The Zoth worlds campaign


	The campaign to take the Zoth sector for the Imperium was one of the earliest for both the Thunder Kings and the Eternal Zealots, notably Brennus' first action with another primarch, though not his first meeting with one of his brothers. The Thunder Kings had been sent to take the Zoth sector, a body of worlds on the outskirts of the Segmentum Tempestus; Brennus was eager to prove his legion's ability, and so brought three full companies of marines to prosecute his crusade. When the Thunder Kings fleet arrived in system, they were surprised to find an Imperial fleet already in system, battling with ships of an unfamiliar pattern. Brennus, upon seeing the heraldry and designs of the Imperial ships, had hails sent to the wayward Imperial battlefroup. The reply he received did not disappoint; the fleet was commanded by his brother Aubrey, the Surgeon, newly reclaimed from the world of Lazarus. After the two brothers combined forces to make short work of the enemy fleet they were facing, Brennus suggested to his brother that the fleets be combined to more easily take the system for their father; Aubrey readily agreed.

	The first meeting between the two brothers took place on the surface of Centia, a significant but out of the way farm planet in the sector. The Thunder Kings rode their Stormbirds down from their flagship, the Gloriana-class Long Arm, with wine and food to celebrate the occasion; the Eternal Zealots would surprise them, though, when their primarch asked Brennus for a duel. Brennus, though not prepared for this request, had borne arms as he always did; and so he unlimbered his sword and shield, and agreed to Aubrey's challenge. The two fought for the better part of an hour, stopping only as a force of Centian soldiers attacked the gathered warriors. Aubrey had shown himself to be the superior swordsman, but the High King's mighty shield allowed him to withstand much of the Surgeon's assault, inflicting a few wounds with his blade; Brennus would later remark (privately) that he was glad his brother was not a true enemy.

	The two primarchs quickly set about the conquering of the system after their initial ceremonies of brotherhood. Brennus, as would become typical of his later campaigns, spread his forces throughout the system, sending a mix of warriors to each location. In those areas where the Eternal Zealots sent forces, Brennus sent mostly Devastator marines to support his brother's close combat specialty; however, he always made sure to include Assault Marines in his deployments, to fight alongside their brothers and establish a rapport, and maybe even friendships. Brennus and Aubrey fought alongside each other throughout the campaign, each guarding the other's back. Each found himself able to work well with the other's fighting style; while the Surgeon would press the attack, the High King would guard his brother's back and strike down enemies from afar. The two shared many celebrations after fully conquering worlds, but several events would threaten the nascent friendship developing between the two.

	Fairly early in the campaign, Brennus began to notice peculiar patterns of damage on many of the foes he and his brother overcame; strange melted patches on vehicles, and wrecks totally melted through. Though he had only been on crusade for a handful of years, Brennus considered himself well versed in the various types of weapons borne by man and xenos, but this was unfamiliar. The only comparison that could be made was to a melta gun, but this lacked the evidence of extreme heat. Aubrey treated this as the handiwork of some rebel group hidden amongst the Zothites, and suggested that his brother simply cast it from his thoughts. However, after accepting the surrender of a group of enemy warriors who wished only to be spared something called "the Skin-Slougher", Brennus could no longer stand idle. He tasked a group of scouts from the Sea Dragons, the 12th company (known in Alessian as the Mannan Drak), to hunt down the source of this unexpected "aid", and if at all possible, capture it.

	Brennus would not have to wait long for an explanation; in just over a week his Mannan Drak trackers had hunted down the source of their mystery benefactors. Brennus was stunned to learn that his men had found a force of reptilian xenos, wielding weapons similar to autoguns but firing corrosive shells, and with cloaks emblazoned with the Caduceus, Aubrey the Grey's Legion symbol. Brennus kept the matter as close to his chest as possible, quickly sending his equerry, Ferdiad, and a few of the men of 1st company in whom he had absolute trust. These men quickly overpowered the Tarellians and brought them to the Long Arm, making sure to keep their presence a secret from anyone else aboard the ship; even those servitors that they interacted with were disposed of. Brennus quietly summoned his brother to a private meeting in his forge and while Aubrey was quick to express his his displeasure with this surreptitious display, the two quickly reconciled as Brennus pledged to keep his brother's secret. Although he did not approve of allying with what he called "fomor," Brennus did not wish to alienate the first of his brothers to fight alongside him.

	As the two primarchs came increasingly close to the central worlds of the Zoth system, Aubrey's trained medical eye began to notice that many of the humans of the system seemed to be suffering from an odd condition; very pale skin, pronounced veins, and a sort of glassiness of the eyes. These humans were treated with an almost religious fervor, and oddly seemed to be given positions of power and prestige; this despite prolonged episodes of what appeared to be mania and their general degeneration. Though many of these sufferers died in battle, it was not until taking one of the outlying worlds of the sector's central solar system that the two brothers realized the true nature of the affliction; upon finding a large group of these supposedly ill humans, horrific leech-like humanoids tore themselves from the skin of the humans and launched themselves at the Astartes, shrieking and casting energies from the warp. The High King And The Surgeon quickly took to the battle, but the ambush was quickly halted by crowds of begging and pleading humans, who mobbed both the horrors and Astartes; these they learned, were the children of the gods, known as the Kath, and they had given their bodies to these creatures as temples, and as a way to allow their lords to reproduce and continue to bless humankind with their presence.

	Initially, the two primarchs were divided over what should be done with these humans and their disturbing hosts. Brennus, at first, would consider no action other than the immediate extermination of all humans infected with Kath larvae, and the death of all Kath themselves. Aubrey, however, wished to treat with these beings in the hopes that they could become a protectorate of the Imperium, perhaps using the bodies of criminals instead of humans to reproduce. The human liaisons for the kath, and those few kath who would eign to speak to the Astartes readily agreed to the idea of becoming a client state, and offered to discuss terms in the great underground chamber on the world of Zoth where most of the kath spent their days in what was assumed to be communion with the "gods". Brennus knew that this sect of alien god worship was heretical, and Aubrey did not disagree, but rather than eliminating the xenos entirely, the Surgeon thought to simply cut them out and hide them elsewhere, on some near deserted world of the system.  Though he did not approve fully of this method, Brennus was willing to allow the possibility of diplomacy without further fighting; when Aubrey brought the proposal that they meet a delegation of kath in their sacred caverns on Zoth prime, the High King warily agreed. He made only one stipulation: that they each bring sufficient forces to guard against treachery.


The Barrow Parley, as the incident would later be known amongst the Thunder Kings, commenced with few enough difficulties. Brennus brought along the members of the Horned Gods, still newly formed and with no more than 5 members, and Aubrey Brought along his bodyguard, the Gray Shields. These warriors were, at the time, the greatest of their respective legions; The Horned Gods led by Aeron mac Morna, "The Storm's Eye", Oscara mac Damman, known as "Deadeye", and Ferdiad, Brennus' equerry. The Gray Shields were led by a massize warrior named Streit Kolben, commonly known as "Hammer Fist" for the power fist built into his bionic arm; he could fire this weapon and retract it from a great distance on an adamantium chain. With him were Jarvik Kolff, a warrior who carried plasma, melta, and bolt weapons, all with added bayonets; Iskander Mar-fei, a warrior who had suffered many injuries and was more machine than man; and the Tarellian brothers Vex and Vaas, who bore a pair mighty lightning claws and semiautomatic disruption guns with underslung flamethrowers, respectively. This group of warriors descended into the great caverns on Zoth prime, where they met with the "leaders" of the kath species. The negotiations began quite well, with Aubrey displaying his Tarellian allies as proof of his willingness to tolerate a non-human species. Brennus kept silent, watching the caverns around them, noticing that as time went on more and more kath were gathering and speaking to each other in their own sinister language. It was this realization that caused Brennus to finally speak up, and demand to know why their numbers were increasing. The kath leaders, laughing in their horrific whispering tongue, began to advance on the two primarchs, as Aubrey sought to pacify what was increasingly becoming a hopeless situation. Brennus, finally at his limit, roared at his brother that it was no time to mollify these fomor, but to slay them, as the kath began to summon the energies of the Warp.

It was at this point that the High King's true cunning was revealed; he had not trusted kath from the beginning, and had bade several squads of the same Manann Drak clan who had discovered the Tarellians to follow his party, shadowing them at a distance. Seeing that their lord was in danger, the Manann Drak stormed into the cavern, war cries on their lips and roaring chain axes in hand. Though the kath were far more numerous than the Imperials, they were not prepared for the power of The Emperor's gene-sons and their progeny; though some casualties were taken, the Thunder Kings and Eternal Zealots proved the victors of the furious melee, exterminating or driving away all of the adult kath present. Brennus, his tolerance pushed nearly to the limit, began to effusively chastise his brother, and nearly struck him; however, the High King realized mid-swing that his actions were grossly inappropriate, and swiftly halted his blow to apologize for his outburst. The two did now agree that the creatures were a threat, and set out to cleanse the system entire; Brennus and his Goffanoi smiths crafting charms that would suppress the kath in those already infected, while Aubrey and Galle Nacht crafted a purifying agent to erase those larvae that were already there. After the two judged that the infestation had been quelled, Brennus threw a final feast for the two assembled legions. Towards the end, Brennus read from the epic poem he had written to tell of the campaign, and included several passages telling of the courage the two Tarellian brothers had shown in battle with the kath  , calling them "bright lights of reason in a galaxy beset by darkling beasts." The two legions and brothers parted ways, with a solidly forged-if somewhat strained-friendship.