In the grim darkness of the far future, there’s a tale of retribution and rebellion that often goes untold. We’re talking about the Night Lords, the treacherous Space Marines Legion that once stood for justice but became the very embodiment of horror they once so vehemently despised. So, buckle up, dear reader, as we dive deep into the grim shadows of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
The Night Lords, led by their primarch Conrad Kurze, also known as the Night Haunter, played a pivotal role in the bloody massacre at the Drop Zone. In the heat of the battle, the Night Haunter faced off against his brother, Corvus Korax. Lar Aelan, the father of the Raven Guard, was on the brink of defeat, forcing the Night Haunter to intervene to avoid fratricide. Yet, even as he saved his brother, Kurze’s disdain for weakness didn’t falter. He ridiculed Aelan, calling him a weakling, adding that the changed Space Marines from the Gal Vorbak made his brother look like an idiot.
Before the ominous Siege of Terra, the Warmaster Horus needed to clear several planets on the Eastern Fringe. He didn’t want any weak points that could jeopardize his strike on the Throne World. For this task, he dispatched the Night Lords to the Traumas system, initiating the brutal extermination of the population on the Imperial worlds.
In response, the First Legion, led by Lion El’Johnson, was sent to counter the traitors. However, their involvement in this war would prevent the Dark Angels from reinforcing the Loyalists defending Terra. The ferocious conflict between the Legions lasted about three standard years.
In a curious twist of events, Kurze left a beacon inviting Lion to a dialogue on the planet of Segalus. But the Night Haunter had no intentions of a peaceful resolution. He planned to break his brother, both in spirit and body. Alas, their encounter ended in a brutal melee, with Kurze attempting to strangle Lion and ultimately being impaled by the blade of a Dark Angel.
The nightmarish saga of the Night Haunter didn’t end there. Even in captivity, after being severely injured by Lion El’Johnson, Kurze managed to escape. With his legion, he continued to wreak havoc, a persistent dark force that threatened the existence of the Imperium Secundus created by Robute Guilliman, Sanguinius, and Lion El’Johnson in Ultramar.
Following the death of Horus, the Night Lords orchestrated a series of attacks on human worlds in the Eastern Fringes, instigating chaos that would last for many years after the end of the Horus Heresy. Interestingly, the Night Lords never showed loyalty to the forces of Chaos. With the death of their warrior-leader, they were left to their devices, guided by their sadistic nature.
In one of the more gruesome chapters of his life, Kurze discovered that his brother Vulkan was Perpetual – able to resurrect himself indefinitely. For months, Kurze devised various methods to torment Vulkan, experimenting with new ways to kill him, only to see him rise again.
Eventually, it is widely believed that Kurze met his end by his own volition, allowing an assassin from the Officio Assassinorum, M’Shen, to kill him. However, the sanity of the Night Haunter during this period is debatable. He predicted his own death long before the arrival of the assassin and saw her coming as retribution for his apostasy and villainy.
In his final hours, he sat before a gruesome statue of the Emperor crafted from human bodies, unloading his grievances to his silent father. He rebuked the Emperor for creating him as a grim assassin and blamed him for his lethal nature, which, in his opinion, isolated him and condemned him to eternal solitude.
In the echoing silence, a voice sounded in Kurze’s head – possibly a product of his own madness or maybe, just maybe, the voice of the Emperor himself responding to Conrad’s accusations. But that, dear reader, is a story for another time.
Stay tuned for the next part in this gripping series on the Night Lords and their twisted journey through the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
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