The Colour of Deceit

The question of the Alpha Legion's livery and heraldry of arms is also a matter of some contention in the study of this Traitor Legions history. It is the case that over the centuries-long conflict of the Great Crusade, all of the grey-clad Legions that first departed Terra changed in appearance to some degree —some very dramatically so— as the consequences of the long war and campaigning took their toll, and most tellingly after they were reunited with their Primarchs. It is also the case that given that an armed force such as a Space Marine Legion numbers in the tens of thousands strong and is often scattered across the vast distances of interstellar void, true uniformity or conformity of livery and appearance is impossible, even for a Legion so stratified and structured as perhaps the Ultramarines or the Iron Warriors.

在關(guān)于阿爾法這個(gè)叛徒軍團(tuán)的研究中，他們的動(dòng)力甲配色和武器裝備上的紋章是個(gè)備受爭論的話題。在大遠(yuǎn)征數(shù)個(gè)世紀(jì)的沖突中，那些最早出發(fā)在泰拉，身著灰色動(dòng)力甲的阿斯塔特軍團(tuán)們在某種程度上改變了自己的外表，某些（甚至）非常顯著——這是漫長的戰(zhàn)爭對他們造成傷亡后的結(jié)果，這種現(xiàn)象在軍團(tuán)與原體團(tuán)聚之后最為明顯。我們也要考慮到：星際戰(zhàn)士軍團(tuán)人數(shù)有數(shù)萬之眾，而且他們通常也是分散在群星虛空中的廣闊區(qū)域，彼此距離遙遠(yuǎn)，真的要求他們的外表和標(biāo)志保持一致是不可能的，哪怕對于諸如極限戰(zhàn)士和鋼鐵勇士這般等級化和結(jié)構(gòu)化的軍團(tuán)而言也是如此。

These factors, however, do not account for the wide variance displayed by the Alpha Legion, and instead it is likely more deliberate misdirection and secrecy plays its part. Variously and without recourse to time period or progression, the Alpha Legion has been witnessed in liveries of pale grey, gleaming steel, veridian, dull bronze, sable, indigo, amaranth and azure blue——both in main and combination. It has been variously recorded as displaying Principia Belicosa standardised rank and unit signifiers, elaborate stylised reptilian iconography of unknown meaning, and the complex logos-teknika forms favoured by the Emperor-shattered Pan pacific Empire on Ancient Terra. It has also gone into battle without emblems or markings of any kind; a faceless, anonymous army of killers without distinction or division in its ranks.

但是這些因素并不能解釋阿爾法軍團(tuán)外表與標(biāo)志的大量變化，相反，更有可能是他們的故意誤導(dǎo)和保密手段在起作用。在各個(gè)時(shí)間段或進(jìn)程中，人們曾目擊到阿爾法軍團(tuán)使用過淺灰色、亮鋼色、綠色、暗青銅色、黑色、靛藍(lán)色、紫紅色和天藍(lán)色等多種配色——既有單一色調(diào)的情況，也有彼此組合的情況。各種各樣的記錄表明：阿爾法軍團(tuán)展示出過基礎(chǔ)軍典的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化部隊(duì)與單位能指符號，意義不明的精心設(shè)計(jì)的爬行動(dòng)物肖像符號，以及古老泰拉上被帝皇毀滅的泛太平洋帝國所偏好的復(fù)雜的理性—技術(shù)形式圖案。阿爾法軍團(tuán)在戰(zhàn)斗中也沒有任何種類的徽章或標(biāo)記;他們沒有區(qū)別和分歧，是一支身份不明的殺手之軍。

If any deeper meaning is held by these changes and masquerades beyond their use to confuse the enemy and confound those who would study the Legion and know its ways, one of the most outlandish and disturbing explanations is that not even the Alpha Legion itself knew its true shape and form. This theory, postulated since the Horus Heresy, contends that only Alpharius knew the true extent of his Legion and its domains, its strength and its reach, and perhaps then even he knew it only imperfectly. By this token the Alpha Legion had become unknowable; a self-sustaining, selfreplicating force, a weapon that had transcended the flesh of the Legionaries that made it up and the hand that wielded it. It would be a force whose limits and extent would forever be unknown, even unto itself, and therefore ultimately unstoppable as no enemy or influence could ever hope to fully infiltrate or overcome it from within.

如果說這些變化和偽裝除了用于迷惑敵人、困擾那些將會(huì)了解阿爾法軍團(tuán)并知曉他們的戰(zhàn)爭之道以外，還有哪些更深刻的含義的話，那最古怪和令人不安的解釋之一就是：甚至阿爾法軍團(tuán)本身都不知道它的真實(shí)形狀和形式。這種理論是自從荷魯斯叛亂時(shí)期便被提出的假設(shè)，它認(rèn)為只有阿爾法瑞斯本人才知道阿爾法軍團(tuán)及其封疆的真實(shí)大小和范圍，而且甚至可能原體本人都不是完全了解其中的情況。這樣一來，阿爾法軍團(tuán)就是一支不為人（具體所）知的軍團(tuán);它是一支自給自足又自我復(fù)制的部隊(duì)，是一種超越了構(gòu)成他的軍團(tuán)戰(zhàn)士們和其掌控者的武器。這是一支（自身）限制和實(shí)力范圍永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)為人所知的部隊(duì)，甚至對其自身也是如此，因此阿爾法軍團(tuán)最終是無法被阻擋的，因?yàn)闆]有任何敵人或勢力能夠從內(nèi)部完全滲透或克服他們。

It was and is indeed the case, that even before the Horus Heresy, entire generations of Alpha Legion warriors could have been trained, fought and died in ignorance of their own Legion's wider operations, purposes and goals. Entire Expeditionary fleets could have operated never knowing the existence of mirror images of themselves, each believing that they were the only Alpha Legion bearing that name. The implications of such a colossal deceit are staggering, if true.

這曾是事實(shí)，而且現(xiàn)在亦然：甚至早在荷魯斯叛亂之前，就有整整數(shù)代阿爾法軍團(tuán)戰(zhàn)士可以在不知道自己軍團(tuán)更宏大行動(dòng)、目的和目標(biāo)的情況下受訓(xùn)、戰(zhàn)斗和犧牲。整整數(shù)支遠(yuǎn)征探索艦隊(duì)可以在豪不知曉自己鏡像（兄弟們）存在的情況下運(yùn)作，每支部隊(duì)都認(rèn)為自己就是身負(fù)阿爾法軍團(tuán)之名的阿斯塔特軍團(tuán)。倘若一切屬實(shí)，那么這一巨大騙局的影響是驚人的。