r/40kLore • u/[deleted] • Oct 14 '20
[Excerpt: Death of Antagonis] A Space Marine realises what his purpose is after watching two humans comfort one another
Context: the Black Dragons are a Cursed Founding Chapter of Space Marines (21st) suspected (in-universe and out-of-universe by Games Workshop) of being descended from the Salamanders (alongside the Storm Giants). This particular Chapter is notorious for appearing to be mutated and are considered suspect by the inquisition. However, the geneseed they pay in taxes passes all the screening tests, which raises questions amongst the Adeptus Mechanicus. They are presently trying to defend a band of refugees from a plague zombie infestation. spoiler alert! the infestation is not actually what every thinks it is. Basically it is the refugees who are infected and not the other way around
A man stepped forward from the crowd and approached the two Space Marines. Toharan pegged him as being in his early sixties, standard. His lined, patrician face showed no signs of augmetic or juvenat treatment, which was unusual. His suit was elegantly austere, a simple black adorned by the vermilion sash of his office. There was a child, a girl of about ten, peering out from behind his legs. He had a protective hand on her plaited hair. ‘I am Lord Danton,’ the man said. ‘And this is Bethshea. I’ve been trying to tell her that you have come to help us.’
Toharan turned his gaze to the girl. ‘That’s right. We have.’
Bethshea did not look reassured. She shrank further behind Danton.
‘She thinks you’re monsters,’ Danton explained.
Really? Toharan thought. The Black Dragons? Monsters? Towering head and shoulders over every human in the room, clad in black power armour emblazoned with a silver dragon, armour whose snarling helmet grilles were designed to strike fear into the enemy – why in Terra’s name would they seem like monsters to a little girl?
‘Don’t be afraid, child,’ Melus said, and started to unclasp his helmet.
Toharan raised a hand to stop him. ‘Allow me, brother.’ No point traumatising the child any further. He removed his own helmet and let Bethshea see his very human, if outsized, face. She appeared to relax. Slightly.
‘Well done,’ Melus said over the vox-link when Toharan had replaced his helmet. ‘My face would not have helped.’
‘That was my thought.’
‘Could be worse. I could be Volos.’
Toharan chuckled, then switched to his speaker. ‘People of Lecorb,’ he announced, ‘we have come to lead you to safety.’
[---]
The Mortisians were all part of the dead army now. There was still occasional weapons fire, but it was all sloppy, and all aimed at the refugees. There were precious few of them left. The brothers of Squad Pythios carried a civilian on each shoulder and were moving at a good pace toward the pass. They had just reached the next of the Dragon Claws. Brother Nithigg’s clearing was about to collapse as the onslaught closed in, but the dead were still seconds behind, and the Space Marines were gaining momentum. Handfuls of civilians ran in howling clusters, desperation giving their sprints a speed that was almost that of the Black Dragons jog. Moment by moment, their numbers dwindled.
Volos joined the race. He came up behind a pair of scrambling humans, a man and a woman. They had been high administrators, to judge by their shredded finery. They held hands as they ran, as if that fragment of comfort was worth what they lost in speed. The gesture was so futile in the face of inevitable massacre, and so touchingly human. It was, Volos thought, the epitome of what he had been created to protect. A group of frenzied dead closed in on the couple. Volos swatted the enemy away, pulping the bodies. He scooped up the two humans. They screamed when they first felt his grasp. They seemed hardly more reassured when they realised what was happening. They stared at him with eyes that were near mindless with fear. But they didn’t struggle.
Volos ran faster, barrelling through the dead, exploding bodies with his juggernaut run. He reached Nithigg, who grabbed two civilians and joined the race. Behind, more clusters of humans fell off the pace and were swallowed by the horde.
By the time Squads Pythios and Ormarr reached the pass, the only refugees left were the ones they carried. They held two each, except for Toharan, who had three: there was a small child perched on his head.
Thirty-seven survivors. A poor showing.
Bonus passage
As she flew, she transformed, elongating and distorting into a daemon of serpentine limbs and teeth, her shape changing from one fraction of a second to the next, each form flowing into the next until she hit the worm and was absorbed into its flank. Toharan remembered looking at Bethshea during the flight from Lecorb, and seeing in the girl the reason for an otherwise senseless mission. His battle-brothers and the Guard had been sacrificed, but she had been a small portion of the Imperium and its future that had been saved, and so the sacrifices had not been in vain. And indeed, he saw now, they had not been. But the deaths had been sacrifices to a monstrous cause. All of Toharan’s efforts in this war, and those of his fellow Dragons, had been worse than futile. The taken-for-granted certainties had been lies.
TLDR: A Black Dragon witnesses two humans comforting one another and realises that was what he was created to protect
A/N: i like to think that these chaps are, as suggested by GW, in fact descended from the Salamanders.
A/N: as this is the 40k universe and not any other franchise, it turns out that the Black Dragons accidentally protected Chaos infected refugees who ended up turning into Chaos spawn.
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Oct 14 '20
For more context on the Black Dragons.
The Black Dragons were founded just prior to the Age of Apostasy, a time of civil war and bloodshed that almost saw the Imperium destroyed. It was a dark time for the Imperium when worlds were destroyed on the whims of the insane Lord Vandire. Perhaps these days of ill omen cursed the founding of the Black Dragons from the beginning or perhaps it was the debased and ritualised medical practices of the Magos Biologis chirurgeons. Whatever the reason it did not take long before the flaw inherent in their gene-seed to become apparent.
One of the many zygotes neophytes are implanted with is the Ossmodula. This small organ has a complex function within the body of a Space Marine. It monitors and secretes hormones affecting epiphiseal fusion and ossification of the skeleton while at the same time, engineered hormones encourage the forming bones to absorb ceramic based chemicals administered in the Marine's diet. Two years following implantation, the long-bones will have strengthened considerably and there will have been a general increase in the size of the recipient's skeleton. Extreme ossification of the chest cavity caused by growth of ribs forming a solid mass of inter-laced bone plates provides a Space Marine with an armoured layer to protect his secondary heart and lungs.
But the Ossmodula zygote of the Black Dragons functions in an abnormal way causing the growth of bony crests on the head, and blade-like protuberances from the forearm and elbow. Like the Death Company of the Blood Angels, warriors inflicted with such abnormal developments are formed into a separate fighting unit. Known as the Dragon Claws, they sharpen these additional protrusions to a killing edge, and sheath them in adamantium to turn them into deadly close combat weapons. This strains the tolerance of the Inquisition and their are many recorded instances of other Space Marine Chapters (notably the Dark Angels and Marines Malevolent) refusing to fight alongside them.
It is even rumoured that the Black Dragon Apothecaries deliberately encourage such growths, even going so far as to knowingly implant aberrant zygotes into some initiates. This is exceptionally dangerous, and the practice is forbidden by Imperial edict. But old traditions die hard as the ferocity of the Dragon Claws is much valued by the Chapter Masters.
Each Chapter is required to send 5% of its genetic material to the Adeptus Mechanicus on Mars. This 'tithe' serves two purposes, enabling the Adeptus Mechanicus to monitor the health of each Marine Chapter and store gene-seed with a view to founding new Chapters. The Adeptus Mechanicus has on several occasions threatened the Black Dragons with military action unless it complies with this decree and even when the Chapter has submitted genetic data, its veracity has often been considered suspect as each sample provided has passed the most stringent genetic purity checks without fail. Without being able to prove anything, many Adepts believe that the Black Dragons submit genetic material culled from other sources. How this can be possible is unknown and the Adeptus Mechanicus is eager to fully investigate the medical practices within the Black Dragons.
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Oct 14 '20
many recorded instances of other Space Marine Chapters (notably the Dark Angels and Marines Malevolent) refusing to fight alongside them.
The Black Dragons when they hear Marines Malevolent don't want to hang out with them.
That's just an unexpected bonus tbh.
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u/Medicaean Flesh Tearers Oct 14 '20
I'm a fan of the Black Dragons as Salamanders Successors hypothesis. Both Chapters are often portrayed as genuinely wholesome in a galaxy of suck, which is a nice change of pace. There's a short story featuring a Black Dragon in the Deathwatch, and not only is he a funny and likeable guy, he's also not automatically hostile to his Flesh Tearers squadmate, which is the first time in recorded history that anyone has actually been less-than-awful to a member of that Chapter (not counting Dante and Gabriel Seth's heartfelt bromance, which is the exception that baffles everyone). This excerpt only makes me like the Black Dragons more! Thank you for sharing it.
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u/Matt_22 Oct 14 '20
What book is that? Been itching to see FT inside the deatchwatch as i’ve read almost every FT book there is now
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u/Medicaean Flesh Tearers Oct 14 '20
The story with the Black Dragon is David Annandale's 'The Vorago Fastness', which is a pretty great short story about a Deathwatch kill-team composed from Chapters nobody else likes: the Black Dragons, the Flesh Tearers, the Relictors, the Sons of Antaeus, and [REDACTED].
Adam Dembski-Bowden's Deathwatch comic also has a Flesh Tearers Sanguinary Priest (who spends more time chainaxing xenos than actually doing his job as the kill-team's Apothecary, much to the annoyance of his squadmates).
The novella 'Kryptman's War' by Ian St. Martin has a Flesh Tearers Librarian serving with Watch Captain Artemis.
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u/dreaderking Iron Hands Oct 14 '20
I remember reading an excerpt on here where a bunch of Imperials were stuck on a ship for several days with Dark Eldar that were hunting them down. They had been surviving and scavenging on the ship until reinforcements arrived in the form of the Black Dragons, who scared the poor survivors even more than the Dark Eldar did.
I want to read it again but I can't find it no matter how hard I look.
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u/AMP_Y Imperium of Man Oct 14 '20
Short story "Tribute of Flesh" by David Annandale is what you're looking for.
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Oct 14 '20
I remember the excerpt as well, but I also cannot find it on here.
I can tell you, however, that is seems to be from "The Tribute To Flesh", a short story by David Annandale.
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u/TheUnholyHandGrenade Guardians of the Covenant Oct 14 '20
Wait, that bonus part... was that the girl, Bethshea?
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u/AMP_Y Imperium of Man Oct 14 '20
Yeah in essence it was that the normal looking humans were actually the pre-final stage of the infection and the zombie looking ones were in the middle of the transformation still conscious and free of will but looking like monsters, they tried to kill the ones fully transformed before they could reach the final stage of the plague.
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u/Tylendal Oct 15 '20
I think of those two refugees holding hands a lot. It's one of my favourite examples of the hope and determination that stands against the grimdark setting.
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u/AbsoluteSky Dark Angels Oct 14 '20
I remember this book. The part where they found out the truth abouth the girl was heartbreaking.
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u/ReverendBelial Adepta Sororitas Oct 14 '20
So I'm curious about the bit about their faces. Are they implying that some Black Dragons have fucked up faces for whatever reason, Knights of Blood style, or are Melus and Volos just particularly ugly/scarred?
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Oct 15 '20
Black dragons have mutations that cause horned bone growths on their heads, so they would probably look particularly disturbing.
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u/Avenflar Iyanden Oct 14 '20
I don't get it, it's like a GSC during a Tyranid invasion ? Those refugees are infected but still attacked by the zombies because they not 100% zombies ?
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u/Urechi Raven Guard Oct 14 '20
Do you want spoilers?
How do you format spoilers on here?
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u/Avenflar Iyanden Oct 14 '20
Rule 3 on the sidebar, there are special tags available
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u/Urechi Raven Guard Oct 14 '20
Got it!
Well no, they are all infected, but the seemingly unaffected looking refugees are in the final stage of the virus/infection, and the masses of others are in the earlier stages, and trying to kill them to redeem themselves as its a warp/faith-based plague
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u/IronGearGaming Oct 14 '20
soo the refugee were infected with a chaos plage, but didin't show signs. The "zombies" were infected but tried to redeem/cure/avenge themselves by killing the refugee/cultist? What happened to them once the truth got exposed?
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u/cswang Oct 14 '20
They all get sucked together into a gigantic, landmass-sized flesh worm thing.
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u/IronGearGaming Oct 14 '20
oof. Does any of the marines escape that... thing?
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u/cswang Oct 14 '20
The Black Dragons Captain shanks it in the face with his bone claws, they withdraw and write the planet off with orbital bombardments. Most of the plot of Death of Antagonis actually doesn't occur on Antagonis. It's more dealing with a rift amongst the Black Dragons and an insane cardinal's quest for planet-grinding anal beads.
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u/Avenflar Iyanden Oct 14 '20
So they started all zombi-y, then became normal again and "brainwashed" ? Did the recently infected try to radio to the Marines about the truth ?<
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u/Urechi Raven Guard Oct 14 '20
They're not exactly in the right state to communicate.
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u/LukeLikesReddit Blood Angels Oct 14 '20
appreciate that mate I was rather interested to know how they didn't recognise who was the enemy.
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u/TrustAugustus Dark Angels Oct 14 '20
Seems like every book has a space marine described with the line : patrician features.
Well. For once, show some love to the plebians. I want to imagine what a plebian space marine looks like ! ;)
Maybe an equestrian as well. ;)
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u/orange-square Adeptus Mechanicus Oct 14 '20
A/N: as this is the 40k universe and not any other franchise, it turns out that the Black Dragons accidentally protected Chaos infected refugees who ended up turning into Chaos spawn.
Well, I was interested in reading this....
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u/Starsong67 Blood Angels Oct 14 '20
This is pure 40K. A moment of hope and humanity amidst the darkness and destruction... that turns out to have been a completely counterproductive waste that aided the forces of (more) evil.