Principa Collegiate
The Principa Collegiate was an academy of great libraries and data archives, that was located within the inner Imperial Palace, during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy.[1b]
History
Ambassadors from worlds brought into Compliance, were sent to the Principa Collegiate in order for them to learn the ways of the Terran Imperium. The academy could house 6,000 of the Ambassadors, along with the 2,000 tutors that were carefully selected to oversee their re-education. Then came the Horus Heresy, however, and years later, the Warmaster's hordes invaded Terra. When the Traitors reached the inner Imperial Palace, a platoon of the Imperial Army's Twelfth Helian Rifles Regiment and the Adeptus Mechanicus' Rad-equipped Skitarii[1b] of the Tr1.ax Macroclade[1a], were charged with defending the Principa Collegiate. Despite their efforts, though, the Warmaster's hordes largely wiped out the academy's defenders and left it in ruins. While the Traitors moved on afterwards, the surviving Tr1.ax Skitarii and Helian Rifles continued to defend what remained of the academy from any the invaders that entered the Collegiate. Among them were Transacta-7Y1 and Sergeant Sylas Envaric, who found each other and became friends as they searched for any other Imperial survivors or foes to kill. They would find neither until two days after they met, when the two heard bolter fire near their location.[1b]
After tracking the fire to its source, they came upon the recently slain remains of 3 of Envaric's fellow Twelfth Helian Rifles. They did not realize it, but with these deaths, the Sergeant and Skitarii were now the only survivors of their respected forces. The two moved on and soon found the troopers' killers within a shattered auditorium. It turned out to be a group of 9 Emperor's Children and despite knowing it would be their deaths, Transacta-7Y1 and Envaric attacked the Chaos Space Marines. They had the element of surprise on their side, though, and this allowed them to kill two of the Emperor's Children, before the Traitors struck back with overwhelming force. Transacta was the first to fall after she was struck by a power maul and was sent hurtling into the auditorium's ranks of elevated seating. Envaric would try to get revenge for his murdered friend, but the Sergeant was easily captured. The Emperor's Children then impaled him upon a banner pole and Envaric died shortly before his body was cooked over an open flame[1b]. The Chaos Space Marines would leave[1c] after consuming the Sergeant's body[1b], without realizing that Transacta still lived. The Skitarii awoke sometime later, but was left heavily damaged and was now the only defender of the Collegiate that was still alive. With any chance of armed resistance now over, the academy was lost and Transacta realized there was nothing left to defend. Her standing orders no longer applied to the Skitarii and Transacta decided to leave the Collegiate's ruins. She would then meet other Imperial survivors and traveled with them, as they raced to join the defense of the Sanctum Imperialis, before Horus' hordes reached it.[1c]
Sources
