Siege of Cthonia (2023) EC Lore

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This thread shall cover the lore additions regarding the Emperor's Children in the book The Siege of Cthonia.

BAAL DEFIANT 008-011.M31-
Cut off from the main body of their Legion, who had ventured to Signus, several companies of Blood Angels remain on their Primarch’s home world of Baal and are besieged by Traitors, including Sons of Horus, Emperor’s Children and Mechanicum forces that have sworn allegiance to the Warmaster. Doubt amongst the Blood Angels begins to grow, moods blacken and a sombre pall is cast as many believe Sanguinius himself to have fallen whilst abroad. The plausibility of such an event gains traction after combined contingents of Iron Hands, Salamanders and Raven Guard arrive at Baal after fleeing the massacre at Isstvan V, bringing news of the death of Ferrus Manus and the unknown fate of Vulkan. United in their grief, the Loyalist Legions are organised into functional battle companies and together they resist the continued attacks of the Traitors throughout the course of the Heresy. On two occasions, major Traitor attacks are launched only to be repelled with resolute defiance bythe combined Loyalist defenders. In the interim periods, a guerilla war simmers throughout the Baal system as sorties are launched to strike at the besieging fleets; the once proud sons of the loyal Primarchs taking the fight to their assailants in a series of strikes and fades, attempting to bleed their enemy dry by inflicting a thousand cuts.

THE BURNING OF IDYLITAR 012.M31-
Following their flight from Chemos after its destruction at the hands of the Dark Angels, fragmentary bands of Emperor’s Children disperse into the region known as the Pale Stars where they regroup and establish a new domain. This expansion soon attracts the attention of the Salamanders garrisoned on Nocturne who mobilise to counter the building Traitor forces. The XVIIIth Legion wage a systematic campaign of purification, cleansing each system planet by planet, leaving no trace of Fulgrim’s debased Legion. Their aggressive campaign reaches the Idylitar system, whose primary planet had been selected by the IIIrd Legion as the centre of a new kingdom to serve as a keystone around which they would assert control of the sub-sector. All across the barren land masses of Idyl-I, the Emperor’s Children had raised great defences and fortified the orbital sphere with an interlinked network of satellite stations, controlled by an artificial sentience of ancient origin. Unable to bring effective orbital strikes to bear due to the sophisticated defence network that protects the Traitor world, the Salamanders launch boarding actions in an effort to disable the enemy guns and bring their ships into effective range. Over the course of weeks, temporary control of the relay-nodes within the defence network is wrested from the hands of the Emperor’s Children before the automated systems reroute and rebuild the network. These actions afford the Salamanders only brief windows of opportunity to bring their formidable weapons to bear upon sectors of the planet and drop additional reinforcements into the intensifying war zones on the surface. The IIIrd Legion defenders take advantage of the Salamanders’ inability to bring any superior forces to bear and only after several months of vicious, running battles are they finally dislodged from their stronghold, allowing the XVIIIth Legion forces to join their brethren in their purgation of the remainder of the region.

DESCENTS OF MADNESS 013.M31-
Several Loyalist Imperial outposts to the south-west of the galactic core record accounts of sporadic attacks by bands of horrifyingly mutated creatures, beasts and disfigured humanoids, clad in desecrated power armour bearing the barely recognisable sigils of the IIIrd Legion. Initially these incidents are suspected to be perpetrated by cult aberrants or some unknown xeno-forms, mimicking or acting at the behest of agents of the Emperor’s Children since they lack the overwhelming force and coordination of a Legionary assault, the troops conducting them seeming disorganised or overcome by a malaise. Over the space of several months the attacks intensify from relatively easily repelled incursions through to much more dangerous onslaughts, until eventually the perimeter outposts in some local clusters cease transmission of ident codes and are assumed to have been overrun or destroyed.

WAR IN THE SHADOWS-
The events that took place in the proximity of the Segmentum Solar during Horus’ march on Terra would become some of the most storied and significant battles the Imperium had ever known, overshadowing any throughout the entire history of Mankind. Rogal Dorn, the Primarch of the VIIth Legion and Praetorian of Terra, had set his defences against the inevitable coming of the Traitor hordes, and the Emperor himself waged a hidden war of his own within the Webway – the space that existed between reality and the Immaterium. Loyalist forces were drawn in to man defences that ranged from the cordon wall of the Imperial Palace itself to the distant, cold moons of Pluto. Traitor forces left ruin in their wake as they amassed and prepared to assault the most heavily defended position in the galaxy, the Sol System. The cradle of humanity was, however, not the only place that battle still raged during the latter years of the Heresy. The remnants of Expeditionary fleets, garrison forces and warbands that were still dispersed throughout the furthest reaches of the galaxy did not all voyage to converge upon Terra. Many heeded that call but were contained behind entrenched blockades and possessed numbers too few to break out and join the fight by the side of the Emperor. Traitor forces of Emperor’s Children, Death Guard, Iron Warriors, World Eaters and Thousand Sons amassed in the Inwit Cluster, effectively holding Loyalist Imperial Fists captive upon their own home world. What resources were occupied in keeping the VIIth Legion from reinforcing Terra were deemed worthwhile if they reduced the number of guns arrayed atop the ramparts of the Imperial Palace by even a handful.

Elsewhere, upon the distant world of Drussen, contingents of the Iron Hands and Iron Warriors had maintained their alliance and were oblivious to the events of the Heresy. In 010.M31 the peace was shattered with the arrival of both Raven Guard and Alpha Legion warships in open conflict. Legionary war rapidly engulfed the planet as the horror of betrayal was revealed anew. The entirety of Drussen’s capital city and billions of its inhabitants were lost in the space of a short few hours, the immense structure toppled from its gravitational harness and sent crashing into the planet’s surface. Some were embroiled in wars of their own making, ampaigns to exterminate those who they once called cousins or wars of attrition, fuelled by bitter hatred. The overarching strategic objectives of many of these conflicts were insignificant in comparison to the opportunity they represented to extract a toll, in blood, from those who had become the sworn enemy. Little thought was given to the spirit of noble conquest and expansion that prevailed during the era of the Great Crusade and instead utter destruction of the foe and any hold they inhabited became the only measure of victory.

SOLDIERS OF TREACHERY: The Emperor’s Children-
In the wake of Fulgrim’s daemonic ascension and subsequent disappearance the IIIrd Legion experienced a traumatic rebirth, falling from grace further in the pursuit of its newly awakened dark passions. The Legion dissipated into warbands that, rather than prosecute the grand strategies of the Traitor Warmaster, sought instead to find worthy opponents against which to test themselves. Few accounts cataloguing the actions of the Emperor’s Children survive, for few were the witnesses left behind to mark their deeds, but some notable instances stand out among extant records. At Baal, a large force of Emperor’s Children joined the Sons of Horus in laying siege to the home world of the Blood Angels Legion. Within the Inwit Cluster, hungry for the strategic prize of Rogal Dorn’s home world and its surrounding empire, a vast Traitor fleet led by elements of the Emperor’s Children wrought terrible destruction. Among the most sizable IIIrd Legion concentrations of force was an armada amassed by Lord Commander Eidolon who, in the absence of his Primarch Fulgrim, had become the self-appointed master of the Emperor’s Children. Seeking to validate his newfound pre-eminence among the Emperor’s Children, Eidolon hounded the Loyalists across the stars, relentlessly seeking to earn the recognition he so craved. Eventually, many of the Emperor’s Children would gather once more as a Legion at Ullanor, heeding the call of their returned Primarch to join Horus’ host bound for the final confrontation at Terra.

 

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THE SHUNNED-
The term ‘Inductii’ is a broad appellation used within modern records to refer to any Legionary recruited into the Legiones Astartes following the events of Isstvan V through to the Warmaster’s fall. Its etymological origin lies within records taken from the world of Bodt, one of a number of fief planets sworn to the World Eaters Legion that churned out blood-crazed monsters clad in the flesh of a Space Marine, each one a nightmarish mockery of the ideals of the Legiones Astartes. These creatures were labelled ‘Inductii’ by their creators, a term that disseminated amongst the Traitor Legions to refer to all new Legionaries recruited into a Legion, often as a byword for shame, spoken with disdain for those they believed were inferior stock. Traitor Inductii were often distinguishable by other signs too – amongst the Emperor’s Children, Inductii were forbidden to wear the Palatine Aquila, while amongst the Sons of Horus, a handful of veterans decried the usage of Cthonian symbols by those not from Cthonia an offence worthy of harsh punishment

.Conversely, the term Inductii is largely absent from the records of Loyalist Legions, yet many feature specific nomenclature that served to isolate, intentionally or otherwise, newly recruited Legionaries from their more veteran brothers. The terms used were myriad and personal to the Legions in question, often differing between elements of a Legion across the galaxy. Imperial Fists based upon Terra are noted as referring to new recruits as Sentries or Neophytes, while amongst the ranks garrisoned on Inwit or present in other strike forces, Recruits or Initiates were common parlance. Other Legions are noted for expressing more outward disdain of their Inductii. One stark example is the recorded words of Leman Russ, with the Wolf King known to have stated to an assembly of his Wolf Lords, “Trust not the pups whose claws have yet to be bloodied, bearing claws that have never rent flesh, and teeth not yet sharpened upon the hide of a foe”.

Discerning the catalyst of such sentiments towards Inductii proves difficult. Of the tens of thousands of Inductii analysed by Mechanicus genetors post-conflict, most possessed little noticeable physiological differences to their traditionally inducted brothers. Therefore, analysis must turn towards the cultural issues that arose with the influx of new recruits, many harvested from worlds distant to traditional Legion recruitment grounds. During the Great Crusade clashes in tradition were not unheard of, with many instances of disputes between Terran Legionaries that had fought before the rediscovery of their Primarch and those warriors recruited post-discovery. With many Legions stranded on the galactic frontiers during the Horus Heresy, access to existing recruitment grounds, which consisted of planets bearing a similar cultural identity to a Legion’s home world, proved limited for most. As a consequence, Legions sought new planets from which fresh generations of Legionaries could be gathered. The pace of war often prevented the establishment of ties with such worlds nor did it allow lengthy assessment of planetary cultures. In many instances Legion strike forces would descend upon the planet in a manner akin to an orbital invasion, enforcing rapid genetic screening of potential candidates then departing with those of suitably genetic viability. Where some Legions expended a modicum of effort to marry the cultures of aspirants with the me in of the Legion– the scouring of penal colonies by warbands of the Night Lords Legions, or the Dark Angels tithes extracted from planets with honour-bound cultures – success was varied, a balm incapable of soothing all divisions.

Harsh training programmes, supplemented by intensive bouts of hypno-indoctrination, were implemented by many Legions in an attempt to subvert lingering cultural ties. Where hypno-indoctrination was employed, it was common for old ideals to clash with new ones in the aspirant’s mind, leading many Inductii to become little more than crude parodies of their veteran brothers as they aped traditions they lacked sentiments for. Other Inductii proved resistant to culture shifts, blending the traditions of their home world with that of the Legion, leading to the formation of dozens of sub-cultures across Legion elements. Inductii companies became common within some Legions, all attempts at integration abandoned within them.

By the time the Warmaster and his allies reached Terra, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Legionaries, both fresh recruits and veterans, had fallen across the galaxy. Those who had served within a Legion prior to Horus’ betrayal were now the minority, aged brothers standing tall amid ranks who knew nothing but a Legion consumed by desperation or corruption. Gone was the unity of a single Legion, for their numbers were scattered across the galaxy with varying adherence to Legion cultures and tactical disposition, each a pale imitation of an age now rendered extinct.

FORSAKEN KNOWLEDGE-
So much as has been recounted in this record speaks only of Inductii forged from the mould of those Legionaries that had come before, marred only by blemishes of mind or form. To the undiscerning, these warriors were Legiones Astartes in all respects, warriors that, in a better age, would have carried the Emperor’s light to the furthest corners of the galaxy. Come the Horus Heresy, there were those who turned to darker powers in their quest for dominance, walking upon forsaken paths open to those possessed of unfettered ambition. Be it motivated by desperation or hubris, driven by loyalty to the Imperium or a desire to conquer all before them, there were those that toiled, by willful intent or otherwise, to create Inductii bearing only the slimmest resemblance to the Emperor’s creations. Secrecy was the veil under which such works were completed and thus no complete record exists that details the totality of horrors paraded as Legionaries that were unleashed upon the galaxy. Much of what is held within this record stands as more half-truth and allegory than objective fact. Such tales speak not of the berserkers forged by the World Eaters upon Bodt and other worlds nor the factories of the Iron Warriors into which billions were walked like chattel, most not aspirants but vats in which an archive of Space Marine organs were matured, but of darker things more reminiscent of the terrors of Old Night. Of what is known beyond doubt is those Inductii born of a fusion between Legionary and warp entity, forged from the dark pacts made by the Warmaster and his allies. Though records exist detailing the activities of such abominations amongst the ranks of the Word Bearers from as early as Isstvan V, such Inductii grew in number as the war progressed and corruption wormed deeper into the hearts of the Traitors. What little study of such creatures that is held within Imperial archives speaks of stunted augmentation catalysed by ætheric power, the malformed remains of poorly crafted Legionaries transformed into unique monstrosity, shaped and moulded by the entity bound to an aspirant’s soul. Names such as Lupercali and Gal Mordek – a title similar in bearing to Gal Vorbak, yet borne by Inductii viewed as lesser creatures – rang strong across the battlefields of Terra, ordained by many as blessed sacrifice with which

 

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the Emperor would be toppled. To those who faced them, and to some of those who marched beside them, such abominations were forever damned; logs extracted from the Night Lords vessel Sins in Penumbra name such Inductii Skia’darr or ‘Devoured by Shadow’ in the Nostramo tongue, for they were not brothers but malformed tools of fear to be unleashed then discarded. Common too is the knowledge that the IIIrd Legion indulged heavily in the surgical modification of their forms in misguided attempts to achieve a notion of perfection.

Extant records frequently refer to ‘Fabius’, who logs from the 28th Expeditionary Fleet list as chief apothecary of the Emperor’s Children, as architect of the IIIrd Legion’s transformation. The works of Fabius and his disciples, a cadre of apothecary recruits from across the Legions, are myriad and include the implantation of xeno-organs to enhance Legionaries’ abilities and the creation of the kakophoni. Upon Inductii, Fabius’ work was starker; to him, Legiones Astartes flesh was a canvas upon which he projected his most twisted dreams. Named the Terata in some records, the attributes of these Inductii varied greatly, with confirmed accounts of Legionaries bearing chem-implants that swelled their form and strength to grotesque proportions, warriors with limbs replaced with sinuous appendages or monstrous chela, or the transplantation of chitinous carapace in place of skin. The Emperor’s Children were not alone in their twisting of form. On Tallarn, reports speak of Iron Warriors Inductii wired into the workings of vehicles, living entities slaved to the mechanisms of machines, while records fromthe Scouring report IVth Legion garrisons possessing only base sentience, impelled only to stand guard and lay waste to invaders. Within the Segmentum Obscurus, Mawdrym Llansahai plied his trade upon friend and foe alike; post action records of the Massacre at Sed IV provide scattered images of chimeric Legiones Astartes, akin in appearance to the Grotesques of ancient Terran myth. Elements of the Word Bearers absent from the Siege of Terra are reported to have marched to battle with Inductii whose lungs and vocal cords were replaced with vox equipment, evoid of any voice save broadcasts of the word of Lorgar. Similar examples, many unverified save for singular accounts, present dozens of modifications, the Inductii subjected to the whims of their commander as the Traitor Legions fragmented. Those Legions that remained true to the Emperor are not spared from indictment by such tales. Desperation ran rife amongst many during the early years of the Horus Heresy, for the galaxy was plunged under the veil of the Ruinstorm and those denied the Warmaster’s succour were subjected to the storm’s wrath, cast adrift and bereft of aid. Those Legions that had fought at Isstvan V were broken and little but the promise of vengeance sustained them. Wounded and battered, but not destroyed, they sought alternative means to replenish their strength and to raise a generation of Legionaries possessed of such might that they might have their revenge upon the Warmaster. Tales of aspirants of the Iron Hands Inductii bound to autonoma-exoskeletons are common amongst the few survivors of Colchis, warriors gifted the strength and resilience of a Space Marine yet doomed to wither by the radiation such artifice pumped through their system. Other stories tell of abominations marching instep with the Raven Guard and Space Wolves on far flung battlefields, Legionaries bearing mutations in the colours of the XIXth Legion at Yarant and beyond, and of Legionaries of the VIth Legion with the visage of wolves, wielding claws and fangs that rent armour and flesh asunder with equal ease. Whether such tales are the product of Inductii practices that strayed close to darkness or simply tales drawn from fevered minds may never beknown. If such creatures did indeed live, they were purged before light could be shined upon them, confined to ignominy once their purpose had had been fulfilled.

“A warrior is known by his deeds, by the victories he has won and the enemies he has vanquished. A warrior has achieved nothing if none know of his name or have not heard of his glorious achievements.” -Lord Commander Eidolon of the Emperor’s Children

EMPEROR’S CHILDREN LEGION INDUCTII TEMPLATE-
As the fruits of Chief Apothecary Fabius’ work spread throughout the Legion, more and more recruits were subjected to experimentation by the Legion’s Apothecarion. Empowered by a potent cocktail of experimental combat stimulants and physical modifications, their tortured minds strove even more self-destructively towards a desire for perfection.

Perfection Embodied-
The Inductii of the Emperor’s Children fought in a state of bliss that saw them fight on despite casualties. Only when they failed to completely annihilate their enemies was their resolve seen to waver, however briefly.

 

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A GENERATION APART

“Necessity is the matriarch of innovation.” Such are the words of an ancient Terran proverb, words that rang true and loud through the work of the Legions’ apothecaries as they toiled to stave off the dire costs of the Warmaster’s rebellion. Time was not a luxury afforded to those who lived during the Age of Darkness. Legions loyal to the Emperor had suffered greatly at the hands of the Warmaster’s machinations, their strength battered and depleted, while those that marched beneath Horus’ banner were hard pressed to sunder the Imperium’s defences and tear down its throne before their foe could regroup. Months gave way to years and the war, intended to be swift, degenerated into a morass of conflict that ground ever on. Each new delay in the Warmaster’s advance was another the defenders of the Imperium could use to reinforce their defences, to regroup and rearm, to encircle Horus and his fleet and crush them with overwhelming might. There was no singular moment or unifying command that dictated the launch of the Inductii programmes within each Legion and its fragments. Instead, the realities of war forced many to face harsh truths, the ideals of yesteryear clashing with the realities of all-out war, until practicalities overcame good intentions, causing safety and tradition to be pushed to the wayside. Methods varied greatly across the Legions, dependent on the availability of supplies and adequate facilities, dictated by a commander’s morality or lack thereof and limited only by the depraved visions of those who believed themselves greater in erudition than the Emperor. Never shall every deviation be known, for much has been lost to time and what remains is fragmented, drawn from the extracted testimonies of hated Traitors, incomplete data retrieved from decaying medicae facilities across the galaxy and self-written records of loyal Legions, likely purified of any sins committed.

Broadly, the efforts of the various Legions’ induction processes can be categorised into two practices: the abridgement of training and the modification of implantation methods. Of the two, it was the former that proved easiest yet also recouped the least time. Training amongst earlier Inductii in most instances appeared similar in nature to that employed prior to the Warmaster’s betrayal, consisting of live-fire exercises in concert with tactical theory and aspirant trials. Many of the early actions of the Horus Heresy became ideal proving grounds for new Legionaries, for they were brutal affairs which forged survivors of great mettle. Nevertheless, safe training facilities were difficult to acquire as the war escalated, save perhaps within more stable regions such as Ultramar or the Warmaster’s Dark Empire, and so more rapid methods were developed. Chief amongst these was the employment of hypno-indoctrination, utilised in varying amounts by nearly every Legion during the Horus Heresy, a psycho-encode process involving the rapid injection of knowledge within the psyche of the subject. Weapon training, impartation of tactics and, in many instances, subliminal obedience messages were combined with memetic packages, which were loaded into the brains of aspirants in an attempt to rapidly mould Legionaries’ minds. The extent of hypno-indoctrination varied greatly, as did the level of training it granted, differentiated by the needs of individual strike forces. Inductii of the Imperial Fists on Terra were imparted with defensive siege tactics, vital for their role in the defence of the Imperial Palace during the final days of the conflict, while VIIth Legion Inductii on Cthonia bore the hallmarks of greater reliance on obedience packages, no doubt intended to curtail any lingering loyalties to the Sons of Horus. Conversely, hypno-indoctrination packages retrieved from Raven Guard facilities in the Segmentum Obscurus leaned heavily on the transfer of infiltration tactics, so that all Inductii were capable of persecuting the guerilla war the Legion had committed itself to.

The practice of hypno-indoctrination was not novel – pre-Unification civilisations on Terra are recorded to have utilised the technique in the creation of vassal legions, and limited uses of the process were found within the ranks of the Imperial Administration and Remembrancer Order. Testing amongst the ranks of the Legiones Astartes was conducted during conquest of the Sol System, yet proved inferior to hands-on training, with aspirants exposed to the process showing stunted tactical acumen and combat readiness compared to other Legionaries. Expediency outweighed efficacy during the Horus Heresy, leading many Inductii programmes to become increasingly reliant upon the process as the war drew closer to conclusion. Necro-cortical analysis of Legionaries who fell during the Siege of Terra reveal many Space Marines, Loyalist and Traitor both, bore tell-tale signs of minor to severe neural degradation, are current side-effect of hypno-indoctrination exposure. Other side-effects, such as persona dissociation, scarring of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex – resulting in decreased inhibition and increased aggression – and loss of pre-enhancement memories, often substituted with further indoctrination programmes that filled cognitive gaps with agreeable traits, are noted amongst Loyalist forces that reported high usage of hypno-indoctrination in Inductii creation. Conversely, some Legion elements forwent dedicated training entirely, choosing instead to utilise poorly equipped and ill-trained Inductii as chaff to shield veteran brothers. Those that survived were afforded greater respect and rights of salvage from fallen Legionaries; those that fell were deemed too weak to survive in a galaxy ravaged by conflict. This practice was common amongst the ranks of the World Eaters as well as several Blood Angels strike forces upon the galactic fringes and elements of the Emperor’s Children terrorising the northern reaches of the galaxy. Casualties amongst such forces exceeded nearly all other recorded losses for individual strike forces, yet many stand prominent in records of infamy, for those warriors that survived were transformed into slaughterers with few equals.