Black Book 4: Subjugation

[simison]

The Mountainous Center

 

Even before the arrival of the Imperium, Macragge had enjoyed a rare privilege of retaining a living stellar transit system connecting Macragge to the nearby systems. Industry had survived Old Night as well, creating a small but thriving stellar community. Leading this bastion of humanity were two Consuls from the planet's nobility who chartered the path to the future. A brief reform movement several decades before the Imperium's arrival saw the unusual murder of one of the Consuls, but a replacement was quickly found and Macragge continued on its previous course. Macragge's isolation from the rest of humanity would come to an end with the arrival of 99^th Expeditionary Fleet commanded by Gilgalad of the Wardens of Light. Compliance swiftly followed, Macragge all-too eager to be reunited with ancient Terra. 

[simison]

In short time, Macragge became a critical port for the Great Crusade. With the interstellar infrastructure in place, it took a fraction of effort to transform Macragge into the largest port in the entire sector. The combination of deeper pushes along the galactic eastern edge with the creation of the [beacons] led the Council of Terra to designating a new segmentum dubbed Atlanticus in 009.M31. Without hesitation, the Council chose Macragge to become the newest segmentum capital. By the time of the Day of Revelation, Macragge had enjoyed its status for over two decades. 

 

It was to this system Legate Chukhay and his Battalion had fallen back to. 

[simison]

It was this system that challenged the Alabaster Prince's designs of supremacy. As a segmuntum capital, Macragge boasted of a permanent system defence force of thirty vessels. A full quarter of the defence fleet may have been no more than defence monitors, but five heavy warships added significant firepower in the form of three battle cruisers, a grand cruiser, and led by the storied Crucible of Valour, a [older design]-class battleship. In terms of ground assests, Macragge enjoyed double-strength PDF regiments, establishing an initial force of 231,000 troopers with a few dedicated anti-air and heavy cavalry companies assigned. The PDF regiments possessed an additional advantage of intimate knowledge of Macragge's mountainous terrain, which would prove quite potent in the battles to come. 

 

Augmenting this core were a number of units waiting for re-deployment throughout the Atlanticus war zones. Flags from the Archite Palatines, the Laphis Vanguard, the Outremar, the Tupleov Lancers of the Old Hundred, several cohorts in the Solar Auxilia pattern and others contributed an additional 145,000 soldiers to the defences. Though fewer than the PDF regiments, these veteran regiments added a skill and experience utterly necessary in the upcoming campaign to counter the centuries-tested warriors of the Ninth Legion. 

 

Yet, in a twist of fate, it would not be these regiments Legate Chukhay would use to assemble the main battle lines against the approaching Warbringers. Even if the Loyalists soldiers outnumbered the Traitor Astartes seven-to-one, it was common wisdom a Legionary was worth ten mortal soldiers, at the very least. No, Macragge had no choice but to place her hopes and the future of Atlanticus into the hands of regiments who had never once fought before in the name of the Emperor. Hailing from the recently compliant Meri-Kata system, five million soldiers in dress blues had arrived in the Macragge system to prepare for the first deployments on behalf of the Imperium. The soldiers came from a world where the rifled stubber was the pinnacle of infantry weapons, and marched to war in archaic blocks of infantry. 

Edited July 18, 2019 by simison

[simison]

Long had Darzalas become infamous for his beliefs in transhuman supremacy, most notably during the Vizenko Prosecution. Macragge offered an unexpected opportunity to test his beliefs in the cauldron of war. In his memoirs, the Alabaster Prince confessed to an unyielding confidence in a tactical victory. The campaign may be long, but Darzalas believed the Imperial Army would eventually die beneath the bolters of the Warbringers. No, of Darzalas' chief concern was the strategic situation. Without guarantee the rest of the Legion would reach him in time, the Alabaster Prince was forced to treat his current fleet as his sole task force. It was paramount for casualties to be kept to a minimum to enable future deployments. Otherwise, Darzalas and his sons would become isolated on Macragge surrounded by a sea of Loyalists, doomed in any struggle of attrition. Additionally, Azus and the Loyalist Serpents represented a wild card. Perhaps they would be mired in guerilla warfare with their Traitorous brethren. Or, Azus could break out and launch the flanking and hit-and-run maneuvers he had earned renown for. The Ghost of the Sands may have been unable to destroy Darzalas' forces, but could easily tip Warbringer losses to critical. 

[simison]

All of this had weighed on Darzalas' mind before he committed himself to assaulting Macragge. The obstacles were formidable. So too were the rewards. If the Alabaster Prince could seize Macragge for his purposes, he would decapitate the head of Imperial command in Atlanticus. Already strained by the confusion unleashed by the shattered Serpents and the Insurrection, the Imperium was wrestling control for intelligence alongside the ad hoc efforts to regain control of the situation. To lose Macragge would utterly cripple Loyalist strategic coherency. Controlling the shipyards would offer an invaluable opportunity in of themselves. Not only could Darzalas redirect them to repair his own damaged vessels, in time, he could replace battlefield losses. This would guarantee his ability to maintain long-term campaigns on behalf of Madrigal. 

 

Above all else, no doubt Darzalas was aware of the symbolic blow could inflict, both against the Loyalists and in his favour. Koschei's infamy grew as news spread of his slaying of the Great Bear. While Koschei loathed his newfound reputation as kinslayer, it was the most dramatic victory the Traitors had scored against the Loyalists. The new Madrigalan Empire was quick to add it to its newfound propoganda. Failing in his attempt to slay Azus, seizing a segmentum capital would raise Darzalas' renown and prove himself as one of the Traitors' most formidable general. 

 

Darzalas weighed all of these matters before committing himself to Macragge. 

[simison]

[The Falling Horizon]

 

Legate Chukhay did not share the Warbringers' transhuman arrogance, but was well aware of it. Chukhay soon wielded his well-honed powers of persuasion to convince Lord Castellan Horatius, the Imperial Army's ranking commander, to prepare the system for an invasion. Calls for reinforcements were sent out. Chukhay hoped word would reach the Halcyon Wardens' legendary First Cohort on campaign in the southeast of the Eastern Fringe. 30,000 Wardens warred on behalf of the Emperor and could decisively ensure Atlanticus remained in Loyalist hands. Horatious hoped to reach Lord General Militant Tabor Ludovicia, one of the three individuals who commanded the entirety of the Imperial Army. The messages sent, both men devoted their attention to preparing for the incoming Warbringers. 

Edited August 15, 2019 by simison

[bluntblade]

"persuasion skills" feels off to me. "Powers of persuasion" would work better.

[bluntblade]

The Stormlord’s Conquests

 

The Spear at the Throat

In 032. M31, the Wars of Expansion had mired the Imperium in blood. Reeling from the betrayal of half its mightiest warriors, the Space Marines, it was forced to reckon with the grave losses dealt to those who remained loyal. Save for the Halcyon Wardens, every Legion which held to their oaths had been mauled by their treacherous kin. To make matters worse, the Wardens of Light had withdrawn to their home realm and pronounced themselves neutral in the war, while the Halcyon Wardens had taken deep wounds of their own in halting the Schism of Mars. Their comrades found themselves cast upon a tumultuous and bloody sea, seeking safe harbour to rearm and take stock of the calamity which had overtaken them.

 

The Insurrectionists meanwhile had fallen with blades drawn upon the Imperium which they had once served, joined by many more who had been swayed to the Stormlord’s banner by threats or bribery. Like a malignant tumour, Icarion’s realm was growing, consuming system after system. The wider Imperial forces, just as divided as the Legions and vastly outnumbering them, were drawn rapidly into the inferno, and the civil war’s battlefields soon encompassed a thousand worlds. 

 

The Insurrection was every bit as cancerous as the shadow empire which Icarion raised. It grew exponentially, matched by a death toll which had already spiralled far beyond the comprehension of ordinary men. This was a war in which hive worlds could be sundered and their teeming populations culled or claimed by the invader and pressed into battle, and yet such acts would be no more than a drop in the ocean to those who beheld the full picture. It was a war that only demigods could understand without their minds being broken by it; whether their souls survived that knowledge intact, we cannot be certain.

 

Already, the character of the Insurrection was becoming clear in the wake of the Day of Revelation and its shortcomings. With the Loyalist Legions hanging on by their fingertips, the intended coup became a bitter contest of annexation and counterattack. Unfettered destruction and grim defiance gave it its tone, as did the ruthlessness with which attacker and defender worked to cement a hold over their territory and subjects. 

 

Storm-swift assaults and crawling, gouging attrition both had their place in the conflict, but above all the poison of betrayal defined the war. Spies wormed their ways into the inner chambers of Imperial governors and generals, trusted friends plunged knives into backs, soldiers threw open gaols and handed weapons to resentful prisoners. Oath-bound and blooded, each side knew that their victory could only come with the deaths of their foes and the subjugation of those who had served them. 

 

Terra already stood as a testament to the change being worked upon the Imperium; the heart-stopping beauty of the Imperial Palace marred by hulking fortifications and festooned with weapons. Should Icarion’s forces be somehow beaten back and destroyed, Madrigal atomised and scattered to the solar winds, there would still be things which could not put back. The Imperium’s gilded facade would be eternally tarnished, the dream of Unity marred irrevocably. The alternative was the rule of the vengeful Icarion, already yielding much of his honour to ambition.

 

Of course, the fury and power with which the Insurrectionists made their conquests can hardly come as a surprise. Those very forces had pacified or purged innumerable systems during the Great Crusade, dismembered ancient realms and consigned thousands of xenos species to history. No small amount of that violence had been directed against human worlds which rejected Unity, but now the Legions turned upon each other and the very worlds they had vowed to protect. This was to be a war unmatched in its scope and bitterness. The Galaxy-spanning domain of Man would serve as their arena, and trillions of people would be fed into the conflict’s hungering maw.

 

The flames had spread wide, and now the Galaxy burned.

Edited August 1, 2019 by bluntblade

[bluntblade]

Wondering who to show the Grave Stalkers against. The plan is to have them outmanoeuvre basically everything and leave systems in anarchy for the arrival of Insurrectionist Army detachments.

[simison]

You want a canon or a BotL-regiment? 

 

Also, tweaked my last paragraph. 

[bluntblade]

BotL

[bluntblade]

Paging Dr Sigismundnumbers

 

I want to start working on the Lion's Hunt campaign. Possibly we pick a single system for the campaign, with a relatively tight focus, or do we want to have a broader focus? If we go tight then we can Hec and a few Clans fighting in-system, with the rest elsewhere.

[Sigismund229]

By the Lion's hunt, what do you mean? Their campaign's in the West or something else I don't remember?

[bluntblade]

Campaign in the west, aye.

[bluntblade]

Potential targets for the Lions' wrath:

• 299^th Cohort, the Ereduin Dourhands
• 104^th Cohort, the Ekloni Huscarls
• Veskaret Baronials

Edited December 17, 2019 by bluntblade

[bluntblade]

Allies and potential allies:

• Legio Fatalis
• House Balgruth
• 829th Solar Auxilia Cohort, the Veuhal Endoguard
• Samindaur Shock Troopers
• Yvrrona Cataphracts