Editing Quest:The Long Night:Volume Two:The Rise

=State of the Galaxy=
==Chaos==
Much of the galaxy is controlled by Abaddon, in a massive state called Black Imperium. About forty percent of the total space is him or his vassals. That is, of course, as much as we can talk about control where Chaos is involved; had he been able to really put his act together, he would have probably controlled everything by now. Abaddon now bears scars incurable even with his masters' help; the marks of a desperate fight with [[Bjorn the Fell Handed]] upon the fortress world of Garm. Bjorn was buying time for Fenris, so thoroughly that The Despoiler was forced to flee to the [[Planet Killer]], and blast apart Garm. A cheap shot, and Fenris was safe by then. Once the Imperial Trust built their first Dreadnought warship (22km long), they named it after the ancient Astartes.

Abaddon also got himself a small nick on the cheek, though that one didn't leave a scar. That was on Cadia. He was so disappointed that the defenders, ground down by centuries of combat, couldn't give him a proper last blaze of glory, that he gathered the survivors, and swore he will let them go and find safety if they'll impress him with a proper final stand. One girl managed to give him that scratch on the cheek, so the twice survivors were given a ship and sent on their way, no hidden clauses in the agreement.

==The Eldar==

The remnants of the Craftworld Eldar and the [[Harlequin]], the [[Ynnari]] are now a [[Webway]] based state called the Empire of Ashes. A powerful state (albeit one mostly composed of undead), doing the same manipulation they did in 40k. Now, though, they must treat whatever forces of Sanity remain much more carefully. Alliances are real and lasting.

Dark Eldar are being hunted by the Ynnari (and whoever else has the means), and so are limited to a number of fortified enclaves, from which they continue raiding like in the older times. Vect controls the biggest one.

[[Exodites]] continue as before, often manipulating and covertly assisting the humans upon their worlds.

==Loyalist Primarchs==

[[Lion El'Jonson]] woke up around the time the Emperor died. He was recruited by some unknown person for unknown purposes and had not been heard of since.

[[Rogal Dorn]] is confirmed as dead. Alas, can't have it all.

[[Roboute Guilliman]] is still in stasis, poisoned. Ultramar and the Tau are continuing their war, though lately, they were forced to tone it down, aware that mutual weakening isn't something they can afford.

Finally, [[Vulkan]], [[Leman Russ]], [[Jaghatai Khan]] and [[Corax]] are active in Ultima, covertly preparing the ground for creating a good-sized state when the opportunity arises.

==Necrons==

The Necrons are now fully awake. Yes, some of you might be asking “How the heck aren't they ruling everything by now”?

The answer is simple. Before taking over the galaxy, the Necrons have prudently decided they first need to ensure there is a galaxy to take over. Which means they went outside of it, and are currently blasting the main Tyranid forces with weapons too powerful to use within ten thousand light years of an inhabited world. The fight is expected to be close.

==Tyranids==

See above.

==The Forge-Empire==

The Forge-Empire of Callamus, Segmentum Tempestus. It's actually based upon [https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/deus-ex-mechanicus-reboot-quest-thread.312597/ another quest], sadly dead since 2017. Eighty sectors of radical Mechanicus. They are currently busy fighting the Abomination state centered around Ophelia VII, as well as a nearby Necron Dynasty (as you can guess, that one isn't something either side really wants; an old and now despised leader had blundered into that).

==The surprise player==

To the North-West of Ultima Segmentum, now lies the most powerful of the Sane Polities of the galaxy.

The Krork.

Some might be surprised that the Krork are sane, considering the Greenskins we know. But that actually makes sense. The regular Orks are nothing more than feral children, barbaric and rampaging without the adults teaching them.

Now the adults are back. An army liberated from Solemnace by a desperate raid of the [[Alaitoc]] warriors while [[Trazyn]] was away.

Nice guys, these Krork are, at least by Warhammer standards. Three hundred sectors, and one tenth of those are given over to other races. So long as they don't interfere, they can live their lives. Kind of a Super-Tau.

==And one final little matter==

'''The [[Squats]] Live!'''

Yes, that's right. The quest elaborates upon their fate. They indeed used to have a large federation. And when the Tyranids attacked them, they called upon the Imperium. And things went well for a while. Except Warhammer 40k always has bastards.

This one was a [[Inquisition#Puritans|Monodominant Inquisitor]]. He hated all [[Abhuman]]s, including the Squats. As such, before a decisive battle, he diverted the reinforcements needed. He was, of course, declared Excommunicate Traitoris for that, even the Imperium considering his actions too much (Entire Astartes Chapters were lost due to that moron's treachery), but it was too late. Still, a few refugees have survived, one of them only about a thousand light years from the Trust, a polity known as the Vestri League.

And that traitor Inquisitor? Still lives. He managed to survive until the rise of the Abomination (it involved a battle against Loyalist kill teams near to a black hole, with the expected time dilation), and was then immediately recruited as one of his Daemon Princes. He tried to kill off the Vestri League, but was banished. Now he seems to have set his eye on the Jotun.

=Facing the galaxy=

For a while the matters continue as before. Tranth is working on Astartes Armour incorporating the Helheim discoveries (the results are a suit just below [[Terminator Armour]] in strength and capable of carrying two modules at once), Lin is helping the Marine commander, Gaius Julius (who has some heavy curse ever since some fight with a powerful daemon), the Trust is preparing for war the best it can, while also looking to open negotiations with Dragon's Nest at the first opportunity. Gerald and Tamia, however, have started a very important joint project.

They're raising a toddler girl denounced by her parents. The first Alpha level Psyker born upon Avernus.

Yes, that's right. The quest, due to taking place later than 40k, does allow for stable human Alphas. The problem is, no matter how much you try, they still have one chance out of three to fail their trials. You intend to try as hard as possible.

As a sidenote, regular Psykers now come in such numbers that the Psyker cities won't fit them for much longer. It's time to start building separate city quarters for them.

Going back to politics, there are two imminent attacks predicted by Ridcully, one by Valinor and one by Garkill. Plus, there are the matters of external politics. In these, it is agreed to be friendly but cautious toward the saner polities, and to deal with the immediate enemies when there is an opportunity in a manner that doesn't draw too much attention for success.

With Valinor, the probing forces are fooled, and a major attack of over three thousand ships is launched at Jotunheim. About one enemy ship in forty manages to get away. Thankfully, most of the human polities nowadays have Escort-heavy navies.

Garkill arrives at Avernus a year later. It's obvious right away that he'll be a far bigger problem. For one thing, he now has nine thousand Escorts, five thousand Roks, and over six hundred Capitals. For another, he has six Hulks now, with his own having grown to nearly '''fifty''' kilometres. Still, the fleets in the system wipe out about half that force by the time they reach Avernus. A couple thousand more before the landing starts. Problem is, according to Rids, the bastard had prepared a surprise.

A few million [[Weirdboy]]z are onboard. Should the reinforcement fleet come out of the Warp too close, they'll draw it right into Ork crossfire. You warn them to emerge further away, which means two weeks of delay.

The Orks start their landing. While you do manage to take out over a million aircraft, they don't seem to care. Within a day, eleven Hive-sized Ork fortresses stand upon Avernus. Doesn't that sound great?

During the week it takes them to reach your cities, your forces whittle away about a billion Orks, including by drawing wildlife toward them. A drop in the bucket, and mostly regular Boyz at that. In the newly settled region, one of the Warbosses kills a local crocodile Alpha you've been intending to hunt. As expected, he looted another piece of Black Crystal Jewelry, this time a breastplate.

As his armies start approaching your cities, Garkill lands near the force attacking the city of Salem with two thousand [[Gargant]]s (fifty Great Gargants and two Megas included), his elites, and a million Weirdboyz, whom he intends to use to bring down the walls. More Roks land, including right in your cities.

In Salem, you manage to prevent the Roks from landing in the city itself. Weirdboyz however, successfully perform a ritual to bring down the walls. Except for the fact that all the Psykers you've sent there are at work. Half the Weirdboyz find themselves with their heads missing, and while the outer defences are gone, the city's still alive and shooting. Plus, you launch five thousand [[Deathstrike Missile]]s to thin the enemies out further.

Garkill launches a general assault, but the Asgardian Knights and your Superheavies (including Fellswords; a [[Fellblade]] variant with Neutron Lasers) prove to be too much for the Gargants. Meanwhile, only the Hulks and some Roks remain of the Ork fleet, and the reinforcements aren't far by now. Garkill teleports his remaining Weirdboyz down, but before they can pull off another attack, you launch the rest of your Deathstrikes, their flames augmented by Psykers once they explode. No more Weirdboyz, most of the Roks gone, more enemy ships inbound... looks bad for Garkill. Once again, he decides to return to his Hulk and retreat.

Then, Ridcully tells you he decided that since he didn't manage to Krump the planet, he will see that no one else does, either. Garkill intends to Exterminatus Avernus.

Before either you or the Warlord can phrase any order, however, the Greenskins are vaporised.

Dozens of orbital stations pop out around Avernus, armed with weapons that make Eldar tech look primitive. Within fifteen minutes, barely any wreckage remains of Garkill and his Hulks. And the stations are gone without a trace.

Congratulations! This is no mere Deathworld you live upon. Welcome to Crucible, an Anti-Chaos research lab of the [[Old Ones (Warhammer)|Old Ones]]!

==Aftermath==

Of course, there are still billions of Orks upon the planet, but now that their leader is gone, they aren't a real threat. The cleanup is going to take a while though, especially since the Trust starts a campaign against the now leaderless Ork realm.

In even better news, with all the commanding, Rotbart now has a new trait. A Paragon level one, which means, for this quest, Game Breaker ability. In his case, if you translate it to tabletop terms, it means he doesn't need to set any of his tabletop pieces until the enemy has finished placing theirs.

Saint Lin, meanwhile, tells you that the Abomination is probably aware of his existence. Since, between the Chaos God's work and a thousand years having passed, every other Living Saint in the galaxy is dead, that means killing Lin might become a personal matter for Star Daddy.

Over the next four years, the Trust takes over three Ork Worlds. On Avernus, you mostly blockade and assault the Ork strongholds. A few of those are gone already, with you having lost a cruiser during the bombardment. You have finally looted that breastplate.

Jane, meanwhile, almost gets killed. An attempt is made to kill and replace her, but she gets a warning from Ridcully, and, after a brutal battle, manages to destroy the threat.

Want a translation to Warhammer 40k lore?

Jane dueled the [[Changeling]]. While it wore her form. And she won. And destroyed it permanently.

Of course, that can't remain unrewarded. Jane gets ''two'' Paragon traits. One allows her to kill Daemons permanently and cut through Warp effects. The other lets her cut down anything smaller than an Imperator with one strike if she's lucky.

In grim news, however, the number of Major Psykers seems to be lower than expected. Some alternate source seems to be recruiting them, and Ridcully believes there is a threat in that bigger than Garkill was.

As always, he's right. That cruiser shot down during the cleanup? Wasn't an accident. A group of Tzeentchian Psykers were working out methods to teleport onboard shielded ships. They intended to bombard the planet in order to provoke it into destroying the human colony. By the time you find them, it is too late for your fleet commander. And Saint Lin has to spend about ten years checking for corruption throughout the Navy.

In more bad news, the damage from rogue Psykers is very limited lately... because Tzeentch seems to be stealing them through Warp Rifts. By now, he has taken two Betas and an Alpha.

However, having spied on the god's plans, now it's Rids who has two Paragons. Now he can spy as far as he wants, even on gods. And he has more rerolls, both in combat and when warning you about danger.

Ophelia, the Alpha, passes her exams. The score is rather outstanding, which shouldn't be a surprise, considering how much effort was made (both in-story and outside). Of course, her skill is still far from that of her adoptive parents (for whom she constantly tries to play matchmaker).

On the other hand, you lose General Schwarz. Don't worry, he was merely promoted, due to the commander of the Trust's military retiring.

Jane finally completes the training of the Super-Elites. Out of the thousand babies, only eighty-seven have completed their training (although some of the surviving washouts are still good enough for regular elite forces or Inquisition agents). Jane believes that once she sets a proper training facility, the pass rates should be about double. Each guy is given a Super-Exitus as their main weapon. These things turn out to be really hard to make once Tranth manages to reverse-engineer them, so much you need to commission them from Svartalfheim.

Tranth manages to upgrade the rest of the Power Armours for Astartes use. Congratulations! The [[Scout Squad|Scout Marines]] can fly now!

Ridcully doesn't predict a lot of attacks in the near future, but claims that he can feel dark stirrings of some galaxy-wide event coming. After a bit more divining... seems like [[Gork]] and [[Mork]] are about to become active. Now that sounds '''bad'''.

According to him, there are still thirty to fifty years. To start with, a High Council meeting is scheduled.

The Council is thankfully properly scared. After some debates, it is agreed that the nearby Ork domains are to be taken over. There is also a somewhat more distant Ork domain of sixty worlds, currently in a civil war. Ridcully is to attempt using his abilities and prolong the war, while Tranth is to try and reverse-engineer the Inquisition's [[Exterminatus#Cyclonic_Torpedoes|Cyclonic Torpedoes]]. Everyone is to be warned, both human and Xeno (you even consider warning Chaos, but decide they tend to learn such things anyway). Dragon's Nest is to be traded some low-level tech. Also, you manage to push through a decision allowing you to trade souls to the Sirens. There are a couple of problems with that, of course; for one thing, you lose a lot of favours and reputation, and for another, even that only allows you to trade Cultist souls. Considering you've beat those down to only a couple hundred cultists popping up per year (and only about a third of those captured alive), it's going to take a while. Thankfully, the Sirens already gave you one sample in exchange for wildlife souls, a Rune to help banish Daemons.

On a more personal note, Jane decides she wants a family. She adopts a cute five year old orphan boy named Jacob. His parents were killed by a crocodile. Jacob killed it with a knife. She seems to be a good mother, although that does include combat training a level above that of the Super-Elites.

You spend the next dozen years largely away from Avernus. Taking over dozens of Ork worlds isn't easy. Syr is in the Navy now, a Cruiser commander. Xavier takes out one of the Ork Overlords, the other is killed in regular battle. By the time you return, Jacob is a Psyker Hunter, while Jane is half way through training the second batch of Super-Elites. Also, it's two centuries since the quest started.

The Dragon's Nest agrees to trade you what technologies you don't have, like Terminator Armour and the biggest Mechanicus Forge-Cathedrals (increased ability to make the more exotic gear components). They also start cracking down on the Orks in their vicinity. Scott is now past the stage where she has little authority, meaning you can, if careful, do some of the more controversial research projects. Most importantly, she pushes a law through allowing regular administration to expand and fortify Forge Cities.

Tranth manages (after ten years of effort) to incorporate the Dark Age tech into the Terminator design. Remember those [[Dawn of War III|complaints about jumping around in a Terminator suit]]? Well, forget it. Our dear half-adamantium sonofabitch genius made a hovering one...

Rids' efforts to meddle with the distant Ork domain work for a while, but then an error allows an alarmingly intelligent Overlord to take over. Fortunately, the Super-Elites turn out to be quite suitable for assassinating such guys. Costs you three of them (out of the six sent), plus four Vortex Grenades, but the realm is fractured once again.

Saint Lin goes on a grand tour through Dragon's Nest, trying to convert them to the New Imperial Truth (missionaries sent earlier have prepared the ground, but it's time for a personal touch). Valinor sends a few assassins, but the security and the bodyguards sent along turn out to be too good for them.

Initially, the tour is planned to last fifteen years, but three years in, Ridcully states it's only ten years until Gork and Mork become active. Lin will continue his tour until then; for the Trust, it's time to withdraw the harassing forces and focus on walling up. You've been fortifying all your cities, the Psykers have been training (including with the Runes, once the Saint declared them safe), Jane had finished the second batch of Super-Elites (two hundred and nine graduates this time), the Helltroopers are being equipped with Power Armour. The former Ork worlds are being colonized; largely by Midgardians, of course. A Council meeting reviews the plans and the situation, but little else can be done for now.

Saint Lin, meanwhile, faces a problem. To be precise, he had it for a while now.

You see, a regular human soul isn't meant for such power as was given to him. Without the Emperor to share the burden... Lin ages faster than should be the case with the Dark Age Juvenat. Once in a while, he gets a power boost to his abilities at the cost of ever faster aging. Now it's the second time.

Ridcully states he intends to watch the Ork Gods becoming active. Risky, but you agree, even giving him the Black Crystal Jewelry for protection. After two years of preparation, it's time to have a look...

==The Green Awakening==

Ridcully finds himself in the Ork Gods' Realm. Two huge Greenskins forever battle there upon a plain, surrounded by mountains. Ridcully isn't alone. Others have come for the show. [[Kairos Fateweaver|Kairos]] is here, so is [[Magnus]]. The latter almost spots Ridcully, but [[Eldrad]] helps him hide. A few less famous Diviners are watching as well.

Suddenly, the two Ork Gods, beings almost as powerful as the Chaos Gods, stop and vanish into thin air. The ground shakes, sending all the diviners flying. The ones surviving watch from the air as the mountains around start shifting.

Crap.

The Ork Gods weren't fighting. They were having a thumb fight.

And now, the true Gork and Mork, more powerful than the Chaos Gods combined, are awake with a loud scream that knocks the diviners back even further.

'''''"oy 'oo iz steal'n our Boyz "'''''

Yes. The Cunning but Brutal Peter and the Brutal but Cunning Pan are really angry that someone's been taking away their Green Lost Boyz and raising them to be civilized, so they've decided it's time to give everyone a proper taste of Neverland.

The Orks have a massive power boost now, and the bigger the WAAAAAGH!, the bigger the bonus. Currently, there are six power levels. You may survive a Level 2 – a few dozen worlds. A Level 3 with a lot of luck. Level 4, starting with a few dozen sectors, is where the bigger players put expansion plans on hold, and the Orks can build Attack Moons (doesn't mean they always do; jumping ahead, none seem to be doing so even a few centuries later). Level 5 is Beast size, except empowered. Maybe the old Eldar could have handled that. Entire War Worlds can be built. Level 6 is Game Over.

==Further discoveries==

Jane is now building a facility for constant production of the Super-Elites, now officially named Last Hunters. Tranth is searching the moon settlements in the system. There used to be a lot of research centers there. Alas, the Men of Iron slagged most of them.

Saint Lin spends two years healing Ridcully from the soul damage suffered. The seer was extremely lucky to suffer no worse. Once healed, he makes contact with Eldrad. They agree to exchange information when needed. That might make you more valuable to the Eldar than you think. You see, the Birth of Ynnead had left the Eldar without a single Farseer (Eldrad is a special, not-quite-mortal case), and the ones they have trained since didn't see as many galaxy-shaking events.

Lin, meanwhile, discovers a new ability; a combination of the knowledge granted by the Emperor and his abilities. He can now study the divine.

Tranth finds a lot of new tech; weapons (experimental ones), Implantation Chair programs, Void Abaci, Cogitators... a lot of it encoded. Most is in the form of Data Jewels; archives intended to withstand AI hacking attempts. The Muspelheim archives contained some of the access codes, but the rest seem inaccessible even with Ridcully's help. One archive, however, seems possible to crack. Not technology.

It has the location of Roskilde; a research and engineering facility a thousand light years away. From the open data, it might have the blueprints for a ship bigger even than the Dreadnoughts.

==The incoming attacks==

According to Ridcully, a large Ork WAAAAGH! is coming, led by an Overlord named Gutcrumpa. That's one thing. Another is, the Abomination is getting serious about Saint Lin. A large Crusade is being assembled at Valinor. They intend to attack while the Trust is busy with the Greenskins. Fortunately, after Ridcully's recent exploits, their plans are an open book for him, so it shouldn't be a problem to hold them off. Not that divining them is so difficult; you can imagine what kind of improvisers the Star Father's servants are.

Jacob vanishes when fighting a rogue Beta. Eight months later, he reappears alongside a young queen of a local insectoid species. According to him, they were stranded together for almost twenty years. In the Caverns.

What are the Caverns? Well, ever heard of the [[Underdark]]? Avernus has one. Insane enough for a daemon to get lost in. Full of threats beyond imagination. Some people do venture there. The threats are to Avernus what Avernus is to a normal world, and the quality of those madmen is likewise. When they get tired of the Caverns, they tend to take a break... as Helguard elites. Still, very few of even the Cavers tend to stray below the shallowest layers. Jacob was stranded much deeper. Deep enough to be touched by a god living there...

=The War on Two Fronts=

A good portion of your elites are away from Avernus, preparing to meet the Orks upon the planet of [[StarCraft|Mar Sara]]. So are almost all of the Trust's forces. Still, you are confident you can match the Abomination's forces, especially since both the Trolls and the Sirens have agreed to send help, along with Lulana, Jacob's new friend (although she has little to offer aside from her own Psyker power).

The Orks arrive with twenty thousand ships, including a 63 kilometre long Hulk and three smaller ones. The Trust fleet manages to take out almost a half of the lighter ships and cripple the big Hulk before retreating from the god-boosted range of the Ork cannons.

In the Avernus system, the Crusade Fleet arrives with over twenty thousand ships, including four [[Battle Barge]]s. The harassing actions and defense over Avernus wipe out the Attack Craft of the enemy and take out the majority of the capitals below Battleship level. You lose most of the escorts.

The Abomination forces land near your capital, aware that this is where the Saint is. You give them a warm welcome with aircraft, Psykers, landmines, Troll geomancy and whatnot. Half their fleet leaves for reinforcements.

As a sidenote, a number of enemies are killed while kneeling. A natural reaction when they see a certain local bird looking exactly like an Aquila...

Overall, the enemies lose around a billion soldiers. 125 million more are then sacrificed to summon a Third Circle Archangyl and his legions.

==A brief explanation about Daemons==

In this quest, there is no single [[Greater Daemon]] category like in canon. Instead, to fix the discrepancy in the power shown, they are divided into several categories. For the four older Gods, these are Aspiring, Favored, Honoured and Exalted. For Tjapa, these are five Circles of Archangyls. Whatever one calls them, the lowest level is one that can massacre whole regiments. The highest, Exalted/First Circle, is guys like [[An'ggrath]], ones who can massacre Grey Knight Brotherhoods and devastate entire worlds.

==Back to the battle==

Despite the Angyls (and the enemy fleet returning, albeit badly damaged by Muspelheim ambushes), you can easily hold the enemies off. You pretend you cannot, however, making a lot of elites concentrate at a spot where a group of Magma Wyrms is about to emerge. By the time the Wyrms are gone, the enemy is missing most of its 100+ Titans and a good portion of the Knights.

Meanwhile, the Archangyl is taken on by Jane, Jacob, Lulana, Aria, Last Hunters and an anti-Alpha Psyker force. In ten minutes, the Daemon is gone. Thanks to Jacob carrying the Black Crystal Sword – permanently.

While the foes are distracted by the carnage, you launch special Deathstrikes at them. A variant based on a local fungus analogous to the Life-Eater Virus. A billion are killed by the missiles. Half a billion more – by their commanders ordering a decimation to stop them from fleeing.

At the Ork front, the enemy has lost most of the space assets. Planetside, meanwhile, the matter is much worse. Tends to happen when just the Overlord's elite guard is two billion Nobz.

In Avernus space, the enemy will soon be unable to both hold orbit and escort reinforcements. That makes them desperate for their first emergency move. Twelve of their biggest ships are launched at Dis to serve as [[Boarding Torpedo]]es. Nine Daemon Battleships and three of the four Battle Barges.

The ships crash into the city as planned. Nine of them close together, the rest scattered. Now, the trick is keeping the enemy at bay without it looking like you're winning, because you do NOT want the Crusade to deploy its final trump card. A Helguard force is deployed against the main push; an Astartes Chapter plus ten thousand SoBs. The Sisters are wiped out in four hours, the Astartes push through. A force led by Angyls, meanwhile, tries to fight through to the city walls. You dispatch your elites, led by Jane, to hunt down the enemy Sorcerers. The forces attacking the wall are allowed to grind through, while the Astartes make it to the center of the city where they face both your heroes and the best elites (Aryz seems to be enjoying himself a lot, taking out the Quartok frustration with the Imperium upon its extremist successors). Klovis-Ultan and his men are handling the infiltrating assassins.

Once you take out the Astartes and destroy most of the Titans in the enemy forces, they see that taking you out with regular armies is hopeless, and decide to finally play that final trump card. Over a billion people are being sacrificed to bring forth a First Circle Archangyl. There are five main ritual locations to disrupt.

In four days, you destroy three locations (with help from the Grey Knights). Then, a local decides to intervene. Some extremely powerful, human looking (except for the grey skin) Psyker massacres through one of the sites, and disrupts the ritual in a manner that kills most of the remaining enemy commanders and elites, along with a few billion troops. The enemy is effectively beaten now, both in space and upon the ground.

On Mar Sara, matters aren't quite as good. While the Trust did take out the enemy fleet and can now land reinforcements, they have only destroyed a third of the Orks planetside. Over fifty billion still remain. By the time you get there from Avernus, it doesn't get much better; while only a dozen billion Orks remain, the Overlord's elite force, ''Da Crumpers'', is still living up to its name. Half the Trust forces are dead, including most of the Astartes and Knights sent. However, Gutcrumpa is dead, and the WAAAGH! Level is now lower. Two weeks of encirclement later, you manage to soften them up enough to take out the leaders with Deathstrikes, after which it's a mop-up, albeit a costly one.

Overall, the war cost the Trust twenty billion people and the majority of your lighter ships (though most are still repairable).

=Continuing on=

Fortunately, the damage to Avernus was relatively light, and most importantly, localized. Meaning you need to pull the ships out of your Hive, patch up the holes, and quarantine the affected area due to another Cultist wave. Would have been an excellent time to buy what you need from Sirens; unfortunately, they had their fill of souls during the invasion, and are now only buying new ones at a 99% discount. The Mechanicus hardly suffered any damage at all, and are already considering an expedition to Roskilde.

On the diplomatic side, you have two tasks. The first is Sphinx aid. In regular mythology they love asking riddles; now here, they love answering them. And the question “What's the access code for the Roskilde map?” is actually quite a valid riddle for them. The second is finding that strange lady who nuked the Crusade.

The map is decoded, although it will take some time to prepare the expedition; a thousand light years is a journey of years with the current state of the Warp. And, before that, over twenty years to fix the ''Well of Urd'', since they're not getting anything closer to a proper [[Ark Mechanicus]] Also, Scott finally restores – with upgrades – that Titan her predecessor died saving.

You make contact with the lady. Her name is Areatha, the Ancient Wanderer. She is indeed a human... mostly. The Dark Age colony upon Helheim was conducting genetic experiments based on local biome, and she is the last one. An impossible success, presumably due to the Planet Mind itself interfering. A stable Alpha Psyker with twenty thousand years of experience. Of course, after so long, she feels little connection to humanity. However, she has no trouble cooperating if needed... for example, to shut down that Tzeentchian Psyker-snatching ring.

In the meantime, the High Council decides that, despite the casualties, now would be a good time to finally take out those Abomination servant neighbors. In five years, all their naval capacity is gone, helped by the fact that their Daemon World capital was claimed by a larger empire. Seven years more, and the whole polity is gone, leaving you with fifteen worlds tainted by Chaos to various extent. Saint Lin states he can reduce the taint level, but it's going to take years per planet.

Diplomatic ties are established with the Nynye, Lulana's people. They turn out to be very knowledgeable in the subject of biochemistry, things like healing and enhancing potions. They are willing to trade potions for ingredients, but in return for sharing the knowledge, they want advanced regular technology. It may look cheap, but is sure to cause a war with the Mechanicus for trading the sacred knowledge of Omnissiah to Xenos. At least, until you realize they will hardly object to you trading away the knowledge of other Xenos, and hand them a Quartok database.

Another WAAAGH! fleet comes. This one is ambushed along the way a few times, thanks to Rids. You do try to be very careful not to kill the Warboss; apparently, he's too moronic to risk someone else taking his place. Ridcully manages to divert the fleet to Svartalfheim; maybe it doesn't have our wildlife, but the city defences there are second to none. With Warboss Headcrusha indeed too stupid to order a concentrated attack, the individual forces are stopped or even routed within a month and a half, with barely any even breaching outer defences.

Headcrusha himself, however, is far more of a problem. No way such a moron could have been in charge without being the deadliest Greenskin around, and he certainly is. The Black Irons are all but destroyed by him personally, along with a couple of Astartes companies. Then Major-General Mineyev, the commander of the Black Irons, attempts to sacrifice himself by shoving a Vortex Grenade down the Warboss'es throat.

He fails.

That is, he fails in the sacrifice. To his great chagrin, Mineyev survives the attack, although the amount of prosthetics he needs now falls somewhere on the level of General Grievous.

The total losses of the campaign are well below a billion, against over two hundred billion Orks counting the ones who never landed.

A year later, that's counterbalanced by events on Avernus. Two Alpha-Plus level Psykers wake up less than a year apart. The first one turns into a Warp Rift right in the middle of one of our island Hives. That one is handled by the wildlife, both Island Turtles and Deep Ones (the proper name for those local Cthulhus). By the time they finish, there is no Warp Rift, no Hive, and no island. One billion casualties. The other woke up and was possessed soon after being detected, when the security forces were on their way already. Jane destroyed the child soon after the casualties reached a hundred million.

In a more long-term problem, we seem to have drawn the attention of Turoq, a powerful and dangerously sane Daemon Prince ruling over eighty worlds a few hundred light years away.

On the bright side, there are two major pieces of news. The first is that the Roskilde expedition is finally being prepared. Ridcully has divined the safest course for the fleet to take, along with saying what are the threats. According to him, the facility has a sizeable fleet of Defence Monitors and some Cruisers, controlled by a Man of Stone who has gone completely insane from twenty thousand years of loneliness. Currently, your Psykers are warding the fleet.

The second event is, the High Council gave permission to make contact with the Eldar for trade purposes. As agreed upon, the Trust gives the Eldar a century-long loan on some of its elites, along with the Blind Seer making a dozen divinations as asked by the Eldar. In return, the Eldar help us send diplomatic missions to the bigger sane human polities through the Webway, and, should these polities accept, arrange a later meeting for a technological exchange.

Oh, also; Ophelia's attempts to bring Xavier and Tamia together was successful. Recently, Tamia gave birth to twin girls.

==Expedition Results==

Tranth returns victorious. Barely. The ''Well of Urd'' is badly battered, the escorts are nearly destroyed, and so are the ground forces, including three Astartes Companies. Archmagos Prime Paladis, the head of the Mechanicus military, is dead as well. The finds, however, are considered worth it.

For one thing, Tranth found nine more Data Jewels. You still can't decode any, but perhaps the Eldar could.

Second, he does bring back the blueprints for a ship. A Deus Class Superdreadnought, a forty kilometre monster equipped with an antimatter reactor, hundreds of overpowered Plasma cannons, armour that shrugs off cruiser fire, Tachyon sensors, enough room to carry and deploy fifteen billion troops...

The one minor downside, of course, is that you can't afford it.

Also, you get the blueprints for a Heaven Class Superfortress. Three times the size of a Deus, same technology, same downside. Plus, it doesn't have the systems that allow a Ramilles to be towed through Warp.

The last piece of technology, however, is one you can build. A type of one-shot launcher for Torpedoes. Strap them to your ships, and watch the enemy run into a wall of explosives.

=Red Skies=

Three hundred and five years after the settling of Avernus, another surprise Daemonic incursion comes, this one from Khorne. This time, you are more prepared; for starters, your comms are intact now.

Most of the attack is directed at an empire located upon another continent. Your people face three major forces. One is after Areatha. She and your forces take it down. One goes after Ridcully. He is almost killed, but his bodyguards hold off the enemy until Jane and Jacob arrive to take the leader out. The last force is directed at Dis. You are almost killed by the enemy commander, but Major Ajax, one of your oldest friends and the head of your bodyguard, takes the hit instead.

The total losses amount to a third of your military, but the civilians lose less than five percent. The morale is high, but there are some issues with the Mechanicus due to the death of Archmagos Paladis' successor.

The cultist surge is much smaller this time, even without accounting for the population growth. However, it is stronger among the military here, to no one's surprise.

Meanwhile, Turoq keeps raiding the Trust. While his losses are high, he does manage to kill the Governor of Asgard during the biggest one. Worse, he managed to get away with samples of our tech, meaning he can count on major support from the [[Dark Mechanicus]] for future attacks.

And, as a final, galaxy-scale problem, it seems Vect has, among his possessions, an artifact capable of forcing anyone to stick to a pact they made. And he is in talks with Slaanesh about trading his and his people's souls.

=The Recon and the Grand Conclave=

The Eldar have transported your diplomats to the bigger Human empires. Regular diplomats went to establish ties with Callamus, Julius went as an emissary to his home of Ultramar, and Saint Lin went to Imperium Quartus, the recently established realm of the Four Primarchs (Vulkan was very displeased at what his daddy put him through, and crafted him an Auramite rod to help with the soul pains – and smash daemon skulls). All of them agreed to meet for a technological exchange in twenty or so years, once the details are worked out.

Before then, however, the Eldar contact you with a proposition. They're feeling out the ground for freeing [[Isha]], and that means scouting out Nurgle's Mansion. They are gathering whatever Diviners are up to the task. Should Ridcully participate, they'll consider the Divination costs paid. Depending on the results, they might even owe you a big one.

After a bit of deliberation, you accept.

Lin divines what he can about Nurgle, you ask for aid from the locals (receiving a few potions to help against the rot), and, under the cover of a hundred attacks launched upon the domains of the Lord of Decay, Ridcully slips in. The requirements are to get into the Mansion from the garden (goes smoothly), and then scout out at least to the kitchen (a bit of disease sets in, but not too alarming). However, Ridcully decides to do more. To explore as far as possible.

He makes it to the door of Isha's jail. The locks are beyond his ability to break, but Ridcully does find a tiny hole Isha had poked through over the millennia. Not enough for her to get out, but she does pass through a note for her children, along with a blessing to help him get it back. Even with that blessing, the seer almost dies. Him getting the note was felt by Grandpa Nurgle, so he rushed back home full speed. As a result, a lot of the distractions were highly successful; in particular, [[Typhus]] is now truedead.

The Eldar owe you Massively now, and Ridcully is officially added to their pantheon. Turns out Isha's note contained about five terabytes of medical knowledge, including IVF technology upgrades, which makes it as priceless as it gets with their current demographic situation.

The favors didn't come a year too soon; Turoq and the Dark Mechanicus are preparing a general assault, and you could really use the help. For all your achievements, his worlds are still too far to counterattack.

Turoq's attack on your colonies results in him being destroyed by Areatha, the remaining fleets retreating in disarray before the Eldar. The Dark Mechanicus' attack on Asgard is repelled by forces under your direct command. The last force, at Muspelheim (originating from your once friend planet of Atlas), is bogged down trying to take the planet's flying cities long enough for the Eldar to join the defenders. Lostech surprises and all that.

Soon after, during a High Council meeting, you realize something. Remember that super-sneaky Catachan regiment? Now, its commissar is a strange guy named Dalv Sepet. At the same time, surviving records of Muspelheim mention a famous Helheim explorer named... Vlad Tepes. The names... could there be a connection?

First, however, you must attend the Grand Conclave. It turns out to be... quite the sight. The leaders of the three other polities attend, including Vulkan and Corax. These two bring Great Crusade era technology, including [[Thunder Warriors]], along with their own developments. Imperium Secundus (the Ultramar realm) brings stolen Tau tech. Callamus brings the technology of its Forge Worlds, mostly industrial. Finally, the Eldar, represented by Eldrad, bring some human tech they have collected over the millennia, along with the decoded data from your Data Jewels. Most importantly, it seems the Eldar have found the blueprints for the Psychic Cannon. Not the [[Psycannon]]; the unique starship-scaled DAoT weapon only a single ship had in the Imperium. Hardly surprising, considering its tech level seems to be at least halfway to Eldar weapons.

==Back home==

Everyone at home is really pleased with the results of the Conclave – even though the Conservative Mechanicus are on the brink of rebellion now.

You find a few hours to speak with Dalv. Yes, it turns out he is indeed that ancient explorer, who is quite pleased you've finally figured it out. Now you have another person who, like Areatha, can help you with contacting locals. Among other things, he has a friend named He-Who-Walks-Obliquely, an ancient Border Lion. Border Lions are both extremely stealthy and one of the few local species capable of traveling off planet, so the possibilities are considerable.

Meanwhile, Syr gets married to an Asgardian noble named Sigmund, while you, for the first time in your life...

...take a vacation.

==Darker Events==

It seems Vect has completed his treaty with Slaanesh. Slaanesh gets everything Vect has, while Vect gets every Eldar Slaanesh has. A few manage to get away in time; [[Lelith Hesperax]], for example, threw in with the Empire of Ashes, although they still demanded a few centuries of her proving herself before she gets out of the penal battalion.

According to Ridcully, the Tau and Imperium Secundus are soon to be attacked by a surviving [[C'tan]] named The Destroyer. There is little the Eldar can do aside from wrecking the Webway in the vicinity, while the Necron are too wary of The Destroyer's... well, Destroyer Virus abilities.

Someone keeps stealing Avatars. Ridcully, at Eldar request, determines it's being done by [[Arhra]], who's trying to restore Khaine. Of course, Khorne is trying to hijack the ritual.

Saint Lin is now entering his final decades. Among other things, it means a considerable hit to the Abomination should he manage to die a natural death. That means you are likely to soon face an actual incursion targeted at you directly.

Finally, some of the Tyranids have slipped past the Necrons and are once again invading. By the standards of the War in the Void, those are mere Splinter Fleets. For the Imperium, they would have been whole Hive Fleets. One is coming our way. At least there is no New Devourer in this setting; the closest you have is some older weird Zerglike Kroot/Tyranid hybrid, thankfully non-expansive, plus a group that now appears to be composed of Necrodermis at the cost of slower breeding. They're headed for Quartus. You are going to face Fleet Grábakr, a Psyker-heavy force.

=Living and Preparing=

Syr gave birth to a son; a cute little boy named Tormod.

You ask locals about helping with the Tyranids. Areatha points out a local dolphin species that has anti-hive mind abilities. The Nynye agree to help with some anti-Tyranid poisons, so long as they get samples. You ask Dalv whether HWWO can help with that. Next week, your Magos Biologis finds a [[Norn Queen]] corpse stuffed into one of his fridges.

In the Council meeting, a rather unexpected decision is made. Instead of letting the Tyranids grind through the nearby Chaos polity and Ork worlds, you will instead fight on the far side of them, to avoid the bugs gorging themselves too big. Bombardment is to be used when possible, Exterminatus when necessary. The Eldar are sending their forces (may send more if we call in some of that favour). Local humans are to be protected as much as reasonably possible.

Meanwhile, you establish contact with the Lizardmen.

==Lizardmen==

The Lizardmen are the most powerful and respected of the Peoples of Avernus. Unfortunately, they are currently divided. Once, they were ruled by the [[Slann]], the God-Priest lieutenants of the Old Ones and all but unmatched Psykers. However, around the end of the War in Heaven, the Slann were wiped out, and ever since, the two kingdoms, Skink and Saurus, have been at near constant war due to blaming each other for letting that happen. In addition to getting their people divided, the loss of the leaders also limits their numbers, since only the Slann could build the Birthing Pools they require to reproduce.

They do still have a few things in common. They both still have the First City, Itza, the center of their civilization, the tomb of the Slann, and a bastion which countless thousands of Daemon Incursions have assaulted to be destroyed. And they have the Ancient One; a veteran hero of the War of Heaven, a mortal before whom the Exalted flee.

The Skinks can trade War Beasts to you, while the Saurus can trade relic weapons. It's a tough choice. Fortunately, Saint Lin manages to talk both sides into a ceasefire, allowing you to trade with both.

==The Great Idiot==

Meanwhile, Ridcully has managed to divine the location and plans of Arhra. It seems he's trying to revive Khaine upon the world where the latter slew [[Nightbringer]]. For that, he's using all the Avatars gathered. There were nine hundred. The Eldar still have twelve.

You can probably see the tiny problem the number he has presents...

As soon as they get wind of that, the Phoenix Lords run to stop him, taking along eleven of the remaining Avatars. You can assume they are cursing hard enough to make a pre-Fall Eldar faint.

By the time they arrive, the ritual is close to completion. The site is besieged by countless Daemons of Khorne, including Angron himself.

Desperate, the Phoenix Lords merge with the Avatars, becoming minor gods themselves. The Daemons are driven back.

But they are too late. The eighth day is here, and the collected shards merge into an Avatar, not of Khaine, but of Khorne. With all the Phoenix Avatars and Arhra against it, the Avatar is forced to flee, but remains intact. Arhra then flees as well, still claiming he did everything correctly and it's the others' fault.

==Bold Plans==

It appears Abaddon is now fully aware of the Tyranid threat, and has dispatched task forces to deal with every Splinter Fleet not headed for his enemies. That's good on the galactic scale, but means trouble for you, since it means a huge Black Imperium fleet headed your way.

After some thought, you come up with your craziest plan ever. If Vlad had managed to spend centuries undiscovered as an Imperium Commissar, surely he can spend a few more years pretending to be a Chaos Lord.

And so, him and He-Who-Walks-Obliquely massacre the leaders of that task force, with Vlad pretending to be a survivor and now in charge.

Saint Lin, meanwhile, continues talks with the Lizardmen, hoping to turn the ceasefire into actual peace. The Krork have agreed to send an emissary to help him.

At the same time, he works on another plan. Knowing he doesn't have long, the Saint intends to go out in a truly spectacular fashion. For years now, you've been asking everyone on Avernus and beyond if they can help him with one final ritual.

To heal Primarch Guilliman.

Meanwhile, the Tyranids, despite your efforts, have reached the Chaos polity. While they are much weaker now, they are expected to be back at their old strength or near so by the time they chew through. That gives you a couple of decades to prepare. 

Vlad does manage to infiltrate the fleet and steer it away. The target is a large WAAAGH! chosen by the Eldar, so hopefully, should the plot be discovered, they're the ones who will be blamed.

Peace talks, likewise, are surprisingly successful. Hopefully, it will last. Lin even gets a Paragon trait.

Before the final plan can be carried out, however, there is one final problem.

=Gilded Skies=

Once again, a Daemon incursion. This time, as expected, it's Tjapa's forces, with their sole objective being the death of Saint Lin. Ridcully warned you about it an hour in advance – enough to redeploy some of your forces and get Lin into your Ultra-Secure Vault. The vault was built to house the most secret of your artifacts and knowledge, and had almost managed to stop He-Who-Walks-Obliquely from getting in. As such, there is no question of the Angyls slipping in. They'll have to cut through.

You evacuate your Psyker trainees, Ridcully's Eldar bodyguards call for help offworld, and Ridcully does his best to guide the Ancient One to hunt down the First Circle Archangyl headed for Dis.

Two days later, fifty million Eldar Wraiths and thousands of living Eldar arrive. So does Areatha. More Avernus natives are converging on Dis. The Archangyl, however, manages to evade the Ancient One until it gets to Dis, but thanks to Areatha's help, with only two hours to spare. The Angyls already at the capital, meanwhile, are attempting a grand ritual to summon another First Circle. Sallies by your forces, along with swarms of Dragons (led by an old one wearing the Black Crystal bracers) stop them... for now. Unfortunately, the First Circle already here is powerful enough to summon its brother quickly. It arrives an hour before the Ancient One. All the forces the Eldar have brought are arrayed against it, along with your elites...

And all they can do is hope to slow it down.

They do manage, by an hour and a half total (a good portion of it is by a division of Caver militia). Then, the old Dragon battles it personally, and delays it by five and a half minutes more. Finally, seven minutes from the Vault (and before you are forced to engage it personally), the Ancient One catches up. An hour later, the battle is over. Of course, a number of districts are wrecked as collateral, but the Archangyl is Truekilled. Meanwhile, a Lizardmen host arrives to aid your armies.

The cost is heavy. Billions of dead. Your elites are a shadow of their former might. And your daughter has lost her husband.

==Chaos and Saint==

The Cultist uprising is stopped in two years this time. Two billion dead; half Cultists and half your troops.

Lin is entering his truly final years now. The ritual cannot be delayed anymore.

As soon as the cults are stomped out, The Saint goes to Ultramar. Ridcully comes with him, bringing Isha's blessing and a purifying Rune. Eldar come. An elixir is brought, made by the best brewers on Avernus. The Chapter Master of the Ultramarines participates, using the Black Crystal Jewelry.

The Saint manages his part. The damage to Guilliman's soul is repaired at the cost of Seamus Lin's life. The rest... doesn't go so well. Ridcully and the others do manage to purge the poison, but it does more damage than expected by then. Until other means become available, the Primarch will need a Dreadnought Suit.

You build a small basilica for the Saint. It's located in the main Psyker school, giving the kids some respite from Chaos and helping them train.

=Fleet Grábakr=
The Tyranids are close by now. Of course, you've prepared your share of surprises. You have trained thousands of Thunder Warriors. Tranth had finished an Ordinatus. Eldar and Dragon's Nest help was requested.

Also, remember that Gravity superweapon ship? Turns out it is an array meant to manipulate entire fleets. Not quite Grav-Weapon level, but enough to make it hard for the foes to evade or catch up with your forces. Unfortunately, it was intended for use with an AI level of processing power. Without it, the best Tranth can manage is some basic manipulation in a well familiar system after a few years of preparation.

Vlad was recently forced to abandon his undercover position as a Chaos Lord, but the task force is already bogged down fighting the Orks thanks to his efforts.

The Tyranids will be attacking over the course of the next four years. There are eight forces, and with the additional fleets you've requested from the Eldar, you only expect real trouble in the third year, when three systems are to be attacked. It is decided to concentrate the fleets at two of the systems, while the third one tries to hold the enemy off until the other forces are freed up. You choose the Knight World of Hvergelmir.

The first two waves are destroyed with acceptable casualties. Now, the triple attack comes. The Trust's best forces, yourself and your best heroes included, are waiting planetside.

The Eldar deploy their infiltrators to sneak Nynye poisons onboard the enemy fleet. By the time they evolve countermeasures, almost a quarter of the Hive Ships is gone, including the four big flagships. Then, a battle involving your defences saw most of the smaller ships gone on both sides.

On the fifth day, the enemy landings start, with you attempting to delay them the best you can. Three days later, the Tyranids deploy, and the real battle starts. For a week, the battle goes about as expected, then the bugs start deploying Bio-Titans and grow bases. A week later, you start withdrawing into the main stronghold. That takes two weeks and billions of lives. Meanwhile, in the void, only a few dozen Hive Ships remain of the enemy force. The Eldar are slightly better off.

The siege doesn't go too well, due to a heavy presence of enemy Elites. Not only are there plenty of Bio-Titans, but also a new type of assassin unit. A [[Broodlord]] with an Alpha Psyker's power. Chapter Master Julius is comatose, a few more heroes are heavily wounded, Jane has killed four; Alpha Psykers are her specialty. However, the enemy is still gaining ground. Fortunately, right as you start considering retreating further, the last Hive Ships are wiped out, and the land forces go feral.

In total, the war cost the Trust a hundred and twenty billion men. And a naval battle had claimed your daughter's life.

=Larger Problems=

A few years after the war, Ridcully brings warning of a massive threat rising. The Five Chaos Gods are working on a major joint project; to weaken the veil between the Materium and Immaterium. This should give a massive boost to their Daemons and Sorcerers (and, to a lesser extent, your Psykers as well). Fortunately, it will take time for them to assemble the required sacrifices – dozens of minor gods, along with each of the Five snuffing out a Warp Storm. Plus mortals, of course. Left alone, they'll be done in thirty years. The Eldar are doing their best to add a few more decades.

Meanwhile, another friend of yours starts feeling old age will claim him soon. This time, it's Klovis-Ultan. He is working on some major project as his swan song.

On the bright side, Ridcully predicts a long period of relative calm over the next few decades. Well, the Mechanicus Conservatives are going to finally start their revolt, but he gives enough detail about their plans that it should be squashed easily.

Another High Council meeting occurs. This one sees a single major decision, one that was being prepared for a while. To merge the Imperial Trust with Dragon's Nest. This means the Trust effectively quadruples in size, not counting the now-started colonization of the Valinor Subsector. It requires a long debate on how to best rearrange the government. Then, the real work starts.

Since no major trouble is expected on Avernus, you spend twenty years aiding the Eldar forces as a commander. Klovis-Ultan's plan is revealed; a major effort to subvert the [[Alpha Legion]] forces in the area to work for him.

The Eldar, meanwhile, reveal their plans for the Grand Ritual. It is expected that the Five will attempt to backstab each other to tilt the benefits of the ritual in their favour. Nurgle is attacking Tzeentch. While that happens, they intend to use an Avernite force (a factor Nurgle doesn't know they have access to) to finally free Isha. The force will be composed of Ridcully, He-Who-Walks-Obliquely, Areatha and the Ancient One.

In the meantime, with Ridcully's help, the Eldar manage to capture Arhra. He also helps them delay the Ritual (through intercepting the ships carrying sacrifices).

The Mechanicus Civil War is brief, and mostly limited to Vanaheim.  Unfortunately, it costs the planet a good portion of its shipyards. Klovis-Ultan passes away, his final task complete.

Unfortunately, you lose your grandson, Tormod. The boy was born with extremely strange luck, with constant strange events plaguing him, much more likely to either get him a trait or kill him. All or Nothing. He rolled Nothing.

Ironic, that upon a planet where the survival of civilisation depends on people breeding as fast as possible, the Governor would have no living descendants.

=The Grand Ritual=

The Ritual starts. Each of the Five is busy in the Storm he sacrifices (four are canonical to Warhammer, Tjapa's is naturally not).

Nurgle is opposed by the Ynnari. Khorne by the Krork. Against Slaanesh, the Silent King sent his more broken-down (read:redundant) subjects like the [[Flayed Ones]]. Tzeentch is facing a big WAAAAGH!!! Tjapa is assaulted by a collection of minor gods, Warp-stranded misfits and Imperium remnants like the [[Lamenters]]. [[Malal]] isn't idle either.

The Ynnari move as soon as Nurgle backstabs Tzeentch, Avernites helping them as much as they can (that enormous serpent in the ocean? The Deep Ones opened a rift for it to use its breath upon Nurgle's forces). The Lord of Decay is forced to split his attention, and HWWO slips into his realm, carrying a pouch containing the Ancient One and Areatha. Ridcully follows as an astral projection. All are wearing and carrying whatever ancient artifacts the Ancient One got and the World can spare.

The four slip into the Mansion without a problem, but by the time the Border Lion gets to the door of Isha's cell, alarms have been tripped. HWWO and the Ancient One are holding the Daemons back while Areatha is fiddling with the locks. At first, she doesn't succeed, but then, the door shifts...

...into a woman's shape.

After all these years, it seems Nurgle had succeeded in having a kid with his beloved. And the good news is; she seems to be a mommy's girl. What can you say; the more the merrier. You all climb upon He-Who-Walks-Obliquely and flee the Mansion. You do cut it a bit close, with Papa himself right behind you, but do manage to jump out. Right onto the trophy capital of Abaddon's Black Imperium. Cadia.

Four Exalted Daemons of Nurgle are chasing you, along with some forces from Khorne and Tjapa. HWWO runs into orbit, dropping behind a small present from Avernus. A few bombs made by a local Termite race of mad scientists.

Exterminatus grade bombs.

Right as Abaddon's fleet is exiting the Warp near the planet, he sees his trophy world fall apart before his eyes. Some of his ships are blasting at you, but the beams are swatted away by the Ancient One's spear. Time to go home and report the mission successful. And the first thread of the quest, concluded.

=Aftermath=

The Grand Ritual is concluded. All Psykers in the galaxy have effectively gained a level in power. Daemon summoning is a lot easier.

Khorne and Tzeentch have managed to gain a lot of power. Tjapa and Nurgle have lost it instead. Slaanesh is effectively unchanged.

One tenth of the Ynnari are dead. A devastating blow, even considering the return of Isha. Also, Vect is starting a serious attempt to drive them out of the Webway.

The Krork have lost a lot of their numbers. For a while now, they've been forced to slow their expansion, due to being surrounded by a thousand sector strong WAAAGH! Still, they are certain that even with these losses, they'll break out in a few centuries, especially since they are now building Attack Moons.

Due to the weakening of Tjapa, a new problem approaches. For centuries now, his forces in the Sol System have been holding back the now awoken [[Void Dragon]]. It was never in doubt that the C'tan will eventually win, but now, its breakout is imminent.

Ridcully, meanwhile, made a big step. Two, in fact. Before his death, Saint Lin had determined the ways for a mortal to become a god. One of them is embodying a particular Archetype; being one with an Idea. The way includes nine steps, each making the Ascension ritual easier. And Ridcully – not intentionally at all, mind you – is walking the path of the Blind Seer. He is now on the sixth step, two of those gained by his recent Heist. Areatha is moving on that path as well, except she's adopting the archetype of the Magical Girl.

And of course, now you, personally, are facing a few short-term problems.

For centuries now, the Trust's policy was to remain beneath the sight of the bigger players. Now, of course, it's no longer an option.

For one thing, Nurgle is pissed off at Avernus. You can be certain that, once he licks his wounds and prepares, the full might of the Lord of Decay will be unleashed.

For another, Abaddon knows of you now, is aware of how many secrets you may be hiding, and is really pissed off about the annihilation of Cadia.

And finally, the Ancient One is now owed a favour by the Eldar. And his request is simple. That Isha revives the Slann.

The Slann coming back is going to be a huge game-changer for the galaxy. The problem is; the Chaos knows it. As soon as they realize what's happening, you can be certain an incursion of Chaos Undivided will be set loose upon the planet, on a scale unheard of.

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