Industrial World
Sosavia.
The planet lay on the fringes of the Millennium World and was a typical Forge World.
Its surface was densely covered with factories, smelters, and refineries. Thick industrial exhaust filled the atmosphere, leaving the sky a murky grayish yellow all year round.
Towering chimneys belched rolling clouds of smoke day and night, shrouding the entire planet in smoke and dust.
Countless conveyor belts and networks of pipes spread across the surface like spiderwebs, carrying raw materials from mines to factories, then finished products from factories to orbital ports.
Eloil had chosen this place as his stepping stone.
The Archmagos who had betrayed the Adeptus Mechanicus understood perfectly well that a prolonged standoff with the Millennium World's Garrison Fleet required a secure forward base—a stronghold where he could resupply, conduct repairs, and muster his forces.
Sosavia met all his requirements. It lay on the fringes of the Millennium World, some distance from the main Colchis system, making it less vulnerable to direct strikes from the Garrison Fleet.
It possessed well-developed industrial facilities that could supply and repair his Fleet.
Its population was relatively sparse, and its defenses were relatively weak, making it easy to conquer.
And so, the first pitched ground battle of the entire Horus Heresy officially began.
Eloil was utterly confident that he could take the planet.
He had mobilized a million Skitarii, the Adeptus Mechanicus's most loyal and reliable infantry.
In addition, he had mobilized the renegade Titan Legion belonging to the Forge World of Xana—the Griffin God-Titans Legion.
Led by three Warlord Titans, the legion included dozens of Warhound-class and Reaver-class Titans. They would be deployed to the surface after the first round of orbital bombardment, where their gigantic weapons would grind all resistance to dust.
On the ground, Soroth, Commander of the