The Liber Cluster

[Wade Garrett]

COMBAT DOCTRINE OF THE BLACKJAW KINDRED

 

As with almost every other aspect of the Kin's existence, the method in which they fight their wars has been influenced heavily by their long isolation within the Liber Cluster, and their veneration of the Primarchs as the Nine Heavenly Lords.

 

As each of their fifteen Circles (roughly equivalent to a Codex Company) varies in size and disposition according to the whims of its Patriarch, it is more helpful to discuss their organization in terms of the specialist formations organized around the cults of the Nine.

 

The average Kin battle brother carries a bolt pistol and a "machanoir", a chainsword variation which has more in common with a polearm. The "teeth" make up a far smaller portion of the overall weapon than the standard chainsword, and the durable hafts are used to parry blows, trap weapons or limbs, and club at an opponent in order to set up a kill strike with the toothed section. It is believed that this weapon was created to deal with the Kin lacking the facilities to manufacture chainweapon blades in the quantities necessary to fully equip a standard Chapter. Likewise, the semi-automatic bolt pistol expends rounds much slower than a bolter. The Kindred's tactical squad equivalents typically fight in loose, catch as catch can formations, with an emphasis on darting forward, landing a quick strike with a machanoir (or a point blank shot from a pistol pressed directly against the target) and then quickly retreating back to the safety of one's own lines.

 

These forces are usually bolstered by Cuirassiers, champions who honor the Battle King above all others. Noted marksmen, these warriors are allowed to wield modified bolters, combi weapons, and power blades as they compete with one another to perform great deeds in Guilliman's name. They may be easily recognized by their ornate red and bronze helms and armor, which each warrior farther decorates with his own unique heraldry so that their fellows (and the watching Primarch) will easily recognize which hero is achieving great feats of arms.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Wade Garrett

[Wade Garrett]

During the Silence, the newly formed Saneslau Mechanicus severed all ties with nearly every other Imperial faction in the Cluster, including the devastated Chapters that would later become the Blackjaw Kindred.

 

As a result, the Kin have evolved into an almost entirely infantry force which relies on drop pods or jet packs for battlefield mobility, and such Land Raiders, Vindicators, and so forth as they have serce more as rolling shrines to the Nine than actual weapons of war.

 

This deficiency is partially offset by the large amounts of Tactical Dreadnaught Armor the Kin posses, with each Circle possessing its own cadres of Terminator specialists.

 

The Stormbringers, an all Terminator cult spread across several Circles, seem to have had their genesis in an attempt to compensate for a lack of armored vehicles by modifying Terminator armor to serve in an artillery support role. Devotees of Ferrus Manus, these hulking masters of ordinance support their brethren's hit and run tactics with devastating barrages of missiles.

[Captain Nameless]

I apologize for all the delays. Today was busier than I thought.

 

I need sleep, to tired to write right now.

[Conn Eremon]

Okay Wade, you can have a run with the Black Judges. They will accompany the Lords Inviolate back to Evin Prime. I think, considering what went on there, that it might be prudent to include something extra. TDF with bring in the half of those Heralds that don't stay behind at Venet. I'm including myself here, but as I said after the last major piece of mine that I'd rather avoid doing any style of writing like I did for the first Evin attack and the Saint of Colvin. The Lords are both of yours to write. And I honestly just don't have any ideas of what to write. I'll lend my imagination on helping you guys, providing my thoughts. I'll try to shoulder the burden as inspiration strikes.

 

As an idea of how that goes down, maybe the Black Judges have an ulterior motive of judging the Lords Inviolate on what went down the first time. Though obviously I want them to be cleared, whatever Wade comes up with I'll roll with.

 

Olisredan and DSS7, take the Iron Ravagerss and Blades of the Lion. Feel free to choose which among you. Where or how you assault is up to you, but if you'd like a suggestion, I can see Tonagish being a threat to be neutralized. If you need a refresher, it's a knight world, home to the McCormicks, who are aligned with the Sereiki Lions.

 

Ace, you've got your battle with the Eagles. If you wouldn't mind, select or create the target or world.

 

SangReb, you've got the Baluarte still with the Sentinels and Eagles.

 

ArcticPaladin, you can let one of them take over your Eagles and focus on the other, or do both, whatever.

 

The promethean, you're finishing off Venet with the other half of the Heralds. I can see some juicy material if those who are left behind don't see much honor in their role.

 

I still have the Angels Exultant to utilize elsewhere. I didn't place the All-Seers anywhere because I didn't know if a home world defense piece was wanted or not. If not, it can just be skipped as an offscreen event, and the All-Seers can be utilized in the EWC.

 

If I missed something, please let me know. I'll continue to issue out assignments as people come forward to do something that is either part of the EWC or is Reclamation-centric. For those who don't have any interest in that, as I believe is the case for Vesper and Incin, I am fine with the time-restriction being lifted for your sake. I don't want to exclude anyone by focusing on a time where your interests don't take place, so if that is the case then please continue with what you'd like further along the timeline.

 

But let's be a bit more clear on when our pieces are coming in. I'm thinking we have too much potential for contradiction if each contributor adds a specific date to their contribution when a lot of us are working on similarly timed events, but if vague dates are given, or if it is elaborated on when something occurs in relation to something else, we can get a feel for the timeline and set something more specific once we know all that's going on in a general period.

 

To give examples, Ace and Vesper have specific dates for the assault on Grennarch, and the day the Blackjaws proved that they were drama queens who got in a huff because the returned Doomsayers stole the stage has been set too. That was perfect, because it allowed us to know what is available and what isn't. What could occur and what can't. For the EWC, it would be better to know the when as something general, like whether or not an attack belongs in the first, second or successive sets of battles or events. When the over-all Crusade occurs will need to be finalized at some point, so that the Vandire-related events can be better fleshed out once the Crusade is done. Since not everyone will be involved with that, I'll split everyone between Vandire and an abridged fleshing out of the rest of the Reclamation. At that point, we'll have the Reclamation done and we can work on the second half of M36, which I believe is completely void.

 

I'm also going to be going through the Liberite Chapters again. Set up a chart to help me keep track and check progress, so that we can slowly work on building up their IAs. Each IA will be based on the Chapter as it was when alive and loyal. So if the Chapter fell, in either sense of the word, then the IA article will not elaborate past that point. If they fell as the Angels Exultant do, then an IT (Index Traitoris) article can be done up in addition to the IAs. The IA format is the most widely known and simplest to do, in my mind, so it makes sense to use it for our Liberite Chapters.

 

Would somebody mind reminding me what happens to the Black Falcons? I seem to recall them being on the endangered list, but I'm fuzzy on the details. If I recall correctly, they assault their world and seemed to have finished in that task, but it ended with them preparing for a counter-attack from the Lions?

[TDF]

I've got a sort-of plan for the Black Falcons, although I picture it taking place after the EWC. Feel free to do what you want with them, but I'd prefer it if at least some made it out alive...

 

 

What? I can be mysterious too!

[Reyner]

Whoever picks the Blades do be gentle with them :P 

[Wade Garrett]

"Do not deny the Emperor. Do not defy the Emperor. Do not FAIL the Emperor. These are not polite suggestions! They are a code of conduct upon which every reasonable man can agree. And for those who do not...those who slide into true corruption....you are the Emperor's no longer. You belong to us!"

[incinerator950]

I'm still lingering. I'm too busy frying my brains playing Borderlands to write anything.

 

I do have my creative wine still, and I'm off from both jobs today.

[Olis]

Olisredan and DSS7, take the Iron Ravagerss and Blades of the Lion. Feel free to choose which among you. Where or how you assault is up to you, but if you'd like a suggestion, I can see Tonagish being a threat to be neutralized. If you need a refresher, it's a knight world, home to the McCormicks, who are aligned with the Sereiki Lions.

 

Tonagish. Okay. I'd like to utilise the Iron Ravagers, if deathspectersgt7 is okay with that.

[Astus]

I'm happy with this arrangement. I'll get to work on a piece about the Chapter council deciding their course of action, and a profile on their Chapter Master at the time. Then the Heralds of Letum go to war once more!

 

tdf: If you have any questions on the Heralds, feel free to PM me or just ask me here on the thread. There's still plenty of leeway to add to the Heralds, so feel free to add more to them.

Edited September 8, 2014 by the promethean

[deathspectersgt7]

 

Olisredan and DSS7, take the Iron Ravagerss and Blades of the Lion. Feel free to choose which among you. Where or how you assault is up to you, but if you'd like a suggestion, I can see Tonagish being a threat to be neutralized. If you need a refresher, it's a knight world, home to the McCormicks, who are aligned with the Sereiki Lions.

 

Tonagish. Okay. I'd like to utilise the Iron Ravagers, if deathspectersgt7 is okay with that.

 

 Cool with me.

[Olis]

 

 

Olisredan and DSS7, take the Iron Ravagerss and Blades of the Lion. Feel free to choose which among you. Where or how you assault is up to you, but if you'd like a suggestion, I can see Tonagish being a threat to be neutralized. If you need a refresher, it's a knight world, home to the McCormicks, who are aligned with the Sereiki Lions.

 

Tonagish. Okay. I'd like to utilise the Iron Ravagers, if deathspectersgt7 is okay with that.

 

 Cool with me.

 

 

Expect a PM at some point today, brother. I have plans.

[Ace Debonair]

Alrighty.

So the battle with the Eagles and Swords is part of the second wave of battles in the EWC.

 

Is Zyngeith an acceptable name for the world this battle takes place on?

 

The Aetheric Swords will contribute their 5th Company, under the leadership of Captain Kirowan Dawnspear.

5th Company are exemplars of the brutal, fast-flowing attack style the Swords are famous for, but are also prime targets for being halted by the Zyngeithi resistance's artillery barrage.

 

Arctic Paladin, if you can tell me what number company (or companies) the Eagles of Glory are bringing to the dance and maybe name their Captains, that'd be first-rate stuff.

 

I'll start writing up the battle soon.

 

EDIT: stopped a sentence halfway through by mistake!

Edited September 8, 2014 by Ace Debonair

[TDF]

tdf: If you have any questions on the Heralds, feel free to PM me or just ask me here on the thread. There's still plenty of leeway to add to the Heralds, so feel free to add more to them.

Cool. I'll do a search through the thread to see what's what and then I'll get back to you.

[Olis]

Is Zyngeith an acceptable name for the world this battle takes place on?

 

Sounds alright to me. :tu:

[Tiberius Cato]

Alrighty.

So the battle with the Eagles and Swords is part of the second wave of battles in the EWC.

 

Is Zyngeith an acceptable name for the world this battle takes place on?

 

The Aetheric Swords will contribute their 5th Company, under the leadership of Captain Kirowan Dawnspear.

5th Company are exemplars of the brutal, fast-flowing attack style the Swords are famous for, but are also prime targets for being halted by the Zyngeithi resistance's artillery barrage.

 

Arctic Paladin, if you can tell me what number company (or companies) the Eagles of Glory are bringing to the dance and maybe name their Captains, that'd be first-rate stuff.

 

I'll start writing up the battle soon.

 

EDIT: stopped a sentence halfway through by mistake!

The Eagles will be assisting the Swords by bringing their 1st and 4th companies, led by Brother-Captains Vlad Kalachnikoff and Davian Farrigun respectively. The 1st company are the veteran brothers who exemplify the chapter's combat doctrine, fire power en masse assisted by bikes and speeders on the flanks; the first company will likely bring land raiders and various tanks to the party. The 4th company are masters of the void and the skies. They will bring aircraft and will not be afraid to use orbital bombardment, no matter who may become victim to it's awesome might.

 

If you need more to work with shoot me a PM and I'll give you some mor info.

[Conn Eremon]

Zyngeith sounds like a fine target. I need to set up a table of the Eighteen Worlds. See which ones have been dealt with, which are in progress and what remains to be named or dealt with.

 

Tonagish is to be assaulted by a pretty deadly force by Olis and DSS7. I expect with Knights being your expected foe that you will bring allies with the ordinance necessary.

 

And the Lords Inviolate will be judged by their actions by none other than the Boondock Saints. Will the Heralds be Rocco?

 

I'll shoot myself in the head, you can tell me the Sons of Calderon Chapter Master's name!

 

Hauvair Greyborne!

 

Ah, :cuss !

[Ace Debonair]

No half measures here, then - Zyngeith will be bathed under a torrent of steel and fire!

 

And afterwards the Liber Conclave can stop harping on about that silly stuff like 'you left the Heralds of Letum to die on Venet.' Load of balderdash anyway.

[Wade Garrett]

I'll shoot myself in the head, you can tell me the Sons of Calderon Chapter Master's name!

 

Hauvair Greyborne!

 

Ah, :cuss !

"ARRRRGHHHH! What color was his armor?"

[Conn Eremon]

I am suddenly uncomfortable with whom I am comparing the Lords Inviolate with in this scenario. :p

 

I like Willem Dafoe, so I'll switch them to the cross-dressing gay FBI agent with a conflicted conscience and a dislike for flamboyant homosexuals and Irish cops.

 

"What happened to the Sons of Calderon?!"

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/PfoyQ2K.gif

"There was a firefight!"

 

Yeah, much more comfortable with that one.

 

 

Aaaaaand back on topic we should go.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Cormac Airt

[Conn Eremon]

Second post has been updated to this point. As always, please review it to make sure I'm not missing anything. I've made some additions to the Colvin sub-sector in reflection of the campaign's events. I'm not going to be writing anything about it, so it's all off-screen stuff. If someone else wants a crack at it, feel free. The kraken has been released in a couple of the descriptions. I made no mention of who takes it down, but I can if someone wants to claim the kill. I know it was a toss up between Ace wanting it for his Swords and wanting it to go somewhere else so he could finally have a non-Monster Hunter themed Chapter. The actual campaign's time-frame is put in the beginning timeline, which will now begin to encompass everything that happens in the Cluster. If you don't see something on it, and there is a heck of a lot that isn't, it's because no dates, either specific or general, were available, or I missed it if it was. Feel free to add some time-frames to your previous works, let me know, and I'll add it to the list. 

 

Sub-Sector Englica has been added to the list, making the total 4 out of 9 sub-sectors expanded upon. There was a lot of emptiness to it, so I did a lot of adding on while trying to stay in keeping  with what ArcticPaladin (if I'm remembering who the original contributor was correctly) wrote about when he introduced it. This included a few worlds, including Space Marine home worlds, and a Warpstorm being moved to it. If anybody has any suggestions on that front, such as more worlds to add (either in this or other sub-sectors), I'm all ears. Same for criticism, if anyone has a preference that I didn't stick to.

 

There remains five sub-sectors to be named. General lore not restricted to any specific point in time, such as the sub-sectors, worlds, threats, etc, can be expanded upon at any time, even if I am asking for a focus such as now with the EWC.

[Tiberius Cato]

Perhaps the kraken can be a task for the Liber's resident Deathwatch?

[Ace Debonair]

-=-=Imperial Record: LC-EWC Z-203=-=-
 
-=-=-=-=-= The Conquest of Zyngeith =-=-=-=-=-
 
 
Zyngeith, a heavily industrialised world held under the dominion of the Sereiki Lions, was once an important spaceport for the Imperium. Constructed in the same vein as Carver's World. the foremost hub of trade between the Liber Cluster and the wider Imperium, Zyngeith unfortunately attracted much business from smugglers, pirates and mercenaries. When a planetary governor brought in the Sereiki Lions to establish order and dominance, he failed to realise until far, far too late that the dominance being established was the rule of Al-Rashid Ibn Khroda
 
When the Eighteen Worlds Crusade began, sixteen full regiments of Imperial Guard were assigned to take Zyngeith.
 
The initial battle was entirely one-sided, the Lions' crude Coyote formations proving little match for the well-armed and supported Imperial Guardsmen.
 
But the tone of the battle changed entirely when the Imperial Guard's artillery was all but disabled by a surprise attack launched by the Swift Foxes, the Lions' demolitions experts.
 
The Foxes were able to set up a chain of vicious explosions that outright destroyed or crippled over two-thirds of the Imperial artillery. The rest were made the focus of an attack by a flanking column of Crowpath battle tanks, dropped in at low altitude by the Lions' heavy air transports.
 
Under fire from all side, the Imperial Guard dug in and erected hasty fortifications to keep the prowling Lions at bay.
 
The Lions now divided into broadly two groups - one to the north of the trapped Imperials, which was a large, entrenched artillery emplacement, flanked by Crowpath tanks, the Swift Foxes and large numbers of Coyotes. The other, to the south, was a much more mobile force, containing the Hyenas, a myriad array of Junkers and Pitbull tanks, Coyote squads armed for combat on the move, and a squadron of Crowpath tanks for cracking open hard targets or forcing breaches in Imperial lines.
 
The battle degenerated into a siege situation. the Imperial Guard, battered and beaten, sent out a distress signal. Thirty-one hours later, it was answered most emphatically.
 
First, the vox-channels for both sides were suddenly flooded with the deafening sound of a choir;  a thousand voices ringing out as though heralding the oncoming storm.
Then, the Thunderhawks came, swooping over the Lion's southern forces, announcing their presence further with a hail of fire even as they dropped their burdens into combat. The Fifth Company of the Aetheric Swords had come to Zyngeith, and with them came wrath and vengeance. Their defeat on Venet burned in the minds of the Aetheric Swords, and they had sworn bitter oaths to avenge that loss, regardless of cost.
 
At their head was Captain Kirowan Dawnspear, his halberd raised high like a banner, leading a squad of bike-mounted marines who darted in and out of the Lion's lines like thunderbolts, their blades increasingly bloodied by each successive attack. Around him, Assault Marines and Land Speeders charged and darted, wreaking havoc, while Rhino tanks charged any infantry foolish enough to try and dig in, unloading their cargo of Tactical Marines into the enemies' ranks. With knives in hand, these marines ever sought to turn firefights into brutal melee, for as deadly as the Lions' firepower could prove, they had little hope against the vengeful Space Marines in such close quarters.
 
However, the Sereiki Lions were no mere mercenaries - used to facing difficult foes and the overwhelming might of the Imperium, the northern forces swiftly trained their artillery on the Aetheric Swords and cut loose.
 
The Aetheric Swords found themselves in a perilous position - hammered by artillery strikes even as they struggled to finish off the remnants of the Lions' southern forces. Just as it began to seem that the Aetheric Swords would be pinned down like the Imperial Guard before them, the tide of battle would turn once again.
 
Descending in a hail of thunder and fire, drop pods slammed into the ground all around the Lions' northern encampment, bearing the bold livery of the Eagles of Glory. Before the Lions could even react to the landing pods, these were followed up by a hail of aircraft descending on the artillery emplacements - Storm Talons, Storm Ravens and Thunderhawks all took the opportunity to batter away at the entrenched guns, even as they deployed troops and tanks to reinforce the Space Marines now marching out of the drop pods. Two Land Raiders, bearing the heraldry of the First Company and decorated with the proud flag of Libertas, formed the core of the Eagles' armoured offensive, matching up against the deadly Crowpath tanks and keeping the infantry free to combat the Coyote squads.
 
Captains Vlad Kalachnikoff of the First Company and Davian Farrigun of the Fourth Company were like twin whirlwinds of death in the midst of the battle - it was as though each were striving to outperform the other and prove their reputations as peerless warriors and leaders of men.
 
However, by it's nature, the Northern encampment was a considerably tougher proposition to face than the mobile army to the south - the number of Crowpath tanks and the heavy weapons borne by the Coyotes alone made this battle even more intense and frantic than the attack launched by the Aetheric Swords. Even with the Eagles' trademark strong offence, supported on the flanks by aircraft and land speeders, the large number of Lions could conceivably take a considerable toll on the Astartes.
 
However, the Eagles of Glory, for all their recklessness, had laid their plan well. Another drop pod, containing Chaplain Johan Eidwars of the First Company and a small task force of Sternguard landed amongst the beaten Imperial Guard regiments. Stirring them to action once more with his infamously fiery and impassioned oratory, Chaplain Eidwars led the regiments from their battered fortifications to reinforce the Eagles of Glory.
 
Freed from the hail of artillery strikes, the Aetheric Swords were quick to finish what they'd started against the south encampment and race north. They were barely in time for the closing moments of the battle, as the Eagles of Glory and the survivors of the regiments closed around the few surviving Sereiki Lions on Zyngeith.
 
Captain Dawnspear of the Aetheric Swords was at first bitter over the Eagles' intrusion into his Company's quest for vengeance, although when Captain Farrigun pointed out the thoroughly destroyed artillery emplacements, Dawnspear's bitterness gave way to a grudging respect.
 
There was, later, a ceremonial exchange of arms between the Aetheric Swords' Fifth Company and the Eagles of Glory's Fourth Company, alongside volunteers marking their brother Chapter's armour and banners with battle honours.
 
As an interesting addendum, on Zyngeith, the victory is generally historically credited solely to the Eagles of Glory's First Company; somewhat to the chagrin of both Captain Farrigun and Captain Dawnspear alike. Some scholars postulate that Captain Kalachnikoff deliberately over-emphasised his Company's role in the battle to the surviving Imperial generals while Captain Farrigun made peace with Captain Dawnspear, although the truth of the matter may never be known.

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

Oh man, I typed this all in one sitting, and it's far too late at night.

I shudder to think how many mistakes there's going to be.

 

If anyone spots any gaping errors, dodgy spelling or other hare-brained mistakes, let me know and I'll correct things tomorrow.

 

 

That reminds me, Arctic Paladin, could I have a name for a fiery and zealous Eagles of Glory Chaplain, please? I found a space for one in the story!

I'm not exactly overly familiar with American History, and couldn't figure out if there was an obvious choice to riff on for the name.

Edited September 9, 2014 by Ace Debonair

[Wade Garrett]

John Edwards, maybe?

 

He was a prominent clergyman from Connecticut during the 18th century, whose most famous sermon was "Sinners In The Hands of An Angry God".

[Tiberius Cato]

A firey and zealous chaplain eh? I'm not of the faith, but going to go full American and use a 40k-ified version of Joseph Smith. Yoseff Schmitt maybe? Feel free to change it to your taste, Ace.

 

Edit: Can't believe I didn't think of John Edwards first! I guess Joseph Smith stuck out because that is uniquely American, The good Ol' US of A is his religion's holy land.

Edited September 8, 2014 by ArcticPaladin