On many worlds, the seeds of corruption had been sown long before the hand of betrayal struck at Isstvan. When the Warmaster led his forces in civil war, hundreds of worlds not directly connected to his power base declared for his cause. On these planets and dominions, many scattered around the dangerous periphery of the Imperium's frontiers, it was because his agents and those of his allies within the Mechanicum, the Alpha Legion and the Word Bearers had already poisoned their hearts against the Emperor. There would be many hundreds more, from isolated and otherwise unimportant colonies to keystones of the Imperium's economy and military strength, that would fall under his sway as the war progressed in a process that became known as the 'Dark Compliance’.

在很多世界上，腐化的種子在叛軍們于伊斯特萬(wàn)悍然起兵很久之前就已經(jīng)被播下了。當(dāng)戰(zhàn)帥率軍發(fā)動(dòng)內(nèi)戰(zhàn)時(shí)，數(shù)以百計(jì)與其權(quán)力基礎(chǔ)沒(méi)有直接聯(lián)系的世界們宣誓效忠于戰(zhàn)帥。這些行星和領(lǐng)地許多都分散在帝國(guó)邊界的危險(xiǎn)邊緣，阿爾法軍團(tuán)和懷言者軍團(tuán)依靠著自己的特工與在機(jī)械神教當(dāng)中的盟友已經(jīng)毒害了他們的內(nèi)心，使他們反對(duì)帝皇。從偏遠(yuǎn)的世界和其他非重要的殖民地到帝國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)和軍事實(shí)力的基石世界，還會(huì)有數(shù)百個(gè)更多的世界將會(huì)隨著戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的推進(jìn)而拜倒在戰(zhàn)帥的說(shuō)服下，這個(gè)過(guò)程被稱為“黑暗歸順”

To each world over which the Warmaster's shadow fell, a simple choice was given：?total submission and surrender or total destruction and brutal subjugation—slavery or death, there were no other options and no second chances. It was a perverse parody of the progress and glorious goals of the Great Crusade, but served as more than mere scorn for the Emperor's dream or even the vainglory of a tyrant, for there was underlying method and intelligence beneath the apparently wanton savagery. When one militant world or stubbornly Loyalist star system was punished by apocalyptic destruction for their brave defiance, such fear was created in others nearby that their surrender came as a rapid and forgone conclusion, often without a shot fired in their defence. Each world added not simply territory but manpower, production capacity and supply, feeding a war machine that was growing exponentially in power. Further, those worlds marked for death — where possible— can be seen with hindsight to have been more strategically expendable compared to those spared to fall through fear, or the more measured if no less brutal decapitation strikes for which Horus' own Legion had long been famed. It can also be observed that the devastation visited during the Dark Compliances was never so thorough that survivors were not left to spread the word of what terrors they had beheld, and of the price this new shadow emperor exacted for defiance.

每個(gè)被戰(zhàn)帥投下陰影的世界都被給予了一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的選擇：要么徹底投降并歸順，要么遭到徹底的摧毀和野蠻的征服——被奴役或死亡，沒(méi)有其他選項(xiàng)，也沒(méi)有第二次機(jī)會(huì)。這是對(duì)于大遠(yuǎn)征進(jìn)展和光榮目標(biāo)的愚蠢模仿，但也不過(guò)是充當(dāng)了對(duì)于帝皇夢(mèng)想的嘲弄或（滿足）暴君的虛榮心，（不過(guò)）在明顯肆意的野蠻行為之下，存在著潛在的手段和才智。當(dāng)一個(gè)軍事世界或者頑強(qiáng)的忠誠(chéng)派星系因他們勇敢的抵抗而遭到末日般的摧毀時(shí)，它們周邊的其他世界便會(huì)產(chǎn)生恐懼并放棄抵抗盡快投降，這些世界的守軍甚至都不會(huì)短暫地開(kāi)火一次。每個(gè)歸順的世界不僅增加了叛軍的領(lǐng)土，而且增加了叛軍的人力、生產(chǎn)力和供給，供養(yǎng)（叛軍）那實(shí)力指數(shù)般增長(zhǎng)的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)機(jī)器。另外，如果可能的話，相比于那些因恐懼、或者更嚴(yán)格的衡量了自己是否會(huì)更多地遭受荷魯斯及其軍團(tuán)那長(zhǎng)久以來(lái)聲名狼藉的斬首打擊而幸免的世界，那些被被標(biāo)記為死亡的世界在事后更多地被看做是戰(zhàn)略犧牲品。我們也能觀察到：黑暗歸順期間的毀滅行動(dòng)如此的徹底，以至于沒(méi)有幸存者能傳播自己看到的恐怖場(chǎng)景，以及這位新的影子皇帝會(huì)讓抵抗者付出何等代價(jià)。