M41 - M41: M37 to M41 The Shadows Descend - Darkness and dissolution descend upon the Jericho Sector, restoring it to the name of the pre-Imperial Jericho Reach and initiating the time period in the region known as the Age of Shadows. From this point onwards, the records of its history are no more than a few fragments of an unknown whole, with only the Deathwatch’s tireless vigil maintaining any semblance of Imperial involvement in the region.055.M41 Calixian Warrants of Trade Granted for Koronus Expanse - The Lord Sector Calixis and his heirs and successors are granted the right, within set guidelines, to issue Warrants of Trade pertaining to the exploration, exploitation and domination of the Koronus Expanse by the writ of the High Lords of Terra. This leads inevitably to a steady rise in the number of Rogue Traders operating within the Expanse in the years to come, kept largely in check by natural attrition, and also serves to further bind the frontier of the Koronus Expanse to the Calixis Sector politically.085.M41 The Purge of Tumulus - By request of Inquisitor Scallen, the Sisters of Battle of the Adepta Sororitas' Order of the Valorous Heart purge the hive city of Hive Tumulus on planet Farglum of the Cult Epicurian, a Chaos Cult that threatened to take the world out of the grace of the Emperor of Mankind.098.M41 Mara Colonised - The ancient, frozen world of Mara in the Hazeroth Abyss of the Calixis Sector is colonised as Imperial miners explore the world's icy depths for rare and unique trace elements of great strategic and economic value.101.M41 Kobras Aquairre enters the Koronus Expanse - Kobras Aquairre passes through the Maw. Aquairre, a terrifying and merciless figure with a well-deserved reputation as a butcher of worlds, holds the nearly-unique position of possessing both a Greater Warrant of Trade as a Rogue Trader and full Inquisitorial rank -- a position of extraordinary power within the Imperium of Man. He will never again return to the Imperium and passes far into the depths of the Expanse at the head of a mighty fleet, tasked with rooting out those who have fled the God-Emperor’s judgment and making war upon the xenos. His reports couriered back to Port Wander go to form the basis of much of what is known by the Imperium about the Koronus Expanse to this day, but it is believed that Aquairre reported far less than what he found to his masters. Even to this day, dead and ravaged worlds marked by his banner are still being rediscovered.103.M41 The Birth of Ateanism - The Arch-Heretic Julius Ateanos “accidentally” creates the Eris Transform in the Calixis Sector, a heresy that will claim thousands of souls and lives in the years that follow.126.M41 The Dark Heresy - The Propheticum Hereticus Tenebrae, a compilation of many sources, case studies and prognostications is compiled into a single archive of dark lore by the Inquisition's Tyrantine Cabal and housed in the depths of the Bastion Serpentis in the Calixis Sector, (although rumours abound that this is merely a version of some much earlier work of unknown origin). This work's implications trouble the sleep of many great minds.139.M41 - Abaddon the Despoiler's Chaotic forces complete construction of the massive Planet Killer starship, mostly using slave labour, somewhere in the Eye of Terror.139-160.M41 - Abaddon the Despoiler uses the Planet Killer to lead the 12th Black Crusade, better known as the Gothic War, a massive assault by the forces of Chaos that ravages the Gothic Sector for almost 21 Terran years before finally being driven back by Imperial reinforcements that arrived to aid the Imperial Navy's beleaguered sectorial Battlefleet Gothic. Reinforcements were prevented from arriving for years by the onslaught of potent Warp Storms that had been produced by the will of the Dark Gods to isolate the Gothic Sector and assist Abaddon's foul plans.152.M41 First Eldar Raid in the Koronus Expanse - The Rogue Trader fleet of Synbar Lockhart is ambushed by the treacherous Eldar in orbit of the Dead World of Foulstone. The first confirmed contact with the ancient and malign xenos within the Koronus Expanse, the Eldar assailants are later identified as belonging to the Eldar Corsairs faction known as "The Crow Spirits." A dozen human voidships of varying sizes are destroyed in the ambush, and only the Menes Rhea, Synbar’s own Cruiser, escapes intact. The Lockhart fortunes never fully recovered from this blow, and that Rogue Trader line maintains a bitter hatred of the Eldar to this day.151.M41 Death of Kobras Aquairre - The death of Kobras Aquairre is proclaimed in Port Wander after more than a decade without a report from his armada, to the rejoicing of some and the lamentation of others. Some claim his ships lost with all hands to a fleet of pale-hulled xenos craft, while others say he was the victim of assassination from within his own ranks. Yet others claim that his fleet was laid to waste by an unexpected Warp Storm, but no facts or proof are presented. In the wake of this news, many other Rogue Traders are drawn through the Maw to seek their fortune.154.M41 Destruction of the Planet Killer - The Planet Killer is believed to be finally destroyed by the Imperial Navy. No traces of the infernal starship's remains are found by Inquisitor Horst's investigation 2 years later in 156.M41, though in fact the vessel, though heavily damaged, would be reconstituted by the forces of the Despoiler to face the Imperium again nearly a millennium later during the 13th Black Crusade.161.M41 Disappearance of Lo Pan - The final garbled transmission from Rogue Trader Abner Lo Pan’s Cruiser is picked up faintly by astropathic relay at Port Wander. The transmission, although badly degraded and incoherent speaks of the vessel ensnared within the tightening coils of a great serpent of blood and glass. No sign of Lo Pan or his starship are ever found.175.M41 The Fifteen of Midael - The Deathwatch Rapid Strike Cruiser Instance of Fire is attacked by an unknown warship of an archaic Imperial design in the Jericho Reach, and forced to flee before the vastly overmatching vessel. Guided by infernal power, the warship pursues the Deathwatch vessel to Midael and catches the Instance of Fire and disables it in a brief exchange of fire. Escaping to the Watch Station on Midael’s surface, the fifteen surviving Battle-Brothers make Death Oaths and prepare their last defence in the armoured tower of the Watch Station. They hold out for seventeen days against a company-strength force of Chaos Space Marines clad in red armour emblazoned with the marks of the Dark Gods. When a relief force reaches Midael, it is too late; they find the Watch Station despoiled but repairable. The bodies and armour of the fifteen defenders are never found.179.M41 Veronique Renuka Declared Outlaw - Veronique Renuka is declared an outlaw for her involvement in an attempted coup on the Calixian Hive World of Cyclopia. She flees into the region of the Koronus Expanse now referred to as the Unbeholden Reaches with a substantial fortune and a cadre of household troops.188-274.M41 Formation of Winterscale's Realm - Sebastian Winterscale, a cunning and able Rogue Trader rumoured to be the unwanted son of the ruling families of the distant Ophidian Sector, is granted a fresh Warrant of Trade and begins to systematically establish and dominate an interstellar realm that bears his name to this day in the Koronus Expanse. Although still only partially explored, by any measure Winterscale’s Realm remains one of the most well-traversed and well-established within the area of the Koronus Expanse, and a prize to be envied and perhaps desired as a target for conquest by many.191.M41 Mara Isolated - All contact with the Imperial colony on Mara in the Calixis Sector is lost amid Warp disturbances troubling the area. Later contact finds no trace of the former inhabitants of the Mining World.Elementis Vulpa Returns to Port Wander (201.M41) - Kobras Aquairre vanishes into the Rifts of Hecaton, a fact attested to by the last ship of his fleet, the Frigate Elementis Vulpa, which returns to Port Wander later in this year. This small and already damaged vessel turned back on his order when the remainder of the fleet plunged into the depths of the rifts, with the expectation that they would meet their deaths within. Rumours in Port Wander begin to circulate of dead suns and lifeless darkness in the rifts, and that Aquairre sacrificed himself and his fleet willingly to prevent some terrifying threat they discovered to all human life. The Elementis Vulpa and her crew subsequently disappear, some say into the grip of the Ordo Xenos.The Meritech Wars (211-226.M41) - The clans of the Merates Cluster located between the Calixis and Ixaniad Sectors secede from the Imperium, rallying many Renegade factions to their cause, raiding deep into the sector and causing widespread disruption and anarchy. The Meritech Wars, at their height, pose the greatest threat to the sector’s stability in generations and even threatens to provoke internecine conflict with the bordering Ixaniad Sector. Thanks to the rise in power of Myram Harvala as Sector Governor, the Meritech Clans are crushed and the worlds of the cluster are scoured clean of life. In the aftermath, the Heretek conspiracy of the Logicians is proved to have been behind the outbreak of the war.213.M41 - The world of Castaburg is invaded by Orks under the control of the Warlord Skarmork. The Imperial Guard regiments of the Death Korps of Krieg counterattack and drive the Greenskins from the world after a long campaign of attrition -- the kind of warfare at which the Death Korps excels.240-338.M41The Ophidian Campaign - The Ophidian Campaign (also known as the Purge Campaign) is carried out, in which the Imperial Navy's Battlefleet Scarus wrested control of the Calixis Sector's Ophidian Sub-sector from heretical forces. The campaign lasted from 240.M41 until 338.M41 -- a considerable achievement across such a relatively short timescale.248.M41 The Coup-Daemons - The Dark Eldar Archon Ysclyth learns the folly of harnessing daemons to his cause when his rival, Asdrubael Vect, the ruler of Commorragh, seals off Ysclyth's territory from the rest of the Dark City. Trapped with only the daemon legions for company, Ysclyth and his Kabal are slowly torn apart.273.M41 -  Inquisitor Jaq Draco visits Stalinvast. The existence of the Ordo Hydra within the Inquisition is discovered. The world of Stalinvast is destroyed after the Ordo Hydra's plot to release a psychic virus that will enslave Mankind as part of a larger plot to destroy the Chaos Gods is disrupted after Jaq Draco is allowed an audience with the Emperor Himself on Terra.342.M41 - Inquisitor Quixos is declared a heretic and Extremis Diabolus by Inquisitor Eisenhorn.356.M41 - Macharius is born in 356.M41,the son of Pella, the Imperial Commander and Planetary Governor of the world of Donia.359.M41 - The world of Copul IV is cleansed by the Ultramarines.367.M41 - The Ork world of Balur scoured by Space Marines and Imperial Guard regiments in a campaign led by the Ultramarines' Chapter Master Marneus Calgar.371.M41 - Sergeant Severus of the Ultramarines is badly wounded on the world of Corinth, and is interred in the cybernetic shell of a Dreadnought. He eventually returns to that world and takes part in the seventh year of the Corinthian Crusade in 698.M41.373.M41 - A number of Inquisitors are inexplicably murdered. Inquisitor Jaq Draco raids the Eldar's Black Library. The world of Sabulorb is incinerated and Draco is killed in the Eldar Webway, though his soul manages to survive intact within the Labyrinthine Dimension rather than being absorbed back into the Warp.374.M41 - Macharius is promoted to colonel in the Imperial Guard and is given command of the Donian 26th Regiment.379.M41 - Macharius becomes the general of the army of Donian IV during the Roxane Rebellion.380.M41 - Macharius takes the stronghold of the Renegade leader Roxane Mountjoy on Donian IV and rescues Lord Solar Phillips, becoming Phillips' chief deputy and most successful Imperial Guard general.383.M41 The Horrors of Lissandro - Warp Storm Iagon visits its fury upon the Imperial planet of Lissandro. Reports of psychic activity multiply tenfold overnight. The ruling body of the planet, the Quorum Immaculate, orders the world's libraries scoured for any information on Warp Storms and the phenomena that follow them. They find records of an ancient hexagrammatic symbol that wards off daemonic intervention -- a symbol that is systematically implanted as a sub-dermal electoo on all registered citizens within a month. When the Inquisition later reaches the planet with a fleet of its Black Ships, they set about investigating the populace. Their efforts trigger a wave of daemonic possessions; every citizen with an electoo falls writhing to the ground, a Pink Horror clambering from their convulsing husk. By sunset, the cities of Lissandro are overrun by the daemons. The Inquisitors, under siege in the Quorum Immaculate's palace, request the aid of the Grey Knights, but by the time they arrive, every city on the world has been irrevocably changed. The Grey Knights take the battle to those daemons still cavorting in the bubbling ruins, but find not a single mortal soul still alive. When the purgation teams breach the underground libraries, they encounter the architects of the catastrophe -- the legendary Blue Scribes -- who vanish into the ether. In their wake, it becomes clear that the symbol left in the Lissandran library grimoires was not one of banishment, but of invitation.385.M41 The Seventeen Holy Martyrs - A small force of Adeptus Sororitas Battle-Sisters die to a woman defending the agri-colony of Gallowglass in the Malfi System of the Calixis Sector from a Chaos Cult of decay, slaying an incarnate daemon of great power in the process. A permanent shrine is raised to their honour in remembrance of this great deed.386.M41 - Lord Commander Solar Phillips dies. Macharius is appointed the new Lord Commander Solar, the Imperial Segmentum Governor and supreme military commander of Segmentum Solar, by the High Lords of Terra.387-391.M41 - As Lord Commander Solar Macharius' armies assemble to launch the greatest Imperial Crusade since the Horus Heresy, he reconquers the worlds of Lands End, Morbellum and Jalfrezi III with his Donian army of Imperial Guard.388.M41 Fenton Kail Claims Discovery of STC Database in the Koronus Expanse - Fenton Kail declares that he has discovered an intact Standard Template Construct database on a dead moon circling twin red stars in the Koronus Expanse when he puts into dock at Port Wander, seeking backers and stating his intent to re-equip and hire mercenaries to exploit his find. A few days later, he is assassinated before he can mount his expedition and his "secret" dies with him. His starship, the Malcontent, passes to the hands of his first mate by right of succession and is destroyed a few months later through the seemingly-accidental overloading of its plasma reactors. There are no known survivors of the ship, and Kail’s death ends his direct bloodline. The dead moon supposedly harbouring the STC described by Kail has never been discovered by other hands, although faked copies of "Kail’s Map" regularly appear on sale to the gullible in several ports.389.M41 The Tyrant Star Appears - The Asteroth Mining Colony in the Drusus Marches of the Calixis Sector falls to heretical rebellion and waves of mass suicides following a visitation by the Tyrant Star. The colony is effectively destroyed, survivors flee to the nearby Locura System where they sow discord and unrest before a joint Inquisitorial and Adeptus Arbites purge of the refugees.392.M41 The Macharian Crusade Begins - Lord Solar Commander Macharius is appointed Lord Solar (Warmaster) by the other High Lords of Terra and launches his great conquest of the western galaxy in the far reaches of the Segmentum Pacificus using the forces of the Imperial Guard. Over one thousand worlds fall to him and his generals over the next seven standard years during what becomes known as the Macharian Crusade. Lord Commander Solar Macharius musters the greatest Imperial army the galaxy has seen since the time of the Great Crusade and unleashes the Macharian Crusade. In seven standard years Macharius reconquers a thousand worlds on the western reaches of the Imperium's Segmentum Pacificus, and his glory carries him into the darkest sectors, places where the Emperor's light had never before been seen, even during the Great Crusade. Upon his death, the whole Imperium weeps for the fallen commander, but Macharius' territories soon collapse into rivalry and war. The Macharian Heresy, as this time has come to be known, lasts for seventy years and is only ended through the combined efforts of one hundred Space Marine Chapters392.M41 - The Hive World of Persepolis is recontacted by the Imperium of Man after 5,000 Terran years. Macharius discovers the tomb of the ancient Imperial explorer Indijona the Vagrant and takes his golden winged relic helm as a prize he would wear for the rest of the Crusade.393.M41 - While fighting against Chaos Space Marines on Zaga IV, a Bolter round embeds in Lord Solar Commander Macharius' chest but does not explode. The Confessors of the Ecclesiarchy accompanying Macharius' Crusade proclaim this a miracle of the Emperor's doing for his favoured son.395.M41 - Macharius orders the advanced technology world of Adrantis V destroyed by a redirected comet, and disbands the 3rd Army Group of his Crusade.396.M41 - Macharius' 2nd and 5th Army Groups cross the boundary of the territory reached by the Astronomican, entering territory beyond the boundaries of the Imperium of Man.397.M41 The Year of Dreaming Depths - A period of sustained and often deadly Warp disturbance affecting the Koronus Expanse in the Segmentum Obscurus is observed. Quickly entering into whispered myth and legend among the voidfarers of the Koronus Expanse, in this year Warp predations dramatically spike. A disproportionate number of vessels suffer incursions by Warp entities during transit, and many ships -- such as the ancient and justly famous Battleship Duchess Iolanthe, long a cornerstone of the Winterscale fleet -- are lost to the malice of the Warp. Rogue psyker activity on several worlds where there are those with the wit to know it for what it is increases and the entire fledging colony of Comenina on the edge of the Foundling Worlds dies in a single night. Concurrently, the Warp Storms afflicting the Jericho Reach lessen, but do not give way. Wreckage of the Iron Promise, a Rogue Trader vessel belonging to the minor bloodline of Unurndel lost within the Koronus Expanse in this year, is later discovered on the Dead World of Belissar by the Deathwatch in the Jericho Reach.398.M41 - Warp travel at the outer bounds of the Astronomican proves slow, but Macharius still conquers another 15 worlds and destroys 7 during this year.399.M41 - Macharius bombards the Carnelion Palace of Leminitus into submission. His generals decide the conquests should end.400.M41 - Macharius dies before reaching the old boundaries of the Imperium, having essentially lost the will to live when his Crusade can go no farther because of the fears of his troops.ca. 400.M41 The Tau Invasion of Black Reef - At an unknown date during this period, the aggressive, expansionist xenos race known as the Tau begin wide-scale colonisation and invasion operations in the Black Reef region of the Coreward portion of the Jericho Reach. Shielded from immediate detection by the Warp Storms and other strange stellar phenomenon of the region, the Tau fleets quickly gain an entrenched foothold on several worlds, and enslave many human-populated worlds to their "Greater Good."401.M41 - Lord Commander Solar Macharius is entombed on what will become the Shrine World of Macharia, his first base of operations. He will be named an Imperial Saint by the Ecclesiarchy.405.M41 Macharian Heresy - Over three standard decades, the Dark Angels are one of the Space Marine Chapters tasked with suppressing the civil wars collectively known as the Macharian Heresy that are ongoing across many of the territories gained by the Imperium during the Macharian Crusade of the Lord Solar Macharius. The Ravenwing uncover several corrupt cults, largely instigated by the Alpha Legion, and the unmistakable signs of Cypher's presence. During the Lythanos Uprisings, only a run-in with the Space Wolves allows several of the Fallen to escape the Dark Angels' grasp.410.M41 Rogue Trader Parsimus Dewain founds Footfall - Possibly in search of a world on which to build a palace city, former Imperial Guard Colonel turned Rogue Trader Parsimus Dewain passes through the Maw with a small fleet of starships laden with stone, plasteel and iron. Becalmed on the far side of the Maw he orders the construction of "my grand palace in the stars." It is believed that some of his followers who question the sanity of such an order are put to death, sealed alive within the walls of the rapidly expanding void settlement of Footfall in the Koronus Expanse.410-412.M41 The First Siege of Vaxanide - The Vaxanide System is besieged by an Ork raider fleet, and the Ork forces also make planetfall to assault Vaxanide's hive cities but the Greenskins are swiftly repulsed. The Orks are eventually driven off by the Battlefleet Calixis, one sizable splinter force landing on the world of Ganf Magna.422.M41 WAAAGH! Gulgrog Assaults Port Wander - The Ork WAAAGH! Gulgrog erupts from the depths of the Koronus Expanse and smashes through the Maw, laying siege to Port Wander with a fleet composed of hundreds of Kill Kroozers and crude Roks. Many Rogue Traders simply stay out of the massive fleet’s way rather than be crushed by its vast numbers, while others demand exorbitant fees for coming to Port Wander’s aid. The siege is finally lifted with a massive counterattack by Battlefleet Calixis and the Adeptus Mechanicus.428-430.M41 The Fall of the Tellurian Combine - The dominating commercial power of the Tellurian Combine is uncovered as a front for the malefic Chaos Cult called the Brotherhood of the Horned Darkness. Such is the group's widespread power and infiltration, even of the Lucid Court, that rather than risk civil war and an open purge, the Inquisition's local Ordos Calixis declares a shadow war against the Brotherhood, which lasts for three standard years and involves what is believed to be the largest employment of both the Officio Assassinorum and the Grey Knights in the sector’s history before its conclusion. An unforeseen side affect of the widespread secret purges and fearful suspicion they create is a dramatic and long-term weakening of the sector’s central government which has detrimental effects for centuries to come.428-479.M41 The Reign of Terror on Malfi - The ascension of the House of Koba to power on the world of Malfi results in the birth of the most tyrannical and brutal regime in the history of the Calixis Sector, and raises the spectre of succession and sector civil war, threatening the wresting, by covert and bloody means, of the seat of sector government from the then-weak Lucid Court on Scintilla. The House of Koba falls at last by its own hand from betrayal within, leaving a power vacuum that leads to a twenty year period of strife, misrule and petty house wars on Malfi, ended only by a greater threat that rises from the tumult.443.M41 Balastus Irem Assassinated - Balastus Irem and all his family are put to death by a cell of Inquisitors of the Ordos Xenos Calixis. The use of shapechanging murder teams by the Ordo and the horde of xenos artefacts possessed by the Rogue Trader become the stuff of whispered tales between explorers and voidfarers in the Koronus Expanse, and former allies and servants of House Irem quickly find sanctuary and new identities in the services of certain other unscrupulous Rogue Traders.444-445.M41 The First War for Armageddon - Riots erupt on the Hive World of Armageddon in the Segmentum Solar at the same time that massive Warp Storms cut off the world from Imperial communications or transport. Food shortages lead to armed rebellion in a dozen hives. In the midst of this strife, the First War for Armageddon begins with a Chaos incursion led by the Daemon Prince of Khorne Angron and his World Eaters Chaos Space Marines unleashes an assault on the planet after emerging from the Warp in the Space Hulk Devourer of Stars. This massive incursion is eventually beaten back by Armageddon's Planetary Defence Forces and Imperial Guard units with the crucial assistance of the Space Wolves and the Grey Knights Astartes. The war also unleashed an internecine conflict between the Inquisition and the Space Wolves Chapter of Space Marines, which took issue with the Inquisition's decision to quarantine and sterilise the entire surviving population of Armageddon to maintain the Imperial policy of secrecy concerning the existence of Chaos and its daemonic minions. The Space Wolves' Chapter Master, the Great Wolf Logan Grimnar, saw this action as an outright betrayal of the Imperium's highest ideals and the Space Wolves initiated a violent campaign against all Inquisition efforts to cleanse the population of Armageddon. The conflict eventually resulted in 445.M41 an orbital battle over the Space Wolves' homeworld of Fenris between the Space Wolves' Chapter fleet and an Inquisitorial fleet under the command of the Inquisitor Lord Ghesmei Kysnaros. Kysnaros was slain, but a compromise was eventually reached between the Inquisition and the Space Wolves that restored harmony between the Imperium's factions. But as a result of the First War for Armageddon's aftermath, the Space Wolves have never again trusted the Inquisition and move to frustrate Inquisitorial designs at every opportunity.450-465.M41 - The Hesten Manuscript, which lays out the principles of the belief that the Emperor of Mankind is the God Incarnate, later held dear by the Thorian faction of the Inquisition, is compiled by the Inquisitor Hesten.452.M41 - A detachment of the Adepta Sororitas' Sisters of Battle from the Order of the Bleeding Heart are entrusted with the bones of Saint Emiline and must evacuate the Shrine World of Emiline's Hope when its home Yerena System is invaded by an Ork WAAAGH! under the command of the Ork Warlord known as the Arch Maniac of Calvera.498.M41 Death of Parsimus Dewain - Parsimus Dewain dies in his bed of natural causes, truly a remarkable feat given the quantity and quality of his enemies. The settlement of Footfall immediately becomes submerged in a struggle for political and economic control of what has become a wealthy waystation and island of relative stability for Imperial explorers passing into the Koronus Expanse.499.M41 The Bloody Solstice on Malfi - The rise of the appallingly powerful Khornate Chaos Cult called the Pilgrims of Hayte forces an end to Malfi’s internal political divisions at the cost of the near fall of that mighty world to annihilation. The Pilgrims of Hayte, while defeated, are not destroyed and live on to become a thorn in the side of the Calixis Sector's Imperial authorities until the present day and the source of a great many woeful atrocities.499-500.M41 The Reign of Blades - Footfall in the Koronus Expanse comes under the brutal tyranny of Tarn Marvolus; a recidivist who had fled the Calixis Sector. Marvolus rose to be the Liege of Footfall through a campaign of assassination and the use of dark sorcery. Any who questioned the word of the soft-spoken Marvolus was later found sliced into quarters -- one in each of the four most distant points of Footfall. This Reign of Blades lasts for over a standard year, owing mostly to the indifference of passing Rogue Traders, who care little who rules Footfall as long as it serves their needs, and the brutal alliance of criminals, witches, and narco-tribesmen that Marvolus commanded. The Reign of Blades is finally ended when Marvolous, grown too bold and arrogant, demands that Rogue Trader Cassilus pay him personal tribute for docking. Cassilus replied that she would “pay a tribute of the kind she only paid to the greatest kings of untamed worlds”: the four quarters of Marvolous’ body were later found in the four farthest points of Footfall.499-503.M41 Increase in Void Kraken Attacks - Vessels exploring the fringes of the Hecaton Rifts in the Koronus Expanse report sightings and indeed attacks by Void Kraken in alarming numbers.ca. 500.M41 The Great Awakening - None can say for sure how many Tomb Worlds entered the Great Sleep, but it is certain that a great many did not survive into the late 41st Millennium. Technologically advanced though the Necrons were, to attempt a stasis-sleep of such scale was a great risk, even for them. For 60 million Terran years the Necrons slept, voicelessly waiting for their chance to complete the Silent King's final order: to restore the Necron dynasties to their former glory. As the centuries passed, ever more Tomb Worlds fell prey to malfunction or ill-fortune. For many, the results were minor, such as a disruption to the operation of the Tomb World's chronostat or revivification chambers, causing the inhabitants to awaken later than intended -- but some of the Tomb Worlds suffered more calamitous events. Cascade failures of stasis-crypts destroyed millions, if not billions, of dormant Necrons. Some Tomb Worlds were destroyed by the retribution of marauding Eldar, their defence systems overmatched by these ancient enemies of the Necrons. Other Tomb Worlds fell victim to the uncaring evolution of the galaxy itself. Tectonically unstable planets crushed Necron strongholds slumbering at their hearts; stars went supernova, consuming orbiting Tomb Worlds in their death throes. And everywhere, inquisitive lifeforms scrabbled and fought over the bones of Necron territories, causing more damage in their unthinking search for knowledge than the vengeful Eldar ever could. The Great Awakening has been far from precise, and the Necrons have not arisen as one people but in fitful starts over scattered millennia, like some gestalt sleeper rising from a troubled dream. Errors in circuitry and protocols ensured that a revivification destined to take place in the early years of the 41st Millennium of the Imperial Calendar actually began far earlier in a few cases, or has yet to occur at all in others. The very first Tomb Worlds revived to see the Great Crusade of the Emperor of Mankind sweep across the galaxy in the late 30th Millennium. A handful stirred in time to see the Nova Terra Interregnum, when Nova Terra challenged the might of the Golden Throne in the 34th Millennium for 900 years, or arose at the hour in which the Apostles of the Blind King waged their terrible wars that began in 550.M37. Some have still never awoken. Even now, at the close of the 41st Millennium, billions of Necrons still slumber in their stasis-tombs, silently awaiting the clarion call of destiny. Having slumbered in dusty stasis crypts scattered across the galaxy, the Necrons have been slowly awakening, one Tomb World at a time, for several millennia. The process is far from stable, however, for the legions have lain immobile and undreaming for 60 million standard years. It is a staggering feat of science that any Tomb Worlds have survived at all, and many have fallen prey to corruption in their arcane systems, planetary upheaval, and the actions of other species, most of them in ignorance but a few very deliberate indeed. Throughout the long aeons of slumber, the Tomb Worlds' autonomic systems have worked tirelessly to maintain these vast structures and to defend them against the intrusions of the lesser species of the galaxy. It is not known to the Imperium exactly when the first Tomb World initiated its revivification protocols, and it is quite possible that some did so in error well before the ordained time. Only now, as more and more Tomb Worlds awaken, is a pattern becoming visible to those whose mission it is to stand watch upon the trackless reaches of the galaxy and beyond. Piecing together scattered accounts of skull-faced reaper-machines rising from the dust of Dead Worlds the length and breadth of the galaxy, the xenos-savants of the Inquisition are faced with a stark realisation. What at first appeared to be unrelated alien raids serving no overall purpose were, in fact, the heralds of a disaster of galactic proportions. Having been awakened and control turned over to an Overlord, the Tomb World must in time take its place in the domains of the Necron dynasty that created it. While many dynasties have never awakened and, due to a variety of disasters never will, many are slowly piecing together their former domains. One world at a time, empires that vanished aeons ago are being rebuilt and long-dormant hierarchies are reasserting themselves once more. At the centre of each of these risen empires is a Crown World, the glorious capital and seat of the Phaeron who rules an entire dynasty. Below it are numerous lesser Tomb Worlds and other Necron holdings, though rarely are these anywhere near as extensive as they were in their full glory 60 million Terran years ago.503.M41 The Tyrant Star Appears - Snowden's World in the Calixis Sector suffers a visitation by the Tyrant Star leading to twenty days of riots and a mass famine that decimates the population.507.M41 The Second Siege of Vaxanide - A second Ork invasion force centred around the Space Hulk designated Pinnacle of Savagery attacks the Vaxanide System in the Calixis Sector. Although this force is considerably larger than the first, it is swiftly met by the Imperial Navy's Battlefleet Calixis and allied forces whose mass bombardment cause the Space Hulk to break up and disintegrate before it can approach the Hive World, although fierce fighting continues as some Greenskin forces make it through to the planet.517.M41 Space Marines in the Koronus Expanse - Two Adeptus Astartes Strike Cruisers and several Escort ships of unknown Chapter and origin and sporting no heraldry appear over Footfall demanding tribute in supplies and information on pain of planetary assault if their demands are not met. The Liege promptly and wisely acquiesces to their requests and the Space Marines depart again to an unknown destination.520.M41 Battle of Embers - The Rogue Traders Aton Marner and Cassius Sult clash over the exploitation of a mineral-rich asteroid belt near Falcon’s Fall Gamma in the Koronus Expanse, in what becomes widely known as the Battle of Embers, sparking a blood feud between them that carries on to this day.528.M41 Disciples of Thule Enter the Kornus Expanse - An Explorator sub-fleet under Magos Solus Kanceme enters the Koronus Expanse and scatters far and wide, spurning xenos worlds in search of pre-Imperial artefacts sacred to the Omnissiah. Little is known of Kanceme’s final fate, but his fleet’s arrival marks the first major mission of the Mechanicus sub-cult called the Disciples of Thule into the area.540.M41 First Recorded Appearance of the Whisper of Anaris - Travelling from the far reaches of Winterscale’s Realm in the Koronus Expanse, Rogue Trader Elbor Winterscale reports being stalked by a "ghostly xenos ship with tattered sails." Though unknown to Elbor and his crew, it is believed this is the first recorded appearance of the Eldar phantom ship Whisper of Anaris.560.M41 The Devayne Incorporation - The writ of holy orders is removed from the Devayne Fraternity by the Synod Calixis of the Ecclesiarchy in the Calixis Sector, which cites the group’s worldly aspect and growing moral turpitude, forcing its slow rebirth into the entity known as the Devayne Incorporation, one of the most powerful and rigorously organised commercial powers in the sector.567.M41 - Sergeant Lystander of the Ultramarines is awarded the Imperial Laurel for acts of courage under fire during pacification of a heretical insurgence on the world of Iduno.577.M41 Cara Marner Succeeds to the Marner Lineage - The feud between Rogue Traders Marner and Sult in the Koronus Expanse worsens when Aton Marner is killed on the deck of his voidship in battle, following a daring ambush by a warship under Hyperia Sult’s command. This sparks a crisis of succession in the Marner line, which is ultimately resolved when the Marner Warrant of Trade passes to his granddaughter Cara Marner on distant Fenksworld, who is acclaimed Rogue Trader never having set foot aboard a starship before.609.M41 The Recovery of the Lucid Court - Lord Sector Calixis Larhanus Sult, called by many “The Great Conciliator”, is inaugurated and restores much power and prestige to the Lucid Court on Scintilla in the Calixis Sector. He successfully pulls back executive authority to the office of the Lord Sector that had been slowly devolving to the Great Houses of that world over the years, and massively expands the directly controlled military forces of his office and institutes aggressive reforms to the governance of Hive Sibellus.623.M41 The Fall Narrow Incursion - The Fall Narrow mining outpost on 88 Tanstar in the Calixis Sector is revealed to been secretly dominated by the Cryptos xenoform.633.M41 Prophecy of Gartrafal - Master Gartrafal, an Astropath noted for his abilities as a prognostic, famously dies in Footfall in a fit of screaming madness, babbling of “dark worms beneath a green-eyed star,” the “sea of molten gold,” and other half-formed and paradoxical terrors. A heavily adulterated transcript of his last words makes the rounds as a penthrift dreadful foretelling doom for the entire Koronus Expanse, and is quickly suppressed by the Imperial authorities on Port Wander, although its distributors remain a mystery. Numerous sources have supposed the “green-eyed star” to be a reference to the blighted world of Concanid in the Unbeholden Reaches.651.M41 A Legend is Born - The birth of Commander Puretide, the pride of the Dal'yth Sept. His brilliant campaigns later conquer half a dozen star systems. Under his authority the Tau envelop those who can be embraced, seize what can be conquered and obliterate those who defy the Greater Good.659.M41 - Logan Grimnar becomes the new Great Wolf of the Space Wolves.666.M41 The Yuctan Incident – The Yuctan System was a sparsely inhabited Imperial star system close to the Eastern Fringe, and the site of the first recorded naval encounter between the Necrons and the Imperial Navy in 666.M41. A minor Imperial fleet of 6 Escort ships and 1 Light Cruiser were destroyed, with the only survivor being a single Cobra-class Destroyer. By the time a full Imperial fleet could be dispatched to the region to deal with what is now called the Yuctan Incident, the Necrons had disappeared, and the system was found devoid of all human life. Although similar and unexplained events had taken place up to this time, the incident at Yuctan was the first fully documented account of a Necron "harvest" of a populated world, as they sought fresh subjects for their research into "apotheosis," the restoration of their consciousness to organic bodies.698.M41 - The Corinthian Crusade - Marneus Calgar is elected the commander of a Space Marine force including elements of the Ultramarines, Lamenters, Marines Errant, Angels of Absolution and Silver Skulls Chapters on a 7 year Crusade. The Ork empire of Charadon suffers a series of heavy defeats, delaying the invasion of WAAAGH! Argluk by a further 30 years.703.M41 The Haarlock Purges - The Rogue Trader Erasmus Haarlock vanishes after systematically butchering all other scions of his line in a brutal purge following a succession war between the heirs of House Haarlock. Ranging from the Calixis Sector to dread Mandragora and beyond, Haarlock’s purge also touches the Koronus Expanse, where he hunts down three of his kinfolk and destroys two other Rogue Traders who dare stand in his way.703.M41 Erasmus Haarlock Vanishes - Erasmus Haarlock, Rogue Trader, thought to be the last of his famed line in the Calixis Sector, vanishes after completing the extermination of his bloody kin and leaving himself the sole-survivor of his clan.704.M41 The Siege of Tulwa - Ultramarines Chapter Master Marneus Calgar leads the Astartes infiltration force that destroyed the Fortress of Pain controlled by the Chaos Space Marines of the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion.711.M41 The Lost Paradise - In 711.M41, tales begin to circulate, in both Footfall and Port Wander, that deep within Winterscale’s Realm in the Koronus Expanse lies a clutch of beautiful worlds hidden for millennia. These worlds are said to all orbit a single bright star and each is said to be an untouched paradise of lush vegetation where the air is sweet and great grazing creatures roam in contented docility. Some tales insist that the water itself is blessed and can rinse away any disease and gems the size of a child’s fist wash down from the rocks of snow-capped mountains. All tales agree that no one has ever found these wondrous worlds and returned.713.M41 Midnight's lair Sighted - A previously unseen Space Hulk, designated Midnight’s Lair, is sighted by Explorator voidships surveying the Unbeholden Reaches in the Koronus Expanse.715.M41 The Visitation - Two Inquisitors arrive at Watch Fortress Erioch in the Jericho Reach unannounced, their credentials and ciphers for access all in order. One calls herself Camilla Noesis, and the other claims the name Kaleb, but hides his face behind a featureless mask of tarnished silver. They give no explanation of how they learned of the Watch Fortress’s location; they simply say that the time was as it should be. Their arrival coincides with an opening of a chamber within the Omega Vault. Within is found a chronograph dating from the Dark Age of Technology which appears to be meticulously marking a countdown of time, measuring the hours and their divisions with total precision. The Watch Fortress' Chamber of Vigilance stands in discussion for thirteen days and nights. The two Inquisitors take all records of their discussions as they leave.717.M41 Ember Nostromo begins Her Reign of Terror - Ember Nostromo, Navigator and refugee from the brutal Haarlock Purges, betrays her new master, the outlaw captain Buros Han, and takes command of his vessel, a pre-Angevin Crusade relic named the Monarch of Whispers. Turning pirate and gathering to herself a coterie of Warp-witches and killers from the hated Saynay Clan, the Monarch becomes one of the most hated and hunted ships in the Koronus Expanse, a prize bounty of enormous price placed on her head by the Navis Nobilite for her treacherous perfidy against the Emperor and damage to their good reputation.718.M41 Death of Roodmar Urussalin - The Rogue Trader Roodmar Urussalin is reported slain by Orks by the survivors of his fleet’s expedition beyond the Cauldron, but reports of his fleet’s passage stir up Rogue Traders in the Koronus Expanse, who flock to the area to do battle with the growing Greenskin menace.724.M41 The Sutters Rock Outbreak - The mining asteroid colony of Sutters Rock becomes the first confirmed location in the Calixis Sector where what will come to be called the Fydae Strain Virus is encountered. The plague runs rampant and the dead walk, leading to the loss of all 120,000 colonists in a matter of hours. The virus is a Warp-contagion linked to the foul Nurgleite daemon-cult known as the Vile Savants.731.M41 The Once and Future Master - The elderly Commander Puretide is urged to view the new colonies across the Damocles Gulf before retiring. While inspecting a colony Puretide is wounded during a raid. Unable to walk again, the most revered of military leaders spends his remaining years atop Mount Kan'ji, on Dal'yth, where he is kept alive for many more decades. Only those who attain perfect scores at the Fire Caste academies are sent to sit at Puretide's hover-throne and learn his wisdom. Thanks to Earth Caste holographic technology, this tradition is still maintained, although few students are deemed worthy of receiving this high honour.731.M41 The Ascension of Marius Hax - The iron-handed Marius Hax becomes Lord Sector Calixis, after effectively ruling as the power behind the throne for the prior decades for his ailing and aged kinsman, Larhanus Sult. Subtle, clever and above all ruthless, and able to build on the achievements of his predecessor, Lord Sector Hax is arguably the strongest ruler the Calixis Sector has seen for several centuries.733.M41 The Arkunasha War - A decade-long war in which a populous Tau colony is besieged by Orks. It is especially notable for the rise of the brilliant Puretide protege named Commander Farsight.737.M41 - The world of Valos on the galactic rim is reported stripped of life by what is later identified to be the Tyranid Hive Fleet Behemoth.738.M41 - 26th Founding of Space Marine Chapters is called for by the High Lords of Terra.740.M41 The Manchenko Purge - A sizable portion of the Commercia Great House of the Manchenko Dynasty of the Calixis Sector is found to be corrupt and sanctioned by Inquisitorial purge, leaving it a battered shadow of its former power, further assailed and tormented by its rival houses. The Manchenko endure, however, and spend the next decades slowly rebuilding their power.741.M41 Discovery of the Dolorium Vaults - The Adeptus Mechanicus subsect known as the Disciples of Thule discover data-vaults from a Space Hulk drifting through the void above the Feral World of Dolorium. The Dolorium Vaults reveal details of the unexplored regions of the Koronus Expanse that begin a rush of voyages into its far reaches. Many Imperial explorers disappear and much of the data proves inaccurate, or to have been rendered so by the passage of time. Whispers circulate that the Disciples of Thule have deliberately corrupted the information. Some go so far as to assert that they have kept some fragments secret from those outside their order.742-745.M41 The Damocles Gulf Crusade - The Damocles Gulf Crusade, also called the Damocles Crusade, was the first military conflict fought between the Imperium of Man and the rapidly expanding Tau Empire in the Lithesh Sector of the Ultima Segmentum in the galaxy's Eastern Fringes during the late 41st Millennium. The conflict essentially ended in a stalemate, as the Imperium was forced to conclude its military offensive early to deal with the encroaching Tyranid threat while the Tau sought to begin diplomatic negotiations with the Imperium to show humanity the benefits to be had by accepting the Greater Good. Members of the Tau Water Caste had established trade agreements with Imperial worlds on the frontier of the Tau Empire, near the Damocles Gulf region of the Ultima Segmentum in the galactic east, and exchanges of goods and technology were common. Alarmed by the threat of alien contamination, the Administratum readied a suitable response and almost a century later, the Damocles Crusade smashed into Tau space, destroying several outlying settlements and pushing deep into the Tau Empire. When the Imperial fleet reached the Tau Sept world of Dal'yth Prime, however, the Crusade ground to a bloody stalemate as the formidable numbers and high technology of the Tau and their Kroot allies thwarted every attempt to capture the world or its star system. Many months of terrible fighting ensued with nothing gained on either side. By 745.M41 the Crusade's commanders eventually agreed to requests from the Tau Water Caste for peace talks. The negotiations were successful and the Imperial fleet withdrew from Tau space unmolested, primarily due to the impending approach of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Behemoth. The retreat of Imperial forces marks the end of the Tau Empire's Second Sphere Expansion.742.M41 A Pattern Revealed - The Inquisitors of the Tyrantine Cabal of the Calixis Sector conclusively identifies the “Calixian Pattern Killings” going back at least eleven hundred Terran years.742.M41 The Tyrant Star Appears - The Tyrant Star is sighted by Explorator vessels in the area of the Death World of Vigil in the Calixis Sector.742.M41 Battle of Agusia - In one of the largest naval battles of recent times in the Koronus Expanse, a combined fleet composed of starships from more than a dozen Rogue Trader houses including Winterscale, Sult, Helfire, Lo Pan, Lockhart and Marner give battle to the archeo-pirates and Renegades of the Amerat Union and their savage allies, the Cabal of the Bloody Libation. The vile pirates are betrayed by one of their own and ambushed in the star system of the Cemetery World of Agusia where the Union’s Heretek Jagerdamen hoped to uncover an artefact of unholy power. Losses are heavy on both sides after a fifteen hour space battle, and reports of a black-iron coloured vessel sporting the livery of House Aquairre assisting the Rogue Trader fleet during the worst fighting are later dismissed by all the surviving captains as “mere fantasy.” The Amerat are wiped out during the battle and their void station-sized mothership breaks up while attempting to flee into the Warp, while their Eldar Corsair allies are likewise badly mauled in the engagement and scatter into the void.742-770.M41 The Malygrisian Tech-Heresy - The militant Explorator Archmagos, Umbra Malygris, goes Renegade after clashing with the High Fabricator of the Lathes in the Calixis Sector, taking with him hundreds of Adepts and followers and threatening a full dogmatic schism within the Machine Cult’s ranks within the sector. Hunted on all sides, Malygris becomes increasingly insane but refuses to flee the sector, hiding instead in its shadows and cultivating a conspiracy of sympathisers and traitors to aid him. The renegade unleashes blasphemous horrors and forbidden weapons seemingly at random in order to further his research or avenge himself on his enemies. His forces also plunder and attack Mechanicus facilities, exploratory bases and even rival Heretek forces in order to obtain their secrets. Eventually the Renegades are destroyed at the hands of the Mechanicus Dragon Secutarii. However, Malygrisan lore still exists to plague the Omnissiah’s cult to the present.743.M41 Ice Station Mara - An Imperial mining penitentiary outpost is re-established on the deserted Ice World of Mara in the Hazeroth Abyss of the Calixis Sector.744.M41 The Return of the Silent King - The long-lost final Silent King of the Necron Triarch, Szarekh, enters the bounds of the Milky Way Galaxy once more. Having encountered the Tyranids in the intergalactic void, he recognizes the threat they pose to the Necrons' apotheosis -- if the Tyranids devour all organic life in the galaxy, the Necrons will never find living bodies to house their consciousnesses once more. Thus does the Silent King break his self-imposed exile with the goal of marshalling his people against this new threat. However, the Silent King has not anticipated the torpor in which the majority of the Necrons still lie. Many Tomb Worlds have been destroyed over the aeons, others still slumber and most of those that have awoken are still disoriented or somehow damaged. The Silent King is therefore forced to re-evaluate his plans. Working with the surviving Triarch Praetorians, he begins a pilgrimage across the galaxy, stirring those Tomb Worlds yet to revive, and speeding the recovery of those Tomb Worlds already awake. It is the Silent King's wish that the younger races' flawed attempts to destroy the Tyranids do not simply feed the invading Hive Fleets beyond the point where even a united Necron people have any hope of victory.744.M41 Doomsayer's Cry - The approaching End Times of the Imperium of Man are first predicted by the Seer of Corrinto using the Emperor's Tarot. He is executed for heresy by the Puritan Inquisitors of the Ordo Hereticus, but his prophecy is spread in whispers across the galaxy.745.M41 The Stasis Chamber - The Tau Empire's leading Ethereal Aun'Va makes the decision to place the favoured pupils of the rapidly declining Commander Puretide into stasis using prototype technology being developed for deep space travel -- this allows Shas'O Shaserra and a few select other Tau Commanders to be recalled at later need.745.M41 The First Tyrannic War Begins - The Tyranids' Hive Fleet Behemoth assaults the Eastern Fringes of the galaxy and is defeated during the Battle of Macragge only by the heroic sacrifices made by the Ultramarines.745.M41 The Battle of Macragge - Hive Fleet Behemoth was spearheading a large Tyranids invasion force into Imperial space and were making unprecedented progress towards the Realm of Ultramar. Upon learning of the threat posed to Ultramar by the vicious Tyranids, Chapter Master Marneus Calgar at once drew up his plans. Calgar declared that the Hive Fleet would be halted at Macragge before it consumed more of Ultramar or drove deeper into the heart of the Imperium. Deeming Macragge to be the star system most immediately threatened, Calgar ordered its formidable defences to be further improved. Scant weeks later, the outrider vessels of the Tyranid fleet attacked Macragge. With the Hive Fleet destroyed after the sacrifice of an Imperial Battleship created a Warp vortex that destroyed the majority of the Hive Fleet, Calgar's surviving starships came about and roared back to Macragge to try to save the beleaguered polar garrisons. Calgar, feeling that the situation was becoming critical, sent the 3rd and 7th Ultramarines Companies ahead in their fast Strike Cruisers while his remaining damaged ships limped back to Macragge. Despite horrendous losses inflicted upon the Tyranid fleet from the orbital and polar defence grids, many Tyranid organisms were able to reach the surface of the planet. The Tyranid swarm swept across the planet with the most intense fighting in the region of the northern polar defence installations. Despite the Ultramarines fleet's ability to destroy the Tyranid bio-ships, horrific casualties were suffered by the planet's population as well as the Chapter. Calgar went down to the planet's surface, leading the 3rd Company against the ravenous hordes of the Great Devourer. The entirety of the elite 1st Company was wiped out to a man whilst defending the northern pole's defence grid. The Ultramarines 1st Company was gone and the 3rd and 7th sorely diminished. It would be many long years before the Chapter could properly replace its losses, but replace them it would.746.M41 The Scouring of Ultramar - Lord Commander Dante recognises that the Tyranid Hive Fleet Behemoth's invasion of the Realm of Ultramar is but the first of many scourges that will befall the galaxy at the hands of the Great Devourer. Dante sends 3 companies of Blood Angels to assist the Ultramarines in scouring the Tyranids from the sectors of the Eastern Fringe. Upon their return to Baal 3 Terran years later, the 3 companies are much reduced in number, but have earned invaluable experience in combatting Tyranids that are soon passed on to the rest of the Chapter and many of the Blood Angels' Successor Chapters.746.M41 Discovery of the Processional of the Damned - Following a vision by one of his numerous flock of zealots and holy mystics, the Rogue Trader Wrath Umboldt discovers the Processional of the Damned in the Koronus Expanse. From this moment on the pious man believes himself to have passed beyond the grace of the Emperor.747.M41 Ravana's Bloody-Handed Cogs Enter the Koronus Expanse - A small but powerful force of Sollexian Adeptus Mechanicus Explorators from Haddrack in the Calixis Sector, having splintered from their fellows on doctrinal grounds, and led by Archmagos Ravana, enter the Koronus Expanse. They quickly prove their willingness to fire on and do battle with Rogue Traders and clash with other Explorators under the direction of Magos Kanceme and anybody else who would stand between them and their goals, but remain uncensored by Cult Mechanicus overlords. This earns them the mocking nickname “Ravana’s Bloody-Handed Cogs” for the crimson and gold Opus Machina graven on the hulls of their vessels, placing them in the popular imagination of the Koronus Voidborn as little more than sanctioned pirates, a reputation which has lasted to the present.748.M41 The Tyrant Star Appears - Plagues and an epidemic of madness grips the Feral World of Endrite in the Calixis Sector after the appearance of the Tyrant Star.751.M41 The Ragwitch Mystery - The merchantman Malfian Princess arrives at the void settlement of Footfall in the Koronus Expanse three months overdue and with every soul aboard, some ten thousand crew and passengers, dead -- nothing left of them but dust and brittle bones aged as if millennia had passed and her plasma reactors nearly cold. The word "ragwitch" scraped in the thick dust of the arm of the captain’s chair remains the only clue as to what fate befell the vessel.754-761.M41 The Harvest of Reavers - The Rogue Trader Aspyce Chorda begins her campaign against the Chaos pirates of Iniquity in the Koronus Expanse. At first all those captured by her are crudely lobotomized and sent as slave-serfs to Chorda’s various domains. After a series of massacres and the corruption of a number of her holdings the practice is discontinued in favour of immolation of the captured Heretics. Chorda’s campaign ends when debts and oaths to the Calixian banking House Krin draw her back to the void settlement of Footfall to protect their interests.755.M41 The Sabbat Worlds Crusade Begins - The Sabbat Worlds Crusade was an Imperial Crusade fought over the course of more than 23 standard years between 755.M41 and 778.M41 to retake the Sabbat Worlds Sector located at the rimward edge of the Segmentum Pacificus from the heretical forces of Chaos. This Crusade was one of the largest and most significant Imperial military operations undertaken in recent history and ultimately ended in the reconquest of the sector by the armed forces of the Imperium of Man.755.M41 The Jericho Warp Gate Opens - The Warp Gate in the great Warp Storms on the periphery of the Calixis Sector is discovered by the Imperial Navy Frigate Spear of Tarsus. Sensing something causing a localised area of calm in the great Warp Storm, the ship’s Navigator drops the Spear of Tarsus out of the Warp. At the centre of this sea of ethereal calm is a vast Warp Gate of xenos design. The gate is found to be active and becomes the immediate focus of the attentions of the Ordo Xenos, the Deathwatch, and savants of the Adeptus Mechanicus devoted to the rare study of such arcane machinery. Preliminary investigations reveal (to not inconsiderable surprise) a static Warp conduit leading to the deadspace region bordering the Jericho Reach on the other side of the Imperium in the Segmentum Ultima.756.M41 The Gathering of the Ascension - On the eve of the Feast of the Emperor’s Ascension, four Inquisitors and two hundred brothers of the Deathwatch arrive at the Watch Fortress Erioch of the Jericho Reach at the same time. All claim to have received a coded message that called them to attend at the Watch Fortress. The source of the message is unknown. In the days after the Feast of Ascension, the Watch Fortress becomes a battleground of mistrust and murder, as a shapeshifting assassin of unknown origin stalks the corridors and vaults of the Watch Fortress. The assassin is caught and slain after a seventeen-hour manhunt, but only after the death of two of the four Inquisitors, nine Acolytes, and twenty-three Space Marines. [Other Details Classified]759.M41 Scouring of Quintarn - Chapter Master Marneus Calgar commands the forces of the Ultramarines against Ork scavengers who captured the triple system of Quintarn, Tarentus and Masali (part of the Realm of Ultramar) in the aftermath of the assault of Hive Fleet Behemoth.760.M41 Rogue Commander - Following the Damocles Crusade, Commander Farsight recaptures much of the lost territory. However, the famed Commander defies orders to return, instead establishing a string of fortified planets known as the Farsight Enclaves.762.M41 The Purge of Thrax - Chapter Master Marneus Calgar of the Ultramarines leads the remnants of his Chapter against the daemon-corrupted Adeptus Mechanicus Forge World of Thrax. Under the leadership of their Chapter Master, the Ultramarines banish countless thousands of daemons and recover crucial Imperial data-records from the twisted manufactorum complexes. With the mission complete, Calgar issues the order for Exterminatus.768.M41 Mara Abandoned - The Imperial mining colony on Mara in the Calixis Sector is abandoned amid great loss of life and the entire region of space around it is quarantined by Inquisitorial edict.775.M41 Fourth Quadrant Rebellion - The Fourth Quadrant Rebellion breaks out, a period of multiple revolts and Secessionist outbreaks which set ablaze nearly a full quarter of the Segmentum Solar and outlying star systems.775-780.M41 Dark Angels and the Fourth Quadrant Rebellion - The Dark Angels were one of a dozen Space Marine Chapters that took part in the suppression of multiple revolts and Secessionist outbreaks which set ablaze nearly a full quarter of the Segmentum Solar and outlying star systems which was known as the Fourth Quadrant Rebellion. These brushfire conflicts proved difficult to stamp out, not least because there was no single enemy or common cause behind them, but rather countless long-standing grudges and the fruits of many centuries of misrule and savage oppression by a series of corrupt Imperial Planetary Governors. These civil conflicts were quickly made all the worse by the opportunist attacks of Chaos Cults, Renegades and xenos forces taking advantage of the widespread anarchy the rebellion engendered.The Egammonon Revolt – More than a dozen Space Marine Chapters were caught up in the fighting of the Fourth Quadrant Rebellion, either aiding one faction or another or simply defending their own territories, whilst others were brought in by the Imperium to pacify the quadrant and finally put an end to the fighting. The Dark Angels were deployed to the world of Egammonon during the Fourth Quadrant Rebellion to put down the rebel forces present on that planet.Rastabal, Assault on the Fortress of Kaligar – Grand Master Sammael, a senior member of the Dark Angels' Inner Circle, led his first action as the Grand Master of the Ravenwing in the initial invasion of the world of Rastabal during the Fourth Quadrant Rebellion. He followed up this action by his assault upon the fortress of the pretender Kaligar, whom it transpired, was one of the Fallen, and Sammael personally ran the ancient Traitor to ground after fighting him in a titanic duel said to have lasted a full day and a night.777.M41 The Treachery of Nephthys - Inquisitor Erya Nephthys, once the most promising of her generation, goes Renegade and massacres a number of her peers in the very heart of the Tricorn Palace on Scintilla in the Calixis Sector. The vilest of Traitors, she attacks numerous other Imperial holdings and carves a bloody path cross the sector, prompting a blood hunt by the entire Ordos Calixis of the Inquisition. She dies a third and final time at the hands of Witch Hunter Rykehuss and her ashes are interred in a sealed vault to insure her disposal is a permanent one.777.M41 to Present The Achilus Crusade - With the discovery of the stable Warp Gate from the Calixis Sector across the galaxy to the Jericho Reach, the possibility of using it to launch an Imperial Crusade into the Jericho Reach and reclaim this formerly great realm for the Imperium quickly finds favour with the High Lords of Terra. A plan was hatched under the command of Lord Militant Tiber Achilus to undertake this singular military campaign, and under his command were mustered forces ranging from the Imperial Guard, the Adeptus Astartes and Adepta Sororitas, and scores of Imperial Navy warships to enact the Imperium’s will. The High Lords were mindful, however, that the existence of the gate and what it portended offered dire peril as well as possibility, and decreed that the Achilus Crusade was to be launched from a staging point far from the territory it intended to conquer, and under a shroud of the deepest secrecy, with the complicity of the masters of both the Calixis Sector and the Departmento Munitorum. The Achilus Crusade would prove to be a bloody, grinding conflict fraught with reversals of fortune and beset by enemies both unexpected and nightmarish. As for the Lord Militant Achilus, he would not live to see out its first decade. This event marks the beginning of what the inhabitants of the Jericho Reach call the "Age of War."781.M41 Storm Clouds Gather - After long years of preparation, Imotekh the Stormlord assumes control of the Crownworld of Mandragora as the Phaeron of the Sautekh Dynasty and begins his conquest of the galaxy.784.M41 The Margin Crusade is Launched - Under the holy writ of the Synod Obscurus of the Ecclesiarchy and taking place far to the Calixis Sector’s Spinward border, an Imperial Crusade is launched into the Margin region beyond the light of the Astronomican to the galactic north. The Calixis Sector is called on to provide troops and materiel to the ongoing Imperial effort and grudgingly complies. Thirty standard years later the Margin Crusade is believed by most in the Imperium to still be grinding on with a great loss of blood and treasure. In truth, the Imperium lost contact with the Margin Crusade as early as 788.M41 and the Crusade is believed by the Inquisition to have failed, the forces dedicated to its completion lost in their entirety. However, the Imperium continues to maintain the fiction of the Margin Crusade's existence, using it as an excuse to raise ever larger tithes of troops and war machines which are then diverted to the Achilus Crusade in the Jericho Reach, which has also faced setbacks.785.M41 The Greyhell Front - The Canis Salient is launched against the Tau-controlled domains of the Velk’han Sept in the Black Reef area of the Jericho Reach, reinforcing armies already fighting against the highly organised and sophisticated alien forces across the so-called Greyhell Front previously dispatched by Lord Militant Achilus. The fighting is particularly bitter. Lord Commander Ebongrave, the Imperial Salient Commander, gains a swift reputation for barbarous and unorthodox tactics.785.M41 The Claimant Wars - A short, destructive conflict erupts between the forces of the Rogue Traders Calligos Winterscale and Aspyce Chorda on Lucin’s Breath in the Koronus Expanse. The matter is unexpectedly settled with the signing of the Nephium Compact that divides Lucin’s Breath between Winterscale and Chorda interests.786.M41 The Banner Has Fallen - The death of Lord Militant Tiber Achilus occurs when the Proclamation of Wrath suffers a catastrophic Geller Field failure. Afterwards, Solomon Tetrarchus ascends to the position of Lord Militant commanding the Achilus Crusade into the Jericho Reach.786.M41 The Council of Ashes - Lord Militant Tetrachus summons all senior Achilus Crusade command staff to the Fortress World of Alphos in the Jericho Reach. Also present are senior members of many of the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes present in the Crusade at that time, as well as members of the Ecclesiarchy, Adeptus Mechanicus, and the Inquisition. The gathering is a grand war council at the commencement of which fifty senior officers formerly favoured by the late Lord Militant are withdrawn from command or shifted into more junior roles. A council of new advisors and the Crusade's officer elite is formed and begins a dramatic reorganization of Crusade forces and strategy.786.M41 Against the Tides of Hell -The Acheros Salient is launched towards the centre of the Jericho Reach, there to give battle to the degenerate worshippers of Chaos and their foul allies, and retake the core worlds of what was once the Jericho Sector. The resistance they meet is unexpectedly high, particularly in the daemon-haunted Cellebos Warzone and casualties incurred by the Imperial forces are massive, blocking the salient’s progress and transforming the conflict into a bloody war of attrition.787.M41 The Achilus Crusade Conquers - The Orpheus Salient is launched to reclaim worlds lying along the Rimward portion of the Jericho Reach. Here, progress is relatively rapid and successful, with scores of worlds returned to Imperial control.788.M41 The Loss of the Margin Crusade - Elsewhere in the Imperium, contact is finally lost with the Imperial forces of the troubled Margin Crusade. From this point on, the Margin Crusade exists as a lie, and is used to garner greater tithes and musters of troops and materiel for the Achilus Crusade from the distant Scarus, Ixaniad, and Calixis Sectors via the Calixis-Jericho Warp Gate to replace heavy and ongoing losses.789.M41 The Return of Castobel to the Imperial Fold - Battlegroup Santos of the Achilus Crusade reaches the Castobel System in the Jericho Reach and finds that it has stayed loyal to the Imperium through four millennia of shadow and isolation. A hundred-day festival of celebration is declared. At its end, the first regiment of tithed Imperial Guard (the 1st Castobel Reborn) are lifted off the planet. The 1st Reborn will be the first in a series of Imperial Guard regiments tithed from the planet.789.M41 The Seriphos Sanction - Covert operations by the Deathwatch disrupt diplomatic talks between the technologically advanced but Renegade human world of Seriphos Secundus and the emissaries of the Tau in the Jericho Reach. Deathwatch Kill-teams assassinate both Tau Ethereal Caste dignitaries and representatives of the Seriphon Unity, plunging the two factions -- Renegade human and xenos -- into open warfare.789.M41 The Liberation of Colhep - Battlegroup Venicus, together with a company of Storm Wardens Space Marines, breaks the alien enslavement of the Colhep Systems in the Jericho Reach. A daring in-system translation from the Warp and surgical strikes against key enemy holdings in overwhelming force return the human population to Imperial rule in a single week of fighting.789.M41 Stryxis Establish Presence in the God-Emperor's Scourge - The Stryxis, covetous and untrustworthy xenos traders, already known as rarely-encountered wanderers in the Koronus Expanse, establish a permanent (if shifting) presence in the asteroid belts and lifeless systems on the trailing edge of the Warp Storm anomaly called the God-Emperor’s Scourge. Known among Renegades as the "rust palace" the Stryxis that trade there will strike any kind of deal and deal in anything, and only Eldar are unwelcome on pain of death.789.M41 Midnight's Lair Assaults the 'Undred-'Undred Teef - The Space Hulk Midnight’s Lair is sighted in battle with Ork raiders near the Greenskin-controlled star systems in the Koronus Expanse known as the ‘Undred, ‘Undred Teef by the blockade runner White Sabre. The Orks appear to be faring worse in the engagement.792.M41 The Astral Knives Cult declared Heretical - Long tolerated, the centuries old void-born death cult of the Astral Knife is found to have become tainted by association with dark forces and declared heretical by the Ordos of the Inquisition in the Calixis Sector.793.M41 Raid on Solemnace - Following the onset of Hive Fleet Behemoth's assault on the galaxy and its defeat at the Battle of Macragge, the xenobiologists and Inquisitors of the Imperium are left with many questions that require answers. One such question brings Inquisitor Helynna Valeria to the ghost world of Solemnace, seeking an explanation for why that world had gone untouched when all other planets in the Hive Fleet's path now lie destroyed and consumed. Nothing could have prepared Valeria for what she finds in the silent darkness beneath Solemnace's pitted and barren surface: endless catacombs filled with highly advanced xenos technology, long-lost artefacts from the Imperium's history and gallery after gallery of intricate life-size holographic sculptures laid out in silent tableau to commemorate historic scenes. Valeria's party is briefly awestruck by what they discover, but then the entire Tomb World comes to angry life. Wave after wave of Canoptek Scarabs and Necron Warriors descend from all sides and the still air is filled with the whine of discharging Gauss Weapons. Seeking to regain the initiative for her beset Acolytes and followers, Valeria leads a charge against the shadowy figure orchestrating the carnage. Sighting carefully, Valeria unleashes a pulse from her Graviton Beamer that reduces the Necron Lord to mangled and fused scrap. Yet moments later, an identical figure emerges from the darkness, hale and undamaged. This time Valeria plunges the Dagger of Midnight 's blade into her adversary's heart, yet even as her opponent's sparking frame sinks to the ground, another identical Necron Lord strides forwards, trampling the now-faceless ruin at her feet. With that, Valeria orders a retreat back to her team's waiting shuttles. Only a handful of the Acolytes survive to reach their destination, and they do so empty-handed. Much to Valeria's disappointment, the Tomb World of Solemnace keeps all of its glorious secrets. Sometime after the conflict, Valeria received a personal hyperscroll message from Trazyn himself, thanking her for sending five regiments of Catachan Jungle Fighters to add to his galleries. Accompanying the message as a return gift was a Hyperstone Maze, one of a series of Tesseract Labyrinths constructed at the height of the Charnovokh Dynasty. It is unknown what became of this gift thereafter.794.M41 Karrad Vall Enters the Koronus Expanse - The barbed vessels of the Chaos Renegade Karrad Vall emerge from the Maw and bombard the void settlement of Footfall. The Renegades are finally driven off by the fleet of the Rogue Trader Calligos Winterscale, but not before their boarding parties and surface raiders capture hundreds of souls. Their fate is to said to provide a libation of blood to the Dark Gods in thanks for safe passage through the Great Warp Storms for the infamous Vall, said to have last plagued the Imperium a millennium before.795.M41 The Astral Knives Enter the Koronus Expanse - A congregation of the Astral Knives comes to the void settlement of Footfall in the wake of their persecution by the Inquisition in the Calixis Sector. As well as serving at times as killers for hire, the Astral Knives’ see themselves as true servants of the God-Emperor whose creed is to ritually assassinate those whom omens and the Emperor's Tarot indicate to be corrupt, so as to preserve the God-Emperor’s protection on those who must brave the Warp. Since its coming to Footfall, the cult has quietly flourished, and has gained a shadowy reputation as a faction both dangerous and powerful.796.M41 The Loss of the Gaunt triumph - The Grand Cruiser Gaunt Triumph is found drifting around a nameless world in the Unbeholden Reaches of the Koronus Expanse. The few survivors onboard the wreck speak of a vast and pale structure drifting through the void like the carcass of a creature picked clean by eyeless things in the depths of lightless water. They whimper of the glow of the thing’s deathly light and the voices of the dead wailing in your mind like the scratching of talons on the inside of a coffin lid. Some claim to have set foot within the thing, and tell of “echoes that sing” and “silver trees that weep blood.”797.M41 Siege of Zalathras - Marneus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, holds the gate of the Hive City of Zalathras alone against an Ork horde for a night and a day.798.M41 The Siege of Somonor - Imotekh the Stormlord and the forces of the Sautekh Dynasty repel a war host of Eldar from Craftworld Alaitoc commanded by Farseer Eldorath Starbane from the minor Tomb World of Somonor during the campaign later known as the Siege of Somonor. Following the campaign, Somonor agrees to join the Sautekh Dynasty's growing empire. Starbane is the only survivor of the assault, and he is sent back to Alaitoc but with one hand amputated by Imotekh as a reminder of his defeat. The Eldar of Alaitoc prepare to launch a major assault on the Sautekh Dynasty.798.M41 WAAAGH! Big Skorcha's Assault on Baal - Three monstrous Space Hulks emerged from the Warp in the Baal System, bringing with them the massive Ork WAAAGH! Big Skorcha. Lord Commander Dante orders the deployment of 2 companies of Blood Angels to defend each of Baal's moons. The remaining companies of the Chapter are assigned to serve as strike forces and ordered to board and destroy the Greenskins' Space Hulks. The Blood Angels prove successful and 2 of the Space Hulks are destroyed with much of the WAAAGH!'s Orks still aboard them. Before it can be destroyed, the final Space Hulk disgorges thousands of Orks commanded by the Warlord Big Skorcha, onto the surface of Baal. Knowing that the bulk of the Blood Angels forces are still in orbit destroying the Space Hulks or on the two moons of the world, Big Skorcha aims to lay siege to and ransack the Chapter's Fortress-Monastery. However, the Blood Angels prove not so easily outmanoeuvred. The Chapter's Dreadnoughts, deemed unsuitable for use in the cramped confines of the Space Hulks had remained behind on Baal. With the remains of WAAAGH! Big Skorcha still at large, the Venerable Furioso Dreadnought Astramael assembles all 41 of the Blood Angels' Dreadnoughts and coordinates the defence of the fortress-monastery in what was later known as the Battle of Iron. Although Astramael and his Dreadnoughts needed only to defend the fortress-monastery long enough for Astartes reinforcements to arrive from orbit, they fought with such savage fury that there were precious few Orks remaining when the first Stormravens finally landed.799.M41 The Unexpected End of WAAAGH! 'Eadcrumpa - Big Mek 'Eadcrumpa leads his Ork WAAAGH! to the newly awakened Tomb World of Suranas. After initial skirmishes prove his still lethargic Necrons to be no match for the Orks, Necron Lord Nepthk strikes a pact with 'Eadcrumpa. In exchange for several dozen functioning Doomsday Cannons, 'Eadcrumpa agrees to leave Suranas and seek plunder elsewhere (whilst secretly resolving to return to Suranas at a later date). Three solar months later, when the WAAAGH! descends on the Imperial Agri-world of Eden Prime, 'Eadcrumpa is unable to resist his urge to investigate the Doomsday Cannons' systems. One breached containment core later and 'Eadcrumpa, his WAAAGH! and the planet of Eden Prime are erased from existence.799.M41 The Doom of the Ardent Seeker - The Ecclesiarchy Mission Ship, Ardent Seeker, is ravaged by a false prophet of the Pilgrims of Hayte on the way to the Shrine World of Maccabeus Quintus in the Calixis Sector. Seven thousand worthy souls die in ways more hellish than the sane can imagine.800.M41 Da Wurldbreaka Strikes - A flotilla of Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator vessels charting the Accursed Demesne are set upon by the dreaded Ork Kaptin Morgaash Kulgraz and his vessel, Da Wurldbreaka. Though much of the ships are destroyed, an unlucky few are scattered amongst the Demense to be hunted by Ork Freebooterz.801.M41 - The Lugannath Eldar Craftworld is first detected by the Imperium of Man.801.M41 Assault on Kammelstadt - Captain Zorael of the 4th Company leads the Blood Angels strike force Bloodhawk against rebels who have risen up against the Imperium on the world of Golgotha. Using their Land Raiders, the Blood Angels' armoured column smashed through the walls of the rebels' fortress and trapped the rebels behind their own defences. The rebels were then wiped out by an air strike by Zorael's Stormraven gunships.802.M41 Reign of Blood - The Blood Drinkers Chapter assists the 35th Cadian Shock Troops Regiment of the Imperial Guard in the siege of the daemon-infested Hive World of Helios Alpha. The Blood Drinkers powerful assault breaks the stalemate, although the heavy collateral damage suffered by the Imperial Guardsmen while fighting alongside the Blood Drinkers leads the Cadian High Command unwilling to accept aid from this Successor Chapter of the Blood Angels again.803.M41 Death of Amphian Deed - Covert forces of the Ordo Xenos operating in the Koronus Expanse reveal themselves in force and burn the Rogue Trader Amphian Deed and his coterie for his role in the Halo of Darkness cult. Afterward rumours persist that scions of Deed yet remain unfound, and many who previously believed themselves to have been beyond the Imperium’s reach sleep less soundly than before. Much of Deed’s vast fortune in precious crystals and xenos-tech is thought to have been hidden somewhere in a secret cache near the Unbeholden Reaches, sparking a perilous scavenger hunt in the dangerous stars of the area by many lesser Rogue Traders willing to venture their luck.805.M41 The Forgoil Campaign - The Ork WAAAGH! Gutshredda rampages through the Forgoil System. Marneus Calgar leads 3 companies of his Astartes to the assistance of the Forgoil Planetary Defence Forces. In a little more than three weeks, the Ultramarines destroy the tellyporta ships and Stompa factories that provided WAAAGH! Gutshredda with much of its momentum. In the final battle of the war, Calgar and his Terminator-armoured retinue board and destroy Gutshredda's flagship, Da Supadestructa.805.M41 The Conquest of Eleusis - Warp Storms abate around the Eleusis System in the Jericho Reach. Achilus Crusade forces find the once sacred world has fallen to the worship of false gods under the tyranny of a priest caste called the Charnel Oracles. It is cleansed of their dark taint by the forces of Battlegroup Argo under the personal command of General Curas in a brutal extermination campaign against the blood-glutted abominations that much of the planet’s population have devolved into. After their priests are isolated and slain, the mutants, despite their monstrous distortions of body and inhuman savagery, lack the intelligence or cohesion to mount an organised defence, thus freeing the scattered few who have remained fully human from their torment. Following the swift and merciless victory, a thousand-day re-hallowing and sanctification of the former Shrine World begins by the faithful servants of the Ecclesiarchy.805.M41 The Destruction of the Crimson Harvest - A vast Space Hulk designated the Crimson Harvest and forged from the fused and twisted remains of xenos star vessels and artefacts of unknown origin appears on the edge of the Hadex Anomaly in the Jericho Reach. Ships bearing the blasphemous sigils of Chaos take flight from the Dark Forge World of Samech and make their way to rendezvous with the craft, sparking a deadly series of running battles between the servants of the Ruinous Powers and attack ships from the Achilus Crusade forces operating in the Acheros Salient and the Deathwatch. The Deathwatch Kill-team under Brother-Sergeant Hurak of the Iron Hands sacrifices itself in order to plunge the Crimson Harvest into the heart of a dying star, thus denying the pawns of Chaos their prize.805.M41 Karrad Vall Finds a New Home in the Koronus Expanse - Rumours begin to circulate that the Warp-worshiper Karrad Vall has founded a world somewhere Spinward of the Cauldron in the Koronus Expanse devoted to the dark powers he serves, and that he is willing to pay in savage arms and occult lore for any that will bring him a bounty in human lives to build his new kingdom of slaughter. Many pious Rogue Traders swear to discover this nameless world and burn it to cinders, while Vall becomes the chosen target of sermons by Ecclesiarchy Preachers throughout the Koronus Expanse.805.M41 The Ruin of Morrigar - A battle between hive gangs on the Imperial Hive World of Morrigar inadvertently awakens the Necron Tomb hidden there. All contact with Morrigar by the Imperium is lost shortly thereafter. When the Imperial Guard's 207th Cadian Shock Troops regiment makes planetfall six solar months later, there is no trace of any inhabitants, human or otherwise. Before the Imperial Guardsmen can leave Morrigar, the nomadic Necron warlord, Anrakyr the Traveller, arrives. Assuming the humans are responsible for the apparent destruction of the Tomb World, he launches an attack that leaves his own forces decimated and the Cadian 207th utterly eliminated.807.M41 Purgation of Jhanna - Marneus Calgar leads two Ultramarine companies in the recapture of the rebellious oceanic cities of Omon and Vorlencia, against Heretics, Traitors and Chaos Space Marines.807.M41 Tyrant Star Appears - Zillman’s Domain in the Calixis Sector suffers a visitation from the Tyrant Star.807.M41 The Tranch Insurrection - A mutant uprising in the soot warrens of the minor industrialised Hive World of Tranch in the Calixis Sector rapidly develops into a planet-wide insurrection which topples the ruling class, the brutal Oligarchs of Tranch. The mutants have formed together into a unified faction calling itself the Pale Throng, led by a cabal of terrifyingly powerful witches and mutant-psykers known as the Shroud Council. As rumours of the successful rebellion spread, so do brushfire revolts and uprisings on other worlds in the sector, and the flames of malcontent are fanned. Lord Sector Marius Hax realises the wider threat to Imperial order and declares a mass counter-invasion of the war-torn world to bring the rebellion to heel, calling on the Inquisition to dispose of the Shroud Council, which they do, whilst the Ordo Hereticus launches Operation Bellerophon to decapitate the mutant forces. At huge cost in lives and at the price of laying waste to much of Tranch, the Pale Throng is crushed, but its many factions manage to scatter off-world, while sympathisers still raise revolt against the Imperium in the Pale Throng's name elsewhere. Although the war is officially over, the pacification of Tranch goes on, providing a bloody baptism of fire for many of the sector’s soldiers.807.M41 The Conquest of Vanir - The war against the Secessionist systems of the self-proclaimed Kingdom of Vanir in the Jericho Reach is broken by a daring strike at the Hive World of Vanir by Achilus Crusade forces of the Orpheus Salient.808.M41 The “Dance of the Dead” on Kalf - Mysterious cult activity on the world of Kalf in the Calixis Sector forces a notorious clash between rival Inquisitorial factions, leading to bloodshed and acrimony within the ranks of the Ordo Calixis in its wake.808.M41 Tanthus Moross Becomes Liege of Footfall - Tanthus Moross succeeds to the throne of the Liege of the void settlement of Footfall in the Koronus Expanse by right of murder, and quickly proves a highly effective and diligently ruthless leader to wide public acclaim.808.M41 Murder of Justinian Krin - Justinian Krin, leader of a powerful merchant’s factor of the Calixian banking House Krin operating out of Port Wander in the Koronus Expanse and a man with many enemies, is brutally and publicly slain by what onlookers describe as a “shining phantom” while attending a grand feast, his body swiftly dissolving to toxic slime after the attack. House Krin offers a standing reward of a great sum in Thrones or a fully outfitted Warp-capable Frigate to the party who can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt who is responsible for the attack.810.M41 The Vervilix Disaster - After suffering serious malfunction in transit, the Imperial Guard's mass-troop conveyer Vervilix, far off course, makes a forced landing on the forbidden Ice World of Mara in the Calixis Sector. Heavy casualities ensue and the remaining survivors are taken into Inquisitorial custody.810.M41 The Lament of Goln - Six Deathwatch Kill-teams under the command of Lexicanium Raphael break the attack by the forces of Chaos on the recently conquered world of Goln in the Jericho Reach. The Deathwatch attack crippled the Chaos leadership in the process of recovering a psyactive xenos artefact from the Chaotic war host’s commanding cabal. Fearing that they will be overwhelmed by a second counterattack, General Saiden, the commander of the Achilus Crusade forces occupying Goln, orders the Kill-teams to redeploy against the remaining Chaos forces. The Deathwatch forces withdraw without acknowledging the General’s "order." Goln falls three days later to a second Chaos assault.811.M41 The Reef Stars Crusade Begins811.M41 The Red Vaults of Luggnam - A small Adeptus Arbites taskforce, investigating evidence of political corruption, murder and tithe-theft on the Mining World of Luggnam in the Calixis Sector, instead encounters the horrors perpetrated by the wanted Arch-Heretic Myrchella Sinderfell. In the aftermath, the Inquisition steps in and instigates a two-year-long planet-wide witch-hunt to weed out recidivist elements.811.M41 Rak'Gol Marauders Appear in the Koronus Expanse - The merchant brig Daughter of Regals and her Escorts are lost with all hands to the xenos known as the Rak’Gol Marauders running between Port Wander and Lucien’s Breath. The alien race, known only in scattered reports over the previous decade, are seen by some as a growing threat to human domination of the Koronus Expanse. This attack, the latest in a string of escalating incidents, prompts large bounties to be posted on their vessels and knowledge of their origin by the rulers of Lucin’s Breath, fronting a cabal of other "interested parties" who would see the hostile species exterminated from the stars.812.M41 The Disappearance of Inquisitor Layran - The Inquisitor Layran and his retinue of Acolytes vanish en masse while investigating rumour of a xenos conspiracy, peripherally connected to the so-called “Beast House” organisation on Fenksworld in the Calixis Sector. Their loss prompts the Ordo Xenos to place the entire, widespread trans-sector group under scrutiny, leading to an ongoing covert investigation of the Beast House and its mysterious master, Solkarn Senk.812.M41 The Shadow of the Warp Descends on Jericho - Astropathic communication between parts of the Achilus Crusade and the re-conquered portions of the Jericho Reach is lost without warning. Particularly affected is the Orpheus Salient which disappears behind a crawling shadow of Warp interference.813.M41 Cano'var Destroyed - The Tau world of Cano'var is overwhelmed. Transmissions show robotic creatures using unidentified energy weapons who are later confirmed to be Necrons.813.M41 The Strangling - The Great Warp Storms on the edge of the Calixis Sector swell and the Maw snaps shut for the first time in centuries. No starships can pass into the Koronus Expanse from the Calixis Sector and the void settlement of Footfall in particular finds itself starved of the wealth and vital supplies that come with the voidships of passing explorers. Hardship and starvation grip Footfall more strongly with every passing day. Those that are able flee the slowly dying settlement and those that remain turn on one another in bloody civil war, and many old alliances are shattered and new vendettas birthed. Footfall is saved by a sudden easing of the Warp Storms near the turning of the year that allow spacecraft to pass through the Maw once more, but the world’s population has been reduced by a full quarter in the intervening time.813.M41 Escape from Cano'var - At Nemesor Zahndrekh's instruction, the Necron armies of the Tomb World of Gidrim invade the Tau world of Cano'var, routing the planetary defenders after two standard weeks of campaigning. The Necron victory is short-lived however. A demi-company of White Scars Space Marines, led by Kor'sarro Khan, arrive on Cano'var, pursuing a now-obsolete punitive mission against the previous Tau inhabitants. As overwhelming volley of Gauss fire destroys the White Scars' Thunderhawks moments after they land, leaving Khan and his Battle-Brothers to fight a bold, but doomed, series of hit-and-run battles. Almost all of the White Scars are slain on Uzme Plateau, but Zahndrekh commands that Kor'sarro Khan be spared and imprisoned. So does Khan begin a peculiar period of captivity beneath the surface of Cano'var. Zahndrekh treats him with honour, through few of the other Necron Lords even acknowledge his presence. At a bizarre feast, where food is placed before Zahndrekh and his court but goes uneaten, Khan learns he us but one of a dozen prisoners. With the desire for freedom outweighing any ranklement or rivalry, Khan and the other captives conspire to escape. The Necrons are slow to react and so the breakout goes well at first. Only when Vargard Obyron takes command do things go badly for the escapees. Several of the fugitives are slain by Obyron's Warscythe, leaving only Kor'sarro and an Eldar Ranger by the name of Illic Nightspear to fight on, and the latter swiftly receives a blow that sends him sprawling from the fight. Thus does the battle devolve into a duel atop bleeding bodies and broken machines. Khan's sword is quicker and guided by a desperate fury, but Obyron's undying machine body repairs any damage within only moments. Little by little, Khan tires, and the sweeping Warscythe comes closer to connecting with each swing. Finally, one of the Vargard's blows is too swift for Khan to evade -- the Warscythe slices through his armour and deep into his flesh. Before Obyron can finish his foe, there is an intervention from an unexpected source. Unknown to either combatants, Zahndrekh has been watching the fight from afar and, impressed by Khan's skill and bravery, orders Obyron to stand aside and let him leave. Dragging the crippled Nightspear behind, Khan finally escapes to surface, finds a still-functioning Tau spacecraft and leaves Cano'var far behind. Khan and Nightspear part ways shortly after, the Eldar to his Craftworld and the White Scar to Chogoris. Shortly after Khan's return to his Chapter planet, Nemesor Zahndrekh and Vargard Obyron are added to the Scrolls of Venegance, their names to be put forward as possible quarry for the next Great Hunt of the White Scars Chapter.814.M41 The Great Devourer Comes to the Jericho Reach - The Deathwatch warship Thunder’s Word enters the Freya System in the Jericho Reach to investigate the silence of an Astropathic relay. It finds no trace of the relay and indeed no trace of any life in the Freya System. Preparing to leave the star system, the Thunder’s Word encounters two Tyranid drone ships. Its hull scored and pitted with acid and its magazines nearly exhausted, the Thunder’s Word arrives at Watch Fortress Erioch bringing the dark news that the Great Devourer has come to the Jericho Reach.814.M41 Death in the Void - The Imperial Deep Range Cruiser Admiral Ishmael goes missing after attempting to make contact with the lead elements of the Achilus Crusade's Orpheus Salient. All across the northern (Rimward) portion of the Jericho Reach worlds are swallowed by darkness and horror, and the vaunted Battlegroup Argo is lost, presenting a severe blow to the forces of the Achilus Crusade.814.M41 Hive Fleet Dagon - The name of the Tyranid attack into the Jericho Reach is officially designated as Hive Fleet Dagon, a possible splinter of the much larger Hive Fleet Behemoth defeated by the Imperium during the First Tyrannic War decades before, and identified as the greatest single extant threat to the success of the Achilus Crusade, and indeed the lives of every living being in the Jericho Reach. The Deathwatch remains fully engaged in facing this dire threat.814.M41 Opening of the Spinward Front - WAAAGH! Grimtoof, the Ork WAAAGH! under the control of the Ork Warlord Ghenghiz Grimtoof, slams into the Periphery Sub-sector of the Calixis Sector in 814.M41. The massive Ork assault forced the Sub-sector Governor Duke Severus XIII to request aid from the Sector Governor Marius Hax, who mobilised the Calixis Sector's military reserves to meet the Greenskin invasion. Even as the forces of the Imperial Guard poured into what the Departmento Munitorum soon designated as the Spinward Front under the command of Lord General Ghanzorik of the Maccabian Janissaries, Severus XIII used the chaos caused by the invasion to secede from the Imperium, creating the independent pocket empire in the Periphery known as the Severan Dominate. At present, a three-way war is underway in the Spinward Front between the forces of the Imperium, the Severan Dominate and the Ork WAAAGH!815.M41 Ally Unlooked For - An Ork invasion under Warlord Grog advances into the Tau Empire. The populated Tau world of Atari Vo bears the brunt of the attack before finally being defeated by the combined forces of Dal'yth Sept and an unlikely ally - Commander Farsight and his bodyguard cadre.815.M41 - The Space Wolves Great Wolf Sven Ironhand revokes his oath and leads his Great Company into exile in the Eastern Fringes.815.M41 A New Beginning - Gabriel Seth becomes the Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers. His first act is to repair relations between his Chapter and the Blood Angels, as the tradition of brotherhood between the Chapters had been sundered for centuries by the Flesh Tearers' bloodthirstyness.815.M41 The Time of Heroes - This year marked the start of a particularly momentous era in the Calixis Sector's history which would decide the ultimate fate of the sector at the hands of small bands of heroes in service to the Ordo Calixis of the Inquisition.815.M41 Sighting of the Rift Hydra - The Rogue Trader Relza Calzus claims to have sighted the Rift Hydra in the void of the Rune System in the Koronus Expanse. Few believe his claims, and instead remark that the Beggar Captain has never so much as ventured beyond the void around Footfall.815.M41 The Disappearance of Explorator Fleet 913 - Explorator Fleet 913 strays into territory controlled by the Necron Tomb World of Gheden and is destroyed by the fleet of Nemesor Azderon. When the void battle is over, wreckage is set adrift in the projected territory of the Eldar's Alaitoc Craftworld. By the time three companies of Ultramarines come in search of the Adeptus Mechanicus' overdue Explorator Fleet, Azderon has long withdrawn, but the presence of Alaitoc's pathfinder vessels draw the Space Marines into a conflict with the Eldar, who they blame for the destruction of the Imperial vessels.816.M41 Midnight's Lair Sighted Near the Heathen Stars - The Space Hulk Midnight’s Lair is sighted in the vicinity of the Heathen Stars in the Koronus Expanse. Several vessels also soon disappear in the area, and astropathic communication near the Heathen Stars becomes almost impossible.816.M41 An Age of Opportunity - A new generation of Rogue Traders and their retinues of explorers begins to move into the Koronus Expanse. They enter the little-known region in search of new opportunities for wealth, commerce and Imperial colonisation. Little do they know of the hidden dangers that lie within the Expanse, and the threat they present to the Calixis Sector and the broader Imperium of Man...817.M41 An Era of Peril in the Jericho Reach - The Omega Vault of Watch Fortress Erioch is becoming increasingly active, and threats of a scale unprecedented in their scope, diversity and sheer portent stalk the stars and shadowed worlds of the Jericho Reach, leading many within the Inquisition to draw the conclusion that a great turning point in the fate of the region, perhaps of the Imperium itself, is coming to pass in the Jericho Reach for good or ill. The Long Watch continues, and the watchers stand ready for all that is to come...820.M41 Bloodcaller's Triumph - The Blood Angels Battle Barge Bloodcaller is badly damaged by an Ork Freebooterz ambushing while patrolling the Tresinka System. The Bloodcaller seemed to be finished, as its main drives had been silenced and boarding Kroozers had deployed a horde of Greenskins within it. Nonetheless, deft manoeuvring by Fleet Captain Bellerophon managed to bring the great vessel's main batteries to bear on the Ork fleet, destroying the Greenskins' flagship and half a dozen support vessels in a single salvo. Meanwhile, the furious counterassault by the Bloodcaller’s crew and Astartes swept the Orks who had boarded the Battle Barge from its lower decks and then carried the fight to the Kroozers. Though it took nearly a full standard year for the Bloodcaller to make its way at sublight speeds to the nearest Imperial Navy orbital repair docks at Haringvleet, the great Voidship did so proudly, bearing its scars as a tell-tale sign of the great victory it and its crew had won against incredible odds.820.M41 A Game of Blood - The Flesh Tearers Chapter respond to an unfolding conflict in the Adeonis Sector and battle against a tide of Tzeentch's daemons, ultimately sealing a Warp rift. But victory is not as simple as it first seems, for the scheming Changeling lies at the heart of this strife. Ever manipulating the cosmic strands of fate, the Changeling has plans afoot to not only trike a blow against Khorne, but also to tempt the Flesh Tearers towards damnation...821.M41 Dark Angels and the Siege of Vraks - Supreme Grand Master Azrael leads nearly half of the Dark Angels Chapter during the infamous Siege of Vraks. The Dark Angels force arrived on board the Battle-Barge Angel of Retribution and the Strike-Cruisers Sword of Caliban and Salvation and a small number of escorts to assist against the forces of Chaos that assailed the small Imperial planet. Without communicating his intentions, Azrael simply set about his self-assigned mission -- the destruction of Vraks' starport which would sever any easy access to off-planet reinforcements. Needing no assistance, he saw no reason to involve the Imperial Guard regiments engaged on Vraks. Moving in a lightning assault, the Dark Angels' vanguard was led by Azrael himself. As the Dark Angels strike force moved through the starport they unleashed unrestrained destruction upon it. The Dark Angels fought for Vraks' star port for eight days before Azrael ordered the final assault. Leading elements of the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 8th and 9th Companies the Supreme Grand Master led his Dark Angels to finish the enemy's resistance and finally overrun the starport. Dismounting his Land Raider, Azrael led the assault as he plunged into the enemy ranks of militia men, his black blade of the Sword of Secrets cutting a bloody swathe. As the Dark Angels were about to achieve victory, the duplicitous Alpha Legion sprung their trap. The Chaos Space Marines had been lying in wait, using the militia as bait to draw the Dark Angels on. Azrael was confronted by the Chaos Lord Arkos the Faithless, and soon the two were engaged in furious combat. Azrael was badly wounded in the duel, and was about to meet his doom as Arkio prepared to strike the blow that would see the reign of the Supreme Grand Master end, when Interrogator-Chaplain Belphegor charged into Arkio, his Crozius Arcanum swinging. Belphegor managed to strike the traitor to the ground with a blow that cracked his Terminator Armour. Arkos fell dazed and bleeding. Concerned for his wounded commander, the Chaplain turned to aid him. When he turned back to face Arkos, the traitor had vanished. Though the ambush had inflicted painful losses upon the Dark Angels, the traitors were unable to carry the day, and soon drifted away as they had been recalled by their thwarted commander. The Dark Angels proceeded to hunt down and destroy the remnants of surviving militiamen. After ten days the star port was securely in the hands of the Dark Angels. Almost 200 battle-brothers had been killed, including the Sacred Standard Bearer Anmael. Upon completing their mission the Dark Angels strike force departed.823.M41 The Khartas Incident - Captain Zorael of the 4th Company is killed by the Bloodthirster Greater Daemon Ka'Bandha. Only the unexpected arrival of the enigmatic entity known as the Sanguinor prevents the total annihilation of Zorael's remaining Astartes. Francesi Castigon replaces Zoreal as the new Captain of the 4th Company.824.M41 The Return of Thaszar the Invincible - The shadow-shrouded Imperial world of Athonos is wracked by severe earth tremors. The cause remains a mystery until a colossal Tomb Ship captained by the Necron pirate king, Thaszar the Invincible, emerges from beneath the ground, shedding soil, rock and fragments of hab-block from its hull as it rises after sixty million standard years. The world's defences are, understandably, in disarray. Fortunately for the inhabitants, Thaszar has yet to realise that humans are an intelligent form of life, and pays no more attention to the panicked defenders than he would to a nest of insects, The Athonosian planetary capital lies in ruins, but the rest of the planet survives relatively unscathed as the Tomb Ship heads into the stars, towards the Tomb World of Zapennec, the Crownworld of the Sarnekh Dynasty that he will soon rule as Phaeron, pausing only to obliterate a holo-stealthed Eldar listening post hidden in near-orbit for millennia.829.M41 The Enslavement of Aryand - Necron Overlord Vitokh masterminds the invasion of the Imperial Hive World Aryand. After a long and bloody siege, Aryand's Planetary Governor accepts Vitokh's terms and Aryand becomes a slave world in service to the Necron Altymhor Dynasty.830.M41 The Axonar Spirewar - Lord Commander Dante despatched the Blood Angels' 3rd and 4th Companies to quell a rebellion against the Emperor's authority on the Hive World of Axonar. Determining that the rebel defences at the bases of the world's hive cities to be to potent for his Space Marines to launch a frontal assault, Captain Metraen, the Force Commander for the operation, orders a series of low-orbit insertions onto the cities' upper spires using Jump Packs. Once again trapped behind their own defences, the rebels are easily crushed by the Blood Angels' savage assault.831.M41 The Dissolution of Burr - After a long archaeological expedition on the mysterious planet of Phall, famed Explorator Benedict Draconis returns to the binary worlds of Burr. The Imperial Planetary Governor holds a banquet in Draconis' honour, which proves to be a fatal mistake when a swarm of Mindshackle Scarabs burst bloodily from the Explorator's brain to feast on the governor and his guests. From there, the Mindshackle Scarabs multiply and swiftly infest Burr's military echelons. With his trap sprung and much of the binary worlds' defences thus under his control, the Necron Overlord Janzikh of Phall launches an invasion of Burr. Burr Major is the first planet to fall, thanks to recklessness on the part of its remaining human defenders, but soon both worlds are firmly under Necron control. The dissolution furnaces roar day and night, and when Captain D'Estev and the Fire Lords Chapter's 5th Company finally arrived, all they can do is destroy Janzikh in retaliation for his deeds.832.M41 Massacre on Minoria - En-route to the Ork-infested warzones of Periliac Prime, the entire 1st Company of the Dark Angels, the elite Deathwing, make an unscheduled detour to the small and unremarkable Mining World of Minoria on the edges of the Periliac System. The Deathwing teleport en masse onto the planet and kill or capture every one of its inhabitants. As a direct result of their delay in reinforcing the beleaguered planet of Periliac Prime, the entire system buckles and falls under the crushing might of WAAAGH! Drillakilla. It is later claimed publicly by several other Space Marine Chapters that the Dark Angels' delay was a significant reason for the fall of Periliac Prime.835.M41 The War For Piety - The Shrine World of Piety rematerialises after being swallowed by a Warp storm two centuries earlier. The planet is, however, almost unrecognisable, having transformed into a hideous Daemon World. Canoness Sariah of the Order of the Sacred Rose immediately leads a force of Battle Sisters to the planet to retrieve artefacts from the Reliquary of Hope, one of the few sites to have withstood the corruption. As the rest of her forces establish a perimeter around the reliquary, Sariah leads several squads into the labyrinthine corridors beneath. For three days Canoness Sariah and her Sisters battle through monster-infested passageways; bolters cut down scores of blood-hungry Daemon-hounds and flamers burn swathes of bloated plague-beasts. Only Sariah and two Celestians survive to rejoin the Battle Sisters on the surface, having recovered the left thighbone of Saint Dolan and three pages from the Lexicon of Falsehoods from a stasis vault. The surviving Battle Sisters withdraw to orbit with their prizes just as a fleet of Grey Knight vessels arrive and lay waste to the planet with cyclonic torpedoes.843.M41 The Dalaric Campaigns - Three companies of Blood Angels are sent to the world of Dalaric to stop the raids of the deceitful Eldar. The Blood Angels initially earned a string of victories against the forces of the elusive xenos, but the Eldar managed to carry out an ambush that killed almost 100 Battle-Brothers, transforming an easy victory into a catastrophe for the Chapter. Fortunately, at the darkest moment, when it seemed that every Blood Angel might receive the Emperor's peace, the Sanguinor appeared once more, striking down the alien Avatar of Khaine and forcing the remaining Eldar to flee for their lives.853.M41 Battle of the Steel Cross - Captain Alessandro Cortez of the Crimson Fists slays an Ork Warlord and his bodyguard of Nobs.855.M41 The Assault on Black Reach - The Ultramarines 2nd Company under the command of Captain Cato Sicarius defeats the brutal Ork WAAAGH! Zanzag during its assault on Black Reach The WAAAGH! was a Greenskin horde under the command of the Ork Warlord Zanzag, a Big Mek, or Ork Warlord who possessed unusual mekanical skill for an Ork.857.M41 The Lazar Blockade - Seeking vengeance for the destruction wrought upon their 4th Company, the Silver Skulls blockade the Lazar System and attempt to purge the Necrons from its planets. Though the main Tomb World is overwhelmed and obliterated, the Silver Skulls are quick to regret their hasty assault, as secondary Necron bases throughout the system whir into life. Unable to admit defeat, the Silver Skulls dig in, and what should have been a simple exercise in reciprocity becomes a far more grueling campaign.858.M41 The Defence of Dimmamar - Dimmamar, birth world of Sebastian Thor, comes under attack from the Eldar of Ulthwé Craftworld without any warning or reason. Seraphim Superior Ame lda of the Order of the Bloody Rose retaliates, leading her squad of Seraphim in a daring attack to slay the enemy commander - Farseer Kauerith. The Seraphim's pistols blast a bloody path through a score of black-clad Eldar before the Sisters are engulfed in a hurricane of psychic lightning. Though many of her companions fall, Amelda refuses to yield and defiantly advances through the eldritch storm, slaying the Eldar Farseer with a single bolt round to the head.859.M41 Assault on Zoran - The forces of the insidious Alpha Legion incited an uprising against the Imperium on the Ice World of Zoran. The Blood Angels' Captain Metraen lead elements from the Chapter's 3rd and 8th Companies to that frigid planet to eliminate the rebellion and drive the Traitor Legion from the world. Metraen's bold tactical choice at first seemed to drive the enemy back but the assault stalled when the Alpha Legion's base of operations on the world was determined to be an ancient and long-lost Imperator-class Emperor Titan left from the days of the Horus Heresy. Though still half-buried in the ice of Zoran, the monstrous war engine's Void Shield generators and weapons batteries proved to be operational with devastating consequences for the servants of the Emperor. Many Blood Angels Astartes fell in the first assault against the Titan and Metraen feared that the only course open to him to end the threat was an outright Exterminatus order against Zoran and its people. Fortunately for the innocents of that Ice World, aid arrived in the form of Kor'sarro Khan and the 3rd Company of the White Scars Chapter. Sent to claim the head of the Alpha Legion's infamous Daemon Prince Voldorius, the Khan joined his forces to the remains of the Blood Angels force on the planet. As the White Scars launched their own attack on the Alpha Legion's bastion from below, the Blood Angels used their Stormravens to initiate a series of drop assaults against the secondary plasma reactors that powered the Titan's weapons. Metraen's Astartes neutralised the Titan's defences and the White Scars swarmed into the massive war machine's lower levels. Though Voldorius ultimately escaped once more, his followers were exterminated to the last Chaos Cultist and Alpha Legionary. Though Kor'sarro Khan was obliged to continue his hunt for the Daemon Prince, Zoran had been restored to the Emperor's light and the recovery of a battered but fully repairable Imperator Titan was no mean feat. Metraen eventually brought the Titan back to Baal, from which it was sent on to Mars, where Lord Commander Dante hoped that such a priceless gift might finally smooth over the conflicts between the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Blood Angels.859.M41 The Traveller Has Come - The nomadic Necron Overlord Anrakyr the Traveller arrives in the embattled Lazar System and immediately joins his forces to those defending against the Silver Skulls' onslaught. Necron victory is finally assured at the Battle of Dreadpeak, when Anrakyr's Pyrrhian Eternals spearhead an assault on the Silver Skulls' downed Battle Barge Argent Hammer. Though the Space Marines battle hard against the veterans of Pyrrhia, their efforts are undone when Anrakyr seizes control over the Battle Barge's still-functioning weapon batteries and turns their fury on the Imperial defenders. With their Chapter Master slain and their forces in disarray, the Silver Skulls are forced to withdraw their blockade of Lazar -- though they take great care to ensure that word of their defeat does not spread. His duty done, Anrakyr takes ship and heads out into the galaxy once more to aid the Necron cause.861.M41 Battle of Arconar - Chapter Master Marneus Calgar of the Ultramarines defeats a coalition of Eldar Raiders on the Feral World of Arconar, scattering their forces and capturing their bases both on and off world.867.M41 - Captain Alessio Cortez of the Crimson Fists breaks through Eldar lines despite suffering 17 wounds including being stabbed through one of his 2 hearts and two hits by heavy weapons.876.M41 The Bloodtide Returns - A Khornate invasion is repelled at great cost by the daemon-slaying Grey Knights on the world of Van Horne.877.M41 The Mel'yanneth Skywar - Captain Metraen is charged by Commander Dante of the Blood Angels with the destruction of Eldar Corsairs who have been assaulting Imperial commerce from a fortress making use of Eldar anti-gravitic technology hidden in the toxic atmosphere of the gas giant called Mel'yanneth. Making use of the Chapter's entire existing fleet of Stormraven and Thunderhawk gunships, Metraen launched an airborne assault that had no equal in the Chapter's long history. Stormravens cut through the blaze of anti-aircraft fire to disgorge their cargoes of Assault Squads and Terminators directly onto the floating fortress' docking platforms. These Astartes secured the landing zones for heavy armoured vehicles like Land Raiders and Predators which were delivered by a follow-on wave of Thunderhawk Transporters. As the battle then unfolded through the Eldar fortress hangars and maintenance shafts, the overwhelming firepower brought to bear by the Blood Angels was able to scythe through the arcane traps and dishonourable defensive systems erected by the Eldar pirates. Once they realised that they had no chance to stop the human assault, the xenos abandoned the fortress, although not before sabotaging its gravity nullification technology. Metraen was forced to retreat as the fortress was sucked down into the gas giant's grasping depths. Only the incredible skill displayed by the Blood Angels' gunship pilots, who fearlessly plunged deep into Mel'yanneth's gravity well to rescue their Battle-Brothers, prevented what became a famous victory for the Chapter from ending in mournful failure.877-987.M41 The Perillian Catastrophes - The Perillian gas belt, described in Gungsten the Heretic's Approximations as "the blasted remains of some vast star predator," swirls toward the Agri-world of Rillith. Shrouded in shadow, the once-verdant world begins to rot. As the Imperial Guard move in, the rulers of the world turn to heresy. Hive Trexis becomes infested with daemons and a desperate war begins. A standard century later, civil war erupts as resources run out, and the planet slowly falls into degeneracy. Over the next decade, the belt obscures the Rillithian moon of Deith and daemons erupt from its craters. As the pattern of destruction continues, a Radical sect of the Inquisition resorts to sorcery to disperse the Warp-tainted and malignant gas belt.888.M41 Battle of Orar's Sepulchre - An Eldar emissary from the Biel-tan Craftworld was sent to the Imperial world of Commrath to enter negotiations with its Planetary Governor for the return of an ancient eldritch artefact from the tomb of one of the Ultramarines' most-lauded heroes, Captain Orar, known as the Sceptre of Galaxian. When the Imperial noble refused his request, the Eldar emissary grew angry and soon his pleas turned to threats of violence. The Planetary Governor refused to be cowed by the arrogant xenos and had the Eldar executed on the spot. However, the Governor had the foresight to heed the Eldar's threats and requested aid from the Ultramarines. Eldar from the Alaitoc and Iyanden Craftworlds then proceeded to assault the planet Commrath to recover the Eldar artefact within Orar's Sepulchre. Orar was a great Ultramarines hero in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy, and Chapter Master Marneus Calgar vowed not a single alien would breach the sanctity of his tomb. For the first time since the Battle of Macragge, Calgar lead his entire Chapter to war. The Eldar descended upon Orar's Sepulchre to find it held against them by the Ultramarines. Eldar Aspect Warriors and Guardians darted towards the main gates of the great edifice that was Orar's tomb as grav-tanks and artillery engines battered the Imperial defenders. On Calgar's command, the Ultramarines emerged from cover and scoured the invaders from the Sepulchre's steps with disciplined Bolter volleys. The Eldar fell back, only to find their lines of retreat cut off by Assault Marines and Land Speeders. Eldar leaders emerged from cover and rallied the trapped first wave, only to fall to sniper fire as the Ultramarines' Scouts made their presence known. The initial Eldar assault faltered but, for an entire day and night, they continued to attack. Though they mustered every arcane science at their command, they could not overcome the tactical brilliance of Marneus Calgar and his Ultramarines. The following day, a fresh assault swept onto the great stairs of the sepulchre, led by a colossal figure wreathed in flame -- an Avatar of Khaela Mensha Khaine, the Eldar god of war. Heavy weapons fire seemed only to anger the creature, and the Ultramarines' battle line buckled beneath its onslaught, so Calgar issued a challenge himself. The fiery god bellowed with fury, its first blow missing the Ultramarines' Chapter Master by a hair's breadth. The second tore plates from Calgar's armour. A third bit deep into his shoulder, driving the Chapter Master to one knee. But the fourth slammed into the armoured palm of Calgar's left hand. Rising up, Calgar struck with all his strength, bringing his other gauntlet around in a mighty arc that punched clean through the molten ichor of the Avatar's torso. With the fall of their war god, the Eldar lost all heart and retreated. Some fled without heed while others fell back in good order, but all of the xenos retreated into the darkness. Despite overwhelming odds, once again the Ultramarines had emerged victorious, but in his wisdom Calgar knew that the Eldar would return for the Sceptre of Galaxian. So it was that Calgar informed Commrath's Governor that the Galaxian Sceptre would be removed from Orar's Sepulchre to Macragge, where it could be properly defended.892.M41 Captain Cortez of the Crimson Fists defended a breach in Fortress Maladon's wall for 21 hours of constant fighting.897.M41 to 903.M41 A New Menace - Tyranid Hive Fleet Gorgon smashes into the fringe of the Tau Empire and claws inwards before being ultimately defeated upon the sept world of Ke'lshan with the help of unlikely allies in the form of a fleet of ships from the Imperium of Mankind.897.M41 Massacre at Sanctuary 101 - An Adeptus Sororitas fortress is destroyed by Necron raiders.897.M41 Faze V Uprising – An Imperial expedition was launched into a region of space that had for many years been riven with fierce Warp Storms. Led by a Rogue Trader of Clan Arcadius, the Dark Angels provided their 5th Company to aid the endeavour. Entering orbit above Faze V, the fleet was immediately fired upon by fearsome energy weapons of a type unknown to the fleet’s Tech-priests. In response, the Dark Angels committed themselves to an immediate combat drop. The 5th Company engaged men altered by cybernetics, and held entirely in the thrall of some blasphemous machine intelligence. In a grueling campaign that lasted four months, the techno-recidivists of Faze V were beaten back to their mighty silicon fortresses, besieged, and eventually annihilated. The Dark Angels’ last act was the destruction of the great logic stacks of the disabled machine entity. But this was not carried out until a party of Techmarines, accompanied by the then-Grand Master of the Deathwing Bekenel, had entered the machine complex and retrieved some scrap of as yet undisclosed data. Even after the population of Faze V was freed from the Artificial Intelligence's control, they craved their machine-ruler's mind-touch and rejected their own freedom. The Dark Angels were forced to continue to press their attack. In a gruelling campaign, the techno-recidivists of Faze V were eventually wiped from the face of their world.901.M41 Battle of Stonehaven - Commander Dante personally led a Stormraven drop assault on the Ork forces outside the Hive City of Stonehaven that finally broke WAAAGH! Bludcrumpa's decade-long siege of the Forge World of Ironhelm.901.M41-913.M41 The Badab War - The Badab War begins when the Astral Claws' Chapter Master, Lufgt Huron, revolts against the Imperium of Man and later turns to Chaos, unleashing the worst internecine strife between Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes since the Horus Heresy. The Badab War, fought between 901.M41 and 913.M41, was one of the most insidious and dangerous internecine conflicts to wrack the Imperium of Man in recent history, made all the more lamentable because the unthinkable had occurred. As a result of a conflicting nexus of honour, treachery, politics and greed, several Space Marine Chapters turned Renegade against the Imperium and bloodshed and outright civil war ensued -- a war which turned entire armies of the Imperium's most powerful warriors against each other and in doing so swept millions to their deaths in its turbulence. Such was all the result of the treachery and hubris of the former Chapter Master Lufgt Huron of the Astral Claws Space Marine Chapter, the self-styled and infamous "Tyrant of Badab." The carnage wrought amongst the stars of the Maelstrom Zone during this conflict was such that it rocked the faith and order of untold Imperial worlds never touched directly by its violence, and caused loyal subjects to look upon their Adeptus Astartes protectors with fear. Such were the dire sins and hidden truths that lay behind the war, that a pall of secrecy and lies descended about the conflict even as it was fought. The rebellion was eventually put down by the forces of the Inquisition and those Astartes Chapters who remained steadfast in their duty to the Emperor of Mankind, but its instigators, the Astral Claws, wholly given over to Chaos in the course of the conflict, turned Renegade and its survivors become the infamous corsair band of Chaos Space Marines known as the Red Corsairs. The Red Corsairs are led by the treacherous Chaos Lord named Huron Blackheart, a vicious Champion of Chaos Undivided who is now nearly unrecognisable as the once-noble Lufgt Huron. Blackheart and the Red Corsairs currently dominate a large Chaos empire within the Warp Rift known as the Maelstrom in the Eastern Fringes of the galaxy. There Blackheart plots his vengeance upon the Imperium and prepares to build a new empire dedicated to the Ruinous Powers that will bring the demesne of the Traitor Legions within the Eye of Terror to shame.903.M41 The Badab Revolt Widens - Lamenters, Mantis Warriors and Executioners join the Secessionist revolt of the Astral Claws against Imperial authority in the mistaken belief that Imperial bureaucrats and nobles are directly impinging upon the ancient rights long granted the Adeptus Astartes by the Emperor of Mankind himself.903.M41 Cortez's Ordeal - Captain Cortez fights through the entire six week campaign on the world of Kardia without supplies after his company of the Crimson Fists Space Marines had been lost to enemy fire during their initial deployment.904.M41 Fire Hawks Enter the Badab War - The Fire Hawks retaliate when their supply ship is captured by the Secessionist rebels of the Maelstrom Zone.904.M41 The Roots of Paraghast - During a daemonic incursion on the Hive World of Paraghast, the power of Chaos transforms the principle hive city of Patrihive into a nightmare. It becomes a twisted prison to billions of souls, trapped within a sentient hive-thing, whose "roots" burrow into the surrounding ash wastes for a hundred miles in every direction, attacking the defenders of Paraghast even as they fight against a daemonic legion of Nurgle and Slaaneshi daemons.906.M41 Badab War Intensifies - The Red Scorpions and Minotaurs Chapters called in by the High Lords of Terra to suppress the Secessionist forces in the Badab War.910.M41 The Storm Grows – The Necron Phaeron Imotekh’s campaigns are halted briefly by the Imperium’s resolute defence of the Forge World Hypnoth. Imperial Guard and Space Marine reinforcements flood into the battle zone, and though they cannot achieve a lasting victory, they succeed in tying down the Necron assault for several months. Encouraged by the prophecies of the astromancer Orikan the Diviner, Imotekh finally breaks the stalemate by launching a series of attacks on Hypnoth’s supply worlds Praedis-Zeta and Nyx. The first two raids perform entirely as expected, with the worlds laid to waste and their vital supplies destroyed or claimed by the Sautekh forces. However, an unforeseen Tyranid infestation on Nyx wreaks havoc amongst the Necron forces and threatens to completely derail Imotekh’s entire campaign. Nevertheless, Imotekh rises to the challenge, weaving a strategy that manipulates the Tyranid swarm into venting its fury on the remaining Imperial defenders. With both sides thus distracted, Imotekh is able to extricate his remaining forces.911.M41 Vengeance of the Blood Angels - Justicar Parsival of the Grey Knights brings word to Baal that the Bloodthirster Ka'Bandha, ancient bane of Sanguinius, has returned to realspace. Sepharan, the leader of the Blood Angels' Sanguinary Guard, receives Commander Dante's permission for the Sanguniary Guard to serve in the coming battle against the hated Greater Daemon. United in their determination to banish such an evil from the mortal realm, a force of Grey Knights and the Sanguinary Guard storm the gates of Ka'Bandha's fortress and defeat both the Bloodthirster and his Chaotic army in a single night's assault.911.M41 The Fall of Hypnoth – Necron Sautekh Dynasty Crypteks succeed in introducing a mechanophage into the defence systems of Forge World Hypnoth, reducing its formidably armed bastions to helpless ferrocrete shells. Despite a valorous defence by the Flesh Tearers and Iron Hands Space Marines, Hypnoth is conquered by the Necrons within days.912.M41 - 926.M41 The Assault of the World Engine - A violent coup on the Tomb World of Borsis sees its introspective Necron Lord replaced by one of a more expansionist bent. Thus are the long dormant engines of the artificial Tomb World of Borsis fired into life once more, signalling the start of a Necron campaign that leaves much of the Imperium of Man's Vidar Sector in ruins. The massive mobile artificial Tomb World of Borsis, known to the Imperium as the World Engine, was attacked in 926.M41 by 15 Space Marine task forces plus elements from the Imperial Navy, and even the mightiest weapons the Imperial forces could bring to bear could not harm it. Drop Pods and torpedoes could not penetrate its shields and it was impossible to lock on to with teleport beams. The Imperial task force tried twelve times to overwhelm it through sheer valour and firepower and was rewarded with a string of destroyed and crippled starships and millions of casualties. The World Engine destroyed a third of an entire Imperial Navy battlefleet before the Chapter Master of the Astral Knights Chapter decided to ram the hideous planetoid with his Battle Barge, the Tempestus. It was only when the enormous Space Marine starship collided with the Necron construct's shields that they finally failed, allowing the Imperial forces to approach their target. A force of over 700 Astral Knights deployed from Drop Pods onto the Necron vessel's surface. For over 100 hours the Astral Knights fought against tens of thousands of Necron warriors and destroyed every flux generator, weapon forge and command node they came upon. Only after the Chapter had been reduced in size to the Chapter Master, Arthor Amhrad, and five Battle-Brothers did they succeed in their quest. Amhrad detonated Melta-charges that destroyed a vast Necron tomb complex that housed many of the World Engine's command arrays which brought down the vessel's impenetrable Void Shields and also silenced the machine's weaponry. This allowed the Imperial Navy's starships to destroy the World Engine with Cyclonic Torpedoes. After the battle, as the Adeptus Mechanicus picked over the remains of the destroyed World Engine, the Ultramarines retrieved the twisted wreckage of the Tempestus and placed it amid the ruins of Safehold, the planet that had been the last victim of the World Engine. The 2nd and 4th Companies of the Blood Angels had been amongst the Astartes task forces dispatched to the Vidar Sector to assist their fellow Space Marines against the threat posed by the World Engine. After the sacrifice of the Astral Knights lead to the final destruction of the World Engine, Captain Donatos Aphael of the 2nd Company proposed that an Imperial shrine be erected upon the world of Safehold in eternal memory of the Astral Knights Chapter. The shrine consists of seven hundred and seventy-two arbalstone statues, one for every Astral Knight Battle-Brother that died stopping the World Engine, that stands a silent vigil within the dead heart of the Tempestus. From that day forth, 2 Blood Angels of the 2nd Company, and Battle-Brothers from nearly a dozen other Chapters, are always assigned to stand guard over the memorial, which is considered a singular honour for the Astartes that fought beside them for the last time.913.M41 Badab Penitent Crusades Begin - Executioners and Lamenters Space Marine Chapters sent on penitent 100-year-long Crusade against the enemies of the Emperor for the participation in the Badab War. During this time they are forbidden from recruiting new Neophytes.917.M41 Battle of Amion - The Red Talons and Regiments of the Imperial Guard's Armageddon Steel Legion defeat rebel forces on the world of Amion.918.M41 The Semmel Betrayal - The Blood Angels strike force Breath of Hermes is attacked by a large contingent of Eldar on the ghost world of Semmel. Fragmentary communications make clear that the Blood Angels briefly held the upper hand until an unknown party intervened on behalf of the Eldar. The strike force was wiped out to the last Astartes.921.M41 The Siege of Barathred - Chapter Master Marneus Calgar of the Ultramarines is ambushed by the Night Lords whilst en route to the Darkhold battle zone. The Chapter Master's crippled vessel makes planetfall on the sparsely settled Imperial Feudal World of Barathred. Several hundred Night Lords Chaos Space Marines make landing shortly thereafter, but Calgar rallies the planet's feudal population to defeat them.922.M41 Assault on the Toxic World of Sephlagm - The 3rd and 4th Companies of the Dark Angels pin down a Chaos Cultist army on the world of Sephlagm while the Ravenwing deploys in a pincer formation. The Ravenwing's Support Squadrons clear streets while the Attack Squadrons rush the rebel headquarters, summoning the Deathwing to teleport into the structure and eliminate the daemon-possessed rebel leader.927.M41 Battle for Antax - Captain Donatos Aphael and the Blood Angels' 2nd Company free the Forge World of Antax from the assault of the Ork WAAAGH! Gutstompa.929.M41 The Trenor Uprising - Three dozen Ultramarines Scout Marines, under the expert direction of the famed Sergeant Telion, put down a rebellion against the Imperium on the world of Trenor in less than a day.930.M41 Day of the Swordwind - The Blood Angels' 3rd Company manages to preserve Explorator Station Ghosa Prime from the unprovoked fury of the Eldar of Craftworld Biel-Tan.930.M41 Battle of Schrödinger VII – In 930.M41, the forces of the infamous Necron Overlord Imotekh the Stormlord, Phaeron of the powerful Sautekh Dynasty, descended upon the frozen plains of the Imperial Ice World of Schrödinger VII. The Necrons drove the local defenders to the shelter of the labyrinthine cryonite mines, but were unable to prevent the planet's Astropathic Choir from dispatching a distress hymnal. A counterattack swiftly arrived in the form of a Black Templars strike force under the command of Marshal Helbrecht. Imotekh was not caught by surprise so easily, and had already shifted his undying Necron armies into a formidable defensive configuration. Helbrecht lead the assault, intended as a crippling alpha strike, but was instead blunted by a series of impeccably-planned Necron ambushes on the Space Marines' Drop Pod and Thunderhawk drop zones. As the frozen caverns echoed to the roar of explosions, scores of Black Templars and Necrons alike were hurled into rivers of molten cryonite. Eventually, Imotekh and Helbrecht met in single combat atop the stalactite-heavy span of an ice bridge. In the battle that followed, Helbrecht, driven by zeal and hatred of the xenos, dealt Imotekh a dozen ruinous blows, but each time the Phaeron's living Necrodermis was able to quickly repair in a matter of seconds. Despite being the better swordsman, Helbrecht failed to land a truly crippling blow on his opponent, and as the duel drew on, the Marshal finally collapsed under the assault of the Necron Overlord, blood flowing from a score of serious wounds. However, instead of finishing off his opponent, Imotekh brought his Warscythe down and merely severed Helbrecht's right hand to remind the Marshal of his "much-deserved defeat". Helbrecht roared in fury and pain as Imotekh pitched him off the ice bridge to the frigid cavern floor far below. The surviving Black Templars quickly rallied to their fallen Marshal's side and made a fighting retreat, leaving Schrödinger VII in the Stormlord's hands. Following this humiliating defeat, Helbrecht swore an Oath of Vengeance against the Necrons in general, and Imotekh in particular, vowing that the next time they met, only one would leave the battlefield alive.934.M41 The Warnings of Ulthwe935.M41 The Rise of M'kar - A daemonic horde under the direction of the Word Bearers Daemon Prince M'kar the Reborn seizes control of the Star Fort Indomitable in Calth's outer orbit. Under the command of their Chapter Master Marneus Calgar, Terminators from the Ultramarines' 1st Company board the star fort. M'kar is slain by the hand of the Lord Macragge, who tears the upstart Daemon Prince limb-from-limb.939.M41 Death of Supreme Grand Master Naberius - Whilst pursing Cypher, Commander Naberius, Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels -- is led into an ambush and slain by Chaos Space Marines. Azrael leads the Deathwing to recover his body and is subsequently named his successor as the new -- and current -- Supreme Grand Master of the Chapter.940.M41 - A Tzeentchian Chaos Cult revolts against the Imperium on the planet Chicano. The world is lost to the Imperium and is displaced into the Warp as a new Daemon World dedicated to the Lord of Change.941-942.M41 The Second War for Armageddon - The Ork WAAAGH! Ghazghkull descends upon the Imperial Hive World of Armageddon in the Segmentum Solar, initiating the Second War for Armageddon. The Orks are defeated only by the extreme stubbornness of the defenders and the combined might of the Blood Angels, Ultramarines and Salamanders Chapters. Thought dead by his foes, the wily Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka himself escapes into space. Lord Herman Von Straub's forces are saved by Imperial Guard Commissar Yarrick's performance. The Blood Angels are one of 3 Space Marine Chapters who respond to the strategically-located world's plight. Lord Commander Dante's reputation amongst other Astartes is so great that Chapter Master Tu'shan of the Salamanders and Chapter Master Marneus Calgar of the Ultramarines cede overall command of Astartes operations to him. The fighting proves to be the fiercest in and around the planet's hive cities. The Blood Angels bear the brunt of the close-quarter fighting, primarily because only the overcharged engines of their Lucifer-pattern Rhinos can keep pace with the convoys of roaming Ork Trukks and Battlewagons. The tactical manoeuvrability of the Blood Angels forces is a crucial factor in the later stages of the war. The 3rd Company, under the command of its newly promoted captain, Erasmus Tycho, forms the heart of a spearhead of armoured vehicles that severs the primary Ork supply lines, which leaves the WAAAGH!'s Mekboyz without the necessary materiel to keep the Greenskins' massive Skullhammas and Stompas operational. With its heaviest units thus put out of action, the WAAAGH! is finally broken before the walls of Tarterus Hive, where Dante and Tu'shan famously fought together against Ghazghkull Thraka's own bodyguard of Nobs.942.M41 - The Eldar Commander Yriel is named the leader of the Iyanden Fleet.944.M41 - Balur Crusade. Marneus Calgar elected leader of the Space Marine Crusade force operating against worlds along the Eastern Fringes. Operations began with the scouring of Ork held Balur and ending with devastation of Boros.945-959.M41 - Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka mounts raids on various planets946.M41 - Dante, Yarrick, and Mannheim Imperial monitoring stations established in outermost orbit of Armageddon System.949.M41 WAAAGH! Groblinik - Fighting alongside the Imperial Guard troops of the Vostroyan Firstborn, Mordian Iron Guard and the Adeptus Mechanicus' Skitarii Legions, the Dark Angels attempt to halt the onslaught of the Ork WAAAGH! Groblinik. The Orks are checked at the Battle of the Sularian Gate and Ezekiel, the Grand Master of Librarians, slays the Greenskin Warlord Groblinik.949.M41 Battle of the Sularian Gate – During the Battle of the Sularian Gate the Dark Angels 5th Company deployed alongside the massed Imperial Guard regiments of the Vostroyan Firstborn, Mordian Iron Guard and Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarii Legions in an effort to halt WAAAGH! Groblonik. Several minor worlds had already fallen and dozens more teetered on the brink of destruction unless the green tide could be stopped. On the fourth day of the Battle of the Sularian Gate, Ezekiel, the Dark Angels' Grand Master of Librarians, was gravely wounded by a stray Ork bullet, embedding itself in his left eye socket. Recovering the fallen Librarian, he was taken to a makeshift triage station where the remains of his eye were removed. He only had the patience to be fitted for a simple bionic, returning to the fray. Rallying the 5th Company, Ezekiel led a furious counter-attack that broke WAAAGH! Groblonik forever. Ezekiel faced the Ork Warlord in furious hand-to-hand combat, slaying him with his powerful psychic assault. Hefting his mighty force weapon, Ezekiel hacked off Groblonik’s head and threw it into the Ork mob. The WAAAGH! broke at the sight of their fallen warlord and the panicked Greenskins were soon slaughtered by the Imperial forces.ca. 955.M41 The Gheistos Cataclysm - On the Agri-world of Gheistos, a young meat-worker's migraines lead to an escalating daemonic incursion that culminates with the planet's sky cut open by Khorne's own blade. Despite the war efforts of the Silver Skulls and Grey Knights Chapters, Exterminatus is enacted upon Gheistos soon after.955.M41 Gehenna Campaign - Commander Dante and the Blood Angels' 3rd Company face the Necron Legions of the Necron Lord known as the Silent King on the dusty wastelands of the Tomb World of Gehenna. For three weeks, neither side is able to gain an advantage though Dante finds his own tactical acumen stretched to its limits countering the space-time manipulations of the Silent King and the advanced technology of the Necrons. The stalemate is broken when a Tyranid splinter fleet suddenly enters orbit of Gehenna, which forces the two armies to break off from hostilities with each other to deal with the Great Devourer. This unwanted alliance proves to the downfall for the Tyranids. Following the final battle against the Tyranids at Death's Crag, Dante and the Silent King leave the field without further combat, as each side is now too damaged to guarantee victory over the other. In addition, for the Blood Angels, the idea of turning in combat upon those they had so recently shed blood beside was distasteful in the extreme.955.M41 Alliance at Devil's Crag - The Silent King Szarekh reluctantly joins forces with the Space Marines of the Blood Angels Chapter to defeat a Tyranid splinter fleet. Commander Dante and the 3rd Company of the Blood Angels Chapter battled against the Necron legions of the Silent King amidst the dusty wastes of the world of Gehenna. For three weeks, neither side could seize the upper hand, with Dante's tactical brilliance stretched to its limits in countering the time-space manipulations of the Silent King. The stalemate was broken only when a Tyranid splinter fleet entered orbit, forcing the two armies to break off hostilities and fight the common foe. The impromptu alliance proved to be the Tyranids' undoing. Following the final battle at Devil's Crag, Dante and the Silent King went their separate ways, both forces too battleworn to guarantee victory over the other, and, at least for the Blood Angels, the idea of turning on those they had so recently fought alongside, proved rather distasteful.Pandorax Campaign (959-961.M41) - In the Demeter Sector, Abaddon the Despoiler led an alliance of Traitor Legions, including his own Black Legion and the Death Guard, in an invasion of the Imperial Death World of Pythos in the Pandorax System, the location of an ancient hidden gateway to the Warp. Another piece in his dark design to bring an end to the Long War, the Warmaster of Chaos fell upon the world with a small force of Daemon Engines and infernal war machines. In the space of a few bloody solar days the major hive cities were overrun and the local Planetary Defence Forces crushed beneath the might of the combined Traitor Legions. Only a small contingent of Catachan Jungle Fighters, the CLXXXIII Catachan Regiment of the Imperial Guard, managed to escape the destruction, trekking through the world's inhospitable jungle to the relative safety of the nearest mountain range. Abaddon commenced the complex rituals and sacrifices that would open the Damnation Cache, a portal between realspace and the Warp, breaking open seals that had remained untouched since the time of the Horus Heresy. Heeding the impassioned cries for salvation from Pythos, the entire Dark Angels Chapter, led by Azrael himself, came to the defenders' aid. Supporting these Space Marines were Grey Knights dispatched from Titan to deal with the escalating daemonic incursion and the dire peril that the Damnation Cache posed. Both Imperial forces smashed through the Traitor Legion blockade around Pythos, in an epic void battle that pitted the finest warships of the Imperium supported by The Rock, the Dark Angels' mobile fortress-monastery, against the ancient vessels of the Traitor Legions. After the Chaos warfleet was finally driven from orbit and back into the void, the Space Marines were able to send their troops down through the atmosphere, bringing war to its ruined hives and hostile jungles. Failing to allow this distraction to draw him away from the awakening of the Damnation Cache, Abaddon sent an alliance of Legions to hold the Loyalists at bay. Before either the Dark Angels or the Grey Knights could stop him, Abaddon finally opened the portal to the Warp, daemons spilling out across Pythos. The ensuing conflict devastated the world as reality itself bent and buckled under the raw power of the Empyrean. The unleashed energies created rampant psychic phenomena, and Space Marines fought under boiling skies of blood and in rolling clouds of keening spirits. All across the Demeter Sector, latent psykers were awakened to full and terrible awareness and rebellions sprung up like cancerous boils on dozens of Imperial worlds in the region. After a long and bitter struggle, a squad of Grey Knights managed to reach the Damnation Cache and close the Warp portal. Starved of their daemonic allies, the Traitor Legions were forced onto the defensive and finally into retreat. Abaddon's forces left Pythos, escaping the vengeance of the Imperium once again, but the world had been irrevocably tainted by the touch of the Warp, its once proud cities and vast wilds twisted into a nightmarish hellscape. Before the portal was closed, however, Abaddon took with him a psyker, rumoured to be of prodigious strength and the bearer of a unique gift that would aid the Warmaster of Chaos in his forthcoming 13th Black Crusade. This conflict is remembered in Imperial records as the Pandorax Campaign.962.M41 - Imperial base on Buca III annihilated by an Ork asteroid base, another machination of Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka.963.M41 - The Fire Hawks Battle Barge Rapturous Rex, sent to Crow's World Sector to investigate raids by the Dark Eldar. The Chapter disappears en route within the Warp.963.M41 The Cleansing of Malbede - The Ultramarines clash with a Tau expeditionary fleet for control of the cursed planet of Malbede. When the conflict awakens the Necrons hidden on Malbede, the Ultramarines and the Tau join forces to defeat the emerging Necrons. In the wake of the battle, Marneus Calgar initiates Exterminatus on Malbede, but allows the Tau to evacuate before the planet is destroyed.965.M41 The Temptation of Mephiston - The Daemon Prince M'kar the Reborn trapped the Blood Angels' Chief Librarian Mephiston in the crystal caverns of Solon V. He attempted to lure Mephiston into the embrace of Chaos by accusing him of already having walked upon the path to daemonhood in the eyes of the Dark Gods. Mephiston rejected the Daemon Prince's deceptions and throttled the life from his captor, banishing him back to the Warp, but not before a seed of doubt had been planted within his heart.970.M41 The Hall of Swords - The Emperor's Swords Chapter of Space Marines, the second to bear that name, is destroyed when a Necron Tomb World awakens beneath their fortress-monastery on the world of Bellicas. Those forces isolated outside are swiftly overwhelmed, but the fate of those within is far grimmer. Subverting the systems of the fortress-monastery, a conclave of Crypteks shut down the defences and entomb the Space Marines within their own citadel. Seeking sport from their captives, the new rulers of Bellicas take it in turns to lead waves of Necron Warriors through the shadowed galls, each with the aim of accruing more kills than his peers. Though the Space Marines fight with determination and never once surrender to terror, after three weeks the contest goes to the Necron Lord Trakesz for his personal decapitation of Captain Arnoc Voreign.972.M41 - Imperial Agri-World Chigon 17 is overrun by Orks under the command of Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka using guerilla tactics.973.M41 The Rise of Damnos (Damnos Incident) - By some fateful quirk, the ancient Necron tomb on the Mining World of Damnos wakes swiftly to full function; overwhelming the human settlers and repelling a counterattack by the Ultramarines 2nd Company. The Necrons of Damnos then proceed to awaken their Dolmen Gates and reconquer a crucial spar of the Webway, driving out the Eldar who had reclaimed its paths during the Necrons' Great Sleep. With their Webway access restored, Necron raiding parties from Damnos reach out across the Ultima Segmentum of the Imperium of Man, leaving carnage in their wake.974.M41 The Damnos Incident - The Ultramarines 2nd Company under the command of Captain Cato Sicarius rescues survivors from the doomed world of Damnos, an Imperial Civilised World that was also a Necron Tomb World. The Necrons awakened and launched a massive assault upon all life on the planet's surface, while Damnos Planetary Defence Force and Imperial Guard regiments proved unable to defeat the hideous cybernetic xenos. The Ultramarines made a defiant stand at the planetary capital city of Kellenport, holding the Necrons back as the evacuation of the planet's Imperial population proceeded during what became known as the Damnos Incident. Chief Librarian Tigurius is found wherever the Ultramarines are hardest pressed, shattering the advancing Necrons with the fury of his mind and summoning psychic shields to cheat the machine lifeforms of their prey. The actions of Venerable Dreadnought Agrippan are just as heroic, and for three hours he holds Kellenport's western gate alone and unaided, obliterating all who oppose him. By the time Kellenport's defenders are driven back to their last bastion of defence, only forty Space Marines and twenty Imperial Guardsmen remain planetside. Agrippan is lost in these last few minutes, his frame pinned between a dozen streams of Gauss Weapons fire. As Thunderhawks speed Tigurius and the last survivors to safety, Agrippan's fusion reactor explodes, obliterating the spaceport and every Necron within it.975.M41 Great War of Confederation - Many Tau Septs, led by Vior'la, combine to hold off the single largest Ork WAAAGH! to have penetrated the Tau Empire. This campaign is also notable for the brilliant tactics and battle record of a Shas'o recently awoken from stasis, who earns the name Shadowsun.975.M41 Fall of the Seers of Lugganath - The Eldar Craftworld of Lugganath falls prey to the terrible disease known as the Brittle Coma. Its Seer Council project their spirits into the Garden of Nurgle in the Realm of Chaos, hoping to find a cure by freeing the captive Eldar goddess Isha from Nurgle's grasp, but instead they meet a tragic and unsettling end as their souls are transformed into the weeping trees that decorate the garden and bring a smile to Grandfather Nurgle's pox-strewn face.976.M41 Skirmish with Hive Fleet Perseus - The Tyranid Hive Fleet Perseus is detected by the Ultramarines in 976.M41. Spearheading an assault on the Tyranids, Chapter Master Marneus Calgar was severely mauled, losing all four limbs as well as large areas of body tissue and his left eye. He underwent extreme augmetic surgery and has had most of his missing body parts replaced with bionics.980.M41 The Promethean War - The Order of the Ebon Chalice reinforces Space Marines of the Salamanders Chapter who are engaged in a brutal urban war against the dread Black Legion on the world of Heletine. The enemy is put to the torch as dozens of Immolators and Land Raider Redeemers burn a path through the wartorn cities. Despite the strength of their forces, the advance is halted when Lord Gralastyx -- the Daemon Prince leading the Chaos forces - unleashes a legion of possessed Chaos Space Marines. As the frenzied Chaos horde rips through the Imperium's ranks, Battle Sisters and Space Marines fight back to back, their Bolters and Flamers blazing away as every warrior endeavours to sell their life dearly. However, the allied forces are saved when Saint Celestine appears, falling upon the Chaos horde like an avenging angel. The Living Saint carves a path through the horde towards Lord Gralastyx, before plunging her blade through his heart. With the death of Gralastyx, the Chaos horde is destroyed, but of Celestine there is no sign, for she vanished as mysteriously as she appeared.981.M41 - Durlan Ocellati discovers warp route into Wheel of Fire.982.M41 - Last encounter with Hive Fleet Perseus. The Hive Fleet drifts out-system.983.M41 - Fire Hawks declared lost in the Warp.983-985.M41 - A great Hrud Migration sweeps the galaxy.984.M41 Battle of Hell Town - Pyran Dragoons assigned to Armageddon jungle bases desert their posts, leaving the Armageddon Steel Legion's Ork Hunters to defend against Ork invasion.984.M41 The Knight of Vhospis - A Warp rift opens above the Feudal World of Vhospis. The beleaguered defenders, their technology level so low that they still rely on polearms and metal armour, are easy prey for the daemon invaders. An astropathic distress call reaches the Silver Sabres Space Marines, whose Chapter Planet, Mercuria, is less than a light-year distant. Unfortunately for Vhospis, daemons haunting the skies above the planet's besieged castles destroy almost all of the Drop Pods launched towards the surface. A single Space Marine survives, and rallies the people of Vhospis, reigniting their potent faith in the God-Emperor. Slowly, day by gore-soaked day, he begins to turn the tide.985.M41 Fall of the Inevitable Conqueror – Marshal Helbrecht would get a chance at fulfilling his Oath of Vengeance after the events on Schrödinger VII in 930.M41, when his Crusade fleet detected Necron activity around the Sautekh Dynasty's coreworld of Davatas in 985.M41. Moving swiftly to intercept, Helbrecht rejoiced when their quarry was identified as the Inevitable Conqueror, Imotekh's Cairn-class Tombship and the Sautekh flagship. Moving in with all haste, the Black Templars' Battle Barge Sigismund managed to land crippling broadside blows on the Inevitable Conqueror’s propulsive array, stranding it in place. Intending to get his revenge on his opponent personally, Helbrecht ordered an immediate teleport and boarding torpedo assault upon the Necron Tombship. Within minutes, the decks of the Inevitable Conqueror were swarming with vengeful Black Templars Astartes. Alas, Helbrecht would not even get the satisfaction of seeing his opponent: while Imotekh's pride urged him to fight, logic won out, and the Stormlord teleported himself and many of his most valuable assets away from his flagship to his unengaged Escort ships. The Necrons immediately accelerated away from the fighting and made good their escape. Fuming with impotent rage, Helbrecht could only gain a meagre measure of satisfaction from ensuring the total destruction of the Inevitable Conqueror by personally setting his foe's beloved flagship on a collision course with the closest star and blasting to smithereens those other Necron spacecraft too slow to flee. The frustrated Helbrecht reaffirmed his Oath of Vengeance, swearing once again that he would see Imotekh dead once and for all. Those Black Templars with some familiarity with the undying Necrons fear that their Marshal has bitten off more than he can chew. While Helbrecht is certainly capable of besting the Necron Phaeron in single combat, preventing the undying mechanical fiend from teleporting to safety and destroying Imotekh outright may prove to be an impossible feat for a single Chapter of Space Marines, no matter their zeal.986.M41 - Imperial Battlecruiser Radiant Way wiped out by Ork pirates led by Ghazghkull Thraka.987.M41 - Space Wolves' 519th Crusade ends in Wheel of Fire (Orks cleared).988.M41 First Battle of Rynn's World - Crimson Fists Space Marines nearly wiped out by their own misdirected missile while fighting Orks on Rynn's World in the Loki Sector.989.M41-991.M41 Second Battle of Rynn's World and Bad Landing - A Dark Angels strike force, including the entire Ravenwing, is sent alongside the forces from other Space Marine Chapters to relieve the Crimson Fists Chapter on Rynn's World and reconquer the worlds in the Loki Sector that had fallen under Ork domination.989.M41 - Force of Blood Angels Terminators killed while exploring a Space Hulk.989.M41 Assault on the Lagan System - Decades of Tau Water Caste work has converted many human worlds in the Lagan System to the service of the Greater Good. With the help of Expeditionary Cadres, the star system is graded a Class 1 Tau colony, moving steadily towards becoming a fully fledged Tau Sept. However, all this preparation comes to naught as the sector becomes a war zone, targeted for xenos cleansing by the 3rd Company of the Ultramarines Space Marines Chapter. Many Tau colonists are slain.990.M41 The Vaults of Pandrax - In a search for a cure to the Blood Angels' genetic Flaw, Brother Corbulo discovers the repositories of archeotech from the Dark Age of Technology on the world of Pandrax III that are in the hands of the Eldar of Craftworld Alaitoc. Three companies of Blood Angels, including the Terminators of the 1st Company, are assigned to seize the vaults from the xenos interlopers. A fierce battle erupts through the tech-vaults and catacombs of Pandrax III. Thought the Blood Angels are the ultimate victors, the Farseer commanding the Alaitoc Eldar sacrifices himself to destroy the very records of advanced genetic manipulation techniques that Corbulo had sought. The search for the cure to the Blood Angels' Flaw must continue elsewhere.990.M41 The Scarlet Hunt - The decadent Dark Eldar noble, Zorothriel of the Flaying Blade, outdoes his rivals by staging a daring hunt upon the Daemon World of Khornax. Breaching a Webway portal on the planet's bone-strewn plains, Zorothriel's armada of skimmers hurtle across the landscape so quickly that the daemon skull-gatherers below can only roar their anger in response. Zorothriel locates a roving pack of Flesh Hounds and begins his sport, proving his supremacy by vaporising one after another with his craft's Darklight Weaponry. At hunt's end, the surviving daemon beasts are joined by a three-headed Flesh Hound larger than the rest. Oddly, the newcomer's low growls lull the frenzied pack into submission. Sensing a potential gift for Commorragh's gladiatorial arenas, Zorothriel orders the beast bound in energy chains aboard his warship. It is the last mistake he ever makes; whilst in transit in the Webway, the three-headed beast breaks it shackles, frees its packmates and prowls the warship's corridors, killing all of the Dark Eldar on board.991.M41 The Martyrdom of Praxedes - Canoness Praxedes of the Order of Our Martyred Lady reinforces the Imperial Guard on the cardinal world of Okassis, soon after the start of the Second Tyrannic War. As the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Kraken assault the Ecclesiarchal Cathedral, the combined fire of Retributor Squads and Exorcist tanks obliterates the first wave, but the second manages to breach the fortress' walls. As Tyranids pour through, Praxedes confronts a Hive Tyrant. During the fighting, the Canoness is dealt a mortal wound, but even as her blood ebbs away, she summons the strength to land a final blow, caving in the beast's skull with a thunderous strike from her power mace. With the Tyrant's destruction, the swarm loses all direction. The Sisters waste no time in pressing the assault, determined to avenge the death of their beloved leader. The remaining aliens are swept aside, buying the time to evacuate the Ecclesiarchy's priests.991.M41 The Stromark Civil War - A political rivalry within the Stromark System lead to a civil war between the two manufactorum worlds, Stormark Primus and Stromark Secundus, that coexisted within that star system. The escalating violence halted the flow of much needed weapons and materiel from these planets to the wider Imperium, a situation that the Departmento Munitorum's Adepts determined could not be allowed to continue without adversely affecting the security of the Emperor's realm. As a result, elements of two Successor Chapters of the Blood Angels, the Angels Encarmine and the Flesh Tearers, were despatched to the Stromark System with the mandate to end the conflict by any means necessary. The fighting on Stromark Prime was the first to cease. The first engagement by the Flesh Tearers Chapter was also the last, as stories of unstoppable Space Marines hacking a vicious and bloody path through literally tens of thousands of Stormarkian warriors quickly terrified the planet's recalcitrant population into submission. Stromark Secundus took longer to be pacified, as the Angels Encarmine used less "direct" methods than their savage brethren amongst the Flesh Tearers. Several hours of difficult combat ensued that was brought to an end when 5 of the Chapter's Furioso Dreadnoughts smashed into the Stormarkian Secundus military headquarters and tore the planet's High Command apart. The surviving officers of the planet's Planetary Defence Force wisely agreed to immediately end the conflict with their neighbours and resume meeting the system's crucial production quotas.992.M41 The Hives of Hollonan - In response to a request for assistance, Chief Librarian Mephiston leads the Blood Angels strike force Sanguinatus to the Hive World of Hollonan to deal with an uprising against the authority of the Imperium. What at first appeared to be only a run-of-the-mill, if still large rebellion, was soon revealed to be a deep-seated infestation of Tyranid Genestealers. Mephiston's strike force purged the xenos parasites and their psychically-addicted cult members from the hive cities of Hollonan, but it was already too late for the Hive World -- even as the last brood of Genestealers was brought down in fire and blood, Hive Ships from a splinter fleet of the approaching Hive Fleet Kraken arrived in the Hollonan System Mephiston immediately recognised that his strike force lacked the numbers to repel a Tyranid swarm of that magnitude and so he assumed command of Hollonan's defences and sent an astropathic request for aid to Baal and to Coinal, the nearby Chapter Planet of the Blood Angels Successors called the Angels Vermillion. The battles that ensued within the depths of Hollonan strained even the ever-present lust for battle of the Blood Angels. The first assault by the Tyranids eliminated the planetary defence batteries and automated Sentry Guns. The second destroyed the chain of ancient but necessary fusion accumulators that provided Hollonan's hive cities with most of their power. What resulted was a ferocious war for survival in the guts of Hollonan's primary underhive. Mephiston's Blood Angels found themselves stretched to the limit of even their considerable abilities as tried to rally the Planetary Defence Force against the endless swarms of Termagants, Raveners and Carnifexes. Only where Mephiston personally entered the fray did the human defenders hold. Over the course of two terrible weeks, Mephiston proved his worth again and again, never once sleeping or taking rest from combat, though even his fellow Astartes had become weary beyond the measure of mortals of the constant bloodshed. His deeds wrote a new legend for the Chapter. At the Chapel of the Emperor's Repose, Mephiston tore a Carnifex to shreds with his own hands. He held the entrance to the hive city's filtration plant for six hours by himself. In the final hours of that terrible assault, he cleaved his way alone through the spearhead of the Tyranids' primary assault, slaying a Hive Tyrant and all of its hideous guardians before he was himself struck down by a Trygon. Mephiston's fall, which could have easily crushed the last strands of fragile morale amongst the world's defenders, instead led them to redouble their efforts to be worthy of his example. Such was the determination borne in the hearts of the Blood Angels and the soldiers of Hollonan that they held out long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Fresh companies of Blood Angels and Angels Vermillion Astartes came from the sky in Drop Pods and Stormraven gunships just in time to save the world's remaining defenders. Yet the Astartes were not alone, for they had been joined by the Eldar of Craftworld Ulthwe, led by the ancientFarseer Eldrad Ulthran, who had decided to fight beside the guardians of Mankind for reasons of their own. The Tyranids were crushed between the attacks of the three descending armies and this splinter of the coming Hive Fleet Kraken was removed from existence before its parent Hive Fleet arrived in full. Eldrad Ulthran and his forces remained just long enough to see Mephiston recovered from the rubble, terribly wounded but miraculously still clinging to life. This second resurrection only served to increase Mephiston's legend within his Chapter -- and beyond.992.M41 - The VIII Kimmerian Regiment, fighting Orks on the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy, are assisted by Jotun Bearclaw's renegade Space Wolves Great Company. Bearclaw had refused to return when ordered to Fenris after fighting at Ichar IV due to the length of travel time involved.992.M41 - Ursarkar E. Creed and his Cadian Shock Troops of the Imperial Guard annihilates an Eldar raid launched by Craftworld Ulthwé on the planet Aurent.992.M41 The Ghosts of Rhea's World - After an eruption in the heart of the cursed burial plateau of Rhea's World, a host of Plaguebearers falls upon the terrified defences of the planetary hive cities.993.M41 The Second Tyrannic War and the Battle of Ichar IV - The Ultramarines quash rebellion on the industrial world of Ichar IV, only to find themselves at the forefront of a desperate defence against the Tyranids' Hive Fleet Kraken. Elsewhere, the Eldar Craftworld Iyanden is ravaged by other tendrils of the Kraken. Two Space Marine Chapters -- the Scythes of the Emperor and the Lamenters -- are all but wiped out and hundreds of Imperial worlds are lost to the Tyranids before the incursion is blunted.993.M41 The Nimbosa Annexation - Commander Brightsword, a student of Farsight's way of war leads an attack to claim the Imperial world of Nimbosa. By the time the Imperium brings reinforcements, the Tau are prepared to defend their new planet. The fighting culminates with the infamous Koloth Gorge Massacre, where the forces of the Imperial Guard are so brutally slaughtered that Brightsword is censured, summoned back to the homeworld of T'au due to the remorselessness of his acts. Since this attack, the planet has changed hands several more times and remains a war zone.993.M41 The Warpsmith's Will - The Warpsmith Vhostok Pistonhand of the Iron Warriors stages a coup over Diesos, a Dark Forge World and the location of a soul forge occupied by the daemon-binding Dark Mechanicum. After a single night of bloodshed, the entire world is given over to the production of Daemon Engines for the Warpsmith's army. Each new horror produced is slaved to Pistonhand's will by the forbidden rite known as the Concatechism. The Warpsmith's Chaos Sorcerers summon daemon after daemon to the soul forges, binding them into the flames with iron-worded spells. The planet turns black with the smog of infernal industry. Eventually, the Chaos Gods' gaze falls upon the wholesale abduction of their servants, and they are most displeased. Four massive daemonic legions materialise upon Diesos, one sent by each of the Ruinous Powers. United in their outrage, they prove unstoppable. Though Puistonhand's armies boast thousands of mechanical terrors, the invaders seem without number. Diesos is conquered within a month. As the daemon legions break apart and start to fight over the spoils of victory, the war for Diesos starts anew as the latest theatre in the Great Game.994.M41 Blackfang Crusade - After determining that the Ork strongholds located in the Blackfang System had defied the will of the Emperor for far too long, Lord Commander Dante mobilised the entire Blood Angels Chapter for a year-long Imperial Crusade that not only drove the Greenskins from their empire within the 12 worlds of Blackfang but also from 2 neighbouring star systems that had long been Ork bastions.995.M41 Battle of Korsk II - Lord Vorlak leads a rebellion that is crushed by Space Marine in a major tank battle on the plains of Korsk II.995.M41 Beheading the Serpent - Captain Tycho's Blood Angels 3rd Company was one of the many Space Marine strike forces that responded to the threat of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Jormungandr. Though Tycho led his Astartes to numerous crucial victories that turned the tide against this tendril of the Great Devourer, his tactics proved so reckless, even for a Blood Angel, that the Sanguinary Priests of the Chapter began to fear for his sanity.995.M41 The Thridian Protocol - When a Warp-time dilation twists the firmament over Thridia, the planet's dark past comes back to haunt it. In the skies above, clouds solidify into tentacled beasts, stars turn into unblinking eyes and daemons climb out of the tortured clouds to fall claws-first on the mortals below. Thridia's Imperial Guard regiments fix bayonets and fight back, but their officers are at a loss as to how to defeat  an enemy that literally matrialises out of thin air. The retreat is signalled. En masse, the regiments head to Hive Vertes, only to find their withdrawal is blocked by a thickening wall of Necrons that silently rises out of the ash dunes. Trapped an bewildered, the Imperial Guard resolve to die fighting. But the Necrons have their own plans for Thridia; plans that Chaos cannot be allowed to disrupt. They fire volley after volley into the daemons with clockwork precision, systematically destroying the invaders wherever they manifest into realspace. The Imperial Guard have to conduct a running battle to escape, eventually fighting their way back to the hive city. From the safety of Vertes' noble spires, the high-ranking officers of the Guard have their men mind-wiped before coordinating a week-long blanket bombardment centred upon the battle in the wastes.996.M41 The Battle of the Sepulchre - An Eldar emissary from the Biel-tan Craftworld was sent to the Imperial world of Commrath to enter negotiations with its Planetary Governor for the return of an ancient eldritch artefact from the tomb of one of the Ultramarines' most-lauded heroes, Captain Orar, known as the Sceptre of Galaxian. Refusing his request, the Eldar emissary grew angry and soon his pleas turned to threats of violence. The Planetary Governor refused to be cowed by the arrogant xenos and had the Eldar executed on the spot. However, the Governor had the foresight to heed the Eldar's threats and requested aid from the Ultramarines. Calgar responded with overwhelming force, mobilising his entire Chapter. This would be the first engagement the Ultramarines fought in as an entire Chapter since the First Tyrannic War. The Eldar launched a series of devastating attacks against the tomb complex. Though unsuccessful against the stoic Ultramarines' defenses, fully half the Astartes' number were either wounded or dead. When the third and final attack came, the Eldar looked like they were going to overwhelm the defenders. An Eldar Avatar of Khaine spearheaded the assault, breaking the Ultramarines' lines of defence and spilling into the tomb complex. Dozens of Ultramarines were killed by the mighty Avatar. Calgar valiantly fought the Avatar in single combat, and though grievously wounded, managed to kill the vile creature. With the fall of their War God, the Eldar lost all heart for the fight. Some fled without heed while others fell back in good order, but all retreated into the darkness. Despite overwhelming odds, once again the Ultramarines had emerged victorious, but in his wisdom Calgar knew that the Eldar would return for the Sceptre of Galaxian. So it was that Calgar informed Commrath's Governor that the Galaxian Sceptre would be removed from Orar's Sepulchre to Macragge, where it could be properly defended.996.M41 Vengeance for Semmel  - Commander Dante learns of the location of the Eldar who slew so many Blood Angels on Semmel years before. He orders the Sanguinary Guard to earn the Chapter's vengeance. The strike force caught its quarry in the arid badlands of the world of Zoros. In the resulting aerial combat, Sanguinary Guardians duelled with Eldar Jetbikes and Swooping Hawks Aspect Warriors, but emerged as the victors. Unfortunately, the identity of the individual who betrayed the Blood Angels at Semmel cannot be determined and so final vengeance for that loss remains beyond the Chapter's reach.996.M41 Cleansing of Durganion XIII - A distress call lures a Dark Angels strike force into a Genestealer ambush, and the confines of the hive prove an advantage to the xenos. The battle end when the Broodlord is destroyed by a Ravenwing advance. Without his guidance, the remaining xenos are exterminated and the planet marked by the Inquisition for corruption testing.997.M41 The Laughing Death - A hundred thousand Daemonettes invade upon the rust planet of Ferrite Mons when the world's over-privileged ruler jokingly invites the handmaidens of Slaanesh to his feast. Even the elite regiments of the Vostroyan Firstborn cannot slay the daemons whose laughter blends with the screams of the Ferrite aristocracy.997.M41 The Third Tyrannic War and the Defence of Tarsis Ultra - Elements of the Ultramarines and Mortifactors Space Marine Chapters make a stand against one spur of the Tyranids' Hive Fleet Leviathan on the world of Tarsis Ultra. The defenders defeat this tendril of the Leviathan with an engineered anti-Tyranid biological plague, but the remainder of Hive Fleet Leviathan rampages on unabated.997.M41 Dark Angels and the Third Tyrannic War - Several Dark Angels strike forces take part in fighting the far-reaching tendrils of Hive Fleet Leviathan.Assault on Straton (997.M41) – The Dark Angels engaged the Tyranid menace of Hive Fleet Leviathan on the world of Straton during the Third Tyrannic War.221.997.M41 Battle of Piscina IV – Piscina IV was a Dark Angels recruiting world that was invaded by the Ork WAAAGH! led by the Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka and his ally the Warlord Nazdreg Ug Urdgrub. Though caught by surprise, the world was defended by the Dark Angels' 3rd Company, and assisted by a scattering of combined squads drawn from the personnel of the Dark Angels' Deathwing and Scout Companies. The Orks were successfully driven off, thanks to the actions of Master Belial and his small force. Piscina IV was saved, though much damage had been incurred on the planet and its civilian inhabitants.997.M41 to present - The Third Sphere Expansion - After careful preparation, the new Ethereal Supreme, Aun'Va, launches the Third Sphere Expansion.310.997.M41 Ksi'm'yen Established - The first sept of the Third Sphere Expansion is declared and used as a staging ground for further advancement.525.997.M41 Defence of the Farsight Enclaves - With his spearhead of eighty XV8 Crisis Teams, Commander Farsight leads a counter-attack against a tendril of Hive Fleet Kraken that has entered his territory.998.M41 The Conquest of T'ros - The Tau complete their annexation of what was previously the Imperial Mining World of Taros following the events of the Taros Campaign against the forces of the Imperium. Taros is renamed T'ros by the Tau and becomes the prime planet of a new Sept of the Tau Empire; its remaining humans are considered Gue'vesa citizens of the Tau Empire and are congratulated on the wisdom of their decision to join the Greater Good.998.M41 - The Administratum Historicus Coran Celecius is tried for heresy by the Inquisition after his work links the Aphis Hermitage Massacre to the Necrons and other mysterious past encounters Mankind has had with that dangerous and enigmatic race.998.M41 Third War for Armageddon - The Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Thraka returned to the Hive World of Armageddon at the head of the largest Ork WAAAGH! seen since the Ullanor Crusade ten millennia before, unleashing the Third War for Armageddon. Over 2 dozen Space Marine Chapters respond to the Greenskin assault this time, which was necessary as the Blood Angels had been forced to deploy much of their existing strength against the equally dangerous threat of Hive Fleet Leviathan. Even so, honour demanded that the Chapter provide at least some assistance to Armageddon and Dante sent the 3rd Company and generous number of support units. During the course of the campaign, Captain Tycho finally succumbed to the Black Rage and spent his life valiantly on the outer walls of the Hive Tempestora, taking hundreds of Orks with him down into death. The 3rd Company's new commander was Captain Galan Machiavi.998.M41 To Catch Cypher - The Black Templars fight alongside the Dark Angels, though a dispute over a Black Templars prisoner who may be Cypher causes both Chapters to briefly engage in combat. The incident is reported to Terra and Inquisitor Archibald is assigned to lead the inquiry.871.998.M41 Triptych of Grief - On Galdemor, the violence committed by the daemon legion of Braskh'har the Devious, a Herald of Slaanesh, causes such grief that a new Warp rift opens. The armies of Khal'thar'rak, the Bloodied Fang, and a host of necrotic Nurgle daemons spill forth, led by Ku'Gath Plaguefather and Prince Gurglish the Ever-rotting. The three armies fight over the spoils of the world, leaving no mortal creature alive by the time they eventually depart back to the Realm of Chaos.999.M41 The Carnac Campaign - The Necron Overlord Anrakyr the Traveller arrives on a planet he supposes to be the Tomb World of Carnac, only to find it infested with Eldar Exodites. Realising that the tomb, if it remains, will be buried too deep for him to awaken it before the Exodites can themselves summon aid, Anrakyr entreats the Necron Lords and Overlords of other Tomb Worlds for aid. Reinforcements swiftly arrive from Mandragora, Gidrim and Trakonn, through the most unexpected of all is a contingent from Solemnace, led by Trazyn the Infinite himself. All this takes time, however, and by the time the Night Scythe fleets deploy the invading forces, the armies of the Alaitoc Craftworld stand side-by-side with the Carnac Exodites. Guided by the prophecies of Farseer Eldorath Starbane and the strategies of Illic Nightspear, the Eldar attempt to stall the Necron invasion with a series of hit-and-run attacks. Their aim is to sever the command structure by destroying Anrakyr and his closest allies, but the Pyrrhian Lord manages to subvert the prophesies of the Farseer through the astromantic analyses of Orikan the Diviner. Though Orikan's divinations are by no means as focussed as those of Eldorath Starbane, they are sufficient to tangle the skeins of fate and leave many details of the campaign beyond the Farseer's reach. So it is that Pathfinders arrive at what they thought to be Anrakyr's location, only to find him long gone and squads of Deathmarks waiting in ambush. After several inconclusive battles on Carnac's verdant plains, Anrakyr forces the Eldar to engage in a head-to-head confrontation by marching on the Exodites' World Spirit shrine. As the tireless Necron legions advance upon the walls, Doom Scythes duel with elegant Eldar fighters in the skies above. Deathmarks ply a deadly trade of ambush and counter-ambush with Alaitoc Pathfinders, and all the while Flayed Ones prowl the flanks, pouncing on any Eldar foolish enough to show even a momentary sign of weakness. The two sides are well-matched, with Necron hardiness countered by the Eldar's tactical precision. Victory finally falls to the Necrons when Carnac's tomb unexpectedly begins to awaken, stirred from dormancy by the tumult above. With Necron reinforcements now starting to trickle into the campaign, the Eldar have little choice but to abandon Carnac and its World Spirit to their ancient enemies. Anrakyr is grimly jubilant in the campaign's aftermath, and gladly accedes when Trazyn requests the entire World Spirit shrine as spoils of war. For his part, Orikan requests no trophy or payment for his part in the victory, and merely hopes that when the flush of victory fades, no one thinks to question the convenient coincidence of the Carnac tomb's awakening.999.M41 Traitors on Cadia - A murderous plot unleashed by the forces of Chaos kills several members of the Cadian High Command, including the Lord Castellan. Colonel Ursarkar E. Creed is appointed the new Lord Castellan of Cadia.999.M41 The Taking of Bridge Two-Four - Uriel Ventris succeeds Captain Idaeus as commander of the Ultramarines 4th Company after Idaeus sacrifices himself to destroy a vital objective.999.M41 The San Leor Massacre - A Red Corsairs strike force invades San Leor, the original home world of the Daughters of the Emperor. The Chaos Space Marines are unprepared for the fury of the Adepta Sororitas reprisal, as they come under assault from nine separate Orders Militant and are utterly annihilated by the combined counter-attack.999.M41 Solemnus Crusade - The Solemnus Crusade is an Imperial campaign conducted by elements of the Black Templars Chapter in answer to Ork attacks on the world of Solemnus. The Crusade's Emperor's Champion was captured by the green-skinned xenos, desecrating his sacred wargear in the process. The Orks eluded capture, but were chased to the surface or Armageddon where the Crusade is currently looking for their captured Battle-Brother.999.M41 The Maelstrom Threat - Huron Blackheart's assembled Chaos fleet emerges from the Maelstrom and swiftly brings several star systems, including Chogoris, under siege. The White Scars withdraw from their operations on Armageddon to meet this dire threat to their homeworld.999.M41 Return to Damnos - Despite the Inquisition's efforts to suppress all knowledge of the Necrons' reemergence into the galaxy, the Imperium's faith in its military supremacy was shaken by the news that spread across the galaxy after 974.M41 that these xenos had overcome both the Imperial Guard and the Ultramarines at Damnos. Eventually, reports of the loss of Damnos made their way to Terra, where both the Fabricator-General of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the High Lords of Terra decreed that the Ultramarines must return to Damnos and eradicate the Necron threat once and for all. Twenty-five standard years after the Damnos Incident, in 999.M41, this Imperial order was brought to Macragge by the experienced Deathwatch strike team led by Squad Lazarius. Chapter Master Marneus Calgar was not pleased with the Imperium's decree, for he knew that his 2nd Company had faced only a fraction of the awakened Necrons on Damnos a quarter of a century before. Once they returned to Damnos, the Ultramarines would face the entire strength of a Necron Tomb World and risk the deaths of hundreds of the Chapter's Astartes. Yet, Calgar knew that the High Lords of Terra were right and that the Necrons on Damnos must be defeated if the Imperium was ever to know peace in the face of the growing Necron threat. With the record of the Ultramarines stained by the action on Damnos, it was their duty to banish the ghosts of the past. Upon haring Calrgar's announcement that the Ultramarines' 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th Companies, accompanied by elements of the 10th, would return to reclaim Damnos for the Emperor, Cato Sicarius smiled for the first time in decades. It is said that during the preparation for the assault, Sicarius trained so hard that he fought with the fury of a man possessed and even slept in the cage-vault. Before the solar month was out, Calgar's armies and fleets had been assembled and over 500 Space Marines stood ready for war. In addition, Sicarius was granted a Vortex Grenade by the Deathwatch Sergeant Davian Imocles, who was rumoured to be an old friend and former squad mate. The journey to Damnos was a perilous one, with Calgar relying on various ruses and distractions to get his warriors safely to the planet's surface. By the time the Necrons had spotted the true location of the Ultramarine warships, the Astartes fleet was in a position to launch their Drop Pods. The first wave consisted of unmanned variants designed to draw the fire of the Gauss Pylons. The second wave, however, represented the true assault, which brought hundreds of Space Marines as well as a number of vengeful Imperial Guard regiments to the heart of the Necrons' subterranean tomb complex. Their objective was to destroy the pyramidal complexes that controlled the Necron power grid and to do it before the Imperial forces were overwhelmed. However, one factor that they did not account for was the physical incarnation of a C'tan held within a Tesseract Vault. It was determined that this vault was the true source of the Necrons' power and must be neutralized if the Imperial forces were to have any hope of victory. Despite the power brought to bear by the Imperial assault on Damnos, Marneus Calgar felt like a duelist being taken apart by a superior foe in the battle-cage. The xenos' battle logic proved impeccable, with its master intelligence anticipating the Ultramarines' every move and neutralizing each tactic they employed. Thanks to an energy shield emitting from the vault, every plasma volley and melta blast employed against the Necron Monoliths dissipated harmlessly or detonated prematurely before it could harm the constructs. Since the xenos had managed to analyze the Ultramarines' battle doctrine, Calgar realized he must attempt a completely unexpected strategem. Assaulting the ranks of the Necron Immortals, the Chapter Master jumped onto the metallic base of a malfunctioning Gauss Pylon and slowly pushed the war engine's crescent back until its viridian beam hit the energy shield of the floating necropolis. With a blinding flash of light, the energy shield protecting the tomb complex collapsed and the Tesseract Vault was broken wide open to reveal the enraged demigod imprisoned within. A giant cruciform of pure light rose above the Necron army, the remnants of the C'tan's energy cage still crackling around it. Roaring in exultation at its newfound freedom, the booming sound threw Ultramarines and Necrons alike to the icy ground and cracked the planet's crust. Its first victim would be the Necron Overlord, the Undying, which the star god crushed with ease by transforming the earth around his metallic form into an oversized fist. The Overlord phased out of reality, seeking to escape back to his subterranean lair. But deep underground, the surviving members of the Deathwatch's Squad Lazarius had reached their own objective. The Undying teleported back to his cabled sarcophagus right in front of the Deathwatch's eyes. Unfortunately for the Necron, the crack team of Astartes had replaced his revivication engines with melta charges and entropic destabilisers and proceeded to blast the Necron Overlord into atoms. Back on the surface, the xenos reeled from the loss of their leader and the artificially intelligent command programs that had governed their warriors' every action. Meanwhile, the unleashed C'tan lashed out in fury at both its Necron enslavers and the Ultramarines as Captain Sicarius duelled a Flayed Ones Lord. After ramming his Power Sword into the powerful Flayed One's torso, Sicarius summoned twenty-five years of anger and frustration into a final burst of strength. He unclipped the Vortex Grenade that had been given to him earlier and activated the weapon before throwing it at the enraged demigod hovering overhead. The grenade detonated and formed a spiralling orb of nothingness as its unstoppable force sucked the C'tan into the Warp before collapsing and winking out of existence. Sicarius felt a great weight lift in that moment, as he realised both he and the Ultramarines had been redeemed for their original failure on Damnos in the sight of the Emperor. Over the next few solar days, the Imperials eliminated the surviving Necrons with grim efficiency. Empty tomb complexes were collapsed or detonated under the guidance of the Deathwatch and the citizens of Damnos whom Sicarius had rescued decades before were restored to the world to reclaim it for their own. 103.999.M41 Shas'O'Kais Triumphant - It is unknown when the Tau Commander Shas'O Kais, another of Commander Puretide's former proteges, emerged from stasis, but it is he that leads the victories that establish the Fi'rios Sept at this time for the Tau Empire.303.999.M41 The Zeist Campaign - Captain Cato Sicarius leads an army of Astartes and the Imperial Guard into the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy to halt the Tau's Fourth Sphere Expansion. An Imperial Crusade later known as the Zeist Campaign drawn from 30 Space Marine Chapters drives the Tau back from dozens of Imperial worlds, but is recalled before its work can be completed to deal with the much greater threat of Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade. The Space Marines drive the Tau from many worlds in the sector, but the Tau Empire gains elsewhere during the Imperium's distraction with the 13th Black Crusade are on such a scale that, even to the casualty-conscious Tau, Commander Shadowsun's diversion seems not just acceptable, but shrewd.757.999.M41 Mu'gulath Bay - In the largest battle of the Third Sphere Expansion, Commander Shadowsun leads the attack at Mu'gulath Bay, beginning the rout of human forces now known as the Path of Blood. It is a bright day for the Tau, who saw a foe with vastly superior numbers crushed. No less than twelve advanced weapon prototypes were successfully deployed in the campaign, with only the fusion reactor meltdown that destroyed Mu'gulath's moon proving a failure.854.999.M41 Defence of Ultramar - In the midst of the oncoming 13th Black Crusade, the Realm of Ultramar comes under renewed assault from the forces of Chaos. The Daemon Prince M'kar the Reborn, clad in mortal flesh once again in the body of a former Ultramarines Dreadnought, leads the onslaught against the world of Talassar. Other Chaotic warlords under the command of the Iron Warriors Warsmith Honsou attack Calth, Espandor and Tarentus. Marneus Calgar recalls all Ultramarines forces to defend Ultramar, dispatching a reinforced Battle Company to each threatened planet. Calgar himself accompanies the 2nd Company to defend Talassar, determined to slay M'kar a hundred times over if need be.992.999.M41 The Great Awakening - A ripple of psychic activity passes through the stars, awakening the supernatural abilities of countless latent human psykers. The resultant backlash creates innumerable Warp rifts and the spate of daemonic invasions that follows tests the Imperium to its limit. A thousand Imperial worlds are lost, hopelessly embroiled in daemonic incursions on a scale not seen since the Age of Strife.995.999.M41 The 13th Black Crusade - The 13th Black Crusade erupts out of the Eye of Terror led by the Warmaster of Chaos, Abaddon the Despoiler, and his Black Legion. The great Chaos Lord leads the largest Chaos invasion of the Imperium since the Horus Heresy to the Fortress World of Cadia in the hopes of conquering the world and at last seizing the Cadian Gate for the Dark Gods so that the forces of Chaos can once again launch themselves towards Terra and depose the hated Corpse Emperor. In his wake come the legions of the Warp, Heretic Astartes and daemons alike, reality buckling before their advance. The Imperium shudders as a tidal wave of raw Chaos pours into realspace, and the galaxy stands on the brink of ultimate destruction. After a gruelling campaign with a death toll that spirals into the trillions, Abaddon the Despoiler succeeds in tearing down the strange pylons that for thousands of Terran years had held the Cadian Gate as a stable region of space. Cadia falls soon thereafter, and a wave of Warp Storms roars into being across the length of the galaxy.995.999.M41 Dark Angels and the 13th Black Crusade - The Dark Angels deploy the entirety of their Chapter in support of the beleaguered world of Cadia to halt the encroaching forces of Chaos led by Abaddon the Despoiler during the 13th Black Crusade. According to the Dark Oracle, the name given by the Dark Angels' Supreme Grand Masters to Luther, who lies rotting in The Rock's deepest dungeon, many Fallen are amongst the forces of Chaos following Abaddon into battle. The Rock makes haste for the Cadian Sector. Yet soon after the battle is joined, Supreme Grand Master Azrael withdraws the support of the Dark Angels for Cadia, claiming any engagements involving the Traitor Legions were Adeptus Astartes business only and of no concern to others. Even as The Rock made haste towards the embattled Cadian Sector, the Chapter was bombarded with distress calls; urgent pleas for aid from desperate worlds. The Inner Circle was awash with confirmed reports of the Fallen, including Cypher himself. The Rock's psychic choir of Astropaths had become so overloaded with messages of xenos invasions and uprisings that it was impossible to track which were current and which were ghost messages -- lingering echoes of disasters already come and gone. From the psi-shielded sanctum of the Librarius, Ezekiel, the Grand Master of Librarians, reported a tide of Warp energies rising, the Eye of Terror once more opening to spew forth its filth onto the galaxy, including the unmistakable signs of the Fallen amongst their number. Desperate to capture the Fallen and to prevent any from revealing the Chapter's long-kept secret, the Dark Angels were already too thinly spread. Risking the scrutiny of the Inquisition and the allegation of attempting to rebuild a full Space Marine Legion, the Dark Angels called upon their Successor Chapters for aid. The Unforgiven girded for battle as never before since the time of the Horus Heresy. Into this scene of calamity, Supreme Grand Master Azrael emerged from the deepest dungeon of The Rock, his mind still attempting to decipher the gibbering deluge of information spouted by the Dark Oracle, his Chapter's greatest secret and greatest asset. Despite the multitude of threats and the darkness of the hour, he knew that it was for these circumstances that the Space Marines had been created. Brooding and perhaps obsessively flawed by their past failings, the Dark Angels nevertheless rushed once more to the forefront of Mankind's battle for survival, intending to fight with righteous fervor and a refusal to never accept defeat. No matter the odds, whoever the foe. During the 13th Black Crusade the Dark Angels took part in many notable battles, including:999.M41 Defence of Ex Lucan VII - Composed of four entire Companies of Dark Angels and three of their Successor Chapters (not named), this deadly force of Astartes are collectively known as Taskforce Shadowguard. They staged themselves upon the outlying Mining World of Ex Lucan VII, laying in wait within the hollow mountains of the Kyran Range for a substantial force of Eldar raiders. Appearing out of nowhere through portals this vile race makes use of, the xenos waste not time in launching their attack against the mining settlements of the Kyran Range. Shadowguard reveals themselves and take the first raider force completely by surprise. Exploiting the momentum of victory, Shadowguard than executes a manoeuvre that smashed aside a second xenos force. Unable to coordinate their assault in order to force a breakthrough in the Astartes' lines, the Eldar raiders are annihilated in a devastating massacre.999.M41 Pursuit of the Voice - During the campaign, the Dark Angels and Space Wolves great mutual rivalry causes severe disruptions to the Imperial efforts in the defence of the Sentinel Worlds area. Though both forces operate in the same region for several weeks, both refuse to coordinate their actions, harming the ability of the Imperial Guard commanders on the ground to act, for they cannot rely upon the aid of either Chapter. The situation soon changes, as the Dark Angels abruptly leave the area in search of renegade individuals they refuse to identify. The Dark Angels seek a shadowy figure calling himself the "Voice of the Emperor," operating out of Lelithar. The Dark Angels launch a number of strikes against this figure, but on each occasion found that the pressures of constant attacks upon their hallowed ground of the Caliban System forces them to redeploy their forces. Each time the Dark Angels manage to close on the suspected location of the Voice, he somehow is able to slip through their clutches, leaving behind taunting, heretical graffiti. Harbouring an intense hatred for this individual, the Voice transmits a number of all-channel vox-casts throughout the war, making obscure references to the I Legion's earliest history, as well as making astonishing claims against their Primarch Lion El'Jonson. The Dark Angels and their Successors vehemently rebut these blasphemous broadcasts. The Dark Angels and the Unforgiven relentless pursue this heretic and his followers and eventually capture him. But as the Voice lay languishing within the holds of one of their vessels he somehow, through some as yet unidentified means, managed to effect his escape.999.M41 Battle of Kasr Tyrok-Cadia - The Dark Angels and the Space Wolves set aside their ancient vendetta as Supreme Grand Master Azrael and Great Wolf Logan Grimnar come to a mutual, but temporary, understanding. Both Chapters take to the field together, in the defence of Kasr Tyrok upon the world of Cadia against a substantial force of Chaos mutants. The combined force of Dark Angels and Space Wolves smashed into the rear of the mutant mob, cutting them down without mercy, each Chapter sought to outdo the other in their skill at arms. As the last few mutants were dispatched their friendly banter soon turned to insults. Victory had been achieved, but the Sons of the Lion and the Sons of Russ soon depart ways, their long-time rivalry rearing its ugly head once again.Battle of Kasr Partox-Cadia (999.M41) - A massive force of the Archenemy stands arrayed against the valiant Imperial defenders of Kasr Partox in a final stand. Within the fortress are 23 Cadian regiments. Alongside the regiments of Cadia stand a host of units from worlds near and far, such as the Knovians, Gundronites, Mordant, Thracians, Jourans and a thousand more. The battle-brothers of Adeptus Astartes are also counted amongst the Imperial defenders, including Chapters from the Dark Angels, Space Wolves, Ultramarines, Doom Eagles and many more that aren't named. There are also other servants of the Emperor which includes the Sisters from the Adepta Sororitas, the mighty Grey Knights, scores of Inquisitors, siege dreadnoughts of the Ordo Reductor, as well as the mighty God Machines of the Adeptus Titanicus and their Skitarii servants. In the ensuing slaughter, the Imperials are forced to abandon Kasr Partox and retreat towards the Caducades Sea, where they will hope to make their stand at Kasr Gallan. At the height of the battle, a fleet of Necrontyr vessels appeared from nowhere and assaulted Kasr Partox as well as the orbiting Chaos fleet, forcing a Chaos-held Blackstone Fortress to disengage. With Kasr Partox fallen, command and control structure are soon non-existent. The retreat from Kasr Partox sees the most intense fighting of the war, with many thousands of lives given up so that the bulk of the Imperial forces mighty escape. The Imperials managed to make it to the Caducades Sea, leaving behind thousands of dead, their bodies defiled by the blasphemous Chaos horde. The Imperial flee aboard transport ships across the Caducades Sea, forced to abandon the bulk of their heavy equipment. Some remnants from the Ecclesiarchy as well as a number of Space Marines of the Subjugators have chosen to make their last stand, as Imperial Guard engineers plant munitions at the heart of the part in order to destroy it.999.M41 The Blood Angels' Darkest Hour - The Blood Angels are tested as they have not been since the days of the Horus Heresy. As the launch of the 13th Black Crusade consumes the resources of the Imperium, a tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan is determined to be on a direct course for Baal. To make matters worse, the dread Bloodthirster Ka'Bandha, the Bane of Sanguinius, returns from the Warp leading an army of daemons. His first blow is struck against Ammonai, the outermost world of the Baal System. Faced with a possible war of extermination for the Chapter on 2 fronts, Lord Commander Dante makes swift preparations, and unites many Imperial and even non-human worlds under the command of the Blood Angels simply for the sake of survival against Tyranid and Daemon alike. Even some former foes of the Chapter and the Imperium are counted in Dante's alliance, though whether or not they can be truly trusted when the time comes remains an open question. Well aware that even these forces will not be enough to repel both foes, Dante recalls the 3rd Company from its operations on Armageddon and sends requests for aid to all of the Blood Angels' known Successor Chapters. The Flesh Tearers are the first to respond and despatch their entire fighting strength to the Blood Angels' aid without question. Ultimately, all of the Successor Chapters save for the Lamenters lend some form of aid to their primogenitor. Even the Knights of Blood, declared Renegade by the Imperium many centuries earlier, heed Dante's call -- though they are very careful to never take the field alongside the other Chapters. The stage is thus set for the defence of Baal, and perhaps the final battle of the Scions of Sanguinius, the Sons of the Angel.884.999.M41 Stern's Remembrance - The Dark Angels 5th Company battles elements of the Chaos Space Marine warband known as the Crimson Slaughter for control of the Chaos artefact called the Hellfire Stone. The Dark Angels' 5th Company was led by Master Zadakiel to the world of Stern's Remembrance where they discovered the notorious Fallen Angel Attias the Untamed. The Fallen attempted to warn his erstwhile brothers that it was all an elaborate trap, and that they should take their leave. The Dark Angels took Attias into custody and attempted to take their leave, but as they made their way back to their Thunderhawks the trap was sprung, as a massive Drop Pod assault was launched by the Crimson Slaughter while their allied Chaos Cultists surrounded the outnumbered Dark Angels. In the ensuing battle, the Dark Angels reluctantly freed Attias, allowing him to fight by their side in order to survive the Heretics' onslaught. As Zadakiel was about to board the hovering gunship, the Helbrute Mortis Metalikus appeared. Zadakiel drew his Heavenfall Blade called Fellbane and started to do battle with the beast. Despite his agility, the Helbrute eventually got the upper hand and was about to crush him underfoot when the Thunderhawk appeared, shooting the Helbrute and giving Zadakiel the chance to climb aboard. However, as the Dark Angels Master grabbed the open ramp at the front of the Thunderhawk, the Helbrute grabbed him, dragging Zadakiel down. Seeing he could not escape his fate and that the Helbrute was aiming his Multi-melta at the Thunderhawk, Zadakiel threw Fellbane into the Thunderhawk and let go, falling to his death. Now the most senior Space Marine on board, Sergeant Balthasar gave the order to return to The Rock with their prisoner. The Captain of the 5th Company's Strike Cruiser handed over a data-slate with a message from Kranon the Relentless, the Chaos Lord who led the Crimson Slaughter warband. In the message, Kranon taunted Balthazar, showing how the Helbrute had turned the body of Zadakiel into a trophy and claiming that he knew the Dark Angels' secret shame, as proven by the capture of the Fallen Angel Attias, and that he expected and indeed counted upon meeting again as the Dark Angels would surely not tolerate the existence of such a breach of their ancient secrecy for long.ca. 999.M41 Return of the Avenging Son - Roboute Guilliman is revived out of stasis during the Ultramar Campaign of the 13th Black Crusade just in time to fend off the Black Legion strike force sent to prevent his resurrection. As the galaxy grows darker beneath ever more ominous Warp Storms, the returned Primarch of the Ultramarines embarks on a danger-fraught journey to Terra known as the Terran Crusade in order to stand before the Emperor's throne and seek his father's guidance.ca. 999.M41 The Great Rift Opens - A chain reaction of Warp cataclysms rips across the Imperium, plunging its worlds into disaster and awakening the dormant powers of latent psykers across the galaxy. The Imperium is torn in two along its length, giving rise to the phenomenon known as the Cicatrix Maledictum or "Great Rift." Countless civilisations are lost to daemonic incursions as the galaxy burns. Nearly half the galaxy is cut off behind the rift, and becomes known as the Imperium Nihilus or "Dark Imperium."ca. 999.M41 The Battle of Lion's Gate - Barely has Roboute Guilliman returned to Terra when the empyric bow waves of the Great Rift sweep over the Sol System. Riding their boiling crests comes a horde of Khornate daemons, who burst through the skin of reality to assail Terra itself in what is also known as the Second Battle of Terra. Though this is the Adeptus Custodes' nightmare scenario, they enact their Catastrophe Protocols with unshakeable calm and self-assurance. Storming out to meet the invaders alongside Guilliman's Ultramarines and a sizeable complement of the Sisters of Silence, the Custodians successfully deflect the Blood God's attempt to behead the Imperium with a single strike. Victory is bought at a steep price in irreplaceable lives, but it is victory nonetheless. In the battle's aftermath, Captain-General Trajann Valoris and Guilliman quickly reach an agreement: the role of the Adeptus Custodes must change, for they can no longer effectively defend the Golden Throne from behind the palace ramparts alone.ca. 999.M41- ca. 111.M42 The Indomitus Crusade - Primarch Guilliman, now reinstituted as the Lord Commander of the Imperium, launches his Indomitus Crusade from Terra, in order to take the fight to the forces of Chaos. Leading a large task force and augmented by a host of Adeptus Custodes, Sisters of Silence and a large contingent of the newly revealed Primaris Space Marines, Guilliman's crusading fleet brings the Emperor's light to several besieged Imperial star systems. In a hundred war zones, untested strike forces of Primaris Space Marines are unleashed into battle against the forces of the Ruinous Powers. They acquit themselves well, and by the artifice of Archmagos Belisarius Cawl and the strategic genius of Guilliman they prove themselves worthy inheritors of the title Adeptus Astartes.