In the unforgiving universe of Warhammer 40,000, the Ninth Legion emerged as a potent force, a terrifying blend of Imperial principles and the bloody rituals of the Crimson Cults. Its ranks were filled with the charnel cults and war prophets, each more terrifying than the last. The superstitions of countless worlds were given form and power through their gruesome transformation. Left unchecked, their blood-soaked dominance festered on the worst battlefields of the Great Crusade.
This was a Legion of fearsome angels, tall and striking, their intimidating presence only enhanced by the gore of the battlefield. Their presence was so overwhelming, in fact, that those they conquered often ended up worshipping them, fearing to anger the crimson angels who had come to claim victory.
But this descent into madness didn’t come without consequences. The Legion’s unchecked power and brutality threatened the very existence of the Imperium they were created to serve. Their actions during the Second Siege of Jant, where they took to killing and consuming prisoners on fortress walls to demoralize the enemy, earned them sanction from Rogal Dorn of the Imperial Fists. Reports of the Legion slaughtering and draining the blood of wounded soldiers rather than leaving them to enemy mercy only heightened the suspicions and distrust directed towards them.
The Ninth Legion was fragmented by the demands of war and the needs of the Great Crusade. They became outcasts among the Space Marine Legions, fighting in small, isolated companies. Each company fostered its own version of the bloody cults that had spread throughout the Legion, their force composed largely of line infantry and jump troops. Despite their lack of potent arms due to the reluctance of the Divisio Militaris to supply them, the Legion relied on their macabre methods to win battles, valuing victory over respect.
Yet the Ninth Legion was still a necessary, albeit gruesome, part of Emperor’s plan to conquer the Galaxy. But the Emperor’s vision of a new golden age didn’t seem to have room for such a blood-soaked legion. A reckoning loomed for the Ninth Legion – they would either be reborn anew or be wiped from existence and history.
At this critical moment, a scout flotilla of the Great Crusade discovered an otherwise insignificant world of ruins and deserts – Bal. Bal had its own legends of a bloody angel, a curious coincidence that seemed to be tied to the creation of the Primarch by the Emperor. The Ruinous Powers had absconded with the infant demigods while they were still in their gestation capsules, carrying them through the warp. This resulted in even the Emperor’s finest creations being tainted from the very beginning.
The gestation pod housing the infant Sanguinius landed on the moon of Bal Secundus, in a place now known as Angels Fall. Sanguinius was cast adrift in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, surviving through war, plunder, and foraging. His earliest days were spent in the deep desert, a period he never spoke of in later years. Despite the hardships, Sanguinius persevered, surviving the radiation that would have incinerated mortal flesh in mere minutes.
The Ninth Legion’s legacy is a testament to the brutal, bloody, and utterly captivating universe of Warhammer 40,000. The tales of their battles, their descent into madness, and the rise of Sanguinius in the wasteland of Bal Secundus are just a few of the captivating stories that make up the complex tapestry of this universe. One can only wonder what the future holds for the crimson angels.
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