In memoriam, 8745th Montral Fusiliers, 22nd Imperial Division, "Terra".

Let us take a moment of silence to remember those brave heroes.

Those of you not members of the Adeptus Mechanicus might wonder at that simple blazon, gifted to quite a many Imperial Auxilia successor units in the Siege of Terra.

I will endeavour to explain: after the battle, and due to the great loss of records after such a monumental battle, no unit larger than a company was not amalgamated with another unit, and only an un-amalgamated unit could conceivably claim honours of individual battles in the siege of Terra, but, it was decided by the Regent of the Imperium at the time, who happens to also be the current one, Roboute Gulliman, that all units whose lineage had participated in the battle could lay claim to the blazon "Terra", indicating that they had been, at least in some part, among those one and a half million Imperial Auxillia defenders of the palace.

Those of you among our blessed order will know them by other names, will know that of the almost nearly numberless members of the Excertus Imperialis, quite a few regiments had been founded even earlier.  In the case that interests us, their lineage traces back to 1869 Imperial Reckoning, according to some sources(they apparently include even more ancient honours, see below) and do their full regimental blazon includes the following:

• DÉFENSE DU CANADA – 1812-1815
• Canada du nord-ouest - 1885
• Ypres, 1915, 1917
• La Côte
• Festubert, 1915
• Amiens 1918
• Bataille de la Somme, 1916
• Ligne Hindenburg
• Arras, 1917, 1918
• Poursuite de Mons
• Dieppe 1942
• Bataille de l'Escaut
• Crête de Bourguébus 
• Woensdrecht
• Saint-André-sur-Orne
• Beveland Sud
• Crête de Verrière
• Tilly-la-Campagne
• La Rhénanie
• Le Hochwald
• Falaise 1944
• Route de Falaise
• Le Rhin
• La Laison
• Groningue
• Forêt de la Londe
• Oldenburg
• Dunkerque
• Nord-ouest de l'Europe 1942 et 1944-1945
• Anvers - Canal de Turnhout
• Afghanistan
• Old-Hundred 
• Unification Wars: Franc Theatre: Neuilly-sur-l'Eau, Orioc Theatre: 2496 Bentley

Unlike some other, almost contemporary regiments(see 1st Royal Canadic Van-Doos), they have been re-founded multiple times to adapt to various tactical requirements, earning 'malleable fusiliers' as an unofficial nickname from high command.  That this is accompanied by almost equally-as-frequent occasions where the regiment was wiped to less than 10% strength is not often recognized.

Few have been so crucial to the existence of the 8745th founding of the regiment as then- Captain-Commissar Michael Goldenrod, my great-grandfather, who passed away most recently, aged 128, after a long battle with illness.  He was their last surviving member, having been one of the few who had been afforded juvenat treatments.

I will now read from a recently recovered diary of my great-grandfather's:

I am 127 years old, I am an old man, although I am the youngest member of the Senatorum Imperialis right now. I have been serving the Holy Emperor’s Ecclesiarchy as Commandant of the Schola Progenium for two decades now.  I am the last survivor of my old regiment, the 8475th Montral Fusiliers. I miss them, from my old commander, Sophia, the old fuss-budget, to the others, her brothers, my sister, and all the others, Wanda, chief of our heavy weapons squad, and… Marsha, the last one… The last one to go, inches from her own Senatorium seat, the cause of her divorce.

The crowd aahed and oohed, not expecting that.bit of personal knowledge...

"What? you didn't kno our great-grand parents divorced so their professional prospects wouldn't be curtailed?"

"Commandant Goldenrod, a word?"

"Retired commandant, and who's that?"

"I am remembrancer Iulivit, I would tell your story..."

"My story? I am not special..."

"Surely, that cannot be true, you were born long ago, the wonders you've seen..."

"Shush, don't say it so loud, people will overhear..."

"I doubt you go anywhere without protectors..."

"My descendants have much more pressing concerns than watching over me, such as making sure the Imperium they inherited doesn't crash itself on the shoals of heresy or get split in twain by civil war..."

"How can this be?  With the regent..."

"Ah,, but who listens ?  Many pretend to, but true loyalty, uninterested loyalty... that is much rarer...  A fact our new regent is keenly aware of..."

"What is that?"

"The sword?  It's my sword as commandant of all the Schola..."

"You hang it over your kitchen table?"

"So it's always at hand when I need to behead a vicious salmon or tuna refusing to become dinner? Why, yes, yes I do!"

Ding-dong.

"Who is it?"  He shouted through the door.

"It's me grand-dad.  Janesha."

"Wait just a moment, child."

"Your granddaughter?"

"Great-grand-daughter, but she calls me grand-dad, simpler."

"Hi grandpa, and who's this ?"

"My guest is called Iulivit, and he's as curious as you were when you were three..."

"Oh, a Remembrancer?  Then he better skedaddle, I've claimed all the exclusives grandpa."

"I never agreed to that child, I agreed to give you exclusives, I never said you'd get all of them!"

"Aw, phtewey, grandpa, you're..."

"A man of probity and wisdom who knows a few things I've yet to teach.  But some things just need a different voice, and you can't get a different voice if you give all the exclusives to the same group."

"Remembrancer Iulivit, and you are?"  The slight man introduced himself to the Navy greatcoat-wearing adult woman.

"Commander Janesha Goldenrod-Brador, Propaganda Service, Imperial Navy."  She adjusted her uniform, she didn't normally see anyone not a few generations older than her when visiting grandad, Iulivit was... maybe ten years her junior.

"An honor."  He tried not to wince, Segmentum Solar Imperial Navy Propaganda was about as cut-throat as it got, and while East Noram was hardly the same as the Imperial Seat, its numberless hordes were ruled with an iron fist only made possible with uncountable propaganda heads.  Which her decorated war-hero of a great-grandfather probably had all taught since their nappies...

His visiting lectures to various Navy Academies, Guard Institutes, and such were still in high demand, tampered mostly by his health, he'd heard.  He'd researched his schedule before trying the last, desperate gambit of approaching him in person... 

Which brought to mind another concern, he was happy the sword stayed in his hab, but that left the bolter pistol, and what part of his file wasn't classified included current(at almost eighty? unthinkable!) precision pistol certification.

"So you're trying to steal some of my stories?"

"I don't know if I got that far, I was only asking, I can only presume the Commandant has the best stories..."

"Indeed.  Some of the best on the continent, "

"You two are just trying to get my dander up..."  Michael's bald skull shone as he walked around his kitchen, a sour expression on his face.  "Get ready, I'm expected at the Munificent Municipal Administrator's office today."

"Oooh, any idea why?"  Julivat made a very sycophantic face.

"No, I wasn't made privy to my landlord's request for a meeting yet.

"Oh, landlord?"  The remembrancer asked.

"I'd be living on Collegia Progenium-owned land, but someone thought it would be a good idea, that it inherit a priorly owned educational property, then once the ink on the paper dried, they found out it had been willed to the local municipal authority.  At any rate, the Commandant hasn't found it expedient to order the Mayor of East Noram hive to cede the lease to him, yet."

"That;s a story for another day..."

"So what's today's story?"  Janesha knew how to play this game...