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| - The Constantinus Iconoclasm was a rebellion led by the former Sergeant Constantinus of the 4th Company of the Sons of Guilliman Space Marine Chapter, which had been charged with freeing the world of Nova Terra, located within the Segmentum Pacificus, from a Tyranid attack by remnants of the Hive Fleet Leviathan. He was a part of a handful of Astartes units left behind on Nova Terra to combat any resurgent Tyranid organisms that had survived the war, and to monitor the populace for signs of Genestealer or other Tyranid infiltration or infection. For three standard years Sergeant Constantinus led his squad on endless patrols through the cave systems of Nova Terra's volcanic plateau where the Tyranids had made planetfall, cleansing nesting broods with Flamer and Chainsword, not once seeking r
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| abstract
| - The Constantinus Iconoclasm was a rebellion led by the former Sergeant Constantinus of the 4th Company of the Sons of Guilliman Space Marine Chapter, which had been charged with freeing the world of Nova Terra, located within the Segmentum Pacificus, from a Tyranid attack by remnants of the Hive Fleet Leviathan. He was a part of a handful of Astartes units left behind on Nova Terra to combat any resurgent Tyranid organisms that had survived the war, and to monitor the populace for signs of Genestealer or other Tyranid infiltration or infection. For three standard years Sergeant Constantinus led his squad on endless patrols through the cave systems of Nova Terra's volcanic plateau where the Tyranids had made planetfall, cleansing nesting broods with Flamer and Chainsword, not once seeking reward. However, when rumours led Constantinus to a possible Genestealers infection in the Nova Terran capital city of Cirtus, he found a growing Genestealer Cult had pervaded the city's ruling aristocracy. As righteous as ever, Constantinus and his squad hunted down the infected nobles and their families and swiftly ended the threat. Far from being grateful, the people of Cirtus were enraged by the summary executions of their leaders and rose up in revolt. Two dozen Battle-Brothers of the 4th Company of the Sons of Guilliman had sacrificed themselves for this world, this Nova Terra, only for those who had remained behind to battle the tyranid threat -- unremembered and unrewarded -- to now have to suffer this final dishonour. That had been the final disgrace, the final injurious slight that had pushed Sergeant Constantinus beyond the brink. It was more than any mortal man, or immortal Adeptus Astartes, should ever had to endure. If the scum of Cirtus city wanted rebellion, to see their world burn, Squad Constantinus would light the fire for them. There were those who had already sworn themselves to the sergeant, having seen what Constantinus and his brethren had wrought within the city sectors -- including Imperial Guardsmen who had seen their fellow soldiers die to save Nova Terra from the Tyranids, looters, rioters, the dispossessed, former servants of the Ecclesiarchy, and the members of the Adeptus Arbites stationed on this world. They appreciated what the sergeant and his men had done, what they had been forced to do and why. They willingly followed Constantinus, and even went so far as to call him "the Liberator." Constantinus led his squad on search and destroy missions throughout Cirtus, destroying entire city sectors. Soon the city was ablaze and the fume-choked avenues were awash with blood and rioting mobs, the palaces of the nobles nothing but charred ruins. Constantinus eventually turned upon those within his own squad who tried to stop him from carrying out the massacre and cut them down. He then declared himself the new ruler of Cirtus, decrying the Emperor of Mankind and His minions, claiming that his own Chapter had turned him into a murderous monster, and swore that he would lead the people of Cirtus to freedom and a better future outside the Imperium. His conviction proved infectious. The old order on the world was thrown down, the emblems of the Imperium destroyed and defaced while statues of Constantinus the Liberator were raised in their place. Once the city was taken, the revolt spread from city to city, until finally the Liberator stormed the mansion of the world's Imperial Commander at the head of an army nearly three-million strong. Constantinus beheaded the Imperial Commander and declared that Nova Terra was now free of the Emperor's iron grip. The Renegade Astartes Sergeant renamed the world Constantinium and under his rule the mob was given free rein. Constantinus plunged his newly conquered world into an anarchic age of darkness as bloodthirsty crowds bayed in the streets and sacrifices were soon made to the Ruinous Powers. Called by their Dark Gods, dozens of Chaos Space Marine warbands travelled to Cirtus to join the Renegades. Constantinus fought the best Champions of Chaos to arrive and defeated them, claiming their warbands for himself. He then embarked on a terrifying pogrom of other planets in the neighbouring star systems, and within a solar decade, the rebel sergeant's megalomania escalated until it plunged the whole sector into open civil war. Eventually Imperial forces, including the Iron Knights Chapter, arrived to reclaim the world for the Imperium, and war raged for thirteen standard years, only ending with the death of Constantinus at the hands of Officio Assassinorum assassins. Even three hundred standard years later, pockets of rebels continued to still hold out in the volcanic plateaus of the world, having made their lair within the labyrinthine lava tunnels found in that region. It was from these hidden cave systems that the rebels continued to carry out guerrilla raids against the Emperor-fearing folk of Nova Terra. It was within those haunted caverns that they continued to make sacrifices to their blasphemous gods in the name of Constantinus the Liberator -- a name that would forever after be a stain upon the reputation of the noble Sons of Guilliman. Eventually, by 981.M41, the Constantinus Iconoclasm had ended and Constantinium was liberated from the Forces of Chaos. The world's name was restored to Nova Terra.
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