Editing Conquest of Galaspar (section)

==Background==

When first discovered by Imperial scouts, the eleven star systems of the Galaspar Cluster were under the control of a regime known as '''The Order''', which ruled from the capital planet of Galaspar. It was a rigid and highly stratified oligarchical slavocracy, in which billions of enslaved laborers worked for the benefit of the High Comptrollers, the small group of elites who controlled Galaspar's hive cities. The Comptrollers did not measure their wealth in currency, but in the number of slaves they owned. These slaves were not given names, only work numbers, and were referred to by their owners as "labour units". Any failing on the part of a slave, no matter how minor, was grounds for instant execution and replacement. These nameless billions were kept compliant through the use of drugs that dulled their minds and made them docile and sluggish, rendering any form of independent thought or organized rebellion nearly impossible. Those who were higher in rank were kept in check by smaller doses of these drugs and an even more sinister form of control: sheer inertia. The Order had existed for so long that its origins had been forgotten, and any justification for its casual brutality had long since been lost. It had become a self-perpetuating system in which no one was allowed to or could even conceive of questioning its strictures. Even being born into the ranks of the Comptrollers was no guarantee of safety, for failure in their inherited role also meant replacement. This inertia extended even to resource production; the hives' manufactorums generated enormous surpluses of every kind of product, from food to clothing to furniture. The excess products were catalogued, then broken down and discarded, adding to the colossal waste heaps that dominated Galaspar's barren, toxic terrain.

The Order was convinced of its perfection and refused to brook any challenge to its dominance. The first Imperial envoys to arrive in the system were ordered to depart; when they did not do so, their ship was destroyed. All further overtures were also met with violence. As there were other large battles then being waged elsewhere in the segmentum, the Imperial Army concluded that it was best to simply blockade the Cluster and wait until these other campaigns were resolved before turning their attention to Galaspar. However, when Mortarion learned of the Order, he was immediately reminded of the tyranny he had so recently extinguished on [[Barbarus]] and concluded that it could not be countenanced to exist any longer than necessary. At a council of war, he proposed to lead his legion on a swift, brutal decapitation strike. The Imperial generals present protested his suggestion, but he used his status to overrule them. His decision was made: the scythe would fall upon the necks of the Order.