Campaign · Thramas Sector · Segmentum Ultima · 007.M31 — 009.M31
The Thramas Crusade
Years of the Lion’s and Curze’s hunt on the eastern edge. There is no “single battle” — there is the mutual destruction of fleets, Tsagualsa, an exodus after which the Lion will come to Macragge and the VIII Legion will begin to crumble.
Outcome Inconclusive / Pyrrhic for both sides: the sector is not “taken”, both Legions are removed from Terra’s equation.
Commanders
Loyalists
Commanders
Traitors
- Theatre
- Thramas Sector · Segmentum Ultima
- Period
- 007.M31 — 009.M31
Analysis
Thramas fits poorly on a map accustomed to points: it is a line several years long (007–009.M31; the boundaries are disputed in the sources). Horus sent the Night Lords to terrorise the east; the Lion, having missed Isstvan, got an enemy he considers worthy of the hunt. Black Book IX: Crusade is the main staff source. Operationally the VIII Legion fights with a doctrine of terror and raiding, the I Legion with dispersed wings. No one holds a front. The strategic result: Curze does not let the east supply Terra in peace; the Lion does not let the VIII become a second Shadow Crusade. The price: the Lion is late for Sol for ever (and in 013–014 will go off to Caliban). Thramas explains why neither the Lion nor Curze is present at the Siege as a commander of a theatre.
Order of battle
The I Legion (large, ~150–180 thousand at the start of the campaign, dispersed) against the VIII (~90–120 thousand on paper, in reality fleets). Attached: the mortals of the sector. There are no decisive Titan battles: this is a war of ships, night landings and exemplary atrocities.
Turning points
- The Opening of Thramas — Thramas Crusade
Two Legions lock horns for years. The eastern map ceases to be a “rear area”.
- Tsagualsa — Tsagualsa Incident
The personal clash of the Lion and Curze. Neither kills the other.
- Exodus to Macragge / Sotha — Battle of Sotha · seizure of the Pharos
The Lion is drawn into the politics of the Pharos. The VIII loses the campaign as an army.
Events of the campaign
- Thramas Crusade Inconclusive
After Isstvan V Horus sent Konrad Curze and the Night Lords to the Eastern Fringe — to bleed and pin down the Dark Angels so that the Lion would not come to Terra.
- Tsagualsa Incident Pyrrhic loyalist victory
Curze called the Lion to talks on Tsagualsa; the conversation broke down, and the primarchs met in a furious duel that ended with their warriors dragging both away gravely wounded.
- Scouring of the Nostramo Sector Inconclusive
An unknown force of Black Shields — later identified as the “Ashen Claws” — swept through the Nostramo sector, leaving ruined fortresses and the wreckage of the Night Lords; a Blood Angels fleet…
Significance
Explains the absence of the Dark Angels and the Night Lords at the Siege. The eastern edge lives its own war.
How to look in the atlas
- Time slider 7.8…9.3 and the Legions filter I + VIII: Thramas is a line several years long, not a point.
- Note that in the Siege window both Legions are absent from the map: this is the reason.
Sources
- Forge World Black Book IX: Crusade
- Angels of Caliban (G. Thorpe)
- Konrad Curze: The Night Haunter (G. Haley)
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