The Imperium is a fragile sliver of sanity in the void, besieged upon all sides by forces of monstrous dread that are held at bay only by the blood and sacrifice of millions of?forgotten heroes. For every crusade trumpeted to the masses as a safe legacy of triumph and glory, like the much lauded victory at Ullanor, there are a hundred dire tales of desperate stalemate with forces malignant beyond mortal ken. Were the populous of the Imperium to realise the dire peril in which they existed in the tenuous days of the Great Crusade then it is likely that the terror would have kept them prisoner on Old Earth, never to reach out for the stars. Of all these hidden threats and dire wars against the unknown, the most infamous among scholars of the forbidden is that of the Rangdan Campaigns.

人類帝國是懸浮在虛空中的脆弱理智條帶，它被駭人的恐怖之物所環(huán)飼著，能將這些強(qiáng)敵隔絕于國門之外的，只有數(shù)以百萬計被遺忘英雄付出的鮮血與犧牲。對于大眾，每次遠(yuǎn)征都被宣揚(yáng)為關(guān)于勝利和榮耀的安全遺產(chǎn)——就像很多人都稱贊著烏蘭諾的勝利，但（帝國）仍然有一百個關(guān)于帝國和某些超越凡俗范圍的惡毒力量之間陷入絕望僵局的可怕傳說。倘若帝國的蕓蕓眾生意識到這些恐怖的禍患就曾存在于飄渺的大遠(yuǎn)征歲月中，可能恐懼便會將他們囚禁在舊地球上，永遠(yuǎn)也不向群星進(jìn)發(fā)。在所有這些隱藏的威脅和對抗未知敵人的恐怖戰(zhàn)爭中，有一項(xiàng)事件在那些被遺忘的學(xué)者當(dāng)中最為惡名昭著——冉丹戰(zhàn)爭。

These campaigns have long been relegated to the footnotes of history, little understood by the common historian save as an obscure reference to a forgotten evil. In reality the wars against the Rangda threatened the utter destruction of all the realms of?Mankind, the destruction of His dominion and the butchery of?its subjects. More than 80,000 of?the Legiones Astartes and uncounted millions of?the Imperial Army gave their lives to hold back the hordes of the Rangda and their cohorts,over wars fought across some two decades of the Great Crusade. The Dark Angels stand prominent in the telling of?this tale, and it is by their hand that so few details are known, for it was deemed by the First Legion that all knowledge of the Rangda and the wars fought against them should be purged for the good of?the Imperium.

冉丹戰(zhàn)役已經(jīng)被降級為史書的腳注很久了，它幾乎不被一般歷史學(xué)家所知，這些腳注是對這些被遺忘的邪惡之物的模糊提及。事實(shí)上，與冉丹之間的戰(zhàn)爭曾對人類的全部疆域造成過徹底毀滅的威脅，人類的領(lǐng)土遭到毀滅，人民遭到屠宰。超過80000名軍團(tuán)阿斯塔特與數(shù)百萬帝國軍犧牲自己來阻止冉丹的族群和軍隊(duì)，這場大遠(yuǎn)征時期的戰(zhàn)爭橫跨了大約二十年。黑暗天使在這個故事的講述中有著突出的地位，也正是經(jīng)由他們之手，人們幾乎不知道故事的細(xì)節(jié)，因?yàn)樵诘谝卉妶F(tuán)看來，為了帝國的利益，所有關(guān)于冉丹的知識和對抗他們的戰(zhàn)爭（記錄）都應(yīng)該被凈化抹除。

Much of?the fact surrounding those battles has long since been obscured by rumour and invention, with even the true form of the Rangda forgotten. All that remains are a few blurred and indistinct picts of fallen Rangdan warriors and ancient horror stories speaking of towering xenos of monstrous appearance and terrifying intellect. They were conquerors and destroyers whose seat of power lay along the very edges of the galaxy, a race whose foul technology and cruel ambition were a match for that of the Imperium and whose determination to rule over all others threatened to drown the Emperor's dream of empire in blood.

有很多事實(shí)圍繞著那些長期以來被謠言和虛言所模糊隱晦的戰(zhàn)斗，甚至連冉丹的真實(shí)形態(tài)都被遺忘了。所有的殘留物只是少數(shù)模糊不清的冉丹戰(zhàn)士遺體照片和講述擁有駭人外貌與恐怖才智的高大異形種族的古老恐怖故事。它們是征服者與毀滅者，勢力所在地分布于銀河系非常邊緣的地區(qū)，這支異形種族擁有能與帝國相匹敵的污穢科技和殘酷野心，它們決心統(tǒng)治其他所有種族，威脅要把皇帝的帝國宏夢淹沒在鮮血中。

It is beyond the scope of this volume to address the full impact and devastation wrought during the campaigns that would see the eventual extinction of the Rangda, though perhaps future works may address this omission. However, considering the integral role of the First Legion in the events of all three Rangdan Campaigns, it seems appropriate that the base facts of the fighting be presented here, at least in brief.?

寫出見證了冉丹最終滅絕的那些戰(zhàn)爭期間造成的所有影響和毀滅就超出了本書的范圍，但在后續(xù)內(nèi)容中可能會寫出這些被省略的內(nèi)容。不過考慮到第一軍團(tuán)在所有三次冉丹會戰(zhàn)中都是不可或缺的角色，在這部分至少簡要地介紹戰(zhàn)斗的基本事實(shí)似乎也是適當(dāng)?shù)摹?/p>

The wars fought against the Rangda number three in total. The first of these campaigns, the assault and destruction of Advex-mors in 839. M30, is most probably the first encounter between the forces of the Emperor and the Rangda, and has been covered elsewhere in this treatise in some detail. Advex-mors would later be discovered to be little more than a small outpost of the Rangdan empire, a minor station at the edge of their domains. In the aftermath of?the Imperium's assault, the Rangda paused in their conquests elsewhere to turn their eye back upon Advex-mors and the surrounding systems, now swarming with the Imperium's colonies and fleets. The victory at Advex-mors, despite the steep price paid to secure it, would prove to be little more than the prelude to the true assault.

對抗冉丹的戰(zhàn)爭總共有三次，第一次是發(fā)生于839. M30的Advex-mors世界的進(jìn)攻和毀滅，這最有可能是帝皇的部隊(duì)與冉丹之間的第一次遭遇戰(zhàn)，本書已經(jīng)在其他部分已經(jīng)進(jìn)行了詳細(xì)描述（機(jī)仆：hh9戰(zhàn)史部分）。帝國之后將會發(fā)現(xiàn)Advex-mors不過是冉丹帝國一個不起眼的前哨而已，一座位于他們領(lǐng)土邊境的次級哨站罷了。在帝國進(jìn)攻之后，冉丹暫停了它們在其他地方的政府，將目光轉(zhuǎn)回到Advex-mors和周邊的星系——這些地方現(xiàn)在蜂擁著帝國的殖民地和艦隊(duì)。帝國在Advex-mors的勝利——還要不考慮為了攻取它而付出的高昂代價，將會被證明不過是真正進(jìn)攻前奏。

In 862.M30 the Rangda returned to Imperium space, marking the start of the second Rangdan war. They came not with a single small fleet, but with a vast armada comprising thousands of vessels as well as over a dozen war-moons, a force of might far exceeding that of?the small garrisons and Expeditionary fleets in the area. They struck the northern fringe of the Imperium like a thunderbolt, annihilating the fleets set in defence over the fledgling colonies and forcing their colonists into neural shackles. It was only by the efforts of?Expeditionary fleets under the banner of the Vth and XIXth Legions that the tide was delayed long enough for Imperial forces to rally, and the price they would pay to buy this respite was staggering. Making a stand at the isolated Forge World of Xana, the combined forces of the Vth and XIXth Legions fought a bitter holding action for eight months at a cost of 3,000 of the Legiones Astartes and many hundreds of?thousands of Mechanicum thralls. The siege of Xana would be broken by the furious onslaught of?the Dark Angels and Death Guard, shattering the Rangdan blockade and cutting a path through the slave cohorts on the surface to once again open up the forge as a beachhead for the Imperium's counter-attacks.

冉丹于862.M30返回了人類帝國宙域，這標(biāo)志著第二次冉丹戰(zhàn)爭的開始。隨它們前來的并非是一支單獨(dú)的小型艦隊(duì)，而是由數(shù)千艘戰(zhàn)艦和超過一打的戰(zhàn)斗月亮組成的龐大無敵艦隊(duì)，其力量可能遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過了當(dāng)?shù)氐男∫?guī)模帝國駐軍和遠(yuǎn)征探索艦隊(duì)。它們?nèi)缋做阋u擊了帝國的北部邊境，殲滅了在此處保衛(wèi)新建殖民地的艦隊(duì)，迫使殖民者接受神經(jīng)束縛。全靠第五和第十九軍團(tuán)麾下遠(yuǎn)征探索艦隊(duì)的奮戰(zhàn)這波攻擊才被拖延，時間長到足夠帝國部隊(duì)集結(jié)，但帝國將為這份拖延付出令人難以置信的代價。第五和第十九軍團(tuán)組成的聯(lián)合部隊(duì)在偏遠(yuǎn)的鑄造世界Xana設(shè)置了立足點(diǎn)，聯(lián)合部隊(duì)進(jìn)行了一場艱苦的阻擊行動，犧牲了3000名軍團(tuán)阿斯塔特和多達(dá)數(shù)十萬之眾的機(jī)械神教仆役兵。黑暗天使和死亡守衛(wèi)狂怒猛攻打破冉丹對于Xana的圍困，他們撕碎冉丹的封鎖，在星球地表的奴隸兵團(tuán)中撕開一條通路以再次開啟鑄造廠，為帝國的反攻建立灘頭陣地。

What would follow was more than two decades of war, millions upon millions of deaths, 19 inhabited systems laid waste and a ban on further expeditions past the exclusion posts on Endyris and Morox. Before the crisis was declared ended, contingents from nine separate Legions would become embroiled in the fighting, with more than 300,000 Space Marines being deployed at the height of the conflict during the climactic assault on Taxal. Due to the widespread nature of the campaign, the battle honour goes to no single warlord, though three of the Primarchs were known to have led their troops into battle against the Rangda. Despite this, the Primarch of the Dark Angels is widely held to be the foremost commander of the war.

隨后便是超過二十年的戰(zhàn)爭，千百萬人的犧牲，19個定居星系化為廢土，而且帝國禁止（任何人）越過Endyris和Morox上的廢棄哨站進(jìn)一步探索。在這場災(zāi)難被宣告終結(jié)之前，來自九個分散軍團(tuán)的分遣隊(duì)將被卷入戰(zhàn)斗，而在進(jìn)攻Taxal世界的戰(zhàn)斗高潮，將有超過300000名星際戰(zhàn)士被部署。由于這場會戰(zhàn)涉及甚廣，戰(zhàn)斗榮譽(yù)無法歸屬于單獨(dú)的某位戰(zhàn)爭領(lǐng)主，不過已知有三位原體率領(lǐng)他們的部隊(duì)參與了對抗冉丹的戰(zhàn)爭，除此之外，黑暗天使的原體被廣泛推舉為最重要的戰(zhàn)爭指揮官。

The last known battle of the second Rangdan campaign is thought to have occurred in 882.M30, a chance encounter with a battered Rangdan fleet, a broken remnant of the vast armada that had challenged the Imperium and lost. At the time the truth of the Rangdan campaign, of the slaughter endured and how the Imperium had teetered on the brink of ruin, was concealed. Those worlds tainted beyond recovery were abandoned and the surviving veterans sworn to silence or eliminated, for it was deemed necessary that the Rangda must vanish if the Imperium was to rebuild. Much of its legend would come later, the invention of Remembrancers and ideologues eager to promote the glory of the Great Crusade, and was composed of?as much fiction as fact. For most this marked the end of the wars with the Rangda, an end to one threat among thousands. A simple, if bloody, way marker in the Great Crusade's inexorable path.

第二次冉丹會戰(zhàn)中的最后一場已知戰(zhàn)斗被認(rèn)為發(fā)生于882.M30, 這是一場與遭受重創(chuàng)的冉丹艦隊(duì)之間的意外遭遇戰(zhàn)，它們是那支挑戰(zhàn)人類帝國且失敗的冉丹無敵艦隊(duì)破碎殘余。在當(dāng)時，那些關(guān)于冉丹會戰(zhàn)、持續(xù)性屠殺以及帝國如何在毀滅的邊緣搖搖欲墜的真相都遭到了掩蓋。那些被污染到無法回收的世界遭到了遺棄，幸存老兵們發(fā)誓保持沉默或者清除記憶——因?yàn)槿绻蹏M(jìn)行重建，就必須要滅絕冉丹，這被認(rèn)為是必要的。它的大部分傳說都會在以后出現(xiàn)，記述者和理論家們的虛構(gòu)故事熱衷于推廣大遠(yuǎn)征的榮譽(yù)，而這些故事則半真半假。對大多數(shù)人而言，這標(biāo)志著帝國與冉丹——數(shù)千個威脅當(dāng)中的某一個之間戰(zhàn)爭的終結(jié)，大遠(yuǎn)征不可阻擋的道路上某個簡單卻血腥的路標(biāo)。

The third and final Rangdan war, more commonly known as The Rangdan Xenocide, is little known and in many histories completely absent. It was conducted under the orders of?the Divisio Militaris by the combined forces of the Dark Angels and Space Wolves, the final and irrevocable solution to the threat of the Rangda. That great and terrible race had been sorely wounded by their losses in the second war with the Imperium, but not vanquished. They had returned to their ancient home worlds, and there, nourished by hate and a dark hunger, they had grown strong once again. By chance those nests were discovered by a roving Company of White Scars after the lifting of the edict of exclusion in 887.M30, news the sons of?Jaghatai brought to the courts of the Lion and the Wolf.?Those two, often antagonistic, warlords were united by the same bleak purpose, for if the Rangda still lived, they must be swiftly and utterly destroyed lest they rise again and ignite another great war. Together they and their Legions visited hell upon the remaining Rangda, scouring their last worlds clean from orbit and then descending to verify the termination of every hive and fortress with blade and flame.

第三次也是最后一次冉丹戰(zhàn)爭更常見的叫法是冉丹異形滅絕戰(zhàn)，它罕為人知，而且在很多史書上是完全不存在的。在軍務(wù)庭的命令下，黑暗天使與太空野狼軍團(tuán)的聯(lián)合部隊(duì)執(zhí)行了這次作戰(zhàn)，它們一勞永逸地最終解決了冉丹威脅。這個強(qiáng)大且恐怖的種族因在與人類帝國的第二次戰(zhàn)爭中遭受的損失而元?dú)獯髠鼈儾⑽幢粡氐讚魯?。它們返回了古老的母星世界，而且它們在那里得到了仇恨與黑暗貪婪饑餓的滋養(yǎng)，再次變得強(qiáng)大起來。887.M30，一支白疤巡游連隊(duì)在禁令解除后偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)了這些隱匿巢穴，察合臺子嗣將這些消息帶往雄獅和狼王的議廳。這兩位經(jīng)常敵對的戰(zhàn)爭領(lǐng)主為了同一個灰暗目標(biāo)而攜手合作——因?yàn)槿绻降と匀换蚧钪鼈兙捅仨毐豢焖偾覐氐椎貧?，以免他們再度崛起并引燃另一場大?zhàn)。兩位原體還他們的軍團(tuán)共同找到了Randa世界上剩余的冉丹巢穴，從軌道上清理冉丹最后的世界，之后他們降落到星球上，使用烈火和利刃確保每座巢城和要塞都被終結(jié)。

This last campaign was no war, but a brutal and one-sided extermination. Neither Russ nor the Lion held any illusions of tawdry chivalry to stay their hands, and they took a savage and final satisfaction in the utter annihilation of every last warrior and worker of the Rangdan breed. In the space of a year the galaxy was wiped clean of the Rangda, their last fastnesses torn down and all traces of?their works brought to ruin. The world of Rangda, once a vast and hideous city, was left as little more than plains of fractured glass formed from atomic fire, and became the site of a chantry house of the First Legion, home of?the Order of Broken Claws, the keepers of the last set of codices that detail the Rangda and their weaknesses. This was the end of both the Rangda and the campaigns against them, a quiet and undignified slaughter undertaken with the stoic determination that was the hallmark of the two rival Primarchs of Caliban and Fenris. If any of the xenos breed known to the Imperium as the Rangda survive, in some far flung outpost beyond the edge of the galaxy then they have not returned to seek their vengeance, but the sentinels placed by the First Legion still watch and wait, and should they falter in some distant future where the Legions have ceased to be, I fear for the Imperium.

最后的戰(zhàn)役并非是一場戰(zhàn)爭，而是殘酷的單方面滅絕屠殺。魯斯和萊昂都未讓任何關(guān)于騎士精神的俗氣幻想困住自己的雙手，徹底滅絕冉丹族群中最后的最后一名戰(zhàn)士和工人令他們獲得了野蠻且終極的滿足感。在一年的時光中，人類把冉丹從銀河系里抹除干凈，摧毀了冉丹最后的堡壘，將冉丹的所有造物化為廢墟。Rangda世界曾是一座巨大且丑陋的城市，但現(xiàn)在只剩下被原子火焰焚化后形成的破裂的玻璃平原，它成為了第一軍團(tuán)某座禮拜堂的所在地，斷爪修會的母星——該修會是最后一套詳細(xì)記錄著冉丹及其弱點(diǎn)的手抄本資料的保管者。這便是冉丹與冉丹會戰(zhàn)的終局，來自卡利班和芬里斯的兩位互相競爭的原體都被打上了一個標(biāo)記：安靜且不擇手段屠殺者，而且有著堅(jiān)韌的耐心。即便帝國所知的任意某些異形種族就是幸存于銀河邊境之外的某些前哨的冉丹族群，它們也未曾回來尋仇，不過第一軍團(tuán)設(shè)置的哨兵們?nèi)栽诒O(jiān)視和等待。不過他們是否會在軍團(tuán)不復(fù)存在的遙遠(yuǎn)未來中發(fā)生動搖，我為帝國而擔(dān)憂。