Feinnwe Crusade

Armorial of the Iron Spears Chapter.

The **Feinnwe Crusade** was a protracted conflict undertaken by a coalition of various Arcana Sector Imperial Forces against the Aeldari of Craftworld Feinnwe. The exact length of the conflict is unknown and lasted anywhere from a few decades to a few centuries. The battles of the Feinnwe Crusade mainly comprised of various harassments campaigns against the Eldar as the Imperium hunted them across the Arcana Sector.

Imperial Coalition Forces were directed by High Chieftain Chulainn Nuada of the Iron Spears Chapter and Inquisitor Lord Constantine Gigas of the Ordo Xenos. Among the Imperial Forces were Astartes from the Iron Spears Chapter, military elements of the Ordo Xenos (such as the Deathwatch), Imperial Knights from the Arcana Sector Houses (Vermillion, Valorum, and Graham), Explorator Forces of Beltane and Tyr, Astra Militarum Regements from across the Sector (namely from Victora, Fenia, Atlas, Nordenheim, and Valor), vessels of Battlefleet Arcana

Unbeknownst to either the Imperium or the Craftworld, the Imperial Strike Forces were indirectly aided by a highly unlikely secret ally. This shadowy "third-party" (a Thousand Sons Sect known as the Grimoire Herald) also sought to "lay the Craftworld low" and used the Imperial Strike Forces to do so without their knowledge. The Magisters of the Grimoire Heralds, powerful Exalted Sorcerers of Tzeentch, used their collective psychic power to partly obscure the future from the eyes of the Craftworld's Farseers. Agents of the Grimoire Heralds also served to inform the Imperial Logis Strategos regarding the locations and activities of Feinnwe's forces.

## Prelude

In 157.M33, the Aeldari Craftworld Feinnwe (a Craftworld that usually roams the Arcana Sector) strayed to close to an Imperial Star System and was attacked by the local PDF Forces. The Aeldari of Craftworld Feinnwe retaliated swiftly and efficiently by eliminating the PDF Forces, exterminating the Imperial population, and effectively sterilizing the entire Star System. Later Imperial Scholars speculate that one of the planets in the system may actually have been an Aeldari Maiden World, meaning the Eldar would have slaughtered the Human populations regardless of whether or not the Imperium attacked first.

Despite the Aeldari victory, the Craftworld's destruction of an Imperial System caught the attention of the Arcana Sector Authority. Under the suggestion of Inquisitor Lord Constantine Gigas, the Arcana Sector assembled a large coalition of Imperial forces drawn from across the Arcana Sector. This united coalition would hunt down and eliminate the forces of Craftworld Feinnwe across the Arcana Sector.

## The Conflict

Using intel (unknowingly) gathered from agents of the Grimoire Heralds, the Arcana Sector Authority embarked on a prolonged Crusade against the Eldar of Craftworld Feinnwe. The exact duration of the Crusade is unknown and is believed to have lasted at least several decades if not a few centuries.

It is said that a strike force of Iron Spears Veterans managed to successfully infiltrate the Craftworld itself. While successful at causing harm to the Eldar of Feinnwe, the victory came at a great cost. Only one Astartes of the strike force had survived, having been discovered in a damged Caestus Assault Ram drifting through empty space. The Iron Spears were able to salvage the Assault Ram, but the Marine inside was wounded to the point that he was interred wthin a Dreadnought Sarcophagus soon after. For whatever reason, records detailing the Iron Spears' infiltration of Craftworld Feinnwe remain scant. The surviving Marine, who yet lives as a Dreadnought in the 41st Millennium, is one of the few living beings who knows of the infiltration mission.

## The Aftermath

After the apparent success of the infiltration of Craftworld Feinnwe, the Arcana Sector Authority proclamed that vengeance for the sterilized Imperial World had been fully exacted. With that, the Feinnwe Crusade was recorded as a success.

The Feinnwe Crusade proved two things. To the Eldar, it proved that the Imperial Arcana Sector was not a force to be trifled with. To the Imperium, it proved that the Eldar of Feinnwe were a force to be reckoned with and would not be easily exterminated. Following the Attack on Craftworld Feinnwe, the Arcana Sector and the Feinnwe Aeldari entered a perpetual 'Cold War'. While they certainly came into conflict with one another in the form of skirmishes, firefights, confrontations etc. the two factions never engaged in full-scale conflict against each other.