Imperial Armour IX - The Badab War, part 1 - Analysis

[Connor MacLeod]

REgarding the astropath thing: I don't think its really "hacking" - the signals exist in the warp as thoughts/emotions whatever, but they are encrypted. Any Astropath of sufficient power can "monitor" communications (One did so across the WHOLE imperium in Harlequin, although it was suggested this scope was fairly exceptional due to the way the Astropath thought about such things) You would just have to have a powerful Astropath (or even just a Librarian, since they can independently duplicate Astropath abilities) to detect and record such communications - the only exceptional thing about that is to break the encryption.

On the other hand, it doesnt need to be even that convoluted. All Huron has to do is ensure that some way or another he gets a recording/copy of all astropathic communications going on. Astropaths transmit the data they receive in various ways - some do it verbally (and have it written down by servitors or autoscribes or something) while others may use a MIU interface to directly dump it into computers. If he has his own personal astropaths (And there are lots of ways to do that - even criminals and Chaos cultists have secretly obtained the services of astropaths or astropath like entities) for their use (cf Xenos). Commercial astropaths are used to dealing with underhanded and shady dealings for their clients - stuff involving the various mercantile interests, government, nobility, whatever. Hell the usual infighting is a prime example of that sort of shit they can do. Nothing Huron is doing at this point is much different from other shit that can go on in the Imperium, and his status as a Chapter Master probably lends his actions even greater authority. And once he's turned to Chaos, he can likely command their obedience through threats/torture/etc.

[Shadowtraveler]

I would like to point out that in this case, the Successionist ability to maintain an intelligence network indicates that they also have access to astropathic communications on loyalist worlds.

This is deeply troubling. How did Huron gain access to such pyskers? Are they rogues? Or psykers which have been converted to the rebellion?

My opinion is that his agents simply hired astropaths to beam messages to those worlds. At the time mentioned, the Badab War is officially a civil matter, and astropaths are mentioned as being a neutral entity in Malleus. After the High Lords get involved it probably works like Connor suggested.

[Connor MacLeod]

I ran across this in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade guidebook when I was going over the data for future release:

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An astropathic non-verbal contact chant followed by an abort key/AP silence of exactly thirty-two seconds duration - together, the sort of failed communication echo regularly reieved by both sides in the central war-zone....

If the Archenemy listening posts had any idea they had just detected anything other than an echo of an aborted transmission, they did not react. By the time there was any concerete Imperial comms-traffic to intercept the mass fleet assault had already begun.

It does seem quite likely that you can monitor astropathic communications.

[andrewgpaul]

On the other hand, after what happened on Anphelion, I can't rule out the possibility that the Inquisition was out for payback. That's not to say that Frain was personally involved.

Actually, after looking again at IA4, I think the Red Scorpions did what the Inquisition (or at least, one faction withing the Ordo Xenos) wanted - whether or not they knew that's what they were doing. Sevrin Lok was despatched to Anphelion to get rid of him.

[Black Admiral]

Besides, it's not like it could actually be proved that the Red Scorpions had effectively offed Inquisitor Spiderman - the Scorpions could just claim he'd died before they got back to the main facility, and since the only evidence has been eaten....

[Juubi Karakuchi]

On the other hand, after what happened on Anphelion, I can't rule out the possibility that the Inquisition was out for payback. That's not to say that Frain was personally involved.

Actually, after looking again at IA4, I think the Red Scorpions did what the Inquisition (or at least, one faction withing the Ordo Xenos) wanted - whether or not they knew that's what they were doing. Sevrin Lok was despatched to Anphelion to get rid of him.

The factions are what makes it so difficult. For the moment I'm actually leaning towards Huron having ordered the attack. He's just bloody-minded (or insane) enough to try something like that. Also, the Tyrant's Legion army list claims that he forced some of the pirates, hereteks, and other undesirables he encountered in and around the Maelstrom to serve him. In purely rational terms, the benefits would be questionable. Certainly he could kill Ortys, the raid providing a cover, but he was by no means irreplaceable. On the other hand, if he wanted to dispose of Sartaq and blame his death on the Loyalists, thus keeping the apparently mutinous Mantis Warriors in line, then there's a bit more in it. If it seems insane, bear in mind that Huron has more than a few screws loose at this point.

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Warp Navigation

The great families of the 'Navis Nobilite', or simply the 'Navigators', are a stable and selectively cultivated breed of gene-engineered human sub-race, a mutant strain which are not only tolerated by the Imperium by essential to its very existence. Only a Navigator, through their baleful 'third eye' can percieve the warp itself and read its currents and sudden turbulence without continuous risk of insanity and possession. Thus a Navigator's ability allows longer and often swifter courses through the Warp to be charted, and sudden and unexpected threats percieved and avoided.

This account claims that the Navigators were the product of deliberate genetic engineering. Whether the Imperium retains the secret of their creation is a question worth asking, though the fact that the Navigator houses have endured for millenia suggests that they are able to reproduce themselves safely, or else have enough skill in genetic alteration to overcome any problems. The selling point of the Navigators appears to be their psychological resiliance (vis-a-vis the Warp) and resistance to Daemonic possession, which is implied to be absolute or at least highly reliable.

Few in number, the great Navigator families are themselves often bound by ancient ties of patronage and debt to the aristocracies of the Imperial Navy, while other clans and lineages provide their services to the Adeptus Mechanicus, sector trade guilds, or even to individual Chartist Captains, Rogue Traders, and Space Marine Chapters. As such, Navigators are prized objects of plunder by pirates and corsairs in their own right, and the fate that awaits them is truly nightmarish should they be captured alive by the followers of Chaos. This is not however the only means by which renegade vessels navigate the Warp, as it is not only whispered that entire Navigator bloodlines had descended into degenerate decay or been deliberately corrupted by Chaos, while sorcery and witchcraft can allow for heretics an effective if appallingly dangerous method of navigating the Warp and even stalking their targets through the Immaterium. Beyond this many Xenos races have their own methods for long-range navigation, while the Void-born have many dark tales of apparations such as Daemon-prowed ships whose mutilated and bound figureheads gaze into hell more ably than any Navigator. Legends speak of hulks crewed by hell-wraiths hungry for life and barbed, blood-gutted altars built into the fabric of vessels forged by the agents of Chaos that require merely a butcher's bill of screaming captives to track any course their masters desire. All, of course, are true.

The use of bound daemons for navigation makes a degree of sense. It would explain the sometimes extreme mobility displayed by Chaos forces.

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Interstellar vessels are precious and rare, and each made what it is by the existence of a Warp Drive, which with the application of massive amounts of energy can generate an envelope of distorting wave energy known as Gellar Fields which allow the vessel to translate itself through the veil between realities and into the Warp beyond. Once within the strange un-dimensioned space of the Warp, a star vessel uses its Gellar Fields to dride the treacherous currents and eddies that flow unchecked through the Immaterium's depths, and in doing so traverse hundreds, even thousands of light-years of relative distance at a time depending on the strength of its drives and the skill with which it is navigated. This is far from a certain business however and any vessel, no matter how mighty their inherent power or the strength of their fields must frequently drop back into Realspace to check its positioning and course, as well as recharge and maintain its systems and take on supplies when needed. This last requirement can be vital as while travel through the Warp occupies a mere fraction of the time such a journey would take by the constraints of the physical universe, such a voyage might range in the days or weeks within a sector, while travelling between different sides of a segmentum might take months even years in some cases, particularly if relying on the vagaries of a supposed 'safe' route.

The figure of months or years for a Segmentum isn't all that helpful, as the Segmenta vary in size, centred around the Segmentum Solar, which centres on Earth. The 'Ultima Segmentum' is actually most of the galaxy (hence the name), to the galactic 'east' of Terra.

It is this reliance on layovers, stable routes, and on supposedly tried and tested courses that seem to offer some modicum of predictability and safety to long-distance Warp travel that also leaves travellers prey to another danger; that of piracy. For just as the predators of the wild are drawn to watering hioles and places of plenty to prey upon the beasts that gather there, so are the wolves of the Warp drawn to known navigational markers and stable trade routes in search of plunder and blood. Such corsair traffic is a threat intermittently to even the most well-patrolled stars in the heart of the Imperium, while in wilderness space their danger can be frighteningly high and any vessel caught in such a way is likely to be far from any aid, and death or enslavement at best awaits the raiders' victims.

The 40k universe's explanation for space piracy. Somewhere safe to flog the proceeds wouldn't go amiss either. Considering the extremes to which Imperial politics can go, I wouldn't put it past ruthless or desperate Imperial Governors or other powerful and/or wealthy individuals to make use of pirates if they want something in particular.

[Black Admiral]

At the same time, of course, the forces dedicated to the suppression of piracy are commensurately able; the Marines Errant, for instance, have as their primary duty (definitely post- and possibly pre-Badab War) suppressing piracy in the Sector surrounding their fortress-monastery, with all the force the Astartes do everything with.

I imagine the look on the face of a gentleman of the piratical persuasion when three Nova-class frigates turn up as he's trying to abscond with his ill-gotten plunder would be rather amusing.

[Juubi Karakuchi]

At the same time, of course, the forces dedicated to the suppression of piracy are commensurately able; the Marines Errant, for instance, have as their primary duty (definitely post- and possibly pre-Badab War) suppressing piracy in the Sector surrounding their fortress-monastery, with all the force the Astartes do everything with.

I imagine the look on the face of a gentleman of the piratical persuasion when three Nova-class frigates turn up as he's trying to abscond with his ill-gotten plunder would be rather amusing.

Well, it's all good practice for ship crews and Astartes alike. And it takes pressure off the Imperial Navy, which can't be a bad thing.

Chapter Four: The Bloody Stars

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906.M41-907.M41
The death of Red Scorpions Chapter Master Verant Ortys temporarily delivered the strategic initiative into the hands of the Secessionist cause, and the number of raids against Imperial shipping increased. Heavy Space Marine escort forces were needed in order to maintain access to the worlds of Galen and Khymara while the Pale Stars were all but entirely cut off. For a time the Loyalists were sorely pressed to hold what little ground they had taken in the Maelstrom Zone. This lasted until the situation was eased with the arrival of contingents of the Howling Griffons, Novamarines and later the Sons of Medusa Chapters, and the appointment of Carab Culln, the new Lord Commander of the Red Scorpions as the new Magister Militum of the Loyalist forces. Culln quickly took control of the situation and one of his first acts was to bring forward plans to convert the old way-station on the largely abandoned mining world of Hallows Point into a major staging ground. This became the first primary Loyalist base in the Maelstrom Zone proper, and with ships and materials moved into the system with great dispatch, 'Vengeance Station' as it became known was fully operational in under a standard year.

Huron is still relying primarily on convoy raids to wear down the Loyalists. While such raiding can reduce the supplies available to the Loyalists at any one time and force them to assign more ships to escort, thus reducing strategic mobility, it can only ever be a complimentary strategy. Huron's apparent unwillingness to bring the Loyalists to battle can most logically be explained by fear of losing his heavy warships. At this point, it looks as though Huron's fate is to be worn down one system at a time. I have this strange vision of him brooding in some locked chamber, Siegfried's Funeral March blaring from the sound system.

As for Vengeance Station, we have an abandoned planet being turned into a major staging ground in less than a year. If we interpret 'major' as being able to support a substantial fleet and related ground forces, this is quite an impressive achievement.

In the closing divisions of 906.M41, Red Scorpions detachments based on the Chapter's strike cruisers fought in dozens of separate void actions, from defending convoys to raiding outposts and intercepting Secessionist shipping alongside the Raptors, turning the tables for the first time on Huron's raiders. At the same time fresh forces from the Novamarines and Sons of Medusa carried out probing attacks into the region of the Endymion Cluster and against the edges of the Sagan system in order to maintain pressure on the Secessionists and keep their forces as pinned down as possible. The first major fruits of this new campaign were the garrisoning of the barren Khymara system and the setting up there of several outposts and listening stations, and a new ability to conduct sustained operations in the contested Gargathea system...As one of the few life-sustaining worlds in the region and a useful navigational way-station, Gargathea III remained a contested world of vital strategic importance right up until the end of 907.M41 when the Secessionist forces were finally displaced from the planet, and the system reclaimed for the Loyalists.

Gargathea III is your classic 40k jungle planet, complete with homicidal vegetation. Overall the Loyalists are beating the Secessionists at their own game, countering their raiders and even doing some raids of their own. On top of that, they managed to take and hold yet more strategically important planets.

With the arrival of fresh reinforcements to replace them in the order of battle, the Marines Errant first took up reserve duty for the remainder of 906.M41 before they withdrew entirely from the Badab war early in 907.M41, with some acrimony attached to their leave-taking. The increasingly embittered survivors of the Fire Hawks Chapter were forcibly retired to the rearguard for a time by...Carab Culln...to avoid further trouble in the ranks of the Loyalist forces. This deployment however proved strategically effective as the presence of the Raptorus Rex at Hallows Point protected the Loyalist facility while under construction. This was vital when Hallows point was raided in 7 810 906.M41 by Secessionist fireships and frigate squadrons led by a trio of Lamenters Chapter strike cruisers. The attack, although well-executed, was repulsed without major damage to the half-finished base and anchorage; the concentrated firepower of Raptorus Rex along with the Red Scorpions battle barge Sword of Ordon proving a decisive factor.

The Marines Errant get a raw deal. They did most of the useful work early on, took heavy losses, then get a lot of stick for dropping out. The Fire Hawks manage to make themselves useful at Hallows Point, though when you've got your own star fortress it would be quite an achievement not to be. That the Secessionists would raid the system makes strategic sense, but doing so with so limited a force implies either desperation or inadequate intelligence, the presence of fireships leaning the odds towards the former. Once again the Lamenters take a beating.

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With all available intelligence on the Secessionists indicating they had fallen into a defensive stance and were further digging in and fortifying their key systems, Lord Commander Culln knew that he must press his advantage soon or risk the war devolving into a slow battle of attrition that would bleed his forces dry. The first move towards this would be the relief of the fortress world of Surngraad. It's southern continental citadels were still managing to hold out against the Secessionist aggression by dint of heroic self-sacrifice and bloody-minded faith in the God-Emperor, born of millennia in the shadow of the Maelstrom and its many horrors, but even this could not last much longer. The Raptors and Salamanders were given this task of intervention, and a select strike force dispatched on a long-range incursion mission behind the Secessionists' lines in the battle barges Pyre of Glory and War Talon. On arrival in the system not even their combined firepower was enough to affect a landing and they were forced to pull back, the War Talon suffering heavy damage in the failed assault. Neither Chapter however were ready to admit defeat and after the gathering of intelligence from the beleagured Surngraad 'southers', a highly unorthodox battle plan dubbed 'Operation Sedna' was quickly formulated and put into action. Under the shield of a series of diversionary attacks in the equatorial zone, the Raptors successfully landed a strong force of battle-brothers covertly in field-modified armour over three-hundred kilometres away from their chosen target. Shunning heavy gear and vehicles in favour of a reduced visibility to auspex and thermal detectors, the Raptors war party then fanned out, and after advancing on foot for weeks through through the rolling ice packs and bitter tundra, launched their assault under the cover of a blinding gale. After breaching the fortress walls of the main orbital defence complex with melta-bombs, they gained entrance and succeeded in sabotaging the base's weapons silos despite taking heavy casualties from the Astral Claws who bitterly contested their attack. Now free to move into close orbit, the two battle barges descended to bombard the planet from the upper atmosphere, smashing the Secessionist-held positions into surrender, and liberating Surngraad. With Surngraad once more in Loyalist hands, the task of quickly rebuilding the planet's defences went to the Salamanders, the technically-minded Chapter taking to the task with gusto before any serious Secessionist counter-attack could be mounted, the Pyre of Glory and War Talon standing sentry in orbit.

An impressive showing from the Loyalists at Surngraad, and the planet's defences weren't bad either. The fact that the ground attack degraded the defences enough to allow the battle barges to move into 'close orbit' implies that the defences were entirely ground-based, or at least that the ground-based defences were strong enough to force two battle barges to back off. The description mentions that the battle barges made their eventual bombardment from the upper atmosphere, which if defined as anything above the Troposphere could mean anything from 20 to 10,000 km. The BFG rulebook describes defence lasers as having ranges in the hundreds of miles, which translates as anything up to 1500-1600 km if taken literally. This broadly fits the definition of a Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which is anything up to 2000km. As a point of reference, the Internation Space Station orbits at between 320 and 380km.

The Raptors got to prove their worth once they made it down. The term 'field-modified' with regard to their armour could have two possible meanings; one being that they altered it literally 'in the field', the other that it was modified to take local conditions into account. That they deployed from their battle barge with modified armour suggests the latter. Overall, it implies that at least some Astartes are perfectly willing to alter their equipment, perhaps even camouflaging their armour, if the situation warrants it. The modifications appear to have been focussed on evading enemy detection equipment, which offers an explanation as to why Astartes generally don't bother with camouflage (and why Star Wars stormtroopers and clonetroopers get away with white armour), namely that advanced detection equipment is sufficiently reliable and common as to make conventional camouflage a secondary consideration. Moving on, the Raptors manage a 300 kilometre yomp through arctic conditions before launching an attack in very adverse weather, a testament to Astartes resilience and determination.

In other news, the Howling Griffons take a pounding the hands of the Executioners in the Khymara system. The Executioners destroy the Loyalist outposts, listening stations, and astropathic relay before withdrawing. Their failure to finish the defeated Howling Griffons upsets Huron somewhat, but he doesn't make an issue of it.

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Huron's Sins Uncovered
3 151 908.M41

Inquisitional interrogation of an Astral Claws Apothecary captured during the battle for Surngraad's polar fortress revealed to the genuine shock of his interrogators that the prisoner was not in fact an Astral Claw by origin at all, but was in fact a former member of the Tiger Claws, a Chapter long thought lost. Further dire and extreme interrogative methods were then unleashed in utter secrecy as a planned series of stalk-and-capture raids were engaged upon by Space Marine and Inquisition forces operating within the Maelstrom Zone.

Evidence was quickly amassed of an unforeseen and terrible heresy that had been pursued by the Astral Claws and Lugft Huron for more than a century. This evidence proved that, at Lugft Huron's orders, the Chapter deliberately withheld the Astral Claws gene-seed, not to replenish the Chapter's own losses, but at first in order to help save their near extinct kin, the Tiger Claws Chapter. The last remnants of which had sought sanctuary with them in secret, Lufgt Huron and his fellows hiding them within the Astral Claws' own ranks. This sin, compounded and compounded again, had led to another far more dangerous act. Repeatedly denied the re-enforcements he had requested to aid him and the Maelstrom Warders in carrying out their tasks as Lufgt Huron saw them, in his monumental arrogance and pride, the Tyrant of Badab had sought to expand his own forces far past the levels mandated by the Codex Astartes. For at least a hundred years before the outbreak of conflict, the Astral Claws' secret goal had been the transformation of their Chapter slowly into a force equal to a Space Marine Legion of old. By this example Lugft Huron, it appears, sought at first not to rebel against the Imperium, but to prove his case by deeds writ in blood; a Maelstrom scourged clean, and a new realm carved out for Mankind in the Emperor's name. Regardless of the insane folly of such a plan, it was doomed by the fickle hand of fate. Up until the outbreak of the conflict, he had sought to hide the steady build-up of his forces, dispersed among the far flung stars of the Maelstrom Zone and far away from prying eyes. But, then came the tithe fleet and the threat of direct scrutiny he could not afford to tolerate and with it war, a war too early in the Tyrant's plans and against entirely the wrong enemy. Immediately, unexplained factors about the war, the rates of attrition and reported strengths of the Secessionist enemy were cast into a new light.

Further covert investigation uncovered the fact that the Astral Claws Apothecarion had been conducting heretical experiments in rapid zygote cultivation. While largely unsuccessful, thanks to the use of its un-submitted gene-seed, the Astral Claws Chapter now stood at around an estimate three and a half thousand battle brothers strong.

Well, if you wanted an explanation for Huron's intransigence, this is as good as any. Having started down this path he dared not surrender, for to do so was to loose everything, not just for himself, but for his Chapter and his would-be empire too. That he would actually go through with such a plan still implies incredible arrogance on Huron's part. One way to stay inside the letter of the law would have been to organise the reinforcements as Successor chapters while retaining actual command. The Realm of Ultramar is a precedent, being ruled by the Ultramarines with the assistance of their successors. Indeed, the Astral Claws were thought to have two other successors besides the Tiger Claws, and there are few if any reliable records as to just how many Astartes chapters there are and from whence they are descended. Considering how much he was getting away with even during the war, I cannot help but think that if Huron had only handled the mess with the Karthans better, then he might have achieved his object. It was, after all, his insistence on wailing on the Karthans that brough the Imperium down on his head.

The presence of the Tiger Claws among his followers offers a potential explanation for Huron's behaviour and the incident at Grief. It is entirely possible that the Tiger Claws manipulated Huron into carrying out his plan, and may even have secretly arranged the ambush to ensure the war continued. The latter is a stretch, and not necessary on its own considering Huron's conduct at the meeting. But if the Tiger Claws survivors had indeed been corrupted by Chaos, it must have been a contributing factor.

[Juubi Karakuchi]

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The Scourging of Cygnax
908.M41-910.M41

Evidence acquired by Inquisitorial agents revealed in early 908.M41 details of contacts beween the Astral Claws, renegade human elements and 'heretek' scavengers from the Golgothan Wastes. Between them they had devised a plan to recover buried weapons stores on the dead world of Cygnax. Inresponse the Loyalists ordered a scourging of the world and the Atropos Clan company of the Sons of Medusa was given the chief role in this task, backed by a newly-arrived company from the Exorcists Chapter. The Loyalist force first blockaded the planet before performing a grid-sweep of the world as the numerically inferior Secessionists and renegades went to ground in the shattered hive cities, relying on the hellish terrain and radiation-fogged atmosphere to prevent them being easily discovered. The scourging of Cygnax required a determined and brutal campaign to scour out the Tyrant's forces, the conduct of which caused some discord between the Sons of Medusa and the Exorcists, with accusations from the Exorcists that the Sons of Medusa were more interested in serving their own designs of Cygnax than in hunting down the enemy as expediently as possible. The smaller Exorcists force was soon withdrawn and redeployed to the forthcoming assault on the Sagan system, while the Sons of Medusa were left to liquidate the Cygnax threat as they saw fit.

An implication here on the resilience of Imperial underground facilities. If I recall correctly, Cygnax suffered from tectonic disturbances and permanent winter, as well as having its orbit disrupted for several years. Despite this, there are still bunkers sufficiently intact for the contents to be worth salvaging. Said contents would have to be very valuable for the Secessionists to take such risks in order to get them, meaning they are most likely high-end items like planetary defence missiles. The environment is implied to be highly radioactive, providing further evidence for the NBC capability of Astartes power armour. Evidently their non-Astartes backup acquired some backup also, or else they would have died off too quickly to be of any use.

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1. Terminator Armour

This most durable of body armour represents the pinnacle of Imperial defence technology, and is believed to have been based on the heavy-duty exo-armour developed during the Dark Age of Technology for work within the hyper-pressured inferno of an active plasma core and other utterly lethal environments. The suit's survivability, particularly when combined with a Space Marine's enhanced physiology is legend, and a Terminator can survive colossal kinetic impacts, directed energy weapon discharges and even orbital debris strikes. This extreme survivability, plus the suit's servo-enhanced strength and stability, make it perfect for the most dangerous of missions, such as tunnel fighting, space ship boarding actions, and the most brutally contested city fights.

A couple of interesting snippets on Terminator armour. Most of all is the part about it's origin as plasma reactor maintenance gear. Also the mention that it can survive 'orbital debris strikes', which is rather vague. The cliche about Terminators being 'walking tanks' ain't all that cliche.

2. The Blade of the Scorpion

A perfectly balanced great sword of micro-folded Adamantine, etched at a molecular level with liturgies of harm and destruction, the blade can cleave through even ceramite plate unassisted when wielded with a Space Marine's superhuman strength. But it is the Blade of the Scorpion's disruptor field generator, far more powerful than that found on a standard power weapon that gives it it's devastating strength. In skilled hands, such as Culln's, the sword can bisect even an enemy Terminator in a single blow or shatter granite without so much as marring the blade.

Here's some insight into the Imperium's high-end sword making. This snippet mentions micro-folding as a technique, implying that the blade is a composite of different substances. It specifically mentions Adamantine, which may be a variation on Adamantium or just another way of referring to it. The term 'micro-folding' may refer to the individual layers being microscopic in thickness, theoretically allowing for a much larger number of folds than would be possible in traditional sword making, making for a very pure blade. I'm not sure what effect the litanies would have, but considering the nature of the 40k universe, I wouldn't assume they did nothing. The snippet specifically mentions that the blade can shatter granite when its disruption field is active.

In other news, the Loyalists succeed in capturing Sagan, which becomes their new forward base, allowing them to reinforce Surngraad and trap the Mantis Warriors in the Endymion Cluster. The Astral Claws were so desperate to hold the planet that they resorted to using viral weapons, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of the planetary population. The Fire Hawks show their better nature, sacrificing themselves to contain Astral Claws suicide attacks. Following this victory the Loyalists redeploy their forces, in part to help fend off a series of major Ork incursions, with the Novamarines, Raptors, and Howling Griffons being sent elsewhere.

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Special Addendum: Chapter Redeployment
Intelligence indicates that the Chapters withdrawn from the conflict were not deemed 'reliable' enough to conduct the kind of merciless campaign against their fellow Astartes that Inquisitor Frain now demanded. This was the prime reason for their redeployment, although the Ork threat was also very real. Rumours persist that the Salamanders had successfully resisted similar pressure to be re-assigned during this period. Credence can be given to this story by the arrival of fresh Space Marine forces from the Exorcists and Star Phantoms and further reinforcement from the Sons of Medusa Chapters to execute the final destruction of the Secessionists. All were Space Marine Chapters considered by some to be outsiders among the Space Marine brethren in some way.

This decision may have been for the best, after what was going on between the Marines Errant and the Lamenters. Between forcing unwilling Astartes to fight fellow Astartes and sending them away to fight an unquestioned and in their own way equally dangerous enemy, the choice is obvious.

As for the Lamenters, they suffer a heavy defeat at the hands of the Minotaurs on and in orbit of Optera V. The battle is described as lasting seventeen hours. Having suffered heavy losses, the Minotaurs claim salvage rights on the Lamenters ships and the wargear of their dead. 311 Lamenters are captured and imprisoned on a prison hulk orbiting Sagan for the rest of the war, while less than a hundred remain deployed elsewhere. These events reveal two interesting facts. One is that Astartes equipment is transferable between Chapters without too much difficulty. The other is that there are circumstances in which Astartes may surrender, albeit very rare and unusual. In this case the Lamenters were on the verge of total destruction and fighting for a cause they no longer believed it (if they ever did).

[Black Admiral]

The modifications appear to have been focussed on evading enemy detection equipment, which offers an explanation as to why Astartes generally don't bother with camouflage (and why Star Wars stormtroopers and clonetroopers get away with white armour), namely that advanced detection equipment is sufficiently reliable and common as to make conventional camouflage a secondary consideration.

Hunt For Voldorius confirms this; Raven Guard power armour is explicitly heavily modified stealth operations, but it's focussed on dampening its emissions signature (a modified cooling system to reduce the armour's thermal signature, for instance). Still painted the unreflective matte black (aside from Chapter and rank symbols) of the Raven Guard's war armour though, not in area-appropriate camouflage (indicating Captain Shrike felt visual camouflage was unnecessary).

[Juubi Karakuchi]

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The Angstrom Incident
4 897 908.M41

To cover it succinctly, the Forge World of Angstrom managed to remain neutral in the war, sending a 'bounty' of advanced weapons and refined ores to the edge of the system for collection every three years, the bounty going to whomsoever turns up to collect it. Needless to say the Secessionists had been collecting throughout the war up to that point.

By patient infiltration of the outer system, the Loyalists deployed a small elite force covertly into Angstrom XIII before the fulfilment of the bounty, commanded in person by Lord Commander Carab Culln and Captain Mir'san of the Salamanders. Angstrom XIII was a lifeless, turbulent, volcanic world on the edge of the forbidden system where the contract was to be fulfilled...In short order, the Secessionists arrived in the system and waiting until the exchange was underway, the Loyalists enacted their lightning ambush, sabotaging the star port bays and attacking Secessionist vessels as they landed to retrieve the bounty...In the confusion and destruction that followed, the Angstrom Mechanicus incensed by the outbreak of hostilities within their domain assaulted both sides, with heavily armoured attack columns of Tech Guard and Praetorian battle servitors making landfall on Angstrom XIII within hours of the attack being launched, while Typhon-class Hunter-Killers attacked the warships of both sides in Angstrom XII's orbit and swiftly drove both Loyalists and Secessionists from the system.

The Mechanicus shows its combat power. I recall from 'Dark Apostle' that a Praetorian battle servitor is considered a serious threat to a Chaos Space Marine, so their appearance here isn't a surprise. I don't recall encountering a Typhon-class Hunter-Killer at any point before now.

Provoking the Adeptus Mechanicus was always going to be risky. All the same, it seems to have worked out for Culln this time. Shortly afterwards the Terran Legates manage to negotiate a ceasefire with the Angstrom Mechanicus, with the promise of reparations later. It becomes necessary to deploy the Raptorus Rex to the system as a precautionary blockade, but on the plus side this effectively guarantees that the Loyalists can collect the bounty.

This brings us to the end of the narrative section of the book. The last part covers the strategic situation by this point, to wit, the Loyalists have effective control of the Maelstrom Zone apart from the Endymion Cluster (held by the Mantis Warriors) and the Badab sector itself. The Loyalists have control of the major Warp lanes, meaning that the Secessionists are both divided and contained. The Executioners are the only active force left to the Secessionists, owing to the inability of the Loyalists to find their base. Incidentally, an Inquisitorial mission to the Mantis Warriors and Executioners finds their gene-seed uncorrupted.

As the Chapter profiles are split evenly between the two books, I'll collate the data on their dispositions after I've done the second book.

[Ahriman238]

This account claims that the Navigators were the product of deliberate genetic engineering. Whether the Imperium retains the secret of their creation is a question worth asking, though the fact that the Navigator houses have endured for millenia suggests that they are able to reproduce themselves safely, or else have enough skill in genetic alteration to overcome any problems. The selling point of the Navigators appears to be their psychological resiliance (vis-a-vis the Warp) and resistance to Daemonic possession, which is implied to be absolute or at least highly reliable.

IIRC, the children of two Navigators are Navigators, but the children of a Navigator and a normal human is a normal human, without even recessive Navigator traits. Because of this, the Navigators have to tread a fine line of interbreeding to keep their powers, while avoiding the problems of inbreeding. Most Navigator families are very large, and they keep detailed, milennia-old geneaologies complex enough to be incomprehensible to the layman.

[Cykeisme]

I'm not sure what effect the litanies would have, but considering the nature of the 40k universe, I wouldn't assume they did nothing.

Agreed.
My first thought would that such mystical features on a sword would be effective against similar mystical defenses, such as psychic shields or the bizarre nature of daemons that make them resilient to harm from conventional attacks.

[Connor MacLeod]

"liturgies" I suspect are meant to signify runes, wards, whatever. Basically its supposed to impart a blessing to the weapon to make it more effective - probably by invoking "faith" in the God Emperor (the human equivalent of the "RED ONES GO FASTER" effect, but on a lesser scale.) Remember that the Warp actually can impact reality based on thoughts, emotions and belief. If enough humans believe in those things working, they probably would work.

for those who prefer short answers: "it makes the sword magical"