Mark of Calth: 25 (The Horus Heresy)

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Just as bitter to the Ultramarines Legion was the damage inflicted on its fleet assets. Never renowned for the numbers of heavy combat voidcraft in its service, the losses suffered at Calth were crippling and hamstrung any effort to prosecute an interstellar war beyond the bounds of Ultramar. Of the forces of the Excertus Imperialis, details are more vague, but it seems likely that at least half a million troops-under-arms perished during the fighting, alongside the entire fighting complement of the Legio Praesagius. and terrible ritual unfolding on Calth. Much later, it was determined that the intent of this cruelty was to sear the sight of the dying world into each victim's consciousness as an act of witnessing, a scene the Word Bearers believed the dead would take with them to the afterlife as evidence to the powers that hold sway there of the Traitor Legion's deeds. Aeonid Thiel, Sergeant, 135 th Company [marked] - Thiel's helmet was painted red to indicate that he was marked for censure for running theoretical scenarios for combating other Space Marines - at the time, this was to satisfy his own curiosity and a yearning to account for all possibilities. However, due to the substantial losses amongst the XIII command personnel, Thiel emerged as a proficient leader and resourceful fighter. When the time came to organise the shattered remnants of the XIII into fighting squads, the new leaders were marked with the red helmet. This pattern continues to the present day.

Not only were the surviving Loyalist elements tormented by the depredations of the Word Bearers' tenebrous allies, but also by the deterioration of the situation in the Veridia System. The Word Bearers had turned the full destructive capability of the Calth orbital defence platforms, as well as the formidable firepower of their own fleet, against the system's sun itself and the resulting flare in solar radiation was beginning to take its toll on the warriors on Calth's surface. Those not shielded from the sun's glare or protected by the augmented physiology of the Legiones Astartes, were soon blistered and burned, and most would later to succumb to extreme radiation poisoning. Only those scant enclaves that were within one of the few shielded structures still held by the Loyalists escaped this lingering death, though few who still lived could see this as anything but a temporary reprieve. Mark of Calth is the fifth compilation to appear in the series; it contains seven short stories and one novella, each by a different author. The stories further describe aspects of the rebels' Ultramar campaign, as close prequels or sequels of Know No Fear and Betrayer. At around Mark -16.44.00, Magos Uhl Kehal Hesst noticed a foreign scrapcode infesting the cogitators controlling Calth's orbital defence network. The source of this scrapcode was a Chaos ritual being conducted in secret at the camp of the Word Bearers' auxiliaries, The Brotherhood of the Knife. [2d]. This ritually-produced scrapcode, known as the Octed, was finally implanted at Mark -7.55.09. [2e] Ventanus became a senior adviser to his Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, and helped to codify the strategies and dogmas of what would become the Codex Astartes. And in the 41st Millennium, his vengeful spirit assisted a certain Uriel Ventris to inflict a true death on the Word Bearers Daemon Prince M’Kar. When the Horus Heresy ended and Roboute Guilliman initiated the Second Founding and the Reformation of the Imperium as its first Lord Commander, he would get his wish, and the Imperium would once more make use of psychic powers against the forces of Chaos despite the inherent dangers.At the meeting, Erebus gives each of the warlords - Kor Phaeron, Morpal Cxir, Foedrall Fell, Hol Beloth, Quor Vondar and Phael Rabor — one of the daggers, keeping one for himself and one for Kolos Undil, the sergeant in command of his bodyguard unit. Leaving the meeting, Erebus reflects that Lorgar may intend for all of them to die in the upcoming battle, but Erebus has his escape planned; whether the other commanders figure out that their athames will likewise allow them to move through the warp, he will leave to fate. As the Word Bearers entered Ultramar space, Lorgar prepared his Legion for the inevitable slaughter that would follow. Command of the main assault force was given to Kor Phaeron, the First Captain of the XVII th Legion and one of Lorgar's most favoured champions. Calth was to be Kor Phaeron's operation to execute, far more than it was Lorgar's. Kor Phaeron had planned the assault of Calth for his Primarch meticulously, and executed it with the aid of the Dark Apostle Erebus. The punishment and annihilation of the XIII th Legion was the campaign's principal aim; the humiliation and execution of Lorgar's hated rival Roboute Guilliman was a secondary objective. But for Lorgar, the assault would also mark his first opportunity to gain true favour in the eyes of the Dark Gods he now served; to prove to them that he had earned his place as their Chosen One. Remus Ventanus is one of the rarest of Space Marine heroes – a legend from the 31st Millennium whose name is still known 10,000 years later.

The Traitors wanted to prove themselves against the Astartes who had been held up to them so many times as the models of what it meant to be Space Marines. The charging cobalt-blue warriors of the Ultramarines met the solid crimson line of the Word Bearers with a crash. The fighting proved both brutal and unforgiving with neither side asking for, nor receiving, any kind of quarter. The situation outside was rapidly deteriorating as armoured columns in service to the Word Bearers moved into position and began firing at the Loyalists with a hail of shells and laser fire. Two Traitor Reaver-class Titans approached at full stride, intent on annihilating the servants of the Emperor. With the majority of his allied commanders already dead, Ventanus knew that his company line was all but broken. Legio Suturvora (Infernus) - "The Fire Masters" - Secret agents of the Warmaster, the powerful Legio Suturvora was deployed at full strength to the Calth muster with the goal of destroying the Loyalist Titan force. The Legio, comprising at least 130 Titans, was further reinforced by a demi-Legio of the Legio Mortis.He’s also such a Cunning Strategist that he can reroll his own Reserves rolls – and hamper his enemies’ rolls at the same time. I The Solar War • II The Lost and the Damned • III The First Wall • Sons of the Selenar • IV Saturnine • Fury of Magnus • V Mortis • VI Warhawk • VII Echoes of Eternity • Garro: Knight of Grey • VIII The End and the Death ( Volume I • Volume II • Volume III)