Tales of the Unmarked - The Shadow Crusade, Imperium Secundus, and The Long March to Terra

[Relict]

TALES OF THE UNMARKED

THE SHADOW CRUSADE, IMPERIUM SECUNDUS, AND THE LONG MARCH TO TERRA

 

"The death of hope itself is perhaps the greatest tragedy in the wake of Horus' ambition. For the briefest of moments, humanity grasped its true destiny. The blood we had spilled, the worlds we had burned, the brothers we had lost - all of it and more - vindicated. We could have elevated the species above ignorance, superstition, and the day-to-day drudgery of mere survival. Scholars may point to Isstvan, Calth, or Terra herself as where Mankind's hopes died. Those of us who had fought through those blood-soaked days know better. Mankind's hopes died, one by one, with each shell fired at an erstwhile brother and with each Legion blade shattered upon Legion ceramite. Every life trampled beneath the thunderous footfall of the Legiones Astartes was a life wasted, never to see its full potential realized." 

 

- From the memoirs of Publius Strabo, Centurion, XIII Legion 

 

"Let us make war, for evidently, you have found peace intolerable." 

 

- Scipio, Ancient Romanii War-Sage

 

"Man proposes, God disposes." 

 

- Tomas a Kempis, Jermanic Ecclesiastic, M2

 

Publius Strabo, Centurion, 114th Company, XIII Legion Ultramarines

 

Arrayed in his heavily modified panoply (retroactively designated Mark V "Heresy") as seen in this pict-capture, then-Lieutenant Strabo had been a talented junior officer whose potential might have one day seen him rise to company command. However, this future was not to pass - Strabo was wounded almost unto death in a furious but ultimately futile boarding action against Eldar raiders some three decades prior to the outbreak of the Horus Heresy. Narrowly avoiding internment in a Dreadnought shell, Strabo returned to the ranks after undergoing extensive augmetic rebuild. Quietly sidelined, a bitter Strabo shunned the company of most of his Legion brothers and bent his mind towards technological mastery instead. By 007.M31, Strabo had attained the rank of Centurion (centurio immunes*) within the 114th Company, contenting himself with commanding Legion-bonded war-automata instead of Legionaries. Strabo would survive the fires of the Horus Heresy. His memoirs, penned after the Scouring, would form the basis of this record. 

 

Panoply of War: Centurion Strabo's armor was constructed from elements of the "Iron", "Maximus", and "Corvus" patterns of Legiones Astartes armor. At the time of this pict-capture, such a hybridized suit was a rarity in the XIII Legion. Therefore, Strabo most likely performed extensive modifications upon his own armor. Beyond standard Legion-issue battlefield command and control equipment such as the cognis-signum and the nuncio-vox, Strabo's armor was also equipped with an advanced vox disruptor array for engaging the enemy in electronic warfare. The reinforced "Mantilla" pattern helm incorporated an artificer-wrought augury scanner. Such a suite of sophisticated equipment allowed Strabo to function as Praevian and Master of Signal both. 
 

*XIII Legion title referring to specialist officers whose normal duties did not involve line command. 

Edited October 24, 2022 by Relict

[Pearson73]

That's a lovely blue you've got there. Nice writing too, what's up next, some automata for Strabo, or some more mortal brothers? 

[Relict]

I. PRELUDE

 

From the Outer Dark

The War-World

A New Assignment

 

In early 005.M31, the War-World of Armatura witnessed the return of the 960th Expedition Fleet. Such an event, no doubt awe-inspiring to the uninitiated, had, by this late point during the Great Crusade, become routine. The 960th had been engaged in compliance actions in the Galactic Southeast beyond Saran Luxor. It counted among its number a demi-Chapter of the XIII Legion, three Companies with a nominal strength of approximately 3,500 Legionaries. As the fleet powered past the watchful guns of patrol pickets and orbital defense platforms to dock in high orbit for refit and replenishment, a lone Thunderhawk gunship borne its commander, Praetor-Minoris Gaius Cassian, to the surface for immediate council with no less august a figure than the Legatus of Armatura, Orfeo Cassandar. What they discussed was never entered into official records, but Cassian would depart with sealed orders that would set his fate - and those of his men - on a different path. 

 

Armatura, prior to its devastation by the forces of Angron and Lorgar during the fratricidal war that was still to come, was the mailed fist of Ultramar. While Macragge stood as the shining beacon of human civilization and enlightenment in the Galactic East and Calth represented the vision of a better future for a Mankind united under the Emperor's banner, Armatura was, above all, martial in its nature. On its surface were vast industrial sprawls, storage depots, and training grounds. The world hosted not only substantial Legion contingents drawn from the "Gemini" Chapters* of the 24th and 25th, but also maniples of titans bearing the bone-white livery of the Legio Lysanda. This world, more than any other in Ultramar, was the beating heart of the Great Crusade where a battered Expedition Fleet may be fully restored in a matter of months. 

 

The 960th, then, was no exception. However, even as swarms of exo-suited Mechanicum thralls repaired the fleet's scarred adamantium and orbital lifts brought vast quantities of munitions to refill the ships' magazines, Cassian gathered his command and relayed the orders he had been given. Effective immediately, the 114th Company would detach from the 960th. It would retain the use of two strike cruisers - the Indefatigable and the Intrepid - as well as their attendant escorts. Gaps in the ranks of the 114th incurred by battlefield losses would be filled by veteran Legionaries drawn from the vaulted Armatura Evocati themselves. The 114th was to complete the rearming process with all haste and prepare for immediate departure to destination then unknown. The remainder of the 960th would complete its resupply and join the greater XIII Legion at the Calth Muster. 

 

Fragmentary records later recovered from both the ruins of Armatura and the wreck of the Intrepid indicate that the 114th indeed received a substantial quantity of newly-issued arms and armor. It would depart Armatura scant weeks after it had arrived, the stores of its ships laden with munitions and provisions several times the norm for a formation of its size. Most strikingly, some of said supplies were in fact redirected from shipments intended for other, frontline units of arguably higher prominence and priority. The 114th was, in contrast, a line Company with a solid, if unremarkable, service record. Its officers were not among the notables in the annals of the Great Crusade, nor did any enjoy the XIII Legion Primarch's personal patronage. Yet the 114th was provisioned quickly and quietly under orders bearing the seal of the Legatus of Armatura himself. Why? 

 

These, then, were the unanswered questions no doubt carried in the minds of the rank-and-file of the 114th as it departed Armatura. Even as distant Isstvan burned and brother turned upon brother, the 1,233 Legionaries of the 114th translated into the Warp, bound for a backwater world known only as Bahr Salamat. 

 

*While a standard Chapter of the XIII Legion had a nominal strength of 10,000 Legionaries, the Evocati Chapters of the 24th and 25th were each kept at twice that figure. 

 

Legion Tactical Squad "Adamanta", 114th Company, XIII Legion Ultramarines

 

Squad "Adamanta" represented the archetypal configuration found in the vast majority of XIII Legion line Companies. Such units were organized with versatility in mind. In line with established XIII Legion doctrine, the Legionaries were expected to fight equally well under most battlefield conditions encountered during the Great Crusade. Squad "Adamanta" had, by the time of the Bahr Salamat deployment, earned distinctions in both mechanized and orbital-to-ground warfare. The rare Legionary who did not perform to acceptable standards would find himself wearing the red helm, considered both a mark of censure and a chance for redemption. 

 

Panoply of War: Squad "Adamanta" is depicted here arrayed in Mark III "Iron" armor. This armor pattern had, by the latter half of the Great Crusade, achieved widespread adoption in the XIII Legion, particularly among formations that frequently faced the Ork menace. The armor pattern proved easy to maintain and its components were relatively simple to fabricate. Similarly, the "Phobos" pattern bolter was favored for its power and robustness, albeit in exchange for a slight deficiency in accuracy. Note: Some of the Legionaries borne the distinct white livery and the gold-trimmed Ultima device, both indicative of Evocatus service. Elements of the Praetorian variant of the Mark IV "Maximus" armor had also been incorporated - likely as piecemeal replacements for damaged sections. 

 

Legion Tactical Squad "Vigilans", 114th Company, XIII Legion Ultramarines

 

Panoply of War: Squad "Vigilans" had been completely re-equipped from the limited quantity of Mark VI "Corvus" armor present on Armatura. The suit incorporated both an advanced sensor array and improved fiber-bundles, allowing for greater flexibility in the field. This unit had been permitted to retain the sunburst Ultima device on their greaves, a mark of honor granted in the wake of their heroism during the compliance of the Lambda Serpentis System. While few among their number would survive the Horus Heresy, the helm vid- and pict-captures they had collected, most having been retrieved posthumously, would prove invaluable in piecing together the 114th Company's story during those dark years. 

Edited October 24, 2022 by Relict

[Pearson73]

The inclusion of white armour panels and legion upgrades add a lot of character to Adamanta, whilst the decals work really nicely for Vigilans. Interesting progression of the lore too.

[Doghouse]

Those look great, I think you have done a really good job on these. The blue is really nice and the use of icons gives them an individual but coherent feel. The little inclusions of the gold and white is a really nice touch as well.

[Relict]

II. BEST-LAID PLANS

 

A Good Place to Hide

Chasm Bastions

Buried Things

 

Even from high orbit, one could plainly see that Bahr Salamat was a life-bearing world, albeit one in the very last stages of habitability. Discovered in 951.M30 by a XIII Legion patrol fleet that had been waylaid by a sudden Warp squall, Bahr Salamat was surveyed two years later and promptly declared Aptus Non. The assessors of Ultramar saw little worth in the backwater world. The planet, while still habitable, was a hollowed-out husk. Approximately the size of Sacred Mars, Bahr Salamat orbited a dimming red giant. The ruins of ancient cities dotted the twin continents of Bahr Salamat, each one a silent necropolis whose original inhabitants had perished during the tortuous millennia of the Old Night. The mineral wealth of the world had long since been extracted and most likely shipped off-world. Mechanicum explorator teams found the remnants of extensive mining operations in the hinterlands of the continents' interiors. The mines themselves, some of which showed signs of sophisticated construction and sunk kilometers into the earth, lay abandoned, often flooded or buried. 

 

Bahr Salamat's biosphere was in terminal, albeit slow, decline. The world had few species of indigenous flora and fauna remaining. The interiors of its continents had suffered extensive desertification, speculated to be the result of manmade environmental collapse during the Age of Strife as the planetary population, suddenly severed from food shipments arriving from off-world, struggled to expand its agricultural base in order to stave off mass starvation. The isolated patches and strips of green spotted by the patrol fleet lay along some coastlines and on remote islands, where hardy vegetation and animals still clung to life with a desperate tenacity. Similarly, the world's oceans were high in salinity and poor in nutrient. These factors rendered Bahr Salamat an altogether unappealing place, with pirates and raiders, human and alien alike, being the only visitors since the extinction of the original population. The world was a good place to hide, as evident from hastily-constructed camps that were used, abandoned, and used again. 

 

The Bahr Salamat that the 114th Company saw in 005.M31 appeared, superficially, little changed. However, as their Thunderhawk and Stormbird transports descended through the clouds above the eastern continent of Byzacena, they borne witness to the Great Rift, a vast canyon that almost split the continent in twain. Several times the depth of the famed landmark located in southwestern Merica on Terra, the Great Rift was an ideal place to keep fastnesses hidden from prying eyes, even on a world such as Bahr Salamat. A string of fortifications had been built into the walls of the Great Rift, the construction of which must had taken at least a decade of slow, painstaking labor. On the outside of each of the four bastions, void shield generators, anti-air defenses, and landing pads were cleverly layered in such a way that minimized their presence when scanned from above. Reinforced tunnels and passageways led to vast interior spaces that served as hangers, armories, workshops, medicae, and living quarters. Each bastion also extended downwards, terminating in enginariums housing fusion reactors. In truth, the bastions were akin to starships embedded vertically into the walls of the Great Rift. 

 

Yet, the questions remained. Why expend what must had been a significant quantity of both funds and resources on as remote and insignificant a world as Bahr Salamat? If the intention had been to provide the Five Hundred Worlds with another watch station on its borders, then a simple deep-void station housing a few hundred Ultramar Auxilia troops and a handful of astropaths would have sufficed. Why go to such lengths to construct the Chasm Bastions? Why station an entire XIII Legion Company there as glorified gaolers? These questions may be partially answered by a curious record recovered from the cogitator banks of the Crassian Trade Cartel on devastated Saramanth. The record stated that between the years of 998.M30 and 003.M31, ships of the Cartel were contracted by [REDACTED] to ferry unknown cargo from Macragge to a handful of worlds on the fringes of Ultramar, one of which being Bahr Salamat. Each shipment was accompanied by a small contingent of XIII Legion warriors. Given that the ships requested were sleek system runners as opposed to heavy bulk haulers, the cargo must had been compact in size. The Legion presence meant that it must had been of great import and sensitivity. But then why hire merchant ships as opposed to dispatching Legion warships? 

 

Legion Breacher Squad "Inviolata", 114th Company, XIII Legion Ultramarines

 

Squad "Inviolata" stood as an example of the high proportion of shield-bearing line units found in many XIII Legion formations. Their ample experience in Zone Mortalis engagements allowed Squad "Inviolata" to inflict disproportionate losses on the Traitor forces assaulting Bastion Theta once the fighting had reached the interior of the bastion. Replying on their wargear and training alike, the Legionaries fought throughout the tunnels and passageways of the bastion, preventing key junctions from falling into the hands of the enemy and staging counterattacks where possible. Indeed, several helm pict-captures recorded on the fourth and final day of the battle for Bastion Theta indicated that at least one member of Squad "Inviolata", Legionary Orestes (2nd row, 1st from left), took part in the suicidal rearguard action to allow surviving 114th Company elements to evacuate the doomed bastion. 

 

Panoply of War: Squad "Inviolata" was equipped with a reinforced variant of the Mark III "Iron" armor. Their boarding shields were constructed from layers of plasteel, ceramite, and adamantium, providing excellent protection at the cost of hinderance. In addition to standard-issue "Phobos" pattern bolters, the Legionaries also had access to specialist weaponry such as graviton guns and lascutters. The former was used to break up enemy ranks and the latter, whilst originally designed as a tool for breaching sealed bulkheads, proved devastatingly effective against even Tactical Dreadnought Armor. 

Edited October 24, 2022 by Relict

[Relict]

III. ECHOS

 

The Sentinel

Project Zagreus

Coils of the Hydra

 

Debriefing Log, Subject 13-06-114-KA9710

Classification: [VERMILLION]

Chronograph Stamp: [3 931 010 M31]

Interviewer: [REDACTED]

Subject: Claudius Tiber, Centurion (centurio primus pilus), 114th Company, XIII Legiones Astartes

 

Name and rank? 

Claudius Tiber. First Spear Centurion of the 114th Company. XIII Legion Ultramarines. 

 

You are the most senior member of the surviving Company command cadre? 

Correct. Strabo, Clavius, and myself are the only senior officers left. 

 

Let us start from the beginning. Armatura. Before the Bahr Salamat deployment. What information did Cassian share with you? Surely the mission seemed... unusual to you? What did Cassian tell the command cadre? What did he tell you? 

[Subject shows slight sign of agitation] We have been over this. You and your specialists have interrogated all of us and taken every scrap of data from the Indefatigable. I will oblige - but before I do, know this: Gaius Cassian was a fine commander and a good man. He never wavered in executing his duty, even at the very end. We owe our lives and our eventual reunion with the Legion to him. On Armatura, he told us what we needed to know. Bahr Salamat was important to the Legion, therefore the Legion had granted us such resources to defend it. I speak for all of us when I say that standing sentinel was not our preferred assignment. We were a line Company and our place was with our brothers on an Expedition Fleet. But we had our orders. 

 

Tell me about the defenses on Bahr Salamat. 

I had concerns about why we had deployed with so little armor, but once we arrived on the surface, I understood. The bastions were cut into some of the sheerest cliffs I had seen anywhere. The bastions were only reachable by air and we owned both the void shield generators and anti-air defenses. The supplies we had brought, combined with the stockpiles already present, could keep us going for at least five years. Should an enemy find us - which was no small feat, given how desolate the system was - we would bleed it as it tried to land and we would continue to bleed it inside every zone mortalis in every bastion. Those were Cassian's words. How prophetic they would become. 

 

What do you know of Project Zagreus? 

[Subject smiles] So we come to it at last. What you wanted to know all along. 

 

Speak, Centurion. Tell me what you know. 

I... Had my suspicions. The sudden redeployment orders. The fact that Legionaries were garrisoning such a remote world with seemingly little worth. The cryogenic vaults that my Terminators guarded at all times. I had thought proscribed weaponry - alchemical or viral, perhaps. But such things were of common knowledge throughout the Legion, if rarely spoken of. Even before the Arch-Traitor's war, the existence of Clavius and men like him was proof that Lord Guilliman did not hesitate to salt the earth if he deemed it necessary. But what I discovered later - once the Traitors had found us - was beyond my wildest imagining. Suddenly, all the secrecy made sense. Here was a part of the future of the Legion. Gene-seed. Ten thousand sets. 

 

Thank you, Centurion. That is all today. 

 

Interrogation Log

Classification: [OBSIDIAN - Warning: Memetic Hazard - Vigil Opertii Access Only]

Chronograph Stamp: [2 730 019 M31]

Interrogator: [REDACTED]

Subject: "Alpharius", Rank Unknown, Unit Unknown, XX Legiones Astartes [TRAITORIS PERDITA]

 

Note: In late 017.M31, a combined V and XIII Legion fleet stumbled upon a lone XX Legion frigate on the edge of the Dominion of Storms. The frigate, drifting without power, had suffered near-catastrophic damage. A boarding party discovered the aftermath of a frantic battle fought deck by deck, with the flash-frozen bodies of Legionaries and humans alike drifting in null-gravity. While all had clearly perished from Legiones Astartes weaponry, whatever foe they had died fighting left no trace of themselves. Furthermore, the armor markings of the deceased Legionaries matched those of none of the known XX Legion formations. Techno-interrogation of the frigates systems revealed no usable data - an expected result thanks to the data-djinns and scrapcode that the XX Legion was known to employ when destruction was imminent. 

 

Subject "Alpharius" was discovered inside one of the aft launch bays. Having suffered two wounds from mass-reactives, the subject's Sus-an Membrane had activated, and, in combination with the late-production Mark IV "Maximus" suit he was equipped with, preserved the subject's life. Recovered from the wrecked frigate, the subject was carefully reawakened by XIII Legion Apothecaries, overseen by members of the Librarius. The subject was then transferred to the XIII Legion fleet anchorage at [REDACTED] for enhanced interrogation by the Vigil Opertii. The following is an excerpt from the available logs made shortly before the subject's execution. The testimony, while it had been produced under extreme duress from chemical, psionic, and corporeal means, is of dubious reliability. 

 

The mission - what was your mission in Ultramar? 

You know nothing. I know not where your naivety ends and ignorance begins - 

 

[Corporeal mortification administered. Subject tissue degradation increased to 41%.]

 

Pain... Pain will not get you what you want. We completed our mission. That is what matters. We did not... Did not betray the trust he placed in us. 

 

[Pain suppressant and psychoactive drugs administered.]

 

What was your mission in Ultramar? 

We were watchers. Present in your midst long before Horus raised his flag of rebellion. While you labored to build your secrets, we watched. Did you know, Ultramarine, that we had taken your warriors and tore knowledge from their minds? Did you know that we had the means to intercept and decipher your astropathic messages? The void is vast, and a great many things are often lost in its depths. 

 

[Psychoactive drug dose increased.]

 

How many of these "watchers" were present in Ultramar? 

The Five Hundred Worlds was beyond even our ability to monitor, efficient as we were. Yes, there must had been others. Ah - I feel your Warp-weavers probing my mind. Amusing, but futile. I knew nothing of the others and the same was true in reverse. 

 

What did you - your cell - find? 

All sorts of interesting, hidden things. Your Lord Guilliman had been busy building his rump empire long before Imperium Secundus. He was, after all, so very fond of his practicals. Although, I must say, he was remarkably sloppy in - 

 

[Corporeal mortification administered. Subject tissue degradation increased to 46%.]

 

- Remarkably sloppy in the execution. We had chanced upon a thread - one of our operatives on Saramanth. A consort to one of the scions of the Crassian Trade Cartel. The young master was most indiscreet after a night of hedonistic delights. We pulled on that thread and unraveled your plans. By that point, we had known about Bahr Salamat for quite some time. You Ultramarines were always so fastidious in your record-keeping, yet you had never entertained the possibility that records of Legion deployment might be leaked. All we had to look for were patterns. 

 

Patterns? 

Irregularities that suddenly became regular. Companies rotated from the frontlines to garrison an apparently worthless backwater world. Requisitions from the highest echelons of Legion command for advanced cryogenic equipment from Gantz. Among many others. All had one thing in common: Bahr Salamat. Young Master Crassian's indiscretion gave us the missing piece of the puzzle. The resurrection of a Legion in the event of catastrophe. Zagreus. 

 

What did you do with this discovery? 

The same thing you would have done. We reported it to Legion command. I know not what Lord Alpharius chose to do with this information. Although, you should know that not all of the XVII Legion were fanatics. Some of Lorgar's sons still had enough sanity and clarity to see what a prize Zagreus was.

 

What happened to your ship, your cell? 

Who watches the watchers? Lord Alpharius never did like loose ends, particularly if those loose ends knew too much. 

 

Gaius Cassian, Praetor-Minoris, 114th Company, XIII Legion Ultramarines

 

Glorious are the honored dead. While Cassian's heroism during the final hours of the defense of Bastion Kappa can only be guessed at, he and his men undoubtedly succeeded in their mission when the hanging fortress was sent plunging into the depths of the Great Rift, utterly annihilating the gene-seed storage vaults along with every Traitor still trapped within. Having made the ultimate sacrifice in service of his Legion, Cassian embodies the very spirit of the XIII Legion - courage and honor, even in the face of seeming insurmountable odds. 

 

Panoply of War: As befitting his rank, Cassian was equipped with an artificer-wrought example of the Mark IV "Maximus" suit, then considered the pinnacle of Legiones Astartes power armor. Cassian's panoply incorporated an Iron Halo, providing him with the added protection of a Conversion Field. Upon his promotion to the rank of Praetor-Minoris, Cassian was presented with a Paragon Blade forged in the style of the classical Macraggian gladius. Based on fragmentary helm pict- and vid-captures that miraculously survived the destruction of Bastion Kappa, a wounded Cassian was last seen engaging in close combat with XVII Legion Abomination units. 

 

Claudius Tiber, Centurion, 114th Company, XIII Legion Ultramarines

 

Hailing from the world of Ulixes, Claudius Tiber was born a scion of a prominent trading dynasty. Upon his induction into the XIII Legion, Tiber swiftly rose through the ranks, distinguishing himself through martial prowess and tactical acumen. Curiously, despite achieving the rank of centurio primus pilus* at a relatively young age, Tiber displayed little ambition towards further elevation. It is likely that Tiber found his calling in leading the Terminator elite of the 114th Company into the fiercest of enemy resistance, surviving and triumphing time and time again. On the fourth day of the defense of Bahr Salamat, Praetor-Minoris Gaius Cassian transferred Company command to Tiber. After Cassian's death and the evacuation from the surface, Tiber found himself entrusted with the leadership position he had never wanted. Rising to the occasion, Tiber rallied the survivors on the strike cruiser Indefatigable and, against all odds, managed to break through the Traitor blockade to escape the system. 

 

Panoply of War: Centurion Tiber's armor was an advanced variant of the "Cataphractii" pattern Tactical Dreadnought Armor widely deployed by the XIII Legion. As was often the case with XIII Legion officers, the armor was further embellished with Legion iconography and campaign honors wrought from precious- and semi-precious metals. In battle, Tiber favored the mighty Legatine Axe, long held to be a symbol of the justice meted out by the Legion, and the brutal power of a "Phobos" pattern combi-melta. 

 

*First Spear Centurion. XIII Legion title granted to the commander of the 1st Century in every Company. 

Edited November 18, 2022 by Relict