While everyone is doing reviews on the datasheets, new miniatures, detachments, formations, and even the new Dark Mechanicum army rules, I'm going to focus on the lore. That's what you're here for, right? I think. Or maybe not. Whatever, it's what
here for, and so I'll do my usual writeup.
First things first - The Rise of the Dark Mechanicum is much, much, much better than the Martian Civil War. You guys already know that I was disappointed with the main Horus Heresy book, but The Rise of the Dark Mechanicum is everything I've hoped for, and better. I love it, and I can't find anything to complain about it. It's just amazing. So yeah, I might sound biased because I'm a Knight and Mechanicum fan, but for what it's worth, if you love those factions, you should love this book. It's incredible. Astartes presence is kept to the absolute minimum. There are a couple of mentions regarding Traitor Iron Hands Astartes, but they don't appear for more than a couple of sentences, and a footnote - they are Iron Hands of Clan Ayreas, who accompanied Magister-Lictanex Regulus, sworn to Horus Lupercal, and...even Regulus himself didn't participate much. Apparently, he and the Iron Hands as well as his personal Taghmata force infiltrated Magma City to steal Koriel Zeth's noosphere to distribute it to the Traitors, but that's all they get. Oh, and the Imperial Fists who show up for ammunitions, withdraw, and blockade the Red Planet, but unlike in The Martian Civil War, they don't receive any focus.
Everything else is pure Mechanicum versus Mechanicum, and it absolutely rocks. Lore, I mean. They also mentioned Sigismund and Camba Diaz of the Imperial Fists trying to salvage munitions, power armor and other stockpiles from Zagreus Kane's forge, or Lukas Chrom, but again, that's a minor footnote. Speaking of which, thank Omnissiah Lukas Chrom is not a major antagonist in this book. In The Martian Civil War, he's literally a Saturday morning cartoon villain who keeps getting defeated before running away and coming back again and again, like an irritating pest that you wish would just die already. Here, it's a single extended campaign regarding Magma City, so you don't have to worry about that weird, episodic and repetitive narrative revolving around Lukas Chrom showing up again and again.
Frankly speaking, the narrative for the Doom of Magma City is much better written than the one in The Martian Civil War. I don't know if it's because it's expanding upon the events already laid down and fleshed out by Graham McNeill in his novel, Mechanicum - which, by the way, is an awesome book and I would totally recommend, I would even say it's my favorite Horus Heresy novel, above even Graham's A Thousand Sons - but it doesn't feel...shallow, pointless and silly like in the Martian Civil War.
Anyway, enough waffling (yeah, I've been influenced by Valrak).
Horus Lupercal, seeking to usurp the Emperor and take over the Imperium as its new master, wishes to secure the loyalty of Mars, the Forge World Primus, and sends his Mechanicum envoy - Magister-Lictanex Regulus - to the Red Planet, along with Traitor Iron Hands aboard the ship, Entropy. This is just after the Isstvan atrocity, and 5 years since Horus has taken over as Warmaster. Horus has promised the Fabricator-General, Kelbor-Hal, a myriad of riches, from Standard Template Construct system schematics plundered from the Great Crusade's frontiers to removing the Enperor's prohibitions on research. Most of all, Regulus gave Kelbor-Hal the keys to the locked Vaults of Moravec, which were buried beneath the Fabricator-General's own Olympus Mons forge-fane.
There's also a series of "historical" events that I think are very relevant, and I'll list them down:
Ipluvien Maximal, lord of the Ulysses Patera and its industries, allies with the Knights of House Taranis. Readers of Graham McNeill's Mechanicum will remember this incident from his novel, where Raf Maven, Leopold Cronus and Preceptor Stator encountered the Kaban Machine while exterminating feral servitors attacking the Patera.
Also from the novel, Mechanicum, tensions between Legio Mortis and Legio Tempestus rise as the former breaches the Tempest Line, the border between their two domains. Principal to this is Princeps Penultima Camulos, who commands Legio Mortis on Mars and is loyal to Kelbor-Hal, and his Tempestus counterpart, Grand Master Indias Cavalerio - the Storm Lord. As much as I'm familiar with these events from Mechanicum, seeing them recounted in The Rise of the Dark Mechanicum is delightful and a wonderful treat. Like, "Hey! I actually read this! I was there when Legio Tempestus almost came to blows with Legio Mortis, and when Maven and the Knights of House Taranis fought the Kaban Machine for the first time! I was there!"
Right after Magister-Lictanex Regulus, Mechanicum emissary to the Warmaster, visits Kelbor-Hal and passes him the proscribed engrams from Horus to open the Vaults of Moravec, a virulent plague of scrap-code invades the data networks of Mars, plunging the Red Planet into chaos. Kelbor-Hal, unaffected by the scrap code, mobilizes his forces and allies for war, invading forge fanes and rival Mechanicum lords whose defenses have been rendered vulnerable by the scrap code.
Legio Magna destroys Magos Mattias Kefra's forge, Forge Kefra, which supplies the Saturnyne Rams Solar Auxilia garrisons with munitions.
A host of altered Skitarii and Dark Mechanicum war machines assail Ipluvien Maximal's crater forges. The Loyalists successfully repel the first wave, but Ulysses Patera is encircled and besieged.
Legio Ignatum is baited by Legio Pyria to a trap, and while the Loyalists destroy the Traitors, with their ammunition expended and reactors hot, they are ambushed by Legio Mortis, Legio Damnosus and Legio Tenarii, and eradicated.
A million Taghma soldiers and Dark Mechanicum constructs clash within the Herschel impact basin that houses promethium refuelling stations, for no reason.
Contact is lost with Skitarii Pilgrym ranger patrols on the outskirts of the Magma City and across the Tharsis Quadrangle, the last communications warning of stalkers.
Tech-thralls and Myrmidons of Magos Chevain, a follower of Kelbor-Hal, launch a subterranean assault on the Eridania Archive, and destroy everything, from archivists to the precious data and knowledge stored within it.
The Imperial Fists send Sigismund, Camba Diaz and a bunch of companies to reinforce the Loyalists and secure the forge-complexes that supply Legion arms and equipment, one owned by Fabricator-Locum Kane, and the other at Lukas Chrom's, only for the Imperial Fists to be repelled by traitor Taghmata and corrupted automata.
Legio Mortis sieges Magma City, clashing against the last Loyalists of Legio Tempestus and gradually overwhelming them. Rather than see her city fall to the Dark Mechanicum, High-Adept Koriel Zeth floods Magma City in lava, drowning both Traitor and Loyalist alike, even as the last warriors of Legio Tempestus and House Taranis upon Mars martyr themselves.
As survivors of the Dark Mechanicum that besieged Magma City gather after its destruction, Archmagos Las Taol betrays Kelbor-Hal's High Taghmata Excubitii, ordering her Taghmata troops to butcher them. Apparently, it's part of her goal to gain Kelbor-Hal's favor as she fabricates her reports and root out enclaves of Loyalist Mechanicum across Mars and improves her reputation.
Kelbor-Hal and his allies have conquered much of Mars, encircling or forcing Loyalist resistance into hiding, and the Imperial Fists withdraw, evacuating Zagreus Kane and other senior Loyalist Mechanicum figures, along with materiel. Battlefleet Solar blockades Mars.
Three months after the atomic annihilation of Ipluvien Maximal's forge-fanes, the surviving auxiliaries of the Saturnyne Rams - left behind from The Martian Civil War (so the writers are assuming you've read that book too, or this account wouldn't make sense) - sabotage the titan assembly yards at Olympica Fossae. While they destroy or disable multiple engines, one of the Titans wake up and goes berserk, wiping out the Saturnyne Rams and also destroying Dark Mechanicum constructs and severely damaging the titan yards' infrastructure.
Back to the "main story" - the tale of Magma City. So Kelbor-Hal opens the Valts of Moravec, which contained warp-tainted technology. But the opening of the Vaults also unleashed a scrap-code that leaked from within and infected Mars's network. Kelbor-Hal himself formed alliances and secretly planned attacks against the tech-priests who he knows will refuse to join him.
In the Pallidus Wastes, along the forges of the Tharsis Quadrangle, Lukas Chrom's creations run amok. The Kaban Machine attacks, as mentioned earlier, encountered by a trio of House Taranis Knights, and blew everything up execpt the Knights, but this incident would only escalate tensions between the archmagi. Honor duels between House Morbidia and House Zavora turn out to be fatal.
The scrap-code sabotaged infrastructure and ends up leading to lots of deaths as reactors go into meltdown, or environmental controls malfunction. Fortunately, military systems were more heavily shielded and were spared, but the millions of deaths across Mars became known as the Death of Innocence.
The scrap-code apparently has a tainting or warping effect, turning them into...uh, darker things. Hence "Dark" Mechanicum.
Fortunately, the forge-fanes of Koriel Zeth, Zagreus Kane and Ipluvien Maximal stood strong, resilient against the scrap-code because of High Adept Macrotek's cornerstone noospheric technologies. The three of them ally, along with the Knights of Taranis and titans of Legio Tempestus, to defy the invasion they know is coming from Kelbor-Hal, who despite sending a diplomat - Acrhimandrite-Orator Melgator - to recruit Zeth, is strongly rebuffed by her.
There's also a mention of Zeth's Akashic Reader project from the novel, Mechanicum, though I doubt it has much of an impact on the main narrative. You'll want to read Graham McNeill's novel for more details regarding that (and the Void Dragon).
Unable to persuade Zeth, the Dark Mechanicum resorts to forces, with Taghmata Melgator and corrupted tech-thralls, Skitarii and Myrmidon bands marching toward the Magma City, only to back off when they see the Knights of House Taranis standing at the gate. Hah! Also, I believe this was also in the novel.
Legio Mortis then sieges Magma City, first taking out the Krios and Triaros tanks that formed the pickets of Taghmata Zeth, the armored tanks racing back to warn the Mistress of Magma City of the impending invasion.
Skitarii from Gigas Sulci freight yards at Olympus Mons ride mag-lev carriages toward Magma City, only to be obliterated by Ordinatus engines' fire, and sealing that route.
Princeps Penultima Camulos amassed much of Mortis's strength to crush Magma City, but he also intends to attack the Stormlords' home at Ascraeus Mons to destroy Legio Tempestus afterward. But he was ordered by Horus and Kelbor-Hal to assault Magma City first, which is why he's so impatient. Escorted by House Morbidia Knights and cybernetic cohorts, the Legio auxiliaries and Secutarii are torn apart by the defenses, which can't do much against the god-engines, unfortunately. Also, you will remember this, but Camulos pilots the Aquila Ignis, the Imperator Titan. Additional stuff: a single Apocalypse pattern Titan and a pair of Warmaster heavy battle Titans are left behind to guard Pavonis Mons, the home of Legio Mortis, just in case Legio Tempestus counterattacks.
However, House Morbidia is ambushed by Krios tanks from Taghmata Zeth, and many Knights are lost, while automata are pinned by tech-thralls and taken out by Myrmidon Destructors. Morbidia Armigers are pounced upon by Ursarax cohorts and destroyed by Thantar salvos. Even as the Mortis Auxilia died, they fought back and reaped a toll upon the Loyalist forces. However, the automata are annihilated while House Morbidia sustained 50% casualties, sometimes because the Traitor Knights are entangled with brainless automata sticking to their last programs after their datasmiths, magi dominus and supporting Tech-priests were killed.
Legio Mortis is not intimidated, and hunts among the city, only to ambushed by traps such as cranes, explosives, and more. The traps only slow them down, and they march into the city, with one Warhound falling to the combined volleys from Krios Venators from Taghmata Zeth, but the surviving Titans remain unstoppable.
However, that was not the last line of defense. Just as they triumphantly advance, Legio Mortis is ambushed by Ordinatus engines, incapacitated and immobilized, and then they are charged by waiting Knights of House Taranis. Even as vassal Knights of Morbidia threw themselves at the Knights of House Taranis, the latter successfully took down several Titans. YAY!
While the Knights clash, the Titans of Legio Mortis focus fire on the Ordinatus engines and wipe them out. Oh, well. Also, we lost fifty Knights of House Taranis. Ouch. Victorious, the Demi-Legio now stood on the doorstep of Koriel Zeth's true domain, even as surviving complement of House Morbidia Knights, the rest of the Titans' auxiliary hosts - Cybernetica, Secutarii and Autokratorii - swept the city in their wake, obliterating the pockets of resistance.
Aquila Ignis breached the Redoubts, burning through the void shields, and Legio Mortis is through.
However, the greatest weapon in Magma City's defense is yet to be unleashed. As Legio Mortis marches into Magma City, they are struck by Legio Tempestus and laid low. While the two Titan Legions clash, other forces attack elsewhere, including Archmagos Las Taol's Taghmata, and Archimandrite-Orator Melgator, whose Taghma hosts backed off when they saw the Knights of House Taranis - most of whom are now engaged with the Titans of Legio Mortis.
This is where the first confirmed sightings of stalkers are seen - barbed arachnid constructs possessing insidious intelligence and bred from the forbidden knowledge obtained from the Vaults of Moravec. They attack alongside tech-thralls, but Taghmata Zeth tries to stem the tide as best as they can. Fortunately, before Taghmata Zeth is overrun, part of Archmagos Las Taol's force divides and runs off to face the waiting Legio Cybernetica some distance away. The Macro-cohort Exsomnis is a war host of the Legio Cybernetica, and they are accompanied by fifty Knights of House Taranis and three Ordinatus engines - the ones that shot down the mag-lev carriages carrying Kelbor-Hal's Skitarii horde. The stalkers skitter forward to engage Cybernetica automata and Knights in combat, succeed in destroying the three Ordinatus engines, but Archmagos Dominus Quamar Arrkest's forces prevail eventually, annihilating the Dark Mechanicum contingent and stalker constructs.
Unfortunately, when depleted and exhausted, the triumphant Cybernetica macro-cohort and Knights of House Taranis are attacked by fresh forces from Taghmata Taol. As an aside, Macro-cohort Exsomnis is actually neutral and isn't going to participate in the conflict, and they were stranded in the Arsia Mons spaceport when the Ring of Iron was pretty much destroyed. But when Archmagos Quamar Arrkest recognized the malevolent scrap-code coming from Kelbor-Hal's forces, he realizes that the Fabricator-General had betrayed the Mechanicum, and so he chooses to help Zeth defend Magma City.
Back at Magma City, with the beleaguered Taghmata Zeth on the verge of annihilation, eleven Knights of House Taranis show up, led by their two Lord Commanders Taymon Verticoda and Caturix, and begin to drive back both stalkers and Dark Taghmata forces.
Even as the Legios' auxiliary hosts fought at the Titans' feet, with Cybernetica, Autokratorii and Secutarii duelling, the Knights of House Taranis and Titans of Legio Tempestus achieved small victories here and there, ambushing Legio Mortis Titans and felling a lot of them. And I mean a lot. The Knights of House Taranis combine their firepower with Legio Tempestus, as well as defend them from melee attacks from any Legio Mortis Titan that comes close. Pretty awesome.
Despite the small victories and reaping a fearsome tally on the enemy's ranks, Legio Mortis inexorably advanced upon Koriel Zeth's domain, with the Imperator Aquila Ignis unstoppable and indestructible. Even Grand Master Cavalerio is aware that once Aquila Ignis enters the breach, Legio Tempestus is doomed. And it's only a matter of time before Magma City falls.
As if to confirm High Adept Zeth's assessment, the Ulysses Fossae was annihilated in nuclear fire as the fusion reactor chain detonates. Ipluvien Maximal's forge-fane is erased from existence in a moment, and Koriel Zeth mourns her friend before vowing that she will follow him to the grave in defiance of the Dark Mechanicum.
Camulos, in his hubris, decides to toy with Cavalerio's Warlord Titan instead of destroying Legio Tempestus outright, and Legio Mortis pays for their arrogance as more Titans are destroyed. The Titans of Legio Tempestus defiantly detonate their reactors to ensure mutual destruction, and most of Legio Mortis Titans limp away. Cavalerio's last stand made Legio Mortis pay dearly for their treachery, though he and the final Loyalist Elements of Legio Tempestus eventually succumbed to Aquila Ignis and its overwhelming firepower.
Meanwhile, the eleven Knights of House Taranis have been halved as they defend the Typhon Causeway from Taghmata Melgator and Dark Mechanicum stalker constructs. The remaining Knights sacrifice themselves so that their Lord Commanders - Verticoda and Caturix - can make it to Melgator's position and kill him. Hah! Though they all fall - including the Lord Commanders - House Taranis deprived Melgator of victory.
Koriel Zeth, with her defenders overrun or fallen - Legio Tempestus and House Taranis, especially - drowns her Magma City in lava. Archmagos Las Taol and a few of her automata escape, though at great loss, and despite her failure to stop Zeth from blowing her own city up. Both Mortis and Tempestus Auxilia battle-automata are destroyed, and even the Titans of Legio Mortis fall victim to the lava. Dark Mechanicum Autokratorii attempt to flee, but are blocked by remnants of Taghmata Zeth, who ensure mutual annihilation.
Even Aquila Ignis is destroyed, with its giant hellstorm cannon the only thing that survived the battle, and repurposed and seen again in the Dawn of War games. Taghmata Melgator was consumed by the lava, while the remnants of Taghmata Taol retreat. This left the survivors of Macro-cohort Exsomnis and House Taranis to pull out from an otherwise unwinnable battle, seeking new sanctuary elsewhere. Also, Las Taol's Domitar ended up killing much of the High Taghmata Excubitii, who are crushed in her wake as they attempt to follow her escape route created by the Domitar pummeling a way through with their graviton hammers. Whoops.
There's a footnote regarding Regulus stealing High-Adept Zeth's noosphereic research alongside Iron Hands' Clan Ayreas, which I mentioned above. Um, so Legio Tempestus and House Taranis are obliterated, their fortresses falling swiftly in turn - the Halls of Taranis within Arsia Chasmata collapsing, and Legio Tempestus's stronghold at Ascraeus Mons sacked by the wrathful Legio Mortis. The Tharsis Quadrangle is now fully under Kelbor-Hal's control. Ugh.
Hey, this makes him much better than cartoon villain Lukas Chrom.
Legio Mortis suffered greatly, having lost Demi-Legio Admonitus, and had to work hard to rebuild their numbers (which was sabotaged by the Saturnyne Rams and their Tech-Priest allies, as mentioned above). Kelbor-Hal couldn't care less, as he and his allies delve deeper into the Vaults of Moravec and unleash horrors from Old Night, and somehow distribute schematics for the stalkers to other Dark Mechanicum forces stationed on other forge worlds despite the Loyalist blockade surrounding Mars.
I think that's about all the lore I can summarize. I'll see if I can write an article for the Dark Mechanicum separately, but I hope you enjoyed the story. It's a great book, a real treat to read, and a lot mre fun than The Martian Civil War. I'm so pleased with the mention of Mechanicum Taghmata, Skitarii, Titans and Knights clashing, as opposed to simply Astartes fighting Dark Mechanicum and Daemon Engines in the previous book. House Taranis gets their time to shine and become a major player and participant in this war, along with both Legio Tempestus and Legio Mortis. Better than little mentions here and there. There's a wealth of lore, the focus is on the Mechanicum as opposed to the Legiones Astartes (I am sick of Astartes, ha ha). It's fresh, it's great, and it's a delight especially if you've already read Mechanicum by Graham McNeil. But even if you have already read it, there's a lot of new information, new theaters of war and other battles that aren't mentioned in the novel. Like the Macro-cohort Exsomnis, the Thallax and Ursarax tearing tech-thralls apart, the stalkers, etc. Oh, and the Ordinatus engines obliterating Kelbor-Hal's Skitarii. So cool!
As an addendum here, because the Kaban Machine is mentioned - it was destroyed at the end of Mechanicum, by Raf Maven and Leopold Cronus. Again, that ties into the Void Dragon and Noctis Labyrinth arc, which isn't mentioned here (it has something to do with the Akashic Reader in the novel). But yeah, the Kaban Machine is mentioned in The Rise of the Dark Mechanicum to rival a scout Titan in size and power, and it was destroyed by two Knights of House Taranis. Good job, Raf and Leopold.
What else...well, if there's anything else, let me know. I'll write it in a future post or reply to comments. Till then!
