Changes

After this sad defeat the Salamanders, as well as the other two betrayed Legions were largely unable to perform any tasks the Emperor had planned for them and spent much of the rest of the time of the Heresy rebuilding their forces. [[Vulkan]] was briefly made a captive of [[Night Lords]] Primarch [[Konrad Curze]], but despite multiple executions the Night Haunter could not figure out a way to kill the [[Perpetual]] Primarch. Eventually Vulkan was able to escape, and along with scattered survivors of his Legion they reorganized reorganised in [[Imperium Secundus]] under [[Roboute Guilliman]]. There they came across the shattered body and mind of Vulkan, who had his sanity restored after being stabbed by [[John Grammaticus]] wielding the [[Fulgurite]], but apparently died in the process. The Salamanders on [[Macragge]] thought Vulkan dead and placed him in the stasis-capsule ''Unbound Flame'' to lay in state, in preparation for funerary rites to be undertaken by his Legion. During this time, the casket was given an honour guard, which some of their number believed they heard a heartbeat from.{{Fn|31}} Later, the Salamanders led by [[Artellus Numeon]] brought Vulkan back to Nocturne but were pursued by the [[Death Guard]]. After a [[Battle of Nocturne|brief but fierce battle]], the Salamanders were able to resurrect Vulkan after Numeon provided himself as the final sacrifice.{{Fn|38}}

Meanwhile, Salamanders (along with Iron Hands and Raven Guard) survivors of the Dropsite Massacre based on the [[Sisypheum]] began a campaign of vengeance against those who betrayed them, striking at [[Fulgrim]] and [[Perturabo]] on the [[Crone World]] of [[Iydris]] as well as [[Alpha Legion]] outposts.{{Fn|36}}{{Fn|37}} Other Salamanders survivors began a similar guerrilla war against the traitors, pershaps most notably those under [[Shadrak Meduson]].{{Fn|43}} One force of Salamanders, supported by other Shattered Legion members, ventured to Isstvan V on the ''[[Ebon Drake]]'', where they recovered Cassian Vaughn (known as Cassian Dracos since being entombed in a Dreadnought). The former Lord Commander assumed command of the mixed band and reorganized reorganised them as [[Disciples of the Flames]]. The Disciples went on to fight in the [[Mezoan Campaign]], saving [[Mezoa]] from traitors and absorbing a large contingent of [[Iron Warriors]]. Having morphed into an almost religious cult, the Disciples of the Flames defended Mezoa and fought Horus' armies for the rest of the Heresy, but their ultimate fate remains unclear.{{Fn|56}}

==OrganizationOrganisation==

When [[Vulkan]] assumed command of the Salamanders on the [[Great Crusade]] he radically reorganized reorganised the [[Space Marine Legion|Legion]]. One of Vulkan's first actions was to largely unify his scattered Legion and do away with its ad-hoc strategic operations, but he did so in a way that preserved, where possible, the spirit of autonomy and self-sufficiency the component units of the XVIII had developed, which he saw as inherent virtues where tempered with purpose. Vulkan ordered his Legion into the formation of seven "Realms", each linked with one of [[Nocturne]]'s seven great city-settlements. To each of these he assigned a [[Lord Commander (Legiones Astartes)|Lord Commander]], known also as a Protector, as it was also their duty to protect their settlement in time of attack. Each Nocturnean city-settlement served as a focus of the Legion's recruitment and their governance of the planet, anchoring the Legionaries to the humans for whom they fought, and each city-settlement went on to exhibit its own unique influences on the Salamanders traditions.{{Fn|21a}}