I had some time so I figured... why not?
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Preface
The Black Imperium of Abbadon the Despoiler is the dominant force of the 45th Millennium, greatest of the countless empires to rise after the Death of the Emperor and certainly greatest of the Chaos Realms. Controlling the greatest portion of the former Imperium's territories with a portion of Segmentum Ultima, half of Solar, and the entirety of Obscurus under their control, the Black Imperium and its multitude of vassals have quashed nigh all independent systems and right-thinking Imperials within their borders. Any loyal Imperial assets who still resided within Obscurus when the Astronomican failed with the Emperor's death are likely dead or enslaved, and the fortunate few left have largely fled to rejoin other Imperial holdouts.
But though little of the old Imperium lives on in the Black Imperium, there will always be those seeking freedom from the tyrannies of Abbadon the Despoiler, never the greatest tactician of Horus' get, and certainly not the Archheretic's match in the ways of statecraft and sustainable oppression. In order to control his realm, Abbadon leverages his other talents instead, having others administrate his realms in his name in return for absolute loyalty. But this begets infighting, confusion, and a lack of regulation; his realm is divided.
And through this, the last loyal bastions of the Emperor of Mankind fight on, stealing slaves from their masters and launching spiteful acts of sabotage wherever they can. Whether through spite, duty, or untainted belief, they continue the fight against Abbadon and the Ruinous Powers, and save those they can from the clutches of the Despoiler.
The Liberator Fleets - Lesser Void Powers
The Liberator Fleets come in all forms and types, as varied in their backgrounds as there are stars in the sky. But all of them have a few qualities in common: they once served the Imperium, they have no world to call their own, they are not directly part of any major powers, and they have a great distaste for the Black Imperium.
The majority of the Liberator Fleets arose in the earliest days of the Emperor's Death, independent Imperial Navy squadrons, Chapter Fleets, even Mechanicus Explorator Fleets or the navies of Rogue Trader Dynasties who were voidbound at the time and survived being cast adrift into the Warp. Few have survived into the present day, the majority perishing as a result of their actions against the Chaos Realms and the rest settling upon a world to safeguard those they have saved, even unifying with an Imperial Remnant, but those that fight on have their own reasons for doing so.
Task Fleet Theta-Exaccatus-19
One of many Explorator Fleets formerly tasked with exploring the Halo Stars on the edges of Segmentum Obscurus, based around the ancient Ark Mechanicus
Iconoclast, the fleet was cast adrift on their return voyage to the Forge World of Agripinaa with a bounty of STC fragments to analyse. When they returned to realspace, what had been three months of harrowing survival turned into fifty years in the material realm. Appearing over the world of Halagia in the hopes of resupply, they found that the once-pious world had turned to worship of the profane, held in the thrall of lesser daemonic powers. Archmagos Explorator Ulvad-Kos Fifteen gave the order to burn the world and save those who remained pure, and Halagia died within the week. From the mouths of rescued slaves, they learned the truth of their damnation. The Death of the Omnissiah. The fracturing of the Imperium. The empowerment of the Warp. The birth of an Abomination.
The Fleet wept for the loss of Mars, and they knew that their world of Agripinaa was a lost cause; so close to the Eye of Terror, it would likely have been swallowed up and thrown into the Warp. There is nothing more they can do for their fellows but live on in their name - and avenge their deaths. But no sooner was the thought suggested that the enemy returned. Daemons poured from the rifts in Halagia, shedding magma and slaughtering detachments deployed to the world with the advantage of surprise. As they seized control of what ships they could board with captured shuttles and transport craft, a heretical fleet arrived into the system; the fleet of Halagia's overlord, returned to indulge in his bounty, only to see the incineration of his realm. His fury, it could be said, was legendary.
Caught between daemons on the ground and a numerically superior foe in the void, the Fleet was outmatched from the start. Though technologically superior, the weight of numbers was against them, and many of their lighter screen vessels were being claimed or being overrun by daemonic forces. Eventually, Ulvad-Kos gave the order to flee, leaving behind a number of ships to cover their retreat with the orders to sacrifice themselves once the main body had made enough distance; they would deny the enemy everything, especially their priceless technology.
Lessened, adrift, the
Iconoclast and her fleet were left with a deep sense of resentment and guilt. They sought to atone, to strike back against the heretics. A chance meeting with the Eldar updated them on the state of the rest of the galaxy and directed them to the Krork Protectorates, who offered to repair their ships and refill their stores if they would continue their campaign against the Black Imperium. Though offered refuge themselves, Task Fleet Exaccatus-Theta-19 refused, unable to abandon their loyalty to Mars and the Omnissiah; they would cooperate, but they would fight on their own.
Since then, the fleet has grown, if slowly, and a growing focus on light raids and sabotage missions have lead to the addition of largely lighter and speedier vessels, as well as the conversion of many of their heavier vessels into carriers. They continue to raid the Black Imperium, focusing on Forge Worlds to reclaim the Omnissiah's legacy from those who would pervert it.
House Andaris the Great
The House Andaris the Great - eccentrically named for their founder, Andaris the Great - so named because he had a massive ego
and a great sense for adventure
and profit - was once one of the wealthiest dynasties in Segmentum Obscurus. They ruled over a dozen sectors settled in ancient times, power retained despite the efforts of the Administratum through numerous contracts signed with great powers of the time and the times since reaffirming their powers of trade and tithe, and continued to live lavish lifestyles in the millennia since. They lived comfortably and happily through the darkest days of the Imperium, for such was their wealth that nothing could spend it all. Not even the idlest, most extravagant hobbies of its scions.
Until the day the Emperor died. When their wealth became their weakness. When Excess finally turned its baleful eye upon them. Until the House Andaris the Great was no more - save for its youngest scion, who dreamed of succeeding to seize control over all that was her birthright, and who was fortunately enough returning from a hunting expedition two segmentae away to the dastardly world of Avernus.
When the young Juliet Yanarm Tullias Gladys Viktoria Ordum Panathas… Andaris the Great returned home, however, to find it a den of depravity and chaos, she found herself appalled, for the House Andaris the Great had always been a staunch enemy of Chaos - because such an enemy was oppressive and controlling in ways that could not be surmounted, unlike the oppression and control the Imperium tried and failed to enact upon them - not so long as they always paid their taxes on time and made sure they where always too politically connected to simply assassinate like the Inquisition insists on trying when they think they are out of earshot. And so the young Juliet Andaris the Great got to work; though she was not one to join the military arms like her older brother was, she was a hunter who survived Avernus, and so she understood the mentality of prey and hunter. And she knew that a hunter had many faces.
So she prowled. She skulked. She studied. And she struck, at weak points everywhere, arming slaves and disgruntled elements with the fantastical armaments of her fleet's lockers. Strongly independent, she never sought out the major powers to use their strength for her own, for it is
her birthright that must be purified and thus
her sole responsibility to do so, but she is not against using the tools of others for her own means. And to that end, she cooperated with shadowy loyalists, who later emerged as the Quartus Imperium - not that she cares, besides the fact that she can now put face to the incredible strength of her occasional 'auxilia'.
Centuries have passed, and Juliet has made little progress against the black-hearted diamond that was once the dominion of House Andaris the Great. But it
is progress. And she intends to see it hers again, someday,
especially if it kills her.
The Ghost Fleet
Not all Liberator Fleets were born in the immediate aftermath of the Emperor's death. The former commander of Battlefleet Gothic, Lord Admiral Spire was instrumental to the defeat of Abbadon the Despoiler in the 12th Black Crusade early in the 41st Millennium, but was thrown adrift in the Warp when he tried to give chase. He emerged some five thousand years later, older and wiser, but distressed to find that the Despoiler had grown far stronger in his absence; not only that, the Imperium he served was now gone, replaced by chaotic realms and petty worlds without protection.
Now bereft of his faith and protection, Spire fell back on the only thing he had left; duty to mankind. He made a daring raid at the yards of Cypra Mundi, now a stronghold from which one of Abbadon's regional lords rules his fief, and struck their shipyards, crippling the ancient forge's ability to replace void losses for decades or even centuries to come. Though this came at the price of much of his fleet, Lord Admiral Spire accepted it, for he expected to die in the process.
But it was not so. He was saved by the Eldar of the Empire of Ashes; once erstwhile allies of his, Spire now saw the Eldar to be his only hope. They knew of his exploits in the Gothic War - it was his daring command who matched them at every step, as well as his word that convinced Lord Admiral Ravensburg to commit to an alliance in the first place - and so with Ghost Prince Eldrathain Voidstinger's backing, they offered him a deal: he would have command of all Imperial ships and crew the Eldar saved in their expeditions across the galaxy, and in return he would see his genius put to the test.
And so time and time again, Spire has dived into the fray, facing off against Ork Waaaghs, Tyranid splinter fleets, ancient monstrosities the Eldar had once chained up, the forces of Chaos, and other threats to the galaxy. Each time he faces suicidal odds, and each time he emerges triumphant, as he slowly musters the forces he needs to strike at Abbadon directly, as he did so many millennia ago. The Long Night wears at his soul, the Death of the Emperor almost too much to bear, but Spire fights on, for he
knows the Emperor will return. He must. He
will. And when the day comes that He does, the Lord Admiral will be there with Abbadon's head.
Until the day when he sees that vision fulfilled and he may rest, or the day his resolve finally breaks and he falls upon his sword, the Lord Admiral will fight on. And his genius will continue to pay dividends, however minor they may be, for the Eldar who now direct him.
The Crimson Crusaders
The Crimson Crusaders are a 27th Founding Successor Chapter of the Blood Angels, a Chapter noted to have thrived significantly despite the early logistical and qualitative challenges of the 27th Founding - both times due to the crushing cost of the 13th Black Crusade and the need to contain it. Though they received little support from the Blood Angels during this critical juncture, who could only spare a Captain, a Scout, a Techmarine and a Sanguinary-Priest to lead the new Chapter, the Crimson Crusaders would quickly establish themselves as an incredibly potent force even amongst the Blood Angels - and prove foreboding for their eventual fate.
Lead by the known maverick Aurelius Asterion, former 2nd Captain of the Blood Angels (and an infamous faithless freethinker), the Crimson Crusaders were hurled into active duty a mere decade after their founding, repelling a splinter fleet of the 13th Black Crusade on their own; the other Chapter located within their sector, the Warhawks, was not ready even compared to the Crimson Crusaders at this time. Though they faced grievous casualties, the Chapter soon recovered to launch an attack upon the former homeworld-now-Daemon World of the Angels Resplendent fifty years later in their search for the then-lost Lamenters Chapter, with support from the Blood Angels, Angels Sanguine, and the Warhawks. Though they faced grievous casualties, the Chapter succeeded, and soon recovered to continue their campaigns. And not long after that, the Chapter sent a sizeable force to fight Hive Fleet Leviathan, and though they faced grievous casualties, the Chapter succeeded and soon recovered to continue their campaigns.
If one watches the honour rolls of the Crimson Crusaders Chapter from their founding to right before the Death of the Emperor, one would observe a few worrying trends: their incredible tendency towards great sacrifice for the greater whole, an unbreakable determination to accomplish the mission despite the suicidal risk, a startling
lack of blood-drinking or falling into psychotic rages, and the incredible,
crushing fatalities the Chapter would absorb throughout their campaigns. Notable amongst all Astartes, the Crimson Crusaders lost over two thousand Space Marines by the hundredth year of their founding; a record, some historians say, which has yet to broken even after the Death of the Emperor. But just as incredibly, the Crimson Crusaders achieved such results with their sacrifice that they equalled the Chapters of the 2nd Founding with their talent and experience in just a century as well, when other Chapters of earlier Foundings have not even begun to approach them so closely. Additional study of the later leaders of the Crimson Crusaders - in particular their Captains - would show that each of them seems to achieve greatness
despite, rather than
because of their experience on the battlefield, because of how consistently they seem to throw themselves at lopsided odds with no hope of victory
even by Space Marine standards. And these trends would continue when one considered the Veterans of the Chapter; murderous and efficient, but only because they had the rare fortune to survive the countless murderous wars that had slaughtered hundreds of their brothers first.
Though suspicions were held as early as mid-M42, a century or so after the Crimson Crusaders helped successfully implement The Cure into all members of the Ninth Legion and abated the symptoms of the Black Rage, it was finally confirmed in M43 that the Crimson Crusaders suffered from the Yellow Doom that first afflicted the Lamenters, the third curse that afflicts all sons of the Great Angel. Manifesting as great courage and selflessness, those who suffer from the Yellow Doom invariably find themselves dying at some great last stand or another, buying time for the greater host to perform their duty, or giving their lives to kill a great evil. Those suffering from the Doom seem to throw themselves headlong into death's jaws, happy to do so if it would give them slightly better odds of choking death with their corpse. And the Crimson Crusaders, who showed so little of the Red Thirst and the Black Rage since the beginning, expressed the Yellow Doom stronger than all but the Lamenters amongst the Sons of Sanguinius.
And yet, despite suffering so strongly from this suicidal affliction, the Crimson Crusaders continue to operate in M45, well after the death of the Emperor. Though the Chapter Homeworld of Karanda was lost not long after the Emperor's actual death, the world's existence as a Shrine World, as well as the Order Minoris of Sisters that had settled upon the world, helped protect the faith and minds of its people and psykers. Already a fierce and dutiful people, the Karandans were eager to fight on in the dark universe that awaited them; after all, not much had changed from before. If the Emperor could not give them meaning through duty anymore, then they would find meaning through duty itself.
Karanda was immediately attacked by the massive chaos fleet that invaded Sector Tarsus, having been pegged as a priority target immediately; fortified by towering fortresses and numerous orbital fortresses, the battlements manned by a highly trained PDF the match of any renowned Regiment from Krieg, Vostroya, Mordian, and even Catachan, its officers
personally taught by Space Marines at the Grand Academy of Karanda, its people of strong will, powerful spirit, and
incredible hate, Karanda promised to be a thorn in the sides of any power aligned with Chaos; and given a chance to expand, Karanda could have become a powerful polity in its own right.
The Crimson Crusaders almost dedicated the entire strength of their Chapter to the last stand at Karanda while their allies and friends the Warhawks fled to loyalist hideouts in Segmentum Ultima, their Sector's greatest secret with them, but the Crimson Crusaders had always been of sound mind and sensibility even after they had fully succumbed to the Doom. Knowing that duty demanded they survive to continue the fight into the Long Night - a lesson beat into their heads by Aurelius Asterion himself, now a venerable Dreadnought roused from ancient slumber by the pressing need of destiny, the Chapter left a portion of its strength to ensure Karanda would hold out as long as possible while the rest of the Chapter fled aboard their fleet. They have sworn vengeance for the loss of their worlds, and have continued to fight the Black Imperium since.
Since then the Crimson Crusaders have fought all across the Black Imperium, striking with the trademark speed and ferocity of the Blood Angels combined with the precision and mechanised firepower that is their Chapter trademark. Many a stabbed neck follows in the wake of any Crimson Crusader task force, typically decentralised even further to maximise their reach - though whether this is due to operational necessity or the pressure of their Doom to Die Gloriously is still unknown to the Chapter's Librarius. The Chapter continues to work closely with the Blood Angels, who have held out in their own territories, and retains the unusually close relationship they have always had with their Primogenitor Chapter. Perpetually understrength, their recruitment additionally under jeopardy by the limited opportunities available to them, the Crimson Crusaders continue as they always have, and Make Do.
