Index Mardannon: Crusade Update 2013

Somewhere near Mardannon Prime, Ultramarines muster to join the Crusade.

Since 2004, we have been developing our little spot of the galaxy, which we call the Mardannon Sector.  Several sections of the zone have been detailed in our Index Mardannon segments, but today we're expanding the scope of the Index and adding an update to the running storylines and bringing everyone up to speed on where the state of Warhammer 40,000 campaigning rests.  This treatise examines the forces battling for dominance in the sector and where recent actions have left them.

Imperial Forces

• Black Templars - The warriors of the Black Templars exemplify the determination of the Crusade to dislodge heretic and xenos scum from the sector.  However, with their defeat at Nydrazom during the Chaos Invasion they are disorganized and regrouping a large force of ships while attempting to direct the Imperial forces involved to avert further tragedies.  Now, the Black Templars make haste to Vae Salubrious after the failure of Assault Group Salerio to stop the Black Skull Raiders from reaching that system.

• Ultramarines - Though they have not been seen since the Tessina Incursion (2006 campaign, not recorded), the Ultramarines chapter has pledged half a company to the Crusade.  They will rendezvous with the Black Templars upon completion of their muster at sector command...but that is subject to the vagaries of warp travel.

• Dark Angels - Master Grigori of the Dark Angels pledged his Strike Force of half a company to the Crusade.  After a brief strategy meeting, the Dark Angels move toward Vae Salubrious.  However, there has been no contact with the Master Grigori's strike cruiser since it made warp jump from Pandaemus subsector.

• Blood Angels - Assault Group Salerio was dispatched by the Crusade to stop Warboss Nokk's Black Skull Raiders from arriving in force at Vae Salubrious.  In this, they largely failed.  It is believed that portions of the Astartes section of the Assault Group survived, however no communications have been forthcoming.  Because of this, the Crusade turns it's sights on Vae Salubrious.

• Crusader Guard Regiments - The Imperial armies that accompany the Black Templars in the main crusade fleet have been reorganized into two major groups:  the Strongpoints and Storm Groups.  In effect, the Novus Soldati and the mix of other surviving troop formations (called Revenants, since their original regiments have been destroyed) have been amalgamated into a new regiment with it's own fighting tactics.  Though they suffered greatly at Caelum Subterraneous, it is a direct result of that fighting that has molded these soldiers into the fighting force they are today.  A force that will be directed at Vae Salubrious.

• Lumisi Geared Regiments - Along with the Crusader Guard, the Lumisi Geared Regiments suffered greatly at Caleum Subterraneous.  However, the sheer number of soldiers in these regiments allowed their commanding officers to sue for a command postion in the crusade, which resulted in the appointment of the Lumisi Colonel to the newly formed Crusade High Command.  The High Command is a council which consists of a representative from each of the Astartes chapters, the Grand Admiral of the Imperial Navy, and now the Lumisi Colonel, with the Black Templar Marshal at its head.  This is a major breakthrough for the normal humans on the Crusade as it puts the Imperial soldier's voice on the council.  These regiments made warp jump to Vae Salubrious a few weeks ago, but no further communications have been received by High Command.

• Infinity Watch - Though they have been recuperating on their homeworld of Jade Ryu since the Ordavis Incursion, the chapter has not forgotten what it's duties are.  While the Crusade defends the worlds the Infinity Watch are sworn to protect, the chapter prepares all it's ships and manpower to rejoin the crusade and build new legends for the folk of Mardannon.  Soon, they will mobilize again and add a powerful force to the crusade's building momentum of war.

Chaos Forces

• Umbral Stalkers Cabal - Wreaking havoc across the sector, the Alpha Legion have insinuated themselves into many of the most recent wars, including scouring Ordavis, maintaining outposts on Planet Nokk and the horrible fighting at Nydrazom which first bloodied the nose of the Crusade.  Though splinter cells pop up all over, all the time, the current strength and disposition of the Cabal is largely unknown.

• Brotherhood of the Most Hated - The mad Chaos Warmaster Laserwulf continues his demented quest - to build a laser big enough to punch through the skein of reality.  He has crushed both Imperial and xenos civilizations in pursuit of this dream, and not since Khal-Duraas a thousand years ago has a chaos champion brought such destruction to the sector.  Currently, the Brotherhood has a commanding presence in the sector and even the Crusade itself is trepiditious about engaging his pirate fleet.

• Bile's Band - The legacy of Khal-Duraas lives on.  The warband that once served him has found a new master, and they will soon return to bring terror and death to the Mardannon Sector.  Since they razed the hive of Vogen on Tetrazom, and annihilated the hives of Tessina they grew fat on their plunder.  Now, decades later they threaten to return to reap more of the carnage they crave, for their depraved rituals and indulgences. Soon, the sector will learn that Khal-Duraas did not fade into nothing...

• Legion of Azu'kulman - Chaos begins to stir.  Though the warp is clearly visible in the night sky of most of the worlds of the Mardannon Sector, manifested as a great and terrible eye...trouble is brewing.  Over many worlds, increased psychic activity marks ill omens.  Could all of this be, as the Doomsayers claim, a sign that the Eye will soon open fully??

Xenos Forces

• Black Skull Horde - The scattered ork kingdoms of Magnum Sierra are relatively quiet after Hive Fleet Mah'nunnah hit.  After thousands of years of being rounded up and coralled in Magnum Sierra subsector for thousands of years, the orks here follow the standard cycle of cull, buildup, Waaagh! and cull.  However, it pretty much guarantees a limitless supply of alien soldiers for any ork warlord who manages to create a supply chain...

• Black Skull Raiders - The Black Skull Warlord Nokk is attempting to break out of Magnum Sierra and form a new domain!  If successful, the cunning Warboss could set the stage for a new ork Empire and the re-emergence of xeno power in the Mardannon Sector.  Currently his fleet is heading directly for Vae Salubrious, and all the forces the Crusade can muster are congregating there to prevent this.  However, the Warboss has pulled out all the stops and drove directly for the spiritual heart of Mardannon.  Imperial forces failed to intercept the xenos invaders, and now hope for the citizens of Vae Salubrious rests on the edge of a razor.

• Eldar - Numerous Eldar factions have been flitting around the sector for many years, but not since ancient times before the Old Crusade have they been involved in much fighting.  A Swordwind known as "Killing Frost" has fought both in the alien warzone at Tangrus III (Nokk) and fought during the invasion of Nydrazom against chaos forces.  At the same time, the Dark Eldar Kabal of the Writhing Lash appeared during the Nydrazom engagement and fought with everyone, including their craftworld kin.  Yet a third eldar faction has been present in and watching the events of the Mardannon Sector War with great interest - the craftworld of Tetu'tethann.  As usual, all their goals and motives remain unscrutable, and they seem inhumanly capricious.  However, one thing is certain - eldar activity in the sector is on the rise.

Grim Outlook

The next few campaigns will center on these storylines.  Announcements as to the nature of those campaigns will take place at the appropriate time, but for now it's important to note how grim the darkness of the far future is.  There is ONLY war.

We have something here at the Wargate that a few of you might actually know about.  It's called the Master Campaign Record, or "MCR" for short.  You'll see more of this as we go on, but here's the basic gist.  There's a record of every game played at the Wargate for all campaigns, and this record also gives us a lot of information at a glance.  It helps us remember where campaigns took place, who won them (the "Victor") and who lost the hardest (the "Vanquished").  Yet it is more than that.  You see, there are other values that it tracks that I will talk about when I do an article on the MCR itself.

For now, we know these three facts from the information in the MCR:

1. Bile's Band and the Brotherhood of the Most Hated are the most powerful forces in the Mardannon Sector.  They will become major plot points for the narrative going forward, until another force dethrones them.
2. Chaos and Xenos are overrunning the sector.  The last several major wars have been clear defeats for the Imperials, and the effect is beginning to snowball the Imperial forces down the hill of annihilation.
3. Almost every major Imperial military force has been Vanquished.  This means they suffered a crippling defeat.  Almost every major Chaos and Xenos force has been the Victor, without ever being Vanquished.  This means that almost every enemy force outclasses the Imperials.