Editing Lion El'Jonson (section)

===Exterminatus Campaigns===
This period of time would be known as ‘the passage of the Angel of Death’, as the Lion would throw aside any notion or façade of the ‘hero’/‘savior’, and would fully embody the aspect of the ‘destroyer’. The Dreadwing, whose actions were normally highly controlled and sanctioned were let completely off the chain, and where they walked, worlds burned. (Farith Redloss once asked if the Lion was sure he wanted to unleash the Dreadwing, as he knew that once the order was given no quarter would be given; among the legion, Redloss was a well known warmonger, and even he was like ‘are you sure you want to do this?’)

Just as he told his brothers he would, the Lion tore a path of destruction through the traitor territories. His legion destroyed [[Chemos]], [[Nuceria]], and many other worlds, but by the time they reduced [[Barbarus]] to space dust, they began to realise that they were not having the desired effect. The traitors seemed to be indifferent to the destruction of their homeworlds and refused to be drawn away from Terra.

The Lion had taken to haunting the abandoned levels of the ''Invincible Reason'' since the destruction of Luth Tyre. He didn't even bother to appear when Barbarus finally died. Although he didn't tell the legion the reason why, as it seemed the [[Astronomican]] was dead; now that the Ruinstorm was gone the Lion reasoned that the eight weeks of darkness combined with the prophetic visions of Curze and Sanguinius meant that despite their efforts Horus had won. All that was left to do was to make sure it was a hollow victory and the Lion would avenge his father by making sure Horus ruled over an empire of ash. This is expanded upon in ''Mortis''; the Astronomican is confirmed to have been snuffed out, not simply obscured, meaning that even though they may have wanted to get to Terra, they would be sailing blind. Only the Lion and his inner circle of trust knows this, however.

[[File:The broken blade.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Descriptions of the broken blade.]]

He confided only in Mistress Fiona, the ship's Navigator, and Stenius, the ship's captain. They had been reliant on Tuchulcha to travel since Luth Tyre, but had kept it a secret until they were sure of their chosen path. The revelation that Stenius had been a member of the Lion's innermost circle all along and had been trusted to use Tuchulcha came as a real surprise to Holguin, as it was a well-known fact among the legion that the Lion had been suspicious of his loyalties; turns out the Lion and Stenius are two fantastic actors.

A meeting was called to discuss what their next move should be, with the Lion demanding that all wings of the Hexagrammaton should be heard. Although the gathering took place, the Lion was nowhere to be found. The meeting started seemingly without him, the gathered assembly bowing to an empty throne. The debate gathered momentum with Astartes and mortals arguing on both sides. The Lion brought the heated debate to an end by suddenly appearing among them, seated upon the throne, catching them all by surprise. By remaining unnoticed, the Lion demonstrated that he may have been better at reading people than he let on. Without them being aware of his presence he was able to listen to the honest opinions of his legionaries, as well as his mortal crew. The mortals would never have spoken up in his presence and he was no longer getting open and honest answers from his voted lieutenants. The heads of the Hexagrammation were not just a military force but also acted as his closest advisors and confidants. Despite his efforts to reassure and encourage them to speak their minds, the death of the Brother-Redemptor at his hands had colored their view of the Lion. Although they may have had opposing views to their Primarch, they now kept them to themselves. This essentially isolated the Lion, leaving him alone without anyone he could truly confide in; this didn't help the fact that the longer the Heresy dragged out, the more the primal beast that slumbered in his heart was being pushed further to the surface. By remaining unseen he was able to get the honest views of both sides, which he wouldn't have heard if he had made his presence known.

Ultimately the Lion would choose to continue to attack the traitors' reinforcements, strongholds and supply lines, this was mostly due to the fact that without the light of the Astronomican to guide them back to Terra, they couldn’t make it back even if they wanted to.

Also of note: the book ‘Dreadwing’ insists heavily that the Lion's actions are having little effect, however later sources clearly refute this assessment. Malcador explains to Dorn how important the Lion's actions are in harming the forces of Chaos, and he is backed up by Sanguinius, who learned the same lessons as the Lion during their journey. It’s made clear that Horus’s forces are being starved of reinforcements for the [[Siege of Terra]] due to the Lion destroying anyone attempting to do so, and by destroying the traitor strongholds he is denying them any safe haven that they could retreat to. Horus' forces were now stuck between Terra and the loyalist noose slowly closing in around Sol and the traitor fleet (this pressure would help push Horus’s hand). [[pretend|It might have looked like]] the Lion's actions were having no effect from his own position at the traitor's backs, but they most certainly did.

The Lion was also not on his own, as he teamed up with many other scattered loyalist forces, including some Imperial Fists who had escaped the siege of their own homeworld. The Lion would also be joined by Russ (just like in the old lore), his legion, and the Raven Guard (Corax wouldn’t join them personally, but would lend a portion of his legion). The Lion would team up with his brothers long before the events in ‘Dreadwing’ would take place, which brings the canon events that happen in that book into question; the story overall stays the same but the details change.

Also, Corswain and some Dark Angels reach Terra on their own and jump into the fray to reignite the Astronomican, allowing the other Loyalists to get to Terra and take part in the siege - once it is back up and running it will be a race for the Lion and Russ to get to Terra in time, just like the older lore described.