Thramas
"Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
- – Terran remembrancer Dylan Thomas
"What will you do when you cannot do anything, when all your best intentions and great endeavors are invested to no avail whatsoever, when all you do is doomed to fail?"
- – Hisamatsu Shin'ichi
Thramas was an Imperial Hive World located in the Segmentum Ultima. It was an ancient world with a long and proud history, and by the time of the Horus Heresy it had become a keystone world in the Eastern Fringe and the capital of its namesake sector. Unfortunately, this would all change with the coming of the Night Lords during the Thramas Crusade. Thramas remained staunchly loyal to the Imperium in the face of the Warmaster's rebellion and the Night Lords' threats, and the world and its people paid the price.
Overview and Early History[edit]
Thramas had originally been colonized sometime during the Age of Terra. After the collapse of humanity's first empire, Thramas endured the Age of Strife under a succession of governments, including the Centauran Republic, the Tenebris Freehold, and the Barony of Thrame. When Imperial forces rediscovered the planet during the Great Crusade, it was ruled by an individual known as the Regent of Thramas and under siege by human pirates and rapacious xenos. The Regent willingly bent the knee to the Imperium in exchange for its aid in driving away the horrors of Old Night. Thramas was revitalized and fortified, quickly becoming a key world in the region, such that the Emperor himself set foot on the planet during the Imperial campaign against the Khrave. By the beginning of the Horus Heresy, Thramas was known as the "Jewel of the East", ruled by the Regent in the Emperor's name and warded by the regiments of the Thramassi Nightwatch. This made it a priority target for Horus, who knew that the Thramas Sector and its vast industrial capacity would be a strong threat to his flank if left alone. He therefore unleashed Konrad Curze and the Night Lords upon the sector, commencing three years of bloodshed and atrocity that would come to be known as the Thramas Crusade.
The Thramas Crusade[edit]
Captain Nakrid Thole of the VIII Legion arrived in the Thramas system with only three ships and a single chapter of Astartes. Despite the small size of his force, he expected Thramas to surrender quickly, since the Night Lords had been busy in the sector and word of their atrocities had already spread far and wide. If he had come to hear the people of Thramas beg, he would be disappointed. The planet had formidable orbital defenses, heavily fortified hives garrisoned by the Nightwatch, and several minor expeditionary fleets retrofitting in its shipyards. Moreover, a ship from the loyalist Forge World Gulgorahd arrived in-system and broadcast a rallying cry of defiance, which only steeled the Thramassi's resolve. When Thole and his Astartes landed on the planet, they were met with defiance by planetary regent Mayvin Khelen and the Thramassi senate. When he pushed the issue, Captain-General Arcturus Morhde politely invited him to get the fuck off Thramas by shooting him in the face at point-blank range. The senate chamber promptly turned into an all-out brawl; across the planet, the Nightwatch regiments and civilian mobs rose up in resistance against the Night Lords. With sheer numbers against them, Thole and his posse fled the planet, though not before dropping some biological munitions on them as a parting gift. The Nightwatch and their allies proceeded to wage guerrilla war across the region, fighting the scattered elements of the VIII Legion to a stalemate. A butthurt Thole continued to raid Thramas itself, to little effect, and for a short time it seemed as though Thramas might be able to win. Then Konrad Curze showed up. He organized a full-scale assault with the entire strength of the Night Lords and two Titan Legios. The counterattack quickly overran most of the loyalist bastions in the sector, butchering millions of civilians and soldiers in terror actions meant to break the defenders' will. Just when it seemed that the Night Lords were victorious, the Dark Angels and Lion El'Jonson came barreling into the sector with all guns blazing. The I Legion reconquered the Triplex system, relieved several besieged worlds, and forced the VIII onto the defensive. Enraged, Thole summoned the Dark Mechanicum predator-world of Ulan Huda and sicced it on Thramas. By the time the Lion and his Deathwing broke through to the world, it had been laid waste by Ulan Huda, and it was only with great sacrifice that the Dark Angels were able to drive the predator-world away. After the failed parley at Tsagualsa, Thole once again invaded Thramas with 10,000 Night Lords, successfully capturing most of the planet. It took the Dreadwing under Marduk Sedras and a full-scale phosphex bombardment to stop him, further devastating the already battered world and leaving it a smoking ruin.
Aftermath[edit]
The Jewel of the East was shattered by the Thramas Crusade, and it was apparently never reformed. The Lion declared the entire sector Perdita in the wake of the crusade and it was largely abandoned after the Heresy, though battles in the region continued for years after the end of the war. Thramas' fate as of the 41st Millennium is unclear.