Phosis T'Kar - Burning of Prospero: When Magnus the Red learned of Horus' betrayal of the Imperium and his decision to give his loyalty to the Dark Gods, he used his own psychic abilities to get a message to the Imperial Palace on Terra by directly contacting the Emperor mind-to-mind, though this ruptured the Palace's considerable psychic defences and killed thousands of people whose minds were unable to handle Magnus' potent psychic call.But the Emperor refused to believe that His favorite son Horus would ever betray His trust and so He assumed that it was Magnus who had been corrupted by the Chaos Gods since he was once again using the sorcerous powers that had been banned by the Council of Nikaea. Believing that Magnus sought to sow dissension in the Imperium to serve his masters in the Warp, the Emperor ordered the Space Wolves Legion to go to Prospero and bring back Magnus to Terra, so he could give account for his actions.But this was not to be, as the corrupted Warmaster Horus had intercepted the Emperor's communique with Russ' Legion and subtly manipulated their orders. Instead of just arresting the offending Primarch Magnus for his transgressions and bringing him back to the Emperor for censure and punishment for breaking his oath never to use his psychic powers again, Horus changed their orders to read that the Space Wolves were to assault the Thousand Sons' homeworld of Prospero.Magnus had psychically foreseen the Loyalist Space Marines' attack on Prospero, which was eventually carried out by the Space Wolves Legion, elements of the Emperor's Legio Custodes, and millions of Imperial Army troops, all assisted by the Sisters of Silence acting as anti-psychic "Blanks" in order to nullify the Thousand Sons' psychic abilities.Magnus had finally understood, after his forced psychic entry into the Hall of the Golden Throne and his direct mental communication with the Emperor, that he had been manipulated by the Chaos God Tzeentch, with whom he had apparently unknowingly consorted with while desperately looking for a way to stop the emergence of the psychic mutations that were threatening to destroy his Legion.In an act of repentance and sacrifice, and to show his father that he and his Legion were loyal to the end, he did not warn the defenders of the planet or his Legion of the coming Imperial attack; on the contrary, he imposed a psychic veil on the planet so the Thousand Sons would have no clue of the impending assault. He also dispersed the Thousand Sons' Legion fleet far away from Prospero.He knew that Tzeentch wanted the Thousand Sons and Space Wolves to slaughter each other, and he wanted to stop these plans, even if it meant the sacrifice of his Legion and homeworld. Therefore, the Space Wolves' attack on the Thousand Sons' homeworld of Prospero came as a complete surprise. Because there was no warning, the invading fleet translated from the Warp into realspace practically on top of the planet, and quickly destroyed its orbital defences, initiating the great campaign of the Horus Heresy known as the Fall of Prospero to Imperial historitors.Establishing a beachhead in the spaceport area, the Space Wolves began slaughtering thousands of Prosperines, burning everything in sight. Yet the Thousand Sons' rank-and-file did not share Magnus' acceptance of defeat and punishment, so they took up arms against the Loyalist invaders. T'Kar was one of the first of the XV Legion's Fellowship captains to advocate fighting back against the invading Space Wolves, despite their primarch's pleas to accept their fate.When Ahzek Ahriman assumed command of the XV Legion in the primarch's absence, he proposed a plan of fierce resistance to those that would dare invade their homeworld. T'Kar immediately offered his support to the First Captain. The Thousand Sons managed to hold Tizca (the only surviving city on the planet) for a period of time before they were eventually pushed back.Among the warriors of Fenris were warriors in gold and red. They carried long spears with ebony hafts and shimmering blades. Phosis T'Kar grinned at the thought of matching his strength against the warriors of the Legio Custodes, but over the course of the battle, he became vaguely disgusted that the Custodians were not particularly difficult to kill. Phosis T'Kar laughed to see his Legion unleashed, with no constraints to its full potential and no faint-hearts complaining because they could kill the enemies of the Imperium better than anyone else with their psychic powers.When faced by the null-maidens of the Sisters of Silence, T'Kar quickly realised the psychic dampening affect they had upon his battle-brothers and the overall tide of the battle. T'Kar switched tactics, relying on his training as an Astartes and utilising his bolter in a sniper capacity.He then had his Tutelary Utipa deploy as his invisible spotter, which enabled T'Kar to take out several null maidens with multiple well-placed, long-range bolter shots. With the psychic Blanks dead, the Thousand Sons within T'Kar's vicinity were able to fight with clinical detachment, every warrior having achieved the lower Enumerations to better focus their skills.This only offered a temporary reprieve, for soon the enormous majesty of the Wolf King Leman Russ and a coterie of gold-armoured Custodes giants led by their commander Constantin Valdor, strode through the battle lines towards them. The Thousand Sons soon fell back towards the Pyramid of Photep, their last refuge on Tizca. The best and bravest of the Legion, all that survived to sell their lives in sight of their Primarch, went with their First Captain towards the bronze gates that led inside.Scores of Thousand Sons died in the opening minutes of the Wolf King's attack, his fury unstoppable and his power immeasurable. Clad in the finest battle-plate and armed with a Frostblade that clove warriors in two with single strokes, his fury was that of a pack hunter who knows his brothers are with him. Though Phosis T'Kar could see no more of the hateful Sisters of Silence, he knew they were there, for his powers were weakening, bleeding from his hands like ink from a splintered quill.The Custodes slew with powerful strokes of their Guardian Spears, hewing armour and flesh with efficient strokes that hit with precisely the force required to do the job of killing. Phosis T'Kar felt his Tutelary's impotent rage as its power was leeched away. He drew ever more deeply on his own reserves of psychic power, feeding them with the very essence of his soul, turning his emotions outwards as he and his men fought for their very survival.Phosis T'Kar focused on nothing save the monstrously powerful form of Leman Russ as he slaughtered the Thousand Sons without a care for the priceless repositories of knowledge and experience that he was snuffing out with every blow. Seeing no other possible choice, T'Kar summoned the reserves of his power and led his coven into the mass of grey-clad warriors of Fenris and the golden-armoured Custodes.Utilising his heqa staff and Bolt Pistol, his arm swept up and down like a piston, smashing though armour and shattering bone with a strength he had never known. His body seethed with psychic power, but his every iota of attention was fixed on his prey. The enemy fell back from him in horror, unable to match his power.He hurled warriors aside like straw, battering them into the ground with waves of thought until they were little more than smears of gore on the marble. The power flowing through him was incredible. At last Phosis T'Kar hammered his way through to the golden warriors surrounding Russ and laughed as he saw their terror of him. The Custodes leader, Valdor, turned to face him, and Phosis T'Kar relished the look of disgusted hatred he saw.Looking upon the former noble countenance of the corrupted Astartes, T'Kar's flesh was a riot of form and function, its every organ and limb reshaped by the madness of the "flesh-change". He had not noticed the changes wrought upon his body until that moment. His flesh was no longer his to call his own. Utipa's presence filled him, its hateful relish and patient malice unlocking the rampant potential locked in his genetic makeup, the Tutelary revealed as the Daemon it had always truly been.A wild and untamed transformative power that had lain dormant and contained within him was now given a free rein, unleashing nearly two centuries of change in as many solar minutes. In Valdor's eyes, Phosis T'Kar saw what he and the Legion had become, and knew then that this fate had always been theirs.Valdor came at him with his Guardian Spear aimed at his heart, and Phosis T'Kar finally understood why his primarch had chosen not to fight. T'Kar willingly dropped his guard and Valdor impaled his hearts, his death a welcome relief from the horror of the flesh-change into a Chaos Spawn.