Morn, a world little known among the Imperium's million worlds.
It was a terrestrial planet on the frontier of Segmentum Obscurus. Together with its four moons, it formed a stable planetary system with the star at its center.
Because of its remote location, Morn was little known, nowhere near as renowned as other worlds. Many people had never even heard of it, and those who had often had no idea which region of the Imperium it lay in.
But if you mentioned its other name, almost every Space Marine in the entire Imperium would know what kind of place it was. For this was Isstvan III.
No one would ever forget this remote system, nor this distant moon. Ten thousand years ago, during the Great Crusade, humanity's Space Marines had conquered it and prepared to use it as a staging point for exploring unknown regions of space.
Yet behind that greatest of achievements, the flames of civil war had begun to spread across the Imperium. Even though some had already prepared for it, many still closed their eyes here forever.
After 10,927 years, the noble purple phoenix banner had once again been raised over Isstvan III. The proud phoenix emblazoned on it, however, had traded its feathers for iron wings.
As he looked at the abandoned Titan half-buried in sand beside the landing site, Rillano felt as though he had been transported to another age. He remembered this place, the corruption that had nearly destroyed the Emperor's Children, and the miserable time he had been imprisoned after trying to negotiate with the Iron Hands.
Perhaps he had been staring too intently, because a gruesome scene suddenly appeared before his eyes. It showed not only the Emperor's Children and the Iron Hands, but also the Salamanders and the Raven Guard, all