Zardu Layak

Zardu Layak, better known by his epithet as the "Crimson Apostle," was a Dark Apostle and the ambitious commander of the Chapter of the Unspeaking of the Word Bearers Legion during the latter years of the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras in the late 30th and early 31st Millennia.

During the Battle of Calth, the Crimson Apostle Zardu Layak and his Ashen Circle destroyer units were charged with enacting some of the worst civilian massacres of the opening hours of the battle.

This Chapter was known to have largely retreated from the planet's surface during the final hours of the war, and would go onto further infamy in the Shadow Crusade.

Layak eventually went on to become one of the Primarch Lorgar's closest confidantes during the Horus Heresy before betraying his plans to overthrow Horus as the Warmaster of Chaos to lead the Siege of Terra himself.