The Lost Primarch Quest

At the time, Oriacarius had ordered the Night Watch to leave the Shades of the Warden alive. Normally, he'd have them treated like any other religious group, but with the ritual upcoming, any and all advantages were needed. If the deaths of these cultists allowed loyal Imperial Army soldiers to live, then they would be thrown into the Maelstrom first. It was a disquieting thought to Oriacarius, just how quickly he had decided to condemn them to death. But their deaths would serve a purpose, their deaths would save millions of others.

The initial reports were positive. After he had heard about the cult's presence as well as the general instability of the Fractured Conclave, he had ordered the recordings of Kesar's diplomatic meetings broadcast on an open vox channel. This resulted in the fragile peace within the conclave utterly shattering, leaving a massive series of riots all across their planets. Compounding the issue was the heavily shaken nature of the planetary government, with military forces desperately trying to both calm themselves and suppress rioting.

The Fractured Conclave did experience quite the intelligence coup against the Shades of the Warden after they managed to successfully uncover the identity of the leadership. However, with the growing unrest, they simply lacked the forces or leadership to deal with them. This resulted in the Shades largely being unmolested, a fact which the Night Watch made great use of.

The local Imperial Army force and the Night Watch knew that the Shades would make for an excellent local ally due to their ideological beliefs. As a result of Oriacarius tentative approval, the Night Watch had a large team of operatives infiltrate the Fractured Conclave in search of the Shades' leadership. After several days of searching, they successfully managed to contact the upper echelons, leading to a disjointed war council as the Night Watch covertly relayed information between the Imperial Army and Shades of the Warden.

When the two groups were finally ready to go on the offensive, it began with a series of Night Watch special operations intended to cripple the Fractured Conclave's internal coordination and order of battle. With the information gained from the Shades and their own prodigious skill, the Night Watch succeeded masterfully, increasing response times by nearly two orders of magnitude and all but eliminating long-range communications. Following this, the Shades of the Warden went on the offensive, targeting anti-air defenses and ideal landing zones for the Imperial Army.

Simultaneously, the Night Watch pivoted to hampering the Fractured Conclave's response. Teams of soldiers were ambushed and columns of vehicles found their intended pathways clogged with debris. Bridges were blown up, and hundreds of military installations were covertly decimated. Once the Fractured Conclave began to respond to the Night Watch, the elite members of it withdrew, leaving the rest of the task to the Shades.

With the shattered cohesion of the Fractured Conclave and the time the Shades had, the outcome was decided well in advance. After having taken the anti-air defenses and landing zones, the Shades had ample time to fortify. Laying down barbed wire provided by the Night Watch as well as coopting pilfered artillery emplacements, the Shades were able to create a set of fortifications that were enough to hold back the Fractured Conclave's forces.

It certainly wasn't easy, however, as while the soldiers in question were disorganized, they were still very skilled and controlled the majority of the surrounding landscape. What followed was a slow grinding siege between Fractured Conclave soldiers and the Shades of the Warden, one that was resolved when the Imperial Army landing forces began to arrive.

The Shades alone were already a major threat to the Fractured Conclave. While an actual civil war was still slightly weighted towards the current government, any victory would have been pyrrhic at best. With the Imperial Army, however, it would have still been a war, one that would have been incredibly bloody due to the natural escalation of force that would have ensued. The Night Watch, however, changed that calculus. Having essentially crippled the Fractured Conclave's response, the Imperial Army and Shades were able to quickly deal with the defenders.

In the aftermath of the war, the compliance in question was largely settled, with the Shades of the Warden in de facto control due to their willingness to work for the Imperium. Their willingness to supply the majority of their armed forces towards the Ritual Crusade certainly helped, even if the details of the deployment were intentionally kept vague for operation security to remain in place. Overall, the Night Watch did succeed excellently on this world.

---

Besides the Fractured Conclave, there were the reports on the other Primarchs to consider. The Primarch Fulgrim seemed to have succeeded wonderfully at his task. Despite the heavy classification behind the reports, likely a remnant of the long latency within the Imperium's bureaucracy, it was clear that the Phoenician had managed to convince the Exodus Fleet into becoming a sort of protectorate. While there were some cultural and historical reasons for suspicion within the fleet, the general consensus seemed to be that there was little choice, and the Primarch's honesty seemed to act as the tipping point for them. As a result, Fulgrim has gained a protectorate, one that has begun colonizing a new subsector that was previously empty.

On Helghan, Primarch Ferrus was reported to have sworn repeatedly when he looked over the Dark Age fortress. Despite around the clock orbital bombardment and a siege personally led by the Gorgon, the fortress has had little visible damage done to it beyond a few emplacements being rendered unusable. Moreover, the Imperial Army forces present have suffered greatly over the last year. This has only been compounded with the recent discovery of a second Xenos race, one that has begun to harass the sieging Iron Hands.

The system of Hamarus saw the Angel of Baal face a nightmare of orbital defenses around a particular world. Using the Red Tear to lead a force of Battle Barges forward, the Primarch's strategic mastery allowed him to force aside the defensive fire from orbital structures and eventually achieve victory. Despite the Gloriana's void shields falling multiple times, the positioning of the vessel meant that the Red Tear was able to win the battle with just cosmetic damage.

The most extensive reports however pertained to Konrad Curze. Despite his incredibly redacted report on the Veerana system where he reported success and little else, the Imperial Army within his domain had to coordinate with their counterparts in Perturabo's and Khan's domain in order to keep up with the crusade. While the Night Lords deployed to worlds that would normally be the responsibility of the White Scars and Iron Warriors, the Imperial Army was forced to deal with a series of worlds normally left to Astartes. Despite succeeding, and multiple heroic performances leading to a series of reward ceremonies, half a trillion additional Imperial Army soldiers and naval crew perished, leading to a small but noticeable drop in the size of the Imperial Army within those three domains. However, that drop is expected to be recovered over the next year thanks to a lighter than expected workload.

There was also a brief message regarding Polaris, where it seems that Horus' diplomatic policies led to the group fracturing. Approximately a third of them have joined the Luna Wolves and are already providing the Primarch with substantial help. However, the other two-thirds seem to have disappeared, and among them were the finest members of Polaris. This has resulted in a manhunt on Boreathia, but one that seems destined to take years if not decades.

---

Back with Perturabo and Khan, Kesar took a short break from the preparations for the Ritual Crusade two visit two of his brothers.

Pick 2
[] Vulkan - Ever since the Salamander shared his ideas for reforms, he has been under incredible stress. Despite allies within the Imperial Army and PDF forces, the Mechanicum has been firmly against him. Kesar recently sent a letter explaining why he can't help, and Vulkan seems to have accepted that. Nonetheless, it might be a good idea to visit his stressed-out brother.
[] Guilliman - After recently exterminating Tomesir, the Master of Maccrage has been working on preparing for the Ritual Crusade. Despite the urgency he has thrown himself into his work, he has also been working on getting several other projects to an acceptable level before being forced to put them on hold. If Kesar is curious, it might be nice to see how Guilliman's administrative skills are being used.
[] Magnus - The Cyclops has sent a short message, consisting of just a few words. "We need to talk." Accompanying them was an artist's depiction of the Maelstrom. It's clear that the Primarch has somehow managed to see the upcoming ritual, and it's understandable that he is upset for not being told of it. Accepting his meeting request will likely be necessary.
[] Mortarion - Returning to Terra in order to requisition several rare and deadly plants, Mortarion seems to be developing a diverse array of poisons. Additionally, he has recently uncovered several new bioweapons that the Death Guard has been using on several worlds. If there's anyone that can help guard against biowarfare so common among the forces of Nurgle, it is him. And he does seem willing to teach.
[] Eternal Wardens - One year. That is how long it will be before the Wardens enter the Maelstrom. A large number of them will die. And some already have within the Reef. Oriacarius has put forward a request for Kesar to spend additional time with the Legion. In case the worst happens, it'll be good to have one last proper meeting. Hopefully, not many of these meetings will be the last.