The Battle for Beta Garmon EC Lore

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This thread shall cover the lore additions regarding the Emperor's Children in the book The Battle for Berra Garmon.

THE GARMONITE CONCLAVE 006.M31-
Across the cluster the actions of Horus’ agents escalate, leaving hundreds of senior officials dead and resulting in widespread sabotage including the depressurisation of agri-domes upon Delta-Garmon II and mutiny among the void docks of Theta-Garmon X. At Nyrcon City upon Beta-Garmon II, a Conclave of the Garmonite Lords is called to address the growing unrest, only for a Millennial of the Emperor’s Children under the guise of Loyalist survivors of Isstvan V to intercede. After days of foreboding silence from Nyrcon City, the Palatine-lady and a host of Loyalist Garmonite Lords are publicly announced to have withdrawn from office, with a freshly appointed regent-council having taken their place. In the face of broad dissent and distrust at what many see as an obvious coup by Horus’ forces, the new regent-council enacts martial law, setting into motion a cascade of events that will initiate open war across the cluster within a year as Loyalists marshal their own forces to restore Palatine-lady Vail to power.

THE RUINSTORM
The Loyalists’ capabilities to send and support reinforcements into the cluster were hampered by the Ruinstorm; a tempestuous disturbance in the Immaterium, a storm that swallowed the stars themselves that was called forth with the culmination of arcane rituals conducted by the Word Bearers on distant Calth. Lesser effects were felt by the Traitors, who, in the shadows, enacted malevolent schemes to bolster their numbers and subjugate the worlds of the Garmon Cluster. Operatives of the Alpha Legion and companies of Emperor’s Children having awaited the time to rise up during the Garmon Cluster’s isolation, sent even prior to the rousing of the Ruinstorm as infiltrators and agents of disorder, destabilised the control of the Garmonite Lords. Titan Legios and Knight Households were set in opposition, bringing their cataclysmic weapons to bear in battle, embroiling worlds throughout the cluster in open warfare as control was wrested back and forth between Traitor and Loyalist control. In the face of such wanton destruction, Dorn’s Great Muster was sent into disarray and instead of a cohesive Loyalist force, the defenders of the Garmon Cluster were fragmented and disorganised, fighting as isolated pockets of resistance. Only with the cataclysmic destruction of Davin and the resultant waning of the Ruinstorm did the warp turbulence that shrouded the Garmon Cluster abate and allow Rogal Dorn to commit further reinforcements to break the Warmaster’s momentum. Any efforts to repel or destroy Horus’ forces within the Garmon Cluster would be costly, but miniscule in comparison to the price of ceding the territory. If Loyalist forces were to retreat from the sector and fall back to the Segmentum Solar, there would be little to prevent the Warmaster’s armada from filling the vacuum behind them and establishing a direct route through which to march his armies upon Terra. Even as humanity itself was divided and burgeoning darkness threatened to smother all that was light, a fire still burned in the hearts of many. In some, the fire was fuelled by hope, a belief that all could be rebuilt in the wake of Horus’ betrayal, if only his advance on Terra could be halted. In others, fires of hatred burned, fuelled by the desire to exact vengeance upon the Emperor’s treacherous son and all that followed with him. None, however, were ignorant to the fact that there could be no peace for Mankind now, for no loyal son could bear to tolerate the existence of a traitor and no traitor could rest whilst a single loyal soul stood in defiance.

Traitor Host Contingent: The Garrison Of Deitus-
In excess of 35,000troops stood in defence of the world of Deitus, with significant contingents of not only Sons of Horus but also World Eaters and Emperor’s Children. Amongst them was the Warmaster himself, accompanied by prominent individuals of the XVIth Legion hierarchy.

Shattered Legions-



EMPEROR’S CHILDREN- One of the first Legions to succumb to malign influence, the Emperor’s Children lost much of their cohesion in the early years of the Horus Heresy. Many, such as the notorious 97th Company under Commander Vonerios, joined with other splinter forces of Traitors, pursuing selfish goals away from their Primarch. Others, such as Captain Saul Tarvitz in the opening hours of the Horus Heresy, aghast at the betrayal perpetuated by their genesire, sought to redeem their Legion's name, allying themselves to scattered Loyalist forces and seeking to strike back.

 

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“To make the pact of war is to make a binding commitment, one satisfied by your life or mine, that cannot be broken. There can be no peace without the death of you or I, yet this war must cease before all the worlds lay in ruin. I will be the one to end it, not with surrender but with the work of this blade.”- Final recorded words of Sergeant Vethor, Emperor’s Children

PRAECEPTA INDUCTIONIS-
The Legiones Auxilia emerged from ad hoc practices which stretched back to the earliest days of the Great Crusade, though they were never realised as the text of the Principia Militaris established. The first Solar Auxilia cohorts that would go on to be codified as Legiones Auxilia endured years of service attached to a single Expeditionary fleet, fighting alongside a given Space Marine Legion across dozens of worlds. Some were informally folded into the structure of the Legion they accompanied as a matter of course, a simple practicality of warfare at the leading edge of the Great Crusade. Others were awarded honorary Legion membership with varying degrees of fanfare, the 58th Cohort ‘Last Vigil’ inducted into the VIth Legion with a single blood-daubed sigil amidst the blackened ruins of the Æschere Combine, while the Emperor’s Children were known to preside over formal induction ceremonies that could last days in length. As these practices continued outwards, drawing elements of the Legio Cybernetica and Imperial Army into the orbit of the Legions, questions were raised as new ties of fidelity began to distort the rigid command hierarchy of the Excertus Imperialis and the complex feudal structure of the Mechanicum. Across several campaigns in the Great Crusade’s first few decades, this dual loyalty gave rise to incidents disquieting to the officials of the Divisio Militaris. At the burning of Aesika, an entire Armada Imperialis flotilla was all but obliterated as cohorts oath sworn to the IVth Legion ignored external orders to retaliate against a mass Hrud counter-attack. On Isurum II, a battlegroup of the Legio Tempestus was stranded planet side for almost three years when their macro-landers were destroyed, the defensive cordon around their landing site abandoned by the 821st ‘Petran Voltigeurs’ Cohort as they rushed to aid their patron Luna Wolves Legion. These incidents and dozens more created a pattern the Lords Militant and Solar of the Divisio Militaris claimed was impossible to ignore.

Midway through 847.M30, the Divisio Militaris formally ratified the Praecepta Inductionis, articles drafted to govern the official process through which a Solar Auxilia cohort could be inducted into the service of the Legiones Astartes. These dictated a complete withdrawal from the supply structure of the Excertus Imperialis, inducted cohorts directed to surrender any void craft, vehicles and supplies deemed “in excess to immediate and urgent demand” as well as relinquishing all rights to planetary domains at the end of any Auxiliary’s service. Intended to disincentivise cohorts from accepting incorporation into the Legions and place additional strain on their resources, the gradual rediscovery of the Primarchs and resultant establishing of broader Legion fiefs defanged the articles considerably, rendering them into an almost purely political gesture in concert with the impracticality of any real enforcement effort. Ultimately, the Praecepta Inductionis would give rise to an entirely new breed of Legiones Auxilia cohort, the onus of supply placed upon the Legions galvanising the direct formation of cohorts as dedicated bodies rather than inducted hosts. Raised within a given Legion’s demesne, such cohorts were wed closer to their patron Legion than any which had come before, fully formalised as a militant arm of the Legions and often recast as a distinct force, their cohort numeral supplanted by broader cognomens like the Spireguard Templars and Ultramar Accensi. For several Legions – most notably the Ultramarines, Imperial Fists and Alpha Legion – these internally raised cohorts had come to widely replace inducted Solar Auxilia forces within their Legiones Auxilia hosts by the waning years of the Great Crusade, significant tributary domains providing a steady supply of both Legionaries and Auxilia. The advent of the Horus Heresy would catalysea paradigm shift in the Legions’ schema of war however, with the induction of extant Solar Auxilia cohorts resurgent as the Legions sought any means available to supplement their diminishing numbers and the Traitor Legions unveiling sizeable hosts of hitherto unseen Legiones Auxilia at the war’s outset.

THE ART OF SUFFERING-
Once the Emperor’s Children were followed into battle by dozens of distinguished hosts of the Legiones Auxilia, each having earned Legion induction by dint of exemplary record and valiant service, acting along side the IIIrd Legion as exemplars of the Great Crusade. When the Emperor’s Children betrayed their namesake, these inducted cohorts turned Traitor with them, and where once the IIIrd Legiones Auxilia were driven to excel against all odds, this impulse devolved into an almost exultant response to casualties, inducing a twisted fervour in those auxiliaries who survived.

 

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THE WARMASTER REVEALED-
Over the bodies of his fallen sons the Khan climbed in search of Horus, each having sold their lives only after sending many times their own number of Traitor Legionaries tumbling down to the ground below. At last he reached the plateau atop the Ghal-Zammad, as those that remained of his company drove the blades through the throats of the few enemies that still defied death around them. At the foot of the pyramid far below, battle still raged as Traitor warriors in the sea-green of the XVIth were joined by those clad in the royal violet of the IIIrd and the deep crimson of the XVIIth to repel the White Scars. A fog as thick as oil smoke began to coalesce, blocking the Khan’s view as he peered back and enveloping the plateau in isolation. With his view of the battle beneath him obscured, Jaghatai’s sight was drawn to the presence that moved in the haze before him, it was at first an indistinct silhouette in the distance, but as the figure strode closer, the vision became clearer. Horus Lupercal was finally before him.

“I have under me a fractious collective of Legionaries. While the status of the Ravenlord is unconfirmed, those of my own Legion advocate for making speed for Deliverance, seeking the truth in the rumours of his demise. Those of the Xth Legion understandably seek vengeance against the IIIrd, insisting we hasten to strike at their recruitment centres in the Aquitane Sector. The sons of Vulkan, in the wake of the betrayal levelled against us, instead seek are turn to Terra, as the only confirmed loyal bastion. All these considerations make no account for any foes we may encounter along our route or the desperate condition of our stocks of munitions and supplies. We may instead hope to uncover an isolated supply centre before enacting our vengeance upon the Traitors.” Audio log from wreck of the frigate Corax’s Lament, recovered from the Jadarn Nebula, c.M.33

THE FIRST BETRAYAL-
While the archetypal Shattered Legions template would ever be attributed to Shadrak Meduson’s scattered warbands, it can be argued that these were not in fact the first Space Marines to adopt such a structure. Horus’ opening betrayal, conducted upon the Isstvan system’s third planet, condemned those Legionaries of the IIIrd, XIIth, XIVth and XVIth Legions ill-disposed to the Warmaster’s treachery to death for their perceived loyalty to the Emperor. In the aftermath of the Traitors’ failed attempt to annihilate these Legionaries from orbit, the Primarch Angron led a ground assault against the surviving Loyalists, whose hosts were divided between the four Legions, each equally mauled by the ravages of the life-eater virus and the firestorm which had been unleashed upon them. Among these surviving Loyalists, the same conditions which led to Shadrak Meduson’s supposed founding of the Shattered Legions can be observed – depleted numbers, a lack of supplies and a severed chain of command. While many of the Loyalists would fight according to the divisions of their Legions – honour bound to face their erstwhile brothers alone – some number of these betrayed warriors would come together as combined hosts, forming ad hoc units of mixed Legionaries in much the same way as those later betrayed at Isstvan V. Around such figures as Saul Tarvitz these first Shattered Legions forces emerged, warriors clad in purple, white, bone and teal fighting as one, fresh bonds forged in the fires of betrayal proving to be of greater worth than decades long kinships.


The Battle for Nycron is mentioned, a reference to an older article that noted the 3rd's involvement.

THE FIRST BATTLE OF NYRCON CITY 010.M31-
A relief force of Imperial Fists, Saturnyne Rams and Legio Astorum titans dispatched by Rogal Dorn manages to penetrate the Ruinstorm engulfing the Garmon Cluster, immediately moving to besiege the Traitor-held Nyrcon City and reinforcing Loyalist troops across Beta Garmon II at large. Assisted by the unexpected arrival of a Salamanders host aboard the Ebon Drake, the Imperial Fists capture Nyrcon City and restore Palatine-lady Vail to rule, although the resumption of Imperial authority over Beta-Garmon II does little to quell the on going conflict across the planet.

THE SECOND BATTLE OF NYRCON CITY 403012.M31-
With the other core systems of the Garmon Cluster aflame, Beta-Garmon itself finally falls under the Warmaster’s shadow. Titan Legios battle across the fortifications encircling Beta Garmon II’s primary hives while the void above seethes as Traitor vessels do battle in the space about the Anvil, a star fortress which hangs in geostationary orbit above Nyrcon City. Within Nyrcon, the garrisoning Imperial Fists and Saturnyne Rams hold off waves of Traitor Legionaries, but finally succumb as Traitor titans breach the city’s gates and burn the Loyalists from their redoubts. As Beta-Garmon II’s capital falls to the Traitors, Horus’ forces move rapidly to seize the rest of the planet, whilst nearby Beta-Garmon III remains tenuously under Loyalist control, siege battalions of Sons of Horus and Iron Warriors Legionaries harrying the defenders relentlessly.

GARMON DEFIANT 013.M31-
As the Great Khan’s divided fleet reaves across the northern and southern most reaches of the cluster and Sanguinius gathers Loyalist enclaves to his banner en route to Garmon’s core systems, the central Traitor domains fortify in anticipation of the Angel’s onslaught. Dark Mechanicum elements upon Delta-Garmon II reform the remnants of felled war machines into vast fortifications of agglomerated wreckage, while the defences of Nyrcon City upon Beta-Garmon II are brought to readiness once more, waiting to be turned against the Loyalists who once manned them. Across the cluster, Horus’ lieutenants gather what void assets they can, redirecting relic escorts and vast battleships alike in anticipation of a cataclysmic confrontation with Sanguinius’ fleet.

 

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THE ADVANCE ON TERRA-
The armies of Horus fought not merely to seed chaos and destruction across the burning galaxy. At the command of the Warmaster, the Traitor host sought to take Terra, the seat of the Emperor’s power over the Imperium itself. Although their actions appeared as little more than a headlong push for the Sol System, the Warmaster and his allies marched upon Terra along a measured path, each victory in battle constituting a single, bloody step towards the gates of the Imperial Palace. The paths these incremental steps followed were determined and shaped by the whims of the prevailing currents of the Empyrean, that swirling and billowing realm that spanned an infinite and unmeasurable space beyond the bounds of physical reality. To follow these paths, many of which were only mapped by the trial and error of early warp voyages, facilitated the most rapid and reliable travel throughout the galaxy and it was along these conduits that Horus’ armada moved. Although the Warmaster’s forces, aided by the pantheon of dark gods that they served and favoured by the whims of unreality, suffered less in the perilous turbulence of warp energy due to their malevolent allegiance, the forces of the Imperium relied on these routes for resupply and reinforcement. It was by these actions that Horus sought to block and impede with the presence of his own forces. The Garmon Cluster sat at a waypoint between Paramar and Terra on one of the most stable and predictable warp conduits to the west of the galactic core; it represented a pass through the mountain ranges of the Empyrean and would be a critical staging point for the Warmaster’s final assault on Terra.

Through the Garmon Cluster, Horus would be able to direct his fleets rapidly and accurately from throughout the Ultima Segmentum and the surrounding sectors and bear down with irresistible force on the Loyalists within the Segmentum Solar, at the same time depriving Dorn of a route by which reinforcements could reach Terra and the resources of the cluster itself. Significant numbers of Loyalist troops were deployed within the many systems of the Garmon Cluster in concentrations around the majoris-grade systems such as Beta-Garmon, the site of Nyrcon City, the capital of the cluster, and Theta-Garmon, which was the location of vast shipyards and Imperial battlefleet facilities. This Great Muster, as it was known, was intended to ensure that the Garmon Cluster remained under Imperial control as part of the extended defence lines before Horus’ oncoming. Owing to this, the Garmon Cluster would play host to some of the most pivotal and cataclysmic battles of the Horus Heresy. In the Sea of Fire thousands of ships would burn in war zones so vast that tallies of their dead could never hope to be recorded. Billions would perish during the Great Slaughter, a war so grand that the funeral pyres of its fallen would burn for a thousand years. More would perish at Nyrcon City alone than had in the conquest of entire sectors of the galaxy, and the monumental events of the Titandeath would inflict damage so extensive that even by the labour of a hundred generations, it could not be repaired. Two loyal sons of the Emperor would be sent forth, both the Primarchs Sanguinius and Jaghatai Khan, the only of their kind that remained able to, and would find their strength and resolve tested in holding back the might of their traitorous kin, Horus Lupercal and his host.

LIBERATED LOYALIST FORCES 102nd Solar Auxilia Cohort-‘Inwit Phalangites’ Cohort- strength present as part of the garrison host of Beta-Garmon II, primarily concerned with the extended planet-side defence of Nyrcon City, based at Crypta Terminii.


The Great Slaughter –
The Great Slaughter had by this point gained a fel and terrible life of its own, driving warriors and generals to feats of grim violence and casual slaughter. These outrages offered little tactical advantages, and served only to deepen the madness and brutality of the war. Known to many as the ‘Curse of Nyrcon’, this madness would seize many and drive them to some of the worst excesses of the Horus Heresy

The Primarchs Muster-
The people of the Imperium within the Garmon Cluster cried out for aid, Nyrcon City had already been be sieged by the Warmaster’s armies and the Loyalist resistance was forced to adopt guerilla tactics in order to survive. The planet of Beta-Garmon II was contested by two vast armies and the fires of that war threatened to consume Beta-Garmon III as well. Imperial troops had been drawn to the outlying systems of the Garmon Cluster, only for Horus to orchestrate fresh attacks on targets within Delta-Garmon and Theta-Garmon. Few places in the cluster were beyond the scope of the vast war, and those that still lived, longed for their salvation. To mark the arrival of Sanguinius and Jaghatai Khan, those that could spare time away from the front lines made good their battle-worn uniforms and unfurled their frayed and bloodied battle standards to stand to attention, paying respect to the angels that they hoped would deliver them from oblivion

 

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INDEX MORTIFICA
Data Scheme: Mortification by Sector
Output Format: Data-read (Textualised)
CLEARANCE CIPHER REQUIREDINPUT: *********************-****-***-
VALIDATED
***
Quadrant: Septent - Factor - 534.132
Quadrant: Subsol - Factor - 489.232
Quadrant: Meridi - Factor - 722.453Quadrant:
Occidi - Factor - 810.235
Quadrant: +REDACTED+ - Factor - 999.999
+Data Complete+

With the strength of the Blood Angels thrown into the fight for Beta-Garmon II, the control of the planet hung in the balance. The war between the titans saw more than twenty Legios reduced to just a fraction of their former strength as hundreds of the god-engines fell never tostand again. The Loyalists had ravaged the Traitor forces and overrun their lines, but with each sector they took, yet more defences lay ahead of them, more guns to face down and more enemies to slay. The Blood Angels were forced to advance over ground strewn with the bodies of their own dead, with assault squads using their Warhawk jumppacks to advance in great leaps between the cover of the hulls of their own burned vehicles, and yet the Traitors still remained. The walls of Nyrcon City had fallen and the bodies of Loyalists and Traitors alike were piled amidst their rubble. The hives of Beta-Garmon II burned with such ferocity their pyres could be seen from orbit. Sanguinius’ offensive on Beta-Garmon II slaughtered his Legion’s enemies in great numbers as entire sectors fell to their deft assaults and dauntless attacks, but still it was not enough to claim the planet. Still the Warmaster’s troops held within their impregnable defences, defying Angel and slowly grinding down the momentum of the Loyalist assault. The attacks on the Anvil star fort were fruitless, the enemy presence there merely a superficial sacrifice intended to divide the attention of the Loyalist assault and usher them into a trap. Azkaellon, foremost amongst Sanguinius’ personal guards, and his men barely escaped with their lives as the Traitors detonated the Anvil and its wreckage rained down upon Beta-Garmon II. It was now, following the news of the Khan’s defeat at Deitus that Sanguinius learned of Horus’ arrival in the Beta-Garmon system. However, he did not come to Beta-Garmon II to contribute to the growing carnage, but instead landed upon Beta-Garmon III and began to exercise his dominion. This action, perpetrated by the Warmaster, served to bring the futility of the campaign upon Beta-Garmon II into stark contrast. If, at this juncture, Sanguinius were to take flight and make an attempt on the life of Horus Lupercal, it would surely cost the deaths of all who fell on Beta-Garmon II over again, a price that the Great Angel simply could not bear. Moreover, it would be an act that would defy the orders of the Praetorian.