Fluff Space

[Dammeron]

Another interesting concept to take into consideration is time. The 40K universe has a history that ostensibly spans from the known beginning of time and space to an undefined point, with the Warp acting as a kind of metaphorical echo; a state of pure potential that is linked to the material universe; part of the same essential mechanis, yet also segergated from it in certain key ways. Time and dimension have some limited meaning within the material universe (though even those have been demonstrated as being extremely elastic thanks to technologies deployed by the Eldar and Necrons, not to mention the influence of the Immaterium upon physical law), whereas in the Empyrean such restrictions are utterly meaningless. The Empyrean may have been the condition from which all things originally exploded; all states and worlds; all possibilities, since this is what it seems to represent; pure, un-diluted possibility and potential, limited only by the finite consciousnesses that shape and determine its nature. The exact nature of the Empyrean has yet to be determined, if in fact it can be, though some scholars have made the attempt. The most one can seem to say about it is that it defies all attempts to clearly define, existing in a state of pure and consistent contradiction. The Empyrean itself seems to be eternal, even if Chaos isn't; if Chaos somehow burns itself out, collapses or is fundamentally altered owing to some event in the material universe (e.g. the sudden extinction of all mankind), then the energies that compose it will simply dissolve into a more primordial condition and reshape themselves with reference to some fresh dynamic, arguably determined by whatever conscious entities are predominant and most sensitive to such phenomena within the material universe.

 

With regards to conventional time and space (if such things can be called such), the Imperium and its many alien competitors face some rather thorny dillemmas: time is extremely problematic on a pan-galactic scale, since it doesn't function in the same way as we assume for day to day interactions or occurences. This makes coordinating an Empire that relies upon planet to planet and system to system communications extremely difficult. This is also compounded by the nature of the Administratum; being, as it is, a baroque bureaucracy that has only become compounded and compounded as the centuries have worn on, it boasts entire offices that function with regards to planets that were lost or destroyed aeons ago, or wars that have long since been won or lost. According to the Black Crusade roleplaying book, it isn't uncommon for fleets of the Imperial navy to arrive at a particular region of space following orders that were sent several generations ago only just being received, only to find nothing to do, or planets seething with alien civilisations, or lost to Chaos, and so on and so forth. The Imperium is so unbelievably vast and rambling, it is basically cancerous with its own redundant organs, outgrowths and administrations. Planets may be separated from any contact with other worlds for centuries owing to Warp storms or time dilation phenomena, or because they were simply filed under the wrong category or forgotten altogether. Any number of things may have happened during that time; the human beings who once formed the planet's populations having evolved to something entirely other, cross-bred with aliens, or formed societies and civiliations entirely removed from the Imperium and its authorities.

 

Then we have The Eye of Terror and other areas where the Warp and realspace overlap. Here, the notions of time and dimension become utterly redundant: though from the outside such storms may measure only several light years across, within, there could be untold numbers of insane star systems, worlds and pocket dimensions where no limits imagination can impose hold sway. The same can also be said for the Webway and its environs, not to mention any other number of pocket-states, reality bubbles and alternative conditions that may or may not exist out there in the vastness of possibility.

 

The Eye of Terror is particularly interesting in this regard, especially for Chaos players, since not only does it provide a haven for more recent converts to Chaos, the survivors of the original Traitor Legions tend to eke out an existence there, some of them having survived for Tzeentch only knows how long by whatever means possible, whereas others, owing the odd time dilation that occurs in the Eye, are only just arriving fresh from their defeat at the Emperor's palace and the failure of the Horus Heresy. There is so much space drawn between the lines of what is established, and this is very, very deliberate: the 40K universe and FB world are protean; deliberately designed to inspire and encourage independent storytelling. It's one of the things that attracts me to the hobby so fervently: I like seeing how others interpret the background, or insinuate their own elements to make it entirely personal.

[darth_giles]

And yet strangely enough, the Gate is open. <_<

 

Most of this specific part was discussed in the Is Abaddon a Failure? thread.

Source on the gate being open/broken, please?

 

Edit: And I hasten to add, something in print. While A D-B has a good command of fluff, I want an actual GW-sourced document. I'm willing to go back into the White Dwarf archives if need be.

[Kol Saresk]

*snip

 

from the Eye of Terror Newsletter:

 

‘At the close of the Thirteenth Black Crusade, Cadia still stands. But she stands alone, a failing beacon flickering against the encroaching night. Total war is come to Segmentum Obscurus, and all hopes of repelling the invaders are dashed. The Imperium must now consolidate its grip upon those worlds it still holds, and prepare to fight a war that will not end within the lifetime of any of its combatants. While Cadia still stands, humanity has reason to hope, but Abaddon the Despoiler has finally achieved what he has failed to do on twelve previous occasions, over ten thousand years- he has breached the Cadian Gate, and none can now hold back the inexorable tide of Chaos unleashed upon the Imperium of Man”

 

I have no idea if it is legit or not.

[darth_giles]

I saw that line, but I don't remember it from the writeup at the end of the campaign. The last sentence just wasn't in there.

 

Although if you can make a case we won, then I'll go with it. There's been scant little joy in the Chaos camp lately.

[Kol Saresk]

If that line is anything to go by, Cadia is still Imperial. But the Gate is open. I guess it would be better to say that the Imperium is consolidating the defense of Cadia itself while the majority of the system is relatively unsecured. Sort of like running a blockade. But with a way directly around the blockade so long as you don't stop to smell the roses. I think that is part of why we don't see too many HUGE engagements outside of the Eye. Like more Battles of Crythe with a major gathering of warbands. At least warbands from the Eye.

[Eetion]

If I remember rightly.

 

The campaign on Cadia ended with imperial forces retreating to the last standing Castellan, with Creed making the call for all Cadians to die defending and/or regrouping. I believe it was in the large 13th Black Crusade fluff book but sold mine years ago so I can't cite references.

Campaign wise Cadia was contested at best.

 

Fluff wise we got a bit of a controversy with the Cadia stands alone, but I believe the interpretation was that fighting was still taking place. I suppose this is because GW could not really write up that the Imperial forces and defences were swept totally aside and to maintain the status quo Cadia must stand.

 

The reson why the Space round Cadia was under Imperial control was the timely arrival of Battlefleet Solar making unprecedented speed to join the conflict. Worth considering that this will have stripped Segmentum Solar of a portion of its navy when it has the likes of Armageddon and Leviathon to deal with.

 

Are the campaign results still lurking around with the planetry and space % control results. That could shed a little light on the situation.

[Eetion]

It seems the reults are still up on Dakka Dakka.

 

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/392010.page

 

Just take a look at the control % for cadia planet, system and sector.

 

The imeprium did well in the sector, perfect even,

 

But things are unreliable with only about 30% control for both planet and cadian system.

 

Now given those results, its laughable to say Imperium held high orbit, and could drop supplies in at will and orbital bombard at will. It is on the poor end of contested with the imperium loosing.

 

What it does mean is that the Imperium does not have any issue getting supllies and reinforcements into cadia but then will have to run a gauntlet to get them to the planet.

 

Cadia stands only because GW couldn't really let it fall.

[Kol Saresk]

So Abaddon still has one Blackstone Fortress and a Planet Killer? Hmm, ideas awaken.

 

I find it ironic though that the Chaos players were so organized while the Imperials were fighting each other over the smallest things, like who got to use what name. And if this report is concurrent with GW's fluff about the 13th Black Crusade, then the Crusade never ended.

 

And ThisIsJimmy, there are several planets in that report that are being held by Chaos forces. And Orks too, strangely enough.

[ThisisJimmy]

Fair enough, I've never read that before. The 13th Black Crusade was supposed to be the "end game" though wasn't it. I was really talking about from the end of the Scouring till up to pretty much now. But I have since discovered that there is precedent for Chaos held worlds within the Imperium (who would have thought to look in the codex for background information /sarcasm/), so I withdraw a lot of my argument anyway. I am glad to read that the whole area is still more or less contested, rather than the (technical) Imperium victory I have always read.

[Eetion]

Yep. Between new Daemon worlds and a crumbling of cadia its a wonder its not more desperate for the Imperials. Their saving grace was their Navy domination of the Cadia sector, even though they had lost contraol for the most part of the Cadia system. So they can bring in reinforcements but its still one hell of a slugging match to get them to Cadia surface.

[Kol Saresk]

And since many of the hive worlds near Cadia are under Chaos control and the only Imperial forgeworld facing starvation, the Imperium has to rely on reinforcements coming in from out-of-system in order to maintain Cadia. Mesa smells a short story in the making...

[RolandTHTG]

In Cadian Blood by ADB, one of the subplots was the Cadian Regiment's anger at being pulled out of Cadia, and sent to another planet, when they knew that a couple of Kasr still held. So the planet was still split in control.

[minigun762]

I don't have the BFG rulebook so I can't confirm this information but according to the wiki site that references said book:

 

Twenty capital ships, including two Despoiler-class Battleships and a score of Escorts, swept through Rebo's outer system defences and attacked Blackstone IV.

 

Ravensburg took personal command aboard the Divine Right as his task force of seventeen capital ships (including two battleships and two battlecruisers) and twenty escorts sped towards Gethsemane.

 

I found these quotes interesting as they serve as a yardstick for what would be considered a major force (at least in terms of warships). Both indicate that 15-20 cruiser or larger ships and an equal amount of escorts represent a high concentration of strength and battleships are singled out.

 

Assuming these major fleets are fighting other fleets the same size, this gives us an idea that the fate of a sector (in this case, the Gothic sector) could be determined by 30-40 capital ships. This means that subsectors would have a fraction of this strength at most (10-20%). In this light, a raider fleet of 2-4 Chaos capital ships would be enough to take over strong subsector or a number of weaker ones.

[Kol Saresk]

And since the EoT(13th Black Crusade) was determined by a monopoly effect(the loss/gain of one small insignificant planet could affect a larger one as well as the entire sector) all they had to do was take out the little worlds in order to affect the larger ones so even if Chaos was a smaller force, they could still have a major impact on the game by turning a heavily fortified target like Cadia could be loss to the Imperium without a single shot being fired due to weakened morale and lack of supplies. Of course it didn't happen that way because the mechanic on which the tournament revolved on had to be figured out. I would really like to meet the Triad who won us our wedge in the Cadian Gate.