EVENT - The Shadow Crusade

[Praefectus Invictus]

Penitance crusade to recover the shard? Maybe, contrary to popular belief, he actually liked the shard and the power it radiated, and he wants it back.

[MikhalLeNoir]

Hehe. Not bad:)

[Grifftofer]

*plot twist* It was actually only the shard that made him want to fight. Without it he's actually a pacifist ;)

[MikhalLeNoir]

Just like Gwal and so they become best friends and dissappear together into the sunset leaving only a message build of flowers which the sesrchteam tramples upon and so they never knew that both went sightseeing tour to the eye of terror or vegas. Roll a dice. 1-3 vegas, 4-6 eye of terror. Edited September 12, 2015 by MikhalLeNoir

[Raktra]

Those few who survived described it being like witnessing a chainsaw clash with a boulder. Hectarion weathered the slashes eating away at his armour stoically, never taking a step back or letting a wince dance across his eyes. Raktra threw himself against his brother in a relentless cyclone, the screams of the Grinder an accompaniment to the great verse of psychic energy howling in the Warp.
The pair were almost planted to the ground as they fought each other. Hectarion knew how Raktra fought, and now that he could keep his mind clear of the daemonshards' influence, he could bring the full force of his tactical acumen to countering inevitably lethal sword-strokes. The Berserkerkin was almost the entire opposite, fighting as ever with little regard to defensive tactics or much in the way of interest in how his opponent may act. He fought for nothing but the lethal blow, guided by his mutant senses that transformed what should've been his giant of a brother into a macabre puppet of arteries and badly-healed bone. Every weak point was his to see, and he would break every last one of them.
"Raktra, stop this, dammit!" Hectarion yelled as he caught him by the wrists, locking the two in a test of strength. "Icarion is a fool, you do not have to do this!" Raktra snarled through his mask, bare-tooth smile hidden beneath the plate.
"I do. I really, really do." He pushed hard into the dirt, slowly forcing Hectarion's arms apart. "After all, you're the only one I can hit like THIS!"
A violent shove separated the two and Hectarion felt himself almost break open - Raktra had fired one impact thruster into the ground, giving him the lift needed to plant a kicked straight into his brother's sternum as the second fired. The combined forces slammed Hectarion across the sludgy battlefield and into a knot of rampaging Milewalkers, who broke beneath his bulk.
Well, he thought, at least some good came of that.
He recovered himself as quick as he could, just in time to intercept the Grinder with his shield. Seeing his once-brother wielding such preternatural brutality, beyond even the usual violence that he was regarded for, shattered any small doubts that may have lingered over Raktra's new title of Primarch-slayer.

Edited September 14, 2015 by Raktra

[MikhalLeNoir]

Didn't something snap inside of hectarion and he was in the full possessed berserker mode? Otherwise great story

[Raktra]

I figured he'd be one of those zen-berserker types that keeps their wits rather than an Angron-like whackadoodle. Not that I can't change it if I'm all wrong like.

[MikhalLeNoir]

He has a bloodthirster inside. I think he controls himself usually but in the fight with raktra he lets loose

[simison]

Concerning the Halcyon Wardens company:

 

Brigadier-Captain Helidius, Fifth Cohort, 278th Company "Guardians of the Breach"

 

"Charged with defending Cadia and watching the Eye of Terror, Helidius commands seven hundred marines and a small flotilla of light cruisers and frigates, along with the Cadian militia. Outfitted with a large contingent of assault marines, Helidius has turned his company into a large Quick-Reaction Force to defend the planet. Although well prepared to face threats from raiders and xenos, the Warden commander is more unnerved by the strange practices of the Cadian people. Whispers of strange rituals and grotesque beliefs hover at the edge of his knowledge. Regardless, he has his orders. And none will stop him from carrying them out."

 

I know there's been talked about leaving Cadia as lifeless ball of rock, but what of the Cadian Pylons? We still share the same start point as the canon universe, which means those pylons are still there and still critical to keeping the Eye of Terror at bay.

 

Also, how about we call this the Blood Crusade, as homage to Khorne's influence this campaign?

[Praefectus Invictus]

Fluffwise, where are the Pylons located (I'm not familiar with the Cadian Pylons aside from the fact that they keep the Eye at bay). If they are located on planets there could be Compnaies of Solar Auxilia to guard them, along with Legiones squads. If they are on Cadia, then maybe have a massive flotilla protecting them. Jackel wouldn't want them destroyed, as he doesn't want the Eye to spread and chaos to grow, even if Raktra and Alexos want them to be. He would be willing to fight to keep them up as well, which could lead to some interesting conflicts.

[Athrawes]

The Cadian Pylons are located on the surface of Cadia. But there are recorded to be a handful of other located sparingly on worlds around the Eye of Terror.

 

http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i327/nickfayette1/CadianPylon.jpg

 

There are 5,810 intact on Cadia, and something like 2,000 which have been damaged or destroyed over the aeons.

 

It is VERY important to note that the forces of chaos (mortal not daemon) do not want to damage them. Yes, they restrict the growth of the eye of Terror, but they also create the only stable and large route in and out of the Eye. As ADB made clear in Talon of Horus, it is deadly and disastrous for vessels to try and leave the eye of Terror without using a route the the Cadian Gate. So tactically, chaos forces of the 41st millennium would be shooting themselves in the foot by damaging the Pylons. 

 

(Please note that as of old fluff about the13th black crusade, Abaddon did want to destroy the plyons to allow the eye expand and engulf the imperium, but in new fluff, like Talon of Horus it is made relatively clear that chaos raiding and invasion fleets need routes like the Cadian gate to actively enter and leave the eye of terror. The Eyes border is otherwise too dangerous to move larges fleets through)

 

However, how the chaos aligned forces of the heresy/Insurrection view the Pylons and their effect is a bit more tricky to define. Since the traitor legion's don't know that they will inevitably wind up trapped in the Eye of Terror, it probably would seem like the pylons are a bad thing, and that the eye should be allowed to expand.

 

BUT

 

That attitude would cause havoc further down the line. Which is why I'm of the mind set that the Legions simply wouldn't care about them, on either side. At this point in time after all, only the daemons, Necrons and (Maybe?)Eldar aligned races would have any clue that it was the pylons at all which created the Cadian gate.

 

And since at this point the Legions would be more focused towards conquering the galaxy and fighting each other I'm definitely of the mind set of "Lets ignore these obviously worthless Xenos curiosities and focus on important things like conquering/defending the Golden Throne."

 

+++++

 

SO to sum it up, the imperial research on the pylons didn't occur until millennia after the Heresy (in fact, from the eye of terror codex it was clear that even the imperial forces still only speculated that the pylons might have something to do with the Cadian Gate) , so it is doubtful any Insurrection Era imperials or traitors knew that the pylons were/are important, or even related to the eye of Terror and the Cadian Gate. 

 

It is the next best things to impossible that any Primarch knew what the Pylons were, or even that they existed in the first place. Besides, the Primachs (in there minds) would have much bigger, more important things to worry about and defend than the Cadian Pylons, even if they knew about them (which seems dubious) in the first place. We as outside observers, know that the traitors inevitably end of in the EYE, no one else in the Galaxy does. We (as omnipotent, outside observers) also know that the pylons are important to the stable route in and out of the Eye, but no humans, possibly no Xenos knows that either.

 

Messing with them in the Insurrection causes huge problems later in the timeline so for lores sake and simplicities sake, lets just leave them be, and act like none of the galactic players even knows what the are.

Edited October 7, 2015 by Athrawes

[Sigismund229]

Right, seeing as Book 2 is on the horizon and part of what that book deals with is the Blood Crusade, I thought I'd revive this thread.

So opening up with a question: are the Stygian Jackals still part of the Blood Crusade?

[Praefectus Invictus]

I think they play more of a harrowing role, launching raids against weaker worlds and opening up areas for the main forces to attack through. In terms of force projection, the primarch certainly isn't there, and maybe only a dozen cadres or so are present for the opening stages of the campaign.

[MikhalLeNoir]

By the way as the jackals rob weaker worlda and attsck refugee ships, maybe they could have some beef with wardens of light ( those who are later the first to break apart to aid the imperium?)

[Praefectus Invictus]

I'm up for it

[MikhalLeNoir]

Cool. As the whole legion is called.to caerbannog and safeguard the area i thought of the system.and subsystems there as a relatively safezone where refugees flee to find a safe zone from the terrors of insurrection. Seems like ideal targets for the jackels. Any ideas for a scenario? If not i will try and make a harder quest for sigi this time^^ Edited August 9, 2016 by MikhalLeNoir

[Sigismund229]

I'm up for it

Great!

So the roles as they are shaping up atm

Berserkers of Uran: Rampaging through the Dominion, sacking various worlds and fighting the Crimson Lions

 

Eagle Warriors: Commit a small force accompanied by Travier to make sure Raktra stays on the path he's supposed to and falls to Khorne.

 

Stygian Jackals: Commit a small number of marines to raid frontier worlds, attack weakly defended worlds and take out outposts

 

And perhaps Icarion sends a small force to see to it that his will is done?

Edited August 9, 2016 by Sigismund229

[bluntblade]

And verify Alexos' promises about Chaos.

[Sigismund229]

Next question: does the Blood Crusade only take place in the Dominion?

[Kelborn]

May I ask if we are talking about the Dominion of Storms?

 

If so, I can offer some systems, etc. as playgrounds. ;)

[Sigismund229]

May I ask if we are talking about the Dominion of Storms?

 

If so, I can offer some systems, etc. as playgrounds. ;)

Nope we are talking about the Dominion of Mycenae

[Sigismund229]

So known events so far of the Blood Crusade

 

The Invasion of the Blood Stars(Corpora Ferro and Abysii vs Crimson Lions and Mechanicus)

The Battle of Cadia('Serkers and EW vs Crimson Lions with IB arriving later).

 

I have a few suggestions for events

Battle of the Gidion Rift. Void battle between the traitors and the Crimson Lions. Largest void battle of the Insurrection so far(unless Yucahu and co. get that). Crimson Lions are forced to fall back despite inflicting heavy damage on the traitors fleet.

Siege of Beldor. A traitor attack on the Dominion's Armatura.

Battle of Arrian. A traitor attack on a heavily defended world on the outskirts of the Mycenae system during which the Crimson Lions halt the traitors and force to start retreating via Cadia.

[bluntblade]

Had some vague ideas for the Hec-Raktra duel. Raktra or Travier ought to be goading Hec about how the Emperor failed to heal him properly, and all the hurt that has inflicted on his sons. Hec "wins" the struggle with the shard and pulls his warriors into retreat as Raktra ascends.

[MikhalLeNoir]

not sure. Atm we had hec give in to the shard s calling and nearly ascenda himself but Raktra is faster and everything around those two(three) explodes in a blinding light with hec disappear under a lot of rubble. Edited April 11, 2017 by MikhalLeNoir

[bluntblade]

Hmm. I feel it'd be more poignant for Hec to master himself