The Saga of the Runt (Youjo Senki/WH30k)
- Thread starter L4oftheWEST
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Fellow Human
Verified Roado Rolla
This Wolfen...as a former family man, thus having experience, all it took was a pretty smile from Nobunaga to keep him from telling important information to Tanya.
IIRC Tanya is unitentionally forming her own progressive mechanicus faction, which is nice.
IIRC Tanya is unitentionally forming her own progressive mechanicus faction, which is nice.
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it be fine!
primark mind wammies are a hell drug
Primark armor version 2
oh I forgot
oh look Primark armor version 2 in the works!
as always thank Yoshikague alpharius on discord and twitter for making fan art
oh look Primark armor version 2 in the works!
as always thank Yoshikague alpharius on discord and twitter for making fan art
And final one, PAWGGERS! Ha, did it!
Not_Interesting
The Munchkin of Megastructures
- Location
- In your walls(the walls between realities)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
THICC BEYOND BELIEF.
Tanya is based.
Tanya is based.
that you did
based onf bad ass
correct
true but ice claws are tool invented by space wolves plus that her left hand
Chapter 52, Subterranean Secrets
Chapter 52, Subterranean Secrets
M30.884
Tanya Russ
The tunnels underneath Fenris were more extensive than the cities, possibly even more so. Determining where and when to puncture into them and how to go about exploiting the reaches underneath required a lot of deep thought.
We didn't want to go too far out away from civilization, or we would not be able to support the expedition. Doing it under the fortress, the Fang, was not a good idea simply because we would be exposing the military-industrial complex that was the home of the Wolves of Fenris to whatever horrors were beneath it.
By that same token, we didn't want to do it too close to any of the civilized parts of Fenris. Yes, better supply routes, but more chance of what was beneath coming up and causing problems.
Ultimately, what was decided was to use a small juncture already in existence halfway between the two major cities of Fenris, Russ, and a town on the other side of the continent.
There was a railroad running between those two points, used mainly for military needs in order to move troops through the area during the winter.
Oddly enough, though I didn't recognize it, I should have. This was the same path that my men had marched over to get to the other side of the continent many years before in order to kill the Lord who threatened my retirement.
In fact, the tunnels we located for this operation were not too far away from where we'd run into that creature that tasted a little bit like pumpkin after we blew it up: the Ice Wyrm.
It took a week to build up the station right next to this hole, turning it from a station that was simply here for changing trains over, into a fully operational supply depot for this operation.
But once that was accomplished, well, there was nothing holding us back. So, a week after my plans to get into that cave system again were put together, here I was standing next to Wolf Lord Gunnar Gunnhilt, commander of the Fifth Great Company, with about 4,000 Space Marines (would be 5,000, but he was also in recovery operations here on Fenris and was looking for more troops).
We would be the spearhead of the operation, marching down in front of Fenrisian guards with the occasional Valkyrie unit coming up behind us.
And at the rear of the column were about 7,000 Squats who had all volunteered to help with this operation.
Understandably, they weren't fans of living out in the daylight like the rest of us. They were uneasy about not having cavern roofs above their heads, so the operation to claim an underground city and make it functional had apparently been something that the majority of the population of Squats on the planet appreciated. How many there were, I was still unsure, but the point of the matter was that if this was successful, there would be a place for them to live, which could attract more settlers. What that meant for the future, I didn't know, but I figured it would be a good thing. After all, they were skilled artisans and miners, which would make us less dependent on the Mechanicum. Even if I did trust the Mechanicum of the planet, having external sources of equipment and competition between the Mechanicum and the Squat League that was forming here would be better for prices, or so I thought. At least it would be better for coming up with new technologies.
Looking up at the wintry mountains around me, I felt more ideas brewing than I had in a while. The familiarity of Fenris somehow calmed me. Perhaps it was just a sensation of feeling at home. Perhaps I had simply become very attached to the planet. Perhaps... Perhaps I was just tired of going on adventures in the stars for a bit and wanted to do something actually worthwhile. Considering my last campaign, which resulted in a holocaust of another species, with a little evidence pointing to humans who had used too much genetic modification and went too far, I could be excused for the desire to build instead of destroy.
Shaking my head, I tossed those thoughts aside and focused on what was before me: the cave leading down into the darkness that would take us to the rumored city. It was similar to the caves close to where I had first started finding these caves—dark, deep, and large. Obviously, manufacturing had gone into them. Some sort of drilling equipment had reinforced the sides as it went along. That alone would be very interesting if we could recover any of those tools. Even the railroad we had manufactured had to climb the mountain in several places, and though blasting a route had been functional, if they could have simply carved a hole through the mountain range all the way from one side to the other, that would save time, money, and effort.
Granted, the faster route would probably have a greater chance of flooding during the rainier parts of the year, but during winter, it would connect the continent like no path could have before. Shaking my head, I saw Lord Gunnhilt coming up, waving his hand as he said, "Wonderful day for a march into the deep, my Primarch!" The man, not wearing his helmet and smiling brightly through his beard, looked ready to take on hell itself with the large amount of throwing axes he had strapped everywhere. They seemed to be his preference over his own bolt gun, which hung lightly at his side.
"Yes, hopefully it won't be too dangerous down there," I said, looking into the darkness.
Lord Gunnhilt shook his head, saying, "Scouts have been going down there for a few days now. They've located a potential route that leads to a city. Old wires and all that, indicating that there was power being transferred. Should be safe enough. Though, there was an interesting little discovery when they were down there."
"Oh, what did they find?" I asked, looking at them.
Ice trolls, sir. At least two had been down there at some point, and recently. Hopefully, they've moved on further into the mountains, but they could be using it as some sort of territorial crossing point. There's no way to know if this path opens up somewhere nearby further in the mountains.
I nodded my head and silently hoped we wouldn't run into an ice troll in those caves. Those things were massive and required quite a large amount of firepower to kill. Being in a small place like a cave system was not a great situation to use such firepower. Not to mention, we wouldn't have any vehicles going down there. We could probably fit a Rhino, but the benefits of bringing an armored vehicle into a tight passageway are not very good. Even the extra armor wouldn't do us much good if something massive like an ice troll is down there. It could probably grab the Rhino and toss it down the passageway, or even shove it into a corner and start crushing it.
Shaking my head, I said, "Well, maybe I should have brought some of the First Company. Could always use some Terminator armor on this operation."
"I already got you covered, my King," Lord Gunnhilt said, stepping to the side, revealing that he apparently had a specialty squad of around ten individuals in Terminator armor. I raised my eyebrows as I looked at him, and he continued, "I invested in the industry on Svellgard, which means I got a small kickback, allowing me to buy the armor at a cheaper rate for the next four years. So, I've been putting most of my extra funding into getting some of those Terminator suits."
I nodded my head before saying, "Not a bad plan. Okay, then. Your specialty squad will lead the way, and everyone else will have to proceed slowly down into these tunnels."
With that, I reached to the side of my belt and pulled off the Wolf Helm, quickly putting it on my head before turning to look at him. "I believe it's about time to start a little bit of a hunt. Do you want to go first, or should I?"
"The King should always enter first, but we'll be close at hand," Lord Gunnhilt said with a nod, and I turned, pulling Gungnir from my back, and began to march down into the tunnels. I turned down the ice-producing elements in my armor since the fight on the homeworld of the Rangdan. I wasn't going to freeze over like I had accidentally done. But if the ice trolls were here, I would turn it back on in an instant. As much as they bore the name of ice trolls, they didn't like the cold any more than anyone else.
As I moved further into the darkness, lights on my armor came on, as well as lights on the armors of the soldiers behind me. Deeper and deeper we went, and soon the light of day was lost. Everyone was more preoccupied watching the corners than actually talking. This went on for several hours until we were at least a couple of miles underground.
At this point, we ran into what could best be described as the reason that the scouts had figured out that there had been ice trolls here.
There were two paths in front of us. One of them led to an ancient city, probably, while the other may lead to another ancient city further away. However, one of them wasn't easily accessible because the ice trolls had been using it as a dumping ground. It was filled with rotted wood, bones, and things they didn't want to eat—generally, a disgusting plug in the cave.
Looking to the Wolf Lord, I asked, "Please tell me that the known underground city is that way," pointing towards the path that was still open.
The slow motion of 'no' told me everything I needed to know. Signing, I looked back and called out, "We need some engineers and explosives!"
I stepped out of the way as a group of Fenris engineers came forward, carrying what looked like C4, and got to work. The amount of complaints coming from them about the smell and other things made my heart go out to them, but I wasn't going to do the job.
After about 30 minutes, the poor engineers came back, looking like they needed a good shower. I said, "You guys can follow the path all the way back up and out if you want. There are supplies to clean yourselves up on the surface."
"Thank you, Wolf King," one of them said. I think it was the leader, but I couldn't tell as the insignia on his arm was covered in something I'd rather not think about.
Once the area around the plug was cleared, an engineer who stayed behind activated the explosives, and there was a boom—not a big one, as it had been designed to minimize damage to the tunnel and focus on the plug. But it was big enough that there was a bit of dust kicked up, spreading the scent of the terrible plug all over the place.
The complaints were quite vivid, and I tried to ignore them, closing off the filters on my helmet so I didn't have to breathe in the outside air. After it cleared up a bit, I walked through, watching where I stepped to get through what had been blocking the way, and moved out into what could best be described as an underground city.
This one was slightly different from the one I had seen all those years before. That one had been a well-structured underground city, while this one seemed to have more of a stepped pattern to it.
Looking around the edges, though, I did see a few more buildings. Perhaps this had been some sort of research center. It's hard to say what the ancient humans of Fenris were up to.
Wolf Lord Gunnhilt came up from behind me, standing next to me, with several other Terminators on either side, as I looked out across the empty-looking area. "It's going to take forever to clear this place out and make sure it's safe," he said, and I nodded in agreement.
"Well, we better get to work then," I looked up before saying, "If a certain someone wouldn't mind lending us a hand and turning on the lights, perhaps."
"I can't really do that," came a voice to my left, causing me to look over and see the All-Father sitting on a rock, a staff in his left hand.
"I see," I replied,
nodding as he confirmed my suspicions. "I really am not supposed to harm the children of interest in my own way, and turning the lights on would harm them because I know what you are planning."
"And what is your opinion on what I am planning?" I asked, making him look at me before he replied,
"Cleansing these under cities, or at least pushing them out for the Squats to live here, that's bad, but not as bad as cleansing them and then leaving them to fester once again. I know my opinions are moot, but perhaps there's something good that will come from this, though I doubt it. The people down here are, well, nearly not people anymore."
He shook his head before saying, "I can tell you that there are three other entrances to this main chamber—one directly west from here, another directly east, and one directly north. You have entered through the south end of this chamber. The only other cities in this area are too far away to support this one from this attack, so the population you'll deal with here are only the ones present here, and they will have ways to escape."
I nodded, then turned to a couple more engineers who had come up. They were looking at the All-Father with confusion as I said, "You heard the man. Once we've cleared out the east, north, and west entrances, we need to lock those down and prevent anything from coming through."
"They can clear the path," the All-Father said, and I nodded. I didn't know if they could, but if we could get this place under our control and set up our own defenses outside those entrances, we would be stepping in the right direction.
The All-Father shook his head before saying, "I see the Emperor's finally rubbed off on you. What horrors have you seen out in the stars?"
I paused to think about it before realizing he had a point. I hadn't exactly been a fan of this kind of operation all those years ago. Now that I think about it, seeing what could go wrong probably spurred this. Having a festering wound underneath Fenris that could be a problem in the future could not really be tolerated.
Turning to the All-Father, I simply said, "I saw what humanity did to itself on other worlds, and I would rather not see whatever lives down here does if it gets up above."
The All-Father nodded before leaving me with one last word, saying, "Do me one favor: try and capture some of the people that are down here. See if you cannot bring them back to the surface and make them normal again. I would like to think that there's something to save in these creatures, but I don't know for sure."
Nodding, I said to myself, "If it is possible, I will try and capture some and bring them to the surface. I'm not here to commit genocide for genocide's sake. I'm here to secure the underground for our needs, and if that means that some of these creatures will have to be forced to act human, then that's what I will be doing, if I can do it."
The All-Father smiled at that before vanishing. Lord Gunnhilt looked at me in confusion and asked, "Was that who I think it was?"
"Perhaps," I replied matter-of-factly before turning to him and saying, "Let's get to work clearing these caves out."
General Trorban Grimmark, of the League of Kapellan.
Moving along the west wall, I looked at the curious structures with some interest. Being a Squat meant you were used to underground cities; you understood how they were constructed, how they were built, and why certain shapes of stone were cut. Looking at these walls, though, reminded me that there were some mysteries that predated what I understood of underground cities. The walls seemed to have been melted away by something, long-lost archeotech that converted base rock into lava and was funneled up some sort of channel to be dumped somewhere else. At least, that's what I would suspect looking at these walls with their smooth creation. This was ancient technology dating back to the Human Federation, but we probably would not find that technology running around down here. Machines like that were expensive, and if they used it to build these underground cities, they probably had to sell it at some point to keep the cities going. At least, that would be my suspicion. It's very well possible that I'm wrong, and there were those machines down here. If I was, that would be beneficial to the Squat Leagues, not just to this new underground colony that we were going to set up.
"Sir, the enemy has been spotted," a soldier said, coming back from the front of the column.
"Identify it," I said. "Are they moving to attack us or what?"
"At this moment, no, sir. I think most of them are still not really sure what's going on, but we've spotted an enemy formation in front of the entrance we've been assigned to take control of."
I nodded and said, "Tell the commanders of the formation to stack up and get ready. I will lead us into combat." The soldier nodded and ran away. I looked out at the strange temple-like building that dominated the center of the city. That was a curious thing; even though the Federation occasionally used pyramid shaped structures, I knew that from my former career as an archaeologist. They weren't popular but generally used for research installations or art. Could it be some sort of museum, I wondered? I would probably find out when this was over. The Primarch and her force were making a direct path for it; I could see it from here as they moved through the city's lights, being lit up as they went.
Most likely, when they arrive, shit would really kick off. I had the feeling that something would break loose. Something about this place felt wrong, not the primordial wrongness that you might find in something from the deep core worlds of the League, a more tainted wrongness, as if something had been traded here and left to simmer and stew for a long time.
Shaking my head, I moved on, pushing my way to the front of the column. I kind of wished I'd be able to bring some more heavy armor, but the tunnel wasn't exactly conducive to bringing our big toys, let alone motorcycles. We'd have to fix that. Oh sure, we could have brought motorcycles, but looking around at the unpaved area around, well, they wouldn't have done it any good. No, this would be an infantry fight, and one thing that us Squats were good at was armored infantry fights and fighting in underground areas. Pushing my way to the front, I saw already a column of my men shaking out into a line, pushing a shield wall to the front as the secondary line brought their rifles and put them over their shoulders, the first line holding pistols and pushing them through holes in the side.
Standing near one side, I saw the commander on a platform that had been deployed, allowing him to see over the line. I quickly went over and stepped up on the platform to see what he was seeing.
"General Grimmark," he said, giving a salute, his hand hitting his pompadour hair before looking out at the enemy. My eyes followed him to see mutants; that was the best word for it. Some of them were hairy, furry, indicating that they had fallen into some sort of bestial instinct. But the general take of it was they were mutants, still humanoid in form, but definitely not worth considering anything more than what they were. Judging by the way they moved, from what I observed, they didn't seem to have much in the way of intelligence left in their brains.
At least, the ones I saw moving about. Here, there was something different coming from a tunnel. I saw what appeared to be more mutants, seeming to be under some sort of control. One creature, a more feathered mutant standing on top of a building, was howling, rallying the mutants to its call, making noises that sounded like the caw of a crow and drawing the creatures to it. It raised what appeared to be a sword, hewn from bone, above its head, swinging it about as if it was summoning more mutants from the tunnel.
"Reinforcements?" I asked the commander, and he nodded. "We've been watching them come in for the last few minutes, sir. They haven't attacked us yet, but I think that's only a matter of time. We need to seal that tunnel before any more break through, as well as find any more of those feathered creatures that are leading them; they seem more intelligent around it."
"Well, then, we better clean this up before they become a real problem. You have my permission to open fire with your men"
"Yes, sir," the commander said, giving a salute before pulling up a radio and saying, "Men, open fire!" Down the line, several other commanders gave the order, and as one, the formation unloaded autoguns into the swarming mass of degenerated mutants. The mutants, which had been closest to us, immediately turned and charged, while gibbering and howling incoherently at us with their large maws. Said maws were usually filled with holes before they reached us, but they made a good effort. The next charge of the hostile mutants rushed over their dead and dying brethren, under the command of the bone-wielding bird-like monster, charged and was also subjected to the same autogun fire. Though they did a better job of closing the distance, forcing several portions of the line to fall back, they fell into areas where autocannons had been placed, allowing them to open the line, unleash devastating fire into the formation of charging monsters.
The cave was echoing with screams and gunfire as they were pushed back, and then forced to flee. The bird creature waved its makeshift sword in my general direction before a sniper further down the line gave it a too-close haircut, and it toppled over, before being trampled underfoot by the now uncontrolled fleeing horde. Controlled gunfire continued for a bit before everything went silent.
It appeared we had cleared it out, so I nodded to the commander, saying, "Give the order to move forward and execute any survivors."
"Ah, sir, didn't we get some orders to try and save some of these creatures?" the commander said, giving me a look. I gave him another look and said, "Fine. If any of these mutants appear to try and surrender, we'll see what we can do. But if they don't, if they act hostile, put them down."
The commander nodded, and gave the order. The formation started moving forward, men stepping ahead, using bayonets on the end of their rifles or on the end of their pistols to dispatch the creatures that were beyond saving, while looking for any survivors willing to surrender. It took a bit, but as they moved forward, sections of the area were cleared out, and glow sticks were dropped here and there to illuminate things. Before long, the initial area around the entrance to the western tunnels was cleared out, and I was allowed to move forward and take a long look down those tunnels. I didn't see any more of those creatures, but there was plenty of blood leading down the end of them, indicating we'd injured quite a few of them that had retreated. This was good; they were likely to be a menace while we worked and lived down here. We needed to establish that if you messed with us, you'd get messed with badly, and this was the first step in establishing that.
Looking up, I saw areas in the tunnel that we could collapse easily enough. I waved over to some engineers, saying, "We need this tunnel closed to keep the monsters out. Bring forward some shaped charges and everything else we can get our hands on."
"Yes, sir," they said, with a salute, before heading off, leaving me to look down the tunnels. The commander stepped up next to me, asking, "Do we know how many underground cities are down here?"
I looked at him and shrugged before saying, "Don't know. All I care about is securing this one. Beyond that, well, in the future, we'll prepare other expeditions once we're able to build enough population to head down into those other tunnels. Maybe reinforce this place, build a farm structure of some kind, provide actual food instead of rations from the surface. We need to be somewhat independent from the surface folks since Fenris isn't exactly a hospitable planet up there, and they'll need their food to survive."
The commander nodded in agreement as he looked down the tunnel before saying, "We did manage to bring a few of the creatures into chains, but they were extremely degenerated. I don't think they have much intelligence."
"Noted," I said before adding, "We'll hold them and hand them over to the Primarch. She can decide what to do with them on her own time. As for us, we've got a job to do, and we'll do it. Get to work preparing men to move into the city towards the main pyramid so we can secure the whole place from these creatures."
"Yes, sir," he said, turning and walking off as I turned away from the tunnel, walking back towards a new platform being set up. This one on top of a ruined house. I quickly stepped up the ramp that had been built to find that they were installing an autocannon facing the tunnel. It also gave me a very good look at the city that we were going to have to clean up.
"Very utilitarian buildings," I thought. For the most part, the structures were not more than one or two stories tall. Though there could be some underground barracks and basements for all I know. We would have to clean out every single aspect of the city, make sure these monsters have been removed, and reinforce all the entrances. As well as, why not create tracks in the tunnels leading in and out, and build proper doors. I think everyone would prefer the trains running from Fenris to the capital having the ability to drive down here and deliver supplies, rather than having to walk up the tunnel every time you needed to gather supplies. That would take time, but nothing is impossible. There was one thing my people were good at, and it was building big things underground. Building this into a proper Squat city would take time, but it was possible.
Tanya Russ
The cave system was massive and ancient, judging by the stalactites hanging from the ceiling. It had most likely been discovered before the fall of the Human Federation. The army I brought down here moved carefully and slowly, checking the buildings one by one as we moved towards the large pyramid structure at the heart of the city.
The area around the main complex consisted mainly of one or two-story buildings, so it wasn't hard to slowly make our way through. We were making sure that nothing snuck through our lines to try to attack from behind or cause problems. But in the first 30 minutes, we didn't run into any monsters.
Perhaps we were being spared by the fact that we were using flares to light up the area. The entranceway had been built up before we left, and a mortar crew was firing flares over the main part of the area where we were searching, adjusting so that we would get the most light as we moved. In the distance I could hear the fighting from the cave entrance sealing off the enemy's escape. I hope they did not receive too many casualties.
Since I didn't know the nature of the threat we would be facing, I had agreed to mixed units, combining Valkyrie and Fenrisian Wolves, so that they could handle any threat that appeared.
We had almost reached the foot of the pyramid when we finally encountered the first enemy. As it came around the corner, I wasn't really sure what I was looking at. I had expected a human, but what I got was a mutant.
The creature that wandered out from a dwelling was haggard, misshapen, and blind, lacking proper eyes. It only had milky orbs. It was muttering something as it faced the pyramid, seemingly not noticing me as I approached.
I looked to Lord Gunnhilt, wondering what he thought we should do. He simply drew out an ax, ready to kill the thing if it made any hostile moves. So, I decided to play the good cop and ask questions.
"Hello there," I said, raising a hand in a gesture of friendship, assuming it could still hear me even if it couldn't see me.
To my surprise, the creature whipped around, its left hand transforming into a sharp, distended claw longer than some of the lightning claws that had made their way into service within my Marines. The creature screamed and charged at me, but I managed to grab its hand before it could do any damage. With my other arm, I grabbed its shoulder, preventing it from trying to harm me with its more human-looking free hand.
Clearing my throat, I said, "Hello there. Would you mind trying to stop attacking me?"
The creature responded by biting down on the front plate of my armor, shattering its teeth in the process. It screamed and then tried to gum me, which told me that there wasn't much intelligence left in this creature. I turned and let the Lord Gunnhilt slash the thing to death before dropping it down.
"Well, that didn't go well," I remarked.
Lord Gunnhilt nodded before saying, "Maybe there's more inside that house."
Grabbing my spear, I poked the door, pushing it open to see if there was anything inside. I couldn't fit inside because I was too tall. However, I could see that there was nothing in there. Well, that did raise an interesting question about these creatures. The house was obviously built for 6-ft tall people at the standard. Looking at the creature, it was closer to 8-ft tall with thin limbs.
This could mean that the houses didn't quite fit these creatures, which probably meant they would prefer something bigger. Turning my head towards the pyramid, I had a good idea that whatever that structure was, it probably housed the majority of these monsters.
Shaking my head, I said, "Let's continue clearing the streets." A shot went off somewhere closeby, and then another. Nothing happened for a bit, and then a shot from another area indicated that we were starting to encounter these monsters, and they were not surrendering or trying to be peaceful. At least I hoped that my men were giving them a chance.
We moved further on, finding more of these creatures and having to put them down. They were not acting intelligent for the most part. Some would scream, some would moan. It seemed that light hurt their skin. But for the most part, they were animalistic. I also noted that these animalistic traits seemed to resemble hairless wolves.
They seemed to be stuck in a midpoint between conversion into full-fledged feral wolves and the humans that once dominated the underground world.
That was concerning and played well with the theories of what had happened to my people. But it did make me wonder why the underground population had devolved in such a way. What incident in the ancient past had forced humanity to fall this far?
Perhaps the answer lay at the heart of this pyramid-like structure, or maybe it was in another underground city that needed to be cleared out. Who knows how many there were and how deep they went? There were unconfirmed rumors, but possible rumors, that there was one underneath the Fang. Men who had been drilling down under the ground had burst through into a tunnel structure. They sealed it up as best they could and carved new tunnels around it. But if that was true, there was always the possibility that there was something under some of the most valuable points on the planet. And why was that?
Finally, after what felt like hours of clearing out these monsters, we arrived at the edges of the temple, and I was able to get a look at it.
The structure was old but obviously of human make. The metal had once been burnished white in coloration, smooth. I could tell that from the areas that were still clear, although there weren't many. It appeared that it was at the height of where the stalactites were dropping their mineral water, meaning portions of the temple were covered in mineral debris and stalagmites reaching towards the ceiling.
Looking around, I could see that a few of them had almost touched, which meant this was very old.
Lord Gunnhilt came next to me and whistled as he looked up at the structure, saying, "What do you think? Something important in there?"
I shrugged before saying, "It must be something important, as whatever it is, it had a whole town servicing it underground."
"You know, I've seen several more cities than this by this point, thanks to our travels. The city's transport infrastructure is lacking, if the ancient builders of these structures were so modern, why didn't they build railways connecting their cities?" Lord Gunnhilt commented.
Well, that's a good point. Looking at it, I would have figured there would be some sort of system underground to connect cities. But it appears they only ever dug tunnels, which either implies that they were using a lot of cheap ATV-like vehicles or that you had to walk between cities.
Hmm, I shook my head before saying, "Perhaps they wanted to avoid possible exposure to disease or wanted to prevent something from being able to travel quickly between the cities. Assuming they would have had some sort of communication network between them, so if one went bad, they probably would have informed the others and closed themselves off from each other."
"Hmm, makes sense, I suppose." Lord Gunnhilt said, scratching his unkempt hair.
I was about to make a comment when a Valkyrie came running from the left, giving a salute before saying, "My King, we've located an entrance to the temple."
I nodded and said, "Lead the way." And the way she led, we quickly moved along the edges of the structure until we found an entrance that had apparently once been barred. That raised an eyebrow. The bars were designed to keep something in, not out. I could tell that right away as there were two guard rooms in front of the door. Looking inside them, I saw emplacements for guns, but they had long been lost in whatever chaos had taken over the city.
Turning to the gathered troops, I said, "Don't follow me inside. I'll investigate."
They all looked disappointed, but it was probably for the best. Something was wrong, some secret was hidden within this structure, and I figured I should probably find it out for myself first.
First, I stepped through the gateway, closing it and drawing my blade. Dual-wielding a spear and a sword wasn't exactly easy in the confined areas that probably lay ahead of me, so I slid the spear onto my back, drawing a recent addition to my weapons, a Helfrost ax. Carefully, I moved deeper into the facility, scanning for monsters but finding none. Oh, they had definitely been here at one point. The place was trashed. The creatures obviously had no idea what they were dealing with and had destroyed things. As I ventured further, I saw evidence that it probably wasn't just these creatures. As I broke through one door, I found jail cells. Lots of them. That raised an eyebrow. From my understanding, Fenris had served as some sort of entertainment facility at one point, but I believe the All-Father had mentioned it had been something else before that. Could this be where the original prisoners, who supposedly even used to populate the planet with savages, had come from? That was concerning. Passing through the rooms I saw one room with an obvious set of medical equipment and slowly glowing vials inside, I had a feeling that this may very well be the home of the modification that led to the Fenrisian people being slightly different from normal humans.
This was good. If we could capture this facility intact, it could serve as a research bunker. Though most of it would need to be cleaned up and a lot of it trashed, I had no need for prisoner cells.
Moving deeper into the facility, I came across what I think was the central area and was kind of confused. I had not seen the top, so I didn't know the exact structure, but before me was an open area, quite large, with several trees growing in it. No light could get down here, but they apparently had found a way at one point, and they were either dead from thousands of years of no light or in some sort of hibernation.
It was quite large, with the capacity to probably fit several tanks, maybe even three or four Baneblades in the area, and it seemed to be a waste. There was no entrance I could see, just observation windows going all the way around. If it had been some sort of park. I would have thought there would be an entrance, but obviously, there was none. Leaning forward, I looked through the window before my question was answered.
"Oh look, the young wolf that killed Blackmaned has come," a male voice said.
"Yes, the bitch herself, the tamer of the wilds, the one who would be king of the wolves," came a female voice.
Confused, I looked around. It had not been a proper voice, though, as I thought. It had been in my head, which was not good. I quickly established that my defenses were up. I wasn't going to be mind-controlled by whatever was trying to talk to me.
"What are you?" I asked, looking into the pitch darkness of the underground forest.
Two large sets of animalistic eyes slowly appeared in the darkness.
"The god of death of Fenris," the male voice said.
"And the guardian of the gates of death," said the female voice.
"The true king of the wolves and the god of them as well," they said in unison. As they spoke, a giant, two-headed wolf stepped forward. Its mane was as black as the dark creature I had fought all those years before, but much, much bigger. And like that dark creature, its eyes were glowing, indicating to me that this was some sort of creature touched by the Warp.
"Strange, the All-father never mentioned you," I said, looking at it as it padded closer, revealing that it probably could try and rip me apart with a couple of bites if not for the observation deck protecting me.
"That old fool doesn't mention many things. Things that you can't comprehend or that he does not like. He keeps them to himself, he enjoys being the god of the light of the people of the above world. He is after all the All-father the one who protects," the left head said.
"When the reality is, he's nothing but a failed project to use Eldar technology for the betterment of humanity," the right head followed.
I narrowed my eyes and said, "And you would be?"
The creature leaned in close so it could look at me through the window before saying, "The destruction that humanity rightfully creates. I am what humanity does to itself in order to survive and thrive."
"So you're some prisoner who got injected with a triple dose of whatever most Fenrisians have nowadays."
That got a laugh from the wolf as it stepped back, saying, "In a way, yes. But I'm more than what I once was. I've been trapped down here for a long time, but I have had my agents come to the surface once or twice to remind humanity of what it means to survive on this world. If you had not killed Blackmaned, there would have been a bloody 20 years of my wolves hunting and slaughtering humanity. It would have reminded them that no matter how safe they think they are, they need to be stronger and better. Sooner or later, a hero would have risen to kill Blackmaned, improving the general stock of the surface dwellers and preventing them from becoming like the creatures who scuttle about down here, worshiping a dark god that does not even think much of them."
"Wonderful. You're a crazy geneticist who got turned into a wolf and now thinks they're the literal god of evolution, aren't you?" I said, putting my arms in front of my chest.
The two wolf heads looked at me before saying, "Something like that. Immortality takes a sacrifice in form or another. Becoming this is just one of those sacrifices."
I let out a sigh of annoyance, putting my hand on my face before saying, "Great, and let me guess, you want me to let you out so you can organize a genocide of everything on the planet's surface."
"Haha, why would I do that when you're going to do it for me sooner or later?" it chuckled.
I raised an eyebrow before it chuckled again. "You've made a deal with the creature that will see the end of quite a lot, in my opinion. The empire you so worship and fight for will not survive. Fenris will though, it'll be burned, it'll be scattered, but it will survive. The people will come stronger, and they will grow in power. Perhaps they will even expand their reach from simply being a local cluster to something more. Perhaps it'll be the birth of an empire, a new wolf pack that hunts in the stars."
I sighed before saying, "Wonderful. Well, that's great and all, but I really do not need whatever you are on my planet, so I guess I'm going to have to figure out how to kill you."
The creature chuckled before suggesting, "I could be an ally, you know."
"Oh yes, let me guess. I release you, and you offer me powers beyond my wildest dreams, with, you know, some monkey's paw clause that will screw me over."
The creature shook its heads before saying, "No, no. The Night Gangers will not take this attack on their territory well. Even if you were to close off all the entrances, they'll find their way in. They'll take this area over again, and they will keep me pinned in here, just as you would. There's no way to kill me. I'm but a god, and as long as your people allow the wolves to live, I will live."
"Okay, so what do you want?"
The creature looked off to the west, saying, "Over that way is a room. Inside it is a containment field that keeps me here. Turn it off, and I will scale the walls of this structure and free myself. I will hunt the Night Gangers in their underground city for you, keeping the dead dead, as it were, as my role in the religion of these people. I will prevent these creatures from doing you greater harm by worshiping their dark god."
"What dark god?" I asked, folding my arms. "I've not seen hair nor hide of any dark god on Fenris before. I've only seen you."
"I'm the god of death, not darkness. There's a difference," it said matter-of-factly. "... and I would rather not speak its name. But I believe you know it quite well." It laughed, making a very bird-like noise.
I shivered at that, remembering that noise. Though at the time, I hadn't really put two and two together. It corresponded to the Emperor's story that we had been stolen from his lab by the warp entities and tossed far from home.
"Are you saying that one of those warp entities has a home here on Fenris?" I asked.
The two-headed wolf leaned in close to the window, one eye from each head observing me, as it said, "Fenris was always a home for one of those creatures. Not one of its strongest homes, but definitely a foothold in its power. Why else do you think runecraft is so stable here?"
"Because of the World Spirit of Fenris," I said matter-of-factly.
That got a chuckle from the wolf as it said, "That's three-quarters of the equation. But who taught the people of this world to use those powers?"
"Not those monsters, I tell you," came the familiar voice of the All-Father, drawing my eyes to where he was standing, tapping his staff on the metal floor in annoyance.
"Hah!" the wolf laughed before saying, "All-Father, it's been so long. When was the last time you gave me a visit? What was it, 3,000, 4,000 years ago? Seems like just yesterday that you were just learning how to communicate with the population, and then you just never come and visit me ever since then."
"Considering your nature as a being of death, I tend to avoid you. After all, I wish for the people of this planet to live happily, not to die under your fangs," The All-father spoke, crossing his arms across his chest.
The wolf continued, "Otherwise, without my wolves pruning the weak from these people, so many more would have died. Fenris would have probably ceased to exist as a stable ecosystem without my population of wolves tending to their flock. And the Night Gangers would have come to the surface, bringing much more pain and suffering than anything my wolves would ever do."
I looked to the All-Father, crossing my arms, and said, "Well, All-Father, I have many questions. But why don't we start with the most pressing issue on the table here? The Night Gangers and this corruptive threat. Why don't you start talking about that and explain to me how big of an issue they truly are, since I've been kept less than well-informed about these beings?"
The All-Father shook his head before saying, "They are controlled and contained by the wolf here," he said, raising his hand, "or at least kept in their cities. And yes, there are those amongst them that worship a being that is not exactly good for us. I have kept them away from the people above for a good time." He shook his head again before continuing, "I understand if you doubt my words, but they are controlled. They are deep within, far from any civilization, their nature hidden under rock and unlikely to surface and cause problems for the people of Fenris, especially with the wolf here guarding the entrances with its minions."
I looked at the wolf and asked, "And what are your thoughts on the security of Fenris from these creatures?"
"We are entering a time when those creatures will grow stronger. Humanity was split and broken, and as it was split and broken, the powers that controlled those creatures weakened. But humanity is no longer going to be split and broken. There's a power rising in your empire, something will be created to counter it, and when that is created, these creatures will grow in power and ability. For now, they are nothing more than mutants, eyeless horrors, and monstrous forms. They hunt on smell and sound alone, but their sight will return; it will be gifted to them if they're left to fester and worship their dark gods deep beneath the soil of this world. And once they have their eyes back, they will see Fenris as a juicy meal that needs to be conquered. They'll come forward from the earth as the monsters they are and devour all they see, ripping and tearing until everything that was your civilization is destroyed,"
The wolf shook its head before saying, "But there won't be any survivors. Unlike when my wolves attack, they won't do it to strengthen your population; they'll do it to replace. Humanity will die, and the Night Gangers will rise... and then, just as these dark gods do, they'll take their eyes away, force them back under the surface to worship them in their altered forms. They do things for one reason and one reason only: to grow their own power."
I tilted my head before saying, "And wasn't that what you're doing? After all, if humanity believes that you are the god of death of this world, does that not enforce your own powers? Makes you stronger than if you were not believed to be such?"
The wolf growled before saying, "Of course, that is the point of view you would have."
"So you're a parasite." I said, tilting my head before continuing, "You parasitically live off humanity, gaining power by causing us harm, dictating a contract where you are allowed to attack us to maintain your power in exchange. You keep away something worse that would annihilate us completely, as long as humanity stays just above medieval age technology. Nothing but swords, spears, and bows versus the monsters that harm humanity on this world."
"What are you implying?" the wolf said, tilting its head. "So what if you've progressed beyond these medieval age technologies? You may have guns but you still rule this planet in every form. We still exist here, and your people even still worship us in some sense as the apex predator of this world."
"Of course, they do. Now, I would like to point out that your apex predator is now becoming more domesticated with every year, becoming a symbiotic species with humanity, serving it as it should to protect it against monsters in exchange for food," I said.
The All-Father, said "Tanya", just having a smile gracing his lips, "Oh, I see what you're doing there, child of the Emperor. That is a neat implication, one that could rather serve us well in the safety of humanity on this planet."
"Thank you, All-Father," I said with a nod as the wolves' heads exchanged a look before they both focused on me, saying, "What are you implying? What has made the All-Father so intrigued with your statement?"
"Well, if your wolves are becoming a symbiotic part of humanity, that means there is an opening for your existence as a symbiotic part of Fenris, assuming that we can come to a deal."
"A deal? I already offered you a deal. I will hunt the monsters here, and you will let me be free. There's not much more to it."
"Perhaps, but perhaps not," I said, leaning against a pillar near the window. "There is another option I am considering, though I need All-Father's opinion on this matter. If a warp-based creature gave its word, its absolute existence depending on its word, would it be forced to comply with said word?"
The All-Father nodded his head before saying, "Technically, yes. The creature that has bound itself to the will of another must go by its word; otherwise, it would lose a substantial amount of power, as it did break its word and honor. It only works, though, on minor entities like this. Major entities can break such things with little issue. After all, what is their word to a mortal being?"
"Ha, you can't be serious. You would try to chain me, a god of death, as if I was one of your many wolves that had turned their backs on their nature and become your pets."
I smiled and said, "Times are changing, Wolfie. Your wolves came to the realization of that much quicker than you. You either get with humanity and see to its future, or you get removed. The Emperor does not agree to the existence of any form of religion on this planet. What our people do is fine because it's more of a mythology. As long as you remain a mythological creature, you will not be on the Emperor's annoyance list, which means he will not come here and deal with you himself. Now let's make this clear: I may not know how to kill you, the All-Father may not know how to kill you, but the Emperor is something above all of us here, and he probably can figure it out quite easily. So your choices are limited, as are mine on this matter."
I say matter-of-factly "I could either keep a patrol of soldiers down here hunting down the Night Gangers and probably never completely killing them, sending soldiers around wasting resources and having you killed by the Emperor. It would be slow progress on this planet and it would be problematic for cultural reasons. I think simply having the Emperor, sometimes called the All-Father by the people of Fenris, coming around and killing the so-called God of Death would most likely cause some rather religious overtones to grow. So, I see nothing but bad in that direction. People believe in the All-Father as the Emperor, and the Emperor is a God. Not good for my people here on Fenris, at least as far as I can see. Letting the Night Gangers run wild and having my troops busy fighting them is also not good, as far as I can see.
Also I just cannot do nothing about the Night Gangers. They've shown themselves to be a threat, at least from your point of view. If they really are worshiping a parasitic Dark God that is going to take umbrage with the Emperor's work, then I can't let an enemy stronghold fester underneath my planet's surface. I need to do something about them. Not to mention, I have no idea what these dark gods and rituals they're practicing can do to the people who want to move down into these underground cities. The Squats have come here trying to find places to live now that some of their cities were destroyed back home, and this is a good place for them. Unless, of course, it turns out that this place is contaminated in such a way that they have the potential of becoming these Night Gangers. Anyone have an answer on that matter? Should I be worried about that?"
The All-Father and the Wolf shared a look before the All-Father said, "You don't have to worry too deeply about that. The worst of these mutations and rituals are far, far away from here, deep underground. They should not affect the population even if they were to travel into that area. This is generational mutational abuse and corruption, not instantaneous. Though I understand why you may be worried about that. There's a reason there are always stories about Rune Priests who delve too deep into the secrets of the runes. I imagine you've probably seen some horrid things out there in the universe. Am I correct in that assessment?"
I nodded, saying, "The Exterminatus of Taxal showed me some things I would rather not recall, but yes, there are some horrid things out there. Horrible things that tell me that if these creatures do exist, they can do some horrible things to my people if they are down here and they are a problem."
"A problem easily solved if you let me out, and I will rally my wolves and bring these creatures as low as they can ever be, giving you that freedom you need to maintain the veneer of civilization up on the surface until the day everything goes wrong."
I shook my head, "I understand where you're going with this, but we are not letting you out without a contract, one that I am happy with, one that will bind your will to mine."
"Impossible! You lack the ability and will to do such a thing!" The wolf howled, turning up its nose to me as it said, "Just open this cage and let me hunt. Let me kill these creatures, and I will do it gladly. Let me be FREE."
I shook my head, thinking, "I am quite fond of letting people be free, but you are a menace to the society that I need to make sure is controlled to some extent." Turning to the All-Father, I said, "Any ideas on how to make sure this works?"
The All-Father sighed before saying, "Summon as much of my magic as possible. Make it submit with the power of that magic of this world and bind it to you. That is the only way it'll work, if it'll work at all. Though I would be wary of using such things; binding a wolf spirit to you could do unknown things to yourself."
I waved it away, saying, "A problem I'll deal with later."
Sighing, I said, "Here's the deal. You will hunt these creatures beneath the earth, and I will keep people out of the cities that are still under infestation. When you find one that's clear enough that we can take and prevent these creatures from coming again, you will tell me, and I will take that city and turn it into something worth using for Fenris.
"Oh, how very authoritative, dictating a deal now, are we?"
"Yes, I'm dictating the deal. I am the King of Fenris. I am the Wolf King. I don't know what led to your creation for sure. I don't know if you're all living or just a warp entity pretending to be of the living. But you will bow to me as your king and swear your allegiance to me, or you're going to stay in this trap for the rest of time."
"You dare demand a god to prostrate itself before a mortal!," it seemed to summon some sort of dark energy, making its eyes glow purple.
"I dare tell a parasite that it can either be useful and have some freedoms, or be locked away and forgotten till it eventually dies a forgotten existence!," I retorted, channeling as much energy from Fenris as I could. I felt the room starting to freeze a bit as my eyes glowed blue in return.
The wolf stared me down for a bit before finally bowing both its heads and saying, "I, Morkai, God of Death and old King of the Wolves, pledge my allegiance to Tanya Russ, King of Fenris and the new King of the Wolves. By my words, a bond is made. I will not betray you."
"You better not, because I will hunt you down and kill you no matter what if you do," I said, shaking my head, turning, and heading west. "Now let's find the darn door for you. You have a job to do, Guardian of the Gates of Death."
Writers note: well there we go, we found out what beneath.. And Tanya made it take a knee. Because wolves that don;t serve her rule don;t last long. We also have sqout building home and few other interesting to take part look over. What will this all mean? Only time will tell.
Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
Edited by: L, drkshodow
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M30.884
Tanya Russ
The tunnels underneath Fenris were more extensive than the cities, possibly even more so. Determining where and when to puncture into them and how to go about exploiting the reaches underneath required a lot of deep thought.
We didn't want to go too far out away from civilization, or we would not be able to support the expedition. Doing it under the fortress, the Fang, was not a good idea simply because we would be exposing the military-industrial complex that was the home of the Wolves of Fenris to whatever horrors were beneath it.
By that same token, we didn't want to do it too close to any of the civilized parts of Fenris. Yes, better supply routes, but more chance of what was beneath coming up and causing problems.
Ultimately, what was decided was to use a small juncture already in existence halfway between the two major cities of Fenris, Russ, and a town on the other side of the continent.
There was a railroad running between those two points, used mainly for military needs in order to move troops through the area during the winter.
Oddly enough, though I didn't recognize it, I should have. This was the same path that my men had marched over to get to the other side of the continent many years before in order to kill the Lord who threatened my retirement.
In fact, the tunnels we located for this operation were not too far away from where we'd run into that creature that tasted a little bit like pumpkin after we blew it up: the Ice Wyrm.
It took a week to build up the station right next to this hole, turning it from a station that was simply here for changing trains over, into a fully operational supply depot for this operation.
But once that was accomplished, well, there was nothing holding us back. So, a week after my plans to get into that cave system again were put together, here I was standing next to Wolf Lord Gunnar Gunnhilt, commander of the Fifth Great Company, with about 4,000 Space Marines (would be 5,000, but he was also in recovery operations here on Fenris and was looking for more troops).
We would be the spearhead of the operation, marching down in front of Fenrisian guards with the occasional Valkyrie unit coming up behind us.
And at the rear of the column were about 7,000 Squats who had all volunteered to help with this operation.
Understandably, they weren't fans of living out in the daylight like the rest of us. They were uneasy about not having cavern roofs above their heads, so the operation to claim an underground city and make it functional had apparently been something that the majority of the population of Squats on the planet appreciated. How many there were, I was still unsure, but the point of the matter was that if this was successful, there would be a place for them to live, which could attract more settlers. What that meant for the future, I didn't know, but I figured it would be a good thing. After all, they were skilled artisans and miners, which would make us less dependent on the Mechanicum. Even if I did trust the Mechanicum of the planet, having external sources of equipment and competition between the Mechanicum and the Squat League that was forming here would be better for prices, or so I thought. At least it would be better for coming up with new technologies.
Looking up at the wintry mountains around me, I felt more ideas brewing than I had in a while. The familiarity of Fenris somehow calmed me. Perhaps it was just a sensation of feeling at home. Perhaps I had simply become very attached to the planet. Perhaps... Perhaps I was just tired of going on adventures in the stars for a bit and wanted to do something actually worthwhile. Considering my last campaign, which resulted in a holocaust of another species, with a little evidence pointing to humans who had used too much genetic modification and went too far, I could be excused for the desire to build instead of destroy.
Shaking my head, I tossed those thoughts aside and focused on what was before me: the cave leading down into the darkness that would take us to the rumored city. It was similar to the caves close to where I had first started finding these caves—dark, deep, and large. Obviously, manufacturing had gone into them. Some sort of drilling equipment had reinforced the sides as it went along. That alone would be very interesting if we could recover any of those tools. Even the railroad we had manufactured had to climb the mountain in several places, and though blasting a route had been functional, if they could have simply carved a hole through the mountain range all the way from one side to the other, that would save time, money, and effort.
Granted, the faster route would probably have a greater chance of flooding during the rainier parts of the year, but during winter, it would connect the continent like no path could have before. Shaking my head, I saw Lord Gunnhilt coming up, waving his hand as he said, "Wonderful day for a march into the deep, my Primarch!" The man, not wearing his helmet and smiling brightly through his beard, looked ready to take on hell itself with the large amount of throwing axes he had strapped everywhere. They seemed to be his preference over his own bolt gun, which hung lightly at his side.
"Yes, hopefully it won't be too dangerous down there," I said, looking into the darkness.
Lord Gunnhilt shook his head, saying, "Scouts have been going down there for a few days now. They've located a potential route that leads to a city. Old wires and all that, indicating that there was power being transferred. Should be safe enough. Though, there was an interesting little discovery when they were down there."
"Oh, what did they find?" I asked, looking at them.
Ice trolls, sir. At least two had been down there at some point, and recently. Hopefully, they've moved on further into the mountains, but they could be using it as some sort of territorial crossing point. There's no way to know if this path opens up somewhere nearby further in the mountains.
I nodded my head and silently hoped we wouldn't run into an ice troll in those caves. Those things were massive and required quite a large amount of firepower to kill. Being in a small place like a cave system was not a great situation to use such firepower. Not to mention, we wouldn't have any vehicles going down there. We could probably fit a Rhino, but the benefits of bringing an armored vehicle into a tight passageway are not very good. Even the extra armor wouldn't do us much good if something massive like an ice troll is down there. It could probably grab the Rhino and toss it down the passageway, or even shove it into a corner and start crushing it.
Shaking my head, I said, "Well, maybe I should have brought some of the First Company. Could always use some Terminator armor on this operation."
"I already got you covered, my King," Lord Gunnhilt said, stepping to the side, revealing that he apparently had a specialty squad of around ten individuals in Terminator armor. I raised my eyebrows as I looked at him, and he continued, "I invested in the industry on Svellgard, which means I got a small kickback, allowing me to buy the armor at a cheaper rate for the next four years. So, I've been putting most of my extra funding into getting some of those Terminator suits."
I nodded my head before saying, "Not a bad plan. Okay, then. Your specialty squad will lead the way, and everyone else will have to proceed slowly down into these tunnels."
With that, I reached to the side of my belt and pulled off the Wolf Helm, quickly putting it on my head before turning to look at him. "I believe it's about time to start a little bit of a hunt. Do you want to go first, or should I?"
"The King should always enter first, but we'll be close at hand," Lord Gunnhilt said with a nod, and I turned, pulling Gungnir from my back, and began to march down into the tunnels. I turned down the ice-producing elements in my armor since the fight on the homeworld of the Rangdan. I wasn't going to freeze over like I had accidentally done. But if the ice trolls were here, I would turn it back on in an instant. As much as they bore the name of ice trolls, they didn't like the cold any more than anyone else.
As I moved further into the darkness, lights on my armor came on, as well as lights on the armors of the soldiers behind me. Deeper and deeper we went, and soon the light of day was lost. Everyone was more preoccupied watching the corners than actually talking. This went on for several hours until we were at least a couple of miles underground.
At this point, we ran into what could best be described as the reason that the scouts had figured out that there had been ice trolls here.
There were two paths in front of us. One of them led to an ancient city, probably, while the other may lead to another ancient city further away. However, one of them wasn't easily accessible because the ice trolls had been using it as a dumping ground. It was filled with rotted wood, bones, and things they didn't want to eat—generally, a disgusting plug in the cave.
Looking to the Wolf Lord, I asked, "Please tell me that the known underground city is that way," pointing towards the path that was still open.
The slow motion of 'no' told me everything I needed to know. Signing, I looked back and called out, "We need some engineers and explosives!"
I stepped out of the way as a group of Fenris engineers came forward, carrying what looked like C4, and got to work. The amount of complaints coming from them about the smell and other things made my heart go out to them, but I wasn't going to do the job.
After about 30 minutes, the poor engineers came back, looking like they needed a good shower. I said, "You guys can follow the path all the way back up and out if you want. There are supplies to clean yourselves up on the surface."
"Thank you, Wolf King," one of them said. I think it was the leader, but I couldn't tell as the insignia on his arm was covered in something I'd rather not think about.
Once the area around the plug was cleared, an engineer who stayed behind activated the explosives, and there was a boom—not a big one, as it had been designed to minimize damage to the tunnel and focus on the plug. But it was big enough that there was a bit of dust kicked up, spreading the scent of the terrible plug all over the place.
The complaints were quite vivid, and I tried to ignore them, closing off the filters on my helmet so I didn't have to breathe in the outside air. After it cleared up a bit, I walked through, watching where I stepped to get through what had been blocking the way, and moved out into what could best be described as an underground city.
This one was slightly different from the one I had seen all those years before. That one had been a well-structured underground city, while this one seemed to have more of a stepped pattern to it.
Looking around the edges, though, I did see a few more buildings. Perhaps this had been some sort of research center. It's hard to say what the ancient humans of Fenris were up to.
Wolf Lord Gunnhilt came up from behind me, standing next to me, with several other Terminators on either side, as I looked out across the empty-looking area. "It's going to take forever to clear this place out and make sure it's safe," he said, and I nodded in agreement.
"Well, we better get to work then," I looked up before saying, "If a certain someone wouldn't mind lending us a hand and turning on the lights, perhaps."
"I can't really do that," came a voice to my left, causing me to look over and see the All-Father sitting on a rock, a staff in his left hand.
"I see," I replied,
nodding as he confirmed my suspicions. "I really am not supposed to harm the children of interest in my own way, and turning the lights on would harm them because I know what you are planning."
"And what is your opinion on what I am planning?" I asked, making him look at me before he replied,
"Cleansing these under cities, or at least pushing them out for the Squats to live here, that's bad, but not as bad as cleansing them and then leaving them to fester once again. I know my opinions are moot, but perhaps there's something good that will come from this, though I doubt it. The people down here are, well, nearly not people anymore."
He shook his head before saying, "I can tell you that there are three other entrances to this main chamber—one directly west from here, another directly east, and one directly north. You have entered through the south end of this chamber. The only other cities in this area are too far away to support this one from this attack, so the population you'll deal with here are only the ones present here, and they will have ways to escape."
I nodded, then turned to a couple more engineers who had come up. They were looking at the All-Father with confusion as I said, "You heard the man. Once we've cleared out the east, north, and west entrances, we need to lock those down and prevent anything from coming through."
"They can clear the path," the All-Father said, and I nodded. I didn't know if they could, but if we could get this place under our control and set up our own defenses outside those entrances, we would be stepping in the right direction.
The All-Father shook his head before saying, "I see the Emperor's finally rubbed off on you. What horrors have you seen out in the stars?"
I paused to think about it before realizing he had a point. I hadn't exactly been a fan of this kind of operation all those years ago. Now that I think about it, seeing what could go wrong probably spurred this. Having a festering wound underneath Fenris that could be a problem in the future could not really be tolerated.
Turning to the All-Father, I simply said, "I saw what humanity did to itself on other worlds, and I would rather not see whatever lives down here does if it gets up above."
The All-Father nodded before leaving me with one last word, saying, "Do me one favor: try and capture some of the people that are down here. See if you cannot bring them back to the surface and make them normal again. I would like to think that there's something to save in these creatures, but I don't know for sure."
Nodding, I said to myself, "If it is possible, I will try and capture some and bring them to the surface. I'm not here to commit genocide for genocide's sake. I'm here to secure the underground for our needs, and if that means that some of these creatures will have to be forced to act human, then that's what I will be doing, if I can do it."
The All-Father smiled at that before vanishing. Lord Gunnhilt looked at me in confusion and asked, "Was that who I think it was?"
"Perhaps," I replied matter-of-factly before turning to him and saying, "Let's get to work clearing these caves out."
General Trorban Grimmark, of the League of Kapellan.
Moving along the west wall, I looked at the curious structures with some interest. Being a Squat meant you were used to underground cities; you understood how they were constructed, how they were built, and why certain shapes of stone were cut. Looking at these walls, though, reminded me that there were some mysteries that predated what I understood of underground cities. The walls seemed to have been melted away by something, long-lost archeotech that converted base rock into lava and was funneled up some sort of channel to be dumped somewhere else. At least, that's what I would suspect looking at these walls with their smooth creation. This was ancient technology dating back to the Human Federation, but we probably would not find that technology running around down here. Machines like that were expensive, and if they used it to build these underground cities, they probably had to sell it at some point to keep the cities going. At least, that would be my suspicion. It's very well possible that I'm wrong, and there were those machines down here. If I was, that would be beneficial to the Squat Leagues, not just to this new underground colony that we were going to set up.
"Sir, the enemy has been spotted," a soldier said, coming back from the front of the column.
"Identify it," I said. "Are they moving to attack us or what?"
"At this moment, no, sir. I think most of them are still not really sure what's going on, but we've spotted an enemy formation in front of the entrance we've been assigned to take control of."
I nodded and said, "Tell the commanders of the formation to stack up and get ready. I will lead us into combat." The soldier nodded and ran away. I looked out at the strange temple-like building that dominated the center of the city. That was a curious thing; even though the Federation occasionally used pyramid shaped structures, I knew that from my former career as an archaeologist. They weren't popular but generally used for research installations or art. Could it be some sort of museum, I wondered? I would probably find out when this was over. The Primarch and her force were making a direct path for it; I could see it from here as they moved through the city's lights, being lit up as they went.
Most likely, when they arrive, shit would really kick off. I had the feeling that something would break loose. Something about this place felt wrong, not the primordial wrongness that you might find in something from the deep core worlds of the League, a more tainted wrongness, as if something had been traded here and left to simmer and stew for a long time.
Shaking my head, I moved on, pushing my way to the front of the column. I kind of wished I'd be able to bring some more heavy armor, but the tunnel wasn't exactly conducive to bringing our big toys, let alone motorcycles. We'd have to fix that. Oh sure, we could have brought motorcycles, but looking around at the unpaved area around, well, they wouldn't have done it any good. No, this would be an infantry fight, and one thing that us Squats were good at was armored infantry fights and fighting in underground areas. Pushing my way to the front, I saw already a column of my men shaking out into a line, pushing a shield wall to the front as the secondary line brought their rifles and put them over their shoulders, the first line holding pistols and pushing them through holes in the side.
Standing near one side, I saw the commander on a platform that had been deployed, allowing him to see over the line. I quickly went over and stepped up on the platform to see what he was seeing.
"General Grimmark," he said, giving a salute, his hand hitting his pompadour hair before looking out at the enemy. My eyes followed him to see mutants; that was the best word for it. Some of them were hairy, furry, indicating that they had fallen into some sort of bestial instinct. But the general take of it was they were mutants, still humanoid in form, but definitely not worth considering anything more than what they were. Judging by the way they moved, from what I observed, they didn't seem to have much in the way of intelligence left in their brains.
At least, the ones I saw moving about. Here, there was something different coming from a tunnel. I saw what appeared to be more mutants, seeming to be under some sort of control. One creature, a more feathered mutant standing on top of a building, was howling, rallying the mutants to its call, making noises that sounded like the caw of a crow and drawing the creatures to it. It raised what appeared to be a sword, hewn from bone, above its head, swinging it about as if it was summoning more mutants from the tunnel.
"Reinforcements?" I asked the commander, and he nodded. "We've been watching them come in for the last few minutes, sir. They haven't attacked us yet, but I think that's only a matter of time. We need to seal that tunnel before any more break through, as well as find any more of those feathered creatures that are leading them; they seem more intelligent around it."
"Well, then, we better clean this up before they become a real problem. You have my permission to open fire with your men"
"Yes, sir," the commander said, giving a salute before pulling up a radio and saying, "Men, open fire!" Down the line, several other commanders gave the order, and as one, the formation unloaded autoguns into the swarming mass of degenerated mutants. The mutants, which had been closest to us, immediately turned and charged, while gibbering and howling incoherently at us with their large maws. Said maws were usually filled with holes before they reached us, but they made a good effort. The next charge of the hostile mutants rushed over their dead and dying brethren, under the command of the bone-wielding bird-like monster, charged and was also subjected to the same autogun fire. Though they did a better job of closing the distance, forcing several portions of the line to fall back, they fell into areas where autocannons had been placed, allowing them to open the line, unleash devastating fire into the formation of charging monsters.
The cave was echoing with screams and gunfire as they were pushed back, and then forced to flee. The bird creature waved its makeshift sword in my general direction before a sniper further down the line gave it a too-close haircut, and it toppled over, before being trampled underfoot by the now uncontrolled fleeing horde. Controlled gunfire continued for a bit before everything went silent.
It appeared we had cleared it out, so I nodded to the commander, saying, "Give the order to move forward and execute any survivors."
"Ah, sir, didn't we get some orders to try and save some of these creatures?" the commander said, giving me a look. I gave him another look and said, "Fine. If any of these mutants appear to try and surrender, we'll see what we can do. But if they don't, if they act hostile, put them down."
The commander nodded, and gave the order. The formation started moving forward, men stepping ahead, using bayonets on the end of their rifles or on the end of their pistols to dispatch the creatures that were beyond saving, while looking for any survivors willing to surrender. It took a bit, but as they moved forward, sections of the area were cleared out, and glow sticks were dropped here and there to illuminate things. Before long, the initial area around the entrance to the western tunnels was cleared out, and I was allowed to move forward and take a long look down those tunnels. I didn't see any more of those creatures, but there was plenty of blood leading down the end of them, indicating we'd injured quite a few of them that had retreated. This was good; they were likely to be a menace while we worked and lived down here. We needed to establish that if you messed with us, you'd get messed with badly, and this was the first step in establishing that.
Looking up, I saw areas in the tunnel that we could collapse easily enough. I waved over to some engineers, saying, "We need this tunnel closed to keep the monsters out. Bring forward some shaped charges and everything else we can get our hands on."
"Yes, sir," they said, with a salute, before heading off, leaving me to look down the tunnels. The commander stepped up next to me, asking, "Do we know how many underground cities are down here?"
I looked at him and shrugged before saying, "Don't know. All I care about is securing this one. Beyond that, well, in the future, we'll prepare other expeditions once we're able to build enough population to head down into those other tunnels. Maybe reinforce this place, build a farm structure of some kind, provide actual food instead of rations from the surface. We need to be somewhat independent from the surface folks since Fenris isn't exactly a hospitable planet up there, and they'll need their food to survive."
The commander nodded in agreement as he looked down the tunnel before saying, "We did manage to bring a few of the creatures into chains, but they were extremely degenerated. I don't think they have much intelligence."
"Noted," I said before adding, "We'll hold them and hand them over to the Primarch. She can decide what to do with them on her own time. As for us, we've got a job to do, and we'll do it. Get to work preparing men to move into the city towards the main pyramid so we can secure the whole place from these creatures."
"Yes, sir," he said, turning and walking off as I turned away from the tunnel, walking back towards a new platform being set up. This one on top of a ruined house. I quickly stepped up the ramp that had been built to find that they were installing an autocannon facing the tunnel. It also gave me a very good look at the city that we were going to have to clean up.
"Very utilitarian buildings," I thought. For the most part, the structures were not more than one or two stories tall. Though there could be some underground barracks and basements for all I know. We would have to clean out every single aspect of the city, make sure these monsters have been removed, and reinforce all the entrances. As well as, why not create tracks in the tunnels leading in and out, and build proper doors. I think everyone would prefer the trains running from Fenris to the capital having the ability to drive down here and deliver supplies, rather than having to walk up the tunnel every time you needed to gather supplies. That would take time, but nothing is impossible. There was one thing my people were good at, and it was building big things underground. Building this into a proper Squat city would take time, but it was possible.
Tanya Russ
The cave system was massive and ancient, judging by the stalactites hanging from the ceiling. It had most likely been discovered before the fall of the Human Federation. The army I brought down here moved carefully and slowly, checking the buildings one by one as we moved towards the large pyramid structure at the heart of the city.
The area around the main complex consisted mainly of one or two-story buildings, so it wasn't hard to slowly make our way through. We were making sure that nothing snuck through our lines to try to attack from behind or cause problems. But in the first 30 minutes, we didn't run into any monsters.
Perhaps we were being spared by the fact that we were using flares to light up the area. The entranceway had been built up before we left, and a mortar crew was firing flares over the main part of the area where we were searching, adjusting so that we would get the most light as we moved. In the distance I could hear the fighting from the cave entrance sealing off the enemy's escape. I hope they did not receive too many casualties.
Since I didn't know the nature of the threat we would be facing, I had agreed to mixed units, combining Valkyrie and Fenrisian Wolves, so that they could handle any threat that appeared.
We had almost reached the foot of the pyramid when we finally encountered the first enemy. As it came around the corner, I wasn't really sure what I was looking at. I had expected a human, but what I got was a mutant.
The creature that wandered out from a dwelling was haggard, misshapen, and blind, lacking proper eyes. It only had milky orbs. It was muttering something as it faced the pyramid, seemingly not noticing me as I approached.
I looked to Lord Gunnhilt, wondering what he thought we should do. He simply drew out an ax, ready to kill the thing if it made any hostile moves. So, I decided to play the good cop and ask questions.
"Hello there," I said, raising a hand in a gesture of friendship, assuming it could still hear me even if it couldn't see me.
To my surprise, the creature whipped around, its left hand transforming into a sharp, distended claw longer than some of the lightning claws that had made their way into service within my Marines. The creature screamed and charged at me, but I managed to grab its hand before it could do any damage. With my other arm, I grabbed its shoulder, preventing it from trying to harm me with its more human-looking free hand.
Clearing my throat, I said, "Hello there. Would you mind trying to stop attacking me?"
The creature responded by biting down on the front plate of my armor, shattering its teeth in the process. It screamed and then tried to gum me, which told me that there wasn't much intelligence left in this creature. I turned and let the Lord Gunnhilt slash the thing to death before dropping it down.
"Well, that didn't go well," I remarked.
Lord Gunnhilt nodded before saying, "Maybe there's more inside that house."
Grabbing my spear, I poked the door, pushing it open to see if there was anything inside. I couldn't fit inside because I was too tall. However, I could see that there was nothing in there. Well, that did raise an interesting question about these creatures. The house was obviously built for 6-ft tall people at the standard. Looking at the creature, it was closer to 8-ft tall with thin limbs.
This could mean that the houses didn't quite fit these creatures, which probably meant they would prefer something bigger. Turning my head towards the pyramid, I had a good idea that whatever that structure was, it probably housed the majority of these monsters.
Shaking my head, I said, "Let's continue clearing the streets." A shot went off somewhere closeby, and then another. Nothing happened for a bit, and then a shot from another area indicated that we were starting to encounter these monsters, and they were not surrendering or trying to be peaceful. At least I hoped that my men were giving them a chance.
We moved further on, finding more of these creatures and having to put them down. They were not acting intelligent for the most part. Some would scream, some would moan. It seemed that light hurt their skin. But for the most part, they were animalistic. I also noted that these animalistic traits seemed to resemble hairless wolves.
They seemed to be stuck in a midpoint between conversion into full-fledged feral wolves and the humans that once dominated the underground world.
That was concerning and played well with the theories of what had happened to my people. But it did make me wonder why the underground population had devolved in such a way. What incident in the ancient past had forced humanity to fall this far?
Perhaps the answer lay at the heart of this pyramid-like structure, or maybe it was in another underground city that needed to be cleared out. Who knows how many there were and how deep they went? There were unconfirmed rumors, but possible rumors, that there was one underneath the Fang. Men who had been drilling down under the ground had burst through into a tunnel structure. They sealed it up as best they could and carved new tunnels around it. But if that was true, there was always the possibility that there was something under some of the most valuable points on the planet. And why was that?
Finally, after what felt like hours of clearing out these monsters, we arrived at the edges of the temple, and I was able to get a look at it.
The structure was old but obviously of human make. The metal had once been burnished white in coloration, smooth. I could tell that from the areas that were still clear, although there weren't many. It appeared that it was at the height of where the stalactites were dropping their mineral water, meaning portions of the temple were covered in mineral debris and stalagmites reaching towards the ceiling.
Looking around, I could see that a few of them had almost touched, which meant this was very old.
Lord Gunnhilt came next to me and whistled as he looked up at the structure, saying, "What do you think? Something important in there?"
I shrugged before saying, "It must be something important, as whatever it is, it had a whole town servicing it underground."
"You know, I've seen several more cities than this by this point, thanks to our travels. The city's transport infrastructure is lacking, if the ancient builders of these structures were so modern, why didn't they build railways connecting their cities?" Lord Gunnhilt commented.
Well, that's a good point. Looking at it, I would have figured there would be some sort of system underground to connect cities. But it appears they only ever dug tunnels, which either implies that they were using a lot of cheap ATV-like vehicles or that you had to walk between cities.
Hmm, I shook my head before saying, "Perhaps they wanted to avoid possible exposure to disease or wanted to prevent something from being able to travel quickly between the cities. Assuming they would have had some sort of communication network between them, so if one went bad, they probably would have informed the others and closed themselves off from each other."
"Hmm, makes sense, I suppose." Lord Gunnhilt said, scratching his unkempt hair.
I was about to make a comment when a Valkyrie came running from the left, giving a salute before saying, "My King, we've located an entrance to the temple."
I nodded and said, "Lead the way." And the way she led, we quickly moved along the edges of the structure until we found an entrance that had apparently once been barred. That raised an eyebrow. The bars were designed to keep something in, not out. I could tell that right away as there were two guard rooms in front of the door. Looking inside them, I saw emplacements for guns, but they had long been lost in whatever chaos had taken over the city.
Turning to the gathered troops, I said, "Don't follow me inside. I'll investigate."
They all looked disappointed, but it was probably for the best. Something was wrong, some secret was hidden within this structure, and I figured I should probably find it out for myself first.
First, I stepped through the gateway, closing it and drawing my blade. Dual-wielding a spear and a sword wasn't exactly easy in the confined areas that probably lay ahead of me, so I slid the spear onto my back, drawing a recent addition to my weapons, a Helfrost ax. Carefully, I moved deeper into the facility, scanning for monsters but finding none. Oh, they had definitely been here at one point. The place was trashed. The creatures obviously had no idea what they were dealing with and had destroyed things. As I ventured further, I saw evidence that it probably wasn't just these creatures. As I broke through one door, I found jail cells. Lots of them. That raised an eyebrow. From my understanding, Fenris had served as some sort of entertainment facility at one point, but I believe the All-Father had mentioned it had been something else before that. Could this be where the original prisoners, who supposedly even used to populate the planet with savages, had come from? That was concerning. Passing through the rooms I saw one room with an obvious set of medical equipment and slowly glowing vials inside, I had a feeling that this may very well be the home of the modification that led to the Fenrisian people being slightly different from normal humans.
This was good. If we could capture this facility intact, it could serve as a research bunker. Though most of it would need to be cleaned up and a lot of it trashed, I had no need for prisoner cells.
Moving deeper into the facility, I came across what I think was the central area and was kind of confused. I had not seen the top, so I didn't know the exact structure, but before me was an open area, quite large, with several trees growing in it. No light could get down here, but they apparently had found a way at one point, and they were either dead from thousands of years of no light or in some sort of hibernation.
It was quite large, with the capacity to probably fit several tanks, maybe even three or four Baneblades in the area, and it seemed to be a waste. There was no entrance I could see, just observation windows going all the way around. If it had been some sort of park. I would have thought there would be an entrance, but obviously, there was none. Leaning forward, I looked through the window before my question was answered.
"Oh look, the young wolf that killed Blackmaned has come," a male voice said.
"Yes, the bitch herself, the tamer of the wilds, the one who would be king of the wolves," came a female voice.
Confused, I looked around. It had not been a proper voice, though, as I thought. It had been in my head, which was not good. I quickly established that my defenses were up. I wasn't going to be mind-controlled by whatever was trying to talk to me.
"What are you?" I asked, looking into the pitch darkness of the underground forest.
Two large sets of animalistic eyes slowly appeared in the darkness.
"The god of death of Fenris," the male voice said.
"And the guardian of the gates of death," said the female voice.
"The true king of the wolves and the god of them as well," they said in unison. As they spoke, a giant, two-headed wolf stepped forward. Its mane was as black as the dark creature I had fought all those years before, but much, much bigger. And like that dark creature, its eyes were glowing, indicating to me that this was some sort of creature touched by the Warp.
"Strange, the All-father never mentioned you," I said, looking at it as it padded closer, revealing that it probably could try and rip me apart with a couple of bites if not for the observation deck protecting me.
"That old fool doesn't mention many things. Things that you can't comprehend or that he does not like. He keeps them to himself, he enjoys being the god of the light of the people of the above world. He is after all the All-father the one who protects," the left head said.
"When the reality is, he's nothing but a failed project to use Eldar technology for the betterment of humanity," the right head followed.
I narrowed my eyes and said, "And you would be?"
The creature leaned in close so it could look at me through the window before saying, "The destruction that humanity rightfully creates. I am what humanity does to itself in order to survive and thrive."
"So you're some prisoner who got injected with a triple dose of whatever most Fenrisians have nowadays."
That got a laugh from the wolf as it stepped back, saying, "In a way, yes. But I'm more than what I once was. I've been trapped down here for a long time, but I have had my agents come to the surface once or twice to remind humanity of what it means to survive on this world. If you had not killed Blackmaned, there would have been a bloody 20 years of my wolves hunting and slaughtering humanity. It would have reminded them that no matter how safe they think they are, they need to be stronger and better. Sooner or later, a hero would have risen to kill Blackmaned, improving the general stock of the surface dwellers and preventing them from becoming like the creatures who scuttle about down here, worshiping a dark god that does not even think much of them."
"Wonderful. You're a crazy geneticist who got turned into a wolf and now thinks they're the literal god of evolution, aren't you?" I said, putting my arms in front of my chest.
The two wolf heads looked at me before saying, "Something like that. Immortality takes a sacrifice in form or another. Becoming this is just one of those sacrifices."
I let out a sigh of annoyance, putting my hand on my face before saying, "Great, and let me guess, you want me to let you out so you can organize a genocide of everything on the planet's surface."
"Haha, why would I do that when you're going to do it for me sooner or later?" it chuckled.
I raised an eyebrow before it chuckled again. "You've made a deal with the creature that will see the end of quite a lot, in my opinion. The empire you so worship and fight for will not survive. Fenris will though, it'll be burned, it'll be scattered, but it will survive. The people will come stronger, and they will grow in power. Perhaps they will even expand their reach from simply being a local cluster to something more. Perhaps it'll be the birth of an empire, a new wolf pack that hunts in the stars."
I sighed before saying, "Wonderful. Well, that's great and all, but I really do not need whatever you are on my planet, so I guess I'm going to have to figure out how to kill you."
The creature chuckled before suggesting, "I could be an ally, you know."
"Oh yes, let me guess. I release you, and you offer me powers beyond my wildest dreams, with, you know, some monkey's paw clause that will screw me over."
The creature shook its heads before saying, "No, no. The Night Gangers will not take this attack on their territory well. Even if you were to close off all the entrances, they'll find their way in. They'll take this area over again, and they will keep me pinned in here, just as you would. There's no way to kill me. I'm but a god, and as long as your people allow the wolves to live, I will live."
"Okay, so what do you want?"
The creature looked off to the west, saying, "Over that way is a room. Inside it is a containment field that keeps me here. Turn it off, and I will scale the walls of this structure and free myself. I will hunt the Night Gangers in their underground city for you, keeping the dead dead, as it were, as my role in the religion of these people. I will prevent these creatures from doing you greater harm by worshiping their dark god."
"What dark god?" I asked, folding my arms. "I've not seen hair nor hide of any dark god on Fenris before. I've only seen you."
"I'm the god of death, not darkness. There's a difference," it said matter-of-factly. "... and I would rather not speak its name. But I believe you know it quite well." It laughed, making a very bird-like noise.
I shivered at that, remembering that noise. Though at the time, I hadn't really put two and two together. It corresponded to the Emperor's story that we had been stolen from his lab by the warp entities and tossed far from home.
"Are you saying that one of those warp entities has a home here on Fenris?" I asked.
The two-headed wolf leaned in close to the window, one eye from each head observing me, as it said, "Fenris was always a home for one of those creatures. Not one of its strongest homes, but definitely a foothold in its power. Why else do you think runecraft is so stable here?"
"Because of the World Spirit of Fenris," I said matter-of-factly.
That got a chuckle from the wolf as it said, "That's three-quarters of the equation. But who taught the people of this world to use those powers?"
"Not those monsters, I tell you," came the familiar voice of the All-Father, drawing my eyes to where he was standing, tapping his staff on the metal floor in annoyance.
"Hah!" the wolf laughed before saying, "All-Father, it's been so long. When was the last time you gave me a visit? What was it, 3,000, 4,000 years ago? Seems like just yesterday that you were just learning how to communicate with the population, and then you just never come and visit me ever since then."
"Considering your nature as a being of death, I tend to avoid you. After all, I wish for the people of this planet to live happily, not to die under your fangs," The All-father spoke, crossing his arms across his chest.
The wolf continued, "Otherwise, without my wolves pruning the weak from these people, so many more would have died. Fenris would have probably ceased to exist as a stable ecosystem without my population of wolves tending to their flock. And the Night Gangers would have come to the surface, bringing much more pain and suffering than anything my wolves would ever do."
I looked to the All-Father, crossing my arms, and said, "Well, All-Father, I have many questions. But why don't we start with the most pressing issue on the table here? The Night Gangers and this corruptive threat. Why don't you start talking about that and explain to me how big of an issue they truly are, since I've been kept less than well-informed about these beings?"
The All-Father shook his head before saying, "They are controlled and contained by the wolf here," he said, raising his hand, "or at least kept in their cities. And yes, there are those amongst them that worship a being that is not exactly good for us. I have kept them away from the people above for a good time." He shook his head again before continuing, "I understand if you doubt my words, but they are controlled. They are deep within, far from any civilization, their nature hidden under rock and unlikely to surface and cause problems for the people of Fenris, especially with the wolf here guarding the entrances with its minions."
I looked at the wolf and asked, "And what are your thoughts on the security of Fenris from these creatures?"
"We are entering a time when those creatures will grow stronger. Humanity was split and broken, and as it was split and broken, the powers that controlled those creatures weakened. But humanity is no longer going to be split and broken. There's a power rising in your empire, something will be created to counter it, and when that is created, these creatures will grow in power and ability. For now, they are nothing more than mutants, eyeless horrors, and monstrous forms. They hunt on smell and sound alone, but their sight will return; it will be gifted to them if they're left to fester and worship their dark gods deep beneath the soil of this world. And once they have their eyes back, they will see Fenris as a juicy meal that needs to be conquered. They'll come forward from the earth as the monsters they are and devour all they see, ripping and tearing until everything that was your civilization is destroyed,"
The wolf shook its head before saying, "But there won't be any survivors. Unlike when my wolves attack, they won't do it to strengthen your population; they'll do it to replace. Humanity will die, and the Night Gangers will rise... and then, just as these dark gods do, they'll take their eyes away, force them back under the surface to worship them in their altered forms. They do things for one reason and one reason only: to grow their own power."
I tilted my head before saying, "And wasn't that what you're doing? After all, if humanity believes that you are the god of death of this world, does that not enforce your own powers? Makes you stronger than if you were not believed to be such?"
The wolf growled before saying, "Of course, that is the point of view you would have."
"So you're a parasite." I said, tilting my head before continuing, "You parasitically live off humanity, gaining power by causing us harm, dictating a contract where you are allowed to attack us to maintain your power in exchange. You keep away something worse that would annihilate us completely, as long as humanity stays just above medieval age technology. Nothing but swords, spears, and bows versus the monsters that harm humanity on this world."
"What are you implying?" the wolf said, tilting its head. "So what if you've progressed beyond these medieval age technologies? You may have guns but you still rule this planet in every form. We still exist here, and your people even still worship us in some sense as the apex predator of this world."
"Of course, they do. Now, I would like to point out that your apex predator is now becoming more domesticated with every year, becoming a symbiotic species with humanity, serving it as it should to protect it against monsters in exchange for food," I said.
The All-Father, said "Tanya", just having a smile gracing his lips, "Oh, I see what you're doing there, child of the Emperor. That is a neat implication, one that could rather serve us well in the safety of humanity on this planet."
"Thank you, All-Father," I said with a nod as the wolves' heads exchanged a look before they both focused on me, saying, "What are you implying? What has made the All-Father so intrigued with your statement?"
"Well, if your wolves are becoming a symbiotic part of humanity, that means there is an opening for your existence as a symbiotic part of Fenris, assuming that we can come to a deal."
"A deal? I already offered you a deal. I will hunt the monsters here, and you will let me be free. There's not much more to it."
"Perhaps, but perhaps not," I said, leaning against a pillar near the window. "There is another option I am considering, though I need All-Father's opinion on this matter. If a warp-based creature gave its word, its absolute existence depending on its word, would it be forced to comply with said word?"
The All-Father nodded his head before saying, "Technically, yes. The creature that has bound itself to the will of another must go by its word; otherwise, it would lose a substantial amount of power, as it did break its word and honor. It only works, though, on minor entities like this. Major entities can break such things with little issue. After all, what is their word to a mortal being?"
"Ha, you can't be serious. You would try to chain me, a god of death, as if I was one of your many wolves that had turned their backs on their nature and become your pets."
I smiled and said, "Times are changing, Wolfie. Your wolves came to the realization of that much quicker than you. You either get with humanity and see to its future, or you get removed. The Emperor does not agree to the existence of any form of religion on this planet. What our people do is fine because it's more of a mythology. As long as you remain a mythological creature, you will not be on the Emperor's annoyance list, which means he will not come here and deal with you himself. Now let's make this clear: I may not know how to kill you, the All-Father may not know how to kill you, but the Emperor is something above all of us here, and he probably can figure it out quite easily. So your choices are limited, as are mine on this matter."
I say matter-of-factly "I could either keep a patrol of soldiers down here hunting down the Night Gangers and probably never completely killing them, sending soldiers around wasting resources and having you killed by the Emperor. It would be slow progress on this planet and it would be problematic for cultural reasons. I think simply having the Emperor, sometimes called the All-Father by the people of Fenris, coming around and killing the so-called God of Death would most likely cause some rather religious overtones to grow. So, I see nothing but bad in that direction. People believe in the All-Father as the Emperor, and the Emperor is a God. Not good for my people here on Fenris, at least as far as I can see. Letting the Night Gangers run wild and having my troops busy fighting them is also not good, as far as I can see.
Also I just cannot do nothing about the Night Gangers. They've shown themselves to be a threat, at least from your point of view. If they really are worshiping a parasitic Dark God that is going to take umbrage with the Emperor's work, then I can't let an enemy stronghold fester underneath my planet's surface. I need to do something about them. Not to mention, I have no idea what these dark gods and rituals they're practicing can do to the people who want to move down into these underground cities. The Squats have come here trying to find places to live now that some of their cities were destroyed back home, and this is a good place for them. Unless, of course, it turns out that this place is contaminated in such a way that they have the potential of becoming these Night Gangers. Anyone have an answer on that matter? Should I be worried about that?"
The All-Father and the Wolf shared a look before the All-Father said, "You don't have to worry too deeply about that. The worst of these mutations and rituals are far, far away from here, deep underground. They should not affect the population even if they were to travel into that area. This is generational mutational abuse and corruption, not instantaneous. Though I understand why you may be worried about that. There's a reason there are always stories about Rune Priests who delve too deep into the secrets of the runes. I imagine you've probably seen some horrid things out there in the universe. Am I correct in that assessment?"
I nodded, saying, "The Exterminatus of Taxal showed me some things I would rather not recall, but yes, there are some horrid things out there. Horrible things that tell me that if these creatures do exist, they can do some horrible things to my people if they are down here and they are a problem."
"A problem easily solved if you let me out, and I will rally my wolves and bring these creatures as low as they can ever be, giving you that freedom you need to maintain the veneer of civilization up on the surface until the day everything goes wrong."
I shook my head, "I understand where you're going with this, but we are not letting you out without a contract, one that I am happy with, one that will bind your will to mine."
"Impossible! You lack the ability and will to do such a thing!" The wolf howled, turning up its nose to me as it said, "Just open this cage and let me hunt. Let me kill these creatures, and I will do it gladly. Let me be FREE."
I shook my head, thinking, "I am quite fond of letting people be free, but you are a menace to the society that I need to make sure is controlled to some extent." Turning to the All-Father, I said, "Any ideas on how to make sure this works?"
The All-Father sighed before saying, "Summon as much of my magic as possible. Make it submit with the power of that magic of this world and bind it to you. That is the only way it'll work, if it'll work at all. Though I would be wary of using such things; binding a wolf spirit to you could do unknown things to yourself."
I waved it away, saying, "A problem I'll deal with later."
Sighing, I said, "Here's the deal. You will hunt these creatures beneath the earth, and I will keep people out of the cities that are still under infestation. When you find one that's clear enough that we can take and prevent these creatures from coming again, you will tell me, and I will take that city and turn it into something worth using for Fenris.
"Oh, how very authoritative, dictating a deal now, are we?"
"Yes, I'm dictating the deal. I am the King of Fenris. I am the Wolf King. I don't know what led to your creation for sure. I don't know if you're all living or just a warp entity pretending to be of the living. But you will bow to me as your king and swear your allegiance to me, or you're going to stay in this trap for the rest of time."
"You dare demand a god to prostrate itself before a mortal!," it seemed to summon some sort of dark energy, making its eyes glow purple.
"I dare tell a parasite that it can either be useful and have some freedoms, or be locked away and forgotten till it eventually dies a forgotten existence!," I retorted, channeling as much energy from Fenris as I could. I felt the room starting to freeze a bit as my eyes glowed blue in return.
The wolf stared me down for a bit before finally bowing both its heads and saying, "I, Morkai, God of Death and old King of the Wolves, pledge my allegiance to Tanya Russ, King of Fenris and the new King of the Wolves. By my words, a bond is made. I will not betray you."
"You better not, because I will hunt you down and kill you no matter what if you do," I said, shaking my head, turning, and heading west. "Now let's find the darn door for you. You have a job to do, Guardian of the Gates of Death."
Writers note: well there we go, we found out what beneath.. And Tanya made it take a knee. Because wolves that don;t serve her rule don;t last long. We also have sqout building home and few other interesting to take part look over. What will this all mean? Only time will tell.
Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
Edited by: L, drkshodow
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Chapter 53, A Chat with Adelheid
Chapter 53, A Chat with Adelheid
M30.884
Tanya Russ
Svellgard
Well, Svellgard did not resemble the reports I had of it a long time ago. The Mechanicum under Adelheid had been very busy building up massive factory complexes and living quarters across the moon.
The past reports indicated that there had been no population, and the moon, though having a slightly breathable atmosphere, was barely worth paying any attention to. Things have changed, with factories dotting the planet, habitation blocks looking like some sort of dystopian cyberpunk nightmare of mega-block cities, as well as other developments as they grew across the moon.
As I came in from Fenris, I saw the lights of the Forge World glowing brighter than ever. I wondered what the people of the planet below thought. After all, this was the moon of Frostheim, a rather backward place compared to Fenris at this point. Fenris and Frostheim at one point in time, one could say that they were very similar planets. I would say no, not anymore. Fenris, well Fenris had proper cities, infrastructure and amenities; technology was progressing and building itself up.
Frostheim, well, it existed. Roughly about a billion people on the planet, slowly growing, but well, there was no land on the planet. It was an ice world in every sense of the word. All water beneath the ice, maybe one or two islands poking through here or there, but they did not get their food from any grown sources, at least not from normal plant life, or maybe some specialty plants that I had not been informed about. It was always a possibility, but for most reports, the people of Frostheim tended to be nomadic hunters, hunting and fishing the megafauna that crossed above and below the snowy plains.
What were these animals eating? From what I understood, they would break through the ice and eat fish, so these large animals were most likely omnivores or, at the very worst, predators themselves. So, again, another Death World for me to develop into something useful to the Fenris system.
Anyways, because they were nomadic, they had an almost low level of technology. The local government was nonexistent, as the tribal leaders were squabbling every now and then. The level of education was minimal to say the least, with little in the way of usable natural resources, just a little enough food for them to survive. But things would change with Fenris now having quite a few diplomatic actions across the galaxy. If we were to set up a spaceport on Frostheim, I'm sure we could sell food to the locals and start the process of urbanization.
Build a city, educate the populace, develop some technology; sooner or later, it would catch up with Fenris. It might take a bit longer simply because it was even further back in time compared to Fenris in terms of technological level. Beyond that, reports indicated that the people of Frostheim actually liked what was going on in the system. I mean, they were rather separate from everyone, but apparently, they weren't too mad with how things were developing, which was good. Given enough time, I'm sure we can find a way to integrate them, maybe set up a Space Marine recruitment area on this planet, like I was planning to do with Midgardia, build another great company from the stock here so that we would have another training area, a thought for later.
It was really the only use for the population, well the only way I could think of for the population. That's why I was on Svellgard, to speak with Miss Adelheid about an interesting project that she wanted to propose to me.
The population of this Forge World came from four sources, from what I could tell, soon to be five, but it was four at the moment: members of the Mechanicum from Mars and other Mechanicum planets who were interested in the idea of building up this planet and being as close to a Primarch as possible.
Individuals of science and engineering inclination who had been interested in the technologies of the past from my own planet of Fenris. People who had been brought from Frostheim to work as employees on various projects across the planet in order to fill the gap in labor.
And prisoners who had been turned into mechanical monstrosities from across the Galaxy, some including Fenrisians themselves. I had only allowed the prisoners sentenced with the death penalty be taken. If a person was going to die, well, might as well make him a little bit useful for the Mechanicum.
Of course, the fifth would be people from Midgardia who would be joining as laborers alongside the people of Frostheim. Unfortunately there were going to be people from those groups who will end up joining the ranks of the walking cybernetic monstrosities for one reason or another, that I was not a big fan of.
But that being said, this Forge World was a very valued resource at this point. Most of the armor made for the Fenrisian Guard came from here. The Russ tanks for both the Guard and the Valkyrie came from here. Hell, a good portion of the armor made for the officers in my Legion came from here, including actual wearable armor because, well, Miss Adelheid had a thing for making armor as works of art when it came to my Valkyries' armor. Noted, and I would say some of it was rather artful, but half of the stuff ended up being way too personalized. I had thought about sending an order to stop her from doing that since personalized armor meant you couldn't change out pieces when it got damaged, but the stuff, when it got damaged, usually meant the Valkyrie had died, and well, it was better just to bury her in her armor or send that armor off to be forged again if she had said so in her will.
It was actually a thing that had happened not too long ago when speaking to my Valkyrie, Maria Hæfnirdottir. According to her, several women had their daughters join the Valkyrie not too long ago. One of them had died before her daughter had officially joined the Valkyrie and had left a note to her fellow Valkyria about what she wanted done with her armor, which turned out to be having it reforged to her daughter's size. I imagine that would probably be a recurring thing that would go on in the family lines of Valkyrie.
An interesting realization that I had not really delved too deep into ever since I ordered the experimentation with the Valkyrie DNA strain harvested from Lord Wolfen. Was that since each Valkyrie had a more durable and robust body paired with a longer lifespan, it also meant that they had a better chance of serving alongside their children when they took the process to become a Valkyrie in a few cases since, the cultural identity of a Fenrisian was that of a warrior and would go into combat even if they had a family.
That was something to keep an eye on, see how that progressed and what became of that, but it was not important for my current conversation as I walked down the passageway that would take me to the meeting room where I was to meet Miss Adelheid. We were to discuss something rather interesting, or at least that's what she said. I don't know what we will be discussing, but I guess I'd find out soon enough. Probably would not be wise to bring up the whole two-headed wolf issue under Fenris. I was going to keep that a little close to my chest for now, maybe inform the Emperor when I was sure I had the situation under control. Maybe inform a few trusted individuals that I could know would make sure the legion didn't get in trouble with them. Lord Wolfen, a prime example of someone I could trust with this information, I believed, since they had shown themselves to be rather reliable and good at keeping secrets.
Looking to my side, I noticed one of the many ships that came in, bringing resources to Svellgard, it didn't have much in the way of natural resources, but that didn't stop them from getting the necessary resources needed, due to the location of Fenris system had become sort of a trade capital on the way to Terra, many planets had a sort of allegiance to me for freeing them from one alien menace or another through here, and resources collected here were then built into things. I should most likely try to formalize those trade agreements when I get the chance, currently protection via the Wolves of Fenris for trade resources was a much better deal than we saved you once a while back. Another reason why I think the Mechanicum were all in on having a planet in my system. Did they know that it would come to this? I doubt it, but their machine spirits, which are probably very controlled AI from what I was getting, I'd say they probably had some notion that this was a possibility and were one of the reasons they were willing to let this little moon be settled as a new Mechanicum Forge World. That and well, be my main supplier. They probably thought they'd have a little bit more influence on me by agreeing to it.
I imagine they weren't happy that I had let the Squats take up residence on Fenris in the old cities. The Squats probably would end up filling up some of the holes that they weren't filling with their production as time went on, which meant a competitor, and competitors are not things people typically enjoy.
But it was good for free markets, and what was good for the free market was a good thing in my mind. Not to mention the dogma I saw some of their religious class of Mars needed to be tempered by a population that didn't have such religious zeal for the machine spirits. Yes, the Squats had this interesting ancestor worship thing going on, but comparatively, that was a minor thing. Could say that it wasn't really religion and more of just nationalistic zeal, believing in their forefathers' greatness, and they can be as great as them, which could be useful in the right situations.
My thoughts stopped as a door was opened, allowing me to see Miss Adelheid sitting at the end of a table. Well, sitting is an odd word for it. I couldn't tell.
"Greetings, my Primarch," she said, giving a bow before straightening herself and saying, "Welcome to Svellgard."
"Thank you, Miss Adelheid," I said, stepping into the room, pulling off my wolf helm, and placing it on the table. I smiled as I continued, "I heard you wanted to speak to me, so I came as fast as I could. Just finished up with a campaign into the cavern cities underneath Fenris."
"Oh, yes, the Squats. I've heard you've been trying to build more relations with them recently. Rather impressive work, I would say, for beings that don't really understand the things they mess with."
"I wouldn't say that," I replied, before adding, "They seem to have a good idea of what they're messing with now, at least."
"Hmm, perhaps, although I worry that they will go too far too fast with their technology. They have not learned the lessons of Old Night like we did. Our technological understanding is solid as we've recovered much of it over the last millennia. There's a difference between being destroyed and rebuilding using whatever they want, however they want, not caring for the consequences that may come from it."
I frowned before saying, "A little bit of radical technology is never a wrong thing, as long as it is maintained and understood that it won't cause too much harm to the general population. If you're that worried about them, maybe you should see about trying to improve relations with them, see if you can come to some agreements on a few things. I'm sure a Squat-Mechanicum trade and technological alliance would be better for the Imperium than one where they compete against each other for a spot as a top producer."
"Hmm, perhaps I should at least do that. I have been watching your efforts to improve the Imperium from my seat here, and I noticed that you do tend to, but that is not why I'm here today to discuss."
"Oh yes, what are we here to discuss?" I said, pulling out a chair that had been built for Primarch size and obviously placed here for my arrival, as it didn't quite fit the table. I could make the assumption that it didn't normally sit here.
"Well, I'm thinking about the recent salvage you brought in, specifically those Knights that you found in Rangdan Space."
"I did have those sent back here for study, didn't I? Anything usable from them? I thought they were pretty busted up."
"Oh, there were some very useful things from them. The original owners are dead, of course, so we don't know exactly how they work, but one of them, the bigger one, had an internal manifest of how to reconstruct every single one of them. My guess is that the owners were more mercenary, at least that's what your reports implied, so they didn't have a stable Knight world to return to, to rebuild. Instead, they would use whatever allies they found to help rebuild their things. This is good for many reasons."
I leaned forward at that, as I could see exactly why that was good. "You can build your own Knights," I said with some assumption, which got a nod of agreement.
"Correct. The problem is we need those of noble class to be able to wield such weapons, and well, I'm not really sure what to do on that matter. We don't really have a Knight world to drop on a noble class."
"You have an idea, don't you?" I said, folding my arms, wanting to hear what her plan was.
"Oh my, Tanya, this is why I like you. You can come to the right conclusions. Yes, I have an idea, but I would need your sign off to implement it, as it would require us to use a planet that is not under my authority."
"I'm willing to listen, and having Knights to backup my men when they go into combat sounds like a good plan. Tell me, what exactly do you have in mind?"
"There's always Freeblade Knights from these Knight worlds—Knights who have been passed up because they do not have the equipment to build their own Knights. Others left out of wanderlust or due to the disbanding or destruction of their House. And well, some are just exiles and outcasts kicked out from their Households due to old grudges and politics and have become little more than wandering mercenaries. As you are aware, Knights are a valuable resource that's difficult to construct and hard to maintain. Most importantly, they are also a key structure of society in their worlds. And we have a world just below us that has no real structure."
I leaned back before saying, "Your plan is to bring in these Freeblade Knights, let them take these new Knights that you're going to build for them, and impose a structure on the planet below."
"Something like that. It's a little bit more nuanced than that. I wouldn't let them do anything they wanted. I would let you impose a structure on them that they would integrate into the society below."
"Hmm," I leaned back, thinking about this matter. I was planning to try and urbanize the planet below to some extent to help with its technological level. Having Knights directly in my system to call upon and send to problems would be useful, but we would need to make sure that whatever Knights we gathered here didn't end up imposing too much change on the culture. There needed to be integration and not cultural conversion. Hmm.
"How many Knights can be created from what I scavenged from that battlefield?"
Adelheid turned her head before saying, "14 in total. The 14th is a bit temperamental. I believe we can build more in the future, but it will take time."
I nodded before saying, "Find me six Freeblade Knights. They can then gather the human resources from the planet below to fill out the rest. They need to learn to integrate, to not be rulers. The best way to do that is to make sure that they have a connection to the people right off the top, even if it's just training people to use the equipment."
Adelheid nodded before saying, "Okay then, that could be accomplished."
"All right, is that all you called me here for?" I said, starting to get up, before she shook her head, now saying, "Oh no, no, that's not the only reason I called you here. It's time for another refitting. I've heard your armor has been getting a lot tighter on your frame from your Valkyries, so we need to readjust it to better fit you. That and I've got some new toys and equipment to add to your offensive capabilities."
I shivered a bit at the thought of her taking new measurements, but I swallowed that feeling before nodding my head, saying, "All right, it has to be done, and this new equipment better be good."
Adelheid made a binary noise of some kind before saying, "Oh, this will be wonderful, trust me. Your combat capabilities will increase tenfold, and you'll be ready for the fight that's to come on your next campaign. What was it called, Ark Meech?"
"Ark Reach, that's what I've heard it's called," I said with a nod, urging Adelheid to stand up from her seating position.
She said, "Then let us get to work. Need to make sure you're good and ready, plus make sure to have some of the Valkyrie come by. I have new equipment for them as well."
"Will do," I said with a smile, standing up as she slowly passed me, heading to a door that led to a different hallway. I quickly fell in beside her before asking, "So how is the development of Svellgard going?"
"Oh, it goes very well—premium armor production, both personal and mechanized. Unfortunately, the armor I can produce here is only for your Fenrisian guards and Valkyrie. The Mechanicum is a bit hesitant about allowing me to produce our own power armor for your Legion here in mass production, but I think as we more firmly establish ourselves as a known and safe production planet, that'll change. The Mechanicum is warming to you after all, with all the years of good work you've done for them."
"Are they?" I said with a raised eyebrow before asking, "I was under the impression they were having issues with me, too much of a barbarian."
Miss Adeline laughed before saying, "Yes, they did have some issues with you, but you've proven yourself to be more mechanically minded and thoughtful than most of the Primarchs. Last time I was on Mars, which was years ago for a conference, they talked about you in the same breath as Perturabo and the leader of the Iron Fists, so I assume they have come to respect you to some capacity."
"Oh, that's good to know," I said with a smile as Miss Adelheid continued, "Plus, they feel that my planet is a rather good place to ship off the more rash tech-priests amongst them. Just last decade, my little cousin was shipped off to this world because she was a bit too bold for some of the older tech-priests, and well, well we don't like to talk about what she was being too bold with, I'm afraid. But my point is a lot of young and inquisitive minds are being sent to this world that probably would have been languishing in someone's lab if you weren't providing a rather useful release valve, send their problem people here so that I can keep an eye on them, and if something goes wrong, well, their resources are limited."
"Hmm, 'something going wrong?'" I asked as we walked down the hallway.
"Oh, nothing yet. I'm keeping a good eye on the ones they sent here, and for the most part, they're quite good at the work they are assigned, helping with the personal armor construction we do here. But, wow, some of them are quite bold, radical even. Do you remember that Frost Cannon version of the Tanya Russ tank that came from one of the new recruits to the planet?"
I nodded my head; that did explain some things. I had only seen them produced here, so it made some sense, but I had assumed the Russ tank was slow to get up in production, which is why there weren't many variants yet. But if they were being particular on other worlds about what variants they made, that might explain it.
"Plus, they had to keep some sort of standardization between the planets; otherwise, there would be logistical issues. I really must thank you for giving me the chance to run this world, My Primarch. Back when I was just a simple Mechanicum tech-priest, I was rather on the low end of power, my ideas were scoffed at. But ever since having control of this world, I've proven that I was not foolhardy in my ideas."
I smiled and said, "I reward those who work well for me; it's that simple, Miss Adelheid. You've done wonders for my armor, and you've shown yourself to have a good mentality. I'd be a fool not to reward you for your work."
"My ego didn't need even more inflation," she said with an almost mechanical giggle.
"Oh, I almost forgot to mention, there is a chance we may get access to Titan construction information within the next few years as a reward for our efforts in the Tanya Russ constructions and other gear."
"Really now, that could be useful," I said. Having direct control of a Titan legion could be very useful for a campaign down the future, I thought, though I doubt we would get access to it before my soon-to-be next campaign. I'd have to keep an eye on that project.
"Yes, still in negotiations, but when it's completed, we will be able to have a Titan construction and maintenance facility here. I doubt we will be allowed to build many, but even one can turn the course of a battle. Just thought you'd like to know, so that you can keep that information filed away in your head for later."
"Filed that in my head," I said in agreement. "Thank you, Miss Adelheid," I said as we approached the dreaded room that would help her take my armor off for readjusting.
Tanya Russ
Fenris
Dealing with the normalcy of running a planet is strange. Every day I was on Fenris, I dealt with one official or another, making sure things were running well. From the representatives of the Iron Island wanting to export more of their tech to the mainland.
To the Iron Priest wanting to build their competing forges again, risking damaging the environment a little too much. Though some of them were a bit easier to deal with. Thank goodness Fenris was so geothermically active; it was easy to harness the powers of the planet and put them to work for our own needs. Bringing in nuclear material to run power plants and safe areas was also an option that was engaged in quite a bit.
At some point, I should probably have just gotten used to how things were. But it was still strange to be the top dog of Fenris, even with me trying to delegate some of these jobs onto other people down the chain.
I would not say I was pushing for a constitutional monarchy, but I was pushing for people in the local region to handle their own local issues, as long as it didn't affect their neighbors or the environment too greatly.
Russ was probably the most prosperous city it's ever been in the history of its existence. Due to the rapid integration of technologies from off-world and the exponentially growing potential for life on the planet, trade was flowing from one end of the world to the other. Even the sea peoples, the most nomadic of groups in the population, were doing extremely well. Their old boats were being replaced by larger metal warships that could give a good fight to the creatures of the oceans, allowing them a little more time to make it to land before their ships burnt or melted underneath them during the time of fire.
As I walked around the city that bore the name of Russ, I could only smile at the development. It was not modern Japan, not yet, but it was getting there, let's say definitely a better version of industrial Europe. Not as many smokestacks in the air, not as much dirt in the ground, better maintained. All in all, my control of this world had brought long-lasting benefits and its own little empire when you thought about it. Things were not just generous after all.
As for the other developments in the system, well, there was a star fortress now in orbit around Fenris, far in orbit, with another one under construction. It was a precaution, a reminder that the Rangdan had been an issue. But one of them was being constructed to defend Fenris in case the line broke. Thankfully, the first was never put to use, but I wasn't going to halt the construction. I had been given funding by the Imperium to defend my sector, and I was going to use it. Thankfully, my efforts in securing the region around Fenris had proven useful in that regard, allies with imperium were useful after all.
Which made me somewhat glad that I had made the deal with Morkai. Yes, I was dealing with some sort of two-headed wolf creature that might be somewhat empowered by the Warp and the planet's humanity, but we had made a deal. It had sworn an oath, and I believed I could kill it if it ever decided to break that oath.
That was a concern, though it went beyond the creature itself. My understanding of the gods of this world was minimal. Religion was basically non-existent. There was a personal faith I found, yes. The Rune Priests, the Wolf Priests, the Iron Priests, they all existed. But they were all just worshiping elements of society, not a god per se.
The All-Father, the entity that had protected the population of Fenris for as long as it had, from what I could tell, was some sort of Eldar/Human construct empowered by the Warp. It was a mix of technologies and magic forming an entity that wished good for the people of the planet.
This was why the Emperor had no concern with him, I think. No, he wasn't paying too close attention to the faith of the people here. Since I noticed several people referring to the Emperor as the All-Father, I wondered if that might have some long-lasting effect.
That was why I was out wandering the city today, instead of being in my residence at Russ Castle or up in my apartment in the Fang.
What long-lasting effects were people like me and the Emperor having on the general population? Beyond just improving their standard of living, what were they believing about us? Those were the thoughts that were now percolating in my mind after meeting the two-headed 'God of the Dead' underneath the mountains of Fenris.
If this creature, like I believed, had once been something normal before people started to believe it was the Guardian of the Dead, what effect would that have if someone started to believe something we didn't believe about ourselves?
Perhaps I was being paranoid, but I was concerned. I thought that perhaps I should at least learn more about what was going on with my people while I had the time and was here on Fenris.
One of the first places I visited today was that giant statue of me commemorating my rise to power or arrival in the city of Russ, back when it had just been a small castle.
The damn thing was too tall in my opinion. Not to mention, whoever was in charge of it had apparently never actually seen me and had done a little bit too artistic rendition of what they thought I looked like. I tried not to look too closely at the details, or my face would turn red with embarrassment.
Some might say I should have had it torn down the moment I realized it existed, but the fact of the matter was, I didn't want to insult the people. They thought I was doing good, and they were trying to commemorate it, showing that they were thankful for my arrival here on Fenris. What kind of asshole would I be if I just tore it down because I didn't like how it looked?
No, I let it stay up and instead commissioned some artists to make portraits of me to hang up in the castle. So at least the next time they tried to build something, they would have something better to use.
I could have just had some pictures taken, of course, but the act of commissioning art served to better spend money than simply taking a picture. Plus, a little bit of artistic rendition is not bad when it's pointed in the right direction.
But back to the point, I was watching the people around the statues, seeing what they were doing, and noticing that there was a large number of flowers near the front of the statue. Curiously, I watched as a young couple approached the statue and dropped some flowers there, arranging them with the rest before wandering off.
Was it some sort of ritual? What was this, I wondered, before deciding to find out by getting closer.
Being 10 ft tall, I kind of stuck out like a sore thumb. Thankfully, I had decided to wear a very heavy cloak, so I could pass for one of my Marines, just a particularly tall one. With a little bit of magic to change my appearance, I was able to make it so no one would be able to know who I was as I approached.
A young woman in her mid-20s, I guessed, was approaching and placing a flower among the rest. I came to a stop next to her and said, "Pretty neat statue," doing my best to not sound like myself.
The woman nodded her head, still looking at the flowers, and said, "The Wolf King statue is beautiful. Personally, I think the one for my hometown is better, but well, this one has better luck."
I raised an eyebrow before asking, "Luck?" She finally looked in my direction, not seeing me but seeing my size, and said, "Oh, are you perhaps from one of the First to leave Fenris?"
"Yes," I said, technically true.
She nodded before saying, "It's been noted that those who leave offerings here at the statue have a better chance of conceiving a child. Some say it's just luck, others say maybe it's a blessing of the All-Father, but the fact of the matter is, you're more likely to have a healthy and stable pregnancy if you leave an offering."
"Ah, huh... interesting," I said, looking at the statue. Concerned, though, I tilted my head to the left. I could see that there was a hospital at one corner of this square, so it was very well possible that this was just observing the effects of the population who actually were using the hospitals versus those who weren't. But was this possibly having some sort of effect from the Warp?
The question was simple: Was this a chicken and the egg scenario? Was the hospital being there, helping people conceive and have a happier pregnancy, influencing them to leave an offering at the statue as a natural thank you for my efforts in trying to build up the planet's infrastructure? Or was there something Warp-related going on, where people had been having such easy times thanks to my upbringing of the planet, that they were believing that leaving an offering at this area would give them a stable pregnancy?
The real question was, was it a bad thing?
If a small portion of people believed that leaving offerings at a statue of me would give them a stable pregnancy, and they indeed had a stable pregnancy, where was the harm here? Of course, if they went full Aztec or Old Norse and were sacrificing living creatures, that would be a problem. But they were just dropping flowers. I even noted a few gold coins, but that was about it.
Hmm, it did get me thinking about the nature of religion in this universe. Beings in the Warp had been acquiring power through worship, and Father made that clear through our arguments. Presumably, all creatures of the Warp did the same. And going by the fact that the two-headed wolf god of the underworld was a thing, it probably meant that whatever people believed in for a long time would become true. Yes, there's a possibility that it was a two-headed wolf that gained those powers over time. But the fact of the matter was, he probably had run out of food at some point and had been sustaining himself on Warp energy after a while.
Ah, it's confusing, I can see why the Emperor probably did not want to have religion in the Imperium. If people simply believe that a statue gives them a better chance of having a pregnancy come to term and it becomes true, then all it would take is some mistaken belief to create something monstrous.
Based on some rumors that I've been able to acquire over the years, that's probably what led to the destruction of the Eldar empire. Strong belief in something going rampant too fast and too far.
Then again, the Emperor did make it quite clear that people could have their individual faith. It's just he didn't want any organized religion.
Hmm, what was the difference? What was the thing that separated an organized religion from just personal faith? Having a clergy, I would assume.
Hmm, but was this a form of organized religion, just leaving trinkets here at the foot of a statue? I needed to have some sort of conversation with the Emperor, that's what I needed to do. I needed to really hammer out exactly what he meant by religion, otherwise people could come to a misunderstanding.
Personally, I see no reason why people shouldn't be allowed to have their little ceremonies up to a point. As long as it doesn't harm anyone, I don't really give a damn. And if they're harnessing the Warp for good, trading life and happiness, that's not really a bad thing in my mind.
Though I did wonder if I should be concerned about the association that statue was making, though. For instance, the two-headed wolf god was the guardian of the underworld and the dead, keeping them separated from each other. The implications were simple: it kept the darkness away and was darkness itself. The All-Father was an agent of good, helping to keep civilization's motors running for generations upon generations through the worst periods of human history. Again, a good outcome.
This statue, though, had connotations of a fertility goddess... in essence, it implied that I was a bit of a fertility goddess... I had to wonder if that was one of the reasons my bust had expanded a bit while we've been away from Fenris. I should look into when the statue was created and if it correlates.
That was a concern, but by that same token, if that was true, what else could that do to me... Ah, I should not delve into that thought process, really. Going down that road was insanity and paranoia. I could argue quite thoroughly that because people believe that the King of Russ should be a drunkard, a warrior, and a womanizer, it has affected my mindset and put me on the road I am today. But I know those were conscious decisions I made along the way to ensure that I fit in with the society I lived in.
Shaking my head, I turned away and started walking away from the statue, deep in thought, keeping up my cloak and using a little bit of magic to keep people from looking my way as I pondered deeply on matters of faith, religion, and the Warp.
Humanity's psychic potential apparently was vast and unknown. If people believe in something hard enough and long enough, it becomes real in this universe, perhaps.
Well, if that was true, why didn't the Emperor use that to our advantage? Why not spread some sort of religion that focused on the good aspects of the world instead of just burning it all down, as he tended to implement with his Imperial Truth...
Could the Imperial Truth be considered a religion? It was a thought, just a random one, but it was an interesting notion. Could you make a religion out of believing in nothing? Well, that's not exactly true. The Imperial Truth believed in the superiority of humanity, science, and logic, things I all agreed with... well, the last two I agreed with. I'm not really sure about the first one. The Eldar did have extremely long lives, so you can't exactly call them inferior. They worked pretty well in a fight and didn't undergo biological changes to their genome. I'm sure everyone was slightly better at one thing or another, at least all the xenos.
Hmm, obviously the Imperial Truth was trying to cut back on the phenomena created by the Warp, but would it not simply do the same in time? Would the Warp not adapt?
Perks of being a little too much like a clock right now, not enough time studying. A good employee needs to actually investigate something like this, determine what the right action is, and propose a solution. Here I was, focusing on just getting laid, building up Fenris, and conquering the enemies of the Imperium so I could do the other two things more often.
I'm a poor employee by the standard I need to meet. I need to be better, do better, and think harder about what I am getting involved in. I need to find some way to learn more about the Warp than just what I have acquired so far. I need more intelligence, more operational understanding, and more research. How am I going to achieve that? That's a bit of an issue, though.
The only one who knows the most about it would probably be the Emperor, and he is quite set on his point of view on the matter. And he probably has the right opinion. But could he be overlooking something? Possibly. And it's always good to have backup plans. Submitting a backup plan is never a wrong thing in my mind.
I need to be careful when gathering this research. The Rune Priests knew the runes. I could contact them, but they wouldn't give me much.. The Eldar, of course, were a possible option. They would have information. Maybe with some support, I could force them to speak plainly about what the hell the Warp was. The Eldar did have thousands of years of experience with it, even if they had apparently screwed up its use. No, I should only use people I could trust, maybe a fellow Primarch.
Which siblings would actually know the most about the Warp? Well, off the top of my head, I knew Vulcan was out. He was a down-to-earth big brother, as they come.
Perturabo was also not going to be helpful here. Though he had some concerns about the Warp, specifically the Maelstrom in the center of the galaxy, he was unlikely to have any knowledge of the inner workings of how that system functioned. Perhaps he could be used to contact other resources.
Horus, when he ran the wars, didn't really strike me as someone who had much knowledge of the Warp. Khan enjoyed the thrill of the hunt but didn't really do much in the way of spiritualism, I believed. But maybe my contact with him is too limited. He might have some thoughts. Perhaps I should speak with him again next time we work together. Lion was just anti-Warp from what I had seen, so they were unlikely to have much knowledge of how it functions or why it functions. Unfortunate, but I would work with what I had.
Mortarion was probably the best bet then. He, being the most affected by the Warp, was who I needed to speak to, at least of the ones I knew. Perhaps the agents I'd be dealing with in the current conflict I was being called up for would have something, but that was unlikely.
Nobunaga was also on the list of potentials, but he was unlikely to have any information as well. At least nothing that wasn't influenced by the popular culture of a long-dead civilization.
I could also speak to the Squats. From what I understood, there were parts of their leadership that were particularly adept at Warp control. I could see if I could find out more, although the conflicts currently going on with the Squats were not helpful.
The Isolationist faction that was against joining the Imperium and the pro-Imperium faction were in a state of constant tit-for-tat war. Elements of the Space Marines had been called in at one point or another because they took it too far. Thankfully, the ones further into the Maelstrom weren't exactly becoming pirates. But it was an issue that was forcing portions of the Marines to serve against them and was an inspiration for some of the heavier armor making its way to the front just because of the tunnel fighting.
Definitely something I would need to look into. Perhaps there should be some sort of council to actually hammer out what to do with Warp powers and religion since they seemed interlinked at a level that was likely to be an issue going forward for a long time.
Another thing I should probably investigate. Shaking my head, I would need to make more efforts to ensure my career is well-rounded. Being pigeonholed into the conqueror role might be good for peacefully bringing people into the Empire, but I would need plenty of options after the conquest is done. After all, even though I would probably prefer a rather lazy and easy life, there are things I would want to do once the war is over.
Simplifying the Mage system we currently have, figuring out what is potentially useful to the entities of the Warp and damaging to the people of this realm, are all important goals that need to be accomplished. That is currently being left by the wayside in the mad sprint to collect the Primarchs and wage war in general.
At least they're almost all collected, I thought. There could only be maybe four or five more that are unaccounted for, and that couldn't last much longer. I'm sure they would turn up soon enough.
Who knows, maybe one would turn up on this new campaign my men are preparing for, leaving later this month. The enemy that the 17th Legion is facing is apparently tough and hard to defeat, so they need as many troops as they can get. It is unlikely that we will run into one of the Emperor's lost sons on this particular planet, but who knows? Stranger things have happened, I assume.
Shaking my head, I moved out of the gate walls and looked out over the snow-covered landscape, gazing across what used to be the Kingdom of Russ.
The city is high-tech, a mismatch of nuclear and industrial age, but the wilderness around Russ hasn't changed much. It's very similar to how it was 60 years ago when I first came down from the mountains: snow-covered, with heavy trees bearing ancient markings on their bark. Oh, there are differences—a better road system, for one. In fact, a much better road system. Looking out across the terrain, I'm not sure exactly what materials they used, but it's nice to see that there are vehicles moving back and forth, and not just people walking around with horses and wagons.
This main road leads to half a dozen settlements and half a dozen different cities. After that, it becomes a main artery of trade that contributes to the ever-growing population of Fenris, creating a continuously improving scenario that allows the standard of life to rise higher and higher. And that is a cheerful thought. I look out across the road, knowing that what I am doing is good for these people. It doesn't matter what others think. Out there in the galaxy, people in Fenris thought I was helping them, and I know I am helping them get better. So let the people who don't know what they're talking about call me a barbarian in the propaganda. It helps cause planets to surrender quickly. And a few people say that what I did up north was a genocide. But all I did was remove a potential threat from the human population across the galaxy.
I know what I did was right. That's all that matters in the long term. So, whatever is to come with this religion and Warp situation, I know that with logic and determination, I will come up with the right answer. Perhaps it aligns with what the Emperor is working on, perhaps not. The point is that I will do the necessary research to determine it for myself. That's all that matters in the long run—doing my own research and coming to a conclusion that is workable for the Emperor and myself.
Tanya Russ
Playing civilization builder is a rather fun game. I played Civ-like games quite a bit in my last life, though I had preferred games like Victoria 2 and Call of Duty. There was nothing wrong with good old turn-based strategy, and in some aspects, it was a good way to look at how you developed a system when you have a lifespan that renders years minimal problems.
I could not micromanage everything. I could set the general direction, and then I would set out on an adventure to either do something for the people of Fenris or do something for the Imperium, usually both at the same time—bringing in trade and other supply routes through our system to the Imperial core worlds, as well as other developing systems. In a way, when I left for an adventure, that was my clicking of the next turn, setting things in their own direction while I went and dealt with other situations, and like any Civ game, there's always one more turn.
It was time to set out on my next campaign to Ark Reach space and see what awaited me and what sibling was having issues with.
What I would find there, who knows, but I knew what I would find when I got back.
Midgardia would already be into whatever industrial revolution the Mechanicum was helping them create.
Svellgard and Frostheim would be developing a new relationship thanks to the importation of a few Freeblade Knights to help the civilization of that nomadic world sprout harder and produce a new resource to be used for our future campaigns after this one.
The Valkyrie units left behind on Fenris would be undergoing a full revamp and rework since their initial goals as a logistics preservation crew were becoming secondary to being a secondary shock force to send in areas that my Marines were not available for.
The Valkyrie were becoming closer to solar auxiliary forces from Terra space, just a slightly more upgraded guard force to other planets of the Imperium. So they needed to have a full working system as well as doctrines. I would probably give them some of the more acceptable doctrines from the Space Marines, though they would still follow doctrines closer to the Guard, I would imagine in most cases. Only time would tell how that situation would develop, but we would need to work out a fully working command and control.
Most likely, Yrsa, my personal bodyguard and the best coffee maker in the Valkyrie, would end up being in command.
Yes, that may be a little bit of me trying to protect the best coffee maker in the entire legion, but she showed herself as a very competent adjutant, and I was not about to turn down a competent aide. It served me well in my last life.
Beyond that, the Squat city was fully stockpiled and starting to support the local communities. There was still ongoing work down there to determine exactly what it had once been. A research lab was the closest agreement between the Iron Priests and the Squats. However, much of the data had been lost. Apparently, many of the data cores had been damaged over time. It was unfortunate. I had hoped we would come across one of those Standard Template Constructs . The last one had served me well, but unfortunately, we had no luck in the research we had conducted.
I had led a few expeditions to other cities, exterminating as many of the abominations down there as I could, simply to keep the population in check. The underground abominations were not as human as I had once thought. Genetic mutations, as well as general monstrosities, had become prevalent.
Morkai had contacted me once and clarified that it had cleared out the enemy cities near the Squats' new home, though it had told me specifically one particular city further north of the Squats' new home and closer to my own fortress The Fang should be avoided in the future. It wasn't very clear, but the implication I got was that something worse was about that place than just the Night Gangers. I had a suspicion that the site might be a source of corruption that I'll need to clean out when I can gather enough forces for it. Next time I visit, I'll have to burn it out, making sure whatever is down there gets cleaned this time. So, I'll probably need to be careful and only bring forces I trust that could keep a secret—the First Great Company—so that I knew that whatever was down there would fail in its activities and would not spread its mysteries to the surface.
I need to keep a close watch on the situation of faith, religion, and how it empowers the Warp, coming to a closer understanding and also being prepared to deal with what could possibly be the outcomes of misuse of those abilities. But that is for another time. Today, I was looking out from my ship, Hrafnkel, on Fenris and its local cluster, just barely able to see the moon in the distance—the Wolf Moon, Valdrmani. It was the last celestial body floating around in my system that had not been used in one way or another. That's because I wasn't really sure what to do with it. Sure, another reason was it had a certain wolf-like appearance that was vital for the culture of the planet, so I didn't want to damage that. But what could you do with the dark side of the Moon, the side that wasn't viewed? I wasn't sure.
I had considered possibly building some sort of naval outpost there. After all, it didn't really have an atmosphere nor any minerals that noticeably were of use to the people of my planet. I wasn't exactly interested in selling it to the Mechanicum like I'd done it with Svellgard. If I were being more logical, I probably would sell it, but I had grown accustomed to the people of Fenris and their culture. I had a bit of an attachment to them and wasn't about to sell out their culture for mineral gain. Now, if you look at that and say that way, it doesn't mean I have no care for the culture of the nomads. The answer to that is quite clearly yes. They were not contributing to civilization; they were just subsidiaries of Fenris. Similar population, similar conditions, but not Fenrisians. That could be a problem in the future, but that's why I was trying to enlighten them and bring them up into the culture of other planets.
That was a slight concern I wondered about sometimes. Everything I was bringing into Fenris would eventually merge into something, hopefully something good. But there was also the possibility that these imperfections that I was creating would eventually go against each other—a sort of nationalism amongst each planet that didn't like being part of a federation. It was always a concern to be worried about. Hopefully, I will be able to navigate that path without causing too much trouble, though...
Well, the fact I was taking efforts to make sure that Fenris would be the strongest of the factions in the Fenris systems would see a lot of work done to make sure everything worked out well.
Those with the biggest hammer can settle issues, and Fenris would have the biggest hammer when upgrades to the system were over. Already, two Star forts, one finished, the other estimated to be completed in the next decade. These forts would prevent anything major from getting to Fenris proper without coming under its guns. They would be in orbit, allowing them to fire on anything trying to go to each other, as well as anything trying to get at Fenris. They would be technically part of the defense fleet of Fenris, which meant they could work with and protect the fleets.
Midgardia and Frostheim were not being forgotten in this effort. They would be getting defense stations and forward observation posts in case something did break into space. These would protect them as best I could, but most likely rely on the Fenris defense fleets for most of their defenses. And, more importantly than anything else, Fenris could finally begin construction of the ring.
An orbital ring surrounding Fenris was something I was quite keen on acquiring. The population of Fenris would always be limited, not by food or technology; the population of interest would be limited by the conditions of Fenris itself. There was not much land; the waters that were calm most of the year turned to boiling death traps the other part of the year, so anything you built out there was likely to be brought down during that boiling. Not to mention tectonic shifts could literally subvert islands back down underwater during that period. So, anything you built, such as a mining rig out there, could literally be pulled under the surface at a whim every Fenrisian year. There just wasn't enough space
I made a point of utilizing all my funding wherever possible, including the current plans that were under construction for an orbital ring around Fenris. The ring, hopefully, would accomplish this, giving more places for people to live, as well as an orbital work area that could be used to build ships. Granted, it probably would take 80 to 100 years for it to be finished at the fastest, but the technology existed, and it would help stabilize the population growth, in my mind, permanently. Not to mention, once you had one orbital ring, you had the people responsible for it living on your planet and who knew how to do it. There were obviously other ways you could use that knowledge.
The Mechanicum was interested in the project because they wanted the ability to build ships, and having a fortress out there that could accomplish that would be useful. I was interested in the project because it would provide a stable place for the population of Fenris to live year-round and potentially double or even triple our numbers. The ring would also serve as a prime example to show off to my siblings about building up their homeworld.
Perturabo was all in favor of it. In fact, he had sent over some designs for the orbital ring, and the Mechanicum had approved of them. So, it was currently in the final stages of acquiring the construction materials, which was proving a bit more problematic since we couldn't exactly get the materials from Fenris. Fenris wasn't built up enough, of course. We needed to have them shipped in.
Midgardia could use an orbital ring; the toxic fumes weren't exactly helpful for transporting goods up and down from the planet. If one were to build an orbital ring with space elevators, you could transfer resources quite easily and not have ships risk going through the toxic environment.
Frostheim didn't need an orbital ring, but if you had the technology and the resources coming in to do it, it was worth investigating. You know, maybe it would be a ring around the Moon instead—industrial constructions and all that. Having the ability to build my own shipyards would be useful, especially if anything ever cut us off from the main resources of the Imperium. Better to have a backup plan for that situation than to assume it never happens.
The Fenris system did not have many options for expansion, so I was looking at the most likely option that could guarantee a slowly growing rate of population: megastructures. I'd seen more than enough going through the galaxy here or there, ancient relics as well as newer ones. So, building large shipyards and rings around my home worlds was a way to cement Fenris as one of the minor sector capitals that were meant to protect Terra. As well as providing options if you got skilled people who knew how to build megastructures in your system; they're going to look at ways to use that knowledge. Perhaps the leadership I was with would figure out how to build orbital cities that would be rather useful on planets that were frankly deathworld category. Hopefully, they were able to come up with the technology to do it. It would take time though. I understood; again, this was a serious game at this point. It's time to click the end turn button and let the people do what they need to do at your command. I needed to get moving; the fleet for Ark Reach had been assembled, and it was time to go forward and see what my relatives have gotten themselves involved in across the Ark Reach sector.
The last messages I had received indicated that the locals were being extremely stubborn. The population of this sector had decided they would not align with the Imperium and were, in fact, trying to raise forces from nearby trade worlds to fight the Imperium. This was concerning. If Ark Reach was a trade center, that meant they had a lot more resources than just what they could bring from their planetary system. One of the reasons that we had trouble with the Rangdan, frankly, though I don't think this will be as bad as the Rangda.
At least, from what I could tell, these were humans, and humans who hadn't gone off the loony bin in using biological technology to create monstrosities. Then again, I hadn't seen them for myself yet, and reports, even from Primarchs, tended to leave out details, especially the Primarch of the Word Bearers. I've seen their work and reporting, and it was rather unenthusiastic with details. I wondered what was being cut out from said reports, but I guess I would find out when I met them finally. Shaking my head of such thoughts, I signaled to Captain Nemmius Tetanus, to bring our ship around and start fleet preparations. It's time to get on the move, and time to hunt.
Writers note: and with that we come to the end of this home ark and get back out there in to fight, who will we meat next? Well some you already know… the rest will have to waite till next time!
Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
Edited by:L, Mantsch, BatAzr, Mecharic, Golden. Robyn The Witch
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M30.884
Tanya Russ
Svellgard
Well, Svellgard did not resemble the reports I had of it a long time ago. The Mechanicum under Adelheid had been very busy building up massive factory complexes and living quarters across the moon.
The past reports indicated that there had been no population, and the moon, though having a slightly breathable atmosphere, was barely worth paying any attention to. Things have changed, with factories dotting the planet, habitation blocks looking like some sort of dystopian cyberpunk nightmare of mega-block cities, as well as other developments as they grew across the moon.
As I came in from Fenris, I saw the lights of the Forge World glowing brighter than ever. I wondered what the people of the planet below thought. After all, this was the moon of Frostheim, a rather backward place compared to Fenris at this point. Fenris and Frostheim at one point in time, one could say that they were very similar planets. I would say no, not anymore. Fenris, well Fenris had proper cities, infrastructure and amenities; technology was progressing and building itself up.
Frostheim, well, it existed. Roughly about a billion people on the planet, slowly growing, but well, there was no land on the planet. It was an ice world in every sense of the word. All water beneath the ice, maybe one or two islands poking through here or there, but they did not get their food from any grown sources, at least not from normal plant life, or maybe some specialty plants that I had not been informed about. It was always a possibility, but for most reports, the people of Frostheim tended to be nomadic hunters, hunting and fishing the megafauna that crossed above and below the snowy plains.
What were these animals eating? From what I understood, they would break through the ice and eat fish, so these large animals were most likely omnivores or, at the very worst, predators themselves. So, again, another Death World for me to develop into something useful to the Fenris system.
Anyways, because they were nomadic, they had an almost low level of technology. The local government was nonexistent, as the tribal leaders were squabbling every now and then. The level of education was minimal to say the least, with little in the way of usable natural resources, just a little enough food for them to survive. But things would change with Fenris now having quite a few diplomatic actions across the galaxy. If we were to set up a spaceport on Frostheim, I'm sure we could sell food to the locals and start the process of urbanization.
Build a city, educate the populace, develop some technology; sooner or later, it would catch up with Fenris. It might take a bit longer simply because it was even further back in time compared to Fenris in terms of technological level. Beyond that, reports indicated that the people of Frostheim actually liked what was going on in the system. I mean, they were rather separate from everyone, but apparently, they weren't too mad with how things were developing, which was good. Given enough time, I'm sure we can find a way to integrate them, maybe set up a Space Marine recruitment area on this planet, like I was planning to do with Midgardia, build another great company from the stock here so that we would have another training area, a thought for later.
It was really the only use for the population, well the only way I could think of for the population. That's why I was on Svellgard, to speak with Miss Adelheid about an interesting project that she wanted to propose to me.
The population of this Forge World came from four sources, from what I could tell, soon to be five, but it was four at the moment: members of the Mechanicum from Mars and other Mechanicum planets who were interested in the idea of building up this planet and being as close to a Primarch as possible.
Individuals of science and engineering inclination who had been interested in the technologies of the past from my own planet of Fenris. People who had been brought from Frostheim to work as employees on various projects across the planet in order to fill the gap in labor.
And prisoners who had been turned into mechanical monstrosities from across the Galaxy, some including Fenrisians themselves. I had only allowed the prisoners sentenced with the death penalty be taken. If a person was going to die, well, might as well make him a little bit useful for the Mechanicum.
Of course, the fifth would be people from Midgardia who would be joining as laborers alongside the people of Frostheim. Unfortunately there were going to be people from those groups who will end up joining the ranks of the walking cybernetic monstrosities for one reason or another, that I was not a big fan of.
But that being said, this Forge World was a very valued resource at this point. Most of the armor made for the Fenrisian Guard came from here. The Russ tanks for both the Guard and the Valkyrie came from here. Hell, a good portion of the armor made for the officers in my Legion came from here, including actual wearable armor because, well, Miss Adelheid had a thing for making armor as works of art when it came to my Valkyries' armor. Noted, and I would say some of it was rather artful, but half of the stuff ended up being way too personalized. I had thought about sending an order to stop her from doing that since personalized armor meant you couldn't change out pieces when it got damaged, but the stuff, when it got damaged, usually meant the Valkyrie had died, and well, it was better just to bury her in her armor or send that armor off to be forged again if she had said so in her will.
It was actually a thing that had happened not too long ago when speaking to my Valkyrie, Maria Hæfnirdottir. According to her, several women had their daughters join the Valkyrie not too long ago. One of them had died before her daughter had officially joined the Valkyrie and had left a note to her fellow Valkyria about what she wanted done with her armor, which turned out to be having it reforged to her daughter's size. I imagine that would probably be a recurring thing that would go on in the family lines of Valkyrie.
An interesting realization that I had not really delved too deep into ever since I ordered the experimentation with the Valkyrie DNA strain harvested from Lord Wolfen. Was that since each Valkyrie had a more durable and robust body paired with a longer lifespan, it also meant that they had a better chance of serving alongside their children when they took the process to become a Valkyrie in a few cases since, the cultural identity of a Fenrisian was that of a warrior and would go into combat even if they had a family.
That was something to keep an eye on, see how that progressed and what became of that, but it was not important for my current conversation as I walked down the passageway that would take me to the meeting room where I was to meet Miss Adelheid. We were to discuss something rather interesting, or at least that's what she said. I don't know what we will be discussing, but I guess I'd find out soon enough. Probably would not be wise to bring up the whole two-headed wolf issue under Fenris. I was going to keep that a little close to my chest for now, maybe inform the Emperor when I was sure I had the situation under control. Maybe inform a few trusted individuals that I could know would make sure the legion didn't get in trouble with them. Lord Wolfen, a prime example of someone I could trust with this information, I believed, since they had shown themselves to be rather reliable and good at keeping secrets.
Looking to my side, I noticed one of the many ships that came in, bringing resources to Svellgard, it didn't have much in the way of natural resources, but that didn't stop them from getting the necessary resources needed, due to the location of Fenris system had become sort of a trade capital on the way to Terra, many planets had a sort of allegiance to me for freeing them from one alien menace or another through here, and resources collected here were then built into things. I should most likely try to formalize those trade agreements when I get the chance, currently protection via the Wolves of Fenris for trade resources was a much better deal than we saved you once a while back. Another reason why I think the Mechanicum were all in on having a planet in my system. Did they know that it would come to this? I doubt it, but their machine spirits, which are probably very controlled AI from what I was getting, I'd say they probably had some notion that this was a possibility and were one of the reasons they were willing to let this little moon be settled as a new Mechanicum Forge World. That and well, be my main supplier. They probably thought they'd have a little bit more influence on me by agreeing to it.
I imagine they weren't happy that I had let the Squats take up residence on Fenris in the old cities. The Squats probably would end up filling up some of the holes that they weren't filling with their production as time went on, which meant a competitor, and competitors are not things people typically enjoy.
But it was good for free markets, and what was good for the free market was a good thing in my mind. Not to mention the dogma I saw some of their religious class of Mars needed to be tempered by a population that didn't have such religious zeal for the machine spirits. Yes, the Squats had this interesting ancestor worship thing going on, but comparatively, that was a minor thing. Could say that it wasn't really religion and more of just nationalistic zeal, believing in their forefathers' greatness, and they can be as great as them, which could be useful in the right situations.
My thoughts stopped as a door was opened, allowing me to see Miss Adelheid sitting at the end of a table. Well, sitting is an odd word for it. I couldn't tell.
"Greetings, my Primarch," she said, giving a bow before straightening herself and saying, "Welcome to Svellgard."
"Thank you, Miss Adelheid," I said, stepping into the room, pulling off my wolf helm, and placing it on the table. I smiled as I continued, "I heard you wanted to speak to me, so I came as fast as I could. Just finished up with a campaign into the cavern cities underneath Fenris."
"Oh, yes, the Squats. I've heard you've been trying to build more relations with them recently. Rather impressive work, I would say, for beings that don't really understand the things they mess with."
"I wouldn't say that," I replied, before adding, "They seem to have a good idea of what they're messing with now, at least."
"Hmm, perhaps, although I worry that they will go too far too fast with their technology. They have not learned the lessons of Old Night like we did. Our technological understanding is solid as we've recovered much of it over the last millennia. There's a difference between being destroyed and rebuilding using whatever they want, however they want, not caring for the consequences that may come from it."
I frowned before saying, "A little bit of radical technology is never a wrong thing, as long as it is maintained and understood that it won't cause too much harm to the general population. If you're that worried about them, maybe you should see about trying to improve relations with them, see if you can come to some agreements on a few things. I'm sure a Squat-Mechanicum trade and technological alliance would be better for the Imperium than one where they compete against each other for a spot as a top producer."
"Hmm, perhaps I should at least do that. I have been watching your efforts to improve the Imperium from my seat here, and I noticed that you do tend to, but that is not why I'm here today to discuss."
"Oh yes, what are we here to discuss?" I said, pulling out a chair that had been built for Primarch size and obviously placed here for my arrival, as it didn't quite fit the table. I could make the assumption that it didn't normally sit here.
"Well, I'm thinking about the recent salvage you brought in, specifically those Knights that you found in Rangdan Space."
"I did have those sent back here for study, didn't I? Anything usable from them? I thought they were pretty busted up."
"Oh, there were some very useful things from them. The original owners are dead, of course, so we don't know exactly how they work, but one of them, the bigger one, had an internal manifest of how to reconstruct every single one of them. My guess is that the owners were more mercenary, at least that's what your reports implied, so they didn't have a stable Knight world to return to, to rebuild. Instead, they would use whatever allies they found to help rebuild their things. This is good for many reasons."
I leaned forward at that, as I could see exactly why that was good. "You can build your own Knights," I said with some assumption, which got a nod of agreement.
"Correct. The problem is we need those of noble class to be able to wield such weapons, and well, I'm not really sure what to do on that matter. We don't really have a Knight world to drop on a noble class."
"You have an idea, don't you?" I said, folding my arms, wanting to hear what her plan was.
"Oh my, Tanya, this is why I like you. You can come to the right conclusions. Yes, I have an idea, but I would need your sign off to implement it, as it would require us to use a planet that is not under my authority."
"I'm willing to listen, and having Knights to backup my men when they go into combat sounds like a good plan. Tell me, what exactly do you have in mind?"
"There's always Freeblade Knights from these Knight worlds—Knights who have been passed up because they do not have the equipment to build their own Knights. Others left out of wanderlust or due to the disbanding or destruction of their House. And well, some are just exiles and outcasts kicked out from their Households due to old grudges and politics and have become little more than wandering mercenaries. As you are aware, Knights are a valuable resource that's difficult to construct and hard to maintain. Most importantly, they are also a key structure of society in their worlds. And we have a world just below us that has no real structure."
I leaned back before saying, "Your plan is to bring in these Freeblade Knights, let them take these new Knights that you're going to build for them, and impose a structure on the planet below."
"Something like that. It's a little bit more nuanced than that. I wouldn't let them do anything they wanted. I would let you impose a structure on them that they would integrate into the society below."
"Hmm," I leaned back, thinking about this matter. I was planning to try and urbanize the planet below to some extent to help with its technological level. Having Knights directly in my system to call upon and send to problems would be useful, but we would need to make sure that whatever Knights we gathered here didn't end up imposing too much change on the culture. There needed to be integration and not cultural conversion. Hmm.
"How many Knights can be created from what I scavenged from that battlefield?"
Adelheid turned her head before saying, "14 in total. The 14th is a bit temperamental. I believe we can build more in the future, but it will take time."
I nodded before saying, "Find me six Freeblade Knights. They can then gather the human resources from the planet below to fill out the rest. They need to learn to integrate, to not be rulers. The best way to do that is to make sure that they have a connection to the people right off the top, even if it's just training people to use the equipment."
Adelheid nodded before saying, "Okay then, that could be accomplished."
"All right, is that all you called me here for?" I said, starting to get up, before she shook her head, now saying, "Oh no, no, that's not the only reason I called you here. It's time for another refitting. I've heard your armor has been getting a lot tighter on your frame from your Valkyries, so we need to readjust it to better fit you. That and I've got some new toys and equipment to add to your offensive capabilities."
I shivered a bit at the thought of her taking new measurements, but I swallowed that feeling before nodding my head, saying, "All right, it has to be done, and this new equipment better be good."
Adelheid made a binary noise of some kind before saying, "Oh, this will be wonderful, trust me. Your combat capabilities will increase tenfold, and you'll be ready for the fight that's to come on your next campaign. What was it called, Ark Meech?"
"Ark Reach, that's what I've heard it's called," I said with a nod, urging Adelheid to stand up from her seating position.
She said, "Then let us get to work. Need to make sure you're good and ready, plus make sure to have some of the Valkyrie come by. I have new equipment for them as well."
"Will do," I said with a smile, standing up as she slowly passed me, heading to a door that led to a different hallway. I quickly fell in beside her before asking, "So how is the development of Svellgard going?"
"Oh, it goes very well—premium armor production, both personal and mechanized. Unfortunately, the armor I can produce here is only for your Fenrisian guards and Valkyrie. The Mechanicum is a bit hesitant about allowing me to produce our own power armor for your Legion here in mass production, but I think as we more firmly establish ourselves as a known and safe production planet, that'll change. The Mechanicum is warming to you after all, with all the years of good work you've done for them."
"Are they?" I said with a raised eyebrow before asking, "I was under the impression they were having issues with me, too much of a barbarian."
Miss Adeline laughed before saying, "Yes, they did have some issues with you, but you've proven yourself to be more mechanically minded and thoughtful than most of the Primarchs. Last time I was on Mars, which was years ago for a conference, they talked about you in the same breath as Perturabo and the leader of the Iron Fists, so I assume they have come to respect you to some capacity."
"Oh, that's good to know," I said with a smile as Miss Adelheid continued, "Plus, they feel that my planet is a rather good place to ship off the more rash tech-priests amongst them. Just last decade, my little cousin was shipped off to this world because she was a bit too bold for some of the older tech-priests, and well, well we don't like to talk about what she was being too bold with, I'm afraid. But my point is a lot of young and inquisitive minds are being sent to this world that probably would have been languishing in someone's lab if you weren't providing a rather useful release valve, send their problem people here so that I can keep an eye on them, and if something goes wrong, well, their resources are limited."
"Hmm, 'something going wrong?'" I asked as we walked down the hallway.
"Oh, nothing yet. I'm keeping a good eye on the ones they sent here, and for the most part, they're quite good at the work they are assigned, helping with the personal armor construction we do here. But, wow, some of them are quite bold, radical even. Do you remember that Frost Cannon version of the Tanya Russ tank that came from one of the new recruits to the planet?"
I nodded my head; that did explain some things. I had only seen them produced here, so it made some sense, but I had assumed the Russ tank was slow to get up in production, which is why there weren't many variants yet. But if they were being particular on other worlds about what variants they made, that might explain it.
"Plus, they had to keep some sort of standardization between the planets; otherwise, there would be logistical issues. I really must thank you for giving me the chance to run this world, My Primarch. Back when I was just a simple Mechanicum tech-priest, I was rather on the low end of power, my ideas were scoffed at. But ever since having control of this world, I've proven that I was not foolhardy in my ideas."
I smiled and said, "I reward those who work well for me; it's that simple, Miss Adelheid. You've done wonders for my armor, and you've shown yourself to have a good mentality. I'd be a fool not to reward you for your work."
"My ego didn't need even more inflation," she said with an almost mechanical giggle.
"Oh, I almost forgot to mention, there is a chance we may get access to Titan construction information within the next few years as a reward for our efforts in the Tanya Russ constructions and other gear."
"Really now, that could be useful," I said. Having direct control of a Titan legion could be very useful for a campaign down the future, I thought, though I doubt we would get access to it before my soon-to-be next campaign. I'd have to keep an eye on that project.
"Yes, still in negotiations, but when it's completed, we will be able to have a Titan construction and maintenance facility here. I doubt we will be allowed to build many, but even one can turn the course of a battle. Just thought you'd like to know, so that you can keep that information filed away in your head for later."
"Filed that in my head," I said in agreement. "Thank you, Miss Adelheid," I said as we approached the dreaded room that would help her take my armor off for readjusting.
Tanya Russ
Fenris
Dealing with the normalcy of running a planet is strange. Every day I was on Fenris, I dealt with one official or another, making sure things were running well. From the representatives of the Iron Island wanting to export more of their tech to the mainland.
To the Iron Priest wanting to build their competing forges again, risking damaging the environment a little too much. Though some of them were a bit easier to deal with. Thank goodness Fenris was so geothermically active; it was easy to harness the powers of the planet and put them to work for our own needs. Bringing in nuclear material to run power plants and safe areas was also an option that was engaged in quite a bit.
At some point, I should probably have just gotten used to how things were. But it was still strange to be the top dog of Fenris, even with me trying to delegate some of these jobs onto other people down the chain.
I would not say I was pushing for a constitutional monarchy, but I was pushing for people in the local region to handle their own local issues, as long as it didn't affect their neighbors or the environment too greatly.
Russ was probably the most prosperous city it's ever been in the history of its existence. Due to the rapid integration of technologies from off-world and the exponentially growing potential for life on the planet, trade was flowing from one end of the world to the other. Even the sea peoples, the most nomadic of groups in the population, were doing extremely well. Their old boats were being replaced by larger metal warships that could give a good fight to the creatures of the oceans, allowing them a little more time to make it to land before their ships burnt or melted underneath them during the time of fire.
As I walked around the city that bore the name of Russ, I could only smile at the development. It was not modern Japan, not yet, but it was getting there, let's say definitely a better version of industrial Europe. Not as many smokestacks in the air, not as much dirt in the ground, better maintained. All in all, my control of this world had brought long-lasting benefits and its own little empire when you thought about it. Things were not just generous after all.
As for the other developments in the system, well, there was a star fortress now in orbit around Fenris, far in orbit, with another one under construction. It was a precaution, a reminder that the Rangdan had been an issue. But one of them was being constructed to defend Fenris in case the line broke. Thankfully, the first was never put to use, but I wasn't going to halt the construction. I had been given funding by the Imperium to defend my sector, and I was going to use it. Thankfully, my efforts in securing the region around Fenris had proven useful in that regard, allies with imperium were useful after all.
Which made me somewhat glad that I had made the deal with Morkai. Yes, I was dealing with some sort of two-headed wolf creature that might be somewhat empowered by the Warp and the planet's humanity, but we had made a deal. It had sworn an oath, and I believed I could kill it if it ever decided to break that oath.
That was a concern, though it went beyond the creature itself. My understanding of the gods of this world was minimal. Religion was basically non-existent. There was a personal faith I found, yes. The Rune Priests, the Wolf Priests, the Iron Priests, they all existed. But they were all just worshiping elements of society, not a god per se.
The All-Father, the entity that had protected the population of Fenris for as long as it had, from what I could tell, was some sort of Eldar/Human construct empowered by the Warp. It was a mix of technologies and magic forming an entity that wished good for the people of the planet.
This was why the Emperor had no concern with him, I think. No, he wasn't paying too close attention to the faith of the people here. Since I noticed several people referring to the Emperor as the All-Father, I wondered if that might have some long-lasting effect.
That was why I was out wandering the city today, instead of being in my residence at Russ Castle or up in my apartment in the Fang.
What long-lasting effects were people like me and the Emperor having on the general population? Beyond just improving their standard of living, what were they believing about us? Those were the thoughts that were now percolating in my mind after meeting the two-headed 'God of the Dead' underneath the mountains of Fenris.
If this creature, like I believed, had once been something normal before people started to believe it was the Guardian of the Dead, what effect would that have if someone started to believe something we didn't believe about ourselves?
Perhaps I was being paranoid, but I was concerned. I thought that perhaps I should at least learn more about what was going on with my people while I had the time and was here on Fenris.
One of the first places I visited today was that giant statue of me commemorating my rise to power or arrival in the city of Russ, back when it had just been a small castle.
The damn thing was too tall in my opinion. Not to mention, whoever was in charge of it had apparently never actually seen me and had done a little bit too artistic rendition of what they thought I looked like. I tried not to look too closely at the details, or my face would turn red with embarrassment.
Some might say I should have had it torn down the moment I realized it existed, but the fact of the matter was, I didn't want to insult the people. They thought I was doing good, and they were trying to commemorate it, showing that they were thankful for my arrival here on Fenris. What kind of asshole would I be if I just tore it down because I didn't like how it looked?
No, I let it stay up and instead commissioned some artists to make portraits of me to hang up in the castle. So at least the next time they tried to build something, they would have something better to use.
I could have just had some pictures taken, of course, but the act of commissioning art served to better spend money than simply taking a picture. Plus, a little bit of artistic rendition is not bad when it's pointed in the right direction.
But back to the point, I was watching the people around the statues, seeing what they were doing, and noticing that there was a large number of flowers near the front of the statue. Curiously, I watched as a young couple approached the statue and dropped some flowers there, arranging them with the rest before wandering off.
Was it some sort of ritual? What was this, I wondered, before deciding to find out by getting closer.
Being 10 ft tall, I kind of stuck out like a sore thumb. Thankfully, I had decided to wear a very heavy cloak, so I could pass for one of my Marines, just a particularly tall one. With a little bit of magic to change my appearance, I was able to make it so no one would be able to know who I was as I approached.
A young woman in her mid-20s, I guessed, was approaching and placing a flower among the rest. I came to a stop next to her and said, "Pretty neat statue," doing my best to not sound like myself.
The woman nodded her head, still looking at the flowers, and said, "The Wolf King statue is beautiful. Personally, I think the one for my hometown is better, but well, this one has better luck."
I raised an eyebrow before asking, "Luck?" She finally looked in my direction, not seeing me but seeing my size, and said, "Oh, are you perhaps from one of the First to leave Fenris?"
"Yes," I said, technically true.
She nodded before saying, "It's been noted that those who leave offerings here at the statue have a better chance of conceiving a child. Some say it's just luck, others say maybe it's a blessing of the All-Father, but the fact of the matter is, you're more likely to have a healthy and stable pregnancy if you leave an offering."
"Ah, huh... interesting," I said, looking at the statue. Concerned, though, I tilted my head to the left. I could see that there was a hospital at one corner of this square, so it was very well possible that this was just observing the effects of the population who actually were using the hospitals versus those who weren't. But was this possibly having some sort of effect from the Warp?
The question was simple: Was this a chicken and the egg scenario? Was the hospital being there, helping people conceive and have a happier pregnancy, influencing them to leave an offering at the statue as a natural thank you for my efforts in trying to build up the planet's infrastructure? Or was there something Warp-related going on, where people had been having such easy times thanks to my upbringing of the planet, that they were believing that leaving an offering at this area would give them a stable pregnancy?
The real question was, was it a bad thing?
If a small portion of people believed that leaving offerings at a statue of me would give them a stable pregnancy, and they indeed had a stable pregnancy, where was the harm here? Of course, if they went full Aztec or Old Norse and were sacrificing living creatures, that would be a problem. But they were just dropping flowers. I even noted a few gold coins, but that was about it.
Hmm, it did get me thinking about the nature of religion in this universe. Beings in the Warp had been acquiring power through worship, and Father made that clear through our arguments. Presumably, all creatures of the Warp did the same. And going by the fact that the two-headed wolf god of the underworld was a thing, it probably meant that whatever people believed in for a long time would become true. Yes, there's a possibility that it was a two-headed wolf that gained those powers over time. But the fact of the matter was, he probably had run out of food at some point and had been sustaining himself on Warp energy after a while.
Ah, it's confusing, I can see why the Emperor probably did not want to have religion in the Imperium. If people simply believe that a statue gives them a better chance of having a pregnancy come to term and it becomes true, then all it would take is some mistaken belief to create something monstrous.
Based on some rumors that I've been able to acquire over the years, that's probably what led to the destruction of the Eldar empire. Strong belief in something going rampant too fast and too far.
Then again, the Emperor did make it quite clear that people could have their individual faith. It's just he didn't want any organized religion.
Hmm, what was the difference? What was the thing that separated an organized religion from just personal faith? Having a clergy, I would assume.
Hmm, but was this a form of organized religion, just leaving trinkets here at the foot of a statue? I needed to have some sort of conversation with the Emperor, that's what I needed to do. I needed to really hammer out exactly what he meant by religion, otherwise people could come to a misunderstanding.
Personally, I see no reason why people shouldn't be allowed to have their little ceremonies up to a point. As long as it doesn't harm anyone, I don't really give a damn. And if they're harnessing the Warp for good, trading life and happiness, that's not really a bad thing in my mind.
Though I did wonder if I should be concerned about the association that statue was making, though. For instance, the two-headed wolf god was the guardian of the underworld and the dead, keeping them separated from each other. The implications were simple: it kept the darkness away and was darkness itself. The All-Father was an agent of good, helping to keep civilization's motors running for generations upon generations through the worst periods of human history. Again, a good outcome.
This statue, though, had connotations of a fertility goddess... in essence, it implied that I was a bit of a fertility goddess... I had to wonder if that was one of the reasons my bust had expanded a bit while we've been away from Fenris. I should look into when the statue was created and if it correlates.
That was a concern, but by that same token, if that was true, what else could that do to me... Ah, I should not delve into that thought process, really. Going down that road was insanity and paranoia. I could argue quite thoroughly that because people believe that the King of Russ should be a drunkard, a warrior, and a womanizer, it has affected my mindset and put me on the road I am today. But I know those were conscious decisions I made along the way to ensure that I fit in with the society I lived in.
Shaking my head, I turned away and started walking away from the statue, deep in thought, keeping up my cloak and using a little bit of magic to keep people from looking my way as I pondered deeply on matters of faith, religion, and the Warp.
Humanity's psychic potential apparently was vast and unknown. If people believe in something hard enough and long enough, it becomes real in this universe, perhaps.
Well, if that was true, why didn't the Emperor use that to our advantage? Why not spread some sort of religion that focused on the good aspects of the world instead of just burning it all down, as he tended to implement with his Imperial Truth...
Could the Imperial Truth be considered a religion? It was a thought, just a random one, but it was an interesting notion. Could you make a religion out of believing in nothing? Well, that's not exactly true. The Imperial Truth believed in the superiority of humanity, science, and logic, things I all agreed with... well, the last two I agreed with. I'm not really sure about the first one. The Eldar did have extremely long lives, so you can't exactly call them inferior. They worked pretty well in a fight and didn't undergo biological changes to their genome. I'm sure everyone was slightly better at one thing or another, at least all the xenos.
Hmm, obviously the Imperial Truth was trying to cut back on the phenomena created by the Warp, but would it not simply do the same in time? Would the Warp not adapt?
Perks of being a little too much like a clock right now, not enough time studying. A good employee needs to actually investigate something like this, determine what the right action is, and propose a solution. Here I was, focusing on just getting laid, building up Fenris, and conquering the enemies of the Imperium so I could do the other two things more often.
I'm a poor employee by the standard I need to meet. I need to be better, do better, and think harder about what I am getting involved in. I need to find some way to learn more about the Warp than just what I have acquired so far. I need more intelligence, more operational understanding, and more research. How am I going to achieve that? That's a bit of an issue, though.
The only one who knows the most about it would probably be the Emperor, and he is quite set on his point of view on the matter. And he probably has the right opinion. But could he be overlooking something? Possibly. And it's always good to have backup plans. Submitting a backup plan is never a wrong thing in my mind.
I need to be careful when gathering this research. The Rune Priests knew the runes. I could contact them, but they wouldn't give me much.. The Eldar, of course, were a possible option. They would have information. Maybe with some support, I could force them to speak plainly about what the hell the Warp was. The Eldar did have thousands of years of experience with it, even if they had apparently screwed up its use. No, I should only use people I could trust, maybe a fellow Primarch.
Which siblings would actually know the most about the Warp? Well, off the top of my head, I knew Vulcan was out. He was a down-to-earth big brother, as they come.
Perturabo was also not going to be helpful here. Though he had some concerns about the Warp, specifically the Maelstrom in the center of the galaxy, he was unlikely to have any knowledge of the inner workings of how that system functioned. Perhaps he could be used to contact other resources.
Horus, when he ran the wars, didn't really strike me as someone who had much knowledge of the Warp. Khan enjoyed the thrill of the hunt but didn't really do much in the way of spiritualism, I believed. But maybe my contact with him is too limited. He might have some thoughts. Perhaps I should speak with him again next time we work together. Lion was just anti-Warp from what I had seen, so they were unlikely to have much knowledge of how it functions or why it functions. Unfortunate, but I would work with what I had.
Mortarion was probably the best bet then. He, being the most affected by the Warp, was who I needed to speak to, at least of the ones I knew. Perhaps the agents I'd be dealing with in the current conflict I was being called up for would have something, but that was unlikely.
Nobunaga was also on the list of potentials, but he was unlikely to have any information as well. At least nothing that wasn't influenced by the popular culture of a long-dead civilization.
I could also speak to the Squats. From what I understood, there were parts of their leadership that were particularly adept at Warp control. I could see if I could find out more, although the conflicts currently going on with the Squats were not helpful.
The Isolationist faction that was against joining the Imperium and the pro-Imperium faction were in a state of constant tit-for-tat war. Elements of the Space Marines had been called in at one point or another because they took it too far. Thankfully, the ones further into the Maelstrom weren't exactly becoming pirates. But it was an issue that was forcing portions of the Marines to serve against them and was an inspiration for some of the heavier armor making its way to the front just because of the tunnel fighting.
Definitely something I would need to look into. Perhaps there should be some sort of council to actually hammer out what to do with Warp powers and religion since they seemed interlinked at a level that was likely to be an issue going forward for a long time.
Another thing I should probably investigate. Shaking my head, I would need to make more efforts to ensure my career is well-rounded. Being pigeonholed into the conqueror role might be good for peacefully bringing people into the Empire, but I would need plenty of options after the conquest is done. After all, even though I would probably prefer a rather lazy and easy life, there are things I would want to do once the war is over.
Simplifying the Mage system we currently have, figuring out what is potentially useful to the entities of the Warp and damaging to the people of this realm, are all important goals that need to be accomplished. That is currently being left by the wayside in the mad sprint to collect the Primarchs and wage war in general.
At least they're almost all collected, I thought. There could only be maybe four or five more that are unaccounted for, and that couldn't last much longer. I'm sure they would turn up soon enough.
Who knows, maybe one would turn up on this new campaign my men are preparing for, leaving later this month. The enemy that the 17th Legion is facing is apparently tough and hard to defeat, so they need as many troops as they can get. It is unlikely that we will run into one of the Emperor's lost sons on this particular planet, but who knows? Stranger things have happened, I assume.
Shaking my head, I moved out of the gate walls and looked out over the snow-covered landscape, gazing across what used to be the Kingdom of Russ.
The city is high-tech, a mismatch of nuclear and industrial age, but the wilderness around Russ hasn't changed much. It's very similar to how it was 60 years ago when I first came down from the mountains: snow-covered, with heavy trees bearing ancient markings on their bark. Oh, there are differences—a better road system, for one. In fact, a much better road system. Looking out across the terrain, I'm not sure exactly what materials they used, but it's nice to see that there are vehicles moving back and forth, and not just people walking around with horses and wagons.
This main road leads to half a dozen settlements and half a dozen different cities. After that, it becomes a main artery of trade that contributes to the ever-growing population of Fenris, creating a continuously improving scenario that allows the standard of life to rise higher and higher. And that is a cheerful thought. I look out across the road, knowing that what I am doing is good for these people. It doesn't matter what others think. Out there in the galaxy, people in Fenris thought I was helping them, and I know I am helping them get better. So let the people who don't know what they're talking about call me a barbarian in the propaganda. It helps cause planets to surrender quickly. And a few people say that what I did up north was a genocide. But all I did was remove a potential threat from the human population across the galaxy.
I know what I did was right. That's all that matters in the long term. So, whatever is to come with this religion and Warp situation, I know that with logic and determination, I will come up with the right answer. Perhaps it aligns with what the Emperor is working on, perhaps not. The point is that I will do the necessary research to determine it for myself. That's all that matters in the long run—doing my own research and coming to a conclusion that is workable for the Emperor and myself.
Tanya Russ
Playing civilization builder is a rather fun game. I played Civ-like games quite a bit in my last life, though I had preferred games like Victoria 2 and Call of Duty. There was nothing wrong with good old turn-based strategy, and in some aspects, it was a good way to look at how you developed a system when you have a lifespan that renders years minimal problems.
I could not micromanage everything. I could set the general direction, and then I would set out on an adventure to either do something for the people of Fenris or do something for the Imperium, usually both at the same time—bringing in trade and other supply routes through our system to the Imperial core worlds, as well as other developing systems. In a way, when I left for an adventure, that was my clicking of the next turn, setting things in their own direction while I went and dealt with other situations, and like any Civ game, there's always one more turn.
It was time to set out on my next campaign to Ark Reach space and see what awaited me and what sibling was having issues with.
What I would find there, who knows, but I knew what I would find when I got back.
Midgardia would already be into whatever industrial revolution the Mechanicum was helping them create.
Svellgard and Frostheim would be developing a new relationship thanks to the importation of a few Freeblade Knights to help the civilization of that nomadic world sprout harder and produce a new resource to be used for our future campaigns after this one.
The Valkyrie units left behind on Fenris would be undergoing a full revamp and rework since their initial goals as a logistics preservation crew were becoming secondary to being a secondary shock force to send in areas that my Marines were not available for.
The Valkyrie were becoming closer to solar auxiliary forces from Terra space, just a slightly more upgraded guard force to other planets of the Imperium. So they needed to have a full working system as well as doctrines. I would probably give them some of the more acceptable doctrines from the Space Marines, though they would still follow doctrines closer to the Guard, I would imagine in most cases. Only time would tell how that situation would develop, but we would need to work out a fully working command and control.
Most likely, Yrsa, my personal bodyguard and the best coffee maker in the Valkyrie, would end up being in command.
Yes, that may be a little bit of me trying to protect the best coffee maker in the entire legion, but she showed herself as a very competent adjutant, and I was not about to turn down a competent aide. It served me well in my last life.
Beyond that, the Squat city was fully stockpiled and starting to support the local communities. There was still ongoing work down there to determine exactly what it had once been. A research lab was the closest agreement between the Iron Priests and the Squats. However, much of the data had been lost. Apparently, many of the data cores had been damaged over time. It was unfortunate. I had hoped we would come across one of those Standard Template Constructs . The last one had served me well, but unfortunately, we had no luck in the research we had conducted.
I had led a few expeditions to other cities, exterminating as many of the abominations down there as I could, simply to keep the population in check. The underground abominations were not as human as I had once thought. Genetic mutations, as well as general monstrosities, had become prevalent.
Morkai had contacted me once and clarified that it had cleared out the enemy cities near the Squats' new home, though it had told me specifically one particular city further north of the Squats' new home and closer to my own fortress The Fang should be avoided in the future. It wasn't very clear, but the implication I got was that something worse was about that place than just the Night Gangers. I had a suspicion that the site might be a source of corruption that I'll need to clean out when I can gather enough forces for it. Next time I visit, I'll have to burn it out, making sure whatever is down there gets cleaned this time. So, I'll probably need to be careful and only bring forces I trust that could keep a secret—the First Great Company—so that I knew that whatever was down there would fail in its activities and would not spread its mysteries to the surface.
I need to keep a close watch on the situation of faith, religion, and how it empowers the Warp, coming to a closer understanding and also being prepared to deal with what could possibly be the outcomes of misuse of those abilities. But that is for another time. Today, I was looking out from my ship, Hrafnkel, on Fenris and its local cluster, just barely able to see the moon in the distance—the Wolf Moon, Valdrmani. It was the last celestial body floating around in my system that had not been used in one way or another. That's because I wasn't really sure what to do with it. Sure, another reason was it had a certain wolf-like appearance that was vital for the culture of the planet, so I didn't want to damage that. But what could you do with the dark side of the Moon, the side that wasn't viewed? I wasn't sure.
I had considered possibly building some sort of naval outpost there. After all, it didn't really have an atmosphere nor any minerals that noticeably were of use to the people of my planet. I wasn't exactly interested in selling it to the Mechanicum like I'd done it with Svellgard. If I were being more logical, I probably would sell it, but I had grown accustomed to the people of Fenris and their culture. I had a bit of an attachment to them and wasn't about to sell out their culture for mineral gain. Now, if you look at that and say that way, it doesn't mean I have no care for the culture of the nomads. The answer to that is quite clearly yes. They were not contributing to civilization; they were just subsidiaries of Fenris. Similar population, similar conditions, but not Fenrisians. That could be a problem in the future, but that's why I was trying to enlighten them and bring them up into the culture of other planets.
That was a slight concern I wondered about sometimes. Everything I was bringing into Fenris would eventually merge into something, hopefully something good. But there was also the possibility that these imperfections that I was creating would eventually go against each other—a sort of nationalism amongst each planet that didn't like being part of a federation. It was always a concern to be worried about. Hopefully, I will be able to navigate that path without causing too much trouble, though...
Well, the fact I was taking efforts to make sure that Fenris would be the strongest of the factions in the Fenris systems would see a lot of work done to make sure everything worked out well.
Those with the biggest hammer can settle issues, and Fenris would have the biggest hammer when upgrades to the system were over. Already, two Star forts, one finished, the other estimated to be completed in the next decade. These forts would prevent anything major from getting to Fenris proper without coming under its guns. They would be in orbit, allowing them to fire on anything trying to go to each other, as well as anything trying to get at Fenris. They would be technically part of the defense fleet of Fenris, which meant they could work with and protect the fleets.
Midgardia and Frostheim were not being forgotten in this effort. They would be getting defense stations and forward observation posts in case something did break into space. These would protect them as best I could, but most likely rely on the Fenris defense fleets for most of their defenses. And, more importantly than anything else, Fenris could finally begin construction of the ring.
An orbital ring surrounding Fenris was something I was quite keen on acquiring. The population of Fenris would always be limited, not by food or technology; the population of interest would be limited by the conditions of Fenris itself. There was not much land; the waters that were calm most of the year turned to boiling death traps the other part of the year, so anything you built out there was likely to be brought down during that boiling. Not to mention tectonic shifts could literally subvert islands back down underwater during that period. So, anything you built, such as a mining rig out there, could literally be pulled under the surface at a whim every Fenrisian year. There just wasn't enough space
I made a point of utilizing all my funding wherever possible, including the current plans that were under construction for an orbital ring around Fenris. The ring, hopefully, would accomplish this, giving more places for people to live, as well as an orbital work area that could be used to build ships. Granted, it probably would take 80 to 100 years for it to be finished at the fastest, but the technology existed, and it would help stabilize the population growth, in my mind, permanently. Not to mention, once you had one orbital ring, you had the people responsible for it living on your planet and who knew how to do it. There were obviously other ways you could use that knowledge.
The Mechanicum was interested in the project because they wanted the ability to build ships, and having a fortress out there that could accomplish that would be useful. I was interested in the project because it would provide a stable place for the population of Fenris to live year-round and potentially double or even triple our numbers. The ring would also serve as a prime example to show off to my siblings about building up their homeworld.
Perturabo was all in favor of it. In fact, he had sent over some designs for the orbital ring, and the Mechanicum had approved of them. So, it was currently in the final stages of acquiring the construction materials, which was proving a bit more problematic since we couldn't exactly get the materials from Fenris. Fenris wasn't built up enough, of course. We needed to have them shipped in.
Midgardia could use an orbital ring; the toxic fumes weren't exactly helpful for transporting goods up and down from the planet. If one were to build an orbital ring with space elevators, you could transfer resources quite easily and not have ships risk going through the toxic environment.
Frostheim didn't need an orbital ring, but if you had the technology and the resources coming in to do it, it was worth investigating. You know, maybe it would be a ring around the Moon instead—industrial constructions and all that. Having the ability to build my own shipyards would be useful, especially if anything ever cut us off from the main resources of the Imperium. Better to have a backup plan for that situation than to assume it never happens.
The Fenris system did not have many options for expansion, so I was looking at the most likely option that could guarantee a slowly growing rate of population: megastructures. I'd seen more than enough going through the galaxy here or there, ancient relics as well as newer ones. So, building large shipyards and rings around my home worlds was a way to cement Fenris as one of the minor sector capitals that were meant to protect Terra. As well as providing options if you got skilled people who knew how to build megastructures in your system; they're going to look at ways to use that knowledge. Perhaps the leadership I was with would figure out how to build orbital cities that would be rather useful on planets that were frankly deathworld category. Hopefully, they were able to come up with the technology to do it. It would take time though. I understood; again, this was a serious game at this point. It's time to click the end turn button and let the people do what they need to do at your command. I needed to get moving; the fleet for Ark Reach had been assembled, and it was time to go forward and see what my relatives have gotten themselves involved in across the Ark Reach sector.
The last messages I had received indicated that the locals were being extremely stubborn. The population of this sector had decided they would not align with the Imperium and were, in fact, trying to raise forces from nearby trade worlds to fight the Imperium. This was concerning. If Ark Reach was a trade center, that meant they had a lot more resources than just what they could bring from their planetary system. One of the reasons that we had trouble with the Rangdan, frankly, though I don't think this will be as bad as the Rangda.
At least, from what I could tell, these were humans, and humans who hadn't gone off the loony bin in using biological technology to create monstrosities. Then again, I hadn't seen them for myself yet, and reports, even from Primarchs, tended to leave out details, especially the Primarch of the Word Bearers. I've seen their work and reporting, and it was rather unenthusiastic with details. I wondered what was being cut out from said reports, but I guess I would find out when I met them finally. Shaking my head of such thoughts, I signaled to Captain Nemmius Tetanus, to bring our ship around and start fleet preparations. It's time to get on the move, and time to hunt.
Writers note: and with that we come to the end of this home ark and get back out there in to fight, who will we meat next? Well some you already know… the rest will have to waite till next time!
Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
Edited by:L, Mantsch, BatAzr, Mecharic, Golden. Robyn The Witch
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Merry Christmas!
This little bit of art to celebrate the season, oh if you are wondering when the next chapter comes out that would be some time next year...
as always a thank you to a_yoshikage
as always a thank you to a_yoshikage
Chapter 54, The Wolf and The Urizen
Chapter 54, The Wolf and The Urizen
884.M30
Tanya Russ
Ark Reach Cluster
The Ark Reach Cluster is a binary star system with six habitable worlds and an unknown number of habitable moons and rocky pieces that have been made habitable over the millennia.
These six worlds were not united; they were individual empires that have been fighting each other since time immemorial.
This has led to some rather interesting situations considering they have developed quite large and well-invested militaries, surpassing any Imperial army units on their own. They could form a very good bulwark and defense against outside threats to their empires.
However, the problem is that none of the planets want to join the Imperium. They all refused and have banded together in a defensive pact.
Exact details of why they have refused have not been provided, but considering the titles of the rulers of these six worlds as Phoenix Kings, I suspect that they dislike the idea of being demoted from kings of their realms to mere bureaucrats under someone else's rule. So, a potential stronghold of humanity that could have served as a bastion of civilization for the Imperium will now have to be destroyed, and much life will be lost, all because six men were not willing to bend the knee.
It is infuriating but expected at this point. The Imperium, with its vast powers and growing trade network, simply isn't what some people want to be ruled by.
What wasn't expected was the defense they are putting up. From my understanding, Ark Reach VI has proven to be a daunting task for the 17th Legion currently fighting there.
One would assume that in a fight, the Space Marines would always win. However, to assume such things is to fall into a trap, a trap that my sibling obviously fell into. The enemy on the planet is highly motivated and has supply lines to five other planets to support their troops and equipment. They are on par with what the Legions have, perhaps not up to the same equipment standard worn by Space Marines, but power armor is power armor, and a bolt gun is a bolt gun. Maybe they have different names, but they do the job of turning what should have been a simple conquest into a bloody battle.
I arrived in orbit of Ark Reach VI within the last three hours after passing through the blockade zone, an area of space being blockaded by the Imperialis Armada to prevent any supplies from getting into the Ark Reach Cluster.
We don't need a repeat of Rangdan, calling up mercenaries to join their fight. If they are going to fight us, they will fight us with what they have and nothing else.
Immediately upon arrival, I got to work figuring out exactly what is preventing us from winning the war on Ark Reach VI.
The unfortunate answer was a military buildup from over hundreds of years of conflict. Ark Reach VI currently has a well-developed anti-fleet defense system, with satellites mixed in with other debris and surface installations, as well as a few weapon installations placed on a nearby moon that needs to be fully conquered.
The only way to get some of these weapons to reveal themselves is to put a ship in danger. While the Imperium has a lot of ships, they are not unlimited in number.
My sibling, Lorgar, was on the surface of Ark Reach VI, engaged in a prolonged trench warfare, a conflict that they apparently were not fond of, at least according to the reports I had read.
They were, however, on the verge of victory, from what I could see they were just outside the main castle fortress of the Phoenix King of Ark Reach VI.
Victory was within their grasp. The question was, how could I maneuver things to ensure their victory and establish myself within their sphere of influence?
Obviously, the king needed to be taken down, but doing so would require destroying the network of defenses that were protecting the planet. Sending my ships in for a low orbit attack and enduring the hits might be theoretically possible, although the satellite weapons posed a problem. However, those could be dealt with.
The real issue was the planet's moon, which orbited at an unusually low altitude. I suspected that it was not naturally in such a position, and there might be some archeotech at play, keeping it so close. From my understanding of gravity, I'm pretty sure that the moon should have collided with the planet centuries ago.
So, I deployed my forces to the moon of Ark Reach VI. Landing operations were already underway, although I couldn't deploy most of my forces. The moon of Ark Reach VI lacked an atmosphere, which meant that only the Space Marines could be deployed without risking unnecessary casualties.
That's where I found myself, crossing the lunar deserts of this world with my Marines, engaged in a game of cat and mouse with the enemy forces who were determined to prolong the battle as much as possible.
Every time I thought we were gaining control of the situation, they would unveil a new trick. When we started using heavy equipment to counter their power armor, they brought out hover cars to outmaneuver us and attack our weaker sides. It was a constant back-and-forth.
The people of the Ark Reach sector were not going to be easily defeated, but we would do it. Slowly, we made our way toward an installation that I believed to be the heart of their defensive network here on Ark Reach VI.
I had my Gloriana-class ships come in close to the planet, activating their security systems to prevent bombardments. They positioned themselves close enough to take a few hits but not close enough to be destroyed, solely for the purpose of monitoring the information being transferred within the enemy system.
I suspected that they probably had some sort of internet or military connection between their systems to maximize the effectiveness of their weapons. And I was immediately proven right. With the assistance of Mechanicum tracking software and their agents, we were able to trace bursts of encrypted network communication between the planet, the moon, and the surrounding orbital satellites before the attack commenced.
Using this information, we discovered that the majority of their connections seemed to originate from an installation here on the moon. Whether it was their main hub or just a redundancy they were using more openly because it was likely to be destroyed either way, it was hard to say. But it became our primary target, as destroying it would pave the way for my sibling's advance on the planet below.
And to further prove that there was something important about this installation, they were fighting hard to keep us out, using every weapon at their disposal to scorch the surface of the moon. It was an incredible feat considering it was an airless rock for the most part. But hey, just because there's no air doesn't mean you can't deploy something that creates air, I guess. I'm not a chemist, so I don't know exactly how they were able to make flamers work in an airless environment. All I knew was that several Marines with severe burns had already been transferred back to medical ships, waiting to be taken care of because the situation was that bad.
After days of fighting, we had arrived just a mile away from the target—an installation with fortifications that promised even more pain and suffering to gain entry. I had no idea how we were going to accomplish that.
A dedicated full-on charge looked dangerous to me, and attempts to bring in air support were not working well. Artillery was somewhat softening the area, but it remained a hard point that we couldn't penetrate.
I was contemplating the possibility of enduring the casualties of a direct charge across an open plain when Wolf Lord Henry Fyf uncovered something—tunnels, lots of tunnels.Wolf Lord Henry Fyf had taken upon himself to do some poking around he noted a lot of evidence that this Moon was previously used as an old Mining Base, so he had used his rank to have the moon scanned and found network tunnels and caves that made swiss cheese of the moon's interior. On his own authority he used members of his Great Company to conduct scouting missions to map out those tunnels, and brought me a great gift for me as he had found a path through the tunnels that led directly toward the installation we were trying to break into.
And so, here we were, skulking through the tunnels, making our way toward this installation. Normally, I wouldn't lead an attack like this, but I wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible to finally meet my sibling. Instead of waiting for my men to do the job, I found myself leading the operation alongside Wolf Lord Henry Fyf. Who I was rewarding for his discovery, but also had past skills and experience in this kind of operation, his company trained for underground combat having served in expeditionary forces into Squat space and fought in a small series of civil conflicts alongside the Imperium allied Squat Leagues, and since I could only bring a limited number down in to this confined space it was best to bring men who knew how to fight in this environment.
We were on the verge of accomplishing our mission, as far as I was concerned. True, we still had a few hundred feet to go before reaching the actual installation and achieving victory, thereby aiding my sibling's fight on the planet below. But that outcome was inevitable. Once this conflict was over perhaps I should look into creating more specialized units to our roster, perhaps starting with special operations forces akin to the ones the US had. I think I'll have to talk to Lord Fyf about this topic at a later point as he's proven that he has the skills necessary, afterall it might be a good opportunity to test the capabilities of my Wolf Lords.
And as often happens, things started to go awry.
As we approached the next set of doors, moving quietly through the tunnels and armed with the quietest weapons we had—blades to eliminate anyone who tried to impede our progress—an explosion occurred somewhere above us.
Turning to Wolf Lord Henry Fyf, I asked, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but above us is the field I decided my men shouldn't charge across, right?"
Wolf Lord Henry Fyf nodded before replying, "As far as I'm aware, yes. We shouldn't be hearing anything because you gave direct orders not to attack."
Hmm, tapping the side of my helmet, I attempted to tap into the communication relay, not to speak and reveal our location, but to listen in on transmissions and find out what was happening.
"Who the fuck invited the Word Bearers to launch a fucking attack at this time of fucking day in the middle of a fucking kill zone!?" came the voice of another Wolf Lord who was on the surface and likely had a good view of the situation.
Another Wolf Lord spoke up, someone I wasn't familiar with, perhaps a newcomer to the ranks. "I didn't know who authorized their presence, but someone must have. Or maybe they were acting on their own. I thought they were busy assaulting the planet's surface."
"Yeah, that's what I was about to say," replied the first Wolf Lord, before another voice joined the conversation.
"Rejoice, fellow Sons of the Emperor! We have been informed about the situation here and how this installation may hold the key to victory on the planet below. Thus, Lorgar has come with the first company to take the installation."
I groaned in annoyance and turned off the communication system to avoid any feedback.
"Well, there goes the silent attack," I muttered, wondering how many forces the Word Bearers under Lorgar's command could detach for an attack on an installation like this.
It was probably my own fault for sharing information about my plans with the representatives of the Word Bearers that I had managed to speak with. I hadn't actually met or spoken with Lorgar, as they had sent a message stating that we should meet on the battlefield, as the Emperor decreed, and get to know each other there. It wasn't how I believed the Emperor intended it, but what could I do? That person was willing to follow the rules of the game the Emperor had set out, and there wasn't much I could do to persuade them otherwise.
"Fine," I said as I drew my sword and kicked open the next set of doors, slashing a soldier who rushed at me with a gun in half. The top of his torso went flying past my shoulder due to the lower gravity, while the lower torso and legs took a few steps before freezing in place, locked by the gravity of the Moon and the armor suit.
"Well, it looks like we're in a race now, against Lorgar and their Word Bearers. Wolves, it's time to show your prowess in combat!" I declared.
Several war cries, sounding suspiciously wolf-like, filled the air as they charged past me into the room, searching for enemy combatants and commencing the fight.
It appeared to be some sort of office location. They had no idea that we had discovered their tunnels or that we were coming. This would make it a bit easier for us to push into the fortification. Hopefully, we could cause enough mayhem down here to spare the Word Bearers from being completely annihilated out in the open, where they were charging across an open plain.
That was a question I would have for my sibling when I spoke with them. Were they just too proud to realize that the area was not suitable for a full frontal battle, or had they not considered what they were sending their men into? I wasn't pleased with their lack of strategic thinking on the matter.
As we moved through the building, killing enemies as we went, I could hear more explosions above. This implied that the Word Bearers' commander had not only dropped his men on the open plain but also directly onto the installation. Maybe they weren't completely lost then, though it was still a risky move. Attempting something like that would put their vessels within gun range of the anti-aircraft weapons we were trying to destroy.
It was a very risky maneuver, not something I would have done and not something that seemed tactically sound to me.
But they were obviously doing it. There wasn't much I could say on the matter. I had to keep quiet so we could sneak into the enemy's main bunker before they could transfer full control of their security network elsewhere, if that was even a possibility.
"My Primarch," called Wolf Lord Henry Fyf as he pointed towards a nearby set of doors, which thankfully had a sign in a language that looked very much like English for a command center above it.
I smiled at him in acknowledgment before charging towards the doors, bursting through into the main room to see what we were dealing with.
And immediately, I got punched in the face and was sent flying back through the double doors.
It felt like I had been hit by a train again, and that was not a pleasant feeling. Shaking myself off, I got up and looked up to see two aberrations that resembled Ogryns stepping through the doorway.
I say "resemble" because although they were definitely of Ogryn stock, large humanoids with brutish looks, they appeared to have been genetically altered and modified through technology. If I had to guess, I'd say they were half-cyborgs in their brains, which posed a problem. Fighting something that was dumb and strong was one thing, but fighting something that was both strong and intelligent, even mechanically intelligent, was a different story altogether.
One of the creatures wielded a large sword, while the other carried a massive club. They stepped in and smashed their way through two Marines, trying to get between me and them.
"We, guardians of the Phoenix, will stop you here, creatures of the false Emperor," said the one with the club, its mechanical voice sounding more rehearsed than intelligent. The other creature swung its sword at me, attempting to impale me on the wall. I dodged out of the way, though annoyingly, it caught the edge of my cape, preventing me from getting completely free.
The club-wielding Ogryn then came at me while I was busy with the first , but I managed to block its attack with my sword. However, I ended up pinned between the club and the other creature's sword, with the Ogryn trying to force me onto the blade, as if it were sharp enough or strong enough to cut through the armor, even with no force behind it.
I had no guarantees that it wasn't, so I did my best to prevent that from happening. Instead, I smashed my foot into the sword-Ogryns leg, causing it to slide off to the right, and its sword smashed into a nearby wall.
The other half-cyborg Ogryn turned towards me, smiling as it raised its club again, preparing to strike. I readied my sword to defend myself, but several of my Marines opened fire on it, causing massive damage to its left arm, reducing it to a gory mess.
The creature let out a sound of pain and turned to face my Marines, preparing to retaliate. Meanwhile, the other Ogryn charged at them, smashing them into the wall and breaking their guns before attempting to pummel them.
Seizing the opportunity, I tried to strike the creature, but even with one arm disabled, it effectively wielded the club to block my attack.
"The Reach will remain free!" the creature called out before snapping its jaws tightly.
I had a moment of confusion before the Ogryn cyborg suddenly ceased to exist, exploding into fire and gore, sending me flying back towards the impaled sword in the wall.
Fortunately, my cape proved to be stronger than the force behind that sword, which they intended to slice me in half with. So I bounced off it, feeling a lot of pain in my spine as I hit the floor. I lay there, a bit confused and perplexed by my miscalculation, before hearing the rumble of something big approaching. I pulled myself up and looked up just in time to see the remaining Ogryn and the one who had lost their sword above me, grabbing the blade out of the wall, most likely intending to decapitate me.
I rolled out of the way as the blade came down, slashing through the floor with surprising sharpness. It was evident that the sword had been enhanced with some sort of energy, as indicated by the faint glow.
"Die, monster!" cried the once-Ogryn, slashing at me. I deflected the larger blade with my shorter chainsword, the gears shrieking in pain as steel met steel for a moment before our blades separated.
My long blade, which I had apparently lost in the explosion, was in a corner of the room. I reached for my secondary emergency weapon, my ax, flipping the short blade into an offhand position and holding the ax in the other, ready to defend myself. Most of the Marines who had come with me were either dead or badly injured, which spoke volumes about the creatures' power. The scientific advancements on this Reach planet would surely pose a problem.
I began to infuse a spell into my sword, hoping to freeze the creature, although I suspected it wouldn't be very successful given its cybernetics. It probably could regulate its heat level.
But before I could see the end of this fight, someone interrupted it, screaming, "Sister!" The wall to the creature's left burst open as a mace smashed through, and a figure, no taller than myself, stumbled through, seemingly controlled by the force of the mace.
The figure wore gray armor, their face obscured. They moved quickly, the mace in their hand glowing blue with some sort of energy as they squared up with the sword-wielding monster.
I prepared to strike the creature but decided to offer it a chance to surrender. "Drop the weapon, and maybe we'll let you live."
The creature looked back and forth between me and the gray-suited figure as more of the gray-suited Marines poured out of the hole it had created, obviously members of the Word Bearers.
"For the Phoenix Kings, I die," the giant cyborg said, raising the sword in front of it as if it were some sort of totem, then clenching its jaw.
"Fuck!" I swore, jumping between the incoming explosion and my sibling raising a shield just in time for the shell to be splattered with the gore of the former cyborg, and the room was engulfed in fire once again.
I lowered the shield, debris falling with it, and fell to a knee, checking the room to see how the rest of my Marines were doing.
"Speak up, Wolves! Who's alive?" I called out. There was silence before several moans of pain and muttering as a few surviving Marines, some missing limbs, pulled themselves together. I did a quick count and found that out of the small group who had entered the room with me, five did not get up in any condition, indicating they were either dead or in such bad shape that they would need extensive medical aid to return to the fight.
"Fine," I got up, pulling off my wolf helm, noticing the amount of gore on it, and dropping it onto a magnetic plate on the side of my armor. I turned to face my sibling, who was doing a similar action, removing their own helm.
"Tanya Russ. I guess you've already heard of me since you've called me sis..." I stopped mid-sentence as, for the second time in 60 years, a Primarch hugged me. While it wasn't as backbreaking as Vulcan's hugs, it was still powerful enough to force some air out of me.
"I've been waiting for this day," came the voice of Lorgar before they set me back down, having lifted me off my feet by six inches during the hug.
"You have?" I asked, coughing before getting a good look at them and realizing something else. Not only were they about my height, but they were also my gender. Their eyes, glowing with a somewhat familiar yellow, reminded me of the few times I had seen myself in a mirror during my use of the Type 95, and their hair was pale white in a familiar haircut style that I just couldn't remember the name of.
Smiling broadly, a look of pure euphoria, Lorgar said, "Yes, I've known from the first time I heard of you that we would get along. Your indomitable spirit and your efforts to raise the primitives of your world into a civilized society serve as a model for all Primarchs to follow, But where are my manners sister. I am Lorgar Aurelian, Primarch of the Word Bearers and Lord of Colchis."
Oh, thanks. My head is not really sure how to take what sounds like some grade A ass-kissing. Is this true admiration of my success, or are they just aware that I am probably one of the Primarchs most likely to end up in higher positions as a more definite command structure is built, such as with the Lion trying to establish herself as the War Master during the Rangdan campaign?
But instead of aiming to become a War Master, they are looking to become the second hand of a War Master. It's hard to say, but I just nodded along and said, "I would love to have a continued conversation about this, but we need to secure this installation before they transfer command of their anti-orbital weapon network anywhere else."
"Already on it," the white-haired woman said, pointing her glowing mace at one of her men who immediately nodded and rushed into the room with several other Marines. "They can handle it. They're trained by the Mechanicum. And please, take control of this facility now that we've removed its guards."
"Well, good," I said, turning towards my men who were pulling themselves together, before adding, "By the way, rather bold move to just launch yourself at the enemy's position. The losses must have been horrendous." I was trying to convey my perspective that what she had done was a mistake.
Unfortunately, what I got was even more surprising.
"Yes, the losses were horrendous, but I knew it was the best option. In fighting as quickly as possible, losses can be made up in time. We need to conquer these planets and start converting them back to the Imperium as soon as possible. Wasting time fighting over the planets instead of converting the people is a waste of time."
I blinked several times before saying, "Compliance? You mean?"
Lorgar nodded her head in agreement, saying, "Yes, yes, compliance. We just tend to use the word 'converting' because we spend a lot more time making sure the planet can actually stand up amongst the other worlds we have conquered. So many of our siblings just destroy everything and then move on. I prefer to put as much work as possible into a planet, making sure that it is raised up to the Emperor's standards and capable of producing a defensive force for its own protection."
"Ah," I said, nodding and understanding the point of view. After all, improving the situation of a world was one of the goals I tried to set up for Perturabo in order to help him better connect with the people he was conquering. After all, he was capable of quite a lot of wonderful construction work, but sometimes he got a little bit too preoccupied with getting the conquest done as fast as possible, which is why his legion had acquired some unfortunate terms for their usage of the Imperial Army personnel given to them.
Thankfully, he wasn't doing that as often as he had been before the start of the Rangdan Campaign, but it was still a noted problem. It would appear my sister may have the opposite issue. While Perturabo was gunning at the bit for conquest to get the Crusade done as fast as possible, instead of better handling her time, it would seem my sister put a lot of time into the rebuilding process. It's not a major issue, but if it slowed them down in the conquest part, that could be problematic.
I wondered if that was perhaps why the Emperor had sent me here. After all, I was pretty talented at handling personnel, and maybe he thought I could do some good with my sister here, getting her to speed up her processes of conquest.
Shaking my head, I simply said, "Well, sister, we'll have to talk about how you handle these compliance operations. Mine are not usually as involved, but I wouldn't spend that much time there. Getting the planet under the control of the Emperor is more important than setting down the framework for a long-lasting society. There are people who are more skilled at that and can handle that operation."
My sister sighed before saying, "Is that really true? We Primarchs were created by the Emperor to be pillars of humanity, were we not? Why should we not take pride in our work and do the utmost important work that there is—rebuilding society after we have conquered it, leaving it better than how we found it?"
I will admit, that was a very inspiring speech, but I said, "True, but there's no need for us personally to oversee every single planet. Besides, this is a conversation that can wait until after we're done with this operation today—clearing out these Phoenix worshippers."
My sister nodded, annoyed that we couldn't continue the conversation, before saying, "Of course, Erebus, take some men in there and deal with what's left of the security detail. We must have this operation under our control."
"Of course, my Primarch," a Marine with a full helmet said, his armor decorated with several images and written languages. They raised their weapon and charged into the room, followed by several other Word Bearers. The sounds of fighting echoed from the room, and I peeked in to see that, like many Space Marines, they were very skilled in their craft of killing, dealing with anyone who tried to stop them with ferocity. Even another cyborg broke through a wall, though this one appeared less complete than the duo I faced. It unleashed a volley of fire from a Gatling weapon of some type, only to be rendered into pieces by counter bolter fire.
In short order, the room was secured, and we were allowed to enter. The Primarch of the Word Bearers led the way, saying, "Wonderful, just wonderful. Good job, Erebus. With this under our control, we finally have the keys to taking this planet." She turned to me and said, "And thank you, my sister. I've been trying to locate something to give us an advantage this whole time. Unfortunately, they have kept their secrets well, and I am unwilling to risk sending a battleship within range of their guns. You must have much trust in the captain of your Gloriana."
I smiled and said, "They've been with me for nearly 60 years. I trust them as much as they trust me. And if they're willing to stick by me after some of the operations I've pulled, I can trust them to do what I order them to do and succeed."
Lorgar nodded in agreement, saying, "That is how it should be, trust between Primarchs and the people we put in charge of our operations."
"Exactly," I mused, before offering, "Perhaps you should learn to trust your Word Bearers a bit more. Leaving a few units behind to do the job of raising a planet from up is not a terrible option, in my opinion. Perturabo has become quite good at it over the years, as have I."
"Hmm, true, true," Lorgar said, nodding her head. "I just feel like I should have my personal hands in the rebuilding of society. Maybe I should take a step back, focusing on the creation of my book."
"You're writing?" I asked, somewhat interested but also looking at a nearby computer console as several Wolves, who were more skilled in technology, and Word Bearers found their way to the consoles and got to work, taking control of the satellite network and orbital defense arrays.
"It's a hobby of mine. I wish to create a work that I think will help with the foundation of our new society when the crusade is over," Lorgar replied. Then she continued, "I think it'll redefine our culture."
I chuckled before saying, "It might, but you have to remember, it's a galaxy-wide culture. Culture is a fickle thing. It'll take a long time for something like that to spread, and sometimes people dislike new cultures trying to impose themselves on another place."
"Hmm, true, true. Unfortunate but very true," Lorgar said, nodding her head. Then she added, "But I'll let you have a look at my book. Maybe you'll see something that will allow it to be better spread across the Imperium and help improve the lives of the average Imperial citizen."
I smiled before saying, "I would love to. I tend to enjoy looking at other Primarchs' personal hobbies. I think it's something we should encourage, as it keeps us centered and makes us more relatable to the average human."
"Hmm, interesting notion," Lorgar said, before adding, "I'll be sure to give you a first copy as soon as it's ready."
I smiled and nodded. This was going to be an interesting campaign. If they were genuinely interested in helping rebuild society, I would need to work hard to get their heads on straight so they wouldn't become too slow in their operations to rebuild. If their statements were to be interpreted in that way, I hoped it wouldn't be too challenging. It would only be the two of us working together, and it had been too long since I had the opportunity to collaborate with someone individually.
Tanya Russ
The Fidelitas Lex
Normally, when I arrived on a battlefield, I tended to control things directly from my command ship. With the first blood, everything was possible from my office if you were.
But on occasions where I was not the leader of the operation, it was best to go to the leader's office. This time, I was aboard Lorgar's ship, the Fidelitas Lex, a Gloriana-class, of course.
Lorgar seemed to be giving these out like candy to her sons. I hadn't seen many of these classes before, and now I was starting to notice that they weren't mass-produced, which annoyed me. Each one seemed to be a different style, with designs somewhat similar but obviously made with different points. Was the Emperor just commissioning these ships as they found them from old archives, or was there some reason he chose to give each of us a slightly different Gloriana-class ship?
I would have to talk to him about that next time. Though, knowing me, I would most likely forget about it during the moment. It tends to happen when you have a lot of things on your mind, such as the fate of planets and solar systems, maybe even humanity at stake.
Anyway, after the successful capture of Ark Reach VI and its moon, it was time for a good, long conversation with my newly discovered sister and to find out exactly what her deal was.
I did notice a few interesting things as I made my way to my sister's chamber. For one, there were a lot more battle-capable humans amongst the crew aboard this ship. Oh, there were plenty of Space Marines in their armor, preparing for their next operation, but there were also human soldiers preparing right alongside them.
That somewhat appeased me. Most of my siblings didn't see the need to reinforce bonds with their people, and if my sister's legion had a similar mindset to mine on that matter, well, then we probably would get along to some extent.
As the elevator finally came to a stop, I half expected to see some great hall or throne room, but what opened up before me was a library.
I had to blink a couple of times in confusion. Some of my Marines looked around, confused as well. Most likely, they had been expecting something along the same lines, but obviously, we were wrong.
No vast windows opening out onto space. Instead, there were just shelves and shelves of reading material. There was a central table, but there were also several couches and other places to make oneself comfortable. And there was my sister, sitting on one of the couches, in a very relaxed tilt, with her elbow up on one side and the other hand holding a goblet of something. She was writing something into a book in front of her. She was not wearing any armor, nor was she wearing any under armor. No, she had gone for something that looked more like a toga than anything.
She looked up as I entered and said, "Come in, come in, sister. I've been waiting to talk to you," waving for me and the others to enter the relaxed library properly.
I stepped in and said, rather haphazardly, "I feel a bit overdressed." Not that there weren't a few men with full power armor, but not as many. There were also several humans working on the shelves.
"I understand, I understand," Lorgar said, waving her hand as if it was nothing. "Father has always said you should wear armor on campaign, even when you're not in danger. But I just get too stuffy in those things. For Primarchs, the pinnacles of humanity, to see ourselves crammed in such armor is to cut us off from what makes us human."
"That is a take," I said, stepping into the room, before adding, "but I will keep your thoughts in mind next time. Perhaps I will bring along some of my retinue to help take off some armor. Oh, I would also need some sort of changing room. After all, it's best to wear armor when transferring between ships."
Lorgar tapped her chin and thought before saying, "You know, that is a good idea. I'll have to arrange dressing rooms for all the Primarchs, just so they can shift into something more comfortable in the future."
She then motioned towards a table in front of her, bringing up a holographic map of the Ark Reach system. "Anyways, let's take a seat and discuss what we need to do. As you already know, we've taken Ark Reach VI. I've been trying to take it for what feels like a year now, but they've been extremely stubborn. Being able to bring in supplies from not only the fellow Ark Reach planets but also external colonies from beyond our known understanding of the sector, which we are trying to hunt down, as well as possible Eldar interference."
"Eldar interference, dark or otherwise?" I asked, trying to get a better idea of the situation.
"Otherwise. They seem to be trade allies with regional Eldar Craftworlds and perhaps have modeled some elements of their society on Elder governments they interacted with. We believe the Phoenix King, as they call their leaders, might come from some aspect of their culture."
"Hmm, are the Eldar contributing to their defenses, or are they just sending well wishes?" I asked as I took the seat across from her.
"I don't think an Eldar would risk their life for a simple human, even ones that are friendly to them. No, the most the Eldar are willing to do is allow some of the Ark Reach sector's colonial cargo ships to use their gateways to pass through our blockade and remain undetected. They're aiding them, but not as far as we can see in a military capacity. They're not adding weapons, guns, or manpower to the stockpile, just allowing Ark Reach to gather what weapons, guns, and stockpile whatever resources they can."
"Well, that's not good," I mused before adding, "We need to shut the door on this system firmly. Otherwise, Ark Reach is more likely to get desperate and start bringing in mercenaries."
"You mean Orks, most likely," Lorgar corrected. "I've heard of your use of them in the past. Most likely the Orks and the Shark-like Xenos, are likely to show up at some point. But we prefer to keep them out. I agree. I'm trying to locate the passageway. If we can find it, we can prevent them from using it, assuming there's only one way into the sector."
I nodded before asking, "Have we tried contacting the others and asking them to knock it off?"
Lorgar shrugged her shoulders before saying, "Hey, I don't know if that's even possible. We don't know which Eldar are helping them. It's not like they've made it apparent that they wish to be part of the problem."
"Hmm, unfortunate," I said, shaking my head before adding, "Have we tried to reach some sort of agreement with the people of this sector? Get them to surrender peacefully? The fighting going on down on the planet below sort of indicates that they will be trying to die fighting, like this is some sort of existential threat, when we're just trying to unify humanity here."
Lorgar shrugged before saying, "Their worship of their Phoenix Kings is a bit of a problem. We don't want that particular religion spreading outside the sector. And when we told them they would have to knock it off, they did not take kindly to that. Understandable, really. I can understand why giving up your religion can be a problem. It's one of our greatest inventions, if you ask me."
I blinked and looked up at her before asking, "Why do you think that? From my understanding of religion, it's been rather restrictive on certain technologies."
"Well, that's a misconception created by several people who simply want to stamp down on religion in general. Most forget that quite a lot of science and understanding of the universe came from various religions over the years. People act like they never asked questions in religion, instead just believed. That's not the truth. People ask questions about religion all the time and try to solve them. It's just trying to find the proper framework," Lorgar said with a shrug, leaning back in her seat and moving some of her white hair out of her eyes before continuing. "Besides that, it's an unnatural thing to consider that religion is possibly the pinnacle of human expression. Out of religion has grown arts, science, and all the other aspects of culture that make life worth living. Without it, our world would be rather dull."
"Yes, but religion also has a tendency to entrap people into beliefs that do not help. And who's to stop the infiltration of forces who wish to see humanity's pinnacle of expression, as you call it, turned against it?" I countered, leaning back in my chair.
"Obviously, humanity. This is why we should be focusing on creating some sort of organized religion to keep a watch on what will naturally be created by simply existing. It would be harder for things that are not properly a representation of humanity to gain control of our religion if we control it ourselves," Lorgar explained.
"Yes, but hasn't the Emperor banned organized religion?" I pointed out, leaning back in my chair.
My sister nodded before saying, "Yes, yes, I do think that he will change his mind on that eventually. But for now, we need to ban the majority of organized religions, destroy them where we can. Otherwise, they will be left to fester and become something else. Personal faith, small cults, those are well within his acceptable things. He's even allowed several organized religions to continue existing, such as the Catherics, though I grant you they're not much of an organized religion. They do have a long history, going back almost to the 1st millennium, possibly beyond that. Obviously, the Emperor is going to be accepting of some organized religion sooner or later. He just needs to make sure that the bad ones are excised from our lives so humanity can grow to its pinnacle."
"And what about the good ones? These Catherics, what else?" I asked, as I was unfamiliar with the Catherics per se. I think I had heard something about there being some sort of Christianity sect that was still around. That might be the Catherics that Lorgar was referring to. I noted, though, that if they were indeed the descendants of Christianity and the Emperor had given them special dispensation to exist when he was going out there and crushing all the others, it did say something about the possibility of religion being an accepted thing sometime in the future.
"I mostly rely on your planet's own faith system for my understanding. No organized system to which one I have been able to piece together from what little trinkets have made it through the reports. But your people believe the Emperor is a God, and that makes perfect sense to me," Lorgar explained.
I blinked before saying, "I'm sorry, did you just say the Emperor is a God?"
"Well, what else would you call a luminary who has brought humanity from the brink of destruction into a mighty and great Reformation? If anyone is worthy of taking the title of God, it would be the Emperor," Lorgar replied.
I shook my head before saying, "Some of my people may confuse the All Father for the Emperor, I admit that. But I do not think the Emperor would be very kind to the idea of being called a god, especially with the things in the Warp out there."
"Hmm, and why is that? Don't we know that having control of the Warp could grant us powers of unusual abilities? I imagine that if we could convert the majority of humanity to believe in the Emperor as a god, we would have the powers to push back the things in the Warp, force them away from us, and illuminate the galaxy, protecting it from any such creatures from attacking us again," Lorgar argued.
I nodded, unsure about it. It was an interesting idea, but I countered by saying, "The Emperor's plan, though, is to destroy those creatures, not push them away. And by that same idea, if we were to target those creatures openly as false gods and demons, well, that places them in a new place in the hierarchy, now doesn't it?"
Lorgar raised an eyebrow before saying, "What do you mean?"
I sighed and leaned forward, saying, "Let's say the Emperor's plan is achieved. He creates a system where there is an irreligious belief across the Milky Way galaxy, that there are no powers in the Warp. Well, the Warp loses power, and the beings there hopefully cease to exist. Once they're gone, humanity would be free from such terrors that were sprung upon humanity when we were weaker."
However, if we go with the idea that the Emperor is a God and we should worship him, all we've done is created the positive to their negative. We believe in the Emperor, then we believe those things are not gods; they are devils, demons, creatures that should be scorned. But we still believe in them, and that gives them power. It then creates a sort of edging feeling, encouraging the disaffected and the unimportant of humanity to worship these others in hopes of gaining power and changing their place in the universe that the Emperor is a God would give them.
Lorgar smiled and rubbed her chin before saying, "It's not a bad point, but I would raise you one other problem. What's to stop that from happening under the Emperor's plan?"
I raised an eyebrow, asking, "What do you mean?"
"What's to stop these other beings from being exactly like that? Let's say the Emperor is successful in his plan to build an irreligious society. There will always be people who believe that there's something more beyond. If these creatures reach out to them and give them special powers that they're told they cannot receive through the Imperial Truth, well, there won't be a counterbalance to their negative. There's no positive, only a neutral," Lorgar explained.
I nodded, seeing her point and disliking it. Leaning back, I said, "I want to say no, but let's be honest here. The so-called Dark Age of Technology, as the Mechanicum likes to call it, is a prime example of what you're referring to. I doubt so few people believed in religion as at any other point, and yet these warp beings were able to spring forth and cause quite a little trouble during the Awakening of the psykers."
"And if we're to look at the Mechanicum and believe that they're probably an example of some of what was going on during that period of time, I think we can make the assumption that people were starting to believe in machines more than gods themselves. And that still blew up in our faces," I added.
"Exactly," Lorgar said, seeming to like the fact that I agreed with her , even though deep down I was disliking it. But, sigh, I had to admit she had a reasonable point, and that was annoying to me. As much as I would like to pretend that humanity was better and willing to listen to logic and reason, I had to admit that my own history had put that to the test, and even I had been forced to call upon the powers of Being X during the war.
Shaking my head, I said, "Still, the Emperor has made it quite clear: no organized religion, even worship of him. Before you make any moves like that, you should always run things by the Emperor, get his approval at the bare minimum, a debate like we're having here. I can see only trouble from making decisions without running things by him."
Lorgar sighed before nodding her head, seemingly bored with that notion. "Yes, yes, I've been meaning to speak to him about it, but it's extremely hard to get in contact with him. He's always out there, trying to find our siblings and deal with one chaotic situation after another. I hate to say this, sister, but I think he's going to run himself into the ground before he accomplishes his dreams."
I blinked before asking, "What do you mean?"
"I mean what I said. Father is going to tire himself out and probably need to take a break at some point simply because he's trying to do everything without letting us handle some of the work. He needs a vacation. Even a luminary on the cusp becoming a God can take a break, don't you think?"
Not comfortable with the idea but agreeing to the notion that he could be running himself ragged, I acknowledged, "Well, that may be true, but he's doing a damn good job of it so far. And just because he's busy doesn't mean you shouldn't run things by him. The options I presented here are just my beliefs on the situation. Though I've spoken with the Emperor on some more subjects in the past, it should be something you run by him at the very minimum, try to organize your thoughts on an organized religion."
"Oh, what do you mean by that?" Lorgar asked, leaning forward in front of me, which I tried not to notice, although I got a rather nice view down the front of her robe. Bad Tanya, that's your sister.
"Well, there are three priesthoods on my planet: the Priesthood of Iron, the Priesthood of the Wolf, and the Priesthood of Runes, each representing a different aspect of Fenrisian culture, metalworking, magic, and the hunt, I guess you could say. That's it. There's no organized structure beyond that, no churches. People are allowed to believe what they want as long as their beliefs are not harmful to others. You've got to bring in that influence to whatever you're creating; otherwise, I think you'll find that things aren't as rosy for your organized religion," I explained.
She sat there thinking for a moment, her lips pursed, before saying, "Alright, I see your point. I will endeavor to try and make the book I'm working on have more openness to belief." She leaned back and pulled out a quill to write something in her notes.
"Also, do not assert that the Emperor is a God. As I said, that just creates a problem you don't want to deal with," I added.
"Oh, then what would you assert them as?" she asked, leaning forward.
"I would assert exactly what you said. He is a luminary. He's probably a great example for humans to live up to, but make sure that you clarify he is human. It doesn't matter how many superpowers he's got lying around; he came from human stock," I replied.
"Yes, but he also came from a sacrifice of 1,000 druids or more across the entire planet of Terra," Lorgar said matter-of-factly.
"I'm sorry, what?" I exclaimed, not expecting her to have this information.
"Oh yes, I was able to wring that out of father when we were having a drink when we first met. Apparently, he was created by a thousand druids or more, all foreseeing what was going to come for humanity and deciding that it would need a guardian. They all killed themselves and forced their souls into one body to create said guardian."
I think I had to raise my estimates of Lorgar since I only got that information from him because of my unique circumstances. Lorgar had got a lot of information out of the Emperor, enough so that it was apparent that she seemed to have gotten on well with him.
"What…" that's all I could come up with. How do you respond to that point, that your father of this life is an amalgamation of a thousand or more souls all stuck into one body, and was technically cheated to get to where he was on the scale of humanities development. Granted, I would assume after the countless eons he's lived he probably absorbed a soul or two at this point, but still, it kind of goes against this whole idea that all of humanity could rise to his level when he literally cheated to get there.
Flooded with a sigh, I put my hands over my face and rubbed it, trying to work out the mental cramps caused by the fact that Lorgar was right.
Finally, I took a breath, leaned back, and said, "Okay, you have a point but still, we can assume humanity could reach that level of psychic potential in time and he just expedited that ability."
Lorgar nodded matter-of-factly before adding, "I mean, it doesn't matter to me how he came into being. He is a luminary here to protect and guide humanity. He just has to accept his role in the matter. Right now, he thinks having a galactic religion is not the greatest idea. I'm sure he will change his mind as he realizes his plan does not work. We simply need to build conclaves as quietly as possible and wait for our time, so that it can be used to fulfill his grand plans and keep humanity safe."
"That's why I'm working on a book, you see. My people can't be everywhere. We can't force religion on everyone. But if there's a book written by one of the Primarchs on why the Emperor is the luminary among men, then people will have something to read, to understand, to mimic."
"As long as they're just reading and mimicking, rather than sitting on decisions, I'm sure that's fine. If you build a church and people are forced to attend, that's a bit of a problem. Forced conversions are only going to lead to problems," I explained.
Lorgar looked at me before asking, "Isn't forcing people to take on the Imperial Truth a forced conversion?"
I let out a sigh before nodding my head, saying, "Yes, but at least conversion to 'don't talk about your religion' is a lot better than 'you should believe what I believe'."
"So what you're saying is that I should be trying to create a religion that can work within a system that does not want to talk about religion? A personal faith that could spread among people without needing to be forcefully proselytized? I don't think that really works, but I'll keep that in mind," Lorgar said, writing something down before sighing and saying, "But that's enough talk of religion. We still have to deal with the whole Arc Reach sector. You've been sent here to help me. Any ideas on how we're going to deal with these Phoenix King worshippers?"
"Well, I brought most of my Space Marine legion that can fight right now. We could do it two ways: deploy some of our forces on each planet and take them all out at the same time, or try to overwhelm each planet one after another," I suggested.
Lorgar paused before saying, leaning back, "I've been trying to take this one planet for 2 years. Even with your help, that means we'll be in this sector for several years at the minimum. They are able to bring in enough supplies to keep the war effort going as long as they have other planets to call upon. Perhaps we should be looking for a way to hit all the planets at once."
"With five planets and two legions, there are enough great companies that I could spread out with. Though, perhaps we should think more strategically. Send forces to some planets to keep their forces pinned down while a majority of our forces target one particular planet," I said, offering another solution.
"Yes, that could work," Lorgar said with a nod, adding, "Yes, I can break up my legion into six and send a group to each of the planets, while keeping two to work on Ark Reach V, the next planet in the lineup."
"I agree," I said, "I could send some of my troops to work with you on that. I'm not familiar with your men's tactics, but my men's abilities to raid and move should be good enough to cause trouble on the enemy's planets. If they're too busy trying to defend themselves, hopefully, they won't be able to defend each other. Do we know anything about special abilities or potential issues that may arise?"
Lorgar nodded before saying, "Arc Reach I and II are probably going to be the hardest to break. The population on those planets has a large psyker contingent. I would have thought such a place would have fallen into ruins sooner, but apparently, the Phoenix Kings have allowed them to use these populations to their benefit. And now they're using them to hold us at bay. Perhaps they have learned some techniques from the Eldar. It's the best explanation I can come up with for why they can use their powers so effectively."
"I was not aware of this," I said, surprised. "It was not in the report I received. It was only supposed to be six planetary empires, not four, and two planetary empires with psychic abilities."
She nodded before saying, "I've only just learned of this. I sent a scout to the second planet, and well, he was ripped apart in orbit by some unseen force. So, I sent one to the first, and the same thing happened. But it didn't happen on the third. So, I must assume that this population of psykers comes from those first two planets."
She leaned over and picked up her goblet of wine, sipping it before saying, "Knowing this, I have requested help from the Emperor. I know your people are somewhat skilled at fighting psychics, but I thought we could use a little something extra, so he is sending the Thousand Sons Legion to give us aid. They should be here within a year."
"Thousand Sons," I said matter-of-factly, thinking back before saying, "I don't think I've ever run into them in any of the reports I've read."
"As far as I know, they have not been in any major campaigns yet. This will probably be their first active one where they're working with other Primarchs, I would think. So, I could be wrong on that matter. Either way, they are scheduled to arrive in a year and have the abilities to help us fight these things. Till then, well, we must fight these Phoenix Kings and their psychic ilk and cleanse this planet of this strange religion while we can."
"What's so bad about this religion in particular that's got you upset, sister?" I asked, noting that this was the second or third time they used a rather demeaning and angered phrase when referring to these Phoenix Kings.
"That's quite simple," she replied. "They believe their Phoenix Kings are luminaries of the same status as the Emperor. In fact, they think they're better than the Emperor. It's an insult to the Emperor just based on that."
My eyes narrowed before I said, "You didn't start a war with them because they said something like that, right? They refused outright before that knowledge was achieved."
She looked at me shocked before saying, "My sister, I may have my beliefs about them for sure, but I will tell you now, I did my best to try and come to some sort of agreement with these people. They have some interesting cultural aspects I wanted to learn about, but they rebuffed my hand of friendship. They fired a missile at my Gloriana as I tried to speak with their Phoenix Kings. They have no interest nor desire to join the Imperium by open hand, and they have made it quite clear that if we try to progress any further in this area of space, they will rally to any planet that needs defending. They must be dealt with before the expansion of the Crusade can continue beyond its current location."
"Alright, alright," I said, raising my hands before adding, "Just had to be sure. I know some people get a little too enthusiastic with their job. I've heard rumors of some Primarchs having a bad interaction and starting conflicts for no good reason."
"Oh, what rumors? I love those," Lorgar asked.
I shrugged before saying, "Supposedly, in the early days of the Crusade, one of the Primarchs, which one I don't know because information is a bit scarce, was insulted over something banal, such as the company they keep, and they ended up burning half the planet. I think it might be Perturabo, but he's never clarified if it was him. So…" I shrugged, which got a nod from her.
"I understand," Lorgar said before saying, "One of the problems of Father's plans, but I think it is the right plan. That's all. Meeting on the battlefield allows us to meet at our best. I think when we're at our sharpest, we can better understand each other when we meet."
"That's what he thinks. I'm not so sure about it, but that's for next time. Do you have any more of that wine? I'm a bit parched, and I need to get myself ready for the next fight we get involved in on Arc Reach V."
Lorgar looked up, smiled, and signaled a girl carrying a rather large wine jug to move forward, along with another girl carrying a mug. "Same. I've been waiting for you to ask that."
Lord Wolfen
Ark Reach IV
"Come on, sisters! Do you want to live forever!!?" I cried out as I pulled myself out of the trench, holding the lofted Eldar staff as a rallying standard, encouraging the other Valkyria to stand and charge with me.
Arc Reach IV was an agri-world. There were cities, yes, but for the most part, it was predominantly farmland. We had to fight for every little parcel, it felt like the Phoenix worshipers did everything they could to stop our forward momentum.
I had not been entirely successful. We had managed to take one of the major cities in the southern part of the planet, which allowed us to move our lines forward every day. But we didn't have the resources to fully push into the enemy's lines with the speed and power of the Space Marines.
For the most part, the Wolves of Fenris were dedicated elsewhere, which allowed moments of glory for the Valkyria. My sisters and I were fighting against rather low-bearing tanks and autoguns that kept us from advancing. But that did nothing really, since their tanks were quite easily spotted by the tanks of Tanya Russ, which could locate and blow them up easily enough. As for their autoguns, they could sometimes get lucky and hit a weak spot. But for the most part, the majority of the Valkyria had Valkyrie-pattern power armor by this point. We may not have had the same strength and capabilities as the Space Marines, but we did have enough defenses that we could move across an open field.
That's what my sisters and I were doing. I was trying to lower any chance of us taking too many wounds, using my reflective shield spell in front of me and as many sisters as I could protect. The enemy unleashed devastating fire at us, hoping to slow us down.
In some areas, that would probably have worked, but we had been preparing this particular attack for a week now, bombarding areas around here to draw enemies into those zones, hoping to weaken this particular area to the point that an infantry advance could succeed.
If we could break the line here, the Space Marines from the Word Bearers would have an open road to the next city. So, it's not like there was a lot of pressure, just a lot of hope that this could succeed and hopefully make it easier for Tanya and the rest of the legion once they were done on Arc Reach V, where I understood they were being given the runaround by flying dragons or something—something that had not been spotted here but was probably native to one of the internal planets.
We were halfway across the field. Some of my sisters had already fallen when we ran into the first real issue. Barbed wire traps—something that should not affect the power-suited boots of our armor. But if you dig them deep enough, it is going to catch a person off balance. Anyone taking a step and falling a foot deep into a hole lined with barbed wire is going to get stuck.
A few sisters fell and stumbled, immediately becoming targets for fire. Those who were not wearing helmets regretted that choice as the rounds found that weak point easily enough.
Thankfully, the majority of us kept moving, and Tanya Russ's tanks and Chimera transport quickly came up to those who were stuck, either turning themselves to provide cover for them to get out of the holes or moving on, trying to draw fire onto themselves.
This slow forward advance continued as artillery began to rain down in our area. I had hoped we had counter-battery fired most of the guns in this area to destruction, but apparently, they kept a few for what they thought was an inevitable attack. Good on them, but it was probably too late because there were only a few yards left before we entered their trenches.
The only real issue I saw was one of the Phoenix King's soldiers, a man wearing gold with a fluffy plume sticking out of his helmet, standing up with an RPG and aiming it directly at me.
Using the magic under my control, I managed to shape the shield so that as the RPG was fired, it was caught in a trench, sliding it into a gentle upward turn before sending it back into the trench.
There was an explosion, clearing that immediate area, and then the slow march was over as we jumped down into the trench, finding the remnants of the enemy scattered by the explosion and finishing them off.
Tanya Russ tanks rolled over the first trench into the second, their guns unleashing fire into them as they did, and the sisters got to work clearing out the trenches, working together to slowly pin the enemy and force them into areas where they could be killed by the armored behemoths above.
While we survived the advance, the reinforcements parked and unloaded another round of sisters who had not risked enemy fire. To be fair, we probably should have all been riding Chimeras, but well, the fact that several Chimeras had exploded behind me pointed out that it was dangerous no matter how we had chosen to cross that no man's land, It was either on foot and having your own choice in the matter or in a machine that might spare your life or might end you with your sisters in one glorious fireball.
Personally, I liked my odds of running across the battlefield with just the magic staff before me, casting shields to try and protect as many as possible, but that was just me.
"There's a counterattack coming!" My sister yelled as they looked over a trench. I pulled myself up, having a task considering that even amongst my sisters, I was on the shorter side thanks to the blessing of my Primarch, Looking on, I saw several vehicles already moving towards us, risking our own counter-battery fire in order to gain control of the lines before it became a full breakthrough. The insignia on the vehicles revealed that they were the Phoenix King's reaction force, their Knights—the closest thing to Space Marines—consisting of heavily armored soldiers in power armor, some with psychic abilities.
Drawing upon my power, I was hoping to enchant a nearby RPG with a rather large explosion, but that was not needed as something blasted a hole through the incoming transport.
Looking back, wondering what vehicle had fired such a large laser beam, I quickly spotted a Word Bearer transport, heavy and too large for its own good, moving across the open area we had just advanced over. Word Bearers marched by it, their guns ready for a fight, and vehicles coming around inside.
"Take cover!" I called into the comms, knowing that this was about to be a very brutal fight. Valkyries were going to be stuck in the middle of Space Marines versus a power armored foe.
My sisters refused to take cover, seeing this as a moment to gain power and prestige. They opened fire on the enemy as they covered the Word Bearers, getting into position. Some of them jumped down alongside them, while others marched onwards.
At the same time the Word Bearers reached our line, so did the enemies Phoenix Knights. Their Phoenix Knights, carrying staves charged by some unknown energy, jumped down and started slashing at my sisters.
One came right at me, jumping over the second trench and seeming to have detected my communication, determining that I was of some sort of importance. Unfortunately for them, I was much more powerful with psychic abilities than they were. With a snap of my fingers, I halted them mid-air. I shattered their knees, twisting their armor to bend in a very incompatible way for their legs. Their screaming was unbearably bad, but I dropped them down, seeing as they were no longer a threat, especially considering more were coming my way.
"I've got you, little one!" someone called before a giant Cataphractii Terminator armor landed in front of me. The individual had a pair of lightning claws and cared not for the enemy's forces, slashing and cutting at them repeatedly until they were all dead.
They turned and gave me a genuine smile, saying, "Good show, Lord Wolfen," before pushing forward, slashing more enemies.
The fighting continued for some time, but after a while, the trenches were ours, and the Word Bearers were pushing onwards, or rather, the majority of them. As I was resting with some of my sisters, catching my breath and eating a ration bar while sipping some water, on a spare log meant for a palisade. The armored individual came by and took a seat right next to me, the log I was on not taking kindly to it and pushing me up about half an inch into the air.
"Sorry about that, " they said, giving me a nod before saying, "You are Lord Wolfen, right? I've heard rumors that you were in charge of the sisters in this area."
"That would be correct," I said with a nod, balancing the best I could a few inches in the air before saying, "Though you have me at a bit of a disadvantage. Who are you?"
"Kor Phaeron, First Captain of the Word Bearers. It's an honor to meet a fellow warrior who risked it all to become a Space Marine, or at least as close as you can."
I raised an eyebrow before saying, "I see my story is starting to spread a bit."
Kor Phaeron chuckled before saying, "Amongst individuals who make up the higher echelons, it gets out that the Primarch of the Wolves has some quirks in their gene-seed."
Kor paused before continuing. "Though I will admit, the warriors of Fenris sure put their all into it. I wanted to aid my daughter in this war, but I was only willing to go through as much augmentation as was physically possible. To actually risk ingesting the gene-seed of their Primarch, well, already as an adult, the people of Fenris sure are a different breed."
I smiled at that before saying, "Well, it isn't written in the stars that we will die fighting. Getting glory and honor for our clans was becoming too tame when I was a youth, and it was only looking like it was going to get tamer. In order for us to get that honor and glory, we had to think outside the box."
Kor nodded his head in understanding. "I can get that. I wish more Space Marines were more accepting of those willing to put their all into it."
I raised an eyebrow before asking, "What do you mean?"
Kor shrugged before responding, "I get called the 'False Astartes' more than you would believe. There's a sizable part of the population, Word Bearers included, that seem to think that if you're not fully a Space Marine, you should not be on the battlefield."
"Foolish," I said with a shake of my head, before adding, "I will admit, our Mother was a bit skeptical of some of our recruits, but Tanya has always believed that in order to win a conflict, you cannot tie your hand behind your back. All resources are acceptable. That's why she's willing to allow failed Space Marines, such as myself, into her own Valkyrie, her personal guard."
"A very wise woman, your Primarch is, then. So is our own, for that matter. Even though part of our population does not agree with allowing humans to take part, our Primarch is willing to give them the shot they need when we need them. Better to have a thousand guns at your back than just three."
"You and Lorgar and Tanya seem to have very similar mindsets on the matter. Perhaps that's a sign that our two Legions will get along better, at least better than Tanya and the Lion."
"Oh, a little bit of trouble between those two?" Kor asked.
"I wouldn't say trouble," I said with a shake of my head. "Just a difference of opinions on how things should be handled. I think those two will eventually get along just fine. It's just that Tanya likes to keep things on a small scale, control what she can, and let people she trusts operate what she can't. Lion El'Jonson, from what I have seen, is more secretive and controlling. They think they can run the whole war from wherever they are. But the fact of the matter is, you can never run a whole war. It's a communal exercise for the population."
"A communal exercise, what a strange way to think of it," Kor said with a nod. "I guess when your planet is trying to kill you, you come up with some strange ways. Looking at the world ours, though a desert, was never too harsh, as I've heard for her own home world it was."
I smiled before saying, "I don't know, trying to survive in a desert sounds a lot harsher than trying to survive in the winters of Fenris. At least there's plenty of wood to burn on Fenris when it gets too cold. Predators are probably a bit more trouble though, unless there are something like giant scorpions or the like."
Kor chuckled before nodding his head, adding, "I don't think I ever saw a giant scorpion, though there were always rumors."
Sighing, he got up from where he was sitting, and I was levered back down into my position.
"Well, I would love to continue this conversation, Miss Wolfen, or is it Mr Wolfen?" Kor Phaeron mused before shrugging and saying, "I wonder if your condition is going to be a more notable thing among Primarchs with female traits, or if it's simply something of Fenris' nature."
I shrugged before saying, "Personally, I think it's something to do with Tanya, but I can't prove that yet. It's a little personal theory of mine, that's all."
"Oh, is there something special about your Primarch?" Kor asked, and I simply shrugged before saying, "Maybe… perhaps there is something special about my Primarch, or maybe there is something special about the people of my world. Perhaps it's just the luck of the draw. I don't know all the reasons, and I don't need to know. All I need to know is where the enemy is so I can win glory for Fenris, be it in this form or one I would prefer."
"Hmm, then let us speak again in the future, Lord Wolfen. I think we have much in common and much to think about. From what I understand, you are a member of the priestly caste of your planet, and I too was once a priest. So, perhaps we have conjoining ideas that could be mutually shared and grown upon."
I smiled, remembering something that I've heard Tanya say before saying out loud. "Networking for the betterment of the Imperium. I wouldn't mind doing that. Next time you're in my area, let's have a longer chat. Perhaps we'll have a chance. I doubt the enemy will come crumbling down if your men take the coming city."
"If only," Kor said, giving a backhanded wave as he walked away.
Kori Bretakollrsson
Ark Reach III
"Enemy approaching from the mountains!" someone shouted, and I was up out of the stupor I had put myself in to catch a moment of rest. Every other battle brother near me was doing the same.
Fighting the Phoenix Knights this close to their protected home cities was a problem. We needed to be on the move and raiding. We didn't have the manpower to engage in a prolonged fight like what was going on in the outer systems. Instead, we needed to cause trouble, create mayhem, and kill as much as we could before moving on. And so far, we have been very successful. However, they were beginning to adapt, and the Phoenix Knights were a prime example of what they were learning to do.
Instead of sending infantry that couldn't keep up with us, they were sending these dragon riders—beasts that could eat through the power armor of a Marine. Thankfully, they were somewhat rare and didn't form a large horde. But they had enough that we had to watch the skies constantly for enemy raids and air assaults while we were stationed here.
Enemies were falling from the sky, with proud colors of independent heraldry indicating their loyalty to one Phoenix King or another. Currently, there were six colors, suggesting that even though we had taken one of the main worlds of the Ark Reach Cluster, the king of that planet had either escaped or they were honoring his life. It was hard to say with the little information we had.
All we knew for sure was that our leaders knew everything that needed to be known, and that the enemy was coming. Taking our positions, we unleashed bolter fire up at the incoming mounted warriors as they dove at us, as they returned fire that bounced and ricocheted off our power armor. Once they were close they drew their lances and charged with their mounts attempting to grab and bite us, but missiles and counterfire soon forced them off. However, they didn't leave without taking a few lives. Some poor Marines were too high up and had his head mauled, or his arm clawed and pulled into the air. Others were really unlucky, as a lance was perfectly aimed for their necks and they were left bleeding out on the ground.
However, for their riders, well, they didn't fare much better. Of the unit that came in hard at us, half of them didn't leave the ground. They tried to buzz us, but instead crashed nearby, riddled with wounds they couldn't survive. The Marines made sure they didn't live. They rushed over and unloaded their bolters and volkite deep into their bodies.
The remaining riders quickly ascended into the atmosphere, turned, and started fleeing. Some of them didn't make it very far before falling out of the air or attempting to land along the way, obviously severely injured and in need of medical attention long before they reached their home base.
Shaking my head, I watched the last retreating figure disappear over the nearby mountains before Bjorn came up next to me, looking out at the fleeing enemy and shaking his head. "You'd think after all these skirmishes we've had, they'd have fewer of these creatures."
"Why not?" I said before adding, "If they had fewer creatures, they wouldn't be as formidable of an enemy. Obviously, they've had time to breed these things, and who knows what else they've done with them. For all we know, they might have a storehouse somewhere with creatures of this variant on ice, just to pull them out in case of emergencies."
"That is a harsh thought, brother," Bjorn said, shaking his head. But he continued, "But not impossible, considering what we've seen in the galaxy."
"So when's the next raid?" I asked, looking down the mountain range towards a nearby town. It had been the next target we were going to hit, so I wondered if that was still the objective. The town was rather quaint, with a little palisade around some major buildings and houses, and a large statue of a man riding a unicorn with wings. I didn't believe that was actually a thing, but it wasn't my field of expertise. And perhaps, with all the strange things out there, it wasn't impossible that someone had created such a creature.
"The next attack was supposed to be in an hour, though I think we might hold that off now," Bjorn replied. "Now that they know we're coming and which direction, we'll probably pull back and hit a different town. We've got to keep the enemy off balance, and if they know where we're going, they'll just set a trap for us."
I nodded in agreement, thinking about how often we had to change our plans to keep the enemy off balance. Then a third voice joined the conversation.
"I see no reason why we shouldn't commence the attack now. If the enemy only recently discovered our target, they couldn't have set many traps," Erebus said, stepping forward. He was one of the hundred or so Word Bearers moving with our company.
I looked over at Erebus, shaking my head. "No, Erebus, engaging the enemy in their current position may seem reasonable since they only recently found out about our target, But they're already on the move, and they'll be here long before we finish the raid, I'd rather not get trapped in a town and be caught in a unexpected siege."
Erebus nodded, acknowledging my point. "I guess you're right. You Wolves of Fenris have a lot more knowledge of the combat aspect of war. We, the Word Bearers, are simply better at handling the administrative aftermath, in my opinion."
Bjorn laughed at that before saying, "Hey, we're not slouches in that category either. I mean, we do keep a contingent at the Wheel of Fire."
"True, true," Erebus conceded, "but they're more like guard dogs, if you pardon the term. We, the Word Bearers, strive to guide civilization as it grows strong and lay its new foundations."
"That's a very high opinion of yourself," I teased before shrugging my shoulders and saying, "But it's not really a problem for us Wolves of Fenris. The people of the Wheel of Fire aren't, for the most part, calling us from Fenris, so they will develop however they see fit. If they happen to align with some of the values we hold, well, that's good for them. If not, as long as they stay on the side of the Imperium, I don't give a damn."
"How very mercenary," Erebus mused before saying, "Aren't you concerned about what could grow on those planets while you're away? After all, those humans have been separated from the majority of humanity for a long time."
I shrugged and replied, "It doesn't matter what they believe. Their benefactors are humanity and the Imperium. Without us, they would not be free. They would be living under the slave labor of the Orks. They may not be loyal to us, but that's a problem we'll have to deal with another time. But frankly, you can ask any Marine here, those people are loyal. We've earned their loyalty through our campaigns in the Wheel of Fire. It's something to remember when you're engaged in these fights. There's always some class being oppressed by xenos, mutants, you name it. You just have to find them and put them back in their place. It's something I've witnessed in many of our campaigns. And when you don't find an oppressed class, finding what makes the population loyal works just as well."
Erebus nodded, coming to some sort of understanding. "I hope you're right. So much of humanity has been scattered throughout the stars. Though I do wonder what secrets we can learn from these human sects that have broken away. We tend to just destroy things that don't make sense to us, but there's so much chaos out there that we need to learn about."
I shrugged again before saying, "I'll leave that to the scholars, which I guess includes you guys. So do us a favor and learn about it. The rest of us have to go beat up the rest of the universe and put it under our heel."
"Ha, good one," Bjorn said, smacking my shoulder.
Erebus looked at Bjorn, thinking for a moment, before he said, "You know, I've noticed something strange while working with your Legion. So many Legions seem to keep themselves compartmentalized, with men separated by their units and leadership. But yours is rather... what's the term I'm looking for here?"
"Chill," Bjorn offered.
"Not just chill, more easy-going. That's the term," Erebus continued. "Ours is rather uptight, I will admit. We've created some rather nice social gatherings to try and break that up."
"Well, we have social gatherings in our Legion too. It's called drinking night, and everyone gets involved, even the Primarch," Bjorn replied.
"You even managed to get your Primarch to drink with you?" Erebus said, sounding shocked.
"Yeah, why? Can't you get yours to join in?" Bjorn responded, receiving a nod from Erebus.
"Lorgar tends to fade away into her studies, researching the causes of the universe, culture, religion, and trying to understand the divine will of the Emperor," I snickered, which earned me a look from Erebus.
"What's so funny about that comment?" he asked.
"Well, I don't know. It's just that the first time Tanya and the Emperor met, Tanya won a drinking contest against him, if memory serves. Legend goes that technically, the Emperor still owes her six months of helping her run Fenris, but she understands he's busy, and she's not going to push that," I explained.
"Tanya beat the Emperor?" Erebus said, tilting his head in puzzlement, the tattoos on his face adding to the expression.
"Oh yeah, the Emperor challenged her to a contest, and as a challenge, she chose a question-answer drinking contest," Bjorn said with a nod. "I wasn't there for it, I was a wee lad at the time, but I've heard the legend."
"Amazing! Obviously, Tanya must represent the inner drinker of the Emperor. There was no way someone could defeat the Emperor at his own drinking contest otherwise," Erebus exclaimed.
I raised an eyebrow before saying, "Represent? I don't think I've ever heard someone talk about the Primarchs like that before."
"Oh yes, sorry, excuse me. It's just one of the topics my particular social club discusses. They try to figure out which element of the Primarch each one represents for the Emperor," Erebus explained.
"Perturabo is determination, Lorgar is faith, Lion is..." Erebus didn't get to finish as Bjorn spoke up.
"Pride, definitely pride," Bjorn interrupted.
I snickered at that, which got a nod from Erebus. He said, "Yes, that's what we've been tending to think. Each Primarch represents one element of the Emperor's personality taken to the extreme."
"Oh, that's not drinking then," I said matter-of-factly, before adding, "If it had to be something, I would say Tanya is driven to the extreme of improving the life around her, making sure everyone is well taken care of."
"Hmm, loyalty then. Interesting, very interesting," Erebus said, tapping his chin. He looked around and noticed that most of the men were already starting to pack up their equipment, getting ready to move. He continued, "Looks like we should end this conversation. Though I do wonder, do you have any idea what the Second Primarch's personality is? I haven't had the honor to run into them myself."
"Oh, that's obvious, it's weeb," Bjorn said with his arms crossed in front of him. "I heard Tanya complaining about it one night when his back was turned. Something about him being an ultimate weeb, whatever that means."
"Weeb? That's a term I've never heard before," Erebus said, shaking his head. He added, "I'll have to do some research on what that means. It sounds foreign, not part of the majority of Gothic, perhaps one of the old tribal dialects of Terra."
Both Bjorn and I shrugged our shoulders, not really knowing. I simply said, "Maybe if you find out, let us know. I'm kind of interested in what it means as well. Tanya has a tendency to use words we've never heard before."
Erebus tilted his head before saying, "Really, that's interesting. I would have figured she'd tend to use words that were common from her homeworld."
"I mean, she does," Bjorn said. "It's just that once in a while, she'll say some random thing in another language. Sometimes it sounds Gothic, sometimes it sounds different. But usually, she's annoyed or angry when she says it, so we just assume it's one of the many languages she learned when she was speaking with the Emperor."
"The Emperor taught her languages?" Erebus said, leaning forward.
"I mean, that's the legend," Bjorn said, looking at me. I simply shrugged, not knowing. "It's what most people believe whenever they hear that strange talk she makes. And she didn't make it before meeting the Emperor, some say. So obviously, people just made the assumption that he taught her something during those six months before launching back into his crusade to find the rest of his sons."
"Hmm, very interesting. I wonder if this means he has some sort of preference for her being the next leader of the Crusade," Erebus said, tapping his chin. "I would have figured it would be the leader of the Luna Wolves, Horus. He does get taken to see many of his brothers when they are discovered, so that he can keep the secret better."
"That's right," I said, before adding, "Don't know, not part of my pay grade, My job right now is to kill the soldiers of the Phoenix Kings, and I'm not getting paid to discuss who the next leader of the Crusade will be."
Looking down the valley, I said, "Unfortunate. I had a feeling that town probably would have information about how they structure their society, and find some sort of weak point. But I guess that'll have to be something for the next raid we launch."
Erebus nodded his head before saying, "Yes, next time, And perhaps we'll find some free time to discuss more about the interactions of our Primarchs. It's always an interesting thing to learn about the other's commanders, don't you think?"
I scratched the back of my neck before saying, "Yeah, I guess. Yeah, sure. Why not?"
Writers note: Holly shit he she!,also she rather reasonable bet you all did not see that coming. Now you may be noticing this chapter closser to 15k then 10k well half of this chapter used to be in in the last chapter but now that i have team editors on this, things like this happened, not sure if it be come to a normal thing like on Mando but who knows! All I know is this chapter star new ark, and new Primakrs to interact with two Primark i think will be damn interesting.
Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
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884.M30
Tanya Russ
Ark Reach Cluster
The Ark Reach Cluster is a binary star system with six habitable worlds and an unknown number of habitable moons and rocky pieces that have been made habitable over the millennia.
These six worlds were not united; they were individual empires that have been fighting each other since time immemorial.
This has led to some rather interesting situations considering they have developed quite large and well-invested militaries, surpassing any Imperial army units on their own. They could form a very good bulwark and defense against outside threats to their empires.
However, the problem is that none of the planets want to join the Imperium. They all refused and have banded together in a defensive pact.
Exact details of why they have refused have not been provided, but considering the titles of the rulers of these six worlds as Phoenix Kings, I suspect that they dislike the idea of being demoted from kings of their realms to mere bureaucrats under someone else's rule. So, a potential stronghold of humanity that could have served as a bastion of civilization for the Imperium will now have to be destroyed, and much life will be lost, all because six men were not willing to bend the knee.
It is infuriating but expected at this point. The Imperium, with its vast powers and growing trade network, simply isn't what some people want to be ruled by.
What wasn't expected was the defense they are putting up. From my understanding, Ark Reach VI has proven to be a daunting task for the 17th Legion currently fighting there.
One would assume that in a fight, the Space Marines would always win. However, to assume such things is to fall into a trap, a trap that my sibling obviously fell into. The enemy on the planet is highly motivated and has supply lines to five other planets to support their troops and equipment. They are on par with what the Legions have, perhaps not up to the same equipment standard worn by Space Marines, but power armor is power armor, and a bolt gun is a bolt gun. Maybe they have different names, but they do the job of turning what should have been a simple conquest into a bloody battle.
I arrived in orbit of Ark Reach VI within the last three hours after passing through the blockade zone, an area of space being blockaded by the Imperialis Armada to prevent any supplies from getting into the Ark Reach Cluster.
We don't need a repeat of Rangdan, calling up mercenaries to join their fight. If they are going to fight us, they will fight us with what they have and nothing else.
Immediately upon arrival, I got to work figuring out exactly what is preventing us from winning the war on Ark Reach VI.
The unfortunate answer was a military buildup from over hundreds of years of conflict. Ark Reach VI currently has a well-developed anti-fleet defense system, with satellites mixed in with other debris and surface installations, as well as a few weapon installations placed on a nearby moon that needs to be fully conquered.
The only way to get some of these weapons to reveal themselves is to put a ship in danger. While the Imperium has a lot of ships, they are not unlimited in number.
My sibling, Lorgar, was on the surface of Ark Reach VI, engaged in a prolonged trench warfare, a conflict that they apparently were not fond of, at least according to the reports I had read.
They were, however, on the verge of victory, from what I could see they were just outside the main castle fortress of the Phoenix King of Ark Reach VI.
Victory was within their grasp. The question was, how could I maneuver things to ensure their victory and establish myself within their sphere of influence?
Obviously, the king needed to be taken down, but doing so would require destroying the network of defenses that were protecting the planet. Sending my ships in for a low orbit attack and enduring the hits might be theoretically possible, although the satellite weapons posed a problem. However, those could be dealt with.
The real issue was the planet's moon, which orbited at an unusually low altitude. I suspected that it was not naturally in such a position, and there might be some archeotech at play, keeping it so close. From my understanding of gravity, I'm pretty sure that the moon should have collided with the planet centuries ago.
So, I deployed my forces to the moon of Ark Reach VI. Landing operations were already underway, although I couldn't deploy most of my forces. The moon of Ark Reach VI lacked an atmosphere, which meant that only the Space Marines could be deployed without risking unnecessary casualties.
That's where I found myself, crossing the lunar deserts of this world with my Marines, engaged in a game of cat and mouse with the enemy forces who were determined to prolong the battle as much as possible.
Every time I thought we were gaining control of the situation, they would unveil a new trick. When we started using heavy equipment to counter their power armor, they brought out hover cars to outmaneuver us and attack our weaker sides. It was a constant back-and-forth.
The people of the Ark Reach sector were not going to be easily defeated, but we would do it. Slowly, we made our way toward an installation that I believed to be the heart of their defensive network here on Ark Reach VI.
I had my Gloriana-class ships come in close to the planet, activating their security systems to prevent bombardments. They positioned themselves close enough to take a few hits but not close enough to be destroyed, solely for the purpose of monitoring the information being transferred within the enemy system.
I suspected that they probably had some sort of internet or military connection between their systems to maximize the effectiveness of their weapons. And I was immediately proven right. With the assistance of Mechanicum tracking software and their agents, we were able to trace bursts of encrypted network communication between the planet, the moon, and the surrounding orbital satellites before the attack commenced.
Using this information, we discovered that the majority of their connections seemed to originate from an installation here on the moon. Whether it was their main hub or just a redundancy they were using more openly because it was likely to be destroyed either way, it was hard to say. But it became our primary target, as destroying it would pave the way for my sibling's advance on the planet below.
And to further prove that there was something important about this installation, they were fighting hard to keep us out, using every weapon at their disposal to scorch the surface of the moon. It was an incredible feat considering it was an airless rock for the most part. But hey, just because there's no air doesn't mean you can't deploy something that creates air, I guess. I'm not a chemist, so I don't know exactly how they were able to make flamers work in an airless environment. All I knew was that several Marines with severe burns had already been transferred back to medical ships, waiting to be taken care of because the situation was that bad.
After days of fighting, we had arrived just a mile away from the target—an installation with fortifications that promised even more pain and suffering to gain entry. I had no idea how we were going to accomplish that.
A dedicated full-on charge looked dangerous to me, and attempts to bring in air support were not working well. Artillery was somewhat softening the area, but it remained a hard point that we couldn't penetrate.
I was contemplating the possibility of enduring the casualties of a direct charge across an open plain when Wolf Lord Henry Fyf uncovered something—tunnels, lots of tunnels.Wolf Lord Henry Fyf had taken upon himself to do some poking around he noted a lot of evidence that this Moon was previously used as an old Mining Base, so he had used his rank to have the moon scanned and found network tunnels and caves that made swiss cheese of the moon's interior. On his own authority he used members of his Great Company to conduct scouting missions to map out those tunnels, and brought me a great gift for me as he had found a path through the tunnels that led directly toward the installation we were trying to break into.
And so, here we were, skulking through the tunnels, making our way toward this installation. Normally, I wouldn't lead an attack like this, but I wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible to finally meet my sibling. Instead of waiting for my men to do the job, I found myself leading the operation alongside Wolf Lord Henry Fyf. Who I was rewarding for his discovery, but also had past skills and experience in this kind of operation, his company trained for underground combat having served in expeditionary forces into Squat space and fought in a small series of civil conflicts alongside the Imperium allied Squat Leagues, and since I could only bring a limited number down in to this confined space it was best to bring men who knew how to fight in this environment.
We were on the verge of accomplishing our mission, as far as I was concerned. True, we still had a few hundred feet to go before reaching the actual installation and achieving victory, thereby aiding my sibling's fight on the planet below. But that outcome was inevitable. Once this conflict was over perhaps I should look into creating more specialized units to our roster, perhaps starting with special operations forces akin to the ones the US had. I think I'll have to talk to Lord Fyf about this topic at a later point as he's proven that he has the skills necessary, afterall it might be a good opportunity to test the capabilities of my Wolf Lords.
And as often happens, things started to go awry.
As we approached the next set of doors, moving quietly through the tunnels and armed with the quietest weapons we had—blades to eliminate anyone who tried to impede our progress—an explosion occurred somewhere above us.
Turning to Wolf Lord Henry Fyf, I asked, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but above us is the field I decided my men shouldn't charge across, right?"
Wolf Lord Henry Fyf nodded before replying, "As far as I'm aware, yes. We shouldn't be hearing anything because you gave direct orders not to attack."
Hmm, tapping the side of my helmet, I attempted to tap into the communication relay, not to speak and reveal our location, but to listen in on transmissions and find out what was happening.
"Who the fuck invited the Word Bearers to launch a fucking attack at this time of fucking day in the middle of a fucking kill zone!?" came the voice of another Wolf Lord who was on the surface and likely had a good view of the situation.
Another Wolf Lord spoke up, someone I wasn't familiar with, perhaps a newcomer to the ranks. "I didn't know who authorized their presence, but someone must have. Or maybe they were acting on their own. I thought they were busy assaulting the planet's surface."
"Yeah, that's what I was about to say," replied the first Wolf Lord, before another voice joined the conversation.
"Rejoice, fellow Sons of the Emperor! We have been informed about the situation here and how this installation may hold the key to victory on the planet below. Thus, Lorgar has come with the first company to take the installation."
I groaned in annoyance and turned off the communication system to avoid any feedback.
"Well, there goes the silent attack," I muttered, wondering how many forces the Word Bearers under Lorgar's command could detach for an attack on an installation like this.
It was probably my own fault for sharing information about my plans with the representatives of the Word Bearers that I had managed to speak with. I hadn't actually met or spoken with Lorgar, as they had sent a message stating that we should meet on the battlefield, as the Emperor decreed, and get to know each other there. It wasn't how I believed the Emperor intended it, but what could I do? That person was willing to follow the rules of the game the Emperor had set out, and there wasn't much I could do to persuade them otherwise.
"Fine," I said as I drew my sword and kicked open the next set of doors, slashing a soldier who rushed at me with a gun in half. The top of his torso went flying past my shoulder due to the lower gravity, while the lower torso and legs took a few steps before freezing in place, locked by the gravity of the Moon and the armor suit.
"Well, it looks like we're in a race now, against Lorgar and their Word Bearers. Wolves, it's time to show your prowess in combat!" I declared.
Several war cries, sounding suspiciously wolf-like, filled the air as they charged past me into the room, searching for enemy combatants and commencing the fight.
It appeared to be some sort of office location. They had no idea that we had discovered their tunnels or that we were coming. This would make it a bit easier for us to push into the fortification. Hopefully, we could cause enough mayhem down here to spare the Word Bearers from being completely annihilated out in the open, where they were charging across an open plain.
That was a question I would have for my sibling when I spoke with them. Were they just too proud to realize that the area was not suitable for a full frontal battle, or had they not considered what they were sending their men into? I wasn't pleased with their lack of strategic thinking on the matter.
As we moved through the building, killing enemies as we went, I could hear more explosions above. This implied that the Word Bearers' commander had not only dropped his men on the open plain but also directly onto the installation. Maybe they weren't completely lost then, though it was still a risky move. Attempting something like that would put their vessels within gun range of the anti-aircraft weapons we were trying to destroy.
It was a very risky maneuver, not something I would have done and not something that seemed tactically sound to me.
But they were obviously doing it. There wasn't much I could say on the matter. I had to keep quiet so we could sneak into the enemy's main bunker before they could transfer full control of their security network elsewhere, if that was even a possibility.
"My Primarch," called Wolf Lord Henry Fyf as he pointed towards a nearby set of doors, which thankfully had a sign in a language that looked very much like English for a command center above it.
I smiled at him in acknowledgment before charging towards the doors, bursting through into the main room to see what we were dealing with.
And immediately, I got punched in the face and was sent flying back through the double doors.
It felt like I had been hit by a train again, and that was not a pleasant feeling. Shaking myself off, I got up and looked up to see two aberrations that resembled Ogryns stepping through the doorway.
I say "resemble" because although they were definitely of Ogryn stock, large humanoids with brutish looks, they appeared to have been genetically altered and modified through technology. If I had to guess, I'd say they were half-cyborgs in their brains, which posed a problem. Fighting something that was dumb and strong was one thing, but fighting something that was both strong and intelligent, even mechanically intelligent, was a different story altogether.
One of the creatures wielded a large sword, while the other carried a massive club. They stepped in and smashed their way through two Marines, trying to get between me and them.
"We, guardians of the Phoenix, will stop you here, creatures of the false Emperor," said the one with the club, its mechanical voice sounding more rehearsed than intelligent. The other creature swung its sword at me, attempting to impale me on the wall. I dodged out of the way, though annoyingly, it caught the edge of my cape, preventing me from getting completely free.
The club-wielding Ogryn then came at me while I was busy with the first , but I managed to block its attack with my sword. However, I ended up pinned between the club and the other creature's sword, with the Ogryn trying to force me onto the blade, as if it were sharp enough or strong enough to cut through the armor, even with no force behind it.
I had no guarantees that it wasn't, so I did my best to prevent that from happening. Instead, I smashed my foot into the sword-Ogryns leg, causing it to slide off to the right, and its sword smashed into a nearby wall.
The other half-cyborg Ogryn turned towards me, smiling as it raised its club again, preparing to strike. I readied my sword to defend myself, but several of my Marines opened fire on it, causing massive damage to its left arm, reducing it to a gory mess.
The creature let out a sound of pain and turned to face my Marines, preparing to retaliate. Meanwhile, the other Ogryn charged at them, smashing them into the wall and breaking their guns before attempting to pummel them.
Seizing the opportunity, I tried to strike the creature, but even with one arm disabled, it effectively wielded the club to block my attack.
"The Reach will remain free!" the creature called out before snapping its jaws tightly.
I had a moment of confusion before the Ogryn cyborg suddenly ceased to exist, exploding into fire and gore, sending me flying back towards the impaled sword in the wall.
Fortunately, my cape proved to be stronger than the force behind that sword, which they intended to slice me in half with. So I bounced off it, feeling a lot of pain in my spine as I hit the floor. I lay there, a bit confused and perplexed by my miscalculation, before hearing the rumble of something big approaching. I pulled myself up and looked up just in time to see the remaining Ogryn and the one who had lost their sword above me, grabbing the blade out of the wall, most likely intending to decapitate me.
I rolled out of the way as the blade came down, slashing through the floor with surprising sharpness. It was evident that the sword had been enhanced with some sort of energy, as indicated by the faint glow.
"Die, monster!" cried the once-Ogryn, slashing at me. I deflected the larger blade with my shorter chainsword, the gears shrieking in pain as steel met steel for a moment before our blades separated.
My long blade, which I had apparently lost in the explosion, was in a corner of the room. I reached for my secondary emergency weapon, my ax, flipping the short blade into an offhand position and holding the ax in the other, ready to defend myself. Most of the Marines who had come with me were either dead or badly injured, which spoke volumes about the creatures' power. The scientific advancements on this Reach planet would surely pose a problem.
I began to infuse a spell into my sword, hoping to freeze the creature, although I suspected it wouldn't be very successful given its cybernetics. It probably could regulate its heat level.
But before I could see the end of this fight, someone interrupted it, screaming, "Sister!" The wall to the creature's left burst open as a mace smashed through, and a figure, no taller than myself, stumbled through, seemingly controlled by the force of the mace.
The figure wore gray armor, their face obscured. They moved quickly, the mace in their hand glowing blue with some sort of energy as they squared up with the sword-wielding monster.
I prepared to strike the creature but decided to offer it a chance to surrender. "Drop the weapon, and maybe we'll let you live."
The creature looked back and forth between me and the gray-suited figure as more of the gray-suited Marines poured out of the hole it had created, obviously members of the Word Bearers.
"For the Phoenix Kings, I die," the giant cyborg said, raising the sword in front of it as if it were some sort of totem, then clenching its jaw.
"Fuck!" I swore, jumping between the incoming explosion and my sibling raising a shield just in time for the shell to be splattered with the gore of the former cyborg, and the room was engulfed in fire once again.
I lowered the shield, debris falling with it, and fell to a knee, checking the room to see how the rest of my Marines were doing.
"Speak up, Wolves! Who's alive?" I called out. There was silence before several moans of pain and muttering as a few surviving Marines, some missing limbs, pulled themselves together. I did a quick count and found that out of the small group who had entered the room with me, five did not get up in any condition, indicating they were either dead or in such bad shape that they would need extensive medical aid to return to the fight.
"Fine," I got up, pulling off my wolf helm, noticing the amount of gore on it, and dropping it onto a magnetic plate on the side of my armor. I turned to face my sibling, who was doing a similar action, removing their own helm.
"Tanya Russ. I guess you've already heard of me since you've called me sis..." I stopped mid-sentence as, for the second time in 60 years, a Primarch hugged me. While it wasn't as backbreaking as Vulcan's hugs, it was still powerful enough to force some air out of me.
"I've been waiting for this day," came the voice of Lorgar before they set me back down, having lifted me off my feet by six inches during the hug.
"You have?" I asked, coughing before getting a good look at them and realizing something else. Not only were they about my height, but they were also my gender. Their eyes, glowing with a somewhat familiar yellow, reminded me of the few times I had seen myself in a mirror during my use of the Type 95, and their hair was pale white in a familiar haircut style that I just couldn't remember the name of.
Smiling broadly, a look of pure euphoria, Lorgar said, "Yes, I've known from the first time I heard of you that we would get along. Your indomitable spirit and your efforts to raise the primitives of your world into a civilized society serve as a model for all Primarchs to follow, But where are my manners sister. I am Lorgar Aurelian, Primarch of the Word Bearers and Lord of Colchis."
Oh, thanks. My head is not really sure how to take what sounds like some grade A ass-kissing. Is this true admiration of my success, or are they just aware that I am probably one of the Primarchs most likely to end up in higher positions as a more definite command structure is built, such as with the Lion trying to establish herself as the War Master during the Rangdan campaign?
But instead of aiming to become a War Master, they are looking to become the second hand of a War Master. It's hard to say, but I just nodded along and said, "I would love to have a continued conversation about this, but we need to secure this installation before they transfer command of their anti-orbital weapon network anywhere else."
"Already on it," the white-haired woman said, pointing her glowing mace at one of her men who immediately nodded and rushed into the room with several other Marines. "They can handle it. They're trained by the Mechanicum. And please, take control of this facility now that we've removed its guards."
"Well, good," I said, turning towards my men who were pulling themselves together, before adding, "By the way, rather bold move to just launch yourself at the enemy's position. The losses must have been horrendous." I was trying to convey my perspective that what she had done was a mistake.
Unfortunately, what I got was even more surprising.
"Yes, the losses were horrendous, but I knew it was the best option. In fighting as quickly as possible, losses can be made up in time. We need to conquer these planets and start converting them back to the Imperium as soon as possible. Wasting time fighting over the planets instead of converting the people is a waste of time."
I blinked several times before saying, "Compliance? You mean?"
Lorgar nodded her head in agreement, saying, "Yes, yes, compliance. We just tend to use the word 'converting' because we spend a lot more time making sure the planet can actually stand up amongst the other worlds we have conquered. So many of our siblings just destroy everything and then move on. I prefer to put as much work as possible into a planet, making sure that it is raised up to the Emperor's standards and capable of producing a defensive force for its own protection."
"Ah," I said, nodding and understanding the point of view. After all, improving the situation of a world was one of the goals I tried to set up for Perturabo in order to help him better connect with the people he was conquering. After all, he was capable of quite a lot of wonderful construction work, but sometimes he got a little bit too preoccupied with getting the conquest done as fast as possible, which is why his legion had acquired some unfortunate terms for their usage of the Imperial Army personnel given to them.
Thankfully, he wasn't doing that as often as he had been before the start of the Rangdan Campaign, but it was still a noted problem. It would appear my sister may have the opposite issue. While Perturabo was gunning at the bit for conquest to get the Crusade done as fast as possible, instead of better handling her time, it would seem my sister put a lot of time into the rebuilding process. It's not a major issue, but if it slowed them down in the conquest part, that could be problematic.
I wondered if that was perhaps why the Emperor had sent me here. After all, I was pretty talented at handling personnel, and maybe he thought I could do some good with my sister here, getting her to speed up her processes of conquest.
Shaking my head, I simply said, "Well, sister, we'll have to talk about how you handle these compliance operations. Mine are not usually as involved, but I wouldn't spend that much time there. Getting the planet under the control of the Emperor is more important than setting down the framework for a long-lasting society. There are people who are more skilled at that and can handle that operation."
My sister sighed before saying, "Is that really true? We Primarchs were created by the Emperor to be pillars of humanity, were we not? Why should we not take pride in our work and do the utmost important work that there is—rebuilding society after we have conquered it, leaving it better than how we found it?"
I will admit, that was a very inspiring speech, but I said, "True, but there's no need for us personally to oversee every single planet. Besides, this is a conversation that can wait until after we're done with this operation today—clearing out these Phoenix worshippers."
My sister nodded, annoyed that we couldn't continue the conversation, before saying, "Of course, Erebus, take some men in there and deal with what's left of the security detail. We must have this operation under our control."
"Of course, my Primarch," a Marine with a full helmet said, his armor decorated with several images and written languages. They raised their weapon and charged into the room, followed by several other Word Bearers. The sounds of fighting echoed from the room, and I peeked in to see that, like many Space Marines, they were very skilled in their craft of killing, dealing with anyone who tried to stop them with ferocity. Even another cyborg broke through a wall, though this one appeared less complete than the duo I faced. It unleashed a volley of fire from a Gatling weapon of some type, only to be rendered into pieces by counter bolter fire.
In short order, the room was secured, and we were allowed to enter. The Primarch of the Word Bearers led the way, saying, "Wonderful, just wonderful. Good job, Erebus. With this under our control, we finally have the keys to taking this planet." She turned to me and said, "And thank you, my sister. I've been trying to locate something to give us an advantage this whole time. Unfortunately, they have kept their secrets well, and I am unwilling to risk sending a battleship within range of their guns. You must have much trust in the captain of your Gloriana."
I smiled and said, "They've been with me for nearly 60 years. I trust them as much as they trust me. And if they're willing to stick by me after some of the operations I've pulled, I can trust them to do what I order them to do and succeed."
Lorgar nodded in agreement, saying, "That is how it should be, trust between Primarchs and the people we put in charge of our operations."
"Exactly," I mused, before offering, "Perhaps you should learn to trust your Word Bearers a bit more. Leaving a few units behind to do the job of raising a planet from up is not a terrible option, in my opinion. Perturabo has become quite good at it over the years, as have I."
"Hmm, true, true," Lorgar said, nodding her head. "I just feel like I should have my personal hands in the rebuilding of society. Maybe I should take a step back, focusing on the creation of my book."
"You're writing?" I asked, somewhat interested but also looking at a nearby computer console as several Wolves, who were more skilled in technology, and Word Bearers found their way to the consoles and got to work, taking control of the satellite network and orbital defense arrays.
"It's a hobby of mine. I wish to create a work that I think will help with the foundation of our new society when the crusade is over," Lorgar replied. Then she continued, "I think it'll redefine our culture."
I chuckled before saying, "It might, but you have to remember, it's a galaxy-wide culture. Culture is a fickle thing. It'll take a long time for something like that to spread, and sometimes people dislike new cultures trying to impose themselves on another place."
"Hmm, true, true. Unfortunate but very true," Lorgar said, nodding her head. Then she added, "But I'll let you have a look at my book. Maybe you'll see something that will allow it to be better spread across the Imperium and help improve the lives of the average Imperial citizen."
I smiled before saying, "I would love to. I tend to enjoy looking at other Primarchs' personal hobbies. I think it's something we should encourage, as it keeps us centered and makes us more relatable to the average human."
"Hmm, interesting notion," Lorgar said, before adding, "I'll be sure to give you a first copy as soon as it's ready."
I smiled and nodded. This was going to be an interesting campaign. If they were genuinely interested in helping rebuild society, I would need to work hard to get their heads on straight so they wouldn't become too slow in their operations to rebuild. If their statements were to be interpreted in that way, I hoped it wouldn't be too challenging. It would only be the two of us working together, and it had been too long since I had the opportunity to collaborate with someone individually.
Tanya Russ
The Fidelitas Lex
Normally, when I arrived on a battlefield, I tended to control things directly from my command ship. With the first blood, everything was possible from my office if you were.
But on occasions where I was not the leader of the operation, it was best to go to the leader's office. This time, I was aboard Lorgar's ship, the Fidelitas Lex, a Gloriana-class, of course.
Lorgar seemed to be giving these out like candy to her sons. I hadn't seen many of these classes before, and now I was starting to notice that they weren't mass-produced, which annoyed me. Each one seemed to be a different style, with designs somewhat similar but obviously made with different points. Was the Emperor just commissioning these ships as they found them from old archives, or was there some reason he chose to give each of us a slightly different Gloriana-class ship?
I would have to talk to him about that next time. Though, knowing me, I would most likely forget about it during the moment. It tends to happen when you have a lot of things on your mind, such as the fate of planets and solar systems, maybe even humanity at stake.
Anyway, after the successful capture of Ark Reach VI and its moon, it was time for a good, long conversation with my newly discovered sister and to find out exactly what her deal was.
I did notice a few interesting things as I made my way to my sister's chamber. For one, there were a lot more battle-capable humans amongst the crew aboard this ship. Oh, there were plenty of Space Marines in their armor, preparing for their next operation, but there were also human soldiers preparing right alongside them.
That somewhat appeased me. Most of my siblings didn't see the need to reinforce bonds with their people, and if my sister's legion had a similar mindset to mine on that matter, well, then we probably would get along to some extent.
As the elevator finally came to a stop, I half expected to see some great hall or throne room, but what opened up before me was a library.
I had to blink a couple of times in confusion. Some of my Marines looked around, confused as well. Most likely, they had been expecting something along the same lines, but obviously, we were wrong.
No vast windows opening out onto space. Instead, there were just shelves and shelves of reading material. There was a central table, but there were also several couches and other places to make oneself comfortable. And there was my sister, sitting on one of the couches, in a very relaxed tilt, with her elbow up on one side and the other hand holding a goblet of something. She was writing something into a book in front of her. She was not wearing any armor, nor was she wearing any under armor. No, she had gone for something that looked more like a toga than anything.
She looked up as I entered and said, "Come in, come in, sister. I've been waiting to talk to you," waving for me and the others to enter the relaxed library properly.
I stepped in and said, rather haphazardly, "I feel a bit overdressed." Not that there weren't a few men with full power armor, but not as many. There were also several humans working on the shelves.
"I understand, I understand," Lorgar said, waving her hand as if it was nothing. "Father has always said you should wear armor on campaign, even when you're not in danger. But I just get too stuffy in those things. For Primarchs, the pinnacles of humanity, to see ourselves crammed in such armor is to cut us off from what makes us human."
"That is a take," I said, stepping into the room, before adding, "but I will keep your thoughts in mind next time. Perhaps I will bring along some of my retinue to help take off some armor. Oh, I would also need some sort of changing room. After all, it's best to wear armor when transferring between ships."
Lorgar tapped her chin and thought before saying, "You know, that is a good idea. I'll have to arrange dressing rooms for all the Primarchs, just so they can shift into something more comfortable in the future."
She then motioned towards a table in front of her, bringing up a holographic map of the Ark Reach system. "Anyways, let's take a seat and discuss what we need to do. As you already know, we've taken Ark Reach VI. I've been trying to take it for what feels like a year now, but they've been extremely stubborn. Being able to bring in supplies from not only the fellow Ark Reach planets but also external colonies from beyond our known understanding of the sector, which we are trying to hunt down, as well as possible Eldar interference."
"Eldar interference, dark or otherwise?" I asked, trying to get a better idea of the situation.
"Otherwise. They seem to be trade allies with regional Eldar Craftworlds and perhaps have modeled some elements of their society on Elder governments they interacted with. We believe the Phoenix King, as they call their leaders, might come from some aspect of their culture."
"Hmm, are the Eldar contributing to their defenses, or are they just sending well wishes?" I asked as I took the seat across from her.
"I don't think an Eldar would risk their life for a simple human, even ones that are friendly to them. No, the most the Eldar are willing to do is allow some of the Ark Reach sector's colonial cargo ships to use their gateways to pass through our blockade and remain undetected. They're aiding them, but not as far as we can see in a military capacity. They're not adding weapons, guns, or manpower to the stockpile, just allowing Ark Reach to gather what weapons, guns, and stockpile whatever resources they can."
"Well, that's not good," I mused before adding, "We need to shut the door on this system firmly. Otherwise, Ark Reach is more likely to get desperate and start bringing in mercenaries."
"You mean Orks, most likely," Lorgar corrected. "I've heard of your use of them in the past. Most likely the Orks and the Shark-like Xenos, are likely to show up at some point. But we prefer to keep them out. I agree. I'm trying to locate the passageway. If we can find it, we can prevent them from using it, assuming there's only one way into the sector."
I nodded before asking, "Have we tried contacting the others and asking them to knock it off?"
Lorgar shrugged her shoulders before saying, "Hey, I don't know if that's even possible. We don't know which Eldar are helping them. It's not like they've made it apparent that they wish to be part of the problem."
"Hmm, unfortunate," I said, shaking my head before adding, "Have we tried to reach some sort of agreement with the people of this sector? Get them to surrender peacefully? The fighting going on down on the planet below sort of indicates that they will be trying to die fighting, like this is some sort of existential threat, when we're just trying to unify humanity here."
Lorgar shrugged before saying, "Their worship of their Phoenix Kings is a bit of a problem. We don't want that particular religion spreading outside the sector. And when we told them they would have to knock it off, they did not take kindly to that. Understandable, really. I can understand why giving up your religion can be a problem. It's one of our greatest inventions, if you ask me."
I blinked and looked up at her before asking, "Why do you think that? From my understanding of religion, it's been rather restrictive on certain technologies."
"Well, that's a misconception created by several people who simply want to stamp down on religion in general. Most forget that quite a lot of science and understanding of the universe came from various religions over the years. People act like they never asked questions in religion, instead just believed. That's not the truth. People ask questions about religion all the time and try to solve them. It's just trying to find the proper framework," Lorgar said with a shrug, leaning back in her seat and moving some of her white hair out of her eyes before continuing. "Besides that, it's an unnatural thing to consider that religion is possibly the pinnacle of human expression. Out of religion has grown arts, science, and all the other aspects of culture that make life worth living. Without it, our world would be rather dull."
"Yes, but religion also has a tendency to entrap people into beliefs that do not help. And who's to stop the infiltration of forces who wish to see humanity's pinnacle of expression, as you call it, turned against it?" I countered, leaning back in my chair.
"Obviously, humanity. This is why we should be focusing on creating some sort of organized religion to keep a watch on what will naturally be created by simply existing. It would be harder for things that are not properly a representation of humanity to gain control of our religion if we control it ourselves," Lorgar explained.
"Yes, but hasn't the Emperor banned organized religion?" I pointed out, leaning back in my chair.
My sister nodded before saying, "Yes, yes, I do think that he will change his mind on that eventually. But for now, we need to ban the majority of organized religions, destroy them where we can. Otherwise, they will be left to fester and become something else. Personal faith, small cults, those are well within his acceptable things. He's even allowed several organized religions to continue existing, such as the Catherics, though I grant you they're not much of an organized religion. They do have a long history, going back almost to the 1st millennium, possibly beyond that. Obviously, the Emperor is going to be accepting of some organized religion sooner or later. He just needs to make sure that the bad ones are excised from our lives so humanity can grow to its pinnacle."
"And what about the good ones? These Catherics, what else?" I asked, as I was unfamiliar with the Catherics per se. I think I had heard something about there being some sort of Christianity sect that was still around. That might be the Catherics that Lorgar was referring to. I noted, though, that if they were indeed the descendants of Christianity and the Emperor had given them special dispensation to exist when he was going out there and crushing all the others, it did say something about the possibility of religion being an accepted thing sometime in the future.
"I mostly rely on your planet's own faith system for my understanding. No organized system to which one I have been able to piece together from what little trinkets have made it through the reports. But your people believe the Emperor is a God, and that makes perfect sense to me," Lorgar explained.
I blinked before saying, "I'm sorry, did you just say the Emperor is a God?"
"Well, what else would you call a luminary who has brought humanity from the brink of destruction into a mighty and great Reformation? If anyone is worthy of taking the title of God, it would be the Emperor," Lorgar replied.
I shook my head before saying, "Some of my people may confuse the All Father for the Emperor, I admit that. But I do not think the Emperor would be very kind to the idea of being called a god, especially with the things in the Warp out there."
"Hmm, and why is that? Don't we know that having control of the Warp could grant us powers of unusual abilities? I imagine that if we could convert the majority of humanity to believe in the Emperor as a god, we would have the powers to push back the things in the Warp, force them away from us, and illuminate the galaxy, protecting it from any such creatures from attacking us again," Lorgar argued.
I nodded, unsure about it. It was an interesting idea, but I countered by saying, "The Emperor's plan, though, is to destroy those creatures, not push them away. And by that same idea, if we were to target those creatures openly as false gods and demons, well, that places them in a new place in the hierarchy, now doesn't it?"
Lorgar raised an eyebrow before saying, "What do you mean?"
I sighed and leaned forward, saying, "Let's say the Emperor's plan is achieved. He creates a system where there is an irreligious belief across the Milky Way galaxy, that there are no powers in the Warp. Well, the Warp loses power, and the beings there hopefully cease to exist. Once they're gone, humanity would be free from such terrors that were sprung upon humanity when we were weaker."
However, if we go with the idea that the Emperor is a God and we should worship him, all we've done is created the positive to their negative. We believe in the Emperor, then we believe those things are not gods; they are devils, demons, creatures that should be scorned. But we still believe in them, and that gives them power. It then creates a sort of edging feeling, encouraging the disaffected and the unimportant of humanity to worship these others in hopes of gaining power and changing their place in the universe that the Emperor is a God would give them.
Lorgar smiled and rubbed her chin before saying, "It's not a bad point, but I would raise you one other problem. What's to stop that from happening under the Emperor's plan?"
I raised an eyebrow, asking, "What do you mean?"
"What's to stop these other beings from being exactly like that? Let's say the Emperor is successful in his plan to build an irreligious society. There will always be people who believe that there's something more beyond. If these creatures reach out to them and give them special powers that they're told they cannot receive through the Imperial Truth, well, there won't be a counterbalance to their negative. There's no positive, only a neutral," Lorgar explained.
I nodded, seeing her point and disliking it. Leaning back, I said, "I want to say no, but let's be honest here. The so-called Dark Age of Technology, as the Mechanicum likes to call it, is a prime example of what you're referring to. I doubt so few people believed in religion as at any other point, and yet these warp beings were able to spring forth and cause quite a little trouble during the Awakening of the psykers."
"And if we're to look at the Mechanicum and believe that they're probably an example of some of what was going on during that period of time, I think we can make the assumption that people were starting to believe in machines more than gods themselves. And that still blew up in our faces," I added.
"Exactly," Lorgar said, seeming to like the fact that I agreed with her , even though deep down I was disliking it. But, sigh, I had to admit she had a reasonable point, and that was annoying to me. As much as I would like to pretend that humanity was better and willing to listen to logic and reason, I had to admit that my own history had put that to the test, and even I had been forced to call upon the powers of Being X during the war.
Shaking my head, I said, "Still, the Emperor has made it quite clear: no organized religion, even worship of him. Before you make any moves like that, you should always run things by the Emperor, get his approval at the bare minimum, a debate like we're having here. I can see only trouble from making decisions without running things by him."
Lorgar sighed before nodding her head, seemingly bored with that notion. "Yes, yes, I've been meaning to speak to him about it, but it's extremely hard to get in contact with him. He's always out there, trying to find our siblings and deal with one chaotic situation after another. I hate to say this, sister, but I think he's going to run himself into the ground before he accomplishes his dreams."
I blinked before asking, "What do you mean?"
"I mean what I said. Father is going to tire himself out and probably need to take a break at some point simply because he's trying to do everything without letting us handle some of the work. He needs a vacation. Even a luminary on the cusp becoming a God can take a break, don't you think?"
Not comfortable with the idea but agreeing to the notion that he could be running himself ragged, I acknowledged, "Well, that may be true, but he's doing a damn good job of it so far. And just because he's busy doesn't mean you shouldn't run things by him. The options I presented here are just my beliefs on the situation. Though I've spoken with the Emperor on some more subjects in the past, it should be something you run by him at the very minimum, try to organize your thoughts on an organized religion."
"Oh, what do you mean by that?" Lorgar asked, leaning forward in front of me, which I tried not to notice, although I got a rather nice view down the front of her robe. Bad Tanya, that's your sister.
"Well, there are three priesthoods on my planet: the Priesthood of Iron, the Priesthood of the Wolf, and the Priesthood of Runes, each representing a different aspect of Fenrisian culture, metalworking, magic, and the hunt, I guess you could say. That's it. There's no organized structure beyond that, no churches. People are allowed to believe what they want as long as their beliefs are not harmful to others. You've got to bring in that influence to whatever you're creating; otherwise, I think you'll find that things aren't as rosy for your organized religion," I explained.
She sat there thinking for a moment, her lips pursed, before saying, "Alright, I see your point. I will endeavor to try and make the book I'm working on have more openness to belief." She leaned back and pulled out a quill to write something in her notes.
"Also, do not assert that the Emperor is a God. As I said, that just creates a problem you don't want to deal with," I added.
"Oh, then what would you assert them as?" she asked, leaning forward.
"I would assert exactly what you said. He is a luminary. He's probably a great example for humans to live up to, but make sure that you clarify he is human. It doesn't matter how many superpowers he's got lying around; he came from human stock," I replied.
"Yes, but he also came from a sacrifice of 1,000 druids or more across the entire planet of Terra," Lorgar said matter-of-factly.
"I'm sorry, what?" I exclaimed, not expecting her to have this information.
"Oh yes, I was able to wring that out of father when we were having a drink when we first met. Apparently, he was created by a thousand druids or more, all foreseeing what was going to come for humanity and deciding that it would need a guardian. They all killed themselves and forced their souls into one body to create said guardian."
I think I had to raise my estimates of Lorgar since I only got that information from him because of my unique circumstances. Lorgar had got a lot of information out of the Emperor, enough so that it was apparent that she seemed to have gotten on well with him.
"What…" that's all I could come up with. How do you respond to that point, that your father of this life is an amalgamation of a thousand or more souls all stuck into one body, and was technically cheated to get to where he was on the scale of humanities development. Granted, I would assume after the countless eons he's lived he probably absorbed a soul or two at this point, but still, it kind of goes against this whole idea that all of humanity could rise to his level when he literally cheated to get there.
Flooded with a sigh, I put my hands over my face and rubbed it, trying to work out the mental cramps caused by the fact that Lorgar was right.
Finally, I took a breath, leaned back, and said, "Okay, you have a point but still, we can assume humanity could reach that level of psychic potential in time and he just expedited that ability."
Lorgar nodded matter-of-factly before adding, "I mean, it doesn't matter to me how he came into being. He is a luminary here to protect and guide humanity. He just has to accept his role in the matter. Right now, he thinks having a galactic religion is not the greatest idea. I'm sure he will change his mind as he realizes his plan does not work. We simply need to build conclaves as quietly as possible and wait for our time, so that it can be used to fulfill his grand plans and keep humanity safe."
"That's why I'm working on a book, you see. My people can't be everywhere. We can't force religion on everyone. But if there's a book written by one of the Primarchs on why the Emperor is the luminary among men, then people will have something to read, to understand, to mimic."
"As long as they're just reading and mimicking, rather than sitting on decisions, I'm sure that's fine. If you build a church and people are forced to attend, that's a bit of a problem. Forced conversions are only going to lead to problems," I explained.
Lorgar looked at me before asking, "Isn't forcing people to take on the Imperial Truth a forced conversion?"
I let out a sigh before nodding my head, saying, "Yes, but at least conversion to 'don't talk about your religion' is a lot better than 'you should believe what I believe'."
"So what you're saying is that I should be trying to create a religion that can work within a system that does not want to talk about religion? A personal faith that could spread among people without needing to be forcefully proselytized? I don't think that really works, but I'll keep that in mind," Lorgar said, writing something down before sighing and saying, "But that's enough talk of religion. We still have to deal with the whole Arc Reach sector. You've been sent here to help me. Any ideas on how we're going to deal with these Phoenix King worshippers?"
"Well, I brought most of my Space Marine legion that can fight right now. We could do it two ways: deploy some of our forces on each planet and take them all out at the same time, or try to overwhelm each planet one after another," I suggested.
Lorgar paused before saying, leaning back, "I've been trying to take this one planet for 2 years. Even with your help, that means we'll be in this sector for several years at the minimum. They are able to bring in enough supplies to keep the war effort going as long as they have other planets to call upon. Perhaps we should be looking for a way to hit all the planets at once."
"With five planets and two legions, there are enough great companies that I could spread out with. Though, perhaps we should think more strategically. Send forces to some planets to keep their forces pinned down while a majority of our forces target one particular planet," I said, offering another solution.
"Yes, that could work," Lorgar said with a nod, adding, "Yes, I can break up my legion into six and send a group to each of the planets, while keeping two to work on Ark Reach V, the next planet in the lineup."
"I agree," I said, "I could send some of my troops to work with you on that. I'm not familiar with your men's tactics, but my men's abilities to raid and move should be good enough to cause trouble on the enemy's planets. If they're too busy trying to defend themselves, hopefully, they won't be able to defend each other. Do we know anything about special abilities or potential issues that may arise?"
Lorgar nodded before saying, "Arc Reach I and II are probably going to be the hardest to break. The population on those planets has a large psyker contingent. I would have thought such a place would have fallen into ruins sooner, but apparently, the Phoenix Kings have allowed them to use these populations to their benefit. And now they're using them to hold us at bay. Perhaps they have learned some techniques from the Eldar. It's the best explanation I can come up with for why they can use their powers so effectively."
"I was not aware of this," I said, surprised. "It was not in the report I received. It was only supposed to be six planetary empires, not four, and two planetary empires with psychic abilities."
She nodded before saying, "I've only just learned of this. I sent a scout to the second planet, and well, he was ripped apart in orbit by some unseen force. So, I sent one to the first, and the same thing happened. But it didn't happen on the third. So, I must assume that this population of psykers comes from those first two planets."
She leaned over and picked up her goblet of wine, sipping it before saying, "Knowing this, I have requested help from the Emperor. I know your people are somewhat skilled at fighting psychics, but I thought we could use a little something extra, so he is sending the Thousand Sons Legion to give us aid. They should be here within a year."
"Thousand Sons," I said matter-of-factly, thinking back before saying, "I don't think I've ever run into them in any of the reports I've read."
"As far as I know, they have not been in any major campaigns yet. This will probably be their first active one where they're working with other Primarchs, I would think. So, I could be wrong on that matter. Either way, they are scheduled to arrive in a year and have the abilities to help us fight these things. Till then, well, we must fight these Phoenix Kings and their psychic ilk and cleanse this planet of this strange religion while we can."
"What's so bad about this religion in particular that's got you upset, sister?" I asked, noting that this was the second or third time they used a rather demeaning and angered phrase when referring to these Phoenix Kings.
"That's quite simple," she replied. "They believe their Phoenix Kings are luminaries of the same status as the Emperor. In fact, they think they're better than the Emperor. It's an insult to the Emperor just based on that."
My eyes narrowed before I said, "You didn't start a war with them because they said something like that, right? They refused outright before that knowledge was achieved."
She looked at me shocked before saying, "My sister, I may have my beliefs about them for sure, but I will tell you now, I did my best to try and come to some sort of agreement with these people. They have some interesting cultural aspects I wanted to learn about, but they rebuffed my hand of friendship. They fired a missile at my Gloriana as I tried to speak with their Phoenix Kings. They have no interest nor desire to join the Imperium by open hand, and they have made it quite clear that if we try to progress any further in this area of space, they will rally to any planet that needs defending. They must be dealt with before the expansion of the Crusade can continue beyond its current location."
"Alright, alright," I said, raising my hands before adding, "Just had to be sure. I know some people get a little too enthusiastic with their job. I've heard rumors of some Primarchs having a bad interaction and starting conflicts for no good reason."
"Oh, what rumors? I love those," Lorgar asked.
I shrugged before saying, "Supposedly, in the early days of the Crusade, one of the Primarchs, which one I don't know because information is a bit scarce, was insulted over something banal, such as the company they keep, and they ended up burning half the planet. I think it might be Perturabo, but he's never clarified if it was him. So…" I shrugged, which got a nod from her.
"I understand," Lorgar said before saying, "One of the problems of Father's plans, but I think it is the right plan. That's all. Meeting on the battlefield allows us to meet at our best. I think when we're at our sharpest, we can better understand each other when we meet."
"That's what he thinks. I'm not so sure about it, but that's for next time. Do you have any more of that wine? I'm a bit parched, and I need to get myself ready for the next fight we get involved in on Arc Reach V."
Lorgar looked up, smiled, and signaled a girl carrying a rather large wine jug to move forward, along with another girl carrying a mug. "Same. I've been waiting for you to ask that."
Lord Wolfen
Ark Reach IV
"Come on, sisters! Do you want to live forever!!?" I cried out as I pulled myself out of the trench, holding the lofted Eldar staff as a rallying standard, encouraging the other Valkyria to stand and charge with me.
Arc Reach IV was an agri-world. There were cities, yes, but for the most part, it was predominantly farmland. We had to fight for every little parcel, it felt like the Phoenix worshipers did everything they could to stop our forward momentum.
I had not been entirely successful. We had managed to take one of the major cities in the southern part of the planet, which allowed us to move our lines forward every day. But we didn't have the resources to fully push into the enemy's lines with the speed and power of the Space Marines.
For the most part, the Wolves of Fenris were dedicated elsewhere, which allowed moments of glory for the Valkyria. My sisters and I were fighting against rather low-bearing tanks and autoguns that kept us from advancing. But that did nothing really, since their tanks were quite easily spotted by the tanks of Tanya Russ, which could locate and blow them up easily enough. As for their autoguns, they could sometimes get lucky and hit a weak spot. But for the most part, the majority of the Valkyria had Valkyrie-pattern power armor by this point. We may not have had the same strength and capabilities as the Space Marines, but we did have enough defenses that we could move across an open field.
That's what my sisters and I were doing. I was trying to lower any chance of us taking too many wounds, using my reflective shield spell in front of me and as many sisters as I could protect. The enemy unleashed devastating fire at us, hoping to slow us down.
In some areas, that would probably have worked, but we had been preparing this particular attack for a week now, bombarding areas around here to draw enemies into those zones, hoping to weaken this particular area to the point that an infantry advance could succeed.
If we could break the line here, the Space Marines from the Word Bearers would have an open road to the next city. So, it's not like there was a lot of pressure, just a lot of hope that this could succeed and hopefully make it easier for Tanya and the rest of the legion once they were done on Arc Reach V, where I understood they were being given the runaround by flying dragons or something—something that had not been spotted here but was probably native to one of the internal planets.
We were halfway across the field. Some of my sisters had already fallen when we ran into the first real issue. Barbed wire traps—something that should not affect the power-suited boots of our armor. But if you dig them deep enough, it is going to catch a person off balance. Anyone taking a step and falling a foot deep into a hole lined with barbed wire is going to get stuck.
A few sisters fell and stumbled, immediately becoming targets for fire. Those who were not wearing helmets regretted that choice as the rounds found that weak point easily enough.
Thankfully, the majority of us kept moving, and Tanya Russ's tanks and Chimera transport quickly came up to those who were stuck, either turning themselves to provide cover for them to get out of the holes or moving on, trying to draw fire onto themselves.
This slow forward advance continued as artillery began to rain down in our area. I had hoped we had counter-battery fired most of the guns in this area to destruction, but apparently, they kept a few for what they thought was an inevitable attack. Good on them, but it was probably too late because there were only a few yards left before we entered their trenches.
The only real issue I saw was one of the Phoenix King's soldiers, a man wearing gold with a fluffy plume sticking out of his helmet, standing up with an RPG and aiming it directly at me.
Using the magic under my control, I managed to shape the shield so that as the RPG was fired, it was caught in a trench, sliding it into a gentle upward turn before sending it back into the trench.
There was an explosion, clearing that immediate area, and then the slow march was over as we jumped down into the trench, finding the remnants of the enemy scattered by the explosion and finishing them off.
Tanya Russ tanks rolled over the first trench into the second, their guns unleashing fire into them as they did, and the sisters got to work clearing out the trenches, working together to slowly pin the enemy and force them into areas where they could be killed by the armored behemoths above.
While we survived the advance, the reinforcements parked and unloaded another round of sisters who had not risked enemy fire. To be fair, we probably should have all been riding Chimeras, but well, the fact that several Chimeras had exploded behind me pointed out that it was dangerous no matter how we had chosen to cross that no man's land, It was either on foot and having your own choice in the matter or in a machine that might spare your life or might end you with your sisters in one glorious fireball.
Personally, I liked my odds of running across the battlefield with just the magic staff before me, casting shields to try and protect as many as possible, but that was just me.
"There's a counterattack coming!" My sister yelled as they looked over a trench. I pulled myself up, having a task considering that even amongst my sisters, I was on the shorter side thanks to the blessing of my Primarch, Looking on, I saw several vehicles already moving towards us, risking our own counter-battery fire in order to gain control of the lines before it became a full breakthrough. The insignia on the vehicles revealed that they were the Phoenix King's reaction force, their Knights—the closest thing to Space Marines—consisting of heavily armored soldiers in power armor, some with psychic abilities.
Drawing upon my power, I was hoping to enchant a nearby RPG with a rather large explosion, but that was not needed as something blasted a hole through the incoming transport.
Looking back, wondering what vehicle had fired such a large laser beam, I quickly spotted a Word Bearer transport, heavy and too large for its own good, moving across the open area we had just advanced over. Word Bearers marched by it, their guns ready for a fight, and vehicles coming around inside.
"Take cover!" I called into the comms, knowing that this was about to be a very brutal fight. Valkyries were going to be stuck in the middle of Space Marines versus a power armored foe.
My sisters refused to take cover, seeing this as a moment to gain power and prestige. They opened fire on the enemy as they covered the Word Bearers, getting into position. Some of them jumped down alongside them, while others marched onwards.
At the same time the Word Bearers reached our line, so did the enemies Phoenix Knights. Their Phoenix Knights, carrying staves charged by some unknown energy, jumped down and started slashing at my sisters.
One came right at me, jumping over the second trench and seeming to have detected my communication, determining that I was of some sort of importance. Unfortunately for them, I was much more powerful with psychic abilities than they were. With a snap of my fingers, I halted them mid-air. I shattered their knees, twisting their armor to bend in a very incompatible way for their legs. Their screaming was unbearably bad, but I dropped them down, seeing as they were no longer a threat, especially considering more were coming my way.
"I've got you, little one!" someone called before a giant Cataphractii Terminator armor landed in front of me. The individual had a pair of lightning claws and cared not for the enemy's forces, slashing and cutting at them repeatedly until they were all dead.
They turned and gave me a genuine smile, saying, "Good show, Lord Wolfen," before pushing forward, slashing more enemies.
The fighting continued for some time, but after a while, the trenches were ours, and the Word Bearers were pushing onwards, or rather, the majority of them. As I was resting with some of my sisters, catching my breath and eating a ration bar while sipping some water, on a spare log meant for a palisade. The armored individual came by and took a seat right next to me, the log I was on not taking kindly to it and pushing me up about half an inch into the air.
"Sorry about that, " they said, giving me a nod before saying, "You are Lord Wolfen, right? I've heard rumors that you were in charge of the sisters in this area."
"That would be correct," I said with a nod, balancing the best I could a few inches in the air before saying, "Though you have me at a bit of a disadvantage. Who are you?"
"Kor Phaeron, First Captain of the Word Bearers. It's an honor to meet a fellow warrior who risked it all to become a Space Marine, or at least as close as you can."
I raised an eyebrow before saying, "I see my story is starting to spread a bit."
Kor Phaeron chuckled before saying, "Amongst individuals who make up the higher echelons, it gets out that the Primarch of the Wolves has some quirks in their gene-seed."
Kor paused before continuing. "Though I will admit, the warriors of Fenris sure put their all into it. I wanted to aid my daughter in this war, but I was only willing to go through as much augmentation as was physically possible. To actually risk ingesting the gene-seed of their Primarch, well, already as an adult, the people of Fenris sure are a different breed."
I smiled at that before saying, "Well, it isn't written in the stars that we will die fighting. Getting glory and honor for our clans was becoming too tame when I was a youth, and it was only looking like it was going to get tamer. In order for us to get that honor and glory, we had to think outside the box."
Kor nodded his head in understanding. "I can get that. I wish more Space Marines were more accepting of those willing to put their all into it."
I raised an eyebrow before asking, "What do you mean?"
Kor shrugged before responding, "I get called the 'False Astartes' more than you would believe. There's a sizable part of the population, Word Bearers included, that seem to think that if you're not fully a Space Marine, you should not be on the battlefield."
"Foolish," I said with a shake of my head, before adding, "I will admit, our Mother was a bit skeptical of some of our recruits, but Tanya has always believed that in order to win a conflict, you cannot tie your hand behind your back. All resources are acceptable. That's why she's willing to allow failed Space Marines, such as myself, into her own Valkyrie, her personal guard."
"A very wise woman, your Primarch is, then. So is our own, for that matter. Even though part of our population does not agree with allowing humans to take part, our Primarch is willing to give them the shot they need when we need them. Better to have a thousand guns at your back than just three."
"You and Lorgar and Tanya seem to have very similar mindsets on the matter. Perhaps that's a sign that our two Legions will get along better, at least better than Tanya and the Lion."
"Oh, a little bit of trouble between those two?" Kor asked.
"I wouldn't say trouble," I said with a shake of my head. "Just a difference of opinions on how things should be handled. I think those two will eventually get along just fine. It's just that Tanya likes to keep things on a small scale, control what she can, and let people she trusts operate what she can't. Lion El'Jonson, from what I have seen, is more secretive and controlling. They think they can run the whole war from wherever they are. But the fact of the matter is, you can never run a whole war. It's a communal exercise for the population."
"A communal exercise, what a strange way to think of it," Kor said with a nod. "I guess when your planet is trying to kill you, you come up with some strange ways. Looking at the world ours, though a desert, was never too harsh, as I've heard for her own home world it was."
I smiled before saying, "I don't know, trying to survive in a desert sounds a lot harsher than trying to survive in the winters of Fenris. At least there's plenty of wood to burn on Fenris when it gets too cold. Predators are probably a bit more trouble though, unless there are something like giant scorpions or the like."
Kor chuckled before nodding his head, adding, "I don't think I ever saw a giant scorpion, though there were always rumors."
Sighing, he got up from where he was sitting, and I was levered back down into my position.
"Well, I would love to continue this conversation, Miss Wolfen, or is it Mr Wolfen?" Kor Phaeron mused before shrugging and saying, "I wonder if your condition is going to be a more notable thing among Primarchs with female traits, or if it's simply something of Fenris' nature."
I shrugged before saying, "Personally, I think it's something to do with Tanya, but I can't prove that yet. It's a little personal theory of mine, that's all."
"Oh, is there something special about your Primarch?" Kor asked, and I simply shrugged before saying, "Maybe… perhaps there is something special about my Primarch, or maybe there is something special about the people of my world. Perhaps it's just the luck of the draw. I don't know all the reasons, and I don't need to know. All I need to know is where the enemy is so I can win glory for Fenris, be it in this form or one I would prefer."
"Hmm, then let us speak again in the future, Lord Wolfen. I think we have much in common and much to think about. From what I understand, you are a member of the priestly caste of your planet, and I too was once a priest. So, perhaps we have conjoining ideas that could be mutually shared and grown upon."
I smiled, remembering something that I've heard Tanya say before saying out loud. "Networking for the betterment of the Imperium. I wouldn't mind doing that. Next time you're in my area, let's have a longer chat. Perhaps we'll have a chance. I doubt the enemy will come crumbling down if your men take the coming city."
"If only," Kor said, giving a backhanded wave as he walked away.
Kori Bretakollrsson
Ark Reach III
"Enemy approaching from the mountains!" someone shouted, and I was up out of the stupor I had put myself in to catch a moment of rest. Every other battle brother near me was doing the same.
Fighting the Phoenix Knights this close to their protected home cities was a problem. We needed to be on the move and raiding. We didn't have the manpower to engage in a prolonged fight like what was going on in the outer systems. Instead, we needed to cause trouble, create mayhem, and kill as much as we could before moving on. And so far, we have been very successful. However, they were beginning to adapt, and the Phoenix Knights were a prime example of what they were learning to do.
Instead of sending infantry that couldn't keep up with us, they were sending these dragon riders—beasts that could eat through the power armor of a Marine. Thankfully, they were somewhat rare and didn't form a large horde. But they had enough that we had to watch the skies constantly for enemy raids and air assaults while we were stationed here.
Enemies were falling from the sky, with proud colors of independent heraldry indicating their loyalty to one Phoenix King or another. Currently, there were six colors, suggesting that even though we had taken one of the main worlds of the Ark Reach Cluster, the king of that planet had either escaped or they were honoring his life. It was hard to say with the little information we had.
All we knew for sure was that our leaders knew everything that needed to be known, and that the enemy was coming. Taking our positions, we unleashed bolter fire up at the incoming mounted warriors as they dove at us, as they returned fire that bounced and ricocheted off our power armor. Once they were close they drew their lances and charged with their mounts attempting to grab and bite us, but missiles and counterfire soon forced them off. However, they didn't leave without taking a few lives. Some poor Marines were too high up and had his head mauled, or his arm clawed and pulled into the air. Others were really unlucky, as a lance was perfectly aimed for their necks and they were left bleeding out on the ground.
However, for their riders, well, they didn't fare much better. Of the unit that came in hard at us, half of them didn't leave the ground. They tried to buzz us, but instead crashed nearby, riddled with wounds they couldn't survive. The Marines made sure they didn't live. They rushed over and unloaded their bolters and volkite deep into their bodies.
The remaining riders quickly ascended into the atmosphere, turned, and started fleeing. Some of them didn't make it very far before falling out of the air or attempting to land along the way, obviously severely injured and in need of medical attention long before they reached their home base.
Shaking my head, I watched the last retreating figure disappear over the nearby mountains before Bjorn came up next to me, looking out at the fleeing enemy and shaking his head. "You'd think after all these skirmishes we've had, they'd have fewer of these creatures."
"Why not?" I said before adding, "If they had fewer creatures, they wouldn't be as formidable of an enemy. Obviously, they've had time to breed these things, and who knows what else they've done with them. For all we know, they might have a storehouse somewhere with creatures of this variant on ice, just to pull them out in case of emergencies."
"That is a harsh thought, brother," Bjorn said, shaking his head. But he continued, "But not impossible, considering what we've seen in the galaxy."
"So when's the next raid?" I asked, looking down the mountain range towards a nearby town. It had been the next target we were going to hit, so I wondered if that was still the objective. The town was rather quaint, with a little palisade around some major buildings and houses, and a large statue of a man riding a unicorn with wings. I didn't believe that was actually a thing, but it wasn't my field of expertise. And perhaps, with all the strange things out there, it wasn't impossible that someone had created such a creature.
"The next attack was supposed to be in an hour, though I think we might hold that off now," Bjorn replied. "Now that they know we're coming and which direction, we'll probably pull back and hit a different town. We've got to keep the enemy off balance, and if they know where we're going, they'll just set a trap for us."
I nodded in agreement, thinking about how often we had to change our plans to keep the enemy off balance. Then a third voice joined the conversation.
"I see no reason why we shouldn't commence the attack now. If the enemy only recently discovered our target, they couldn't have set many traps," Erebus said, stepping forward. He was one of the hundred or so Word Bearers moving with our company.
I looked over at Erebus, shaking my head. "No, Erebus, engaging the enemy in their current position may seem reasonable since they only recently found out about our target, But they're already on the move, and they'll be here long before we finish the raid, I'd rather not get trapped in a town and be caught in a unexpected siege."
Erebus nodded, acknowledging my point. "I guess you're right. You Wolves of Fenris have a lot more knowledge of the combat aspect of war. We, the Word Bearers, are simply better at handling the administrative aftermath, in my opinion."
Bjorn laughed at that before saying, "Hey, we're not slouches in that category either. I mean, we do keep a contingent at the Wheel of Fire."
"True, true," Erebus conceded, "but they're more like guard dogs, if you pardon the term. We, the Word Bearers, strive to guide civilization as it grows strong and lay its new foundations."
"That's a very high opinion of yourself," I teased before shrugging my shoulders and saying, "But it's not really a problem for us Wolves of Fenris. The people of the Wheel of Fire aren't, for the most part, calling us from Fenris, so they will develop however they see fit. If they happen to align with some of the values we hold, well, that's good for them. If not, as long as they stay on the side of the Imperium, I don't give a damn."
"How very mercenary," Erebus mused before saying, "Aren't you concerned about what could grow on those planets while you're away? After all, those humans have been separated from the majority of humanity for a long time."
I shrugged and replied, "It doesn't matter what they believe. Their benefactors are humanity and the Imperium. Without us, they would not be free. They would be living under the slave labor of the Orks. They may not be loyal to us, but that's a problem we'll have to deal with another time. But frankly, you can ask any Marine here, those people are loyal. We've earned their loyalty through our campaigns in the Wheel of Fire. It's something to remember when you're engaged in these fights. There's always some class being oppressed by xenos, mutants, you name it. You just have to find them and put them back in their place. It's something I've witnessed in many of our campaigns. And when you don't find an oppressed class, finding what makes the population loyal works just as well."
Erebus nodded, coming to some sort of understanding. "I hope you're right. So much of humanity has been scattered throughout the stars. Though I do wonder what secrets we can learn from these human sects that have broken away. We tend to just destroy things that don't make sense to us, but there's so much chaos out there that we need to learn about."
I shrugged again before saying, "I'll leave that to the scholars, which I guess includes you guys. So do us a favor and learn about it. The rest of us have to go beat up the rest of the universe and put it under our heel."
"Ha, good one," Bjorn said, smacking my shoulder.
Erebus looked at Bjorn, thinking for a moment, before he said, "You know, I've noticed something strange while working with your Legion. So many Legions seem to keep themselves compartmentalized, with men separated by their units and leadership. But yours is rather... what's the term I'm looking for here?"
"Chill," Bjorn offered.
"Not just chill, more easy-going. That's the term," Erebus continued. "Ours is rather uptight, I will admit. We've created some rather nice social gatherings to try and break that up."
"Well, we have social gatherings in our Legion too. It's called drinking night, and everyone gets involved, even the Primarch," Bjorn replied.
"You even managed to get your Primarch to drink with you?" Erebus said, sounding shocked.
"Yeah, why? Can't you get yours to join in?" Bjorn responded, receiving a nod from Erebus.
"Lorgar tends to fade away into her studies, researching the causes of the universe, culture, religion, and trying to understand the divine will of the Emperor," I snickered, which earned me a look from Erebus.
"What's so funny about that comment?" he asked.
"Well, I don't know. It's just that the first time Tanya and the Emperor met, Tanya won a drinking contest against him, if memory serves. Legend goes that technically, the Emperor still owes her six months of helping her run Fenris, but she understands he's busy, and she's not going to push that," I explained.
"Tanya beat the Emperor?" Erebus said, tilting his head in puzzlement, the tattoos on his face adding to the expression.
"Oh yeah, the Emperor challenged her to a contest, and as a challenge, she chose a question-answer drinking contest," Bjorn said with a nod. "I wasn't there for it, I was a wee lad at the time, but I've heard the legend."
"Amazing! Obviously, Tanya must represent the inner drinker of the Emperor. There was no way someone could defeat the Emperor at his own drinking contest otherwise," Erebus exclaimed.
I raised an eyebrow before saying, "Represent? I don't think I've ever heard someone talk about the Primarchs like that before."
"Oh yes, sorry, excuse me. It's just one of the topics my particular social club discusses. They try to figure out which element of the Primarch each one represents for the Emperor," Erebus explained.
"Perturabo is determination, Lorgar is faith, Lion is..." Erebus didn't get to finish as Bjorn spoke up.
"Pride, definitely pride," Bjorn interrupted.
I snickered at that, which got a nod from Erebus. He said, "Yes, that's what we've been tending to think. Each Primarch represents one element of the Emperor's personality taken to the extreme."
"Oh, that's not drinking then," I said matter-of-factly, before adding, "If it had to be something, I would say Tanya is driven to the extreme of improving the life around her, making sure everyone is well taken care of."
"Hmm, loyalty then. Interesting, very interesting," Erebus said, tapping his chin. He looked around and noticed that most of the men were already starting to pack up their equipment, getting ready to move. He continued, "Looks like we should end this conversation. Though I do wonder, do you have any idea what the Second Primarch's personality is? I haven't had the honor to run into them myself."
"Oh, that's obvious, it's weeb," Bjorn said with his arms crossed in front of him. "I heard Tanya complaining about it one night when his back was turned. Something about him being an ultimate weeb, whatever that means."
"Weeb? That's a term I've never heard before," Erebus said, shaking his head. He added, "I'll have to do some research on what that means. It sounds foreign, not part of the majority of Gothic, perhaps one of the old tribal dialects of Terra."
Both Bjorn and I shrugged our shoulders, not really knowing. I simply said, "Maybe if you find out, let us know. I'm kind of interested in what it means as well. Tanya has a tendency to use words we've never heard before."
Erebus tilted his head before saying, "Really, that's interesting. I would have figured she'd tend to use words that were common from her homeworld."
"I mean, she does," Bjorn said. "It's just that once in a while, she'll say some random thing in another language. Sometimes it sounds Gothic, sometimes it sounds different. But usually, she's annoyed or angry when she says it, so we just assume it's one of the many languages she learned when she was speaking with the Emperor."
"The Emperor taught her languages?" Erebus said, leaning forward.
"I mean, that's the legend," Bjorn said, looking at me. I simply shrugged, not knowing. "It's what most people believe whenever they hear that strange talk she makes. And she didn't make it before meeting the Emperor, some say. So obviously, people just made the assumption that he taught her something during those six months before launching back into his crusade to find the rest of his sons."
"Hmm, very interesting. I wonder if this means he has some sort of preference for her being the next leader of the Crusade," Erebus said, tapping his chin. "I would have figured it would be the leader of the Luna Wolves, Horus. He does get taken to see many of his brothers when they are discovered, so that he can keep the secret better."
"That's right," I said, before adding, "Don't know, not part of my pay grade, My job right now is to kill the soldiers of the Phoenix Kings, and I'm not getting paid to discuss who the next leader of the Crusade will be."
Looking down the valley, I said, "Unfortunate. I had a feeling that town probably would have information about how they structure their society, and find some sort of weak point. But I guess that'll have to be something for the next raid we launch."
Erebus nodded his head before saying, "Yes, next time, And perhaps we'll find some free time to discuss more about the interactions of our Primarchs. It's always an interesting thing to learn about the other's commanders, don't you think?"
I scratched the back of my neck before saying, "Yeah, I guess. Yeah, sure. Why not?"
Writers note: Holly shit he she!,also she rather reasonable bet you all did not see that coming. Now you may be noticing this chapter closser to 15k then 10k well half of this chapter used to be in in the last chapter but now that i have team editors on this, things like this happened, not sure if it be come to a normal thing like on Mando but who knows! All I know is this chapter star new ark, and new Primakrs to interact with two Primark i think will be damn interesting.
Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
Edited by: L, Golden, BatAzr, Y1, Robyn The Witch,Leibl
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Chapter 55, The Wolf and the Crimson King
Chapter 55, The Wolf and the Crimson King
M30.885
Lord Wolfen
Ark Reach IV
The sounds of artillery were coming to life as the sun set on the battlefield. The shells they spat out painted the darkness, clouding our vision and making it harder to aim precisely. Our guns would be opening fire as the night went on, ensuring the enemy didn't attempt any counterattacks to regain the territory they lost during the day's fighting. Or, if the Word Bearers were preparing any night attacks, we might open fire around the positions they were planning to strike. It was hard to predict their plan of action, as the Word Bearers tended to mix up their attacks to avoid establishing a routine before launching an assault.
But what mattered was that darkness was falling, and night was overtaking the battlefield, and all I could think was that it had been a long day. The fighting on this world was nearly coming to an end, with only three cities of major contention left. These three cities could basically be called a mega-city, as their suburbs ran into each other and allowed for internal lines of supply both above ground and beneath. Apparently, they had tunnels running from one city to another, so any attack against one city would have to deal with reinforcements from the others. That's why when attacks went off, they tended to happen simultaneously, locking the enemy in its position and preventing them from reinforcing anywhere else they were trying to break through.
The people of the Ark Reach were tough customers, which was funny considering how fragile they individually were when compared to baseline humans. To be quite clear, if anything, they reminded me of the Eldar to some extent. Human-sized, obviously from human stock, but I wouldn't put it past this particular area to have had some sort of appreciation for Eldar culture at some point and gene-modded their population to be more Eldar-like. Very lithe and tall of stature with a preference for long hair. The only thing missing were the pointy ears, though considering I hadn't seen the ruling class, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they had pointed ears as well. Anyone with common ancestry was easier to pick out by the rounded ears of a normal human.
Looking down the trench, I saw more of my Valkyrie sisters hard at work. Some were cleaning their weapons, armor, and doing the usual things necessary for combat, but many were relaxing. It was hard to see why not, as this was not good fighting for Fenris' people. It was slaughter, plain and simple. Many men would die, and many more would be wounded and sent back to Fenris.
Well, those from Fenris were actually outnumbered by the Guardsmen here with the Valkyrie. We were supported by the Word Bearers and some of their auxiliary forces, a strange batch of soldiers, to say the least, many of whom seemed to engage in idolatry. I had been through their trenches once or twice in order to reach the Word Bearers' main camp for a conversation with their leader, and seen their makeshift altars to the Emperor. They seem to consider him... I would almost say "God."
I don't really know what I believe anymore. Perhaps it was my exposure to Tanya; perhaps it was just being a soldier slowly draining you of your beliefs, or perhaps it was something else, but I just could not see the Emperor as the All-Father, not anymore. I might have believed it once when he first arrived; after all, it was a rather awe inspiring thing to see when he stood up from his chair and grew to the size of a giant, clad in shining gold armor that had not existed a moment before. But years passed, and the exposure to that sort of drains all the wonder out of you.
Shaking my head, I leaned back against the trench wall and closed my eyes, thinking about heading to sleep early. The next organized attack wasn't for another 36 hours, and I probably should be as rested as I could be before then.
But I was prevented from doing that as I heard the familiar thumping of heavy armor moving in my direction.
"Lord Wolfen," called the familiar voice of Kor as he approached. He was in his Terminator armor, although it appeared he had his servants remove his lightning claws before approaching my position.
"Captain Phaeron," I said, giving him a nod, and gesturing towards a wooden log that passed for a bench that had been moved into the trenches. "Take a seat. That heavy armor must be weighing heavily on your spine."
"Ha, gladly," Kor said before sitting down next to me. His weight didn't push me into the air like it did last time. Thankfully, the log I was on was even and slightly buried into the dirt.
"This has been a long campaign, and we still look like we have another half year in front of us," Kor mused as he sat back.
I nodded. We had been fighting over this planet for nearly 6 months, and so far, we had been winning. It was a slow operation because our forces were split across five other worlds and compliance actions on the sixth, but it had been moving at a steady pace. Sure, the population of this planet was proving to be some of the most stubborn humans in the galaxy when it came to fighting, but we were winning. It just was going to take time and blood.
Nodding my head, I said, "I spoke with Tanya a few weeks back. She said that the Thousand Sons should be getting here sooner or later. That should help speed this operation up."
Kor nodded before saying, "Yes, Magnus and his Marines should help. They are quite adept in the powers of the Warp. It should help us gain the edge we need for our future operations, especially on Ark Reach I and II. I've heard those operations have basically fizzled out into nothing, our forces repulsed from the landings."
I nodded, though not all intel was spread evenly throughout the army. It was kind of apparent at this point that most of the fighting that was going on was on Ark Reach V, IV, and III. Ark Reach VI, of course, was an operational supply depot and in the middle of compliance action, and the forces that were dedicated to Ark Reach I and II had been rededicated to Ark Reach III, IV, and V. What had happened on those operations, I didn't know. I had not had a chance to probe Tanya too hard on that matter, or perhaps she just was not willing to talk about it.
I shrugged before saying, "Well, I hope you're right. I never met this Magnus, though, or their Legion. We've never run into them during our campaigns."
"Ahhh, that's unfortunate," Kor said. "He happened to be with the Emperor when they arrived at our homeworld Colchis, in training or something of that matter. Magnus and Lorgar got along quite well, I dare say. They're probably the best of friends when it comes to siblings."
"Really? That's interesting. Well, at least there'll be something interesting to talk about when they arrive. They are spellcasters, I assume they have their own system for protecting themselves from the things in the Warp?"
"Ha, I'm sure of that," Kor said as he looked down the trench, noticing one of the icons I had been observing. "I see some of my men's retinue have been in the area."
I nodded before saying, "It's strange, folks that run with your Legion. Last time I checked, worship of the Emperor was not exactly approved."
Kor nodded his head before saying, "Yes, that's something that Lorgar's been working on. Personally, I'm not sure about that whole situation, but I will follow my daughter and Primarch into whatever she deems as necessary for the Imperium."
I nodded at my own head as I would do the same for my own leader. But before I could make a comment, Kor continued.
"Although you are probably in a very similar situation. I've heard that your people somewhat consider the Emperor something called the All-Father, and that Tanya Russ is the child of the All-Father."
I let out a sigh. "Yeah, yeah, that is a thing. Old religious rites and such. It's not hard to see why that came to be. Many of our people were just scraping by when Tanya arrived, and things have improved vastly under her rule, even better once the Emperor came around. There were no full cities really before the Emperor's brought technology of the stars back to Fenris. Now there are cities on Fenris with populations in the millions. It's not hard to see that our people would put some of our beliefs of our ancient past onto these new arrivals."
"A strange way of saying it," Kor noted. "So you don't believe that your Primarch is the daughter of a god?"
Chuckling, I said, "My mother is many things, but I don't believe she is a demigod. I've seen her fights, I know she is vastly better than many people, but she is human. Besides, the gods of Fenris are few and far between. The All-Father watches over the surface, the Great Wolf Morkai watches over the underworld. And both have been tamed by Tanya, as far as I'm aware."
"Taming the gods of Fenris, huh? That's a strange way of looking at it," Kor mused before saying, "You couldn't actually do that if they were real gods. A true deity would have such great power that there would be no way for us mortals to upset them in such ways that we could take the lead."
I looked at him with a raised eyebrow before shrugging and saying, "I don't know. Tanya is rather convinced that she could defeat anything that she comes across, and I wouldn't bet against her, that's for sure."
"Haha, of course, of course," Kor chuckled. "So, I do wonder if we are not going to run into a problem where creatures of such great ability may encounter the Emperor at some point. After all, it's hubris that slayed humanity the last time they believed that they understood the universe, and the universe decided to show them that they didn't. What is the Emperor doing? He believes he understands the galaxy and is trying to conquer it. That's humorous, and that could be taken advantage of if not careful. Same for Primarch Russ."
I nodded at that. It was words of wisdom, I could say for sure. "Humanity is reaching out into the stars, trying to conquer them, and the stars do not like that."
Kor nodded thoughtfully before saying, "True, true. Though we possibly are dealing with something that is so large that we don't really know how far their reach goes. My own studies on the subject could imply that, well, quite a bit more than we are informed by our Primarchs and Emperor."
I leaned forward, somewhat interested. "Okay, you have my attention, Kor. Tell me what your research has shown into the subject. If we are at risk of hubris, it's better for us to have a few people planning for disaster."
Kor nodded his head before saying, "I believe that there are four entities in the Warp, or at least four factions of entities in the Warp. I don't know all of what they are exactly, but my research has shown that these four entities have their influence in the real world. If you've ever come across a world where there are more warriors than you would expect, that tends to be one of, let's call him, the Red One. Worlds that are filled with decay and rot tend to be the domain of the Green One. Pleasure worlds, of course, are the domain of the Purple One. They seem to have a unique connection to the Eldar. I believe that they possibly were awakened from whatever deep sleep they were in by the collapse of the Aeldari Empire before the fall of humanity. And finally, there's the Blue One, master of magic and mysteries. These four entities have their domains within our Galaxy and have been possibly just feuding against each other for who knows how long. And now the Emperor is, well, the Golden One, the one who's trying to push these four factions back. The question is, how long will they let the Emperor play at this game before striking back?"
"The real question in my mind," I said, "is why do we think that they cannot be defeated? Even if these entities are based in the Warp, well, obviously there are ways to defeat their influence. Fenris has had a priesthood for a long time, and we haven't had any experiences with these four."
"Are you sure of that?" Kor asked. "Have you not found any ruins or temples that do not quite make sense, things that could be relics of one of these four, on your own world?"
A brief memory came to me of something deep inside the mountains of Fenris, something I've seen while I've been nothing but an animal – a temple shimmering with blue light. I raised my hand to my forehead, trying to cause the slight headache that came with it to go away before saying, "Maybe one such place, but if it was connected to the one you talk of, it's a lost domain. If anything, that place is overrun by creatures that are less than human and could not be worshipers of it."
"Hmm, the Red One, I would assume, considering your world's brutal past," Kor mused, and I did not deem it necessary to correct him.
Shaking his head, he said, "These ancient underground altars that worship these things, even if we destroy and bury every single one of them, there's probably more hidden in the galaxy that we don't know about. And where one is, they can gather support. Yes, this place you refer to appears to have fallen into disrepair from what your statement says, but it's only controlled by the most basic of creatures. Those creatures are still probably considered servants of them in one form or another, protecting the place until people who the entities deem worthy of its secrets journey down into it."
"Well, that's probably won't happen then," I mused before adding, "Tanya has struck a deal with the god of the underworld to keep such creatures from gathering outside the underworld and keep whatever is down there down there, away from what few populations we allow to examine the underground cities."
"Hmmm, interesting. This God of your underworld must not be one of the four or one of their major aspects. Very interesting," Kor noted.
"Why is that?" I asked, leaning back.
Kor said, "I've done my research, and it appears that the four appear to jostle for territory, but there are possibly Independents here or there that maintain their individuality. Although, from my research, it seems to me that they eventually fall either into being aspects of one of the main four or are absorbed by the main four in one way or another."
"Hmm, well, those four, as you call them, are going to need a lot of luck. Tanya is not one for letting something like that take root on her planets. She may not be as strict when it comes to religion as the Emperor, but she does follow the main rule that there are no organized religions on her worlds. She's okay with disorganized, sure, small communities that believe in similar things, that's no problem. But they have to obey the rules that are set down by her law, and our law is pretty much, as long as you don't do anything to harm anyone else, she doesn't give a damn about it. But if you do do something, well, then you'll probably have a Space Marine knocking down your front door within a week."
Kor chuckled before saying, "Well, I hope you're right. Frankly, I've heard some rather strange rumors that make me wonder if she is not being hunted by the purple one."
When I shook my head, saying, "Rumors are rumors; don't give them the time of day. They waste my time and yours, anyway the only one doing any hunting is Tanya, and she's probably going to end up hunting those four sooner or later by the sound of it. Should be a fun fight."
Kor Phaeron shook his head, "You Fenris folk are strange and wonderful people." He slowly got up, brushing himself off, as he said, "Anyways, I thought I would let you know that the attack that was scheduled for 32 hours from now, give or take, was pushed off another day. Assets that were being devoted to it had to be moved, as the enemies over the northern city attempted to push out and break our lines there and ended up overextending, allowing a counter-attack that may have doomed the northern city."
"Supposed to be the toughest nut to crack," I said, annoyed, which got a nod from Kor.
"Correct. They made a mistake, and we're likely to capitalize on it and save ourselves a lot of lives lost and time for the planet to fall within the month, I think. Now, though, it could be later if something gets through the fleet in orbit."
"Here's to that not happening," I said, reaching into my cloak and pulling out an alcoholic drink in a metal canister I carried. I quickly unscrewed it and took a sip before offering it to Kor, saying, "Not the best drink from Fenris, but it's something to celebrate a victory."
"Thank you," Kor said, reaching out and taking a sip, and the darkness settled around us.
Kori Bretakollrsson
Ark Reach III
Holding my hand up, I paused the column, the sensors on my helmet pinging off what were most likely soldiers moving from the debris of what once used to be a wondrously golden decorated City.
Ark Reach III had apparently been one of the major trade capitals of the Ark Reach Cluster, and they had shown their wealth in everything they built, from towers that appeared to have had bricks coated in a golden substance to a giant diamond in one part of the city that appeared to have been either forged or created for some process only the creators of such works would know. On display for anyone to see, now, not so much anymore as artillery rounds had done a number on what probably would've been a spectacle in its day.
Seeing such a richly decorated city in this state was sort of a sad thing, but well, if they didn't want their city turned into broken rubble, they should have not declared themselves vehemently against integration into the Imperium. There were plenty of other options; They just needed to take one of them. Instead, they had gone out of their way to start a war, and well, wars tend to leave destruction in their wake.
Operations had scaled up since the early days of invasions on Ark Reach III. When we first landed, we had just been trying to cause as much chaos and mayhem as possible, as Ark Reach IV and V were the heads of the operation. But things in Ark Reach I and II had been rebuffed, and more troops had been deployed to Ark Reach III in hopes of settling the score there. Two companies had been deployed to each planet, and only half of a company had returned. The powers on display there were so great that I wondered what Tanya would do to try and even the score. She wasn't one for using planetary destruction weapons, so we were going to have to go back in there, and I was all for it. Of course, some may say wasting our time on taking a planet so people can live there was a waste of time, but I got it. If we took the planet, they would give us a place for human colonization from the Imperium, which would mean more support in this region, making further invasions in this area easier. It was a simple system.
Of course, the problem was that the abilities on display here meant that anything that got off Ark Reach I and II onto the other worlds in the sector that we were trying to bring to compliance could cause a lot of trouble.
That's why I slowly moved forward with Bjorn to my right as we carefully watched for any enemies hiding in the debris of a once proud civilization, waiting to spring its traps on us.
After about 10 minutes, I shook my head. We'd moved quite a bit forward from the column, and nothing had attacked us, which was a sign that we might have been overreacting. At least, I had thought so at first. Then I heard gunshots on the other side of the building we were currently in front of.
Looking towards Bjorn, I said, "Who's on the left of us?"
Bjorn looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "I believe it's the Word Bearers' column led by Erebus."
"He must not have noticed the ambush like we did and walked right into it," I mused as I racked my gun and kicked the door of the building down, finding two infantrymen who might as well have been half-asleep, considering they had been too busy refilling what looked like improvised firebombs to actually check if they were being surrounded.
Leveling my gun, I unleashed a quick burst of fire into them, blowing them away and splattering their remains against the wall.
Two more infantrymen charged out of a side room, bringing up their guns and firing off a few rounds at us. The ammunition wasn't piercing or explosive enough to actually do any damage before Bjorn brought his volkite charger to bear onto them, turning them into burning shadows against the wall.
Not caring for silence, we moved quickly, blasting our way through the building with vengeance and anger, killing anything that moved. Before long, the first floor was cleared, and the second floor might as well have been, because Bjorn simply lit the stairs on fire with his weapon.
"We probably shouldn't have done that," I thought out loud, before Bjorn nodded his head, saying, "Might have gone a little bit too far, but I think the point was made: ambushes aren't going to work."
"Here's hoping," I said, shaking my head as the building started to really burn. Motioning to the column, we moved on quickly, passing the burning street and finding our way to the next horizontal street in this mega city. There were a couple of calm, almost serene, Wolves of Fenris, already putting up positions to take a moment of rest here before we made our way further down into the city. To our left came a couple of columns of Word Bearers, setting up their own defenses as they too took a moment's rest.
This city was built with height in mind due to limits of the local geography and had built up over the years and as a result was quite massive, and though we would love to just bombard them outright, there was also an extensive underground network of tunnels and chambers that from reports housed the cities slums and lower class and was the dirty underbelly of the golden city above, which allowed enemy forces to move around and set ambushes through the underground pathways.
It really came down to two things: the only way we were going to clean sweep this area around the city and the city itself was to march through it street by street, killing anything that tried to fight us.
We did try to save civilians here and there, but many of them tried to blow us up. What could you do? Some of the kids we were able to save, mostly by knocking them out and shipping them back on Rhinos to be cared for by Fenrisian guards stationed outside the city, watching over and accepting refugees. Though there were few left, a lot of people apparently really believed in their Phoenix King's ability to protect them and were not willing to accept the surrender that needed to happen. This would have to change sooner or later. But for now we needed to just rest before we moved on. The city was massive, nearly 100 square miles of urban infrastructure had overgrown much of the nature of this world. If it weren't for the fact that this was built on the coast between a mountainous region, I'm sure this place would have continued to grow sideways for eternity, or maybe they would be forced to learn how to build taller than they had previously.
How many years was that at this point? It was 885, and we'd started campaigning around the 30s, man. I've been at this for about half a century. Shaking my head, I looked over to Bjorn as he changed out his volkite charger with another Marine for a bolt gun, saying, "We need weapons that ain't going to set the place on fire as we go through it."
"I know," he replied, "We have direct orders not to burn the place down. Officially, we weren't actually given those orders. We were just ordered to take the cities in the best condition possible. We could bombard them, sure, but we weren't meant to destroy them on purpose, which is hard. The only things we had confirmed reports that we could destroy without necessary worry were enemy installations that could be proven to have hidden weapons in them, which tended to be big community buildings, churches, schools, and things like that. Unfortunately, those tended to be places where the enemy would hide their civilian population on purpose, so we usually had to surround the building and force them out before we could blow them up."
"Just more things that are slowing down this operation," I remarked. "At least we are getting tanks into the mix in the next few days. They have mostly been kept outside of the city so far because most of them were currently mounting flamethrowers, and considering we still do not have orders to burn the place down, they need to be remounted with bolt guns and other equipment that won't set the place alight on purpose."
Bjorn shook his head before saying, "Well, if the casualties keep rising, Tanya will probably give the green light on that. She's kind to a point, but there is a point where she goes, 'You know, fuck it.' That's why we follow her after all."
"True, true," I replied, "Just wish there was a way we could beat these people or make them surrender without having to spend so many lives on this operation."
"Well, there are ways," I heard the voice of Erebus from behind me. Myself known, I turned and saw the Space Marine coming forward, his helmet held under his arm as he approached. Inscriptions on the side of his face tattooed there, oddly enough, I noted. He said, "I assume they will soon have forces moved here to help us take this place. After all, it's been a tough nut to crack, so they'll probably give us a few more Space Marines to crack it. That, or your Valkyrie and our own retinues brought over from Ark Reach IV. I heard news that it's about ready to fall."
"About damn time," Bjorn said with a nod of approval. "That place has been giving everyone a pain in the ass. Any news on Ark Reach V?"
Erebus shook his head before saying, "Even my contacts aren't available for that. I've heard news that it's going okay, but it's as problematic as three and four combined, with other issues related to how much water is on the planet."
I shook my head before saying, "Aquatic combat is always a pain in the ass. Urban aquatic combat is even worse."
"Oh, have you fought in those conditions before?" Erebus asked.
I nodded my head before saying, "We fought some Dark Eldar and mercenaries on a beach planet once. Had to do a water landing to reach the compound that they were raiding out of. It was an ugly fight. Not to mention that something about the place was just wrong. It pissed everyone off to some degree. We even burned down a palace accidentally because we were just so fed up with what the Dark Eldar were up to and what we were seeing on that planet."
Bjorn nodded his head before saying, "First time Tanya ever gave an order of 'Just kill them all.' Those people pissed her off. I think it's still technically standing orders to just kill the Dark Eldar when we see them."
I nodded my agreement as Erebus said, "Interesting, quite interesting. I was unaware that Tanya had any issues like that with the Eldar, but I guess that makes sense."
"The Dark Eldar are some of the worst Xenos this side of the Maelstrom and south of the Ghoul Stars, even worse than the bioforms we encountered in the last campaign." I said, remembering the Rangdan campaign.
"Oh yes, the Rangdan. I wish our men had been able to take part in that campaign, but there were other operations we were needed for," Erebus said with a shake of his head.
"We go where the Emperor wants us," I said matter-of-factly as I magnetized the bolt gun to my back.
"Yes, as the Emperor's angels of death, we must bear the brunt of what is necessary for the continuation of humanity's existence. So, I do wish we had been available to go up there. So much we could have come to understand about their society was lost in that campaign."
I shook my head before saying, "Trust me, there was nothing you wanted to come to understand. I've read some of the reports from other commanders on that operation. They were all zealous and dangerous. We had to burn out the entire region of space surrounding that area, rendering entire planets lifeless husks because they were worried about bioweapons being left behind. Whatever we could have learned from them would not have been worth the lives that were potentially lost in the future dealing with their technology."
"Not to mention that there were reports that they had the ability to summon things from the Warp into the real world. Things that should only be a problem when we're traveling through the Warp on a planet can cause massive damage and mayhem. I'm glad that we ended up eliminating the species. They are too dangerous for everyone," Bjorn said with a nod.
Erebus nodded his head before asking, "Well, that may be true of the Rangdan, but I do wonder if we sometimes go a little too overzealous with our efforts to protect humanity. Specifically, I wonder if we could have found some way to avoid the burning of this beautiful city."
I raised an eyebrow as I looked at him before saying, "What else was there to do? As far as I'm aware, your Primarch attempted to speak to them about joining the Imperium, and they profusely said no."
Erebus nodded his head in agreement before saying, "All true, though not exactly all the details if you ask me. The meeting did not get off to a good point of starting from my point of view. Lorgar was somewhat insulted by their claims that their Phoenix Kings were as wise and valuable to humanity as the Emperor himself. This put her in a bit of a testy mood in my opinion, that I believe we could have worked our way through if we had taken it slower. But flat refusal and their insulting of the Emperor's luminary status, along with pressure from the Administratum to speed up our efforts to bring planets into compliance, pushed her a bit on this one to be more brutal than I think she would normally want to be."
I raised an eyebrow before shrugging my shoulders and adding, "I will admit the pressure from the Administratum can be detrimental to our campaign sometimes, especially with how they handle things after we leave. Often grouping planets that hated each other into similar sectors and being surprised when they end up screwing each other over. But there's not much we can do on that matter. Too many needs to be united if we want to take our place amongst the stars, and we cannot waste time with planets that are outright threatening to be a problem with their own empires."
Erebus nodded his head. "True, oh well, I guess I just think too much sometimes. But what is our purpose as humans but not to think? Freedom of will and all that," He said with a shrug.
Looking out at the next road to the city, he added, "Plus, with all the butchery that's been going on these last few days, it's a bit much even for me."
"Understandable," Bjorn said before adding, "After all, you guys are more builders than fighters from what I've seen."
"Builders?" Erebus asked, puzzled.
"Just a term that gets passed around between the Wolves of Fenris and the Iron Warriors. They'd like to be the builders, but end up having to be warriors. We are pretty good at being warriors, but we end up being builders once in a while. All legions basically fall on the scale: are you a builder or a warrior, and what are you going to end up having to do? Most of the time, it's going to be warrior, but we've kind of come to the assumption that when this whole crusade is over, we'll be builders. Every one of us, in one way or another, is trying to help society improve. Don't know what the hell I will be doing. I'm a failed builder even before I was a Space Marine, but we'll figure it out as we go along or Tanya will tell us what to do. She's pretty good at that."
"Yes, yes, she must be," Erebus said, rubbing his thumb over his chin in thought before shaking his head. "Interesting. Anyways, I should be getting back to my own unit. It's good to talk to you two again. Maybe we'll see each other at the next stop point on this street assault."
"Yeah, we'll see you there," I said, nodding, as Erebus gave a bow, turned, and left us. I waited until he was out of earshot before I said, "Ever had an odd feeling that that guy is not telling us everything he's trying to tell us?"
Bjorn shook his head, saying, "Nope. I do get a bad feeling about that guy in general. Something about him just rubs me the wrong way, and I'm not sure what."
I shrugged before saying, "I don't know. Hopefully, we can get through this campaign without talking to him too much. Too intellectual, I think. Too much about this stuff probably is not good for his emotional state when we've actually got to do some heavy work."
"Maybe, maybe," Bjorn said, looking after him as I cracked my knuckles, preparing for the next assault.
Tanya Russ
Ark Reach V
Sighing, I sat back in the once-throne, now nothing more than a stool that belonged to the Phoenix King of Ark Reach V. The official name was probably going to be lost to history at the current rate things are going. Most of the political class would rather die fighting than surrender, and those who didn't tended to flee off-world or somewhere else. It seemed that the only planet we knew the official name of was Ark Reach I, simply because someone mentioned it as the throne world of the Phoenix Kings.
Sitting back, I looked out of a window at the burning city in the distance, annoyed that it had come to this destruction, but accepting that it had to be this way. They refused to surrender; they'd been given the chance many times, and it was thrown away. So, each planet would all be burnt to the ground at this rate. Ark Reach VI was in a slightly better state; V would have no major cities after this; IV would be a wasteland; and III, well, III's concentration of population into one major city guaranteed that the planet's ecosystem would survive. That was one good thing, I guess.
But they would all fall within the next few weeks, then we'd have to deal with Ark Reach I and II, the most problematic of the planets, considering the assault we had sent there had been rebuffed by forces of psychic nature.
What powers they used was still up in the air to some, but I had seen the footage and was pretty confident that psychic abilities were used to rebuff our landing efforts. These abilities were closer to my previous lifes Imperial magic than the ship blowing up from an artillery round, which should not have been able to pierce the armor, tends to indicate something weird is going on.
Was it that trace remnants of that style of magic got transplanted here and used by these faux Eldar? I could say that now with certainty after having slain the Phoenix King of this planet and gotten a good look at his ears. Hard to say about the Imperial magic, but at least the theories that these people have been culturally contaminated by the Eldar to some degree were confirmed. They probably had traded with the old empire that the Eldar had in the past, I assumed. Or maybe, well, there were rumors, rare rumors, of Eldar and humans intermingling. Perhaps the Phoenix Kings were a line of half-breeds that had maintained their power over the centuries of the long night. It was not impossible; stranger things were possible, considering what bioengineering had done to the Rangdan if some theories were confirmed true.
My thoughts were interrupted as Yrsa came forward with a mug of ale from Fenris, presenting it to me with a smile. I said thank you, taking the mug and sipping it, folding my right leg over my left as I leaned back.
The city was burning; no other way to look at it. The only thing that would be left is this palace, and the only reason it would be left is because I had occupied it. Right now, the civilian population that was full of belief in their Phoenix King's superiority would rather burn their own city and kill their own people than let conquest be successful. That was why my Marines were out there, trying to prevent the wholesale slaughter of the Ark Reach's next generation from the petty tantrums of a dying culture.
These Phoenix Kings had a cult, there's no other way to look at it. They were no better than the leader of Jonestown or any other cult that had found out that there were bigger fish in the pond and they were going to come knocking.
What was I going to do with all the remaining civilians? Those few that were left, and these thousands, if not more, of kids? I couldn't exactly just leave them on this planet; they were not going to be able to survive on their own, at least not without aid.
Most likely, I was going to have to do two things: load up as many as I could on our ships and send them to Fenris, where they would probably be able to survive and integrate into that society. And secondly, ship some civilian workers from Fenris here to think about it. Perhaps some of the Fenris guard units that were coming close to the end of their contracts pretty soon; perhaps I should give them first choice of settling on these planets. It would solve the problem to some extent, plus these planets were still in relatively good condition and would need someone to look after them to make sure these cults of the Phoenix King didn't re-establish themselves.
My thoughts were interrupted from the future of this system, as I heard the voice of my sister Lorgar, bringing me from my view of the burning city to the entrance where Lorgar and some of her staff were entering. They were dressed in full armor, as I was, which at least put us on the same footing, unlike the last time we had spoken.
Lorgar, while at home, preferred to wear either their armor or simple Greek-style clothing. As for me, I preferred either the well-maintained leather clothing I had tailored for me while on Fenris or my armor. Being forced to accept a Greek-style dress to have meetings aboard Lorgar's ship just to appeal to her sensibilities was not one of those things that I felt comfortable with; too restricting for my taste.
Smiling, I said, "Welcome, sister," indicating towards one of the other thrones, that I would guess were for visiting Phoenix King. From what I'd seen of this castle, there were six thrones, one at the highest end, and five smaller on either side. A similar setup had been found on the sixth planet; the thrones in that case had been in a different position, possibly indicating which planet they belonged to.
Smiling, Lorgar dropped her war mace near a window and came forward, grabbing my hand in both of hers and shaking it. "Wonderful campaign we've accomplished here today; we've thoroughly smashed the Phoenix Kings and uprooted their evil."
"Wonderful indeed? Difficult on this planet, yes, but we still got two more to go."
"Oh, of course, of course. The other two planets will come through, and it's not like this is just one planet we've conquered. Our efforts to keep them from supporting each other have been somewhat successful, and now four of the six planets are down. There are only two left, and I imagine once the leader of the Thousand Sons arrives, we'll be able to push that enemy out of those worlds soon enough."
"Yes, if the Thousand Sons arrive, if they ever decide to do so. I'm quite annoyed by the time it has taken for them to show up. They were called nearly a year ago."
"They'll be here, don't worry," Lorgar said with a wave of her hand before adding, "Magnus wants to meet you anyway."
I raised an eyebrow as I looked at her, saying, "Magnus? You're on a first-name basis with the leader of the 15th?"
"Oh, yes. I've known them for decades," Lorgar said with a shrug as she looked out the window before turning back to me and asking, "But that can wait till they arrive. That should be any day now. You sent a unit to try and pick them up, what, 3 months ago?"
I sighed before nodding, "Yes, I sent the Fifth Company to go speed up their arrival. They've been caught up in something for the last few months. Headed by Amlothi Skarssen Skarssensson, one of my loyal Wolf lords, so they should be back soon, but I worry that something has gone wrong. After all, it seems to be taking a very long time for them to show back up."
"We are a galactic empire facing galactic threats. I'm sure whatever they're dealing with is substantial. Once they arrive, we can get to work planning the compliance of those last two worlds. But for now, what are we going to do with the four we have already?" Lorgar said as she looked out the window, musing.
"I have two plans so far. Import some Fenrisian civilians to help with the rebuilding, and migrate some of the population back to Fenris, particularly the children, since they can probably adapt better than the adults. This cult needs to be broken up, and the only way we can do that is to break the chain of connections holding it together," I explained.
"Agreed. I've already ordered my Word Bearers to hunt down the sanctuaries and religious iconography of the Phoenix King, destroy it, or replace it with those of the Emperor, showing him as the liberator for this world," Lorgar added.
I raised an eyebrow but let it pass. Yes, putting up a statue of the Emperor in a place that used to be a sanctuary could be seen as putting up your own religion to replace the last, but the religion was: "We're freeing you from crazy cults." So it could theoretically be an okay move. I doubted the Emperor would even mind, and I considered anyone would probably just be more amused at the new golden statues being erected on this world.
Finally, I said, "Well, that is true. Your people are good at rebuilding societies. From what I understand of your campaigns, in fact, I'd say you're a bit too dedicated to that aspect of our Crusade. I assume you're going to leave some men here to help rebuild this society as well."
"It's in my plans, of course," Lorgar said. "I was thinking of leaving a third of a company here, as well as some of the retinue I've gathered from various worlds. General Calgurus of the Imperial Army will take over the governorship of these six worlds. The Administratum has already declared that General Calgurus is getting long in his years, and with this successful campaign, they want to put him out to pasture."
"Did he agree to that?" I asked, as the way Lorgar phrased it made me suspicious that someone in the Administratum didn't like General Calgurus and was trying to get him out of the field.
"I assume so. I haven't had a chance to speak to him on the matter. I've only been informed of it within the last 24 hours."
"Hmm," I shook my head before saying, "I'll have to have a conversation with General Calgurus about that. Sounds too much like the Administratum just trying to meddle in military matters that they should not be screwing with."
"Ah, oh yes, I've heard that you've had some run-ins with the Administratum. I've got nearly a dozen letters telling me to speed up my conquest because they want results now, and you know they don't care for the intricacies and difficulties of war, it feels like sometimes."
I nodded, about to say something about how every day we are fighting against forces that are throwing themselves at the borders of humanity when the doors to the central hall burst open as if under an invisible force.
I turned, half reaching for my weapons, expecting to end up in a firefight, but I saw some Space Marines in red armor step through, their weapons firmly on their backs, not in a sign of readiness to start a fight. One of their officers stepped forward with a staff in his hands. Another thing I noted about the new arrivals, besides the coloration, was the fairly Egyptian-esque style headdress on their armor.
Every Legion handles slight differences in how they handle their armor when it comes to helmets, but this was the first one I'd seen leaning heavily into head ornaments.
As the red guards cleared the way, a person who could be called a giant leaned down to step into the room, an almost impossibly large individual even compared to us, his head barely not scraping the surface of this Grand Palace as he looked around.
There were two surprising things about him: one, he had red skin, hair, everything was red; two, he didn't have a lot of armor, only legs and chest armor, but his arms were fully exposed, and his head, well, I wasn't sure what he was wearing, but it was definitely not a full helmet, considering his hair was fully exposed.
He looked through what I realized was one eye; the other one was completely non-existent, as the patch of skin that should be there was smooth as if it had never been there.
I probably should have asked who it was, but that was rather evident as I said, "Ah, you must be the mysterious Magnus I've been waiting for."
"It's good to see you too, sister. It's been what, 50 years? 40 years?" he said, stepping forward.
That drew a confused look from me as I said, "We've never met before."
"Oh right, I forgot," as Magnus stepped forward, he clicked his fingers and fell in stature, changing quite drastically from a giant to the average height of a human female with red skin and red hair, still missing an eye, which I noted, though now they looked very familiar.
"You're that woman who was with the Emperor all those years ago, his new apprentice."
"Got it in one," the female Magnus said, clicking her fingers and returning to her male form and giant stature. "Sorry that I took so long to get here. As your captain of the Fifth Company will attest, we ran into unfortunate situations on my last campaign. Some things from the Sea of Emotions escaped and had to be dealt with."
"A Warp invasion?" I asked, which got a nod.
"Yes, unfortunately. This creature, a poor imitation of what could be considered life, had possessed a Titan, and we had to deal with it."
"A war Titan infested with a Warp creature? Okay, you're forgiven for being late. That is an issue that needs to be dealt with. Welcome to Ark Reach V, Magnus, and to the most most wasteful campaign we could have run into," I said with a shake of my head.
Noticing my Wolves, who had been in a corner staring at the new arrivals with barely contained fear and anger, I couldn't exactly place the emotion that was being drawn from them. I followed their eyes and noticed what they were looking at—one, no, more than one of Magnus's followers had some sort of creature on their shoulders. I didn't recognize them, and they didn't look exactly right, except for the fact that they were birds.
"What are those things?" I said, looking past Magnus at the creatures.
"What things?" Lorgar said, following my eyes.
"Oh, she's noticing our companions. Well, that's quite interesting. So far, only those with extremely high psychic abilities have been able to notice them. The Emperor, for one," Magnus said. "Quite interesting. They're just simply an element of training within my Legion, allowing us to gain access to intelligence about our enemies without putting ourselves or our equipment at risk."
I raised an eyebrow, saying, "You've chained Warp beasts to your will to be your scouts?" I asked, frankly stunned by that realization, considering that he had just been involved in dealing with one that had gone rampant.
"Have you not?" Magnus said, looking over my shoulder at the top of what used to be the throne I was sitting in. Following his gaze, I saw my Raven sitting at the top of the throne, watching from up above. It tilted its head and looked down at me in confusion. I shrugged before saying, "That's different. That's a living creature, not a Warp creature."
"Are you sure of that? I sense some other powers to it, something that would only be common amongst creatures of the Warp and their ilk."
"Fenris is a weird planet," I said matter-of-factly, waving off the notion that the birds were in any way abnormal.
"If you say so, sister, if you say so," Magnus said, approaching before adding, "I must say, I feel a bit out of place, being the only male Primarch."
I cleared my throat before saying, "Well, now you know how we feel most of the time, I suppose. Considering you apparently can switch genders at the thought, it doesn't seem like a big problem to me that you have."
"True, true," Magnus said, clicking his fingers and taking on a still very tall but female form—a very eye-catching one at that. "There, now we all are on the same footing, at least," she said as she swept her long hair back.
"Not sure about that," Lorgar said, her eyes locked on the impressive bust that even made me feel a pang of jealousy. I know I was sure I would feel quite a lot of back pain if I had something that size, considering the muscular nature of the arms Magnus was pulling off. Magnus was quite tall, making the impressive bust look even more massive because she was a good 4 ft taller than everyone in the room.
Clearing my throat, I said, "You don't need to do that if you prefer to be male. I mean, it's impressive that you can switch forms quite easily and confirm some theories that I've had, but it's not necessary."
Magnus continued to brush her hair as she said, "Oh, yes, I am male by birth, I guess you would say, but there's nothing wrong with a little exploration. Besides, if this campaign is mainly run by my sisters, why not join in with their number and make it a fully female campaign?"
"Not sure that works that way," I said, "but we'll work with what we got, all right. Magnus, have you been studying the reports that have been sent to you about Ark Reach II and I, and what do you have to say about it?"
Placing her hands on her hips, she said, "Well, it's not much to say. The people of Ark Reach I and II obviously have Warp powers. I've been doing some studying over the reports that you've been sending, and intelligence has been able to gather. They seem to have a school of some sort within a Great Library, full of ancient and forgotten knowledge and teachings—something we should endeavor to seize for our own knowledge and powers."
"But from my own studies, I don't believe these magic wielders of the Phoenix King are that powerful compared to my own men. Adding my forces to yours, we should be able to breach any defenses that they are able to deploy."
"Are you sure about that?" I mused, leaning back and putting my hand on the side of my face as I leaned to the side. "These mages that they deploy are quite skilled in their craft. The landing force that tried to invade the city on Ark Reach I was prevented from doing so by a massive shield being deployed. We're going to need something that can take that down, and I'm not sure that anything lesser than orbital bombardment will do that."
"I have some abilities that will give us the edge, not to worry. Besides, I'm more worried about Ark Reach II. One of the reports indicated that several of your Marines went missing on that attack."
I nodded my head, not a fan of that information getting out there, but not much we could do on the matter. Ark Reach II's expedition had been blown out of the sky, and though we had managed to land a recovery force far away from civilization, several Marines were never found. Even during ground combat, we had not been able to locate remnants of their armor or biological material, indicating that they had been captured. Oh sure, there was a possibility they were just dead in a ditch that we had missed, but we had reports that they had arrived on the planet safely from others who had been with them before they split up in different directions to avoid capture. That was more than enough information to make assumptions that, well, they had been captured.
What the enemy could learn from such an operation, I don't know, but I would rather not find out. "Fine, we'll need to be quite thorough in this conquest, then. Recover anything that was lost and make sure they can't pull any tricks on us."
"Agreed," Magnus said before continuing, "We do not have a large legion, so we will need to go to each planet one at a time. I would prefer we hit the second planet first, but if you prefer, we could hit the first planet. After all, it does have that library, and the longer they have it under their control, the more likely they are to start destroying records to deny them from us if they realize they are not going to win."
I nodded before saying, "Can you not split your force in half? How many Marines do you have?"
Shaking her head, Magnus said, "10,000. My force was greatly diminished before they reconnected with me. That's why they're called the Thousand Sons, but we have grown some since then. Though we are a small legion, we are very elite in our abilities."
Hmm, breaking up a small legion of 10,000 into two groups of 5,000 may sound like a reasonable request, I thought. But no doubt they were a group that worked better together than separated. Nodding my head, I said, "We'll hit the Ark Reach I first if you believe those books in that library are of use to the Imperium. We better take them while they are still untouched, although I doubt we'll find anything interesting. This cult of the Phoenix is a rather ugly affair."
"Cult of the Phoenix," Magnus mused, rubbing her chin before adding, "We need to be careful then. Fire is something that is important to the Phoenix; rebirth comes from it. If they have the same assumptions, they may have some sort of world-devastating weapon on their planet, ready to spring off, possibly with bunkers hidden somewhere to keep a portion of their population safe so they can rebuild after we've been destroyed."
"The only ones who will be doing any rebuilding once this is over are our forces," Lorgar said proudly, and I gave her a nod in agreement.
Turning to Magnus, I asked, "So, one question though, whose idea was it to hide that you were you when we met back all those years ago? It's going to bug me if I don't ask."
"Oh, that was the Emperor's idea. He thought it would be funny to have me pose as some psychic disciple human just to throw you off the scent that you might be in the presence of the other Primarch aboard his ship. By the way, did that work? I've always wondered if you had seen through it or not."
I chuckled before saying, "I don't think I saw through it, but I was suspecting that something was going on there. I wouldn't say I knew for sure, but it was a possibility, so I played with it."
"Interesting, quite interesting," Magnus said, rubbing her chin before adding, "Well then, now that we no longer have to play and pretend not knowing each other, I cannot wait to work with you. There's so much about your specific brand of spellcraft I want to learn. Perhaps we can teach each other something."
"Perhaps we can, perhaps we can," I said with a nod before turning to Yrsa and saying, "Why don't you get the good ale out? Might as well celebrate a union of three Primarchs working together with a night of drinking before we launch our next assaults in a week or so on Ark Reach I."
"Sounds like a plan," Lorgar said, and Magnus nodded her agreement.
Yrsa quickly hurried off, gathering other Valkyries and getting to work. Not only bringing in large amounts of alcohol but plenty of foodstuff as well, not only for the three Primarchs but for the rest of them as well. The palace, now surrounded by a burning city, became a rather cheerful little place as we all drank ourselves into a stupor, enjoying a night of relaxing camaraderie.
Writers note: oh hey… i fool you all! Of courses the shap shifter whas a shap shifter hahaha, magnus is dude this whole time hahaha. Beyond that sure look like everyone getting along.
Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
Edited by: Y1
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M30.885
Lord Wolfen
Ark Reach IV
The sounds of artillery were coming to life as the sun set on the battlefield. The shells they spat out painted the darkness, clouding our vision and making it harder to aim precisely. Our guns would be opening fire as the night went on, ensuring the enemy didn't attempt any counterattacks to regain the territory they lost during the day's fighting. Or, if the Word Bearers were preparing any night attacks, we might open fire around the positions they were planning to strike. It was hard to predict their plan of action, as the Word Bearers tended to mix up their attacks to avoid establishing a routine before launching an assault.
But what mattered was that darkness was falling, and night was overtaking the battlefield, and all I could think was that it had been a long day. The fighting on this world was nearly coming to an end, with only three cities of major contention left. These three cities could basically be called a mega-city, as their suburbs ran into each other and allowed for internal lines of supply both above ground and beneath. Apparently, they had tunnels running from one city to another, so any attack against one city would have to deal with reinforcements from the others. That's why when attacks went off, they tended to happen simultaneously, locking the enemy in its position and preventing them from reinforcing anywhere else they were trying to break through.
The people of the Ark Reach were tough customers, which was funny considering how fragile they individually were when compared to baseline humans. To be quite clear, if anything, they reminded me of the Eldar to some extent. Human-sized, obviously from human stock, but I wouldn't put it past this particular area to have had some sort of appreciation for Eldar culture at some point and gene-modded their population to be more Eldar-like. Very lithe and tall of stature with a preference for long hair. The only thing missing were the pointy ears, though considering I hadn't seen the ruling class, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they had pointed ears as well. Anyone with common ancestry was easier to pick out by the rounded ears of a normal human.
Looking down the trench, I saw more of my Valkyrie sisters hard at work. Some were cleaning their weapons, armor, and doing the usual things necessary for combat, but many were relaxing. It was hard to see why not, as this was not good fighting for Fenris' people. It was slaughter, plain and simple. Many men would die, and many more would be wounded and sent back to Fenris.
Well, those from Fenris were actually outnumbered by the Guardsmen here with the Valkyrie. We were supported by the Word Bearers and some of their auxiliary forces, a strange batch of soldiers, to say the least, many of whom seemed to engage in idolatry. I had been through their trenches once or twice in order to reach the Word Bearers' main camp for a conversation with their leader, and seen their makeshift altars to the Emperor. They seem to consider him... I would almost say "God."
I don't really know what I believe anymore. Perhaps it was my exposure to Tanya; perhaps it was just being a soldier slowly draining you of your beliefs, or perhaps it was something else, but I just could not see the Emperor as the All-Father, not anymore. I might have believed it once when he first arrived; after all, it was a rather awe inspiring thing to see when he stood up from his chair and grew to the size of a giant, clad in shining gold armor that had not existed a moment before. But years passed, and the exposure to that sort of drains all the wonder out of you.
Shaking my head, I leaned back against the trench wall and closed my eyes, thinking about heading to sleep early. The next organized attack wasn't for another 36 hours, and I probably should be as rested as I could be before then.
But I was prevented from doing that as I heard the familiar thumping of heavy armor moving in my direction.
"Lord Wolfen," called the familiar voice of Kor as he approached. He was in his Terminator armor, although it appeared he had his servants remove his lightning claws before approaching my position.
"Captain Phaeron," I said, giving him a nod, and gesturing towards a wooden log that passed for a bench that had been moved into the trenches. "Take a seat. That heavy armor must be weighing heavily on your spine."
"Ha, gladly," Kor said before sitting down next to me. His weight didn't push me into the air like it did last time. Thankfully, the log I was on was even and slightly buried into the dirt.
"This has been a long campaign, and we still look like we have another half year in front of us," Kor mused as he sat back.
I nodded. We had been fighting over this planet for nearly 6 months, and so far, we had been winning. It was a slow operation because our forces were split across five other worlds and compliance actions on the sixth, but it had been moving at a steady pace. Sure, the population of this planet was proving to be some of the most stubborn humans in the galaxy when it came to fighting, but we were winning. It just was going to take time and blood.
Nodding my head, I said, "I spoke with Tanya a few weeks back. She said that the Thousand Sons should be getting here sooner or later. That should help speed this operation up."
Kor nodded before saying, "Yes, Magnus and his Marines should help. They are quite adept in the powers of the Warp. It should help us gain the edge we need for our future operations, especially on Ark Reach I and II. I've heard those operations have basically fizzled out into nothing, our forces repulsed from the landings."
I nodded, though not all intel was spread evenly throughout the army. It was kind of apparent at this point that most of the fighting that was going on was on Ark Reach V, IV, and III. Ark Reach VI, of course, was an operational supply depot and in the middle of compliance action, and the forces that were dedicated to Ark Reach I and II had been rededicated to Ark Reach III, IV, and V. What had happened on those operations, I didn't know. I had not had a chance to probe Tanya too hard on that matter, or perhaps she just was not willing to talk about it.
I shrugged before saying, "Well, I hope you're right. I never met this Magnus, though, or their Legion. We've never run into them during our campaigns."
"Ahhh, that's unfortunate," Kor said. "He happened to be with the Emperor when they arrived at our homeworld Colchis, in training or something of that matter. Magnus and Lorgar got along quite well, I dare say. They're probably the best of friends when it comes to siblings."
"Really? That's interesting. Well, at least there'll be something interesting to talk about when they arrive. They are spellcasters, I assume they have their own system for protecting themselves from the things in the Warp?"
"Ha, I'm sure of that," Kor said as he looked down the trench, noticing one of the icons I had been observing. "I see some of my men's retinue have been in the area."
I nodded before saying, "It's strange, folks that run with your Legion. Last time I checked, worship of the Emperor was not exactly approved."
Kor nodded his head before saying, "Yes, that's something that Lorgar's been working on. Personally, I'm not sure about that whole situation, but I will follow my daughter and Primarch into whatever she deems as necessary for the Imperium."
I nodded at my own head as I would do the same for my own leader. But before I could make a comment, Kor continued.
"Although you are probably in a very similar situation. I've heard that your people somewhat consider the Emperor something called the All-Father, and that Tanya Russ is the child of the All-Father."
I let out a sigh. "Yeah, yeah, that is a thing. Old religious rites and such. It's not hard to see why that came to be. Many of our people were just scraping by when Tanya arrived, and things have improved vastly under her rule, even better once the Emperor came around. There were no full cities really before the Emperor's brought technology of the stars back to Fenris. Now there are cities on Fenris with populations in the millions. It's not hard to see that our people would put some of our beliefs of our ancient past onto these new arrivals."
"A strange way of saying it," Kor noted. "So you don't believe that your Primarch is the daughter of a god?"
Chuckling, I said, "My mother is many things, but I don't believe she is a demigod. I've seen her fights, I know she is vastly better than many people, but she is human. Besides, the gods of Fenris are few and far between. The All-Father watches over the surface, the Great Wolf Morkai watches over the underworld. And both have been tamed by Tanya, as far as I'm aware."
"Taming the gods of Fenris, huh? That's a strange way of looking at it," Kor mused before saying, "You couldn't actually do that if they were real gods. A true deity would have such great power that there would be no way for us mortals to upset them in such ways that we could take the lead."
I looked at him with a raised eyebrow before shrugging and saying, "I don't know. Tanya is rather convinced that she could defeat anything that she comes across, and I wouldn't bet against her, that's for sure."
"Haha, of course, of course," Kor chuckled. "So, I do wonder if we are not going to run into a problem where creatures of such great ability may encounter the Emperor at some point. After all, it's hubris that slayed humanity the last time they believed that they understood the universe, and the universe decided to show them that they didn't. What is the Emperor doing? He believes he understands the galaxy and is trying to conquer it. That's humorous, and that could be taken advantage of if not careful. Same for Primarch Russ."
I nodded at that. It was words of wisdom, I could say for sure. "Humanity is reaching out into the stars, trying to conquer them, and the stars do not like that."
Kor nodded thoughtfully before saying, "True, true. Though we possibly are dealing with something that is so large that we don't really know how far their reach goes. My own studies on the subject could imply that, well, quite a bit more than we are informed by our Primarchs and Emperor."
I leaned forward, somewhat interested. "Okay, you have my attention, Kor. Tell me what your research has shown into the subject. If we are at risk of hubris, it's better for us to have a few people planning for disaster."
Kor nodded his head before saying, "I believe that there are four entities in the Warp, or at least four factions of entities in the Warp. I don't know all of what they are exactly, but my research has shown that these four entities have their influence in the real world. If you've ever come across a world where there are more warriors than you would expect, that tends to be one of, let's call him, the Red One. Worlds that are filled with decay and rot tend to be the domain of the Green One. Pleasure worlds, of course, are the domain of the Purple One. They seem to have a unique connection to the Eldar. I believe that they possibly were awakened from whatever deep sleep they were in by the collapse of the Aeldari Empire before the fall of humanity. And finally, there's the Blue One, master of magic and mysteries. These four entities have their domains within our Galaxy and have been possibly just feuding against each other for who knows how long. And now the Emperor is, well, the Golden One, the one who's trying to push these four factions back. The question is, how long will they let the Emperor play at this game before striking back?"
"The real question in my mind," I said, "is why do we think that they cannot be defeated? Even if these entities are based in the Warp, well, obviously there are ways to defeat their influence. Fenris has had a priesthood for a long time, and we haven't had any experiences with these four."
"Are you sure of that?" Kor asked. "Have you not found any ruins or temples that do not quite make sense, things that could be relics of one of these four, on your own world?"
A brief memory came to me of something deep inside the mountains of Fenris, something I've seen while I've been nothing but an animal – a temple shimmering with blue light. I raised my hand to my forehead, trying to cause the slight headache that came with it to go away before saying, "Maybe one such place, but if it was connected to the one you talk of, it's a lost domain. If anything, that place is overrun by creatures that are less than human and could not be worshipers of it."
"Hmm, the Red One, I would assume, considering your world's brutal past," Kor mused, and I did not deem it necessary to correct him.
Shaking his head, he said, "These ancient underground altars that worship these things, even if we destroy and bury every single one of them, there's probably more hidden in the galaxy that we don't know about. And where one is, they can gather support. Yes, this place you refer to appears to have fallen into disrepair from what your statement says, but it's only controlled by the most basic of creatures. Those creatures are still probably considered servants of them in one form or another, protecting the place until people who the entities deem worthy of its secrets journey down into it."
"Well, that's probably won't happen then," I mused before adding, "Tanya has struck a deal with the god of the underworld to keep such creatures from gathering outside the underworld and keep whatever is down there down there, away from what few populations we allow to examine the underground cities."
"Hmmm, interesting. This God of your underworld must not be one of the four or one of their major aspects. Very interesting," Kor noted.
"Why is that?" I asked, leaning back.
Kor said, "I've done my research, and it appears that the four appear to jostle for territory, but there are possibly Independents here or there that maintain their individuality. Although, from my research, it seems to me that they eventually fall either into being aspects of one of the main four or are absorbed by the main four in one way or another."
"Hmm, well, those four, as you call them, are going to need a lot of luck. Tanya is not one for letting something like that take root on her planets. She may not be as strict when it comes to religion as the Emperor, but she does follow the main rule that there are no organized religions on her worlds. She's okay with disorganized, sure, small communities that believe in similar things, that's no problem. But they have to obey the rules that are set down by her law, and our law is pretty much, as long as you don't do anything to harm anyone else, she doesn't give a damn about it. But if you do do something, well, then you'll probably have a Space Marine knocking down your front door within a week."
Kor chuckled before saying, "Well, I hope you're right. Frankly, I've heard some rather strange rumors that make me wonder if she is not being hunted by the purple one."
When I shook my head, saying, "Rumors are rumors; don't give them the time of day. They waste my time and yours, anyway the only one doing any hunting is Tanya, and she's probably going to end up hunting those four sooner or later by the sound of it. Should be a fun fight."
Kor Phaeron shook his head, "You Fenris folk are strange and wonderful people." He slowly got up, brushing himself off, as he said, "Anyways, I thought I would let you know that the attack that was scheduled for 32 hours from now, give or take, was pushed off another day. Assets that were being devoted to it had to be moved, as the enemies over the northern city attempted to push out and break our lines there and ended up overextending, allowing a counter-attack that may have doomed the northern city."
"Supposed to be the toughest nut to crack," I said, annoyed, which got a nod from Kor.
"Correct. They made a mistake, and we're likely to capitalize on it and save ourselves a lot of lives lost and time for the planet to fall within the month, I think. Now, though, it could be later if something gets through the fleet in orbit."
"Here's to that not happening," I said, reaching into my cloak and pulling out an alcoholic drink in a metal canister I carried. I quickly unscrewed it and took a sip before offering it to Kor, saying, "Not the best drink from Fenris, but it's something to celebrate a victory."
"Thank you," Kor said, reaching out and taking a sip, and the darkness settled around us.
Kori Bretakollrsson
Ark Reach III
Holding my hand up, I paused the column, the sensors on my helmet pinging off what were most likely soldiers moving from the debris of what once used to be a wondrously golden decorated City.
Ark Reach III had apparently been one of the major trade capitals of the Ark Reach Cluster, and they had shown their wealth in everything they built, from towers that appeared to have had bricks coated in a golden substance to a giant diamond in one part of the city that appeared to have been either forged or created for some process only the creators of such works would know. On display for anyone to see, now, not so much anymore as artillery rounds had done a number on what probably would've been a spectacle in its day.
Seeing such a richly decorated city in this state was sort of a sad thing, but well, if they didn't want their city turned into broken rubble, they should have not declared themselves vehemently against integration into the Imperium. There were plenty of other options; They just needed to take one of them. Instead, they had gone out of their way to start a war, and well, wars tend to leave destruction in their wake.
Operations had scaled up since the early days of invasions on Ark Reach III. When we first landed, we had just been trying to cause as much chaos and mayhem as possible, as Ark Reach IV and V were the heads of the operation. But things in Ark Reach I and II had been rebuffed, and more troops had been deployed to Ark Reach III in hopes of settling the score there. Two companies had been deployed to each planet, and only half of a company had returned. The powers on display there were so great that I wondered what Tanya would do to try and even the score. She wasn't one for using planetary destruction weapons, so we were going to have to go back in there, and I was all for it. Of course, some may say wasting our time on taking a planet so people can live there was a waste of time, but I got it. If we took the planet, they would give us a place for human colonization from the Imperium, which would mean more support in this region, making further invasions in this area easier. It was a simple system.
Of course, the problem was that the abilities on display here meant that anything that got off Ark Reach I and II onto the other worlds in the sector that we were trying to bring to compliance could cause a lot of trouble.
That's why I slowly moved forward with Bjorn to my right as we carefully watched for any enemies hiding in the debris of a once proud civilization, waiting to spring its traps on us.
After about 10 minutes, I shook my head. We'd moved quite a bit forward from the column, and nothing had attacked us, which was a sign that we might have been overreacting. At least, I had thought so at first. Then I heard gunshots on the other side of the building we were currently in front of.
Looking towards Bjorn, I said, "Who's on the left of us?"
Bjorn looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "I believe it's the Word Bearers' column led by Erebus."
"He must not have noticed the ambush like we did and walked right into it," I mused as I racked my gun and kicked the door of the building down, finding two infantrymen who might as well have been half-asleep, considering they had been too busy refilling what looked like improvised firebombs to actually check if they were being surrounded.
Leveling my gun, I unleashed a quick burst of fire into them, blowing them away and splattering their remains against the wall.
Two more infantrymen charged out of a side room, bringing up their guns and firing off a few rounds at us. The ammunition wasn't piercing or explosive enough to actually do any damage before Bjorn brought his volkite charger to bear onto them, turning them into burning shadows against the wall.
Not caring for silence, we moved quickly, blasting our way through the building with vengeance and anger, killing anything that moved. Before long, the first floor was cleared, and the second floor might as well have been, because Bjorn simply lit the stairs on fire with his weapon.
"We probably shouldn't have done that," I thought out loud, before Bjorn nodded his head, saying, "Might have gone a little bit too far, but I think the point was made: ambushes aren't going to work."
"Here's hoping," I said, shaking my head as the building started to really burn. Motioning to the column, we moved on quickly, passing the burning street and finding our way to the next horizontal street in this mega city. There were a couple of calm, almost serene, Wolves of Fenris, already putting up positions to take a moment of rest here before we made our way further down into the city. To our left came a couple of columns of Word Bearers, setting up their own defenses as they too took a moment's rest.
This city was built with height in mind due to limits of the local geography and had built up over the years and as a result was quite massive, and though we would love to just bombard them outright, there was also an extensive underground network of tunnels and chambers that from reports housed the cities slums and lower class and was the dirty underbelly of the golden city above, which allowed enemy forces to move around and set ambushes through the underground pathways.
It really came down to two things: the only way we were going to clean sweep this area around the city and the city itself was to march through it street by street, killing anything that tried to fight us.
We did try to save civilians here and there, but many of them tried to blow us up. What could you do? Some of the kids we were able to save, mostly by knocking them out and shipping them back on Rhinos to be cared for by Fenrisian guards stationed outside the city, watching over and accepting refugees. Though there were few left, a lot of people apparently really believed in their Phoenix King's ability to protect them and were not willing to accept the surrender that needed to happen. This would have to change sooner or later. But for now we needed to just rest before we moved on. The city was massive, nearly 100 square miles of urban infrastructure had overgrown much of the nature of this world. If it weren't for the fact that this was built on the coast between a mountainous region, I'm sure this place would have continued to grow sideways for eternity, or maybe they would be forced to learn how to build taller than they had previously.
How many years was that at this point? It was 885, and we'd started campaigning around the 30s, man. I've been at this for about half a century. Shaking my head, I looked over to Bjorn as he changed out his volkite charger with another Marine for a bolt gun, saying, "We need weapons that ain't going to set the place on fire as we go through it."
"I know," he replied, "We have direct orders not to burn the place down. Officially, we weren't actually given those orders. We were just ordered to take the cities in the best condition possible. We could bombard them, sure, but we weren't meant to destroy them on purpose, which is hard. The only things we had confirmed reports that we could destroy without necessary worry were enemy installations that could be proven to have hidden weapons in them, which tended to be big community buildings, churches, schools, and things like that. Unfortunately, those tended to be places where the enemy would hide their civilian population on purpose, so we usually had to surround the building and force them out before we could blow them up."
"Just more things that are slowing down this operation," I remarked. "At least we are getting tanks into the mix in the next few days. They have mostly been kept outside of the city so far because most of them were currently mounting flamethrowers, and considering we still do not have orders to burn the place down, they need to be remounted with bolt guns and other equipment that won't set the place alight on purpose."
Bjorn shook his head before saying, "Well, if the casualties keep rising, Tanya will probably give the green light on that. She's kind to a point, but there is a point where she goes, 'You know, fuck it.' That's why we follow her after all."
"True, true," I replied, "Just wish there was a way we could beat these people or make them surrender without having to spend so many lives on this operation."
"Well, there are ways," I heard the voice of Erebus from behind me. Myself known, I turned and saw the Space Marine coming forward, his helmet held under his arm as he approached. Inscriptions on the side of his face tattooed there, oddly enough, I noted. He said, "I assume they will soon have forces moved here to help us take this place. After all, it's been a tough nut to crack, so they'll probably give us a few more Space Marines to crack it. That, or your Valkyrie and our own retinues brought over from Ark Reach IV. I heard news that it's about ready to fall."
"About damn time," Bjorn said with a nod of approval. "That place has been giving everyone a pain in the ass. Any news on Ark Reach V?"
Erebus shook his head before saying, "Even my contacts aren't available for that. I've heard news that it's going okay, but it's as problematic as three and four combined, with other issues related to how much water is on the planet."
I shook my head before saying, "Aquatic combat is always a pain in the ass. Urban aquatic combat is even worse."
"Oh, have you fought in those conditions before?" Erebus asked.
I nodded my head before saying, "We fought some Dark Eldar and mercenaries on a beach planet once. Had to do a water landing to reach the compound that they were raiding out of. It was an ugly fight. Not to mention that something about the place was just wrong. It pissed everyone off to some degree. We even burned down a palace accidentally because we were just so fed up with what the Dark Eldar were up to and what we were seeing on that planet."
Bjorn nodded his head before saying, "First time Tanya ever gave an order of 'Just kill them all.' Those people pissed her off. I think it's still technically standing orders to just kill the Dark Eldar when we see them."
I nodded my agreement as Erebus said, "Interesting, quite interesting. I was unaware that Tanya had any issues like that with the Eldar, but I guess that makes sense."
"The Dark Eldar are some of the worst Xenos this side of the Maelstrom and south of the Ghoul Stars, even worse than the bioforms we encountered in the last campaign." I said, remembering the Rangdan campaign.
"Oh yes, the Rangdan. I wish our men had been able to take part in that campaign, but there were other operations we were needed for," Erebus said with a shake of his head.
"We go where the Emperor wants us," I said matter-of-factly as I magnetized the bolt gun to my back.
"Yes, as the Emperor's angels of death, we must bear the brunt of what is necessary for the continuation of humanity's existence. So, I do wish we had been available to go up there. So much we could have come to understand about their society was lost in that campaign."
I shook my head before saying, "Trust me, there was nothing you wanted to come to understand. I've read some of the reports from other commanders on that operation. They were all zealous and dangerous. We had to burn out the entire region of space surrounding that area, rendering entire planets lifeless husks because they were worried about bioweapons being left behind. Whatever we could have learned from them would not have been worth the lives that were potentially lost in the future dealing with their technology."
"Not to mention that there were reports that they had the ability to summon things from the Warp into the real world. Things that should only be a problem when we're traveling through the Warp on a planet can cause massive damage and mayhem. I'm glad that we ended up eliminating the species. They are too dangerous for everyone," Bjorn said with a nod.
Erebus nodded his head before asking, "Well, that may be true of the Rangdan, but I do wonder if we sometimes go a little too overzealous with our efforts to protect humanity. Specifically, I wonder if we could have found some way to avoid the burning of this beautiful city."
I raised an eyebrow as I looked at him before saying, "What else was there to do? As far as I'm aware, your Primarch attempted to speak to them about joining the Imperium, and they profusely said no."
Erebus nodded his head in agreement before saying, "All true, though not exactly all the details if you ask me. The meeting did not get off to a good point of starting from my point of view. Lorgar was somewhat insulted by their claims that their Phoenix Kings were as wise and valuable to humanity as the Emperor himself. This put her in a bit of a testy mood in my opinion, that I believe we could have worked our way through if we had taken it slower. But flat refusal and their insulting of the Emperor's luminary status, along with pressure from the Administratum to speed up our efforts to bring planets into compliance, pushed her a bit on this one to be more brutal than I think she would normally want to be."
I raised an eyebrow before shrugging my shoulders and adding, "I will admit the pressure from the Administratum can be detrimental to our campaign sometimes, especially with how they handle things after we leave. Often grouping planets that hated each other into similar sectors and being surprised when they end up screwing each other over. But there's not much we can do on that matter. Too many needs to be united if we want to take our place amongst the stars, and we cannot waste time with planets that are outright threatening to be a problem with their own empires."
Erebus nodded his head. "True, oh well, I guess I just think too much sometimes. But what is our purpose as humans but not to think? Freedom of will and all that," He said with a shrug.
Looking out at the next road to the city, he added, "Plus, with all the butchery that's been going on these last few days, it's a bit much even for me."
"Understandable," Bjorn said before adding, "After all, you guys are more builders than fighters from what I've seen."
"Builders?" Erebus asked, puzzled.
"Just a term that gets passed around between the Wolves of Fenris and the Iron Warriors. They'd like to be the builders, but end up having to be warriors. We are pretty good at being warriors, but we end up being builders once in a while. All legions basically fall on the scale: are you a builder or a warrior, and what are you going to end up having to do? Most of the time, it's going to be warrior, but we've kind of come to the assumption that when this whole crusade is over, we'll be builders. Every one of us, in one way or another, is trying to help society improve. Don't know what the hell I will be doing. I'm a failed builder even before I was a Space Marine, but we'll figure it out as we go along or Tanya will tell us what to do. She's pretty good at that."
"Yes, yes, she must be," Erebus said, rubbing his thumb over his chin in thought before shaking his head. "Interesting. Anyways, I should be getting back to my own unit. It's good to talk to you two again. Maybe we'll see each other at the next stop point on this street assault."
"Yeah, we'll see you there," I said, nodding, as Erebus gave a bow, turned, and left us. I waited until he was out of earshot before I said, "Ever had an odd feeling that that guy is not telling us everything he's trying to tell us?"
Bjorn shook his head, saying, "Nope. I do get a bad feeling about that guy in general. Something about him just rubs me the wrong way, and I'm not sure what."
I shrugged before saying, "I don't know. Hopefully, we can get through this campaign without talking to him too much. Too intellectual, I think. Too much about this stuff probably is not good for his emotional state when we've actually got to do some heavy work."
"Maybe, maybe," Bjorn said, looking after him as I cracked my knuckles, preparing for the next assault.
Tanya Russ
Ark Reach V
Sighing, I sat back in the once-throne, now nothing more than a stool that belonged to the Phoenix King of Ark Reach V. The official name was probably going to be lost to history at the current rate things are going. Most of the political class would rather die fighting than surrender, and those who didn't tended to flee off-world or somewhere else. It seemed that the only planet we knew the official name of was Ark Reach I, simply because someone mentioned it as the throne world of the Phoenix Kings.
Sitting back, I looked out of a window at the burning city in the distance, annoyed that it had come to this destruction, but accepting that it had to be this way. They refused to surrender; they'd been given the chance many times, and it was thrown away. So, each planet would all be burnt to the ground at this rate. Ark Reach VI was in a slightly better state; V would have no major cities after this; IV would be a wasteland; and III, well, III's concentration of population into one major city guaranteed that the planet's ecosystem would survive. That was one good thing, I guess.
But they would all fall within the next few weeks, then we'd have to deal with Ark Reach I and II, the most problematic of the planets, considering the assault we had sent there had been rebuffed by forces of psychic nature.
What powers they used was still up in the air to some, but I had seen the footage and was pretty confident that psychic abilities were used to rebuff our landing efforts. These abilities were closer to my previous lifes Imperial magic than the ship blowing up from an artillery round, which should not have been able to pierce the armor, tends to indicate something weird is going on.
Was it that trace remnants of that style of magic got transplanted here and used by these faux Eldar? I could say that now with certainty after having slain the Phoenix King of this planet and gotten a good look at his ears. Hard to say about the Imperial magic, but at least the theories that these people have been culturally contaminated by the Eldar to some degree were confirmed. They probably had traded with the old empire that the Eldar had in the past, I assumed. Or maybe, well, there were rumors, rare rumors, of Eldar and humans intermingling. Perhaps the Phoenix Kings were a line of half-breeds that had maintained their power over the centuries of the long night. It was not impossible; stranger things were possible, considering what bioengineering had done to the Rangdan if some theories were confirmed true.
My thoughts were interrupted as Yrsa came forward with a mug of ale from Fenris, presenting it to me with a smile. I said thank you, taking the mug and sipping it, folding my right leg over my left as I leaned back.
The city was burning; no other way to look at it. The only thing that would be left is this palace, and the only reason it would be left is because I had occupied it. Right now, the civilian population that was full of belief in their Phoenix King's superiority would rather burn their own city and kill their own people than let conquest be successful. That was why my Marines were out there, trying to prevent the wholesale slaughter of the Ark Reach's next generation from the petty tantrums of a dying culture.
These Phoenix Kings had a cult, there's no other way to look at it. They were no better than the leader of Jonestown or any other cult that had found out that there were bigger fish in the pond and they were going to come knocking.
What was I going to do with all the remaining civilians? Those few that were left, and these thousands, if not more, of kids? I couldn't exactly just leave them on this planet; they were not going to be able to survive on their own, at least not without aid.
Most likely, I was going to have to do two things: load up as many as I could on our ships and send them to Fenris, where they would probably be able to survive and integrate into that society. And secondly, ship some civilian workers from Fenris here to think about it. Perhaps some of the Fenris guard units that were coming close to the end of their contracts pretty soon; perhaps I should give them first choice of settling on these planets. It would solve the problem to some extent, plus these planets were still in relatively good condition and would need someone to look after them to make sure these cults of the Phoenix King didn't re-establish themselves.
My thoughts were interrupted from the future of this system, as I heard the voice of my sister Lorgar, bringing me from my view of the burning city to the entrance where Lorgar and some of her staff were entering. They were dressed in full armor, as I was, which at least put us on the same footing, unlike the last time we had spoken.
Lorgar, while at home, preferred to wear either their armor or simple Greek-style clothing. As for me, I preferred either the well-maintained leather clothing I had tailored for me while on Fenris or my armor. Being forced to accept a Greek-style dress to have meetings aboard Lorgar's ship just to appeal to her sensibilities was not one of those things that I felt comfortable with; too restricting for my taste.
Smiling, I said, "Welcome, sister," indicating towards one of the other thrones, that I would guess were for visiting Phoenix King. From what I'd seen of this castle, there were six thrones, one at the highest end, and five smaller on either side. A similar setup had been found on the sixth planet; the thrones in that case had been in a different position, possibly indicating which planet they belonged to.
Smiling, Lorgar dropped her war mace near a window and came forward, grabbing my hand in both of hers and shaking it. "Wonderful campaign we've accomplished here today; we've thoroughly smashed the Phoenix Kings and uprooted their evil."
"Wonderful indeed? Difficult on this planet, yes, but we still got two more to go."
"Oh, of course, of course. The other two planets will come through, and it's not like this is just one planet we've conquered. Our efforts to keep them from supporting each other have been somewhat successful, and now four of the six planets are down. There are only two left, and I imagine once the leader of the Thousand Sons arrives, we'll be able to push that enemy out of those worlds soon enough."
"Yes, if the Thousand Sons arrive, if they ever decide to do so. I'm quite annoyed by the time it has taken for them to show up. They were called nearly a year ago."
"They'll be here, don't worry," Lorgar said with a wave of her hand before adding, "Magnus wants to meet you anyway."
I raised an eyebrow as I looked at her, saying, "Magnus? You're on a first-name basis with the leader of the 15th?"
"Oh, yes. I've known them for decades," Lorgar said with a shrug as she looked out the window before turning back to me and asking, "But that can wait till they arrive. That should be any day now. You sent a unit to try and pick them up, what, 3 months ago?"
I sighed before nodding, "Yes, I sent the Fifth Company to go speed up their arrival. They've been caught up in something for the last few months. Headed by Amlothi Skarssen Skarssensson, one of my loyal Wolf lords, so they should be back soon, but I worry that something has gone wrong. After all, it seems to be taking a very long time for them to show back up."
"We are a galactic empire facing galactic threats. I'm sure whatever they're dealing with is substantial. Once they arrive, we can get to work planning the compliance of those last two worlds. But for now, what are we going to do with the four we have already?" Lorgar said as she looked out the window, musing.
"I have two plans so far. Import some Fenrisian civilians to help with the rebuilding, and migrate some of the population back to Fenris, particularly the children, since they can probably adapt better than the adults. This cult needs to be broken up, and the only way we can do that is to break the chain of connections holding it together," I explained.
"Agreed. I've already ordered my Word Bearers to hunt down the sanctuaries and religious iconography of the Phoenix King, destroy it, or replace it with those of the Emperor, showing him as the liberator for this world," Lorgar added.
I raised an eyebrow but let it pass. Yes, putting up a statue of the Emperor in a place that used to be a sanctuary could be seen as putting up your own religion to replace the last, but the religion was: "We're freeing you from crazy cults." So it could theoretically be an okay move. I doubted the Emperor would even mind, and I considered anyone would probably just be more amused at the new golden statues being erected on this world.
Finally, I said, "Well, that is true. Your people are good at rebuilding societies. From what I understand of your campaigns, in fact, I'd say you're a bit too dedicated to that aspect of our Crusade. I assume you're going to leave some men here to help rebuild this society as well."
"It's in my plans, of course," Lorgar said. "I was thinking of leaving a third of a company here, as well as some of the retinue I've gathered from various worlds. General Calgurus of the Imperial Army will take over the governorship of these six worlds. The Administratum has already declared that General Calgurus is getting long in his years, and with this successful campaign, they want to put him out to pasture."
"Did he agree to that?" I asked, as the way Lorgar phrased it made me suspicious that someone in the Administratum didn't like General Calgurus and was trying to get him out of the field.
"I assume so. I haven't had a chance to speak to him on the matter. I've only been informed of it within the last 24 hours."
"Hmm," I shook my head before saying, "I'll have to have a conversation with General Calgurus about that. Sounds too much like the Administratum just trying to meddle in military matters that they should not be screwing with."
"Ah, oh yes, I've heard that you've had some run-ins with the Administratum. I've got nearly a dozen letters telling me to speed up my conquest because they want results now, and you know they don't care for the intricacies and difficulties of war, it feels like sometimes."
I nodded, about to say something about how every day we are fighting against forces that are throwing themselves at the borders of humanity when the doors to the central hall burst open as if under an invisible force.
I turned, half reaching for my weapons, expecting to end up in a firefight, but I saw some Space Marines in red armor step through, their weapons firmly on their backs, not in a sign of readiness to start a fight. One of their officers stepped forward with a staff in his hands. Another thing I noted about the new arrivals, besides the coloration, was the fairly Egyptian-esque style headdress on their armor.
Every Legion handles slight differences in how they handle their armor when it comes to helmets, but this was the first one I'd seen leaning heavily into head ornaments.
As the red guards cleared the way, a person who could be called a giant leaned down to step into the room, an almost impossibly large individual even compared to us, his head barely not scraping the surface of this Grand Palace as he looked around.
There were two surprising things about him: one, he had red skin, hair, everything was red; two, he didn't have a lot of armor, only legs and chest armor, but his arms were fully exposed, and his head, well, I wasn't sure what he was wearing, but it was definitely not a full helmet, considering his hair was fully exposed.
He looked through what I realized was one eye; the other one was completely non-existent, as the patch of skin that should be there was smooth as if it had never been there.
I probably should have asked who it was, but that was rather evident as I said, "Ah, you must be the mysterious Magnus I've been waiting for."
"It's good to see you too, sister. It's been what, 50 years? 40 years?" he said, stepping forward.
That drew a confused look from me as I said, "We've never met before."
"Oh right, I forgot," as Magnus stepped forward, he clicked his fingers and fell in stature, changing quite drastically from a giant to the average height of a human female with red skin and red hair, still missing an eye, which I noted, though now they looked very familiar.
"You're that woman who was with the Emperor all those years ago, his new apprentice."
"Got it in one," the female Magnus said, clicking her fingers and returning to her male form and giant stature. "Sorry that I took so long to get here. As your captain of the Fifth Company will attest, we ran into unfortunate situations on my last campaign. Some things from the Sea of Emotions escaped and had to be dealt with."
"A Warp invasion?" I asked, which got a nod.
"Yes, unfortunately. This creature, a poor imitation of what could be considered life, had possessed a Titan, and we had to deal with it."
"A war Titan infested with a Warp creature? Okay, you're forgiven for being late. That is an issue that needs to be dealt with. Welcome to Ark Reach V, Magnus, and to the most most wasteful campaign we could have run into," I said with a shake of my head.
Noticing my Wolves, who had been in a corner staring at the new arrivals with barely contained fear and anger, I couldn't exactly place the emotion that was being drawn from them. I followed their eyes and noticed what they were looking at—one, no, more than one of Magnus's followers had some sort of creature on their shoulders. I didn't recognize them, and they didn't look exactly right, except for the fact that they were birds.
"What are those things?" I said, looking past Magnus at the creatures.
"What things?" Lorgar said, following my eyes.
"Oh, she's noticing our companions. Well, that's quite interesting. So far, only those with extremely high psychic abilities have been able to notice them. The Emperor, for one," Magnus said. "Quite interesting. They're just simply an element of training within my Legion, allowing us to gain access to intelligence about our enemies without putting ourselves or our equipment at risk."
I raised an eyebrow, saying, "You've chained Warp beasts to your will to be your scouts?" I asked, frankly stunned by that realization, considering that he had just been involved in dealing with one that had gone rampant.
"Have you not?" Magnus said, looking over my shoulder at the top of what used to be the throne I was sitting in. Following his gaze, I saw my Raven sitting at the top of the throne, watching from up above. It tilted its head and looked down at me in confusion. I shrugged before saying, "That's different. That's a living creature, not a Warp creature."
"Are you sure of that? I sense some other powers to it, something that would only be common amongst creatures of the Warp and their ilk."
"Fenris is a weird planet," I said matter-of-factly, waving off the notion that the birds were in any way abnormal.
"If you say so, sister, if you say so," Magnus said, approaching before adding, "I must say, I feel a bit out of place, being the only male Primarch."
I cleared my throat before saying, "Well, now you know how we feel most of the time, I suppose. Considering you apparently can switch genders at the thought, it doesn't seem like a big problem to me that you have."
"True, true," Magnus said, clicking his fingers and taking on a still very tall but female form—a very eye-catching one at that. "There, now we all are on the same footing, at least," she said as she swept her long hair back.
"Not sure about that," Lorgar said, her eyes locked on the impressive bust that even made me feel a pang of jealousy. I know I was sure I would feel quite a lot of back pain if I had something that size, considering the muscular nature of the arms Magnus was pulling off. Magnus was quite tall, making the impressive bust look even more massive because she was a good 4 ft taller than everyone in the room.
Clearing my throat, I said, "You don't need to do that if you prefer to be male. I mean, it's impressive that you can switch forms quite easily and confirm some theories that I've had, but it's not necessary."
Magnus continued to brush her hair as she said, "Oh, yes, I am male by birth, I guess you would say, but there's nothing wrong with a little exploration. Besides, if this campaign is mainly run by my sisters, why not join in with their number and make it a fully female campaign?"
"Not sure that works that way," I said, "but we'll work with what we got, all right. Magnus, have you been studying the reports that have been sent to you about Ark Reach II and I, and what do you have to say about it?"
Placing her hands on her hips, she said, "Well, it's not much to say. The people of Ark Reach I and II obviously have Warp powers. I've been doing some studying over the reports that you've been sending, and intelligence has been able to gather. They seem to have a school of some sort within a Great Library, full of ancient and forgotten knowledge and teachings—something we should endeavor to seize for our own knowledge and powers."
"But from my own studies, I don't believe these magic wielders of the Phoenix King are that powerful compared to my own men. Adding my forces to yours, we should be able to breach any defenses that they are able to deploy."
"Are you sure about that?" I mused, leaning back and putting my hand on the side of my face as I leaned to the side. "These mages that they deploy are quite skilled in their craft. The landing force that tried to invade the city on Ark Reach I was prevented from doing so by a massive shield being deployed. We're going to need something that can take that down, and I'm not sure that anything lesser than orbital bombardment will do that."
"I have some abilities that will give us the edge, not to worry. Besides, I'm more worried about Ark Reach II. One of the reports indicated that several of your Marines went missing on that attack."
I nodded my head, not a fan of that information getting out there, but not much we could do on the matter. Ark Reach II's expedition had been blown out of the sky, and though we had managed to land a recovery force far away from civilization, several Marines were never found. Even during ground combat, we had not been able to locate remnants of their armor or biological material, indicating that they had been captured. Oh sure, there was a possibility they were just dead in a ditch that we had missed, but we had reports that they had arrived on the planet safely from others who had been with them before they split up in different directions to avoid capture. That was more than enough information to make assumptions that, well, they had been captured.
What the enemy could learn from such an operation, I don't know, but I would rather not find out. "Fine, we'll need to be quite thorough in this conquest, then. Recover anything that was lost and make sure they can't pull any tricks on us."
"Agreed," Magnus said before continuing, "We do not have a large legion, so we will need to go to each planet one at a time. I would prefer we hit the second planet first, but if you prefer, we could hit the first planet. After all, it does have that library, and the longer they have it under their control, the more likely they are to start destroying records to deny them from us if they realize they are not going to win."
I nodded before saying, "Can you not split your force in half? How many Marines do you have?"
Shaking her head, Magnus said, "10,000. My force was greatly diminished before they reconnected with me. That's why they're called the Thousand Sons, but we have grown some since then. Though we are a small legion, we are very elite in our abilities."
Hmm, breaking up a small legion of 10,000 into two groups of 5,000 may sound like a reasonable request, I thought. But no doubt they were a group that worked better together than separated. Nodding my head, I said, "We'll hit the Ark Reach I first if you believe those books in that library are of use to the Imperium. We better take them while they are still untouched, although I doubt we'll find anything interesting. This cult of the Phoenix is a rather ugly affair."
"Cult of the Phoenix," Magnus mused, rubbing her chin before adding, "We need to be careful then. Fire is something that is important to the Phoenix; rebirth comes from it. If they have the same assumptions, they may have some sort of world-devastating weapon on their planet, ready to spring off, possibly with bunkers hidden somewhere to keep a portion of their population safe so they can rebuild after we've been destroyed."
"The only ones who will be doing any rebuilding once this is over are our forces," Lorgar said proudly, and I gave her a nod in agreement.
Turning to Magnus, I asked, "So, one question though, whose idea was it to hide that you were you when we met back all those years ago? It's going to bug me if I don't ask."
"Oh, that was the Emperor's idea. He thought it would be funny to have me pose as some psychic disciple human just to throw you off the scent that you might be in the presence of the other Primarch aboard his ship. By the way, did that work? I've always wondered if you had seen through it or not."
I chuckled before saying, "I don't think I saw through it, but I was suspecting that something was going on there. I wouldn't say I knew for sure, but it was a possibility, so I played with it."
"Interesting, quite interesting," Magnus said, rubbing her chin before adding, "Well then, now that we no longer have to play and pretend not knowing each other, I cannot wait to work with you. There's so much about your specific brand of spellcraft I want to learn. Perhaps we can teach each other something."
"Perhaps we can, perhaps we can," I said with a nod before turning to Yrsa and saying, "Why don't you get the good ale out? Might as well celebrate a union of three Primarchs working together with a night of drinking before we launch our next assaults in a week or so on Ark Reach I."
"Sounds like a plan," Lorgar said, and Magnus nodded her agreement.
Yrsa quickly hurried off, gathering other Valkyries and getting to work. Not only bringing in large amounts of alcohol but plenty of foodstuff as well, not only for the three Primarchs but for the rest of them as well. The palace, now surrounded by a burning city, became a rather cheerful little place as we all drank ourselves into a stupor, enjoying a night of relaxing camaraderie.
Writers note: oh hey… i fool you all! Of courses the shap shifter whas a shap shifter hahaha, magnus is dude this whole time hahaha. Beyond that sure look like everyone getting along.
Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
Edited by: Y1
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I hope Tanya doesn't make Word Bearers into a competent enemy.
Chapter 56, A Tale of Three Sisters
Chapter 56, A Tale of Three Sisters
M30.885
Magnus the Red
Perhaps I was being a bit too reckless, I thought as I gazed into a mirror at my female face. Even with my mastery of shape-changing, there were certain things that stayed the same. I still had only one eye, which still affected my depth perception.
But then again, recklessness had always paid off in the past. My legion, named the Thousand Sons, had been greatly affected by a mysterious affliction known as the flesh change. Thanks to my recklessness, I delved into the Warp and made a deal with one of the entities in there. It had gone into remission. Yes, I'd lost an eye, but to ensure that my sons would have the opportunity to claim the galaxy. I would never be the greatest marksman in the Imperium, but when you combat the forces of the Immaterium, you don't usually need to be precise. What was the term I'd heard an Imperial Army artilleryman use when they were fighting with artillery? Ah yes, "Dear grid coordinates."
My first foray into the Warp had allowed me to be in contact with Father long before I had met my Legion, and of course, it had also allowed me to master the psychic powers of my home world, Prospero. This mastery allowed me to assume the mantle of leadership, cleanse the planet of the parasitic Warp entities that controlled most of the world, and build a proper home for the people there.
So yes, I was perhaps too bold, but every risk was calculated and the rewards have been rich, fortune did afterall favor the bold. Granted, this situation was a bit different than my normal standard. Shapeshifting myself into a female form just so I could get along more with my two sisters – what exactly would that teach me? More than anything, it also rendered my armor useless, considering it was meant for a male body. I really had only two choices on that matter, though. One, have a female set of armor built for this body, which I could, but it would take forever to get here. Or two, rely on my psychic abilities and powers to defend myself.
Granted, my powers were well and truly capable of such matters, so I didn't need to worry too deeply about that. I could walk through this battlefield and not even get touched by the dust in the air from an artillery bombardment if I really put my full power into a defensive spell.
Letting out a deep breath, I leaned back from the mirror and stretched the muscles of my back before heading into the main chamber of my quarters. There, I had a few seamstresses and jewelers from Prospero put together a dress that they considered the pinnacle of cultural fashion from our world. Since I was a representative of Prospero, I was going to do my best to show that we were versed not only in war but in culture as well, even if I was not in my preferred form – the one I had grown up in.
I do believe, though, that some of the seamstresses had attempted to give me some armor to complement my attire. As part of the fashion, it looks like it could take a hit or two from a strike if need be in close-quarters combat. If one of the weapons wasn't powered by supernatural energy or a regular chain sword, it would probably block the blow without issue. Though I highly doubt anyone would be able to get that close for them to have a chance to test the durability of my dress. I also noted that they seemed to have used several precious stones in the creation of the light armor that would function as a strong conduit for channeling my psychic abilities, assisting me in maintaining the shields around my body with less effort.
I quickly dressed myself in the clothing before grabbing Ahn-Nunurta and heading towards the door.Making my way towards the transport that would take me down to the planets below.
After 6 months of fighting, Ark Reach VI through III have fallen, which left only Ark Reach II and I. The choice then was which to hit first. After some discussion, it was decided to hit Ark Reach I first. Ark reach II would probably be the hardest planet to overwhelm, so we needed all the forces we could gather for that operation. Taking out Ark Reach I now made the most sense, and that is why all three Legions were going to be deployed. I was quite interested in seeing how our three Legions combat styles would either clash or work together. I was sure it would be quite interesting. I had worked with Lorgar before. She was a rather understandable sister. If something didn't surrender, she'd decimate it until it broke and submitted. The fact that the enemy on this world hadn't yet was a testament to their determination and will. Already, I had seen some reports from some of my men who had been deployed to the other planets to familiarize themselves with the local population. They reported that the Word Bearers were building structures to honor the Emperor on the remnants of what used to be their own gods' places of worship. This was to show the populace that the time of their gods was over. From what I could tell, they were also offering the refugees who were willing to give up their faith to the Phoenix King better aid than those who did not. It would take time, but they were building a good foundation to rebuild this system into a bastion of the Imperium rather than an issue for the Administratum.
As for my other sister, Tanya, well, I had run into her once before. Father thought it was funny to have me shapeshift into a female disciple just so that I wouldn't be recognized. Amusing though that was, I was more interested in the fact that she hadn't figured out I was a Primarch. Considering that Lorgar had picked it up right away when the Emperor tried the same thing when we met, did that mean Tanya was not as observant a sister as Lorgar or did it mean she was less sensitive to a Primarchs natural warp Aura? I don't know what it really meant. I just knew that she hadn't figured it out when we met all those years ago.
Which was curious because she had been too occupied with her thoughts of that Mary girl, the one that she had seen in a vision.
Which was interesting all on its own. I had spoken to other Primarchs over the years and learned a few things about our nature. As far as I was aware, I was the only one who had communed with Father without actually meeting him. I was also the only one who had been able to understand my existence and what it meant from the moment I was born. All my other siblings did not understand their existence before pulling themselves out of the pod. As far as I could tell, they generally saw their Awakening on their homeworld as the first steps of their life. But Tanya Russ was different. I had some idea of some of the differences. Though the two had spoken, she had been careful with her words, and I had been able to generally figure out some of the implications. Tanya Russ remembered a life before this one, something that was rare even amongst the Primarchs. Rarer than even me. I had generally figured out the concept of how we had been created by this point. Some of our souls came from the Emperor and some from the Immaterium. So to actually have memories from a previous life was not impossible, but for it to only show in her and none of the other siblings I'd met was a curiosity.
And she was concerned about the possibility of another individual who had been in the Warp, some individual named Mary Sue if memory serves. Who was this Mary Sue? I wondered. I was aware of Lorgar, and she did match some of the descriptions I had heard. However, she also did not. Was she a bit on the religious side? Yes. But was she, as Tanya called her, a berserker? No. Lorgar was generally in control of her faculties. She didn't go and lose herself in her own anger. She didn't match the concept of a berserker. Really, the only one who matched that part of the description that I knew of was Tanya herself, oddly enough. I had heard of her outburst on the planet after we left all those years ago and her outburst on Rangdan. I wondered, was Tanya Russ just Tanya Russ? Or was there a possibility that she was Tanya Russ and, deep down, Mary Sue? The two souls merged after centuries lost in the Warp in an endless ritual of hate that resulted in them becoming one soul. It was not impossible, however it was a tenuous theory. Many of the things of the Warp didn't make sense to begin with. With more study, of course, it could be learned. But at this moment, how it all worked and how to control it was still in the infancy of its research in my mind. That's why I spent time on every planet, gathering up all the rituals and information of the local planets' psychic customs. It was one of the reasons I was quite interested in Ark Reach II, as there were rumors of a great library full of psychic knowledge stored there. If I could get my hands on it, what could I learn? What secrets could be unlocked about the Warp?
I had to stop myself from salivating at the thought of reading those books. It was improper, besides, there was no way I would be able to read them here on Ark each. I knew I'd have to gather them up and send them back to Prospero for study by the researchers there. I could go over the condensed versions when I had the chance. No doubt there would be things I already understood, but there might be things I didn't, which could be well useful in our push for further knowledge of the Warp.
As I had been thinking, I made my way all the way to the landing base and quickly boarded a vessel destined for the planet below. Our forces had secured the landing zone on our previous visit, so it was only a matter of pushing outward and taking things to the next level. I imagined my sisters were already well and truly embroiled in the fighting.
Aboard the transport vessel were members of the first Fellowship, including their leader, Ahriman. They had been talking amongst themselves, but as I boarded, there was a bit of silence. Noticing this, I said, "Good morning, Sons! Who's ready to liberate the wealth of knowledge from these enemies of the Empire?" I got a bit of a nod of agreement before Ahriman spoke up, saying, "Father, do we call you Father or what when you're like this?"
"Well, that's up to you, my son. You could call me Primarch if that makes you feel at ease. Father is fine. It really doesn't matter what you call me as long as you do your job."
There was a general nod of consent amongst most of the Marines. However, Ahriman was not one to leave things standing. It was one of the reasons he had risen to the top of the Legion and become one of my closest associates.
"Alright, my Primarch, but I do have one other thought. Are you sure it's safe to be doing this? You're walking down there without much armor and relying on your psychic abilities in a form that is unfamiliar to you, simply to fit in with your sisters. Even for you, this seems a bit rash."
I chuckled and nodded before saying, "I understand your point. Even I believe I'm acting a little rash on this. But can you say that you truly know humanity and the extent of your psychic abilities if you do not push the envelope of what we believe is possible? This is an opportunity to experience something from a form of humanity I do not experience often. I see no reason why I should not experiment. I'd say if every one of my Legion had learned this ability, they should experience this at least once. For does this not give you a better way to expand your knowledge base, to experience humanity from a different point of view?"
With that said, I felt I was getting my point across. There were men who still looked skeptical. Ahriman leaned against the back panel of the ship before saying, "Alright, my Primarch. I'll keep that in mind."
Nodding my head, satisfied with the conclusion of the conversation, I asked, "So, how does the war on the planet surface go? The ships should have been deployed from Lorgar and Tanya's forces three hours ago."
Ahriman answered. "It's going alright; some of our troops went in with them, of course, providing more psychic prevention against the enemy. The enemy is pulling out all the tricks from what we can see, trying to prevent any successful breakthroughs on their lines. Unfortunately, their lines are in good condition since they didn't know where we were going to land on their planet until we did. The planetary capital of the planet is already under siege. The minor provincial capitals are also not in very good condition. As for the main army, they seem to have realized that if they lose the planetary capital, it will all be over and are trying to regroup their forces towards the capital. It's the best place for a spaceport. If we take it, they not only lose out on any blockade runners from Ark Reach II bringing aid to continue their war, but we gain a way to bring down some heavy equipment into safe areas and can easily bring the planet into compliance."
"Good, good," I said with a nod before adding, "Where are we coming down? The outskirts of the planetary capital or one of the provincial capitals you mentioned? After all, if we could take one of those, I'm sure they have a minor spaceport that could allow us to build up troops here on the planet with some ease."
Ahriman scratched his head before saying, "We are going to be dropping down on a provincial capital just north of the main capital. From what I understand, Primarch Russ has already taken the provincial capital, and most supplies are going to be brought down to this area first before being sent off to where they're needed. And apparently, she wants to have a conversation with you before you set out on your conquest. Apparently, she's concerned you don't know what you're getting yourself into."
"Ha, big sister Tanya's worried about me," I chuckled at the novel idea that someone was concerned about what I was going to be doing. As well as the fact that, well, technically yes, she was the elder sister, by being found. I was at this very moment taller than her even in a female form, by a good six feet, I would estimate, though perhaps I was being a little too generous.
Either way, then I turned to Ahriman and said, "Well, we better not keep my sister waiting long. I'm sure she's quite interested in having a long chat. After all, she must be somewhat intellectual, considering her use of the Warp and some of her past campaigns. She probably has tons of questions about how it works, and I have tons of questions about how she's been able to manipulate it, considering how little we know about their craft."
Ahriman nodded before saying, "I've picked up some knowledge from one of the Rune Priests. Or rather, an interesting bit of knowledge, if you ask me."
"Speak on it, Ahriman. Tell me of what you've learned from the Rune Priests of the Wolves of Fenris."
"Well, the runes existed on Fenris before Primarch Russ arrived. The precise runes that they use nowadays are based on the old runes of Fenris after they have been modified by her and seem to rely more on mathematics in some form, harnessing powers through equations. Less feel and more calculated compared to what we do."
"Oh, now that is interesting. Scientifically controlling the Warp through mathematics and equations? How is that even possible? That could be an interesting skill to teach those who are not as favored in the abilities of the Warp. A sort of stop-gap, if you will. Definitely, we must learn how these runes work."
I patted the book on my side, already imagining the knowledge I could impart within it once I had an understanding of how Tanya's runes worked. That was another reason I was taking a female form, though I had not been open about it. It was a bit underhanded, but I believe that being in a female form would put her more at ease with sharing her knowledge. After all, we're sisters. Yes, it was a bit manipulative, but working on Prospero for as long as I had, I came to realize that us magicians don't readily give up their secrets. Sometimes you have no choice but to coax a secret out of a person through copious amounts of alcohol or other vices. Other times, it wasn't that tough, but it didn't make the option that easy, such as breaking into a person's library to learn the knowledge they had been hoarding.
But on one hand, I was not going to take this knowledge without offering some of my own. I would have a copy of my book created and sent along to Tanya once I had her knowledge added to it. After all, perhaps it was something she could learn from. As far as I was aware, no other Primarchs had been openly using their psychic abilities, so I was sure that there were more than just me with that ability. Particularly on my list of those that I sensed something from was Guilliman. Though my poking at him had not revealed too much information about what he might be hiding.
"Oh well, soon, soon I will learn what they hides. We have all the time to figure these things out once the Empire is fully created, and humanity is safe from the primordial annihilators within the Warp."
Tanya Russ
Ark Reach I
Okay, maybe I went a tad too far with this one. I've been experimenting with spellcraft recently, particularly with the spells I accidentally summoned during my rage against the Rangdans.
That spell had summoned a vast storm of ice and snow on their homeworld and had grown out of control. It very likely would have turned the planet into a new Fenris at the rate it was going if the planet had not been given a liberal cleansing by virus bombs. Still one of the most disgusting weapons I think I'd ever come across. Literally releasing a viral agent that caused all life to return to primordial soup and fill the atmosphere with easily combustible elements, then setting it alight—a disastrous weapon that I think humanity will regret making sooner or later. Well, if they weren't regretting it, I already regretted its construction. Granted, me experimenting with this ice magic could be seen as me experimenting with super weapons as well, but at least I knew people could survive on a frozen planet. Little experiments like this with smaller amounts of psychic energy could net me the ability to control it better next time I accidentally set it on full blast.
However from this test it would seem being in a better emotional state gave me more control over the spell, which… was problematic. I had seen over the years that there are many scenarios that set me off, the monstrosity that was the Dark Eldar, seeing my men killed when they were injured. Knowing this meant that even if I perfected control over small scale uses of that spell… well it meant that if I did not maintain control over it, it could go wild. The best way forward then, to utilize this Warp spell, was for me to master my anger over the monstrous, calm my inner storm as you will. However, even that could only work so far. I was alway running the risk of opening myself up to Warp in ways that could have unintended side effects: the Warp was a realm of emotions, to use it was to open oneself to the myriad of emotions of that realm and those close to you. I had already run into the notion that there was some form of connection between each Primarch and their men, they had lost themselves to anger just as I had during that raid on that Eldar world with Vulcan. Who's to say the confusion and anger my men felt battling the Rangdan on that bloody mountain didn't affect my mindset there, leading to the spell going absolutely feral. Not to mention what Malcador mentioned about that planet as well. The usage of this spell at the moment had been simple since it had been used before the fighting started, before my blood was boiling, however I could feel at the edges it was pulling at me, whispering at me to unleash it all, to give in to my anger, my Fury, MY… . I had control of this situation. My plan had worked, but plans rarely survive conflict with the enemy. If I was going to make this spell a standardized tool of battle , I would need to gain control over all possible factors that could cause it to go wild, and that would take, not only the mastery of my inner storm, but the connection between me and my own men.
Anyways, the district capital that I had just frozen over parts of with said spell was looking rather rather choked with ice and snow. The population of the city was not dead, though an external layer of ice had trapped people in their buildings. I'm sure many of those people were in danger from the very cold conditions. But they were probably setting up fires now or using heaters that were connected to power lines that thankfully ran under the streets and thus were not frozen solid, and shattering as our men moved through the city's outskirts. As for the military of this particular town, well, the main army seems to have pulled out to make way for the main capital. They gave up on the town as soon as it froze over. As for the home guard, they were being tough bastards, and I acknowledged that. Granted, without the main military amongst them, they couldn't really do anything to stop the Marines who were moving through the city. So, I had given my men an order to take it easy on them if possible—just break their weapons and kick them out into the snow, tell them they're prisoners of war, and move on. Of course, they weren't going to do that with someone who had something like an RPG that could actually threaten them. But the guys running around with pistols that couldn't penetrate anywhere on their power armor got a rather gentle slap and were then tossed into the snow.
Anyways, we had easily taken over the governmental building in the core of the city and the nearby buildings, converting them into a command post, as well as a refugee center and prisoner of war camp. Not too intermingled, as stated. Those who had simply been bitch-slapped for being careless were cared for to some extent. But those who actually put up a real fight and were obviously members of the military who stayed behind to protect their own town were being put in an actual camp to be watched over. We kept them separated from the general population so they didn't try to start a rebellion or something.
Fenrisian Guards and the Valkyries were keeping a close watch over them, ensuring they didn't do anything foolish. Meanwhile, my Marines were cleaning out the city. Elements of the Thousand Sons were also present, paired up with a few Wolf Priests, in case anything tried to break through the veil or be brought through by the enemy.
Taking a deep breath, I leaned back as Yrsa came forward with a cup of coffee ready for me, placing it on an assembled table.
"Thank you, Yrsa," I said, giving her a smile and sipping it deeply before adding, "Excellent as always." This elicited a giggle from her.
"You're welcome, Wolf King," she replied before heading back towards the kitchen area that had been set up, seeming to be preparing to brew another cup for me. Considering a cup was literally the size of a full caffeine brewer, it made sense. And the fact that she seemed to be making another one indicated she was preparing to offer one to Magnus when they arrived, which should be soon. I had questions and thoughts I needed to discuss with them, and hopefully, they could provide some answers.
"My word, it's cold outside," came Magnus's voice, drawing my attention to the front door and causing my jaw to almost unhinge.
She walked in wearing some of the most revealing clothing I think a Primarch could ever wear. I could only hold my tongue about that for so long before I said, "Perhaps if you wore full armor, sister, you wouldn't be so cold."
"Ah, you called me sister. We're getting closer already," Magnus said with a smile, leaning on her polearm weapon.
"I called you sister because there isn't a sane person in the world who would call you a brother while looking like that," I simply replied, which earned a chuckle from her.
"Sorry, my sister. I thought having some women from my homeworld put together some clothing for me would be the right choice. Didn't realize you were going to freeze the city over," Magnus said.
I shook my head before saying, "It's not frozen over; it's lightly coated. Anyways, the ice will end in the next two days or so. This isn't a continuous frozen effort, I think."
"Think?" Magnus asked.
I gave her a look before saying, "I'm trying to make that spell an exact science. Until I can confirm that it works properly, I have to say 'think'."
"Ah, yes, your Warp-craft is rather intriguing. I'd love to learn more about how you use mathematics to conquer and control the Immaterium for your own uses. It's an intriguing process that I don't think I've seen many civilizations use. At least, none that I have been able to find so far. Perhaps the Eldar use something similar, though they are so secretive and unwilling to share their knowledge that it's very likely we'll never know for sure," Magnus mused.
I nodded before saying, "I think I could tell you some rather interesting information. You're not too far off with your estimations of the Eldar being somewhat responsible for our Rune Craft, somewhat. But I have another subject to talk about before we get there, one that's been bugging me since I saw your transformation."
"Oh, are you perhaps interested in experiencing life on the other side of the spectrum, my dear sister?" Magnus said, leaning in. I chuckled at that. I could explain that yes, I'd already experienced that and perhaps I would like to go there one day, but I was more concerned with the other ramifications, ones that could make me a very useful ally if I could pull it off.
"What about a member of our family, Mortarion?" I asked.
"Ah, yes, Mortarion," Magnus said, seeming tired. "Let me guess, you're wondering if I can fix his curse." I nodded in agreement, which got a nod in return from Magnus. They continued, "If they were willing to use the Warp abilities that they were granted, I'm sure that they could fix themselves. However, they are too scared of their own powers to do that. And if I were to attempt to try and fix it for them, I'm of the opinion that they would not take kindly to it. At least from what I've been able to learn, they tend to avoid me whenever I try to reach out to them."
"They're worried about psychic powers and what they could do to us," I said matter-of-factly. "The only way they're not going to be worried is if someone teaches them how to use theirs and prevent it from going out of control."
"Agreed. The problem is that they do not want to learn. They want to bury their heads in the sand. And if I tried to teach them, they would ignore me. I understand their point of view quite well. There are things to be concerned about with Warp use that you need to be on point about, or things go badly. But by that same token, burying your head in the sand is not going to solve the problem. And I really can't do anything for someone who will not even acknowledge that they have such abilities."
"What about writing down exactly how you do it and giving them a copy of the information so that they can maybe figure it out on their own as they slowly conquer their concerns over the control of the Warp?" I suggested.
Magnus sighed before saying, "I guess I could put together some sort of pamphlet for them. But indicating how it would be done as a Primarch? I'll send it their way, though I doubt they'll keep it. More likely than not, they'll burn it. After all, they are too concerned that the use of the Warp could be corrupting to them and not realizing that if they do not gain the knowledge, how it will hinder their own development."
"Alright, well, I mean at least that's a start," I said, indicating that they should take a seat across from me before adding, "So, a cup of coffee?"
"Coffee?" Magnus said, sounding intrigued. Yrsa came up and put a cup in front of her. "Well, thank you, dear." She took a sip before saying, "Damn, this is a very good cup of coffee. Where do these coffee beans come from? I should have some of this imported to Prospero when I get the chance."
I shrugged before saying, "Oh, ask Yrsa when I have the chance. All I know is I've been purchasing several brands from across the galaxy ever since Prospero was tied into the trade network to experiment. This is one of the more enjoyable brands we've come across."
"Haha, I see you're living up to your home world's barbaric nature. When you're not out there making war, you're making trade deals. Ah, whatever dropped us on our home worlds really had a sense of humor, I think. So far, from what I've seen, every Primarch has found themselves transported to a world that best suited their taste and ways of doing things, and every single one of them has come to grips with whatever struggle was in front of them and succeeded. It's an inspiring tale when you think about it."
I nodded my head before saying, "That's one way to look at it, though I would say that whatever dropped us off after we entered the Warp was probably not doing us any favors. I might be suspicious that they were trying to kill us if not for the fact that all of us seem to have come out alive."
"Hmm, true, true. But enough about the past. How about your magic? What is the secret ingredient to your mathematics?"
I let out a breath before leaning back and saying, "Well, the secret ingredient is the World Spirit, I think."
"What?" Magnus said, tilting his head to the side. I snapped my fingers and projected a sphere of silence around us so that only the two of us could hear this conversation. I figured it would be better to keep this discussion as quiet as possible. I continued.
"From what me and the others have been able to dig up, Fenris was what the Eldar called a maiden world. A planet that was set aside to be as dangerous as possible in order to help those who were tired of modern Eldar society. It was lost and the World Spirit there went into hibernation until humans showed up and started colonizing it. Apparently, we were not completely strangers to the World Spirit, and so it sort of looked out for us as the Old Night broke upon the human federation. There's also some evidence that there were some scientists trying to control the World Spirit or integrate it into an artificial AI that was placed on the planet. It's hard to say exactly what was going on there. The important part is that the World Spirit is basically a minor Warp entity that allows us to channel spiritual energy by channeling it through the World Spirit instead of directly from the Warp. It doesn't matter how far away we get from Fenris. As long as we channel it through Fenris, we can accomplish our abilities without endangering ourselves too greatly. At least that's my belief."
Magnus looked surprised before saying, "Amazing. You know, I think I've spoken to a few other Primarchs, and one in particular I think you know, the leader of the White Scars."
I nodded, knowing Khan well by this point, and said, "Khan, of course."
"There are some similarities with what you speak of that correlate to their planet as well. I wonder if he has a similar situation going on. Perhaps not as integrated, though. This would require research. But if there are minor warp entities that are favorable to us, to humanity, that exist within our realm due to the Eldar, what could we accomplish with such powers? If we could harness them correctly, if we knew how they made these World Spirits, could we perhaps install them on our own planets, make them work for us?"
I shrugged before saying, "That's dangerous ground, I think. If you talk openly about the World Spirits to the average person, well, they're going to start asking what's the difference between a World Spirit and a God. If they start worshiping the World Spirit like a god, well, that might empower the World Spirit. And for me, it could also encourage them to worship other gods."
"Oh yes, your issue with one of the Primordial Annihilators. What was his name?" Magnus rubbed her chin.
As I leaned back, I said, "I don't think I ever told you all the details. You might have overheard some of them when I was talking with Father a while back, but if you really need to know, the entity that has ticked me off, the one that lies within the Warp, I call it 'Being X.' Hopefully, it is dead, but I haven't managed to put that smug, parasitical entity out of the picture just yet."
"Well, let's be honest then, tell me, Sister. From the moment I awoke in my pod, I could commune with the Emperor, even across great space and time. I knew he would come, and he knew my general well-being. This is why I don't think he rushed straight to me, because he knew I was safe. I know that there is some chicanery going on with the Primarch souls that many other Primarchs do not know. I know that something must have been done during our creation. So, can you fill in that hole, Tanya?"
I leaned back and gave it some thought. On one hand, I did say I probably shouldn't talk about this. On the other hand, Magnus obviously had an idea of what I was talking about, and she was obviously going to be the one in charge of learning much of the spellcraft of the universe, considering how reliant they seem to be on it. They were going to be the court wizard, so having more knowledge on how the Warp might work was good in the long term.
Leaning back, I said, "I don't recall everything from my creation, but let's just say I remember a few things. There was a person that felt I wronged them and some other things that helped me be a bit more knowledgeable on how to survive my first year alone on Fenris. I appear to be an outlier, but I think we can honestly say we are all probably reincarnations of other beings that existed in this plane of existence at one point, probably some of the strongest souls to ever exist, in my estimation."
"Fascinating, fascinating," Magnus said, rubbing her chin. "Thank you for the honesty on this. It's a little bit easier to understand the universe when I have more details. Now, as for your problem with 'Being X,' if they are still poking about, they are probably potentially very weakened from the description I remember you gave. The Emperor... well he made me swear secrecy on this particular matter. But since you've been honest to me Sister and we are currently in a silence field, I would tell you that the being that the Blue One was the one who subdued 'Being X' or at the very least one of his minions. Hmm, you said that this 'Being X' was the deity of reincarnation, correct?"
"Yeah," I said matter of factly, which got Magnus to rub her chin even harder.
She said, "Well, that's a bit concerning on another front. If they are the deity of reincarnation, this possibly means that they could have affected any and all reincarnations throughout the galaxy, and since all the Primarchs are technically reincarnations..."
I made a low grumble as I realized what they were implying. "You think this 'Blue One' possibly has laid plans with regards to all the Primarchs, then."
"Exactly. What their plans are, I can't say for sure, but I would just estimate that considering the title I've assigned to them, 'Primordial Annihilators,' they have nothing good in plan for humanity. We must be careful when dealing with such entities. Have they attempted to reach out to you?"
I looked at Magnus, confused, before saying, "Reach out? Not that I'm aware of." My mind slowly drifted to the side, trying to remember the strange dream after Rangdan. Then another thought reached out to me, and I continued, "Though perhaps not me."
"A few of the Primarchs have confided in me, expressing concerns about the Warp, as if something was trying to reach out to them. So, your theory that they might be trying to reach out to us is not impossible."
Magnus nodded before saying, "This is my concern. The Primordial Annihilators will try to find a vulnerability in our defenses, some way to turn us against each other. I think... why and how, I don't know. I don't think there is any true intelligence to their plan. I believe it's simply a need to bring forth their particular forms of emotion."
"Emotion? Wait, what do you mean you don't think they have intelligence?"
Magnus shrugged before explaining, "These things in the Warp are semi-intelligent, but I don't think they are sentient like us. For the most part, they simply thrive under certain conditions: the Red One for war and bloodshed, the Blue for magic and scheming, the Green for decay and death, and the Purple... Well, let's not talk about the Purple One. They aren't intelligent enough to engineer anything major. They are driven by the continuation of these elements that allow them to exist. At least, that's my belief. The soldier who's very good at killing will hear a whisper in the back of his mind to kill more. A Mage, who was delving deep in the arcane arts, may be pushed further than they are able to go. So on and so forth."
"I don't think that's correct," I said matter of factly, before continuing, "As I said, the Warp entity that makes up Fenris, the World Spirit, is quite intelligent, handicapped by their own existence but intelligent. If the ones who exist here in the material realm are intelligent, I believe that those in the immaterial realm would be just as intelligent if not more. And though I have my problems with 'Being X,' those were always theological debates. I never doubted its intelligence; I just doubt its ability to actually do the job it was supposedly in charge of."
"You doubted the job capabilities of a being in charge of reincarnation," Magnus said, her eyebrow over her still-good eye raised.
"Being X complained about having to reincarnate as many people as it had to. I pointed out that if it's having problems doing that, then it is unable to work out a good work schedule and is a bad time management person."
Magnus flinched at that before saying, "How and when did that happen? I would ask, but I'm starting to understand why you and Being X had a little bit of a tiff, enough that it existed beyond death."
"It was all his fault, I tell you," I said matter-of-factly, believing it. As I noted that Yrsa was coming back with another pair of mugs full of coffee, clearing my throat, I continued, "Well, I think that's enough private conversation." Snapping my fingers to dispel the spell, I added, "Anyways, I think we should finish our drinks and then get back to work. There's a plan to conquer and an enemy that doesn't want to surrender easily."
"Of course, of course," Magnus said, finishing her drink and placing the glass down as another glass was set down next to the original. Yrsa was smiling as she did this, then moved over to hand me one.
Taking the glass, I continued, "So, where are you going to take your Thousand Sons? My men are trying to locate the enemy's main Mage Force. They seem to be operating out of the capital city, which will be our next target."
Magnus nodded, sipping deeply from her glass before responding, "Yes, I think we'll head to the capital. It should be completely encircled by this point from what I understand, and my men are more than capable of dealing with the enemy mages. They don't seem to have too deep a knowledge of what they're doing, or they're unable to muster anything too dangerous to stop us. With any luck, we can neutralize the enemy forces within the main city and have this war over in a month. Then we can focus on the real threat – the forces on Ark Reach II. The reports indicate they are probably some of the best mages in this sector."
I agreed, saying, "Yes, their abilities are quite capable of causing problems. And that's only from the small raiding attacks we were able to pull off. We would probably see a near 3 to 5% attrition rate of soldiers when we hit that planet. Simply put, the special forces they have would probably be well entrenched. After all, whatever's left would be on that planet – the best units they have would be there, and they would have been digging in the entire time."
Letting out a sigh, I added, "We've got to do what we've got to do. The enemy will hold up there, and we will destroy them. It's simply a matter of it."
"Of course. Though, I was wondering if we could have a bit of a conversation on one thing," Magnus said, her tone contemplative.
Raising an eyebrow, I asked, "Go on, what's this 'one thing'?"
Magnus smiled and continued, "They supposedly have a library there, full of their ancient teachings of the Warp. I would like to secure it for further study on my homeworld of Prospero."
Raising my other eyebrow, I replied, "No reason not to. Assuming they don't make a last stand there, sure, if you can secure the library, you can have everything in it. Though, if we have to fight our way to take it, no guarantees you'll find everything in good order."
"Understandable, and I accept that agreement," Magnus said, finishing her drink. She got up and declared, "Now, off to work I go. Talk to you later, sister."
"See you later, sister," I responded as I watched her leave, having to close my eyes and silence a particularly distracting thought in my mind.
Lorgar Aurelian
Ark Reach I
I was breathing heavily; that didn't happen often. Usually, during a fight with the enemy, I did not have as many issues as I was having today. But, wow, the enemy was being rather stubborn about being dug in, and so I was forced to hunt them down with my mace, smashing their heads in as often as I could.
I was in the capital city of Ark Reach I, and they were not surrendering an inch of ground. They were using their strange Warp-craft to hinder our operations to break into the main core of the city. I thought we had pushed directly north into what should have been the main park area in front of their governmental buildings. Somehow, we had pushed slowly to the northeast and had come out the other side away from the governmental buildings and into my own forces. It almost resulted in me being shot. To be fair, I had been shot by a bolt that bounced off my shoulder armor and thankfully hit a building before exploding. Irritatingly it seemed my troops needed some more training to confirm their targets before shooting. Now I was trying to figure out exactly what had happened. I had been on a direct course; the compass had pointed me directly to where I wanted to be. Yet here I was, as if I had spat out from the Warp off course to the other side of the city.
Shaking my head, I wondered if I should call for aid from Magnus. With aid from either Magnus or the Thousand Sons with their unbelievable amount of knowledge on the Warp, they would probably be able to figure it out. But it wouldn't do well for me to ask for aid from my siblings at every inconvenience, it would be far too pathetic. Obviously, the enemy's Warp-craft had some effect which made navigation through the city more difficult, putting up more resistance the closer one got to key strategic locations in the city to try and draw us in the wrong direction, as I had assumed they would.
But that still didn't explain how I had been confirming my direction through navigational beacons, and yet those beacons had led me astray. Could they have some sort of tech-adepts hacking into the navigation systems of our suits to give us the wrong directions? Or was it some sort of Warp technique to generate false beacons for us to follow? I hated these Phoenix King worshippers.
"My Primarch," came a voice from a familiar soldier. Turning, I saw Erebus approaching, his tattooed face half-covered as he walked. His helmet was hanging off his belt.
"Erebus, what are you doing here? I thought you were deployed to the western side of the capital," I asked, to confirm if the same spell had affected his forces as well.
"I was, my lord, but as I moved my advanced forces through the core of the city, we seemed to have been shifted in another direction than we expected. The Wolves that were with me believe that there is some sort of Magecraft in the construction of these buildings, allowing them to reshape themselves to some extent, perhaps even reorder streets."
"What a pain," I said, shaking my head, before adding, "Perhaps we should have artillery deal with the core then. If they will not allow us to fight them for the Capitol building, we should just destroy the Capitol building now."
Erebus nodded his head, "The Wolves are of a similar opinion. They are contacting their Primarch to get confirmation on the use of artillery. They expect to receive confirmation within the hour, so we are on a bit of a break as we recover forces and hold the line here."
"Good. As soon as we get confirmation from my sister, see if we can add any of our artillery to coordinate with the bombardment. For now, we'll recover and see if we can learn anything by having a meeting with other commanders in this area," I instructed.
Erebus nodded before saying, "Kor Phaeron is not too far from here. He had tried to lead an attack on the capitol building as well, but was again prevented from doing so. He's taken over a small gentlemen's cigar club by the looks of it. Very fancy decorations and Gothic infrastructure, but it has a good view of the Capitol building due to its location."
I nodded my head before saying, "Well, that sounds like a good place to start planning. Lead the way, Erebus. I'll follow. The rest of you, secure the line. Keep the enemy from escaping. We'll figure out how to break them soon enough."
"Of course, my Primarch." Several voices chanted in unison before rejoining the line. Many of them were not necessarily Space Marines or even Marines of my own units. I saw a mix of my Word Bearers and auxiliary soldiers, some Imperial auxiliary soldiers, Fenrisian guards, as well as the Fenrisian wolves. It was a good formation. They were digging in deep, tearing up the streets, then surrounding the governmental district and digging ditches to prevent enemies from escaping. My men weren't exactly the greatest at it, but the Fenrisian guards were apparently very good. I would expect nothing less as I'd heard that they had trained under the Iron Warriors in some sort of cross-training in the last few decades. If anyone could teach soldiers how to dig a trench, it was the Iron Warriors, that was for sure.
With that, I followed Erebus through the broken streets of a city on its last legs. When this conflict is over, it would probably be cheaper to bulldoze it all and build something new, or perhaps build nothing at all. But that would be for the Administratum to decide. For the most part, my men were starting some of the groundwork, building makeshift idols to the Emperor to help the people come to understand their new place in the galaxy. However, the Administratum would probably be the one to do most of the heavy lifting. As much as I would love to take personal control over this operation, the Administratum tended to insert itself into any situation where multiple Primarchs were involved.
I had been observing some of their interesting behaviors over the last few campaigns. For instance, whenever a Primarch conquered a planet themselves, they tended to allow the Primarch to do as they pleased. But if it involved more than one Primarch, the Administratum would insert itself into the conversation, implying that they should be the ones to deal with the planet. I wondered if this was perhaps a mechanism the Emperor had put in place to prevent his children from fighting amongst themselves over the rights to a planet. After all, any time two Primarchs argued over who should have the rights to deal with a planet, it had the potential to escalate into a conflict. Having someone there to arbitrate and say, "I'm actually the one who deals with this," might have been intended to diffuse such situations.
Well, I had plenty of planets to oversee. My men were already working on a good number of them at this point. I'll admit, at the moment a not so insignificant portion of those planets were rather recent. I'll also admit that some of my forces had been tied up with those operations instead of assisting the expeditionary fleets of the great Crusade. However, with encouragement, I saw the reasons to speed up operations and hasten the process of bringing more people into the light of the Imperium, to illuminate them with the brilliant future that our God Emperor had promised.
Plus, the more work I did now, the less attention I would likely draw. I had realized this after a conversation with Tanya. She was, after all, concerned with the idea of my defiance of the Emperor. If I focused more on spreading the Imperium and delegated small cults to handle the work, instead of trying to control the entire society, it would be less noticeable. The Emperor might be less inclined to intervene directly, giving me time to continue my work without immediate scrutiny.
However, I wasn't ready to reveal my book to him yet. It still needed a little bit of work. Some segments needed to be rewritten to better clarify certain points.
Finding the well-furnished building that must be the smoking club, I entered and found a place that was far too opulent for my taste. The walls were adorned with photographs of long-lost figures, possibly the Phoenix Kings that preceded us. The wood was rich, and although some sections were damaged on the first floor, as I ascended the stairs – knowing the elevator wouldn't bear my weight – I discovered that the craftsmanship became finer the higher I went. Upon reaching the sixth floor, I entered a supremely crafted room. Every aspect of it exudes opulence, with a well-stocked liquor cabinet in one corner. This was where the city's wealthy elite once stood, looking down on the humanity they ruled over.
At one end of the room, near a large circular window, was Kor Phaeron. He held a glass of alcohol in his hand as he gazed out over the burning city, hellfire consuming large sections of the southern part.
"What happened there?" I asked, approaching until I stood next to my adopted father, both of us looking at the devastation.
"From what I've managed to piece together, my Primarch, the enemy, attempted a breakout. They set the southern city ablaze and are attempting to move towards the landing pads on the northern side. As of now, we don't believe they've succeeded, but I'm increasing the amount of air sorties in that region to ensure that if any ship tries to break through the smoke cover and enter the atmosphere, it won't get far."
"Good," I said as one of his men brought a drink for me. It was rather amusing to watch a man in Terminator armor shake alcohol over some ice before handing it to me. Taking the glass, I accepted it, saying, "Not the finest liqueur I've ever tasted, but it's serviceable." Turning to my two legion commanders, I inquired, "What information have you brought me today?"
Kor Phaeron and Erebus exchanged a glance before Kor Phaeron spoke, "It's a concern that we're bringing to you."
"A concern?" I asked, now seated. "Is something amiss with the Phoenix Kings that I'm unaware of?"
"No, not the Phoenix Kings," Erebus responded. "We're concerned about the Wolves and their veterans. They do not seem to follow the Emperor as your book dictates."
"What do you mean?" I asked, looking at them both.
Kor Phaeron continued, "To be frank, I think if Primarch Russ were to raise the flag of rebellion, not only would her legion follow her favored guard and her Valkyrie would as well. The culture she has developed on Fenris and in her own empire, her people treat her almost as a demigod. Although she claims not to care for such things, she evidently doesn't prevent her people from doing so. Additionally, there are mentions of this 'All Father,' an entity that does not appear to be the Emperor. Some of her men claim it is the Emperor, while others assert it's something much older. I'm concerned that she might not be as forthcoming about her motives as we would like to believe."
"Those are bold words and an even bolder claim. I don't believe a child of the Emperor would raise a rebellion." I said, sipping my drink. "I will admit that from a few interactions I've had, she does seem to exhibit some contradictions. However, I find it hard to believe that she would assert herself above the Emperor, as you're implying. Especially without proof."
"She might not do so now," Erebus continued, "at least not yet. Many times throughout the histories I've studied, when a monarch's rule is weakened or their authority compromised, there was always a chance that a successful general would declare themselves the next ruler. I'm concerned that if an opportunity arises where Primarch Russ gains too much power, she may attempt something not out of personal desire, but because her followers want her to."
"Preposterous!" I waved my hand dismissively.
Kor Phaeron spoke up, "I mostly agree with Erebus's sentiment. While Erebus might be stretching it a bit, his concern is valid. We should consider this for all Primarchs. When we examine the situation closely, it becomes evident that certain Primarchs, such as Tanya and a few others, are thinking on a more extended timescale. Perturabo, like Tanya, seems to be consolidating territories into his own personal empires."
"Primarchs Dorn and Guilliman have already established their empires," Erebus added then continued, "Furthermore, interactions between certain Primarchs are resulting in a subtle proliferation of the notion of 'empires within the Empire.' Primarch Mortarion is a prime example. Though he showed no inclination earlier, he's now consolidating planets under his influence. Similarly, the Dark Angels have adopted this approach after the Rangdan Campaign with the 6th Legion."
"A valid point, but not every Primarch interacting with my sister is pursuing empire-building," I noted. "Vulkan, and Jaghatai Khan, for instance, are not focusing on controlling vast planetary dominions within the Imperium. They are more dedicated to fulfilling their assigned roles. And as far as I know, Nobunaga isn't actively pursuing empire-building either."
Kor nodded in agreement. "As of now, those three aren't showing tendencies towards empire-building. However, Nobunaga recently encountered a planet inhabited by his favored beastmen and has laid claim to it. He might continue on this trajectory, establishing a sanctuary for abhumans within his own territory."
Erebus nodded and added, "Maybe this trend won't lead to anything significant. However, I'm concerned that the emerging trend of empire-building might pose a problem for the Emperor. If these 'mini-empires within the Empire' go rogue, it could lead to instability. Moreover, if they were to unite, given the bureaucratic inefficiency of the Administratum, they might struggle to handle the situation. Primarchs might hesitate to suppress their peers, and even the Emperor might not intervene, as long as they operate within certain boundaries, it would be beneficial if the emperor had someone on the same level as the other primarks to deal with any situation he can't take direct action on ."
I hummed, beginning to understand their implications. "You believe we should establish our own empire, a vassal state bound by treaty to the Imperium? That would make us just dangerous as my siblings, unless… . Perhaps we should create a document signed off on by Father and the Adminastratum? By creating a formal process, we would have legal authority within limits set by the Emperor, instead of a de facto authority that is potentially limitless. We could be the first, setting precedent for the others to follow. It would certainly be less likely to result in open warfare than the Administratum trying to take these hard won conquests away from my brothers and sisters."
Kor Phaeron responded, "At the very least, having control over more planets to contribute more troops would be advantageous. The quality of the Imperial auxiliary troops is lacking. Many are untrained criminals sent to their doom. We need skilled warriors by our side, especially if we face a formidable threat, such as a reunified Eldar empire. While it may seem impossible considering our circumstances, we must remember that in our universe, anything is possible."
I nodded contemplatively, taking a sip of my drink. "I will take your thoughts into account. We currently hold an alliance with a few planetary systems, centered around our homeworld. Perhaps it's time to formalize this alliance into something stronger. However, we must tread carefully. The Emperor does not tolerate rivals to the Imperium. The Rangdan and the Phoenix Kings are reminders of this fact. Our goal should be to create something substantial yet not too large that it poses a threat. And it should remain under my control to prove my loyalty."
"Of course, my Primarch," Kor Phaeron assured. "It won't be too challenging. A few well-placed messages and our Word Bearers will work on solidifying the societies we're aiding into a proper alliance with allegiance to the Empire."
"Very well, proceed with that plan," I agreed. "I should probably discuss this with Magnus. He might be interested in joining such an alliance. While I doubt they're pursuing their own empire, they might be open to the idea of aligning with mine."
"Understood, my Primarch," Kor Phaeron replied.
I chuckled softly before continuing, "Though I highly doubt such a scenario would occur. The Imperium's resources are largely controlled by the Mechanicum. Any Primarch attempting to break away from the Imperium would find themselves without the resources needed for their war machine, leading to swift defeat."
Erebus interjected, "I'm not so certain about that. Primarch Russ has taken some unconventional steps that could make them a prime candidate for such a situation. They've established their own Mechanicum enclave in their home system, allied closely with the Squat leagues. If they were to join forces in a rebellion, they might possess the necessary resources to break free."
I laughed, finding the idea far-fetched. "Unlikely, but noted. Perhaps we should also consider forming an alliance with a faction of the Mechanicum. Pooling our resources could indeed strengthen us in the long run."
"Perhaps you're onto something," Kor Phaeron agreed. "Pooling resources and forming strategic alliances could indeed be beneficial."
I nodded in agreement. "Indeed, let's explore these possibilities."
Writers note: oh hey new chapter hope you all enjoy and look like people are getting along… make alleinces getting ready to take down the BIG bad. Guess will see how that gose.
Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
Edited by: Y1, John Mandrage, (Golden)
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M30.885
Magnus the Red
Perhaps I was being a bit too reckless, I thought as I gazed into a mirror at my female face. Even with my mastery of shape-changing, there were certain things that stayed the same. I still had only one eye, which still affected my depth perception.
But then again, recklessness had always paid off in the past. My legion, named the Thousand Sons, had been greatly affected by a mysterious affliction known as the flesh change. Thanks to my recklessness, I delved into the Warp and made a deal with one of the entities in there. It had gone into remission. Yes, I'd lost an eye, but to ensure that my sons would have the opportunity to claim the galaxy. I would never be the greatest marksman in the Imperium, but when you combat the forces of the Immaterium, you don't usually need to be precise. What was the term I'd heard an Imperial Army artilleryman use when they were fighting with artillery? Ah yes, "Dear grid coordinates."
My first foray into the Warp had allowed me to be in contact with Father long before I had met my Legion, and of course, it had also allowed me to master the psychic powers of my home world, Prospero. This mastery allowed me to assume the mantle of leadership, cleanse the planet of the parasitic Warp entities that controlled most of the world, and build a proper home for the people there.
So yes, I was perhaps too bold, but every risk was calculated and the rewards have been rich, fortune did afterall favor the bold. Granted, this situation was a bit different than my normal standard. Shapeshifting myself into a female form just so I could get along more with my two sisters – what exactly would that teach me? More than anything, it also rendered my armor useless, considering it was meant for a male body. I really had only two choices on that matter, though. One, have a female set of armor built for this body, which I could, but it would take forever to get here. Or two, rely on my psychic abilities and powers to defend myself.
Granted, my powers were well and truly capable of such matters, so I didn't need to worry too deeply about that. I could walk through this battlefield and not even get touched by the dust in the air from an artillery bombardment if I really put my full power into a defensive spell.
Letting out a deep breath, I leaned back from the mirror and stretched the muscles of my back before heading into the main chamber of my quarters. There, I had a few seamstresses and jewelers from Prospero put together a dress that they considered the pinnacle of cultural fashion from our world. Since I was a representative of Prospero, I was going to do my best to show that we were versed not only in war but in culture as well, even if I was not in my preferred form – the one I had grown up in.
I do believe, though, that some of the seamstresses had attempted to give me some armor to complement my attire. As part of the fashion, it looks like it could take a hit or two from a strike if need be in close-quarters combat. If one of the weapons wasn't powered by supernatural energy or a regular chain sword, it would probably block the blow without issue. Though I highly doubt anyone would be able to get that close for them to have a chance to test the durability of my dress. I also noted that they seemed to have used several precious stones in the creation of the light armor that would function as a strong conduit for channeling my psychic abilities, assisting me in maintaining the shields around my body with less effort.
I quickly dressed myself in the clothing before grabbing Ahn-Nunurta and heading towards the door.Making my way towards the transport that would take me down to the planets below.
After 6 months of fighting, Ark Reach VI through III have fallen, which left only Ark Reach II and I. The choice then was which to hit first. After some discussion, it was decided to hit Ark Reach I first. Ark reach II would probably be the hardest planet to overwhelm, so we needed all the forces we could gather for that operation. Taking out Ark Reach I now made the most sense, and that is why all three Legions were going to be deployed. I was quite interested in seeing how our three Legions combat styles would either clash or work together. I was sure it would be quite interesting. I had worked with Lorgar before. She was a rather understandable sister. If something didn't surrender, she'd decimate it until it broke and submitted. The fact that the enemy on this world hadn't yet was a testament to their determination and will. Already, I had seen some reports from some of my men who had been deployed to the other planets to familiarize themselves with the local population. They reported that the Word Bearers were building structures to honor the Emperor on the remnants of what used to be their own gods' places of worship. This was to show the populace that the time of their gods was over. From what I could tell, they were also offering the refugees who were willing to give up their faith to the Phoenix King better aid than those who did not. It would take time, but they were building a good foundation to rebuild this system into a bastion of the Imperium rather than an issue for the Administratum.
As for my other sister, Tanya, well, I had run into her once before. Father thought it was funny to have me shapeshift into a female disciple just so that I wouldn't be recognized. Amusing though that was, I was more interested in the fact that she hadn't figured out I was a Primarch. Considering that Lorgar had picked it up right away when the Emperor tried the same thing when we met, did that mean Tanya was not as observant a sister as Lorgar or did it mean she was less sensitive to a Primarchs natural warp Aura? I don't know what it really meant. I just knew that she hadn't figured it out when we met all those years ago.
Which was curious because she had been too occupied with her thoughts of that Mary girl, the one that she had seen in a vision.
Which was interesting all on its own. I had spoken to other Primarchs over the years and learned a few things about our nature. As far as I was aware, I was the only one who had communed with Father without actually meeting him. I was also the only one who had been able to understand my existence and what it meant from the moment I was born. All my other siblings did not understand their existence before pulling themselves out of the pod. As far as I could tell, they generally saw their Awakening on their homeworld as the first steps of their life. But Tanya Russ was different. I had some idea of some of the differences. Though the two had spoken, she had been careful with her words, and I had been able to generally figure out some of the implications. Tanya Russ remembered a life before this one, something that was rare even amongst the Primarchs. Rarer than even me. I had generally figured out the concept of how we had been created by this point. Some of our souls came from the Emperor and some from the Immaterium. So to actually have memories from a previous life was not impossible, but for it to only show in her and none of the other siblings I'd met was a curiosity.
And she was concerned about the possibility of another individual who had been in the Warp, some individual named Mary Sue if memory serves. Who was this Mary Sue? I wondered. I was aware of Lorgar, and she did match some of the descriptions I had heard. However, she also did not. Was she a bit on the religious side? Yes. But was she, as Tanya called her, a berserker? No. Lorgar was generally in control of her faculties. She didn't go and lose herself in her own anger. She didn't match the concept of a berserker. Really, the only one who matched that part of the description that I knew of was Tanya herself, oddly enough. I had heard of her outburst on the planet after we left all those years ago and her outburst on Rangdan. I wondered, was Tanya Russ just Tanya Russ? Or was there a possibility that she was Tanya Russ and, deep down, Mary Sue? The two souls merged after centuries lost in the Warp in an endless ritual of hate that resulted in them becoming one soul. It was not impossible, however it was a tenuous theory. Many of the things of the Warp didn't make sense to begin with. With more study, of course, it could be learned. But at this moment, how it all worked and how to control it was still in the infancy of its research in my mind. That's why I spent time on every planet, gathering up all the rituals and information of the local planets' psychic customs. It was one of the reasons I was quite interested in Ark Reach II, as there were rumors of a great library full of psychic knowledge stored there. If I could get my hands on it, what could I learn? What secrets could be unlocked about the Warp?
I had to stop myself from salivating at the thought of reading those books. It was improper, besides, there was no way I would be able to read them here on Ark each. I knew I'd have to gather them up and send them back to Prospero for study by the researchers there. I could go over the condensed versions when I had the chance. No doubt there would be things I already understood, but there might be things I didn't, which could be well useful in our push for further knowledge of the Warp.
As I had been thinking, I made my way all the way to the landing base and quickly boarded a vessel destined for the planet below. Our forces had secured the landing zone on our previous visit, so it was only a matter of pushing outward and taking things to the next level. I imagined my sisters were already well and truly embroiled in the fighting.
Aboard the transport vessel were members of the first Fellowship, including their leader, Ahriman. They had been talking amongst themselves, but as I boarded, there was a bit of silence. Noticing this, I said, "Good morning, Sons! Who's ready to liberate the wealth of knowledge from these enemies of the Empire?" I got a bit of a nod of agreement before Ahriman spoke up, saying, "Father, do we call you Father or what when you're like this?"
"Well, that's up to you, my son. You could call me Primarch if that makes you feel at ease. Father is fine. It really doesn't matter what you call me as long as you do your job."
There was a general nod of consent amongst most of the Marines. However, Ahriman was not one to leave things standing. It was one of the reasons he had risen to the top of the Legion and become one of my closest associates.
"Alright, my Primarch, but I do have one other thought. Are you sure it's safe to be doing this? You're walking down there without much armor and relying on your psychic abilities in a form that is unfamiliar to you, simply to fit in with your sisters. Even for you, this seems a bit rash."
I chuckled and nodded before saying, "I understand your point. Even I believe I'm acting a little rash on this. But can you say that you truly know humanity and the extent of your psychic abilities if you do not push the envelope of what we believe is possible? This is an opportunity to experience something from a form of humanity I do not experience often. I see no reason why I should not experiment. I'd say if every one of my Legion had learned this ability, they should experience this at least once. For does this not give you a better way to expand your knowledge base, to experience humanity from a different point of view?"
With that said, I felt I was getting my point across. There were men who still looked skeptical. Ahriman leaned against the back panel of the ship before saying, "Alright, my Primarch. I'll keep that in mind."
Nodding my head, satisfied with the conclusion of the conversation, I asked, "So, how does the war on the planet surface go? The ships should have been deployed from Lorgar and Tanya's forces three hours ago."
Ahriman answered. "It's going alright; some of our troops went in with them, of course, providing more psychic prevention against the enemy. The enemy is pulling out all the tricks from what we can see, trying to prevent any successful breakthroughs on their lines. Unfortunately, their lines are in good condition since they didn't know where we were going to land on their planet until we did. The planetary capital of the planet is already under siege. The minor provincial capitals are also not in very good condition. As for the main army, they seem to have realized that if they lose the planetary capital, it will all be over and are trying to regroup their forces towards the capital. It's the best place for a spaceport. If we take it, they not only lose out on any blockade runners from Ark Reach II bringing aid to continue their war, but we gain a way to bring down some heavy equipment into safe areas and can easily bring the planet into compliance."
"Good, good," I said with a nod before adding, "Where are we coming down? The outskirts of the planetary capital or one of the provincial capitals you mentioned? After all, if we could take one of those, I'm sure they have a minor spaceport that could allow us to build up troops here on the planet with some ease."
Ahriman scratched his head before saying, "We are going to be dropping down on a provincial capital just north of the main capital. From what I understand, Primarch Russ has already taken the provincial capital, and most supplies are going to be brought down to this area first before being sent off to where they're needed. And apparently, she wants to have a conversation with you before you set out on your conquest. Apparently, she's concerned you don't know what you're getting yourself into."
"Ha, big sister Tanya's worried about me," I chuckled at the novel idea that someone was concerned about what I was going to be doing. As well as the fact that, well, technically yes, she was the elder sister, by being found. I was at this very moment taller than her even in a female form, by a good six feet, I would estimate, though perhaps I was being a little too generous.
Either way, then I turned to Ahriman and said, "Well, we better not keep my sister waiting long. I'm sure she's quite interested in having a long chat. After all, she must be somewhat intellectual, considering her use of the Warp and some of her past campaigns. She probably has tons of questions about how it works, and I have tons of questions about how she's been able to manipulate it, considering how little we know about their craft."
Ahriman nodded before saying, "I've picked up some knowledge from one of the Rune Priests. Or rather, an interesting bit of knowledge, if you ask me."
"Speak on it, Ahriman. Tell me of what you've learned from the Rune Priests of the Wolves of Fenris."
"Well, the runes existed on Fenris before Primarch Russ arrived. The precise runes that they use nowadays are based on the old runes of Fenris after they have been modified by her and seem to rely more on mathematics in some form, harnessing powers through equations. Less feel and more calculated compared to what we do."
"Oh, now that is interesting. Scientifically controlling the Warp through mathematics and equations? How is that even possible? That could be an interesting skill to teach those who are not as favored in the abilities of the Warp. A sort of stop-gap, if you will. Definitely, we must learn how these runes work."
I patted the book on my side, already imagining the knowledge I could impart within it once I had an understanding of how Tanya's runes worked. That was another reason I was taking a female form, though I had not been open about it. It was a bit underhanded, but I believe that being in a female form would put her more at ease with sharing her knowledge. After all, we're sisters. Yes, it was a bit manipulative, but working on Prospero for as long as I had, I came to realize that us magicians don't readily give up their secrets. Sometimes you have no choice but to coax a secret out of a person through copious amounts of alcohol or other vices. Other times, it wasn't that tough, but it didn't make the option that easy, such as breaking into a person's library to learn the knowledge they had been hoarding.
But on one hand, I was not going to take this knowledge without offering some of my own. I would have a copy of my book created and sent along to Tanya once I had her knowledge added to it. After all, perhaps it was something she could learn from. As far as I was aware, no other Primarchs had been openly using their psychic abilities, so I was sure that there were more than just me with that ability. Particularly on my list of those that I sensed something from was Guilliman. Though my poking at him had not revealed too much information about what he might be hiding.
"Oh well, soon, soon I will learn what they hides. We have all the time to figure these things out once the Empire is fully created, and humanity is safe from the primordial annihilators within the Warp."
Tanya Russ
Ark Reach I
Okay, maybe I went a tad too far with this one. I've been experimenting with spellcraft recently, particularly with the spells I accidentally summoned during my rage against the Rangdans.
That spell had summoned a vast storm of ice and snow on their homeworld and had grown out of control. It very likely would have turned the planet into a new Fenris at the rate it was going if the planet had not been given a liberal cleansing by virus bombs. Still one of the most disgusting weapons I think I'd ever come across. Literally releasing a viral agent that caused all life to return to primordial soup and fill the atmosphere with easily combustible elements, then setting it alight—a disastrous weapon that I think humanity will regret making sooner or later. Well, if they weren't regretting it, I already regretted its construction. Granted, me experimenting with this ice magic could be seen as me experimenting with super weapons as well, but at least I knew people could survive on a frozen planet. Little experiments like this with smaller amounts of psychic energy could net me the ability to control it better next time I accidentally set it on full blast.
However from this test it would seem being in a better emotional state gave me more control over the spell, which… was problematic. I had seen over the years that there are many scenarios that set me off, the monstrosity that was the Dark Eldar, seeing my men killed when they were injured. Knowing this meant that even if I perfected control over small scale uses of that spell… well it meant that if I did not maintain control over it, it could go wild. The best way forward then, to utilize this Warp spell, was for me to master my anger over the monstrous, calm my inner storm as you will. However, even that could only work so far. I was alway running the risk of opening myself up to Warp in ways that could have unintended side effects: the Warp was a realm of emotions, to use it was to open oneself to the myriad of emotions of that realm and those close to you. I had already run into the notion that there was some form of connection between each Primarch and their men, they had lost themselves to anger just as I had during that raid on that Eldar world with Vulcan. Who's to say the confusion and anger my men felt battling the Rangdan on that bloody mountain didn't affect my mindset there, leading to the spell going absolutely feral. Not to mention what Malcador mentioned about that planet as well. The usage of this spell at the moment had been simple since it had been used before the fighting started, before my blood was boiling, however I could feel at the edges it was pulling at me, whispering at me to unleash it all, to give in to my anger, my Fury, MY… . I had control of this situation. My plan had worked, but plans rarely survive conflict with the enemy. If I was going to make this spell a standardized tool of battle , I would need to gain control over all possible factors that could cause it to go wild, and that would take, not only the mastery of my inner storm, but the connection between me and my own men.
Anyways, the district capital that I had just frozen over parts of with said spell was looking rather rather choked with ice and snow. The population of the city was not dead, though an external layer of ice had trapped people in their buildings. I'm sure many of those people were in danger from the very cold conditions. But they were probably setting up fires now or using heaters that were connected to power lines that thankfully ran under the streets and thus were not frozen solid, and shattering as our men moved through the city's outskirts. As for the military of this particular town, well, the main army seems to have pulled out to make way for the main capital. They gave up on the town as soon as it froze over. As for the home guard, they were being tough bastards, and I acknowledged that. Granted, without the main military amongst them, they couldn't really do anything to stop the Marines who were moving through the city. So, I had given my men an order to take it easy on them if possible—just break their weapons and kick them out into the snow, tell them they're prisoners of war, and move on. Of course, they weren't going to do that with someone who had something like an RPG that could actually threaten them. But the guys running around with pistols that couldn't penetrate anywhere on their power armor got a rather gentle slap and were then tossed into the snow.
Anyways, we had easily taken over the governmental building in the core of the city and the nearby buildings, converting them into a command post, as well as a refugee center and prisoner of war camp. Not too intermingled, as stated. Those who had simply been bitch-slapped for being careless were cared for to some extent. But those who actually put up a real fight and were obviously members of the military who stayed behind to protect their own town were being put in an actual camp to be watched over. We kept them separated from the general population so they didn't try to start a rebellion or something.
Fenrisian Guards and the Valkyries were keeping a close watch over them, ensuring they didn't do anything foolish. Meanwhile, my Marines were cleaning out the city. Elements of the Thousand Sons were also present, paired up with a few Wolf Priests, in case anything tried to break through the veil or be brought through by the enemy.
Taking a deep breath, I leaned back as Yrsa came forward with a cup of coffee ready for me, placing it on an assembled table.
"Thank you, Yrsa," I said, giving her a smile and sipping it deeply before adding, "Excellent as always." This elicited a giggle from her.
"You're welcome, Wolf King," she replied before heading back towards the kitchen area that had been set up, seeming to be preparing to brew another cup for me. Considering a cup was literally the size of a full caffeine brewer, it made sense. And the fact that she seemed to be making another one indicated she was preparing to offer one to Magnus when they arrived, which should be soon. I had questions and thoughts I needed to discuss with them, and hopefully, they could provide some answers.
"My word, it's cold outside," came Magnus's voice, drawing my attention to the front door and causing my jaw to almost unhinge.
She walked in wearing some of the most revealing clothing I think a Primarch could ever wear. I could only hold my tongue about that for so long before I said, "Perhaps if you wore full armor, sister, you wouldn't be so cold."
"Ah, you called me sister. We're getting closer already," Magnus said with a smile, leaning on her polearm weapon.
"I called you sister because there isn't a sane person in the world who would call you a brother while looking like that," I simply replied, which earned a chuckle from her.
"Sorry, my sister. I thought having some women from my homeworld put together some clothing for me would be the right choice. Didn't realize you were going to freeze the city over," Magnus said.
I shook my head before saying, "It's not frozen over; it's lightly coated. Anyways, the ice will end in the next two days or so. This isn't a continuous frozen effort, I think."
"Think?" Magnus asked.
I gave her a look before saying, "I'm trying to make that spell an exact science. Until I can confirm that it works properly, I have to say 'think'."
"Ah, yes, your Warp-craft is rather intriguing. I'd love to learn more about how you use mathematics to conquer and control the Immaterium for your own uses. It's an intriguing process that I don't think I've seen many civilizations use. At least, none that I have been able to find so far. Perhaps the Eldar use something similar, though they are so secretive and unwilling to share their knowledge that it's very likely we'll never know for sure," Magnus mused.
I nodded before saying, "I think I could tell you some rather interesting information. You're not too far off with your estimations of the Eldar being somewhat responsible for our Rune Craft, somewhat. But I have another subject to talk about before we get there, one that's been bugging me since I saw your transformation."
"Oh, are you perhaps interested in experiencing life on the other side of the spectrum, my dear sister?" Magnus said, leaning in. I chuckled at that. I could explain that yes, I'd already experienced that and perhaps I would like to go there one day, but I was more concerned with the other ramifications, ones that could make me a very useful ally if I could pull it off.
"What about a member of our family, Mortarion?" I asked.
"Ah, yes, Mortarion," Magnus said, seeming tired. "Let me guess, you're wondering if I can fix his curse." I nodded in agreement, which got a nod in return from Magnus. They continued, "If they were willing to use the Warp abilities that they were granted, I'm sure that they could fix themselves. However, they are too scared of their own powers to do that. And if I were to attempt to try and fix it for them, I'm of the opinion that they would not take kindly to it. At least from what I've been able to learn, they tend to avoid me whenever I try to reach out to them."
"They're worried about psychic powers and what they could do to us," I said matter-of-factly. "The only way they're not going to be worried is if someone teaches them how to use theirs and prevent it from going out of control."
"Agreed. The problem is that they do not want to learn. They want to bury their heads in the sand. And if I tried to teach them, they would ignore me. I understand their point of view quite well. There are things to be concerned about with Warp use that you need to be on point about, or things go badly. But by that same token, burying your head in the sand is not going to solve the problem. And I really can't do anything for someone who will not even acknowledge that they have such abilities."
"What about writing down exactly how you do it and giving them a copy of the information so that they can maybe figure it out on their own as they slowly conquer their concerns over the control of the Warp?" I suggested.
Magnus sighed before saying, "I guess I could put together some sort of pamphlet for them. But indicating how it would be done as a Primarch? I'll send it their way, though I doubt they'll keep it. More likely than not, they'll burn it. After all, they are too concerned that the use of the Warp could be corrupting to them and not realizing that if they do not gain the knowledge, how it will hinder their own development."
"Alright, well, I mean at least that's a start," I said, indicating that they should take a seat across from me before adding, "So, a cup of coffee?"
"Coffee?" Magnus said, sounding intrigued. Yrsa came up and put a cup in front of her. "Well, thank you, dear." She took a sip before saying, "Damn, this is a very good cup of coffee. Where do these coffee beans come from? I should have some of this imported to Prospero when I get the chance."
I shrugged before saying, "Oh, ask Yrsa when I have the chance. All I know is I've been purchasing several brands from across the galaxy ever since Prospero was tied into the trade network to experiment. This is one of the more enjoyable brands we've come across."
"Haha, I see you're living up to your home world's barbaric nature. When you're not out there making war, you're making trade deals. Ah, whatever dropped us on our home worlds really had a sense of humor, I think. So far, from what I've seen, every Primarch has found themselves transported to a world that best suited their taste and ways of doing things, and every single one of them has come to grips with whatever struggle was in front of them and succeeded. It's an inspiring tale when you think about it."
I nodded my head before saying, "That's one way to look at it, though I would say that whatever dropped us off after we entered the Warp was probably not doing us any favors. I might be suspicious that they were trying to kill us if not for the fact that all of us seem to have come out alive."
"Hmm, true, true. But enough about the past. How about your magic? What is the secret ingredient to your mathematics?"
I let out a breath before leaning back and saying, "Well, the secret ingredient is the World Spirit, I think."
"What?" Magnus said, tilting his head to the side. I snapped my fingers and projected a sphere of silence around us so that only the two of us could hear this conversation. I figured it would be better to keep this discussion as quiet as possible. I continued.
"From what me and the others have been able to dig up, Fenris was what the Eldar called a maiden world. A planet that was set aside to be as dangerous as possible in order to help those who were tired of modern Eldar society. It was lost and the World Spirit there went into hibernation until humans showed up and started colonizing it. Apparently, we were not completely strangers to the World Spirit, and so it sort of looked out for us as the Old Night broke upon the human federation. There's also some evidence that there were some scientists trying to control the World Spirit or integrate it into an artificial AI that was placed on the planet. It's hard to say exactly what was going on there. The important part is that the World Spirit is basically a minor Warp entity that allows us to channel spiritual energy by channeling it through the World Spirit instead of directly from the Warp. It doesn't matter how far away we get from Fenris. As long as we channel it through Fenris, we can accomplish our abilities without endangering ourselves too greatly. At least that's my belief."
Magnus looked surprised before saying, "Amazing. You know, I think I've spoken to a few other Primarchs, and one in particular I think you know, the leader of the White Scars."
I nodded, knowing Khan well by this point, and said, "Khan, of course."
"There are some similarities with what you speak of that correlate to their planet as well. I wonder if he has a similar situation going on. Perhaps not as integrated, though. This would require research. But if there are minor warp entities that are favorable to us, to humanity, that exist within our realm due to the Eldar, what could we accomplish with such powers? If we could harness them correctly, if we knew how they made these World Spirits, could we perhaps install them on our own planets, make them work for us?"
I shrugged before saying, "That's dangerous ground, I think. If you talk openly about the World Spirits to the average person, well, they're going to start asking what's the difference between a World Spirit and a God. If they start worshiping the World Spirit like a god, well, that might empower the World Spirit. And for me, it could also encourage them to worship other gods."
"Oh yes, your issue with one of the Primordial Annihilators. What was his name?" Magnus rubbed her chin.
As I leaned back, I said, "I don't think I ever told you all the details. You might have overheard some of them when I was talking with Father a while back, but if you really need to know, the entity that has ticked me off, the one that lies within the Warp, I call it 'Being X.' Hopefully, it is dead, but I haven't managed to put that smug, parasitical entity out of the picture just yet."
"Well, let's be honest then, tell me, Sister. From the moment I awoke in my pod, I could commune with the Emperor, even across great space and time. I knew he would come, and he knew my general well-being. This is why I don't think he rushed straight to me, because he knew I was safe. I know that there is some chicanery going on with the Primarch souls that many other Primarchs do not know. I know that something must have been done during our creation. So, can you fill in that hole, Tanya?"
I leaned back and gave it some thought. On one hand, I did say I probably shouldn't talk about this. On the other hand, Magnus obviously had an idea of what I was talking about, and she was obviously going to be the one in charge of learning much of the spellcraft of the universe, considering how reliant they seem to be on it. They were going to be the court wizard, so having more knowledge on how the Warp might work was good in the long term.
Leaning back, I said, "I don't recall everything from my creation, but let's just say I remember a few things. There was a person that felt I wronged them and some other things that helped me be a bit more knowledgeable on how to survive my first year alone on Fenris. I appear to be an outlier, but I think we can honestly say we are all probably reincarnations of other beings that existed in this plane of existence at one point, probably some of the strongest souls to ever exist, in my estimation."
"Fascinating, fascinating," Magnus said, rubbing her chin. "Thank you for the honesty on this. It's a little bit easier to understand the universe when I have more details. Now, as for your problem with 'Being X,' if they are still poking about, they are probably potentially very weakened from the description I remember you gave. The Emperor... well he made me swear secrecy on this particular matter. But since you've been honest to me Sister and we are currently in a silence field, I would tell you that the being that the Blue One was the one who subdued 'Being X' or at the very least one of his minions. Hmm, you said that this 'Being X' was the deity of reincarnation, correct?"
"Yeah," I said matter of factly, which got Magnus to rub her chin even harder.
She said, "Well, that's a bit concerning on another front. If they are the deity of reincarnation, this possibly means that they could have affected any and all reincarnations throughout the galaxy, and since all the Primarchs are technically reincarnations..."
I made a low grumble as I realized what they were implying. "You think this 'Blue One' possibly has laid plans with regards to all the Primarchs, then."
"Exactly. What their plans are, I can't say for sure, but I would just estimate that considering the title I've assigned to them, 'Primordial Annihilators,' they have nothing good in plan for humanity. We must be careful when dealing with such entities. Have they attempted to reach out to you?"
I looked at Magnus, confused, before saying, "Reach out? Not that I'm aware of." My mind slowly drifted to the side, trying to remember the strange dream after Rangdan. Then another thought reached out to me, and I continued, "Though perhaps not me."
"A few of the Primarchs have confided in me, expressing concerns about the Warp, as if something was trying to reach out to them. So, your theory that they might be trying to reach out to us is not impossible."
Magnus nodded before saying, "This is my concern. The Primordial Annihilators will try to find a vulnerability in our defenses, some way to turn us against each other. I think... why and how, I don't know. I don't think there is any true intelligence to their plan. I believe it's simply a need to bring forth their particular forms of emotion."
"Emotion? Wait, what do you mean you don't think they have intelligence?"
Magnus shrugged before explaining, "These things in the Warp are semi-intelligent, but I don't think they are sentient like us. For the most part, they simply thrive under certain conditions: the Red One for war and bloodshed, the Blue for magic and scheming, the Green for decay and death, and the Purple... Well, let's not talk about the Purple One. They aren't intelligent enough to engineer anything major. They are driven by the continuation of these elements that allow them to exist. At least, that's my belief. The soldier who's very good at killing will hear a whisper in the back of his mind to kill more. A Mage, who was delving deep in the arcane arts, may be pushed further than they are able to go. So on and so forth."
"I don't think that's correct," I said matter of factly, before continuing, "As I said, the Warp entity that makes up Fenris, the World Spirit, is quite intelligent, handicapped by their own existence but intelligent. If the ones who exist here in the material realm are intelligent, I believe that those in the immaterial realm would be just as intelligent if not more. And though I have my problems with 'Being X,' those were always theological debates. I never doubted its intelligence; I just doubt its ability to actually do the job it was supposedly in charge of."
"You doubted the job capabilities of a being in charge of reincarnation," Magnus said, her eyebrow over her still-good eye raised.
"Being X complained about having to reincarnate as many people as it had to. I pointed out that if it's having problems doing that, then it is unable to work out a good work schedule and is a bad time management person."
Magnus flinched at that before saying, "How and when did that happen? I would ask, but I'm starting to understand why you and Being X had a little bit of a tiff, enough that it existed beyond death."
"It was all his fault, I tell you," I said matter-of-factly, believing it. As I noted that Yrsa was coming back with another pair of mugs full of coffee, clearing my throat, I continued, "Well, I think that's enough private conversation." Snapping my fingers to dispel the spell, I added, "Anyways, I think we should finish our drinks and then get back to work. There's a plan to conquer and an enemy that doesn't want to surrender easily."
"Of course, of course," Magnus said, finishing her drink and placing the glass down as another glass was set down next to the original. Yrsa was smiling as she did this, then moved over to hand me one.
Taking the glass, I continued, "So, where are you going to take your Thousand Sons? My men are trying to locate the enemy's main Mage Force. They seem to be operating out of the capital city, which will be our next target."
Magnus nodded, sipping deeply from her glass before responding, "Yes, I think we'll head to the capital. It should be completely encircled by this point from what I understand, and my men are more than capable of dealing with the enemy mages. They don't seem to have too deep a knowledge of what they're doing, or they're unable to muster anything too dangerous to stop us. With any luck, we can neutralize the enemy forces within the main city and have this war over in a month. Then we can focus on the real threat – the forces on Ark Reach II. The reports indicate they are probably some of the best mages in this sector."
I agreed, saying, "Yes, their abilities are quite capable of causing problems. And that's only from the small raiding attacks we were able to pull off. We would probably see a near 3 to 5% attrition rate of soldiers when we hit that planet. Simply put, the special forces they have would probably be well entrenched. After all, whatever's left would be on that planet – the best units they have would be there, and they would have been digging in the entire time."
Letting out a sigh, I added, "We've got to do what we've got to do. The enemy will hold up there, and we will destroy them. It's simply a matter of it."
"Of course. Though, I was wondering if we could have a bit of a conversation on one thing," Magnus said, her tone contemplative.
Raising an eyebrow, I asked, "Go on, what's this 'one thing'?"
Magnus smiled and continued, "They supposedly have a library there, full of their ancient teachings of the Warp. I would like to secure it for further study on my homeworld of Prospero."
Raising my other eyebrow, I replied, "No reason not to. Assuming they don't make a last stand there, sure, if you can secure the library, you can have everything in it. Though, if we have to fight our way to take it, no guarantees you'll find everything in good order."
"Understandable, and I accept that agreement," Magnus said, finishing her drink. She got up and declared, "Now, off to work I go. Talk to you later, sister."
"See you later, sister," I responded as I watched her leave, having to close my eyes and silence a particularly distracting thought in my mind.
Lorgar Aurelian
Ark Reach I
I was breathing heavily; that didn't happen often. Usually, during a fight with the enemy, I did not have as many issues as I was having today. But, wow, the enemy was being rather stubborn about being dug in, and so I was forced to hunt them down with my mace, smashing their heads in as often as I could.
I was in the capital city of Ark Reach I, and they were not surrendering an inch of ground. They were using their strange Warp-craft to hinder our operations to break into the main core of the city. I thought we had pushed directly north into what should have been the main park area in front of their governmental buildings. Somehow, we had pushed slowly to the northeast and had come out the other side away from the governmental buildings and into my own forces. It almost resulted in me being shot. To be fair, I had been shot by a bolt that bounced off my shoulder armor and thankfully hit a building before exploding. Irritatingly it seemed my troops needed some more training to confirm their targets before shooting. Now I was trying to figure out exactly what had happened. I had been on a direct course; the compass had pointed me directly to where I wanted to be. Yet here I was, as if I had spat out from the Warp off course to the other side of the city.
Shaking my head, I wondered if I should call for aid from Magnus. With aid from either Magnus or the Thousand Sons with their unbelievable amount of knowledge on the Warp, they would probably be able to figure it out. But it wouldn't do well for me to ask for aid from my siblings at every inconvenience, it would be far too pathetic. Obviously, the enemy's Warp-craft had some effect which made navigation through the city more difficult, putting up more resistance the closer one got to key strategic locations in the city to try and draw us in the wrong direction, as I had assumed they would.
But that still didn't explain how I had been confirming my direction through navigational beacons, and yet those beacons had led me astray. Could they have some sort of tech-adepts hacking into the navigation systems of our suits to give us the wrong directions? Or was it some sort of Warp technique to generate false beacons for us to follow? I hated these Phoenix King worshippers.
"My Primarch," came a voice from a familiar soldier. Turning, I saw Erebus approaching, his tattooed face half-covered as he walked. His helmet was hanging off his belt.
"Erebus, what are you doing here? I thought you were deployed to the western side of the capital," I asked, to confirm if the same spell had affected his forces as well.
"I was, my lord, but as I moved my advanced forces through the core of the city, we seemed to have been shifted in another direction than we expected. The Wolves that were with me believe that there is some sort of Magecraft in the construction of these buildings, allowing them to reshape themselves to some extent, perhaps even reorder streets."
"What a pain," I said, shaking my head, before adding, "Perhaps we should have artillery deal with the core then. If they will not allow us to fight them for the Capitol building, we should just destroy the Capitol building now."
Erebus nodded his head, "The Wolves are of a similar opinion. They are contacting their Primarch to get confirmation on the use of artillery. They expect to receive confirmation within the hour, so we are on a bit of a break as we recover forces and hold the line here."
"Good. As soon as we get confirmation from my sister, see if we can add any of our artillery to coordinate with the bombardment. For now, we'll recover and see if we can learn anything by having a meeting with other commanders in this area," I instructed.
Erebus nodded before saying, "Kor Phaeron is not too far from here. He had tried to lead an attack on the capitol building as well, but was again prevented from doing so. He's taken over a small gentlemen's cigar club by the looks of it. Very fancy decorations and Gothic infrastructure, but it has a good view of the Capitol building due to its location."
I nodded my head before saying, "Well, that sounds like a good place to start planning. Lead the way, Erebus. I'll follow. The rest of you, secure the line. Keep the enemy from escaping. We'll figure out how to break them soon enough."
"Of course, my Primarch." Several voices chanted in unison before rejoining the line. Many of them were not necessarily Space Marines or even Marines of my own units. I saw a mix of my Word Bearers and auxiliary soldiers, some Imperial auxiliary soldiers, Fenrisian guards, as well as the Fenrisian wolves. It was a good formation. They were digging in deep, tearing up the streets, then surrounding the governmental district and digging ditches to prevent enemies from escaping. My men weren't exactly the greatest at it, but the Fenrisian guards were apparently very good. I would expect nothing less as I'd heard that they had trained under the Iron Warriors in some sort of cross-training in the last few decades. If anyone could teach soldiers how to dig a trench, it was the Iron Warriors, that was for sure.
With that, I followed Erebus through the broken streets of a city on its last legs. When this conflict is over, it would probably be cheaper to bulldoze it all and build something new, or perhaps build nothing at all. But that would be for the Administratum to decide. For the most part, my men were starting some of the groundwork, building makeshift idols to the Emperor to help the people come to understand their new place in the galaxy. However, the Administratum would probably be the one to do most of the heavy lifting. As much as I would love to take personal control over this operation, the Administratum tended to insert itself into any situation where multiple Primarchs were involved.
I had been observing some of their interesting behaviors over the last few campaigns. For instance, whenever a Primarch conquered a planet themselves, they tended to allow the Primarch to do as they pleased. But if it involved more than one Primarch, the Administratum would insert itself into the conversation, implying that they should be the ones to deal with the planet. I wondered if this was perhaps a mechanism the Emperor had put in place to prevent his children from fighting amongst themselves over the rights to a planet. After all, any time two Primarchs argued over who should have the rights to deal with a planet, it had the potential to escalate into a conflict. Having someone there to arbitrate and say, "I'm actually the one who deals with this," might have been intended to diffuse such situations.
Well, I had plenty of planets to oversee. My men were already working on a good number of them at this point. I'll admit, at the moment a not so insignificant portion of those planets were rather recent. I'll also admit that some of my forces had been tied up with those operations instead of assisting the expeditionary fleets of the great Crusade. However, with encouragement, I saw the reasons to speed up operations and hasten the process of bringing more people into the light of the Imperium, to illuminate them with the brilliant future that our God Emperor had promised.
Plus, the more work I did now, the less attention I would likely draw. I had realized this after a conversation with Tanya. She was, after all, concerned with the idea of my defiance of the Emperor. If I focused more on spreading the Imperium and delegated small cults to handle the work, instead of trying to control the entire society, it would be less noticeable. The Emperor might be less inclined to intervene directly, giving me time to continue my work without immediate scrutiny.
However, I wasn't ready to reveal my book to him yet. It still needed a little bit of work. Some segments needed to be rewritten to better clarify certain points.
Finding the well-furnished building that must be the smoking club, I entered and found a place that was far too opulent for my taste. The walls were adorned with photographs of long-lost figures, possibly the Phoenix Kings that preceded us. The wood was rich, and although some sections were damaged on the first floor, as I ascended the stairs – knowing the elevator wouldn't bear my weight – I discovered that the craftsmanship became finer the higher I went. Upon reaching the sixth floor, I entered a supremely crafted room. Every aspect of it exudes opulence, with a well-stocked liquor cabinet in one corner. This was where the city's wealthy elite once stood, looking down on the humanity they ruled over.
At one end of the room, near a large circular window, was Kor Phaeron. He held a glass of alcohol in his hand as he gazed out over the burning city, hellfire consuming large sections of the southern part.
"What happened there?" I asked, approaching until I stood next to my adopted father, both of us looking at the devastation.
"From what I've managed to piece together, my Primarch, the enemy, attempted a breakout. They set the southern city ablaze and are attempting to move towards the landing pads on the northern side. As of now, we don't believe they've succeeded, but I'm increasing the amount of air sorties in that region to ensure that if any ship tries to break through the smoke cover and enter the atmosphere, it won't get far."
"Good," I said as one of his men brought a drink for me. It was rather amusing to watch a man in Terminator armor shake alcohol over some ice before handing it to me. Taking the glass, I accepted it, saying, "Not the finest liqueur I've ever tasted, but it's serviceable." Turning to my two legion commanders, I inquired, "What information have you brought me today?"
Kor Phaeron and Erebus exchanged a glance before Kor Phaeron spoke, "It's a concern that we're bringing to you."
"A concern?" I asked, now seated. "Is something amiss with the Phoenix Kings that I'm unaware of?"
"No, not the Phoenix Kings," Erebus responded. "We're concerned about the Wolves and their veterans. They do not seem to follow the Emperor as your book dictates."
"What do you mean?" I asked, looking at them both.
Kor Phaeron continued, "To be frank, I think if Primarch Russ were to raise the flag of rebellion, not only would her legion follow her favored guard and her Valkyrie would as well. The culture she has developed on Fenris and in her own empire, her people treat her almost as a demigod. Although she claims not to care for such things, she evidently doesn't prevent her people from doing so. Additionally, there are mentions of this 'All Father,' an entity that does not appear to be the Emperor. Some of her men claim it is the Emperor, while others assert it's something much older. I'm concerned that she might not be as forthcoming about her motives as we would like to believe."
"Those are bold words and an even bolder claim. I don't believe a child of the Emperor would raise a rebellion." I said, sipping my drink. "I will admit that from a few interactions I've had, she does seem to exhibit some contradictions. However, I find it hard to believe that she would assert herself above the Emperor, as you're implying. Especially without proof."
"She might not do so now," Erebus continued, "at least not yet. Many times throughout the histories I've studied, when a monarch's rule is weakened or their authority compromised, there was always a chance that a successful general would declare themselves the next ruler. I'm concerned that if an opportunity arises where Primarch Russ gains too much power, she may attempt something not out of personal desire, but because her followers want her to."
"Preposterous!" I waved my hand dismissively.
Kor Phaeron spoke up, "I mostly agree with Erebus's sentiment. While Erebus might be stretching it a bit, his concern is valid. We should consider this for all Primarchs. When we examine the situation closely, it becomes evident that certain Primarchs, such as Tanya and a few others, are thinking on a more extended timescale. Perturabo, like Tanya, seems to be consolidating territories into his own personal empires."
"Primarchs Dorn and Guilliman have already established their empires," Erebus added then continued, "Furthermore, interactions between certain Primarchs are resulting in a subtle proliferation of the notion of 'empires within the Empire.' Primarch Mortarion is a prime example. Though he showed no inclination earlier, he's now consolidating planets under his influence. Similarly, the Dark Angels have adopted this approach after the Rangdan Campaign with the 6th Legion."
"A valid point, but not every Primarch interacting with my sister is pursuing empire-building," I noted. "Vulkan, and Jaghatai Khan, for instance, are not focusing on controlling vast planetary dominions within the Imperium. They are more dedicated to fulfilling their assigned roles. And as far as I know, Nobunaga isn't actively pursuing empire-building either."
Kor nodded in agreement. "As of now, those three aren't showing tendencies towards empire-building. However, Nobunaga recently encountered a planet inhabited by his favored beastmen and has laid claim to it. He might continue on this trajectory, establishing a sanctuary for abhumans within his own territory."
Erebus nodded and added, "Maybe this trend won't lead to anything significant. However, I'm concerned that the emerging trend of empire-building might pose a problem for the Emperor. If these 'mini-empires within the Empire' go rogue, it could lead to instability. Moreover, if they were to unite, given the bureaucratic inefficiency of the Administratum, they might struggle to handle the situation. Primarchs might hesitate to suppress their peers, and even the Emperor might not intervene, as long as they operate within certain boundaries, it would be beneficial if the emperor had someone on the same level as the other primarks to deal with any situation he can't take direct action on ."
I hummed, beginning to understand their implications. "You believe we should establish our own empire, a vassal state bound by treaty to the Imperium? That would make us just dangerous as my siblings, unless… . Perhaps we should create a document signed off on by Father and the Adminastratum? By creating a formal process, we would have legal authority within limits set by the Emperor, instead of a de facto authority that is potentially limitless. We could be the first, setting precedent for the others to follow. It would certainly be less likely to result in open warfare than the Administratum trying to take these hard won conquests away from my brothers and sisters."
Kor Phaeron responded, "At the very least, having control over more planets to contribute more troops would be advantageous. The quality of the Imperial auxiliary troops is lacking. Many are untrained criminals sent to their doom. We need skilled warriors by our side, especially if we face a formidable threat, such as a reunified Eldar empire. While it may seem impossible considering our circumstances, we must remember that in our universe, anything is possible."
I nodded contemplatively, taking a sip of my drink. "I will take your thoughts into account. We currently hold an alliance with a few planetary systems, centered around our homeworld. Perhaps it's time to formalize this alliance into something stronger. However, we must tread carefully. The Emperor does not tolerate rivals to the Imperium. The Rangdan and the Phoenix Kings are reminders of this fact. Our goal should be to create something substantial yet not too large that it poses a threat. And it should remain under my control to prove my loyalty."
"Of course, my Primarch," Kor Phaeron assured. "It won't be too challenging. A few well-placed messages and our Word Bearers will work on solidifying the societies we're aiding into a proper alliance with allegiance to the Empire."
"Very well, proceed with that plan," I agreed. "I should probably discuss this with Magnus. He might be interested in joining such an alliance. While I doubt they're pursuing their own empire, they might be open to the idea of aligning with mine."
"Understood, my Primarch," Kor Phaeron replied.
I chuckled softly before continuing, "Though I highly doubt such a scenario would occur. The Imperium's resources are largely controlled by the Mechanicum. Any Primarch attempting to break away from the Imperium would find themselves without the resources needed for their war machine, leading to swift defeat."
Erebus interjected, "I'm not so certain about that. Primarch Russ has taken some unconventional steps that could make them a prime candidate for such a situation. They've established their own Mechanicum enclave in their home system, allied closely with the Squat leagues. If they were to join forces in a rebellion, they might possess the necessary resources to break free."
I laughed, finding the idea far-fetched. "Unlikely, but noted. Perhaps we should also consider forming an alliance with a faction of the Mechanicum. Pooling our resources could indeed strengthen us in the long run."
"Perhaps you're onto something," Kor Phaeron agreed. "Pooling resources and forming strategic alliances could indeed be beneficial."
I nodded in agreement. "Indeed, let's explore these possibilities."
Writers note: oh hey new chapter hope you all enjoy and look like people are getting along… make alleinces getting ready to take down the BIG bad. Guess will see how that gose.
Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
Edited by: Y1, John Mandrage, (Golden)
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Don't know, looks like a swell guy to me.
Everything he says is quite reasonable, don't you think?
agree he sound like nice man
Chapter 57, Wounded Pride
Chapter 57, Wounded Pride
Lord Wolfen
Ark Reach 2
Finally, some success, by the All-Father! The fighting on the first planet had taken a few months but was finally coming to an end. Unfortunately, the city center had been completely demolished, but success was success nonetheless. With that handled, we could finally move on to the last and final battle: Ark Reach II, Ark Reach Secundus, or any other number of names, including a supposed true name of Heliosa. Though we didn't care that much. I didn't care that much. We just needed to finish this campaign and get on to the next operation.
Assuming we would probably be heading towards the outer rim of the galaxy, far, far away from anywhere we thought. Reportedly, there was a campaign out there that was slow going and gathering the forces due to the fact that the Primarchs in the region near it were busy with other operations.
But those were just rumors. There was also a story that Tanya would have to involve herself again, that there was a bit of a kerfuffle down near the Wheel of Fire, and it needed a little bit of a Space Marine's gentle hand to settle.
I didn't know what would happen. All I knew was that I was looking out across the hell we had set up operations on, as the city was slowly encircled. The enemy's main army had been defeated just south of here, which would hopefully mean the city would be taken without much trouble, though considering we had to destroy the city center on the last one, I doubted that it would be an easy operation.
Reaching out, I could feel the psychic energy emanating from the city. A large amount of it. What were they doing in there that could draw such energy to this planet? More energy than I think I'd felt since... since Tanya had called up her blizzard on the Rangdan.
Whatever they were planning would probably require the aid of the Thousand Sons to keep it under control. But hopefully, combined we would be able to handle it. After all, we seemed to be quite adept at dealing with psychic powers ourselves. Not only had we been able to sniff out hidden enemy forces hours earlier, but we had also been able to neutralize the enemy Psykers in the enemies unit before they could become useful.
Personally, I wasn't so sure about that. But I could understand the belief. The people of Fenris had long misunderstood psychic potential. To be fair, if I hadn't undergone a crash course in it over the last few years, I'd probably think the same. Simply because I had not been a psyker before. Before my change, I had been a noble Lord. Now, I am a Valkyrie and not only just a Valkyrie but one of its new leaders as well… I think I'm starting to understand why mother indulges herself so much, when I initially asked her for permission to reform the Valkyrie corps I didn't realize there would be so many issues to account for.
Firstly was the recruitment issues involved with the Valkyries as a whole since due to our unique circumstances we took in recruits form either two groups; The Daughters of Russ the aspirant women of Fenris who took a modified version of my own Gene-Seed and The Reborned, the failed Space Marine aspirants who at one point in the journey changed and became female. The former were generally fine during their orientation if not a bit overeager but the main issues lay with the latter as understandably such a large change in one's life can lead to a great deal of issues that unfortunately cannot be easily remedied, too further compound on this issue there is hearsay amongst the troops that the Reborned are not true Valkyries and should be castaway.
Secondly was the slowly rising numbers of psykers or individuals with psyker potential within the Valkyries as a whole, though there seemed to be a greater proportion of them coming from The Daughters of Russ compared to the Reborned, maybe that was due to… Nope, no, definitely not those thoughts only lead to madness. Normally this wouldn't be an issue as we would assign them to a Rune-Priest as apprentices however this practice was starting to become unsustainable as the number of Apprentices were growing too large for individual Rune-Priests to teach. I would need to confer with Ysra and Chris Kragh and members of the Rune-Priests to share some of my ideas and find a good solution for this growing mess.
Still I can't really complain too much since at the very least the other leaders Ysra and Chris Kragh were in charge of the other parts of the reformation with Ysra making good progress dealing with the restructuring of our chain of command and non-combat groups. However Chris was having issues with the direction of our military forces, she believes that it would be better for the Valkyrie as a whole to branch out and find niches in combat the the Wolves cannot easily fulfill and have more specialized contingents instead of just a training for direct combat and was in the middle of talks with Wolf Lord Henry Fyf who had plans of their own. Personally I wasn't sure along with other Valkyries since it seemed unhonorable for warriors of Fenris to skulk in the shadows and not find their glory in battle. Surprisingly it was the Reborned who seemed the most happy with this direction, that I didn't really understand. In the end hopefully the Valkyrie will be able to stand proudly beside our brothers and be more than just a glorified harem for our Primarch.
I needed to finish my work on this project soon and get to work on my other projects. I needed to understand the strange oddities that have led to my existence, the Canis Helix as it's being called by some more learned Wolf Priests who are investigating it. Find out how that works and see if we can put it to our own use.
Shaking my head, I looked out over the city, wondering what they were up to when I heard a familiar set of heavy footsteps.
"Good afternoon," I called, turning as he approached.
"Good afternoon, Lord Wolfen. What a wonderful day for a campaign, don't you think? We seem to have pushed the enemy to their brink, and soon this whole conflict will be over."
"Wonderful, in my opinion. Less death once this is all over. Though with how things are going, we need to do something to help rebuild the society of these planets. The whole place is going to be wrecked up pretty badly from what I've seen."
Kor Phaeron nodded his head before saying, "My Primarch agrees. Unfortunately, it's more likely than not that the administration will be taking full control of these planets. They tend to step in whenever there's any debate about who gets to rebuild a system."
I raised an eyebrow before saying, "That's rather odd. There are six planets here. We could easily divide the six planets between three Primarchs, or even, if we wanted to be more favorable, three planets to one Primarch and three to the Administratum. At the very least, that would make sure that everyone got something out of this whole ordeal."
Kor Phaeron nodded his head before saying, "Well, that's not a bad idea. I'll raise this with my Primarch. You should do the same. Perhaps we can prevent this planet from falling into the tender mercies of the Administratum."
I nodded my head in agreement. I had heard stories and seen a few planets during our time campaigning. Not to mention the fact that Rangdan controlled space had been ordered to be completely annihilated had originated from the Administratum. The Lords of Terra seemed a bit clumsy at times, and like they didn't know what they were doing. We could have taken those planets and repurposed them in other ways, made productive areas out of them for the Imperium. Instead, now they didn't exist, which was unfortunate. I would say it was almost a waste of resources, considering we had put so much into it, only to have a higher authority trash all our work as unnecessary and unneeded.
"That would be good," I said, but Kor noticed my tone and said, "Not a fan of the Administratum?"
"Fan would be a misuse of the term," I replied. "I'm simply paying attention to what's going on around me, that's all."
I didn't step closer until we were separated enough from the camp, so he spoke. "You know, I believe the Administratum might be the biggest problem for this whole campaign when you think about it. The way they're taking control of things that we conquer for them seems to, well, not be done right. See, the decision for the species that could either be brought under the heel of humanity or annihilated wholesale feels arbitrary under the Administratum, and well the only reason some are kept around is because the Emperor was personally involved in that decision. Sometimes the decision between what is considered human and what is considered Xenos gets completely chosen by the Mechanicum who have their hands deep into the Administratum. I worry that they'll cause the largest issue in the future."
"How so?" I asked, interested in where he was going with this.
"Well, I know your people believe in something called the All-Father, a spiritual being that protects the people of Fenris. I know that it also gets confused with the Emperor in some aspects, but the important part is that you have a spiritual belief. The same goes for some of our people. Some of us believe the Emperor is a being worth deifying, others at least acknowledge that he's extremely powerful and we should do our best to look to him in our life. The Mechanicum, though, believe differently. Some aspects of them believe he is some sort of prophet of their machine religion. I wonder, though, which of these three views of the world will be allowed to survive in the bureaucracy that is the Administratum."
"Bureaucracies, from what I've seen, don't exactly like having multiple choices and answers. They prefer a single answer, and they stick to it. So, which one is it? Is the Emperor some sort of spiritual deity from another plane? Is he just somebody to look up to? Or is he a prophet of the Mechanicum's God? Or is the Emperor exactly what he says, that he's just a man and that religious worship in any capacity is bad, which is laughable considering his allowance to your own people and the Mechanicum? You must have some areas he considers not worth pushing on, but will the Administratum abide by that?"
"You think the Administratum will make a choice and try to make everyone go by it even if it's not exactly what the Emperor means."
"Exactly. It's a simple worry but not impossible. They might again use the fact that they help the Administratum to assure that all other beliefs are put into a secondary class and be removed besides their own, simply using the dictates that the Emperor does not want religion as a tool to achieve it."
I nodded, "It's not an impossibility. The Mechanicum has quite an interesting path to getting followers. We used to have this order on our planet called the Iron Priests. They were simply learned men of metal who built armor and weapons. Though there was also some connection to this island of iron who had a bit more technology under their belt, they still do, though not as compared to what we have now thanks to the Imperium. Anyways, these Iron Priests have basically been almost absorbed into the Mechanicum's belief system. They still allow them to call their version of the Omnissiah the All-Father, but it's basically the Omnissiah in everything but words."
Kor nodded his head before saying, "Exactly, my concern is spreading their beliefs while the Emperor has simply said no beliefs is an obvious loophole. And why are they allowed to have such a loophole, I wonder."
"That's not hard to see," I said. "They provide the weapons, at least they do now."
"Oh?" Kor looked at me with interest, and I smiled, saying, "I don't know what the Emperor's plan is, but I know what my Primarch's plan is. From what I can understand, she likes redundancies, that's why she works with the leagues to get some supplies from them."
"I would assume though that plan is approved by the Emperor to some extent."
I smiled before replying "Better than just approved, Tanya has gotten express permission from both the Emperor and Malcador to ally and tie the Leagues as close to the Imperium as possible, if it so happens they would help us with our issues with the Administratum is just a benefit from our friendship"
"Hmm, that would make sense. The best way to try and control the bureaucracy, I guess, is to try and bring in more people from other factions, not let one faction have sole control over it. Although that'll be in the long term, it's still hard to say at this moment. After all, it seems like the Mechanicum has gotten their mechanical fingers into all aspects of the Administratum."
I nodded in agreement but said, "True, but they only have that now. There are other factions already trying to gain control. I'm not very familiar, though, with the politics of the core. I just pay attention to what happens on Fenris. Tanya sold the moon Svellgard to the Mechanicum so that she can get supplies as quickly as possible for her men. But on the other hand, she also let the leagues set up a colony in the under cities that have long since been abandoned by our people. I assume that Tanya has plans within those. The Emperor may imagine that it is a microscape of what should be happening in the Administratum as well, trying to balance out the different actions by bringing in different factions that give you options."
"She's playing a very interesting game of alliances there. From what I hear, the Mechanicum and the Leagues don't exactly get along very well. Too much overlap in what they can offer the Emperor. What's to prevent them from having some sort of conflict?"
I smiled before I said, "I would imagine the Space Marines are what's there to prevent the conflict between these manufacturers within the empire. The Emperor would make a decision on that as it happens and send his forces to what he determines should be the winner in this conflict. At least, that's what I would assume would happen. That's based on how Tanya has talked about this sort of stuff in the past."
"Oh, has Tanya theorized a conflict within the Imperium in the past?" he asked. I shrugged before saying, "She likes to theorize about every possible worst-case scenario during her drinking. One of the ones she's thought of and talked about while being drunk and debated heavily was the possibility of an internal civil war between the lower factions of the Imperium. Mechanicum against the league, the Imperialis Armada against rogue traders, issues with the Navigator houses fighting against each other, things like that."
"Well, that makes sense. Being prepared for outcomes before they happen does give you a bit of a head start." He looked out over the city and thought before asking, "Has she ever thought of a full civil war where factions that you've listed join together against other factions?"
I thought back on it before saying, "I don't think so. She doesn't think it would ever get that far. If one section went to war, every other one would come together to prevent that eventually, she believes at least."
"Hmm, interesting," Kor said. He didn't get to finish his thought as an intense wave of psychic energy washed out from the city. It felt like a psychic pulse was smashing into the camp, electrifying everything for a brief moment. In that moment, I felt wrong, as if the bonds that held me in my current form were weakened. I had to hold onto my staff and grit my teeth in pain as my body seemed to want to shift into something else. I swear I saw my left hand become less human and more canine for a moment, a familiar sight. But I gritted my teeth and held myself together until the sensation passed.
"What the hell was that?" Kor asked, looking a bit better than me. He must not have as much psychic potential or none at all. I never really knew if he'd had similar issues, but either way, he had felt something, that was for sure. I cleared my throat and tried to speak, but all that came out was a growl, causing me to clear it again. Kor looked at me, confused.
"Are you okay, my friend? You seem to have taken whatever that was harder than me," he said, putting his hand on my shoulder. It was an incredibly heavy thing to do, considering he was in Terminator armor and I was simply in power armor with a cape, holding onto the staff. I nodded my head in agreement, still trying to put myself back together. I felt as if the bonds holding me in my current shape had been weakened by whatever that attack was. But before I could say anything more, the sound of a gunshot rang through the camp.
Ahriman
Ark Reach II
Sitting on the edge of a cliff, I looked out at the city. For some reason, the people of this world had decided that the best place to build their capital was inside an ancient crater. This, of course, had benefits and drawbacks. The benefit was that if they could hold the outer walls of the crater, they had substantial protection. They simply needed to maintain a shield in the middle of the city, and the world would be protected.
The problem, of course, was that we had already destroyed their army. The Corvidae and I had been able to predict where they would hide their army and had waited for our troops to return. Thanks to our aid, we had been able to locate and destroy them, leaving this city with few defenses, except for its home guard and whatever units they hadn't taken with them—possibly even civilians. But what could they do? These people, these Phoenix King worshipers, seemed determined to die fighting for their king. It was almost admirable, but also a waste of life, considering there were many other things they could be doing.
I sighed and looked out over the city, wondering what they were up to. I could sense the magic they were gathering, the psychic forces being pulled for some reason. I had already given orders to the men to try and build some sort of barrier to defend against whatever attack they would launch. We would probably be able to absorb and dissipate their attack, allowing us to then push into their city when they were completely weakened. Afterwards, we could take the library that stored its unknown secrets and what these people were working on.
Well, hopefully, we would learn all those secrets. It was very likely that the library would have nothing new for us, but then again, there was some definite cross-contamination from the Eldar with these people. The Eldar's secrets of psychic abilities were mostly unknown to us. We had learned some, but not all. Their runecraft was a mystery we had only scratched the surface of, and fully understanding it would require access to their archives, which was unlikely to happen. The Eldar didn't like humanity from what we had seen. They had three, maybe four modes of operation: steal from us, enslave us, get out of our territory, and on a good day, trade—although they usually traded nothing of historic value, just trinkets for the rich and famous.
So, if perhaps this library held the archive we were looking for, or at least one more clue to that archive, it would be a significant step toward progressing our knowledge of the Warp. Someday, we might find a way to control it or at least guide it in directions that benefited the Imperium, preventing outcomes that had led to the decimation of the Federation of Humanity in the distant past.
My thoughts were interrupted as I heard the footsteps of someone approaching. Turning my helm's head, I saw Rune Priest Ohthere Wyrdmake coming in my direction. Without much preamble, I said, "Good day, Rune Priest Wyrdmake."
"Good day, Captain Ahriman," Ohthere Wyrdmake greeted me as he glanced beyond me at the battle that was starting to rage around the rim of the city. Our scouts had found entrances along the trader wall halfway, leading downwards into the city below. Some of them were straightforward roads, although they were closed off by heavy doors that were now being blown up and used to bring tanks down into the lower parts of the city. The depth of that city was still in question, considering that the central area was a built-up spire of a castle. All I could assume was that it wasn't too deep, but who knew? Until we cleared it out, it could be miles deep down there. People could have dug deep to preserve the beauty of the world around it, especially given the lower development outside this mega city.
I nodded and said, "Yes, I think with the help of your Primarch's men and the Word Bearers, we should have this city under our control within the week, assuming there are no surprises."
Rune Priest Wyrdmake nodded and replied, "Surprises are unsurprisingly common on this planet. So far, every time we think we understand them, they seem to pull out a new trick. The only constant is that we will deal with these surprises and move further into their territory, leaving them less room to pull off these tricks."
I agreed, adding, "That psychic energy they're developing right now has me worried. What do you think they're doing?"
The Rune Priest gazed into the distance before answering, "It could be a last desperate gamble, an attempt to drive us off. If they are anything like the Rangdan, perhaps they want to summon something from the Warp, some monstrosity. We Wolves of Fenris are used to dealing with such creatures, but these people have not acted like reasonable or unreasonable monsters. They've come up with strategies we have not seen before. So perhaps they are planning something else, some sort of direct attack on us."
I nodded in agreement and said, "They'll have no luck with that. Magnus's men are already deploying shields of psychic nature around this camp. It would require a force quite powerful to overwhelm us and break through that shield."
Ohthere Wyrdmake nodded back and remarked, "But it's not impossible. For all we know, they have powers we've yet to see, some weapon that could even penetrate the Wolf King's defenses. It's always wise to prepare for the unexpected. One of the many lessons the Wolf King has passed down to us."
I sighed and said, "True, we underestimated the enemy on Aghoru, and things definitely went wrong." I referenced the reason we had been delayed in arriving at this campaign. "Things seemed so simple when we set foot on Aghoru, so very simple. And then, a demon-infested Titan had been unleashed on the planet, and we had to fight to prevent it from destroying the entire world and our forces."
That's how I met the Rune Priest in question here. He had been with the expedition sent to get us to this conflict when we had started a conversation about the nature of psychic powers. It helped me understand a bit of how theirs work, which is why I was somewhat convinced that their runecraft was just some sort of limiting factor preventing unfettered use of the warp. It's possibly related to it, though I had no evidence of that. I haven't spoken to Magnus about my thoughts about it too deeply yet. I was waiting until I had more information. I didn't want to rush to any conclusions.
Shaking my head, I continued, "That thing was unexpected, whatever it was. That creature, a primordial monster of the warp, is an outlier, something that does not commonly happen. I doubt these people could summon something like that, even if they could."
"Are these things outliers?" the Rune Priest asked, looking out over the city. He continued, "We ran into things like that during our campaigns. I was involved in several of the hunts for those monsters. We were able to stop them before they could fully manifest in this plane of existence in most cases. I wonder about these creatures, how they come about, especially considering the stories of Morkai."
"Stories of what?" I asked, now interested in this turn of the conversation.
"Morkai, the wolf god of the Dead, a two-headed beast located somewhere under the mountains of Fenris. It guides the dead to the world beyond and is also supposedly the guardian that keeps the dead there. It's a legend, and you know how legends are. Though I've heard recently that there might be something more to it. Rumors suggest that the Wolf King defeated or struck a deal with this creature to prevent it from causing more harm to the people of Fenris."
I raised an eyebrow and asked, "Struck a deal? Can such a thing even exist? These creatures we ran into were intelligent, but they were not cognizant enough to make a deal, supposedly."
The Rune Priest raised an eyebrow in return and replied, "I don't know all the details. I was not there. I just know that there was a rumor during the operations to conquer the Fenrisian undercities, she may have run into Morkai and made it pledge allegiance to Fenris. If it's true, it's quite interesting. If not, well, it's just a story. And I'm sure you're familiar with these sorts of things. They go wrong in campaigns, with armies, and stories about our Primarchs sometimes get exaggerated. Of course, the ones I've always seen have always had a bit of a lick of truth to them."
I nodded in agreement before saying, "We have stories like that within our own Legion. I don't know if they're true or not, but there is a possibility. When we first found Magnus, we were suffering greatly from the affliction known as the flesh change. Some of our people would be corrupted into something not human, not even remotely, shivering fools. They were lucky; most likely not, they'd be left as a ball of tentacles or worse. Things were not looking great for our Legion, even with the incorporation of Magnus's fresh DNA into our stockpiles. But Magnus was determined to fix this, and well, they did. How is not exactly known, but there is some rumor that they may have struck a deal in the Warp to find the cure. I'm not sure if that's true or not. I do know that around the time we found something to stop this flesh change, they did lose an eye. So perhaps they simply lost it while looking too deep into the warp. It's hard to say."
"Hmm, a dangerous thing to try and barter with entities that live in the Warp," I replied. "I would believe then that you are right, that they delved into the warp looking for a way to prevent it and lost their eye for their troubles. Hello, if they did prevent any more of these flesh change afflictions you're worried about. But I guess it was a worthy trade. The knowledge to prevent it for an eye is a minor thing, really. There are legends of the All-Father giving up an eye for knowledge and wisdom."
I nodded and replied, "Your Primarch is a good one, I'll say that. They're willing to give up a part of themselves to try and cure your afflictions. They deserve all the loyalty you can give them."
I smiled in response before saying, "Thank you. I guess the same goes for your Primarch as well. They do seem to have a tendency to look out for the people of Fenris in general. If they did delve into the depths to fight some sort of creature and make it agree to stop causing problems for your people, then they must have a similar loyalty to their own folk."
He nodded in agreement, and we were about to continue our conversation when we felt a pulse of energy, something heavy and clawing, coming from the city. We both turned to look at it, wondering what was happening. Then, a massive wave of crushing energy smashed into everything around the city. The air felt heavy with psychic energy as the attack sizzled against the psychic shields that had been arranged there. The sky seemed to turn unusual shades of color under the assault, and I held tightly onto my staff as the attack continued.
I felt like the shield was going to break and wondered if I should try to add my own energy to the defenses. But I knew that would not help at all. Reinforcing something that had already been carefully crafted by those in charge of the operation could backfire greatly. Putting more psychic energy out like this was dangerous for everyone involved. This was the kind of thing that could turn this campaign into a disaster if not handled carefully. So, I waited and watched, holding onto the staff, as Ohthere Wyrdmake did the same, making a few runes out in front of him. I couldn't tell, but it seemed like he was creating a personal shield. After a bit, the wave of energy finally died down, and the shield held.
I turned to the Rune Priest and asked, "What the hell was that?"
He shook his head and replied, "I don't know. Whatever it was, it was much more powerful than I was expecting. We need to get into that city and crush the enemy as fast as possible. Who knows what else they're planning to unleash and what that could do to us if we had not had shields already up to defend this position."
I nodded and added, "Who knows what's already happened in positions that weren't as well defended. That felt like a wave of energy, not a targeted attack."
Then, Erebus approached, and I turned to him. He said, "I may not have the greatest psychic abilities, but even I could feel that. It felt like the whole universe was tilting."
I agreed, "We should probably get back to our Primarchs and find out what's going on, see what they know about it, and figure out how we can help. This war is not over yet. We need to get on the job as soon as possible to make sure whatever the hell that was doesn't happen again."
Ohthere nodded and turned before saying, "Agreed. And you are?"
Erebus nodded and extended his hand, saying, "Erebus, nice to meet you." I noticed that the Rune Priest shook his hand somewhat haphazardly, but I understood that me and Erebus had a pre-existing relationship and a small friendship due to our previous meetings during the encounter between Magnus and the Word Bearers. That we had struck up a kinship over our shared interest in research. If I didn't have that previous experience, I might have been a bit apprehensive about meeting someone with tattoos covering their face.
However, before I could dwell on that thought, a gunshot rang out in the direction of the Primarch's camp, grabbing everyone's attention. The Rune Priest asked, "What was that?" I didn't have an answer but started moving in the direction of the sound, with the two of them following closely behind me.
Magnus
"See, we have this situation completely under control," I said as I watched the battle unfold with one good eye. Soon, we would have the entire place surrounded, and with our combined forces, this war would come to an end. Then, we could move on to the next stage of the crusade, whatever that might be.
Lorgar nodded in agreement, saying, "We can also get to work rebuilding this society into something better than what it was. We'll take them from being these Phoenix King worshipers and turn them into proper servants of the Emperor."
Tanya chimed in, "Yeah, yeah," her attention somewhat distracted as she observed the battlefield through a pair of binoculars that someone had handed her. It seemed like a strange choice, considering our own physiology probably offered better visibility than those binoculars. Perhaps she simply enjoyed using technology or had poor eyesight. Each Primarch was unique, and that made it both interesting and sometimes challenging to understand one another.
I glanced back and noticed many of the Rune Priests and my fellow Thousand Sons working together to maintain a protective shield around our area, guarding against any potential psychic attacks. While I doubted the enemy possessed the ability to launch such attacks, safety was always a priority.
Turning to Tanya, I asked, "What's on your mind, sister? You seem preoccupied."
She nodded before replying, "What's on my mind is the fact that the enemy hasn't attacked us in force yet. We got lucky with your little precognitives over there detecting where they were hiding their army. But I highly doubt that was the only component of their force. I wouldn't store my entire army in one place, hoping the enemy drives by so I can spring an attack on their backlines. It just makes no sense."
Lorgar reassured her, "These Phoenix King worshipers are too self-absorbed. They would never come up with a better strategy than what they've shown. Worry not, sister, this is almost over."
Tanya lowered her binoculars and gave Lorgar a raised eyebrow before saying, "Being that self-certain is how you get ambushed by the unexpected. Always expect something to go wrong, and you won't be surprised. It's a thing to consider in the future, if you ask me, sister."
Lorgar cleared her throat before responding, "Perhaps you're right. Well, I'm quite determined that we'll complete this victory soon, and we can take a break from this conflict to discuss other things, like my book I'm working on."
I chuckled and patted the tome on my side, saying, "Ha, oh yes, your book. I've got several copies in existence now, and I keep updating it with new stuff as I find it. If you want, I can send one of the older copies to your ship when we're done here."
Lorgar was pleased and replied, "That would be wonderful. I'd love to read about the interesting Warp phenomena you've discovered."
"Make sure to send one over to me too," Tanya mused before adding, "I doubt I'll be able to integrate any of its mechanics into my own spellcraft, but it's always good to be learning about what exists in the realm of war magic."
I agreed, "Ha, always so practical. I'll make sure to send one over, and I'll even send one once we have their library deciphered. I can't wait to read what's hidden in those tomes."
Tanya emphasized the importance of being practical, saying, "Well, we've got to be practical; otherwise, we'll probably make mistakes. Plus, we've got to learn how some of this technology works. I still have no idea how the Astronomicon actually functions in some cases."
I proudly explained, "Oh, I know that one. The Astronomicon produces a warp signature that can be seen by any navigator and a few gifted individuals across the galaxy, allowing people to travel the stars."
Tanya raised a valid question, "If it's visible to anyone with psychic powers, doesn't that mean anything with Warp powers can see the Astronomicon?"
I paused to consider her point, rubbing my chin. It was indeed a good point that I hadn't thought about. If the warp signature could be seen by anything in the warp, including the primordial annihilators, that could pose a problem. It signaled to the entire galaxy where our home world was, potentially attracting dangerous entities. I decided I needed to discuss this with our father, the Emperor, as it was a concerning and potentially dangerous technology.
Outwardly, I nodded and said, "Hmm, I assume Father knows of that possibility. I'm not as familiar with this subject as I should be. I should ask him more when I have the chance."
Tanya agreed, saying, "I really should do the same. I wonder if we should probably set up more Astronomicons across the galaxy if we can. Relying on one point of failure... well, everything's going to look at that one point of failure."
The thought of the primordial annihilators targeting the Astronomicon sent a shiver down my spine. She was right; there needed to be redundancies in the system if we were to advance beyond this era and ensure humanity's continued progress in the galaxy.
I was about to ask her opinion on how we could create such devices when she turned to me and mentioned, "By the way, I've had time to talk to my men I sent to retrieve you for the siege here. They told me about that Titan on planet Aghoru."
I looked at her in confusion before recalling, "Oh, yes, that thing. Something had escaped from the Warp and found a body. But it was dealt with; there's nothing to worry about."
Tanya expressed her concern, "I think it's something to be concerned about. I mean, some of my men reported that it called itself a demon, and that's got me concerned."
"Demon?" Lorgar echoed, with growing concern.
Clearing my throat, I simply shrugged before saying, "On the planet Aghoru, we came across a Titan that had been infested by a warp entity. Who knows when and where it acquired this vessel, but we have dealt with it. Yes, I know it spoke of being a demon, but it is simply a primordial annihilator, a creature that is not very intelligent and came from the warp. Not too dissimilar from an enslaver."
Not exactly true; there were some differences between an enslaver and the Neverborn, but that was a story for another time. Many Astartes were around us, but most were too busy to pay attention to our conversation. I could feel that Tanya was ready to raise a silence field, as she had done before.
Tanya nodded before saying, "Well, I'm concerned about the fact that there is a creature that can possess objects like that. I know that there are stories from the fall that they could also possess people, and I'm simply concerned about these entities, especially the fact that they take the term 'demon' as their moniker," she said, snapping her fingers and bringing down a dome of silence around us three.
Clearing my throat, I said, "I don't see what's there to be so concerned about. They've claimed themselves to be demons, but that doesn't mean much. They are creatures of the warp that must be brought to heel by asserting control over the universe."
Tanya interrupted, asking, "Yes, well, I'm simply concerned that these things are trying to set themselves up as demons on principle. For instance, if demons exist, what are their angels, their counterparts? Obviously, that must be us, which would explain why the Emperor is apprehensive about the use of religion," she said, looking at Lorgar.
Lorgar raised an eyebrow before saying, "You did bring up before, the possibility that something could try and make itself the antithesis to the Emperor's positive influence. Is this what you're referring to? These warp entities?"
Tanya nodded before saying, "This is my concern, yes. If something sets itself up as the antithesis to the Emperor's positive, as you put it, then it can gain influence from that. Because these creatures, from what I can understand, do not care where the faith comes from, only that there is faith. Faith in the Emperor proves that there's faith in something that can fight the Emperor. There's something that the Emperor must fight, thus, in an around-about way, empowering the so-called 'evil' that the Emperor must fight."
I pondered this idea for a moment and then said, "Hmm, that seems a little out there, I will admit. I mean, I can see your point of view that any and all belief structures can be infiltrated by the creatures in the warp to take a place. But let's be serious here; I doubt it would be that successful of an operation. Nothing can defeat the Emperor, so anything posing itself to be the counter to the Emperor would always be defeated in the end."
Tanya responded, "And like a cheesy Saturday cartoon villain, they'd come back the next time," leaving Lorgar and me both somewhat puzzled and amused.
"All right, I forgot. Basically what I'm saying is, yes, anything that can place itself as the antithesis to the Emperor is going to fail eventually, but it doesn't need to succeed to win in this situation. It just needs to create enough strength so that it can survive its inevitable conflict with the Emperor, to come back another day. Imagine something that comes back every 10 or 20 years to cause trouble, avoids notice for as long as possible, building up its resources before taking an attack on the throne world."
"That seems unlikely," Lorgar said with a shake of her head. "Any villain that crosses blades with the Emperor would be defeated solely and removed from the board. There would be no ability for it to return."
"If they were human, you would be correct," I said before continuing. "But the primordial annihilators, the creatures that live in the warp, don't abide by the rules of the Materium; they abide by the rules of the Immaterium, which means they can be reborn in time as long as something believes in them. Tanya makes a good point here, something to keep in mind in future conflicts. If we ever run into these things in force, one or two enemies now and again is not hard to expect. But it's not impossible that these creatures may one day breach the veil between the material and the immaterial."
"It's not like it has not happened before. There were reports of breaches during the fall of the human federation, though this was mostly, I believe, due to the problems the Eldar created. It's not outside the possibility that something else could be created to break the material wall. And I would not be surprised, Lorgar, that the denizens of the Immaterium are not interested in the merging of our two realms. What that would do, I don't know, but yeah, I could believe it would be something they'd be interested in. After all, the material is made up of hopes and dreams and nightmares; everything there is simply a reflection of what's here. So if the reflection could be reflected back into here, it would create some sort of ever-growing monstrosity. Two mirrors reflecting each other, going on for eternity, creating worse and worse variances of each other's existence."
"That's horrible," Lorgar said, shaking her head, about to say something more when something changed.
All of a sudden, a wave of energy washed out from the city, battering the shields around us. I looked on in confusion, wondering what had unleashed such power as Tanya dropped the sound barrier.
"What's going on?" she called, drawing the notice of some of her Rune Priests who were trying to reinforce the shield.
"An enemy attack, Wolf King!" he called, only for the energy of the attack to grow exponentially, battering heavily against the shield and sending a few of the Rune Priests, as well as my own Thousand Sons, flying against the back wall. It looked like it might fail, so I added some of my energy to it, trying to keep it steady, noting Tanya doing the same. The attack was quite heavy and taxing, surprisingly enough. Thankfully, the shield held until the last moments of the attack, dying at the exact moment the attack ended.
I took a deep breath, wondering what the hell had just happened, only to hear a scream from within the group of the First Fellowship, one of my Thousand Sons. Looking in that direction, I wondered what had happened, only to feel my guts drop out of my stomach as I saw Hastar, one of my Marines, screaming as they ceased to be human.
Their bodies seemed to shift and shake, reconfiguring itself into a monstrosity of tentacles and other inhuman mutations. It was as if that person had come down with a case of the Flesh-Change. Could it have returned, I thought, or had this been some sort of overpowering event that simply triggered it? I thought I'd gotten rid of it all those years ago when I dealt with that thing in the warp. I started moving in the direction of the stricken Marine. Some of the other Marines around them pushed themselves away, some of them holding onto their chests as if they were feeling similar sensations. The fallen Marine lashed out and attacked a few comrades nearby, seeming to be losing control. Thankfully, those Marines were okay, with only some damage to their armor as they backed away, raising their staffs and weapons to defend themselves.
Recognizing the Marine based on the armor, I called, "Hastar, stop yourself now." Reaching out with my psychic powers to try and calm the thing that had once been Hastar, I could feel his soul still in there, dulled and tainted by whatever was happening to him. I tried to soothe it as the creature turned to face me, slowly and steadily stumbling towards me, its arms outstretched as if coming to give me a hug. I held out my arms, hoping to gain control over him.
Nothing about Hastar looked human anymore; he looked more like a denizen of the warp than a proud member of my Thousand Sons. But perhaps I could reverse this. After all, a warp attack could trigger this. I was not beyond the possibility that I could undo this taint that had created this monster. I simply needed to get it under control and put it back into the mental state of a proper Thousand Sons.
I heard someone yelling over my shoulder, but I tuned their voice out. I needed to use my abilities at full concentration to calm Hastar. I did not need someone distracting me.
It would take time, a long time to do, but it was possible. I simply needed to get him under control and back to Prospero. There, I would have the time and ability to do what was necessary.
There was that yelling again tilting my head back I saw it was from my sister Tanya "Magnus, I need you to listen to me right now, if you do not kill that man the rest of your Legion will suffer just like him"
I shook my head, absolute insanity. I had perfect control over this situation, she did not have the insight or the understanding of the Warp as I did, I was the one who made a deal to gain the knowledge and power to save my legion, I have done it before in the past and now I shall have to do it again, she just did not understand. "Now is not the time Tanya!" I said ignoring her, focusing back on Hastar. I continued to focus my psychic energies into stabilizing Hastar, but it wasn't working. I had to reign my emotions in otherwise the procedure could fail… yes if I calmed myself I could make this work all I nee-"Magnus! look at the bigger picture your men are suffering, you need to put him down before he infects the rest".AGAIN I already told her once to not interfere in things she did not understand, and those words 'put down', who did she think she was to command me and the affairs of my legion!
"Put him down! PUT HIM DOWN! This is a man!, not a dog of your legion NOW CEASE SISTER"
I would have to have a chat with her later but for now she needed to be silent, I let loose some of my presence and felt composed. Good it seems Tanya's emotions have calmed, now that distraction was out of the way I could finally get back to work.
Hastar's head exploded as a bolter round was fired from my right. Hastar's form crumbled apart into dust, and what was left of his soul fled into the Warp. I could feel his soul desperately reach out towards me and I could feel how it was ripped from my grasp by the taint as it was dragged beyond the veil of the material and into the immaterial. I could feel Hastar's warm blood on my face, dripping downwards onto the armor that had been given to me by the people aboard my ship. One of my sons was gone because someone had made a mistake.
My fist clenched heavily against my staff as I turned in the direction the shot had been fired, ready to unleash my wrath at whoever had done it, only to see that it was Tanya standing there. Her gun was still held up, pointing at the corpse. A scowl crossed her face, revealing some of her fangs, and a look of disgust.
"How dare you!" I called out, drawing upon the Warp energies and channeling them into my staff weapon. I felt myself growing taller, my normal height increasing with anger. I glared down at my sister with absolute wrath and fury while the very air started to twist and burn from my rage.
She had the gall to interfere, to usurp my authority with my legion, my Thousand Sons.Only I had authority over my Legion, no one else and definitely not her. I could feel the strong emotions of anger and bitter betrayal emanate from the rest of my Thousand Sons. There would be recompense for this betrayal and if I had to duel her to get it, I would gladly educate her as well. I raised my blade to challenge her only to falter at the look of confusion slowly creeping into her eyes..
Tanya Russ
That thing was not human. There was no other way to say it. Whatever it had been, it was not human. Yes, I could see some similarities between that creature and what had become of Lord Wolfen, but there were also some very severe differences.
Lord Wolfen had been self-contained. Yes, there was the possibility that he would go rampant, as that creature had done, but he was a singular entity. That creature was not.
I watched the taint of that creature being produced like some sort of pollen, and every Marine near him that had been attacked, including some of my own, seemed to be shaking as if fighting off some sort of infection. Whatever had happened to that marine was on the cusp of spreading like some sorta infectious mutagenic disease.
"Magnus kill that thing now!" I shouted, turning to look at them assuming they saw what I saw. Only to realize they did not. They were doing… exactly what I would do if I did not see the big picture, they were laser focused on the mutant not watching how their own men seemed to have their flesh bulge in areas or how my men who were near growling in pain and were falling to their knees pulling at their armor.
They were too focused on that one man, and were going to end up losing their entire legion at this rate if something wasn't done.
"Magnus! He is lost and if you do not kill him now more of your men will join him" I yelled but again I was ignored. What was worse was that the thing was not fully under Magnus's control as I saw its body's newly developed tentacle reach toward her direction in a crude facsimile of a hug. That thing was going to impale her and what would happen when that creature infected its psyker mutagenic disease into Magnus?
"Magnus I get your concern for your man but he is lost and needs to be put down for his own sake" she ignored me.
She did worse than ignore me, she waved me off so focused on what was in front of her she probably had no idea what I was saying.
"Magnus, I need you to listen to me right now, if you do not kill that man the rest of your Legion will suffer just like him" I intoned, Magnus only gave me the briefest of looks before turning back to the man "Now is not the time Tanya!".
I grimaced as I realized I wasn't getting through to him, I needed to approach this from a different angle "Magnus! Look at the bigger picture your men are suffering, you need to put him down before he infects the rest"
"Put him down! PUT HIM DOWN! This is a man!, not a dog of your legion NOW CEASE SISTER"
I felt a strong wave of pressure emanate from Magnus, this was not a good situation, I looked around and confirmed it more men from both sides were falling to their knees now. I resolved myself and drew Scornspitter.
Raising my bolt gun I aimed and pulled the trigger and like that the shaking of the space marines ended, the moment that creature died. I was left with the distinct impression that if I had not done it, more of the Thousand Sons would have turned into a thing like that creature. Possibly, some of my men would have suffered the same fate as Lord Wolfen. It had been a simple choice: that creature's life or the lives of my Marines, and I was going to choose my Marines over whatever that thing used to be.
Unfortunately, my decision to blow apart its skull with a shot from my weapon had angered my brother. Magnus, still in his female form, had gone full gigantic, looming over me with her polearm as if she were about ready to slash me down to my former size in my last life for killing a single Marine.
I knew I was not going to have a chance to explain my actions right away, as Magnus was in the moment, calling me a barbarian and a lunatic murderer, and other unflattering things. Still this reaction I expected when I pulled the trigger, what I didn't expect was how my men would react to it, I could feel their anger grow by each passing second, even worse I could see the Thousands sons starting to get more incensed with each accusation from Magnus. They were gathering all around, some behind Magnus and their fallen comrade, and others behind me, slowly forming two halves of a circle of men who were pretty much ready to fight each other over a dead man. I would need to say something soon before this could devolve any further.
Clearing my throat, I said, "Magnus, I apologize for acting without your permission, but perhaps you should calm yourself and take stock of the current situation, and let me explain my piece."
He laughed. It was cold and bitter, "Hah! An apology. Utterly ridiculous you tampered with my legion and murdered a man and you believe an apology is enough!"
"That thing was no longer a man, nor was it a member of your legion. I don't know if you were fully aware , but his eyes were dulled. Whatever intelligence was once there was gone, and it was at risk of doing much more than simply hurting members of the legions around it if I did not act then" I said, trying to be a bigger person in that moment, pulling myself up to my full height and bringing my gun down to holster it. I wasn't going to let my anger control me, unlike Magnus, who seemed to be full of fury at this moment. I was not going to let the fact that I was armed encourage anyone to start a fight between our two legions.
"I could still feel his soul inside of him. He was still there. It was possible to possibly bring him back from whatever that was." Magnus exclaimed angrily
Looking at Magnus, channeling my past experience from my life as a salaryman, I simply said," Apologies I did not know that, but still I did what needed to be done in that moment and in that moment unfortunately it required one of your son's death otherwise there would of been far more. The longer your man was alive and infected the higher the likelihood that would of spread beyond him and into the rest of the Legions, and that is an event I cannot allow to pass not just for my sake but for your own as well Magnus, One life to save the many even you must agree in that rationality"
"Impossible! That was a fluke, some sort of psychic spell backlash. It could not spread through my men," Magnus said, sounding insulted that I even suggested that it was possible.
I was a bit annoyed, though, because I had suggested that it was possible that it would spread throughout all our men, and they seemed to have been so pointedly worried about their own that they didn't give a damn about my own men possibly being turned into something. This caused me to narrow my eyes as I looked up at Magnus and said, "Believe whatever you wish to believe but not all of us can turn a blind eye to the situation."
Well, maybe throwing that insult was a bit much, but I thought that was more than warranted considering the spiel about me being a barbarian they had gone off on. Give as you receive, and all that. Hell, I would say that's what I really gave was a minor insult compared to being called a barbarian, and on some good days, I think being called a barbarian is kind of a permanent endearment, considering all the things my barbarians have done for the Imperium.
But Magnus was obviously not taking any of it. She looked ready to bring that polearm down on top of me, energy glowing around her, and her hair seemed to poof out with anger.
Thankfully, there was one person with a good head on their shoulders, as Lorgar stepped in between us, putting her hands on us to stop any fighting.
"Stop it, you two! You're acting like children!" she called, pushing us further apart before saying, "This was a psychic attack from the enemy; that is clear. What caused it is easy to understand. Why it resulted in that is a little bit harder, and its effects... can we at least acknowledge?" She said, looking at Magnus, "It was unexpected. You didn't know they could launch an attack, and you didn't know that they could do something like that to one of your men. How do you know that it couldn't do more than what you saw?"
Magnus bit her lip before letting out a sigh and decompressing, going from nearly 20 ft tall at this point back to her normal size. She breathed in slowly and said, "Yes, I guess you're right. I did underestimate the enemy. Still, I would think it would be important to speak on the matter before slaying one of my men."
"As I said, there was no time," I replied, folding my arms across my chest. I continued, "I needed to act before whatever that was spread to our men."
"Our?" Magnus asked, finally noticing the use of the word.
"Yeah, I noticed that too," Lorgar said, interrupting me before I could speak up. "Both your men and Tanya's men seem to react negatively when they were around the creature. None of my men, though. None of my men were nearby. It could have affected all of our legions for all we know," she mused.
"Your men were at risk," Magnus said, looking at me, seeming intrigued for reasons I didn't know. I simply nodded, saying, "I could sense the taint spreading, so I made the act necessary to stop said taint. I don't know what would have happened, but it would be better, I think, for everyone if it ended quicker. I am sorry, Magnus, that I was unable to inform you of my decision or what needed to be done in time for you to understand, but it was an act that needed to be done as quickly as possible to save as many lives as possible. I think you can agree to that, can't you?"
Magnus sighed before saying, "Yes, yes, I can agree to this. But we will have a conversation about this matter later, in privacy." She looked left and right at the gathered Marines who were watching the conversation, waving her hand as she said, "Get back out of here, get to work. We still have a war to win, and this conversation is over."
The Thousand Sons immediately started to file out, my own troops taking a bit longer until I gave them a wave. Before long, it was just the three of us, as Lorgar's men had stayed at a distance and filed out as both the other forces did.
Magnus looked at me before saying, "Sorry for calling you a barbarian. I was just upset. I did not like losing one of my few sons to this affliction that you saw."
"Affliction?" I said, raising an eyebrow. The way they said it implied that this was not just because of a warp attack. I looked at Lorgar, who bit her lip, seeming to know something I didn't. "What affliction?" I asked.
"As I said, this is a matter for privacy, something not talked about in the open and not on the planet controlled by the enemy. When this battle is over, and once we are back aboard our ships, I will discuss this more openly. Though I would like some information on why your men seem to be affected as well, Tanya."
I narrowed my eyes before saying, "Perhaps we can come to an information exchange, then. After all, who knows? Perhaps we can help each other in ways that we do not realize."
"Yes, yes, perhaps we can," Magnus said with a nod of her head. She turned to look at her fallen soldier again before saying, "But never do that again. It was my responsibility to put him down if it was necessary. "
I nodded before saying, "I understand Magnus, I'll try to do better next time. Also once again I am sorry that I needed to do that, but I do not regret my actions."
Magnus nodded her head, tapping her staff onto the ground a few times before looking at some distant Marines of her unit, calling them to bring a body bag and put Hastar in it. She instructed them to transport it back to Prospero for a proper internment.
"Yes, my Primarch," one of the Marines called as he gathered two others to find a body bag and get to work. Magnus watched them for a moment before saying, "And I'm sorry that I had to put you in the position where you needed to make that choice. Perhaps I should have done it myself right away, but for a moment, I thought maybe I could bring them back. I thought they possibly were still there, still in control more than they are now. I see that it is possible that I was a little too attached at that moment."
"It's all right, Magnus," Lorgar said. "We're all attached to our men. We put a lot of work into them, train them, get them ready for combat, and then work with them in our fights against the enemy. It's understandable to be locked on them and not want to lose them."
I nodded, saying, "You put a lot of investment into every single soldier you bring into combat. To lose one in front of you is a sorrowful event no matter how it's done. Sometimes it's better to lose several together because then they're just a statistic, and you can put it out of your mind for a bit. It'll catch up with you sooner or later."
Magnus agreed, saying, "True, very true, Tanya." She then sighed and said, "I need to get to work. We will talk later. Goodbye." With that, she walked away, leaving me and Lorgar behind.
Lorgar commented, "Well, that could have gone a lot worse."
I replied, "Oh, it's probably going to get a lot worse," looking towards the city. "Whatever attack they just launched just put their leadership and whoever did that on a kill list, as far as I'm concerned. I don't want anyone to have whatever power that was at their disposal within the Imperium."
Lorgar noted, "They just pushed you from 'Happy barbarian' to 'Emperor's executioner,' didn't they?"
I bit my lip, slightly annoyed at the title, before looking at her and saying, "Yes, they did."
Writers noteff well that could gone… much worst… but hey they didn't kill each other i'm sure next chapter they will have nice long conversation. Or strangle each other… really could go eather way.
Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
Edited by: John Mandrage, Golden
Community edited by:
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Lord Wolfen
Ark Reach 2
Finally, some success, by the All-Father! The fighting on the first planet had taken a few months but was finally coming to an end. Unfortunately, the city center had been completely demolished, but success was success nonetheless. With that handled, we could finally move on to the last and final battle: Ark Reach II, Ark Reach Secundus, or any other number of names, including a supposed true name of Heliosa. Though we didn't care that much. I didn't care that much. We just needed to finish this campaign and get on to the next operation.
Assuming we would probably be heading towards the outer rim of the galaxy, far, far away from anywhere we thought. Reportedly, there was a campaign out there that was slow going and gathering the forces due to the fact that the Primarchs in the region near it were busy with other operations.
But those were just rumors. There was also a story that Tanya would have to involve herself again, that there was a bit of a kerfuffle down near the Wheel of Fire, and it needed a little bit of a Space Marine's gentle hand to settle.
I didn't know what would happen. All I knew was that I was looking out across the hell we had set up operations on, as the city was slowly encircled. The enemy's main army had been defeated just south of here, which would hopefully mean the city would be taken without much trouble, though considering we had to destroy the city center on the last one, I doubted that it would be an easy operation.
Reaching out, I could feel the psychic energy emanating from the city. A large amount of it. What were they doing in there that could draw such energy to this planet? More energy than I think I'd felt since... since Tanya had called up her blizzard on the Rangdan.
Whatever they were planning would probably require the aid of the Thousand Sons to keep it under control. But hopefully, combined we would be able to handle it. After all, we seemed to be quite adept at dealing with psychic powers ourselves. Not only had we been able to sniff out hidden enemy forces hours earlier, but we had also been able to neutralize the enemy Psykers in the enemies unit before they could become useful.
Personally, I wasn't so sure about that. But I could understand the belief. The people of Fenris had long misunderstood psychic potential. To be fair, if I hadn't undergone a crash course in it over the last few years, I'd probably think the same. Simply because I had not been a psyker before. Before my change, I had been a noble Lord. Now, I am a Valkyrie and not only just a Valkyrie but one of its new leaders as well… I think I'm starting to understand why mother indulges herself so much, when I initially asked her for permission to reform the Valkyrie corps I didn't realize there would be so many issues to account for.
Firstly was the recruitment issues involved with the Valkyries as a whole since due to our unique circumstances we took in recruits form either two groups; The Daughters of Russ the aspirant women of Fenris who took a modified version of my own Gene-Seed and The Reborned, the failed Space Marine aspirants who at one point in the journey changed and became female. The former were generally fine during their orientation if not a bit overeager but the main issues lay with the latter as understandably such a large change in one's life can lead to a great deal of issues that unfortunately cannot be easily remedied, too further compound on this issue there is hearsay amongst the troops that the Reborned are not true Valkyries and should be castaway.
Secondly was the slowly rising numbers of psykers or individuals with psyker potential within the Valkyries as a whole, though there seemed to be a greater proportion of them coming from The Daughters of Russ compared to the Reborned, maybe that was due to… Nope, no, definitely not those thoughts only lead to madness. Normally this wouldn't be an issue as we would assign them to a Rune-Priest as apprentices however this practice was starting to become unsustainable as the number of Apprentices were growing too large for individual Rune-Priests to teach. I would need to confer with Ysra and Chris Kragh and members of the Rune-Priests to share some of my ideas and find a good solution for this growing mess.
Still I can't really complain too much since at the very least the other leaders Ysra and Chris Kragh were in charge of the other parts of the reformation with Ysra making good progress dealing with the restructuring of our chain of command and non-combat groups. However Chris was having issues with the direction of our military forces, she believes that it would be better for the Valkyrie as a whole to branch out and find niches in combat the the Wolves cannot easily fulfill and have more specialized contingents instead of just a training for direct combat and was in the middle of talks with Wolf Lord Henry Fyf who had plans of their own. Personally I wasn't sure along with other Valkyries since it seemed unhonorable for warriors of Fenris to skulk in the shadows and not find their glory in battle. Surprisingly it was the Reborned who seemed the most happy with this direction, that I didn't really understand. In the end hopefully the Valkyrie will be able to stand proudly beside our brothers and be more than just a glorified harem for our Primarch.
I needed to finish my work on this project soon and get to work on my other projects. I needed to understand the strange oddities that have led to my existence, the Canis Helix as it's being called by some more learned Wolf Priests who are investigating it. Find out how that works and see if we can put it to our own use.
Shaking my head, I looked out over the city, wondering what they were up to when I heard a familiar set of heavy footsteps.
"Good afternoon," I called, turning as he approached.
"Good afternoon, Lord Wolfen. What a wonderful day for a campaign, don't you think? We seem to have pushed the enemy to their brink, and soon this whole conflict will be over."
"Wonderful, in my opinion. Less death once this is all over. Though with how things are going, we need to do something to help rebuild the society of these planets. The whole place is going to be wrecked up pretty badly from what I've seen."
Kor Phaeron nodded his head before saying, "My Primarch agrees. Unfortunately, it's more likely than not that the administration will be taking full control of these planets. They tend to step in whenever there's any debate about who gets to rebuild a system."
I raised an eyebrow before saying, "That's rather odd. There are six planets here. We could easily divide the six planets between three Primarchs, or even, if we wanted to be more favorable, three planets to one Primarch and three to the Administratum. At the very least, that would make sure that everyone got something out of this whole ordeal."
Kor Phaeron nodded his head before saying, "Well, that's not a bad idea. I'll raise this with my Primarch. You should do the same. Perhaps we can prevent this planet from falling into the tender mercies of the Administratum."
I nodded my head in agreement. I had heard stories and seen a few planets during our time campaigning. Not to mention the fact that Rangdan controlled space had been ordered to be completely annihilated had originated from the Administratum. The Lords of Terra seemed a bit clumsy at times, and like they didn't know what they were doing. We could have taken those planets and repurposed them in other ways, made productive areas out of them for the Imperium. Instead, now they didn't exist, which was unfortunate. I would say it was almost a waste of resources, considering we had put so much into it, only to have a higher authority trash all our work as unnecessary and unneeded.
"That would be good," I said, but Kor noticed my tone and said, "Not a fan of the Administratum?"
"Fan would be a misuse of the term," I replied. "I'm simply paying attention to what's going on around me, that's all."
I didn't step closer until we were separated enough from the camp, so he spoke. "You know, I believe the Administratum might be the biggest problem for this whole campaign when you think about it. The way they're taking control of things that we conquer for them seems to, well, not be done right. See, the decision for the species that could either be brought under the heel of humanity or annihilated wholesale feels arbitrary under the Administratum, and well the only reason some are kept around is because the Emperor was personally involved in that decision. Sometimes the decision between what is considered human and what is considered Xenos gets completely chosen by the Mechanicum who have their hands deep into the Administratum. I worry that they'll cause the largest issue in the future."
"How so?" I asked, interested in where he was going with this.
"Well, I know your people believe in something called the All-Father, a spiritual being that protects the people of Fenris. I know that it also gets confused with the Emperor in some aspects, but the important part is that you have a spiritual belief. The same goes for some of our people. Some of us believe the Emperor is a being worth deifying, others at least acknowledge that he's extremely powerful and we should do our best to look to him in our life. The Mechanicum, though, believe differently. Some aspects of them believe he is some sort of prophet of their machine religion. I wonder, though, which of these three views of the world will be allowed to survive in the bureaucracy that is the Administratum."
"Bureaucracies, from what I've seen, don't exactly like having multiple choices and answers. They prefer a single answer, and they stick to it. So, which one is it? Is the Emperor some sort of spiritual deity from another plane? Is he just somebody to look up to? Or is he a prophet of the Mechanicum's God? Or is the Emperor exactly what he says, that he's just a man and that religious worship in any capacity is bad, which is laughable considering his allowance to your own people and the Mechanicum? You must have some areas he considers not worth pushing on, but will the Administratum abide by that?"
"You think the Administratum will make a choice and try to make everyone go by it even if it's not exactly what the Emperor means."
"Exactly. It's a simple worry but not impossible. They might again use the fact that they help the Administratum to assure that all other beliefs are put into a secondary class and be removed besides their own, simply using the dictates that the Emperor does not want religion as a tool to achieve it."
I nodded, "It's not an impossibility. The Mechanicum has quite an interesting path to getting followers. We used to have this order on our planet called the Iron Priests. They were simply learned men of metal who built armor and weapons. Though there was also some connection to this island of iron who had a bit more technology under their belt, they still do, though not as compared to what we have now thanks to the Imperium. Anyways, these Iron Priests have basically been almost absorbed into the Mechanicum's belief system. They still allow them to call their version of the Omnissiah the All-Father, but it's basically the Omnissiah in everything but words."
Kor nodded his head before saying, "Exactly, my concern is spreading their beliefs while the Emperor has simply said no beliefs is an obvious loophole. And why are they allowed to have such a loophole, I wonder."
"That's not hard to see," I said. "They provide the weapons, at least they do now."
"Oh?" Kor looked at me with interest, and I smiled, saying, "I don't know what the Emperor's plan is, but I know what my Primarch's plan is. From what I can understand, she likes redundancies, that's why she works with the leagues to get some supplies from them."
"I would assume though that plan is approved by the Emperor to some extent."
I smiled before replying "Better than just approved, Tanya has gotten express permission from both the Emperor and Malcador to ally and tie the Leagues as close to the Imperium as possible, if it so happens they would help us with our issues with the Administratum is just a benefit from our friendship"
"Hmm, that would make sense. The best way to try and control the bureaucracy, I guess, is to try and bring in more people from other factions, not let one faction have sole control over it. Although that'll be in the long term, it's still hard to say at this moment. After all, it seems like the Mechanicum has gotten their mechanical fingers into all aspects of the Administratum."
I nodded in agreement but said, "True, but they only have that now. There are other factions already trying to gain control. I'm not very familiar, though, with the politics of the core. I just pay attention to what happens on Fenris. Tanya sold the moon Svellgard to the Mechanicum so that she can get supplies as quickly as possible for her men. But on the other hand, she also let the leagues set up a colony in the under cities that have long since been abandoned by our people. I assume that Tanya has plans within those. The Emperor may imagine that it is a microscape of what should be happening in the Administratum as well, trying to balance out the different actions by bringing in different factions that give you options."
"She's playing a very interesting game of alliances there. From what I hear, the Mechanicum and the Leagues don't exactly get along very well. Too much overlap in what they can offer the Emperor. What's to prevent them from having some sort of conflict?"
I smiled before I said, "I would imagine the Space Marines are what's there to prevent the conflict between these manufacturers within the empire. The Emperor would make a decision on that as it happens and send his forces to what he determines should be the winner in this conflict. At least, that's what I would assume would happen. That's based on how Tanya has talked about this sort of stuff in the past."
"Oh, has Tanya theorized a conflict within the Imperium in the past?" he asked. I shrugged before saying, "She likes to theorize about every possible worst-case scenario during her drinking. One of the ones she's thought of and talked about while being drunk and debated heavily was the possibility of an internal civil war between the lower factions of the Imperium. Mechanicum against the league, the Imperialis Armada against rogue traders, issues with the Navigator houses fighting against each other, things like that."
"Well, that makes sense. Being prepared for outcomes before they happen does give you a bit of a head start." He looked out over the city and thought before asking, "Has she ever thought of a full civil war where factions that you've listed join together against other factions?"
I thought back on it before saying, "I don't think so. She doesn't think it would ever get that far. If one section went to war, every other one would come together to prevent that eventually, she believes at least."
"Hmm, interesting," Kor said. He didn't get to finish his thought as an intense wave of psychic energy washed out from the city. It felt like a psychic pulse was smashing into the camp, electrifying everything for a brief moment. In that moment, I felt wrong, as if the bonds that held me in my current form were weakened. I had to hold onto my staff and grit my teeth in pain as my body seemed to want to shift into something else. I swear I saw my left hand become less human and more canine for a moment, a familiar sight. But I gritted my teeth and held myself together until the sensation passed.
"What the hell was that?" Kor asked, looking a bit better than me. He must not have as much psychic potential or none at all. I never really knew if he'd had similar issues, but either way, he had felt something, that was for sure. I cleared my throat and tried to speak, but all that came out was a growl, causing me to clear it again. Kor looked at me, confused.
"Are you okay, my friend? You seem to have taken whatever that was harder than me," he said, putting his hand on my shoulder. It was an incredibly heavy thing to do, considering he was in Terminator armor and I was simply in power armor with a cape, holding onto the staff. I nodded my head in agreement, still trying to put myself back together. I felt as if the bonds holding me in my current shape had been weakened by whatever that attack was. But before I could say anything more, the sound of a gunshot rang through the camp.
Ahriman
Ark Reach II
Sitting on the edge of a cliff, I looked out at the city. For some reason, the people of this world had decided that the best place to build their capital was inside an ancient crater. This, of course, had benefits and drawbacks. The benefit was that if they could hold the outer walls of the crater, they had substantial protection. They simply needed to maintain a shield in the middle of the city, and the world would be protected.
The problem, of course, was that we had already destroyed their army. The Corvidae and I had been able to predict where they would hide their army and had waited for our troops to return. Thanks to our aid, we had been able to locate and destroy them, leaving this city with few defenses, except for its home guard and whatever units they hadn't taken with them—possibly even civilians. But what could they do? These people, these Phoenix King worshipers, seemed determined to die fighting for their king. It was almost admirable, but also a waste of life, considering there were many other things they could be doing.
I sighed and looked out over the city, wondering what they were up to. I could sense the magic they were gathering, the psychic forces being pulled for some reason. I had already given orders to the men to try and build some sort of barrier to defend against whatever attack they would launch. We would probably be able to absorb and dissipate their attack, allowing us to then push into their city when they were completely weakened. Afterwards, we could take the library that stored its unknown secrets and what these people were working on.
Well, hopefully, we would learn all those secrets. It was very likely that the library would have nothing new for us, but then again, there was some definite cross-contamination from the Eldar with these people. The Eldar's secrets of psychic abilities were mostly unknown to us. We had learned some, but not all. Their runecraft was a mystery we had only scratched the surface of, and fully understanding it would require access to their archives, which was unlikely to happen. The Eldar didn't like humanity from what we had seen. They had three, maybe four modes of operation: steal from us, enslave us, get out of our territory, and on a good day, trade—although they usually traded nothing of historic value, just trinkets for the rich and famous.
So, if perhaps this library held the archive we were looking for, or at least one more clue to that archive, it would be a significant step toward progressing our knowledge of the Warp. Someday, we might find a way to control it or at least guide it in directions that benefited the Imperium, preventing outcomes that had led to the decimation of the Federation of Humanity in the distant past.
My thoughts were interrupted as I heard the footsteps of someone approaching. Turning my helm's head, I saw Rune Priest Ohthere Wyrdmake coming in my direction. Without much preamble, I said, "Good day, Rune Priest Wyrdmake."
"Good day, Captain Ahriman," Ohthere Wyrdmake greeted me as he glanced beyond me at the battle that was starting to rage around the rim of the city. Our scouts had found entrances along the trader wall halfway, leading downwards into the city below. Some of them were straightforward roads, although they were closed off by heavy doors that were now being blown up and used to bring tanks down into the lower parts of the city. The depth of that city was still in question, considering that the central area was a built-up spire of a castle. All I could assume was that it wasn't too deep, but who knew? Until we cleared it out, it could be miles deep down there. People could have dug deep to preserve the beauty of the world around it, especially given the lower development outside this mega city.
I nodded and said, "Yes, I think with the help of your Primarch's men and the Word Bearers, we should have this city under our control within the week, assuming there are no surprises."
Rune Priest Wyrdmake nodded and replied, "Surprises are unsurprisingly common on this planet. So far, every time we think we understand them, they seem to pull out a new trick. The only constant is that we will deal with these surprises and move further into their territory, leaving them less room to pull off these tricks."
I agreed, adding, "That psychic energy they're developing right now has me worried. What do you think they're doing?"
The Rune Priest gazed into the distance before answering, "It could be a last desperate gamble, an attempt to drive us off. If they are anything like the Rangdan, perhaps they want to summon something from the Warp, some monstrosity. We Wolves of Fenris are used to dealing with such creatures, but these people have not acted like reasonable or unreasonable monsters. They've come up with strategies we have not seen before. So perhaps they are planning something else, some sort of direct attack on us."
I nodded in agreement and said, "They'll have no luck with that. Magnus's men are already deploying shields of psychic nature around this camp. It would require a force quite powerful to overwhelm us and break through that shield."
Ohthere Wyrdmake nodded back and remarked, "But it's not impossible. For all we know, they have powers we've yet to see, some weapon that could even penetrate the Wolf King's defenses. It's always wise to prepare for the unexpected. One of the many lessons the Wolf King has passed down to us."
I sighed and said, "True, we underestimated the enemy on Aghoru, and things definitely went wrong." I referenced the reason we had been delayed in arriving at this campaign. "Things seemed so simple when we set foot on Aghoru, so very simple. And then, a demon-infested Titan had been unleashed on the planet, and we had to fight to prevent it from destroying the entire world and our forces."
That's how I met the Rune Priest in question here. He had been with the expedition sent to get us to this conflict when we had started a conversation about the nature of psychic powers. It helped me understand a bit of how theirs work, which is why I was somewhat convinced that their runecraft was just some sort of limiting factor preventing unfettered use of the warp. It's possibly related to it, though I had no evidence of that. I haven't spoken to Magnus about my thoughts about it too deeply yet. I was waiting until I had more information. I didn't want to rush to any conclusions.
Shaking my head, I continued, "That thing was unexpected, whatever it was. That creature, a primordial monster of the warp, is an outlier, something that does not commonly happen. I doubt these people could summon something like that, even if they could."
"Are these things outliers?" the Rune Priest asked, looking out over the city. He continued, "We ran into things like that during our campaigns. I was involved in several of the hunts for those monsters. We were able to stop them before they could fully manifest in this plane of existence in most cases. I wonder about these creatures, how they come about, especially considering the stories of Morkai."
"Stories of what?" I asked, now interested in this turn of the conversation.
"Morkai, the wolf god of the Dead, a two-headed beast located somewhere under the mountains of Fenris. It guides the dead to the world beyond and is also supposedly the guardian that keeps the dead there. It's a legend, and you know how legends are. Though I've heard recently that there might be something more to it. Rumors suggest that the Wolf King defeated or struck a deal with this creature to prevent it from causing more harm to the people of Fenris."
I raised an eyebrow and asked, "Struck a deal? Can such a thing even exist? These creatures we ran into were intelligent, but they were not cognizant enough to make a deal, supposedly."
The Rune Priest raised an eyebrow in return and replied, "I don't know all the details. I was not there. I just know that there was a rumor during the operations to conquer the Fenrisian undercities, she may have run into Morkai and made it pledge allegiance to Fenris. If it's true, it's quite interesting. If not, well, it's just a story. And I'm sure you're familiar with these sorts of things. They go wrong in campaigns, with armies, and stories about our Primarchs sometimes get exaggerated. Of course, the ones I've always seen have always had a bit of a lick of truth to them."
I nodded in agreement before saying, "We have stories like that within our own Legion. I don't know if they're true or not, but there is a possibility. When we first found Magnus, we were suffering greatly from the affliction known as the flesh change. Some of our people would be corrupted into something not human, not even remotely, shivering fools. They were lucky; most likely not, they'd be left as a ball of tentacles or worse. Things were not looking great for our Legion, even with the incorporation of Magnus's fresh DNA into our stockpiles. But Magnus was determined to fix this, and well, they did. How is not exactly known, but there is some rumor that they may have struck a deal in the Warp to find the cure. I'm not sure if that's true or not. I do know that around the time we found something to stop this flesh change, they did lose an eye. So perhaps they simply lost it while looking too deep into the warp. It's hard to say."
"Hmm, a dangerous thing to try and barter with entities that live in the Warp," I replied. "I would believe then that you are right, that they delved into the warp looking for a way to prevent it and lost their eye for their troubles. Hello, if they did prevent any more of these flesh change afflictions you're worried about. But I guess it was a worthy trade. The knowledge to prevent it for an eye is a minor thing, really. There are legends of the All-Father giving up an eye for knowledge and wisdom."
I nodded and replied, "Your Primarch is a good one, I'll say that. They're willing to give up a part of themselves to try and cure your afflictions. They deserve all the loyalty you can give them."
I smiled in response before saying, "Thank you. I guess the same goes for your Primarch as well. They do seem to have a tendency to look out for the people of Fenris in general. If they did delve into the depths to fight some sort of creature and make it agree to stop causing problems for your people, then they must have a similar loyalty to their own folk."
He nodded in agreement, and we were about to continue our conversation when we felt a pulse of energy, something heavy and clawing, coming from the city. We both turned to look at it, wondering what was happening. Then, a massive wave of crushing energy smashed into everything around the city. The air felt heavy with psychic energy as the attack sizzled against the psychic shields that had been arranged there. The sky seemed to turn unusual shades of color under the assault, and I held tightly onto my staff as the attack continued.
I felt like the shield was going to break and wondered if I should try to add my own energy to the defenses. But I knew that would not help at all. Reinforcing something that had already been carefully crafted by those in charge of the operation could backfire greatly. Putting more psychic energy out like this was dangerous for everyone involved. This was the kind of thing that could turn this campaign into a disaster if not handled carefully. So, I waited and watched, holding onto the staff, as Ohthere Wyrdmake did the same, making a few runes out in front of him. I couldn't tell, but it seemed like he was creating a personal shield. After a bit, the wave of energy finally died down, and the shield held.
I turned to the Rune Priest and asked, "What the hell was that?"
He shook his head and replied, "I don't know. Whatever it was, it was much more powerful than I was expecting. We need to get into that city and crush the enemy as fast as possible. Who knows what else they're planning to unleash and what that could do to us if we had not had shields already up to defend this position."
I nodded and added, "Who knows what's already happened in positions that weren't as well defended. That felt like a wave of energy, not a targeted attack."
Then, Erebus approached, and I turned to him. He said, "I may not have the greatest psychic abilities, but even I could feel that. It felt like the whole universe was tilting."
I agreed, "We should probably get back to our Primarchs and find out what's going on, see what they know about it, and figure out how we can help. This war is not over yet. We need to get on the job as soon as possible to make sure whatever the hell that was doesn't happen again."
Ohthere nodded and turned before saying, "Agreed. And you are?"
Erebus nodded and extended his hand, saying, "Erebus, nice to meet you." I noticed that the Rune Priest shook his hand somewhat haphazardly, but I understood that me and Erebus had a pre-existing relationship and a small friendship due to our previous meetings during the encounter between Magnus and the Word Bearers. That we had struck up a kinship over our shared interest in research. If I didn't have that previous experience, I might have been a bit apprehensive about meeting someone with tattoos covering their face.
However, before I could dwell on that thought, a gunshot rang out in the direction of the Primarch's camp, grabbing everyone's attention. The Rune Priest asked, "What was that?" I didn't have an answer but started moving in the direction of the sound, with the two of them following closely behind me.
Magnus
"See, we have this situation completely under control," I said as I watched the battle unfold with one good eye. Soon, we would have the entire place surrounded, and with our combined forces, this war would come to an end. Then, we could move on to the next stage of the crusade, whatever that might be.
Lorgar nodded in agreement, saying, "We can also get to work rebuilding this society into something better than what it was. We'll take them from being these Phoenix King worshipers and turn them into proper servants of the Emperor."
Tanya chimed in, "Yeah, yeah," her attention somewhat distracted as she observed the battlefield through a pair of binoculars that someone had handed her. It seemed like a strange choice, considering our own physiology probably offered better visibility than those binoculars. Perhaps she simply enjoyed using technology or had poor eyesight. Each Primarch was unique, and that made it both interesting and sometimes challenging to understand one another.
I glanced back and noticed many of the Rune Priests and my fellow Thousand Sons working together to maintain a protective shield around our area, guarding against any potential psychic attacks. While I doubted the enemy possessed the ability to launch such attacks, safety was always a priority.
Turning to Tanya, I asked, "What's on your mind, sister? You seem preoccupied."
She nodded before replying, "What's on my mind is the fact that the enemy hasn't attacked us in force yet. We got lucky with your little precognitives over there detecting where they were hiding their army. But I highly doubt that was the only component of their force. I wouldn't store my entire army in one place, hoping the enemy drives by so I can spring an attack on their backlines. It just makes no sense."
Lorgar reassured her, "These Phoenix King worshipers are too self-absorbed. They would never come up with a better strategy than what they've shown. Worry not, sister, this is almost over."
Tanya lowered her binoculars and gave Lorgar a raised eyebrow before saying, "Being that self-certain is how you get ambushed by the unexpected. Always expect something to go wrong, and you won't be surprised. It's a thing to consider in the future, if you ask me, sister."
Lorgar cleared her throat before responding, "Perhaps you're right. Well, I'm quite determined that we'll complete this victory soon, and we can take a break from this conflict to discuss other things, like my book I'm working on."
I chuckled and patted the tome on my side, saying, "Ha, oh yes, your book. I've got several copies in existence now, and I keep updating it with new stuff as I find it. If you want, I can send one of the older copies to your ship when we're done here."
Lorgar was pleased and replied, "That would be wonderful. I'd love to read about the interesting Warp phenomena you've discovered."
"Make sure to send one over to me too," Tanya mused before adding, "I doubt I'll be able to integrate any of its mechanics into my own spellcraft, but it's always good to be learning about what exists in the realm of war magic."
I agreed, "Ha, always so practical. I'll make sure to send one over, and I'll even send one once we have their library deciphered. I can't wait to read what's hidden in those tomes."
Tanya emphasized the importance of being practical, saying, "Well, we've got to be practical; otherwise, we'll probably make mistakes. Plus, we've got to learn how some of this technology works. I still have no idea how the Astronomicon actually functions in some cases."
I proudly explained, "Oh, I know that one. The Astronomicon produces a warp signature that can be seen by any navigator and a few gifted individuals across the galaxy, allowing people to travel the stars."
Tanya raised a valid question, "If it's visible to anyone with psychic powers, doesn't that mean anything with Warp powers can see the Astronomicon?"
I paused to consider her point, rubbing my chin. It was indeed a good point that I hadn't thought about. If the warp signature could be seen by anything in the warp, including the primordial annihilators, that could pose a problem. It signaled to the entire galaxy where our home world was, potentially attracting dangerous entities. I decided I needed to discuss this with our father, the Emperor, as it was a concerning and potentially dangerous technology.
Outwardly, I nodded and said, "Hmm, I assume Father knows of that possibility. I'm not as familiar with this subject as I should be. I should ask him more when I have the chance."
Tanya agreed, saying, "I really should do the same. I wonder if we should probably set up more Astronomicons across the galaxy if we can. Relying on one point of failure... well, everything's going to look at that one point of failure."
The thought of the primordial annihilators targeting the Astronomicon sent a shiver down my spine. She was right; there needed to be redundancies in the system if we were to advance beyond this era and ensure humanity's continued progress in the galaxy.
I was about to ask her opinion on how we could create such devices when she turned to me and mentioned, "By the way, I've had time to talk to my men I sent to retrieve you for the siege here. They told me about that Titan on planet Aghoru."
I looked at her in confusion before recalling, "Oh, yes, that thing. Something had escaped from the Warp and found a body. But it was dealt with; there's nothing to worry about."
Tanya expressed her concern, "I think it's something to be concerned about. I mean, some of my men reported that it called itself a demon, and that's got me concerned."
"Demon?" Lorgar echoed, with growing concern.
Clearing my throat, I simply shrugged before saying, "On the planet Aghoru, we came across a Titan that had been infested by a warp entity. Who knows when and where it acquired this vessel, but we have dealt with it. Yes, I know it spoke of being a demon, but it is simply a primordial annihilator, a creature that is not very intelligent and came from the warp. Not too dissimilar from an enslaver."
Not exactly true; there were some differences between an enslaver and the Neverborn, but that was a story for another time. Many Astartes were around us, but most were too busy to pay attention to our conversation. I could feel that Tanya was ready to raise a silence field, as she had done before.
Tanya nodded before saying, "Well, I'm concerned about the fact that there is a creature that can possess objects like that. I know that there are stories from the fall that they could also possess people, and I'm simply concerned about these entities, especially the fact that they take the term 'demon' as their moniker," she said, snapping her fingers and bringing down a dome of silence around us three.
Clearing my throat, I said, "I don't see what's there to be so concerned about. They've claimed themselves to be demons, but that doesn't mean much. They are creatures of the warp that must be brought to heel by asserting control over the universe."
Tanya interrupted, asking, "Yes, well, I'm simply concerned that these things are trying to set themselves up as demons on principle. For instance, if demons exist, what are their angels, their counterparts? Obviously, that must be us, which would explain why the Emperor is apprehensive about the use of religion," she said, looking at Lorgar.
Lorgar raised an eyebrow before saying, "You did bring up before, the possibility that something could try and make itself the antithesis to the Emperor's positive influence. Is this what you're referring to? These warp entities?"
Tanya nodded before saying, "This is my concern, yes. If something sets itself up as the antithesis to the Emperor's positive, as you put it, then it can gain influence from that. Because these creatures, from what I can understand, do not care where the faith comes from, only that there is faith. Faith in the Emperor proves that there's faith in something that can fight the Emperor. There's something that the Emperor must fight, thus, in an around-about way, empowering the so-called 'evil' that the Emperor must fight."
I pondered this idea for a moment and then said, "Hmm, that seems a little out there, I will admit. I mean, I can see your point of view that any and all belief structures can be infiltrated by the creatures in the warp to take a place. But let's be serious here; I doubt it would be that successful of an operation. Nothing can defeat the Emperor, so anything posing itself to be the counter to the Emperor would always be defeated in the end."
Tanya responded, "And like a cheesy Saturday cartoon villain, they'd come back the next time," leaving Lorgar and me both somewhat puzzled and amused.
"All right, I forgot. Basically what I'm saying is, yes, anything that can place itself as the antithesis to the Emperor is going to fail eventually, but it doesn't need to succeed to win in this situation. It just needs to create enough strength so that it can survive its inevitable conflict with the Emperor, to come back another day. Imagine something that comes back every 10 or 20 years to cause trouble, avoids notice for as long as possible, building up its resources before taking an attack on the throne world."
"That seems unlikely," Lorgar said with a shake of her head. "Any villain that crosses blades with the Emperor would be defeated solely and removed from the board. There would be no ability for it to return."
"If they were human, you would be correct," I said before continuing. "But the primordial annihilators, the creatures that live in the warp, don't abide by the rules of the Materium; they abide by the rules of the Immaterium, which means they can be reborn in time as long as something believes in them. Tanya makes a good point here, something to keep in mind in future conflicts. If we ever run into these things in force, one or two enemies now and again is not hard to expect. But it's not impossible that these creatures may one day breach the veil between the material and the immaterial."
"It's not like it has not happened before. There were reports of breaches during the fall of the human federation, though this was mostly, I believe, due to the problems the Eldar created. It's not outside the possibility that something else could be created to break the material wall. And I would not be surprised, Lorgar, that the denizens of the Immaterium are not interested in the merging of our two realms. What that would do, I don't know, but yeah, I could believe it would be something they'd be interested in. After all, the material is made up of hopes and dreams and nightmares; everything there is simply a reflection of what's here. So if the reflection could be reflected back into here, it would create some sort of ever-growing monstrosity. Two mirrors reflecting each other, going on for eternity, creating worse and worse variances of each other's existence."
"That's horrible," Lorgar said, shaking her head, about to say something more when something changed.
All of a sudden, a wave of energy washed out from the city, battering the shields around us. I looked on in confusion, wondering what had unleashed such power as Tanya dropped the sound barrier.
"What's going on?" she called, drawing the notice of some of her Rune Priests who were trying to reinforce the shield.
"An enemy attack, Wolf King!" he called, only for the energy of the attack to grow exponentially, battering heavily against the shield and sending a few of the Rune Priests, as well as my own Thousand Sons, flying against the back wall. It looked like it might fail, so I added some of my energy to it, trying to keep it steady, noting Tanya doing the same. The attack was quite heavy and taxing, surprisingly enough. Thankfully, the shield held until the last moments of the attack, dying at the exact moment the attack ended.
I took a deep breath, wondering what the hell had just happened, only to hear a scream from within the group of the First Fellowship, one of my Thousand Sons. Looking in that direction, I wondered what had happened, only to feel my guts drop out of my stomach as I saw Hastar, one of my Marines, screaming as they ceased to be human.
Their bodies seemed to shift and shake, reconfiguring itself into a monstrosity of tentacles and other inhuman mutations. It was as if that person had come down with a case of the Flesh-Change. Could it have returned, I thought, or had this been some sort of overpowering event that simply triggered it? I thought I'd gotten rid of it all those years ago when I dealt with that thing in the warp. I started moving in the direction of the stricken Marine. Some of the other Marines around them pushed themselves away, some of them holding onto their chests as if they were feeling similar sensations. The fallen Marine lashed out and attacked a few comrades nearby, seeming to be losing control. Thankfully, those Marines were okay, with only some damage to their armor as they backed away, raising their staffs and weapons to defend themselves.
Recognizing the Marine based on the armor, I called, "Hastar, stop yourself now." Reaching out with my psychic powers to try and calm the thing that had once been Hastar, I could feel his soul still in there, dulled and tainted by whatever was happening to him. I tried to soothe it as the creature turned to face me, slowly and steadily stumbling towards me, its arms outstretched as if coming to give me a hug. I held out my arms, hoping to gain control over him.
Nothing about Hastar looked human anymore; he looked more like a denizen of the warp than a proud member of my Thousand Sons. But perhaps I could reverse this. After all, a warp attack could trigger this. I was not beyond the possibility that I could undo this taint that had created this monster. I simply needed to get it under control and put it back into the mental state of a proper Thousand Sons.
I heard someone yelling over my shoulder, but I tuned their voice out. I needed to use my abilities at full concentration to calm Hastar. I did not need someone distracting me.
It would take time, a long time to do, but it was possible. I simply needed to get him under control and back to Prospero. There, I would have the time and ability to do what was necessary.
There was that yelling again tilting my head back I saw it was from my sister Tanya "Magnus, I need you to listen to me right now, if you do not kill that man the rest of your Legion will suffer just like him"
I shook my head, absolute insanity. I had perfect control over this situation, she did not have the insight or the understanding of the Warp as I did, I was the one who made a deal to gain the knowledge and power to save my legion, I have done it before in the past and now I shall have to do it again, she just did not understand. "Now is not the time Tanya!" I said ignoring her, focusing back on Hastar. I continued to focus my psychic energies into stabilizing Hastar, but it wasn't working. I had to reign my emotions in otherwise the procedure could fail… yes if I calmed myself I could make this work all I nee-"Magnus! look at the bigger picture your men are suffering, you need to put him down before he infects the rest".AGAIN I already told her once to not interfere in things she did not understand, and those words 'put down', who did she think she was to command me and the affairs of my legion!
"Put him down! PUT HIM DOWN! This is a man!, not a dog of your legion NOW CEASE SISTER"
I would have to have a chat with her later but for now she needed to be silent, I let loose some of my presence and felt composed. Good it seems Tanya's emotions have calmed, now that distraction was out of the way I could finally get back to work.
Hastar's head exploded as a bolter round was fired from my right. Hastar's form crumbled apart into dust, and what was left of his soul fled into the Warp. I could feel his soul desperately reach out towards me and I could feel how it was ripped from my grasp by the taint as it was dragged beyond the veil of the material and into the immaterial. I could feel Hastar's warm blood on my face, dripping downwards onto the armor that had been given to me by the people aboard my ship. One of my sons was gone because someone had made a mistake.
My fist clenched heavily against my staff as I turned in the direction the shot had been fired, ready to unleash my wrath at whoever had done it, only to see that it was Tanya standing there. Her gun was still held up, pointing at the corpse. A scowl crossed her face, revealing some of her fangs, and a look of disgust.
"How dare you!" I called out, drawing upon the Warp energies and channeling them into my staff weapon. I felt myself growing taller, my normal height increasing with anger. I glared down at my sister with absolute wrath and fury while the very air started to twist and burn from my rage.
She had the gall to interfere, to usurp my authority with my legion, my Thousand Sons.Only I had authority over my Legion, no one else and definitely not her. I could feel the strong emotions of anger and bitter betrayal emanate from the rest of my Thousand Sons. There would be recompense for this betrayal and if I had to duel her to get it, I would gladly educate her as well. I raised my blade to challenge her only to falter at the look of confusion slowly creeping into her eyes..
Tanya Russ
That thing was not human. There was no other way to say it. Whatever it had been, it was not human. Yes, I could see some similarities between that creature and what had become of Lord Wolfen, but there were also some very severe differences.
Lord Wolfen had been self-contained. Yes, there was the possibility that he would go rampant, as that creature had done, but he was a singular entity. That creature was not.
I watched the taint of that creature being produced like some sort of pollen, and every Marine near him that had been attacked, including some of my own, seemed to be shaking as if fighting off some sort of infection. Whatever had happened to that marine was on the cusp of spreading like some sorta infectious mutagenic disease.
"Magnus kill that thing now!" I shouted, turning to look at them assuming they saw what I saw. Only to realize they did not. They were doing… exactly what I would do if I did not see the big picture, they were laser focused on the mutant not watching how their own men seemed to have their flesh bulge in areas or how my men who were near growling in pain and were falling to their knees pulling at their armor.
They were too focused on that one man, and were going to end up losing their entire legion at this rate if something wasn't done.
"Magnus! He is lost and if you do not kill him now more of your men will join him" I yelled but again I was ignored. What was worse was that the thing was not fully under Magnus's control as I saw its body's newly developed tentacle reach toward her direction in a crude facsimile of a hug. That thing was going to impale her and what would happen when that creature infected its psyker mutagenic disease into Magnus?
"Magnus I get your concern for your man but he is lost and needs to be put down for his own sake" she ignored me.
She did worse than ignore me, she waved me off so focused on what was in front of her she probably had no idea what I was saying.
"Magnus, I need you to listen to me right now, if you do not kill that man the rest of your Legion will suffer just like him" I intoned, Magnus only gave me the briefest of looks before turning back to the man "Now is not the time Tanya!".
I grimaced as I realized I wasn't getting through to him, I needed to approach this from a different angle "Magnus! Look at the bigger picture your men are suffering, you need to put him down before he infects the rest"
"Put him down! PUT HIM DOWN! This is a man!, not a dog of your legion NOW CEASE SISTER"
I felt a strong wave of pressure emanate from Magnus, this was not a good situation, I looked around and confirmed it more men from both sides were falling to their knees now. I resolved myself and drew Scornspitter.
Raising my bolt gun I aimed and pulled the trigger and like that the shaking of the space marines ended, the moment that creature died. I was left with the distinct impression that if I had not done it, more of the Thousand Sons would have turned into a thing like that creature. Possibly, some of my men would have suffered the same fate as Lord Wolfen. It had been a simple choice: that creature's life or the lives of my Marines, and I was going to choose my Marines over whatever that thing used to be.
Unfortunately, my decision to blow apart its skull with a shot from my weapon had angered my brother. Magnus, still in his female form, had gone full gigantic, looming over me with her polearm as if she were about ready to slash me down to my former size in my last life for killing a single Marine.
I knew I was not going to have a chance to explain my actions right away, as Magnus was in the moment, calling me a barbarian and a lunatic murderer, and other unflattering things. Still this reaction I expected when I pulled the trigger, what I didn't expect was how my men would react to it, I could feel their anger grow by each passing second, even worse I could see the Thousands sons starting to get more incensed with each accusation from Magnus. They were gathering all around, some behind Magnus and their fallen comrade, and others behind me, slowly forming two halves of a circle of men who were pretty much ready to fight each other over a dead man. I would need to say something soon before this could devolve any further.
Clearing my throat, I said, "Magnus, I apologize for acting without your permission, but perhaps you should calm yourself and take stock of the current situation, and let me explain my piece."
He laughed. It was cold and bitter, "Hah! An apology. Utterly ridiculous you tampered with my legion and murdered a man and you believe an apology is enough!"
"That thing was no longer a man, nor was it a member of your legion. I don't know if you were fully aware , but his eyes were dulled. Whatever intelligence was once there was gone, and it was at risk of doing much more than simply hurting members of the legions around it if I did not act then" I said, trying to be a bigger person in that moment, pulling myself up to my full height and bringing my gun down to holster it. I wasn't going to let my anger control me, unlike Magnus, who seemed to be full of fury at this moment. I was not going to let the fact that I was armed encourage anyone to start a fight between our two legions.
"I could still feel his soul inside of him. He was still there. It was possible to possibly bring him back from whatever that was." Magnus exclaimed angrily
Looking at Magnus, channeling my past experience from my life as a salaryman, I simply said," Apologies I did not know that, but still I did what needed to be done in that moment and in that moment unfortunately it required one of your son's death otherwise there would of been far more. The longer your man was alive and infected the higher the likelihood that would of spread beyond him and into the rest of the Legions, and that is an event I cannot allow to pass not just for my sake but for your own as well Magnus, One life to save the many even you must agree in that rationality"
"Impossible! That was a fluke, some sort of psychic spell backlash. It could not spread through my men," Magnus said, sounding insulted that I even suggested that it was possible.
I was a bit annoyed, though, because I had suggested that it was possible that it would spread throughout all our men, and they seemed to have been so pointedly worried about their own that they didn't give a damn about my own men possibly being turned into something. This caused me to narrow my eyes as I looked up at Magnus and said, "Believe whatever you wish to believe but not all of us can turn a blind eye to the situation."
Well, maybe throwing that insult was a bit much, but I thought that was more than warranted considering the spiel about me being a barbarian they had gone off on. Give as you receive, and all that. Hell, I would say that's what I really gave was a minor insult compared to being called a barbarian, and on some good days, I think being called a barbarian is kind of a permanent endearment, considering all the things my barbarians have done for the Imperium.
But Magnus was obviously not taking any of it. She looked ready to bring that polearm down on top of me, energy glowing around her, and her hair seemed to poof out with anger.
Thankfully, there was one person with a good head on their shoulders, as Lorgar stepped in between us, putting her hands on us to stop any fighting.
"Stop it, you two! You're acting like children!" she called, pushing us further apart before saying, "This was a psychic attack from the enemy; that is clear. What caused it is easy to understand. Why it resulted in that is a little bit harder, and its effects... can we at least acknowledge?" She said, looking at Magnus, "It was unexpected. You didn't know they could launch an attack, and you didn't know that they could do something like that to one of your men. How do you know that it couldn't do more than what you saw?"
Magnus bit her lip before letting out a sigh and decompressing, going from nearly 20 ft tall at this point back to her normal size. She breathed in slowly and said, "Yes, I guess you're right. I did underestimate the enemy. Still, I would think it would be important to speak on the matter before slaying one of my men."
"As I said, there was no time," I replied, folding my arms across my chest. I continued, "I needed to act before whatever that was spread to our men."
"Our?" Magnus asked, finally noticing the use of the word.
"Yeah, I noticed that too," Lorgar said, interrupting me before I could speak up. "Both your men and Tanya's men seem to react negatively when they were around the creature. None of my men, though. None of my men were nearby. It could have affected all of our legions for all we know," she mused.
"Your men were at risk," Magnus said, looking at me, seeming intrigued for reasons I didn't know. I simply nodded, saying, "I could sense the taint spreading, so I made the act necessary to stop said taint. I don't know what would have happened, but it would be better, I think, for everyone if it ended quicker. I am sorry, Magnus, that I was unable to inform you of my decision or what needed to be done in time for you to understand, but it was an act that needed to be done as quickly as possible to save as many lives as possible. I think you can agree to that, can't you?"
Magnus sighed before saying, "Yes, yes, I can agree to this. But we will have a conversation about this matter later, in privacy." She looked left and right at the gathered Marines who were watching the conversation, waving her hand as she said, "Get back out of here, get to work. We still have a war to win, and this conversation is over."
The Thousand Sons immediately started to file out, my own troops taking a bit longer until I gave them a wave. Before long, it was just the three of us, as Lorgar's men had stayed at a distance and filed out as both the other forces did.
Magnus looked at me before saying, "Sorry for calling you a barbarian. I was just upset. I did not like losing one of my few sons to this affliction that you saw."
"Affliction?" I said, raising an eyebrow. The way they said it implied that this was not just because of a warp attack. I looked at Lorgar, who bit her lip, seeming to know something I didn't. "What affliction?" I asked.
"As I said, this is a matter for privacy, something not talked about in the open and not on the planet controlled by the enemy. When this battle is over, and once we are back aboard our ships, I will discuss this more openly. Though I would like some information on why your men seem to be affected as well, Tanya."
I narrowed my eyes before saying, "Perhaps we can come to an information exchange, then. After all, who knows? Perhaps we can help each other in ways that we do not realize."
"Yes, yes, perhaps we can," Magnus said with a nod of her head. She turned to look at her fallen soldier again before saying, "But never do that again. It was my responsibility to put him down if it was necessary. "
I nodded before saying, "I understand Magnus, I'll try to do better next time. Also once again I am sorry that I needed to do that, but I do not regret my actions."
Magnus nodded her head, tapping her staff onto the ground a few times before looking at some distant Marines of her unit, calling them to bring a body bag and put Hastar in it. She instructed them to transport it back to Prospero for a proper internment.
"Yes, my Primarch," one of the Marines called as he gathered two others to find a body bag and get to work. Magnus watched them for a moment before saying, "And I'm sorry that I had to put you in the position where you needed to make that choice. Perhaps I should have done it myself right away, but for a moment, I thought maybe I could bring them back. I thought they possibly were still there, still in control more than they are now. I see that it is possible that I was a little too attached at that moment."
"It's all right, Magnus," Lorgar said. "We're all attached to our men. We put a lot of work into them, train them, get them ready for combat, and then work with them in our fights against the enemy. It's understandable to be locked on them and not want to lose them."
I nodded, saying, "You put a lot of investment into every single soldier you bring into combat. To lose one in front of you is a sorrowful event no matter how it's done. Sometimes it's better to lose several together because then they're just a statistic, and you can put it out of your mind for a bit. It'll catch up with you sooner or later."
Magnus agreed, saying, "True, very true, Tanya." She then sighed and said, "I need to get to work. We will talk later. Goodbye." With that, she walked away, leaving me and Lorgar behind.
Lorgar commented, "Well, that could have gone a lot worse."
I replied, "Oh, it's probably going to get a lot worse," looking towards the city. "Whatever attack they just launched just put their leadership and whoever did that on a kill list, as far as I'm concerned. I don't want anyone to have whatever power that was at their disposal within the Imperium."
Lorgar noted, "They just pushed you from 'Happy barbarian' to 'Emperor's executioner,' didn't they?"
I bit my lip, slightly annoyed at the title, before looking at her and saying, "Yes, they did."
Writers note
ff well that could gone… much worst… but hey they didn't kill each other i'm sure next chapter they will have nice long conversation. Or strangle each other… really could go eather way.Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
Edited by: John Mandrage, Golden
Community edited by:
Community editable doc (Chapter) No story suggestions in the community editing document, Keep all story suggestions and comments in the thread
Should probably be 'would summon'.
I for one would be very surprised if they were uninterested in merging the Immaterium and Materium.
Chapter 58, The Scorched Librarium
Chapter 58,The Scorched Librarium
Ark Reach Cluster
M30.886
Tanya Russ
Ark Reach I
"And another burning city to add to the list," I thought as the Rhino I was sitting atop slowly approached the former capital building of the last redoubt of the Ark Reach Cluster, the second planet and the final home of the Phoenix Kings.
The city was burning to some extent; the enemy had refused to surrender, so they'd done everything in their power to try and force a victory, including unleashing more waves of that disruptive psychic energy.
When the second psychic wave came, I had been very tempted to carve some powerful runes into the area around the city and just let them all freeze to death, but I had calmed myself, barely.
They were not finding as much success with their psychic attacks as they'd hoped. As far as I was aware, there had been at least four confirmed reports of individuals degrading and another several dozen reporting similar feelings of having their bodies almost reshaped by an animalistic urge to go in and hunt the bastards, particularly from the 13th Great Company. They had been hit the hardest, though some Rune Priests had also reported similar sensations.
Whatever the enemy had been attempting to achieve has failed. Mainly because every time they unleashed a wave of psychic nonsense to try and convert my men into monsters, they let us know where they were and we were well prepared with a counter. Over the years, one of the things that I had learned which was quite useful for dealing with psychic rituals was that it was quite difficult to focus on said rituals when you were busy trying not to die from a concentrated artillery bombardment, of course we made sure they wouldn't have a chance to start the ritual up again by sending in a squad or two of friendly Wolves for a quick visit.
Now came the worst part in taking a city: hunting down every active combatant that was still alive inside the city and to avoid killing all the civilians. But that was getting hard because most of the civilians had decided that we were monsters who needed to be slain and came at us with everything from laser rifles to sticks and stones.
It was rather annoying. We would have accepted surrenders, but whatever propaganda the Phoenix Kings fed to their people made that option unlikely, so there would probably be only a small percentage of survivors from this battle on the enemy's side.
We were taking losses, of course, but they were relatively minor in comparison to what we experienced during the heights of the Rangdan Crusade, or even fighting Orks. All in all, victory was assured, assuming that things didn't go sideways.
The Rhino I was sitting on came to a stop, and I looked up at the last bastion of the Phoenix Kings. Its outermost fortifications had already been penetrated, which most likely meant it would be over soon, as my Marines were already through the gatehouse. Further observing the battlefield there was a burnt out husk of a Rhino and other lighter vehicles by the gatehouse, implying that the enemy still had some heavy weapons left in reserve, but it wouldn't save them for long.
Getting off the Rhino, I considered ending things quickly and leading a quick assault against the remaining enemy forces. However, my eyes turned to my right quickly, noting that the library that Magnus wanted was here, as well as a contingent of Thousand Sons pushing down the road towards it. They would be here soon as well. Magnus had been understandably silent about what had been happening from their perspective over the last few days. Though I imagined Magnus was assisting their Thousand Sons in creating their own defensive measures in response to the psychic waves as well as a solution for those that were heavily affected by it.
On one hand I could personally go into the castle myself, and hunt down the bastards who ran the place, or I could let my men do it and establish their own honor and pride for the killing of the bastards, and in the meanwhile I can attempt to smooth things over with my brother. Looking at the approaching Thousand Sons I couldn't spot Magnus from this distance, so I couldn't tell if they were so pissed off with me they had gone back to their male form or were keeping the female form just to appease their original statements on the matter.
Turning to Freki and Geri, I said, "Stay." They nodded as they continued to sit on top of the Rhino next to where I had been sitting. With that, I started to move towards the incoming column of Thousand Sons. Some of my men, members of the Varagyr and the First Great Company, detached themselves from guarding the other Rhinos as they came up and moved to join me. I took up a position by the front door of the library and waited for Magnus to arrive.
From this angle, I also saw some Word Bearers moving down another road towards this direction. Most likely, all three legions would probably be here soon enough, though it looked like they were just a forward group, and not the main force of the Word Bearers.
The column of Thousand Sons finally arrived, and Magnus stepped out from behind a tank to look at me with an annoyed glance.
"What are you doing here, sister?" she said, sounding particularly spicy.
"Oh, just waiting to see what you discover inside" I said with a smile before stepping out of the way. "The library should be secure, but I can always detach my men to make sure no one gets in and out from any known entrances. That way we can ensure that no one but us two can explore it if you would."
Magnus raised an eyebrow before saying, "You want a private conversation, hmm? Well, I guess I can spare you a few minutes before I let my men tear this place apart for all the information we can gather. Men, join the wolves in their efforts to secure the library's outer perimeter."
"You heard my sister, men! Secure the perimeter," I called. Two formations of Space Marines got to work securing the perimeter, although I noticed that my wolves went to the western side, while Magnus's Thousand Sons secured the eastern side.
"You want to enter first?" I said, offering the honor.
"I think I will," Magnus said, stepping up the steps and pushing open the large doors into the building. I followed, closing the door firmly behind me.
Letting out a breath, I said, "Alright" turning to face the horizon, "Sorry again for killing Hastur, I truly believed that he was beyond saving."
"You believe they were beyond salvation?" Magnus said, looking off into the library before saying, "Nothing is truly guaranteed, there's always a chance."
I couldn't help but snicker. "How very heroic. I wish you were right, but I have a feeling that you would be proven wrong in that case."
"Hmph, we shall see sister. At any rate, what is this I hear about some of your men undergoing a similar problem?" Magnus said, turning on me, holding her arms under her chest as she continued, "The word I'm hearing is that several of your men have grown several inches in height from the psychic attacks they launched."
I nodded, looking around before noticing a countertop and took a seat on it. I took a deep breath, trying to figure out the best way to say this before diving in. "My legion has something called the Canis Helix. It's a possibly natural DNA alteration specific to my home world of Fenris. It is a curse and a blessing for my legion. A blessing in the form that it has made the creation of Space Marines easier. We don't need to start recruiting at a young age; adults can go through the process and have a better chance of surviving, with the proper treatment, of course. However, the curse has a chance of resulting in the individual losing their sanity and being reduced to a savage wolf-like creature, akin to the animals of our planet. Under the right conditions, I have those creatures dumped in the middle of the woods on Fenris to fend for themselves. Sometimes, very rarely, they manage to pull themselves back together and reintegrate back into civilization, and if it's possible, to continue their process of turning into a Space Marine. If not, they end up being involved in the military in one form or another, often taking a position in the Fenrisian Guard or in the Valkyrie support units."
"... Wait, aren't the Valkyries an all-female formation?" Magnus said in confusion, raising an eyebrow.
"Yep, they are indeed an all-female formation," I confirmed.
"Huh, but doesn't that mean... ohhhh, very interesting. So, it isn't just my Legion that's had issues in stability," Magnus said in thought before turning to me again. "We've had a similar issue that plagued the Thousand Sons in the past. Though I thought I'd solved it, but apparently, the solution I arrived at hasn't completely solved the problems that plagued us."
She bit her lip before continuing, "The Flesh Change, my men aren't exactly sure what causes it, the one thing we do know is that overusing our psychic power seems to be the most common stressor. I believed I had it under control through my experimentation, but apparently, there are weak points in it. Direct psychic attacks to force the Flesh Change is a problematic vector I didn't consider, as you saw. I know that Hastur probably wasn't even there mentally the moment he succumbed. I had seen other examples of Flesh Change victims; their minds gone, taken by insanity and reduced to nothing but soulless empty husks inhabiting broken and twisted flesh. But I didn't want to believe that what I had managed to do had failed."
She shook her red hair in annoyance before saying, "I'll need to run more experiments to figure out what's going wrong. Most likely it's nothing major, just a setback, but a minor one. I simply need to continue my work to find a proper cure for this change."
I responded, "Well, perhaps your first statement was correct. Using too much psychic power probably is not healthy, especially the way your men have been doing it, with unfettered use, not relying on runes or other foci to control and channel the power, instead just relying on your own mental strength and will."
She replied, "Well, yes, but the potential gains from using our own mental abilities to control the psychic power give us more power to use against the enemy. I've studied some runecraft, especially over the last few months since joining this campaign, and I will concede that while it does have some uses, it is far more limited in certain aspects."
I countered, "It's better to be limited and alive, so you can learn to get stronger, than to end up as a victim of your own hubris, I would think," I said matter-of-factly.
She considered this for a moment and then said, "That is a point, though I believe the pursuit of knowledge should not be so greatly limited."
I clarified, "I'm not talking about limiting the pursuit of knowledge, I'm talking about safety precautions to make sure that your pursuit doesn't end with your premature death. Early pioneering scientists didn't run the other way when performing experiments because they needed the cardio; they did it because they knew there was a good chance they would die if they stayed too close to the chemical or radioactive reactions they were dealing with."
Magnus sighed before saying, "Okay, I guess that does make some sense, unfortunately."
She shook her head and added, "I understand your point of view on this matter. Perhaps we need to come up with some sort of system to better facilitate the transfer of knowledge between our separate psychic forces, both within the legions and those outside the legions. Some sort of organization that each one can shape a little but allows us to gather our resources."
I chuckled at that, saying, "So basically, you want each legion to have access to a library and the ability to pull books from said library on our gathered psychic knowledge, as well as similar testing procedures. This way, we can better work together and try to come up with the best ways to use psychic powers."
"Hmmm," Magnus looked around the room before nodding, "a library or librarium might do it. Yes, I would need the other Primarchs to sign on to this plan, but that would be the first step – having a collective resource for which our psychics can gather information and find safer ways to use their powers. Those who cannot go too greatly should use runes, while those with the potential to go beyond can do so, and so forth."
I expressed my support, saying, "I support it. The safer we make the process of using psychic powers, the better they can be used for humanity, especially since there is some evidence that the Warp can affect things without using psychic powers, based solely on religious or culminated belief that people gather."
As if the mention of religion were some sort of summoning card, the doors next to us burst open as Lorgar stepped into the room. She looked to be covered in blood but was smiling. She said, "Sisters, I was told you were in here, so I thought I would join you. What were we discussing?" She laid her power mace by the door and added, "I'm hoping that you two have put aside that little incident earlier this week. After all, you haven't talked to each other in a week, and it was kind of annoying being the messenger girl between you two."
"Yes, we've come to an understanding on that," Magnus said with a nod. She continued, "Now, we're talking about the more esoteric aspects of the Warp, I believe, and how religion plays into its shaping and such."
"Oh, I love a good conversation about that," she said with a smile, taking a seat next to me. To my annoyance, I noted that she was an inch taller than me. How did that happen? I could have sworn we were of similar height, but I pushed that thought out of my mind. I couldn't be jealous of every other Primarch seeming to be growing, as I was already familiar with the mechanics. Just when I thought I was the most down-to-earth individual so far among the Primarchs, maybe Lorgar was the second most down-to-earth. It was an intriguing thought: the atheist and the religious were more down-to-earth than those willing to use psychic powers for their own gain or simply took too much pride in their conquest. It was a weird concept but interesting nonetheless.
"What exactly are we talking about when it comes to the Warp, religion, and psychic powers?" she asked. "I've been meaning to ask you about it since you seem to have more of a grasp on this whole concept. I stated we need religion simply because it helps humanity find a core to build around, a good brick to build society off of. But there are the dangers that you've mentioned, that the Warp can affect things."
I sighed before saying, "There's a statue of me on my planet. Not the most flattering structure, I will note, but it has become synonymous with fertility."
Magnus let out a laugh.
"It's my own fault," I continued. "I put in a lot of work to make Fenris a better planet and to produce enough population to not only support its own needs but also the legions. So, it's sort of my fault that I've become associated with growth of all sorts. This is then also strengthened by the fact that right next to said statue is a literal hospital to help women during pregnancy. Well, the question I've come to wonder is: Is this the result of all the science and progress made, or is it the collective thoughts of the people believing that the statue is helping make pregnancies easier, and so they leave tributes there, resulting in it actually happening? Because that's how the Warp sometimes works."
"Oh, unintended idolism slowly creating Warp effects. Now, that's interesting," Lorgar said. "Is it possible?" she asked, looking at Magnus.
Magnus nodded and said, "Not only is it possible, it's downright likely. The psychic individuals of our allegiance can create massive explosions, yes, but when the power of belief is harnessed and focused on something, the Warp will shape reality to make it sort of true."
"Which is why I'm worried about your ideas sister, when you keep talking about how we should view the Emperor as a god," I noted, adding, "If the effect of people believing my statue causes fertility, is true, what's to say the Warp won't affect us the same way if they start believing things about us? People believe the Emperor is a god, he becomes a god. What do we know about gods? Well, most of them have a cruel streak towards things that aren't their point of view."
"Oh, that's actually kind of a terrifying thought," Lorgar said, leaning back. "The concept of you could be shaped by the people around you into what they believe you should be. That's definitely one of the Emperor's concerns. Not exactly a fan of the whole religion thing, but he is a good example for people to look to when it comes to what it is to be human, after all."
"Have you ever heard of the concept of utopia?" I asked, looking at her.
"I think I'm familiar with that concept. It's the idea that there is a perfect world waiting for you at the end of a long, hard path."
"Exactly. Now, people are always striving for it, even though that concept seems to always elude the people who go for it. Do you know why that is?"
"Why?" Lorgar asked, intrigued by where I was going.
"Because it's unreachable. Whatever you think perfection is will change as you try to reach it. So, you'll change it again to reach it, and you'll just keep changing it. Some of the people who went on that journey with you will find that the new changes aren't what they signed up for and will fight against it, making it harder and making you want to change things again. It's an endless spiral of purity that ends with you never reaching what you planned to have, and most likely, an authoritarian nightmare."
"This is why he doesn't want anyone thinking of him as perfect or a god. A god is supposedly perfect. God will bring in Utopia. People must strive to make Utopia. Then you get into the problems of people basically purity-spiraling until about two thirds of the population is dead from starving to death because the farmer class decided to be anti-revolutionary."
Lorgar blinked at me, looking confused, and I realized I may have let a little of my anti-communism stance slip into my explanation.
"Was that a shot at communism?" Magnus asked, which surprised me, and I looked at her again.
"You know what communism is? I mean, I've been all over the galaxy so far, and I didn't think that ideology survived one bit."
"I ran across it in a book or two," Magnus explained. "It's always talked about as a possible ideology that could work, but every time I found every society that tried it, it usually ended up ruined or at the brink of collapse." she concluded, shaking her head.
"It sounds like about every system you Mon-Keigh come up with," came a female voice from further in the library, drawing all eyes in that direction. My hand went to Scornspitter as I wondered who the hell was in here with us.
The clacking of heels and the approaching shadow soon revealed an Eldar woman, standing at something like 7 to 8 feet tall. She approached, her helmet off, revealing a familiar face.
"You," I said, pointing at her with my open right hand, and she smiled.
"Oh yes, I remember you. You're the one who killed that Ork Warboss. The one that was convinced it was a Krork. That was fun," She said.
"Fun? How exactly is unleashing those monstrosities on the Wheel of Fire fun?"
"It got them removed," she replied, "and it showed me the mettle of your people. Do you know how many empires have tried to rebuild humanity in the last 5000 years? A lot more than you probably realize. If they can't handle something as simple as the Wheel of Fire, then there wasn't any reason for us to even look at them."
"Well, good for you. What are you doing here?"
"Sister, why are you asking the Eldar anything? Just blow her head off," Lorgar said, reaching towards the doorway where her mace lay.
"It would be pointless of you to try. After all, things are taking an unexpected path of our visions and expectations for this conflict. You're not supposed to be here for another hundred years, according to some of our wisest seers."
I blinked before saying, "You guys have future sight?"
"And the galaxy is many eons old, Mon-Keigh," the Eldar woman said with a nod before adding, "Yes, we have future sight. This world once belonged to a trade federation that had good relations with the old Aeldari Empire. That's why they have aped quite a lot of our culture, as you could say. Unfortunately for you, they also adopted quite a large bit of our stockpile of information that we, at the time, thought was good to share with your people—methods of controlling the Warp and such—before we realized we were mistaken in those beliefs."
"You mean before you accidentally created a Warp storm that was involved in ending the existence of the Human Federation and your own Empire?" Magnus pointed out.
"Yes, something like that. But can we not dredge up ancient woes? I mean, come on, you weren't even alive back then."
"Were you?" I asked.
"Haha, girls, girls, you know the saying 'a woman never tells you her age.'"
All three of us let out a groan of absolute pain at the comment that she let out. We all looked at each other with a frown of agreement that this was the most annoying statement she could have said before focusing back on her.
"Okay, so this was a world that traded with your ancient Eldar Empire. Cool. Why are you here?"
"Well, it's quite simple. In the visions my masters have seen, the Wolf and the Mage would come to blows, and the Wolf would burn down the library. The Wolf appears to not be doing that, which is a problem."
"And why is that?" I asked, adding, "Why would I even want to burn down this library? There are probably ancient secrets here that we can use to better humanity."
"Because there are ancient evils too. I guess I'll give you a little bit of interesting information since watching you try to figure out the intricacies of the Warp is akin to watching a child stumble around in the dark," she cleared her throat before continuing, "Every time you use a rune to do something, you empower that rune with a certain Warp existence. This doesn't mean much at first, but the longer and more consistently you do it, the stronger and more established that Warp presence gets, until eventually the difference between an empowered rune and a Warp demon starts breaking apart."
"You cannot create a Warp demon from a set of runes, that's insane," Magnus said, banging her staff on the ground.
"You can believe that or you can believe your eyes in the next 20 or 30 minutes. I believe the 'Phoenix King' , how presumptuous, has been evacuated to this very building, and he's looking for one last gambit to win this conflict."
"What do you mean?" I asked, standing back up and stepping forward.
The Eldar looked at me, specifically at my chest, before saying with what sounded like jealousy, "Have you gotten bigger?" Then she shook her head and continued, "Never mind. I mean it's quite simple. He is looking for a book, a book that has been used for generations to control the Warp. A book that was so powerful that if it were ever to be opened, it would just unleash a demon into whatever creature opened it. This is the concern that you probably have not realized yet. Building your safety nets out of runes will work for some time, but unless those runes are very strong, they will eventually become tainted with the Warp in one way or another—perhaps a demon, perhaps something else. Either way, unless he finds that book soon, you'll have a demon to fight. So, I would recommend you find him quickly. Or if you want, you could just light this place on fire, as the vision said you would. It would make everything much easier."
Magnus smashed their fist into the ground, saying, "We will not burn down this Temple of Knowledge. There is much we can learn from this, even if some of it apparently belongs to your ilk."
"Much of your knowledge belongs to us originally. I mean, yes, some of it might come from other sources, but there are quite a lot of similarities, I would say. After all, Little Miss Wolf's runes are very much derivative of Eldar runes."
Magnus looked at me, and I tried to explain, "I used what was already on Fenris. There's some evidence Fenris was once property of the Eldar."
"There's no 'once.' It was always the property of the Aeldari. We just lost track of it. As soon as we figure out where Fenris is, I will have to have some conversations about you taking one of our maiden worlds."
"Maiden worlds?" Lorgar said, tapping her cheek before saying, "Wait, aren't those the worlds that we just avoid for the most part because they're too harsh and are covered in primitive Eldar?"
"They're not primitives. They just like to be very down to earth and not go up into space like some of us. They figure the best way to avoid the failings of the Eldar Empire is to reject the Aeldari Empire in all its ways."
"Yeah, and what is your personal opinion on the other empires?" I asked. "I mean if we're going to be working with you on this little Phoenix King issue, perhaps you can explain to me why we should trust you."
"Well, for one, of all the other groups out there, mine has no problem with you taking over ownership of the Galaxy, as long as you leave us alone, let us do our little trade and floating about thing, and we'll just point you in the direction of any problem before it pops up."
"And your group is?" I asked, trying to clarify. After all, I kind of need to know a name in case I run into other groups.
"Craftworld Iyanden. We simply are trying to do the best for our people as we can. In these trying times of the post-empire age, we are not pirates like the Corsairs, and we are not devotees to the ancient empire like the Dark Eldar are becoming. We are simply Eldar."
"Meaning you have a high opinion of yourselves and a low opinion of us," Magnus pointed out, which got a chuckle from Lorgar.
"Yes, why else would I call you Mon-Keigh? But that's beyond the bounds of this conversation. If you're not going to hurry up and catch the Phoenix King, he's going to awaken the demon. I would hurry."
"All right fine, let's go," Magnus said, moving into the library. "I am not losing any of this knowledge."
Lorgar gave the Eldar a look of annoyance before following Magnus, leaving me alone with the Eldar for a moment. I started to walk before turning to the Eldar, saying, "By the way, a question. Why don't you deal with this if it's your ancient book that's fallen into the hands of the Phoenix Kings? If it's about to cause problems. Shouldn't you or one of your kin be the one taking care of it?"
"Oh, I wish I could. I really do, afterall it would be quite simple for me. But, think of this as another little test. After all, if you can't handle one little demon; how long would you be able to handle the real horrors waiting for you in the space beyond the world you know?"
"You do realize we fought the Rangda, right? Those Xenos are probably a lot worse than whatever this demon is you keep referring to."
I raised an eyebrow as she literally did that anime thing where they laughed while putting their hand backwards in front of their mouths.
"You have such a limited understanding, young one. There are things out there that will turn your hair white and then fall out because your face will be melting-off just from looking at it. But don't let me distract you. There's a demon here, and a little word to the wise: amongst its abilities is fire. So, if you want to keep the so-called mysteries of this library intact, you're going to have to kill it fast or kill the wielder before he unleashes it."
"Or," I said, tapping the communication device on my men of Fenris, "this place is about to get a lot hotter in here, and we don't want to lose any of the knowledge."
There was a response of, "Yes, Wolf King," so I was rather audible over the communication.
"Backup plan. That's one step in showing you have the abilities needed for this coming future, a lot better than what was predicted of you, that's for sure."
I pointed at her and said, "We're going to have a very deep talk about this future talk you keep bringing up, 'cause I want to know what you know."
"Defeat the demon, and if I'm still here, I may tell you a little tidbit of what I know."
I made a sound of annoyance before leaving, knowing very well that she would likely be gone by the time this was over.
I quickly caught up with Magnus and said, "You might want to have some of your men enter the facility to start collecting books. This enemy is fire-based, as 'Phoenix' would imply. We could lose some of the knowledge in the fight that's about to happen."
Magnus nodded before touching their wrists, sending a signal to their own men to get to work. Then, we moved on, trying to find our way through the library.
Traveling through the stacks of books was daunting. This place was basically a massive byzantium labyrinth that it's very possible a person could find themselves lost in here for the rest of their life. I estimated as we searched from one indistinct area to another, that trying to find the location of the last Phoenix King was going to be difficult using conventional methods, especially if he was moving around searching for their final trump card.
I stopped for a second to smell the air, relying more on the instincts and abilities that the Warp had given me to try and locate him instead of just looking and patience alone.
Now one would assume that I wouldn't be able to track the Phoenix King as they would be able to mask their Warp presence to blend in with their surroundings. But that would be an assumption that was wrong. Afterall books had a certain smell, one of old parchment, ink and leather. So, once you remove those variables, all you need to do is just look for something odd, unexpected, such as a lot of perfume. Now, I could recognise the scent of my two sisters, the distinct combination of perfume, sweat and their personal Warp signatures . No, the perfume that I smelt was fancy, the smell only found on gaudy nobility or in this case fake royalty with more money than sense.
"This way," I called, charging in the direction towards the back of the library stopping every now and then to reconfirm the scent trail, quickly finding a metal gate that had been closed and sealed up. I barrelled through it, sending the metal door bouncing down the hallway a bit as I kept moving, rounding a corner and finding the Phoenix King, a book already in his hands, open.
"You can't stop me, you monsters! I will save the Ark Reach Cluster! The people in this place will be reborn through me. Humanity will be saved, but the ancient teachings of the great Aeldari Empire will be saved, and you will be driven from the light of the world back into the dark reaches of barbarism where you belong."
I blinked before just raising Scornspitter and firing a bolt round through his chest, his cavity exploding outward and covering a bit of the forbidden book section that he was in with gore.
"Well, that was easy," Lorgar said as she came up behind me, followed by Magnus, the body falling to the ground and mumbling something as blood gushed from the wound.
"Too easy," Magnus warned, raising her polearm and watching the corpse.
"What? Do you really think the dead can come back to life?" Lorgar retorted.
At that statement, the corpse incinerated itself in flames as a flaming bird ripped itself from the body. It quickly grew larger, setting some of the books around it on fire and pushing the shelves out of their location to the left and right.
I gave Lorgar a quick exasperated look, which she returned with a sheepish pout.
"I have been reborn!" the creature called before looking at us and firing off a breath of flame directly at us. Magnus and I both raised our hands, creating shields and channeling the flame away and up into the roof.
Before going on the attack, I fired off Scornspitter repeatedly into the creature, while Magnus summoned powerful bolts of blue lightning from the air above her and sent it directly into the creature.
The creature moaned, emitting a pained bird-like cry before backing off.
"You creatures of the Anathema will not stop me," it called, grabbing a part of the bookcase and ripping it from the wall, throwing it at me.
Lorgar stepped in, smashing her mace into the thing and flinging it back at the creature.
It hit the creature and set itself aflame, but for the most part, did no damage.
"Okay, how do we kill this thing?" Lorgar asked as I aimed Scornspitter at it and unleashed all the bolts inside of it until the creature was forced to back up.
"Overwhelming force," Magnus called. "I've run into one or two of these things in the past. You have to just pummel it until it dies. It may seem hard, but it's how you make sure these things stay dead."
"Overwhelming force, not impossible," I said, reaching for Gungnir and readying the spear.
I quickly channeled a piercing spell into it before launching the spear into the creature. The point embedded itself deeply into the creature's chest, causing it to pause for a moment as it realized what had happened, before finally screaming in agony. Its clawed hands reached out, grabbing onto the walls of the bookshelves, burning through the volumes there as it tried to find some sort of leverage to pull the spear out of its chest.
"Now is our chance. It's distracted," I called, drawing Mjalnar and Krakenmaw and charging the thing, intending to put a frozen runeblade through its chest and turn this damn thing to ice.
The creature saw me coming and smashed its hand down onto the ground, yelling something I couldn't make out. It didn't sound like any language I knew, but it was probably a garbled mess of Low Gothic and pained screams.
Whatever it was, a wave of fire rushed out, smacking into all three of us and the walls, setting everything on fire.
Everything felt wrong as the flames engulfed me. I could feel the flames lick and burn my body of course but there was something else as the flame danced creating mesmerizing shapes and strange sounds, until eventually…
M**.***
Tanya Russ
*******
Instead of the battlefield I was in, there was another one, some other planet covered in pyramids stretching almost to the sky. In some places, they were beautiful architecture, though very Egyptian, not something I'd ever seen before. Around me was in contrast to the beauty I saw, as all around me was pure carnage as I saw my Wolves of Fenris fighting against the Thousand Sons. There was no quarter, no mercy on this battlefield as the two sides fought to see who could butcher the other wholesale first. Why this was happening was not apparent. All I could say with any clarification was that amongst the warriors of Fenris, there were women in gold, tall women taller than any woman who'd been given a treatment by the Valkyrie process or had failed the standard Fenrisian Gene-Seed implementation. They had strange bald heads except for a topknot of hair that flowed in the wind while carrying large execution-style swords. They were cutting their way through the Thousand Sons as if they were nothing. They seemed to cause some sort of disturbance amongst the Thousand Sons, as if their very presence weakened them and allowed the Wolves of Fenris to butcher them even easier.
"What the hell am I looking at?" I said, still feeling the flames burning all around me. As I tried to figure out when and where this was, the armor looked slightly different. Could this be a vision of the future? The Eldar had said that they had the ability to view the future. Though why did this Phoenix have the ability to force it on other people? A good question, one that I doubted the creature would be very kind in explaining itself as I murdered it. So, I took another step towards where I thought the creature was so I could kill it, trying to make my senses go beyond the fire that was burning at my hair and skin. Thank goodness Primarch skin was tough. I could just barely smell what I think might have been the creature about 30 paces in front of me. So, I continued to move in that general direction, holding tight to my sword, ignoring what my eyes were seeing as this combat continued.
"Magnus, come out here, you traitor!" came a voice from my right, forcing me to look in that direction out of sheer volume. I saw a man, the very same man I'd seen at the end of the Rangdan campaign, wild blonde hair blowing in the wind as he approached with several Fenris Wolves on what appeared to be some sort of central battlefield.
This man was definitely a Primarch by nature, just on size alone, much taller than I had ever been. But who the hell was he, and why was he calling out Magnus?
The question was not answered as the vision faded before my eyes, and a new one appeared, one of Lorgar smashing her mace into the face of the Phoenix creature. She was glowing gold with some unknown Warp power as she began to beat the damn beast into bloody chunks, screaming with anger as she did so.
I quickly reached out my hand, and Gungnir flew itself towards my hand. Behind me Magnus slowly stalked towards the downed Phoenix,,her face grim as she came up beside me channeling energy into her blade before delivering the coup de grace that caused the creature to explode into bloody chunks.
"Is it dead now?" Lorgar asked, holding her mace unsteadily, face tense and unnaturally pale.
"I believe so," I said before taking out my sword and casting a freezing spell on the larger corpse parts.
"But there's nothing wrong with doublechecking, is there?" I said, smashing the frozen chunks into red slush.
"Are you okay, Lorgar?" Magnus inquired, putting her hand on her shoulder. "You seem out of sorts."
"Yeah, I saw something, that's all," she said, patting her armor down to get some of the burnt debris off it. Thankfully, it would seem the architects had the foresight to install a proper fire suppression system, as they soon came on, flooding the area with artificial rain and putting the flames out.
"Seems like the lessons of Alexandria have been remembered," I noted, which got a nod from Magnus, then an odd look as she said, "How do you know about Alexandria?"
"I like to read," I said matter-of-factly, folding my arms.
"Hmm, well anyways, this is interesting," Magnus said, taking a knee to look at the remnants of the creature, poking and prodding it before saying, "Interesting, I've never come across this sort of creature before in life or in study. Perhaps there's something of substance to that Eldars idea, that words can give form to creatures infused too long."
"Yeah, that would make sense. I ran into similar creatures that don't exactly fit the standards of a regular Warp denizen if there even is such a thing. I think this would fall into the same category as the creatures found deep under the earth on Fenris, definitely Warp-touched but not themselves from the Warp, if you know what I mean. Probably affected by the Warp over a long period of time as well. So if animals can be affected by it, I guess it's possible for inanimate objects to be affected by the Warp running through them," I said, tilting my eyes to look at Gungnir, which I had laid against the nearby wall. "Considering that the Emperor has at least the knowledge and ability to create such Warp-based weaponry, I would say the Emperor is aware of this as well."
"Hmm, that's an annoying thought. I'd thought I learned everything from the Emperor," Magnus said, standing up and brushing herself off before adding, "Well, anyway good work Lorgar. Training yourself in spellcraft to empower your weapons with Warp energy so you could break through hardier magic defenses." Magnus gave a little clap. "Impressive. How long have you been working on that?"
"By faith, I wasn't," she said, looking at her still slightly glowing mace in wonder. "I just believed that if I stayed true to the Emperor, I would break through what I was seeing and smash that thing over the head, destroying it before it could cause any more harm to us or anyone else. It would seem I was right."
I raised an eyebrow before saying, "No training on either spellcraft or tech, and yet you still managed that. Magnus, you definitely need to get her a copy of your book, and perhaps one of mine on Fenrisian runes, because from my point of view, she is exactly at the start of her training, and just awoken her psychic potential for the first time."
"I agree," Magnus said, clapping her hands. "Oh, it's so good not to be the only one with Warp abilities. Finally, I knew the rest of us had the potential, but it will take time for some of us to adapt to use them. Who knew that just sending you to fight a demon would be the necessary requirement to push you beyond your limit and awaken your powers? We must get you well trained and make sure your mind is solid like a fortress. These creatures tend to find and exploit weaknesses in one's mentality."
"Solid like a fortress? I'm going to have to steal that for my book," Lorgar said as she leaned against a bookcase.
"Huh, no wait, there's something that could be good about her idea of making a book for the average citizen," I said, an idea starting to form in my mind. "If you say, impart the teachings on how to defend yourself from Warp manifestations in the writings of an average book, would that not help people in everyday life to avoid Warp manifestations? You don't have to give them the exact details on how the Warp works, just how to defend themselves from unwanted influences."
"Hmmm, there is an idea there,"Magnus said, tapping her chin. "We would need to be specific with what knowledge we place into the book along with the correct writing so that we get the correct lessons across, but there is something here that we can work on, something that could help the average citizen avoid this." Magnus noted, "make sure to send me a copy of your book when you get it done, Lorgar. I have an idea on what you could add to the text to help prospective psykers keep themselves from, well, becoming a problem."
"I'm not sure about that. My book is supposed to help you strengthen the soul, not cut yourself off from the Warp," Lorgar protested slightly. I cut her off before she could continue, "You already have to be careful with the way you're writing it because you don't want to make the Emperor come off as a god. If you were to have something in there that the Emperor would approve of, say the basics of protecting yourself against Warp body thievery, let's call it, Father may be more forgiving of the rest of the content of your book because at least it does something good for the people of the Imperium."
Lorgar nodded her head, finally seeming to come to an agreement on this idea. "You know, you have a point, sisters. I don't exactly like the idea of putting in content I'm not sure of, but perhaps I should become sure of it. As you said, you would love to send me books on your understanding of the Warp. Perhaps I can use that to make a stronger text, perhaps something that can protect people from these entities. What do we call them, anyways? The Emperor has always been vague on exactly what term he wants to use for them. I'm pretty sure he dislikes the term 'demon'."
"Primordial annihilators," Magnus affirmed. "I only used the word 'demon' because the Eldar used it, and well, we were dealing with what the other had started, so might as well use their term. But it is an agreement that we shouldn't use such terms that give these creatures power in some way. From what I understand, you think of the word 'demon,' you think of demons, you think of what you've seen in the history of the world when people talk about demons. This somehow strengthens these creatures, depending on which color they are."
"Hmm, again, then we have to make sure that whatever language is used in your book doesn't unintentionally empower any one of these Primordial Annihilators regardless of color," I pointed out. "Since we're all considering writing books. Maybe we should just make sure to co-author these books, send them around to each other, make sure that we aren't accidentally creating something that would, you know, go against the goals of the Imperium."
"I don't know about that, guys. It seems a bit unneeded. I think I know what I'm doing," Lorgar said, smiling, before Magnus shook her head.
"Don't think of it as if I was looking over your shoulders. She's also referring to my book, and I'm sure considering two of us are writing books, you'll probably take up a third, which means you'll have the ability to look over my book and her book. What would you make a book about, Tanya?"
I thought for a moment before saying, "Everything about the logistics of civilization. How to set up a prospering civilization from various stages of advancement. I think I'm pretty good at that, considering I took Fenris from something that was probably close to the Iron Age all the way to the verge of steam power before the Emperor showed up. Granted, I was probably going to have to steal that steam power, but hey, it would have worked out."
"Interesting thoughts. We should see about other Primarchs. I'm sure others have an interest in making their own books. Perhaps we should form a book club," Magnus laughed, and I joined in.
Lorgar smiled in agreement before saying, "All right, I'm in."
"Wonderful," Magnus said before adding, "Now we just need to find out who else is interested in trading books."
"It seems we're all decided," I said matter-of-factly, before adding, "Now that the fire is out, we should probably get back to categorizing the stuff and getting our men to get this stuff packed up to be shipped back up to your ship."
"Sounds like a plan," Magnus said.
Magnus the Red
Photep
I shivered as I moved through the ship towards my quarters, trying not to dwell on what I had seen in that brief flash, unleashed by that creature. Everything burned around me; a vision had unfolded in my mind. It depicted a battle between my Thousand Sons and white-armored Space Marines. I couldn't clearly see who they were; they were obscured by trench works dug deep into the earth, unleashing hell on the enemy, my men. But my men weren't all alone. There were also white and blue-armored Space Marines moving to the trenches, supporting my red-armored soldiers with proficient melee combat. I saw their symbol in the vision, but I didn't recognize it: a jaw biting down on a planet. There was no Legion with that marking, and so, I was confused. I had no idea why I had been shown such a thing. Worse yet, I recognized a few things about the planet we had been on.
It was not an unnamed planet, not a planet that had not been graced by the Imperial Glory. No, it was my homeworld, Prospero, wracked and aflame, pyramids collapsing in on each other under brutal orbital bombardment.
Some unknown fate awaited my homeworld, a fate that required the efforts of my own Legion and another, unfamiliar one to defend it. And in this vision, one Legion of one of my brothers was attacking. The only good news about that was that I was half sure this was just a fabricated dream, manipulated through time by the Primordial Annihilators to sow distrust. The Emperor had mentioned possibilities like this to me, that things like this could happen, that's why he had built such strong defenses against the Warp in his mind and tried to stay as calm and non-emotional as possible. If one could master their mind and emotions, they could control their fates and prevent the Warp from interfering with their plans, or so he said.
I had no reason not to believe him, but I also had no idea if I should be fearful of this dream being true or take it as a vision that would not come to pass. Either way, at this moment, there was no Legion with that emblem within the Imperium, no warriors wearing white and blue that I could recall. As long as that remained true, this dream was just a dream, a vision sent out by that creature to buy itself time as it recovered. I guessed it was always possible that there was more to it, that's what I even needed to be on the lookout for. Who were the Legions that attacked me? Who was the Legion that was defending me, and why did the attack happen?
Why did that attack happen? What had caused it? Those questions were going to haunt me for eternity, but there was not much I could do about that matter. Perhaps I was being a little bit too worried about it. Again, these were false visions, things that were probably going to be used by the Primordial Annihilators to try and break us apart. And again, what if the vision was of what the Annihilators wished for? What if they had already begun their influence operations to try and cause problems between the Legions? What if that was what they would eventually resort to?
Ah, I needed to meditate on this matter for a while. This campaign was over, and there were some cleanup operations that needed to be organized. Perhaps dividing these planets among the three of us and three to the Imperium would work; that had been discussed before our little dispute over my lost men. I knew they weren't the only ones; there had been a few others that I had to clean up. Not to mention, I needed to work on the newest portion of my book to spread information among the libraries on how to build librariums across all the legions. We needed to make sure this knowledge was not lost, and a way to ensure that it was not lost was to use Tanya's idea of creating redoubts of Human civilization on each of the Primarch's homeworld..
Perhaps this library should be not only a repository of psychic knowledge but also of knowledge about civilization. That way, each chapter could help rebuild civilization more effectively, drawing from the experiences of other chapters. A multi-role organization would probably be easier to present to the Emperor as well. Single-role organizations could become too devoted to their cause, whereas a multi-role approach would be more versatile and less likely to fall into blind adherence to previous works.
Maybe my brain was just tired from this long campaign and having to defend itself against psychic attacks. I needed some rest before I could tackle it this coming morning. For now, I pushed open my door and headed for bed, dropping into it. I figured I'd worry about changing back out of my power armor in the morning. Though before I could get too comfortable I pulled out a satchel on my side and placed it on my desk carefully so that I did not damage the gift Tanya had given me just before we parted ways. A small smile graced my lips as I pulled the gift out, they were a pair of sturdy fur lined wrist guards engraved with Fenrisian runes she enchanted that if channeled into they would provide a defensive shield, which was a simple but interesting use of runecraft to say the least, an example of Tanya's rune magic to study was priceless but it being useful was just an extra benefit.
Lorgar Aurelian
Fidelitas Lex
"Come out, traitor! I know you're in there!" That voice, filled with such hatred, sent a shiver down my spine. A hand bursted towards me through the wooden door like it was nothing but paper. That hand, no claw was barely human and more like the talons of a bird of prey, ripping at the wood in such a way that I knew there was a cold, deadly purpose behind that bestial visage. It continued chasing me through the dark dilapidated structure shouting curses and burning me with its red eyes filled with hatred. This monster was relentless, no matter where I ran it would find me so it could stab me, gut me and break me. The worst thing was I knew I could only run. There was no confrontation, no heroics, no chance to turn the tide, only two options to run or die.
I had mostly told the truth when I was asked about what I'd gone through with the Phoenix demon creature. Mostly, I left out any mentions of the vision, the dark creature trying to reach me from the blocked-off hallway. I kept that to myself because it had instilled such fear in me that I didn't know how to handle it. Me a Primarch; they were not supposed to feel fear. Yet here I was, shaking like a leaf in the wind. Why was I afraid? And… and why do I get an overwhelming sensation that the creature was right?
I shook my head, trying to dispel those thoughts. There was no reason to dwell on such things. The campaign was won; soon it would be under Imperium rule, and humanity could begin the work of converting the remains into something more suitable for the Imperium. At least that much was certain.
I wasn't exactly thrilled about the others wanting to interfere with my book. It was my book, my magnum opus and I should be allowed to write it the way I saw fit. However, I understood that my sisters only wanted to help, and perhaps another pair of eyes would catch any details that I might have missed. This book would be the greatest creation in the Imperium's history, and leaving it to chance that there might be some mistake due to my hubris was not something I could allow. Hubris was not the path I wanted to tread. After all, the Emperor didn't believe he could build and rule the Imperium on his own; he had gone out of his way to create the Primarchs to ensure its strength and longevity. Now, as one of his Primarchs, it was my duty – to build a book that would bind the Imperium together for all time, keeping it strong even in the darkest of days. Hopefully, I just had to find the right words so that the Emperor and time itself would accept it, and it could be spread among the people without issue.
My mind drifted back to that creature clawing at the door, swearing death and vengeance upon me for some unknown treachery. I shivered, trying to push the thought away. Whatever that thing was, it was probably a vision of lies sent to me by the creature, some falsehood implanted into my mind by that Phoenix. Right, besides, what creature could make a Primarch so afraid? Afterall, I had already seen some of the greatest monsters in the galaxy. There was no way any of these things could instill fear in me. Obviously, it was a fake, an illusion, some foul interpretation implanted in my mind to force me to feel fear. The only thing I could probably fear was one of my siblings, but they would not harm me . One of my siblings? No, stop, I would not entertain such a thought. None of us would be so craven enough to turn traitor.
No such thing could come to pass. No such lie would become reality. Shaking my head, I refocused on my writing, looking down at my book with a smile. I wrote down some of my thoughts in the notebook next to my main book. After all, it paid to get down exactly what you wanted to write first before putting it into the finished product.
I wondered what I could add to this work now that I knew a bit more about the understanding of the Warp. Were there certain symbols that could be used to draw power from the Warp and make the average person more likely to survive encounters with its creatures? Could you master faith in such a way that you could defend yourself against these monsters? That's an interesting notion. Reaching over, I grabbed Tanya's book of runes, looking through it. It was very mathematical, not really something you'd associate with faith, but there were a few interesting things. Several runes also had connections to words. Interestingly enough, a few of them were about protection from the darkness, protection from other things. If runes were a way to master faith in another way, perhaps if you implemented some of these runes into the book's iconography to represent the protection that the Emperor provided, it would grow in power and create stronger runes to protect the Empire from the things in the dark. I quickly scribbled down some symbols into my ledger and made a mental note to track down similar things from the other legions, protection runes or similar that they used. After all, if they were good for the legions, they were good for the average Imperial citizen, weren't they? Everyone could use a little protection from the darkness now and again. If this book was going to be the light that would reunite faith in humanity, pushing us forward into the new millennium with superiority over the darkness that came before it, then they needed as much protection and light as possible. Perhaps there's another word I should look for, more words about light and protection that I could slip in here and there. I don't want to overpopulate it, though. I'll need to narrow that down to some of the more important ones. Maybe a second book of supporting markers. That's a thought for another time. For now, I'll just finish translating the words that I found useful from this book. Tanya gave me access to the ledger, and I'll see what happens from there. It would still be years before this book would be ready for print, and I needed to make sure it was perfect. So, back to work I went.
Writers note: well interesting very interesting what does it all mean!!!! So many things… I guess let you all try to figure it out.
Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
Edited by: Helsted, golden
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Ark Reach Cluster
M30.886
Tanya Russ
Ark Reach I
"And another burning city to add to the list," I thought as the Rhino I was sitting atop slowly approached the former capital building of the last redoubt of the Ark Reach Cluster, the second planet and the final home of the Phoenix Kings.
The city was burning to some extent; the enemy had refused to surrender, so they'd done everything in their power to try and force a victory, including unleashing more waves of that disruptive psychic energy.
When the second psychic wave came, I had been very tempted to carve some powerful runes into the area around the city and just let them all freeze to death, but I had calmed myself, barely.
They were not finding as much success with their psychic attacks as they'd hoped. As far as I was aware, there had been at least four confirmed reports of individuals degrading and another several dozen reporting similar feelings of having their bodies almost reshaped by an animalistic urge to go in and hunt the bastards, particularly from the 13th Great Company. They had been hit the hardest, though some Rune Priests had also reported similar sensations.
Whatever the enemy had been attempting to achieve has failed. Mainly because every time they unleashed a wave of psychic nonsense to try and convert my men into monsters, they let us know where they were and we were well prepared with a counter. Over the years, one of the things that I had learned which was quite useful for dealing with psychic rituals was that it was quite difficult to focus on said rituals when you were busy trying not to die from a concentrated artillery bombardment, of course we made sure they wouldn't have a chance to start the ritual up again by sending in a squad or two of friendly Wolves for a quick visit.
Now came the worst part in taking a city: hunting down every active combatant that was still alive inside the city and to avoid killing all the civilians. But that was getting hard because most of the civilians had decided that we were monsters who needed to be slain and came at us with everything from laser rifles to sticks and stones.
It was rather annoying. We would have accepted surrenders, but whatever propaganda the Phoenix Kings fed to their people made that option unlikely, so there would probably be only a small percentage of survivors from this battle on the enemy's side.
We were taking losses, of course, but they were relatively minor in comparison to what we experienced during the heights of the Rangdan Crusade, or even fighting Orks. All in all, victory was assured, assuming that things didn't go sideways.
The Rhino I was sitting on came to a stop, and I looked up at the last bastion of the Phoenix Kings. Its outermost fortifications had already been penetrated, which most likely meant it would be over soon, as my Marines were already through the gatehouse. Further observing the battlefield there was a burnt out husk of a Rhino and other lighter vehicles by the gatehouse, implying that the enemy still had some heavy weapons left in reserve, but it wouldn't save them for long.
Getting off the Rhino, I considered ending things quickly and leading a quick assault against the remaining enemy forces. However, my eyes turned to my right quickly, noting that the library that Magnus wanted was here, as well as a contingent of Thousand Sons pushing down the road towards it. They would be here soon as well. Magnus had been understandably silent about what had been happening from their perspective over the last few days. Though I imagined Magnus was assisting their Thousand Sons in creating their own defensive measures in response to the psychic waves as well as a solution for those that were heavily affected by it.
On one hand I could personally go into the castle myself, and hunt down the bastards who ran the place, or I could let my men do it and establish their own honor and pride for the killing of the bastards, and in the meanwhile I can attempt to smooth things over with my brother. Looking at the approaching Thousand Sons I couldn't spot Magnus from this distance, so I couldn't tell if they were so pissed off with me they had gone back to their male form or were keeping the female form just to appease their original statements on the matter.
Turning to Freki and Geri, I said, "Stay." They nodded as they continued to sit on top of the Rhino next to where I had been sitting. With that, I started to move towards the incoming column of Thousand Sons. Some of my men, members of the Varagyr and the First Great Company, detached themselves from guarding the other Rhinos as they came up and moved to join me. I took up a position by the front door of the library and waited for Magnus to arrive.
From this angle, I also saw some Word Bearers moving down another road towards this direction. Most likely, all three legions would probably be here soon enough, though it looked like they were just a forward group, and not the main force of the Word Bearers.
The column of Thousand Sons finally arrived, and Magnus stepped out from behind a tank to look at me with an annoyed glance.
"What are you doing here, sister?" she said, sounding particularly spicy.
"Oh, just waiting to see what you discover inside" I said with a smile before stepping out of the way. "The library should be secure, but I can always detach my men to make sure no one gets in and out from any known entrances. That way we can ensure that no one but us two can explore it if you would."
Magnus raised an eyebrow before saying, "You want a private conversation, hmm? Well, I guess I can spare you a few minutes before I let my men tear this place apart for all the information we can gather. Men, join the wolves in their efforts to secure the library's outer perimeter."
"You heard my sister, men! Secure the perimeter," I called. Two formations of Space Marines got to work securing the perimeter, although I noticed that my wolves went to the western side, while Magnus's Thousand Sons secured the eastern side.
"You want to enter first?" I said, offering the honor.
"I think I will," Magnus said, stepping up the steps and pushing open the large doors into the building. I followed, closing the door firmly behind me.
Letting out a breath, I said, "Alright" turning to face the horizon, "Sorry again for killing Hastur, I truly believed that he was beyond saving."
"You believe they were beyond salvation?" Magnus said, looking off into the library before saying, "Nothing is truly guaranteed, there's always a chance."
I couldn't help but snicker. "How very heroic. I wish you were right, but I have a feeling that you would be proven wrong in that case."
"Hmph, we shall see sister. At any rate, what is this I hear about some of your men undergoing a similar problem?" Magnus said, turning on me, holding her arms under her chest as she continued, "The word I'm hearing is that several of your men have grown several inches in height from the psychic attacks they launched."
I nodded, looking around before noticing a countertop and took a seat on it. I took a deep breath, trying to figure out the best way to say this before diving in. "My legion has something called the Canis Helix. It's a possibly natural DNA alteration specific to my home world of Fenris. It is a curse and a blessing for my legion. A blessing in the form that it has made the creation of Space Marines easier. We don't need to start recruiting at a young age; adults can go through the process and have a better chance of surviving, with the proper treatment, of course. However, the curse has a chance of resulting in the individual losing their sanity and being reduced to a savage wolf-like creature, akin to the animals of our planet. Under the right conditions, I have those creatures dumped in the middle of the woods on Fenris to fend for themselves. Sometimes, very rarely, they manage to pull themselves back together and reintegrate back into civilization, and if it's possible, to continue their process of turning into a Space Marine. If not, they end up being involved in the military in one form or another, often taking a position in the Fenrisian Guard or in the Valkyrie support units."
"... Wait, aren't the Valkyries an all-female formation?" Magnus said in confusion, raising an eyebrow.
"Yep, they are indeed an all-female formation," I confirmed.
"Huh, but doesn't that mean... ohhhh, very interesting. So, it isn't just my Legion that's had issues in stability," Magnus said in thought before turning to me again. "We've had a similar issue that plagued the Thousand Sons in the past. Though I thought I'd solved it, but apparently, the solution I arrived at hasn't completely solved the problems that plagued us."
She bit her lip before continuing, "The Flesh Change, my men aren't exactly sure what causes it, the one thing we do know is that overusing our psychic power seems to be the most common stressor. I believed I had it under control through my experimentation, but apparently, there are weak points in it. Direct psychic attacks to force the Flesh Change is a problematic vector I didn't consider, as you saw. I know that Hastur probably wasn't even there mentally the moment he succumbed. I had seen other examples of Flesh Change victims; their minds gone, taken by insanity and reduced to nothing but soulless empty husks inhabiting broken and twisted flesh. But I didn't want to believe that what I had managed to do had failed."
She shook her red hair in annoyance before saying, "I'll need to run more experiments to figure out what's going wrong. Most likely it's nothing major, just a setback, but a minor one. I simply need to continue my work to find a proper cure for this change."
I responded, "Well, perhaps your first statement was correct. Using too much psychic power probably is not healthy, especially the way your men have been doing it, with unfettered use, not relying on runes or other foci to control and channel the power, instead just relying on your own mental strength and will."
She replied, "Well, yes, but the potential gains from using our own mental abilities to control the psychic power give us more power to use against the enemy. I've studied some runecraft, especially over the last few months since joining this campaign, and I will concede that while it does have some uses, it is far more limited in certain aspects."
I countered, "It's better to be limited and alive, so you can learn to get stronger, than to end up as a victim of your own hubris, I would think," I said matter-of-factly.
She considered this for a moment and then said, "That is a point, though I believe the pursuit of knowledge should not be so greatly limited."
I clarified, "I'm not talking about limiting the pursuit of knowledge, I'm talking about safety precautions to make sure that your pursuit doesn't end with your premature death. Early pioneering scientists didn't run the other way when performing experiments because they needed the cardio; they did it because they knew there was a good chance they would die if they stayed too close to the chemical or radioactive reactions they were dealing with."
Magnus sighed before saying, "Okay, I guess that does make some sense, unfortunately."
She shook her head and added, "I understand your point of view on this matter. Perhaps we need to come up with some sort of system to better facilitate the transfer of knowledge between our separate psychic forces, both within the legions and those outside the legions. Some sort of organization that each one can shape a little but allows us to gather our resources."
I chuckled at that, saying, "So basically, you want each legion to have access to a library and the ability to pull books from said library on our gathered psychic knowledge, as well as similar testing procedures. This way, we can better work together and try to come up with the best ways to use psychic powers."
"Hmmm," Magnus looked around the room before nodding, "a library or librarium might do it. Yes, I would need the other Primarchs to sign on to this plan, but that would be the first step – having a collective resource for which our psychics can gather information and find safer ways to use their powers. Those who cannot go too greatly should use runes, while those with the potential to go beyond can do so, and so forth."
I expressed my support, saying, "I support it. The safer we make the process of using psychic powers, the better they can be used for humanity, especially since there is some evidence that the Warp can affect things without using psychic powers, based solely on religious or culminated belief that people gather."
As if the mention of religion were some sort of summoning card, the doors next to us burst open as Lorgar stepped into the room. She looked to be covered in blood but was smiling. She said, "Sisters, I was told you were in here, so I thought I would join you. What were we discussing?" She laid her power mace by the door and added, "I'm hoping that you two have put aside that little incident earlier this week. After all, you haven't talked to each other in a week, and it was kind of annoying being the messenger girl between you two."
"Yes, we've come to an understanding on that," Magnus said with a nod. She continued, "Now, we're talking about the more esoteric aspects of the Warp, I believe, and how religion plays into its shaping and such."
"Oh, I love a good conversation about that," she said with a smile, taking a seat next to me. To my annoyance, I noted that she was an inch taller than me. How did that happen? I could have sworn we were of similar height, but I pushed that thought out of my mind. I couldn't be jealous of every other Primarch seeming to be growing, as I was already familiar with the mechanics. Just when I thought I was the most down-to-earth individual so far among the Primarchs, maybe Lorgar was the second most down-to-earth. It was an intriguing thought: the atheist and the religious were more down-to-earth than those willing to use psychic powers for their own gain or simply took too much pride in their conquest. It was a weird concept but interesting nonetheless.
"What exactly are we talking about when it comes to the Warp, religion, and psychic powers?" she asked. "I've been meaning to ask you about it since you seem to have more of a grasp on this whole concept. I stated we need religion simply because it helps humanity find a core to build around, a good brick to build society off of. But there are the dangers that you've mentioned, that the Warp can affect things."
I sighed before saying, "There's a statue of me on my planet. Not the most flattering structure, I will note, but it has become synonymous with fertility."
Magnus let out a laugh.
"It's my own fault," I continued. "I put in a lot of work to make Fenris a better planet and to produce enough population to not only support its own needs but also the legions. So, it's sort of my fault that I've become associated with growth of all sorts. This is then also strengthened by the fact that right next to said statue is a literal hospital to help women during pregnancy. Well, the question I've come to wonder is: Is this the result of all the science and progress made, or is it the collective thoughts of the people believing that the statue is helping make pregnancies easier, and so they leave tributes there, resulting in it actually happening? Because that's how the Warp sometimes works."
"Oh, unintended idolism slowly creating Warp effects. Now, that's interesting," Lorgar said. "Is it possible?" she asked, looking at Magnus.
Magnus nodded and said, "Not only is it possible, it's downright likely. The psychic individuals of our allegiance can create massive explosions, yes, but when the power of belief is harnessed and focused on something, the Warp will shape reality to make it sort of true."
"Which is why I'm worried about your ideas sister, when you keep talking about how we should view the Emperor as a god," I noted, adding, "If the effect of people believing my statue causes fertility, is true, what's to say the Warp won't affect us the same way if they start believing things about us? People believe the Emperor is a god, he becomes a god. What do we know about gods? Well, most of them have a cruel streak towards things that aren't their point of view."
"Oh, that's actually kind of a terrifying thought," Lorgar said, leaning back. "The concept of you could be shaped by the people around you into what they believe you should be. That's definitely one of the Emperor's concerns. Not exactly a fan of the whole religion thing, but he is a good example for people to look to when it comes to what it is to be human, after all."
"Have you ever heard of the concept of utopia?" I asked, looking at her.
"I think I'm familiar with that concept. It's the idea that there is a perfect world waiting for you at the end of a long, hard path."
"Exactly. Now, people are always striving for it, even though that concept seems to always elude the people who go for it. Do you know why that is?"
"Why?" Lorgar asked, intrigued by where I was going.
"Because it's unreachable. Whatever you think perfection is will change as you try to reach it. So, you'll change it again to reach it, and you'll just keep changing it. Some of the people who went on that journey with you will find that the new changes aren't what they signed up for and will fight against it, making it harder and making you want to change things again. It's an endless spiral of purity that ends with you never reaching what you planned to have, and most likely, an authoritarian nightmare."
"This is why he doesn't want anyone thinking of him as perfect or a god. A god is supposedly perfect. God will bring in Utopia. People must strive to make Utopia. Then you get into the problems of people basically purity-spiraling until about two thirds of the population is dead from starving to death because the farmer class decided to be anti-revolutionary."
Lorgar blinked at me, looking confused, and I realized I may have let a little of my anti-communism stance slip into my explanation.
"Was that a shot at communism?" Magnus asked, which surprised me, and I looked at her again.
"You know what communism is? I mean, I've been all over the galaxy so far, and I didn't think that ideology survived one bit."
"I ran across it in a book or two," Magnus explained. "It's always talked about as a possible ideology that could work, but every time I found every society that tried it, it usually ended up ruined or at the brink of collapse." she concluded, shaking her head.
"It sounds like about every system you Mon-Keigh come up with," came a female voice from further in the library, drawing all eyes in that direction. My hand went to Scornspitter as I wondered who the hell was in here with us.
The clacking of heels and the approaching shadow soon revealed an Eldar woman, standing at something like 7 to 8 feet tall. She approached, her helmet off, revealing a familiar face.
"You," I said, pointing at her with my open right hand, and she smiled.
"Oh yes, I remember you. You're the one who killed that Ork Warboss. The one that was convinced it was a Krork. That was fun," She said.
"Fun? How exactly is unleashing those monstrosities on the Wheel of Fire fun?"
"It got them removed," she replied, "and it showed me the mettle of your people. Do you know how many empires have tried to rebuild humanity in the last 5000 years? A lot more than you probably realize. If they can't handle something as simple as the Wheel of Fire, then there wasn't any reason for us to even look at them."
"Well, good for you. What are you doing here?"
"Sister, why are you asking the Eldar anything? Just blow her head off," Lorgar said, reaching towards the doorway where her mace lay.
"It would be pointless of you to try. After all, things are taking an unexpected path of our visions and expectations for this conflict. You're not supposed to be here for another hundred years, according to some of our wisest seers."
I blinked before saying, "You guys have future sight?"
"And the galaxy is many eons old, Mon-Keigh," the Eldar woman said with a nod before adding, "Yes, we have future sight. This world once belonged to a trade federation that had good relations with the old Aeldari Empire. That's why they have aped quite a lot of our culture, as you could say. Unfortunately for you, they also adopted quite a large bit of our stockpile of information that we, at the time, thought was good to share with your people—methods of controlling the Warp and such—before we realized we were mistaken in those beliefs."
"You mean before you accidentally created a Warp storm that was involved in ending the existence of the Human Federation and your own Empire?" Magnus pointed out.
"Yes, something like that. But can we not dredge up ancient woes? I mean, come on, you weren't even alive back then."
"Were you?" I asked.
"Haha, girls, girls, you know the saying 'a woman never tells you her age.'"
All three of us let out a groan of absolute pain at the comment that she let out. We all looked at each other with a frown of agreement that this was the most annoying statement she could have said before focusing back on her.
"Okay, so this was a world that traded with your ancient Eldar Empire. Cool. Why are you here?"
"Well, it's quite simple. In the visions my masters have seen, the Wolf and the Mage would come to blows, and the Wolf would burn down the library. The Wolf appears to not be doing that, which is a problem."
"And why is that?" I asked, adding, "Why would I even want to burn down this library? There are probably ancient secrets here that we can use to better humanity."
"Because there are ancient evils too. I guess I'll give you a little bit of interesting information since watching you try to figure out the intricacies of the Warp is akin to watching a child stumble around in the dark," she cleared her throat before continuing, "Every time you use a rune to do something, you empower that rune with a certain Warp existence. This doesn't mean much at first, but the longer and more consistently you do it, the stronger and more established that Warp presence gets, until eventually the difference between an empowered rune and a Warp demon starts breaking apart."
"You cannot create a Warp demon from a set of runes, that's insane," Magnus said, banging her staff on the ground.
"You can believe that or you can believe your eyes in the next 20 or 30 minutes. I believe the 'Phoenix King' , how presumptuous, has been evacuated to this very building, and he's looking for one last gambit to win this conflict."
"What do you mean?" I asked, standing back up and stepping forward.
The Eldar looked at me, specifically at my chest, before saying with what sounded like jealousy, "Have you gotten bigger?" Then she shook her head and continued, "Never mind. I mean it's quite simple. He is looking for a book, a book that has been used for generations to control the Warp. A book that was so powerful that if it were ever to be opened, it would just unleash a demon into whatever creature opened it. This is the concern that you probably have not realized yet. Building your safety nets out of runes will work for some time, but unless those runes are very strong, they will eventually become tainted with the Warp in one way or another—perhaps a demon, perhaps something else. Either way, unless he finds that book soon, you'll have a demon to fight. So, I would recommend you find him quickly. Or if you want, you could just light this place on fire, as the vision said you would. It would make everything much easier."
Magnus smashed their fist into the ground, saying, "We will not burn down this Temple of Knowledge. There is much we can learn from this, even if some of it apparently belongs to your ilk."
"Much of your knowledge belongs to us originally. I mean, yes, some of it might come from other sources, but there are quite a lot of similarities, I would say. After all, Little Miss Wolf's runes are very much derivative of Eldar runes."
Magnus looked at me, and I tried to explain, "I used what was already on Fenris. There's some evidence Fenris was once property of the Eldar."
"There's no 'once.' It was always the property of the Aeldari. We just lost track of it. As soon as we figure out where Fenris is, I will have to have some conversations about you taking one of our maiden worlds."
"Maiden worlds?" Lorgar said, tapping her cheek before saying, "Wait, aren't those the worlds that we just avoid for the most part because they're too harsh and are covered in primitive Eldar?"
"They're not primitives. They just like to be very down to earth and not go up into space like some of us. They figure the best way to avoid the failings of the Eldar Empire is to reject the Aeldari Empire in all its ways."
"Yeah, and what is your personal opinion on the other empires?" I asked. "I mean if we're going to be working with you on this little Phoenix King issue, perhaps you can explain to me why we should trust you."
"Well, for one, of all the other groups out there, mine has no problem with you taking over ownership of the Galaxy, as long as you leave us alone, let us do our little trade and floating about thing, and we'll just point you in the direction of any problem before it pops up."
"And your group is?" I asked, trying to clarify. After all, I kind of need to know a name in case I run into other groups.
"Craftworld Iyanden. We simply are trying to do the best for our people as we can. In these trying times of the post-empire age, we are not pirates like the Corsairs, and we are not devotees to the ancient empire like the Dark Eldar are becoming. We are simply Eldar."
"Meaning you have a high opinion of yourselves and a low opinion of us," Magnus pointed out, which got a chuckle from Lorgar.
"Yes, why else would I call you Mon-Keigh? But that's beyond the bounds of this conversation. If you're not going to hurry up and catch the Phoenix King, he's going to awaken the demon. I would hurry."
"All right fine, let's go," Magnus said, moving into the library. "I am not losing any of this knowledge."
Lorgar gave the Eldar a look of annoyance before following Magnus, leaving me alone with the Eldar for a moment. I started to walk before turning to the Eldar, saying, "By the way, a question. Why don't you deal with this if it's your ancient book that's fallen into the hands of the Phoenix Kings? If it's about to cause problems. Shouldn't you or one of your kin be the one taking care of it?"
"Oh, I wish I could. I really do, afterall it would be quite simple for me. But, think of this as another little test. After all, if you can't handle one little demon; how long would you be able to handle the real horrors waiting for you in the space beyond the world you know?"
"You do realize we fought the Rangda, right? Those Xenos are probably a lot worse than whatever this demon is you keep referring to."
I raised an eyebrow as she literally did that anime thing where they laughed while putting their hand backwards in front of their mouths.
"You have such a limited understanding, young one. There are things out there that will turn your hair white and then fall out because your face will be melting-off just from looking at it. But don't let me distract you. There's a demon here, and a little word to the wise: amongst its abilities is fire. So, if you want to keep the so-called mysteries of this library intact, you're going to have to kill it fast or kill the wielder before he unleashes it."
"Or," I said, tapping the communication device on my men of Fenris, "this place is about to get a lot hotter in here, and we don't want to lose any of the knowledge."
There was a response of, "Yes, Wolf King," so I was rather audible over the communication.
"Backup plan. That's one step in showing you have the abilities needed for this coming future, a lot better than what was predicted of you, that's for sure."
I pointed at her and said, "We're going to have a very deep talk about this future talk you keep bringing up, 'cause I want to know what you know."
"Defeat the demon, and if I'm still here, I may tell you a little tidbit of what I know."
I made a sound of annoyance before leaving, knowing very well that she would likely be gone by the time this was over.
I quickly caught up with Magnus and said, "You might want to have some of your men enter the facility to start collecting books. This enemy is fire-based, as 'Phoenix' would imply. We could lose some of the knowledge in the fight that's about to happen."
Magnus nodded before touching their wrists, sending a signal to their own men to get to work. Then, we moved on, trying to find our way through the library.
Traveling through the stacks of books was daunting. This place was basically a massive byzantium labyrinth that it's very possible a person could find themselves lost in here for the rest of their life. I estimated as we searched from one indistinct area to another, that trying to find the location of the last Phoenix King was going to be difficult using conventional methods, especially if he was moving around searching for their final trump card.
I stopped for a second to smell the air, relying more on the instincts and abilities that the Warp had given me to try and locate him instead of just looking and patience alone.
Now one would assume that I wouldn't be able to track the Phoenix King as they would be able to mask their Warp presence to blend in with their surroundings. But that would be an assumption that was wrong. Afterall books had a certain smell, one of old parchment, ink and leather. So, once you remove those variables, all you need to do is just look for something odd, unexpected, such as a lot of perfume. Now, I could recognise the scent of my two sisters, the distinct combination of perfume, sweat and their personal Warp signatures . No, the perfume that I smelt was fancy, the smell only found on gaudy nobility or in this case fake royalty with more money than sense.
"This way," I called, charging in the direction towards the back of the library stopping every now and then to reconfirm the scent trail, quickly finding a metal gate that had been closed and sealed up. I barrelled through it, sending the metal door bouncing down the hallway a bit as I kept moving, rounding a corner and finding the Phoenix King, a book already in his hands, open.
"You can't stop me, you monsters! I will save the Ark Reach Cluster! The people in this place will be reborn through me. Humanity will be saved, but the ancient teachings of the great Aeldari Empire will be saved, and you will be driven from the light of the world back into the dark reaches of barbarism where you belong."
I blinked before just raising Scornspitter and firing a bolt round through his chest, his cavity exploding outward and covering a bit of the forbidden book section that he was in with gore.
"Well, that was easy," Lorgar said as she came up behind me, followed by Magnus, the body falling to the ground and mumbling something as blood gushed from the wound.
"Too easy," Magnus warned, raising her polearm and watching the corpse.
"What? Do you really think the dead can come back to life?" Lorgar retorted.
At that statement, the corpse incinerated itself in flames as a flaming bird ripped itself from the body. It quickly grew larger, setting some of the books around it on fire and pushing the shelves out of their location to the left and right.
I gave Lorgar a quick exasperated look, which she returned with a sheepish pout.
"I have been reborn!" the creature called before looking at us and firing off a breath of flame directly at us. Magnus and I both raised our hands, creating shields and channeling the flame away and up into the roof.
Before going on the attack, I fired off Scornspitter repeatedly into the creature, while Magnus summoned powerful bolts of blue lightning from the air above her and sent it directly into the creature.
The creature moaned, emitting a pained bird-like cry before backing off.
"You creatures of the Anathema will not stop me," it called, grabbing a part of the bookcase and ripping it from the wall, throwing it at me.
Lorgar stepped in, smashing her mace into the thing and flinging it back at the creature.
It hit the creature and set itself aflame, but for the most part, did no damage.
"Okay, how do we kill this thing?" Lorgar asked as I aimed Scornspitter at it and unleashed all the bolts inside of it until the creature was forced to back up.
"Overwhelming force," Magnus called. "I've run into one or two of these things in the past. You have to just pummel it until it dies. It may seem hard, but it's how you make sure these things stay dead."
"Overwhelming force, not impossible," I said, reaching for Gungnir and readying the spear.
I quickly channeled a piercing spell into it before launching the spear into the creature. The point embedded itself deeply into the creature's chest, causing it to pause for a moment as it realized what had happened, before finally screaming in agony. Its clawed hands reached out, grabbing onto the walls of the bookshelves, burning through the volumes there as it tried to find some sort of leverage to pull the spear out of its chest.
"Now is our chance. It's distracted," I called, drawing Mjalnar and Krakenmaw and charging the thing, intending to put a frozen runeblade through its chest and turn this damn thing to ice.
The creature saw me coming and smashed its hand down onto the ground, yelling something I couldn't make out. It didn't sound like any language I knew, but it was probably a garbled mess of Low Gothic and pained screams.
Whatever it was, a wave of fire rushed out, smacking into all three of us and the walls, setting everything on fire.
Everything felt wrong as the flames engulfed me. I could feel the flames lick and burn my body of course but there was something else as the flame danced creating mesmerizing shapes and strange sounds, until eventually…
M**.***
Tanya Russ
*******
Instead of the battlefield I was in, there was another one, some other planet covered in pyramids stretching almost to the sky. In some places, they were beautiful architecture, though very Egyptian, not something I'd ever seen before. Around me was in contrast to the beauty I saw, as all around me was pure carnage as I saw my Wolves of Fenris fighting against the Thousand Sons. There was no quarter, no mercy on this battlefield as the two sides fought to see who could butcher the other wholesale first. Why this was happening was not apparent. All I could say with any clarification was that amongst the warriors of Fenris, there were women in gold, tall women taller than any woman who'd been given a treatment by the Valkyrie process or had failed the standard Fenrisian Gene-Seed implementation. They had strange bald heads except for a topknot of hair that flowed in the wind while carrying large execution-style swords. They were cutting their way through the Thousand Sons as if they were nothing. They seemed to cause some sort of disturbance amongst the Thousand Sons, as if their very presence weakened them and allowed the Wolves of Fenris to butcher them even easier.
"What the hell am I looking at?" I said, still feeling the flames burning all around me. As I tried to figure out when and where this was, the armor looked slightly different. Could this be a vision of the future? The Eldar had said that they had the ability to view the future. Though why did this Phoenix have the ability to force it on other people? A good question, one that I doubted the creature would be very kind in explaining itself as I murdered it. So, I took another step towards where I thought the creature was so I could kill it, trying to make my senses go beyond the fire that was burning at my hair and skin. Thank goodness Primarch skin was tough. I could just barely smell what I think might have been the creature about 30 paces in front of me. So, I continued to move in that general direction, holding tight to my sword, ignoring what my eyes were seeing as this combat continued.
"Magnus, come out here, you traitor!" came a voice from my right, forcing me to look in that direction out of sheer volume. I saw a man, the very same man I'd seen at the end of the Rangdan campaign, wild blonde hair blowing in the wind as he approached with several Fenris Wolves on what appeared to be some sort of central battlefield.
This man was definitely a Primarch by nature, just on size alone, much taller than I had ever been. But who the hell was he, and why was he calling out Magnus?
The question was not answered as the vision faded before my eyes, and a new one appeared, one of Lorgar smashing her mace into the face of the Phoenix creature. She was glowing gold with some unknown Warp power as she began to beat the damn beast into bloody chunks, screaming with anger as she did so.
I quickly reached out my hand, and Gungnir flew itself towards my hand. Behind me Magnus slowly stalked towards the downed Phoenix,,her face grim as she came up beside me channeling energy into her blade before delivering the coup de grace that caused the creature to explode into bloody chunks.
"Is it dead now?" Lorgar asked, holding her mace unsteadily, face tense and unnaturally pale.
"I believe so," I said before taking out my sword and casting a freezing spell on the larger corpse parts.
"But there's nothing wrong with doublechecking, is there?" I said, smashing the frozen chunks into red slush.
"Are you okay, Lorgar?" Magnus inquired, putting her hand on her shoulder. "You seem out of sorts."
"Yeah, I saw something, that's all," she said, patting her armor down to get some of the burnt debris off it. Thankfully, it would seem the architects had the foresight to install a proper fire suppression system, as they soon came on, flooding the area with artificial rain and putting the flames out.
"Seems like the lessons of Alexandria have been remembered," I noted, which got a nod from Magnus, then an odd look as she said, "How do you know about Alexandria?"
"I like to read," I said matter-of-factly, folding my arms.
"Hmm, well anyways, this is interesting," Magnus said, taking a knee to look at the remnants of the creature, poking and prodding it before saying, "Interesting, I've never come across this sort of creature before in life or in study. Perhaps there's something of substance to that Eldars idea, that words can give form to creatures infused too long."
"Yeah, that would make sense. I ran into similar creatures that don't exactly fit the standards of a regular Warp denizen if there even is such a thing. I think this would fall into the same category as the creatures found deep under the earth on Fenris, definitely Warp-touched but not themselves from the Warp, if you know what I mean. Probably affected by the Warp over a long period of time as well. So if animals can be affected by it, I guess it's possible for inanimate objects to be affected by the Warp running through them," I said, tilting my eyes to look at Gungnir, which I had laid against the nearby wall. "Considering that the Emperor has at least the knowledge and ability to create such Warp-based weaponry, I would say the Emperor is aware of this as well."
"Hmm, that's an annoying thought. I'd thought I learned everything from the Emperor," Magnus said, standing up and brushing herself off before adding, "Well, anyway good work Lorgar. Training yourself in spellcraft to empower your weapons with Warp energy so you could break through hardier magic defenses." Magnus gave a little clap. "Impressive. How long have you been working on that?"
"By faith, I wasn't," she said, looking at her still slightly glowing mace in wonder. "I just believed that if I stayed true to the Emperor, I would break through what I was seeing and smash that thing over the head, destroying it before it could cause any more harm to us or anyone else. It would seem I was right."
I raised an eyebrow before saying, "No training on either spellcraft or tech, and yet you still managed that. Magnus, you definitely need to get her a copy of your book, and perhaps one of mine on Fenrisian runes, because from my point of view, she is exactly at the start of her training, and just awoken her psychic potential for the first time."
"I agree," Magnus said, clapping her hands. "Oh, it's so good not to be the only one with Warp abilities. Finally, I knew the rest of us had the potential, but it will take time for some of us to adapt to use them. Who knew that just sending you to fight a demon would be the necessary requirement to push you beyond your limit and awaken your powers? We must get you well trained and make sure your mind is solid like a fortress. These creatures tend to find and exploit weaknesses in one's mentality."
"Solid like a fortress? I'm going to have to steal that for my book," Lorgar said as she leaned against a bookcase.
"Huh, no wait, there's something that could be good about her idea of making a book for the average citizen," I said, an idea starting to form in my mind. "If you say, impart the teachings on how to defend yourself from Warp manifestations in the writings of an average book, would that not help people in everyday life to avoid Warp manifestations? You don't have to give them the exact details on how the Warp works, just how to defend themselves from unwanted influences."
"Hmmm, there is an idea there,"Magnus said, tapping her chin. "We would need to be specific with what knowledge we place into the book along with the correct writing so that we get the correct lessons across, but there is something here that we can work on, something that could help the average citizen avoid this." Magnus noted, "make sure to send me a copy of your book when you get it done, Lorgar. I have an idea on what you could add to the text to help prospective psykers keep themselves from, well, becoming a problem."
"I'm not sure about that. My book is supposed to help you strengthen the soul, not cut yourself off from the Warp," Lorgar protested slightly. I cut her off before she could continue, "You already have to be careful with the way you're writing it because you don't want to make the Emperor come off as a god. If you were to have something in there that the Emperor would approve of, say the basics of protecting yourself against Warp body thievery, let's call it, Father may be more forgiving of the rest of the content of your book because at least it does something good for the people of the Imperium."
Lorgar nodded her head, finally seeming to come to an agreement on this idea. "You know, you have a point, sisters. I don't exactly like the idea of putting in content I'm not sure of, but perhaps I should become sure of it. As you said, you would love to send me books on your understanding of the Warp. Perhaps I can use that to make a stronger text, perhaps something that can protect people from these entities. What do we call them, anyways? The Emperor has always been vague on exactly what term he wants to use for them. I'm pretty sure he dislikes the term 'demon'."
"Primordial annihilators," Magnus affirmed. "I only used the word 'demon' because the Eldar used it, and well, we were dealing with what the other had started, so might as well use their term. But it is an agreement that we shouldn't use such terms that give these creatures power in some way. From what I understand, you think of the word 'demon,' you think of demons, you think of what you've seen in the history of the world when people talk about demons. This somehow strengthens these creatures, depending on which color they are."
"Hmm, again, then we have to make sure that whatever language is used in your book doesn't unintentionally empower any one of these Primordial Annihilators regardless of color," I pointed out. "Since we're all considering writing books. Maybe we should just make sure to co-author these books, send them around to each other, make sure that we aren't accidentally creating something that would, you know, go against the goals of the Imperium."
"I don't know about that, guys. It seems a bit unneeded. I think I know what I'm doing," Lorgar said, smiling, before Magnus shook her head.
"Don't think of it as if I was looking over your shoulders. She's also referring to my book, and I'm sure considering two of us are writing books, you'll probably take up a third, which means you'll have the ability to look over my book and her book. What would you make a book about, Tanya?"
I thought for a moment before saying, "Everything about the logistics of civilization. How to set up a prospering civilization from various stages of advancement. I think I'm pretty good at that, considering I took Fenris from something that was probably close to the Iron Age all the way to the verge of steam power before the Emperor showed up. Granted, I was probably going to have to steal that steam power, but hey, it would have worked out."
"Interesting thoughts. We should see about other Primarchs. I'm sure others have an interest in making their own books. Perhaps we should form a book club," Magnus laughed, and I joined in.
Lorgar smiled in agreement before saying, "All right, I'm in."
"Wonderful," Magnus said before adding, "Now we just need to find out who else is interested in trading books."
"It seems we're all decided," I said matter-of-factly, before adding, "Now that the fire is out, we should probably get back to categorizing the stuff and getting our men to get this stuff packed up to be shipped back up to your ship."
"Sounds like a plan," Magnus said.
Magnus the Red
Photep
I shivered as I moved through the ship towards my quarters, trying not to dwell on what I had seen in that brief flash, unleashed by that creature. Everything burned around me; a vision had unfolded in my mind. It depicted a battle between my Thousand Sons and white-armored Space Marines. I couldn't clearly see who they were; they were obscured by trench works dug deep into the earth, unleashing hell on the enemy, my men. But my men weren't all alone. There were also white and blue-armored Space Marines moving to the trenches, supporting my red-armored soldiers with proficient melee combat. I saw their symbol in the vision, but I didn't recognize it: a jaw biting down on a planet. There was no Legion with that marking, and so, I was confused. I had no idea why I had been shown such a thing. Worse yet, I recognized a few things about the planet we had been on.
It was not an unnamed planet, not a planet that had not been graced by the Imperial Glory. No, it was my homeworld, Prospero, wracked and aflame, pyramids collapsing in on each other under brutal orbital bombardment.
Some unknown fate awaited my homeworld, a fate that required the efforts of my own Legion and another, unfamiliar one to defend it. And in this vision, one Legion of one of my brothers was attacking. The only good news about that was that I was half sure this was just a fabricated dream, manipulated through time by the Primordial Annihilators to sow distrust. The Emperor had mentioned possibilities like this to me, that things like this could happen, that's why he had built such strong defenses against the Warp in his mind and tried to stay as calm and non-emotional as possible. If one could master their mind and emotions, they could control their fates and prevent the Warp from interfering with their plans, or so he said.
I had no reason not to believe him, but I also had no idea if I should be fearful of this dream being true or take it as a vision that would not come to pass. Either way, at this moment, there was no Legion with that emblem within the Imperium, no warriors wearing white and blue that I could recall. As long as that remained true, this dream was just a dream, a vision sent out by that creature to buy itself time as it recovered. I guessed it was always possible that there was more to it, that's what I even needed to be on the lookout for. Who were the Legions that attacked me? Who was the Legion that was defending me, and why did the attack happen?
Why did that attack happen? What had caused it? Those questions were going to haunt me for eternity, but there was not much I could do about that matter. Perhaps I was being a little bit too worried about it. Again, these were false visions, things that were probably going to be used by the Primordial Annihilators to try and break us apart. And again, what if the vision was of what the Annihilators wished for? What if they had already begun their influence operations to try and cause problems between the Legions? What if that was what they would eventually resort to?
Ah, I needed to meditate on this matter for a while. This campaign was over, and there were some cleanup operations that needed to be organized. Perhaps dividing these planets among the three of us and three to the Imperium would work; that had been discussed before our little dispute over my lost men. I knew they weren't the only ones; there had been a few others that I had to clean up. Not to mention, I needed to work on the newest portion of my book to spread information among the libraries on how to build librariums across all the legions. We needed to make sure this knowledge was not lost, and a way to ensure that it was not lost was to use Tanya's idea of creating redoubts of Human civilization on each of the Primarch's homeworld..
Perhaps this library should be not only a repository of psychic knowledge but also of knowledge about civilization. That way, each chapter could help rebuild civilization more effectively, drawing from the experiences of other chapters. A multi-role organization would probably be easier to present to the Emperor as well. Single-role organizations could become too devoted to their cause, whereas a multi-role approach would be more versatile and less likely to fall into blind adherence to previous works.
Maybe my brain was just tired from this long campaign and having to defend itself against psychic attacks. I needed some rest before I could tackle it this coming morning. For now, I pushed open my door and headed for bed, dropping into it. I figured I'd worry about changing back out of my power armor in the morning. Though before I could get too comfortable I pulled out a satchel on my side and placed it on my desk carefully so that I did not damage the gift Tanya had given me just before we parted ways. A small smile graced my lips as I pulled the gift out, they were a pair of sturdy fur lined wrist guards engraved with Fenrisian runes she enchanted that if channeled into they would provide a defensive shield, which was a simple but interesting use of runecraft to say the least, an example of Tanya's rune magic to study was priceless but it being useful was just an extra benefit.
Lorgar Aurelian
Fidelitas Lex
"Come out, traitor! I know you're in there!" That voice, filled with such hatred, sent a shiver down my spine. A hand bursted towards me through the wooden door like it was nothing but paper. That hand, no claw was barely human and more like the talons of a bird of prey, ripping at the wood in such a way that I knew there was a cold, deadly purpose behind that bestial visage. It continued chasing me through the dark dilapidated structure shouting curses and burning me with its red eyes filled with hatred. This monster was relentless, no matter where I ran it would find me so it could stab me, gut me and break me. The worst thing was I knew I could only run. There was no confrontation, no heroics, no chance to turn the tide, only two options to run or die.
I had mostly told the truth when I was asked about what I'd gone through with the Phoenix demon creature. Mostly, I left out any mentions of the vision, the dark creature trying to reach me from the blocked-off hallway. I kept that to myself because it had instilled such fear in me that I didn't know how to handle it. Me a Primarch; they were not supposed to feel fear. Yet here I was, shaking like a leaf in the wind. Why was I afraid? And… and why do I get an overwhelming sensation that the creature was right?
I shook my head, trying to dispel those thoughts. There was no reason to dwell on such things. The campaign was won; soon it would be under Imperium rule, and humanity could begin the work of converting the remains into something more suitable for the Imperium. At least that much was certain.
I wasn't exactly thrilled about the others wanting to interfere with my book. It was my book, my magnum opus and I should be allowed to write it the way I saw fit. However, I understood that my sisters only wanted to help, and perhaps another pair of eyes would catch any details that I might have missed. This book would be the greatest creation in the Imperium's history, and leaving it to chance that there might be some mistake due to my hubris was not something I could allow. Hubris was not the path I wanted to tread. After all, the Emperor didn't believe he could build and rule the Imperium on his own; he had gone out of his way to create the Primarchs to ensure its strength and longevity. Now, as one of his Primarchs, it was my duty – to build a book that would bind the Imperium together for all time, keeping it strong even in the darkest of days. Hopefully, I just had to find the right words so that the Emperor and time itself would accept it, and it could be spread among the people without issue.
My mind drifted back to that creature clawing at the door, swearing death and vengeance upon me for some unknown treachery. I shivered, trying to push the thought away. Whatever that thing was, it was probably a vision of lies sent to me by the creature, some falsehood implanted into my mind by that Phoenix. Right, besides, what creature could make a Primarch so afraid? Afterall, I had already seen some of the greatest monsters in the galaxy. There was no way any of these things could instill fear in me. Obviously, it was a fake, an illusion, some foul interpretation implanted in my mind to force me to feel fear. The only thing I could probably fear was one of my siblings, but they would not harm me . One of my siblings? No, stop, I would not entertain such a thought. None of us would be so craven enough to turn traitor.
No such thing could come to pass. No such lie would become reality. Shaking my head, I refocused on my writing, looking down at my book with a smile. I wrote down some of my thoughts in the notebook next to my main book. After all, it paid to get down exactly what you wanted to write first before putting it into the finished product.
I wondered what I could add to this work now that I knew a bit more about the understanding of the Warp. Were there certain symbols that could be used to draw power from the Warp and make the average person more likely to survive encounters with its creatures? Could you master faith in such a way that you could defend yourself against these monsters? That's an interesting notion. Reaching over, I grabbed Tanya's book of runes, looking through it. It was very mathematical, not really something you'd associate with faith, but there were a few interesting things. Several runes also had connections to words. Interestingly enough, a few of them were about protection from the darkness, protection from other things. If runes were a way to master faith in another way, perhaps if you implemented some of these runes into the book's iconography to represent the protection that the Emperor provided, it would grow in power and create stronger runes to protect the Empire from the things in the dark. I quickly scribbled down some symbols into my ledger and made a mental note to track down similar things from the other legions, protection runes or similar that they used. After all, if they were good for the legions, they were good for the average Imperial citizen, weren't they? Everyone could use a little protection from the darkness now and again. If this book was going to be the light that would reunite faith in humanity, pushing us forward into the new millennium with superiority over the darkness that came before it, then they needed as much protection and light as possible. Perhaps there's another word I should look for, more words about light and protection that I could slip in here and there. I don't want to overpopulate it, though. I'll need to narrow that down to some of the more important ones. Maybe a second book of supporting markers. That's a thought for another time. For now, I'll just finish translating the words that I found useful from this book. Tanya gave me access to the ledger, and I'll see what happens from there. It would still be years before this book would be ready for print, and I needed to make sure it was perfect. So, back to work I went.
Writers note: well interesting very interesting what does it all mean!!!! So many things… I guess let you all try to figure it out.
Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
Edited by: Helsted, golden
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Get Pertubo to join in the Library! To help with infrastructure and architecture! This would be a part of his jam and he would love to be a part of something constructive!