Ghalhal

This page details people, events, and organisations from the /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. See the /tg/ Heresy Timeline and Galaxy pages for more information on the Alternate Universe.

Ghalhal
Segmentum	Pacificus
Sector	Al-Sherar Sector
Sub Sector	Sinad
System	Janis
Population	8,000,000,000
Class	Forgeworld

Ghalhal is a forgeworld and the major supplier of the Markian Pact, of which it is an honorary member. As a forgeworld Ghalhal has at its disposal a variety of military forces, including the Taghmata, the titans of Legio Cataegis, and enthralled knights of House Goda.

History

The Age of Strife

Ghalhal's roots date back to the end of the Age of Technology, when the world was still only an industrial colony of the old human confederation. It was a red world colonized by descendants of a holy man, whose teachings sundered the old Terra's faiths over twenty millennia before. Like the rest of the galaxy, Galhal too fell into the depths of unrest at the onset of the Age of Strife. Witches and dissidents plagued the planet, engulfing it in strife. The citizens of Ghalhal took drastic measures, hunting psykers relentlessly to prevent their world from being devoured by the forces of the Immaterium.

After centuries of infighting and witch hunts, Ghalhal exhausted its resources. Before they could starve Ghalhal would have to expand into an empire, and much to their luck, there was a "warp bubble" nearby, free of witches and ripe with supplies. Ghalhal's fleet of twenty set off for these worlds, beginning on the rocky planet of Lemartia. However, if the fierce resistance and harsh terrain were not enough, Ghalhal discovered too late that Lemartia stood alongside four other worlds in this sector, in an alliance that divided and conquered, destroying the Ghalhallan fleet one ship at a time. The invaders retreated to their home world, only for the Markians to chase them and bomb Ghalhal back to the stone age.

Later in M28, new lords came to Ghalhal. A relative quieting of the warp allowed a Martian colony fleet to reach Ghalhal. These settlers made peaceful contact with the few surviving Ghalhallans and absorbed them into a hybrid culture. Martian technology transformed Ghalhal into an industrial powerhouse, a forge world, a center of economy in the subsector. The same bubble in the warp that had led to the doom of old Ghalhal led the new Ghalhallans to make contact with the nascent Markian Pact. But the new terms were not war but trade, with Ghalhal's mighty forge fans transforming the raw materials of the Pact into industrial and consumer goods. This relationship led to the Markian worlds being among the most civilised human planets in the Galaxy prior to the foundation of the Imperium of Mankind.

The Great Crusade

Gaspard Lumey's diplomacy won the Markian pact for the Imperium. But Ghalhal's return to the Mechanicum was more complicated. Throughout the long Age of Strike the lords of Ghalhal had remained in fitful contact with the Red Planet, receiving data transmissions regarding newly uncovered technological secrets and making token obeisance to the Martian Parliament. Being in direct contact with their nominal masters rankled at the independent spirit of the Ghalhallans. A particular sticking point was the demand that the Forge World directly subordinate itself to Mars, rather than retaining its traditional pacts with the Markian worlds. Initially, Ghalhal was able to defer any practical measures due to the desperate supply situation of Lumey's Space Marine Legion, but the rediscovery of Al-Sherar not only rendered the matter of supply moot, but added another powerful world attempting to bring Ghalhal into the fold. Ghalhal's leaders became increasingly adept at playing off Fabricator General Kalkas Tygian against the Kabeer Al-Mufteen of Al-Sherar.

For all their wheeling and dealing behind the scenes, the Ghalhallans were committed to the Emperor's vision for humanity and proved themselves on the battlefields of the Great Crusade. As eternal allies to the Markians, Ghalhal often joined campaigns with the Fifth Legion and later Markian Corps, where the Mechanicum's might helped bring worlds into the Imperium's fold. In the Al-Sherar Sector War and Core Worlds Campaign among others, Ghalhal fought alongside Winged Victory auxilia, and in the Mortekaiser and Nightkill Sectors they played a key role.

In the Nightkill Sector the Taghmata and Legio Cybernetica served as the anchor for Markian forces, while the Legio Cataegis and Ordo Reductor spearheaded the offensive. It was Ghalhal's void missiles that destroyed the hive-emperor, and it was Archmagos Khazal ibn Tekhalla who discovered the fragmented nature of the Arakan. Without Ghalhal, the Markian Corps would not had liberated the Nightkill Sector.

The Mortekaiser Campaign

The Mortekaiser Campaign was an independent campaign conducted by the Markian Corps in the tale-end of the Great Crusade against the Hereteks of the Intax Empire. Led by Princeps Ali Azar, Ghalhal joined their Markian allies in purging the sector with steel and fire. Though Verdun was famous for destroying of an entire titan section with only three tactical weapons, it was Legio Cataegis and the knights of Goda that faced and destroyed the lion's share of Intax titans. Likewise, it was the skitarii who relieved the 78th Grand Corps. The Ghalhallans were instrumental on the Burning World, where their immunity to the planet's sulfuric atmosphere met the cyborgs' and automata's.

The battle for Ulysses is somewhat embarrassing early on for Legio Cataegis, who pride themselves on their swiftness. Early in their march, the vanguard of Cataegis discovered the existence of enemy titans in a similar manner to how the 101st discovered it: painfully. Forward warhound titans encountered Intax titans while en route to purge a bridge-city. Facing the might of several battle titans enhanced with xeno-tech the scouts had no choice but to retreat advance backwards. The warhounds fled back to the core of the legion, bringing three enemies in tow for Ghalhal's few but mighty warlords and reavers to pummel them back to ash and formless ore. Other Intax titans followed their fallen comrades, as the Thallaxi and automata of Ghalhal swept like a storm through the elevated cities of Ulysses.

There came a world where not even the proud Markians could survive. The Imperial Forces found the Burning World to be an inhospitable planet that spewed toxic gases from its many volcanic ranges, its heat-scorched surface and seas of lava unforgiving to normal men. But still, there were Intax that needed to die on the Burning World, and so it was left to the Ghalhallans to cleanse the world. The Thallaxi and Legio Cataegis struck like fire, seizing the refineries and relentlessly pursuing the Intax forces. When the Burning World was taken for the Omnissiah, Ghalhal moved on to the sandy deathworld Kharybdis, and then regrouped with the Markians for the final assault on the capital Shazakh.

The Hektor Heresy

The Al-Sheraran Front

The battle for the Al-Sherar Sector was dominated by the clashes of god-machines, and the screeching sounds of steel rending steel. Vassals of the Dar al-Amn were wreaking havoc in Pacificus, and sought to end their masters on Al-Sherar with iron and will. Whilst Al-Sherar's Legio Antsar was out on the fringe of the galaxy alongside the Void Angels, the titan-kings of Legio Nova, the Doomed Stars, attempted a strike against the Al-Sherar Sector itself, pressed forces of the Imperial Army and Armada in tow. Although their homeworld was under threat by Legio Nova, Antsar was too far to be of assistance, and so the task of facing the Doomed Stars head-on fell upon Legio Cataegis, the Hurricane Legion of Ghalhal.

The Void Hunt

While battle between the great legions of the Astartes unfolded across the galaxy, the gargantuan Imperial Armada met their opposite number among the traitors. Traitor marauders rampages across Segmentum Pacificus, most notorious among them the pirate Romulus Slag, captain of the cruiser Erinys who pillaged the vessels of the Al-Sherar Sector for fame and riches above Hektor's cause. Ghalhal could hardly accomplish anything with the lines between worlds tormented by the likes of Slag, but they were not for want of a solution; it was merely a matter of. The Ghalhallan Synod selected their finest captain, Hemlock of the cruiser Qarin, to hound the pirates, especially Slag, and prevent them from terrorizing Al-Sherar further.

Geography and Culture

Ghalhal is a red desert filled with dust and pollution. The surface, pockmarked with craters, still shows signs of Markia's historical bombardment of the old world, unusual volcanic activity remaining from the earth-shaking shockwaves of their voidships. Though the oceans are many, they are polluted with chemicals from Ghalhal's many manufactorums which the undrinkable water is now used to cool. Ruins of Old Ghalhal and its ships reside on the planet still, waiting under layers of sand and urban development to be uncovered by thieves or fools.

Beneath the cities of Ghalhal are abandoned tunnels left by the ancients, connecting everything together in a web of circuits and lines. Within this massive metro lies buried treasures hidden by Old Ghalhallan refugees, secret passages into ancient cities, tombs filled with the untouched corpses of Old Ghalhallans, all manner of goods desired by the Ghalhallan underground. Stalkers explore the lines between cities, charting paths and shuttling wares while keeping an eye for treasure. But the metro is a mess of tunnels, and it is all too easy for lose one's way in it.

The Ghalhallans of today are a surprisingly diverse group. With traffic from client worlds such as Markia and Goda passing through all the time there is much exposure to foreign cultures, their customs permeating into the Ghalhallan masses'. Al-Sherar heavily influences Ghalhal as well, the juggernaut's thoughts and ideas leaking into its smaller culture. That is not even the beginning of Ghalhal's diversity: in the lower classes live the cultural descendants of Old Ghalhal, passing on their old traditions from parent to child for generations, engaging in ancient and almost alien practices as strange to the larger Imperium as the Mechanicus's machine worship.

Forces of Ghalhal

Legio Cataegis

The pride of Ghalhal is Legio Cataegis, titan-princes of Markia. The legion is average-sized, but in tonnage it is smaller than other legions, for it consists primarily of smaller but faster titans such as warhounds, with only a handful of warlords and one reaper. The wise commander uses the large number of warhounds to their advantage, outmaneuvering enemy titans and heavy armor, keeping up with faster armies, and luring witless foes into the range of the legion's few battle titans.

Knights of Ghalhal's Realm

The vassal of Ghalhal is House Goda. It is one of noble brawlers, who charge their enemies with a thirst for blood. Supported by their retainers, the knights of Goda strike hard and fast. The only issues are House Goda's fragmentation, as the seven houses fight each other with words as much as they do enemies with swords; and their bull-headed concept of honor, which often causes great risk when unnecessary.