Editing Second Vetrovnak Incursion (section)

==Aftermath==

The withdrawal of the Vetrovnak was a great relief to the Imperial command and victory was duly proclaimed across the million worlds of the Imperium.  However, within the highest circles it was well understood that the enemy had not been beaten.  Either the Vetrovnak had sated their foul hungers or Imperial resistance had become enough of an irritant to make grasping for more imprudent.  Few believed that the invaders would not return.

Fabrice Diallo retained his rank as Martial Primaris for a full solar year after the Vetrovnak vanished, using his great powers to put down rebellion and combat opportunistic Xenos, but when it became clear that the great menace had vanished he relinquished his authority to the High Lords of Terra and returned to Kouralia.  In his wake, efforts were made to prevent a repeat of the same disasters that had paralyzed the Imperium.  The High Lords of Terra endorsed Inquisitor Vinter's plan to establish a great army of Sisters of Battle.  Every major communications hub across the broad Imperium would be home to a small, self-sustaining minor order - ''Ordo Minoris'' - tasked purely with the defence of the Astropathic relays.  The High Lords also established the great ''Ordo Majoris'', much larger armies with access to their own transport vessels intended to respond to emerging Vetrovnak threats.  Armed with a new shield and sword, the masters of the Imperium vowed that they would never again be so humbled.

'''Fragmentation in the Ultima Segmentum'''

Although the High Lords of Terra were able to reassert their control of much of the Imperium, vast reaches of the Ultima Segmentum remained out of astropathic contact for decades.  Sector Governors asserted their emergency powers and awaited the return of direction from Sol, but in some cases they died without ever hearing from humanity's cradle - whether by the action of foul Xenos or simply the rigours of time.  Their successors began to believe that they were the ultimate authority in their own little empires, and launched petty wars against their neighbours to expand their dominion.  In other sectors, the Adeptus Arbites exerted their power and set up Krytocratic regimes in which black-helmeted Arbitrators stalked the streets and ruthlessly punished the most minor infractions.  (This trend found its most deranged and paranoid expression in Lord-Magistrate Eustace Fargo's ''Realm of Dread Justice''.)  Finally, the Ultima Segmentum was home to many semi-digested thrall-realms, previously independent star-faring governments that had sworn fealty to the Emperor during the [[Great Crusade (Hektor Heresy)|Great Crusade]] but were quick to regain their sovereignty during the anarchy of the Incursion.