Black Book - The Eastern Expansion Campaigns

[bluntblade]

Squig, you've got most of the current oceans of Terra to use for your salt plains

[simison]

I like Lawrynce the most, and Blunt has a point. Most of the oceans are gone at this, so maybe take advantage of that?

[Big Bad Squig]

That's true, and that way I'd be less likely to step on other legions toes in terms of recruiting grounds. I'll try to come up with something concrete tomorrow.

[bluntblade]

Might be best not to use the seas around the Middle East, so you have some differences between the early XIV and the Serpents. Ursh, the Pan-Pacific Empire (which likely rules Chile) and the Emperor's early domain (hence it's the birthplace of Ahriman) carve up most of that space anyway, so I'd suggest the very north or south of the Pacific, or some part of the Atlantic that won't be occupied by Marianna (which the XIX will draw the bulk of its strength from).

 

The Southern Pacific would give them plenty of reason to live as nomads, scratching an existence between the Antarctic fortresses of Orioc and Narthan Dume's empire.

[Sigismund229]

2 questions:

 

1. Do we know who we're replacing the Jackals with?

 

2. Any fluff that needs writing for this book? If so I'll add it to my to do list

[simison]

The Jackals are being replaced by the Steel Legion. Which means we have all of the 'players' we need for the book. 

 

Checking through what's left, we need one more section after 'Domain of the Starlord'. This section will detail the actual campaign battlegrounds, a brief introduction of the forces involved, and what's happening. Basically, setting up the chess board and what & where the pieces are. Once that section is finished, we will have wrapped up the General History chapter. 

 

I don't remember how the Void Eagles are supposed to be involved, but one of the major battles is the rescue of Azus, who's being guarded by a personal guard of Warriors of Peace and a full detachment of the Steel Legion. At least one battle should be dedicated to showing the Insurrectionists crushing the defenders of the Eastern Galaxy since this is the book where Icarion is on a winning streak. 

[Grifftofer]

If I remember correctly the Void Eagles were to be attacked/distracted by the Steel Legion as the Steel Legion were one of the few Legions with a sufficiently large fleet to attempt it.

[Sigismund229]

Unless it was changed, the Void Eagles were sent to the north east to try and hold it alongside the Iron Bears against the Drowned, Grave Stalkers and other traitor elements(maybe Morning Stars if we want a Void Eagle-Morning Star bloodbath). In the end, they start employing scorched earth tactics out of desperation

[simison]

Which leaves me confused how we're supposed to connect the campaigns to each other as it was originally suggested. 

 

Anyway, before I forget, we should have a red box that covers the meeting between Warmaster and Stormlord where they establish the rules of engagement during the war. Now, the big event there is the agreement for the Imperial Webway to be established as neutral ground. But I'm not sure how common knowledge the Webway is, so I'm establishing an official reason for the meeting. It also emphasizes the differences between BotL and canon. Here, we have clear evidence that Icarion hasn't gone off the deep end and is very much engaged in a secular civil war, despite his associations with Travier. This also shows how both sides have clear commanders, unlike in canon where Horus is clearly in command of the traitors but the Loyalists are only haphazardly led by Dorn, Russ, and Guilliman. 

[Sigismund229]

Does the outline of the meeting follow how it happened in the story I began writing?(and still need to finish. It keeps getting pushed down my to do list)

[simison]

While I'm at it, and to avoid forgetting, one of the reasons that we don't see another major battle on the level of the Day of Revelation is because the first ten years of the Insurrection is really dedicated to both empires establishing their cores. The Imperium is half empire/half confederacy, and we've touched upon how many star systems simply try to go independent or stay neutral in the conflict. While Icarion is taking territory and creating the heart of his new domain, Alexandros' highest priority is to re-secure Seg. Solar. 

 

At the same time, both are actively avoiding massive legion engagements. Alexandros is trying to preserve the Loyalist legions and reinforce them with accelerated recruiting programs. Icarion has the marines but he doesn't have the industry to support large losses of equipment or a large support of auxiliary human units to support the Traitor legions. So, both sides are trying to concentrate on easy victories without real sacrifice.

 

Hence, this first ten years is really an unending series of skirmishes with only a few major battles to break up the rhythm.

 

Sig, I only remember one story written and not sure it was yours. I remember the story had two issues. One, Azus was present when he should still be in captivity. Two, didn't the delegations comes under attack by a third party?

[Sigismund229]

Yes that was mine. Azus, Yucahu and Alex on the Imperial side, Icarion, Jackel and Kozja on the Insurrectionist. They agreed on no use of the webway but then came under attack by deamons. Each primarch had brought a squad from his legion so from there it became a free for all.

 

Should I replace Azus with Niklaas?

[simison]

That is a good replacement since Niklaas is Alex's number two for the rest of the Insurrection. Why and how do daemons attack?

[Sigismund229]

That is a good replacement since Niklaas is Alex's number two for the rest of the Insurrection. Why and how do daemons attack?

Why? Because if they can turn the two parties on each other they will both use the webway(the chaos gods think) and through it becoming a strategic asset it will be subsumed by the war and humanity's link with it will be destroyed thus making humanity dependent on the warp. It has the added bonus that if both sides blame each other for breaking diplomatic truce the war will becomes more merciless and drive Icarion to them

 

How? I'm still working on that bit

[Nomus Sardauk]

Yes that was mine. Azus, Yucahu and Alex on the Imperial side, Icarion, Jackel and Kozja on the Insurrectionist. They agreed on no use of the webway but then came under attack by deamons. Each primarch had brought a squad from his legion so from there it became a free for all.

 

Should I replace Azus with Niklaas?

Don't forget we also need to decide who takes Jackel's place at the meeting, a simple choice would be to simply swap out Jackel for his general replacement, Nomus, however given Kozja's already there I'd rather have a not-to-be-Suzerainity Primarch instead.

 

•Koschei & K'awil are no-go's given their direct involvement in the Death of the Bear, they'd automatically provoke a fight just by showing up.

•Jade is another Suzerainty boss, so probably not.

•Raktra's too volatile for a "peaceful" meeting.

•Morro might be too provocative an option like Koschei & K'awil given his brutal wounding of Pionus on the DoR.

•So that leaves... Travier. Huh, guess we know how the daemons show up, perhaps Travier covertly summons the daemons to try and sabotage the "no webway usage" agreement as well as assassinate the Loyalist Primarchs in one fell swoop?

[MikhalLeNoir]

G. Exactly a thing Travier would arrange to happen.

[bluntblade]

I feel it's a little too blunt an instrument. I'd rather have them negotiate and walk away.

 

Also, what's keeping the Emperor on the Golden Throne if the Webway isn't under attack?

 

Might be best not to use the seas around the Middle East, so you have some differences between the early XIV and the Serpents. Ursh, the Pan-Pacific Empire (which likely rules Chile) and the Emperor's early domain (hence it's the birthplace of Ahriman) carve up most of that space anyway, so I'd suggest the very north or south of the Pacific, or some part of the Atlantic that won't be occupied by Marianna (which the XIX will draw the bulk of its strength from).

 

The Southern Pacific would give them plenty of reason to live as nomads, scratching an existence between the Antarctic fortresses of Orioc and Narthan Dume's empire.

Pending Squig's formal approval, they arise from the Shakletian Desert of the old Pacific

[Kelborn]

Without a demon invasion via webway, there would be no need for him to sit on the throne, correct?

 

So we would need an event (scheduled by the pantheon) in order to damage the imperial webway. Travier maybe?

[MikhalLeNoir]

Uhm. I think you guys missed a few points. Of course there is a rift and an ongoing deamon attack. Remember? Trsvier broke the wards when sacrificing the wardens of light.

 

But alex is negotiating with icarion to not use the webway. At this time there is no hint thst icarion sided with daemons. There is no hint pointing to travier too.

Meet and greet and walk away? That would be a sorry thing to do. Having both brothers fight at each side against deamons ( which were arranged to attack nkt openly summoned) is a turn of events which might give alex hope that he could convince icarion to quit his rebellion.

[Kelborn]

See, I knew there was something with Travier ;)

[Nomus Sardauk]

@MikhalLeNoir: I didn't mean it sound like Travier openly summons the daemons, more along the lines of something like he's concealing some manner of summoning token on his person that he activates when he feels the time is right.

This allows the daemon force to appear without warning, whereas usually such a large incursion of warp entities wouldn't be able to appear so suddenly without some sort of prexisting ritual or warp breach to allow them to cross over.

[MikhalLeNoir]

@sang: wasn't directed at you.^^

 

Bit that was the reason I said he will arrange their coming.

[simison]

I agree with Blunt. Ambushing the negotiations has a lot more chance at undermining Chaos' cause than aiding it. Remember, Icarion and K'awil form an anti-Chaos faction within the Insurrectionists, while only Travier has committed himself to the Chaos cause. The rest are on a spectrum between the two. Attacking Alexandros and the Loyalists during a diplomatic meeting would severely undercut Icarion's authority and drive him further away from Chaos, if they are just going to backstab at the first chance they get. 

 

Then throw in the summoning difficulties. The meeting is supposed to take on neutral ground where neither Loyalist or Traitor holds strong sway yet. It would be difficult to make the arrangements to allow a Chaos summon. Throw in the fact that the necessary item or ritual to trigger it would have a distinctive mark that both Alexandros and, especially, Icarion would be sensitive to. These two Primarchs are the hardest to surprise or trick due to their respective abilities. If Travier attempted anything, both of them would be onto him.

 

Furthermore, Icarion is trying to show that his cause is just, and he is a reasonable guy. A daemonic attack would give the opposite impression he's trying to convey.

 

Finally, it's not thematic. At this point, Chaos is used sparingly or in subtle fashion. It's not until the first invasion of Solar Seg. does the Chaos activity begin to ramp up as Travier calls upon them during his flanking maneuver against Delos, and then hits a crescendo with the Blood Crusade.

 

I do agree that Travier could be the third party member since knowledge of his psychic attack against the Terran Wards isn't well-known. I'm not sure if Alexandros knows yet, but if he does, he hasn't informed the other Loyalist Primarchs about it yet.

[MikhalLeNoir]

So that means sigs story is not canon. Sad. I liked it.

[simison]

Technically, it became non-canon when we lost Jackel and Azus wasn't supposed to be there. That said, it could easily be reworked and expanded upon. The emphasis should be on character interaction. Imagine it, Alexandros, the incurable optimist, still believes it's possible to end the civil war if he can win Icarion over. Meanwhile, Icarion believes he's seen incontrovertible evidence that the Emperor will be his and his legion's doom.

 

Then, look at who's accompanying them. On either side of Alex are two of his brothers who are there simply to fill out the delegation party and protect Alex. Neither Niklaas or Yucahu are anywhere near as optimistic as Alex is. Then, between them, Yucahu is all cold and business, while Niklaas is nursing a fiery anger at what's been done by the Traitors.

 

On Icarion's side, his delegation party is composed of two, scandal-ridden Primarchs. Kozja and his Prosecution, while Travier and his harsh transition into the Imperium. It is by circumstance that Icarion has to take these two to negotiations even when the optics make him look extra guilty from association. 

 

That's several different axes a writer could explore from this small event alone.