Akum-Sothas?

The Akum-sothas Cluster is a small group of habitable worlds on the very edges of the Ghoul Stars, a harsh stellar wasteland haunted by erratic pulsar stars and the most invidious of xenos breeds yet discovered by Mankind. The region was originally brought to Compliance by the Luna Wolves in the waning years of the 30th Millennium, but erupted into open revolt in 002.M31， under the influence of the so-called Unsighted Kings, a xenos breed of psyker-parasites that infested much of the population of those worlds.?

阿庫(kù)姆-索薩斯星群是位于食尸鬼群星極其邊緣地區(qū)的一小撮定居世界，不穩(wěn)定的脈沖星和人類(lèi)迄今為止發(fā)現(xiàn)過(guò)的某些最為令人反感的異形種族困擾著這片嚴(yán)酷星際廢土（上的居民）。最初是影月蒼狼軍團(tuán)在第三十個(gè)千年末期使該地區(qū)歸順于帝國(guó)，但在002.M31，由于這些世界的大多數(shù)人口遭到了被稱(chēng)為“無(wú)明之王”的靈能寄生異形種族的感染，當(dāng)?shù)乇l(fā)了公開(kāi)叛亂。

Seeking to obliterate both the rebellion and the stain on his record of flawless conquests and Compliances, Horus, but recently crowned Warmaster, summoned the Space Wolves, Iron Warriors and Raven Guard to join his own Legion on the battlegrounds of the cluster. The campaign itself is renowned not for the victory that was eventually achieved, but for the massive casualties sustained by several of the Legions during the final battle, ordered by Horus to mount a direct frontal assault on the rebellion's key fortress.?

為了抹除掉叛亂和自己無(wú)瑕的征服與歸順記錄中的污點(diǎn)，新進(jìn)加冕的戰(zhàn)帥荷魯斯召集起太空野狼、鋼鐵勇士和暗鴉守衛(wèi)加入了他自己的軍團(tuán)在這片星叢中的戰(zhàn)斗集群。這場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)役并非因?yàn)槠渥詈笕〉玫膭倮Q(chēng)，而是因?yàn)槎鄠€(gè)軍團(tuán)在最后的戰(zhàn)斗中遭受的嚴(yán)重?fù)p失而聞名：荷魯斯命令對(duì)叛軍的關(guān)鍵要塞直接發(fā)動(dòng)正面進(jìn)攻。

In the aftermath of the battle, several of the participating Legions, notably the Raven Guard, Luna Wolves and Iron Warriors, were to contribute warriors to a number of Great Crusade fleets dispatched further into the uncharted reaches of the Ghoul Stars to locate and eradicate any further xenos nests before they could trouble the Imperium.?

在這場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)斗之后，許多參戰(zhàn)軍團(tuán)，尤其是暗鴉守衛(wèi)、影月蒼狼和鋼鐵勇士將會(huì)送出戰(zhàn)士前往那些被派去深入食尸鬼群星未知邊界的大遠(yuǎn)征艦隊(duì)，目的是要在異形們能夠困擾到帝國(guó)之前就定位和根除掉他們的所有巢穴。

The Ashen Claws

灰燼之爪

The term 'Ashen Claws' is not one immediately known to scholars of that most tumultuous period of the Imperium's history, the Horus Heresy. It is not listed as the title of any existing chapter, battalion or fleet within the eighteen Legions at the outbreak of the civil war, nor is it a title taken by one of those ad-hoc formations that survived to the war's end. Indeed, a casual search of the Imperial Archives on Terra reveals but a few possible references: an Acheron class battleship that was designated the Ashen Claw, a Solar Auxilia cohort whose unofficial designation was the Ash Claws, and the patriarch of the Knight House Moritain, whose honorary titles include 'He whose claws rend all to ash.'?

對(duì)于身處帝國(guó)歷史上最為動(dòng)蕩時(shí)期——荷魯斯叛亂中的學(xué)者們而言，“灰燼之爪”并非是一個(gè)能夠馬上想起的名字。在內(nèi)戰(zhàn)爆發(fā)時(shí)，這個(gè)名稱(chēng)并未如同十八個(gè)軍團(tuán)中已經(jīng)存在的戰(zhàn)團(tuán)、戰(zhàn)斗營(yíng)和艦隊(duì)的頭銜那樣被列舉出來(lái)，它也并非是某個(gè)幸存到戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)末尾的臨時(shí)編隊(duì)的頭銜。事實(shí)上，對(duì)于泰拉上帝國(guó)檔案庫(kù)的某次漫不經(jīng)心的搜索揭示了少量可能的參考資料：某艘被命名為灰燼之爪的黃泉級(jí)戰(zhàn)列艦，某支太陽(yáng)軍兵團(tuán)的非正式名稱(chēng)是灰燼之爪，以及莫里塔恩騎士家族至高王的榮譽(yù)頭銜也有“徒手撕裂余燼之人”。

Obviously, none of these are linked to the unknown Legiones Astartes force that ravaged the Nostramo sector in 011M31. However, those with access to the sealed vaults of the archives might uncover two further references that offer a potential answer to the puzzle. The first of these comes from the Legion records of the XIX. Legion, in the times before Corax?took command and the warriors of the XIXth?fought under the patronage of Horus Lupercal. These records note that among the chapters of the XIX.' Legion there was a chapter by the name of the Ashen Claws, a name carried over from the Xeric tribes that these fierce warriors were recruited from. The Raven Guard of modern times hold no record of these warriors. Indeed, of the original Terran recruits of the Legion little is known, as it seems Corax bore a measure of ill will towards the Terran recruits within his Legion, both their time under the tutelage of Horus and their heritage as slaver-warlords in the asiatic dustbowls of Ancient Terra marked them out as unworthy in the eyes of their new master.?

顯然，這些內(nèi)容與那支在011M31毀滅了那斯特羅姆星區(qū)的未知阿斯塔特軍團(tuán)部隊(duì)無(wú)關(guān)。不過(guò)，通過(guò)探查檔案館中兩座被封印的倉(cāng)庫(kù)，我們可能找到另外兩項(xiàng)為這個(gè)未解之謎提供潛在答案的資料。第一項(xiàng)是來(lái)自第十九軍團(tuán)的軍團(tuán)記錄，記錄時(shí)間是克拉克斯接手軍團(tuán)指揮之前，彼時(shí)第十九軍團(tuán)的戰(zhàn)士尚在荷魯斯 盧佩卡爾的麾下作戰(zhàn)。這份記錄注明在第十九軍團(tuán)中有一個(gè)名為“灰燼之爪”的戰(zhàn)團(tuán)，這個(gè)名字取自這些殘忍的戰(zhàn)士們被征兵的Xeric部落。現(xiàn)代的暗鴉守衛(wèi)軍團(tuán)并未保存這些戰(zhàn)士們的記錄，事實(shí)上我們對(duì)于軍團(tuán)中最初的泰拉裔戰(zhàn)士們也知之甚少，而且克拉克斯似乎也對(duì)他軍團(tuán)中的泰拉裔新兵抱有厭惡，這既是因?yàn)樗麄儽缓婶斔雇泄艿臅r(shí)間（較長(zhǎng)），也是因?yàn)樗麄冞z留了古泰拉dustbowls沙塵盆地中奴隸主軍閥的習(xí)氣，在他們新主人的眼中，這標(biāo)志著他們不值得重用。

The second reference comes from those remaining fragments of the Luna Wolves records, much of which were lost or desrroyed by either war or the over-zealous loyalty of some scribes in the aftermath of the Battle for Terra. Within these volumes are several mentions of the Ashen Claw, apparently a favoured stratagem of the Warmaster himself involving a flanking manoeuvre around a sacrificial unit left in the open to attract the enemy's full might. Many engagements from the Great Crusade include units with the appended title 'Ashen Claw', indicating that it has been selected for the dubious honour of acting as the sacrificial unit at the heart of this strategy.?

第二份資料來(lái)自影月蒼狼軍團(tuán)記錄的殘留碎片——在泰拉會(huì)戰(zhàn)之后，這些資料大多遺失或者被其他戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)或者極端狂熱的忠誠(chéng)派抄錄員破壞了。這些宗卷中多次提及灰燼之爪，顯然戰(zhàn)帥偏好這樣一種戰(zhàn)略：在公開(kāi)戰(zhàn)斗中將犧牲性單位留在側(cè)翼進(jìn)行機(jī)動(dòng)，以吸引敵人的全部注意力。大遠(yuǎn)征時(shí)期的很多交戰(zhàn)（記錄）中都包含了附加頭銜為“灰燼之爪”的單位，暗示（這個(gè)稱(chēng)呼）被選中作為在此類(lèi)戰(zhàn)術(shù)核心中充當(dāng)犧牲單位的一種虛偽榮譽(yù)（稱(chēng)呼）。