The Exodus
There are no plans in defeat. There were no plans. Your father Horus Lupercal the Warmaster never imagined losing the most important battle of the war! And yet he is dead, the news singing in the vein of each of his sons as First Captain Abbadon loudly commands through voxes the Vengeful Spirit who has seen all the slaughters of the Heresy to make for Pluto, your legion in tow. The other Nine do not take long to begin their own withdrawal even as the void breaks and ships of cobalt blue, deepest black and sky-color emerge to try and break you against the homeworld. So good to see Guiliman arrives now the battle is won for his side. The Blade of Damnation has to dodge quite a few boarding torpedoes on the way, but for the moment the gods are with you and none escape your cannons.
This is the only good news in the lot. The Nine Legions are withdrawing independently, their differences shining through their desperate flight. The Sons of Horus are driven by grief but try and follow the First Captain orders. The dour Iron Warriors are discharging some of their munitions reserves on Terra as a final act of spite. From the explosions you doubt the sons of Perturabo care what they strike. The Thousand Sons ship simply fade to nothing in impossible colors without even reaching the Mandeville point, their warpcraft replacing standard protocols. The Death Guard withdraws in good order among the last, tailed only by the World Eaters. The Emperor's Children had not waited the echo of the Warmaster's death to flee as the Night Lords. As for the Alpha Legion? No trace you can discern, their ships seem to have faded as quickly as the Thousand's sons. You manage to run the blockade before the Imperials manage to set up a defense and enter the Sea of Souls with the others.
Then you realize your torment is only beginning. The Empyrean is in fury, its waves of unreality crashing against the Geller Field as if the hellscape itself was trying to crush you with a vengeance. Bound Neverborn across the Blade shriek in infernal laughter at the thought of your coming damnation and the Navigator screams she cannot see the rest of the fleet anymore or orient herself. You have ordered her to take course on the Eye of Terror, this Warp anomaly in the northern galaxy. There you think you and your brothers are going to hide for a time. This is apparently not to the Dark Gods' taste as you are forced to defend yourself not against Loyalist boarders but manifested Neverborn who take each occasion the Geller Field fluctuates to wreak havoc across the hallways. They spit laughing curses at your warriors seeking to tear the souls of their bodies.
The Word Bearers across your forces say they are just testing you. That doesn't keep them from fighting and enslaving any they come across. How much time this test lasts? You don't know. You cannot know. Chronometers are askew and perception cease to be coherent between parts of the Blade of the Damnation. But comes a moment where the storm abates a little and you can take a census of the living and the dead.
Census
Emperor Children: 36 Marines including 18 Noise Marines and 6 Palatine Blades
Iron's Warriors: 51 Marines
Night Lords: 44 Marines including 10 Raptors
World Eaters: 64 Marines including 8 Possessed and 8 Terminators
Death Guard: 45 Plague Marines
Thousand Sons: 10 Sorcerers
Sons of Horus: 215 Marines including 20 Terminators
Word Bearers: 84 Marines including 20 Possessed
Alpha Legion: 40 Marines
Total: 589 Marines
Coven of Sorcerers: 26 Sorcerers (10 Thousand Sons, 3 Emperor's Children, 3 Word Bearers, 2 Night Lords, 3 Death Guards, 4 Sons of Horus, 1 Iron's Warriors, 1 Alpha Legion)
Apothecaries: 15: (4 Emperor's Children, 1 World Eaters, 3 Night Lords, 3 Death Guards, 1 Alpha Legion, 3 Sons of Horus)
Techmarines: 9 (1 by Legion)
Non-Astartes Assets:
4000 Soldiers
Countless mutant canon fodder
Techpriestess Aki-Zeta 13
25 Dark Mechanicum junior Adepts
275 Skitarii
Nearly six hundred Astartes. Worlds have fallen to less. And numbers did not tell the whole story. For among your forces stand Sorcerers having thrown the shackles of the False Emperor, Chosen of their patron god replete with their favor, and thirty Terminator-clad soldiers. Indeed you can count on the many tactics and strategies each of the Nine has developped. In addition amidst the missiles and the lance fires, a priestess of the True Machine has come to you with her host of daemonically enhanced cyborgs-thralls. Now come the time to choose what you are and what you can do.
Let us begin by yourself. One does not rise to the command of a Legion ship through happenstance alone. What deeds are you declaring to the gods? Choose 1
[] You won the ship in battle, having torn your predecessor limb to limb in the very command throne when he managed to flunk an engagement against a White Scars raiding probe. You proved your mettle in the grueling warfare of the heresy, fighting both in the void and on-planet for the glory of the Warmaster, breaking thousands under your armored boots. And you are only speaking of worthy foes.
[] You were awarded the ship as reward for the consuming of Ieldry 45 where you pledged yourself body and soul to the Primordial Truth. At your command were the walls between reality and the Warp sundered and throngs of daemons called to reinforce your lines. Your name is known to the choirs infernal and you are a Sorcerer of no small repute. Which is notable considering your Legion and the fact you are no psyker.
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Choose your name
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In the darkness of your trip through the Immaterium, you have seen people distinguish themselves from the common chaff. Who is your right hand, the enforcer of your will and captain of your forces?
[] Dikai is the chief of your Terminator squad. He's an unimaginative tactician but a superb warrior and he proved himself in the cleansing of enemy cities and on the sands of Istvaan. He has achieved some sort of communion with the machine-spirit of his armor and his adeptness with it causes the wonder of techno-adepts. His are the true tactics of the Sons of Horus. He loves appearing with his squad in the heart of the fray where he can prove the superiority of his craft.
[] Henux embraced the Lodges of the Word Bearers and rose high in the fellowship learning the secrets of the sons of Lorgar. He saw the Realm of Chaos and communed with daemons in search of forbidden lore. His wargear is possessed by a dozen Neverborn and he can be considered the master of the bolter fodder haunting your decks. The cultists and mutants consider him as a dark saint second only to you. He has put his knowledge of mortal troops to use in battle but knowing the Lost and Damned are legion, he's quick to use them as sacrifice for infernal allies to manifest on the field.
[] Some have said Jipul should have been made an Ultramarine or an Iron Warrior rather than join your Legion. He is as apt a warrior as any in his position but he always preferred tending to the boring needs of war rather than letting serf-scribes to do it. He played war games with the sons of the Lion and Alpharius both and know how to spring ambushes even with Astartes. He is very respected by the actual soldiers among your mortal forces for he understands how to use them effectively. That often means disposing of those lost to the mists of the Dark Gods' favor but all power demands sacrifice.
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Who is leading the Coven ? Who is chief among your sorcerers?
[] Pharakh walked on the edge even in service of the False Emperor. When Prospero burned and the Architect of Change enlightened his Legion, he became a pioneer in the art of daemonology, binding Neverborn to the world and his instruments. He made grenades filled with the screams of the damned, guns who thirsted for blood and shot pure malevolence and triumphed against one of his patron's creatures, joining it to its staff.
[] Neferou is of the Corvidae, of the diviners. His is the mastery of probability for not only does he watch over the paths of the future, he can influence it. He is furious against his Primarch who obscured his sight along many others as Prospero was threatened. He is a composed soul and a thorough planner except when the Sixth Legion is concerned. His main divination tools are the knucklebones of a Space Wolf slain during the Burning.
[] Usekh is giving the lie to much of the Thousand Sons reputation. He is not a calm and collected soul but a furious warrior who delights in the destruction he causes through his mastery of telekinesis. That doesn't mean he is to be underestimated, his study of destruction is unparalleled among the Coven and he splatters even neverborn over the walls of the ship to say nothing of his rivals. His throat was ravaged by a Rune Priest during the Burning, forcing him to an artificial respirator and a distinct breath. He bears the skull of the hypocrite on his belt.
Who holds your favor? Choose 1
[] Pestilax as he calls himself now is of the Death Guard and was an Apothecary. Now the word seems to not be enough to encompass his mastery over life. The blessing of Nurgle waxes strong in his flesh. He can infect mortals with a most terrible contagion. It attacks the soul itself. Those who cannot bear the change it wreaks on the flesh simply dies but those in which survival instinct trumps the fear of suffering, it binds the soul to the body, making them into ravenous plague zombies.
[] Jikaerus is a spymaster of the Alpha Legion but you repeat yourself. His task is to train mortals agents and manage them in covert operations. As such he can allow you to strike worlds long before the warband will get to them. Some consider profane in the age of the Astartes, to teach so much to mortals but the agents of the Hydra are very competent even if they are not numerous.
[] Karalet is a Word Bearer and he gives the lie to their image. Yes he can be a warrior-priest as much as any of Lorgar's other sons but he embraces their view of the War. He is a preacher, a demagogue, a corrupter. He can take the Primordial Truth and adapt its message to touch the hearts of nearly anyone. His love is the crafting of cults and sects and the turning of the souls. He makes his sacrifices not in torn flesh or broken bones but in converts in the boundless love of the True Gods.
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