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Zaxos

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Zaxos the Enlightened was a Dark Apostle in the Word Bearers Legion, during the Horus Heresy.[1]


History

In the Heresy's fifth year, Zaxos sought to conquer the Imperial Gilden's Star System, due to its resources and large population. Before he struck, the Dark Apostle sent forth his cultist infiltrators, fanatics and demagogues to embed themselves within the system's warlike military aristocracy. Their honeyed words worked upon Nobles who had come to resent the constant demands the Imperium requested of their worlds. By the time Zaxos arrived with his Word Bearers, the rulers of the Gilden's Stars' worlds willingly handed them over to him. Soon the Dark Apostle began sacrificing some of the system's population to the Chaos Gods, while also fully corrupting others to serve the Word Bearers. However, a Loyalist garrison on the Capital World, Gilden Prime, was able to send out a warning of what had occurred before all contact with the System was lost.[1]

The first Imperials to receive the warning were a nearby Blood Angels strike force led by Archein Alcetas Castael. He became incensed upon learning of the system's fall to Heresy, as it was his Legion had brought its worlds into compliance during the Great Crusade. Castael then decided to reconquer the system, though he was unaware that the Word Bearers had been behind its betrayal. For his part, Zaxos had known the Imperium would try to reclaim Gilden's Star once it learned what had occurred, and had prepared ambushes to destroy any invading Imperial forces. When Castael invaded Gilden Prime, the Dark Apostle lay in wait with a large force of Word Bearers and the world's corrupted population. Zaxos then attacked after the Archein had split his forces into groups in an attempt to quickly seize the world. What followed was a massacre, as the Word Bearers blocked the Blood Angels' communication equipment, preventing the groups from contacting each other or their fleet. Now forced to fight alone, the Blood Angels began to be overwhelmed by Zaxos' forces. The Word Bearers' Procurators also began summoning Daemons by desecrating the bodies of dead or wounded Blood Angels as sacrifices.[1]

Soon only Castael and a few Blood Angels near him remained and Zaxos joined the Word Bearers' attacks upon them. The Archein was able to escape back to his fleet before his forces were killed. However the Dark Apostle had already sprung a hidden Word Bearers fleet upon the Blood Angels, even as they fought on Gilden Prime. Because of the ambush, several of the Blood Angels' warships had already been lost by the time Castael reached his flagship Judicator. Despite his efforts, though, the Archein's fleet began to overwhelmed and he ordered the Dawn's Vigil to escape and warn the Imperium about what had occurred there. Its commander refused to do so and instead rammed the Word Bearers' flagship, Shard of Darkness, before firing its Nova Cannon.[1]

The resulting explosion not only destroyed both warships, but also most of the Word Bearers fleet as well. The surviving leaders of the Traitor Legion fled soon afterwards, leaving its Word Bearers and Gilden's Star's population to fend for themselves. The Blood Angels were not merciful to those left behind and began scouring the worlds of the Traitors' presence. Witnessing their Brothers being desecrated had awoken something dark within Castael and his surviving forces, which led them to bring Gilden Star's worlds to ruin. By the time they left the System, billions had been slain and word spread of the massacres the Blood Angels had carried out. This severely weakened the Imperium's cause during the Horus Heresy and the Gilden's Star's neighbouring systems wavered in their support for it afterwards. Some of the system's worlds even completely withdrew from the Imperium and cut off all contact. It remains a point of contention among Imperial historigraphers on whether this had been Zaxos' true goal all along.[1]

Sources