Editing Conquest of Galaspar (section)

==Aftermath==

The news of Mortarion's first conquest spread quickly through the Imperium. The sheer brutality of the campaign stunned many citizens of the Imperium, and even the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor]] himself was disquieted enough to request an accounting from his newfound son. He dispatched [[Horus]] and [[Sanguinius]] to Galaspar to speak with their brother. Mortarion sensed that he was being judged, and was angered. He showed his brothers the Order's records to ensure that they understood what it was he had come to Galaspar to destroy, and told them that he believed his methods were justified in light of the oppression the Comptrollers had enforced upon their people. Horus and Sanguinius countered that Mortarion's goal had been misguided. By coming to Galaspar as the Angel of Death, by massacring the Order so swiftly, publicly, and brutally, he had replaced one kind of tyranny with another. The people of Galaspar had been left terrified, not compliant, and Mortarion had only reinforced their instinct to unthinking obedience. Though they might be physically liberated, they would carry the trauma of the Death Guard's coming in their minds and hearts for generations, and it would take as long for the Imperium to undo Mortarion's work. Horus ended by formally censuring Mortarion and declaring that the Conquest of Galaspar would never be celebrated as a victory. Mortarion was stung by his brothers' words, particularly the accusation that he had brought his own kind of tyranny to Galaspar, and wondered briefly if there was another path forward for him and his legion, a different kind of destiny than had been wrought for him in the toxic crucible of Barbarus. At that moment, a former slave approached him with the tally she had been keeping since his departure, and in her devotion to his order and his precepts he saw the vindication he had sought, and confirmation that his path was the correct one.