The Dead Feel No Pain

The Death Feel No Pain is an Imperial excoriation campaign carried out by the ruthless and unforgiving Mortarchs Serpentia Space Marine Chapter against secessionist forces of the Harod System during the wider conflict, known as the Nova Terra Interregnum.

History
The Nova Terra Interregnum created much strife within the Imperium, and many systems outright declared independence from both the Ur-Council and Terra. One such system was the Harod System, whose ambitious planetary governor had more surety than sense, and declared that they would have nothing to do with the civil war and ideologies of either regime. The Mortarchs Serpentia would make them pay dearly for this transgression. No ship signals were detected, no demand for surrender was issued, and no landing craft were seen landing. All that was seen, was the fog. Thick and blinding, it rolled down upon the forces of the Planetary Defence Force, smothering their fortresses and blanketing their assets.

It was then from the haze that the Mortarchs appeared, like the ghosts of a horror long forgotten, then strode ponderously towards the PDF lines, their death rattle cries carrying on the wind to chill the guardsmens' bones to ice. Overwhelming barrages of fire were blasted at the Mortarchs, but blows that would usually fell even mighty space marines seemed to hardly slow these indomitable marines. They strode forward, ignoring missing limbs and rent torsos, making not a sound but their hollow death rattle battle cry. Believing their foes to be invincible, many laid down their arms out of sheer terror, others frantically fled before the nightmarish marines that marched before them. But none were spared.

Retreat meant nothing to the Mortarchs and neither did surrender or mercy. Every last soldier was put to the sword, and within a year, the planetary capital fell from within, as desperate soldiers offered up their traitorous governor in the vain hope they would be spared. They were not. Young boys from the local population were tithed as penance for their sins, and the civilians were left to rebuild how they saw fit, the Mortarchs disappearing as swiftly as they arrived.