Planetary Rebellion

[Daemon Prince Marbas]

How would a rogue planet successfully rise against the Imperium of Man considering the Astra Militarum, Adepta Sororitas, Adeptus Astartes, and the Inquisition have been known to be charged before with putting down insurrections? My primary concern is not making my rebel world a haven of Mary Sues.

[GreenScorpion]

I would say that for the most part it is a matter of location. Being far away from major forces of the Imperium, being inside an area which is under constant war or simply being too insignificant of a location to attract the attention of the Imperium would be good explanations to why a rebelion could rise successfully.

 

Then there is the origin of the rebelion itself, whether your rebelion started with civilians, former militaries, gangers and so on will influence the success.

 

Resources/climate/terrain also have to be considered. For example if you get a hold of powerful vehicles and other useful gear, if the climate of your planet is not adequate for large scale military operations with most imperial forces or if your planet is a "fortress" in itself could all strengthen what would otherwise be a small band of rebels.

[Daemon Prince Marbas]

Thanks

[Goreshed]

As GreenScorpion said, it really comes down to how much of an importance does it hold to the Imperium? Not every planet has a Inquisition/Soritas/Space Marine presence. Most likely it will be down to the Adeptus Militarum, Arbites, and local PDF forces to hold a planet.

 

Are they close to stable warp transition points? Probably going to be investigated faster than one who is not. Do they provide a very specific resource or one that is really vital to the local system/sector economy? If the answer is no then most likely the Imperium will get to it but more often than nought there are other threats more serious. And maybe they don't even get around to it.

 

And of course you can factor the warp into the mix. First the message has to get out of the local area first so that those higher up actually know that a planet is falling. Which can take anywhere from hours to years, again depends on the warp. Then the resources to recapture it have to be assembled and depending on how far away those are that could take weeks/months/years to get that together. Then those assets have to make it through the warp itself to actually take back the planet. As they have said countless times, sometimes entire fleets go into the warp and dont come out again a year to hundreds of years later or before they are needed. Just the nature of the warp travel.

 

So in reality? A planet is a planet but if the Imperium doesn't really see a great bonus to getting it back, chances are that other things will trump that and it wont happen.

[RolandTHTG]

I'd also recommend thinking if your rebellion had any high level support when it kicked off. Did a warrior lodge corrupt a PDF general, and he used his staff to sieze control and eliminate rivals? Did a noble house make bargains for power, then attempt to sieze the governor's chair in a bloody assault on the parliamentary chambers?

 

Either of those, with the generally feudal nature of the imperrium, are going to instantly bring retainers and personally loyal forces in support, may of whom may not realize quite what they're following at the start.

 

I'd also think about how your forces interrupted the normal imperial chain of command. Did they corrupt it, and spread the rot from the top (was the planetary governor involved)? Did they split it, and then won the subsequent civil war? Did they decapitate it and take control in the subsequent confusion?

[Azekai]

Outside intervention by powerful chaotic groups could prevent Imperial retribution. Your rebels may be in contact with traitors in the warp. This could take the form of indirect help, like providing weapons to a disgruntled populace, or conjuring warp storms. Alpha Legion is a notable 'sponsor' of chaotic cults and uprisings, but the other fractured Legions may do something similar. The traitors on Vraks were bolstered mightily by World Eater and Death Guard warbands. The sudden appearance of chaos Astartes via ship or portal could easily allow your cult to bring an unprepared world to its knees.
 

[Cheex]

Just off the top of my head:

 

The world is politically divided, theoretically ruled by a single governor but as long as his/her vassal nations pay their taxes and tithes then he/she pays little attention to their affairs. A Chaos cult infiltrates several of the nations over many generations, almost being discovered multiple times and even being decimated once after a failed uprising, but after some time they gain a significant foothold.

 

Eventually, one of the planet's nations becomes overly belligerent, so the Chaos cults use propaganda and subtle manipulation to turn the other nations against it. They bait this belligerent nation into launching a civil war, and so the Imperium responds with Astra Militarum, which unwittingly joins the side secretly controlled by Chaos.

 

A long and devastating civil war ensues, in which the Chaos cults slowly gain influence over the Imperial military presence. The Imperium is unable to send significant support after their initial intervention, believing it to just be a matter of time until they reassert control.

 

When the war concludes, the Imperial war commander executes the governor for failing to maintain order and establishes a new governor chosen from one of the planet's nations that defended against the belligerent nation. A small Astra Militarum garrison is left behind to help the new governor reestablish Imperial control.

 

The new governor, a puppet of the Chaos cult, makes a show of being a reluctant benefactor after an uncaring Imperium let the war grind on as long as it did. He/she bolsters the Astra Militarum garrison - similarly disillusioned with losing so many of their number in a war they saw as unnecessarily bloody - with locals, many of whom were also part of the cult, seeding it with secret Chaos worshippers.

 

A young inquisitor notices the borderline anti-Imperial rhetoric that the governor uses, and so attempts to sequester the Astra Militarum garrison - which he/she believes to still be loyal - in order to arrest the governor for interrogation. The guardsmen, loyal to the governor, refuse.

 

The inquisitor leaves the planet to gather loyal forces and returns, only for the governor to claim that he/she has already executed the disloyal guardsmen (in reality, he/she had simply used it as an excuse to round up and kill any guardsmen still loyal to the Imperium). The inquisitor doesn't believe this and demands the governor's surrender. The governor refuses, declaring to the populace that they had been forsaken by an uncaring, corrupt Imperium.

 

That turned out longer than I had anticipated, but I think you get the idea!

[Purifying Tempest]

Oh, what have we here?! This is just the flavor of heresy I've been looking for! BRB, requisitioning promethium!

 

Sounds fairly close to what happened on my order's home world though, only it was gene stealers preparing the planet through the puppet power. Read up on Uriah Jacobus :) there's not much. But if gene stealers can do it, why not chaos? :D

[Slasher956]

Read the Forgeworld books about the Taros & Varaks campaigns and how they came about.... Taro had all but separated from the imperium into the tau empire when the imperium finally remembered about the system...because of a war on the other side of the sector!

[Lord Marshal]

The thing about the big Imperial institutions is that away from the big important planets like Cadia, Terra, Vigilus, etc, their actual presence can be pretty tiny compared to the overall population and usually gets smaller still the further away you get from a sector's capital planet. Think about Earth, then think about how many people actually work for the United Nations. 

 

The most successful rebellions occur when the leadership of the planet - usually the governor - is the one leading it. They'll have access to most of the chessboard, allowing them to position key resources, both advantageous and those that would be a threat, where they want them. Who's going to say no to the guy/gal incharge of their planet? Other than the greater Imperial authorities anyway.

 

As has been stated, most planets only really have their Planetary Defence Force and a small cadre of Adeptus Arbites to rely on. If it's a planetwide insurrection it's entirely possible that most of the PDF will join their side anyway considering they typically have more loyalty to their home than the greater Imperium. Adeptus Arbites' headquarters are built as fortresses so that they are able to sound the alarm in situations like this and are intended to hold for as long as possible until Imperial reinforcements - usually the Guard - can arrive. 

 

If the planet is already, by enlarge, rebelling then the Inquisition have done their job very badly. Ideally the Inquisition should've caught the original tumour before it spread out and infected the rest of the planet. At that point there's not really much they can do beyond provide support, although that changes if daemonic incursions start springing up and the Malleus has to get involved.