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Formal Prime

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Map Basic Data Planetary Image
px Name: Formal Prime px
Segmentum: Segmentum Pacificus[3]
Sector: Sabbat Worlds[3]
Subsector: Unknown
System: Unknown
Population: Unknown
Affiliation: Imperium[3]
Class: Unknown
Tithe Grade: Unknown

Formal Prime is a Hive World in the Sabbat Worlds Cluster, which was occupied by the forces of Chaos.


History

Formal Prime was one of the few Imperial holdouts in the Sabbat Worlds, having fought to maintain itself in the wake of the region's invasion by the forces of Chaos.[3] During Operation Redrake, the initial phase of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, Formal Prime was one of the four objective worlds chosen by Warmaster Slaydo for the Crusade force's initial advance into the Chaos-held territory. Of these four, Formal Prime was the most strategically important, thus Slaydo chose to command the assault in person.[1a][3]

Slaydo initially estimated that it would take six weeks for Formal Prime to fall, but reckoned without the difficulty of the terrain, or the competence of the enemy commander, Shebol Red-Hand, who commanded a core of soldier-fanatics known as the Charismites. The attacking Imperial Guard forces became bogged down in the labyrinths of Formal Prime's hive cities; at one point, it was calculated that two hundred Guardsmen were dying for every metre of ground taken.[1b]

When the fighting dragged on into its eleventh week (almost twice Slaydo's original estimate), Slaydo became frustrated and deployed the White Scars Space Marines, who quickly annihilated the entrenched Chaos forces.[1c]

With Formal Prime finally conquered, the first phase of the Crusade was complete, and Slaydo was ready to commence the next, attacking the Newfound Trailing Worlds, with his ultimate objective being the stronghold world of Balhaut.[1c]

Aftermath and Implications

Formal Prime was the most hard-fought battleground of Operation Redrake, and quickly disabused Slaydo of his hope that the Chaos forces opposing the Crusade were a poorly-organized collection of tribal cultists. It became clear that Archon Nadzybar had a number of "lieutenant warlords," known as Magisters, many of whom were competent tacticians who commanded absolute obedience from their soldiers. Shebol Red-Hand was the first to be encountered, but others would soon come to the attention of the Imperial forces.[1d]

After the liberation, Sladyo gathered his inner circle of officers for a victory feast, at which he confided his fear that the Crusade had only just begun, and he would not live to see its completion. He made each of his officers (including the young Commissar Ibram Gaunt) swear a blood oath to pursue the Crusade to its end, and to protect Saint Sabbat and her works from any who would harm them.[2]

A curious footnote to the battle on Formal Prime is the first mention of Macaroth, Slaydo's eventual successor as Warmaster of the Crusade. During the eleventh week of fighting, Slaydo exclaimed in frustration, "Show me men who know how to fight!" One of his subordinates famously retorted, "Follow me to the morgue, sir, and I'll show you plenty." The remark was always attributed to Lord General Curell, but on his deathbed Curell swore the remark had been made by his deputy, Macaroth.[1c]


See also

Sources