Sabbat Worlds Crusade - A New Archon and the Blood Pact (771-772.M41): Initially, the Imperial forces had achieved several victories in 770.M41, but by 771.M41 the entire offensive into the Cabal Systems came to a halt as the crusade encountered not only stiff resistance, but hostile counter-strikes from Chaos forces.Inevitably, despite infighting, the Chaos host eventually selected a new leader from amongst their malefic host -- the Archon Urlock Gaur. Unfortunately, the rise of this new Chaos overlord coincided with the crusade's advance into the Cabal Systems. The new archon injected a new motivation into the Archenemy's forces.Gifted in the application of military strategy, Archon Gaur was able to centralise his tactics and properly orchestrate his forces' efforts against the encroaching crusade forces. The new archon proved to be a formidable opponent; robust and savage, and unimaginatively brutal in his tactics and approach to warfare. The impetus of the Archon Gaur's strength was the supremely able fighting force known as the Blood Pact, whose methodology was ultimately modeled on that of the Astra Militarum itself.As the archon's strength had grown, his influence quickly spread to other worlds with his bodyguard force spearheading his conquering armies. From these vassal worlds their numbers were recruited and the bodyguard grew, becoming an army in its own right. This was how the Blood Pact was spawned.The first notice given of Urlock Gaur to Imperial forces was when he led a series of lightning raids along the coreward fringe of the Khan Group in the middle of 771.M41. Within the Cabal System itself, more strenuous resistance was encountered, along with the first reports of the emerging forces of the Blood Pact. A more profound attack took place less than a solar month later.The Imperial forces initially believed that the forces of the enemy were being led by a particularly militant magister, but it soon became painfully clear that they were dealing with someone who was far more dangerous and deadly. This unidentified leader had the ability to call upon vast reserves of Archenemy troops, and mobilise other, potent magisters under his command.There was no doubt, however, that by 772.M41 Urlock Gaur was the new archon of the Archenemy forces. Within a drastically short period, three key dangers had manifested, haunting Macaroth's carefully laid plans: a new archon had risen to unify the enemy, he had mounted a wounding counter-strike against the crusade fleet's flank, and the overstretched flank was woefully exposed.Macaroth's overreaching push had left the crusade painfully vulnerable on three sides, which the new Archon attempted to exploit to the fullest.The Warmaster quickly redeployed a significant portion of his forces to protect his force's vulnerable flanks in a last ditch effort to reopen supply lines. Between the end of 771.M41 and the middle part of 772.M41, Imperial commanders conducted desperate, ad hoc operations to secure multiple target worlds in an effort to keep the crusade alive.Only at the world of Ariadne did any of these attempts fail. As these worlds were reconquered, Macaroth attempted to renew his forward thrust into the Cabal Systems. The Archon had withdrawn into the Carcaradon Cluster to the fortress world of Morlond to mass his forces for a large scale counter attack.The Warmaster wanted to desperately break past Morlond to confront Gaur but knew that he was still obligated to defend the Cabal Salient. The archon left his most capable magisters in charge of his forces to continue prosecuting their attack on the crusade's coreward flank. These vile lieutenants included the likes of Anakwanar Sek, Shebol Red-Hand and Enok Innokenti.