Crusade Impressions

In the distant future of the forty-first Millennium, war is upon the worlds of Sector Gondwana.

Out on the imperial frontier looms an enemy more ancient than the lesser Xenos of this region, older even than the traitors of the arch-heresy. A foe out of the forgotten depths of time has returned from its tombs in the relic worlds of humanity's own making. Not since the Dark Age of Technology have those catacombs been stirred but now, finally, the curiosity of the Adeptus Mechanicus has uncovered remnant of the Cataclysm which marked the first fall of humankind.

The signal of the ancient foe cut in a scathing beam across the firmament, sending a message and annihilation. Somewhere out there, in the uncharted region, it reached its destination in an unknown place. Out there, something was awoken and in the long years since roamed the systems beyond the Thetys Rift, sending ripples of chaos and devastation as far as to the imperial frontier.

On all worlds of Sector Gondwana mount
portents and omens of the coming war. Mad prophets proclaim the long
wait has come to an end and finally the war of wars will decide the fate of all of Gondwana. Their warnings are heeded by the powers that
be, and the great war machine of the Imperium has been put into
motion for the coming crusade.

These are the chronicles of that war, snippets, moments, singular impressions of the Crusade of Brass and Iron.

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Crusade Impressions are also on DeviantArt

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Each picture leads to its own full story!

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## Prelude *900.M41 - 960.M41*

Upon their opening, the Gates of Cambria unleashed an elder horror from the distant past, a beacon of living Pale Blue Light cutting across the firmament. On its path to an unknown destination it wrought destruction and on all worlds of Subsector Cambria, the terror of its wrath was felt.

## Portents and Preparations *960.M41 - 980.M41*

The Pale Blue Light was but the first of countless portents emerging from the oracles and seeing minds of the Sector Gondwana. All throughout its constellations, visions of destruction were written and told. The anticipation of war set the great machinery of the Imperium into motion, beginning preparations for the inevitable strife.

## Swords Falling *980.M41 - 982.M41*

The coming of war became absolute certainty when the Pale Blue Light broke free from its prison on the Event Horizon. Unleashed once more, it crossed into the uncharted regions and passed into the Sea of Souls.

On the imperial frontier, the forces of the humankind assembled and the great powers of the Triumvirate of Gondwana met to declare the coming of a new crusade.

## Vermin Stirs *982.M41 - 984.M41*

Stirred by the terror of the Pale Blue Light coming, the vermin and outcasts on the imperial frontier fell into a mad frenzy of aggression and fear. Many of their hordes turned against the fortresses and Limes Gondwana and were slaughtered before their gates, trying to flee the unknown danger mounting beyond the maelstrom of the Thetys Rift.

## Coming of the Amanshai *984.M41 - 985.M41*

The vermin of the humankind was followed by a greater force, but one equally in flight. From the Thetys Rift emerged the enigmatic fleets of the lesser Xenos Amanshai. Unlike the fallen pirate clans, the alien commanders kept their vessels on the razor's edge, avoiding open war even as the tensions grew.

The stand-off of imperials and Amanshai was interrupted by the incursion of one greater enemy. Demon spawn and chaotic force broke the barriers of space and time and spilled into the open void before the Limes Gondwana.

## Growing Shadow *985.M41 - 986.M41*

After a few initial years, the first battles on the imperial frontier had come to an uneasy end, and a single voice was left between the two fleets still facing one another. The fate of one inquisitor, sole contact between the Imperium and the Amanshai hang itself in the balance as he attempted to foster a truce against the greater danger of the unknown.

Such endeavors, however, were overshadowed by growing darkness from beyond the Rift. Unseen by any mortal soul, the Pale Blue Light had reached its destination and begun forging history to whims of its own.