Editing Thramas Crusade (section)

==007.M31: Initial Stages==
The campaign started out easily enough for the Night Lords, as during the first few months of fighting there were no loyalist Astartes forces present. They had a great time practicing their particular skills against the mortal forces standing against them, and easily conquered the three key forge worlds that were the true prize of the campaign. With these three worlds under traitor control, Horus would be able to resupply his armies more easily.

During the first year of the war, the worst enemy that the Night Lords seemed to face were themselves: When out of immediate sight of their Primarch, different factions of the Night Lords Legion seemed to be forming, with their own aims and objectives. Some groups, including those led by [[Sevatar]] were at least "loyal" to the notion of remaining a legion and following their Primarch, pining for the glory days of the [[Great Crusade]] when they were taken seriously as a military force. These loyalists took the symbol of the '''Bloodied Hand''' in honour of Sevatar's devotion to Curze. Others either wished to reshape the legion in the image of the Nostraman criminal syndicates and gangs, or sought to grasp the freedom offered by Horus and wished to divest themselves of the burden of their Primarch. Many of these "disloyal" Night Lords took the '''Cross of Bone''' as their symbol of allegiance, refering to a Nostraman tradition of leadership challenge by murder-brawl.

Overall, the factions were split on "Boomer vs Zoomer" lines: with the Bloodied Hand members being mostly older veterans of the Great Crusade, and the Cross of Bone [[murderhobo]]s being comprised of mostly younger Nostraman recruits. The division was far more complex than this however, and an individual's origin; whether Terran or Nostraman, rookie or veteran, was not an easy indicator of what faction, if any, that a Night Lord may have associated with.

At the beginning of the Thramas Crusade, these conflicts were mostly a hidden issue, with commanders quietly fighting behind the scenes. This would only get worse as the campaign progressed; discipline would eventually break down and newly formed chapters ended up fighting each other for spoils. Other times commanders would completely ignore their given objectives and strike off independently, doing whatever they felt like.

For the first two years of the conflict, the Cross of Bone would only grow in influence; with their Primarch mostly sidelined, and power ended up ceded to other commanders such as '''Nakrid Thole''' who seemed to be doing just fine in their campaigns of free-wheeling slaughter.

With the conquered territories close to worlds that were still pledged to the Night Lords, it looked like a complete victory for the VIII Legion, right up until a small number of sleek dark ships arrived in the Triplex system.