Black Book - Insurrection (PUBLISHED)

[MikhalLeNoir]

Gosh. I kove thesaurus ;)

 

apprehend, call the turn, crystal ball it, discern, divine, dope out, envisage, espy, expect, forebode, forecast, forefeel, foreknow, foretell, have a hunch, perceive, preknow, presage, previse, prevision, prognosticate, prophesy, psych out, see, see it coming, understand, visualize

 

 

My two favourites are "dope out" and "crystal ball it" ;)

[Sigismund229]

Death of the Bear v.2.0. Seem better?

The Death of the Bear

 

Of all the legions that stood against Icarion and whose loyalty he knew he couldn't sway, he foresaw that it would be the VI, the Iron Bears who would cause him the most grief if they weren't removed from play in the opening stages of the Insurrection. More numerous than the Crimson Lions and lethally better equipped than the Scions Hospitalier, if they weren’t destroyed beyond hope of recovery before news of the Insurrection reached them and they mobilized for war, then Icarion foresaw that the Iron Bears would be a major obstacle on his road to Terra, one which would inflict heavy casualties upon his forces and slow them, perhaps even long enough for the other loyalists to gather upon Terra. With the full strength of those loyal to the Emperor guarding the homeworld, it would be impossible for Icarion to launch a successful assault upon it and support for his cause would gradually fade away, leaving him little more than an isolated rebel, doomed to be annihilated by his vengeful brothers. So it was decided. The Iron Bears had to be destroyed, crushed beyond any hope of recovery.

 

However, Icarion also foresaw that unless his brother Dear’dd was killed, then they would meet once again on a world of black hills and stormy skies but where once it would have been a brotherly re union, full of joy and laughter, this time there would be nothing but hate and sorrow. While in many paths Icarion emerged from this confrontation victorious, his brothers body at his feet and the VI legion scattered, in others it was the Iron Bear who was victorious, Icarion’s body lying broken at his feet as the Bear roared in triumph and a lightning storm began to dissipate, fresh rays of sun breaking through the clouds to illuminate a field of dead bodies in the white and black of the I. In no version of events did the Iron Bear turn to Icarion’s cause. Deciding that such a course of events could not be risked or even allowed to come to pass, Icarion was decided. His brother must die.

 

In this decision, Icarion also saw an opportunity to test two of his newfound allies, Koschei Kharkovic and K’awil Pakal. While both had declared that they would join their legions to his cause and rally beneath his banner, Icarion was uncertain of the exact loyalties of his two brothers. Koschei was motivated more by wounded pride and grief over the prosecution of his legion and the destruction of his ultimate dream of one united legion. Icarion had foreseen paths where, instead of pledging himself wholeheartedly to Icarion’s cause, Koschei deserted him or, seeing through his grief and recovering his previous loyalties, stood beside their father at Eternity Gate, united in defiance of Icarion, blind to the ultimate fate Icarion had foreseen their father inflicting on them all. As for K’awil, K’awil had always been a mysterious figure, not truly close to any of his brothers yet never truly hateful of them either. Icarion could not be certain of his motives or true loyalties and even his attempts at seeing into his shadowy brothers future had provided little enlightenment in this regard. It seemed that even the warp was blind to K’awil’s true allegiance. So it was that the Stormborn seized the opportunity to test his brothers and seal their loyalty with blood. The blood of the Bear.

 

Two legions, the Godslayers and the Grave Stalkers, a total of 173,000 astartes, were to surprise the Iron Bears over the world of Istvaan III, a world whose governor had just declared his independence from the Imperium at large. While the Warmaster had dispatched the Iron Bears to bring the world back into the fold, by force if needs be, Icarion had persuaded his brother to send the VIII and XX to aid the VI. While he had accepted that such overwhelming force was unnecessary, he had persuaded his brother that presenting such a united front would send a simple but clear message to any potential rebels: any rebellion against the Emperor would be dealt with in such a manner that no man, woman or child of that world would survive the ordeal and all traces of them would be erased from the galaxy. A pre emptive strike. This also gave the two traitor legions the opportunity they needed to close the distance with the Iron Bears, bringing their ships within boarding range, some of them even boarding VI legion ships before the betrayal was revealed and inflicting maximum damage in the opening moments of the battle, crushing the VI before they even realised they had a battle on their hands. It would be a clean, relatively bloodless victory for the traitors, one which both removed any chance of Icarion having to run the gauntlet of facing the Bear in battle and one which effectively removed an entire loyal legion from play for a relatively small loss of rebel astartes, further widening the gap in terms of astartes numbers between Icarion and his father.

[Raktra]

I'm gonna punch Hectarion's face off.

 

Punch it right off.

[MikhalLeNoir]

You know that there will be a rematch ;)

[Sigismund229]

*you're going to attempt to punch Hectarion's face off ;)

[bluntblade]

Maybe we could swap Isstvan for another planet? Only, I did a little Pariah blurb for Simison which involved the Wardens of Light totally breaking Isstvan's religion by silencing the Warsingers. Partly as a way of showing their power, so Isstvan rebelling in this verse would go against that a little.

 

Could it be somewhere like Colchis? So the Iron Bears land and are set upon by the heretics and the other legions? No need to retain any Word Bearer characters.

 

Or alternatively we could have Icarion choosing a planet brought to compliance by the Berserkers and carefully egging it on. There's been a comic piece building up in my head with a governor having a breakdown as he realises whose mess he has to clear up (how do you hold a banquet when the whole populace faints at the sight of sharp objects?!) and it'd be nice to put a sting in its tail.

[Sigismund229]

More done

 

         With these objectives in mind, the annihilation of the Iron Bears and the death of Dear'dd, the Godslayers and Grave Stalkers set out for the Istvaan system, unaware that their loyalty was being tested, for Icarion had presented their mission as an honour rather than a test, for it was they who would strike the first blow against their treacherous father and deal the first major, irrecoverable defeat to the loyalists. It was with their hearts swelling in pride from the compliments that Icarion had heaped upon their legions and the fact that it was they who had been chosen for this task, not any of the other legions with whom it was known Icarion was closer to. 

 

         From the moment they went into the Warp to when they arrived in orbit over Istvaan III, the legions who had aligned themselves with the Lightning Bearers seemed to be favoured by some other worldly power. Whereas the Iron Bears had reported enormous amounts of turbulence in the Warp around Istvaan III, the Godslayers and Grave Stalkers arrived in orbit over Istvaan III within a matter of days, a miracle given that it had taken the VI weeks and they had been far closer to the Istvaan system and even then they had arrived scattered and out of formation. By contrast, the VIII and XV arrived in perfect formation with all their ships intact. The only sign of Warp turbulence had been the whispers that many of the crew(mainly the unaugmented humans although some astartes and even, it’s rumoured, the primarch, Koschei, himself) had heard, a single word being repeated over and over again throughout the entire voyage: Nurgl’eth. 

 

        As soon as the VIII and XV entered into real space in the system, they were greeted with warm hails by their brothers of the Iron Bears, with Dear’dd greeting his brothers in person using a hololithic message, completely unaware of the intended treachery. The Godslayer and Grave Stalker fleets were even provided with honorary escorts by the Iron Bears, a formality that Koschei and K’awil were only too happy to accept. Soon, the flagships of all three legions were drawn up alongside each other and the squadrons of Iron Bears war ships began to intermingle with their brothers of the VIII and XV. Dear’dd even invited his brother primarchs and their astartes aboard his flagship, the Dragon of Autumn, nominally for a meeting about strategy in regards to re claiming Istvaan in the name of their father but actually in order to him to greet his brothers properly and re acquaint himself with them, for he believed it to have been too long since he had last waged war alongside his brothers. Unwittingly, the VI were playing into the hands of the traitors. 

 

        With the legions combined strength assembled, the Godslayers and Grave Stalkers were able to fully observe the Iron Bears fleet. Of the legions total strength, only around 130,000 were in orbit over Istvaan III. The rest had either been scattered during the warp journey or were too far away to be assembled at such short notice as it would take them weeks, possibly even months to join their legion. Over the next few hours, the rebel ships moved into positions either amidst the Iron Bears fleet or on the outskirts of the system, so as to block the escape routes for any Iron Bears ships who managed to claw their way clear of the original ambush and the astartes of the Godslayers and Ghost Stalkers either intermingled with their brothers of the VI, maintaining full armour in many cases, although this was put down to the fact that they were to be prepared to assault Istvaan III at any time, or began to load themselves into boarding pods in preparation for the eventual betrayal. 

 

         The first shots of the betrayal were fired by a legionnaire of the XV on board the Iron Bears strike cruiser Heart of Iron. Within moments, as if some unspoken signal had been spoken across the vox that the Iron Bears hadn’t heard, the legionnaires of the Godslayers and the Grave Stalkers began to open fire upon their brothers of the VI, slaughtering hundreds in the opening minutes with precise bolter shots or knife cuts to the throat. Even on board the Dragon of Autumn the VI were slaughtered without remorse, as the warriors brought on board by Koschei and K’awil turned on Dear’dd’s elite Totem Guard, as helpless as the rank and file against this treachery. Aboard the bridge, Dear’dd could only watch the reports in horror as commanders from all across his fleet demanded orders. Were they to open fire? What was happening? Why were their brothers opening fire? The Iron Bear had no answer for his warriors and both his brothers had vanished from the bridge an hour earlier, going to, they said, prepare their warriors for an assault on Istvaan in case negotiations should fail. Thus, the Iron Bear was left helpless as the Godslayers and Ghost Walkers warships opened fire, launching both lance weaponry and boarding pods, at the scattered elements of his fleet, who had dispersed themselves amongst their brothers some hours earlier. While this had been intended to present a united front in the face of rebellion, the result was that the Iron Bears were helpless against their assailants, isolated and cut off from the other elements of the VI legion fleet, the Iron Bears were gradually being annihilated. However, as the Godslayers and Grave Stalkers butchered their way through his sons on the lower decks towards the bridge, it didn’t take long for Dear’dd’s shock and horror to turn to anger. The Iron Bear would find his wayward brothers and look them in the eyes and ask why. And then, he would rip their treacherous heads from their shoulders and hurl their toxic corpses into the void.   

 

          Once they realised that there had been no mistake and that they were betrayed by those they had thought of as kin, the VI fought back with all the strength and courage they possessed, devoid of care for anything but the moment. While the Iron Bears continued to die in such numbers as never before seen by the legions astartes, each Iron Bear began to now take several foes to the grave with him for the VI now fought with the kind of savagery and determination that only men who know that they shan’t return from a battle possess. The first recorded ship kill was made by the Dragon of Autumn, a Grave Stalker battle barge named the Hidden Shadow. Other kills by other VI legion vessels soon followed as the Iron Bears began to fight back and make their treacherous brethren pay for their betrayal. As the VI legion strike cruiser called Iron Soul was being overrun by astartes of the Godslayers, all but a token force of Iron Bears were launched in boarding pods at the warp engines of three near by Godslayer vessels and the remaining forces, and Sergeant (named needed) who was commanding the remaining astartes on board the ship gave the following speech “My brothers of the VI legion, crew of the Iron Soul. Our enemies believe us to be easy prey. They think they will have a bloodless victory here. Well they don’t know the sons of Huron! Yes we are outnumbered and outgunned. Yes we can not hope to win. But we shan’t give up! We shall rail and rage against our fate with all the strength and might we possess and by the time we are done, not a single filthy whoreson of the VIII or XV will ever forget the last stand of the crew of the Iron Soul!  We die as I speak but before we die, we shall carve a new legend from the flesh of our foes, a legend that will be repeated by the sons of Huron until the sun swallows our world, and even then from Terra to the Ghoul Stars all will know of the last stand of the VI! For Huron and the Primarch!”

[Demus Ragnok]

Sig last paragraph Grave Stalkers gets switched to Ghost Walkers. Should be Grave Stalkers.

[Sigismund229]

Corrected

[Big Bad Squig]

Shaping up to be a lovely piece!  I hadn't envisioned/remembered the betrayal taking part on the ships, but it makes for a really nice touch.  The only thing to say is that Koschei's motivation is still Kozja's in version 2.0

[Skalpynock]

Also, Daer'dd 's name is spelled with the A before the E. As far as I know. I can't even attempt to write his last name though.

[Sigismund229]

@Bog Bad Squig&Skalpynock: Points much appreciated but seeing as I"m on a writing roll, I'll press on with this and see if I can't get it finished today(fingers crossed) and then go back and fine tune and edit it properly.

Despite their anger at being betrayed and their desperation fuelled ferocity in combat, the sons of Daer'dd were gradually falling, outnumbered, isolated and outgunned. However, each Iron Bear who made it aboard the enemies ships died inflicting casualties of a hundred to one against enemy armsmen before eventually falling to the sheer number of weapons being shot at them. However, where lesser warriors would have given up in such circumstances, the Irom Bears were astartes and as such continued to fight with all their strength, even when knowing that death was coming for them. Fuelled by this undying spirit of defiance, the astartes of the VI began to experience some limited success. Several Iron Bears warships, battered and torn, some even still having enemy warriors on board, broke through the lines of enemy vessels and made it far enough away from the planet of Istvaan III to make an emergency warp jump. One party of some 600 Totem Guard led by Aandegg Niimkiikaa boarded a Godslayer battle barge and seized control of it, promptly using it to escape the massacre as their lord Daer'dd had ordered all Iron Bears capable of doing so to do. However, for the most part, such successes were just one small part of the battle and the brave sons of Daer'dd were cut down, fighting like men possessed but unable to stand against their fellow astartes or freezing to death in the cold depths of the void.

 

As his sons were slaughtered, Daer'dd was relentless in his hunting of his brothers. They had betrayed their father and slaughtered tens of thousands of Daer'dd's sons and that was not something that could go unpunished. Along with an elite force of 1000 Totem Guard he boarded the Grave Stalkers flag ship, leaving the remaining Totem Guard under the command of Shipmistress Lotara Sarrin. Daer'dd had only one objective, the death of his treacherous brothers, no matter the cost. While a small force of Totem Guard split off from the main group to seek out and destroy their enemies ships warp drives, the majority stayed with Daer'dd, willing to die to see their father enact revenge for their tens of thousands of fallen brothers. As they fought their way through the enemy flag ship, it soon became clear that without the element of surprise the normal Grave Stalkers were no match for the VI legion elite. Even a group of Grave Stalkers contemptor dreadnoughts was unable to do any more than delay the Iron Bears who ripped through(quite literally in Daer'dd's case) the reveared fallen of the XV.

 

However, following their destruction of nearly half a dozen XV legion dreadnoughts, the Totem Guard and Daer'dd finally found their quarry: K'awil Pakal. Standing before his brother accompanied by nearly three hundred of the fell Reapers of the XV, warriors without pity or remorse, it is said that in the weak light of the ships bowels, K'awil gave his brother a grin that spoke of treachery, death and, ultimately, the joy of betrayal. Following this, the two primarchs and their warriors clashed, coming together with a sound that would echoe down in history: the sound of betrayal and the anger of a betrayed brother. For a long time the two brothers fought, neither able to gain a decisive edge, Daer'dd launching great blows with his war maul at K'awil and K'awil darting in and out, attempting to bleed his brother dry. However, eventually, as the Totem Guard gained the upper hand in their battle against the Reapers, Daer'dd struck a decisive blow, smashing his brother aside, breaking bones and shattering any bonds of brotherhood that remained. Despite this victory, the Iron Bear was unable to strike the killing strike, the one that would end his treacherous brother for before he could, another force took his Totem Guard in the rear, a force of Godslayers led by the other traitor: Koschei.

 

While he already bled from a dozen cuts inflicted on him by K'awil, the Iron Bear burned with the rage of a brother betrayed and, with little left to lose, hurled himself at Koschei but this fight he couldn't win. With each swing of his maul he grew weaker and slower until finally, Koschei was able to move in for the kill strike. With K'awil lying broken and crippled at his feet, the Iron Bear sank to the ground with Koschei's blade driven through his heart, ending the tale of the Iron Bear.

[simison]

Before I read anything else, I can vouch for Bluntblade's claim. He did give me a piece featuring Isstvan III a couple of days ago.

[Sigismund229]

I declare the Death of the Bzar to be pretty much finished(I may add more depending on if you folks think there's enough here or not. I was also kind of planning on writing a small sub bit about the flight if the Dragon of Autumn). Now *brandishes red pen* let the editing begin.

Lesser troops would have given in. With their primarch dead and their own casualties rapidly rising, mamy would have expected the VI to do just that. Indeed, that's what even a lesser legion would have done. Not the Iron Bears. The sons of Daer'dd fought on, exacting a bloody toll for their deaths, although there were ever fewer of them left and ever fewer were escaping. Among the ships that escaped was the flag ship of the VI legion which, commanded by the ever determined and capable Lotara Sarrin, fought its way free of the trap and managed, despite extensive damage to the warp drives and geller fields, to make an emergency warp jump as it was pursued by several Godslayer's vessels and with many hostile astartes astartes on board(the last recorded order of the shipmistress prior to translating into the warp was "Get these dogscrewing whoresons off my ship). Linkinh up and forming into ad hoc squadrons, dozens of Iron Bears vessels also managed to fight their way clear of the murderous trap designed to catch them all and destroy them and make warp jumps. Many more did not. Over the course of three bloody hours, the Iron Bears fleet was cut up into smaller and smaller pockets and destroyed through overwhelming firepower, their shields overcome and their weapons too heavily damaged to inflict any serious damage upon their enemies. Gradually, even these small pockets of resistance were extinguished, and the space above Istvaan III(which had now declared for Icarion) were left silent, the only disturbance being the hundreds of metal ship carcasses that littered the void and the thousands of astartes corpses that were drifting through the void, their wearers either killed in the fighting or frozen to death after their escape from their destroyed ships.

 

Occasionaly these carcasses were added when an Iron Bears vessel, scattered by the warp in translation to Istvaan III, drifted into the space above the world and was hunted down by the Grave Stalkers and Godslayers. The Grave Stalkers were especially savage, exacting a bloody revenge for the crippling of their primarch, flaying alive any Iron Bear who fell into their hands, making the Iron Bears suffer in place of their fallen primarch.

 

The battle could be considered a great success for the Insurrectionists. Over 144,000 Iron Bears drifted dead and frozen in the space above Istvaan III for less than a fifth of that number of Godslayers and Ghost Stalkers and most of their fleet was destroyed, effectively destroying them as a legion. What's more, their primarch had also fallen, leaving them leaderless and meaning whatever efforts they made from now on to strike back at the traitors would be uncoordinated and scattered, renderring them effectively useless as an asset to the loyalists and removing them from play, as Icarion had planned. The first loyal brother had fallen in the void above Istvaan III, and much of his legion had fallen with him.

[MikhalLeNoir]

Man. Really great stuff. The only sad thing is: we had the story already covered. Which one is the true version. I look for the other one. Stay altert. Will take some time

[Skalpynock]

Man. Really great stuff. The only sad thing is: we had the story already covered. Which one is the true version. I look for the other one. Stay altert. Will take some time

That was a narrative version. Here we have the one that will be in the book. Two accounts of the same event, and from what I remember they don't contradict eachother much.

[MikhalLeNoir]

Damn....to many threads...

Hidden Content

COME K'AWIL! I WILL ONLY BREAK YOU, YOU LITTLE BASTARD PRICK OF A BROTHER"

The gutteral roar that emanated from the throat and lungs was enough to shatter what few windows were near by. The wall, and the better part of the building stood no chance to the juggernaut gait of the true Iron Bear.

 

"ONCE YOU ARE BROKEN I CAN BRING YOU BACK TO FATHER TO FIX YOU"

The shadow darted several buildings over he could both smell and see remnants of K'awil as he moved.

He felt sorry for him, K'awil had been so weak, he needed more time with father. With that same thought he unleashed six of The Ganzhymekwahawk at K'awil's signature he read through the wall.

 

"First blood goes to me brother"

Daer'dd felt cold at the thought.

With but a blink he folded space time around himself, and as his eyes opened he looked down at K'awil pulling a second of several tomahawks from his flesh and armour. Before he could reach the next they were on Daer'dd's belt again.

Daer'dd offered his hand to his brother.

 

"Have I broken you yet? O child of death?"

Genuine concern sung from Daer'dd's words.

 

"Please Daer'dd, yes you're stronger than me, and tougher, and probably smarter than I, but not even one strike of your arcane axes could fell myself or any of our brothers so easily... Why do you offer me your hand?"

K'awil's tone went from proud and condescending to quizzical

 

"I will not kick you when you are down, we are two gods of old fighting, this moment will be remembered by historians for millennia to come. Let us fight like gods on our feet. Besides I want to see who is louder, my roar versus your screams"

A smile crept upon Daer'dd's face

 

"You're serious?"

 

An affirmative nod was all Daer'dd gave.

 

With but a hesitation a cacophonous sound arose louder than the bellows of the Imperator Titans Daer'dd had sent against the Grave Stalkers.

 

K'awil kept the scream up he'd never seen such a feat. Daer'dd's ears, and nose bled, and the vessels in his eyes had popped crimson filling the black of his eyes, Daer'dd's inner light pooled out into the blood making his whole face seem to glow with an ethereal light. But by the fething Gods was he loud, he'd heard tales of his Roar being heard a hundred miles away but never believed it. K'awil noticed that his helmet had first rumbled and was now rattling with fierce vibrations. This quickly turned into a crack, a pop, and a bang. His helm had shattered on his face.

"That bastard matched the harmonic resonance of the metals of my helm and was actually loud enough to shatter with his voice...FETH"

All but the last word were K'awil's inner monologue.

Daer'dd loomed over K'awil snarling with blood dripping down his face. K'awil started to move when Daer'dd said one with enough of a bang K'awil accidentally complied with the order

"SIT!"

"Sit there and listen to me brother for just a moment, and then we can fight till the world ends"

K'awil nodded.

"Do you really think those false gods can truly offer you anything? Do you think you'll be little more than Icarion's puppet? Father and Alexandros have shown me so much recently and I am open, I understand everything so much more clearly than before. Father made us to be gods and kings! But this path you're on you'll end up only a servant! Do you really think they want or need you? Or any of us? No! They fear us! They fear me! For we are beings of their realm bound to flesh. But this flesh? This flesh has made us GODS and far stronger than any of those false gods understand! Kill me now and in ten millennia I will end each and every one of those false gods, and I will conquer the empyrean for father! Those beings will fall before my might! Who do you serve K'awil!?"

 

"I serve no one"

 

The first blow fell and the fight started.

 

The First Hit is the Hardest.

 

To watch gods fight, is to watch the apocalypse.

In so many ways you could see the shared genetics of Daer'dd and K'awil. But when they fought it was like day and night.

 

Both were raw and gutteral in there deeply rooted primalistic anger. The stood still for what felt like a millennia. The tension was agonizing. K'awil lost his Pariah advantage with Daer'dd, though he had a slight touch of the gift he was far too stubborn an ass to even notice the ache in his mind.

 

Daer'dd moved first. He was the slower of the two, so he had to attack differently than he would another opponent.

 

"My brother is an idiot of a fighter"

K'awil thought, it brought a smirk to the corner of his mouth.

K'awil couldn't believe how badly telegraphed the swipes of his brutal claws wide and broad. It was when the Iron Bear lifted his arms in the follow through of a swing that K'awil struck, his two Kinsik blades struck just under the breast plate and ribs, hitting two of Daer'dd's lungs. K'awil looked up upon the visage of his gargantuan brother hoping to see pain in Daer'dd's face, instead he was met with a grim menacing smile, blood dripping from his fanged maw.

 

Daer'dd let the strike happen, he knew he'd have to be hurt to break his brother,to get close enough to hurt K'awil. When the blades sunk into his flesh it burned hot, but he'd been shot and stabbed a thousand times over he needed his brother this close.

 

He clenched his fists into a hammer strike he waited for K'awil to look up so he could see true power.

 

When the blow landed it hit with the force of a storm. The thunderous hit came down, breaking K'awil's power pack, and cracking both his back armour and several of hisvertebrae.

K'awil started to fall when a knee rose to meet his face at an exceptional rate. This was followed by a calf and foot covered in a near tonne of dense armour meeting his belly and with such surprising force K'awil found himself rising through the air.

Even after such a massive hit K'awil swiftly put his feet underneath him, realising his blades were still sunk deep in Daer'dd; K'awil reached for his shroud bombs. He knew he needed time to kill his brother, to attack Daer'dd directly from the front was to court death itself.

 

"I can still smell you brother! While you hide in the shadows, my legion descends upon your Grave Stalkers! Did you bring Titans to fell my sons? For I brought dozens upon dozens to raise this whole fetching planet!"

Daer'dd bellowed with a hate rarely heard in his voice.

 

The shadows moved with grace on this low crimson evening, Daer'dd would bleed to death before the sun rose.as he hit him, pushing straight through a dozen steel columns and the outer wall of the hab.

 

The pair fell through the air and Daer'dd had no intentions of letting K'awil brace for the fall. They hit like a meteorite. K'awil wasn't sure if he had ever felt like this before.

 

Daer'dd stood up and looked at the reports coming in from his suit, he shrugged off the pain with ease. K'awil he knew would be the first of his brothers to kill, not Raktra nor Icarion could stop him now.

 

K'awil looked over to see his blades in reach, bones were broken, but he would not die today. Despite the pain of nearly being broken in twain, K'awil still moved gracefully, he stood while his brother was turned away.

 

At that moment Daer'dd knew real pain for the first time in his life he looked to see a blade with tip broken sticking from his chest. "Fether got one of my hearts" he thought with great annoyance. the second strike he heard coming glancing and slicing his neck, Daer'dd turned with incredible force and velocity catching K'awil with a back hand that had more in common with a macrocannon than any fist had right to.

 

The blow sent K'awil sailing into a wall of solid adamantine structure, leaving a small crater as he hit, he forced himself upright, but this was the end he now knew.

 

Daer'dd's claws stuck first knuckle deep into K'awil's sternum and chest. Then out came the beast deep within Daer'dd. His canines sunk deep into K'awil's Jaw, neck, cheek, and orbital socket. With his hands he pushed trying to squeeze the life out of K'awil pushing as he felt cracking and snapping, and he bit until his teeth met and he pulled away K'awil's face a bloody mess he spit the hunk of god flesh on his brother's ruined form laid low in rubble. Barely breathing bubbling near black blood

Spilling from his wounds, he would die slowly.

"This is what you deserve traitor."

Daer'dd spoke in an inhuman rumble.

 

A whistling of a heavy metallic object moving with great force caught the giant's attention. Daer'dd's inhuman reflexes allowed him to catch the object directly on one of his great blockish pauldron's shield generators, the two meeting fields created a sharp bang and bolts of chaotic energy.

 

"So you want to die too ehh Koschei?"

 

The last drops of blood.

Part 4.

 

Koschei responded without words, his sword flicked like a whip, deep through Daer'dd's paudron, bright crimson spilled with various fluids arcane from the open wound.

 

Daer'dd grimaced a vital strike, a death strike even on a transhuman, but by the time the blade was pulled back the wound was closing. The damage done to Daer'dd was starting to add up, he had the Juggernaut plate pump chems, vital nutrients and iron into his system, but it was little more than a balm for his system; he was getting weak.

 

K'awil could barely keep his one good eye on the fight, he reached slowly, grabbing the dangling orb pushing it back in slowly. He reached into a pouch for a medical bonding gel, he grabbed the chunk of face and maw off of his belly, he applied the gel adding it to bits of flesh and bone he hoped would stick.

 

Daer'dd and Koschei faught in a blur trading blows and stabs that moved like lightning.

 

K'awil started to stand reaching for a broken blade. The fight was but a blur, but K'awil dismissed it as problems with his eye.

 

Koschei let both arms fall after a strong blow from the Giant.

 

Daer'dd saw his opening and took it, he rushed Koschei, grabbing him with both arms;

"a bear hug so prudent"

K'awil thought as his crimson vitale spilled slowly from cracks and holes in his plate.

 

Daer'dd put every ounce of might into the hug, he heard ceramite crack and adamantium buckle and squeal. And then something so very warm deep in his lower spine, then a second up through his diaphragm and out the back of his neck.he couldn't feel anything. A dozen more piercing blows came to his torso. Daer'dd heard only beautiful music and saw his two fathers and mother weeping.

Vengeance will be taken.

 

It was at that moment that a God died.

 

Koschei and K'awil stood breathless. Daer'dd was dead.

 

The thunder was from nowhere, like a hundred strikes around. The Sixty Six, the very best of the Totem Guard.

Dozens of lightning and plasma weapons, sat dead on target on the two Primarchs.

 

No words were spoken only the slow movent of all involved. A figure stepped up broad and almost as tall as the two Primarchs, the Champion, Solomon Grimm noted for his paper white complexion and a shock of white hair. He leaned down and touched his fallen fathers body, and with but a flash they were gone. Only a moment later so were the sixty five other Totem Guard.

 

Koschei and K'awil leaned against each other, both started laughing and slumping down onto blood soaked ground. "Our brother is dead" K'awil said trying not laugh. But all they could do was laugh.

 

 

Damn....that was a long search and ya. Skaly was right. But as I loved the story and searched hours for it I put it in a hidden quote ;)

Only difference( apart from the faceeating) is that they were on a planet in the original story. Amd it seemes thst K'awil finished Daerdd off.

 

Minor differences which can be altered quickly

[Chief Captain Redd]

Yeah the planet is in the Ghoul Stars and is actually listed (I think) on our galaxy map.

 

The only thing "incorrect" about the piece is the number of dead, it should be around 80,000-90,000 dead as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 5th Grand Wartribes along with Totem Guard are present at the betrayal. The 4th ends up on Terra, and the 6th is permanently on Huron serving as guards and recruit training.

 

Mind you that still means the Bears are effectively crippled, and then those that remain from the betrayal either lick their wounds on Huron, or follow the remainders of the 2nd GWT and help the Lions in the Shadow crusade, or the 3rd GWT and they get tied up in the battle of the forge for like two years.

[Skalpynock]

Reading both accounts of the battle, it strikes me that I still can't get a mental image of K'awil. He's one of two primarchs I just can't picture, no matter how hard I try.

[simison]

In addition to the celebrations and festivities surrounding the day, Alexandros was intent on addressing several issues afflicting the various legions, most aggravating was the mandatory participation in the remembrance program. It was perhaps for this reason, a mind filled with politics and matters of the state, that Alexandros agreed to Icarion's most audacious request: maneuvering ten entire legions to either new warzones or supporting current legion operations. Not since the day Alexandros became Warmaster had such a titanic redirection of forces been ordered. Icarion presented his arguments to this unexpected plan. Perhaps a suspicious thought had crossed the Warmaster's mind. Alas, the Seer was blinded by both brotherly love and Icarion's own mastery of telepathic manipulation. Before the day ended, the Warmaster had given the order. Since Alexandros would be far from his brother on the actual day of jubilee, the Warmaster insisted on a private drink between the two. It would be the last time the two brothers would enjoy their close friendship. 

[MikhalLeNoir]

Reading both accounts of the battle, it strikes me that I still can't get a mental image of K'awil. He's one of two primarchs I just can't picture, no matter how hard I try.

Which underlines his pariahness I guess :)

[Sigismund229]

@Redd: Wow really? Only 90k? If I might suggest, could we possible put the number slightly higher? Like 124k? Because leaving the Iron Bears with 70,000 astartes still leaves them a sognificant threat and this battle was meant to "eliminate" them. (of course, having them take heavy losses now just makes it even cooler when they come back and give the traitors a good kicking ;) )

also, what's the world called? And I also need a name for the sergeant who delivers the speech I quoted in the passage?

[bluntblade]

Phew, Lotara survived the Bear Hunt. Vengeance will be served with a side of Ursis Claws.

[Sigismund229]

Well...I said I'd write a section on the flight of the Dragon of Autumn...here it is!(don't worry, Redd, I know Daer'dd is returned to Terra,.just thought this was cooler)

The flight of the Dragon of Autumn

 

Of all the VI legion warships which escape the massacre of their kin, the greatest was the Dragon of Autumn, the flagship of Daer'dd Niimkiikaa. Despite having incurred heavy damage whilest fighting the flagships of the VIII and XV, the Dragon of Autumn was able to escape due to the heroic efforts of the battle barges Son of Fire and Huron's Hammer, who interposed themselves between the Dragon of Autumn, allowing their flag ship and primarchs body(which Daer'dd's Totem Guard had managed to fight their way back aboard with) to elbow their way out of the trap and translate into the warp. However, with extensive damage to their geller fields and warp drive, the trials of the Dragon of Autumn had just begun.

On board the Dragon of Autumn, there were 200,000 unaugmented human crew, barely half the crew such an enormous vessel needs, and some 4000 Iron Bears, of whom nearly all were Totem Guard. However, these were not the only survivors the vessel carried. Also on board were hundreds of Godslayers and Ghost Stalkers, hiding in the bowels of the ship and regularly ambushing parties of crew. So it was that over the months of the journey, the Totem Guard regularly descended into ship's bowel's to hunt and fight their treacherous brothers. While at the ambush, the brothers of the VIII and XV had held the advantage, cut off from their legions and without the advantage of numbers or surprise, the warriors of the Godslayers and Ghost Stalkers were no match for the VI legion's elite. Doing battle with their treacherous kin with power tomahawks and volkite weaponry, the Totem Guard gradually hunted down and killed their treacherous kin in the multiple small battles amidst the ruins of the Dragon of Autumn.

 

However, as they travelled through the warp, they soon discovered that the VIII and XV were not the most dangerous foe to which they were exposed. Smelling an easy kill, the foul denizens of the warp all sought to gain access to the ship. Over the months that the Dragon of Autumn was in the warp more and more succeeded as the geller field weakened and began to fail, the damage it had suffered winning out over the ship's formidable machine spirit.

 

While the Totem Guard would always hunt down the otherworldly intruders, fewer brothers returned from each hunt and the denizens of the warp grew in number. While the Iron Bears courage and determination remained undiminished, all knew that they couldn't hold off the denizens of the warp if the geller field failed. So it was that when the geller field began to flicker and fail and the crew reported themselves to be unable to repair it, the shipmistress, Lotara Sarrin(who had, by this point, not slept in nearly a week) made the decision to exit the warp near a "light" that their navigator had been babbling about for days. When they translated into real space, they were met within moments by a V legion battle barge received a message: "Welcome, sons of Daer'dd. I am Alexandros Darshan vonSalim, the Warmaster. Welcome to Terra".

[bluntblade]

I'm seriously looking forward to doing another piece from Lotara's POV. It'll just be a matter of knowing where to set it.