Editing Arms of Asura (section)

=History=
==Great Crusade==
The Arms of Asura had a less aggressive role in the Crusade than many of their fellows, both because of its smaller size as well as its less martial bent once it's Primarch was recovered. The patient and kind disposition of their Primarch, as well as the drive toward scholarly arts and the fact that much of the Legion's number was drawn from the downtrodden of their homeworld, made the Arms of Asura primary suited to peacekeeping and defense. Anshul and his sons spent much of their time ensuring that the planets within the Emperor's growing sphere of influence were transitioned into blessed service as painlessly as possible, crushing or negotiating a pre-emptive end to revolts that threatened to disrupt this process. They were often seen as guardians and counselors, and in many instances sought to enrich the cultures of annexed planets that were considered barbaric or backward, bringing them into the fold of civilization. To this purpose, the Arms of Asura employed a much higher level of chapter serfs who would act as missionaries and ‘spiritual healers’, the precursors to their endless drove of fanatical chaos cultists.

Instrumental in this process and this ethos in general was the Asuran philosophy. Anshul was steeped in the mysticism of his home planet, and he never truly abandoned his religious roots, merely adapting the Asuran Temple and its teachings to suit the needs of the Imperial Truth. The religion was taught among his Astartes as parable, a means of enshrining the importance of wisdom and tradition, and instilling values which Anshul believed necessary for the future of the burgeoning Imperium. As the Crusade progressed, however, and the vast sea of stars between Anshul, out on the fringes of Imperial influence, and the Emperor, cloistered in his laboratory on Terra, widened, Anshul found himself becoming ever more literal with his teachings. It was during this time that Anshul, his Legion alongside him, began to weave the rituals of his home planet not only into their mindset, but into their practices.

It was on the distant world of Komarl, far from the Emperor's light, that Anshul and his Legion would begin their fall from grace.

A sparsely-populated Feral World, Komarl was almost entirely oceanic, its sparse tracts of hot, dry land housing minor tribes of roaming human savages. As the Arms of Asura went about the process of bringing the world into the embrace of the Imperial Truth, they were quick to notice that mutation was unusually rampant throughout the planet's small population. Upon further investigation, Anshul was astounded to find the world's oceans littered with ruins and relics almost eerily similar to those found on Ravana - including the mighty flying cities known as Vimanas. Overcome by curiosity, the Arms of Asura began a great excavation, putting the planet's population to work at the endeavor of unearthing and renovating these ancient artifacts. Eventually they managed to draw even the greatest of these constructs, vast Vimanas far larger than any of those found on Ravana, from the depths of the world's seas, finding that these ancient cities were designed to sail the void between stars. Impelling them into orbit around Komarl, the Arms of Asura began to operate in secret from these massive ships, reporting themselves fleetbound while they continued to pick the planet clean of its secrets. Anshul and his sons delved deeper and deeper into the arcane lore from which the Asuran Temple on his homeworld had derived its practices, finding themselves enthralled by this relic of their shared past. The more they studied and further they delved, the clearer it became to Anshul that truth - real truth - and the Imperial Truth were simply incompatible, and his father's efforts were miring the galaxy in a great lie.

Torn and confused, Anshul meditated upon the issue in the heart of one of the vast Vimanas, hoping to find some form of reconciliation between the things he had learned and the laws of his father. Instead, out in the dark of his own mind, he touched the surface of something great and terrible. He felt it strike through him like a lance, cleaving to his very core, and in that instant, he knew that the Asura was the only truth in the universe, and that he could no longer tolerate the Emperor's grand illusion. Eyes blazing with revelation, he announced to his sons that things would have to change, the words flowing from him as though guided by the hand of some vast presence. The time of the Emperor would soon end. The time of the lie was over, and it was their responsibility, as the pious of the Asura, to spread the truth.

==The Heresy==