From A Treatise on the Customs of War, attributed to Thris of Ascraeus (c. 145 PS).
A practice of the Warrior-Apostle remnants: the engraving of weapons with script recording their deeds. Part battlefield log and part religious psalm, written in archaic Ecclesiastical Miniscule. A custom tolerated by the mainstream Faith, though long considered somewhat heterodox. Readable only after prolonged study.
Here follows an inscription fragment from the recovered shard of a Warrior-Apostle blade, dating back to the War Against the Scourge. The names of both blade and wielder remain unknown.
16th day of the month of Persistence // Two beasts of the Scourge // Too many limbs. Eyes unblinking. Their death is gain.
17th of the same // Three beasts of the Scourge // Though shadow sinks low upon the plain, our light shall prove the righteous.
20th of the same // Two infested, speaking the false gospel of the Worm // Your own tongues testified against you. Be you silenced.
21st of the same // Scourge unconfirmed; One slain for caution // To await certainty is to invite death—yet the strike is no less loathsome. May Remission come swiftly.
32nd of the same // A Scavenger seeking to loot the dead // To the fallen: lie in repose a moment longer. To the jackal: begone.
6th day of the month of Quietude // A priest infested with the Scourge // By Severance be you set free, o child of Mars; return now unto the Basis.
10th of the same // Five wretched thralls, forms sloughing and broken // The tally increases, the Scourge recedes. This is the simple calculus of our mission.
1st day of the month of Severance // A war-form of the Parasite // Red dust rising. Dark shapes in the sky. I am sharpened for whatever comes.
7th day of the same // Three beasts of the Scourge // Inhuman scouts test us, a hundred eyes surveil. Let them peer over the rampart and witness their slayer.
9th of the same // Two militia who sought to flee the coming fray // To those still living: Be not tepid of heart. The wage of cowardice is death.
10th of the same // Six war-forms of the Parasite // The Worm brought me battle. I am an agent of Severance, I thrill in my station.
12th of the same // Ten war-forms, thralls uncounted // They come as legion, in swarms like locusts. We guard the gate. There can be nothing else.
15th of the same // Uncounted // The field is dark, I am black with ichor. The gate yet stands. I yearn to a distant moon, where my old mess-mates sleep.
The tripartite format is considered typical for such devotional works (though other forms exist):
[II] Account and classification of the slain
[III] Reflection, prayer or sensory impression