IL XVII - The Warriors of Peace

[simison]

BL Fluff Segment (12k words)

Anthology: 30% - Incomplete - (It never ends!)

FW Fluff Segment (10k? words)

History: 15% - N/A

Organization: 15% - N/A

Exemplary Battles: 15% - N/A

Crunch

Legiones Astartes & Unique Wargear: 5% - Incomplete - (Also might be affected by Xun)

Rites of War: 5% - Incomplete - (Drak created 1)

Unique Units: 5% - Incomplete - (Mixutre of NYR and picking which units will stay)

Unique Characters: 5% - Incomplete - (Same as above)

Primarch: 5% - Incomplete - (Needs to be revised now that he's not a Pariah)

 

Total - 0%

 

This is why nobody should have two Legions.

[Uberlord Gendo]

Alright, here we are.  I may request making a new thread for this so I can put summaries in the first post and update them, but for the moment, here's some sections of the General's writings:

"In speaking of governance, one cannot speak of the Emperor or the Primarchs for they are unique.  The Empire that cannot lose its head and live, but instead collapses into civil war and chaos is no Empire, for it undoes all it has done and unmakes all it has made.  For this reason, the structure must be designed to work such that no matter the qualities or mediocrities of the Suzerain, no matter the season of heaven for good or ill, the state continues to function and perform its duties.  One must eschew the rare and valued for the common and cheap. For this reason, the wise suzerain discards the good and plans for the bad, discards the wise and plans for the stupid, discards the talented, and plans for the incompetent.  If a state can be designed as such, though there be disaster, what can shake it? When there is a favorable season, all lands may flourish, but in preparing for the worst, the wise suzerain ensures that their lands will always endure."

-On Statecraft

 

“Many have spoken of fear of the changing of the immaterium tides. They catalog fiery rains, the birth of freaks amongst the cattle, and apparitions and fear.  They seek the moods of the immaterium and try to placate it. However, there have always been these omens in all ages. Under the rule of Tyrant Jue there were strange beasts in the land as well as in the rule of the Sage Yu.  The difference was that while Jue spent lavishly on ceremony and wasted the people’s lifeblood, Yu readied the army and stored resources in the treasury. Thus I say “Do not fear the Omens of the Warp, but rather fear the Omens of People.”  If a flood comes and yet the levies are weak, though the sky be filled with falling stars and comets, the fault lies with the state that was lax in its duties. If a fire comes and yet the firefighters are not ready, though the sun be in eclipse, it is the fault of the people who did not prepare.  If a storm comes, ruins many houses and crops, and yet resources are not gathered, there will be many homeless and starving. However, if the state has prepared wisely, though the earth shake and the skies pour forth wind and lighting, what great harm can come to the people?

So too, then, with the warp.  If a breach comes and yet the state is lax in its duty, there will be catastrophe.

As there have always been floods and fires and storms, there have always been the tides of the warp.  Only the fool fears the warp and does not prepare.”

-On the Warp

 

 

“Human nature contains the roots of all that is good and all that is bad.  The sage and the miscreant are of one type. However, despite this potential, if left untaught and uncultivated, the mind and heart will sprout weeds.  If left unworked and unvarnished, it will rot and warp. If left unalloyed and unforged, it will bend and break. As an unworked plot contains venomous snakes, as rotten wood contains poisonous grubs, and as rusted metal contains bad vapors that sicken men, so too is the untrained mind a hazard.  This is as natural as the seasons and the tide. As water stalls in the flat lands and produces foul swamps and as swamps bring forth flies and disease, so too does human nature stagnate and bring forth foulness.

The untrained mind, the human in the wild have one merit.  They are predictable. Though bad for the possessor, this regularity makes them useful for the wise suzerain.  As the rising of the tides can be known and used to launch great ships and as the motives of the rat can allow it to be trapped, the behavior of the human heart can be predicted and used.  The wise suzerain knows their weaknesses and by using them to lead them, turns these weaknesses into the strength of the state. Thus the foot-soldier is brave because of their childish anger and the farmer industrious because of their greed.  By eschewing the greater principle and setting consistent rewards and punishments, the wise sovereign motivates the people towards the state’s ends through their faults.

Those without virtue, in lacking direction of their own, can be easily directed.  As a herd of cows may be lead by whips and dogs, so too may the populace be lead by regular rewards and punishments.  With rewards and punishments, the faults of the people can be exploited. Though the blade be rusty, it will still surely slay if it is directed with a wise hand.  Though the wood be warped, if collected, it will make good mulch. By remaining still and constraining the flow of the many, the one becomes their lord without their realizing or resentment.  For this reason, the wise suzerain does not lament that their people lack virtue, but strength, does not lament their people lack cultivation, but number. This is planning for the bad.”

-On Statecraft

 

 

 

 

And the beginning of his origin story:

Fenghao

That which has long been united must divide.  That which has long been divided must be united.

When the 17th primarch landed on Fenghao, the various warring states had long been divided, each seeking to restore the old Tiu order of Ngao and Hlun.  Landing in the state of Ying, the child was brought to the court and raised by the Chancellor Lu Shangfei. Shangfei fell from power amidst the internicene power plays of the Ying Court, leaving The General to flee the capital.  According to the records compiled in the years afterwards, The General joined the wandering intellectual elite of the day and, while serving the Kingdom of Han, he meets a prince of Ying. Blocked from the upper echelons of power in most states by jealous ministers protecting their control, the General pins his fortunes on Prince Yiren.  An odd choice, Yiren had been deemed sufficiently expendable to serve as hostage guaranteeing peace in the state of Kham. While theoretically in line for succession, Yiren’s mother was a minor concubine of reigning King Anguo. Nonetheless, the primarch saw Yiren as an opportunity. Personally tutoring him, the primarch turned an obscure prince into a formidable polymath.  Stories of Yiren’s skill as an advisor to the king of Kham are many, though most have a distinctly folkloric feel. In any event, Yiren returned to the Ying capital, he brought his favored advisor with him.

As Prince Yiren takes part in his father’s campaigns, the primarch is ever by his side, earning the name The Jade General over the course as his many victories.  In the gaps between campaigns, however, the General works behind the scenes to ensure that Yiren is the designated heir through means that this author will simply allow the reader to guess at.  It will simply be noted that Yiren’s father, King Anguo died soon after declaring Yiren his heir.

When Yiren ascended to the throne, his ever victorious general was made the new Chancellor.  The two lead Ying’s conquest of the old Tiu domains until Yiren’s death. It is worth noting that Yiren’s death is one of the few natural ones in his line.  Yiren’s infant son Cheng comes to the throne and naturally the Jade General is Chancellor-Regent. Splitting his time between the distant front and the palace, the new monarch is assassinated shortly before coming of age by another faction in the royal house, seeking to put a royal uncle on the throne.  Vowing revenge in the memory of his dead friend, the Jade General ruthlessly purges the ministerial factions and the royal house and assumes direct control, taking the throne as King Xuandi of Ying.

However, members of the royal house flee to surrounding states and, seeing the capital in turmoil, the newly conquered territories rise in revolt, making pacts with more distant realms.

While the General is able to make much progress, his war stalls

It proves difficult because the other states are making use of renegade psykers so the General turns to what we now know to be Nulls.  Many of these Nulls become his first astartes.

After conquest and unification, he imposes standards etc.  When the Emperor comes and he departs, he renames the planet Fenghao because when viewed from Terra, it is at the conjunction of the constellations of Feng and Hao.

 

And a side panel... thing:

Names

Many cultures espouse different naming practices.  On Fenghao, one might have many names used in different social contexts.  Children are given a childhood name by their parents, though on coming of age, they will be given an adult name.  In the upper class, a noble may select a name for their official work, to be used in public and formal settings.  Depending on significant events one may collect several of these.  One may also maintain several pen names.  If one ascends to the throne, then a regnal name is chosen, and then after death, a posthumous name is selected.  The process by which these names are selected vary across time and place, but in the General's life and then the fact of his legion, these various types of names remained in use.  The most commonly seen of these is the use of posthumous names on Dreadnoughts using the older cyclical name system, most widely known on Dreadnoughts such as Fu-Gui and Zu-Ding

As for the General, it is known that owing to his peculiar means of arrival he was called the Gengshen Child, after the day on which he landed.  His childhood name, if he had one is not recorded, though he was reckoned as a member of the Lu clan.  It is also known that he used the pen name Mengde, the regnal name Xuandi, and the courtesy name Yujiang, literally rendered as "Jade General" by an overly literal translator.

Liking the effect, The Jade General did not correct the translator, but rather used the name as a title.

[simison]

Ah, I had not realized it was you, Xun. Welcome back to B&C.

[Darkcommander]

Borne from the Ajax prototype the Warriors of Peace were more reluctant to adopt the design but after some 'vigorous' testing by their Techmarine conclave on Mars, they were sufficiently convinced. 

 

'Heavens-Fall' Warriors of Peace Mortar Vehicle

 

Design

With the insight of some of their most prominent techmarines at the time, the Warriors of Peace saw the Ajax as an opportunity to expand their vehicular arsenal in a new way. Choosing to heavily armour the basic Ajax it has even encased the driver and gunner in a command compartment to shield them, partially from enemy fire and partially from the shock wave of their main weapon firing. Mounted on the rear is an entire weapon assembly, including guidance servitor, autoloading system and various ammo racks to allow it to provide extensive, rapid-fire rounds on target, all these systems supply the Heavy Mortar Cannon.

While categorised as 'light artillery' the Heavy Mortar is anything but light, requiring the vehicle to deploy two hydraulic ram arms into the ground when firing. The recoil from the weapon system firing is so powerful that, if unsupported it might break the suspensor supports for the rear chassis. To support the hungry beast an internal storage and autoloader system holds 42 rounds, while the remaining spare ammunition is kept in 2 large storage bins attached to the back of the vehicle. The exception to this is a single round stored inside the crew cabin in a armoured compartment, this being the single round with an atomic warhead for use in times of dire need.

A small black cross on the right pauldron It is often used to denote amongst crews If they have ever had to use an atomic round, as it is seen as a failure to both their teachings and the part of the world they've destroyed.

While the armoured crew compartment does offer significant protection along with the heavy ceramite armour covering the vehicle the problem of being attacked by anti-vehicle munitions is still a great one. To this end the Heavens-Fall is equipped with two Electronic Counter-Measure launching pods coupled with a set of smoke-grenade launchers it serves to make the vehicle a very hard one to pin down.

Used as a light artillery platform the Heavens-Fall is used to support fast-moving or armoured forces with accurate and continuous indirect fire, able to mow down waves of infantry with withering salvoes of high explosive shells. By using it's speed advantage it can keep up with these forces or even support them with direct fire, never staying in one place for too long before moving. The combination of sheer firepower, and decent speed and amour has allowed the Heavens-Fall to prove itself multiple times over, truly bringing the sky down upon the enemies of mankind.

 

Armament

The Heavy Mortar Cannon is a piece of siege artillery normally reserved for Imperial Army use as a towed system, wheeled into pre-prepared bunkers and set to fire for days at a time. As with most other applications of post-human thinking and ingenuity, the Warriors of Peace saw the Ajax as an opportunity to provide assaults and harassment actions with artillery support, without the need for the complex maintenance and resupply lines needed for their larger Whirlwind cousins. With a fully articulated mounting and integrated autoloader the mortar can not only lay down artillery fire up to 20km away, it can also engage with light-skinned vehicles and infantry directly out to 2.5km. The autoloader, filled with 42 rounds can be loaded with a variety of munitions, and supply the weapon with enough ammo to fire for 5 minutes straight before the system needs to be reloaded.

With an integrated control system that allows the gunner to take direct control or designate a target area, the mortar can reliably places rounds within 3m of their target, able to be fired in patterns to cover more or specific areas.

Backing up the mortar is a single turret mounted on the top of the vehicle, in an articulated mount much the same as them. A storm bolter with it's own targeting system has a commanding view in a 360º arc around the vehicle. Used to suppress and eliminate lightly armoured infantry it can also be controlled remotely from the gunners position with a manual input in the event it is needed.

 

Defence

Using ceramite plating the Warriors of Peace choose the concentrated protection of a stronger material over a compromise as seen in other designs. The heavy plates cover the vehicle, even encasing the driver and gunner in a crew compartment that keeps them free from small arms fire. The unfortunate downside to such effective armour is it's weight, and the effect that has on the vehicle itself. While Heavens-Fall is slower than it's counterpart variants it still manages to maintain an impressive speed, able to outrun most astartes vehicles despite the combined weight of weapon, ammunition and armour.

Sporting a set of two ECM launchers, the Heavens-Fall can protect itself from guided munitions such as missiles and targeting equipment by firing off reflective chaff and small flares out to confuse and distract any electronics aimed at their vehicle. This serves to blind and confuse the systems allowing the crew time to withdraw from an unfavourable battle.

 

 

Technical Specifications

Type: Light Self-Propelled Artillery, Infantry Fighting Vehicle

Vehicle Name: Heavens-Fall

Forge World of Origin: Mars

Known Patterns: N/A

Crew: 1 Driver, 1 Gunner

Powerplant: Vulcanor 16 Twin Coupled Multi-Burn

Weight: 9 tonnes

Length: 6.3m

Height: 4.6m

Width: 4.2m

Range: 500km

Max Speed:

On Road: 80km/h (50mph)

Off Road: 58km/h (36mph)

Main Armament: Heavy Mortar Cannon

Secondary Armament: Storm Bolter Turret

Main Ammunition: 64 High Explosive Mortar Rounds (6 Smoke, 6 Flare, 1 Atomic)

Secondary Ammunition: 400 Rounds

Armour:

Hull: 74mm

Superstructure: 96mm

 

Wiki Entry: https://botl.fandom.com/wiki/Heavens-Fall

[Uberlord Gendo]

While the Liberation of Vausas went largely unremarked at the time, seen simply as a minor compliance action on the margins of the crusade by the smallest legion, in light of the legion's opening moves during the Insurrection, it stands out as an altogether more sinister affair. Though the worlds of Vausas were inhabited by humans, they were ruled by the reptilian Hraloq. Using the humans for slave labor and food, the Hraloq served as an elite military force, defending the human helot population from other predators as well as suppressing resistance among the slaves. When XVIIth legion scouts first found Vausas, they opted for careful observation. Since the human population could be liberated and the worlds themselves were of high value, the legion considered several options. The legion considered infiltrating mortal operatives and initiating mass uprisings, both to throw off the Hraloq yoke and to divide and distract the Hraloq war machine, but projections indicated that civilian casualties would be enormous. Observing movements from afar, the analysts of the XVIIth discovered that the Hraloq forces were not terribly dissimilar from Astartes. Small numbers of Hraloq kept the worlds in check from planetary garrisons which were associated with a set of logistical hubs. Assaulting one with sufficient force would eventually bring the mobilization of the entire Hraloq military, but owing to the organized garrison system, this redeployment could be roughly predicted.

From their observations of Hraloq fleet movements, over a period of three years, including their responses to periodic dark eldar raids, XVIIth legion strategists and logisticians constructed a timetable, giving the projected response times and redeployments of the Hraloq forces to any given incursion. From this, the legion calculated the optimal sequence of assaults, designed to prevent the Hraloq forces from linking up efficiently, ensuring that while the Hraloq forces outnumbered the XVIIth legion in total, the legion would always have local superiority.

In the void, the legion fleet waited patiently for the proper moment, when Hraloq forces would be spread across their domain. Launching the assault, the XVIIth sent a task forces to level the designated frontier garrisons. Moving in-system at full speed, the fleets did not even stop as they broadcast their declaration of conquest. Where other legions would have announced their noble intention, the XVIIth preferred to keep the Hraloq in the dark as to their goal, eliminiting the possibility of them using the human population as hostages.

Garrison leveled, the fleets did not stop to impose Imperial order on the liberated world, but rather moved immediately to the next objective. Even as the Hraloq command began to react, other segments of the legion launched their own assaults on opposite ends of the domain. Within three days, they began the assaults on the regional depots. Even as the main body of the XVIIth legion assaulted these depots, splinter forces slipped past the system, taking up position to ambush inbound forces.

 

I feel like this is very poorly written and I'm going to blame the months not using English. I think I'll rewrite it and reference War of the Worlds a wee bit. This was mostly to get the idea out.

Anyway, idea is that as they do this, they never stop the offensive.  While the Hraloq are no fools, because the XVIIth is setting the pace and initiating the action, there's only a certain set of sensible moves open to them.  They need to try to rally their fleets, but there's only a finite ways of doing that and the XVIIth has set up their assaults specifically to cut those critical lines of movement, forcing the Hraloq fleets to walk into ambushes, face the wrath of a superior astartes fleet, or retreat and try to group up by moving around the XVIIth advance.  In the end, the Hraloq fleet never gets the chance to link up in numbers large enough to challenge the XVIIth effectively and are blown out of space.  The entire operation takes the projected month and matches the timetable within an hour.

 

CnC please, since this needs some work.

[Beren]

Read the origin story today, and I have a couple of comments/suggestions.

 

 

Regarding Pariahs, it should be noted that they are exceptionally rare, even more so than psykers. It is possible that Fenghao is abnormally dense in them, but I would like to suggest that the General has to undetake an arduos expedition/quest following rumours to find even one such individual, possibly after nearly being killed by a particularly powerful coven and nearly seeing everything he has built unravel as result. The General finds that he appreciates the mode of thought and lifestyle that the Pariah/Pariahs has been forced to adopt. The Pariah or Pariahs then prove invaluable to him, and he later attempts to find or even breed more, focusing in particular upon genealogical research.

[Uberlord Gendo]

That's a really good point.  It also has nice resonances with a lot of early Chinese philosophy, in a very different mode.  I may have to write it up for a side-box, but I'm thinking somewhat in terms of Zhuangzi's "crippled virtue", with a null being an anti-immortal, having an incredible amount of de and being vital to the survival of society and yet being loathed by the people.

[Uberlord Gendo]

A few thoughts:

First off, we may want to change threads so I can put the new lore up at the beginning of the thread so that's what people see first.

 

Secondly, origin story:

As mentioned above, the General is ever in the position of an advisor to a ruler, leading his state to dominion.  The place where I am going to add some new material is after the conquest of the central states.

"Though the so-called Central States were united under the General's guidance, the world was larger than these kingdoms.  Many of the aristocrats from the Central States had fled rather than submit and, in cooperation with nomads and even the distant Empire of Tanchandrahar.  In what happened next, one must, from our vantage point, suspect the hand of Chaos, for the aristocrats were soon united under a powerful psyker, Toboleg.  Where precisely Toboleg was from is unknown, but what is clear is that Toboleg had access to arcane secrets hitherto unknown on Fenghao, not simply in the Central States, but in all countries under the sky.  Court Sorcerers were a court staple all over Fenghao, but their powers were limited and knowledge limited.  Toboleg, in contrast, clearly excercised a level of control and technique requiring an educational infrastructure simply beyond the bronze age society of Fenghao's various nascent civilizations.  Toboleg went on the offensive, devastating the army sent to pacify the Dhavashtam oasis cities that had allied with Prince Liu Gan.  Worse still, Toboleg began gathering and training psykers.  The number of these witches was never particularly high given how rare the psyker gene is, but Toboleg also appears to have had psychoreactive devices allowing ordinary mortals to channel some degree of empyrean might with horrific consequences.  A tide of madness and death was thus unleashed that even the General's strategic brilliance and well drilled armies were unable to check.  However, psykers had plagued Fenghao in the distant past and legends remained.  A strange community of hermits known as the Hmobok was known which drew upon strange members of all societies.  Once in a generation, these odd hermits would descend from their mountain refuges to scour the countryside for children with what we now understand to be the Null Gene.  On rare occasions they would be employed as exorcists in the world below, but in general, these Hmobok were avoided.

The General had disregarded both socerors and Hmobok as curiosities ultimately irrelevant to administering an empire, an oversight which cost him dearly.  By the time the General was able to mobilize the Hmobok, the countryside was overrun by mutated beasts.  Taking the Hmobok as an elite force, The General deployed them both as retinue to aid him and as a mobile force able to hunt down the sorcerors.  Thus it was that the General's campaign became a careful series of traps designed to draw out socerors and strike them down, while he devised chariot units with massive crossbows to hunt down the mutated beasts running rampant.  In time, the tides turned and the General, accompanied by the Hmobok, personally slew Toboleg at Dramnavandesh.

It was in time of reconstruction that followed that the Emperor came to Fenghao.

 

 

Third, Legion tactics:

 

 

 

Fourth, Before the General:

[simison]

In regards to the Liberation of Vausas, I think you have an excellent foundation and find no complaints with your English. I also love how you mention the Dark Eldar (who will need a more 30k-name) raiding the Hraloq. It's an important reminder the DE are a plague on everyone. The only concern I have is length. Is this supposed to be an Exemplary Battle or just a battle?

[simison]

Love the origin story. Makes a much more natural evolution of the General's biases toward the Untouchables.

[simison]

Alright, this will be the last combo post. When the Jade General enters the Imperium, he'll be the last Primarch to do so. How do the others react? Alexandros, as usual, will try his hardest to arrange for an audience first, but will other Primarchs be eager and push for their own rendezvous? 

[bluntblade]

I feel like several will be curious, but it's a matter of where they are at the time.

[bluntblade]

Do we have anything down on the origins of the WoP?

[bluntblade]

Wrong thread. Any-way, I think we're placing the XVIIIth with the Warbringers after Kozja is found. Possibly they play second fiddle to a Lanterns fleet until then, as their pariahs would make relations with the Lightning Bearers and Halcyon Wardens difficult (it'd be worth referencing that).

Edited October 16, 2019 by bluntblade

[Nomus Sardauk]

You mean the XVIIth...

[bluntblade]

Damnit

[Nomus Sardauk]

Two I's for the Warriors, Three for the Steel Legion.

[simison]

Wrong thread. Any-way, I think we're placing the XVIIIth with the Warbringers after Kozja is found. Possibly they play second fiddle to a Lanterns fleet until then, as their pariahs would make relations with the Lightning Bearers and Halcyon Wardens difficult (it'd be worth referencing that).

 

Lanterns, you mean the XVIth would boss around the XVIIth until Kozja is around?

[bluntblade]

Maybe, depends on the Ayatollah as they aren't all :cussheads

 

They could form a relatively equal partnership.

Edited October 22, 2019 by bluntblade

[simison]

Elder Cheng

 

Along the Tigers under the command of Juan Zu, one stands out for his age and unfailing service. Cheng is one of the last of the Terran veterans among the Warriors. With old eyes, he has seen the birth of the Imperium, the dawn of the Great Crusade, and much more. Through it all, he has maintained a phlegmatic spirit unrelenting in his concern for the small details that elude those aiming for glory.

 

Armed with a power spear, Cheng has climbed the ranks at an unhurried pace that has seen him outlast countless others who blazed bright and short. It was in Zu’s Service that he has found the greatest satisfaction. Serving as his right hand, Cheng balanced out his superior’s audacity with reliability, zeal with cool logic. This combination of talent and energy had proven a great benefit to the Great Crusade and would be a boon to Loyalists in the war to come.

Edited November 5, 2019 by simison

[Uberlord Gendo]

The first part of a much overdue story:

 

High Somelier Gutanor supervised the loading of the casks without much interest.  The process was on schedule and, if there were to be delays, it would be in moving the remaining stock from the wine vaults to the port.  While this was notionally part of his duty, putting down rioters was beyond his remit and wine not loaded due to protest was really the fault of the commander of the gendarmes.  Technically High Somelier had authority over the Militsiya Tribune and thus over the militia, but cousin Tobak was a sullen fellow who did not respond to orders well. Most of the time, Militsiya Tribune was a title that served to keep Tobak out of the capital, camping in the mud and jogging in the rain, which really suited everyone just fine, except Tobak and any gendarmes unfortunate enough to be under his direct command.  This kept Tobak from being a boor at parties. Unfortunately, with the impending evacuation, the entire royal clan had been recalled to the capital, even Tobak and so now Tobak was sitting in his throne in the strategium droning on about discipline and boot buckles. Gutanor hoped they could leave him behind, but that was unlikely given Great Aunt Geneturud’s inexplicable fondness for Tobak, which, Gutanor thought with a frown, meant that Tobak would be a fixture in the Royal Evacuation Fleet through the long months of warp travel.  Honestly, Gutanor had doubts about this entire plan. On the surface of it, it was a truly ingenious means of passing responsibility and allowing the two empires to have it out while the King hid behind his manifest mediocrity. There was some reason to this. The xenos Fandar had been content to allow the royal clan to run Ksandro in return for regular tithes of metals, slaves, and most of all, wine. So long as the humans met the quotas, the Fandar saw no reason to meddle in local affairs, correctly divining that it would be more trouble than it was worth.  The royal clan, for their part, abandoned all off-world ambition and loyally provided the tribute requested. They knew that for whatever reason, the Fandar prized Ksandrian wine. They also recognized that this was not power over the Fandar. Their job was middlemen and, should they fail in that, the Fandar could easily replace them. Their position was secured by encouraging the peasants to produce and being inoffensive to the Fandar. Thus the appearance of the Imperium and its Rogue Traders had presented a problem for Ksandro. Ksandro had no army, had nothing save for its ability to produce raw materials, nor did it have any desires beyond the sky, but the Imperium insisted that it Ksandro join.  This, in itself, was not a problem, merely the substitution of one overlord for another, but the problem was the Fandar who were unlikely to be pleased with the defection of their vassals. On the other hand, resisting the Imperium would only see the royal house replaced. After long thought, the King had decided to avoid taking sides as best he could. Ignoring the order from the Imperium to dig in and defend Ksandro, he declared the planet indefensible, gathered the treasures and wine and made to leave.for Imperial space. If the Fandar won, he would buy his place back with the wine. If the Imperium won, he would buy it with treasure. Either way, he believed that Ksandro as a source of wine was too valuable to the Fandar to allow it to come to much harm.  The peasants were needed to work the fields and mines, after all. As a collective they were too important to kill, as individuals, they were too insignificant to pay attention to.

Gutanor did not think that either the Imperium or the Fandar would be so easily bought, but short of picking sides, Gutanor did not have any better plan.

[bluntblade]

Can we get the paragraphs separated a little more?

[TrajantheGreat]

Hello there! Just a post to let people know that the Warriors of Peace are going to be an active part of the War of the Eightfold Path, and I am in the process of going through their previous lore to update it.

[TheBlindPrimarch]

For ease of access, I would suggest creating a new subject thread for the Legion rather than continue using this one.