Zhao-Arkhad - Horus Heresy: Unlike other Forge Worlds that were officially approached by envoys of the Traitor Warmaster, Horus Lupercal, or of the Traitor fabricator-general, Kelbor-Hal, Zhao-Arkhad's isolation seems to have prevented such diplomatic missions to bind it early on to the Traitors' cause.Indeed, the first to be involved in the fighting of the galactic civil war would be the Arkhadian forge-fane on Prospero when the Space Wolves of Leman Russ descended upon that world as part of the Imperial Censure Host despatched by the Emperor of Mankind to bring His wayward son, Magnus the Red, to account for breaking the Edict of Nikaea.In what was later called the "Burning of Prospero," the Arkhadian sub-fane resisted the initial bombardment virtually unscathed, having been protected by both its extensive network of Void Shield generators and the soil of Prospero itself. The forge-fane's small garrison of Legio Xestobiax Titans rose from their subterranean storage bunkers and defended their forge against a Maniple of the Legio Mortis.That a minor Titan Legion from a backwater world like Zhao-Arkhad could match and even best the most powerful Titan Legion of the Great Crusade-era came as a shocking surprise to many tacticians.The Prosperine Taghmata also put up considerable and unexpected resistance but would prove nearly powerless against the mysterious Ordo Sinister which destroyed the forge-fane in the wake of the Legio Mortis ' failed assault.Guilty by association for the actions of the Prosperine sub-fane, Zhao-Arkhad was condemned by the highest echelons of the Mechanicum and an inquisition and audit fleet was sent to punish the Forge World, even though the wars of the Heresy and the vagaries of the Warp saw to it that it never arrived. Located in a quadrant of the galaxy that saw none of the great fighting of the Horus Heresy, Zhao-Arkhad's fate was a peculiar one.As they had done for millennia, the forge-fanes of Zhao-Arkhad remained isolated and never intervened as one of the major players in the Heresy.While the supreme-domini declared in favour of the Warmaster, the Purist faction quickly deposed her and condemned her to death, their task facilitated by the departure of the Thousand Sons garrison that had remained on Zhao-Arkhad as part of the treaty between the Forge World and the XV Legion.What followed was a sort of anarchic stand-off, the remaining forge-domini unable to elect a new supreme representative. Individual forge-fanes declared themselves independent and took the initiative of seizing vessels and Navigators to depart Zhao-Arkhad, eager to secure new resources and thus secure their own supply lines.Many other forge-fanes chose to mirror their actions, vacating Zhao-Arkhad and acting like mercenaries in exchange for gifts of raw materials, resources or new technologies. Some of these warring Arkhadian forge-fanes would eventually ally themselves with the warbands of the Traitor Legions, especially those of the Death Guard Legion.Other Arkhadian magi chose to remain on their birthworld, either supporting the hope of restored order represented by the Imperium or simply wishing to be left alone. Meanwhile, the Taghmata Kriarii was fighting far in the galactic north alongside the Raven Guard at Priam and would not learn of their world's censure for two full standard years.On Zhao-Arkhad itself, paranoia became rampant, resulting in numerous internal purges of both the thrall and worker population. In the following years of bloodshed, Arkhadian forge-fanes would fight on both sides of the civil war, but would always remain a minor faction.