The Sorrow of Moab

Moab之殤

Almost at the same hour that doom befell Dominica Minor, a tragedy of a different character was to unfold on Moab. This chill, desert orb had, through accident of history and its location at a relatively stable junction of currents within the Warp passing though the Cyclops Cluster to the Manachean Commonwealth, become the most populous world in the region, and a crossing point for colonists and labour cohorts setting out across the sector. Moab was a world possessed of a single coin; its people, and in terms of political power and economic might, it had long lived in the shadow of more favoured worlds such as Dominica Minor and Mezoa. Now, as darkness reached out across the stars, Moab found itself alone before the wolf；its defensive squadrons stripped away for deployment elsewhere, and its few picquet ships and orbital gun stations, intended to deter corsair and renegade incursions, offering little hope where far mightier bastions had already fallen.

幾乎就在末日降臨于Dominica Minor的同時(shí)，Moab世界上也將要展開了一場(chǎng)特征不同的悲劇。由于歷史上的偶然事件，及其位于從獨(dú)眼巨人星群流向Manachean聯(lián)邦的亞空間波潮相對(duì)穩(wěn)定的交匯處的（地理）位置，這個(gè)寒冷的沙漠星球成為了該區(qū)域人口最多的世界，以及動(dòng)身前往星區(qū)各處的殖民者與勞工團(tuán)的過境點(diǎn)。Moab世界只有一種資源，那就是它的人口，而且在政治影響力和經(jīng)濟(jì)實(shí)力方面，它也長(zhǎng)期生活在諸如Dominica Minor和Mezoa等更受青睞的世界們的陰影下?，F(xiàn)在，隨著黑暗伸向群星各處，Moab發(fā)現(xiàn)自己是在獨(dú)自面對(duì)惡狼；它的防御艦隊(duì)被奪走以部署到其他地區(qū)，（留下的）極少數(shù)哨戒船和軌道火炮空間站也是用于威懾海盜與叛軍襲擊，在面對(duì)著令遠(yuǎn)為強(qiáng)大要塞陷落的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)時(shí)，它們只能提供渺茫的希望。

When the enemy came, it was not the palehulled, implacable warships of the Death Guard, but the knife-like deep viridian and sable predators of the Sons of Horus. Arcing into Moab's near-void space without warning, they appeared from behind the local gas giant, their drives blazing like torches in the heavens, a wide spearhead comprising eight strike cruisers and, at their apex, the dreaded Ikon, her ultimatum this time delivered from the barrels of her accelerator cannon. Moab's orbital defences were quickly silenced, its single great geo-stationary satellite —a tangled conglomeration fashioned from the hulls of colony arks and used as the planet's primary orbital transfer — was mauled and boarded with almost contemptuous ease by the Traitors. Ground fire was late in coming so swift was the attack and it too soon faltered of its own accord as the cruisers danced back out of range.

當(dāng)敵人到達(dá)時(shí)，出現(xiàn)于此地的并非船體蒼白且毫無(wú)寬恕之意的死亡守衛(wèi)戰(zhàn)艦，而是狀如匕首且噴涂著深綠和烏黑兩色的荷魯斯之子艦隊(duì)。艦隊(duì)毫無(wú)預(yù)兆得沖進(jìn)了Moab幾乎空無(wú)一物的宙域，它們從當(dāng)?shù)貧怏w巨星后方現(xiàn)身，驅(qū)動(dòng)引擎噴出熊熊燃燒的尾焰，如同天空中的火把。八艘打擊巡洋艦組成了一道寬闊的矛頭，沖在最前方的是可怕的“圣像”號(hào)，她用速射火炮的齊射作為最后通牒。Moab的軌道防御設(shè)施很快便陷入沉寂，叛軍們幾乎就是輕蔑地襲擊并跳幫了該世界唯一的大型同步軌道衛(wèi)星——由殖民方舟的船體制成的復(fù)雜聚集團(tuán)塊，用作該星球主要的軌道中轉(zhuǎn)站。進(jìn)攻來(lái)得太快，地面炮火姍姍來(lái)遲，當(dāng)巡洋艦們快速脫離到其射程之外時(shí)，地面火炮自然也就退縮遲疑了。

The Imperial Commander of Moab, one Malthus Grange, was quick to signal his world's surrender. The call went unanswered. The signal was made again, this time on all available vox channels, but still the cruisers circled without answer. Again and again the signal was made, with increasingly frantic and shameful pleas for mercy, all the time the fear built on the planet and the tension mounted to breaking point as the hours wore on, for while the Night Lords were the Legion most renowned for their use of terror as a weapon, the Sons of Horus were well versed in its application too. Below, within their fortified enclaves, the muster barons who ran the great labour barracks began to turn on each other, and civil insurrection and infighting broke out. The tension became unbearable, until Malthus Grange himself was slain, and the next transmission of surrender now carried images of his bullet-ridden body as further offering to the fleet in orbit. It was only then that the ikon answered. Pict-screens across Moab were filled with the image of a savagely armoured Legiones Astartes in a black-plumed, snarling-masked helm, all but unrecognisable as once one of the Imperium's finest warriors. They had made a beginning, the nameless master of the Ikon told them, but it was not enough. Horus had sent him to save them from the Emperor's lies, and from the weakness he had fostered, and the due payment for this boon was to serve Him. But only the strong, only those who deserved to survive would live, and the blood of the weak would buy them that survival. “Kill in His name and live, or perish with your Emperor's name on your lips; it is for you to decided.” What followed was unspeakable.

Moab的帝國(guó)指揮官——馬爾薩斯 葛蘭格很快便表明自己的世界投降，但叛軍并未對(duì)他的呼叫做出答復(fù)。信號(hào)再次被發(fā)出，而且這次是動(dòng)用了全部可用的音頻通訊頻道，但巡洋艦們?nèi)耘f在盤旋，未做出任何答復(fù)。星球當(dāng)局一再發(fā)出信號(hào)，動(dòng)作越來(lái)越手忙腳亂，并且可恥地懇求著對(duì)方的憐憫。隨著時(shí)間過去了一個(gè)又一個(gè)小時(shí)，恐懼在這顆星球上不斷累積，緊張情緒上升到崩潰的地步；雖然將恐懼作為武器是午夜領(lǐng)主軍團(tuán)最為著稱的一點(diǎn)，但荷魯斯之子們也深諳此道。在下方的星球上，統(tǒng)治著巨大的勞工營(yíng)的工商業(yè)巨頭貴族們躲在自己堅(jiān)固的堡壘中，他們開始開始相互進(jìn)攻，民眾起義和內(nèi)戰(zhàn)爆發(fā)了。緊張的氣氛變得令人難以忍受，直到人們殺死馬爾薩斯 葛蘭格；在Moab世界傳給軌道上的艦隊(duì)的下一份投降書中，附上了總督彈痕累累尸體的圖片。圣像號(hào)此刻才做出回應(yīng)。Moab世界世界各處的圖像屏幕上都充滿了一位野蠻地全副武裝阿斯塔特軍團(tuán)戰(zhàn)士的形象，他帶著一頂飾有黑色羽冠、面甲呈憤怒情狀的頭盔，讓人幾乎辨認(rèn)不出他曾經(jīng)是帝國(guó)最優(yōu)秀的戰(zhàn)士之一。他們已經(jīng)有了一個(gè)開端，圣像號(hào)的無(wú)名主人告訴他們，但這還不夠。荷魯斯派他前來(lái)從帝皇的謊言及其所培養(yǎng)出的軟弱（性格）中解救出Moab世界上的人們，而當(dāng)?shù)厝藢?duì)于這份恩賜所要做出的回報(bào)就是服侍戰(zhàn)帥。但只有那些強(qiáng)壯且值得幸存的人才會(huì)活下來(lái)，而他們要用弱者的鮮血來(lái)?yè)Q取自己幸存?！耙运拿x去殺戮并活下來(lái)，或者哭喊著你們帝皇的名字去死；你們自己選擇?！敝蟀l(fā)生的事情令人無(wú)法形容。

It was many days later when the dark bulks of orbital lighters began to appear in the skies of Moab, and descended into its barrack cities through the blood-reeking smoke that hung over them like a pall. Into their cavernous holds filed haggard, hollow-eyed men and women by the thousands, bound into the Warmaster's service as footsoldiers by a pact far darker than any sane mind could know or comprehend.

很多天之后，黑色機(jī)體的軌道駁船開始出現(xiàn)在Moab的天空，它們穿過那層如烏云般籠罩在城市上方并彌漫著血腥氣味的煙霧，降落在勞工營(yíng)組成的城市中。數(shù)以千計(jì)面容憔悴、雙眼深陷的男男女女走進(jìn)洞穴般的巨大船艙，他們簽訂了一份比任何有理智者所能知曉或理解的都遠(yuǎn)為黑暗的契約，成為了效勞于戰(zhàn)帥的步兵。

Silence Falls over the Cyclops Cluster?

沉寂的獨(dú)眼巨人星群

By the closing days of 007.M31, the steady flow of broken and fleeing Loyalist warships, refugee transports and escaped merchant craft that had made the desperate flight to the nearby sanctuary of the Manachean Commonwealth had ended as swiftly as it had begun. The last news that came to Manachea — bordering the Cyclops Cluster in the Ultima Segmentum to the galactic east— was of the direst import. The reports spoke of scores of worlds in the grip of the Warmaster, and of?scores of others laid waste, or simply descended into anarchy and barbarism as if Old Night had come again.

在007.M31的最后幾天，支離破碎且逃亡求生的忠誠(chéng)派艦船、難民運(yùn)輸艦和逃亡的商船不再穩(wěn)定流入Manachean聯(lián)邦——它們?cè)^望地朝著附近的避難所航行，一切都像開始時(shí)那般快速結(jié)束了。最后傳到Manachea世界（該星球與處在銀河?xùn)|部極限星域中的獨(dú)眼巨人星群交界）的盡是可怕的消息。報(bào)告聲稱有數(shù)十個(gè)世界被戰(zhàn)帥掌控，另有數(shù)十個(gè)世界化為廢土，或者是淪落到了混亂無(wú)序野蠻的狀態(tài)——仿佛舊夜再次降臨一般。

Only Mezoa, it was said, held strong amidst the darkness, although now besieged by the numberless cohorts of its ancient rival M'Pandex, pale-hulled Legion warships, and turncoat siege-monitors of the armada. The first great assault had been hurled back, it was whispered, only because the Mezoan Magos had somehow turned the fabric of their molten world against their attackers, causing vast swathes of the planets mantle to suddenly and violently collapse under the enemy's landing zones. The wilder reports even said that colossal island-sized chunks of magma had somehow been hurled up into space at the attacking ships, and that an ashen-black war machine called by some 'the dragon', claimed to have been dug loose from the black sands of Isstvan itself, had somehow appeared to meet the attack and torn the Traitor Archimandrite limb from metallic limb.

據(jù)說，只有梅左阿還在黑暗中頑強(qiáng)抵抗，但它也遭到了古老競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手M'Pandex的無(wú)數(shù)部隊(duì)、蒼白色船體的軍團(tuán)戰(zhàn)艦和叛變的海軍攻城監(jiān)測(cè)艇的圍攻。叛軍的第一次大規(guī)模進(jìn)攻被擊退了——據(jù)說梅左阿的賢者們以某種方式改變了這顆熔融世界的（地層）結(jié)構(gòu)來(lái)對(duì)抗入侵者，他們的行動(dòng)導(dǎo)致敵軍登陸區(qū)下方的大片行星地幔發(fā)生了突然且猛烈的塌陷。更瘋狂的報(bào)道甚至聲稱：島嶼大小的巨型巖漿塊被以某種方式被拋入太空來(lái)攻擊艦船，而且一臺(tái)被某些人稱為“龍”的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)機(jī)器（據(jù)稱它是被從伊斯特萬(wàn)星球的黑色沙地中挖出來(lái)的）也似乎以某種方式迎擊了進(jìn)攻者，并扯下了叛變（機(jī)械神教）大主教的金屬肢體。

Regardless of the truth, that the Traitor forces had been hurled back was known, but Mezoa was but one light amid a sea of night and how long it would last could not be predicted. All astropathic communication from the Cyclops Cluster had ceased, and the rising warp squalls blinded any attempt to pierce the darkness with probe ships.

不管真相如何，叛軍部隊(duì)已被擊退是眾所周知的，但梅左阿也只是暗夜之海中的一盞孤燈，我們無(wú)法推測(cè)它還能持續(xù)多久。所有來(lái)自獨(dú)眼巨人星群的星語(yǔ)通訊都已經(jīng)停止了，亞空間中卷起了狂風(fēng)，帝國(guó)用探測(cè)船來(lái)穿透黑暗的任何嘗試都徒勞無(wú)功。

Silence had fallen across what was now the domain of the enemy.

寂靜降臨到獨(dú)眼巨人星群各處，那里現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)是敵人的領(lǐng)地。

（肅清獨(dú)眼巨人星群，完）

機(jī)仆：銜接在獨(dú)眼巨人星群戰(zhàn)役之后的是Manachean聯(lián)邦戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)，下文是Manachean聯(lián)邦戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)結(jié)束后的情況。

The Spoils of War

戰(zhàn)利品

Mortarion and the core of the Death Guard fleet had already long departed the region by the time the Manachean Commonwealth had fully submitted, and the Warmaster and his own fleet were soon to follow, the course of the war carrying them far away. His wrath was to be visited on a dozen other worlds in the years to follow, from shunned Gyrien, to storied Dwell and the vaunted fortress world of Molech, whose defences stood greater than even Manachea's, but would also be shorn in the talon of Horus in its turn. Behind them they left the Coronid Deeps sundered into fragments; a realm of broken cities and dead worlds, war zones still left bleeding and the unity of Imperial rule irrevocably severed. Port Maw was now his and rapidly was returned to order, serving as a resupply and repair base for Traitor forces in the northern Imperium; much of?its armada was stripped from it, warships, turncoat troops and war machines dispersed to reinforce Traitor battle lines and attack fleets across a score of sectors where the war now raged. This had left only a skeleton fleet of perhaps sixty line warships at the Maw, strong enough to defend it from attack and to enforce dominion over the Manachean worlds, but far too small in number to ensure full mastery over the wider Coronid Deeps. Commanding this pocket empire in the Warmaster's name was a detached Sons of Horus battle company under Taloc Thorne,once a line captain of the Sons of Horus, now Tyrant of Port Maw. The seat of his power was the blood-bedecked Ttiumph of Reason, renamed 'The?Lash'. Under his rule, Port Maw's ship-forges worked in endless cycle to arm, construct and repair warships, as Dark Mechanicum emissaries took charge of the anchorage facilities in the Warmaster's name, and six cohorts of Chthonian Jackals, Solar Auxilia recruited from the Sons of Horus home world but judged unsuitable for Legiones Astartes conversion, were installed as Port Maw's garrison. Beneath this shadow, the hives of Manachea became little more than vast slave-camps run by those natives who had pledged themselves wholly to Horus and who now competed with each other to prove their loyalty by enforcing the brutal quotas demanded by their distant and merciless overlord.

當(dāng)Manachean聯(lián)邦完全臣服時(shí)，莫塔里安與死亡率的艦隊(duì)核心已經(jīng)離開該區(qū)域很久了。戰(zhàn)帥和他本人的艦隊(duì)不久后也會(huì)離開，戰(zhàn)事將讓他們前往遠(yuǎn)方。在之后的幾年中，荷魯斯的怒火將造訪另外十多個(gè)世界，從被回避的Gyrien，到傳奇的Dwell和自負(fù)的要塞世界Molech——它的防御甚至比Manachea的更為強(qiáng)悍，但最終也會(huì)被荷魯斯的利爪撕碎。而在他們身后，王冠深淵分裂為了一堆碎片：這里成為了殘破城市與死亡世界所組成的王國(guó)，以及仍在流血的戰(zhàn)區(qū)，帝國(guó)統(tǒng)治所帶來(lái)的統(tǒng)一被徹底中斷。巨口港現(xiàn)在屬于荷魯斯，而且很快就被恢復(fù)了秩序，它充當(dāng)著叛軍在帝國(guó)背部的補(bǔ)給站和維修基地；當(dāng)?shù)氐呐炾?duì)也被奪走，戰(zhàn)艦、叛變部隊(duì)和戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)機(jī)器被分散到了戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)仍在肆虐的二十個(gè)星區(qū)中，用于增強(qiáng)叛軍的戰(zhàn)線和進(jìn)攻艦隊(duì)。巨口港只剩下了一支由大概六十艘線列戰(zhàn)艦組成的艦隊(duì)，雖然它強(qiáng)大到足以保護(hù)巨口港免受攻擊并加強(qiáng)對(duì)Manachean聯(lián)邦諸世界的統(tǒng)治，但數(shù)量太少，遠(yuǎn)不足以確保對(duì)于更廣闊的王冠深淵地區(qū)的全面掌控。以戰(zhàn)帥之名統(tǒng)治著這個(gè)口袋帝國(guó)的是一支被派遣的荷魯斯之子連隊(duì)，他們的指揮官——塔洛克 索恩曾是一名荷魯斯之子前線連長(zhǎng)，現(xiàn)在則是巨口港暴君。他的座艦是濺滿鮮血的“理性勝利”號(hào)——現(xiàn)在更名為“鞭笞者”號(hào)。在他的統(tǒng)治下，巨口港星艦鑄造廠不斷進(jìn)行著生產(chǎn)循環(huán)，武裝、建造和維修著戰(zhàn)艦，黑暗機(jī)械神教的特使們也以戰(zhàn)帥之名掌管著錨地設(shè)施。六支克蘇尼亞豺狼兵團(tuán)也駐守在了巨口港——這些太陽(yáng)軍士兵也來(lái)自戰(zhàn)帥的母星，但他們被判定不適合接受阿斯塔特軍團(tuán)戰(zhàn)士轉(zhuǎn)化手術(shù)。在這些陰影的籠罩下，Manachea世界的巢都們淪為了巨大的奴隸營(yíng)地，由那些完全屈服于荷魯斯的當(dāng)?shù)厝私?jīng)營(yíng)著?，F(xiàn)在這些凡人統(tǒng)治者們相互競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，通過完成他們那位遙遠(yuǎn)且無(wú)情的領(lǐng)主下達(dá)的殘酷（生產(chǎn)）配額來(lái)證明自己的忠誠(chéng)。

Between Thornes fleet and the Taghmata of M'Pandex, the embanled but still unconquered Forge World of Mezoa continued to be blockaded, but attempts to besiege it had failed, and it remained a threat whose influence would spread. Though the main warp routes to the galactic west stayed in the Traitors'?hands, allowing Port?Maw and Manachea to serve their function, much of the Cyclops Cluster around them was now little more than a war-ravaged wasteland. Here the Traitors' writ ran only where the shadow of their warships fell to extract tithe and plunder. Beyond, to the north, the Grail Abyss had sunk back into an all-encompassing darkness as before the coming of the Great Crusade; a haven for renegades, vengeance-seeking Loyalist survivors, marauders and far worse. To the west of the region, considered strategically less important than the core systems conquered in the war's initial bloody phases, in the area known as the Coronid Reach, conflict still raged unabated and matters were very much in flux. Here the Forge World of Cyclothrathe, spuming the direct involvement of the Sons of Horus garrison at Port?Maw as much as it dared, was still prosecuting its own war of conquest, although it too had acquiesced to Horus and dispatched a significant portion of?its Taghmata to join the Warmaster's armies elsewhere. What remained under the command of the baleful warlord Archmagos Draykavac was engaged in ongoing protracted battles to control Numinal and the surrounding star systems, while a number of Rogue Trader fleets, Death Guard poison ships and the reavers of the Traitor Knight House AErthegn —all in theory operating under the Warmaster's banner, but each with their own agendas— were all active in the region, as was substantial and increasingly co-ordinated Loyalist resistance. Both sides were at turns both hindered and helped by the rising tides of warp turbulence which, having seemed to abate during Horus' invasion, were now rising again in temper.

梅左阿身處困境但仍未屈服，索恩的艦隊(duì)與M'Pandex的機(jī)神禁衛(wèi)軍繼續(xù)封鎖著它，但叛軍攻破梅左阿的嘗試失敗了，這顆鑄造世界仍舊是一個(gè)將會(huì)傳播影響的威脅。雖然通往銀河西部的主要亞空間航線仍掌握在叛徒手中，巨口港和Manachea世界也在為叛軍發(fā)揮自己功能，但他們周圍的獨(dú)眼巨人星群的大部分區(qū)域現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)變成了飽受戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)蹂躪的荒地。在這里，叛軍們只在自己戰(zhàn)船投下陰影的區(qū)域中執(zhí)行命令，即收取什一稅和掠奪。北側(cè)的圣杯深淵又淪落進(jìn)了大遠(yuǎn)征到了之前那種包圍著一切的黑暗狀態(tài)中，成為了變節(jié)者、尋求復(fù)仇的忠誠(chéng)派幸存者、掠奪者和某些更為惡劣事物的天堂。叛軍認(rèn)為該區(qū)域西側(cè)在戰(zhàn)略上不如那些在戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)最初的血腥階段所征服的核心星系那般重要，在被稱為王冠邊境的地區(qū)中，沖突仍在激烈地進(jìn)行且沒有減弱，情況很不穩(wěn)定。鑄造世界Cyclothrathe仍在進(jìn)行著自己的征服之戰(zhàn)，它還大膽地將荷魯斯之子駐守在巨口港的軍隊(duì)直接卷入其中，但它也順從于荷魯斯，并派遣了相當(dāng)一部分機(jī)神禁衛(wèi)軍去加入戰(zhàn)帥位于其他地區(qū)的軍隊(duì)。而在大賢者德拉卡瓦克這位邪惡軍閥的指揮下，剩余的機(jī)神禁衛(wèi)軍正在進(jìn)行一場(chǎng)旨在控制Numinal世界和周邊星系的曠日持久的戰(zhàn)斗，同時(shí)很多行商浪人艦隊(duì)、死亡守衛(wèi)軍團(tuán)的投毒艦和來(lái)自叛變的艾爾澤恩騎士家族的掠奪者部隊(duì)們也都活躍在該區(qū)域中——他們?cè)诶碚撋隙际怯趹?zhàn)帥的旗幟下行動(dòng)，但每支勢(shì)力都有自己的目標(biāo)計(jì)劃。同時(shí)忠誠(chéng)派的抵抗力量也在不斷壯大，而且越來(lái)越協(xié)調(diào)。在荷魯斯入侵期間，亞空間湍流的上升趨勢(shì)似乎有所減弱，而這些亂流現(xiàn)在又卷土重來(lái)，令雙方都受到了阻礙和幫助。

By the dawning of 008.M31, the Coronid Deeps, once a stable outpost of the Imperium, had become in pan a fractured series of Traitor-ruled domains in a wider galaxy riven with strife. But this too was soon to be challenged as the spirit of war that had been unleashed would not be so easily assuaged, and for some victory was to prove fleeting.

在008.M31初期，在這片被紛爭(zhēng)所撕裂的廣闊銀河中，王冠深淵這座曾經(jīng)穩(wěn)定的帝國(guó)哨站，已經(jīng)變成了一系列由叛軍們所統(tǒng)治著的破碎領(lǐng)地。但這一局面也很快就受到了挑戰(zhàn)，因?yàn)槿藗冡尫哦龅膽?zhàn)爭(zhēng)惡靈不會(huì)那么容易就被平息，某些勝利也將會(huì)被證明是稍縱即逝的。

機(jī)仆：這部分之后的劇情就是解放Numinal。

HH4劇情部分——征服王冠深淵，全文完。

劇情順序：肅清獨(dú)眼巨人星群系列——Manachean聯(lián)邦戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)系列——解放Numinal系列。