Black Book - Insurrection (PUBLISHED)

[simison]

Sig, Grifft has linked me to the latest version of Insurrection PDF. I'm going to work on the PDF & edit your rough drafts on the other two campaigns. Do you mind finishing the Purge?

[Sigismund229]

Sig, Grifft has linked me to the latest version of Insurrection PDF. I'm going to work on the PDF & edit your rough drafts on the other two campaigns. Do you mind finishing the Purge?

Yeah all right. I may need to side track the WoP but they don't need to appear for another book or two so I'm guessing that's not a massive problem?

 

Mind sending me the brief via PM?

[simison]

 

Sig, Grifft has linked me to the latest version of Insurrection PDF. I'm going to work on the PDF & edit your rough drafts on the other two campaigns. Do you mind finishing the Purge?

Yeah all right. I may need to side track the WoP but they don't need to appear for another book or two so I'm guessing that's not a massive problem?

 

 

No problem at all. Book 1 is still our number one priority. I've laid down most of the foundation for the Purge, but is there anything you need/want to know? The only thing I wanted to see was a duel between Raiden and Pyrrhicles, which obviously ends with Pyrrhicles' death.

[Sigismund229]

Well, how does the battle unfold in general?

Does Icarion take part? How many of the HW go traitor? When does Raiden&Pyhrricles' duel take place? And most importantly how many HW escape?

[simison]

Well, how does the battle unfold in general?

Does Icarion take part? How many of the HW go traitor? When does Raiden&Pyhrricles' duel take place? And most importantly how many HW escape?

 

As I've hinted at in the last narrative post, the Loyalist Wardens begin to retreat to the system's edge to Warp out, while the traitor Wardens move closer to Akira (the Loyalist-Traitor divide is roughly 2-1 with a third of the Wardens following Malis to side with Icarion). The Harbingers move to intercept with the prime goal to non-lethally detain the Wardens. Essentially, the first part of the battle is an unnerving game of chicken as both ships try to outmaneuver each other without opening fire. The game ends when someone fires. I'm not sure, perhaps this would be a good place for one of those conflicting viewpoints where both sides claimed the other wronged them first. Right after the shot, all-out war breaks out as the Wardens continue to fall back. But, they're grossly outnumbered, and taking casualties fast. 

 

Icarion gives the order to try to capture as many of the ships intact to be added to the Harbinger ranks, while the Wardens are to be captured if it can be done with little effort. Then, he exits the stage to oversee how the rest of the Insurrection is going, while giving command duty to his First Sentinel. So, as the Warden ships' guns and defenses are disabled, the Harbingers launch hundreds of boarding operations. 

 

Seeing the situation go from bad to worse, Pyrrhicles orders the fleet to break formation and for any ship to get out however they can. This dooms most of the larger capital ships, but gives the lighter frigates and cruisers a chance to escape. About seven escape to warn Terra, including Bolaro and his battle barge, the Blade of Truth (the only heavy warship to escape). One by one, the remaining Warden vessels are either destroyed (from long-range fire or from Warden sabotage to prevent them from falling into enemy hands) or captured. Pyrrhicles' crew and Space Marine contingent fail to activate the self-destruct aboard the Dominion of Reason and are whittled down by Harbinger boarding parties. Raiden and Pyrrhicles' duel takes place right at the end of the battle as the Dominion of Reason is the last ship to fall into enemy hands because of Pyrrhicles' skilled defense. 

 

Any other questions?

[Sigismund229]

What's Pyrrhicles' primary weapon(s) and Raidens?

[MikhalLeNoir]

Raiden has a power katana or that kind of weapon and I believe a volkite type of weapon

http://orig03.deviantart.net/909c/f/2014/262/9/9/commission__raiden_athrawes_by_saint_max-d7zpmi4.jpg

[simison]

Shoulder-mounted Siren grenade launcher (fires flashbang and noise grenades), 6-foot power pike, and a tower shield

[Sigismund229]

Oh yeah and how big is the Wardens force?

[simison]

57 ships (40 loyalist), estimate is 4,000 marines, most of them veterans. Around 1,400 will defect with Malis.

[Sigismund229]

Here we go. Sorry about the length and style, I got a bit carried away towards the end
Betrayal
Faced with this ultimate betrayal of everything they and their legion stood for, Pyrrhicles and his brethren were paralysed by indecision. For nearly 250 years, they had fought for the Emperor and the Imperial Truth, shedding blood on countless battlefields and losing hundreds of brothers who they had fought alongside for decades, all in the name of the Imperial Truth and the Emperor's dream. Yet now, the Stormborn, the first son to have been found and the greatest of the Emperor's progeny, was telling them all they had fought, bled and died for was a lie and the man they'd fought for a bloodthirsty tyrant, intent on extermination both them and their father. Surely such a thing couldn't be true? Surely, if the Emperor were truly the tyrant the Stormborn claimed, then their father, the Warmaster, would have refused to serve him? Yet the conviction, sadness and regret they saw within the Stormborn's eyes could not be false or faked. He truly believed what he was saying and he had proven himself trustworthy on a hundred occasions over the course of the Great Crusade.

However, despite the conflicting loyalties that tore at the heart of every member of the V legion, they could not bring themselves to believe that all the brothers they had lost and all the blood they had shed during the Great Crusade had died or been shed for nothing. The Stormborn had to be mistaken. He had to be. However, Pyrrhicles saw that he had no hope of persuading the Stormborn that his visions had been mistaken and so, rather than fight his brothers of the I, he ordered a retreat by all elements of the V currently in orbit over Madrigal. Yet, while the I had promised their brethren of the V safe passage through all territories where they held dominion, they could not allow word of their involvement in the Insurrection to reach Terra before they were ready and so Icarion gave the order that the legionnaires of the V were to be detained with as little violence as possible.

However, matters were further complicated when approximately a third of the Halycon Wardens, led by Captain Malis, ignored Pyrrhicles' command and swore themselves to the Stormborn's cause, taking up the chase of their former brothers alongside the newly re christened Harbingers.

With neither side being authorised to engage their opponents, this early stage of the battle resembled a dance conducted amidst the endless vastness of space more than a true engagement, as the Harbingers sought to block the Halycon Wardens escape route and the Halycon Wardens evaded them. Who fired the first shot is unknown. In the aftermath, both sides claimed to have only returned fire after the other broke their oath to hold their fire and while many suspect the traitor Halycon Wardens, seeking to eradicate those who they viewed as traitors twice over, none know for certain.

Once this first shot was fired, all restrictions on either side were dropped and all out war broke out over Madrigal. With both legions vessels ripping into one another, the Stormborn issued one last order before washing his hands of events in the void over Madrigal. If at all possible, the vessels of the V were to be captured in tact and their crews were to be taken captive rather than killed, a last act of mercy made out of respect for the Warmaster and genuine regret that it should come to battle.

Now commanded by First Sentinel Raiden Athrawes, the Harbingers fleet, far out numbering that of the V, set about crippling or, if necessary, destroying the V legion vessels. Such was the fate that befell Captain Agamenos and the Proud heart, destroyed following his refusal to cease fire and his destruction of a I legion battle barge. Those V legion vessels that weren't destroyed were crippled and then boarded by hundreds of Harbingers or, in some cases, their traitor brothers.

Seeing the situation deteriorate with every passing second, Pyrrhicles gave what would prove to be his last order. The Halycon Wardens fleet was to break formation and the individual ships were to escape in any way they could. While this doomed the larger capital ships, it also improved the chances of escape for the light cruisers and frigates. Any ships that escaped was to set course for Terra and keep that course no matter what happened for the Warmaster had to know what had transpired over Madrigal.

With the Wardens' formation breaking apart, the larger ships or the smaller ships who had sustained engine damage or were in the fleet's vanguard, fell one by one, destroyed at long range by the Harbingers or by their own crew to prevent them falling into the hands of their enemy. One of the last to fall was the Dominion of Reason, Pyrrhicles' flagship.

Stormed by First Sentinal Athrawes and an elite party of Harbingers, including almost a dozen Volta terminators, the engine crew had little chance to trigger the vessel's self destruct mechanism. While there were numerous attempts by the V legion to trigger the mechanism, all were stopped by I legion boarding parties. Eventually, as the Harbingers approached the command chamber, Pyrrhicles and what few Halycon Wardens remained picked up their shields and spears and marched out to do battle one last time. Numbering but 300, they were out numbered and with nowhere they could escape to. However, they welcomed such an end, wishing only that they die so that their brothers of other vessels might live. Forming a solid wall of shields, spears and muscle outside the command chamber, they prepared to face men who had once been their brothers and do battle for the final time.

So they did. With nothing but doom behind them, they showed no hesitation nor despair when they were charged by the Harbingers, only determination and courage the likes of which is better suited to gods of old Terra than men. Giving their all, they cut down many times their own number. However, with each assault, they numbered fewer and fewer as they gradually fell to I legion blades, each astartes' last moments a stand worthy of an entire epic. Yet by the fifth charge, they were just thirty strong and were about to be charged by the First Sentinal and the Volta elite of the I. Meeting the challenge head on, they locked shields and with a mighty roar clashed with the I, the very foundations of the vessel shaking with the impact. At the centre of this battle of heroes were Pyrrhicles of the V and Raiden Athrawes of the I. The two warriors clashed in both the physical and spiritual realm and as their blades crossed so too did their wills. Yet eventually, Phyrricles was only half astartes and Athrawes a full astartes and so the outcome was inevitable. While Pyhrricles put up a heroic defence, he eventually tired and his reactions slowed until finally a beam from Athrawes volkite serpenta found the join between Pyhrricles neck and shoulder. Bleeding out upon the deck, Pyhrricles at last knew peace after a life time of war.

While the remaining Halycon Wardens mounted a last stand to defend the body of their leader, they were but five and death found them to be easy targets. The battle of Madrigal was over.

[Sigismund229]

The Red Dawn Rises

          With the death of the last Halycon Wardens on board the Dominion of Reason, the Harbingers and Icarion had crossed the Rubicon. From this point onwards, they couldn't turn back. They had only one direction to go and that was to Terra, for they would either emerge victorious or they would be vanquished by the Imperial forces. They had sealed their path into rebellion with the blood of the 2000 Halycon Wardens who now floated dead through the void above Madrigal. Despite 7 V legion vessels, including the battle barge Blade of Truth, commanded by Captain Bolaro, having escaped and being bound for Terra, Icarion bore nothing but grief for those Halycon Wardens who had died to make their escape possible. Of all the legions, he held the V in highest esteem and for his own warriors to have had to kill so many of Delos' brave sons was a tragedy beyond even that of the Emperor's perfidy. In a last show of respect for these brave warriors, who had gone to their deaths in service of a misguided creed bent to the will of a tyrant, he had a vast marble tomb built for those of them whose bodies could be recovered and upon each tomb was inscribed the warriors name and a small collection of words etched into the tomb in gold filigree which read "Here lies a brave man, killed by his loyalty". 

[Athrawes]

I guess this never came up before but I was under the Impression that Raiden Dies during the Qarith War. Although that would mean I'd need to invent or elevate a different character to become the Abaddon of this universe.

 

would you guys rather keep Raiden alive to play the role of Abaddon in the Insurrection, or would you rather someone steps in and takes his mantle after he falls at Qarith?

[MikhalLeNoir]

Wooooooeot he dies? Never!!! I vote for Raibaddon

[Sigismund229]

Keep Raiden alive! If needs must Maridius, Toraghan or Vericos can be sacrificed to keep Raiden alive!

[Nomus Sardauk]

I say Raiden lives, who else could be worthy enough to bear the title of Stormlord once the First Son is dead?

 

Who else could possess the strength of will, the devotion of heart and the thirst for vengeance to reforge the broken Harbingers anew?

To lead them once again to bitter war against the tyrannical Imperium?!

To avenge the greatest Liberator of men the galaxy will ever know?!

To finally finish their Father's mission and slay the Tyrant of Terra, and cast his worm-ridden corpse from his Throne of lies?!

To burn the Gilded Betrayer's corrupt Imperium to the ground, to tear it down brick by bloodstained blood, and to build atop it's corpse a new, more just future for Mankind?!

 

Who?! Who I ask?! Who alone remains the most loyal of Sons, selfless and true?!

 

ONLY HIM! ONLY RAIDEN! ALL HAIL THE STORMLORD, ALL HAIL RAIDEN ATHRAWES!

[Chief Captain Redd]

Raiden lives I say.

[bluntblade]

Athrawes, I like the idea you came up with for Raiden's demise and I like the idea of Icarion losing a source of moral support, so I'm torn. Do you have anyone particular in mind to become the Abaddon to his Sejanus?

[Athrawes]

I hadn't specifically created a character to fill that role no. I could, with the community (Since an Abaddon would become the "Big Bad" after the Insurrection and the Scouring, and everyone might enjoy helping to craft that character)

 

Other than that, I could elevate one of my other Character to fill Raidens Role after his death. If it is someone who served under Raiden and gains the mantel of Sentinel from him, It would probably be Tetsuo, who was Raidens 'Lieutenant' Remember, If Raiden dies at Qarith his replacement would have 40 years to become a legend.

 

If it is another existing High ranking officer of the Legion, It could be Susanoo Empyon, The 'first Sentinel,' and Raiden's rival. Or, it could be Fujin Isu the 'Second Sentinel' and Raiden's Mentor.

 

Raiden, Empyon and Fujin are the 3 Highest ranking officers in the Legion. 

 

But I'm not really married to any specific idea or outcome.

 

Here are the options as I see them:

 

1. Raiden lives and Is The Everchosen
2. One of my other Characters is the Everchosen after raiden dies at Qarith
3. We create a new character together to become Everchosen. (and Raiden still dies at Qarith)

 

If people want to go the route of contributing to create a character together who would take the mantle of the Stormlord after the Insurrection and become the Everchosen of Chaos, I could start a thread for that. Let me know.

 

+++And I know that creating an Everchosen of Chaos before the insurrection is finished might be getting ahead of ourselves, but It would be helpful to me so that I can work on his character arc from the ground up, and not shoehorn it in after the fact.++++

[bluntblade]

I never really considered the idea of an Everchosen to be honest (Abaddon always seemed like someone who, to paraphrase Terry Pratchett, had enough purpose to push his way up when everyone else was running around confused) but I know what you mean about wanting to get the arc right.

 

Shoulder-mounted Siren grenade launcher (fires flashbang and noise grenades), 6-foot power pike, and a tower shield

Just as well that, with Raiden's possible death, I was already gearing up to alter the Koloss battle.

[Sigismund229]

If we really want to create an everchosen other than Raiden, maybe kill him off in the Insurrection(by Irvin Ruel or Alex perhaps?) and have another high ranking Harbinger take over command of the bulk of the legion when Icarion dies?

[simison]

Back from a night of 40k. I wanted to start off by apologizing for the mistake. When Athrawes mentioned the First Sentinel, I had just assumed it was Raiden and had forgotten the Qarith tidbit. (I think you briefly mentioned it, Athrawes.)

 

My vote would be to have a new Everchosen whether it's Empyon, Isu, or someone new to help distinguish between the Lightning Bearers and the Harbingers as a legion. 

[simison]

Sig, I have to admit, I didn't expect to wake up yesterday and see a 300 reference with my Wardens. It was amusing. 

[Sigismund229]

Sig, I have to admit, I didn't expect to wake up yesterday and see a 300 reference with my Wardens. It was amusing.

Couldn't resist

[Sigismund229]

Aside from the confusion about who the First Sentinal is, is that ok as an ending for the Madrigal Purge?