EVENT - The Schism of Mars

[Beren]

I'll go with the Raijin engine then.

[simison]

Good. I'm not sure if I answered this, but I'm okay with a Mechanicum Preface. What's the next step for you?

[Beren]

Next section is halfway finished. The initial sieges of the loyalist triumphirate and minor battles from Mechanicum have been covered, leaving the void war around the iron ring.

[Beren]

1437 words

 

The Sands Run Red

 

Even with chaos now consuming Mars it was uncertain what or whom initiated the attack. The period of confusion would last weeks. The first sign of hostilities was when a Legio Mortis host headed by an Imperator breached the Tempest Line, denoting the territory of Legio Tempestus, in full view of Princeps Cavalerio and his subordinates. That a shooting war did not begin there and then is due to three factors: firstly, the Titan engines of Legio Tempestus could not hope to engage an Imperator and win; secondly, once over the Tempest Line the Mortis detachment shifted course to a new heading; thirdly, a scrapcode attack originating from the Imperator had killed the Warlord Titan Victorix Magna and crippled Cavalerio.

 

 

In the time between the scrapcode outbreak and the marching of Legio Mortis, Kelbor-Hal's cogitator augmented brain had been running through analysis and prediction routines at as furious rate. In places, his allies forces were not yet ready, having been arming at a rate designed to avoid detection and ensure completion at the planned date of rebellion. At others, the initial targets had been destroyed or crippled. The Fabricator-General took this into account and amended previous plans as he directed his forces to where he believed they would be needed most. Even as he did so further steps were taken in order to misdirect those presumed to have remained loyal so that his victory might be seized untarnished.

 

It is clear that while he may not have engineered the scrapcode attack he now sought to take advantage of it. Perhaps he suspected that the contamination would eventually be traced back to Olympus Mons and the Cognis delegation, seeking to take the initiative before the loyalists could recuperate. One way or another, the forces beholden to him and his allies marched forth. They would not be unopposed. Even as he ensured that Mondus Gamma continued to churn out Legion power armour the Fabricator-Locum contacted his allies to coordinate a response to the unfolding crisis. It is also known that adept Zeth received a visit from Ambassador Melgator, ally of the Fabricator-General, accompanied by a cyber assassin of the Cydonian Sisterhood. The conversation itself is unknown, but it can be presumed that she refused whatever terms offered as the Ambassador departed afterwards. Mere hours later he would return at the head of 300 skitarii, proclaiming summons from the Fabricator General to account for charges of tech-heresy. This attempt to cowe the ruler of Magma city proved both futile and outmatched as she revealed the presence of the full might of House Taranis poised to fall upon the intruders. Melgator's hurried withdrawal would prove prudent, for soon after Legio Tempestus itself, with princeps Calvaleiro recovered, would reinforce Magma city. Not all would be so fortunate.

 

Minor outposts were hit by bouts of sabotage and assassination, leaving the way clear for the armies of the traitor Mechanicum to bring their full strength to bear upon theit opponents without distraction. The forge of Mattias Kefra in the Madler Crater, responsible for supplying the solar guard, was razed by Titans of the Legio Magna. The Cassini crater holding the engine yards of Magos Ahotep would be annihilated by an atomic missile strike originating from the Nilo Syrtis region. Maxen Vledig’s Deathbolts lost 19 of their Titans when their fortress was the subject of a surprise attack by their old rivals, the Death Stalkers under Princeps Ulriche. The battered Loyalists withdrew into the wastes, cries for aid unanswered. Elsewhere, the Athabasca Valles were the site of a bloody stalemate between the Legios Ignatum and the Burning Stars. Rockets carrying a mutated Life Eater Virus slaughtered millions within the glacial forges of Adept Rueon Villnarus in the Isenius Lacus region. Thousands of Skitarii clashed fruitlessly within the Herschel impact crater to neither sides avail. The taint of treachery had not been merely limited to the upper echelons or military components of Martian society, for workers too rioted seemingly without cause, or taking their own lives in gruesome mass rituals of nature to twisted to bear recording. Ipluvien Maximal would be the first of that trio to suffer the Insurrectionist’s attention, his crater surrounded by hostile Skitarii and bombarded by Ordinatus siege engines. His compatriots were unable to aid him as they themselves found themselves besieged. At Magma city the combined weight of Zeth's Taghmata, the Knights Taranis and the Legio Tempestus slaughtered the attackers in droves. Yet still they came on, and the defenders knew that when the war engines of Legio Mortis arrived their fate would be sealed. Each held by a thread, for then.

 

 

It is believed that mere days into the Fabricator-General's own minor Insurrection his forces had either eliminated or hampered the majority of their opposition. Countless manufactorums and repositories of knowledge were either razed or firmly under his control. The the cog was turning and the numbers appeared to be in the Traitors favour. Loyalists were either outcast from their sanctuaries and fleeing into the wastes to be dismissed as insignificant fragments of once proud armies, or surrounded and under siege, their armies penned in place and with nowhere to run. The cost in civilian lives was staggering. Entire hab-blocks were obliterated by striding Titan maniples. Masses were scythed down by rapid fire weapons as they fled or suffered a drawn out death in the inhospitable wilderness, bereft of the climate support systems of the Mechanicum enclaves. Despite this, you will not find a single Magos on all of Mars who would not trade that amount of lives three times over for but a fragment if the knowledge that had been lost in a period that would be dwarfed by the full timescale of the Insurrection.

 

High above the burning foundries and scattered dunes the sky of Mars was also ablaze. In space it is easier to observe an enemy approach, for there is rarely anything to impede your view. The battles were all the more bloody for it. When the first traitors struck the fire of conflict spread rapidly across the entire Ring of Iron. Without, countless ships of the Mechanicum clashed in fury, not seeking mercy or repetance; they pounded one another with their weapons batteries from point blank range and tore ragged gashes off one another's hull. Many of these would fall crippled and maimed to the surface below in incandescent blazes that wrought yet more injury to the planets tortured surface. The Mechanicum Gloriam plummeted with it’s engines destroyed to impact upon the Cydonia Mensae region. In doing so it obliterated the Basilica of the Blessed Algorithms and the Technotheoligians sheltered within. They had been the last group on Mars preaching for peace. Within, the Iron Ring became a battlefield. Alternations of narrow, twisting, conduits and corridors and spaces open enough for war machines to manouevre in made scenarios rife with confusion and bloodshed. Assaults spearheaded by Myrmidons, Empyrite Thallax and Vorax automata scythed through the masses of tech-thralls arrayed to stop them. In desperation the Loyalists often sabotaged what systems they could before being cut down. Entire decks were rendered open to the void. Battlefleet Solar, witness to the slaughter taking place, attempted to distance itself from the chaos. They were unable to identify who fought or for what cause.

 

As soon as they had recovered from the scrapcode attack, Mortera's forces had began moving to secure control of the portion of the ring they were closest to. Resistance erupted almost immediately. The docking region of the cruiser Aspect of Zeal, undergoing an almost complete rebuild, in particular became the sight of a savage battle as traitors sought to claim an easy prize. Regardless, for once it was the Loyalists who held the initiative and pushed onwards. The close range weaponry Decontaminator Skitarii proved lethal in the facilities cramped confines, entire corridors drowning in chem and rad onslaughts. In order to reinforce her troops yet further, Mortera deployed four of Legio Carnifex's Warhound class Titans to the larger docking and cargo bays. Kelbor Hal's allies were driven back. Without the steel shell, the Basilikon Abyssii fought a battle no less furious in nature. The Interdiction Fleet had been first to engage hostile warships. Soon all the arcane weapons of the Abyssii fleet were roaring in anger. The havoc wrought upon the foe was so great that the Last Unto Twighlight broke of to pursue hostile cruisers throughout the Ring without support. Even as the Abyssii navy was fighting off a dozen different attacks, a horde of auspex returns revealed themselves on the boundaries of the scanners range. The Halycon Wardens had arrived.

[Beren]

Talon: Regarding the Sin Eaters, this is all that was ever posted to my knowledge.

 

The Sin Eaters', (wip name) are a Janissary based order, where the knight pilots are slaves to the Mechanicum, but are also initially gifted children given by the Drowned to the Mechanicum for that purpose alone, they would otherwise have been selected for implantation by the legion to begin training to become Astartes, and they work alongside. loyal to the Emperor and the Abyssii, they are devastated following the assassination of their "Agha" by Abyssal forces; fearing that they were traitors due to the allrgiance with Morro, Mortera orders their dissolution. The few survivors joining with Kelbor Hal only as reluctants. However, like many of the later joining legionaries, they have seen Morro's slide into madness and depravity, and desire nothing to do with it, allying again only because of the resources. Following the insurrection, they rejoin with those Drowned who realise that they are discarded, and due to Morros actions, unae to maintain a presence within the Imperium at large; only a few of the legion survive the insurrection, of either side of the order.

[Talonair]

Hmmm. Seems a bit too rushed for a Mortera-sanctioned assassination. She wouldn't commit that heavily against a titan legion based on mere speculation

[Beren]

Well, Knight House. And one that looks pretty similar to the rest of the unofficial Drowned vassals. Still, there's nothing stopping us from amending any of it.

[Talonair]

Hm, it could work. I feel there'd need to be something a little more concrete, but it could definately work

[Beren]

Maybe in the past they were forced to choose between supporting a Drowned assault and defending a Mechanicum outpost. They chose to support the Drowned and as a result the Tech Priests are slaughtered. Their remorse at their actions leads to renewed loyalty to Mars or the Abyssii, bit the events have convinced others that they answer to the Drowned first and foremost.

[Talonair]

That could work

[Beren]

Regarding the next chapter, do the Halycon Wardens and Abyssii strike Mondus Gamma whilst releiving Mondus Occulum, and do Solar Auxilia still attempt to relieve Maximal?

[simison]

Rereading a wiki summary of the IF expedition, I'm trying to work out how the Warmaster would approach the Martian situation. With a psychic overview of the situation, Alexandros is able to identify allegiances, which gives him a large step-up over Sigismund, who had to guess what was going on planetside. 

 

The truth of the matter is the Death of Innocence ensures that the Loyalists have an extremely thin margin for victory. Although he wishes to relieve Maximal, Alexandros is forced to abandon any attempt to reinforce him (which means Maximal actually dies a few hours earlier than his canon counterpart). Alexandros knows that Mondus Gamma is Traitor and doesn't sent any force to take it at this stage.

 

Instead, he tries to divides the entire Abyssii and Warden expedition into two, large relief forces to secure Occulum and Magma City. Mortera, unhappy through understandable, insists on a small relief force sent to Solis Lacus before committing the bulk of her forces to the Warmaster's plan. After pulling his stunt against Legio Mortis, Alexandros lands at Mondus Occulum to coordinate the Martian Civil War with the new Fabricator-General of Mars, Kane. 

 

Since Legio Carnifex has to land at Occulum to protect it, Mortera also lands at Occulum. 

 

Cue the rest of this phase: Loyalists endure brutal sieges but manage to hold out long enough for help to arrive.

[Beren]

With Zeth dead, who is in command at Magma City?

[simison]

I'd imagine the Tempestus commander would take overall control, while Magma City leadership would go down through succession. Unfortunately, pretty sure it's going to be a minor magos who has one brief mention or has to be completely made from scratch since the Cydonia Sisters eliminated Zeth's number 2.

[Beren]

What about Mellicin? She was favoured by Zeth in Mechanicum and the time differential eliminates the reason for her death.

[simison]

Who was she?

[Beren]

The acolyte that was part of the akashic reader team but was actually a plant for Zeth. Killed by by the Cydonian in the process of extracting the location Dalia and the others were bound for . That said, it may not have been enough time for her to ascend high enough in rank.

[bluntblade]

Doesn't sound like enough time. I think we'll need a new character

[Talonair]

If Magma city is lacking in leadership, Mortera can split her forces, send the bulk of her titans to Occulus, whilst she takes command at Magma. It'd let her split her commanders as well; I imagine the siege expert would be better utilised at Magma city

[simison]

If Magma city is lacking in leadership, Mortera can split her forces, send the bulk of her titans to Occulus, whilst she takes command at Magma. It'd let her split her commanders as well; I imagine the siege expert would be better utilised at Magma city

 

If this doesn't violate Martian orthodoxy, I think this is a potential solution.

[Beren]

It would only be a temporary tactical command, it would only violate orthodoxy (and annoy the defenders) if she assumes permanent control of Magma City after the crisis.

[Beren]

Exactly 1000 words. No, it was not deliberate.

Some of the stuff for the next chapter has already been covered by Bluntblade. Do I I just copy it into the start of the next chapter or is it all part of the Emperor's Shield box?

 

Edit: Actually, upon checking, some of it clashes with this chapter too.

 

EDIT: Parts of this section need to be corrected when the final disposition of the Legio Carnifex is sorted out.

 

Thwarted Momentum

 

On the ground, the first sign of a shifting tide caught all by surprise. The defenders of Magma City waited upon an enemy that never arrived. Even as the sun dawned upon bloodied battlefields Zeth received the news: The entirety of the Legio Mortis maniple marching upon her domain had been obliterated. Even as the news spread through the defenders jubilant ranks Melgator's armies hurled themselves upon the city's fortifications only to be shattered and tossed back. Without the Titans of Legio Mortis, and with the combined forces arrayed against them the renegades could not hope to triumph without further reinforcement. But Kelbor Hal now had greater concerns.

 

It was Mondus Occulum that would first see the amaranthine hued hulls of the Halycon Wardens, as well as their accompanying Abyssii forces. The Fabricator-Locum's forges had been spared the brunt of the ongoing violence, facing only swarms of lesser forces ordered to pin Kane's military and prevent him from sending forces to the aid of his allies. These provided little resistance and were swept away with ease. Using his divination abilities Warmaster Alexandros been able to ascertain the strategic situation across the battlefront, and made decisions accordingly. He knew that the forces at his disposal were not currently strong enough to launch an offensive of their own, but he could reinforce key strategic locations until further reinforcements arrived.

 

The bulk of his expedition was separated into two halves. One under the joint command of the Abyssii comanders and the Halycon Wardens Primarch made planet fall at Mondus Occulum. The size, relative intactness and manufacturing capabilities of this facility made it a priority target. Magma City was also deemed as such, providing shelter for a considerable portion of the Martian Loyalists. It too would see reinforcement which the now battered defenders would be all too grateful for. Two more relatively minor incursions would be launched. One was relief force composed entirely of Abyssii sent to their holdings at Solis Lacus: Sent at the Arch-magos’s behest it was ostensibly to secure a staging point from which Chrom's forges at Mondus Gamma could later be assaulted. The second was a airborne Legion strike team sent to extract Magos Arkham Land. An aerial interdiction nearly stymied the attempt, forcing the Marines to escort the irritable Tech-priest across the Martian surface in a hastily assembled armoured convoy.

 

Martyrs of the Machine-God

 

Maximal would see no such relief. While his aggressors may have lacked the overwhelming firepower of Titans, these were replaced by vast Ordinatus siege weapons that pounded the stronghold even as hordes of infantry used vortex mines to gradually carve their way through the defenses of Ulysses Fossae. Alexandros did not feel he had the manpower to reinforce Maximal without compromising his defenses elsewhere. Ipluvien was no doubt informed as such in a holographic communication with Koriel Zeth and Kane. Once again the specifics of the conversation are unknown and have never been divulged to our order. It would be the last time those three would converse.

 

Hours later the sky was alight with incandescent fire. Even as he was overrun, Maximal had sought to deny the enemy the utility of his reactors. The resulting conflagration had expunged the attacking force in its entirety. Adept Koriel Zeth would not long outlive him. Briefly after the event she would be found, dead, in her command chamber. The cause of death was two rounds of an undetermined but extremely complex manufacture to the chest. Unusually, the weapons from which these originated were found abandoned at the scene. The fates of the Cydonian assassin or the servitor accompanying Zeth have never been confirmed. With Zeth's death Magos Mortera assumed temporary leadership of Magma, city, landing there along with her Archmagos-Reductor Charon Discut.

 

The following days would see brutal conflict. In short order Kelbor-Hal was able to amass over 60 engines from 2 Titan Legios supported by the troops of Urtzi Malevolus. Next however, he made a critical mistake. He had hoped to destroy the Loyalist foothold before they had the opportunity to fortify their position. But for the presence of Legio Carnifex they would have succeeded. Instead, through a combination of valour and skill on the part of Legio Tempestus, efficient wolfpack ambush tactics undertaken by the Legio Carnifex, and aerial support provided by the Halycon Wardens; the attacking Titans would be mailed and driven back. They may have been adherent to the cause of the so called Martian liberation, but they were not fanatics. Legio Carnifex totaled 67 God Machines at Mondus Occulum, led by Grandmaster Gallia 'the Fellhanded' in the Nightgaunt pattern Warlord Gloria Ira and backed up by the firepower of an Imperator. The disrupted and innacurate planning behind the Martian rebellion now began to assert itself. The plan for the rebellion had hinged upon Kelbor-Hal's allies being able to secure both the surface of Mars and the Iron Ring in short order, making recapture too costly to attempt. He would have gained control over the forges of his enemies, granting him a greater production ability. The threat of raids from Loyalist Mechanicum hiding within the wastelands would be rendered negligible by strong garrison's and they would slowly be starved of supplies. The greatest weakness of any faction of the Mechanicum is often it's inflexibility.

 

The traitor Fabricator-General knew that should he allow his opponents to maintain their beachhead then further reinforcements could use them as staging points to recapture his domain. The sheer devastation wrought by the Death of Innocence meant that he did not have the manufacturing capability at his disposal that he had planned to. Furthermore, attempts to gather the renegades into a cohesive force were hampered by a lack of coordination and strike and fade attacks from survivors of the earlier armageddon: haunting the traitors from the barren wildernesses where they hid. The gains made by the rebels had been made through deceit and brute force rather than tactical skill, tactics which would not avail them now. The stratagems designed to starve survivor remnants of supplies only served to tie up large amounts of Titans, Knights and Taghmata in garrisoning empty cities of scattered ashes and blackened scrap. However, even he could see that the cold arithmetic of war was turning against him once Loyalist reinforcements had arrived.

[simison]

Adding to the confusion is the fact that some of Blunt's work is also outdated. 

 

Alright, first off, Titanicus needs to go into the introduction part or the Strategic Overview chapter. Either it needs to be weaved into your work somehow or turned into a red box. 

 

Forbidden Knowledge is unfinished, and its final fate hinges on Blunt finishing it.

 

The Compact of Iron and Copper is also unfinished, but it deals with a very important topic: Kelbor-Hal's motivation to join Icarion's rebellion. That, if finished, should be in the introduction part. 

 

In all honesty, I thought your last post was supposed to take place right after The Emperor's Sword and Shield. It mostly fits except for the last paragraph and the third sentence of the first paragraph. 

 

Finally, reviewing your posts, I think you should break your paragraphs into halves or smaller. Some of these paragraphs might take up an entire page by themselves. 

[bluntblade]

Just as soon as this job application's done, I'll get on it

[Talonair]

A few notes on Legio Carnifex; Gloria Ira is being changed to a Warlord titan to better fit the character of the legion. They still have Emperors/Imperators, but their grand master fights from a Warlord. The second note is that they fight as a series of wolf packs, each titan in the pack working in support of the others. Warhounds harrass the flanks and force the enemy into killzones set by Warlords and Emperors, or to be ambushed by Reavers