vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Battle of Örgvayr - Battle for Törg: Nôkh's Hernkyn Pioneer bands, supported by light gunships and rugged Sagitaur ATVs, swept through the high passes of the Fumarok Range to attack the World Eaters from the rear. They launched swift hit-and-run strikes, using their pan spectral scanners to maintain a fix on their enemies amidst the toxic murk of Törg's surface. Goaded to action, many wrath-crazed Khornate Berserkers broke off their assault on Harvester Fortress Five and pursued Nôkh's band into the hazardous mountain passes.Separating into several smaller Oathbands, Ûthar the Destined's forces launched a massive drop offensive into the world's Shatterfields. Ûthar himself led an armoured spearhead against the World Eaters commanded by the Chaos Lord Hakatar. Kâhl Svêkh Thûrkann and her Oathband met The Purge head-on. As orbital fire from both sides rained down onto the planet's surface, the two swirling battles erupted into a storm of close-range firefights and brutal offensives.While the foe were engaged to the north, Grimnyr Khôhn led an elite force of Einhyr and Hearthkyn to evacuate the Cthonians at Harvester Fortresses Two, Three and Four. Guildkin and great quantities of raw materials were loaded aboard Hekaton Land Fortresses and the armoured carriages they drew behind them.Sensing their prey escaping, the Chaos Lord Urthak Skullripper led a massed teleport of World Eaters Chaos Terminators that cut the Grimnyr and her bodyguards off, even as the Kin forces were pulling out. Though many Cthonian Beserks turned back to hurl themselves into the fight, the Living Ancestor could not be rescued. The surviving Cthonians and many of the Hearthkyn have since formed the Grudgeband of Khôhn -- they will be avenged upon Urthak Skullripper or die trying.
Battle of Örgvayr - The Duel: Ûthar the Destined met the Chaos Lord Hakatar of the World Eaters upon the stone span bridging the Chasm of Embers. The two warlords battled back and forth along the crumbling expanse as their warriors fought and died around them and pillars of volcanic fire blasted up from below. Wounded but unbowed, Ûthar at last wrong-footed his foe, taking the World Eater's right leg off with a vicious sweep of the Blade of the Ancestors and pitching him, still howling with fury, into the flames below.
Battle of Örgvayr - The Retreat: After several solar hours of rapid armoured warfare, and with the vast majority of Kin assets ferried successfully up to his waiting voidships, Kâhl Ûthar commanded a full retreat from Törg. Howled accusations of cowardice from the Khorne-worshippers followed the retreat. They meant nothing to the Kin; all that was worth extracting from the planet had been recovered and any remaining assets were deemed not worth the cost in lives to salvage.The Greater Thurian League Oathbands fell back in good order, Voidmaster Hêmmyk giving the enemy flotilla a last devastating volley to scatter their formations before commanding a plunge back into Warpspace. The tragic death of Grimnyr Khôhn aside, the Törg offensive had proved successful, but the wider war zone surrounding Warp Storm Örgvayr was becoming more fraught and violent by the solar hour.A great battle still lay before the Greater Thurian League and Ûthar the Destined would be needed elsewhere.
Battlefleet Agripinaa - Battlefleet Agripinaa: Battlefleet Agripinaa is a small fleet of Imperial Navy vessels charged with the protection of the Agripinaa Sector. Battlefleet Agripinaa forms a component part of the Bastion Fleets which make up the massive Battlefleet Obscurus, as do its neighbours, Battlefleets Cadia, Corona, and Scarus, as well as the more distant Battlefleets Gothic, Tamahl and Odessa, among others. Located in the Segmentum Obscurus near the Eye of Terror, this Imperial Battlefleet must maintain constant vigilance against the Forces of Chaos and the dreaded Black Crusades led by the Warmaster Abaddon the Despoiler. In 139-160.M41, during the 12th Black Crusade, known also as the Gothic War, Battlefleet Agripinaa helped provide the Imperial bulwark against the encroaching Forces of Chaos, reinforcing Battlefleet Gothic. During the latest incursion of the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41, the world of Agripinaa did not weather the attacks of the Forces of Chaos well and much of its industrial infrastructure was laid ruin. Battlefleet Agripinaa fared no better, sustaining heavy losses during the brutal conflict.
Battlefleet Agripinaa - Segmentum Obscurus: The Segmentum Obscurus, also known as the Segmentum Obscura, is the region of Imperial space to the galactic north of Terra. This Segmentum of the Imperium of Man is the home of the vast Warp Storm and Warp Rift called the Eye of Terror, the primary home for the Forces of Chaos in the Milky Way Galaxy. The Imperial Navy's Segmentum fleet headquarters is located on the world of Cypra Mundi, which also serves as the central headquarters of the Imperial military's Segmentum Command. The Segmentum Obscurus is the area of the Imperium most often under deadly threat by attacks from the Eye of Terror and is also the point of origin for all of Abaddon the Despoiler's Black Crusades. As such, it currently is home to the majority of the Imperium's armed forces, which were most recently mobilised to a state of readiness not seen since the Horus Heresy as a result of the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41
Battlefleet Agripinaa - Notable Vessels of Battlefleet Agripinaa: Warrior Knight (Exorcist-class Grand Cruiser)
Battlefleet Armageddon - Battlefleet Armageddon: Battlefleet Armageddon is the colossal fleet of Imperial Navy vessels charged with the the protection of the strategic Armageddon Sector within the Segmentum Solar. The Imperial Navy shipyards for the Segmentum are located on Luna, and the Imperial Navy headquarters in the Segmentum is based within Mars' Ring of Iron. Battlefleet Armageddon is currently commanded by Admiral Parol, who fought alongside High Marshal Helbrecht of the Black Templars Space Marine Chapter's Crusade Fleet and other Imperial commanders in orbit above Armageddon during the defence of Armageddon from the Ork WAAAGH! Ghazghkull in the Third War for Armageddon of 998.M41.
Battlefleet Armageddon - Segmentum Solar: Segmentum Solar is one of the five Segmentum Majoris, the great Imperial administrative divisions of the galaxy. The Segmentum Solar is the central hub of the Imperium of Man and the most ancient and densely settled region of human space. Centred on Terra, where the Emperor of Mankind sits upon His Golden Throne, the central Segmentum is protected on four sides by the other Segmentae Majoris. The Battlefleet Armageddon is based in the orbital fleet docks of the so-called Ring of Iron that surrounds the Adeptus Mechanicus' primary Forge World of Mars. The Ring of Iron is the name given to the massive complex of orbital shipyards, manufactoria, refineries and construction facilities that encircle the equator of the Red Planet in the Sol System. The exploratory and expeditionary fleets of the Emperor of Mankind's Great Crusade were constructed in the orbital shipyards of the Ring of Iron during the late 30th and early 31st Millennia.Segmentum Tempestus is mercifully free from proximity to a festering mass incursion from the Warp, such as the Eye of Terror or the Maelstrom. As such, an incursion is usually carried out by xenos raiders rather than the mass attack of a large Chaos Fleet of deranged Heretics. Each of the five Segmentum battlefleets serves within one of the Segmentae Majoris and is responsible for protecting Imperial merchant shipping within it. Most space battles take place around installations or planets, the majority of which can be defended efficiently by means of sub-stellar spacecraft and planet-based defences. Even so, it is impossible to provide total defence for every Imperial world. The warships of the Imperial Navy are highly mobile and extremely potent weapons, able to gather to meet large threats where necessary.Imperial space is so vast, with so many star systems and areas of Wilderness Space to be patrolled, that even the many thousands of starships in the battlefleets must be spread thin, with individual ships and squadrons set out on their own assignments. The Imperium cannot maintain permanent fleets ready to respond to invasion or rebellion. Nor would it make sense to do so -- it would take so long for a fleet to get from its base to the war zone that the enemy would surely have moved on by the time it arrived. Instead, temporary battlefleets are gathered together whenever they are needed. Battlefleet Armageddon was one such formation in the wake of the Second War for Armageddon, and is charged with protecting the vital Hive World of Armageddon and the Imperial planets within the surrounding star systems.
Battlefleet Armageddon - Battlezones: Although the dark reaches of space vary far less than the battlefields of the worlds they contain, there are nonetheless local peculiarities, phenomenon and anomalies in almost every region of populated space. The Armageddon Sector is no exception, and coupled with the variety of unique defences, wrecks and astral bodies found, this makes the battlezones throughout the Armageddon System somewhat different to many others. Most inhabited star systems can be divided into six regions or zones from deep space through to the flare region close to the system's sun.
Battlefleet Armageddon - Torpedo Salvoes: In preparing the Armageddon System for invasion, the Imperial Navy set many deadly traps for the marauding Orks of the region. One of the most common of these were salvos of torpedoes, hard-wired to hone in on any approaching starship. The friend or foe systems of these weapons were disabled when deployed, to avoid any danger of the Orks interfering with the mechanisms and turning the torpedoes to their own devious use. This is not the only way a deadfall occurs; many stray salvoes run low on fuel having missed their intended target. These stray torpedoes finally come to rest with only a small amount of fuel left, just enough to lurk in wait for a suitable, unsuspecting target to pass. These stray torpedoes then activate and use the remainder of their fuel to lock on to the unwary ship.
Battlefleet Armageddon - Debris Fields: Whether it is the result of critical navigational errors or one of the many engagements between Ork fleets and the Imperial Navy within the Armageddon System, there are now many large wreckage fields slowly orbiting Armageddon's sun. The smashed wreckage often forms trails extending for many thousands of kilometres, gravely endangering navigation within the system. The previous space battles around Armageddon have left many warships broken and shattered, destined to orbit the sun for millennia. However, the burnt out hulks are still considered to be a valuable prize for both sides in the war and their capture was always rewarded by any Admiral's or Warboss' superior. Contrary to the beliefs of many of those who must remain planet-bound, every Imperial Captain knows that space is far from empty. Debris fields like those surrounding Armageddon can prove to be a serious risk to travel within a star system. Whether they are formed from past battles or naturally form from matter in the outer reaches, these fields can prove deadly to an unwary vessel.
Battlefleet Armageddon - Notable Vessels of Battlefleet Armageddon: His Will (Apocalypse-class Battleship)Triumph (Apocalypse-class Battleship)Inomine Veritas (Emperor-class Battleship)Gryphonne Probatii (Emperor-class Battleship)Green Lake (Oberon-class Battleship)Ex Cathedra (Armageddon-class Battlecruiser)Hammer of Light (Armageddon-class Battlecruiser)Thunderchild (Armageddon-class Battlecruiser)Renown (Lunar-class Cruiser)Sceptre of Haggia (Lunar-class Cruiser)
Battlefleet Armageddon - Battlefleet Armageddon Squadron Dispositions: First-Line Cruiser Squadron (6)Second-Line Cruiser Squadrons (9)Light Cruiser Squadrons (17)Escort Squadrons (21)
Battlefleet Armageddon - Aerial Strike Wings Assets: Bomber Strike Wings (54)Interceptor Strike Wings (81)
Battlefleet Bakka - Battlefleet Bakka: Battlefleet Bakka is a colossal fleet of Imperial Navy vessels charged with the the protection of the strategic Bakka Sub-sector within the Segmentum Tempestus. Bakka is the Sector Naval base closest to the Ultramarines Chapter's homeworld of Macragge and as such, Battlefleet Bakka played a major role in defeating the Tyranids' Hive Fleet Behemoth during the First Tyrannic War at the climactic Battle of Macragge in 745.M41.
Battlefleet Bakka - Segmentum Tempestus: Segmentum Tempestus is one of the five Segmentum Majoris, the great Imperial administrative divisions of the galaxy. It lies to the galactic south of the central Segmentum Solar, between Segmentum Pacificus to the galactic west and the Segmentum Ultima to the galactic east. Here, matter is scarce and the Segmentum is mostly a dark and empty void dimly lit by scattered stars. Segmentum Tempestus is organised into 200 light-year cubes called Sectors. The Imperial Navy's Segmentum headquarters is located in a 15 light-year cuboid known as Sub-sector Bakka, which is located on the main galactic star arm that passes through the east of the Segmentum.Segmentum Tempestus is mercifully free from proximity to a festering mass incursion from the Warp, such as the Eye of Terror or the Maelstrom. As such, a Chaos incursion is usually a problem of raiders rather than the mass attack of a large Chaos Fleet of deranged Heretics. However, Tempestus is notorious for infestations of Genestealers, as well as assaults from Ork and Eldar raiders. There has, therefore, been a tendency for Tempestus battlefleets to concentrate on small flotilla anti-piracy tactics rather than Grand Fleet strategy.In the 36th Millennium, a group of Tempestus tacticians, sometimes called the Gareox Prerogative because they were based at the Gareox Sector Base, came to prominence. This "Young School" proposed a complete change to fleets based on Attack Craft carriers as such tactics had proved highly effective against pirate squadrons. The arrogant Prerogative eventually gained enough political influctence to control Imperial warship design and were able to order the construction of Attack Carrier warships such as the ill-fated Despoiler-class Battleships.This action brought them into conflict with the "Big-Gun Lobby" at Bakka. Political rivalry eventually led to outright civil war, the so-called Gareox incident (Inquisita Classificationae Purgata Secrata, level sextus). A series of fleet actions demonstrated the superiority of Lance-armed warships over Attack Craft Carriers and the Prerogative was purged and Gareox cleansed. In their bitterness, many of their supporters in the fleet turned to blasphemy and fled into the Warp. Only three Despoilers were built out of the fifteen orginally ordered and all ultimately became Traitors. This incident left a suspicion of Attack Carriers in Tempestus battlefleets and even today there is a tendency for such fleets to favour big-gun ships. This is particularly true of Battlefleet Bakka where the Big-Gun Lobby had reigned supreme.
Battlefleet Bakka - Forge World Bakka: A young world, Bakka was colonised during the Dark Age of Technology by the restless agents of Mankind who claimed it for their own, greedy for its abundant and available mineral wealth. The surface of the planet consists of black island rafts of basalt and granite that float on a glowing viscous sea of cooling lava. Every so often, turbulent flow or a meteorite strike causes fresh magma to burst through the thin skin on the surface of the orange seas and throw incandescent fountains of yellow fire into the sky. The atmosphere is hot, arid and very poisonous; oxides of nitrous, sulphur and sodium mix with ammonia in spirals of yellow, brown and red fog. Giant, tracked machines extract minerals when convective flow forces important ores near the surface of the seas. The loss rate among the lava workers is substantial and commonly penitents and Heretics are assigned to the hazardous duty. The punishment for a penitent and a Heretic is the same, for though the God-Emperor rejoices at the righteous remorse of a penitent the sin must still be cleansed by punishment.Permanent installations are built on the black rafts. In the reinforced adamantium walls of the fortress-like plants, ore is processed into usable materials. Heavy laser batteries are mounted on the strengthened roofs of the squat, dark structures to blast away meteors, and the Emperor's foes should they make an appearance in orbit. Most of the manufacturing facilities hang above the planet in geostationary orbit and there are also found the vast, sprawling dockyards of the Segmentum Tempestus Sector Naval Base.
Battlefleet Bakka - Special Weapons of Battlefleet Bakka: Fleet Defence Turret - Battlefleet Bakka warships need to be well equipped with turrets because of the relative lack of fighter defences. A particular Bakka innovation is the Fleet Defence Turret. This is a special long-rang turret fitted to special "flak" ships that can be used to protect other vessels in a near convoy from incoming enemy Attack Craft.Psychic Cannon - The ancient cruiser Daemon Slayer is equipped with a unique prow weapon described as a Psychic Cannon, which is rumoured to have been forged by the master magicians of the Dark Age of Technology. A hit from this weapon can banish any Daemon back to the Warp. Hive Ships fair no better, as a hit from this fell weapon can knock out the synaptic control of the bio-ship, disrupting its ability to receive psychic commands from the Hive Mind.
Battlefleet Bakka - Notable Squadrons of Battlefleet Bakka: 59th Squadron, "Rat Runners" (Viper-class Destroyers)76th Squadron, "Silver Spears" (Viper-class Destroyers)125th Squadron, "Ghost Wings" (Havoc-class Frigates)"Sons of Ogala" (Havoc-class Frigates)
Battlefleet Cadia - Battlefleet Cadia: Battlefleet Cadia is a colossal fleet of Imperial Navy vessels charged with the protection of the vital and strategically important Cadian Sector within the Segmentum Obscurus. The Fortress World of Cadia stands at the center of the sector and its people serve as the unflinching sentinels of the Cadian Gate. Battlefleet Cadia aided Battlefleet Gothic during the 12th Black Crusade, known also as the Gothic War, which lasted from 139.M41 until 160.M41. More recently, Battlefleet Cadia suffered severe losses during the recent 13th Black Crusade which occurred in 999.M41. Portions of Cadia are currently occupied by the Forces of Chaos, following the indecisive outcome of this epic conflict. Now that the servants of the Dark Gods have finally established a foothold within Imperial space, Cadia is currently circled by several Imperial Navy battlefleets, including its own, and the maintenance of this space superiority is all that is keeping the Forces of Chaos from staging their first breakout into Imperial space en masse since the end of the Horus Heresy.
Battlefleet Cadia - Rising Storm: The beginning of Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade was marked by an escalation in the number of raids on isolated, seemingly insignificant worlds in the sectors outlying the Eye of Terror. Such raids, whilst certainly not unusual, hadpreviously always been the work of small groups of pirates, acting without common motive, and invariably dogged shipping lanes and the like, rather than directly attacking Imperial settlements. This new wave of attacks seemed too highly coordinated, based on far too detailed a plan to simply be the work of the wolf packs. Something terrible was clearly emerging.Rashes of Warp flares erupted all around the Eye of Terror, making travel impossible, disrupting communication and breaking supply lines. Around these Warp flares, small Chaos Warfleets emerged to prey upon those Imperial vessels stranded in small numbers by the inhospitable conditions, brutally massacring them all. Most horrifically, alongside these emergent Chaos fleets, there came reports of weird, ethereal daemon ships, seemingly creatures of the Warp carried into the material realm on the tides of Chaos. Battlefleet Cadia and other Imperial fleets engaged these vessels where they could, though many reported them intangible and elusive, translating to and from the Warp at will, making their ambushes and raids all the more deadly.Patrol groups from all local battlefleets dispersed across the Agripinaa Sector, the target of many of the fiercest and most brutal raids, hunting down and engaging the raiders where they could. The small raiding groups which Imperial command had anticipated invariably turned out to be drastically larger forces, andmany of the Imperial patrols were lost before even being able to give accurate reports of the opposition they faced. It quickly became apparent that a system of patrol and interception would do little more than plug the holes, not cut off the leak.Under such an atmosphere of uncertainty, the decision was made to withdraw fleet resources to dock, where larger, more effective battlegroups could be mustered and a common plan for defence determined. The captains of the returning vessels were grilled for what information they could provide on the growing threat, though so short and bloody had been their defeat that little of use could be gleaned. Confusing reports of Eldar vessels completely ignoring, or even aiding Imperial fleets, baffled many of those present, but the wisest amongst them realised instantly that such unexpected unity could only stem from a common enemy. A foe to trouble even the Eldar was about to descend upon the galaxy, it seemed.
Battlefleet Cadia - Traitors' Unmasked: It would not be long before confirmation emerged. Even as fleet commanders gathered in the Agrapinaa Sector to ponder their next move, news reached them of the Volscani Cataphracts' horrifying betrayal on Cadia. Chaos, it wouldappear, was not merely on their doorstep, but already deep within their house. The massacre on Cadia, however, meant that the Imperial fleets' numbers were bolstered dramatically in the following days, as reinforcements arrived from neighbouring sectors, including an almost unprecedented number of Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes also responding to the call for aid in the aftermath of the Chaotic massacre of the Cadian leadership at the Fortress World's Kasr Tyrok. The Gothic-class Cruiser Abridal's Glory even filed a report of a mobile Fortress-Monastery entering the region, suggesting that even to the Space Marines,the coming events were of the greatest importance.
Battlefleet Cadia - Curse of Unbelief: Understandably, most of the arriving Chapters feared further revolts and uprisings across the sectors bordering the Eye of Terror, and almost all elected to begin ground offensives against those star systems where the strife and disorder had already become widespread. The Space Marines were similarly tasked with fighting throughmany of the raging Warp Storms and mounting assaults on the scattered and isolated worlds already fallen to the Curse of Unbelief. Here, the Space Marines would be far less hindered by the lack of numbers and adverse conditions than the Imperial Navy. Against a host of worlds the Adeptus Astartes fleets unleashed massive planetary assaults to corral and contain the spreading arcane contagion, using planetary bombardments (and in the worst cases, Exterminatus) to control areas already deemed unclean.The best this strategy could hope to achieve, however, was to stabilise conditions on many of the smaller worlds across the affected sectors, where Imperial rule had been placed under the most strain. A far stronger defence would be required if Cadia and its neighbours were to be truly ready for what few now doubted would bea major Chaos invasion. To this end, the vast collection of warships assembled at the main sector docks around the Eye of Terror were formalised into battlefleets and dispatched to defend vital supply lines, inhabited worlds, and known routes out of the Eye of Terror. Foremost amongst these would be Battlefleets Cadia, Agripinaa and Scarus, who were detailed to act as the main crux of the Imperial fleet effort.As these defensive preparations were made, unknown raiders hit the Tabor and UlthorSystems, but this time vessels of the Imperial Navy were in position to counterattack. Three squadrons of Cobra-class Destroyers in conjunctionwith the Lunar-class Cruiser Goliath pursued the attackers into the Faberius Straits and in a fearsome battle crippled the Styx-class Heavy Cruiser Darkblood. The engagement cost the Navy most of the Cobras and the Goliath was severely damaged, but at last the attackers had been identified. The Darkblood was codified as being attached to the Night Lords Traitor Legion warleader, Tarraq Darkblood, one of the most vicious killers in a Traitor Legion replete with sadistic butchers. Before Imperial reinforcements could arrive, a huge force of Chaos warships were picked up on long-range augers, and the surviving Imperial vessels were forced to withdraw and limp to the safety of the nearby port of Aurent.Similar opposition was met by many of the Imperial battlegroups. The Imperium was able, largely, to stave off these small Chaos incursions, but often at a great cost in resources, invariably forcing back the Imperial fleet and leaving it poorly equipped to repel any subsequent attacks. Reluctantly, the Imperial vesselswithdrew, realising that some massive attack must be imminent and that their best hope lay in a single, combined defensive effort. This change in tack meant that the Imperium's highest priority very rapidly became predicting and preempting the location of any initial attack. The answer was to come in unimaginably bloody fashion.
Battlefleet Cadia - Slow Reprisal: So it was that as Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade swept throughout the sectors bordering the Eye of Terror, the immense warfleet which he had amassed proving unstoppable. In comparison to Abaddon's Grand Fleet and the Plaguefleet of Typhus, the Imperium's defences were thinly spread, even around the Cadian Gate where the so-called Bastion Fleets stand as the largest permanent Imperial Navy elementoutside of the Solar System itself. Thus, in the early stages of the war, Abaddon'sfleet held orbital supremacy across most of the sectors within the warzone, allowing him to bombard worlds, enslave their populace and deploy Chaos forces to the surface at will. All the while, however, the ponderous machine of the Imperial Navy readied itself slowly but surely against him.The Imperial Navy is, ultimately, an inevitability. Stretched out across the thousands of light years of Imperial space, dispersed across a hundred warzones, patrol routes and shipping lanes, it is far from the most reactive force in the Emperor's service. Nonetheless, the Imperial Navy is a giant, an unstoppable behemoth which sooner or later will, inevitably, arrive to unleash its vengeance,no matter how powerful the foe. The Imperial Navy had been forced to divide itsassets across hundreds of worlds at the outset of the war. However, as the conflict drew on it was gifted a valuable opportunity to combine its numbers and concentrate its forces once Abaddon's plans became clear and the Chaos fleets had delivered hordes of ground troops to important worlds such as Cadia, Agripinaa and Thracian Primaris.Where Imperial defences had been overstretched at the outset of the war, they soon stood reinforced by dozens of neighbouring battlefleets. Tiny patrols, at firsthopelessly outnumbered and overwhelmed by Abaddon's invasion, mustered together into battlefleets numbering hundreds of vessels. Space Marine Chapters committed their own fleets to the war in space and soon the Imperial Navy stood as an unbreakable circle of iron around Abaddon's forces. From this strong regrouping, Admiral Quarren was more than ready to launch his counter-attacks against Abaddon's chosen targets.A thousand small battles were already lost for the Imperium, worlds engulfed by cults and treacherous defenders, worlds decimated by the Plague of Unbelief and other forgotten battlefields were already far past the point at which they mightbe saved. Indeed, fighting the war across a front scattered like a thousand broken shards had undoubtedly stymied the Imperium in the early days of the invasion, forced to spread its already hard-pressed assets, uncertain of where the hardestblow might land. To win the greater war now, the Admiral Quarren realised that a handful of crucial fronts must be all to which the Imperium committed. So it is that the course of a war, the story of victoryand defeat , cannot be described in terms of all its constituent parts, but instead must be thought of in terms of those particular prizes for which bothsides tussle most fiercely -- worlds like Agripinaa, Nemesis, Subiaco Diablo and most of all, Cadia and its ancient Pylons.
Battlefleet Cadia - Notable Vessels of Battlefleet Cadia: Galathamor (Emperor-class Battleship)Vigilanti Eternas (Vengeance-class Grand Cruiser)Goliath (Lunar-class Cruiser)
Battlefleet Cadia - Fleet Composition: 12 Battleships12 Cruiser Squadrons21 Escort Squadrons
Battlefleet Calixis - Battlefleet Calixis: Battlefleet Calixis is a colossal fleet of Imperial Navy vessels charged with the protection of the Calixis Sector, an Imperial sector located in the Segmentum Obscurus on the northern edge of the known galaxy, near the Halo Stars and the Eye of Terror. To the trailing edge of the galaxy, the Calixis Sector is bordered by the hazardous territories of the Fydae Great Cloud and to spinward by the Scarus Sector.Battlefleet Calixis origins can be traced back to 384.M39, when the Calyx Expanse was officially declared conquered and the Angevin Crusade at an end by General Drusus. The sector's Imperial Navy headquarters is located at the orbital void-station known as Port Wrath within the Golgenna Reach Sub-sector.The ships of Battlefleet Calixis are widely dispersed across the sector; some maintain the trade routes and well-travelled courses of the great chartist vessels, while others patrol the danger zones of the Adrantis Nebula and the Hazeroth Abyss where dark forces lurk still. But their most unpredictable and dangerous task is to guard the border of the Halo Stars, beyond which horrors uncounted and unknown lurk beyond the reach of Imperial space.
Battlefleet Calixis - The Calixis Sector: From the first discovery of the Koronus Fragments amongst Segmentum Obscuras naval records in 101.M38, the Imperium knew there might be unknown threats beyond the raging warp storms at the edge of the Calyx Expanse. These purported records of an unknown Explorator fleet told of mineral-rich worlds, habitable biospheres, and alien empires in the Halo Stars rimward of the Calyx Expanse.As the Angevin Crusade forged those lawless regions into the Calixis Sector, the Imperial Navy probed the edges of the Drusus Marches, searching for passages through the vast storms. None could be found, and the Navy ceased searching in the years after the Crusade, as ships returned to their former battlefleets and the sadly depleted remnants formed the nucleus of the nascent Battlefleet Calixis.Battlefleet Calixis officially came into being in 384.M39 when General Drusus declared the Calyx Expanse conquered and the Angevin Crusade at an end. The newly formed Calixis Sector was established with Scintilla as its capital world and Port Wrath selected to act as sector naval headquarters.A substantial portion of the Angevin Crusade fleet dispersed to the coreward sectors, some returning to berths that they had left some sixty standard years before while others journeyed to join Imperial Crusades further along the rim. Aided by several Escort squadrons, the remaining half-dozen ships of the line formed the nucleus of the new Battlefleet Calixis.
Battlefleet Calixis - Founding Fathers: All six vessels were veterans of the Angevin Crusade, their war-weary crews the survivors of the bloody death throes of the unspeakably vile alien race known as the Yu'vath. Most held the Yu'vath to be the most powerful and dangerous of all the foes the Crusade fleet had faced in conquering the Calyx Expanse. Of the six, the Grand Cruisers Loci Veritas Lux and Loci Veritas Lumen were called late to the conflict, but they too bore the scars from the assaults of Bale Childer Daggerships in their final, desperate battles over the Yu'vath's inner fortresses.The Battleship Fist of Adamant and the Grand Cruiser Fire of Heaven unleashed the rain of fusion fire that finally wrought the end of those corrupt xenos and their Traitor allies. The Battlecruiser Chariot of Wrath lost thirty percent of its compartments to ravening Childer boarding parties at one point over the Hell Worlds of the Adrantis Nebula. Only the intercession of Iron Hands Space Marine boarding parties turned the tide and recaptured the ship. The Battlecruiser Bellicose was a survivor of the Fenksworld Calamity in 359.M39 when High Admiral Vaakkon inexplicably ploughed the Apocalypse-class Battleship Tempest's Child into the Fenksworld orbital docks, immolating himself and a dozen other warships.In the first few centuries of its existence, Battlefleet Calixis was fully occupied turning the fledgling Imperial sector from marks on a star chart into a reality. There were innumerable convoys of pilgrims, colonists and Adepts to escort, Secessionist regimes to overawe and countless pirates to hunt. It is said that Lord Admiral Retman Hayes, the third to hold that rank in as many decades, died of apoplexy while berating a group of Chartist Captains who dared to demand better protection for their goods. Over time the sector stabilised and vessels constructed at worlds under Imperial tithe began to expand the fleet. Even so, when the Calixian battlefleet faced its first true test in 467.M39 it was barely equal to the task.
Battlefleet Calixis - Purgation of Valon Urr (467.M39): In 467.M39, the moderately advanced and highly civilised world of Valon Urr indirectly fell victim to the War of Hubris, a covert trade war instigated by the nearby independent world of Sinophia. The Sinophians feared the increasing industrial might of the Imperials and undertook a campaign to use every means at their disposal barring outright war to maintain their position. A favourite Sinophian gambit was to use their agents to discover course logs and manifests for voidships carrying Imperial cargo and then pass the information on to xenos and pirates. Countless Imperial merchantmen were attacked, stripped, and destroyed.The situation became so desperate that four capital ships had to be assigned to the protection of merchant convoys entering the Golgenna Reach. Fortunately these were well placed to respond when an Astropathic distress call was received from the besieged world of Valon Urr. The rich pickings of the pirates had attracted a larger predator in the form of a coalition of Ork Freebooter vessels under the command of the Greenskin Warlord Brazzer Magtoof.The four capital vessels formed a temporary squadron led by the Fire of Heaven under Admiral Lightman-Kapes and engaged the Orks over Valon Urr. Lightman-Kapes defeated the Orks, but tragically the planet was heavily damaged by debris from the ensuing orbital battle and Ork infestations. In 601.M39 Valon Urr was declared a Shrine World in memory of the sacrifice of the millions of citizens who died that day.
Battlefleet Calixis - The Threefold (123.M40): In the aftermath of Valon Urr, Battlefleet Calixis adopted a policy of more aggressive patrolling and reduced convoy protection in hopes that major engagements could be pursued in enemy territory in the future. This policy was completely rescinded in 123.M40 after the loss of a capital ship task force led by the Fire of Heaven and two Chalice-class Battlecruisers against unknown assailants in the Hazeroth Abyss.Two heavily protected watch installations were lost within a Terran year in the same region, forcing a withdrawal of the sector boundary and ending further military expansion into the Abyss. This woeful incident became known as "The Threefold Curse." Despite increased vigilance, no trace was ever found of the attackers from the Hazeroth Abyss. The Hazeroth Sub-sector has been kept heavily reinforced ever since in case whatever horror is lurking in the Abyss should rise again.
Battlefleet Calixis - The White Sorrows (556-570.M40): Beginning in 556.M40, xenos corsairs plagued the Periphery Sub-sector with a series of devastating raids. Imperial lexographers knew them only as the Kabal of the White Sorrow, a piratical alliance of Drukhari renegades led by a shadowy figure known only as the Butcher Archon. The White Sorrow struck seemingly at will and over nearly two solar decades they enslaved an estimated two million colonists from the struggling frontier worlds of the Periphery.Despite strenuous efforts, the capital ships of Battlefleet Calixis were unable to bring the Eldar Corsairs to battle and suffered a string of stinging defeats in Escort clashes in the Sleef, Ganf Magna and Kulth Systems.In 570.M40 a Cruiser squadron formed near Sinophia for a special mission. It consisted of the Light Cruisers Intemperate and Intractable along with the Chalice-class Battlecruiser Triumph of Saint Drusus. The squadron joined a small fleet of Explorator vessels and Rogue Trader forces under the overall command of Rogue Trader and Imperial agent Kobras Aquairre.Through some unspecified means (many suspected xenos involvement) Aquairre was able to lead his task force into a direct confrontation with the White Sorrow's fleet at an unnamed star deep in wilderness space. Here beneath the blood-red light of a dying star the old bones of planets formed grinding shoals of rocky debris throughout the system.Jewel-like in the chaos hung a gleaming Webway portal surrounded by sleek Drukhari vessels. For once, the xenos corsairs were caught flat-footed and Aquairre's flagship, the Son of Seth, struck the portal at extreme range with an unknown type of Lance weapon. The resulting distortion effect barred the portal temporarily; xenos vessels trying to flee through the portal were seen being hurled back with great force.The White Sorrows suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Aquairre's composite Imperial force. Trapped against the rocky shoals and with an unstable Warp distortion in their midst, there was little they could do but die to the superior firepower of the capital ships surrounding them.A score of Raider-sized vessels attempted escape through the dense asteroid fields, but of these only a handful survived. Aquairre rammed the corsair's flagship, Altar of Torment, with his own vessel, slaying the Butcher Archon personally in hand-to-hand combat. The strength of the White Sorrows was utterly broken in the battle and it was subsequently marked as a Victorix Magna in the honours of the warships involved.In the aftermath of the fall of the White Sorrows, Battlefleet Calixis was not to see another major capital ship engagement for almost two hundred standard years. Pirate and xenos ships fled at even the rumour of Navy vessels approaching the area. Several capital ships were withdrawn to reserve status as unsuitable for the patrolling and escort duties that became the norm. However, this outwardly mundane and sensible action laid the seeds of a great conflagration.
Battlefleet Calixis - Establishment of Passage Watch 27-Est (673.M40): Beyond the Rubycon II System, the Koronus Passage looms wide, ready to swallow the Rogue Trader ships that brave its depths. The Maw is so vast it is more a region of space than an opening in the Great Warp Storms along the Drusus Marches, but the Maw can also swell closed when the Warp Storms rage, shrinking to the narrowest passage.Though the boundaries of the Calixis Sector end at the entrance to the Maw, there are certain Imperial organisations that venture beyond those bounds. Chief amongst them is the Battlefleet Calixis of the Imperial Navy which maintains a watch of warships at Port Wander, the entrance to the Maw, and some say, within the Koronus Expanse beyond. This squadron, under command of Fleet-Captain Nathaniel Horne, is on extended detached duty from the rest of Battlefleet Calixis.Established in 673.M40, the Imperial Navy squadron known as Passage Watch 27-Est, is not large, especially compared to Battlefleet Calixis as a whole. It is comprised of several Cruisers, Light Cruisers, and Battlecruisers, supported by multiple Destroyer and Frigate Escorts. These warships possess most of the combat experience in Battlefleet Calixis, as they are almost constantly in conflict with raiders, pirates, and the occasional xenos vessel that comes through the Maw to plunder the Calixis Sector.Passage Watch 27-Est is hard-pressed but vigilant, and on occasion has sent its distinctive grey-hulled, crimson-prowed vessels on counter-actions and reprisals into the Koronus Expanse. This has led the warships' crews to refer to themselves, only half-jokingly, as "Battlefleet Koronus." For more than 350 standard years, Passage Watch 27-Est has kept this vigil.
Battlefleet Calixis - War of Brass (738.M40): Sedition among the Hive Worlds of the Gelmiro Cluster erupted into full-blown rebellion under the charismatic "Emperor of Brass" in 738.M40. Already heavily militarised, the Gelmiro Cluster soon became a storehouse and armoury for rebel groups on a dozen nearby worlds.Renegade warships flocked to the region, including the mutinous crews of two of the battlefleet's newest capital ships, the Chalice-class Battlecruisers Hosiana's Hand and Hel's Promise. Battlefleet Calixis found itself caught short-handed by the turn of events, and fleet personnel made heroic efforts to get reserve capital ships ready for action. Even so, weeks later when the Battleship Fist of Adamant under Vice-Admiral Dayes led the first punitive expedition to the rebel worlds, it left Port Wrath with thousands of dock workers still aboard.The Gelmiro Cluster had been heavily fortified, but Vice-Admiral Dayes set about methodically picking apart the defences. The Renegade Battlecruisers posed the greatest threat to Dayes' forces but both fell victim to their own hubris in separate incidents. The lone wolf tactics they used against Dayes' deceptively plodding advance brought them up against superior forces at every turn. Hel's Promise fell to the guns of the Chariot of Wrath while Hosiana's Hand barely escaped from the Fist of Adamant with crippling damage and fled the star system.The War of Brass was short-lived but extremely bloody. Within three standard years, Imperial Navy ships hung over decimated War Worlds in the Gelmiro Cluster, supporting Titans and Space Marines as they crushed the remaining pockets of Renegade resistance. However, as the Emperor of Brass went onto the defensive he used his debased worship of the Ruinous Powers to unleash ever greater horrors upon the once-prosperous Gelmiro Cluster. Even today, his lost domain remains a shunned place of blasted War Worlds.
Battlefleet Calixis - Meritech Wars (211-226.M41): The so-called Meritech Clans, a coalition of Voidborn families driven out of the neighbouring Ixaniad Sector some three Terran millennia previously, seceded from Imperial rule in 211.M41. The Merates Cluster had long been a home to Renegades and outlaws but the anarchy unleashed by the clans' extensive raids surprised the Imperial officials of the Ixaniad Sector. By good fortune, the rise in power of Calixis Sector Governor Myram Harvala spelled the doom of the Meritech Clans.Harvala recognised all too well the threat to his new domain and was quick to encourage a vigourous response from the Imperial Navy. Battlefleet Calixis enjoyed a brief but rapid expansion under the governor's patronage, particularly among its Escort squadrons which added scores of vessels to their number.Over the next decade and a half, Battlefleet Calixis methodically hunted down and crushed the Meritech Clans in space before pounding their worlds into lifeless rubble. Observers note the Escort squadrons of Battlefleet Calixis gained a great deal of confidence and expertise in the Meritech Wars, giving them a fighting reputation that carries through to the current day.
Battlefleet Calixis - First Siege of Vaxanide (410.M41): In 410.M41, an Astropathic distress call from the Vaxanide System alerted the Calixian fleet to a confederation of Ork raiders besieging the star system. An estimated eighty-plus Ork raiders made up their "fleet" and they held Vaxanide virtually prisoner. No voidships could safely approach and crudely-armoured landing craft were descending to assail the hive cities. The initial Ork assaults were swiftly repulsed but a grave long-term threat was posed to Vaxanide and the whole Malfian Sub-sector if its vital trade routes were strangled.Heavy Warp Storms scattered and delayed the Imperial Navy's response. The Grand Cruiser Chariot of Wrath under Commodore Brokk and a newly commissioned Lunar-class Cruiser Pride of Scintilla arrived first almost a standard year later and, deciding not to wait for reinforcements, entered the star system alone. The unexpected arrival of the Imperial warships enabled them to surprise a dozen Ork raiders reloading at an asteroid base in the outer system. Fully half of the ramshackle alien ships were pounded into scrap by battery fire and torpedoes before they could respond. Unfortunately, swarms of Fighta-Bommerz managed to launch and damage the Pride.A subsequent counter-attack by the Orks was driven off with heavy losses but Attack Craft continued to plague the two warships incessantly, in particular the Pride, with its inexperienced gunners and rapidly-accumulating damage. Despite the odds, Brokk pushed deeper into the system to confront the main Ork force over Vaxanide. A fierce battle developed as the Orks, encumbered by holds full of plunder, struggled to engage the Imperial warships in the face of withering fire. Nonetheless, numbers evidently took their toll and the Pride fell to the surface of Vaxanide in a blazing death grip with the Terror Ship Slicer. The Chariot of Wrath fought on alone until the timely arrival of the Veritas Lux and six additional vessels. The resurgent Imperial forces crushed the Freebooter ships, although it was later discovered that a sizeable remnant escaped to plague the Frontier Worlds of Ganf Magna.
Battlefleet Calixis - Second Siege of Vaxanide (507.M41): Battlefleet Calixis planners were left wary of Vaxanides' vulnerability after the first Ork attack and bolstered its defences with long range Augury stations in the star system's outer reaches. Their foresight was rewarded in 507.M41 when the Space Hulk Pinnacle of Savagery was detected approaching Vaxanide with an accompanying fleet of Ork ships.A task force was quickly assembled from Imperial Navy, Explorator and Rogue Trader vessels under the overall command of Lord Admiral Vargaz. The combined fleet arrived in time to engage the Orks while they were still in the outer reaches, scattering their ships and shattering the Pinnacle of Savagery with massed weapons battery fire during its approach.Some Orks broke through the Imperial gun line despite the odds and considerable fighting had to be done to clear them from Vaxanide itself. However, only a tiny fraction of the Greenskin horde survived the thunderous net of death they encountered to make planetfall. Even the notoriously taciturn Lord Admiral Vargaz is said to have commented that the second siege was "a most satisfactory affair."