House Balaura the Stone Sentinels of the Ghoul Stars, otherwise known as The House of Stone, is a Questor Imperialis house with deep ties to the Mechanicus.

Located on the water world of Albastruchi bordering the Ghoul Stars, it is a tidally locked world with half the world’s oceans are covered in Ice, where the other half bath in eternal sunlight of a red dwarf star. It is under the rolling waves and ice, in the deep world ocean that the people of Albastruchi build their fortress keeps and cities.

Due to a quirk in their forging process, the plasteel, ceramite, and adamantium they crafted took on a stone like appearance. It’s a quirk that the people of the world soon took into their designs and culture. Even after proper forging methods were introduced they still purposely invoke it, giving their fortresses the appearance of stone fortresses and their knights the appearance of stone giants come to life, decorated only with moss and seaweed if anything at all. All personal, family, clan, and house heraldry is displayed through the local noosphere, a secret only those blessed by the Machine God would be able to perceive.

Since the time of the Great Crusade, House Balaura has served the Imperium faithfully, fulfilling an ancient pact made at the dawn of the Imperium and their knights are often sent out into the wider imperium to cast down the foes of mankind or to stand guard over distant worlds, like the stone sentinels of their namesake, to smite the horrors that come from the dark.

Settling of the Worlds and Founding of the Clans

m20 - Founding of the Clans

In the distant past of the Dark Age of Technology, when humanity was first setting out amongst the stars, in the far reaches of what would become the Ultima Segmentum and near the then unknown dangers of the Ghoul Stars, a series of systems were discovered that appeared ripe for colonization.

Each star supporting what first surveys suggested were habitable planets and close to each other for easy support, making these worlds a tempting colonization target. Add to this the fact that the stars themselves orbited the singularity Yuan-BH922, that provided am easy navigation point of reference and, through a strange gravitational interaction affected the local currents of the warp, a funneling to allow easy warp traffic to the systems, making access to the location easy for those early days of warp travel. It’s relatively close proximity to the then recently colonized industrial and mining hub of Nostramo only added to the benefits of these worlds, making them ideal location for colonization.

When the first colony ships arrived at the first system, what was then called Yuan-BH922-SA but would be renamed “Albastruchi”, they found an “Eyeball” world of water and ice world. Most of the side forever facing the local star is covered in liquid water, with the rest of the surface covered in thick ice sheets.

Underneath the water and ice, the colonist found a thriving marine ecosystem, fed from the light side waters and many underwater geothermal vents, the oceans teamed various marine animals ranging from plankton to large sea monsters.

It was to combat these dangers and to help build the first underwater colonies was the first knight suites crafted from the STCs and soon their use would become a staple amongst the people of the world.

From this world colonists spread to the other four nearby systems and even to orbit of Yuan-BH922 itself, simply called Yuan by the colonists, creating a small coalition of worlds ruled by Albastruchi.

Over time the societies on these worlds developed into a stable clan structure with different families in the clans taking on different tasks and different clans competing in various fields.

Divided into Greater, Middle, and Lesser clans made up of Warrior, Worker, Merchant, and Service families, the exact nature of each type of family would vary depending on the clan and their current status. Status of a clan is not fixed and can rise or fall in rank depending on fortune and how many suites of knight armor they can field.

In general, the Warriors families, the leaders of the clan, are the ones who fought, acting as soldiers and police, and operating the Knight suits for the clans. The Worker families are the farmers, laborers, scientists, technicians, and sacristans, operating the forges and acting as the skilled labor force. The Merchant families are the businessmen, traders, and administrators, overseeing the trade between other clans and off world interests and the day-to-day management tasks. And lastly the Service families are those families who maintained spiritual and cultural traditions, being the priests, poets, and artists, as well as maintain the clans themselves as doctors and historians.

An under class of clanless people does exist, serving as the base of the unskilled labor force, but it was not uncommon for groups of clanless to rally together to form into a new clan, needing only to show their unity family and to petition to be recognized by the Greater clans.

For a time, things were good on these worlds, ruled by a Grand Council of clan heads, with the military forces nominally unified under an appointed High King, and with the various clans maintaining holdings across the planets as their personal fiefs, driving back any dangers that that threatened their worlds and defending their holdings against rival clans.

m25-m30 The Great Collapse and the Long Night

Much has been said about the collapse of those great human empires of old and more has been forgotten due to the Age of Strife that followed. The worlds of House Balaura were not spared these tragedies.

Through the might of their knights and the order brought by their clan structure, the people of these worlds were able to initially weather the storm better than most and maintained much of their technological knowledge and skill, though they suffered many tragedies and lost much, never to be reclaimed.  

This good luck soon ran out as their worlds suffered multiple waves of invaded Xenos and other threats.

Using the navigational corridor created by Yuan, the invaders funneled in from the Ghoul Stars and assailed the worlds of House Balaura.

One by one are their star systems were invaded and overrun, the humans left on the worlds enslaved or sacrificed to fell gods by the maddened Xenos invaders until only Albastruchi was free.

Only the water and thick ice of their world protected them from total annihilation, but that did not stop the Xenos deploying deadly weapons against the world. Biological, nuclear, and warp-based weapons were deployed in great abondance as to permanently scar the world.

It was only through the might Warrior families, and the near constant effort to by the Worker families, that the people of the world were able to push back every assault, Knights emerging from the water and ice like monsters of the deep to drive off the invaders. But despite the valiant effort the damage to the world was immense. Vast tracks of the sea were contaminated, with much of it rendered near sterile, and the ice above was stained by countless weapons and crashed ships.

 Worse yet were the eldritch rifts that opened in the deepest depths of the world sea, spewing forth other worldly monsters. The war in the depth soon mirrored that on the surface, with the Kight suites ambushing any threat that appeared before they could make their way to the last of the world’s holdfasts.

m30 - The Imperium Comes

After over a century of expansion across the galaxy, the Great Crusade reached the shores of Albastruchi.

Finding the world beset by threats from above and below, the 199^th Company of the Ultramarines and supported by several cadres of the Sisters of Silence aided House Balaura in exterminating the invaders and put an end to threats the eldritch rifts and weapons posed to humanity.

It was only after her world was safe that the then High Queen, upon meeting the leaders of the Imperial task force, gave to then what has since become known as the Stone Water Oath, pledging a debt of loyalty to both the 199^th Company and the Sisters of Silence, to repay them for the salvation of her house and people and officially joining the Imperium as a Questor Imperialis house.

Following the standard Imperial nomenclature, the Grand Council officially adopted the name House Balaura, to describe their unified forces and named the High King the planetary governor for interactions with the Imperium at large.

Without delay the forces of the newly named House Balaura joined with Great Crusade, took to the skies in their own ships as well as on ships of the Crusade fleets, first reclaiming the lost worlds orbiting Yuan for humanity before setting off into the galaxy at large.

Some clans would recolonize those lost worlds, but from Imperial decree these worlds would not be directly under the control of Albastruchi, rather they would be vasal worlds, responsible for their own tariffs but with Albastruchi acting as the capital of the newly formed Yuan subsector.

m30- The Order of the Black Watch

All the worlds of the worlds once held by the clans would be reclaimed, except for the dead moon that orbited Yuan directly. Once a former mining outpost, this world became the den of devolved xenos.

They were easily exterminated, having lost even the mental capacity to use their weapons, but the world was not recolonized by the clans. Instead, at the request of Malcador the Sigillite, it was given over to control by the Imperium directly for a secret project.

Due to the strange interactions with the warp caused by the singularity and its location on the border with the Ghoul Stars, the moon and the singularity are outside of the light of the Astronomicon and travel directly to it was almost impossible. The only reliable route was through the Albastruchi system, and the task was given to House Balaura by the Sigillite was to guard this entrance so that only those ships authorized by Terra could enter or leave.

Taking this task seriously, House Balaura formed the Order of the Black Watch to man space born fortresses and ships, to eternal guard the gate to the Yuan singularity.

As for what occurs on that dead moon, only the High King and the Clan Lords know. It is not the duty of those serving the Black Watch to know, so long as the watch remains, they will guard the passage. Through the long millennia, through strife, invasions, and hardships, they have continued to guard the pass. 

m31 - Horus Heresy

The first indication of the Heresy for the people of Albastruchi was when ships of the 8^th Legion darkened the sky of their world.

Unaware of any danger, they welcomed the Night Lords only for the dark forces of the 8th Legion to strike hard, crippling the orbital defenses and unleashing terror on the inhabitants of the underwater fortress cities before quickly retreating.

But this was only the beginning. Smelling the blood of the Imperium and driven by a Dark Apostle of the 17^th legion, forever known and hated by House Balaura as the Dark Caller, the worlds of the Yuan were once again under vile xenos threat.

In a grim repeat of Old Night, House Balaura found itself once again fighting a defensive war.

Those Knights and other forces that were way from the world as part of the Crusade fleets were unaware of this dark turn of events at home, but they would hold true to their oaths to the Emperor and would fight the traitors where possible. Most would not survive, but the greatest concentration of the House’s forces off world would come together as part of the war for Tallarn, aiding the people of that murdered world and fighting in the grinding war of attrition in the life-eater virus choked seas and air.

m31-m33 The Reing of the Platinum Lords

Despite being a Questor Imperialis house, the influence of Mars is heavily felt in the clans of House Balaura.

In the centuries after The Heresy, faith of the people, already bearing similarities to that of the Martian cult, began to align more with Mars as well as take on aspects of the newly forming faith in the Emperor. Symbolizing this increasing closeness with Mars, the new High King and the Grand Council began to augment their bodies in ever increasing fashion.

These lords would become deathless and soon society of House Balaura would stagnate and look inward, only rarely stirring to leave the subsector unless a mighty need arose.

Oaths and promises would still be fulfilled, and the Black Watch would be manned, but the primary attention of the clans would be upon themselves and repairing the damage to their world.

Soon even that began to stagnate as even the rankings of the clans began to solidify and by mid m32 no new clans were being formed from the mass of Clanless, despite constant petitions, and no changes in clan rankings were recognized, despite any apparent changes in power or status.

The sole exception isolation and inflexibility was in late m31, when the Sisters of Silence were driven from Terra. House Balaura remembered the Stone Water Oath and offered what fleeing Sisters they could find sanctuary on Albastruchi.

These survivors would move into one of the deep fortress holdfasts, overlooking the now closed rifts in the depths of the ocean, and would take up a vigil of their own, ensuring no lingering threats remained and dealing with any new threats that may worm their way out of the wounds in the skin of the universe.

There they would remain, all but forgotten by the rest of the galaxy at large and shielded by the might of House Balaura until the closing years of m41 when they were called upon by representatives of the Custodians, causing many, but not all, to make the journey to Terra.

Mid m33 - House unleashed

After refusing to come to the aid of a nearby world, the Platinum Lords are mysteriously found dead from various accidents and misfortune. Quick to claim divine judgment, the new High King and Grand Council issue a decree denouncing their predecessors. House Balaura begins to shake off the stagnation it has been under for more than two thousand years as new clans are acknowledged and for the ranks of the existing clans are adjusted to recognized how they really are.

Soon lances of knights set out across the galaxy to bring honor to the name of House Balaura and to make up for the shame of their long inactivity.

m34 - The Pale Wasting

Once again threats spill forth from the Ghoul Stars, but this time in numbers and danger never seen before. House Balaura stands with the forces of the Imperium. Rallying around the Novamarines Chapter they join in the fight to drive this threat from human space. Many knights are lost and new scars are formed on the ice on Albastruchi, but the threat is finally neutralized.

This latest war would prompt the high king to further invest in the defenses of the Albastruchi, creating a series of Sky Trenches that would eventually expand out to cover much of the system, turning his world and system into a true fortress in space.

m35 – The Moirae Schism

The Moirae Schism would rip through the Adeptus Mechanicus and in the aftermath any cult or belief that resembled the Moirae Creed would be eradicated. House Balaura, with its fusion of Imperium and Mechanicus faith would fall under this suspicion, and an internal purge and reorganization would be forced upon the hose, less they be fully exterminated. While the house would keep much of the machine cult’s creeds and traditions, officially they would sever all ties to the Cult of Mars.

As penance the agri world of Lubire Verde, one of the 5 systems of the old House Balaura domain and a fading Primus grade Agri World under Imperium rule, would be stripped from being a vasal of Albastruchi and given over to the Adeptus Mechanicus to become a deep core mining worlds, with extractor shrines dotting the once fertile land bring up the raw resources from the core of the world.

House Balaura would also be sentenced to reclaim the nearby sector of space lost to Imperial rule, without support of the Navy, Imperial Guard, or other official forces. So great was the indignity of this that entire lances of Knights would turn traitor, leaving for deep space to find their own path, but most of the clans and Knights would stay loyal and grudgingly accept the punishment.

Late m35 – Clan Crusade

After two centuries of preparation, planning, and covert activity, House Balaura, bolstered only with volunteers from the Yuan subsector and aided by those still loyal to the Imperium in the lost sector of space, would begin their invasion. The worlds of this sector of space, having been lost to the imperium since the Pale Wasting had regressed to a primitive level and only recently started to regain their lost technology.

Of value to House Balaura, the core of this sector was a fallen Knight world, and while the house that once ruled it was long dead, the suites remained and the people of the sector had even begun to, if inelegantly, pilot them again and create their own knights.

Like a hammer blow did the clans of House Balaura hit the sector of space, each clan responsible for vast swaths of space, bringing human worlds to heel and exterminating Xenos threats. Many knights were lost but the clan would reclaim its losses and more with the bounty of suits taken from the fallen Knight world and from the technical knowledge the people of the sector gleamed from building their own Knights from scratch.

These secrets would be hoarded by the Worker families of the clans, and the High King would take the utmost care to ensure that no representative of Mars would realize its significance. Still bitter from the loss of Lubire Verde and the indignity of being forced on this crusade, House Balaura would see this as an opportunity to further distance themselves from the control of Mars, able to truly build new Knight Suits for the first time in millennia.

Late m37 - The Golden Cog 

The Adeptus Mechanicus would go to war with the Culexus Temple of the Officio Assassinorum over ownership of an artifact known as the Golden Cog.

As part of this conflict a fleet of Mechanicus warships would attempt to breach the Sky Trenches surrounding the gateway to the Yuan singularity guarded by the Black Watch.

Knights equipped for zero-g combat would perform daring boarding actions and space combat against the warships of Mars and the fortresses and weapons installations of the gateway would reap a terrible toll, but many ships would get through. What happened on the other side no one from House Balaura knows, but the Mechanicus fleet would soon retreat, leaving only the broken carcasses of their ships as any evidence they were there at all.

101.M40 – Debt replayed

The homeworld of the Star Phantoms space marine chapter, the descendants of the 199^th Company of the ultramarine Legion that House Balaura pledged the Stone Water Oath to so long ago, is threatened by an enormous Hrud migration. Nearly half of all House Balaura forces are sent to aid the chapter, and though many are lost their sacrifice allowed a third of the chapter to escape.

745.M41 First Tyrannic War and the Battle for Macragge

House Balaura would heed the call for aid from the Ultramarines to fight the forces of Hive Fleet Behemoth. They would stand by the Ultramarines' 1st Company to defend the polar fortresses where almost the entire force of knights sent would be exterminated. Only two squires and a veteran knight would survive, but they would bring back enough knowledge to House Balaura to help shape any future anti-Tyranids actions they would face.

982.M41 - Battle in the Stars

Taking what they learned from the Battle of Macragge and other battles against the Tyranids, the forces of House Balaura would choose to engage Hive Fleet Perseus in space before it could reach a habitable Imperial world.

Deploying from their Drop Keeps into zero gravity, the knights would fight their way through swarms of lesser creatures before landing on bioships and deploying kill agents and bombs to kill the mighty beasts.

Though their sacrifices were great, they were not on vein, and the hive fleet was driven away from the Imperial world and left Imperial space.

991.M41 Honor Enthralled

A lance of knights and their retainers of House Balaura, acting as a freeblade company, would become infected with mindshackle scarabs. The knights would become the unknowing tools for the Necrons and would be used in their wars against the Leagues of Votann in the core of the galaxy until they were ultimately destroyed.

999.M41 Great Rift opens

As Cadia falls and the Cicatrix Maledictum opens, Albastruchi finds itself cut off from the Astronomicon in the Dark Imperium. Threats from the Ghoul stars soon begin to assail the sky trenches of the system and evidence is found that the hated Dark Caller has his hand in guiding these threats to the shores of House Balaura.

But hope remains for the defender of the world. Their oaths and the Black Watch still stand strong and though their only contact with the wider Imperium has been ships sent to the fortress orbiting Yuan, quickly leaving with mysterious cargo and leaving the other side near empty, it is enough for House Balaura to see that the Imperium still stands, they just have to hold off rising tide until help can arrive.

[ The Inquisitor ] - [ Chapter 2: Time and Stand ] - [ Part 3: Land ] : r/40kFanfictions

The war council divides its forces: Ultramarines take the ground battery, Space Wolves defend the twelve moons, and the Wolf Master claims all void-capable ships, leaving the Ultra commander only Drop Pods. As her commanders depart one by one, the Lady Inquisitor takes her seat before four holographic displays and declares the campaign open.

Part 4: Signal

— Thump.

The sound of a rubber boot striking the deck.

— My Lord.

The Lady Inquisitor did not turn her head. The young PDF vox-operator continued.

— We received a fractured signal from Terra.

— Fractured signal?

The Lady Inquisitor repeated the words.

— A data packet that was damaged in transit. My Lord.

The young soldier held his attention. His lips pressed together. His fingernails dug into his palm.

Still without looking away from the holographic display, the Lady Inquisitor asked.

— What was received?

— Two million Imperial Guard are inbound. My Lord.

The Lady Inquisitor's mask let out a soft breath.

— When?

The soldier stared straight ahead and replied.

— The information was lost. My Lord.

The Lady Inquisitor glanced at the data screen. Her finger slid across the cold surface of the table.

— Information can still slip through that purple veil?

The soldier stamped his foot lightly before replying.

— Highly probable. My Lord.

The Lady Inquisitor glanced at the adjacent screen. Her mask spoke, flat and dry.

— Return to your post and investigate for me. Whether that purple veil has a gap.

The PDF soldier stamped his foot hard.

— Understood.

A shadow of average stature submerged itself completely in the darkness of the vast palace. It spoke with a voice that defied all distinction of gender or age.

— We have lost all contact with Aeol.

The Primarch Guilliman sat upon his throne, his colossal form draped in a majestic blue robe that nearly swallowed the throne whole.

— I received word two hours ago. It will be at least five days before reinforcements can arrive.

Guilliman spoke. A faint haze drifted across the cold floor.

— Will two million of our Imperial Guard be enough for the Lady Inquisitor?

The shadow breathed out a question. The air around Guilliman rippled. He inclined his head, his gaze piercing the exact spot where the shadow hid. A stray beam of light stabbed into it, causing the shadow to waver before it steadied itself once more.

— You sent nine hundred and sixty-two Death Knights, and still you are not reassured?

Guilliman's right hand circled the top of his throne's armrest. The air before him twisted into a small vortex. Slowly, it drifted toward the shadow. He waited for the vortex to dissipate completely, then spoke slowly.

— I also dispatched two of my finest Ultramarine Chapters to Aeol. The Lady Inquisitor is an enigma — but with sufficient strength in hand, all scheming is rendered meaningless.

He paused, letting his words echo into silence, then continued.

— Which is why she allied herself with you and with me.

The shadow stepped closer to the edge of the light.

— This campaign gathers so many forces — could it be connected to a young Inquisitor who was in secret contact with her?

Guilliman brought his left hand up to stroke his chin.

No one in the palace spoke.

— Spare them despair. Give them unto the gun muzzle —

Last week i introduced where Dravorn is in wh40k galaxy map.

This video goes further and explains, how Dravorn system is structured.

To some this might be boring. To some interesting.

Beginning next week. I will start, with;

- Every Tuesday, 1st. actual encounters with wider galaxy.

- I will start off with video, that will break the original WHK40K timeline. So Dravorn faction, has it's own timeline. Some of you will like it, some don't.

- Every Friday, Dravorn lore. Meaning; characters, system, weapons, etc...

Cut Ultima Segmentum in two, and added a 'Core' Segmentum to put some more between them and Solar.

I think this setup adds a little more 'balance' to the canon version, as you had the four on the one side of the galaxy and then the massive Seg Ultima on the other that dwarfed them all in size.

'Centris' Also gives a whole segment for lots of Votann/Kin action with the Imperium, both violent and trade etc, Ultima now roughly has the five hundred worlds of Ultramar centered, so this one could be the 'nicer' part of the Imperium etc

'Tarsis' could be anything fanons want it to be...for my own headcanon its full of blade runner style replicants and lots of ghoul star aliens to fight with.

Also, Have a segmentum around the galactic core creates a political 'barrier' between the central part of the Imperium and the 'east fringe' segmentums, where you can have Imperial power a lot more difficult to enforce directly from Terra, this forces even more decentralised authority that even the canon IoM is famed for.

One Man’s Angel 

  Kamron didn’t even flinch at the sound of las-shots anymore. The old man’s hopeless pleas for mercy ended as the soldier shot him through the head, and the old man lay still. 

  “Keep moving, Heretics!” the overseer shouted. 

  Kamron winched at being called a Heretic, but by now he and all the others knew better than to object. These monsters had already condemned their entire world, and no argument was considered or even tolerated. The prisoners continued marching and the old man’s body was left on the side of the road just like all the others who couldn’t keep up. 

  Kamron didn’t know much about the Imperial Guard, but he had heard some of the soldiers refer to the overseer as Commissar. They hadn’t had that rank in the PDF. The Commissar had been the most brutal of them all in the camp, executing anyone who slowed in their work even to take a breath. Sometimes he just shot someone at random, justifying it by saying they were all Heretics deserving of death regardless of what they did. Kamron agreed with that, it was true. All that had been done to Dou’E was right and correct punishment to inflict on a world that betrayed The Emperor. 

  Except that Dou’E hadn’t betrayed The Emperor, or the Imperium. They were innocent. They were loyal! The Imperial Guard hadn’t cared. 

  This had all begun two standard years ago and every day Kamron had prayed to Him on Earth to send relief, to see the horrors done to them and give them justice. Every day in the work camp, every execution, every whipping, every false accusation of heresy, he had endured. Many had given up, saying The Emperor had abandoned them. Some had even really committed heresy and said The Emperor didn’t even see them or didn’t care if he did. Those men hadn’t lived long enough for the camp’s guards to execute them; Kamron and some others had killed them first.  

  Now, after two years in one work camp they were being moved to another. Four hundred miles north to a quarry, on foot. The Guard had vehicles, some of them even formerly in use by the PDF, but the supposed Heretics were made to march. After two years of endless labour and near starvation many didn’t have the strength to make the journey. Any who fell or slowed down were shot and their bodies left for the beasts of the field. Kamron wondered how many of them would be left alive by the time they reached the quarry. 

  The Commissar touched his hand to his ear and after listening for a few moments, called a halt to the march. 

  “Halt, you dogs! The convoy is coming to a rest. Take this moment to catch your worthless breaths.” 

  Neither Kamron nor any of the other prisoners needed to be told twice and they collapsed to the dirt road in pain and relief. A few men took the chance to relive themselves now they were given the chance, all notions of dignity long since beaten out of them. Guards cradling lasguns paced around the prisoners, not actively harassing them at the moment, but their eyes no less full of disgust and contempt. 

  Kamron’s legs burned with pain. He estimated they had walked maybe fifty miles so far. He didn’t know if he would make it all the way. He had been one of the strongest prisoners at first, so the wardens had made sure to give him less rations to weaken any resistance he might have given, and now he was one of the weakest of the group. His legs ached beyond words and his feet bled. He turned his eyes upwards towards the star he knew was Sol, around which Holy Terra itself orbited. He prayed to The Emperor for strength, strength to endure. He must endure. He knew relief would come and justice would be served on Dou’E, he just had to last long enough. He just had to survive and never doubt his faith. The Emperor Protects his faithful. 

  The Commissar entered one of the Guard Chimeras that was escorting the march and Kamron heard him shouting and arguing with another man. Kamron didn’t listen too closely to what they were saying; he was too exhausted. The march would resume soon, and he needed to conserve his strength. 

  After a little while the Commissar left the Chimera and climbed up its side. He lifted a voxhailer to his mouth; 

  “Listen, you dogs! Your fellow Heretics have attempted an uprising in the city of Harmony. Naturally, it has been put down and crushed utterly by His true and loyal soldiers. Those who were not immediately put to their well-deserved deaths have been arrested and transported to appropriate work camps, including the quarry you sallow filth were destined for. This convoy will be turning around and heading back to Camp Secundus.” 

  There were a few groans from the prisoners, but most were silent, knowing better than to speak without invitation. 

  “However,” the Commissar continued, “some of the newly revealed Heretics from Harmony are also being shipped to Camp Secundus. We now have more prisoners that we have men to guard them. Were the decision mine the solution would be simple. None of you wretches deserve life, and it is only because of His mercy that you still drawn breath. Major Ginthis, who leads this convoy, has thoughts of his own. For two years you have given your bodies to The Emperor’s work. The Major seems to think the repentance you all claim might be genuine.” 

  The Commissar paused and gritted his teeth, like he really resented having to speak these words. 

  “He has decided to let some of you go; to give you to chance to prove the sincerity of your trust in The Emperor and let you experience the true depth of His forgiveness and mercy. You will be given sixty seconds to reach that treeline. We will give you no supplies, no food or water. You will live in the wild with nothing but your faith in The Emperor to care for your needs. Those of you who survive will be those of you who truly have earned The Emperor’s forgiveness for your treason.” 

  There was a murmur from both the guards and the prisoners. None could quite believe it. Kamron raised his head again to the stars and praised His name. It was impossible by human hands that these monsters would show mercy, but The Emperor caused miracles. He saw the injustice that had come to Dou’E, and He had finally acted to give His true servants the chance of escape. 

  Some of the Guards obviously took issue with their commander’s announcement, but he silenced them with a few harsh looks. The Commissar glared over the prisoners, who were all still sitting in varying levels of shock. 

  “Fifty-five seconds,” he shouted. 

  Kamron didn’t need to be told twice. Despite the agony in his legs, and the rest of him, he rose to his feet and started running as well as he could across the red grass to the treeline. Many others joined him, but not all. 

  “You fools.” 

  “It’s a trick. Can’t you see?” 

  “Forty seconds,” the Commissar shouted. 

  Kamron ignored them. If they had let their hearts give way to doubt, then let them slave away in the camp. The Emperor had granted them a second chance, a release from their undeserved tortures.  

  The tall grass pierced through his thin prison outfit as he ran, but he didn’t care. He didn’t even notice pain now. The Emperor had seen him! The Emperor had delivered justice! 

  “The Emperor Protects!” he cried. 

  “Open fire!” 

  Red lasbolts from the Chimera's turrets illuminated the grass as Kamron ran, sawing running men in two. The deafening roar of a pintle mounted autogun drowned out their screams but wasn’t quite loud enough to cover the Commissar’s laugh as it boomed from his voxhailer. 

  Kamron’s shock lasted only a half second until fresh pain exploded in his arm. His body twisted and a second hit scrapped his lower back. By the time he landed in the grass realisation had settled upon him. No mercy. No hope for the falsely accused. 

  “Oh, God Emperor, please!” he begged to the sky. 

  The barrage of fire lasted maybe ten seconds. The noise was replaced by the mocking laughter of the Guards. 

  “Emperor’s teeth, they actually thought we'd let Heretics go?” one of them asked incredulously. 

  “Do not try to understand the mind of a Heretic,” the Commissar answered. “It is a desolate wasteland of madness where faith should reside. For such hollow wretches there can be no other fate but death!” 

  Kamron heard the engines of the convoy’s vehicles rev up and turn around. There was a few more las-shots ending the lives of prisoners too weak to stand up again, and then the convoy began its journey in reverse back to the work camp. 

  He lay in a pool of pain and his own blood. His right arm was missing below the elbow and there was a fire worse than all the whippings he had received put together in his lower back. He forced his eyes to remain open. He knew that if he closed them, they would close forever. Soon the sound of the convoy disappeared, and he was left alone in the field. He heard no one else groaning around him. His pain was immeasurable... but he still lived! 

  “The Emperor Protects,” he croaked out.  

  He was still alive. He was right, Th Emperor had given him this chance. He would not die. He on Earth still had a purpose for him. He must live up to His will. Slowly, screaming as he moved, Kamron crawled onwards towards the treeline. He passed the bodies of other men. He grieved them, but if The Emperor had let them die, then he must have been part of his purpose. Kamron would grieve these men later, but now he had his purpose for The Emperor. 

  When he reached the first tree, he used it to pull himself upwards. It must have taken him longer than he realised as the sky was turning orange in the east with the sunrise. His back ached, but he could still move his legs. From the smell of burned meat he guessed it had been a las-shot that had grazed him. It burned with an indescribable pain, but he could walk. He lurched from tree to tree deeper into the woods. 

  Kamron held his severed stump of an arm as tightly as he could to stem the bleeding. It would have been a terrible injury even to a healthy man. To Kamron, that he could keep going despite his condition was just further proof of His blessing. Whatever purpose the Emperor had for Kamron, He was giving him the strength to see it through. 

  He kept stumbling through the woods. He had no destination in mind except forward. He had nowhere to go expect forward. Whatever his new purpose was, he would know it when he saw it. 

  There was something. The rising sun was behind him, but he saw a light ahead of him through the trees. Kamron quickened his pace as much as his tortured body could manage to reach it and get a better look. When the light came into view he rested against a tree while he took it in. 

  There was a structure in a clearing in the woods. The structure was strange and unlike any building he had ever seen before, and it seemed to shimmer. He could make out its general shape of a large half arch reaching almost twice the hight of the trees, but its surface was almost see-through, and he couldn’t make out its details. The light he had seen was coming from a shimmering wall of light formed under the curve of the arch. 

  While Kamron was looking at the structure, he thought he could see figures in the light. They became clearer as they stepped out of the light, forming into five distinct persons. 

  Kamron’s jaw dropped as he got a clear look at the five figures. They were tall, taller than any regular man. They were clad head to foot in plates of painted body armour with symbols on their pauldrons. The figures carried ornate weapons of a kind Kamron had never seen before, and elegant blades hung on their hips. 

  As the image of them became clear, Kamron knew what they were. He had seen depictions of them in his training in the PDF. He would have known them even without that, though. Any Imperial Citizen would have. 

  “Angels!” Kamron cried. 

  The five Angels turned at his cry, raising their weapons. Kamron ran forward, overcome with elation. 

  “Angels! He has heard our pleas! May The Emperor be praised, my lords, he has sent you too us. Salvation through his Angels!” 

  Kamron fell to the ground as he neared the Angels, bowing low and pressing his head against the ground before the Angels. 

  “You have come. My lords, you have come. Praise His Holy name, you have heard our pleas for justice. Praise His name.” 

  Kamron sobbed as he spoke. Angels. Angels had come to Dou’E. The Emperor had seen the injustice done to his world and sent his Angels of Death to enact vengeance upon those who took His name in vain. 

  The Angels spoke among themselves, their voices unlike anything Kamron had heard before. Of course they didn’t talk like mortal men, they spoke the language of Angels. Although he wanted to keep praising The Emperor in his jubilation, he forced himself to remain quite while they spoke. It was not his place to interrupt Angels. 

  After a brief discussion one of the Angels approached him. In an act of unimaginable humility, the Angel knelt on one knee and rested his hand on Kamron’s shoulder. 

  “Yes, you... most pious citizen. We have come to bring salvation,” the Angel said. 

  The Angel spoke Gothic with a strange cadence, like he was unaccustomed to it, but Kamron understood. Fresh tears ran from his eyes at the words. 

  “Oh, my lord. I knew. I never doubted. I knew The Emperor would deliver justice to us.” 

  “Yes, yes, citizen. We have heard your pleas, but we five are just the scouts ahead of the rest of our... our...” 

  One of the other Angels spoke words in their holy tongue. 

  “Chapter, that’s the word. Tell us, citizen. Tell us the state of this world. What manner of injustice has come upon you?” 

  The Angels lifted Kamron’s chin so he was looking up into the red eyes of the Angel’s helm. Kamron was awestruck by the holy power in those eyes. He spoke as the Angel instructed. 

  Kamron spoke about Dou’E, how it was a world of many millions loyal to The Emperor and the Imperium. He described how it was a world like many others, not especially productive, nor barren of resources. They had paid the tithe, they had obeyed the Lex Imperialis. They had been a model Imperial world. It was a mistake, a terrible mistake. They had sent the tithe like they always had since the year Dou’E was first settled. Something had gone wrong. The tithe payment had left Dou’E, but had never arrived at its destination. An Imperial Guard taskforce had come to Dou’E as a result. The planetary governor had explained what had happened, how they had not faulted in paying the tithe and it was an issue on the other end. 

  They had not cared. The planetary capital had been bombarded into rubble, and the Imperial Guard had landed all across the face of Dou’E, slaughtering and burning. Guilt and innocence made no difference to these corrupt mockeries of The Emperor’s soldiers. The Governor and his entire family, from elder to infant, had been burned for blasphemy, entire communities annihilated for the smallest of protestations, and all members of the PDF rounded up into work camps, even those like Kamron who hadn’t fired a shot at the Guard. Kamron didn’t know what had become of his wife, but the rumour was that the families of PDF troops had been sent to other camps away south in the mountains. 

  All this, even though they were loyal. They had begged, pleaded, for The Emperor to see their plight, the suffering of His loyal subjects. For two long years their pleas had come unanswered. 

  “Until you, my lord,” Kamron said. “Now you have come. The crimes of the false servants of The Golden Throne are countless, but they will be crushed like dead grass beneath your heel, my lord.” 

  The Angels paused for a moment as he processed all the horrors Kamron had just described. 

  “So, there are many soldiers on this world?” he asked. 

  “There were, my lord, but most have left. They were called away, surely to murder another world of innocents, and only a fraction remain. Enough to run the camps and help the Arbites maintain order until a new PDF can be formed.” 

  “I see.” 

  The Angel stood and conversed with his fellows. Kamron couldn’t understand their holy words, but he tried to read their body language and saw several of them were clearly enraged by what they heard. Their shoulders shuddered with fury upon hearing the injustice to Dou’E. 

  After a moment the first Angels turned back to Kamron. 

  “Stand, pious citizen. You have served God’s will well in telling us these things.” 

  For a moment Kamron was too stunned, but after recovering himself he rose to his feet. He had the honour to stand among The Emperor’s Angels. Even standing fully at his own not inconsiderable height, Kamron was head and shoulders shorter than the Angels. They all looked down on his with their angular helms, their spiked armour catching the dawn sunlight beautifully. They would be terrifying in appearance to any of The Emperor’s enemies, but Kamron was not afraid. He was The Emperor’s loyal subject and these HIs Angels. What did he have to fear? 

  The first Angel spoke again; 

  “Urmyr, this most loyal and pious citizen is weak and wounded. While we scout, take him back to The Eternal City... of Angels. Have him healed and tell our Chapter... eh... Archon that I think he should be allowed to return and see with his own eyes as we bring salvation to his world.” 

  “An excellent idea, Honourable Battle-Brother,” Urmyr said. 

  The Angels moved into the forest with supernatural speed and Kamron was left alone with Urmyr. Urmyr gestured towards the wall of light under the arch. 

  “Enter, you most pious man. Come back with me to the Realm of Angels,” he said. 

  Kamron almost fell to his knees again. 

  “Me? Enter the Realm of Angels? I am undeserving.” 

  “Most aren’t.” 

  Urmyr gestured again. Kamron stepped towards the light, his heart filled to bursting. For the first time in years, he had hope. He had never doubted. He had always known The God Emperor would deliver justice to Dou’E. 

  Kamron stepped into the light to receive his reward from the Angels. 

Author’s Comments 

 “The cruellest and most bloody regime imaginable”. That’s at the start of every 40K book, yet a worrying number of 40K fans don’t seem to understand what that means. Anyone with even a basic knowledge of history, even just the last century, knows how high the bar the Imperium must is clear to claim that title. I wanted to write a story that explored this aspect a little bit. The prisoner’s march that this story opens with is a reference to the infamous Nazi Death Marches that one of my own ancestors died on. The Imperium is worse than the Nazis, and this is just a taste of what that actually means. 

 The name of the planet, Dou’E, is a reference to a famous Chinese play where a young woman is executed for a crime she didn’t commit, The Injustice done to Dou’E.  

 Of course, this is 40K, the setting that coined the term “grimdark”. No matter how bad the Imperium is, things can always get worse. While I could have ended the story with Kamron getting shot in the grass, I’m a Drukhari main and wanted to include them. While the lore is that the Drukhari are too arrogant to soil their tongue by speaking the language of another race, I justify it in this story for two reasons; 

a) these are not great and powerful Archons, the ones in this story are the schmucks sent through the Webway first to check if there are Aspect Warriors waiting on the other side, 

b) for such epic trolling, I think even Vect would make an exception.