EVENT - The Schism of Mars

[simison]

A thought I had later is that we are talking about the Mechanicum here. Zeth and her buddies are notorious for being progressive about technology, while the rest of the Mechanicum tends to be much slower to adapt to new techniques.

 

We might be overestimating the degree of noosephere use, even after thirty years. Hal is obviously her enemy and might actually do all he can to slow their spread. 

 

So, Blunt, how does the data-djinn idea work?

[bluntblade]

Data-djinn can be crafted towards various ends, especially with Kelbor-Hal's resources. They're basically computer viruses as far as I can tell.

[Beren]

We might be overestimating the degree of noosephere use, even after thirty years. Hal is obviously her enemy and might actually do all he can to slow their spread.

 

 

True.

Data-djinn can be crafted towards various ends, especially with Kelbor-Hal's resources. They're basically computer viruses as far as I can tell.

The problem is, if it's tailored specifically to deal with the noosphere then there's nothing from stopping it destroying Magma city, as the channeling the astronomicon event also presumably took place 30 years in the past.

 

Also, is there any consensus on the campaign vs battle for the mini book yet?

[bluntblade]

Maybe we skip that whole thing, then. Data-djinn, but nothing that can do damage like the scrapcode does in canon

[Beren]

So the summaries of current suggestions are :

.Reduce the overall effect of the Data-djinn attack

.The noosphere failing to proliferate enough to have an effect

.Exploitation of backdoor protocols built in to the released noosphere design by Zeth

[simison]

Maybe we skip that whole thing, then. Data-djinn, but nothing that can do damage like the scrapcode does in canon

 

I'm confused, what are we skipping?

[Talonair]

I don't think we can afford to lose the impact of the Death of Innocence. It is a MASSIVE event for the Mechanicum that leaves entire manufactorums in ashes and triggers the Martian civil war

[bluntblade]

Maybe it needs to start with more direct acts of sabotage, with some but not all djinn-enabled.

[simison]

Maybe it needs to start with more direct acts of sabotage, with some but not all djinn-enabled.

 

But does that mean we still need to open the Vault to release the Scrapcode? 

 

Beren, I've talked directly to Talonair (who's pretty much our Mechanicum expert) and he's in favor of showing the entire Mechanicum Civil War over one particular battle. I'm also in favor of this. 

 

So, unless someone disagrees, I think you can take it in that direction. Reviewing you campaign structure, this is how I currently see it:

 

Preface

Introduction (covering Galactic events, the first few weeks of the Insurrection, The Death of Innocence, "Forbidden Knowledge"?)

Chapter 1 : (Strategic Overview of Mars after the Death of Innocence)

Preparations.

Mars' proximity to Terra

Possibility of destroying the Abysii fleet

"Compact of Copper and Iron"?

Traitor disposition (Traitor beliefs that the Halycon wardens would aid them. Traitor beliefs that the Abysii would be crippled by the Data-djinn.)

Loyalist disposition

"Titanicus"?

Chapter 2: (Initial battles)

Attack on Maximal's powerplant? (Covered in introduction or Chapter 1)

Traitors begin Civil War

Sieges of Maximal, Zeth, and Kane (and the various minor battles mentioned in Mechanicum if possible.)

Abyssii defend themselves on the Ring of Iron

(Potentially ending the chapter with the Loyalists barely holding and the Abyssii securing their portion of the Ring of Iron)

Chapter 3: (Traitor momentum blunted; Stalemate)

Alexandros' Intervention ("The Emperor's Shield and Sword")

Irvin Ruel and Mortera deploying to the surface to reinforce Kane's Forge

Destruction of Maximal's Forge, Assassination of Zeth

Traitors forced back to regroup

Loyalists holding for reinforcements

Chapter 4: (Loyalists begin counter-offensive)

Loyalist reinfocements, arrival of Fire Keepers and Niklaas

Battle of Mariner Plain

Chapter 5: (Loyalist Victory)

Battle of Olympus Mon

Kelbor-Hal flees

Chapter 6: (Strategic Overview of the Aftermath, brief overview of the Galactic situation)

The Red Dust settles?

 

Something else to keep in mind is that AO wanted a detachment of Eagle Warriors and Cognis involved, though for their own agenda as opposed to simply supporting the Dark Mechanicum.

[Beren]

They could be attempting to seize control of the vault of Moravec. They wouldn't be able to open it, but might be caught up in the fall of Olympus Mons.

[simison]

They could be attempting to seize control of the vault of Moravec. They wouldn't be able to open it, but might be caught up in the fall of Olympus Mons.

 

Except we need the Death of Innocence to justify a similar slide into technological caution and stagnation as we see in canon. It does not appear that the data-djinn are as capable as the scrapcode. As such, while I'm okay with perhaps a few more acts of sabotage using the data-djinn, and a special one to stand in for the keys to the Vault, we need to mirror canon in this instance.

[Beren]

So the Data-djinn opens the vault?

 

In which case maybe they have an objective that has something to do with the Noctus labyrinth, or generic tech-looting, or we keep it vague.

[simison]

Alright, after a very lengthy discussion and debate on Discord, Blunt, Talonair, and I have come up with an initial solution.

 

The Cognis Mechanicum, allies of the Eagle Warriors, promise to deliver their own version of the Scrapcode to Icarion. This version is weaker than the Vaults version, and is used in a demonstration of its destructive capability in tech warfare. Although apprehensive, Icarion sees the demonstration and allows its deployment in the Mars campaign.

 

When the Cognis come to Mars, their higher-ups meet with Kelbor-Hal in preparation for the upcoming Civil War. In secret, a few members of the Cognis delegation head straight for the Vaults to test their version of the Scrapcode on the entrance. To their surprise, it actually opens the entrance (possible hints at the Chaos stuff inside wanting to get out) and causes the Death of Innocence we all know and hate.

 

The Cognis excavation party grabs a few items before returning to the rest of the delegation. Kelbor-Hal is spared from a complete dose of Chaos corruption, leading to a more gradual fall that better fits our timeline. Although caught off-guard by the Death of Innocence, Hal and the new Dark Mechanicum take advantage of it and we fall into lockstep with canon for the opening moves of the Civil War.

 

Now, the Vaults aren't completely empties because the Cognis are waiting for Mars to be secured by the Traitors. Against hopes and expectations, the Loyalists win the Civil War, forcing them to flee without returning to the Vaults. However, Icarion is appalled by the Death of Innocence and turns against Travier in suspicion. After secretly securing the relics, Travier announces he had no idea this was going to happen and offers the Cognis excavation team for Icarion to execute.

 

Icarion executes them, containing the early corruption, while Travier is slightly redeemed in his eyes. Additionally, Icarion forbids the use of the Cognis-Scrapcode until he is corrupted years from now.

 

On a side note, Beren, would you like an invite to the Discord server?

[Beren]

Yes please.

I'll start writing.

[bluntblade]

I'll scribble some stuff about the background to that with Icarion

[Beren]

First draft of preface . How long should the introduction be?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Lost Age of Technology, humans strode across the stars like giants.

 

Many miracles of our achievement were created at our behest, only to be cast low by our hubris. This was a time before we knew of the holy Omnissiah, the guardian of technological sanctity. Without his guidance we fell in many ways, most of all with the en mass creation of the Abominable Intelligences. This was what slew us in the end.

 

In the Age of Strife much that was important was forgotten.

 

Much that should be common knowledge was lost

 

Of all the peoples encountered during the Great Crusade it was the custodians of the Red Planet who held the most secrets of the past. It was them who held the responsibility of seeking out the knowledge of the ancients, them who held the ability to comprehend it and implement it. Alas, progress is never seen in two minds alike, and sometimes the sweet lure of progress by any means leads only to damnation.

 

Icarion claimed that it was for the sake of progression stymied and stifled by the Emperor's edicts that Mars would be liberated from His rule, and those who had chafed upon what they saw as a conquest in all but name took up the cause of secession to further their own quests for knowledge pried from the hands of the dead. The disciples of Kelbor-Hal saw the countless dead and ruined worlds of humanity as a testament to what we could achieve.

 

They should have stood as a warning.

 

We sought to build upon the ashes of history whilst avoiding the mistakes of the past.

 

We failed.

 

In the name of progress through dark and twisted paths the Stormborn's allies would raze our best hope for the future.

 

Now we are but a shadow of a shadow.

 

We forgot how we fell once.

 

I will not let it happen again.

 

I saw with eyes of consecrated glass and steel, forged and gifted to me that I might gather information for the Omnissiah. I had my data banks store images as the forges of the Red Planet burned, and recorded the loss of more knowledge than I will ever recover. I saw the data containing humanity's inheritance purged, and mourned.

 

For the resurgence of Reason, we keep fast this knowledge.

 

 

 

[simison]

Here are the fixes needed:

 

"It [was] them who..."

 

"...the dead.[ ]The disciples..."

 

"...for the future[.]" (Eliminate the space between future and the period.)

 

And remember the spaces between paragraphs and lines.

 

~~~

 

Do you need a copy of the Preface signature?

 

For the introduction, it's going to be around 6-7 pages from what I can tell at a glance at HH Book 2. It's going to start with a recap of what came before (the Day of Revelation, Daer'dd's death, etc) and then move onto setting up the book's main conflict. 

 

I'll try to have a more thorough answer later. Do you have the HH rulebooks?

[Beren]

Yes to the the first query. I have books 1 through 4 to the second.

[simison]

Here's the signature for the Preface:

 

I saw with eyes then young, and this is my testament. I was there when Cadia burned and Iyacrax drowned in oceans of blood. I witnessed the skies of Terra riven with lightning and shadow on the day that the Stormlord struck. I heard the funeral bell toll for the Emperor of Humanity and wept. 

 

I remember.

 

~~~

 

Good. I learned early on that the first book has the longest introduction between the main introduction chapter and the overview of the Space Marine Legions. Books 2-4 will have more apropros introductions to emulate since they're shorter and cover a lot less ground. Use those as your references for this introduction.

[bluntblade]

However, we've introduced different signatures for other books, notably the Escalation and Expansion (I think that was it) so feel free to base one on that template.

 

Can I just throw it out there that a Martian historator could give a cool one? "I saw of eyes of consecrated glass and steel, forged and gifted to me that I might gather data for the Omnissiah."

[Beren]

Factoring out boxes and illustrations the Book 2 introduction has 4 pages, but two of these are explaining events prior to Horus' corruption.

Book 3 has a single page.

Book 4 has 7 pages, but one is purely illustration whilst 5 of the others had large amounts of space taken up by illustration or side boxes.

I'll try to make the introduction around 2 pages worth.

 

A Mechanicum themed signature would be a nice touch, especially as they are probably the only ones that can decrypt some portions of their own records.

 

The 'I remember' could be replaced with 'The Mechanicum never deletes anything', although that seems a little clunky.

[bluntblade]

"For the resurgence of Reason, we keep fast this knowledge." How about that?

 

Here are the ones I've done so far.

[Beren]

First draft of the introduction. It's slightly under 2200 words and I think (based on a very unsteady estimate) that two pages would be somewhere around 2400, so there's space for additional information. I still need to do some editing but would rather have feedback beforehand. I feel like it may be somewhat lacking in the statistics and dispositions department.

 

The Hammer blow falls.

 

The day the dream of the Great Crusade died is perhaps one of the best known in the history of the Imperium. Yet across our holdings you will not find that name in books, data slates or even legends. In every record, in the middle of sheets covered in numerics, there is an absence. The date has long been stripped from the ledgers of the Imperium. Instead, humanity knows of it by one name, the Day of Relevation. The day of betrayal. Icarion Anasen, once favored amongst His sons, led nine of the eighteen Legions into treachery against their father. Of the rest, eight stood defiant under Alexandros, Warmaster of humanity's armies, and one stood aside. Some, such as the Godslayers and Steel Legion, followed him in the belief that his star would herald a brighter future for mankind. Others sought only to further their own agendas, as was the case with the Eagle Warriors, Drowned and Berserkers of Uran. For the very same motivations, many fragments of Loyalist Legions also joined Icarion. Halcyon Wardens under Malis defected at Madrigal and the Morningstars of the Void Eagles also the Primarch whose coming they had despised. The Dune Serpents were by far the loyalist legion worst affected by this, with as much as 40 percent of their numbers going rogue. Regardless of why they did it, when the time came each one took up arms against their brothers. The Stormborn had spent years in advance planning the event, garnering the trust of allies, manipulating enemies who didn't yet recognize themselves as such. The Day of Relevation was not heralded by a single battle, but a thousand betrayals across the galaxy.

 

Above Madrigal itself the Halcyon Wardens of the 18th expeditionary fleet were offered the choice of join, surrender, or die. Around one third of the Halcyon Wardens would defect under the traitor Malis, yet the rest, lead by Pyrrhicles, defied Icarion's expectations. After the bizarre dance of bluff, maneuver and passive aggression erupted into a firefight only a handful of Pyrrhicles subordinates would escape. Yet it was enough to shatter the Stormlord's hopes for a lightning war. At Kataii, the combined forces of the Godslayers, Grave Stalkers and their Lasaris allies would fall upon the unsuspecting Iron Bears. Surprised, outnumbered, and caught in a situation ill suited to their nature, the legion was decimated. At the battles culmination the Primarch Dae'rrd would be laid low by two of his siblings. The remnants of his sons fled even as they swore vengeance. On the ocean world of Untarra the Drowned under Sorrowsworn Morro sought to claim dominion of the depths by slaughtering the Scions Hospitalier at a moment of vulnerability. For all the grievous damage done to the Scions that day, Pionus Santor would survive it. The Primarch may have been scarred, but his part in the war was far from over. The task of negating the Wardens of Light would fall to the Eagle Warriors, perhaps the only legion whose treachery exceeded that of the Harbringers. Had they shown their true face upon that their ambush then the war might well have ended differently. For all his inherent nobility, Gwalchavad could not determine the righteous party nor the wronged one in the turmoil engulfing humanity. His legion would withdraw to their homeworld to witness our doom from without. Niklaas and his warriors would be subject to a precision raid originating from the ill-named Warriors of Peace. Surviving the attack, both Primarch and Legion would shortly be recalled to Terra by the War master in order to bolster its defenses even as the traitors advanced elsewhere. Far away from any planet, the Void Eagles would once again prove their supremacy in the void as they outmaneuvered both the Steel Legion and renegade Morningstar fleets sent to destroy them before withdrawing to conduct their Crusade of retribution elsewhere. The scattered Predators who had for so long engaged themselves in running down those who attempted to escape the Emperor's wrath would find themselves at the opposite ends of such actions as the Warbringers attempted to remove any threat they might pose to the rebellion. The Berserkers of Uran would be set upon the territories of the Crimson Lions, their onslaught of hate meeting a steel bound barrier of rage and devastating anything caught in-between. While other Legions clashed and burned Azus' Dune Serpents were nullified by no other legion than themselves, splitting into infighting factions of divided loyalties. The Great Crusade was over. The Insurrection had begun.

 

Flame and Shadow

 

His failure to turn Alexandros may have demolished his hopes for an immediate victory, but the first few weeks of the Insurrection were still Icarion's best chance to gain a significant advantage over his opponents, thus ending the war as rapidly as possible. The Loyalists were outnumbered and un-coordinated, the Insurrectionists held the initiative. Lines were drawn based not only on the principles of liberation or ambition but unsettled grievances and internal feuds. Many did not declare their allegiances openly or quickly, resulting in bloody sneak attacks where the Insurrectionist forces still held the element of surprise. Some saw the event as an opportunity to further their own ambitions, either declaring independence of either party or switching sides as it pleased them in order to raid other planets for plunder or conquest. Most would be crushed like gnats between two brawling giants, but a scattered few endured in infamy 'till the Scourging. At a time when speed was paramount to the Loyalists, decisions were marred by uncertainty of whom to trust. Often the Stormborn's supporters would hold back their weapons of war until the very last moment before devastating armies and fleets which had considered them staunch allies moments before. Commanders on both sides who attempted to make sense of these muddied waters found the situation confused further by various Astartes warbands whose loyalties lay either against those of their Primarchs or with no one at all. These forces, termed Insurgos and Blackshields respectively, would prove an unpredictable element, coming unlooked for to strike at targets of opportunity and requiring forces many times their size to hunt down and destroy them. The exceptions tended to be the most famous, such as the Shepherds of Eden demi-Legion that had split from the Berserkers of Uran well before the civil war. The widespread confusion would be the most dangerous overall for those scattered remnants of those worst hit by the initial ambushes. Halcyon Wardens, Scions Hospitalier and Iron Bears ships fled from planet to planet, never knowing whether they would be received with open arms or open gunports. Throughout all of this Alexandros remained within the solar system, trying to coordinate the Loyalist attempts to regroup and counter attack.

 

Recognizing that Alexandros and the Halcyon Wardens would not join him, and thus thwarting his ambitions for a brief conquest, Icarion began to plan for a campaign that would in all likelihood last years. His supporters were ordered to converge upon the Maelstrom Zone to lay the foundations of an empire designed to supplant the old. With the Iron Bears and Scions Hospitalier crippled and the Fire Keepers and Wardens of Light withdrawn, Icarion had a definitive advantage. The armies of the Traitor Primarchs began to carve a slow campaign of conquest that gradually grasped towards the galactic core.

 

The Binary Choice

 

The discord was not limited to the Legions alone. Every single organization across the width and breadth of the Imperium suffered from internal divisions, and not least among these was the Mechanicum. Forge worlds would choose or were forced to choose which faction they supported, purging dissidents as they did so. Just as elsewhere, certainties regarding loyalties where not absolute. One apocryphal example is the betrayal at Port Maw, where the port's Arch-Magos overloaded the navigation and communication systems to cause havoc and disarray amongst the assembling defensive fleet. This would play a key role in the port's downfall, blinding them to the enemy even as they scrambled to discover the disruption's nature. Such incidents would only increase the already rampant paranoia within the remaining Loyalists who began attempts to purge any who were suspected of having Traitor sympathies. The Mechanicum Abyssii in particular became notorious for its internal purges, with over 5,000 new combat servitors being added to the Abyssii defense forces shortly after a mock trial of apprehended tech priests who had gone against the laws of the Omnissiah. A far less publicized tale is that of the Questoris house of the Sin Eaters, born out of a pact between the Drowned and the Mechanicum. It was because of this unwilling connection that their loyalties were considered suspect, and in short order they found their leader assassinated and themselves hunted. The Insurrectionists offered them sanctuary. It was only when a small number of the House's members surrendered late into the years of the Insurrection that the truth was uncovered. Corroborated by the memories contained within the Knight Titans themselves, it is clear at the wars outset that the Sin Eaters' loyalties had lain with the Emperor and only their persecution at the hands of their peers had driven them into the Traitor camp.

 

The Harbingers' Primarch, always a skillful orator, knew just which desires to exploit for the allegiances of these worlds. For many, it was access to forbidden technology and fields of research that had been placed under constraints by the Emperor's edicts. For others, it was freedom from the Emperor himself, for there were those who saw Him not as the Omnissiah but a deceiving interloper who had leveraged the promise of parity with the Imperium only as a method of sweetening their subservience. Those who doubted Icarion for having made promises alike to those offered by his forbearer found their suspicions allayed, for where the Emperor had been backed up by armies prepared for invasion Icarion brought true gifts of technology. Many of these domains had in fact already contravened the edicts in myriad ways. With the Insurrection in full swing they were given a chance to flaunt these derelictions of duty, and as the war progressed there would be a steady increase in the reported sightings of unorthodox combat units. The first of these reports would come in hasty reports of scrambled words only to be cut off by silence and only later be confirmed by the sensory receptors of the members of the Loyalist Mechanicum would go to great lengths to secure specimens of these units for study, only to erase any trace of their existence and launch declarations of holy war on their planet of origin.

 

Records of these conflicts are scarce due to the fact that any Mechanicum war has components invisible to the un-augmented eye. Data-djinn viruses are hurled in bursts of code designed to bypass defenses and scour data, leaving precious little to remaining for rememberancers to interpret. Simultaneously to the physical battle one of code and data stream is being fought, with such intricacies making what the majority see only half the story. As such it is only initiates of the Omnissiah who can fully appreciate the full scope of such a struggle, and reports from any other source will be found lacking. Even then we are often reliant upon the goodwill of Mechanicus adepts to translate the data compiled from whichever tech-language they were recorded in. Much is simply sequestered away from prying eyes. The Mechanicum may never delete anything, but what is hidden tends to be scattered and buried in irrelevant data until long after it has been forgotten.

 

Nevertheless, there are things even the Mechanicum cannot hide: every single world that rebelled against the laws of the Emperor and Machine God alike has become infamous for the weapons of war they produced and the havoc they wreaked, and in some cases still do so today. Some of these planets found their loyalty determined by the Legion they were aligned with, such as the Grave Stalker domineered world of Lasaris or the unofficial client states of the Drowned. Others, such as Xana and Cyclorathe, chose to join the Insurrection based on personal gain and unrestricted research. Amongst these was the Forge World of Cognis, that had long held ties with the Eagle Warriors and was governed by Xander Travier, tellingly a close ally of Kelbor Hal, Fabricator of Mars. He would play his own part in the great betrayal. No world of the Mechanicum was spared from treachery in some form or size, not even the one closest to Terra.

 

A few scant weeks into the Insurrection a plasma generator in the Tharsis region of Mars owned by Ipluvien Maximal and supplying power for the knights of House Taranis was attacked and destroyed by what would later be identified as the Raijin Engine. The annihilation left only the three knight Scions charged with defending the generator alive, shielded from the blast by by their war engines. The Raijin Engine vanished. It was the Legio Mortis, who had long hungered for domination of the Tharsis region, who took the brunt of the accusations immediately afterwards. In hindsight, this can be seen as only the first shot fired in a war that would tear the Red Planet asunder.

[Talonair]

One apocryphal example is the knight house of the Sin Eaters, a house with close if unwilling ties to both the Drowned and their Mechanicum allies. Despite being initially loyal to the Emperor, the assassination of their leader and hunting of themselves by the Mechanicum Abysii forced them into the traitor camp out of necessity.

 

I'm not familiar with this event, did I miss something?

[Beren]

It was part of fluff that Hesh came up with for a couple of knight houses in one of the Questoris threads. I probably should've checked to see if it was still Botl canon.