Chapter 178 Index AstartesWorld Eaters (
Chapter 178 Index Astartes_World Eaters (Part 1)
Since 819.M30, the ground operations of the gladiator army led by Primarch Angron have formed a kind of almost competitive contrast with the operations of the Iron Warriors and Imperial Fists Legions in the galaxy.
On Nuceria, Angron's followers expanded from a guerrilla group of dozens of people to a qualified army of nearly two thousand in just two months.
His bloody reputation among slavers grew day by day, and the iconic flag had spread to every corner of the planet in the last distress transmissions of the defeated. Under Angron's guidance, the untrained army became more deadly, and a rumor about Angron's blue and white super warriors gradually became a hot topic in the unliberated city-states.
As the insane oppression of the high-ranking riders intensified, the resistance of the civilians began to increase accordingly. When the winter winds on the mountains stopped blowing across the red sand and the ice on the few rivers thawed, the members who joined Angron's army were no longer limited to gladiators. More people who were dissatisfied with the high-ranking riders became part of the army, just as the medical center on the back side of Mount Fedanmore in the rear was expanded to accommodate more injured people who needed treatment.
It is worth mentioning that the construction of the purely ritual buildings that the Primarch Angron required the defeated high-ranking riders to devote themselves to with the most primitive engineering construction methods did not go smoothly. This may be related to the local nobles' excessive unfamiliarity with basic physical labor, but there is also a saying that the gladiators who had been oppressed and tortured would return part of their pain to the old slave owners through deliberate harsh treatment, deductions and strict details. This is the inextinguishable anger and uncontrollable revenge of the Nuceria gladiators.
At the end of spring, the cities that were still fighting against Angron had become an absolute minority, and were forced to fight on their own in the Primarch's far-sighted division and encirclement strategy, unable to achieve effective joint resistance. Relying on the limited military resources of the Imperium of Man and the absolute majority of Nuceria in the personnel composition, the Primarch conquered the entire Nuceria at a very low cost and with extremely high efficiency.
When summer came, his army spontaneously presented him with a huge flag as a robe to wrap around his body, and honored Angron as the Lord of Nuceria. This tall warrior, known for his broad-mindedness, rarely clearly expressed his refusal to the request of his admirer, and after a mutually compromising discussion, he accepted the title of Lord of Red Sand.
Behind the front line, while conquering and liberating on the ground, the selection of new recruits for the World Eaters Legion and the expedition outside Nuceria were carried out simultaneously. During Angron's unflinching and personal visits, young people of appropriate age and without worries were selected to participate in the selection and transformation of Astartes, and were taught by the Legion's original veterans and instructors, so that they could be closer to the glory of the Emperor of Mankind and the Primarch in both physical and psychological aspects.
During this exciting time, except for the Astartes warriors who stayed on the ground to teach new recruits and maintain contact between the legion and the Primarch, most of the World Eaters followed the Primarch's orders and reluctantly left the ground, taking turns to fight with the Iron Warriors and the Imperial Fists as independent legions. This is not only Angron's emphasis on the autonomy and independence of his home planet, but also the Lord of the Red Sands' gratitude to his two brothers who gave him crucial help at the beginning.
In several great conquest wars of the Great Crusade, the World Eaters showed a considerable degree of adaptability with both the Imperial Fists and the Iron Warriors.
Undoubtedly, the local culture of Nuceria also had a subtle influence on the World Eaters Legion, which was once called the War Hounds. The legion's sense of war honor increased with time, and its preference for vanguards and love of close combat increased.
This legion, which prefers close combat, cooperated well with the long-range firepower support of the Iron Warriors, and also achieved a brilliant level of cooperation with the hard offensive operations of the Imperial Fists commanded by Rogal Dorn.
In Rogal Dorn's series of conquests of the Empire's temporary RA star systems, some worlds showed a rational welcome to the arrival of the Emperor's expeditionary forces and could not wait to return to the dream of human unification; other ignorant and closed worlds stubbornly tended to fight to the point of bloodshed.
These worlds that inherited the top human technology from the Dark Age of Technology were not easy to conquer, and the Imperial Fists and the World Eaters still achieved the glory of quelling the rebellion through excellent cooperation.
Rogal Dorn's silent fairness and pragmatism were first demonstrated in the cooperation between the Imperial Fists and the World Eaters. The Primarch from the Seventh Legion treated his brother legions and his own descendants with an equal attitude, and only assigned tasks according to the rationality of tactics and strategy and the ability levels of different warriors, striving to achieve relative maximization of efficiency.
Although Dorn's decisions were not in line with the commander of the World Eaters on everything, these minor initial frictions did not affect the overall advancement of the Great Crusade.
Combining orbital bombardment with fearless attacks by their brave warriors, they took down fortress after fortress, and with difficulty but stubbornly preserved the lives of the warriors within as much as possible, trying their best to prevent the battlefield from becoming a mindless slaughterhouse wreckage, and defending the purity and legitimacy of the Emperor's vision with noble actions.
In addition, within the World Eaters, a new culture of gladiatorial pits gradually took shape. After Angron discovered this, he agreed to retain the gladiatorial trend in the Legion under the strong persuasion of several captains and apothecaries, but seriously required that it be used only as a platform for the exchange of friendship and skills, and that irreparable physical injuries, not to mention death, should not occur: internal fighting leading to death was an inviolable ban.
Perturabo had a separate private conversation with Angron for this, and judging by the state of the two Primarchs after they walked out of the room, the demigods did not reach a consensus in the conversation.
Angron was briefly described as "trying to exert greater control over the Legion", but this short-lived style change was declared over a few days later, and the Lord of the Red Sands gave his companions more autonomy. Of course, as a minor episode that was not worth mentioning in the Great Crusade, this conversation undoubtedly did not affect the close relationship between the two Emperor's children.
The World Eaters' gladiatorial pits, in the exchange of legions that symbolizes the trust between Space Marines, spread to another legion that actually also has the seeds of the fighting feast culture.
——
"I am Sigismund." Sigismund said, looking forward.
The sandy field surrounded by high metal walls has just been cleaned. After each fight, while the pharmacists treat the inevitable injuries of the Space Marines, the blood-stained sand will be shoveled away, emphasizing that this platform was established for skills and friendship rather than bloody slaughter. In Sigismund's view, this is actually more similar to the performance duel on the Primarch's home planet Invit.
"I am Kahn, the captain of the 8th Assault Company of the World Eaters. Rogal Dorn's only Templar, I salute you." Kahn stood at the edge of the gladiatorial pit and stretched out his right hand to Sigismund.
The iron chain wrapped around his arm armor to fix the battle axe made a sound, ensuring that even if he was exhausted from fighting, the weapon in his hand would not fall. It was a healthy combination of Nuceria culture and a legion eager to fit into his father's life.
Sigismund saw only peace on the face of the warrior in blue and white armor.
"Why are you here?" Kahn asked.
"I have questions," Sigismund said, "and I will find answers here."