Second Sagittarius Crusade

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Second Sagittarius Crusade: Colonization of the Atalantos Worlds

"Atalantos, glorious Atalantos. Central jewel in the crown of our ancestors, mighty temple to the heights we sought to achieve. Today of course, these wonders are becoming tarnished and worn under the still-lingering weight of the Great Betrayal, but never forget that our ideals still remain, shining brightly despite these ages of darkness and woe. So long as you all live, so long as you bear the banner of the War Scribes Chapter, remember that you too aspire to greater things than other men dare dream."

First War Scribes Master of Sanctity Fordrex Ducelle, addressing a gathering of Initiates after their formal induction into the Legion, circa late M31.

The skies were ablaze with light, and all around the War Scribes were thunderous suns and fire-blasted worlds. Though a few within the Legion had misgivings, and many of the Imperial Army commanders voiced private doubts as to the need for this quest, none would gainsay the Primarch, as the enormous fleet muscled its way into the Core. More and more relics they found, most corroded to uselessness, but some of great potency. Fragments of STC devices were here, as well as more of the strange artifacts from Octarian space. Small populations of humans yet lived, even in this harsh, hot, radiant realm, and these were quickly integrated into the Imperium. A handful of worlds were established at the fringes of the Core, to be used as supply depots and repair bases. The Imperial Army was more than happy when Arelex commanded the majority of them to be the rearguard for the Legion, recognizing the folly of deploying unaugmented humans in this area of space.

The trail ran cold before the Legion had pressed more than 20% of the distance to the black hole at the center of the Galaxy, and for a time, Arelex was at a loss. And just when he thought it time to abandon his quest and return to the cooler realms elsewhere in the Galaxy, one of the Wandering Chapters reported... something marvelous.

Within a pocket of calm inside the Core's radiant fury, a lush, green world awaited the wondering eyes of the Legion. As Arelex and his men made planetfall, the sheer scale of the mighty fortress hidden within the oceans of plant life staggered their imaginations. Tall as a Hive City but many times wider, the building had clearly been crafted by the hand of Man, and later abandoned for reasons unknown. Empty yet pristine, the ancient city contained many wondrous devices and titanic databases from which much lore was rediscovered. Expansion began in earnest, and huge volumes of humanity flooded into the ancient streets, breathing life into the city for the first time in untold millennia.

Mars contributed no small effort to the reclamation process, and more than one Magos became famous for the knowledge they regained. Outside the city, the Mechanicus organized massive farming plantations, carving out more than sixty million square miles of arable land from untamed jungle, boreal forest, and savannah. By decree of the Primarch, industrialization would be heavily restricted upon this world, which he dubbed Atalantos in reference to a mythical city of wonders from humanity's ancient past. Atalantos would forever remain a breadbasket, and her natural beauty go unspoiled by industrial pollution. Indeed, with viable agriculture so rare in the radiant cauldron, the Primarch could hardly afford to sacrifice any available biosphere.

Lying at anchor in orbit, the vessels of the Ironsands' fleet worked tirelessly, beaming petabytes of data back towards Mars and Terra, for the learned men and women therein to peruse. From these treasure troves of knowledge would come many of the Imperium's most powerful machines of war. Perhaps more importantly, the Ironsands' observations repaired many gaps left in the ancient data, creating a detailed map of the Core Region. The planets and stars had moved but little, even over the millennia since the maps were made, and it was a trivial task to resynchronize them. Gathering his Marines to the ancient citadel, Arelex addressed them with a new vision of the future.

"Soldiers of the Second Legion, hear me! I had not intended to tarry in this place for long, and my plans were limited to simply excavating whatever tidbits we could find, before returning to the Emperor's side. But seeing this place, this... unimaginable triumph of our distant ancestors, I feel it imperative to restore it to Humanity's service. I believe this world to have been the staging point for an ancient human attempt to civilize the Galactic Core, and though they did not succeed, faltering at the grasp of Old Night, their records indicate many planets, rich with resources and vital to controlling this space."

"The Imperium needs these worlds, and it is my belief that the Emperor will hold us in the highest regard should we succeed at this task. The Legion will halt here, and dedicate all its efforts to subjugating these worlds, and we shall bring in all the apparatus of the Imperium to support us in our task. There can be no half measures. I have seen that there are yet enclaves of Humanity, cast adrift among the burning suns, and they have been isolated for unknown thousands of years. It is our sworn duty as defenders of Mankind and servants of the Master of Mankind that we restore them to the glory that should have been theirs. Let the fire of your purpose outshine these blazing stars above, and go forth in the name of Humanity! Ave Imperator! Imperio Aeterna!"

It is said that the entire Dark Age fortress, freshly christened the Basilikon Atalantos, shook with the sound of the Legion's thunderous approval. This was the job they were surely meant for. With a rapid-fire series of orders, the Imperial Army began to lumber forward, escorting hundreds of colonization ships and factory vessels. Soon, these lands would belong to Humanity once more. It was clear why the newly colonized world of Atalantos was valuable to Dark Age Man, for its magnetic field, boosted by the arcane Basilikon Atalantos, was crystal clear, strong and stable, barring much of the otherwise intolerable radiation. The stars merely provided endless light for oceans of cropland, and the War Scribes wasted no time tending to their gardens. Within months, gigatons of agri-produce cheered the hearts and flavored the palates of every gathered Imperial citizen, and with this unexpected boon, they felt confident that the Imperial Aquila would find a permanent roost.

World after world fell to the iron tread of Imperial might, and the Core trembled at the thunder of excavation equipment and dropships loaded with construction materials. Most of the planets near Atalantos were barren and lifeless, but the Core was bursting at the seams with mineral wealth. Endless oceans of human bodies, most of them criminals from across the Imperium, were poured into the ever-deepening mines. The tongues of ten thousand worlds mixed in the Atalantos Worlds, as they were being called, and ten thousand Imperial Governors praised the War Scribes for removing their human refuse that so afflicted them. Life was brutally harsh within the sweltering mines, but the rewards to the Imperium were beyond measure.

Industrial Worlds sprang up almost overnight to drink in the gathered material from dozens upon dozens of Mining Worlds, and from their primitive but numerous forges, tidal waves of processed goods emerged. Arelex was having an enormously thrilling time bending his skills to the challenge that suited him so uniquely. All that he had learned from Hektor and his father about statecraft, industry, management, logistics, and science he brought to bear, the endless reservoirs of data within his mind working around the clock. Here at last, Arelex felt certain that he finally understood the purpose for which the Emperor had created him.

The War Scribes Legion too was enjoying their labor. Each day, they landed with a new wave of colony ships, and set about the daunting task of exterminating the native life forms. Most were simple beasts, mindless though powerful, and their purging was accomplished swiftly and easily. On some worlds though, they encountered a xenos species known only as the "Deathpulse", enormous masses of star-like plasma, bound by magnetic fields and riding the currents between stars. These titanic xenos, many times larger than any Imperial vessel, would descend into a planet's magnetic field and rip apart any organic material they could find, sucking entire biospheres into their mysterious forms.

On more than one occasion, the Scribes came under assault shortly after making planetfall, for the Deathpulse were attracted by the sudden appearance of active energy and weapons. Dozens of colonization ships were lost, along with hundreds of Marines slain inside their armor, before Primarch Arelex was able to devise methods by which Imperial plasma weaponry could be tuned to disrupt the creature's life sustaining magnetic envelopes. The Deathpulse were driven back at the cost of millions of Imperial lives, but they could not be eradicated entirely. The creatures reproduced inside the coronas of stars, where the Imperium could not reach. Driven back, but eternally watching, the vengeful xenos still wait for the last dying of the Imperial light, endlessly thirsting for human flesh and bone. The Imperial Navy is their tireless foe, and each year assaults are launched from the Atalantos Worlds to remind these bizarre creatures who the true masters of the Galaxy are.

Though the Legion's progress was slow, which concerned the War Council, the steady stream of treasures returning to Terra, and the declaration from Arelex that a truly terrible xenos species was in need of his full attention to be hurled back into the darkness from whence they came, the minds in charge of the Great Crusade gave tacit consent that the Primarch should be allowed to pursue his goals. How much influence the Emperor exerted on their decision remains a mystery to this day, though in the context of later eras, it seems likely that Arelex was fulfilling the Emperor's purpose set for him at his birth.

Forges of War: Pheldavii, Rell IV, and Amavix Prime

Ancient Humanity needed technological devices just as primitive Man did, and just as the men and women of the Great Crusade required. Tens of thousands of years ago, colonists from the Red Planet ventured forth into the unknown across the Galaxy, and the Galactic Core was no exception. Isolated from Mars and the Cult Mechanicus, three such Forge Worlds were rediscovered by the Scribes, and brought into the fold. Though all were educated in the tenets of the Omnissiah, as AdMech creed and Imperial legalities required, they remained worlds apart, with very different cultural mores than those lands under the Mechanicus's thumb. Separation breeds independent thought, and these three Forge Worlds were independent indeed. In time, each would play a major part in the history of the War Scribes.

The Forge Worlds also brought with them a pair of Knight Worlds, long charged with the defense of the sacred forges, and providing them with food and manpower in exchange for training Sacristans, and manufacturing new Knight Titans for their various Households. Six in all, the Knight Houses of Atalantos brought much needed heavy firepower to Arelex's cause. And much sooner than any had expected, their strength would be sorely needed.

Eternals

Despite the amazing successes and the rapid progress of the so-called Sagittarius Crusade pressing ever deeper into the Core, the War Scribes could tell that their leader was growing troubled. The archaeological treasures he had hoped to find failed to materialize, other than the wondrous Basilikon Atalantos, and occasional fragments of unknowable items, maddeningly, tantalizingly close at hand. Arelex's calm disposition began to evaporate into a frenzied rush of excitement and frustration, and he scoured ancient tomes and starmaps for hours on end, lost in a mental world of calculations and predictions. If only he had more data, or some new spark of an idea, surely he could delve into the minds of ancient Humanity, and derive where their lore might be hidden. It was an unbearable pressure.

Following the trail of a dying Deathpulse would open the doorway to a dark and terrible secret. Lashing out in cold, vengeful rage, Arelex repaid the Deathpulse for his Marines' deaths himself, hunting down a small family of the gigantic xenos and hammering away at them with relentless plasma fire. In their dying moments, bleeding energy into the void, the Primarch's sharp eyes began to notice strange echoes in the auspex readings. The more Deathpulse met their end, the clearer the readings became; there were immense caverns of metal underneath some of the nearby planets. "Of course", Arelex thought to himself, "They hid their treasures underground to protect them from supernovae and other dangers. No wonder I could not find them..." Word spread like lightning among the War Scribes Legion, and as one, 90,000 Scribes descended upon these planets, deeply, deeply buried in the Core, almost within naked-eye sight of the central black hole itself.

The ancient vaults were cold, dark, and sterile. The footsteps of the Legion felt almost profane, disturbing the silence of the vaulted temples. Arelex was aglow with feverish energy, for everywhere he looked, some new marvel of technology presented itself. Within minutes, powerful scanning arrays were put to work piercing stone and metal alike, straining their cogitators for the merest hint of the ancient devices' inner workings. Unfathomable volumes of data hurtled through the void into the waiting memory banks of the orbiting fleet. Slowly, Arelex's grin turned to a horrified grimace, and then a contorted snarl of seething fury. The devices were not human at all. Only xenos work awaited them here, foul, blasphemous mockeries of humankind's genius. More frightening still, this was the work of xenos so clearly advanced that even Arelex himself could only dimly comprehend their potency and function. And as he realized this, the first panicked shouts from the advance teams deep within the catacombs began to filter back through the comms.

Almost as soon as the scouts were attacked, the xenos were past them into the main body of Imperial soldiers. Man and Marine died as one under a withering thunderstorm of greenish lightning, pulled to pieces and turned to dust with every unholy strike. Thundering orders, Arelex rapidly called for a withdrawal, to fight outside of the enemy's killing grounds. But so fast were the xenos machines that the retreat became a rout, and the Second Legion broke and ran. The shame was nearly unbearable, but the Primarch managed to assess the situation with a cold, logical eye from the command room of the flagship.

"The enemy caught us by surprise. In a universe of unknown horrors, this is well within the bounds of possibility. Remember this well my soldiers, a lost battle is of little import if by losing it you learn what you need to win the war. Even before I walked with you, you did not succumb to the cowardly nuclear strikes on Terra. You rebounded from the nightmare struggle of the Greenburn. The Warp-spawned horrors of Specularia were ground beneath your heels, and from great loss came a Legion yet stronger than before. Even the damnable Overfiend of Octarius and his infinite hordes, and the planet-eating Deathpulse were bound and contained by our hands. From every loss of life, from every near-defeat, the War Scribes STAND. BACK. UP. It matters not if your foe knocks you down, my sons, so long as your hand is around his neck at the struggle's end. The Atalantos Worlds, our growing flame of Imperium, are yet young and fragile in the face of this new threat. If the Imperium is to master the furnace at the Galaxy's heart, it falls to us to cleanse it! The fallen have died, that we may rise stronger than before and make their sacrifice count! Ave Imperator! From ashes, glory!"

The War Scribes were unused to such passion from their leader, but in this moment many of their veteran troops looked to each other and thought "Thus was Hektor upon Terra, driven and passionate. So shall our Arelex be, for Hektor's lessons were not lost." And thinking this, they raised their voices in loud assent, and set an example for the younger Marines, still licking their wounds, remembering the dead, and dreading a return against those terrible xenos devices. But with shouts of challenge and death to the xenos filth, the Legion slowly began to rally. Urgent calls were sent forth, and the War Scribes' fleet gathered from every corner of the Atalantos Worlds to form an iron fist of Imperial might, blazing with passion to defeat Mankind's enemies.

The orbital fight would be swiftly won, for Arelex was determined to strike once more before the xenons fully awakened, and so it would fall to the Marines to once more scour the caverns with bolter fire and plasma round. But this time, they would not be alone. The twin Knight Worlds of the Atalantos region were loading their sacred chargers aboard War Scribes vessels even now, and they were salivating at the thought of foes worthy of their wondrous machines. And though ground down over millennia of resource starvation, fending off Orks, Eldar, Deathpulse, and numerous other foes, each of the ancient Forge World's Titan Legions would take the field as well. Their numbers were but 60 in total, and even combined would barely represent what Mars would consider a true Titan Legion, but against these handful of xenos worlds they were a truly formidable force.

Legio Nyxata, Legio Illanex, Legio Salaion; these names would carve a new history into the stars, at last breaking the chains of gravity and riding in voidships once more. Standing in their shadows, though no less proudly because of it, would ride the Knights of House Singul, House Steelborn, House Magolos, House Enkidesh, House Redmoor, and House Acremorin. Many Freeblades were there as well, bearing their personal heraldry with pride. Such a mighty mechanical fist could not help but carry the day for Humanity once gathered together, and their pilots sang warhymns with pride as Magos and Sacristan alike consecrated their imperial steeds, girding the Machine Spirits for war.

With the Scribes, Titans, Knight Houses, and Imperial Army regiments under the guidance of a Primarch, a storm of Imperial fury descended upon the mechanical xenos foe. For most Imperial Historians, the first shots of planetary bombardment upon the first of what would become nine Tomb Worlds mark the true beginning of the decades-long conflict known as the Sagittarius Crusade, for which all before was but a footnote.