Chapter 19, Family Time
Fenris
828.M30
Tanya Russ
The snow was falling lightly today on Fenris, dusting the grounds with a powder of white. A good day to go hunting, or for a walk or ride. Today I was going for a walk with my quote-unquote father. Apparently, the gold giant was interested in working off his year of service as quickly as possible and he had suggested that we could continue our conversations about the greater galaxy and things that I would need to understand in order to take part in his 'Great Crusade'.
I still didn't like the fact I was using the word crusade but I couldn't really complain that much, working with him would get this planet to a more comfortable level of living for the people here and myself. If I had to engage in a little bit of diplomatic violence against other people to do that… well, that's what was required.
So far I had learned a few important things. For one, despite the ability to send armored giants on walkabouts, most conflicts still came down to the ground sloggers being sent in to secure everything. Which is why he had Space Marines as a thing but second-line troops were still mostly humans. Space Marines being, I guess the correct term would be post-human, first-line troops, sent in to secure planets and fight the initial battles while the second-line troops came in to clean things up afterward.
I also learned that mage conflict was pretty much dead. Sure some spells and formulas still worked but the level of power a mage would need to use in order to obtain the status they had during my life was such that you were more likely to end up as a pile of bubbling flesh. Warp energy was not as forgiving as it once had been.
Which aligned with what I'd already known to some extent, the Rune Priests always warned that one needed to be careful with the powers of Fenris or you'd end up something worse than dead such as the man who got turned into a solid stone statue. Even with the apparent filtering qualities of Fenris the Warp was still not conducive to using psyker powers as heavily as I had in my mage days.
That was something I was going to have to keep in mind for my quote-unquote legion, the one I would be required to lead. If magic was so unstable compared to what it once had been I couldn't rely on it to be the most powerful weapon in my arsenal, it was a tool and one that should be used as necessary but I couldn't default to it if I intended to live a long life.
Which, at the moment, looked very long considering the implications of the Emperor being around when I was alive 28,000 years ago… I was going to have to build up a lot of systems to get my retirement if that was what I was facing. Hell even if I developed a lot of systems, I got the distinct feeling that I would still have to come out of retirement once in a while to set things right, like some of those Roman generals did in the latter half of their empire.
Anyways I was walking with Emperor when Mother Wolf happened to trot up next to me, smiling, I rubbed the top of her head.
"Wolves seem very important to you," father said, looking over as I patted the wolf's head.
"First creatures I ran into that were not trying to kill me when they had the ability to do so. Of course I bribed them but still, simple economic transfer there: you let me live with you and you'll get a portion of the food I make. Over time I came to live amongst the wolves and then lead them. They're very loyal; they understand basic economics and they are good fighters. Not to mention they live an extremely long time, Mother here has been with me since I first arrived pretty much."
"Mother?" Emperor asked, his eyebrow raised.
I shrugged and responded, "I never actually got around to figuring out a name for her. Her pups, Cunning and Fierce? Sure I came up with names for them over time. Mother though? She was just Mother.
Emperor nodded and stepped around me to pet the head of Mother. "Well, I must thank this wolf as there was no guarantee that you would survive on whatever planet you landed. If not for her guidance I'm sure you would have had a harder time of it."
Nodding, I finally decided to ask a question that had been bugging me. "So you've been around the galaxy for a while, I assume? Do you happen to know what the deal with the cultures on Fenris is? I've seen quite a lot of strange things and a lot of it does not make sense. My current theory is the planet was some sort of Scandinavian cultural preserve."
Emperor laughed then said, "That was its third interpretation, I believe. Or, to be fair, there were only three I paid attention to. There might have been other attempts to colonize this planet at various times with different methods. I know the first time humanity messed around with this planet was as a prison, sending humans here to… Well, survive the best they could. They were given genetic alterations and it was hoped that it would allow them to survive this world's harsh conditions."
I nodded as it did make sense, considering the last king of Russ had been in his 120s and looking like he was in his 60s. "What happened to that attempt?" I asked.
"The genetic modifications weren't stable. Half the population got left on the planet and formed tribal units to survive. The other half…" He looked at the wolf. "They devolved, let's call it that."
My eyes literally widened so much I thought they might roll out of my skull as I turned to look at Mother, realizing that though she was a wolf she apparently may be genetically closer to human than was comfortable. That might explain the intelligence I had seen in her eyes since day one.
"The next attempt to colonize this planet that I paid attention to was an amusement park; one I came to. It kept the tribals out and let people… well the term is LARP, as Vikings. It was, in my opinion, an interesting concept though one that I believe ultimately failed. From what I understand they built cities built under mountain ranges that would still be there.
"There's a city under the mountains near which I landed," I said, remembering what the Allfather had said about not going into the tunnels.
"Yes. A series of cities, in fact. They were meant to be support structures for the people on the surface while they LARPed as Vikings amongst the tribals. As well as keeping the small fortress amusement parks, like the one Russ Castle was built as, running. Some people didn't come to play Viking amongst the savages, some simply came for the roller coasters or were brought along by those who worked as play-Vikings and needed some more modern entertainment."
I blinked at the reveal that the castle I had spent the last 20 years of my life in was the remnants of an amusement park attraction. If that didn't show the versatility of a castle I did not know what else would but that was quite amazing.
"The last major colonization effort on this planet was, as you theorized, a Norse preserve. Well, I think the attractions were still running during that effort? Anyway, a bunch of colonies of Scandinavians moved in and basically tried to live amongst the tribals and teach them their version of Scandinavia. I don't know how that turned as that was just before the start of the Old Night. No doubt once the planet was cut off from everything they just mixed together to create the situation you found yourself in, though I would assume the tribals basically integrated the other groups and whatever knowledge was useful to them.
"So this planet went from Australia to Disneyland and finally to a national park. That's a turnaround only humanity could come up with."
"You have no idea," Emperor said, shaking his head in amusement. "Well, you'll learn. With such a long lifespan you'll learn just how humanity thinks. And then you'll still be surprised by the things they'll do."
I nodded my head and said, "About those cities under the mountains; was there an AI-like thing to help run those cities?"
Emperor stopped his petting of Mother and looked up at me, a bit more hardness to him all of a sudden. "Now that you mentioned it I do recall there was a virtual intelligence that looked a bit like Odin, back in the day."
"
Virtual intelligence?" I asked, not familiar with that term.
"It's more rudimentary and cheaper than an artificial intelligence. They also tend to be not self-aware compared to AI."
"Strange," I rubbed my chin. "Well your VI seems to have upgraded since he appeared to me and offered help in at least one instance."
Emperor stood taller as heard that. "Hmm, it is theoretically possible for a VI that's been running long enough to develop artificial intelligence, although that would usually require some sort of outside influence." He said, sounding concerned.
"You said this planet was once controlled by other people, could that be related?"
Emperor nodded his head in approval and chopped his right fist into the palm of his left hand. "Of course, the Eldar! Many of their planets have something called a World Spirit, which is why Fenris has a slightly purified access to psychic powers. This World Spirit could have taken control of the VI in order to operate and communicate with the people of this planet. Strange that it would think humans worthy of contact though. Eldars and their things are usually… Well, they're not exactly pleasant to deal with."
I shrugged and said, "I don't know about that, I don't know who the Eldar are. All I know is he seemed pleasant enough, if somewhat excessively mysterious. Gave a warning about going into those cities though, stated outright that the things below the mountains don't want humanity nor have any mercy for it.
Emperor nodded his head, "That's concerning. No doubt we'll need to clear that issue out. I would prefer this planet to be securely under your control. An AI that plays mysterious games means you have one element that is not under control."
After a moment though he shrugged and said, "No, that's a fight for another day. Tell me, Tanya, what exactly is your opinion on the matter of rule. how do you rule this society you're king of."
I shrugged and said, "With a careful hand, really. I guide things in the direction I generally want them to go and I set up systems to sort of propel things to go that way without my intervention. Trade builds wealth, wealth builds other things which increase trade, and so on and so forth. Sooner or later the common peasant will have enough money to influence the government. With the schools I've been trying to set up they'll have a better general understanding of the world than they did before the schools existed."
Emperor raised an eyebrow, "A modernization, mixed with a constitutional monarchy in a sense."
I nodded my head, "I don't want to rule this planet forever. People should rule themselves, I should just be there to guide them when they're making a stupid mistake."
The biggest and broadest smile I think I had ever seen in any of my lives graced Emperor's face. "That is how it should be, that is the goal. We are going to reunite humanity and guide it once in a while, to make sure it doesn't do something stupid. Otherwise we should be able to sit back and enjoy our lives."
"I attempted to rule like that, on and off throughout humanity's history, moving things from the shadows every now and again but relatively often I was enjoying the fruits of my efforts in retirement after improving humanity's lot. That is one of the reasons I decided to make 20 sons instead of some other arbitrary number. I figured 20 was a good number for how many it would take to run the galaxy from that sort of condition."
"20 individuals to run an entire galaxy? Seems low." I said, matter of factly.
Emperor shrugged, "20 generals, all commanding their own legions of Space Marines who are doing their own efforts to try and improve the Galaxy, helping humanity reach its inevitable apotheosis into superhumans like us. I could have done more but I figured 20 was the most reasonable number as the human mind can really only manage so many relationships. So I figured having a number within the general amount of relationships a human mind can have would guarantee that those relationships would be strong, that you brothers and I guess sister now, would be able to come to each other in times of emergency and be there for each other. Something you will have that I never did in my long years in existence."
Well, that was rather touching in a way. Although I wondered how that would work out now that each one of the brothers would have spent who knows how long away from each other.
"Anyway, have you thought about where you will place the fortress for your legion?"
I raised an eyebrow at that. "I haven't yet given that much thought, though I feel I probably should. It would need to be in a secure place since it would be an installation for the creation of my legion, I guess. Probably also need to be centralized since the entire planet would be our recruitment grounds. Hmm…"
"During my travels on Fenris I've visited a few places. I started near the Top of the World, that's a plateau where a lot of the winter storms come down from. There are massive mountains around it, some of them I think are taller than Everest itself."
Emperor chuckled and noticed my confusion at that. He explained, "Everest has actually sunk quite a bit since your time. Also paved over at one point."
I blinked and said, "Wow. Terra does not sound like it's had a good run of it."
"No, but continue."
I cleared my throat and continued, "This mountain range has a peak that nearly goes all the way to space. It's centrally located and the winter storms should keep the worst of the monsters away. If we could hollow out that mountain, we would not only have probably the most defensible location on the entire planet but also a place that was kept generally cold all year long without need for power. I would assume this Geneseed needed for the creation of space Marines requires cooling, otherwise the seed would go bad? So that would be a win-win in my thinking."
Emperor nodded his head in agreement, "Yes, we're probably going to have to be really careful with your Geneseed, due to," he looked at me," unfortunate changes."
I looked down at myself and up at Emperor before saying, "Is there an issue I'm unaware of?"
"Perhaps," Emperor said, before sighing in worry. "Space Marines are made from men, the Geneseed is designed to work with XY chromosomes, so I'm unaware if the Geneseed that is produced from your DNA in your current state is still working as intended. If something unfortunate has happened… When this new fortress is created and the biolabs are installed, we will need to run several tests to figure it out."
"What are the possible outcomes to be worried about?" I asked clearly.
Emperor nodded at me again and listed off the possibilities, one finger at a time,
"One, it still works on XY. No issue, this would be the best outcome for everyone."
"Two, it now works with XX. This is not terrible as you can still create a legion from such conditions, though sending women to the front line is more detrimental to this planet's biological diversity than sending men, that's just the simple fact of the matter. Also, upper body strength would be lesser among the females who took this, as a lot of the strength improving aspects of the Geneseed are key to the Y chromosome."
"Three is an interesting case, we would have both options opened though the arguments against XX are still quite valid. The potential for humanity to develop a subspecies of Space Marines grows, instead of them staying only an improvement on humanity. I would prefer that not to happen. Space Marines are meant to be of humanity, not controlling humanity."
"Option four is that we can't produce Geneseed with your DNA, this is frankly the worst option but you are still not out of options at that point. I did build a redundancy in the legionaries to produce their own Geneseeds that can be harvested. You would simply be forced to use the Geneseeds of the legion coming to this planet instead of your own."
"Here's hoping for option one," I stated, giving a thumbs up. Sure option three was probably actually better. Though if he was worried about that kind of bioengineering running amok I would respect his opinions on the matter, to a point.
"So when will my legion arrive?" I asked the reasonable follow-up question.
Emperor said turning to look around at Fenris, 'The crusade needs to go on and the sooner I get them here the sooner you and their Commander can set up the institutions to build the legion as is necessary. I figure it'll take you 5 years to get things up and running, which is the amount of time I will give you to do so. Though I might give you a few years more depending on what I see and what need arises. Once you've got your legion to good enough numbers for a fight I will call upon you to join the crusade in full."
I nodded. Five years, two and a half Great Years, wasn't terrible and I had done a lot with less time. I mean the professional legionaries that were coming were probably already better trained than what the warriors of Russ had produced. The real question was what did Emperor want my legion to do. So far it seemed like I would have free reign on how I would train my legion so I wasn't exactly going to push the subject and be told otherwise.
Emperor looked off towards the mountains and said. "Well, king of Russ, I think we've had enough questions today. You say those mountains are full of monsters? Shall we go hunt these creatures together? I would not mind a skull like that one above your mantle place."
I blinked and said, "That's an Ice Worm, it's one of the most dangerous creatures on land."
"Sounds like the perfect creature for a little father-daughter bonding time."
I blinked and mentally commented that he may really want this family thing. Shaking my head, I said, "They're normally asleep this time of year, deep under the glaciers, but there are plenty of other creatures we can hunt." Looking to Mother Wolf, I said, "Go get me a couple Spears, Mother." She nodded and trotted off.
"Mega elks are more common, but no less dangerous if you engage them in close combat."
Emperor smiled and nodded, "Baby steps then. Mega elk today, something bigger tomorrow."
"Sounds like a plan," I said, trying to think of something bigger that wouldn't be too dangerous.
Horus Lupercal
To have a sister was still a strange thing to process, I had expected to run into Brothers. But in the grand scheme of things It was no real difference in how I would interact with my sibling.
Though I would admit, as siblings go, I was a bit jealous. Not through any major disagreement with her or anything of that manner. But comparatively her stories were rather interesting, I had quickly risen amongst the ranks of the gangsters on my homeworld and eventually taken over the planet. It was a simple story, taking no longer than a year or two as I was a fast learner and driven by an urge to see the stars for myself.
Tanya on the other hand had 30 years to consolidate a rule and it wasn't because she was terrible at it. From the story she told me as we walked through the forest and headed for the closest mountain range, she had simply been realistic about her opportunities.
The planet was, in her words, trapped in a medieval stasis and on the brink of having humanity destroyed every couple of years. Just from that statement alone it told me everything I needed to know about her way of thought. She couldn't reach space yet so she took the slower path of gradually unifying the world. I wonder how many other brothers, and maybe sisters, would do the same.
It was also quite apparent she had embraced the culture of this world with abandon. From her wolf cloak to her medieval-style armor she radiated the presence of an ancient barbarian king or hero. Even her dialect of Low Gothic felt somehow like the growl of a predatory wolf waiting to emerge.
Again I think I felt somewhat jealous of it. As I said I had conquered my homeworld in a year and I quickly found myself by the Emperor's side. Cthonia was where I was from but it was not really my homeworld. Sure I could put on the accents to be more familiar to my legionaries or seem more down to earth when talking to military commanders that I had to work for with a campaign.
But everything about Tanya said that Fenris was her homeworld. Strange, considering she supposedly had other lives, but apparently she was willing to abandon whatever elements of those lives in favor of letting this world mold her.
Made me wonder what would have happened if I had not pushed for space so quickly and not joined father in the first few years of the crusade. Would I have become more like my supposed homeworld? Would I have adapted and come up with what the world needed as she had? It was an interesting question and one I was thinking more about than usual.
Might have thought too hard on the matter as I spaced off a bit, looking into the horizon of trees as we walked.
"Horus," Tanya said as she walked next to me several of her wolves trotting alongside her. "I've been wondering about this whole legion situation. How exactly does father want us to run our legions anyways?"
I smiled at that. Tanya may have life experience, more than me supposedly, but it would appear that she was willing to defer to her elders when It came to the legions. Which was good, it was something that I had that she had not. Something I could help her with.
"Well for the most part the legions run themselves, they've been fighting for a long time and learning how to fight that entire time. The Luna Wolves, my legion, are known for sudden overwhelming shock assaults and I've not changed what works for them. "
Tanya seemed to perk up at the mention of wolves so I explained the name as I understood it. "The Little wolves, or the 16th legion's first engagement, was fought on Luna against various forces there. From my understanding their fierce aggression got them called 'The Wolves of The Emperor' by the enemy and my legion liked that so they added the planet where they gained that name to form the new name; Luna Wolves."
Tanya nodded her head, saying, "Hmm… So the legions name themselves?" Tanya muttered. "I hadn't considered that. What is my legion calling itself?"
"The sixth legion calls itself The Rout, a play on the fact that they tend to cause the enemy to rout and then keep pursuing them until they're destroyed. They're very effective at seek and destroy missions. Though if you want I'm sure father would allow you to change their name. They're still registered as the sixth legion, The Rout is just what people call them," I said, stopping to look at a particularly large tree as it had scratch marks unlike anything I'd ever seen before. "Is this from some more of your familiars?" I asked.
Tanya leaned around to look past me and said, "Thunder Wolf, they also come down from the mountains for easier prey." She shook her head in disappointment. "Looks like I'm going to have to kill another one of those creatures."
At that I turned to look at her and the wolves trotting around her. "By the company you keep I would have thought your kingship extended to all wolves."
Tanya looked at me and then seemed to consider what to say, before finally asking, "What do you know of wolves?"
At that I could do nothing much but shrug, "Not much, sister. There are some wolves in my legion, real beasts and animals, but they are genetically modified creatures and often more rabid weapons than pets. They're sometimes unleashed during the battles but their effectiveness has been failing over the years and I have a feeling they'll be abandoned at some point. As for beyond that… The wolves of Terra, as far as I'm aware, have all gone extinct besides specimens kept alive for their genetic information."
Tanya nodded her head before saying, "There are three types of wolves on Fenris. The common wolf is a human-sized creature that can be tamed. Then you have the Blackmaned ones, which can be bartered with, and then there's the Thunder Wolves. For the last ones the younger ones could be tamed I believe, if you got to them quick enough. With the middle-aged ones you could probably barter if you already had a relationship or had shown yourself someone worth dealing with. But the older ones are kings. They rule the mountains and give little care to anything that is not themselves. Some of them are quite powerful in other ways as well," She looked off into the distance at some unmentioned memory, her hand playing with the black fur of her cloak.
"The problem is that even if you get them to barter… With age they'll also think themselves kings until you've shown them otherwise. Which means you have to fight them and in a fight there's no guarantee of your survival. It's kill or be killed. What few connections I've made with the Thunder Wolves over the years were down to luck, in most cases I've had to kill them. Apex predators do not like giving up their position, it's a simple fact of the biological world."
I nodded my head as that seemed like a reasonable understanding of a world like this, a deathworld as it were. Those were places where humans should not be able to survive and you had to find ways to. I wondered how that line of thinking would translate to her legion when they were equipped with Fenrisians and joined the Crusade.
Shaking her head, Tanya stepped past me to get a closer look at the cuts in the wood, "This is definitely an older one. The marks are spaced in such a way that it can easily kill a mega elk with one swipe. There will be no barter or negotiations, most likely it'll be a fight." Turning to me, she asked, "Would you like to join me in dealing with this creature before it becomes a problem for the people of this world?"
I had to think about that for a moment since I wasn't exactly wearing my power armor, but then again.. Neither was Tanya and she seemed rather confident about hunting this creature while she was about half my size.
If she could take on this beast then I was sure I could do it without armor. Nodding my head, I said, "It would be an honor to join you on this hunt." Reaching to my side I pulled my sword out of its scabbard, intent on having it at the ready in case the beast tried to ambush us. Nodding Tanya pulled out the long sword at her own side and started to walk in a seemingly random direction in the snow, quickly pointing to some tracks. "It seems to be heading further into the lowlands. There's a town in that direction, it most likely plans to hunt humans. That's the worst possible outcome because once a Thunder Wolf gets a taste for human meat that's undefended they tend to start going for that primarily, even trying to avoid soldiers and the such."
I nodded as I followed, her explanation made sense. Though I had to wonder how many of these Thunder Wolves she had hunted in her time.
She stopped all of a sudden, looking around at the tracks again. "Rout is an interesting name, but it's not exactly the most noble name for a legion. I'll probably change that. Also, without showing any emotions or concern, be ready to whip around and attack."
I blinked, confused by that, before my eyes followed the tracks. They went from the tree into the tree line and then, though I couldn't see all of them, they seemed to go down the side of the road we had just come up.
Tanya sniffed the air as if she was smelling something and I started to get the feeling that something was staring at my back. Carefully I moved my other hand onto the end of my sword, not fast enough to draw any notice but slow enough that I was able to get a good grip.
There was a moment of silence, the woods making no noise whatsoever. And then there was a crack of wood behind me. I didn't even wait for Tanya telling to turn, moving with the speed given to me by my Primarch biology. I was turned around quickly and managed to use my sword to stop a massive maw from biting down on my shoulder.
The flat end of my blade was pushing against the snout of a beast with brown fur that was attempting to rip and bite at me with such ferocity that I was almost taken aback just by the sheer determination of it.
What's worse the beast was comparable almost to me in size, enough that I thought a Space Marine could probably ride this creature with no issue. The hate it seemed to have in its beautiful eyes was strangely terrifying.
The brown-furred beast made a pained noise before stepping back a few feet. On its left side was a slice wound nearly cutting through to the bone by the looks of it, blood was pouring from it profusely. Looking to my right I saw that Tanya had taken a position there, her blade already bloody with the beast's red life fluid.
This seemed to have angered the beast even more as it charged at her. Tanya did the same as I had and blocked the beast with her sword but she was pulled over in the attempt, the creature pinning her to the ground with its one good claw.
It seemed to have forgotten me though. I was able to come up to its side and shoved my sword deep into its chest cavity. That didn't seem to kill it however as it just turned, ripping the sword out of my hand, and tried to bite at my free hands. I grabbed it by its snout and lifted it off the ground by its head before tossing it into a nearby tree. Somehow my blade found its way all the way through the beast in that action, pinning it to the tree by the sword.
It hung there for a few moments, clawing at the air before life seemed to give away and the pitiless nature of the eyes faded over time until nothing was there.
Turning I saw Tanya standing up, brushing herself off with a wide smile across her face, "Thank you, big brother. You just saved my life there," She said, leaning down to pick up her sword and put it back into its scabbard before walking towards the now dead beast.
"No issue, my sister. That was an unexpected bit of adrenaline," I said, following her over to the creature. The brown fur was a nice shade, it blended in well with the tree line.
"For a creature that comes from the mountains they sure do seem to have a good coloration for these lowlands," I mentioned.
Tanya nodded as she inspected the beast, "The younger ones have a fur that's more brownish in color so they can hunt amongst the lowlands. The older ones are usually white or in a few cases black. I have theories that the creatures are able to adapt to their environment a little bit quicker than ancient wolves could. But then again I believe these creatures can live a couple hundred years, so having the ability to adapt would be favorable in those conditions."
I nodded as she explained the inner workings of the biology of Fenris' Thunder Wolves. With a swift motion she grabbed the handle of my sword and pulled, removing it from the beast which allowed it to tumble to the ground, before handing it to me.
"Thank you, sister," I said, taking the blade and swishing it through the air to clean the blood and gunk off of it before sheathing it again.
"No problem would be in the way anyways," Tanya said pulling out a knife for leaning down on the beast and starting to cut at it.
"What are you doing, sister?" I asked out of curiosity.
"You killed the beast. At least by my reckoning you deserve its skin. Besides that a leader of wolves should have a wolf pelt," she said matter of factly as she turned the body over to start cutting areas of the skin and fur free.
Well… That was rather touching, really. And I wasn't going to say no to having a wolf skin to add to my armor. No doubt this was what father always talked about growing bonds and connections, this was a way for us to become the family he talked about.
And with that thought I leaned down and said 'Is there any way I can help?" Tanya looked at me in thought for a moment then handed me the dagger and said, "Well, I can teach you how to skin the wolf. With your upper body strength it should be a lot easier to get through some of these tougher areas."
Smiling I took the knife and said, "Of course, sister." And I followed her directions as she explained how to skin a wolf.
Tanya Russ
I did not like this one bit. Tightening my cloak as I followed Emperor, or father, deeper into the cave. Years ago I had burned out this cave with carcasses and wood, to cleanse it of what I thought might be some form of mountain or underground rabies. Since then I had not been back into these mountains for nearly 20 years, not this particular area at least.
Some of my wolves still made the trip to these mountains, but to get back to the matter at hand, due to my influence on the kingdom of Russ it was a safe place for my wolves to rear their young and grow their tribe.
And since it was only some dedicated few that still made that trip I hadn't had any reason to come up here.
Not until Emperor asked me to take him to the underground, the place I had been warned to never go by the Allfather.
It had been nearly 3 months since his arrival on my world and in that time he had hunted almost every creature on the planet with me, explained quite a bit about the universe, and told me some of what had happened to humanity. Including the Men of Iron.
Who could have forseen Terminator as an eventual actual reality, I always thought that movie was a little bit over the top. But apparently not as, according to Emperor, one of the pitfalls that brought down humanity into the Old Night was AI running amok. Which is most likely why we were making the trip down into these caves. He wanted to know if the Allfather was a threat to the people on the surface so he wanted to go down into the caves. Personally I didn't think he was, if he had been a threat I don't think he would have given me that bit of help in my first days on this world.
But I would not deny that, after the last 30 years, I was theoretically curious about what was beneath the planet's surface.
With all the monsters on the surface and the seas and running through the ice… What creature would be so monstrous that the planet itself would tell us to avoid it?
We weren't going alone though even if none of my people were coming with us, of course. I wasn't going to risk them or my wolves in this venture but Emperor had summoned four men in golden armor, all taller than me. I wondered if they were Space Marines but I had not asked yet, they seemed to carry themselves with grim determination and the looks they gave me were ones of evaluation.
Almost like they didn't trust me to guard Emperor. Although I did find their choice of weaponry rather interesting, it looked like some sort of massive bayoneted pistol on the end of a pole.
As we went deeper though I finally got up the nerve to ask "So who exactly are your guards here, father?"
Emperor had been examining some striations in the side of the wall from, I would assume, ancient mining equipment and he said. "They are my Custodes, my personal guard. They have been at my side for a long time. Each one of them is worth an army and has shown a great skill in combat. Frankly I think I could have gone down here with two of them and it would be overkill but since there's two of us I figured I should have two to guard you as well, just in case something monstrous is down here."
I chuckled and said, "Thank you for that. Do you have any idea about what could be down here that would cause the entity behind Fenris to warn us from going down?".
He shook his head, "with the amount of things the Old Night unleashed… It could be anything, from orks to machines. I prefer it be neither."
I blinked several times repeatedly as I followed him, before finally saying, "Orcs? Like Lord of the Rings orcs or?"
Emperor stopped and thought for a moment before laughing, "I had forgotten about those books! Its orks with a k, a Xeno species that has been around for a long time. I've heard many theories on where they came from, personally I believe a story about them being biological weapons created to fight some war well before my time.
They don't tend to do well on cold planets, being fungal creatures, but underground anything is possible."
I nodded my head then stopped and said, "The galaxy is strange. Did you just say space fungi are a thing and they have become intelligent?"
"Intelligent is a bold statement but yes. In fact we are at war with various Ork empires even now. The Old Night was good for them as they expanded and grew on the carcass of the Human Federation. Orks have a natural attraction to war, violence, and bloodshed and the amount of those and other nastiness that was unleashed by the Old Night was very profitable for them.
Plus the things that kept them in check are no longer on the field. At least not in the sense they once were but we'll talk about the Eldar another time."
I noted down the use of the name Eldar again, I needed to ask about them when I had the chance. If they once kept the Orksin check and weren't anymore I had to find out why that was.
"Anyway it's unfortunately true that we can't trust the Xenos with the fate of humanity. If you ever come across Orks offering to work for you for money, be careful. They are an effective tool but one that can easily cut both ways. They're mercenaries and whoever pays them the best will be the ones they work for."
"Well, that's terrible. Breaking a contract of work over better payments just shows they are unreliable." I said, shaking my head.
"Not the lesson I intended to impart but yes that's true. Your way of couching things in economic terms is very intriguing. I do wonder how that will serve you out in the depthsof space."
"Served me well so far," I said with a smile, "Will continue to serve me well, I'm sure."
"I hope you're right about that," Emperor said, taking the last few steps before we came to a solid wall.
"Well, that's a cheap trick," Emperor said matter of factly before running his hand along the wall till he found something. Then he pulled and the wall moved out of the way. There was a lot of screeching but it moved, slowly opening up to reveal a dark space larger than I could easily determine.
Taking a few steps forward I looked down at where the wall had separated, seeing what could best be described as slots for metal wheels to run on.
"Oldest trick in the book to hide something you don't want people to see," He muttered before looking about the dark space. The area right around the other side of the door was barren rocks with a few clumps of more interesting rocks thereabout. But about 30ft away the darkness became all-encompassing and we couldn't really see much in what was pure blackness. Or was it? Focusing my eyes on one particular point I saw a light, and another, and then more.
As if something had sensed our arrival I saw what could be best described as a cityscape in the distance, windows lighting on buildings of a blocky design as internal lights were powered. Near the base of these buildings a lamp post came on then another then another. Before long more came on until they were stopping just before where we were, revealing a rudimentary street.
"I think the Allfather knows we're here," I said matter of factly.
"That he does," Emperor said, looking about, "And he's rolled out the welcoming mat. The question is why, since he warned people from going down here."
Then the screaming started. Some of it was an incomprehensible babble while others I could vaguely understand. I heard complaints about something being too bright and some of it sounded like they were screaming about being burned. The lights in the distance went out and the screaming seemed to fade with it.
"Well, that's… charming," one of the Custodes said, sounding a bit disturbed.
"Yes, a terrible thing," came a familiar voice from behind us. Turning faster than most I saw that it was the Allfather in his Odin appearance. He was wearing gray robes and leaning on a spear as he looked at us.
"I thought I told you not to come down here?" He said with a bemused smile as he looked at me. Before turning to look at Emperor. "Welcome to the caverns cities of Fenris, Emperor of Man. Do not dwell in the deep too long as the things here are hungry and care not for your humanity."
Emperor looked at the Allfather and said, "Those were humans, weren't they?"
"On a broader scale? Yes, they would be classified as humans. Though it would need to be a very broad scale to get that classification." The Allfather replied, taking a few steps to stand looking over the ledge towards the city. The building lights were out but you could still make it out from the street lamps.
"This place was meant to keep humanity safe from the worst of Fenris. But deep beneath the surface, where light doesn't come, all it took was one person to shut down the Virtual Intelligence that kept everything running and this world was cast into the darkness."
"And the humans who stayed down here and didn't take their chances on the surface developed to live down here, didn't they?" Emperor asked, matter of factly.
The Allfather nodded, "through one method or another people of the underworld have become monsters. It's only thanks to the entrances of the caves being guarded by wolves in most cases that they don't come on to the surface during the night and raid the humans of the world above."
Emperor nodded, "Perhaps when the sixth legion gets here they can deal with these creatures. The wealth of such a city could be very beneficial for the people above."
The Allfather shrugged and said, "You can try but I think the creatures of this world have destroyed most of the wealth you would want. It is not like Fenrisians have not found their way down here before and I've seen one or two attempts at genocide against these creatures. The caves are expansive and there's a city under almost every major mountain on the main continent. kill off the creatures of one city and It will be colonized by those from another sooner or later. Best you'll be able to do is keep the population down."
Emperor looked at me and said, "Well, that would be something for the sixth legion to worry about. If these humans are unredeemable then we must not let them become a threat, neither to the humanity above nor to your legion.
"If they are unredeemable you are right," I said, a bit concerned by the talk of casually genociding the people down here.
The Allfather looked at me and said, "They will not work with you. They will not attempt to abide by economic policies. Their minds are corrupted well beyond the capabilities of any order you would see imposed."
Great, both of them were in favor of genocide. Well, I was not going to play Devil's advocate on this one, I just nodded my head though I would probably look into the situation more when I had the chance.
"Anyways I assume you've made this trip down under the mountains for a reason, possibly to discover what I am?" The Allfather asked.
"In a matter of speaking, yes. I just wanted to learn if you were a threat to humanity and see if you were an AI."
The Allfather chuckled and said, "No, not really. Not in the way you humans created AI anyway. The people who were here before humanity created me, I've simply joined myself with the systems of this planet in order to talk to the humans who now live here."
"You're being a lot more candid about information down here," I noted.
"The programs for me talking on the surface and the programs allowing me to talk down here are slightly different. Up there I need to be mysterious, in hopes of helping people find out who they really are. Down here I can be a bit more honest. Of course, down here are also creatures that will attempt to eat you if you're not careful so I wouldn't make many trips down here if I were you."
"Noted," I said.
Emperor nodded, "So this planet has an Eldar world spirit… Well, that explains enough for me. Doesn't tell us whether you're a threat."
The Alfather shrugged, "I am not, the only threat I could possibly represent is maybe turning on the lights to try and force these creatures to the surface. Even then that's more likely to cause the creatures to find my control panel and shut down all access to humanity."
Emperor nodded his head, still looking rather concerned, but said, "That will do for now then."
Turning to me and the others he said, "let us return to the surface and leave these night creatures to their hell."
Before we left though I turned to the Allfather and said, "Thank you for your help all those years ago, you set me on the right path. Though I do wonder, how did you know about my condition?"
Alfather smiled, "Anything that comes to Fenris and spends any amount of time here I learn a little bit about, simply from existing on me. The more powerful the soul, the more I might learn. I did not know everything but I knew enough to send you on your path. So far you've done a good job of making this world better. For that I thank you, king of Russ." He bowed and faded away in that digital holographic way he did.
Shaking my head, I turned to follow Emperor. I was still unsure what to think of the World Spirit of Fenris.
Legion Master Enoch Rathvin
Man, this planet was cold. Last night their ship it finally arrived in orbit of the planet of Fenris. It had not been a quick journey but it was as fast as they could push the engines, since their Primarch had been found they were not going to disappoint them.
Their warship had joined in the orbit of the plent with The Emperor's personal warship, which told them that while their Primarch had been found they were still under the command of The Emperor until he officially handed over command. So, when the orders to disembark from their ship and land on the planet had come up, they readily got to work.
Over the course of the last 24 hours they had dropped their entire legion on the planet outside a local castle and had built up a base camp. Once the blue sun of the world started to rise the entire legion, all 7000 Space Marines, stood in a parade ground facing a raised platform in front of the castle.
The chatter was low though he could hear some asking questions about the castle belonging to our Primarch, why it was so damn cold and, probably the most prevalent, what do you think the Primarch will be like. No one had any answers and everyone had their theories so the discussions continued quite unabated. I was content to let the men talk. I had those questions as well and I hoped to get the answers soon enough.
The call from The Emperor had not exactly explained everything. It just said he had been found, where to go, and how to set up. It had all been accomplished without major issue, though I was not doubting that the 7000 Space Marines had drawn a bit of a crowd. At the edge of the wood line I saw regular humans of this world, watching and talking amongst each other. Some of them were treating this as some sort of picnic, by the looks of it.
They started coming the night before, mainly primitive hunters by the gear they carried about, and quickly followed by townsfolk. More recently men in light blue armor had joined them and were looking at us with curiosity. I would guess they were the local military, though their gear was as primitive as the hunters based on the spears and swords they carried about.
My attention was called away from the crowds around us as I saw some of The Emperor's finest, his Custodes, walking onto the stage from outside of the castle and taking position on the steps at either end of the stage.
With a guttural bark I ordered a silence, which was passed down the lines. My sub commanders quickly got the troops in order, one good thing about the Disciplinary Corps was that they had been effective at making orders stick.
As the men silenced themselves The Emperor walked out from behind the stone wall of the castle, quickly stepping up onto the stage in front of us.
"Astartes of the sixth legion, today is a glorious and wonderful day for your legion as your Primarch has been found. They have come to rule this world through might of arms and justly deserved glory. In my eyes they are a worthy leader for you and ready to bring your legion to its maximum potential." He smiled, a golden hue seeming to glow about his head.
"I will not take any more moments of time as this is not my day but yours and your Primarch's. So let me present to you said Primarch,". Stepping to the side he motioned with his hands. "Come forth Gene Father of the Sixth Legion, Tanya Russ."
Subconsciously I had been looking about 14 ft in the air, expecting to see the face of my Primarch come around the bend in the wall. Instead a smaller but still no less impressive figure came around, 8 or maybe 9 ft it was hard to tell.
Said figure was dressed in a mix of leather and metal armor, with a black cape and light blue colorings here or there. On its side was a sword, impressively large for their size, but… Well that was not where my eyes ended up resting.
As the figure walked through the shadows of the gate it was hard to see their face at first but as they came into the light there was definitely something I was not expecting to see. The face was beautiful and feminine, the hair long and styled similarly to the natives and blonde in color. The eyes were blue, I think.
There was an audible ripple through the Marines as confusion seem to have taken them. I was a bit stunned myself, unsure of how to react to this but thank The Emperor for the Disciplinary Corp. They quickly yelled at anyone that so much as murmured and got the men quiet
The figure stepped up to the front of the stage and nodded to The Emperor. "Thank you, Father, for this introduction," She said and that was definitely a female voice though there was an unnatural growl to it in the lower basic she was using. To add on to that growl two rather large wolves who had gone unnoticed up to now stepped onto the stage on either side of her, sitting as if they were common hunting dogs waiting for orders.
"Legionaries of the 6th, I suspect I am not what you were expecting," She said with a smile, looking out onto us. "No, I dare say after meeting my brother Horus that you were expecting something just as imposing and grandiose as that giant of a man. Do not worry I've been told I'm a bit of a late bloomer, I will develop such heights eventually." The start of the speech was given with such a humorous tone that I couldn't help a little bit of a chuckle. I heard low-key laughter from further back and felt a bit easier from just how relaxed that start of a speech was.
Smiling the Primarch said, "As The Emperor said, I am Tanya Russ, Primarch of your legion. I am also King of Russ of the ruling dynasty of this world. It did not start off that way, this world used to be very divided but through my efforts both in combat and in negotiation peace was brought to this planet." She paused and thought for a moment before saying.
"But in a way you probably don't care about my history per se. You're worried about what my joining you means, what the future brings for your legion. Well, the answer is simple: Greatness! Humanity among the stars is just as divided and broken as it had been on this world. My father's dream is to unify it, and I will see that dream completed."
Smiling she looked at the legion over again before saying, "I have been told that the sixth legion has no official name, though its unofficial name is The Rout, a play on its ability to pursue enemies even after they have broken. This term is thrown around as if that is a bad thing but the realities of war are far more complex than that. An enemy broken does not stay that way unless you capture or defeat them completely. This is a reality that I understand and completely accept, something that I have grown to understand because I've lived on this planet for so long."
Reaching down she pet one of her wolves on the head before she continued, "When I fell on this planet I had nothing. I was in the middle of nowhere and had no resources to my name. I fought hard to get what I could and showed my ability in combat. I was rewarded for this by being taken in by the wolves of Fenris and, with their aid, I slowly turned this world into a place of economic power. A place ready to progress its civilization from this cold dark-age into something more, something better. This has led to me being called the Wolf King, a title I have embraced for it is the truth.
Now 7000 sons have fallen to Fenris and I will do what the wolves did for me. They call you The Rout because you hunt down enemies that may come back to haunt you if left to fester. From what I understand this is a name of a creature that roams the wastelands of Terra but this is also the behavior of wolves, for if you do not make sure your potential enemies are thoroughly defeated they will come back. And this is a method of combat I have often used here on Fenris. So you will not be known as The Rout anymore, you will be known as the Wolves of Fenris and together we will hunt the enemies of the Imperium across the blackness of space till nothing stands in the way of a safe and prosperous human society."
Well that was a damn good speech, I mentally thought. Most of the Space Marines around me were already breaking out and sharing a few fuck yes and other expletives as well as things I'd never heard before. And it was an honor to do what I was going to do next. Stepping forward I lowered to one knee in the snow and presented my sword to her.
The Primarch smiled as she watched the cheering troops but once she noticed me she quickly stepped off the stage, landing in front of me. The crowd seemed to quiet as she walked up.
"My Primarch, I, legion master Enoch Rathvin of the sixth legion, offer full control of the legion to you."
Smiling she reached down and took the sword examining it with interest before flipping it in the air and catching it by the blade to hand the pummel back to me.
"I take the legion, though no need for your finely crafted sword. I will need capable men to help me lead this legion, someone who's been here from the start will be the most capable in such a situation. And besides that the sword is going to get a lot of work when we get out there, I assume, so you'll need this blade more than I."
"Thank you, my king," I said, taking the sword back before standing.
She smiled to me before saying "Well then let's all get to know each other, shall we? I've had several warehouses readied and we've been preparing a massive feast for this day. The alcohol shall flow, the food shall be consumed, and we shall know each other." And, as she said this, she pointed in the direction of the gate where I watched several women in armor starting to pull out tables and barrels of alcohol as well. More men in the uniform colors I'd seen before were bringing it out large barbecues by the looks of its and massive plates of food that seemed to need only a little bit of cooking. "Let us feast and be merry," She said proudly, to a round of applause and cheers of the sixth legion.
Writers note: alright chapter 19 some mysteries solved others opened, Tanya meats her legion, brother sister time, father-daughter time. I'm just finished chapter 20 and going to start work on chapter 21 this weekend, though have to ask anyone know of any maps that would show faction whereabouts in 30k, causes otherwise going to have a lot of freedom to make stuff up, and that never good.
Edited by: Pierre
Community edited by:Ryan Pirtle, Justin R
Community editable doc (
Chapter 19) No story suggestions in the community editing document, Keep all story suggestions and comments in the thread
Supporters: Afforess, Gremlin Jack, Weise, Xodarap4, Yamato, Duncan Sproule, Matthew D, James Moorhouse, Dankermaler, Hats88, DrkShdow, Devilstar101, Michael, Mana Rope, Falk Hüser, Daniel Martinez, Silver Wolf, Mackenzie Buckle, Markus, Neso, Staradder, Lmc9389
