HH4节译：分裂者与漆黑之人

It is said by ancient proverb that truth is the first casualty of war and, if this is the case, then rumour is its first child. Almost from the outset, the war of the Horus Heresy was a vast cataclysm and one whose events moved with such quicksilver pace that mystery, supposition, lies and simple ignorance cloaked much of the bloodshed even as it occurred, casting a veil over much that will never be lifted. Though the roll call of Space Marine Legions, Titan Legio, Auxilia regiments and Mechanicum Taghmata that sided with the Arch-Traitor and those who remained loyal is largely known and accepted, the full truth is far more complex and far more mysterious than commonly believed.

古老的谚语如是告诫我们：真相是战争最早的牺牲品。如此说来，谣言便是战争最早的被催生物。几乎从一开始，荷鲁斯叛乱就是一场巨大的灾难，这场战争发展的速度是如此之快，以至于很多流血事件即使发生了，也会被秘团、推测、谎言和纯粹的无知所掩盖，只给我们留下许多解不开的谜题。尽管对于星际战士军团、泰坦军团、辅助军部队和机械神教中的哪些已沦为大逆不道的叛徒而哪些又依然保持着忠诚这个问题，我们早有定论，而且这些结论已被人们广泛地知晓和接受，但完整的真相远比我们普遍相信的内容要复杂和神秘得多。

Of those who fell at Isstvan, there were survivors, remnants and fleeing fragments shorn of command and driven half mad by treachery; from that point onwards they were isolated, alone. These were the shattered Legions and, while some swiftly returned to the Imperial fold, some did not or would not. Some would go on to wage a bitter war of vengeance alone, some would simply disappear, their fates unknown, their stories untold. But there were others of a darker hue. It has long been refuted since, but is indelibly the case, that in the Legions that remained loyal there were elements, sometimes whole companies and commands, that did not. In some cases the infection of the Warmaster's 'warrior lodges' has been blamed, while in others perhaps grievances long smouldering were the cause, just as infiltration by outside forces, or simply a darker truth applies that, given the option, some Legiones Astartes believed Horus had the superior cause and the superior right to command their allegiance, not the Emperor, while some retained a loyalty to their Emperor and the Great Crusade over that of their own Primarch's will. It is true that particularly in the early years of the war, detachments of Legiones Astartes and sometimes entire squadrons of warships simply vanished without apparent trace, and while many may have fallen foul of warp storms and enemy action, it is likely just as true that some quietly slipped anchor and turned their coats to serve another master, and that this happened on both sides of the divide.

那些在伊斯特万惨遭屠杀的军团中 ，也有幸存者、残余者以及逃出生天但失去指挥的小股部队，他们被背叛行为逼到半疯。从那时起，他们就被孤立开来，各自为战。这些部队就是破碎军团，虽然有些部队迅速回到帝国的怀抱，但也有些部队没有或不愿回到帝国。有些部队会继续独自进行他们苦涩的复仇行动，有些则仅仅是消失了，他们的命运无人知晓，他们的故事无人讲述。然而，还有其他走上了更为黑暗道路的部队。虽然这一事实一直遭到反驳，但真相是不可磨灭：在那些仍然忠于帝国的阿斯塔特军团当中，其实也在大叛乱中出现过背叛帝国部队，而且某些时候是整个连队和指挥层都叛变了。在某些情况中，这要归咎于战帅的“战士结社”；而其他的则可能是因为积怨已久，就如来自外部的渗透，或者仅仅是因为某个更为黑暗的真相：只要有得选的话，某些阿斯塔特相信荷鲁斯比帝皇更有理由和权力来赢得他们的忠诚，而有些阿斯塔特对于帝皇和大远征的忠诚胜过了对于自己的原体的意志的服从。事实上，尤其是在战争的早期，某些阿斯塔特分遣队消失得无影无踪，有的时候甚至整个战舰中队都会消失。其中有很多可能是遭遇了亚空间风暴或者敌军进攻，但同样有可能的是：有些部队悄悄逃走并开始效忠另一位主人，这一现象在战争双方都发生过。

Thus can perhaps be explained, at least in part, persistent stories and evidence long since suppressed of midnight clad warriors in defaced Night Lords heraldry savagely attacking Traitor forces at the liberation of Estaban III,or of recurring repons of multiple Space Marine strike forces seemingly in the resurrected livery of the Dusk Raiders thwarting the Iron Warriors at Kibron and Malinche's Fall. Likewise also should be considered the long-denied evidence of a Great Company of the Space Wolves Legion bearing the symbol of the Serpent's Eye slaughtering millions at Neo Cadiz in 008.M31, or of a company of Legiones Astartes present at the Siege of Mezoa bearing the hybrid arms and panoply of the Iron Hands and Sons of Horus Legions both. These are merely a handful of still infamous cases, but there are many more unsubstantiated or simply now forgotten which paint a more complex and uncertain picture of this great civil war than is normally accounted. Further to this, and perhaps an even more sinister enigma, are the persistent reports of Space Marine forces appearing bearing no sign or seal of heraldry or origin at all, or stranger yet, heraldry which bears no mark known during the Great Crusade, although whether the “black”Legionaries were merely turncoats or, as some have whispered, perhaps raised by the Trators from the chemiric gene-seed of the Isstvan dead for their own terrible purpose，none can now say for certain. 

这至少可以部分地解释某些虽然长期遭到查禁但却仍在持续流传故事和证据：在Estaban III世界的解放战役中，一群身着午夜蓝色动力甲的战士们残忍地痛击了叛军部队，这些战士们午夜蓝色的动力甲上带有被污损的午夜领主军团标志；在Kibron 和 Malinche的沦陷过程中，也出现了一份重复出现的报告：有多支星际战士打击部队似乎使用了了暮色袭击者的标志和配色——这一（曾属于死亡守卫军团的）标志重新出现了，他们使钢铁勇士军团的叛军进攻受挫。同样，我们也应该思考下面这些长期遭到否认的证据：008.M31，在Neo Cadiz世界上，一个佩戴着荷鲁斯之眼标志的太空野狼大连屠杀了数百万人；在梅左阿铸造世界攻城战当中，也出现过一个混合使用着来自钢铁之手和荷鲁斯之子两个军团的武器装备的阿斯塔特连队。这些还仅仅是少数仍然臭名昭著的事件，但是未经证实或现在被遗忘的事件报告还有更多，这让大叛乱的图景变得比我们通常认为的更加复杂和不确定。除此之外，也许还有一个更险恶的谜题：关于那些根本没有佩戴任何显示其纹章或起源的标志印记的星际战士部队的持续报告，或者更奇怪的是，有些纹章上带有大远征时期未曾出现过的标志。那么，这些“漆黑的军团战士”是否仅仅是叛徒？还是如同有些人谣传的那样，他们可能是由叛徒们使用盗取自伊斯特万亡者的嵌合体基因种子培养而成的，目的为了实现自己邪恶的图谋？这一切现在还没人能说得准。