Magrin War

## The Magrin War

The **Magrin War** was an Imperial defensive campaign carried out by the Mordekaisers Space Marine Chapter to defend an Imperial sector from encroaching Forces of Chaos comprised of three separate Chaos Warbands - The Senseless Noise, Venom Spiders and the Desolate Sons - who sought to destroy the Mordekaisers and capture the Imperial Space Port Morgen Schwach. Despite the odds arrayed against them, the Mordekaisers eventually emerge victorious, but at great cost - suffering the loss of nearly an entire Kompanie.

## Background

Sub-sector Magrin is located in the Ghoul Stars, close to the Malefactus warp rift. In 950.M41, the sub-sector suddenly came under attack from a large Ork fleet. In response, 9 Companies from the Mordekaisers Chapter were deployed. With support from Sector Navy assets, the Mordekaisers swiftly destroy the Greenskin fleets and reduce them to insignificant threats.

### A New Foe

However, before the purge could be completed, the Mordekaisers found themselves under attack from the combined forces of three chaos warbands: The Senseless Noise, Venom Spiders and the Desolate Sons. With the Chapter spread out across the sub-sector the Mordekaisers were unable to effectively coordinate themselves. Fortunately, the Mordekaisers' mastery of void warfare and innate endurance allowed them to avoid being slaughtered.

As the shock of the sudden assault wore off, the Mordekaisers were able to regroup and most of the Chapter fleet was able to reform while those unable to come were forced to hold their ground. Of the 5th Company there was no word. While most of the fleet had reformed, the traitors had effectively boxed them in and cut from the stable routes out of the Magrin sector. Forming a defensive area in the Orios system, Kaiser Markus Diascalon convened a council with his Hautpmanns and the Imperial Commodore in charge of the sector fleet to discuss their response. First they identified their foes; the Desolate Sons were a nurglite warband with a host of plague marines forming their core, the Venom Spiders were a renegade Chapter that specialised in using toxins and tactics that caught their prey "in a web" and the Senseless Noise were a Slaaneshi warband who assaulted the eyes as well as the ears. The Desolate Sons and the Senseless Noise directly assaulted the Imperial Fleet while the Venom Spiders harassed them with hit and run strikes.

It should be noted that when Diascalon was informed of this he burst into laughter, to the confusion of those present. Once his laughing had finished, the Kaiser declared that the traitors would learn the folly of engaging the Mordekaisers in space.

## The War

The Mordekaisers' first act was to break out of the traitor cordon and reestablish a line with the Naval base at Yerulas. Using a spear point formation, the fleet broke through and successfully made it to Yerulas where they could start the war in earnest. As for those still trapped in the sector, namely the 6th Company and the 8th Company that was leading a group of Imperial Navy ships to mop up the last of the Orks, they resorted to hit and run strikes on the traitors. The 5th Company's status was still unknown, but Stahlhelm was optimistic that Wieland, the 5th's Hauptmann, was doing fine.

The Magrin War lasted for over a decade and mostly consisted of skirmishes whenever the opposing sides met. There was also the matter of dealing with the Orks who, despite being unable to present any danger, were still spoiling for a fight.

### Battle of Kinal (950.M41)

Void battles are a long affair and a void war is even longer. A month into the war the first proper battle took place over Kinal, an agri-world that fed most of the sector. The Desolate Sons invaded it with weaponry containing contagious diseases blessed by Nurgle itself. Before they could complete their goal, they were engaged by the Mordekaisers 2nd and 3rd Companies. The fighting is fierce but the Mordekaisers are able to drive back the Desolate Sons after a breacher force disables the ship containing the viral weaponry. Alas, several of the weapons had already been deployed, a moderate blow to Kinal's food exports.

### Strike at Neroni (951.M41)

The Venom Spiders ambush a Mordekaisers contingent of the 7th Company leading a naval patrol at Neroni. The Spiders inflict considerable damage on the ships before leaving as soon as they arrived, taking hardly any damage.

### The Wall Holds (952.M41)

"*Cease your bothersome bleatings, scum.*"
—6th Hauptmann Ägidius Sepp moments before slaying the Senseless Noises' Champion
The 6th and 8th Companies, having been cut off from the main fleet since the beginning of the war, gathered all nearby naval ships and defeated a Senseless Noise assault on the world of Gerdurin. The battle ended with Ägidius Sepp, the 6th Kompanie's Hauptmann, leading a boarding assault and slaying the Senseless Noises' champion.

Following this, the 6th and 8th were able to reconnect with the Mordekaisers. To Diascalon's growing concern, the 6thand 8th heard nothing from the 5th Company either.

### The Green Surge (955.M41)

Halfway through the war, the sector found itself under assault once again from a sudden surge of Ork assaults. The Orks, having become a minor concern compared to the threat of the Warbands, had been content scavenge the aftermath of the skirmishes across the sector and grew into a sizable number. Considerable resources and assets were forced to be diverted to deal with the Orks.

### Breaking the Web (956.M41)

With the Ork threat eventually dealt with, the Mordekaisers turned their attention to the Venom Spiders who had been a constant thorn in the Mordekaisers' side by constantly ambushing and harassing their lines. The Spiders avoided open combat due to their small numbers. Stahlhelm formed a plan to take out the Venom Spiders. Taking advantage of their tendency to target weakened areas, the Mordekaisers lured the Venom Spiders into a seemingly undefended system before surrounding them. In the ensuing battle, the trapped Venom Spiders were utterly wiped out. With the Venom Spiders gone, the Imperials no longer had to worry about the threat of surprise attacks. What's more the Mordekaisers had taken a prisoner, it was the last Venom Spider. After a severe and long interrogation the prisoner finally revealed their plans.

The three traitor warbands had banded together with a plan to destroy the Mordekaisers and leave Morgen Schwach ripe for taking over. They had goaded the Orks into attacking the Magrin sector in order to lure the Mordekaisers into a trap. The prisoner was also asked of the location of the 5th Company. In response, the prisoner simply chuckled and said:

*See for yourself in the Gyaras System.*

The Venom Spider kept a sinister grin on his face even as a bolter round was fired into his skull.

### The fate of the 5th (956.M41)

Following the prisoner's last words, the Mordekaisers traveled to the Gyaras System. When they arrived they came across a terrible sight. They found the *Scarred Lord*, the 5th Company's strike cruiser, floating dead in the void. Upon boarding, the Mordekaisers found a scene of carnage and death. The halls were filled with Astartes and chapter serfs who had been brutally massacred. Every single Astartes' gene seed had been ripped out and defiled to the point of uselessness. Upon the bridge, they found Hauptmann Wieland strapped to a table and disemboweled with marks of Slaanesh carved into his bones. This vile act had been carried out by the Senseless Noise. Even Gerlach, a Mordekaiser notable for his deeds during his Long Vigil in the Deathwatch, had been slain though he made a lethal account for himself. However it was not all lost for survivors were found in the brigs; a dozen Astartes chained to the walls and tortured but alive.

Upon hearing of the 5th's fate, Kaiser Diascalon fell into a rage and swore vengeance on the Senseless Noise for their debauchery.

### Silencing the Noise (957.M41)

Hungry for revenge, the Mordekaisers began hunting for the Senseless Noises' location. They eventually located the warband in the Aquyus system. The entire Mordekaisers Chapter descended upon the warband like vengeful angels. As expected, the arrogant Senseless Noise met the Mordekaisers head on and a brutal battle commenced. Ships fought each other at broadside as boarding forces struggled fiercely in their halls. The *Void Beast* engaged the Senseless Noises' flagship. The mighty guns of the ancient battle barge disabled the traitor ship's shield and allowed Diascalon to teleport on board with the 1st Company. Despite having superior numbers the Senseless Noise were overwhelmed by the vengeful wrath of the Kaiser who rampaged through the halls until he reached the bridge. Once there, he engaged the Senseless Noise's Lord and tore him apart with his lightning claws. With the loss of the Lord, the Senseless Noise broke and were massacred by the Mordekaisers who left none alive.

The 5th Company had been avenged.

## The Endgame

### The Desolation of Iyanar (959.M41)

Even with both of their allies gone it became clear that the Desolate Sons were not cowed and still outnumbered the Mordekaisers whose own casualties were mounting up. As the entire Chapter had redeployed to take out the Senseless Noise the battle lines had been significantly weakened, something the Desolate Sons took full advantage of. The entire warband struck the Iyanar System and destroyed it and the naval detachment defending it. They left the worlds as wastelands where nothing would ever live again. They also left a message to the Mordekaisers in the form of coordinates and a single sentence: *"Let us end this"*.

### The Battle of Buris (960.M41)

The Mordekaisers swiftly responded to the Desolate Sons' provocation and came to the Buris System where they found the Desolate Sons waiting for them in an ancient fortress complex on Buris Prime. The Mordekaisers had little experience fighting on a planet, let alone in a siege, in fact few Mordekaisers had ever set foot on a planet. However, they did know how to fight in tunnels and the close confines of a hive so Stahlhelm drew a plan to make full use of their skills. They deployed in a massed assault using thunderhawks to ferry the Astartes down while using stormravens and stormhawks to suppress the Desolate Sons with air assaults. With some losses, the Mordekaisers landed in the fortress and engaged the Desolate Sons in their fortress.

The Mordekaisers' innate endurance and tenacity was put against the corruption and sickness of the Desolate Sons in the tunnels of the fortress. Viral and toxic weaponry was unleashed by the Desolate Sons that tested even the toughness of the Mordekaisers who responded by unleashing their most terrible of weaponry; two Leviathan Siege Dreadnoughts who became nightmares in the confines of the tunnels. The Chapter's four contemptor pattern dreadnoughts were also released, outfitted for close combat, to engage the helbrutes that the Desolate Sons employed. The battle raged for three entire days until, finally, the last of the Desolate Sons had been slain and the Magrin War was over.

## The Aftermath

The War ended in victory for the Imperials but at an extremely high cost. The Imperial Navy fleet had taken significant losses and the Mordekaisers had taken extremely heavy losses, including the loss of the 5th Company. Many of the sector's planets had suffered at the hands of the Orks and the Warbands, and some would never rebuild. Even so, the Warbands had been prevented from wiping out the Mordekaisers and claiming Morgen Schwach, a strategically important location. However, the Chapter was victorious and thus departed the Magrin Sector, returning to their home to continue their watch over the Ghoul Stars.