The Librarius Project & the Taint of Old Night

As the 31st?Millennium dawned, there were those within the Great Crusade who believed that the Thousand Sons and their master had simply gone too far down a road long prohibited by the Emperor the path of sorcery. But what is sorcery? To many, particularly those of superstitious mind, the manifestation of any psychic power might be called such, and there is perhaps some truth to this belief as all psychic abilities, no matter how rigidly controlled or slight in effect, are perilous by their very nature. But the more common definition has always held that 'sorcery', being an arcane and ancient term, was rather more readily applied in the Age of the Imperium to the reckless pursuit of psychic power or mastery over the forces of the Empyrean without due measures of control or caution, particularly where the use of certain forbidden texts and practices of ancient human and xenos origin were concerned. These arts, pursued in order to master forces of terrible power and breadthwithout any of the sanction or stricture the Emperor's will and wisdom had enforced on His new human civilisation, were to any sane mind understood to be incredibly dangerous, not only to the individual who sought them out, but to all around them. In short, they were the sins of the past wilfully repeated, and it was of this that the Thousand Sons were generally suspected.

隨著第31個千年黎明時期的到來，大遠(yuǎn)征的參與者們相信千子軍團(tuán)及其主宰者已經(jīng)走得太遠(yuǎn)了——他們踏上了被帝皇長期禁止的巫術(shù)道途。但何為巫術(shù)？對于很多人，尤其是那些迷信者而言，靈能力量的一切表現(xiàn)形式都可能被如此稱呼，這種看法中或許也存在著一些真相：所有靈能能力，無論被控制得多么嚴(yán)密或效果多么微弱，其本質(zhì)都是危險的。不過更為常見的定義通常認(rèn)為：巫術(shù)是一個古老且神秘的術(shù)語，在帝國時代，這個詞匯更容易去代指那些不顧一切追求靈能力量，或者在沒有采取謹(jǐn)慎和控制手段的情況下掌控至高天力量的行為，尤其是在采用和古代人類或異形種族有關(guān)的某些禁忌文本或做法的情況下。如果有人不遵守帝皇的意志和智慧強(qiáng)加給他的新人類文明的任何限制或制裁，為了掌握具備可怕控制力與廣度的力量而追求這些技藝的話，它們對任何理智者而言都要令人難以置信的危險性——而且不僅是會對尋求力量的人產(chǎn)生危險，還會對他們周圍的所有人產(chǎn)生危險。簡言之，這種行為就是在故意重復(fù)過去的罪惡，千子也是因此而受到廣泛懷疑。

The loudest voices that called for the censure of the XVth Legion for straying from the path of sanity and law were those of the Primarchs Leman Russ of the Space Wolves, Corvus Corax of the Raven Guard and Mortarion of the Death Guard. All three had at various times come face-to-face with the all but unimaginable horrors that could result from the ultimate misuse of psychic power and feared that if left to their own devices, the Thousand Sons would bring such a calamity upon themselves and the worlds of the fledgling Imperium.

在呼吁對第15軍團(tuán)偏離理性和法律道路行為進(jìn)行責(zé)難的人中，太空野狼原體黎曼 魯斯、暗鴉守衛(wèi)原體科沃斯 克拉克斯和死亡守衛(wèi)原體莫塔里安最為聲嘶力竭。這三位原體都曾在不同時期直面過靈能極度濫用所導(dǎo)致的近乎無法想象的恐怖場面，他們擔(dān)心如果放任千子軍團(tuán)為所欲為的話，后者就會給其自身與新生帝國中的諸世界帶來此種災(zāi)難。

This opinion had behind it the weight of history, for the Old Night that had consumed human civilisation and brought about the long Age of Strife was often considered to have had its origins in the proliferation of powerful and unrestrained psykers. Indeed, many of the worst warlords to have laid waste to Old Terra before the Unification Wars and turned other, once shining worlds of humanity into charnel houses had wielded the same dark powers, born?from unchecked psychic mutation and the pursuit of terrible lore no mortal mind could control. Moreover, the Imperium itself had always distrusted the wielders of such powers, and while it relied upon the likes of the Navigators and the astrotelepaths of the Astronomican for its existence, it rigidly structured and controlled the nature and scope of these organisations and the psykers who made up their ranks, laying on them a heavy yoke of servitude and the strictures of Imperial law.

這種觀念也是以史為鑒，因?yàn)橥淌闪巳祟愇拿鞑砺L紛爭紀(jì)元的“舊夜”事件就經(jīng)常被認(rèn)為起源于強(qiáng)大且不受控制的靈能者們的激增。事實(shí)上，在那些將舊泰拉變?yōu)閺U土和將其他曾經(jīng)閃耀的人類世界變?yōu)椴厥氐淖類毫榆婇y中，有很多人就曾使用過相同的黑暗力量，他們生來就有不受限制的靈能突變，也是誕生自人們對于凡俗意識控制不了的可怕知識的追求。另外，帝國通常也并不相信此類力量的使用者，盡管其自身的存續(xù)要依賴如導(dǎo)航者和星炬廳的星語者之類的靈能者，但對于這些組織的性質(zhì)和范圍以及構(gòu)成它們的靈能者，帝國都進(jìn)行了嚴(yán)格地系統(tǒng)安排與控制，向他們施加了沉重的奴役枷鎖和帝國律法的約束。

From the Great Crusade's outset, the Emperor Himself had created the Order of the Silent Sisterhood and set upon them the duty to cull the numbers of uncontrolled and unsanctioned psykers in the ever-growing Imperium, yielding them over to the Divisio Telepathica for either draconian testing and indoctrination, forcible subjection to techniques designed to channel and limit their powers, or simply committing them to eternal incarceration or death as needed. But as with all humanity, psykers existed within the ranks of the Space Marine Legions also, and with the biological might of the Legiones Astartes to house these abilities and their bellicose skills to hone them, such Space Marine battle psykers were terrifyingly powerful warriors, and from the beginning this raised questions.

自大遠(yuǎn)征伊始，帝皇本人便創(chuàng)建了寂靜修女會，令其在規(guī)模不斷擴(kuò)大的人類帝國中負(fù)責(zé)清除諸多不受控且未經(jīng)認(rèn)證的靈能者；這些靈能者要么是被送交通靈分院（機(jī)仆：Divisio Telepathica，泰坦修會中專司靈能泰坦的部門。）進(jìn)行嚴(yán)酷的測試與教化，被強(qiáng)制服從于那些用以引導(dǎo)或限制他們力量的技術(shù)，要么就是直接按照需要被永久監(jiān)禁或處死。但就像在所有人類（群體）中那樣，星際戰(zhàn)士軍團(tuán)中也存在靈能者；阿斯塔特軍團(tuán)戰(zhàn)士的強(qiáng)悍軀體容納了這些能力，他們的好戰(zhàn)技藝也對其進(jìn)行了磨礪，這些星際戰(zhàn)士戰(zhàn)斗靈能者成為了可怖的強(qiáng)悍戰(zhàn)士，而這從一開始就成了問題。

To their detractors, such as Russ and Mortarion, psykers in the ranks of the Legiones Astartes were fundamentally suspect. This was because they often had none of the overt?limitations imposed upon the Scholastica Psykana and little direct oversight as was found elsewhere in the Imperium. This was doubly the case with the Thousand Sons, a Space Marine Legion who by its gene-seed's influence at its core formed one of the greatest concentrations of psykers ever encountered, and as time progressed, suspicion grew of the outsider XVth Legion, its hidden ways and its arcane secrets.

對其貶低者，諸如黎曼 魯斯和莫塔里安而言，星際戰(zhàn)士部隊中的靈能者們在根本上就是可疑的。因?yàn)樗麄兺ǔ２粫耢`能學(xué)院（中的靈能者）那樣受到明顯的限制，也幾乎不受到帝國對其他（靈能）部門所采取的直接監(jiān)督。這種情況在千子軍團(tuán)中更是如此——在其體內(nèi)核心處基因種子的影響下，該星際戰(zhàn)士軍團(tuán)成為了有史以來最大的靈能者聚集團(tuán)體之一；而隨著時間流逝，第15軍團(tuán)的隱秘處世之道和玄奧秘密也令外人對他們的懷疑與日俱增。

Yet the use of psychic powers within the Imperium's armed forces was not without its vocal advocates, for Sanguinius of the Blood Angels and Jaghatai Khan of the White?Scars both adamantly supported the use of such uniquely gifted warriors within their own forces, imposing?upon them their own structures and controls, however ad hoc they may have been. There is also the immutable fact that the Emperor Himself was a psyker of unprecedented power, although the scale of His psychic might was such that He was beyond the perils of the Empyrean, and that He Himself had no doubt deliberately made the Thousand Sons what they were, at least in inception.Furthermore and with greater discretion, Alpharius of the Alpha Legion, Fulgrim of the Emperor's Children and the Night Haunter—Curze himself was a potent psychic oracle by some accounts——all made active use of psykers within the ranks of their Legions, though perhaps with more reservation and less fanfare.

但也有人直言不諱地?fù)碜o(hù)在帝國武裝力量中使用靈能力量，圣血天使原體圣吉列斯和白色傷疤原體察合臺可汗都堅定支持在自己麾下的部隊中使用此類具備獨(dú)特天賦的戰(zhàn)士們，他們對這些戰(zhàn)斗靈能者施加了（軍團(tuán)）自身的結(jié)構(gòu)與控制，雖然這些措施可能是臨時性的。帝國中也存在著一個不可更改的事實(shí)：帝皇本人就是一位具備前所未有的力量的靈能者，不過怹的靈能力量規(guī)模是如此龐大，以至于能夠抵御至高天中的危險，而且怹無疑是刻意將千子軍團(tuán)塑造成了這副樣子——至少在初始階段是如此。另外，阿爾法軍團(tuán)原體阿爾法瑞斯、帝皇之子原體福格瑞姆和午夜幽魂（根據(jù)某些報告，科茲本人也擁有強(qiáng)大的靈能預(yù)言技藝）也都更為謹(jǐn)慎地在自己的軍團(tuán)中積極使用靈能者，不過他們態(tài)度更為保守，也不那么大張旗鼓。

These Primarchs had all supported a proposed scheme of structured training within the Space Marine Legions that would allow psychically talented Legionaries to employ their powers safely and in a directed and regimented manner—an initiative that would become known as the Librarius Project during the mid years of the Great Crusade. This was an experiment, with the Emperors backing, that sought to prove the safety and usefulness of Legion battle psykers within Space Marine ranks. The inclusion of the Librarius in the Space Marine order of battle was at best a mixed success in retrospect. Its pattern, developed from existing structures originating within the Blood Angels, was embraced by some Legions, but paid only grudging lip service to by others.

這些原體全都支持一項在星際戰(zhàn)士軍團(tuán)內(nèi)部（對靈能者）進(jìn)行結(jié)構(gòu)化訓(xùn)練的提議方案，該方案將會允許那些擁有靈能天賦的軍團(tuán)戰(zhàn)士們以某種有引導(dǎo)且有節(jié)制地安全使用自身力量——在之后的大遠(yuǎn)征中期，該提議將會被成為“智庫計劃”。這項得到帝皇協(xié)助的實(shí)驗(yàn)試圖證明軍團(tuán)戰(zhàn)斗靈能者在星際戰(zhàn)士部隊中的安全性與可用性?，F(xiàn)在回頭來看，將智庫體系納入星際戰(zhàn)士戰(zhàn)斗序列充其量就是一個好壞參半的成功。這套模式發(fā)展自圣血天使軍團(tuán)已存在的組織結(jié)構(gòu)（這套結(jié)構(gòu)發(fā)源于軍團(tuán)內(nèi)部），它被某些軍團(tuán)所接納，但其他軍團(tuán)只是勉強(qiáng)在口頭上說會加以執(zhí)行。

In truth by fluke of genetic intake and predilection, certain Legions simply didn't have a sufficiency of potential psykers in their ranks to make a full-scale Librarius possible, while others who had the required biological resources were set back by their temperament or prevailing culture from embracing what many still saw as a perilous and unpredictable force. As the Primarch Perturabo of the Iron Warriors is quoted to have said, "A blade without a hilt; as dangerous to the grasp as to the intended victim", To?the Thousand Sons however, the Librarius Project was both a balm to outside suspicion and a justification of their own special nature, and was folded immediately into their existing structures, or perhaps more accurate to say, subsumed by them and used as an outward-facing front for the Legion.

事實(shí)上，由于基因攝入的偶然性與自身偏好，某些軍團(tuán)隊伍中的潛在靈能者都不足以建成一個規(guī)模完整的智庫團(tuán)；其他軍團(tuán)擁有所需的生體資源，但其秉性或（內(nèi)部）盛行的文化阻礙了他們接受那種很多人眼中危險且不可預(yù)測的力量。就像鋼鐵勇士原體佩圖拉博所說的那樣，“無柄之劍對于握劍者和其意圖斬殺的受害者而言是同樣危險的?！钡珜ηё榆妶F(tuán)而言，智庫計劃既是對（他們遭受的）外界懷疑的一種安慰，也是對其自身特殊性質(zhì)的一種辯護(hù)，智庫體系立即被納入了現(xiàn)有的軍團(tuán)結(jié)構(gòu)中——或許更準(zhǔn)確的說法是：軍團(tuán)戰(zhàn)士們被歸入了智庫體系中，他們將之用作了自己向外（展示）的正面。

Ultimately, the Librarius Project and its attendant measures served only to delay the outcry against the Thousand Sons'?perceived tampering with forbidden powers rather than negate it. In the wake of the Emperor's imminent withdrawal to Terra and the elevation of Horus to Warmaster, those of the Primarchs opposed to the Librarius called upon the Emperor to make a final judgement on the matter before He returned to His Throne World. Such was the power of Russ?and Mortarion's arguments that eventually many within the brotherhood of Primarchs were swayed, and even the eternal rivalry of Rogal Dorn and Perturabo paused as the two grew to support the calls for an end to the Librarius and to openly condemn the actions of Magnus, Sorcerer of Prospero.

最終，智庫計劃與配套的措施只是減緩了人們由于認(rèn)為千子軍團(tuán)篡改（濫用）禁忌力量而發(fā)出的抗議，而且否定了這種觀念。在荷魯斯當(dāng)選戰(zhàn)帥后，帝皇也即將返回泰拉時，反對智庫項目的原體們呼吁帝皇在返回王座世界前對此事做出最終判決。魯斯和莫塔里安的理由是如此具有影響力，以至于很多原體都最終產(chǎn)生了動搖，甚至連羅格 多恩與佩圖拉博都停止了他們間永恒的較量，二人都逐漸支持了結(jié)束智庫計劃的呼聲，也都公開譴責(zé)馬格努斯——普羅斯佩羅巫師的行徑。

This hour of judgement was to take the form of the Council of Nikaea, a specially convened conclave hosting representatives of all of the Space Marine Legions and many of the grand institutions of the Imperium. Its ostensible purpose was for the Emperor to hear from the gathered representatives of the various Librarius and those who had witnessed their actions in battle, and to cast His judgement on their continued existence. However many, both at that time and in later years, saw the council not as a closing act of the great experiment that had been the Librarius of the disparate Legiones Astartes or a final assessment on an experimental program by its creator, but instead as the trial of the Thousand Sons and their Primarch, Magnus the Red.

判決時刻是以尼凱亞會議的形式到來的，來自所有星際戰(zhàn)士軍團(tuán)和帝國諸多重要部門的代表都參加了這次特別召開的秘密會議。此次會議表面上的目的是要讓帝皇聽取各個智庫團(tuán)聚集起來的代表們與那些曾在戰(zhàn)斗中目睹過他們行為的人們的發(fā)言，并讓帝皇判定智庫團(tuán)是否要繼續(xù)存在。然而無論在當(dāng)時還是在之后的歲月中，很多人都認(rèn)為這次會議并非是在不同阿斯塔特軍團(tuán)中設(shè)立智庫體系這一偉大實(shí)驗(yàn)的收尾做結(jié)，也并非是創(chuàng)作者對于其實(shí)驗(yàn)項目的最終評估，而是一場對于千子軍團(tuán)及其原體——赤紅者馬格努斯的審判。