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IL I - The Harbingers (thread 2)


Athrawes

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He's a hard man to get hold of, to be honest.

 

If you can come up with a good character, I'd say just get writing and send him the drafts to approve of. It's the approach I've taken for characters from something like half our Legions by now.

Deprived of their first layer of defense, skirmishes broke out among the various branches of the cave system as Eldar warriors, clad in green and white, would launch brief ambushes against the Lightning Bearers. A routine was quickly established. The Eldar would attack, firing an initial volley as they illuminated the area. Most of the bladed discs would harmlessly bounce off of the forward Cataphractii units. Here and there, one lucky strike would pierce adamantium and force fields or wound a rear Lightning Bearer in power armou, but these were rare. In turn, the Volta, utilizing their Battle-Scry, would return fire, destroying the sources of light with perfect accuracy. As darkness reclaimed the battle zone, the Eldar warriors would attempt to retreat but suffered as the Volta turned Volkite chargers upon their running forms. 

 

Thus, for every casualty the Lightning Bearers suffered, the Eldar paid with dozens of lives. Never were the Eldar able to stop the Volta's advance. Finally, the Eldar appear to give up their fruitless charges not long before the task force entered into a large chamber. It was here that the separate squads of the First Legion rejoined into one force. Asizaga informed his subordinates that their objective lay in the next cave beyond the one where they now stood. It was here that the Eldar would make their last gamble. 

Before marching to their final objective, Asizaga shifted the formation so that the Volta occupied the rear and the flanks while the standard Lightning Bearers were positioned to the fore. It was only after every legionnaire was in their exact designated position did Asizaga order the detachment to move forward. As the Lighting Bearers crossed the chamber's halfway point, Asizaga ordered the Volta to hold position while the other Lightning Bearers were to sprint toward the objective. Long used to the Volta's mysterious ways, the Lighting Bearers obeyed without question. Meanwhile, the Volta faced outwards toward the cave and opened fire. Where the Martian rays struck, camouflaged Eldar bodies peeled off the rocky walls as the Volta secured first blood. The ambusher now the ambushed, more Eldar warriors in dark green and brown attacked from the shadows. 

 

The Volta held their ground as the nimble xenos closed the distance, steadily reducing the enemy numbers with precision fire. Unfortunately, unlike the previous warriors, these Eldar wore heavier armour capable of deflecting the volkite's rays. As such, the Volta were unable to slay the xenos before the two forces were joined in close combat. The Eldar struck first and hard as they opened fire with mandiblasters. Although weak in firepower, the sheer number of attacks overwhelmed two of the Volta who's Battle-Scrying was not enough to avoid the lethal blows. 

The Eldars' victory was short-lived. While their unique chainblades allowed them to strike with the strength of an Astartes, they lacked the penetrating power to reliably cut through Cataphractii armour. While no Volta carried a blade, they proved they had no need of them. Blind warriors blocked blows with the reinforced barrels of their Volkites, opened fire at point-blank range, and, when all else failed, simply bludgeoned the weaker Eldar to death. 

 

No short battle, it dragged on as the Eldars' skill balanced out with the Volta's thick defenses, leading to a battle of attrition as one side attempted to exhaust the other. As the minutes ticked by, it would be the Eldar who would fail. With muscles burning from exertion, the Eldars' intricate finesse gradually slackened, whereas the Volta's adamantium continued its metallic resistance. The final blow came when the other Lightning Bearers returned from destroying the Webway portal. With no hope of escape and attacked on the flanks, the remaining Eldar warriors died. 

 

Triumphant, Asizaga led his legionnaires back to the service. They were informed that the other portals had been destroyed. The planet belonged to the Imperium. Imperial colonists quickly came to the system, and Asizaga, as the battlefield commander, appointed a new Imperial governor. Before rejoining the Imperial Crusade, Asizaga left one final warning: that the caves where he and his brothers died were to be ignored, lest one tempt Death. It would only be during the Insurrection would Asizaga's words would reveal the hidden truth.

The Coming Storm

 

As has been noted in other tomes, when the Insurrection broke the Imperium, few forces were not split in some way. In the case of the Harbingers, that split was a small one with only a few Lightning Bearers retaining their loyalty to the Emperor on the Day of Revelation. For once Icarion had chosen his course, he would work hard to ensure the loyalty of his own legion when he finally declared his intentions to the galaxy. It is only through perusing past battle records and piecing together the evidence that it is now know that the greatest potential resistance to Icarion's ambitions laid with the Praxis. While they certainly served Icarion well, these Lightning Bearers who had retained their ways from as early as the Unification Wars remembered that their oaths were sworn ultimately to the Emperor and not their Primarch. Realizing this, Icarion deemed the Praxis necessary for extermination. This extermination would take place over a thousand battlefields as these venerable warriors would find themselves cut off from support or ambushed in dark hallways. 

The most significant purge would occur during the Extermination of the Conota System. Within this system was the largest colony of Rak'gol discovered during the Great Crusade with a few xenobiologists theorizing that it may very well be their home system. It fell to Icarion to cleanse this region of space of the nightmarish xenos. The Stormborn quickly assembled a force from the nearest expeditionary fleets for this task. It was assumed that the decision was left to chance, but records show that each fleet contained a large contingent of Praxis and were following recent orders from their Primarch ensuring that they were the nearest at the time of the Rak'gol discovery. What did arouse a few questions was Icarion's choice for operational commander. 

Sentinel Antru Ri-an was as old as the legion itself. Calculating with a will forged of adamantium, Sentinel Ri-an had fought across a thousand battlefields and undoubtedly had the experience. Yet, he was more infamous for his independent streak, one of the few Sentinels to openly challenge his Primarch on several decisions. Furthermore, as a member of the Praxis, he was a powerful psyker but he knew no divination. Instead, he had devoted his centuries to mastering all forms of telepathy to the point where it was rumored that he was able to force an enemy to do his bidding so long as he said a certain phrase. It was a powerful tool against renegade humans, Orks, and other humanoid races; it was unknown if it would have any effect on the Rak'gol. Still, when the order came, Sentinel Ri-an did not hesitate and accepted command. 

Listening to the Age of Darkness podcast. Realised I've been pronouncing Icarion and Athrawes wrong all this time...

 

EDIT: Also apparently I've been pronouncing Madrigal wrong too...

Huh? So what are the proper prounounciations? I've been saying them as Ih-kar-ri-on, Ah-thra-wes, and Mah-dri-gal.

To aid the telepathic Lightning Bearer, Icarion assigned Sentinel Susanoo Empyon to provide divination support. This is where the controversy entered. Although technically the two Sentinels stood at the same rank, it was well understood that as ....

 

Okay, interruption. BlindPrimarch, while I was looking for which company Susanoo commanded, I found the answer to the Equerry. In a single line from a PM, Athrawes did tell me that Raiden is Icarion's Equerry. 

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