Bitter War
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The Bitter War[1a] was a campaign that began in 010.M31 during the Horus Heresy,[1a] pitting various Loyalist forces of the Imperium against the Word Bearers defending Colchis. The conflict was concluded in 032.M31 when Colchis was destroyed in the Great Scouring.[2]
History
The "Bitter War" began in 010.M31 when the Medusa-based faction of the Iron Hands, commanded by their Medusan Council, initiated an offensive against the Word Bearers Homeworld Colchis. The operation saw the Iron Hands unleash an array of proscribed weapons from the Vaults of Medusa, including Nano-Plagues, Amalgam Bioautoma, and Rad-Phages.[1a] In response, "a significant number" of Word Bearers warbands from across the Galaxy were recalled to join the defense of Colchis.[1c]
At one point after the Siege of Cthonia, an Imperial Fists and Loyalist Thousand Sons rogue fleet commanded by Lord Castellan Evander Garrius joined the "final cataclysmic battle for Colchis".[1b] This battle saw an invasion of Colchis itself which included Ultramarines commanded by Captain Remus Ventanus. After breaking the Word Bearers, Ventanus symbolically planted the standard previously used in the Battle of Calth on Colchis in 032.M31. Having done so, he and his forces departed.[2] The war for Colchis was then concluded, when the Ultramarines and Inquisition destroyed Colchis with cyclonic torpedoes[2][3] carried by the Ultramarines battle barge Octavius.[2] At this point, the planet's government, infrastructure, and industry had largely collapsed.[3]
Sources
- 1: Campaigns of the Age of Darkness: The Siege of Cthonia
- 2: Know No Fear (Novel), Epilogue
- 3: Index Astartes IV — Word Bearers
