Editing Battle of Rai (section)

==Background==

Johannes Vrach was lost in contemplation. Although he had very high hopes for Hektor, the failure of his rebellion was essentially just a minor setback for the Life Bringers. Their true mission, the complete eradication of disease in all of its forms, had not yet been compromised, and the Primarch had the full intention of resuming it as soon as he had a base of operations. After some deliberation, he chose Rai, his homeworld. It had to be purged of all life due to a dangerous xenovirus buried on it, but now the Primarch had the means of restoring life to it and a Legion of warriors immune to all disease at his disposal, so he decided it was about time to come home.

Much to Vrach's chagrin, the Loyalist Legions turned out to be much more vengeful than he had hoped. As his fleet rushed to Rai, Loyalist forces were hot on his heels, led by the irrepressible Entombed. Sons of Golgothos swore never to rest until the last Life Bringer is dead and buried, and they had every intention to turn Rai into their graveyard. Irked by the importunate perseverance of the Entombed, Vrach decided that they had to be wiped out once and for all before the benevolent work of his Legion could resume in peace. With this intention, he ordered his Genetors to turn the whole planet of Rai into one enormous biological weapon that would grind the bothersome Entombed to dust that they were so fond of. As much as they resented this order, [[Wilmut Sachs]] and [[Nikephoros Galen]] had to work together on the fortification of Rai, each one trying to top his bitter rival's wicked ingenuity. 

Lacking the time or equipment to actually build the fortifications, the Life Bringers chose a different approach and decided to grow them instead. In preparation for the siege, they genetically forged special zygotes and planted them in strategically important locations of Rai. Within the space of several days, these zygotes grew into imposing forts, mighty walls and formidable towers. Instead of rockrete, these monstrous living structures were made from pulsing necrotic flesh; instead of steel reinforcement, they were supported by massive endoskeletons. Throbbing veins filled with gangrenous ichor ran through them, and their outer walls were reinforced with thick chitinous armour. These fortifications were not simply alive, they were semi-sentient and capable of regeneration, making them even more effective than conventional forts. 

Vrach's plan was fairly simple. In order to force his adversaries to land rather than razing his planet from the orbit, he installed shielded batteries of anti-void weapons within his castles of flesh. Heavy shielding made these installations nearly immune to the concentrated fire of the Loyalist fleet, making the planet's orbit suicidally dangerous for any Loyalist ship to enter. This dirty trick forced the Entombed and the Void Angels to deploy troops on the planet's surface in order to destroy the installations, allowing for the orbital bombing. This was exactly what Vrach had in mind, for he intended to slaughter the enemy soldiers on the surface, where even the nature itself was on his side.

The Battle of Rai was fought on two battlefields at once, on the surface of the accursed jungle world as well as in the heavens above it. The combined naval forces of [[Void Angels]] and [[the Entombed]] strove to destroy Valetudinarium, Johannes Vrach's pestilent void stronghold, while their ground forces fought the [[Life Bringers]] in the planet's poisonous thickets. The main assault was preceded by a brief reconnaissance operation by the [[Scale Bearers]] third company, the aim of which was to scout the landing sites for their allies.