SIGISMUND FIRST TEMPLAR!

i will be the last won't shed a tear for them to see i won't have your name [Music] [Music] welcome gentle listener i am to a faithful servant today we are to discuss one of the most important figures in the entire setting a shining beacon of honor skill tenacity and devotion despite him hailing from the era of legend the great crusade he is no primark no god no demon just a man an enhanced astartes a space marine it is true but still a man possibly one of the best men of the entire great crusade if not all of human history and this is no mean feat no small thing as in this period two titans bestow the galaxy and the heroes at that time could be counted as numerous as the very stars they dominated a man who stood out even in those times who was admired or feared by near all of his contemporaries a man whose courage faith and zeal went on to burn a trench across the entire galaxy a fire brand that has rooted out the enemies of the imperium in their darkest and most defended places of power never ceasing never relenting a man who struck fear into the very heart of the most powerful of all of chaos's warlords of course i can only be speaking of rogueldon's greatest son the warrior the hero the legend the first templar sigismund [Applause] [Applause] uh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] i will have it noted that this entry is designed to be self-contained so regular gentle listeners will have heard some elements before but i feel that they are necessary for context so please do bear with me now let us begin it was the 30th millennium an age of wonder an age of horror an age of rejuvenation and salvation and equal measures for the human race had been near wiped out allied guarded and all around were enemies for humanity had been amongst the stars for millennia had reached a golden age that had meant we spread to near every corner of the milky way galaxy few could challenge us during this halcyon stage our technology and culture were at their pinnacle but this is when all as usual went awry for a multitude of events or conspired to bring humanity low our military forces the automatons known only as the men of iron rebelled and threatened to wipe out all organic life many races gathered around humanity and with their assistance the men of iron were finally defeated but this was only the beginning the warp which permitted fastest unlike travel became so tumultuous the travel became all but impossible and the interconnecting lattices of trade support skill and military strength are shattered psyches began to be born amongst humanity in numbers never seen before and with a power never before witnessed and with them came the invasions of demonic powers that can use unprotected or untrained cycle as doorways into the real world their assault was unlooked for and was devastating for none knew how to protect the psyches as they themselves were so new so we were all the defenses against such assaults and invasions many of the races that fought alongside humanity in the battle against the men of iron were now in a position to take revenge on the race that they felt had unleashed a war on the galaxy without the ability to travel to consolidate or even to inform others of the perils the other races toured into humanity with a zeal and pragmatism that would lead to humanity becoming the underclass of the entire universe we were nearly destroyed but then the emperor arose on the cradle of humanity earth but now known as terror he fought to take no barbarian warlords until he finally gained control and from there he went first into the solar system meeting and forming an alliance with the tech priests of mars and then out with the power of the genetically enhanced super soldiers of his legions of space marines the leash on his astartes and the power of the technologically advanced mechanicum he then went out into the galaxy entire this event was called the great crusade and it is the most impressive and broad of all of the wars or campaigns that humanity has ever waged ever his armies were the space marines the ultimate weapons of war humans enhanced with new organs clothed in near impregnable armor and wheeled in weapons so devastating that none could stand before them where the crusade went there was nothing but destruction and revenge on the aliens demons and psyches who had held humanity and thrall for in this period the emperor led his armies personally his genius and immortal experience more than a match for anything that they fought but more than this the emperor's lesions of space marines were each taken from the template of a hyper being a demigod of ability intellect skill and power the primarks his 21 primarks each was displaced amongst the stars by the forces of chaos but for that we will need to wait for another entry but as the great crusade went out into the galaxy recovered lost tribes and planets of humanity the primarks were found one after the other each was a general of unmatched attitude and ability and each had their genetic sons minor copies of their splendor which were the lesions of space marines there were tens of thousands of space marines in each lesion but why do i go through this context so much for most people know this simple for to truly grasp the importance of this man this astartes this space marine sigismund it is required that the scope of his time is gained and understood for even in this time of heroes when each lesion could reach over a hundred thousand men when they were at the very peak of their training and power when the armies of humanity were unstoppable it is in this period that to be a true hero to be a warrior of legend was as nothing so many of the astartes were able to stand before horrors that would have taken a hercules or jason or theseus to defeat yet even in this time of heroes there was one man one astartes that stood head and shoulders above the rest it was sigismund one of the marines recruited directly from the population of the homeworld sigismund was raised and recruited on terror itself personally i feel that this heritage to be born and mature at the very heart of the imperium made an impression on him so profound imbued in him an unshakable belief in the righteousness and perfection of the goal of the great crusade that could never be shaken never be removed and even from his earliest days sigismund sean he was the very epitome of the light that burns for no astartes could match him in single combat he was respected or feared by near all and this was not just word of mouth or renown alone for in those days the heresy had not yet occurred and thus all of the armies of the imperium were one and had the practice of seconding their finest examples into other lesions for a time so it was that sigismund rose and as he did he was given secondment after the continent in this most martial of all of the periods of humanity the space marines would train constantly sparring with multiple robots servitors and most importantly against one another for they faced terrors that would kill in a heartbeat thus their skills were honed to a level that the present-day marines would not even be able to conceive and thus sigismund was a name that resounded across the entire crusade for he was unmatched in all of his battles save one he became lorded amongst the world eaters often seen as the most barbaric and most brutal in close combat who respected nothing but strength at arms from them he learned of the tradition to chain one's weapon to the wrist so as to never be disarmed he gained the respect and camaraderie of khan himself one of the other legends of that period and the world eaters dubbed sigismund the black knight for he was unstoppable the only one blemish on his flawless record was the jewel he had with captain jacob savitarian of the night romans but this was no small thing either for savitarian was a marine with powerful recognition like a jedi he would be able to foresee the future and be able to know the moves and actions of all of his opponents before they even began them yet sigismund was so able so far so skilled that even with all of this advantage literally knowing the moves he would make three steps before they were made seretarian and he fought for hours on end and the jewel was only concluded when ceretarian performed an illegal move a headbutt simply to make it end for serotonin would not could not defeat the black knight of the imperial fists even with all of his prescience he could not defeat sigismund imagine that sigismund rose to being the first captain of his legion the imperial fists and became a lethal right hand to his lord his primark the praetorian of terror rogul dawn but it was not only the astartes who saw his merit his power for even the great primark sanguinius the angel made comment on this son of rogel he was noted to state he seems less my brother's champion i'm more death itself this coming from arguably the most powerful of all of the primarks the angel who broke greater demons on his knee and faced the war master himself no small thing at all sigismund was a force of nature he was unlike many of his brethren and very unlike his own genesis in this regard for rogueldorn was taciturn and contemplative reserved and steady yet sigismund was a hothead who achieved more out of skill and bullish bellicose belligerence than any tactical acumen at least the start but even he did learn some of this due to the requirements of his role as the first captain of his legion but his nature was as hot as his father's was cold and that was not to be the only difference between the two it was while he was acting as first captain that he laid a rescue mission to a lone ship found in the middle of nowhere it was the eisenstein it had fled the betrayal at istavan five where the combined force of eight lesions of space marines had been sent to beat down the war master himself horus the first amongst equals the most adored and trained of all of the primarks had been left to take command of the great crusade while the emperor returned to taylor on a mission he would not explain to even his sons so all power was in the hands of the war master horus and he fell to the seductions of chaos horus planned the betrayal at estevan five where his legion and others were now in open rebellion three lesions were led by their primox to the surface the raven guards salamanders and iron hands as the first wave four more lesions were to land in a second wave and then complete the task and annihilate the treacherous juarez lupercal alas horus had already turned all of the four primarks of the second wave and the night lords word bearers alpha legion and iron warriors all turned on the line of space marines and crushed them the eisenstein fled the massacre to report of the horror to the remaining imperium rogueldorn primark of the imperial fists was shocked to the very core that horus had followed was one thing for an entire half of his brothers to also go to his side was a blow he could barely survive rogel went into deep meditation and seclusion to try to make sense of this turn of events [Music] but while he did so a strange thing happened to his most ardent and angry son sigismund for the emperor's great crusade was based on logic science and the goal to utterly eradicate superstition religion and faith of all forms the emperor stated the religion was the worst enemy of humanity and would not tolerate it amongst his people those who would not renounce their beliefs were put to the sword yet even in this period there was the start of a movement a new way of looking at the universe and a great crusade in the imperium that it found in and that was the beginning of emperor worship for many saw his supernatural powers his godlike attributes his infallibility due to the imperial propaganda and it was a short step between veneration and worship it was also spread by the circulation of a book written by a primark the lectitio divinitatas and the power of the prose contained reflected the ability of its author logar aurelian the primark of the word bearers such the arguments for the divinity of the emperor were so potent so inspiring that the one thing that the emperor never wanted had specifically banned had pointedly decried was the worship of himself as a god alas the time of logic and the imperial truth seemed to be over as the things which were stated as impossible figments of adult primitive minds demons were rife now and thus many turn to the worship of their savior the emperor as a pure god the god of humanity and through faith came miracles while roger went into seclusion sigismund met another survivor of the eisenstein euphratena a one-time imagist of the crusade like unto a reporter of sorts she had begun to worship the emperor but more than this her faith was such that she could use it against the never born the demons of the warp like a priest with true faith holding back vampires with a cross kilo could banish or push back the demons and in those meetings between her and sigismund the embers of a raging fire will it but more than this euphrates killer would also impart to sigismund a prophecy which he believed had come from the emperor himself brought to her by her faith and it was very reminiscent of that given to achilles for sigismund was shown the death of the imperium told that he could either die in a distant star alone and unremembered or he could stand with his father rogel dawn who would need him greatly but this would end in a galaxy of never-ending war these discussions shattered sigismund they fundamentally changed him in a way that few understood or could ever predict and it led to the hardest decision of his entire life when rogue came out of his reveries he knew that a force of imperial fists would need to be sent to hold off the traitors to slow them down as their inevitable destination would be none other than holy terror itself the seat of power and where the emperor of mankind was rogel ordered sigismund as his first captain and right hand to perform this task he was refused local dawn himself was refused sigismund still kept his own counts as to why for he knew his gene father his primark would not understand could never understand that he was making a decision based on the words of a religious fanatic who had shared visions with him rogel did indeed put another in command of the fleet to slow the traitors and did indeed permit sigismund to remain at his side but he did not understand why his son had done this not yet the horus heresy was the largest civil war that humanity has ever endured and there are now tens of books cataloging the events of those times so do please bear in mind that no matter how long this entry may be there will always be more left out than ever could be contained in the one entry now to the end times the last battle the siege of the solar system and the siege of terror for nothing could stop the traitor warriors they were too numerous too well organized for the wall master had been clever and while he had turned long ago he veiled this in secrecy while in charge of the great crusade he sent many of his greatest enemies off to traps and the far ends of the galaxy so that they could not foil him in his headlong dash towards terror and the emperor [Music] the blood angels sent fire the first legion the dark angels misdirected also the ultramarines were trapped behind a huge warp stone that prevented their taking any part in the war the raven guard salamanders and iron hands were shattered armies the flower of their men dead on estevan five and their remaining strength no more than a nuisance to the traitors the space wounds had rushed off to facehorse directly and nearly succeeded but nearly does not get the job done they were then sidelined and kept busy while the main thrust of traitors plowed on the white scars and imperial fists were left to fight the combined strength of nearly nine legions of their brothers a hard fight given but the result was inevitable the traitors managed to get to the song system for his part sigismund was sent to mars by vocal dawn there he was to try to attempt to pacify the rebellious elements that had taken mars from the loyalist mechanicum but horus had promised much to the adepts of mars thus a majority of them were for the war master for he promised to remove the strictures that the emperor had put down the dictates against research into artificial intelligence and even darker things so when sigismund got there he was mindful of the greater war the more pressing issue equipment when rogueldorn ordered sigismund to go to mars to gain supplies for the approaching siege sigismund revealed all sigismund at that moment sacrificed everything that he was everything he would ever be so he could stand with his father in the moment of his most dire need for when pressed sigismund revealed the discourse he had had with euphrates he admitted to an arbiter of the imperial truth his father that he'd been swayed by the words of what rogul would have considered a deluded soothsayer a fanatical fraudster and it went as badly as one could expect rogel did not bellow at his greatest closest son he sneered he sneered but rogal did not strike down his son and he stated that he could not remove sigismund from the position of the captaincy of the first due to the effect it would have on the morale of the entire legion but from that moment on he told him sigismund was not his son was not a true imperial fist he was nothing hard words the hardest imaginable to this his most loyal and devout son and this moment cannot be underestimated either cannot be ignored for the love and respect that sigismund had for his sire was noted across the entire crusade as much as his sword skills for this warrior to be denounced and rejected thus for sigismund to be stripped of honor by the only man who he truly cared what thought of him crushing yet despite knowing all of this sigismund still did it he was reduced in the sight of his sire so he could be permitted to be there when roger needed him most not many astartes would have made that decision not then to lose everything for to the space marines there is no future of hearth on home no children to play at their feet in their senescence no love no wife no partner no future there is only camaraderie war and honor nothing else so this loss must have struck him like a death or an entire generation with to a family member all that he had worked for all he had done for decades of constant conflict constant sacrifice and courage all washed away in one line from a man he worshipped as a father heart yet sigismund did it without reservation and it is good that he did for perhaps without sigismund without his skill and tenacity then surely the lions of loyalists would have buckled and fled when they were needed most as well at the final battle at the siege of terror nothing would prevent the traitors from getting to terror not now so rogueldorn tasked sigismund to capture and bring back as many suits of power armor as many weapons and ammunition as was possible while he was there the overwhelming majority of the depths of mars had indeed turned and the objective of reconquest had to be rejected the martians were too many so sigismund fought every fiber of his being every single instinct he had cultivated over centuries of war and he did his duty he resisted the temptation to smite every last one of the traitors and bring them all low but this would take too much time even if it were remotely possible with the forces he had at his command personally i think that if sigismund had been left there the world somehow cut off from its surroundings and no more traitors arrived to reinforce the mechanicus i think he would have managed it i think he would have taken mars so ardent was this man but there was no time and so the loyal son did as he was bid he returned to his father's side on earth on terror with enough armor equipment and munitions to allow the siege to be fought and it was only just in time but it was then that the forces of horus arrived and it was also then that the reality of the heresy was revealed the awful terrible truth for the forces of chaos had been fought a distance covered in armor aboard ships always at a range or removed somehow but now there could be no denying the truth that the eyes of the lawyers told them for as the loyalist forces stood on the very walls of the imperial palace they witnessed with their own eyes what their brethren had become cavorting twisted things corrupted by the power of chaos into parodies of their former glory now they were naught but monsters and amongst their ranks were millions of cultists previously honorable men and women of the solar auxilia what was to become the imperial guard but worse still as the vile traitors landed on the cradle of humanity holy terror by thousands of drop pods and transports they opened gates into the warp and summoned hordes of chaos demons unnumbered and so the sage was set the final confrontation had begun the loyalists were now the imperial fists the white scars and one other a legion that had made it in the nick of time to assist in the war it was the blood angels and their mighty primark sanguinius and so the next forty days or more went by as the entire weight of the dark gods of chaos and all of their minions not least of which were the very space marines the lawyers once called brothers they had cut the entire system off from all outside contact so the loyalists never knew when or even if their scattered brothers and the remaining loyalist legions would arrive all while the armies of chaos beat down one after another of the continent-spanning wars and parapets of the imperial palace a previously beautiful place a thing of sublime skill and art scenery but now it had been transformed by rogueldorn into the most formidable bastille that had ever existed the duel between the forces continued as rogueldorn was left to coordinate the defense while his brother sanguinius had the walls personally and yagatai primark of the white scars sallied out to harass the forces of evil but it was perturbo of the iron warriors who led the assault and he was every bit as skilled as his brother rogel and so the chess game between the two of them continued with perturbo always having the greater forces always being able to sustain even horrific casualties yet still be able to attack again and again through all of this sigismund was everywhere was always on the move always rushing to plug gaps in the walls in the lines always fighting without rest without question he was indeed his father's right hand then and the men and women of the military and the astartes amongst them looked to sigismund near as much as they looked to the angel himself for leadership and hope he was given the task by his father rogul dawn of acting as the very champion of the emperor sigismund was provided the very best most advanced and impregnable armor was given the most powerful blade that was present and able to be wielded by an astartes then he was tasked to destroy the enemies of the emperor personally then he was tasked to destroy the enemies of the emperor personally blade on blade as an example an icon of the glory honor and righteousness of the master of mankind now before one says that is very logical please do bear in mind that none other than the white scars and blood angel's legions were present and the sons of yagati were vicious fighters and incredibly scared the sons of sanguinius were answered to their father as any other legion and sanguinius was probably the most powerful close quarters warrior of all of the primarks so it is a huge personal vindication for sigismund who is of the imperial fists who are known for their bolter drill their accuracy and skill at range to be chosen as the most skilled melee warrior among such company as the white scars and blood angels was a ringing endorsement and it was given by rogel himself despite his previous protestations of disowning sigismund for when the chips were down when all else was near lost it was sigismund who he turned to in need and again this is from possibly the most staunch determined and dogmatic of all of the primarks for rogul to turn to sigismund and afford him dishonor it was like sunshine and rain to sigismund for he knew deep down that his father had not forsaken him not in his heart and so dressed in armor painted black wielding a sword forged of metal of blackest night the prophetic name the world bears gave him became true for sigismund strode forth as the black knight the emperor's champion sigismund was tasked to find the champions of the enemy and take them down one by one to act as the very sword of the master of mankind and this is exactly what sigismund did one traitor captain after another one demon after another all were engaged when the throngs of chaos scum parted and a being of power came forward there was always sigismund always sigismund he would not shoot or blast him away he would not use trickery he would raise his sword aloft in challenge and then charge them and only once did he fail only once he took scores of heads defeated all but his oldest and closest friend khan the champion of the world eaters the butcher who knew no mercy and they crashed sigismund did gain the upper hand but khan was then infused with the power of chaos with the power of corn and he would have bested sigismunds through this nefarious borrowed might if it were not for rogueldorn himself coming to sigismund's aid yet so was it that sigismund also faced off against the demonic primark fulgrim himself for even against the chaos empowered primark he was under oath to face any enemy but again rogueldorn came to his salvation and defeated and pushed back fulgrim yet still the numbers that died on the edge of sigismund steel were beyond counting eventually there was nothing for it the end had arrived the baying throngs had managed to punch their way through every defense every war until they finally stood outside the emperor's own home his inner sanctum yet in this moment on the verge of total victory a thin hope arrived for the shields of the flagship on which horus himself was dropped he was vulnerable and for the first time since the siege began the emperor himself strode forth he was to lead a small strike force with his sons rogel and sanguinius and their honor guards to the ship itself to face the war master and kill him personally [Music] but with all of this going on there was still the battle on the ground to be fought for what would be the point in saying the war master if they returned to a despoiled and destroyed pies for the emperor had a secret beneath his path was a gateway directly into the warp and the forces of chaos had been sending him wave after wave of their foul get he and his ten thousand the custodians bust the sisters of silence and elements of the loyalist mechanicus had been holding this gate in the wharf to prevent hell literally spilling out onto earth onto terror but now without choice he chanced this one action he asked his friend malcador to sit atop the golden throne and let it psychic enhancing abilities give him the strength to hold back the tides of scum but again what would be the point if the warped denizens the demons took the palace and slew malcador and opened the doorway from that end the same result would have occurred defeat and thus it was the sigismund was tasked with holding the line holding the ranks of men and women astartes and guard that would be the final block on the power of the demons and their treaters started his pawns and it is exactly what he did so when the war master was sane the forces of chaos went into retreat across not only holy terror but the entire system the siege was over sigismund had held the line so that his father and the emperor had something to return to then the scouring began the traitors had fled the soul system but not the stars thus the remaining royalist forces left rebut gilman and his ultramarines to defend the human empire while they all chased the traitors across the galaxy and forced them into the eye of terror a scar on reality that had once been the heart of the eldar empire a place so smashed by the birth of the chaos gods slaanesh that the warp itself bred into real space there once forced into the eye of terror the chaos marines were thought by many to be destroyed that they could never survive the turmoil and mind twisting effects as a warp for long but of course sigismund knew otherwise he knew deep down that they would return he knew that the future held not but unending war the traitors bested the imperium and tatters the lesions reduced to mere thousands of men shadows of their former glory it was then that rebuked gilman wrote and enforced his codex astartes and it was near a civil war again when he tried to foist it on all for the critics astartes restructured the space marines so that never again could one man marine or primark command such forces as to restart or repeat the horrors of the heresy the remaining space marines were to be broken up into chapters of what one thousand fighting men no more there is more to tell of course as to why rogueldorn and the imperial fists finally agreed to the breaking of the legion the weight of guilt the rogueldorn carried that forced him to use the pain glove to consider his position for he could agree with reboot could willingly break his lesion or it would be civil war again the shattering of what remained of the legion at the event known as the iron cage against the iron warriors where the imperial fists lost so many astartes that civil war could not be waged even if they wished it so few of them had survived the second founding then happened with the remaining marines were broken into the chapters one chapter retaining the name of its legion rogel kept command of his own hand-picked elite 1000 marines but more chapters were formed and the most ardent most zealous and most aggressive of all of the remaining imperial fists were then given to sigismund to forge into a new chapter so the black templars were born each marine would paint their armor black would chain their weapons to their wrist would take the oaths that sigismund had vowed when he donned the black himself each would become a champion of the emperor [Music] now there is a tradition of there being an emperor's champion amongst any of the crusades of the black templars but they do not wear the imperial aquila they do not wear the eagle as most marines do now for as they see things and as they have stated many times across the ten thousand years since they do not wear the empress symbol because they are his symbol but how did he end how did this legend breathe his last alone under a distant star the traitor marines had not been seen in a thousand years they had been thought defeated by most but they erupted out of the eye of taylor with forces aplenty ships to fill the very skies but instead of turning tail and retreating the back templar fleet despite being outnumbered ten to one it carved right into the center of them headed directly for aberdon's flagship the vengeful spirit avalon spoke to sigismund by hollowless only you sigismund would pursue a grudge to the very borders of hell sigismund gave a warrior salute i suffer not the unclean to live who is that he said but one more word attack as the fleet engagement continued abraham boarded the black templar flagship the eternal crusader at the head of a huge contingent of his black legion and so sigismund and aberdon fought their way towards one another by the time they met both were exhausted by previous battles scores of dead and dying marines scattered around them they lowered their weapons and approached one another abaddon spoke first i see time has blackened your armor as it has ours sigismunds stopped within blade range but neither raised their weapons i looked for you as terror burned in the fires of your father's heresy i hunted for you day and night always lesser men blocked my way always they died so you might live but i never stopped searching for you ezekiel not through all of these long years appleton responded do not make me do this don't make me kill you you cannot have lived all these centuries and are nothing of the truth sigismund the imperium is ours we fought for it we built it with blood and sweat and wrath we forged it with worlds we took the empire is built upon the foundations of our brother's bones sigismund merely stared back impassively you lost the right to speak for the imperium when you brought it to its knees if you loved it as ardently as you claim ezekiel you would not have pushed it to the brink of rowan abbott on towered over sigismund as he wore terminator plate he swept his talons around the room to the marines all in black though fighting on different sides we are the emperor's angels we did not rebel out of petty spite sigismund we rebelled because our lord and master played us false we were useful tools to bring the galaxy to heal but he would have cleansed us from the imperium the way he purged the thunder legion before us wiping us from history like excrement from his golden boot sigismund responded i am sure some of you are convinced you fell from grace for those pure virtuous ideals you have had many centuries within your prison to repeat those claims to yourself would they change nothing you keep speaking ezekiel do i look as though i am listening at that sigismund took out the sword of the high marshall and passed it to another so it could be saved for the future instead he drew out the black sword some two score black legion on one black templar stood watching the drama with a crash the two battled and ezekiel unleashed his rage against the high marshall the first templar but sigismund was old now a thousand years had not touched avant on but sigismund had been active in the real world for all of that time yet still he fought aberrant to a standstill despite he having power armor and abaddon terminator armor still he stood and gave a good account of himself sigismund went at him like a demon sizing slashing hacking smashing at abaddon yet the time had taken its toll and sigismund was the first to tire avadon took this as an opening and unleashed all of his fury in a blur of attacks against sigismund driving him back himself before realizing too late that he had fallen into a well-constructed trap sigismund came back with his last strike throwing all that remained of himself into this one attack abaddon stood staring without pain without breath as the black sword of sigismund was thrust straight through his armor and through his very chest buried to the hilt like the old man had sheathed inside his chest but ezekiel abaddon struck out and cleft sigismund nearing twain with the talon of horus but sigismund refused to die abaddon then slumped forward onto his knees down near the dying body of sigismund blood pouring from both of their wounds sigismund stills tried to reach for his sword no it is over said abalone sleep now and the failure you have earned [Music] sigismund reached one last time towards his blade but could not get there and thus through blowing lips he breathed abalone said sigismund this claw has killed two primarks it wounded the emperor unto death i would have spared it the taste of your life as well if you could only see what i have seen and through a mouthful of blood the high martial of the black templars first capturing of the imperial fists bit off the last words he would ever utter making certain each one was clear you will die as your weakling father died soulless honorless weeping ashamed his last breath carried on this last word but so honored was he that abaddon his enemy then sent his armor and the black sword back to the imperium's armies as his declaration of war and the first black crusade began and now we know of his end i must now talk of his most important gift his legacy sigismund has been a lasting icon in the entire imperium his legacy is unrivaled by all but the primoxene cells he actually terrified can't abaddon that a spoiler as a kill barely beat this old man barely hence hence he certainly has no chance against custodies let alone a primark and for this i dub him looper can't because when it all comes down to another titanic clash he simply can't compete no matter how much gw and the black library wishes us to feel he is a credible antagonist he simply isn't up to the job and it's perhaps time for black library to drop the wheeze and let one of the demonic primarks take the reigns of power and the leadership of the chaos forces for my money i would like it to be logar but that is most definitely a discussion for another time and from my reading of the law it had a massive knock-on effect because i feel that aberdon himself felt that the return of the traitor legions would sweep all before them that the imperium would have decayed and become as supine as the traitors always thought their adversaries to be but when their first foray into real space led to their master ezekiel abaddon being near slain that the imperium still had real steel to its spine this deeply affected the forces of cows preparing for a daunting trip through an imperium that they thought would be unable to defend itself to then face with stiff resistance of a caliber that had chased them into the eye of terror in the first place it was a blow to their confidence and their strength they were simply not as terrifying and all-powerful as their masters the dark gods of chaos had made them believe and thus the black crusades were cut up made into bite-sized objectives that would eventually lead to a massive victory if the new law is to be adhered to but i think the defeat of abaddon as his near slaying by an old astartes must be seen was the key to the almost ineffective nature of the subsequent events and in the book of rust this line has been discussed by the writers but it is stated to the reader not to the universe itself for few in the grim darkness of the far future actually speak of abaddon in anything but hushed tones yet the fandom does not hold this reverence so the tract at the start of the book of rust is clearly aimed at the fandom and not the denizens of the universe a trend i hope we do not see repeated as it smashes the immersion if you want my humble opinion but let us push on the decision to put sigismund and his eternal crusade close to the eye of terror at least for the first thousand years of the imperium was a wise one but it was done out of necessity the ring around the eye of terror was supposed to originally be entirely manned by successor chapters of the space wars the volca fenrika as they were and always will be the premier anti-astartes force but the experiment of the wolf brothers was so catastrophic being mutated by the curse of fairness and they degenerated into a rabid pack of mutants [Music] this is indeed one real reason to hate belisarius call as well a very good reason indeed as far as i read the law for he has been able to make stable successor chapters to the space wars and yet he did not release this also needed resource into the galaxy we will never be certain when he actually formulated them completed them but he has sat on them for potentially millennia all so he could gain good boy points in his dazzling reveal to reboot gilman so when one looks at the lore of the grim darkness of the far future the success of the thirteenth black crusade and the subsequent tear across reality the kikatrix male dictum was only possible due to the progress that each of the black crusades had built on one after another only culminating in the 13th crusade but if there had been space war successors surrounding the eye of terror let alone primary space wars the chances of each or any of these black crusades reaching their successful conclusion would have been reduced drastically if not entirely halted for none kill marines as well as the space walls except possibly just possibly the custodies so call actually permitted the kickatrick's mallet dictum and all of the losses that led up to it what a guy and from only my reading of course this is one of the many reasons i believe the call is actually an agent of chaos a subtle one a clever one not a mad id machine like the traitor of startes but more the grand vizier who breaks nations but again a subject for another time but instead of having a ring of space wars the imperium did the next best thing they sent one man to act as the ultimate deterrent one sigismund and his eternal crusade well parts of it the rest was off bringing fire and wrath through every corner of the imperium and beyond its boundaries his were the forces that met the first black crusade and in lieu of legion of space wounds it turned out to be the best move the imperium ever made free he almost single-handedly saved the imperium for he did not retreat and consolidate as an ultramarine or crimson fest would he met them dead on and by doing so he took the wind out of their sails in so many ways as i have tried to explain now there has been an attempt to mirror or repeat greek mythology but it is a bit wide of the mark in my mind for it creates a line an echo of mighty achilles but the setting in the situation are far more akin to sigismund being hector slayer of men i can assure you i am on the side of hector for in my mind he hector was the better man the better leader the better warrior not vaunted arrogant achilles the same duel has been fought before and will be fought again and again it was as simple as this abaddon younger better armored and equipped infused with the power of chaos he is achilles for achilles was so beloved by the gods that his mother a goddess was permitted to dip him in the river stakes to make him invulnerable to anything whatsoever apart from the one place she held him so that he did not fall in and perish his heel hence an achilles heel being synonymous with a weak point in anyone or anything but it meant that he was effectively unkillable so was he truly brave was he truly skilled well he was certainly the latter but the former how much courage does it take to enter a battle you know you've already won and it has been played out again and again in the form of sanguinius and horus the duel between achilles and hector the better man fighting for his family his father his homeland against a being almost unkillable then again the better man lost so this final duel between sigismund and a demonically empowered abaddon was merely a replay of this old doom for abaddon would not die to the black sword due to the power of chaos and sigismund fell but he did so as a man and by far the better of the two and now we get on to his faith his lasting impact as much as the many many men who wear his colors so many that the critic societies is but a laughing stock amongst their numbers was sigismund potentially the first true believer of all of the space marines for lorga and the word bearers knelt to a god they were desperate for someone or something to worship but worship is not true faith it is merely the pantomime pap sigismund was the first astartes to truly have such faith not necessarily in the emperor as a god but as a guide as a light and perhaps his faith in the dream and the emperor's vision the imperium of mankind that despite knowing it would lead to eternal war it was something to be believed in so much that he was a true disciple a true believer and perhaps the first one and perhaps that faith was what allowed him to stand against and then defeat chaos corrupted and augmented being after being never tired of never stopping a faith so strong that it affects even the machine spirits of the vehicles that carry his sons the black templars faith loyalty honor good or bad it is a power that makes people perform the improbable what can oft be construed as the impossible a faith so strong it caught to be a mighty roaring blaze a fire so strong it has burnt the enemies of the imperium of mankind and has lasted and grown over ten thousand years a faith that has actually saved the imperium it is often said that the ultramarines are the most numerous have over 60 or more of all space marines before the indomitus crusade and the primaris marines it is said that they have held the walls of the imperium for all that time for ten thousand years it is said that they are the two defenders of the imperium that without them the ultramarines the imperium would have fallen i may be hard to refute by way of logistics a good defense is key after all but i would like to pose another view another vision the imperium stands today due to the eternal crusade for the rest defense is not the best offense the best offense is the best defense fight them on their ground in their space ravage their worlds strike first strike hard the ultramarines are professional soldiers they are trained and organized but they are not knights they are not the burning fire that frees nations and eradicates dictators the ultramarines hold the walls it is the black templars that sally out and i say that the forces of chaos xenos heretic mute and our witch have not eroded the imperium because they have been on the back foot because of the eternal crusade all of this from one man sigismund the back templars are one of the most efficient recruiting and training factions within the imperium their losses are staggering but their war is eternal just think of how many enemies of the imperium they have taken down taken out neutralized before they ever smashed against the walls of the ultramarine's chapters they equipped their men with vast factoriums in their vessels they recruit the best from wherever they purge or move on they are trained in the crucible of battle the crusade is every bit as efficient as ultramar and as rapacious as any splinter from a hive fleet of tyranids they come they see they conquer they move on this this is why the imperium still stands this because the black templars leave the ultramarines and others to defend the imperium for them the scouting never ended as a great crusade never ended it was not complete and it is only the black templars who keep the fires of the crusade alive it is only the black templars who are true to the wishes of the emperor and it is only the black templars that keep their emperor's dream alive all because of one man sigismund so i end this entry with his words sigismunds words that have come to feel the nightmares of the enemies of this man's spiritual sons his chapter his armies words that have resounded through history and have evaporated the vertebrae and opened the sphincters of the witch the traitor the mutant and the heretic since they were first said no pity no remorse no mercy too blue

Channel: Baldermort's Guide to Warhammer

Views: 105,851

Keywords: HIGH MARSHALL HELBRECHT OF THE BLACK TEMPLARS IN WARHAMMER 40000, BLACK TEMPLARS, SPACE MARINES, THE EMPERORS CHAMPION - BLACK TEMPLARS!, Black Templars Lore, Space Marine Lore, Imperial Fists Lore, Rogal Dorn Lore, Sigismund Lore, Black Space Marines, Warhammer 40000 lore, Games Workshop, Balder, Guides to Warhammer, Baldermort, GAMES WORKSHOP, Great Crusade Lore, SIGISMUND FIRST TEMPLAR!, ROGAL DORN, High Marshall of the Black Templars, History of Sigismund, IMPERIAL FISTS

Id: AtdkpeygnEg

Length: 61min 19sec (3679 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 27 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Admiralw96]

Rad! This guy could read a phone book and I'd listen.