Badab War



The Badab War (901.M41 - 912.M41) was one of the most insidious and dangerous internecine conflicts to wrack the Imperium of Man in recent history, made all the more lamentable because the unthinkable had occurred. Due to honour, treachery, conflict and greed, several Space Marine Chapters turned Renegade against the Imperium and soon bloodshed and outright war ensued -- a war which turned entire armies of the Imperium's most powerful warriors against each other and in doing so swept millions to their deaths in its turbulence.

Such was the treachery and hubris of former Chapter Master Lufgt Huron, the self-styled and infamous "Tyrant of Badab". The carnage wrought amongst the stars of the Maelstrom Zone was such, that it rocked the faith and order of untold worlds never touched directly by its violence, and caused loyal subject to look upon their protectors with fear. Such were the dire sins and hidden truths that lay behind the war, that a pall of secrecy and lies descended about the conflict even as it was fought.

The rebellion was eventually put down, but its instigators, the Space Marine Chapter called the Astral Claws, wholly given over to Chaos, turned Renegade and its survivors become the infamous corsair band of Chaos Space Marines known as the Red Corsairs led by the treacherous Huron Blackheart, who now dominate a large Chaos empire within the Warp rift known as the Maelstrom in the Eastern Fringes of the galaxy.

The Maelstrom Zone
Situated along the Eastern Fringe in the Segmentum Ultima, the region now known as the Maelstrom Zone was first explored during the Great Crusade. Second only to the great Warp Rift that is the Eye of Terror, the Maelstrom is a vast Warp Rift that scars both the physical universe and the fabric of the Immaterium beyond. The Maelstrom covers an area many hundreds of light years across, and its presence in space is marked by a vast, slowly turning gyre comprised of nebulae, dust and stellar material in which countless stars and worlds have long been lost.

During the Great Crusade the vast armies of the Emperor of Mankind attempted to penetrate the Maelstrom and cleanse it of the evils that lurked within. The wealth of the Maelstrom has drawn Mankind to the Zone time and again despite its manifold hazards and difficulties, and indeed there is ready evidence of humanity's presence in the region as far back as the Dark Age of Technology. The Maelstrom Zone has also drawn humanity's enemies as well in their countless number and diverse loathsome forms. Hundreds of warships and thousands of troops were lost in the early campaigns during the Great Crusade era, and with the rest of the galaxy to reconquer, the Emperor declared the region Purgatus. In the years following the Horus Heresy, Primarch Roboute Guilliman of the Ultramarines Space Marine Legion decided that the inhabitants of the Maelstrom were too great a threat to the stability of the fledgling Imperium to ignore, and ordered the surrounding regions reinforced in an effort to contain any attacks that may originate from within.

Over time, the Imperium slowly established several important Imperial outposts within the Maelstrom Zone during the 38th and 39th millennia. These outposts rose to prominence as flickering beacons of influence and strength within the region. The three vital systems that formed the links in a distant chain that allowed the resources of the Maelstrom Zone to flow into the coffers of the more established sectors beyond were the star systems of Cygnax, Sagan and Badab. As the situation in the Maelstrom became ever more volatile, this path of commerce came increasingly under threat. By mid-M41, the heavy militarised Hive World of Cygnax located in the star system that bore its name was the most populated sphere in the northern Maelstrom Zone. Having long been a lynchpin of Imperial control of the region, Cygnax was a key world, forming a bulwark against aggressors and serving as a safe port for Imperial vessels. In the year 557.M41 disaster struck, with the suddenness of an onrushing storm, it succumbed to corruption from within and attack from without. The planet rapidly fell into blood civil war between its Imperial garrison and death cult nihilists, backed by the intervention of the dread Chaos Space Marine warband known as the Reborn. Despite the intervention of the Mantis Warriors Space Marine Chapter, which itself had made a home in the nearby Endymion Cluster, the death toll rose exponentially into the millions. The death cultists managed to gain access to part of the missile defence network, and in a suicidal rage unleashed a rain of atomic and plasma warheads upon the doomed world, shattering its hive cities and disrupting the planet's orbit for several years. The resulting permanent winter, radioactive fallout and tectonic upheavals annihilated all life on Cygnax. With the fall of this key world, Imperial control of the northern Maelstrom Zone swiftly crumbled. Without this key world, taken with other losses over the previous few centuries, vital military supply chains stretching as far as Bakka and Holy Terra itself were threatened, forcing the Adeptus Terra to act.

The Maelstrom Warders (587.M41-715.M41)
In 587.M41, the High Lords of Terra pronounced an Edict Imperialis in response to these dire predations, ordering several Space Marine Chapters to permanently base themselves in the Maelstrom Zone in order to protect the Imperium's interests and pacify the region. In recognition of their past glorious service to the Imperium, the Astral Claws Chapter was given the high honour of the senior role in commanding the newly formed Maelstrom Warders. This force was to include the fleet-based Lamenters and Charnel Guard Chapters to patrol the outer regions, and also incorporated the Mantis Warriors who were based in the nearby Endymion Cluster. Once this force was put in place, the Astral Claws Chapter took over an orbital battle station in the strategically vital Badab System, which became their fortress-monastery and base of operations. After their establishment, a detachment of a Imperial Navy squadron were permanently assigned to the region to conduct search and destroy and convoy protection duties. This naval detachment quickly stabilised the surrounding areas and purged the inner zone of heretical and xenos elements that had plagued them. Soon the wealth of the Maelstrom Zone once again began to flow into the coffers of the Imperium.

The greatest operation during these times occurred during the Scourge Campaign from 640.M41-651.M41, in which the Astral Claws and their allies conducted a series of major combat operations, striking deep into the heart of the Maelstrom in an attempt to take the battle to the foe. Initially the Space Marines were successful, until the abrupt withdrawal of the Charnel Guard Chapter. The Adeptus Terra severed the Chapter's ties to the Warders, dispatching them to the Thanatos Crusade into the Veiled Region. This sudden loss effectively ended the campaign. The Astral Claws subsequently petitioned for a replacement Chapter to be reassigned, but were denied. Less then two decades later, the Warders suffered a series of setbacks and a high number of casualties amongst some of their allies, causing a rift in relations between the wider Imperium and the Maelstrom Warders during this period. Soon the Warders became hard pressed by an upsurge of daemonic incursions and corsair attacks, pushing them into an increasingly defensive posture and suspending all operations near the Maelstrom itself.

Once again, disaster struck, as a series of Ork raids originating within the Maelstrom struck deep into the Badab Sector during the Battle of Hellsiris. The Astral Claws' Chapter Master Rovik Blake, went against his own doctrine, and pursued the Orks back into the Maelstrom itself. Having led the Astral Claws for the last two centuries, he fell in single combat with the Ork Warboss Vorg Manburna and forcing the Astral Claws to retreat. On return to the Badab System, the Captain of the Astral Claws 3rd Company, Lufgt Huron, was appointed as Chapter Master by popular acclaim of his peers in 715.M41. He became the youngest warrior in the Chapter's history to attain this esteemed rank. Imperial historians now point out that such a man of flawed character should never have been allowed to rise to the command of a Space Marine Chapter. But Lufgt Huron had already proven to be an exceptional warrior as well as a skilled tactician and charismatic leader. He quickly reorganised the Chapter's strategic deployments and established a policy of expanding his Chapter's fleet which had been badly depleted, including within its ranks captured corsair vessels in aggressive raids. He also established the questionable scorched-planet policy against their enemies and increased his Chapter's stockpile of Exterminatus-class weapons. This resulted in several fringe worlds that harboured renegade ships in the past being turned into lifeless husks.

Rise of a Tyrant (718.M41)
In 718.M1, a failed coup attempt on the Hive World of Badab Primaris led to an abortive civil war, and the Astral Claws stepped in and brutally crushed the conflict. In the aftermath, the elements behind the coup were brought forth to Lufgt Huron for judgement. Mindful of the lesson of Cygnax, the Chapter Master personally took matters into his own hands, swiftly reimposing order once more. This time he employed the Astral Claws much more brutally as they executed much of the planet's ruling class as well as purging those they perceived as morally recidivist. Taking upon himself the mantle of planetary ruler, Lufgt Huron stylised himself the 'Tyrant of Badab', claiming the inhabited worlds in proximity to the hospitable region of the void around the Badab System as his Chapter's fiefdom. In his subsequent pronouncement, he echoed the example and precedents of the sovereign realm of Ultramar and the Warder's charter. The nearby system was soon purged wholesale of the ruling elites and in the decades afterward, a number of Astral Claws 'watch bastions' were established. The Tyrant's chosen servants and political allies were placed in positions of power, turning the Badab Sector into a pocket empire, commanded by the Astral Claws.

To further cement his power, in a massive reorganisation of the uneven and often isolationist native planetary defence forces in the region into what would become known as 'The Tyrant's Legion'. Following a unified command structure these forces now followed a standard dictated by Huron. The Astral Claws assigned detachments to further train the Tyrant's Legion in order to purge them of weak elements. Soon the Tyrant's Legion proved their worth as they repulsed numerous corsair raids, freeing the Astral Claws from their defensive stance. The Chapter was able to conduct a series of lightning raids into outlying areas to harass and destroy heretic and xenos controlled areas. With the increase of Huron's tally of victories, and the curtailing of corsair activity and the increase of production never before reached, the fame of the Astral Claws 'Tyrant' grew beyond the Maelstrom Zone.

Spurred by this success, Huron had his servants deliver a formal and lengthy petition to Terra, making a detailed case for completely subduing the Maelstrom and the surrounding area, which would greatly benefit the Imperium in the long term. In order to achieve this, Huron advocated the deployment of several more Space Marine Chapters to the Warder's ranks, suggesting even that a new Founding might even be warranted to meet the needs of his plan. Unfortunately, Huron's petition was dismissed without full hearing on the grounds that the requirements of the Imperium were better met elsewhere.

The Astral Claws Falter
During the mid 700s.M41, the Astral Claws submission of required Gene-Seed tithes to the Magos Inviglia of the Adeptus Mechanicus became infrequent and incomplete. Although initially a cause for concern, such matters were not uncommon, particularly those Space Marine Chapters deployed to border areas or on crusade, simply because the Chapter itself might have a temporary need to retain the gene-seed itself to sustain battlefield losses. But as the omission persisted, this signaled to the Mechanicus that there was some darker motive at work. This would later prove to be true with the Astral Claws, as evidence later indicated that this first great sin against the traditions of the Astartes would arguably result in the Chapter's fall into heresy. Repeatedly denied the reinforcements he had requested to aid him and the Maelstrom Warders in carrying out their tasks, in his arrogance and pride, the Tyrant sought to expand his forces into a force equal to a Space Marine Legion or old. Further covert investigation would later uncover that the Astral Claws Apothecarion were conducting heretical experiments in rapid zygote cultivation. Though largely unsuccessful, the Astral Claws eventually stood at around an estimated 3,500 battle-brothers strong.

In 729.M41, Lufgt Huron's servants deliver a formal document of petition to the High Lords of Terra making a detailed case for complete purging and subduing the Maelstrom and the surrounding area. In order to achieve this, the document sets out the case for a massively augmented deployment of Space Marines to the Maelstrom Warders. Huron's petition is dismissed without a full hearing on the grounds that the Imperium's needs are better met elsewhere.

The Badab Schism (748.M41-900.M41)
After further requests to redistribute resources from the Maelstorm Zone are denied and met with increased quota demands from the Administratum, in protest, Huron withholds Badab Primaris' planetary tithe to the Administratum and further blocked the passage of trade through his realms in protest over the Adepta's failure to provide him and his allies sufficient resources to police the Maelstrom. Refusing the Astral Claws' role as defenders of the Maelstrom Zone, the Tyrant soon diverted the industrial resources and manpower to directly supplement the Badab Sector's defences as well as augmenting the Maelstrom fleet detachment and fortification of key worlds under his command. These space-based defences encircling the outer and inner spheres of the Badab Sector came to be known as the 'Ring of Steel.' On Badab Primaris, the Tyrant ordered the demolition of the ancient citadel of the ruling dominars and instead erected the legendary, hugely fortified 'Palace of Thorns' to his own specifications and design. The clashing entitlement of the Administratum's Imperial tithe and the ancient rights of the Astartes commanders to defend the Imperium by any means necessary swiftly came to be known as the Badab Schism and would last for more than a century and a half, during which the Astral Claws and the Maelstrom Warders would continue to carry on military operations as usual, against a volatile backdrop of worsening tensions with the Administratum and Segmentum authorities.

The sudden loss of the lifeblood of industry and commerce was keenly felt by the Kathargo Sector. For more than eleven centuries the Karthan Lords and planetary governors had held the charter to distribute the industrial output of the Maelstrom Zone and guard its passage from the Administratum-controlled supply fortress on Sagan, and then to the western Segmentum Ultima and beyond. Isolated by vast distances, the Karthan had long grown fate and decadent, protected by the blood and toil of the more strife-torn realms.

War on the Horizon (780.M41-900.M41)
Freed from their inglorious garrison duty, the Astral Claws intervened in the aftermath of the infamous Fourth Quadrant Rebellion, which had troubled the Imperium for many decades. Gathering in a mixed taskforce comprising of various companies from the Astral Claws, Fire Hawks, White Scars, and Celestian Guard Chapters, backed by Death Korps of Krieg and Kol-Sec Imperial Guard regiments and the Titans from Legio Venator, Lufgt Huron was elected battle leader by common consent. Under his inspired command, the taskforce ruthlessly eradicated the heavily fortified Lycanthos System of Traitor and Chaos forces in under a year. However, Stibor Lazaerek, Chapter Master of the Fire Hawks, continued to harbour a grudge over the fact that Huron was given overall command despite his seniority as a Chapter Master. This grudge would fester over the coming years until finally it would bear the fruit of bitterness.

In 821.M41, a heavy Ork raiding force from the Maelstrom is intercepted and destroyed in a series of battles in the Khirab Sector in the Endymion cluster by a combined force of the Maelstrom Warders. Durinig the battle, Lufgt Huron slays Rakka, the Ork Warboss, in single combat and is hailed as a hero of the people of Endymion. In 869.M41 the Astral Claws, at the instigation of their Chapter Master, the Black Templars declared a Crusade of Wrath into the Maelstrom, assaulting it from the eastward approach. Meanwhile the Astral Claws, Lamenters and Mantis Warriors launched their own assaults from the southern and north-eastern approaches. Thanks in no small part to Huron's brilliant strategic planning as well as the mettle of the Maelstrom Warders and the Black Templars, they achieved a stunning victory against 23 alien or heretic stronghold worlds. Unfortunately, wider events intervened, once again putting a premature end to the Astral Claws plans, as the Black Templars were called away to aid the beleaguered realm of Ultramar in the wake of the Tyrannic War. Having already suffered substantial losses in the campaign, the Warder Chapters were forced to withdraw from the Maelstrom, much to Huron's fury.

During this time Lufgt Huron was uncharacteristically taciturn and withdrawn on his return from the Maelstrom, either locking himself away in the Chapter's archives for days on end and refusing to see anyone, or keeping long silent vigils alone in the Fortress-Monastery's Panopticon-Solar, gazing unblinkingly for hours at holospheres that depicted the Maelstrom Zone. Some observers say that it was during this time that Lufgt Huron became corrupted and fell from grace. Denied his goals he had spend a lifetime fighting for, he had been denied his glory as it was snatched from his hands at the last by those he should call master, finally unhinged him, or maybe he had given in to hubris and false pride. Some of the Tyrant's detractors have even gone so far as to suggest that during the Crusade of Wrath, whilst deep within the nightmare realm of the Maelstrom, something vile or warp-tainted promises had wormed their way into his heart.

Matters worsened once again, not only within the Maelstrom Zone but the wider Imperium as well, as the threat of Hive Fleet Behemoth left the defences of the Segmentum Ultima in disarray, and wars and rumours of wars as far as the Eye of Terror and the Ghoul Stars threatened to erupt, as well as galaxy-wide revolts and other strange phenomena. Soon crisis followed crisis, and in the dying years of the 800s.M41, Lufgt Huron saw the Maelstrom Zone slipping from his grasp and all the victories the Warders had gained began to crumble, and so in an attempt to tighten his grip, he remained unaware that elsewhere events were moving against him. It would not be long before the brooding Tyrant of Badab would spark into violence, and the Imperium would once again, shed the blood of its own.

The Destruction of the Tithe Fleet (901.M41)
With preliminary judgements into the Badab System in the Segmentum Courts Temporal weighing in the Administratum's favour, an Imperial investigation fleet including representatives of the Adeptus Mechanicus Biologis Inviglia and the Administratum Lords of the Kathargo Sector, is sent to Badab to demand the delivery of the Badab tithe and the Chapter's gene-seed requirements. In circumstances that cannot be fully confirmed or explained, the investigation fleet was fired upon and destroyed in its entirety as it attempted to force its way through the Badab System's so-called 'Ring of Steel' in order to press its demands. No ship survived and more than 20,000 servants of the Imperium were lost.

Soon claim and counter-claim ensued in the aftermath as to how this tragedy occurred, and Lufgt Huron, delivering his own dominion's report on the Badab matter to the Segmentum authorities, adamantly insisted that the fleet was fired upon only after refusing to give away to the just authority of the system's masters. Within the Kathargo Sector, outrage at the incident quickly became widespread, and soon such trade links that had remained between the the Maelstrom Zone and the Kathargo Sector were abruptly severed or subject to the harshest scrutiny.

The Karthan Sector Governor Tanit Koenig moved to heavily censure the Astral Claws Chapter, along with calls for the arrest and trial of Huron for such treachery against the Imperium. With the weight of suffering and bloodshed elsewhere, the tangle of claim and counter claim fell on deaf ears. In addition, Lufgt Huron was the lawful master of a realm permanently on a war footing; a bulwark against the xenos and Chaos, and on the most basic level authorised to defend those domains. Without hard evidence, charge of willful and premeditated homicide against the Imperium's servants would be almost impossible to prove in this case. Over the next three years the Karthan Imperial commanders took it upon themselves to send two further punitive expeditions into the Maelstrom Zone but both fleets were lost in unconfirmed circumstances, supposedly never reaching the Badab System. The intervention of the Astral Claws and their allies was suspected.

Unable to enforce their will decisively, the increasingly desperate Karthan lords, near bankrupted by this stage, attempted to circumvent Badab itself, taking the far longer and more perilous route in order to access the lost tithes directly to make up their shortfall. By 903.M41 the agents of the Karthan Imperial commanders began to spread propaganda in both the Segmentum Assizes and the Senatorium Imperialis to any that would listen. As the local Administratum continued to press the High Lords to intervene directly, the Maelstrom Warders continued to arm themselves for war and conducted sweeps of the Maelstrom Zone in force, while they simultaneously continued to augment their defences within the Badab Sector itself.

The Maelstrom Secession (903.M41)
To answer the continuing threats to the control of his domain, Lufgt Huron issued the infamous 'Articles of Just Secession', which were also signed and ratified by the masters of the Lamenters and Mantis Warriors Chapters. These documents were designed to formally sever the Maelstrom Zone's direct tithes to its neighbouring sectors. In support of their cause, the document cited both the edict that founded the Maelstrom Warders and the ancient rights and titles of the Adeptus Astartes prerogative in their defence, precedents that both weighed heavily in their favour. These articles also called for a full investigation into the Karthan Sector, asserted the historic and lawful sovereignty of the Space Marine Chapters involved from outside interference by the lower Adepta and stated again their willingness to defend the Maelstrom Zone from any who would threaten it.

As the situation devolved further the Karthans threatened all out war, but lacked the means to do so alone. Instead the petitioned aid to mount an attack from the Deparmento Munitorum and the Segmentum Naval sub-command at Ryza, but were flatly refused and informed that the matter was an 'internal dispute.' Met with denials, the Karthargo Sector itself drafted increasingly large numbers of troops into its planetary defence regiments. To further their goals, the Karthan Satrap sent several direct and open appeals to several Space Marine Chapters with whom they had past dealings with. The Satrap had quickly realised that only other Space Marines could truly hope to contest other Space Marines in open battle. The Fire Hawks Chapter was the first to respond to their cause.

The Storm Breaks (904.M41)
At the direct request of the Karthan Satrap, they requested the Fire Hawks Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes to investigate the disappearance of Karthan shipping in the areas to the Galactic south of the Golgothan Wastes (which bordered the northern reaches of the Maelstrom Zone). In the past the Fire Hawks Chapter had used the vast orbital dockyards of the Karthan capital world of Sidon Ultra for resupply. The volatile and bellicose nature of the Fire Hawks Chapter was widely known, and it is likely that this also figured in the Karthan Satrap's reasoning in making her request. This monumental arrogance and folly would soon prove disastrous. Conducting search and destroy operations in the Golgothan Wastes, Knight-Commander Stibor Laezerek acquiesced to despatching several ships into the northern Maelstrom Zone. One such vessel, the Red Harbinger, entered the Endymion Cluster in 904.M41. This ancient region of space was under the stewardship of the Mantis Warriors Chapter, one of the Astartes Chapters that belonged to the Tyrant's alliance of the Maelstrom Warders. When the Red Harbinger entered the Galen System, they were intercepted and surrounded by Mantis Warriors vessels. Ever fierce and proud, they were goaded by the Fire Hawks' refusal and threats and opened fire, crippling the lone cruiser. With this single act, the full-scale conflict between Space Marine Chapters that was to follow was ignited. The Mantis Warriors boarded and captured the Red Harbinger, but the engagement was brutal to the extreme as both sides took heavy casualties. Less than 20 Fire Hawks were captured alive, and none surrendered, but their struggles brought time for an Astropathic message to be dispatched to their Chapter warning of their fate and who they fought.

Upon learning of the fate of the Red Harbinger, Master Stibor Lazaerek and the entire Fire Hawks Chapter became utterly incensed, and withdrew their forces from operations already under way. The entire Chapter fleet deployed with the utmost haste to the Maelstrom Zone. Soon matters escalated upon the arrival of the Fire Hawks as they were met at Galen by a taskforce consisting of both Mantis Warriors and Astral Claws warships. In a tense standoff, the captives were eventually returned and both sides traded threats. The Fire Hawks finally withdrew to await the arrival of their full forces, and especially their massive mobile star-fortress, the Raptorus Rex.

The Chapter Fleet rendezvoused at Sagan, and aided by their Karthan allies, soon launched a series of probing attacks and reconnaissance missions towards the Badab Sector and the Endymion Cluster, but by doing so, had made tension escalate to the point that the situation was proving untenable. Preparing for war for many years, the Tyrant and his allies were battle-hardened and had the advantage of being intimately familiar with the territory. The Mantis Warriors proved to be impossible pin down due to their superlative guerrilla tactics that they employed. Using the Karthans to distract the Tyrant's forces of the Badab Sector, the Fire Hawks struck the Agri-World of Iblis at the edge of the Endymion Cluster, attacking civilian targets and burning great swathes of crops and land in order to antagonize the Mantis Warriors to fight them.

Unfortunately, this type of attack had been anticipated and planned for by the Secessionists. As the Mantis Warriors pinned the Fire Hawks in place on Iblis with their hit-and-run tactics, the Secessionist fleet was able to draw their forces away from Sagan. A combined force of the Astral Claws and Lamenters Chapters soon descended upon the Sagan System and decisively overwhelmed the planetary defence forces and Karthan troops. Badly mauled, the stranded Fire Hawks and Karthan forces found themselves cut off from supply and behind enemy lines. This forced the Fire Hawks to withdraw from the Iblis System, as they raked the surface of the planet one final time and successfully punched through the Secessionist blockade attempting to pin them in. The Fire Hawks' vast relic-vessel claimed the life of the Maelstrom squadron's only Mars-class Battlecruiser Sacred Tetrarch in the process - the warship's mighty Nova Cannon proving unable to prevail against the formidable star-fortress.

There was a relative lull following these tumultuous events as the Secessionists consolidated their gains and the Karthans retreated in disarray. Soon the Fire Hawks, heavily outnumbered and outgunned, were forced into long period of retreat in the Maelstrom Zone's fringes which lasted until late 904.M41, when the Marines Errant Chapter answered the call of the Fire Hawks for reinforcement. This Chapter diverted a sizable force of six companies and a fleet of support vessels in order to aid their brother Astartes, although their precise motivations for doing so remain obscured. But soon the star-faring Chapter quickly became bogged down protecting Imperial shipping along the Pale Stars region and the outlying Maelstrom Zone's colonies as the Secessionists renewed their offensive. Soon the Marines Errant split their forces in an effort to guard the convoys in transit from the increasingly frequent raids and attacks.

Matters soon became complicated as the Marines Errant were caught between the Fire Hawks' desire to destroy Huron's forces at any cost, and the growing need to protect Imperial shipping and the outlying Kathargo Sector colonies from marauding Secessionist forces. This was further complicated by a conflict of interest due to the ancient ties of loyalty and blood the Marines Errant had forged with the Lamenters Chapter, which they had fought beside as recently as the Corinth Crusade, but now faced as enemies. This led to incidents where the Marines Errant failed to try to do more than drive off the Lamenters' forces during raids, and in which both parties gave quarter to the other, raising the mutual ire of both their respective allies.

Towards the year's end, matters soon worsened as an ever greater number of star systems were drawn into the rapidly escalating war. The Fire Hawks and their Karthan allies in the meantime, continued to suffer heavy losses in battle. Soon a dozen worlds had fallen in short order to Secessionist control, succumbing to direct assault of by submission. By the end of 904, worse developments for the Karthans and their allies soon reached them in the form of the notoriously grim and independent Executioners Chapter. News had reached the Marines Errant that the Exeucutioners had announced their intentions to support the Secessionist cause, in payment of an ancient blood oath given to the Astral Claws. They sent their mighty warship the Night Hag with a full augmented company of Astartes.

Desperate, Satrap Tanit Koenig was forced to take drastic action as her own tithes and supplications to the Procurator-Generals of the Adeptus Terra were long overdue. Near bankrupted by their sector's losses in the war, and with their fleet anchorage at Sagan now in the hands of the Secessionists, the Karthan Imperial Commanders mounted a final attempt to harvest the resources from the nearby worlds of Vyaniah and Khymara before the Secessionists could claim these worlds as their own.

Unfortunately the Secessionists' intelligence network had already ascertained every detail of this supposedly secret convoy, and laid a carefully prepared trap, allowing the Karthan convoy to take on the vast amount of wealth awaiting them at Vyaniah before they were attacked mid transit into the Warp. The Secessionists, comprised mainly of elements from both the Astral Claws and Lamenters fleets were led by Lufgt Huron himself. The convoy was encircled and then taken one vessel at a time in a series of ferocious ship-to-ship boarding actions. Over two dozen vessels were taken as captain prizes for almost no losses sustained by the attacking forces. Only through the brilliant leadership of Lieutenant Commander Anton Narvaez, was the Marines Errant capital ship Star Jackal able to escape the Tyrant's cunning trap, fighting its way clear whilst sustaining heavy damage. By a twist of fate, the damage sustained in this battle caused the Star Jackal and its brilliant commander to fall behind in the Marine Errant's pursuit of the Mantis Warriors to Bellerophon's Fall. It would be there that many of the Chapter's commanders and senior officers were to die. The Astral Claws fought the Fire Hawks back to the edge of the Golgothan Wastes, focusing all their attentions on eliminating them altogether. The succeeded in inflicting further serious casualties on the Chapter, which could no longer be considered an effective fighting force. To make matters worse, the Marines Errant Chapter was drawn towards the industrial moon of Bellerephon's Fall by the Mantis Warriors. The two Chapters engaged in fierce combat, but the Mantis Warriors managed to isolate and entrap the Marines Errant 1st and 3rd Companies in the Rust Zones, destroying much of their command structure in a series of murderous surgical strikes. The Marines Errant were decimated and forced to retreat in disarray. After the deadly battle, it fell to Lieutenant Comander Narvaez to mount a rescue mission, in which he succeeded in saving the besieged survivors in a daring counter-raid. In the aftermath of this tragedy, it would also fall to Narvaez to take the reigns of leadership as the Chapter's last surviving senior officer in the war. Anton Narvaez would later somehow manage to reform the Marines Errant contingent into an effective fighting force again, although they were a mere shadow of their former strength. Under bitter recrimination in light of this tragedy, the alliance between the Fire Hawks and the Marines Errant all but collapsed. The Secessionist forces would continue to make major advanced throughout the rest of the year almost unopposed. The Maelstrom Zone now belonged to Lufgt Huron.

The Eye of the High Lords (905.M41)
With five different Chapters of Space Marines now embroiled in open warfare, with a sixth en route, along with various naval detachments, local defence armies and the sectarian forces of various Adeptus now involved in what was rapidly accelerating to become the greatest conflict of its kind since the infamous Fourth Quadrant Rebellion, the Imperium's high authorities finally act. A triumvirate of Imperial Legates are despatched under the Seal of the High Lords to pronounce judgment over the ongoing strife in the Maelstorm Zone under orders to leave no stone unturned. Inquisition investigation swiftly uncovered a damning chain of evidence concerning Lufgt Huron's activities and those of the Astral Claws. Multiple charges were laid against the Tyrant, ranging from their scarcity of returned gene-seed tithes to damning evidence of their direct involvement in attacks on Imperial shipping.

The Terran Legates quickly pronounce that the Badab Secession to be a matter of the Imperium's security rather than a civil conflict. They issue an immediate demand for the unconditional ceasefire of all parties and the surrender of the Secessionists. Lufgt Huron immediately rejected their demands. As a result, the Terran Legates issued orders for the immediate arrest pending trial of all the Chapter Masters of the Secessionist Chapters and the seizure pending judgment of their worlds, goods, records and chattels by whatever force was deemed necessary. The Imperium was now officially turned against the Tyrant of Badab and all who stood with him.

As for the Karthans, their own role in contributing to and worsening the unfolding events of the Secession smacked at best of gross arrogance, but more likely wanton ambition and misrule. Legatine investigations carried out at Sidon Ultra, capital of the Karthargo Sector, confirmed these suspicions. They found the Imperial Commander and Karthan Sector Governor, Satrap Tanit Koenig culpable for provoking the war, and she and the worlds she commanded are brutally punished. Tanit Koenig and her ruling clique were subsequently executed, and the Karthans were made to pay for their transgressions, with the entire 14 billion strong population of Sidon Ultra committed to indentured servitude for six generation in payment of outstanding debt. Full scale Administratum rectification audits and Adeptus Arbites Moral Enforcement pogroms soon began moving outwards across the Kathargo Sector as tithe costs and reparations to the Adeptus Terra were extracted forcibly from the Karthan worlds. A process that is still ongoing to the present day. The armed cross-sector conflict and its causes however remain unresolved and the war continues unabated.

The Loyalists Gather (905.M41)
A major deployment of Space Marine forces is brought into the war at the Inquisitor Legate Jarndyce Frain's request to enforce their authority. The Red Scorpions Chapter form the greatest part of the Loyalist Space Marine force, backed by battle companies drawn from the Salamanders, Raptors, Fire Angels Chapters and the surviving Fire Hawks and Marines Errant Chapters. These latter Chapters are ordered to stand down from independent operations and submit to the High Lords' authority. Though Inquisitor Frain had theoretical command of the forces prosecuting the Legatine Mission's orders on behalf of the High Lords, overall tactical command of unified Loyalist Space Marines forces to Lord High-Commander Verant Ortys, of the Red Scorpions, as Magister Militum; a 'first among equals' by the commanders of the other Space Marine contingents. Given the inherent dangers in dealing with conflicts between the Space Marine Chapters and their relative autonomy from direct Imperial control, Inquisitor Legate Frain had little choice but to go along with the decision of the gathered Space Marine commanders. But obviously he would have preferred a commander from a more 'tractable' Chapter as the Red Scorpions were famously independent-minded and an occasionally fractious Chapter in their own right.

But before they submitted to the Legate's will, the Fire Hawks had one last act of bloody vengeance to carry out, which has since been entered into Imperial history of the war as the infamous 'Firebombing of Sacristan'. In what is widely regarded as a strategically wasteful and vainglorious assault, the bitter Lazaerek used his surviving Chapter fleet led by the Raptorus Rex to conduct a retaliatory orbital assault on the frontier planet of Sacristan, a sovereign world on the edge of the Endymion Cluster. Over a period of several days and nights the Fire Hawks Chapter fleet systematically laid waste to the planet's few cities, slaughtering their inhabitants before the they finally withdrew from the system leaving the planet aflame, wiping out more than 90% of its population.

Lord Commander Ortys's first command was to deploy his own Red Scorpions along with the bulk of the Battlefleet Solar ships to conduct a series of offensive strikes and feints into the Secessionist controlled regions to gauge their resistance. This resulted in the heaviest naval engagement of the war to date, resulting in the indecisive Battle of Silent Reach in early 906.M41, when cruiser squadrons of the Maelstrom and Lamenters fleets clashed with Segmentum Solar and the Red Scorpions warships in the barren void between the Galen and Grief star systems. This engagement proved inconclusive with both sides suffering damage but few losses of any major ships by both sides. The only serious loss sustained was by the Maelstrom Fleet's flagship, the Overlord-class Battlecruiser Gauntlet of Wrath. The Secessionist fleet broke off from the engagement into the Warp soon afterwards, leaving the Loyalists to claim their a tentative victory. A dozen such engagements occurred in a short space of time during this period. The Loyalists quickly succeeded in checking and containing the Secessionist advance in the early part of 906.M41, especially with the addition of the remaining Marines Errant and Fire Hawks forces after they were cleared of heretical or seditious intent. In pursuing this strategy across a broad front, hoping to reveal a weakness in the Secessionist defences the Loyalists soon discovered, quite remarkably, no such weaknesses were apparent. Thus, the Loyalists were forced to change their strategy.

The Vyaniah Raids (906.M41)
Lord Commander Ortys next viable target of opportunity presented itself in the form of the Vyaniah System. Vyaniah was an important world and served as the gatehouse along one of the secondary Warp routes around the rim of the Maelstrom. Furthermore, its defences and garrison was weaker than the heavily reinforced Sagan System. There were further intelligence reports indicating that the Secessionist occupied world was awash in civil unrest which might be stirred up into open revolt by a Loyalist attack. While the Fire Hawks and the newly arrived Raptors Chapter conducted patrol and escort operations, the Red Scorpions, Marines Errant and Novamarines conducted a three-pronged raid on the Vyaniah System, with the target of damaging its production capacity and orbital transhipping platforms. This would effectively weaken the Secessionists' grip on the system.

Confronting the reformed and reorganized Badab Sector human Auxilia of the Tyrant's Legion in open warfare for the first time, the Loyalist Space Marines had greatly underestimated them, and as a result their strike groups were largely prevented from achieving many of their goals in the first raid. Only four orbital platforms were taken out of action and though they managed to damage Vyaniah's manufactory complexes, production was not significantly affected. Data intercepted from the Vyaniah command vox-network however revealed the price of the Tyrant's Legion resistance, with the Loyalists inflicting a greater than 178:1 kill ratio. In 906.M41, the Red Scorpion forces conducted the last of the Vyaniah raids which proved particularly bloody for the Tyrant's Legion. The Red Scorpions invaded the Caelian industrial hive with the specific goal of inflicting mass casualties on the human defenders and picking off their Astral Claws masters when they were found within their ranks.

Despite the attacks the Secessionists maintained control of Vyaniah, and shortly afterwards further ill news came to the Loyalists, informing them that several military convoys from the rear supply lines from the Kathargo Sector had been attacked and scattered by an unknown warship that later proved to be the Night Hag of the Executioners Chapter. They also received more disturbing news in regards to the fate of the Fortress World of Surngraad, deep within the Maelstrom Zone. Refusing to bend their knee to the Tyrant, this fiercely independent world had held out against the Secessionist fleet, but Surngraad had partly succumbed due to treachery from within, and Huron's forces now controlled the northern citadels. Remaining too deep within enemy territory to mount an effective relief operation, the prospects for the ancient fortress world to fall to Secessionist control proved to be a grim prospect for the Loyalists for a future siege.

The Betrayal at Grief (906.M41)
After the Vyaniah campaign there was a brief lull in the constant fighting, an impasse that was unexpectedly broken by the Secessionists with a remarkable proposal. Personally sending his emissaries to the Loyalists, Lufgt Huron offered a temporary ceasefire and honourable parlay with the Magister Millitum in order to avoid further bloodshed between the two parties. Despite the Inquistor Legate's strong objections, Lord High Commander Ortys agreed to the meeting, trusting Huron's word as a fellow Chapter Master to maintain the truce. Ortys had also equally promised to show his intention to remain iron in his resolve to carry out the judgment of the High Lords.

The parlay was arranged to take place on an abandoned way-station in the orbit around the gas giant Shedim in the outer reaches of the uninhabited Grief System. Reconstructed from damaged and recovered records, what occurred next remains a point of contention and stubborn enigma to the present day. The station was located on an asteroid mass, abandoned some centuries before due to solar flare activity. Each party consisted of their respective leaders and their chosen honour guard, which was deposited on the asteroid by Thunderhawk. Upon the opening of negotiations, it was readily apparent that it quickly devolved into an acrimonious and volatile atmosphere. Lufgt Huron, who was in an imperious mood, commenced to ranting against the Maelstrom Warder's supposed contravention of Imperial law. He also went into a ranting diatribe against his enemies and their perceived enormities and insults. Master Sartaq of the Mantis Warriors was also present with Huron's party, who swiftly accused the Fire Hawks Chapter of perpetrating wanton crimes of genocide. For his part, Verant Ortys stood firm, reiterating the Legatine write of authority and the unassailable right of summons. Soon an adjournment was called for, as the talks became heated, and both parties withdrew to separate compartments on the station to confer with their fellows. Matters of record regarding the following incident, becomes muddled and contradictory.

Loyalist communications to their strike cruisers was suddenly cut off as three unknown vessels attacked from concealed positions deep within the thick atmosphere of the gas giant Shedim. These attackers assaulted the asteroid base before either Loyalist or Secessionist vessels could respond, raking the way-station with a devastating salvo of weapons fire before boarding with a raiding party comprised of heretics, mutants and other renegades. In the ensuing melee, the Loyalist delegation, including Lord Commander Ortys was killed, and several members of Huron's party including Chapter Master Sartaq of the Mantis Warriors were also slain. During the three-way space battle around the way-station, the Red Scorpions' Chief Librarian Sevrin Loth valiantly launched a counter-attack and recovered his fallen Chapter Master's remains, the Red Scorpions clashing with both the raiders and Huron's Astral Claws before both sides broke free from the disintegrating asteroid base to avoid certain death. Sevrin Loth had saved the honour of his Chapter against all odds and in doing so wrote an enduring legend for himself despite the bitter blow the Red Scorpions had suffered. During the resultant chaos, the Tyrant had somehow made his escape early on, and what hand he had in the deaths of Lord Commander Ortys or even Chapter Master Sartaq cannot be confirmed.

In the aftermath this incident, which became to be referred to as "The Betrayal at Grief", many within the Loyalist ranks blamed Huron's perfidy for the attack, claiming it as rank treachery, while the Secessionists lay the blame at the feet of the Inquisition as a plot to assassinate the Tyrant by covert means. Legate Inquisitor Frain concluded that the incident may have been due to the possible intervention of third parties of malefic design who wished to benefit from the continuation of the war as the whole region descended into bloodshed and anarchy. Frain also didn't rule out the possibility that the plot was carried out by Lufgt Huron himself, in order to assassinate his erstwhile ally Chapter Master Sartaq of the Mantis Warriors. Ortys's death merely served to seal the assassination in a shroud of doubt for friend and foe alike. Evidence from that tie had been uncovered of growing disquiet among the Mantis Warriors in their support for the Secessionist cause. Committed as they were to protecting their fellow Maelstrom Warders from outside aggression and defending their sacred independence and rights of the Astartes, they still saw the direct judgment of the High Lords as something not to be disregarded. Rumours had begun to circulate concerning the rule of the Astral Claws within their own domains had been the cause of disquiet for some time. Sartaq's death more than likely served to ensure the Mantis Warriors' resolve, particularly if it could be laid at the feet of an enemy Chapter. So much the better if that enemy would blame the Mantis Warriors for the death of their own. Now that the possibility of rapprochement between the two opposing sides had been effectively destroyed, the war soon escalated even further with no quarter given by Red Scorpions or Astral Claws. Soon secrets would be uncovered that would lend the Secession an even darker hue.

A New Leader (906.M41-907.M41)
With the death of Chapter Master Ortys, the strategic initiative was temporarily delivered into the hands of the Secessionists, raids against Imperial shipping increased. For a time the Loyalists were sorely pressed to hold what little ground they had taken in the Maelstrom Zone. The Pale Stars were all but entirely cut off and heavy Space Marine escort forces were required in order to maintain access to the worlds of Galen and Khgymara. The situation was finally eased with the arrival of contingents of the Howling Griffons, Novamarines, and later the Sons of Medusa Chapters, and the appointment of Carab Culln, the new Lord High Commander of the Red Scorpions as the new Magister Millitum of the Loyalist forces.

As his Chapter defined such things, Culln had grown forthright, proud and above all fiercely loyal to the Red Scorpions during his illustrious career. For this reason Culln was viewed as the natural successor of Lord High Commander Verant Ortys, the Chapter Master of the Red Scorpions. During the Badab War his transition to the position of Lord High Commander and Magister Militum after the death of Ortys on the world of Grief at the hands of the Renegade Astral Claws was greeted with wide acclaim by his Battle-Brothers and most importantly blessed by the Chapter's Chief Librarian Sevrin Loth, who oversaw the change of command and quelled any dissent. Culln's ascension had been contested primarily by the Fire Hawks Chapter Master, Stibor Lazaerek, who demanded that he instead should be granted overall command of the Loyalist forces in the conflict due to his seniority and long, honourable service to the Imperium.

As Ortys' successor, Culn was entitled to step into the mantle of his predecessor as Magister Militum and overall commander of the Loyalist forces, but this was by no means guaranteed. With the principal support of the Raptors and Salamanders Chapters, as well as his own impassioned pleas in the Loyalists' war council that he had the right of vengeance and the proven mettle required to see the war to its end, Culln secured the support of the Fire Angels and Novamarines for his command. Both the Sons of Medusa and the Marines Errant Chapters then agreed to his selection for reasons of their own. Despite some continued minor dissent, Carab Culln was acclaimed as the second Magister Militum of the Imperial Crusade to retake the Maelstrom Zone from the Secessionists.

Culln quickly took control of the situation and brought forward plans to convert the old way-station on the largely abandoned Mining World of Hallows Point into the first primary Loyalist base and staging point in the Maelstrom Zone proper. With ships and materials moved into the system with great dispatch, 'Vengeance Station' as it became known was fully operational in under a standard year. The Loyalists retook the offensive initiative even before Vengeance Station was completed. Soon a renewed phase of aggressive operations was ready to take place, with the Red Scorpions Chapter particularly eager for battle.

Senior Commanders

 * Jarndyce Frain - Inquisitor-Legate and chief prosecutor of the Badabian Tyranicide (Badab War)
 * Carab Culln - Lord High Commander Chapter Master Red Scorpions Space Marine Chapter. After the former Lord High Commander Ortys was slain upon the world of Grief, Culln was almost unanimously elected as Magister Millitum and overall commander of the Loyalist forces.
 * Verant Ortys - Former Lord High Commander (Chapter Master) of the Red Scorpions and Magister Millitum and overall commander of the Loyalist forces during the Badab War. Ortys was slain when the Red Scorpions were betrayed by the deceitful Lufgt Huron and his Renegade Astral Claws Chapter on the world of Grief. While both sides were under a flag of truce, the Astral Claws launched a surprise attack against the Red Scorpions and Ortys was slain in the melee.
 * Stibor Lazaerek - Knight-Commander Lazaerek was Grand Master (Chapter Master) Fire Hawks Space Marine Chapter
 * Lias Issodon "The Grim" - Chapter Master Raptors Space Marine Chapter
 * Asterion Moloc - "Master of the Minotaurs" - Chapter Master Minotaurs Space Marine Chapter
 * Omadon Tiresias - Chapter Master Star Phantoms Space Marine Chapter
 * Tyberos "The Red Wake" - Chapter Master Carcharodons Space Marine Chapter
 * Uriaens - Consul-Master (Chapter Master) Fire Angels Space Marine Chapter
 * Silas Alberec "Wielder of the Hellslayer" - Captain of the 3rd Company, Exorcists Space Marine Chapter
 * Mordacai Blaylock "The Stormbreaker" - Captain of the elite 1st Company, Novamarines Space Marine Chapter
 * Vaylund Cal - Iron Thane of the Atropos War Clan, High Artificer of the Sons of Medusa Space Marine Chapter
 * Pellas Mir'san - Captain of the 2nd Company, Salamanders Space Marine Chapter
 * Anton Narvaez - Lieutenant Commander Narvaez is the Commander of the 4th Company, Marines Errant Space Marine Chapter
 * Armand Titus - Dreadnought Confessor, Howling Griffons Space Marine Chapter

Loyalist Chapters Adeptus Astartes

 * Carcharodons
 * Exorcists
 * Fire Angels
 * Fire Hawks
 * Howling Griffons
 * Marines Errant
 * Minotaurs
 * Novamarines
 * Raptors
 * Red Scorpions
 * Salamanders
 * Sons of Medusa
 * Star Phantoms

Imperial Guard

 * Karthan Regiment (Inquisitorial tithed forces)

Adeptus Mechanicus

 * Legio Crucius

Senior Commanders

 * Lufgt Huron "Tyrant of Badab" - Chapter Master Astral Claws Space Marine Chapter
 * Yarvan Sartaq - Former Chapter Master of the Mantis Warriors Space Marine Chapter who was slain in 906.M41 during the opening stages of the Badab War.
 * Khoisan Neotera - Former Chapter Master of the Mantis Warriors Space Marine Chapter during the Badab War who replaced Yarvan Sartaq after his death in 906.M41 until the end of the conflict; he was permanently imprisoned by the Inquisition for his role in the Chapter's rebellion in the Imperial prison Penitentiacon in isolation for the rest of his life.
 * Ahazra Redth, "Dust Prophet" - Chief Librarian Mantis Warriors Space Marine Chapter. He became the de facto Chapter Master of the Mantis Warriors during the final days of the Badab War.
 * Thulsa Kane - High Chaplain (Reclusiarch) of the Executioners Space Marine Chapter. Commanded Executioners contingent.
 * Malakim Phoros "Lord of Ruin" - Chapter Master Lamenters Space Marine Chapter

Secessionist Chapters Adeptus Astartes

 * Astral Claws
 * Executioners
 * Lamenters
 * Mantis Warriors

Auxiliary Forces

 * Tyrant's Legion

Gallery
[[Category:B]]