935Chapter 62, Terra, Taxal, Tanya
Kori Bretakollrsson
Taxal
This storm was wrong. Everything about it felt unnatural, the winds howled like a fierce and proud wolf but at the sametime I could feel a sense of mourning in its wails, the cold no matter how many pelts me and my brothers put on refused to leave us and pierced us to the very core. It seems like this campaign was still a blackmark for us wolves if this storm still rages on.
"This planet has changed a lot," a voice called, getting me to look over at some of our fellow Space Marines that had been deployed to this planet. It was a mixed group of members from the Ist, IInd and VIth legions.
Focusing on Mori Nagayoshi, one of the Commanders from the IInd, I approached, saying, "Agreed, it definitely wasn't this cold last time. It seems Lord Russ's cold fury still rages on."
"Ha, I don't think I've ever seen this much snow in my life," he said matter-of-factly, kicking a rock before adding, "Though when I was here, I was really fighting in the city to the south of here, I believe. With all this snow built up, it's hard to tell exactly where things are."
I nodded. We had reportedly landed in the same general mountain range that the invasion had come from in hopes of seeing what was here, but so far, we had found nothing.
Looking towards the north, I said, "Well, I guess the next area we should probably search is to the north. Wasn't there some sort of religious site that the XIth fought over in that direction?"
Commander Mori nodded his head before saying, "Yeah, yeah, that's probably the way to go. What do you think, Cousin?"
Commander Asmus from the Ist stepped forward, looking northward before saying, "That's as good a direction as any. Looking over the old battlefields isn't going to do us any good. If there are any foul Rangdan still alive, which I doubt, if they still cling on then we should be able to find evidence of their filth in religious sites, such as possible signs of worship to whatever Xeno's gods they have for any sliver of hope to survive this frozen waste."
"Makes sense to me," I said as I tapped the side of my helmet, saying, "We're moving north," alerting everyone in the unit. The other Marine commanders did the same as we started heading in that direction.
Quietly, we moved through the snow drifts before Commander Mori asked, "So cousins… how do you deal with the knowledge that your Primarchs are female? Like, this curiosity has been eating at me for years now, afterall the norm for most of the Legions is that their Primarch be male and Shogun Nobunaga is a fine example of a great leader and hero to the people. But personally I just can't see following a woman into combat, their role is elsewhere but the battlefield."
"What are you talking about?" Commander Asmus said, turning to look at Commander Mori quickly and with some heat, which raised an eyebrow inside my helmet.
Myself and Commander Mori shared a look before I said, "How secret do you think they keep it within their own legion?"
He mused out loud before saying, "I mean, the only reason I know is that I was in the tent the day she pulled back her hood. I guess it's very rare knowledge, even amongst their own people."
Commander Asmus stopped to scowl at me in particular as I shrugged before saying, "Primarch Russ and Primarch Lion could pass for sisters. It's that simple."
"What? No! I cannot stand idly by while you slander our Primarchs name. Lion El'Jonson is one of the finest Knights Caliban has ever seen, not only is he a great warrior but he is an exemplar of Caliban's chivalric virtues; he is simply put a great man and leader."
"Those points I will not deny but it does not change the fact that your Pirmarch is a woman," Commander Mori spoke up, getting what I could best guess was an annoyed look from Commander Asmus.
Commander Asmus let out a deep sigh before saying, "What insanity were you two drinking? I know your Legions prefer your alcohol, but maybe you should cut back on the liquor if you're hallucinating our Primarch as female."
Sighing, I turned to Commander Mori and said, "Well, I guess we have the answer to that. They don't know; at least, the majority of them don't. Probably the only people who do know are the higher ups in the Dark Angels command staff, people who have to deal with her every day."
"Would seem so," Commander Mori said with a nod. "How about you? How do you guys deal with the fact that your Primarch is female?"
I shrugged before saying, "Not much to deal with unless you're one of the unlucky few who inherited her visage during the initiation. Even then those affected don't really have to do anything special, just grow a good beard, and no one will even notice."
"Really… Would you have it on your face? I saw you had a beard."
I laughed before saying, "Thankfully, no. But that's why it's so easy for those that have it to blend in. Though she does have some rules and stipulations about beards and their appropriate length and thickness. Firstly, beards must not reach lengths where they interfere with the seal of the standard issue legion helmet. Secondly, they must be kept well groomed and tidy to minimize chances of them getting caught or jammed in military equipment. Finally one must always wear their helmet in combat, failure to do so will most likely lead to one's own head being used by one of her wolves as a chew toy."
Both Marines stopped at that and gave me a look, before Commander Mori said, "Cousin wait, are those rumors actually true?"
I smirked before saying, "It's training. Sometimes you need to crack a few eggs to make the young wolves realize that you need to do something to protect those eggs."
"Wait, are you saying she personally broke some Marine skulls?" Commander Asmus asked.
"That is not what I'm saying," I said in such a way that could imply that that was what I was saying, simply because I saw the humor in letting them think that she was a bit harder than she was. Oh, she could be pretty hard, but making them think she was crazy was funny.
"Huh… Yeah, I'm glad I'm part of our legion then," Commander Mori said matter-of-factly, shrugging before saying, "I mean, sure, we got our problems, but at least we ain't got a crazy Primarch."
"What kind of problems?" Commander Asmus asked, looking across the snow as we continued marching.
"Holdovers of the previous shogunates rule. Our Primarch never really settled all those issues, so there's still some old clan rivalries that exist within the legion. I sometimes joke that if our Primarch wasn't sticking around and pushing us to go to new places to fight new problems, the Daimyo's would probably break off and form their own little fiefdoms, grabbing up planets around our home world and then eventually get drawn into petty clan wars with each other."
"That sounds like an issue that could grow out of control," I commented as we continued moving across the next snowy bank.
"Possibly, but I have faith in Shogun Nobunaga's ability to settle the issues between the clans. Afterall no clan has demanded an honor duel in the last 15 years, which is a testament to our Primarchs ability to unify the clans under one banner."
"That's good," I said before adding, "We haven't had one of those, though I think ever. Everyone's too interested in getting out there and killing Xenos to worry about killing each other over small issues."
"That and also stealing planetary systems from the Administratum," Commander Asmus commented, getting Commander Mori to turn his head to look at him.
"What?" exclaimed Commander Mori.
"Oh, have you not heard about this? Well, our cousins here in the VIth had a unit deployed to the Wheel of Fire that resulted in it being removed from the current governmentship that had been put in place by the Administratum and put under VIth Legion control." Asmus turned to give me the helmet equivalent of a side glance.
"A curious chain of events, if you were to ask me," Commander Asmus finished.
"Now, to be fair," I said, "we didn't steal it from the Administratum. We simply worked to try and help make the system better. It just so happened that the system in control of the Wheel of Fire was not the best for it. So, we had to do our best. Besides, the Wheel of Fire is soon to be turned into a military training area between some legions from what I hear. It's good to have it a little bit separated from the governorship around it."
My cousins shared a look before shaking their heads, before Commander Asmus blandly stated, "You guys in the VIth are weird."
"Trust me. I was there when this whole thing went down, and I'll tell you, in this case, we needed to step in. The assigned governor was messing up the system and probably going to cause more problems in the future. Now that's not going to happen, so that's that."
"'That's that', he says" Commander Asmus said with a shake of their head before asking, "Have you considered that 'that's that' could probably cause you more problems? Your legion is already considered troublemakers by the rest of the legions."
I laughed before saying, "Sure, we're the troublemakers, but we're also the ones that they call upon to fix problems. So, if they want us to be the problem fixers, they better be prepared for us to fix problems they don't want us fixing. I mean they already set us up as the Imperium's boogeymen here to raid and savage your world if you don't comply with Imperium rule. The least they could do for using our name like that was to give us some leeway when we go around dealing with the occasional corrupt Imperial governor, after all if we waited for the Administratum to handle with it we could of conquered the galaxy and then still had time do it again with the way they operate."
"That's a fair point," Commander Mori said with a nod, adding, "I mean, I couldn't argue against that, could you?"
Commander Asmus sighed before shaking his head, saying, "No, not really."
Shaking my head, I focused more on the road as we moved before saying, "You think we'll make it to the religious site before the end of the night?"
Commander Asmus shook his head before saying, "Don't think so. My best guess is we'll probably make it to the next ridge where we'll have to call it for the night. But we have enough supplies for a full week, and that's how long we're supposed to be down here, so no issue for a little bit of taking our time to get this done as thoroughly as possible. The good news is, even though this storm is pretty cold, it's not doing too much damage to our equipment. We should be able to find somewhere in these mountains to shelter from the worst of it."
I nodded before saying, "Got to be careful. Any caves we find could also be military tunnels, so let's put guards up in case there are any survivors in them."
"Agreed," Commander Asmus responded.
Commander Mori shook their head before saying "Still… It is very unlikely that anyone actually survived the bombing of this planet. It literally turned most of the biological life on the surface to nothing but primordial soup and lit it on fire. There's nothing that could survive that as far as I'm aware."
But I shrugged before saying, "Deep enough tunnels, well built defenses, and anything is possible."
They agreed as we came to the top of the next ridge, spotting a place where we could camp for the night.
Kori Bretakollrsson
Marching down the mountain as the next day began, we made our way east along the ridge. The winds were surprisingly pleasant today, not as cold as they had been the day before, and not as fierce. Though you still couldn't see very far away, as this far up into the mountains, the difference between mist and cloud faded.
Carefully, we all moved in close formation. In a few places, our equipment belts were tethered to each other to keep an eye on anyone who might fall.
And we moved as fast as we could towards the religious site, quietly at first before Commander Mori spoke up.
"About our conversation yesterday, I agree with you on the matter that us Astartes have a duty to step in and take control when regular humans make errors. Shogun Nobunaga has had complaints about how the Administratum have been handling such matters. Especially with the decisions they made in the aftermath of our campaign against the Rangdan."
I turned my head to look at him before shrugging. "I was only here at the start of the campaign before I was redeployed to the Wheel of Fire. But from what I heard from my Brothers that served till the end of the campaign was that it was a complete mess and a mark against our legion."
"Mess is one way to describe it, Cousin. Unfortunately, the Imperial Army high command decided it would be easier to destroy the planets instead of trying to take it honorably."
"I agree we should have been allowed to defeat the Rangdan with the Legions instead of resorting to Exterminatus. Then we would have been allowed to utilize those planets for the betterment of the Imperium. Though I'm not too sure what would have been done with the Rangda themselves, knowing Lord Russ she would have bound them to the Imperium under oath and contract. But I cannot see myself agreeing with such a decision. After all, we know what the Rangda were capable of doing with technology—the twisted and perverse editing of humanity's DNA and their own. Given enough time they would make the same choices again, except we would be the fools to allow it to happen once more."
"Hmm, perhaps. Though I am surprised with the fact your Primarch would let the Rangda live." replied Commander Mori.
"Ha, Lord Russ may outwardly appear to be a barbarian but don't let that fool you, she is far more cunning than she appears." I returned.
"I will keep that in mind, cousin. Still, it seems our Primarchs have more in common than I originally thought since if Shogun Nobunaga had his way he would have enlightened the Rangda Xenos and turned them into a loyal vassal. But that is only speculation, in reality we were left with only the bitter taste of an empty victory, and that is something Shogun Nobunaga will not tolerate again. I heard that he has come up with contingencies to ensure what has happened here with the Rangda will never be allowed to repeat." Commander Mori said.
I shrugged before saying, "A problem for another day, cousin. Who knows, maybe one of our Primarchs will have their way if the Rangdan are still alive on this forsakened rock ."
Commander Mori nodded before Commander Asmus spoke up, saying, "Quit the chatter, we've arrived."
As Mori and I reached the crest of the hill where Asmus was located, we got our first look down in the valley below and our first contact with the Rangdan religious site, but not the one we were expecting.
Quickly using the internal computers of my armor, I brought up the images taken by the XIth of this location during the war, and I noted quite a few key changes.
Black and white marble pillars rose from the ground; paths of red bricks had been laid to connect the different areas of the complex. Dotted around the complex were also various statues, of who and what they depicted I couldn't tell due to the distance . Looking at Commander Asmus, I said, "Well, that's not a good sign."
"Agreed," he said before adding, "I think we can say with some certainty that this is proof that there are still survivors on this planet, though it begs the question of why they built this place of worship. I would have figured if they could survive long enough out here in this cold that they could build some habitation to allow them to live on the surface."
"Well, maybe there are some tracks down there that will lead us to their nest, and we can burn them out," Mori suggested. Marching down the hill, us Marines followed soon after. Asmus and I exchanged looks before nodding.
Quickly, we followed Commander Mori down the hill, arriving in the open area, allowing us to get a better look at the classically designed white and black marble pillars holding up the decorated arches.
The place was warm. That was the first thing I noticed, the second was the atmosphere, it was… it was nostalgic, it brought back memories of when my mother would embrace me on a cold Fenris night "Commander Kori…" or the times where she would patch me up after I went exploring the castle grounds… "Commander Kori?" said Commander Mori.
"Huh, sorry about that cousin I'm not sure what came over me" I replied, strange, I feel like I'm forgetting something.
"Keep yourself focused cousin, we're still in unknown territory" replied Commander Mori "As I was saying before I think we should find the center of this place." he finished.
Nodding in agreement I began walking… "Just another small adjustment and I can get this thing to work the way I need it too" said the child.
"I don't really understand why you're so obsessed with that little medallion, with the way things are going we can be done with the southerners by next winter" the man said while passing the child one of her screwdrivers.
"It's not the southerners I'm worried about, it's what happens after, what's going to happen after we exhaust ourselves fighting the south?" replied the child the man made a face, "Exactly we'll get pounced on from all sides, that's why I need to complete this so we can avoid that fate" the man nodded dumbly as the man realized what awaited our people at the end of this conflict. "Okay all adjustments done. Ready to begin test number 16" the man watched as the child began rising… until I reached the center where a large statue stood surrounded by a pool of warm water with a small channel leading south. I shook my head in an attempt to remove my headache so I could focus on the statue in the center.
Something wasn't right, at first glance the statue seemed to be that of an anthropomorphised wolf triumphantly raising a spear, yet I knew deep down that was wrong that it depicted something more than that. Studying the statue further I noticed the figure was donned in armor reminiscent of what was worn in pre-Imperium Fenris. That feeling of wrongness only grew stronger the longer I studied the statue, the proportions, the pose, the face, no matter what detail I looked at, it reminded me of Lord Russ except more ancient and alien. This statue couldn't be allowed to exist. It was a mockery to our Primarch, it must be "Everything is okay" allowed to remain.
"What do you think this is about?" Asmus said, standing next to me, looking at it with an interesting tilt to their head. I shrugged before saying, "It might be some sort of religious icon."
"Fertility goddess perhaps," Mori offered, coming to stand next to me on the other side, before adding, "Maybe it's a grave marker for the planet. The survivors may have built this structure to memorialize those that have fallen."
I shook my head before saying, "Wasn't the Rangdan like fox creatures? Why would it be a wolf?"
Commander Mori stroked the chin of his helmet before Commander Asmus spoke up, "I heard rumors that Lord Russ was mistaken by the Rangda as the ancient goddess of their people. Maybe this is some sort of structure to ask for forgiveness after we committed Exterminatus. "
"Hmm," I nodded in my head, taking a knee to look at the pedestal. I noticed on the pedestal there was a bit of heavy stonework—a black wolf head in front of a shattered white moon with a crescent.
"This doesn't make any sense" I said before adding, "Why is the Luna Wolves symbol here?" Commander Asmus and Mori both looked over my shoulders at it before also tilting their heads in confusion.
"Strange. The Luna Wolves weren't involved in the Rangdan war," Mori commented.
Asmus asked, "Do any of your great companies have any symbols similar in design to the heraldry of the Luna Wolves?"
I shook my head, standing up, brushing my knee off as I said, "No, not that I'm aware of. Each Great Company has their own symbol but we've stayed away from front-facing wolves as I believe Lord Russ muttered something about infringement and ensuring distinct design elements from the XVIth Legion."
"Now we've got ourselves even more of a mystery," Commander Mori said, a shake of his head before adding, "So all we've established so far is something is still alive down here, they built a structure here after the planet became frozen, and that they likely worship a wolf-like entity. They may also have had taken emblems from the Imperium; how they got the knowledge of those emblems we don't know, so maybe it's just a coincidence," Commander Asmus said.
"Well, I think the only answer then is to," Commander Mori turned to look towards the makeshift aqueduct, "follow the water, find where it goes, and see what we can learn."
There was a shared nod, and I signaled them to fall in as we started moving again, following the water south.
About an hour into our march south, the storm returned, heavier than before, reducing our sight till we could barely see in front of us. We slowed our march; as it would be far too embarrassing for any of us to report to our Primarchs that we hurt ourselves running around blind in the snow. Progress grinded to a halt as we slowly marched our way through the blizzard..
I took one step and then felt the ground shift as something pulled itself out of the snow, screaming.
Everyone's guns turned in time to see a Slaugth emerge from the snow, its body uncomfortably undulating as it rose up. Instinct took over as we all began unloading bolter fire into the Xenos, causing a chain reaction as more and more Slaugth began rousing from their hibernation.
"Get in formation," I commanded, firing off my bolt gun at Slaugth that got too close, blowing its head off staggering it. Another Marine quickly followed up, blowing its knees off before finishing the Xenos off with a Melta bomb.
"More survivors. Are these the same survivors?" Commander Mori mused before saying, "Either way, let's kill them off before they kill us."
We slowly formed up into a square, killing off more as they came out of the cover of the storm. I cursed as I saw the broken armored figures emerge from the snow, corpses of lost legionnaires now puppeted by the foul Xenos.
Our fire intensified as righteous fury took over our hearts, but as they approached closer, we realized our bolters were not enough.
Carefully, I drew out a new weapon on my recent list of equipment acquired—a frost ax that had been given to me as a gift from an Iron Priest who thought my efforts to improve the situation in the Wheel of Fire were worthy of the reward. Hefting my blade I brought it down on the foul skinwalkers.
In a matter of seconds, it was completely frozen solid. Taking a bolt pistol in my other hand, I fired a shot at point-blank range, shattering it and sending shards into the next one.
"Fire and frost," I called, "burn or freeze them, whatever you have to use."
Our weapons sang true as the enemy fell like chaff in the wind, each marine guided by fury. It was a slaughter, our just vengeance against the foul Xenos for their profane use of our brothers.
Quickly, we cleared the initial area around us, giving us more room. It looked like we were stemming the tide of the monsters. One charged out of the snow, managing to find an opening in the chaos of the melee. I raised my ax in a defensive position, when a giant spear came flying out of the snow, impaling the Xenos through the back where it began to freeze. It took a few steps with its still somewhat functional legs before they were finally fully frozen, before collapsing from its own momentum.
Turning, I did a quick count and said, "Who's out there!?" I demanded, as I searched for the new threat.
The winds kept my voice from reaching very far, but otherwise, I didn't see anything moving out there. There were a few more shots from around us as the rest of the Marines cleared up any enemy stragglers, before Commanders Asmus and Mori made their way over to me. Both took a quick survey of the scene, before Commander Mori pulled the spear from the dead Xenos saying "What is this cousin? This spear is similar to your ax in function yet it's clearly not one of your legions weapons."
I nodded at Commander Mori before saying, "That spear looks more like some sort of charged weapon—battery-operated, designed to pull all the heat out of whatever it hits, in comparison our Frost blades are more similar to power weapons."
"Something that these creatures shouldn't have the capacity to build anymore," Commander Asmus said, kicking the frozen statue till it shattered.
"So now there's proof that there are survivors," Mori said, shaking his head. He handed me the spear so that I could look it over. I noted that it was larger than I expected, something that would be comfortable in the hands of an Astartes rather than that of the Rangda.
"Degeneration in comparison to the weapons they had in the war, but still more advanced than expected," I said.
"We're going to need to get rid of them, then," Commander Asmus commented, saying, "Any survivors of the Rangdan Empire need to be exterminated. That is the will of the Imperium."
"Agreed," I said, "though I'm not sure if it would be necessary, if they're out here fighting the Slaugth, Lord Russ's aim would be to just leave them be so they can exterminate themselves. No need to risk men in tunnel combat."
Commander Mori nodded his head before saying, "Plus, whatever remnants of a civilization are here can't be that many. But we need to find them to confirm for sure. I'd assume there'd only be a population of a few thousand, though even that's a stretch. How much food would they actually be able to supply their people here? Everything's frozen, and there's no way to reach the oceans from these mountains. They're not getting food anytime soon."
"Why not?" I said before saying, "If they do have tunnels underground, maybe they had some sort of supplies for a bit. Enough space for setting up some sort of food production underground."
Commander Mori frowned before saying, "They will need some sort of power supply to keep the lights on, and if they're underground, well, it's going to be hell to find every single one of them. Better to leave them down there to evolve into monstrosities of the underground."
"Perhaps," I said, holding the spear before adding, "though why did they interfere in that fight?"
"You are a Wolf of Fenris. You have similar iconography of whatever cult they're part of," Commander Asmus mused. "Perhaps they think you're some sort of agent of their goddess."
I shivered at that before saying, "Let's hope not," before I slid the spear into a strap on my pack, figuring I'd hand it over to the Wolf Priest to take a look when I got back aboard my transport ship.
Tanya Russ
Terra
I folded my arms across my chest as I looked down at the member of the Administratum, my eyebrow raised as I took in what he had just said.
"Correct me if I'm wrong but from what I've understood is that your department has been spreading rumors that me and my Legion have been raiding and pillaging planets that were non-compliant to the new Imperial rule," trying to clarify exactly what he had just said.
The man smiled. "Yes, we found that spreading that type of information is effective in keeping the planets located on the outermost reaches of the Imperium under compliance. Afterall, the very idea that a Space Marine legion is willing to ransack any planet that is not willing to listen to the will of the Imperium, is quite frankly a concept most planetary governments are not willing to test if it's true."
I shook my head before saying, "I didn't agree to that."
"Are you sure, Lady Russ?" he said, tilting his head before saying, "According to the records on hand, you have had no issue in the past with the way we at the Adminstratum have been spreading your name across the galaxy. Granted, we've had to obfuscate your gender to better fit the propaganda, but the idea of a techno-barbarian and their horde being unleashed on a planet has been one of our more successful ways of forcing planets to enter compliance."
"Yes, I'm aware of your actions to use my name to force planets into the Imperium. However I was not aware of the fact that you were sullying me and my Legion's name by spreading around the idea that we would raid planets already in the Imperium if they so much as step a toe over line. Me and my men don't do that. We'll fight hard to bring the planets not part of the Imperium if they aren't willing to join us peacefully. But we are not going to turn around and attack planets that are already part of the Imperium if they're just slightly noncompliant. Understood?." I stated.
"I-I se-see," he shivered, Nodding his head before saying, "I-I'll h-have to put the order out to stop the use of that propaganda. Lady Russ, is there any way I can convince you to allow us to continue its usage."
"Mister Dyer," I said, shaking my head before clearing my throat and trying again. "I understand that the Administratum has a particular way that they like to handle certain things, but in this case, you're not going to guilt me out of what needs to be done here. Implying that I'm raiding Imperium planets for being non-compliant is not helpful. Raiding implies that I have no control over my men and allow them to run rampant like feral wolves. I'm an agent of the Imperium. I do what is necessary. I do not go around allowing thievery and piracy within the Imperium from my forces."
Dyer shook his head, sounding sorry as he said, "That's understandable, Lady Russ. We will issue a statement on this matter and get that cleaned up. I understand your need to have a name clean from such piracy and thievery," he said, nodding his head. Though something about the way he said that made me think he didn't understand and was just telling me what he thought I wanted to hear. Well, as long as he did what I wanted him to do, I didn't care about what he thought.
Dyer continued, saying, "We will work to achieve a better view of your actions in the future. One more thing Lady Russ, what are your thoughts on the title we've been using for you since that campaign in the north?"
I folded my arms again in front of my chest, thinking for a moment before saying, "Not a big fan of the whole 'executioner' part, but I will admit it does say something about my loyalty. So, you may continue to use it for now."
"Thank you my Lady. I'm so glad we could come to an agreement, " Dyer said with a nod, pulling out some paperwork. "If you don't mind, could you fill out these documents to formalize our agreement," he added, sliding a form across, "You understand how it is, everything must be properly signed and filed away for bureaucracies sake"
I nodded my head in understanding and leaned over, grabbing a pen from a nearby cup and starting to work, filling it out as Mr. Dyer continued.
"I will say it's been a real pleasure to meet with one of the Primarchs. Of the twenty children of the Emperor you're the first one to formally visit the Administratum. All the others are too busy out there conquering or doing great works of art. None of them ever care about the bureaucracy of the thing. Well, none of them care about the bureaucracy here on Terra. There is one Primarch; he handles all the bureaucracy in his sector all by himself, but he's out in the outer reaches, so the Administratum hasn't had the opportunity to communicate with him."
I raised an eyebrow as I finished filling out the paperwork, handing it to him as I asked, "Let me guess, that would be the Guilliman I've heard about."
"Correct," the man said, pressing a button as a woman stepped in.
"Mr. Dyer, what can I get for you?"
"Miss Van, I have paperwork here to be taken down to the Departmento Processium. You mind giving me a hand?"
"Of course Mr. Dyer" the secretary smiled before taking the paperwork and bowing before walking out. "Anyways, as I was saying, not many Primarchs come down here. If we could, we could probably work out some more propaganda and other public imagery stuff, but they're just not interested in having us talk with them."
"Are you trying to ask me to bring my siblings here to work on their public image?"
"You catch on quick Lady Russ. But to confirm, yes, we've heard that you have a strong influence with the other Primarchs. It would be greatly beneficial for both the Imperium and the other Primarchs if you could bring them to the Administratum so that we could discuss their image in the eyes of the greater Imperium."
"Lord Perturabo being a major one, with him having his whole uncaring attitude towards the regular humans under his command and their utilization giving his legion the rather apt but unfortunate nickname of 'Corpse Grinders'.
"I'm aware of it, though I think the fact that he's improving the standard of living and architecture wherever he fights tends to outclass those losses, would they not?"
Dyer shrugged before saying, "Out there beyond the core worlds, sure. Here on Terra, there have been complaints from some of the noble houses about the losses. Reports show a good portion of those penal legions, after all, come from Terra and our associated worlds here in the core areas. In some of those penal legions, the prisoners that made up those legions were originally meant to become chattels of the nobility. And with the way Lord Perturabo prefers to use his penal legions there is simply a shortage, a shortage that is beginning to create a poor reputation among the nobility. "
"Hmm, won't he be getting recognition for building the new senate building the Emperor has ordered? Shouldn't that improve his image?" I said.
"Unfortunately one grand building does not undo one's poor image. Even if it was enough to undo that image Lord Perturabo would still continue to burn through more penal legions after he's finished his construction here on Terra. This is the problem, and that's why Lady Russ that it's imperative that he understands the full scope of his actions. That's why the Administratum has been assigning his legion more defensive orders as of late ."
"Hmm, it would take him out of the public's eye and give them time to forget if he was on the defense, as well as give him more time to work on his projects. But I shall talk to him when I have the chance about his usage of penal legions, or at least make him agree to having a conversation with your department about his reputation."
"That's all I can promise on that matter. Anyone else I should be aware of?"
"The Night Lords, Lady Russ" Dyer said simply.
Which got me to raise an eyebrow. I said, "Who are the Night Lords?"
"Forgive me Lady Russ but there is not much information I can give to you about the Night Lords only that they have quite the reputation about them, the only other information I can give you is that you and your legion will be assigned along with the Blood Angels to assist them in a your next set of orders, any more than that and I would be breaking our orders from Lord Malcador. So, you will have to get the full picture of them yourself Lady Russ."
"Hmm, good to know. Thank you for your time, Mr Dyer. I think we can come to a rather interesting working relationship on this then."
"Here's hoping," Dyer said, raising his cup, sipping it before he added, "Feel free to stop by my office anytime or to send an envoy to voice any concerns or queries you may have for us in the future. One more thing before you leave, Lady Russ. Your Father, the Emperor was floating an idea around here a couple of years ago of having a group of artists and historians deploy to every legion to try and immortalize your stories for future generations but he is still trying to work out the details. What are your thoughts on this matter? I wanted to get a Primarch's opinion before I pushed forward to be a thing."
"Sounds like a reasonable idea," I said before adding, "No, of course, there'll probably be censorship. After all, some things the Imperium is better off not knowing. From what I've heard, you'll need to create a working relationship with the Primarchs because sometimes they'll have things that they don't want on public record just because, well, it's better for the public not to know."
"Hmm, well, we were already planning to do some censorship of something, so just adding another layer of censorship ain't exactly the worst thing out there," Dyer said with a nod before adding, "Thank you, my Lady. I'll run the first official documentation of what we're planning by the Emperor, see what he thinks. Anything else you wish to talk to me about, Lady Russ?"
I smiled and got up from my chair, brushed myself off, and said, "No, I've covered everything I wanted to during my time here. Beyond that, I think we're done."
"Farewell Lady Russ, it was an honor meeting you."
"Farewell, Mr. Dyer," I said with a nod of my head, turning and opening the door. Happy with the way that meeting had gone.
Malcador the Sigillite
Yawning, I leaned back in my chair, looking out over my office here on Terra. I had others on Luna and across the Sol System, but there were a lot of duties that needed me in my public role.. One of those duties involved speaking with his children every now and again and nudging them down the correct path, among other things. This meeting today would prove rather interesting as Primarch Russ has chosen quite the broad and dangerous topic to discuss – the Warp.
I could not speak to her about some things out there simply because Terra had some of the most powerful protections against daemons in the entire galaxy, created by the Emperor himself. These safeguards were meant to defend Terra from psychic and metaphysical attacks, and to keep Warp entities from easily infiltrating and gaining knowledge of Terra. After all, the enemy can't create the perfect plan to counter what they don't know, which was one of the first things the Emperor wanted to establish.
Some of his projects were best kept as secrets. Only very few people were allowed to know, and even though I think the Emperor trusted some of the Primarchs quite a bit, I believe even he would want to keep what we were working on a secret, especially after .
This was, after all, a problem that we couldn't exactly look away from. Each shard showed me some of what they've seen, and the idea that a Primarch or more may turn against him was one of the many possibilities we had always prepared for. I'd even theorized that it was possible that the Emperor may want to cut down on the number of Primarchs at some point, find the most troublesome ones and remove them. I wonder if he still planned to do that with the way they were developing now?, nevertheless it was one of the many contingencies we had prepared.
Shaking my head, I moved away from those thoughts. I needed to focus on the now, and as I heard the rumble of footsteps that could only be a Primarch.
"Come in, Miss Russ," I called as my door opened, and she stepped in, having to lean low as the room was built for, well, the average human. So, there was only a few feet to spare, 8 ft to be exact, but she was a bit tall for the room.
Musing to myself, I said, "I'll have to have the contractors expand this room when I get the chance, so the Primarchs can come in here more easily."
"Or put aside a conference room for those specific meetings," Tanya suggested, which I noted in my head to tell the contractors to set aside a few rooms for said purpose.
"Of course, that probably would be simpler. There's an abundance of spare space to use in the Imperial Palace, there's a lot of internal space that is just empty space for defensive reasons, I've been told."
"Hmm, oh, that's good to know," Tanya said, carefully taking a seat in a chair that I had brought in preparation for this meeting.
"Can't wait till I figure out how to perform shapeshifting like the Emperor or brother Magnus," she said, "We wouldn't need to worry about building Primarch sized doors anymore. I would be able to come in here at 6 ft and be absolutely fine."
A smile played on my lips as I said, "That would be easier. Hopefully, you'll be able to figure that out in the next hundred years or so, but until then, we'll just have to settle with what we have. So, Miss Russ, I understand you wanted to talk about the Warp. I assume this is probably to do with our little problem up in the north and the conversation we had about not going too deep on that planet."
She raised an eyebrow before saying, "Yes and no. Well, the Warp and faith, I think, would be the more prominent issues I wanted to talk about. I'm just trying to understand how they interact. Particularly since I'm aware that the Emperor is trying to create an atheist state to some extent with the Imperial Truth. I do understand, we do allow some religions to exist, and well, I had an interesting conversation with Lorgar that has me concerned, exactly if we do not have everyone on the program."
"Ah, Lorgar, yes, I'm aware of some of the things she's been up to. Were you aware that she was being considered for disciplinary measures for her slow progress in her conquests for playing around as a priest. Of course said point is moot now since after your last campaign with her she's begun reaching the results we expected from her and her Legion. So whatever you talked to her about it has done her good. So we're more than happy to let her play her little games with religion as long as she continues at this rate."
Tanya smiled before saying, "I simply had a conversation to try and remind them that our duty is not to build up each civilization we bring into the Imperium to absolute completion but to just get each planet back into the Imperium. Then we can worry about building up each one based on their economical needs and value they can bring to the Imperium as a whole.
"Hmm, well, whatever conversation you had with Lorgar, I was a bit concerned with the slowdown. So now that they're speeding up, things are good. But yes, I'm aware of their tendency to frame the Emperor as a bit of a religious figure, like he's an all-perfect God and for how long I've known the man he is anything but. Still have sent letters of complaint to Lorgar, and the Emperor is aware of that matter as well. That being said, moving back to the original topic I understand your concern about the whole Imperial Truth and the confusion – are we an atheist state or not? Where to begin."
I thought for a moment before saying, "You're most likely familiar with the Catheric, a remnant of what was once known as Christianity, one of the oldest religions still practiced, and how they are granted special disposition by the Emperor to continue to exist without issue."
Tanya nodded her head, so I continued, "Organized religion is a problem; that is what the Emperor is very concerned about because an organized religion can organize people to create things. But Catheric are descendants of a religion that is no longer organized. They all have a book, correct, and it tells them what's in it. But it's all more a matter of personal faith for them. Because it's all a matter of personal faith, it's not as big of a threat as an organized religion. That, and they're a small sect. The Emperor has mentioned he owes the man who created it a favor or two."
Tanya blinked rapidly, appearing to be about to raise her hand, and I simply waved her off, saying, "Don't ask why or how. I'm not familiar exactly with how he owes the creator of that religion a favor. I've heard theories from other individuals who are aware of this story, from as simple as a Christian may have helped the Emperor out on one of his objectives in the past, to the Emperor actually knowing the creator and owing him a sum of money. That was a joke that was common about 300 years ago. But the point is, they're given a special disposition because what they currently are today is not a threat. They are not an organized religion; they are not going to believe something so hard it can actually happen."
"Like the Orks," she said, folding her arms.
I nodded, saying, "I know, it's like the Orks, though ours is more due to psychic interference than whatever the Orks have going on. There's a slight difference. Anyway, that is why we strive for the Imperial Truth. We don't know how to control faith since the entities in the Warp can manipulate it. Thus, we need to abolish it and prevent it from becoming organized religions. At the moment, Lorgar has created a personal faith. If her book starts dictating things and she starts setting up an organized religion, the Emperor is going to have a problem with her."
"That's about what I said," Tanya said with a nod of her head before asking, "But hers is personal faith, that's separate from religion. If all people believe in one thing, isn't that just a religion without organization?"
I tilted my head at that before saying, "In a way, yes. What brings that to your mind?"
She shrugged before saying, "There's a statue on Fenris. Couples like to leave offerings around it as a hope that they'll have an easy pregnancy and such. I did some number-crunching, and there does seem to be an uptick in childbirths around the time the statue went up. That could be just because technology is advancing everyday on Fenris. There's even a hospital with a birthing unit right across the street from said statue. But I have to wonder, is it people's belief that by doing that they'll be rewarded with an easy pregnancy, or is it just the modern facilities we can provide."
"That is the question," I said with a nod in my head, "a question we don't have an answer to. It could be yes, it could be no, it could even be a mix of both. Faith is uncontrolled; it could be as simple as a few of your individuals having psychic ability and believing that, and that the statue is causing safer births. That could mean the statue has been infested by a Warp entity by this point. This is why we are very concerned about your thoughts on Rangdan. That planet is steeped in Warp energies. Who knows what kind of Warp entities; perhaps they could have done nothing, but perhaps one of them may have followed you home or infested you. We don't know how a Primarch deals with Warp entities correctly yet. There's not been many interactions between you and them, so we have no idea what can happen."
"Hmm," Tanya leaned back, rubbing her chin before she said, "So what you're saying is we need experimentation to know exactly what would work and what wouldn't when it comes to this personal faith versus religion and what is safe interactions and unsafe reactions with Warp entities."
I turned my head, "Yes, the Emperor is still trying to decide if we will be allowing some interaction with Warp entities or not. He thinks humanity might have a chance to grow and control it, but he's not sure humanity is ready for such a responsibility. Primarch Magnus is one of the agents that he's monitoring to see if they make a large enough mistake that we need to call back on Warp study for a while. Also, he's keeping a close eye on you, just so you're aware. So don't mess up."
"Hah, I would not dream of it," Tanya said with a laugh before adding, "At least I wouldn't mess up on purpose, as I said, we have that whole statue situation back on Fenris. As well as, the whole situation with the Old Father, an Elder World spirit that became a major focal point of the human personal belief system on my planet, along with Morkai," she said, leaning back, which turned out not to be just nothing.
"Who?" I asked, tilting my head. I wasn't familiar with this entity she spoke of.
"Morkai, a two-headed wolf, apparently some sort of experiment created by the Human Federation that has managed to live for thousands of years sealed inside a bunker, able to learn about the world up above through the use of their agents, other wolves on the planet. I discovered it recently just before the Ark Reach Cluster, and, well, I made it swear allegiance to me so that it could be useful."
I blinked, stunned for a moment before saying, "You made a Warp entity swear allegiance to you?"
"A minor one, I believe," Tanya said matter-of-factly before adding, "It wanted the freedom to go out and kill a problem that I had to deal with sooner or later. So making it swear allegiance to me was the best way I could make sure that it would be useful. It wants to kill the creatures underground that were going to be a problem to my people and the Squats. I just wanted to make sure it's loyal enough not to come back up and kill the people under my rule. If Morkai breaks the oath they've given me, I will be able to fully destroy them in retaliation, at least according to the Eldar World spirit."
"Huh, interesting, interesting," I said, leaning back. This wasn't exactly expected, but it wasn't unexpected either. Primarchs were known for their Warp abilities, Tanya being one of the Primarchs designed with a greater affinity in terms of Warp usage. If anyone was going to be able to tame a Warp entity, it would be either her or Magnus. The problem, of course, being that most likely, Warp entities were likely to be agents of the four ruinous powers and be utterly devoted to them even if they were somehow bound to oneself.
However, if this was a homegrown Warp entity, a creature not too dissimilar from the Eldar gods, albeit one with far less power then this was an entirely different story. I'd have to have a conversation with the Emperor about it. He would be intrigued, at the very least. And I think considering how Tanya was, he probably would let her continue her research into this phenomenon. Clearing my throat, I spoke up, "That is a very dangerous path you've taken. We may not have the Emperor's permission on this matter at the moment, but I would say you are good to continue your experimentation. As long as you are careful in your experimentation, as long as this thing is a homegrown Warp creature, you can continue to oversee it. But if you get any indication that it is something other than a homegrown Warp creature, you must destroy it as quickly as possible."
Tanya nodded her head in agreement, which was good enough for me. I had plenty of trust for her, and she had grown a strong mind capable of handling such things. Hopefully, everything would go well; there would not be any more concerns. Nodding my head, I said, "Anyways, anything else you want to talk about? I think we've cleared up the whole subject when it comes to faith versus organized religion and why we are trying to be careful on it."
Tanya and I nodded, and I continued, "I think that does clear it up, though I do have to ask, what's this whole story I've heard mentioned in a couple of primers about the Last Church?"
"Bahaha!" I laughed out loud before calming myself, saying, "A little bit of propaganda that got out of hand. It's hard to explain the whole story, but let's just say there was one last organized religion on Terra that did not dissolve into just a personal faith community. The Emperor wanted them to do it; they refused. They created a document listing their reasoning on why their faith should remain. The Emperor tried to explain that those reasons were not sufficient, but he wasn't able to explain fully to them his reasoning since we had to maintain secrecy on the matters of the Warp. You know how it is; people think something's a God or close enough to one; they start believing in it, in turn giving it power and influence. So we have to be careful. Exactly why you should be careful with your creature there, keep it near starving if possible so it doesn't grow too powerful."
Tanya nodded and then I continued, "Anyways, there was a fight, and the church was burnt down. How the fight got started, I'm not really aware. All I know is that afterwards, people who were still followers of the church started spreading their own versions of what happened. Their versions of the events were that the Emperor had the classical atheist misunderstandings of faith and religion. So that ended up as a poor look on the Emperor, but it served his goals well enough so he let it spread, and by the time anyone was really wanting to fix that misinformation, we were already deep into the crusade. And, well, yeah, some order got sent out telling the story from that biased point of view but playing it as if it's the right point of view, if you get my meaning."
Tanya facepalms, and I had to agree. It was a rather stupid series of events, but sometimes that was life—a stupid series of events driving people to strange and weird conclusions that leave everyone just more confused. Shaking my head, I continued, "I thought of trying to get the Emperor to fix that whole situation issue his own decrees on the matter, but he's too busy dealing with the crusade, and well, it's a minor thing that'll be forgotten in time, as far as I'm concerned."
Tanya and I had an understanding before she got up, keeping her head low to not bang on the ceiling, and she said, "All right then, I understand enough of the situation to get back out there. I should be getting ready to leave within the next week or so—next campaign and all that."
"Next week, wonderful. The XIIIth Primarch and his legion will be arriving within the week, so you'll have an opportunity to meet them."
Tanya smiled before saying, "Guilliman."
"Correct," I noted in agreement before getting up and extending my hand, "I hope you and Guilliman get along well."
"I'll do my best," Tanya said. She took my hand, and we shook before breaking the meeting. I leaned back watching her go, thinking about how the plan to send both her and Sangunius on a campaign with the Night Lords would do wonders fixing up that particular mess of a legion, that I was sure of.
Writers note: another chapter down second to last on this ark i believe. Things are going to return to crusade soon enough…also not a fan of the last church… makes Big E come off as a reddit atheist… and I don;t think man who has been around since the day people worshiped kronos would have that low level of understanding of religion.
Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
Edited by: Golden, Ghost-339
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