The History and Legacy of Dorn's Betrayal

[Aurelius Rex]

With half an hour to spare, the Night Lord article is here! This is one I have been looking forward to since the start, and yet was one of the biggest challenges. Reading back through their GW IA, I must say that Phil Kelly did an amazing job! It is a real high-water mark for the GW IA's, and a tall order to present them in this alternate form. :eek Thanks as always to everyone who gave me feedback and ideas this time, especially Sigismund Himself and Ace Debonair. Hopefully I even spelled his name right this time. OK, hope you enjoy it! Now to sleep for a week! :huh:

 

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Index Astartes: Night Lords

 

The Dornian Heresy

 

Midnight clad, and wielding fear as a weapon, the Night Lords haunt the dark places of the Imperium. They do this not to hide from the light of justice, but because that is where those who would seek to harm the Emperor’s subjects are to be found. Since the time of their Primarch, Konrad Curze, the Night Lords have been guided by visions of the darkest of futures which they are driven to avert, even at the cost of their own lives. By their blood and sacrifice the Imperium of Mankind has been kept safe from rebellions, xenos invasions and betrayals without number.

 

Origins

T

he arrival of the infant primarchs changed each of their homeworlds forever, but few have been transformed so profoundly for the better than the planet of Nostramo. The place the Primarch of the Eighth Legion found as he emerged from his incubator pod was one of eternal, stygian darkness, choking pollution and endemic, institutionalised crime; descriptions which certainly do not apply to the Nostramo of the 41st millennium.

 

In the revered, handwritten accounts of his youth, the primarch tells of how he grew up on the unlit streets of Nostramo Quintus, hiding from everyone, even the gangs of abandoned children which roamed the slums. He watched the press of humanity around him, content simply to study them, until he witnessed a family being menaced by a gang of thugs. The sight of the criminals attempting to steal the baby from its parents offended something deep inside him, and in an instant he was upon them with the only weapons he had – his nails and teeth. By the time his enemies had breathed their last, the terrified family had already fled from their blood-soaked protector. From that point on, no longer was he able to look on as injustice was perpetrated. He made it his business to put an end to such things. Those who witnessed his attacks told of a soulless creature of nightmare which stalked the shadows and wore the darkness like a cloak. For the first time he also had a name: to his prey he was the Night Haunter.

 

As he grew to maturity, he came to realise that the criminals he had been punishing had been given their orders by more powerful individuals. Over the course of a long, bloody year, the Night Haunter waged war upon the corruption which had spread its tendrils right to the top of society. From the heads of the organised crime syndicates to the law enforcement officials who had spat upon their oaths for personal gain, none were safe from his punishment; their broken bodies left for all to see as warnings to those who broke the Night Haunter’s law. Fearing for their lives, the criminals searched in vain for their tormentor. Unimaginable sums were offered for his head, or even for information, but to no avail. He had no-one, so could not be betrayed, and Nostramo contained more than enough shadows in which to hide.

 

The war was bloody, but one-sided, and eventually the criminal population was cowed into complete submission. From the alleyways of the undercity to the corridors of power, no-one dared to break the law lest they be the next to suffer the Night Haunter’s retribution. By the time Imperial Expeditions reached Nostramo, drawn initially tales of its bountiful supplies of adamantium, they found the world orderly, productive and ruled over by a being of preternatural abilities. Magnus the Red of the Thousand Sons ventured down to investigate further, and soon confirmed that another of the Emperor’s long-lost primarch sons had indeed been found.

 

In the time it took for the Emperor to reach Nostramo, Magnus bonded with his brother, and spoke in glowing terms of their father’s great quest to unite the scattered worlds of mankind under Imperial Law. With his interest in justice, this aspect held considerable appeal to the Night Haunter. In return, Magnus was fascinated to learn that his brother was gifted by brief flashes of precognitive ability, although he had so far been unable to use this fore-knowledge in any meaningful way.

 

The eventual arrival of the Emperor was a time of hushed expectation and awe. So accustomed to the darkness were the people of Nostramo that when the Emperor first stepped from his landing craft, many were dazzled by the golden light reflected from His burnished armour. However, it was as nothing to what occurred next. As the Night Haunter approached his father in humble supplication, the Emperor opened his arms wide in welcome, and the entire sky lit up as it had not done in living memory. In honour of the new dawn which the Imperium had brought to Nostramo, the Emperor had ordered the orbit of Tenebor to be fractionally altered, so that the moon would no longer hold the world in a permanent eclipse.

 

Even though the light from Nostramo’s dying star was wan and pale, for some it was the last thing they would ever see. Even the Night Haunter was struck down, shaking uncontrollably not at the light, but undergoing one of his prophetic visions. With great tenderness the Emperor laid hands upon His son’s head, and calmed the seizure, saying “Konrad Curze, be at peace. I have arrived and I intend to take you home.” The reply, controlled and level, was recorded for the galaxy to hear:

 

“That is not my name, father. I am Night Haunter... and I have seen the glory of the Imperium that we will create.”

 

The Great Crusade

T

he newly renamed Night Lords fought their first campaigns of the Great Crusade alongside the Thousand Sons. This gave Magnus ample opportunity to examine his brother’s fascinating talent, which it seemed was derived from a source far removed from his own method of psychic mastery. Better than almost anyone Magnus knew that the future was not set in stone, and that the visions could as easily be taken as warnings. Yet despite all attempts to use the information gleaned from these prophesies, the fates always seemed to conspire against him. Shorn of context of what they referred to, the jumble of images only seemed to make sense after the event, by which time it was far too late. Night Haunter became increasingly fatalistic and certain these visions were pre-destined to come to pass.

 

Though he had long resisted it, Night Haunter finally agreed to allow his brother access to the memories of his latest vision. Magnus was more successful than they could have hoped, reassembling the headlong rush of knowledge into a coherent form. Forewarned, they were able to prevent the ambush and destruction of many of the orbiting Imperial Army vessels, and the planet fell into compliance soon afterwards. In the wake of this victory, Night Haunter confessed to his brother the dark truth that had haunted him since he had first met the Emperor on Nostramo; that his prophesy had not, as he had publically stated, been of the inevitable rise of the Imperium. Instead it had shown his own execution, and that the deed had been carried out on the orders of their own father. The proof that the visions were not inevitable and could be averted had freed him to at long last confide this knowledge to another person. With the burden lifted from his shoulders, he was at last able to accept and welcome these visions, and rapidly became skilled at their interpretation. He was also free to set aside his past, and reclaimed the name his father had bestowed upon him – that of Konrad Curze.

 

The Night Lords’ apprenticeship was finally at an end, and as the Thousand Sons left, reinforcements arrived in the form of the first Astartes recruited from Nostramo. What should have been a moment of great pride proved to be singularly ill-starred. As Curze greeted these new battle-brothers, he was struck by the vision of his legion corrupted from within and populated by criminals and moral degenerates – individuals who carried out wanton acts of brutality for no better reason than for the sick thrill of it. Where Night Haunter might have resignedly embraced this as the inevitable reason for his execution, Konrad Curze would not. Instead, he ordered the new Astartes placed under confinement, and returned to his homeworld with all haste.

 

He had thought Nostramo left in capable hands. Instead, Curze found that in his absence the criminals had risen up once more and turned the planet into a cess-pool of lawlessness. The Adeptus Arbites and the Administratum had been unable to deal with the situation, so it fell to Curze and his Night Lords to re-impose order through the fear of brutal, inevitable retribution. Within a week, crime had dropped back to nothing, and when the legion eventually returned to the Great Crusade, it was an unbending cadre of Night Lords who held stewardship of the planet rather than the hopelessly outclassed Adeptus Arbites.

 

The Night Lords found themselves changed by the experience of Nostramo, and with the lessons of the campaign weighting heavily upon them, they saw the Imperium with fresh eyes. The Great Crusade had become a victim of its own success. With so many worlds conquered so fast, many took advantage of their distance from the front lines to rise up against the Imperium. Long before the Iron Warriors were persuaded to bleed away their strength in garrison duties to address this, the Night Lords took it upon themselves to re-impose the rule of Imperial Law on the faltering galaxy.

 

This was a far more uncompromising, brutal legion than the one which had accompanied the Thousand Sons. It descended on planets only nominally still part of the Imperium, and enshrouded them in a cloak of fear. Planetary leaders were given the ultimatum to submit wholeheartedly to the Pax Imperialis, and any who resisted became bloody public exhibitions to the folly of resistance. They did this not out of sadistic pleasure, but from the knowledge that humanity needed to be subjected to the fear of certain retribution to keep it from straying into corruption. Just as a plant grows twisted if the cane that supports and guides it is removed too soon, the same applied to the Imperium of Mankind.

 

The Night Lords took it upon themselves to do the terrible things required to keep the Imperium from slipping into anarchy and rebellion, and to protect humanity from its own darkest impulses. Curze’s prophetic visions were vital in crushing rebellions before they could gain ground, and the belief was encouraged that they could see the evil that lurked in the hearts of men. They did all of this willingly, knowing that the price was to be hated, and obviously feared, by the very people they were protecting.

 

Treachery Revealed

T

hough undoubtedly effective, the Night Lords’ brutal ways were a source of friction with many of the other, more strait-laced legions. During the Great Crusade Angron personally forbade his World Eaters from fighting alongside them, and the Primarch of the Ultramarines took every opportunity to berate Curze for his methods. Guilliman argued that compliance imposed by fear was too fragile, and pointed to the strength and unity of the worlds his legion had brought into compliance on the Eastern Fringe using the Ultramar model.

 

With the exception of his mentor, Magnus, Curze was never close to his brother primarchs, and so cared little for their low opinion of him. All that mattered was that the Emperor understood his actions. He left his brothers to their machinations, rivalries and petty posturing, confident that while they might differ in their approaches, they were all in their own ways working towards the greater glory of the Imperium. This belief, and the Night Lords’ participation in the Great Crusade, was abruptly terminated on the planet of Cheraut.

 

It was a testament to the fierce, coordinated resistance of the people of Cheraut that the primarchs of three legions were sent to finally bring them into compliance. The Night Lords arrived first, and Curze ordered his legion to carry out terrible and public displays of brutality against the military forces who opposed them to paralyse the individual nations with fear. The once cohesive, unified world which had stood firm against veteran regiments of the Imperial Army for more than a year fell into disarray. By the time Fulgrim’s Emperor’s Children and Rogal Dorn’s Imperial Fists arrived, every city stood alone, isolated from even their closest neighbours, and ripe to be conquered piecemeal.

 

To Curze, the Pacification of Cheraut had been a prime example of combining their various talents to great effect, but when he joined his brother primarchs in the shattered remnants of the world’s last and greatest citadel, he found Dorn not appreciative, but furious. The Imperial Fist railed against what the Night Lords had done, claiming that Guilliman and Angron had been right, and that he would answer for the gross excesses carried out in the Emperor’s name. Unwilling to engage in yet another pointless discussion of his methods, Curze turned to leave, but Dorn reached out to stop him. At the touch, Curze was driven to his knees, struck down by a vision of terrible, sickening potency.

 

Both Dorn and Curze were there, but rather than on Cheraut they were in the midst of the Emperor’s Throne Room on Terra. Rather than the serene majesty Curze had remembered, there were obvious signs of battle damage and the charnel stench of death hung heavy in the air. Dorn’s ornate golden armour was engraved with unholy symbols painful to look upon, and his sunken eyes burned with hate and the icy fires of insanity. Curze tried to move, but could only strain against the heavy shackles which restrained him. His struggling grew ever-more frantic as Dorn drew a black bladed sword, and stepped aside to reveal the broken, unconscious body of the Emperor, and with a smile held the blade to his father’s throat. With an almighty snap the chain holding Curze gave way, and he threw himself across the room at Dorn, hands contorted into talons to rip and tear at the Arch-Betrayer...

 

...When he awoke from the vision, his hands were around Dorn’s throat, and in a desperate attempt to prevent the future he had been shown he continued to attack, rending and tearing with tooth and nail. Even as the blows rained down on him from all those around, he tried to explain the importance of what he was doing, but his words were lost in a howl of incoherent pain and rage. He shrugged off the yellow armoured Astartes as though they were nothing, but before he could take the life of his treacherous brother, Fulgrim was there, and in a blur of purple and gold tore him away from Dorn and knocked Curze unconscious.

 

While held in custody aboard the Phalanx - the vast flagship of the Imperial Fist fleet – Curze came to realise the full gravity of his situation. His carefully crafted reputation as an object of fear, and the damning testimony of Fulgrim, someone known to loathe Rogal Dorn, had left people wary of his motives and even of his sanity. Furthermore, having seen the suspicion and unfair accusations of sorcery that dogged his brother Magnus, any talk of prophesy would serve only to further weaken his case. Knowing the result that a trial before the Council of Primarchs would return, and that his vision had shown him as Dorn’s prisoner, he made his escape from the Phalanx leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. While the Imperial Fists and Emperor’s Children searched for him in vain, he made his way back to his legion, and quietly slipped away into the darkness between the stars.

 

Alone in his private sanctum, Curze was again plagued by the ghosts of what could have been. His officers all agreed that he had made the right choice. To have tried to penetrate deeper into the Phalanx – to its very command section - would have been madness. The security aboard that massive ship had been so tight that he had been lucky to escape at all, and he had needed to get the news of Dorn’s future treachery to those who could avert it...

 

... And yet...

 

... And yet...

 

... And yet still he felt as though he had made a grave mistake. He felt that if he had been able to reach Dorn – who was already badly wounded – he could have ended this... this heresy before more innocent blood could be spilled.

 

For a moment he was lost amongst the antiseptic corridors of the Phalanx, until his equerry, Captain Shang, entered the room. He had made his decision; there was nothing to be gained in continuing to shadow the Phalanx. They already knew full well where they must be to avert Dorn’s betrayal. They must set course for Terra.

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The Siege of Terra

A

s ever, the background and context to Curze’s prophetic vision had been maddeningly lacking. The only thing of which he could be certain was that Dorn would spit on his oaths of fealty to the Emperor and attempt to kill Him in His own throne room. Knowing nothing of the insidiously corrupting nature of the Ruinous Powers, Curze could not comprehend why a dutiful and self-sacrificing individual such as Dorn would turn on the Emperor. In fact, it was just these traits that had earned him the title of the Emperor’s Praetorian, and the Imperial Fists the honour of garrisoning the Imperial Palace from attack; something which made the Night Lords’ task all the more difficult.

 

They looked on as hunted fugitives, unable to prevent the disasters that were to come, but when Dorn’s treachery was finally revealed at the Istvaan Drop-site massacre, the Night Lords were in place to act. With the anarchy of Dorn’s rebellion, the Night Lords were at last able to penetrate the supremely tight defences of the Terran system without detection. Unfortunately, by this point the Emperor was already trapped inside his Throne Room by the demi-legion of Imperial Fists which Dorn had left to garrison the outer palace.

 

So good were the Imperial Fists at this task that despite all their stealth, it was only with the arrival of the Blood Angels, and their eventual sloppy relief of the Imperial Fists on the outer walls, that the Night Lords were finally able to penetrate the walls of the palace. They ran riot through the palace, attacking the forces of Chaos and the Imperial Fists in particular, but for all the devastation they caused, it was merely a distraction. Their true purpose was to release the Emperor from the cage His Throne Room had become.

 

With the area ahead cleared, they moved out through the Investory. Passing through such an exposed area was a risk, but it was the most direct route back out of the palace. Around them, in a ring, were twenty plinths. Two of positions had long stood empty, and Curze was far from surprised to find that since the Heresy many more of the statues had been either removed or destroyed, including his own representation which had stood upon the eighth plinth. Noticing that his father had stopped in his tracks, Curze looked back anxiously.

 

‘I never liked this place, Konrad,’ said his father, his eyes on the missing eleventh statue. ‘Malcador would never confirm it, but I am certain that this was where the execution was carried out... where my son died at my command. It is as though I can hear his death-scream echoing from these stones.

 

Such talk of executions chilled his heart, and yet still Curze yearned to finally admit to his father what the vision had shown him when they had first met for the first time. But then the moment was gone, and the Emperor was once more striding purposefully towards the far side of the Investory.

 

Curze begged his father to leave Terra, but the Emperor was unbending in his refusal. Even the arrival on Terra of Rogal Dorn at the head of the Istvaan Traitor Legions could not dissuade Him, after which Curze never again broached the subject. What the Emperor said to convince Curze that He must not leave Terra to the traitors has long-since been lost to the ages, but most within the legion believe that it refers to a prophesy borne not by the son, but by the father.

 

Still unaware that their quarry had been spirited away, the traitors continued to focus all of their efforts on breaching the walls of the throne room. This allowed the Night Lords to do what they knew best; instilling the fear of retribution amongst the Chaos forces across the planet. During this time, Curze received further warnings, which he tried to avert with varying degrees of success. His vision of Perturabo being dealt a grievous, plague-infected wound by Sanguinius of the Blood Angels came even as the assault on the Ultimate Gate was about to take place. Despite contacting Perturabo minutes before the attack, the primarch of the Iron Warriors contemptuously ignored the warning, and was instead killed outright by the rotting primarch. Even beyond the grief and responsibility Curze felt for the loss of his brother, the revelation that his actions could inadvertently create an even darker path shook Curze to the core.

 

As the Siege of Terra ground through its third month, the war fell into stalemate, with neither side able to comprehensively defeat the other. With the long-delayed fleets of the Dark Angels and Space Wolves growing ever-closer, the Imperial forces sought a way to end the rebellion before they could arrive by killing the Arch-Betrayer himself. However, since the breaching of the Imperial throne room Dorn had rarely been seen on Terra, and had instead taken to coordinating the campaign from the Phalanx.

 

Protected behind countless banks of void shields and wielding enough firepower to devastate any Imperial fleet sent against it, the Phalanx appeared impervious to assault. Every attack simulation the Warmaster could conceive ended in abject failure, and while a covert action might prove more successful, there was no time to put such a plan into operation. At that moment Curze stepped from the shadows, and announced that he would be able to bring down the Phalanx’s shields for long enough to allow a strike-force to teleport aboard. He had been granted a vision of the desperate direct assault against the Phalanx, and of the Imperial fleet, including the Warmaster’s own flagship, illuminating the night like new suns as they burned. Since he had received that warning, the Night Lords had spent every waking moment preparing and analysing the weaknesses of the Phalanx. Just as Konrad Curze had escaped from the Phalanx as it lay in orbit around Cheraut, he was certain he and his team could also break onto it.

 

The Phalanx

T

he Plalanx that Curze found waiting for him was subtly different from the one he remembered from his last visit. Gone were the cold, functional ascetics, replaced instead by the corruption he had come to associate with the servants of the Ruinous Powers. The insidious taint affected even their vox channels and drowned their frequencies with white noise. He and his hand-picked companions ghosted with ease through the darkened, nearly deserted corridors. By melting into the shadows to avoid patrols and killing only when necessary, they were able to reach their objective without alerting the enemy to their presence. Though the shield generator dwarfed anything aboard their own ships, it was only one of many aboard the Phalanx, and its destruction would leave the ship vulnerable for only a brief span. The Night Lords triggered their explosives and reduced the shield generator to slag, but with their vox channels useless they could but hope that the Emperor’s strike force had been ready to attack.

 

With their presence revealed, the Night Lords took advantage of the devastation and darkness to turn the enemy’s territory into their own. They were in their element, but such was the size of the Phalanx that Curze knew it would be impossible to reach his father before His assault on Dorn’s command sanctum. The Night Lords would have been content simply to punish the followers of the Arch-Betrayer that pressed in on them, but it soon became apparent that something had gone terribly wrong.

 

Due to the corrupted nature of the ship, they almost dismissed the twisted half-figure merged into the wall as yet another daemonic manifestation, and yet the distinctive burnished golden armour revealed it to be nothing less than one of the Emperor’s Custodian Guard. Curze even recognised the man as part of his father’s strike force, who had clearly suffered a catastrophic accident during teleportation. As Curze reached out to close the eyes of the tortured man, he was again struck by a vision of the near-future. Through tears of grief, Curze told his officers that he had seen the traitors triumphant. He spoke of Dorn boasting of how he had feigned shaking off the daemonic and begged forgiveness, and had used that moment of confusion to strike down first Warmaster Horus and then the Emperor.

 

With no way to contact his father to warn of Dorn’s treachery, and being much too far from the command bridge to fight their way there, Curze did the only thing he could to get into Dorn’s presence. Much to the dismay of his Night Lords, he left them with the cryptic phrase “This will be my Investory”, before surrendering to the Imperial Fists and demanding to be taken before their primarch.

 

The Night Lords fought on with renewed ferocity, but by the time they cut their way through to the Sons of Horus the battle, and the Heresy, had already ended. Curze’s actions had bought the Emperor enough warning to raise His guard against Dorn’s deceit, but it came at a terrible cost. The last seconds of Curze’s life were recorded on the vid-logs of the primarch’s own armour. Curze was securely chained and shackled, yet confident as he was brought before Dorn. When offered the stark choice between life and death – to join the rebellion, or die there and then - Curze gave a chilling, contemptuous laugh, and calmly rejected his offer, before defiantly addressing Rogal Dorn:

 

“Why did I come before you only to be killed? Because your Heresy, and the act you are about to commit, proves the truth of my actions at Cheraut. I merely tried to punish one who would go on to cause so much harm – my only regret is that I did not succeed in killing you before you made war on our father, our Emperor. Death is nothing compared to vindication."

 

Despite exhaustive examination, the exchange has given little clue as to exactly how Curze’s death averted the events of his prophetic vision. All is certain is that through this act of supreme self-sacrifice, the Emperor’s life was saved, and the Arch-Betrayer’s Heresy brought to an end.

 

Pax Imperialis

D

orn’s Heresy had ended with his death aboard the Phalanx, but it had dealt a crippling blow to both the Emperor and His Imperium. Just as Nostramo had slipped back into corruption and anarchy when Curze first left the planet, they saw the same thing happening on a galaxy-wide scale. Though the grieving Night Lords yearned to join the other loyal Astartes in running down the retreating Traitor Legions, their first Legion Master, Zso Sahaal, realised that their skills could be put to use in a far more productive way. The Night Lords used their dread reputation and the promise of inevitable and bloody retribution to prevent the fragile Imperium from splintering into a million warring fiefdoms. They became the shadow of fear that enforced the Pax Imperialis.

 

In this task they were aided by the High Lords of Terra, who ruled in the Emperor’s name, and in particular by their leader, Ezekyle Abaddon of the newly renamed Black Templars. Having seen at first hand the service and sacrifice of Curze and his Night Lords, High Lord Abaddon gave them carte blanche to bring rebellious planets back into line, and to ensure that governors thinking of declaring independence reconsidered the wisdom of such actions. He also ordered that the full weight of the Officio Assassinorum stand alongside the Night Lords in this task, an edict which remains in force to this day.

 

Along with the extensive intelligence-gathering abilities of the Vanus Clade of Assassins, who monitor and predict worlds likely to fall to rebellion or to come under attack by invasion, a rare few Night Lords are also blessed with their primarch’s gift of prophesy. This allows the Night Lords to crush insurrections in their infancy, and to divert forces to stand against acts of aggression by Xenos and Chaos forces. Yet for all the good that the Night Lords do, their appearance is rarely greeted with enthusiasm. All too often they are seen as harbingers of doom, arriving as they do just ahead of either an invading war-fleet, or as agents of bloody vengeance. With good reason it is said that the black eyes of the Night Lords are able to see the evil in mens’ hearts, and as few are without a trace of sin, many a guilty conscience is prickled by word of their arrival.

 

‘They’re a pretty sorry bunch, Prophet,’ growled Brother-Sergeant Renzar as they watched the ragged group of villagers climbing aboard the transport shuttle. The vision had shown the villagers massacred, and while Tarl was thankful they had been saved, it was difficult to see what galaxy-shaking tragedy they had just averted.

 

‘Perhaps it wasn’t the civilians – the vision could have been about these Traitor Astartes. The motivations of the Dark Angels are almost as difficult to fathom as the prophesies,’ said Tarl. He stooped to pick up a bolter-pocked shoulderpad bearing the icon of the ‘Ravenwing’ and threw it into the heart of the blazing pyre. Be it determination, desperation or simply arrogance, the traitors had attacked despite knowing the world was under the protection of the Night Lords. On this occasion, though, all of their vaunted speed had served only to bring them into the ambush that little bit faster.

 

Lost in thought, Tarl did not notice the broad-shouldered man climb onto the transport, and take one last look back at the corpses of the former battle brothers who had hunted for him...

 

Combat Doctrine

T

o the Night Lords, fear is a weapon as deadly as the bolter or the chainsword. For this reason they openly proclaim their presence through haunting whispers in the vox channels even before the first flayed enemy corpse is left for all to see. This throws their opponents into disarray, often withdrawing back to the perceived safety of their bases, although by this time the Night Lords have long-since infiltrated the area.

 

They strike seemingly from nowhere, favouring hit-and-run attacks to frontal assaults, before melting back into the darkness. Nowhere is safe from the Night Lords’ wrath, and this continues until even the dullest of imaginations comes to see them in every shadow and dark corner. In this way a small number of Night Lords can seemingly be everywhere, and can paralyse a whole army, or even a whole world with fear. Only when a base or settlement is psychologically isolated, with nothing to listen to on the vox but the chilling promise of retribution and the looped screams of their missing squad mates, do the Night Lords mass for the final attack. With their helms decorated like skulls, they appear as death incarnate, come to claim those who have transgressed the Emperor’s laws.

 

Even in cases where the enemy is said to have no fear, the Night Lords finely honed talents have still proved to be effective. Be they the synapse-creatures of the Tyranid Hive-mind or the corrupted Magos of the Dark Mechanicus, by targeting their leaders, the followers are soon left either milling around in confusion, or are soon ordered to adopt a far more static, defensive stance. Though some may call it a simple logical or evolutionary response to the presence of the Night Lords, this rapid drawing in of forces and settling into a state of heightened awareness holds many similarities to that of fear.

 

Organisation

T

he Night Lords still retain their formal grand company command structure, although in practice they are split into forces of rarely more than a half a dozen squads, the better to cover the truly enormous scale of the Imperium. They generally prefer small, swift vessels to the massive battle-barges of some other legions, relying on speed and stealth rather than raw firepower. Their mere presence in a system is sufficient to remind Imperial governors and citizens alike of their responsibilities, and to banish any foolish thoughts of rebellion. Given their preferred method of combat, the actions of even a single squad of Night Lords are magnified by wildfire rumour so that the enemy will believe they are fighting an entire company of shades.

 

The legion is aided both on and off the battlefield by the temples of the Assassins, from the infocytes of Clade Vanus procuring and analysing data to the agents of the Vindicare training battle-brothers in the fine art of killing from afar. Though a Night Lord force commonly counts but a single assassin amongst their number, far rarer and more prized are the legion’s prophets. They can come from any background or specialisation – for instance, one of the legion’s finest and most valiant prophets was not an officer, but an apothecary – and as soon as their talent manifests they come under close scrutiny by the brothers of the Librarium.

 

As Magnus the Red well understood, there is little link between the psychic power of the librarians and the prophetic visions of the Night Lords. They are invaluable, however, in helping to draw out and analyse the often maddeningly vague assemblage of images into a coherent form, and to help identify when and where the disaster is set to occur. They are also used to test the veracity of both the prophesy, and even of the prophet himself, as the consequences of the Ruinous Powers influencing these visions would be truly disastrous.

 

Homeworld

I

n the centuries before the coming of the Imperium, Nostramo had been mined intensively for the adamantium riches which lay beneath its surface, and the industrial processes needed to refine the metal for export had reduced the atmosphere to a noxious fume. It did not require the power of prophesy to foresee that, if left unchecked, the Imperium’s insatiable greed would rapidly mine the planet hollow and render the air completely unbreathable. For this reason, on taking Nostramo as their homeworld the Night Lords enforced stringent quotas on mining, and have remained unbending even in the face of intense pressure to increase production. If they should ever waver, they need only remember the tragic fate of Cthonia, and indeed the fall of the Dark Angels on Caliban, to stiffen their resolve.

 

Despite the arrival of the Emperor bringing daylight to Nostramo, the population have proved unwilling to embrace this new dawn. For a people genetically adapted to the darkness, even the weak sunlight which reaches them can be blinding, and under the protection of the Night Lords there is little to fear from the shadows. Because of this, Nostraman society conducts its business wherever possible during the night, with the population careful to return to their shuttered homes before the first scorching rays of sun return at dawn. The only souls to be found out during the day are those not indigenous to the planet, or those forced by circumstance to brave the daylight behind goggles of smoked glass and layers of protective clothing.

 

Over the millennia the five cities of Nostramo have steadily expanded, although Quintus, the place where the infant primarch first fell to earth and the site of the legion’s fortress-monastery, retains primacy. It is said by off-worlders that despite their large populations the cities of Nostramo are unnervingly quiet and well-ordered. The streets are clean and free of litter, and even the air is sweet – at least in comparison to the levels of pollution pumped into the atmosphere before the arrival of the Emperor.

 

Recruitment

W

hile many of the Emperor’s legions draw their recruits from across the Imperium, the Night Lords take aspirants almost exclusively from their homeworld. They do this not from dogmatism, but from long experience that, not just physiologically, but also psychologically, the Nostraman population yields the most promising and compatible aspirants. However, there was a time when this was not thought to be the case.

 

During the Great Crusade, Curze had to return to Nostramo to reverse the world’s descent into anarchy and corruption. To prevent his legion from becoming tainted with moral degenerates and psychopaths he turned his Night Lords loose upon the criminal elements in an echo of his first great purge of Nostraman society. So effective was this that some grew concerned that the population had become cowed into such a submissive state that they would be all-but useless as Astartes. Needless to say, they should not have doubted their primarch. Just as the Nostraman people had adapted to the dark by losing their irises, they also adapted to a society where crime was so swiftly, brutally and publically punished by embracing Curze’s concept of natural justice not just as the norm, but as their moral duty.

 

Rather than passively avert their eyes from criminal acts, secure in the knowledge that their Night Lord guardians would soon deal very publically with the miscreant, Nostramans gained the confidence to stand against wrongdoers themselves. While at first this may have been done out of fear, that inaction might have been seen as complicity, it has long since been because seeing such acts genuinely offends their ingrained sense of justice. While the Night Lords continue to watch over Nostramo and its people, what little crime that might occur is frequently dealt with by ordinary citizens. The Night Lords continue to watch silently from the shadows, but their role is now as much to identify those who might possess the moral fibre to become potential aspirants as it is to guard the streets from crime.

 

To those truly without sin, the world of Nostramo is the safest in the Imperium.

 

Tenebor

The moon of Tenebor holds a great fascination for the people of Nostramo. During the hours of darkness its presence is cursed, as the moonlight it reflects is said to spoil the purity of the night. To a Nostraman it only becomes ‘true night’ once the moon slips below the horizon. Conversely, during the day the total eclipses it brings are seen as greatly favoured, as they blot out not only the sun, but also a great many of the stars in the sky.

 

As befits such an influential celestial body, Tenebor makes an appearance among the Lesser Arconoi; a Nostraman variant of the Emperor’s Tarot. Because of the duality of its nature, it is said to carry a multitude of different interpretations depending upon its position, orientation and interaction with the other cards in the draw.

[clearfloat]

 

Gene-seed

A

lthough the primarch of the Night lords is long-dead, his legacy lives on in the form of the gene-seed implanted into every one of the legion’s battle-brothers. This gene-line has proved to be stable and resistant to mutation, with all nineteen implants functioning with commendable efficiency. Of particular note is the startlingly acute night-vision displayed by the Night Lords, which is believed to be due to a particularly fortuitous interaction between their occulobe and the black, irisless eyes of the Nostraman population.

 

While this gift has helped to shape the tactics used by every Night Lord, there is another, far more extraordinary inheritance passed down from Konrad Curze to but a select few of his brethren – the power of prophesy. Such are the stresses that these visions place upon both body and soul that their bearers can be readily identified by their haunted, even haggard appearance. Because of the huge role that these warnings play in the psyche and effectiveness of the legion a staggering amount of research has gone into understanding how to increase the number of individuals able to harness this invaluable talent. Over the centuries innumerable approaches have been championed, and yet in truth the proportion of individuals with this talent has barely kept pace with the expansion of the legion.

 

Battle Cry

G

iven their preferred style of combat, the Night Lords rarely use a conventional battlecry to stir the blood before a charge. The closest approximation to this would be the whispered threats and agonised screams which they bleed across the enemy’s comm frequencies, or the soft sigh of a blade being drawn when you thought you were alone.

[diabloelmo]

An entire legion of Batman!

 

I've always loved the Night Lords, in fact my current army project is made up of the sons of Curze. This was utterly brilliant, I have no idea how you can possibly top this effort!

[Jonas Stromclaw]

Best background yet, Dornian heresy or otherwise. If there were rules that represented these lads I'd play them in a heartbeat.

[Grotsmasha]

Thankyou for another excellent read. more? :P

 

Cheers,

Jono

[Nomus Sardauk]

Emperor's Light, Aurelius my brother you've done it again! You've managed to make the Night Lords good guys (well kinda) without them loosing that nightmarish aura they project. I also love your depiction of Curze, not to mention the segment about the missing Primarchs and the short-story with the Unforgiven in it. Utterly superb. :P

[Grimdarkness]

Very Cool well done.

[Culebras]

Very cool read, very interesting.

 

I like how you kept the grim nature of the Night Lords without falling into the batman trap. Yes, I know there are similarities between Night Haunter and the dark Knight, but as far as I know, Batman has a strict no kill policy. Unlike the Night Lords. You didn't pull your punches with them but you didn't over do it by going into graphic detail, which is always welcome. If anything, I would like to see more from their unique and fascinating point of view. How do the Night Lords see themselves? do they regret what they have to do? and how does the "Innate sense of Honor" that you speak of manifest itself? Do they still not get along with the World Eaters and the Emperor's children? or has their terrifying mask slipped away to reveal the inner sense of honor and moral fiber mentioned in the recruitment section?

 

I think you did manage to differentiate them from the Alpha Legion quite succinctly as they have a very discernible MO. Both sides are wiling to do not nice things, but the Alphas are more about wet work and behind the scene actions while the Night Lords know how to use fear as their greatest weapon. For the first time, I'm left thinking that the Dornian Heresy universe might actually be worse than the Norm verse Imperium, and thats saying something. At least in the regular version, you don't have to fear Raven guard sneaking into your bedroom and flensing your skin off. /shiver

 

If I have one complaint, and it is a small one, it is that the fluff piece where the Emperor mentions Malcador and the execution of his son (which I assume refers to the missing 11th primarch,) drew me out of my reading and strained my suspension of disbelief. Maybe its because I'm a purist that thinks mentions of the lost legions should be few and far between, but when I was reading that section, I paused and went back to read it again because it seemed a very odd thing to include. The rest of the pieces kept me very involved as a reader and hungry for what happened next, but that one piece disrupted my reading experience. Again, small complaint.

 

Finally, regarding the combat doctrine section, I was surprised their was no mention of special units favored by the Night Lords. I always expected them to emphasize jump packs or maybe bikes, but with the exception of them having access to assassins, their was nothing in particular. That left me wondering what a force of night lords would look like. Many Legions can be identified by the weapons they bring to war. Norm verse Ultramarines imply a balanced approach with swords and shields, while Imperial fists conjure up images of thunder hammers and power fists. White Scars and dark angels have their bikes, Blood Angels their winged jump packs, Space Wolves their frost blades and wolf helms, and Salamanders their flamers. Even raven guard have their emphasis on lightning claws.

I guess this could be answered with a picture added to the PDF, but it is an interesting idea. How close are they to a "Core chapter?" what weapons do they favor in close combat? Swords? Lightning claws? some advanced version of the eversor Neuro-gauntlet? Do they use vehicles or is it mostly an infantry force? Do they use dreadnoughts? land raiders? bikes? jet packs? i dunno, but it might be interesting to find out. Anyway, thats just my musing.

 

All together, I think this is a good read, but I would really like to see this concept put into action as part of a story. Get some sleep Aurelius, you earned it

[Apothecary Vaddon]

Been waiting for NL! Awesome, awesome job Aurelius Rex. Awesome job.

[modernangelofdeath]

Why? why? why was it so short? I thought it would be good, it came out great, but why was it so :angry: short? I. Want. More. Story!

thats my only complaint.

[G3rman]

Its an IA, not a novel. :angry:

[Coryphaus 101]

Wow. Just wow. Best so far. Good job Aurelius!!! I really likes the colour pieces. Culebras, I assume they don't really use many jump packs or bikes as they mainly just pop out nowhere and kill everyone. They probably just have normal equipment so they can sneak around quicker.

[Jordan-096]

Now that was worth the wait.

And I like the part about the "executed" Primarch, it adds a bit of "This could be what happened", and leaves you wondering "what did he do?"

any hints at the Black Templars (Cthonia)?

 

also with the dark angels bit, it took me a few minutes to figure out who the guy at the end was......

[Lord_Caerolion]

Finally, regarding the combat doctrine section, I was surprised their was no mention of special units favored by the Night Lords. I always expected them to emphasize jump packs or maybe bikes, but with the exception of them having access to assassins, their was nothing in particular. That left me wondering what a force of night lords would look like. Many Legions can be identified by the weapons they bring to war. Norm verse Ultramarines imply a balanced approach with swords and shields, while Imperial fists conjure up images of thunder hammers and power fists. White Scars and dark angels have their bikes, Blood Angels their winged jump packs, Space Wolves their frost blades and wolf helms, and Salamanders their flamers. Even raven guard have their emphasis on lightning claws.

I guess this could be answered with a picture added to the PDF, but it is an interesting idea. How close are they to a "Core chapter?" what weapons do they favor in close combat? Swords? Lightning claws? some advanced version of the eversor Neuro-gauntlet? Do they use vehicles or is it mostly an infantry force? Do they use dreadnoughts? land raiders? bikes? jet packs? i dunno, but it might be interesting to find out. Anyway, thats just my musing.

 

Why does every Chapter have to be differentiated by "to play this Chapter/Legion, just spam X"?

[Hyaenidae]

Oh...oh my...holy crap, that was almost worth the wait... ;)

 

I jest of course, wonderful job Aurelius! And perfect timing getting this up for Halloween too.

[Ace Debonair]

Finally, regarding the combat doctrine section, I was surprised their was no mention of special units favored by the Night Lords. I always expected them to emphasize jump packs or maybe bikes, but with the exception of them having access to assassins, their was nothing in particular. That left me wondering what a force of night lords would look like. Many Legions can be identified by the weapons they bring to war. Norm verse Ultramarines imply a balanced approach with swords and shields, while Imperial fists conjure up images of thunder hammers and power fists. White Scars and dark angels have their bikes, Blood Angels their winged jump packs, Space Wolves their frost blades and wolf helms, and Salamanders their flamers. Even raven guard have their emphasis on lightning claws.

I guess this could be answered with a picture added to the PDF, but it is an interesting idea. How close are they to a "Core chapter?" what weapons do they favor in close combat? Swords? Lightning claws? some advanced version of the eversor Neuro-gauntlet? Do they use vehicles or is it mostly an infantry force? Do they use dreadnoughts? land raiders? bikes? jet packs? i dunno, but it might be interesting to find out. Anyway, thats just my musing.

 

And those preferences are pretty much true for the Dornian Heresy equivalents of those chapters up to now.

Night Lords never really had a use-this-all-the-time unit in the norm-'verse - something which also carries over into the Dornian Heresy.

 

I'd assume, however, they use a broad mix of units and equipment.

If the unlucky prospective targets don't know how they're going to be attacked... well, fear of the unknown is as much a weapon as any other kind of fear for the Night Lords. :blink:

 

EDIT:

I can't decide whether the Night Lords or the Thousand Sons are my favourite DH loyalists.

And there's me thinking my mind was made up. Bah! ;)

[The End Times]

Firstly, as along-time fan of the Dornian heresy but a first-time poster, can I just say that this article, as with the others, was amazing.

 

Secondly it was mentioned in an old codex that the Night Lords had a favouring for Raptor Squads, or at least more so than the other legions. I'd presume this holds true with these new Night Lords, as it would fit their tactics for hit-and-run attacks.

 

Also I know its probably still a long way off, but if you can answer, what is the timeframe for the Salamanders?

[Aurelius Rex]

Glad to see that the Night Lords article has been well received - thanks for the responses, guys. :)

 

The feedback is also very valuable, and good to hear from you, Culebras, on this score. I will be refining and tweaking the article in any number of ways before it goes into the Legio Imprint / Dornian Heresy part 2 PDF - if you look closely at the posts here earlier in this thread you should be able to see a lot of minor improvements if you compare it to the more polished PDF articles.

 

As anyone who has been on the pointy end of my critiques of their DIY chapters will be able to tell you, I am incredibly nit-picky - but hopefully always to make it better - and I am if anything even more critical of my own work. There are a number of things I was not completely happy with regarding the article that I wanted to include but cut for time, for length because the article was nearly 7000 words long, or because I couldn't find a way to include it without breaking the flow.

 

Regardless, the PDF version will allow me to return to the article with a fresh eye. Things I will bear in mind will certainly be the thing about Culebras' mention of combat doctrine... the scouts (and vets?) being the main infiltrators and being heavily infantry focussed in this stage as it would be hard to sneak around in a land raider... while in the later stages when they are carrying out their final crushing assault on the demoralised defenders, they could reveal the heavier kit.

 

I wanted to touch more on their relationship with the Thousand Sons after the apprenticeship left, specifically when they became fugitives, and perhaps their guilt when Prospero was caught up in the Heresy. I hope to make some small refinement to cover that in the PDF.

 

The mentions of the Lost primarch was something I have really avoided up to now, but in this case it really helped the plot so much that I couldn't resist it. Sorry if it was a roadbump - I can understand that opinion, but I didn't take it lightly. If it helps, the story refers to the events of the Dornian Heresy universe 11th legion primarch, and his history and eventual fate was totally different to that of the Horus Heresy one! ;)

 

More later!

Aurelius.

[Losfer Werds]

That leaves what Death Guard, Salamanders and whatever the Son's of Horus and the Imperial Fists became after the Heresy. I've followed this project for a long time and I'm still impressed with the release of each new part.

[Culebras]

Glad to see that the Night Lords article has been well received - thanks for the responses, guys. :(

 

The feedback is also very valuable, and good to hear from you, Culebras, on this score. I will be refining and tweaking the article in any number of ways before it goes into the Legio Imprint / Dornian Heresy part 2 PDF - if you look closely at the posts here earlier in this thread you should be able to see a lot of minor improvements if you compare it to the more polished PDF articles.

 

As anyone who has been on the pointy end of my critiques of their DIY chapters will be able to tell you, I am incredibly nit-picky - but hopefully always to make it better - and I am if anything even more critical of my own work. There are a number of things I was not completely happy with regarding the article that I wanted to include but cut for time, for length because the article was nearly 7000 words long, or because I couldn't find a way to include it without breaking the flow.

 

Regardless, the PDF version will allow me to return to the article with a fresh eye. Things I will bear in mind will certainly be the thing about Culebras' mention of combat doctrine... the scouts (and vets?) being the main infiltrators and being heavily infantry focussed in this stage as it would be hard to sneak around in a land raider... while in the later stages when they are carrying out their final crushing assault on the demoralised defenders, they could reveal the heavier kit.

 

I wanted to touch more on their relationship with the Thousand Sons after the apprenticeship left, specifically when they became fugitives, and perhaps their guilt when Prospero was caught up in the Heresy. I hope to make some small refinement to cover that in the PDF.

 

The mentions of the Lost primarch was something I have really avoided up to now, but in this case it really helped the plot so much that I couldn't resist it. Sorry if it was a roadbump - I can understand that opinion, but I didn't take it lightly. If it helps, the story refers to the events of the Dornian Heresy universe 11th legion primarch, and his history and eventual fate was totally different to that of the Horus Heresy one! :)

 

More later!

Aurelius.

 

As someone who has a background in writing, I can tell you honestly that authors can be their own worst critics. Now, that said, you shouldn't feel bad as you have produced a wonderful read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. You spent a great deal of time exploring the history of the chapter rather than where they fit in the modern day universe and that is perfectly fine. The Night Lords needed alot of explanation in order for the reader to understand the journey they went through in the Heresy.

 

The matter of the combat doctrine is not a big deal and is mostly a minor question rather than a full blown critique. When we compare this article to say, the word bearers, the wolrd eaters, the iron hands, etc, i can see that you have done a great job of differentiating each legion, not only in their history, but also where they fit into the modern world. It may come down for me to the small details like the world eaters using chain-axes vs. the Emperor's children using power rapiers or sabers. They are both assualt forces, but you do a fantastic job of keeping them from bleeding together. Another example is how the Iron warriors use lots of battle servitors vs. the Word bearers using armies of mad zealots. These are wonderful small little description that helps add more umph to the armies identity.

 

Since the Night Lords are all about fear, I would imaginet that, at least thematically, they would use weapons deliberately designed and engineered to cause panic and unnerve their opponents. So instead of power fists, they have power claws made to like terrifying. Instead of regular bolters, their weapons are designed to scream or produce a deliberate sound so as to unnerve enemies who hear them. Maybe they equip their dreadnoughts with hulls designed to resemble monsters or predatory beasts. They could even use holographic decoys to hide their approach or to make them look even more ferocious. Thats just me brainstorming, but its an example of directions that could be taken. that said, its your article, and you can do whatever you want with it.

 

In all, I like it when the legions cross-over and the idea that the Thousand sons and the Night Lords still have some form of brotherhood would make sense, especially considering what we already know about Abaddon and the Black Templars. I also feel like we should have a chart by the end showing which legions get along, which hate each other, and which only associate as a last resort.

 

I'm not going to loose any sleep over the 11th primarch mention. It was just unusual to see in that instance because, at least for me, I didn't see how it advanced the plot. Maybe I'm missing something, but it seemed more like an interesting aside, like a name drop or a sly wink to the reader. But of course, I have been wrong in the past and I am sure there are people who will quickly jump to correct me.

[The_son_of_Dorn]

Loved it, I simply love how you blend everything together.

[Nexus25]

Since the Night Lords are all about fear, I would imaginet that, at least thematically, they would use weapons deliberately designed and engineered to cause panic and unnerve their opponents. So instead of power fists, they have power claws made to like terrifying. Instead of regular bolters, their weapons are designed to scream or produce a deliberate sound so as to unnerve enemies who hear them. Maybe they equip their dreadnoughts with hulls designed to resemble monsters or predatory beasts. They could even use holographic decoys to hide their approach or to make them look even more ferocious. Thats just me brainstorming, but its an example of directions that could be taken. that said, its your article, and you can do whatever you want with it.

 

This is what I beleive as well. With their access to large amounts of adamantimunm and the assasin temples it could be very possible that can have very customized items/looks.

[Aurelius Rex]

Since the Night Lords are all about fear, I would imaginet that, at least thematically, they would use weapons deliberately designed and engineered to cause panic and unnerve their opponents. So instead of power fists, they have power claws made to like terrifying. Instead of regular bolters, their weapons are designed to scream or produce a deliberate sound so as to unnerve enemies who hear them. Maybe they equip their dreadnoughts with hulls designed to resemble monsters or predatory beasts. They could even use holographic decoys to hide their approach or to make them look even more ferocious. Thats just me brainstorming, but its an example of directions that could be taken. that said, its your article, and you can do whatever you want with it.

Sounds great - consider it stolen! Expect to see a version of that incorporated into the PDF version, Culebras! B)

 

In all, I like it when the legions cross-over and the idea that the Thousand sons and the Night Lords still have some form of brotherhood would make sense, especially considering what we already know about Abaddon and the Black Templars. I also feel like we should have a chart by the end showing which legions get along, which hate each other, and which only associate as a last resort.

This, and the question of how the World Eaters view the Night Lords post heresy was something I was considering today. (The WE are propably still wary of them, but recognise that they may have judged them a little harshly.) There are connections of friendship between different legions - the Thousand Sons intervened with Horus on behalf of Lorgar at a vital point too. The EC and the WE have the bond of Skalathrax and Istvaan that I was pondering while plotting out the Salamanders article. There are also plenty of rivalries and hatreds between the legions, of course!

[Jonas Stromclaw]

Since the Night Lords are all about fear, I would imaginet that, at least thematically, they would use weapons deliberately designed and engineered to cause panic and unnerve their opponents. So instead of power fists, they have power claws made to like terrifying. Instead of regular bolters, their weapons are designed to scream or produce a deliberate sound so as to unnerve enemies who hear them. Maybe they equip their dreadnoughts with hulls designed to resemble monsters or predatory beasts. They could even use holographic decoys to hide their approach or to make them look even more ferocious. Thats just me brainstorming, but its an example of directions that could be taken. that said, its your article, and you can do whatever you want with it.

Sounds great - consider it stolen! Expect to see a version of that incorporated into the PDF version, Culebras! :P

 

In all, I like it when the legions cross-over and the idea that the Thousand sons and the Night Lords still have some form of brotherhood would make sense, especially considering what we already know about Abaddon and the Black Templars. I also feel like we should have a chart by the end showing which legions get along, which hate each other, and which only associate as a last resort.

This, and the question of how the World Eaters view the Night Lords post heresy was something I was considering today. (The WE are propably still wary of them, but recognise that they may have judged them a little harshly.) There are connections of friendship between different legions - the Thousand Sons intervened with Horus on behalf of Lorgar at a vital point too. The EC and the WE have the bond of Skalathrax and Istvaan that I was pondering while plotting out the Salamanders article. There are also plenty of rivalries and hatreds between the legions, of course!

I was wondering about that actually. The other day I read back through all the IAs and noticed that you have no real Dornian Heresy equivalent of the rivalry between Russ and the Lion (I do like the contrast with those legions being more friendly in this universe though). Of course, you don't have to have direct analogues in the Dornian Heresy for everything in the regular universe, thats actually a great part of its charm, but could the dislike between Night Lords and World Eaters develope into something similar?

[Culebras]

Since the Night Lords are all about fear, I would imaginet that, at least thematically, they would use weapons deliberately designed and engineered to cause panic and unnerve their opponents. So instead of power fists, they have power claws made to like terrifying. Instead of regular bolters, their weapons are designed to scream or produce a deliberate sound so as to unnerve enemies who hear them. Maybe they equip their dreadnoughts with hulls designed to resemble monsters or predatory beasts. They could even use holographic decoys to hide their approach or to make them look even more ferocious. Thats just me brainstorming, but its an example of directions that could be taken. that said, its your article, and you can do whatever you want with it.

Sounds great - consider it stolen! Expect to see a version of that incorporated into the PDF version, Culebras! B)

 

In all, I like it when the legions cross-over and the idea that the Thousand sons and the Night Lords still have some form of brotherhood would make sense, especially considering what we already know about Abaddon and the Black Templars. I also feel like we should have a chart by the end showing which legions get along, which hate each other, and which only associate as a last resort.

This, and the question of how the World Eaters view the Night Lords post heresy was something I was considering today. (The WE are propably still wary of them, but recognise that they may have judged them a little harshly.) There are connections of friendship between different legions - the Thousand Sons intervened with Horus on behalf of Lorgar at a vital point too. The EC and the WE have the bond of Skalathrax and Istvaan that I was pondering while plotting out the Salamanders article. There are also plenty of rivalries and hatreds between the legions, of course!

I was wondering about that actually. The other day I read back through all the IAs and noticed that you have no real Dornian Heresy equivalent of the rivalry between Russ and the Lion (I do like the contrast with those legions being more friendly in this universe though). Of course, you don't have to have direct analogues in the Dornian Heresy for everything in the regular universe, thats actually a great part of its charm, but could the dislike between Night Lords and World Eaters develope into something similar?

 

World eater against night lord. I like it. I was thinking that, thematically, if the night lords are batman, than the World eaters are alot more like Superman, what with them trying to do the right thing and control their emotions. Plus, if I understand it right, the world eaters are hailed as heroes when they show up, but its the opposite with the Night Lords, even though under the surface, they both have a strong belief in justice. Interesting. :)

 

@Aurelius

Not stolen, just given a good home. :) BTW, after I wrote this, I started thinking and decided that it would make sense that the Night Lords would use iconography featuring blades and claws and images of beasts or skulls, but I doubt they would use anything with demons. If the looked TOO demonic, that might get them in trouble with the Word bearers, and they might still be harboring some legacy of being persecuted during the heresy. (though you never know,)

[Culebras]

The mob had gathered in the baking noon-day sun, their voices raised in chanting cries for blood. A dozen times a dozen weapons fired wildly into the sky in celebration of the slaughter to come. The crowd was hot for the kill, their eyes glazed and blood drunk. the bodies of the few imperial servants they had found, mere menials and unlucky souls caught up in the surging mass, had not been enough to sate their hunger. They wanted more and knew where to find it. Bare hands beat against the metal walls of the Administratum building, even as a the leaders of the mob went to work on the door with their gore spattered sledge hammers.

 

Inside, under desks and chairs, women and children huddled in abject terror. The mob had been building for days and now the entire city had seemed to come calling for their deaths. The tall, thin windows had been smashed by rocks and gunfire and the feral baying of the masses outside rattled what little glass remained. In the corner of his office, the chief adept whispered a prayer to the emperor and his holy saints; Logar, Horus, Angron, and others.

 

With a terrible clang, the doors split open and with it a blast of chill air washed over the gathered mob like the breath of a dying man. For a moment the crowd seemed to pause, as if caught in a moment of confusion. One of the foremost men, his hands clutched tightly around his stolen las gun, took a tentative step into the chamber beyond. His eyes, unaccustomed to the sudden darkness, scanned the room in search of fresh victims. Instead, he found five sets of red eyes staring back at him.

 

They were giants, dressed head to tow in armor the color of midnight, with helmets shaped like skulls and pauldrons dripping with blood. In their hands they carried weapons pulled from nightmares; Terrible claws for rending flesh, swords festooned with razor sharp edges, shields adorned with viscous spikes. But the worse was lights that danced on their armor. Ghostly images of leering faces and crackling lightning danced like devils across their chest pieces. And in those mirrored reflection, the man saw his own face twisted in horror; a promise of what was to come.

 

"Welcome" the tallest marine whispered. "we would have words with you."

 

The First man had just enough time to scream. The next ten had barely enough to turn and try to flee. But the mob behind them was pushing forward, forcing them into the welcoming arms of the Night Lords.

 

 

(just a little flash fiction I thought up. Hope you enjoy)