Whilst it is well-known that the vast majority of formations still loyal to the Emperor were purged from the Traitor Legions at Istvaan III in 005.M31, there remains considerable evidence to suggest that various, smaller formations on long-term, deep-range missions continued to trickle back into Imperial Space for well over a decade or more as the civil war raged. Whilst many of these erstwhile formations returned to their parent Legions and in so doing rejoined the greater body of their traitorous kin, it is clear that a much smaller percentage instead renounced their loyalty to Legion and Primarch, and became pariahs in the greater conflicts engulfing the galaxy.
The Blackshields unit referred to as The Contritum are believed to have coalesced at some point between 007 to 008.M31 during the early years of the Horus Heresy, most likely from the flotsam and jetsam of these returning units, and continued to operate well into the middle years of the Great Scouring. Though notionally considered a ‘loyalist’ Blackshield formation; often recorded as fighting hit-and-run actions against rear elements of the Warmaster’s armies, fragmentary records suggest they were not adversed to conducting non-lethal raids against Imperial supply lines to affect refit and resupply as needed.
Analysis of geneseed recovered from Contritum killed in action, combined with armorial clues, tactical idiosyncrasies and after-action reports from Loyalist units, suggest that the mainstay of the unit’s strength comprised primarily of elements from the 3rd, 14th and 16th Legions, and included a wide-range of individual specialisms and ranks, including ex-members of the Librarius, Chaplaincy, and Apothecarion, as well as examples of the more unique ranks such as Mortitat and Vigilator. In regards to those individuals posited as ex-members of the Librarius programme in particular, it is interesting to note that The Contritum appeared to continue to adhere to Edict of Nikaea, even after it was discarded by the Legions still loyal to the Emperor.
Like many Blackshields, The Contritum fought in blackened armour eschewing their original liveries, and utilised an unconventional system of rank identifiers in place of Legion iconography. In c.018.M31, interrogation of a dying Blackshield captured in the Ghoul Stars and identified as belonging to The Contritum yielded a wealth of organisational information and confirmed these signifiers were based on the playing pieces from an archaic precursor to Regicide: Lower-ranking members of The Contritum, such as line troopers, were referred to as ‘Pawns’ with commanders having typically been identified as ‘Kings’. Other noted ranks include ‘Queens’ (those individuals with training in the Apothecarion), ‘Bishops’ (typically former members of the Legion-specific subgroups such as Chaplaincy or Librarius) ‘Knights’ (a rank usually assigned to singular disciplines such as the Moritat or Vigilator), and ‘Rooks’ (those troopers trained in the use of heavier weapons or more esoteric ordnance).
Due to the fragmentary nature of post-Heresy records and the loss of vast swathes of organisational data and rosters for the Traitor Legions, it proved impossible to put actual names to any of The Contritum – Key figures, were instead given operational epithets based on what could be discerned of their former affiliations, specialisms, modus operandi and other such ephemera from the scattered reports available at the time. Figures such as ‘The Catulan Reaver’ or ‘The dogged son’ gained near-mythic reputations, before The Contritum themselves faded into the obscurity of half-remembered legend as the new age of the Imperium dawned.
What final fate awaited these wayward sons is unknown; rumoured sightings persisted along the periphery of the Ghoul Stars for several hundred years after the end of the Heresy, and artefacts and other ephemera purported to be connected to The Contritum have continued to turn up on worlds long-forsaken by the Imperium or previously untouched by the Emperor’s light in the long millennia since, although it is almost inconceivable that such a unit or its successors could persist into the current era.
