Editing Curis-4 Compliance (section)

==Situation Report==

''My dealings with the Orvar were highly profitable, but I believe that they were only the beginning of something much greater.''

- Visant Le Gall, report to Fifth Legion

Late in 867.M30, the [[Rogue Traders (Hektor Heresy)|Rogue Trader]] [[Visant Le Gall]] contacted his handlers in the Victualary of the [[Void Angels|Fifth Legion]].  Le Gall was scheduled for a routine report, but Sergeant Mai Dac Kien noted that the Trader seemed particularly smug.  The data retrieved showed that Le Gall was not merely happy to have made a fat profit - though clearly he had enriched himself in his journeys.  Mai's keen eyes were quickly drawn to information regarding Curis-4, a technologically advanced but socially peculiar world in the newly-mapped '''Propice Sector'''.  By careful analysis of Le Gall's reports, together with supporting information from other Rogue Traders, Mai was able to draw up a substantial picture of Curis-4 and pass it up to his superiors.

Curis-4 possessed a substantial industrial base and significant manpower.  Population estimates varied between eight and ten billion.  Technology was unevenly preserved, but military hardware was a particular strongpoint.  Soldiers on Curis-4 went to war in sophisticated vehicles, wearing excellent armour and wielding deadly las weapons.  And they went to war often.  The planet was divided between four hostile "nations": the Fanz, Huks, Orvar, and Wari.  Le Gall's contact had been exclusively with the Orvar, who had paid him handsomely for medical supplies.  The Rogue Trader had observed a sharp caste divide between the "citz" who earned political rights by military service and "pacs" who lived as civilians but were barely regarded as people by their social superiors.  According to Le Gall, there was little social mobility among the Orvar, with the military recruiting almost exclusively from the children of the citz.  Antoine d'Orléans' unsuccessful trading mission had involved brief talks with all four nations of Curis-4 and his brief contacts suggested that the Fanz, Huks, and Wari had similar social systems.  Particularly notable was that representatives of the four nations spoke of endlessly warring with their neighbours.

Mai's report quickly became the basis for operational planning.  [[Antoine Antonelle]]'s signature went below the initial assessment that the still-small Fifth Legion could fairly quickly subdue a world like Curis-4 if either [[Ghalhal]] or [[Al-Sherar]] would lend the support of their Titans.  In discussion aboard the newly-commissioned ''Resolve'', [[Gaspard Lumey]] and [[Fabrice Diallo]] differed.  The Primarch and his operational commander believed that the political situation was so favourable that going to the Forge Worlds was unnecessary.  Rani Stolarz of the [[Ciban Chasseurs]], despite her reputation for aggressiveness, was inclined to support the conservative course.  As a compromise, the Fifth Legion's commanders decided to press ahead with the forces of the Twenty-Fifth Expeditionary Fleet supplemented by Imperial Army formations from nearby Compliance Groups, and to request that [[the Markian Pact]] raise a new [[the Markian Corps|Grand Corps]] and dispatch these troops to Curis-4.  If Lumey and Diallo were correct, the Markian Corpsmen, organised as Compliance Group V-63, would garrison the new-won planet.  Otherwise, the Legion would at least have fresh troops if a negative situation developed.

Lumey's conception of the battle for Curis-4 centered on breaking the citz class.  Rather than approach the campaign in conventional military terms and focus on material objectives, the Primarch laid out a military-political operation intended to give the defending soldiers every reason to stop resisting and disassociate themselves from their leaders.  To open the campaign, he turned to Visant Le Gall.