Baltus Sector Crusade general discussion

[Warsmith Uveron]

 

I'd also like something else from warp storms though, I just have trouble seeing how to cut off a sector otherwise.

 

Maybe something could be is that you have a sector where it has been cut off, but the current cause is unknown? 

[Black Cohort]

If there is only one stable warp route into the sector and orks seize the worlds near the route it would cut the sector off until that cluster of worlds is retaken.

 

Edit:it would also give us an interesting opening battle to the crusade. The entire crusade emerging from the warp in battle formation to reclaim the system the warp route terminates in.

Edited November 17, 2016 by Black Cohort

[Dizzyeye01]

An alternative to a Waaagh showing up could be the dark eldar ambush the ships moving into the gateway sector and taking the poor souls away for slavery. Ships coming in bearing supplies could suddenly get ambushed and as far as our sector is concerned, the Imperium is just taking from them and giving nothing in return, despite these calls coming in saying aid is on the way.

[Black Cohort]

Dark Eldar to me don't seem like they would consistently raid the same location on a rather constant basis. Dark Eldar like fighting things that can't fight back and setting a pattern lets people fight back more easily.

 

At this point I think the Waagh is the best idea. The Imperium knows only that it has cut off the sector from the rest of the Imperium and has no idea what the situation there is until they retake the system at the end of the stable warp route. I still think it should take about 200 years for the crusade to be organized and launched. It gives plenty of time for things to break down inside the sector.

[Dizzyeye01]

Fair enough. So it terms of a timeline here's a very rough version of it from whats been posted in the thread:

 

- The Sector is in a relatively peaceful state, nothing to worry about

 

- Waaagh (insert name) slams into the only way into said sector, cutting them off from the Imperium.

 

The sector slowly falls into chaos as cults, renegades and xenos use this opportunity to gain land or hurt what remains of the Imperial presence inside

 

- 200 years later and a Crusade is formed to bring all of the worlds back into the Imoerial fold.

[Sir Perfluous]

Bah, see! This is what happens when I don't poke my nose into the Liber for a week - people start coming up with interesting ideas! Well, I suppose I'll have to tag along at page three.

 

I agree with all the points about clichéd warp storms and their cutting off of sectors. It's the most effective option, but the laziest for it.

 

The suggestion of an Ork Waaagh! as an alternative has given me a slightly different idea, though (and bear with me here, because I am about to launch into a large amount of narrative speculation, which I find rather fun but which I'm aware can drag on a bit for others. Any specific details included are not necessarily to be taken as advice, and are rather the product of my inability to stop typing things) - what if the crusade is already over?

 

The Waaagh! (or Tyranid tendril or other big bad) has already ploughed through, killed millions and been driven back out of the sector by crusading Imperial forces. It wasn't a particularly large incursion, and now that this minor threat to the continued existence of humanity is happily and safely dealt with, the avenging Astartes have gone off to congratulate themselves on a job well done and have a party or possibly self-flagellate or whatever it is that they're into. The story seems to be over, humanity is triumphant, hooray, huzzah. But the sub-sector left behind is a war-torn hellhole, with cities in ruins, millions of bodies lying in the streets and entire families killed, all at the hand of uncaring Imperial forces as much as the enemy's. Another day in the Imperium, then - but what if this time, people have had enough? This was a relatively prosperous sector, whose inhabitants lived pretty happily by Imperial standards, by which I mean that they weren't forced to live in squalor and regularly tortured. Agri-worlds, say, with lovely rolling pastures and tight-knit communities. It had managed to drop more or less below Imperial radar, and few officials bothered to pay them any attention. As close to a paradise as exists in the 41st millennium.

 

And then the Orks/Tyranids/whatever came, and the Imperium came right behind them. And together, they left behind a vast, bloody, shell-shocked crater of a sector. The Imperium being the Imperium, it ploughed on after the enemy, sparing no time to stay behind and help rebuild - the Salamanders weren't in charge, perhaps one of the more egocentric chapters.

 

The people of the sector have been profoundly changed by what they experienced and the atrocities that have been committed on their own soil. And so they decide that enough is enough. They're not going to allow themselves to be ruled by a government that doesn't care about them or their lives, that treats their homes as nothing more than a battleground.

 

Though, actually, it should be noted that the People don't think like this. Not at first, anyway. But there's a feeling of anger around, of resentment, and a charismatic few are able to turn this anger to their advantage, playing on the People's emotions to bring themselves to power. But now the People have realised that that's what they do in fact really want - freedom. They want to protect their homes, to Make Their Sector Great Again. And so they make the most charismatic and forceful of these speakers their leader in a revolution against the government of the sector, in which all planetary governors and Imperium-allied military forces were murdered in a mass uprising with the support of the planets' Guard regiments and PDF, who ally with their families and loved ones over the empire which continually sends them up the line to death. This leader - I agree that it ought to be a woman - declares the secession of the sector - it probably has a cool name - from the Imperium. She forges alliances with Xenos races, perhaps using some immense military or natural resource that the sector possesses as a bargaining chip, and prepares her defences against the incoming wrath of the Imperium.

 

Cue the incoming storm.

 

 

Yoiks. That was a tad more than I was expecting to write. Sorry for making you endure all of that. It's sort of loosely based on the situation in Germany post WW1 that led to the rise of Hitler and the Nazis - a charismatic leader taking care of hard times to bring themselves to power, though I'm sure that it's happened countless times elsewhere throughout history. And this time, the leader isn't Hitler, but a fairly decent person - harsh at times, but wanting to overthrow an oppressive government instead of creating one. It think that it provides an interesting twist - rather than the bad guys only being bad because they're badder than the good guys, which is generally the case in 40k, the "bad guys" are actually, by our standards, the "good guys" - and so the Imperium finds itself fighting a minor civil war in the role of the oppressors.

 

It also means that because both sides are Imperium, with a few xenos on the side of the secessionists, we can create, say, Guard regiments and then ally them to different sides. We don't all need to be on the same side - one lot of contributors might be fluffing out the backstory of their "enemy" troops.

 

​---------------

 

I understand that this is all in way too much detail for an initial drafting of ideas, and for that I heartily apologise. It's just that one thought led to another and... there we go. Do with those ideas as you will. I think I'd like to do something with it regardless. Feel free to reject it entirely - it's length isn't because I put in lots of effort, but because I don't know when to stop.

 

Ta-daa.

[Dizzyeye01]

It's certainly an interesting idea to have had the Crusade already happen which sparks off alot of the unrest that rises from within the sector Perf, in fact it would be a cool idea seeing the forces within the sector trying to push for anything that could help defend themselves against another bloodbath happening: things from experimental weaponary to genetic modification could be sparked off which leads to an even worse disaster happening with alot more toys to play around with my either rebels, cults or what remains of the Imperium inside. This could even be ted in with the eldar maiden worlds as they could be a key hold holding alot of these experiments.

[Black Cohort]

lots of interesting stuff

 

This took off far quicker than I expected.

 

Incorporating some of Sir Perfluous' ideas our timeline would look something like this

 

-739.M41 The Lord General of the Baltus Sector receives reports of an Ork waagh massing beyond the borders of the sector.

 

- 745.M41  Waagh Skullkrumpa enters the southern border of the sector burning and looting it's way towards the galactic north.

 

-751.M41 The combined forces of several Astartes chapters and the Imperial Guard engage the main force of Waagh Skullkrumpa, Warboss Skullkrumpa is killed by a deathwatch kill team, which unfortunately is killed by the warboss's forces.

 

-753.M41  The Astartes and the majority of the guard regiments are called away to face other threats as the Lord General declares the Waagh destroyed.

 

-755.M41  Warboss ??, one of the lesser warbosses that was part of Waagh Skullkrumpa, attacks the Ostim system.  The Ostim system is the Baltus terminus of the only Primus Grade warp route into the Sector.

 

-762.M41  A coup d'etat is launched on the sector capital world by The Lord General, claiming that lack of direction by the Sector Governor causes unnecessary casualties.  Much of the sector government is purged.  The rest of the imperium doesn't know that anything has happened and would probably shrug its shoulders anyway as long as the Lord General gave up his old office and kept things under control.  The new Sector Governor cracks down on all dissent and resistance.

 

-768.M41 The wider Imperium realizes that contact has been lost with Baltus Sector, a small fleet of Imperial Navy warships is sent to investigate.

 

-771.M41 The fleet returns through the other end of the Warp route, clear battle damage on most vessels, several escorts are gone.  The Admiral reports that orks hold the far end, contact could not be established with Sector Government.  Retaking the Baltus Sector is added to the many things that an Imperial Crusade should be launched to deal with.

 

-Much stuff goes down in Baltus Sector, including the rise of the female leader to remove the Sector Governor.

 

-942.M41 After many years of preparation a crusade to reclaim the Baltus Sector is launched through the Primus Grade warp route.

[Servant of Dante]

I love this idea, and it gives a MUCH better reason for the Sisters to be there (after the other Imperials figure out there's a heretic leading a bunch of other heretics and allying with xenos (heresy!). 

 

It would give me an excuse to develop that other Order Minoris I've had floating around my head, since the Order of the Glorious Reprisal is way the heck and gone on the southern end of the galaxy, and they already have a population of Eldar Exodites to glare at, and pilgrimage routs to protect, and so on.

 

So, yeah, I'd be interested in possibly doing a force for this crusade, but it has to be Sisters of Battle of course :P I could even do one of the major orders and make up my own characters . . . 

[Dizzyeye01]

Timeline looks good Cohort. Might be an idea updating the original post to include all the information we've made so far including the timeline so people can easily see where it is all being displayed along with a list of the worlds within the sector and in which sub sector these planets are in.

 

Reading up on sectors, we do have inter-sectors which can be used as well to include more worlds or general hiding holes that groups within the sector could use but for now it's probably for the best we just stay to the 30 world limit we have right now with the two sub-sectors. Not to say there isn't more worlds within the sector itself but worlds have play a significant part in the Crusade whether it is a assault point to further progress into the sector or contains some resource that benefits the Crusade.

 

Feel free to suggest names for the other sub-sector and worlds to fill however it feels fitting to me that the first sub-sector be the smaller of the two so it's more focused and able to be guarded and cut off.

 

Sub Sector Vrata

 

 

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Sub Sector [insert Name]

 

 

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Edited November 18, 2016 by Dizzyeye

[Dosjetka]

The name of the first subsector means "door" in Croatian and probably other Slavonic languages. Voluntary or happy coincidence?

 

Black Cohort: The timeline is good but a few details will need explaining/tweaking. F'rex, if the Waaagh! (with three a's, please) was destroyed in 753, then how can a Warboss invade a sub-sector just two years later? And a two hundred year gap between #8 and #10 seems a bit much.

Edited November 18, 2016 by Dosjetka

[RADU LYKAN]

Might add a few guard in here if I get the time :)

The extra 200 years gives time for things to really go to pot in the sector? 200 years of "freedom" also allows for the population to want to fight for their new way of life, 2-3 generations? (What's a generation look like in 40k with life extending technology?) of history and wanting to live like your ancestors did type thing. It also shows how long it takes for the imperium to get moving on something that isn't at the top of the list as it were

[Dizzyeye01]

It was voluntary I must admit however I got it from putting Gateway in google translate and seeing the Bulgarian translation for it, seemed fitting for the sub-sectors' name to be derived from that.

[Kelborn]

So as we got a bit of a frame, I would post a couple of planets later on. If they might be useful can be discussed together. :)

[Black Cohort]

Black Cohort: The timeline is good but a few details will need explaining/tweaking. F'rex, if the Waaagh! (with three a's, please) was destroyed in 753, then how can a Warboss invade a sub-sector just two years later? And a two hundred year gap between #8 and #10 seems a bit much.

Just because the Imperium declared the Waaagh defeated doesn't mean all the orks were dead. My though was that the Lord General said it was defeated as soon as the main warboss was dead, other forces connected to the Waaagh were still out and about.

 

I am fine with shortening the gap between #8 and #10 I juat figured it would give plenty of time for things to go horribly wrong in Baltus sector. Does anyone know how much time passed between the Tau being marked for destruction and the Damocles Gulf Crusade?

Edited November 18, 2016 by Black Cohort

[Dosjetka]

Alright, but a Waaagh is far from destroyed once the main Warboss is slain. It takes months or even years to clean up the mess. Having the Astartes leave is fine but the Imperial Guard would definitely stay. I'd suggest giving the Orks a bit more time to gather extra forces before trying to invade the subsector.

 

I am fine with shortening the gap between #8 and #10 I juat figured it would give plenty of time for things to go horribly wrong in Baltus sector. Does anyone know how much time passed between the Tau being marked for destruction and the Damocles Gulf Crusade?

Lexicanum puts the declaration of the Damocles Crusade as 742.M41 and its conclusion as 745. Not all that much time. Then again, heightened scrutiny along the Eastern Fringe where the Tyranids had just appeared could explain such a rapid response. We are in no way bound by this piece of information.

Edited November 18, 2016 by Dosjetka

[Black Cohort]

Alright, but a Waaagh is far from destroyed once the main Warboss is slain. It takes months or even years to clean up the mess. Having the Astartes leave is fine but the Imperial Guard would definitely stay. I'd suggest giving the Orks a bit more time to gather extra forces before trying to invade the subsector.

 

 

I am fine with shortening the gap between #8 and #10 I juat figured it would give plenty of time for things to go horribly wrong in Baltus sector. Does anyone know how much time passed between the Tau being marked for destruction and the Damocles Gulf Crusade?

Lexicanum puts the declaration of the Damocles Crusade as 742.M41 and its conclusion as 745. Not all that much time. Then again, heightened scrutiny along the Eastern Fringe where the Tyranids had just appeared could explain such a rapid response. We are in no way bound by this piece of information.

I will adjust timelines when I update the first post tonight or tomorrow.

 

For the Damocles Gulf Crusade I was actually talking about the gap between the Imperium deciding something needed to be done about the Tau and actually launching the crusade. Though the length of the crusade is also useful information.

[Doctor Perils]

I do think two sub-sectors seems a bit stingy for a full sector, I'd say a sector should be composed of at least three sub-sectors. I can try and create a star map shortly, and place some points randomly. In the mean time, people can post some planet ideas, and assign a unique number to them, which will then allow us to scatter them around a bit.

 

Or else, we can make a less random disposition if you prefer - ie, if certain planets have similar cultural backgrounds, they might have been colonised in the same wave and would therefore be positioned closer to each other?

[Dosjetka]

The moment when the Inquisition realises what's going on and Cardinal-who's-name-I-can't-remember declares a Crusade happens in 742.M41. So a very rapid response from the Imperium.

[Black Cohort]

I do think two sub-sectors seems a bit stingy for a full sector, I'd say a sector should be composed of at least three sub-sectors. I can try and create a star map shortly, and place some points randomly. In the mean time, people can post some planet ideas, and assign a unique number to them, which will then allow us to scatter them around a bit.

 

Or else, we can make a less random disposition if you prefer - ie, if certain planets have similar cultural backgrounds, they might have been colonised in the same wave and would therefore be positioned closer to each other?

I think Dizzyeye was just referring the two sub-sectors thr crusade reaches first. I think the sector should have 4-5 sub-sectors but filling all of them out at the same time seems less practical than doing 2 to being with.

[Black Cohort]

The moment when the Inquisition realises what's going on and Cardinal-who's-name-I-can't-remember declares a Crusade happens in 742.M41. So a very rapid response from the Imperium.

Interesting, for some reason I thought it was far longer than that.

[Dizzyeye01]

Yeah, I was just refering to the first two sub sectors that the Crusade would encounter first before moving on. We've got enough space as it is. If we can get this done on steps then we won't be held back once its nailed now. Perhaps not polished as it could be but in a state where we know the conflicts and so on.

[Black Cohort]

so if 170 years is too long for the crusade to be launched what is a reasonable number 100 years?  50 years?

[Guest Mordray]

so if 170 years is too long for the crusade to be launched what is a reasonable number 100 years?  50 years?

 

Actually the duration wasn't a problem for me. It both does and doesn't make sense (like the rest of the Imperium... and 30/40k...). For all we know something big was going on. Maybe it was a clerical error that delayed the launch of the fleet. Heck it could be that it simply took that long to line up all of the various forces to carry out the crusade. 

Edited November 19, 2016 by Mordray

[Doctor Perils]

After all, there is a lot of stuff happening in M41, 200 years to launch a Crusade against a minor threat (in relative terms) seems feasible.