Black Book - The Eastern Expansion Campaigns

[Sigismund229]

So, tentative Book 2A plan. 6 Parts are on plan for Book 2B so that's what we're aiming for here although there will be plenty of room for flexibility. Now, bearing in mind this sub-book covers quite a broad area, the first 1 or 2 years of the Insurrection, it's going to be jumping around a fair bit.

 

Part 1: Fall of the Comnena Cluster

Documents one of Icarion's first campaigns of conquest which he leads in person against the Comnena Cluster, a group of worlds nearby Prospero that is garrissoned by a force of Fire Keepers. In the same way as the Dark Compliance section in HH book 4, this should showcase Icarion's general modus operandi for bringing new systems into his empire by conquest rather than diplomacy.

 

Part 2: The Siege of Mars

I feel this is important enough to warrant a place in the main books and this sub book would seem the most logical place to put it in.

 

Part 3: The Parasites of War

Brings Insurgos into the spotlight. To keep Alex's attention fixed on defending Seg.Solar as he tightens his grip on the galactic core, Icarion sends large forces of Insurgos along with his more quick moving legion forces(Travier) to launch raids on the borders of the Segmentum Solar. A game of cat and mouse between the Insurgos and HW ensues.

 

Part 4: The Eastern Core

The BoU&EW advancing into the eastern galactic core against the SoE and the Predators.

 

Part 5: The southern Core

Godslayers&WoP advancing south against the Scions Hospitalier and the Void Eagles sent to bolster the defences

 

Part 6: The Stormlord

Icarion crowns himself Stormlord(could be a great piece of art actually) and a recap of what he's conquered, his empire, the galactic situation.

 

Red pages: The Fall of the Iron Citadel, the Warmaster's Firemen(need a new name. About the VE being a rapid response force).

 

Throughout all of this the Insurgos play a "background" role, with bands of them launching raids, assassinating governors etc.

 

How's that look as an outline?

 

Also, a cool thing(if Grifft would be willing) would be to have a set of "before and after" maps of Icarion's empire. One at the beginning showing the situation after the DoR, one at the end showing his empire when he crowns himself Stormlord.

[Sigismund229]

Sorry for double post. Book 2C plan

 

Part 1: The Road to Iyacrax

Covers the world's importance&defences, what forces Icarion sends to take it, the securing of the outer worlds of the system.

 

Part 2: Planetfall

The scattering of the defence fleet&Insurrectionist landing on the world.

 

Part 3: Ordinatus

The Warbringers take the first of the two Ordinatii on Iyacrax from the Mechanicum and the Iron Bears counter-attack to try and retake or disable it. Outcome tbd.

 

Part 4: The Tightening Noose

The Warbringers begin to tighten the noose around Iyacrax's central Forge-Citadel and second Ordinatus.

 

Part 5: The Unbreakable Fortress

Warbringers assault the final bastion of loyalist resistance on Iyacrax but can't break through.

 

Part 6: The Rat War

The battle degenerates into street to street fighting over rubble as the great manufactories of Iyacrax get reduced to dust by artillery and tanks. Warbringers utilize their supply superiority to shell entire districts to rubble before movinc in to exterminate resistance. HW, IB and Mechanicum hunker down in the rubble to ambush passing Warbringers columns and launch counter attacks from the sewers. After half a year or more of this, the Warbringers decide the world is now utterly worthless and withdraw. Covers the cost to both sides.

 

Red pages: The Ordinatii Iyacrax? Other ideas?

 

Look ok?

[bluntblade]

Sim, can you pop the to-do for the Shepherds in their thread?

[MikhalLeNoir]

If the void eagles will be this fast reaction team, shouldn't they be often involved. Filling gaps in thr defenses and be prsctically everywhere with small forces. Moving around? That could be pissibke in you outline of book 2a.

[simison]

For the Insurgos, the next big step is the Morning Stars fluff page. There might be enough material for me to create the page on my own, but there are some gaps to be addressed. I know there's a number for their size hidden in this thread, but how are they organized once they assert their independence from their parent legion? Why do they side with the Stormlord and betray their oaths to the Emperor, despite their emphasis on honour? How does Icarion use them during the first years of the Insurrection? 

 

Any answers, Skal, would be great, but I'll make an attempt while the information is coming in. 

 

EDIT: I also love the accidental contrast we've created. We start with the two most noble Insurgos who happen to fall on opposite sides of the war. 

[bluntblade]

Thought for the Morning Stars - Icarion should make extensive use of them for propaganda, making them very visible and working hard to bolster their numbers, grant them fief worlds etc. Renegade Dune Serpents and Predators will likewise be praised as conscientious defectors, but that'll wash more with the Morning Stars, likewise for the turncoat Halcyon Wardens.

[bluntblade]

Could try and red box that today, if you like

[Skalpynock]

[started on that before you post, Blunt. All great stuff.]

 

The Morningstars organisation is in the Framacalc, on column X. They would fight mainly on a Muster (battalion) basis, though I can't find where I wrote down their numbers, I seem to recall something in the vincinity of 12 000. They are mainly drawn to the Stormlord due his initial promises, that they would finally be free from the brass tyrant, and the honour of the IV Legion brought back untainted. They see the appointment of the Warmaster and the Council of Terra as the beginning of a series of measures that will turn the Imperium into yet another corrupt bureaucracy, an era where chivalry and honour are dead, crushed under management and efficiency.

 

It would occur to me that their early Insurrection battles would serve to sow confusion as to the IV Legion's loyalty.

[simison]

The Morning Stars

 

Birthed upon the Human homeworld of Terra, the legacy of the Morning Stars began with a bright future before their tragic transformation. They valued honour and justice above even life and would reflect this as they prosecuted the Great Crusade. Whenever tyranny, whether human or xeno, ruled over the innocent, the Morning Stars assaulted from the heavens to put an end to such evil. Where foes would play foul tricks on the battlefield, the Morning Stars endured before exterminating such honourless opponents. This did not mean the Morning Stars simply existed to slay the foul and the fool. They were empire builders, seeking to fulfill the Emperor's vision as they restored Humanity to its former greatness. Throughout this time, they were viewed as heroes as worthy as the Wardens of Light, the Iron Bears, and the Shepherds of Eden. For an entire century, the Morning Stars were the IV^th Legion. 

 

Much like their cousins, the Shepherds of Eden, the discovery of their Primarch would become a mark of shame for these famed warriors. Although never as needlessly as cruel as Raktra Akarro, Yucahu Sumakutaa cared nothing for the high ideals of the Morning Stars. Instead, the Lord of the IV^th cared only to carry out the mission given to him by the Emperor and was more than willing to use brutal tactics to achieve it. Although their sense of justice was offended by their new master, the code of honour that the Morning Stars lived by required their submission to their Primarch. Unlike the Shepherds of Eden, the Morning Stars were not forced to change their colours or fight in the same style as their gene-sire did. Given their own fleet within the Legion, the Morning Stars carried on with their cherished ideals throughout the Great Crusade. For a time, it appeared that the twin identities of the IV^th Legion could coexist with one another. 

[bluntblade]

So you have the beginnings of that? I suggest placing those fief worlds quite close to Madrigal.

 

Did we establish in the end which Legions are cut off from their home worlds?

[simison]

Could try and red box that today, if you like

 

No, I think we can fit all of that info into the Morning Stars' fluff page. 

 

 I suggest placing those fief worlds quite close to Madrigal.

 

Did we establish in the end which Legions are cut off from their home worlds?

 

Fief worlds? For the Morning Stars?

 

There has been a comment or two, but I could never get a complete answer from everyone. I know the Warriors of Peace have to abandon Han since it's location is indefensible.

[bluntblade]

For them and the renegade Halcyon Wardens. As for the traitor Serpents and Predators, they should be provided for, but further from the view of the wider Galaxy.

[Sigismund229]

@MikhalLeNoir: Fair point...Better plan for Book 2A?

 

Part 1: Fall of the Comnena Cluster

Remains as outlined before. Harbingers vs Fire Keepers&SoS. Ends a Harbingers victory

 

Part 2: The Siege of Mars

Same reasons as before. This events deserves a mention, even if only a condensed one

 

Part 3: Battle of the Mirrormere System

Following their conquest of the Comnena Cluster, the Harbingers move on the Mirrormere System. Void Eagles get sent to fight them.

 

Part 4: The Parasites of War

Remains the same as I outlined.

 

Part 5: The Fall of Auretia

BoU vs Sheperds of Eden and maybe other legion forces.

 

Part 6: Battle of Arian Gate

The Godslayers and Warriors of Peace push south. The Scions Hospitalier are hard pressed to hold them back, Void Eagles get sent in to reinforce them.

[MikhalLeNoir]

Well add the eagles to the fall of auretia and you have them in half of the campaigns. Maybe there could be a way to add them to another battle however they are not for mars and having them in the first and losing would give them a negative light.

[Sigismund229]

A force of Void Eagles get sent to reinforce the Sheperds of Eden. That could work.

[bluntblade]

We had a force of Scions going to Aureus. That's not a victory, that's saving the merest handful of Technocracy leaders.

[MikhalLeNoir]

It is important to have the Eagles there to show they are the mobile force to fill in the gaps. And there is no problem it they are At the Losing side. Just not in their first battle.

[bluntblade]

Is it that important? It's only one theatre.

[MikhalLeNoir]

It is to establish the void eagles in this small book in their role. It is not important that it must be auretia.but it is important to show them in as many possible battlefields as support. And auretia was perfect because of this

 

Part 5: The Fall of Auretia

BoU vs Sheperds of Eden and maybe other legion forces.

 

As Sig kept it open you don't have to change much to insert the eagles here. That there where other plans for it was not a given in the description.

[bluntblade]

Make it a small force, then. It was definitely the intention that the final evacuation of the Iron Citadel be by the Scions.

 

I'm concerned we're just going a bit overkill by having the Void Eagles pretty much everywhere.

[Sigismund229]

Seeing as the Void Eagles are also deployed at the Arian Gate at a similar time, on Auretia, there shouldn't be too many VE and they wouldn't need to be deployed to the Iron Citadel. They could engage the 'Serkers somewhere else

 

Also, by the Fall of Auretia, I meant the entire system rather than only the Iron Citadel

[MikhalLeNoir]

It is for this books necessary. As the loyalists defenses are not properly set up having small detachements of void eagles everywhere is necessary. And having them in 3 out of 6 campaigns/ battles when their legion is introduced in the book is not a wrong thing and far from overkill.

[bluntblade]

True, we talking about a whole Legion with traitor Serpent and Army support being told

http://new4.fjcdn.com/pictures/Kill+them+all+philip_80d451_3950763.jpg

I was gonna use "no prisoners" from Lawrence of Arabia, but those gifs lacked subtitles.

[Sigismund229]

Draft of the specific intro for Book 2A

 

 

While the Day of Revelation had been a mighty hammer blow struck against the very foundations of the Imperium, the Stormborn knew and had foreseen that it would not be enough to break his father’s empire which, sure enough, stood bloodied but unbowed. Therefore, with the bloody toll of the Day of Revelation not yet fully realised by the Warmaster and with confusion across the Imperium, the Stormborn gathered those brothers who had chosen to stand with him, either upon Madrigal in person or by hololith. There, he shared with them his plan for the next phase of his war to topple his father from the throne of Terra.

 

The Stormborn had foreseen that this war would be long, drawn out and bloody. While there were many planetary and system governors who had pledged him their loyalty, the vast majority had not, instead remaining loyal to the throne world. Those who did rebel alongside the Stormborn were often, even within the galactic core where Icarion’s influence was strongest, separated by many loyalist counterparts. Therefore, as he outlined to his brothers, the next stage in Icarion’s plan was to build upon the fragments of an empire that they now possessed, build outwards, conquering surrounding systems and solidifying the Stormborn’s grip over that region where he possessed the most support: the galactic core.

 

However, not all the loyalist legions were so badly bloodied upon the Day of Revelation as to be unable to resist the Stormborn’s expansion. Of all the loyalist legions, the Halycon Wardens had, on the face of it, suffered the least upon the Day of Revelation and still remained largely intact. However, while nearly half of the legion answered Alexandros’ call and gathered in the Sol system to fight in the reconquest of Mars, in and of itself a bloody conflict that saw the legions pitted against the full might of the Insurrectionist Mechanicum, tens of thousands more were spread out across the galaxy in defensive garrisons, from the 60 guarding the watch station on the moon of Bilkan to the thousands deployed to worlds that sat at the hub of major warp routes. Because of their place in these garrisons, the V^th would bleed heavily in these early years, paying as much blood as their brothers had had to upon the Day of Revelation.

 

To a lesser degree, the stalwart and unyielding Fire Keepers would suffer heavily. While they were not as widespread as those of the Halycon Wardens, no legion could match the Fire Keepers skill for the defence and construction of fortifications and so many worlds of great importance were garrisoned by the X^th rather than the V^th. Due to their importance, these worlds would often prove beacons for the Stormborn’s forces, who fell on them without mercy and in their dedication, the Fire Keepers died where they stood rather than give way.

 

However, it is likely that those who paid the heaviest price for their loyalty were the Void Eagles. They were not spread in garrisons, for the impatient sons of Yucahu had never been adept at manning walls. Instead, they would be used by the Warmaster as a rapid response force due to their expertise in void warfare and consequent fleet based nature and great mobility. Wherever the Warmaster saw a danger to the loyalist line, he would send the Void Eagles to plug it or, at the very least, slow the Insurrectionists until the massive bulk of the Imperial Army could be flooded into the danger zone. Therefore, in these early years, the Void Eagles could always be found where the fighting was fiercest, the odds the most desperate and played a crucial role in denying the Stormborn some crucial systems and most importantly buying the Warmaster time: time to assess the situation and regroup. Time to muster the Imperial Army. Time to rebuild his legions. Yet this time came at a cost in IV^th legion lives. Due to both the nature of Void Eagles as a legion and the chaotic nature of this early fighting, precise estimates are impossible for quite how heavy the cost they paid was. Some have cited the gargantuan and implausible figure of 130% casualties. However, for a legion to have renewed itself in just two years would be nearly impossible and would have put severe strain on both the legion’s command and combat effectiveness, even with use of the methods pioneered by the Warbringers in the years before the Vizenko Prosecution. Some have cited the erratic nature of Void Eagles units strategies and behaviours as evidence for use of such techniques however it is worth noting that even during the Great Crusade, the Void Eagles had never been a predictable legion.

 

However, for all their bravery, the loyalists could not undo what had been done. The iron fist of the Stormborn closed around the galactic core and it brought war with it, war like none had seen before. War between the legions, raging across a thousand systems and consuming all it touched. Here I recount the story of this war’s earliest years and earliest campaigns, campaigns that raged before even the dust of the Day of Revelation had settled and continued to rage long after.

[Sigismund229]

Started on a Part of Book 2A, titled the Shadow War. Basically what I titled the Parasites of war in my initial plan. First chapter draft done. 

 

The Shadow War

 

Cowardly is the man who stands in the light and is hailed for bravery. True bravery is to fight in the shadows, unseen and unsung, your deeds known to none.

-Proverb from the world of Sixty-Three-Nineteen

 

As fighting raged between those legions loyal to the Emperor and those loyal to the Stormborn in the galactic core, troops loyal to the Emperor were being mustered in all corners of the mankind’s far flung territories. From enormous regiments of the Imperial Army to Automata from those Mechanicum forge worlds that remained loyal to the Omnissiah on Terra or even companies of legionaries recently returned from the front lines of the now dying Great Crusade, the entire might of the Imperium was the Warmaster’s to command. If these troops were to become involved in the fighting around the Galactic Core, they could turn it into a war of attrition, a war which the Stormborn, due to his relative lack of resources, was bound to lose.

 

Therefore, just as he needed to carve out a base of operations for himself in the galactic core, the Stormborn also needed to find a way to prevent the full might of the Imperium from being deployed against his rebellion while it was still young. However, for this task, the Stormborn had an advantage over his Imperial counterpart. While he commanded nine of the Imperium’s eighteen legions to his enemy’s eight, the Stormborn was also able to count many tens of thousands of Insurgos among his followers. In nearly every loyalist legion, there had been deserters, legionaries who chose to follow the Stormborn over the Emperor. From the Iron Bears had come the brutal Wendiigo and Naagloshi, from the Void Eagles the Morning Stars, almost half the Dune Serpents legion defected, 15,000 or more Halcyon Wardens, the Bloodlords of the Predators and many more, too many to list here. While these Insurgos numbered in their tens of thousands, indeed their numbers were high enough that many count them as a tenth legion in the Stormborn’s service, they were fragmented, following hundreds of different leaders. As a result, their use in legion against legion warfare was limited, their small numbers and lack of united command leaving them vulnerable to destruction from a larger force.

 

However, in the kind of delaying action the Stormborn needed, these traits ceased to be faults and became blessings. The Stormborn did not need grand victories from the Insurgos or worlds that had been conquered or worlds that had been razed. Instead, he needed time. The Insurgos could give him that time, by launching a campaign of raiding across the Imperium, disrupting the movement of Imperial troops, keeping large numbers of Imperial forces tied down defending systems far away from the galactic core and keeping the Imperial tacticians guessing as to where the Stormborn intended to strike next.

 

The campaigns which ensued went largely unseen and unheard of. To many, they were raids by bands of renegades, with no place in the overall strategy of the Insurrection, whose more conventional battles were being waged far away in the galactic core. It is only by looking back at the pattern of these raids and what they targeted that their true purpose is visible as part of this war fought in the Insurrection’s shadows.

 

It was also over the course of this shadow war that many Insurgos warbands began to develop identities separate from that of the legion they had abandoned, something only compounded by the type of campaign they found themselves fighting. Cut off from reliable supplies, they pioneered what would become known as the Nomad-Predation fleet pattern, looting whatever equipment they needed rather than relying on supply lines and drawing their recruits from any world they came across rather than relying on any single world or group of worlds.

 

Because of this, many Insurgos warbands developed an extremely nihilistic attitude when compared to the legions from which they had broken away and thus became ever more brutal and callous as the shadow war wore on. Where in the legions, throughout the Insurrection the ideal of a heroic death held firm, within the Insurgos warbands it rapidly became laughable for they knew that they would die unremembered in a skirmish fought on the furthest flung front of the Insurrection, remembered only by brothers who valued their armour and the equipment they carried more highly than they did their life.

 

However, while it and the legionaries who fought it have gone unremembered in histories of the Insurrection, the shadow war had an undoubtable impact upon the course of the Insurrection for as Icarion had intended, it delayed a disproportionate number of loyalist forces who could have been deployed to the battlegrounds of the galactic core had the shadow war not been waged. Not only that but it hammered the Insurgos in the fires of war, forging them into a force of brutally effective killers whose only concern was efficiency, with no thought given to concepts such as honour. Who would punch well above their comparatively meagre numbers in later campaigns of the Insurrection.