THE DODEKATHEON
Following his examination from Ossus there were days slated by the Warsmith for Tristan to recover and rebuild his strength, time in which the boy used to learn from a series of tomes collected by Jarn in the Astartes' room. To call them books would perhaps be misleading, for in reality they were more akin to journals chronicling the development of various technologies used by Jarn and others among his forces.
With no adherents to the Mechanicus to instill doctrine upon his ship Jarn had been able to more freely develop whatever ideas he possessed, thus allowing for the technological innovation which created his altered model of the Logos. Like Perturabo before him Jarn possessed a keen mind for such matters, and after studying the Primarch's own works he had come to possess a deep knowledge for the entire creative process. While perhaps uninspired compared to the creations of others, a gun that could shoot more accurately than others of its kind or armor that could better protect its bearer were invaluable for Astartes who knew only war.
The journals of his work were paltry compared to the heights of humanity's utmost development prior to its intergalactic collapse millennia past, but the knowledge possessed was valuable all the same for someone like Tristan. He did not understand much of what he read at first glance, but he read all the same now that he had permission to do so. The concepts of things like electricity and once common knowledge about how various metals worked as conductors were fascinating to the boy who had until just recently known nothing beyond the technologically bereft world he was born to, and while it would take many months and years for him to fully grasp the concepts presented by Jarn's writing it would provide a foundation for the seeds of future innovation to grow.
A week passed by, and when Jarn returned to his room as he did each night after managing his warband's day to day matters he was surprised to find Tristan fiddling with some spare wiring and a small light procured from Jarn's surplus supplies in his personal workshop. The fact that the boy was practicing the fundamentals discussed in his journals was not surprising, but that the boy had managed to get the light to function was, and a delightful one at that. It reaffirmed that the autocannon Tristan made, however crude, was not some one off stroke of genius and while making energy flow from a power source through some wires to a light was in no way revolutionary it was still impressive for a boy who weeks ago did not even know of electricity beyond the lightning lashing out in the sky.
In recognition of this accomplishment Jarn would bring Tristan with him to the
Eisernen's most advanced workshop and forge, not because he expected the boy to know how to use any of it or contribute to the work of others, but rather because it was his belief that by just exposing him over time to the technologies within that Tristan would one day be one of the Astartes working within.
"This is the Dodekatheon, where our foremost engineers and minds are joined. Here we test our ideas against one another, working to improve our knowledge and understanding of both warfare and technology through trial, discussion, and simulation."
Tristan had still not encountered much of the ship he now found himself within or its inhabitants, but even someone as ignorant to civilized technology as him could appreciate the sight before him: massive, sprawling space where machines were being assembled either through some automated process or by hand, where Astartes stood shoulder to shoulder and worked on testing their creations while others stood around tables with either blueprints or small miniature figures upon them being used to engage in theoretical wargames. Mechanical constructs buzzed and whirred all around as if they possessed minds of their own, and such was their harmony to Tristan's young eyes that it seemed that this entire workplace was but one elegant machine.
"You will observe what is done here. You will do what its members ask of you. You will scrutinize to the best of your ability and study from the work you witness from myself and others. Ask questions where necessary, but do not bother when the answer would be beyond your comprehension. It will take years, but I have faith that you will learn," Jarn explained as he escorted Tristan throughout to give the boy a better look at everything, not a soul within the Dodekatheon's forge being disturbed by their presence since within all were on paper equal and thus the various Astartes assembled there saw no reason to interrupt their work to salute their Warsmith. They knew he cared more about what they were creating than he did trivial salutes and greetings, for all of the Astartes within were veterans like Jarn himself who had served with him for centuries.
The sight of so many mechanical creations that were beyond his present comprehension and understanding was overwhelming for Tristan, but it sparked his curiosity rather than any ire for being unaware. While he possessed an ego befitting of a precocious child, his passion for learning had been stoked and so he followed Jarn with keen interest throughout this forge that Tristan reckoned was larger than his entire village.
In a way it felt familiar despite how different it was, for he had spent his entire life growing up within his family's own version of a forge, with his father's blacksmithing talents being put to use to aid their growing community. The familiarity helped soften the bittersweet memories of watching his father work, and with no knowledge of how to process such thoughts Tristan instead projected them onto his new caretaker. It was easier just to not think of his family and to instead look forward, for his nights were already haunted by what horrors he had witnessed in his village's destruction.
A more recent sight that had become familiar snapped Tristan out of his thoughts to instead realize that he had been led to a far more advanced workstation than the one in Jarn's quarters, but which the boy could tell belonged to the man regardless: Arien was climbing over parts of it with his stubby lizard limbs to put things into various containers without prompting, the Ixolotl content to just work with the shiny objects before him.
"While cumbersome, Ixolotls possess a strong memory for the placement of objects. Keep note of where Arien places objects back so that valuable tools are not lost or put in the place of another."
While he was somewhat aware of the fact that Jarn had a certain affection for his pet, it was at this moment that Tristan realized that in the pecking order of this vessel the simpleminded creature outranked him, an actual Human. He would be learning from an animal how things were done...but so long as he could learn he was willing to do so, even if the source came from a salamander-esque creature that was content to just stare at shiny objects for hours on end with its beady little eyes.
"Understood," Tristan responded tersely, already observing Arien's placement of certain tools back where they belonged to tidy up his owner's workspace. He liked Arien, just as he found himself drawn towards Jarn. He was uncertain about Ossus thus far, but did not dislike the man at least despite the painful tests the Apothecary had put him through...despite not understanding them Tristan at least understood they were necessary, and so he had undergone them without complaint. Not without intense pain, but he was already dulled somewhat to that sensation after spending weeks nearly starving to death.
"When you are not shadowing me this shall be your obligation, though make certain to not get in the way of those here."
Jarn did not bother to introduce Tristan to any of the other Astartes present, as his goal was to show Tristan what he needed to be useful and to learn so as to be even more valuable later on. Interrupting the dedicated work of his comrades to show off a recruit, even one Jarn had hopes for, was pointless to him. Until Tristan became a full fledged Astartes and proved his worth Jarn had no intentions of having others grant him any form of reverence. It was simply not the Iron Warrior way to do so, what mattered was results, of which Tristan could not yet produce.
That was a piece of why Jarn brought him here today though, for he intended to observe if Tristan was ready to join the training squad that was being assembled. If he was still too weak from starvation and then his medical observation then he would just be kept on the side until he
was ready, and so seeing Tristan able to keep pace with him was a good sign. Just because the boy had no present worth did not mean he would not in time after all, and breaking him needlessly was something a less careful member of the Fourth Legion would do: not Jarn. Not every tool was a hammer, nor every solution a nail, and while it served the Legion well to act in such a way in the past much had changed in the intervening years.
"What is that?"
Many times the size of Jarn himself was a nearby vehicle which was being worked upon by the various techmarines among Jarn's Iron Warriors, its signature feature being the long 132mm Earthshaker Cannon atop its chassis of seven meters. Such was the size of the Dodekatheon's forge that this mighty vehicle was only one of many being tinkered with, with many others of its ilk visible throughout and even larger craft being worked on deeper within. Tristan had been so overwhelmed by all the new things when he entered that he had not quite noticed it at least not consciously until his tour took a moment to pause by Jarn's station, and now that Tristan
had seen it his eyes were aglow.
Whatever part of his nature had made him so fascinated by the autocannon he saw on his homeworld during its invasion that saw him then recreate it in a more limited fashion now once again piqued the boy's curiosity, as he just found that he inherently was drawn to and liked this vehicle. He held little interest in the Vindicator being reconstructed right nearby it, or of the Medusa a little bit further than that.
Tristan liked the Basilisk, so much so that his stoic features were unable to hide his keen fascination with it. While Jarn had expected the boy to be in wonder at all the sights within the Dodekatheon he found it more amusing that out of so much one vehicle struck the boy's fancy. Given this, he wasted no time in answering the child's question, figuring that he perhaps could train Tristan's mechanical knowledge better by assigning him Basilisk related projects in the future. Best to work with something that one has an interest in after all, and the Basilisks under the Fourth's control had compatible parts and thus knowledge with Rhinos, Predators, Vindicators, and Whirlwinds as well.
"This is what is known as a Basilisk, specifically of the Legion variant from the Great Crusade. Consider it a larger version of the weapon you crafted, with an effective range farther than the eye can see. While other Legions needlessly engage in close ranged combat ours rightfully engages the enemy at a distance they cannot retaliate, softening their forces so that when we do engage in direct conflict their remaining forces pose no threat to our own."
The mind of a child could be a wonderous thing at times, so simple and innocent: Jarn could see the gears turning in Tristan's mind as the boy tried to figure out what he could from just looking at the vehicle. Jarn indulged him further by informing him of its technical specifications, though he knew most of it would fly over Tristan's head for now. At least the boy could understand the basics, that this was a tool to defeat your enemy from afar, and that would suffice for now.
When Jarn managed to lure his apprentice away from the vehicle that had captivated him so he brought Tristan over to a more organized part of the Dodekatheon, it resembling a ship's bridge more than it did a workshop even though it was a part of the same overall area. There Iron Warriors stood around monitors going over data and discussing stratagems, some of which their fellow members were testing against one another using a mixture of computer simulations and physical representations upon large tables built for such activity.
Catching Tristan's attention first were the miniature Basilisk models, of which he felt a desire to possess after witnessing the vehicle moments ago, just as he had been interested in shields after seeing his father craft them for local soldiers...of course they had been the first to fall when their village was raided, but it was not because of a lack of craftsmanship on the part of Bertrand the Blacksmith. No, that was because it was difficult to shield your body from every direction as cultists swarmed you, even for those with full body armor.
The second thing that caught his attention was the fact that there was someone other than an Astartes present: he was a few years Tristan's senior, though how much older was difficult to tell given that the boy was inhumanly muscular and possessed forearms substantially thicker than Tristan's own thin abdomen. This other child was engaging some Astartes in the wargames they were testing ideas with, and while it was obvious the superhuman soldiers were using a handicap against him it still spoke to his own relative quick thinking that he won the engagement he was presently in.
Perhaps sensing his opposite in this other boy, Tristan inherently disliked him from the moment he first encountered the other trainee under Jarn's guidance.
"Warsmith," Levente bowed his broad, muscular form as he finished his match and noticed the approaching form of Jarn.
Pleased by what he witnessed moments ago, Jarn gave a nod of approval to Levente, who had been busy casting a glare over in Tristan's direction, "I suppose it is time to test your progress, Levente. Show me what you have learned."
Levente pried his eyes away from what he sensed would be his rival for Jarn's favor ever since the younger boy was brought on board the
Eisernen, not wanting to lose face in front of Jarn. Just as Tristan inherently disliked Levente the feeling had been mutual since Levente first noticed the unconscious boy, and while Jarn could sense their silent friction he said nothing to combat it: the Iron Warriors in the past had fostered rivalries to make their foremost minds grow and outperform one another, improving their raw ability through a desire to overcome their rivals. While it had fed into the paranoia which grew in the Legion with time, Jarn saw no harm in two future Astartes not liking one another so long as they knew how to work together in spite of that.
Jarn and Levente set the table for a match of their own in short order, the basis for the game being that each player could choose what pieces they desired to utilize with a point value assigned to them based on their relative cost of real resources to field and their capabilities being a scaled representation of their usage in actual battle. In this way a general battlefield scenario could be played out in a macroscopic sense, while the computers nearby could run such scenarios in real time for more individualistic tactical control and practice.
While Tristan did not quite know much about the game yet, he did as Jarn told him to and observed so he could learn it: he noticed that while Levente's force was comprised of models entirely focused around close range combat Jarn's were a mixture of various forces including a set of Basilisks. Once both sides had been set their battle commenced, and so began a strategic exchange of simulated battle that lasted for just over an hour before Jarn's forces completely routed Levente's.
Tristan had noticed the trap Jarn was setting for the other boy, but Levente's confidence and bold nature saw him walk straight into it in a display of hubris. Despite that Levente had managed to do considerable damage even through the trap he sprung, but it still decided the outcome of the battle and it was not long before his forces had been completely mopped up despite having torn apart everything directly in their path.
Jarn nodded to Levente, having known the outcome since before the match began but still desiring to measure the mental growth of his student, "An improvement, though your focus on a frontal offensive left your forces open: being led into a kill-zone and surrounded on all sides on disadvantageous terrain will almost always lead to defeat. Seizing the initiative is important lest you allow your opponent to dictate to you the terms of battle, but do not allow it to blind you."
To his credit, despite his pride, Levente bowed humbly to the Warsmith and listened to him sincerely: he had come from a technologically advanced world that had descended into barbarism, much like Terra once had, and so in such a world he had grown up respecting strength above all else. This meant that he had grown fanatically loyal to the Warsmith upon their meeting, and the sight of Jarn's physical prowess in battles afterwards had only built upon this fervor in Levente's spirit. He wanted to one day tower above mortals and Astartes alike just as Jarn did, and to that end he would do whatever was asked of him.
"I will learn from my folly, Warsmith."
Despite their mutual dislike even Tristan recognized the reverence towards their benefactor and savior, so while he intrinsically found the older barbarian child irksome he could find some common ground. Time would only tell how far that would go.
"Do not allow yourself to be caught off-guard by even menial forces as well, for I decapitated the command structure of your army with a mortal squad rather than with any of my Astartes. While we may be their superior in many ways, a gun cares not who fires it and a sufficiently skilled mortal can fell even our kind with a well placed shot," Jarn explained further as Levente listened, doing his best to learn even if his mind was struggling to grasp what exactly he did wrong, "Tristan here surprised me with a hidden autocannon he crafted with his own two hands. Had I been one of our lesser kin who find refuge in the Warp with piecemeal armor withered by time and battle without repair it may have taken my life, which is why this place of technological development and understanding is so vital."
The gesture towards him first made Tristan feel proud, then brought a shiver down his spine when he realized the death glare it earned him from Levente: their shared respect for Jarn also meant that they no doubt would be competing for his attention, and so Levente's eyes were like Power Daggers glaring at him. Tristan did what he could to glare back, but his far more diminuitive form and less expressive facial expression both conspired to make his own attempt seem as threatening as an Ixolotl's blank stare.
Jarn ignored the adolescent rivalry forming and continued his semi-introductions of the boys to one another, "Levente here will be your fellow Neophyte, an apprentice of mine like yourself whom you will work alongside one day should you become Astartes. As your elder feel free to ask of him anything you need assistance with, but be sure not to trouble him or keep him from his training."
At the Warsmith's gesture the boys met to shake hands, with Tristan's slight hand appearing miniscule within Levente's rounded and muscular one: if he had not been used to hurting his hands while working on various things in his father's workshop Tristan would probably have winced at the other boy's grip.
"Don't slow me down, runt, and I'll make sure to not trample you," Levente sneered and chuckled both, possessing a natural charisma that was devoid in Tristan.
While younger Tristan had the quicker wit, and so shot back, "I should be fine, you seem 'slow' enough as it is."
Levente's failure against Jarn was not much of an indication about Levente's own intelligence, but Tristan could not help himself from verbally sparring back. He was confident in his own intelligence, and he had doubts that a muscle-bound kid some years his senior was beyond his own mental ability...or so he hoped at least. It was perhaps the one thing he had over Levente, looking at his own physicality and comparing it to the Neophyte's.
Taking it as a challenge, Levente pointed towards the tabletop simulation that Tristan was judging him over, "Care to test that, runt?"
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PRIMARCH OF THE FOURTH
The discovery of Perturabo would be both an honor and wound upon the Fourth Legion, as their fulfillment at reuniting with their Primarch was in turn met with Perturabo's disapproval. Iron Warriors from across the stars were gathered to hail his return, and as punishment for past errors they were commanded to enact decimation: one in ten would be beaten to death by the other nine by lottery, and it is through this manner which Jarn was introduced to the brutality of his Primarch. While unfortunate enough to draw the short straw and condemned to death Jarn would survive the ordeal by leveraging his superior might compared to the average Astartes, enduring their brutality while returning it in kind.
In spite of this event Jarn would grow to respect their Primarch like many of his kin, impressed by his intellect and might which together were perhaps unsurpassed among the other Primarchs without accounting for other factors. Perturabo possessed unparalleled understanding of almost anything he set his mind to, be it warfare or the creation of grand structures and machines, and his sons would be among the few to properly appreciate them both. Like many Astartes Jarn resembled his Primarch, but due to his particularly large size he would become known among his peers as 'Little Perturabo': never to his face however, as Jarn's humility was such that he would castigate those who said it be it in praise or be it in criticism.
It was this same trait which allowed for those very peers to surpass Jarn in influence throughout the Great Crusade, for while he was not found wanting on the battlefield or off of it his performance perhaps mirrored his Primarch's too closely and was taken for granted without Jarn once asking for recognition. He saw Perturabo as humble as well in those years and so sought to further exemplify such traits himself even if it did result in others like Kroeger and Falk rising above him in overall station as time wore on. It is on this front that texts discussing the history of the Iron Warriors would criticize Jarn in the years to come, as for those not censored by the Imperium it stood out as odd that a competent commander would be content to remain on the sideline until the fall of Olympia, and, while accounts vary, all that is known for certain was Jarn's unwillingness to forge his own path at the time.
THE RAZING OF OLYMPIA
Perturabo had come from the resource barren world of Olympia which had hindered him back for many years prior to the arrival of the Imperium, and there he had been raised by a man who would become known aptly as the 'Tyrant of Olympia'. The Tyrant, Dammekos by birth, would go on to use Perturabo's intellect to conquer all who stood in his way and establish a unified rule of the planet. When the Emperor arrived upon Olympia he was met by Perturabo deposing the Tyrant and handing the planet over to Imperial rule, where it would be transformed into a powerful instrument to supply and replenish the ranks of the Iron Warriors throughout the Great Crusade. It was a testament to Perturabo's skill at administrating and organizing systems by which their war machine could continue forward throughout the Great Crusade without stopping, as the Iron Warriors were constantly tasked with battles which led to inevitably harsh casualties and they used but the one world to primarily recruit from unlike the many worlds of the Ultramarines.
Unfortunately these very systems proved taxing on the people of Olympia, as Perturabo had expected the planet of mortals to do as told without question and suffer through hardship without complaint just as he and his Legion were. In time this expectation proved faulty as the population began to buckle under the constant recruitment of Astartes and menials, for sending countless members of their citizenry to war with few ever returning stressed their social infrastructure. Who would manage the cities, build their facilities and roads, engage in day to day mundane matters if nearly every man was slated to serve the needs of the Iron Warriors rather than themselves? This crucial error in accounting for the Human factor of Olympia would prove costly, as it allowed the Tyrant to recruit to his side many of those dissatisfied with the Imperium. Perturabo had named him Planetary Governor in his absence, placing him in a uniquely dangerous position thanks to his fair talent for statecraft.
Complicating matters was the fact that the Tyrant had no clear heir, as when Dammekos passed away it was well after executing one son for betraying him and the other refused to use Imperial technology to extend their lifespan and thus passed away naturally. This meant that upon his death Dammekos his cabal of anti-Imperial agitators and demagogues were left without the man keeping them upon a leash, and their incendiary rhetoric would soon inflame the cities of Olympia and cause the population to revolt. The timing for this perhaps could not have been worse, as it came at a time when the Iron Warriors themselves were reaching the end of their once inexhaustible willpower. Countless brutal campaigns with constant casualties, no reprieve, and no glory had left the Fourth Legion on edge, and the news that their home planet had rebelled against the Imperium caused their collective spirit to snap along with their Primarch's own.
Upon their return to Olympia the Iron Warriors submitted to Perturabo's demands to brutalize the population for their rebellion, committing a widescale genocide which saw innumerable souls lost be they guilty or innocent. Perturabo himself in his angered furor killed his adoptive sister to whom he had once been quite close, and across the world his soldiers engaged in similar acts of barbary. Some however resisted the orders, believing them wrong for one reason or another, and these members of the Fourth Legion would be quelled along with Olympia's revolutionaries. Those that would refuse to listen to Perturabo's decree and survive would be gathered by Jarn during and after the swift subjugation campaign, having been convinced to take this course of action by a soldier under his command for the sake of all like them who sought a different path for the Iron Warriors.
Forrix would enable these events by turning a blind eye to his former apprentice's actions after assigning him to deal with the insubordinate members within their ranks, with this being the final time the two would meet in person: Forrix would continue to follow their Primarch all the way through the Horus Heresy, while Jarn's newfound vigor would see him branching off from their main forces to engage in their own parallel war. It had been determined by Perturabo and the Iron Warriors that their actions were unforgivable and thus unworthy of being a part of the Imperium, so they soon joined with Warmaster Horus in open rebellion against the Imperium they no longer deserved to serve. Their years of collective misery and suffering under the Imperium saw them content to tear down what they once helped build, and their long standing grudge against the Imperial Fists was finally allowed to be indulged in totality.
The renegade Iron Warriors under Jarn's command had many of their records stricken from Imperial records for reasons unknown, but general accounts would paint them as opposing both the Imperium's Imperial Fists as well as ardent followers of the Ruinous Powers such as members of the World Eaters lost to Khorne or Emperor's Children devoted to Slaanesh. It would appear that while they were fine with rebelling against an Imperium that had used them they also refused to submit to the rule of Chaos, or to allow comrades to inflict its torment upon others: their last known conflict came after the Siege of Terra, and it which saw them engaging members of the Emperor's Children over its actions towards a world's civilian population. The conflict would see the Jarn's forces and those of the offending Emperor's Children fleet lost in the Warp, seemingly resulting in their mutual destruction. Instead it would be thousands of years before Jarn's fleet would emerge from the Warp, the Iron Warriors within having endured and fought their way to freedom only to find a vastly different universe than the one they had left behind.
KIMARAN WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE
The rebellion of the Iron Warriors had naturally resulted in their ardent supporters upon Kimara siding against the Imperium as well out of loyalty, with Kimara declaring its independence from the wider Imperium and daring any who wished to question their autonomy to overcome the defenses Jarn had set upon it. Even with only a small garrison of Iron Warriors on the world the population still was well equipped to fend off invaders, and for the entirety of the Heresy and in the years following they would remain an independent entity and hold their sector without Imperial intervention. It was known by the Imperium that it would be costly to invade the planet, and since its strategic value did not outweigh the cost of taking it at the time it was left alone.
This state of affairs would come to an end only after the Imperial Fists came to 'liberate' worlds which had been conquered by the Iron Warriors following Horus' defeat, with Kimara falling under the broad category even though it was an action decided by the population rather than their Astartes allies. As this happened before the Iron Cage, and because Kimara's population was not yet large enough to man every single one of the Fortress Cities prepared by Jarn it would be a losing battle for them: they had to face the entirety of the Imperial Fist armada as a sole planet with only a few dozen Astartes of their own.
Despite initial attempts to resist it was decided by the few Iron Warriors present to take responsibility and face the Imperial Fists themselves, using an otherwise unmanned Fortress City to draw the attention of the Imperial Fist forces. This was done to repay the population for their loyalty and out of the inevitability of death facing the Iron Warriors present: no matter how the conflict ended it would be with their deaths, so they sought to fight their hated foes while lessening the future burden on the civilians who supported them for so many years. There would be another day to fight they reckoned, and this way they could prevent the wider population from being executed by acting as if they had been forced to.
While their intention was to mitigate the loss of life like their onetime commander Jarn would have wished of them some members of Kimara's military decided to fight alongside them, including a descendant of Jarn himself. This male descendant, since censored by Imperial records, was said to have done so to deflect blame from the rest of his family given that he was the top military member not involved in the civilian government. By shouldering this burden the Jarn family could hopefully remain in power and protect their people following the battle, and so along with a loyal retinue of soldiers they helped man the artillery which was used to fight the Imperial Fist subjugation force.
The battle would last for only a day given the sheer difference in manpower and records would indicate the bodies of thousands of Iron Warriors recovered from the remains of the demolished Fortress City: it is believed that those chronicling the event either made an error in counting Mortal bodies as those of their Astartes comrades or that it was a deliberate attempt of the Imperium to save face after the Imperial Fists soon thereafter saw a major defeat at the hands of Perturabo at the Iron Cage. Imperial Fist losses were unable to be properly calculated given that the Iron Cage would follow shortly thereafter, but they were sizeable enough for the Imperial Fists to see fit to establish a foothold in the sector to keep an eye on Kimara. This would later become a Deathwatch facility to fend off Xenos threats, but they would also gain civilian support from Wostyn who had been opposing Kimara since the world's rebellion.
EMBITTERED YET ENDURING
When the dust settled it was determined that the people of Kimara had in fact engaged in rebellion against the Imperium, but that they had been pressured into doing so by the presence of the alleged thousands of Iron Warriors. As such they were granted heavy tithes from the Imperium to pay penance, and while the planet's governance remained intact it was kept under constant observation by Imperial spies in the years to come. Kimara would remain under the rule of the Jarn family until recent years, standing as a symbol to the people of their enduring spirit and unwillingness to submit even as they feigned to do just that. They did not resent the Emperor himself, or what had become of him, only that the Astartes they owed their present survival and success to were so callously thrown away and besmirched in the years after the Heresy.
A political revolt of so-called reformists who sought to make Kimara a more loyal Imperial planet was headed by the claimed descendants of the Conomor Clan, claiming in the process that the Jarns had been hoarding resources and withholding from the Imperium in secret for nearly ten thousand years. They further claimed that the Jarns had conspired to oust their family from power to facilitate the planet's rebellion so many years ago, and with a sympathetic ear among various Imperial officials the Conomors soon saw the Jarns not just driven from power but executed. While the ruling members and adult relatives were slain publicly to demonstrate the fate of believed traitors, their children including the world's prince were instead quietly 'disappeared' to lessen the civilian backlash. This would for a few years spark rumors of their survival, but such whispers would die down when the local Arbites instilled discipline and what little hope remained to their people died when the boy's body was eventually discovered.
These events would demoralize the once stalwart Kimara, with unstated dreams of freedom from the Imperium's tyranny upon their people and insatiable tithes not possible with the Conomors in power. For thousands of years the Jarn family had managed to keep further Imperial encroachment out of their lives which earned them the continued loyalty of their people, and the Imperium had accepted this since their demands for resources had been met in return. Now under Conomor rule Kimaran society would begin to buckle as the Imperium came to ask more and more of them, eventually culminating in a mass conscription organized by the second successive Conomor Planetary Governor who was backed by the Imperium.
This conscription would see the planet's male population almost universally drafted into the Imperial Guard, something the Imperium did not refuse in an effort to battle an encroaching Tyranid swarm. Of those conscripted only a small handful would survive their service, leaving the ruling Conomor to eschew his father's entirely to unite Kimara under the Imperium to instead turn the planet into his own personal fiefdom. Installing soldiers and mercenaries loyal to only him from his time serving alongside soldiers from Wostyn, the Planetary Governor would become little better than a dog on the leash of the Imperium, who turned a blind eye to his growing abuses to his population given how much he granted the Imperium in tithes and given Kimara's lasting reputation.
While externally it would appear that the transition from the sovereign power of the Jarn family to the Conomors was one of a family of tyrants to a family of reformists, the truth was far murkier and would only grow more so as societal conditions further decayed year by year.
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A/N: With this we are roughly caught up on the background to Jarn's Iron Legion, and now we can begin looking forward without worrying about what came before.
I hope that you have enjoyed, and I look forward to your thoughts in the comments below!