While the alliance continued to fight on Libria V, the librian separatists continued to fight alone with the resources they had to hand. Fortunately the rebels still held the northern province of Ljung Juin, which contained the vital industrial complex at Shenzen. With this strategic asset the rebels were able to continue production of Leman Russ battle tanks and other military vehicles at a prodigious rate, which had the effect of prolonging the conflict, which since the opening moves had degenerated into a bloody stalemate.
The imperial commanders, their HQ currently based on the loyalist Libria IV, were able to send only meagre forces to Lord General Josiah Garrett in command on Libria III, thanks to the continued alliance blockade of the system. Despite this iron grip, the UFP and tau fleets couldn't be everywhere at once, and admiral Jellicoe allowed a small number of fast escorts, mostly cobra class destroyers, to run the gauntlet of the alliance forces. A steady if small stream of imperial ground forces therefore trickled into Josiah's theatre of war, the most recent arrivals being two regiments of Vanaheim guard. Along with these forces Garrett received an additional boon when the adeptus mechanicus managed to smuggle in a small force of their own.
Seeing this slow build up, the Librian rebels decided to launch an offensive against these untested forces, and in mid 10.014M42 they attacked without warning into South Vale towards the megacity of Lazarus. Rebel General Waltham, in command in the south, threw his highly mechanised forces into the fray, attempting to split the loyalist forces in two at the Varus Isthmus. In this they were succesful, as their armoured thrust proved difficult to stop for the Vanaheim army, despite the support of Mechanicum equipment.
The Vanaheim forces made a number of inexperienced mistakes, such as their infantry being caught in the open against oncoming Leman Russ, but the rebel artillery support from their basilisk batteries proved the decisive weapon. Coming under sustained and accurate bombardment as the rebels advanced, the Vanaheim troops were unable to mount a significant counter attack. The Mechanicus forces acquitted themselves well, accounting for a high casualty rate amongst the rebels, but by 2210.014M42 the rebels had reached the Genedal Sea and were shelling the outskirts of Lazarus itself. Back on Libria IV, there wasn't much General Abrahams could do about it. Even so, without external intervention, the war on Libria III looked like lasting a very long time indeed.
The Biel Tan invasion of Glossop V was dealt with ruthlessly by the imperium once the reinforcements had arrived. In addition to an imperial guard regiment General Pollack now had two companies of Astartes ready to engage the enemy, and an Adeptus Mechanicus task force. After a brief discussion a plan was agreed. The Biel Tan would be dealt with first and the advance guard of hive fleet Medusa second.
The Astartes were the first to strike, with both the Dark Angels and Imperial Fists organising their forces into small patrols in order to locate the enemy and pin them down for the larger Mechanicum and guard forces to mop up. Both astartes chapters were succesful in their mission, with both the Imperial Fists and Dark Angels successfully engaging and destroying Biel Tan forces and allowing the Mechanicum to engage the main eldar warhost. In two subsequent actions the Adeptus Mechanicus forces battered the eldar back to their warp gate, and the xenos were obliged to abandon their bridgehead on the world. After 2010.014M42 no further eldar forces were encountered and the world was declared free of one of the two xenos species which had recently been discovered. Now the imperium turned their attention to the tyranid threat.
The end of the imperial presence on the subsector capital was both bloody and shameful, as the imperium, now leaderless, suffered one final ignominious defeat as Windgather's army arrived at Hannuse island. The tau forces landed on both sides of the island, catching a regiment of Vanaheim guard in a vice they could not excape. Though they fought with tenacity, the imperial soldiers were outgunned and outmanouvered once again, as the tau showed their mastery over the servants of the emperor.
As the Vanaheim Guard died in a heroic struggle to hold Montene for as long as possible, the Novgorod Guard, used so often as cannon-fodder by imperial generals, finally revolted as they realised that the evacuation of imperial forces from Montene included their equipment, but not the men. The Imperial Fists were called in to protect the remaining space port from their own side, and a ring of yellow clad super humans formed the last line of defence of the imperium on Zadoc. The Novgorod regiment attacked them none-the-less, and a brutal bloody engagement left thousands dead and left the tau and chaos forces on Zadoc in no doubt that the imperium was finished on the world. The last imperial citizens escaped on 2010.014M42, leaving the planet to be fought over by the alliance and ruinous powers.
In mid 10.014M42 the arrival of the Biel Tan on Glossop V had taken the imperium by surprise and allowed the eldar to gain a foothold on the small imperial colony. However the outbreak of violence on the planet stirred into life the advance guard of the tyranid hive fleet "Medusa", as the hive mind realised that an escalation of hostilities between the eldar and imperium would inevitably lead to an escalation of forces on both sides. This was detrimental to the plans of Medusa, which had been patiently building up its biomass in order to swamp the defenders in one overwhelming assault.
Medusa's plans now changed, and on 1210.014M42 tyranid forces ambushed and slaughtered a patrol of the eldar on the plains between their own webway portal and the imperial lines. The arrival of Medusa on Glossop V caused alarm in imperial circles, but General Pollack, commander of Cerrack Nebula operations, determined that the Biel Tan were now vulnereable. He requested reinforcements, and within days a Dark Angels strike cruiser, a force of Imperial Fists and the Adeptus Mechanicus had arrived in orbit above Glossop V. The tyranids had defeated the eldar, but precipitated the start of a military build up on Glossop V which threatened their insidious plans in the Cerrack Nebula.
While the alliance continued their campaign in the Zadoc subsector the Shattered Silence kabal decided to take the opportunity of a potential profit making venture in the depths of space between the subsectors. Far from the Aleph expansion sphere and won from the imperium in .006M42, Protogonus had grown into a small but succesful tau colony. It was however in the middle of nowhere and not strategically useful to the tau. To the dark eldar it was situated in an ideal position from where raids could be launched across the sector. With this in mind the Archon of the Shattered Silence sanctioned an exploratory assault.
Truth be told however the leader of the kabal was not having everything his own way. His dalliance with the Rillietan and his acceptance of their missions on behalf of the alliance had led to private scorn and derision of his leadership. Where was the profit in helping the tau and eldar? Several lieutenants were now openly challenging the Archon's right to rule, but rather than challenge them, he sought a more ingenious way to assess their danger.
And so it was not the Archon himself who led the raid on Protogonus, and critically the leader of the Shattered Silence had failed to inform his lieutenant of the exact strength of the tau defending their remote outpost. The dark eldar suffered a mauling on the tau colony, and the reputation of the Shattered Silence was temporarily dented. However one challenger to the Archon's leadership had been effectively neutralised.
Additional tau forces arrived on Libria V during 10.014M42 as the alliance, almost free from fighting a two front war on Zadoc pushed more resources into the Librian venture. The Federacy were unwilling to commit significant troops without almost guaranteed success, and the Librian rebels were bogged down in an attritional stalemate on Libria III. The Crusade forces had for now discontinued their assaults on the loyalists on Libria I, so general Alexander was free to concentrate on the alliance invasion of Libria V, despite the fact that Admiral Jellicoe's forces were unable, or unwilling, to break the alliance blockade of the system.
The tau reinforcements immediately showed their worth in a textbook assault of Gold River, the last imperial stronghold in the north. The tau forces were inexperienced, which allowed the loyalist Librian forces to score early successes, especially when Demolisher siege tanks caught tau fire warriors in the open. However the tau soon learned from this, and their aggressive strike by tau battle suits into the heart of enemy lines proved decisive. The Librians took too long dealing with this threat, and lost vital ground as the tau moved up to consolidate their positions. Gold River was almost abandoned and Alexander now found his forces in the north cut off from the rest of his army south of the Gold River.
Analysis by the imperium pointed to a lack of air and artillery support as being critical to losses against the tau, and the Departmento Munitorium put out an urgent request for additional units of Basilisks and Wyverns. Air support was more difficult, for as long as the alliance remained in control of Librian space, the tau would continue to enjoy complete air supremacy.
Following the uncovering of Hive Fleet Medusa by the Biel Tan, the Corsair princess Kusanagi had been less than gracious to her kin. She barely acknowledged them on what she considered her world, and in any case there was no love lost between the two factions. The Biel Tan hadn't arrived to save the corsairs, but to prevent Medusa from gaining a foothold in the Cerrack Nebula from where it would be in easy range of attacking the Biel Tan's own target, Glossop V.
The Biel Tan farseer had long decided that Glossop V, along with several other worlds on the eastern rim, should once again belong to the eldar race, and that the time to rebuild the ancient empire had come. It would take a long time, but the eldar have patience in abundance. Now the imperium was showing weakness, the conquest of Glossop V would be all the easier.
Activating long thought dormant webway portals the Biel Tan began amassing forces on the surface of the imperial outpost. Knowing the planet was far too large and sparsely populated for the imperium to cover all of it with reconaissance, and trusting in their own stealth technology, the Biel Tan believed they would be able to amass overwhleming force before striking the planet's capital in a surprise attack. However, the imperium already knew they were coming.
Using her contacts, the princess of Gabriel's World gave word of the Biel Tan attack to Inquisitor Carmillas of the Ordo Xenos, a human she had had dealings with before. Though her relationship with the inquisitor was shrouded in secrecy, she none the less tipped of the imperium to her kin's plans. When Biel Tan arrived, Inquisitor Carmillas was waiting.
A furious action erupted around Carmillas' small task force, which suffered heavy casualties before withdrawing. By attacking forcefully the eldar had managed to gain a foothold, but now time was of the essence as the inquisitor had alerted the imperial defenders. With as much haste as they dared the Biel Tan craftworld rapidly deployed as many fast moving units as they could, while watching all the time for the imperial approach. Some hours later the first imperial column arrived in the wilderness, searching for their enemy and first contact was made.
Unfortunately for the imperium, despite the warning from Carmillas, it takes time for a co-ordinated response to be mounted, and with Vastrid such a backwater, Titus Luthor had generally deployed he least well equipped and least experienced forces to the region. As such the imperial guard sent to search for the invading xenos squarely blundered into an eldar ambush, and the Biel Tan made light work of them. The imperial governor appealled for off world intervention as the Biel Tan systematically took out the listening posts dotted around the small imperial colony. By 1310.014M42 all contact with outlying settlements had been lost, and only the capital and spaceport remained in imperial hands.
The response by the forces of chaos to the new offensive by the alliance on Zadoc was swift, but didn't involve an immediate attack on tau or eldar forces. Instead a large force of Emperor's Children, Iron Warriors and Word Bearers was assembled on the chaos held Ascobabria. On 1010_014M42 they launched a major assault over the Saregri Ocean, utilising their daemonforge located in the north to construct hundreds of airborne engines which swiftly carried their armies over the sea. Blanketed in blasphemuos fog and daemonic energies, the task force was attacked en route by the imperial navy, to little effect. Within hours the forces of chaos had made their landing on the south of Riontas and were driving towards Rodenze.
Wavell, alarmed at the failure of the navy to prevent such a coordinated attack, deployed his guard regiments on the obvious routes of advance to the imperial capital.The Raven Guard also joined the imperial defenders at the Garviel installation, a massive manufacturing complex which provided almost ten percent of the planet's imperial tithe on its own.
The forces of chaos did indeed make Garviel a focal point of their advance, and concentrated elite forces to take the installation, while cultist and traitor guard forces confronted the imperial army, now mainly consisting of the Zadoc PDF, defending Rodenze. At Garviel traitor marines of the Emperor's Children and Iron Warriors legion went into battle personally, while the Arch Cleric unleashed a host of daemons who eagerly joined the fray.
The Raven Guard, expecting this, launched their own pre-emptive strike against the purple liveried Emperor's Children, attempting to separate their forces from the rest of the host. Meanwhile the Librian and other guard forces marched forward bravely towards the Iron Warriors.
Unfortunately for the imperium, the Raven Warriors' strike was unsuccessful, and the daemons of Nurgle thwarted the attempt to gain a key objective on the left flank of the imperial line. While the Raven Guard attempted to push home their attack, suffering ever increasing casualties, on the imperial right, Iron Warrior forces accompanied by Emperor's Children terminators scythed throught the imperial lines. Thousands of guardsmen were massacred and the Librians began to break, many throwing down their weapons and running for their lives. The armoured units suffered badly as well, as Iron Warrior Mauler Fiends strode over the ruined shell of Garviel complex, seemingly immune to massed melta, lascannon and vanquisher cannon shells. Eventually both monstrous engines were felled by overwhelming firepower, but not before the imperial forces had been well and truly dislodged from the installation.
By 1210.014M42 the Garviel complex was lost, and the imperial retreat cut by fast moving daemonic forces. The imperial force had fought bravely, but in vain, as the overwhelming pressure on the defence lines around Rodenze finally collapsed. General Wavell disappeared, his fate unknown, while the remaining imperial forces on Riontas attempted to flee or surrender to the alliance. Few were able, as flying daemons soon made hiding impossible, and there was much consternation as the tau on the northern coast simply watched as the massacre unfolded, judging the risk too high and any gains too small to justify intervening.
By mid-10.014M42 the remaining city belonging to the imperium on Zadoc was Montene, itself a ruin, defended by a few regiments of Guard and a few hundred space marines who themselves were considering whether or not it made sense to continue fighting in this way on Zadoc. On Vastrid, Titus Luthor recieved the grim news but refused to send reinforcements while the situation was still so volatile on Libria. It was now almost certain that Zadoc would be lost to the imperium, at least for the time being - the second subsector capital of the sector to slip out of the imperium's hands.
The tyranids found by the eldar on Gabriel's World were not confined to the eldar planet. Although the eldar and imperial forces did not exchange intelligence willingly, both sides listened in on each other's business and both were soon to become aware of the nascent threat facing both in the Cerrack Nebula. Just days after the botched eradication attempt on the Corsair world, the tyranid menace surfaced on the imperial held world of Quim.
Quim had been quiet since its suppression in 012M42, so the imperial guard stationed there were not expecting to fight, nor were they well equipped to deal with the sudden and furious assault by the alien creatures. As a small outpost, Quim had one large settlement and several smaller ones, protected by a ring of forts and regular imperial patrols. It was one such patrol that faced a sudden ambush on 0610_014M42, and after a fierce close quarters struggle, only a few remnants of the imperial patrol managed to stagger back to the capital, Camiel.
It was now clear that hive fleet Nemesis, although apparently in decline, was not the only tendril of the tyranid menace active in the sector. Another had been discovered and the evidence was passed back to the Inquisition, who made a positive match with some of the biological samples acquired on Quim. By the end of 10.014M42 the hive fleet had a designation "Medusa".
During 10.014M42 the long war on Hylas continued on the northern plains, with the arrival of a new ork Warlord to the region, styling himself as "Otto Von Bismork". Already engaged on Zadoc, the greenskin leader decided it would be a good idea to get involved in the war on Hylas, particularly if he could win it for the ork race and steal the glory from Na'Porkleon and Kogh. He managed to convince his fellow ork warlords that he was the ork of the moment to swing the war decisively in the orks' favour, mainly by shouting loudly and getting his boyz to fire wildly into the sky. Nonplussed, the other greenskin warlords were content to let Bismork's boyz "have a good scrap", since both knew that the Mechanicum had recently arrived on Hylas in order to protect their interests - notably a research facility - in Seaford in the far east of the continent of Hylas.
For several months the war had gone quiet on Hylas as both Na'Porkleon and Kogh were wary of their new foe's abilities, and while longing for a fight, were not stupid enough to throw away years of work if the new humans had some underhand "kunnin". So they were more than happy to let Bismork test out the threat.
In the end the threat turned out to be imperial guard forces with added support, but this none-the-less was adequate to defeat Bismork's first assault. Na'Porkleon and Kogh were pleased. The threat had been assessed as manageable, and with insignificant loss of territory or boyz. Well their boyz anyway.
War returned with a vengeance to the Vastrid subsector as the eldar of the Biel Tan craftworld began acting more aggressively towards various forces in the region. At first the attacks were small and unsuccessful, with the Novgorod regiment posted to Glossop V easily fending off the surprise attack which occurred on 0410.014M42. The success was short lived however, as the eldar forces returned in larger numbers and with more powerful forces, destroying another imperial guard force at one of the outposts protecting the capital and only spaceport. The eldar then melted away into the vast wilderness areas of the largely uninhabited world, but the commander on the ground suspected they would be back.
At the same time another force of Biel Tan arrived unexpectedly on the Corsair planet of Gabriel's World, although they had not been contacted by their brethren and made no attempt to communicate with them. As soon as they had landed the eldar host moved swiftly towards their objective, uncovering a previously unknown minor tyranid infestation. By their actions however, the previously covert actions of the tyranids soon turned more aggressive, and the alien creatures launched a ferocious defence, almost annihilating the Biel Tan host that had come to eradicate them.
The actions of the Biel Tan resulted in a swifter than usual response from the imperial navy. Concerned by the recent attacks and convinced there must be a significant eldar naval presence in the area, admiral Jellicoe consented to the dispatch of Admiral Pendragon's fleet as well as Commodore Sommerville's battlegroup. The combined fleet, the largest deployed to the Vastrid subsector in many years, soon found more than they had bargained for. By their deployment the dark eldar of Drift became alarmed that their activities would be uncovered, and that they may even lose Slaughterpoint station, which although did not belong to the Shattered Silence kabal, was still coveted by their Archon.
The imperial fleet soon found itself being shadowed by the dark eldar of the Shattered Silence, and attempted to bring their combined force to bear on the smaller xenos fleet. However just as battle was joined, a large host of Biel Tan warships, the very ones the imperium had been looking for, arrived and quickly entered the fray. The imperial vessels were totally outmaneuvered by their opponents, and were sooon chasing shadows as they weaved crazily across the void, all the while being harassed by the combined eldar/dark eldar force. During the engagement the imperium lost three vessels, all reduced to hulks, while the rest were either crippled or fled the field. Only Pendragon's flagship, the Sir Gallahad, escaped with no damage at all, and the remaining battered fleet returned to dock at Vastrid, where admiral Jellicoe administered a stern rebuke to his subordinate. For now the eldar had the upper hand in the Cerrack Nebula, and Jellicoe had few resources to spare hunting down the eldar threat.
After months of relative quiet on Zadoc, the alliance, despite being heavily engaged in the Librian Heresy, launched dual campaigns against their enemies. It began a new phase of violence of Zadoc as the tau high command, in concert with their eldar allies, decided to force the issue on Zadoc. It was time for all out war.
The main thrust of the campaign came without commander Windgather, who had transferred his forces west for the initial thrust against the Imperium on the island continent of Riontas. Instead new tau units were thrown in to the assault against chaos, with the aid of the eldar who had been on Zadoc throughout. The attack came in early 10.014M42 against the last city on mainland Zadoc held by the Arch Lector's forces, the strategically vital Jordosett, which had been fought over and changed hands several times in the campaign. The build up was obvious to the forces of chaos, and the Arch Lector was able to enlist the help of some allies in the defence of the city.
Following the victory of chaos over the orks on Zoggot, word of the battle had swiftly spread amongst the greenskins of the sector. Greenskins being greenskins, they were far more amenable to the overtures from the Arch Lector having heard of his forces defeat of fellow orks, and the ork warlord styling himself as "Otto Von Bismork" saw an opportunity to enhance his image and get one over on his rival Na'Porkleon by throwing in his lot with chaos, at least for the time being. Soon the orks began flooding in to the Zadoc system, their ungainly craft largely making it through the tau blockade thanks to their sheer numbers and random arrival. Several ork roks were destroyed, but thousands of orks crash landed north of Jordosett ready to join in the coming scrap.
The assault itself was a violent battle, as the alliance brought overwhelming firepower to the battlefield. During the engagement the entire city of Jordosett was practically levelled, and the alliance inflicted serious losses on the Arch Lector's armies. Even so the sheer number of orks slowed the alliance advance, but by 0810.014M42 the Arch lector had lost the city and his forces were confined to a small bridgehead on the mainland.
In the far west Windgather executed an almost flawless landing on the imperial held isle of Riontas. The Novgorod guard, now veterans of the Zadoc campaign, defended the city of Arenoli with bravery, despite being no match for the alliance firepower. Almost inevitably Arenoli fell just a few days after the landings and the imperial line was bent back towards the heart of Riontas. The imperium now had only one city left, Rodenze, and despite vowing to counter attack, General Wavell was staring utter defeat in the face, and with the Librian Heresy occupying much of the imperial high command's attention, he knew that reinforcements would not be forthcoming. The imperium had entered the end game on Zadoc.
For months the uneasy truce between chaos and ork forces had held in the Zoggot system. Although posessing no significant resources, the position of this inhabitable system and related facilities made it a crucial waystation - as it once was in the days when mankind controlled the subsector aeons ago. for years the orks of the Vork Ork expanse and the traitor legions who controlled much of the Enceladus subsector had vied over the system, but in 013M42 the Iron Warrior's leader captain Stahl had arranged a ceasefire in order to pursue his campaigns in the Zadoc subsector.
With the Iron Warriors largely dug in and and on the defensive on Zadoc and the Arch Cleric now leading the chaos forces, both sides decided that the cease fire was no longer desirable, and both sides drew up plans to ensure they controlled the Zoggot system going forward. For the orks there was less strategy at work. There were no critivcal supply lines running through the area, but the orks were certainly bored, and had lots of new war toys to play with...
The battle of Zoggot which developed was therefore out of all proportion, in terms of forces committed, to the actual worth of Zoggot. For the Arch Cleric the Emperor's Children committed almost half their strength, including a mysterious yet powerful figure rumoured to be the Primarch Fulgrim. The Arch Cleric himself deployed several armies of cultists, supplemented by a large daemonic outbreak, chiefly of large and particularly violent greater daemons and daemon princes. The Iron Warriors even supplemented this force with daemonic war engines.
The chaos forces were attempting to bring to bear overwhelming force, but the orks had been building up their forces simply because it was in their nature. When the Arch Cleric attacked in 09_014M42, he found a host of orks ready and willing to do battle, supported by Stompa war machines and hordes of boyz. Several warbands from Waagh! Kogh and Waagh! Na'Porkleon had also joined in for some fun, as the chaos build up had soon got round the local ork forces, and greenskins began flocking to the system in anticipation of a "good fight". The chaos forces even picked up on this, choosing to launch their offensive several days early and before they had reached their full strength.
The result was an evenly balanced pitch battle along a very long front. Violence raged for days along a three hundred mile line delineating the ork and chaos held sections of Zoggot. But this wasn't about territory, this was a brawl to the death.
At the start the forces of chaos made the most gains, destroying ork vehicles and massacring boyz at a rate which seemed to suggest a quick victory, but after the initial successes, withering fire from lootas and Stompaz checked the chaos advance. Of particular note was the Mekboy Stompa, which employed a rarely encountered "Lifta-Droppa", accounting for the loss of the elite chaos forces in their land raiders and spartans. Soon the battle became a series of hand to hand melees, with chaos marines and greenskins slugging it out while Maulerfiends clashed with Stompas and mega-armoured nobz.
Along the length of the front the orks began to gain ground on the forces of chaos, who after a few days of fighting found themselves in a perilous state. The Emperor's children had lost nearly half their strength, more perhaps, and their leader had finally been cut down in no-mans-land having defeated the ork warboss in single combat. On the right flank the orks had managed to turn the chaos line, while on the left they shold have, but the Stompas on this flank were too slow and lacadaisical to press home the obviously growing advantage.
Fortunately for the traitor forces, the orks' morale gave out first. The greenskins too had lost significant numbers and on 2909_014M42 most decided Zoggot wasn't worth fighting for anymore and started to leave. The ork assault fizzled and by early 10_014M42 the orks were in full retreat, leaving the battered survivors of the Arch Cleric and Emperor's Children to mop up stragglers and claim the world in the name of chaos.
The price had been extremely high, but at least now the chaos supply lines had been secured for the ongoing campaigns in the Zadoc subsector. For the orks the material loss was insignificant, but the defeat ensured the greenskins lost interest in an immediate conquest of the Enceladus subsector and instead fixed their eyes hubward, towards the possessions of the Imperium and Tau empires.
For many months the imperial high command in the sector had largely ignored the slow but insideous progress of the eldar forces in the Vastrid sector. Titus Luthor understandably had more pressing concerns on Zadoc and Libria, with the latter threatening to end his career, and his life, but the Adeptus Mechanicus percieved a threat to their own interests in the Vastrid subsector which logic dictated should be dealt with sooner rather than later. They acted accordingly and during 08_014M42 shipped a pair of Warhound scout Titans to the remote planet of Achreom, where the eldar had most recently invaded.
Aided by the appearance of two mighty war engines the Librian forces, themselves oblivious to the civil war on their homeworld, were soon organised into an attacking force. Confident of victory the guardsmen launched their offensive and found the capricious eldar less than willing to give battle. The aliens simply stood off as much as possible, preferring to engaged the Librians in a long range gun battle. This suited the Librians, as the objective of the assault was to contain the bridgehead for mopping up by the titans, whose the imperial commanders hoped they had kept secret from their enemy.
The first Warhound was sent in against the shrinking eldar pocket and was soon picking up kills, hunting down enemy skimmers and wraithguard with powerful twin Turbo Lasers. However within minutes of arriving on the scene the Warhound took a hit from an unseen enemy, its void shield collapsing suddenly before the entire top of the war engine detonated in a titanic explosion. The legs burned breifly before toppling over, and the Librians looked on in shock at the scene of destruction, before spotting the skulking form of an eldar Scorpion in the ruins of a water purification facility. Clearly the eldar had known about the Warhound, and had acted accordingly.
All was not lost however, as although the eldar had scored a morale victory with the destruction of the imperial scout titan, the eldar losses were becoming untenable. After stubbornly holding their perimeter for a further eight hours, the remaining eldar left Achreom during the hours of darkness, shortly before the arrival of the second Warhound at the bridgehead. Achreom had been cleansed of Xenos, but the loss of such an engine so quickly in the heat of battle had the Adeptus Mechanicus ordering an extensive analysis into the events leading up to its demise.
Following the disaster in the Daralon Valley a force of Prozan airborne troops were called in to halt the inexorable advance of alliance forces down the Acronia Valley. It was felt their mobility would be a winning factor in any engagement against the tau, and they were readied for their mission as 09_014M42 began.
By the time the Prozans were ready to assault the advancing alliance, their enemy had gained nearly 100 kilometres of open ground and were well south of the snow line. The speartip of the alliance force was now led by rebel Librian forces, already referring to themselves as "Federal forces", their rebel leader having committed to joining the Federacy following victory in the civil war. The highly mechanised Librian forces were supported by tau battlesuits, including broadsides and Riptides, and the imperial commander felt this would be an ideal test of the Prozan air cavalry against a well equipped foe.
The initial engagements went well for the imperial forces, as although the ground troops facing the alliance took heavy casualties from the firepower of variant Leman russ and tau battlesuits, the federal army was forced to halt for several hours. On 0709_014M42 the counter attack began with the airborne units of the Prozan regiments screaming into battle, their speakers emitting their customary ancient earth battle music.
The counter attack took the alliance by surprise, as they had not provided dedicated air support. However the tau battlesuits soon found their rail rifles and missile systems an ideal answer to the airborne assault. Soon Valkyrie and Vendetta gunships were either sent blazing to the ground or exploded in mid air, as the rail rifles proved the more valuable anti-aircraft defence. Even a Vanquisher Leman Russ managed to score a lucky kill with its main cannon as a low flying Vulture briefly crossed its field of vision.
The airborne assault quickly became a shambles after that, as the imperial forces found the imperial tanks a tough nut to crack, and the tau battlesuits extremely difficult to dig out of cover. Some of the failure can be put down to pure bad luck, but it was also clear that the narrow terrain of the Acronia valley and its scattered industrial installations was favouring the alliance. Gradually the alliance forces picked up their advance once again, and by 0909_014M42 the imperium had once again gone over to the defensive on Libria V.
For almost a Terran year the forces of the alliance had kept watch on the orks from their bridgehead on Bothorion. For the most part the orks ignored them, as the eldar forces usually sent out to patrol would simply refuse to fight if challenged by the greenskins. The alliance was content to watch the orks and monitor any change in activity, but during 08_014M42 the ork warlords Na'Porkleon and Kogh seemed to come to an agreement, and had begun building up their forces on Bothorion dramatically.
Alliance intelligence suggested similar build up in ork activity across the sector, and the banners of Waagh Kogh and Na'Porkleon were being held aloft in the same locations, a clear sign that the two ork warlords had decided to work together. This was particularly alarming to the tau. All their experience with orks had suggested they were a brutal race with low intelligence. Nothing had prepared them for Na'Porkleon's "kunnin" and the Blood Axe way of being orky. They knew that if a Waagh! swept through the Mabb nebula and they lost their colonies of Tyndareous and Va'Doran, their entire position in the Zadoc subsector would be compromised. The Zadoc and Librian campaigns would have to be scaled back, and relations with the Federacy could be permanently damaged. Even the alliance with the eldar might cease to be of value to their more ancient comrades...
The tau decided to act, sending a large force to Bothorion in 08.014M42. Unfortunately the alliance had underestimated the strength of the orks, and soon the forces of Skyfall were hard pressed to contain a spirited and boistrous counter attack from the greenskins. The tau had sent what they thought was enough of a force to consolidate a defensible bridgehead as a base to launch further attacks, and at first the counter attack was held, until an ork Stompa arrived.
Surprised that sarch a large war engine even existed on such a small and unimportant world, the tau had no answer to the new threat. The massive clanking mechanical idol of the ork Gods careened through the tau lines, rocket fire pinging off its steel hull and raining sparks down on friend and foe alike. Scorched and blackened, the Stompa could however not be halted, and soon the entire tau perimeter was compromised. Few made it back to the orca dropships as the ork boyz followed their talisman of war into battle with frenzied confidence.
The alliance did not go back to Bothorion. Monitoring of the orks was now left to remote monitoring stations and drone arrays, while the tau leadership pondered what to do about their withering supply lines across the Zadoc subsector.
For several months since the intervention of the Tau in the Librian system, barring the unfortunate incident at the Mid-Belt space station, the crusade forces had been largely quiescent, with very little new offensives on Libira I, and no punitive raids carried out. To General Abrahams this was a blessing, to Hathek a worry. What was Vorushko up to?
Never-the-less Hathek and Abrahams had Libria V to concentrate on. Since 07.014M42 the Tau-Eldar and rebel forces had suffered a number of defeats seeing their territory shrink to a small bridgehead in the now snow bound north of the planet. Only the settlement of Jutesberg and its space port remained in alliance hands. Abrahams believed that one more push would secure the city and drive the tau off the world.
Defeat at Libria V would mean a terrible blow to the Federal aspirations of the librian rebels. It would also make the acquisition of Libria as a friendly system a much harder task to achieve by invasion alone and might convince the Federacy that involvement in tau wars was no longer profitable. This outcome was unacceptable to the tau ethereals, and without the knowledge of the imperium, commander Windgather and commander Frostblade landed on Libria V at the beginning of 08.014M42.
During the first week or so of 08.014M42 the tau commanders watched as the Librian loyalists built up huge forces of men and equipment to start their offensive on Jutesberg. The build up was slow and obvious, and by a stroke of good fortune the tau even found out the date and time of the beginning of the offensive and acted accordingly.
The Abrahams plan was to conduct a frontal assault on Jutesberg preceded by a ferocious artillery barrage. The infantry would attack in force, while the Librian armour would outflank the city across the snow covered Jute Plain south of lake Silverwood. On 1008.014M42, minutes before the attack was due to start, the tau launched their own offensive...
More than three regiments of Librian guard were caught out by the tau surprise attack. Attacking in poor weather and sub-zero temperatures, the Librians found the tau forces perfectly adapted for cold climate fighting, and it became apparent that a new commander had been brought in who had experience of polar terrain.
The tau quickly dealt with the imperial artillery, the biggest threat to Windgather's forces, in an efficient manner which Skyfall had failed to do, to his cost. With the artillery neutralised, the tau were then on the lookout for the Librian armour, but as the hours went on, the armoured force failed to materialise. Meanwhile, out on the snow plains of the north, the Librians died in their thousands, most unaware of where the killing shot came from, as the tau poured overwhelming firepower into the infantry formations whose snow camoflauge was useless against such a technologically advanced foe.
General Abrahams frantically tried to contact the Librian armour, who should still have been in their positions to outflank the tau. However a ferocious blizzard had now blown in, and visibility around the tanks was down to just a few feet. The armoured units were blind and helpless, and were simply bypassed by alliance forces. By the time the blizzard cleared the imperial tanks were completely surrounded by tau and rebel Librian forces, and were forced to surrender.
In the centre of the Actonia Valley the massacre was complete. Three Librian regiments had been wiped out and the tau swept into the settlement of Daralon on 1408.014M42. The alliance had pushed into a long salient cutting off North Springley from the rest of the region while dealing a crushing blow to imperial pride and resources. Abrahams had thought on 0908.014M42 that one more push would break the Libria V invasion, now it looked like the war would go on for some time. Worse still the success of the alliance had fomented more riots and rebellion across the planet, and each day more PDF regiments sided with the alliance. The bulk of Librians still remained loyal however, at least for now, but with over 2/3 of the imperial strength on Libria comprising of Librian regiments, Abrahams feared a general collapse of morale if victory was not delivered swiftly.
As 014M42 wore on, hive fleet Nemesis, which had by 08.014M42 devoured no fewer than six inhabited worlds in the Zadoc subsector, had apparently run out of steam. For many months the hive fleet itself had not been spotted in strength, and the Shadow in the Warp had become noticeably more fragmented and weaker. Inquisitor Huron and the local Ordo Xenos scholegium now considered the possibility that the hive fleet was beyond its peak and posed less of a threat than had been feared.
Already it had been reported that the Ork world of Memnon, formerly a tau colony, was no longer in contact with the tyranid menace. On New Cerberex, which had encountered the first vanguard elements of an infestation, engagements with the tyranids had become sporadic, then non existant from the beginning of 08.014M42. The planet was then declared "clean". Already in 013M42 the tendrils of the hive fleet had been repulsed from Bastien, and the Perseus Deeps had been cleared of the alien menace, but not Huron believed that the grip of nemesis had been loosened, perhaps permanently.
On Fort Sparcos against the orks, and on Grimlock, where nemesis had the forces of chaos besieged, the war went on, but the intensity of nemesis's attacks had lessened. This was almost too late for Grimlock, which had been ravaged nemesis, with much of the world turned barren and its atmosphere irevocably polluted. Fort Sparcos, lacking much in the way of natural life anyway, had suffered less, but the world was strewn with the ruins of fortifications, some active and some destroyed - with orks it is often hard to tell.
Inquisitor Huron did not believe the hive fleet would withdraw permanently from the sector. The hive fleet, though perhaps spent by the the long wars on Grimlock and Fort Sparcos, was still undefeated and at large, somewhere in the vast voids between worlds. Tired perhaps, and needing to rest, but until the hive fleet itself was brought to battle and annihilated, the threat from nemesis would remain very real.
Soon after the defeat to commander Fastblade, the chaos forces suffered another setback on Zadoc. In the north west, the islands of Carriode and Hannuse had now been in traitor hands for nearly three months, and following a lull in the fighting on the world, the Imperium had been given enough breathing space to regroup and contemplate offensives once more.
The Blood Angels had faired less badly than other forces in the war on Zadoc, and were the first units able to respond against chaos. Seeking to hit back against the traitors where their small numbers would not hinder them, the astartes force targeted the city of Montene, the most important settlement in the north west, which had fallen to chaos on 0106.014M42.
Since the city had fallen the Arch Cleric had removed the majority of his forces from Hannuse to face the increasing threat of the alliance, and Montene was now defended by cultist forces and a small contingent of Emperor's Children. It was the traitor marines the Blood Angels targetted, rightly reasoning that a crushing blow against the genetically engineered supermen would precipitate a crushing collapse in enemy morale.
The Angels of Death lived up to their name as they performed a terror raid on Montene. During the engagement some traitor units gave a good account of themselves, but it became apparent that the Emperor's Children themselves did not believe that Montene was defensible. Across the city units of chaos astartes withdrew rather than face the Blood Angels' wrath, and in under two days the city had been reclaimed for the emperor, with the cultists fleeing into the hills of Hannuse and the Emperor's Children retreating off the island to the chaos hinterlands further east. Now the Imperium sent in the imperial guard, who would spend the next two weeks hunting down the cultists in the wilderness to the north of the city.
Hylas had by 07.012M42 become a forgotten conflict. The war against the greenskins had ground on for nearly two years and the front lines had been static for months. General Van Dorn, low on numbers and equipment had dug in across the planet, and the front lines had narrowed to two passable tracts of land north and south of the virtually impassable Hylas plateau.
In the south the Imperium had arranged a set of formidible defences which had not been breached in over a year, anchored on their left by the ocean and to their right by swamps, watched over by trained veteran units. In the north the ground was more open, and on these plains Warlord Kogh launched his new offensive on 0208.014M42, deep in the Hylas winter.
The orks approached the imperial defences across snowbound plains, and their advance was obvious from the plumes of white kicked up by the orkish vehicles, as well as the general noise and commotion of the greenskin advance. the Librian guardsmen were ready and waiting, and opened up with a ferocious barrage of fire.
Around the settlement of Sarina the orks took terrible punishment as they advanced, and soon the snow was littered with ruined ork vehicles and greenskin corpses. The Librians wondered why the orks continued to rush at them, but the effect was to pen the Librians in, isolating defensive positions. The imperial forces, despite their overwhelming firepower were just unable to turn the tide of the battle. Eventually on 0608.014M42 Sarina was abandoned as Van Dorn was concerned his remaining forces would be encircled. The imperial defenders retreated, giving up precious territory to the orks, little knowing that the greenskins had committed their reserves and one last resolute push may have broken the assault altogether. The ork gamble had paid off.
In late 07.014M42 a strange four sided engagement occurred at the Mid Belt Defence Network, a vast installation consisting of six interlocking space stations. Large enough to generate its own weak gravity field, the station, simply referred to as Mid-Belt, had been the bastion of defence for the Librian system for thousands of years. Even though Libria was collapsing from within, the station was crewed by loyalists who were preparing for an alliance attack, still oblivious to the crusade forces conducting their own war on Libria I. The last thing they expected was an attack by the forces of chaos.
The distress call was picked up by loyalist, crusade and alliance forces, and the news that the Mid-Belt station had taken in just a few hours by chaotic and daemonic forces was alarming to all sides. Within hours, all sides were preparing a response, ignorant of the fact they were about to run into each other as they fought for the strategically important station. The alliance decided to use the webway, sending a force of Biel Tann eldar. The Crusade despatched a force of Raven Guard, while the Blood Angels independently prepared to retake the station themselves.
The engagement itself was confused and violent. The Raven Guard arrived first but soon found themselves beseiged by an aggressive eldar assault. Judging that a hard and fast attack would put the engagement beyond question, the Biel Tann forces launched themselves at the chaos forces and Raven Guard, effectively penning them in to defensive positions. Then the Blood Angels arrived.
The chaos forces seemed stunned at the sudden invasion by four forces, and faired the worst in the engagement. The Raven Guard didn't manage to make significant inroads into the station, as the Blood Angels, enraged by the apparent disloyalty of fellow astartes, fought ferociously to ensure they didn't make progress. The eldar secured much of the station, but as the chaos forces and Raven Guard abandoned their positions and retreated, the xenos forces realised they had taken too many casualties to hold on to their gains in the face of an unbowed Blood Angels force. Disappearing into the webway the forces of Biel Tann made good their escape, leaving the loyalists to reclaim the Mid-Belt installation in the name of the emperor.
The war on Zadoc had been remarkably quiet for more than a month, ever since the alliance had driven the imperium back to their "fortress" island and initiated a minor assault on chaos forces. For more than a month the tau and their eldar allies had been relentlessly bombing chaos cities and defences, so it came as no surprise when the tau moved against their main enemy in the Zadoc campaign in mid 07.014M42.
The Tau high command decided to launch a two pronged assault against chaos forces, playing to their superior manoueverability and ability to redploy forces quickly. In the north recently arrived commander Fastblade was tasked with landing on Anorigo and taking Andisele, while commander Skyfall, with the aid of the Biel Tann eldar, was ordered to push hard against Arch Cleric forces in central Zadoc.
In the north Fastblade found his target defended by a large force of Emperor's Children, and landed to the north of the city of Andisele. Conditions were good, if extremely cold, and the snowbound landscape made it even easier for the tau to detect the advancing traitor astartes dressed in their purple armour, not that the tau needed such help.
Fastblades forces opened up a withering hail of fire against the astartes, and the fight was brutally one sided in terms of casualties. However, the all out assault delayed Fastblade significantly, allowing the chaos forces to retreat in good order to the west, and set up a new defensive line. Andisele was taken, but Shadowstrike was concerned at Fastblade's caution in allowing the chaos forces to get away. Never-the-less by 2707.014M42 the northern city had fallen and the forces of chaos cut in two.
Further east and south, Skyfall and his eldar allies were having a much more difficult time. Their initial assault had been swiftly met by the Arch Cleric's forces, and to the alliance's consternation an allied force of Shaidar Haran daemons. A pact had been made between the usually belligerent daemon entities, and the host of tzeentch daemons which poured into reality in front of the alliance army sorely pressed Skyfall's troops.
The battle was brutal and raged for over a week, but gradually the chaos forces, able to accept a higher rate of casualties, turned the alliance flank to the south of Jordoset. Realising to try to hold this position would be near suicide, Skyfall chose to withdraw, giving up the city at least for now. The chaos forces had proved that they were no pushover, and it seemed the alliance was in for a long war on Zadoc.
Libria V is a small world, heavy in silicate rocks and low in iron content. It is the furthest out of all the inhabited Librian systems and is the coldest with an average surface temperature of just 8C. The planet itself was terraformed from a lifeless rock millenia ago, and the crust, long dormant, was agitated to release CO2, raising the temperature of the world enough to thaw the ice covering the world.
Libria V is a world of rolling hills and high snow capped mountains, the planet's relatively low gravity and strong crustal rocks allowing for a much more rugged surface than that found on Libria IV or Libria III. Settlements are well separated and little more than frontier towns, the largest of which is only inhabited by around 100,000 people. Roads are little more than tracks, as the savage weather of Libria V and the distances involved make infrastructure upkeep challenging.
Libria V rotates quickly, with a day lasting little more than 12 hours. Its one moon is small and orbits rapidly, contributing to minimal tides. Angled at over 30 degrees to the Librian star, the world experiences varied seasons, with most areas experiencing snow at some time in the year, even at the equator. The planet's icecaps however are confined to the mountains, as the poles are mostly open water, and the high axial tilt ensures that even the poles are heated in their short summer.
The outermost Librian planet is little more than an outpost, waystation or frontier world. It has little in the way of assets or resources, but its position makes it an ideal stop over point for travellers and this is reflected by the world's many orbital space docks. From here travellers can shuttle to the surface, visit the bars and brothels in the many townships, and take in the world's breathtaking scenery. Libria V is also home to a large number of underground missile silos, though the knowledge to use them has lapsed for many hundreds of years.
Most people on Libria make a living by raising cattle on the land, which alternates between tundra, plains and evergreen forest. Prize cattle are the only export of note from the world, and the population are seen as backward and generally the most relaxed of all the Librian Folk.
Libria IV is a world not much different from Terra in size and composition, but it's plate tectonics are weaker and over aeons this has led to a much shallower topography. Combined with a hydrosphere containing 20% more water, the planet is technically an ocean world with over 90% of the surface consisting of open water. The rest is made up of islands and one small continental landmass in the northern hemisphere.
Being so much wetter than Terra, and with similar solar insolation (though peaking at a lower wavelength since Librius is a K0 main sequence compared to the Terran sun's G2V), Libria III has a similar average air temperature at the surface - around 14C. However because the world is so dominated by its oceans, the atmosphere is well mixed, and there are no ice caps. The tropics are cooler than would be expected, and the planet's jet streams are particularly strong. This in turn drives large baroclinic storms, three or four times the size of those on Terra, which can affect vast swathes of the planet with wind and rain. Waves are driven higher and higher as there is little land mass to damp them down, and typically the oceans on Libria II have wave heights greater than 100m, with enormous wavelengths.
The planet's economy is centered around the vast bounty of the world's oceans. Unlike Betor, which was famous for its fish, the vast oceans of Libria IV are full of plant life, which is harvested and turned into a nutritious ingredient which forms the basic carbohydrate used in much of the system's diet. Enormous vessels, many over ten kilometres in length, patrol the oceans trawling for Chelp, the most common free floating seaweed and the easiest to harvest. The main continent of Graevos is studded with large offloading installations, where the Chelp is processed, boxed and shipped to the nearest space port. These settlements are usually built into the rock, and have high plascreet walls protecting them from the ferocious waves.
Life on Libria IV usually centres around Chelp harvesting, and most of the 88 million live in the cities along the coast of Graevos. The weather is usually cloudy and wet, a day without rain is rare, and the wind is constant. The coastal region is a bleak place, grey, wet, windy and constantly washed in spray. You have to go many miles inland to find freshwater plants, and the low hills of the coastal region where most people live are barren of trees, covered in tussock grass and home to many species of bird, most introduced by the early settlers.
The capital, Porthaven, is actually over three hundred kilometres inland from the coast, but is connected to the coastal installations by railway. Trains on these routes are large, often three stories, and the track gauge is wide. Vast amounts of freight and passengers is moved in this way between Porthaven and the ports themselves. Porthaven sits to the north east of the Spine, a long chain of low mountains which run from the north west to south east of Graevos, separating the ports from the hinterland. The hinterland, on which Porthaven was built, is a large inland plain. Shielded by the Spine it receives more than double the sunlight and less than a third of the rainfall compared with the western slopes, and is also the warmest place on Libria IV. It is far more desirable to live here than on the coast, and the planet's rich and important citizens live in the city, which gives the average visitor to the world the impression of a paradise world. In fact only 5 million live in this beautiful environment, the rest live out their lives working in the coastal cities, often never visiting the paradise in the hinterlands.
Libria III is the most Earth-like of all the inhabited Librian worlds. It shares a similar composition to Holy Terra, and is slightly bigger at 1.16 earth masses. Libria III has two moons, an axial tilt of 17 degrees and a temperate climate which is similar to slightly warmer than that of earth. The planet is made of continents and seas, and has a variety of environments, including mountains, deserts, lowland plains, forests and tundra. The majority of the population live in large cities which are almost, but not quite hives. Skyscrapers reach kilometres into the air and close to the city centres buildings are starting to be constructed on top of onw another, and infrastructure links such as road and rail frequently pass along fly-overs themselves hundreds of metres up.
Libria III is an industrial civilised world with a mixed economy, although it is not self sufficient in food. Overall Libria III generates around 25% of the food it requires, while the rest of the system can make good the shortfall. However Libria consumes large amounts of raw materials from within the Libria system and from other imperial systems to mass produce goods, weapons and hardware needed both within the Libria system and beyond. Since war came to the Zadoc sector the Libria II economy has suffered badly, and unemployment rates of nearly 1 in 3 have compounded discontent with the establishment, feeding the rebellion.
The culture of Libria III is generally reserved and law abiding. It is in fact home to the Librian Law cult, practically a religion which has served the planet well for centuries, with rigid adherence to utterly inflexible laws the principle foundation of the Librian culture.
Like Libria I, Libria II is tidally locked with its neighbour so that each day lasts ten earth days. The planet consists of hot desert plains towards the equator with rocky tundra towards the poles. Ice exists in some of the sunless valleys in the polar regions, but the planet is otherwise relentlessly hot with little water in its atmosphere. Plant life is restricted to scrubland bushes and grasses in the temperate regions, with algae colonising the native iron rich rocks, giving the planet a banded green hue at 60 degrees north and south.
Similar in size to earth the planets equatorial regions are a source of great mineral wealth, and the planet's 40 million inhabitants are chiefly there to extract the various ores from the dusty surface. While the temperate zones are mountainous, the majority of the planet is dominated by shifting sands. There were mountains here once, but the heating of regions directly under the sun for days at a time creates enormous heat lows. Cold air rushes in from the higher latitudes creating dust storms which scour everything in their path with winds up to 300mph. The weak coriolis force shapes these storms into vast slowly rotating monsters which over the course of a few days cross the entire day side of the planet. Lightning is common as the dust is swept into the high atmosphere, and the light from the Librian star is obscured completely. Water clouds form over the centre of the low, but rain never reaches the surface. Once the storm reaches its peak, the dust and cloud cuts off its own energy source, and the storm finally blows itself out.
The day side of the planet can reach nearly 80 degrees, while the night size can plunge below freezing, thanks to the poor insulating quality of Libria II's atmosphere. This temperature difference causes dense fog to form as the sun goes down, and this is the only way water is delivered to the surface of much of the planet. Much of the polar region is constantly shrouded in fog, which over millenia has created ice caps through frost deposition.
Life on Libria II is hard. The main cities are widely spread, nestling in the protective shelter of mountains in the mid-latitudes. The capital, Whittaker, nestles into an extinct volcano, with much of the city dug into the mountainsides. What buildings protrude are built with strong but gently sloped sides to accomodate the severe winds which often blow into the capital. The city's space port resembles a many branched tree from above, with sloped tunnels converging into one ridgeline of the mountain, which serves as the conduit from the port to the city of eight million souls. At the end of each branch is an oval hangar with a domed roof. Shuttles and loaders land in these hangers which can be totally enclosed should a storm strike.
Whittaker itself is built into the volcano, with the mountain having been shaped to meet the needs of the populace. Several tiers have been cut into the mountain, which have been enclosed in plexiglas, creating sunlit boulevards and gardens for the richer inhabitants. These too are shuttered off when storms strike. However the majority of the population live in hab blocks dug into the mountain and live under the artificial day-night cycle regulated inside the city. Life is far from unpleasant, but the work for the majority of the population means long trips away from home on massive landcrawlers into the deserts and tough, dangerous hard labour.
The culture of Libria II is much like the rest of the Librian system, dominated by the veneration of Law. Specific attractions include the tradition of bazaars, which are held outside the cities' sealed walls in great tents on the first and fifth days of the rotation cycle. This is close to sunrise and sunset in the planet's period of rotation, when the weather is generally warm and pleasant and the dust in the atmosphere protects people from the star's damaging radiation, since the binary system of Libria I and II has little in the way of the magnetosphere. Fortunately the Librian star, being a K0V main sequence, emits far less UV radiation when compared to the Terran sun.
Libria I is a hot and dusty world which orbits close to its parent star. Permanently locked in orbit around its slightly larger twin, Libria II, the days last a full terran days as the two planets orbit each other. Libria II is a permament feature in the sky above the western hemisphere, and eclipses are common.
The environment of Libria I is hot, hotter even than Libria I, as the planet's albedo is lower, and more energy from the system's star is absorbed by the dark brown dusty soil. Dust storms are common, although not as violent as on Libria II, and the planet has no indigenous life. Prior to M30, the world was a lifeless airless rock, but ancient terraforming techniques have seeded the world with windborne algae, which over time have allowed enough oxygen to remain in the atmosphere to support human life unaided, although concentrations are low and physical exertion is difficult.
The third of a billion souls who live and work on Libria I work only to produce the armaments and heavy construction required by the Imperium. Libria I is an independent forgeworld by ancient decree, and the world is the leading procuder of military equipment for the sector, even boasting a single Titan Legion. The Mechanicus oversee all production and own all the factorum, but the planet itself is ruled by an imperial governor. Even so, there is no doubt as to the real masters of the world, and were it not for the secrets of the Mechanicus, the great Librian schism would have seen every soul perish when contact was lost with the other planets in the system, as all food must be imported. Water is synthesised on the Celebrus Mining Platform, a vast installation positioned at the binary system's barycentre. The platform harvests hydrogen from the solar wind to produce water, while also serving as a waystation for mass conveyers, and an ore processing plant for the output from Libria I.
Settlements on Libria I are dotted around the world, comprising of large manufactorum and other installations, ringed by hab zones and a commercia district.
The victory at North Springvale was soon exploited by the Librian General Groenewold. Riding a new found optimism the general led three loyalist divisions at the heart of Skyfall's defences in the Gold River valley. After a fierce artillery bombardment which left most of the valley settlements in ruins, the Librians moved forward into the ruins.
Contact mas made swiftly as the loyalist forces encountered Skyfall's elite units. Groenewold was unphased and the advance continued. In the centre Punisher Leman Russ obliterated the enemy broadsides while a Leman Russ Demolisher was fortunate to have a clear shot at a senior tau commander in his modified battle suit. Despite their advanced technology the tau battlesuits and energy fields were no match for the brute force of a demolisher siege shell, and the loyalists scored an important early victory.
Reeling from the punches being dealt by the imperial tanks, the tau made a creditable counter attack on their right wing, sending in elite battlesuits and stealth suits in an attempt to check the imperial advance. Initially successful the tau move destroyed the demolisher battle tank as well as the imperial artillery. However general Groenewold quickly arrived at the scene and stabilised the line. The tau were eventually taken down by massed lasgun and plasma fire, although their stand had delayed the imperial advance on the left.
On the right and in the centre the imperial forces easily brushed aside the forces against them, with even a riptide taken down by sheer weight of fire. Skyfall's troops seemed uncertain as to how to proceed against so many infantry, having grown used to fighting imperial mechanised armies in several campaigns. This Librian army was different, and advanced with a sense of confidence and purpose often lacking in earlier battles. Skyfall, realising to make a final stand here would be catastrophic, retreated to Jutesberg.
After initial success the alliance landing on Libria V was now in trouble, and commander Shadowstrike made plans to personally oversee the situation, hoping his intervention would turn the tide. In the Federacy dissenting voices began to be heard, calling for a recall of the federal fleet and an end to the Librian "intervention". The alliance needed a victory - and soon - or the entire Librian rebellion would be snuffed out by a resurgent imperium.
