A Contemptor Dreadnought of the Sons of Horus is, in the truest sense, a veteran too valuable to lose to mortality, a legionary whose body has failed but whose skill and will remain sealed within an armored sarcophagus and given a second, mechanized existence. These ancients fought in campaigns across the whole span of the Great Crusade, and many entered their long dreadnought sleep only to be woken by the Legion's Techmarines the moment Horus's rebellion demanded every scrap of martial strength the XVI could muster.
Unlike the more ponderous patterns that would dominate later ages, the Contemptor's advanced systems allowed a genuinely aggressive gait and fighting style, striding forward into close combat rather than lumbering as a static gun platform. For the Sons of Horus this suited perfectly the Legion's preference for decisive, forward momentum, and many a loyalist line was shattered by a Contemptor's charge long before the rest of the Legion arrived to finish what the dreadnought had begun.
Order of battle
