WARHAMMER 40K LORE: THE BADAB WAR Part 1

[Music] for the glory of the imperium [Music] the bad ab war part one to the conclave of corazon war if there is a single defining truth of the dark and terrible age in which we live it is war red and bloody the ceaseless battles between mankind and the alien between the divine truth of the god emperor and the falsehoods of chaos between brother and brother between light and dark life and death war is all this treaties concerns but one war among many but a war whose nature and secrets render it quite exceptional it was a conflict that rose up to plunge a score of star systems into savage strife a war which turned entire armies of the imperium's most powerful warriors against each other and in doing so swept millions to their deaths in its turbulence my right of course were one of the most insidious and dangerous international conflicts to rack our beloved imperium in many centuries the badab war such was the treachery of lufthuron the infamous tyrant of badab and such was the carnage wrought among the stars of the maelstrom zone that it rocked the faith and order of untold worlds never touched directly by its violence and caused loyal subjects to look upon their protectors and fear such were the dire sins and hidden truths that lay behind the war that a pile of secrecy and lies descended about the conflict even as it was fought and rightly so for the war its true nature and the questions it raises about the very psyche of the imperium's greatest weapons of war the space marine chapters of the adaptive societies are both shocking and fundamentally dangerous the deeper facts of the war i therefore consider to be a moral threat to all servants and citizens of the imperium except at the most high and measured levels and it is my wholehearted recommendation that the distribution of this treaties be restricted to only the most esteemed among our sacred ordos better for humanity the simple tale of heroes and monsters treachery and courage that is left to the official record such as it is better the lie the treatise compiled here then endeavors to be as accurate a general pressing and briefing of the real events of the badab war as possible it is called from the archives of the holy ordos man from such sources as extant documentation memetic cerebral recovery and eyewitness accounts that have so far survived the 20 standard years since the fall of the tyrant it is also based in some cases on evidence that has been purposely hidden from the edict of obliteration enacted on the official war record it will detail also the great schism that led up to the war and the important worlds locations and battles that made up the course of the conflict of greatest import in its appendix it also details those space marine chapters involved in the badab war their unique character and those warriors within them whose role became prominent in the war be their hero or monster this then is the true and secret history of the badab war compiled under my seal talos in carmidus inquisitor ordinate ordo hereticus chapter one melstrom the world shattering conflict of the badab war would not spring into being overnight but would have its roots sunk deep into the past its origins were to be found both in the hearts and histories of those who kindled its flame and in no small part in the nature of the place where it occurred the mel strom zone the seeds of the war were sown as far back as a thousand years before the outbreak of armed conflict between the space marine chapters when an age-old threat to the stability and order of the imperium once more raised its head the predations of the maelstrom circa 720 m40 to 580 m41 throughout the later 40th and early 41st millenniums the imperium suffered an upsurge in attacks by malignant forces originating from within the maelstrom a massive and ancient stellar warped vortex near the galactic core these assaults ravaged and marred hundreds of planets and star systems in the vicinity the slaughtered hundreds of thousands and preyed heavily upon the imperial shipping transporting vital resources drawn from the dense star clusters nearby the corrosive effects of these attacks grew increasingly severe and included the loss of the border worlds of the hydraxis nebula to an orc war in the late 700s of m40 and the overrunning of the vital mining colonies on lasa and cairo and by chaos worshiping mutant hordes during the opening years of m41 in particular imperial control of the far-flung but economically important frontier region known as the maelstrom zone began to slip dangerously this in and of itself threatened to massively undermine the military production capacity of nearby more settled imperial sectors and threatened to ultimately collapse the imperium's porous borders in the region and thereby bring relatively secure worlds under direct threat of assault the maelstrom adjacent autonomous imperial resource extraction zone grid zero four two three five seven to give it its full and somewhat ponderous administrative designation simply and more commonly known as the mel strom zone was and remains a vast sweep of wilderness space located galactic west southwest south of the maelstrom itself using the standard form this vast span void space dwarfs many imperial sectors in size containing over a thousand observed star systems and in truth was never more than a cartographical administrative division and not by any means a truly coherent realm while the maelstrom zone contained several major imperial worlds and colonies no central or even ephemeral control by the imperium was maintained over the zone entirely nor could it be so sparsely explored dangerous and far-flung was the area the maelstrom zone was in effect outside the borders of the imperium proper and had been since first spanned during the great crusade it's set between the dense stellar masses of the trailing galactic arm and the deadly turbulence of the maelstrom itself much of the zone is dark void starless gulfs amid which clusters of celestial bodies are unevenly and sparsely scattered the whole region is plagued by deadly and unpredictable phenomena such as ionic reefs null zones and nomadic singularities while the baleful influence of the maelstrom as it exotically waxes and wanes lends equal hazard and unpredictability to any attempts to traverse the warp in the region a factor that is perhaps more than any other responsible for the fact that the maelstrom zone has remained resolutely untamed over the millennia given the local conditions it is perhaps unsurprising that there are relatively few inhabitable worlds within the area with the percentage of star systems with viable biospheres far less than in more settled regions historically this has meant that such life-sustaining worlds where they are found have always been important and possession of them has often been bitterly contested because they allow ready access to the wealth of the maelstrom zone and wealth there is in abundance the worlds of the zone often originally rogues and exiles from the galactic core expelled in ages past by effects both natural and unnatural are a fountainhead of many rare minerals isotopes and crystalline deposits all but unknown further from the galactic center and seldom so accessible it is wealth that has drawn mankind to the zone time and again despite its manifold hazards and difficulties and indeed there is ready evidence of humanity's presence in the region as far back as the dark age of technology the maelstrom zone has also drawn humanity's enemies as well in their countless numbers and diverse loafsome forms slowly during the 38th and 39th millennium several important imperial outposts within the maelstrom zone rose to prominence as flickering beacons of influence and strength within the region this handful of vital worlds formed the links in a distant chain that allowed the resources of the maelstrom zone to flow from its hazardous depths into the coffers of more established sectors beyond the stellar arm the three most important links in this chain were the star systems of signaks sagan and badab each an island of imperial civilization in this anarchic sea it is this path of commerce that came increasingly under threat as the situation in the maelstrom became ever more volatile the maelstrom second only to the great storm of the eye of terror the maelstrom is a vast warp storm slash vortex that scars both the physical universe and the fabric of the ether beyond it is a darkened twisting light in the warp and a fell beacon for those that would find solace in hell a place where our universe and the beyond interpenetrate each other and it is frighteningly easy to slip from reality to unreality and back again it is salvation for the damned and a shifting sea of storms to trouble the righteous located near the dense stellar masses of the galactic core in a near linear path between the core and holy terror the maelstrom covers an area many hundreds of light years across and its presence in space is marked by a vast slowly turning gaia comprised of nebulae dust and stellar material in which countless stars and worlds have long been lost although turbulent and unpredictable enough to make any true chart worthless in any hopes of conquering or even patrolling it an insurmountable task it remains considerably more stable than most other warp storms on record and evidence indicates that it has been in existence since before the evolution of man and because of its relative stability the maelstrom has long served as a haven for all manner of corsairs and renegades outcasts exiles and forgotten horrors from the traitor legions to the eldar's debased kin at any one time it is estimated by the death watch that at least 20 major orc infestations or petty pirate kingdoms make their home in the maelstrom warring against each other and venturing forth to raid and pillage worse things still stalk its radiant darkness as a majorist grade warp anomaly it is a point of constant interface between the real and the unreal real space and the warp overlapping each other like a blurred image demonic incursions and the predations of spectral entities such as the psychnuin and hull ghasts are common at the points within the maelstrom where these realities overlap while the flotsam of unknown eons is cast up within its shadowed vortex many worlds found whirling within the maelstrom's depths have been tainted by chaos in some way while others have been touched by the lapping of stranger tides yet although considered stable for a warp anomaly at least the maelstrom is not static and it is known that it periodically waxes and wanes in size and turbulence over time nor can any location within it be entirely relied upon to remain where it was last encountered over the centuries a number of savants and explorators have sought to define some pattern reason or rhyme to the chaotic fluctuations of the maelstrom are drawn to its dark mysteries most have gone mad or become lost themselves although those that left decipherable records have often compared its patterns to the breath of gods fitfully slumbering or the encephalographic patterns of a nightmare riven mind the death of cygnax 466757 m41 the heavily militarized hive world of cygnx in the star system that bore its name was by the mid m4 ones the most populated sphere in the northern maelstrom zone cygnax was a key world having long been a linchpin of imperial control of the region forming a bulwark against aggressors and a safe port for imperial vessels in the air 557 m41 with the suddenness of an on-rushing storm it succumbed to corruption from within an attack from without backed by the intervention of the dread chaos space marine warband known as the reborn the planet rapidly fell into bloody civil war between its imperial garrison and death cult nihilists who had swelled up from their deep hive sinks in their tens of thousands indiscriminately killing and raising entire city districts heedless of the consequences despite the intervention of the mantis warrior space marine chapter which itself had made home in the nearby endomeon cluster the death toll rose swiftly into the millions unchecked the death cultists gained access to part of the planet's defense missile silo network and in a suicidal rage unleashed a rain of atomic and plasma warheads which shattered its hive cities and succeeded in disrupting the planet's orbit for several years the resulting permanent winter radioactive fallout and tectonic upheavals annihilated all life on signaks the shock waves of this event were tremendous and just as the removal of a single vital keystone can collapse a mighty house as cignax fell imperial control of the northern maelstrom zone swiftly crumbled trade routes were severed and contact with dozens of outlying outposts and mining stations was swiftly lost cignax itself became a fallout shrouded and storm-swept wasteland the wreckage of fallen hives providing a rich lure for scavengers and renegades both human and xenos in origin distant worlds were cut off from the imperium and were either forced to retrench in order to survive or slipped into dark silence in a single year span an expanse of space equal to a month and a half's journey under warp was shown from the imperium's grasp taken with other losses over the previous few centuries a crucial tipping point was reached and vital military supply chains stretching as far as baka and holy terror itself were threatened forcing the adeptus terror to act the wardens of the maelstrom 0338 587 m41 in response to these dire predations from the maelstrom an edict imperialist was pronounced by the high lords of terror and the order was given to permanently based several space marine chapters in the maelstrom zone in order to protect the imperium's interests and pacify the region the astral clause chapter in recognition of their past glorious service to the imperium was given the high honor of the senior role in commanding the newly formed melstrom warders this force was also to include the fleet-based lamenters and channel guard chapters who were specifically charged to patrol the maelstrom's outer regions and also to incorporate the mantis warriors who were already based in the nearby endermeon cluster within its command once in place the astral clause chapter took over an orbital battle station in the strategically vital badab system on arrival to become their fortress monastery and base of operations once established the water chapters supported by the permanent detachment of an imperial navy squadron to the region to conduct search and destroy and convoy protection duties quickly stabilize the surrounding area and purge the inner zone of heretical and xenos elements that had plagued them bringing a dozen imperial planets back under control the wealth of the maelstrom once again began to flow into the coffers of the imperium the greatest operation of these times was the scourge campaign of 640 m41 to 651 m41 in which the astral claws and their allies conducted a series of major combat operations striking deep into the heart of the maelstrom itself and taking the battle to the foe the first imperial force in centuries to do so using intelligence gathered over more than 50 years of constant warfare and the ancient charts and secrets garnered from the cryptic histories held in the archives of the mantis warriors chapter the warded strike forces managed to pinpoint and destroy dozens of enemy strongholds and root out the hidden places of many infamous renegades during the campaign in a battle at tascar's wound the mantis warriors were revenged upon the reborn for their losses at cygnax despite the space marine successes their efforts were finally suddenly curtailed when the channel guard chapter was abruptly withdrawn from the maelstrom zone entirely by direct intervention of the adeptus terror the chapters ties to the waters were severed and they were dispatched to the thanatos crusade into the veiled region this sudden loss which cut the waters forces by a quarter effectively ended the campaign the astral clause subsequently petitioned for a replacement chapter to be assigned to the waters in due course to repair their strength but were denied less than 20 years later the waters were to suffer another severe blow in 681 m41 a previously unknown space hog designated unhallowed heart appeared at the edge of the maelstrom the hulk a twisted conglomeration of mangled cityscapes and lost ships proved to be the abode of demons and all who came into contact with it were riven by suicidal despair and madness several squadron ships and an astral clause strike cruiser were lost with all hands in a valiant attempt to intercept the unhallowed heart as it laid waste to several outposts before slipping through the warp and reappearing in orbit around the colony world of hashuna fully a quarter of the planet's population died in a single night of carnage falling victim to a wave of mass suicides murderous rampages and wanton hysteria only the space marines of the lamenters chapter seemed able to draw close to the hulk without perishing beneath its baleful spell but even they began to succumb and the ghostly specters of the dam desailed them mercilessly unflinching despite the unholy terror they faced the lamenters used a combination of close range bombardment and desperate boarding actions against the warp haunted hulk which succeeded in forcing the monstrous thing away from the planet pressing their assault the dark star at its heart faded from existence and the hulk finally broke up under their sustained onslaught the lamenter's losses were high with over 300 battle brothers and four strike cruisers lost in the engagement the subsequent auto malleus investigation was critical of the chapter for not destroying the hulk as soon as possible at the planet's expense the judgment was greeted with some fury by the lamenters chapter who cast out the auto malleus deputation for their insult this marked a nadir in relations between the wider imperium and the maelstrom warders during this period and came as the waters were increasingly hard pressed by an up surge in demonic incursions and corsair attacks which pushed the waters into an increasingly defensive posture as all operations near the maelstrom itself were suspended the orphans of the warp elsewhere in 680 m41 far distant from the maelstrom zone a sequence of events was set in motion that would later prove to have dreadful ramifications for the astral claws chapter the bakasura a strike cruiser belonging to the tiger claws reappeared on the edge of the segmentum pacificus containing over a hundred battle brothers of a chapter declared destroyed over 14 centuries before the ship appeared to have been subject to severe distortion in the warp and for those on board no more than a few months had elapsed after making contact with a storm-winged space marine strike force and aiding them in battle against eldar slavers the tiger claws were resupplied and made their way back to the location of their fortress monastery on cruder there they found that in their long absence their ancient sun had expanded and rendered their world a lifeless irradiated husk and that their chapter was nothing more than an all but forgotten legend captain vitala of the tiger claws now the de facto master of what was effectively a dead chapter traveled to holy terror to petition the release of the chapter's gene seed stores and the right entitled to rebuild the tiger claws captain vitala disappeared without trace while awaiting his petitions hearing and as a result his suit was summarily dismissed rumors in inquisitorial circles darkly hinted that the lost chapter was considered tainted by some and was a part of the so-called cursed founding better left dead the last seen conducting operations in the region of their chapters dead home world could not be located by the ships into the area to track them down the imperial tithe and the fragile threads of human survival the fabric of the imperium is cemented together by the great tithe also known as terror's dew or the grand harvest the tithe is universal and paid in the single true coin of the imperium human life both as a harvest of the world's youth given up to service and the darker crop of psyches and witches surrendered to the dreaded black ships the tithe whose sacred ministration oversight and recovery is the duty of the countless ranks of the administrative is at least in theory applied to every world within the imperium to its own measure and ability to pay few worlds within the bounds of the imperium are exempted in some way most notable of these being worlds beholden to another branch of the adapter such as space marine chapter home worlds or inquisitorial strongholds while the great forge worlds of the adeptus mechanicus have their own levee structures hidden within the shadow empire of the machine cult secondary to the great tithe is a vast shifting and unfathomable tangled web of resource distribution networks duties feudal levees and ancient commercial contracts through which the imperium's means of production unending wars and the necessity of human survival are maintained for the great industrial hive world such as necromanda or hemetica this sustaining output is vast occupying many gigatons of manufactured goods while their hunger for raw materials is both colossal and insatiable the collection of the tithe and the transfer of materials is unceasing but war error greed failure disaster and the vagaries of warp travel can make a mockery of this process and the monolithic gears of administrative bureaucracy grind far too blindly and slowly to take note of the changing fates of fringe worlds with any real accuracy this can lead to situations where a tithe might go uncollected for centuries billions starve unnoticed or a ravaged planet becomes subject to demands that they tragically have no ability whatsoever to meet for outlying human worlds and frontier stations either too far outside the imperium proper in the wilderness of space or that have gone unnoticed owing to their size the tithe does not strictly apply but in practice sponsored colonies must still pay a price and perhaps suffer the attention of rogue traders which can be both a curse and a blessing the tyrant of badab 5901 715 m41 after a series of heavy orc raids originating within the maelstrom struck deep into the badab sector the chapter master of the astral clause rovik blake went against his own doctrine pursuing the orcs back into the maelstrom itself with the chapters battle parch sarif of judgement at the head of a large strike force the astral claws exited the warp soon after the orc terrorships arrived at their rock bases in the vast shattered planetary debris fields orbiting the colossal star of hell cyrus and battle was joined chapter master rovic blake who led the astral clause for the last two centuries fell in single combat with the orc war boss vogue man burner and although the space marines would slay thousands of green skins in the battle and destroy much of the orcs base the saraf of judgement was badly damaged and the astral claws were forced to retreat on the survivor's return to the badab system lufthuron captain of the astral claw's third company was appointed chapter master by the popular acclaim of his peers in 5901 715 m41 in doing so he became by far the youngest warrior in the chapters history to attain this rank already having established himself in battle as a charismatic leader and a skilled tactician huron quickly made his mark by reorganizing the astral clause strategic deployments and establishing a policy of expanding his chapter's fleet which had become badly depleted including within its ranks corsair prizes captured in aggressive raids in concert with his fellow masters of the warder chapters he went on to establish a scorched planet policy against their enemies and increased the astral clause stockpile of exterminatus class weapons for this purpose rendering several fringe worlds that in the past have provided renegade ships with temporary harbour into lifeless husks in four five one two seven one eight m41 a failed palace coup on bada primeros led to an abortive civil war on the hive world and the astral claws stepped in and brutally crushed the conflict in the aftermath elements behind the coup were revealed under interrogation to have connections to raiders and off-world smuggling rings which they had used as a source of arms and tainted drugs to fuel the failed uprising the mata was then brought before huron for judgment as riots and petty revolts began to flare up once more across the planet huron outraged that such a betrayal could fester insidiously behind his back and mindful of the lessons of signacs resolve to take matters in hand personally the space marines of the astral claws swiftly re-imposed order once more on badab primeros this time employing shattering force and executing much of the planet's ruling class as well as purging its hives of anyone they perceived as morally recidivist euron took on the mantle of planetary ruler as well styling himself the tyrant of badab he claimed the badap sector the cluster of inhabited worlds in proximity to the relatively hospitable region of void around the barab system as his chapters fifed him to better protect these worlds and those souls that dwell upon them in the glory of the emperor echoing in his pronouncement the example and precedence of the sovereign realm of ultramar and the warders charter the wholesale purging of the ruling elites of the nearby system soon followed and in the decades afterwards a number of astral clause watch bastions were established while euron's chosen servants and political allies were placed in positions of power effectively turning the badab sector into a pocket empire at the command of the astral clause euron's power was further cemented by the creation of what became known as the tyrant's legion in a massive reorganization of the uneven and often isolationist native planetary defense forces in the region these forces now followed a standard dictated by huron as well as a unified command structure astral clause detachments were assigned to further their training to purge them of weak elements by 790 m41 the defense of the badab sector was stronger than at any point in its history the tyrant's legion's worth proved in the repulsion of separate corsair raids on dhaka balance and ministra station the chapter itself freed from its defensive stance conducted a series of lightning raids into outlying areas to harass and destroy targets of opportunity on bloody bones and other heretic or xenos controlled spheres the fame of the astral clause tyrant grew his reputation spreading beyond the zone as his tally of victories increased pirate activity was curtailed and the maelstrom zone reached levels of production never before achieved spurred on by their success huron sent his servants to undertake a pilgrimage to deliver a formal and lengthy petition to terror this document made a detailed case for completely subduing the maelstrom and the surrounding area along with the great benefits this would gain the imperium in order to achieve this the document set out the case for a massively augmented deployment of space marine chapters to the maelstrom waters ranks suggesting that a new founding might even be merited to meet the plan's needs euron's petition was dismissed without full hearing on the grounds that the imperium's requirements were better met elsewhere hurons sin during the mid 700s m41 the regular astral clause gene seed submission to the magus in vigilia of the adaptus mechanicus became infrequent and incomplete although a cause for concern such matters are not uncommon when involving space marine chapters particularly those deployed to border areas or on crusade simply because the chapter itself might have a temporary need to retain the gene seed itself to sustain battlefield losses but the longer such an emission persists the greater the risk some other darker motive is at work later evidence would indicate that this was certainly to prove true with the astral clause and this along with pride would prove to be the first great sin against the traditions of the astartes that would arguably result in the chapters fall into heresy the badab schism 748 m41 after further requests to redistribute resources from the maelstrom zone were denied euron withheld primeira's planetary tithe to the administratum and further blocked the passage of trade through his realms in protest over the adapter's failure to provide him and his allies sufficient resources to police the maelstrom this had a double effect as much of bad abs output was actually made up through the refinement of ores and crystals garnered from the scattered mining outposts of the pale stars region of the maelstrom zone additionally as the main viable warp routes in the area passed through bada primaris the bulk of the supply of minerals from this vital region had been cut off as well the tyrant of badab couched this refusal in terms of the astral claws role as defenders of the maelstrom zone diverting the industrial resource and manpower he had commandeered to directly supplement the badab sector's defenses as well as augment the maelstrom fleet detachment and to fortify key worlds under his purview in the badab system this was manifested as a massive increase in space-based defenses encircling the outer and inner spheres in a ring of steel while on bada primeros huron ordered demolished the ancient citadel of the ruling dominars and instead erected what was to become the legendary hugely fortified palace of thorns to his own specifications and design the ongoing political situation was caused for heated controversy and bitter argument within the adeptus terror and the segmentum court's temporal over broken charters and contracts and its crux was a fault line that had long slept beneath the rigid structure of imperial law the clashing entitlements of the administration to the the imperial tithe and the ancient rights of astartes commanders to defend the imperium by any means necessary this furore became swiftly known to observers as the badab schism and would last for more than a century and a half during which military operations of the astral clause and the maelstrom borders were to carry on as usual against a backdrop of worsening tensions with the administration and segmentum authorities nowhere was this sudden loss of the lifeblood of industry and commerce more keenly felt than in the cathargo sector for more than 11 centuries the carthan lords and planetary governors had held the charter to distribute the industrial output of the maelstrom zone and guard its passage from the administration-controlled supply fortress on sagan and thence to the western segment of ultima and beyond isolated by vast distances of turbulent and warring space from the authorities at khardunish the carthans had long grown fat and decadent protected from the predations of the beast and the alien by the blood and toil of more strife-torn realms the only masters they feared were the segmentum procurators general who demanded their jew regardless of whether the wells that had so long supplied them had suddenly run dry the lycanthus drift campaign and the crusade of wrath despite the fury and spilled ink their actions had engendered hundreds of light years distant the astral claws now at full fighting strength and freed from the inglorious weight of garrison duty moved to intervene in the aftermath of the long simmering and justly infamous fourth quadrant rebellion which had for many decades troubled the imperium answering a general call to arms among the astartes of the region the astral clause dispatched a powerful force under the direct personal command of huron against one of the last major stronghold elements of the revolt beyond the southern borders of the maelstrom zone at the gathering of the imperial forces hurum was elected battle leader by common consent of a mixed task force comprising companies from the astral clause fire hawks white scars and celestial guard chapters backed by krieg and the coal sec imperial guard regiments and the titans of legio venator under euron's inspired command the task force ruthlessly eradicated the heavily fortified lycanthos system of traitor and chaos forces in under a year however stibor lazarek the chapter master of the fire hawks roth that he was not given command of the campaign over huron is known to have borne a grudge against the astral clause since this time a grudge that would soon bear bitter fruit returning to the maelstrom zone in glorious victory the astral claws quickly sought to capitalize on their achievements and in 869 m41 at the instigation of huron the black templars declared a crusade of wrath into the maelstrom assaulting it from its eastward marches meanwhile the astral claws lamenters and mantis warriors launched their own assaults into the pathways of the great storm from its southern and north eastern approaches thanks in no small part to the tyrant's strategic planning as well as the metal of the space marine chapters involved no fewer than 23 alien or heretic stronghold worlds were purged including several on the maelstrom's fringes that had fallen into their hands of the word bearers and their apostate followers at the height of the campaign having made inroads deeper yet than any recorded imperial fleet had attempted the astral claws and mantis warriors directed their mast assault to smash the sub-human flesh haunters of the howling gaia at the culmination of the battle against the flesh haunters the astral claws first company led by huron fought their way deep within the foul creatures carcass vaults before unleashing the life eater virus upon the abominations by this single act they ended a threat that had plagued the imperium since before the age of apostasy affording a great and lauded victory once more wider events again intervened to put a premature end to the astral clause plans as the black templars were suddenly called away to aid the beleaguered realm of ultramar in the wake of the tyrannic war already having suffered substantial losses in the campaign weary of being cut off and with readings from the emperor's terror portaining on coming doom the water chapters were forced to withdraw from the maelstrom and could not complete their objectives much to euron's fury matters once again worsened not only within the maelstrom zone but for the wider imperium as well the threat of high fleet beermoth had left the defense of the segmentum ultima in disarray and slumbering threats as far flung as the eye of terror and the ghoul stars lurched once more into life and everywhere there were wars and rumors of wars revolts and strange phenomena in the maelstrom zone trouble again flared up and enemies flooded from the dark places a marauding orc force of a size unseen since the battle of hell of cyrus rampaged through the endermeon cluster in the ancient world of fargos hex on the edge of the maelstrom zone simply disappeared never to be seen again convoys were attacked in ever greater number and ghast ships and etheric storms were visited on once safe warp routes as the great storm of the maelstrom itself waxed gibbous and reached out in the warped storm's barefoot light cult-led revolts racked the scattered mining outposts of the pale stars and also struck closer to home as cult activity was uncovered festering in the shadows of badab sector spurring on a series of merciless pogroms by the tyrant's followers as crisis followed crisis in the dying years of the 800's m41 euron saw the maelstrom zone slipping from his grasp and all the victories the warders had gained beginning to crumble and so moved to tighten his grip unaware that elsewhere events were moving against him the tyrant at bay court records from this period picture huron has uncharacteristically taciturn and withdrawn on his return from the maelstrom eva locking himself away in the chapter's archives for days on end and refusing to see anyone we're keeping long silent vigils alone in the fortress monasteries panopticon solar gazing and blinking for hours at hollow spheres depicting the breadth of the maelstrom zone and the barefoot vortex that dominated its stars some observers have gone on to say that it was during this time that huron fell from grace that denied again the goals he had spent his life fighting for to see his ultimate glory snatched from his hands at the last by those he should call master an ally unhinged him or that he gave into hubris and false pride some have gone so far as to suggest that during the crusade of wrath deep within the nightmarish vortex of the maelstrom some strange taint alien or warp whispered wormed its way into his heart but this perhaps is too simple and unlikely an answer and it is just as likely that the darkness of huron's soul was now more or less than the same empyrean fire that called him to greatness and made him such an effective and innovative warrior as so many of his once brother space marines were soon to find out to their cost chapter 2 shadows of war with the scene set and the players in place it would not be long until the brooding malcontent of the tyrant of badab would spark into violence and the imperium would shed the blood of its own matters would come swiftly to a head as the carthians and their allies in the administration who regardless of their cause were to demonstrate a shocking arrogance in their own power and ignorance of the true face of the imperium beyond the relative safety of the cathargo sector as to the other warders of the maelstrom they had grown increasingly isolated and insular over the preceding centuries losing sight of where their true duty lay they had sown the seeds of their own calamity the destruction of thai fleet vx542-11 689 901 m41 with preliminary judgments into the badab schism in the segmentum court's temporal weighing in the administration's favor the carthans and their allies within the administration seized their chance to act in 901 m41 an imperial investigation fleet commanded by an administrative assail general and carrying representatives of the adeptus mechanicus biologists in vigila the lords of the cathargo sector and at least one independently operating inquisitor was assembled the force was dispatched to badab to demand the immediate delivery of the badab tithe commandeered resources and the astral claw chapter's gene seed requirement the fleet was made up of several huge mass conveyors with expectation of a harvest of wealth and spearheaded by a trinity of cruisers a cult mechanicus locus caraval and a score of lesser escort craft the force no doubt calculated to display the power and authority of the mission and carry a not-so-veiled threat into the heart of the tyrant's domains it could be seen in retrospect as a misjudged plan but few could have foreseen what was to happen next in circumstances that still cannot be fully confirmed or explained the investigation fleet was fired on and destroyed in its entirety as it attempted to force its way through the badab system's ring of steel in order to press its demands no ship survived and more than 20 000 servants of the imperium were lost claim and counterclaim ensued in the aftermath as to how this tragic destruction had occurred and huron delivering his own dominions report on the badab mata to the segmentum authorities was adamant that the fleet was fired upon for refusing to give way to the just authority of the system's masters paying for their transgressions with their lives as mandated by imperial law meanwhile outrage at the incident in the fargo sector quickly became widespread and general uproar was evidence throughout the sector's ruling elites at the barbarians of the maelstrom zone and soon such trade links that remain between the two areas were abruptly severed or subject to the harshest scrutiny wherever possible karthian sector governor tanit koenig moved to heavily censure the astral clause chapter along with calls for the arrest and trial of huron for treachery against the imperium while the local agents of the magos in vigila petitioned their own distant masters for the astral clause punishment with customary inertia the adapters terror did not yet deliberately intervene as ever there were wars and conflicts of plenty abroad in the imperium and this local discord between neighbouring regions no more to them than a tangle of claim and counter claim between legitimate authorities pallid before the weight of the suffering and bloodshed elsewhere in addition fundamentally huron was the lawful master of a realm permanently on a war footing a bulwark against the alien and the claws of chaos and on the most basic level he had the right to defend those domains and without hard evidence charges of willful and premeditated homicide against the imperium servants in this case would be almost impossible to prove the carthan imperial commanders under pressure from the segmentum authorities and frustrated by the destruction of the tie fleet took it on themselves to send two further punitive expeditions into the maelstrom zone under the assumed auspices of imperial authority over the next three years both fleets were lost in unconfirmed circumstances purportedly never even reaching the badab system and intervention by the astral clause and their allies was gravely suspected imperial shipping began to suffer increasing attacks and disappearances traversing the maelstrom zone even beyond those areas such as the badab sector under the astral clause direct sway reports by the melstrom patrol squadron laid the blame at an increase in radar traffic and warp squalls in the area but for every loss the whispers blaming huron and his followers grew louder both on the administratum controlled thai fortress world of sagan on the edge of the maelstrom zone and across the border in the carthan sector unable to enact their will on the situation decisively the increasingly desperate carthan lords near bankrupted by this stage by their liabilities first sought to circumvent badab itself with the aid of the administration forces on sagan in a combined operation the two attempted to access the lost ties directly their ships taking the far longer and more perilous route to the pale stars via kamara while the carthage increased quote uh demands from any other maelstrom's own world such as their grasp could reach in an attempt to make up the shortfall by 903 m41 the agents of the carthan imperial commanders began to systematically spread propaganda in both the segmentum sizes and the senatorum imperialis elucidating on the moral corruption treachery and vainglorious pride of the tyrant of badab to anyone that would listen meanwhile the local administrative authorities further pressed the high lords of terror themselves to intervene directly to punish euron and his wayward chapter for their france the maelstrom warders for their part continued to arm themselves for war and conducted sweeps of the maelstrom zone in force while within the padup sector itself massive and feverish building programs were underway further augmenting their defenses in preparation for war the maelstrom secession 5995 901 m41 huron's answer to the continuing threats to the control of his domain was to produce his infamous articles of just secession these documents which were also signed and ratified by the masters of the lamenters and mantis warriors chapter who had been convinced by huron of the justness of his cause and the injustice of the outsiders demands were designed to formally sever the maelstrom owns direct tithes to its neighboring sectors copies of the articles were delivered to the segmentum authorities in the court's temporal in response to the many and grievous insults presumptions and denials of the emperor given rights and titles of the adeptus astartes by the false and wayward servants of the administratum and the carthan lords and their allies these documents further stated the signatory's refusal to hand over the tithes to local segmentum authorities aid or defend any attempt to do so or recognize the demands of the carthan lords they did however affirm the maelstrom warders vowed to pursue the defense of the imperium as their sole cause stating that the maelstrom warders must be given a free hand to protect mankind as they had sworn to the emperor and without the corrupt interference of those who claim to serve him but seek instead their own glory and greed in support of their cause the documents cited both the edict that founded the meltron warders and the ancient rights and titles of the adeptus astartes prerogative in their defense precedents that both weighed heavily in their favor the document went on to call for a full investigation into the rulership of the carthan sector asserted the historic and lawful sovereignty of the space marine chapters involved from outside interference by the lower adapter and stated again their willingness to defend the maelstrom zone from any who would threaten it around this time imperial shipping passing through the maelstrom zone's outer regions began to be attacked and lost in great numbers to unknown forces soon contact with several worlds still beholden to the carthans and the administrative officio and sagan within the inner zone ended with garbled communications warning of attack and siege by space marine forces the carthans outraged threatened all-out war in response but simply lacked the means to do so alone instead they petitioned aid to mount an attack from both the departmento munitorum and the segmentum naval subcommand at riser but were flatly refused and informed that the matter was an internal dispute in which they would not intervene it is also noteworthy that although they pled their case before these powers and the procurators of the administration that they avoided where possible any inquisitorial involvement in the matter no doubt fearing the consequences of doing so the local inquisition representatives for their part more than well enough occupied by other concerns were content to keep a close eye on the situation mindful that such squabbles however bloody were far from uncommon among imperial commanders particularly in border regions and no damning or conclusive evidence of heresy or taint had yet been brought forward against either party met with denials from the powers that be the cathargo sector itself began to mobilize for war drafting increasingly large numbers of troops into its planetary defense regiments and establishing direct military ties and formal alliances with the administration questor of sagan who had also suffered from the secession's consequences and feared the tyrant's growing power further to their goals and by the personal decision of the sat trap tanning conig they sent direct and open appeals to several space marine chapters with whom they'd had past dealings to aid them in recovering the lost tires and safeguard their ships konig's motivations in this were later determined under inquisitorial questioning to have been based on the realization that only space marines could truly hope to contest other space marines in open battle indeed she may have simply hoped to achieve a short-term neutralization of the astral clause in the region using conflict against a third party to distract them so that the carthans once again could ensue free access to the maelstrom zone this monumental arrogance and folly would soon prove disastrous the fire orcs chapter was the first to respond to the carthan cause the storm breaks 5350 904 m41 at the request of the carthan sat trap koenig the fire hawks chapter of the adeptus astartes agreed to investigate the disappearance of carthand shipping in the areas to the galactic south of the golgothan wastes which boarded the northern reaches of the maelstrom zone on a number of occasions in the past the fleet-based firehawks chapter had used the vast orbital dockyards of the carthan capital world sidon ultra for resupply they had also been invited by the carthans to enact judgment on wayward planets and minor alien threats within the sector and it was on this relationship the carthans relied upon for a favorable hearing the volatile and bellicose nature of the firehawks chapter was also widely known and it is likely that this also figured in konig's reasoning in making her request to them directly the fire hawks were at that time conducting search and destroy operations in the golgotha wastes and the fire hawks chapter master stibor lazarik as likely for reasoning of his own as other motivations acquiesce to dispatching several ships into the northern maelstrom zone one such vessel the red harbinger entered the endomeon cluster in 350.904 m41 this cluster is an expanse of ancient stars several of which contain human colonies inhabited for many millennia and which at this time had long fallen under the stewardship of the mantis warriors chapter intercepted and surrounded in the galen system the red harbinger refused to stand down and be boarded by the mantis warriors strike craft the mantis warriors ever fierce and proud and goaded by the fire hawks refusal and threats opened fire and crippled the lone cruiser thus the full-scale conflict between space marine chapters that was to follow ignited with this single act boarding and capturing the ship proved no easy affair as the fire hawks were more than willing to die to defend their honor and losses were heavy on both sides less than 20 fire hawks were captured alive and non-surrendered but their struggles brought time for an astropathic message to be dispatched to their chapter warning of their fate and who they fought upon learning of the taking of the ship master lazarik and his entire firehawks chapter became utterly incensed and withdrawing from operations already underway the entire chapter fleet of the fire hawks was ordered to make best speed under warp for the maelstrom zone mata swiftly escalated and the arrival of a fire hawks battle group was met at galen by a task force of both mantis warriors and astral claws warships after a tense standoff during which the captives were returned and both sides traded threats the fire hawks withdrew to await the arrival of their full force which had been dispersed across the wastes and in particular their massive flagship the rapturous rex a pre-imperial mobile star fortress of incredible power rendezvousing at sagan and aided by the carthan fleet the fire hawks launched a series of probing attacks and reconnaissance missions towards the badab sector and the endomeon cluster but in doing so did little more than stir up a horn its nest the tyrant and his allies had been prepared for war for years their forces were battle hardened they were entirely familiar with the territory over which they fought and their plans were well laid the mantis warriors proved all but impossible to pin down their ships appearing and disappearing in the asteroid shoals and nebulae fields of the endemy and cluster seemingly at will while any forces directed towards badab found an impenetrable array of defenses set against them using the carthans to distract the forces of badab sector and screen them from possible counter-attack the weight of the fire hawks struck at the feudal agriworld of iblis at the edge of the endemion cluster attacking civilian targets and burning great slaves of crops and veld's land in order to bring the mantis warriors to battle unfortunately for the fire hawks this attack if not its precise location had been anticipated and planned for by the secessionists and their own strategy fell into place as the mantis warriors hit and run attacks pinned the fire hawks in place on iblis and more importantly drew their fleet away from sagan the combined force of the astral claws and lamenters chapters descended upon the sagan system the administration controlled system of sagan with its attendant orbital fleet anchorage and astropathic relay were rightly regarded as the gateway to the maelstrom zone caught utterly unprepared for such a direct and sudden assault sagan fell in a matter of days as its defenses although extensive was soon circumvented sagan's protectors were overwhelmed amid a great slaughter of its planetary defense forces and the cath and troops caught on the ground with sagan in the tyrant's hands the strategic situation had rapidly changed and now the second most important world in the region after badab was under the secessionists direct control along with the tithe fortress's vast stockpile of arms munitions and supplies the fire hawks and the carthan forces stranded on operations within the maelstrom zone found themselves cut off from supply and behind enemy lines badly mauled the fire hawks withdrew from the iblis system the savage firepower of the rapturous wrecks raking the planet's surface as a partying gift and successfully punching the fire hawks a way out of an attempt to blockade them inside the system the star fortress claimed the life of the maelstrom squadron's only mars class battle cruiser sacred tetrarch in the process proving that even the mighty warships nova cannon could not prevail against the vast relic vessel after these tumultuous events uh relative low followed in the fighting as the secessionists consolidated their gains and the carthage retreated in disarray and soon the fire hawks heavily outnumbered were forced into a series of running battles and defensive actions in the maelstrom zone's fringes this period of forced retreat lasted until 710 904 m41 when the marines errant chapter answered the call of the fire hawks for reinforcement in doing so the marines eren diverted a sizeable force of six companies and a fleet of support vessels from their preparations to undertake an extra galactic crusade in order to aid their brother astartes although their precise motivations in doing so remains obscure unfortunately their arrival coincided with a renewed offensive by the secessionists and the star-faring chapter quickly became bogged down protecting imperial shipping attempting their dangerous long routes to the pale stars region and the maelstrom zone's outlying colonies for the next several standard months there were numerous repeated minor clashes between the two sides with the fire hawks attempting to mask their remaining strength in the hopes of forcing a decisive engagement while the marines errant with a better grasp of the reality of the situation splitting their highly mobile strike cruiser-based forces in order to guard convoys in transit from increasingly frequent raids and harassment attacks in short order the marines erin found themselves caught between the desires of the fire hawks to attack and destroy huron and his allies at any cost and the immediate and growing need to protect imperial shipping and outlying colonies in the cathargo sector from attack by marauding secessionist forces this conflict of interest was further complicated by the ancient ties of loyalty and blood the marines errant had with the lamentous chapter besides which they had fought together as recently as the corinth crusade but now faced each other as enemies in battle this led to incidents where the marines errant failed to try to do more than drive off the lamentous forces during raids in which both parties gave quarter to the other raising the mutual ire of their allies matters steadily worsened towards the year's end as ever greater numbers of star systems were drawn into a rapidly escalating war meanwhile the fire hawks and their carthan allies continue to suffer heavy losses in battle all but alone the fiercely isolationist fortress world of sun grad in the central maelstrom zone held out against the secessionists its defense is simply too powerful and skillfully managed for them to take without a cost that would be dangerous to their forces but despite these few setbacks and the efforts of the fire hawks and marines errant a dozen other worlds fell in short order to secessionist control either succumbing to direct assault or submission leaving only the periphery and the most forlorn and dangerous areas of the maelstrom zone outside the secessionist's grip footed and embattled worse developments for the carthans and their allies would soon unfold as in 915 904 m41 news reached the marines errands that in payment of an ancient blood earth given to the astral clause the executioner's chapter of the space marines had also announced their armed support for the secessionists sending the warship nighthag containing a full augmented battle company of space marines to back up their words the rest of this notoriously grim and independent chapters forces were known to be assembling on their distant twin home worlds of stigia aquilan in preparation for war increasingly desperate and with their own tithes and supplications to the proctor generals of the adeptus terror long overdue satrap konig was forced to take drastic action with the fleet anchorage at sagan now in the hands of the secessionists the carthan imperial commanders now bankrupted by their sector's losses in the war mounted a final attempt to harvest the resources they knew to be waiting in the tithe depots of vayana and kyrama before the secessionists could consolidate their control of the western maelstrom zone and claim these worlds as their own a hastily assembled armed convoy centered around the vast chartist highliner cardinal udenata was convened in order to carry out this last-ditch effort on behalf of the carthans and their allies convoy udonata comprised some 20 other armed freighters and mass conveyors and was protected by the gothic class cruiser dread child of battle fleet cathargo marines are in strike group mercurio and 16 small escorts of various classes representing a last gasp of the carthage force's projection into the maelstrom zone the secessionists intelligence network however had already ascertained every detail of this supposed secret mission and they waited until after the convoy had glutted itself on the wealth awaiting them at vayner before they attacked the fleet mid transit into the warp ambushed by a secessionist attack group comprising the main elements from both the astral claws and lamentous fleet led by huron himself the convoy was first encircled and then taken one vessel at a time in a series of ferocious ship-to-ship boarding actions these were bloody pitched battles fought between space marine assault forces and hard-pressed naval crews in the murderously tight confines of warships weapons decks and the vast airless vaults of the mass conveyors and both the cardinal udonata and the dreadchild as well as 23 other vessels were taken as captive prizes for almost no losses sustained by the attacking forces ships the marines are in strike cruiser star jackal was the only capital ship of the convoy to escape the tyrant's trap fighting its way clear with heavy damage the taking of convoy udonata was a crushing secessionist victory that effectively ended the carthan's active involvement in the war with the secessionists in the ascendancy all that now seemed to remain for them was to drive off those space marines who still contested them from the maelstrom zone and consolidate their gains the astral claws focused their attentions on the fire hawks and fought them back to the edge of the golgothan wastes inflicting further serious casualties on the chapter which could no longer be considered an effective fighting force while seemingly sustaining no loss in strength themselves despite the fire hawks making them pay bloody for each victory the greatest single reversal for the secessionist enemies came however when the mantis warriors successfully drew a sizable portion of the remaining marines erin chapter into battle on the industrial moon of belarus fall the fall as it was known was a vital supply and navigation point and particularly bitterly contested the two chapters clashed fiercely the marines errants matching their own dogged tenacity and tactical skill against the lightning strikes and flanking maneuvers of their enemies the mantis warriors the final master stroke came when the mantis warriors managed to isolate and entrap the marines there in first and third companies in the raster zones and much of the chapter's command structure was destroyed in a series of murderous surgical strikes with their chapter master third company captain and their command staff dead the marines errant were decimated and forced to retreat in disarray in the aftermath the alliance between them and the fire hawks all but collapsed under bitter recriminations the secessionist forces continued to make major advances throughout the rest of the year almost unopposed with further minor engagements fought amid the ruins of cygnax and the outer worlds of the cern grad system the mouse drum zone belonged to huron the eye of the high lords zero zero one six nine o five m m41 with five different chapters of the space marines now embroiled in open warfare and a sith on route along with several naval detachments and the various sectarian factions now involved in what was rapidly accelerating to become the greatest conflict of its kind since the infamous fourth quadrant rebellion the imperiums high authorities were forced finally to act a triumvirate of imperial legates were dispatched under the seal of the high lords to pronounce judgment over the ongoing strife in the maelstrom zone and were under orders to leave no stone unturned the triumvirate was served by a sizable deputation of the imperial inquisition of the ordo hereticus an administratum auditor task force and a powerful naval escort battle group a sign from the segmentum solar reserve and quickly divided their attentions between the different combatants and their backers inquisition investigation swiftly uncovered a damning chain of evidence concerning curon's activities and there's of his chapter charges were laid ranging from the paucity of their return gene seed to incontrovertible evidence of their direct involvement in attacks on imperial shipping that's for the carthans to the inquisition their own role in contributing to and worsening the unfolding events of the secession smacked at best of gross arrogance but more likely want an ambition and misrule the resolution of the badab secession crisis was quickly pronounced by the terran leagues to be a matter of the imperium security rather than a civil conflict as a result of this preliminary finding they issued an immediate demand for the unconditional cease-fire of all parties in the surrender of the secessionists a demand which was immediately rejected by huron with the tyrants stating that complying with the league's demands would leave my brave worlds and emperor given charges naked before the enemy as a result orders were issued by the terran leagues for the arrest pending trial of the chapter masters of all secessionist chapters and the seizure pending judgment of their worlds goods records and chattels by whatever force was deemed necessary this order was to be carried out by all loyal forces of the imperium wherever so and whoever so they may be so denounced the hand of the imperium itself was now turned against huron and all who stood with him no longer a bloody feud over commerce and influence between imperial factions nor even a deadly vendetta between space marine chapters the conflict was now between the imperium and those that had turned away from the emperor's rule between loyalist and secessionist the badab war had truly begun chapter 3 the tide of destruction once space marine had met space marine in battle the conflict in the maelstrom had swiftly escalated now with the imperial authorities attempting to ensure a ceasation of hostilities under deadly sanction and affect the arrest and seizure of huron the maelstrom's own conflict erupted into full-scale war but even at this hour there were those who believed that the factions could be pulled back from the brink of destruction they were proved wrong the loyalists gather for war 0764 905 m41 with the pronouncement of the terran league's judgment a major deployment of space marines was brought into the war to enforce its ruling by any means necessary chosen from those chapters available in the region and willing to take up the call to arms the red scorpions chapter formed the largest part of what was to become swiftly known as the loyalist space marine contingent they would be joined by additional battle companies drawn from the salamanders raptors and fire angels chapter with in the short term the surviving fire hawks and marines errant ordered to stand down from independent operations and submit to the high lord's authority for investigation the marines errant in perilous condition from their recent losses readily complied but before they submitted to the lee gates will the fire hawks had one last act of bloody vengeance to perform that has since entered into the history of the war as the infamous firebombing of sacristan in what is widely regarded as a strategically wasteful and vainglorious assault lazarec of the fire hawks used his surviving chapter fleet led by the star fortress rapturous rex to conduct a retaliatory orbital assault on the frontier planet of sacristan a sovereign world on the edge of the endemian cluster sacristan was a hard scrabble colony world with a small population and no real significance other than as one of the worlds that the mantis warriors had long counted among those it was their responsibility to defend after smashing through the planet's poultry space defenses and decapitating its rulers and few military assets in a savage series of assault raids by fire hawk forces the rapturous wrecks entered a perilous low orbit and proceeded with systematic plasma bombing from the upper atmosphere of the planet over several days and night sacristan was laid waste before the fire hawks withdrew from the system leaving the planet a flame wiping out more than 90 percent of its population elsewhere the loyalist forces had gathered their strength on joshua quintus on the edge of the cathargo sector and made their preparations and organized themselves for a long campaign of war while league inquisitor john deese freyn of the order hereticus had theoretical charge of the loyalists it was instead varant ortiz lord high commander of the red scorpions who was given overall tactical command of the unified loyalist space marine forces as magistar militam a first among equals by the commanders of the space marine contingents such an appointment being a common practice where diverse chapters are present within a single force given the inherent dangers in dealing with conflicts between the space marine chapters and their relative autonomy from direct imperial control frane had little choice but to go along with this decision but would have most likely preferred a commander from a more tractable chapter if given his way as the red scorpions had been in the past a famously independent minded and occasionally fractious chapter in their own right regardless the masked loyalist space marine force backed by detachments brought in from the segmentum solar fleet reserve quickly set about their tasks which were twofold the first of these was to force the surrender and compliance of the secessionist chapters to the lee gates authority the second was that they were to reestablish and protect commercial links between the worlds of the maelstrom zone and the rest of the imperium an imperium in dire need of those resources in order to maintain a score of pressing military needs lord commander ortiz's first command was to deploy his own red scorpions along with the bulk of the battlefleet solar ships and conduct a series of pushes and faints into the region's control by the secessionist to gauge their resistance and deployments for himself this was to result in what was the heaviest naval engagement of the war so far the indecisive battle of silent reach in 4011 906 m41 in this engagement cruiser squadrons of the maelstrom and lamentous fleets clashed with segmentum solar and the red scorpions warships in the barren void between the star systems of galan and grief the battle proved inconclusive with vessels from both sides suffering damage but few major ships from either side lost this has been blamed in retrospect by analysis on an assumption that at this stage neither side were willing to sacrifice their main battle line to ensure victory the only serious loss incurred was the maelstrom fleet's flagship for the engagement the overlord class battle cruiser gauntlet of wrath its main bridge was wrecked after a fortunate land strike from the light cruiser lady sabaline penetrated its void shields causing the battle cruiser to run out of control and break away from its escorts seeing this unexpected error several red scorpion strike cruisers pounced immediately and despite the valiant efforts of the gauntlets gun crews they swiftly battered the venerable warship in a close-range crossfire before finishing her off with raiding parties leaving the ship a gutted and flaming hulk before her allies could rally to defend her the secessionist's fleet broke off from the engagement into the warp soon afterwards leaving the loyalists to claim a tentative victory this proved to be the largest of a dozen engagements that occurred in a very short space of time in this period consisting of both void combats between starships and pitched battles on frontier worlds overall the substantial loyalist forces quickly succeeded in checking and containing the secessionist advance in the early part of 906 m41 especially after the marines errant and fire hawks were cleared of heretical or seditious intent and added their remaining forces to the loyalist order of battle but despite this unexpectedly high resistance prevented them from making any significant gains lord commander ortiz in pursuing a strategy of conducting attacks across a broad front had hoped to reveal a weakness in an enemy he knew had to be thinly stretched but remarkably no such weakness appeared thus loyalist strategy changed the castigation of siddon ultra elsewhere outside the borders of the maelstrom zone the scrutiny of the high lords of terror also fell on the cathargo sector legatine investigations carried out at sidon ultra capital of the cathargo sector quickly found imperial commander and carthan sector governor the satrap connig cuppable for provoking the war and she and the heads of her noble house were executed by the ordo hereticus for licentious ambition and wanton miss raw unbecoming a servant of the emperor the findings of the inquest into the actions of the carthans were in brief that she and her ruling clique had overstepped their authority on numerous counts in the events leading up to the start of the badab war now she and those that followed her were put to death and the carthans were to pay for their transgressions with the entire 14 billion strong population of sidon ultra committed to indentured servitude for six generations in payment of outstanding debt full-scale administrative recitification audits and adaptus arbites moral enforcement pogrom soon began moving outwards across the kafago sector as tithe costs and reparations to the adeptus terror were extracted forcibly from the carthan worlds a process that is still going on to this day let none say the emperor's will is not merciful the vayner raids and the treachery on cern grad 906 m41 with the secessionist advance effectively contained lord commander ortiz's next plan of attack was to conduct a series of heavy raids on the varinar system having determined this to be the target against which the greatest pressure could be placed on the enemy vaynar itself was an important world and served as the gatehouse along one of the secondary warp routes along the maelstrom's rim while all specs analysis and intelligence sources had labelled its defenses and garrison weaker than the heavily reinforced sagan system further weight was lent to vayner as a target by intelligence reports indicating that there remains significant ongoing unrest on the conquered world against the secessionists which might be stirred up to open revolt by a loyalist attack while the firehawks and newly arrived raptors contingent conducted patrol and escort operations strike forces drawn from the red scorpions marines errant and nova marines conducted a three-pronged attack on the verinar system the first of several such raids carried out in rapid succession the principal target of these raids was the damaging of varanas production capacity and orbital trans shipping platforms with the secondary objective of weakening the secessionist grip on the system in a series of battles that followed the loyalist space marines confronted the reformed and reorganized badab sector planetary defense forces of the tyrants legion in open warfare for the first time the resistance of these forces had been greatly underestimated and as a result the loyalist strike groups were largely prevented from achieving many of their goals in this first raid with only one of the four orbitals platforms taken out of action in addition while the varana manufacturing complexes suffered some damage production was not significantly affected data intercepted from the system command vox network however revealed that the price of resistance was high for the tyrant's legion with the loyalists inflicting a greater than 178 to 1 estimated kill ratio on the human auxilia defending the system the last of the vayner raids of 906 m41 proved particularly bloody for the tyrants legion as red scorpion forces conducted attacks directly into the k-lean industrial hive with the specific goal of inflicting mass casualties on the human defenders and picking off their astral clause space marine masters where found within their ranks the secessionist control of the system held however despite the attacks and shortly afterwards in 115 906 m41 further ill news came to the loyalists first that several military convoys in their rear supply lines from the cathargo sector had been attacked and scattered by an unknown warship that later proved to be the night hag of the executionist chapter and secondly regarding the fate of cerngrad the fortress world of cerngrad deep within the maelstrom zone had remained independent its warlords refusing to bend their knee to the tyrant and their defenses had held out against the secessionist fleet but cern grad had partly succumbed thanks to treachery from within and huron's forces now controlled its northern citadels while the southern citadels were barely holding out cern grad remained too deep within enemy territory to mount an effective relief operation and the prospect that the ancient fortress world would be entirely in secessionist control was a grim one for the loyalists as a proposition for a future siege the betrayal that grief free free 90906 m41 with something of an impasse reached in the war it was the secessionists who unexpectedly broke the standoff with a remarkable proposal euron personally sent emissaries to the loyalists offering a temporary ceasefire an honorable parlay with the loyalist commander varant ortiz in order to avoid further bloodshed between those who should be loyal brothers as his mouthpiece put it despite legate inquisitor frane's strong objections ortiz agreed to the meeting trusting to euron's word as a fellow chapter master to keep the truce but ortiz was equally avowed in his intention to remain iron in his resolve to carry out the judgment of the high lords arrangements were made for face-to-face contact between the tyrant and the magistar militant on an abandoned way station in orbit around the gas giant shadim in the outer reaches of the uninhabited grief system what was to happen next remains a point of contention and stubborn enigma to this day and much of the following accounts details is reconstructed from damaged and recovered recordings the station itself once a naval supply depot built into an asteroid mass and abandoned due to solar flare activity some centuries before maintained a remnant atmosphere but was otherwise dead as arranged each party approached the way station in a single unescorted strike cruiser each leader and their honor guard was deposited on the asteroid by thunderhawk their respective strike cruisers pulling away outside of weapons range as the two parties met in a great cargo vault at the heart of the disused station from what records were later recovered it was plain that matters immediately became volatile and acrimonious huron acted and spoke as if it was ortiz and those that stood with him not euron and the secessionists who had contravened imperial law present in huron's party was also chapter master sartak of the mantis warriors who swiftly accused the fire hawks chapter of perpetrating wanton crimes of genocide against civilian populations loyal to the imperium demanding that their master lazarec be brought to trial by combat for his crimes huron himself in imperious mood commenced a ranting dire tribe against his enemies and their perceived enormities and insults going so far as to suggest that ortiz himself should bow down before him and fight under the tyrant's banner against those who would turn the astartes into no more than lick spittle slaves to their own petty greed varant ortiz for his part stood firm and reiterated the ligatine writ of authority and the unassailable right of summons as the talks became heated and adjourned was called for and both parties withdrew to separate compartments on the station to confer with their fellows it is at this point matters of record regards this incident became confused and contradictory reports exist as to what happened next as loyalist communications to their strike cruiser were cut off what is certain is that three unknown vessels two marked by all specs logs as likely to be iconoclast pattern raiders a renegade design and a third-like cruiser sized vessel of unknown providence attacked from concealed positions deep within the thick atmosphere of the gas giant shading the attackers assaulted the asteroid base before either loyalist or secessionist vessels could respond raking the derelict way station with weapons fire before boarding with a raiding party comprised of heretics mutants and other renegades in the confused battle that followed it is known that the loyalist delegation including the revered red scorpions chapter master lord commander verent ortiz was killed and several members of huron's party including chapter master sartak of the mantis warriors was also slain but exactly how this occurred remains unknown during the resultant three-way space battle around the way station the red scorpion's chief librarian severine loft led a desperate counter assault on the station by assault ram and teleporter attack at the height of the battle the larger unknown vessel badly stricken by fire from the astral clause strike cruiser crashed into the way station and exploded causing the asteroid to slowly break up in a cascade of debris despite this rolling destruction severin loft succeeded in recovering his fallen masters remains the red scorpions clashing with both the raiders and huron's astral claws within the disintegrating asteroid base and before both sides broke free from the place to avoid certain death severine loth had saved the honor of his chapter against all odds and in doing so wrote an enduring legend for himself despite the bitter blur the red scorpions had suffered as for the tyrant he appears to have made his escape early on and what hand he had in the deaths of lord commander ortiz or even chapter master sartech cannot be confirmed claims and counterclaim ensued in the aftermath of what soon became known among the loyalists as the betrayal of grief with many blaming hurons perfidy for the attack claiming it as ranked treachery while the secessionists themselves lay the blame squarely at the door of the inquisition as a plot to assassinate the tyrant by covert means communiques sent by legate inquisitor freyn to his brethren within the ordo hereticus regarding the matter are even more open in conclusion and do not rule out the possible intervention of third parties of malefic design parties who could do nothing but gain should the war continue and the whole region descend into bloodshed and anarchy nor does frane rule out the possibility of a plot by huron whose primary target was not lord commander verent ortiz but rather his ursula ally chapter master sartak of the mantis warriors ortiz's death merely serving to seal the assassination in a shroud of doubt for friend and foe alike this assertion as strange as it seems may carry the ring of truth as evidence from the time has been uncovered of growing disquiet among the mantis warriors in their support for the secession committed as the mantis warriors were to protecting their fellow maelstrom waters from outside aggression and defending with blood the sacred independence and rights of the astartes they still saw the direct judgment of the high lords as something not to be disregarded and rumors that had begun to circle concerning the rule of the astral clause within their own domains had been the cause of disquiet among the chapters for some time sartak's death then perhaps would serve to shore up the chapter's resolve particularly if it could be laid at the feet of an enemy chapter and so much the better if that enemy would blame the mantis warriors for the death of their own with any possibility of raposch mons between the sides now effectively destroyed the war would escalate even further with no quarter given by the red scorpions or astral claws while soon secrets would be uncovered that would lend the secessionists an even darker hue chapter 4 the bloody stars as the war progressed and casualties mounted many unexpected turns of fate were encountered by loyalists and secessionists alike dark sins were revealed honor was betrayed and massacre followed massacre this bloody spiral changed the nature of the badab war from one of dominion and contest to one of extermination as the loyalists took on the secessionists and slowly began to drive them from their captured worlds a new leader loyalists redeployment and reinforcement 906 m41 to 907 m41 the death of the red scorpions chapter master ortiz temporarily delivered the strategic initiative into the hands of the secessionist cause and the number of raids against imperial shipping increased heavy space marine escort forces were needed to maintain access to the worlds of galen and karima while the pale stars were all but entirely cut off for a time the loyalists were sorely pressed to hold what little ground they had taken in the maelstrom zone this lasted until the situation was eased with the arrival of contingents of the howling griffins nova marines and later the sons of medusa chapters and the appointment of carob cullen the new lord commander of the red scorpions as the new magister militant of the loyalist forces kulin quickly took control of the situation and one of his first acts was to bring forward plans to convert the old way station on the largely abandoned mining world of hallows point into a major staging ground this became the first primary loyalist base in the maelstrom zone proper and with ships and materials moved into the system with great dispatch vengeance station as it became known was fully operational in under a standard year even before vengeance station was complete the loyalists had retaken the offensive initiative and were conducting a renewed phase of aggressive operations with the rank and file of the red scorpions chapter in particular eager for battle they were tempered and held in check by their new master and the wisdom of their chief librarian severin loth however who promised them bloody but considered retribution in the closing division of 906 m41 red scorpions detachments based on the chapter strike cruisers fought in dozens of separate void actions from defending convoys to raiding outposts and intercepting secessionist shipping alongside the raptors turning the tables for the first time on huron's raiders at the same time fresh forces from the nova marines and sons of medusa carried out probing attacks into the region of the endemium cluster and against the edges of the sagan system in order to maintain pressure on the secessionists and keep their forces as pinned down as possible the first major fruits of this new campaign were the garrisoning of the baron kyamara system and the setting up there of several outposts and listening stations and a new ability to conduct sustained operations in the contested system swiftly the poisonous fends and corrosive jungles of gargethia iii turned into a savage battleground as the raptors salamanders and fire angels clashed with the astral claws and mantis warriors amid the tangled and often lethal vegetation the war on gargathia swiftly developed into a series of running cat and mouse engagements of ambush and counter-attack with the advantage swinging back and forth between the two sides with few landmarks safe for scattered half overrun explorator bases and old smuggler outposts the battle lines on gargathia remained ever fluid the outcome of the fighting there uncertain and with casualties on all sides high as one of the few life-sustaining worlds in the region and a useful navigational way station gargathia iii remained a contested world of vital strategic importance right up until the end of 907 m41 when the secessionist forces were finally displaced from the planet and the system reclaimed for the loyalists with the arrival of fresh reinforcements to replace them in the order of battle the marines errands first tuck up reserve duty for the remainder of 906 m41 before they withdrew entirely from the badab war early in 907 m41 with some acrimony attached to their leave-taking the increasingly embitted survivors of the firehawks chapter were forcibly retired to the rear guard for a time by the newly appointed lord commander kareb kulin of the red scorpions to avoid further trouble in the ranks of the loyalist forces this deployment however proved strategically effective as the presence of the rapturous wrecks at hallows point protected the loyalist facilities while under construction this was vital when hallows point was raided in 7810 906 m41 by secessionist fire ships and frigate squadrons led by a trio of lamenters chapter strike cruisers the attack although well executed was repulsed without major damage to the half-finished base in anchorage the concentrated firepower of rapturous wrecks along with the red scorpion's battle badge sword of ordon proving a decisive factor a further consequence of the battle at hallows point was the fate of one of the lamentous strike cruisers the inflexible which proved so badly damaged after being rammed by the fire hawks destroyer ravage during the battle that even though it escaped the system the ship was forced to drop out of wharf near the forbidden star of hiroko during its retreat and was subsequently lost with all on board in unknown circumstances with further reinforcements arriving almost month by month the missives from the adaptus terror informing them that other space marine chapters were on route the scales were beginning to tip in the loyalists favor with all available intelligence on the secessionists indicating they had fallen into a defensive stance and were further digging in and fortifying their key systems lord commander kulin knew that he must press his advantage soon or risk the war devolving into a slow battle of attrition that would bleed his forces dry the first move towards this would be the relief of the fortress world of cerngrad its southern continental citadels were still managing to hold out against the secessionist aggression by dent of heroic self-sacrifice and bloody-minded faith in the god emperor born of millennia in the shadow of the maelstrom and its many horrors but even this could not last much longer the raptors and salamanders were given this task of intervention and a select strike force dispatched on a long-range incursion mission behind the secessionist lines in the battle barges pyre of glory and war talon on arrival in the system not even their combined firepower was enough to affect their landing and they were forced to pull back the war talons suffering heavy damage in the failed assault neither chapter however were ready to admit defeat and after the gathering of intelligence from the beleaguered sungrad southers a highly unorthodox battle plan daubed operation sedna was quickly formulated and put into action under the shield of a series of diversionary attacks in the equatorial zone the raptors successfully landed a strong force of battle brothers covertly in field modified armor over 300 kilometers away from their chosen target shunning heavy gear and vehicles in favor of a reduced visibility to all specs and thermal detectors the raptors war party then fanned out and after advancing on foot for weeks through the rolling ice packs and bitter tundra launched their assault under the cover of a blinding gale after breaching the fortress walls of the main orbital defense complex with melter bombs they gained entrance and succeeded in sabotaging the base's weapon silos despite taking heavy casualties from the astral claws who bitterly contested their attack now free to move into close orbit the two battle barges descended to bombard the planet from the upper atmosphere smashing the secessionists held positions into surrender and liberating cern grad with sungrad once more in loyalist hands the task of quickly rebuilding the planet's defenses went to the salamanders the technically minded chapter taking to the task with gusto before any serious secessionist counter-attack could be mounted the war talon empire of glory standing century in orbit soongrad marking a turning point in the war and the beginning of a potential wedge that could be driven down the middle of the secessionist worlds but before anything more could be made of the game dire news came from the howling griffins stationed at the chimara system of a deadly new threat the axe falls at kymara 4003 907 m41 in what would mark the bloodiest year of the conflict thus far 907 m41 began with a disastrous defeat for the loyalist forces the bulk of the executionist chapter arrived in force in the maelstrom zone and upon rendezvousing with their advance force aboard the former rogue traders flagship and now chapter prize of war nighthag they conducted an immediate surprise attack at kimara this at a stroke succeeded in destroying the loyalist outposts listening stations and the vital astropathic relay complex on the night moons of the chimara system outnumbered as well as overwhelmed by the force and speed of the assault the howling griffins chapter forces garrisoning the kaimara system suffered greatly as the system's bastions and stations fell one after the other despite their tenacious defense the blood of the howling griffins chapter spilling fruitlessly into the airless dust as they sought to prevent the executioners from destroying the loyalist emplacements utterly their strategic objectives achieved the execution of strikeforce withdrew from the field although it would have been in their power to annihilate the loyalist forces if they had wished this development provoked much consternation from huron but mindful of the dangerous temperament of the executioner's commander the high chaplain thulsa kane he is known to have stopped short of issuing any formal reprimand to them and instead welcome them into the battle for the secessionist cause as for the howling griffins the bulk of their forces in the war had been all but systematically destroyed by the relentless onslaught which also resulted in the catastrophic destruction of their strike cruiser orgalis as well as the death of their revered chaplain dreadnor titus an event which struck a hammer blow to the chapter but despite these grievous wounds dealt to them the remainder of their task force continued to doggedly fight on refusing to shirk their responsibilities to the loyalist cause until formally relieved from the war in 909 m41 lord commander kareb kulin the newly anointed lord high commander coolin chapter master of the red scorpions was a warrior of great courage and battle experience who had fought foes as diverse as the chaos legions during the siege of vraks and the tyranids on doomed beta and fillion in his long career variant ortiz's appointed successor should he fall in action and backed by the wisdom and blessings of severine loft the red scorpion's famed chief librarian who himself was treated very much as a living legend by the chapter carob cullen's transition to supreme commander of the red scorpions was well received by the majority of his battle brothers his entitlement to step into the mantle of his dead lord as majester militant an overall commander of the loyalist space marine forces was by no means automatically assured however and it was only with the principal support of the raptors and salamanders contingents that the title was granted to him as well as his own impassioned plea in the war council that he had the right of vengeance and proven metal to master the task it was this latter speech which also swung the fire angels and nova marines to his course with both the sons of medusa and marines errant acquiescing to whoever should be selected victor without contention for their own reasons the only direct opposition to his accession it came from the fire hawks chapter master lazarec who demanded that he instead should be granted overall command lazarus ranting tirade and the war council was silenced by the quiet measured voice of the only figure present who was not a space marine league eight inquisitor frane the slight black kasich clad figure stood before the gathered superhuman warrior lords and reminded them that they fought not for glory gain or even revenge but to enact the will of the god emperor as spoken by his duly appointed servants the high lords of terror at whose word the imperium turned frame endorsed cullen and tasked him to take the battle to the enemy and brook no delay in wielding judgement sword it was an admonition cullen took to heart a warrior whose reputation had spread beyond his own chapter even as a chaplain cullen was renowned as an inspiring leader of unimpeachable bravery even among the high standards of his kind as well as a skilled if subtle strategist with an unyielding will never before however had he commanded so powerful or larger force few generals had and even though the badab war was to be cullen's baptism of fire as a space marine chapter master he proved to have wit and wisdom enough despite her notably inflexible personality to avail himself of the knowledge and particular expertise of those around him this was to include those such as leos icidon chapter master of the raptors who he set loose to harrow and destabilize the enemy on gargathia and galen and pallius morrison of the salamanders a captain of great experience and technical knowledge whose counsel he quickly grew to rely on to aid his analysis of the war shifting battle lines and endless shadow play cullen was to prove an aggressive and often surprisingly innovative strategic commander during the badab war who along with his red scorpions preferred to lead the major actions of the war from the front enemies unlocked for mid 907 m41 perhaps unsurprisingly given the tide of war that had overtaken the maelstrom zone attacks from unaligned raiding forces and xenos races based within the turbulent expanse of the maelstrom dramatically increased reaching a new height during 907 m41 although imperial intelligence sources will want to lay the hand of the tyrant of bada behind every pirate raid or xeno stirring in the darkness at the time evidence since gathered as proved this simply not to be the case indeed with the brooding malevolence of the maelstrom behind them and the loyalists to the fore it is apparent that the secession has suffered the worst at the hands of non-aligned forces during the bad ab war during this period orc gore chomper pirate clan warband spilled from the green skin infested collar system with a score to settle their terrorships assaulted secessionist supply convoys between the endermeon cluster and the badab sector and ultimately gave battle to the mantis warriors at endermeon itself they're a force of orc landers down an estimated twenty thousand boys strong warband equipped with a profusion of battle wagons buggies and cans of many types which proceeded to slaughter the planet's meager garrison the mantis warriors were forced to pull back and counter invade endermeon lest they lose the world meeting the orcs in a rapid moving battle on the dusk plains of aurelia here the chapters predator and razorback squadron supported by wave after wave of thunderhawk gunship airstrikes succeeded in pulling out a 50 kilometer long zigzag trail of burning orc wrecks and shredded bodies by repeated feigned retreat in front of the enraged orcs as serious as the orc attack against the cluster was far worse in potential implication was the growing threat of a demon-tainted corsair cult based on the blighted world of magog whose increase in power had actually driven forth the recently defeated orcs soon the secessionists were forced to take pre-emptive action and launch a direct assault of that hellish planet which despite a prior exterminator's campaign had long remained a thorn in the maelstrom waters side an astral clause battle barge under command of korean sumatras one of huron's most seasoned battle leaders was recalled from the front lines to conduct the attack on magog along with two companies of the chapter and a strong force of astral clause and lamentous terminators hand-picked for the mission this proved a costly diversion for the secessionist cause and the fatalities the force suffered during the execution of the decapitation raid on magog were extremely costly but the tyrant knew well that they could ill afford not to take the opportunity to cut off the threat while it was still forming had they not done so they would have risked a war on two fronts if they allowed the horrors being birthed on magog to reach their fruition but by doing so they were unable to reinforce their flank when a fresh enemy took to the conflict stage huron sins uncovered 3151 908 m41 inquisitorial interrogation of an astral clause apothecary captured during the battle for surngrad's polar fortresses revealed to the genuine shock of his interrogators that the prisoner was not in fact an astral claw by origin at all but was in fact a former member of the tiger clause a chapter long thought lost further dire and extreme interrogation methods were then unleashed in utter secrecy as a planned series of stalk and capture raids were engaged upon by covert space marine and inquisitorial forces operating within the maelstrom zone evidence was quickly amassed of an unforeseen and terrible heresy that had been pursued by the astral clause and huron for more than a century this evidence proved that at huron's orders the chapter deliberately withheld the astral clause gene seed not to replenish the chapter's own losses but at first in order to help save their near extinct kin the tiger claws chapter the last remnants of which had sought sanctuary with them in secret huron and his fellows hiding them within the astral claw's own ranks this sin compounded and compounded again had led to another far more dangerous act repeatedly denied the reinforcements he had requested to aid him and the maelstrom waters to carry out their tasks as huron saw them in his monumental arrogance and pride the tyrant of badab had sought to expand his own forces far past the levels mandated by the codex astartes for at least 100 years before the outbreak of conflict the astroclaw's secret goal had been the transformation of their chapter slowly into a force equal to a space marine legion of old by this example huron it appears sought at first not to rebel against the imperium but to prove his case by deeds written blood a maelstrom scourged clean and a new realm carved out for mankind in the emperor's name regardless of the insane folly of such a plan it was doomed by the fickle hand of fate up until the outbreak of the conflict he had sought to hide the steady build-up of his forces dispersed among the far-flung stars of the maelstrom zone and far away from prying eyes but then came the tithe fleet and the threat of direct scrutiny he could not afford to tolerate and with it war war too early in the tyrants plans and against entirely the wrong enemy immediately unexplained factors about the war the rates of attrition and reported strengths of the secessionist enemy were cast into a new light further covert investigation uncovered the fact that the astral clause apothecarion had been conducting heretical experiments in rapid zygote cultivation while largely unsuccessful thanks to the use of its unsubmitted gene seed the astral clause chapter now stood and around an estimated three and a half thousand battle brothers strong in the face of this wanton heresy and deceit and invoking full emergency authority inquisitor legate frane condemned the entire astral clause chapter as excommunicator taurus under sentence of death and placed their allies under official suspicion of heresy and treasonous contravention of imperial high law as no immediate evidence exists that they also partook of huron's sin this fact fundamentally altered the nature of the conflict and a poll of secrecy descended over the war efrain's insistence further wardo hereticus forces and regiments of scholar progenium stormtroopers were also called up with the intention of following behind the space marines battle lines to conduct full inquests on each world reclaimed from the tyrant's grasp to root out the full extent of this heresy the wrath of the minotaurs 5440-907 m41 the minotaurs a powerful fleet-based chapter of dark renown and uncertain ties to the adeptus terror arrived in full strength in the maelstrom zone in mid-907 m41 they announced their presence in the war by launching a full-scale chapter strength attack on the secessionist dominated mining facilities at cairo wiping out the 46 000 strong tyrants legion garrison and rendering the mineworks unusable before moving on the minotaurs then sent a ship and officially presented themselves to the loyalist council of war but their master the darkly famed asterion moloch remained with his chapter as they proceeded to maraude through the pale stars region striking a pre-planned list of targets in a deliberate effort to decimate rather than conquer the resource production facilities of the region and thereby begin to starve the secessionist war effort the arrival of the minotaurs was cautiously welcomed by the loyalists and they added considerable strength to the imperium's cause particularly in heavy ships and ground assault assets the chapter being well prepared for in strike cruisers land raiders and vindicators and both expert and merciless in their use as a besieging force the minotaur's attacks were indiscriminate targeting not only the 30-plus minor worlds and stations the secessionists had taken control over but also overlooked independent minor outposts and even those that had held faith with distant carth and masters while the minotaurs coordinated their efforts with the loyalist command network they operated largely independently in the southern maelstrom zone striking targets amid the pale stars and denny stella drift border regions in these battles the viciousness of the chapter's reputation for leaving no survivors among those that resisted them quickly grew and remained uncontested until the arrival of the savage carcaradons to the loyalist cause later in the war only the warships and strike forces of the executioners seemed able to stymie the minotaur's progress in the southern maelstrom zone the two chapters seeming to almost relish in the battles between them as a kind of bloody sport during the remainder of the year the minotaurs gained several important victories effectively destroying the tyrants legion force on crow's world and lassa in a series of savage planet strikes and forcing the astral claws in their puppet worlds to move from static prepared positions or risk their worlds isolated and ravaged one by one thanks to the direct and collateral damage that the minotaur's actions caused it is estimated that within one third of a standard year of their arrival in the region the human population of the pale stars alone was reduced by more than 20 percent while the minotaurs chapter seeded overall strategic authority to the loyalist war council they deliberately stayed largely out of its general chain of command distancing themselves from the other chapters and communicating to legate inquisitor frey more often than kai commander cullen or his advisors this distance was shown in that their standing representative to the war council was the gaunt and taciturn chaplin in comey whose red rimmed eyes observed all although he barely uttered a word during the gatherings there is no record of chapter mastered molok ever putting in a personal appearance at the council and the only evidence that he was present in the war at all comes from picked footage recovered from battlefields and fearful stories spread by the few survivors of the minotaur's attacks the power of this chapter quickly proved a decisive weight in the loyalists favor regardless of its methods by the end of 907 m41 thanks to a series of set-piece battles and brutally contested boarding actions the secessionist forces began to be pushed back from several key systems and suffered severe losses elsewhere in the northern central maelstrom zone despite the battle for galen between the astral claws and a joint force of salamanders and fire angels developing suddenly into a freeway conflict as a popular uprising for independence took hold of the battered population of the frontier world the system fell into the loyalists hands in a further blow to the secessionist course vayner subject to repeated attacks for the last few years finally fell to the loyalists after a massive joint assault by the minotaurs and red scorpions chapters already bled dry by the secessionist and stripped of its heavy arms so that they might be used to shore up defenses elsewhere huron had all but abandoned the world and the sizeable tyrants legion garrison stationed there to their fate the end when it came was swift and brutal as charcoal gray and bronze drop pods rain from the skies onto the streets and industrial plazas of the proto-hive of kalin in a night assaults which rent the darkness with flame thrown into panic and disarray by the assault the lehman russ squadrons and infantry phalanxes of the auxiliar of the tyrant's legion fired on each other in the confusion as the angels of death fell among them and the city became a tangled and confused butcher's yard by dawn vayana was in loyalist hands and the tyrant's legion garrison was put to the sword the scourging of signacs 908 to 910 m41 evidence acquired by inquisitorial agents revealed in early 908 details of contact between the astral clause renegade human elements and the heretic scavengers from the golgothan wastes between them they had devised a plan to recover buried weapons stored on the dead world of cygnax in response the loyalists ordered a scourging of the world and the atropos clan company of the sons of medusa was given the chief role in this task backed by a newly arrived company from the exorcist chapter the loyalist forest first blockaded the planet before conducting a grid sweep of the world as the numerically inferior secessionists and renegades went to ground in the shattered hive cities relying on the hellish terrain and radiation fogged atmosphere to prevent them being easily discovered the scourging of cygnax required a determined and brutal campaign to score out the tyrant's forces the conduct of which caused some discord between the sons of medusa and exorcists with accusations from the exorcist that the sons of medusa were more interested in serving their own hidden designs on cygnax than in hunting down the enemy as expediently as possible the smaller exorcists force was soon withdrawn and redeployed to the forthcoming assault on the sagan system while the sons of medusa were left to liquidate the signex threat as they saw fit the second battle of sagan two free free o-908 m41 in a major planetary assault the secessionists were driven from their fortresses on sagan by the largest combined loyalist force so far fielded in the badab war utilizing the mast strength of the fire angels red scorpions and exorcists supported by assault specialist forces drawn from the salamanders raptors and nova marines the fighting proved particularly bloody and rather than give up the strategically vital system the secessionists chose to mount a defense at any cost this ultimately destroyed a sizable component of their own battle line the astral clause resorting to the use of viral weapons that slew tens of thousands of the world's population in a desperate attempt to either drive the loyalists from the surface or enter the planet unusable by either side here amid this maze of storage compounds and tabulation houses on the formerly administration controlled world sprawling surface conurbation the fire angels fighting in full chapter strength carried the brunt of the loyalist casualties valiantly sacrificing themselves in order to contain the astral claws last ditch suicide attacks the second battle of sagan resulted in the highest death toll of any single engagement of the war thus far as well as the loss of several key secessionist warships in a vain counter-attack on the system despite paying a heavy price in blood for their prize the successful invasion of sagan was a major turning point in the war with the system becoming the loyalist's primary base in the maelstrom zone and affording them greater access to the maelstrom zone's primary stable warp routes while also denying those routes to the enemy soon afterwards using sagan as its supply point cern grad was fully relieved and reinforced and the endemian suppression campaign began effectively forcing the remaining mantis warriors into a purely defensive posture and isolating them from badab and their allies this effectively splits the maelstrom zone relegating the secessionists into two regions the endomean cluster and the still unbreached and heavily defended badab sector itself from this point onwards the secessionist aggression would be limited to commerce raids and targeted strikes primarily carried out by the vessels of the executioners and lamenters chapters euron's dominion elsewhere proving brief the green tied 908 to 909 m41 during the badab war massive orc incursions and multiple wires erupted threatening the safety of the ultima segmentum as the badab secessionists were judged now to be effectively contained the loyalist forces of the nova marines raptors and howling griffins all of which had suffered battlefield attrition to some degree were one by one withdrawn from the conflict in managed stages as part of a major imperium wide strategic redeployment along with a number of warships of segmentum solar reserve forces which had been deployed to the loyalist cause intelligence indicates that the chapters we've drawn from the conflict were not deemed reliable enough to conduct the kind of merciless campaign against their fellow astartes that inquisitor frane now demanded this was the prime reason for their redeployment although the orc threat was also very real rumors persist that the salamanders had successfully resisted similar pressure to be reassigned during this period credence can be given to this story by the arrival of fresh space marine forces from the exorcists and star phantoms and further reinforcements from the sons of medusa chapter to execute the final destruction of the secessionists all with space ring chapters considered by some to be outsiders among their space marine brethren in some way the destruction of the lamenters 688 908 m41 by 908 m41 the lamenters chapter had already suffered significant losses through attrition the fleet-based chapter having been in continuous deployment defending the southern badab sector as well as serving escort duty to many secessionist supply convoys they were still a force to be reckoned with though and a plan was put into action to isolate them from huron's cause and take them out of the war league 8 inquisitor frames insidious spy network in concert with long-range augury scans and scouting missions conducted across the southern maelstrom zone provided the loyalists with a mass of data about the chapters movements and deployments which was then analyzed in search of a pattern what was immediately obvious to them was that the chapter was being used as an ablative shield by the tyrant of badab to guard his southern flank and contest the loyalist domination of the pale stars while he kept the bulk of the astral claws in reserve near badab itself seizing on this weakness the minotaur's chapter was gathered in strength to wait for an opening to strike where they would be most effective that opportunity came in 908 m41 when the location of the lamentors chapters bach mata lacrimarium was discovered in orbit over the federal world of optera taking on supplies immediately a rapid strike force was dispatched to attack the ship and succeeded in catching it and crippling its main drives preventing it from fleeing the system the bach which carried both the chapters recovered battle casualties and its precious resource of gene seed was a target the lamenters could not help but try to defend at any cost and so the trap was sprung lured him by a continuing series of attacks on the bark the bulk of the lamentous fleet carrying with it much of the chapter were drawn back to the optera system without further reinforcement from the secessionist cause once there they were then engaged by the full power of the minotaur's chapter in a bloody battle which lasted 17 standard hours and was fought in the most brutal ship to ship fighting imaginable and upon the rocky surface of arteria 5 the minotaurs suffered heavy casualties but overpowered their enemy by virtue of their own brutality and sheer weight of numbers with their forces shattered the remaining lamenters were forced to surrender rather than risk total annihilation once the bark had been taken and much of their fleet was just wrecked or burning having suffered serious losses themselves in defeating the lamenters the minotaurs claimed salvage rights to the crippled remnants of much of the lamentous fleet and the war gear of the fallen the surviving lamenters barring a few that remained at huron's side during the battle were incarcerated on a prison hulk orbiting the night side of sagan ii amid rumors of their growing insanity and confinement including the casualties captured in the chapters apothecarion during the battle only 311 lamented battle brothers survived to be interned on a prison hulk orbiting sagan for the rest of the war an unknown number estimated to be less than a hundred lamenters deployed elsewhere during the fighting remained the chapters losses removed from the secessionists a great strength they could afford to lose the angstrom incident 4897 908 m41 in one of the most remarkable operations of the bad egg war the loyalists intervened in matters unfolding on the world of angstrom in 908 m41 the sovereign independent adeptus mechanicus domain of angstrom in the eastern maelstrom zone had remained neutral so far throughout the conflict rejecting diplomatic missions and threats from both sides to join with them in the war the magos of angstrom considered the conflict itself no more than an internal dispute between him competing imperial factions in which they had no cause to interfere and had made known their intention to defend their territorial sovereignty against all interlopers instead of taking sides angstrom had simply continued its operations as usual which included fulfilling a long-standing agreement to render up a bounty of advanced weapons and refined ores to be collected by the imperium's representatives on a free yearly cycle from the edge of their planetary system pointedly the magos cared not for just which of the imperium servants retrieved the bounty only that their part of the arrangement was carried out to the letter in the past that bounty had supplied the maelstrom waters with a vital resource and the tyrant's servants continued to be in the perfect position to collect it greatly aiding their war effort this unique arrangement was to result in one of the most singular incidents of the war as the red scorpions and salamanders jointly conducted a secret plan to prevent the secessionists from claiming the bounty by patient infiltration of the outer system the loyalists deployed a small elite force covertly into angstrom 8 and before the fulfillment of the bounty commanded in person by lord commander carob cullen and captain palace mercan of the salamanders angstrom eight was a lifeless turbulent volcanic world on the edge of the forbidden system where the contract was to be fulfilled and with the pilots of the salamanders chapter who had peerless experience in operations in such hostile environments thanks to the nature of their homeworld of nocturne they managed to infiltrate a strike force on the surface of angstrom 8 and lie undetected in waiting in short order the secessionists arrived in system and waiting until the exchange was underway the loyalists enacted their lightning ambush sabotaging the star-port bays and attacking secessionist vessels as they landed to retrieve the bounty the battle that followed was brief but furious conducted in the inferno reaches of angstrom's surface as the loyalists sought to inflict as much damage as possible before they were forced to retreat in the confusion and destruction that followed the angstrom mechanicus incensed by the outbreak of hostilities within their domain assaulted both sides with heavy armored attack columns of tech guard and praetorium battle servitors making landfall on angstrom 8 within hours of the attack being launched while typhoon class hunter killers attacked the warships of both sides and swiftly drove both loyalists and secessionists from the system what became known as the angstrom incident granted the loyalists a major strategic victory but did however stir the notoriously bellicose mechanicus of angstrom into taking a greater interest in the war their warships and ground forces conducted retaliatory raids against gaylan and ibis until the terran leagues intervened and broke it apiece with the promise of eventual restitutions lord commander carib cullen however remained cautious and dispatched the remnant fire hawks chapter and the rapturous wrecks alongside a pursuit force selected from a mixture of loyalist chapters to conduct a blockade of the outer systems approaches as a precautionary measure for the wars duration inquest of the renegade chapters soon after the discovery of the heretical intent of huron and his chapter inquisitorial missions were dispatched by their holy orders to the homes of both the mantis warriors and the executioner chapters to examine them for any evidence of complicity in this heresy as well as genetic tampering and moral deviancy of any kind the mission to the endemian cluster was denied access to the mantis warriors hidden bases but was provided with samples of the mantis gene seed for testing which proved ultimately to conform with intolerances but with some gene dissonance detected the mission to stigia equilon the twin homeworlds of the executionist chapter however was allowed full access when it finally arrived after a five standard month-long perilous journey to the southern fringe despite some concerns over the individualistic and somewhat fractious tendencies of the chapter the investigation found both their gene seed and faith uncorrupted as well as shedding some light on the causes of their involvement in the conflict on the secessionist side it is of note that no separate mission was in fact dispatched to contact the lamenters and whatever findings they uncovered from the chapter bach after the battle of uptera remained sealed and withheld even from the inquisitorial reports made available to the segmentum conclave at the time loyalist domination of the melstrom zone 909 m41 with the vital junctions of sagan and virna now in their hands and the lamenters knocked out of the war the imperium loyalists now had effective command of the maelstrom zone's major warproots enabling them to rapidly move their forces across the region almost at will while largely denying that ability to their enemy this factor combined with the angstrom incident's aftermath which served to stir up a hornet's nest in the near maelstrom region effectively cut the tyrant's sphere of influence in two and contain the secession this shift in the balance of power also effectively divided the secessionists between the endemion cluster and the badab sector itself now only the unpredictable forces of the executionist chapter offered a significant threat to the loyalist control outside the secessionist enclaves of these two secessionist controlled zones the far lesser danger to the loyalist cause was the endemium cluster here the surviving mantis warriors were reduced to fighting a guerrilla resistance against an ongoing loyalist suppression campaign carried out by elements of the fire angels and sons of medusa chapter with sporadic but bloody engagements being fought in the tranquility iblis and sigard systems including one severe defeat for the loyalist forces when the fire angels strike cruiser polaris rising was raided by the mantis warriors under the leadership of their prophetic master librarian al hazra radith the mantis warriors hit and run attack succeeded in damaging the warship's main plasma reactors and weapons bays before withdrawing this left the fire angel ship vulnerable when within hours two marauding orc kill cruisers arrived in the system their path predicted by the dust prophet's art outnumbered and outgunned the fire angels fought a resolute last stand against the orcs killing hundreds of the greenskins and gutting one of the kill cruisers in a suicidal boarding assault before being overwhelmed and backed into a last-ditch defense of the remaining few compartments of the polaris rising as the orcs swarmed her decks it was then that the mantis warriors shed their hand falling in ambush on the badly mauled awk forces from the rear annihilating them in the battle's aftermath the 37 surviving fire angel space marines all casualties of one form or another were marooned on cigarette six under the care of their surviving apothecary and his med servitors while the battered polaris rising was taken by the mantis warriors as a prize of war elsewhere only the badab sector remained absolutely in the tyrant's hands comprising the barab system itself as well as a number of important highly fortified systems most notably de cabales and issen strategos militant analysis indicated that taking these systems would likely be as costly and bloody and affair for the loyalists as the rest of the war so far combined added to this was the unknown quantity of the astral clause themselves since the revelation that huron had worked upon his chapter's expansion in secret it could not be certain just how many space marines were deployed in the region's defense while even the most conservative estimate of the number of the tyrants legion forces in the area reached into the millions euron had all but abandoned the rest of his once mighty domains by the end of 909 m41 and whispers reached the ears of loyalist intelligence operatives of the tyrants increasing violence and paranoia and of the further tightening of his murderous stranglehold on those worlds he still controlled the loyalist dominion of the maelstrom zone's main warp routes meant that they also were now able to successfully blockade and to some extent exploit the mineral-rich worlds of the pale stars again denying any substantial access to these resources from the enemy which when combined with the isolation of angstrom greatly reduced the secessionist capacity to create and distribute new war material in particular perhaps the most serious vulnerability the secessionist now faced was in space thanks to a combination of attrition over the last several years man most particularly with the destruction or capture of the lamentous chapter fleet the secessionists were now much reduced in warships suffering in particular a dearth of heavy units and capital ships the fleet assets the astral claws could muster were largely now limited to light strike craft which the shipyards at regul in the badab system could still produce in large numbers and a handful of strike cruisers and battle barges accompanied by the ravaged remnants of the once potent maelstrom squadron these remaining heavy ships huron wisely deployed only as a concentrated reserve force based in the badab system itself ready to reinforce the line wherever the loyalists main strike would fall perhaps the most unpredictable factor in the badab war during this period remain the enigmatic and barbarous executioners chapter since their arrival in the conflict the executioners had fought their own war and proved the scourge of loyalist patrols and supply convoys as well as destroying numerous outposts and listening stations they had accounted for the majority of the loyalists seized and destroyed vessels some 43 merchantmen and 11 warships in all during this period including the capture and scuttling of the chartist mass conveyor our saban queen and the destruction of the lunar class cruiser vengeful hand both of which were lost in action against the infamous nighthag they also committed themselves to several heavy raids as far afield as bella reforms fall and cairo while some of their heaviest actions fell against the minotaurs chapter in the southern maelstrom zone such as the bloody tank jewel they fought on the airless moon of uziel in the crows world system the executioner's base of operations was believed to have been a star system somewhere on the edge of the turbulent denny steller drift but its location remained elusive allowing the chapter to raid almost at will the executioners however aside from challenging the loyalist forces in open warfare and attacking their supply lines steadfastly refused to operate under the direct control of the tyrant of badab operating only as allies and never as subordinates a situation that created growing ire within the secessionist ranks at the close of 909 m41 the maelstrom secession was largely contained but the loyalist commanders were under no illusion that the war itself was over what now remained would be an ever more brutal phase of operations than any seen before in the conflict a time of ruthless planetary purges scorched earth campaigns and apocalyptic close sieges for the loyalist parts many of the chapters that had fought the imperium's cause had suffered substantial losses and now would be replaced in the order of battle by other space marine chapters of yet darker renown brought in by legate inquisitor fraim to ensure that badab secession would be crushed utterly for those caught up in this clash of godlike warriors and superhuman killers the bloodiest days of the bad air war were yet to come thanks everybody for watching i do hope you've enjoyed this part two will be coming uh pretty quick within a few days of the release of this video and there'll be a part three as well which will go into uh depth to some extent with each of the space marine chapters that have gone that they've been mentioned in the battle war or took part in it going through their history their formation uh their culture and um what they did in the badab war so that's coming up that's the three see that's the free video series i've got coming thank you to everybody supporting the channel it's you guys that allow me to do this and to do more of it um you know you guys on patreon your youtube channel members and um you guys over on subscribe star thank you all very much for your continued support it means the world to me really really helps if you'd like to join this company of heroes you can follow the links below but if you could just give the video a like uh let me know in the comments what you think share it to anyone you think might be interested and if you're not subscribed what are you doing subscribe man i'm doing this sort of stuff all the time come on all right i'll see you all next time and it'll be very very soon as well i do hope you've enjoyed this bad egg war is pretty awesome bit of war ammo law uh yeah it's just awesome and it sort of originates really before the heresy stuff to be honest um and interestingly you might find it interesting you know huron is he's probably i think probably one of the oldest chaos space marine characters ever and this is his origin story so it's definitely fun to read and it's definitely fun to uh to learn about and i haven't read this stuff for a long long time for years in fact since its release but it's really really good and going forward we might do some some more stuff about euron and what happened afterwards after the bad over but we'll see how it goes for now second part of the campaign second part of the narrative is coming and then we'll have a full video going through each of the space bringing chapters involved and covering their actions during the conflict anyway i hope you've enjoyed this i'll see you next time support the channel use the links below alright i'm going bye bye cheers bye you

Channel: ABORDER PRINCE

Views: 404,476

Keywords: warhammer, 40k lore, badab war, warhammer 40k lore, warhammer 40k, lufgt, lufgt huron, red corsairs 40k, the maelstrom zone, imperium of man, space marines, 40k history, 40k narration, 40k stories, 40k audio, warhammer audio, warhammer stories, warhammer narration, the astral claws, the carcharodons, salamanders space marines, traitor legions, 40k battles, adeptus astartes, ASTARTES, FORGEWORLD, WARHAMMER 40K LORE: THE BADAB WAR Part 1, badab war 40k, badab war lore, BOLTER

Id: TyhowI3DvPI

Length: 153min 50sec (9230 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 18 2020