In the aftermath of the Dropsite massacre, the Imperium was plunged into a period of anarchy that future historians would know as the 'Age of Darkness'. To those still loyal to Terra, all had at a stroke been cast into confusion, for none could tell who was ally and who Traitor, and so grievous a blow had been dealt, it called into question the Imperium's survival itself Increasingly, the Warp was in turmoil, making voyages across the void hazardous and protracted, while communication by asrrotelepathy over any extended distance was all but impossible. This left the defenders of the Imperium sundered from each other, shorn of direct contact and separated not simply by distance, but by insurmountable hazards and vulnerable to attack.

在登陸點大屠殺之后，帝國進入了一段被后世史學家稱為“黑暗年代”的混亂時期。對那些忠于帝國的人而言，一切都一下子陷入了混亂中，沒人能區(qū)分出叛徒和盟友，而且在受到了如此嚴重的打擊之后，人們也越來越質疑帝國本身還能否存續(xù)下去。亞空間也陷入了動蕩，穿越虛空的航程變得危險且被拖延，任何遠距離的星語通訊都變得不可能。這讓帝國的保衛(wèi)者們彼此分離，彼此缺乏直接接觸，而且分隔開他們的也不僅是距離，更是無法克服的危險和更易遭受的攻擊。

The Disposition of the Loyalist Legions?

忠誠軍團的部署

For Rogal Dorn, on whose shoulders the fate of Terra and possibly the entire Imperium rested, this was a period of intense frustration as he attempted to assay his forces and coordinate their stand. Dorn had committed the bulk of his own Legion's fleet to the retribution force sent to Isstvan to confront the rebels, but it had become stranded by the tumultuous conditions in the Warp and then attacked by the Traitor Iron Warriors. Though ordered to return to Terra with all possible speed, Dorn's Legion was far from a coherent force as individual vessels struggled through the raging Empyrean, arriving at the Sol System in ragged and wounded flotillas instead of the glorious, hundreds-strong fleet that had departed months before. Though the remnants of the Imperial Fists at Terra benefitted from the vast military assets located there, including such elite forces as the Legio Custodes, and the powerful Armada Imperialis Battlefleet Solar-based Saturnyne shipyards. Mars, however, having risen in civil war in support of the Warmaster, was now forbidden to them, and worse yet had become a deadly thorn in the Loyalists' side, needing constant watchful blockade, and so further diverted Dorn's attention, and the decision was taken for him to concentrate on building Terras defences for the inevitable onslaught to come.

對于羅格 多恩，這位肩負著泰拉乃至可能是整個帝國的命運的帝國禁衛(wèi)官而言，這是一段極其令人受挫的時期，他要努力檢驗自己的部隊并確定他們的立場。多恩將自己的帝國之拳軍團的大部分艦隊編入了前去伊斯特萬星系討伐叛軍的懲戒部隊，但他們受困于亞空間紛亂的環(huán)境，并在之后遭到了鋼鐵勇士叛軍的攻擊。盡管被命令盡快返回泰拉，但多恩的軍團并非一支連貫完整的力量，因為仍有個別艦船在洶涌的至高天（浪潮）中掙扎，最終返回太陽星系的是一支受損殘破的小型艦隊，而非數(shù)個月前出發(fā)時那支擁有數(shù)百艘戰(zhàn)艦榮耀的艦隊。雖然泰拉上的帝拳余部能夠從太陽星系龐大的軍事資源中受益，而且其中還包括諸如禁衛(wèi)軍團和駐扎于土星船塢中的強大的帝國戰(zhàn)爭艦隊之類的精銳力量，但火星已經(jīng)在內戰(zhàn)中支持了戰(zhàn)帥，它現(xiàn)在成為了泰拉的阻礙，而且更嚴峻的是，火星已經(jīng)成為了刺入忠誠派的一根致命利刺，帝國需要對它進行持續(xù)的監(jiān)視封鎖，這進一步分散了多恩的注意力，不過多恩依舊決心專注于構建泰拉防御體系以應對必然到來的屠殺血戰(zhàn)。

What little Lord Dorn knew of the calamitous events that had unfolded at Isstvan came directly from the Primarch Corax, Lord of the Raven Guard. Upon breaking free of the bloodshed of the Dropsite massacre, Corax had led the shattered remnants of his Legion in a ninetyeight day battle for survival, culminating in its miraculous rescue from the very jaws of the foe. Ignorant of?the extent of the Warmaster's betrayal and aware that Horus might expect him to immediately return to his Legion's home world of Deliverance to fortify and regroup, Corax made directly through the turbulent Warp for Terra, and there recounted the awful scope of the Dropsite massacre. Having done so, Corax then took the last few thousand of his warriors home with the desperate hope of rebuilding his ravaged command.

多恩尊主發(fā)生在伊斯特萬星系中的慘劇知曉不多，信息則直接來自于暗鴉守衛(wèi)之主——原體克拉克斯。一經(jīng)從登陸點大屠殺的血腥戰(zhàn)場上突出重圍，克拉克斯便率領破碎的軍團殘部進行了一場九十八天的生存之戰(zhàn)，并最終從敵人的殺戮巨口中奇跡般地獲救?？死怂股胁恢獣詰?zhàn)帥叛變的嚴重程度，也意識到荷魯斯可能期望他馬上趕回軍團母星拯救世界世界以進行修整和重組，于是他直接穿越了動蕩的亞空間前往泰拉，向帝國復述了登陸點大屠殺的恐怖戰(zhàn)況。在完成這一切之后，懷著重建軍團那慘遭蹂躪的指揮體系的渺小希望，克拉克斯率領僅剩的數(shù)千名戰(zhàn)士返回母星。

Shattered Legions

破碎的諸軍團

Of the other Legions betrayed during the Dropsite massacre, still less was known for certain, Corax had confirmed the bitter news of the death of his brother Ferrus Manus of the Xth Legion at the hands of their brother Fulgrim of the Emperor’s Children, news that had shaken Malcador and the members of the Council of Terra to the core. Of the Iron Hands Legion itself it was known that many had been driven to stark madness by witnessing their father's end and thrown themselves wholesale into the crucible of war as if to absolve their loss in their own deaths. Yet, a substantial number of Iron Hands Legionaries had extricated themselves from the massacre, and while few had made it off the surface, many more had survived the calamitous void ambush of the Legion's fleet, breaking away and scattering across the stars. Some would form isolationist bands, fighting their own private wars against the Traitors, such as the infamous 'Red Talons' of Autek Mor, or refuse any master save their own will as did the company known to some records as the 'Heart of Stone'. Others, such as those who came to follow Shadrak Meduson, would form a series of ad-hoc, cell-structured forces slowly cohering into a single loosely knit organisation; a shattered Legion army shot through with elements of other forces that had been wrecked by the base treachery at Isstvan.

對于登陸點大屠殺中其他遭到背叛的軍團，帝國對于他們的確切情況仍舊知之甚少。克拉克斯確認了他的兄弟費魯斯 馬努斯慘遭帝皇之子原體、他們的兄弟福格瑞姆殺害這一令人痛苦的消息，這震驚了馬卡多和泰拉議會的成員們。對于鋼鐵之手軍團，帝國所知道的是：許多軍團戰(zhàn)士目睹父親的陣亡而陷入全然的瘋狂，他們完全把自己拋入殘酷的戰(zhàn)爭中，仿佛是要用自己的死亡來為過失贖罪。為數(shù)眾多的鋼鐵之手戰(zhàn)士都從登陸點大屠殺中逃出生天，雖然星球地表幾乎沒有人能逃離，但仍有很多人從叛軍艦隊在太空中的災難性伏擊中幸存下來，他們突出重圍，逃散到群星間。（其中）某些人組成了孤立的戰(zhàn)幫，獨自與叛軍交戰(zhàn)，比如著名的“紅爪”奧塔克 摩爾，也有某些人拒絕效忠任何主子，按照自己的意愿行事，某些記錄里稱這個連隊為“鐵石之心”。而其他人，比如追隨沙達克 美杜森的那些戰(zhàn)士們組成了一系列臨時的小型部隊，他們漸漸凝聚成了一個松散的組織：破碎軍團；破碎軍團部隊由被伊斯特萬的背叛所摧毀的軍團的分隊組成。

Of the fate of the Legiones Astartes Salamanders, still less was known. Witnesses had watched in horror as the entire sector in which the last of the XVIIIth Legion had fought was consumed in atomic fire. Of all three Legions betrayed at the Dropsite massacre, the Salamanders suffered the worst, scant few of their number escaping. Of these, most would join the bitter shadow war against the Traitors either as part of shattered Legion warbands, or more rarely as coherent forces of their own entirely, such as those who followed the so-called 'Prophet of Fire' at the Siege of Mezoa and the liberation of Goth, while the small guard force of?Nocturne acted in the aggressive defence of their native region in accordance to their oaths, continuing to raise recruits in their Primarch's name and their Legion's traditions unchecked. Of the Primarch Vulkan, it was assumed through much of the Age of Darkness that he had perished.

對于火蜥蜴軍團的命運我們仍然知之甚少。目擊者們驚恐地看到第十八軍團的最后一個戰(zhàn)斗區(qū)域被原子火焰整片地焚毀。在于登陸點大屠殺中遭到背叛的三個軍團里，火蜥蜴受損最為嚴重，軍團中幾乎無人逃離。大多數(shù)幸存者都參與到了對抗叛軍的苦澀的暗影戰(zhàn)爭當中，他們要么是加入了破碎軍團的戰(zhàn)幫，要么就是加入了完全由他們自己組成的完整部隊當中，這種情況更為罕見，比如參與了梅左阿攻城戰(zhàn)和Goth解放行動的所謂“火焰信徒”們。少量保衛(wèi)夜曲星的軍團守備部隊恪守了自己的誓言，在當?shù)剡M行積極防御，并且繼續(xù)不受約束地以原體之名按軍團傳統(tǒng)征召新兵。至于原體伏爾甘，據(jù)推測他在黑暗年代的大部分時期都處于死亡狀態(tài)。

The Loyalists Scattered

分散的忠誠者

It might have been assumed then, that the defence of the wider Imperium might have fallen to others whose Legions held equal or greater power to Dorn's own, but who had not felt the scourge of the Dropsite massacre. The most obvious candidate for this supposition perhaps was the indomitable Roboute Guilliman and the Ultramarines, who in number ranked above all other Legions. Here too the fell genius of the Warmaster was revealed. In the months before the Isstvan III Atrocity, when Horus still concealed the treachery that had consumed his soul, the Lord of Ultramar and almost the entirety of the XIIIth Legion were ordered by Horus back to the Eastern Fringe to muster in the Veridian system to counter an anticipated attack by the Orks of the Ghaslahk Empire. The Ultramarines Legion was completely beyond communication when the Traitor's hand struck there in the guise of a bloody assault by the Word Bearers and, unknown to Terra, after this Guilliman had himself reached the awful conclusion that the Throne world had fallen.

帝國在當時可能假設：更廣闊的疆域內的防御任務已經(jīng)落到了其他那些實力堪比甚至超過帝國之拳且并未遭受登陸點大屠殺災難的軍團身上。這一假設最明顯的候選人是不屈不撓的羅伯特 基里曼和極限戰(zhàn)士軍團，他們的數(shù)量冠絕所有軍團。而戰(zhàn)帥的墮落天才也在這里顯露出來，早在伊斯特萬三號慘劇爆發(fā)數(shù)月之前，荷魯斯依舊掩蓋著那吞噬了他靈魂的叛亂之時，奧特拉瑪之主和幾乎整個第十三軍團都被戰(zhàn)帥命令返回東部邊境，在Veridian星系進行集結以對抗預期中來自Ghaslahk獸人帝國的進攻。當叛軍們打著懷言者友軍的幌子發(fā)動血腥進攻時，極限戰(zhàn)士軍團已經(jīng)完全與帝國失聯(lián)，泰拉對他們一無所知，此事之后基里曼本人也只能得出一個殘酷的結論：王座世界已然淪陷。

The feared Blood Angels Legion too were beyond Terra's reach, for in preparation for his betrayal, Horus had met with his brother Primarch Sanguinius and tasked him and the bulk of his Legion with pacifying the Signus Cluster, and as with other such orders, this too was a trap. The Blood Angels would not emerge from that terrible war until much later, and when they did, would be transfigured by the experience. For now at least, the status of the sons of Sanguinius was unknown to Rogal Dorn, and he had little choice but to assume his brother Primarch would not be able to aid him in the defence of Terra.

可畏的圣血天使軍團也在泰拉的接觸范圍之外。在為自己的叛變做準備時，荷魯斯便與自己的原體兄弟圣吉列斯進行了會面，派遣他和圣血天使軍團的主力去鎮(zhèn)壓西格納斯星群（的叛亂），而就像其他的同類命令一樣，這也是一個陷阱。圣血天使們不久之后便會遭遇一場惡戰(zhàn)，而這場戰(zhàn)爭也會改變他們。至少到目前為止，羅格 多恩并不清楚圣吉列斯子嗣們的情況，他幾乎毫無選擇，只能假定自己的原體兄弟無法在泰拉防御戰(zhàn)中伸出援手。

The status of the Dark Angels was also largely unknown to their fellows, the I?Legion having been deployed far to the galactic east across the dark frontier of the Shield Worlds to quell trouble there for several years. Whether this war had also been engineered by Horus as a means of ensuring the Dark Angels were far away from Isstvan when his betrayal was unveiled or whether its enigmatic Primarch Lion Eljonson had motivations of his own for this is unknown. Whatever the truth, the Dark Angels would become aware only after the fact of the Dropsite massacre of the catastrophe that had unfolded, and would not play their full part until their savage confrontation with the Traitor Night Lords during the Thramas Crusade. Until then, the Dark Angels would remain consigned to the outer void, and Terra and the core worlds of the Imperium beyond their aid.

黑暗天使軍團的狀況很大程度上也不被兄弟軍團們所知，（因為）第一軍團多年之前就已經(jīng)被部署到遙遠的銀河東部，他們要在此處盾衛(wèi)世界的黑暗前線解決各種威脅。至于這場戰(zhàn)爭是荷魯斯確保在自己發(fā)動叛亂時黑暗天使遠離伊斯特萬的手段，還是令人難以捉摸的黑暗天使原體萊昂 艾爾莊森出于他本人的意愿發(fā)動的，我們不得而知。但無論真相如何，只有在登陸點大屠殺已成定局之后，黑暗天使軍團才會得知這場慘劇的發(fā)生，而且直到他們在薩拉馬斯遠征中與午夜領主叛軍們爆發(fā)殘酷的沖突之后，第一軍團才會發(fā)揮出他們的全部作用。但直到此時，黑暗天使軍團仍然是在外環(huán)虛空中進行戰(zhàn)斗，泰拉與帝國的核心世界尚在他們的馳援范圍之外。

Despite the silence of both Guilliman and the Lion, Dorn had some limited success communicating with others of his brother Primarchs that yet remained loyal. The Wolf Lord Leman Russ, Primarch of the VIth Legion, had previously been tasked with calling his brother Magnus the Red of?the Thousand Sons to account for the crime of using his psychic powers against the Emperor's direct proscription. Again showing his far-reaching cunning, the Warmaster had intervened and manipulated Russ into changing his mission from bringing Magnus back to Terra alive to bringing him back dead —if at all— and purging his Legion. The battle that followed was an apocalyptic one, and despite the allied forces of the Sisters of Silence and Legio Custodes that fought alongside the Space Wolves, the VIth Legion took severe losses in the action, while their enemy was all but destroyed. Having razed the Thousand Sons home world of Prospero and driven the defeated Magnus and the remnants of his Legion to take sanctuary where none could follow, Russ had retreated to Alaxxes to bind his Legions wounds and, after the civil war broke out, had established contact with his brother, Jaghatai Khan.

盡管基里曼和萊昂失聯(lián)，但多恩還是與其他依舊保持忠誠的原體們取得了有限的成功聯(lián)系。野狼之主，第六軍團原體黎曼 魯斯之前被命令去帶回他的兄弟——千子軍團的原體馬格努斯，后者要為他違背帝皇的直接禁令使用靈能力量的罪行承擔責任。但戰(zhàn)帥再一次展現(xiàn)出了他的陰險狡詐，他干涉并操縱了魯斯，讓太空野狼的任務從逮捕馬格努斯變?yōu)榱颂帥Q馬格努斯并帶回遺體，而且倘若有可能的話，也要把千子軍團一并誅滅。之后的戰(zhàn)爭是一場恐怖的災難，盡管太空野狼得到了寂靜修女和禁衛(wèi)軍團的協(xié)助，但第六軍團仍舊在戰(zhàn)斗損失慘重。野狼們徹底摧毀了千子軍團的母星普羅斯佩羅，戰(zhàn)敗的馬格努斯和千子軍團的殘軍被驅逐到了無人能夠追蹤到的庇護所中。魯斯則撤退到阿萊克西斯星云讓軍團進行重整恢復，并且在內戰(zhàn)爆發(fā)后與他的兄弟察合臺可汗建立了聯(lián)系。

The Lord of the White Scars and his Vth Legion had themselves been engaged against Orks in the Chondax system, not far from the Space Wolves, and when the Space Wolves came under direct assault by a formidable Alpha Legion fleet and in dire need of reinforcement, the White Scars came to their aid. When at last the storms relented just enough to allow tenuous contact between the Khan's fleet's astropaths and Terra, Dorn,appraising the situation in light of the ongoing war instructed that Russ should draw the Alpha Legion fleet away into the depths of the void.

白疤之主原本和他的第五軍團在Chondax星系中對抗獸人，他們距離太空野狼并不遙遠。當太空野狼軍團遭到可怖的阿爾法軍團艦隊的直接進攻并急需援助時，白色傷疤軍團前去救援。當亞空間風暴最終減弱到足以讓可汗的艦隊與泰拉建立微弱的星語聯(lián)系之后，評估正在進行的戰(zhàn)爭局勢的多恩指示魯斯應該把阿爾法軍團的艦隊拖到虛空深處。

War was now spread the length and breadth of a chaotic and now largely unseen Imperium, and as far as Lord Dorn and the Sigillite were concerned, the Imperial Fists alone of all the Legiones Astanes would have to shoulder the burden of the defence of the Throne world. Until such time as the storms relented or those Legions still unknowingly enacting the Warmaster's duplicitous orders could fight their way through them, the defenders of Terra would stand alone while around them the galaxy burned.

這場戰(zhàn)爭現(xiàn)在蔓延到了混亂的長度和廣度，而且帝國在很大程度上并不能看清這場戰(zhàn)爭的惡劣程度。對多恩和掌印者馬卡多而言，所有阿斯塔特軍團中只有帝國之拳能夠承擔防衛(wèi)王座世界的重任。在亞空間風暴減弱，或其他仍在不知不覺地執(zhí)行戰(zhàn)帥口是心非命令的軍團殺出一條通路之前，泰拉的防御者只能孤立無援地獨自抵抗，而在他們的身旁，銀河也在熊熊燃燒。

Uncertainty and Allegiance

不確定性與忠誠

The treachery of the Legions that prosecuted the Dropsite massacre was a stark crime against all the Great Crusade had striven so hard to achieve, and the names of these Traitor Legions spread far and wide. From the very beginning, however, the division between Loyalist and Traitor was never as clearly defined as later generations might believe. It was certainly true that the Warmaster and his co-conspirators had turned hundreds of thousands of once staunchly loyal Legionaries against the Imperium and their brothers, but his reach was never truly total. The nature of the Emperor's immense Great Crusade was such that, while each of the Legions often fought as a whole army under the direct leadership of its own Primarch, smaller contingents were detached across the entire Imperium and into the deep void beyond. The ceaseless and ever-varying demands of numerous ongoing Compliance campaigns, suppression actions against recidivist regimes and the bolstering of Rogue Trader Militant pathfinder forces caused Space Marine detachments of all sizes, from individual squads to entire battalions, to operate beyond even the reach of the Warmaster's agents whilst the poison was spreading through their parent Legions.

登陸點大屠殺中所展現(xiàn)出的軍團叛變是一種完全的罪惡，他們背叛了帝國在大遠征時期苦心奮斗所實現(xiàn)的一切成就。但在最開始時，叛軍和忠誠派之間的分歧并不像后世可能想象的那樣涇渭分明。確實，戰(zhàn)帥和他的共犯們讓數(shù)十萬曾經(jīng)堅定忠誠的軍團戰(zhàn)士背叛了帝國和他們的兄弟，但荷魯斯也并未影響到所有人。帝皇發(fā)動的大遠征的性質就是如此：雖然每個軍團通常都是在自己原體的直接領導下作為一支完整的軍隊作戰(zhàn)，但是小型的分遣隊也會被派遣到整個帝國各處和外層深空中執(zhí)行任務。無數(shù)正在進行中的歸順戰(zhàn)役、對于慣犯政權的鎮(zhèn)壓行動和對于行商浪人軍事尋路者部隊的支援任務造成了對于阿斯塔特部隊的不斷變化的無止境需求，這也就造成了一種情況：在母軍團遭受荷魯斯毒害的同時，仍有規(guī)模從獨立小隊到整個戰(zhàn)斗營各異的星際戰(zhàn)士分遣隊在甚至連戰(zhàn)帥的特工們接觸不到的地方行動。

In most cases, these contingents were simply too far distant to be infected with the malady of treachery. By the time they eventually returned to communication range with the Imperium at large, such as it was with astrotelepathy made all but impossible by the tortured Warp, the die was cast and events had moved on. Confronted with outright betrayal, these contingents saw the Warmaster for what he truly was and their brothers for base traitors, and could do nothing but renounce their erstwhile kin.Records do not relate how many of these recalcitrant bands were destroyed by their own upon returning from detached duty.

在大多數(shù)情況中，這些分遣隊僅僅是因為過于遙遠以至于并未遭受到叛亂思潮的影響。當他們最終返回到能與帝國大部分區(qū)域進行通訊的范圍內時，紛亂的亞空間狀況也能星語通訊變得不可能，事已至此，也只能走一步看一步。面對著荷魯斯徹頭徹尾的背叛，這些分遣隊認清了這位戰(zhàn)帥的真面目，意識到了他們的兄弟們也已然是叛徒，而他們能做的也只有與這些曾經(jīng)的血親們決裂。（至于）此類不愿同流合污的部隊中有多少是在從自己的派遣任務返回時遭到了親族們的毀滅，相關記錄也無法說明。

It is likely the case that, as events unfolded and the Warmaster's betrayal took its course, some in the Traitor Legions must have reconsidered their allegiance. The Warmaster's treachery spread through the Legions at a shocking rate, but its effect on individual warriors was often subtle and varied. A Legionary might agree, for example, that the Emperor had abandoned his Legions and that Horus, and not the Council of Terra, had the right to rule in his stead. That same warrior might then see the necessity of a brief but decisive inter-Legion war in order to purge the Legiones Astartes of those lacking the strength and vision to make a stand against the forces taking control of the nascent Imperium.

而隨著事態(tài)的發(fā)展與荷魯斯的叛亂走上正軌，可能叛徒軍團中的某些人也必須重新考慮他們的忠誠度。戰(zhàn)帥的叛變在各軍團中以驚人的速率傳播著，但它對于戰(zhàn)士個體的影響通常是微妙且各異的。例如，一位軍團戰(zhàn)士可能會認同：帝皇已經(jīng)拋棄了他的軍團們，有權取而代之進行統(tǒng)治的是荷魯斯而非泰拉議會。有些戰(zhàn)士則認為有必要進行一場簡短但卻具有決定性的軍團間內戰(zhàn)，以清除掉那些缺乏與控制著新生人類帝國的勢力進行對抗的實力和遠見的阿斯塔特軍團。

As the Warmaster's true loyalties became evident, however, even those who followed his orders at Isstvan and elsewhere might have reconsidered. As those forces called upon by Erebus of the Word Bearers and others became more familiar, and the secular truths to which so many had clung to for so long were proved a lie, some warriors must surely have wavered in their position. Not all could cross the final rubicon into open alliance with the forces underpinning the entire rebellion and for many, the final realisation of the true nature of those forces must have come tragically late, long after all hope of salvation or redemption had passed.

不過，隨著戰(zhàn)帥真正的忠誠（對象）變得明顯起來，哪怕是那些在伊斯特萬星系和其他地區(qū)執(zhí)行了他命令的人們也能也（對現(xiàn)狀）進行了重新審視。隨著他們對于艾瑞巴斯和其他懷言者們所召喚的那種力量愈加熟悉，許多人長期堅持的世俗真理被證明是謊言，某些戰(zhàn)士一定也動搖了自己的立場。并非所有人都能夠破釜沉舟地（機仆：跨過盧比孔河，很經(jīng)典的說法）與那些支持整場叛亂的力量公開結盟，而對大多數(shù)人來說，他們對于這些力量真實本質的最終認識會悲劇性地遲來，但到那時，他們就已經(jīng)失去所有的救贖希望很久了。

Despite the paucity of records, accounts of small warbands that were once part of the known Traitor Legions fighting independently persisted throughout the war. A handful of extant accounts, now sealed beyond all retrieval, make reference to a loosely-termed and non-formal class of warrior known as the 'Blackshields'. The majority of Blackshields appear to have been of the Legiones Astartes, though some may once have belonged to other factions. In some cases the term was a literal description, the warriors having obscured the livery of their parent Legion, painting some or all of their armour's panels black to hide all former associations. In other cases, outcast forces proudly bore their original colours and may have regarded themselves as the true inheritors of their Legions. Thus, for example, the 34th Millennial of the Emperor's Children (the 'Death Eagles') bore the purple and gold of their parent Legion with pride, refusing to abandon their heraldry. It is thought that the Death Eagles Millennial clashed with their Traitor kin at Lethe and at Revorthe Keep in the Coronid Deeps, but their ultimate fate, like that of so many others, remains unknown.

盡管我們缺乏相關記錄，但在整場戰(zhàn)爭中都持續(xù)存在過此類報告：曾是某個未知叛變軍團部隊的小型戰(zhàn)幫在獨立作戰(zhàn)。大量尚存的報告都提到了一類被稱為“黑盾”的組織松散的非正式戰(zhàn)士團體，現(xiàn)在這些報告被封存起來，任何地方都無法檢索到。黑盾的主體似乎是阿斯塔特軍團戰(zhàn)士，不過某些成員可能曾經(jīng)屬于其他派系。某些情況中“黑盾”是一種字面意思上的描述：戰(zhàn)士們刮抹掉了母軍團的標志，將動力甲的部分或者全部甲塊噴涂成黑色以隱藏他們與過去的所有聯(lián)系。而在其他情況中，這些被放逐的部隊會驕傲地保留著自己的最初配色，他們可能自視為軍團真正的繼承者。比如帝皇之子軍團的第34千人隊“死亡雄鷹”便自豪地噴涂著母軍團的金紫配色，并拒絕拋棄自己的紋章。我們認為死亡雄鷹在王冠深淵區(qū)域中的Lethe世界和Revorthe Keep世界上與自己的叛徒胞親們發(fā)生了沖突，而至于他們的最終命運，就像其他許多黑盾部隊的一樣不為人們所知。