The Campaign Of Astral Woe

This page details people, events, and organisations from The /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe.

This event takes place between the years 996.M30 to 999.M30. It involves the Silver Cataphracts, Sons of Fire, and Mastodontii Legions.

The Campaign of Astral Woe

"Every time I close my eyes I think about it."

Supreme Commander of Rosskar, Alexey

The Lenard Depths
Date
Scale	Sector-wide Conquest
Theatre	Segmentum Obscurus, Lenard Depths Sector
Status	Overwhelming pyrrhic Imperial Victory
Belligerents
Joint Mastodontii-Silver Cataphracts Expedition Fleet	The Stelvi, Technocracy of Rosean, the Gaggosh, Grand Principality of Devkar, Confederacy of Worlds
Commanders and Leaders
Tollund Ötztal, Alexandri	Multiple Petty Officers
Strength
The Silver Cataphracts, the Mastodontii, 500 Million Strelky, 1.5 Billion Imperial Armymen, Titans of Legio Nivalis	Countless Xenos Raiders, Endless Ranks of Human Levies
Losses
35,000 Silver Cataphracts, 20,000 Mastodontii, 100 Million Strelky, 700 Million Imperial Armymen	Too numerous to accurate record; in the billions, 1 trillion plus civilians dead
Outcome
Complete domination of the Lenard Depths

The Campaign of Astral Woe was a series of protracted and vicious engagements fought by the Silver Cataphracts and Mastodontii Legions on the periphery of the Lenard Deeps region during the mid phase of the Great Crusade's progress into the Galactic East. Situated on the far eastern edge of the galactic core, the Lenard Deeps was home to a menagerie of notable xenos life forms, many of which were sentient and almost all lethal, having competed bloodily in petty wars with each other since time immemorial. That region was shared by a number of human Enclaves and Empires, who had allied with and fought those Xenos in their endless feuds and wars.

Starting Point

"It began well enough, at least."

Grand Officer of the Legion, Sergei

Paying tribute to the Emperor, Alexandri sent his newly reconstructed and rebuilt Legion into the stars with their Strelky support. The new philosophy in combat from using both Astartes and human soldiers side by side was instrumental to the rapid success that followed as the Expedition fleets took planet after planet. There was hope that this would continue when the Mastodontii and Silver Cataphracts joined together for a campaign into the difficult cluster of systems which refused to acknowledge the Imperium's authority. It did not help that several Xenos raiders existed in the area, wreaking havoc on those worlds sworn to the Imperium using the area as a base.

Tollund Ötztal and Alexandri of Rosskar met several times, discussing their battle plans and means of entry into the now mapped out area of the Lenard Deeps. The sector had to be taken, as it opened up new ways into the Segmentum Obscurcus along stable warp-lines. No doubt the calmness and strength of these paths had allowed numerous human empires to grow up in this region of space. The three which stood out were the Technocracy of Rosean, the Grand Principality of Devkar, and the Confederacy of Worlds. Several alien factions including the arachnoid Stelvi and the amphibious Gaggosh were prolific among a dozen of systems each.

Turning Point

At first the combined might of the two Legions made excellent headway. Infernox and his Sons for a time helped with the initial push, being close to the area before being called up elsewhere. The Stelvi worlds were rapidly culled, with their eggs piled and burned to ash leaving behind fresh planets to be colonized. The Technocracy of Rosean and Grand Principality of Devkar united against the Imperial forces, along with many nameless single system factions. The Confederacy however, sided with the Expedition Fleets once their hated enemy the Stelvi had been eradicated. This allowed a swell of troops to assist in the coming war.

Rosean was the first of these mighty empires to fall, progressive and highly advanced they had emerged from the Age of Strife with battle wounds, but little else. Unlike other societies, they had sophisticated weaponry systems which even surpassed the Imperium in terms of firepower. Before the first shot was fired, Tollund used this opportunity to speak to the leaders about the message of the Imperial Truth. His hope was to bring them in peacefully, so everyone could benefit. Alexandri saw an imperative to cut the head off the beast fast, before they could marshal too much strength. The moon of Rosean's primary system was sunk into their mainly aquatic homeworld, destroying the mighty civilization in an instant. Seeing the ruthlessness and cunning of the invaders, all their former sub-states forfeited.

As time moved on, eventually the planets belonging to the Gaggosh were assaulted. The Confederacy immediately switched sides, firing upon the Imperial Fleet with their own ships and causing great bloody clashes to take place on the surface of the Gaggoshi worlds. It turned out the Confederacy were long standing allies of the Gaggosh, who they saw as kindred by this point. Alexandri used the ships he'd put in reserve to level the undefended Confederacy planets. Seeing this, the Principality gave up their hostilities with the Imperium and joined the fight at the Gaggosh systems.

Boiling Point

It would only turn out later that the Principality wanted to get back at both the Confederacy and the Gaggosh. After the war on their planets was over, they too turned on the Imperial forces. Many worlds began to do this, including the previously thought pacified Rosean sub-states. This led to the Primarch of the Silver Cataphracts to declare that the sector was beyond redemption. Every last world would be crushed, repopulated, and all the history of these places was to be buried and gone. This led to a further arduous campaign which both Legions were sick of, revisiting worlds thought already taken only to butcher the populace no matter how much they cried for mercy.

In secret, the Mastodontii kept alive millions on a few select worlds which Alexandri nearly snuffed out with impunity if it were not for the combined delegation of Great-Marshal Alexey, Grand Officer of the Legion Sergei, Spearhead Centurion Nymylan, First Master Kutkh, Overseer of Operations Byk, Captain Nomenir, and Coven Master Galash of the Witchborn. These individuals were able to stay the hand of the Primarch. Kutkh and Nymylan came as they were the closest and most active representatives to the Cataphracts from their Legion, by they did not expect the open and violent threats made by Alexandri's officers, with the exception of Alexey who stayed starkly silent.

Summary of the Campaign

Thirty-five thousand brothers of the Silver Cataphracts fell during the Campaign of Astral Woe. Along with the losses of some one hundred million Strelky, effectively a fifth of their entirety. Twenty thousand Marines of the Mastodontii were lost mostly due to the bloody backstabbing which happened on the Gaggosh worlds, and after. More than seventy hundred million Imperial Armymen perished on the worlds, with several generations born on distant planets being completely extinguished. The deathtoll on the enemy side is uncountable, but it is said that one trillion human civilians paid the price for their treachery of their governments.

Mastodontii Controversies

Captured records from the Traitor Mastodontii Legion tell a different story. They claim that Alexandri deliberately set out to destroy all the opposing forces, despite Otztal's desire to bring at least a few into the fold peacefully. These heretical documents also charge that Rosean's destruction was an act of provocation against Otztal's desire for a peaceful solution.

The Mastodontii accounts also show clashes between the forces of both legions, and a steady breakdown of relations between the two until the Principality's turn, when Alexandri declared that the sector was beyond redemption. Allegedly, the two Primarchs came to blows and Alexandri was beaten and humiliated by his brother, ordered to leave the deeps. In revenge, Alexandri purged dozens of rebellious worlds as his forces left, until the two Legion's fleets confronted each over over the ruins of Rosean, with catastrophe narrowly averted by Astartes leaders from both Legions.

Of course, these records are tainted by the touch of the Warp, and cannot be substantiated. It is known that the Mastodontii drew many recruits from the Lenard Deeps after the Campaign, and this alone casts the veracity of this record under suspicion.