Ur'zan Drakgaard - The Promethean War: With the events leading up to the Defence of Nocturne, the 3rd Company came under close scrutiny by the rest of the Chapter. The circumstances surrounding the death of both its prior captains, the known betrayal of one of its members as well as the desertion of one of its former squad sergeants, forced Chapter Master Tu'Shan to order further inquiries into 3rd Company, and so, they were recalled in its entirety, from the front lines. Thus when word reached Nocturne that the Ecclesiarchy World of Heletine had come under attack by the Forces of Chaos, and petitioned the Salamanders for help, the 6th Company was ordered to make ready for war.Augmented by two of the best assault squads the 4th Company could spare, which included -- Assault Squad Iaptus, more commonly known as the "Wyverns," and the legendary "Targons," a veteran Centurion Assault Squad -- as well as a sizable deployment of the Chapter’s Armorium, the 6th Company travelled with all haste to Heletine to relieve the almost overwhelmed Cadian 81st Regiment. Having gained much renown since the events of the Scorian Prophecy, the famous Chaplain Elysius was also appointed to oversee the Company's integrity and spiritual well-being against the temptations of Chaos. The Salamanders established their headquarters in Canticus, Heletine's capital city, only to find that their enemies were legion and well dug-in. Of the Chaos Space Marines comprised of the Black Legion and Children of Torment, they saw precious little, though they frequently encountered their mortal followers, the temptations and promises of Chaos having corrupted much of the civilian population and the Heletine Planetary Defence Forces. Leading the deployment from his command outpost, Drakgaard divided his forces as to better contest the world's remaining cities, but focussed his efforts on retaking Canticus. In these early stages of the war, Drakgaard was far from reckless, analysing terrain, reconnaissance reports and countless missives to ascertain the enemy's weaknesses. Much to his dismay, he found none. The maze of streets and bridges of Canticus favoured the numerical superiority of the followers of Chaos. With no swift victory to be gained, and the enemy commander yet to rear his ugly head or show his hand, the Promethean War almost immediately became a war of attrition. Heletine, and especially Canticus, would need to be purged by flame, yet Drakgaard did not possess the manpower necessary for such an operation. Biding their time, the Salamanders instead concentrated on inflicting casualties on the enemy and retaking the strategic initiative. Captain Drakgaard devised a plan in order to retake much of the city's western districts.After many weeks of such fighting -- of constantly losing ground and re-gaining it back and inflicting massive casualties upon the enemy -- new allies made themselves known. These were the Sisters of Battle, from the Order of the Ebon Chalice, led by their Canoness Angerer, to save and reclaim the holy relics of the Ecclesiarchy. With the Canoness requiring their support in reclaiming the relics, Drakgaard was confronted with a new imperative. He had seen the Orks grow bolder on Armageddon by defiling Imperial places of worship and erecting their own stinking and brutal effigies in their stead. Could the Chaos horde intend to do the same here on Heletine? Or worse yet, attempt to open a Warp Rift and summon forth their daemonic allies? Admonishing himself for allowing the enemy too much time to prepare, Drakgaard's fury was awakened. With these new reinforcements now available to him, he would take the initiative and cleanse Canticus of the taint that had befallen it.Despite the warnings of Chaplain Elysius not to overextend the line or venture further into the city without proper reconnaissance, Drakgaard did just that. The reinforcements of the Adepta Sororitas had given him the necessary manpower -- the one decisive great push that would break the already weakened enemy. Casualties had been mounting steadily amongst the Fireborn, and now would be the time for the traitor's reckoning -- these were Drakgaard's convictions. He could not have been more wrong.Heletine was an ancient world. Once the capital world of a powerful splinter-empire of humanity during the Great Crusade, Sixty-Three-Sixty, as it was then called, had been liberated by the Luna Wolves Legion in one of their greatest moments of glory. The world's primary output was then valuable Promethium, but the wells and pockets had long run dry, so the Ecclesiarchy had claimed Heletine as their own. Here, in subterranean mass-graves and catacombs that spanned under the entire city of Canticus, rested the bones of countless minor saints, cardinals, preachers and missionaries, in a little explored, and too quickly dismissed underworld -- because it was here that the Traitors had hidden from the Salamanders' wrath and patiently awaited the moment to strike.Despite being an obvious trap that was being set for them, the Salamanders' first assault on Salvation Bridge was a success. The Wyverns successfully cleared the cultist-manned gun nests in order to allow an armoured column of the Chapter to advance. The Wyverns' assault even prompted a reaction of the Black Legion, which deployed its Chaos Terminators onto the bridge via Thunderhawk Gunship. With battle flaring up between the two contingents of Astartes, the Seraphim of the Order of the Ebon Chalice arrived as reinforcements, cleaning the bridge of the remaining cultists and forcing the Chaos Terminators to flee. With no immediate threat to them, the dozer-equipped Predators of the Chapter quickly cleared the bridge, thus opening the way for their junction with other ground troops. Believing the enemy to have been bled out, Drakgaard personally led the foray within the eastern districts of Canticus, not realising that he had overextended his line. Elsewhere in the city, the Cadian armoured column was cut in half when a mighty pillar had fallen, blocking the road. The Salamanders armoured support had then had no other choice other than to make a great detour in order to reach the main advance, or risk being ambushed and trapped in Canticus' narrow streets. Despite being informed of this major delay, Drakgaard pressed on -- after all, he still had the Adepta Sororitas to back him up, or so he believed.Unknown to Drakgaard, Canoness Angerer had ordered her sisters away, abandoning their position to fulfill their own agenda as they undertook their own covert mission, effectively betraying both the Salamanders and the Cadians. Somehow sensing that something was amiss, Chaplain Elysius advised caution, urging Drakgaard to halt the advance and to properly scout the way ahead. The Imperial advance was now entering one of Canticus' eldest and most sacred districts, known as "the Cairns," a holy road passing eighteen massive pillars of stone which were believed by the locals to be the very foundations upon which heaven rested. Planning upon advancing on the Sanctium Vius, Drakgaard ordered the Targons to the front, confident that their superior protection would hold against anything the depleted enemy would be able to throw at them. Again, he was wrong. The Targons were lured into a deadly trap, when two civilians they attempted to rescue revealed themselves to be two unidentified psykers, which detonated in ætheric fire and lightning. Left in shock and reeling from the surprise blow, the Chaos Space Marines sprung their ambush, attacking the far more massive and slow-moving Centurions at close quarter, killing all of them save for their sergeant. Fuelled by anger and a desire for vengeance, Drakgaard ordered the advance not to falter.This was the moment the Traitors chose to strike. Having lured the Sisters of Battle of Canoness Angerer and ambushed them separately, the Black Legion collapsed the causeway beneath the combined advance of Cadians and Salamanders, disrupting the armoured column and killing most of the human soldiery at the same time. The scattered survivors, both Astartes and  human barely had time to register what had happened that the crazed hordes of cultists, led by Traitor Marines rushed them. Far from being beaten, the Chaos forces had laid in wait patiently within Canticus’ uncharted catacombs, springing their trap at the most opportune moment. The forces at the front of the Imperial advance fared the worst, effectively falling into the subterranean level, cut off from help and disoriented. Still the Salamanders fought on, often sacrificing themselves to protect their Cadian allies. Drakgaard and the Serpentia had also fallen into the unnatural gully and quickly reformed, with the enemy finally rearing its ugly head, Drakgaard unleashed his wrath, hacking, slashing and wrecking a terrible toll amongst the enemy. Yet his valour alone could not save the day. When Drakgaard himself was wounded, Chaplain Elysius ordered the Serpentia to form up on him and retreat, many dying to protect their wounded captain, but fortunately for the Salamanders, reinforcements arrived in the form of the badly battered Salamanders armour and Seraphims of the Sisters of Battle, the only Adepta Sororitas that had dared defy their Canoness’ orders to abandon their allies. These unexpected reinforcements kept the defeat from becoming a rout, and thus bloodied and bruised the Salamanders survived. Their losses had been high but enough remained to still continue the fight against the servants of Chaos.