Editing History of the Green Men (section)

===All hope forlorn===
The way to Holy Terra wasn't a pleasant journey for Galen. As if brutal clashes with those he used to call his brothers, such as the bloody Battle for Rosskar, weren't enough to sour his spirits, he also had to witness the ongoing corruption of his beloved Legion. With each passing day the influence High Genetor exerted over the Primarch grew, the ranks of the abominable Plague Marines expanded exponentially, slowly but steadily replacing the battle brothers, and the worship of Nurgle became commonplace. From a scalpel that mercilessly sliced off the tumours that plagued the Imperium, the noble Valetudinarium turned into a morbid filthy prosectorium choking with the very same disease the Life Bringers once vowed to exterminate. But no matter how much Nikephoros resented his former teacher and the malignant influence he had become on the Legion, he bided his time until project 'Green Men' was ready - then he could present his beloved father with a real cure from all disease and crush the demon-worshipping quack by the name of Wilmut Sachs like a pustule. Thanks to the now routine skirmishes with his fellows Space Marines, Galen had an almost unlimited supply of subjects to experiment on, and yet the project was merely crawling forward. His initial idea of creating symbiotic creatures akin to the Orcs fell through, as he found them too crude and primitive. Another solution had to be found, and he was desperately searching for it.

Not all of his brothers had the patience of Galen. Edentis Pneuren, the Chief Apothecary of Life Bringers, was just as appalled by the actions of his former friend as Nikephoros was. He openly took the lead of the opposition to Sachs and his Genetors, trying to bring the Primarch he used to be so close to to his senses. Pneuren's faction was soon joined by his long-time friend Gaius Martinus Vira, better known as the Reaper. Although the two were counting on Bercilak joining their ranks, the Green Ghost preferred to stay by Galen's side and out of the politicking. The clashes between the followers and adversaries of Sachs became more and more frequent, some of them even resulting in fisticuffs, yet no side could clearly gain the upper hand. Centuries later, Vira said with regret that if only Galen and his Green Men could shed their damned neutrality and join his faction, Sachs and his vile clique would be crushed and the Legion would still have a chance at redemption. Unfortunately, Nikephoros didn't think much of Chief Apothecary and his primitive methods. He needed the triumph over Sachs to be his, not Pneuren's, and so he refused to join their cause. 

It all culminated in the infamous Great Sacrifice at Vischmauz. On this planet, a massive Loyalist force was assembled in order to try and stop the advancement of the Life Bringers towards Terra, or at least slow it down. Sachs, however, saw them as less of an adversary and more of a generous sacrifice to his divine patron. Deep in the recesses of his laboratory, now flooded with blubbering filth and crawling with organic overgrowth, he prepared the greatest pest yet to see the light of day - the infamous Unmaker Plague. But as he was preparing to unleash it upon the doomed loyalists, he was finally directly confronted by his once-friend Edentis Pneuren. The Chief Apothecary tried reasoning with the mad doctor, recognising that it was daemonic influence that drove him to such ignobility. He reminded Sachs of who he used to be, and who he could still become if only he denounced Nurgle and repented for his sins. Seemingly moved by Pneuren's speech, High Genetor showed repentance and invited him to share a brotherly embrace. But as Chief Apothecary embraced his old friend, firmly convinced that he was on the road to redemption, Sachs injected him with a strain of the Unmaker Plague and watched, giggling and making notes in his notebook, as Pneuren collapsed into a pile of formless flesh. When Chief Apothecary was done for, Sachs set his unholy creation lose upon the Emperor's forces on Vischmauz, all the while singing praises to the Plague God. 

With Pneuren dead and High Genetor's Plague Marines openly hunting down his followers, Vira and his Plague Doctors saw no better option than to escape from the spaceship that once was their home, but has now turned into a horrible death camp. The last bulwark of opposition to Sachs's reign of terror had now been crushed. Galen watched these events unfold with a grim satisfaction, for now the stage was clear for him to enter.