 The burning of Prospero, despite the verb that denotes it, was not one act. Few things are in the grand sweep of history, but this event is once so wrapped up in narratives, personalities, agendas, ideologies, and the sheer weight of time itself that it forms a mass that appears to pull in everything around it. Bending the fabric of the past by its sheer influence alone, threads weave into this tale from unexpected corners, with each new examination of what fragments of chronicles past remain, new possibilities emerge. What one has compiled is one's own truest account of what occurred, but even then the dread weight of the past itself will inevitably reopen wounds of conjecture and supposition. For as with so much of the past, what was is clouded by ignorance, redaction, and vested interest. What you shall find in this tale's telling, dearest Acolyte, is as much of the truth as can be managed, but as any good historian knows, truth is a fickle bell-dam, coily luring away the unworthy with promises and trapping them inside prisons of their own biases. Alas, one has not the time to lecture upon the means of ethical and legitimate scholarship of times gone by, but simply put, possess within yourselves an inquiring spirit and a mind open to doubt. Far from the maxims of the Inquisition, a mind too small for it is an ill thing indeed. Now then, that this is a record of the gathering storm of the Emperor's judgment, the means by which the Crimson King would be brought to justice, the gathering of the censure host. Contrary to the wild imaginations of some, the process for mustering the force that would bring the displeasure of the master of mankind to the planet of Magnus the Red was not a rapid affair, even with the superlative abilities of those who would lead it. Terra's astrophatic communication networks had been thrown into absolute chaos by the Crimson King's works. The choirs rushing to replace those who had been driven mad were simply killed outright by the psychic maelstrom unleashed upon the assault of the homeworld's aetheric defences. It was not for several solar weeks that word of what happened, and word of what would now happen in response, would reach the two offworld points that mattered most. The vengeful spirit, flagship of the Warmaster, Horace Lupercal, and Fenris. Icebound Fife of the Sixth Legion Astartes, the Vilca Fenrica. Commonly, if always informally, known as the Space Wolves. Unsurprisingly, records of just what transpired in this time period are fragmentary, both due to the infrastructural devastation wrecked upon Terra, the whims of warp chrono dilation, and of course the loss of archival records during the Great Heresy. But it appears that, at least initially, the master was spearheaded by the captain general of the Ligio Custodis, Constantine Valdor. The emperor, absent from public and military life for years at this point, did not emerge from the palace at any time during or following the chaos. Authority from within the Imperial household flowed from the font of Valdor, first of the Ten Thousand, and Malkador the Sigillite from his position as head of the Council of Terra, both now furiously occupied in bringing stability back to the tumultuous throne world. The captain general was delegated the responsibility of mustering the force of arms to be known as the censure host, although it was always understood that eventual command would be granted to Lehman Russ, Primarch of the Sixth Legion, as under the Imperial junta government, the Primarchs shared equal authority, second only to the emperor. In terms both judicial and practical, Valdor was likely perfectly fine with this arrangement. Had his personal feelings upon the matter, or indeed any matter, ever been a consideration to his comportment of his duties, anyone who states thus clearly does not know the custodies. The captain general was a leader and a warrior considered second only to the Primarchs. Indeed, many have long speculated that in terms of sheer combat prowess, he would have been the equal or better of many of them, although one finds such petty power, dynamic bickering, trivial and ultimately pointless. It was Valdor's stated and consistent position to remain as perfectly neutral from all aspects of imperial politics, be they martial or temporal, as he and by extension the legio custodies could possibly be. Intervention was only ever undertaken under the explicit direction of the emperor himself, or when Valdor's own judgment concluded that either these orders or the emperor's personage was at risk. Valdor's appointment to this position within the censure host was both the natural result of his position at the highest military authority on the throne world and, as well, a considered choice, as the importance of the host's mission could under no circumstances fall prey to the imperium's oft-device of politics. The Council of Nikia was still fresh upon the minds of many, even years later, and many of these would damn Magnus a traitor for the actions he had taken, disrupting the stated mission of the host, which was to bring Magnus before his father, the emperor, in person. Additionally, the legendary composer of Valdor was likely considered vital in reigning in the more bellicose character of Leman Russ, known as one of the most willful primarchs amongst the brotherhood. Finally, as the bearer of the Magisteria Maxima, the emperor's own judicial seal, Valdor had supreme legal authority under the Lex Imperialis, possessing the full legitimacy of the military regime's government. In the immediate term, the captain general had no difficulty in securing the core of the censure host from the local volume. Although it had been 200 years since unification and the solar reclamation, the sol system, and terror specifically, was the greatest fortress humanity had ever possessed and was manned accordingly. Diverse armed forces from both humanity's core worlds and its recently conquered regions were present in both ceremonial and specifically defensive roles. These included Astartes from all legions, the so-called Crusader host, as well as the solar auxilia, the Exertus Imperialis, soldiers in their millions, as well as thousands of Mechanicum Tagmata, both Martian and otherwise, and hundreds of god-engines of the Calesia Titanica. Valdor's choices from these formed a cocktail of the powerful, the exotic, the arcane, and the influential. After all, the host's primary purpose was as escort for Magnus the Red. However, imprisoned the Crimson King was to be during the voyage. Such an event was both punishment for the Primarch's crimes and a message to the Imperium, a demonstration of the fate that would be suffered if any others chose to defy the emperor's writ. No matter their station. Fittingly, the forefront would represent the emperor's auric judgment, a vanguard of the Ligio Custodis itself. 982 warriors of the 10,000, representing 91 individual sodalities of the Ligio. Supplementing them in unaugmented manpower were the regiments of the Exertus, with the bulk being 5,000 troopers from the Third Turannic, the Ironside Regiments of Old Albia. Alongside them were 4,000 Hoplites from the 9th Solar Auxiliary Cohort, one of the renowned Saturnine Rams Regiments that had founded this wing of the Imperial Auxilia during the solar reclamation. The 10th and 42nd Sacrosan Volteguers provided 3,000 light and reconnaissance infantry for service, while 8 Tyrion Exo Guard Regiments offered up 600 Void Armoured Heavy Infantry and 100 or so of their helots. Finally, the Caranid Sentinels were levied of 2,000 of their menate arms, all of which were amongst the most augmented baseline human troops within Sol's light. Bearing weaponry and equipment allowed to no other Exertus Regiment, as befitted their stations, as wardens of the vast volumes between the planets and stations of humanity's home system. Despite the presence of so many tagama within the system at the time, it curiously does not appear that the Mechanicum of Mars were contacted to provide these military elements for the host. Indeed, that they were included at all appears to have been a direct result of a late and highly pointed request made to Valdor by the Fabricator General Kelbor Hall himself, subsequent to the time that word of the host's formation had reached Warmaster Horus. If the Captain General had desired to make the censure a completely imperial affair, keeping Mars the Fabricator General and the Synod out of the proverbial loop, it appears he either underestimated their desire to play a role in such a pivotal event, or was outmaneuvered politically, for means either mundane or in dreadful hindsight, ominous. Consequently, the Sidonian tagmata was attached to the host, formed of tagma drawn from Ekris, Norn and Ifrem, as well as Mars herself, with the stated purpose of the inspection, assessment and if necessary impounding and disassemblage of any technology found upon Prospero that Mechanicum Dogma prohibited. These were the most visible elements of the censure host. Valdor, of course, was not content in merely utilizing the mundane forces at his disposal. Indeed, considering the legion he was tasked with standing before, far more exotic formations were called for. To the somnus Citadel upon Luna, Terra's sole natural satellite, a missive was dispatched, and it was one that was answered immediately. Three thousand sisters militant of the Divisio Telepathica's Investigatti's wing, commonly known by those aware of their existence as the silent sisterhood, answered Valdor's summons, constituting three full vigils and associated Charon pattern acquisitor grav tanks. Additionally, far to the west of the Imperial Palace upon Terra, a black clad representative made his presence noted to Valdor and the host's command cadre, notifying the Captain General, it should be noted history is unclear if this figure had been requested or not, that the chamber Ocidentalis of the Ordo Sinister was at full combat readiness. Five warlord Sinister-class Cy-Titans, the most horrific and terrible weapons ever constructed by the Emperor's own hand, were embarked upon their ebb and transport barks, and awaiting deployment, along with one hundred thousand Secutarii Sinister, the Ordo's bespoke Secutarii Titan Guard. Between the sisterhood and the Ordo, the censure host would boast what was possibly the most potent anti-psycho-military force ever assembled in one place by the Imperium. Certainly, while the Ordo is known to have engaged in several psycho-archane purgation engagements throughout the Great Crusade, records are of course significantly redacted. It is unlikely to impossible that five of their Cy-Titans had ever been deployed simultaneously or against any one foe, even in operations undertaken against, say, Asuriani craft worlds or crave infestations. Certainly, this was reflected in the command cadre that formed the core of authority within the host. Constantine Valdor was naturally the apex, but at his right hand stood Genesha Kroll, the vigil commander of the Sisters of Silence herself. Below them, authority for the Unaugmented Troops lay with High Marshal Marcus Roan of the Third Teranic Auxilia, while at his side, outside the chain of command, Dominus Zalatcus, Thrain Esmark, prefect of the chamber Osedentalis, commanded the Cy-Titans. The Mechanicum, as you may see, had no say in command authority. Their tagmata was expected to defer to Valdor, Kroll and Esmark, depending on situational demands. The Custodes and the Exertus were the public face of the censure host. Such a rapid collection of military might in the near space of Terra could not escape the notice of many, no matter the supreme authority of those that were directing it. The Emperor's writ of censure had been made explicitly public. All present upon the Throne World, with half a lick of scents, knew that the Custodes were forming an expedition to capture the Cyclops of Prospero. Few, of course, knew the identity of the beacon-less, black-hulled craft that lurked within the flotilla, for few, if any, knew of the existence of the Silent Sisterhood beyond rumour, and fewer still, the existence of the Ordo Sinister. Neither of these formations were for the eyes of the masses. Let the Custodes march along parade grounds, as the Emperor's justice manifests. Within the halls of these ships lay his ultimate weapons against the Aetheric. Their presence there, and our ability to confirm this in history, a testament to the totality of intent behind the order to bring a Magnus to task by any means necessary. Clearly, there was hope that the Crimson King would simply surrender himself to his father's judgment, just as clearly the unthinkable other outcome that he may resist, and by force, was clearly being considered, and without any mercy. Was a display of power a demand for contrition, even the use of dread ever the truly stated aim? More on that to come. Regardless of the urgency of the task, and the superlative abilities of those commanding it, it would nevertheless take several months to properly assemble and arm the censure host within Terran space. This was as much to do with the simple processes of logistical demands any such assemblage would require, as it was to do with the sheer chaos Magnus's actions had wrecked upon the administrative infrastructure of the Sol system. Additionally, the import of the action was lost upon none, with the senior staff of all wings of the host sequestering themselves in the most secretive chambers of the Divisio Militaris headquarters, to study in detail the intelligence that existed about the Prosperine system, its locales, and its potential defences. Valdor personally demanded the presence of Atharva, a single Astartes representative of the Thousand Sons present within Sol's light at the time of Magnus's folly. Through debriefings likely intense, Atharva was interrogated about his homeworld, his legion and his primarch, willingly surrendering what information he could to the host. It appears that at this point the idea that Magnus would somehow resist was not actively in consideration, at least not in the minds of Valdor and Malkador. Both believed the sisterhood and the Ordo Sinister to be weapons of absolute last resort. One such as Valdor would never be given over to emotional considerations, being a man of deep faultless practicality. The possibility that Magnus would be an open rebellion before him was scant, not a total impossibility, however, so he would be equipped accordingly. That being said, there were within the host those who, in no uncertain terms, were eager to believe the worst of Magnus and his legion, so whatever the feelings of the Captain General, they were preparing for the worst, or even perhaps relishing the possibility. Strictly speaking, this forward military planning, the assessment of defences, this was a contingency, nothing more, a necessity in the event of a worst-case scenario. Strictly speaking, that is. Under these assumptions did the censor host slip anchor over Terra, bound outwards from the solar reaches for the onward muster at Beta Garmin. There it was hoped the host would rendezvous with the forces of the sixth legion and the primarch, Limanrus. The astropathic choirs, messages of grave import long since delivered, now turned their attentions to making the writ of censure known as far and wide across the galaxy as possible. As the censure host left the system, the memetic dream code of deepest gravity leapt from the minds of Terra's astropaths across all memno communication hubs. The Emperor was broadcasting his word. This was the fate of those who had breached his trust. And there would be none spared from the might of his legs. At the time of the declaration of censure, the sixth legion, the Vilca Fenrica, were believed to have been engaged in at least six major crusade campaigns, with Limanrus as was his want at the forefront of the most deadly of these, engaged in the xenocide of the Scarec in the volume of Sipramundi. Due to the particular idiosyncrasies of the sixth legion, the wolves that stalked the stars kept few to little written records. All we know of Rus' reception of the news comes from the sagas as related by their rune priests, as well as divisio militaris, logistical and transit logs. The former tells tales of the wolf king's towering rage at the perfidy of his brother, cursing him to any who would bear to stand against the fury as a sorcerer enthralled to darkest maleficarum. The latter shows that Rus' quit the field of battle at Sipramundi and made for the legions homeworld of Fenris with a haste that was almost unseemly, speaking to his zeal that he possessed for the task he had been assigned, or perhaps fury at the actions of his brother. Certainly, the enounced departure of Rus' and the wolves from the Scarec pregation drew outraged protestations from the commanders of the imperial army, as it threw the entirety of the campaign planning into disarray. Not content to leave a battle mid-fight, Rus' instead opted to disregard the previous imperial strategy of methodical but consistent extermination, instead massing the entirety of his Estartes forces into a single strike upon the Xenos core world, ignoring outlying systems. The victory was, of course, won, and in short order, but at no small cost. While the world warren had been reduced to a phosphax choked ash wasteland, several thousand space wolves had died in the process, and although the source of the Scarec infestation had been removed from play, there yet lay many more worlds under the thrall of the Xenos. Nevertheless, judging his contribution and honor satisfied, Rus' and his fleet made full wake out system, leaving the imperial army to finish the work that remained. It is known that these regiments fared very poorly without Estartes support, spending many more years than had been initially planned finishing this Xenoside, at the cost of several hundred thousand soldiers. Rus' brought with him a complement of wolves that had, prior to the assault upon the Scarec core world, numbered some twenty thousand Estartes, the entirety of On and SEP, the first and seventh of the Legion's great companies. The former consisted of the Wolf King's Husqa Retinue, as well as the Legion's foremost companies, and the vast majority of its terminator, Estartes. The latter, known within the Legion as the Black Coll, formed the bulk of the Vilca's destroyer core, as well as those afflicted with rage inducing genome deficiencies that marked them out for inclusion in the Legion's death sworn divisions. As the pack travelled to Fenris, Rus' made all possible attempts to contact the remainder of his Legion, redoubling his efforts once enshrined within the cold halls of the Fang, the holdfast upon the Iceworld itself. Again, we must trust to the sagas and interpret what divisio-militaris records remain, but it does not appear that Rus' spent any more time on Fenris than a month-terren standard, allowing only such time, as was absolutely needed for On and SEP, to repair critical arms and armaments, and to count their dead. There would be no time for the depleted first and seventh companies to reinforce themselves, nor indeed would there be any time for those wolves furthest from the Legion to make it to their homeworld, or to beat a Garmin, in the time that Rus' demanded they do. This issue of replenishment of the ranks was in fact a substantial one for the Legion as a whole during this period. The wolves habitually engaged with foes, and in a manner that, to be blunt, courted a higher body count than was strictly speaking necessary. All of their campaigns were entered into under the assumption, and indeed perhaps resignation, or desire, that they would be bloody and painful. Despite their legendary self-alliance, second only perhaps to the fifth Legion white scars, many of the wolves' great companies that answered the summons of their Yarl of Yarls were in dire need of replenishment. Those included Four, Fortwa, and Tov, the fourth, eighth, and twelfth great companies. Rus' would and could not spare them the time required to bring them to standard, even sixth Legion standard, and the sagas claimed that his blood was up to almost Bersharkar levels. The Cyclops awaited him on that far-off world, and he would not be denied. Rus departed Fenris as soon as he was able, at the head of fifty thousand Estartes, and, by the quirks of the warp, arrived at beat a Garmin ahead of Constantine Valdor. Thanks to both the sixth Legion's saga of Prospero, Remembrances of senior Exertus officers amongst the Terran contingent, and the superlative work conducted by the chronicler Julius Heratlastes Binsuldam in His Eye Diminished, The Burning of Prospero, The Demise of the Fifteenth Legion, and The Breaking of the Cyclops, with further observations upon the calamity of the sorcerers. We have a surprisingly accurate record of the force that Valdor found waiting once the Terran wing of the censor host broke from the warp. The space wolves, naturally, made up the bulk of the contingent, and indeed comprised the vast majority of the Legion that was contemporarily available in active service. Some seventy-three thousand Estartes. On, the first great company, The Breakers of Rings, were three thousand strong, most of these being senior commanders, as well as the Legion's Varigir Terminator elite. Toa, the second great company, The Threadcutters, were only eight hundred in number, being primarily engaged elsewhere, but a large number of these were veteran infantry, as well as Dreadnaughts or Khafagai. Tra, the third company, The Eagles Keepers, were almost entirely recently initiated Estartes, assigned to close infantry assault duties, and were one of the largest, at nine thousand eight hundred Estartes. Four, the fourth great company, The Blood Worms Masters, were heavy infantry and self-propelled artillery, eighty-six hundred strong. Five, the fifth great company, The Blood Ice Storm, had been present on Fenris for inductee training and replenishment, and thus comprised of a combined arms force of ten thousand Estartes. Sep, the seventh, the Black Call, as noted earlier, had been with Russ at Cipro Mundi, now boasting fifty-two hundred Estartes, almost all destroyers or deaths sworn. Four, Toa, the eighth great company, The Slaughter Fire Heralds, were nine thousand five hundred strong, dedicated primarily to reconnaissance and forward infiltration. Tra, Tra, the ninth great company, The Serpents of the Battle Moon, were infantry support, special weapons teams, and rapier heavy battery platforms, at seven thousand eight hundred Estartes. Elev, the eleventh great company, The Sea Bearers Flame, were another combined arms force, but notable for having a substantial number of Terrans within their ranks, some ninety-two hundred Marines in total. Tolv, the twelfth great company, The Shield Noirs, supplemented the third with close infantry support formations, but bolstered by heavy armor divisions, and consisted of eight thousand seven hundred Estartes in total. Finally, Dek, Tra, the thirteenth great company, The Corpse Renders, were six hundred strong, the smallest of the company elements committed, and consisted of light assault and pursuit infantry squads. Sesk, the sixth, and Dek, the tenth, were absent in their entirety from the muster, unable to either disengage from their campaigns, or make it to beat a garment in time. With the wolves massing, and waiting the arrival of Valdor, the censure host was joined, by a surprising but not exactly unexpected contingent, five thousand Estartes in the sea green of the newly renamed sixteenth legion, the Sons of Horus. The warmaster had not elected to sit idle, as the censure host committed to its duty, and had committed a full battalion of his legion, conspicuously arrayed as a line of battle unit, and not as a ceremonial detachment. The Sons of Horus were not alone either, as with Valdor's oncoming contingent were accompanied by Exertus, imperialist troops. Nine thousand soldiers of the nineteenth Cthonian headhunters, four thousand of the third Idranian seekers, and eight thousand soldiers from the seventy-third and seventy-fifth echelons of the host of brass. Notably, all three of these divisions had either combat history against, notable hatred of, or specialized equipment for, the Psyker. Not only men, Horus also bade the legion mortis, his most favored titan legion, to provide twelve god-engines for the host, two full maniples, and one demi-maniple, headed by the warlord class, Eterna Vertus, under the command of princeps Maldus Drain. The head of the warmaster's detachment was overseer Boros Kern, commander of the sixteenth independent assault battalion. His rank was a relatively newly created one following the sixteenth legion's Daven incident. Kern was purportedly an intense and driven figure who requested, as emissary of the supreme military authority outside the imperial household, to meet with the wolf king at the earliest opportunity. He had, so he claimed, special instructions from the warmaster himself, based upon the latest information Horus had in his possession. What Kern bore precisely, what Russ was told what Horus said, none of this has ever been revealed to any scholar, and is likely that the only persons who ever knew just what was in that communique are Russ and Horus, and perhaps those they held closest counsel with, but it goes without saying that we mortals will never be parley to it. All that is known, for Russ was vocal about the new resolve that lay within his heart, is that this was no longer a mission of capture. This was a death sentence. He intended to execute Magnus the Red. Much has been made over the millennia of this turn of judgment at so late a date. It had been months since the declaration of the writ of censure by the emperor, even adjusting for warp dilation. Russ was widely known as the emperor's executioner. A dog held at his side until the moment the leash was slipped, and the jaws were sank into the throat of those his master made him murder make. The loyalty of Russ was as famous as his bloodthirsty reputation. He was no insane butcher like his brother Angron. His was a fury fully contained until the moment he chose to release it. Many chroniclers have thus tended to paint Russ as a victim of circumstance, corrupted to the purpose of the war master against his will, tricked by the perfidious Lupercal and his cloying words. Loek Gerentius, in his seminal lamentations upon the Age of Darkness, falls prey to this, a notable flaw within his work being a tendency that many others have shared. To lionize those primarchs that said said fast to the throne, while damning the insidious wretches that portrayed it. If one is to remain true to scholarly rigors, we must discount this and admit to ourselves the extant possibility. Russ wanted Magnus dead. Horus merely provided an excuse. It is historical fact that there was no love lost between kings, both wolf and crimson. There was outright hostility. Aside from being as unalike in character as any of the siblings had been, Russ firmly believed his learned brother's meddling in Warpcraft was a dire and fundamental threat to the Imperium, believing none but their father capable of such study. As an example, the tension is best explored in the events surrounding the battle of Heliosa, where both legions had been tasked with the conquest of a unity-resistant world of ancient human provenance. In typical Thousand Sons doctrine, Magnus had prioritized the capture and codification of the planet's records, considering the millennia-old culture worth saving in whatever aspects remained. Russ, by contrast, was committing what the Cyclops called senseless genocide. What resulted was a standoff between both Primarchs and their Legion echelons at the city's central library, culminating in Russ and his wolves charging the 15th Legion, only to be disabled by the sons' psychic powers. This, however, resulted in one of the 15th, a warrior named Hastar, succumbing to the flesh change for the first time since the Legion had been cured of it by their Primarch. Thrown into panic at the reemergence of a curse they had long thought lost, the 15th were helpless to prevent Russ from executing Hastar on the spot. Magnus and the Wolf King almost came to blows until the intervention of their brother Lorgar, who was assisting in the operation. This is only one example. The most recent and damning was Russ' own testimony at the Council of Nikia, where, flanked by his own rune-priest psychers, he had been the most vocal and passionate of Magnus' critics. The wolves were, and are to this day, a starties of contradictions. Russ, no exception. He damned his brother a sorcerer while accompanied by his Legion's own openly-practicing psychers, all of whom continued their shamanistic Fenrisian rites after the passing of the Nikian Edict, in open violation of both it and the Imperial truth both. Russ was ever willing to clad himself in the rough appearance of a barbarian king, but it has been noted by Chronicles both contemporary and subsequent that this was a carefully constructed façade, that of the drunken, oafish lout, to disguise the calculating viciousness that lay beneath. The Wolf King would of course never deny this. He had no need to. The views of others mattered not one iota to him, and his Legion followed his example. Neither courted kinship with any of their cousins nor Russ with his siblings. Those who could stand or enjoy their company did so. Those who did not, they paid no heed. Loyalty to the Emperor was the only thing that mattered to him and to the wolves. The Sixth Legion did not build, nor inspire, nor uplift. They existed to destroy, built for that purpose alone. In many ways, it was a role they shared with the First Legion Dark Angels, and their detached, mysterious Primarch, the Lion, that of a weapon, and one unconcerned with being anything other than that. This all being said, the wolves clearly relished their role far more than the Angels did, savoring the fearful glances and tense exchanges with those of the Imperium that they made uncomfortable. It is uncertain where content detachment ends and egotistical image projection begins with them, and their Primarch. We know so little of both, due to their own partialities and the passages of time, to do anything but infer. This all must be considered in precisely why the wolves and Russ were selected for the role of primary Astartes cohort within the censure host. It is not as if other legions were not available at the time. The Seventh Legion Imperial Fists and their Primarch, Rogaldorn, were serving on Terra as Praetorians to the Throne World in their near entirety, and outnumbered the wolves in sheer numerical disposition to boot. The Fourth Legion Iron Warriors had thousands of Astartes to spare, and a Primarch unconcerned with the arithmetic of spending his warriors' lives as coin to achieve this. The Twentieth Legion Alpha Legion could appear as if from nowhere with precisely the right amount of warriors a task demanded. Even the First Legion Dark Angels could serve as the ultimate weapon of the Emperor's writ with ease. It was essentially the entire purpose of their existence. Without a full picture of the entirety of all Astartes' deployments across the entirety of the Great Crusade, we must fall to one conclusion. The Emperor wanted Leman Russ, Magnus' most furious critic, to lead this. It is historical fact that numerous assignments the wolves undertook during their existence have been utterly redacted from record, and it was an open secret in the Divisio Militaris and amongst the Primarchs that the title of Emperor's Executioner was one Russ had earned well, being his father's favoured instrument of annihilation, especially to traitors to the Imperium. Was his selection merely just a prudent one? To include, on so dangerous a mission, a Primarch that would not balk at taking the life of another, should it fall to that? To one's mind, no. There were others who could have done so, and without blinking, the lion for one, Alpharius Omega for another. Perhaps even Horus himself, although we need not explore that one further. Russ was not the only candidate for this mission, but he was the most eager. Perhaps this was tacit approval. Not said, for it could never be said. But approval by proxy. An acknowledgement that the Emperor did not believe Magnus would surrender, and that his life must be ended by any means necessary. Means by which the Emperor could maintain the appearance of justice and benevolence, while in his mind being resolved to the most brutal and bloody outcome of the situation. It is, if I may say, not exactly out of character for him to do so, and even less out of character for a regime such as his. That is, of course, all I can say upon the matter. We have the exacting strictures of the Magi of the Beta Garmin Forges to thank for more evidence of the Wolf King's change of heart. Per their meticulous record keeping, we know that the War Master had ordered the Forges to open their arsenals to the wolves, ordering their access to even the most dangerous and otherwise prohibited weaponry. While the Wolf King naturally used the opportunity to resupply the great companies that had otherwise not had the chance to replenish their stocks, he and his legion eagerly availed themselves of the forbidden technologies previously denied to them, or to which their access had been strictly limited. According to logs, this included a quantity of phosphax, the corrosive and unstoppable flammable compound that was nearly impossible to extinguish, that would normally be considered too much even for a system-wide purgation campaign, as well as numerous exterminatus-grade munitions delivered to the Legion's capital ships. Several of these were bio-alchemic phage saturation warheads of a lethality that had seen their usage within established imperial borders completely outlawed, having been utilized only for the most thorough and dire of alien purges, such as the ranked and xenocides. The Legion's deaths sworn were recorded to have placed exorbitant demands for personal ammunition that far outstripped the requirements of even the most dangerous of crusade operations. By the time the Terran contingent under Constantine Valdor arrived a month after the Wolves, the Custodians found a legion armed to the fangs with war gear suitable for the most horrific of campaigns. Indeed, it was noted that the Legion of Russ appeared to be gearing up for yet another ranked and xenocide, rather than an escort for a wayward son of the Emperor. Remembrancers embedded into the Terran wing recorded quite vividly a series of intense and fractious strategic planning meetings held between Russ and Valdor and their senior staffs. Ironically, for two beings of unshakable loyalty to the Emperor, they had arrived at entirely separate conclusions of what his writ of censure bade them do. While Russ was not exactly open in the saying of it, he had clearly decided to that point that Magnus must die, whereas Valdor would not deviate one Iota from the orders of the Emperor to bring the Crimson King to Terra alive. Senior command staff were routinely dismissed from these meetings for the two to talk alone. Both were warriors known to have a deep respect for each other's abilities and characters, but it was obvious to any that what relationship they had previously had was fracturing under the differing goals of their combined mission. While Valdor, bearer of the Imperial Magisterium Ultima, was nominally the most senior legal official of the expedition, Russ, son of the Emperor himself, and operating under hidden orders from the Warmaster, was for all intents and purposes the Emperor's proxy in the censure host, forcing the Captain General to accede to his authority. Valdor's role and loyalty forced him into this position. If there had ever been personal feelings about this, he would have never let them be known. We of course know little of the content of these meetings beyond their historical outcomes. Russ additionally ordered the dismissal of all civilian Remembrancers from the censure host prior to their departure from Beta Garmin, never a Primarch that had supported the initiative in the first place, the Wolf King would not even consider their inclusion, deeming whatever he intended to occur upon Prospero was not for the eyes of any but the highest of the Imperium, and definitely not fit for public historical record. What we know of what followed is only the result of a careful preservation of material that was redacted at the highest level, and yours truly has had viewership of, only thanks to the race of authorities yet higher. The revisions Russ demanded to the overall plan of action held secret from all but the senior staff took very little time. The Wolf King was deeply eager to be underway. Terra had rendered for the host's service its finest navigators, allowing the fleet to utilize warp corridors, not typically plied by military starships. This was both to prevent the fleet from being way-laid by any unforeseen warp experiences, but given the prevailing immaterial currents at the time, what was selected was considered far faster than approaching Prospero by any conventional means. Crucially too, it would also outmaneuver worlds known to have 15th Legion elements stationed upon them. The censor host was not intended necessarily to be a surprise. For the Thousand Sons, the race of censor having been broadcast throughout the entirety of the Imperium. That Russ sought to disguise its approach, it speaks to the degree with which he was now treating the Cyclops as an enemy, not a brother, denying him the ability to muster or even prepare in advance. Thus, the Doom of Magnus made full wake, barreling towards the unsuspecting Thousand Sons with the fury of a wolf pack unleashed. It's coming as a result of many moving parts, both personal and situational, a tragedy of unspeakable sorrow. That would soon break upon the shores of the Imperium and of history. Yet for its full telling, we do however require yet further study of its participants. Until such a time, Ave Imperator. Gloria in Excelsis, Terra. If you'd like to see more updates about the channel head on over to patreon.com. If you'd like to receive more updates about the channel and any future videos, you can contact me or follow me on Twitter at Oculus Imperia. Otherwise, please like, subscribe, comment, let me know your feedback, and as ever, thank you very much for watching.