Quest:The Long Night:Sparks at Midnight

Sparks at Midnight

You start preparing as much as possible for the coming wars. The economy, by now, is strong enough that all the PDF can be given Power Armour. You train the forces, fortify the Hives, surround them with moats of molten silver...

And are fully aware how little that will mean against the full fury of one of the Five.

The rest of Avernus isn't idle either. Old weapons are dug up, cooperation is taken a few levels up, fortifications and plans everywhere.

Ridcully says that Nurgle will strike twenty-one year after the Heist of Isha.

He also divines Abaddon's action. The good news is: the Despoiler is too busy to lead a distant campaign on the scale required. Don't celebrate just yet though. Instead, he sends one of his chief vassals/rivals, generously gifting him all the area within a thousand light years of Avernus. Of course, if said rival fails against what is effectively a one-sector polity, Abaddon cannot be considered at fault here, right?

Who is the guy, you might ask? One of the sanest and most powerful servants of Chaos in the galaxy. Primarch Perturabo.

At the High Council meeting, the others aren't too pleased at the Trust's cover being blown without everyone's approval. Nothing can be done about it, however, so instead, we mostly discuss preparations.

About half of the Eldar's favours are spent. First, of course, they are used for bringing forces to help with the Incursion, its aftermath, but mostly against the Iron Warriors. Second, we ask for Isha and her daughter to help with vaccines and antidotes as payment for those years aiding the Eldar as a general. Third, some of the weaker Sane polities are evacuated by the Eldar into the Trust.

The Vestri League is too big to evacuate, but we do send them some of the ships and weapons from the evacuated planets, along with allowing them to settle a world inside the Trust (in case they get wiped out). Finally, you ask the Eldar to work with Tranth on improving the human Warp Drives, and bring some of the more dangerous galactic wildlife to Avernus for the Planet Mind to incorporate.

After the meeting, there is another Grand Conclave. The composition is somewhat different this time; Vulkan doesn't have Corax with him, Imperium Secundus is represented by Guilliman (now out of his Dreadnaught, thanks to Isha), there are representatives from the Krork, Tau, and some other Sane forces. The meeting starts with Eldrad summarizing the state of the galaxy.

About as one would expect. Apocalyptic threats all over, the only thing saving the galaxy being them fighting each other. The Chaos and the Orks are constantly being directed against each other, although the Eldar aren't certain how much they can keep this up.

Three C'tan are active. The Dragon had finally broken out of the Solar System, with Eldar now having to all but directly assist Abaddon in holding them back (effectively to the same extent they assisted the Old Imperium). The Destroyer is pushing back the now united Imperium Secundus and Tau and is expected to destroy them in a few centuries without some major game-changer (Guilliman returning isn't enough). The Deceiver is currently manipulating some major Sane power, but no divination has managed to tell you which one yet.

The Silent King is biding his time.

Overall, Abaddon and his vassals hold about half the galaxy. The rest is other Chaos forces, plenty of Orks, and countless other horrors common for Warhammer. The Sane powers are only holding a few percent of the galaxy. Still, they are holding.

To your surprise, during the tech sharing, you do manage to keep up with the bigger players with the amounts provided. Some of it is medical knowledge, which you start incorporating as soon as you're back home.

The preparations for war continue. You manage to outfit all the PDF with basic Power Armour, and about half the Helguard with advanced variants; you put everyone through training in preparation, establish better coordination with natives, etc. Offworld Avernites in the Trust Guard are recalled, the children and the weaker fighters are evacuated, and help is brought in from other worlds.

Fortunately, it seems not only do the natives prepare for the Incursion, but so does the planet itself. No rogue Psyker had caused any damage lately; every single one was killed by Blink Spiders before they could make a spark.

The Green Skies

The three times seven years pass. Finally, on the seventh second of the seventh minute of the seventh hour of the seventh day of the seventh month, the polar rifts are torn open, and the plague tide is unleashed.

One of the two Exalted leading the charge, Sevenfold Scujon, walks into the World Serpent's breath and flashes aside with some wounds. The other, Qogbeth the Gatherer, is locked into a temporary prison by an entire kingdom of the Penguin Guardians of the polar rifts, and is flung up in hope the orbital defenses will slice it up. Qogbeth manages to break out in time, but doesn't manage to dodge the Serpent's breath. With both Exalted weakened, it takes the Incursion a whole day to bring down the fortress walls of the Penguin Kingdoms; twice what was expected.

As the horde marches south, your fleet rains fire upon it. So does the world, by conjuring up some runed asteroids. It also provides your ships with millimeter-accurate targeting data. Of course, with the amount of power Nurgle burns through, every square kilometer of the horde is revived as soon as you burn it, but wasted power is wasted power. Herds of beasts billions in size trample and blast through the legions. The force passes about fifty kilometers away from your closest cities, far enough to only do minor damage. At the end of the fourth day, it reaches the sea to start crossing onto the Lizardmen continent. Of course, both the land and sea wildlife do everything they can, with the World Serpent, in particular, taking on Slogoth Poxbelly, the mightiest of the Exalted.

By the middle of the sixth day, the first enemies make it across the sea. They are attacked by local wildlife (reanimated to fight them again once slain), blasted with spells, have mountains raised in their way...

None of it is enough against the full fury of Nurgle. Two hours short of a week into the incursion, the Siege of Itza begins. In the meantime, your cities are under pressure, but holding.

The Siege of Itza goes as expected at first. Then, portals open, and two additional foes arrive. Primarch Mortarion, with the best of his Legion, and Be'lakor, the First Daemon Prince.

The First Prince goes to engage The Ancient One, his old pal (no exaggeration here: after sixty million years of duels, they have a lot of mutual respect for each other). Areatha, meanwhile, taps into the Geomantic Web (the planetary ley lines energy network), and casts two prepared rituals. The first one wipes out the Death Guard and the siege gear they brought (Mortarion is wounded but not too much). The second brings to Itza the Fortress Trees of Avernus (giant plants that grow around the polar region and do exactly what you would expect), along with making the space between them an area where The Good Always Wins in the End.

Another Great One, Mother of Death (think Hela from the Norse myths), working alongside He-Who-Walks-Obliquely, manages to banish Mortarion, now missing a few limbs and a good portion of his strength. The fight between the two Time Abysses is evenly matched for now.

In the meantime, your cities are holding with acceptable casualties. A few walls are chipped, but none are breached. Would have been very different if not for your Eldar allies (and if Ridcully was here instead of Itza). The leaders of the enemies attacking you are known as the Court of Bloat and Flies; seven Honoured good at working together to great effect.

Not so much this time. The Eldar manage to clear the path to one. The guy, one Festirstrol Bilgefinger, looks confident about the odds, but right as he's playing Loves me, Loves me not with an Eldar Titan's limbs, Jane shows him this is no time for romance. Permanently.

The Ancient One manages to banish Be'lakor. On the other hand, the daemons manage to wipe out the Trees. The siege of Itza continues to press on. Your cities are hard pressed as well. Nynye are being hit very hard. HWWO takes Mineyev to help them. This time, the guy, after days of fighting, sets off a Vortex Grenade while inside an Honoured Daemon's mouth.

Poor bastard still fails to die.

As it all happens, Tzeentch, followed by the other three gods watching the show, decides this is the perfect time to chip off a few pieces off Nurgle's domain. And so, eighteen days after the incursion began, the forces of Plague are forced to go home.

The casualties among your forces are heavy, but tolerable. Only two Generals dead. And, most importantly, not a single city was breached.

The next four years are a full-on war against the cults and plagues. A quarter of the population present at the incursion is lost, along with more military. Once again, would have been worse without Eldar help.

The Galaxy goes on

Ridcully is now busy on two main fronts with his divinations. The first one is Asdrubael Vect, who is trying to drive his sane brothers out of the Webway. The second is Ahzek Ahriman.

What's the deal with that one, you might ask?

According to Rids' divinations, Tzeentch is a god who ascended from a mortal. Or rather, will ascend. There doesn't seem to be a way to prevent it, but the details, like the time and the mortal's identity, are as undetermined as anything about the guy. Ahzek is the main runner for the Bird's throne right now. While you don't care much for whether it will be him or someone else, newborn gods do tend to receive a major temporary power boost, so you would rather delay it until the galaxy is a bit less of a clusterfuck.

Rids is trying to track him, Areatha aids the Eldar with the hunting, and you have your own problems.

Perturabo's vanguard had arrived in the area to take over the local Chaos polities. The Eldar did their best to wreck the infrastructure, and are now raiding the Iron Legion forces.

You are expected to deploy your forces in twenty years, and decide to use the opportunity to fiddle with the army composition a bit.

The four trillion refugees start settling in the Trust. Issues are minor so far, except for the Vestri League people. They accuse one of the newcomer Marine Chapters of raiding their worlds.

Areatha tries to destroy Ahzek as he tries to gain a level by killing Iskandar Khayon. Unfortunately, Khayon summons an Exalted he had a pact with, but fails to contain it. While Ahriman is forced to flee with the Exalted pursuing, Areatha barely survives, with wounds Isha will have trouble healing.

The Avernus Army starts its reorganization. According to the plan, your militia and PDF are to focus on urban fighting and not to be deployed offworld unless really needed. The higher tiers now have better training and gear at the expense of quantity. Helltroopers are mainly assault units, while the Helguard has specialized formations for all kinds of tasks. Also, you create a new top tier called the Heljaegers. These are bodyguards, Titan Hunters and Astartes Hunters. However, most recruits of that quality go into the Psyker Hunter forces.

Perturabo arrives in the region, and Ridcully starts divining his plans. In a few years, that makes the Primarch take enough casualties to start reviewing his tactics. The raids on the Vestri clans are divined as well... yes, you might have guessed it. The Space Sharks are making resupply runs in their regular polite manner. Oh, and they want to join the Trust.

Then you go to another High Council meeting. This one, naturally, is mostly about the war. The Trust is generally capable of holding its worlds, though a few regions can't spare anything for counterattacks. For now, that's fine with you. After all, with a significant portion of the Iron Realm's 180-sector military in your vicinity, attacking a fortification expert like Perturabo appears... unwise.

With the Sharks, you propose the following idea. Most of the Chapter goes to protect the Vestri League as compensation for the raids. You keep a few Marines in your territory to bring up the Chapter's numbers. Hopefully, you'll manage to restore them into a form more appropriate for Sanity forces.

Also, you are elected to be in charge of the Trust's military. At least you manage to convince the rest to let you decide how hard to cling to each planet: it's not good being predictable when fighting a Primarch.

Ridcully divines Fabius Bile. It appears the guy is splicing Tyranid and Marine DNA, along with Primarch samples. The Eldar tip off the Silent King about his plans and location, confident that after all his struggles to exterminate the bugs, he'll take it personally enough to handle the problem.

As for Avernus matters, you contact the Troll Remnant Kingdom.

It appears the tribes we've encountered earlier are but some kids compared to a much larger realm. Good thing we've started negotiating when we did, because these guys were just about growing concerned about you bullying their baby brothers, and might have interfered. And these guys aren't stone age savages; they still retain a certain amount of the legacy of their ancestors; the True Trolls, some of the mightiest War in Heaven warriors. The Remnant people had spent sixty million years attempting to reproduce the power of the True Trolls, and while they did fail (the procedure was extremely Unobtanium-dependent), even the failure left them masters in advanced material and technology production. Great. You can trade now.

The Iron War divinations go smoothly, both for attacks and infiltration. However, it seems Perturabo is soon going to be annoyed enough for a general assault.

You face two major probes. Each one is numbering in the tens of thousands of ships. The Eldar take most of the ships out, but enough enemies land. One force is routed quickly, the other takes two years of siege.

Meanwhile, Vect is trying to drive the Empire of Ashes out of the Webway. For all of theirs and Ridcully's efforts, he is worryingly successful. Seeing the Eldar distracted, Perturabo brings up his schedule up a bit more.

Fortunately (or not so much), a new player enters the field. Normally, the Dark Eldar forces have to deal with a large Ork Waaagh! directed at them by the Empire of Ashes. However, lately, Vect had managed to shatter it, leaving him free for his assault. Fortunately, it seems Khorne doesn't like a servant of Slaanesh doing so well, and decides his favourite toy could use a change of scenery. Tuska Daemon-Killa leaves the Eye of Terror to take charge of the leaderless Boyz.

A minor detour: The Triumvirate

The Triumvirate. It started its existence centuries ago, as the Aetheric Concordat. As you might remember, while Ridcully and the others were scouting out Nurgle's mansion, the Eldar were providing all kinds of distractions. Among them, an alliance of gods working together against him. To everyone's surprise, the guys found they liked working with each other, and the alliance stayed ever since. At first, there were many gods of all kinds there, like a Magos who accidentally created an AI, with both becoming gods during their attempts to evade the Imperium, or a cook god who was so badly damaged by a Slaaneshi Exalted he only retained the skill to make sandwiches.

During the Grand Ritual, the Concordat was nearly destroyed. Only three remained out of it. Tempered in the fires of fighting Tjapa, they are now more powerful than most Exalted. The three are Zahhak, the Goddess of Free Will, Ruick, the God of Defiance, and Faust, the Goddess of Unity. Their followers are mostly the petty forces of the galaxy, like subsector powers, single planets, or worldless fleets. These are known as the Ten Thousand Points of Light.

The Iron War

You've been preparing a lot for this. Fleets training, armies training, Psykers training, factories working overtime... and now, the hour has come.

Perturabo has decided to make the main strike at the Trust's shipbuilding capacity. While there are sizable secondary attacks, the main assault is headed for the shipyards of Vanaheim.

The Primarch's fleet comes out of the Warp. To think of the time when a dozen ships on each side were a war...

The main force consists of over three hundred thousand ships. Forty thousand of these are capitals. Proudly leading the fleets are thirty Glorianas. Yet all that is dwarfed by Primarch Perturabo's trophy flagship.

The Phalanx.

What Perturabo sees before him is about what he expected. About a hundred thousand Trust ships, a hopelessly minor force for him. Around them, the much larger forces of Eldar. And in the midst of those, brought to combat the Phalanx, is the Craftworld of Biel-Tan.

Once he approaches, however, two huge surprises are revealed. First, all those Trust factories working overtime were producing Dark Matter and Vortex weapons, making your ships a killer against Pert's heavies. Second, the Eldar did a bit of cultural exchange lately. Biel-Tan is there, all right, but the rest of the fleets are Krork. Different tactics needed, and the Iron Warriors aren't prepared.

The advantage is exploited to its fullest. Before you know it, the Phalanx loses all its escorts and weapons, along with the emergency Warp-Out system. Furious, Perturabo orders the forces outside Vanaheim to wreck all the shipyards they can, and the forces inside to cover the Phalanx as he tries to limp out of the system, your Gravatic Array ship doing its best to drag it down.

While fighting tooth and nail, the Iron Warriors' fleet dwindles rapidly. However, Perturabo is almost in position for regular Warp jump now. But then he sees...

Six Eldar Wraithships on a collision course with the Phalanx.

Realizing what it means, Perturabo calls upon his powers to destroy the ships. The Phalanx has no weapons left, but the abilities of a Daemon Primarch are sufficient. Two ships are crushed out of the Void. The other four reach their target.

And so do the Cyclonic Warheads onboard.

The wrecked Phalanx stops. Perturabo escapes into the Warp, knowing his now weakened realm will need a lot of personal attention. You are left with a heavily infested moon-sized station and a lot of war damage to repair.

In Vanaheim system, the shipyards are untouched, but the six secondary targets are mostly badly mauled. One attacking force was destroyed by Biel-Tan arriving (Honsou was the one in charge, now he's dead), two more by defenders and regular reinforcements, the rest managed to withdraw or flee with heavy casualties.

So, in total, Perturabo lost over a quarter of his forces, including the irreplaceable flagship, one of his best and sanest commanders, a lot of reputation and sanity, and is now facing a lot of greedy neighbours, along with a Waaagh! the Eldar have directed at him. For the next century at least, he won't be in any position to attack.

Now that you have the Phalanx, it is decided that you are to clear out and purify it (with Eldar aid), and then sell it to Imperium Quartus in return for replacement shipyards. Hopefully, Vulkan will think up some proper upgrades for the ship. And, now that the surrounding Chaos is largely leaderless, the Trust launches an expansion campaign.

Cleaning up the Phalanx cost the Trust a hundred billion soldiers. Hopefully, it was worth it.

As a minor sidenote, during the battle, survivors from the Iron Knights Chapter have arrived in your system. They were forced into an exodus due to the Black Imperium , and now, after centuries, are hoping they found a place to settle in. Well, who are you to deny them?

Back to Avernus

With the losses of the war, it seems feasible now to reform both the Trust Army and the Trust Navy, as well as work on some new ship designs. With the Avernus Navy, however, you come up with a more radical decision. You are simply going to turn it over to the Trust, leaving for yourself only the Orbital Defences and Monitors.

Aria, meanwhile, while researching ways to break down Warp effects, has discovered something interesting. The Winds of Magic. While you did know already about the Skink Priests using them, this shows humans might be able to as well. And the Skinks are willing to teach you. It seems that ever since the Slann died, Areatha was the only person to learn High Magic.

The Eldar come to Avernus with the last Avatar of Khaine. In a desperate move, they use the accumulated faith of the surviving Siren church to revive it back into a full god. It works, although of course the reborn Khaine is not nearly as powerful as before. On a less bloodthirsty note, Isha managed to restore her husband, Kurnous. Soon afterwards, she arrives at Avernus in order to revive the Slann.

It is estimated she will need eighty years to a century. At least fifty years will pass before Chaos notices. Gives you some time to bunker up.

Psykers have been on a rise lately. Over a hundred Betas every year, and Alphas creeping up to a dozen. Enough to strain the Hunters. Now, you learn the reason. The world has bred a trainable Alpha Plus. A boy named Stephen Irwin, who currently spends as much time as possible close to Saint Lin's tomb.

Remember Ridcully divining how to build some ancient gear? This time, he finally managed (after a dozen attempts) to divine how to fix one very ancient piece. A broken Blackstone Fortress the Eldar have. Should be a big help against the Destroyer and other C'tan. And speaking of C'tan, he also manages to thwart a major effort by them. An attempt to use a pawn in order to breach Abaddon's containment on the Void Dragon, allowing it to omnicide the galaxy.

Who this (sadly dead now) pawn was, you might ask? Turns out it was Omegon. Yet another poor Primarch dead...

Tuska is doing well against Vect. So well, in fact, that in a few years, the regular Eldar start worrying. Thankfully, with Ridcully's aid, they manage to arrange all the mess into a nice little showdown. Tuska's WAAAAGH! manages to cripple Vect's empire, but then the Eldar assassins manage to kill the Greenskin, and the horde is shattered once again.

On Avernus, you are sparing no expenses on preparing. The militia are getting Power Armour, the ones on Avernus do, at least (the moons have three times the population by now, but you can't afford equipping them). Combat augments are being upgraded. Already your elite forces would have been enough to take out all of the Old Imperium's Astartes. Layers of fortresses are being built around your Hives. The Hives themselves are being fitted with Psychic Cannons. In the upcoming incursion, you can only hope no significant force will be headed your way.

Twenty years after Isha's arrival, Ridcully states you have fifty years. That means ten to thirty years of incursion until the first Slann wakes up. On the bright side, The Silent King had finally exterminated the last Tyranid ship along with Bile onboard. You are also notified about an upcoming Ceremony of Remembrance, a once-a-millennium event where the Avernites recollect the history of the galaxy. You should probably visit it. First, however, you should go to some other, more peaceful places; the workload lately has been enough to make you faint.

Ridcully manages to divine a couple more things. First, a long-time suspicion of yours is confirmed. The polity manipulated by the Deceiver is the Tau. Second, he divines the Men of Iron rebellion. Turns out Be'lakor was the one responsible. The motives are unknown. He also manages to help Stephen pass. Barely; for all of the World's efforts, the power of an Alpha Plus is still straining human ability to control.

Speaking of Be'lakor, the guy has recently grown tired of all the squabbling and pointlessness of the Chaos Gods. He decided to leave their service – as much as it is possible for a Daemon Prince, at least. The resignation was handed to them in a manner befitting a fifty-seven-million years old manipulative bastard.

During a duel meant to empower Ahriman by arranging for Kairos to defeat Skarbrand, he interfered. Kairos was slain. Skarbrand was badly wounded, but Be'lakor cured him of both the wounds and the madness Khorne gave him after the assassination attempt.

At the cost of his Daemonhood.

The now mortal Skarbrand was sent away, and Be'lakor, while still retaining the Blessings of all Chaos Gods, cannot be commanded by them unless all five agree on the order. A rare occurrence, but the upcoming incursion might just be critical enough for that to happen.

Trades

You have been trading with a few groups on Avernus lately. Prices are high, it's a good thing that now, after the Mechanicus rebellion was crushed, you can trade technology properly.

Some groups can trade you little more than ingredients and construction teams. Others are... more interesting. A group of Cavern-dwelling Sirens, for example, trades away the services of some mercenaries to combat rogue Psykers. Another group of Sirens you contact gives you some Dark Age tech they managed to keep.

The Remnant Kingdom trades a lot of technology and Psyker techniques. Some is improved material production, some is for better armour servos, guns, but there are also better materials, like multilayered alloys, better Ceramite analogue, stronger Adamantium, and, most powerful of all, Orichalcum, a material derived from the study of The Eternal, a not-entirely-successful Great One (think bronze-coloured Vibranium and you won't be too far off).

The last group is the Penguins, the Guardians of the poles. Their price is you building some Psychic Cannons for them, as well as the Grey Knights teaching them some of their skills. The latter part would normally be outside your authority, but the late Klovis-Ultan got the Knights to agree to that a few centuries ago. In return, the Penguins give you their own Daemon-fighting knowledge, but also a supply of a certain fish living in their region. A three-eyed fish. According to data found on the Moons, its genes were used to create the first Navigators, and now, with the fishies in your hands, you can finally create new lineages to freshen up the inbred decayed dregs the Imperium and you had to work with.

Speaking of Navigators, study of the Winds shows Azyr can be used to enhance their abilities. They learn the basics easily enough, although it will probably take them decades to work out the proper techniques.

The Ceremony of Remembrance

The first seven years you have spent at the Ceremony of Remembrance at Itza have covered the early existence of the Old Ones, including their first encounter with xenos and the creation of the Lizardmen, as well as their early attempts to shepherd younger races, to varying levels of success. These tales have covered the first ten billion years of the Old Ones existence, and you haven't seen a single reference to events that you have heard of. Its hard to picture just how old the Old Ones truly were, and how long their civilisation lasted. You thought that the Ancient One was old, but the Old Ones usually reached a billion or more years before moving on. The final five years of the Ceremony of Remembrance is where you started seeing parts of history that you recognised. That part started eleven billion years after the Old Ones left their world, when an intergalactic army of robots invaded the galaxy aiming to wipe out all life. At first the Old Ones, never having needed to wage war before, were on the backfoot, but within a few decades they turned their powers to war, holding the line even as the First Spawning of Saurus Warriors was spawned. It is here that the Ancient One, silent until now, starts speaking. He speaks about how he and his kin were armed with weaponry devised by the Old Ones and Slann, and sent into battle, and how they at first held the line and then started pushing back the robotic hordes. In many ways, it sounds like fighting a robotic version of the Tyranids, with them retaining the same ability to rebuild from near-total losses if they had raw materials. The Ancient One goes into how as the war went on he and his brothers learned more of the ways of war, and their weaponry and tactics became more and more effective, allowing them to push back the foe. A thousand years after the war had begun, the last invader was destroyed, and the Old Ones set to work on healing the galaxy of the damage inflicted. While the galaxy seemed to have returned to normal, there was a new addition, with the Saurus Warriors joining the Kroxigor Builders, the Skink Administrators and the Slann Mage-Priests among the servants of the Old Ones.

Eighty million years later a new race rose to prominence, the Necrontyr. This barbaric race was ruled by a hereditary noble caste that constantly warred among each other for more wealth and power, and was short-lived due to inbuilt genetic issues making cancers common. These rulers noticed the immortality of the Old Ones and their servants, and desired it for themselves. The Old Ones refused to pass on the secrets of immortality to the rulers of the Necrontyr, worried about making an immortal ruler caste and instead offered a cure for the Necrontyr's cancer which would allow for the entire population to reach a decent age, not just the ruling caste who could afford the treatments that the Necrontyr could make themselves. The Necrontyr refused, and shortly thereafter declared war on the Old Ones as part of a political ploy to stop various rebellions and attempts at secession, a war that the Old Ones quickly won. After winning the Old Ones drove the Necrontyr back to their core worlds in the Halo Stars, and exiled them there until they can more peacefully interact with the galactic community that the Old Ones had set up. The Old Ones hoped that the Necrontyr's defeat and humiliation would break the dominance of their ruling caste, and allow them to form a more stable, and less aggressive, form of government. As unrest started to tear down the Necrontyr's social order it looked like the Old One's plans would come to fruition, and then another force was brought into the equation. The Necrons managed to attract the attention of the C'Tan, the star grazers an ancient race older than the galaxy itself which feasted on the lifeforce of stars. It is unknown exactly how the short-lived Necrontyr attracted the attention of these beings, but the result was clear. With the guidance of the Star Gods the Necrontyr pushed their already advanced technologies ahead by leaps and bounds, and the various insurgents were put down for a time. Soon enough the C'Tan offered the Necrons as a whole the immortality the Old One's once denied their ruling caste, in the form of bio-transference. With the acceptance of this offering by the Silent King the immortality, and unity, of the Necrons was assured, as was their eternal service to the C'Tan, who had drunk their life force as they were transferred in a great betrayal that still haunts the Necrons to this day.

With that, the War in Heaven started in earnest, with the Legions of the Necrons spearheaded by the C'Tan pushing back the Old Ones and their Saurus Warriors on all fronts. Soon enough the Old Ones started to seek the aid of those species that they had uplifted in the past, and further uplift them to boost their ability to aid. With this, the Necrons rapid push slowed to a crawl, with them slowly pushing back the forces of the Old Ones and their allies. In response, the Old Ones started making entirely new races to wage war against the Necrons, with the Krork being the most prominent. This slowed the war into a stalemate, with ever more advanced weapons being deployed on both sides. Soon enough weapons of such power that they could not be used in the galaxy without destroying it started to be deployed and then pulled back, creating the very real risk that nothing would survive the War in Heaven. This forced the war to drag on evermore, as no longer did the sides need to simply defeat their foe, but they now needed to also devise counters to all of their foes superweapons. None remember exactly how long the War in Heaven lasted, and none can as time itself was but another weapon in that war.

The tales of the War in Heaven lasted four years in total, and included tales of such heroism and grief that you wept at them.

Eventually the C'Tan and their Necron slaves stood ascendant, and crushed all but a handful of scattered remnants of the Old Ones forces, who were getting ever more desperate in their efforts to avoid defeat. It was at this point that the last Slann of Avernus, and probably of the galaxy attempted to create a weapon that can easily slay even C'Tan, and brought the End of All into the galaxy. While they managed to seal what they had brought forth into the shape of a blade and bind it with thirteen seals the aftereffects of their actions brought their end, and brought Chaos into existence. At this point the Necrons turned on their C'Tan masters, shattering all of them in one of the greatest feats in the history of the galaxy. This was not without cost however, as the C'Tan took the vast majority of the Necrons fleets and legions with them, leaving those few that remained in a bad positions to deal with the scattered remnants of the Old Ones forces and the various apocalyptic forces unleashed by both sides over the course of the war. As such the Necrons withdrew to hidden Tomb Worlds, and entered into the Great Sleep while their automated systems rebuilt their forces.

This left a handful of scattered races of the Old Ones allies and servants as all that remained in the galaxy, along with dozens of apocalyptic forces, including the newly risen Orks that rose out of the grave of the Krork, the Enslaver Plague, the Time-lost, the Primal forces of Chaos, and many other forces out of nightmare. Three million years after the Necrons entered the great sleep the Aeldari emerged victorious, being the only forces left in the galaxy with any real strength. Thus began the era of the Aeldari Dominion.

For fifty-seven million years the Aeldari Dominion dominated the galaxy, despite the occasional rise of the Orks, the K'Nib or other ancient foes. In this time Avernus, the last remaining outpost of the Lizardmen and through them the Old Ones continued its ancient tasks, waiting for the Old Enemy or the Folly to return to haunt them. Then came the Fall.

The last six months of the Ceremony of Remembrance covered the Fall and events since then, events that you were already familiar with. It was amazing to see yourself and those you know in the final stages though, and to know that as long as Avernus existed your deeds and struggles would not be forgotten.

Back to Work

So, now you know. That blade that you've been using to cut off daemon heads, and some big lizard was using as a toothpick, is actually a weapon which was intended to kill Star Gods, and instead almost doomed everything (and still might).

Aria had finished a project studying Blanks. Interestingly, it seems their force isn't actually the opposite of Warp. Instead, it is something that repels Warp effects. It's not quite clear what the force is; for now you call it life energy, although stars also seem to have a lot of it.

Tamia finishes a thirty year long course studying rituals under a local master. For starters, she designs one for driving daemons away from breaches long enough for repairs.

In the wider galaxy, one major problem rises. Gork and Mork seem to feel they are running low on the energy stores they are feeding into the Green Awakening. So, before they run out, they seem to be powering up as many Level 4's as possible (last gamble... sounds so unorky). The Eldar beat down as many as they can, at a heavy cost (their population actually falls despite Isha's blessings). One or two still remain in position to join the Eternal Conflagration surrounding the Krork.

And as if that wasn't enough, Ridcully makes a divination to check some rumors drifting around Pacificus. The rumors are confirmed. The Slaugth are back.

The Third Grand Conclave

Well, first there is another Council meeting. Two main decisions are made. One is to start creating new Navigators. That required some backroom talks with the existing Houses, to assure them they retain control. The second is about the Vestri League. Our favorite Squats have been hard-pressed by a nearby Chaos realm lately. Probably won't be so much now that we've sent them a few tens of thousands of our obsolete ships.

Then, it's time for the third Grand Conclave (my, has it really been 150 years since the last one? Time flies). There are three new faces of importance. Commander Farsight, the Blood Angels' Lord Commander...

And Admiral Spire.

Here, he came out of the Warp a few thousand years later than in Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II. For the past centuries, he's been fighting Chaos wherever he can (thankfully, he has a Paragon trait allowing his forces to suffer far fewer permanent casualties in battle). Right now, he's helping out the Silver Skulls, the only sizable Sane polity in Obscurus (four Sectors). With him guiding their fleets, the Skulls have managed to not only take territories from Abaddon, but even rout a retaliation force of Dragon War veterans led by Telemachon Lyras himself.

The Silver Skulls' four sectors contain a seventy trillion population. The Trust is 55 trillion in three sectors, for comparison.

Going back to Farsight, Ridcully had recently tried to divine data about his blade. He didn't find much, but a Krork veteran did recognize it. A Rashan Lifeblade, containing the life essence of a member of the only Blank race from the War of Heaven. For now, all you've managed to learn from the Blade is the proper name for the Life Force: Ka.

Most of the Sanity forces are doing reasonably well. Callamus numbers over a quadrillion inhabitants and 250 sectors now, and is holding well against the Ophelian Theocracy. Thankfully, the Necrons are leaving them alone. The Secundus and Tau are holding back the Destroyer's forces, though barely, and might actually have a shot at the C'tan itself now that the Eldar Blackstone Fortress is online. They are around five hundred sectors combined. The Quartus had managed (with some help from Ridcully) to shatter Huron Blackheart's realm. They are over three hundred sectors in size and growing at the Pirate's expense. The Baal Protectorate (Blood Angels) isn't expanding much, preferring to build up the existing worlds.

The Krork have grown to eight hundred Sectors. The Eternal Conflagration surrounding them is eleven hundred sectors, and is finally trying to build Attack Moons. Of course, with the Krork having Moons of their own, they have managed to destroy every single one before it could be fielded. Now, the Krork have finally started deploying War Worlds, with two online already and a third expected in a few years. In fifty years, they expect to start sparing forces for other fronts.

Once the status of the galaxy is summarized, Leman Russ speaks. He tells of the Primal Warp. It is another realm of Immaterium, composed of the thoughts of wildlife and plants, distinct from and incompatible with Chaos. The most powerful entities there are World Spirits: the gestalt minds of planetary biospheres. Fenris, Catachan and Pech are the three that survived the War in Heaven, with Fenris being the oldest and in charge. While the speed and strangeness of the Spirits' thoughts makes it hard for them to communicate with regular sapients, they have recently started trying, with Russ chosen as their emissary. Alliance means access to the Primal Warp, which allows it to quickly transport armies without the risks of Chaos. Starships are still a problem.

Alongside Fenris there is the First Worldship, an ancient exploration vessel from the times of the Old Ones. It is not specialized for war, but is still powerful, and its knowledge is considerable, especially when it comes to Machine Spirits.

After this, there is another meeting. This one isn't for the polity leaders. This one is to prepare for the Incursion of Doom. Avernites are in the meeting, along with Krork and Eldar.

The Eldar are sending every warrior they can spare, as well as half a dozen gods. The Krork are sending trillions of troops, as well as three Attack Moons. Of course you always knew the humans will be a minor player in the Incursion, but this...

Avernites are making whatever requests they can. Gear, materials, fortification help...

Naturally, you ask for that as well. In addition, you discuss the possibility of a unified command for the various People of Avernus. That's agreed to, with a Krork put in charge. As you learn, the Planet Mind will be providing evacuation, as well as warded defenses of geographic scale. It seems the Avernites are as surprised at the knowledge as you are.

The Eldar agree to help with the Cults and Psyker equipment, as well as provide some weapons for your regular forces. The Krork agree to have their protectorates build Psychic Cannons for you.

The Tech exchange gives many new pieces. For starters, Cawl finally managed to complete the Primaris Marines.

In this setting, Cawl was warned by the Emperor early enough to flee for Macragge, but came out of the Warp centuries later, and in Tau territory at that. He didn't come to Macragge until right after Guilliman awoke. By then, he knew that Corax had made the Primaris Project all but obsolete, by creating a better alternative. Trueborn Astartes, a variant made with direct use of fresh Primarch material.

Still, Cawl continued his project. Now, centuries later, he finally succeeded. And, in addition to the regular Primaris, he did manage to work out a variant for the Trueborn. The end result is just a bit under Custodes level.

A lot of other technology is shared as well. Better Forges, Planetary Shields, and weather control equipment. Naval scale Neutron Laser weapons for both ships and Hives (these were actually found on Roskilde, but needed a lot of work to get them out of the prototype stage. Tranth never found the time for that, but a Callamus Magos did). There are new Terminator Armour variants, like one built to create a star-level firestorm around it, or one optimized for Alpha strikes. There are stations intended for channeling star energy into beams powerful enough to damage moon-sized ships (the precision makes them sub-optimal against smaller vessels). There is also a vastly improved first aid kit.

The most prominent new player, however, is an unexpected one. The First Worldship, an ancient planet-sized vessel built by a now gone race from five billion years ago, and hiding in the intergalactic void ever since the War in Heaven. Once the Necrons and Tyranids started dishing it out, the ship reentered the galaxy and went to the Fenris system, the only place completely free of Chaos (its Machine Spirit was close enough in thinking to a World Spirit for them to find a common language). The First Worldship is not combat-oriented; rather, it's an exploration vessel, though it can hold its own in an emergency. It brings a lot of new tech, including data about Machine Spirits, medicine, and other knowledge the many races inhabiting it had collected over five billion years. Pretty little is military though, mainly high precision bombardment artillery and Disintegrator Cannons (sandpapers away even the best naval armour, though a bit slowly).

The Final Preparations

A number of your Hives are being shielded with additional wards, Psyker cities are reinforced, weapons and armour are being upgraded. Tranth builds an Ordinatus. There is some stirring among the Mechanicus due to the revelations about Machine Spirits. It seems some don't like Xeno devices having them. Tranth manages to convince them that human Machine Spirits are as special as humans are compared to Xenos (and if these Magi preferred to understand it as more of a compliment than it is, you're not going to argue).

The Eldar and Krork finally manage to pin down the Destroyer.

The force arrayed against it was massive. The Eldar sent half a dozen gods and thousands of their most powerful Psykers, the Krork brought five Attack Moons and both their War Worlds, Areatha and the Blackstone Fortress arrived as well. Plus all kind of world-scouring chaff not worth mentioning.

Facing a full Star God.

It was a massacre. The Destroyer brought more escorts than expected, forcing the Krork to waste time clearing them out. By the time they finished, one Phoenix Avatar was gone forever, one more barely clinging to life. The others did their best to pin it down, but it managed to break out, not a second too soon to dodge the Blackstone Beam.

Leaving it open for another strike.

Khaine slew the C'tan. At the cost of its own existence. He did leave the Widowmaker behind, strangely empowered now.

The price was high by any standards. Gods are all but irreplaceable. The Psykers will take decades to replenish. Fleets aren't rebuilt overnight either.

However, Sane polities don't grow on trees either. There is one less C'tan in existence. And you now have an intact Star God corpse in your possession.

For starters, turns out that was the one piece of unobtanium needed to create new True Trolls.

Then, nine years after your return, Chaos catches wind of Isha's actions. The five Gods start preparing at once. And, traitor or not, they force Be'lakor to take charge of the Incursion.

The rest of the Trust responds about as expected. Of course, they can't exactly get violent with three Krork Attack Moons in their territory. Avernite troops are recalled home, but none of the rest can be spared. The Quartok are relieved they already have a colony off Avernus; none of their brethren outside the Trust appear to be alive by now.

All the Avernus leaders are assembled together and are told how matters will proceed. The planet is divided into regions, each one with a number of races assigned to it. You, Nynye, Quartok and Mycenids (fungus people, good with biochemistry), along with a Krork force, are assigned half a million square kilometers. You are allowed to reshape the very geography in the area in whatever way you consider an advantage (within the abilities of the planet, which is quite a bit). Also, everyone is given access to a tactical network, basically a poor man's version of the Krork Warfield. Civilians and industry will be shielded inside pocket dimensions.

You have four years to prepare.

For starters, everyone familiarizes themselves with using the Battle Network properly. You and your allies are working on coordination. The PDF starts training with Eldar weapons provided. Psykers are getting Wraithbone gear. The Psyker Hunters are retraining for the Incursion (thankfully, rogue Psykers aren't an issue; the same Blink Spider wave you had before Green Skies is back). Tranth completes designing Orichalcum Power Armours and starts building some Terminator Suits for the most important people, yourself included (an Astartes Terminator Suit with Orichalcum turns out to cost enough to outfit an entire Chapter in the hovering Armours he designed a few centuries ago; fortunately, regular humans only need half that). And of course, you fortify and reshape your region with everything you can think of.

By the way, as a minor sidenote, perhaps you remember Areatha trying to claim the godhood Archetype of the Magical Girl?

On the final stage, she decided to do some major drive cleanup and defrag.

She saw the path was diverting from the proper Magical Girl, so she gave up much of her power to cleanse it. The power was sent away to be claimed by someone fitting it better, and Areatha is now a pure Magical Girl again.

Anyway, Ridcully manages to divine some details about the Incursion. Twenty three Exalted will be coming to Avernus, out of the forty five existing. Four of the eight Exalted Princes are coming as well - In addition to Be'lakor, these are Mortarion, Lorgar and Vect. The Five would have probably brought half their regular forces to Avernus, too; fortunately, the planet is too small to fit them. Tzeentch is the one who brings the most Exalted (Eight); Khorne, only one, too busy on the Dragon front.

The Grand Incursion

The area you are assigned is a thousand kilometers north to south, and five hundred west to east. Some of the fortifications protect Geomantic Web nodes and such, but most of your fortifications are concentrated in a massive Deathwall on the northern edge, meaning the enemy will need some major trump card to get through quickly. On the other hand, you are vulnerable to flanking. The wall has everything; technology, wards, mountain ranges raised by the planet, space twisted to give you a range bonus...

Tranth and some other officials have left for the Moons to wait out the invasion. That means the Orichalcum Armours are yet to be completed; hopefully, you'll manage to get them to Avernus through all the expected mayhem... somehow

Finally, Six Hundred and Thirty-Eight Years since the Founding of Avernus, the polar rifts open. The enemies rush through. In a few weeks, they push away the Guardians. To their surprise, it's not just the Penguins there. An older Guardian race is, too; the Apes.

The Apes were created to combat the early Chaos, when Khorne was the only Great God. That meant they were overspecialized, and so were destroyed once other Gods arose and started contributing their styles. At least, that's what the World wanted everyone to believe. Turns out he stashed a seed population away in pocket dimensions, where they spent millions of years training and having the bugs worked out.

Still, whatever the case, the initial defence lines are pushed back within weeks, and the enemy starts advancing.

The planet, by now, is looking like anything except for a planet. It is a twisted maze of barely connected regions, with the enemy only aware of the general direction to Itza.

You use the time until the attack reaches you to upgrade the defences as much as possible. A year passes before they get to your borders, a year more for them to start giving you real problems. Enough for your PDF to finish familiarizing themselves with the provided Eldar gear. Tamia finishes work on a new ritual, one designed to pin an enemy down. It's expected to only last moments against an Exalted, but with fighters of that level, moments make a lot of difference.

Meanwhile, you get two brilliant ideas. The first one, confuse the enemy scouts. A good part of your patrol and force deployment is determined... by kindergarten kids. The enemy is fooled alright, suspecting some kind of supertwisted ploy and simply marching through after failing to make sense of it.

The second idea concerns Lorgar. Who, incidentally, is in charge of the forces assaulting your region.

Lorgar is obsessed with the Primordial Sea. The eternal realm of superchaos from which all existence arose, a realm so twisted Chaos fears it. Saint Lin considered touching it, but dared not. The Slann touched it and were wiped out, staining the Sea of Souls into the current Warp. Kairos went to the only access point, the Well of Eternity, and it's known what became of him. Lorgar worships it. The Sea is his God. He tried touching the Well of Eternity, and came out with a few droplets of that primordial ink on his fingers, with which he gave his Exalted subordinates some face painting, to great effect.

So, you consider; how about leaking out to him the data about that huge sword-shaped inkpot you carry around... and set a trap once he makes a grab?

Two years in, Sor Amphion, the Daemon Prince in charge of your immediate vicinity, launches an attack on you. Properly muddled from the kindergartner ploy, his force simply bulldozes ahead at the Deathwall, five Honoured leading the attack. With the help of the new pinning Ritual, all five are taken down. Jane kills hers permanently, the rest are banished. Your military losses are acceptable. Some local damage to the wall, but it's holding. Two heroes are lost. The first is a member of the Companions of Varen, an elite Caver team. The second is General Mineyev, who had finally succeeded in finding his end after centuries of failure.

On the rest of the planet, matters are going about as well as expected. Slogoth Poxbelly has been cast into the Warp early on, courtesy of two Krork teams and Tomeno Mai, an ace warrior from the local Kitsune race (these gals grow more tails as they gain levels, Tomeno is the only one with ten). A few more Exalted are banished at the cost of two Avatars (no permanent losses so far), among them N'Kari, whom Vect left to cover his retreat to the rear once matters started looking bad for him. Russ and Khan are on the planet, helping however they can, with Russ having avoided a narrow call thanks to Ridcully.

In the wider galaxy, two main events are going on that concern you. First, Krork and Eldar teams are hunting Ahriman. Why now, you might ask? Well, the Lord of Change really doesn't want the guy to die, so he stacks the deck in his favor something crazy. And that means the guys on Avernus are getting all the critfails.

Second, Abaddon is getting annoyed with his bosses much like Be'lakor had (accounting for the difference in the time he had to get annoyed). For nearly two centuries now, his Imperium has been devoting most of its resources to containing the Dragon... and now he learns that the Five are attacking some remote world with enough forces to beat that C'tan back. Plus, none of his vassals can be trusted right now. In fact, the Eldar seem to be the most trustworthy; at least he can be sure they want him to remain in power for now. And they are also busy elsewhere a lot.

Plus, there is the fact that the Five constantly demand he sends a Black Crusade against the Trust. Of all the... okay. "Hey, you, dregs of an ally's ally! I, Abaddon the Despoiler, officially call you bunch a Black Crusade and send you to go and fight the Imperial Trust! See, Gods? Just as you ordered!"

Next year, it turns out despite stacking Ahriman's deck, Tzeentch did save a few cards for Avernus. Three heroes' evasion of the enemy was turned into bare success with severe injuries. Tomeno Mai, Areatha and He-Who-Walks-Obliquely are all out of commission until Isha is available to heal them. At least the lion managed to Truekill the Exalted who injured him.

And in other news, it seems the Green Twins have finally decided to join the action. A sizable splinter of the Eternal Conflagration arrives at the system, led by a half-finished Attack Moon. The World Serpent blasts the Planetary out of the skies, but the rest of the fleet is rampaging. This time, your old broadcast inviting the Orks to Avernus doesn't work fully, and quite a few ships go for the moon settlements and infrastructure. Most, however, go to join action on the planet, and you can only hope they land on enemy territory as much as possible.

Sor Amphion starts now massing his forces for a much bigger assault.

He hits with a double attack, both from the ground and the air. The ground part goes well. Two Honoured are banished (one of them by Mittens) and one is badly wounded, while Jane Truekills Sor. Xavier and Jacob are badly wounded, but nothing permanent. The air attack is more of a problem, unfortunately. For one thing, Sor's deputy took over, and he's more capable as a general, for another, it seems Ahriman had recently slipped his pursuers, so Chaos's deck is no longer short of trump cards.

In short, you are forced to abandon a large section of your defences. The enemy is bled as you pull back, but digs in and starts preparing a ritual to blast through your walls... in a year or so. Sounds bad, but actually kind of pointless; by then, the allies on your flanks will fall anyway. Meanwhile, you bombard the enemy from distance, and concentrate on dealing with cults.

These turn out to be a bigger problem. It appears the late Sor Amphion had a specialty of cult-building, and the effect still lingers.

You expect that once the enemy blasts through, you will be redeployed to the region further back.

While this happens, Be'lakor sees that matters are growing worse for him, so he prepares a massive ritual away from the frontlines. Without him, it grows even worse for Chaos. One Exalted is banished by the Ancient One, one by the World Serpent, and one by the Krork armies. The Ork Overlord, to your delight, takes out Mortarion. The losses of Avernus are considerable as well, including Strength, the Primal god of the planet, but still matters seem better than for the enemy.

And then Be'lakor completes the ritual.

Using the lifeblood of all five Gods, a net is drawn around the planet, dragging it into the Warp. While the defences are strong enough to prevent outright corruption, the daemons receive a massive power boost. Plus, instead of the poles, the Five can now rain their minions all over the planet. Matters look bleak.

Except there is one spot on the planet, where it rains daemons from both Tzeentch and Slaanesh.

Normally, the two are considered allies, but, apparently, not enough to stay off each other's backs in favor of focusing on the incursion's objectives. In short order, the other three gods join the ensuing clusterfuck. While she would have loved to watch the brawl up close, the Planet Mind decides it's far more important to take the opportunity and slip back to the Materium. Thus, in a magnificent display of the nature of Chaos, the Grand Incursion of Doom is effectively over.

Oh, did I mention the ritual required each god to sacrifice an Exalted?

Not that we can relax just yet. There is a good chance the Silent King will also want to interrupt the revival. Or the Void Dragon. For the moment, however, they don't seem to be in the area, so at the very least we have time to lick our wounds.

As for Lorgar, the bad news is he didn't have time to spring our trap yet. The good news is, he did divert from his path to search for the Sword, so his masters will likely have a few choice words for him once they get untangled from the free-for-all.

The Aftermath

Preparing for the possibility of a space invasion, the World reconfigures itself into a massive fortress. Fortunately, nothing too bad happens, and soon the planet is back to its normal Death World self.

In other news, an ancient hero had returned. The Khan of the Orkwings, of the race which served as the prototype for the Krork Warfield. Long ago, he had attempted to conquer all of Avernus. Now, he is trying to unify it under a single Council.

As usual, you lose many people to the cults, but much less than expected. All seems as normal as it gets for the planet.

But then...

First, the Void Dragon manages a major victory against Abaddon, almost doubling the territory held by it. Without additional resources, that may well mean doom for all.

Second, Ridcully makes another prophecy. It seems Gork and Mork will soon notice their power reserves run really low. Then, they are going to do everything in their power to turn the Conflagration into a Level 5 WAAAAAGH!!! Every Ork they can reach will be called there. Then, they'll summon as many Daemon Orks as they can. Preventing the Level 5 from forming is impossible (unless the Silent King decides to help). All you can do is cull as many Orks as possible and hope the Twins will run out of power before they chew away too much of the Krork territory.

Over the course of the next ten years, the Eldar beat down hundreds of thousands of Ork worlds. Tens of thousands by other forces, including three hundred and sixty by the Trust. You, yourself, volunteer as a general for the Ynnari, overseeing victory over forty-six worlds. A few locals of Avernus agree to help. Tamia works out a ritual to boggle Ork armies down in meter-deep mud.

Now, the Twins are about to become active any day now, gather their WAAAAAGH!!! in ten years, and run out of juice in sixteen. You hope everyone has done enough to help the Krork survive.

The Good News

On the very bright side, four years ago, Isha had finally revived the Slann after 95 years of effort. A guy named Imbac. Over the past years, he had lifted the restrictions upon the planet. Other races are already settling the moons, and the ancient factories for exotic gear are back at full strength. However, that's not what the guy specializes in. Chronomancy is.

And so, a short time ago, the Frog had cast a spell over the Helheim system. For every year outside, two pass within. It's not safe to accelerate any more, and outsiders can't linger due to side effects, but everyone does get twice the actions. Might help Imbac a bit with his 60+ million year backlog. Also, Ridcully can now give twice the divinations to the Eldar. Taxation by the Trust is a bit of a headache though.

For now, the Slann is busy constructing a Spawning Pool capable of making more of his brethren. Should be done in 48 years.

The Final WAAAAAGH!!!!!

Ridcully continues helping with the cleanups and fleet interceptions. Unfortunately, when it comes to the Eternal Conflagration itself, the Orks are too straightforward for his divinations to do much. Instead, he is helping Abaddon (bleaugh) hold back the Dragon until the Krork are free to join in. In a lucky roll, during the first five years (for the galaxy, that is; ten for you), a good portion of the C'tan's new territory is reconquered back.

In bad news, the Blood Angels are severely battered. They were on the path of some WAAAGH!!s headed for the Krork, and the stream took its toll.

Finally, the Orks are pushed over onto Level 5, The Last Stand. The Krork are deploying everything they can, including setting off supernovae in the Orks' path, but still, in a few years, seventy percent of the Border Regions fall to them. One seventh of the total nine hundred sectors the Krork had. Make no mistake, this is an extremely favourable start.

In Helheim system, matters proceed well. With the bindings off, the World had reached into its pocket dimensions, and pulled out dozens of moons and planets it had stored during its leaps all over the galaxy throughout history. Races both known, unknown and supposedly extinct are settling.

You, yourself, aren't bad off either. The planet has given you two tech archives. The first one is a collection of the tech the Termites made throughout millions of years. With them advancing fast enough to blow themselves up every few years... well, the main issue will be sorting through all the repeating data. Maybe Imbac wanted you to know what it's like to deal with tens of millions of years of backlog? Oh, whatever, looks worth it. The second archive is Dark Age knowledge, possessed by a Great One named The Seeker (you thought of trading with them before, but the prices were too high). The amounts of knowledge are huge, although the Planet Mind did remove a few of the more dangerous bits, like Ka tech. Some entertainment is also there. Of course, a lot has to be censored: Mass Effect is banned due to EDI, but no one seems to have problems with DOOM.

With the Council of the Peoples now a reality, there are some issues about our position - are Avernites a member of the Trust of the Council? In the end, it is decided that you are full members of the former and honorary members of the latter.

Another problem, however, is the Quartok. With all the progress made over the centuries, there is a sizable push for either independence or full rights for both them and other Xenos in the Trust. You decide to lobby for the latter.

Meanwhile, your old friend, Champion Surt, is about to retire due to age. However, as you meet him to discuss a few things and theories in private, he reveals a surprising fact about himself. He is not just a Champion of Muspelheim. He is a Perpetual. He is the explorer who had discovered Helheim all those years ago. Moreover, he is actually a man born on Terra, before Space Age. His real name is Charles Sturt.

He admits to being the one who planted all those databases on the Sword of Surtur. Before that, it only had some fleet manuals.

The Men of Iron blueprint, BTW, was a dud, to check your behaviour.

Then, you have another Council meeting. This time, the main issue discussed is the war against Slaugth. Their closest worlds are about three thousand light years away, around a year with all the advances in Warp travel. A couple of new advancements are expected soon. Which puts you in a position to merge with the Vestri League within a century.

As expected, you are placed in charge of the military once again. Good. The Council passes the law for official Xeno equality.

The Slaugth are known to control over a hundred sectors. Fortunately, these are mostly slave harvesting areas, with actual Slaught worlds numbering at around 300. You are at 275 now, with a hundred trillion population.

You start with cleaning up the neighbourhood. There are three neighbours worth mentioning.

The first one is the domain of Mogral Rotbringer, a Nurgle servant. Over a thousand worlds, and just over half your population. An old enough state, but after the Grand Incursion, the guy decided he would rather not remain here, and started governing the area remotely. As soon as you leaked out that you are going to attack the domain... well, gonna take a while for the dust to settle from all the running. Keeping an eye on all those empty worlds is going to be harder.

The second neighbour is the Nexx. An insectoid race. Might have been nice once as far as Xenos go, but alas, a few centuries before the Astronomican went out, one of their scientists came up with a design for an absolutely marvelous energy generator. A Warp based one.

Of course, the safety manual wasn't part of the discovery, so the Nexx were all Undivided servants by the time the Emperor left.

For about a thousand years, they've been expanding in sublight ships, but recently have discovered Warp Travel. Now they have three sectors and almost three hundred worlds. Fortunately, they recently suffered a setback after deciding to attack the third neighbour.

This neighbour isn't really someone you concern yourself with. They are the Tortolions, an old and relatively sane race with but one minor quirk.

They don't distinguish between Warp and Chaos.

One can argue whether this makes them look foolish or very wise, but the result is, they are limited to a dozen or so worlds with no FTL, and anyone popping out of the Warp near one is treated with a full salvo in the face, no questions asked. The worlds are fortified to such an extent even Perturabo left them alone. Now, the Nexx have decided to attack their capital in order to obtain some sacrifices. Turns out they underestimated the enemy a bit.

With them weakened, you've decided now is the time to attack them, if not for destruction, then at least to ensure they can't backstab you during the upcoming war. As a final note, you decide to augment your armies with Avernite People. Plus lead the attack personally.

The Nexx fight well, but are too badly outmatched. Sirens to banish daemons, Orkwings to amplify enemy fear... yes, your allies are happy to have a break from Avernus. Two major industrial hubs, several Hive Worlds, a third of the fleet... the Nexx won't be attacking anytime soon, even if you decide not to finish the job.

On the Dragon Front, the efforts continue. Ridcully is going all out. He had actually managed to get the Avatar of Khorne into the Sol system, wrecking a good portion of the Dragon's highest grade factories. Of course, after that, he needed a really long shower.

The Krork are doing as well as can be expected. The Final WAAAAAGH! is done with the Border Region, and is halfway through the Outer one. The Twins are estimated to have six to ten years of power left. There is a chance once their power levels drop low enough to allow that, they will manifest in the Materium personally.

Problems, however, rise on a different front. The Secundus-Tau alliance. The Deceiver has finally gone active. The Ethereal Council has been assassinated, and Guilliman is wounded. Cegorach tells you to stay away, and personally goes on a full-scale intrigue war with the C'tan.

Once the dust settles.. well, turns out the Clown had lost. Half the Imperium Secundus is held by Old Imperium-style conservatives. A similar percentage of the Tau territory is held by the now hacked remnants of the Destroyer's forces along with bio-transferred Tau. The Farsight Enclaves are holding, but the Commander has laid down his life in battle.

It seems the Deceiver knows Ridcully is the one who spilled the beans about him manipulating the Tau. The Diviner had to personally fight off a few assassins lately.

The Krork are holding. The Outer Regions are gone as well, the Inner Regions are half-conquered, but the Core is untouched. A few Protectorates did have to get evacuated though. Gork and Mork are now on the loose (thankfully, the hole they left while bursting out is only a few Subsectors in size) and are personally leading the Orks. On the bright side, they only have a couple of years' worth of juice left. Plus, their blessing starts to glitch. While not Great Gods anymore, they are still below the level where any heroes or hero balls can face them and expect victory.

The Dragon front is currently stable, both due to the recent raid and the Five redeploying additional forces.

Oh, Skarbrand seems to be back. As a girl of some unknown reptilian race and Abaddon's own bodyguard.

Eighteen months later, it's over. Simply... over. There is no some grand battle for Gork and Mork, no them fighting some great heroes as their final blaze of glory...

They critfail.

A simple Attack Moon snipes them both. First, Gork is blasted by its Gravatic Lance. Then, as his bro is begging him to stop playing and wake up, he is blasted in turn.

Goodbye Gork and Mork. The sixty-megayear-old supergenocidal twin boys.

Results and Cleanup

The victory is an unimaginably lucky one for the Krork. They expected to, at best, remain with half of their Core intact. Instead, they retained it in full, along with a good portion of the Inner Regions, and are finally free to expand properly. The main issue is all the distant Ork groups that may now fall to Chaos. Teachers are dispatched everywhere to bring them up better than that.

On Avernus, meanwhile, a curious event was taking place. The planet decided to take a shot at godmaking. A number of renowned fighters from different Peoples felt a pull toward the Caverns.

Including Jane.

She spent ten years there, fighting alternate timeline variants of countless fighters. Her final challenge was a sword-specializing version of Lelith Hesperax.

Jane won. Barely. And came back bearing the archetype of the Fencer.

Your own preparations toward the war continue smoothly, still focusing on the logistics. Secundus and Tau, however, aren't doing well. It's expected they will fall within the century. Fortunately, the Krork might be in a position to help sooner than that... except there is a bigger problem.

Abaddon won't be able to hold the Dragon back for long. Half a decade ago, it actually seemed he only had a dozen years left, though he has bought himself another decade recently. By unleashing Drach'nyen from the sword.

Here, Drach'nyen isn't a daemon. He is a god. A brother and rival of Khorne, defeated and sealed by him millions of years ago. While no longer close to the level of a Great God, that does mean Abaddon can now deploy Avatar-level warriors in two spots instead of one. That is, so long as the spots are as far apart as possible.

In addition, Ridcully divines that the Slaugth are going to attack soon. And where would they send a full half of their fleet if not Vanaheim again?

A New Prophecy

Before the battle, however, an ominous prophecy comes up in Ridcully's Tarot. The meaning is obscure, but... it seems Lion El'Jonson is about to go active. For centuries now, he's been operating as the leader of the remaining Assassins. Him going public might have been a good thing, but...

It seems Tjapa is pulling his strings.

Apparently, the Emperor sent Celestine to warn him about the Abomination, but, as usual, underestimated Chaos. Despite Tjapa being asleep, his servants were powerful enough to intercept her and deliver their own message instead.

Lion doesn't seem to be aware of it, so there is a slight chance his remaining brothers can convince him, but you don't like the odds.

For good measure, you divine the Emperor (something you've avoided doing until now so as not to tip off the enemy). It seems he is behind some wards. Judging from the combination... could he be a willing guest of Trazyn's?

Vanaheim Again

As predicted, the Slaugth are hitting Vanaheim. You have burned some of your favours with the Eldar to get a few Ghostship fleets. In the system, you only have a little more than would be expected normally, with most of the forces waiting inside the Webway. You don't want the enemy to be tipped off before they are pincered.

As expected, a fleet somewhat smaller than yours Warps in. The fleet present would stand no chance, but it only needs to hold them off. After some deliberation, you decide to spring the trap once the enemy is engaged. That means a few days before the reinforcements join in.

Once the battle starts, Tamia casts a recently developed Fortune Ritual to boost the fleet. The Slaugth, on their side, cast a Ka ritual making their ships black holes, blinding the weaker among your fleet's sensors. You manage to take out the enemy flagship, while they take out one of your sensor node ships.

With the enemy commander (an admiral almost a match for you) dead, the second in command takes his place, both less capable and more agressive. which means the fleet presses on. Then that admiral is blown up as well. The enemy still has a chance to do a lot of damage, but decides against it and runs away. You decide against pursuing, but your parting volley lands way more hits than expected. With that and the emergency Warp-outs, a bit over half their force survives.

Ridcully divines that they are going to split up and do some quick repairs before going home. You decide to exploit your advantage, and send the Eldar Ghostfleets into a raid on enemy territory. With their communications yet to reach home, a major shipyard system of theirs is effectively unprotected. Why not return the favour?

Because a stray solar flare turns your fleet into dust, that's why. Jumps into the inner system are always risky, and here, you've lost.

Well, nothing to be done about it, and these fleets were expendable anyway. Who knows, maybe the dust will clog up something important?

The C'tan's Grinding

On the Dragon Front, Abaddon continues his fighting retreat. This time, Ridcully manages to work with Ku'Gath to slow the Dragon down. Yuck again.

The Tau are a shadow of their former glory, while Ultramar is largely down to its original realm. However, the Krork have started deploying, so hopefully, it won't grow much worse than that. Hopefully.

The Primarchs attempt to talk to Lion. Alas, while not truly corrupted, he refuses to believe Tjapa is not the Emperor. The talks break down and he attempts to flee. However, due to Ridcully keeping an eye out and Karandras the Phoenix Avatar standing guard...

Rest in peace, Lion El'Jonson. A shame it had to end like this.

The Assassins he was in charge of are still a problem, but easier to handle now.

The Slaugth are going to be licking their wounds for the next decade, but a few pirate raids on your convoys are rather painful.

Onto the Semi-Finals

And next, the inevitable happens. That which everyone expected to happen centuries ago.

Abaddon's englobement breaks.

The forces of Mag'ladroth rush through the breach. Before they can advance far, however, a Necron force arrives. A dozen planetaries with escorts. Then, the Dragon manages to hack most of those. At this point, Szarekh arrives with the main Necron forces and an updated antivirus, and it's back to waiting until the Krork are free to join in. The Deceiver's forces seem to be on the backfoot, so hopefully, it won't be too long.

Abaddon still has most of his elites, and you are not sure what he intends to do next. Perhaps attack Quartus?

Callamus has launched a major offensive against the Ophelian Theocracy. The guys have managed to stall them for a while through Imperium-level casualties, but since they don't seem to have Imperium-level reserves, it seems unlikely they'll last long.

Back on Avernus, the Lizardmen are preparing for war, believing, and with good reason, that they'll soon be joining. Imbac hands the Eldar the Old Ones' diplomatic protocols from the War in Heaven; hopefully, Szarekh will be up for cooperation here.

Jane is back from a decade-long mission with the Eldar, thrown against powerful daemons to advance her on the path of godhood. She makes three steps. Her armour glows with power now, yet she herself is more stealthy than ever.

Meanwhile, you start on one of the most expensive projects in the history of the Trust. Remember how you expanded your Psyker School to house five thousand? Now, you are expanding it to a Hive housing a hundred and fifty million psykers, and a billion population total. With other schools housing twenty million students each, and almost ten million psykers recruited per year, you hope this will be enough for a century or so more.

Dark stirrings are felt in the Kingdom of Confusion. This is a nearby Chaos realm with a level of infighting and self-contradiction above the normal even for the Five, but now, someone seems to be making it cut down. Investigations give a very disturbing result. The First Prince is preparing it as a bolthole in case matters start looking bad.

On the Deceiver front, the matters are... mixed. The Krork seem to be close to a total victory, but the Tau are barely in the major players league, and Ultramar is probably outside it. The Deceiver's final struggle seems to be an attempt to destroy Pech. Since the Kroot homeworld is one of the main Primal Warp planets, its defence is critical.

Callamus seems to be close to destroying the Ophelians. Not only are these out of reserves, the Tjapan forces have recently broken a lot of teeth when attempting the planned assault on Solemnace, augmented by the fact that Solariel, the first of the Abomination's Exalted, chose to disobey the Star Father and remain on the Dragon Front rather than take part. Him and his forces are heretics now, but you're not going to cry over that.

On the Dragon front, the Silent King made some headway at first, but is now being pushed back. So far, it seems unlikely he will hold for so much as a quarter of the years Abaddon managed. His opinion on being outdone by an upstart thousands of times younger than him is currently unknown.

And speaking of Abaddon, he is in deep these days. A few years ago, he went to a huge party hosted by Vect, and there, one of his bodyguards had tried to assassinate him. Now, the Black Imperium is in a revolt manipulated by the Alpha Legion. Even if Abaddon manages to put it down, he is unlikely to remain in a position to attack anyone. Seems like without the Ynnari keeping his realm stable, the guy's luck has just ran out.

On Avernus, the most visible (literally) event is the actions of Ri'bit, the first Slann to be born in this age. It is a shining Warp Citadel, a big shining Frack You broadcast at Chaos. And also a mini-Astronomican. So far, even incomplete, it has doubled the Warp speeds within the subsector, with gradually diminishing bonuses to more distant areas. It also makes it harder for Chaos to corrupt psykers.

And finally, there is the matter of Jane. But first, a small detour.

Transcendent Traits

Transcendent. The level beyond Paragon. A holy grail possessed by only a handful of beings in the galaxy. Szarekh got his for defeating the Old Ones and the C'tan. Areatha, for taking out An'ggrath. He-Who-Walks-Obliquely, for truekilling an Exalted in the Warp. These are the real gamebreaker traits. Ridcully got a roll for some of his deeds against Nurgle, Saint Lin, for reviving Guilliman, Jane, for some early kills of Alpha-Plus psykers and Honoured Daemons, Grand Marshal Garzorane, for holding out against the Twins...

All have failed. So many sidestories were written to improve the rolls, and all failed. And now, Jane has succeeded. On a completely unexpected, one-in-a-hundred-and-fifty-million-roll.

Now, any enemy fighting her can no longer use any esoteric effects. Plain combat prowess is all they can rely upon. Not that the mightiest daemons lack that, but we are still talking about a real (even if not very high) chance even against an Exalted.

Also, she is unaging now, as all Transcendents are. While the Eldar were already providing her with Ultimate Juvenat ensuring the same (as they did with Rotbart and Ridcully), now there is a free slot. Time to start thinking who will be getting it.

And apparently, she is skilled enough now to take some fencing lessons from the Ancient One.

Back to the game

With the Civil War in the Black Imperium, Ahriman decides this is the perfect time to ascend into Tzeentch. In the Eye of Terror, on a Crone World besieged by Nurgle's most powerful servants, he conducts a nine step ritual. However, while the daemons are grinding desperately through the defences he set, another force slips in.

Riding a Border Lion named Dances-In-Shadows, these are Eldrad, Areatha... and Jane.

Ahzek manages to start the battle with a lucky hit on Jane, but it's not enough. As the rest of the team are struggling to hold off his reinforcements, he and the Witch Killer are dueling while he attempts to ascend the steps. Everyone knows how screwed the galaxy will be if he ascends to the ninth.

Finally, on the Seventh, Jane cut into his remaining heart and through his throat.

A major effort by Tzeentch thwarted. Just as planned.

Meanwhile, in the galaxy, things are more mixed.

It seems that Abaddon had also received a Transcendent now, this one for all the centuries of holding the Dragon back. That means he is extremely unlikely to lose in the civil war, although there is a good chance he will come out too weak to be a threat. So far, Huron Blackheart is dead, and the Avatar of Khorne is banished.

On the Deceiver front, the war is over with both the Tau and Ultramar in a position where they can still hope to recover. However, Pech is heavily damaged, and the bastard himself has slipped away.

On the Dragon front, with the Krork being redeployed, matters are now better. To your surprise, the fighters include a number of heavily blessed Custodes. It seems the Emperor is coming back now.

Finally, the Ophelian Theocracy is all but gone. However, Callamus isn't as happy about it as it should be. Apparently, a good portion of the territory fell not to them, but to uprisings of Triumvirate worshippers. Now, there is a fifty-odd sector polity on their border which is not exactly an enemy, but not quite a friend either.

Ridcully tries to divine the Deceiver, but so far without success. However, he does manage to divine Lorgar. Apparently, the bastard’s trying to dig to the Primordial Sea by himself. Not the diluted stuff in the Well of Eternity, but the actual INK that blotted the Slann dead.

Idiot.

A very scary idiot.

The regular divinations to fight the Dragon, as well as ones to prolong Abaddon’s Civil War, are more successful. In addition, he finds out that the Slaugth are preparing another massive attack. Should that one fail to do enough damage, they will most likely fold and retreat back into the intergalactic void.

You, meanwhile, are finishing the final stages of the supply chain to their territory.

The Council and the Conclave

Another High Council meeting. Not much to report except for two things. First, the Vestri League is now officially part of the Trust. Second, you announce that you soon plan to retire.

Yes, it might be surprising. But you believe you have done all you could as the Governor of Avernus.

As for the Minister of War position, you are reelected into it, but plan to retire as soon as the Slaugth are dealt with.

Two Vestri League members are elected as Ministers, one for Finance and one for Technology.

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