Foramen Campaign: Factions descend on Paradorn

In late 09.017M42 the system of Paradorn became the focus of several task forces seeking control over probably the most important system in the sector, after Corticant itself. Paradorn, situated in a commanding position at the end of the Foramen Interdictum, contained several planets which while resource poor, could be home to installations and bases.

The first arrivals on Paradorn were the Thousand Sons, led by Magnus himself, although when he found Ahriman on the world he was less than impressed, and once again banished his ancient colleague from his sight, briefly leading to a flare up of daemonic infighting. However, this infighting was but a prelude to the battle to come, as a splinter fleet of the Indomitus crusade arrived in the Aleph Sector and immediately identified the Foramen of incalculable importance.

The Crusade were greeted with rapturous joy on Vastrid, and the head of the crusade met with Titus Luthor after a tickertape parade through the planet's capital. However, festivities were short lived, as the fleet deployed into the Foramen Minoris, bypassing Tallius for the moment in their haste to reach Paradorn and secure the far end of the channel. Their haste was quickened by the reports from the Dark Angels of a malevolent presence in the system.

The crusade fleet found no enemy fleets and quickly moved into the inner planets, deploying a small force on the small rocky second planet, and sending the main force to the largest most promising looking world. Where they found Magnus...

The Imperial Fists led the assault against the traitor legion, finding to their horror that the Darrantine Guard had gone over to the heretics and were now aiding the forces of chaos. The Darrantine were swiftly excommunicated, before being systematically murdered by the Astartes. 

The arrival of daemons on the battlefield, along with Magnus himself, left the Imperial Fists in serious difficulties, but Belasarius Cawl managed to intervene personally with Adeptus Mechanicus forces, finally forcing Magnis back to the warp and his forces to flee. By 0410.017M42 the Crusade had been mostly successful on the first planet, although the chaos forces had not been entirely eliminated.

This action by Cawl defeated Magnus, but this left the small force on the mid planet largely ill equipped, and the small number of Mechanicum forces deployed to scout the world were quickly eliminated by the eldar harlequins. It appeared that not only the forces of chaos were interested in the system.

The Dark Angels 4th Company decided to make for the outer ice world, having detected more energy signatures near the jump point of the system. Yet another force had entered the Paradorn system...

Dark Angels get nasty shock at Paradorn

On 2409.017M42 Titus Luthor's campaign to secure the Foramen Interdictum for the Imperium began. Vital to crossing the Cicatrix, Luthor knew that whoever controlled the end points of the Foramen controlled access through the warpscar, and he was determined to ensure the Imperium held this strategically important pathway. With this in mind Luthor planned to construct two mighty bases, one at Tarlius, the other at Paradorn, but first the Dark Angels sent a probing force to the uninhabited system of Paradorn to establish whether there would be any threat to imperial interests.

There was. Detecting massive psychic emanations from the third rocky planet, the Dark Angels 4th company deployed immediately, only to find - to their horror - a psychic ritual being undertaken by the Thousand sons. Filled with hate the Dark Angels assaulted the traitor legion, disrupting the ritual. It was then that the traitor astarted counter attacked in force, accompanied by none other than the traitor Primarch Magnus the Red and a cabal of Tzeentch daemon princes.

Outnumbered and significantly outgunned, the Dark Angels suffered heavy casualties were are forced to evacuate the few survivors from the expedition. The Dark Angels fleet exited the Interdictum to report what they had discovered to the Inquisition. What was Magnus up to? Why was he in the Aleph Sector?

A new war on Corticant

The coming of the Cicatrix Maledictum had seen an uneasy truce develop between the Crusade and Loyalist imperials. Inquisitor Vorushko, instigator of the crusade, had returned to the Vastrid subsector through the Foramen Interdictum, in order to meet up with Sector Commander Titus Luthor and organise the new crusades. Inquisitor Hathek, chief loyalist supporter, left Corticant and moved to Bastien to help General Veers organise the defence of the Imperium's holdings in the Perseus Deeps. Libria had been lost, but the opening of the Foramen meant there was hope for the rest of the Emperor's domains in the Imperium Nihilus. Hathek of course took full credit for this act, although the coming of the Foramen was actually down to the combined efforts of Inquisitor's Vorushko and Huron.

Corticant remained a warzone. The switching on of the Necron "device" had awoken an army of Necrons, who had immediately sworn fealty to the Charnovokh dynasty, as the ensuing eldar invasion left them very little choice. Corticant was now divided between the two warring Xenos, with the Imperium holding out in their northern settlements.

The Imperium recieved some much needed reinforcements in the shape of the Imperial Fists and Howling Griffons, who immediately deployed to Corticant, which the three Inquisitors agreed could not afford to fall into alien hands. The Howling Griffons first expedition against the Necrons along the Iron Road was however less than successful, and the astartes were forced to withdraw. In the west the Imperial Fists had more success, retaking Blackhollow from the Disciples of Ynead, but the Space Wolves found themselves caught off guard by an Alaitoc Eldar attack, which saw them lose the approaches to Lochford. It was clear now that the Eldar were multifactional, well supported and intent on claiming the world. This was no raid.

The necrons meanwhile continued to skirmish with the eldar in running battles near the archeotech site, the entrance in fact to the necron tomb complex. This the eldar managed to hold despite several necron probing attacks, but for now the necrons had not made a significant effort to retake the tomb. It was bound to happen however, as the tomb complex contained many more sleeping necron warriors. How many remained unknown.

Hylas: No end in Sight

On Hylas the coming of the Cicatrix Maledictum was barely noticed. For years now the long lonely war against the greenskins by General Van Dorn and his imperial guard forces had been a forgotten campaign. It was however his imperial duty to continue the fight, and initially the warpscar played into Van Dorn's hands. Unknown to the Imperium, the warp had claimed several ork worlds in the Vork Ork expanse, plunging the ork infestation into a bloody war against daemons. Such was the attraction of this "scrap" that Ork commanders Kogh and Na'Porkleon soon lost interest in the war on Hylas, returning to the Vork Ork expanse in order to take part in the "bestest bust up" in centuries.

Von Bismork remained on Hylas, now intent on finishing the Imperium and carving out his own empire in the Mabb Nebula. However, with his forces dwindling, Van Dorn launched his new offensive, led by the Novogorod Guard, spearheading across the west coast plains and easily taking North Eton. The Novogorod then dug in and prepared for Von Bismork's counter attack.

As expected the greenskins rushed the imperial lines, but the Novgorod defense in depth worked to plan. Thousands of conscripts were hacked to death as they advanced to meet the orks, but once they had been dealt with, the ork charge had been blunted, and the greenskins now found themselves out in the open, pummeled by artillery and gunfire. Then the Novgorod unleashed their cavalry into the flanks of Von Bismork's forces, annihilating them and securing the West Coast for the Imperium

Welcome to the Aleph Sector!

Welcome to the Sheffield University Wargames Society's Aleph Sector Campaign. This campaign has been running for many years and is primarily a narrative campaign that anyone can get involved in. It is almost certainly the longest running and largest (by word count) campaign in the 40k universe. The full history of the campaign is in this blog, and in the Campaign Files on the right.

The Campaign is a "turn up and play" campaign, although from time to time there are Campaign Days and Apocalypse games as part of the fun, the next one being on Saturday 18th November. When you win, you get to advance your faction. A brief overview of the state of the Aleph Sector following the arrival of the Great Rift is below.

Any questions - find me (Duncan) at Wargames on Saturdays in the union!

War zones of the Aleph Sector

The Foramen Inderdictum
The Foramen represents the nexus of two passageways between the Perseus Deeps in the Dark Imperium, and the Perseus Void and Zadoc subsector on the side of the Astronomican. All factions are keen to control this strategically vital location, and mighty forces are being readied for the upcoming campaign to control the only known navigable path through the Cicatrix Maledictum
Factions: Tau-federal Alliance, Aeldari, Chaos, Necron, Tyranid, Imperium, Ork
Rules & Format: Narrative territory points based campaign

Hylas & the Mabb Nebula
The war between the orks and Imperium on Hylas has been going on for years and shows no indications of being resolved. General Van Dorn is now completely isolated from the rest of the Imperium, with the fall of Libria and the coming of the Great Rift. The orks have been devastated too, with the nearby Vork Ork Expanse ravaged by chaos energies. To make matters worse all the worlds of the Mabb Nebula - Ork Held Kallack, Tau held Tyranteous and Va'Doran, and Coronus (New Cerberex) of the Imperium, are now coming under daily attack from the forces of chaos as they seek to widen the warpscar all the way to Zadoc.
Factions: Tau-federal Alliance, Aeldari, Chaos, Necron, Tyranid, Imperium, Ork
Rules & Format: Narrative campaign

The Hadron Expanse
The Hadron expanse lies to the galactic east on the eastern rim of the galaxy. Some postulate that the Cicatrix has an end, and that finding this end will allow safe passage around the warpscar. Others believe there are hidden passages or "fords" across the raging maw, but there are many parsecs of space to cover, much of it barren wilderness. Nevertheless every faction is exploring, probing into the expanse, finding resources and long lost treasure, and also long forgotten dangers.
Factions: Tau-federal Alliance, Aeldari, Chaos, Necron, Tyranid, Imperium, Ork
Rules and Format: matched play league (points, although the points will "build bases" etc in campaign terms). Random planet and map generation.

The Foramen Inderdictum

The Foramen Interdictum is a gateway, a stable passage, between the Dark Imperium and the rest of the galaxy. It lies in the Aleph subsector and bisects the Cicatrix Maledictum at the junction of the Minoris arc, just to the galactic south west of the planet Corticant, currently controlled by the Imperium.

The Foramen has two passageways, Foramen Maximus, the longer of the two stable tunnels, projects outward from Corticant, across the warpscar, and into the Perseus Void near the Necron planet of Zog. The other passageway is narrower, more dangerous and prone to collapse, but flickers on and off across the Cicatrix Minoris, via the Foramen Minoris, connecting a line towards Parthenope and the Vastrid subsector.

the opening of the Foramen occurred at sector time 2109.017M42, when the necron "device" on Corticant was activated by agents of the Inquisition. Vorushko had realised just in time the significance of what she thought initially were heretical chaotic devices which needed eliminating. Working with Inquisitor Huron, ordo Xenos, the Inquisitors realised the effect the necron device would have, connecting the Dark and Light sides of the galaxy.

Initially Vorushko considered simply letting the Dark Imperium wither and die, while concentrating on rebuilding the stronger half of Mankind, but with Roboute Guilliman on crusade, she decided against it. Besides, after weeks of being adrift she eventually found out she was on the wrong side.

Vorushko's team were successful in activating the necron device against Inquisitor Hathek's express wishes, and the newly active device immediately began creating the Foramen, pushing back the warp and allowing stable warp transit of the Cicatrix Maledictum.

It quickly became clear however that the strategic significance of the Foramen was simply incredible. Moreover, the Foramen Maximus ran close to the chaos daemonforges of Mordecai and Kendrenec, while also in easy reach of the Federacy and fleets from Farpoint and Bastien in the Imperium. Protogonus, the Tau outpust, also stood in easy reach, and the passage itself directly connected the Harakhty and Charnovokh dynasties. In addition, without control of a passage, there was no possibility that Hive Fleet Nemesis would be able to cross over into the heavily populated Vastrid subsector. Whoever controlled space and planets around the Foramen, controlled the Aleph Sector...

The Federacy 017M42

The Federacy is a seccessionist group of Human Worlds who left the Imperium many decades ago after the arrival from the warp of Admiral Haskell, a great leader from the time of the Horus Heresy who was tricked by Horus into supporting him. When Haskell found out, he fled to the warp only to return ten thousand years later. After various secessionist wars the Federacy established itself as an ally to the Tau Empire, promoting the original Imperial Truth of science and innovation, turning its back on all forms of religion.

Now the Federacy finds itself embattled with frequent chaos incursions from the rift. During the upheaval several federal planets and outposts were lost, but it has maintained contact with the bulk of the Tau Empire. However, the Federacy now finds itself on the Front line against the Imperium's fight to reconnect to the Dark Imperium and must face threats on three sides.

The Tyranids 017M42

The Tyranids have ravaged the Aleph Sector on a number of occasions. Hive fleet Leviathan spawned several splinter fleets, namely Megalodon, Morph and Triton, which ravaged the southern reaches of the sector, destroying Orvicare and leaving several worlds uninhabitable. But far worse was Nemesis, of unknown orogeny and entering the sector from apparently within Imperial Space, this ultra intelligent Hive fleet laid waste to much of the Zadoc subsector before disappearing into interstellar space. Just before the Great Rift appeared, Nemesis had resurfaced in the Perseus Deeps.

Now the Hive Fleet is loose, somewhere, in the vast depths of space in the Dark Imperium. The motivation to feed is strong but Nemesis in particular has been known to employ particularly elaborate strategic moves, rather than to just devour whatever it comes across. Nemesis will withdraw if outmatched, and has proved a deadly foe in the sector. One the Imperium at least must now deal with without reinforcement.

The Orks 017M42

The greenskin race is and has been a constant menace in all sectors, although in the Aleph Sector no Full scale Waagh! has ever come about. A few warbosses have come close however, and infamous ork names in the Aleph Sector are Snazzteef, Nazghat, Thrugnik, Krumpgutz, Da Verminator, Kogh and Na'Porkleon. None are known to have been killed, although some must have died as part of internal greenskin rivalry.

The orks exist both sides of the warp rift that spans the Aleph Sector. The long war on the Imperial world of Hylas shows no sign of coming to an end, and with the destruction of many worlds in the Vork Ork Expanse, the orks now fight constantly against daemonic incursions. But orks in constant combat can only result in one thing, bigger and stronger orks...

The Aeldari 017M42

The eldar of the Aleph Sector are few in number and scattered into various factions. The Kel Sandros Craftworld hangs aloof and safe above the galactic sphere, all but immune to events in the sector, while attempting to manipulate events to eventually lead to the rebirth of the Eldar Empire. Other Craftworlds are also present in the Deeps, and it was in the Aleph Sector that the Disciples of Y'neadd fortold the coming of the eldar god of the dead, many years before these events came to pass. Often seen acting in concert with the Harlequins and Dark Eldar, it was in the Aleph Sector that the first steps of the Ynnari began.

Now following the rift, the Craftworld of Ondelinde has been destroyed, her people scattered and homeless. Eldar worlds of Sentinel and Ares, hard won off the Imperium, were consumed by the Great Maw - but perhaps that was already known to the Harlequins when they assaulted and took the worlds for themselves. Perhaps knowing that the infantile humans would be corrupted and form part of the traitor armies if they still held those worlds.

Now the Aeldari remain splintered and have their own agendas, but they must also ensure the final defeat of Chaos, and will do anything to ensure this is brought about. Even if their motive appears unclear or contradictory, the eldar farseers will have planned their interventions in advance to twist fate in their own favour.

The Necrons 017M42

The Perseus Deeps had once been home to a mighty necron dynasty, the Harakhty, before they entered the long sleep. Necron worlds began awakening decades ago, and gradually world after world in the Perseus Deeps fell to the necrons as their numbers fell. By 013M42 the Harakhty dynasty once again resembled its former glory, but that was not to last.

One by one tombs began to rehibernate, as the Cryptek's realised there was an endemic fault in the reanimation protocols. The Harakhty struggled furiously with this problem, as their armies simply deactivated, and were able to hold on to their empire, but the age of expansion was over. Only with the introduction of new "blood" in the form of the Charnovokh Dynasty did the necron empire of the Deeps survive.

With the coming of the Great Rift the Harakhty Dynasty suffered greatly. three tomb worlds were devoured, leaving the remnants of the Harakhty Dynasty on the western side of the warpscar, while the reinvigorated Charnovokh took total possession of the core of the Perseus Deeps. The Charnovokh would look to expand once more, while the Harakhty were now vulnerable, weak and completely isolated.

The Tau 017M42

Despite a successful expansion of the Tau empire, helped by their alliance with the Federacy, the Aleph expansion sphere is now in deep trouble. Major Imperial systems such as Tarsis Major, Melberg and Libria have been conquered, but several new Tau colonies in the Perseus Deeps have been swallowed by the Cicatrix Maledictum. Now the entire Aleph expansion sphere is cut off from the rest of the Tau empire by the Great Rift.

Having lost their base on Cernunnos, the Tau beyond the Rift now seek to reunite with the rest of their race by finding a way through the seemingly impenetrable warp storms. Meanwhile the Tau Empire itself is heading up an expedition into the Hadron Expanse, while sending forces to aid the beleagured Federacy.

The forces of Chaos 017M42

The forces of chaos, once a threatening presence in the Perseus Deeps, were almost annihilated prior to the coming of the Great Rift. Many leaders came and went attempting to unite the forces of Chaos, but the gods of the warp lost many key worlds, including Calliden and Bastien, throughout the course of their demise. Now however they are resurgent, and able to strike across the sector. While the traitor legions plan their assault on the beleaguered defenders of the sector, the gods themselves have many new daemon worlds to claim for themselves from those planets sucked into the maw of the Cicatrix Maledictum.

The primary aims of chaos are to claim the "fallen worlds" for their patron god within the warp tear which cuts across the sector, as well as reuniting the scattered remnants of the chaos domain across the sector.

The Imperium 017M42

The Imperium once controlled much of the sector, but since 001.M42 have lost the Aleph and Zadoc subectors to the separatist Federacy and Tau. General Veers’ Crusade made headway in the Perseus Deeps, but now Bastien and Corticant lie on the wrong side of the Great Rift. Inquisitor Vorushko’s crusade has been devastated by the coming of the Cicatrix Maledictum, but now the Imperium is united once again under Titus Luthor in its holy purpose to reconquer and reunite it’s peoples across the Aleph Sector.

Titus Luthor's new campaign will be initiated on three fronts. The armies of the Imperium will attempt to find a way through the Cicatrix Minoris which has cut off the Vastrid subsector from General Veers and the remainder of the Crusade in the Perseus Deeps. From the south, another attack will be launched into the Enceladus and Aleph subsectors, while expeditions will be launched to find a way through the Cicatrix Maledictum through the Hardon Expanse.

The Aleph Sector Today

This is the Aleph Sector. Sitting on the far eastern fringe between Ultramar and the Tau Empire the region has been rent by the Cicatrix Maledictum. Temporal distortions make it impossible to gauge how much time has passed between the battles at Corticant and today. Some measure it in mere days, others in years. The Imperial Governor of the sector, Titus Luthor, has decreed the time of the "Noctis Aeterna" to be void, and the date is 2006.017M42.

Now that the shock of the coming of the Great Rift has died down, each of the factions of the region are preparing their next moves. To rebuild, to consolidate, to brace themselves against onslaught or to go on the offensive. The Aleph Sector is about to be plunged into a greater conflict than it has ever known.

The Great Rift

The Cicatrix Maledictum, the Crimson Path, the Mouth of Ruin, the Warpscar, the Dathedian, Gork's Grin. Just a few of the names for the Great Rift, an enormous tear in reality itself following the destruction of Cadia. Unfortunately for the Aleph Sector, the Rift itself ripped through the very heart of the region at the end of 016M42, cutting it in half and causing destruction on a massive scale not seen since the Horus Heresy. 

For the Imperium it was the final blow to their attempt to hold on to Libria and their holdings in the Zadoc subsector, but it started in the Vastrid subsector, the other side of the Perseus Deeps. First the glowing sky became more and more visible as the warp began to manifest along the path of the Great Rift, before Inardion, a previously peaceful and untouched agri-world, was sucked into the abyss in what is now reckoned to be 06.017M42.

The psychic scream from the deaths of millions was just the first of many, and across the sector daemonic possession and incursions caused havoc. The Astronomican winked out and the Imperium was unable to defend its worlds against attacks, with each system having to defend itself as best it could. Fortunately for the sector, the events of the Noctis Aeterna were mercifully brief, as the time of the Aleph Sector slowed dramatically as the great maw of chaos swept across it. Many reckoned the disappearance of the Emperor's light in mere days, others weeks, but for those on the wrong side of the rift, it never returned.

Libria fell swiftly to the Tau as the Imperial Fleet supporting it was thrown half way across the galaxy. The Tau had their own problems however, as the Aleph Expansion sphere found itself cut off from the rest of the Empire, creating a new Enclave. The Tau and Alliance dd not avoid losses either, as Parataea, and Aganthus disappeared into the Cicatrix Maledictum, and Zadoc, already a warzone with chaos, was overwhelmed with new daemonic incursions. Cernunnos, the main Tau base in the Perseus Deeps and launching point of Operation Sunstrike which established the Aleph Expansion sphere, disappeared completely without a trace.

The Federacy had little time to object to the Tau anexation of Libria, as the warp swallowed Myrentas II and Ravitane. Tallax and the rest of the Federacy were only saved by work which had been proceeding on Protogonus, creating the Federal Shield utilising ancient Necron technology. More Federal lives could have been saved, but the research had been disrupted by agents of Inquisitor Vorushko.

The Eldar in the Aleph sector suffered greatly, with the loss of Sentinel and Ares, although Ares was not consumed by the Great Rift, instead left as a lifeless blackened hulk after the Eldar themselves destroyed the world in order to prevent it falling into the hands of Chaos. The Eldar had been prepared however. The Disciples of Ynead had long predicted the events now coming to pass, and with the arrival of the Ynnari, they led the majority of the eldar population, including an entire Craftworld to safety. Those who were unwilling to leave, died. The Ynnari recognised the work of the Disciples in the preceding years, and it was for the preservation of their race that they had waged their campaigns through the Perseus Deeps. The status of the Kel Sandros craftworld remains unknown, although its position above the galactic plane is assumed to have spared the Craftworld from the ravages of the chaos incursions.

The Dark Eldar fared worse, with several Kabals wiped out by the Great Rift, including the vast installation of Slaughterpoint station. The Necrons too suffered great losses, as the weakened Harakhty dynasty was unable to repel the onslaught of daemonic armies unleashed on Scallius, Skera and Cathasaea. All were lost to the warp, and the Harakhty Dynasty was shatterd beyond salvation. Now the Charnovokh rule in the remaining Necron holds in the Perseus Deeps, while the Sautekh Dynasty look to add the rump of the Harakhty to their own domain.

In the Vork Ork Expanse, several worlds including Magark and Skabgrod suffered extinction at the hands of the forces of chaos, but the orks went down with their usual enthusiasm for a fight, and overall the orks of the Aleph Sector barely registered their loss, although their ability to unite into a Waaagh! was even further compromised.

The chaos worlds of the sector received the coming of the rift as a revelation, with ecstatic delirious joy overtaking the populations of Mordecai and Kendrenec. Little did the mortals realise that both worlds would soon be overcome by daemons and plunged into a frenzy of bloodshed as the great powers conducted the war in the rift. Kendrenec became a daemon world, with Lord Tragean ascending to daemonhood. His followers cheered rapturously as they were slain to a man by the denizens of the warp.

On Mordecai a similar fate befell the mortal population, though some were spared for the workings of the mighty fleet base. Now only the Federacy and the Tau empire stood between the reunification of the chaos worlds in the Deeps with those of the Norsfire Empire and the Enceladus subsector. A massive daemon army assailed Tallax but was repulsed, though seriously weakening the Federacy's military strength. Meanwhile on Minos, Warsmith Stahl watched the mayhem with ambivalence, realising that while his objective of overthrowing the Imperium was now closer to hand, his own personal influence over the chaos forces in the Aleph sector had been diminished.

Lastly, the effect on Hive Fleet Nemesis remains unknown. Their assault on Bastien and Corticant which had been imminent, receded. When the warp storms died down across the sector their warp signature had disappeared. Only a fool would believe the most intelligent Hive mind yet encountered had succumbed to the coming of the Cicatrix Maledictum. More likely the Hive fleet had withdrawn to a place of safety. Where it would reappear, no one could say.

Corticant: Aftermath

The aftermath of the Corticant invasion left the planet in the contril of the loyalists, crusade and alliance forces. The necrons withdrew, realising they could not prevail, and the Alliance, bottled up in Fort Bastion with hostile enemies on both sides, made good their escape. The loyaliusts and Crusade now eyed each other with suspicion, before a truce was held at Arenhall Junction.

Here, Inquisitor Vorushko met with the leaders of the Imperial Loyalist forces, explaining that she was not their enemy, and that she had no intention of destroying Corticant or passing any edict outside the Zadoc subsector. Unconvinced, but realising further war was not in anyone's interests, the commander of Corticant, General Veers, agreed to Vorushko's terms.

The Crusade forces withdrew, with the exception of Vorushko's personal guard, and the archeological ruins in the south of Corticant were ceded to the crusade. What the Inquisitor lord wanted with the ancient Necron ruins was anyone's guess, but on 2406.017M42 another inquisitor, Huron, arrived on the planet. Then they waited, waited for a miracle.

Meanwhile all around dire portents were beginning to be fortold amongst those with psychic talent. Before long psi phenomena started affecting even non-psykers, and the evening sky all across the sector began to glow an erie sickly purple. Warp storms began to rage across the sector and transport was ceased. The Aleph sector watched and waited to see what would happen next.

The invasion of Corticant: Chaos and Xenos

The Chaos forces were lured to the planet of Corticant by the prescience of Tzeenth, who knew that the defeat of the other races, especially regarding the necron device, would be beneficial in the months and years to come, and he sent his favoured daemon prince to take the fight directly to the defenders of the Archeological site. Unfortunately for the prince of change, his plans were undone by the presence of loyalist Librian Guardsmen. Unable to seize the site for chaos, the Emerald Serpent faction now preferred to wait and let events unfold.

The Necrons too wanted access to their ancient device, but upon appearing at Ironhaven, their progress was checked by the Deathwatch, who had been tracking the movements of the Sautekh dynasty for many months, since the necrons were now awakening all across the eastern fringe. The necrons managed to defeat the Deathwatch and take Ironhaven, but realised with the eldar and alliance standing in their way, there was no reasonable chance for them to retake their ancient tomb site.

The tyranids of Nemesis had already insiduously infested the world of Corticant through long range spores, but the arrival of the other factions was not part of the tyranid master plan. Across the planet the hive mind was assaulted. By the Ultramarines at Wellake, the Angels Repentant at Shadowshore, and with the eldar harlequins repeatedly harrassing their movements across the strategically vital Arehnall Junction. By the end of 06.017M42 the Tyranid threat at least had been eliminated from Corticant.

The invasion of Corticant: The alliance and the eldar

The alliance invasion of Corticant was comparatively unprepared and ill-equipped. The Tau and Federacy had no idea of the real importance of the device on Corticant and were oblivious to the multitude of forces now arrayed against the small world. It is likely that had they known such an invasion would not have been attempted at all.

The alliance force consisted of a small number of Cadres of Shadowstrike and Skyfall, with some support from Federal Hartak units (squats) and Alliance mechanicus from Vornax. This force prepared a landing zone in the north of the planet, with the intention of taking Fort Bastion and the planet's main communication hub, before mopping up resistance later.

Upon landing, the alliance forces were shocked to discover the world had also been invaded by the crusade, and the loyalists were already battling multiple Xenos. Unable to merely withdraw, the Mechanicum forces tried to hold off the Minotaurs, which they barely managed - Shadowstrike threatening the Crusade landing zone in order to take the pressure of the Ad Mech, who were losing badly. This worked, but the battered Mechanicum forces would play no part in the assault on Fort Bastion.

"Shadowstrike" (or most likely one of his disciples) then led the attack on the imperial capital, and the Federacy committed their own forces with the Squats of Hartak fighting as auxiliaries, teleporting into the Imperium's back lines to destroy their artillery effectively dirupting their communications. Despite the Imperium diverting all available forces to stop them they weathered the storm and captured the central refinery complex. This was key to the fort. Without power the forces of the imperium were doomed, but they did not surrender.

Gradually the Praetorian Guard were surrounded in the complex of Fort Bastion, bombarded by the Tau for hours, before finally trying to break out of the cordon and immediately being cut down. They did inflict significant losses on the Tau forces however, especially to their exposed infantry, but their armour and crisis suits were eventually able to push in, with Shadowstrike and his bodyguard personally forcing their way into the complex, destroying multiple armoured units before engaging the Guard in close quaters combat. They eventually relieved the beleaguered Squats who blunty swore they were in no need of rescue and had everything under control already thanks very much.

With Fort Bastion secure Skyfall's units made landfall and began moving the tau perimeter westwards, meeting little resistance, but by now the alliance did not know what to do. They had the capital but war had erupted all across the inhabited hemisphere of the planet. While they decided their next move, Skyfall's forces were attacked at Violetwind, forcing the tau to withdraw entirely to the Fort. Now, as the loyalist forces followed up, it was the alliance who were besieged at Fort Bastion.