Chapter 7: The Badab War

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The Badab War

-Precedents: The Maelstrom Zone

To understand the motives behind this vile betrayal of the Emperor's name, it is necessary to understand the history of the region around the Maelstrom and the history of the Astral Claws chapter.

The Maelstrom zone is a wild and lawless region located near the galactic core, at its heart lies the great warp storm known as the Maelstrom which gives the region its name. Because of this storm, the region has always been plagued by occultists and smaller warp storms that either complicated navigation through the system or brought pirates or Ork warbands into it. When the fifth legion arrived in Maelstrom, the whole situation worsened exponentially, pirate attacks increased and the worlds closest to the warp storm began to record sightings of white-armored Astarters accompanying these pirates.

The Maelstrom zone is not only strategically important for the imperium, but because it is close to the galactic core, the planets in it tend to have minerals that are rare to find in the rest of the galaxy. Therefore, the imperium could not allow this region to fall into the hands of the outlaws. In a campaign that lasted several years, the imperium cleared the Maelstrom zone of most of the outlaws who inhabited it and brought it back under its control.

At the end of the campaign, the imperium retook that area of space and the fourth brotherhood of the Black Templars settled in that region to protect it from demonic incursions or attacks by the fifth legion. But the Black Templars weren't the only protectors of this area; the imperium also created the group known as the Maelstrom Warders, a group made up of several chapters of astarters tasked with protecting this area from internal and external dangers. The composition of the chapters that make up the Warders has changed over time to suit the needs of the imperial war machine. By the middle of the 41st millennium, the Maelstrom Warders were made up of the Star Phantoms, Crimson Reapers, Storm Giants and the chapter responsible for the tragedies that would befall the Maelstrom zone, the Astral Claws.

-The Astral Claws:

The Astral Claws chapter was created during the dark days of the Nova Terra interregnum, during the long-gone days of M35. The chapter was part of the tenth foundation, named the revenge/reconquest foundation because it was organized to help in the war against Nova Terra.

The Astral Claws were founded from veterans of the Warborns, thus carrying the genetic seed of Roboute Guilliman. The Astral Claws were a crusade-focused chapter, and for most of their history they showed this very well. They were one of the main pillars of the imperium's offensive against Nova Terra and several times throughout history they fought and defeated Xenos and Chaos marines. Unlike other chapters, the Astral Claws were a chapter extremely close to the ordinary citizens of the imperium, always caring about causing collateral damage to the planetary infrastructure if possible.

And it was for these characteristics that the Hugh lords of Terra chose the Astral Claws to be part of the Maelstrom Warders.

When the chapter arrived in the Maelstrom, its chapter master was the legendary Juver Orion, an astarter known for his brilliant strategic mind and his big heart, since Juver was a former war orphan who was recruited by the Astral Claws, and even after becoming chapter master he didn't lose his compassion for other victims of war as he once had.

For several centuries, the Astral Claws did their part in defending the Maelstrom zone splendidly, repelling xenos and heretic attacks alike. But no matter how hard they tried, the Astral Claws simply couldn't get rid of the threats in the Maelstrom zone once and for all. This began to bother Juver, who in response devised a plan to put an end to the situation. In 630.M41, Juver called together the other chapter masters in the zone, and showed them his plans for the campaign named "The Scourge". After ten years of preparation, the campaign finally began.

At Juver's behest, the librarians of all the Maelstrom Warders' chapters began the arduous task of trying to predict future pirate attacks throughout the zone. At the same time, using ancient tomes and knowledge of the Black Templars' warp, the latter and more than half of the Astral Claws entered the Maelstrom to take the war to the traitors' territories.

This bloody campaign lasted for more than twenty years, the imperial forces were pushed to the limit of their capabilities, but the results were visible and for the first time in millennia, the Maelstrom pirates were taking real damage. The climax of this campaign was in the year 663.M41, when the joint fleet of the Black Templars and Astral Claws encountered the planet of Chogoris.

A bloody battle ensued between both fleets. The legalists fought with fury and determination, but the traitors had numerical superiority and gradually began to push back the Emperor's forces. Determined not to let this opportunity to strike a clean blow at the fifth legion slip away, Juver together with the first and second companies approached Constantinius.

The Astral Claws made their bloody way through the entire station, killing traitorous pirates and Astarters alike and destroying everything of value within it. This massacre reached such a point that the Great Khan of the time, Kyublai Khan, decided to stop the legalists himself. It was then that the Chapter Master and the Great Khan clashed, while the elite of the chapter and their heretical counterparts killed each other all around them.

At the climax of the fight, Juver was able to kill Kyublai, but the latter was unfortunately able to mortally wound the chapter master before dying. The Astral Claws had to retreat their prey carrying their wounded chapter master. By the end of the battle, almost the entire first company of the Astral Claws had been decimated and the Black Templars had suffered heavy losses, but the sacrifice of so many marines was not in vain, as the losses of the fifth legion and the death of the great Khan were a heavy blow to the traitor legion.

Unfortunately, this was a bittersweet victory, as Juver's injuries were beyond salvation and the chapter had no Dreadnought chassis available. On his deathbed, Juver chose hitherto third company captain Lufgt Huron as the next chapter master, a decision Juver didn't know would bring much pain and suffering in the future.

All the Astarters present stared impassively at the table in the apothecarium where Juver lay, the chapter master on his deathbed with nothing the chapter could do about it. The dull yellow lights of the Aphotecarium and the constant beeping of Astarter's heartbeat contributed to making the atmosphere in the room even colder than it already was.

The Chapter master took a deep, labored breath with what was left of his lungs. Then with the strength he still had, he spoke.

"Huron..." At the mention of his name, the captain of the third company stepped forward so that the Chapter Master could get a better look at him.

"Yes, sir."

"...You are next in line...you will be the next master of the Astral Claws..." The others present were completely silent as Lufgt Huron stared at the Chapter Master.

"I understand, sir." Juver then raised his left arm, and Huron grabbed his superior's hand

"Promise me... promise me that you will protect her and... that you will make Maelstrom a better place."

"I promise, sir." The chapter master stared at Huron for a few more moments, before closing his eyes one last time and the beeping of his heartbeat stopped. Juver's grip weakened, but the now Chapter Master Huron's grip remained strong as he stared at Juver's body. "I promise..."

After leaving the Maelstrom, the Astral Claws informed the other imperial forces of Juver's death and a proper burial took place.

Huron's first action as chapter master was to begin a major recruitment campaign to recover the numbers the chapter had lost over the course of the war, since it had suffered the most from the Maelstrom Warders during The Scourge. For just over a year, the Astral Claws reduced their operations to the Badab system and its surroundings, because Huron planned to launch a new offensive in the Maelstrom to take advantage of the weakened state of the Fifth Legion and put an end to the traitors once and for all.

However, Huron's plans were thwarted when an order from the High Lords themselves arrived in the Maelstrom zone. The High Lords of Terra not only announced that The Scourge had ended, but ordered the Storm Giants to withdraw from the Maelstrom zone and that their presence was needed in other warzones throughout the galaxy. Huron tried to argue with the High Lords that the presence of the Storm Giants was necessary in the zone, and that it would be necessary to find a chapter to take their place, the High Lords replied that this would not be necessary since thanks to Scourge the zone was stabilized.

So Huron had to cancel his plans for another attack on the Maelstrom and was forced to make his chapter protect the zones that the Storm Giants were responsible for, drastically reducing the speed of the chapter's recovery. Unfortunately for the Maelstrom Warders, this was only the beginning, as little by little the High Lords cut off the supply lines from the Maelstrom zone and transferred them to warzones that were more important. This situation continued until even the Black Templar brotherhood that had always guarded the Maelstrom was repositioned.

Huron was furious about this situation and his grudge against the High Lords only grew. But the event that finally made Huron turn his back on Terra was the arrival of the Tiger Claws chapter in the Badab sector.

The Tiger Claws were a peculiar chapter, since unlike most chapters that are founded from the genetic seed of a chapter from the first foundation, the Tiger Claws were founded using the gene-seed of the Astral Claws.

Their parent chapter had a major influence on their formation and development. Like the Astral Claws, the Tiger Claws were a crusader chapter that was always on the move between different warzones. However, unlike the Astral Claws, the Tiger Claws had a below-average record of successful campaigns and often took part in important campaigns, and to make matters worse they were frowned upon by the Inquisition for being a chapter from the cursed foundation.

Because of this, after being decimated by a Necron dynasty, the High Lords ordered the chapter to disband. Of the 315 Astarters still alive, a third of them refused to let their chapter die like that, and led by Captain Vetala, they fled towards the Maelstrom to meet their founding chapter and ask it for help.

Huron was furious at this news. He felt offended by such an attack on his successor chapter. It was then that he began to plot his betrayal of the Emperor.

The Chapter Master allowed the remaining Tiger Claws to join his chapter in order to dissipate their pursuers, and to ensure that Terra didn't find out, Huron falsified several reports saying that the Tiger Claws had left for the solar segmentum. The inquisition searched the entire segmentum for the chapter, but after finding nothing, they realized that the chapter had been lost in the warp in the middle of the journey. Little did they know that something much more sinister was taking shape in the Maelstrom zone.

-The tyrant of Badab:

Already determined not to follow the High Lords' orders, Huron began to plan the creation of a small sub-kingdom around the Maelstrom.

The High Lords claimed that there were not enough resources available to put an end to the pirate problem in the Maelstrom. Huron disagreed with this assertion, as he not only argued that such resources existed but that they were poorly distributed, but that he believed that a government like the one in Ultramar would be much better suited to dealing with the problems in the Maelstrom than depending on orders and directives from Terra.

So Huron began to prepare the creation of his little subkingdom. The Chapter Master of the Astral Claws traveled all over the Maelstrom, contacting politicians and other important figures who would help in the creation of this subkingdom. All this effort on Huron's part paid off, as the chapter master's influence and followers grew over the years. This culminated in the year 718.M41 Huron took control of the planet of Badab primaris and the entire Badab sector, at which point his influence was such that he already had control of the entire Maelstrom zone and renamed it "The Grand Orion" in honor of Juver.

But Huron was no fool, and he knew that if he wanted his kingdom to last, he would have to win the support of the other chapters of the Maelstrom Warders.

The tyrant of Badab then contacted Chapter Master Zhrukal Androcles of the Star Panthoms to inform him of his plans. At first, the chapter master of the Star Panthoms was reluctant to accept Huron's proposal, but since both chapters shared a strong sense of duty and Zhrukal didn't like the High Lords either, both chapter masters allied themselves.

Crimson Reapers

The chapter known as the Crimson Reapers was a normal chapter, of unknown descent, this chapter specialized in the use of guerrilla warfare, boarding actions and terror-warfare in some cases, the chapter earned a relatively good reputation. However, this all came to an end at the battle of Darmus VII.

There, the chapter fought hard to liberate the world from a chaotic cult until they were finally able to liberate the world, however, after liberating the World level several inquisitors ordered the chapter to evacuate the planet's surface and return to their ships. The chapter then watched in horror as the inquisition fleet orbitally bombarded various hive-cities and sent out kill-teams of tempestus scions to eliminate the survivors. The chapter questioned the inquisitors about this and even threatened to open fire on them. The inquisitors simply replied that the population of the world was too corrupted to be saved and warned the chapter that they would be considered traitors if they opened fire.

So the chapter had to retreat from the scene with its arms folded and powerless, but they wouldn't let it stay that way. A few months later, the chapter openly denounced the group of inquisitors and questioned the inquisition for allowing such individuals into its ranks. Unfortunately for the chapter, the inquisition didn't stand still after receiving such accusations and decided to take revenge on the chapter.

A year after the declaration, the chapter was sent to the Lenmor sub-sector. Unbeknownst to the chapter, this sub-sector had few imperial elements in it and was highly active with separatists and chaos cultists. The chapter went blindly into the mouth of the wolf and quickly found itself under attack from all sides. The Crimson Reapers had to fight bloody urban warfare campaigns on each of the planets it visited, and several times chapter officers were murdered in mysterious ways on said planets. The chapter spent three decades in said sub-sector until they were finally able to completely clean it up, leaving with less than half the numbers they started the campaign with.

When the chapter returned from this campaign, they discovered that several false reports and videos were circulating throughout imperial space, portraying the chapter as a band of barbarians who massacred enemies and civilians without distinction. This ended up irreparably damaging the chapter's reputation and several former allies of the Crimson Reapers turned their backs on them.

It was then that the chapter was sent to the Maelstrom zone to become part of the Maelstrom Warders. Many within the chapter interpreted this as a way of preventing the chapter from taking part in other campaigns, so that it wouldn't have the opportunity to clear its name.

Now in the Maelstrom zone, the chapter has become more rancorous and a huge hatred of the inquisition has grown in the hearts of each of its astarters, believing that this whole series of unfortunate events was the work of the inquisition.

It was in this situation that the chapter master, Revan Stram, was contacted by Huron. The possibility of clearing his name by helping to create such a subkingdom won Revan over, and he pledged his loyalty to the tyrant of Badab. But many inquisitors within the ordo hereticus believe that Revan already saw that Huron's plan was going to fail, and what they were really looking for with the alliance was to have their revenge against the inquisition in the inevitable war that would develop in the future.

With the support of the other chapters of the Maelstrom Warders, Lufgt Huron had complete control of the Maelstrom zone, and little by little he began to use his power for his own interests. He began to slightly increase the tithes of the planets in the zone, at the same time as he began to bribe merchants to get even more resources, those who refused would have entire trade routes blocked until they agreed to the Badab tyrant's terms.

At the same time as this was happening, Huron launched a tough campaign against the Maelstrom pirates in which several ships and weapons were confiscated by the forces of the Badab tyrant. This allowed Huron to assemble a huge fleet and every planet near the Maelstrom to have a powerful PDF at its disposal. However, all this was not enough to stop the attacks of the pirates, who seemed to be seeking revenge for the Scourge and were ferociously attacking every planet they came across.

Huron began to despair at how nothing he did seemed to be enough to keep the pirates in check. Even worse, rumors began to circulate that the new great Khan, the Astarters known as Jubal Khan, was planning to launch a major attack against the defenses of the Maelstrom zone. In his desperation, Huron decided to break the laws of the Astarters codex and began a campaign to increase the size of the Astral Claws, to which end Huron began withholding the tithe of genetic seed that the Mechanicum charged. Huron would later regret this particular action.

-The beginning of the conflict (903-904.M41):

With the passage of time and thanks to the retention of the genetic seed, Huron's chapter gradually increased in size, reaching the point where it numbered six thousand Astarters. Vetala and the Tiger Claws had already reached sufficient numbers to operate as an individual chapter, but Huron insisted to his successors that they continue in the Astral Claws for a while until the time was right.

Thanks to their larger size, the Astral Claws and the other Maelstrom Warders were able to contain the offensives launched by Jubal Khan and were even able to launch small campaigns against the planets on the edges of the warp storm. For the first time in its history, peace seemed a real possibility for the Maelstrom zone. But that wouldn't last for long.

Gene seed retention is not uncommon among Astarter chapters, especially those close to hostile space zones such as the Astral Claws, so for a while the incomplete or directly absent tithe of the Astral Claws didn't raise an eyebrow. But as the decades passed and this situation continued, the Mechanicus began to get annoyed by it, mainly because the only answers they received from the Astral Claws were unconvincing. It was then, in the year 902.M41, that the Mechanicum brought this situation to the attention of the Administratum.

They were joined by several merchants and planetary lords from planets neighboring the Badab sector who were dissatisfied with the state of trade in the area. Fearing that this situation had something to do with the recent appearance of the mysterious warband dressed in black, an investigation fleet was formed made up of several representatives of the mechanicus, merchants and representatives of planetary governors. At the head of this fleet was Inquisitor Orleus Dante of the Ordo Herecticus.

After the fleet reached the Maelstrom zone, they set off towards the Badab sector, more specifically the world of Badab Primaris. It is not known exactly what happened next, the only thing that is certain is that the Astral Claws fleet completely destroyed the research fleet. According to Huron, the research fleet didn't obey orders to stay away from the planet's orbit and approached aggressively, which the Inquisition considered a lame excuse and was quick to brand Huron a traitor. However, many generals and officers who fought alongside Orleus admitted that he was somewhat arrogant and impulsive at times, so there is a possibility that Huron's explanation is true. Whatever the truth is, it doesn't matter anymore, since the blood has already been shed.

With the destruction of the research fleet, the Astral Claws were branded traitors by the adept Terra and the process of creating a retribution fleet began. Huron tried to explain his motivations to the High Lords, but for Terra, Huron's motivations only reinforced the idea that he was a traitor. Seeing that it was impossible to convince the Terra adepts otherwise, the only thing Huron could do was begin preparations for war.

The Terra adepts enlisted the help of the Fire Hawks and Star Warriors chapters. The former is a chapter that carries the genetic seed of the thirteenth Primarch and specializes in shock tactics and the total obliteration of the enemy, but the fact that made them part of this operation was that they have a long-standing rivalry with the Astral Claws. The Star Warriors, on the other hand, is a descendant chapter of the Word Bearers, focused on siege warfare and fortifying positions. Accompanying both chapters were three regiments of Tempestus Scions and the inquisitors Beatrice and Hiberus of the ordo Herecticus.

From the Karthago sector, the legalist forces went to the Sagan sub-sector, a sub-sector that remained under the control of the imperium thanks to its high administratum presence and its close relations with the Karthago sector. From there, the Fire Hawks went to the Golgothan Wastes and the Endymion Cluster, while the Star Warriors and the Tempestus Scions went to the Khymaran Drift.

There, in the north of the Badab zone, the Fire Hawks carefully advanced until the ship known as the Red Harbinger met up with a fleet of Star Panthoms in the Hanllen system.

The Fire Hawks asked the Star Panthoms to stand aside since their target was the Astral Claws, not the Panthoms. However, the chapter refused and urged the Hawks to leave the Maelstrom zone. For a couple of hours both chapters negotiated trying to prevent unnecessary bloodshed, but when they realized that neither was going to back down, both sides opened fire. The confrontation was short and brutal, after all, it was one ship against one fleet. In its last moments of life, the Fire Hawks' ship sent a message to the rest of the legalist fleet.

From here, open warfare developed between the two chapters. The Fire Hawks had problems with the heavy weaponry deployed by the Panthoms, while the latter were not used to close-range combat. The war between the two chapters was brutal and bloody, with neither able to overcome the other.

On the Star Warriors' side, they ended up meeting the Crimson Reapers in the Khymaran Drift. On the instructions of the Inquisitors, the Star Warriors opened direct fire on the Reapers, who responded by attacking the legalists with ferocity. Not only did the Warriors have to deal with the Reapers' guerrilla tactics, but they also encountered the self-styled "Tyrant's Legion" army, a well-armed PDF group that protects the separatist worlds. The Star Warriors and the Scions met with more resistance than expected and each planet conquered came at a great cost in personnel and resources.

After almost a year of war, the situation in the area has only worsened with the arrival of the Astral Claws. Both the Crimson Reapers and the Star Panthoms received reinforcements of around a thousand Astral Claws each. With this new support, the separatists began to push back the legalists. The Stars Warriors and allies tried to hold off the rise of the separatists, but they finally had to retreat after the battle of Khymara, where most of the inquisitorial forces were destroyed by the first and fourth companies of the Crimson Reapers, including the death of the inquisitor Hiberus.

The same happened with the Fire Hawks, except that the Astral Claws were much more brutal, as Huron sought to take the chapter out of the war once and for all. In the battle for the Iblis system, the loyal chapter's fleet was devastated, with only the star fortress that the chapter used as a monastery fortress, the Raptorus Rex, and a couple of ships surviving. In total, just over 600 astarters from the Fire Hawks made it out of the system alive, having to retreat to the Sagan Sub-sector.

Back in the Sagan sub-sector, the separatists tried to take the sub-sector by force, but it not only had the surviving astarters of both loyal chapters, but it constantly received resources and soldiers from the Karthago sector. Thus, the Successionists had to settle for controlling a couple of star systems, while most of the sub-sector remained in Imperial hands for the rest of 904.M41.

-The Flames of War(905-907.M41):

With their undisputed victory in the first two years of the war, Huron along with the other two chapter masters decided to officially announce the separation of the Badab zone from the rest of the imperium. The "Articles of Fair Succession" stated that the Grand Orion sub-kingdom remained loyal to the Emperor and humanity, but refused to follow the orders of the High Lords of Terra, as their decisions did not help maintain the stability of the zone. The articles also showed several who supported Huron's narrative while containing a copy of the imperial edict that founded the Maelstrom Warders. The announcement ended with Huron making it clear that hostilities would end if the High Lords accepted the creation of said sub-kingdom.

After the crushing defeat in the early years of the war and the Maelstrom Warders' announcement, the adeptus Terra decided to take the conflict in the Maelstrom zone much more seriously. It was no longer a rebellious chapter, now several sectors had declared independence.

So the High Lords called in several Astarters chapters to put an end to Huron's plans. Below is a list of the forces that took part in the second attack against the separatists.

-Red Scorpions:

Genetic lineage: XVII // Tactics: none, the chapter adapts and takes different tactics depending on the situation // The entire chapter was mobilized for the war

-War Lions:

Genetic lineage: XII // Tactics: Mechanized warfare and short-distance combat // six companies were mobilized for the war

-Scarlet Fellowship:

Genetic lineage: XV // Tactics: use of psychic powers and decapitation attacks // The entire chapter was mobilized for the war

-Raven Guard:

Genetic lineage: XIX // Tactics: Guerrilla warfare and infiltration // Three companies were mobilized for the war

-Raptors:

Genetic lineage: XIX // Tactics: Guerrilla warfare and camouflage // Two companies were mobilized for the war

-Storm Giants:

Genetic lineage: XVIII // Tactics: Close-range firefights and boarding actions // The entire chapter was mobilized for the war

*It should be noted that it was the chapter itself that asked to be included in the operation, as it was trying to get in touch with its former comrades in the Maelstrom Warders. As the chapter had good knowledge of the Maelstrom zone, the High Lords accepted its inclusion.

In addition to the chapters mentioned above, the administratum sent five regiments of Tempestus Scions to join the attack group.

With this force formed, it was decided that the Chapter master of the Red Scorpions Verant Ortys would command this campaign. Thus, the legalist fleet set off towards the Maelstrom.

After arriving in the Sagan sub-sector, the legalists' first action was to clear the sub-sector of the traitorous elements present in it. After gathering information from the Imperials present in the sub-sector, Ortys quickly organized a war plan to change the balance of the confrontation.

The Raven Guard, Raptors and War Lions along with half of the Storm Scions launched the offensive through the Khymaran Drift, while the Red Scorpions, Storm Giants and Scarlet Fellowship and the other half of the Storm Scions attacked the north of the Maelstrom zone. Being very short of numbers, the Star Warriors agreed to stay in the Sagan sub-sector to fortify it from separatist attacks, however the Fire Hawks refused to take a defensive stance, and so the chapter functioned as an auxiliary force for the Red Scorpions during this period.

The Crimson Reapers and astral claws faced the loyalist offensive in the Khymaran Drift, and as Ortys anticipated, the Reapers showed a preference for attacking the sons of Corax because of their ties to the inquisition, which caused them to lose more lives than necessary just to feed their thirst for revenge.

In the north, the loyalists cleansed the Golgothan Wastes of any pirate or separatist elements they encountered and ensured that the zone remained in imperial control, while in the Endymion Cluster the loyalist fleet was able to retake the region's border worlds, including the Iblis system. The latter was the imperial commander's main target, as it offered a relatively stable warp route to the Galen Nebula. With this route at his disposal, Ortys launched several attacks against the zone to test and study its defenses.

However, not everything went to plan for the legalists, as the tyrant's legion was able to contain the legalist advance in the Vyaniah system even without any astarter support. This, combined with the fact that the Reapers didn't seem to care about their losses, meant that Ortys had to transfer resources to this other front. To make matters worse, the loyalists made little to no headway in the south of the Maelstrom Zone, as it contained a large number of resources that were vital to the separatist campaign, so Huron reinforced the zone.

By 907.M41 the war had reached a standstill. The legalists couldn't make any great advances, but the successionists couldn't push the loyalists back. It was in this situation that Huron began to receive reports of increased pirate attacks on the Magog Cluster and rumors that some pirates had managed to get past the cluster's defenses and were systems beyond it.

Not wanting to face a two-front war, Huron offered to meet Ortys in the Grief system to negotiate peace between the two sides.

The Grief system was an abandoned system with an unstable star, so such a neutral point would be ideal for negotiations between the imperium and the Maelstrom forces. Both entourages met in the system and decided to discuss on an abandoned space station orbiting a gas giant. There they argued for hours while insulting each other, even though Huron actively tried to keep the discussion orderly. It was then that three unknown cruisers emerged from the planet and attacked the fleets on both sides and the station.

The attackers, a group of heretics and mutants, were able to kill most of the Imperial entourage, including Chapter Master Ortys, and part of the separatist entourage. Huron was only able to survive because Vetala sacrificed herself to save the chapter master from the attack of a Chaos Ogryn.

In the end the heretics were killed, but their attack caused any chance of peace between the two sides to be destroyed. Both sides began to accuse each other of being behind the attack. A few voices suggested the possibility that the attack was actually organized by pirates, but the words of these individuals were lost in the sea of accusations that each side hurled.

After a while of discussion and much thought, it was decided that Ortys' successor as Chapter Master of the Red Scorpions and commander of the Imperial forces would be Carab Culln, a legionnaire with a promising career who was extremely loyal to the Emperor. In front of the corpse of his former chapter master, Carab promised that he would end the war and bring victory to the legalists whatever the cost.

-Blood in the Void(908-910.M41):

The rise of Carab Culln to commander of the imperial forces would mark the beginning of the bloodiest stage of the war.

At the beginning of the year 908, a raiding party made up of War Lions, Raptors and Raven Guard companies attacked the Vyaniah system and was able to drive the separatist forces out of it. Even though the War Lions suffered heavy losses in this offensive, this attack was considered a huge victory as the legalists had practically the entire Khymaran Drift under control thanks to this victory. Seeing that they were outnumbered, the Crimson Reapers fled the zone to their homeworld of Hipnnos in the Galen Nebula.

In the north of the Maelstrom zone, Star Panthoms managed to keep control of most of the Endymion Cluster, but little by little the legalist and xenos attacks began to weaken the chapter. The Storm Giants tried numerous times to convince the chapter to surrender, but the chapter refused each time.

In Galen Nebula Carab led three companies of Red Scorpions alongside five companies of Scarlet Fellowship against the Galen system, while the newly recovered Star Warriors and Fire Hawks attacked the fortress world of Surngraad.

Thanks to Carab's tactical genius, and the psychic powers of the Scarlet Fellowship, the legalists were able to take the traitors by surprise and eliminate every single one of them without leaving any of them alive. The Star Warriors and Fire Hawks fought a tough siege war against Surngraad's defenses, but thanks to the firepower of the Raptorus Rex and the tactics of the Stars Warriors, both chapters were able to take the planet in the Emperor's name. With these two victories, the only traitor fortresses left between the Badab sector and the north of the Maelstrom zone were the Angstrom system and the Hipnnos system.

Shortly after this victory, a group of unknown marines arrived in the southern region of the Maelstrom zone known as The Pale Stars. This group of Astarters devastated several traitor planets before presenting themselves to the command of the legalist forces as the minotaurs chapter.

Minotaurs

The chapter known as the Minotaurs is a chapter that is not only characterized by its lethality and brutality, but also by being extremely mysterious and enigmatic.

There are records of a chapter operating under this name around the 32nd millennium, but the records of such a chapter are few and do not go beyond the 32nd millennium. There are other records that state that the chapter was created during the cursed foundation, in the 36th millennium. This chapter of the minotaurs is described as a group and berzerkers that doesn't have the reclusive nature of the chapter that operates in M41. As in the previous case, the records of such a chapter are few and only reach the 38th millennium.

The "current" Minotaur chapter was spotted at the beginning of the current millennium. Showing characteristics of both previous minotaur chapters, such as the siege tactics of the former and the brutality of the latter, but they also have their own characteristics, such as a high level of secrecy and isolation and an apparent preference for confronting other astarters.

Many of the documents and reports that could answer many of the questions behind the chapter are so closely guarded that only the highest ranks of the Inquisition can access them. This, together with the fact that minotaurs tend to appear in conflicts of interest with the High Lords, and that the chapter is never punished for not following the orders of other imperial commanders, makes many suspect that the chapter and the High Lords of Terra have a closer bond than they appear.

The Chapter Master of the Minotaurs, Asterion Moloc, contacted Carab Culln and the rest of the imperial commanders and promised that he would cleanse the south of the Badab zone of traitorous elements.

The Minotaurs then began an extremely bloody campaign in the Pale Stars. The Minotaurs didn't distinguish between civilians and military personnel, nor did they care about taking prisoners of war; to them, everyone was a traitor and therefore deserved death. For a year and a half the Minotaurs ravaged the Pale Stars to such an extent that by early 910.M41 the population of that area had been reduced by more than twenty percent. Several other legalists were disgusted by the unnecessary violence of the Minotaurs, and asked to be withdrawn from the war, but Carab and the other imperial commanders knew that the chapter was too valuable a resource to be left aside, so the chapter continued in the war.

For the rest of the year until early 909.M41, the imperium continued its winning streak, retaking various star systems and minor planets for the great war plan. But even with these victories, the legalist commanders wanted the war to advance more quickly. So, among several Legalist commanders, the attack on the Angstrom system was organized.

Angstrom was a system in which its main world was the forge world of Angstrom II. The forge world was the main source of production for the separatists and was also the main line of access that the Badab sector had to the Endymion Cluster, so a successful attack on the planet would be a devastating blow for the separatists.

The offensive was organized between Culln and the Inquisitor Beatrice. The Inquisitor would lead two companies of Raptors and Raven Guard against the Crimson Reapers' homeworld and keep them busy so that the chapter wouldn't interfere with the offensive against the Angstrom system. Meanwhile, the entirety of the Red Scorpions and Fire Hawks, two companies of Storm Giants and the remaining company of Raven Guard attacked the Angstrom system.

The attack on the Angstrom system got off to a good start, the loyalists were quickly able to dominate the planets of Angstrom XIII and XII. It was then that the loyalists found themselves facing their first defensive perimeter, a series of semi-automatic defensive echelons that were reinforced by a small company of Astral Claws.

The traitors hoped that these defenses would keep the legalists busy for several months and cause heavy casualties, but fortunately these plans never came to fruition as Captain Novex Niller and his Raven Guard company were able to infiltrate the defensive perimeter and get a taste of most of the weapons systems. Thus, the legalists were able to destroy the platforms without major inconvenience.

The interior of the system was where the traitorous resistance really began to show. Angstrom's Skiitari marched alongside the astarters of the Star Panthoms and Astral Claws. But none of this was enough to stop the Legalist advance, which was finally able to reach the system's main planet and take the war to it. For several weeks the loyalists fought and ravaged the planet's surface in their fight against the traitors. However, the battle for Angstrom suddenly came to an end when the Crimson Reapers fleet arrived in the system.

Taken by surprise by the arrival of the traitors, the legalists cleverly fled the system so as not to be trapped between the two traitors. But that didn't stop the Crimson Reapers from attacking the fleet and boarding several of the legalist ships. Among the ships boarded by the traitors was the Raven Guard company ship.

Novex tightened his grip on his twin power swords and charged at the Crimson Reapers astartes in front of him. The astartes tried to pull the trigger on his Bolter pistol but the Raven Guard captain was quicker and stabbed the astartes with his swords before the pistol could be fired. The traitor died on the spot as his twin hearts were pierced, joining the already long list of traitors murdered by Novex.

Novex pulled his swords out of the traitor's body, but before the body could fall to the ground, the son of Corvus was thrown to the ground by a plasma pistol shot. The shot slightly penetrated his already damaged armor, and destroyed part of his torso

The captain raised his head slightly to look at the shooter and in the background he saw Revan Stram, the chapter master of the Crimson Reapers in his Tartaros terminator armor.

The Chapter master traitor then advanced towards the Raven Guard. Novex tried to reach for his pistol on his belt, but in the blink of an eye Revan was already on him. The traitor then stabbed the captain in the torso with his Lighting Claw, and with a force that only Terminator armor could exert, the Chapter Master lifted Novex up to eye level.

"I have to admit, you gave us a hard time, Little Raven, but in the end you ended up just like your brothers." It was then that the traitor took his hand to his leather bag and pulled out a dozen items. Under his helmet, Novex's eyes widened when he realized that several of these items were medals that both the Raven Guard and the Raptors used to decorate their armour. "You servants of the Inquisition are undoubtedly tricky opponents, but after a few encounters you become arrogant, predictable."

"W-why?" Novex said with the little strength his body still had.

"After Darmus, my chapter, we finally saw the true face of the organization that enslaved you, son of Corax, and we felt disgusted. As time went on and we realized the true nature of the vermin who call themselves Inquisitors, I and my Battle-Bothers vowed not to let this cancer corrupt humanity." Revan then squeezed his lighting claw, further destroying the Raven Guard captain's organs. Before the latter died, Revan approached the face of Corax's son to say. "We will bring down the Inquisition, whatever the cost."

After leaving the system, the legalists realized that the Crimson Reapers had been able to use the asteroid ring of the Hipnnos system and had been completely destroyed by the traitors. The Crimson then moved silently into the Angstrom system to take the loyalists by surprise.

The loss of so many astarters at once and the failure of the attack on Angstrom was a heavy blow that momentarily paralyzed the imperial offensive. However, this was only temporary, and the loyalists were soon back on the attack, now motivated to avenge the fallen sons of Corax.

Even though the Angstrom attack failed, it still dealt a heavy blow to the traitors' resource line, which, together with the massacre on the Pale Stars, meant that only the traitors' most important planets could be supplied. The less important traitor worlds found themselves short of resources and soon fell into imperial hands.

By the end of the year 909.M41 only a dozen traitor systems remained standing beyond the sector. But that was soon to change.

At the beginning of the year 910.M41 a mysterious strike cruiser appeared in space and used old but still valid identification codes. When the imperial authorities questioned the identity of the crew members, they identified themselves as astarters from the Carcharodons chapter (or Space Sharks in Low Gothic), from the lineage of Corvus Corax. The Chapter master, the mysterious astarter known as Tyberos, informed the imperial authorities that the chapter had come on orders from Terra itself and asked the imperial commanders to let the chapter take part in the war.

The chapter was also informed of the destruction of its parent chapter's companies by traitors. Tyberos replied that he would avenge his brothers.

The first and most important action of the Carcharodons was the devastation of the Tranquilty system.

Carab had already planned to attack the Star Panthoms' home system in order to defeat the chapter once and for all, but with the arrival of the Carcharodons he decided to leave that task to the newly arrived chapter.

The campaign against the Stars Panthoms began with the Carcharodons launching a simultaneous attack on all of Tranquility's neighboring systems that were still in traitorous hands thanks to the Star Panthoms' efforts. The devastation and bloodshed caused by the descendant chapter of the Raven Guard could only be compared to the devastation of the Pale Stars caused by the minotaurs. Dozens of planets had their populations devastated and their worlds plundered by the Space Sharks.

The Star Panthoms tried to stop this massacre, but even with their best efforts the traitorous chapter was unable to stop the slaughter, since after so many years of war the Star Panthoms were outnumbered and weakened compared to the newly arrived Carcharodons. So the chapter was forced to retreat to its home system and wait for the legalists to arrive.

After a week, their wait was finally answered and the Carcharodons arrived in the Tranquility system. The war that followed was so brutal that by the end of it the system was little more than a shadow of its former self. The Star Panthoms threw everything at the legalists, but nothing seemed to stop their brutality.

Everything came crashing down when the legalists reached the Star Panthoms' homeworld, Tranquility I. There the Carcharodons attacked the monastery fortress of the traitors, and not only were they able to destroy the monastery, but Tyberos was able to kill Zhrukal, and the chief librarian of the Star Panthoms Throcal was wounded to such an extent that he had to be buried in a librarian dreadnought to survive.

These two blows finally broke the eight hundred surviving Star Panthoms' desperate retreat from the system. Half of these survivors would seek refuge in the systems still controlled by the traitors in the Galen Nebula, while the other half in their desperation fled to the Magog Cluster believing that there they would have a chance of rebuilding the chapter.

The devastation of the Endymion Cluster caused discussion and revolt among the legalist forces. Some individuals called for total censorship of the Carcharodons, while others felt that they had the right to cause such levels of destruction against the traitors. Even though he didn't like this unnecessary bloodshed, Carab had to accept the Carcharodons' actions. After all, the war was entering its final stages and losing a precious ally would have been a foolish decision.

The traitors, on the other hand, greeted the devastation of the cluster with horror. The fall of such an important bastion of the traitors and the brutality exercised by the traitors caused most of the traitors to flee to the Badab sector in search of refuge, while a few fools tried to escape the fury of the legalists by traveling closer to the Maelstrom, a decision that many would soon regret.

Thanks to this, both the Hipnnos system and the Angstrom system found themselves unprepared to face the legalists.

In the Hipnnos system, the entirety of the Fire Hawks and the Scarlet Fellowship chapter attacked the system. The battle was tough with the Crimson Reapers elements still in the system, but thanks to the Scarlet's psychic powers and the Fire Hawks' powerful space station, the loyalists were able to make their way to the Crimson Reapers' home planet, Nyxx, and orbitally bombarded the planet, devastating everything on its surface.

However, the traitors wouldn't let the legalists take over the system, and before the legalists even arrived a pair of traitor ships carrying Cyclonic Torpedoes and several Nuclear warheads arrived in the system's sun. After the legalists devastated Nyxx, the two traitor ships launched their entire arsenal against the star, and as a result unleashed a huge solar storm that ended up damaging several legalist ships. Most of the fleet suffered minor damage, but in the case of the Raptorus Rex the damage was severe enough to force the Fire Hawks to begrudgingly withdraw from the conflict.

In the Angstrom system, the Red Scorpions and War Lions attacked the few traitorous elements left in the system and began the second battle for Angstrom. Even though they were few in number, the traitors offered plenty of resistance and fought tooth and nail against the legalists. But even so, the legalists were simply outnumbered and little by little they were able to push back the traitors. The war for Angstrom ended when the chapter master of the War Lions launched a daring decapitation attack on the fortress of the fabricator general, which was successful. The fabricator general's death meant that the traitorous defenses finally broke down, and the loyalists finally controlled the Angstrom system.

These victories, although bloody, were cataloged as a total success by the legalist commanders. Thanks to these victories, the legalists were trapped in the Badab sector, with no visible way of escaping the legalists' fury. Thus, with the end of 010.M41 and the beginning of 011.M41, the final stage of the war in the Maelstrom zone began.

-The Devastation of Badab (011-013.M41):

With the start of the new year, Carab put his plans into action against the Huron domains. From the south, the minotaurs would attack the Badab sector, while the Red Scorpions along with the Scarlet Fellowship and Storm Giants would attack the north of the system. The Carcharodons and War Lions were in charge of attacking the western flank of the sector.

With that, the traitors found themselves being assaulted from all sides by the legalists. Throughout the sector, the border worlds felt the fire of war and devastation on their surfaces as the legalist and separatist astarters clashed.

However, this war wouldn't have lasted so long if Huron hadn't been a brilliant strategist, and after so many years to prepare, the astarters of the Astral Claws and their allies were more than ready to face the legalists.

As time went by, the offensives in the north and west gradually became dead ends as the legalists' advances were contained by the separatists. To make matters worse, the loyalists began to suffer attacks from the various Maelstrom pirates in their rear, forcing the loyalist commanders to mobilize troops to stop the pirates.

In the south, Huron personally unleashed his chapter against the minotaurs in the Piraeus system. There, Huron made his presence known on the planet of Piraeus V in order to draw the attention of the Minotaurs so that they would fall into his trap. Seeing the possibility of ending the war once and for all and taking Huron's head to the High Lords, the Minotaurs attacked the Piraeus system.

The minotaurs' Drop pods and thunderhawks fell victim to hidden artillery, and when they finally reached the planet's surface, the Astral Claws and the world's PDF guided them to points with bombs and other types of traps. But even with these losses, the minotaurs continued their attack in the hope of killing the separatist leader, and that chance came when Asterion Moloc met Huron and his entourage.

Despite being chapter master and having the support of several of his chapter's best warriors, Huron and the other Astral Claws stood no chance against Asterion, who fought the separatists with unparalleled fury and strength. In this conflict Huron himself almost lost his life if it hadn't been for the sacrifice of his battle brothers who gave the tyrant of Badab a chance to escape.

In the end, Huron's plan was a success, inflicting several major casualties on the minotaurs, which slowed down the chapter's progress until it was finally halted at the end of 011.M41.

With the start of the new year, the imperial commanders began to worry that the war was at a standstill. Only a couple of systems had been conquered in the previous year and several of them still had separatist forces that had to be eliminated.

However, all was not lost, as the Scarlet Fellowship's chapter master informed Carab of something his chapter had discovered about the Hendark system.

The Hendark system is a system located to the west of the Badab sector. Since the arrival of humanity in the Maelstrom zone, the system has stood out for the difficulty of reaching it via warp travel, since for some reason the system has always been shrouded in small but savage warp storms and its only stable warp route leads directly to the Badab system. Because of this characteristic, the system was structured as a supplier to the main sector system, with a hive world, a forge world and an agri world being built in the system, Nordrek, Terrius-alpha and Ossan respectively.

Because of the warp storms, the system was poorly defended for its importance, since Huron doubted that the Imperials would dare to cross warp storms that even pirates and chaos cultists didn't have the courage to cross. However, Huron hadn't counted on the Scarlet Fellowship's Librarium predicting that in a couple of weeks' time the storms would calm down and it would be possible to reach the system from Imperial space.

The Scarlet Fellowship's chapter master, Khaled-Aih, informed Carab of this opportunity to attack the separatists and the Red Scorpions' chapter master quickly organized a campaign to take advantage of it.

In this campaign, the entire Scarlet Fellowship, accompanied by three companies of Red Scorpions and War lions, headed for the system and surprised their defenders when they emerged from the Warp. The legalists were quick, and each of the chapters took no time in heading for one of the three main planets in the system.

The Red Scorpions headed for Ossan, and there it was only a matter of hours before the world's fragile defenses fell to the fire of the Imperials. The Scarlet Fellowship chapter attacked the planet Nordrek and its moon of Sonus, the sons of Magnus attacked the planet and in less than 4 hours were able to take control of it, then the chapter turned to the military base on the moon of Sonus and proceeded to annihilate the traitorous astarters present there. The War Lions attacked Terrius-alpha and were able to keep the Mechanicum forces occupied for several hours, until their allies were able to arrive to support them and finally defeat the traitorous tech-priests.

The unexpected legalist victory not only dealt a heavy blow to the separatist supply, but also forced Huron to move troops from the front lines and reinforce the defense of the Badab system, since the legalists now had access to it. Thanks to this, for the rest of 012.M41 the legalists began to gradually gain ground, until by the end of the year only the Badab system was still under separatist control.

Knowing that this would be the last battle of the war, both Huron and Carab prepared their troops and gave a big speech to them, in Carab's case motivating the legalists to finish off the separatists once and for all, and in Huron's case he said that it was likely that they would die in the coming confrontation, but not to die in shame but with honor since they had committed no crime other than wanting the best for the Maelstrom zone.

The Badab system was defended by the Iron Ring, a series of heavily armed orbital fortresses that surrounded the extremities of the system. This defense system was capable of withstanding almost any enemy fleet that dared to attack the system, but it wasn't perfect. Since most of the weapons on the space stations were automated, several of the stations depended on Badab VI's Sentinel-Sigma station to function. And the legalists were more than determined to take advantage of this feature.

The War Lions received from Belisarius Cawl himself several ships equipped with weapons that would disrupt the ring's weapon systems. With these weapons, the War Lions were the spearhead of the legalist fleet against the Sentinel-Sigma station on Badab VI. The chapter suffered several casualties from the station's massive firepower, but even so the chapter was able to disable most of the station's defense system, allowing the rest of the fleet to get inside the system.

For several days, the Legalist fleet made their way through the separatist ships until they finally reached the system's capital, the world of Badab Primaris.

When they reached the world, the legalists split into three attack groups. The Storm Giants and Scarlet Fellowship attacked the space station defending the planet, the Carcharodons were tasked with subduing the planet's hive cities. The Red Scorpions and Minotaurs attacked the Astral Claws' fortress monastery, the infamous Palace of Thorns.

The sons of Magnus and Vulkan attacked the station and faced stiff resistance from the Star Panthoms and Astral Claws present there. The battle against the separatists was hard and bloody, but the legalists were more than determined to go on and were able to make their way through the station until they finally reached the command bridge. There Khaled-Aih confronted the master of the Astral Claws force, Armanneus Valthex, and was able to kill the tech-marine, thus taking control of the station.

On the planet's surface, the Carcharodons swam in seas of blood and human remains as they slaughtered civilians and PDF alike. Several times during these massacres, the Carcharodons caused the Hive cities' plasma reactors to overheat and explode, taking most of the hive with them.

In the monastery fortress of the Astral Claws, the Palace of Thorns, the Minotaurs and Red Scorpions faced the strong defenses of the monastery fortress. It took the use of heavy artillery and attacks from several kill teams for the legalists to overcome the outer defenses and enter the monastery. Once inside the monastery, the legalists faced the full fury of the Astral Claws. Hundreds of Astarters clashed in the corridors of the traitorous base, both sides fighting with fury and determination. But since before the battle began, the outcome had already been decided, and it didn't take long for the legalists to overcome the traitors.

However, at the climax of the battle, the legalists were suddenly ordered to evacuate the monastery and the planet in order to bombard the entire planet with nuclear warheads on orders from the High Lords of Terra. The legalists' premature retreat gave the traitors an opportunity to escape the legalists' grasp.

Unfortunately for the traitors, Huron found himself unable to escape the planet. Badly wounded by the battle and surrounded by astarters determined not to let him leave the fortress monastery, Huron was unable to escape when warheads fell all over the monastery and the planet's surface.

The planet had turned into a lifeless rock emanating radiation. The few Hive cities that were still standing turned to dust, and all that remained of the Palace of Thorns was a large crater. Huron's body was never found. But it is more than impossible that the separatist leader survived such destruction

Several of the astarters and legalistic commanders considered this action unnecessary, but the High Lords ignored these complaints, as they considered it more important to leave Badab Primaris as an example of what happens to traitors to the land than to save the few people who lived there.

And it was on that note that the Badab war ended.

-Conclusion:

The end of the war didn't mean peace in the Maelstrom zone, as it was devastated by the war and constantly under attack by pirates who had previously been under control. It took many years to crush the xenos and heretic elements that had settled throughout the zone while rebuilding the infrastructure that had been destroyed by the war.

At the end of this long period of reconstruction, the Terra adepts determined that a new group of Maelstrom Warders should be formed, since the situation in the Maelstrom zone was more complicated the day before the Astral Claws arrived, but this time with more vigilance to ensure that no event like the Badab war would be repeated in the future.

For their performance in the war, the Star Warriors, Scarlet Fellowship and Storm Giants were the chapters chosen to be part of this new formation of the Maelstrom Warders. It was also decided that the fourth brotherhood of the Black Templars would return to the zone, since their departure was what allowed Huron to rebel. Accompanying the Templars, it was also decided that several inquisitors from all the Ordos would settle in the zone to ensure that it remained loyal.

With the destruction of Badab primaris and the death of Huron, the separatist cause finally broke down. Most of the separatists fled to the Maelstrom or its surroundings to escape the fury of the legalists, while a few fools stayed to fight the Emperor's armies and were crushed in response.

In the Maelstrom, the few surviving Star Panthoms met up with their brothers who had fled the Magog Cluster years ago. In the process of rebuilding their chapter these astarters ended up being corrupted by chaos and became the Warband known as the Warp Ghosts. These Chaos Space Marines were able to convince their brethren to join them in chaos worship, which would be the easiest way to take revenge on the imperium. Most of the astarters agreed to join the chaos, the few who refused were hunted down and murdered by their former brothers.

The Crimson Reapers, on the other hand, remained extremely united within the Maelstrom. Thanks to Revan's leadership and the hatred for the Inquisition that they all shared, the chapter has remained united and few astarters among its ranks have fallen into chaos worship or madness. For a long time the chapter was a minor threat within the Maelstrom, however this has changed in recent decades, as the chapter was among the various Warbands that accompanied Kor'sarro khan out of the Maelstrom, and since then the Crimson Reapers have supported the master of the hunt's forces while launching attacks against inquisitorial posts.

Little is known about the surviving Astral Claws. At the end of the war, the chapter was totally devastated by all the years of conflict. Over the years, the Inquisition searched for answers as to the final fate of the Astral Claws but never found a convincing answer.

However, this changed when in 992.M41 the Inquisition was able to lay hands on the body of an Astarter from the Black Mystery Warbands, and the autopsy revealed that he carried the seed of the Astral Claws. This information quickly spread among the high officials of the Maelstrom zone while they discussed how they should act next.

The imperial officials have yet to reach an agreement, as the situation in the Maelstrom zone has become more complicated over the years and it is unlikely that a conclusion will be reached before the end of the millennium.

Notes:

I didn't expect this entry to have 10k words. I started writing and when I looked it up, it was already at 5k :v