I am currently playing in a escalation league for Horus Heresy at my LGS. We are starting at 750 points and adding 250, up to 3000. I already have the army mapped out, and built and painted, minus one Kratos. This spured me on to write a little bit of lore for my Army, which I'm hoping to make into a little zine soon. Enjoy!
The 23rd 2nd Battalion were called “The Blind Sons” as a taunt by Terran Astartes. They only saw their savage efficiency and unyielding obedience. To many of the veterans of Terra and Luna, their absence of hesitation, their refusal to question, and their callous indifference to the horrors they wrought in the name of Unity, was disturbing.
But the 23rd were never truly blind. Not to what they did, not to the suffering they caused, they saw it all — and chose not to look away. To them, strength came from silence, commitment, and clarity. In war, there is no room for doubt, no space for guilt. Mercy was the luxury of the weak.
Instead of denying the insult, they took it as a badge of honour. Under the command of Shadow Captain Karnas Dravyn, they adopted a saying, one that was often whispered in the dust-choked alleys of Cthonia:
“The last to look away.”
Where others averted their gaze from what war made them, the 23rd stared into it unflinchingly. They watched cities burn, civilians beg, and brothers fall — and met it all with the same cold resolve. They were always the last to look away.
Yet, what most failed to understand — even some within their own Legion — was that the 23rd's loyalty was not to the Emperor. Not to the Crusade. Not even to a vision of Unity.
Their loyalty was always to Horus himself.
Karnas Dravyn had known Horus from the beginning — on the blood-slick streets of Cthonia, where oaths were carved in blood and bonds forged with blades. They had fought together — and against one another — long before the Emperor came. Horus saw in Dravyn a leader cut from the same stone: brutal when required, but never wasteful; cold, but never without purpose.
When the time came to raise Dravyn to Captain, it was not a tactical choice, but a personal one. Horus knew that if all others fell, the 13th would still be there — unshaken, unblinking, unbowed. He knew Dravyn would be in good company among others like Vheren Ashurhaddon, another he knew to be fiercely loyal.
“The last to look away.” Not from mercy. Not from guilt. But from him.
There's loads more I want to do with this Army, I'm planning on getting some nameplates made for my characters, I want to make a small display board for my command units, and I've already got a bunch of other units I'm going to be adding in the theme of the lore I've written for other games outside of the league.
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