Black Book 4: Subjugation

[bluntblade]

This will follow Expansion, with Icarion's forces tightening their grip on his territory. 

 

Contents

Preface

Intro

The Conquest of Macragge

The Agony of Chalcea

The Lion's Hunt

 

Factions Featured

Warbringers

Berserkers

Crimson Lions

Edited July 5, 2019 by bluntblade

[bluntblade]

The Agony of Chalcea

War is never anything but voracious. The needs of fleets alone are innumerable; metal, fuel and water are only the most obvious of these. But in this age, in the shadow of the Dark Age’s automation and the ruin that Abominable Intelligence inflicted on the species, nothing is so vital to an army as flesh. Menials are needed for every kind of toil, skilled officers oversee a hundred functions aboard a ship and of course, every gun and blade needs a hand to wield it. Cities and outposts must be manned, guarded and made productive. Most precious of all such resources are the Legiones Astartes, the transhuman warriors who enabled the conquest of the Galaxy.

As the Insurrection grew, the Legions on both sides of the conflict raced to expand their numbers. Measures were undertaken to accelerate the process of Ascension, with rapid implantation accompanied by increasing hypno-indoctrination. The price was failure rates unseen since the volatile days of the early Great Crusade, and these only increased the need for Aspirants. Old tithe rights to worlds such as Cthonia were exercised again, wherever it was feasible, and recruitment expanded to several other systems. These were the imperatives that brought the Insurrection’s carnage to Chalcea.

Lying to the north of the Golgotha Wastes, the Chalcea Subsector was unremarkable in almost every regard. It contained a high density of planets, but most of its inhabited worlds sat below the threshold of Gunpowder Age technology, and many of these merely Feral Worlds. These, however, bred seasoned warriors, and at one time or another several Legions had used their populations to replenish particularly steep losses. Notably, the Crimson Lions, Drowned, Eagle Warriors and Predators had recruited in significant numbers from Chalcea during the Qarith Crusade. Now Icarion intended to seize and harvest that stock in unprecedented numbers.

The men and women who oversaw the subsector were wholly aware of its importance. Even when the Legions did not require manpower, there were regiments who drew on the populations of hardy fighters which these planets produced. Therefore what Civilised Worlds that Chalcea possessed were fortified over several decades, with the Sector capital of Cypreus transformed into a full-fledged War World. Three Forge colonies had been established by Mechanicum magi from Ryza, Eskut and Hatross to arm both the soldiers raised from the Sector and those who protected it.

With the way opened by fighting to the north, south and west, a single Legion and its vassal forces were chosen to crush any resistance in Chalcea. This spoke of Icarion’s plans for the Sector, and the ruthlessness that lay behind the Insurrectionists’ proclaimed noble intent. The vaunted I^st Legion would not set foot here, nor the Godslayers. Instead, Icarion called upon the dreaded VII^th Legion: the Berserkers of Uran.

The Ashen Legion
Raktra Akarro and his warriors had been for many years the ones called upon to combat the Crusade’s greatest horrors, and to visit the same terror on those human cultures most opposed to the principles of Imperial Unity. Abrupt and massive destruction was their hallmark, and already a string of carcass worlds traced their progress from Kartyg, where they had ambushed the Crimson Lions. The mission that Icarion charged Raktra to carry out in Chalcea was one that Ashen King understood and relished, the obliteration of resistance and the mass enslavement of as many able-bodied people as he could fit in the holds of his transport vessels.

In the dark outside Chalcea the Berserkers gathered, hundred-strong shoals of vessels hanging in the deep void. Infamous vessels lay at the heart of the fleet; the fleet-killer Malfeasance, the Reaving Flame, notorious for its alchemical arsenal, and the Ash Cull. Alongside these were lesser-known ships such as the Sanguine Toll, until recently the Talvikirves of the Crimson Lions. Aboard such ships the Seven Hordes were assembled, over 130,000 bloody-handed Astartes with all the tools and machines of war that a Legion could bring to bear. Each was quite capable of scouring a planet to the bedrock, given time.

But these were only the core of the invasion force, one shaped as completely by Raktra’s vision as the armies of Tricendia were by Daer’dd. Mechanicum magi from Gulaka heeded the Ashen King’s call to war, bringing with them lockstep cybernetic soldiers, automata and vehicles. The towering war machines of the Legio Yharma and House Lorythryk answered the call to war. Among the fleet, holds teemed with mortal regiments. These were both the ragged haul of conscripts which the Berserkers claimed from their worlds and the iron-hard elites forged in the Legion's own image.

The only force which held itself at all apart was a Chapter of Dune Serpents who had turned against their brethren at Iphigenia. Now calling themselves only the Viper Fangs, these warriors answered to a warlord known as Timur Leng, the Pitiless. They had served often alongside Raktra, arguably growing closer to his Legion than their own kin. Whatever formal autonomy Timur insisted on, however, he and his brothers were quite ready to do the Ashen King’s bidding. All waited in the gulf of night, until Raktra gave the word.

The Broken Walls
The Berserkers entered the Chalcea Subsector as they often did a new theatre, each Horde striking a different system in a near-simultaneous eruption of savagery while several more fleets, helmed by oath-bound auxiliary forces, attacked in support. The purpose of this was threefold, overwhelming Loyalist savants with the sheer volume of data, obfuscating Raktra’s strategic priorities and kindling terror among the defenders.

The latter was, of course, easy to achieve with the Berserkers’ methods. Millions of citizens on Hazat were rendered down to biological soup by the Blood Boilers’ alchemical munitions. Orbital plates were ripped out of Yaltilida’s skies by the Angel Rippers and smothered the world in dust and debris before the invaders landed to cleanse the bunkers. The garrison of Phaeteldyne were massacred on their parade grounds by grim Knights of House Lorthryk and regiments of the Agnoran Ravagers, men and women wholly loyal to their transhuman overlords.

At one outpost, the Viper Fangs arrived claiming to be reinforcements sent from Terra. Unfamiliar with XIV^th Legion iconography and wholly ignorant of the turncoat Serpents, the Army staff admitted them. Leng and his forces waited until they were fully briefed on the tactical and strategic situation, as the Loyalists understood it, before seizing the station and killing all military personnel.

Chalcea’s masters responded as best their could, but the protective system they relied on was already falling apart. Every hour seemed to bring word of a new disaster from some corner of the sector. Like mounted raiders on several of the subsector’s worlds, the Insurrectionists were fragmenting the forces arrayed against them, preying on the isolated and unprepared. But mere raids were not their way, and now they came to subjugate the sector’s inner worlds.The outer ring of defences around Chalcea was breached before the watchmen understood what they were facing, and the jaws of the VII^th slammed shut on the region. Uncomprehending fear became well-founded dread as a handful of survivors from the initial battles limped into port in the inner systems. Response fleets arrived to find worlds already ravaged, or were set upon before they could depart. The Arisen Horde hunted the void for such fleets, Overlord Kiruth consigning dozens of ships to the abyss.

Then worlds and fleets began to yield or even actively rebel, with a cluster of outposts surrendering without resistance. Next the governors of two feral worlds were slaughtered by their subjects, who offered themselves up to the Berserkers and were then absorbed into the invasion force. Exactly what motivated such primitive populations, who cannot have understood much of events in the wider sector, is unknown but may be the result of cult-seeding by the Eagle Warriors decades earlier.

A similar uprising on Leritai met with an attempted suppression by Imperial soldiers, only for a Gulakan War Ark to descend upon them partway through the operation. Skitarii in crimson and charred-black raiment wiped out the would-be enforcers, and the invaders ground on. Then Eskut’s colony of Vembras was left exposed before the Ashen King’s own blade.

The stalwart Mechanicum forces lasted the longest of any force to confront Raktra himself in this theatre, but the end result was the same. Not even the formidable magi of the Lyssax sect, ensconced within warframes more powerful than battle-automata, withstood the Primarch's wrath. Berserkers fell in their dozens against the Lyssax, but Raktra, backed by his elite Milewalkers and Terminator squads, tore and crushed the exoskeletons and the warrior-priests within. After a week of battle, the highest forge-fane was breached and the conquerors eviscerated the ruling priests.

On the core worlds, Loyalist commanders were left mired in confusion at the sheer scope and pace of the destruction, and indeed much of the campaign only became known to us with the recovery of data cores three decades after the event. The enemy forces’ numbers and composition were unknown, and thus no projections could be readily drawn.

The only reliable deduction was that the Berserkers were converging and concentrating their strength, hitting targets closer to Cypreus with ever-larger numbers. Pict-captures demonstrated that they were already making use of their plunder, unleashing waves of soldiers to soak up Loyalist fire and crush their enemies by weight of numbers. Some swore oaths to their new masters, but just as many it seems were fitted with blast-collars and driven into battle with the lash. In the aftermath of each battle, those deemed worthy were taken for induction into the Legion itself.

The Trap Closed
After two months, fleets had ceased to venture forth from Cypreus, the sector commanders choosing to dig in and send for reinforcements. Recently recovered logs tell us that astropathic missives did come from adjacent sectors, promising aid, but these too were swallowed up by subversion and attack. The Godslayers were pressing in to the east and Insurrectionist Army regiments on the march to the west. Imperial Commanders in those locations were now vainly spending their assets to hold these attackers off.

In truth, it was already too late for Cypreus and the sector it had once ruled. On the Turin-class Star Fort Hestia, as dawn broke over Cypreus Prime, Grand Admiral Hernandez Aguirre listened as his aides brought word from the outer defences. A fleet was emerging from the Warp; the Ashen King had come for his prize.

The Berserkers’ attack mirrored their wider offensive, a fanged trap closing on its victim. The Hooded Guillotine, Raktra’s flagship, broke the veil at the head of a fleet over five hundred hundred strong, the full strength of three Hordes. To the defenders this was bad enough, but it also provided the signal for the Viper Fangs and a fourth Horde, the Havocmongers. Drifting in from the edge of the system, they now lit their engines and began their own attack runs.

Facing seven hundred vessels, Cypreus’ defence fleet was now slightly outnumbered, but more importantly it was outclassed to a crippling degree. The heavy battleships and grand cruisers which comprised its core were few compared to the cruisers, assault vessels and escorts used to conduct patrols and fend off xenos incursions. In comparison, the VII^th Legion flotilla was the tool of a Primarch who took pride in overpowering many of the Galaxy's worst horrors, and prized destructive power above all else.

Aguirre set his fleet in a crescent formation, anchored by the Hestia as the Berserkers broke the cordon of mines and defence stations, for the Star Fort’s power would be vital to holding the line. Twice as many capital vessels bore the chain and broken wing as the spearhead sigil of Chalcea, and they proved the telling factor. The guns of the Hooded Guillotine and her kin were the death of any frigate or smaller ship, and even cruisers lasted only minutes against their fury if they failed to withdraw. Aguirre did his best to compensate, ordering them to harry the Berserkers’ command vessels in indirect attacks.

The Cypreus fleet readied themselves to lock horns with the VII^th Legion vessels, the invaders driving hard and using the sheer offensive power of their ships to make headway. Each of the Hordes in the main force formed an arrowhead formation, minimising their exposure as their forward guns opened holes in the Cyprean formation. Drawing closer, they spread out and the firestorm between the two fleets doubled in intensity.

Streaking in from the outer system came the Havocmongers and Viper Fangs, training their guns on exposed parts of the Loyalist formation. Firing as they passed, they sparked fresh carnage among the Loyalists before pressing into low orbit. There they began stripping Cypreus of its kill-sats and rained down toxic payloads on the surface, wiping out tens of thousands and preparing the way for transport craft to land. At this, mass conveyors drew forward with their own escorts.

In the shadow of the carriers came a ship apart from the VII^th Legion vessels. It too was painted jet, but somehow the black on its hull was deeper, making it almost difficult to see against the void. As it drew close, auspex scans revealed the name Excubitor picked out across its prow, along with the scars of lances and boarding torpedoes. Fresh terror broke out in the command bunkers as the Loyalist staff grasped what this represented. The Berserkers had overrun a Black Ship and taken it for their own use, along with the psykers aboard.

Despite Aguirre’s efforts, the heavier guns of the Berserkers told against him. Cyprean ships died, first in tens and then increasing numbers as frigates and destroyers were claimed by the VII^th Legion guns, their movements anticipated by the enemy. Then the disparity began to tell against the cruisers and battleships. Goliath and Legatus-class giants were among the fleet, and they withstood the onslaught better, anchoring the diminished formation in defiance of the attack along with the Hestia.

But against such a foe as this, they could only do so much as their escorts were stripped away. The Hooded Guillotine penetrated the heart of the Loyalist fleet. Even among its Gloriana-class ships, it was a ship of monstrous potency. In terms of simple power a Goliath or Legatus might challenge it and a Star Fort could certainly endanger it, but these vessels were conceived as an extension of a Primarch’s will. The Hooded Guillotine, built above Gulaka, exemplified that, moving with both a pugilistic arrogance and predator’s speed. It slugged enemy cruisers and battleships with nova cannon and lance-strikes, rendering any survivors half-dead and easy prey for its escorts.

These was the cull-war tactics of Uran, brought out into the stars. The great ships hacked and pummelled, leaving to their lessers those enemies which were not destroyed outright. The Loyalist crescent was broken, overwhelmed by the sheer force of the Berserkers’ attack. The Hooded Guillotine, Ash Cull and Lifetaker led eighty ships into range of the Hestia and the star fort’s flanks disappeared behind a curtain of flame. At least twenty vessels fell to its guns, but when the salvos ended, the massive structure lay blackened and denuded, its massive gun-banks eradicated.

Overlord Torkut of the Angel Rippers led his warriors onto the fort. With them went cohorts of Thallax and Matarax, and any defenders who survived the Berserkers' frenzy were mown down instead by the implacable cyborgs. Raktra's attention, meanwhile, turned to the planet below.

Sentence Passed
Cypreus had no shortage of laser batteries on its surface, and from most of the hives these still blazed up at the fleets which now ruled the skies. But the Viper Fangs' chemical bombardments had taken a vicious toll, and several districts lay corpse-strewn and almost silent. Here there was no outpouring of weapons fire, and here the Berserkers made their descents. Black-hulled bulk transports ploughed through the atmosphere to secure the butchered hives.

Around them were smaller, faster craft; squadrons of gunships and bombers. Diving and pulling up at the last moment, they raced low across the terrain towards Cypreus Prime, whose defences were still intact. Evading most of the city’s guns with this method, they ripped their way up the hive and left a trail of detonations in their wake.

Spires collapsed, spilling thousands of tons of masonry onto the lower levels and causing untold numbers of deaths. Fires broke out in several districts, some of which the defenders managed to extinguish but most simply necessitated the cutting off of those districts, along with any unfortunates within. The Berserkers ran four such sorties, battering the aerial defences, for this was only the beginning of Cypreus Prime’s torment.

At Raktra’s word, two bulk landers launched from the Excubitor and joined the attack on the city. Descending steeply, they loomed over the stricken towers before setting down in wreckage-strewn plazas. These were the same heavily armed craft that the VII^th Legion and their auxiliaries employed, compensating for their low speed with the sheer weight of their weapons and armour, but no soldier occupied the holds. Instead there were a thousand civilians, men and women of all ages and origins, united only by psychic potential. Taken from their homeworlds, they had been bound for the Terra, there to be trained as astropaths.

Instead, they were driven down the embarkation ramps into Cypreus Prime by blaring box-sirens. There can be no accurate record of what followed. The invaders’ own reports are rife with contradictions, and as hard experience has taught us, that is only to be expected where unbound psykers have been set loose. All that is really known as that the psykers perished, every one, and somewhere between a tenth and a sixteenth of the city’s forty million inhabitants lay dead or comatose by the end.

The nightmare inflicted on the planetary capital rippled through the Warp around Cypreus. Civilians and soldiers alike across the world collapsed and howled at the sky, and their morale disintegrated. The last skyward volleys ended.

Raktra, already airborne and headed towards Cypreus Prime, is said to have expressed disgust at the manner of the world's surrender. The potency of the psykers attack clearly exceeded any expectations among VII^th Legion command, and all that was left was to occupy the world. A garrison was put in place, with a cohort of Agnoran Ravagers who served as the core of Raktra’s hold over the world.

Cypreus’ population were swiftly rounded up and designated new tasks. Most would be menial slaves, with a few tens of thousands taken for the ranks of the Chattel whom the Berserkers spent so callously. Cypreus Prime was another story. With its population so destroyed in mind, Raktra found a use for them in the hands of the Gulakan tech-magi. Whole hives were given over to the grim priests, to restore their industry and turn Chalcea into the source of strength which Icarion demanded. They took the infirm captives and made them useful, creating servitors and Adsecularis as well as the more sophisticated Thallax, Vorax and Matarax. These would now stand sentinel over the conquered hives, slaved to the will of the Gulakan priesthood.

The last of the VII^th Legion departed three days after the battle, Raktra and his sons overrunning the two remaining Forge colonies almost simultaneously. On the feral worlds, bulk landers darkened the skies, taking millions of soldiers for their new master. With that, Chalcea became another cog in Icarion's machine, a source of poison which would be poured into the heart of the Emperor’s realm.

Edited December 5, 2019 by bluntblade

[Doctor Perils]

Looks like good work :tu: Can we have the bulletpoints for each section please? (factions on both sides, when and where, and the general idea of what's happening)

 

Also, my suggestion for the order of the section would be

1. Macragge
2. Lion's Hunt
3. Chalcea

As it would be a gradual escalation in the violence perpetrated on the opposing mortal armies, and in a linear reading, you get the impression the imperials might be getting back a bit of ground after Macragge, only for those hopes to be dashed with the worst butchery since the DoR

[simison]

Outlining initial parameters for Macragge

 

Location - Macragge System

Traitors - Warbringers and allied forces

Loyalists - Imperial Army and Halcyon Wardens (Dune Serpents?)

Time - Three Weeks after DoR

 

Synopsis - After Kozja's failure to slay Azus and the Warbringers, the Warbringers found themselves far from supply lines of the new Madrigal Empire. However, instead of following the contingency plan of fighting his way back to friendly lines, Kozja has insisted that Azus be hunted down before he can mire Traitor forces in the guerilla warfare which favors the Loyalist Serpents. To that end, Kozja targets Atlanticus' segmentum capital, Macragge, to begin building a forward base for the Traitors to coordinate Azus' capture, while decapitating the center of logistics for Loyalists in Atlanticus. 

[Doctor Perils]

I'm very happy Kozja fails at slaying the Warbringers, that would massively mess up his whole character development ;)

 

otherwise :tu: possibly mention the New Decade explicitly on the Warbringers' side?

[bluntblade]

Definitely. They should be overrunning worlds as emphatically as the Berserkers with them in tow.

[bluntblade]

This might be overly flowery, but we'll see. Decided to use Sigi's remembrancer who was assigned to the Lions for this, and I tried to go for a skjaldish delivery.

 

Preface

Honour and good intentions are not enough, in our Galaxy of blood and harsh truth. No matter how noble a ruler may be, he must be ready to make a fist of his open hand, lest his throne be seized from him. No honour can be go untarnished by the exercise of power.

Such is even more true of he who acts to seize power from another. We forget so easily now the love that Icarion Anasem once inspired, his soul was stained so deeply in his rebellion. That there was some noble intent in his actions is clear to us, even if it is unwise to speak that truth - and therein one can see the true depths to which he was dragged by the war he made. Liberator became tyrant, and the taint flowed outward from the arch-heretic. With the Day of Revelation, Icarion had his followers bloody their hands in fratricide and the slaughter of any who stood in their way. So virtuous souls such as those of the Godslayers were damned alongside the already savage Berserkers of Uran, compelled to undertake ever more brutal actions to ensure the bright new dawn that Icarion promised them.

Subjugation was now the way of things, practiced on both sides. It was the treatment given to Mars and Hatross alike. The peril of rebellion demanded that the Loyalists meet subversion with crushing force, while the Insurrectionists, unmasked as traitors and murderers, imposed their rule at the point of a sword.

So this tale is of boots on necks, and the conquered brought to their knees in the ashes and rubble. It is of folly and hubris, for it is the tale of beings greater than men and less than gods, convinced that they held the reins of the Galaxy in their hands, unable to see their own strings and the dark powers which pulled them. To tell it is to speak also of the Imperium’s sheen gone to tarnish, and the voyaging hero turned headsman. It is to speak of the billions of innocents, the little people with guns pressed into their hands and orders ringing in their ears, fated to be spent like coin in battles too vast for them to comprehend. The sacrifices, whom their masters offered up unwittingly to the dark gods, as well as that old tyrant Necessity.

I saw then, with eyes not yet hard and cold as the Age of Darkness has made them, and this is the tale I bring. I stood on deck when the cities of Greylight were made dust, and watched bloody handed conquerors descend to condemn Hajil and harvest its people. I saw the rise and fall of fifty thousand axes on Fenghao, and saw how the Stormlord’s corruption touched even those who sought his end.

To my keeping, these truths were given. I keep them still.

C. D.

Edited June 24, 2019 by bluntblade

[bluntblade]

Idea! How about the Hammers of Malis and Morning Stars are deployed against the CL/to rescue key personnel? Partly for propaganda purposes, but also if the Lions have been stymied by one bunch of Traitors, it leaves them fired up to attack Fenghao. Edited June 28, 2019 by bluntblade

[simison]

Location, timetable?

[bluntblade]

Somewhere in the Galactic northwest, in the months following the DoR.

[simison]

Mentioned on Discord, but the first year of both of these Insurgos would be dedicated to establishing their own power bases in the Maelstrom Zone. After that, I have no qualms about them being involved in that area of the galaxy, so long as the timing lines up. 

[bluntblade]

Subjugation will be over a year into the Insurrection, I'm pretty sure of that.

[simison]

The Conquest of Macragge

 

A Missed Killing Stroke

 

While it can never be understated truly how calamatious the Day of Revelation was, it can also not be denied the bloodletting could have been worse. As terrible was the death of the Great Bear was at Kataii, a similar disaster was narrowly avoided far to the south at Iphigenia system. Kozja Darzalas, the Alabaster Prince, had insisted his allegiance to Icarion be done with several stipulations. One such condition was the honor of slaying Azus Bahmut and his Dune Serpents. Thus, even as Icarion was attempting to arrange a decisive advance against Terra, Darzalas forced the Stormlord to allow his deployment in the Far East. Nor was that the only action Icarion had to take on behalf of the Alabaster Prince. The Dune Serpents were renowned for their decentralized structure, often fighting entire campaigns with only a fraction of what other Legions considered necessary. To be able to strike a proper blow would require the XIV^th Legion to assemble the majority of its might for the first time in nearly a century. In spite of this additional difficult, Icarion would uphold his side of the bargain.

Edited July 10, 2019 by simison

[simison]

The Iphigenia system was the home of a recalcitrant human civilisation housed in massive domed metropolises. These domed structured were centered on Iphigenia's rare natural resource deposits, surrounded by a hostile desert landscape that had quickly overwhelmed Imperial Army regiments with extreme heat and deprivation. Although not known for their skill in siege operations, the Dune Serpents would be chosen to enact Compliance against the Iphigenia population. As Azus began the long process of reconstituting his Legion, follow-up orders already began moving Darzalas and the Warbringers to add their weight to the campaign.  

 

Why the Lord of the Warbringers insisted upon this course of action is debated among remembrancers. It is well-recorded the Warbringers and their Primarch bore no small amount of ill will toward Azus and his Dune Serpents. The enmity between these two sons of the Emperor had begun not long after Azus had finished transforming his Legion into its current form. Darzalas took offense at his brother's heavy emphasis on ambush tactics and 'dirty' weapons of war. From this initial ideological difference grew into a deep acrimony from Darzalas' side. Azus' public views seemed, at best, neutral to this hostility. In private records later discovered, Azus confessed to a pained frustration over this development. 

Edited July 10, 2019 by simison

[simison]

However, it was a rare thing for the Alabaster Prince to be moved solely by his emotions. Not a few academs have theorised Darzalas foresaw Icarion's failure to sway his beloved brother, the Warmaster, to his cause. While aware the Traitors would possess the numeral advantage in terms of Primarchs and Legions, Darzalas had recorded concerns that attrition would eventually eliminate these strategic advantages. In which case, Azus, the undisputed champion of asymmetric warfare, was labeled as a higher priority among Darzalas' personal military objectives. 

 

Regardless of which reason was primary, insulted honour or militant pragmatism, Kozja and the Warbringers would strike on the Day of Revelation. Adding in Darzalas' favour would be the Dune Serpents themselves. Although Icarion had been unable to sway his brother to join their banner, the future Stormlord had identified several XIV^th Legion commanders who's loyalty to the Throne was a pale thing to behold. Exploiting Azus' loose hold on his own Legion, Icarion was able to secure the oaths of almost half of the Dune Serpents' leadership. With these impressive advantages, the Alabaster Prince would bare his blade against Azus.

 

The resulting battle was far from the total victory Darzalas envisioned. Although Darzalas successfully engaged Azus himself in personal combat, the Dhul'hasan Serpent slithered from his grasp. On the greater battlefield, the loyalty of the Traitor Dune Serpents became a poisoned fruit. While half of their number did indeed follow through with their oath-breaking, several Serpent commanders completely ignored any attempt of coordination with the Warbringers. Ranging from simply abandoning the field for the stars to attacking both Loyalist Serpents and Warbringers, the battle was thrown into confusion as the Warbringers could not easily identify which Serpent was ally and which was enemy. 

Edited July 10, 2019 by simison

[bluntblade]

It's gonna be easier to proofread this if you can put each chapter as one post, Sim

[simison]

The Loyalist Serpents took advantage of the chaos to obey their Lord's orders to retreat from the system. Although Darzalas established an ad hoc system of identifying which Serpents truly served the Stormlord, it did not come in time to prevent Azus escaping the system with a core of his Legion. Additionally, several new warbands of Dune Serpents who would choose neither Stormlord or Emperor to serve would also withdraw and would prove a thorn to both forces well into the Scouring. What should have been the utter destruction of the XIV^th was avoided.

 

Yet, let it not be underestimated the blow struck against the Dune Serpents. While Dune Serpents would take their place among the Insurrection, the Legion was shattered on the sands of Iphigenia. Azus may have escaped, including important Loyalist commanders such as Jon Lawrenz, but they would forever struggle with leading a remnant against the Traitor war machine. Before the Day of Revelation, the Dune Serpents had possessed numbers estimated in the range of 140,000 to 170,000 Legionaries. Azus managed to shepherd out a force consisting of a rough 25,000 who upheld their oaths to the Emperor. When Darzalas submitted his report to Icarion, he had counted around 40,000 Dune Serpents now in the services of the Stormlord. Efforts are still on-going to deduce how many Dune Serpents would abandon both sides of the war, but at least 30,000 have been confirmed with the caveat that it is unknown if they abandoned on the Day of Revelation or later. Even with these estimates, it's clear, at minimum, a full third of the XIV^th died on Iphigenia. Furthermore, the future would reveal the Traitor Dune Serpents to be of particular danger to their loyal brethren. 

 

For this incredible bloodcost, the Warbringers paid a slim 9,000 Legionaries out of the 60,000 the Alabaster Prince summoned to his side. Half of which were slain by the Loyalist Serpents in their desperate withdrawal. Embarrassingly, the other half of the casualties were inflicted by the Renegade Serpents and friendly fire between Warbringers and Traitor Serpents in the confusion.

Edited July 10, 2019 by simison

[simison]

Broken Expectation

 

Although Kozja Darzalas could claim victory in the field, he viewed the escape of Azus Bahmut as a personal failure. Scavenged data cores show once the Warbringers had declared their loyalty in the blood of the Serpents, Darzalas was to make his way westward to then counter Andezo as necessary and to prevent any potential complications arising in the Far East, while Icarion secured the Throneworld. In return for this farflung assignment, Icarion promised to raise the Alabaster Prince and the Warbringers' station with suggestions of additional political power concentrated in Darzalas' hands and his Legion. Beginning a seach-and-destroy campaign against Azus fell within those wide parameters, so Darzalas gathered the Warbringers with him and launched after the surviving Loyalist Serpents.

Edited July 10, 2019 by simison

[bluntblade]

Have Primarchs ever been referred to as Lord Something in FW fluff? That jars a bit.

[simison]

[i can see your point. It's just kind of weird to refer to Kozja as Kozja. Doesn't sound pompouse enough, you know?]

 

News would soon arrive of Icarion's failed ploy to win the Warmaster to his cause. The news changed the Warbringers' strategic situation in a moment. They had gone from a vanguard of the new empire finishing off the Old Guard to an isolated force deep in enemy territory. Accordingly, Icarion ordered the Warbringers to make their way back to the new core of the Madrigal Empire, seizing what they could and crippling Loyalist bastions along the way. Once reunited with the main Traitor line, Darzalas would command a general front in the new conquests. 

Edited July 10, 2019 by simison

[bluntblade]

Eh, it's not done with Guilliman or Sanguinius for comparison.

[simison]

I've changed all entries of 'Kozja' to 'Darzalas' and fixed the location's name. Should I do the same for Azus? 

[bluntblade]

I guess so.

[simison]

When a reply found its way back to Icarion, to his surprise, Darzalas refused. In spite of his impressive victory, the Alabaster Prince fully intended to continue hounding his quarry, until he had either killed or capture the slippery Primarch. The longer Bahmut was allowed free movement, Darzalas insisted, the more damage he would inflict on the nascent Traitor cause. While Darzalas held firm to his convinction, military reality needed to be addressed. 

 

While the Warbringers' possessed the numerical edge against the Loyalist Serpents and benefited with the addition of the Novadeka regiments, Darzalas no longer trusted the Traitor Serpents to serve him ably in battle, which sharply reduced his advantage against Azus' forces. Furthermore, the confusion gripping the galaxy was only a temporary asset for the Traitors. In time, the Warbringers faced the real threat of being surrounded by Loyalist forces stationed in Segmentum Atlantics, too far from the Madrigalan power base to be assisted. 

 

Ironically, the Renegade Serpents proved to be of some assistance at this stage. Already reeling from the Day of Revelation, the Loyalist forces of Atlanticus soon were beset by the Renegade Serpents raiding and laying claim to personal fiefdoms. This had the bonus effect of crippling Bahmut's efforts to rally any reinforcements to his banner as the other Loyalists looked upon the Ghost of the Sands with distrust. For the time being, Bahmut and his core of Loyalists were as isolated as Darzalas and his Traitors. 

 

All of this the Alabaster Prince weighed in his mind before committing to his next course of action. While the Warbringers would not retreat all of the way back to Madrigal, they were too far out on the frontier. A base of operations was necessary to furnish supplies and a secured fallback zone for the planned campaign to trap Bahmut. Any distance removed between Darzalas and Madrigal would only increase the chance for reinforcements. In particular, Darzalas  hoped the operations at Kataii, Kohacra, and [Predator ambush location] had met with greater success and would allow the Godslayers, Grave Stalkers, the Steel Legion, or the other half of the Warbringers to rendezvous and support his campaign. 

 

Until confirmation, Darzalas moved his fleet to his first target: the Phokaian system. Brought into Compliance by Lord Commander Irvin Ruel of the Halcyon Wardens, the system had been adopted as one of the V^th Legion's protectorate systems, specifically to serve as a segmentum headquarters for the Legion in Atlanticus. A garrison had been established of 3,000 Wardens who's duties were to patrol and ensure Imperial stability throughout the segmentum behind the front lines of the Great Crusade. Since the garrison was permanent, Darzalas knew depots and stockpiles explicitly for Astartes would be stationed there. With a battlefield more slanted in the Warbringers' favor, Darzalas would refill necessary war material expunged at Iphigenia and eliminate a pillar of Imperial martial strength in Atlanticus with a single stroke. 

 

As Darzalas and his detachment approached Phokaia, circumstances worked both in and against his favour. Several bands of Renegade Serpents had preceded the Warbringers in this subsector, placing the Halcyon Wardens on alert for Traitor Legions. There would be no opportunity to use deception to launch a fatal ambush against the garrison. However, Darzalas would soon a much weaker force held the system. The 3,000 Halcyon Wardens were divided into three Battalions. Several days after the Day of Revelation, two Battalions had been detached from the Phokaian system and now were deployed elsewhere, doing everything they could to restore order in the name of the Throne. What truly brought a small smile to Darzalas' face was the discovery of Mikhail Chukhay was at Phokaia. Chukhay was a Legate, one of eight such individuals who commanded beneath the Warmaster himself. Legate Chukhay commanded the 6^th Cohort and was responsible for all Halcyon Warden garrisons east of the galactic core, marking him as one of Vth Legion's most proficient political officers. The Alabaster Prince deemed the capture of Legate Chukhay as a high priority. 

Edited July 11, 2019 by simison

[simison]

When the Halcyon Wardens' information network discovered Darzalas' fleet on approach and discovered their treachery, Legate Chukhay made a snap decision. Heavily outnumbered, Chukhay ordered the Halcyon Wardens to abandon Phokaia, sending out a warning to all Loyalists of the new danger. Although the Halcyon Wardens could have made a valiant stand, Chukhay saw no hope of securing even a strategic victory against such an overwhelming force. Instead, Chukhay sought better conditions westward. The Halcyon Wardens destroyed what war material they could in the allotted time before fleeing.  

 

The Phokaians, upon the advice of Chukhay before his departure, surrendered. Thus, Darzalas' completed his first conquest without firing a single shot as his fleet moved into the Phokaian system. Chukhay's retreat presented a conundrum to the Traitor Primarch. The Warbringers now had the forward operating base Darzalas imagined. Despite the efforts of the Wardens, Darzalas was able to secure a large fraction of the supplies. Yet, there was no satisfaction to be found in the Alabaster Prince. Although he had the material to launch a campaign against his brother, any unforeseen complications could quickly exhaust current estimates. The escape of Chukhay had denied him a valuable source of intelligence, while the Halcyon Wardens remained an unknown component for future operations. Phokaia may have been closer to Madrigal than Iphigenia, but the distance was still considerable. Finally, the Phokaians were another weight. If Darzalas truly claimed them as his now under his authority, they would need their own garrison against revitalized Loyalist strikes.

 

Two pieces of news would influence Darzalas' next decision. First was the news that Daer'dd, Lord of the Iron Bears, was slain far to the North in the Kataii system. Second was the announcement that Andezo had survived the Day of Revelation and sent the Warbringers force in retreat after slaying Grand Hetman Dasz. Dasz's successor, [Cool-Eastern-European-Name], had decided to retreat towards the Primarch to the East rather than West to Madrigal. The tidings may have been opposite in tone, but they both pushed Darzalas to eschew caution for boldness. 

 

The Alabaster Prince, reluctantly, assigned a new March to hold the Phokaian system. To improve the Warbringers' position, Darzalas unleased the Traitor Serpents to make war as they saw fit with the understanding the Phokaian system would serve as a haven as necessary. This had two immediate benefits. Darzalas was freed from an allied force he never trusted in the first place. On the other account, the rampaging Serpents would provide an additional distraction to Loyalists who might aim to liberate the Phokaians. Of the Traitor Serpents, all Darzalas asked of them were to hunt their former brothers above other targets. Waiting until after the Traitor Serpents deployed, Darzalas and his Warbringers left the system.

 

Their destination: Macragge. 

Edited July 11, 2019 by simison