Shattering of the 4th

*"Father! Hear me, please! We need you, I need you. FATHER!"*

- The cry of Theoderaf

Theoderaf

The **Shattering of the 4th** was a major event in the downfall of the Red Eyes legion during the Second Ruin, the second great turning point for the Legion's fall to Khorne. The faith of the Red Eyes and Theoderaf in the God-Emperor was irrevocably broken by the losses that day, and a significant portion of the legion's high command was wiped out.

Rushing back to the world of Iroruki, an important world for the Red Eyes, Theoderaf and an elite section of the Red Eyes deployed in an attempt to overawe the rebels. The column would be ambushed by the foul powers of the Warp, inflicting heavy casualties and bringing the legion to its knees. Something within Theoderaf snapped, and in a rage the capital city of Iroruki was slaughtered before Theoderaf could recover his senses. In the grim aftermath, the entire world was subject to exterminatus to finish the destruction.

From that point on, the Red Eyes renounced their faith, and a new faith began to creep into the legion.

## **Prelude**

Thirteen years had passed since the Vanishing, and faith in the Emperor's return had nearly dissipated in the Legions and Imperial High Command. As the years went by, the resources available to the Reclamation Command decreased, as Primarchs withdrew their sons for more important duties and Imperial Army regiments were redirected to new frontiers. Theoderaf refused to give up, despite the creeping doubt and then the loss of one of his closest friends, Rang Talyc. Isolated from his closest brothers, Theoderaf and his sons grew increasingly agitated and morose, believing themselves let down by the Imperium who had given up on their Father.

As the Legiones Astartes of the Imperium moved to face the Necron threat, Theoderaf was informed by agents that the world of Iroruki, one of the first worlds that the Red Eyes conquered when Theoderaf joined them and the home of the Irorukian Wraiths, was on the verge of rebelling against the Imperium. Though recruits were still collected by the IVth Legion from the world, the Imperium had left Iroruki behind in the Great Crusade and since the Vanishing discontentment had festered. This made the world the perfect place for the Ruinous Powers to begin their corruption of the Red Eyes. Agents of Chaos secretly infiltrated the world and began fermenting dissent and anger at the Imperium for failing them and the Emperor abandoning them.

As the Red Eyes completed yet another search of Imperial worlds where rumours of the Emperor's appearance had appeared, two pieces of news reached Theoderaf at the exact same moment. Firstly, a xenos threat had been detected in Segmentum Ultima and all legions were commanded by High Regent Alexandros to make haste to his side for the upcoming campaign. Secondly, a call for aid from an Imperial governor stated that open rebellion had broken out on the world of Iroruki, one of the Red Eyes' primary recruiting worlds. Faced with the two simultaneous summons, many in the legion were hungry to join the fight against the xenos as the long stretches of warp travel and investigation involved little serious combat. However, Theoderaf took the rebellion on Iroruki as a personal slight, as the Red Eyes' record of compliances was stellar and there had never been a rebellion on a world conquered by the IVth. Therefore, while the bulk of the legion were sent east to Ultima, a full 10,000 Astartes would accompany Theoderaf back to the site of their first conquest. To even further emphasise the symbolic importance of the expedition, the 10,000 would be drawn from the most veteran members of the legion and particular those recruited from Terra and Iroruki itself. The rebellion would be utterly crushed and the world would once again bow to the Imperium and the Emperor.