Invincible Reason
The Invincible Reason was a Gloriana Class Battleship which served as the flagship of the Dark Angels Legion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy.[1]
Contents
Overview
The Invincible Reason was the first Gloriana-class vessel to be constructed. As a result, it had a level of detail and craftsmanship not seen in subsequent vessels.[4] During the Great Crusade, Castellan Duriel was installed into its command chair and was in command of the vessel when The Lion was not aboard.[7a]
The Invincible Reason was a colossal vessel even by the standards of other Gloriana class Battleships, stretching out a total of twenty-eight kilometres from bow to stern, with a grand processional positioned under its dorsoventral spine that ran the entire length of the ship. Along this were inbuilt strongpoints that would serve as checkpoints for thousands of her million-strong crew of men and women to transit through every hour while attending to their duties. When they did, their transit authorisations, ident wafers, order papers and subdermal signum pips were scanned and verified in a largely automated process. As high-grade servitors encased in polished metal, outfitted with subtle First Legion devices bearing the manufactory stamp of the Ural forges, issued dozens of authorisations every second.[7b] A system of grav-trains also ran throughout the ship, and could transport anything from super-heavy equipment to crew personnel to various points within the vessel. While the hangers of the Invincible Reason could accommodate landmass sized squadrons of super-heavy craft, such as Monarch heavy landers.[7c]
The internal layout of the Invincible Reason is a puzzle designed to baffle any who have not earned the privilege of being there, and it is said that there is no such thing as an easy route aboard her. Journeys across the ship would take her mortal serfs the better part of a day to complete, although the Dark Angels themselves can do it in under an hour, as their legion-priority overrides grant them access to the vessel’s mag-lifts and grav-rails.[7f]
In contrast to most expeditionary vessels, the Invincible Reason, like other First Legion warships, lacked the typical hordes of crimson robed tech-priests beetling about its interiors. As the Dark Angel’s forge-wrights and Techmarines were capable of tending to all but the most arcane and intemperate of its technologies themselves, and did so.[7a]
For weaponry the Invincible Reason possessed lances[7e] and many hundreds of Macro-ordnance batteries.[7f]
History
Horus Heresy
The personal ship of Primarch Lion El'Jonson[1], the Invincible Reason led the Dark Angels' effort in the Rangdan Xenocides, the Battle of Diamat, and the Thramas Crusade. Following the Thramas ambush against the Night Lords, Konrad Curze became stranded on board the Invincible Reason for a time. However, the Night Haunter found ample hiding places on the immense vessel, and terrorized the bowels of the ship despite repeated Dark Angels search parties. He eventually left the vessel when the Lion led the Dark Angels' fleet to Macragge.[2]
Upon the defeat of Curze on Macragge by the Lion, the Night Lords Primarch was again chained within the Invincible Reason. Following the abolition of Imperium Secundus and the journey by Roboute Guilliman and Sanguinius through the Ruinstorm to try and reach Terra, the vessel was part of the combined loyalist fleet. However, upon the arrival at Davin, Sanguinius boarded the Invincible Reason and took the captive Curze with him for his own pilgrimage on the world, dispatching several Dark Angels guards through non-lethal force in the process. In the subsequent Second Battle of Davin the Invincible Reason engaged in a vicious duel with the Daemonship Veritas Ferrum.[3]
Later during The Lion's Exterminatus of Barbarus the Invincible Reason was attacked by the Emperor's Children Heavy Cruiser Sybarite, which was now possessed entirely by a Daemon. The Invincible Reason was heavily damaged in the battle after the Sybarite rammed it. The vessel sought repairs on the Forge World of Thagria.[6]
Post-Heresy
The Invincible Reason survived the Heresy and today remains the flagship of the Dark Angels fleet. During the Siege of the Fenris System, Azrael led his operation from the vessel.[5]
Notable Locations
See also
Sources
- 1: The Lion (Novella) - The Primarchs (Anthology), Chapter I
- 2: The Unremembered Empire (Novel)
[Help] - 3: Ruinstorm (Novel)[Help]
- 4: Scions of the Emperor (Anthology) - First Legion
- 5: Legacy of Russ, Part 8 - Fate Unbound
- 6: Dreadwing (Novella)
- 7: Lion El'Jonson: Lord of the First (Novel):
- 8: The Horus Heresy: Legions
