HH6节译：阿库姆-索萨星群与灰烬之爪

Akum-Sothas 

The Akum-sothas Cluster is a small group of habitable worlds on the very edges of the Ghoul Stars, a harsh stellar wasteland haunted by erratic pulsar stars and the most invidious of xenos breeds yet discovered by Mankind. The region was originally brought to Compliance by the Luna Wolves in the waning years of the 30th Millennium, but erupted into open revolt in 002.M31， under the influence of the so-called Unsighted Kings, a xenos breed of psyker-parasites that infested much of the population of those worlds. 

阿库姆-索萨斯星群是位于食尸鬼群星极其边缘地区的一小撮定居世界，不稳定的脉冲星和人类迄今为止发现过的某些最为令人反感的异形种族困扰着这片严酷星际废土（上的居民）。最初是影月苍狼军团在第三十个千年末期使该地区归顺于帝国，但在002.M31，由于这些世界的大多数人口遭到了被称为“无明之王”的灵能寄生异形种族的感染，当地爆发了公开叛乱。

Seeking to obliterate both the rebellion and the stain on his record of flawless conquests and Compliances, Horus, but recently crowned Warmaster, summoned the Space Wolves, Iron Warriors and Raven Guard to join his own Legion on the battlegrounds of the cluster. The campaign itself is renowned not for the victory that was eventually achieved, but for the massive casualties sustained by several of the Legions during the final battle, ordered by Horus to mount a direct frontal assault on the rebellion's key fortress. 

为了抹除掉叛乱和自己无瑕的征服与归顺记录中的污点，新进加冕的战帅荷鲁斯召集起太空野狼、钢铁勇士和暗鸦守卫加入了他自己的军团在这片星丛中的战斗集群。这场战役并非因为其最后取得的胜利而著称，而是因为多个军团在最后的战斗中遭受的严重损失而闻名：荷鲁斯命令对叛军的关键要塞直接发动正面进攻。

In the aftermath of the battle, several of the participating Legions, notably the Raven Guard, Luna Wolves and Iron Warriors, were to contribute warriors to a number of Great Crusade fleets dispatched further into the uncharted reaches of the Ghoul Stars to locate and eradicate any further xenos nests before they could trouble the Imperium. 

在这场战斗之后，许多参战军团，尤其是暗鸦守卫、影月苍狼和钢铁勇士将会送出战士前往那些被派去深入食尸鬼群星未知边界的大远征舰队，目的是要在异形们能够困扰到帝国之前就定位和根除掉他们的所有巢穴。

The Ashen Claws

灰烬之爪

The term 'Ashen Claws' is not one immediately known to scholars of that most tumultuous period of the Imperium's history, the Horus Heresy. It is not listed as the title of any existing chapter, battalion or fleet within the eighteen Legions at the outbreak of the civil war, nor is it a title taken by one of those ad-hoc formations that survived to the war's end. Indeed, a casual search of the Imperial Archives on Terra reveals but a few possible references: an Acheron class battleship that was designated the Ashen Claw, a Solar Auxilia cohort whose unofficial designation was the Ash Claws, and the patriarch of the Knight House Moritain, whose honorary titles include 'He whose claws rend all to ash.' 

对于身处帝国历史上最为动荡时期——荷鲁斯叛乱中的学者们而言，“灰烬之爪”并非是一个能够马上想起的名字。在内战爆发时，这个名称并未如同十八个军团中已经存在的战团、战斗营和舰队的头衔那样被列举出来，它也并非是某个幸存到战争末尾的临时编队的头衔。事实上，对于泰拉上帝国档案库的某次漫不经心的搜索揭示了少量可能的参考资料：某艘被命名为灰烬之爪的黄泉级战列舰，某支太阳军兵团的非正式名称是灰烬之爪，以及莫里塔恩骑士家族至高王的荣誉头衔也有“徒手撕裂余烬之人”。

Obviously, none of these are linked to the unknown Legiones Astartes force that ravaged the Nostramo sector in 011M31. However, those with access to the sealed vaults of the archives might uncover two further references that offer a potential answer to the puzzle. The first of these comes from the Legion records of the XIX. Legion, in the times before Corax took command and the warriors of the XIXth fought under the patronage of Horus Lupercal. These records note that among the chapters of the XIX.' Legion there was a chapter by the name of the Ashen Claws, a name carried over from the Xeric tribes that these fierce warriors were recruited from. The Raven Guard of modern times hold no record of these warriors. Indeed, of the original Terran recruits of the Legion little is known, as it seems Corax bore a measure of ill will towards the Terran recruits within his Legion, both their time under the tutelage of Horus and their heritage as slaver-warlords in the asiatic dustbowls of Ancient Terra marked them out as unworthy in the eyes of their new master. 

显然，这些内容与那支在011M31毁灭了那斯特罗姆星区的未知阿斯塔特军团部队无关。不过，通过探查档案馆中两座被封印的仓库，我们可能找到另外两项为这个未解之谜提供潜在答案的资料。第一项是来自第十九军团的军团记录，记录时间是克拉克斯接手军团指挥之前，彼时第十九军团的战士尚在荷鲁斯 卢佩卡尔的麾下作战。这份记录注明在第十九军团中有一个名为“灰烬之爪”的战团，这个名字取自这些残忍的战士们被征兵的Xeric部落。现代的暗鸦守卫军团并未保存这些战士们的记录，事实上我们对于军团中最初的泰拉裔战士们也知之甚少，而且克拉克斯似乎也对他军团中的泰拉裔新兵抱有厌恶，这既是因为他们被荷鲁斯托管的时间（较长），也是因为他们遗留了古泰拉dustbowls沙尘盆地中奴隶主军阀的习气，在他们新主人的眼中，这标志着他们不值得重用。

The second reference comes from those remaining fragments of the Luna Wolves records, much of which were lost or desrroyed by either war or the over-zealous loyalty of some scribes in the aftermath of the Battle for Terra. Within these volumes are several mentions of the Ashen Claw, apparently a favoured stratagem of the Warmaster himself involving a flanking manoeuvre around a sacrificial unit left in the open to attract the enemy's full might. Many engagements from the Great Crusade include units with the appended title 'Ashen Claw', indicating that it has been selected for the dubious honour of acting as the sacrificial unit at the heart of this strategy. 

第二份资料来自影月苍狼军团记录的残留碎片——在泰拉会战之后，这些资料大多遗失或者被其他战争或者极端狂热的忠诚派抄录员破坏了。这些宗卷中多次提及灰烬之爪，显然战帅偏好这样一种战略：在公开战斗中将牺牲性单位留在侧翼进行机动，以吸引敌人的全部注意力。大远征时期的很多交战（记录）中都包含了附加头衔为“灰烬之爪”的单位，暗示（这个称呼）被选中作为在此类战术核心中充当牺牲单位的一种虚伪荣誉（称呼）。