Editing War of Beasts (section)

==The Rematch==
As of 9th Edition, the warzone of Vigilus has been heating up with the Warzone Nachmund books. While the first book, ''Vigilus Alone'' sees the situation as it has become, the second, ''Rift War'' is where things truly intensify, as Haarken Worldclaimer returns again to ruin things.

It's not much of a surprise though, as the world of Vigilus remains as volatile as it was when Abaddon was forced to leave, the news of the climactic battle between Calgar and the Despoiler ultimately changing little. The various warbands left on it were still menacing the few remaining imperial bastions while the various xenos raiders presented equally persistent threats. Each of the threats, from the heretics to Krooldakka's empire to even a petty gang that acted as defenders of a hivesprawl, formed their own little territories in the changed world while the Imperial forces were forced to make do with little to no reinforcements. The Imperium, meanwhile, began viewing Marneus as a sainted martyr despite nobody confirming his death, using his example as inspiration for more angry suicidal zealots.

Across the sector, there were still efforts by the Imperium to reclaim their foothold. A force of Battle Sisters from the [[Order of the Bloody Rose]] undertook a considerable crusade to reclaim besieged systems and re-sanctify them with the enemy's blood. While they managed to get some of their tasks completed, one of the systems they sought was unfortunately sucked into the warp as the rift surged, traumatizing or killing several of the fleet's navigators and scattering the fleet. Eventually they managed to escape the Warp and made way for Vigilus, the canoness at the head of this desperate to kill something after losing her chance in the last system. Similarly, the [[Castellans of the Rift]] chapter established a network of protectors alongside various other astartes strike forces, establishing a defense network called the Wardens of the Gauntlet.

Similarly, there were places like Organfalnor where the Black Legion united the disparate warbands, overrunning the Imperial forces. The evacuation efforts of the defenders were catastrophic in cost as they were harried at every step and the few survivors of the effort saw themselves propelled into Vigilus.

===Cartavolnus Gets Shit Done===
Similarly, Inquisitor Erasmus Cartavolnus of the Ordo Malleus had his own strike forces and bound psykers seeking out the Noctilith Crowns set up by the heretics, knowing that they were part of the reason the forces of Chaos had such a foothold. With the 'assistance' of a local regiment of guardsmen, he besieged one of the foul monuments erected at the southern part of the Megaborealis hive, wiping out the remaining heretics with his elite force.

However, he had found that there were far more of the structures than he could even seek out. To this end, he recruited several more allies using his authority while splitting his forces to hunt down several more foes. The Inquisitor went to the central temple in this network at Storvhal, currently under assault by not only heretic nobility but also a Daemonforge placed nearby that was spitting out all sorts of daemon engines. Seeing this as a failure of a campaign as the forces arrayed weren't going full-tilt to crush the heretics, he erected a Torture Engine at the gates of Hive Theramid and threw several officers there as an example of just what was in store if they didn't grow some balls and crushed the enemy at any cost - the value of any structures didn't matter. This proved to be the kick in the pants needed to push them forward until the daemonforge was destroyed by the inquisitor himself.

Such successes were not many though. For each victory, several more forces were wiped out and the heretics gained more time to recoup their losses. Eventually though, his efforts bore fruit as the falling structures saw the Warp's grip lessen and the morale of the Imperial forces bolden. Perhaps no sign was more visible as when [[Saint Celestine]] emerged, guiding the Sororitas to the situation on Dontoria. She declared the entire continent lost and nobody argued against it once they saw what befell it. As it burned, it left a very visible mark on the planet's surface.

===The Worldclaimer's Return===
While Vigilus was returning to some form of normalcy, the forces of Chaos were not idle. Abaddon had other forces conquering other systems, effectively isolating the system from the rest of the network around the gauntlet. The Vengeful Spirit was eventually restored to functionality and he sought to make up for lost time. Again, he turned to Haarken Worldclaimer to announce the Warmaster's return, and again the herald went forth.

Haarken would arrive in time to interrupt the Siege of Dharrovar, lending his support to the traitorous Knight House Mandrakor against the loyalist offensive led by the Castellans of the Rift. In addition to the world's critical location in the center of the Nachmund Gauntlet, he saw that the massive force the Imperium threw at the world was too big of a threat to ignore. As he approached Dharrovar, he set up vanguard forces and special forces of saboteurs to weaken the Imperium's hold on neighboring worlds, spreading terror, fear and heresy in their wake and leaving them too busy to stop him. By the time he reached the stronghold, he saw how thinly spread the Imperial fleets were and decided to run them down by unleashing fleets of furious Khornate ships at them, grinding the offensive on two fronts. The number of ships the Black Legion had on hand were so massive that it was able to shatter the offensive, forcing the Castellans' chapter master to order a costly retreat.

The High Monarchs of Mandrakor would welcome the Worldclaimer's entourage as they pushed back, accepting the authority of the Despoiler. Together, they harried the Imperium's retreat, making every step backwards cost them dearly. Before long, the escape crafts became crammed full of whatever survivors they could pick up and vulnerable to the Chaos fleets' fire. Ultimately, only a fifth of the initial assault force would limp back from this botched invasion.

===Arks of Omen===
Not long after Haarken's return, he signaled to his boss that the way was clear, and the forces of Chaos went out in STYLE. Among the flotilla were the Arks of Omen, [[Space Hulk]]s that were harvested and rebuilt by [[Vashtorr]] the Arkifane, the Warmaster's new ally who rules the Forge of Souls.

Of course, this sent the entirety of the Imperial Command into panic mode, especially with Marneus still out of commission.

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