Mark of Calth: 25 (The Horus Heresy)

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Every post will be filled with Spoilers from the novel so if you haven't read this week's book then proceed with caution. Horus Heresy Saga: Mark of Calth The arcology systems offered sufficient protection for the remaining inhabitants of Calth and their defenders to survive the wave of solar death that was about to engulf their world. This message successfully reached many millions of people who successfully took shelter within Calth's underground warrens, which had originally been built to free up more land for agricultural cultivation. Though Calth itself was irreparably irradiated by the savagery of the Word Bearers and their daemonic allies, the forces of Chaos were eventually driven off.

The term Mark of Calth refers to two related phenomena occurring in the course of the Battle of Calth, during the Horus Heresy. Worse still, the creatures were able to shrug off even the heaviest weight of fire from the Space Marines' bolters and other weapons. They swarmed unharmed through hails of fire to fall upon the defenders with otherworldly savagery. The creatures followed no perceivable strategy or logic, and it was apparent they had no objective but to shed blood. It would later be observed that they appeared more to be culling prey than fighting an opponent in any conventional sense, an observation many others would make before the end. Ultramarines rally to defend Macragge's Honour from the Daemonic forces unleashed by the Word Bearers High above Calth, in the master control room of the Zetsun Verid Fleet Yard, Roboute Guilliman confronted Kor Phaeron. Instead of fighting the Primarch in honourable combat, the Word Bearers' First Captain resorted to using the sorcerous abilities granted him by the Chaos Gods, slamming the Primarch of the XIII th Legion against the chamber wall with a column of wretched, living darkness that burst forth from the palm of his right hand. On the verdant fields of Komesh the Ultramarines 9 th Chapter died, its half-assembled ranks overrun by a tide of scarlet warriors and armoured vehicles under the command of Foedral Fell. Small islands of cobalt blue shone sporadically across the plains as individual companies and small detachments made brave, but futile stands with whatever weapons and munitions that were at hand. The fighting at Komesh was to be some of the bloodiest of the entire engagement, with upwards of 15,000 Ultramarines slain; the survivors, barely 5,000 strong, would later fight their way free under the command of Tetrarch Tauro Nicodemus in a running battle that would last almost twenty long hours. Further north at the muster camps of Erud, within sight of Numinus City, engines of the Titan Legio Suturvora scattered and blasted elements of the 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd Chapters of the Ultramarines Legion.

My brother, hear me. Warriors of the XVII th Legion, hear me. This violence is against the code of the Legiones Astartes and against the will of our father, the Emperor. In the name of the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar, I implore you to cease fire and stand down. Open communication with me. Let us speak. Let us settle this. This action is an error of the most tragic kind. Cease fire. I, Roboute Guilliman, give you my solemn pledge that we will deal with each other frankly and fairly if these hostilities can be suspended. I urge you to respond." Mountains and deserts dominated the dry land of Colchis and civilisation clustered along coastlines, relying on water and air travel between settlements. Its capital city-state was Vharadesh, the City of Grey Flowers. [2] After the massacres of loyalist forces at Isstvan III and V, and having gained the allegiance of Lorgar and the other Traitor Primarchs, Horus believed that the Ultramarines - the largest of all the Space Marine Legions - were the last and only significant obstacle to his total victory over the Emperor [2k]. Later analyses of the Battle would criticize that there were plenty of signs warning of the Word Bearers' intentions, but the Ultramarines, for all their martial prowess, failed to notice them. The Ultramarines were simply unprepared for the novelty of fighting against a brother Legion, especially one that based its strategy on manipulating the forces of the Empyrean. Lorgar took full advantage of this blindness. [2c] Veridian System's sun poisoned, making surface of Calth uninhabitable; Ultramarines bogged down in Underground War with Word Bearers, preventing them from reinforcing Terra

Attributed to Tetrarch Eikos Lamiad, Ultramarines Legion, from the dedication of the "Defence of Bathor" monument Erebus, Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers Legion, takes the anathame that mortally wounded Horus Lupercal and initiated his conversion to Chaos, and hammers it in a forge, splintering eight shards from it, which are then "grown" in a vat of blood into daggers, similar in appearance to the athames carried by the Word Bearers and their cult auxiliaries, but these are imbued with staggering power. Lorin Alpha Campaign • Subjugation of Tyrinth • Malagant Conflict • Battle of the Kalium Gate • Battle of Catallus • Battle of Tralsak • Tarren Suppression • Balthor Sigma Intervention • Scouring of the Ollanz Cluster • Battle of Zepath • Battle of Anuari • Battle of Pyrrhan • Second Battle of Davin • Battle of Trisolian • Battle of Yarant • Battle of Krade • Battle of Deluge • Battle of Heta-Gladius • Battle of the Aragna Chain • Battle of Kalleth • Battle of the Diavanos System • Battle of Desperation • Battle of Beta-Garmon • Defence of Ryza • Battle of Thagria • Passage of Angels • Thassos Incident • Battle of Zhao-Arkhad • Serpent's Coil • Siege of Barbarus • Battle of Vezdell • Burning of Vrexor • Dawn of Desolation • Death of Chemos • Battle of Luth Tyre • Ydursk Incident • Solar War • Raid on Luna • Siege of Terra • Great Scouring In his hunt for the Dark Apostle, Ungol Shax, Ultramarine Hylas Pelion realises there are things in the warp that even the Word Bearers should be afraid to summon. Roboute Guilliman: Lord of Ultramar • Leman Russ: The Great Wolf • Magnus the Red: Master of Prospero • Perturabo: The Hammer of Olympia • Lorgar: Bearer of the Word • Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix • Ferrus Manus: Gorgon of Medusa • Grandfather's Gift • Perturabo: Stone and Iron • Malcador: First Lord of the Imperium • Konrad Curze: A Lesson in Darkness • Jaghatai Khan: Warhawk of Chogoris • Vulkan: Lord of Drakes • Sons of the Emperor • Corax: Lord of Shadows • Angron: Slave of Nuceria • Scions of the Emperor • Konrad Curze: The Night Haunter • Ghost of Nuceria • The Passing of Angels • The Abyssal Edge • Mercy of the Dragon • Lion El'Jonson: Lord of the First • Illyrium • The Revelation of the Word • Morningstar • Will of the Legion • Embers of Extinction • Alpharius: Head of the Hydra • Blood of the Emperor • Loyal Sons • Mortarion: The Pale King • Rogal Dorn: The Emperor's Crusader • Sanguinius: The Great Angel • Heirs of The EmperorUnusually, the book is written almost entirely in the present tense, purporting to be the official Imperial action report on the events of the battle, interlineated with the personal notes of Primarch Roboute Guilliman. Erebus had managed to complete his blasphemous ritual on Calth's surface, which summoned a Ruinstorm to the galaxy's Eastern Fringe -- a monstrous Warp Storm larger and more destructive than anything space-faring humanity had witnessed since the days of the Age of Strife. It would split the void asunder, dividing the galaxy in two and rendering vast tracts of the Imperium impassable for centuries. Mark of Calth is the fifth compilation to appear in the series; it contains seven short stories and one novella, each by a different author. The stories further describe aspects of the rebels' Ultramar campaign, as close prequels or sequels of Know No Fear and Betrayer. We know that this noblest of Legions often disapproves of unconventional units like Destroyers, but in typically pragmatic terms, the sons of Guilliman aren’t willing to completely give them up, and so this unique take on the unit came into being. I’ve recently started a new Ultramarines force myself, and I’ll be adding a squad and trying them out in the scenarios presented in this month’s feature as soon as I’ve painted them.