Chaos consolidate forces around Calliden

In the closing months of 025.M42, the forces of Chaos enacted a deliberate and coordinated withdrawal from the Hadron Expanse, consolidating their strength in the more defensible fastnesses of the Perseus Deeps. This manoeuvre, long anticipated by Imperial strategos but executed with characteristic unpredictability, marked a significant shift in the strategic balance of the region.

On Calliden, recently ravaged by conflict on multiple fronts, the Death Guard began a systematic purge of lingering Necron resistance. These automaton legions, reawakening in scattered pockets across the planetary crust, were methodically hunted down and eradicated by the Plague Marines. The Death Guard’s implacable advance left behind fields of virulent corruption, denying the Necrons any opportunity to reconstitute their forces.

Simultaneously, the Night Lords conducted a brutal counter-operation against an Aeldari strike force that had descended upon the system. The Eldar, likely attempting to sabotage the Chaos withdrawal and disrupt whatever darker schemes lay beneath it, were met with surgical and sadistic precision. The VIII Legion remnants successfully repelled the xenos intervention, preserving the wider strategic plan of the Chaos coalition.

With their route secured, the Night Lords then turned their efforts toward delaying the relentless Tyranid swarms advancing through the Rifts of Hecate. Though far from a true stand, their brutal holding actions bought precious time. Amidst this carnage, the Night Lords orchestrated their escape through an unexpected and grotesque vector: the Nurgle plague world Fecus Major.

Witnesses—few who survived with mind intact—reported that Fecus Major itself translated into the Calliden system after an arcane warp-ritual of prodigious scale. The diseased planet’s sudden appearance unleashed waves of empyric contamination and reality distortion, providing the perfect screen for the Night Lords’ withdrawal while further unbalancing the already volatile region.

By year’s end, the forces of Chaos stood entrenched across the Perseus Deeps, strengthened by their grim successes. The Hadron Expanse, meanwhile, was left in a state of catastrophic ruin, with Imperial, xenos, and Tyranid forces struggling amidst worlds made desolate by war, plague, and warp-born abominations.

The long-term consequences of this manoeuvre remain unclear—yet all Imperial tacticae agree: the Deeps grow darker still.