The Battle of Örgvayr was a conflict that erupted between the Kin of the Leagues of Votann's Greater Thurian League and the forces of Chaos near Warp Storm Örgvayr. The fighting began after the opening of the Great Rift in the Era Indomitus provided the servants of Chaos with greater opportunities to enter Kin space in the galactic core than ever before.
Despite assaults by warbands of the World Eaters and The Purge Heretic Astartes upon the Thurian Cthonian Mining Guild harvester fortresses present on the volcanic Kin World of Törg, the Oathbands of the Thurian Kindred of Vôrtun were able to rescue both the miners and much of their valuable harvested raw materials under the command of Kâhl Ûthar the Destined, as well as slay the World Eaters Chaos Lord Hakatar.
However, the conflict remains an ongoing one, and the Heretic Astartes and their allies continue to reinforce their numbers through the Warp storm. The northeastern region of Thurian space has now become a warzone known as the "Stormward Front."
History[]
Origins[]
The emergence of the Great Rift shook the Leagues of Votann to their foundations. Holds vanished amidst the roiling energies of the new born Warp storm belt. Trade routes were severed. Many Kindreds were compelled to relocate their holdings, abandoning territories held for thousands of Terran years and venturing out from the galactic core to seek more stable regions to settle.
Both within the core and beyond its fringes, the rift's advent has driven the Kin into new conflicts, as well as stirring up old foes and setting them on a collision course with the Leagues.
The Kin do not recognise or name the Great Rift as a single manifest phenomena. They believe that to do so would lend further superstitious menace to a threat that is already menacing enough. They choose instead to name the greatest of the component Warp storms that have opened within the galactic core, treating each as a separate peril to be weathered and overcome.
One such raging empyric maelstrom opened upon the north-eastern fringe of Greater Thurian League space, and was soon named "Örgvayr" -- roughly translating into High Gothic as "the Ogre." The Void Strider Kindred and Lâkhryr's Kindred were swallowed up in the instant of its opening. Their pan spectral arrays gave some small forewarning, and so ragged flotillas of Kin refugee ships limped from the fringes of Warp Storm Örgvayr solar days after its emergence, their passangers telling of holds dissolved into raw madness or overrun by howling Daemons.
Close on their heels came ravening Chaos Warfleets. Sailing the void in baroque warships and monstrous space hulks, they fell upon the Greater Thurian star systems bordering the storm zone. As more Chaos worshippers poured out of Örgvayr by the solar day, it became clear to the Greater Thurian League that a terrible new threat had been unleashed upon their holds.
Those Kindreds whose holds lay directly in the invaders' path now faced a difficult choice -- to hold their ground against the onslaught, or to fall back in the face of growing enemy strength. Exchanging messages as best they could via hardened las-com relays, the Hearthspakes of the Deeprock Kindred, the Kindred of Vôrtun, Khâld's Star Breaker Kindred and Kindred Crimson-Two all elected to hold fast.
The Grimnyr interfaced in their Fanes with the Greater Thurian Votann, asking that it communicate their plight to the wider league and begging its advice. Swift merchant craft and scout ships plunged into the Warp, bearing the same messsages to neighbouring Kindreds. Those facing the invasion would stand firm until the will of the Votann and the rest of the league could be made known, or until their defiance was judged too costly to maintain.
Meanwhile, the ravening hordes of Chaos blazed a trail of havoc toward the Thurian Hold Worlds that lay in their path.
Counteroffensive at Törg[]
By a stroke of good fortune the Greater Thurian League Kâhl Ûthar the Destined had recently returned to Obsyd Gate, the hold of his own Kindred of Vôrtun. Ever the dynamic hero of his people, Ûthar convinced the Kindred of Vôrtun Hearthspake that they could not afford to simply mass behind their defences and await the enemies' onslaught. To do so handed all strategic initiative and opportunity to the invaders and would abandon outlying facilities, resources and personnel to their murderous attentions.
The voice of the Destined carried great weight amongst his Kindred, who were swiftly convinced by his arguments. Thus, their mustered Kinhost broke into a number of Oathbands; some would remain to garrison Obsyd Gate, while the rest would sally forth under the command of Ûthar and other prominent Thurian heroes, to launch counterattacks against the incoming Chaos invaders. Their role would be to slow the enemy wherever possible, to evacuate all strategic resources, Kin and Ironkin they could, and to destroy any facilities they could not rescue so as to deny their use to the foe.
Ûthar the Destined's Oathband deployed to the outlying Kin World of Törg. Riven by standard years of deep-core tectonic mining, Törg was a hostile mass of jagged stone, exposed magma veins, convulsing super-volcanoes and Kin harvester fortresses, wreathed in toxic fumes. Several immense Renegade warships had already settled in the vulnerable world's orbit and disgorged warbands of Heretic Astartes to the surface. Mutated Chaos Space Marines of The Purge and ferocious Khorne-worshipping World Eaters had overrun Törg's void docks and cut bands of Cthonian Guild miners off within their harvester fortresses. Swiftly casting the Eye of the Ancestors over the dire strategic situation, Ûthar formulated his battle plan and set his forces into motion without delay.
Void Battle[]
A Chaos Warfleet and the fleet of the Greater Thurian League battle in orbit of Törg.
In the void above Törg, the warships of Ûthar's Oathband engaged the craft of the Chaos worshippers under the command of Voidmaster Hêmmyk. Their mighty Conversion Beam batteries and salvoes of Drill Torpedoes mauled the Chaos grand cruiser Abomination, and forced other Chaos warships to break off orbital bombardment in order to respond to the Kin assault.
Hêmmyk coordinated her small but potent fleet with consummate skill, fending off each assault by the Chaos worshippers and handing out far worse punishments than her own warships suffered.
Battle for Törg[]
Nôkh's Hernkyn Pioneer bands, supported by light gunships and rugged Sagitaur ATVs, swept through the high passes of the Fumarok Range to attack the World Eaters from the rear. They launched swift hit-and-run strikes, using their pan spectral scanners to maintain a fix on their enemies amidst the toxic murk of Törg's surface. Goaded to action, many wrath-crazed Khornate Berserkers broke off their assault on Harvester Fortress Five and pursued Nôkh's band into the hazardous mountain passes.
Separating into several smaller Oathbands, Ûthar the Destined's forces launched a massive drop offensive into the world's Shatterfields. Ûthar himself led an armoured spearhead against the World Eaters commanded by the Chaos Lord Hakatar. Kâhl Svêkh Thûrkann and her Oathband met The Purge head-on. As orbital fire from both sides rained down onto the planet's surface, the two swirling battles erupted into a storm of close-range firefights and brutal offensives.
While the foe were engaged to the north, Grimnyr Khôhn led an elite force of Einhyr and Hearthkyn to evacuate the Cthonians at Harvester Fortresses Two, Three and Four. Guildkin and great quantities of raw materials were loaded aboard Hekaton Land Fortresses and the armoured carriages they drew behind them.
Sensing their prey escaping, the Chaos Lord Urthak Skullripper led a massed teleport of World Eaters Chaos Terminators that cut the Grimnyr and her bodyguards off, even as the Kin forces were pulling out. Though many Cthonian Beserks turned back to hurl themselves into the fight, the Living Ancestor could not be rescued. The surviving Cthonians and many of the Hearthkyn have since formed the Grudgeband of Khôhn -- they will be avenged upon Urthak Skullripper or die trying.
The Duel[]
Kâhl Ûthar the Destined, wielding the Blade of the Ancestors, faces Chaos Lord Hakatar of the World Eaters upon the stone bridge above the Chasm of Embers on Törg.
Ûthar the Destined met the Chaos Lord Hakatar of the World Eaters upon the stone span bridging the Chasm of Embers. The two warlords battled back and forth along the crumbling expanse as their warriors fought and died around them and pillars of volcanic fire blasted up from below. Wounded but unbowed, Ûthar at last wrong-footed his foe, taking the World Eater's right leg off with a vicious sweep of the Blade of the Ancestors and pitching him, still howling with fury, into the flames below.
The Retreat[]
After several solar hours of rapid armoured warfare, and with the vast majority of Kin assets ferried successfully up to his waiting voidships, Kâhl Ûthar commanded a full retreat from Törg. Howled accusations of cowardice from the Khorne-worshippers followed the retreat. They meant nothing to the Kin; all that was worth extracting from the planet had been recovered and any remaining assets were deemed not worth the cost in lives to salvage.
The Greater Thurian League Oathbands fell back in good order, Voidmaster Hêmmyk giving the enemy flotilla a last devastating volley to scatter their formations before commanding a plunge back into Warpspace. The tragic death of Grimnyr Khôhn aside, the Törg offensive had proved successful, but the wider war zone surrounding Warp Storm Örgvayr was becoming more fraught and violent by the solar hour.
A great battle still lay before the Greater Thurian League and Ûthar the Destined would be needed elsewhere.
Sources[]
- Codex: Leagues of Votann (9th Edition), pp. 16-17