Editing Ullanor Crusade (Hektor Heresy) (section)

==Background==

[[Rogue Traders (Hektor Heresy)|Rogue Traders]] had discovered the Ullanor Empire early in the second century of the [[Great Crusade (Hektor Heresy)|Great Crusade]] and the Imperium slowly became aware of the scale of the threat.  Although the War Council considered devoting forces to roll back Waaagh!s led by [[Khork, the Megaboss of Ullanor|Khork's]] lieutenants, the demands of the Ruavu Grun Xenocide - not to mention wars in other Segmentums - ruled out the kind of offensive that would be required to break the power of Ullanor.

Instead, the Imperium endured decades of what [[Gufarnus Altmakar]] called a "loathsome stalemate".  Orkish Waaagh!s regularly emanated from the fortress-worlds of Ullanor, but Altmakar kept massive [[Imperial Army (Hektor Heresy)|Imperial Army]] forces on hand to contain and repel the greenskins.  After the death of the Father of the Army, keeping watch against the Orks fell to [[Alexandri of Rosskar]], who had assumed the title of Regent while the Emperor led the final crusade against the Ruavu Grun.  Alexandri began to deploy his own [[Silver Cataphracts]] in anti-Orkish operations, believing that any Ork who escaped was one who would have to be defeated once again.

Following the end of the Ruavu Grun Xenocide, Imperial planners began to consider a war against Ullanor.  By this point in the Great Crusade, most of the sages and generals who had served the Emperor since the [[Unification Wars (Hektor Heresy)|Unification Wars]] had died of old age, and the decision was left to the war-like sons of the Emperor, the [[Primarchs (Hektor Heresy)|Primarchs]].