The Battle of Mount Ararat

"From our bounds, we watch as our blood pays a price. We watched. Humanity was brought to a brink. A brink of desolation that nearly shattered not just us, but the entire foundation in which we were raised and birthed. It took not our own grace, but the graces of Him. For Mankind has fallen. Our Empire across the stars was just a memory. A rumor of bygone ages that mean mere nothings to those who remain. But as He rose, the thunderous cries of men and women cheered His bountiful slaughter. For his warriors. His legion brought us freedom. A freedom of peace and rebirth."

- Unknown

Overview
With years of sunder and age, the glories of the early Imperium were nearly forgotten by the treads of history. With each passing day, each victory of His legions, the battles grew and lingered throughout the new human frontier. But one battle stood as the center stone of human achievement and resolve against all those who stood before it. The Great Triumph of Mount Ararat made its name in the history of the Imperium, for its crushing victory against the final pocket of barbaric hordes that called the Terran waste home. For those who are born with sin, live without honor. For He and his Legions arrived to bring peace.

The Siege of Mount Ararat occurred in the year 799.M30. Unlike all foes that stood before the Emperor and the early Imperium, the Siege of Mount Ararat is considered by many Imperial scholars to be a befitting end to the Unification Wars, as the Siege of Mount Ararat was a spectacular display of both Imperial resolve and military ability. What is believed, is that the battle itself was dictated by the Emperor as his final triumph, due to the fact the Mountain itself was an impregnable fortress in its own right.

Inside the old Terran earth, Mount Ararat was a combination of many calamities. The mountain, named centuries ago by long forgotten warriors, was now an isolated strong hold that was bypassed by the Imperium early in the Unification wars. The inner halls of the mountain were carved from old volcanic ducts that went extinguished millennia ago. These ducts formed narrow passages in the rock face, with the defenders using the inner workings as a fortress that was impossible to overcome.

The Mount was miles from any notable settlement, and during the wars of the Emperor, the Mount grew in size and defense as new refugees fled the Legions and their Thunder Warriors. This proved to not only create supply concerns within the Imperial Legions, but created a concern of military counter attack from the defenders.

Most aircraft, during the opening stages of the conflict, failed to achieve their goals early within the campaign as the Imperium began to muster forces along the outskirts of the highlands. Artillery and Anti-Air emplacements were ringed around these natural mounds. On rare occasions, Imperial aircraft managed to pass the screening of air defenses, but the rock face itself proved impregnable to high explosive ammunition, with its defenders waiting deep inside the Terran earth.

However, despite their military favor and the roaring treds of Imperial war machines, the Lighting Lord presented these barbarians with an offer of peace. The messengers, newly conquered subjects of the Imperium, shouted their blessings and cries for a united Imperium, one of peace that stretched across the stars. However, their offer fell on deaf ears and one by one the messengers were slaughtered by the mindless beast that called the dark casim their home.

With no success in the early air campaign and the humiliation of diplomacy fluttering in the wind, the Lighting Lord set himself and his legions upon the Mount. For if the engines of war and peace failed, men must show their true nature and become the barbarians they sought to conquer. For it was not His wish, nor His want. For he himself tried to bring peace and unity to savages. But these men, who have no identity or culture, must not be met with bolter and sword as the Lighting Lord choose to bring the walls of the Mount down upon the stubborn and the savage.

For the Thunder Warriors, who brought many victories and triumphs, were called once more to bring devastation. However, due to the Importance and its future significance to the Imperium, the Lighting Lord employed his new legions of Astartes, alongside him and the Talons guarded his person against the terror.

The main force of the Imperium consisted of the Thunder Warrior Legions, genetically enhanced warriors that secured victory after victory in the name of the Lighting Lord countless times. These warriors were supported by the new Astartes Legions, which operated independently with each operating an aspect of the conflict.

Within the opening hours of the Lord’s decree, the Legions of the Ninth, the Fifth, the Third, the Sixteenth, and the Twelfth began to make operations for the engagement. As per the decree, the Master’s of each Legion gathered in the old Terran province of Cappadocia as a forward operating base. Each Legion, suited for their style of war, set to work on preparing the downfall of the Mount and the ensuing Triumph that would raise their names in history.

Imperial Strategy
The Imperiums strategy was not to occupy the Mount, but rather to devastated it in its entirety. For Mount represented defiance against not just the armies of the Imperium, but was an affront to the ideals the Lighting Lord set out to spread throughout mankind. This is represented in the overall strategy of the campaign.

The Thunder Warriors, armed with the full might of twenty Legions, surged at the fortress and into the heart of the fray. Under Arik Taranis, Commander of the Thunder Warrior Legions, the Warriors were met with great resistance by the entrenched defenders as soon as they deployed in the midlands. Autogun fire and explosive shells from entrenched artillery devastated the first volley of the advancing Legions. Even with mounting casualties, the Thunder Warriors continued forward with many surging into several dug outs and front-line trenches, creating a skirmish between the two armies. In hand to hand combat, the defenders were outnumbered and unable to inflict any real damage to a Thunder Warrior, however, the initial resistance was to divert and by time for the defenders to move to their next line of defense.

Meanwhile, as the Thunder Warriors pushed near the Kricher gap, the new Astartes legions made their plans for attack and support.

The entirety of five Legions were deployed against the Mount. However, the most notable were the Fifth, the Third, and the Twelfth. These Lesions, in particular, showed their expertise in battle, with many claiming their efforts brought the battle to an end in Imperial Victory, however, this is not to say the other Legions did not contribute. Each Legion, in their own right, excelled in the battle, showing themselves as true scions of the Emperor.

The Ninth Legion, formally known as the Enforcers, were siege experts with a renown for breaking enemy fortification under superior fire power. Under Headmaster, Neir Galo, the Ninth Legion set to work building bulwarks of Imperial fortifications, supply depots, and heavy-gun positions. Gun fire and smoke filled the desert, with large blooms of explosives clashing into the highlands. The creeping barrage moved across the mounds of earth, knocking out the quickly built trench works and bunkhouses. The Thunder Warriors followed behind mere feet from the precise explosions, with each one timed to knock out a defense or beleaguered pocket of resistance as soon as it was identified.

The Fifth Legion, formally known as the Wind Runners, amassed their Legion’s resources in high orbit. Despite pleas for peace and another envoy to extend diplomacy, the cries of the Legion were met with silence. Like the First Renaissance men of Old Terran, the Wind Runners, under Legion Master, Gerebaldi, oversaw the preparation for the campaign as their skill in diplomacy was matched by their skill in war. The First, Fourth, Seventh and Tenth Companies were present during the ensuing siege, with the Tenth Stealth Company, Under Legion Capitan Vittorio, being acclaimed for their legionaries breaking through into the Mount itself.

The Third, formally known as the Azure Falcons, like the Ninth, were sabotage experts. Under the Terran Soil, the Third Legion focused on deploying legionaries across much of the Highlands and inner volcanic ducts of the Mount. The Fortress itself was surrounded by a sea of Golden warriors who fell time and time again to heavy or the tricks of mine placements. The Azure Falcons sought to negate these factors and focused their efforts to bring the defenses of the Mount to the ground itself. Legion Master Jekari Ror organized them in a very decentralized command structure, with each squad of Legionnaires focused on different goals and objectives. Commonly, the Third made use of various tunnels for explosive charges that devastated various old constructions and enemy positions.

The most notable was the Destruction of the Main Revelin. Prior to the attack by the Legions, the defenders created a series of fortifications made from old earth. These fortifications were basic, most being dug outs or earth works that slowed or harassed the Legions through mine placement or providing firing ranges. The main protection of the Mount was a large revelin that blacked much of the volcanic ducts that provided entry ways into the Mount itself. The overall goal of the Thunder Warriors was to secure the entrance and surge into the Mount to wipe out the defenders. However, the revelin, like much of the earth works, forced the Thunder Warriors into overlapping fire ranges that harassed the Legions with autoguns and defensive towers that had not yet been brought down.

Within an instant, the Legionaries of the Third worked like clockwork. Their heavy bodies of metal dug under the earth as just above Thunder Warriors screamed and yelled over the sounds of bolter fire. Within mere hours the earth under the revelin collapsed, bringing down the heaviest guns the defenders had mustered. With no more distraction, the Legionaries surged into the Mount face, with the screams of the savage filling the air.

The Sixteenth, formally known as the The Enevarators, were the soldiers called upon for most siege conflicts by the Lighting Lord. As his architects of attrition warfare, the Enevarators were brought to support nearly all aspects of the campaign. Under Legion Master, Dai Qui, the Sixteenth provided much needed support to the Thunder Warriors, providing much of the air support and heavy transports for the campaign.

The Twelfth, formally known as the Argent Swords, were brought to the ensuing battle as shock experts. The Argent Swords, under their Legion Master Colli Mus the Twelfth followed closely behind the surging Thunder Warriors. The Argent Swords showed themselves greatly in two key moments of the battle, the Surge at the Kricher Gap and the Breach of the Western Defense Tower. During the Surge, the Thunder Warriors found themselves in a bottleneck in the highlands as the mounds descended into Mount’s basin. The 2nd Company, under Praetorian Raenar, broke through the support line that formed much of the defender’s final defense in the highland. Raenar himself, armed with a melta bomb, disabled the last autocannon block house in the gap, causing a rock slide that trapped the retreating defenders.

United these Legions provided efficiency in their task. The Legionaries worked tirelessly, chipping away at the stone underbelly as just mere feet above, other Legionaries created trench works that provided cover and disguise for the advance. Others built large sand mounds for the artillery and the heavy guns that would bring the wrath age old gods upon them.

The Lighting Lord's Arrival
As the battle raged, the Lighting Lord himself stood with his guard. One, the most notable of the event, Denyarius Sorvin, Captain General of the Legio Custodes, represented the Lord himself during the planning phases of the conflict, at least until His formal arrival. Some sources from Imperial officers claim Sorvin spoke little or nothing at all.But as the battle consumed miles of earth and the defenders were pushed to the entry ducts of the Mount, it is said the sky itself light with the hue of gold. For the Lighting Lord, the grace of his being, arrived with his warriors. The Lord himself pushed past all who stood before him, without word his Custodes followed but inches from him as they surged into the Mount.

Invigorated with purpose and the impending victory, the Legions of the Astartes rallied and surged behind their Lord.

However, the battle itself was marked in with the blood of the Lord’s own. The breach of the Thunder Warriors gave access to the inner sanctums of the Mount. The home of the savage was no more. Their corpses disregarded and burned as the final memory of an age of human degradation.

The Thunder Warriors, who have served the Lighting Lord since the beginning, were no more. For each Legionnaire perished in the ensuing battle that overtook the Mount. For their sacrifice, humans were brought to a new stage. Their sacrifice saved them from the dark age that brought near extinction upon them all. For their glory, their valor, the Emperor, present with his creations, anointed himself as the Emperor, of not just Terra, but of all of Mankind itself.

For the Emperor’s glorious being would bring peace and prosperity to the realms of the galaxy, which now laid open and fruitful for his conquest across the stars. For his fruitful Empire was now born. His duty was to replenish the earth and bring a new age of humanity. The Age of the Imperium had begun upon on the Mount, as every beast now feared and dreaded the birthright of the Emperor.

The Battle's Legacy
""And with the final battle ending the Era of the Thunder Warriors, the newly crowned Emperor, who had for years served alongside his Angels of Death, gracefully carried what remained of Arik Taranis. A body of pure might. The armor itself, which was in contrast to the Emperor’s craft, showed the body of a true Son of the Emperor despite its ragged and haphazard manner. To many, he was a friend. A Warrior that served not just the Lighting Lord, but all of Mankind.""

- D8, Lexmechanic of Forge World Mars

As the Unification Wars drew to a close, false rumors were spread to various sectors of the Imperium. Some claimed the Thunder Warriors had not all perished. Some claim further the Emperor himself slayed them due to some flaws or to wipe the slate clean. Some claim that the Captain General himself ended the slaughter by killing an age old friend, However, these rumors are mere conjecture. Each one has been disproved by Imperial scholars, but yet the mind lingers on what truly happened in the age of war.

With the end of the Unification Wars on Terra and the Great Triumph of Mount Ararat birthing the Emperor’s dominion over Mankind, the Legions of Astartes, who fought side by side the Thunder Warriors, took their place as His angels. For now the war of the Imperium was not for birthplace humanity but for the worlds that had been forgotten or the worlds that had been lost.