[Ref. From the personal logs of Seigfryd Kallanti, Lord Governor, Dreadfall Expanse]

On this, the 344th Day of the 23rd Year of our 42nd blessed millennium,

Let this be a chronicling of the events of the Iceborn Crusade, named for Operation Iceborn, an Inquisitorial effort to be made in tandem with Astra Militarum components of the Malchan, Rivenblight, and Ghostweave Nexus subsectors, as well as coordinated forces of the Adeptus Astartes.  This collection of operations will be conducted in an effort to stabilize the Dreadfall Expanse and reunite it with the rest of the sector.  Sanctioned by the Lord-General Militant Quintus Proximii and prosecuted by the Adjutant Lord-Admiral Marcus Escariot Viratius, this will be the first in a collection of broad campaigns known in the higher echelons of command as the Nihil Crusade in deference to the Imperium's broader effort to persevere in spite of the new age of darkness brought upon us by the Great Rift.

This accounting will follow the exploits of the various factions of the Imperium as they bring light to the foul darkness of the Dreadfall Expanse.  Between the Red Suns of Golgotha and the gibbering, ravenous dark of the Vomit Caern, we shall sail.  Our ultimate destination is benighted Port Rime, the fallen gateway to what was the Dreadfall Expanse.  It is the most Coreward of Malexis' subsectors and a veritable treasure trove of riches lay between its stars.  Lost histories and ancient technology abound among the ruins of the forgotten colonies of Mankind's early forays into the heavens.  Much of it is riven with warp storms and plagued with ancient evils.  However, those folk that have colonized the handful of worlds out here in the great vastness at the edge of the cliff of known space - and continue to choose to peer over the side - cultivate a strange sort of courage I can't help but admire.

It has been my lot to be sequestered here on Idarax, safely in the Malchan subsector, for the past 82 years, since the end of the Pilades operation, and the great failure of Rictus.  The birth of great warp storms Glimmerheim, the Siren's Spiral, Golgotha, and the Vomit Caern have steeped the 'Fall in madness.  Furthermore, we have seen great terrors plague our galaxy.  We have seen great change change us.  The twin disasters at Port Rime and the Rictus System have only echoed the greater threat of the Cicatrix Maledictum.  

We have also seen the return of hope.  The Avenging Son returns to lead us through the darkness.  With his reinforcements, and his new appointees leading the Administratum, we have seen a wealth of production across Malexis.  So bolstered, we have raised new armies to unite the sector once more.  I spend many hours gazing out at flocks of frigates, packs of destroyers, and murders of interceptors stalking the void.  Every once in a while I'll glimpse the vast majesty of a cruiser.  It fills my breast with hope.  At long last do I return home.

~SK