The Liber Cluster

[Olis]

Olis:

Is that the Untaken (I think that's what they were called? ) I see coming back for another round?

 

 

And we have a winner!

[Reyner]

The Kindred and the Blades have never seen eye-to-eye but I'm not sure they would be comfortable letting half the Liberite Chapters lay into them - something about chivalry, fighting chance and all that? :P 

[Olis]

But what does your Chapter think of the Kindred suicide bombing the Conclave they both attended, in reaction to the over-zealous arrival of the Doomsayers?

[Reyner]

Ah yeah that. Forget I posted :P you know those moments when you walk into a room and say to yourself "what am I doing in here?" it was one of those moments when I forgot why the Kindred are turning...

[Ace Debonair]

Well, I'm going to make a slightly outlandish request at this point:

 

Any chance of the Untaken knocking heads with the Heralds of Letum?

As much as the Aetheric Swords don't get along with them, I myself would like to see these aircraft-happy sons of the Khan get their share of the action.

[TDF]

I haven't been very active lately, but I have been quietly working away on some stuff and here it is:

 

Say, there's four more saints if anyone wants to take a crack at them. Well, I say four more, four from the early history of the Cluster (or that's how I'm imagining it). Maybe this could be what gives the thread a boost, now that it's gone a little quiet. Perhaps one of the fraters following this thread would like to throw their hat in the ring? 

 

 

 

As dawn came the Imperial artillery fire ceased and the sound of the matins worship rose into the morning air.

 

In the forward trench Bastien Amost tried to reach the high notes of Great is His Strength, Great is His Wrath but, as usual, failed to do so. It was Father Grigor’s favourite hymn, but it was written for a choir of prepubescent boys, not a platoon of fully grown men.

 

Today, however, something was different. Bastien could hear a voice singing completely in tune. As they entered the rousing final verse the voice grew louder until it filled the entire trench and stirred the heart of every man present. When the song ended Bastien could see Father Grigor wipe a tear from his eye.

 

Captain Hale was also looking teary as he allocated the day’s duties. After he dismissed the men Bastien turned to his squad mate Alonz.

 

“Who was that, singing?” he asked.

 

“Couldn’t tell,” Alonz replied. “Didn’t sound like anyone I know in the regiment. Maybe one of the lads got his balls blown off by shrapnel during the night.”

 

Bastien snorted with laughter.

 

“Show some respect, Alonz,” piped up Darrin. “That singing was an angel, I’m sure of it.”

 

“Did you see an angel?” asked Bastien.

 

Darrin looked sheepish. “Well, not exactly. But I could feel it. I... I can’t describe it.”

 

“Don’t be stupid, Darrin,” said Enry. “The God-Emperor wouldn’t waste one of His angels on the likes of us. Raphen was the one singing.”

 

The four men turned to look down the trench. Raphen was talking animatedly to Father Grigor. The guardsman almost looked like he was glowing with some inner fire.

 

“Do you...” Darrin began. “Do you think he received some kind of vision?”

 

“I bloody hope not,” Alonz said. “We’ve only got to survive another...” He glanced at his chronometer, “fourteen hours until we rotate to the reserve trench. The last thing we need is some divinely inspired suicide mission.”

 

* * *

 

Two hours later the platoon were lined up along the trench. Half of the men were fervently praying to the God-Emperor for mercy. The other half were glaring at Raphen, who appeared completely oblivious.

 

Captain Hale gave two blasts of his whistle and the platoon scrambled out of the trench and charged the enemy lines.

 

 

 

Saint Raphen’s first appearance was at the Battle of Nuphontaris in 102.M36. Nuphontaris was a major industrial city on Grissum Primus; a world that had fallen into the hands of Chaos during the long centuries of the Silence. The Imperial Guard regiments sent to reclaim the world had been bogged down in trench warfare outside Nuphontaris for almost three years until the Saint made himself known. He led a daring assault on an apparently unremarkable section of the enemy trenches which resulted in Imperial forces capturing five enemy generals and a heretical prototype tank. Buoyed by this major intelligence and morale victory, the Imperial forces launched an attack on fronts. Within five weeks Grissum Primus had been completely recaptured by the Imperium.

 

With that success behind him, Saint Raphen hand-picked a company of the finest guardsmen on Grissum and led them on to other worlds across the Liber Cluster. Everywhere he went he identified critical weak points or targets of opportunity and personally commanded the Imperial assault. Every attack shortened the war by months or years.

 

Saint Raphen finally fell in 134.M36 at the Battle of the Callidan Mountains on Jussian Omega. He was infiltrating a kill-team deep into ork territory with the intention of planting a bomb that would cause an avalanche and wipe out hundreds of thousands of orks in the valley below. The mission was proceeding as planned until the Imperial Navy commander disobeyed the Saint’s instructions and launched a bombing raid twelve hours early. The Saint’s team was wiped out and the Saint himself suffered a broken leg. Knowing that evacuation was impossible without jeopardising the mission, the Saint sent a vox message to all Imperial Guard regiments on the planet asking them to honour his memory through faithful service and reminding them that the Emperor would grant them victory. After the message was sent he detonated the bomb causing an avalanche exactly as the Saint had predicted.

 

On more than two-score worlds in the Liber Cluster statues of Saint Raphen stand proud. Each one marks a site where he won a critical victory. The largest memorial is in the Callidan Mountains, where a monastery stands on the mountain where he died. The monks are dedicated to collecting all records of Imperial military history, tactics and strategies, and the monastery is a common place of pilgrimage for commissioned officers of the Imperial Guard. In three subsectors of the Liber Cluster it is compulsory to complete a six-month study at the monastery before attaining the rank of Lord General.

 

- Excerpt from Saints and Icons, a Polemical Study of the Greater Imperium by Hertigarde Astersis, 404.M39 (Sequestered by Ecclesiarchal Decree)

 

 

 

The following stuff occurs during the Eighteen Worlds Crusade:

 

 

 

 

+++Barek Zayim+++

Records show that the Barek system was colonised in 372.M35. Barek Zayim, a frigid, barren, dwarf planet on the edge of the system, was designated a mining world due to an apparently high density of rare elements and minerals in its crust. The true mineral wealth turned out to be much less than anticipated and within a century the Imperium abandoned Barek Zayim. The legacy of mining remained, however, in the form of large underground caverns. During the Liber Reconquest Campaign these caverns were claimed by the Departmento Munitorum to serve as a forward supply base for the assault on the Eighteen Worlds of the Sereiki Lions. This drew the attention of the heretical mercenaries, who launched an attack on the system that led to the destruction of the Munitorum supply complex. Apart from a small astropathic listening post Barek Zayim was abandoned for a second and final time.

 

Extracted from:

Imperatoris Aurea Sphaera: A Definitive Record of the Worlds of the Liber Cluster and the Inhabitants Thereof

Father Henrik Glausendorf

 

 

+++Spatium Currus

A Zealot class light cruiser, the hull of the Spatium Currus was laid down in the Dendos shipyards in 809.M33. The overseer was Magos-Artisan Vrutez Lucenial. On completion the Currus was assigned to Battlefleet Chonma in Segmentum Solar, where she served with distinction as an escort to the Retribution class battleship Sword of Valdor. In 001.M36 both ships were among those transferred to the Liber Cluster as part of the reclamation campaign. In 107.M36 two hundred and seventy-three members of crew were awarded citations for their role in destroying an eldar cruiser in the Von Nasch system.

 

The Currus’ finest hour came in 263.M36 under the command of Captain Huugo Mostrem. She had been accompanying the Sword of Valdor to the Evin system for the Imperium’s first assault on the base of the Sereiki Lions mercenary army, but warp turbulence forced her to make an emergency jump to realspace in the Barek system. The Currus entered realspace directly in front of the Sereiki ship Blade of Khroda, a captured Styx class heavy cruiser previously known as the Blade of His Majesty. The Blade had been destroying the Munitorum supply depots on the outer planet Barek Zayim as part of a Sereiki counter-offensive across numerous Imperial systems. Mostrem acted quickly, using the speed and agility of the Zealot class to place the planet between the two ships, although the Currus still suffered heavy damage from the Blade’s dorsal lance batteries.

 

Having bought valuable time, Mostrem implemented his plan. He launched all of his attack craft, but ordered them to hide in the clouds of gas and fuel leaking from the Currus. He then brought the ship back into the Blade’s line-of-sight. The Sereiki vessel, hoping to capture another prize for the mercenary fleet, launched a heavy wave of assault boats and fighter craft towards the Currus. It was then that the Currus’ bomber wings emerged from hiding and attacked the undefended Blade from an unexpected angle. A lucky strike by a plasma torpedo detonated the engines of the mercenary cruiser, destroying the entire ship. Knowing that he did not have the fighter wings or the crew to defeat the assault boats, Mostrem sabotaged his own ship to prevent it falling it enemy hands. When the Eagles of Glory frigate Aurea Accipitrem entered the system seven weeks later it was a simple matter to cleanse the defenceless Currus and return it to the Imperial Navy. The Spatium Currus continued to serve the Emperor for another seven hundred years until her destruction by an ork cruiser in the Gerenth Quadrant in 983.M36.

 

Adapted from:

Notable Vessels of the Dendos Shipyards, Volume LXXIV

Inquisitor Malisca t’Anquill

[Conn Eremon]

And that's another Saint to the mix. Some nice worlds and over-all lore, too.

 

I will say that this is the third warrior-saint the Liber Cluster has. It stands to reason that the Imperium would have a lot of those, but I'd like to see some saints rise from different quarters. Perhaps a Sister who belongs to the less-violent orders, or a fire and brimstone Vandirist priest.

 

But of course, the only ideas I can think of all involve some sort of violence involved. Like a canonized Governor who successfully keeps an entire Ork WAAAGH! contained within his agrarian world for far longer than expected, letting his people get slaughtered in the millions. He even had the private armies of his subordinate nobles assault the Orks were they were at their thickest, successfully killing enough Ork warlords to get the entire horde to degenerate into internecine warfare, while keeping the majority of these personal armies rested and well-armed, manning the walls of his own fortress. He turned what could have been a threat endangering the entire sub-sector into a localized slaughter, at the mere cost of 83% of his world's population. Sure, dealing with the Orks meant that virtually the entire world had to be razed to ash, but in examining the world for other potential uses it was uncovered that there were loads of precious metals under the ground, somehow missed when originally settled. All it took was a little somethin' somethin' to grease some gears to get the Mechanicus to transport everything a brand new mining world could need, and some forced migrations from a few nearby Hive Worlds, and bam! Suddenly the world of Magadha is more useful to the Imperium than ever, and Governor Maurya richer than ever.

 

Okay, I wouldn't want to canonize that guy, but I am including him and that world's history. We have a new sub-sector, contributed by I forget who, called I forget what. I'll add this one to it as I'm shifting through the thread tonight.

[Olis]

Well, I'm going to make a slightly outlandish request at this point:

 

Any chance of the Untaken knocking heads with the Heralds of Letum?

As much as the Aetheric Swords don't get along with them, I myself would like to see these aircraft-happy sons of the Khan get their share of the action.

 

Could do. I am hoping to expand on them and their non-codex organisation, perhaps also with some surprising revelations.

 

I suppose it depends if the promethean is up for it. Maybe we could make them live up to their motto:

 

 

“We honor Letum with our lives and the lives of His foes.”

 

 

 

 

- Excerpt from Saints and Icons, a Polemical Study of the Greater Imperium by Hertigarde Astersis, 404.M39 (Sequestered by Ecclesiarchal Decree)

 

 

Nice reuse of dear, old Hertigarde, brother.

 

Liking the write up, happy to see someone taking up the prompt from a couple of weeks back and running with it.

[Astus]

And I'm back again!

 

There's definitely been some great stuff added recently, some of which has given me some ideas I'll get around to eventually.

 

Regarding the Blackjaw Kindred's recent antics, the Heralds consider it a 'tantrum'. Although because some of their own were killed,  they will hunt down those Kin directly responsible and punish them. The rest of the Kin can have the lenient sentence of a penitent crusade.

 

Of course if the Kin continue to kill loyal Astartes, the Heralds will hunt all of them until they are completely gone.

 

Olis and Ace: I'm happy with the Heralds clashing with the Untaken. In fact that fits with what I was planning for the Heralds to do next. After Venet and hearing of the fall of the Sons of Calderon, the Heralds swear an oath of vengeance against the Sereiki Lions, and go on a rampage through their territory. The Heralds can run into the Untaken then.

 

Of course after all the damage they do, the Lions retaliate against the Heralds. And since most of the chapter are in Lions territory, there is a very convenient target: Libitum.

 

The Heralds on crusade may make it in time, but two things are certain. They will survive, but at the cost of their home world. Which sets them up nicely to perfect their void warfare skills.

 

What does everyone think of all that?

[Olis]

Olis and Ace: I'm happy with the Heralds clashing with the Untaken. In fact that fits with what I was planning for the Heralds to do next. After Venet and hearing of the fall of the Sons of Calderon, the Heralds swear an oath of vengeance against the Sereiki Lions, and go on a rampage through their territory. The Heralds can run into the Untaken then.

 

I am intending the Untaken to return a good while after the EWC, to be honest - I'm thinking perhaps on the cusp of the 38th millennium.

[Astus]

 

Olis and Ace: I'm happy with the Heralds clashing with the Untaken. In fact that fits with what I was planning for the Heralds to do next. After Venet and hearing of the fall of the Sons of Calderon, the Heralds swear an oath of vengeance against the Sereiki Lions, and go on a rampage through their territory. The Heralds can run into the Untaken then.

 

I am intending the Untaken to return a good while after the EWC, to be honest - I'm thinking perhaps on the cusp of the 38th millennium.

 

 

Ok, the Untaken can fight the Heralds after they've gone fleet-based. It definitely has to be an orbital battle then.

 

Will the Untaken have changed much from Zavatista?

[Olis]

Ok, the Untaken can fight the Heralds after they've gone fleet-based. It definitely has to be an orbital battle then.

 

Will the Untaken have changed much from Zavatista?

 

Well... yes and no. They will be a much bigger threat but they are still mostly who they were way back on Zavatista. They still wage war in a similar manner and their kit, although a little better than it used to be, is still a kinda mixed bag affair. One of the surprises I can reveal early is that they have not succumbed to the warp. They are renegades, and have been so for millennia, but the lure of Chaos hasn't bitten them. 

[incinerator950]

Oh good.

[Tiberius Cato]

Cormac, I rewrote the bit about Libertas. When you get a chance to edit it, I'd appreciate it.

 

++++++++++

 

 

The homeworld of the Astartes is the temperate hiveworld of Libertas. The world boasts a great diversity of peoples and beliefs, having been colonised be citizens from all corners of the Sol system. This has given rise to much conflict and outright war between some factions, due to conflicting beliefs and prejudices. The most dominant of Libertas' belief systems is the philosophy of the Vazhinkdon hive gang, they worship the Immortal Emperor as a God made flesh. They seek to honour His name by launching assaults on other hive gangs, citing that it is His divine will that spurs them on to glory.

 

Their path to glory is thought to have two meanings: One school of thought is victory and achievement bring honour and praise to an individual, and by extension to the Emperor. The other school of thought is that a heroic death in battle will deliver a warrior to glory, a realm of existence where the Emperor walks once again and rewards His devout warriors with life eternal in this realm of existance.

 

This belief is carried on by many aspirants to the Eagles of Glory chapter, and has become the basis for the chapter cult. As such, each battle-brother fearlessly enters the fray, full of pride in their service to the immortal Emperor.

[Conn Eremon]

You know, I was actually just thinking about them earlier today. I'll post a summary of what I was thinking about. It's a little contradictory of what you wrote, but I'm not particularly beholden to it. If you like it, take it.

 

The world of Libertas gathered settlers from many worlds of the Liber Cluster. At first, cultural differences between settlers and outrages committed against native Libertines created a hostile environment, of wars that raged across the world. Many independent city-state Hives took root over time. Though leagues were formed, they were by and large antagonistic of each other.

 

The Eagles changed that. Service to the Emperor demanded unity of purpose and mind. Though the Libertines had no desire for such unity, a union was nonetheless enforced. As centuries became millennia, the city-state Hives have become increasingly dependent upon each other, unified under umbrella rule of the Eagles of Glory. The world is not without conflict, as old rivalries arise. Once, when the entire Chapter was assembled elsewhere on crusade, Libertas degenerated into a civil war that spread across the globe, quickly put down by the Eagles' return. With internal conflict being so generally low, the Eagles instead rely upon the extensive martial traditions across Libertas, not unlike the military academies of distant Macragge, for recruits and serfs.

[Tiberius Cato]

I like what you wrote better. I also planned a reference to the civil war in conjunction with the Kindred going renegade.

[Conn Eremon]

Ah, cool. Thanks.

 

In review of the thread again, I realize I forgot something extremely important.

 

The Void Kraken.

 

I definitely need to at least give them a mention.

[Tiberius Cato]

Is the Void Kraken a beast(s)? or are they pirates or something?

[Conn Eremon]

Beast. See . . . Page 52? 51? for discussion and image of one.

[Tiberius Cato]

Oh my God-Emperor. I can only how much :cuss that beast can kick, woe is the vessel that meets that thing.

[Ace Debonair]

"If it bleeds, we can kill it." - Ancient Grennarchian Proverb

[Captain Nameless]

"Sometimes even if it doesn't" - common reply amongst the Aetheric Swords

[Wade Garrett]

Boys an girls, I tink we gonna need a bigger sky pirogue.

 

-last words of Cuirassier Gaston Bateu, Blackjaw Kindred

[Tiberius Cato]

"Damn the lances, RAMMING SPEED!"

 

Line used by many Eagles of Glory captains.

[Ace Debonair]

Boys an girls, I tink we gonna need a bigger sky pirogue.

 

-last words of Cuirassier Gaston Bateu, Blackjaw Kindred

 

Wish I'd thought of that one.

 

 

The Aetheric Swords kind of already have a lot of focus in the Cluster, so depending when the Kraken shows up I might leave it for someone else to deal with...

...Although my inner Monster Hunter is screaming at me to issue the chainswords and have my Chapter wear the kraken's bones for armour.

 

Hmm. Eh, I'll play it by ear for now.