Editing The 13th Black Crusade (section)

==Echoes of War==

===Faith and Zealotry===

The Curse of Unbelief had a radical affect on the population of the outlying worlds of Belis Corona and Agrappinna, causing civil disorder so widespread that local government mandates were incapable of stopping mob rule, which largely broke down into violently killing whoever was thought to be a heretic. This further destabalized the sector, and even resulted in damage to important military infrastructure from rioters.

The Warp responded to such an outflowing of zeal and bloodletting in many places. Warp Storm Baphomael widened to engulf the edges of the Cadian system, while the Choir Chamber of Astropaths in Belisar (and the top nine layers of the hive spire it was on) was consumed in a massive psychic explosion. But that was not all, because the signs that ''something bad'' was still planned. Even the strategically inept normies could tell that there was a greater plan at play here, and the civilian populace was terrified that they'd be next.

The Ecclessiarchy attempted to respond to the disorder by dispatching clergy, confessors, preachers, and holy people in efforts to ''calm the people down'', but it had little effect. Why the Ecclesiarchy didn't just deploy Sisters of Battle is a mystery that only the writers could make clear to us, but in any case people were scared out of their wits.

It certainly didn't help the situation when unknown raiders violently assaulted the Agri-world of Dentor and butchered entire communities before burning their homes down to the ground. This not only reduced the inflow of food to the main system, but also managed to cause substantial harm to the morale of civilians in the sector.

Back in Cadia, Adepts monitoring the mysterious Pylons noted that they seemed to be vibrating on a frequency similar to a ship's Gellar Field, leading them to theorize that it was keeping the Warp Storm at bay somehow. Microscopic stress fractures were beginning to show however, which led many to worry that the Pylons might break themselves apart if things continue long enough.

===Tumbling Down===

Word of the aftermath of brutal raids similar to what happened to Dentor eventually filtered back to Segmentum command, but with its forces stretched by pague zombies, armed mobs, and Chaos Warfleets, there was little it could do. The settlements on Sarlax and Amistel fell, and video recordings confirmed that Heretic Marine forces were indeed in the area. A discernable pattern emerged of the direction of the attacks, and all information seemed to indicate they were heading in the direction of Cadia. In preparation, the Imperial Navy slowly pulled all available ships and not dead/zombified/hospitalized personnell to prepare a defence.

While Imperial forces consolidated, they were by no means finished. On Lelithar, a figure calling himself [[Cypher|The Voice of the Emperor]] was causing unrest and dissent. With his [[Nazi|powerful speeches]], he stirred the restless populations into open sedition, and his followers quickly overran vital Imperial facilities like bases and stockpiles. Once he and his followers had taken the space ports, the rebellion spread uncontrolled across the sector, with his cults appearing on the worlds of Yayor, Amistel, Albitern, and Bar-El. This not only caused a substantial loss of material and manpower, but also created a secondary front that would benefit the forces of Chaos in the long run.

The disruption the Voice's followers had caused spurred an immediate intellectual response form the Imperials: call him a heretic and fight for the sector. Civilian and military forces in the sector rallied around this cause, especially the promise of being able to avenge some of the worlds that had been devastated. In an effort to shorten the war, Command ordered Kill-Teams and assassins to try and kill the Voice, but these efforts all failed.