To Pay The Tithe - A Warhammer 40k Quest

Below you will find the current understanding and knowledge of those things unique to Caledonia, its people and its culture. Everything from places of cultural or religious significance to their political systems and even items in their daily lives will be recorded here as they are explained in updates. Occasionally you might even find certain subjects more thoroughly covered here if I deem it won't detract from the story being written.

A note: Sometimes the information here will be incomplete, awaiting further reveal in the progress of the quest itself.

A second note: SPOILERS AHEAD!!! As the author I recommend using the information below as a reference once you're fully caught up on current updates to both retain the intended impact of information slowly being revealed and because this list will likely grow rather long as time passes.

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Dulkavas - A somewhat rarer form of weapon among Caledonians as it is often restricted by the tunnel warfare they are used to. It is a heavy, two-handed version of the kavas capable of bisecting a grown adult with a proper swing.

Errantry - The means by which one can become a Knight of Caledonia.(?)

Heavens' Gate - The planet's only starport from which the Planetary Governor rules. It stands alone in the oceans of Caledonia housing several million citizens and the full breadth of the world's advanced technology to be drawn from oceanic vaults in times of need. To here warriors are drawn from across the world and the planetary Tithe is paid, soldiers in the thousands ascending to the Starry Vale.

Kavas - A curved short sword unique to the feudal world of Caledonia that acts as the predominant weapon.

Knights of the (...) Vale - A title of prestige and honor given to those deemed true knights of Caledonia. The greater the number of Vales attached to their title the higher their position in their cultural hierarchy.

Remembrances - A practice involving wrapping the hilt of one's weapon with red cloth for each Knight of your lineage who wielded it before.

Silvasari - A type of armor worn by certain Knights of Caledonia and made in its entirety from parts of Vale Wardens.

Starry Vale - A central component to many a Caledonian myth and epic that refers to the vast galaxy beyond the bounds of their planet.

Vale Wardens - The large insectoid species native to the planet of Caledonia's mountains that its people have taken to domesticating and using as war mounts.

[X] as Rough Riders.


Nakamura arrives to the distress call just in time to hear a deckhand's horrified scream. His feet pick up speed. His body moves on instinct as it drops low and readies the autogun slung at his side. His face scrunches as he begins to hear the click of something upon metal and…

'Is… Is that chittering?'

The clank of his boots upon metal ring through the corridor as his pace quickens. A knowing comfort washes over him as he hears the squad behind him following suit. Eight armsmen. Five autoguns. Three high intensity stun guns. Electric batons and carapace armor.

'Enough to deal with whatever stupidity these Caledo-'

As Nakamura rounds the corner his eyes go wide. His body barely stops itself from impacting the far wall on muscle memory from decades aboard this ship. His focus lays on the… Things currently pinning a half dozen deckhands to the floor.

He makes out another few hiding in the vents nearby. His sight drifts past the puddles on the floor around the deckhands.

'... No blood at least.'

His squad arrives seconds after to an Ensign slowly lowering his rifle.

His hand reaches for the commbead in his ear.

Slowly.

Very slowly.

A blessed crackle of static is soon followed by a familiar, comforting voice.

"Yes, Ensign? Have you handled the issue?"

Nakamura can't stop it. He laughs.

"This isn't a problem we can handle, Captain."

Nakamura's eyes lock with a pair of oversized compound eyes covered in a strange blueish green shimmer. Four mandibles click rapidly. Antennae twitch violently. Five more arrowhead shaped chitinous skulls turn in his direction.

'Don't. Move. Don't. Move. Don't. Move. D-'

A chant repeats itself in his head as he remembers advice given on departure by a kind old Knight.

"We're going to need the Caledonians. Their… Steeds have gotten loose…"

---

The world is a mixture of half seen colors, shades of grey, and an almost all pervasive tint of red.

Distantly Anduval can hear the clatter of chain and plate alongside the furious clicking of excited Vale Wardens.

'That click is close.'

A single thought. One response. Anduval slams his head forward with all the might he can muster to smash it against the approaching head of his valiant steed. What little of the world he could see swims as the Vale Warden knocks him flat upon his ass before letting out a scream that causes the entire fight around them to stop in moments.

Anduval smiles.

In front of him the horse sized insect covered in shades of grey and brown clicks its many mandibles furiously as mandibles capable of crushing unrefined metals draw closer… And rub gently against the Silvasari that covers Anduval's body.

His gauntleted hands reach up to gently pet his partner's head, "Got a bit lost did we lass?"

Soon however the tender moment comes to a close as one hand clenches, the greyish-brown plates forming the armor shifting to ease the act, and lightly smacks her atop the head.

"Did you really have to start a revolt to find me you arse? The Seventh is going to chew our heads off for this stupidity you oversized fool…"

On the far side of the hallway Nakamura stands perfectly still in the same place. Now with an entirely new thought repeating in his head… One that soon finds itself spoken aloud to his entire squad, "They're… They're fucking madmen."

---

In what was once something akin to an office aboard the Guiding Light a throne room has been replicated. Two columns of carved stone chairs stand filled on either side of a larger throne shaped entirely from the chitin of a particularly large Vale Warden. Atop it are dozens of beat hides acting both as padding and a sign of status and martial prowess.

Sitting comfortably atop even those is a woman. Five foot tall. Grey hair cut short. Dark blue eyes. A muscular physique. Hundreds of scars. A presence that can only be called imposing.

Behind her a white banner rises from the throne and the eleven stars upon it frequently draw the reverential looks of those gathered here.

"I have been informed that we will arrive at our first stop within a week. Captain Fulstrum has kindly notified me that it is there we will be shifted to another fleet for deployment. We will be trained in the weapons of the Imperium, these…"

She trails off for a moment to fiddle with the weapon the Captain had called a handcannon as it was given in gift.

"Stub and las weapons as they call them. Furthermore organizations known as the Cult Mechanicus and the Commissariat will be attached to our forces. I trust I can leave integrating our army with them to you, Archivist?"

The Seventh's eyes turn to an old crone resting in a stone chair. Tattered brown robes free of adornment and bearing only signs of the passage of time cover her form. A moment of silence follows before she finally nods, "The Hermitage shall do as the Seventh commands."

"Good. Now, about the Vale Wardens that got loose-"

The room falls into a storm of conversation in the time that follows. The Seventh has many fires to put out before the 122nd's First Errantry of the Starry Vale begins.

---

All across the galaxy war rages as Gulliman leads the Indomitus Crusade in reclaiming and cleansing the many worlds lost to the Great Rift. It is into here that the 122nd are thrown.

Another light adorns the skies above.

Untested. Yet to change. Naive.

For the glory of kith and kin.

Faced with enemies they could barely imagine and forced to adapt to warfare much unlike anything they have ever confronted… How shall the Caledonians fair?

We raise these white banners high overhead.

Of the one hundred and twenty-one regiments to come before them ninety lay wiped out to the last on planets far from home. Nine fight on their last legs even as we speak, merely numbering in the hundreds or dozens. Eleven were claimed by the opening of the Great Rift.

For the God Emperor of Man we cry out.

And the rest? Settled upon worlds they had helped liberate long ago, tendrils of their homeworld's culture burying themselves at the heart of what has formed since. Perhaps on worlds unknown to Caledonia there are those who still cling to those same ideals and dream those very same dreams.

To War! To War! To War!

The 122nd Caledonian Cavalry Regiment are most certainly doomed… And yet their story hasn't even begun. We know the foreword. We know how it is most likely to end. So…

To the Starry Vale we ascend hoping that some day we may return.

Upon that day… Look to the stars for They shall be there. Crowned with Twelve.

And the Second Great Crusade shall come.

Where then shall they find their beginning?
[] Arcadia, within the Ghoul Stars - An imperial world under siege by xenos threat, it is a world established thousands of years ago as part of the Iron Lords' system meant to quarantine the Barghesi civilization within. Apparently they have begun to chaff at the chains of their captives and the endless Dark Eldar raiding parties…

[] Exploitation Site G-437 - A mining world considered crucial to Cult Mechanicus interests in the region, Exploitation Site G-437 has fallen under attack by an Ork invasion and the local PDF and Skitarii forces have sent request for reinforcements as the greenskin threat grows greater by the day.

[] Fort Hulm - A fortress world on the edge of Imperium Sanctum space to which the 122nd is being deploy for prolonged stay. It is both a means to bolster a garrison depleted by a call for more experienced regiments to back the Indomitus Crusade and a way to provide them time to train and adapt… Though the threats pouring from the Great Rift are never to underestimated.