Diabolus Ex Nihilo
"...And I heard the voice in the midst of thunder saying 'Come and See,' and I saw,
And I beheld the Children of Men bearing terrible weapons while the eight-fold star was trampled at their feet,
And the fourth seal shattered and the beast did cower in new-forged chains,
The Ancient Seraphs bore witness their wings dipped in blood, and the lamentations were mighty as They That Can Not Die were cast down,
And the Voice in the Abyss spoke again saying 'It is Done'..."
The Ordo Malleus. The oldest of the Ordos whose origin can be traced back to the primary concern post Horus Heresy. Its members act as the bulwark of humanity against The Enemy Beyond. They face foes of immense power that the merest glimpse of will send the weak willed careening into madness and damnation. They face the mortal servants that wield weapons of darkness, vile sorcery, and seek to bring forth and harness the powers of their dark masters. The Ordo Malleus is often all that stands between the Archenemy and the Imperium. A single failure could mean the damnation of entire worlds.
Just as Malleus is the oldest of the Ordos, Xanthism is perhaps the most ancient and entrenched radical faction. It finds its highest membership within the ranks of the Daemonhunters, and indeed the greatest tolerance. While more Puritan Inquisitors would destroy the dark weapons of their enemies, Xanthites seek to turn them against their foes with the expectation that they can do so unscathed. Many a Chaos worshiper once had similar thoughts, that they could harness the powers of Chaos and be protected by their strength of wills. Yet even Inquisitors have met such a fate, turned by the powers they sought to control to destroy that which they wanted to protect, their path to damnation paved by their good intentions.
