The Liber Cluster

[Captain Nameless]

Desolation

+This is Magos Prime Kylen Dahl to Legio Phlegethon reserve group, The End; uploading clearance data +

+ Clearance data accepted, connecting….+

+This is Princeps Caye, what is your request, Magos?+

+ the Sereki Lions currently have us in a stalemate and I need you to break this before Ilos Peleus tries to launch another suicide mission which he will somehow survive.( It’s ridiculous, how is it possible for someone to survive that many suicide missions). You have been studying the Lions’ fortress, I trust? +

+ Of course.+

 + Good. Wake the Vi Naturae and any other Titans you deem necessary to support it in a siege action.+

+ Wait, isn’t there something of ours in there that you want? Deploying any Titan of The End, never mind the Vi Naturae, is not particularly conducive towards anything less than razing the enemy to the ground and salting the earth.+

+ Someone of ours, princeps.+

+ He would still be susceptible to turbolasers and Titan-class irrad-cleansers, Magos Prime.+

+ True, but he would realize what has come, and would try to get out alive, which is what I want him to do. In any case; deployment-code for the Vi Naturae : 36 epsilon – 79 beta – 67mu – 7361, activate.+

+ Acknowledged. Magos, prepare to withdraw your forces, we will notify you on further progress.+

 

====================================================================================================

 

This is how it will end.

 No bravado, no melodrama, just a fact. The Vi Naturae is one of the few Warlord Titans of the Legio Phlegethon, but that is not what makes it unusual. Even among the group of titans called The End, It stands out. Where each of the other titans of The End carries an arsenal of deadly, almost forbidden weaponry, the Vi Naturae has none such overt weapons save an irrad-cleanser built into its head, forming its destinctive “mouth”. Apart from that it seems to be armed conventionally, if somewhat unusually; it has the standard battery of turbolasers on its shoulders, one concession to “normalcy”, and both of its arms terminate in massive powerfists. However, the titan’s true strength lies in its uniquely, Hm?... Oh, a few volcano cannons, we’ll just take care of that. Now, where was I……Ah! Its uniquely powerful reactor, boosting its speed and even its shields beyond the typical Warlord, all at the price of slowly poisoning the world around it with radiation. Not that most live long enough for the radiation sickness to set in.

The machine spirit seemed to question why Princeps Redani, once again, felt the need to explain all of this in the middle of battle. The princeps continued to speak to his moderati,

“You are new to this, but it should be obvious by now how the Vi Naturae got its name.”

“The Force of Nature?”

“A good name for it don’t you think?”

The machine spirit agreed.

It was a very good name.

======================================================================

Epilogue

 

“Magos.”

He couldn’t believe that they had actually deloyed theat monster, they couldn’t just be after him….No. they should think him long dead.

“Magos!”

He brushed some spiders off of his technical data-slates as he secured them.

“Magos Iheakre!”

“I’m coming!”

“We just got here to assist with evacuation.”

“Good. There isn’t much we can do to what’s out there.”

The two magi ran along the catwalks toward the landing platform. Suddenly, an entire volcano cannon went flying through the air in front of them, tearing a chunk out of the catwalk. They stood stunned for a moment.

“I know a way around this.”

“Hold on, let me see if they can fly over to us.”

“+I am with magos Iheakre on catwalk 5A by landing pad 8. Our path is blocked. We need pickup.+”

Soon afterwards they boarded one of the VTOLs Iheakre had designed for the Swift Foxes.

“Magos Iheakre, I must speak with the pilot now.”

He nodded and looked out on the destruction. He only now just realized how tired he was, which, bizarrely, put him on alert. His implants and augmetics should have eliminated all sense of fatigue. This was the last thought he had before his augmetics shut down and he fell unconscious to the floor.

The magos that was with him re entered, looked down, looked up at one of the Swift Foxes, and spoke.

“That was sloppy Kidran. The haywire pulse should activate as the sedative is injected. Otherwise the augmetics keep the sedative at bay and the target starts to realize what is going on. Like what happened here.”

“Yes, magos Tessitor.”

The rest of the Umbrii were already securing the prisoner.

“Pilot, contact magos McDainbarr and tell him that his precious prize remained unharmed.”

“Actually, Magos, the radiation from the Vi Naturae fried the communications.”

=====================================================================================

 

 

Here it is, finally, the end of the Sranav Campaign.  If anyone wants to write more on what happened during the campaign, that is fine by me.

 

And now I am ready for assignment wherever you have in mind, Cormac.

[deathspectersgt7]

Patrick Henry

[Captain Nameless]

For the chaplain's name, how about Thomas Hart Benton.

[deathspectersgt7]

                                                                                 The Blades of the Lions attack on Tonagish

 

It was like any day on the Mostar lowlands foggy. Arch Magos Alastair and Dugald McCormick ( heir apparent to House McCormick ) were leaving the briefing room to begin the morning waking rites of the Houses Knight Lancer & Knight Cerastus Castigator Wings. At moment the alarms are going off adepts menials and other members start running to their stations. Bright fiashes appear in the sky sonic booms shake the ground. At that moment the Magos & Duguld look up only to see the object mere seconds before it smash's them to pulp. The Gray & Ivory  Drop pods of the 1st & 5th Companys are seen impacting all over the facility. Two these pods come down just in front of  the holding pens of 3 lancers with a bang the drops open with a bellow of rage Venerable Brothers Vjosa and Bujar Burst fourth Both Dreadnougts armed Multi-meltas and Sternguard and Terminator s begin the Destruction of House McCormicks Fabled Knights.

 

With 1st Company attacking the Knights  the 5th was to take out the communications and support facilities. At this point no mercy was given humans and servitors were put to the blade. As Brother Jak entered the command station he was put down by bolter fire. Not known to be Planetside a squad of Sereki Lions burst out of cover Bolters blazing . Two more Brothers go down but are avenged by the fire of their Brothers. The Lions are cut down .It takes 3 hours of intense fighting to bring the base down into the Hands of the Blades of the Lion. 

 

Bardhyl Master of the 1st orders the utter destruction of the Knights and all traitors to the Sword of the ten Sereki lions he has their bodies crucified on the only standing wall of the Command Bunker with this . WE ARE THE TRUE LIONS.

 

Eduard Captain of the 2nd watchs as a column of 10 leman Russ's 20 Chimeras and other vehicles flanked by 2 Knight Paladins head toward the mostar lowlands .With a Raise of his Sword and Curse on his lips the Bikes& Landspeeders of the 2nd& 8th Companys attack the column.Completely taken by surprise the Column and Knights are destroyed . But on this Day Eduard would not see the final Victory for he and his Bike were crushed under foot of one of the Knights . He was avenged by the Felling of the Kight by a Squadron of attack Bikes armed with multi-meltas . The Pilot survived only to be captured and pulled apart  between 2 bikes.

 

With their part of the plan completeted they go to hook up with the Iron Ravagers and redemption .

[Ace Debonair]

Alrighty! Chaplain Johan Eidwars sound OK, Arctic Paladin?

 

If so I'll go edit him into the story.

[Reyner]

Well done DSS7! I enjoyed that and it has revitalised my view on the Blades :) 

[Tiberius Cato]

Alrighty! Chaplain Johan Eidwars sound OK, Arctic Paladin?

 

If so I'll go edit him into the story.

Yep, sounds good! Sermons of doom and hellfire and the God-Emperor's divine wrath shall flow from his lips like a running river.

[Dizzyeye01]

Okay, I have reviewed the EWC as it has thus far been posted. If there is something wrong with what follows, please speak up. It's always possible I missed something. Please link me to the post if I did, as I'm trying to collect it all together.

 

Incomplete campaigns:

Venet - 1/2 Heralds of Letum

Thravis - Black Falcons

Baluarte - Eagles of Glory and Scarlet Sentinels

Sranav - Dizzyeye

Evin Prime - Lords Inviolate and Sons of Calderon

Unnamed - Eagles of Glory and Aetheric Swords

 

 

Okay sorry for the late reply to this Cormac, but I believe I was working on Durtuvar. If I put out the details for it though, I could always work on the Sranav too, I've got some ideas for it. 

[Captain Nameless]

Dizzyeye, feel free to add to Sranav.

[Conn Eremon]

No, feel free to continue with Durtuvar if you'd like. I'll check the thread for it.

 

Who was doing Sranav?

 

 

Edit: Was it you, Nameless?

[TDF]

@ Cormac

 

Two worlds I introduced in my piece on Saint Raphen are missing from the second post. They are:

 

Grissum Primus: An Imperial world that fell to Chaos during the Silence and recaptured by Imperial forces in 102.M36. Notable as the world where Saint Raphen first revealed himself.

 

Jussian Omega: An ork world conquered by the Imperium in 134.M36. The site of Saint Raphen's death in the Callidan Mountains is now a monastery dedicated to Imperial military tactics and history. 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.

[Conn Eremon]

@ Cormac

 

Two worlds I introduced in my piece on Saint Raphen are missing from the second post. They are:

 

Grissum Primus: An Imperial world that fell to Chaos during the Silence and recaptured by Imperial forces in 102.M36. Notable as the world where Saint Raphen first revealed himself.

 

Jussian Omega: An ork world conquered by the Imperium in 134.M36. The site of Saint Raphen's death in the Callidan Mountains is now a monastery dedicated to Imperial military tactics and history. 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.

I will copy/paste that in on my lunch.

 

Any preference on a subsector, or I can put it in the unsorted list?

 

Edit: Just read the past two days worth of pieces, so I have noted Sranav's conclusion and Captain Nameless' availability. I'll see about another assignment at lunch.

[Dizzyeye01]

So it ends up when I'd thought I'd posted the story I had in mind, I hadn't even wrote it! 

 

Here's the basics for the story, I'll flesh it out more later:

 

• Taskforce Forerunner finds Durtuvar and is betrayed by, forcing them to run off, they send out a warning signal but it isn't recovered until afterwards.
• Believing Durtuvar to be Imperial, it is designated a muster point for attacks into the Lions.
• Imperial forces stationedover the planet are hit by planetary lasers and try to flee.
• Black Falcon forces stationed at the time are involved, leading to the following

1. The Strike Cruisers attempt to pull fire towards themselves and lessen casualties
2. The Cruiser [iNSERT NAME] launches its marines onto the staions on orbit, attempting to disable the lasers.
3. The same cruiser is hit hard, falling into orbit with space marines still on board
4. The Second Strike Cruiser [iNSERT SECOND NAME HERE] lauchs a desperate rescue mission to save mariens either trapped on the stations and those planetside
5. While some Falcons planetside attempt to hold out for rescue, others led by Sergeant [iNSERT MARINE NAME HERE] leads some of the battered squads to take the head of the Corrupt Governor

Those are the basics anyway, thoughts?

[TDF]

Any preference on a subsector, or I can put it in the unsorted list?

No preference.

[Olis]

The Pacification of Tonagish

 

Above Tonagish the Iron Claw loosed it's deadly cargo. A spread of drop pods soared towards the planet on wings of fire, followed soon after by a second wave. Out of the hangars of the Iron Claw Thunderhawk transporters brought their own pay load. The Iron Ravagers had deployed to Tonagish, barely within an hour of the erstwhile Blades of the Lion. Hurtling towards their own objectives, the drop pods passed the wreckage of the few orbital defences erected by the Sereiki Lions since they had punished Tonagish years ago. The contest for orbit had been handily won by the Ravagers cousins, spreading debris and metal carcasses in a thin ring around the planet. There were no ground based anti-orbital defences to speak of.

 

The objectives assigned to the Ravagers included quelling any Sereiki units identified from orbit and mopping up any Knights that had escaped the noose of the Blades initial assault. Of course, the Ravagers had preferred to make the assault on the main complex themselves, however the Blades not only disagreed but deliberately attacked early to secure the target themselves. No reason was given.

 

On the ground, two primary targets were identified - One super-heavy tank (code-named Gargantua) leading a brigade of Sereiki tanks through the northern fens towards the Blades' position and a clutch of activated Knights gathered in the eastern woodlands. With an unknown quantity of air-power aloft over both objectives, a plan for a direct 'steel rain' assault was drawn up. First came the death wind drop pods to clear the way or at least soften the enemy, then the Ravagers would themselves deploy and prosecute a pursue and destroy policy. 

 

For the crews of the tanks, dawn was waning and song birds were welcoming the new day. Above them, drop pods by the dozen fell towards them. Amongst the armour, the missile armed drop pods created havoc before any Morback tanks could respond. Crews panicked, ammo bins exploded, tracked vehicles blocked lines of sight. Blackened wreckage already littered the fens before the second wave made it's arrival. Within the landing zone, Ravagers spread out bringing meltas and lascannons to bear on surviving tanks. Here, a mortally wounded Morback planted a round into Sergeant Therin, reducing him to a fine red mist, before flames reached the spare ammunition and blew the turret off. There, a brace of Morbacks were expertly killed by Brother Yurskin and his melta - himself using the chassis of one to shield him from the other as he went about his duty.

 

All over the rolling fens, seventy-odd Ravagers hunted and killed enemy tanks, using the fear and inexperience of the Coyote crews to out think and out perform them. It was only the loitering Thunderbolts and Avenger strike fighters that prevented the Ravagers from completely overrunning the Sereiki armour. Gargantua itself, although seen and shot at, eluded or destroyed any enemies it came across. The Ravagers would need help if they were to hunt down and kill the beast.

 

 

In the woodlands, Iron Ravager Predators and Land Raiders had struck against the Knights that had escaped the fighting with the Blades. Many of them bore signs of recent combat but all five were operational enough to put up a hard fight. The first volleys from both sides claimed kills, smashing trees and rending metal as the guns spoke. The Knight Lancer Cumberlainn caught lascannon blasts from three directions, spearing the pilot chamber and mauling the body. It fell without further sound. Erverumn, a Knight Paladin, spun around as it took fire from a Land Raider squadron, sending away shots from it's own battle cannon as it did. Even when it was driven to its knees, Erverumn fought on. Claiming three kills, the Paladin faced down a firing squad of lascannons. The execution was brutal and final.

 

The Knights ploughed away from the assault, splitting up in an effort to divide the Ravagers. And divide the Ravagers did. The Predators chased down Rosterim Auld, losing four of the five tanks in running the Knight Titan to ground. The force of it's reactor overloading blew down nearby trees and turned over a Predator wreck, fire bloom reaching into the sky. Bardock Ignis turned at the explosion, the pilot - one Ervine MkCormick - sensing the loss of his own brother. This cost him his life and the life of the machine spirit in the Bardock Ignis as the Iron Ravagers brought it down without remorse. 

 

The Romainus Rex however would not be culled so easily, smashing asunder a Land Raider and knocking another upon it's roof, it loped after the remaining elements of the Ravagers armour, eager to avenge the fallen. The last Predator, alone and navigating the thick terrain, fell victim to Romainus without a struggle, a battle cannon shell ploughing into the side of the Ravager machine and shattering the chassis even as it brought its own guns to bear. In the end Romainus Rex fell to the last dregs of Ravager armour, lascannons searing the cockpit bare and gutting the Knight unceremoniously. And with that the engagement was over, costly as it was. All five Knights had been accounted for but the Ravagers had lost the best part of the Chapter's tanks - it would take the Techmarines many years to resurrect or replace what was lost on Tonagish.

 

However, with the Gargantua still at large, the Pacification was not over.

[Conn Eremon]

Captain Nameless, let's take a different route with EWC for your assignment. The Lions aren't the type to take what's happening lying down, and they aren't slow on the take either. 

 

So take the Sereiki Lions as your narrative focus, and create a world that is not part of their collective for them to assault, or provide them with some sort of objective to claim that is outside their realm. Let's make it parallel to the first wave attacks, so that it occurs at the same time that the Imperium is making its first strikes against them. The Lions aren't the type to just go on the defensive and take whatever the Imperium dishes out. Show us the war isn't fought solely within the Eighteen Worlds.

 

Dizzyeye, so you have the Black Falcons and you're taking out Durtuvar? Since the Black Falcons are also at Thravis Prime right now, we'll consider Durtuvar to be a second-wave occurence.

 

Tonagish is going great, guys. Both pieces have been pleasant to read. Kind of feel sad that my namesake Knights are being taken out (though I have no idea if they were named with me in mind).

 

Over-all, I'm loving how easily a lot of you are reclaiming momentum, knocking out some rapid-fire tales of the far future.

[Captain Nameless]

How about a Colvin-like world, that is, a major transportation hub, in order to cut off supply lines. Something like a deep interdiction campaign.

[Conn Eremon]

Roll with it, bro.

[Dizzyeye01]

To be honest any chapter could work with this, I'd originally planned for this to be early making it a big surprise for the Imperium as they suddenly lose a world they thought was theirs.

 

For Sranav, I was think a covert operation happened with a strike team of local Sane Mech (I forget their full name) and Imperial Guard (a detachment of the Shadowblades if they still functional) go in to hit a rogue member.

[Conn Eremon]

Sranav seems to be done (sorry for confusion on this front), but you can talk to Captain Nameless, see if there's some stuff about the campaign that can fit in something extra.

 

As for Durtuvar, I can dig it. The Imperium will strike from multiple angles from the start. Durtuvar will represent one of the early ones.

 

I'm working on building a table keeping progress of the campaign. Hopefully once I get it caught up to now and all the kinks worked out, I'll be less likely to get confused over who's doing what or when.

[deathspectersgt7]

The Meeting

 

With the destruction of the Enemy column and the Destruction House Mkcormicks secondary Base the Blades race to meetup with their Cousins.With the 2nd company leading the Charge they crest the ridge to witness the Ravagers battle with the largest Beast any of the Brothers have ever seen. We will need Armour support before we can do anything about that!!!  Brother Isidor how long before the the Armour come from orbit , 15 minutes Brother SGT the Nephilims and Dark Talons are inbound."Vox or cousins and tell them to pull back incoming airstrike inbound " Brother Sgt word from orbit the Thunderhawks and the Transporters are on there way And the Master of the Armory says The Lions Hate ( Fellblade ) is also inbound .

 

With the Traitor Aircraft harassing the retreating Ravagers the Blades Nephilim fighters and several wings of fighters from the Gragorion interdiction wing shoot down and chase the enemy away leaving the Gargantua on its own.

 

With the Blades and Ravager tanks together the plan on the destruction of this monster Captain (Chomodae) Brother Captain Bardhyl do I have your word cousin that we take the Tank Commander alive " You Have my Word Cousin" Sgt Luan you have command of the 2nd Harass the tank and slow it down remember it is shielded but they are weakened from the hellstrike and Battle cannon strikes from the Thunderhawks once the Gragorian 954th hvy armd regt.( stormblades& Shadowswords) and 233rd armour ( leman Russes)we attack.

 

With the arrival of the Gragorians the attack begins Sgt Luan disengage . The very ground shakes as the beast fires 3 lemans disapear move and fire move and fire the beast fire again the blades LR firestorm and a Predator are turned to scrap. 5 more Gragorian tanks are destroyed the Fellblade and 3 shadowswords target the engine "fire" the shields flicker and die. "fire the 3 remaining Stormblades fire the exsplosion Rocks the very planet . The Beast comes to a halt but it is not done yet!!! another LR and Vindicator are destoyed. The fellblade & the shadowswords fire and take out the main gun. the Beast is dying.

 

 

Squads Dardon, Valmir, Prek Vanguard Veterans W/JP along with 2 Ravager Vanguard Squads Assualt the stricken beast after 20 minutes the squads emerge with a battered but alive figure in ruined but gaudy armour . SGT Darden and SGT (Lisk) present Capt(Chomodae) of the Ravagers the Sereki Lions Astartes Known as Mnix . As a reward the Gragorian Armoured Regts are given the honor of the final Kill of the GARGANTUA. The remaining Sereki Lions are put to the Sword by the Iron Ravagers

 

The final tally was not pretty the Blabes of the Lions lost 6 predators 3 LR 1 Vindicator plus crew 5 bikes.

The Gragorians 12 leman Russ's 1 Shadowblade

[Nomus Sardauk]

Hey everyone, just a quick post to let anyone interested know I've finally managed to edit-fu up a decent Chapter symbol for the Sentinels and have added it to their introductory post. Work on the EWC story is still underway, hope to have it ready sometime this weekend.

[Reyner]

If anything small needs doing let me know, I have more free time now work is calming down a bit.

[TDF]

OK, so the first assault on Evin Prime was a complete disaster. My initial thought was that the Imperium would cut its losses and just Exterminatus the planet.

 

Evin Prime

 

The Hive World of Evin Prime is on record from the initial settlement of the Liber Cluster. A mercantile hub for a group of closely tied inhabited systems, focused out of the capital hive, Sitianau. Upon reclamation, appeared to be seat of power of local mercenary band, believed since destroyed. Resettlements not attempted, world uninhabitable following potential Exterminatus attack.

 

Current status: Quarantined

 

Population: 472 [ESTIMATED]

However, the Lions are likely to enjoy space and orbital superiority, making an Exterminatus campaign difficult to enact effectively. I propose an all-out attack on several locations where intelligence suggests Khroda might be hiding, in addition to surgical strikes on enemy fleet command (kill everyone on the bridge of Lion battleships / grand cruisers, then escape). Inevitably things go wrong, the Imperials carry out a hotchpotch Exterminatus and try to run-away sensible retreat with a shred of dignity.

[Tiberius Cato]

+++REDACTED+++