vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
First Battle of Paramar - The Iron Pilgrim: No plan, no matter how well formulated or executed, escapes the hand of fate in the unravelling of its design. So it was that as the Sigma-Pythonus and its brethren were making their final approach through the Pharaeon of Paramar's defensive corridor, under the shadow of the guns of the colossal void-bastions that surrounded it, and the Anax-Rho itself was within light-minutes of Paramar V, reality ripped open once more, disgorging more vessels into the void around Paramar.These vessels were not of the Alpha Legion and not part of their plan. It is not difficult to imagine the consternation and fear of discovery within the Alpha Legion's ranks at this moment, but even as long-range Auspex readings approximated that these were Legiones Astartes warships, five in number, including a capital-class vessel, the Alpha Legion's Astartes held fast to their plan.They did not break ranks, or attempt to flee from the shadow of the firepower that surrounded them, but instead pressed on as if nothing was awry, merely issuing the standard Vox-challenges that such a sudden meeting naturally called for. Pict-images from long-range occular-scopes resolved to display the unknown voidships as slab-sided hulking monstrosities of black-seared steel, the silhouettes of the Imperial pattern hulls barely recognisable beneath layer upon layer of improvised ablative armour plating and flanks studded with fifteen-metre-long adamantium anti-boarding spines.The Alpha Legion's Vox challenge was at last answered with something like indifference. The lead warship identified itself as the Tyche's Lament, flagship of the 77th Grand Battalion of the Iron Warriors Legion, and its master, Kyr Vhalen, responded that he cared not under what orders the Alpha Legion flew, only his own.
First Battle of Paramar - Impasse: Above Paramar V, however, all did not go according to plan. In geo-synchronous orbit of Paramar Nexus, the Tyche's Lament and the Anax-Rho vied for position, each determined that the station below should receive their emissaries and meet their demands first, neither backing down. The Mechanicum, for their part, kept cold neutrality as they always did in matters between the Legiones Astartes, and merely awaited the outcome.To the Alpha Legion's dismay, the realisation dawned that the Iron Warriors contingent knew nothing of the Drop Site Massacre or even of their IV Legion's siding with Horus. The 77th Grand Battalion, it transpired, had been operating under its own aegis for more than four solar decades, conducting a seemingly unending campaign of suppression of the Therikon Wastes region which they had been left to garrison against the numerous xenos species that had made the trackless nebula of the wastes their home.Vhalen, the Iron Warriors commander, had returned to Paramar for resupply as he had done many times before. He was utterly ignorant that his Legion had turned against the Emperor and would not be denied his rights now. Events, however, would not wait for the impasse between the two Legion warships to be resolved.
First Battle of Paramar - Dynat's Gambit: Bombardment and counter-bombardment between Paramar V and the Traitor ships in orbit continued unabated, but now for the Alpha Legion it served a different purpose; it held open the way for their ground invasion. Heavy Argo-class assault landers, Stormbird carriers and Thunderhawk transporters paved the way, deploying hundreds of Alpha Legion tanks onto the rocky desert soil.Following them came the gigantic shapes of the mass conveyors of the Legio Fureans, blotting out the three suns, the ground shuddering with the impact as the massive portals fell open and the Titans of the Tiger Eyes, hungry for battle, thundered forth. Behind them from the cavernous recesses of the mass conveyors streamed the beetle-backed hovering carryalls of the Taghmata Satarael, their Battle-automata and the other arcane war machines of the Warmaster's Dark Mechanicum hung in complex iron latticework cages beneath them.This was to be no siege campaign but an armoured spearhead assault, and the Alpha Legion Harrowmaster was resting the chances of victory or defeat on a single throw of the dice; an all-out attack, holding back no reserves and digging in no defences to fall back to if repulsed. The Traitor assault force was fully mechanised and with nigh-preternatural speed and organisation it formed up and moved without pause. Executing a complicated dance of destructive force and intricate interlocking movement, it rumbled and roared across the vivid red desert land.The amber and sable Titans of the Tiger Eyes led the way, striding forward at flank speed, contemptuous of any ally who might get underfoot in their headlong charge. Behind them, taking advantage of the shadow of the Titans' Void Shields came two vast strung-out echelons of Alpha Legion strike armour: Predators and Sicaran Battle Tanks and the deadly new Scorpius Whirlwinds.Behind these came the columns of super-heavies: Fellblades and Glaives for the most, chosen for their speed as well as firepower, and behind them the dispersed squadrons of Land Raiders and Spartan Assault Tanks, in which the infantry strength of the attack was carried, a hundred tanks strong. Above flew gunships and speeders in close air support, a hazardous task given the choking air.Further back from this vast conglomeration of apocalyptic armoured might, came the sinister and strange forces of the Taghmata Satarael, creating their own spider-like formation, the air around them shimmering with the distortion of a mobile power field generator mounted on a hovering Ordinatus class platform at the centre of the mass of arcane war engines.Alongside the Taghmata came the bronze and crimson Knight walkers of House Perdaxia and the ghost-grey Knights of House Rajha, answering the deafening war sirens of the Titans with kindred answering cries of their own. Rearing up a vast swath of dust behind it like an oncoming hurricane, the army of the Traitor Legion and its Dark Mechanicum allies thundered towards the Paramar Nexus.
First Battle of Paramar - The Nexus Falls: By the fifth solar hour of the battle, the speed and overwhelming force of the Alpha Legion's attack had taken its toll and the battle was swinging full force in the Traitors' favour. Although the cost in tanks and Legionaries had been heavy, bastion after bastion, defence line after defence line had fallen to the invaders' onslaught and now only the Terminus remained to resist them.It had been the Siege-automata of the Taghmata Satarael, shielded by the pressing bulwark of the Patraxis Cerastus-Lander Knights that had finally broken the Iron Warriors' cordon of Castellum Strongholds that guarded it. Even with their walls shattered, the grim Legionaries of the IVth Legion would not retreat, raining their last supplies of grenades down upon the Thallax who overwhelmed their position before they at last fell back.Their warsmith, Kyr Vhalen, his body smashed, was finally dragged from the rubble by his Apothecaries still spitting his hate and invective at the foe, as the towering figures of the dozen surviving battle-worthy Titans of the Legio Fureans loomed out of the black fog of war to seal the doom of the Terminus.What followed was the simple mathematics of force. Against the massed firepower of the Tiger Eyes' Titans, the Terminus could not stand. Armillus Dynat stood impassively atop the broken wreckage of his own Legion's Fellblades and looked on in silence as the Myrmidons of the Taghmata Satarael sundered the gates of the Panopticon and exterminated everything within, without mercy.But of the surviving Iron Warriors that retreated within, their wounded master, or the Archmagos Suyria Nihhon whose domain this had been, there was no sign found save the echoing darkness below. To the Alpha Legion, however, such things did not have real importance, for their primary objective had been achieved; the Paramar Nexus had fallen and with it Paramar V belonged to Horus, its stockpiles and industry intact.
First Battle of Paramar - The Devil is not Mocked: When news reached Horus of the conquest of Paramar V, it came not as a report of an unalloyed victory, but as a barbed gift. Swiftly following on the heels of the news of the Alpha Legion's success came fresh entreaties for aid and reinforcement from the Dark Mechanicum forces which now garrisoned it. The Alpha Legion had departed seemingly as swiftly as they had come, but not before taking what they had wished from Paramar's stockpiles for their own.The Taghmata Satarael protested it did not have the manpower alone to hold the star system, and feared both revolt by the menials of their new possession, and attacks by escaped Loyalist elements which had not yet been found, notwithstanding any threat of a Loyalist counterattack to reclaim the system. The Warmaster then was in turn forced to divert additional forces to Paramar to hold the system, forces which he had desired to use elsewhere, as having gained this great prize he could not afford for his enemies to regain it.This fear would be proved accurate as the system would see an attempted but failed Loyalist counter-invasion two solar years later (Second Battle of Paramar in 008.M31 or 011.M31) and further catastrophic warfare during the dark years of the Great Scouring (Third Battle of Paramar in 019.M31).As a further addendum to this account, there exists an entirely unsubstantiated report of Horus' barely suppressed fury with the Alpha Legion and their Primarch following the events at Paramar. He is said to have sent Alpharius a missive demanding an explanation for his actions.By this account the Primarch of the Alpha Legion offered a response in two parts: the first open, stating that he and his Legion had done all that had been asked of them to the letter of their order; they had been ordered to take Paramar, never to garrison it.The second was said to have been encrypted in the substance of the first, and took the form of an ancient Terran proverb in a tongue many millennia dead; Malekara Nul Kay'a Jay or in the modern form "The Devil is not Mocked."
First Battle of Paramar - Senior Commanders: Castellan-Archmagos Suyria Nihhon (Taghmata Paramar)Princeps-Master Chartain Baldur (Legio Gryphonicus)Warsmith Kyr Vhalen (Iron Warriors 77th Grand Company) and reinforcing elements (formerly of the Therikon Suppression Taskforce)
First Battle of Paramar - Paramar Nexus Mechanicum: Taghmata Paramar - Paramar defensive garrison comprised of various Mechanicum retainer forces of the following approximate strength:1 armoured brigade (Autokratorii)2 Battle-automata cohorts4 interceptor squadrons (Basilikon Detachment)various Auxillia and Adsecularis* units equivalent to a Deka-class heavy infantry regiment (approx. 5,000 alpha through gamma grade combatants); as a result of environmental hostility, these units were confined to prepared and shielded positionsLegio GryphonicusDemi-legio of Titans (3 Primaris maniples, 2 Venetarii Maniples)1 Secutarii Regiment1 Battle-automata Cohort2 Vassal Knight Questoris Housholds (House Coldshroud)
First Battle of Paramar - Iron Warriors (Loyalist): 77th Grand Battalion and reinforcing elements (formerly of the Therikon Suppression Taskforce)2,800 Legiones Astartes of the Iron Warriors (approximate), Iron Warriors Legion Khalekaorus super-heavy tank company1 Demi-Cohort of Battle-automata of Iron Warriors Legion indenture
First Battle of Paramar - Senior Command: Alpharius - Primarch of the Alpha LegionHarrowmaster Armillus DynatArchmagos Inar Satarael (Taghmata Satarael)Blood Princeps Nistru (Legio Fureans)
First Battle of Paramar - Forces of the Warmaster (Traitor) - Alpha Legion: The Alpha Legion - Unknown strike force size, upwards of 18,000 Legiones Astartes, committed to the Paramar Nexus attack, with extensive additional heavy support elements drawn from the Legion's armourium in evidence.
First Battle of Paramar - Forces of the Warmaster (Traitor) - Dark Mechanicum: Legio Fureans - Sub-Legio (estimated to comprise 8-10 maniples of Traitor Titans of various classes)Taghmata Satarael - Conquest and occupation force amalgamated from Mechanicum units loyal to the Warmaster Horus. Estimated strength:1 armoured demi-regiment (Autokratorii)4 Thallaxii Cohort Pentex3 Battle-automata cohorts (Skirnavac Covenant forces)3 Knight Questoris Households (House Perdaxia and Rajha)
First Founding - First Founding: The First Founding of the Space Marine Legions, also called the Legiones Astartes, occurred in ca. 700.M30 after the end of the Age of Strife and during the Unification Wars that founded the Imperium of Man on Terra.Twenty Space Marine Legions were created from the gene-seed of the 20 superhuman primarchs engineered by the Emperor of Mankind from His own genetic code in His gene-laboratories beneath the Imperial Palace on Terra in the Himalazian (Himalayan) Mountains.In spite of the fact that the primarchs were separated from the Emperor of Mankind through the mysterious actions of the Ruinous Powers of Chaos and scattered through the Warp across the galaxy, He managed to keep a complete sample of each primarch's DNA.The Emperor used these templates to create the first Space Marines by genetically enhancing His own Terran-born soldiers with the gene-seed derived from each primarch's genome.The Space Marine Legions born of this process were used to complete the Unification Wars on Terra and then to initiate the Great Crusade to reunite all of Mankind's scattered colony worlds across the galaxy.With each primarch the Emperor re-discovered during the course of the Great Crusade, He gave command of the Space Marine Legion created from their genetic material back to them. Each primarch then set up their Legion's headquarters on his homeworld, from which they also recruited new Space Marines into the Legion.Two other Legions, the IInd Legion and the XIth Legion and their primarchs, were created by the Emperor, but nothing is known of what became of these Legions and their primarchs and all data pertaining to them was deliberately deleted from Imperial records before the start of the Horus Heresy.
First Founding - First Founding Space Marine Legions: Legion NumberPrimarchLegionLoyaltyPrimarch StatusILion El'JonsonDark AngelsLoyalMortally wounded by Luther, leader of the Fallen Angels; formerly hidden unconscious beneath The Rock; currently active in the Imperium NihilusIIMissing and deleted from Imperial recordsIIIFulgrimEmperor's ChildrenTraitorDespite being possessed by a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh who impersonated him for a time, Fulgrim regained control of his body and eventually became a Daemon Prince of SlaaneshIVPerturaboIron WarriorsTraitorAlive; Daemon Prince of Chaos UndividedVJaghatai KhanWhite Scars (Star Hunters)LoyalMissingVILeman RussSpace WolvesLoyalMissingVIIRogal DornImperial FistsLoyalDead (Ambiguous)VIIIKonrad Curze (Night Haunter)Night LordsTraitorDeadIXSanguiniusBlood Angels (Revenant Legion)LoyalDeadXFerrus ManusIron Hands (Storm Walkers)LoyalDeadXIMissing and deleted from Imperial recordsXIIAngronWorld Eaters (War Hounds)TraitorAlive; Daemon Prince of Khorne; Banished to the Warp following the First War for ArmageddonXIIIRoboute GuillimanUltramarines (War-Born)LoyalMortally wounded; formerly in stasis; resurrected as the Lord Commander of the Imperium in 999.M41XIVMortarionDeath Guard (Dusk Raiders)TraitorAlive; Daemon Prince of NurgleXVMagnus the RedThousand SonsTraitorAlive; Daemon Prince of TzeentchXVIHorusLuna Wolves / Sons of HorusTraitorDeadXVIILorgarWord Bearers (Imperial Heralds)TraitorAlive; Daemon Prince of Chaos UndividedXVIIIVulkanSalamanders (Dragon Warriors)LoyalMissingXIXCoraxRaven GuardLoyalMissingXXAlpharius OmegonAlpha LegionTraitor, possibly still LoyalOne twin dead, slain by Rogal Dorn at the Battle of Pluto, other twin may have been slain by Roboute Guilliman during Great Scouring. Status unknown.
First Lord of the Imperium (Audio Drama) - First Lord of the Imperium (Audio Drama): First Lord of the Imperium is the second audio drama for The Horus Heresy - Primarchs series. First Lord of the Imperium was released as an MP3 format as part of the Black Library's 2017 Advent Calendar, on day 14.
First Lord of the Imperium (Audio Drama) - Official Synopsis: As the Horus Heresy rages and the death toll rises, one more will be added to the numberless dead: Sibel Niasta, personal Astropath to the First Lord of the Imperium, Malcador the Sigillite. As her end approaches, Malcador sits vigil by her bedside, and the pair discuss their friendship and what it means -- how the past and present have shaped Malcador and the Imperium, and what the future holds.
First Ork War - First Ork War: The First Ork War, originally called simply the Ork Wars before the onset of a second conflict with the Greenskins, was the name given to a conflict fought in the 41st Millennium by the Knight houses of the Knight World of Adrastapol against the Ork WAAAGH! Skarjaw. The war ended in a victory for the Imperial forces and the freeing of Adrastapol from the Greenskin taint, though hunting down the last of the Feral Orks who remained from the original assault would consume solar decades.
First Ork War - History: At the beginning of the reign of High King Gerraint Tan Chimaeros of House Chimaeros, the Knight World of Adrastapol suffered an all-out invasion by the savage xenos-species of the Orks. Under their terrifying warlord, Skarjaw, this WAAAGH! had grown in power until it was able to threaten even the mightiest Imperial world. Skarjaw's horde was noted to be extremely savage, even by the standards of his own race. Where other WAAAGH!s had been heavily mechanised, aligning Junka Trukks, combat walkers and Battlewagons, and sometimes even towering Stompas or Gargants, Skarjaw's forces trusted in the brute force and innate savagery of its half-domesticated Squiggoths.The arrival of the Orks on Adrastapol took all of its Knight houses by surprise, and before a coordinated counterattack could be launched, Skarjaw's minions had already assaulted several keeps belonging to House Manticos, a fatal blow from which the house never truly recovered. As the Ork advance closed in on the ancestral fortress of House Draconis, the Draconspire, the battle was joined between the host of High King Gerraint and Skarjaw's Orks. Unfortunately for the Imperials, the savagery of Skarjaw and those near to him was such that the brave Knights of House Pegasson were unable to stop them from breaking through their lines.In his eagerness to plunder and devastate this world, Skarjaw attacked the ill-defended Draconspire. With the survival of his house in the balance, Tolwyn Tan Draconis, then mere Gatekeeper to his father, made a fateful decision: he personally led a sortie of the house's youngest and bravest Knights in an attempt to slay the enemy warlord, leaving the safety of their fortress behind.Although hard-fought, the mission was a resounding success. Tolwyn's initiative not only led to the death of Skarjaw and his towering warbeast, but also scattered the leadership of the WAAAGH! which was then readily defeated by High King Gerraint's army.The survivors of this invasion would scatter through Adrastapol's wilderness from where Feral Orks would continue to pose a threat to the population of the Knight World. Under High King Gerraint's orders, the Adrastapolian Knights tirelessly campaigned to rid their homeworld of the taint that had befallen it, a tiresome campaign that lasted over several solar decades.
First Pacification of Luna - First Pacification of Luna: The First Pacification of Luna fought in 703.M30 represented what is considered by some Imperial savants as the first known off-world campaign of the Great Crusade though it occurred before the end of the Unification Wars in 712.M30.The Selenar gene-cults who called Luna home during the Age of Strife and the Unification Wars possessed highly advanced genetic engineering technology that would be of great use to the preparations for the Emperor's Great Crusade.Despite repeated attempts by the Emperor to bring Luna into the nascent Imperium of Man through peaceful diplomatic means, the gene-cults refused all offers.This required the Emperor to unleash three of the early Space Marine Legions upon Luna to bring the world into Imperial Compliance.
First Pacification of Luna - History: This early Imperial campaign was the first operation mounted by elements of the early Space Marine Legions beyond the skies of Terra in 703.M30. The Unification Wars were still raging across the surface of Mankind's birth world at this time.Luna was the bastion of a conglomeration of resurrectionist gene-cults whose members believed that Human nature was fractal, fractured and transcendent. Each of these Selenar gene-cults clung to a different set of archetypes. Every cult member was a product of creation by the Selenar gene-wrights according to formulae crafted in the Age of Technology. Resurrected in body time and time again they sought to distill the true personification of a single Human archetype.In their subterranean complexes the cults were powerful, insular and resistant to the Imperial Truth. The Imperials would have normally dealt with these insular cults in the usual manner they handled all of the other Terran factions and techno-barbarian states that refused to accept the rule of the Emperor of Mankind -- by obliteration.The fact that the Selenar gene-cults had something that the growing Imperium needed complicated that position. The Selenar returned the Imperial entreaties for alliance with silence. As the threats of the Imperium soon began to outnumber its offers, the Selenar cults began to gird themselves for war.So it was that the Emperor finally ordered Luna to be pacified by the sword, their superstitious beliefs cast down before the Imperial Truth and their gene-craft yoked to the needs of the Imperium.To this task the Emperor set the three of His newborn Space Marine Legions most suited to this purpose on what some Imperial chroniclers name as the first true battle of the Great Crusade.The combined force of the VIIth, XIIIth and XVIth Legions (later named the Imperial Fists, Ultramarines and Luna Wolves) lifted from the surface of Terra in a scattering of rocket flame.The as yet unnamed XVIth Legion had been chosen to serve as the Space Marine force's vanguard, and had brought its full strength to bear. Cutting power to their assault craft, the Astartes of the XVIth Legion drifted silently towards Luna through the void like arrows fired into the night.As the smaller wave of assault craft belonging to the VIIth and XIIIth Legions approached the airless world, the Selenar defensive weapon systems embedded in Luna's surface lashed the oncoming Imperial force. The XVIth Legion's assault craft, unlooked for and unseen, struck their targets like a dagger in the night.Within six solar hours of the first shot being fired, Luna had been pacified and brought into Imperial Compliance, the first off-world conquest of the Imperium of Man. Faced with annihilation, the surviving Selenar cultists bent the knee instead, the surrender communique of High Matriarch Heliosa-54 transmitted to Terra calling for the Emperor to "call off his wolves."Broken and humbled, the enslaved gene-wrights of Luna would help forge the next generation of Space Marine who would carry out Mankind's conquest of the stars. As for the XVIth Legion, they had earned their name -- the Luna Wolves.
First Sphere Expansion - First Sphere Expansion: The First Sphere Expansion is the name given to the colonial expansion that marked the rise of the emergent T'au Empire as a major star-faring species of the Milky Way Galaxy  through its first organised effort at interstellar exploration and colonisation.The First Sphere Expansion saw the T'au establish their stellar empire and settle new colonial "Sept worlds" in the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy. This thousand-year-long period, known to the T'au as "The Great Expansion," occurred in 502.M37-956.M38, and was considered a time of great scientific advancement and cultural renaissance.It was during this period that the T'au first advanced into space, colonising planets as far as their conventionally-driven, sublight voidcraft would take them. The notion that the T'au's future lay in the stars was keenly grasped by all of the T'au castes at this time, after which the T'au began to push their realm outwards at an explosive rate.
First Sphere Expansion - History: On the Eastern Fringes of the galaxy, there is a new power on the rise. The T'au Empire is spreading; its boundless ambitions have yet to be checked. Although world after world have been subsumed under their control, the T'au believe it is only the start of their new unified order, for it is their destiny to rule the galaxy, and none have the right to deny their progress across the stars.The T'au are a dynamic race, whose unity of purpose and superb grasp of advanced technology have enabled them to make rapid advances. Where once the T'au looked up to see the distant pinpricks of unexplored stars, now they see the shimmering lights of their own interstellar empire. The T'au believe that their destiny is to rule the galaxy and that the time to do so is now.They fully accept the superiority of their culture and technology, and have recognised that they are the only hope of bringing an enlightened philosophy to an otherwise bleak, barren and backwards galaxy. There is no feat beyond the range of their engineering, no quandary that their scientists cannot solve, and no foe that their warriors cannot overcome. In time, all other intelligent races of the galaxy will come to accept these truths, and the very stars will be reshaped and realigned in the name of the one cause that ever mattered.The T'au are driven by their adherence to a singular ideology -- the Tau'va -- which translates as "the Greater Good," a phrase that means that the good of the many in society must take precedence over the selfish desires of the individual. That one must set aside personal desires to work for the Greater Good is of prime concern to the T'au and it is impossible to underplay the importance of this ideal -- all working together to achieve the advancement of the whole society.
First Sphere Expansion - Advanced Evolution: The story of evolution from stone tools to a more advanced society is a common enough tale for many sentient species throughout the galaxy. What makes the T'au story notable is the speed at which their culture leapt from age to age. It was not many generations after they established their first settlements on their homeworld of T'au that the T'au began building fortresses and using black powder-based combustion firearms to defend them from marauding tribes of plains dwellers allied with the T'au of the air. The T'au had entered their darkest age, when the entire race was being destroyed by war and disease. At this time, strange lights were seen in the sky and many believed these were signs that they were living in the last days -- that extinction was nigh.From these times come many different myths of how the race was pulled back from the brink of annihilation, the foremost legend of which was the "Ethereals of Fio'taun." In this tale, T'au of unusual appearance gathered the leaders of the various rival cities and brought them to a great gathering. As the enemies met, the newcomers, who called themselves Ethereals, bade all to sit. Beneath a maiden moon of purest white, they began to speak. The mysterious strangers explaining that the skills of each tribe were unique and should be harnessed, and they spoke of a Greater Good that could be achieved if only they would put aside their feuding ways and instead work together. The two strangers talked through the night, their words heavy with great power. As the sun crested the horizon, a truce was agreed between the warring factions. Soon, more Ethereals appeared and their message of the Greater Good spread to every corner of the planet.The new philosophy took hold quickly. Soon the internecine wars were over, and the T'au flourished as never before. T'au society was formalised into castes, each known by the mythological element that most befitted its role in the Greater Good.
First Sphere Expansion - Dynamic Expansion: The T'au entered into an unprecedented period of rapid change heralded by new inventions and great leaps of advancement in many fields. Each caste became relentlessly driven in its pursuit of the next achievement for the Greater Good. The successes that followed were plentiful -- with rapid advancements discovered in metallurgy, engineering, energy production and weapons manufacturing. With breakthroughs occurring almost daily and hardship anddisease greatly reduced, the world of T'au was soon showing signs of overcrowding. Again, the Ethereals had the answers, and pointed towards the stars.At their bidding, the Earth Caste began building and testing chemical rockets; the Air Caste began training for their new roles as void pilots. The notion that the T'au's future lay in the stars was keenly grasped by all of the castes. After the first few rockets successfully escaped the planetary atmosphere, the T'au rapidly moved to establish orbital communities, followed by a base on Lu'val, the nearest moon of their homeworld. Scouting voidships, probes and far-ranging scanning devices were sent deeper into space.The T'au ascertained that their world resided in a tightly packed star cluster with scores of planets in close proximity to each other. Scans reported that many of these worlds were capable of sustaining life. The construction of a massive orbital dock allowed larger space-faring craft to be built and soon colonising efforts were underway -- the nearby planet of Tau'n became the first of these bold new enterprises.
First Sphere Expansion - The Spheres of Expansion: The rise of the T'au can be seen to develop through three distinct phases, periods of intense growth known to the T'au as "Spheres of Expansion". Each of these waves of colonisation is marked by a long build-up of resources, after which continual waves of exploratory missions are launched, followed, where needed, by military campaigns to solidify territorial gains. Once a T'au colony transforms itself into a stable settlement, it then serves as a jumping-off point for the next expansion. By the end of the millennia-long First Sphere Expansion, as it later came to be called, the T'au Empire had unfurled across the heavens and consisted of eight fully settled systems known as Septs.Named after its primary or "Sept world", a Sept can include any number of additionally colonised planets or moons, as well as other holdings such as listening posts, sensor fields, shield satellites, orbital cities, and mining operations. Everything is connected, both by a series of space stations and a massive net of communications and sensor relays strung between major locations. Although it might take many generations to establish itself, each Sept is unique, with its own cultural nuances and varying proportions of the different castes and T'au-allied alien populations.
First Sphere Expansion - A Destiny to Rule the Stars: The T'au continued to push their realm outwards at an explosive rate during the First Sphere Expansion, although losses were high amongst these early explorers. Not only did space travel and new and unusual environments take their toll, but as they ventured further from their homeworld, the T'au also began to encounter alien beasts, many of which proved dangerous. At last came the time when the rigorous training of the Fire Warriors could prove its worth. The colossal reptilian beasts of D'yanoi consumed many T'au colonists, before the quick deployments and disciplined volleys of the Fire Caste drove the monstrous creatures back.On Sa'cea, the desert planet was so overrun with fierce, flesh-eating predators that the Fire Caste had to hunt down and destroy them all before settlers would even dare to land. During these early expansions the T'au also encountered intelligent alien races -- whole civilisations of other sentient creatures. While the Fire Caste sought to destroy any who opposed them, hunting them in the same manner in which they eradicated savage creatures, the Ethereals saw an opportunity to bring enlightenment instead of war. Just as the Ethereals had stopped the fighting on T'au and bound the tribes to work towards a common purpose, so too should the aliens be embraced and given a chance to contribute to the Greater Good.The Ethereals guided the other castes to accept these alien races, no matter how strange. It did not matter whether these new aliens were mired in barbarism, enslaved to crude superstitions or simply unaware of the magnitude of the great destiny unfolding before them, the Ethereals said all should be welcomed into the emergent T'au Empire.
First Sphere Expansion - The Ork Threat: The T'au first discovered Orks on the planets surrounding their first major colony, Tau'n. Signals soon arrived reporting disparate Ork tribes scattered across every star system they investigated. The sophisticated T'au quickly learned to pinpoint the telltale Ork signature on their scanning equipment, and it appeared with alarming regularity on planets, moons, asteroid belts and virtually anywhere that could support life. It took many battles before the T'au at last abandoned their futile attempts to absorb Orks in the manner that had proven so successful with a dozen other alien civilisations; there was simply no bargaining with such creatures.The Ethereals themselves eventually conceded that these aliens were a lost cause and amended the protocols to forego any attempt to integrate the Orks into the Tau Empire, declaring, at last, that the Greater Good was actually served by eliminating the Greenskins.
First Sphere Expansion - Fortuitous Discovery: At the close of the first period of T'au expansion, an exploration fleet out of Dal'yth picked up long-ranged scans of Ork ships firing on Kroot Warspheres. The previously unencountered Kroot were defending their enclave on the planet of Krath, although they were hopelessly outnumbered. Intending only to observe, the T'au were drawn into the battle as both the Air Caste Admiral and Fire Caste Commander could not bear to watch the honourless Orks bludgeon their way to victory. Quickly deploying their superior fleet, the T'au destroyed the ramshackle Greenskin ships.Too late, however, they realised that this was merely the vanguard of a mighty invasion force that was closing on them in an encircling pattern. Thus began an extended war, both in space and over several planets, later named the War in the Place of Union, for it marked the first time the T'au and Kroot fought side by side. So effective was the sudden alliance that they withstood the Orks long enough for reinforcements from Sa'cea to arrive, and ultimately triumphed over the Greenskins. The T'au were so impressed with the Kroot's fighting prowess that they agreed to extend the alliance in order to liberate the remainder of the Kroot enclaves, who were also under Ork attack.For the next ten Terran years, the T'au helped drive all sign of Orks from the Kroot worlds, eventually coming to the Kroot homeworld of Pech at the behest of the greatest of Kroot leaders, the legendary Anghkor Prok. There, at the sacred Oathstone, the Kroot leader swore allegiance to the T'au Empire and pledged his warriors to fight for the Greater Good (and regular payment). That pledge, and the cooperation between the two races, is still honoured today. The Kroot are, by far, the most common alien auxiliary force to serve in T'au armies. The T'au greatly value the military service of the Kroot, although they continue to hope that exposure to their own superior culture will eventually cure the Kroot of their cannibalistic tendencies.
First Sphere Expansion - First Sphere Expansion Timeline: The T'au have developed their own mode of timekeeping based on the annual cycle of their homeworld of T'au aound its star, a unit called a tau'cyr. Except on human planets that are still in the process of being subsumed into the T'au Empire, the T'au do not use the Imperium's dating system. However, for ease of translation, it has been employed here:The Great Expansion (502.M37-956.M38) - A time of great scientific and cultural evolution during which the Tau first advance into space, colonising planets as far as their conventionally-fuelled voidcraft will take them.First Colony (533.M37) - The T'au colonise their largest moon, Lu'val; this is their first off-world holding.Tau'n Established (756.M37) - The Ethereals declare the colonies centred around the planet Tau'n will become their own Sept -- or realm, governed centrally from Tau'n, the prime Sept world. This is the first of many star systems to be colonised.Welcome Additions (893.M37) - The Poctroon become the first sentient alien race to join the T'au Empire, although within a few generations, disease destroys their indigenous population. The T'au, whose physiology is fortunately immune to the plague, inherit the Poctroon homeworld, turning it into the prime world of what will become the Bork'an Sept. The Nicassar become the first race to join the T'au Empire and survive long enough to tell about it.The Campaign of Cleansing (606.M38-792.M38) - This period marks the first prolonged T'au campaign against the Orks. The T'au suffer many defeats but are ultimately able to eradicate the Greenskins from the territory of the First Sphere, thanks in part to the Earth Caste refinement of the first Pulse Rifle. The Dal'yth Sept is founded.The Union of T'au and Kroot (844.M38) - In order to combat Orks, the fortunate alliance between T'au and Kroot is established. Within a decade, the Water Caste has established embassies upon Pech , the capital world of the Kroot realm.
First Sphere Expansion - First Sphere Expansion Septs: The First Sphere Expansion of the T'au Empire began shortly after their species first achieved spaceflight capability. The T'au homeworld and the First Sphere colonies are of major economic and political importance to the T'au, and form the hub of the T'au Empire.T'au - T'au is the birthplace of the T'au species, and it is here that the High Council, formerly led by the Ethereal Supreme Aun'Va, convenes, its decrees shaping the entire T'au Empire. T'au remains the centre of T'au culture and the empire's bureaucracy, and produces many Fire Caste warriors. No other sept can rival T'au for prestige, and only Vior'la can match its power.Tau'n - The first T'au Sept established in the Empire's history, Tau'n has a chain of enormous orbital docks and controls the largest of the Air Caste space stations; every sept hosts warships of the T'au fleet (Kor'vattra), but none can boast of more than Tau'n.D'yanoi - Named after the twin moons of its prime Sept world, D'yanoi has survived long isolation due to a Warp Storm of fierce and unnatural qualities. It has also seen many infamous Ork invasions. Having been isolated for such a long period of time from the rest of the T'au Empire, its inhabitants are considered somewhat rustic and backwards.Bork'an - The Sept of Bork'an is a centre of T'au learning and academia, and its system has many rich mining planets. Bork'an has a high percentage of settlers from the Earth Caste, and Fire Warriors from here are not infrequently outfitted with prototype weapons and equipment developed by their Earth Caste counterparts.Dal'yth - The Dal'yth Sept was ravaged during the Damocles Crusade; many of its outer colonies and several cities on its prime Sept world were destroyed. It has recovered quickly, thanks to its busy trade ports. Large numbers of aliens can be seen here alongside its famously efficient Water Caste merchants and diplomats.Fal'shia - Many technological innovations have come from this Sept. Fire Caste warriors from Fal'shia are often the first to try out prototype weapons, armour and system upgrades.Vior'la - The planet Vior'la orbits a binary star and its name translates as "hot-blooded" in Low Gothic. It is known to produce especially aggressive and skilled T'au warriors. Many Ork invasions have been broken by the Sept, and some of the most respected Fire Caste academies reside upon Vior'la.Sa'cea - The prime world of Sa'cea is the hottest and most densely populated of all T'au worlds. As a result of its large population, Sa'cea has produced more colonisation fleets during the Second Sphere Expansion than any other. Warriors of Sa'cea are regarded as particularly honourable.
First War for Armageddon - First War for Armageddon: The First War for Armageddon, fought in 444.M41, is the least well known of the three wars fought by the Imperium of Man in defence of the Hive World of Armageddon in the Segmentum Solar, and was a titanic clash between the Forces of Chaos and the defenders of the Imperium of Man. It represented the culmination of years of preparation by the former Primarch and Daemon Prince Angron, the favoured Champion of Khorne, to unify his World Eaters after the Battle of Skalathrax had led the XII Legion to break up into scattered warbands.Angron sought to recreate a coherent force of Chaos Space Marines capable of invading deep into the Imperium once more just as they had done during the Horus Heresy. In the end, it was Angron's own foolish belief in his victory before completing a total conquest of the world that led to the failure of the campaign and his banishment to the Warp for one hundred Terran years. The First War for Armageddon represents a textbook example of how the Forces of Chaos can slowly infiltrate an Imperial population to eventually bring about a full-scale invasion from the Warp.The war also unleashed an internecine conflict in 444-445.M41 between the Inquisition and the Space Wolves Chapter of Space Marines, which took issue with the Inquistion'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 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.
First War for Armageddon - The Threat Realised: On board the Devourer of Stars was an enormous Chaos army led by the Daemon Primarch Angron, including millions of Chaos Cultists known as the Children of Sanguinary Unholiness and the Twelve -- the Cruor Praetoria, the twelve strongest daemons of Khorne whose lives and deeds most pleased their wretched Blood God. Chaos Space Marines from the World Eaters Legion and hordes of other daemonic creatures dedicated to the Blood God also poured from the Space Hulk onto the surface of Armageddon and swept across the land.The insidious effects of Chaos were quickly felt as nearly half the Planetary Defence Force of Armageddon unexpectedly went over to the invaders, declaring their loyalty to the Ruinous Powers of Chaos. The few remaining Loyalist defenders were quickly routed from the continent of Armageddon Prime. Falling back through the equatorial jungles in the south, the survivors joined up with the Imperial PDF units that had been left on the continent of Armageddon Secundus and prepared to make a last ditch defence along the rivers of the Styx and Chaeron.
First War for Armageddon - Raising the Defences: The Imperial defence was well organised. Unknown to the Forces of Chaos, the Great Company of Space Wolves Astartes led by the Chapter's Great Wolf (Chapter Master) Logan Grimnar had been assigned to this sector of the Imperium, and they moved quickly to provide aid to the beleaguered defenders as soon as they received the astropathic distress messages from Armageddon describing the Chaotic invasion of the Hive World.The Imperial defenders gained valuable time while Angron raised bloody monuments to the Blood God from the wreckage of the dead instead of pressing his advantage. When his army emerged from the equatorial jungles that separated Armageddon Prime from Armageddon Secundus, they found the Imperial defenders ready and waiting -- and reinforced by the Space Wolves.Huge battles erupted along the entire front. In the east, along the Chaeron River, the Imperial forces held, but towards the west on the Styx River Angron led the way himself. He smashed through the Imperial lines and led his forces towards Hive Infernus and Hive Helsreach.
First War for Armageddon - Final Showdown: It was now that Logan Grimnar unleashed his secret weapon. He had called for the assistance of theGrey Knights, the psychic Space Marine Chapter that served the Ordo Malleus of the Inquisition as its Chamber Militant, as soon as he had heard of the nature of the attacking forces. Only the Grey Knights had the ability to truly defeat a daemonic entity of such malevolent power as Angron. As the very existence of Chaos was one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Imperium of Man, few amongst even the Space Marines knew of the existence of the Grey Knights, the most elite Chapter of Astartes ever formed who were tasked specifically with combat against daemons. But Grimnar had seen them in action on more than one occasion and as the lord of an Astartes Chapter he had never been forced to submit to the mind-wipe that was required of nearly all witnesses to the Grey Knights in action.Amongst the Grey Knights units deployed for action on Armageddon was Squad Castian, which joined an ad hoc "Ragged Brotherhood" of Grey Knights under the command of Taremar Aurellian, the Brother-Captain of the 3rd Brotherhood. When the call came, the Grey Knights teleported directly into the midst of the advancing Chaos horde, surrounding the gigantic Daemon Primarch. Taking heavy losses from Angron's battle prowess, the Grey Knights inflicted their own punishment, and eventually Squad Castian engaged in melee with the Daemon Primarch. After Angron mangled the squad, the only Grey Knight left standing was the Pyrokine (master of psychic flame) Hyperion. Trying to protect a still-surviving squad mate, in a tremendous display of faith, power, and effort, Hyperion used his psyker abilities to shatter the Primarch's daemonic sword, the hideous Khornate relic known as the Black Blade -- while he collapsed into unconsiousness from the sheer effort. Captain Aurellian then confronted the bladeless Daemon Prince of Khorne and managed to banish him back to the Warp, though at the cost of his own life.Hyperion was one of only 13 Grey Knights to survive the battle, out of 109 Astartes of the 3rd Brotherhood who had been deployed for the campaign. Found alive but in terrible shape by Space Wolves on the hellish field after the battle, Hyperion soon acquired the honorific "Bladebreaker" for his feat. He had to be put in temporary stasis in order to survive, and underwent surgery that replaced half his face and skull with augmetics, and he eventually reported back to duty more than 4 months later.The Grey Knights had defeated the Daemon Prince, hurling his spirit back into the Warp from where he could not return for over one hundred Terran years. At the same time as the Grey Knights were teleporting directly into the centre of the daemonic force to launch their attack on the Daemon Primarch, the Space Wolves launched their own massive counter-offensive all along the Imperial lines. The Forces of Chaos were routed after they watched their leader defeated and only the World Eaters managed to retreat back to the Space Hulk and escape into the safety of the Warp. The Imperial victory was complete and overwhelming.