Ardraxian Campaign

## Combatants

Imperium of Man

Chaos Warbands

Ynnari

Tyranids

Unaligned/Mercenaries

## Commanders

**Imperium of Man**
Inquisitor Lord Jakob Hernan
Captain Larsius Terentius
Librarian Bryce Ferran
Captain Lysor Tassius
Lord-General Maximilian Gorral
Canoness Ina Teloris
Inquisitor Catalina Ruiz

**Chaos Warbands**
Warmaster Vorel Lingasten
Lord Carstell Hiladei the Graceful Blade
Warpsmith Gorreth
Lord Karnak the Conqueror
Captain Rollen
High Magister Meriten

**Ynnari**
Corsair Princess Lyanna Narésiel
Void Dreamer Anatheia Telastren

**Tyranids**
Hive Tyrant
Broodlord
Patriarch
Primus John Markaren
Magus Jill Markaren

**Unaligned/Mercenaries**
Phalanx Company
Captain Torvald Nilsson
Pirate Princess Elizabeth "Jackal" Alerin
Captain Anna "Hunter" Gunnarsdottir

Gutspilla'z Boyz
Warboss Gutspilla
Big Mek Boomslinga

## Strength

**Imperium of Man**
Inquisition
Scions of Ultramar
Blood Ravens
Celestial Fists
Cadian 673rd Expeditionary Force
Order of the Hallowed Blade
Ardraxian PDFs

**Chaos Warbands**
Black Legion
Emperor's Children
Iron Warriors
World Eaters
Red Corsairs
Thousand Sons
Traitor PDFs

**Ynnari**
Stardancer Corsairs

**Tyranids**
Hive Fleet Kraken
Cult of the Divine Claw

**Unaligned/Mercenaries**
Phalanx Company
Gutspilla'z Boyz

The Ardraxian Campaign is a large-scale conflict between primarily the Imperium of Man and the forces of Chaos. It occurs through the early years of M42 in the Ardraxis Sub-Sector.

## Prologue

The Ardraxian Campaign started when Inquisitorial assets in the sub-sector reported suspicious behaviour amongst the various PDFs to the Inquisition. Shortly afterwards, a large force of Chaos arrived in the system and started to invade, with at least 50% of the PDFs turning on their former bretheren in favour of the Chaos Gods. Inquisitor Lord Jakob Hernan scrambled any and all nearby assets to the sub-sector, as it was home to a collection of Inquisitorial vaults that the Imperium could not afford to lose to Exterminatus, but couldn't allow them to fall into heretical hands.

## Reinforcements and External Forces

It did not take long for the Imperium to answer the call to arms, with the Scions of Ultramar, Blood Ravens and Celestial Fists each sending a company of Space Marines to battle the forces of Chaos, along with a regiment of nearby Astra Militarum, the Cadian 673rd Expeditionary Force. They immediately engaged the forces of Chaos before they could establish a firmer foothold in the sector, rallying the ragged survivors of the loyalist PDFs and establishing their own fortresses and outposts. It did not take long for Chaos to rally and strike back, pushing back the Imperial lines until the arrival of the final reinforcements, the Order of the Honoured Blade, a fleet-based Order of the Adepta Sororitas, accompanied by Inquisitor Catalina Ruiz of the Ordo Hereticus. However, even with these reinforcements, the Imperium continued to be pushed back.

### The Great Devourer Arrives

It wasn't just the forces of the Imperium and Chaos in the system. Under lax government, a small group of planets were infested by a Genestealer Cult that had been building and undermining sub-sector defenses until they could call to other Tyranids to consume the entire sub-sector. However, this new battle between the Imperium and Chaos was fierce indeed and it forced the Genestealer Cult's hand. The Patriarch of the Cult of the Divine Claw called out to any nearby Hive Fleets and a tendril from Hive Fleet Kraken made its way into the sub-sector, attacking Imperium and Chaos alike in its quest to devour.

### The Ynnari Intervene

Hearing of the great battle in the Ardraxis sub-sector, Corsair Princess Lyanna Narésiel couldn't resist diverting her Corsair fleet to see what was going on. Since joining the Ynnari, she had made a point to target Chaos-aligned targets, however the thought of Inquisitorial vaults worth enough for the over-zealous Inquisition to avoid Exterminatus piqued her curiosity. She doubted the vaults would contain anything of true value to her, but extorting the Inquisition could prove a very profitable endeavour. Arriving in the sub-sector, the Corsair fleet utilised advanced cloaking technologies to remain mostly unseen, observing the conflict from her flagship the Song of Lileath and choosing their times to strike, targetting both Chaos and Imperium targets of opportunity. However, when it became clear the Imperium were losing ground to Chaos and the Tyranids, she had to start prioritising them instead, since it was her mission to defeat the forces of Chaos, and by extension the Great Enemy, but also those Inquisitorial treasures wouldn't be worth anything in the digestive system of Hive Fleet Kraken.

### Seekers of Coin and Glory

The Stardancer Corsairs were not the only ones attracted to the conflict for the promise of riches. Phalanx Company, a renegade mercenary band, arrived in the sub-sector offering to fight for the highest bidder, or they would rob the worlds of that which the Inquisition was searching for, since word had got out about these vaults.

Similarly, a rather entrepreneurial Ork called himself Warboss Gutspilla and started to rally the Orks in the sub-sector with the promise of the greatest fight of their lives. Naturally, seeing the huge conflict between the Imperium and Chaos he wanted to get stuck in, but the promise of vaults filled with valuable Imperial treasures was what motivated him to gather and unify the Orks under his banner. Any boss that disagreed was crushed under Gutspilla's power klaw or blown up by Big Mek Boomslinga, who was fully onboard with both the prospect of a Waaagh, and that of some proper lootin'.

## The War Begins

### Chaos Ascendant

The forces of Chaos didn't hesitate in their attempted conquest of the sub-sector, quickly making significant gains on multiple fronts. In particular, Lord Karnak the Conqueror led his World Eaters to many victories, carving his way through Imperial defenders and alien foes alike in the name of Khorne, while on the other side of the conflict, Warpsmith Gorreth methodically conquered Imperial settlement after Imperial settlement, erecting great fortresses in their place to hold the territory his forces took.

While these warbands were taking much of the Imperium's attentions and efforts to stave off, High Magister Meriten and Lord Carstell Hiladei the Graceful Blade took a far more subtle approach to the corruption of the system. While High Magister Meriten and his Thousand Sons warband raided fringe outposts and employed arcane sorceries to divine his next targets, Lord Hiladei Carsten and his Emperor's Children focussed on strengthening their connection with daemonic forces of the Warp. They enacted rituals to thin the boundary between realspace and the Warp, allowing them to call upon both more numerous daemonic forces to the sub-sector.

### The Scions of Ultramar Make a Stand

As the forces of Chaos ran rampant around the sub-sector, with no Imperial force able to oppose them, it was Captain Larsius Terentius and his Scions of Ultramar who stood as a beacon to the Imperials. While they took their share of military defeats, they were the only Imperial force to strike back at the heretics and aliens that infested the sector with more victories than defeats. Prolific in their defence of the sub-sector, Captain Terentius eventually took command of Imperial defences.

Rallying around the Ultramarines successor chapter, the Imperium started to hold the line a little better, though the outlook was still bleak. For every victory gained against Chaos, they suffered at the claws of the great devourer, but whenever they struck back at the Tyranids infesting the sub-sector, the forces of Chaos would strike back. They were stretched too thin to deal with all of the threats they faced.

### Assault on the Iron Basilica

Seeing the floundering attempts of the Imperials to defend their worlds, Lyanna Narésiel and her Corsairs decided it was time to directly intervene in the conflict. Being the daring, hot-headed Corsair Princess that she was, Lyanna decided to strike at the heart of the Chaos forces. The Iron Warriors had erected a huge fortress that they had named the Iron Basilica, plus the self-named Warmaster, Vorel Lingasten of the Black Legion, was visiting. She knew her forces would be outnumbered and some would see it as a suicide mission, but Lyanna saw it as a target of opportunity with the potential to make a serious impact.

Striking under cover of night, the Corsairs fell upon the fortress like a tidal wave, as Balestrike Bands leveled their Dark Lances at the various fortified structures. Masters of cracking open such targets, it didn't take long for the Corsairs to reduce over half of the fortress to rubble in a matter of minutes. Before the forces of Chaos could mount a counter-offensive against the Corsair firepower, Baron Lerian Andaryn led a squad of Voidsworn straight into the heart of the fortress, cutting swathes through the defenders and keeping their attention focussed on them.

As his fortress crumbled around him, Warpsmith Gorreth turned to his Black Legion visitors for aid. The forces of the Black Legion obliged, summoning swarms of daemonic allies to the field of battle, as well as multiple squads of Terminators. With these new reinforcements flooding the field of battle, the retreat was called by the Corsairs. Baron Andaryn's Voidsworn were cut down during their retreat and Baron Andaryn himself was mortally wounded, but not before blowing a large hole in the Black Legion Warmaster with his Blaster. He managed to crawl away and elude capture in a nearby forest, but his Voidsworn were not so lucky.

As the Corsair forces were whittled down and cornered by hordes of daemons, Lyanna called for a full retreat. The surviving Exodite snipers hopped onto the last operational Hornet and fell back with Lyanna and Void Dreamer Anatheia Telastren. Their mission was a success, as the great monument to Chaos erected by the Iron Warriors had been toppled, cracked wide open by a bunch of Aeldari pirates.

### Cooperation

After the Imperium failed to capitalise on the blow dealt by Lyanna and the Stardancer Corsairs, the young Corsair Princess found herself at a bit of a loss for words. She was not used to dealing with others she would consider childish, being very young among her own people, but she couldn't help but feel this way about the Imperials in the sub-sector. She had carved a gaping hole into the Iron Warriors defences and their pride, yet no one had capitalised upon it.

Lyanna reached out to Captain Terentius, who was still leading the defence of the sub-sector, with an offer of cooperation, though the humans wanted to discuss it face to face. Agreeing to meet in a neutral location, Space Marine and Corsair met to discuss the growing situation. Tensions ran high between the two forces as Princess Narésiel and Void Dreamer Telastren met with Captain Terentius, while the rest of his forces' leadership watched for any signs of betrayal, while the Barons of the Stardancer Corsairs did the same.

However, while both sides expected betrayal from the other side, none came. The leaders of each force discussed potential cooperation while their forces stood ready to open fire on the other at the slightest hint. Eventually, Lyanna and Captain Terentius agreed to cooperate, though neither was willing to go so far as to call it a formal alliance. The distrust was still there, but they agreed they had bigger problems to solve.

### A United Front

Stretching himself too thin as he tried to be everywhere at once, Captain Terentius was caught off guard when a combined force of Death Guard and Red Corsairs lured him into a trap. Tasked with rescuing one of Inquisitor Lord Jakob Hernan's acolytes, his forces were ambushed by a large force of Red Corsairs Chaos Space Marines, as well as heretical mercenaries who had aligned themselves with the Raiders of the Dark Moon. His forces managed to hold the line against the onslaught, but were finding it hard to push into the Chaos lines to locate the missing acolyte.

It was at this moment that his negotiations with the Stardancer Corsairs bore fruit, as Corsair forces dropped onto the battlefield and immediately started to thin the Chaos lines and breaking the stalemate. Their intervention was enough to allow them to locate the missing Inquisitorial acolyte, much to his disdain as the acolyte suspected foul play from the xenos. The Corsairs were forced to knock him out to be able to extract him, as Chaos Space Marines assaulted their lines, wounding Anatheia in the process before she pulled back after dispatching her attackers with her power sword. Furthermore, two squads of Deathshroud Terminators teleported into battle, making short work of the Bladeguard Veterans that spearheaded the Space Marine counter-offensive, though their heavy armour and sluggish movements allowed the Corsairs to extract the acolyte.

However, in a burst of inhuman speed, a Lord of Contagion charged into Lyanna Narésiel and her Bladeguard, cutting through half the squad before he was gravely injured in return, their power swords cutting through his pestilent armour. As the Corsairs pulled away from the combat, Anatheia assaulted his mind as one last parting gift to the Chaos forces, incapacitating and mortally wounding him as the Corsairs quit the field of battle. The Space Marine battle line had completely collapsed by this point, but the day was won thanks to the Corsairs timely intervention.

### The Fury of the Jackal

Despite this unified Imperial front, the forces of Chaos still reigned supreme across the sub-sector. However, this success drove them to complacency and carelessness. Deploying to the underhive of Hive Primus on the sub-sector's capital world on intel of a potential Inquisitorial henchmen being spotted, Warmaster Vorel Lingasten was all too keen to capture his target. However, when he arrived, he found the corpses of his advance reconnaissance group, their corpses marked with precison cuts to ensure lethality, even for the enhanced physiology of a Space Marine. Furious, he ordered his forces forward, determined to find whoever did this.

His forces eventually found their target concealing herself among the platforms above the urban swamp of the underhive, a regular human woman with state of the art equipment. The Chaos Space Marines begun to interrogate the woman as an enemy force of humans closed in. Clearly the Imperial Guard of the world had been tasked with retrieving the Inquisitor's informant.

However, Warmaster Lingasten was mistaken. He had started interrogating an operative of Jackal Company, a band of renegade mercenaries who had come to get back their specialist. Before he could give the order to execute his captive, Space Marines teleported to the field, each wielding force weapons that crackled with psychic energy. The Space Marines moved to secure the operative, blasting the forces of Chaos away through bolter fire and psychic might, as the humans of Jackal Company opened fire from the high ground. Under the combined assault, the Black Legion forces fell. In one final attempt to spite the renegades, the Warmaster identified and charged the Space Marine Captain. He brought his power axe down on the Space Marine, but it was parried to one side almost effortlessly. The counter-attack was swift, and the Chaos Lord was mortally wounded by a flurry of stabs and slashes.

The renegades did not stick around, since there were still many daemons on the field and their mission was complete. Loading the gravely wounded operative into a Razorback transport, the forces of Jackal Company made a hasty retreat, leaving the Black Legion to lick their wounds.

### The Beacon of Gorreth

After being defeated in siege warfare by a group of pirates, Warpsmith Gorreth started work on his next project. With the help of Lord Hiladei Carsten of the Emperor's Children and his expertise on daemonology, the Warpsmith fashioned a large beacon. When primed, this beacon was capable of emitting powerful warp energies that would kill anything not aligned with Chaos or strong enough to resist its influence, turning any survivors mad with the whispers of Chaos.

Whether through pride or their eternal feud with the Iron Warriors, the Celestial Fists, a successor chapter of the Imperial Fists, launched an assault on the position. Heavily outnumbered, the indomitable Space Marines managed to hold the line as the Emperor's Children summoned scores of Slaaneshi daemons to assault their lines, as Gorreth's cultists threw themselves at the Space Marines purely to keep them at bay while the Iron Warriors watched with amusement.

However, a combined force of Celestial Fists Inceptors and Stardancer Corsairs dropped in behind the Chaos lines, with the Corsairs taking control of a landing pad, while the Inceptors inhabited a nearby ruin. Before the Inceptors could turn their guns on the Corsairs, Lyanna reached out to them, telling them they both had a more important objective here. As the Iron Warriors and combined forces of Slaanesh turned their attention to this new threat, the Inceptors fell back to the Corsairs position, reinforcing them and covering the Balestrike Bands as they did what they did best, their Dark Lances cutting deep holes in the beacon. A squad of Iron Warriors bikers managed to charge into their position, but Lyanna stepped forward and decapitated all three as they revved their bikes past her.

Seeing this, a Daemon Prince of Slaanesh, who had been summoned to the battlefield by the Emperor's Children, flew toward the Corsairs, bellowing his challenge to Lyanna to face him in combat, but the Corsair Princess smiled. She was hot-headed and a bit of a glory-hog, but she wasn't stupid. She ordered her Balestrike Band to fire on him with their Dark Lances, bringing the Daemon prince crashing to the ground before he dematerialised back into the Warp.

With the beacon full of holes, Anatheia gravely wounded by a Fiend of Slaanesh and their shield of Inceptors falling to the continued assault of the forces of Chaos, Lyanna ordered her forces to withdraw. As the Corsairs quit the battlefield, they could see the Celestial Fists continuing their fight, unwilling to flee in the face of their hated foe. While she had agreed to assist the Imperials, she would not spend the lives of her Corsairs to save theirs.