Acadian Crusade

[Canadian_F_H]

I said it wouldn't happen, but the name has stuck for me from habit...

 

My crusade is officially The Acadian Crusade. Formed to bring Acadian sub sector into imperial compliance.

 

This thread is where I will hash out my crusade fluff.

 

Model Wip is here http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/305544-lost-in-the-warp-for-11-years/

 

I pretty much have terrible writers block so I am thinking of an outside angle to reach the internal answers I want. Basically what sort of questions would a crusade need to answer after reappearing after once being lost in space and time...

 

Especially interested in the reactions, questions, observations, opinions of factions I already own.

 

A blood angels force that my crusade was supposed to reconoiter with before moving into the Acadian sub-sector.

 

A tri-wing dark angel force mysteriously operating in the Acadian sub-sector.

 

Imperial Guard regiments sent into the sub-sector to shadow the crusade that never arrived until now.

 

A word bearers warband attempting to coerce separatists to support chaos.

 

 

The are necrons and tyranids in the sub sector but I don't think any more then that can be said of them, and they probably wouldn't care one way or another anyhow.

 

 

 

Well it's late and these are just the things I'm thinking about tonight as I nod. Goodnight yall.

[Canadian_F_H]

i'm thinking i wasn't clear at all...

 

i was hoping for some of the fluffier board members to suggest interrogative statements from relevent factions.  (i'm terrible without prompts)

 

all help appreciated. thanks

[Canadian_F_H]

Alright. Going to ramble for a minute...

 

So my little headcannon subsector of the galaxy is where I'm cramming all my forces fluff wise for the time being.

 

None of this is final, and I'm highly self critical do expect the ocasional retcon to put GW to shame!

 

My primary army is my bt. All else is subservient to this.

 

 

So...

 

Warzone Acadia (named for 2 regions I have lived in for almost my entire life. Namely Acadia (Acadie) and Acadiana, yes one is named for the other as well)

 

Major players.

 

Imperial crusade Acadia. Headed by the black templars (300 marines plus support personel, and no that's fluff I don't own that many yikes) they were supposed to be joined by about a company worth of blood angels, a demi co each of imperial fists and crimson fists and acompanied by the usual imperial guard and imperial navy attachments. But the BTs were lost in the warp for 11 yrs... (see my return to hobby thread)

 

The Acadian Subsector is one of those pockets of space within nominal imperial boarders that never fell fully into compliance due to various administratum errors, the vagaries of war during the great crusade, and the disruptive nature of the heresy.

 

Initial compliance. A fleet of (legions tbd) and imperial army reserves entered the subsector based on a astro-cartographical error beleiving one of the systems to be an established garrison enroute to reinforce a major crusade fleet.

 

They discovered a pocket empire that had reasonably amicable relations with a now forgotten xenos race with a small parallel civilization to the pocket empire. The imperial forces were I'll prepared for compliance action as they were assorted niche elements meant to support and integrate with a larger ongoing expeditionary fleet, and their commanders were not yet combat experianced.

 

After the usual imperial decree demanding compliance and removal of the xenos taint was issued the federation of acadian systems (as what little surviving records called them) initially hesitantly accepted. Assault was launched on the xenos, who were purged with reasonable efficiency. As soon as the imperial forces had cleared the alien world's the federation ships fired upon the imperial forces from orbit and withdrew to their home world's to await reprisal.

 

The imperial counter attack was swift and brutal, making do with the improper army composition as best they could the campaign was longer and more costly than it otherwise would have been.

 

Compliance finally won, a garrison was established, and the majority of the imperial forces regrouped with their primary expedition.

 

Shortly after, the heresy began and all records of the system were lost in the shuffle of desperate pleads for assistance and the mounting casualty reports.

 

Meanwhile the garrisons in the Acadian system where over run by their local populaces.

 

The knight worlds in the Acadian Subsector had remained largely neutral during this time as the xenos purge, compliance and deparure of the main imperial elements were much more expedient than the tedious and delicate negotiations with the house.

 

Before negotiations could conclude the wary high king, who had been observing the imperial actions across the subsector had swore his house to the preservation of the systems' independance. The imperial garrison had little capability to rebuke this sentiment and it is surmised that the attempt to conscript an army from the briefly complacent worlds encited the rebellion that removed the imperial presence.

 

 

 

There is evidence that the legions involved in this action could be imperial fists, dark angels, word bearers and the alpha legion, but conflicting records have turned up as late as m38. The inquisition seizing any documents mentioning the later 2 legions. Leaving only reports of xenos and no complete record of their extermination.

 

Now in m41 as the Acadian Crusade emerges from the warp the state of the sector is as follows.

 

The Acadian Confederation of Independent Systems governs worlds in a dozen star sytems and has a tenuous alliance with the local knight worlds.

 

The blood angels, imperial fists, crimson fists and imperial forces who arrived 11 years earlier are embroiled in a protracted war on and around the moons of the second jovian world of the (tbd) system. The absence of the larger black templar crusade left them undermanned and under equipped to prosecute the campaign, and they only maintain control of a few moons.

 

The Acadian Confederacy is nominally democratic, but has had all elections suspended since the imperials arived, not that they weren't often rigged to begin with. Rebellious sentements have grown and civil war has errupted on several AC worlds. The knights have been torn between various individual oaths to world's and faction leaders. Ancient oaths to protect the independence of the Acadian worlds are debated as being interpreted as defending the AC from imperial compliance, or alternatively that the AC itself has become an anethma to the idea of independence of the worlds individually.

 

Meanwhile in their hunt for the fallen the dark angels have a strike cruiser stalking their suspected prey thru the subsector... A member of an ordo xenos Deathwatch killteam who have come to the sub sector ahead of the predicted path of a tyranid splinter fleet.

 

Meanwhile a word bearer warlord succumbs to the knife of his second in command. The new warlord will return to the Acadian Subsector to find artefacts he left behind during that first compliance action nearly 10,000 years ago. Why the dark gods have burned those memories into his mind he will pursue his dark quest to discover!

 

 

 

The knights have a fractured household. Some will fight the imperium and those who rebel against the AC. Some will side with the rebels, attempting to topple the corrupt AC, possibly allying with the new arrivals... only some of the new arrivals are not as savory as others.

 

The Imperials offer compliance and tithes and the protection of His inexhaustible armies.

 

While others make vague promises of freedom from worldly government at the price of worship of dark gods...

 

Meanwhile some of the rebels are not what they seam, becoming insular and cultish, hiding grotesque mutations, rejecting the confederates, the imperials, the followers of dark gods, and even the strict independents...

 

 

 

Sumary of factions.

 

Imperial crusade

- Black Templars (arrived late)

- Blood Angels

- Imperial Fists

- Crimson Fists

- Imperial Guard

- Imperial Navy

- Knights (Imperial sympathisers)

 

Other Imperial

- ordo xenos Deathwatch kill team

- Dark Angels

 

The Acadian Confederacy

- Acadian Navy

- Acadian PDFS

- Knights (traditionalists)

 

Various insurgencies and rebels

- Acadian Militia groups (independent may ally imperial, will ally knights)

- Knights (independants)

- Acadian Insurgents (chaos ally)

- Knights (renegades)

- genestealer cults...

 

Xenos

- Hive splinter fleet

- minor eldar presence attempting to destroy artifacts of the compliance action

- indegent ork populations.

- necrons?

[Canadian_F_H]

So...

 

Some fluff ideas I've had snice last I shared.

 

 

My crusade's battle barge.

 

"Righteous Vengeance of the 1st Marshall"

 

Got a ring to it...

 

 

I'm thinking she's been around a long time. Was once a larger capital ship from the great crusade and HH. Part of the imperial fist's legion fleet. Was harried in orbit of terra and ultimately "sunk" plowing thru hives and becoming somewhat of a bastion for survivors upon the surface of terra.

 

I see her fighting the traitor fleet and bleeding escape craft and pods, as she fires everything she's got after being knocked dead in the water enginewise. The fur th er pummeling and her own return fire pushing her out of a stable orbit and into earth atmosphere.

 

The surviving crew and those that were evacuated the ship, rallied around her and used surviving systems and guns to repel traitorous forces, hoping to distract some portion of the heretics that assailed the imperial palace.

 

 

Now this might sound like a stand out, but I see a great many ships falling from orbit in the chaos of this attack so, fluff wise I think it is safe.

 

 

After the battle of terra ends, she is salvaged and brought back to orbit at great effort... (some beurocrat wanted his parking space back)

 

She is given to the newly formed black templars and carries on the great crusade to this day.

 

The vessel is full of obscure archeotech, that the techmarines have studied ad nauseum. One of the ancient wonders is a sophisticated bank of teleporters allowing specially modified suits of power armour to Teleport as terminators would. These require additonal protection, and superior fiberbundles. The suits being rare and the brief warp exposure, while largely physically safe due to the additional shielding the system provides, is visually psychologically horrific, so they are give only to the most stoic and iron willed veteran sword brethren... after witnessing the warp, little is left to fear in the materium for these marines. But they find it difficult to relate with their brethren and shun them and are likewise shunned...

 

Given their task of attacking otherwise secure targets, all their weapons are given a unique specialist ammo that ignores cover. Which combines well with their powerful boarding shields and heavy armour. The augmented fiberbundles compensate for the weight barely feeling it's burdens or being slowed by incoming fire, but makes their reaction time diminished.

 

Visually, think of swordbrethren, in mk3 with grey knight telehopper back packs, equipped like breachers... Basically vets with stormshields, special anti cover ammo, fear and fearless, S&P and really good deep strike...

 

Yes this is my vision of LOTD count as...

 

Hopefully the HH2 box has mk3 breachers as was once predicted...

[Race Bannon]

Pulled here from another thread and am curious about a detail: if the ship was Heresy era and crashed onto Terra, later to be "raised", why didn't Techpriests raid the ship for technology before or even during it's resurgence to active use?  Or how is it that the ship was lifted (?) back into space and made space-worthy without such technology salvaged before giving it over to the Black Templars?

 

This may seem nit-picky, yet I really like the concept as it is very similar to my uber all-time favorite anime show from childhood (and the premise for that ship there was admittedly shaky even as a kid).

[Canadian_F_H]

Your question has spurred some brainstorming on my part..

 

The mechanicum was in shambles at the time after the invasion of mars. The imperials were desperate to bring as much to bare against the traitors as possible, they primarily repaired the ships drives and created tugs out of the dozens of other vessels that were being salvaged in orbit. Basically the imperium was madly scavenging and salvaging any derilict craft in orbit, wrecks on terra, luna and mars. The adepts were examining the systems and attempting to repair everything at the time, so thats why the mechanicus has a record of the ship and some techno magi still covet it. But with the the situation at hand the fists weren't to be argued with as they angrily launched vessels in pursuit of the betrayers. By the time the scouring had ended the templars had claimed and recommisioned the Righteous Vengeance of the 1st Marshall.

 

Over the millenia the priests of mars have repeatedly petitioned for permission to study the vessel, but she is rarely moored long enough to satisfy them.

 

They know the RVotFM is ancient and some of its systems are unique. This could justify pretty much any on table battle with admech which is handy because I preffer an explanation for any of my games. Some magi just go to far for things they covet.