A Tale of Heresy
By: RanmaChanFC
Prologue
Lorn V was a lone planet, far on the northern edge of the Milky Way, also called the Segmentum Obscurus. One of its main features was its location near a distortion in space called the Eye of Terror, a red seething mass of rotting stars and decaying reality. Records hold nothing on it other then it was captured late into the Great Crusade, an age when humans had expanded at an incredible rate. Nothing of it was known before that time. It might have once been a beautiful Agri-world completely covered in farmland, or a horrifying Death-world, where every organism, be it plant or animal, is extremely hostile to human life. Now Lorn V was classified as an Ice-world, a barren desolate place that held little but snow, and under that, precious mineral wealth.
When the Great Crusade ended and a civil war called the Horus Heresy began, a small Imperial garrison and a single Titan stayed loyal to the Emperor. They defended it against all invaders, the traitor Chaos Legions, bloodthirsty Orks, and in some cases even the mysterious Eldar. It had been ten thousand years of constant assaults from the Eye of Terror, small war bands trying their luck against a lone Imperial world. Now a greater threat was approaching, though none on Lorn V knew it. An entire company of World Eaters Chaos Space Marines were moving through the warp, slowly traveling to the planet. These World Eaters were aptly named. For when they landed on a planet they were an unstoppable force of destruction, slaughtering and destroying everything in their path.
Ten thousand years of harsh weather and decreasing knowledge in science and technology had taken their toll on the Titan of Lorn V, but it was built from the plans of a Standard Template Construct (STC), and it was built to last. The Titan was of the Warlord class, towering hundreds of meters into the sky, with Twin Turbo Lasers built into its mighty shoulders, a Volcano Cannon on its left arm and a Mega Cannon on the right. It bristled with point defense weapons, Missile Launchers, Multi Lasers, and Assault Cannons placed where ever possible. Pintle-mounted Heavy Bolters were placed in strategic locations throughout its body, and inside was filled with security doors, traps, and defensive gun emplacements. It was a weapon of pure war. None knew what Titan Legion it was from anymore, all its markings and paint had been stripped from its body due to the harsh weather.
The operators of the Titan had formed into their own cult, with the piloting Princep choosing from the assistant Moderati who would operate it on his death, and Moderati operators selecting and training those who would succeed them. The Mechanicus, a large cult of humans who worshiped technology, had tried to take as much care as they could when repairing the Titan, and keeping their histories, but after thousands of years of technical decline much had been lost, never to be reclaimed.
Contact with other planets was sparse, with the Warp making messages difficult to send. Ships still came to trade food for ore, and the Imperial Guard division stationed on the planet still went to nearby planets who called for aid, but the planet had hit a sharp decline in recent years.
It all started in space. What little orbital defense weapons and ships the Imperial defenders had received no warning about the incoming attack. The forces of Chaos had little to fear from the Warp (the space beneath reality that allowed ships to travel at faster speeds), as they were infused with its ruinous powers, and therefore their mastery of it was unparalleled. Dozens of massive ships slid out of horrible wounds seemingly gashed into the fabric of space, the corroded metal of their hulls mixed with horrifying insect carapace and living flesh.
Hundreds of smaller ships accompanied the larger ones, some seeming to be made entirely out of flesh, or even worse substances. These smaller ships flew into mine fields, and acted as shields against the orbital defense weapons of the Imperials. However, due to their ability to exit the Warp practically right beside the defenders, the full effectiveness of the defensive emplacements was lost. As soon as the Chaotic attackers were close enough they fired, and reaped a terrible toll.
The broadside weapons of the Chaos forces opened fire on merchant ships, orbital stations, and what little defense fleet there was, ripping massive holes into larger ships, and tearing through the defensive screen completely. Many ships tried to flee the planet, but even smaller fighter craft appeared from the bellies of the larger Chaos ships like hordes of locust. They chased down and annihilated any Imperial trying to flee.
A few of the corrupt Chaos ships were struck by the orbital defense platforms and defending ships, but almost no real damage was done. A lucky shot from an orbital Lance Battery struck a Slaughter Class Cruiser directly in the side, causing living flesh to split and die in the vacuum. Soon all that remained in space was wreckage, and the horrifying Chaos ships bred from a nightmare, preparing orbital drop pods and shuttles.
The Imperial citizens on the surface erupted into riots seeing the flashes of weapons fire in the heavens and the destroyed ships and stations that were falling to the planet. They thought the end of the world was coming, and they were right.
Huge Chaos battleships descended into a lower orbit, dropping thousands of screaming drop pods and massive shuttles filled with war machines and troops. The Imperial Guard was warned of the approaching danger and took battle positions around the cities of Lorn V, mostly the capital, Talorn, where the Governor's Palace was. Rather then the expected drop pods, all that arrived was a huge bombardment; every major city was pounded by laser fire and missiles, but strangely enough, Talorn was left unscathed.
The Planetary Defense Force (PDF) and the stationed Imperial Guard were broken, battered, and quickly losing their courage from what they knew was approaching. The PDF and citizens of the planet had heard only myths of the greatness of the Space Marines, the Defenders of Humanity. Now some were attacking them, albeit, traitors. This type of situation had happened in the past, but at those times the planet had been fully protected by a large defensive fleet, and massive land armies, it also helped that the attackers had come only in small war bands. This was a full company of Chaos Space Marines, one of the most unstoppable forces in the known universe.
Due to the orbital bombardment by the Capital ships of the Chaos fleet, huge swathes of land all across the planet had been turned to ashes and dust. Snow and ice melted, turning kilometers of land in all directions into marshes of death. Small towns had been vaporized leaving only blackened smears, and larger cities bad been turned into flaming ruins. However, this was not the true way of the World Eaters. They preferred to fight in close combat with a blade in their hand, not destroy their opponents from space. So, rather then completely annihilate everything on the surface of the planet, they left many alive, to be slaughtered later.
Around the walled city of Talorn Imperial Guard tanks and troops, PDF units, and conscripted citizens took positions in the trenches and on the walls. Talorn had massive walls reaching almost fifty meters in height, filled with gun emplacements, windows for snipers and heavy weapons, and towers built into the walls on top of which Basilisk artillery tanks were placed. Thousands of meters of trenches had been dug all around the city years prior when an attack from an Ork Warboss had come, and failed. The trenches were filled with thousands of men, and tanks had been placed in dugouts throughout the trenches. Bunkers littered the fields around the city, filled with Melta Guns, Heavy and Storm Bolter positions, and automated Assault Cannons.
The Chaos drop ships and shuttles came, landing near every city, at every major landmark, and all around Talorn. Most of the drop pods and shuttles that came too close to the surviving cities were shot down by the Imperials anti-aircraft batteries and Hydra AA tanks.
The barren planet now was truly helpless. Messages could not be sent out for aid and no ships remained that could escape and find help. Talorn and her sister cities were now effectively fortified tombs, surrounded by hundreds of meters of trenches, and walls rising high into the sky, meters thick. Each city building had been turned into a makeshift bunker and had killing traps built into every floor. If it came down to a fight within the city, then every floor would be a battle. Basilisk artillery tanks were placed throughout the entire city, in the middle of streets, on top of roofs, and even inside hollowed out buildings. Massive barricades had been constructed leading all the way to the center, the Governor's Palace.
The palace was a magnificent structure, with towers rising high into the sky and bristling with anti-aircraft batteries. Inside, many of the chambers had been converted into control and briefing rooms, filled with holographic maps of the city and the planet. In the center of the Palace, and open to the air, was a massive platform that could split down the middle, releasing a magnificent, but rarely used, defensive weapon.
The World Eaters were led by a leader of one of the old Great Companies, a traitor named Crull. Given the title of Lord he had been tasked with over a thousand Chaos Space Marines to take and hold the planet. His master, Angron, Primarch of the World Eaters Traitor Legion, wanted something, a prize that could be used to destroy worlds more effectively then even a Company of his soldiers.
The Chaos soldiers that had landed safely around the planet now destroyed the anti-aircraft batteries of the cities breached by orbital bombardment. Mining outposts and far-flung settlements with no defenses were annihilated, and the people slaughtered. The World Eaters now moved to surround the surviving cities of Lorn V, staying out of range of the massive defensive guns that remained, for now. Soon the battle for the planet would begin in earnest.