Trilogy 4 (alpha) - Escalation

[Sigismund229]

Cadia will have tribes. However, you are correct they aren't the original cultists. They are the descendents of settlers drawn from various worlds in the Dominion and what I had in mind was "tech barbarians", in that they have "modern" tech but they are still a barbarian society.

[Sigismund229]

First section of the summary of events up until this point. First draft done

The Fortunes of War(working title)

War. Always indiscriminant. Never fussy. Its scythe takes young and old, rich and poor alike, harvesting their lives as they are thrown into its fires by one way or another. Yet even war has some conotations of dignity to it. What we're fighting in now isn't war. It's madness and I fear it will consume us all before it's done.

Unknown source, presumed Imperial, dated c.060 M.31

 

By the time at which the Blood Crusade was launched, the Insurrection had raged for 16 years. In that time, ordinary humans had died in their billions and the Legiones Astartes had taken horrendous casualties in their fratricidal struggle as former brothers were pitted against each other and the legions tore both themselves and the Imperium to pieces. The forces of the Stormborn and the Emperor had clashed on countless battlefields and stained them red with blood, starting with that of the primarch's. Already, Daer'dd Niimkiikaa had fallen and his sons had been scattered by the Day of Revelation, deprived of their primarch's leadership.

 

In these early years, the forces of the Emperor had steadily lost ground to the Stormborn's legions, who spread out from his capital of Madrigal to the surrounding systems and then ever further, hacking their new empire from the body of the Imperium. Despite the heroic actions of the space marines and the self sacrifice of the Imperial Army, they had been unable to halt the relentless advance of the Stormborn's legions, weakened as they were from the terrible bloodshed of the Day of Revelation and the years of bloodletting that followed. In many cases, they were forced to abandon worlds without a fight, lacking the resources to resist. However, for every world lost to conquest or retreat, another defected to Icarion's cause. By the end of the first decade of fighting, Icarion had carved out a huge swathe of territory in the galactic centre and north east for himself.

 

As Icarion's armies advanced on every front, with the spearhead of his vanguard, his own Lightning Bearers, advancing inexorably towards the Sol system and Terra, many expected the Emperor to descend from the Golden Throne, sword in hand, to lead the defences of the Sol system in person. However, he did not. Instead, he remained on the Golden Throne, stating only that the Warmaster had his full support in any action he took. Yet despite the Warmaster's best efforts, the armies of the Stormborn continued to their seemingly unstoppable advance on Terra.

[bluntblade]

Maybe tech-feudalism would be best. Like, if Anglo-Saxon culture had developed further rather then being subsumed by the Normans

[Sigismund229]

Second part of what passes for general history

 

The Darkest Hour

In desperation, as the legions of the Stormborn advanced and Terra prepared for an assault, the Warmaster made a last bid to halt the traitor advance. Issuing the Edict of Emancipation, he allowed the service of xenos in the Imperial Army and declared that xenos were not to be engaged provided that they were not clearly hostile. So it was that battalions of Kroot and Kinebrach took to the field alongside soldiers of the Imperial Army and warriors of the Legiones Astartes. While this outraged some, even several of Alexandros' brother primarchs who had stayed loyal to the Emperor, the fresh flood of troops that the Edict provided blunted and ground down the advance of Icarion's legions.

 

All along the border's between the Imperium and the Stormborn's domain, battles raged as warriors sworm to Icarion sought to break through the forces of the Warmaster and continue their advance. All the while, the Warmaster and the Stormborn maneuvred their forces in ever more elaborate strategies to try and outwit the other. Every battalion of human's or xenos, ever company of legionaries and every fleet was like a piece on a regicide board and every world or star was like a square with the Warmaster and the Stormborn being the players. However, try as they might they could not outwit each other. They were evenly matched in wits and resources.

[Sigismund229]

Third and final part

 

Stalemate

It was like this that the grand game of regicide ended: a bitter stalemate. The Stormborn was unable to break through the Imperial defences but the forces of the Emperor were unable to retake ground that they had lost. However, with the breathing room that the cessation of the Stormborn's assault had bought them, the Imperial forces could count the cost, not just in men but territory. The Imperium had almost been split in two, with only a small corridoor in the galactic south remaining to connect Terra to those Imperial holdings that held on in the east. While much of the western Imperium remained in the hands of those loyal to the Imperium, the regions around the Maelstrom and in the north west, bordering the Ghoul Stars, had been lost and could not be recovered any time soon with the forces at the Imperium's disposal. Along the border with Icarion's domain, hundreds of worlds burned, rendering them useless to the Imperium, ravaged by war. Yes the Stormborn's forces had been stopped but it had been a small victory bought at incalculable cost.

 

Yet just as the Imperium had been almost bled white, the Stormborn had suffered a reversal, the first in his campaign to oust the Emperor. Many worlds had joined him out of desire for survival as the Imperium had been unable to defend them and they did not wish to be destroyed by the Stormborn's armies. Now those worlds would be reconsidering their position and wondering whether they were on the right side while even world's whose loyalty to Icarion was unquestionable were beginning to become uneasy with the length and cost of the war that, despite all his efforts, Icarion was seemingly unable to win through martial might alone. Even among the legions who had followed Icarion since the Day of Revelation, there was beginning to be dissention. With their initial goals within reach, Icarion's brothers who had chosen to follow him were beginning to fall to dispute. They had been united in their desire to overthrow the Emperor by a myriad of reasons. Now, those reasons came to the fore and the primarchs who followed Icarion began to argue over what to do with the empire they had. Icarion needed a victory, a victory with tangible benefits, to reunite his followers behind him for a final push on Terra.

 

However, with the deadlock between the two empires such a victory was proving elusive. As with so many emperors before him, Icarion's needs exceeded his means. It was then, as he sought to gather a force capable of punching through the Warmaster's defences and taking Terra without exposing himself on another front that Icarion was approached by Alexos Travier.

 

Travier told Icarion of the Aztekis gods, gods of the Warp, and how they were willing to grant him their aid in his battle against the Emperor. While Icarion humoured his brother, he was cautious as he had seen many men's wills overcome by the Warp and was determined not to make the same mistake and so while he listened was reluctant to accept any aid from the Warp. However, Alexos Travier told Icarion that the gods were willing to grant one of Icarion's subordinates and his legion a fragment of the power they would grant Icarion if he accepted their aid, as a gesture of good faith. All that needed to happen was that this subordinate pass into the Eye of Terror.

 

Lying on the northern frontier of the Dominion of Mycenae, the fief of Icarion's brother, Hectarion Mycenor primarch of the Crimson Lions, the Eye of Terror lay in loyalist controlled territory. However, in this Icarion saw his needs and those of these gods coincide. He could have his grand victory in the form of the annihilation of the Crimson Lions while testing these gods claims simultaniously. Such an opportunity was not one that he could pass up.

Edited August 26, 2016 by Sigismund229

[bluntblade]

Perhaps rephrase it as Travier offering to prove the power of Chaos to Icarion, using Raktra as a test subject almost.

[Chief Captain Redd]

Quick glance through; everything looks solid except the Ghoul Stars are in the galactic north east in the Ultima segmentum a few thousand light years east to the border of the Three Fires subsector.

 

Also the Iron Bears involved are the rebuilding 2nd Grand Wartribe led by Lord Chief Spinebreaker seconded by Chief Praetor Niibaasiniwii and joined by Lord Chief Redd leading about 4000 Ironbound Slayers.

[bluntblade]

What shape are the First Grand Wartribe going to be in, this far into the Insurrection? Bearing in mind that Iyacrax will have hit the whole Legion rather hard, but I'm not sure exactly when that takes place.

[Chief Captain Redd]

The 1st is fractured for the first decade or so afterwards with one part fighting under Aandeg, the other rebuilding under Cass. So unlike the 2nd or 3rd they don't get to patch up as well at first. But at this point Cass is in a dread, Aandeg is calming down and back on Huron and they've started rebuilding their armoury, getting The Dragon back to 100% and taking recruits in from the 6th. This would be maybe the first time since Daer'dd took head of the Legion that any PA capable neophytes would be used in sizable manners.

[Kelborn]

Quick glance through; everything looks solid except the Ghoul Stars are in the galactic north east in the Ultima segmentum a few thousand light years east to the border of the Three Fires subsector.

 

Also the Iron Bears involved are the rebuilding 2nd Grand Wartribe led by Lord Chief Spinebreaker seconded by Chief Praetor Niibaasiniwii and joined by Lord Chief Redd leading about 4000 Ironbound Slayers.

 

With the 2nd Grand Wartribe participating, we got the Nightwolves (about 500 Astartes) as part of the 2nd as well as members of House Harkon. Therefore, I'm in as well.

 

What would you have the 2nd to do? If Redd is fine with that, I would like to cover their part (or at least that of the Nightwolves + Harkon) in association with him, of course (it's stil his Legion!).

Edited August 27, 2016 by Kelborn

[Chief Captain Redd]

I'd convene with Blunt Kelborn, he's got some stuff planned at this point, personally I'm fine with whomever writing for the Bears for this as long as it doesn't intervene with my overall plans for them. I think you two could do some good work together.

[bluntblade]

Is the Dragon of Autumn lancing a couple of Warlords and an Imperator into ruin way over the top? I've got jetbikes dropping beacons at the Titans' feet and those being used to target them. The Imperator isn't blown to bits, but collapses in a messy heap and becomes another part of the landscape the Astartes fight over.

[Chief Captain Redd]

I'd run with another ship doing it as the Dragon should be docked at Huron being repaired at this point in the Insurrection. Plus that's almost a little underwhelming for the Dragon as it's a planet killer.

I've never actually designated a flagship for the 2nd either so if you'd like to feel free.

[Kelborn]

I'd convene with Blunt Kelborn, he's got some stuff planned at this point, personally I'm fine with whomever writing for the Bears for this as long as it doesn't intervene with my overall plans for them. I think you two could do some good work together.

 

 

Alrighty then.

 

Blunt, same question as before. What 'ya think the 2nd Grand Wartribe (and further the Nightwolves + House Harkon) should participate, etc.?

 

How about Oakenshield for the flagship of the 2nd?

Edited August 27, 2016 by Kelborn

[bluntblade]

I'd run with another ship doing it as the Dragon should be docked at Huron being repaired at this point in the Insurrection. Plus that's almost a little underwhelming for the Dragon as it's a planet killer.

I've never actually designated a flagship for the 2nd either so if you'd like to feel free.

After Iyacrax? I figured it'd be fixed up well before then. Plus I want Lotara to be tearing things up (which she could always do with another ship, to be fair).

 

Redd and I have agreed that the 2nd form the bulk of the force, with Nibaasiniiwi leading the first wave. House Harkon can certainly play a role.

[Kelborn]

Perfect.

 

Just tell me what you need and you'll get it.

 

The Clans of Nordmar, led by Fjerik Harkonson, son of Gunnar, stand ready to support their old friends, the Iron Bears.

[bluntblade]

Well, Nibaasiniiwi will need a lot of firepower, quite urgently and directed at the daemonically animated cyborgs pursuing him and the rest of the first wave.

Oh, and the monstrosities are covered in phosphex

[Kelborn]

Kay,

 

while the Clans of Nordmar are preferring the thrill of close combat, some of them are still favoring the bow. Among these, Clan Helkjar is the most notably. Earning the right to wield the precious technology of the Helfrost-cannons, the Huscarls of Helkjar are well known for freezing approaching or defending forces before crushing them with either blade or gun. In doing so, they became the equivalent of artillery within the ranks of Harkon.

 

Clan Helkjar could cover Nibaasiniiwis retreat until they could form again.

Edited August 27, 2016 by Kelborn

[bluntblade]

Just sayin'. Interex. Bows.

 

Heck, maybe the Dune Serpents could get hold of some.

[Kelborn]

bows = Symbol for guns, not actual bows ;)

though I do have some weird ideas, I'm luckily not that crazy... For now.

 

Did you mean that the serpents could get some helfrost weapons, or what?

[bluntblade]

Nah, the Serpents could have bows. After all they're drawing on Arabic culture, and the Arab armies were known for their prowess with the bow.

[Sigismund229]

Ok, so House Harkon is making an appearance at Cadia alongside the Iron Bears.

 

Kelborn, looking at your earlier suggestion for a battle I like it. However, I think it could be tied into the Cognis and Corpora Ferro invasion of the Blood Stars.

 

Redd&blunt: D you only want the Bears only show up at Cadia? Or are they in the fighting earlier?

[Kelborn]

Ok.

Just as a short summary

 

House Atreis = crusading zealots

House Ordoz = stim addicted, mutations because of it, searching for cure, thought that they would end up with Vinzenco or Kozja

House Sardok = join DarkMech for perfect symbiosis of scion and machine

 

Furthermore, don't want to sound selfish but wherever the 2nd (especially the golden eyed brothers) will go, Harkon will follow. Such is their bond since the demise of Russe.

[Sigismund229]

blunt, I plan to reference Icarion choosing Raktra in the next section.

 

Everyone, is this good as far as being a summary of the Insurrection's events to date goes?

 

The Age of Insurrection

 

The Fortunes of War(working title)

War. Always indiscriminant. Never fussy. Its scythe takes young and old, rich and poor alike, harvesting their lives as they are thrown into its fires by one way or another. Yet even war has some conotations of dignity to it. What we're fighting in now isn't war. It's madness and I fear it will consume us all before it's done.

Unknown source, presumed Imperial, dated c.060 M.31

 

By the time at which the Blood Crusade was launched, the Insurrection had raged for 16 years. In that time, ordinary humans had died in their billions and the Legiones Astartes had taken horrendous casualties in their fratricidal struggle as former brothers were pitted against each other and the legions tore both themselves and the Imperium to pieces. The forces of the Stormborn and the Emperor had clashed on countless battlefields and stained them red with blood, starting with that of the primarch's. Already, Daer'dd Niimkiikaa had fallen and his sons had been scattered by the Day of Revelation, deprived of their primarch's leadership. The other legions loyal to the Emperor had taken grievous losses upon the Day of Revelation and now fought not for victory but for their very survival.

 

In these early years, the forces of the Emperor had steadily lost ground to the Stormborn's legions, who spread out from his capital of Madrigal to the surrounding systems and then ever further, hacking their new empire from the body of the Imperium. Despite the heroic actions of the space marines and the self sacrifice of the Imperial Army, they had been unable to halt the relentless advance of the Stormborn's legions, weakened as they were from the terrible bloodshed of the Day of Revelation and the years of bloodletting that followed. In many cases, they were forced to abandon worlds without a fight, lacking the resources to resist. However, for every world lost to conquest or retreat, another defected to Icarion's cause. By the end of the first decade of fighting, Icarion had carved out a huge swathe of territory in the galactic centre and north east for himself.

 

As Icarion's armies advanced on every front, with the spearhead of his vanguard, his own Lightning Bearers, advancing inexorably towards the Sol system and Terra, many expected the Emperor to descend from the Golden Throne, sword in hand, to lead the defences of the Sol system in person. However, he did not. Instead, he remained on the Golden Throne, stating only that the Warmaster had his full support in any action he took. Yet despite the Warmaster's best efforts, the armies of the Stormborn continued to their seemingly unstoppable advance on Terra.

 

The Darkest Hour

In desperation, as the legions of the Stormborn advanced and Terra prepared for an assault, the Warmaster made a last bid to halt the traitor advance. Issuing the Edict of Emancipation, he allowed the service of xenos in the Imperial Army and declared that xenos were not to be engaged provided that they were not clearly hostile. So it was that battalions of Kroot and Kinebrach took to the field alongside soldiers of the Imperial Army and warriors of the Legiones Astartes. While this outraged some, even several of Alexandros' brother primarchs who had stayed loyal to the Emperor, the fresh flood of troops that the Edict provided blunted and ground down the advance of Icarion's legions.

 

All along the border's between the Imperium and the Stormborn's domain, battles raged as warriors sworm to Icarion sought to break through the forces of the Warmaster and continue their advance. All the while, the Warmaster and the Stormborn maneuvred their forces in ever more elaborate strategies to try and outwit the other. Every battalion of human's or xenos, ever company of legionaries and every fleet was like a piece on a regicide board and every world or star was like a square with the Warmaster and the Stormborn being the players. However, try as they might they could not outwit each other. They were evenly matched in wits and resources.

 

Stalemate

It was like this that the grand game of regicide ended: a bitter stalemate. The Stormborn was unable to break through the Imperial defences but the forces of the Emperor were unable to retake ground that they had lost. However, with the breathing room that the cessation of the Stormborn's assault had bought them, the Imperial forces could count the cost, not just in men but territory. The Imperium had almost been split in two, with only a small corridoor in the galactic south remaining to connect Terra to those Imperial holdings that held on in the east. While much of the western Imperium remained in the hands of those loyal to the Imperium, the regions around the Maelstrom and in the north east, bordering the Ghoul Stars, had been lost and could not be recovered any time soon with the forces at the Imperium's disposal. Along the border with Icarion's domain, hundreds of worlds burned, rendering them useless to the Imperium, ravaged by war. Yes the Stormborn's forces had been stopped but it had been a small victory bought at incalculable cost.

 

Yet just as the Imperium had been almost bled white, the Stormborn had suffered a reversal, the first in his campaign to oust the Emperor. Many worlds had joined him out of desire for survival as the Imperium had been unable to defend them and they did not wish to be destroyed by the Stormborn's armies. Now those worlds would be reconsidering their position and wondering whether they were on the right side while even world's whose loyalty to Icarion was unquestionable were beginning to become uneasy with the length and cost of the war that, despite all his efforts, Icarion was seemingly unable to win through martial might alone. Even among the legions who had followed Icarion since the Day of Revelation, there was beginning to be dissention. With their initial goals within reach, Icarion's brothers who had chosen to follow him were beginning to fall to dispute. They had been united in their desire to overthrow the Emperor by a myriad of reasons. Now, those reasons came to the fore and the primarchs who followed Icarion began to argue over what to do with the empire they had. Icarion needed a victory, a victory with tangible benefits, to reunite his followers behind him for a final push on Terra.

 

However, with the deadlock between the two empires such a victory was proving elusive. As with so many emperors before him, Icarion's needs exceeded his means. It was then, as he sought to gather a force capable of punching through the Warmaster's defences and taking Terra without exposing himself on another front that Icarion was approached by Alexos Travier.

 

Travier told Icarion of the Aztekis gods, gods of the Warp, and how they were willing to grant him their aid in his battle against the Emperor. While Icarion humoured his brother, he was cautious as he had seen many men's wills overcome by the Warp and was determined not to make the same mistake and so while he listened was reluctant to accept any aid from the Warp. However, Alexos Travier told Icarion that the gods were willing to grant one of Icarion's subordinates and his legion a fragment of the power they would grant Icarion if he accepted their aid, as a gesture of good faith. All that needed to happen was that this subordinate pass into the Eye of Terror.

 

Lying on the northern frontier of the Dominion of Mycenae, the fief of Icarion's brother, Hectarion Mycenor primarch of the Crimson Lions, the Eye of Terror lay in loyalist controlled territory. However, in this Icarion saw his needs and those of these gods coincide. He could have his grand victory in the form of the annihilation of the Crimson Lions while testing these gods claims

Edited August 27, 2016 by Sigismund229

[Sigismund229]

simultaniously. Such an opportunity was not one that he could pass up.