612
edits
Changes
From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
Added Prince of Crows citations.
|Tithe Grade=''Aptus non''
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==Overview==
==The Purging of Nostramo Quintus==
One year, the petty criminals of Nostramo Quintus started turning up gruesomely dismembered. This pattern soon stretched to corrupt bureaucrats and protestors as the long, hot summer stretched on. Quintus quickly developed a self-imposed curfew: the city's streets, once buzzing with activity, went silent at dusk. By the end of the year, crime had fallen to near-zero as the people lived in fear of the "Night Haunter"{{Fn|1}}{{Fn|4}}.
The Night Haunter became the city's first monarch. The few nobles who survived by swearing loyalty to him became his mouthpieces. He would rule with a fair and even hand, but any who transgressed would suffer, not at the hand of an appointed enforcer, but by that of the Night Haunter himself. The Night Haunter eventually claimed the other four cities of Nostramo , bringing increased productivity and brought fearful peace to the world{{Fn|1}}{{Fn|4}}.
==The Fall of Nostramo==
The people Night Haunter warned his governors that his father's space fleet was coming for him. When the Delegation of Light arrived, the rain stopped as if in acknowledgement of Nostramo believed that its presence and the citizens wept at the arrival sight of the Astartes: the [[Emperorprimarch]]'s fleet corresponded to [[Rogal Dorn]], [[Lorgar]], [[Ferrus Manus]], and [[Fulgrim]], representatives of their legions, and a prophecy group of "[[Ultramarines]]. The [[Emperor of Mankind]] led the procession, the Coming sight of the Lighthim striking blind all who looked upon him." {{Fn|1}}{{Fn|4}} The Night Haunter collapsed in agony at the Emperor came 's first breath to see him. When he recovered, the Night Haunterlistened to the Emperor speak.{{Fn|4}} <blockquote>''"Be at peace, addressing him as Konrad Curze. I have arrived and I intend to take you home."''<br>''"That is not my name, father. My people gave me a name and took him away from his worldI will bear it until my dying day. And I know full well what you intend for me. "''</blockquote> At first, the people felt they were free to speak their minds again, no longer subject to the gruesome punishments of the Night Haunter, but replacing his autocracy with the Administratum soon became a return to the old ways{{Fn|1}}.
The bureaucratic corruption of the Administratum was bad enough, but the Emperor's arrival robbed the Nostramans of their ignorance. They now knew that there were better places in the galaxy than this one and they would never be able to see them. The only class of people who would ever get off-world were the new breed of violent criminals who were selected to fill the ranks of the [[Night Lords]] [[Space Marine Legion]]{{Fn|1}}{{Fn|4}}.
The next time the Night Haunter returned to Nostramo would be the last. Word had reached the legion that [[Imperial governor]] Basileus's regime allowed crime to run rampant once again. The Night Haunter's entire fleet arrived in orbit and aimed their weapons at their home world. Countless lance barrages and orbital torpedoes pummeled the surface. The bombardment reached the planet's core, possibly through a weakness left in the crust by Curze's landing or the extensive adamantium mining, and the planet burst apart{{Fn|1}}{{Fn|3}}.
*{{Endn|2}}: [[The Horus Heresy Book One - Betrayal]], inside cover maps
*{{Endn|3}}: [[The Dark King and The Lightning Tower (Audio Book)|The Dark King]]
*{{Endn|4}}: [[Shadows of Treachery (Anthology)#Prince of Crows|Shadows of Treachery: Prince of Crows]] Chapters 5-6
[[Category:Adeptus Astartes Homeworlds]]
