoned, purified Chaos weapons and armour. He oversees the purgation ceremonies, the cladding, the binding and the sealing.

Just as the Master holds responsibilities jointly with the Lord Inquisitor, so too the Chief Librarian has duties that extend across the Chain. The process of accession, and the safe custodianship of chaotic artefacts and entities throughout the Chain, falls within his purview.

He is not one of the Three, but he is a link between them, sharing in the terrible burdens and moral compromises demanded by the Chain’s ceremonies and traditions.

The Askar

The Shard does not organise its fighting strength according to the conventional companies and battlefield roles of a Codex Chapter. The Shard’s fighting strength is organised into a handful of Askar, formations whose composition reflects the Chapter’s particular methods of war rather than the prescriptions of the Codex. Askar are themselves split into component Fasil, which are often the equivalent of a Squad.

Shock Askar

Master of the Shard · Chaplain · Assault Fasil · Vanguard Fasil · Assault Scouts

The Shock Askar are often led into battle by the Chapter Master and Chaplain, and include the Vanguard Fasil, the elite of the Shard’s fighting strength. Supported by Assault Fasil and Assault Scouts, they use speed and concentrated violence to seize the initiative, break open the enemy’s position and create the opportunity for the Contact Askar to reach the asset.

Control Askar

Librarian · Apothecary · Tactical Fasil · Devastator Fasil · Sniper Scout Fasil

The Control Askar establish and maintain the Shard’s control of the accession site. Tactical Fasil secure approaches and positions, Devastators suppress resistance, and Sniper Scouts watch for threats that might disrupt the operation. Their task is to make the battlefield predictable enough for the Contact Askar to do its work.

Hammer Askar

Dreadnought + Land Raider + Rhino + Razorbacks + Hound + Sicaran + Vindicator + Chevalier Marchal + Sicarian Attendant

Contact Askar

Terminator Fasil + Senior Librarian in Terminator Armour