Imperium Asunder Campaigns

So here's a wiki page for the campaigns of the Imperium Asunder Universe.

Campaigns of the Great Crusade

Censure of the Iron Hearts

I'm guessing Balthasar got to their homeworlds, but didn't quite realize how ridiculously tough the Iron Hearts were going to be. He was used to them being not only sickly shits, but severely understaffed sickly shits. He was met by an army of supermen way tougher than any standard space marine, their ranks bolstered by moderately superhuman auxiliaries and their weaponry optimized by the influence of various Dark Age technologies. He was totally unprepared for what he found and way too overconfident, and his Legion were never master siegebreakers in the first place. In many ways, save for their willingness to spill astartes blood, the Bloodhounds were among the worst Legions that could have been mustered to fight the Iron Hearts. Running into a wall of dakka is generally going to get you nowhere. I imagine it like Balthasar trying to headbutt an egg, secure in his belief that it will splat instantly beneath his super dense skull, but then it turns out the egg is solid adamantium and now he's bleeding everywhere and it's all in his eyes eugh ugh geh.

Basically, he had to make a hasty retreat to pull reinforcements in, and in the time it took for him to do so Rubinek in his sons had made their escape. That makes a heck of a lot of sense. I imagine that there would be bloodhound fleets tasked with hunting him down and erasing the legion's shame. Ooh, that gives me an idea for a character:

>Captain tasked with leading the assault on the Iron Hearts home world >things go poorly and he had the misfortune of surviving >leaps at the chance of hunting down the Iron Hearts >Spends the next century tracking them down, occasional raids >recalled by Balthasar for the heresy, since the Iron Hearts are to be allies in the Warmaster's plan--he's just told that bigger issues are at stake >refuses recall order, tells balthasar where he can stick it >catches up to the Iron Hearts en route to the Ultima Segmentum >the Iron Hearts have scattered >the hunt is on!

Campaigns of the Heresy

Oathsworn Compliance

Realizing that the greatest barrier to his rebellion is the Oathsworn, The Warmaster plots against them.

Prelude

>Censure of the Oathsworn

997.M30: Four entire sectors brought to compliance and garrisoned by the Oathsworn go silent

998.M30: Reports filter in that the Oathsworn have declared independence from the Imperium

999.M30: A compliance fleet drawn from ??? legions arrives in sector and finds this to be the case and engages in a pacification. Though troubling, the event is seen as an aberration.

002.M31: Six chapters of the Oathsworn are reported missing and are later seen raiding outlying sectors.

003.M31: A massive psychic shockwave rocks the palace on Terra. Custodes are seen on high alert and Sisters of Silence are recalled en mass to Terra.

004.M31: These Oathsworn are brought to battle by ??? and in the resulting boarding action, documents are found linking this insurrection to the one of 997.M30, along with something further. An additional chapter of the Oathsworn goes rogue, turning on the Judgement Bringers.

The world of Paladins of Kor world of Monarchia is found having been scoured of all life, presumably by Oathsworn gene-weapons. Kor swears vengeance.

005.M31: [Redacted] calls Faustus to account for these acts, but the diplomatic party is returned to Terra as a flesh-ooze. Communications break down and war breaks out on Luna. The call for Censure goes out to the Legions.

Here begins the Siege of Luna. Here begins the Censure of the Oathsworn Proper.

Siege of Luna

005.M31: Judgement Bringers and Paladins of Kor are deployed as part of the first wave on Luna, with Judgement Bringer forces forming the fortifications and manning the artillery while the rest of their forces ostensibly rotate in. The Paladins bear the brunt of the casualties, alongside forces from the Storm Hammers.

006.M31: The Silver Spears and Eyes rotate in, alongside Sky Serpents and Fists of Mars forces. The Paladins are beginning to be rotated out, but the Fists are redirected to Mars. Massacre at Cadia goes down.

The full extent of the Heresy is revealed as the Paladins, Hammers, and Knights expeditionary force is exhausted and daemons take the center stage.

To jump over to the Oathsworn, I'm thinking once the heresy breaks out in earnest and Terra comes under siege, Faustus pulls out the stops. He'd been figuring that the Emperor and Malcador would bring an end to this nonsense. Kor and Enoch were both fools, but when the magnitude of the betrayal is revealed, Faustus pulls his really weird experiments, the ones that pushed the bounds of acceptability, things of the sort that the Warmaster had accused him of having. Simultaneously, the betrayal at Cadia doesn't go quite as well as Enoch had claimed it would, with rumors of Oramar's interference. This diverts the Warmaster's resources from the Sol System, meaning that Faustus gets some breathing room and starts launching meteors to Terra. This is where we end up with Silent Knights fighting daemons while riding on gene-dragons. Faustus manages to get in touch with Sinistrum on Mars, but Sinistrum is doing everything he can to keep the red planet from falling as it is. The Battle for Terran Orbital space is insane, with the fronts shifting based on orbital alignments of Lunar and Terran anti-ship weapons and the positions of orbital plates and weapons platforms. So it is in the skies of Terra that the Angels and daemons fight as stars fall from he the skies. Battles rage at a thousand forts on both worlds as forces seek ways into the heart of the loyalist centers of resistance and the daemons just keep coming.

That's what's etched into the Oathsworn psyche, visions of a mad battle, holding positions for other legions to take up. It happens, finally, but in the end, the Warmaster infiltrates the palace somehow and assassinates the Emperor, the rest of the traitor legions having done their job and kept the loyalists at bay for long enough.

Penance of the Warhawks

Once the Warmaster calls for the Censure of the Oathsworn, Raydon openly rejects the orders - ordering his men to hide / protect the Oathsworn attachments.

He then goes to the Warmaster and hands himself in, for what he sees as an act of 'righteous treason'.

The Warmaster is furious, but sees this as an opportunity to 'turn' the Hawks (after all they did just demonstrate a willingness to be treasonous).

The Warmasters plan is thus: > send the Hawks away on 'penance quest' > Heresy occurs > Ravenloft (closest thing to a home Hawks have) is destroyed, conclusive evidence shows it was done by who we would call loyalists. > Warmaster beseaches Raydon through Enoch - Come back and help us (the loyal defenders of the Imperium, these traitors are trying to kill papa) > Raydon is like "Opportunity for absolution, fuck yeah" > All of Raydons bro's are with the Warmaster except Klaus (who is dead by now) > Tell Raydon one of the others killed Klaus though trickery or witchcraft. > Have Hawks fall to chaos

Unfortunately for the Warmaster, Raydon secretly assigns his Vigilator Primus (his top operator) to go the Tournament, where he sees what REALLY happens.

> Enoch seeks out Raydon and tell him his version of events > Raydon is like "bro you lying" > Enoch gets mad > Raydon is like "oh btw, while you've been monologuing I had your ships engines sabotaged - imma go now

Which leads to The Return of the Warhawks, which is their arrival during what I call 'The Exodus' which is the loyalists fleeing East. They arrive and throw themselves into the pursuing forces, this is the first instance of their inner darkness coming out, with the ferocity and recklessness that they throw themselves into this. >im talking piloting ships into pursuing vessels >kamakazie pilots >self destructing void engines to temporarily incapacitate the traitor fleets. They also do their normal hit & run, space guerrilla fighting as well. Long story short is they feel shit for missing most the heresy, and figure 'the void is our turf' so they do as much as they can to halt / slow the traitor forces chasing the loyalists.

In return they take fairly large losses both in material and personnel, more than they can reasonably bear being such a small legion to begin with, but the Loyalists make it to the East with the Hawks falling in close behind.

> flying right into the heart of the worst Warpstorm front ever recorded.

I am having a lot of fun coming up with the speechs the Hawk commanders give to their men before entering the warp storm. So far I have.

>We will not complain about the wind before us, nor will we expect the winds to change, no, we are Astartes of the Emperors chosen legion, we are Warhawks, we will set our sails and ride the wind like none have ever done before!

>This is the True Storm, the roughest that will ever be known. Let it prove us. Let it redeem us. Let our strength be known!

>There are some great sessons that can only be learnt in the calm of the void. There are others my brothers, that can only be learnt in the storm.

>If my highest calling brother was to preserve this ship, I would never have taken it from its home port. We ride.

>Chapter Ancient: My Lord, our fleet cannot withstand this storm. >Raydon: No my friend, this storm cannot withstand us.

War on Mars

>Civil War breaks out somehow on Mars >It takes a lot longer than it does in Mechanicum, perhaps the Vaults of Moravec aren't opened until midway through the heresy, since the early heresy is being masked as a campaign against Faustus and the Oathsworn. >With the traitor's most potent weapon neutralized, they have to start with 'conventional' war. >Sieges of Mondus Gamma, Magma City, among other sites. >Absolutely massive Engine War, as Knight and Titans are unleashed in their whole Legio glory >Loyalists being pushed back, losing ground >Sinistrum is rerouted from Luna to go deal with the situation >Great advances are made, he takes back all the way to the Yalu rim. >Gengrat comes >Oh shit. Daemon engines. >Loyalists retreat, taking what they can with them >Gengrat chases them off world, but other than a token fleet, he strangely stays encamped on Mars, guns towards Terra. >They say he's looking for something in the Noctis Labyrinthis

Battle of Armageddon

>clad in his Knight Thanator chassis, Sarco besieges the central manufactorum-hive of Armageddon >its population are soon revealed to be long dead, and a deranged Gengrat emerges from between the hive's teetering spires piloting a gargantuan biomechanical monstrosity wrought from mechanicus steel and woven hiver flesh >a retinue of similar beasts tear free of their abhorrent wombs buried in the deeps of the hive and lumber toward Sarco >securing his mammoth power sword and shield-mounted graviton imploder, Sarco transmits a hellish roar, tearing through the beasts. Their claws rake the adamantium from his chassis, tearing loose thick arterial pathways of ancient tubing, spilling prometheum across the hive by the gallon. Still he advances >his beasts torn asunder, Gengrat charges his own steed. The battle shakes the surface of Armageddon, but eventually Sarco tears a chink in the abomination's armour, plunging the barrel of his graviton imploder into its innards and collapsing the beasts' internal organs in upon themselves >tearing Gengrat from his steed by his mechandrites, he hurls the traitor down, every bone in the Primarch's body shattering as he crashes down amidst the ruins of the hive >offering his devotions to the Emperor, Sarco moves to crush the maniac traitor underfoot, but is stilled by the sound of warning sirens calling across Armageddon, indicating that someone has initiated the planet's own Exterminatus Protocols, and the world's surface will soon be bathed in nuclear fire >bringing a nearby hab block down on Gengrat with a sweep of his blade, he leaves the crippled Primarch to die in the blaze >Gengrat's laughter echoes across the wastes, even as tons of concrete wash over him

Siege of Terra

The Exodus

At Terra, the Warmaster sneaks in, disguised as a Custodian and assassinates the Emperor. There's a few primarchs on hand, and they're on the walls in the maelstrom of battle, so Klaus goes after him while Faustus and Engerand? (or one of the other Primarchs) remain to keep the front stable, as best they can. They organize a retreat. Faustus takes the Emperor's body and puts it in a stasis casket guarded by a special Oathsworn detachment. Probably an honor guard of Custodes, too. He loads it onto a ship. Engerand loses track because FUCK FUCK FUCK, Klaus is dead too, now. All seems lost when the combined Scion and Sky Serpent drops out of the warp. They cover the retreat as Faustus drops the moon. Somehow, the Casket ends up on the Scions flagship. Cue dramatic scene where Sarco looks down from his casket and can't even touch his father. Dreadnought tears.

So the Scions and Serpents cover the retreat all the way back to Amaranth, mostly Scions since Xun speeds off to Tepectitlan. They reach Amaranth as the storms worsen. Ships are unloaded with the treasures and relics of the lost West and hidden in the catacombs of Amaranth as a bunch of Judgement Bringers begin the Century Siege. So the Custodes and Oathsworn stay with the Casket down in the Omega Vault, while above them the siege rages. The whole sector is under siege, really. (The other option is that the Casket is picked up by the Scions, it's guard having been slain or something.)

Crusades

Great Crusades

1st

Loyalists push back. Judgement Bringers and Negators fight their way toward Amaranth but get stalled eventually. Loyalist forces are sent packing back beyond the Tempestus Gap.

2nd

Waaagh! The Beast is in full swing and the loyalists attempt to take advantage. The Maelstrom Zone is retaken and holdouts are established throughout Segmentum Tempestus. Engerand loses an eye to Kashaln.

3rd

Spearheaded by the Judgement Bringers and Iron Hearts Legions, the forces of the Dark Imperium swarm Segmentum Tempestus in an attempt to scour it of loyalist holdouts. The loyalists respond with a furious counter-offensive, the entirety of the Forgespace and the Unyielding Vigil mobilized to combat the forces of Chaos.

4th

The Void Lords locate a tenuous passage through the Firewall into the Dark Imperium. The Astra Telepathica is mobilized to light the way and a vast host is assembled from every Crusader State, accompanied by household fleets and militant orders. They tear into the unguarded, unprepared worlds on the other side of the Firewall, establishing a beachhead for further offensives. Several gains are lost when the Crimson Warhawks unexpectedly diverge from planned operations, Raydon having heard tell of the Warmaster's location. He boards the Warmaster's flagship and bests the daemon prince, but cannot kill him, and is executed by Kashaln.

5th

The Firewall's light flickers, and a passage opens between the Jade Empire and the Unyielding Vigil. Both Crusader States mobilize to stem the inevitable tide of traitor forces that surge into loyalist space. The fight is bitter and bloody, but comes to an abrupt end when Xun vanishes into the Firewall and it mysteriously reignites.

6th

A champion of Khorne achieves eminence among the warbands of the Chaos Marches, and is given Balthasar's blessing as Huntmaster. The resulting frenzy of violence spills out over the borders of the Storm Kingdoms, worlds burning in its path. By the time the forces of the Kingdoms and the Protectorate have put a stop to the devastation, Engerand has lost his left arm and the border worlds of the Kingdoms lie in ruins.

7th

High-Marshal Engerand, seeking to preserve his domain from further attacks, proposes that the loyalists seek to extend their beachhead on the other end of the Firewall across its northern stretch, creating a defensive line. Forces of the Jade Empire, Unyielding Vigil, Forgespace, and Imperium Minorum push from the beachhead, while Storm Kingdom and Protectorate armies attempt to fight their way around the northern edge to join them. The Warmaster's response is swift and the campaign proves a shambolic failure, the loyalist forces constantly harried by Warp Raider efforts. Engerand is killed by Aodhan, though he manages to teleport them both into the bridge of his burning flagship as it careens out of orbit. The traitor Primarch is not seen again for many years.

11th

Saul Sheridan is brought forth from the Warp as a Daemon Primarch of Nurgle, triggering the Nuglite Schism. Nurgle forces throughout the galaxy mount relentless attacks against all living beings, the Crusader States put aside their differences to form a cohesive counterattack. He launches his omnicidal campaign with the simple command "Apocalypse now."

13th

Chaos warbands of the Behemoth Guard, the Judgement Bringers, and the Arms of Asura, gathering across Segmentum Tempestus for years in preparation, converge on the Providus Sector of the Unyielding Vigil, just below the Firewall. After a mercifully brief series of battles, the offensive appears to crumple, and the Loyalist forces chase their foes through the upper arch of the Segmentum, hoping to rout their enemies and deal a significant blow to the Warmaster's forces. Soon after these forces set sail, the Warp becomes turbulent, and the Silver Spears appear to strike at key targets within the Loyalist ranks. The Traitor Legions previously thought scattered turn to continue the fight, additional enemy forces revealing themselves to be waiting amidst the Tempestus, and the Crusade transforms into a protracted game of cat-and-mouse that stretches on through the first segment of M42.

As the Crusade in the upper Tempestus grinds on with no end in sight, the Crusader States watching with apprehension and uncertainty at the true severity of the situation, the ancient bindings that preserve the Firewall's glory begin to flicker and wane, and, for the second time in recorded history, a Great Maw begins to yawn open, this time in the contested zone of the Antonine Gulf, between the Unyielding Vigil and the Jade Empire. With speed that speaks of readiness, forces of the Bloodhounds domain, the Second Sons, the Fortress Worlds, and the Eyes of the Warmaster swarm the Gulf, establishing a series of fortified footholds in the mostly unclaimed territories. Forces from both nearby Crusader States are diverted to contain the onrushing threat, but internal difficulties on both sides slow down this process. Much of the Vigil's military arm is tied up on the Tempestus Front, while, in the Jade Empire, there are quarrels regarding the severity of the breach - many shadowy internal projects, considered essential to victory by their political proponents, hoard defensive forces further into the Empire, denying the Front their presence. Reinforcements from the other States are slow to respond, partially due to their own misgivings, but in no small part due to the worries of groups inside the Unyielding Vigil and the Jade Empire. In the Vigil, those engaged in sensitive heretek experimentation have no wish to evade yet more watchful eyes, and in the Empire, esoteric research foundations fear that heavy interference in the Realm could lead to the destruction of their projects.

This state of affairs continues for almost a century, the traitors advancing quickly to take the majority of the Gulf, eventually pushing upon the border worlds of both nearby Crusader States. It is amidst this atmosphere of distrust and chaos that an unexpected rallying cry emerges from the depths of obscurity. Borne back from the Front along with her fallen brethren, Sister Agathys Thera of the Order of the Dolorous Blade rises from the sleep of death, and the procession is diverted towards Amaranth. Bestowed with a gentle strength and authority, she enters the Tomb-Fortress of the Undying Scions, seeking an audience with Sarco Funerus himself. When she returns, she is another creature entirely: in her hands, she bears the flaming sword of the Emperor himself, ferried back to Amaranth along with his corpse. Her eyes blaze with fire and her command is absolute: the Servants of the Emperor will fight, and fight, and fight, until the day the Warmaster stands at the feet of his Maker. Promising not only to oust the traitors, but to cut like a blade into the depths of the Dark Imperium, she returns to the Front alongside the forces of a galvanized Unyielding Vigil. News of the Agathyian Miracle spreads quickly, and armies from across the Ultima Segmentum converge to fight and die for the dream of an Imperium once again in Loyalist hands. The traitor forces are deeply entrenched by now, however, given plenty of time to reinforce their positions by the indecision of the Crusader States, and pushing them back from whence they came will require yet another miracle.

All the while, the sprawling, disorganized wars fought in Segmentum Tempestus continue in earnest, a vast open maw slurping eagerly at the lifeblood of the Crusader States, constantly demanding more meat for the grinder. The Silver Spears, drawn together by the appearance of a being calling itself Slaanesh Incarnate to assault the worlds of the Eldar Empire, are seen less and less in battle with Loyalist forces, while an assemblage of Undying Scions successors fight their own battles with the Eldar, trying and failing to cut through the center of the xeno dominion under the rally of Idrias Stern, hoping the encircle the traitor Legions. The Orders the Broken Blades fight a bitter war of vengeance against the forces of Chaos, news of the Agathyian Miracle spurring many of them to push recklessly for the Fortress Worlds of the Iron Hearts. All around, traitors, loyalists, and mercenaries of all species continue to fight and die in the mire of Segmentum Tempestus.

Other Crusades

Damocles Gulf

Alexios goes to glass Tau'n and Kor tries to stop him.

Warp Raiders and Negators show up to fuck with Alexios.

Angels of Light might well accuse Kor of collaborating with heretics, and perhaps a decent number of observers buying it. (Maybe a deliberate goal of the Warp Raiders in order to destabilize the region or something? Heck, the other states might even get together and invade the Protectorate.

I imagine the Angels would also blame the Serpents. Even if the Serpents do maintain official neutrality and manage to be sneaky about moving the Tau who manage to survive the Angel's reprisals, the Angels are going to suspect them. I don't think any of the states will take accusations of the Serpents attacking the Angels in collaboration with the Negators and Raiders seriously, but I imagine that suspicion will abound that the Jade Empire prospered from that war. Trying to shape events to kill Alexios? Not at all, but using position and 'neutrality' to salvage Tau technology and scientists? Most definitely.

So basically, I think the aftermath of the Tau crusade opens major rifts that are still at play when the 13th Crusade hits, the kind of situation where there might well be fleets in the warp bound for nascent warzones in other states which are re-directed to the gap in the fire-wall.

Maybe the Sky Serpents are fighting the Angels on some moon, one legion or the other are reinforcing a PDF or something and so as the Astartes charge, a call comes in, the same call to both sides, and the Astartes stop mid charge, the marines defending the position lower their weapons to listen to the message coming in. Part of the firewall has collapsed and traitor fleets are pouring in. The issue is instantly forgotten the armies return to orbit together as part of a single redeployment to be sent into the heart of the Maelstrom Gap.

"Of course the cursed Warmaster would know when we are weakest, and strike when our backs were turned. His Eyes see all. We have been blooded by the alien and the mutant, and now the Heretic has come to slit our throats. The White Angel's ashes blow in the winds of Tau'n, and the slithering mass of Tyranids creep upon Cydonia's doorstep.

Damn us for being blinded by petty grievance, for our lack of vigilance has damned mankind! The End times are upon us, may the God Emperor have mercy on our souls."

>Ionnas Komnene, Strategos of the Griffonwing chapter