The Absent Father - A WH40k GSRPG - IC Thread

[JBO]

THE FIRST BATTLE OF TERRA



"I desire not to see the Throneworld of my beloved Father stained by wanton violence"- Horus Lupercal
​

To describe the situation in Terra as tense would have been an understatement. Where mere years ago the Emperor of Terra had set out to conquer the galaxy now stood three brothers, exchanging insults and rounds as the planet burned.
But for a moment, one glorious moment it seemed like sanity would prevail. Escorted by the most elite sons of the Luna Wolves and Alpha Legion Horus and Alpharius would board the Phalanx to meet the Emperor of Inwit in person. Here in front of the eyes of the most trusted and powerful soldiers, Rogal and Horus would clash in a contest of arms, each sworn to follow whomever fate would determine to be the victor. In the the great ceremonial control room of the battle monastery they clashed, chain sword meeting gauntlet, determination meeting strategic genius, defensive tenacity meeting offensive battle lust. For days they danced around each other, again and again Lupercal making a daring attack only to be denied by Dorn. Then on the eighth day it happened. Dorn, that most steadfast warrior, that most stubborn of men, the one who never gave an inch, fell to the ground, defeated. "It is over brother." Horus stated simply, exhausted as he was with the ordeal. Then he spoke the words. "As you kneel already I shall have your pledge now."
"You bested me." Dorn agreed as he knelt before the Lord of Cthonia. "You have broken the walls of my fortress and taken my keep for your own." Horus allowed himself a smile, his ambitions fulfilled. "....But no keep falls as long as her defenders stay vigilant!" The would be heir bellowed as, in a breaking of their oaths, overcome with his stubborn refusal to give up, his chainsword arched forward, aiming for Horus unprotected head. A flash of sparks, metal and blood blinded all as the blade connected. Then all was silent. In the middle of the room stood three titans. Horus, frozen in horror. Alpharius bleeding from the stump where his right arm used to be. And Rogal Dorn, impaled on the spear of the interfering brother.
"Brother.....what did you do?" Horus asked in horror. "For the Emperor." Alpharius simply whispered as he tore the spear out, scewering the Praetorian's organs. What followed was pandemonium as all present opened fire on each other. The Luna Wolves and Alpha Legionaires were cut off from the rest of their overwhelming numbers, but the Fists had just lost their Emperor and were outnumbered on a massive scale. Many heroics and villainies happened that day as Alpharius and Horus battled side by side, while cursing each other for their naivity and kinslaying, holding back the tides of enraged Fists as they made their escape back to Terra.
In skies above the planet meanwhile the battle was in full swing as all sides accused each other of betrayal. Indeed some of the Terran forces were so confused as to what had happened that during the early stages Custodes, Luna Wolves and Alpha Legion even fired on each other, thinking the other to be part of the betrayal that had occured. In the end the devastation on Terra was complete.
The Imperial Fists, lead by Sigismund and Yonnad, bereft of their Emperor had to retreat under heavy casualties, not stopping in a mad flight southwards until they would return home. Terra meanwhile was devastated, her defenses damaged, her fleets equally so and the trust between her defenders shattered for the forseeable future. The realm of the Emperor, mere years after his disappearance, was truly no more.


Losses:

Imperial Fists
Destroyed
1 Cruiser
4 Light Cruisers

Damaged
Phalanx
1 Battle Barge

Manpower
10,000 Elite Manpower
3 Million Manpower



Luna Wolves

Destroyed
1 Battle Barge

Damaged
2 Cruisers

Manpower
5,000 Elite Manpower

Alpha Legion

Destroyed



Damaged
2 Battle Barges

Manpower
1,000 Elite Manpower

200,000 Manpower

Custodes

Destroyed
3 Frigates
1 Destroyer

Damaged
1 Light Cruiser


Manpower
1,000 Elite Manpower

1 mio Manpower​

 

[Sidheach]

The Dragon Lord, Vulkan

---
​

When he set out into the Stars, Vulkan hoped to find friends to Nocturne and allies for his burgeoning Empire. He would find neither.

In the South, the Salamanders found only Orks. Led by a Warboss they would come to know as Gnasha, who chased off the encroaching Astartes who dared to tread into his Waagh. This, the Primarch would choose to ignore, deeming the Orks to be a threat best dealt with another day. In the North and West, only insignificant worlds would be discovered, lightly populated with only bountiful mineral resources found on Caeculus alleviating their otherwise worthless nature, that would not warrant the immediate attention of the Primarch either.

To the East, however, there would be something that would capture the attention of the Lord of Drakes.

Named Benthesikyme by the Salamanders, the world to the immediate East of Vulkan was inhabited by a hostile Human Civilization whose first encounter with Nocturne had been volatile. Viewing Nocturne as no friend to them, the denizens of Benthesikyme would take to the Stars to keep the Salamanders away from the colossal, coral like plates that orbited their homeworld. This, Vulkan would view as a threat and with the Benthesikyme offering no attempt to mollify his suspicions, the Salamanders would be mobilised for a punitive expedition to the East.

Commanding his forces from the deck of the Battle Barge, the Chariot of Fire, Vulkan would watch as his mighty fleet dropped out of the Warp and into orbit around Benthesikyme. With offers to surrender being rejected outright, the Salamanders would engage with the enemy forces and defences; Destroyers and Light Cruisers swarming forward to engage. Though heavily outnumbered, the cephalopod like warships of Benthesikyme would perform admirably in defense of their home, crippling three Destroyers and outright destroying one Light Cruiser before the overwhelming firepower of the Salamanders tore through them.

With the orbital defenses being made mincemeat of by the heavier ships within Vulkan's fleet, the Salamanders would swoop in and cut Benthesikyme and it's orbital plates off entirely. Largely ignoring the world itself, as most of the population dwelt on said orbital plates, the Salamanders would make their first strike in orbit. With Vulkan leading the way, the Firedrakes - a mixture of specialist Pyroclasts and Firedrakes - and the 1st Chapter of the Salamanders would slam into the orbital plates, their drop pods raining down on the superstructures like fire from the heavens. Focusing on weapons emplacements and other obstacles to a full landing, the Salamanders would carve a fiery path of destruction through enemy lines, opening the orbital plates up to the rest of the Legion.

From this point on, the Pacifiication of Benthesikyme would go according to plan. The orbital plates would be secured largely intact, with civilian casualties kept to acceptable levels, and the Salamanders themselves would see no repeats of the Assault of the Tempest Galleries. The enemy forces would be made to drown in promethium and the System would be captured in the name of Vulkan, it's defenders broken and riches carted out for the benefit of the Legion.

Where complications would arise would be in the immediate aftermath of the Pacification. Though it would not be immediately apparent, medicae tasked with treating civilians injured in the campaign would discover irregularities in the DNA of the denizens of Benthesikyme. Strange quirks to their DNA, changes that were far too common, to uniform, to be mere quirks and exceptions. When subsequent investigations revealed that the DNA of the Benthesikymes had been willfully altered - with what, the Salamanders did not know - disputes would arise among the Salamanders. Did mutants deserve a place in Vulkan's Imperium? Ought the Emperor's will that only pure humans be sheltered by the Imperium be followed?

Without input from Vulkan himself, such disputes would go nowhere as none dared do anything without his blessing, not the least bit when he was so close to them all, but there is no doubting that it is not an issue that will simply go away without the Primarch's intervention. One way or another, the Dragon Lord will need to settle the matter.

​

 

[JBO]

The Conquest of Buttacrumpet


The Battle Above the Greenskin World

​

While on Holy Terra betrayal and fratricide occured to the northwest, ignorant of what occured back home the battle fleet of the custodes was engaged in the conquest of the Ork Empire of Buttacrumpet. However as Kalos was want to say "This is not war, this is pest control" as the united might of almost all of Terra's active inquests far outgunned their primitive, yet numerous opponents. Thus it was rare in the years of conquest that the Custodes would not arise victorious or at the very least undefeated from engagement with their foes. This all would culminate in an engagement in the skies above Thickskull's capital world as the Emperor made his final stand against the pinkskins. For a time it seemed like he might do what he did not manage before as Ork after Ork boarded the imperial ships or simply crashed their vehicles into their opponents in mad battle lust. Then Kadai Vilaccan at the head at a small elite core of costudes and marines would breach the enemy's flagship Waaaaghmaschine and in a daring assault under many casualties come face to face with Thickskull himself, slaying the monster. Without their Bozz the Orks would lose all cohesion, lacking any firm authority and command chain, making them easy game for the imperials to hunt down and slay. By the end Buttcrama as it henceforth would be named would be in imperial hands. Still occasionally plagued by greenskin infestations and needing a garrison to control the pest, but fully part of the Empire.


Losses
Ork Empire of Buttacrumpet
Complete, reduced to marauding warbands and fungus


Custodes

Destroyed
2 Frigates

Damaged
2 Battle Cruisers

Manpower
1,500 Elite Manpower

1 mio Manpower​

​

 

[Maugan Ra]

Exploration Turn One Results - Ulan Territories
@Lord_Asmodeus

Propelled by the Great Awakening, eager to explore the stars for the answers to questions only they could truly know, the governing councils of the Ulan Territories elected to begin a program of exploration and research that would cover the reaches of space immediately adjacent to their homeworld. Liran scientists and Ogryn explorators would work hand-in-tendril to unlock the secrets of the cosmos.



Directly corewards of their home, the exploration fleet located a world known by the locals as "Stavinholt"; a verdant planet with a relatively mild climate and a vast orbital ring of mineral-rich asteroids. The local populace were, seemingly, another branch of the human genus that had produced the mighty ogryns already sworn to the cause of the Ulan Territories, and while they had long lost most of their interstellar capability they were still capable of mining the belt for vast quantities of surprisingly-pure minerals. Ulan emissaries were greeted with polite wariness, but after it was established that hostilities were not intended the people of Stavinholt were more than willing to discuss trade and diplomatic ties.

They also conveyed a warning - the regions of space to the galactic east were known to be inhabited by two related branches of humanity, each of which despised the other and had more than once attempted to secure Stavinholt for their own. So forewarned, the exploration fleet set off.



The warnings were, it seemed, entirely accurate, as the Ulan fleet rapidly found itself embroiled in an ongoing war between two starfaring polities of humans; one calling themselves the "Children of Truth" and the other the "Heirs of Terra". The Children welcomed the exploratory fleet with some caution, inviting them to take up an orbit near one of their worlds while emissaries were sent to the capital to receive guidance from the priest-kings that ruled the polity. However, before an answer could be received, a taskforce from the Heirs jumped in-system and, assuming the strange newcomers to be allies or subjects of their ancient enemy, attacked all involved.

Two frigates were badly damaged in the ensuing conflict, but the Heirs were beaten back and the grateful "Children" offered to begin serious diplomatic talks with the Ulan Territories at once. Inquiries as to the nature of the ongoing conflict seem to indicate some form of doctrinal difference in the state-sanctioned religions that govern both nations.

(North - Mining Sector
East - Hostile Human Starfarers, the "Heirs of Terra"
North-East - Non-hostile human starfarers, the "Children of Truth")

 

[Karen]

The War on Kulukos
​

Rarely do the Legiones Astartes arrive on a world at full strength, for the might of one hundred thousand Astartes and their vast battle fleet was a force so overpowering even the most advanced and cunning of xenos could not resist the sheer force of blade and axe. When the Space Wolf fleet in its hundreds manifested over the planet, taking a formation akin to a pack hunting for game. The warships would travel almost entirely unopposed until they reached the orbit of Kulukos, when the blaze of emerald light struck up again, having changed location since the last recorded estimate and striking the frigate Frey-Slavor which had been too eager in its approach as the thrill of fighting alongside the full Legion had proven to overwhelm the senses of some of the mortal crews.
It was then that steel would rain from above as hundreds to thousands of drop pods would be deployed against the planet, raining cold death in vengeance for so many good brothers lost before they even saw the enemy bleed.
Kulukos was a world like no other, in an instance as the Astartes struck the ground did the weather change from the serene emerald to the coldest of winter storms, to the hottest of jungle typhoons. This radically changing weather did not stop the sons of Russ however as they coordinated rapidly, having lost more brothers in the descent as the emerald weapon demolished several dozen drop-pods in the fall while the Wolf-King himself took his vanguard in Stormbirds to the rough location of the source of the weapon.​

​

It was a citadel of some sort, encased in unnatural ice and guarded by nature itself as Astartes died being swept aside by gale while all mortals were pulled back as they were simply obliterated by the force of wind. The Wolf-King had little time to establish fortifications as it seems he made war on the planet itself. Eventually they'd find the source of the weapon, and its master.​

Pict-Capture of the 'Weapon'​

What Russ saw was a structure as old as time itself, and one burning bright hot with the power it unleashed upon the fleet of the wolves - even as Russ charged up he saw another beam send the Battle Barge Fenryrsavar erupt into a haze of plasma and the unnatural power of the weapon, although it would be given little time to adapt as the heavy weapons of the deployed Astartes would level the vast citadel, sending it falling over the cliff in retaliation as it screamed while it died, and in response, the weather would begin to calm, settling into a light snowfall which brought about an end to this 'war'.

Russ' sons would feast well that night, while adepts of the vast forges used to power the war machine examined the ancient weapon, extracting a number of immensely powerful resonance crystals which thrummed with sheer power. The structure itself was built of an ancient metal, predating adamantium, being nicknamed 'Blackstone' for its formless appearance.​

---

SPACE WOLVES RESULTS;
220,000 regular manpower points lost
900 elite manpower points lost
x1 frigate lost
x1 battle barge lost

ENEMY RESULTS
No known casualties
x1 'ancient weapon' destroyed​

 

[Karen]

Butcher of N'aer
​

When Ferrus Manus decided to bring decimation on the N'aer, they put up quite the battle. Massing their vast fleet of small ships over their homeworld, they'd storm out against the main force of the Iron Hands' fleet, being pulled into a massive space battle near the Aeran moon of Lindus wherein they drifted out of the range of whatever ground-to-space weapons the planet may have boasted. It was here that the hand closed and the fist formed as the heavy warships of the Iron Tenth appeared from behind the dark of the moon, unleashing macro cannons in vast salvoes against the buzzing storm of Aeran ships, obliterating several merely on the sheer scale of the rounds fired. To their credit, the mortals would continue to fight even as Astartes made for boarding actions and tore through what ships were against them, though it would take an estimated standard two Terran days to wipe out the stragglers of the fleet and tear through the orbital defenses, costing hundreds of Astartes and thousands of mortals, along with leaving thick, heavy scars in the entire Iron Hands fleet. ​

​

The invasion itself had proven surprisingly difficult as while the Aeran were mortals, they employed vast amounts of plasma weapons in combination with high powered 'laser staffs' which melted through power armour though took time to fire every salvo, along with a relatively speaking unprofessional conscript army that shattered when the Iron Hands could be brought to bear. This was when the second trick of the Aeran came to manifest, which was their large force of savage beasts unleashed from underground pens around the vast temple-cities that constituted their centers of worship and civilization. The Iron Tenth gave no mercy to these armies as the population was butchered to avenge the damage wrought upon them and their refusal to surrender - Ferrus Manus would ultimately be the one to break the largest of the Aeran cities - and would lay waste to large amounts of the human population as it seemed this world commanded vast amounts of loyalty contrary to the arguably fragile appearance of the planet's natives. The world would fall weeks later with the death of its 'Grand Cardinal' at the hands of Captain Velak Wyth, the same Astartes who made first contact with the Aeran months prior. ​

---

IRON HANDS RESULTS;
3x destroyers damaged
3x frigates damaged
1x light cruiser damaged
1x cruiser damaged
2x battlecruisers damaged
1x battle barge damaged

520 elite manpower points lost
10,550 manpower points lost

ENEMY RESULTS;
~1,200,000-2,000,000 manpower lost
~120-200 ships of escort vessel-destroyer size lost
​

 

[Karen]

​

The Lord Macragge had not seen a ship of this like ever. It evaded all scanners and made it impossible for the auspex of even his flagship to identify as Sethaln's Thunder drifted towards the ghosting ship, or attempted to, supported by deep space fighters as an incomprehensible signal, coming out as an all-knowing dirge would fill the vox of the vessel. 'Silence it.' Roboute commanded the helmsman, "I-I cannot, m'lord, it is bypassing all security-- it is not natural, nor is it human." The primarch frowned as he gazed to his Suzerain Invictarus, and Drakus Gorod, who stood at its front. 'A xenos hails us yet it does not know that we cannot speak its tongue?' The primarch furrowed his brows, genuinely confused as to what he was supposed to respond, though Drakus spoke up quickly. "It would be best to destroy it lord, and whatever xenos nightmare operates it." The captain was as blunt as ever, which Roboute found hard to not appreciate as he watched the ship flicker and vanish on the scanners of the Thunder.
Theoretical; this was a ship attempting to tell us something of grave importance that it risked engaging the entire fleet of the Ultramarines.
Practical; it was bait.
'Back, get us back!' He barked the command, shaking his crew into action as the vast vessel pulled back, the rumble of engines signifying as it threw itself back through the space of the void, almost as if scrambling to a defensive position away from the exposed drifting lure and its telling song. The macro battleship fired no shot though as alarms were raised Guilliman made sure guns were capable of firing on the ship should he need it.

@Theravis​

 

[triumph8w]

KULUKOS






This is what he made war on?

This is what destroyed his ships and killed his sons?

Leman Russ would not admit it to anyone else but at the moment he felt slightly disappointed. The first battle with the legion as a whole and it was against some automated defense. You couldn't even call it a proper war!

But he let none of his frustration show, for his sons were busy celebrating their first battle together as a legion and he would not ruin it with his frustrations.

But he was not happy.

Still, the lack of anything fleshy to kill did not blind him.

He is a primarch.

A being of immense speed, strength durability and thought.

But seeing a full astartes legion in action awed him.

For though they were lesser than him in all ways, they were still More than any being in the galaxy.

With them at his back, he could conquer the galaxy.

He could fight anything.

Russ turned from the cliff where the weapon once sat to the laughter and feasting of his sons.

And left thoughts of the future behind him.

For now.

 

[Theravis]

​

The Lord Macragge had not seen a ship of this like ever. It evaded all scanners and made it impossible for the auspex of even his flagship to identify as Sethaln's Thunder drifted towards the ghosting ship, or attempted to, supported by deep space fighters as an incomprehensible signal, coming out as an all-knowing dirge would fill the vox of the vessel. 'Silence it.' Roboute commanded the helmsman, "I-I cannot, m'lord, it is bypassing all security-- it is not natural, nor is it human." The primarch frowned as he gazed to his Suzerain Invictarus, and Drakus Gorod, who stood at its front. 'A xenos hails us yet it does not know that we cannot speak its tongue?' The primarch furrowed his brows, genuinely confused as to what he was supposed to respond, though Drakus spoke up quickly. "It would be best to destroy it lord, and whatever xenos nightmare operates it." The captain was as blunt as ever, which Roboute found hard to not appreciate as he watched the ship flicker and vanish on the scanners of the Thunder.
Theoretical; this was a ship attempting to tell us something of grave importance that it risked engaging the entire fleet of the Ultramarines.
Practical; it was bait.
'Back, get us back!' He barked the command, shaking his crew into action as the vast vessel pulled back, the rumble of engines signifying as it threw itself back through the space of the void, almost as if scrambling to a defensive position away from the exposed drifting lure and its telling song. The macro battleship fired no shot though as alarms were raised Guilliman made sure guns were capable of firing on the ship should he need it.

@Theravis​

Click to shrink...

The Anath Raema's shipmaster was furious, but the farseer Council was not to be gainsaid. The Mon'keigh battleship, while crude, was still capable of damaging his pride and joy. The Farseer, meanwhile, was probing the other vessel mentally, looking for a mind which could be... Used, to learn their tongue.

"Shipmaster. This is the translation I have gleaned. Send them the following message precisely, and then prep my shuttle and an honor guard of Howling Banshees and Striking Scorpions"

The ship finally began to broadcast in High Gothic, the language of Terra.

+++We bring warning. Send boarding instructions. We come.+++

 

[Awetduck]

Lord Militant Erais Slaithe stood in front of the million headstones erected on Buttcrama and looked at his mandate issued by the First Lord of Terra.
This world would be an eternal training ground, the first world to belong in its entirety to the Solar Auxilia. Here new Cohorts of 500,000 would be raised and bloodied against the savage Orks which would eternally threaten this land, in the broken ruins of the imperial spacecraft yosed into high orbit would they train with and against a cadre of Knight Sigilite Astartes. Populations from the teaming throngs of Terra already placed bids on this new territory. Manufactorum for the war machines of the Auxilia were already being packaged on Mars and Saturn.

One million dead Auxilia. And Thousand Astartes. And Fifty Custodes. The largest loss of Custodes in living memory. There names would be carved into the bedrock of this world. The Eternal Battle of the training cohorts fought in their honor and each Astartes Cadre would carry their names into war on their banners.

 

[Karen]

LATERVIAN EXPLORATION - A WORLD UNTOUCHED
​

The worlds the Latervians saw were silent as the grave, abandoned of all mortal technology but the greater powers that they could not comprehend. The world itself was decorated in ruins towering higher than the trees while hordes of large four legged reptilians with necks longer than that moving in large herds across plains and oceans. They would be followed of course, by the natives of this world, or perhaps its few masters. Tall, slim and graceful, they moved like the most ethereal of fairies but they whispered death and it would answer. The survey ships had no real classification for the entities, but the ruins immediately recognized the Eldar patterns on them. It was some kind of quiet, reserved world off the edge of the galaxy.

[ Exodite world & Nothing found ]​

 

[Bandeirante]

The Lion stretches its paws.



The Emperor of Mankind had made the Lion and his brothers to wage war for him. To cross the stellar void and bring all of Mankind under his golden aegis, ending this dark age and bringing forth a golden age under the Imperium of Man. The Emperor himself was no more, but his ideals lived on through the Lion, in a fashion.

With a mighty fleet of warships at his command and a Legion of Mankind's greatest warriors behind him, the Primarch set out to the stars. Cautions and even hesitant at first. Lion El'Jonson was a guarded man, private and suspicious by nature. Trust did not come easy to him, nor did recklessness. And as such he organized a small squadron. Fast and easily replaceable ships to scout out the sectors of space closest to his domain. A simple start to what would undoubtedly grow into a mighty interstellar Crusade.

Such caution, as it turned out, was unnecessary. An apparently abandoned Eldar world, a sector whose only notable for its decaying station inhabited by primitive humans and a Forge World were all the things of note his sons had found. Of these, the primitives inhabiting Silence were easily awed into submission by a small group of Astartes, while the Lion himself went to Ussavex and brought the world to heel with a single meeting behind closed doors with the Archmagos, loyalty to Terra still ran deep among that particular group of the Machine Cult.

Meanwhile, back in Caliban, bards sang about the great triumphs of their High King, whose words could make planets kneel just as easily as his sword. High above the propaganda towers and parade grounds where the glories of their overlord were celebrated, Caliban's mighty shipyards worked around the clock to lay down more hulls for the Dark Angel's battlefleet. The same went for the newly integrated shipyards of Ussavex, whose Magos now threw themselves to the task of empowering their newest champion through the works of industry.



The Primarch himself, a Warlord at heart more than anything else, tasked himself with reorganizing both his Legion and the ever growing mortal armies under his banner.

The Dark Angels were a mighty force, but not one to the Lion's liking. Too foreign, too Terran. They served the High King of Caliban now, and Lion El'Jonson would make sure that they wouldn't forget that. The Legion grew, taking recruits from Caliban, powerful knights and promising initiates from the Order, fresh blood who would bring with them the traditions and ways of Caliban, who would support the Lord Cypher in teaching their Terran born brothers the way. While the Lion himself worked on instilling the same valor and ideals from the top down.

Meanwhile, a military bureaucracy that grew as fast as its civilian counterpart, busied itself with reforming the mortal forces of the High Kingdom according to the designs of its overlord. All across the sectors under Caliban's heel, millions of men and women were drawn into the ranks of the Lion's Host, marching under Caliban's green banne. Now bolstered by the cohorts of Ussavex and the bounty of its massive foundries.

​

 

[KnightofTempest]

From: Boris Zelnikov, Sorcerer of the Latverian Expedition
To: Strongest Psyker Presence on the Exodite World @Kerensky

We of the Latverian Expeditionary Fleet Greet you and wish to speak to you about matters of trade. Would it be possible to send a party down to Parlay?

 

[Sidheach]

The White Scars

---
​

Having struck an alliance with the House of Capulet, the Great Khan would turn the White Scars east, towards Chore and the House of Montague, in order to expand Chogoris' borders. Refusing to engage in the kind of warfare to which the feuding Houses were used to, the White Scars would engage in hit-and-run warfare. Civilian shipping would be devastated, outlying patrols ambushed, and the Montagues bled from a thousand different cuts as the White Scars applied the lessons of Chogoris to the galactic stage. At the same time, Tybalt Capulet, the Prince of Cats, would engage in more traditional attacks, throwing his House's ships at the Montagues and pushing the frontline forward as his age old foes found themselves spinning about, trying to deal with the myriad of threats before them.

By the time Jaghatai Khan himself arrived over Chore, the Montagues would be bled almost dry, their fleet cut down to size and their soldiers left battered and weary.

Stubborn and not yet broken, Lord Montague would attempt to withstand the White Scars, hoping that Chore's defenses would make the difference between victory and defeat, an attempt that would prove woefully misguided. Once those defenses had been destroyed, picked apart by the Great Khan's ships at range, the White Scars would take up orbit around Chore and systematically dismantle all resistance on the surface. Military installations would be targeted by lance strikes, void shields cracked open with all the tools at the White Scars' disposal, and Chore crushed underheel.

By the time the House of Capulet arrived in the System, Chore would be broken, the House of Capulet eradicated, and the Great Khan himself seated in the ashes of their great hall as the White Scars finished hunting down the last pockets of resistance on the world. The sight alone would be enough to give cause for Tybalt Capulet to withdraw to friendly space as quickly as possible, having been deeply disturbed by just how little his new allies cared for the devastation they had wrought, let alone the ease with which they had inflicted it.

On a final, more minor note, forward scouts sent out to hunt down a few fleeing Montague ships have reported back to the Great Khan of the presence of another stellar empire to the south east of Chore, one they claim is supposed to be ruled by a giant of a man with a legion of sons at his disposal.

​

 

[Sidheach]

The Magister of Lirus

---​

There are many things that can be said of Perturabo, from the flattering to the cruel, but that the Decimator is lazy is not one of them.

With his new hammer in hand, Perturabo has swiftly set about organising the conquest of the Sectors surrounding Olympia, viewing them as suitable foundations for his Empire. Fifteen Chapters of the Iron Warriors, supported by countless bodies from the Iron Guard, have been set aside and tasked with securing those undefended Sectors closest to their home.

The swiftest to fall under Perturabo's sway would be Gryft II with the native denizens agreeing to submit to Perturabo after the commanding Iron Warrior, Barabas Dantioch, offered to design and build orbital plates surrounding Gryft II that would allow the local inhabitants for the first time in millennia without fear of a swift, radioactive death.

Dara would fall after the Iron Warriors massacred most of the planet's nobility, leaving only those deemed pliable enough to govern the planet on their Primarch's behalf alive in the aftermath of what the Darans would come to term "the Day the Heavens Fell."

Achaea would join Perturabo willingly after it was confirmed that they were descended from abducted Olympians, a fact which led them to embrace the arriving Iron Warriors as long lost brothers and a flurry of interest from Olympia itself with scholars and the like traveling to the Agri-World for research purposes.

Tolmov would prove surprisingly difficult to pacify, the lack of any organised government and the feral nature of it's inhabitants meaning that the Iron Warriors were forced to employ more creative strategies to enforce compliance. Fortifications were erected at locations of importance to the natives, from watering holes to bluffs overlooking hunting grounds, whilst airpower was utilised to corral and control the movement of the tribes that littered the Feral World. By the time their work was done, the Iron Warriors had isolated the locals in a contained pocket - one comprising the most resource poor regions of the planet, ensuring that the locals would cultivate a culture that would provide for fine recruits to the Iron Warriors - whilst the rest of Tolmov had been thrown open to more civilised settlement.

On Imides, the same Iron Warriors who first discovered the planet would return and start construction on an absolutely bitching lightning mountain fortress complete with murder holes, a giant drawbridge, eighteen layers of redundancies, and a moat filled with acid.

Yet none of this was important in the eyes of the Decimator. What was important was punishing the man who had thought himself cunning enough to betray the Iron Warriors, the Magister of Lirus who had made of himself an enemy of Olympia from the onset. Sixty thousand Iron Warriors supported by enough bodies to jam the gears of any defensive works would be assembled and sent towards Lirus, with the Primarch himself overseeing the effort, in order to crush the Magister under heel and erase his very existence from history.

Over Lirus, a great battle would be fought, with Iron Warriors' vessels slamming into Magisterial ships, blowing a hole through their lines and opening a route through which troops could be landed on the planet's surface. With all the cold efficiency of their Primarch, the Iron Warriors dismantled Lirus' defenses, bit by painstaking bit, and pushed the Magister's forces back. Cities would be leveled, an entire mountain flattened even, and millions butchered as the Iron Warriors made their advance. All while the Magister himself remained hidden, refusing to show his face even as Perturabo himself oversaw the desolation of the Magistocracy's capital city, the once vibrant metropolis being reduced to rubble beneath Olympian guns.

It would not be until Lirus had all but fallen, as Perturabo ordered the last bastion of Magisterial control obliterated, that the Magister showed himself.

Crackling with sorcerous energies, the Magister finally entered the fray, flanked by the Magisterial Guard. Slamming into the Iron Warriors' lines, the Magister carved a path of devastation through the Astartes, snapping gene-forged warriors with warp-born powers, throwing lightning through the ranks as easily as an ordinary man might skip stones across a lake, and more. Only the intervention of the Iron Warriors' Librarians would halt the devastation, forcing thee Magister to redirect his focus while his Guard covered his back, and give Perturabo the time needed to launch a counterattack.

With his hammer in hand, Perturabo met the Magisterial Guard, blowing away six with a single swing of his hammer, and the Magister himself. In a titanic duel, Primarch and Magister exchanged blow after blow - Perturabo using his macro-hammer to great effect while the Magister wielded powers that were rapidly eating away at his form - until at long last, with a thunderous crash, Perturabo's hammer collided with the Magister's skull, vaporising it instantly.

His armour scorched and smoking, his sons finally killing off the last of the Magisterial Guard, Perturabo would claim victory with Labrys, as the Iron Warriors swiftly named his hammer, clutched overhead. Lirus had finally fallen and with it, the first true threat to Perturabo's empire.

​

 

[Karen]

SEGMENTUM OBSCURUS - GENERAL UPDATE FOR TURN 1(?)
The Battle for X-II
​

A world scoured of all life greeted the Medusans as they made initial contact with the Eldari once more, the fleet that had been heavily damaged initially engaging once more against the Eldar as the stars bled in the arrogance of the xenos race. They had underestimated the Iron Tenth and arrived in their full strength, anticipating this minor scouting force being all that was. They were mistaken.
A battle barge tore itself from the bowels of the warp and split the main warship of the Eldar in two, cannons roaring as they ripped through the other ships and sending them scattering with some fleeing towards the planet below. it was here on the listening outpost erected by the Iron Hands that a battle on the ground emerged, as exotic xenos weapons met blade and bolt in a flurry of chaotic violence beneath the outpost held by its junior office, the former captain having been killed by an assassin in the weeks inbetween. The invigorated Iron Tenth would find themselves facing hundreds of these lithe Eldar, clad in black armor were capable of weaving through and slicing up the Astartes like paper where weaknesses were most prominent, though the casualties on both sides began to mount. By the end of it, when the reinforcements of nearly a million auxilia and twenty thousand Legionnaires made landfall they had exterminated what Eldar failed to flee, the rest being destroyed in orbit.

IRON HANDS STATS;
No damaged ships except the ones from the previous encounter.
-287 elite manpower pts.

ENEMY STATS;
All destroyed
Est. 50 various Eldar craft
800-1000 Eldar killed​

---

THE COLONISTS OF VICTOR DOOM​

Colonizing fresh worlds was no easy task, however with the vast earthmovers of the Forge World Maxentus the fresh colonies gradually were swept in, though warning buoys drifted in the deep dark, warding off the psychically inclined Latervians from a singular world - one with no name, though its beauty was not rivaled by any.
​

---

​

ANGELS ON A WORLD OF PARADISE
​

The sons of Caliban landed on a world untouched by the unnatural, though despite this the ruins implied otherwise. It was quite a paradox for them as they struggled to match the architecture to the land it was embedded in. The ruins were almost part of nature, so overgrown and so hidden they were it was a wonder any discoveries were made as to the builders on this world. The Eldar, no doubt, though extinct, seemingly, or well hidden. Astartes listening posts, armories and fortifications were built as troops seeped in of mortals and the men beyond while the fleet watched above in quiet orbit. Nothing would happen, and the Angels would establish Eye-eye's first non-military outpost months later.

[ Colonized Eye-eye ]​

---

​

Raderötch​

Cryp burned with the unnatural baleful light only a foreign world to the peoples which burned it could. Its days were numbered as soon as the enemy fleet had arrived and set about exterminating what populace was deemed unsuitable in the same vein of combat that its natives had. The 'crusaders' set about committing to the thankless task of domesticating a violent, foreign world. And they did.

[ Victory over natives of Cryp, no known casualties ]

Elsewhere, the world of Vor was not resisting the same chaos, and would quietly turn, and change to carry the banners of its new masters.
[ Colonized Vor ]​

---

Kig'Dak​

Colonization went unhindered.
[ Kinbriar and Nishin settled ]​

---

Spoiler

red - explored
blue - colonized/annexed by its source planet​

 

[Dovahsith]

From: Jaghatai Khan
To: House of Capulet @Sidheach

Honors of victory against your blood-foe Capulet. We fight well together and I look forwards to the wars we fight side by side in the future. Speaking of which...I have a request, from one friend to another...not a demand, just one which is to both our benefits.

The House of Capulet has many brave warriors and should they wish it, I would have place in my ranks for them, within my armies and a chance at becoming one of my...sons as it were. Of course, the offer can be rejected with understanding and without threatening the pact now between us. You have the protection of the Great Khan now and any who threaten you will feel my wrath....

Anyway, you see now you made the right choice being our ally, yes?