PART 3

THE XIV ‘DEATH GUARD’ LEGION

There can be little doubt as to the role of the Death Guard during the Horus Heresy, although there are a number of anomalies that conflict with one another. In more recent accounts, the identities of the crew aboard the frigate Eisenstein was revealed as members of the XIV ‘Death Guard’ Legion under the command of Captain Garro, who fled following the betrayal on Istvaan III. Their Legion, along with the III ‘Emperor’s Children’ Legion, had been sent to the Istvaan System to restore Compliance.

There is, however, that irritating entry in one of the official accounts that claims the Emperor’s Children, World Eaters and Death Guard Legions were part of the second wave of the loyalist Legions that formed the reprisal fleet. It seems impossible, given these three Legions purged their loyalist elements on Istvaan III and were part of the traitor Legion forces already with Horus on Istvaan V during the dropsite massacres, but there is a viable explanation to support both these claims.

The Death Guard, alone, arrived without a dozen of their own ships. These, like The Eisenstein, may have been carrying those still loyal to the Emperor. There is a very real possibility that ships carrying loyalists of the Sons of Horus, Emperors Children and World Eaters may have also been displaced. Although the three Legions were classified as traitors when the reprisal fleet was ordered to muster in the Istvaan System, it is possible loyalists from those four Legions had been able to return to loyalist ranks and served as ‘advisors’ for the duration of the conflict, much like Garro and his loyalists continued to serve the Emperor.

Galaxy in Flames, 2006, by Ben Counter

"…I know you have not been deaf to the reports of turbulence in the warp in recent days. A dozen ships were displaced just on the voyage to Isstvan -” The Horus Heresy, volume IV, The Flight of The Eisenstein, p255

Even with this theory, there is no way any of those Legions could have been counted amongst the seven Legions that formed the reprisal fleet. Perhaps the most revealing information provided in The Flight of The Eisenstein concerns time, particularly in regards to distances and, as a result, an explanation for the two different spellings of Istvaan or Isstvan, and why this System was considered a key tactical location by both factions.

"How long will it take us to reach safety?" Garro asked. Carya sighed heavily, the fatigue he had been holding at bay brimming over to flood him. “It’s the warp, sir,” he said, as if that would explain everything. “It could be in Terra’s shade in a day or we might find ourselves clear across the galaxy a hundred years hence...” The Horus Heresy, volume IV, The Flight of The Eisenstein, p259

The fact that The Eisenstein could have left the Istvaan System and arrived at Terra within a day, or might travel across the galaxy and emerge a hundred years later suggests the two systems are far closer than the more recent official records indicate. Some of the oldest literature on the topic of warp travel times indicate that in favourable conditions a vessel could travel an average of 40 Light Years in a single day, and 50,000 Light Years in forty months, a timeframe that fits with what Gavriel Loken told Ignace Karkasy.

Given the galaxy itself is about 120,000 Light Years across, and 15,000 Light Years thick, it becomes obvious that the most recent claims that the Isstvan spelling is being used to conceal an uncomfortable truth. Isstvan is not where the virus bombing and dropsite massacres occurred at all. They are located at least 50,000 Light Years from Terra, in the northern fringes. The timeframe for the entire Horus Heresy simply does not permit loyalist or traitor forces to organise and muster there for the events to unfold as detailed.  

It would take the loyalist Raven Guard forces over four years to travel from Deliverance to the Isstvan System for the rescue of Corax and other survivors of the dropsite massacres. Deliverance is located about 25,000 Light Years to the galactic south of Terra. Then there is the location. The Isstvan System is relatively isolated in the northern fringes, effectively backing the traitors into a corner and leaving loyalists free to roam about the galaxy as they please. It is also about 40,000 Light Years from Terra. There is no strategic sense in any of it.

"An hour passes in the warp, and several days have turned in real space. If a ship translates a day before another, it could be weeks ahead in its journey.” The Horus Heresy, volume XX, The Primarchs, p239

Even though only days might pass in the warp, weeks would pass in real time by the time forces could arrive to deploy for an engagement. The interpretation of events recorded in the official accounts is made all the harder because there is rarely any indication of whether a reference refers to real time, or time spent in the warp. Most references appear to refer to real time, so Gavriel’s threat would suggest Karkasy would arrive back in Terra 40 months after leaving the fleet, even though he may only experience a journey of about two weeks.

Then again, Gavriel may have been literal in his threat. Karkasy may have been required to sit around, waiting for transports for months on end. The complexities of warp space travel are difficult to grasp and comprehend, and the vagaries with which they are recorded in the official accounts makes the task all the more difficult. It is rendered almost impossible to support any hypothesis concerning events for the simple reason that location and time of specific incidents are often not recorded in relation to one another.

If the Istvaan System, on the other hand, were within 40 Light Years of Terra, the betrayal and response make far more sense. The Warmaster has ordered the I ‘Dark Angels’, IX ‘Blood Angels’ and XIII ‘Ultramarines’ to undertake campaigns in the northern and southern regions of the eastern fringes, an equal distance from Terra as the Isstvan System was. If the plan was to isolate them, and give the traitor forces time to overthrow loyalist force on Terra, the Isstvan System would render that scheme pointless. 

TIME DISPLACEMENT The time differences between real space and warp space are quite drastic. Not only does time pass at different rates in both kinds of space, but it also passes at very variable rates. Until a ship finishes its jump, it is imposs-ible for the ship’s crew to know exactly how long their journey has taken. Time passing on board a spacecraft is referred to as warp time. The relationship between real time and warp time is shown in the chart below.
Light  Years	Minimum   Warp Time	Maximum   Warp Time	Minimum   Real Time	Maximum   Warp Time
1	2 mins	6 mins	43 mins	4½ hours
5	7 mins	30 mins	3½ hrs	1 day
10	14 mins	1 hour	7 hrs	2 days
50	1¼  hrs	4¾ hrs	1½ days	9 days
100	2½ hours	9½ hours	3 days	3 weeks
500	12 hrs	2 days	2 weeks	3 months
1,000	1 day	4 days	1 month	6 months
5,000	5 days	3 weeks	5 months	3 years
So, for example, a 100 light year jump will seem to take from 2½ hours and 9½ hours to a spaceship’s crew, but between 3 days and 3 weeks will have passed in real space. These times do not include journey times out to and from jump points on the edge of the star systems. It takes from days to weeks of travel at sub-light spe-eds to reach a drop from the spaceship’s starting planet, and a similar time to re-enter the destination system. The Imperium is approximately 75 thousand light years from edge to edge. A journey of this length would take between 75 and 300 days in warp time, and between 6 years and 40 years real time. White Dwarf, volume 139, p16

A wiser tactic would be to blockade the solar System, fortifying nearby Systems to form a spherical inner ‘shell’ that could defend against those on the inside and an outer ‘shell’ to defend against those on the outside. Tactics such as this would allow the traitors to defend a smaller region with their troops, rather than spread them too thing across the entire galaxy. The key, it appears, was the Istvaan System, which was within a day’s warp travel from Terra, and such a serious threat the Emperor responded with seven Legions.

There is also supporting evidence for this theory in the earliest official records on the subject - the assertion that the Istvaan System was on the other side of the galaxy. The other side, not the other edge. The galaxy is circular. The rim of this galactic disc form its edges, while the sides are actually the top and bottom halves. If the Istvaan System is on the other side of the galaxy, it is actually in the opposite half to the Solar System, lying somewhere around 7,500 Light Years from the top or bottom of the galaxy.

Those that dispute this theory point out that the Great Crusade had advanced well into the eastern fringes by the time the Istvaan System was brought to Compliance by the XIX ‘Raven Guard’ Legion under the leadership of Corax. This occurred in 994M30, what would be the final decade of the Great Crusade. This argument is flawed for several reasons.

Firstly, entire systems were often bypassed altogether during the Great crusade, leaving regions of the galaxy unexplored even as Systems around these were added to Imperial territories. If a region exhibited no signs of advanced technology, and was not considered an immediate priority, it was ignored, left uncharted, and would be dealt with at a later date.

Secondly, the Emperor began the Great Crusade began by securing many Systems around the Solar System, but then moved into the vacuum left by the Eldar in the region that would become the Eye of Terror, driving off the Orks and other species that sought to take advantage and claim these territories as their own. Despite the scale of the Emperor’s expeditionary fleets, priorities meant many regions close to Terra remained unexplored.

“The alliance of Terra and Mars was complete, and the Mechanicum had outdone itself, building fleets of ships to allow the Emperor to take to the stars and complete his Great Crusade of Unity. The skies over Terra were thick with starships, hundreds of thousands of them organised into seven thousand fleets, reserve groups and secondary, follow-on forces. It was an armada designed to conquer the galaxy and that was exactly what we set out to do.” The Horus Heresy, volume XII, A Thousand Sons, p383

Thirdly, Corax and Alpharius were the last Primarchs to be recovered, and both were located in regions far closer to the Sol System than most others. These regions were in the galactic south, within 10,000 Light Years of Terra. Clearly, there were regions far closer to Terra that remained unexplored during the final decades of the Great Crusade, even as Legions battled well into the eastern fringes.

Finally, when Rogal Dorn and his Imperial Fists found The Eisenstein, marooned and wrecked as it was, they claimed to be on their way to Terra. At this time, Dorn and his Legion would have already been fortifying the Imperial Palace, and establishing tighter security measures around the Sol System. According to the timeline, if Dorn had met with Horus on the eastern side of the galactic core as detailed in Horus Rising, his fleet would be within days of the Sol System by the time the virus bombing of Isstvan III began. If Garro’s loyalist travelled from the northern fringes, they would have arrived four years after Dorn arrived at that point.

“Aye.” The Death Guard reflected. Time indeed was passing more swiftly than he had anticipated. While the Eisenstein’s escape, becalming and rescue had seemed like little more than a matter of weeks for those on board, Garro soon discovered that their subjective period did not marry with the passing of days elsewhere. According to the central chronometer broadcast from the Imperial capital, more than twice as much time had passed since the attack on Istvaan III. Once more, Garro spared a thought for the loyalists left behind to face the guns of Horus. The Horus Heresy, volume IV, The Flight of The Eisenstein, p360

PART 2

PART 4