Price of the Imperial Truth

In the years before the return of Lorgar and the discovery of Colchis by the expanding fleets of the Imperium in 857.M30, the XVIlth Legion was known amongst the vast hosts of the Great Crusade by designations other than the 'Word Bearers'. The Emperor named them the Imperial Heralds at their inception, an elegant title that spoke of the grand purpose for which they had been created, whilst their fellow warriors named them the Iconoclasts, a more brutal appellation coined in appreciation of the zeal with which they cast down the idolatrous temples and cultic strongholds of Old Night.

在帝國拓張艦隊(duì)于857.M30發(fā)現(xiàn)科爾奇斯并迎回珞珈之前的歲月中，第十七軍團(tuán)在大遠(yuǎn)征龐大部隊(duì)集群中的名稱還并非是“懷言者”。帝皇在他們創(chuàng)建時(shí)賜名為帝國使者，這個(gè)雅致的頭銜說明了第十七軍團(tuán)是為了怎樣的宏偉目標(biāo)而創(chuàng)造的，而兄弟軍團(tuán)的戰(zhàn)士們則稱之為圣像破壞者，這個(gè)更為殘酷野蠻的稱謂符合他們對(duì)于自己摧毀舊夜時(shí)期偶像崇拜的神廟和邪教據(jù)點(diǎn)的狂熱行為的認(rèn)同。

Through the earliest years of the Great Crusade, the Iconoclasts were the foremost champions of the Imperial Truth, the vanguard of any assault against those of human descent who would deny the Emperor's dream of unity. They burned clean the fane-cities of psychic cults, overthrew?grotesque?xenos overlords who claimed for themselves the mantle of gods and delivered their human thralls into the expanding Imperium. Those who strayed from the strictures of the Imperial Truth, whether they be alien tyrants or misguided human survivors of the Age of Strife, were subject to their uncompromising judgement. None could fault the fearsome devotion of these warriors, for the fleets of the Imperial Heralds were the cutting edge of the Great Crusade, cleansing the taint of Old Night with the terrible power of their unflinching resolve and blind belief in the teachings of their Emperor. The tally of their victories could not easily be counted, though some amongst the highest circles of the Officio Militaris whispered that if the Iconoclasts remained unchecked, they would be left with an empire of ashes and corpses, for it was not the way of the XVIIIth?Legion to spare their wrath from those who failed to meet their exacting standards of purity. Then came the discovery of Colchis, and everything changed.

在大遠(yuǎn)征的早期歲月中，圣像破壞者是帝國真理最重要的冠軍，在所有討伐那些否認(rèn)帝皇統(tǒng)一之夢的人類族裔的進(jìn)攻中，他們都是先鋒。他們焚滅干凈靈能邪教的邪殿都城，推翻那些將自己鼓吹為神明的丑惡異形霸主，并將遭受它們奴役的人類納入不斷拓張中的人類帝國。對(duì)于那些偏離了帝國真理約束之人，無論對(duì)方是異形暴君還是誤入歧途的紛爭紀(jì)元人類幸存者，都將受到他們毫無讓步的審判。沒有人能貶低這些勇士們可怕的奉獻(xiàn)精神，因?yàn)榈蹏拐哕妶F(tuán)的艦隊(duì)是大遠(yuǎn)征的切割鋒刃，他們依靠著堅(jiān)定決心所帶來的恐怖力量和帝皇教導(dǎo)所賦予的盲目信念來清洗舊夜的污垢?。他們的勝利多到無法輕易計(jì)算，軍務(wù)庭的某些高層甚至竊竊私語到：倘若圣像破壞者繼續(xù)不加區(qū)分地進(jìn)行毀滅，他們將會(huì)留下一個(gè)灰塵和尸體堆砌成的帝國，因?yàn)閷?duì)于不符合他們那苛刻的純潔標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的一切，第十七軍團(tuán)的一貫做法就是用自己的盛怒將他們焚盡屠絕。但隨著對(duì)于科爾奇斯世界的發(fā)現(xiàn)，一起都發(fā)生了變化。

Long a world mired in religious strife, it was on Colchis that Lorgar, 17th Primarch and soon-to-be lord of the Imperial Heralds, was re-united with the Emperor. As with all the Legions, the return of the XVIIth’s Primarch had a profound impact on the Imperial Heralds, one that at first seemed beneficial to their character. Where once the Imperial Heralds had been cold and aloof to all, obsessed with their own bitter crusade, they became common sights within the established worlds of the Imperium and amongst the many Great Crusade fleets, eager to engage with their brothers and to praise their newfound lord. Where once destruction and death had been their only purpose, Lorgar taught them to build and to believe in the Emperor's grand vision for the future of Mankind. That he also spread his misguided belief in the deified Emperor, the religion he had founded at the moment of the Emperor's arrival on Colchis, is now well known, and its spread throughout the Imperial Heralds was to culminate in their re-consecration as the Word Bearers. The annals of the Great Crusade and other contemporary historical documents record no comment by the Emperor on the open secret of Lorgars indiscretions, whether to rebuke or to encourage them. It is assumed that while no open censure was recorded against the Word Bearers in their earliest years, the Emperor remonstrated with Lorgar in private; indeed many of the writings of Lorgar's brother Primarchs infer such occurrences, yet these attempts came to naught. While the Emperor had apparently been willing to tolerate this while it did not interfere with the progress of the Great Crusade, as the newly dubbed Word Bearers began to delay longer and longer at their conquests, building temples and fanes in His honour, many among the Officio Militaris and the Emperors inner council began to question their priorities. In 963.M30 the Emperor sent Malcador the Sigillite, first among his councillors, and Roboute Guilliman of the Ultramarines to correct Lorgar's ways. At His order, the Word Bearers were publicly censured and the city of Monarchia on the distant world of Khur, along with its false temples, was destroyed by the warriors of Ultramar as an object lesson in the folly of false religion. The entirety of the XVIIth Legion was then forced to kneel in the ashes of their devotion while the Ultramarines stood over them in judgement, that which they had seen as worthy devotion now labelled treasonous.

在科爾奇斯這個(gè)長期陷入宗教紛爭的世界上，珞珈——第十七原體和帝國使者軍團(tuán)不久之后的主人，與帝皇重聚。就像所有軍團(tuán)那樣，第十七軍團(tuán)原體的回歸對(duì)帝國使者軍團(tuán)產(chǎn)生了深遠(yuǎn)的影響，而這種影響在起初看起來對(duì)他們的性格是有益的。帝國使者軍團(tuán)曾經(jīng)冷酷疏遠(yuǎn)一切，癡迷于他們自己的苦澀遠(yuǎn)征，而現(xiàn)在他們是帝國建立的（定居）世界和許多大遠(yuǎn)征艦隊(duì)的?？?，而且熱衷于密切接觸自己的兄弟和贊美他們新發(fā)現(xiàn)的主父。毀滅和死亡曾是他們僅有的目標(biāo)，而現(xiàn)在珞珈則教導(dǎo)他們?nèi)ソㄔ旌托叛龅刍蕦?duì)于人類未來所構(gòu)想的宏偉愿景。他也在傳播他那旨在神化帝皇的誤入歧途的信仰——他在帝皇君臨科爾奇斯時(shí)建立的這門宗教現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)非常著名了，這種宗教隨著帝國使者重新接受懷言者這個(gè)圣名而在軍團(tuán)中達(dá)到傳播高潮。大遠(yuǎn)征編年史和當(dāng)代其他歷史檔案并未記錄帝皇對(duì)于珞珈這些輕率魯莽的公開秘密的評(píng)論，既無指責(zé)，也無鼓勵(lì)。我們認(rèn)為帝皇雖然在早期并未對(duì)懷言者的行徑進(jìn)行公開指責(zé)，但他也對(duì)珞珈進(jìn)行了規(guī)勸；事實(shí)上我們從珞珈的許多兄弟原體們所留下的手跡也能推測出這些事件，但這些努力并無效果。不過珞珈的行為并未干涉到大遠(yuǎn)征的進(jìn)程，帝皇也就愿意容忍。但隨著被新命名為懷言者的第十七軍團(tuán)在征服行動(dòng)中耽誤的時(shí)間越來越長，以榮耀帝皇為理由修建圣堂和廟宇，軍務(wù)庭和帝皇的內(nèi)部議會(huì)中的許多成員也開始質(zhì)疑他們是否區(qū)分出了輕重緩急。帝皇在963.M30派遣掌印者馬卡多——帝國議會(huì)之首和極限戰(zhàn)士原體羅伯特 基里曼前去糾正珞珈的道路。在帝皇的命令下，懷言者軍團(tuán)遭到了當(dāng)眾懲戒，坐落于遙遠(yuǎn)的Khur世界上的完美之城與城中那些虛偽的圣堂也被一并摧毀，這被當(dāng)成是一堂展現(xiàn)虛偽宗教愚行的針對(duì)性課程。整個(gè)第十七軍團(tuán)都被迫在他們熱心奉獻(xiàn)的城市的灰燼中下跪，而極限戰(zhàn)士軍團(tuán)站在他們面前進(jìn)行審判。懷言者們見證了自己認(rèn)為值得奉獻(xiàn)的一切現(xiàn)在被貼上了大逆不道的標(biāo)簽。

After a period of seclusion, Lorgar returned to the forefront of the Great Crusade, redoubling the efforts of the Word Bearers and bringing dozens of worlds into swift Compliance, thus avoiding further scrutiny from the Emperor. Few at that time imagined that his new zeal could have been anything other than that of an errant son who sought to atone for his mistakes. Yet in the years to come, many would look back at these actions and see the earliest hidden signs of the coming treachery.

在一段世界的隱居之后，珞珈回到了大遠(yuǎn)征前線，率領(lǐng)懷言者軍團(tuán)加倍奮戰(zhàn)，并令十?dāng)?shù)個(gè)世界快速歸順，這避免了來自帝皇的進(jìn)一步詳細(xì)審查。在當(dāng)時(shí)，幾乎所有人都誤認(rèn)為他這份新的狂熱只是一名誤入歧途的兒子在試圖彌補(bǔ)他的過錯(cuò)，但在之后即將到來的歲月中，很多人將會(huì)回望這些行為，并發(fā)現(xiàn)隱藏其中的即將到來的叛亂的信號(hào)。