Editing Warhammer 60K: Age of Dusk (Continued) (section)

==Additional Background Notes: The Sons of Purgatory==


<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">At the climax of the siege of Tallarn, the infamous ''Rubric of Ahriman'' was spectacularly broken. This had the effect of releasing the Rubricae from their living death, but also had the surprising effect of returning the eons dead warriors into the flesh. Suddenly incarnated, the ancient Thousand Sons space marines turned upon the surviving Sorcerers of Ahriman’s cabal. Though the psykers were potent beings at this point, they were taken by surprise, and overwhelmed by the vengeful Astartes, who were at long last freed from their slavery.<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

With the malign influence of Ahriman leaving the battlefield and with these new and unexpected allies, the forces of the Imperium Pentus swiftly routed and destroyed the remaining forces of the would-be god. His scrap daemons in orbit similarly fled back to the warp, allowing the surviving naval forces to bombard the black cube into nothingness, leaving nothing but a colossal field of volcanic glass in its place.

At the conclusion of the battle, the Thousand Sons surrendered humbly to Obediah, and were brought back in chains to Macharia, as the vast armada of Wellesley dispersed to return to their vassal systems. The confused and disorientated former Rubricae Penitents declared they were servants of the Imperium, and warned the heroes of Macharia that ''"Horus has turned upon the Emperor"''. Long imprisonment within the Rubric had atrophied there warp presence, until they were below mundane on the psychic scale. The only boon they possessed now were the new Astartes bodies they had been granted, free of mutagenic taint at long last; Ahriman’s original noble goal to save his Legion, finally achieved. Saved, at least for a while.

Though the Rubricae had aided the Imperium Pentus, they were still technically heretics and traitors. They were tried before the local representatives of the Imperium Pentus. The ''Lychen'', ''Praetorians'' and the representatives of the ''Thousand Governors'' (''formerly "Thousand Emperors"'') wanted blood, and called for the execution of the Soldiers of Ahriman, the last visual symbol of his misrule. The Confederation of Justice suggested they might work off their debt somehow, while Captain Ell of the Lussorian Narc Warriors vouched for their strength and potency.

In the end, the fate the Penitents was decided not by council or judge, but by outside pressures. Ahriman had been routed from the southern spin of the galaxy, yet the Imperium Pentus was still besieged. Daemons and warp storms still flooded the region, from Khaine’s infernal realm in the east, to the Terran hells in the west. With the primarchs engaged on a crusade against with the Realm of Travesties, it was up to those who remained to plug the gaps in the defenses.

A fleet led by the Blood Ravens Commandery arrived to confirm the Dominion of Change’s reintegration with the Armageddon metropolis. It was decided then that the penitents, though they numbered but five hundred by this point, were too valuable a resource to squander in petty revenge. Obediah Braiva, the new Marshal Administrator for the Segmentum, handed the penitents into the Blood Ravens’ custody.'''*''' It was decided that from these repentant marines, a new Commandery would be founded; ''The Sons of Purgatory''.

The Sons were taken to Nocturne for processing. Nocturne was known across the Imperium at this point as ''‘The Forge of Astartes’'', due to the vast industrialized process of geneseed production and power armor creation undertaken on the volcanic, smoke-shrouded planet. The Promethians of Nocturne performed many secret rites of purification and psychic conditioning to determine the purity of the Sons of Purgatory, but ultimately they were found to be pure (''though fifty of the Sons perished in the trial by ordeal'').

Following the trial, the Sons ritually destroyed their gold and sapphire raiment, naming it ''"slave’s armor, nothing more"''. It was cast into the molten heart of a volcano. With that, the Thousand Sons were ended once and for all.
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The Forge-Smiths of Nocturne created new armor for the Sons; a metallic copper with red bands about the arms, to represent their censure and the legacy of their banished Crimson King. Larkshear, a venerable Dreadnought of the Blood Ravens was selected to be the Lord Commander of this new Commandery.

In the wars that followed, the Sons of Purgatory fought many battles, most often fighting besides the Blood Ravens and the Nemenmarines (''though notably, never with the Rout or the Wolf Brother Commanderies''). It is said they fought with the fury of desperate men, seeking redemption in the only thing left to them; the edge of the sword, and the smoking barrel of the bolter.

'''*'''(''Obediah also gifted the Blood Ravens with the ''Rod of Macharius'', a sacred relic of elder days, alongside one of the captured Foetal Golarch abominations, suspended in a tank of amniotic amber. Why these gifts were made is unknown, and oddly, the enforcers of Macharia always recorded the Rod as being stolen by unknown assailants, on all official documents. Who are we to believe? Personally, I am inclined not to besmirch the heroic Blood Ravens with such rumors.'')
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