Editing The Markian Pact (section)

=History of the Markian Pact=

==Before the Crusade==
The Markian Colonies were a collection of settlements founded late in the Dark Age of Technology by intellectuals and independents, just in time for the Age of Strife; as such the colonies had little time to develop, with Atashia being the most advanced when warp storms isolated the five planets' systems. Fortunately, these five colonies were conveniently located in a warp bubble, an anomaly that leaves a small area possible to traverse; thus, contact between the colonies remained throughout the age of strife. Unfortunately, transport was limited to ten poorly armed voidships, as not even Atashia had the infrastructure to build spacefaring vessels. Contact remained, but the Markian colonies were woefully unprepared for naval warfare.

In M28, Lemartia was invaded by the forces of Ghalhal, a world that laid just beyond the warp bubble. With a force of twenty ships and millions of men the Ghalhallans quickly seized the surface of the world, but found the labyrinthine mines that Lemartian guerrillas hid in to be unassailable, and was unaware of any allies to Lemartia. When the Ghalhallans fleet split to explore the warp bubble their force bound for Thenar discovered too late the Markian Allied Fleet, who jumped from system to system, taking on the divided elements individually and destroying eleven ships before the enemy fleet retreated to Ghalhal without retrieving ground forces on Thenar, Kouralia, and Lemartia. Once the remnants were dealt with, the Markian Fleet braved the warp storms and attacked Ghalhal itself. After a long void battle the Markian fleet triumphed, forcing the remaining Ghalhallan fleet to flee deeper into the warp storms where they were presumably lost; however, instead of landing troops to seize Ghalhal the Markians simply bombarded the surface in revenge for both men lost in the colonies' defense and the three ships destroyed in the counteroffensive, leaving the once-fertile surface uninhabitable and barren. 

Following the war against Ghalhal there was a long period of peace in the Markian colonies. Deeper bonds developed between the worlds, and the planetary governments decided to officially unite in a mutually beneficial alliance. The five worlds of Greater Markia established the Markian Pact, a confederation dedicated to the defense of the Markians' ideals. A central parliament was put in place on Atashia, the new bureaucracy monitored the economic output of worlds, the Markian armed forces were standardized into the Markian Corps, and Atashia used what infrastructure it had to improve the defense and production of its allies.

To the horror of the Markian Pact, a new power had taken root in the wastes of Ghalhal: the techpriests of the Mechanicum. Worse, is the new lords of Ghalhal were confirmed to have had a superior fleet to the Markians', and there were rumors that the techpriests' allies were manyfold. Though they were frightened for good reason (The Markians' bombardment years ago was not thorough, as they could not kill everyone underground), the Markians' fears were proven false when Mechanicus diplomats arrived on Lemartia to trade for ore. Most suspicion was lifted by the time of the Great Crusade, as Ghalhal had become close allies to the Markian Pact, providing materiel in exchange for resources.

==Angels from the Void==
The Mechanicum was merely the first to contact the Markians, and in 851.M30 a new power made itself known. In this year the Primarch [[Gaspard Lumey]] of the [[Void Angels|Winged Victory Legion]] visited the world of Kouralia. At first the Primarch was rather blunt about his purpose-to integrate the Markian Pact into the Imperium of Man-but he did not follow his introduction with an ultimatum; curious of Markian culture, he instead simply requested freedom to travel through the Pact. Although still suspicious, and honestly doubting he would keep his promise of refraining from espionage, the Markians returned Lumey's courtesy with courtesy, granting him travel rights to the entirety of the Markian Pact (Barring Ghalhal). 

As large armored tenth-foot space men are wont to do, Lumey attracted the attention of literally everyone in Markia. He was invited to cultural and scientific events, and given many opportunities to lecture both to elite and general audiences. The Markians impressed Lumey with their sophistication and outlook, and he did likewise with his own rhetoric and intellect. When the Primarch ended his tour of the Pact with a speech, the entirety of the parliament listened with utmost sincerity; when he asked to be granted citizenship, the parliament's vote for was unanimous; when he asked that they be peacefully absorbed into the Imperium, few dared vote against. Upon conclusion of the session, the parliament gave three cheers for "Citizen Gaspard," and three more for the future of mankind.

==The Great Crusade==
Throughout the Great Crusade the grand corps of Markia were attached to the Winged Victory as Imperial Army auxiliaries, often alongside or mistaken for their cousins in the [[Ciban Chasseurs]]. In the [[Pacification of the Chwiorydd Hardd]], the Markians, who have not known war for centuries, had their first taste of conflict since the war with old Ghalhal, facing the race of slavers known as the Amatteir. It was not battle itself that unsettled the Markian soldiers, however as they were still professional soldiers; it was the condition of slaves upon the world Chwiorydd Hardd 3 after contrasting with those on CH-4 that greatly disturbed many soldiers. As photo-journalist Verrell Boucher, a Karmian native, said:

''"It was not their physical deprivations that struck me so. I had seen men and women lost in the wilds of my homeworld and returned to civilisation starved and sick before. It was their eyes. Our poor kinsmen, brutalised and degraded, looked at me with the mute ignorance of beasts. Foul aliens have taken human beings and made into them animals! How many more worlds is this happening on?"''

Upon return to the Pact worlds for various military and civic reasons, veterans much like Boucher brought word of the atrocities committed by the xenos. Tales of the sheer harm and humiliation suffered by their fellow men galvanized the Markians, and aligned them sternly against the enemies of the Imperium. After further encounters with only more brutal aliens such as the full Amatteir's empire, the Dark Eldar of the Harakien star-empire, and the barbaric orks, the Markians' hatred for xenos was further validated, and to this day the Markians do not believe the only kind of xeno friend is one used as a sandbag to protect humans.

During the first part of the Great Crusade the Markian Corps served admirably alongside the Fifth Legion, especially their sapper regiments who proved vital in the Core Worlds and Harakien Sector campaigns. However, it was only after the Winged Victory's exile to the galactic fringe that the Markian Corps showed its greatness. As their masters departed to the fringe, many Markian regiments stayed behind to carry on with their crusade. It is during this time that names such as Grand Marshal Caieton and Marshal Judas Ranc became known to the larger Imperium, their campaigns leading to the pacification of over a hundred more worlds before the Great Crusade's end.

==The Hektor Heresy==
When Hektor began his campaign to undo the Emperor's works, the entire galaxy erupted into civil war. Segmentum Pacificus was devoid of marines both traitor and loyal, but nevertheless it was embroiled in conflict between Imperial Mechanicum and auxiliaries, and their rebel counterparts. At the center of the Pacificus theater were the forces of the Al-Sherar Sector, especially the Markian Pact. Almost as immediately  as the Hektor Heresy began the Al-Sherar Sector was invaded by traitors on three sides by Solar Auxilia, rogue Mechanicus, and other renegades. With many grand corps outside the sector and the armies of Ciban and Al-Sherar occupied, the Markian Pact stood only with themselves and what Ghalhal could provide.

==The Scouring and the Verdunian Reforms==
Before the Hektor Heresy the Markian Corps possessed a vast fleet beyond the venerable voidships used to fight Old Ghalhal, consisting of manyfold battleships and cruisers crewed by indigenous Markians. Though the Markian fleet had replaced its native hands with various press-ganged conscripts over its existence, the ships themselves had always been Markia's until the Imperial Reformation post-Heresy, when the fleet, including its eight most ancient voidships, was divided from the Markian Corps and absorbed by the new Imperial Navy to the ire of Markians. Worse, is that the Imperial Navy demanded the Markian Corps give all their aircraft, from air superiority fighters and bombers to dropships and support craft, to them; an order vehemently opposed especially by Kouralian officers who relied on air support. Ultimately, the two compromised: the Markian Corps may continue using dropships and close air support craft, but bombers and air superiority fighters were the domain of the Imperial Navy. Despite coming to and agreement, the Markian Corps's stubbornness drew foul feelings from the Imperial Navy, and the Navy's bitterness often kept Markians from boarding their ships. For centuries following the fiasco the Adeptus Mechanicus of Ghalhal or merchant captains would ferry the Markian Corps to other worlds, and even even in the forty-first millennium the Navy and Corp's rivalry stirs disputes; such was the damage they dealt to each others' pride.

With changes in warfare's conditions, the Markian Corps too needed to change. Sky Marshal Marius Marie-Gaston Verdun was the first to address this, by inducing many reforms in the Corps:

* The replacement of the Atashia-Pattern laslock with the Markia-Pattern lasgun;
* The standardization of Kouralian warship production with modern fire control systems, vox and radar systems, cruise missiles, and other modernizations of the aging Markian maritime fleet;
* The integration of commissars in Markian ranks;
* The removal of fighter and bomber wings from Kouralian air regiments;
* And the improvement of training in specialist ranks.

==The Crimson Reign and the Fall of the Markian Pact==
As the Imperial Truth could not resist the iron heel of the Ecclesiarchy, neither could Markia weather the Imperium's growing superstitions. The Markian Pact was on a path for destruction, but the Markians could not accept that. They pretended they would forever remain a beacon of reason in the seas of despair and lies, while the galaxy around them fell to pieces. Thanks to the efforts of the aristocrats and the artisans, Markia as an alliance ended not with a bang but a whimper. There were several points that could be considered signs of the Markian Pact's decline-the Imperial Navy Incident, the Flight of the Free Legions, the Lost Corps-but the true death of the Markian Pact came in the wake of the Age of Apostasy, with one Athenais Vernier.

Grand Marshal Athenais Vernier was commander of the 733rd Army of the Markian Corps, whose tale from guardsman to grand marshal was a story worth hearing ten times over. Vernier became a distant darling of the Markian people, her feats reaching across the galaxy back to Subsector Markia. An aristocrat of Atashia invited Vernier home for a party, which she accepted, returning home a hero. However, Vernier did not see familiar faces; even those who she once knew well were now as strange and alien as the creatures she fought in the darkest corners of space. Vernier was no longer like her former brethren; she succumbed to the ruthless pragmatism befitting of an Imperial general, and now saw only weakness in the false idealism of Markia. As she reacquainted herself oath the nobility she could not help but feel disgusted at the willful ignorance of the aristocracy, playing their games and acting as if their soldiers were only wasting their lives fighting for an Imperium already safe. 

Vernier left the Markian Pact once again, only to return with not one but three armies of the Markian Corps. The Markian Corps stormed the capital, and Vernier personally marched into the council chambers, and randomly shot several councilors. Upon a steel throne atop a Leman Russ Vernier ensconced herself in those chambers, surrounded by politicians too terrified to so much as move or utter a word. The Crimson Reign of Vernier had begun, but it would not be Vernier but the people of Markia themselves who would enact bloody vengeance upon each other, for they had at last succumbed to the despair that consumed the purest of hearts. The Crimson Reign would continued for only a year, however, as Vernier committed suicide by throwing herself into the seas of Atashia, her own spirit broken by years of tragedy and war.

When the Crimson Reign ended, the Markian Pact simply… Ceased. The ties between worlds were severed down to a gilded string of trade, and the old council dissolved. The Markian Corps, the last vestiges of the old Pact of Verdun and Ranc, drifted with the warp's winds, the various grand corps finding new lives as Navy armsmen, Inquisitorial militants, rogue trader mercenaries, planetary defense forces, Ghalhallan auxiliaries, or the simple Imperial Guardsmen they always were; and to this day, they maintain their old traditions even with new commanders and soldiers. Only Ghalhal escaped the dissolution unscathed, as it was only ever an honorary member. Today there is no Markian Pact, only Greater Markia where the old alliance once lay, with Atashia, Kouralia, Karmia, Lemartia, and Thenar; five insignificant worlds which once mattered.