Collecting Blackstone Fragments

Skitarii Marshal Sigma 44-Kariya tried not to sigh. Before him, a phalanx of silent automatons marched, green eldritch energies glowing eerily around their metallic silhouettes. The Necrons hefted their gauss flayers and tesla rifles and took aim, even as three Lokhust heavy destroyers glided above the ruins of the forge world of Kuroishi, one of the few remaining Imperial bastions in the Vertigus system. Their silver death-skulls wreathed in ominous luminosity, they fired at his Skitarii Hunter Cohort.

+This is not optimal,+ he blurted through the noosphere. Archmagos Theta-Rho had dispatched Skitarii Hunter Cohort 428-Sigma to guard the army of servitors that were even now excavating mass amounts of blackstone and transporting the hasty harvest into loader cargo-ships that would take them to the Ark Mechanicus floating in orbit above. Though normally assigned to elimination missions, 44-Kariya had to switch to protector doctrina imperatives as he processed his master's orders to defend the excavation processes by any means necessary.

"We'll be fine," Sir Kanda assured him as he piloted his Cerastus Knight Lancer forward. Already, the Lokhust heavy destroyers were opening fire, the searing atomizing beams of verdant light splashing against the bionic forcefields generated by the Sydonian Dragoon squad led by Delta Yari. The lean walkers continued to sprint forward, their taser lances crackling with exotic energies.

+I don't believe so,+ Skitarii Ranger Alpha Beta-2 retorted in binharic, cursing in technolingua when he found his squad under attack by an ambushing unit of Skorpekh Destroyers. The virus-maddened Necrons scythed down cyborg soldiers like thresher electro-flails through wheat. His last burst of data-stream informed Sigma 44-Kariya - and Archmagos Theta-Rho - that the demise of Ranger squad Beta-2 took approximately twenty point eight-four seconds. And that the Skorpekh Destroyers were accompanied by a Skorpekh Lord, who had relished in massacring the augmented soldiers.

This certainly was not optimal at all.

Fortunately, the one bright spot was that Delta Yari's Dragoon unit crashed straight into the Lokhust Destroyers, their taser lances unleashing destructive bursts that sizzled and blew apart two of the xenos constructs. The third hovered away, keeping his heavy gauss cannon trained on the lumbering Knight Lancer, but he...missed somehow. Sir Kanda ignored the sole Destroyer for now, instead blasting the twenty warrior platoon with lightning, but despite taking out a couple of them, they simply stood back up, their necrodermis knitting back together and the charred surface slowly fading away.

44-Kariya directed his personal Alpha-1 Skitarii Ranger squad to aim a precise volley of galvanic fire, plasma, arc lightning and transuranic rounds at the approaching Skorpekh Destroyers, who were soaking their gleaming blades in blood, oil and lubricant. A couple of them went down, especially when the salvo of firepower was accompanied b a devastating hail from their escorting Onager Dunecrawler, but the Skorpekh Lord and his remaining Destroyer continued undaunted. To 44-Kariya's lack of surprise, one of the Skorpekh Destroyers simply rose back, its damaged body gradually repairing itself.

Sir Kanda was about to charge right into the brick of Warriors when they simply disappeared, teleporting through ancient technologies and vanishing into thin air. He cursed under his breath.

"Cowardly xenos!"

+They are simply seeking the path that offers them the highest probability of survival,+ 44-Kariya observed calmly, even as his Skitarii Rangers were hacked down all around him. The Sydonian Dragoons of Delta Yari found themselves surrounded by Immortals and Warriors, the latter having teleported from Sir Kanda's location and marching from a translocation beacon that ruptured the space right next to them. Gauss and tesla bombarded them, and even the resilient walkers weren't able to withstand such ferocious volleys. One of them fell, his Ironstrider engine twitching as it disintegrated from the atomizing energies that flayed it layer by adamantium layer.

The leading Overlord led the charge, the Warriors mobbing the surviving Sydnonian Dragoons and guarding him as he laid into them with his staff. The Technomancer kept up with his staff of light, but his first round of attacks missed spectacularly. The two Sydonian Dragoons retaliated, but they only took out two Warriors, the rest enduring the violent eruptions of taser energy from their lancers without any clear reaction. Blinding flares of phosphor from their serpentas, fired at pointblank range, incinerated another two of them.

The Scarabs scuttled toward the Cerastus Knight Lancer, distracting Sir Kanda with their suicidal charges that blew several servos in the Knight armor's foot, but he swatted the remaining Scarabs away, the surge from his cerastus shock lance frying them into oblivion. While his attention was occupied, the Lokhust Destroyer Lord emerged from a rift, his cannon barking and failing to do anything to the Onager Dunecrawler. Instead, it was the Skorpekh Destroyers and their Lord that descended upon the hapless Skitarii and hacked them apart with their scythes.

44-Kariya watched in dismay as Ranger squad Alpha-1 was taken apart at the monomolecular level with astonishing ease. He limped, his shoulder sliced deeply by one of the phase blades, but he had managed to just barely survive by the metallic skin of his augmetic teeth. He lashed out with his control stave and gouged a chunk out of a Destroyer, but it simply repaired the damage.

The Onager Dunecrawler tried to fire at the approaching Lokhust Destroyer Lord and completely missed, while Sir Kanda crunched through the Skorpekh Destroyers with his adamantium steed, the shock lance spearing through two Skorpekh Destroyers before he stabbed the Lord. The Skorpekh Lord twisted around to confront this new threat, but even its ancient necrodermal body and its self-repair system were no match for the sheer destructive force of an enraged Knight suit. It simply ceased to exist, the damage overwhelming its preservation systems, and came apart in a brilliant light.

The Overlord and his Warriors continued to harry the Sydonian Dragoons, taking the second one down and leaving just Delta Yari as the sole survivor of his squadron. He fought back with a defiant sweep of his taser lance, even as his companion's Ironstrider engine detonated and consumed several surrounding Necrons in an expanding fireball. Even so, the Technomancer continued to restore the fallen warriors with arcane xenos sorcery. Or ancient xenos technology. 44-Kariya couldn't tell them apart.

The Immortals, ordered by their Overlord to phase away and teleport elsewhere, took central stage to snipe the now vulnerable 44-Kariya. With his entire Skitarii Ranger squad annihilated, he could do nothing but wilt under the horrific tesla volleys of the implacable xenos. Meanwhile, the Lokhust Destroyer Lord had attacked the Onager Dunecrawler, but his attacks were deflected by the shimmering emanatus forcefield that enveloped the venerable vehicle.

That protection, dating back to the Mechanicum of ancient Mars, bought the driver some time before Sir Kanda arrived, vengeance filling his vision. The Lokhust Destroyer Lord was obliterated in an instant, its figure ripped apart by the glowing spear.

As if incensed, the last remaining Lokhust Destroyer let off a vengeful volley that seared through the ion gauntlet shield, striking the unprotected rear of the turned Knight Lancer, and disassembling cabling. Though wounded, the Knight Lancer was far from destroyed, and Sir Kanda harnessed its rage, spinning it around to face the remaining foes.

"You little..." He swore. "By the Omnissiah, you'll pay for that!"

Urged by the voices in his Throne Mechanicum, he accelerated his suit into a sprinting stride that saw it crash into the Immortals with calamitous consequences. The so-called Immortals were trampled underfoot so thoroughly that they would never rise again. At least not in those mangled heaps. Meanwhile, the Onager Dunecrawler had adjusted its aim, its driver taking aim at the sole surviving Lokhust Destroyer. A single, accurate beam from the neutron laser wiped it out of existence.

+Phew,+ the driver muttered, wiping the perspiration off his occular augmetics and nodding toward his Ranger gunner. +Nice work. That was a perfect angle, staying within a vector deviation of 22.46 degrees.+

+It is my honor to serve the Omnissiah and aid in His great works,+ the gunner responded, his bionic hands gleaming as he adjusted and swiveled the neutron laser about to target the phalanx of Warriors. By now, the final Sydnonian Dragoon had fallen, and despite Delta Yari having endured the Overlord's onslaught, the sheer numbers of the platoon of Warriors had finally dragged him down from his broken mount.

Realizing that the remaining Necron forces could do little against the formidable might of a Knight, the Overlord had instructed his Warriors into a hasty retreat, beaming them out of the area in an eldritch flash that left simmering ozone in the air. The creepy emerald glows from mutilated Necron constructs faded away, even as their necrodermal bodies decomposed right before their very eyes. Sir Kanda watched them, snorting in derision.

"Cowards."

+Easy for you to say, when you're safely ensconced within a Titanic Knight suit,+ the Onager Dunecrawler Alpha-1 driver blurted matter-of-factly.

"True," Sir Kanda conceded. He glanced down at 44-Kariya's severely damaged frame through his visual holo-screens in his Throne Mechanicum. "We've got to get the Marshal back to Archmagos Theta-Rho."

+Compliance. The Archmagos is already sending a medical-enginseer team down to recover the bodies and salvage whatever bionics they can.+

Shouldn't they be more concerned with saving the lives of the organic components of the Skitarii than the augmetics? Sir Kanda wondered, but he shook his head when he realized how niave he sounded. Of course the cold, unfeeling priesthood of the Adeptus Mechanicus valued their machines and metal more than their men of flesh and blood. His hands tightened within his haptic gloves, but he stayed his tongue. Instead, he shifted his attention to the monotonously laboring servitors, who continued to harvest the blackstone uncomplainingly throughout the entire conflict.

"Looks like we might meet our quota and even have some excess leftover for our own use," he remarked. Though, despite his words, he was certain it was for Theta-Rho's personal use, rather than for the Skitarii Hunter Cohort as a whole.

That said, he was aware that Archmagos Theta-Rho was a generous master, and he was more than willing to upgrade his military subordinates with all manner of archeotech and exotic weaponry. For such lethal improvements furthered the quest bestowed upon the Mechanicus by the Omnissiah, and further aided the tech-priest's own chances of survival.

For now, Sir Kanda decided to exercise his right to remain silent and see how the Noctilith harvest in the Vertigus system would proceed. They were assisting Archmagos Belisarius Cawl, the Prime Conduit himself. There was no nobler purpose, no greater work than this.

The Imperium would drive the Necrons out of the Nephilim Sector...and then they would close the Great Rift forever.

New Armigers

 I managed to get a second pair of Armigers, but this time they're the "standard" Armigers instead of the Moirax variants. A single Warglaive and a single Helverin, to give my Mechanicus Knight house variety, I suppose. I might just out the House Taranis transfers on them, but we'll see. For now, I'm glad I have them assembled, and I hope I'll be able to paint them...soonish.

Hopefully, I'll get a Crusade game or two played later today, and I'll make sure to write the battle report then! In story format, as usual. Till then!

The End and the Death Volume III Spoilers

I'm going to write up an extensive spoiler summary for The End and the Death Volume III even though there's already videos and stuff out on it. But, I feel like since I've done a spoiler post for volume II, I should post one for volume III, for posterity or something. Also, might provide a few details that the other spoiler summaries missed out.

Roboute Guilliman's fleet is out in the void, trying to find Terra, but can't. Instead, the Mistress of Sensoria finds a contact in the space of emptiness surrounding where Terra is supposed to be, and it's the Vengeful Spirit. Except that the contacts increase, and suddenly there's like sixty thousand Vengeful Spirits in there - apparently representing how the Glorianna class ship has melded with time and space and is Everything, Everywhere, All At Once.

Perturabo's fleet is still in the solar realm, the IV Legion leaving Terra. Perturabo throws a tantrum, smashes his command throne and room like a salty Call of Duty gamer after losing a ranked match, and refuses to return to Horus Lupercal and beg for forgiveness in the wake of victory. He knows Horus will kill him for leaving in the middle of the siege, regardless, so he might as well fight to the bitter end. There's also hints that he'll become a daemon primarch later, for he has done the calculations or analysis of data and seen what is necessary to turn himself into a perfect weapon.

Lorgar is...on a planet called Yssimae, fourteen months away from Terra, brainwashing the population into his cult. He learns that Sanguinius is dead through divinations and omens, and that the Emperor will die that day. Then he murders all of the Yssm as ritual sacrifice.

The Blood Angels go mad and fall to the Black Rage. They basically massacre traitors and loyalists alike, turning certain defeats into sudden routs of the stunned enemies. Fafnir Rann is attacked by Azkaellon, fallen to the madness.

Rogal Dorn meets Actae, who is now in Katt's body, and frees her from the rubble. She tells him that Sanguinius is dead, and he asks her to call for help, giving her a seal of his Praetorian office. They part ways.

Basilio Fo has finished the Terminus Device bioweapon, and tries to escape, slitting Zaranchek Xanthus's throat while at it when Andromeda-17 runs to inform Amon Tauromachian.

Constantin Valdor and his Custodians are now in the thick of combat with the Sons of Horus. Hellas Sycar stabs him. Even though the Custodians and the XVI Legion Astartes are currently in a stalemate, Ezekyle Abaddon knows his Justaerin won't hold them for long, and the evil Erebus tells him to use the powers of the warp.

Caecaltus Dusk, Garviel Loken and Leetu follow the Emperor through a realm of Chaos, slaying a titan sized Nurgle greater daemon on their way there (to display the Emperor's strength, I bet). They run into a company of Word Bearers - 100 strong, with some Cataphractii and several Leviathan siege Dreadnoughts in the mix - and the Emperor smites them all in a bloody instant with force lightning. Literally. They move into the pryamid thing the Word Bearers were guarding and finally enter the Vengeful Spirit and the Lupercal Court. They find Sanguinius's corpse, and...Horus steps out to greet his father.

Oll Persson and John Grammaticus are tying the knots to guide the Long Companions to the Vengeful Spirit (and the Emperor) eventually, to make time go full circle, and Oll teaches John the knots that Hebet did - he was the one who taught the wolf noose to Hebet in the first place, and he teaches John the method. Then, when trying to find their way and complaining that their compass and torquetum are broken...John finds out that it wasn't when he pulls it out. Oll realizes that when the Emperor healed them, He fixed everything, and so the athame was somehow restored too. He realizes they need to go back and hand the athame to the Emperor.

Fafnir Rann is still defending himself from Azkaellon, but can't bring himself to kill him. Fortunately, Zephon the Bringer of Sorrow saves him, and because he has been in pain for so long, and his reconstructed body (thanks to Arkhan Land), he is the sole Blood Angel who escaped the madness. However, he knows that Sanguinius is dead, and his father's death has caused all of his brothers to go mad from rage and grief.

Sigismund and his Seconds fight the Death Guard, breaking into four cohorts to meet the numerically superior enemy head on. Euphrati Keeler and the civilians remain behind the charge, while Sigismund seeks out the commander, Skulidas Gehrerg.

Horus speaks to his father, but the Emperor ignores him, instead addressing the four Chaos Gods, to Horus's annoyance. Caecaltus speaks for the Emperor and demands Horus's surrender, pissing him off even more. He is shaken when he sees Garviel Loken, his favorite son, come to fight him while being at the Emperor's side. Then he attacks the Emperor when he realizes his father has been ignoring him all this time and speaking to the Chaos Gods, not interested in Horus at all.

Oll contacts Actae through telepathy, and convinces her to teleport him and John directly to the Emperor's side. She can't find the Emperor, but she can detect the shadow that is Horus, and so teleports them there when Oll begs her to - because he knows that's where the Emperor would be. She is then found by the Hort Lupercali - the mortal men and women, the traitor Solar Auxilia or Excertus who swore allegiance to the Warmaster - the Merudin 20th, and is forced to flee.

Constantin punches Sycar, and though the Justaerin have the advantage, for Valdor is presently alone (well, with Proconsul Hykanatoi Ludovicus at his side), they suddenly retreat because of Abaddon's orders. Three more Custodians show up, and they know it's a trap, but they proceed anyway because they are Custodians and therefore the most badass of badasses. They find Abaddon and friends waiting for them, and though Constantin attacks, Abaddon is able to stop his spear.

At that moment, the knowledge of the next ten thousand years flows into Constantin's mind and he realizes that Abaddon is the Despoiler. He lets go of his spear, surprising even Ezekyle, and they are about to fight again when Erebeus shows up and does warp magic things to turn gravity and the laws of physics against the Custodians, hurling them about. While they are helpless, without footing and clinging to the walls, the XVI Legion basically walk on walls, unaffected by gravity thanks to warp magic, and kills the Custodians one by one. Before Abaddon can get to the hapless Constantin, though, he falls off.

Sigismund kills Skulidas Gehrerg in a duel, but instead of breaking, the Death Guard continue attacking and slowly annihilating Sigismund's Seconds. They are like a hive or swarm of flies, not caring about leaders. Fortunately, Euphrati Keeler and the civilians join the battle, marching into the guns of the Death Guard. Even though they aren't exactly being hurt, they are confused and rendered indecisive about the civilians' lack of fear and heedless of their own deaths. As the mass of civilians march toward them, despite the calamitous death toll (well, there's a million of them or maybe even three million?), the Death Guard - mystified by the sudden turn of events - retreat to process the sudden turn of events. Sigismund and his Seconds take advantage of the lull to kill as many Death Guard as possible, but the XIV Legion escape to a gorge, only for them to be caught between Sigismund's Seconds and the I Legion, the Dark Angels emerging to slaughter the Death Guard. Tragan shows up, yay. Remember Tragan? Captain of the Ninth Order?

Actae runs from the Merudin and is saved by Marshal Aldana Agathe and the Antioch Miles Vesperi and the 403rd Exigency Stratiotes, and she has decided to call herself Katerina Moriana because she's now Cyrene Valantion aka Actae occupying Katt's body. They...uh, are fused together, because Katt's mind is dead while Actae has no body, so they exist in this weird symbiosis thing. Anyway, there are hints that she's the same Moriana who will show up to advise Abaddon later as his seer. Anyway, Moriana attempts to recruit Agathe to help Rogal Dorn save the Emperor.

Amon tells Andromeda-17 that they can't extract, especially because Traitor Excertus is assaulting Malcador's Retreat. Fortunately, the Sigillite's Retreat is full of big guns and blows holes in the approaching infantry. Amon orders Andromeda-17 to activate the Terminus weapon because he believes all is lost. So she runs back to talk to Basilio Fo, only to find a wounded Xanthus-who-is-not-Xanthus (but the twist is for later). She pursues the escaping Basilio.

Meanwhile, Amon kills traitor Astartes with Adrathics and Excertus infantry with lascannons and quad-cannons. He notices a small group running away from a Hort Lupercali warband and is about to shoot them when he realizes they aren't hostiles. He instead targets the Lupercali formation and saves the smaller party, who run past the shields (which Amon switches off for a second), and is revealed to be Ios Raja and Khalid Hassan, along with a White Scar, Kumo, and two Sisters of Silence, Ire and Ridhi. The Blood Angel went mad and they had to put him down earlier. Anyway, Khalid and Amon hurry after Andromeda-17, who is killed by Basilio. Khalid has to countermand Amon's order to activate the Terminus weapon because Vulkan orders it brought back to the throne room, so the Custodians concede to the XVIII Primarch's order. Raja, Kumo, Ire and Ridhi hold the bridge to the Retreat, Khalid comes across the wounded Zaranchek Xanthus, and Amon kills Basilio.

Presumably, they all escape on a secret shuttle.

Vulkan decides to activate his Talisman and destroy the Palace.

The Emperor falls when Horus attacks him, so Caecaltus, Garviel and Leetu attack Horus, distracting him long enough for the Emperor to recover and counterattack, as well as protect Garviel and Leetu from Horus's psychic attack. They clash.

Constantin gets up after falling, having been badly injured. Diocletian Coros and four other Custodians are the only ones left of his force, unfortunately. They are about to make their last stand when the XVI Legion descends upon them when Rogal Dorn shows up and smashes the Sons of Horus with a steel chair...ahem, with Diamantis's power sword. Even though the VII Primarch massacred a lot of Sons of Horus, there's still so many of them remaining.

Then Raldoron and over fifty of the Blood Angels descend, hacking apart the Sons of Horus from behind.

Though the conflict intensifies, they are all blown away from each other by a storm, but somehow Rogal and Constantin stick together like the bros they are and run toward the direction of the Emperor.

The Dark Angels aren't happy about bringing the civilians under Sigismund (and Euphrati) into the Hollow Mountain because they are so many, and the Dark Angels are being besieged by Typhus and the Death Guard. Corswain shows up to speak to Sigismund, who pledges himself and his Seconds to the Lord seneschal's command.

Zahariel/Cypher isn't happy about Euphrati and the refugees flooding the Hollow Mountain because it disrupts his and the Dark Angels Librarians' work to relight the Astronomican. Fortunately, Euphrati calls Nemo Zhi-Meng over, and introduces him as the choirmaster of the Astra Telepathica. Zahariel thus realizes just how invaluable his expertise is in his and the Librarians' work.

The Death Guard attacks, and the Dark Angels and Sigismund's Seconds stand ready to repel them. The civilians are back to being frightened, but Euphrati leads them in prayer by reciting verses from the Lectitio. Zahariel notices the psychic confluence and realizes that their faith and emotions are helping boost the psychic beacon, and requests Euphrati to continue doing whatever it is that she's doing.

Malcador panics when he sees Vulkan about to activate the Talisman, and he begs him to wait a bit more, but his voice doesn't reach the XVIII Primarch.

The Emperor and Horus clash at speeds and strength too powerful for the three companions to intervene or help. They get blown away, with poor Caecaltus unable to get near. Leetu ends up protecting Sanguinius's body from daemons. Garviel finds himself in an empty Throne Room and has to make his way back to the Lupercal Court.

Their battle doesn't just take place in the physical realm, but they are transported all across the galaxy, from Cthonia to Molech. It eventually turns into a psychic duel where the Emperor uses His Tarot card deck to manifest His powers. I know Valrak or somebody claims that it's a Magic: The Gathering card fight, but it's more than that. Psychic powers manifest through imagination, through symbols and rituals. The Emperor's Tarot Card deck is how He visualizes and manifests His vast psychic powers, making use of signs and symbols to turn something immaterial and intangible into material and physical.

Horus plays the same game, creating his own deck to defeat the Emperor's. And defeat the Emperor he does, smacking His face with Worldbreaker. Ouch.

Ahzek Ahriman continues shuffling the deck and getting the same reading - the Daemon. Kyril Sindermann, despite his fear, is curious, and asks Ahzek a lot of questions. He explains how daemons are born - daemons aren't actually born but created. They are vibrations of the immaterium, a small part of the eternal whole suddenly given form and focus as a response to a negative event, such as deaths and massacres and murders. However, time means nothing to a daemon, so even if there's a later traumatic event that creates it, it can still somehow exist in the past because they exist throughout all of time, not just in the future.

Sorry if that makes no sense, but I'll try to explain it better. Simply put, as long as a daemon is created, whether it is in the past, present or future, it doesn't matter - it'll exist throughout all time. So even if you have a daemon created by a future murder, it can still exist and do things in the past.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure Ahzek's reading is about Samus...

Constantin is injured, but he continues walking, refusing Rogal's help. They continue on, and Constantin assures Rogal that Diocletian Coros and his other men will follow if they have survived. They see a part of the Vengeful Spirit and head there. Constantin admits to Rogal that he likes Sanguinius and is sad that he's dead. They run into a Khorne greater daemon, and the two work together to defeat it, with Constantin's spear piercing it and him learning its name or something. They continue forward, determined to kill Horus. Constantin offers to kill Horus in Rogal's stead, and the VII Primarch says let's see who gets there first.

Moriana tries to get Agathe's help, even as Mikhail and his men from the 403rd Exigency Stratiotes drive off the Merudin 20th. Agathe leads Moriana into the blackstone prison, and explains to her that the 3,000 men under her - aside from the Antioch Miles Vesperi and the scratch company of the 403rd Exigency Stratiotes - are mostly auxiliaries, gun crews, loaders...basically, they are an artillery unit. They suck at infantry stuff, but have lots of field guns. So they're pretty much stuck in their current position, shelling the traitor Excertus with their artillery.

Fortunately, Moriana has uses for the blackstone, or noctilith, which is psychoreactive. She uses it to amplifies her psychic powers and transmits a message. "The Emperor must live."

Horus drags the Emperor to the thrones. Leetu drives away the last of the daemons trying to eat Sanguinius and tries to save the Emperor, to no avail. Garviel leaves the throne room and attempts to find his way, only to run into some temple precint where he took his first oath to join the Mournival, and three centaurs (or Sagittary) show up to try and kill him. The daemons urge Horus to kill the Emperor, but he orders them to stop telling him what to do. Caecaltus, as he struggles to get back to where the Emperor and Horus are, hears the voice, "The Emperor must live." Meanwhile, right when Horus is about to deposit the Emperor onto the throne, he realizes to his horror that his father has been stealing a miniscule amount of power from him to use it against him, and blasts him away.

That pisses him off. They fight for a bit more, Horus regains the advantage and bashes Him around a bit before stabbing His throat. He drags his father back to the throne again and begins staking Him with the sigil stars that He threw at him earlier. Caecaltus finally reaches them and stands between Horus and his King of Ages.

"By His will alone! I defy you."

While Horus is distracted by Caecaltus Dusk, Leetu sneaks to the throne and yanks out the stars. Horus blasts Caecultus with warp magic, but he survives the first round thanks to Malcador's sigil on his breastplate. Horus is infuriated and recites all 610 parts of Caecaltus's name and finally obliterates him with a second blast. Even the sigil can't withstand it this time. Leetu is almost about to free the Emperor when Horus shows up. He realizes that Leetu is Erda's Space Marine and informs him that Erebus has already killed her, then tosses him to the four Chaos Gods. One of them gazes down on him in difference, and Leetu knows there's no point in screaming.

The Death Guard assault the Hollow Mountain, but the Dark Angels and Sigismund's Seconds are holding strong. Euphrati Keeler and Zahariel hear the psychic message, "The Emperor must live." And she begins reciting the prayer to the masses over and over again, to focus the psychic resonance and reactivate the beacon.

Horus returns to putting the weird Chaos crown on his father's head, but the Emperor - thanks to Leetu's efforts - has freed Himself and counterattacks. Another beatdown resumes, where the Horus pummels the Emperor. He then proceeds to lift his father to drag Him back to the throne again, only for Him to ram the crown of thorns into Horus's face and split open his skull. Nice.

Garviel kills the centaurs. 'nuff said.

Vulkan, thanks to the Sister of Silence, Casryn, hears the voice. "The Emperor must live." Thanks to that, he realizes his father is still alive and victory might be possible, and he holds off activating the Talisman of Seven Hammers.

Thanks to Moriana's message, defiance is ignited anew in the defenders' hearts and they succeed in throwing back the waves of Traitors for a time. Fafnir Rann and Zephon fight on Hasgard, Archamus and the War Court in Hegemon continue plotting strategies to counter the traitors. Agathe rallies her men and artillery to blow the approaching traitor Excertus to kingdom come. The Emperor Himself has been reinvigorated somewhat and that's why He was able to smash the crown into Horus's face.

It's not enough. Horus is immortal and he regenerates his face and reknits his skull. They fight again, and though the Emperor is fatigued, He does not give up. Horus lets Him attack, and he heals himself every single time, to show his father the futility of it all. Eventually, Horus hurls the thrones at Him (he only needs one) and buries Him under broken debris. Ailing and sapped of power, the Emperor finally succumbs. Before Horus can stride over and finish him off, though, Oll Persson and John Grammaticus choose that moment to make a dramatic appearance, stumbling out of a portal and right in his path.

Both Oll and John freeze in horror when they see Horus, but John utters a word of Eunica that he learned from Oll's memory in Hatay-Antakya when the tower at Babilin fell. You know, that scene in Mortis by John French? Anyway, that blows Horus away - literally. Oll tells John to pick something sharp up and go, to tie all the threads, while he stands at the Emperor's side. John is reluctant, but finally complies and leaves, while Oll begs the Emperor to stand back up while placing the athame in His hand. Horus takes a while to recover, but when he does, Oll stands between him and the Emperor like the badass Guardsman he is, firing his lasrifle on full-auto. Horus...kills him, but it does delay him long enough for Garviel to show up and distract him further.

Corswain, the Dark Angels, Sigismund, his Seconds, and the Loyalists hold off the Death Guard for a few more moments, but Typhus and his champions show up, and not even Sigismund and his black blade can defeat a being so empowered by Nurgle and the warp. Sigismund challenges him anyway, and ventures forward for what appears to be his last duel.

The Dark Angels Librarians and Zhi-Meng detect interference from Typhus's presence, even though they work hard to amplify the psychic energy from the worshipping civilians that Euphrati has stirred into a frenzy. Katsuhiro informs them that fear weakens their faith and breaks their focus. Zahariel understands what must be done, and he and two of the Librarians leave the place to confront Typhus and his host of psykers - even if they can only disrupt them for a few seconds, that's all they need. The eight seconds. Zhi-Meng returns to Euphrati to inform her, and they do the worship thing. Meanwhile, Zahariel and his Librarians merge their powers to disrupt the Death Guard's psychic stuff.

Garviel shows up right when Horus is dragging the Emperor's body halfway to the throne (told you Oll Persson bought enough time), and tries to convince him to stop. He fails.

The psykanic energy flares for the eight seconds that Zahariel and his Librarians bought Euphrati and her fellow worshippers, their faith coalsecing into psychic power strong enough to break the Chaotic harmony of Typhus's bone-song. A lot of people die, their lives sacrificed to fuel the psychic beacon, but its power is unmistakable. The Death Guard is annihilated, including Typhus, who I assume is banished into the warp. The Hollow Mountain's defenders aren't spared either, with many of them swept away, crushed by ice, shredded by wind, burned by the light or buried. Fortunately, a few hold on and survive, including Corswain and Sigismund. Zahariel El'Zuria is wounded, his torso sliced open, but he presumably survives, unlike Tanderion. I don't know about Asradael, who lost both his legs.

Fafnir and Zephon see the light. Sandrine Icaro and her staff at Hegemon too, and she orders the shutters open. Six traitor ships are caught and obliterated, and a dozen others have their circuits fried. Aboard the Phalanx, Admiral Niora Su-Kassen and Huscarl Halbract also see the light, and they command Battlefleet Solar back to Terra for the final naval battle. Roboute Guilliman also sees the light, along with his staff, and he orders his Retribution fleet to sail for Terra, using the beacon to guide his ships in.

Horus also sees the light (not metaphorically, I mean literally), but he dismisses it as one of his father's last tricks, a last-ditch effort that is ultimately futile, and he proceeds to deliver the finishing blow. Swinging Worldbreaker, he crushes the Emperor's skull.

Garviel is horrified, but he persuades Horus to cast off his power this time. Horus, like earlier, is about to dismiss him, but he keeps hearing the voices in his head. The voices sort of drive him mad, and he's annoyed enough to listen to "Garviel" and discard the powers the Four have invested in him. Then he finally hears what the whispers are.

"The Emperor must live."

Too late, Horus realizes that he has been played like a fiddle. The headless corpse of the Emperor crumbles away, and "Garviel" who has been persuading him was the Emperor. Horus attempts to draw the power back to him, but the Old Four are slow in returning the powers back to him because they want to reprimand him for spurning their generous gifts. They change their mind when they see the Emperor produce the athame that Oll Persson has handed to Him, and begin rushing to return him back to their tool, but they are too late. Horus finally sees the truth, that he is nothing more than a vessel for them, an instrument for their malicious wills, a slave to their darkness, and he begs his father for mercy. To kill him.

So it's literally as Sigismund said.

"You'll die as your weakling father died. Soulless. Honorless. Weeping. Ashamed."

Huh. Awesome.

Anyway, the Emperor says, +I wait for you and I forgive you.+ Then He drives the athame into Horus's heart and kills him. I see people claiming, "this is different from the original lore! The Emperor is supposed to kill Horus with a psychic blast and obliterate his soul! Doesn't this mean Horus Lupercal might return in the future?!"

Hell, no. Horus is dead for sure. And it was most definitely a psychic attack, channeled through the athame.

And through that blade, the Emperor channels the full force of His will.

The sublime power, a psychic blast of profound magnitude, courses down the ancient blade like lightning conducting through a metal rod. The fireball flash of its strike is brighter than all creation.

...there is no blood. The athame is sharp, sharp enough to cut space. Sharp enough to slice reality. It has waited a long, long time for this, from the original killing that made it, and stained it with the shadow of all murder, to this, the eighth death that it was promised.

Yeah, it's pretty final, and it was also a psychic blast. Dan Abnett made sure to stay true to the material. So don't let the clickbaiters trick you with their whining about how "it's different from the original! It's supposed to be a psychic blast!" Yeah, well...the Emperor uses the anathame as a force weapon, so it still counts as using Force (or psychic) to kill Horus and obliterate his soul. There's a finality in the prose, so please don't expect Horus Lupercal to come back to life or something. Unless you count his clones, which Ezekyle Abaddon kills anyway.

Horus dies, reduced to nothing more than a skeleton.

The world, the universe, Terra returns to normal, the warp abruptly yanked out and sucked back into the immaterium. Obviously, this has disastrous consequences, and as the material universe struggles to recover from the sudden...uh, void in space-time fabric as everything shifts and tries to return to normal, plenty of people die or go missing, and lots of catastrophic damage is wrought across the groaning landscapes.

Ahzek is pretty upset when time resumes because the books have stopped...uh, bleeding. He's disappointed because he came here to learn, and now he's out of time and has to leave. He blames Kyril Sindermann, Hellick Mauer and the archivist for wasting his time with their questions and distracting him from his studies, and despite his rage, he doesn't kill them. He leaves them be.

Nassir Amit and the rest of the Blood Angels recover from their madness. Odi Sartak is wary of Amit, understandably enough, but along with a bunch of other Loyalists, they counterattack and massacre the suddenly frozen and indecisive Traitors. The traitors have stopped when Horus died, and they begin fleeing, pursued by vengeful Loyalists, who chase them all the way back to their landing sites and killing them.

Maximus Thane is one of them who survives, and he and a thousand others - Excertus, Auxilia, Old Hundred, Loyalist Legionnaires - run after the retreating Sons of Horus.

Clain Pent, Fifth Disciple of Nul, is dead. Dark Mechanicum are...defeated. Eyet-One-Tag and a Skitarius named Ultr-5V are butchered by now-sane Blood Angels.

Fafnir and the surviving Blood Angels, Imperial Fists and White Scars are about to pursue the Sons of Horus, but Fafnir grabs a standard and holds it aloft. "For the Emperor!"

Rogal and Constantin finally reach the Lupercal Court. Before they enter, Diocletian and three other Custodians show up, having survived and caught up with the two. They enter the chamber and see the bodies of the Emperor, Sanguinius and Horus, with Garviel kneeling beside the Master of Mankind.

The Blood Angels also show up - Raldoron and friends - and while the Custodians are on guard, Rogal assures them that the Blood Angels have recovered their sanity, and instructs them to see to their father's body. Leetu has survived, the Old Four probably not interested in him at all, and makes his way to them. While they find a way to get a teleport lock on their location, Leetu picks up the tarot cards that the Emperor used in His duel against Horus. Constantin scoffs at the idea, but Rogal has seen their effectiveness, especially since both his father and Malcador put stock in them. Leetu reveals the Throne card, and Rogal and Constantin interprets that as the Emperor wanting them to put Him back on the Golden Throne. They also find the Revelation card next to Caecaltus's body, and Rogal remembers the sigil that Malcador left on his breastplate. That's where they finally find a signal lock, and they are teleported back to the palace, with both the Emperor and Sanguinius's body. Oh, Leetu also tells Rogal about Ferrus Manus's skull, and Rogal collects it from the infernal shrine, not wanting to leave his brother's head on the Vengeful Spirit. Only Garviel remains, desiring to see his father off to the very end.

A psychic figment of Malcador remains long enough to see his friend's body brought back and put onto the throne. Rogal and Vulkan take Macaldor's burned out body from the Throne and Constantin and the Custodians put the Emperor there. There's a few lines of Malcador that imply that Rogal is next in succession for ruling the Imperium in the Emperor's stead.

I hope you have seen enough, Rogal. I hope you have seen enough to learn, you, the master planner.

So it's kind of funny that Roboute takes over the running of the Imperium instead of Rogal. I mean, he was always the master of logistics, but Malcador makes it clear that Rogal would have been preferred as the next, uh, ruler (for lack of a better word) or leader than Roboute.

Katerina Moriana is telling the Imperial Army soldiers under Marshal Agathe about the story of Ollanius, a lone guardsman who stood by the Emperor's side and kept Horus at bay for a few seconds to buy Him the time to win. Which, ironically, is true. Agathe is concerned about her men, because the 403 Exigency Stratiotes are mostly convicts and not "real soldiers." Fortunately, they plan to have all records regarding this unit be "lost," and since Katerina bears the authority of the Praetorian's seal, she can vouch for them as real soldiers. Because that's what they are. It's not like Rogal will refuse, because he'll need all the good men he can get for the coming years to rebuild and for the Scouring.

Admiral Su-Kassen and Roboute Guilliman's avenging fleets descend and basically wipe out the traitor fleets. Sandrine Icaro and her War Court commence a war of repulsion and execution from the Hegemon.

Ezekyle Abaddon, Hellas Sycar and Baraxa come across Garviel Loken. Hellas and Baraxa want to kill Garviel, but neither Garviel nor Ezekyle wants to fight. Garviel tries to convince them that he'll speak to Rogal on the XVI Legion's behalf, for clemency, but Ezekyle knows that there's no going back from this, no forgiveness, no turning back. Erebus stabs Garviel from behind to complete the circle and create Samus.

A simple funeral is held for Sanguinius, but there's so many dead, not all will be remembered and recorded.

Kyril Sindermann and Mauer are about to leave the library to contact the Hegemon. The archivist stays behind to look after the books - turns out that she's Lilean Chase. Astute readers will remember that she's a senior member of the Cognitae in the Eisenhorn, Ravenor and Bequin series.

Constantin ponders on what to do with the visions his spear has shown him.

Leetu has incorporated the Tarot cards on the Vengeful Spirit into his deck and he draws The Revenger for some reason. For now, he'll just cooperate with the Praetorian's interrogations, though he's not restrained.

Zaranchek Xanthus turns out to be a clone, with the original killed and burned. Turns out that he has Basilio Fo's memories or personality. Yikes. He grabs his notebooks. Also, astute readers will once again recognize Zaranchek Xanthus as the radical Inquisitor who formed the faction of Xanthites. The Inquisitorial faction who inists on using warp-based weaponry, daemonhosts and daemon weapons against Chaos enemies, using the warp against the warp.

John Grammaticus has traveled back in time to tie the knots, using Sanguinius's feather to open portals through time and space, and his torquetum to lead the way for him.

Ezekyle tries to get the Vengeful Spirit repaired to flee the avenging fleets, and is just able to raise the shields right before the Glorianna class vessel is attacked by five ships from the Saturnine fleet. Argonis is still alive, by the way. The Sons of Horus are suffering from withdrawal syndromes, having supped from the poisoned cup of the warp and tasted the sweetness of Chaos powers - even Ezekyle feels hollow and wants the powers back, and he hates himself for it. Erebus continues to tempt them, assuring them that he'll teach them how to manage the pain, and to regain the Chaos powers. But now they must first survive and escape.

Sigismund leads Euphrati to the inner sanctum of the Palace. Less than 20% of the Pilgrims left the Hollow Mountain alive, and the survivors have been changed (probably enlightened or more faithful). I assume Katsuhiro also survives because he wasn't mentioned among the dead. She stops by a statue of the Emperor, a place where Sigismund can't lead her further, and raises her hands in worship. Imperial Cult and zealous Black Templars, yeah.

And that's all the spoilers for The End and the Death Volume III!

Painted Armiger Moirax

I painted my two new Armiger Moirax today! Phew. That took over 3 and a half hours. Anyway, I'm glad with how they turn out. The paint scheme is based on House Taranis, but they are the Mechanicus aligned Knight household, House Kanda.

This is the beginning of a Mechanicus Knight household! The Cerastus Knight Lancer, piloted by Sir Kanda, is the leader or commander of this specific Knight lance attached to the Skitarii cohort sent from the Forge World, Draconis IV. Hopefully, I will be adding more! As I said, this Mechanicus Knight house will have more esoteric and rarer patterns, but I will probably just add a couple of normal Armigers too. Because I can't afford so many resin Moirax.

New Armiger Moirax

I bought and assembled 2 new Armiger Moirax. I'm planning to paint them up in Mechanicus colors - the plan is to paint up a Mechanicus Knight household, for a change and a new hobby project. So they will be escorting my Cerastus Knight Lancer.

My idea for this Mechanicus Knight household is to have more Mechanicum styles, exotic and esoteric Knight armors. I will get a couple of regular Armigers, of course. But eventually the Knight household I have in mind has received all the rarer patterns and esoteric weaponry (and more lethal) because of their dedication to the Adeptus Mechanicus.

This is House Kanda, a branch of House Yato seconded completely to the Forge World of Draconis IV, and modeled after House Taranis. Yeah, I was inspired by Genefather by Guy Haley, heh. Hopefully, I can assemble and paint a second Knight household in Mechanicus colors!

House Yato

During the Age of Technology, Human colonists would set out across the galaxy to colonize worlds across its breadth in what is known as the Long March. Originating from what would later form the Dragon Nations on Terra, a particularly vast host of settlers found their way to the Draconis system and colonized a couple of planets orbiting the yellow star, as well as those in surrounding systems. The greatest of these worlds is Ryusei, home to the ancient and stalwart Knight Household of Yato.

As the first colony arks were reshaped into fortress-cities amidst the plains of Ryusei, the explorers assaulted by megafauna and other hostile organisms that composed its vibrant ecosystem, the bipedal exosuits that would later become known as Knights were fabricated from sophisticated technologies - the Standard Template Constructs. Eventually, the colonists were able to carve out inhabitable spaces that expanded from the beached colony arks serving as the cores of their individual castle-kingdoms. From here, the first of the Nobles would emerge. Gradually, over the centuries, these Noble scions - known as bushi to their fellows on Ryusei - would impose a neo-feudal order upon their populations. Further split into clans by blood ties or oaths of allegiance, they warred against each other as often as they hunted and drove back the Ayakashi that haunted the massive jungles of Ryusei.

The greatest of these bushi are the Daimyos, the equivalent of Barons in other Knight Houses. Leading massive armies of their own, the Knight walkers would clash in colossal formations that see entire landscapes ravaged by apocalyptic weaponry. Frequently, the Knight clans would set aside petty grudges and differences to launch hunting expeditions of the Ayakashi that infested their world. From the titanic serpentine Orochi and their kings, the Yamata no Orochi, to the leviathan Bake-Kujira that dwelled beneath the ocean depths to the gargantuan, amphibious Ryuu, the Ayakashi were truly fearsome beasts whose power was matched only by a skilled bushi piloting a Knight armor.

Remnants of the Colonist fleet that remained void-capable remained in orbit, allowing these nobles to maintain an interstellar empire that stretched across several star systems. The Noble clans warred amongst themselves for centuries, and eventually, House Yato succeeded in subjugating the other Knight Houses and persuading them into vassalage - by force or extermination if necessary. The Patriarch of House Yato at that time, Yato Yasutaka, became the Shogun - the ruler above all other Daimyos, and House Yato's counterpart to the High King of other Questoris Familia. With Ryusei forming the stalwart core, worlds came under the Knight House's fold, whether by astute diplomatic overtures or military might. The Draconis system was rich in agri-worlds that include the famous "bread basket trio" known for their bountiful macro agri-complexes - Inari, Beisei and Nouzen - and most of whom badly required the protection of Knights from the predations of xenos raiders and pirates. There was also the jungle world of Aomori, Yamahodo - a world full of mountains whose jagged, cloud-misted peaks soared as high up to the stratosphere, and the ocean planet of Namikai, where visitors could drink their fill, as well as dine on freshly caught seafood that was consumed raw.

The peace would not last long, for the Age of Strife had begun. The relatively tiny interstellar empire of House Yato was cut off from the rest of galaxy by violent warp storms, and their Noble Knights were hardpressed against the constantly mutating denizens of the forests. Ayakashi grew ever more ferocious and vicious, their already monstrous forms tainted by the warp.

To make matters worse, the Men of Iron had risen against their creators. Conservative as most other Knight Worlds were, House Yato and their homeworld of Ryusei was spared the worst of this cataclysmic conflict. However, their neighboring planet was not as fortunate. Blasted into oblivion and its surface transformed into an irradiated landscape inimical to organic life as the apocalyptic aftermath of a horrifying war that saw nightmarish weapons from the Dark Age of Technology unleashed upon men of flesh and Men of Iron alike, the world was cordoned off and abandoned. Whatever its ancient name was has been long lost to the winds of history, but the scarred world would from henceforth be known as Koya to the people of Ryusei.

Under the protection of House Yato and their various vassal Houses, as well as Household Militia that formed the infantry regiments that fought at the feet of the Titanic bipedal Walkers, Ryusei and its client planets endured. The Household Militia had tanks and walkers of their own, from volkite culverin armed Sentinel walkers to Carnodon medium tanks bristling with volkite weaponry. Its peoples maintained a vigil throughout the Long Night, driving back nightmarish invaders and opportunistic xenos raiders alike. And so their heraldry sport a single full moon - the survivors of Old Night, resilient and enduring in the darkness, their faith in the bright, yellow sun of their system that outshines any horrors that spawn from the warp. Their Knight armors shrouded in black, all the better to blend in during those nightmarish times, the bushi of House Yato stalk out of the shadows to drive their blades deep into the hearts of their foes.

Their Knight suits tended to by prodigious craftsmen and armorers, who also meticulously maintained the Standard Template Constructs that the old Colonists had brought with them from Old Earth, House Yato was able to sustain a colossal stockpile of Knight armors. However, with most of the worlds in their interstellar empire dedicated to agriculture, House Yato lacked the minerals, ores and materials required to replicate their war machines on a large scale. Nonetheless, the stagnating House remained a formidable force, and coupled with STCs that could manufacture volkite weaponry and military vehicles sufficient to equip their Household Militia, they were able to survive the Age of Strife unscathed.

When the warp storms broke and the Emperor launched his Great Crusade, the first contact with the greater Human Imperium that was reestablished with House Yato was through Lord Marshal Mathias Perry, the commander of the 402nd Expeditionary fleet that was largely composed of Solar Auxilia Cohorts. Accompanying the 402nd Expeditionary fleet were the First, Fourth and Sixth companies of the Thousand Sons Legion and their subordinate Prosperine Spireguard contingent, which numbered at least twenty regiments.

Confronted by such a mighty host and firsthand witnessing the psychic power that the XV Legion could bring to bear, the Shogun, Yato Yoshinobu would pledge the loyalty of House Yato to the Imperium. Ever the shrewd diplomat, he was able to preserve his Knight House's autonomy in exchange for providing military support in the Great Crusade. The bushi of House Yato were only too eager to consent, with many perceiving this as an opportunity to explore the wider galaxy and earn unparalleled glory and honor. Among the more ambitious scions even sought the wealth and power that military successes would bring, and countless lances would set out as part of the Ordo Questoris, attaching themselves to various Expeditionary fleets or even Explorator contingents.

Meanwhile, despite the efforts of Iterators to spread the Imperial Truth, the conservative and superstitious population of Ryusei saw in the Emperor the descendant of the Sun Kami they worshipped, and so they revered Him as divine, much to the chagrin of those who would bring Compliance and ensure secularism.

However, the single largest boon was the deal that Yato Yoshinobu struck with the Mechanicum. Badly require ore, minerals and materials to raise his Knight House to unprecedented heights, he welcomed Explorator vessels and Mechanicum survey vessels to the Draconis system. Too powerful and independent a Knight House for the Mechanicum to bound to vassalage, the Shogun ensured that House Yato would remain allies and partners with the mysterious priesthood of Mars. The craftsmen and armorers who have served the Knight House for so long were inducted into the Mechanicum and trained in their mysteries, becoming Sacristans, but despite their indoctrination into the Cult Mechanicus, they remained politically subservient to the bellicose, proud and independent bushi of House Yato.

Of the myriad orders and dizzying array of allegiances in the feudal Mechanicum, it was Ryza and its principal sect, the Omnissiah Igvita, that exploited the opportunity of alliance. Enthusiastic in founding a new Forge World, especially one where near-renegade Tech-priests bordering on heretek research can carry out their experiments far from the prying eyes of Mars, hosts of Magos and their accompanying Taghmata traveled to the Draconis system with ideas of innovation for plasma and volkite technology. Even more tempting to the cybernetically augmented Tech-priests were the sacred STCs in Ryusei, still functional and pristine, and capable of manufacturing both Knight armors and volkite weaponry, the latter of which was growing scarce in the latter days of the Great Crusade. Yet, here was a world that maintained an armory that dated back to Old Night and wielded to fight off its horrors with impressive efficacy.

Martian and Ryzan Tech-priests alike settled upon Koya, ignorant or uncaring of the catastrophic warfare that had transpired there. Rumors were abound that the Mechanicum had deliberately selected that planet for colonization, seeking ancient archeotech buried within once irradiated sands, as well as looking to salvage the burned out husks that previously belonged to the Men of Iron. Indeed, the majority of Magos and Archmagos who flocked to the Draconis system were of Cybernetica leanings, bringing with them sizable cohorts of Battle-automata.

Coldly rational and not at all reverent of the dreadful history of the once-obliterated world, the Mechanicum impassionately renamed Koya as Draconis IV - being the fourth major celestial body from its parent star - and set about terraforming the entire planet as well as fabricating forge-fanes, forge-cities and plasma generators. The nascent Forge World, apart from its armies of automata and battle robots, were still in dire need of protection, which House Yato was only too willing to provide. So it was that Ryusei and the newly founded Forge World of Draconis IV were bound in a mutually beneficial alliance, one lending military assistance and seasoned warriors whenever necessary, and the other manufacturing new Knight armors on a much larger and swifter scale with which to furnish their allies and augment their already formidable strength.

Though several families nominally under House Yato have elected to be permanently stationed upon Draconis IV, splitting off to form House Kanda - now technically a separate Household whose oaths and allegiances are to the Mechanicum and to their home Forge World as opposed to the Emperor and Ryusei - dark rumors surround them. Some whisper that the Tech-priests have seized the superior Noble bloodlines from scions of House Yato and cloned them in vats, genetically engineering and cybernetically augmenting them into superlative pilots that are often entombed in more exotic Knight suits. If such accusations are discovered to be true, the wrath that House Yato will mete upon these renegade Magi would be calamitous indeed.

The mountainous world of Yamahodo was transformed into a staging facility for void vessel assets, and an academy for training naval officers was established above its hanging peaks. Artificial islands were fabricated and immense seafaring ships constructed to sail across the oceans of Namikai, the Magi thirstily drinking in whatever resources they could find, including reservoirs of promethium beneath seabeds. Within decades, the Draconis system and its outlying systems were utterly and irrevocably altered by the Imperium - a process that would be repeated over 10,000 years in the future when they are incorporated into the Anaxian Line as a bulwark against Magnus's Thousand Sons, particularly after the emergence of Sortiarius into real space over Prospero.

House Yato has a long, gloried history of fighting on the frontlines of the Great Crusade, repelling horrifying xenos in the Rangdan Xenocides, holding the line against Ork hordes at Ullanor, and many more. However, their first involvement in the Horus Heresy stretches back to even before the atrocities at Isstvan III and V. As staunch allies of the Thousand Sons Legion, several lances of Knights were present in Prospero when the VI Legion and the Talons of the Emperor descended. Bewildered by the apparent treachery, the Knights of House Yato were beset upon by the insidious scions of House Malinax, and ever since then, the bushi of Ryusei have sworn to destroy their archnemesis wherever they meet.

Eventually, after the mysterious disappearance of the Thousand Sons on Prospero, the remnants of House Yato fought their way back to orbit and blasted a path through the Space Wolves' blockade, though at great cost. Several vessels of the Vlka Fenryka pursued the battered ships, only to abruptly vanish before the adhoc fleet limped back to the safety of the Draconis System. Later analysis of auspexes and long-range sensoria indicate that ships bearing the livery of the XX Legion had been lying in wait in the outer reaches of the Propserine system. When news of the treachery in the Alaxxes Nebula spread to the wider Imperium, battlefield analysts and Lexmechanics assume that the VI Legion vessels had been ambushed by the Alpha Legion.

At the outbreak of the Horus Heresy, and the revelation of the Warmaster's treachery, Shogun Yato Yoshinobu and the Knights of House Yato remained true to their oaths to the Emperor and the Imperium, dispatching countless Lances to stall the Traitors' advance toward Terra. Their conviction was reinforced when they finally establish contact with pockets of Thousand Sons, particularly the contingent at Zhao-Arkkad, who still pledge their loyalty to the Emperor. Their decision was further vindicated when the sinister Knights of House Malinax revealed their treachery, resulting in clashes between the two Houses over numerous battlefields, including the Belt of Iron. They reinforced Tallarn against the Iron Warriors, participating in a massive armor clash on the lethal surface of the now dead world. They answered the call to defend Ryza, committing their adamantine phalanxes to aiding the venerable House Taranis and the former home of their Mechanicum allies. Several lances were present in Holy Terra during the siege as well, though a significant portion of their forces assisted the Imperial Fists in defending the Inwit Cluster and holding the Praetorian Rogal Dorn's homeworld from the Iron Warriors until much-needed reinforcements in the form of Salamanders, Imperial Army and Mechanicum arrived to lift the Traitors' siege.

The vengeful bushi of House Yato would later participate in the Scouring, meting their unbridled fury upon the retreating Traitors, particularly the fallen scions of House Malinax and other traitor Knight Houses, as well as Traitor Titan Legions such as the dreaded Legio Mortis.

MATERIAL STRENGTH

With access to still fully functioning STCs on Ryusei, House Yato was able to maintain an enormous stockpile of Knight suits, though many of them were worn down throughout centuries of war, whether it was against other Knight Houses and clans refusing to bend their knee to the Shogun or xeno raiders and warp spawn. When the Forge World of Draconis IV was founded upon the ashes of Koya, the Tech-priests brought with them macro-haulers and mining vessels that ply the void, extracting ore from rich asteroid belts, as well as cracking the crust of their new home open for a wealth of minerals. In exchange for studying the STCs, the Magi of the Mechanicum invested the immense supplies of resources they had harvested into fabricating legions of Knight suits for House Yato.

Consequently, despite the terrible casualties inflicted upon them as they eagerly threw themselves into countless battlefields, and the inevitable erosion of their strength through atrocious attrition rates, House Yato could still sustain vast numbers of Knight suits. It is said that if the zealous bushi are able to temper their impetuousness and not discard their lives recklessly in combat, House Yato could field Knight armors in numbers surpassing those of House Taranis or even House Raven.

The assistance of Draconis IV proved invaluable to augmenting the strength of House Yato, allowing them to construct a core of Cerastus Knight patterns that made up almost half of their strength. The majority of Cerastus Knights were the Lancer variant, though there was also substantial numbers of Castigators. The remaining strength of the Household was composed of mostly Questoris patterns and even several Acastus patterns, which thanks to the Omnissiah Igvita's innovative methods, far exceeded those possessed by others of the Questoris Familia. Though House Yato obtained several of the rarer Knight patterns usually reserved for Mechanicum-oathed Houses, such as the Styrix, Magaera, Atrapos and even a single Asterius, it is later revealed that the Draconian priesthood had kept the bulk of these esoteric variants for their locally founded House Kanda.

Even without these exotic classes of Knights, House Yato was still capable of fielding an immense number of Knights, recording a peak of 586 functional Knight armors of diverse patterns and armaments (not including Armiger classes) at the end of the Great Crusade. Several of these would be lost during the Razing of Prospero, and even more would fall in countless other battlefields when House Yato was dragged into the apocalyptic fires of the Horus Heresy, but even at the end of Siege and the beginning of the Scouring, House Yato remained a considerable force to be reckoned with, their systems having escaped the darkest of treacheries relatively unscathed, and possessing several hundred Knight armors. However, the horrendous death toll meant there was a dearth of experienced warriors and veteran scions, and many of the freshly fabricated Knight suits were piloted by youths barely into the first years of their adulthood.