Battle of Thessala
| The Battle of Thessala | |
| Date | 121.M31 |
| Scale | Intrasolar |
| Theatre | Great Scouring |
| Status | Major victory for the Emperor's Children |
| Belligerents | |
| Ultramarines Iron Snakes Doom Eagles Aurora Chapter Novamarines |
Emperor's Children |
| Commanders and Leaders | |
| Roboute Guilliman Aeonid Thiel |
Fulgrim |
| Strength | |
| Seven full chapters of Astartes | Majority of the Legion |
| Losses | |
| High | Unknown |
| Outcome | |
| Crushed the Ultramarine & successor fleet and | |
The Battle of Thessala, taking place during the Great Scouring, was fought between the Emperor's Children and the Ultramarines.
Prior to the Battle[edit]
Guilliman, as part of his campaign to utterly crush the Traitor Legions, called together the Ultramarines and six successor chapters to hunt down the Emperor's Children primarch. Fulgrim's outnumbered fleet gave running battle until they reached the Thessala system, whereupon a massive Emperor's Children fleet set upon the outnumbered Imperials.
The Battle[edit]
Things looked grim indeed for Guilliman and his men, but a series of clever maneuvers by the Imperial fleet allowed Guilliman to knock out the shields on Fulgrim's flagship, the Pride of the Emperor. Seeing an opportunity to end the battle quickly and save his fleet from getting torn to shreds by the traitors, Guilliman led a strike team to teleport aboard his brother's flagship. (Sound familiar?)
Guilliman and his bodyguard made their way to the bridge of the Pride of the Emperor without incident, whereupon Roboute ordered his men to stand back while he talked to his brother alone, claiming that he could distract him long enough for the assault to cripple Fulgrim's flagship. Aeonid Thiel and First Captain Andros were skeptical of this plan, believing their Primarch's guilt over his past failures and desire to personally kill Fulgrim was interfering with his judgment. Eventually, they agreed to stand back on the condition that Guilliman call them if he needed aid.
Fulgrim tried to (predictably) turn his brother towards Chaos, but Guilliman told him to fuck off and the two began to duel. Well, "duel" isn't the right word, as that would imply that Guilliman was able to put up a fight.
Even before his ascension Fulgrim had been perhaps the greatest duelist of the primarchs, and between that and his Slaanesh-enhanced strength he quickly overpowered Guilliman. Much to his brother's amusement, Guilliman did as he promised his men and called for assistance, and Fulgrim responded in kind by unleashing a horde of Emperor's Children on the Imperials.
The Ultramarines primarch was simply no match for his brother, and Fulgrim proceeded to slash his throat right across where he had been injured by Kor Phaeron during the Battle of Calth, fatally wounding him. A desperate assault by his men allowed the Ultramarine forces to escape via emergency teleport. Only a few ships escaped the massacre, Guilliman's flagship, the Gauntlet of Power, among them.
Aftermath[edit]
As the Apothecaries were unable to cure the Warp-tainted poison on Fulgrim's blade, they placed Guilliman in stasis, hoping to stave off his death. He would remain in stasis for 10,000 years until the combined efforts of a sassy Eldar gal and a really old guy more machine than man were able to revive him.