hh8节译：不朽之九

The Immortal Ninth

Time and time again the pride of the IXth Legion was to fall on the field of battle, yet the records of their valour make common mention of the same handful of warriors and champions. Some remembrancers and historians have taken this to indicate a long history of redoubtable heroes, even going so far as to compile these records into a number of epic stanzas, forming the separate entries into a single legend. Yet, the true reason for the longevity of certain names within the order of battle for the IXth Legion is far less heroic.

第九军团的自豪一次又一次地陨落在战场上，而关于他们勇气的记录共同提及了少数几个相同的战士们和冠军们。某些记述者们和历史学家们已经记录了这些来显示这些令人敬畏的英雄的悠久历史，甚至将这些记录编辑成许多史诗的诗节，将这些分散的条目组成了一部独立的传奇。然而，某些姓名在第九军团战斗序列中能长寿的真正原因远不（仅仅）是因为英勇。

Since its foundation, the IXth Legion had operated in the most extreme battlefield conditions and necessity had forced upon them a number of practises that might otherwise be seen as monstrous. One among these, fostered by the nature of their design and the conditions under which they fought, was the consumption of fallen captains by their followers in order to preserve their hard-won skills and experience. As a mark of honour as well as practicality, it also became accepted that recruits took the names of those whose skills they absorbed, and lieutenants would assume the names of their captains. Such was the resemblance of each member of the IXth to their flawless brothers that most outsiders failed to notice this subtle brand of immortality. The most famous example of which being the figure thought to have served as the IXth Legion's first and only master, other than Sanguinius himself Known to history as Ishidur Ossuros, this warrior is commonly held to have commanded the IXth from Unity to the discovery of Baal in late M30，yet a closer examination of the records shows that name died numerous times, only to be replaced by another.

从其建立开始，第九军团就在最为极端的战场情况下运作，必要性也迫使他们采取了很多在其他方面会被认为是可怕（行径）的行为。其中一项就是：当连长们战死后，他们的追随者们要吞食他的遗体以保护他们来之不易的技能与经验——这是被他们的设计特性和他们的作战情况所促成的。作为一种荣誉和实用性的标志，新兵们吸收某位军团战士的技能后采用后者的姓名也变得可接受，而副官们也会取得他们的连长们的姓名。这是第九军团的每位成员与他们完美无瑕的兄弟们的相似之处——大多数局外人都不能注意到这种微妙的不朽烙印。在被视为第九军团的第一位与唯一的主宰的人物中，最为著名例子除了圣吉列斯本人之外就是在历史上被称为伊斯杜尔 奥苏罗斯的战士，他通常被认为在从统一战争到M30后期发现巴尔的时期指挥着第九军团，而对于（相关）记录的近期调查现实拥有这个名字的人死了很多次，只是（战死后）用另一个人替换。

Over time and battles past count, this practise became an honoured tradition of the Legion, a visceral ritual that bound the survivors together despite their often disparate origins. Yet as much as it bound those of the IXth Legion to each other, it forced them away from their brethren among the Imperial Army and other Legions. In the years before Sanguinius' return, no few of the other Primarchs expressed a distaste with the practises of the IXth Legion, though they could not dispute their success on the battlefield. Such was the legacy of mistrust and barbarism that the IXth carried with them, one pressed upon them by the brutal necessity of their calling.

随着时间和战斗过去，这种行为变成了军团受尊敬的传统，它是一种无论出身（只是）将军团幸存者们团结起来的发自内心的仪式。不过，就像这种行为将第九军团的战士们彼此绑定在一起，它也（以相同的程度）迫使他们远离帝国军与其他军团中的兄弟们。在圣吉列斯回归之前的岁月中，不少其他原体表达过对于第九军团行径的反感，虽然他们也不能质疑第九军团在战场上的胜利。这便是第九军团所背负的不信任与野蛮的遗产，这是由第九军团天职的残酷必要性所施加给他们的。