Space Wolves - Ark Reach Cluster Campaign: The Ark Reach Cluster had been discovered by the Word Bearers Legion's 47th Expeditionary Fleet; it was a group of binary stars occupied by a number of belligerent planetary empires that rejected the Imperium's offer to become part of the Emperor's growing demesne. When negotiations broke down between Imperial representatives and the Phoenix Court, a representative body of six systems of the Ark Reach Cluster, hostilities commenced. The first four systems easily fell to the combined efforts of the Space Wolves and the Word Bearers. The Rout waged a genocidal campaign that laid waste to the intransigent worlds while the Word Bearers' Ashen Circle destroyed much of the culture of the Ark Reach Cluster, hunting down works of false doctrine and those who purveyed it, and consigning both to destruction and eradicating flame. The two Legions continued the prosecution of this campaign for the next two years until only two worlds still resisted Imperial efforts, thanks in no small part to the Avenians, who lived in silver towers on top of the tallest mountain peaks of Ark Reach Secundus, which was known to the local inhabitants as Heliosa.It was soon decided that in order to ensure a successful Compliance, a greater Imperial presence must be felt. To this end, Leman Russ decided that he would send for assistance from Thousand Sons in the nearby Aghoru System, to help bring the sixth and final world, Shrike, into Imperial Compliance. When the XV Legion finally arrived they found themselves deployed at a more frantic war pace than what they were accustomed to. The Space Wolves Compliance operations were conducted swiftly, and over the next six months the Rout continued to spearhead the efforts on Shrike. The Imperial ground forces found themselves being viciously attacked by varied and hostile avian creatures almost incessantly, which forced the Imperials to modify their weapons for point-defence in order to clear the skies around them. These vicious avians were known by the local inhabitants as snow-shrikes (razor-beaked birds) that made short work of the Imperial forces during multiple assaults. This earned the planet the sobriquet, "Shrike" by Imperial forces.Despite the punishing pace of the campaign, the Thousand Sons helped play an instrumental role in the final defeat over the Avenians when they took the objective named Raven's Aerie 93. This final battle was won in a matter of hours, with only a fraction of casualties incurred by Imperial forces. The Avenians surviving leaders and military forces withdrew and retreated to their capital world of Heliosa. With the precognitive abilities of the Thousand Sons' Corvidae Cult members, they were able to determine the location of hidden enemy forces, whom the Space Wolves savagely killed with their warriors, while the Word Bearers burned their fortresses with purifying flame.Even after achieving victory, tensions between the Space Wolves and the Thousand Sons continued to boil over, until it finally came to a head during the battle for Phoenix Crag, Shrike's capital city. The Crimson King had become disgusted by what he saw as the wanton destruction and near-genocide committed by the Space Wolves of the planet's population. The Space Wolves pointed out to their cousin Legion that the Avenians were an unrepentant and degenerate society who refused to accept the Imperial Truth. Soon tensions flared, and several of the Space Wolves charged the Thousand Sons. The warriors of the XV Legion utilised their deadly psychic abilities and slew several Fenrisian Wolves as well as disabling the bodies of the Space Wolves themselves.In the midst of the fighting, disaster struck, in the form of one of the Thousand Sons, a Pavoni Cult member known as Hastur, when he succumbed to the dreaded "flesh-change" after over-exerting his psychic powers. This caused his body to spontaneously mutate uncontrollably, which caused panic within the ranks of the Thousand Sons, and resulted in further mutations amongst some of its members. A surging wave of power erupted as Magnus the Red came forth and stepped towards the hideously transformed Hastur, who seemed to reach out to Magnus, as though to embrace him, and the Primarch opened his arms to receive him with forgiveness and mercy. Suddenly, a thunderous bang sounded and Hastar's body exploded as a single, explosive round detonated within his chest. Silence ascended, as the heavy tink sound of a monstrous expended brass casing struck the ground. It was the Wolf King himself who had ended Hastur's suffering.The Wolf King walked calmly towards his brother Primarch, as both sides readied themselves to make war upon one another. Total war between the two Legions seemed imminent. Fortunately, disaster was just barely averted when Primarch Lorgar interposed himself between his brothers, and through his masterful oratory, managed to calm the tense situation. Magnus refused to stand by as the Wolves ravaged Heliosa. But Russ retorted that this world was discovered by his Legion, and therefore, it was his to do with as he saw fit. The people of this world had chosen to fight the Imperium, and therefore had chosen death. As the Wolf King departed, he turned to face Magnus once more, and swore a blood oath against the Crimson King, promising that one day soon, there would be a reckoning between both of them. The Wolf King then slashed his blade across his palm, and let his blood spill to the ground. He then threw his head back and howled, and his warriors added their voices to their master's cry -- a lament for the dead and grim warning of things to come.