Mark of Calth: 25 (The Horus Heresy)

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Battle of Phall • Battle of Ravendelve • Battle of the Alaxxes Nebula • Siege of the Perfect Fortress • Chondax Campaign • Second Battle of Prospero • First Siege of Hydra Cordatus • Battle of the Furious Abyss • Battle of Calth • Battle of Armatura • Shadow Crusade • Percepton Campaign • Battle of Iydris • Thramas Crusade • Fall of Baztel III • Battle of Vannaheim • Second Battle of Paramar • Battle of Constanix II • Siege of Epsilon-Stranivar IX • Treachery at Port Maw • Manachean War • Mezoan Campaign • Battle of Bodt • Battle of Dwell • Battle of Molech Had it succeeded in reaching Macragge, the Furious Abyss would likely have annihilated the planet, the remaining two Chapters of the Ultramarines Legion garrisoned there, and the stores of precious gene-seed in the XIII th Legion's fortress-monastery, the Fortress of Hera.

tide of assault nor blunt the zealous fury of the Legiones Astartes Word Bearers. Valiant troopers died by the thousand, and at last the Word Bearers' intent in boarding specific orbital defence platforms was revealed as the same scene was enacted upon the bridges of scores of defence platforms. Those commanders taken alive were forced to bear witness to the destruction heaped upon the world whose defence they were sworn to. Compelled to watch by the vice-like grip of a Word Bearers Dark Apostle or other senior officer, the last sight these men and women saw served as a vital component in the vast Now, as the planet is scoured by solar flares from the wounded Veridian star, the survivors must take the fight to the remaining Word Bearers and their foul allies in the Underworld War, or face damnation in the gloomy arcology shelters beneath the planet's surface. By the time Gage was able to see a nea 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.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. Authors: Dan Abnett, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, John French, Graham McNeill, David Annandale, Rob Sanders and Anthony Reynolds Legio Oberon - "The Death Bolts" - Wardens of the newly founded Forge World of Anvari, a thrall domain of mighty Accatran, the Legio Oberon had undertaken to provide a demi-Legio force for the Ghaslakh Crusade. However, only two maniples of god-engines were to make planetfall before the arrival of the Word Bearers forces, grounding in eastern Ourosene and northern Erud. The remainder of the Legio's forces would not arrive until after the fighting had concluded. Full deployment at Calth, all at a nominal strength of 10,000 Legionaries. These Chapters were concentrated around Calth's primary spaceport at Numinus City in western Erud: Ventanus was immortalised on the cover of Mark of Calth , the 25th book in The Horus Heresy series which chronicles the planet’s demise.

Gathering at Saturn those of his Legion who had been embarked on crusades in distant parts of the galaxy, Roboute Guilliman would depart the Sol System mere months before news of Horus' rebellion reached the Emperor's ears. The turbulent state of the Empyrean in those years would see the Ultramarines' main strength journey to Calth by a winding and obtuse trail which would also cloak them from all attempts by Terra to recall them or forewarn them of Horus' actions. The Word Bearers, delayed by the slaughter at Istvaan, would not arrive at Calth until the majority of the XIII th Legion had already gathered, travelling a path of blood and ashes of their creation. 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. I The Solar War • II The Lost and the Damned • III The First Wall • Sons of the Selenar • IV Saturnine • Fury of Magnus • V Mortis • VI Warhawk • VII Echoes of Eternity • Garro: Knight of Grey • VIII The End and the Death ( Volume I • Volume II • Volume III) I Horus Rising • II False Gods • III Galaxy in Flames • IV The Flight of the Eisenstein • V Fulgrim • VI Descent of Angels • VII Legion • VIII Battle for the Abyss • IX Mechanicum • X Tales of Heresy • XI Fallen Angels • XII A Thousand Sons • XIII Nemesis • XIV The First Heretic • XV Prospero Burns • XVI Age of Darkness • XVII The Outcast Dead • XVIII Deliverance Lost • XIX Know No Fear • XX The Primarchs • XXI Fear to Tread • XXII Shadows of Treachery • XXIII Angel Exterminatus • XXIV Betrayer • XXV Mark of Calth • XXVI Vulkan Lives • XXVII The Unremembered Empire • XXVIII Scars • XXIX Vengeful Spirit • XXX The Damnation of Pythos • XXXI Legacies of Betrayal • XXXII Deathfire • XXXIII War Without End • XXXIV Pharos • XXXV Eye of Terra • XXXVI The Path of Heaven • XXXVII The Silent War • XXXVIII Angels of Caliban • XXXIX Praetorian of Dorn • XL Corax • XLI The Master of Mankind • XLII Garro • XLIII Shattered Legions • XLIV The Crimson King • XLV Tallarn • XLVI Ruinstorm • XLVII Old Earth • XLVIII The Burden of Loyalty • XLIX Wolfsbane • L Born of Flame • LI Slaves to Darkness • LII Heralds of the Siege • LIII Titandeath • LIV The Buried DaggerThis anthology contains the following stories: The Shards of Erebus by Guy Haley, Calth That Was by Graham McNeill, Dark Heart by Anthony Reynolds, The Traveller by David Annandale, A Deeper Darkness by Rob Sanders, The Underworld War by Aaron Dembski-Bowden and Unmarked by Dan Abnett. The Battle of Calth, also referred to as the Calth Atrocity, was the name given by later Imperial scholars to the treacherous campaign conducted during the early stages of the Horus Heresy in beginning in 007.M31 by the traitorous XVII th Space Marine Legion, the Word Bearers, on behalf of the Warmaster Horus against their hated rivals, the XIII th Space Marine Legion, better known as the Ultramarines. The Heresy came to Calth without warning. In just a few hours of betrayal and bloodshed, the proud warriors of the XIIIth Legion - Guilliman's own Ultramarines - were laid low by the treachery of their erstwhile brothers of the XVIIth. Now, as the planet is scoured by solar flares from the wounded Veridian star, the survivors must take the fight to the remaining Word Bearers and their foul allies, or face damnation in the gloomy arcology shelters beneath the planet's surface. In the novella-length 'Calth That Was', Graham McNeill highlights the fateful encounter that will alter the destiny of Captain Ventanus and shape the face of the Ultramarines Chapter for ten thousand years to come. The battle for Calth is far from over. During the Battle, the Word Bearers seized control of the orbital weapons platforms around Calth and turned their weapons onto the Veridian star, Calth's sun. [1f] They intended to induce a catastrophic supernova, but the Ultramarines prevented this. Instead, the star was poisoned and began to bombard Calth with lethal radiation. The survivors of the combat were forced to retreat into Calth's massive cave system, where the Battle continued as the Underworld War. [1g]

Many human civilians and soldiers suffered terrible radiation burns, which remained with them for the rest of their lives. Although these burns were painful and unsightly, the survivors of the Battle stubbornly refused to have them surgically removed, declaring that the "Mark of Calth" was a badge of honour. [1b] Sources Embattled Ultramarines survivors take refuge in the caverns beneath Calth's surface as the Underworld War begins.Lorgar of Colchis. You may consider the following. One: I entirely withdraw my previous offer of solemn ceasefire. It is cancelled, and will not be made again, to you or to any other of your motherless bastards. Two: you are no longer any brother of mine. I will find you, I will kill you, and I will hurl your toxic corpse into hell's mouth." The crux of the campaign came on the Agri-world of Calth in the Ultramar Sector, where the Ultramarines successfully broke the Word Bearers' surprise assault after a viciously-fought siege action, though at the cost of terrible casualties and the complete destruction of Calth's atmosphere and once-verdant biosphere.

At the meeting, Erebus gives each of the warlords - Kor Phaeron, Morpal Cxir, Foedrall Fell, Hol Beloth, Quor Vondar and Phael Rabor — one of the daggers, keeping one for himself and one for Kolos Undil, the sergeant in command of his bodyguard unit. Leaving the meeting, Erebus reflects that Lorgar may intend for all of them to die in the upcoming battle, but Erebus has his escape planned; whether the other commanders figure out that their athames will likewise allow them to move through the warp, he will leave to fate. On the far side of Calth, where night currently reigned, in the sprawling munitions plants of Dainhold, the Word Bearers drove screaming swarms of ragged auxiliaries against the warriors of the XIII th Legion that had barricaded themselves within the fortified manufactorum buildings. Only when the Ultramarines' guns had run dry and the corridors of the manufactoria were strewn with the blasted corpses of the fallen, did Nur Asoktan lead the Cataphractii-armoured elite of the Flayed Hand forwards to hunt down the surviving Ultramarines. Outmatched and cornered, the warriors of Ultramar fought on with combat blades and improvised explosive devices, severing power to several facilities so as to use the darkness to their advantage.Xana Incursion • Carnage of Morox • Sangraal Campaign • Liberation of Numinal • Battle of Arissak • Battle of Perditus • Battle of Sotha • Scouring of Gilden's Star • Battle of Nyrcon • Battle of Tallarn • Battle of Nocturne • Battle of Pluto There were many portents of the tragedy soon to unfold upon Calth. Given the extraordinary thoroughness with which the XIII th Legion maintained its readiness, it might have been considered tragic, or incompetent, that so few were heeded. The first signs of the Word Bearers betrayal was the minor interruption in Vox traffic around Calth that was attributed to solar distortion -- the void was known to forever creak and whisper around the audible and electromagnetic ranges. Soon there were various reports of a voice chanting over Calthian Vox-links in Calth space. This eerie chanting soon interfered with the main orbital data-feed between the orbital installations and the surface of Calth for several seconds. An hour later, there were two more bursts of such interference, the source of which remained undetermined. Calth Communications Control reported an hour later that there were "a series of malfunction events" and warned that further communication disruptions might be expected during the day until the problem was identified. An hour after that, on the night side of Calth, the first of the bad dreams began. During the Heresy two human Chaos-devotees fight to the death under Xen's supervision. The winner, Criol Fowst, is gifted the athame as a prize. Fowst has it with him on Calth when he is punched in the head by a loader-servitor and killed, and the athame is taken by Oll Persson, a Perpetual, who uses it to enter the Warp on his own secret mission. The following information is not to be regarded as officially sanctioned and/ or is not written from an in-universe point of view. A detailed explanation of the term "Trivia" as used in the Lexicanum can be found here.