Editing Love and Krieg Spinoffs (section)

==Legacy==
===Conviction===
Lord Commissar,

The battle is going well. The wretched xenos are being pushed back slowly, but surely. We retook one of the larger cities today and freed a large group of slaves. The Astartes continue their march, and victory looks inevitable.

I know I am coming back to this seeming boring point, but again the Kriegers confound me. One of their members fell during the last push, and I heard them speaking about that soldier's 'reward' on Terranis.

I honestly expected something more...grand. A golden city, sitting at the feet of the emperor, surrounded by all matters of creature comforts. Instead Terranis sounds like one of the most mundane paradises I've ever heard. Simple houses, living with civilians, a restaurant, days filled with trench digging and 'living quietly.' Thinking on it again, I shouldn't be surprised. A Krieg paradise seems just as disciplined as the rest of their lives.

However, it still galls me a little. They speak of a lost planet that has to be dead. Devoured by an entire fleet of Tyranids. Kriegs are good, but still...to see them put their faith in something so...irrational irritates me for some reason. Perhaps it would be easier for me to take if Terranis was some grand utopian paradise, but the idea of a quiet, almost boring world...it just doesn't match up.

One of the other guardsmen apparently shared my opinion and was familiar with the fate of Terranis. (He has served with Kriegs before.) He voiced the facts. Terranis was dead. Devoured. A tragedy, yes, but not some place that any sensible soldier should dwell on.

The Kriegers just paused in their fortifications, look at the guardsman and, again surprising me, spoke.

"Terranis holds."

They say it with so much conviction. It almost sounds believable.

===They Held.===
Lord Commissar,

I'm not exactly sure of all of the events of today. My head is still spinning and the Apothecaries say I'll need a few more treatments before I'm fully healed. 

I'll start with the bad news. It seems that some of those slaves that we freed were of weak wills and in their cowardice, gave themselves over to the Great Enemy. I can offer no excuse. I should have paid attention to them, instead of the Ork hordes which we had well in hand. If you deem my failure an executable offense, then I accept your judgement.

We had no idea that we had the enemy within our camp...until they summoned the Demons. Three of them. They tore through us, most of the squads were obliterated, and our line broke. Ironically, the Ork horde rushing in to fight the demons was a blessing as it caused two of them to become occupied with the xenos long enough for the Astartes to arrive and dispatch them. I had ordered the troops to fall back, so we could effectively regain our defensive position, but the third Demon cut us off. A horrible parody of the human form grafted onto what looked like the body of a scorpion. A horde of heretic cultists behind it. The men fought, but we were obviously overpowered, the demon's powers giving the heretics strength and power. I was hit on the head, and I fell to the ground unconscious. It was only by the Will of the Emperor that I survived.

When I returned to awareness, I was on the ground. The cultists must have thought I was dead. I saw that they were gathered around in a circle, with the Demon at its apex. In the middle of the circle were the still surviving Krieg soldiers. Eight or nine of them, it was hard to tell. I frowned in surprise. They weren't being executed ritually, or fed to the demon. Also, why had they only spared the Kriegs? For an instant I thought that they were traitors to the Emperor as well...and then the Demon spoke. A horrible voice, smooth and silky, subversion and seduction itself.

"You would be fools to refuse this bargain, my bargain. I can see into your souls, my little boys and girls. You ache for that place. Terranis. I can send you there...but why should I send you to an empty barren rock? You know, you all know that there is nothing left of that paradise. Your Corpse-God let the Hungry Shadow gobble it up. What kind of loving God would do that? However...if you give into my master. Praise yourself unto him. Then she will reward you with the ultimate prize. The warp will bend to my master, and you will find yourselves, not on the empty, devoured rock...but back when it was fresh and whole. Can you not see it? I will show you."

I must have been in range of the Demon's power, because for a moment I saw visions. Visions of this place that the Krieg spoke of with reverence and hope. Of people, places, stories, a song played on a piano that caused Krieg eyes to fill with tears. I understood. I have heard the librarians and chaplains speak of paradise, of how the Emperor rewards the faithful with all of world delights and more, how spending eternity among his reverence is bliss itself. To a Krieg, one day on Terranis was enough. I found myself hard to argue with it.

The vision ended and the Demon looked at the Krieg soldiers. "You don't even have to pledge yourself to my master...all I ask...all my master asks...is that you say 'Please' and I will send you to Terranis in its prime."

One of the Krieg slowly removed his gas mask and looked the Demon directly in the eyes. He spat on the ground.

"Terranis holds."

The Demon snarled. Motioned with one of its appendages, and the cultists fell upon them. Their deaths were not quick.

I am sure they would have noticed that I was still alive, had not the Astartes arrived. (Too late in my opinion, but I will not deny that ending two other demons takes time.) The Demon and the cultists were, of course, no match for the Emperor's greatest. They also discovered that I was still among the living, and evacuated me along with their chapter, back to the battle barge, where the inquisitor presiding over the reclamation of the planet called for Exterminatus. With the Ork presence and the Ruinous Powers so prevalent, I did not argue.

I think of those Krieg soldiers. I had only heard the faintest whisper of the power that Demon had used, the level of corruption forced into their minds would have broken battalions. I look out into the stars, and I think of that one little planet out there...lost to the Imperium and set to be devoured by an innumerable swarm that almost nothing can stop...and I believe this to be true in my deepest soul,

Terranis holds.

===Interrogation===
Lord Commissar,
I think something needs to be done here. I feel that there is something wrong about this...but I have examined every facet of this situation and everywhere I look I only find things that are not only allowed, but championed.
I am currently serving on a planet that has been subverted by the Tau and the presence of the Great Enemy has been seen as well. The situation is not beyond reclamation...we are gaining ground and purging both elements from the planet but...
Well it's the Krieg soldiers. I have no issues with their performance or behavior. It's been exemplary but...well...here's a record of an interrogation of the mayor of a town that had been subverted by the Xenos. Present are myself, the mayor, and Lieutenant Krieg Female Model 83i #2598.
"You will tell us where the Tau are hiding, make no mistake. The only issue is how swiftly your death will come, and how much pain will come before it."

"Do what you will, I'll never speak. I serve a force greater than myself, greater than that worthless piece of meat you bow to."

SLAP

"You will not speak of the Emperor in such a way heretic! Your soul is already doomed, do not cause yourself more grief."

"Pah, I know what will happen to me after I expire. Go ahead and kill me, send me into the void. There is nothing there. I have been shown the wisdom of the Greater Good. Renewal and redemption await me...I only pity you for what awaits you."

"I will sit by the Emperor's side. She will sit by His side. YOU will suffer in the warp for eternity."

"She's shaking her head. Perhaps the lady thinks different?"

"Explain yourself Lieutenant!"

"When I die, and I have served the Emperor to His satisfaction, he will send me to Terranis."

"What?" 

"Oh, yes. I remember the Krieg soldiers that visited us spoke of this place. It's a fairy tale! A made up planet, and even if it did exist, the Tyranids destroyed it ages ago."

"Terranis Holds."

"Yes, they said that too...so tell me Krieg. What happens if that Corpse you bow to doesn't deem you worthy enough to send you to Holy Terranis."

"Terranis is not holy. It is just Terranis."

"Fine, then tell me what happens. I'm curious."

"I will be reborn on Krieg and must serve His will until I am worthy."

The mayor shook his head. "And what will happen to you when you finally arrive? Comforted and coddled?"

"I will have a home, I will live peacefully, and I will protect Terranis, until the Emperor calls me to duty and I am brought back to Krieg."

The mayor looked confused at that statement. "That's it? You serve until you die, and then you receive no reward and at any moment you could be returned to this hell of a life?"

"It is all I need. Why should anyone ask for more? That is how people like you give in to the Great Enemy and the Xenos. I am a Krieg. My soul is the Emperor's, Terranis is my reward for duty, and I must always be worthy of that reward, so I must always be willing to serve and fight. For if I do not, then Terranis will fall, and Terranis will always hold."

The mayor just stared at the woman for a long time. She just look back at him with that same blank expression that all Krieg have but...without the mask I saw her eyes. I have seen soldier's eyes of all types. Cowardice, rage, courage, defiance, strength, weakness.

This was the first time I have ever seen an Imperial Guardsman, a Krieger no less, who was at peace.

I don't know why that caused the Mayor to break. Perhaps it was seeing a true example of the Will of the Emperor, and having it break his little worthless fantasy. He spilled the location of the Tau and as I speak the Krieg battalion is mopping them up from our surprise attack. 

Again, I have to ask my superiors if this whole Terranis bit is something to be concerned about. I mean...its perfect on every front but...it galls me at some level. I can't help but wonder, what is happening to the Krieg?

===Sonnenlicht===
The Dark Angel marine stared at the Krieg soldiers who were in the middle of digging and fortifying another trench. Brother Elias usually had no patience for Imperial Guard. Unmodified humans were weak, cowardly, and more often than not, more of a hindrance on the battlefield than anything else. Not so with the Krieg. They had always been efficient, but he had seen over the many years he had been alive the Krieg turn from a mildly decent and disciplined force to a force he was actually proud to fight along side. The fact that many of them were clones didn't even bother him. They knew their duty, and in that they served.

He stepped in to assist the gas masked soldiers with a large steel beam, when he heard it. Soft and muffled...was...were the Krieg...singing?

"Guardsman, are you singing?" He asked.

The Krieg nodded.

That was unusual. For a Krieg. The other Guardsmen would never stop singing it seemed. Always one chant or another, it was annoying and it distracted them from their work.

"What is it? Your anthem? Marching song? That rain song you're so proud of?" Brother Elias had to know.

The Krieg took off his mask to answer. "It is 'Wenn der Morgen kommt wird der Regen enden'. We just call it 'Sonnenlicht' for short."

"What is...Sonnenlicht," Brother Elias slowly worked the strange word in his mouth. "What does that mean?"

"Sunlight."

"You sing about sunlight?"

"We sing about the sunlight we will see when we awake on Terranis. All things will pass, and if we are dutiful to our duty and the Emperor, then we will see the Sun of Terranis, and not the Rain of Krieg."

Brother Elias looked at the Krieg soldiers, working diligently. He knew about the Krieg legend of Terranis. It confused many people, but Brother Elias had lived for a long time. The idea of a place where you did not fear, where you just lived a life of peace among friends and supporters...a gift from the Emperor.

"Send me a copy of that song soldier. As you were."

The Krieger replaced his mask and nodded, returning to his work. Brother Elias soon received the song and listened to it over and over again. He was a space marine, and his place after death was assured...but he wondered if he could serve the Emperor well enough to warrant a brief stay on that quiet world.

===All Good Things...===
It was a matter of principle. That was what the Inquisitor told herself as she looked at the reports. A rather simple principle, really. It came down to one simple factor: morale.

Not Krieg morale of course. That had never been higher. Krieg victories had skyrocketed. There were requests for Krieg guardsmen, and pushes for similar training and even the idea of setting up new Vitae Wombs in one or two places were actually being discussed with seriousness. 

Krieg wasn't the problem. The problem was everyone else. Guardsmen from other planets were becoming...discontent. They saw Krieg battalions with peace in their eyes. How Commissars wouldn't even look twice at a Krieg, but hold everyone else up to their standards. How Kriegs were actually getting fire support from Astartes...one company even went so far as to rescue a battalion of Krieg soldiers. Other guardsmen counted themselves lucky if the Astartes paid them no mind at all.

Then there was the crowing jewel. The Emperor-damned source of this mess, Terranis. The other guardsmen HATED that place. EVERYONE got a sacred seat at the side of the Emperor but only a KRIEG got to live on Terranis. The fact that the Kriegs had never claimed that, or that by comparison, Terranis was a pale shadow of having your soul shielded forever more in the Grace of the Emperor, didn't matter. Terranis' promised paradise was...familiar. Understandable. People couldn't imagine an eternity of peace and contentment...but they could think of a world where they didn't have people shooting at them every day. Plus, the whole 'civilians welcoming and caring for us' factor was a pain as well. Krieg were treating civilians kindly and well, and were beginning to be well received in turn. This also angered other Guardsmen. They were just as much as heroes as the Krieg, but were they welcomed into restaurants and taverns? No. Did pretty girls and men always smile at them? No. They were lucky if they didn't get pelted with stones in some places that they went.

Now...now the crowning moment of this whole problem was staring the Inquisitor in the face. They had not only found Terranis, but all those times that the Krieg had said 'Terranis holds' turned out to be exactly right!

The Warp had caused the arrivals to be a few years apart from each other, before the Warp Storm closed the area for good. So there were actual Terranis survivors, as well as this picture of a world that held back the Tyranids for so long that even the Astartes were impressed.

She massaged her temples as she thought about what to do about this. It was all a matter of principle...morale was the ONLY principle. Krieg was only one planet...one legion...if they were bringing everyone else down with their excellence...then there was really only one option...

===Never truly end.===
Brother Elias smiled as he looked at the huge display in the middle of the city. Terranis Holds. Holocasts from children who had grown up there, and from refugee survivors. And then there were the names and recognition of valor...so many of them. 

It was a rather brilliant move on the part of the Inquisition. Terranis was a problem because it was so REAL to so many people. Weaklings who felt that they deserved the same kind of reward that the Krieg had earned. Now however, it was something more, a legend, a myth, a wonder of the age.

It had been decreed that Terranis had never 'Fallen' to the Tyranids. The Emperor had merely saw fit to remove it, and all the souls upon it, and take it to his side. An entire planet had become worthy of His Grace. A goal all citizens of the Imperium should strive for.

Now when the Krieg spoke of Terranis in that quiet way of theirs, it was in parable. Krieg had their place, but it was just as mythic as the fate waiting the rest of humanity. The only difference was that they had a specific name. When they said 'Terranis Holds' it was the truth...but a past truth. Not some show of defiance, but a reaffirmation of their own personal faith.

The Imperial Guard, and the Inquisition relaxed as morale returned to normal levels. The Krieg though...well...the great chapels on that city of death have been changed a little. 

All Krieg serve the Emperor, all Krieg live to redeem their names and souls for that long ago betrayal. All Krieg cry when they hear Regentropfen, and they almost never remove their masks.

But on holy days, and at funerals, the churches are filled with the sounds of Sonnenlicht. For every Krieg knows where they will go, when they arrive Home.

===A Krieger's Duty===
I had to stand up to wring out the kinks in my back... It has been many years since I've been here. The peace and quiet under a clear blue sky I've worked so hard just to be here. But as I stretched my neck I spotted Him standing in front of me mouthing the words I knew so very well. 

Looking over my shoulder I spied the back porch where my beloved stood and said, "I'll be back soon." I turn to face my visitor and extend a hand, "Would you mind assisting me out of my trench, sir?"

The ethereal being shook His head in amusement, His golden crown reflecting the light off the sun, before clasping my hand and pulling me up...

Onto the firing step as I and ten thousand other defenders of Krieg immediately aim our weapons down range at a wall of maddened cultists charging with wild abandon. Dark litanies spewing forth from their accursed mouths. A Commissar sent to us from another Regiment stalks up and down the trench bellowing out orders to us. Most likely expecting us to break like the PDF that came before us but we won't... Because we are the Children of Krieg, and like those on Terranis who held off an assaulting force of untold millions, so shall we.

After all, I want to return to those loving eyes in that place of quiet rest...

===A Psyker's Question===

From the records of Inquisitor Amberly Vail:

So far this has been a rather routine set of events. A world has been subverted by the Tau and they sent me in to identify the key figureheads motivating the conversion so that the Vindicare know who to take out, and then we can sweep the planet back under the watchful gaze of the Emperor, blah blah blah. Done this so many times it's boring.

The only interesting thing that happened was when we were staying at one of the few remaining loyalist Imperial Guard garrisons. It was a mix of different origins, but Rakel seemed to be interested in one of them in particular.

I know Rakel isn't the most casual, or subtle, of people. Psykers tend to be a little on the odd side. However, she walked over to this Krieg soldier and stared at him (her? Who can tell?) for a good hour with a questioning look on her face. Finally, when I went to collect her, she pointed at the Guardsman and spoke.

"She went in his place. He's back where it's quiet...resting. I didn't know that they often went in their place."
I looked at the Krieg, to see if that made any sense to them. The gas masked soldier just shrugged. I grabbed Rakel and went to move her away. As I did, she called back.

"If I do enough good...can I visit? Am I allowed to go there? Just for a little while?"

I swear, it may have been nothing, but the Krieger might have slightly nodded. Either way Rakel looked happy and kept quiet the rest of the operation.

===Tactical Advice===
Okay yas gits! Lissen up cuz dis is important! Wese gonna gets dese 'umies today but...oy! I saidz dis important n dats means you too!

Anyways, wez gonna gets dem all, buts deres dees 'umies dats gotz these toobs from dere mouts and weird masks. Youse see dese guys youse gotta gets dem from behind, or make sure dat they don't know youse the ones that gots them.

Cause dese 'umies donts go down like the udders, oh no, dey cheats and comes back later. 'Nd if dey seen youse face n knows dat it was you dat gots dem last time?

Dey's gonna REMEMBER you.

===The Warp Works Both Ways===

The Sorcerer lay on the floor of the empty building, gasping for breath. Pain...there was so much pain. He saw his body slowly turn grey and flake away. He needed to move, needed to escape, but he was too weak. He had seen one of the World Eaters just collapse onto the ground, and nothing but grey dust spilled out from the already rusting suit of power armor.

The Tyranids were still around...what was left of them. He looked at one of them that was near by, gagging and twitching on the ground. The biomass they had eaten suddenly turning on them. It was a massive Carnifex, now pale and weak. Twitching in pain, incapable of moving, making pathetic little noises. Normally there was just violence and hunger in its eyes, but now there was just a question. Why? Why has the very being of this world turned against us?

The Changer of Ways had sent him here. This was where the ones who ceased to stop were hiding. The sorcerer would end it, take this world, and receive great favor in the eyes of his God. It had all gone wrong the moment they had landed on the planet. His troops and creatures dropping dead. His war machines breaking down and rusting before his eyes, and his glorious battle barge. His massive ship...he had only heard a report that something was firing at them...and then they were lost to the Warp Storm, torn apart to the barest atoms. 

It made no sense. This world was empty, apart from the dying Tyranids, the only form of life on this place were the small signs of plant, insect, and animal life slowly returning to this place. There was nothing here that could possibly be a threat!

The Sorcerer looked around with bleary eyes, for an instant he saw them with the furthest reaches of his augmented senses. A group of people, dressed in dark colors and wearing gas masks, all around him. Waiting. What was this place? Who were these people? Why would they never stop? What was happening here?

"Please," He asked the empty air, "I must know...why?"

The answer came to him as a memory surfaced. He had been on one of the glorious demon worlds once, and had seen how his enemies gasped for breath. How they collapsed and either burned or were corrupted. How the very act of being on the planet, being in its presence, was ripping their souls apart. A world that was just as much a part of the glorious Chaos Gods as he was. Now...on this world...the very opposite thing seemed to be happening. The Sorcerer, conqueror of a thousand worlds, realized exactly what his mistake was...and that was when he saw them...all of them...surrounding him...his body...his soul...his everything. He tried to scream...but it only came out as a whimper.

===The Vigil===
I remember...I remember hearing jeers from others about this place. They insult my knowledge, and cast down upon my second home. They think it is a place of idleness, where we go to become weak, or when we are too weary from the battlefield. 

That is nothing like the truth.

Here it is quiet, and I am with those whom I love...but it is no idyllic paradise. We guard this place just a vigilantly as we guard any other world the Emperor calls us to. If not more so.

We see them. We sense them. We know that they are out there, and they watch us. They watch our Second Home, and wait for the moment we drop our guard, that is when they plan to descend upon it. They wish to devour it, devour us, and destroy everything that we have earned.

So, we remain vigilant. We walk the perimeters, we fortify our cities, and we guard our home. There are more of us, and our loved ones are now skilled enough to walk the perimeter as well as we can.

We will do this forever. This is our Second Home. This is our Sunlight. This is our Rest. Thus it is ours to guard and protect. We ask of the Emperor nothing, for this is our duty...and we take it with no regret or hesitation.

Terranis will hold. Always.