Editing Dusk Phantoms (section)

==Pre-Primarch History & Reunion==
The nascent Dusk Phantoms were ever in the shadows and fringes of the crusades.  Even before Gyahdred, the majority of their actions are inconsessus or were simply never recorded.  What survives is fragmentary- they were chosen to aid the Forgeworld Tigirus in the reconquest of the Namadar Vaults in fulfilment of the Iron Concordat, it was they who were sent to supplement the Sisters of Silence in the suppression of the Witch-Kings of Malafen.  Even in campaigns alongside the Orks of Ghenzar, the XVth legion was reported as making use of an odd array of arcane wargear-- portable null-generators on massive tracked frames, superheavy tanks fitted with warp-rift technology, rad-sterilization arrays, and strange neurosonic shrikes that liquified brain matter.  Where they walked, the technological madness of Old Night followed, yoked to the service of the Emperor.  Indeed, Al-Rahem Shamaz of the Sentinels once remarked that to see the Dusk Phantoms deploy was to see the panoply of nightmares.

Such a collection of archaeotech can only have been at the permission of the Emperor and it is generally suspected that Gyahdred's technological prowess was by design, rather than happenstance.  Even before Gyahdred, the Phantoms had a dark reputation - the mortals chosen to serve alongside them typically being disposable penal legions or forces such as the Charonid Sentinels or the ferocious Chasmic Fiends.  Even then, mortals kept their distance, for while the XVth took pains to preserve the target of a recovery mission and protect archaeotech caches, collateral damage was never something the legion was overly concerned with and many of their most potent weapons were quite simply unsafe for mortals.

===Reunion===
Gyahdred was reunited with his legion at the height of the Rangdan Xenocides.  With the Northern Frontier in flames and madness stretching across the stars, many were surprised that the XVth was being held back from the fray.  The motive became clear when an explorator fleet came across the Forge of Dgaldan.  Unlike the deals and contests the Emperor had with other primarchs, Gyahdred's service was obtained simply.  Having long ago deduced that he was the creation of some supremely skilled Magos and aware of the legends of distant Mars when the Emperor simply told Gyahdred of the Crusade and its aims, Gyahdred found his aims logical and, leaving a regent in charge to smooth integration with legion resources, Gyahdred departed for the front at the head of the Taghmata Nagpo.
The forge itself was incorporated as an Autocephalous Forgeworld.  While Martian prelates were not particularly pleased with the arrangement, the needs of the Crusade and the supremacy of the Legions Astartes forced a compromise, though hardly an unknown one.
On the legionary side, Gyahdred's arrival at the moment of crisis smoothed the adjustment.
Needing victory and still dubious of the doctrinal claims of the greater mechanicum, Gyahdred took a pragmatic approach to the campaign, suplementing what the legion was already proficient at with supplies and techniques from Dgaldan.  While Gyahdred's excellent strategy won him the respect of his legion, it is also likely that the severe casualties experienced during the Rangdan Xenocides smoothed the legion's transformation not simply by depleting the old guard, but also because the high rate of attrition forced the use of solutions from Gyahdred's native tradition.  For example, the loss of skilled leaders lead to the implementation of Dgaldan Tulpa techniques.  While the ever pragmatic Dusk Phantoms had always eaten their honored dead to reabsorb their knowledge and life force, the vagaries of the Omophagea limited the practical utility of this.  Needing seasoned commanders immediately, Gyahdred introduced the use of neuro-supplemental cogitators.  A system not unlike supplemental memory used by Magi or the Throne Mechanicums of the Knight Houses, these Tulpas were implanted in a commander, these cogitators would store and mirror aspects of their personality and command style in a Tulpa dataform.  When the commander died, the Tulpa could be implanted in a new host, giving the new leader not simply memories and tendencies to draw on, but a biomneumonic second opinion from the Tulpa's hybrid machine spirit.  Naturally, these Tulpas contained a great deal of Mechanicum knowledge, both as a practical guide, and to prevent Tulpa override resulting in malefica and silica animus.  The occasional Martian accusations aside, this system seems to have been highly effective.  A general flattening of demeanor was reported, and while criticized by some outside the legion, the Dusk Phantom response was overwhelmingly that tranquility and clear thought was a sign that the system was working properly.
Despite a close relationship between the legion and Dgaldan, the two remained separate entities during the Crusade in compliance with Imperial Edicts, and, likely owing to his own doubts about the entire Mechanicum Creed, Gyahdred used this to keep a barrier between himself and the Martian mechanicum, but also between the Martian Mechanicum and the Forge of Dgaldan.