First Solar War

> "*Who is Shaaa? The Praetorian, the Lord Commander of the Imperium? In this moment as the galaxy burns, I think I finally know who he is – perhaps I am the only one alive who truly does. He is the man who was tasked by the Emperor to protect Terra,at a time the Emperor himself did not know who was loyal to him and who had sided with Almire. Shaaa is the man who might have been required to stand against seventeen legions on his own. He would know – not think – but mathematically calculate to a certainty that no one in the Mechanicum could hope to match, that there was no way he could win. Yet he would make new plans, ideas and concepts, knowing full well it wouldn’t be enough, he would improve upon everything. Even unfinished, Shaaa’s defensive system is the most complex and impressive project the Imperium has ever constructed. It is vast beyond imagining, to the degree that no one, even myself and the other primarchs would never know all the complexities. But my brother did and to such a minute detail that it boggles the mind. Creatures of the warp, eight space marine legions with their primarchs and support without numbers, aid of dark gods themselves, and yet the defense has lasted longer than even the most optimistic projections. Now he leaves on a suicidal charge through the traitor fleet to stop the complete destruction of the entire Sol system. Truly Shaaa is the best amongst the primarchs, the greatest hero of the Imperium and the greatest commander I have ever served under. Even in the madness of this war where I have lost everything, most of my legion, my closest of friends and my trust in the Emperor whose betrayal against me still burns, the one thing I can take pride in is that I have a brother like Shaaa.*"
> ― Camelous, The Invictii, Primarch of The XIXth Legion and newly named Lord Commander of the Imperium.
>
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## The First Solar War

### Attacking Commander

Warmaster Almire Leoric
Lu Yueh Zhi Zi
Necalli
Abner Cassian (WIA)
Vinicius & Euphrano Geminius
Gaius Augustus Caligula
Artellion Emerabron
Surmah Nyyrik

### Defending Commander

The Emperor of Mankind (WIA)
Malcador the Sigillite (KIA)
Shaaa Hydrades (WIA)
Camelous (KIA)
Admiral Niora Su-Kassen (Status Unknown)

### Strength (Attackers)

The Warmasters Justicars
The Blight Wardens
 The Claws of Xipac
The Light Bringers
The Brothers Encarmine
The Consuls Exemplar
The Silver Basilisks
The Hounds of Surmah
Dark Mechanicum
Misc. Traitor Marine warbands
Traitor Imperial Army
The Lost and the Damned
Daemons
Hundreds of thousands of warships total

### Strength (Defenders)

The Star Guardians
The Dragon Lords
The Imperial Army
Loyalist Members of the Mechanicum
Tens of thousands of warships total

### Outcome

The Emperor is wounded and slips into a psychic coma
Malcador the Sigillite is killed
Shaaa Hydrades is heavily wounded, requiring extensive cybernetic reconstruction
Camelous is killed by Almire while allowing the Emperor to be withdrawn
The Imperium is thrown into Chaos and exile, reforming itself into the Imperium Secundus
 The Traitor Forces begin to lose some of the cohesion they had under Almire, pulling away from his plan in favour of following their newfound gods.

The First Solar War refers to a series of battles that raged for close to six months within the Sol System during M31.059 and M31.060 during the opening years of the Almire Apostasy. The War saw Almire begin his drive on Terra, Throneworld of the Imperium, in a strike that would seal his name in Imperial infamy. The First Solar War encompassed many battles that in any other situation would have been galaxy affecting affairs on their own, and yet due to their proximity to each other, their impact siply magnified that of the sigular war. These events include; the Betrayal of Mars, the Fall of Jupiter, the Battle of Ceres, Sol's End, and of course, the Siege of Terra itself.

## Imperial Preparations

Since the time Of Ullanor, Shaaa Hydrades and the Star Guardians had been occupied with constructing the mighty defences of the Solar Guardian Array. As the Almire Apostasy erupted, these preparations only intensified, and with the Emperor preoccupied with the War Within the Webway and Malcador the Sigillite waging the Shadow Wars, it was left entirely to Shaaa Hydrades to secure the Sol System and Terra at all costs, any previous limitations he had been set removed in the name of the newly declared total war.

As Almire' forces inched closer to Terra, Shaaa organised his legion and the defenders of the Sol System into a series of defencive lines across hundred thousands of kilometers. Each consisted not only of Star Guardian forces, but also those forces of the Dragon Lords, mortal forces of the Imperial Army and warriors of the loyal Mechanicum. By the closing phases of the War, almost all of these forces had been destroyed, Shaaa finally taking the majority of his remaining legion to Sol, the mighty star becoming their graveyard.

* **The Outer Defences** - Responsible for the Khthonic Gate, Pluto and the SGA’s outer Defences - Commanded from Pluto by Lord Commander Crikon Hanfer
* **The Uranin Line** - Responsible for the Elysian Gate, Uranus and Neptune - Commanded from Uranus by 7th Commander Julius Atalan
* **The Jovian Line** - Stretched from Saturn to Jupiter - Commanded from Jupiter by 3rd Commander in Situ Naqu Twaj
* **Ceres** - Designated as the primary heart of the SGA - Shaaa himself was set to command from here, but was forced to divert his attention when Mars rebelled. Command during the First Solar War passed to 6th Commander Gunnar Rayden
* **The Martian Blockade** - A hastily erected battleline that drew manpower away from other battlelines - Commanded by Shaaa himself due to the complex nature of the sudden shift in power
* **The Terran Line** - Comprising of Terra and Luna - Command was initially to fall to Fracturam Commander Varinius Rampt, though Camelous takes over when the traitors arrive, Varinius becoming his second.
* **The Sunward Gulf** - Comprising the worlds of Venus and Mercury, these worlds were sparsely defended due to their position behind Terra. 10th Commander Nakom Palmet commanded the small forces from Mercury

## The Prelude to the Storm

When the Apostasy broke out, Terra quickly found itself cut off from the galaxy at large, sabotage efforts from the XIIIth Legion succeeding in silencing any astropathic messages attempting to leave the system, while allowing distress signals to pour in, demoralising those who were trapped within the system, only able to listen to the mounting losses of the war. Soon after, this sabotage was stepped up, the Consuls Exemplar managing to detonate a freighter over Terra itself, debris raining down on the world below, claiming millions of lives.

As if this was a signal to begin, uprising erupted across the system, some small in scope and ambition, while others engulfed entire districts in their betrayal. Worst of all were the forces of the Black Rods, Almire's eyes and ears upon worlds he had deemend important. They were well trained, well equipped, fanatically loyal to the Warmaster, and while many rose up instantly, more went underground, striking from the shadows and diverting manpower away from the SGA itself.

Each of these houses were put down in turn, but they were difficult, grueling campaigns, drawing the Star Guardians away from the act of furthering the construction of the SGA. During this time, none were safe, even the Praetorian himself, a Consuls Strike team infiltrating Ceres itself with unknown means, striking at Shaaa and almost laying him low in a brutal and unexpected attack, the Primarch barely surviving. Finally, mere weeks after the last organised uprising was crushed, word came from the Beta Garmon cluster, the Warmaster had arrived, his fleets inbound to Terra, their arrival imminent. The First Solar War was poised to begin.

## The Invasion Begins

The forward elements of the arrived in the Sol system on 1-432.59.M31, a vast fleet of mortal vessels flying in support of a Brothers Encarmine fleet. The XIIth legion was already heavily wounded from the wars to reach terra, the Warmaster having purposely ensured they were in the vanguard of every attack, increasing the collective overbearing weight of the widow companies that their geneseed cause, inexorably ensnaring them yet further into the web of Chaos and Slaanesh. The Solar War was no different, and alongside the mortal fleets the Brothers Encarmine smashed into the Outer Defences of the Solar Guardian array, the Solar Defence Fleet reaping a fearsome tally as they came on.

In tandem with this assault, vessels surged through the Khthonic warp gate at Pluto, first tens, then hundreds upon hundreds of vessels crewed by mortals given the ‘honour’ of being the first through the breach. They died in droves, the gate well defended and overseen by Lord Commander Crikon Hanfer himself. Soon, the gate was littered with corpses of vessels, those coming through behind them as likely to wreck themselves in a collision with these hulks as they were to die to the loyalist guns, and yet still they came on, either too fanatic, too scared or too stupid to realise they were being sent to their deaths.

For weeks the fighting continued, the forces at the Khthonic gate struggling to make headway, while those at the Outer Defences slowly but surely pushed forward, the weight of numbers allowing them to take ground on the many stations of the SGA, meter by bloody meter. Into this fray strode Camelous, Primarch of the Dragon Lords, a lynchpin of the loyalist defences. Whenever the traitors seemed poised to effect a real breakthrough, Camelous appeared, turning back whole attacks and plugging the leaks before they could become a flood. Elsewhere, Imothes of the Watchers of Akhet and Sirvan Golz of the Star Guardians, both champions of their legions and chosen by the Emperor to serve as His Sword and His Shield, followed Camelous’s lead, but while the Primarch would strike at the heaviest fighting, Imothes and Sirvan had but one goal, to engage and destroy the Champions of the traitor legions wherever they showed their faces.

Curiously, through all this time, no forces even attempted to breach the Elysian gate by Neptune, the fleets there remaining on station, their guns ready but silent. All the time, fabricated distress calls crying out for reinforcement from the Uranin Lines fleets were received and ignored, Shaaa’s orders ironclad and absolute. No forces would be released to aid the Outer Defences, they would not be bated to abandon the far more important location of the Elysian Gate, no matter the losses taken further out.

And then finally, the traitors played their next true move, the second of Almire’s legions making themselves known, the Hounds of Surmah, the first of the legions to turn from the Emperor and embrace Chaos, surged through the Khthonic Gate. Unlike those who had come before them, exiting the warp with Gellar Fields in place, leaving them defenseless to the guns of the loyalists, the XXth Legion exited the warp as if it were merely an extension of the void itself, Void Shields raised and weapons already blaring, Chaos would not touch or threaten its favoured sons. Already stretched thin by the constant fighting against lesser foes, their guns worn down, the ammunition depleted, the defences of the Khthonic Gate finally buckled, the traitors surging forward.

The Hounds did not merely exit the warp and move on however, a far greater plan at work. Weaving their fell magics, the Hounds called upon the powers of the warp and the souls of the dead on both sides, offering them up in sacrifice to the ravenous gods they now served. Pleased, the gods responded in kind, and with a sound that seemed to echo in the mind of all who saw it, the Khthonic Gate was ripped wide, where once ships could only push through in dozens at any one time, now they could come through in the hundreds, turning the gate into a funnel through which they poured forth their true forces. With numbers greater than any that had attacked the Outer Defences to date, the traitors cut the defenders off in a single stroke, trapping them between the open void and traitor held space, and a traitor armada that far eclipsed their own.

So galvanised, the traitors launched a massive attack on the fortress moons surrounding Pluto, focusing foremost upon the Primus fortress of Kerberos. Striking deep within the station, Astartes of the Brothers Encarmine, often the so called “Newborn” warriors, the traitors unleashed scrapcode attacks into the loyalist defencive lines, forcing the moons to fall silent, or worse still, fire upon each other. Only kerberos seemed to hold fast, the Mechanicum defenders fighting to the bitter end, traitor forces pouring onto the world with reckless abandon. The bait had been set, and the trap was about to swing closed.

At an order from Crikon, still high above the battlesphere in the *Bastion*, those few surviving loyalists within the fortress moon unleashing a carefully designed data-jinn into the power systems idling there. Designed by Shaaa himself, the data djinn overloading every reactor within the moon at once, detonating the explosives being stored there for just such a purpose. Kerberos detonated with an explosive force greater than all the ordnance expended in the Solar War thus far, none surviving on its surface or in the surrounding void, the traitor fleet scattering to avoid its deadly final act of defiance. This scattering allowed Crikon Hanfer and a small number of vessels, including those bearing Camelous and Imothes, to slip past the traitor blockade, speeding in system before the gap was sealed once more. Only Pluto and a few straggling loyalist ships remained behind, the traitors destroying the ships of the defenders, though none were eager to set foot upon the dwarf planets surface for fear of a repeat of the moon, even the most fanatic followers of Almire unwilling to land on a world that may explode the moment they arrived. And then the *Wiedergänger* arrived, the void seeming to grow impossibly darker at its approach. In an instant, it had opened fire, Pluto scoured of all life in an instant. The Outer Defences had fallen, the Khthonic Gate belonged to the Warmaster, and through it came on the host of the traitors.

## The Host Arrives

With the Outer System finally secured after close to a month of fighting, the traitors turned their sights upon the rest of the Solar System. If they had believed that they had faced a daunting foe already, what stretched before them put those thoughts to grass. Innumerable weapons platforms, minefields, repair yards and other, far more esoteric weapons besides stretched on for millions of kilometers, the full extent of the Solar Guardian Array now arrayed against them. The loyalist defenders may be hopelessly outnumbered by the traitor forces, but they were anything but outgunned. As more and more traitor forces appeared, more legion forces began to arrive from those who had allied with Almire. Blight Wardens, Light Bringers and Consuls joined the Brothers Encarmine and Hounds of Surmah along with thousands of Imperial Army vessels, their crews veterans of hundreds of battles, compared to the chaff and sacrificial troops seen thus far.

Far above the galactic plain, a vast Armada of Claws of Xipac and Warmasters Justicars forces appeared, impossibly far into the system, their entrance allowed by the machinations of the Hounds of Surmah themselves. The loyalists had planned for an attack from such an angle, but had positioned their pickets upon the far edges of conventionally warp capable space. With the fleet hundreds of thousands of kilometers behind them, they could do little more than harry and give chase to the traitors as they fell towards the centre of the Solar Guardian Array. Finally, prepared for the slow push ahead of them, the traitors struck, from above and beyond they came, but there was yet one final angle from which they could strike. From within, the traitors came.

First came the Silver Basilisks, fleetmasters to rival the IVth themselves, possessing the largest single fleet at Almire’s command. As the traitor host from Pluto struck at the outer edges of the Uranin Line, the Elysian Gate yawned wide. From its maw came a mighty shape, at first believed to be a mighty vessel, but as it pushed itself free of the warp, it became clear it was something far less, and yet far more terrifying. A gargantuan asteroid torn from a decimated world was flung into the defenders of the gateway, guns having little effect on its rocky surface, plowing through minefields and defencive platforms with equal ease. As the loyalists sought to contend with this sudden threat, the Silver Basilisks made their next move.

Three ships, classified only as *Abyss*-class warships, punched through the Elysian Gate, each one larger than even the Gloriana’s of the Legions, their power when combined eclipsing any vessel the loyalists had at their disposal. With these mighty ships clearing the way, the defenders had little hope of steming the tide of the XVth’s fleet as it poured into realspace in its entirety, trailing thousands of traitor vessels in their wake. Battle was joined across the Uranin line, Camelous and Imothes once again acting as mobile kill teams to stand against the worst of foes, but if the loyalists thought the sudden loss of the Elysian Gate was a blow, what came next was far, far worse.

Mars. The Red Planet. Homeworld of the Mechanicum and Capital World of the Second Empire of Man. The world was second only to Terra in importance, and had factored in heavily to Shaaa’s plans for the defence of the Sol System, its mighty Ring of Iron a key defencive position from which to oppose the traitors. Almire had not ignored it either however, and with subtle whispers and promises of power, he had swayed the Fabricator General to his side, commanding him to bide his time, to feign loyalty until the opportune moment. That moment was now upon them.

Without warning, Mechanicum warriors loyal to the Warmaster rose up, butchering those who remained loyal to the Emperor on the surface and firing upon Solar Battlefleet vessels in orbit. In an instant the Fortress of Mars had become the greatest threat to terra the loyalists had faced thus far, something Shaaa would not, could not, allow to stand or leave to anothers oversight.

Leaving his command position upon the Command Nexus of Ceres, Shaaa made all speed to Mars, drawing ships and warriors from all defensive positions that could be spared and striking at Mars, a rare lightning strike from the normally ponderous Breacher Lord. Landing upon Mars, Shaaa and his warriors initially saw success, looking like they may break open the traitorous fabricator generals forge complex and strike him down, ripping out his treason root and stem. But their forces were too few in number, and as mars rallied, the loyalists were forced back. After mere hours of fighting, Shaaa and his forces withdrew to orbit, Mars was now firmly in traitor hands, and from its surface came terrors unseen since Old Night, clashing with the blockade Shaaa erected in his withdrawal, seeking to drain the loyalists strength from other areas, allowing the curiously still absent Warmaster and his forces to reach deeper into the Solar System.

For months, the Uranin line buckled and twisted, the corridors of the SGA becoming soaked in blood of both sides. Star Guardians, Dragon Lords and Watchers of Akhet clashed with warriors of the warmasters legions, the Blight Wardens and Hounds of Surmah reaping a fearsome tally of their own, unleashing corrosive gases into holds or flooding entire stations with deadly living phospex. The loyalists soon responded in kind, Shaaa having no compulsion in unleashing every weapon at his forces disposal, but while he and his sons were the undisputed lords of the arts of breaching and zone mortalis warfare, the IInd and XXth were experts in their fields as well. Soon, the loyalists were thrown back yet again, withdrawing in good order to the Jovian Line, the Elysian Gate becoming a flurry of ships being brought in from the traitors main forces, Surmah and his sons once again forcing it wide with the suffering of the dead and captured. And yet still, for all their show of force, Almire was not seen, the bulk of his fleet was eerily absent, and the traitor Primarchs almost in their entirety were nowhere to be found. The traitors had yet more plans to unfold, but such was the labyrinthine mind of the Warmaster and his expertise in such battles, that the loyalists had little recourse but to react to what they were presented with, pinned in place and unable to act on their own volition.

Pushed back deep into the Jovian line, Saturn fell in a matter of weeks, the Saturnine Ordo’s scattering to retreat to the stronghold of Juptiter. Turned from a gas giant into little more than a gravity well to anchor gargantuan orbital plates to, Jupiter soon became host not to a battle of mortals or even to trans-humans, but to the gods of war themselves. Titans by the hundred, scores of legios, all clashed upon these artificial planes, the power they unleashed enough to wipe clean entire xenos empires during the Great Crusade was arrayed against their own kind. The loyalists stubbornly held on to the fortress world, while the traitors could not risk merely bypassing it, for it would leave the loyalists with a perfect staging ground to strike at the more vulnerable rear flanks of the traitors advance. Jupiter had to be taken, no matter the cost, and it was for this task that the *Abyss*-class battleships were unleashed again, Artellion ordering them into the fray.

Unlike the last time they had been used however, the loyalists were not taken by surprise by the mighty machines, the loyalists were ready for them. As the super battleships moved into position to bombard the Jovian orbital plates, their own titans hurrying to withdraw before it began to fire, the loyalists struck back. Spearheaded by Camelous himself, the largest loyalist counter attack to date slammed into the forces around Jupiter, their presence kept hidden by a draining ritual Camelous had weaved, further aided by the equal might of the Sigillite himself, Malchador. Taken by surprise by the sudden fleet in their midst, the traitors struggled to rally to face the new foe, expecting to be attacked from the ground, not the void. The ensuing battle was brutal, losses rising to staggering proportions in the first few hours. At the climax of the battle, Camelous led an attack of over ten thousand Astartes, onto the primary *Abyss* vessel, the strike force fighting against the highly skilled crew to reach its engines. Though almost all of the strike force died, they were successful, the plasma generators overloading, taking one of the three hellish ships to the grave with the brave defenders, Camelous and a scant one hundred warriors teleporting away mere moments before it detonated.

Even with the loss of such a ship however, the traitors had rallied once more, bringing their superior firepower to bear and hurling the loyalists back. The ploy would not work again, and with the counter attack over, Jupiter fell within hours. The Jovian Line had fallen, Mars had fallen. All that now stood between the traitors and Terra itself was the fortress moon of Luna, and Ceres itself, the most heavily guarded point in the system, heart of the Solar Guardian Array.

For a time, it seemed like the traitors would not dare the dwarf worlds guns, their forces all battered from the constant fighting, while Ceres was fresh, manned by well drilled and disciplined crews, and boasting the only fully operational Orbital Trench network. Truly it would have been a fight to eclipse any other, and yet once again, the traitors had planned for this, calling out to their dark gods to beseech for their aid, and aid they would receive.

From the outset of the Solar War, the traitor forces had tracked the path of an artificial object known only as ‘The Comet’. Throughout the Great Crusade this had been a monument to the unification of Terra and the subsequent Great Crusade, but in the years prior to the Almire Apostasy, the Hounds of Surmah had perverted this monument in secret, on the surface simply maintaining it, but in reality converting it into a shrine to the dark pantheon. While those warriors who had set the plan into motion had been massacred by Star Guardians the moment their treason became known, the ritual they had begun was still potent, bubbling just beneath the surface. Had Camelous been informed of the Comet, he may have sensed its power, but Shaaa had no idea of the power that could be unleashed from there, never thinking to mention it to his psychic brother.

As the Comet passed by its orbit, moving beyond Mars into the space between the fourth and fifth planets, the Hounds of Surmah struck, easily overwhelming the pitiful servitor defences in place, the Comet never deemed as a military target to be defended  The ritual depended on an absolute timetable, having to be initiated at a precise celestial alignment in the Sol System that had not been seen since the Age of Strife. Soon, the ritual began to sing once more, becoming an epicenter for a massive black scar in reality which briefly blocked out the sun itself. And from this scar poured the true might of the traitor host, tens of thousands of warships, more than the loyalists could have matched even at the onset of the war, including the full might of the Claws of Xipac, Light Bringers and Consuls Exemplar Legions, their Primarch’s riding at the heads of the Armada. In their wake came uncounted billions of winged daemons, but it was what rode at the head of this impossibly large armada that stirred the hearts of traitors, and still those of loyalists. Almire, riding within the the *Wrath of Judgement*, the entire Warmasters Justicars at his back. The Warmaster had finally arrived, and with a single word, his forces descended directly upon the fortress of Ceres.

## The Final Days

With a host at his side larger than any so far seen in the war, Almire struck at Ceres, bringing forth every weapon at his disposal. From the hold of the *Wrath of Judgement*, the ancient Dark Age of Technology weapon, *Scorpions Sting* leapt forth, no longer a mere weapon, now a fully fledged daemon engine. Leaping free from the flagship, the daemon engine rampaged through the asteroid field that surrounded Ceres, smashing and scouring it’s way through the missile batteries, defence platforms and mines hidden among the rocks, securing the way for the XVIth to strike unharmed at Ceres.

At the head of this siege fleet flew no less than five *Armageddon*-Class Planet Scourers, vessels designed in concert with the Praetorian himself, designed specifically to crack the hardiest of planetary fortresses, their weapons capable of reducing anything they touched to molten slag. With the combined might of five of their kind, a legions worth of ships and innumerable daemons, the Orbital Trench Network would never hold, within hours a breach being created, allowing traitors to pour onto the surface, led by First Praetor Gobalt Asmodeus himself.

As the traitors prepared to strike down Ceres, the Claws of Xipac fleet that was still descending towards Luna finally reached their destination. As the lead ship entered the range of Luna’s guns, the Claws of Xipac accelerated, ramming their vessels into the defensive ring around Luna as Necalli and his warriors teleported aboard the moon's surface. The kamikaze attack blew a twenty kilometer long gap into Luna's defensive ring, raining down debris on the defenders below. Now on the surface, the Claws of Xipac let loose, butchering their way through the defenders, eventually succeeding in securing the coveted Selenar Gene-Seed technology that had been used to create the original Astartes. The presiding Selenar Matriarch, Heliosa-78, ultimately chose to side with Almire than carry out her orders to destroy her precious gene-tech before it could fall into the hands of the traitors.

Luna fell mere minutes before the first traitors touched down upon Ceres, Almire watching the assault on the world his legion had taken so long ago, before the Great Crusade had moved beyond the light of Sol. The Warmaster had expected to clash with Shaaa there, pouring forces onto the dwarf planet to strike down the Praetorian of Terra and crush his legion, but Shaaa had never returned to the world after being drawn to the blockade of Mars, the Warmaster denied his prize. Undaunted, the Warmasters Justicars slaughtered all who stood against them, the world holding for a time, before finally buckling, Asmodeus striking down Commander Gunnar Rayden personally. When Ceres finally fell, all who had stood upon the walls of the fortress against the Warmaster were dead, not a single survivor escaping from the now enemy held fortress, nor did a single one lay down their arms, forcing the traitors to slaughter them to the last.

With its primary command node lost, the remaining guns of the SGA began to fall silent, the secondary node on Mercury struggling to pick up the slack, its systems not finished before the Warmaster’s arrival. Even so, it did manage to regain some control, the guns threatening to come back online. And then the Consuls Exemplar struck.

With fell warp technology, the warriors of the XIIIth appeared upon the surface of the tiny world in numbers far greater than the sparse defenders could ever hope to counter. The slaughter was immense, bullets and bolts seeming to bounce off of the warp fueled elite of the Black Thirteen. When Mercury finally fell silent, only a single enemy warrior had been slain, and as the world fell silent, so too did the might Solar Guardian Array.

Ceres was now in traitor hands, Luna was held by the Claws of Xipac, the defencive ring there would not survive for long, and the Solar Guardian Array itself had gone all but silent. The surviving loyalist fleet was now anchored around Terra itself, a formidable force by old reckonings. But compared to the Warmaster’s armada it was nothing, a crumbling wall trying to hold back the tide.

As the two fleets squared off against each other, the Twin Lords of Love and War made clear their proclamation, a message of terms sanctioned by Almire himself, demanding the surrender of the surviving warriors of the Imperium. The demand was predictably long winded and overblown, as suited the gladiator twins. Instead of a rebuttal or refusal however, the loyalist merely remained silent, organising their fleet and moving it into defencive positions. The message was clearer than any spoken words. There would be no peace here, no talk of terms. The defenders of Terra would die before relinquishing the Throneworld to the enemy. It was a wish Almire would happily grant them.

At a signal from the flagship, the traitor fleet surged forwards, fully seven legions and countless Imperial army vessels clashing with the loyalist fleet than remained, the largest single void engagement in Imperial History erupting. Ships died in seconds under the fire that danced between both fleets at near point blank ranges, vessels changed hands dozens of times as they were boarded and captured, then boarded and captured again. For a time, the defenders held, but then the eighth traitor legion made their move, the Light Bringers finally moving, not towards the battle that was raging, but past it, making to move on Sol itself, the *Monad* leading the Xth towards the light of Terra.

Shaaa saw their target the moment they lit their engines, trajectories and estimated arrival times flashing across his mind. Forewarned by Camelous and the other survivors of Pax telling the loyalist tales of just what the Light Bringers could do to a system's star if given the chance. The Light bringers had to be stopped, nothing else could compare to such a dire threat.

Shaaa had no choice, giving orders to muster what remained of his legion’s fleet and pulling them from the ongoing battle. Such an order was tantamount to suicide, hundreds of vessels not selected being ordered to plug the gaps and cover the retreating vessels with their own mass, their deaths willingly given to allow the IVth to pull away from the ongoing battle and slingshot towards Sol.

As he left, Shaaa sent a single transmission to Camelous, now holding fast upon Terra with all remaining forces, save the Star Guardians themselves, only a handful of the IVth legion remaining behind on the throneworld. In the transmission, he named Camelous his successor, the Lord Commander of the entire Imperium until such a time as Shaaa could return and reclaim the title. None were under any impression that he would however, Almire cursing Abner as he made his move, but capitalizing on the sudden depletion of the defenders.

Within days, the IVth had reached Sol, taking up defencive positions around the mighty star, preparing for the battle to come. They had reached it before the Light Bringers, but it was a hollow victory, Almire sweeping aside all remaining orbital assets from Terra and preparing to make planetfall. No other Primarch, not even the tactical genius of Khnum, could have done what Shaaa had done, outnumbered and outgunned, with incomplete defences, he had turned a surefire victory for the traitor legions into a hellish six month holding action. The Imperium had defied the Warmaster for longer than any would have believed possible, but now that defiance was coming to an end. On 1-049.60.M31, the Solar War officially ended, the traitors beginning their attack on Terra and the Imperial Palace. The Siege of Terra had begun

## Loyalist Forces Known Order of Battle

### *Legiones Astartes* IVth Legion ("Star Guardians") Personnel

* Shaaa Hydrades - Primarch of the IVth Legion - WIA
* Crikon Hanfer - Lord Commander of the IVth Legion - Castellan of the Outer Defences - WIA
* Varinius Rampt - Fracturam Lord Commander - Castellan of the Terran Defences - KIA
* Naqu Twaj - 3rd Commander in Situ - Castellan of the Jovian Line - KIA
* Kazem Akin - 4th Commander - KIA
* Nader Kardan - 5th Commander - KIA
* Gunnar Rayden - 6th Commander - Assigned Castellan of Ceres - KIA
* Julius Atalan - 7th Commander - Castellan of the Uranin Line - KIA
* Sirvan Golz - 8th Commander - Champion of the IVth Legion
* Hankot Draedo - 9th Commander -KIA
* Nakom Palmet - 10th Commander - Castellan of the Sunward Gulf - KIA
* Salar Diba - 11th Commander - KIA
* Asghar Rankart - 12th Commander - KIA
* Kazem Fraak - 13th Commander - KIA
* Ozraa Pyan - 14th Commander - KIA
* Ketara Aangg - 15th Fracturam Commander - KIA
* Setarah Imparsh 16th Commander - KIA
* Ashek Toran - 17th Commander - KIA
* Saakhan Topht - 18th Commander - KIA
* Zuukia Irol - 19th Commander - KIA
* Darius Kardmah - 20th Commander - Defected during the opening weeks of the war
* Forge Master Avalon Saros - WIA
* Quantil Herok - Vexillarius - KIA

### *Legiones Astartes* IVth Legion "The Star Guardians"

IVth Legion records of their own strength at the onset of the First Solar War remain highly accurate with regards to their own numbers, and place the total amount of combat-ready Legiones Astartes deployed by the Star Guardians at 194,923 Space Marines.

#### Divisions

Full deployment at the onset of the First Solar War, each as a nominal strength of 10,000 Legionaries, and each were designated as ‘Line Divisions’, as opposed to more specialised forces.

* 3rd Division (Destroyed)
* 4th Division (Destroyed)
* 5th Division (Destroyed)
* 6th Division (Destroyed)
* 7th Division (Extremely Depleted)
* 8th Division (Extremely Depleted)
* 9th Division (Destroyed)
* 11th Division (Destroyed)
* 12th Division (Destroyed)
* 13th Division (Extremely Depleted)
* 15th Division (Destroyed)

Deployed during the First Solar with below nominal strength due to casualties suffered during the leadup to the Solar War or the Siege of the Ring. All have a nominal strength of at least 5,000 Legionaries.

* 2nd Division (All assets in the Solar War are Destroyed, two warriors survived the Siege of the Ring to carry on the Division)
* 10th Division (Destroyed)
* 14th Division (Destroyed)

The 1st Division was never deployed as a singular force, instead spreading their force of Saturnalians across the solar system.

* 1st Division (Extremely Depleted)

The following divisions were newly formed after Ullanor, but unlike the 11th-15th Divisions, they were never intended to be standard Line Divisions. Instead, each of them were specialised in a form of war other than the standard breaching forces that characterise the rest of the legion. As such, there are few, if any, Indomitable Squads in their ranks, and were also rarely deployed in a singular force.

Comprising a vast quantity of the IVth’s armoured strength, specifically the legions super heavy assets such as fellblades, Glaives and Typhon Siege Tanks.

* 16th Division “*The Solar Harbingers*” (Extremely Depleted)

Designated as heavy support Divisions, these warriors universally wielded the largest Astartes portable weapons such as autocannons, heavy bolters and lascannons. Their role was simply to bring as much firepower to bear at extreme range, keeping the enemy pinned in place for other warriors to advance and destroy the foe.

* 17th Division (Extremely Depleted)
* 18th Division (Destroyed)

Though the IVth never placed much stock in attack craft, preferring to focus on heavy ship classes and either engaging in line battles or closing to boarding range, as they made the transition from Crusading Legion to defensive legion, the need for rapid response craft became clear. As such, the Division is equipped with every type of orbital and sub-orbital strike craft within the arsenal of the Legiones Astartes, all based on the mighty Super-Fleet Carrier, the *Ark Imperial*

* 19th Division “*The Void Raptors*" (Missing, Presumed Destroyed)

The IVth had never had any qualms about utilising Destroyer type weaponry, in the days before Ullanor they had never had a singular force of warriors wielding such weapons, each Division keeping their own stockpiles. During the years between Ullanor and the Solar War however, a Division was created with this specific form of war in mind, each warrior wielding the deadliest of weapons known to man. The Division included the newly designated Heavy Destroyer terminator units.

* 20th Division “*The Astral Ravagers” (Extremely Depleted)*

### The Solar Defence Fleet

Unlike the other legions of the Great Crusade, by the time of the First Solar War, the Star Guardians mighty fleet had now become fully intermingled with the non-legion fleet of the Solar Defence Fleet. Though many of these ships were captained by an Astartes of the IVth Legion, most were never classed as a Star Guardians vessel, those that were were usually geared more for assault and boarding actions, such as the newly constructed Battle Barges *Gauntlet of Glory* and *Gauntlet of Victory*, or the vessels that predated Ullanor, such as the mighty *Herald of Destruction* and *Bastion* warships.

* *Aegis of Occluda -* Lunar-class Heavy Assault Cruiser (Severely Damaged)
* *Antipathy* – Eclipse-class Lance Cruiser - Star Guardians Vessel (Destroyed)
* *Amphion* - Gloriana-class Battleship - Flagship of Admiral Niora Su-Kassen
* *Antrodamicus* – Jovian-class Battlecruiser (Destroyed)
* *Antropheles* – Heavy Transport (Destroyed)
* *Ark Imperial* - Unknown Super-Fleet Carrier (Believed to be a Gloriana based vessel) - Flagship of the 19th Division - Star Guardians Vessel (MIA due to Warp Engine Malfunction)
* *Bastion* - Gloriana-class Battleship - Flagship of Lord Commander Crikon Hanfer and the Outer Fleet - Star Guardians Vessel (Destroyed)
* *Burnabus* – Turbulent-class Heavy Frigate (Catastrophic Damage)
* *Campanile* – Fleet Tender (Destroyed)
* *Cavascor* - Olympia-class Strike Cruiser - Star Guardians Vessel
* *Constellation of Hydra* – Crusade-class Strike Cruiser -Star Guardians Vessel (Destroyed)
* *Cornucopia* - Vanquisher-class Battleship - Star Guardians Vessel
* *Deliverance of Terra* - Maelstrom-class Galleass of War - Star Guardians Vessel (Destroyed)
* *Emperor’s Wrath* - Legatus-class Battle Barge  - Star Guardians Vessel (Destroyed)
* *Executor* - Torrent-class Battleship - Flagship of Commander Nakom Palmet and the Sunward Fleet - Star Guardians Vessel
* *Finality* - Ironclad-class Battle Barge - Flagship of Fracturam Commander Varinius Rampt and the Terran Defence Fleet - Star Guardians Vessel
* *Gauntlet of Glory* – Ironclad-class Battle Barge - Star Guardians Vessel - twin of the *Glory of Victory*
* *Gauntlet of Victory* – Ironclad-class Battle Barge - Star Guardians Vessel  - twin of the *Glory of Glory*
* *Herald of Destruction* - Gloriana-class Battleship - Flagship of Primarch Shaaa Hydrades - Assigned Flagship of the Ceres Fleet, Flagship of the Martian Blockade - Star Guardians Vessel
* *High Assent* - Armiger-class Lance Cruiser
* *Hope of Narmenia* – Ironclad-class Battle Barge - Star Guardians Vessel (Destroyed)
* *Janiverse* – Thunderbolt-class Heavy Frigate (Destroyed)
* *Jeriko Rex* – Spectre-class Frigate (Catastrophic Damage)
* *Johanipus Artemisia* – Escort Carrier (Destroyed)
* *Lutine* - Thunderbolt-class Heavy Frigate - Star Guardians Vessel
* *Magnitude of Wrath*- Bellerophon-class Heavy Assault Cruiser (Destroyed)
* *Mlatus* - Tyrant-class Cruiser (Captured, Catastrophic Damage)
* *Mlekrus* – Castellan-class Shield Ship (Scuttled to Prevent Capture)
* *Rage of Shaaa* - Infernus-class Battleship (Crippled)
* *Remembrance* - Dictatus-class Battleship - Flagship of Commander Julius Atalan and the Uranin Fleet - Star Guardians Vessel (Destroyed)
* *Remonstrance of Narthan Dume* – Battleship (Destroyed)
* *Samothrace* - Vigil-class Siege Frigate - Star Guardians Vessel (Captured Intact)
* *Sanctity of Saramanth* – Heavy Destroyer (Destroyed)
* *Solonim Woe* - Dictatus-class Battleship - Star Guardians Vessel
* *Spirit of Man* – Tiamat-class Battleship (Captured Intact)
* *Stations of Neptune* – Tesujin-class Strike Cruiser - Star Guardians Vessel
* *Steinhart* – Unknown-class Carrier Ship (Catastrophic Damage)
* *Suspiria Majestrix* – Inflexible-class Grand Cruiser (Destroyed)
* *Tarmus Usurper* - Dominus-class Battleship (Catastrophic Damage)
* *Tenacious* - Warspite-class Battleship - Flagship of Commander in Situ Naqu Twaj and the Jovian Fleet - Star Guardians Vessel
* *Testament of Andromeda* – Unknown-class Carrier Ship (Moderate Damage)
* *Thunderclap* – Havoc-class Minekeeper (Destroyed)
* *Ultimus Mortis* – Mortis Rex-class Battleship - Star Guardians Vessel
* *Valediction* – Nemesis-class Fleet Carrier (Destroyed)
* *Vernax Absolom* - Legate-class Battle Barge - Star Guardians Vessel

* *Vospherus* – Nemesis-class Fleet Carrier (Destroyed)

### Titans Legions

* Legio Marus - Known informarly as "*The Pulsar Guard*" due to their home world orbitting a stable pulsar, the Legio has been oathed to the IVth Legion for centuries, and is known to favour heavy engines types, the mainstay titan of the legion being the mighty Warlord, backed by Reaver and Nemesis titans, and lead by the mighty forms of *Ignitus Volt* and *Ignitus Mortem*, Imperator class titans of Emperor and Warmonger classification respectivly. The legion does lack scout titan forces, instead using Knight House Nollard to roam ahead of their titan masters, relaying information back to the legios big guns, ensuring none can escape the machine gods wrath. During the First Solar War, Princeps Maximus Gallux was absent with three of his titans, becalmed in the warp and unable to reach the home system in advance of the traitor forces. Though this allowed the Legio to survive, all other titans of the legio falling in defence of the SGA, Gallux saw this as the ultimate stain on his and the Legio's honour, vowing to never rest until all who had fought against the Imperium in that war had been struck down and annihilated.

### Questoris Familia

* House Nollard - Oathed to the mighty Legio Marus and by extension the IVth Legion, Knight House Nollard acted as the eyes and ears of the heavy titan legion, possessing numerous Cerastus Pattern Knight armours in their armoury, making them a fast and deadly skirmishing force ranging ahead of the titans. Over half of the House was present in the First Solar War, led by High Queen Euot, most perishing alongside their queen during the war.

### Excertus Imperialis Regiments

* The Hydra Auxilia 1st - 153rd Cohorts - Each Cohort had a nominal strength of 95,000 personel, including command staff, fleet officers and support, vehicle crew, ancillaries, pioneer corps, labourers and support staff - An estimated 14,535,000 members of the Hydra Auxilia were deployed during the Solar War in every theatre. Very few survived.
	+ 63 Infantry Cohorts - Estimated 5,985,000 soldiers
	+ 29 Veletaris Cohorts - Estimated 2,755,000 soldiers
	+ 17 Armoured Cohorts - Estimated 1,615,000 soldiers
	+ 44 Support Cohorts - Estimated 4,180,000 soldiers

### Excertus Imperialis Personnel

* Admiral Niora Su-Kassen - Armiral of Battlefleet Solar - Solar Command Staff under Shaaa Hydrades
* Legatus Braden Jaxer - Commander of the Hydra Auxilia - Solar Command Staff under Shaaa Hydrades (KIA)

## Forces of Chaos Known Order of Battle

### *Legiones Astartes* IInd Legion ("Blight Wardens") Personnel

* Lu Yueh Zhi Zi - Primarch of the IInd Legion
* Wen Hou - Chief Librarian
* Julian Thorp - Head of the Fourth Domain, acting Right Hand of Lu Yueh
* Cai Zan - Highest ranking Yishi present for the siege

### *Legiones Astartes* IInd Legion"The Blight Wardens"

The Blight Wardens, fresh from their victory over the Ashen Crows homeworld, are recorded to have entered the Solar War with a strength of an estimated 96,000 warriors, divided into nine Major Genuses and dozens of Minor Genuses. Many of these forces were not at their full strength, and many more warriors bore signs of recent battle, the Watchers of Akhet having sprung an ambush on the IInd Legion shortly before they had made for Terra, and Ambush they only survived as intact as they did due to the timely and unlooked for aid of the IIrd Legion.

#### Major Genuses

* 1st Genus
* 2nd Genus
* 3rd Genus
* 4th Genus
* 5th Genus
* 6th Genus
* 7th Genus
* 8th Genus
* 9th Genus

### *Legiones Astartes* XIIIth Legion ("Consuls Exemplar") Personnel

* Gaius Caligula - Primarch of the XIIIth Legion
* Uulious Kaezar - Arch-Centurii Prime, Commander of the 7th Cohort and Former Legion Master
* Brutus Alexander - Arch-Heraldor, Champion of the XIIIth Legion, Commander of the 1st Cohort, Bearer of the Legion Vexilla.
* Crassus Hayden - Obzhet Veneticus, Commander of the Void Revenant Decurio, "First" Obzhet Venatus, Bearer of the Crystal Blade.
* GL-41-V3 - The third and ultimate expression of the Daemonic Assassin project the Consuls were working on throughout the Great Crusade and Almire Apostasy.

### *Legiones Astartes* XIIIth Legion "The Consuls Exemplar"

As with so much of the XIIIth Legion, their exact numbers during the Solar War remain a mystery, but it is known that they did operate a significant portion of their strength in the theatre, both in the standard colours of the Legion, and in the colours of other legions, deep cover and infiltration units operating at Gaius's direct command. Based on the pict-recordings of surviving loyalist forces, the following Cohorts are known to have operated during the War:

#### **Cohorts**

* 1st Cohort
* 3rd Cohort
* 5th Cohort
* 6th Cohort
* 7th Cohort
* 8th Cohort "The Secret Cohort"

### Consuls Exemplar Fleet

* The *Pythonis Merticius* - Gloriana-class Battleship - Flagship of Primarch Gaius Caligula

### Excertus Imperialis Regiments

* 100 Jining Regiments
	+ 15 Jining Heavy Infantry Regiments
	+ 50 Mixed Regiments
	+ 10 Artillery Regiments
	+ 8 Mechanised Regiments
	+ 5 Scout Regiments
	+ 10 Armoured Regiments
	+ Ning Royal Guard Regiments

* Caligula's Legion - The entire force is believed to have been committed to the War, and is recorded to have been massively inflated by the addition of zealots, slaves, and forced soldiers, but the exact numbers are an utter mystery.

### Excertus Imperialis Personnel

* Tian Kang - Fleet Mistress of the Blight Wardens naval Assets, Adoptive Daughter of Lu Yueh
* Wu Ken - Lord Commander of the all Jining ground forces present, Adoptive Son of Lu Yueh