822.M30 - Elimination of House Cruciatu, rulers of the Kirk System, and the Dark Eldar allied with them. Subsequent rediscovery of Micholi Vakrain on The Reserve, a.k.a Kirk’s Curiosity, in the Kirk System.
826.M30 - After four years of trialing and discussion between Micholi and the Emperor, the Edict of Tolerance is codified in its final form, and officially decreed by the Emperor, allowing xeno races to be inducted into the Imperium as potential subjects of its rule provided they remain second to humanity on all fronts.
832.M30 - Rediscovery of Prometheus the Light-Bringer on the Hive World of Amn.
838.M30 - Rediscovery of Eiohsa izva Bronakavh on the Hive World of Kayaamat. Subsequent incorporation of the Saravata System into the Imperium, an expanse of 777 worlds.
844.M30 - Rediscovery of Sarghaul Tartareus on the Ocean World of Carcinus.
ca. 844-855.M30 - Rediscovery of Kaelianos on the Industrial World of Rasena. Subsequent incorporation of Latruria into the Imperium, an expanse of 300 worlds.
857.M30 - Rediscovery of Augor Astren on the Mechanicus-held Forge World of Last Light in the Duodeculi System.
858.M30 - Rediscovery of Gabriel Argenti on the Feudal World of Chalice. Subsequent purge of religious cults on Chalice.
ca. 860s.M30 - Rediscovery of Usriel Andredth on the Mechanicus-held Forge World of Vion 5.
ca. Late 860s.M30 - Beginning of the Rangdan Xenocides, as the Rangdan Cerabvores and Osseovores, as well as the Slaugth Murder-Minds, attack the Imperium from the galactic East and North. The Rangdan Xenocides will continue throughout the next six decades.
5.159-5.202.873.M30 - The Battle of Atis, colloquially known as the Butcher of Steel, an ambush upon the Steel Sentinels and Usriel Andredth by the Dark Eldar, resulting in substantial Astartes casualties. Ultimately ended with planetary bombardment and the destruction of Atis' atmosphere.
5.752.911.M30 - The Castigation of Pyotrskov, a successful disciplinary action performed by the Abyssal Lurkers, opposed by a garrison of Daughters of Iron.
922.M30 - Rediscovery of Narcarro Salazar on the Civilised World of Merendosa.
ca. 930s.M30 - The Third Rangdan Xenocide concludes with hard-fought victory for the Imperium of Man. A series of bio-pogroms are performed over the next decade to ensure the Rangdan Cerabvores and Osseovores are completely wiped from the galaxy.
981.M30 - Rediscovery of Nelchitl Cuamani on the Feral World of Ixhun.
000.M31 - The Ullanor Crusade is launched against the planets of the Ork-held Ullanor System, ultimately concluding with Warboss Urlakk Urg’s defeat on Ullanor Prime.
001.M31 - The Triumph of Ullanor takes place, to celebrate the greatest achievement of the Grim Crusade to date. A Warmaster is also selected from the Primarchs present, to take the place of the Emperor in leading the Grim Crusade whilst he retires to Terra to work on new projects.
001.M31 - The Council of Nikaea takes place, to discuss matters such as the Edict of Tolerance prior to the Emperor's official retirement from the Grim Crusade.
Hello, ladies and gentlemen! If you're reading this, there's a good chance you've come here from The Grim Crusade, a game I'm currently GMing where the galaxy of Warhammer 30000 has changed greatly from canon, to the point of replacing all the Primarchs in the setting with new, player-created Primarchs. However, there's a lot more going on in the galaxy than just what the Primarchs are doing, and likely a lot that the game's timeline won't cover. This thread is intended as a place for the players to log the actions of their Legion beyond their Primarch's sight, and to a lesser extent the activities of their Legion's homeworld and, if GM-approved, other people and places within the Imperium and the wider galaxy. This won't just be events occurring at the same time as the game, however: flashbacks to the earlier days of the Crusade are also perfectly acceptable, and indeed encouraged, to expand the lore of both the setting in general and of your Legion's personal interactions with others in the Imperium.
Rules
These rules are not quite identical to those in the main game thread, so please read them before making your posts.
All forumrules apply. Most pressingly out of these, if I've decided on something happening a certain way, then my decision is final unless I'm given good reason to change my mind.
Do not godmod. That is to say, don't control other player's characters for them without their permission. If you want to make a combined post between two or more players, or have decided between yourselves to allow a certain interaction to occur in a certain way, that's perfectly fine, but don't do stuff to other people's characters without their say-so.
As with the main game thread, I'm not too concerned about activity levels, so don't feel overly pressured to post as often as possible. However, if you're going to create a flashback or other event that does not involve the Primarchs and/or is not set in the present day of the main game, put it in this thread, not the main thread.
This is an Advanced roleplay. Please write to the appropriate level of quality - two or three significant paragraphs per post with good SPAG should be fine as a minimum, but try to come up with more if you can.
You do not need to stick to just one character per post. However, whilst I don't expect you to perfectly and uniquely characterise every individual in an Astartes Legion, I would suggest forming a reasonable personality for the characters whose perspectives you actually write from, especially if they’re one of your Legion’s major characters.
We need to know where and when any given event occurs, as well as who's involved in it. See below for the formatting template for that post.
Formatting Template
I'm not too fussed about how people write, as long as they adhere to the rules as mentioned above. However, we do need to know when and where any given event takes place, as well as who's involved with it. To that end, please place the following template at the beginning of every IC post, preferably retaining bolded headers, and fill it in accordingly.
Event Name: [The name of the event, either an official designation or an unofficial reference. This is mostly so I know how to describe it in the timeline.] Location: [Where in the galaxy this takes place. The order of precedence when listing location should be the planet, voidship, void station, or other location the event took place upon or within; the star system the aforementioned location was contained in; the sector containing that system; and the segmentum containing that sector.] Date: [The full date the event occurred or started upon, as described by the Imperial Dating System - check number, year fraction, year, millenium. As stated in the latter link, one Year Fraction is roughly 8 hours and 45 minutes on Terra.] Parties Involved: [Who was involved in the event, be it Primarchs, Legions, Adeptus Terra officials, or good old Imperial citizenry. Note that the present day events any given Primarch is involved in should be portrayed within the main game thread, and that for anyone other than the Primarchs and the Legions, you will need express permission from one of the GMs to write from their perspective; also, it stands to reason that if you intend to include a Legion or Primarch other than your own in the post, you should collaborate on the post with the owner of said Legion or Primarch.]
Q&A
What is this? Side-stories, essentially - the stuff the people not in-focus are doing in the Imperium and the wider galaxy in general, as well as flashbacks to events set before The Grim Crusade's most current events. They exist for world-building purposes, specifically when it doesn't pertain to the Primarchs in the present day.
Which people are these? For the most part, the Legions of the Primarchs created for The Grim Crusade. However, it can also be posts made from the perspectives of those on your Primarch's homeworld, or- with my or a Co-GM’s permission- the perspective of somebody outside the main scope of the Legions, such as a member of the Cult Mechanicum working on some significant project, a Custodian doing their thing, or even just a humble Imperial Armsman doing his or her duty for the Emperor of Mankind, to give a few examples. There's plenty of options, and plenty of possibilities.
What was that about flashbacks? The events of The Grim Crusade take place across a comparatively linear timeline, starting off at the climax of the Battle of Ullanor in 000.M30 and progressing forward from there. By contrast, a Chronicle may end up taking place at various points in time before then, right up to the time the Emperor first produced the Space Marine regiments that would grow to become the Legions; additionally, the galaxy is a big place, and whilst the Primarchs can't be everywhere at once, events will nevertheless progress concurrently with main game events in locations other than those the Primarchs are present for. Provided above is a template to cover timings and locations, as well as who was present for particular events in the past, amongst other things.
What's with the timeline? Basically, it's there to give a brief listing of events through the course of the Grim Crusade, primarily in the form of posts made by players both in the main thread and in this one. It may or may not end up becoming quite large, so I'll likely put down extra posts to contain it if one somehow proves itself too small.
Can I join this? It says "Apply"! Well, yes and no. This isn't specifically intended for new players to join, and the Characters tab will contain a post reinforcing this point, but if you'd like to join The Grim Crusade and build an appropriate Primarch and Legion to play as, then you'll be allowed to create posts in this thread as well, given that it follows the above mentioned rules. [url=http://(main game link)]Here's a link to the game; please read through the first post to get an idea of what we're aiming for.[/url]
Location: Taetrus, Trus System, Tur Hierarchy Space, Segmentum Pacificus.
Date: 7/ 171/ 770/ M30
Parties Involved: Tur Scientific Expedition: Gonk Pav 2nd Space Borne Regiment 'The Stalking Raptors' Surviving forces of the Necron Tomb Complex of Taetrus
Event Name: Unveiling of technical readouts for the Wolfram Battle Tank and accompanying modified variants, derived from the STC fragment of a 'modular battle tank' captured by the Imperial Star League during the liberation of Nova Borilia
Location: Datastream broadcast originating from Mars, Sol System, Sector Solar, Segmentum Solar
Date: Initial broadcast started 1.773.850.M30
Parties Involved: Technical readouts drafted by Cult Mechanicum Artisans, aided by tactical and strategic input from Wolfram of Parrisan and the Imperial Star League.
Location: Kirk's Vigilance. The Kirk System. Segmentum Pacificus.
Date: 6 / 549 / 876 / M30
Parties Involved: Primarch Micholi The servants of House Vakarian Popivia Vakarian
Summery: During a lull in the Rangdan Xenocides and having suffered heavy losses, Primarch Micholi and his legion largely withdrew from the front to return to their territory in order to rebuild their legion while continuing to meet their obligations.
During this stay in the Kirk System, Micholi publically adopted six orphaned children into House Vakarian (3 human, 3 Tur), partly as a political stunt to further unite the Imperium and the Tur Hierarchy together, partly so that there would still be Varkarian leadership once the now elderly Popivia had passed away and finally out of a desire to let his adoptive mothers family name carry on while also giving her some grandchildren to spoil a little.
Of the 3 human children that Micholi adopted, one of them is not an orphan. The youngest of the three, Bolvar Varkarian, is a test tube 'clone' of Micholi, created by mixing his dna with that of *Redacted* in order to create an independent human life. Aside from the nature of his birth, Bolvar has not been modified beyond gene therapy to ensure that there are no defects or illnesses in his being. While still a baby when he is presented to the Kirk system, it is currently unclear how Micholi's genetics will effect his biological son as he grows up.
A brief overlook: The exact date that the Kynazar fleets poured out of a sector of the Halos Zone into Segmentum Pacificus is unknown, but their scourge came at an inopportune time for the Imperium. With an upsurge in the Rangdan xenocides and a dozen smaller, historically overshadowed campaigns across the Imperium, there weren't any major Legion presences in the relatively peaceful and stable Segmentum Pacificus at the time. While the Segmentum was fully staffed by Imperial Army forces (both military and naval) the scale, brutal tactics and the wide range of abilities of the Kynazar was well beyond what they were expected to be able to deal with. Imperium tacticians for the opening years of this campaign were inclined to divert resources and Legion forces that could be freed up towards the western boarder of Segmentum Solar, deeming Pacificus to be a lost cause and that the counter attack would start in Solar.
The discovery that this xenos race were the source of the 'Brood Cults' that the Imperium had been encountering for years, alongside their genestealer masters, served to answer some questions that had been held for some time... alas, those 'Brood Cults' in the Pacificus region only made the situation worse as they fully committed to the cause of the Kynazar to unleash as much havoc as possible and betray defensive efforts.
While many Imperial Army Expedition forces met the Kynazar in battle in both space and on ground and were overwhelmed, four Imperial Army Expeditions independently met prongs of the advancing Kynazar forces and emerged victorious. While these individual victories of Lord Commander Sun-Sin, Lord Commander Horatio, Master of the Fleet Isoroku and Captain Varkarian did little to stop the Kynazar invasion, this would be simply be the start of the legendary careers of each of these men; The presence of not just one military genius, but four of them raising to the occasion during what could have been one of the darkest hours of the Imperium would would become a symbol of the Imperium's destiny to rule the universe.
Working with each other and rallying all elements of the Imperial Army forces in the Pacificus to their banners as they could, the four guardians of the Pacificus (as they would be known for propaganda reasons) turned what would have been an utter disaster for the Imperium into a workable (though dire) situation. While they were unable to stop the advance of the Kynazar completely, their efforts to hinder their movements, supply resistance on occupied worlds where the population were still alive and inflict damages to their fleets and ground forces reduced what had been a blitzkrieg of an invasion that threatened to shallow the whole western Segmentum of the Imperium within less then a handful of years to a slow, planet by planet crawl.
The countless imperial lives lost during this brutal defense would not be in vain. With the time bought, Legion and Imperial Army elements from other segmentums were able to be rallied in numbers to repel the invaders. While it would take another decade before the Imperium to reclaim all the ground that had been lost and the last known Kynazar fleet destroyed, the first four years of the invasion would be considered a major, through bittersweet victory for the Imperial Army. The death toll of Imperial Army elements was high, with all planets the Kynazar had touched suffering from massive depopulation, if not the outright destruction of all life, both human and xenos alike. Many worlds were last barren husks as the Kynazar consumed all biomass from them.
While the invasion could have proven far worse to the Imperium at large if it wasn't for the heroic efforts of the Imperial Army, optimistic estimates suggest that it will be several centuries (with more pessimistic estimates suggesting over a millennium) before the population of Segmentum Pacificus starts to reach the levels that it had been prior to the Kynazar invasion.
Brief Description: Veritas Res, upon his ascension to the mantle of Primarch, set upon the task of ensuring the Emperor's design would become manifest. In order to do this, he spent the first four years of his life within the Imperium writing the most profound and holy artefact known to the Truthlayers; "The Path of the Righteous Wanderers," a book detailing the tasks and orders the legion will have to uphold and commit during each moment of their existence until the righteous end. It is an entity of impossible size stored deeply within the most hallowed sanctums of the Star-Harbour, far from any eyes to observe, and uploaded regularly to any servitor found within the stellar fortress.
After this, however, Veritas Res went on the crusading path with his gene-sons and conquered the countless before him. Supported by vast supply chains spanning astronomical distances, one might even consider the amount of support needlessly large.
And that 'needlessly' large supply chain has persisted, and thoughts regarding it may spark controversy and glory in the same sentence. It is colloquially referred to as the "Chain of Preparation" by many, seen as the prelude to a glorious conquest to come.
Event Name: The Battle of the Stalwalt Sun Location: Terra Date: 2.553.794.M30 Parties Involved: Legio XIII (now known as Lions Illustris), Emperor of Mankind
The Ethnarcy was a tiny nation in the Caucasus. Their enslaved psykers, mutant hordes and vast stashes of archeotech made them a looming threat. In 794.M30 the Emperor was invited within the Ethnarchy's impenetrable power fields for diplomatic talks at Cappadocia. The 4th Chapter of Legio XIII accompanied him. The invitation was a trap to assassinate the Emperor who received critical wounds from archeotech void blasters. The Custodes valiantly fought off the assailants until the Ethnarchy deployed their trump card, Nuncio Eviscero. Being a nightmarish genetically engineered cyborg superhuman with the null gene this abomination tore through the Custodes even if suffered crippling injuries. The unearthly assassin was preparing to finish his job when Chapter Master Cassiel leading the First Company burst forth.
After an intense fight and dozens of lost Astartes the weakened Nuncio Eviscerio fell and the 4th Chapter of Legio XIII along with the Emperor retreated from the battlefield. Evacuation from Cappadocia seemed impossible unless they manage to pass through the power field. The journey was arduous with the 4th Chapter facing Ethnarchy warriors on a nearly constant basis. Eventually they reached the nearest underground tunnel leading to the power field generator. There they fought hellish archeotech automatons, losing entire companies to them. As they reached the Cappadocia field generator the Emperor took the lead. Utilizing his mastery over the Immaterium he overloaded not just the warp reactor maintaining the Cappadocia field but inducted a chain reaction to temporarily disable the entire power field system covering the Ethnarchy. In the end only the Emperor, a grievously wounded Cassiel and a handful other Astartes managed to escape the Ethnarchy's clever trap.
Time was short since the power field could snap back online any time. In this time of extreme need only the XIII. Legion was availible at their full strength. Moved by the heroism of Cassiel and enraged by the Ethnarchy's treachery Legio XIII alongside the Custodes, thousands of Thunder Warriors and a million soldiers from imperial vassals laid siege to the Ethnarchy with all their fervor. The Ethnarchy put out all stops and unleashed every nightmare known and unknown to man upon the invaders. After ten hours of pitched battle on all fronts the Eugenicists commanding the Ethnarchy fell and the remaining forces were in disarray. Only the XIII. Legion stood in the glorious sunset, numbering less than a thousand. This event lead to the near-annihilation of Legio XIII yet it was also their moment of great triumph. Honoring their valor and sacrifice the Emperor henceforth named them the Imperial Suns and gave them permission to bear the Aquilla.
Parties Involved: The Steel Sentinels Atis Population The Moon Blades
The Butcher of Steel, otherwise referred to as the Battle of Atis, is the event that refers to the mass casualties of the Astartes legion, the Steel Sentinels, inflicted by Dark Eldar forces referred to as the Moon Blades. The results of this event is what forced the Steel Sentinels to use neophytes as front line fighters, as well as the destruction of the presence of Moon Blade influence and the destruction of 88.3% of the planetary surface, subsequently destroying the atmosphere of the planet.
Atis is currently undergoing terraforming efforts to restore the ruined environment.
Prelude: The prelude to the Battle of Atis was a deal of the planetary governor, whose name shall not be named in this transcript due to the shame he brings upon the Imperium’s name, making a deal with the Dark Eldar Kabal of the Moon Blades in order to expand his sphere of influence. The price of this would be that the governor lure an Astartes legion to them in order to cull their numbers. The governor agreed to these terms and sent for a legion requesting aid for a rebellion that had spiralled out of control of the Atis PDF forces.
The Steel Sentinels was the legion to respond to this hail, sending a bulk of their forces in an effort to quickly suppress what was assumed to be a large scale rebellion. Upon the initial landing upon the planet, there did not seem to be any rebellion and all seemed to be quiet as citizens went about their daily lives and many were confused when questioned. When the Primarch of the legion, Usriel Andredth, met with the governor for an audience, an assassination attempt had been made on his life and Dark Eldar forces began a coordinated assault across all Steel Sentinel forces on the planet. The assassination attempt upon the primarch had failed, resulting in the death of the governor and the dark eldar.
“My Primarch, we have received multiple reports of fighting all across the planet by dark eldar forces. Several of the chapters are reporting casualties and have been surrounded,” a marine reported to Usriel who walked through the hulk of his ship after returning from the assassination attempt. The blood of the eldar still clung to his power fist and the heat from his pistol continued to burn on his free hand. Anger and contempt would be seen swelling upon his face from the betrayal of the governor and the presence of xenos forces on an Imperial world. He looked to the marine, his voice flowing from his helmet.
”Tell all chapters to evacuate their positions and return to the nearest major city,” he ordered before walking forward, moving to the bridge of his ship. He looked upon the frantic mortals who were attempting to move through the requests of the Imperial auxilia, their casualties being far worse than what the Steel Sentinels had already received. He let loose an angered breath and the sensors within the bridge flickered for a moment, the machine spirits sensing the anger of the primarch. The mortals and astartes alike looked around before staring at the primarch, their eyes moving to the blood upon his fist.
”What is the status of the Atis Planetary Defense Forces?” the primarch asked.
Silence fell in the room before a human spoke up, “D-dark, my lord. We have received no contact from them.”
”Then they are either dead or traitors. Notify all personnel that any militants not within the legion are to be regarded as hostile until further notice. Begin planetary bombardment on concentrated xenos forces as requested by Steel Sentinel command,” his voice stated in unnatural calmness. “What of the civilians?” the human asked.
”Evacuate the major cities. We will not send this message planet-wide in order to keep the Dark Eldar from knowing where to move. Otherwise, they are expendable casualties if in the line of bombardment.”
“Understood, my lord.” the human answered before bowing his head and moving to relay orders to those under him.
Usriel looked out the bridge to see the planet below, shortly after, he saw the first round fire from the ship.
Recovered from helmet feed
“We are taking heavy casualties! Requesting immediate orbital bombardment upon our coordinates, danger close!” A voice rang through the vox, a neophyte taking cover behind a wall as Dark Eldar moved around him and what was left of his scout squad. He peeked around a corner and released three rounds from his plasma rifle, felling a dark eldar who was not agile enough to dodge out of the way. He looked to a squadmate next to him before calling out, “We need to get to better cover, Jabril!”
Jabril looked back for a moment before ducking his head down as enemy fire went around his own corner. “There is nowhere else to move! We must hold until the Eagle’s death, brothers!” He blindfired around his cover, before looking back to see their sergeant for guidance.
The space marine remained silent for a moment, looking at his aspirants and knowing that they would die if they attempted to leave cover and that they would die if they waited for orbital support. His mind went over the possibilities before an option came to his mind, the voice of the demi-god going to them, “You will fight your way out, continue moving east and you will rally with friendly forces. I will draw them away from you.”
The scouts looked at the space marine with confusion, looking to one another before Jabril would speak, “Our duty is with you, Sergeant. It is our sworn oath to the Emperor!”
“And you will continue your duty to the Emperor. You will not disobey my orders. Many of my brothers are already dead, and it is you, our future generation who must continue the battle in the name of the Imperial Eagle,” the astartes stated before taking off the purity seal and handing it to Jubril. The marine then turned and ran out of his cover, firing his rifle at the Dark Eldar forces. His rifle heated the air around it, heat venting from every shot of plasma that came out of the barrel. He shot down dark eldar as they attempted to rush at him with their accursed blades.
He threw his plasma rifle at a group before shooting it with his pistol, producing a magnificent explosion that enveloped some of the eldar. The marine’s free-hand went for his knife, as he shot down another and slashed at another, decapting the xeno in an instant. However, he merely would not be able to keep up with the multitude of them attacking at once, their blades finding ways in between his armor, slowly but surely bringing him down as he fought tooth and nail. However, his task was complete as he saw that the neophytes had gotten away and soon he would fall to his knees.
The xenos surrounded him, he could almost hear them chuckling to one another before he spoke through his vox, “Jabril, where are you?”
“We are moving with light resistance, sir.” the voice came back.
[video feed cuts at time of orbital bombardment.]
Atis was inevitably abandoned by the Steel Sentinels as the decision was made that it merely was not practical enough to fight the Eldar by conventional means in city fighting or in the rural environment where the xenos leadership was found. Ultimately, Primarch Usriel ordered a complete planetary bombardment of the planet, destroying much of the planetary infrastructure and reducing the few major cities to ruins before reducing the rural areas into molten rock. While this resulted in the presumed annihilation of remaining xenos forces upon the planet, it came at a cost of 52 million imperial citizens, an estimated 45 million of which was due to orbital bombardment, and 80,000 Astartes personnel.
After the bombardment’s conclusion, it was confirmed that there was no dark eldar presence on the planet. The actions of the Steel Sentinels have rendered themselves humbled and humiliated by the actions of the Dark Eldar, however, it reinforced the ideals of ruthlessness and efficiency that would grip the legion to this day.
Parties Involved: The Senatorum The Nerub’Sokhen of several Imperial Worlds. Departmento Xenos
The Event: Following the 'Butcher of Steel' that left the Steel Sentinels as a legion largely crippled and the agri-world of Atis crippled to the point that terraforming was going to be required to get it operating as an agri-world again, a Nerub Remembrancer/diplomat traveling with the Night Watch at the time heard about the situation at Atis and some of the events surrounding the situation.
Sending a report back to her homeworld of Ahn’Anak, the Council of Queens of Ahn’Anak reached out to other Nerub colonies in order to formulate a Proposition to send to the Departmento Xenos. It was a simple request for them to be allowed to establish a Nerub colony on Atis with the intent of developing massive fungi farms underground in order to supply food to the sector it was in, while terraforming efforts on the surface were underway.
The Departmento Xenos would find itself... conflicted by this proposition due to a very simple fact: The request would mean that an Imperial Xenos species would be allowed to colonize a world outside of their home Segmentum. While the Departmento was divided between not wishing to create a precedent like this while also being pragmatic enough to acknowledge that doing so could potentially stabilize a stricken sector much sooner then expected, a compromise within the Departmento was reached; They would send it up to the Senatorum on Terra to be voted on. The logic behind this move was simple: If the Proposition was accepted then no one could blame the Departmento for creating a precedent, while if it was rejected then any pain and suffering that the proposition would reduce but now no longer wouldn't would be on the Senatorum's hands, not theirs.
The proposition was introduced to the Senatorum chamber on 0/333/203/873 M30.
